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INSIDE

An Original Music Docuseries

COVER P. 17 OKC Taco Week proves there is no single definition of an authentic taco. Maybe the whole concept of culinary authenticity should fall by the wayside and we should just eat tacos — lots of them.

By Jacob Threadgill Cover by Ingvard Ashby

NEWS 4 STATE Black History Month

6 METRO Oklahoma County Sheriff’s

Office citizens advisory board

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8 STATE Muslim Day at the Capitol

A CONCERT BENEFITING

9 COMMENTARY free carry law 10 CHICKEN-FRIED NEWS

THE HIGH CULTURE 12 MARIJUANA Hempfest lawsuits

FEATURING

13 GREEN GLOSSARY

14 MARIJUANA dispensary security

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EAT & DRINK 17 COVER Taco Week

18 REVIEW ND Foods 20 OKC TACO WEEK

22 FEATURE Snack Attack

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ARTS & CULTURE 26 BOOK OF LOVE

27 ART Oklahoma Is Black at Oklahoma

Contemporary Arts Center

and La Sylphide at Civic Center Music Hall

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28 THEATER Miki Kawamura retires

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30 THEATER Oklahoma City Soiree –

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31 COMMUNITY

32 SHOPPING Grain & Grange 33 CALENDAR

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36 EVENT Daughters at 89th Street — 37 LIVE MUSIC

FUN 38 PUZZLES sudoku | crossword 39 ASTROLOGY OKG CLASSIFIEDS 39

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NEWS Camille Landry, owner of Nappy Roots Books, said the store functions as a community center representative of its location in northeast Oklahoma. | Photo Miguel Rios

for upwards of 20 minutes in 100-degree weather, I said, ‘Is there a problem?’ And the teller said, ‘Yeah, you need to take this check to your own bank on your own side of town,’” Landry said. “I know that kind of repression when I run into it, but that kind of set me back on my heels a little bit.”

S TAT E

Oklahoma Is Black

Black Oklahoma

Black Oklahomans discuss navigating life as marginalized people in the Sooner State. By Miguel Rios

The history of black Oklahomans is tied to the Trail of Tears, as slaves came with their Native American masters to what became known as Oklahoma. Slavery continued until the Civil War era, but the oppression of black people continues far beyond that. Today, black Oklahomans still deal with racism and oppression stemming from those periods of time. Christopher G. Acoff, also known as Original Flow, is a local hip-hop artist. He grew up in northeast Oklahoma City and said he first realized he was different when he was about 12 years old. He was walking back to his friend’s house in Edmond when someone in a truck drove toward them intentionally. “We were walking on the street and there was a truck coming, so we start to get out of the way and the truck starts speeding up,” he said. Acoff and his friend rushed out of the way, and while the truck passed, the driver yelled and called them the N-word. “That was when I knew I was different,” Acoff said. “When I heard that and I saw the expression on my friend’s face, he was used to hearing it out there and that made me sad. That’s when I had a real big conversation with my pops about everything.” Acoff’s dad found it hard to explain why that had happened but had a conversation with him about being mindful of his surroundings and always being respectful, particularly to police. “After that, it just kind of grew very real for me and I just kept thinking about it,” Acoff said. “If I didn’t have that conversation, I probably would not be the man I am today. And I would not be able to deal with some of the stuff I deal with 4

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now as an adult. It better prepared me for what was to come regardless of whether I wanted to accept it or not.” Camille Landry, a local activist and owner of Nappy Roots Books, said that conversation is common for black families and is always painful to have. “We have all had that conversation with our children. You have to have it more than once,” she said. “Your child is going to experience [racism]; it is going to happen. The fact of the matter is I do not know one single solitary black man who hasn’t experienced this, and the overwhelming majority of black women have. It doesn’t matter whether that is a black man wearing a clerical collar driving a car with ‘Pastor’ plates on it.” Landry grew up in Chicago but has lived in Oklahoma long enough to call it home. Landry describes her first few experiences in Oklahoma as “jarringly different.” She remembers getting her first paycheck and dealing with blatant racism at the bank. “After sitting at the drive-up window

Tatyana Fazlalizadeh, a visual artist native to Oklahoma, said black people constantly think about their identities even in small interactions. “It’s just going into a store and being a black person in the store and you’re surrounded by white people. It’s not just an interaction that you might have or that you might not have; it’s just being that person in that environment in this political climate within this society that we live in,” she said. “It’s being here in Oklahoma, which is a really red, Republican state, knowing so many people here voted for Trump, knowing what that means. … It’s the fact that I’m black within an environment that is very hostile and very violent towards black and brown people. That alone colors every single situation that you have, wherever you are, wherever you go.” Fazlalizadeh has an upcoming exhibition at Oklahoma Contemporary titled Oklahoma Is Black. She interviewed black residents of northeast Oklahoma, where she grew up, about their experiences with racism and sexism. “One thing about Oklahoma that I think everyone that I talked to would say is that there’s racism here but it’s also this Southern/Midwestern city, and so there’s a focus on politeness,” she said. “So it’s navigating this sort of polite, subtle racism here in Oklahoma that I can say is very different from a place like New York.” For Acoff, that became evident as a child when his teachers would use qualifiers in commending his intelligence, like saying he was “smart for a black kid.” “They were really impressed. But they were impressed not because I had an interest in knowledge; they were impressed that I wasn’t the stereotypical black person that they assumed me to be,” he said. Acoff, Landry and Fazlalizadeh each described dealing with daily microaggressions, small acts of racism that can be intentional or not that communicate hostility. “Frankly, I don’t know a single person of color that does not experience microaggressions on a daily basis, and sometimes you become so accustomed to it that you learn to not react,” Landry said. “If you did, you would exist in a constant state of rage and anger, and that hurts Christopher G. Acoff, AKA Original Flow, is working on a new album, which he describes as the sum total of everything he has experienced in his life from being a black child to growing up into a hip-hop artist. | Photo Alexa Ace

you. I mean, it’s literally hurtful.” Despite the blatant and subtle racism that black Oklahomans navigate through in their everyday lives, things like community, unity and self-expression help ease those issues. Acoff found poetry and rap to be powerful tools in coping with the crime he witnessed as a child growing up in east Oklahoma and continues to use it in combating stereotypes and lifting others. He described his upcoming album, BlackManKidBoy, as the sum total of everything he has experienced from being a black child to growing and continuing to fight stereotypes. Landry created a community hub for all people but works to empower and educate young black children through various community events at Nappy Roots. Some upcoming events include an educational discussion about Oklahoma’s black towns and readings in which children listen to stories of young black children in history who were civically engaged.

Tatyana Fazlalizadeh interviewed black residents of northeast Oklahoma for her upcoming exhibition, Oklahoma Is Black, at Oklahoma Contemporary. | Photo provided

Fazlalizadeh uses visual art to showcase diversity, empower marginalized people and confront outdated, conservative viewpoints. Her upcoming exhibition is a reference to her America Is Black series that reflected the voices of marginalized groups challenging the acceptance of bigotry and white supremacy. “People have been very supportive of the show — and I’m very appreciative of that — but I would also like to challenge the white people who come to the show or who support this show to not just support this show and to feel like that is their support of ‘minorities,’” Fazlalizadeh said. “I challenge them to look at themselves as well. To look at what they do in their everyday lives and how they can be better in their everyday lives when it comes to dismantling racism and white supremacy. I know that is a big ask, but I think that goes a long way in actually changing things. I would ask white folks to look past just this article and past the show I’m doing because it takes a lot more than that.”

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METRO

NEWS

Voices heard

Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office is forming a citizens advisory board to better engage with the community and promote transparency. By Miguel Rios

Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office recently announced its intent to form a citizens advisory board (CAB). The board will advise the sheriff’s office with regard to “community-police relations and best practices,” according to a press release. Members of Voices Organized in Civic Engagement (VOICE), a coalition of churches, nonprofits and schools, came up with the idea of a CAB for the sheriff’s office in 2017, said Sundra Flansburg, co-chair of VOICE’s restorative justice team. “We came up with that as a tool to start working on some of the conditions that we were hearing about from people and families who had loved ones in the jail,” she said. “We were concerned about conditions that we were hearing about and safety and the fact that ... people said they were trying to file complaints and there wasn’t a very transparent process for doing that or getting feedback on it.” The CAB will be a great way for citizens to learn more about the jail and provide input on potential solutions for issues, Flansburg said. She hopes bad conditions can be resolved and inmates and their families get more of a voice in terms of filing complaints and getting them addressed. VOICE hosts accountability sessions for candidates running for public office and asks them questions on the record. When Sheriff P.D. Taylor was running for county sheriff, he promised to work with VOICE to set up the advisory board. “When Sheriff Taylor was elected, we then did some research and there weren’t any CABs actually in Oklahoma at that time. So we were looking at other cities and models and had some conversations with Sheriff Taylor about how to get that going and what it might look like, and that kind of happened through 2018,” Flansburg said. “I will say that when Carrie Blumert got elected to [Oklahoma County District 1 commissioner], she told us she wanted to get that done. She wanted to kind of put a little more energy into it and get it done in her first 100 days.” VOICE met with other county commissioners in the past, but Flansburg said there wasn’t as much eagerness to move on it like there was with Blumert. “I was all for it because my goal as a commissioner is to work very closely Mark Opgrande, Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office spokesman, said the department is excited to get the board up and running as soon as possible. | Photo Alexa Ace

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with our sheriff’s office in making some big changes at our jail and lowering the number of people we put in our facility and connecting them with good treatment and then potentially building a new facility in the future,” Blumert said. “It seems like a natural way to bring citizens into the conversation of criminal justice at an extremely local level. I mean, your county jail is the most local level of the criminal justice system.” After former sheriff John Whetsel retired amid controversy surrounding mismanagement of funds, Blumert said people started paying more attention to what was going on in the sheriff’s office. She feels like a board made up of citizens is a great way to keep the public informed and give the sheriff another way to communicate. “VOICE had met with [Sheriff Taylor] before I was elected, and he was open to it. Then, when I sat down with him and talked about it, I think the fact that a commissioner was very supportive of it kind of nudged them along,” she said. “But he was always open to it; it wasn’t like it took a lot of convincing.”

Forming a board

Mark Opgrande, Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office spokesman, said Taylor felt it was a great idea. He said once Blumert was sworn into office in January, she became an important catalyst to move forward on the board. They took a program from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to help model Oklahoma’s CAB. “This will be about the entire agency,

not just the jail. It’s going to be an advisory board that’s going to go over the entire agency because we want to make sure that we cover everything that we do,” Opgrande said. “So we are in the very beginning stages right now. We don’t know how many people will be on the board, how long they’ll serve, how long they’ll meet — those are all things that we’re trying to work out right now.” Opgrande said there is not a set date for the board to be up and running, but Blumert hopes to have applications out in the next few months and the CAB operating by July 1, the start of the fiscal year. Blumert would also like the board to be made up of at least 20 people. “When we do have the selection process, we want it to be as unbiased as possible, and we want as many different types of people — people from different backgrounds, different ethnicities, different sexual orientation, everything. We want a very diverse group to have their eyes on this,” Blumert said. Officials are working with a DOJ representative in Dallas to help get the board started. Opgrande said the main

Oklahoma County District 1 commissioner Carrie Blumert hopes the citizens advisory board is up and running by July 1, the start of the fiscal year. | Photo Alexa Ace

purpose is to engage the community and gauge how it thinks communitypolice relations should look. “We’re always looking for input on how people think their money should be spent and how we should operate. What we should focus on? Do they want us to focus on property crime? Do they want us to focus on speeders, traffic violations? Those are the kinds of things we’d like to get feedback from the board on,” he said. “It’s a two-way street. We want to come out with solutions.” The CAB will also give the department feedback on the ongoings of the jail and any programs that fall under the sheriff’s office. “We want to engage the public so they understand what this facility is, what it’s about, its deficiencies, which of course are many,” Opgrande said. “But then also to know about our [School Resource Officer] programs, our judicial services, the courthouse security that we run. So it’s all-encompassing. We hope to get answers on a lot of things and a lot of feedback on all of our operations.” The board will be a good way for the public to be more aware of things that are going on in the department, Blumert said. “We’re not creating this group just to make the sheriff look good. We’re creating this group to give the public a little more transparency. If something comes up that they don’t like or they disagree with or they’re concerned about, we can have a constructive conversation and work together and try to figure it out,” she said. “I am very excited that we’re starting this. One of the ways I approach being a commissioner is trying to work with the community as much as possible and getting input from the right people. I mean, I answer to you all. You guys put me in this position, so I want to be as transparent as possible, and I think this is a pretty good way to do that.”

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NEWS Members of the interfaith community attend the Capitol event to show their support to the Muslim community. | Photo CAIR / provided

former governor Mary Fallin. Gov. Kevin Stitt has said he will sign the bill if it reaches his desk. “That’s the one that’s kind of a hotbutton issue right now, but there’s another one that is very concerning to us,” Habrock said. “Senate Bill 38 permits concealed carry of firearms within the state Capitol building, and it’s only regulated to persons with a handgun license. … This is very concerning to us specifically because our Muslim Day at the Capitol has, in the past, been on the edge of becoming violent because of people so bigoted against Muslims.”

Capitol relationship

CIT Y

Capitol CAIR Council on American-Islamic Relations is hosting its fifth annual Oklahoma Muslim Day at the Capitol to encourage civic engagement within the community. By Miguel Rios

The Oklahoma chapter of Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has seen its annual Muslim Day at the Capitol event grow exponentially since 2015. What started as a somewhat basic introduction to the Capitol has grown into a full-blown day of action and advocacy. Lani Habrock, CAIR government affairs director, said the group began the event because it wanted to educate members of the Muslim community, many of whom are first-generation immigrants with few examples of political engagement. “In 2015, we had our first Muslim day at the Capitol, and that was met with some very strong opposition,” she said. “There were people with signs and yelling things, and it was very scary. But after that, the great thing that happened was the interfaith community reached out to us and they said, ‘How can we help you? Because this is your Capitol too.’ … So ever since 2015, the interfaith community has created what we call a ‘corridor of love.’” When Muslim people arrive at the Capitol for the event, interfaith community members with their own signs of support welcome them and shield them from protesters. The event itself has also evolved. In its first year, Habrock said it essentially boiled down to a tour of the building. CAIR has built on that every year since, and now Muslim Day at the Capitol focuses on legislative advocacy. “We are going to have our 2019 leg8

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islative guide and agenda,” Habrock said. “Every year, we kind of pick core issue areas that are important to the Muslim community and really try to focus on those in addition to making sure that we watch civil rights issues and the rights of minorities.”

Relations have gotten a lot better at the Capitol. Lani Habrock

Issues to watch

While there are no bills that deal with the Muslim community directly, Habrock said there are still things that affect them indirectly. One of those issues relates to the House’s opening prayer. Last year, Rep. Jason Dunnington, D-Oklahoma City, nominated a local imam and Oklahoma City University religion professor to lead the prayer. “The House, they always open up their session with a prayer, and it’s always been somebody that’s nominated by House members. Last year, Rep. Dunnington nominated Imad Enchassi,” Habrock said. “A nomination has never been rejected before, but … they rejected it. And then they turned around and changed the rules, stating that a representative could not nominate a faith leader unless it was the leader of the house of worship that they

personally attended, which is very exclusionary because all of our representatives pretty much are Christian. We don’t have a single Jewish representative or Muslim or Hindu.” Rather than dealing with the issue, Habrock said a pastor was chosen to be the designated chaplain to lead the prayer. “We’re still trying to follow up with that because we haven’t gotten a lot of response from leadership,” she said. “That was supposed to be, from our understanding, a temporary fix, but we haven’t heard anything. So I think they’re just hoping that it goes away.” Another issue the Muslim community deals with is a rise in harassment and discrimination. Habrock said statistics between 2015 and 2017 showed a 25 percent increase. “The data for this year hasn’t come out, but we have seen personally, just in our Oklahoma office, a large rise in people calling our civil rights division with claims,” she said. “However, on the positive side of that, we have had a lot more positive experiences in resolving those issues.” In the Legislature, CAIR is watching a bill on bullying and two bills regarding guns. House Bill 1068, introduced by Rep. Daniel Pae, R-Lawton, would amend the state definition of “bullying.” “[The bill] modifies the state definition of bullying from having to be something that happens multiple times to just a single incident of harassment,” Habrock said. “So that bill passed committee, and we’re looking forward to it hopefully passing the floor as well as getting signed by the governor. We think it’s an important change for all Oklahoma students, including Muslim students.” House Bill 2597 by Majority Leader Jon Echols, R-Oklahoma City, would allow anyone over the age of 21 without a felony or criminal record to carry a firearm without a permit, license or training. A similar bill passed the Legislature last year but was vetoed by

Over the years, Habrock said the relationship between the Muslim community and lawmakers has become increasingly positive. Former House Rep. John Bennett became known for calling Islam a “cancer” in society and for referring to local Muslim leaders as terrorists. “Relations have gotten a lot better at the Capitol since then. What we’ve been doing is having meet-and-greets at mosques around the state,” Habrock said. “We invite all of the representatives and senators and some of the local public figures to come and meet their Muslim neighbors.” One of the most exciting meet-andgreets, Habrock said, was just a few weeks ago in Stillwater. “Every single representative that represented the Stillwater area that we invited all showed up. All of them except for one were Republican,” she said. “It’s been very exciting because we’ve always had a few allies that have always been representatives or senators that have had ties to the Muslim community … but we really wanted everybody to just recognize that they have Muslims in their districts and they’re constituents too.” Habrock said some Muslim-unfriendly officials also termed out, did not run or lost their seat during recent elections. “People that were kind of far to the right and to the left, those people were ousted and they were replaced by more moderates,” Habrock said. “So although the Republican Party has a supermajority in both chambers this year, we’re actually looking forward to seeing more progress because both sides seem more willing to talk with us and to build relationships.” CAIR officials continue to push for recognition of the Muslim community and pass laws that benefit all Oklahomans. They have seen more confidence from community members in interacting with their government and getting involved. Muslim Day at the Capitol is 9 a.m.-3 p.m. March 4. Fees are $20-$40. Visit cairoklahoma.com.

CO M M E N TA RY

Carry on If signed into law, Oklahoma’s “constitutional carry” bill will cause more problems than it will solve. By George Lang

A bill that passed the state House of Representatives last week and is likely to become law will remove permitting and training requirements from the purchase and use of handguns. This legislation is not a solution in search of a problem; it is a problem that will eventually require a solution. On Feb. 13, House Bill 2597 passed the House 70-30, a margin that should make no one feel safe. If passed and signed into law, this so-called “constitutional carry” bill will allow anyone over age 21 and members of the military over 18 to carry guns without permits as long as they have not been convicted of a felony or found in court to be mentally ill. Gov. Kevin Stitt, who wants to operate Oklahoma like a business, albeit one that involves a lot of latenight meetings hovering over Zero Halliburton cases in car trunks, has indicated he will sign the bill if it reaches his desk. Legislators in thrall to the gun lobby were quick to point out the Second Amendment provisions for all-youcan-shoot ordnance buffets. “What this does is allow, as the Constitution states, that a person can carry a firearm without having to purchase that right,” said state Rep. Kevin “Wild” West, R-Oklahoma City, during a press conference. “The Constitution clearly states that we have right to keep and bear arms.” Gun control advocates often cite the portion of the Second Amendment that guarantees “a well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State” as indicative of the amendment’s archaic provisions and, not coincidentally, that nothing good has come from militias in the past century or so. Instead, I’ll point out a key reason the Second Amendment was important at the time of its adoption in 1791: There were no police forces in the United States at the time. According to “History of Policing in the United States” by Gary Potter, a criminal justice professor at Eastern Kentucky University, the job of policing in the early part of U.S. history fell to volunteers for what was called “night watch.” Boston was the first U.S. city to form a night watch in 1636, and it took the city over 200 years, until 1838, for it to become the first U.S. city with an official police force. Understandably, Bostonians living during the 47 years between adoption of the Bill of Rights

and foundation of the Boston Police Department might have wanted to defend themselves under Second Amendment provisions. As authored by state Rep. Jon Echols, R-Oklahoma City, HB2597 only takes into account convicted felons and those who have been adjudicated as mentally ill. It will not do anything to prevent killings by first-time offenders, and as such, HB2597 will make it more difficult for today’s Oklahoma police forces to stem the tide of violence by making it easier to acquire a gun and, without the training requirements, easier to accidentally discharge that gun. There are, of course, other problems with this legislation, such as the danger of legally carrying a gun while being a person of color. Earlier this month, Alabama attorney general Steve Marshall cleared an unidentified police officer of any wrongdoing in the fatal shooting of Emantic Bradford Jr., who was pursuing a shooter at a mall in Hoover, Alabama. Bradford, a military veteran with weapons training, was the apocryphal “good guy with a gun” that gun-rights groups have canonized as the solution to gun violence, but not all good guys with guns fit law enforcement’s archetype of them. But if actual human tragedy is not persuasive, Oklahomans should ask whether they want to come across as a gun-totin’ populace to businesses reviewing the state for possible branch offices or relocation. Yes, HB2597 provides for businesses to make rules either allowing or prohibiting guns on their premises, but in 2019, businesses should not have to face such questions. It should not have to come down to commerce, but adding public safety to the myriad concerns about opening for business in Oklahoma seems counterproductive. As a businessman, Gov. Stitt should understand that. Unfortunately, Oklahoma is constantly shooting off its nose to spite its face. George Lang is editor-in-chief of Oklahoma Gazette and began his career at Gazette in 1994. | Photo Gazette / file

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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chicken

friedNEWS

Stoops stands

Local noose

We figure most University of Oklahoma fans are more than happy since Lincoln Riley took over for Bob Stoops. After all, Riley has successfully groomed consecutive Heisman Trophy winners and made Norman the place to be for highly soughtafter graduate transfer Jalen Hurts. Riley has fulfilled midtenure Stoops’ legacy of appearing in (and losing) big games, with consecutive losses to SEC teams in the College Football Playoff semi-final. Just when OU fans might start to worry that their biggest risk might be Riley joining the National Football League … what’s that? Good Gawd Almighty, it’s Bob Stoops’ music. Inexplicably, Toby Keith singing “Welcome to the Jungle” begins to play over imaginary loud speakers because Stoops announced last week that he’s coming out of retirement in 2020 to coach the Dallas franchise of the reconfigured XFL, the professional league owned by World Wresting Entertainment chairman Vince McMahon. The first incarnation of the XFL in 2001 is perhaps most remembered for allowing players to wear nicknames on their jerseys (He Hate Me), scantily clad cheerleaders and replacing a coin toss to determine the game’s first possession with a two-person scramble to the ball that resulted in a season-ending injury in its very first attempt. The new version of the XFL will tone down its objectification of women and promotion of violence in the era of #MeToo and brain injuries related to football when it debuts on NBC next February. McMahon appealed to MAGA supporters when he announced the league in 2018, saying that politics (anthem protest) would stay out the league and that rosters will be void of players with criminal records. Stoops is the first coach announced for the league, and he said he’s excited about the freedom he has with a 10-week schedule, without the around-the-clock recruiting associated with college football. “When I stepped away a couple of years ago, one of my major reasons, and I made it very clear, is I wanted my own time,” Stoops said. There is no XFL franchise in Oklahoma, even though the state is full of WWE and football fans, so Dallas is Stoops’ next best option.

A Lawton news station is grappling with some controversy, and surprisingly enough, it has nothing to do with claims of “fake news.” KSWO 7 meteorologist Mandy Bailey was playing a brainteaser the station calls Mind Mixer, a game in which their talent draws a puzzle for people to solve. Bailey wrote the word “There” with a noose between the first two letters. (The answer is “Hang in there” because the noose is inside the word “There.” Boom. Mind mixed.) Of course, many people associate a noose with the lynching of countless black Americans throughout our country’s history. Enough viewers expressed their disdain for the Mind Mixer and complained to KSWO, whose director must have felt the urgency to do something quick. By 9 p.m. that same day, the station

posted a Facebook update saying, “One of our employees at KSWO-TV displayed an image that was offensive and unacceptable. At KSWO, we do not tolerate behavior of any kind that depicts hatred, social injustice, racism or antiSemitism. The employee responsible was terminated immediately.” Now, the Chicken-Fried News staff personally knows very few white people who would comfortably draw a noose on television in the middle of Black History Month, but we digress. We doubt Bailey had any malicious intent with her drawing, but it does come across somewhat tone deaf. Still, firing the meteorologist over a cheesy game they force their talent to play at 6 in the morning seems like a bit much. Particularly when at least one other person at that station had to know, or should have known, what her puzzle was going to be. We want to give the station the benefit of the doubt that Bailey was just the worst me-

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teorologist already on the brink of being fired, but reaction from the public seems to disprove that. A Facebook group was created called “Boycott KSWO,” which already had more than 2,500 members two days after the incident happened. If you go on the station’s official Facebook page, you will see their attempts to keep calm and carry on are met with a flood of critical comments, demanding Bailey come back and saying she was their favorite part of the morning.

U.S. exports

Announcing his campaign for president in 2015, Donald Trump declared, “When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. … They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.” Accepting the dubious logic that countries are responsible for “sending” immigrants, this still begs the question of whom, exactly, we are “sending” to Mexico. One of our Oklahoman exports, Luis Octavio Frias, made headlines recently when he was arrested in a suburb of Guadalajara,

Mexico. According to Associated Press, Frias, formerly an officer in the Blackwell Police Department, made the U.S. Marshals' 15 Most Wanted list in 2013 after he was accused of murdering his ex-wife Reyna by stabbing her 41 times in front of her children and fleeing to Mexico. Some people crossing into Mexico from the U.S. are, we assume, good people, but considering the longstanding trope of America’s most wanted making a run for the southern border whenever Johnny Law comes calling, we’re probably lucky Mexico isn’t attempting to build their own wall at our expense. Trump made a case for declaring a national emergency using talking points — undocumented immigrants in “unbelievable vehicles” and “human traffickers” smuggling women with “Duct tape put around their faces” — taken from the fictional film Sicario: Day of the Soldado, released last summer. If we send a copy of Pink Floyd’s The Wall to the White House, maybe we can get him railing against walking hammers and talking asses.

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Fest contested

Hempfest, a concert and celebration of hemp that was to feature Snoop Dogg, never happened. Now lawsuits are flying. By Matt Dinger

Organizers of a music festival, one that promised Snoop Dogg but never materialized, are being sued by a sponsor. In addition, a separate lawsuit against one of the same companies over a failed CBD deal was filed the same day. Both petitions were filed Thursday in Oklahoma County District Court and name Hi-Tunes Distribution, LLC as a plaintiff. The case involving Hempfest also names Oklahoma Health and Wellness Festival, LLC doing business as Oklahoma Hempfest, records show. The plaintiff in the case involving Hempfest is CBD Plus USA; the second plaintiff in the CBD deal is Top Shelf OKC, LLC. Hi-Tunes is based in Seattle, Washington, though both it and Hempfest have offices in Oklahoma City and both deals occurred in Oklahoma County, according to the petition. Hi-Tunes owner Scott McKinley said he is from Oklahoma but lives and works in Washington. He is involved in Seattle Hempfest and offered to start a local variation with Oklahoma Health and Wellness Festival LLC, which is owned and operated by Baron Keith Hopgood. McKinley confirmed that he was involved in the deal with Top Shelf but said he has no business offices in Oklahoma. “Defendants advertised themselves as the principal organizers and operators of Oklahoma Hempfest, a three-day educational event and outdoor entertainment festival taking place in Oklahoma City on September 8-10, 2018,” the petition reads. “According to marketing and fundraising materials, Oklahoma Hempfest is affiliated with ‘Seattle Hempfest,’ an annual music festival in Seattle, Washington. Boasting Seattle Hempfest’s 27-year 12

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history of operations, and those of affiliated Hempfest events in over a half dozen other states, Defendants promised Oklahoma Hempfest would be an ‘enormous annual event.’ “Oklahoma Hempfest’s purported mission was to improve public understanding of the hemp plant’s various applications and benefits, and the event promised to include an ‘imposium’ featuring exhibits, seminars, and panel discussions to be attended by ‘political figures,’ ‘police representatives,’ ‘doctors,’ ‘farmers,’ and various ‘industrial representatives.’ “Most significantly, Oklahoma Hempfest promised to host a three-day outdoor music festival featuring four stages surrounding three lakes and hosting 100 bands, headlined by celebrity performer, Snoop Dogg.” Defendants approached CBD Plus USA for a sponsorship in late July 2018 and assured the company that the festival was going forward up to six weeks before the event date, the lawsuit said. Organizers provided marketing materials that claimed up to 45,000 people from Oklahoma and surrounding states were expected to attend the event at Lost Lakes Entertainment Complex, and more than 250 vendors were expected to showcase their products and services at the event, according to the petition. CBD Plus USA invested $20,000, expecting in return, among other things, two tables near two stages, a banner on two of the stages, its logo on multiple marketing and publicity items and that Snoop Dogg would perform while wearing a CBD Plus USA shirt, the petition states. None of those things came to pass. “Oklahoma Hempfest did not happen

Snoop Dogg, shown at the 2015 Life Is Beautiful Festival in Las Vegas, Nevada, was supposed to be the headliner at 2018’s Hempfest in Oklahoma City. | Photo bigstock.com

on September 8-10, 2018,” the lawsuit states. “There was no three-day outdoor music festival. There were not four stages surrounding three lakes. Snoop Dogg did not perform, nor did 99 other acts. Defendants instead hosted ‘The Road to Hempfest,’ a single-day indoor event in a conference center at the Sheraton Hotel in Midwest City. CBD Plus received none, or nearly none, of the benefits it was promised.” When CBD Plus USA requested a refund on their investment, it was instead offered a counteroffer of a $15,000 refund if it pledged to purchase “health and wellness” products from the defendants, the petition states. CBD Plus USA is seeking a full refund of its $20,000 as well as punitive damages and attorney fees on claims of fraud and breach of contract, according to the lawsuit. Several Oklahoma news organizations publicized the event with a poster circulated online showing Snoop Dogg as the headliner. Snoop Dogg himself posted an event poster on June 18, claiming that the concert would be free with registration. The website for Oklahoma Hempfest no longer exists.

We’ll let the petitions speak for themselves as to the facts, and we hope to resolve this without a protracted dispute. J. Blake Johnson

Isolated

The second lawsuit alleges a bait and switch involving the purchase of CBD oil after owners of Top Shelf were approached by Hi-Tunes. “Hi-Tunes represented to Top Shelf that it could obtain large quantities of pure CBD isolate at below-market wholesale prices. ... Claiming that its own resources were tied up in Oklahoma Hempfest, HiTunes made a proposal to Top Shelf: If Top Shelf advanced the full purchase price for 10 kilograms of CBD isolate, Hi-Tunes would obtain 10 kilograms of CBD isolate, deliver 8 kilograms to Top Shelf at a premium, keep 2 discounted kilograms for itself, and return the discounted price of the latter 2 kilograms to Top Shelf,” the second petition states. In exchange for $72,600, Top Shelf expected to receive 8 kilograms, or 17.6 pounds, of CBD isolate within 10 days, and $12,000 in cash within 30 days. The deal was also supposed to include a direct line of communication to the supplier of the CBD isolate. The purpose of the last provision of the agreement was

to confirm the price of the isolate, its legality and quality and to create a supply line from the source to Top Shelf, according to the petition. Purportedly, none of these things happened and a clause in the contract provided for a full refund if Hi-Tunes failed to meet its end of the bargain, the petition states. “Hi-Tunes failed to perform all or nearly all of its obligations under the Contract,” according to the petition. “The CBD isolate it delivered to Top Shelf was of insufficient weight and/or inferior quality to be sold at fair-market value. Hi-Tunes did not pay Top Shelf $12,000, or any amount, within 30 days of the Contract’s execution. And, HiTunes never provided any proof of purchase or put Top Shelf in communication with the CBD isolate’s source.” Top Shelf was refunded $4,000 in September with the promise that the rest was to follow. The petition states it never did. Top Shelf is seeking the full return of its investment, plus interest and attorney fees. “We’ll let the petitions speak for themselves as to the facts, and we hope to resolve this without a protracted dispute,” said J. Blake Johnson, attorney for the plaintiff. In an interview with Oklahoma Gazette, Hopgood said that the lawsuit is without merit. “At the end of the day, it’s a frivolous suit,” Hopgood said. “If Mr. McKinley is denying the fact that he’s part of this conversation, which he benefited from any and all dollars that came in, then that’s a lie. The only reason why they couldn’t make a payment to Oklahoma Hempfest is because the bank would not allow you to open up an account in the name of Hempfest.” McKinley acknowledged that he still owes Top Shelf $8,000 but said other obligations have been met and he wants his name cleared in connection with the Hempfest debacle and Hopgood. “[Hopgood] has 10 years of con artist work all over Oklahoma, and he’s very famous for being a con artist there, and I had no idea about this when I signed up with him,” McKinley said. “And then after everything started happening, I looked up his background. I was embarrassed like crazy, and I separated from him completely. And he went and started a company name just like mine in Oklahoma to keep on making people think it was me. I went and did video interviews everywhere. I was the face of it, and that’s why it’s just really embarrassing. Being from Oklahoma, to have all my friends see my face on it and then have the whole festival turn out so bad and just fail so badly. And then now I’m getting sued by it publicly, it’s kind of like hurting my face in my hometown.” Records show Hopgood is a named defendant in two civil suits pending in Oklahoma County District Court. One is a breach of contract lawsuit brought by another company against Hempfest, and the other involves more than $46,000 for gasoline.

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Bud burglaries

Some dispensaries are reevaluating security measures after a few reported burglaries. By Matt Dinger

No business is immune to theft, and at least two metro medical marijuana dispensaries have been burglarized since opening. The most recent reported burglary occurred Jan. 26 at The Peak, 15 E. Fourth St., in Edmond. “Our manager got to the store and she told us that our doors were pried open, so I said OK and we came over,” owner Corbin Wyatt said. “They tried to break the glass, but the little glass wouldn’t break because we reinforce it using bulletproof and shatter-resistant 3M adhesive. In the lobby, we will put everything back in the safe and secure things with biometric door locks and kick plates and a bunch of other things to make sure they can’t get back there. And the perpetrator wasn’t able to, so he kind of just made off with some of the little display stuff that we had out and that was it. Now, we don’t leave any of it out at all. We used to just leave some stuff in the displays. So I think he made off with roughly $1,000 on our latest calculations.” Ounces were selling for between $200 and $280, so roughly 4-5 ounces of flower was stolen.

On Jan. 26, the doors to The Peak, 15 E. Fourth St., in Edmond, were pried open. A small amount of marijuana was stolen from the dispensary. | Photo Edmond Police Department / provided

“Some were in our little bud boxes, our little bud displays,” Wyatt said. “Another one was just in a little mini jar that we had out. And that one was actually completely accidental. We just accidentally overlooked that one. But if that hadn’t been out, they would have gotten next to nothing, actually. Just grams. “They were kind enough to not even break them. They just opened them and took them. It was a very polite thief. Our security system did exactly what it was supposed to, and we’re actually now working with the Edmond police department and their detectives to stress test different areas in the store to make sure that we’re amping up security even further from here.” Wyatt said that dispensaries are alluring targets to thieves because of the way the money is handled. “Even if you’re doing everything right by the security standards, dispencontinued on page 16

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saries are going to be targets until we’re allowed the same basic business services like banking that other places are,” he said. “Imagine Best Buy. Imagine you have all these great electronics and they can only take cash so they have tons of cash on hand at any given time. That’s everything a thief could ever want, cash and a high-end good. You know, liquor stores do most of their business in credit cards and debit cards, so they’re able to bank most of that money and then at the end of the day or during the day, they put that money in a bank. Throughout the day, we do the same thing. We have five drop times that are all random with incognito people that come and take cash out of all of our stores, but even then, we’re not allowed to go put it in the bank, so it creates a problem over time.” On Christmas, Rabbit Hole, 2500 NW 23rd St., was also burglarized. Police were called to the dispensary about 5 a.m. in reference to a loud alarm and found a glass window on the east side of the business shattered, according to a police report. The report states security footage showed a man wearing a mask or hooded sweatshirt kick in the door to the back office of the business, shattering the

frame, before fleeing the business. Nothing was taken during the burglary, according to the report. The dispensary was closed for a few days while repairs were made. Originally a large, open business with one glass door opening directly into the storefront, a wall was erected inside the business creating a waiting room with a glass teller window. An employee now uses a button to unlock a metal door leading into the area containing the products.

Even if you’re doing everything right by the security standards, dispensaries are going to be targets. Corbin Wyatt

Keeping quiet

Rabbit Hole declined to comment on the burglary to Oklahoma Gazette. Oklahoma City police said that, to their knowledge, it was the only reported dispensary burglary in OKC. Wyatt said keeping break-ins hush is the norm and many more dispensaries have been burglarized but have not publicized it.

“Vandalism and burglary goes on in Oklahoma City. We have had dozens of dispensaries broken into, some in very, very bad ways because they didn’t invest in good security, and interestingly enough, I think they had said that we were the first to actually report it to the police,” Wyatt said. “We, of course, always have our ear to the ground, and so we hear everything and talk to people about stuff and there have been dozens of dispensaries in the metro broken into in very, very bad ways, and so and we were really surprised that this was so newsworthy for one of our stores to have a minor break-in at night. But then I realized it was because this isn’t something that people actually talk about. Even though we’re supposed to be reporting break-ins and stuff, there are a lot of dispensaries that they’re not doing it. Either they don’t know that’s required of them or they don’t feel the need to report a break-in to the authorities.” Wyatt declined to name any of the businesses. “In this industry, especially if people don’t say something publicly, you’re better off not saying it all,” he said. “You have to keep in mind many of the people that have opened businesses right now are people that that have been involved in cannabis for many, many years and so they keep that mindset going into a legal market as well. The one thing that

I have not heard of is a daytime robbery, so most of these are nighttime incidents. I have not heard of a single day time robbery.” The Peak is in the heart of Edmond and just a few blocks from the police department. “That’s kind of the big shock is that this could happen anywhere,” Wyatt said. Before leaving office. Gov. Mary Fallin also signed the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation’s (OSBI) newest security requirements. “Most of them are pretty simple and taken straight from Colorado,” said Mark Woodward, Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (OBN) spokesman. Self-closing doors, a security system and seven-foot fences surrounding outdoor grows are among the requirements. “The main thing is just they take steps to adequately safeguard against theft or diversion, and that’s kind of what we’re looking for in those rules,” Woodward said. “And we think most of the places are already going to go above and beyond that, just to protect their own products.”

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EAT & DRINK

COV E R

Yucatan Taco Stand is serving its barbacoa taco — normally 11.99 — for $8.95 during Taco Week. | Photo provided

Beyond authenticity OKC Taco Week celebrates the unique history of the dish in all its forms. By Jacob Threadgill

The history of the taco is complicated because people in what is now Mexico have eaten meals with tortillas since prior to when the Spanish arrived on the continent, but they were largely used as utensils, not a composed dish as we see today. The first evidence of the word “taco” appeared in 18th-century silver mines in Mexico, where it referred to pieces of paper used to wrap around gunpowder for excavation, according to University of Minnesota professor Jeffrey Pilcher, who has multiple books dedicated to the history of tacos to his credit. Pilcher notes that one of the first types of tacos described was called tacos de minero (miner’s taco). “When you think about it, a stick of dynamite is shaped like a taquito,” said Guadalupe Garcia, supervisor at Chelino’s Mexican Restaurants in Oklahoma City and son of founder Marcelino Garcia. “The reason [the history of the taco] is muddy is because people in Mexico were already using tortillas, but not as a taco. Growing up as a Mexican-American, we always used tortillas like an extension of the knife and fork.” The first printed recipe Pilcher has found for the taco is dated to a Mexico City newspaper in 1904, but it resembles nothing like a modern taco; it was a crêpe made with pastry and rose water, according to The Washington Post. The taco’s contemporary form is the result of culinary fusion, as immigrants

poured into Mexico City, where al pastor is now its signature street taco. In the 1930s, Lebanese immigrants to the Mexican State of Puebla started taking their native kebab and turned it into tacos arebas — first lamb and later pork, wrapped in pita bread. A few decades later, the rotisserie could be found all over Mexico City, where the Middle Eastern cooking process used local spices to create tacos al pastor wrapped in a corn tortilla. “The idea that the taco is somewhat deeply authentic isn’t supported by facts,” Pilcher told The Washington Post in 2012. “The taco is kind of like chop suey and pepperoni pizza. Tacos are a product of modernity. And this is true not only in the United States but in Mexico.” The popularity of tacos al pastor in Mexico City only arrived about a decade or so before California native Glen Bell watched as people lined up at Mitla Café for tacos dorados — a thinly fried tortilla shell with meat, cheese and tomatoes — from his hot dog stand in San Bernardino. Bell befriended the owners of Mitla Café and eventually worked his way into the kitchen and later used its methodology to open the first Taco Bell in Downey, California, in 1962. Of course, Taco Bell is now a giant of Yum Brands, with more than 7,000 locations worldwide, but the original Mitla Café remains open to this day. Writer Gustavo Arellano, formerly of OC Weekly and current Los Angeles

Times writer, who is author of the syndicated “Ask a Mexican” column, documents the history of Mitla Café. Arellano is no fan of Oklahoma City native and Chicago Mexican chef luminary Rick Bayless. He argues Bayless’ adherence to the idea that pure indigenous Mexican cuisine is the only “authentic” food while everything else is Americanized. “It’s a different way of keeping Mexican food separate, out of the American mainstream,” Arellano told The New York Times in 2012. The term “authentic” or language associated with it such as “legitimate” disproportionally affects Mexican and Chinese restaurants, which writer Sara Kay argues reinforces negative stereotypes in an Eater story earlier this year. In a review of more than 20,000 Yelp reviews in New York City, Kay found that Mexican restaurants were most likely to be judged on “authenticity.” Garcia runs social media for Chelino’s and said he runs across the criticism quite often and notes that one person’s definition of “authentic” can’t be applied across Mexican food, where recipes vary dramatically, depending on the region from which they originate. “One of the most common questions or the most negative feedback we get is that [our food] isn’t authentic,” Garcia said. “Authentic to what? Finding an ‘authentic’ taco is the most impossible thing to find. My parents are first-generation immigrants. Authentic to me is what my parents cooked at home, and that’s not authentic to certain parts of Mexico.” Garcia notes that the taco is the perfect fusion food, citing the history of al pastor and the success of recent additions to the national zeitgeist like Los Angeles’ Korean taco.

“When you get around with your friends and you’re eating tacos, it doesn’t matter what it’s filled with or what kind of tortilla it’s made with; it’s always a good time,” Garcia said. “I’ve never seen anyone frowning with a taco in their hand.”

OKC Taco Week

It is with that same spirit that Oklahoma Gazette is celebrating its first Taco Week Wednesday-Feb. 27. Six participating restaurants are serving special tacos at a rebated price, and guests have the opportunity to earn prizes if they share photos of the tacos by tagging @okgazette with the hashtags #OKCTacoWeek and #OKCFoodWeek on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Participating restaurants include Chelino’s, Hacienda Tacos, The Original Lemonade House Grille, Oso on Paseo, Ted’s Café Escondido and Yucatan Taco Stand. Chelino’s is debuting carnitas tacos, and three tacos are available with rice and beans for $6.99. Hacienda Tacos is serving its popular street taco for $10. The Original Lemonade House Grille is selling its Gulf coast tacos with fresh mango and guava lemonade for $10.95 (normally $12.98). Ted’s Café Escondido is debuting an Atomic Chicken Taco for $7.99, which normally sells for $11.99. Yucatan Taco Stand has a barbacoa beef taco with a side, chips and salsa that is normally $11.99 for $8.95. Visit okcfoodweek.com.

Ted’s Escondido Cafe is serving an Atomic Chicken Taco for $7.99 for Taco Week, which would normally be sold for $11.99. | Photo provided

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Deli delight

With a strawberry cake that can send you back in time and huge sandwiches, ND Foods is a unique experience. By Jacob Threadgill

ND Foods 2632 W. Britton Road | 405-840-9364 WHAT WORKS: Its sandwiches and desserts are jaw-dropping. WHAT NEEDS WORK: Don’t expect classics to be reinvented. TIP: Check out the antique side of the store.

ND Foods operated at its 50th Street and Western Avenue location for 14 years before moving to its current location on Britton Road in The Village in 2008, but the recipe for success has remained the same: serving classics done right with deli sandwiches made with premium quality meat. Not only is ND Foods a good location for a hot meal, it’s also an opportunity to shop in one of the most unique collections of antiques in the city. Owners and mother-son duo Nicholas and Deloris Wade provide the initials for the 10,000 square-foot combination deli and antique store. You’re just as likely to bump into a former Oklahoma governor or University of Oklahoma football coach, thanks to Deloris Wade’s connections as real estate owner and longtime caterer for businesses and political meetings over the decades. I found the selection in the antique portion of the store to be equal parts retro and chic. Considering I walk through most galleries in an antique store and see things that people were desperate to get off their hands, the artwork and clothing at ND Foods is heavily curated. “My mother was an interior decorator for DuPont and Dow [Chemical],” Deloris Wade said, seated at the front of the store. “I sell all over the world. We’ve got five warehouses full [of antiques] and supply dealers in Massachusetts, New York and Nevada 18

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with goods. Nick handles Facebook, and recently, he put something up, and within an hour, a guy in Kuwait called and made the sale.” Deloris Wade grew up in south Florida and moved to Oklahoma City with her late husband Richard in the 1950s after they graduated from medical school, at the behest of the medical board in Chicago. “They said, ‘If you go to Oklahoma City, we’ll make you a deal,’” she said. Over the decades, she has done well in real estate and amassed a huge collection of interesting antiques, but the collection of artwork, furniture and clothing isn’t the only thing that’s impressive at ND Foods. The bakery sells an assortment of cakes, pies, cookies and whoopie pies that are big enough to make your jaw drop, which is the only way to eat them. A slice of cake checked in on my tape measure at 5 inches tall, while a club sandwich hit 3 inches. Nick Wade told me the strawberry cake remains the most popular cake on a rotating menu that changes regularly. On my first trip into the bakery, they sold a Gentleman’s Cake, which is a pineapple brown sugar whiskey pecan cake with brown sugar whiskey frosting. “Maybe don’t eat that one and drive,” he joked with a customer. There’s a large selection of pies as well, like Key lime or a new chocolate custard pie with double chocolate cookies for an extra crunch. On the deli side, ND Foods offers sandwiches with premium Boar’s Head meat, which is at the top of the industry line, sliced in-store. “It’s about as good as you can get,” Nick Wade said. “There are other premium brands, but no one around here sells them.”

left Sandwiches at ND Foods are 3 inches tall. above Stuffed peppers with a side salad and house dressing | Photo Jacob Threadgill

The Reuben, Cuban and meatball (made in-house) sandwiches are among the top sellers. I tried a couple of cold sandwiches on my first trip: the classic club (9.99 for whole, $4.99 for half) and the Sonoma Turkey with pepper turkey, pepper jack cheese, avocado, lettuce, tomato and cranberry mustard. Unless you’re really hungry or want food for days, I would recommend ordering half of a sandwich because they’re so big. I had the Sonoma Turkey for dinner and lunch the next day. I liked the cranberry mustard as a sweet complement to the spicy cheese. I was intrigued by the pepper jack cheese macaroni and cheese but will have to get that on another trip. ND Foods sells a selection of take-and-bake options like meatloaf, chicken potpie with biscuitstyle topping and enchiladas. On a second visit, I tried the stuffed bell peppers with a side salad served with house oil and vinegar dressing. The bell peppers were stuffed with ground beef and rice and covered with a standard tomato sauce. It felt like a classic dish done the way it has always been served, which is a hallmark of the deli. Nick Wade said the traditional egg salad, which is only served on Fridays and Saturdays, is always popular. It’s eggs boiled in-house and mixed with dressing of mayonnaise, spices and celery. “Some places buy pre-boiled eggs, but that’s the difference between using lemon juice from a bottle and squeez-

ing a lemon,” he said. “You can’t change what works.” The stuffed peppers got the job done, but I thought the standout in the meal was the salad with stellar dressing that was the perfect blend of oil, acid and spices. The dressing also tops a Greek-style flatbread that Nick Wade said is popular, and I can see why. I want to buy bottles of it for home. I will freely admit that I am normally pie over cake because I’m a pie crust connoisseur (my favorite recipe uses chilled vodka for increased flakiness), but the strawberry cake called my name when I first entered the store. It is layered with buttercream frosting and fresh strawberries in addition to more frosting and fresh strawberries on top. At $6.50 per slice, I was skeptical of the price, but it was worth every penny. I took it home, and my wife and I ate on it for a few days. We each had nostalgic experiences while eating the cake. I was transported back to the first strawberry cake I had from a co-worker in my first job out of college that made me reconsider pie over cake. My wife was reminded of a cake from her favorite birthday as a child. Whether it is a giant sandwich, dessert or good selection of antiques, ND Foods has you covered. Gentleman’s Cake is a pineapple brown sugar whiskey pecan cake with brown sugar and whiskey frosting. | Photo Nicholas Wade / provided

The Chickasaw Nation Arts & Humanities Division

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$100, per class, covers all class instruction and materials.

For more information, or to enroll, call the ARTesian Gallery & Studios at (580) 622-8040.

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News from the Oklahoma Legislative Session

Fridays at 4:44 pm & 6:44 pm Mondays at 6:45 am & 8:45 am

With KGOU’s Dick Pryor & eCapitol’s Shawn Ashley

Complete program schedule at KGOU.org O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | F E B R U A R Y 2 0 , 2 0 1 9

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Featuring three slow-cooked pork tacos on double corn tortillas topped with diced onions, cilantro and a red tomatillo sauce on the side. Served with rice and beans for only $6.99! (Participating locations only.)

Featuring our always fresh, always quality street taco combo for $10! Choose three of your favorite street tacos from carnitas, mojo chicken, al pastor, barbacoa, Hacienda, or Hacienda Deluxe. Upgrade any street taco to carne asada or Baja options for $1 each. Don’t forget to pair your meal with a refreshing Jose Cuervo Tradicional Hacienda Margarita.

Two flour or corn shells with marinated, seasoned and grilled chicken and shrimp, fresh avocado and cilantro lime sauce sauce. Served with housemade chips and salsa plus a Tropical Paradise (mango and guava) fresh-squeezed lemonade for a special price of $10.95 (normally $12.98).

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Muy frío

Snack Attack takes the homemade ice cream neveria concept to the masses. By Jacob Threadgill

Snack Attack opened its doors last April to a new audience in Yukon, but it’s carrying on the tradition of made-fromscratch ice cream, fresh salads, nachos and tamales started at Refresquierias Las Delicias almost 10 years ago. Husband-and-wife co-owners Blanca and Adan Campos live in Yukon but have operated the south side Las Delicias, 1107 SW 59th St., for more than a decade, building on the tradition of neverias that serve fresh ice cream, fruit and indulgent treats. Blanca Campos oversees the Yukon location while her husband runs Las Delicias. She said they made a concerted effort to attract more non-Latino customers at their new store, and they felt the 336 S. Mustang Road location near two schools and a large office complex was the perfect place to unveil the new store. “We wanted to target American people because a lot of them don’t really go into the neverias because a lot of them don’t have people that speak English,” Blanca

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 , 2 0 1 9 | O KG A Z E T T E . C O M

Campos said. “When we did get American people over at Las Delicias, they would be like ‘Wow! This is amazing! Why didn’t we know about it?’” Outside Roxy’s Ice Cream Social locations, there aren’t many places in the Oklahoma City metro offering large selections of housemade ice cream like the neverias, which are largely concentrated in southwest Oklahoma City. Snack Attack and Las Delicias both offer 20 flavors of ice cream, and Campos said strawberry cheesecake, Oreo and butter pecan flavors are the top sellers. Oreo and chocolate chip cookie include huge pieces of mix-ins and are indicative of the product available year-round. ‘There’s no crumbs,” Campos said of the mix-ins. “Sometimes [with mass produced products], it feels like they’re giving you leftovers.” Even on an overcast morning during the week with temperatures hovering around freezing, Campos was entertaining a steady stream of customers order-

Blanca Campos is co-owner and main operator of Snack Attack in Yukon. | Photo SYN3RGY Greative Group / provided

ing both lunch and indulgent treats. “Believe it or not, we never stop making ice cream, even when it’s cold,” Campos said. “We make multiple batches throughout the week. Some are more popular than others, but ice cream is a year-round thing for us.” It is a 30-40-minute process to make the ice cream in an electric mixer onsite, Campos said. The base ice cream flavor is made, and then mix-ins like fresh pineapple in a piña colada or pecans in the pecan pie flavor are added. Sweet treats aren’t limited to ice cream at Snack Attack, where fresh fruit is covered in lime juice and Mexican spices. It also offers a variety of sweet and savory crêpes, brownies, churros, chocolate-dipped fruit and a dish called The Crazy Apple that is covered in sweet and spicy chamoy seasoning, lime juice, peanuts and a choice of additional fruit like mango and pineapple. Traditional aguas frescas are marketed at the store as fruit waters. They are made without powders or concentrates by infusing real fruit. There are more than 20 flavors of fruit water, including horchata, which is sold as “rice water” because it’s made from scratch. After some work, the section has become one of the store’s most popular. “It was hard to convince people not to get soda, so I started offering the fruit water with the meal so people got to try them,” Campos said. “I’m practically exposing them. Now when people come in for their food, they come in straight to the fruit water.” Snack Attack is much more than just a place for a dessert. It offers healthy, made-from-scratch dishes like chicken wraps and fun takes on nachos that can be made with flavored Doritos and topped with a variety of meats, avocado, tomato and sauces. Chicken and shredded beef is made at the store, and there is no fryer on the premises. Snack Attack offers fresh tamales made by Campos’ mother, Rosa. “We started tamales at the Las Delicias, and we only had them for the

holidays, but people liked them so much that we do them all year round,” Campos said. “My mom makes them, and she’s pretty busy. People get a dozen on their way home from work and don’t have to worry about dinner.” Street corn or elotes are popular, Campos said. They offer multiple takes on the now-ubiquitous dish that includes a Dorielote — a combination of Doritos nachos and a corn mixture with melted cheese and spices. Snack Attack also serves loaded baked potatoes, and its recent addition of a baked potato soup with bacon has been so popular that Campos said what was once going to be a seasonal offering likely will be offered all year. Campos said business has slowly but surely picked up at the new location. “More people are coming in, and they really like it,” she said. “They’re excited because there is something different, and they’re tired of the same old thing.” Visit snackattackok.com.

above A piña loca covered in lime juice and chamoy seasoning below left Strawberries and cream sundae made with house-made ice cream below right Caramel churros | Photo SYN3RGY Greative Group / provided

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O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | F E B R U A R Y 2 0 , 2 0 1 9

GAZEDIBLES

EAT & DRINK

Prime time

We are highlighting the locally owned concepts that are in the process of expanding or have the potential to grow in Oklahoma City — and possibly beyond. These seven restaurants offer something unique. By Jacob Threadgill with Gazette / file and provided photos

Shawarma & Co

14600 N. Pennsylvania Ave., Suite A shawarmaandcompany.com 405-286-1646

Thanks to co-owner Mohammad Aboubead’s background in marketing and graphic design, Shawarma & Co. looks like a nationwide chain, but it’s just a family-run location with Mohammad’s wife Yaqeen and brother Odai. The restaurant offers a variety of meat — chicken and beef shawarma as well as gyro — that can be paired with a variety of salads or with the restaurant’s excellent falafel.

PARK HARVEY SUSHI & WINE BAR

Coolgreens

Off the Hook Seafood & More

14201 N. May Ave., Suite 209 coolgreens.com | 405-286-9304

Coolgreens is an Oklahoma City staple that has expanded to six metro area locations thanks to its selection of salads, wraps, sandwiches and flatbreads. Coolgreens opens its first Tulsa location later this month and expands into Texas later this year with locations in Southlake and Richardson. It has an eye on 10 locations this year and has debuted a new menu as a result. Among the new items is a kale and sweet potato salad packed with nutrients.

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Most seafood restaurants in the area are Cajun- or Latin-influenced, but Off the Hook has done the impossible and made a landlocked state like Oklahoma known for its own seafood. Owner and Oklahoma native Corey Harris along with his wife Loniesha have successfully gone from a food truck to two metro locations. We think it is the kind of concept that can grow beyond OKC.

Gogi Go!

Waffle Champion

Jerky.com

Stone Sisters Pizza Bar

Korean food is one of the fastest-growing markets across the country, and for good reason. Not only is it tasty, it is also high in probiotics due to the prevalence of fermented accoutrements. Gogi Go! allows guests to build their own bowls and burritos with rice or noodles and recently introduced fried and oven-roasted versions its chicken. An Edmond location of Gogi Go! is set to open later this year.

Owner Todd Woodruff has joked that people have been asking for another Waffle Champion location since he opened the brick-and-mortar concept in 2013. Woodruff has been busy in the interim, opening Buttermilk and providing the permanent space for Nonesuch to earn Bon Appetitâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best new restaurant in America last year, and most recently opening Maples Barbecue in 16th Street Plaza District. It is time for Woodruff to consider another location for his initial concept.

This locally owned company has cornered the market, and not just in Oklahoma City, where it has three retail locations. It owns the eponymous URL and claims to be the largest online jerky retailer in the world. It has recently expanded with a storefront in Texas, and more could be on the way. Jerky.com features many types of jerky: beef, pork, poultry, fish and exotic offerings like buffalo, venison or wild boar.

Until Stone Sisters Pizza Bar opened, pizza was a treat that was difficult for those suffering from gluten intolerance to enjoy. The sistersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; sprouted spelt crust is now available at Cafe Nebu in Devon Energy Center, and frozen versions of its glutenfree pizza are available at select retailers like both Urban Agrarian locations. Customers can also order packages with six 10-inch crusts through Amazon.

1325 N. Walker Ave. gogigo.co | 405-778-8524

1212 N. Walker Ave., Suite 100 wafflechampion.com | 405-525-9235

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ART

ARTS & CULTURE

Art speaks

Oklahoma-born artist Tatyana Fazlalizadeh will open a new exhibition, Oklahoma Is Black, at Oklahoma Contemporary on Friday. By Jo Light alongside her art. “I’m just trying to express an existence here, a culture, a history and a very gentle sweetness that is my perception of black life in Oklahoma,” Fazlalizadeh said. Fazlalizadeh recognized that Oklahoma’s black history is rich and the communities are diverse. The show is meant to amplify black voices and celebrate the lives of black Oklahoma City residents. “This show isn’t necessarily just about race, not just about racism or sexism or these things,” she said. “It’s about what these different black people in Oklahoma, based on who they are and their different identities, have experienced as [Oklahomans].” Ten days before the exhibition’s opening, the large space was still a blank canvas awaiting Fazlalizadeh’s work. She walked the room in preparation with Jennifer Scanlan, Oklahoma Contemporary’s curatorial and exhibitions director. The exhibition is site-specific, meaning Fazlalizadeh is creating the artwork exclusively for the Oklahoma Contemporary space. That also means that this is the only time visitors will be able to experience this particular work. Fazlalizadeh and Scanlan have been speaking for over a year about setting an exhibition in Oklahoma, and in that time, Fazlalizadeh’s ideas evolved as she considered what conversations she wanted to have with Oklahomans. Fazlalizadeh said she wants black visitors to see themselves in the work and feel like they were heard. She acknowledged the complexity of black opinions and experiences and would like visitors to be confronted with that, as well. “I just want this work to be very honest and very truthful,” she said. “And I think that’s the challenge that I’ve been working to come over. How do I make this as truthful and honest as I possibly can while understanding that I can only say so much or show so much or do so much?” In a phone interview, Scanlan agreed that black Never Any Better Than the Lover by Tatyana Fazlalizadeh communities don’t often | Image Tatyana Fazlalizadeh / provided see themselves and their

To view Tatyana Fazlalizadeh’s art is to be confronted. Intense gazes stare out from her oil paintings or wheatpaste posters, asserting space not only on a canvas or wall, but within the world, proclaiming their existence despite the hostility that might be directed at them. Fazlalizadeh’s artwork often addresses topics like racism, sexism and oppression through bold, evocative portraiture. Her new exhibition, Oklahoma Is Black, opens Friday at Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center, 3000 General Pershing Blvd. “I think it’s important to address those issues because they’re incredibly significant and important to not just my life because I’m a black woman,” Fazlalizadeh said, “but they’re important to our country and our world and our society in general. I don’t think that those issues that face black and brown people or queer people or women are issues that are isolated and only affect them. They affect everyone.” She has described the Oklahoma Is Black exhibition as a love letter to Oklahoma City’s black communities, with a particular focus on the city’s northeast side, where she grew up. She visited with many individuals about their experiences and will incorporate these interviews as videos and quotes

neighbors represented in artistic spaces and said she hopes Fazlalizadeh’s work gives visitors a “better, richer understanding of what Oklahoma and Oklahoma City is.” Scanlan expressed excitement for Fazlalizadeh’s work and the importance of having her return to her home state. “She’s very much an artist who is ready to take the next step and really emerge, in addition to the street art that she’s done, with the installation work and oil paintings that have become an important part of her practice,” Scanlan said.

Art speaks

Fazlalizadeh opened an installation last year at Project Row Houses in Houston called The Personal as Political, which integrated portraits, quotes and video. She is pushing those concepts further in Oklahoma Is Black by including videos of her interviews as well as a separate video installation. Fazlalizadeh said incorporating her subjects’ voices is an important component in making the artwork useful, especially to those who suffer oppression. “Art can have an effect on their lives in that way,” she said, “an effect on changing how they are treated, an effect on how they are able to express themselves and navigate the world for themselves when they feel like they have a voice in another medium. And I’m just offering my medium as a space for that voice to be heard.” Fazlalizadeh has seen a great deal of increased exposure in recent years. In 2015, she was featured on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list. In 2018, she was named the NYC Commission on Human Rights’ first Public Artist in Residence (PAIR). She also provided artwork and inspiration for Spike Lee’s Netflix reboot of She’s Gotta Have It in 2017. A lot of this attention sprang from a project Fazlalizadeh began in 2012, a street art series titled Stop Telling Women to Smile. She said she wanted to provide a way for victims of street harassment to speak out through her pieces. The ongoing project began with portraits of women on wheatpaste posters with declarations underneath their steady gazes. “I am not here for you,” one says.

Tatyana Fazlalizadeh’s new exhibition, Oklahoma Is Black, runs Friday-May 19 at Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center. | Photo Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center / provided

Another reads, “Women do not owe you their time or conversation.” Fazlalizadeh has experienced street harassment throughout her life, including when she was working outdoors as a muralist in Philadelphia. These incidents inspired the project. Like much of her art, the Stop Telling Women to Smile pieces are works of activism she hopes will challenge viewers and change behavior. She said the art fits best on the street, where the harassment usually happens. “That work, it really does work as this comfort for women,” she said. “You walk down the street, you come across this piece and you feel like someone is there in solidarity with you or speaking up for you or giving you a voice.” One notable aspect of Stop Telling Women to Smile is the diversity of the women featured in the artwork. Women of color are predominant subjects, which is an intentional choice Fazlalizadeh made to expand the narrative of street harassment victims. “I wanted to not just include black and brown women, but to prioritize them,” she said. “Because, yes, we get a lot more harassment in more extreme ways, a lot more violent harassment. So [I was] trying to think about who was the most vulnerable among us, including trans women, queer women.” Fazlalizadeh is also currently writing a book about Stop Telling Women to Smile. Oklahoma Is Black will be Oklahoma Contemporary’s final exhibition in its current location. Construction is underway at the art center’s new location at NW 11th Street and Broadway Avenue, which should open in the fall. Visit oklahomacontemporary.org and tlynnfaz.com.

Oklahoma Is Black Friday-May 19 Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center 3000 General Pershing Blvd. oklahomacontemporary.org | 405-951-0000 Free

O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | F E B R U A R Y 2 0 , 2 0 1 9

T E H AT E R

ARTS & CULTURE

Last dance

Principal dancer Miki Kawamura performs for the final time in Oklahoma City Ballet’s La Sylphide. By Jeremy Martin

James, on his wedding day, wakes to a winged fairy kissing his forehead. He reaches for her, but she disappears up the chimney, leaving James to pine for a fantastic being he has no hope of holding onto. So begins August Bournonville’s La Sylphide, choreographed in 1836, which makes it one of the oldest ballets still being danced today. Oklahoma City Ballet, with staging by Jacob Sparso and orchestration by Oklahoma City Philharmonic with guest conductor Andrews Sill, performs La Sylphide Friday-Sunday at Civic Center Music Hall, 201 N. Walker Ave. When principal dancer Miki Kawamura plays the role of the Sylph on Saturday, she said it will be the last time she takes the stage as a dancer after nine years with the company. She will continue in her role as a ballet master, helping other dancers rehearse their roles. “A lot of things came into this decision,” Kawamura said, “my age, my accomplishments, and I’ve been a principal dancer and ballet master both. I’ve been doing that for a couple of years, but this season, I felt like the dancers needed me as ballet master, like a hundred percent ballet master. So it’s kind of hard to ignore for me. On top of thinking of what I have done as a dancer and where I am at in life, I’m seeing what dancers need.” Kawamura said she chose La Sylphide as her final performance because she wanted another chance to work with Sparso, who she worked with when she originally came to OKC.

“I could have finished the season,” she said. “I could have retired in April, but April will be a triple bill, and I don’t really have any attachment to those ballets we are going to do.” Scheduled for April 19-20, Visionaries: A Triple Bill features contemporary works by Robert Joffrey, George Balanchine and Cayetano Soto Ramirez. Joffrey’s Pas de Déesses will be making its OKC premiere and Ramirez’ as-yet-untitled ballet, created for OKC Ballet, will be making its world debut. Though Bournonville’s version of La Sylphide is one of the world’s oldest surviving ballets, Kawamura has never danced it before. “It’s another challenge, a different challenge,” she said. “It’s not really commonly done, this ballet. It’s not like Swan Lake or Sleeping Beauty that everyone does. This one has a style that’s different from how I trained. Jacob grew up taking this kind of class in this style, so the movement is really natural to him, but here I am struggling. … I should have picked something that comes naturally to me, but I think that is another reason why this is perfect one for me to retire on, because I’ve always loved learning. So, until the end, I am still learning.” Kawamura said she was unsure what makes La Sylphide’s style so difficult for her. “It’s a short ballet,” she said. “If you count how many minutes I will dance within two acts of ballet, it might not be a lot compared to other classical ballets.

Miki Kawamura right and Ronnie Underwood in Jacob Sparso’s The Phantom of the Opera. | Photo Oklahoma City Ballet / provided

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 , 2 0 1 9 | O KG A Z E T T E . C O M

Miki Kawamura makes her final appearance as principal dancer in Oklahoma City Ballet’s La Sylphide. She will continue with the company as ballet master. | Photo Oklahoma City Ballet / provided

… I don’t know why I get so tired, but the next day I’m drained. … It doesn’t look that, I don’t know, physically hard, but somehow it’s packed in that short time and you have to jump and be en pointe. There’s not much time to rest. When you’re onstage, you’ve really got to fly.”

It’s not really commonly done, this ballet. ... This one has a style that’s different from how I trained. Miki Kawamura In addition to the physical demands, fitting her performance to the ballet’s score has proved challenging for Kawamura. “The musicality is something I’m not used to, this kind of musicality,” she said. “Of course, the music helps you jump or move, but because I’m not used to this kind of musicality, it’s kind of, like, not even helping.” When the Sylph reappears at the end of act one, James, cursed, can’t help but follow her into the woods, where she shows him her magical domain but remains ever out of reach. When he catches her, they will both be undone. Kawamura said dancing the role feels more demanding than anything she’s done before, but that might be because she knows she’s going to retire. “I didn’t really feel this much physical tiredness until this ballet,” she said. “There’s something about this ballet. I don’t even know why. … Maybe I’m mentally relaxed or something already. … And it’s stressful, too. It’s frustrating

because I was always strong, fine. I didn’t really get that tired. I didn’t let the feeling of getting tired take my body over, but now I’m so exhausted. I hate even saying it out loud, but it’s happening. Maybe it’s mental.” Kawamura said she has no regrets about her time dancing in OKC. There were no roles she wished she could have danced but didn’t. “I’ve enjoyed everything, everything

Miki Kawamura second from left and Dayoung Jung center rehearse for Oklahoma City Ballet’s La Sylphide. | Photo Alexa Ace

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I did, everything I performed,” she said. “I got to do everything I wanted to do here, so I’m really blessed in that sense.” Some of her personal highlights include shooting a popular promotional photo capturing her midair, wearing a tutu and an Oklahoma City Thunder jersey just about to slam-dunk a basketball, and being promoted to principal dancer in 2013 following her performance in Swan Lake. She also fondly remembers the night her frequent dancing partner Alvin Tovstogray was promoted to principal dancer after they performed in Romeo and Juliet together. Tovstogray is dancing the part of James in La Sylphide, giving the pair the opportunity to dance together onstage a final time. In her years with OKC Ballet, Kawamura said she has seen the city become more interested in ballet, a trend she anticipates will continue in the future. “There’s more support every season,” she said. “The city and the company have been growing together, so I think that’s great.” Tickets are $15-$65. Visit okcballet. org.

By Todd Alm ond Direc ted by M and Matthew Sweet atthew Gardi ner

Jump back to a time to when flannel was the height of fashion and mix tapes were the language of love. In collaboration with Signature Theatre, Lyric presents the regional premiere of a vibrant, funny and heart-warming coming-of-age love story. College-bound jock, Mike, and self-assured, Will, rush into summer love in small-town Nebraska. This lovely romantic comedy is inspired by ‘90s icon, Matthew Sweet’s alternative rock album, Girlfriend, and features an all-female rock band!

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Ian Marcontell La Sylphide Friday-Sunday Civic Center Music Hall 201 N. Walker Ave.

MIKE

Tickets Start at Just $25! Charge by Phone: (405) 524-9312 or Online: LyricTheatreOKC.org

Jimmy Mavrikes WILL

For group reservations & discounts, email Groups@LyricTheatreOKC.org today!

okcballet.org | 405-848-8637 $15-$65

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ARTS & CULTURE

T E H AT E R

As part of its second annual Chamber Music Festival, Oklahoma State University’s McKnight Center for the Performing Arts will present Oklahoma City Soiree – Folk Influences 6 p.m. Feb. 28 at CHK|Central Boathouse. | Photo provided

Folk inspiration

McKnight Center for the Performing Arts fosters excitement around the state before its October opening. By Jeremy Martin

Oklahoma State University’s McKnight Center for the Performing Arts is scheduled to open in Stillwater in October, but Oklahoma City music lovers can get a sneak preview eight months early. Presented as part of the center’s second annual Chamber Music Festival, Oklahoma City Soiree – Folk Influences is 6 p.m. Feb. 28 at CHK|Central Boathouse, 732 Riversport Drive. Mark Blakeman, the center’s Marilynn and Carl Thoma executive director, said the event is intended to show patrons the kinds of cultural opportunities that will be available later this year at McKnight Center. “Our strategy in presenting chamber music before the center opens is to take world-class musicians to different communities in the region to start to introduce people to the types of programs that we’ll have once the center opens up,” Blakeman said. “So the festival has a series of what we call ‘soirees,’ but they’re house concerts, really intimate settings mostly in private homes.” Blakeman said this type of intimate concert was common for centuries. “These soirees like the one we’re doing at the boathouse in Oklahoma City, they’re born out of this really long-standing tradition that goes back hundreds of years, house concerts, where people would gather in someone’s home,” he said. “Lots of times, there would be great wine and incredible food and a really intimate performance. And you know, we’re essentially recreating that type of setting with all these soirees that we’re 30

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taking to these different communities.” Soirees are planned for Tulsa, Stillwater and Dallas, and the center has also scheduled two community concerts at the university, one specifically for students. The OKC soiree features Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev’s Flute Sonata in D major, Op. 94, performed by artistic director and pianist Anne-Marie McDermott and flautist Tara Helen O’Connor, and Czech composer Antonín Dvořák’s Piano Quartet in E-f lat, Op. 87, performed by McDermott, violinist Alexander Kerr, violist Lesley Robertson and cellist Christopher Costanza. Though classical chamber pieces, both compositions are inspired by traditional folk music.

Sometimes people can get intimidated by classical music or there are certain expectations that sometimes are misguided. Mark Blakeman

Traveling influences

Prokofiev was educated in Moscow and St. Petersburg and spent time in Germany, France and the U.S., but he was born in 1891 in a rural part of what is now Ukraine. He composed his flute sonata in 1943 at the behest of the

Stalinist USSR while he was working on the score for director Sergei Eisenstein’s epic historical film Ivan the Terrible. Dvořák, meanwhile, was born in Bohemia in 1841, and his travels led him to find inspiration in traditional music made by people in Europe and North America. “He was from the area that is now Czechoslovakia, and he was a huge advocate of Czech folk music,” Blakeman said. “He very much incorporated that into the repertoire that he composed over his lifetime. He was a big advocate for the music that was born from the indigenous people that live in that area, and then he came to New York … and he spent a number of years in America, mostly headquartered in in New York, but he traveled throughout the Midwest. … He brought that same enthusiasm and inspiration to America, and he started to really champion American folk music. He spent a lot of time kind of investigating and learning folk tunes that were born out of the Native American tradition and out of the AfricanAmerican traditions, and he infused that into the music that he wrote while he was living here in the United States.” Dvořák’s New World Symphony is probably his most famous piece inspired by American folk music, but his piano quartet, like Prokofiev’s sonata, was influenced by indigenous music. “It’s done in different ways,” Blakeman said. “It could be little musical motifs that are found in folk music. It could be could be rhythmic elements that you find in traditional African-American music or Native American music. Composers find different ways to take these sources of inspiration and incorporate them into these different pieces.” Since artists are always looking for new sources of influence, Blakeman said, anything they hear might become part of a composition. “Composers, they find inspiration

from a lot of different sources,” he said. “There are composers who sat out in nature and tried to notate the birds singing in the trees and infuse that into the music that they were composing.” In some cases, Blakeman said, composers interested in folk music helped preserve and spread the traditions decades before they could have been electronically recorded. “What’s interesting about them capturing and infusing folk elements or any kind of indigenous form of music is that 200 years ago, before the recording devices, you really had to listen to these things aurally,” Blakeman said. “You had to sit and hear them, and because, perhaps, they weren’t notated and just got passed down generation after generation. In some cases, it took a classically trained musician who could take those things that they were hearing and then transcribe them so they could be notated. It kind of canonizes some of this music, puts it on paper for the first time.”

Accessible musicians

The Oklahoma City soiree will begin with wine and appetizers, followed by the concert and concluding with a catered dinner with the musicians. By presenting these compositions as part of a dinner party, Blakeman said the center hopes to make the music feel more accessible. “All of our visiting artists, we sprinkle them around the tables with all of our guests,” Blakeman said. “So many of the people that attended the Chamber Music Festival last year, in addition to the incredible music, one of the things that they really loved … was just being able to really have this personal engagement and interaction with these artists that travel the globe and play with the best orchestras in the best venues on the planet. … That’s one of the really special things about these soirees is that it’s really informal. Sometimes people can get intimidated by classical music or there are certain expectations that sometimes are misguided. They think they have to dress up real fancy and go to the symphony in a limousine and all that kind of stuff. And, of course, that’s not true.” The soiree is more business casual than black-tie, Blakeman added. Tickets are $200 and available at mcknightcenter.org.

Oklahoma City Soiree – Folk Influences Chamber Music Festival 6 p.m. Feb. 28 CHK|Central Boathouse 732 Riversport Drive mcknightcenter.org $200

CO M M U N I T Y

ARTS & CULTURE

New beginnings

Ariel Beasley will receive a new home and a fresh start during Central Oklahoma Habitat for Humanity’s Women Build event. By Jo Light

Central Oklahoma Habitat for Humanity (COHFH) will take part in 2019 National Women Build Week, an annual event starting March 2 and coinciding with International Women’s Day. Women Build Week is an initiative of Habitat for Humanity’s Women Build program, which was formed in 1991 in an effort to get women involved in serving local communities. Events like Women Build Week provide training and supervision to volunteers who want to take part in building a Habitat home. Men are welcome, too. This year, Women Build Week kicks off the construction of a new home for Ariel Beasley and her young son, whom she affectionately calls Goose. She experienced loss, abuse and drug addiction early on in her life. “For a long time, I was struggling with addiction, and I was in and out of jail, and I was homeless at one point,” she said. “During all that, I ended up getting pregnant and having my son.” In 2016, when her son was 6 months old, Beasley briefly lost custody. A few months later, she entered the ReMerge female diversion program, an Oklahoma nonprofit started in 2011 that rehabilitates new or expecting mothers facing incarceration. Graduates of the program have the chance to have their felony charges dismissed. “They start from the bottom with you,” Beasley said, “and for that two years, just walk through life with you. It changed my life.” ReMerge provides medical care, counseling, training, legal services and more. She credits the program with helping her get sober. “I just never looked back,” she said. “Everything has changed since then.” She now works a steady job in human resources and also serves as a resident manager of HopeHouse OKC, a transitional living facility for individuals experiencing homelessness. She fre-

quently mentors women through both ReMerge and HopeHouse, focusing specifically on dealing with relationships and self-worth. She is also very involved in her church and relies on her faith for personal strength. “For me, getting really connected with my church and these programs has given me that lifeline,” she said. “I just feel like the closer that I’ve been to God, it’s poured out into the rest of my life.” Through her church and a mentor she had there, she got involved in Habitat for Humanity. Her mentor happened to be a close friend of Ann Felton Gilliland, CEO of COHFH, and she encouraged Beasley to apply. Beasley said she did try for the program early last year but was asked to tackle some credit issues first and show evidence of financial stability. “That was in February of last year,” she said, “and by August, I had finally gotten approved, and [I] worked really hard to get in that position of being able to be accepted into their program.” A group of supportive female friends was another reason she was able to successfully enter Habitat’s housing program. “I had been doing so well for so long, and I had all these great women that were rooting for me and writing these letters for me and saying, ‘Hey, we stand beside her,’” she said. “And so it was like this group of women in the community that was carrying me on their shoulders.” It seems fitting for Beasley’s new home to be a product of the Women Build program, which brings together even more supportive women to work toward a common goal.

Empowering work

Gilliland, who has been with COHFH since 1990, called Women Build events empowering. On framing day, the volunteers start

with an empty slab and end the day with the beginning of a home. The fruits of their labor are instantly obvious. “As often as not, women that commit for the first time are really surprised at what they can do,” Gilliland said. The build on Beasley’s new home is slated to last from March 2 to its dedication on June 8. Volunteers will work on Saturdays during this period to complete the house. Gilliland said even those who have never worked in construction are welcome to volunteer because there are supervisors that provide on-the-job training. For those who don’t want to do construction, there are other volunteer opportunities available, like painting and landscaping. “Our goal is for [volunteers] to leave that day with a really great experience,” Gilliland said. “And I think we accomplish that because so many of them come back.” Thirty to 35 volunteers are needed for framing day, and over 100 women will be needed for tasks in the subsequent weeks. Those interested in this build will need to volunteer within the next couple of weeks. Otherwise, Gilliland said Habitat usually has about 14 other houses under construction. Beasley is in the process of working through the sweat equity portion of her agreement with Habitat, which requires her to put in 300 hours of work within the organization. Some work must be on other builds and at the Habitat ReStore facility. Portions of sweat equity can be shared with Beasley’s friends and family, as well.

This year, Women Build participants will build a home for Ariel Beasley. | Photo Central Oklahoma Habitat for Humanity / provided

Gilliland pointed out that another benefit of the sweat equity is that Beasley will meet other volunteers and her neighbors and, therefore, will move into an established support system in her new community. Currently, she is also getting the opportunity to choose the finishing details on her new home, like countertops and flooring. “I had never really thought about what I wanted,” she said. “Most people don’t get that opportunity. I’m just really grateful to be where I’m at with it.” The honorary chairperson for this year’s Women Build is Oklahoma City resident Elizabeth Wilson, and her responsibilities include aiding in fundraising and being present at the home’s framing day. As a member of the Pi Beta Phi women’s fraternity, she has been able to draw upon that community as a resource. Those interested in volunteering during Women Build Week or other times during the year should contact volunteer coordinator Rick Lorg at COHFH. Beasley said she is excited about the next chapter in her story. “Three days after I took [Goose] home from the hospital and I was sitting in an abandoned house in August, it was like a hundred degrees outside,” she said. “We’re pouring with sweat, nothing to eat, no running water, no electricity.” She said it was the worst moment of motherhood and her life. “Going from that to this, to a homeowner; I don’t even know how to describe it,” she said. “It’s just another piece of my story. I can’t wait to tell about what God’s done for me.” Visit cohfh.org.

Habitat for Humanity’s Women Build Week encourages women volunteers to help build houses for people in their communities. | Photo Central Oklahoma Habitat for Humanity / provided

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SHOPPING

ARTS & CULTURE

New life

Grain & Grange furniture manufacturers rely on reclaimed lumber to create pieces filled with history and personality. By Jo Light

On the wall of Todd Miller’s office at Grain & Grange is a hefty bundle of race bibs and medals from numerous marathons, duathlons and triathlons, including Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon. Miller is a fan of endurance, and it shows. He operates his furniture company, located at 1312 S. Agnew Ave., with the same spirit of durability and persistence he brings to his many races. Grain & Grange uses reclaimed wood that has lasted for generations. “What does it mean to have staying power?” Miller said. “What does it mean to have the ability to keep going? What does it mean to, at the risk of sounding cliché, rise up from the ashes?” Miller said he has been reclaiming and repurposing materials to make things since he was young. Professionally, he began in custom ironworks, starting a business called Old World Iron in his garage in 1997. The company makes metal pieces ranging from stair railings and gates to mailboxes and lighting fixtures. Eventually, clients started asking if Miller made furniture, but at first he was determined to be a “real iron guy” and stick to what he knew. Then he wondered if there was something viable in making furniture too. As someone passionate about classic designs and reclaimed materials, he decided to look for salvaged wood. Miller found Vintage Reclaimed Lumber Co., 1125 Exchange Ave., as his perfect source. “I was looking for a very specific product called boxcar or railcar flooring,” he said. “It’s reclaimed from train cars that have been decommissioned. Some of it is 20 years old. Some of it is a hundred years old. You never really know what you’re going to get, and it’s really difficult to get.” Miller explained his goals to the owner of Vintage Reclaimed Lumber at the time, Bob Adamson, who provided him with about $5,000 worth of boxcar flooring. Miller was officially in the furniture business, starting in 1998. Years later, Adamson decided to sell his lumber business, and he made an offer to Miller. Although Miller initially turned him down, after some back and forth, he bought Vintage Reclaimed Lumber in April 2017. Miller called it a great fit because Vintage Reclaimed Lumber can cooperate with Old World Iron, keeping almost all the furniture manufacturing in-house. However, with all the recent construction around Oklahoma City Boulevard, Todd Miller’s passions for custom ironworks and vintage wood are reflected in his furniture company, Grain & Grange. | Photo Alexa Ace

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Exchange Avenue was effectively cut off. Miller grew concerned about Vintage Reclaimed Lumber’s isolation. That, along with a desire to create a strong furniture brand that customers would recognize more easily, led to Grain & Grange and the new showroom location in Stockyards City, which opened in January of this year. “Traffic has exploded,” Miller said Visitors to Cattlemen’s Steakhouse and Langston’s Western Wear often find their way inside. Now Grain & Grange, Vintage Reclaimed Lumber and Old World Iron fall under the larger umbrella of Todd Miller Companies, which also includes Oklahoma Stair Parts, Architectural Metal Designs and Cypress Hill Designs. Clinton Tharp, who manages the marketing for Miller’s companies, had some colorful ways to describe his very active employer. “I like to call him the Elon Musk of interior design,” Tharp said. He added later via email, “Todd is busier than the sun.”

Wood history

The furniture in Grain & Grange comes in a variety of styles. There are console tables with industrial metal accents and barstools with clean, sturdy lines that would fit well alongside modern décor. Rough beams repurposed as fireplace mantels have a kind of old Western sensibility. “What we’re looking for is a new twist that will appeal to that kind of urban buyer,” Miller said. “It doesn’t matter what their home looks like, whether it be a loft in Bricktown or whether it be a huge house somewhere up north or whether it be an apartment.” The designs tend to focus on urban, industrial and farmhouse styles. Grain & Grange makes bedframes, tables in various sizes, chairs, sofa and media consoles, coffee tables, lighting and more. If you visit a showroom where reclaimed wood is the building material of choice, you’re probably going to get

told about how the boxcar flooring or cargo planks are pieces of classic Americana, objects that have traveled thousands of miles over generations of U.S. shipping routes. The furniture in Grain & Grange is romantic about the wood’s history in the same way, but with the added element of Miller’s admiration for endurance. “I got to express that in a lot of different ways in my businesses, but specifically at Old World Iron and then beautifully at Vintage Reclaimed Lumber,” he said after pointing out his racing medals. “Because it was just this culmination of all these things that I love, taking something that likely would have been discarded or has been discarded and turning it into something useful that will last a thousand years.” Certainly, the reclaimed wood tells a story. Miller’s craftspeople have let a lot of the lumber remain rough, with gouges and knotholes that might have once been viewed as imperfections but now give every piece a unique look. Miller explained how to tell various wood types apart. The boxcar planks are scratched across the grain because boxcars

Rustic materials are often used to create something uniquely modern at Grain & Grange. | Photo Alexa Ace

were loaded from side doors; cargo wood is marked along the grain because trailers were loaded from the back. Miller’s manufacturers have kept many of the boxcar boards joined in their original tongue-and-groove construction. He said the cars had to travel long distances on sometimes uneven tracks and needed to have some flexibility. Given the opportunity, Miller’s company will also reclaim wood from Oklahoma City. Miller walked over to a long conference table with a live wood edge called the Turnpike Table, which a customer happened to be admiring at that moment. Huge industrial legs like steamroller wheels support the piece. The wood for that table came from an enormous felled tree in the neighborhood that the city would have otherwise turned into mulch. The design is named for the band Turnpike Troubadours. Salvaged barn wood is another regular source of lumber and provides a third look for the furniture made in the store. Most pieces are viewable online, where shoppers can create custom orders with their choice of wood type, finish and size. Builders or do-it-yourselfers interested in buying lumber wholesale can contact Vintage Reclaimed Lumber for details. Individuals with salvaged wood also reach out regularly. Currently, Grain & Grange is holding a drive for Oklahoma City Cleats for Kids, which provides sports gear to area children in need. As an athlete himself, community outreach is important to Miller. Grain & Grange is planning a grand opening in mid March. Visit grainandgrange.com.

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

BOOKS Book Discussion Club: Born a Crime by Trevor Noah a discussion of The Daily Show host’s book about his childhood presented by Dialogue Institute Oklahoma City, 6-8 p.m. Feb. 21. Raindrop Turkish House, 4444 N. Classen Blvd., 405-702-0222, raindropturkishhouse.org. THU Karen Rose book signing the best-selling author will autograph copies of her crime thriller Say You’re Sorry, 6:30 p.m. Feb 21. Full Circle Bookstore, 1900 Northwest Expressway, 405-842-2900, fullcirclebooks.com. THU Linda Kukuk book signing the illustrator will autograph copies of Wilma’s Way Home: The Life of Wilma Mankiller, a biography of the first female chief of the Cherokee Nation, 3 p.m. Feb. 23. Full Circle Bookstore, 1900 Northwest Expressway, 405-8422900, fullcirclebooks.com. SAT Margaret Verble book signing the Pulitzer Prize finalist will autograph copies of her book Cherokee America set in the Cherokee Nation West in 1875, 6:30 p.m. Feb. 20. Full Circle Bookstore, 1900 Northwest Expressway, 405-842-2900, fullcirclebooks.com. WED

FILM The Last Defense (2018, USA, Jeremiah Crowell & Amani Martin) a documentary examining the case of Julius Darius Jones on Oklahoma’s death row; screened by the Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, 6-9 p.m. Feb. 24. Oklahoma City First Church Of The Nazarene, 4400 Northwest Expressway, 405-843-9588, okcfirst.com. SUN My Fair Lady (1964, USA, George Cukor) Professor Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison) attempts to make Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn) presentable to high society in this Academy Award-winning musical, Feb. 20, Wed., Feb. 20. AMC Quail Springs Mall 24, 2501 W. Memorial Road, 405-755-2406, amctheatres.com. WED Oscars viewing party watch the Academy Awards on the big screen, with trivia during the commercial breaks, 7 p.m. Feb. 24. Rodeo Cinema, 2221 Exchange Ave., 405-235-3456. SUN Runnin’ the City premiere a screening of the skating video produced by Steezy Skateboards, 8-10 p.m. Feb. 24. Session Hookah Lounge, 340 NW 23rd St., 405-604-8003. SUN Third Thursday: A Night at the Oscars view Oscar-nominated short films, drink a cocktail and hear live music, 5-9 p.m. Feb. 21. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, 405-236-3100, okcmoa.com. THU

HAPPENINGS 40 Acres Day: Remembering OK’s Black Towns hear about Oklahoma’s historic black towns

from scholars, authors and former and current residents with live music, beans, cornbread and sweet potato pie, 6-8 p.m. Feb. 23. Nappy Roots, 3705 Springlake Drive, 405-896-0203, facebook.com/pg/ nappyrootsbooks. SAT Adults Only Night participate in trivia and games with hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar, 6-9 p.m. Feb. 22. Sam Noble Museum, 2401 Chautauqua Ave., Norman, 405-325-4712, samnoblemuseum.ou.edu. FRI Advising Your Lawmakers on Cannabis Medicines medical marijuana patients are invited to discuss their needs with legislators, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Feb. 25. Oklahoma State Capitol, 2300 N. Lincoln Blvd., 405-521-3356, ok.gov. MON Art Against Violence: Orange Party an art exhibition, poetry reading, fashion and drag show to raise awareness about teen dating violence, 7-11 p.m. Feb. 22. Resonator, 325 E. Main St., Norman, resonator.space. FRI Behind the Bones go on a guided tour of the skeletons at the museum with insider information and exclusive photo opportunities, 2-6:30 p.m. Feb. 23. Museum of Osteology, 10301 S. Sunnylane Road, 405-814-0006, museumofosteology.org. SAT Cafe Society: Inspiring Conversations author and historian Anita Arnold will discuss her books Oklahoma City Music: Deep Deuce and Beyond and Oklahoma City’s African American Education, 6-7:30 p.m. Feb. 21. Artspace at Untitled, 1 NE Third St., 405815-9995, 1ne3.org. THU The City Cabaret: OKC At The Movies musicians including Cristela Carrizales, Courtney Crouse, David Dobson and Kendon Lacy perform songs from Academy Award nominated films, 8-10 p.m. Feb. 22, VZD’s Restaurant & Bar, 4200 N. Western Ave., 405602-3006, vzds.com. FRI Coffee with Kendra have a cup of joe and discuss issues with newly elected Congresswoman Kendra Horn, 7:30-8:30 a.m. Feb. 20. Ray’s Cafe, 2727 NW 50th St., 405-942-4100. WED Drag Bingo the popular game of chance hosted by Luxx Bentley and Roxie Hart, with proceeds benefitting Other Options, Inc. and Great Plains Rodeo Association, 7 p.m. Feb. 24. The Boom, 2218 NW 39th St., 405-601-7200, theboomokc.com. SUN Fuzzy Friday a monthly happy hour meet-andgreet hosted by the Bears of Central Oklahoma, 5:30 p.m. Fridays. Apothecary 39, 2125 NW 39th St., 405-605-4100. FRI Gala with Anita Hill the professor and activist will speak at a benefit for the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma’s Dr. Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher Center for Social Justice and Racial Healing, 6-10 p.m. Feb. 22. Oklahoma History Center, 800 Nazih Zuhdi Drive, 405-521-2491, okhistory.org. FRI Gettin’ Dirty learn how to design and build a terrarium planter from a whiskey barrel at this Plant Nite Oklahoma City event, 7-9 p.m. Feb. 20. Fassler Hall, 421 NW 10th St., 405-609-3300, fasslerhall.com. WED Life Imagined: The Art and Science of Automata see examples of mechanical proto-robots from 1850 to the modern day, Feb. 24-Sept. 29. Science Museum Oklahoma, 2020 Remington Place, 405-602-6664, sciencemuseumok.org. SUN-FRI

The Hate U Give In this film based on Angie Thomas’ bestselling young adult novel, Starr Carter (Amandla Stenberg) essentially lives a double life, moving between a wealthy, mostly white preparatory school and a poorer, mostly black neighborhood. This situation becomes even more complicated to navigate after she sees a police officer shoot her childhood friend Khalil (Algee Smith) and her alliances are questioned on all sides. This screening, hosted by the Society of Urban Poets, also features an introduction and post-film Q&A led by Johnnie L. Swanson. The screening begins 6 p.m. Monday at Ralph Ellison Library, 2000 NE 23rd St. Admission is free. Call 405-339-4844 or visit urbanpoets.toogroagency.com. MONDAY Photo provided Nancy Miller lecture the television producer and writer, who worked on Nashville, Saving Grace and Against the Wall, will discuss her career in this entry in the OKC Town Hall Popular Lecture Series, 10:30 a.m. Feb. 21. Church of the Servant, 14343 N. MacArthur Blvd., 703-481-0000. THU OKC at the Oscars enjoy specialty cocktails, hors d’oeuvres and a red carpet photoshoot; business casual attire recommended, 6-10:30 p.m. Feb. 24. IAO Gallery, 706 W. Sheridan Ave., 405-232-6060, iaogallery.org. SUN Oklahoma Moms Demand Action Advocacy Day discuss gun control legislation with state lawmakers, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Feb. 26. Oklahoma Capitol Building, 2200 N. Lincoln Blvd., 405-521-3356, ok.gov. TUE SixTwelve Mardi Gras Ball hear live zydeco music from Chubby Carrier & the Bayou Swamp Band, sample food from Picasso Cafe, and bid on artworks by local artists a this annual fundraiser for SixTwelve, 8-11 p.m. Feb. 23. Tower Theatre, 425 NW 23rd St., 405-708-6937, towertheatreokc.com. SAT Totally Terrariums Workshop learn how to construct a miniature garden in a vintage apothecary jar, 10 a.m.-noon Feb. 23. The Oklahoma City Zoo, 2000 Remington Place, 405-424-3344, okczoo.com. SAT

FRI-SUN

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Dr. Jekyll’s alter-ego Hyde is played by five actors in Jeffrey Hatcher’s adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic novella, through March 9. Carpenter Square Theatre, 806 W. Main St., 405-232-6500, carpentersquare. com. FRI-SAT Electric Pizza hear new electronic compositions from University of Central Oklahoma graduate students Jonathon Edwards, Breck McGough and Santiago Ramones, 7-9 p.m. Feb. 20. UCO Jazz Lab, 100 E. Fifth St., Edmond, 405-359-7989, ucojazzlab.com. WED Funny 4 Real comics Mack O, Ricky Shaw, CJ Starr and Quentin Q Coleman will perform, 7-10 p.m. Feb. 23. Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center, 3000 General Pershing Blvd., 405-951-0000, oklahomacontemporary.org. SAT Goin’ to the Chapel: Twisted Love Stories Opera on Tap presents romantic music from English, Italian, German and French operas, 8-9:30 p.m. Feb. 23. Union Wood Fired Grill, 2920 NW 63rd St., 405608-8866, unionwoodfiredgrill.com. SAT

FOOD

Into the Woods: an OKC StorySLAM hear stories about wandering into the unknown or share one of your own at this storytelling event, 7 p.m. Feb. 24. 51st Street Speakeasy, 1114 NW 51st St., 405-4630470, 51stspeakeasy.com. SUN

YOUTH Academic Enrichment Reading Clinic children in grades 1-12 can receive free tutoring and homework help in reading, math and history and learn about nonviolent conflict resolution and success-building habits at this weekly clinic, 11 a.m. Wednesdays through April 27. Nappy Roots, 3705 Springlake Drive, 405-896-0203, facebook.com/pg/ nappyrootsbooks. 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

SATURDAY-SUNDAY Photo bigstock.com

Cendrillon Oklahoma City University’ s Opera and Music Theater Company presents Jules Massenet’s 1899 adaptation of Cinderella, Feb. 22-24. Kirkpatrick Auditorium, Oklahoma City University Campus, 2501 N. Blackwelder Ave., 405-208-5000, okcu.edu.

Trivia Night at Matty McMillen’s answer questions for a chance to win prizes at this weekly trivia night, 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays. Matty McMillen’s Irish Pub, 2201 NW 150th St., 405-607-8822, mattymcmillens.com. TUE

Slane Irish Whiskey launch sample Slane Irish Whiskey and Old Forester Rye 100, 5-7 p.m. Feb. 26. Sean Cumming’s Irish Restaurant, 7628 N. May Ave., 405-841-7326, seancummings-ok.com. TUE

Friends of the Library Annual Book Sale Myriad perfumes, colognes and candles claim to recreate that used book smell, but for true bookworms, nothing sparks joy like a snootful of the real deal. Catch a whiff of eau du old paper at this annual sale, now in its 39th year, and if you can sneak them past any disciples and misinterpreters of decluttering guru Marie Kondo, leave with a few new-to-you additions for your own shelves while helping out Metropolitan Library System. The sale is 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Saturday-Sunday at Oklahoma State Fairgrounds, 3213 Wichita Walk. Admission is free. Visit supportmls.org.

starring four actors in 19 roles, through March 2. The Pollard Theatre, 120 W. Harrison Ave., 405-282-2800, thepollard.org. FRI-SAT

Reading Wednesdays a weekly story time with hands-on activities, goody bags and reading-themed photo ops, 9:30-10:30 a.m. Wednesdays. Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave., 405-445-7080, myriadgardens.com. WED Storytime Science the museum invites children age 6 and younger to hear a story and participate in a related scientific activity, 10 a.m. Tuesdays and Saturdays. Science Museum Oklahoma, 2020 Remington Place, 405-602-6664, sciencemuseumok.org. TUE

James Campbell and Friends the clarinetist will play compositions by Brahms. Bartok and Schickele, joined by cellist Adrian Fung, violinist Min-Jeong Koh and pianists Stephanie Leon Shames and Jonathan Shames, 8 p.m. Feb. 27. Catlett Music Center, 500 W. Boyd St., Norman, 405-325-0538, musicaltheatre. ou.edu. WED Joel Forlenza: The Piano Man the pianist performs variety of songs made famous by Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra and of course Billy Joel, 5:30-8:30 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. Othello’s Italian Restaurant, 434 Buchanan Ave., 405-701-4900, othellos.us. TUE-THU Kafka’s Trial: A Dramatic Reading a stage adaptation of Franz Kafka’s novel directed by University of Oklahoma’s Joe Alberti, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 21-23. Weitzenhoffer Theatre, 563 Elm Ave., Norman, 405-325-7370, ou.edu/finearts. THU-SAT OKC Improv comedic performers create scenes based on audience suggestions, Feb. 22-23. Oklahoma City Improv, 1757 NW 16th St., 405-456-9858, okcimprov.com. FRI-SAT Poor Murderer a drama written by Pavel Kohout centered around a production of Hamlet staged in St. Petersburg at the turn of the 20th century, Feb. 21-24. Oklahoma City University, 2501 N. Blackwelder Ave, 405-208-5000. THU-SUN

PERFORMING ARTS Almost, Maine a romantic comedy written by John Cariani, directed by Matthew Alvin Brown and

GO TO OKGAZETTE.COM FOR FULL LISTINGS!

continued on page 34

O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | F E B R U A R Y 2 0 , 2 0 1 9

CALENDAR

List your event in 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.

Submit your listings online at okgazette.com or email them to listings@okgazette.com. Sorry, but phone submissions cannot be accepted.

C A L E N DA R

Submissions must be received by Oklahoma Gazette no later

continued from page 33 Sanctuary Karaoke Service don a choir robe and sing your favorite song, 9 p.m.-midnight Wednesdays and Thursdays. Sanctuary Barsilica, 814 W. Sheridan Ave., facebook.com/sanctuarybarokc. WED Scheherazade OCU’s Symphony Orchestra performs Nikolai Rimskij-Korsakov’s composition, 7-8:30 p.m. Feb. 26. Bass School of Music, OCU, 2501 N. Blackwelder Ave., 405-2085227, okcu.edu. TUE

Twelfth Night stranded by a shipwreck in an unfamiliar land, Viola disguises herself as a young man while she searches for her lost twin in this comedy by William Shakespeare, through March 2. Shakespeare on Paseo, 2920 Paseo St., 405-2353700, oklahomashakespeare.org. THU-SAT

ACTIVE Full Moon Bike Ride and Run enter a 5K run in scenic downtown or bring your bike for a leisurely ride as the sun sets, Last Tuesday of every month, 8 p.m. Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave., 405-445-7080, myriadgardens.com. TUE 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 Rd., 405-603-7655. MON 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 Yoga Tuesdays an all-levels class; bring your own water and yoga mat, 5:45 p.m.-7 p.m. Tuesdays. Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave., 405445-7080, myriadgardens.com. TUE

VISUAL ARTS

Writing a Screenplay for Production FREE Seminar

February 23 • 9 a.m. – 12 noon Metro Tech Downtown Business Campus 100 N. Broadway, Third Floor

American Indian Artists: 20th Century Masters an exhibition of Native art from the Kiowa Six, Harrison Begay, Tonita Peña and more, through Sep. 1. National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 NE 63rd St., 405-478-2250, nationalcowboymuseum.org. SAT-SUN Ancient. Massive. Wild – The Bison Exhibit view paintings, photographs, and sculptures celebrating the bison’s importance in the history of the American West, through May 12. National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 NE 63rd St., 405-478-2250, nationalcowboymuseum.org. SAT-SUN Ansel Adams and the Photographers of the West an exhibition of nature photographs by Adams and several of the photographers he inspired, through May 26. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, 405-236-3100, okcmoa.com. FRI-SUN The Art of Collection an exhibition of outsider and anonymous artworks from the Anonyma Fine Art collection owned and curated by Emily Ladow Reynolds, through March 14. Artspace at Untitled, 1 NE Third St., 405-815-9995, 1ne3.org. THU Back To My Roots Fashion Show view the latest styles from the local clothing company, 6-8 p.m. Feb. 24. Ice Event Center & Grill, 1148 NE 36th St., 405-2084240, iceeventcentergrill.eat24hour.com. SUN Eggtion Figures an exhibition of sculptures by Norman-based artist Tomoaki Orikasa, through March 22. Paseo Studio Six, 3021 Paseo St., 405528-0174, thepaseo.org. FRI Monsters and Madonnas view a series of photographs created by University of Central Oklahoma students and inspired by the work of William Mortensen, through Feb. 28. UCO University Library, 100 N. University Drive. THU Peggy D. Farris solo show an exhibition of 30 surrealistic oil paintings, through Feb. 21. Whispering Willows Art Gallery, 226 E. Main St, 405-928-5077. THU Pop Stars! Popular Culture and Contemporary Art an exploration of contemporary pop art inspired by Andy Warhol, Nick Cave, R. Luke DuBois and others, through Feb. 28. 21c Museum Hotel, 900 W. Main St., 405-982-6900, 21cmuseumhotels.com. SUN-THU

This seminar is presented in partnership with deadCenter in support of Oklahoma’s film industry. Registration is required. Contact the DBC at 405-595-4090 or Downtown@MetroTech.edu for additional information.

Resistance an exhibition of artist Don Holladay’s works created from burlap, string, house paint, joint compound, sand, collaged photographs, gravel and clothes pins, through Feb. 24. Norman Santa Fe Depot, 200 S. Jones Ave., Norman, 405-307-9320, pasnorman.org. FRI-SUN A Ship Named Atlast an exhibition of paintings and sculptures by multimedia artist and author Tammy Nguyen, Through March 15. The Lightwell Gallery, 520 Parrington Oval, Norman, 405-3252691, art.ou.edu. MON-FRI Testimony: The Life and Work of David Friedman an exhibition of portraits, landscapes and more by the artist and Holocaust survivor, through May 26. Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, 555 Elm Ave., Norman, 405-325-3272, ou.edu/fjjma.

Rob Lake Magic: Up Close Despite widespread fan theories that Rob Lake has a twin brother, the Norman magician, as seen last year on America’s Got Talent, appears to create the illusion of teleportation without resorting to either of the tactics presented in director Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige. Concealing a twin a la Christian Bale’s character(s) seems next to impossible in the internet age, and though it’s harder to prove, we’re going to assume Lake, unlike Hugh Jackman’s character, doesn’t have access to a Nikola Tesla-created cloning machine. What Lake does have is Roger, a Yorkshire terrier mix rescue dog, who often appears onstage. Lake’s performance will raise funds for prison dog training program Friends for Folks and Central Oklahoma Humane Society, whose work with rescue animals is truly magical. Prepare to be astounded 7 p.m. Feb. 27 at Tower Theatre, 425 NW 23rd St. Tickets are $35-$59. Call 405-708-6937 or visit towertheatreokc.com. FEB. 27 Photo Ryan C. Reed / provided

Westheimer Distinguished Visiting Artist Chair: Mildred Howard the mixed-media and sculptural artist creates works that explore socio-political topics such as sexism and racism in unconventional ways, through April 7. Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, 555 Elm Ave., Norman, 405-3253272, ou.edu/fjjma. FRI-SUN Women of Color Art Showcase an exhibition of works by artists Sylvia Archie, IIcreate Art, Imani Davis and Maya Perez, 7-10:30 p.m. Feb. 23. Heart Studios, 3208 Teakwood Lane, Suite 103, 405-6644194, heartstudiosllc.com. SAT

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

THU-SUN

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 , 2 0 1 9 | O KG A Z E T T E . C O M

O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | F E B R U A R Y 1 3 , 2 0 1 9

F E AT U R E

MUSIC

Heavy water

Colourmusic’s newest album Swimsuit was written amidst emotional turmoil and released in an unconventional way. By Jeremy Martin

Until it was released on streaming platforms Feb. 4, Colourmusic’s latest album Swimsuit offered fans an oldschool music experience — they actually had to pay to hear it. Sold through the band’s website beginning in June, Swimsuit, unlike previous Colourmusic albums, was released independently without a record label. “We wanted to put it out where you couldn’t actually listen to it unless you bought it,” said vocalist and songwriter Ryan Hendrix. “We just wanted to see what kind of fan base of people wanted to buy our record. … I feel like we build a relationship with our audience, we put our record on a streaming company and then that streaming company gets to sort of exploit that relationship. I didn’t want to have anybody else involved. I want to have a direct relationship.” Anyone who purchases a vinyl copy of the album also gets a CD copy of Mathewson, OK, an ambient album Hendrix said a record label “wouldn’t even care about” and might even prevent the band from releasing if it were under contract. Though it’s easy for the band to track how many albums have been ordered, it’s hard for Hendrix to know how the number of listeners compared to previous albums released in a more conventional manner. “I can’t answer that question in a real honest way because like the last two records that we put out, or last three, actually, we put out with a record label,” Hendrix said. “They’re spending money, the PR companies. We couldn’t do that. We couldn’t afford to do that. … One thing I will say is, it’s just a hell of a lot harder to be heard when you don’t have more money to promote it.” Swimsuit might not have the label backing that 2014’s May You

Marry Rich or 2011’s My ___ is Pink did, but Hendrix said the new album also benefitted from not having sales-driven oversight, which could have required him to compromise his vision for it. “Every record that we’ve put out, I would always be told by the label, ‘You need to write songs that are shorter, the chorus comes in faster, vocals come in faster,’” Hendrix said. “When I wrote this album, I was really sad. One of my best friends was dying of cancer. My family dog, which some people don’t care about but it is really important me, my family dog died. I had a few family members that passed away. So this is a record done to sort of, like, help me deal with a lot of sadness. So to think of shortening the length of the songs or whatever to make them more ready for, like, radio or college radio or whatever just was stupid to me. “This record is mid-tempo, the vocals don’t come in for, like a minute, minute and a half. It’s not a real vocal record. I’m not trying to sing melodies to get into people’s heads. It’s kind of a downer. These are all black marks, right? These are all like, you know, sort of non-commercial things that you do in a record. And so I just knew I didn’t want to mess with it. I know this isn’t something that they’re going to get excited about.”

Light blue

One lesson Hendrix did take away from working with label executives was that a record needs recognizable art instead of the solid orange and pink covers on the band’s first two releases. “Our last album, they were like, ‘No. You’ve got to have an album cover. We’re not going to put this out unless you have an album cover,’” Hendrix said. “And they’re right about that. They are. When I look at our previous albums that are just colors, I’m like, ‘Yeah. It looks better with an image.’” Swimsuit’s cover features a painting by artist Samantha French, which Hendrix said “almost looks like a body that’s dead but not,” but the music the album contains is still inspired by a specific color. “I knew I was going in a sort of a light blue direction,” Hendrix said. “This is probably a little navel-gazey, but I’ve always been kind of interested in water and the way water moves and stuff. And so, you know, water is blue, so I wanted to kind of explore music in that way. And it got really emotional for me because of some of the experiSwimsuit was released on streaming platforms Feb. 4, but fans have been able to buy the album from the band’s ences I was having at the time.” In addition to the grief he felt website since June. | Image Samantha French /provided

over losing friends and family members, Hendrix also worried that Colourmusic might be ending after bandmate Nicholas Ley began playing with The Flaming Lips. Though Colourmusic has future releases and tour dates planned, at the time the album was being recorded, Hendrix thought Swimsuit might be the band’s swansong and he wanted to make sure it was exactly what he wanted it to be. “I always have been fascinated by the idea that if a person made a record and they knew that no one would ever listen to it and they couldn’t make any money from it, what would they make as an artist?” he said. “That was probably one of the central questions I was exploring with this record. … I would argue that I write music for myself. I don’t really feel like there is music out there that really speaks to me as a listener. So this is music that I’m trying to write for me and for people like me.” Hendrix said he thinks Swimsuit is “as good as [Colourmusic has] been as a band,” and the response he has gotten from listeners has been surprisingly positive, even if the vibe of the latest record is a “little mellower” than previous releases. “Some people really love our first record a lot, and I felt like I just disappoint them over and over and over

Colourmusic played an album release show at Norman’s Guestroom Records earlier this month. | Photo Alexa Ace

again,” Hendrix said. “I always feel bad about that because that record really meant a lot to people. … But the feedback I have gotten has been incredible. You put something out and you’re like, ‘I don’t know if anybody’s going to get this. It’s definitely not really fitting in with what other people are putting out right now. We’ll see.’ But it just seems like people really love it.” He also thinks that adding the album’s more abstract songs to Colourmusic’s set list has given the band’s concerts more depth. “I feel like it’s adding a kind of mysterious dimension to our live performance that was always a part of our personalities, but we never really expressed it very well,” he said. Colourmusic plays March 15 at District Bicycles in Stillwater for Land Run 100 and then heads to Austin for South by Southwest. Swimsuit is available at colourmusic.net.

O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | F E B R U A R Y 2 0 , 2 0 1 9

EVENT

MUSIC

Violent femmes Daughters grow up with You Won’t Get What You Want. By Jeremy Martin

For many fans and critics, Daughters’ latest album failed to live up to its name. Publications and websites including Rolling Stone, BrooklynVegan and A.V. Club named 2018’s You Won’t Get What You Want one of the year’s best releases. Good reviews from mainstream music critics for Daughters’ acerbic noise rock aren’t exactly new for the band, which has released four generally well-received studio albums since forming in 2002, but guitarist Nick Andrew Sadler said he never expects to hear positive feedback from anyone. “I generally assume that no one’s going to give a shit,” Sadler said. “There’s no reason to assume that anyone would, in my opinion. The music is so different in a lot of ways from music that most people find palatable.” Daughters plays Sunday at 89th Street — OKC, 8911 N. Western Ave. Pitchfork gave the band’s 2010 self-titled album, released after Daughters announced an indefinite hiatus, an 8.2 out of 10 and called it a “feast to be savored,” but Sadler said the record’s content was still too off-putting to convert critical acclaim to a noticeable increase in fans. Follow-up You Won’t Get What You Want, however, seems to be more popular with new listeners — and, to a certain point, with certain older listeners who previously never Daughters play Sunday at 89th Street — OKC. | Photo Reid Haithcock / provided

seemed to get what the band was doing. “Most of the time, the records are too harsh or too different for the mainstream journalists to really make a difference,” Sadler said, “but I think this record is just listenable enough. … Even my family, they’re sort of paying attention to what’s happening with this record, and they’re excited about it. And there’s a couple things that they can understand when they listen to it, but I think still, overall, when they hear it, they don’t understand what they’re listening to.” The band reunited in 2013 and played support on Dillinger Escape Plan’s farewell tour in 2017, but Sadler’s bandmates — vocalist Alexis Marshall, bassist Sam Walker and drummer Jon Syverson — became involved in other projects and moved away from Daughters’ original home base in Providence, Rhode Island, during the band’s hiatus, leaving Sadler to compose much of the music for You Won’t Get What You Want on his own, a situation he found stressful. But Sadler said he finds a lot to be stressed about as he gets older. “The whole writing process was extremely difficult, and I have less time as an older person and less energy to do it,” Sadler said. “I have several jobs and relationships and other bands that I’m active in around town. I do a little bit of film scoring and music. I’m pretty busy, and trying to squeeze in writing for Daughters was kind of hard. We don’t live in the same state anymore, so I have to write all the instrumentation on a

2018’s You Won’t Get What You Want appeared on several critics’ “best of” lists at the end of last year. | Image provided

computer, and I send them things to discuss via email or text or whatever. The recording process was stressful, but part of that is just me. I developed a pretty intense amount of anxiety in my 30s for some reason, and so I can’t tell if the process is actually stressful or I brought my own stress to the table like I do with everything else.”

Core strength

As he gets older, Sadler said he thinks he might become incapable of playing the full-throttle grindcore Daughters was initially famous for, but the choice to move toward slower, more stretched-out songs on the latest album was inspired more by evolving tastes and influences than tenderness for his aging body. “It takes a physical toll,” Sadler said. “We are getting older. I’m the youngest at 36, and you have to wonder how much longer we can play music like Hell Songs effectively as we get older. You have to wonder, but that doesn’t really affect the decision making too much. It’s on my mind only because I’m inching closer and closer to death. Otherwise, it’s mostly about keeping up with personal interests and sensibilities. … Your taste grows and changes, and the new things you pick up that you like about music and art or whatever else as you go along sometimes cancel out the things you liked when you’re younger.” A growing fan base has made touring more comfortable for the band recently, Sadler said, but growing older has made recovery more difficult. “I used to be able to just jump into a tour and do anything,” Sadler said. “I could be blind drunk and thrashing

about or whatever, and I’d wake up the next day perfect. But even if I’m not moving around as much or drinking as much or whatever, it definitely takes me like a week for my body to start getting used to what we’re doing to it. Part of that is getting older, but some of that is also I don’t do any exercises. I don’t take care of myself at all. I think most of us feel that way. We talk about doing things like jogging, but whether or not anyone will actually do it remains to be seen.” Creating a live show from an album constructed largely via email is complicated, Sadler said, especially since the band’s increasing popularity means more scrutiny. “We haven’t really toured regularly as a band in a long time, so I feel like we’re still in the stages of developing the live show sonically, and I don’t know that I have a fully formed opinion on how some of this works yet,” Sadler said. “It’s weird because the record has done very well, which means people are looking at us now. So we don’t have the luxury of, like, doing a month and experimenting with a bunch of stuff and having no one really see us fail or succeed at it. Now we have to jump in and just immediately be good at it, which you’d think after 17 years we would be, but we took such a huge break that I have to have some suspicions about it and some apprehensions. But overall it’s going well.” Despite what Daughters’ latest album title might suggest, Sadler said he does want people to get what they want from the show. “The concern I have is, like, ‘How can we be the best possible version of ourselves when we go out there?’” he said. “I meet people who travel long distances, distances that I would not travel to see my favorite musicians, to come see Daughters, and I just want to do the best possible job for everybody. I mean, this is what I’m doing with my time, and this is how people are spending the money that they traded for their time. It’s important. I don’t know how everybody else feels, but I definitely have concern for other humans.” Tickets are $15-$17. Visit 89thstreetokc.com.

Daughters 7 p.m. Sunday 89th Street — OKC 8911 N. Western Ave. 89thstreetokc.com | 405-463-9203 $15-$17

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 , 2 0 1 9 | O KG A Z E T T E . C O M

LIVE MUSIC These are events recommended by Oklahoma Gazette editorial staff members. For full calendar listings, go to okgazette.com.

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 20 Amanda Cunningham & Friends, The Deli. FOLK Lettuce/Greyhound, Tower Theatre. ROCK

THURSDAY, FEB. 21 Born of Osiris/Chelsea Grin/Make Them Suffer, Diamond Ballroom. METAL

Susan Herndon, Othello’s Italian Restaurant. SINGER/SONGWRITER

Vandoliers, Blue Note Lounge. COUNTRY

SUNDAY, FEB. 24 Donavon Frankenreiter, Tower Theatre. ROCK

HIP-HOP

Hot House Band, Othello’s Italian Restaurant. JAZZ New Tribe/Brave Little Howl, The Deli. ROCK

FRIDAY, FEB. 22 Brent Krueger, Othello’s Italian Restaurant.

SUPPER CLUB W/ KEVIN GRIFFIN

03.03.19

Karaoke Service

BEN RECTOR SOLD OUT

03.08.19

Wednesday & Thursday Nights Starting at 9:00pm

BEN RECTOR SOLD OUT

03.09.19

JENNY LEWIS

04.04.19

BRONZE RADIO RETURN

04.05.19

BROTHERS OSBORNE

04.09.19

ST. PAUL AND THE BROKEN BONES

05.07.19

OLD 97s + BOB SCHNEIDER

05.09.19

JOHNNYSWIM

05.30.19

Seth Glier, Norman Santa Fe Depot. SINGER/SONGWRITER

MONDAY, FEB. 25 Jason Hunt, Sean Cumming’s Irish Restaurant. FOLK Masked Intruder/The Normandys/Klamz, 89th Street-OKC. PUNK

Clark Beckham, VZD’s Restaurant & Bar. POP Heart of Hip Hop, Hubbly Bubbly Hookah & Café.

SPRING 2019

Edgar Cruz, Othello’s Italian Restaurant. ACOUSTIC

814 W. Sheridan Ave, Suite F Oklahoma City, OK

Sick Thoughts/Amenaza, Blue Note Lounge. PUNK

TUESDAY, FEB. 26 Adam Ledbetter, The Blue Door. JAZZ Country Clique, Friends Restaurant & Club. COUNTRY

WE’RE SOCIAL.

I’m With Her, Tower Theatre. SINGER/SONGWRITER

SINGER/SONGWRITER

KISS, Chesapeake Energy Arena. ROCK

Flock of Pigs/Steph Simon & Tha Vets/DJ Laine, The Deli. HIP-HOP

Quaker City Night Hawks, VZD’s Restaurant & Bar. ROCK

SUMMER 2019

AND NEVER MISS A TWEET

@OKGAZETTE

SON VOLT

06.18.19

O.A.R.

08.06.19

TICKETS & INFORMATION AT

THEJONESASSEMBLY.COM

Turbo Wizard If the band name alone doesn’t clue you in, song titles “Battle Dragons,” “Martian Moon Monsters,” “Priest to Beast” and “Shitty Wizard” should give you a reasonably accurate idea of what OKC’s Turbo Wizard sounds like: sticky “Sweet Leaf” riffs gnarly enough to trigger Pavlovian coughing fits and lyrics equally indebted to J.R.R. Tolkien and Gary Gygax. Stoner metal’s wheel needs no reinvention, but Turbo Wizard decisively occupies an upper room in its wheelhouse. Fellow local magic user Crobone shares the bill. The show starts 9 p.m. Friday at Blue Note, 2408 N. Robinson Ave. Call 405-600-1166 or visit facebook.com/bluenoteokc. FRIDAY Photo Gloria Williams / provided Helen Kelter Skelter/Lord Buffalo/Costello, 51st Street Speakeasy. ROCK Noah Engh, Belle Isle Restaurant & Brewing Company. FOLK Travis Meadows, The Blue Door. SINGER/SONGWRITER

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 27 Felina & the Feels, Life Organics Cannafe. ROCK Lez Jaaam/Boketto, The Deli. ROCK Okilly Dokilly, 89th Street-OKC. METAL

Understanding Eris/All Seems Lost, 89th StreetOKC. METAL

SATURDAY, FEB. 23 BC & The Big Rig, The Deli. COUNTRY BJ Barham, The Blue Door. SINGER/SONGWRITER Filaments/Gloom Cruise/Sun Vow, 89th StreetOKC. ROCK Jarvix/Matt Magerkurth/Super Sharp Snakes, The Root. POP Key Glock, The Criterion. HIP-HOP Quando Rondo, Fresh Sound Lounge. HIP-HOP

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.

The Red Plains/Magic Munchbox/Dirty Little Betty’s, 51st Street Speakeasy. ROCK

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901 W. SHERIDAN, OKC

DON’T MISS

THIS MAJOR EXHIBITION

Tatyana Fazlalizadeh: Oklahoma is Black 02/22 - 05/19 | Fairgrounds FREE opening reception 5:30 p.m. Feb. 21 Learn more at oklahomacontemporary.org. oklahomacontemporary.org | 405 951 0000 | @okcontemporary 3000 General Pershing Blvd. | Oklahoma City, OK 73107

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ACROSS 1 Not rumpled, as a bed 5 Slice, for example 9 Veal topper, informally 13 Cookie containers 17 “Yeah, right!” 18 Certain body of believers 21 Part of a Latin 101 conjugation 22 What kind of tree ____? 24 High-grade cotton 25 Capital that was home to the world’s tallest building before the Burj Khalifa 26 Pears and apples 27 Vladimir Lenin’s real last name 29 Nahuatl speaker 30 Answer to 22-Across [Science & Nature] 32 Multipurpose 33 Fixed 34 Polite 36 Moving vehicle 38 “Carmen” and “Elektra” 39 “Jeez!” 40 Mimicking 42 Director Anderson 43 Simulated 46 Answer to 113-Across [Geography] 48 Answer to 13-Down [History] 50 First name on a famous plane 52 Farm females 53 Host for a destructive beetle 55 Abbr. on a label of brandy 58 Class skippers 61 Princess seduced by Zeus 63 Cartesian conclusion 65 Word said before “do” 66 What 1986 ____ romantic comedy got its title from a song by the Psychedelic Furs? 68 Who wrote a 2003 best seller about a ____? 71 Tres + cinco 72 “Little ol’ me?” 73 Fine fabric 75 Asmara is its capital 76 Regard 77 World Cup cry 79 Newspaper units: Abbr. 81 Clammy 82 Answer to 68-Across [Art & Literature] 85 Answer to 66-Across [Entertainment] 89 “Phooey!” 90 Have a bawl 91 Amherst campus, for short 92 Cacophonous 94 Knight’s wear, in England 97 Pad 98 Find a new tenant for 99 Calendar units: Abbr. 102 Select, as sides for a game 104 Answer to 39-Down [Sports & Leisure] 106 “To repeat …” 108 Lens covers 109 Meerkat in The Lion King 111 Living, to Livy 112 Nose out 113 What ____ comes from a farm bird? 117 Blacken 118 Song heard at the start of Saturday Night Fever 119 Ride provider

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32 Sweet and kind 35 1962 hit for the Ikettes 36 Part of an itinerary 37 Cost to get a hand 39 What annual game have the ____ won more than any other team? 40 Too 41 Condition once called “shell shock,” for short 43 Process 44 How chicken teriyaki is usually served 45 Gave reluctantly, with “up” 47 Court plea, in brief 49 Oregon city that was the first permanent U.S. settlement west of the Rockies 51 A, B, C or D, in multiple choice: Abbr. 54 Foal’s mother 56 Like Fenway among all major- league ballparks 57 Folds 59 Cinephile’s channel 60 “Buzz off!” 62 Natty neckwear 64 Locale for Jacques Cousteau 67 Crankcase device 69 Like a moray 70 Director Burton 74 Follower of the Gospels 78 Wry Bombeck 80 Resilience 83 “It’s a waste of time”

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84 Loaves from whole-grain flour 86 Put away, in a way 87 Longtime Steelers coach Chuck 88 Small digit 93 Reeked 94 Gain entry to 95 Kind of scholar 96 Freeman of Now You See Me 98 TV Tarzan player 99 Hot stuff 100 Fate 101 Unwelcome looks 103 Be of ____ (aid) 104 Syracuse player, once 105 Sacha Baron Cohen character 107 Original edition of this puzzle’s theme 109 Actor Diggs 110 Words of triumph 111 Whack 114 Length of a pool and back 115 Partner of tuck 116 Suffix with elect

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David Kwong is a professional magician and crossword constructor. He was the head magic consultant for the hit 2013 film Now You See Me (see the sly nod at 96-Down). He is currently performing in a one-man magic-and-puzzles show, The Enigmatist, in New York City. Audience members must solve four puzzles in an anteroom to get into the show. (Hints are available, if needed.) This is David’s 19th puzzle for The Times. — W.S.

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SKULLDUGGERY LANE By Ingvard Ashby

NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE CROSSWORD PUZZLE ANSWERS

Puzzle No. 0217, which appeared in the Feb 17 issue. A R C S N O A H T H R E E P S E S T R E C U E S A N A C B A D H E S A F E P L U S E S T E C O Z S U N I Q P I N U D A D A A C E R T I B E E N T R

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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY Homework: Write a short essay on “How I Created Something Out of Nothing.” Go to https:// RealAstrology.com and click on “Email Rob.”

sending out reverberations that redound to your benefit for quite some time.

South Koreans work too hard. Many are on the job for fourteen hours a day, six days a week. That’s why a new concept in vacations has emerged there. People take sabbaticals by checking into Prison Inside Me, a facility designed like a jail. For a while, they do without cell phones and Internet and important appointments. Freed of normal stresses and stripped of obsessive concerns, they turn inward and recharge their spiritual batteries. I’d love to see you treat yourself to a getaway like this—minus the incarceration theme, of course. You’d benefit from a quiet, spacious, low-pressure escape.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) Scientist Michael Dillon was shocked when he learned that some bees can buzz around at lofty altitudes where the oxygen is sparse. He and a colleague even found two of them at 29,525 feet—higher than Mt. Everest. How could the bees fly in such thin air? They “didn’t beat their wings faster,” according to a report in National Geographic, but rather “swung their wings through a wider arc.” I propose that we regard these high-flying marvels as your soul animals for the coming weeks. Metaphorically speaking, you will have the power and ingenuity and adaptability to go higher than you’ve been in a long time.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22)

ARIES (March 21-April 19)

The astrology column you’re reading is published in periodicals in four countries: the U.S., Canada, Italy, and France. In all of these places, women have had a hard time acquiring political power. Neither the U.S. nor Italy has ever had a female head of government. France has had one, Édith Cresson, who served less than a year as Prime Minister. Canada has had one, Kim Campbell, who was in office for 132 days. That’s the bad news. The good news is that the coming months will be a more favorable time than usual to boost feminine authority and enhance women’s ability to shape our shared reality. And you Tauruses of all genders will be in prime position to foster that outcome. Homework: Meditate on specific ways you could contribute, even if just through your personal interactions.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20)

A 19-year-old guy named Anson Lemmer started a job as a pizza delivery man in Glenwood, Colorado. On his second night, he arrived with a hot pizza at a house where an emergency was in progress. A man was lying on the ground in distress. Having been trained in CPR, Lemmer leaped to his rescue and saved his life. I expect that you, too, will perform a heroic act sometime soon, Gemini— maybe not as monumental as Lemmer’s, but nonetheless impressive. And I bet it will have an enduring impact,

Do you find it a challenge to commit to an entirely plantbased diet? If so, you might appreciate flexitarianism, which is a less-perfectionist approach that focuses on eating vegetables but doesn’t make you feel guilty if you eat a bit of meat now and then. In general, I recommend you experiment with a similar attitude toward pretty much everything in the coming weeks. Be strong-minded, idealistic, willful, and intent on serving your well-being— but without being a maniacal purist.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)

produced pivotal changes, including the abolition of slavery, reform of child labor laws, and more democracy in the nation’s electoral process. But most people today know nothing of those triumphs. Rather he is immortalized for the Earl Grey tea that he made popular. I suspect that in the coming weeks, one of your fine efforts may also get less attention than a more modest success. But don’t worry about it. Instead, be content with congratulating yourself for your excellent work. I think that’s the key to you ultimately getting proper appreciation for your bigger accomplishment.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)

At a young age, budding Scorpio poet Sylvia Plath came to a tough realization: “I can never read all the books I want,” she wrote in her journal. “I can never be all the people I want and live all the lives I want. I can never train myself in all the skills I want. And why do I want? I want to live and feel all the shades, tones, and variations of mental and physical experience possible in life.” Judging by current astrological omens, I can imagine you saying something like that right now. I bet your longing for total immersion in life’s pleasures is especially intense and a bit frustrated. But I’m pleased to predict that in the next four weeks, you’ll be able to live and feel more shades, tones, and variations of experience than you have in a long time.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)

If you gorge on sugary treats and soft drinks, you ingest a lot of empty calories. They have a low nutrient density, and provide you with a scant amount of minerals, vitamins, protein, and other necessities. Since I am committed to helping you treat yourself with utmost respect, I always discourage you from that behavior. But I’m especially hopeful you will avoid it during the next three weeks, both in the literal and metaphorical senses. Please refrain from absorbing barren, vacant stuff into the sacred temple of your mind and body—including images, stories, sounds, and ideas, as well as food and drink.

When Europeans invaded and occupied North America, they displaced many indigenous people from their ancestral lands. There were a few notable exceptions, including five tribes in what’s now Maine and Eastern Canada. They are known as the Wabanaki confederacy: the Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, Micmac, Maliseet, and Abenaki. Although they had to adjust to and compromise with colonialism, they were never defeated by it. I propose we make them your heroic symbols for the coming weeks. May their resilient determination to remain connected to their roots and origins motivate you to draw ever-fresh power from your own roots and origins.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

Charles Grey was the second Earl of Grey, as well as Prime Minister of England from 1830 to 1834. His time in office

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AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)

The first edition of Action Comics, which launched the story of the fictional character Superman, cost ten cents in 1938. Nowadays it’s worth three million dollars. I’ll make a bold prediction that you, too, will be worth considerably more on December 31, 2019 than you are right now. The increase won’t be as dramatic as that of the Superman comic, but still: I expect a significant boost. And what you do in the next four weeks could have a lot to do with making my prediction come true.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20)

Until the sixteenth century in much of Europe and the eighteenth century in Britain, the new year was celebrated in March. That made sense given the fact that the weather was growing noticeably warmer and it was time to plant the crops again. In my astrological opinion, the month of March is still the best time of year for you Pisceans to observe your personal new year. The coming weeks will be an excellent time to start fresh in any area of your life. If you formulate a set of New Year’s resolutions, you’re more likely to remain committed to them than if you had made them on January 1.

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.

Capricorn javelin thrower Julius Yego won a silver medial at the 2016 Summer Olympics. How did he get so skilled?

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Not in the typical way. He gained preliminary proficiency while competing for his high school team, but after graduation, he was too poor to keep developing his mastery. So he turned to Youtube, where he studied videos by great javelin throwers to benefit from their training strategies and techniques. Now that you’re in an intense learning phase of your cycle, Capricorn, I suggest that you, too, be ready to draw on sources that may be unexpected or unusual or alternative.

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