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INSIDE COVER P. 35 In an effort to bring the gift of reading to children dealing with homelessness this holiday season, singersongwriter Chase Kerby assembled a group of fellow performers — Kinsey Charles, Jose Hernandez and Chelsey Cope — to stage a book drive and performance for Positive Tomorrows at Commonplace Books. By Jo Light Cover by Kimberly Lynch Photo by Alexa Ace
NEWS 4 STATE opioid laws
7 CITY State of the City address
8 COMMENTARY climate change 10 CHICKEN-FRIED NEWS
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12 MARIJUANA getting licenses
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WE WILL ALSO BE AIRING THE OU VS ALABAMA FOOTBALL GAME IN THE SOUTH EVENTS CENTER AT 7PM.
15 REVIEW The Loaded Bowl
16 FEATURE Industry Gastro Lounge
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18 FEATURE Feast of the Seven Fishes 20 GAZEDIBLES open on Christmas
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ARTS & CULTURE
$350
Holiday Gift Guide 23 ART Beautiful Minds — Dyslexia and the Creative Advantage at Science Museum Oklahoma 22
PACKAGE 1 Includes champagne & balloon drop at midnight, party favors and lighted dance floor.
PACKAGE 2 Includes all of PACKAGE 1 plus one room for two at our beautiful hotel (based on 2 guests). -Suites not included.
24 ART Post Plymouth at Exhibit C
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319PM TO
25 ART Visualizing Art History at Fred
Jones Jr. Museum of Art
LASER LIGHT COWNTDOWN
27 ART Cowboys in Khaki: Westerners
in the Great War at National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum
28 FILM ShowBiz Cinemas opens in
Edmond
food and toys
32 COMMUNITY Big Brothers Big
Sisters of Oklahoma County receives donation of Chromebooks
33 CALENDAR
MUSIC 35 COVER Chase Kerby book drive at
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january 12
30 COMMUNITY Jesus House collects 31 COMMUNITY Dinner With Love
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S TAT E
NEWS
Painful consequences
A new law created by Senate Bill 1446 aims to reduce opioid dependency but might have unintended negative effects on sufferers of chronic pain. By Nazarene Harris
In October, chronic pain sufferer Dan Freeman (not his real name) received a letter from his pain management doctor stating that a severance of treatment was necessary due to a new law on the horizon. “Please be advised,” the letter stated, “that this practice will no longer be able to treat you as a patient as of November 1, 2018. Senate Bill 1446 was passed during last legislative session and imposes new requirements on opioid prescribing. Because of these new requirements, this practice will not be able to treat as many patients due to the time associated with implementing new procedures in order to comply with the SB1446 requirements.” A following letter from his doctor provided Freeman with three steps to tapering off his Percocet. “Take 1 tablet for every 8 hours for 1 week,” the instructions began. “Take 1 tablet every 12 hours for one week and 1 tablet daily for one week then stop.” “If it was that easy,” Freeman said, “I wouldn’t have needed to go to the doctor in the first place.” In 1986, while performing construction work, Freeman broke his sternum during an attempt to save a coworker from being crushed under a trailer that fell on top of him. “I was pretty tough back then,” Freeman, 65, said. “I just started lifting the trailer off of him by myself. A couple guys came out to help and all of a sudden, we heard a loud crack. Everyone kind of got real still, and I remember wondering what that sound was because it was so loud.” Everything after that is a blur. Freeman’s coworker survived, but Freeman’s injuries including a broken sternum, broken shoulders, hands, ribs and neck resulted in chronic pain that makes sitting in one place for too long and walking painful, even when he is on his pain medication. “I don’t know what I’ll do when I run out,” he said. Freeman’s fiancée, 55-year-old Gayle Harrison (not her real name), also suffers from chronic pain that resulted from a traumatic experience. In 2003, Harrison, a licensed professional counselor, was working with underserved children who had experienced trauma themselves at a church when a young boy grabbed a pair of scissors and held them at another child’s throat. Harrison was able to wrestle the scissors away from the boy, but not without 4
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falling to the ground and breaking three of her spinal discs. “I was in my late 30s,” Harrison said. “Getting hurt like that was never something I expected, and I did everything the doctors told me to do to get better.” Harrison received 15 rounds of physical therapy, MRIs and CAT scans, epidural injections and a spinal stimulator that was surgically placed in her back but had to be removed due to an infection. Her pain medication and her faith, she said, kept her functioning.
When you tell people, even people in the medical field, that you are on opioids for chronic pain, you’re given more than just suspicion; they treat you like you’re a piece of dirt. Gayle Harrison United by their desire to help others and an understanding of each other’s chronic pain, the couple said they have grown accustomed to being treated like criminals in pharmacies and emergency rooms. “When you tell people, even people in the medical field, that you are on opioids for chronic pain, you’re given more than just suspicion,” Harrison said. “They treat you like you’re a piece of dirt.” For pain relief, Harrison takes Percocet and fentanyl. She also takes a prescribed muscle relaxant and a prescribed medication that eases nerve pain. “I have never been high in my life,” she said. “And I don’t want to be. If I had it my way, I wouldn’t have to take any of these pills. But I can’t live with this pain.” Harrison said her doctor recently suggested she have another spinal stimulator implanted in her back, but she refused the procedure after learning that SB1446 could prohibit her from receiving her regular medication dosage. “The law states now that patients can be prescribed no more than a 100 morphine milligram equivalent,” she said. “I have been told that it takes 405 milligrams of morphine to combat my pain.” Harrison and Freeman said while
SB1446 will prevent acute pain sufferers from becoming opioid addicts, it leaves chronic pain sufferers in the dark.
Good intentions
Oklahoma Attorney General office spokeswoman Terri Watkins said when patients are told they can no longer be seen by their pain management doctor, it’s because the doctor has likely misinterpreted the law. SB1446 was signed into law by Gov. Mary Fallin in May after attorney general Mike Hunter and The Oklahoma Commission on Opioid Abuse spearheaded a movement to prevent opioid addiction in the state. “I appreciate the members of the Legislature for their decisive action this session on the recommendations by The Oklahoma Commission on Opioid Abuse,” Hunter said during a press conference after the bill received approval from the House. “The bipartisan support from both chambers shows the commitment of members to saving lives and putting a stop to the opioid crisis that continues to claim an average of 1,000 Oklahomans every year.” On prescribers, the new law places the requirements of undergoing at least one hour worth of pain management education each year; consulting with patients every time a new opioid prescription is prescribed to them; checking in with the Prescription Monitoring Program, an online database that tracks patients and their opioid prescriptions; and documenting all processes mentioned. The law states that prescribers can give acute pain sufferers no more than a seven-day supply of the lowest effective dose of opioids for first prescriptions. A second seven-day prescription can be issued after a patient-doctor consultation takes place in person or over the phone. Chronic pain patients can continue receiving a one-month supply of their opioids under the new law but must consult with their pain management doctors every three months.
Chronic pain sufferer Gayle Harrison (not her real name) said her doctor is reducing the strength of her opioids based on requirements set forth in new law and Senate Bill 1446. | Photo Alexa Ace
SB1446 states that opioid prescriptions for all patients should be under a 100 morphine milligram equivalent unless the prescriber can provide documentation demonstrating a need for a higher dosage. If pain management prescribers are being overly cautious, executive director of Oklahoma Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision Lyle Kelsey said it’s to be expected. “It’s hard to be a pain management doctor in Oklahoma right now,” Kelsey said. “These doctors have been trained to be compassionate caregivers, and now they are asked to be police officers.” While Kelsey is an advocate and proponent of SB1446, he said he understands that the change could initially cause some otherwise unwanted side effects. In an effort to allocate the additional time and resources required under SB1446 to treat acute pain sufferers, doctors might be tempted to let go of their chronic pain patients, Kelsey said. Likewise, doctors might feel the need to release patients with chronic pain if the new level of care established for them under SB1446 seems overwhelming. However, Kelsey said letting go of patients is preventable. “Like with any change, in the beginning, there is going to be a learning curve,” he said. “Patients need to feel supported by their doctors and doctors need to feel supported by the law and their community for this to work.” While cancer, hospice, palliative care and long-term care facility patients are exempt from the requirements set forth in SB1446, Harrison and Freeman said one way to ensure success is to give chronic pain sufferers an exemption as well.
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NEWS Oklahoma City mayor David Holt will give his first State of the City address Jan. 17. | Photo Alexa Ace
it will be posted on the city’s YouTube channel a few weeks after the event. Likewise, McCollum said, Greater Oklahoma City Chamber will broadcast Holt’s speech after the event on its website.
CIT Y
Optimistic opportunity
Free speech?
Contrary to public perception, a mayor’s annual State of the City address is neither free nor hosted by the city. By Nazarene Harris
Oklahoma City mayor David Holt is preparing for his State of the City address early. Most of the speeches he gives are ad-libbed, he said, but the State of the City speech is a big deal. “I’m hoping everyone will hear it,” Holt said. But if you’re looking for a free show where you can hear all about the progress that has been made in OKC while surrounded by neighbors and enjoying a meal paid for with your hard-earned tax dollars, think again. Contrary to public perception, a mayor’s annual State of the City address is neither free for the public to attend nor hosted by the city itself. Since its inception in 1998, the OKC State of the City address has been organized and hosted by Greater Oklahoma City Chamber and not by the city itself, meaning no tax dollars go toward hosting the event. Instead, chamber spokesman David McCollum said, those who wish to hear the speech in person must pay $60-$100 each to do so. “There are expenses that go into hosting the event,” McCollum said. While the chamber’s website boasts seven sponsors of the event, including
Walmart, Devon, Hobby Lobby and Oklahoma City Thunder, McCollum said money earned through ticket sales goes toward covering the event’s costs (overhead, stage production and lunch that is served to the usually sold-out audience of 1,500 people).
This speech concerns everyone in our city. It should be widely accessible. David Holt “This is usually a big event with a great turnout, and we are expecting even more interest this year since this will be Mayor Holt’s first time to give the speech,” McCollum said. Members of the chamber are charged $60 per ticket while nonmembers are charged $100.
Keeping tradition
For more reasons than one, Holt said, he believes charging audience members to hear his State of the City address in person is justified.
For starters, Holt said, the State of the City speech is more than just a speech; it’s a tradition. “We’ve created this special occasion for people,” Holt said. “We’ve inherited this custom that’s been going on for decades now, and it’s not uncommon for the event to cost.” Holt said he has attended several State of the City addresses in other cities, including Tulsa, where mayor G.T. Bynum gave his State of the City address on Nov. 8. Holt has yet to come across a State of the City address event where guests were not charged for admission. Additionally, Holt said, if the speech was given for free, it would lose its appeal. “If I were to just give the speech on, say, a Tuesday morning during a city council meeting for free, it’s highly unlikely that anyone would show up,” he said. In the rare instance that all of OKC’s 650,000 residents would show up to hear a free State of the City address, Holt said, there would be no space big enough in the city to host everyone. For years, McCollum said, OKC’s State of the City address has been delivered at Cox Convention Center, where maximum capacity stands at 13,846. Lastly, Holt said, those who cannot afford to attend the event or who would simply rather hear the speech from the comfort of their homes have the option to do so. “This speech concerns everyone in our city,” Holt said. “It should be widely accessible.” While the speech is not broadcasted live, city spokeswoman Kristy Yager said
Upon first glance at the event, it could appear to outsiders as an opportunity for the community’s wealthy to network while its mayor gives a run-of-the-mill announcement. “Don’t miss a unique opportunity to … join OKC’s mayor and more than 1,500 business leaders for this event,” Greater Oklahoma City Chamber states on its website. McCollum said if the event seems business-oriented it’s because it’s hosted by Greater Oklahoma City Chamber, whose main goal is to help businesses succeed in OKC. The city’s business leaders are stakeholders just like the rest of the city’s community members, McCollum said. And Holt said his speech will be anything but ordinary. “I’ve watched as past mayors have given their speech and have even helped with behind-the-scenes efforts,” Holt said. During the five years Holt served as former OKC mayor Mick Cornett’s chief of staff, he said he helped ensure Cornett’s State of the City address would be broadcast on demand and available to the public. While community members might have heard Holt talk about the city’s triumphs, challenges and setbacks this year through speeches made at events or through social media, he said it never hurts to be reminded again. Though he intends on addressing the city’s challenges and setbacks, he said most of his speech will consist of positive reflection on his first year as mayor and what he hopes to work on in 2019. “I am an optimistic guy,” he said. “If I felt there was reason for me not to be optimistic, I wouldn’t. But quite frankly, I think we have a lot to celebrate.” Former OKC mayor Ron Norick said he is looking forward to attending Holt’s State of the City address and didn’t get the chance to deliver his own address since the tradition began shortly after he left office. “This is a special event. The mayor has the opportunity to stir up a lot of emotions in people,” Norick said. “He gets the chance to remind them of what all we accomplished as a city over the past year and what we still need to work on as well.” Holt will give his State of the City address 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Jan. 17 at Cox Convention Center, 1 Myriad Gardens. Visit okcchamber.com.
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CO M M E N TA RY
NEWS
Blissful ignorance
When addressing climate change, The Oklahoman editorial board chooses comfort and convenience over responsibility. By George Lang
If we are ever going to seriously confront the realities of environmental change, the flat earth society that consistently denies scientific findings needs to be spun off the globe. Now, I’m not seriously advocating for the systematic launching of climate change deniers into the void of space, but if members of the media thwart progress through unrealistic and compromised rhetoric and continue to deliberately misinform the public, they should not be part of any serious conversation about this world’s future. The day after Thanksgiving, probably the one day of the year when even news junkies tune out current events in favor of leftovers and Black Friday deals, the White House dead-dropped a climate change report. The report prepared by scientists with U.S. Global Change Research Program offered few bright spots on the horizon if aggressive actions to reduce greenhouse gas production are not taken. “Earth’s climate is now changing faster than at any point in the history of modern civilization, primarily as a result of human activities,” wrote David Reidmiller, federal coordinating lead author of the study. “The impacts of global climate change are already being felt in the United States and are projected to intensify in the future — but the severity of future impacts will depend largely on actions taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt to the changes that will occur.” Two days later, on NBC’s Meet the Press, Danielle Pletka of American Enterprise Institute refuted the claims, using U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe’s “snowball” 8
Opinions expressed on the commentary page, in letters to the editor and elsewhere in this newspaper are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of ownership or management.
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argument that the incidence of cold weather negates any claims of global warming and prefaced her statements with the now-infamous meme in the making, “I’m not a scientist, but …” She is absolutely right. Pletka is senior vice president for foreign and defense policy studies at AEI. Asking her to speak on environmental issues is like asking KFOR meteorologist Mike Morgan to discuss the U.S. Department of Defense’s cyber deterrence posture. One week passed before The Oklahoman’s editorial board weighed in, and when it did, it was with characteristic condescension, dismissiveness and a desire for nothing to be done lest our petroleum overlords be rankled and our relative comfort be rudely interrupted. “Ongoing technological progress, innovation and adaptation have continually proved naysayers wrong,” wrote the author or authors. “That’s why there is little reason to believe the apocalypse is nigh. And there’s no reason to embrace government policies that would reduce quality of life far more than what might occur because of climate change.” Throughout the column, the writers referred to scientists as “environmentalists” and “activists,” which is Fox News lingo for “Hippies who want to take away your Hummer H2. Also, your guns, probably.” Climate change, rising air temperatures and creeping shorelines should provide the jump-scares in this realworld scenario, but The Oklahoman editorial board instead chooses to emphasize the recent riots in France over the fuel tax increase imposed by
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Emmanuel Macron’s government as a deterrence against further greenhouse pollution. In the column, those riots were used the way the so-called caravan was used by President Donald Trump and his acolytes during the recent midterms. It was a fear tactic, plain and simple, to imply that any movement toward slowing, reducing or reversing climate change will destabilize society. The author of The Oklahoman column characterized climate change warnings as analogous to Dr. Peter Venkman’s “Dogs and cats living together — mass hysteria” speech in the original Ghostbusters, but in this case, it was the editorial board being irrational and hysterical over potential riots at QuikTrip over gas prices. Besides, if you pay attention to Ghostbusters, Venkman was right. In the film, New York City was “headed for a disaster of biblical proportions.” We might be as well. Gas riots and graffiti on the Arc de Triomphe are not to be sniffed over, but they will be small Euros compared to questions like, “Where do we house and find jobs for everyone who had to abandon the underwater cities of Miami, Houston and New Orleans?” Now I sound like a strident environmentalist, but that threat is real, and even Republicans in Dade County, Florida, finally admit it. Maria Elvira Salazar, the GOP candidate for Florida’s 27th district, told WLRN that “regardless [of] whether we believe that it was man-made or God-made or whomever made it, we have it, and our coastal areas are a danger.” In fact, there was no air
between Salazar’s position and that of Donna Shalala, the former Democratic secretary of Health and Human Services who won that race. When in peril, both sides agree. But we shouldn’t have to be in peril to get the message. At 1,201 feet above sea level, many Oklahoma City residents feel we can be chill about global warming and that there might even be something in it for us like beachfront property in Norman. But with rising water temperatures, increased salinity and the resulting fish kills, nobody will want to be near the ocean. Clearly, we are going the wrong way. On Dec. 4, scientists with Global Carbon Project released yet another troubling report on this issue. According to the group’s most recent study, carbon emissions rose for the second year in a row in 2018. The projected total for this year is 37 billion tons of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. For three years, 2014-16, there was virtually no change. Then, with Trump and former Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt enacting policies that relaxed controls on such emissions, the numbers started going up again. Our state’s leaders love to use imagery of their families in campaign commercials during election cycles, but our children are getting a raw deal from people who want to kick the can down the road on climate change. Oklahoma’s interest in diversifying its economy and exploring clean energy sources is tied to gas prices. When they go down, interest in solar energy, battery technology and harnessing our plentiful wind goes up, but once prices stabilize and begin to creep up, the fossil fuel industry becomes something to be protected at all costs. Personally, I do not want to pass along responsibility for dealing with climate change to my son’s generation, but again, being a parent should not be the only reason to care about this subject. Oklahoma is a conservative state, and The Oklahoman is a conservative newspaper, and that is unlikely to change much in the near future. But self-identified conservatives should look at what the word actually means. We must take care of what we have. Blowing everything on short-term gains does not sound like conservatism at all. Be a Theodore Roosevelt-style conservative and actually conserve.
George Lang is editor-in-chief of Oklahoma Gazette and began his career at Gazette in 1994. He is married to Laura Lang, which greatly improves his likeability. | Photo Nazarene Harris
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chicken
friedNEWS Snow day?
State steak
There are more cows than people in the state of Oklahoma, and by goodness, it’s about darn time to recognize the hard workers of the state’s agricultural industry, according to State Senator Casey Murdock. Murdock authored Senate Bill 21, which would designate the rib-eye as the state steak, in a move to honor and promote the state’s ag industry, according to KFOR. Murdock is a rancher based in Felt. “I don’t want to say it’s a cheerleading bill, but it’s promoting an Oklahoma product,” Murdock told KFOR. “We get beat up on different issues. We’re last in education; we’re last in this and that, and we need to promote what is good in that state also.” The state’s official bird, of course, is the ubiquitous scissor-tailed flycatcher. The state’s beverage is milk, and its official vegetable is the watermelon, which is technically a vegetable even thought most people eat it as a fruit. We’ve got our calendars marked every spring as tourists flock to Oklahoma to eat watermelons. … Wait; no we don’t because that doesn’t happen. While we’ve heard complaints that establishing another state emblem is a waste of time for the Legislature in a state with many other issues, the truth is that it really isn’t that big of an issue. “They say, ‘Oh, you are wasting your time down there.’ We are running bills anyway; this is just running a bill that is going to promote a business in Oklahoma,” Murdock told KFOR, noting that there are 5.2 million head of cattle in Oklahoma. The environmental implications of that much methane released in the atmosphere aside, that’s a lot of cuts of beef for your potential plate. We at Chicken-Fried News agree that the rib-eye is the best cut of beef. While a filet might be pricier, it doesn’t get the benefit of flavor produced from the extra fat in the rib-eye. Whatever you do, don’t order it well-done and cover it in ketchup.
The madness started Monday. “WINTER STORM WATCH” glared across the TV screens of Oklahomans who watch local news weather teams give their best in predictions and forecasts every day. Meteorologists casually tied what they expected to be the great blizzard of 2018 into their sign-offs throughout the week. “Enjoy that sunshine now because we’re in for a turn of events soon. Tune in tomorrow to hear more about ice and snow.” KFOR-TV’s Emily Sutton reported that one model for the storm suggested Oklahoma City snow totals exceeding eight inches were possible. Home improvement stores prepared for a run on snow shovels and, if things got really bad, snow blowers. With each day, the proclamations and weather alerts got a little more serious. “Snow patrol” was the caption of one news alert sent to cellphone app subscribers. “Ice, ice … ready?” was the caption of another. Meteorologists gave a timeline telling viewers what they could expect. “We have big changes ahead as a winter storm gets closer,” KWTV News 9’s weather super
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star David Payne said via a phone alert. “I’ll have the timeline for ice and snow.” Friday was said to be D-Day, when freezing rain and Arctic gusts would sweep down Oklahoma’s plains, creating hazardous driving conditions and possible starvation throughout the weekend. Clever TV producers stretched for story ideas and hungry station advertisers took advantage of the cold and fed viewers weather-related stories like how to prevent the flu and how to ensure that you’re stocked up appro-
priately for bad weather. Social media users captured photos of local grocery store aisles bare due to consumers worried they would be stuck indoors for two or three days. On Saturday, cell phone weather apps and, of course, the sun gave Okies the surprise they didn’t see coming: bright skies and highs in the 40s for the weekend. It’s hard to be too hard on our beloved, sometimes seemingly delusional local meteorologists. Perhaps their overly cautious nature is due to covering storms in a state where the weather can be as unpredictable and potentially hazardous as the tweets of our nation’s commander-in-chief. You guys dropped the ball this time, but we here at Chicken-Fried News, an organization that does not employ a full-time meteorologist but follows Gary England on Twitter, want to give you credit for getting our forecasts right at least 70 percent of the time on all other occasions. Go easy on yourselves, take a break from the hard and demanding pressures of meteorology, go outside, get some fresh air, engage in a friendly snowball fight … oh wait.
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While obtaining medical marijuana is fairly easy, getting a license from a physician is proving to be a bit more difficult. By Matt Dinger
With new dispensaries opening their doors weekly and harvests starting to fill shelves, would-be patients are scrambling to find doctors with openings and answers to their medical questions. As of Dec. 2, 22,571 patient applications have been received by Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA) and 17,122 have been approved, according to its Twitter account. Several metro-area offices on the voluntary registry of physicians aren’t even answering their phones, with messages saying that they’re booked into the new year. Another practice said to expect calls back within 48 to 72 hours. With limited slots at scattered patient drives and some applicants reporting doctor’s visits costing over $250 at some practices, obtaining a medical marijuana license can be harder than getting your hands on medical marijuana.
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For those still seeking an immediate appointment, Green Hope Wellness Clinic, 2309 S. Interstate 35 Service Road, in Moore, might be able to help. Owner Renee Harper has four doctors on-site for six days during the last two weeks of December. Appointments are scheduled six minutes apart and can be made online. Harper said they can easily see 150 people in a day. An appointment currently costs $125. “The way it is now, I take walk-ins every day up until an hour before they stop seeing patients, as well as filling appointments,” she said. Harper, a registered nurse for nearly two decades, said that some patients do not realize doctors do not have to give a reason for their cannabis recommendations. “There’s no qualifying conditions, and I don’t let the doctors put qualifying conditions down | Photo Alexa Ace
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because that’s something that’s not required and could come back to bite them. If the doctor signs the paper, they really can’t deny that recommendation,” Harper said. “You don’t put more than you have to document because in February, they could change things and say, ‘Hey, it’s only good for these four things and now these doctors have written all these and we’re going to reject them for all these other things besides the four qualifying conditions that we’ve decided it should be prescribed for.’ So why would you want that information on something if you don’t have to put it on there? Then they can’t come back later and say, ‘Hey, it can’t be recommended for this, so we’re going to take your card.’ It’s none of their business.” The doctors at Green Hope don’t require a patient to bring medical records but do want to know about prescription drugs a potential patient is taking. Harper said that there are no known medical conditions that would disqualify a patient and no drugs for which using cannabis would cause a dangerous interaction. But some prescription drugs like blood thinners, anti-rejection medications after transplants and drugs to treat autoimmune disorders could be canceled out by cannabis and should be staggered. “You’re taking medicine to stifle something, and then you take something else to support it,” Harper said. “It’s kind of contraindicated like that. For the most part, it’s super safe.” Another rumor going around since the implementation of Senate Bill 1446, which limits opiate prescriptions, is that pain management doctors are forbidden from prescribing to medical cannabis patients. That’s simply not true, Harper said.
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“It’s just them running scared,” she said. That fear is now causing some pain management doctors to purge medical cannabis patients from their rolls. “Some of these guys have been testing positive for THC forever, and then they got their card and now their pain management doctors have fired them, so I’m like, here’s this big, horrible problem that’s about to arise,” Harper said. “I get tons and tons of calls all the time about that.” Medical marijuana is a doctor’s recommendation, not to be confused with a prescription. “That’s like your doctor telling you to use some over-the-counter thing, so if they suggest, for instance, that you use Tylenol for your headache,” she said. “It’s the same thing, that they suggest that you use something with THC in it for whatever it is.” Another issue she has seen with new patients, especially older ones, is that their initial exposure to THC can be overwhelming. “We’re really big into education, so I do free educational classes in the evening several times a month about how to medicate with cannabis because it’s all so high in THC anymore because it’s bred for recreational use and grown for that a lot,” Harper said. “Somebody could have a really bad experience with some high THC stuff and never, ever get benefits from cannabis because they don’t know what they’re doing.” She said mixing CBD with THC is an easy way to experiment with dosage. “CBD competes with THC for that receptor, and so it will counteract that THC,” Harper said. Harper, 57, is new to cannabinoids aside from some youthful experimentation. She first tried CBD when it became legal before giving it to her grandson. “They wanted my 13-year-old grandson to take Zoloft because he was staying up all night and sleeping all day,”
Green Hope Wellness owner Renee Harper stresses the importance of discussing current medications and possible counteractions with medical marijuana. | Photo Alexa Ace
she said. “I was like, ‘You’re not taking that crap. It’s horrible.’ So I gave him some CBD and it helped so much, and then I really started researching it. Lots of these kids that are all on Ritalin and Adderall and all those horrible drugs from the time they’re super young. I just hear people talk all the time about how many pills their kid takes. Oh my God, it’s just awful. Most of them don’t need anything more than CBD.” Green Hope will also be opening its pediatric program to deal with young patients soon. For now, it’s just helping as many adults get their licenses as it can. Green Hope will take your photo and submit your application and fee for another $10. Insurance does not apply for medical marijuana patients, so they can expect to pay a little over $100 for the license. However, Medicare and Medicaid patients are given a reduced fee of $20. Even though the process can seem daunting, it can be done in short order with few complications, even with the high volume of patients Green Hope sees. “Don’t be afraid of the numbers. I just know how many patients they can see in a certain amount of time,” Harper said. “When we get here, there’s not 35 people lined up ready to see the doctor. It’s just a steady flow all day long.”
Go to okgazette.com/oklahoma/santa or email santa@okgazette.com for more details ALL TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS MATCHED BY
BENEFITING
THE TOKE BOARD Total numbers as of Dec. 9, 2018
CONSUMERS
THC
natural person or entity in whose name a marijuana license would be issued
Applications Received: 25,000 Applications Approved: 18,601
DISPENSARIES allows the entity to purchase medical marijuana from a processer licensee or grower licensee and sell medical marijuana only to qualified patients, or their parents or legal guardian(s) if applicable, and caregivers
Applications Approved: 754
GROWERS allows the entity to grow, harvest, and package medical marijuana for the purpose of selling medical marijuana to a dispensary, processor, or researcher
Applications Approved: 1,206 SOURCE Dec. 9, 2018 twitter.com/omma O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | D E C E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 8
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Vegetarian momentum
The Loaded Bowl excels in vegan comfort food that is the perfect entry point to a plant-based diet for Oklahomans. By Jacob Threadgill
The Loaded Bowl 1211 SW Second Street theloadedbowlokc.com | 405-820-9599 WHAT WORKS: Homemade chips and cashew queso are a great combination. WHAT NEEDS WORK: The plain cashew mac and cheese is just that but remains the top-seller. TIP: Consider reducing the amount of meat you eat every week, for yourself and the planet.
It makes sense that Oklahoma City’s only 100 percent vegan brick-and-mortar restaurant open for dinner specializes in comfort food. The odds of a raw, plant-based restaurant surviving in the heart of cattle country is relatively low, but the tide is changing, and it has accelerated since The Loaded Bowl graduated from food truck to its 1211 SW Second St. location in the Farmers Market District two years ago. Around the same time The Loaded Bowl made its brick-and-mortar debut, the breakfast-and-lunch kitchen at The Red Cup made its full-time transition to vegan options. Over the last year, menus around the city have added multiple thoughtful and composed vegan options while OKC’s inaugural VegFest gained thousands more visitors than organizers planned to attend. The Loaded Bowl owners Tevin and Jon Grupe said they plan to host a twoyear celebration for their restaurant in
January to celebrate their continued support, even as it has become more difficult to get to the Farmers Market District as construction on Sheridan Avenue has cut off access by way of Classen Boulevard and Western Avenue. “We couldn’t have asked for a better first two years, honestly,” said Tevin Grupe. “When the construction started around us, we were nervous that it would affect business, but it hasn’t because we’re kind of a destination spot. People are willing to make the trek.” My patronage at The Loaded Bowl has increased over the last year, even as I’ve gotten lost in the construction maze to the Farmers Market on a few occasions. I’ve tried to adopt a flexitarian diet by eating plant-based at least two to four days per week. I’ve made the switch for my own health — there are days where I will have to eat a chicken-fried steak as part of a feature or review for you, dear readers of Oklahoma Gazette — but also for the health of the planet. An average steak dinner with sides has the same carbon footprint as driving six miles in a gasoline-powered vehicle, according to Vox. As each week brings another harrowing climate change report and our state and federal governments continue to trade the future for shortterm financial gain, consumers can make their voices heard where it might actually garner change: the bottom line. While U.S. traditional dairy milk consumption has dropped 22 percent since 2000, the country will set a record for meat consumption in 2018; however, beef consumption is falling in favor
The Southwest quinoa bowl with fresh chips | Photo Jacob Threadgill
of poultry. A Mediterranean diet heavy on beans, nuts and fish featuring a weekly appearance from chicken is a realistic compromise in American culture, where meat is still king. According to a study from University of California at Davis, a global switch to the Mediterranean diet would be equivalent to eliminating a billion cars from the road and would reduce carbon pollution by 15 percent by 2050. Even under this extremely improbable scenario, it would only be a small dent in the reduction of carbon pollution needed to avoid the catastrophic effects of a two-degree Celsius increase in global temperatures. The recent report issued by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said that carbon pollution needs to be cut by 45 percent by 2030, but it does feature a blueprint by which governments can facilitate the needed change through shifts in energy systems and transportation. “We show it can be done within laws of physics and chemistry,” said Jim Skea, co-chair of the UN panel. “Then the final tick box is political will. We cannot answer that. Only our audience can — and that is the governments that receive it.” Even as that message might be falling on deaf ears of our current national administration with the withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, all is not lost. If enough constituents across the country make their voices heard through spending power, it will force action. The Grupes aren’t the kind of people who will try to guilt you into trying their food. When I chatted with Jon last year, he told me, “You don’t have to talk about the benefits of veganism or beat people over the head with climate change statistics and get people defensive. You can just give them good food and it is a win-win.” A majority of The Loaded Bowl’s clientele are meat-eaters due to the menu centered on comfort food like cashew mac and cheese, lasagna and nachos. The restaurant uses soy curds to replace chicken on the menu, which is prominently featured in the Down Home Bowl (cashew mac with broccoli and barbecue “chicken”) and the chicken melt (grilled brown rice with vegetables, tofu, spinach, cashew cheese,
Sesame Rice Bowl | Photo Gazette / file
squash relish and guacamole). I think The Loaded Bowl excels with the loaded nachos in which lentils mimic chorizo, and The Garfield, which is layered lasagna with grilled veggies and garlic bread. The sesame rice bowl features grilled brown rice, which is cooked and then finished to crisp on the flattop before joining tofu, vegetables and sesame ginger sauce. On a recent visit, I tried the Southwest quinoa bowl — seasoned quinoa with black beans, cashew queso and green chile sauce on a bed of fresh spinach topped with guacamole and served with fresh tortilla chips — for the first time. The Loaded Bowl’s tortilla chips keep me coming back. They’re thick and well-seasoned. I wish I could get my quinoa at home to taste as good as The Loaded Bowl does. The restaurant also features an assortment of vegan sweet treats, including cupcakes, cookies and cheesecakes, turned out by the staff baker. I tried the pumpkin cheesecake made with vegan cream cheese. I wanted more pumpkin spice flavor, but I liked the texture of the cheesecake, ginger-spiced graham cracker crust and its caramel-like topping. Even after expanding its menu at the brick-and-mortar, The Loaded Bowl’s most popular item remains the plain cashew mac and cheese. I like its version of cashew cheese, which is traditionally made by blending cashews with lemon juice and spices, including nutritional yeast (the key to providing cheeselike taste), but it’s a little too onenote for me. While cashew cheese has less saturated fat and cholesterol than its goat cheese counterpart, it is higher in overall caloric intake and total fat. It should still very much be treated as an indulgence rather than a staple meal. The Loaded Bowl was the entry point to plant-based eating for many Oklahomans, and it arrived in comfort food that is already familiar. Let’s hope that it’s only the first of many restaurants focused on promoting a lifestyle that will reduce carbon pollution.
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F E AT U R E
EAT & DRINK
Modern tap
Industry Gastro Lounge provides a sports bar experience with a scratch kitchen in an expansive setting. By Jacob Threadgill
As Edmond real estate developer Bobby Kahkesh began to dream up the concept for his new restaurant, he wanted to fill what he saw as a void in Oklahoma City metro’s lack of a locally owned sports bar. But it wasn’t enough just to take over a turnkey building or situate televisions around beer taps. The end result of a two-year planning and construction phase is gigantic and modern Industry Gastro Lounge, 2800 NW 140th St., that features a 7,000 square-foot dining room with two large bars in the center and a 2,500 squarefoot wraparound patio with 160 seats that Kahkesh said, to his knowledge, is the largest in the metro. “It felt like you really had to wrack your brain [to find a sports bar],” Kahkesh said. “You’d have to have to go too risqué and go to something like a Twin Peaks, but families can’t really go there.” The building designed by RBA Architects features space for future valet service outside the entrance, a hip lounge area and a sleek and hip interior décor. It opened at the beginning of October. “We wanted to captivate people with the building and design,” Kahkesh said. “We wanted something that would stay with us for awhile but also be cuttingedge and interesting.” Kahkesh, 42, owns commercial strip malls in Edmond and Frosted Mug Grill & Big Bar at 1800 S. Meridian Ave. He operates Industry Gastro Lounge, which has the flash of a corporately owned establishment, as the sole owner. “There are not a lot of one-offs that get in at this scale,” Kahkesh said. 16
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“Usually it’s IPO (initial public offering) money that takes something to this level. I’m just a local kid homegrown and have been in Edmond since I was 5 years old. It took a culmination of everything I’ve done. I cross-collateralized, refinanced everything and rolled all of the dice to bring this out of the ground. When you’re doing a $3.2 million deal, it takes a lot. It took everything, but that’s just how I do things and how I got here. I go big or go home, for real.” Kahkesh said that he wants Industry Gastro Lounge to be equal parts sports bar and upscale gastro lounge with a majority scratch kitchen that hand-cuts steaks and doesn’t freeze meat.
It took everything [I have], but that’s just how I do things and how I got here. I go big or go home, for real. Bobby Kahkesh “You get bored when you go sit in a pub that’s just a bunch of beer tap handles,” he said. “It’s why we wanted to make it more exciting with live events. We have DJs on the weekend. We got something going for lunch, dinner and after hours.” Three glass doors at the front of the dining area — near a lounge area with designer couches — are retractable, opening to the large patio area. Industry has already
featured live music performances inside but will have a monthly concert series on the patio beginning in spring 2019. The menu features pub classics like fried appetizers but also has soups, salads, steaks, burgers, pizzas with a gluten-free crust option and its mostpopular item: smoked beer can chicken. “The beer can chicken is smoked every morning,” said Jeremiah Ensz, who served as Industry’s general manager before taking another opportunity at the start of December. “It’s not a three-day-old bird that’s been sitting. It goes in the smoker with a [Pabst Blue Ribbon] can [and] hickory chips and [is] served with the can of beer inside the bird. It is super delicious. It’s a good, diverse menu. If you want to put your pinky out when you cut your meat, we’ve got a filet for that. If you want to get in and out, we’ve got a burger for that.” The Angus-certified steaks are cut fresh by kitchen staff every morning and served with a choice of side and a house or Caesar salad. The offerings include rib-eye ($31), Kansas City strip ($24), filet (7-ounce $26, 10-ounce $31), T-bone ($36) and sirloin ($21). “Hand-cutting steaks all comes down to technique,” Ensz said. “If you cut the steak along the grain of the meat the wrong way, it will come out tough. If you tenderize it just right, it won’t cook through and be charred on the outside and rare on the inside. There is more technique in cutting a steak than most people think. If we’re cutting a rib-eye or New York strip and we cut it too lean, it won’t have the fat cap on the back you need to give it that great flavor. If a sirloin is too thin, it won’t cook right.” Industry’s two bars have retrofitted its on-tap beer offerings since initially opening, putting more focus on local breweries. The beer travels along an intricate glycol cooling system housed in aluminum piping traveling overhead in the dining room from taproom to glass for a unique aesthetic feature. Kahkesh said he has been pleased with
Smoked beer can chicken is one of the most popular items at Industry Gastro Lounge. | Photo Alexa Ace
One of two large bars inside the 7,000 squarefoot dining room at Industry Gastro Lounge | Photo Alexa Ace
the support from the community, which supported overflow parking its opening weekend, and noted that it takes about 90 days to square away the logistics of a brand-new kitchen. Feedback has been so positive that Kahkesh has secured a location for a second Industry Gastro Lounge in Moore and is tentatively eyeing a spring 2020 opening as well as a Tulsa location in the future. “It’s going to be a busy four or five years for us,” Kahkesh said.
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Italian feast
Patrono and Stella offer their take on the Feast of the Seven Fishes in time for Christmas. By Jacob Threadgill
The Feast of the Seven Fishes is a Christmastime tradition rooted in Italian-Catholic history that was codified in the United States by Italian-Americans. A pair of Oklahoma City restaurants will host their own Feast of the Seven Fishes dinners. Patrono, 305 N. Walker Ave., hosts a pair of $125 seven-course meals Dec. 19-20 while Stella, 1201 N. Walker Ave., will host a family-style dinner for $65 on Dec. 23.
Feast history 616 N. 5th St, Oklahoma City, OK 405.601.2857 | theunionokc.com M-W 11a-10p | Th-Sat 11-Midnight or Later | Sun 11a-9p
The feast has its origins in cena della Vigilia di Natale, the Christmas Eve meal in Italy and its specifics differ across the many regions of the country, but one constant is that many of the meals do not include livestock, based on the Catholic tradition of abstaining from meat and dairy before certain holidays. The diaspora of Italian tradition began to homogenize in early 20thcentury enclaves of Italian families in the United States, and the feast allowed families to feel connected to their home country while celebrating life from the sea, according to research from Italianbased online marketplace Eataly. The seven is connected to the numerous appearances of the number 7 in Catholic symbols, such as the sacraments, days of creation and deadly sins. Traditionally, the feast can either be seven courses or feature seven types of fish.
Patrono
LINGERIE • ADULT TOYS • BDSM & FETISH ITEMS • LOTIONS • NOVELTY GIFTS & CARDS 615 E. MEMORIAL, OKC • 405-755-8600 18
D E C E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 8 | O KG A Z E T T E . C O M
8009 W. RENO, OKC • 405-792-2020
Patrono executive chef Jonathan Krell grew up in the Philadelphia neighborhood Bella Vista, which he said had a large Italian-Catholic population and was near a large Italian market. This
background inspired Krell to start a Feast of the Seven Fishes last year. “I’ve grown up with [The Feast of the Seven Fishes] my whole life,” he said. “My friends’ families would do it. You could walk down the street and smell the fish frying. It was usually more of a potluck situation so that one person wasn’t responsible for making all seven courses. There was always a huge table of dessert, and it was a big gathering time.” Many of the components Krell enjoyed during feasts while growing up were fried, but his seven-course meal only has one fried item, a Birra Morettibattered tarragon sablefish. Krell wants to put to onus on nuanced preparations of fresh seafood. “Most people I’ve encountered [in Oklahoma] either love seafood and want it all the time or they say they don’t eat it,” he said. “Times have changed; it’s not like it is being shipped by truck. It’s flown overnight. The seafood distributors that I use, some it comes packed in seaweed to let you know where it came from and the freshness of it. I love being able to open a box and it smells like the ocean.” The Patrono dinner begins with tuna carpaccio with lemon, caper berry and anchovy aioli. The second course is spicy garlic shrimp over orzo with a basil puree, which is followed by the fried sablefish. “The way I cook, I like to let everyone get the perfect bite and a piece of everything,” he said. “I don’t cover anything with sauce; it’s always on the side or separated. I want people get a bite with everything and then have fun and make your own bites. It’s a fun way to cook
I
Patrono chef Jonathan Krell | Photo provided
and more interactive way of eating.” The fourth course is a lump crab raviolo (one large ravioli) with roasted red pepper, olive and pomodoro sauce. It is followed by a tomato-braised octopus with creamy polenta and sautéed greens. The sixth course is a grilled diver scallop with garbanzo bean-and-artichoke salad. The final course is Mediterranean swordfish with white beans and winter copanta, which is a seasonal take on the relish that features squash, root vegetables and a hint of cocoa. Patrono will still offer its regular menu both nights of the feast unless tickets sell out. The cost includes tax and gratuity, but not alcohol. Reservations start at 5 p.m. Call 405-702-7660. Patrono is also hosting its ode to ItalianAmerican classics in a $60 dinner featuring guest chef Maryann Reardon, Krell’s mother, on Jan. 30, 2019.
Kaiser’s
A clam pasta from Patrono’s 2017 Feast of the Seven Fishes | Photo provided
Stella Modern Italian Cuisine
Owner Lori Burson got her crash course in Italian cooking while working in restaurants as a way to pay for a semester abroad in Italy while in college. Stella hosts a special dinner every month, but it usually revolves around wine. After years of contemplating the idea, Stella will host its first Feast of the Seven Fishes Dec. 23. “December is such a time to focus on family that I wanted to do a dinner that allowed people to bring their children in,” Burson said. Stella’s dinner on Dec. 23 will begin at 6:30 p.m. with bar service beginning at 6 p.m. The $65 cost does not include alcohol, tax or gratuity. Burson said that seating is family-style around a large table. Some dishes will be served on big platters, while others, like dessert, will be brought out individually. “We want people to become friends over the course of the meal,” she said. The meal designed by Burson and executive chef Melissa Aust begins with a salmon rillette with whipped egg yolk, fried capers and smoked paprika. It is followed with grilled swordfish skewers, pepperonata puree, organic greens and bloody mary vinaigrette. The third course is a deconstructed chowder with littleneck clams, New Zealand green-lipped mussels, crispy confit potato and cream. A seafood mac and cheese rounds out the savory offerings with shrimp, lobster, crab and a five-cheese sauce. Dessert is chocolate-dipped burnt orange ricotta cannoli. Stella is also offering take-home sides and packaged meals for Christmas dinner. Customers can get sides like sausage dressing or autumn hash on their own or a full meal centered on a choice of spiral cut ham or prime rib with sides. Call 405-235-2200 for reservations.
Real Jewish Rye Kaiser’s Grateful Bean Café N Walker & 10th • 236-3503
A fish cake from Patrono’s 2017 Feast of the Seven Fishes | Photo provided
Mon – Thurs 11a-6p • Fri – Sat 11a–8p
A dish from Patrono’s 2017 Feast of the Seven Fishes | Photo provided
Patrono Feast of the Seven Fishes reservations beginning 5 p.m. Dec. 19-20 305 N. Walker Ave. patronookc.com | 405-702-7660 $125 per guest
Stella Feast of the Seven Fishes 6:30 p.m. Dec. 23 1201 N. Walker Ave. stella-okc.com | 405-235-2200 $65
O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | D E C E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 8
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GAZEDIBLES
EAT & DRINK
Yuletide eats
Chinese restaurants serving as a haven for people who don’t celebrate Christmas or perhaps had their meal eaten by the neighbor’s herd of bloodhounds has been planted in pop culture for decades. You can get your fill in the Asian District as well as everywhere else in the metro on Christmas Day. By Jacob Threadgill | Photos provided and Gazette/ file
Gopuram Taste of India
Golden Phoenix
Café Cuvée
If you want something different on Christmas but aren’t in the mood for Chinese food, the new Gopuram location at the corner of Reno and Meridian avenues will be open to provide favorites that span the entire country of India. Its Memorial Road location will not be open on Christmas.
It doesn’t have to be Chinese food if you’re in the mood to check out the Asian District on Christmas. Oklahoma Gazette’s reigning winner in the readervoted Best of OKC poll for best Vietnamese restaurants offers an extensive menu, but its family meals are a great option if you don’t feel like cooking during the holiday.
Chef Taylor Desjarlais has aimed to make French bistro classic dishes more approachable and affordable since the opening of Café Cuvee in Ambassador Hotel in Midtown. During Christmas, the restaurant will offer a few of its menu favorites in addition to a prix fixe menu of selections by Desjarlais and staff.
412 S. Meridian Ave. gopuramtasteofindia.com 405-948-7373
2728 N. Classen Blvd. 405-524-3988
1200 N. Walker Ave. cafecuvee.com | 405-898-8120
Holiday Parties? SamoSal Chaat 4621 N. may | oKC | 778-8469
We have everything on your list! R cookie trays R party trays R breads R party subs R cinnamon rolls
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M-F 7aM-6:30pM • Sat 9:30aM-4pM 2310 N WeSterN 524-0887 20
D E C E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 8 | O KG A Z E T T E . C O M
Grand House Asian Bistro 2701 N. Classen Blvd. grandhouseokc.com | 405-524-7333
Grand House has added pan-Asian concepts to its menu over the years, but its bread and butter will always be its weekend and holiday dim sum service. It is the first restaurant to introduce dim sum in Oklahoma City, so if you’re in the mood on Christmas, you might as well support the original. Reservations are encouraged.
Bricktown Brewery 1 Remington Place bricktownbrewery.com 405-419-4449
Although there won’t be any horse races scheduled on Christmas, there is plenty of reason to visit Remington Park, where its Bricktown Brewery location will be serving an affordable $17.49 buffet featuring holiday favorites like turkey and ham. Of course, you can always order something off of the regular menu like a giant burger, barbecue nachos or a huge, braised short rib. The latter only costs $16.
Flint
Park Avenue Grill
Flint will open at 11 a.m. Christmas Day and offer items from its lunch and dinner menus in addition to a special, chef-designed Christmas plate for $28. The location inside the historic Colcord Hotel also provides unique holiday cheer and aesthetics.
The restaurants inside The Skirvin Hilton Oklahoma City offer a Christmas brunch in addition to a buffet. The brunch will take place 11 a.m.-2 p.m. in the ballroom. Entry is $49.95 for adults and $29.95 for children age 3-10. The hotel will also offer a buffet in Park Avenue Grill for dinner.
15 N. Robinson Ave. flintokc.com | 405-605-0657
1 Park Ave. skirvinhilton.com | 405-702-8444
$20. 9 5 11AM – 9PM
Prime Rib | Fresh Baked Ham | Pot Roast Fried Catsh | Roasted Turkey Breast Enjoy a Traditional Christmas meal at
Side Items
((405) 40 964-7263 Located on the L o rst rs oor on the West W e side of the main m a casino.
Stufng | Mashed Potatoes | Sweet Potatoes Red Potatoes | Green Been Casserole Cranberry Sauce | Corn
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ART
ARTS & CULTURE
Creative minds
An exhibit in Science Museum Oklahoma’s smART Space explores art made by people with dyslexia. By Jeremy Martin
Dyslexia doesn’t actually cause people to see letters backwards, but it might help them see the world in a different way. “Indicators of dyslexia are usually presented as negative or scary things,” said Scott Henderson, director of Science Museum Oklahoma’s smART Space galleries. “Some of the positive indicators of dyslexia are also observable, but they’re never really listed alongside the negative ones.” Henderson said positive aspects of the neurological condition which can cause difficulty in processing language include “big-picture thinking, creative and spatial abilities, a highly developed sense of intuition and empathy [and] aptitude with objective-based hands-on learning.” “Innovators, engineers, storytellers, entrepreneurs — that’s kind of where you see those characteristics,” Henderson said. “It’s a different way of learning and not a disability. … It’s not seeing letters or words backwards. … It’s also not an indicator of a lack of intelligence.” Some of the potentially helpful aspects of this learning difference are on display at Beautiful Minds — Dyslexia and the Creative Advantage through July 14, 2019. Henderson said the inspiration for the exhibit is his 11-year-old daughter Lilli, who was diagnosed with
dyslexia in kindergarten. “My daughter is growing up with dyslexia, and through that journey, I’ve learned a lot of amazing things I thought the public should know about,” Henderson said. “It’s usually just a negative thing you hear about. You never really hear about the positive advantages of dyslexia, so I wanted to frame the exhibit around that. … When you focus on the disadvantages, it doesn’t help the child’s self-esteem or the learning process, and it makes it 10 times harder for the child to learn in a traditional way because it’s a lot harder for them to process. … If people understand that there is an alternative way to manage dyslexia, there’s a way to success.” Alyson Atchison, associate curator of the museum’s smART Space galleries, also has dyslexia, although she didn’t know it until she was studying art in college. “When I started with printmaking, everything that I had done before in art suddenly started making sense and it fell into place,” Atchison said. “I finally was able to slow down and make things less muddy, and other things started making sense to me. It just so happens that a lot of printmakers are dyslexic, and it takes this different way of looking to understand the process.” Some people don’t realize they have dyslexia until much later in life. Film director Steven Spielberg, for example, didn’t find out until he was 60 years old. Many other notable names in art, culture and science have been diagnosed with dyslexia. In her book Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain, cognitive neuroscientist and psycholinguistics professor Maryanne Wolf speculates that Leonardo da Vinci was dyslexic. “One of the things we noticed when we started doing research about it is how many of the historical people who have made big impacts on the world with their inventions or their creative thinking had struggled Mark Wittig’s “Stacking School Chairs” | Photo provided
with dyslexia as well,” Atchison said. “Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein, the Wright Brothers, John Lennon, all these people who have made creative discoveries.” While Atchison’s prints are not included in Beautiful Minds, museum patrons can see works by three other contemporary artists with dyslexia: John Gill from Alfred, New York; Mark Wittig from North Little Rock, Arkansas; and Holly Wilson of Mustang, Oklahoma. Wittig’s work “Stacking School Chairs” seems to present traditional education as a difficult obstacle to surmount. In the artist’s statement on his website, he wrote that some of his works “use school artifacts to explore the stress a person with a learning disability can go through. … For some viewers, the work I create is a metaphor for the frustration I and others have felt living in a society that devalue fluencies and skills outside prevailing norms.” Atchison said she developed creative problem solving skills “out of necessity” because she sometimes had trouble learning in traditional ways. “When I was growing up, in math class, I would get the right answer,” Atchison said, “but you now how your teacher would always say ‘Show your work?’ I would get counted off because I didn’t get to that right answer in the same path that they taught. I was taking more creative paths to get there. … That’s just how my brain worked, the creative thinking and creative problem solving. I couldn’t necessarily follow along with the path that they were trying to teach me.” Wilson’s “Under Our Skin, Girls,” features 12 subjects sculpted in 12 colors of Crayola Crayons. “If we could see ourselves as all the colors in the crayon box, in all the shades,” Wilson, describing the work on her website, wrote, “we would be kinder, we would be able to feel if just for a moment another’s life and our world could change in such a way that children would not worry about if they are too light or too dark to belong and they could feel safe.” The exhibit also features artwork made by Trinity School students with dyslexia, and a display created with Decoding Dyslexia Oklahoma tells the stories of several students who have had successful lives after being diagnosed with the learning difference. Henderson said his own daughter is also doing well. “We caught it at an early age, so now
Mustang artist Holly Wilson’s “Under Our Skin, Girls” is sculpted from Crayola Crayons. | Photo provided
John Gill’s ceramics are on on display at Beautiful Minds – Dyslexia and the Creative Advantage in smART Space at Science Museum Oklahoma through July 14, 2019.| Photo provided
she’s going through the programs,” he said. “She’s able to manage and take care of her dyslexia and learn how to use it to her advantage. … She sees things and pinpoints things that I would never notice. She can rearrange a room and plan out things. She’s very interested in architecture. Her spatial abilities are incredible.” Viewers can see short films starring, written by and in some cases directed by children with dyslexia from the multimedia resource SuperD!ville, and information provided by the ReadWrite Center lists signifiers of dyslexia to aid in early intervention and offers resources for parents. Atchison said ReadWrite’s Facebook page has received hundreds of messages from museum guests wanting to learn more since the exhibit opened in November. For Atchison, realizing she has dyslexia came as a relief. “I think sometimes parents say, ‘Oh, possibly my child is dyslexic,’ and it’s something that they really don’t want to admit; it’s a scary thought,” she said, “but for me everything made sense finally. It was a path to success more than it was a hindrance. It was, ‘Now I get why I’m like this, and now I understand what I need to do.’” Visit sciencemuseumok.org.
Beautiful Minds – Dyslexia and the Creative Advantage Through July 14, 2019 Science Museum Oklahoma 2020 Remington Place sciencemuseumok.org | 405-602-6664 $12.95-$15.95
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ART
ARTS & CULTURE
Tribal tribulation Post Plymouth explores the native identity of four key artists. By Joshua Blanco
Nov. 1, Exhibit C opened its doors to Post Plymouth, an exhibition showcasing Native American life in a contemporary fashion of cultural persistence in the wake of assimilation. Four Native American artists — Roy Boney, Jr.; Daniel McCoy; Cannupa Hanska Luger; and Addie Roanhorse — present their works in a 4,000 squarefoot gallery space dedicated to the stories told through their art. “It’s really focusing on Native American culture thriving in the face of assimilation — how we’ve gone through all these trials and tribulations but we’re still a thriving and vibrant culture,” said Exhibit C manager Tom Farris. Farris knows the artists personally and invited them to be part of the show, an endeavor he spent the better part of a year organizing. Of the artists he was hoping to recruit, his top four agreed to participate — a rare occurrence for curators. “I’ll be in good company,” McCoy said, referencing the other artists he is working with. An Oklahoma native, he described the opportunity to come back to Oklahoma as “a great honor.” McCoy began making art at age 15 when he was enrolled in Sequoyah Schools, the Cherokee Nation boarding school in Tahlequah, where he worked with a teacher who encouraged him to continue creating. As a child living in an artistic setting, it wasn’t long before he fully embraced his creativity and began working in that environment. “I was really lucky being around lots of art shows and saw the power,” he said. “I just gravitated towards it.” After traveling around Oklahoma for some time, he finally lucked out and found steady work painting billboard ads. “I was really young and it was very difficult to just jump right in feet first,”
McCoy said of his earlier days. “We worked for everybody. We didn’t know the word no. … You name it, we painted it.” This was an influ“Without Silence” by Cannupa Hanska Luger | Image Exhibit C / provided
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ential time for his work, which taught him a skill set different from that of the fine art world — one to which he would eventually become accustomed. However, his work painting billboards had a lasting impact, as “it added to the aesthetic of things.” With this show, he hopes to send a message of his own while engaging the theme of the gallery. He chose pieces that depict his current life living in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in addition to some that illustrate his childhood growing up Creek. He also chose some experimental works that show just “how far [he] can go with the painting.” Though he refers to the latter as some of his less marketable works, he enjoys the freedom that comes with their preparation.
It’s really focusing on Native American culture thriving in the face of assimilation — how we’ve gone through all these trials and tribulations but we’re still a thriving and vibrant culture. Tom Farris “That’s where I really enjoy it, where it’s ultimate freedom,” McCoy said. The paintings are typically the product of a deep conversation he has had with his wife or friends. He admitted to sometimes taking up to a year deliberating and conversing the matter before finally translating the thought to a production on canvas, allowing him to produce paintings with meaning. And this isn’t too different from other artists in the show.
Deep connections
Addie Roanhorse also inserts her own stories into her paintings, which typically employ the use of texture and mixed media. She describes her style as “more contemporary than your traditional painters.” Growing up mostly in Santa Fe, her mother, Gina Gray, was a successful artist. Roanhorse said she essentially lived in her mother’s shadow and made the decision early on to pursue art as a career. Now living in Pawhuska, the Osage traditions she was raised in and continues
to practice are still very much a part of both her life and her work. “I have a deep connection to my people,” Roanhorse said. “It definitely defines who I am. … You carry your history with you.” Often, she paints portraits of modern Osage women who still have “this history but [are] still moving on and continuing on.” These girls still have “the same eyes and the same clothing and the same values and the same heritage as they did 200 years” ago. Her background in graphic design influences her process when creating these images, allowing Roanhorse to be more particular with her work. “Everything kind of has to be a certain way and lined up, and there’s a lot of measuring and making sure everything fits before I start applying each layer,” she said. The magic happens when Roanhorse adds color to her paintings, which is how she breathes life into her art. After beginning the linework, the people in her paintings “start to literally come off the canvas.” “That’s when they start to really jump out at me,” she said. Large paintings being her preference, one of her favorites is one she painted and subsequently submitted to the gallery. “She’s definitely off,” Roanhorse said describing the woman in her painting. “It’s still the same style, but it’s just the colors are electric … so I think she’s pretty cool.”
“ᎠᎹ ᎤᎵᏍᎨᏗ” (“Water is Life”) by Roy Boney | Image Exhibit C / provided
“Shoshone Madonna No. 2” by Daniel McCoy | Image Exhibit C / provided
Multiple disciplines
In addition to Roanhorse and McCoy, Luger and Boney will also have their works on display. Luger, however, often takes a different approach. Defined as a multi-disciplinary artist, it’s not uncommon for him to use ceramics, audio and visual components and materials like paper or fiber. Farris describes him as an artist and advocate whose work often deals with the themes at hand, though it also encompasses “a lot of other native advocacy avenues, specifically the kind of troubling issues with Native women being victims of abuse.” Boney is another established artist and member of the Cherokee Nation, a part of his life which has arguably become the cornerstone for his work. “A lot of his work centers around Cherokee language, and it’s used in kind of a contemporary fashion,” Farris said. He also said Boney is one of the people responsible for adding Cherokee syllabary to iPhones. With such a diverse set of artists working separately to present their work together for the purpose of the same overarching message, the event is likely to raise questions and provide insight to curious viewers. “The most important thing that
“Letters Home” by Addie Roanhorse | Image Exhibit C / provided
we’re trying to convey at the exhibit is that Native people and Native culture in general is thriving and is contemporary,” Farris said. “A lot of times, Native people and Native culture are framed in a very historical context, and I think it’s important to remember that we’re still here. … It just gives us an opportunity to kind of present our perspective on being here now.” Visit exhibitcgallery.com.
Post Plymouth through Feb. 28 Exhibit C 1 E. Sheridan Ave., Suite 100 exhibitcgallery.com | 405-767-8900 Free
Tiger Family Art Show at Paseo Gallery One. ON DISPLAY THROUGH JANUARY 2 PA S E O GA LLE RY O NE
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Modern history
An exhibit at FJJMA explores the links between art history and modern art. By Jeremy Martin
If you’d rather look at the pictures than read this article about an art exhibition, some of the educators at University of Oklahoma might understand. “Language itself can be kind of limiting when you’re talking about visual representations,” said Melissa Ski, director of Learning + Engagement Gallery at OU’s Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, “and visual representations, like art itself, can just communicate ideas so much more broadly and immediately.” Visualizing Art History, an exhibition of student projects on view in the museum’s gallery through Sunday, shows the results of an experiment in communicating important concepts in the evolution of contemporary visual art without simply writing or lecturing about them. Robert Bailey, an associate professor of art history, challenged students in his class to put down their pens and Blue Books and demonstrate their knowledge of the course material by creating group projects that could be displayed in an art gallery. “A lot of my research involves conceptual art, which often uses language,” Bailey wrote in an email interv iew. “ Because la ng uage is traditionally my medium as an art historian, this piqued my curiosity about a reversal of sorts. Might visual mediums bear art-historical knowledge? I figured that my contemporary art course would be a good place to explore that interest because the majority of the students in it were art or design majors with the requisite skills to visualize things. We spent a portion of our time studying the history of contemporary art and a portion of our time thinking about how previous art historians have presented the results of their research visually. The exhibition brings all of this together.” When Ski heard about the project,
“Identity Crisis” allows viewers to piece together their own portraits from classic works of art and asks “Do portraits really convey identity?” | Photo Learning + Engagement Gallery / provided
she became intrigued at the possibilities. “Why not make art to explain art history?” she said. “Students who traditionally would write art history papers for their final projects … are trying to communicate ideas, themes and issues that come up a lot in contemporary art history in a more immediate way so that the visitor who interacts with each one of these projects will have a much quicker takeaway and have a very different experience than sitting down and reading a really long and wordy art history book.” As the students began to develop their projects, Ski offered advice for designing compelling installations for museum display. “I talked to the students a little bit about creating an engaging experience in the gallery and really tried to help them think about the visitors that would be looking at and interacting with their work,” she said. “I’m traditionally trained in art history myself, so this is a really exciting thing to watch develop as I worked with the students a little bit in terms of helping them translate these ideas into a museum context. I got to see some of their initial concepts and then watch the physical development of the pieces, and there’s something really incredible about that.” Bailey, too, said he was impressed and inspired by the results. “The assignment was experimental, so you could say that everything the students did surprised me,” Bailey wrote. “I can’t say yet whether using visual mediums necessarily results in
Kate Bunce, Musica (detail), ca. 1895–97. Oil on canvas, 40 3/16 x 30 3/16 x 1 3/4 in., Birmingham Museums Trust (1897P17). © Birmingham Museums Trust
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a different kind of knowledge or in ideas that you can’t get from more straightforward written scholarship, but it certainly creates different possibilities for audiences to interact with arthistorical thinking. … I would say that the biggest surprise was our collective recognition of just how much potential there is for visually reconfiguring how art history acquires its place in the world. Some projects used digital means, while some used very established materials and techniques; some involve audience participation or interaction, while some lean on more standard modes of beholding and reading; and some make knowledge available in really direct ways, while some work in a more roundabout fashion. That’s all really generative.”
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Interactive portraiture
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Some of Ski’s favorite installations offer viewers an interactive experience. “There’s a section about portraiture and identity,” Ski said. “And what the students did is they divided up pieces from very well known portraits into strips — the eyes, the nose, the mouth — and the visitor can then manipulate those portrait pieces and this helps them link to the notion of how we manufacture identity, sometimes in a very purposeful way, thinking about even the way we represent ourselves on social media and take certain pictures of ourselves from certain angles. That is a very immediate concept you can translate to the audience while also making a bigger point about something in art history which is the way people historically wanted to be represented if they were making a certain statement politically or otherwise. So a simple hands-on activity can translate this very heady concept into something that is immediately understandable.” Most impressive of all, Ski said, is a work that comments on the way modern technology’s impact on daily life affects aspects of modern art while subjecting “Icons of Identity” discusses the works of three contemporary artists on posters created in styles reminiscent of their own. | Photo Learning + Engagement Gallery / provided
the viewer to some of that technology. “The best example in the space is called ‘Always Watching,’ and it is a piece about art and surveillance,” she said. “It’s a wall didactic; text on the wall explains how art and surveillance have developed over time, thinking about the post-9/11 world and feeling like we’re always being watched, and on top of that didactic there’s a projector that displays a live feed of the visitor in the gallery, so you’re learning about this very heavy conceptual idea, but you’re doing so by being a part of the work, and really maybe an unwilling or unexpected part of the work because you don’t know that you’re part of it until you walk up and start reading it, and then you recognize your own back.” Are any of the student projects actually works of art? It’s possible, but the professor who assigned them would rather discuss their potential ramifications for the way we discuss art. “Maybe,” wrote Bailey, “but I’m less interested in the answer to that question than in whether and how the students’ projects manifest art-historical knowledge in an unconventional setting and what that means for how art history connects with the public.” By Ski’s standard, some installations in the exhibit offer viewers more than historical information. “Maybe unintentionally, some of these pieces really did come out as well rounded artworks in and of themselves, at least by my view,” she said. “It does create some interesting questions about that subject in and of itself, and by doing so, I definitely think it’s pushing some boundaries and expanding on a lot of topics.” Visit ou.edu/fjjma.
Visualizing Art History through Sunday Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art 555 Elm Ave., Norman ou.edu/fjjma | 405-325-3272 Free
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Western front
An exhibit at National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum examines Western soldiers in World War I. By Jeremy Martin
Before he was killed in action in Northern France on July 4, 1916, American poet Alan Seeger wrote: Drink sometimes, you whose footsteps yet may tread The undisturbed, delightful paths of Earth, To those whose blood, in pious duty shed, Hallows the soil where that same wine had birth. But Michael R. Grauer, the McCasland curator of cowboy culture at National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, said few these days remember the soldiers who fought the Great War, though many who served were their great-grandfathers or great-uncles. Even in the years immediately following the war, few wanted to remember the horrors of the unprecedented global conflict.
The insignia worn by the 90th Infantry Division, also called the TOs or Tough Ombres. | Photo National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum / provided
“Everybody wants to forget it,” Grauer said. “No one was prepared for the gruesomeness of World War I, high explosive shells and chemical warfare on a scale nobody ever imagined. … Unfortunately, World War I is the forgotten war, absolutely forgotten. There is no national monument in Washington, D.C. for World War I, for example. We lost more men in a relatively short amount of time than in any other war. … Nobody understood the tactics. Nobody understood a machine gun or chemical warfare.” The National World War I Memorial is still under construction in Washington, D.C., but Cowboys in Khaki: Westerners in the Great War — on display at National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 NE 63rd St., through May 12, 2019 — chronicles the efforts and sacrifices people from the western United States made to help the Allies win WWI. Grauer said farmers and ranchers began these efforts prior to the U.S. officially entering the war in 1917 by providing beef and wheat to Belgium and France, which became increasingly crucial as the war progressed. Many men from the western United States also went to Europe to fight. While some cowboys went to Canada to enlist before the U.S. officially entered the war, many more joined or were drafted into the U.S. military after the A survey filled out by O.C. Boyd, who served in the U.S. Army from 1917-1919 | Photo National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum / provided
country officially declared war on Germany. Just two generations removed from the Civil War, soldiers from the former Confederacy had a chance to show their loyalty to the re-United States. “World War I provided an opportunity for Southerners to become Americans again,” Grauer said. “This was 50 years later, and it was an opportunity for a true reunification to happen because of the Great War. You could prove yourself to once again be an American by Great War service.” However, that didn’t mean these cowboys and farmers were ready to give up their individual identities. “The political climate was, yeah, they wanted to be in on it but they wanted to kind of maintain their own regional diversity,” Grauer said. “I think there’s a certain amount of independence in the Westerners. They were notoriously rebellious against rule and against officers, and so making them a cohesive unit was a real challenge because they didn’t like taking orders. Farmers in particular because usually a farmer is independent, whereas a cowboy usually was part of a crew and he got used to having a wagon boss. But cowboys and farmers really resisted their officers, especially if they came from another part of the country. So if you had Yankee officers, for example, trying to press their will upon their men, then it usually didn’t work too well.” Troops from the Texas and Oklahoma National Guards formed the 36th and 90th infantry divisions, also known, respectively, as the T-Patchers and the TOs (or Tough Ombres) due to the insignias on their uniforms. Cowboys in Khaki features artifacts from the museum’s military, rodeo and history collections as well as loans from 45th Infantry Division Museum in Oklahoma City and Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum in Canyon, Texas, to illustrate their histories. While Western soldiers fought to maintain their regional identities, Europeans at the time viewed Americans and Westerners as “interchangeable and indivisible,” an idea that was reinforced by the U.S. Army’s uniforms at the time. “When US troops debarked the boats in France, they’re all wearing campaign hats which we call ‘Smokey Bear hats’ today,” Grauer said. “And the French civilians, when they first see them getting off the boat, they see them as all wearing cowboy hats, chapeaux de cowboy. In other words, the cowboys are here to save the day. … Everybody in Europe and other parts of the world thinks every American wears a cowboy hat. So that confirmed it when they got off the boats in France in 1917.”
Forgotten heroes
Native Americans, who wouldn’t officially be recognized as U.S. citizens until 1924, also played a significant role in the war effort. “Here in Oklahoma, for example, people are familiar with the Navajo code
During World War I, O.C. Boyd was a member of the 90th Infantry Division, comprising draftees from Texas and Oklahoma. | Photo National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum / provided
talkers in World War II, but in fact, the code talkers started in World War I, and they were Choctaw,” Grauer said. “They fought with distinction and valor, earning meritorious medals.” Many troops completed artillery exercises at Fort Sill in Lawton, though the army post was significantly less equipped for training at the time. “We sent troops to Fort Sill who were training on one cannon because they only had one,” Grauer said. “A lot of time, their training was with sewer pipes or tree stumps and all kinds of stuff because they were totally unprepared to go to war.” Horses also played a vital role in an era when motor vehicles were much more rare. “Something like 8 million horses saw service,” Grauer said, “not just for the U.S. but for all forces on all sides, and the life expectancy for a horse or a mule in World War I was 10 days. They were targets because that was the only way to get the wagons around.” While many have forgotten the stories of World War I, its ramifications continue to define the boundaries, alliances and conflicts in the modern world. “We’re still fighting World War I,” Grauer said. “It never ended. Everything that’s happening in the world today is a direct result of what was left unfinished at the end of World War I.” The last living WWI veteran died in 2012 at the age of 110, but in the U.S., the end of the war is still commemorated on Nov. 11 as Veteran’s Day, originally called Armistice Day. “I heard a speaker on World War I say, ‘There’s no one who’s truly missing in action unless they’re forgotten,’” Grauer said. “Part of the National Cowboy Museum’s effort is to make sure those men and women are not forgotten.” Visit nationalcowboymuseum.org.
Cowboys in Khaki: Westerners in the Great War through May 12, 2019 National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum 1700 NE 63rd St. nationalcowboymuseum.org | 405-478-2250 Free-$12.50
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FILM
ARTS & CULTURE
That’s entertainment
The new ShowBiz Cinemas entertainment center will offer bowling, arcade games, films and more starting Friday. By Jo Light
The new family entertainment center and cinema complex opening this week as part of a major development at Interstate 35 and Covell Road in Edmond has been a long time coming. The property is a ShowBiz Cinemas —“Bowling, Movies and More!” — concept located at 3001 N. Market St. It will open to the public this Friday, after several years of planning and hard work. In fact, ShowBiz Cinemas CEO Kevin Mitchell said he has been looking at Edmond as the next place for one of the company’s sprawling theaters since 2007. Unfortunately, the real-estate market downturn put a stop to any serious planning early on. This year, Mitchell is happy to finally expand beyond the cinema company’s seven Texas locations. He credits the city of Edmond and those involved in economic development with helping its progress. “I’ve always liked the market,” Mitchell said. “I think it’s very promising. It seems to be growing. And the people there have been fantastic to deal with.” The groundbreaking for the complex was almost exactly one year ago, on Dec. 18, 2017. The original plan was to open the cinemas before Thanksgiving of this year, but excessive rain throughout the summer delayed construction. The company will still make its new pre-holiday opening date on Friday, just in time for a busy season of family
and awards films. ShowBiz prides itself on being more than just a straightforward moviegoing experience. “One thing you’ve got to keep in mind with our concept is we’re not a theater,” Mitchell said. “We’re much more than a theater. We’re a destination zone and an entertainment center.” At the new 65,000 square-foot Edmond location, guests will be able to bowl in one of 14 lanes while enjoying food from a nearby cafe or drinks from a full bar. There is also a large arcade on-site, as well as party rooms for events. The theater itself will have 10 screens with oversized recliner seating. Its Superior Digital Experience theater will have Dolby Atmos sound and an impressive screen that looms four stories tall. ShowBiz will hold a ribbon cutting and red carpet event on Monday. The celebration will feature appearances from Mitchell, Edmond mayor Charles Lamb, members of Edmond Economic Development Authority and the Edmond North High School band. Director of marketing Beth Miska said ShowBiz is thrilled that Edmond North’s band and other public figures are involved in the grand opening. “For all of our theaters and all of our openings, we really like to make sure that the community feels as involved as possible,” she said, “because the locations really are for the community.” Chuck and Gena Norris will also be in attendance. Martial artist and actor Chuck Norris is an Oklahoma native, and
he and his wife are close friends of Mitchell. The ribbon cutting will begin at 5:30 p.m. Guests at the event will be treated to free bowling, games, movies and concessions. The cinema expects up to 1,000 attendees. ShowBiz will be holding giveaways for VIP passes to the event on its social media pages, and listeners of KJ103 and 101.9 The Twister will have opportunities to win free passes as well. Miska said there will be additional giveaways during the last few weeks of the year. For instance, ShowBiz Cinemas offers a free Star Rewards loyalty program, which allows customers to earn points toward tickets or concessions. Edmond visitors who sign up for the program between now and the end of the year will be entered to win free movies for a year. ShowBiz also offers discounted movie tickets on Tuesdays and discounted bowling on Wednesdays. “It’s very important for us to reward our loyal customers,” Mitchell said.
Family flicks
Oklahoma City is seeing more than one new theater chain move into the city, with a Flix Brewhouse coming to Broadway Extension and Britton Road in 2019 and another Texas staple, Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, soon joining the Chisholm Creek development at Memorial Road and Western Avenue. Mitchell said he appreciates his competitors’ business models, but ShowBiz Cinemas opens in Edmond on Friday. | Photo ShowBiz Cinemas / provided
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ShowBiz Cinemas features a bowling alley, a bar and 10 screens with recliner seating. | Photo ShowBiz Cinemas / provided
he pointed out a key difference between the various chains. “I think the name speaks for itself,” he said. “They’re more of a bar, and we’re more family atmosphere and familyoriented. And while we have a bar in our locations, we have zero desire to be in the bar business.” He said ShowBiz Cinemas has the unique ability to be an event space, as well. A staff member will even be available in Edmond to help plan events. “That’s the beauty of our concept,” Mitchell said. “We can cater to a variety of groups, and we can specialize these events any way that our customers desire.” The spaces can be utilized for parties, corporate gatherings, banquets, fundraisers and more. Mitchell said one Texas location recently hosted a lock-in. Miska added that the new location is already getting interest for upcoming events. The Covell Road area where the new center is located is one the city of Edmond hopes will be one of explosive commercial development within the next 10 years, especially as a major entryway into the Oklahoma City metro area along the Interstate 35 corridor. Edmond has already spent over $12 million to widen and improve Covell Road in anticipation of increased traffic. According to Janet Yowell, executive director of Edmond Economic Development Authority, the financial impact of ShowBiz Cinemas will be significant, with an estimated $390,000 brought in via local sales tax collections. At the moment, the area still appears open and green, but businesses like Starbucks, Braum’s Ice Cream & Dairy and Shoppes at East Covell retail center are springing up around the anchoring Hilton Garden Inn, where Edmond Conference Center and Edmond Visitors Bureau are also located. And the brand-new ShowBiz Cinemas building faces the Hilton, ready to lure travelers and locals alike. Visit showbizcinemas.com.
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ARTS & CULTURE
Toys and joy
Jesus House collects food and toys for the holiday season. By Joshua Blanco
In 1973, Sister Ruth Wynne and Sister Betty Adams founded what would become one of Oklahoma City’s premier charitable organizations. Determined to maintain their newly established organization, the pair worked long, arduous hours, dedicating themselves to the care and service of the community. Since its initial founding, Jesus House carried out their mission in a number of different spaces, forcing the staff to relocate in order to keep up with increasing output. What had begun as a small soup kitchen offering regular Bible studies soon flourished into a homeless shelter fully equipped to take care of those in need. By 1983, the organization was incorporated as an official nonprofit, earning itself a more permanent location in the old Orchard Park School Building where it remains to this day. Though several programs were added to its repertoire, those working hard to keep the original mission alive remain true to its roots. As donations for Thanksgiving came to a close, Jesus House executive director Mike Bateman and his team were ramping up another giving spree just in time for the upcoming holiday season. “We know that with working parents in low-income neighborhoods, there’s a lot of pressure here in the holidays,” Bateman said. “We know it’s a struggle … so it’s just taking that pressure off of them this time of year.” Having dealt with his fair share of hardships growing up, Bateman understands the reality of poverty and the difficulties that often arise as Christmas approaches. Raised by a single mother, he and his sister would often accompany her on trips to provide any assistance they could to the veterans residing in nearby nursing homes. 30
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To this day, he recalls those moments as a source of inspiration owing to his unique sense of generosity. “We didn’t have much, but I can remember us making sack lunches,” Bateman said. “And on the weekends, we used to go to the old skid row that used to be down here. We used to go there and hand out lunch packs, and so I guess it was instilled in me at an early age.” A man of humble beginnings, Bateman now finds himself in a position to help make the difference he had always hoped for, expanding his compassion to those throughout the state in the form of food and toys. For the fifth consecutive year, Jesus House will prepare to donate around 500 food baskets to families struggling to put food on the table. At 7:30 a.m. Monday, volunteers will line up at 1335 W. Sheridan Ave. to prepare the baskets for handout. “It’s very interesting how they do it,” said volunteer Sloane Wellner, who works at Price Lang Consulting. “Everybody kind of gathers together and it’s like an assembly line. It’s fun because they time it. … It’s very competitive, so that’s fun to be a part of.” According to Bateman, the volunteers’ new record clocks in at 500 food baskets in 20 minutes and 43 seconds. Those who plan to receive food should be prepared to show a valid state I.D. and proof of residence. Due to a high volume of donations for the Thanksgiving baskets, Jesus House is not requesting any more food. However, the organization is accepting toy donations and will hold a wrapping day starting 9 a.m. Dec. 19. Volunteers dressed as Santa and Mrs. Claus will venture out into nearby neighborhoods on Christmas Eve, handing out gifts to the less fortunate.
“We’ll just go make some kids happy on Christmas Eve that without this ministry, you know, they may have little to no Christmas at all,” Bateman said. “So it’s always a joy to see them — just the faces on the kids and the humbleness of the parents saying thank you. It makes it well worth it.” The goal is to provide families a traditional holiday meal and presents the children can look forward to unwrapping on Christmas morning, something he plans to do for years to come. And it doesn’t seem like he will be in desperate need for extra hands. Still, people are encouraged to sign up, especially if they’re looking for a way to give back to the community. Those who have volunteered in the past seem to have fond memories of their time at Jesus House, often reflecting upon the kindheartedness that made the moment. “I just like seeing everybody get excited about coming together to put together the food baskets for other people,” Wellner said. “I mean, they’re not taking those home; they’re getting them ready for other people who really need them. It’s nice to see people coming together like that.” “We want to let [families] know, ‘Hey, we understand and we love you,’” Bateman said. “And if we can help them
Toy distribution at Jesus House can help children get through difficult times. | Photo Jesus House / provided
out here in this period of time, that’s what we’re here to do.” He acknowledges none of this would be possible had it not been for the compassion of his fellow Oklahomans. Without them, many families would go hungry. “I cannot stress enough how important Oklahomans are, and their willingness to help us out this time of year is just amazing,” he said. “I’m a homegrown Oklahoma boy, so I understand that and have always known Oklahomans — they just have a heart to give and help.” Those who wish to donate to the cause are asked to bring unopened toys. They can be dropped off 7 a.m.-7 p.m. every day at Jesus House, 1335 W. Sheridan Ave. All donations are tax deductible, and a receipt will be provided. Cash is acceptable in lieu of a toy. If writing a check, put “Christmas Toys” in the memo line. Visit jesushouseokc.org.
Volunteers prepare turkeys for distribution at Jesus House. | Photo Jesus House / provided
CO M M U N I T Y
Food love
Dinner With Love organizes a massive effort to provide fully cooked holiday meals as a way to bring families in need together. By Charles Martin
Ten years ago, Bob Rogers traversed Oklahoma’s chilly December weather while a freshly prepared and boxed-up holiday meal warmed his backseat. Rogers was on his very first delivery run for Dinner With Love and would soon arrive to the home of a family he’d never met, but he knew they could use a little goodwill. Rogers was a natural fit for the charity program that recruits an army of volunteers to prepare fully cooked meals to families of up to 10 people that are then delivered across the metro just in time for Christmas. Being well-aware of what a bare-bones Christmas can feel like to a child, Rogers signed up as a delivery driver. “When I was growing up, due to our financial situation, Christmas was not a big deal at our house,” Rogers said, adding that he now makes an annual tradition of bringing his entire clan of family and friends together for two huge Christmas meals. “It’s probably an overreaction on my part.” Before that night, Rogers hadn’t been exposed to the poorer parts of Oklahoma City or its residents. He said he didn’t know what to expect. When he arrived to the appointed house, he met a family that would quickly become his lifelong friends. “The mother works every hour she possibly can, and her little girls are neat as a pin, really well-adjusted,” Rogers said. “Those girls are headed for bigger and better things. One of them has her goals set on going to college and being a physical therapist, and that’s something she might not have even known was available to her. Just through us talking, we all got a little different perspective.” A story from another driver that
Rogers said always chokes him up is when a family was down to a bottle of ketchup in the fridge, which they were going to use to make tomato soup. “When the mother saw that box, she burst out in tears and hugged the lady who’d taken it to her,” Rogers said. “She said, ‘I can’t believe there is someone out there who cares.’” He went on to talk about their work following the 2013 tornado disaster in Moore and a woman who had lost her job and her house to the storm. Her marriage collapsed soon after, so she was left alone to raise the children. Rogers said that the meal wasn’t just for nourishment, but also an affirmation that these families have a support structure within the community to help in trying times.
Culinary connection
After delivering that first meal a decade ago, Rogers volunteered to be on the board to help coordinate with 47 different agencies throughout the metro to identify families in need. It’s a massive task that has grown from its inception 11 years ago when 100 meals were prepared that would feed 1,000 people to this year’s goal of around 900 meals to feed upward of 9,000 people. Since Dinner With Love began, the program has fed a small city’s population, 36,000 people, and is looking to expand its reach. Paul Ravencraft named the organization after his mother, whose middle name is Love. The program’s inspiration came from his mother’s dedication to ambitious holiday meals to unify the community. Paul’s family was also wellversed in food preparation after running two restaurants in Clinton, so the event
Volunteers of all ages help Dinner With Love package dinners and deliver them to families. | Photo Dinner With Love / provided
was a natural fit. “She always provided Christmas and holiday meals which brought the family together,” Ravencraft said. “It meant so much to us that she’d go out of her way, so with Dinner With Love, we don’t skimp. Each family has a meal you or I would have that includes a 10-pound honeyglazed ham, vegetables, potatoes, bread, homemade pie, rolls. We also provide family with a Bible, hard candy, fruit.” Dinner With Love volunteers coordinate with counselors and staff at Neighborhood Services Organization, Fuente de Vida, Hillcrest, The Homeless Alliance, The Latino Agency, Martha’s House, Positive Tomorrows and other churches, public schools and organizations to identify families in need. The meals are prepared at two different sites, starting Dec. 21 at Westminster Presbyterian Church at 4400 N. Shartel Ave. and then Dec. 22 at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church at 222 NW 15th St. It takes over 30 volunteers in the kitchen and roughly 800 drivers to fulfill the orders every year. One of the challenges of an endeavor of this scale is finding health code-approved commercial kitchens able to handle this massive volume. Paul said they’ve reached capacity with their existing facilities but are looking at options to bring in more churches to
Paul Ravencraft created Dinner With Love to honor his mother, who had a passion for feeding the community. | Photo Alexa Ace
help grow the program. The food is important, but so is the connection that drivers can develop with the families they meet. “We’ve put an emphasis on more personal interaction, encouraging drivers to take few minutes to meet the people they are delivering to,” Rogers said, adding another story of a delivery. “This family we delivered to had six people in a one-bedroom apartment. Three little boys came up and introduced themselves to the driver. One said, ‘Look, Mom! An apple!’ He got that excited by an apple. I mean, good gosh. Have you ever been that excited by an apple? Not me.” The last 10 years with Dinner With Love have given Rogers a deep appreciation of the binding power of a holiday meal within a family. His own holiday meal will be broken up into two days and will draw roughly 40 people to his house. It’s not quite as massive as 9,000, but it’s still quite an undertaking, one that Rogers said is worth it to see everyone together. “I just sit back and love it,” Rogers said.
This year, Dinner With Love will deliver 900 meals that will feed around 9,000 people. | Photo Dinner With Love / provided
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CO M M U N I T Y
Students at Boys & Girls Clubs of Oklahoma County use new Chromebooks donated to the club from nonprofit organization WorldVentures. | Photo provided
Access granted
Computers donated to Boys & Girls Clubs of Oklahoma County promise rewarding outcomes.
By Nazarene Harris
With the donation of a dozen Google Chromebooks to Boys & Girls Clubs of Oklahoma County came the first time Sophia Stoller, a 45-year-old mother of four, witnessed children who were too excited to eat cupcakes. “They didn’t blink an eye when I told them we had dessert for them too,” Stoller said. “They were so excited; they couldn’t take their eyes off of the computers.” While children’s infatuation with technology might frustrate many parents who work to place screen time limitations on their own kids, it was a welcome reaction from the children of Boys & Girls Clubs at Oklahoma City’s Telstar Elementary School. On Nov. 15, Dallas-based nonprofit organization WorldVentures Foundation donated 12 Chromebooks, headphones and a workstation to the organization. “Most of these kids don’t have computers at home,” said Jane Sutter, president of Boys & Girls Clubs of Oklahoma County. Before Stoller, who works as WorldVentures executive director, and her team surprised the children with the new computers, she asked the group of about 100 how many of them have a computer at home. “Three of them raised their hands,” she said. “I was shocked.” The lack of access to computers and the internet goes beyond Boys & Girls Clubs of Oklahoma County. According to a 2015 study by the U.S. Census Bureau, 31 percent of Oklahomans lack access to the internet through a home computer. The study also revealed that fewer than 50 percent of families with incomes under $20,000 have internet access at home. That percentage is telling for the 90 percent of 32
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students within the Oklahoma City Public Schools district whose families live under the poverty level, Sutter said. These statistics and others led Stoller and her team at WorldVentures to set their sights on Boys & Girls Clubs of Oklahoma County. “While it might not be thought of as a luxury to many, access to the internet is just that,” Stoller said. “Those of us who have it take it for granted and those of us without it are at a huge disadvantage.”
Learning enhanced
According to a study executed by lowcost wireless provider Kajeet, seven in 10 public school teachers across the United States assign homework requiring internet access and one in three students across the country don’t have access to the internet at home. Likewise, the study revealed that students who have access to the internet from home have higher high school graduation rates and grades overall. Oklahoma City Public Schools spokeswoman Courtney Morton said each school in the district is equipped to provide students with access to the internet and at least one school in the district, Arthur Elementary School, has a one to one ratio of students to computers. Younger students use school computers to access the online reading tool MyOn, and older students can use internet access to fill out college admission applications and submit homework by using the online Google file-sharing tool Dropbox. Morton said several students in the district utilize a free online learning tool called Summit Learning, on which lessons are personalized for each
student and tailored to meet their learning potential. “I can’t believe the growth I have seen through this program,” Summit Learning user and Oklahoma City Public Schools teacher Miranda Crowell said. “I think students enjoy learning more with this program.” Crowell teaches fifth- and sixthgrade English with the assistance of the Summit Learning program. She said the program calls for one hour of inclass computer time with the remaining class time allocated to exercising the lessons learned online through writing book reports or working together on group projects. Summit Learning offers personalized classes in all basic subjects like math, English, science and history and also provides modules titled Mentoring, Cognitive Skills, Habits of Success and Sense of Purpose. “My favorite part of the program is the mentoring it has brought to our school,” Crowell said. “It’s a simple idea that was brought to our attention through this national online program. It really helps debunk the idea that computers do more harm than good in the classroom.” Summit Learning’s mentoring program calls for each student with access to the online program to pair with a teacher or school administrator. The duo meets once a week, Crowell said, to go over the student’s life and academic goals. “We see our students continuously throughout the week,” Crowell said. “But we are in ‘go mode’ constantly. We are always going over assignments and performance. For some of our students, their 15 minutes with their mentor is the one time they have to just take a break and talk about anything they’d like to talk about.” Currently, at least 10 teachers in the district use the Summit Learning program for classes in fifth to eighth A student at Boys & Girls Clubs of Oklahoma County uses new Chromebooks donated to the club from nonprofit organization WorldVentures. | Photo provided
grade. The district first began utilizing the online learning tool in 2015. Mid-Del School District teacher Aaron Baker said computers are utilized by his government class at Del Crest Middle School and his students don’t mind sharing computers when they have to. “When used appropriately, the internet can enhance a student’s education,” Baker said. He said what makes learning online appealing to students is that most online education programs offer lessons in which students learn through playing games. “It’s not a substitute for student-teacher dialogue, but it’s a big help,” he said. Boys & Girls Clubs Telstar director Judith Lawler said she has already seen the kids use online learning tools after school with their new Google Chromebooks. “This is a big deal for them,” she said. Telstar Elementary is one of four locations where Boys & Girls Clubs of Oklahoma County operates. Telstar Elementary sees about 100 children with the organization every week. Children range in age from 6 to 18. Because the Chromebooks are stationed at an Oklahoma City public school, they are monitored in the same way all public school computers in the district are and users are unable to access social media websites or graphic content. Children will, however, have a safe and comfortable place where they can work on their homework online, even if doing so means taking turns using the newly donated Chromebooks. “It’s not enough,” Stoller said of WorldVentures’ contribution. “I left the Boys & Girls Club well aware of that. Twelve computers for 100 kids who likely don’t have any access to a computer at all is not enough. We’ll definitely be back.”
CALENDAR are events recommended by Oklahoma Gazette editorial staff members For full calendar listings, go to okgazette.com.
BOOKS Gary D. Conrad the Edmond-based author will autograph copies of his mystery novel Murder at Stonehenge, 6-7:30 p.m. Dec. 13. Best of Books, 1313 E. Danforth Road, Edmond, 405-340-9202, bestofbooksok.com. THU Miles Halcomb book signing the Enid-based author and attorney will autograph copies of his young adult sci-fi novel A Perfect World, noon-1:30 p.m Dec. 15. Best of Books, 1313 E. Danforth Road, Edmond, 405-340-9202, bestofbooksok.com. SAT
FILM VHS & Chill: Die Hard 2 (1990, USA, Renny Harlin) Detective John McClane (Bruce Willis) must foil another terrorist plot threatening his family, this time at Washington, D.C.’s Dulles International airport, 10 p.m. Dec. 14. Rodeo Cinema, 2221 Exchange Ave, 405-235-3456. FRI
time heist at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City in this film based on a true story, Dec. 7-13. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, 405-236-3100, okcmoa.com. FRI-THU Tokyo Godfathers (2003, Japan, Satoshi Kon, Shôgo Furuya) three homeless people attempt to reunited a newborn child with its parents Christmas Eve in this anime adventure, 7-10 p.m. Dec. 12. Tower Theatre, 425 NW 23rd St., 405-708-6937, towertheatreokc.com. WED
HAPPENINGS Artist Forum: Big Table Art Talk learn how to better manage the business of art at this discussion with Alyson B. Stanfield hosted by Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition, 6-8 p.m. Dec. 12. Paseo Art Space, 3022 Paseo St., 405-525-2688, thepaseo.com. WED Beer, Bratwurst and Board Games play strategy games Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne and Power Grid and enjoy sausage and beer at this event hosted by Oklahoma Board Game Community, 7-11 p.m. Dec. 12. Fassler Hall, 421 NW 10th St., 405-609-3300, fasslerhall.com. WED Board Game Day enjoy local craft beer while playing old-school board and arcade games with friends, 5-8 p.m. Sundays. FlashBack RetroPub, 814 W. Sheridan Ave., 405-633-3604, flashbackretropub.com. SUN
Elf (2003, USA, Jon Favreau) a human adopted by elves (Will Ferrell) struggles to adjust to life in the United States, Dec. 13. Tower Theatre, 425 NW 23rd St., 405-708-6937, towertheatreokc.com. THU
Board Game Night choose from more than 125 board games to play with family and friends with drinks and snacks available, 6-11 p.m. Tuesdays. PB&J Games, 1201 NW 178th Street, Suite 117, 405-6965270, pbandjgames.co. TUE
His Girl Friday (1940, USA, Howard Hawks) a newspaper editor (Cary Grant) desperately tries to prevent his star reporter and ex-wife (Rosalind Russell) from quitting and getting remarried to someone else; airing on OETA as part of the station’s Movie Club, 9 p.m. Dec. 15. SAT
Cheering Away the Holiday Blues learn skills for coping with holiday stress at this four-week group counseling session, 5:30 p.m. Mondays through Dec. 17. Access to Counseling, 3035 NW 63rd St., Suite 200, 405-242-2242, access2counseling.com. MON
Maria by Callas (2017, France, Tom Volf) the opera singer tells her story in her own words through performances, TV appearances, home recordings and letters and memoirs, through Dec. 13. Rodeo Cinema, 2221 Exchange Ave. 405-235-3456. FRI-THU The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992, USA, Brian Henson) Kermit the Frog, Gonzo, Miss Piggy and more take on the Charles Dickens classic in this children’s holiday favorite, 7-10 p.m. Dec. 17. Tower Theatre, 425 NW 23rd St., 405-708-6937, towertheatreokc.com. MON Museo (2018, Mexico, Alonso Ruizpalacios) two veterinary students plan and execute a Christmas-
Chicago Steppin Class learn how to do the popular dance at this free weekly class, 7-9 p.m. Thursdays. L & G’s on the BLVD, 4801 N. Lincoln Blvd., 405-5242001, facebook.com/landgsontheblvd. THU Conversational Spanish Group Meetup an opportunity for all experience levels to practice speaking Spanish, 7 p.m. Tuesdays. Full Circle Bookstore, 1900 Northwest Expressway, 405-842-2900, fullcirclebooks.com. TUE Cowboy Christmas Ball country singer Michael Martin Murphey headlines an evening of holiday entertainment that includes a buffet and a visit from Santa Claus, 5-9 p.m. Dec. 14. National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 NE 63rd St., 405478-2250, nationalcowboymuseum.org. FRI
shopping and more, 6-10 p.m. Plaza District, 1618 N. Gatewood Ave., 405-426-7812, plazadistrict.org. FRI
Weekly Trivia put your knowledge to the test and let your intellectual superiority shine, 7:30-9:30 p.m. Thursdays. HeyDay, 3201 Market Place, 405-3103500, heydayfun.com. THU
Live! on the Plaza: Festivus celebrate the Seinfeld holiday with an airing of grievances and the feats of strength as well as Christmas light displays and carolers, 8-10 p.m. Dec. 14. Plaza District, 1618 N. Gatewood Ave., 405-426-7812, plazadistrict.org. FRI
Downtown Recyclers Toastmasters practice your public speaking skills at this ongoing weekly meeting, noon-1 p.m. Wednesdays. Department of Environmental Quality, 707 N. Robinson Ave., 405702-0100, deq.state.ok.us. WED
Mindful Yoga Happy Hour practice mindful meditation with Bhante Santhapiya, followed by coffee, tea and conversation, 5-7 p.m. Fridays. Oklahoma Buddhist Vihara, 4820 N Portland Ave., 405-810-6528, okbv.org. FRI
Drag Bingo hosted by Luxx Bentley, this game night benefits Other Options, Inc. and Great Plains Rodeo Association, 7 p.m. Dec. 16. The Boom, 2218 NW 39th St., 405-601-7200, theboomokc.com. SUN
OKC Christmas Crawl a holiday-themed pub crawl benefitting Junior League of Oklahoma City, 7-11 p.m. Dec. 14. Deep Deuce District, 100 NE Third St., 405-235-3500, visitokc.com. FRI
Governor’s Club Toastmasters lose your fear of public speaking and gain leadership skills by practicing in a fun and low-stakes environment, noon-1 p.m. Wednesdays. Oklahoma Farm Bureau Building, 2501 N. Stiles Ave., 405-523-2300, okfarmbureau.org. WED
Open Fiber Night a weekly crafting meet-up for knitters, crocheters, spinners and weavers, 5-8 p.m. Thursdays. Yarnatopia, 8407 S. Western Ave., 405601-9995, yarnatopia.com. THU
Roca Patron Tequila Dinner learn about the classifications of tequila from a specialist and enjoy Mexican cuisine, 9 p.m. Dec. 13. Yucatan Taco Stand Tequila Bar and Grill, 100 E. California Ave., 405-6045384, yucatantacostand.com. THU
PAMBE Ghana Global Market shop for handmade and artisanal crafts, clothing and other items at this holiday pop-up shop benefitting bilingual education, through Dec. 24. The Sieber Apartments, 1307 N. Hudson Ave., 405-605-4206. MON
Surf and Turf this weekly all-you-can-eat feast in the Bricktown Brewery features prime rib, snow crab legs, shrimp and more, 4-10 p.m. Thursdays. Remington Park, 1 Remington Place, 405-424-9000, remingtonpark.com. THU
Puerto Rico es Navidad celebrate Christmas with Puerto Rican food, karaoke, dominoes and more, 7 p.m.-midnight Dec. 15. Cantera Event Center, 1 SE 59th St., Suite E, 405-367-1082. SAT
Taste of Art: Holiday Treats learn to make seasonal deserts at this workshop led by Emma Difani, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Dec. 15. [Artspace] at Untitled, 1 NE Third St., 405-815-6665, 1ne3.org. SAT
Historic Train Car Tours see the inside of a 1929 Pullman parlor car on a guided tour offered for a limited time, through Jan. 1, 2019. Science Museum Oklahoma, 2020 Remington Place, 405-602-6664, sciencemuseumok.org. TUE
FRIDAY Photo provided
THURSDAY-SATURDAY Photo provided
Crone Circle women age 54 and older are invited to this meetup and group discussion, 6-8 p.m. Dec. 15. Labyrinth Temple, 417 NW 25th St., 405-406-8318. SAT
Herbs for the Holidays learn to make herbal gifts and decorations at this workshop led by Monica Arndt, owner of Skyridge Herb Farm, 6 p.m. Dec. 12. Will Rogers Garden Center, 3400 NW 36th St., 405943-0827, okc.gov. WED
Print Print Boom! If you’re looking for handmade and one-of-a-kind gifts not mass-produced and packaged by Amazonian wage slaves, you might add Print Print Boom! to the top of your wish list. Billed as Norman’s Bitchinest Holiday Art Fair, this event, now in its fourth year, promises shoppers a chance to browse for prints, paintings, crafts, zines and more created by dozens of local artists and offered at reasonable prices. The seasonal retail therapy session is 6-10 p.m. Friday at Resonator Institute, 325 E. Main St., in Norman. Visit resonator.space.
Oklahoma Film Festival In its inaugural year, this new local festival presented by Oklahoma Film Society offers a brief but broad overview of OKC’s filmmaking scene. Mickey Reece’s recent Fantastic Fest award-winner Strike, Dear Mistress, and Cure His Heart; Laron Chapman’s You People, named Best Oklahoma film at this year’s deadCenter; and Mono, an anthology film directed by Reece, Chapman, Jacob Burns, Cait Brasel and more are among the films being screened in three days at three locations with director Q&A sessions and a closing awards ceremony. The festival opens with Kyle Roberts’ short The Grave 7:30 p.m. Thursday at The Paramount Room, 701 W. Sheridan Ave., and ends with the ceremony at 21c Museum Hotel, 900 W. Main St. Admission is free for all films. For a full schedule, visit facebook.com/ okcfilmsociety.
Holiday Lights Spectacular see more than 100 animated lights displays and a 118-foot Christmas tree on a 1.5-mile drive soundtracked by classic holiday songs, through Dec. 25. Joe B. Barnes Regional Park, 8700 E. Reno Ave., 405-739-1293, midwestcityok.org. FRI-TUE Hugs for the Holidays families experiencing grief over the holiday season can learn to celebrate with joy in new and traditional ways at this event hosted by Calm Waters Center for Children and Families, 6-8 p.m. Dec. 13. Baggerly Funeral Home, 930 S. Broadway Ave. THU Inspiring Conversations with Jeff Krisman the podcaster interviews singer/songwriter Darren Cipponeri and artist Mark Gilmore about their creative processes and life stories, 6-7:30 p.m. Dec. 12. [Artspace] at Untitled, 1 NE Third St., 405-815-6665, 1ne3.org. WED Intro to Magic: The Gathering learn how to play the popular card game and get a free intro deck, 7-10 p.m. Fridays. PB&J Games, 1201 NW 178th St. Suite 117, 405-696-5270, pbandjgames.co. FRI LIVE! on the Plaza join the Plaza District every second Friday for an art walk featuring artists, live music,
Science of Magic Late Nite Lab learn about computer wizardry and other forms of magical-seeming science at this family friendly event, 8-10 p.m. Dec. 14. Science Museum Oklahoma, 2020 Remington Place, 405-602-6664, sciencemuseumok.org. FRI Sister Bingo the Sisters of the Sacred Heartland host an evening of cocktails and prizes at this benefit for Sisu Youth Services, 8-10 p.m. Dec. 14. Apothecary 39, 2125 NW 39th St., 405-605-4100. FRI Territorial Christmas Celebration take a tour of Guthrie’s Victorian-inspired architecture in a horsedrawn carriage and enjoy holiday light displays, through Dec. 24. Downtown Guthrie, Wentz and Oklahoma Avenues, 405-282-0197, offbeatoklahoma. com. SAT-MON Toastmasters Meeting hone public speaking and leadership skills in a move-at-your own pace environment, 7-8:30 p.m. Thursdays. McFarlin United Methodist Church, 419 S. University Drive, 623-810-0295. THU Wednesday Night Trivia test your knowledge on various subjects for the chance to win prizes, 8 p.m. Wednesdays. The Garage Burgers and Beer, 1117 N. Robinson Ave., 405-602-6880, http:www. eatatthegarage.com. WED
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Weekly Trivia put your knowledge to the test and let your intellectual superiority shine, 7:30-9:30 p.m. Wednesdays. Free. HeyDay, 200 S. Oklahoma Ave., Suite HD, 405-349-5946, heydayfun.com. WED Whiskey Tasting taste a variety of bourbon, Irish and rye whiskey paired with hors d’oeuvres at this 21-and-older event, 6-9 p.m. Dec. 18. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, 405-236-3100, okcmoa.com. TUE
FOOD
YOUTH All Aboard Family Night see model trains, enjoy hot cocoa and cookies, hear banjo music and take pictures with Santa Claus at this holiday event, 6 p.m. Dec. 13. Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, 555 Elm Ave., 405-325-3272, ou.edu/fjjma. THU Christmas Express take a train ride with Santa Claus with holiday carols, stories, cocoa and cookies, through Dec. 22. Oklahoma Railway Museum, 3400 NE Grand Blvd., 405-424-8222, oklahomarailwaymuseum.org. SAT Early Explorers toddlers and preschoolers can participate in fun scientific activities they can repeat later at home, 10-11 a.m. Thursdays, Science Museum Oklahoma, 2020 Remington Place, 405-602-6664, sciencemuseumok.org. THU Explore It! get your questions answered of what, why and how about the natural world we live in, 11:30 a.m. -noon Saturdays, through Dec. 29. Sam Noble Museum, 2401 Chautauqua Ave., 405-325-4712, samnoblemuseum.ou.edu. SAT
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CALENDAR C A L E N DA R
continued from page 33 Family Winter Walk walk through the museums 350 real skeletons while sipping hot chocolate and learning about the ways animals adapt to cold weather, 1-7 p.m. Dec. 15. Museum of Osteology, 10301 S. Sunnylane Road, 405-814-0006, museumofosteology.org. SAT Litttle Saplings this educational workshop teaches toddlers about gardening with songs, games, and hands-on activities, 10 a.m.-noon every other Tuesday. Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave., 405445-7080, myriadgardens.com. TUE
Sneaky Snakes a toddler education program teaching children about reptiles with crafts and other activities, 10-11 a.m. Dec. 13 and 20. The Oklahoma City Zoo, 2000 Remington Place, 405-424-3344, okczoo.com. THU Storyland Christmas a visual and performing arts event featuring live music, costumed characters, holiday murals and visits from Santa Claus, through Dec. 16. Charles J. Johnson Central Park, Midwest City, 7209 SE 29th St., 405-739-1293, midwestcity.org. FRI-SUN Storytime Science the museum invites children age 6 and younger to hear a story and participate in a related scientific activity, 10:30 a.m. Tuesdays. Science Museum Oklahoma, 2020 Remington Place, 405-602-6664, sciencemuseumok.org. TUE Winter Break Natural Card Making kids 6-11 years old can created cards using a variety of natural items for decoration, 10 a.m.-noon Dec. 18. Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave., 405-445-7080, myriadgardens.com. TUE
PERFORMING ARTS Battle of the Hardest Artist performers compete in the art of their choice to win cash prizes with the winner chosen by the audience, 9-11:30 p.m. third Monday of every month. Hubbly Bubbly Hookah & Café, 2900 N. Classen Blvd. Suite K, 405-609-2930. MON
A Christmas Story: The Musical all young Ralphie wants for Christmas is a Red Ryder BB gun in the stage adaptation of the cult holiday classic, through Dec. 16. Sooner Theatre, 101 E. Main St., 405321-9600, soonertheatre.com. FRI-SUN Divine Comedy a weekly local showcase featuring a variety of comedians from OKC and elsewhere, 9 p.m. Wednesdays. 51st Street Speakeasy, 1114 NW 51st St., 405-463-0470, 51stspeakeasy.com. WED An Empty Plate in the Café du Grand Boeuf a millionaire decides to commit suicide by starving himself to death in his own private Parisian restaurant in this dark comedy, through Dec. 15, Through Dec. 15. Carpenter Square Theatre, 806 W. Main St., 405-232-6500, carpentersquare.com. FRI-SAT Funny AF Fridays hosted by Dope Astronauts, this weekly comedy showcase features a nationally touring headliner and local standups, 9 p.m. Fridays. Ice Event Center & Grill, 1148 NE 36th St., 405-2084240, iceeventcentergrill.eat24hour.com. FRI Handel’s Messiah selections from the classic composition performed by Kemp Concert Choir under the direction of Warren Puffer Jones, 7 p.m. Dec. 16. First Presbyterian Church OKC, 1001 NW 25th St., 4055256584, fpcokc.org. SUN It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play Frank Capra’s classic holiday film is presented as a mock radio broadcast in this play adaptation, through Dec. 23. The Pollard Theatre, 120 W. Harrison Ave., Guthrie, 405-282-2800, thepollard.org. FRI-SUN Lyricist Lounge an evening of hip-hop with live performances from local artists, open-mic opportunities and food from the Krow’s Nest, 9 p.m.-midnight Dec. 17. Saints, 1715 NW 16th St., 405-602-6308, saintspubokc.com. MON Lyric’s A Christmas Carol the annual production of Charles Dickens’ holiday classic returns, through Dec. 24. Lyric Theatre, 1727 NW 16th St., 405-5249310, lyrictheatreokc.com. FRI-MON A Malt and the Night Inhibitors hear some of the songs from Christmas opera Amahl and the Night Visitors performed by members of Opera on Tap, 8-9:30 p.m. Dec. 15. The Root, 3012 N. Walker Ave., 405-655-5889, therootokc.com. SAT Public Access Open Mic read poetry, do standup comedy, play music or just watch as an audience member, 7 p.m. Sundays. The Paseo Plunge, 3010 Paseo Plunge, 405-315-6224, paseoplunge.org. SUN Red Dirt Open Mic a weekly open mic for comedy and poetry, hosted by Red Dirt Poetry, 7:30-10:30 p.m. Wednesdays. Sauced on Paseo, 2912 Paseo St., 405-521-9800, saucedonpaseo.com. WED Scrooge In Rouge a naughty retelling of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, through Dec. 23, Through Dec. 23. The Boom, 2218 NW 39th St., 405-601-7200, theboomokc.com. FRI-SUN The Skirvin Jazz Club a weekly live jazz show presented by OK Sessions, 7:30 p.m. Fridays. Park Avenue Grill, 1 Park Avenue, 405-702-8444, parkavegrill.com. FRI Those Who Lie Beyond an immersive, interactive performance art piece requiring viewer participation, through Dec. 16. Factory Obscura, 1522 S. Robinson Ave. FRI-SUN The Trailer-Hood Hootenanny join Rayna Over and friends for a night of comedy, music and drag performances, 10 p.m.-1 a.m. Fridays. Frankie’s, 2807 NW 36th St., 405-602-2030, facebook.com/ frankiesokc. FRI
Ugly Sweater Holiday Party Long before the “you vs. the guy she told you not to worry about” memes made fragile masculinity a trending topic, Biz Markie made the Billboard charts with “Just a Friend.” “The Biz” wore his own insecurities on his sleeve, literally, on the single, which featured a photo of him wiping away a tear, presumably after realizing he could never compete with his intended’s nonplatonic buddy. The hip-hop artist who cashed in an off-key chorus for a platinum record will once again see ugliness pay off as he plays DJ at this celebration of ironic fashion choices where the ugliest sweater wearer will win $100. Don your lame apparel 8 p.m. Sunday at Tower Theatre, 425 NW 23rd St. Guests must be at least 21 years old to attend. Tickets are $15-$20. Call 405-708-6937 or visit towertheatreokc.com. SUNDAY Photo provided 34
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Whirling Winter Wonderlands a large cast of musical theatre students performs classic Christmas carols with modern twists, through Dec. 15. UCO Jazz Lab, 100 E. Fifth St., 405-359-7989, ucojazzlab.com. THU-SAT
ACTIVE Holiday Light Ride take a bicycle tour of Automobile Alley and Heritage Hills to see the Christmas lights while listening to holiday tunes, 6 p.m. Dec. 13 and 21. Downtown OKC, 211 N. Robinson Ave., 405235-3500, downtownokc.com. THU-FRI Monday Night Group Ride meet up for a weekly 25-30 minute bicycle ride at about 18 miles per hour through east Oklahoma City, 6 p.m. Mondays. The Bike Lab OKC, 2200 W. Hefner Road, 405-603-7655. MON Red Coyote Merry Mitchmas 5K & 10K run in one of two races and receive a commemorative Christmas ornament and enjoy hot cocoa afterward, 9-10 a.m. Dec. 15. Mitch Park, 1501 W. Covell Road, 405-359-4630, edmondok.com/parks. SAT Wheeler Criterium a weekly nighttime cycling event with criterium races, food trucks and family activities, 5-8 p.m. Tuesdays. Wheeler Park, 1120 S. Western Ave., 405-297-2211, okc.gov. TUE
VISUAL ARTS Alexis Austin: See-Through Women in Secret Kitchens an exhibition of the latest works from the experimental abstract painter, Through Dec. 19. IAO Gallery, 706 W. Sheridan Ave., 405-232-6060, iaogallery.org. FRI-WED American Indian Artists: 20th Century Masters an exhibition of Native art from the Kiowa Six,
Trolls series premiere The latest incarnation of the ever-popular trianglehaired toy line turned hundred-million-dollar DreamWorks franchise is a five-episode stop-motion and live-action series shot in Oklahoma City by local production company Reckless Abandonment Pictures. The series, filmed over seven months, required filmmakers to shoot more than 60,000 individual still photographs, and you can see them all, sequentially and in rapid succession, at this premiere event that ends in a dance party. Costumes are encouraged. Put your hair in the air 5-6 p.m. Wednesday at Special Care, 12201 N. Western Ave. Admission is free, but an RSVP is required due to limited seating. Visit eventbrite.com. WEDNESDAY Photo provided
Harrison Begay, Tonita Peña and more, through Sep. 1, Through May 12, 2019. National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 NE 63rd St., 405-478-2250, nationalcowboymuseum.org. SAT-SUN
works by Edward Weston, Frederick Sommer and more, through Dec. 30. Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, 555 Elm Ave., Norman, 405-325-3272, ou.edu/ fjjma. TUE-SUN
Ceramics Sale view works by local artists, teachers and students at this showcase exhibition and fundraising event, Through Dec. 23. Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center, 3000 General Pershing Blvd., 405-951-0000, oklahomacontemporary.org.
Ticket to Ride: Artists, Designers, And Western Railways view some of the paintings, studies, posters, and graphics that resulted from collaborations between artists and commercial designers with Western rail companies between the late 1880s and early 1930s, through Dec. 30. Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, 555 Elm Ave., 405-325-3272, ou.edu/fjjma.
FRI-SUN
Christmas at The Elms gallery artists including Jeff Dodd, Dan Mieduch, Michi Susan, Beth Hammack, John Brandenburg and more will showcase works that can be purchased as holiday gifts, through Dec. 22. JRB Art at The Elms, 2810 N. Walker Ave., 405-528-6336, jrbartgallery.com. FRI-SAT Daren Kendall: Threshold With Me view seven sculptural thresholds based on the seven terraces of Dante’s purgatory, free, Through Dec. 30. Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, 555 Elm Ave., Norman, 405-3253272, ou.edu/fjjma. FRI-SUN
FRI-SUN
Whiteout at Campbell Art Park an outdoor artwork made by hundreds of transparent white spheres embedded with white LED lights and animated in large-scale patterns, Oct. 10-March 31 Free, Through March 31, 2019. Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center, 3000 General Pershing Blvd., 405-951000, oklahomacontemporary.org. WED-SUN
John Brand view works by painter/photographer John Brand, Through Dec. 31. 50 Penn Place Gallery, 1900 Northwest Expressway, 405-848-5567, 50pennplacegallery.com. SUN-MON Josette Simon-Gestin view paintings by the French artist alongside works by Oklahoma artist Marc Baker, through Dec. 30. Nault Gallery, 816 N. Walker Ave., 405-642-4414, naultfineart.com. FRI-SUN National Geographic Photo Ark a collection of images captured by National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore to preserve current species for future generations, through Dec. 16. The Oklahoma City Zoo, 2000 Remington Place, 405-424-3344, okczoo.com. WED-SUN The New Art: A Milestone Collection Fifty Years Later an exhibition including longstanding highlights and rarely seen works celebrating the museum’s purchase of a 154-piece contemporary art collection in 1968, through Dec. 30. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, 405-236-3100, okcmoa.com. SUN Seeds of Being curated by students enrolled in the university’s Native American Art & Museum Studies Seminar, this exhibition examines the impact of art in indigenous communities, through Dec. 30. Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, 555 Elm Ave., Norman, 405325-3272, ou.edu/fjjma. TUE-SUN Small Works VIII an annual exhibition featuring artworks by Carol Beesley, Carolyn Faster, Steve Hicks and more, through Dec. 23. Norman Santa Fe Depot, 200 S. Jones Ave., Norman, 405-307-9320, pasnorman.org. FRI-SUN Still Looking: The Photography Collection of Carol Beesley Hennagin an exhibition of selections from Hennagin’s extensive collection, including
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Submissions must be received by Oklahoma Gazette no later than noon on Wednesday seven days before the desired publication date. Late submissions will not be included in the listings. Submissions run as space allows, although we strive to make the listings as inclusive as possible. Fax your listings to 528-4600 or e-mail them to listings@okgazette.com. Sorry, but phone submissions cannot be accepted.
For OKG live music
see page 37
COV E R
MUSIC
Open books
A book drive to benefit the young readers of Positive Tomorrows will be held at Commonplace Books Dec. 15. By Jo Light
One evening, at a bar on 23rd Street, local musician Chase Kerby is bent over his laptop, scrutinizing a series of his recent photographs. He’s trying to figure out which pieces would be appropriate for a silent art auction. Kerby is preparing for the big closing event of a book drive he has been organizing for months. The drive is being held to benefit Positive Tomorrows, an Oklahoma City nonprofit private elementary school that serves children experiencing homelessness. Kerby invites donors to bring new or gently used books appropriate for young readers age 6-12 to Commonplace Books, 1325 N. Walker Ave., Suite 138, through Saturday. The drive will conclude with a concert and silent art auction at Commonplace Books, where Kerby will perform with several other Oklahoma musicians. Positive Tomorrows was founded in 1989, the result of a coalition between Oklahoma City Public Schools, Oklahoma State Department of Education, Camp Fire youth development organization, Neighborhood Services Organization and YWCA. Since then, Positive Tomorrows has helped children receive various health checkups and obtain documentation to attend public schools. The organization has also worked to educate children and their families, with the ultimate goal being an end to the cycle of homelessness. They have now become a full-time tuition-free elementary school. “Positive Tomorrows is thrilled that Chase and Commonplace Books have rallied behind our cause and our students in this generous and impactful way,” said Susan Agel, president of
Positive Tomorrows, via email. “As Oklahoma’s only elementary school specifically for children and families experiencing homelessness, and as a private nonprofit, we rely on volunteers and donors to keep our doors open to little ones in need.” Agel emphasized the importance of volunteer work to the continued success of the organization and its goals, particularly during the holidays. “Events like this not only raise muchneeded supplies and funds for our students but also help to spread the word about who we are and what we do,” she said. “Homeless children and families can often feel forgotten, and this event is a reminder that our community remembers them and supports them, especially during this season of giving.” In addition to the book drive at Commonplace Books, Positive Tomorrows will have a Merry Market event TuesdayDec. 20. Gift items are needed to stock the market, and volunteers will be on-site to wrap them. Those interested in volunteering can visit positivetomorrows.org for more information. Driven by a passion for giving and a desire to serve the Oklahoma City community, Kerby began planning the book drive back in October. “I love Positive Tomorrows,” he said. “I love their mission and helping the kids and their families. And it was one of those deals where it’s like, one year we did pajamas because these kids didn’t have pajamas. And then this year, it was like, ‘Let’s try to focus on something that’s a little more centered on a “Teach a man to fish” kind of mentality.’ And I feel like literacy is that.” Kerby previously held a pajama drive with Positive Tomorrows and a canned
food drive before that. He said he picked books this time because they have the unique power to inspire children and perhaps change their lives forever. “I don’t think that a financial burden or deficit that a family is currently stuck in should ever be the thing that puts out the fire of imagination,” he said. “Because that imagination is what leads to ideas.” Kerby said he would like to reach a goal of 200 donated books. He hopes for more, but he also will consider the event a success if one child is positively impacted. “At the end of the day, it’s about the kids and their families,” Kerby said.
Silent art
Kerby urges volunteers who might be interested in helping an organization like Positive Tomorrows but don’t know where to begin to simply start coldcalling. In his experience, nonprofits are usually receptive. Everything for this year’s book drive fell into place almost serendipitously. Ben Nockels at Commonplace Books was immediately on board to provide the space and helped him set a date. Kerby knew he also wanted to pair music with the event and started phoning local artists. In addition to his extensive experience as an active performer and songwriter (and a former participant in season 9 of The Voice), Kerby works as director of the Art Moves initiative at Arts Council Oklahoma City. It has only deepened his connections to Oklahoma City’s art and music scene. Within just a few days, he had commitments from fellow musicians for the book drive. The evening’s performers will include Kerby, Chelsey Cope, Jose Hernandez and Kinsey Charles. They will each perform 30-minute sets. “I’m really excited for this event!” Hernandez said via email. “Positive Tomorrows is an amazing organization, and I’m honored to be a part of this fundraiser. It will be fun, great music, and [help] out the children. Can’t wait!” Cope agreed, pointing to reading as a formative interest.
Jose Hernandez, Chelsey Cope, Chase Kerby and Kinsey Charles perform at a book drive at Commonplace Books 6 p.m. Saturday. | Photo Alexa Ace
“As an artist, reading helped me articulate how to explain myself and my individuality early on,” she said via email. “It helped me question things and think for myself. I think it’s very important for kids to be exposed to a good book and a wild imagination.” Kerby wanted to also incorporate visual art into the event, which is where the idea for the silent auction came into play. The artwork up for auction will include two original photographs by Kerby and additional donated pieces from Plaza Walls curator and muralist Kris Kanaly and local artist Lauren Wright. All proceeds will go to Positive Tomorrows. For those who do not have books available for donation, Commonplace will have books on sale that can be purchased and immediately donated. The Kitchen at Commonplace will serve food and drinks, and craft beer from Anthem Brewing will be available. The beer is provided for free, but donations are also welcome. Book donations are currently being accepted at Commonplace Books through Dec. 15. “Or they can find me on Facebook,” Kerby said. “Send me a message, and I will come and pick the books up myself.” The book drive’s closing concert is 6-9 p.m. Saturday. Admission is free, and all ages are welcome. “I think that when you can bring people together for something that is bigger than just an individual, there tends to be this feeling in the air,” Kerby said. “There’s an atmosphere that lends [itself to] good spirits and kindness and love.” Visit facebook.com/chasekerbymusic.
Book drive 6-9 p.m. Saturday Commonplace Books 1325 N. Walker Ave., Suite 138 facebook.com/chasekerbymusic | 580-534-4540 Free
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MUSIC Magic Sword (from left The Seer on guitar, The Weaver on drums and The Keeper on keyboard) is scheduled to play Friday at 89th Street—OKC, 8911 N. Western Ave. | Photo Otto Kitsinger / provided
bling that mortals have latched onto our sounds so quickly and fervently.
EVENT
OKG: Who would win in a fight between Magic Sword and [Austin metal band] The Sword? Magic Sword: I would say that isn’t a fair fight at all. We are tapped into the power of the eternal cosmos and the nine realms of reality. Perhaps if we were caught sleeping at the time … but still unlikely.
Galactic Excalibur
Magic Sword searches for the Chosen One who can defeat the Lord of Shadow and plays proginfluenced synthwave while doing it. By Jeremy Martin
Call us hard-nosed old-school journalists if you wish, but when we hear three immortal beings are coming to Oklahoma City seeking the Chosen One to help them defeat The Lord of Shadow, we here at Oklahoma Gazette are going to have a few questions. Boise, Idaho’s Magic Sword, according to its biography at least, combines the incredible powers of three supernatural forces of good seeking to restore harmony to all of the realms of reality. Also, it’s a synthwave band scheduled to play Friday at 89th Street—OKC, 8911 N. Western Ave. “When we are reduced to perform for you mortals so that you may even begin to comprehend our grand vision,” the band wrote in an email interview with Gazette, “we do play instruments. The Weaver plays the drums, The Seer plays the guitar and The Keeper plays the keyboard.” Formally, according to the band’s website, that’s The Keeper of the Magic Sword, who legend has it accidentally freed the evil chaos-causing Lord of Shadow from his ancient prison and now must work endlessly to put him back; The Seer of All, who can view past, present and future simultaneously through a multi-lens gyroscopic machine and sense patterns with his always-writhing tentacles; and The Weaver of Hearts and Minds, using his “seemingly endless supply of deft and delicate legs” to spin mystical webs connecting collective consciousness throughout the multiverse. There are rumors about who might be hidden behind their glowing facemasks, but everything officially known about the members of Magic Sword comes from lore chronicled in the band’s promotional material and the 36
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comic books included with its 2015 debut Vol. 1 and 2016 EP Legend. The band’s prog-rock inspired synthwave creates a high-octane, neon-burning atmosphere by mixing elements of Vangelis’ Blade Runner score with Rush’s keyboard-heavy ’80s output, but the lyricless instrumentals offer little insight into the identities of the “immortals” playing them. Is Magic Sword a John Carpenter and Tangerine Dream-inspired synthwave band with an elaborate mythos and an LED-lit Daft Punk-meets-J.R.R. Tolkien aesthetic or are The Keeper, The Weaver and The Seer really, as they claim, on a cosmically crucial quest to find the prophesied Chosen One and finally stop The Lord of Shadow from drawing “all of existence slowly toward himself in a vortex of darkness and destruction?” Perhaps only Joseph Campbell or Giorgio Moroder could tell us for sure, but if there’s the possibility that the OKC metro area is about to play a part in an eons-old battle between the forces of light and darkness, the Gazette is determined to get the scoop. We connected with the immortals over email while they’re either touring the western U.S. promoting their recent single releases or waiting on the “Shores of Oblivion, between time and space ... between what is and what is not” until the next time the Magic Sword pulls them “into the heart of chaos and pain … whenever the need is great” to protect “the pure of heart,” depending on which part of the band’s website you’re currently reading. Oklahoma Gazette: What is your quest? Magic Sword: To see The Lord of Shadow bound or obliterated for all time
from all realms. To do this, we must find the incorruptible Chosen One. OKG: Has your quest brought you through Oklahoma City before? Magic Sword: You are fortunate that we have not had a need to do so in the past, for now Oklahoma City has begun to darken with the murmurings of evil tidings. … You are lucky we’re arriving when we are... OKG: Does your music serve a function in your quest, or is it a separate pursuit? Magic Sword: It functions as a siren song of sorts for you mortals. It is a way for us to be able to get your much-divided attention long enough to perhaps save your souls. We have no other pursuits than to see all of the realms saved. OKG: How much of your legend must one know to fully enjoy your music? Magic Sword: Our music will melt faces with or without prior knowledge. But those who are truly devoted do tend to get more than simple (yet mindblowing) entertainment. In the same way one may listen to the rhythm and cadence of beautiful poetry spoken in an unknown language.
OKG: How will you know when you’ve found the Chosen One? Do you think she or he will be a fan of the band? Magic Sword: The Chosen One may well be one of the faithful, but she or he may also simply be in need of the power and call upon it. We will know when we find them, because they will not fall victim to the lure of power given by the Magic Sword. They are the one and only truly incorruptible soul. OKG: Does The Lord of Shadow have a band? He seems like he’d be into black metal. Magic Sword: Anytime immense pain and suffering are present, he is there. Whenever hate and rage boil over, he feasts upon it. He will use anyone who is willing to hurt others and will gladly extend his hand, even to musicians. We have all seen the power of such things, and he has had a hand in many artists’ visions. OKG: Do you have anything to add? Magic Sword: For all the faithful to stay strong. The dawn is coming.
OKG: Does having tentacles/ endless delicate legs make you a better musician or change your playing technique? Magic Sword: Most of the interactions with our instruments are done with our eternal souls, so no — not really. I imagine they would get in the way if we had to do something with them other than conjuring, astral projecting or fending off enemies. OKG: Do you think your sound has evolved over the years? Has the Sword grown in power? Magic Sword: Oh yes. We can see the power burning brighter every day, which surely doubles the enemies’ efforts. We would say that it is surprising and hum-
Magic Sword released the single “Reborn” in October. | Image provided
Magic Sword 7 p.m. Friday 89th Street OKC 8911 N. Western 89thstreetokc.com | 405-463-9203 $13-$15
LIVE MUSIC These are events recommended by Oklahoma Gazette editorial staff members. For full calendar listings, go to okgazette.com.
WEDNESDAY, DEC. 12 20 Watt Tombstone, Lost Highway. ROCK
MONDAY, DEC. 17 Jason Hunt, Sean Cumming’s Irish Restaurant. FOLK Elizabeth Wise/Wess McMichael/The Ravens, Othello’s Italian Restaurant. BLUES
TUESDAY, DEC. 18
Katie & the Elements, The R & J Lounge and Supper Club. JAZZ
SONGWRITER
COSMIC COWBOY CHRISTMAS
NEW YEAR’S EVE
Robert Earl Keen/Shinyribs, The Jones Assembly. COUNTRY
THURSDAY, DEC. 13
WEDNESDAY, DEC. 19
Hot House Band, Othello’s Italian Restaurant. JAZZ
Kyle Dillingham & Horseshoe Road, CHK/Central Boathouse. COUNTRY/FOLK
Trevor Smith, Eatery & Cocktail Office @ The Union.
12.18.18
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SATURDAY, DEC. 15 36 Inches, Belle Isle Restaurant & Brewing Company. ROCK Brandi Reloaded, Iron Horse Bar & Grill. COVER Darlin’ Darla/Madison McCoy/Ken Pomeroy, Rodeo Opry. COUNTRY Devour the Day/Nevermind the Embers/Fatal Illusion, 89th Street-OKC. ROCK Jabee/Steph/Trip G, Opolis. HIP-HOP Mars Deli/Flock of Pigs/Dredz, 51st Street Speakeasy. HIP-HOP Masterhand/Lymph Nodes/Psychotic Reaction, Blue Note Lounge. ROCK Midas 13, Fuel Bar & Grill. ROCK Puddle of Mudd, Diamond Ballroom. ROCK Stars, Newcastle Casino. COVER Tequila Songbirds, The Blue Door. COUNTRY Tyler Childers/Town Mountain, Tower Theatre. COUNTRY
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Steve Earle & The Dukes “They’re just doing hip-hop for people who are afraid of black people,” said singer/songwriter Steve Earle, describing modern country music in an interview with The Guardian last year. “I like the new Kendrick Lamar record, so I’ll just listen to that.” Earle, meanwhile, doesn’t seem afraid of much, whether it’s bucking the latest trends or calling the president a fascist. So You Wannabe an Outlaw, Earle’s most recent album, was released in 2017, but everything from its raw sound to its Willie Nelson cameo suggests it’s an artifact from the mid-’70s when the Guitar Town and Copperhead Road singer was breaking Nashville protocol as a protégé of Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt. Hear “Fixin’ to Die” live while you still can 8 p.m. Dec. 19 at Tower Theatre, 425 NW 23rd St. Tickets are $40-$65. Call 405708-6937 or visit towertheatreokc.com. DEC. 19 Photo Ted Barron / provided Live music submissions must be received by Oklahoma Gazette no later than noon on Wednesday seven days before the desired publication date. Late submissions will not be included in the listings. Submissions run as space allows, although we strive to make the listings as inclusive as possible. Fax your listings to 528-4600 or e-mail to listings@okgazette.com. Sorry, but phone submissions cannot be accepted.
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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY Homework: Do a homemade ritual in which you vow to attract more blessings into your life. Report results at FreeWillAstrology.com.. ARIES (March 21-April 19)
In 1930, some British mystery writers formed a club to provide each other with artistic support and conviviality. They swore an oath to write their stories so that solving crimes happened solely through the wits of their fictional detectives, and not through “Divine Revelation, Feminine Intuition, Mumbo Jumbo, Jiggery-Pokery, or Act of God.” I understand that principle, but don’t endorse it for your use in the coming weeks. On the contrary. I hope you’ll be on the alert and receptive to Divine Revelations, Feminine Intuition, Mumbo Jumbo, Jiggery-Pokery, and Acts of God.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20)
When you’re prescribed antibiotic pills to fight off infection, you should finish the entire round. If you stop taking the meds partway through because you’re feeling better, you might enable a stronger version of the original infector to get a foothold in your system. This lesson provides an apt metaphor for a process you’re now undergoing. As you seek to purge a certain unhelpful presence in your life, you must follow through to the end. Don’t get lax halfway through. Keep on cleansing yourself and shedding the unwanted influence beyond the time you’re sure you’re free of it.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20)
Danish scientist and poet Piet Hein wrote this melancholy meditation: “Losing one glove is painful, but nothing compared to the pain of losing one, throwing away the other, and finding the first one again.” Let his words serve as a helpful warning to you, Gemini. If you lose one of your gloves, don’t immediately get rid of the second. Rather, be patient and await the eventual reappearance of the first. The same principle applies to other things that might temporarily go missing. CANCER (June 21-July 22) Cancerian author Elizabeth Gilbert is a soulful observer whose prose entertains and illuminates me. She’s well
WE’RE SOCIAL.
aware of her own limitations, however. For example, she writes, “Every few years, I think, ‘Maybe now I’m finally smart enough or sophisticated enough to understand Ulysses. So I pick it up and try it again. And by page 10, as always, I’m like, ‘What the hell?’” Gilbert is referring to the renowned 20th-century novel, James Joyce’s masterwork. She just can’t appreciate it. I propose that you make her your inspirational role model in the coming weeks. Now is a favorable time to acknowledge and accept that there are certain good influences and interesting things that you will simply never be able to benefit from. And that’s OK!
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22)
More than three centuries ago, Dutch immigrants in New York ate a dessert known as the olykoek, or oily cake: sugar-sweetened dough deep-fried in pig fat. It was the forerunner of the modern doughnut. One problem with the otherwise delectable snack was that the center wasn’t always fully cooked. In 1847, a man named Hanson Gregory finally found a solution. Using a pepper shaker, he punched a hole in the middle of the dough, thus launching the shape that has endured until today. I bring this to your attention because I suspect you’re at a comparable turning point. If all goes according to cosmic plan, you will discover a key innovation that makes a pretty good thing even better.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)
I can’t believe I’m going to quote pop star Selena Gomez. But according to my analysis of the current astrological omens, her simple, homespun advice could be especially helpful to you in the coming weeks. “Never look back,” she says. “If Cinderella had looked back and picked up the shoe, she would have never found her prince.” Just to be clear, Virgo, I’m not saying you’ll experience an adventure that has a plot akin to the Cinderella fairy tale. But I do expect you will benefit from a “loss” as long as you’re focused on what’s ahead of you rather than what’s behind you.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)
Among the pieces of jewelry worn by superstar Elvis Presley were a Christian cross and a Star of David. “I don’t
want to miss out on heaven due to a technicality,” he testified. In that spirit, and in accordance with astrological omens, I urge you, too, to cover all your bases in the coming weeks. Honor your important influences. Be extra nice to everyone who might have something to offer you in the future. Show your appreciation for those who have helped make you who you are. And be as openminded and welcoming and multicultural as you can genuinely be. Your motto is “Embrace the rainbow.”
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)
Are you a gambling addict seeking power over your addiction? If you live in Michigan or Illinois, you can formally blacklist yourself from all casinos. Anytime your resolve wanes and you wander into a casino, you can be arrested and fined for trespassing. I invite you to consider a comparable approach as you work to free yourself from a bad habit or debilitating obsession. Enlist some help in enforcing your desire to refrain. Create an obstruction that will interfere with your ability to act on negative impulses.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)
“What is the point of being alive if you don’t at least try to do something remarkable?” Author John Green asked that question. I confess that I’m not entirely comfortable with it. It’s a bit pushy. I find I’m more likely to do remarkable things if I’m not trying too hard to do remarkable things. Nevertheless, I offer it as one of your key themes for 2019. I suspect you will be so naturally inclined to do remarkable things that you won’t feel pressure to do so. Here’s my only advice: up the ante on your desire to be fully yourself; dream up new ways to give your most important gifts; explore all the possibilities of how you can express your soul’s code with vigor and rigor.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)
In the fairy tale “Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” the heroine rejects both the options that are too puny and too excessive. She wisely decides that just enough is exactly right. I think she’s a good role model for you. After your time of feeling somewhat deprived, it would be understandable if you were tempted to crave too much and ask for too much and grab too much. It would be
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In 1140, two dynasties were at war in Weinsberg, in what’s now southern Germany. Conrad III, leader of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, laid siege to the castle at Weinsberg, headquarters of the rival Welfs dynasty. Things went badly for the Welfs, and just before Conrad launched a final attack, they surrendered. With a lastminute touch of mercy, Conrad agreed to allow the women of the castle to flee in safety along with whatever possessions they could carry. The women had an ingenious response. They lifted their husbands onto their backs and hauled them away to freedom. Conrad tolerated the trick, saying he would stand by his promise. I foresee a metaphorically comparable opportunity arising for you, Aquarius. It won’t be a life-or-death situation like that of the Welfs, but it will resemble it in that your original thinking can lead you and yours to greater freedom.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20)
The National Center for Biotechnology Information reported on a 15-year-old boy who had the notion that he could make himself into a superhero. First he arranged to get bitten by many spiders in the hope of acquiring the powers of Spiderman. That didn’t work. Next, he injected mercury into his skin, theorizing it might give him talents comparable to the Marvel Comics mutant character named Mercury. As you strategize to build your power and clout in 2019, Pisces, I trust you won’t resort to questionable methods like those. You won’t need to! Your intuition should steadily guide you, providing precise information on how to proceed. And it all starts now.
Go to RealAstrology.com to check out Rob Brezsny’s expanded weekly audio horoscopes /daily text message horoscopes. The audio horoscopes are also available by phone at 1-877-873-4888 or 1-900-950-7700.
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