First impressions

FREE EVERY WEDNESDAY | METRO OKC’S INDEPENDENT WEEKLY | JUNE 12, 2019

First impressions The Mellon Collection of French Art brings Van Gogh, Monet and Degas to Oklahoma City Museum of Art.

By Jeremy Martin, P. 23

OKC’S NUMBER

FRIDAYS IN JUNE 7 PM-MIDNIGHT YOU’LL NEVER SEE IT COMING, WITH YOUR SHARE OF $10K EVERY FRIDAY NIGHT DURING THE $40K SUMMER OF SURPRISE GIVEAWAY!

5X ENTRIES MONDAYS AND TUESDAYS

COMING SOON:

THE OAK RIDGE BOYS

JUNE

21

BEATS AND BITES: CODY CANADA & THE DEPARTED - JULY 6 WYNONNA AND THE BIG NOISE - JULY 12 COOP CONCERT SERIES: ROBERT EARL KEEN - JULY 20 REO SPEEDWAGON - JULY 26 KANSAS - AUGUST 30 JOHN ANDERSON - SEPTEMBER 6 COOP CONCERT SERIES: AARON LEWIS - SEPTEMBER 13 BUDDY GUY - SEPTEMBER 20 DAVID FEHERTY - SEPTEMBER 21 JOSH TURNER - OCTOBER 25 RON WHITE - NOVEMBER 1 JIM GAFFIGAN - NOVEMBER 15 THE CHARLIE DANIELS BAND - DECEMBER 13

3 DOORS COOP CONCERT SERIES:CLINT PAT GREEN

FEB JUNE

16 22

405.322.6000 • WWW.RIVERWIND.COM I-35 AT HIGHWAY 9 WEST, NORMAN, OK GAMBLE RESPONSIBLY 1.800.522.4700

2 JUNE 12, 20 1 9 | Combo O KG A ZNP_9-25x12-25 ET TE .COM UNI_19-CGR-073 June VR2 .indd 1

6/7/19 2:33 PM

INSIDE COVER P. 23 Oklahoma City Museum of Art

continues its recent streak of bringing world-class art exhibits to Oklahoma City with Van Gogh, Monet, Degas: The Mellon Collection of French Art from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

JUNE 14 8pm

By Jeremy Martin Cover by Tiffany McKnight

NEWS

start at $60

Point-in-Time homelessness study

4 CITY

6 CITY old city jail 8 STATE

retroactivity bill

9 COMMENTARY opioid lawsuit 10 CHICKEN-FRIED NEWS

EAT & DRINK 13 REVIEW Schlotzsky’s Austin Eatery 14 FEATURE Sparrow Modern Italian 17 FEATURE The Collective Kitchens

+ Cocktails

20 GAZEDIBLES picnic food

ARTS & CULTURE 23 COVER Van Gogh, Monet, Degas:

The Mellon Collection of French Art from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts at OKCMOA

26 THEATER Oklahoma Indigenous

Theatre Company’s New Play Festival at Mitchell Hall Theatre

Amphitheatre

28 THEATER Evita at Mitch Park

Best of OKC Nomination Ballot 33 COMMUNITY Super Cao Nguyen 40th Anniversary Food Fair and Asian District Night Market Festival 34 COMMUNITY Modern Builds 37 OKG LIFESTYLE Christopher “Original Flow” Acoff 30

july 26

38 CALENDAR

MUSIC 43 EVENT Josh Ritter at Tower Theatre 44 EVENT Dio Returns at The Criterion 46 LIVE MUSIC

THE HIGH CULTURE 48 CANNABIS Uncle Grumpy’s

Green Retreat at Lost Lakes Entertainment Complex

53 CANNABIS outdoor grow season 56 CANNABIS The Toke Board 56 CANNABIS strain review

COMING SOON

billy bob thornton & the boxmasters august 22-24

ep expo

october 25-27

native ink tattoo festival

FUN 57 ASTROLOGY

58 PUZZLES sudoku | crossword OKG CLASSIFIEDS 59

GRANDBOXOFFICE.COM

I-40 EXIT 178 | SHAWNEE, OK | 405-964-7263 O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9

3

NEWS

CIT Y

Street life

Armed with statistics and trend analyses, various organizations are collaborating to tackle issues surrounding homelessness in Oklahoma. By Miguel Rios

Oklahomans in a packed Tower Theatre got a detailed look at homelessness statistics in Oklahoma City. Speakers presented the results of the Point-in-Time count, and city leaders discussed how OKC could better address the issue at the State of Homelessness address June 4.

The numbers

The Point-in-Time count is an annual one-day count of people experiencing homelessness in transitional housing, in emergency shelters or completely unsheltered. It provides a snapshot “not designed to be a complete analysis.”

The count was Jan. 24 and found 1,273 homeless individuals, nearly an 8 percent increase from last year’s 1,183.

Of that number, 22 percent were chronically homeless, 31 percent reported severe mental illness and another 34 percent reported suffering from substance abuse. This year, 85 unaccompanied youth were counted — up 60 percent from last year’s 53.

Dan Straughan has been the Homeless Alliance executive director for 15 years. | Photo Alexa Ace

“The reason we do it every year is because, with that kind of trend analysis, we can better track basically the areas that we’re having a lot of success in and the areas where we need to make some changes,” said Jerod Shadid, OKC’s homeless services program planner.

Shadid attributes this year’s slight increase to the fact that the count was on a cold night when shelters open up overflow beds to house more people, which made it easier to count people.

Almost 60 percent of those counted this year were living in emergency shelter, with 12 percent in transitional housing 4

J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9 | O KG A Z E T T E . C O M

and 30 percent completely unsheltered.

Along with the Point-in-Time count, organizations collaborate through other programs to share information on their clients, said Dan Straughan, Homeless Alliance executive director.

“One of them is the Homeless Management Information System. All that is is a giant networked computer database that allows agencies that serve people experiencing homelessness to share data on shared clients. The Homeless Alliance hosts that system,” he said. “It’s in broad use across the community today, and in fact, in 2018, the Oklahoma City Homeless Management Information System recorded 11,278 unique individuals receiving homeless services in our community.”

Another tool is the Vulnerability Index — Service Prioritization Decision Assistance Tool (VI-SPDAT), which OKC made the required assessment tool for any agency serving people experiencing homelessness. It is a prescreening tool with 27 questions that essentially assesses each person’s experience.

“You can put everybody that’s been assessed all on the same list and then work together as a community to get people in housing,” Straughan said.

The community has used the tool since 2017, and now there are over 4,000 VI-SPDATs in the system. To better understand the data, Homeless Alliance has partnered with quantitative analysts from Oklahoma City University. They are volunteering to analyze all the information using artificial intelligence.

Christin Bivens, business intelligence and reporting analyst, and Sean Spencer, business intelligence and reporting director, took data from the VI-SPDAT information and found eight groups. “[The groups] are about the homeless experience. We’re grouping you based on how similar your experience of homelessness has been,” Spencer told Oklahoma Gazette. “You told me what homelessness is like for you, and now I’m able to put you in a group of individuals who have said, ‘My homeless experience is far more similar to yours.’”

The largest group had 674 individuals, most of whom said they had never been attacked, did not have legal issues, were not homeless because of a broken relationship and could take care of themselves. However, 100 percent of them said they had no planned activities that made them feel happy or fulfilled.

“They don’t have anything to do or look forward to; they’re saying that this is a huge driver for their homelessness,” he said. “So now that I’ve identified this

group of 674 people, what can I do differently? … What services might suit them best? Is it housing? Or is it an engagement program, just getting them involved?”

Through their analysis, Bivens and Spencer are able to make recommendations to Homeless Alliance, and as more people come to homeless-serving organizations, they can be easily placed into one of the eight groups, allowing organizations to be much more proactive.

“We’re getting to the point where, once they actually have someone put in the system, we have something for them that immediately tells them what’s going on and makes recommendations,” Bivens told Gazette. “We do this as a volunteer thing, on our own time, but the university is letting us use their resources. … It’s definitely like a partnership between us, [Oklahoma City University] and the Homeless Alliance because we want to be community service leaders.”

The initial analyses are only step one in the partnership. Bivens and Spencer will continue to track the changes in people who take the VI-SPDAT multiple times. They will also begin to analyze how each group reacts to different services in order to make better recommendations.

“This is a really big deal because that 4,000 number is huge,” Bivens said. “We were talking to someone at United Way, and there are very few studies done — this is a really big sample size for statistics — in the U.S. that have that number.

The closest to our study that we did is one in Australia, so it’s a huge thing.”

They said if there are other nonprofits that possess a “goldmine of information,” they can reach out for help.

The solutions

One of the most successful methods to help people experiencing homelessness, Straughan said, is through the Housing First model. Unlike Housing Readiness, which gives people preconditions to meet before getting housed, Housing First provides housing immediately and gives people support services to address their needs. Housing First has been used by agencies in OKC since 2013; last year, more than 750 people were housed through this model. “[People experiencing homelessness] use $9,500 worth of emergency services — that’s ER, that’s community crisis centers, police, fire, ambulances, hospitals,” he said. “For almost half — $5,500 — we can put a person in housing

Homeless Alliance’s day shelter serves breakfast and lunch while providing access to showers, computers, phones and mail. | Photo Alexa Ace

and provide the supportive services they need to sustain that housing and avoid those costs on the front end. It’s the smart way to do the right thing.”

Deborah Jenkins, Oklahoma Housing Finance Agency executive director, spoke about affordable housing. She said in 2015, a person would need to earn a little more than $14 an hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment in OKC. “Today, in order to rent a two-bedroom apartment in Oklahoma City, a person would need to earn an hourly wage of $18.25,” she said. “A one-bedroom apartment in Oklahoma City averages $776 a month, which is what the average rate was back in 2015 for a two-bedroom.”

A solution to the problem would be more access to what Straughan calls “truly affordable housing.”

“When they talk about affordable housing, what they mean is it’s affordable if you’re at 80 percent of area median income (AMI),” he told Oklahoma Gazette. “So AMI in Oklahoma City is 50 grand; 80 percent is 40 grand, right? So we have a very affordable housing market for people who are making 40,000. But if you’re at the poverty level — and that’s 130,000 people in Oklahoma City — you’re making [$12,000]. So what’s affordable for you and me at [$40,000] is in no way affordable for somebody in that situation.”

Mayor David Holt also spoke at the event, saying that as a community, OKC has never been as invested in addressing homelessness. He discussed the prospect of addressing the issue in MAPS 4.

Straughan also said various OKC agencies are already working on further addressing the issue.

City Care will open a low-barrier, harm-reduction night shelter in December to serve 200 people per night.

Pivot started building tiny homes near its property for transition-age youth.

Three will be completed this month with another three by the end of the summer.

Mental Health Association started Intensive Outreach & Navigation (ION), a program that provides outreach and services to individuals with mental illness who frequent shelters, hospitals, ERs and mental health crisis centers.

It provides immediate access to housing along with wraparound case management services.

Visit stateofhomelessness.org.

CONGRATULATIONS! UCO Women’s Rowing Back-to-Back NCAA National Champions UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL OKLAHOMA TM

uco.edu

UNI_19-RP-113 Fathers Day_Giveaway.indd 1

ucobronchos

uco.bronchos

UCOBronchos

5 6/7/19 11:11 AM

O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9

NEWS The old city jail is being considered for demolition. | Photo Miguel Rios

to have a private developer redevelop it and either lease or gift back piece of it to the city because I know the municipal courts and I think some of the police buildings, their storage is very limited.

There’s been talks about the top floors that have really low ceilings maybe those could just be storage, so you wouldn’t need to have A/C or climate control.”

CIT Y

Jail potential

Jail choice

The city council is set to decide whether to demolish three municipal buildings that have gone without use for years. By Miguel Rios

Oklahoma City Council deferred a resolution to demolish the old city jail, police headquarters and municipal court buildings. The council will discuss the resolution at the June 18 meeting.

The buildings, none of which are on the National Register of Historic Places, are in councilwoman JoBeth Hamon’s Ward 6. She asked for the resolution to be tabled because she was interested in getting stakeholders in the same room to have a collective conversation.

“I really value historic preservation, especially given the number of buildings — particularly downtown — that we’ve demolished throughout the decades,” Hamon said. “When I saw that Marva Ellard was the person who had most recently submitted an RFP [request for proposal] to work on rehabbing the building, I touched base with her to sort of see if I could talk with her about it.

She’s still very interested in working to try to do something to at least preserve the old jail structure, not so much the police headquarters, which I think many people recognize is very poorly designed.

There’s not a lot of ability to really rehab it into something terribly useful.”

The jail, 200 N. Shartel Ave., was built in 1935 through a bond issue along with a federal matching grant that were also used to construct Civic Center Music Hall, Oklahoma City Hall and Oklahoma County Courthouse, according to the resolution. Construction for the old municipal court building started in 1951, and construction for the old police headquarters in 1968.

The six-story jail has only one working elevator, according to the resolution. The first two floors have at least 8-foot ceilings while the rest of the floors’ ceilings are only 6 feet 10 inches high. The resolution also states that as the building has sat vacant, pigeons and other animals have made it their home.

6

J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9 | O KG A Z E T T E . C O M

“The ceiling heights are an issue, as well as the investments in particular,” Hamon said. “The building’s really not been used or kept up. On the outside, I know there’s some area of the building that on the façade, the bricks are falling off and windows are broken out, I assume by animals. There’s open windows that just kind of exacerbate the issues that were already there. There’s a lot of that and even just the facade issues that need to be addressed. That makes the costs and what we can do to rehab it more challenging.”

The building needs a champion.

Marva Ellard Hamon tried to tour the jail facility with fellow councilmembers James Cooper and Nikki Nice, but since it was a hot day, they would have been required to wear hazmat suits because of asbestos and other biological hazards.

The resolution states that the buildings are “in such condition that demolition of the three structures is the best course of action and would allow for the development of much needed parking around the public safety campus.”

Demolition of the buildings would provide 166 additional parking spots, which the resolution says are critically needed in the area to support the five buildings nearby.

There are also arguments of whether the location of the building, which is across from the Oklahoma County jail, is good for redevelopment.

“It is part of that whole kind of municipal complex that having some private development … would be an interesting dynamic,” Hamon said. “I know one of the potential talks in the past has been

Ellard, a local developer interested in redeveloping the facility, has not been able to reach a compromise with the city for private development. She said there are no issues that would make redevelopment impossible.

“I think what it comes down to is whether the city is willing to let a private developer come in and develop the building on what they consider part of their campus,” she said. “We’ve never been able to come up with a path forward on it because it seemed like a lot of different departments and people were part of the decision making. So there’s been a lot of people to try and please. The city has to decide if keeping the buildings is more important than surface parking.”

Ellard said she is still interested in redeveloping the jail facility but believes a solution will take much longer than the June 18 meeting to find.

“The city has to decide that they want a solution for this that retains the building, and once that happens, I think we can come to a solution,” she said.

“The building needs a champion; it needs someone that believes in it and wants to see it retained.”

One of the main issues Ellard has with the city concerns the restrictions on what it will allow her to do with the facility.

“That’s been one of the stumbling blocks all along, is what uses the city will be comfortable with on that site,” she said. “I think we just need to sit down and talk through it and see if we can come up with things that I think are viable and that they can agree with.”

Despite not being designated as historic by any agency, Hamon and Ellard said the building is woven into the city’s history.

“To me, that whole campus of buildings, from the county courthouse through City Hall, Civic Center and then that building, are all so tied together in our history of the city and downtown. If

I had some power to save that building and didn’t do everything I could, I don’t know if I would be very happy with myself,” Hamon said. “When I think about the long-term history of a lot of the demolition that happened in the ’60s and ’70s, of downtown, this is maybe not so closely connected to all that, but it’s part of that whole long-term picture. … I would sort of think that a lot of people would look back at that period of the ’60s and ’70s, when we lost a lot of our buildings downtown, and say, ‘Oh, that was a mistake,’ and say, ‘Well, are we just continuing that when we might have some path forward to do something different?’”

Hamon is trying to set up a meeting between Ellard and other stakeholders to find a solution. The resolution is expected to be taken up June 18 on the third floor of City Hall, 200 N. Walker Ave. “It’s a critical part of the history of the Oklahoma City Police Department, and once it’s gone, it’s gone,” Ellard said.

“We can’t replace that building, and no future development opportunity is going to replace the history that that building signifies. So we should take advantage of the opportunities that we have to make that a viable, visible part of our history going forward.”

Ward 6 councilwoman JoBeth Hamon is working to find a solution to prevent the demolition of the old city jail. | Photo Alexa Ace

“THE MACARENA” & KELLY BURLEY BOTH DEBUTED ON OK RADIO IN 1995. LUCKILY, KELLY’S THE ONE THAT STUCK AROUND. HAPPY RETIREMENT, BOSS! 91.7 OKC | 107.5 TULSA | KOSU.ORG

UNI_19-CGW-123_Love the 90s_9-25x6-05.indd 1

7 6/4/19 9:17 AM

O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9

NEWS

S TAT E

Damion Shade, OK Policy criminal justice analyst, hopes the Legislature revisits House Bill 1269 to include a hardship waiver for those who cannot afford the process. | Photo Oklahoma Policy Institute / provided

Retroactive law

A new law provides commutation for hundreds of incarcerated Oklahomans with the ability to expunge felonies from their records. By Miguel Rios

Nearly a thousand Oklahomans will be released from prison early — potentially in time for the holidays. Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a bill into law that makes State Question 780, which reclassified simple drug possessions from felonies to misdemeanors, retroactive.

Department of Corrections (DOC) must provide a list of eligible inmates to the Pardon and Parole Board within 30 days of House Bill 1269’s effective date, Nov. 1. The law is expected to benefit up to 1,000 people currently in DOC custody through an accelerated commutation process. It will also allow more than 60,000 Oklahomans to expunge felonies from their criminal record.

However, Damion Shade, Oklahoma Policy Institute’s criminal justice policy analyst, said the expungement process, which was amended into to the bill, is more costly than the original plan.

“The sad thing is the original version of House Bill 1269 did not use this process,” he said. “It used a much simpler process that would’ve taken place in the court of origin. They would’ve literally just changed the initial filing in that court process. It would have been at much less cost to the state, at much less cost to the person … and it would’ve been a much simpler process.”

Rep. Jason Dunnington, D-Oklahoma City, who co-authored HB1269 with majority leader Jon Echols, R-Oklahoma City, said the original process would have been faster for those incarcerated but would have posed a bigger burden for those who were not.

“The 60,000 or so people that were 8

J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9 | O KG A Z E T T E . C O M

already out that also had this felony would have had to have hired an attorney, taken their case back to court, gone through the court legal system, pay those fees and at that point had their felony expunged — which they could have done because they would’ve had the legal right to do it, but there would have been more cost and time involved.

We were trying to make a simplified process,” Dunnington said. “What we knew all along was that there was a massive group of people that were already out that lived in kind of a second prison, if you will, because they carry the stigma of a felony. And if we can’t deal thoughtfully in a way with those people as well, then we’re not doing anyone any favors. So it was really important for us to work diligently on this expungement piece.”

When we’re talking about more than 60,000 people, you’re talking about something with a modest workforce impact.

Damion Shade

Expensive process

To go through the expungement process, people must pay $15 for their OSBI criminal history report, a $150 OSBI fee to record the final court order and about $175 for court filing fees, according to

Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma. This does not include the cost of an attorney, which Shade said many people would probably need help from.

“Looking at the form, it’s hard for me to imagine many people will be able to actually complete the process without the help of an attorney,” he said. “There’s a lot of legal minutiae that’s on the form.

Me being a person who’s not an attorney but that works with these issues every day and sitting down with a group of attorneys and actually looking at the expungement form that they created in House Bill 1269, there’s no way that an average person without a little bit of legal background or assistance is going to be able to complete that process without some help.”

In talking with attorneys, Shade’s conservative estimate is $150 per hour to hire an attorney. Additionally, people must pay all court debt before even truly beginning the process.

“As we’ve reported before at OK Policy, that court debt could be as high as tens of thousands of dollars in some people’s cases, depending if they have a preexisting charge or conviction,” he said. “People who got felony drug possession convictions, many of those individuals are dealing with some pretty profound debt to the tune of thousands, but that’s obviously a variable for everyone.”

Dunnington said the courts have more discretion and judges could waive fees.

He also said various nonprofit organizations can help with some of those costs for people who cannot afford the process.

“We put a bunch of new funding into the courts through general appropriations. A big reason for doing that is we wanted to stop the process of district attorneys using fees and fines as a way of funding,” he said. “We also gave the judges more discretion in when they levy any fees and fines. We’re hoping that judges will use that discretion in this case, but if they don’t, then we need to go back and tweak that process.”

The cost for expungement essentially prices out many people who would qualify, Shade said. Because of the high price, many people will not be able to afford the process and will continue living with the consequences of a felony on their record — despite the fact the crime is now a misdemeanor.

“The unemployment rate for felons or people with felony convictions or justice-involved people in Oklahoma is five times higher than the normal unemployment rate,” Shade said. “It’s much harder to get a job. It’s much harder to get grants and loans to go to college or go to vocational training.

There are so many impediments that come with a felony conviction, so the ability to get that off of your record, to be able to become a productive, taxpaying citizen is a profound benefit to

our state. I mean, when we’re talking about more than 60,000 people, you’re talking about something with a modest workforce impact.”

Shade hopes legislators will establish a hardship waiver for the law next year.

“So, say you are someone who’s filed the proper affidavit to be declared indigent. You need a public defender, you can’t pay bail, all that stuff,” he said. “If a judge says you’ve got hardship, they’ll waive all the fees for this particular expungement. Because they actually created a specific expungement document that’s in House Bill 1269 just for this group of people, these 60,000-plus Oklahomans will need to get their records cleared.”

Dunnington said he would absolutely consider establishing a hardship waiver in the future.

“It’s just one of those examples of if we could have done everything we wanted, we would have done everything we wanted and it’d be a lot more perfect than it is now, but that’s not how policy gets made,” he said. “There are a lot of people at the table, and it took a lot of negotiation over a four-month period to get what this product is, and we’re really proud of it.

But could it have been better? Yeah, of course it could have. That’s all part of negotiations though.”

The Pardon and Parole Board will establish a single-state commutation docket for people currently incarcerated.

While not yet finalized, Shade thinks it will take a large number of people at a time and do an up or down vote in order not to conduct individual hearings.

Rep. Jason Dunnington, D-Oklahoma City, expects to revisit and push for more criminal justice reform next session. | Photo Oklahoma House of Representatives / provided

CO M M E N TA RY

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.

Opioid rejection

Oklahoma’s lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson rightly argues that their cure is often worse than the disease. By George Lang

At age 19, I was just one year into my military service when I was tasked, along with about a dozen guys my age, with pulling all of the food supplies off the USS Midway (CV-41) and restocking them onboard the ancient troop carrier from the 1930s that we would live on while the Midway was in dry dock. This task usually involved everyone getting in line with about 8 feet separating us from one another, and furiously tossing 60-pound bags of flour, rice and sugar down the line. I got super-ripped that summer, but not in the way I wanted.

Somewhere along the line, I caught or threw one of these bags the wrong way, and the shooting pain in my lower back bent me into the shape of a question mark. One of my shipmates pushed me into a taxi that spirited me to the base hospital, where I was prescribed painkillers and five days of bed rest.

During that time, I became a source of cheap entertainment for members of my division, who would visit my bunk just to hear the streams of opioid-induced gibberish I spewed.

For the next 15 years, I would periodically throw out my back — sometimes from exertion, sometimes because I sat wrong or took a strange step — but with the right kind of exer-

Opioids are currently the subject of a lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson. | Photo bigstock.com

cise, it always snapped back into place.

But that was before an 85-pound black Labrador retriever entered the picture.

In October 2001, I was washing said monster on my deck. Being one of a small percentage of Labs that hate water, Hannah almost had to be pinned, wrestling-style, for baths. And in the process of executing the move, my back went out the same way it had 15 years before and it would not go back into place. What followed was a surgical procedure to shave off the part of one of my disks that was impinging on my sciatic nerve. I also received a ton of painkillers. During my two-week recovery period, I called into my editorial meetings and, like my fellow sailors before, Oklahoma Gazette got a lot of laughs out of my attempts to put words together.

Since, I have only had one surgery, and it was for something unrelated to my back but far more painful, and the recovery time was much longer. I was put on opiates again while one of my primary jobs was to write film reviews for The Oklahoman. So there is a window of about two months in the late ’00s when I gave considerable praise to some movies that

never should have been made.

These three incidents were pivotal in my life. I hated what the drugs did to me, so whenever I was prescribed opioids for any reason, I simply did not take them.

I never got addicted to opioids thanks to my considerable control issues, but millions of people go through something similar and, for all purposes, prescribed opiates end the active and productive period of their lives. And with the arrival of new synthetics like oxycodone and a profit motive by pharmaceutical manufacturers to promote their prescription, more people’s lives were sent into free fall.

Currently, the state of Oklahoma is embroiled in a lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson, a corporation that makes Johnson’s Baby Shampoo but also drugs that, beyond providing necessary relief for some conditions, can ruin otherwise happy lives. These pharmaceuticals are so addictive that when doctors inevitably cut off their supply to patients, those pain sufferers desperately turn to illegal street drugs.

The lawsuit is making national headlines because Oklahoma is sort of the test case, the canary in the coal mine for states moving to address a public health crisis through the courts. But we are also in the position of having passed, a year ago this month, the most progressive medical cannabis legislation in the country, providing a non-addictive alternative to opioids for pain sufferers.

Our state is not always in the habit of doing the right thing, but passage of State Question 788 prior to Oklahoma attorney general Mike Hunter taking on Johnson & Johnson was almost unique in its positive potential outcomes.

Since medical cannabis licensing went into effect last year, Oklahoma Gazette has devoted significant space every week to covering this formerly demonized medicine that, according to

recent figures from Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA), is now providing real relief to over 129,000 patients. We did not enter into this lightly or with an opportunistic spirit. Like most of our readers, the majority of us know someone who has struggled with opiates.

Anything that can provide a viable alternative to highly addictive substances with potentially disastrous consequences is an absolute net-plus for us.

According to a recent study by New Frontier Data, pharmaceutical companies would stand to lose $18.5 billion if all 50 U.S. states were to legalize medical cannabis. Naturally, these same companies are pouring considerable assets into fighting such widespread legalization.

“To them, it’s competition for chronic pain, and that’s outrageous because we don’t have the crisis in people who take marijuana for chronic pain having overdose issues,” U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York, told Forbes in 2018. “It’s not the same thing. It’s not as highly addictive as opioids are. … What I see is the opioid industry and the drug companies that manufacture it, some of them in particular, are just trying to sell more drugs that addict patients and addict people across this country.”

The recent settlements between Oklahoma and two pharmaceutical companies, Purdue Pharma LP and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., lend credence to Gillibrand’s claims. I do not know if medical cannabis could have helped me when my back went out years ago, but I am glad that my fellow Oklahomans now have better options if hard labor or dogwrestling exposes them to possibly lifedestroying medication.

George Lang is editor-in-chief of Oklahoma Gazette and began his career at Gazette in 1994. | Photo Gazette / file

MUSIC & WINE F E S T I VA L SATURDAY, JUNE 15 5PM-10PM Family-friendly event with the best wineries, breweries, live music, food trucks, and pop-up shops from around the state. sponsored by

$10 cover for ages 21 & up

W I L L R O G E R S A M P H I T H E AT E R 3430 N. PORTLAND WWW.OKLAHOMAGYPSYGLAM.COM O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9

9

chicken

friedNEWS

Climate cowboys

Much of Oklahoma’s history was made on horseback. From the sooners who arrived early into the territory to steal Native Americans’ land to the riders of the Chisholm Trail, it has been riders and their trusty companions who defined the state’s early history.

Even in the 21st century, riders on horseback have become the saving grace in the face of a new disaster, one that is only exacerbated by the effect of climate change.

As the floodwaters of the Arkansas River ravage northeast Oklahoma, cowboys on horseback have stepped up to help their fellow Oklahomans when all seems lost.

News 9 and national organizations like Fox News have highlighted the work of a group of cowboys that started with a group of four in a Facebook post and blossomed to dozens. The posse has helped save livestock in Coweta, Muskogee, Owasso, Catoosa, Claremore and Verdigris counties.

One of the group’s members told Fox News that they completed more than 15 rescue missions, including saving more then 350 cattle, seven horses, four donkeys and a cat.

The group’s work highlights the endearing nature of the human spirit, but lost animals cannot be replaced.

Most news stories about flooding in Oklahoma and the region use the phrase “unprecedented,” which is true, but how long until it becomes commonplace? It won’t be long before Oklahoma has a deputized horse force organized to help rescue victims of climate change.

Justice delivered

On April 26, Hugo police detectives attempting to apprehend a robbery suspect accused of taking $398 from a Pizza Hut opened fire on a pickup truck, wounding three children in the back seat.

“A bullet pierced the left frontal lobe of 4-year-old Asia’s brain,” The Associated Press (AP) reported. “Asia’s 5-year-old brother suffered a skull fracture and her 1-year-old sister was left with deep cuts on her face from gunfire or shattered window glass.”

Detectives Billy Jenkins and Chad Allen, wearing plainclothes and driving an undercover vehicle, reportedly fired at least 26 shots at the 1993 Chevrolet Silverado where the children — along with their 2-year-old brother, who was not hit — sat waiting for their mother, Olivia Hill, to pick up vegetables from the food bank. Following the shooting, Hugo police reported that Jenkins and Allen were firing at Hill’s friend William Devaughn Smith, 21, also in the vehicle at the time and a suspect in the Pizza Hut robbery that occurred two weeks before. Smith, police allege, put the vehicle into reverse as the officers approached, sideswiping Jenkins and causing him a “slight ankle sprain.”

Smith, also wounded in the shooting, denies taking the vehicle out of park

and said he was turned around helping the 1-year-old with a juice container when officers approached.

The detectives were put on paid leave during the investigation. Hill, meanwhile, had to ask friends and family for rides to visit her children in the Tulsa hospital 180 miles away because her truck was impounded as evidence. AP reported that all three children were flown in separate helicopters to Tulsa after the shooting and Hill, a home healthcare worker, received a nearly $75,000 invoice for just one of the rides. We should probably reiterate that this entire incident stems from the alleged aggravated robbery of $398 from a Pizza Hut.

Sure, Pizza Hut is only tangentially related to this tragedy, but maybe if Pizza Hut’s name comes up enough in the conversation, Pizza Hut will at least give these kids some free Pizza Hut pizza.

Sharing our readers’ local favorites since 50 Penn Place was “Best Place for a Yuppie Spending Spree.”

In 1985, OKC heard ’Til Tuesday on KJ-103 and saw its voices carry in OKG’s first Best of OKC. 34 years later, we’re still the best at listening to our readers, whether it’s a careless whisper or a shout.

10

J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9 | O KG A Z E T T E . C O M

Skeeter season

Heavy rain and flooding in Oklahoma has stirred up more than our meteorologists. News outlets are warning people to watch out for snakes, snapping turtles and large numbers of mosquitoes as floodwaters recede.

The flooding displaced countless snakes and turtles around the state, which are now forced to find a new habitat. Many people, particularly in areas where heavy flooding took place, have reported snakes and turtles in their yards or making their way through the streets.

Aaron Goodwin, who operates oksnakes.org, told Tulsa World that “only the usual precautions should be required to handle any worries about snakes.”

We normally run the other way, so we will take his advice and keep doing that. Goodwin said most snakes in the water are non-venomous, so there is not much to worry about except for a very painful bite. Experts also warn people not to pick up any turtles you see slowly crawling around. They are not as lovable as movies and TV shows would like you to think.

As for mosquitoes, you have probably noticed a big uptick in the number of them buzzing around. You can definitely tell it is skeeter season by the TV reporters wearing long-sleeve shirts out

in the field despite average temperatures being in the high 80s.

Not only are these the most annoying pests, but it seems like they are actually the most dangerous creatures affected by the weather. Not only are they flourishing in stagnant water, but two samples have also tested positive for West Nile Virus — probably because the universe resents the state of Oklahoma.

According to Oklahoma City-County Health Department, symptoms of the virus include fever, headache, body ache and rashes – which is close to the feeling we get every time we read a tweet by Donald Trump.

In all seriousness, the West Nile Virus is no joke, so make sure there is no stagnant water around your property, use bug repellant with DEET and deal with the sweat in some long sleeves when you go out.

O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9

11

VOTE US best sushi

best pre or post event spot

Best neighborhood bar

Sushi, noodles, cocktails and happiness.

10-lane bowling alley with fullservice bar and food.

An astounding selection of beer and pub classics.

German-inspired beer hall with housemade sausages and a huge beer garden.

Chisholm Creek

Midtown OKC

Midtown OKC

Midtown OKC

W W W. M C N E L L I E S G R O U P.C O M

12

Best western european restaurant

J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9 | O KG A Z E T T E . C O M

REVIEW

EAT & DRINK

Corporate rebrand

Schlotzsky’s plays the hits even as it becomes “Austin Eatery” but adds sweet sliders, flatbreads and brisket. By Jacob Threadgill

Schlotzsky’s Austin Eatery 3323 Northwest Expressway schlotzskys.com | 405-842-3066 WHAT WORKS: Its signature sourdough bread remains great both as a sandwich and as a pizza crust.

WHAT NEEDS WORK: Sweet Hawaiian rolls on sliders feel out of place for an Austin rebrand.

TIP: The macaroni and cheese is good, but the sauce is more like an Alfredo.

Over the past decade, Austin’s acceleration from Texas liberal enclave to becoming a national trendsetting brand has been showcased through the proliferation of concepts like Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, Torchy’s Tacos and the “Coachellafication” of SXSW. Just saying the name “Austin” brings connotations of hipster artists and food trucks, and it has become a brand in and of itself — so much so that the Atlanta, Georgia-based corporate decision makers of Schlotzsky’s are embracing the franchise’s 1971 origins in Austin with the national rollout of its rebrand as Schlotzsky’s Austin Eatery.

In the Oklahoma City metro, all of the 12 locations officially made the switch to Austin Eatery last week. The culmination of years of focus groups and market testing is making its way to all 370 franchise locations across 36 states over a three-month period before it finally makes its debut as Austin Eatery in the city where Schlotzsky’s began.

Schlotzsky’s president Kelly Roddy told industry site Skift Table that the name “Austin Eatery” tested well outside Texas and that it “didn’t conjure up any negative feelings” nationally.

I have a hard time believing that Austin — a city known for its aversion to chains — will not have some pushback against the corporate decision to take an Atlanta version of Austin nationally.

The rebrand to Austin Eatery includes new menu items, logos and an overhaul of dining areas and kitchen operations. The inside décor has gone from simplistic red, green and black to neon blue accents with collages of images from Austin, including the famous “hi how are you” frog mural.

Local franchise owners are responsible for covering the costs of the Austin Eatery renovations, which Roddy told Skift Table range in cost from $30,000 to $175,000, and is a slight increase of its store remodel that is required every seven years and normally ranges from $25,000 to $150,000.

Despite the fact I am skeptical of the acceptance in Texas, the rebrand appears to be a shrewd business decision that is indicative of Roddy’s leadership. At select locations that made the switch to Austin Eatery last year, average annual store sales jumped from $964,660 in 2017 to $1.6 million in 2018.

At its zenith, there were 759 Schlotzsky’s locations in 2001 with $400 million in sales, but the company posted an $11 million loss two years later. It filed for Chapter 11 protection in 2004 and was purchased by Atlantabased Focus Brands in 2006.

Interestingly, Focus Brands is a subsidiary of Roark Capital Group, the same hedge fund that owns Inspire Brands, Sonic’s new corporate owners.

In total, Roark Capital’s portfolio is more than 40 brands of some of the most recognizable names in the service industry like Arby’s, Carl’s Jr. / Hardee’s, Jamba Juice, Buffalo Wild Wings, Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches and McAlister’s Deli. There are no doubt entire strip malls in this country that feature only brands owned by a hedge fund named after protagonist Howard Roark in Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead.

The scope of Roark’s holdings puts the retooling of Schlotzsky’s into perspective; it is done to increase long-term profits for its stockholders and local

franchise owners.

Menu additions like flatbreads meant for sharing and Texas-style smoked brisket are Schlotzsky’s way to increase dinner options that now include beer and wine offerings at select locations like Norman, where local beer hits the glass from those cool, new Bottoms Up automatic beer dispensers.

I am sure there are plenty of Oklahomans that reflexively do a “horn down” hand symbol upon hearing the word “Austin,” but the 3323 Northwest Expressway Schlotzsky’s location entertained a healthy Monday lunch crowd, so that means the franchise’s signature sourdough bread that is made from scratch is still bringing in Oklahoma City customers.

I tried one of the new Austin Eatery’s sandwiches, Spicy Turkey BBQ Bacon Smokecheesy, which includes smoked turkey breast, smoked cheddar cheese, jalapeños, bacon and barbecue sauce with red onion, lettuce and tomato on a jalapeño cheese bun. The bread remains Schlotzsky’s calling card, and the cheese and turkey surprisingly had a nice smoked flavor, but the bacon did not add anything. I could not tell it was there and removed it from the sandwich; there was no need to eat the extra fat and calories.

Sliders have been added to the menu and are served on sweet Hawaiian rolls, which I would not say exactly connotes Austin, but the brisket was solid for a quick-service restaurant, and the pineapple kale slaw adds even more sweetness. The Sweet N’ Sassy slider includes apricot preserves and apricot cream cheese. The chipotle Angus slider tops roast beef with chipotle mayo, two types of cheese and Hatch green chiles.

While the slider and flatbreads are easy to share, three new baked macaroni and cheese options feel more like a sit-down dinner option. I tried the Poultry in Motion mac with sliced chicken, tomato, bacon and red onion with cheddar cheese and “mac sauce.”

It’s nice to have a baked pasta option

The Spicy Turkey BBQ Bacon Smokecheesy sandwich at Schlotzsky’s Austin Eatery is a new sandwich added after its rebrand. | Photo Jacob Threadgill

that can be ordered through a drivethru window; the same goes for its pizza and flatbread options.

However, I found the cheese sauce to be more like an Alfredo than a cheddar cheese-based béchamel sauce.

It was fine, but not exactly what I was expecting. I think either the Brisketeer or Smoky Brisketeer mac and cheeses would have been better options and ones that might actually be found at an Austin food truck.

Even with the new name and interior, Schlotzsky’s Austin Eatery feels similar to its recent past; all of its popular sandwich items remain on the menu. If you are already a regular, there is nothing to be concerned about, and it might give a new customer a reason to try the chain.

In the Golden Era Simpsons episode “Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy,” Lisa Simpson’s attempt to introduce a progressive Lisa Lionheart doll that promotes positive female role models is thwarted when the Malibu Stacy company (a thinly veiled Barbie) rushes out its misogynistic regular doll “now with new hat.”

Schlotzsky’s Austin Eatery is Roark Capital’s “now with new brisket.”

left BBQ chicken pizza at Schlotzsky’s right The Poultry in Motion mac and cheese | Photos Jacob Threadgill

O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9

13

EAT & DRINK

Best Pat io Best Brunch Best Lat in Restaurant Best Cocktail - Caipirinha AND MORE!

405-525-9779 440 NW 11th & Walker cafedobrazilokc.com

F E AT U R E

DQE

Sparrow flies

Sparrow offers fresh pasta, pizza and modern Italian in Edmond’s former Martini Lounge space.

By Jacob Threadgill

Join KGOU, KOSU and StateImpact Oklahoma for a community conversation Your voice matters – bring your comments and questions as we wrap up the last election season and look ahead to 2020.

TUESDAY, JUNE 25 5:30pm-7pm

Waters Edge Winery 712 N. Broadway Ave. Oklahoma City Let us know you are attending at www.kgou.org

14

J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9 | O KG A Z E T T E . C O M

Sparrow Modern Italian represents a new era for Holloway Restaurant Group, but its successful foundation set with Cafe 501 and Boulevard Steakhouse still plays a role in its newest venture.

Sparrow, which takes its name from the national bird of Italy, opened at the end of May at 507 S. Boulevard St. in Edmond in the former Martini Lounge space that Peter and Sheree Holloway operated for 17 years.

The lounge closed at the end of 2018 and went through a renovation process that brought the windows all the way to the floor and did away with its awnings and window shades to brighten up the previously dark-by-design lounge.

“It was time for a remodel, and we thought that instead of just doing alcohol sales at the lounge, we felt an Italian restaurant was the way to go,” said Peter Holloway, who opened Pepperoni Grill, Oklahoma City’s first brick oven pizza restaurant, in the early 1990s. “[Pepperoni Grill] was modern in that it wasn’t typical meat sauce and spaghetti; it was on the cutting-edge, but Sparrow has taken it to another level.”

Sparrow offers modern Italian food in a space to match; its interior is cosmopolitan with new seating and a bright color palette.

Holloway’s son Jeffrey is executive chef at Sparrow, where he worked with Cafe 501 executive chef Joel Wingate to create a menu built around housemade pasta, salads, entrees and pizza.

One of Cafe 501’s signature bakery items is its 501 rustic bread, featuring a sourdough starter that Sheree Holloway has kept alive for 25 years, and it played an important role in the

The contemporary design at Sparrow includes new light fixtures and windows that go to the floor. | Photo Alexa Ace

development of Sparrow’s pizza crust.

“I kept playing with the dough, and I wasn’t thrilled with it,” Wingate said. “I decided to use the rustic starter in the pizza dough, and every since then, it’s been light and crispy; it’s everything you want in a really good pizza. It’s cool how it’s all connected. Sheree’s baby is that rustic bread, and we’re paying homage to her in as many ways as possible.”

It was time for a remodel, and we thought that instead of just doing alcohol sales at the lounge, we felt an Italian restaurant was the way to go.

Peter Holloway Sparrow offers five types of pizza with familiar ingredients like pepperoni, but the restaurant makes them unique with style and preparation. The crispy pepperoni pizza tower features a layer of pepperoni as it goes into the oven, but it is then topped with a handful of fried pepperoni.

“The pepperoni wasn’t our top seller until we put up a photo on social media, and now a ton of people are ordering it,” Wingate said.

It also offers gluten-free and cauliflower crusts for its pizzas. A giant

chicken Parmesan is pounded flat and served “pizza-style,” finished with arugula and pink peppercorn honey that is meant to share.

“The pomodoro sauce is very herbaceous and full of acidity that helps cut through the heavy dish on the chicken Parmesan,” Wingate said.

At its launch, Sparrow is making its stuffed pastas — mushroom agnolotti and blistered tomato ricotta ravioli — in-house, while the rest of its pasta — rigatoni with Bolognese sauce and spaghetti as a vehicle with pomodoro and meatball and cacio e pepe — comes locally from Della Terra.

“We’d eventually like to make more pasta in-house, but we didn’t want to overload the staff at the opening,” Wingate said. “[Della Terra owner] Chris Baker’s reputation speaks for itself, and if we’re not going to make it, we might as well use the best.”

Della Terra is also featured prominently in another Sparrow signature dish: the 100-layer lasagna. Each massive 12-portion pan of the lasagna that features impossibly thin layers of Bolognese whipped ricotta and garlic béchamel takes three days to make.

“It takes three hours to assemble and then sits under tin cans for three days so that the extra compression makes the layers smaller and it doesn’t fall apart,” Wingate said. “That was a hard dish to make because [the Holloways] are so picky about it because they love it so much.”

Gnocchi didn’t make the final menu at release, but while working with potatoes for a potential dish, Wingate said they came up with a new appetizer that deepfries potato skins and serves them on top of pomodoro with gremolata topping.

Sparrow wants you to save room for dessert and gives you plenty of reason to do so with its takes on classics like cannoli, tiramisu and meringue. It offers a DIY cannoli, where customers Sparrow’s 100-layer lasagna takes three days to prepare. | Photo Alexa Ace

Margherita pizza at Sparrow. | Photo Alexa Ace

get to fill and coat the pastry shells with a variety of sauces, cream, fruit, nuts and sprinkles. The baked Italian meringue with lemon curd allows customers to crack open the outer crispy later and dip fruit into its gooey interior.

The restaurant prepares its tiramisu in small batches in the morning for service that day.

“You can see the ladyfingers individually,” Wingate said. “Sometimes when you get tiramisu, it is all mush because it’s made a couple of days in advance. We make it fresh so that there is still a bite to it, which is nice to have texture because tiramisu always lacks on texture.”

Sparrow features an extensive Italian wine list, and its cocktail list includes nine signature drinks.

Wingate gained experience with Italian restaurants while working in Dalla and is excited to be back working with his favorite cuisine at an organization he enjoys. He has worked with Holloway Restaurant Group for six years.

“I couldn’t be more grateful,” Wingate said. “I feel like my experience is good, and I don’t want to run around from place to place like a lot of chefs.

It feels good to be in a place that you’re comfortable, but also continue to learn; it means the world.”

Visit sparrowitalian.com.

O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9

15

Show us the

BY VOTING US

Best Seafood

Best Fine Dining

Best Chef

B R UCE R INEHA RT & JA SON B USTA M A NTE

15

Join us for our

th

Birthday Party TBD | AF T ER THE REMODEL COURT ESY OF T HE L A DY WHO COU LDN’ T GET HER CRAB CA KE S FA ST E NOU G H

ROCOCO PENN 2824 N. Penn Ave. | 405-528-2824 ROCOCO NORTHPARK 12252 N. May Ave. | 405-212-4577 loverococo.com

June Special

P izza

Bacon Cheese burger For the Month of June, come in and enjoy the Best of Both Worlds with our Bacon Cheeseburger Pizza for only

Fry Sauce Seasoned Ground Beef Bacon + Onions + Tomatoes Topped with 3 Cheese Blend + Sliced Dill Pickles GRANDRESORTOK.COM I-40 EXIT 178 I SHAWNEE, OK I 405-964-7263

16

J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9 | O KG A Z E T T E . C O M

$ 13

Monday - Friday 5PM - CLOSE Available ALL DAY Sunday, June 16, 2019 for Father’s Day

EAT & DRINK The Collective is located at 308 NW 10th St. | Photo Pete Brzycki

operates the re-vamped menu at Ur/Bun. Nguyen takes his French training and family’s Vietnamese recipes for a casual Pan-Asian concept with elevated elegance.

“I’m staying true to the flavors; I’m bringing bold Asian flavors and not masking anything,” Nguyen said. “The uniqueness of it is going to be my spin on it.”

Café de L’Asie goes around the world in one dish, like Nguyen’s version of pad thai, which takes fresh Italian-style pasta and finishes it with mango salsa and chicken. Thịt kho tàu is a staple in many Vietnamese homes, but Nguyen makes the braised pork belly that is then caramelized his own by combining pickled vegetables and a fried egg.

F E AT U R E

The Flying Pig BBQ

Anticipated opening Oklahoma City’s first food hall, The Collective Kitchens + Cocktails, is set to open at the end of June. By Jacob Threadgill with Kitchen Photos provided

by Brandon Michael Smith

Oklahoma City’s first food hall, The Collective Kitchens + Cocktails, is almost ready to showcase 10 restaurant concepts at its Midtown location, 308 NW 10th St. After months of construction and financing delays, The Collective is set to host a soft opening in late June with regular service set to begin soon afterward.

The two-story space is made out of three once-forgotten buildings at the corner of NW 10th Street and Harvey Avenue. It features two full-service bars, rooftop and courtyard patios and coffee service.

Unlike other food halls that charge restaurants up front to enter the space, Collective co-founder Truong Le wants it to serve as a restaurant incubator. The Collective offers its kitchens a turnkey operation and marketing in return for a portion of sales.

It is set to open with 10 kitchens, with another concept to open in the coming weeks and months. Here is a look at the restaurants that will open The Collective:

Beth Lyon’s Black Cat

high-vibrational foods,” Lyon said in a promotional video for The Collective.

The farther food gets from its original source, the less nutrients it offers the consumer. This applies to food that must travel long distances or has been heavily processed or cooked in a way that robs it of most of its value.

Lyon eats mostly a plant-based diet, and that will be reflected on Black Cat’s menu, with an emphasis on using raw nuts, vegetables and fruits as often as possible, but the restaurant will also provide plenty of meat-based dishes that are sourced locally, organic and grass-fed at every possibility.

Café de L’Asie

You’ve probably seen The Flying Pig BBQ’s bright orange food truck at events or driving around Oklahoma City for years, but now you do not have to track it down.

The Flying Pig offers pulled pork, chopped brisket, pork ribs, smoked chicken, sausage and bologna. Its namesake sandwich includes a hot link and smoked sausage wrapped in bacon that can be topped with macaroni and cheese for 50 cents extra. The B-52 takes all of these ingredients, including a bed of macaroni and cheese, and tops it with pulled pork.

It also offers loaded baked potato with its selection of smoked meats or, if you are looking to cut carbs, a loaded avocado with coleslaw and Sriracha mayonnaise.

Fried Taco

Chef Beth Ann Lyon has devised menus all over the city; now it is her turn to take center stage with her concept that debuted as a food truck last year. She opened Kitchen No. 324, wrote the original menu for The Press, Anchor Down and many others. Lyon, a Coach House graduate, is a proponent of what she calls intuitive eating.

“I want to nourish people through

Oklahoma City is more than familiar with chef Vuong Nguyen after the Coach House program veteran became the original chef at Guernsey Park, developed the menu at Chae Modern Korean and served breakfast at Bonjour. He also now

continued on page 18

O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9

17

EAT & DRINK

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

Vote Us BEST SANDWICH SHOP Celebrating over 42 years of business!

Stop in today to grab any of our party subs, chef salads, cookie trays, lean meats or pastries!

MON-FRI 7am-6:30pm Sat 9:30am-4pm 2310 N Western 524-0887

VOTE ONLINE AT

SUPER CAO NGUYEN 40TH ANNIVERSARY

FAIR

TO ALL FOOD TICKETS

PROCEEDS BENEFIT

EAT GLOBAL - SHOP LOCAL

#SCN40

JOIN US IN CELEBRATING OUR 40 YEARS OF BEING A PART OF THE OKC COMMUNITY. THERE WILL BE FREE SAMPLES, FUN, AND GIVEAWAYS. ALSO, THERE WILL BE CHEFS FROM AROUND THE CITY CREATING FOOD INSPIRED BY SUPER CAO NGUYEN FOR SALE. TICKETS WILL BE $8 AND PROCEEDS BENEFIT THE HOMELESS ALLIANCE OF OKC.

18

2668 N MILITARY AVE

J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9 | O KG A Z E T T E . C O M

Local-homa

1-6PM

FREE

$8

SUPERCAONGUYEN

Ruben and Kristal Pacheco operate Fried Taco in Edmond, last year’s nominee of for Best food truck in Oklahoma Gazette’s Best of OKC readers’ poll. Fans of its Puerto Rican and Caribbean fusion dishes now have a permanent place to find them.

As the name implies, Fried Taco’s signature item is fried tacos, but it is not just a crispy taco shell filled with ingredients. Different meat and plantbased fillings are loaded into the tortilla as it is fried, allowing the meat and cheese to fuse with the crispy shell for a unique bite.

In addition to tacos, it offers dishes from across the Caribbean, like mofongo, a Puerto Rican staple for which mashed plantains are combined with pork before being topped with a flavorful broth. Be sure to also try its drinks like mango coconut and coconut lavender lemonade.

“We don’t have any other food like this in the metro area, and we have a nice, relaxing vibe,” Ruben Pacheco said.

JUNE TH

FOOD 15

OKC, OK 73106 405.525.7650

Okie Pokie

F E AT U R E

continued from page 17

Oklahoma City’s first standalone poke concept is making the move from the bottom floor of the old Guernsey Park building to The Collective. Poke is one of the fastest-growing food trends in the continental U.S., after it started to make its way from Hawaii in the last two decades.

The Hawaiian take on sushi allows fresh tuna or salmon to be quick-marinated in oil and vinegars, but customers can choose other options like cooked shrimp, crawfish, seared Spam (a Hawaiian staple) and tofu.

A variety of vegetables like edamame, cucumber and mango salsa with a dollop of guacamole make a poke bowl one of the most refreshing and nutritious meals in the food hall.

Customers can choose from pre-selected bowls or build their own with a base of rice, lettuce or a mixture of both.

The concept in The Collective will also offer regular sushi and sushi burritos.

Oh Baby

A farm-to-table restaurant does not have to involve an expensive meal eaten in a rustic-style restaurant. Chef Gary Arnold and team want to take Oklahoma products and deliver finedining quality food in a casual and quick setting.

“I like the idea of inspiring future generations of chefs to work not just in a fine dining atmosphere, but to be able to branch out and use your talents to feed people of all walks of life,” Arnold said.

Local-homa serves contemporary American dishes that will change with the seasons and seasonal availability.

Its compressed watermelon salad with berries and mint impressed Collective judges and will be seen with other dishes like a local chicken breast topped with poulet sauce and served with sweet potato melange, spinach and oyster mushrooms.

Oklahoma native Michael Spencer has been all over the country, working in some of the best kitchens at places like Beverly Center in Los Angeles, The Venetian in Las Vegas and more. He returned to Oklahoma City to help open The Cheesecake Factory and has found a new home serving Dutch babies, a German-style puffed pancake.

“We went with that name because that’s what I hear from people when I set them down in front of people most of the time,” Spencer said.

The Dutch baby, cooked in a cast iron skillet until the egg and butter-

heavy batter begins to puff along the edges, is the perfect vehicle for breakfast or dinner. It can be topped with lemon curd, blueberries and whipped cream for breakfast or an after-dinner snack. Savory options include a take on lox with smoked salmon, capers, red onion and cream cheese and pulled pork with mango chutney and candied bacon.

You also wont have to wait for Oklahoma City Festival of the Arts to get a version of Strawberries Newport, as it will be on the menu at Oh Baby.

Press Waffle Co.

Chef Patton Simpson builds on his background of living in Honolulu and experience cooking in Oklahoma City at places like Ding Asian Fusion and Musashi’s to bring his Hawaiianinspired concept to the Collective.

The shaka sign is also known as the “hang loose” sign, and you’ll want to relax after trying Simpson’s take on Hawaiian chicken with grilled pineapple and ohana sea scallops with pineapple and mango chutney and macadamia nut crumble. The powerhouse of the menu is a Hawaiian classic, the loco moco, which is white rice topped with a grilled hamburger patty, fried egg and gravy.

“It’s a lot of citrus taste that is very easy on the palate with some savory taste and a few spicy items, but it’s more soothing than anything,” Simpson said.

Theo’s Doughnuts

BEST BURGER BEST BAR BEST NEW RESTAURANT

DaD’s Deserve the Best!

FATHER’S DAY IS SUNDAY, JUNE 16 GIFT CERTIFICATES AVAILABLE

LUNCH ö DINNER ö DRINKS BRUNCH

SAT & SUN 10AM This concept from brothers Bryan and Caleb Lewis enters The Collective with a lot of momentum, after securing investment on the hit television show Shark Tank.

You might be used to normal waffles made from a quick-mix batter, but these waffles are made in the Liege style, with a 24-hour fermented yeast dough that has bursts of Belgian sugar.

“They are loaded up with pearls of Belgian sugar that melt down and give you a sweet crunch in every bite,” Bryan Lewis said.

Press Waffle Co. offers selection of sweet and savory options, like chicken and waffles or a Monte Cristo waffle sandwich with smoked turkey, ham, white American cheese and berry jam.

The Southern Belle is lemon curd, blueberries and whipped cream. Customers can also build their own waffle with different sweet and savory toppings.

The Collective is the fourth food hall location for Press Waffle Co., after opening three locations in Texas.

Shaka

HAPPY HOUR $2 DOMESTICS $6 OLD FASHIONS

4:30P - 6P MON-FRI

7301 N MAY, OKC ö 405-242-6100

WWW.NEDSSTARLITELOUNGE.COM

While most people think of brioche as a buttery piece or bread or roll for a sandwich, the dough can also be turned into a doughnut, but it is much easier said than done. Owners Ryan and Morgan Kennedy discovered the brioche doughnut while traveling overseas, and when they could not find the sweet treat upon returning to the States, decided to take matters into their own hands.

“When I came back home and thought about getting a doughnut treat, this is what I imagined,” Ryan Kennedy said. “They are not in Oklahoma City, so I was determined for how to make them for myself.”

The key to Theo’s unique doughnuts is the lengthy fermentation process.

Each process hits the mixer 24 hours before it is eventually fried, for a huge, fluffy doughnut that is extra buttery.

Sweet doughnuts are served glazed or filled with freshly made crèmes and jelly, like vanilla bean, chocolate hazelnut and a seasonal jam. Theo’s also offers a rotating savory doughnut.

Visit thecollectiveokc.com.

Best modern use of tie-dye?

Best wacky mascot?

We’d be totally cool if you just voted us

8 Metro Locations | HideawayPizza.com O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9

19

GAZEDIBLES

EAT & DRINK

Perfect picnic

School is out and there is not a better time to enjoy a nice picnic.

Whether you want to take food on the go to eat outside or have more of a “picnic of the mind,” these restaurants serve some of the items most important for a great spread.

By Jacob Threadgill with photos provided and Gazette / file

Nashbird

Pepperoni Grill

En Croûte

This might be the best one-stop shop for a picnic and its quintessential dish: cold fried chicken. Nashbird sells buckets of cold fried chicken ready to hit the road as long as supplies last. You can also get other picnic fixings like potato salad, coleslaw and a refreshing cucumber and watermelon salad.

A good pasta salad for a picnic is a must, and Pepperoni Grill offers a version that is both tasty and a little bit different from your run-of-the-mill variety. Its chicken avocado pasta salad includes chilled bow tie pasta, grilled chicken, scallions, mozzarella and cherry tomatoes tossed in a creamy Italian dressing served with salad greens and topped with avocado.

Maybe you are thinking about one of those quick mid-morning or afternoon picnics where you want to be fancy but not necessarily eat a huge meal. The best spot to take care of all of your meat and cheese needs is En Croûte, where its trained cheesemongers will talk about its latest selections and pair them with the right charcuterie for a perfect bite.

1 NW Ninth St. nashbirdchicken.com | 405-600-9718

J O I N U S # U N D E R T H E R AV E N F O R

Live Music Thursdays 6pm Daily Lunch Specials Free Garage Parking

1000 W. Covell Road, Edmond pepperonigrill.net | 405-285-5454

6460 Avondale Drive, Nichols Hills encrouteokc.com | 405-607-6100

PARK HARVEY SUSHI & WINE BAR

LOCALLY

OWNED

AFTER 5PM & ON SATURDAYS

GOURMET

BURGER BEST PATIO DINING BEST PRE OR POST EVENT SPOT

VOTE US BEST SUSHI! RESTAURANT & BAR | DOWNTOWN 210 PARK AVE | 405.605.5300 | THEMANHAT TANOKC.COM MON–THU 11AM–10PM | FRI-SAT 11AM–2AM

HAPPY HOUR 3–6 PM M-F SUSHI & BEER SPECIALS 200 N. HARVEY | 405.600.7575

RESTAURANT 3600 N. May Ave

(NW 35th and May Avenue)

405-917-1711

THEPATTYWAGONOK.COM

buffet option available all day!

PAKISTANI/INDIAN CUISINE OKLAHOMA CITY

4104 N. Portland Ave

405.601.3454

EDMOND

301 S. Bryant Ave.

405.341.8888

CHAPALI KABABS CHICKEN Tandoori & tikka 20

J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9 | O KG A Z E T T E . C O M

The Brown Bag Deli

Café Do Brasil

Stuffed Olive

Whiskey Cake

The combination of curry chicken salad with avocado and a nice portion of tabbouleh — with its mixture of herbs and lemon — is perfect on a nice day outside.

The heat from the curry powder in the chicken salad picks you up and the refreshing aspects cool you down. It is a combination as good as a sunny day and a park.

Fruit salad is a great way to get a variety of nutritious options, but it needs to be much more than just fruit thrown into a bowl. The tropical delight at Café Do Brasil’s brunch menu takes chilled seasonal fruit and tops it with passion fruit anglaise and raspberry sauce and serves the whole thing over French toast. We recommend eating the French toast while it is hot and taking the salad on the go.

If you do not want your cold fried chicken on the bone, opt for it in salad form. Stuffed Olive is another great stop to get a lot of items for a picnic because it offers plenty of sandwiches and all sorts of salads — those with mayonnaise and the actual healthy ones — but its chicken salad is the real winner.

The simple indulgence of a deviled egg is one of life’s great treats, but do you really feel like boiling and peeling all of those eggs? Let Whiskey Cake handle the hard part so you do not have to burn your hands. Whiskey Cake has a rotating version of deviled eggs on the menu, so it is always a surprise.

7600 N. Western Ave. facebook.com/thebrownbagdeli 405-842-1444

440 NW 11th St. cafedobrazilokc.com | 405-525-9779

Walk-ins Welcome

12215 S. Pennsylvania Ave. stuffedolivecafe.com | 405-735-7593

1845 Northwest Expressway whiskeycake.com | 405-582-2253

CELEBRATE INDEPENDENCE DAY IN STYLE!

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC COME SEE US! Largest showroom in Oklahoma!

SHOWROOM SPECIAL AT T E N T I O N : FO O D S E RV I CE O PE R ATO R S

COMMERCIAL | RESIDENTIAL WHOLESALE PRICES | HUGE SELECTION

SPEND $200 GET $25 OFF

MUST PRESENT COUPON TO OUR FRIENDLY SALES STAFF EXP: JULY 31, 2019 | INSIDE OFFER ONLY

4525 N. Cooper Ave. Oklahoma City, OK 73118 (405) 524-1111 marketsourceonline.com

O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9

21

22

J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9 | O KG A Z E T T E . C O M

COV E R

ARTS & CULTURE

First Impressionists

Van Gogh, Monet, Degas brings works by many of Europe’s most influential artists to OKCMOA. By Jeremy Martin

Vincent van Gogh, in a letter dated Nov. 19, 1873, gave his brother Theo some advice.

“You must in any case go to the museum often,” Van Gogh wrote. “It’s good to be acquainted with the old painters.”

Oklahoma City museumgoers will have the chance to become acquainted with works by many old painters at Van Gogh, Monet, Degas: The Mellon Collection of French Art from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, on view June 22-Sept. 22 at Oklahoma City Museum of Art (OKCMOA), 415 Couch Drive. As the name suggests, the exhibit

includes paintings by Van Gogh, Claude Monet, Edgar Degas and many more highly influential European artists donated to Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) by Paul Mellon and Rachel “Bunny” Lambert Mellon, who began collecting French art when they got married in 1948.

“What they were doing was really collecting art that reflected their interests or recalled happy memories,” said Jessica Provencher, assistant curator at OKCMOA. “It was very personal, and that was kind of radical for collectors

at the time. ... They didn’t feel any urge to own a painting because it was a good investment or because the artist was important. … This is a pretty amazing collection with all the biggest names in French art, but that wasn’t the concern for them. They weren’t buying a Van Gogh because it was by Van Gogh. It was because these are flowers and Mrs. Mellon loves gardening.”

Rachel Mellon, who died in 2014 at age 103, redesigned the White House Rose Garden in 1962 as a favor to her friend Jacqueline Kennedy. Son of industrialist and secretary of the treasury Andrew Mellon, Paul Mellon, who died in 1999 at age 91, bred racehorses, including 1993 Kentucky Derby winner Sea Hero. The couple’s interests are reflected in many of the paintings in the exhibit, which are displayed according to subject matter. Along with straightforward categories such as horses, flowers and people, a few contextual categories offer further insight into the collection and its origins. Two paintings, Théodore Géricault’s

“Daisies, Arles” by Vincent van Gogh | Photo Travis Fullerton / Virginia Museum of Fine Arts / provided

“Mounted Jockey” from 1821 or 1822 and Berthe Morisot’s “Young Woman Watering a Shrub” from 1876, designated by VMFA curators as Cyphers of Modernity, are according to the exhibit catalogue “the most characteristic” of the collection, in both subject and size.

“A lot of the works, people might be a bit surprised to see that they’re kind of small,” Provenchar said, “and at the time, a lot of other collectors and institutions kind of had this belief that small works weren’t important. They were called ‘cyphers.’”

“Mounted Jockey” measures 14.5by-18.5 inches, while “Young Woman Watering a Shrub” is 15.75-by-12.5 inches. Many of the paintings in the exhibit were once displayed in tthe Mellons’ home.

In Reflections in a Silver Spoon: A Memoir, Paul Mellon wrote, “Size has nothing to do with the quality or the continued on page 24

O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9

23

ARTS & CULTURE continued from page 23

COV E R

importance of a work of art. …

Small is beautiful.”

Morisot’s work is especially noteworthy, Provenchar said, because the artist herself is often overlooked.

“She hasn’t gotten as much recognition,” Provenchar said, “although she participated in seven of the eight Impressionist exhibitions, and she even organized one.”

OKC’s summer brunch sensation returns June 22 BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW AT

okcontemp.org/ArtofBrunch

Ages 21+ | 405.951.000 | @okcontemporary | oklahomacontemporary.org

A lot of the works, people might be a bit surprised to see that they’re kind of small.

Jessica Provenchar According to the exhibit catalogue, published by VMFA, Morisot was restricted from conventional artistic training because she was a woman and her subject matter was also restricted by societal expectations: “Although Morisot was a respected member of the art world’s avant-garde, she was still held to her role as a woman. The household was her principal place of interaction and concern, and intimate, domestic scenes predominate her oeuvre.”

W hen v iew i ng smaller pieces, Provenchar advised to “get as close as you can.”

“That way, you can see the texture, the brushstrokes,” she said. “Some of them are very detailed.”

To give visitors the best opportunity to v ie w t he paintings up close, the museum will be admitting a limited number of viewers in 15-minute increments. Time slots can be scheduled online, and viewing the exhibit takes an esti“The Little Dancer Aged Fourteen” by Edgar Degas | Photo Travis Fullerton / Virginia Museum of Fine Arts / provided

24

J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9 | O KG A Z E T T E . C O M

mated time of one hour, though viewers can stay for as long as they like during museum hours.

“That way, it won’t ever be where you’re going in and there’s 100 other people in the gallery and you can’t see,” she said.

Van Gogh

When looking at Van Gogh’s 1888 still life “Daisies, Arles,” which once hung in the Mellons’ bathroom, viewers can see the artist’s heavy, pronounced brushstrokes.

“He did go through periods where his painting was very thick — thick layers so you could see the paint coming off the canvas,” Provenchar said.

Van Gogh often discussed this style of painting, called impasto, in his letters, worrying over the cost of the paint he used and the lengthy and complex drying process, which he compared to the fermentation of “the strongest wine.” On Dec. 19, 1889, Van Gogh wrote to his younger brother Theo, indicating that he no longer wanted to use the method.

“I think it likely that I’ll do hardly any more things in impasto,” he wrote. “It’s the result of the calm life of seclusion I’m leading, and I feel I’m better for it. Fundamentally I’m not as violent as that, anyway I feel more myself in calmness.”

Two other Van Gogh paintings are included in the exhibit: “The Laundry Boat on the Seine at Asnières,” painted in 1887 while he stayed with his brother in Paris, and “The Wheat Field Behind St. Paul’s Hospital, St. Rémy,” painted in 1889 and depicting the view from his window at the mental hospital he admitted himself into. He committed suicide the following year.

Monet

Provenchar said Monet’s “Field of Poppies, Giverny” from 1885 depicts the landscape surrounding the artist’s home and studio and might be the most well-known painting in the exhibit. “Camille at the Window, Argenteuil” from 1873, depicts his wife amid many colorful flowers and potted plants in an elaborate garden. Camille died in 1879 before Monet moved to Giverny and famously began painting the lilies in his water garden. His “Irises by the Pond,” painted sometime between 1914 and 1917, included in the exhibit, shows another kind of flower in the garden.

YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD CLINIC

Natural Choice Urgent Care

“Irises by the Pond” by Claude Monet | Photo Katherine Wetzel / Virginia Museum of Fine Arts / provided

a different theory about the Degas’ work.

“Degas lives like a little lawyer,” Van Gogh wrote of the former law student, “and he doesn’t like women, knowing that if he liked them and fucked them a lot he would become cerebrally ill and hopeless at painting. Degas’s painting is virile and impersonal precisely because he has resigned himself to being personally no more than a little lawyer, with a horror of riotous living.”

The rest

“Although it’s not exactly the water lilies, it’s kind of a reminder that there were other flowers around the pond,” Provenchar said.

Van Gogh, who expressed the desire to paint figures and portraits the way Monet painted landscapes, told Theo in a letter dated May 7, 1888, that he worried his own work “is pretty poor, in comparison.”

“At present I’m unhappy with myself and unhappy with what I’m doing, but I can glimpse some possibility of doing better in future,” he wrote.

This may have been what prompted Theo to tell their sister Willemien in a letter dated Dec. 6, 1888, that Monet “makes magnificent pictures of nature, but one has to be happy and healthy oneself to be able to enjoy them, otherwise one is likely to find oneself thinking ‘Oh if only I were there, I would be happier.’”

“At the Races: Before the Start” by Edgar Degas | Photo Katherine Wetzel / Virginia Museum of Fine Arts / provided

Degas

The exhibit includes several paintings and sculptures by Degas, many featuring horses, but two outliers in the collection might be most intriguing. The bronze cast of his sculpture “The Little Dancer, Aged Fourteen,” Provenchar said, “is probably the most famous work in the exhibition.” The original — modeled in colored wax, dressed in a cloth tutu and topped with real human hair — was controversial for its unconventional materials and subject matter when Degas first exhibited it in 1881. His painting “At the Milliner,” dated between 1882 and 1885, meanwhile, is striking for its lack of detail.

The subject, depicted from behind while trying on a hat in the mirror, has only a blank oval for a face in her reflection.

“A painting requires a little mystery, some vagueness, some fantasy,” the artist said in Pierre-George Jeanniot’s Memories of Degas. “When you always make your painting perfectly plain you end up boring people.”

In a letter to painter Emile Bernard dated Aug. 5, 1888, Van Gogh expressed

The exhibit, featuring more than 70 paintings and sculptures, also includes works by iconic Impressionist, Cubist, Romantic, Barbizon and Realist artists such as Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Édouard Manet, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and more.

OKCMOA’s director of marketing and communications Becky Weintz said the exhibit is characteristic of what visitors can expect to see at OKCMOA in the future following noteworthy exhibits such as Matisse in His Time: Masterworks of Modernism from the Centre Pompidou, Paris, which made its only North American stop in Oklahoma City in 2016, and Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic, which made its final tour stop here in 2017.

“Now that we’re doing more highprofile exhibitions as an institution, it’s making it easier for us to get really exciting exhibitions like this one,” Weintz said.

Tickets to the exhibit (including access to the rest of the museum) are $15. Several public exhibition tours are scheduled between now and Sept. 22 for $15-$25, and a public lecture about the exhibition is scheduled for 6 p.m.

Aug. 14. Special viewings for museumgoers with babies and family-friendly events with arts and crafts activities for children are also planned.

“There’s a variety of ways that you can really engage with this exhibition, get more information, bring the family,” Weintz said, “so we’re definitely trying to really accommodate everyone. We think this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Oklahoma City residents, and we want as many people to come and experience it in as many different ways as possible.”

Visit okcmoa.com.

MMJ Appointments Available $60/$30 Vets BOOKING NOW THROUGH FACEBOOK RANDY WHITEKILLER DO

405-608-6820

9901 North May Ave, Suite 110 Oklahoma City H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H

H H H H H H H H H H H HH FRC AND HIVIZ REG TO KING H H H H H WE CAME FOR BARGAINS H HEADQUARTERS FOR MEN'S WORKWEAR H FROM NOSE TO TOES: HIVIZ: RAINWEAR ETC FAMOUS MEN'S BIG & TALL STORE UP TO 10L H DEPARTMENT STORE QUALITY - LATEST STYLES WE HELP FIT YOU AND TREAT YOU LIKE A NEIGHBOR H H PRICES HARD TO BEAT REAL DEALS ON FRC - LOTS TO SEE H OUTDOORMEN'S PARADISE H SAMSBESTBUYS.COM H SAM’S BEST BUYS H 2409 S. AGNEW • 636-1486 • M-SAT 9-5:45 74 YEARS AND MORE TO COME H H H H H H H H H H H H HH

We’d LOVE your vote again!

Best Plastic Surgeon Best Medical Spa

Van Gogh, Monet, Degas: The Mellon Collection of French Art from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts June 22-Sept. 22 Oklahoma City Museum of Art 415 Couch Drive okcmoa.com | 405-236-3100 $15-$25

O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9

25

ARTS & CULTURE

T H E AT E R

clockwise from bottom John Lookingglass, Summer Morgan, Cody Tabor, Tiffany Tuggle, Carolyn Dunn and Misty Red Elk take a break from rehearsing for Neechie-Itas, the featured play at Oklahoma Indigenous Theatre Company’s 2019 Native American New Play Festival. | Photo Alexa Ace

Wicked humor

Oklahoma Indigenous Theatre Company’s New Play Festival aims to bring new participants to Native theater in a new venue. By Jeremy Martin

Celebrating its 10th annual festival and first as an independent theater company, Oklahoma Indigenous Theatre Company’s 2019 Native American New Play Festival presents a female-driven buddy comedy full of pop-culture references.

Director Tiffany Tuggle said NeechieItas, the featured play at this year’s festival, could, in some ways, be compared to Orange Is the New Black, and its four female leads are kind of like “a little bit younger, Native Golden Girls” and should be relatable to everyone regardless of their heritage.

“It’s about these four women who had a falling out 10 years ago because of a misunderstanding and because of not 26

J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9 | O KG A Z E T T E . C O M

trying to hurt somebody, trying to protect people,” Tuggle said. “That’s something we all do. We try to protect other people, so we don’t always tell them the truth, and that almost always ends up biting us in the butt later. …

That’s what I think is really beautiful about this piece because it deals with a lot of issues going on on the reservation, so there’s a part of the story that you may not know and you don’t relate to, but it’s an opportunity for you to learn a little bit more about, but at the same time, you can still relate to all the characters and all those other issues.”

The play, written by Winnipeg, Manitoba-based Anishinaabe playwright Jo MacDonald, is scheduled for

six performances 8 p.m. June 20-22 and 27-29 at the University of Central Oklahoma’s Mitchell Hall Theatre, 100 N. University Drive, in Edmond.

Named for the Anishinaabe word for “friend,” Neechie-Itas tells the story of estranged friends who hope to reconnect with a night on the town and end up in jail. Carolyn Dunn, who plays the role of Spencer Houle, said she really appreciates the way MacDonald references Star Wars, Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre to show that indigenous people are active participants in culture.

“She really wanted to present indigenous people as we really are,” Dunn said. “We do have interest in the Brontës and their writing. We do have interest in Jane Austen. We do go to sci-fi conventions. We are nerds just like everybody else.”

Misty Red Elk, who plays Maggie Dunning, said this is the 27th production she has worked on in some capacity, but the first with a contemporary setting.

“I’ve never seen anything like this in all the stuff I’ve ever done, these strong women with these voices,” Red Elk said.

“I have a line that says, ‘Open your door, biatch!’ And at the first rehearsal … I’m like, ‘OK, I’m going to have to work on my inflection on that because I’ve never said anything like that.’”

Following last year’s featured play, Arigon Starr’s Round Dance, NeechieItas is the second comedy the festival has staged. Red Elk said she is glad to do something fun when so much of current reality is so disheartening.

“The world is so negative right now in the political world, everything is just dreary,” she said. “There seems to be this division, even within our own community … so let’s make it lighthearted and not make it so heavy.”

Dunn, whose character left the reservation after her fiancé who stole money from the tribe abandoned her, said Neechie-Itas does discuss some serious themes.

“What I love about this play is that there’s so much humor, but there’s a little darkness in it, too, especially the idea that indigenous people do take advantage of each other,” Dunn said. “That’s kind of contrary to trope. It’s always like, ‘Oh, you know, the Native people are peaceful and loving. Well, we learned how to do bad things to each other.”

Red Elk, who describes her character as a “sweetheart” with “a lot of integrity” said she relates to the play’s underlying themes of miscommunication and broken relationships.

“I’m half Native American, so I grew up with a lot of dysfunction,” she said.

“I’ve been around alcoholism and things most of my life. So one night in rehearsal, it just took me to tears because the arguments are so intense, the way that we talk to each other, and it got so real.

It shows that sometimes communication between Native American people — I’m sure it’s that way with all people — sometimes we say one thing and we don’t really hear what the other person is saying because we’re not listening.”

In indigenous communities, Tuggle said, dark comedy is a coping mechanism for dealing with disappointment, injustice and heartbreak.

“That’s how we survive,” Tuggle said, “learning how to laugh through the pain and sadness. You have to learn to just, like, make a joke.”

Dunn agreed.

“You just have to have a really wicked sense of humor,” she said.

In addition to Neechie-Itas, the festival also features staged readings of two plays — Three Sisters by Dunn and Bound by Tara Moses — in UCO’s black box theater. In accordance with the festival’s tradition, one of these two plays will be selected as the featured play at next year’s festival and staged as a full production. An exhibit of tra-

ditional and contemporary art will be on display outside the theater.

Changing lives

When Oklahoma Indigenous Theatre Company announced its independence from Oklahoma City Theatre Company (OKCTC) last year, Maya Torralba (who plays the role of Linda Shepard in Neechie-Itas) told Oklahoma Gazette she hoped to find a larger space than the City Space Theatre at Civic Center Music Hall, where the festival was previously held. UCO theater arts department chairperson Kato Buss, who reached out to the company’s artistic producer Sarah dAngelo after reading the Gazette article, stressed that the festival is not a co-production though it does involve UCO students.

“I’m not really sticking my nose in the creative process,” Buss said.

“They’ve got their own thing; they have their own nonprofit organization. …

Sarah and I have been calling it a partnership because, hopefully, it’s a longerlasting thing … that strengthens this bond for the betterment of the community, for the public good. … We’re really thrilled how it’s working out, and the vibe seems to be really good.”

The festival also includes a workshop for students from Anadarko’s Riverside Indian School based on Brazilian theorist and activist Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed.

“Boal really looked at theater as a methodology of social change and how you could bring about social change,” said Dunn, who will be helping run the workshop, “how you could shift power structures to people that didn’t have power and how theater in that medium gave them the power to rise up and be able to create that change. And so he developed this whole school of theater on how to do that and how to go into communities that are historically underserved, under-represented, teach these techniques to the community, and then the community devises a piece all together.”

Tuggle said inspiring youth involvement is a big part of the festival’s mission.

“I think that’s exactly what we’re here for is

to change lives, and theater can do that,” she said. “Those kinds of workshops can really do that, and they’re really important. I think that’s what we’re all about.”

That’s how we survive, learning how to laugh through the pain and sadness.

Tiffany Tuggle While Dunn and Tuggle both have theatrical training, Red Elk said she has learned how to work on productions on and offstage by helping with the festival as an actress, stage manager, costume designer and whatever else has been needed for the past decade. Whether students or adult amateurs, aspiring actors, stagehands or playwrights, Red Elk said the festival exists to get more indigenous people involved in the theater.

“We are just people that love what we do, that came together to try to keep this alive,” Red Elk said. “We just ask for people to send, almost like their homemade plays, and … we take them and get them ready.”

Though Tuggle has directed staged readings in years past, Neechie-Itas will be her first time directing a full

production for the festival.

“I’m really proud to be able to have this opportunity,” Tuggle said. “I’m really honored that they chose me to do it. I think I’m up for it. I think the script is good. I think I have a good cast. I get to work with amazing people with amazing facilities.”

Tuggle, who has less life experience and, in some cases, less theatrical experience than her lead actresses, said she is very open to learning from them.

“They have a wealth of different experiences,” Tuggle said. “They’re all very different personalities, just like the women in the story. And it’s lucky because it’s a shorter play; we can take the time and we can really discuss some things. And so yeah, I’d be like, ‘OK; let’s hash this out. What do you think that means?’”

Tuggle’s direction, like indigenous theater in general, Dunn added, “is very much collaborative.”

“People have said to me before, working with a Native director and a Native cast is like nothing they’ve experienced,” Dunn said. “What’s really cool about this process is that she’s running the show and she treats everybody as part of a team. She’s very good about that.”

Tuggle said

Carolyn Dunn, Cody Tabor and John Lookingglass rehearse Neechie-Itas. | Photo Alexa Ace

she is doing what comes naturally to her.

“I never thought about that, but that is a very cultural thing because we’re very much a village,” Tuggle said. “We all want to work together for the betterment; no matter the roles or hierarchy, we’re all in it together.”

Tickets to Neechie-Itas are $25; admission to the staged readings and art exhibit is free. Visit okindigenoustheatre.com.

2019 Native American New Play Festival June 20-22 and 27-29 Mitchell Hall Theatre University of Central Oklahoma 100 N. University Drive, Edmond okindigenoustheatre.com Free-$25

Carm Tadoule (Summer Morgan) is interrogated by Officer Bradburn (John Lookingglass) in Neechie-Itas. | Photo Alexa Ace

O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9

27

T H E AT E R

ARTS & CULTURE

Between lines

Upstage Theatre explores the hidden meaning in the words and life of Eva Perón. By Jeremy Martin

A musical of disputed historical accuracy about an Argentinian actress who became a powerful leader in the 1940s might teach us something about America now.

Politically, Patrick Towne — director of Upstage Theatre’s production of Evita, running Thursday-Saturday and June 20-22 at Mitch Park Amphitheatre, 2733 Marilyn Williams Drive, in Edmond — said the musical, composed

by Andrew Lloyd Webber with book and lyrics by Tim Rice, is “very apropos to our current climate.”

“The show is about a very sort of heated time in Argentina, when it came to politics, and how Eva Perón was someone who was loved by half the people and hated by the other half, and that polarization of her we felt really connected with what’s going on in our country right now,” Towne said. “One of the things that we can learn in the year 2019 is not to be fooled, not to be mesmerized by the glamour of people, especially celebrities or politicians. …

It can be something that’s very hypnotic to us. But you always have to really look at, What are they actually saying?

What are they actually doing? What are their actual intentions? Are they saying anything? In the case of Eva Perón, there’s a line in the show that says, ‘She didn’t say much, but she said it loud,’ and I think that says a lot about the show right there and a lot about her, in that she was very mesmerizing. She was very beautiful and glamorous and adored by the working class people, but when it came right down to it, she herself didn’t affect a lot of change.”

28

J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9 | O KG A Z E T T E . C O M

Evita tells the story of Perón’s rise from poverty to become the wife of Argentine president Juan Perón and an influential and controversial political leader before her death at age 33. Towne said he and artistic director Jenny Rottmayer have wanted to stage the musical for a long time, with Rottmayer playing the title role.

“It’s something we’ve always wanted to do together, and do in this way, so it’s been a long time coming for both of us and sort of a dream realized for both of us,” Towne said. “I think that the music and the score is Andrew Lloyd Webber’s best. He’s sort of dogged on a lot in the musical theater community for various reasons, but I think this score, and it’s one of his early ones, it’s the most consistent. … And I’m fascinated with [Eva Perón] and what she was able to do and sort of this idea of, ‘Was she a saint, or was she this awful person, just disguising herself?’ I think that sort of juxtaposition makes her a really interesting character and really makes for an interesting story. I told the cast on the first day, my goal was I want the audience to walk away going, ‘I don’t know how I feel about her.’ I don’t know if I love her. I feel bad for her. She died so young with cancer, and … she did some great things and she did some horrible things. I think just showing that she was a human and she was just trying to survive and get to a place where she could get out of poverty and realize her dream makes her a very flawed, interesting and fun character to walk with through the evening.”

Eva Perón was popular with poor and

working-class Argentines, working in an unofficial capacity as the country’s secretary of labor and health; helping to establish schools, hospitals and orphanages; forming the Peronista Feminist Party and securing women’s right to vote. On May 7, the 100th anniversary of Eva Perón’s birth, 100 Argentine women marched in the streets dressed as her. While some critics say Evita paints an inaccurate and unflattering portrait based on accounts written by her detractors, Towne said he has been studying the real-life figure to add more nuance to the production.

“It’s not completely historically accurate,” Towne said, “but I really delved into the research, reading books, watching documentaries. There’s lots of YouTube clips online of her giving speeches and traveling to other countries, so that was one thing that was important to me and that was important to the cast, was that we be as respectful of her, of Argentina, of the culture, of the people, and that we be as authentic as possible. Because I felt that that was just the right thing to do for her memory and for those people down there that still, to this day, celebrate her and her memory.”

In addition to navigating the complexities of staging a musical based on a significant historical figure, Towne said Upstage Theatre is contending with the difficulties of staging an outdoor musical in Oklahoma.

“We’ve been dealing with the weather and moving the rehearsal schedule around to accommodate all the rain and all the storms, so that’s been fun,” Towne said. “The heat, as we get further into the summer, it becomes a problem, but the theater itself is not set up for a theatrical space, necessarily, so we have to bring everything in.

We have to bring in all of the wood, the walls, the set itself, all of the lighting and sound equipment. We have to basically bring everything in, set it all up and then tear it down every year. ... We have to make sure every set piece and

Upstage Theatre artistic director Jenny Rottmayer addresses the crowd as Eva Perón in a rehearsal for Evita. | Photo provided

everything is just secured down, glued down, stapled down because the wind will just carry it away. There’s a lot to think about.”

The cast also includes Jay Sampson as Juan Perón and Aaron Kellert as everyman narrator Che, who Towne described as “not a character so much as he is a storytelling device.”

“He gets to comment on all of the action, all of the plot, and he gets to give us sort of that other side of her or people’s opinion of her,” Towne said. “He allows the audience to see behind the mesmerizing and the glamour and the show that she put on. … What he does is he kind of pushes that aside and says, ‘OK, but here’s what’s really going on.’”

Not all of the characters in the musical are so forthcoming with their actual thoughts and opinions.

“I tell the cast we have to say one thing and mean something else because there’s a lot of sarcasm in the show, a lot of reading between the lines,” Towne said. “She’s saying one thing and meaning another, and how do you play that on stage and make that clear to the audience? That’s tough to do. … We’re still in the middle of rehearsals, we’re still figuring a lot of that out, but finding that balance has been fun and has been challenging.”

Tickets are free-$18. Visit upstagetheatreok.com.

Evita Thursday-Saturday and June 20-22 Mitch Park Amphitheatre 2733 Marilyn Williams Drive, Edmond upstagetheatreok.com | 405-285-5803 Free-$18

Entrepreneurial.

Music.

Business.

Earn your degree in one of three fields of contemporary study:

• Production • Business • Performance

Learn more

acm.uco.edu 25 S. Oklahoma Ave. Oklahoma City, OK 73104

O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9

29

NOMINATION BALLOT

Oklahoma City’s original and longest-running readers’ poll, Best of OKC, is

back for its 35th summer! We need your input in telling us the best our city offers, so nominate your favorites right here or at bestofoklahomacity.com, until Monday, June 17, 2019.

FOOD & DRINK 16. BEST FOOD TRUCK OR FOOD CART (CANNOT HAVE A BRICK-AND-MORTAR) 1.

BEST LOCAL CRAFT BEER

32. BEST DINER 17.

2.

BEST COCKTAIL (AND THE RESTAURANT/BAR THAT SERVES IT)

3.

BEST BREAKFAST

4.

BEST BRUNCH

5.

31. BEST PATIO DINING

BEST MEXICAN RESTAURANT 33. BEST RESTAURANT

18. BEST LATIN RESTAURANT (NOT MEXICAN) 34. BEST CHEF 19. BEST ITALIAN RESTAURANT 35. BEST SERVER (AND THEIR RESTAURANT)

BEST LATE-NIGHT EATS

20. BEST WESTERN EUROPEAN RESTAURANT, NOT ITALIAN (DANISH, ENGLISH, FRENCH, GERMAN, IRISH, SCOTTISH, SPANISH, ETC.)

36. BEST BARTENDER (AND THEIR BAR)

6.

BEST BURGER

21. BEST MEDITERRANEAN RESTAURANT

37. BEST PRE- OR POST- EVENT SPOT

7.

BEST TACO

22. BEST INDIAN RESTAURANT

38. BEST NATIONAL OR REGIONAL RESTAURANT *

8.

BEST SANDWICH SHOP

23. BEST JAPANESE RESTAURANT

9.

BEST BARBECUE

24. BEST CHINESE RESTAURANT

10. BEST PIZZA PLACE

25. BEST THAI RESTAURANT

11.

26. BEST VIETNAMESE RESTAURANT

ARTS, CULTURE & ENTERTAINMENT 39. BEST LOCAL COVER BAND

BEST STEAKHOUSE

12. BEST SUSHI

27. BEST NEW RESTAURANT (TO OPEN SINCE 6/1/18)

13. BEST RESTAURANT WITH VEGAN OR VEGETARIAN MENU OPTIONS

28. BEST FINE DINING RESTAURANT

40. BEST LOCAL ORIGINAL BAND OR SINGER (EX: SINGER/SONGWRITER, RAPPER, HIP-HOP GROUP) 41. BEST RADIO PERSONALITY OR TEAM

29. BEST NEIGHBORHOOD BAR

42. BEST PERFORMING ARTS GROUP (EX: THEATER COMPANY, DANCE COMPANY, ORCHESTRAL GROUP)

30. BEST NEW BAR (TO OPEN SINCE 6/1/18)

43. BEST VISUAL ARTIST

14. BEST SEAFOOD 15. BEST DESSERT RESTAURANT, SHOP OR BAKERY

*THIS CATEGORY ALLOWS VOTING FOR NATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS THAT SUPPORT THE LOCAL ECONOMY.

FOR YOUR BALLOT TO BE COUNTED: + You must fill out at least 30

+ The ballot may NOT be typewritten,

+ Oklahoma Gazette must receive your

+ There cannot be multiple

categories.

ballot (one per envelope) by mail no later than Monday, June 17, 2019.

2

J U N E 8 , 2 0 1 6 | O KG A Z E T T E . C O M

photocopied or hand-delivered. handwritings on the ballot.

+ Make sure your selections are locally owned (unless otherwise noted) and your choices do NOT appear on the ballot more than three times.

+ All contact information must be complete.

44. BEST LOCAL ANNUAL EVENT OR FESTIVAL

60. BEST FINE JEWELRY

76. BEST SPA (NO INJECTIONS USED)

45. BEST CHARITY EVENT

61. BEST THRIFT STORE

77. BEST PLACE TO GET FIT

46. BEST FREE ENTERTAINMENT

62. BEST WOMEN’S BOUTIQUE

78. BEST HEALTH FOOD STORE

47. BEST BAR FOR LIVE MUSIC

63. BEST MEN’S CLOTHING

79. BEST LOCAL HOTEL

48. BEST CONCERT VENUE

64. BEST BICYCLE SHOP

49. BEST PUBLIC ART/MURAL (GIVE INTERSECTION AND DISTRICT)

65. BEST PET-FRIENDLY PATIO 66. BEST NAUGHTY BUSINESS

50. BEST PLACE TO BUY LOCAL ART 67. BEST PLACE FOR CONTINUING EDUCATION 51. BEST ART GALLERY

54. BEST CASINO 55. BEST LGBTQ+ BAR OR CLUB

GOODS & SERVICES 56. BEST PLACE TO BUY LIQUOR 57. BEST VAPOR SHOP 58. BEST FURNITURE STORE (NOT RESALE OR CONSIGNMENT)

80. BEST DISPENSARY 81. BEST HEAD SHOP

68. BEST PUBLIC BATHROOM

82. BEST CANNABIS STRAIN (FLOWER AND DISPENSARY THAT SELLS IT)

69. BEST NEW RETAIL ESTABLISHMENT (TO OPEN AFTER 6/1/18)

83. BEST DISPENSARY FOR CONCENTRATES

52. BEST MUSEUM 53. BEST LOCAL DISTRICT

CANNABIS

LIFE & WELLNESS

84. BEST HEALTH AND BEAUTY CANNABIS-INFUSED PRODUCT 85. BEST EDIBLE PRODUCT

70. BEST PLACE TO VOLUNTEER 86. BEST BUDTENDER (AND THEIR DISPENSARY) 71. BEST NONPROFIT 72. BEST PLASTIC SURGEON 73. BEST PHYSICAL THERAPY CENTER 74. BEST HOSPITAL 75. BEST MEDICAL SPA (BOTOX, FILLER, ETC.)

87. BEST ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE PRACTITIONER (MEDICAL CANNABIS/MARIJUANA EVALUATION SERVICE) 88. BEST CANNABIS KNOWLEDGEABLE STAFF 89. BEST PLACE TO BUY CBD PRODUCTS 90. BEST PLACE TO BUY CANNABIS PLANTS

59. BEST CREDIT UNION

CONTACT INFORMATION * (required for your votes to be counted) NAME: PHONE NUMBER: EMAIL:

* We use this information for verification and keep it confidential.

MAIL YOUR BALLOT TO: OKLAHOMA GAZETTE’S BEST OF OKC P.O. BOX 54649 OKLAHOMA CITY, OK 73154 O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | J U N E 8 , 2 0 1 6

3

i r F & s r u h T 1 1 e / g 0 a l l 3 i V 7: n e v a h k o @Bro y a d r u t a S 1 1 / 6:30 rews Park d n A @ Norman’s

Free, family friendly festival www.jazzinjune.org

32

J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9 | O KG A Z E T T E . C O M

CO M M U N I T Y

ARTS & CULTURE

Cultural celebrations

The second Asian District Night Festival gets an opening act of Super Cao Nguyen anniversary food fair. By Jacob Threadgill

Two events Saturday allow Oklahoma City to celebrate the diversity and history of its Asian District.

From 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., Super Cao Nguyen, 2668 N. Military Ave., hosts a food fair in celebration of its 40th anniversary with dishes by some of the city’s top chefs with portions of the proceeds benefiting Homeless Alliance.

The food fair serves as an opening act for the second Asian District Night Market Festival, a free event in Military Park, 1200 NW 25th St., that features food trucks, vendors, dancing, cultural performances, a children’s area and an egg roll eating contest.

Night Market Festival expands after last year’s inaugural event attracted 15,000 people, a turnout that surprised Asian District Cultural Association president Thuan Nguyen.

“I was expecting five to 10 thousand people, and we got 15 [thousand],” Nguyen said. “We surveyed a lot of people that attended and used that as a starting point. A lot of people said that the lines were long for the food trucks and that we needed more food vendors.”

The event now features 10 Asianthemed food trucks, an additional 13 food local vendors and an additional 40 merchants and non-food vendors. The event includes a children’s activity area with large inflatable slides and an appearance by the OG&E Thunder Bolt fan experience and a booth from Oklahoma City Energy Football Club. Two lanes of northbound traffic on Classen Boulevard will be closed to allow for safer access to the festival by foot.

Nguyen founded the association last year after being unable to revive the Asian District Association. He moved his THN Insurance Solutions business to a shopping center in the Asian District a few This year’s Asian District Night Market Festival features 10 food trucks and 13 food vendors. | Photo Vilona Michael / provided

years ago and would look out his window across the street and wonder if they could get more use out of Military Park.

“We saw a need for the association in the community. It needs something to preserve culture for our up-and-coming children,” he said. “The first generation that was refugees has gotten old or passed, and they’ve passed the torch to the next generation in the 30-50 age group. If we didn’t do anything now, then our younger generation was going to lose their culture, and there’s not preservation of that anywhere else. Our mission is to build and bridge the gaps between the generations. We created a festival where we’re not bound by our difference to embrace cultures, appreciate the arts and culinary aspects of the community.”

The stage in Military Park hosts a variety of events, including singing, cultural dances, an egg roll eating competition supplied by VII Asian Bistro that builds off last year’s pho competition. Nguyen said a variety of different Asian cultures will be represented during the event but it’s impossible to feature every group in the city.

“If you don’t see certain representation this year, they’ll be there next year,” he said.

The city hosts a variety of lion dances during the lunar new year, and Night Market Festival gives four Oklahoma City groups an opportunity to compete for a $1,000 prize.

The festival is the cultural association’s largest fundraiser, which uses sponsorships like those from Bob Moore Auto Group, Oklahoma City Abstract & Title Co., Lee’s Sandwiches and Neuroradiology & Pain Solutions of Oklahoma to fund both long-term and short-term beautification projects in the district.

“The streetscape was installed in the early 2000s with MAPS funding,” Nguyen said. “We were one of the first districts in the city to get funding, and

after the streetscape was complete, it started booming in places like Uptown 23rd and [16th Street] Plaza District.”

The cultural association will use remaining proceeds to fund upkeep of the medians on Classen, including light pole painting and the eventual purchase of banner brackets to promote events throughout the year. Ultimately, Nguyen wants to establish an Asian garden with a multi-use space for cultural activities and education.

“Going onstage and seeing the amount of people [at last year’s festival] really shot to my heart because in the world today, where we’re defined by hatred, crimes, mental and substance abuse, this festival doesn’t let that define us,” Nguyen said. “No matter who you are, everyone came to this festival.

It was so great to see people of every race at the festival, and we embraced cultural differences to come to one area.

That’s what community is all about.”

Ruby anniversary

Super Cao Nguyen opened at its original location 40 years ago, and in the subsequent years, under the ownership of the Luong family, with expansion to its current super market location, it has become a meeting place and influenced the city’s chefs for its ability to bring in new and fresh ingredients.

In honor of its anniversary and to highlight the many chefs that shop at the store, Super Cao hosts its Food Fair, where dishes from the city’s top culinary talents will be available for $8. Half of the proceeds will benefit Homeless Alliance.

Participating chefs include Vuong Nguyen (Ur/Bun), Kevin Lee (Gogi Go!),

Asian District Night Market Festival features performances from different cultures. | Photo Vilona Michael / provided

Alain Buthion (La Baguette Bistro), Koji Omori (Tokyo Japanese Restaurant), Chris Becker (Della Terra Pasta), Robby Vernon (Hacienda Tacos), Ryan Parrott (Picasso Cafe, Oso on Paseo), Jeff Chanchaleune (Gorō Ramen), Russ Johnson (Ludivine), Wakana and Matt Sebacher (Tamashii Ramen House), Thai Tien (Grand House), Kathryn Mathis (Big Truck Tacos), Melissa Aust (Stella Modern Italian Cuisine), Henry Yang (Tsubaki Sushi) and Shelby Sieg (The Pritchard).

“We’re celebrating our 40 years in the community,” Hai Luong, Super Cao vice president, said. “Back then, there wasn’t even an Asian District; it was just Military Park area. Now it’s a diverse area and a melting pot.”

Visit facebook.com/asiandistrictok.

After last year’s pho eating competition, this year’s Night Market Festival features an egg roll competition.| Photo Vilona Michael / provided

Super Cao Nguyen 40th Anniversary Food Fair 1-6 p.m. Saturday 2668 Military Ave. Free (dishes are $8)

Asian District Night Market Festival 6 p.m.-midnight Military Park 1200 NW 25th St. facebook.com/asiandistrictok Free

O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9

33

CO M M U N I T Y

ARTS & CULTURE

Vote Lush

Best Women’s Boutique

14101 N. May Ave Suite 114

405.936.0680

MON-SAT 10AM - 7PM CLOSED ON SUNDAYS

FOLLOW US!

.

.

SHOP LUSHFASHIONLOUNGE COM 34

J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9 | O KG A Z E T T E . C O M

Construction site

Mike Montgomery has become a YouTube sensation with his woodworking, carpentry and maker videos. By Matthew Price

Starting his business at 19 years old, Midwest City’s Mike Montgomery grew the YouTube subscriber base for his Modern Builds channel to 902,840 in the past four years. Montgomery, now 23, has made his hobby of building furniture into a full-time business as a YouTuber with more than 100 how-to videos posted to the site.

He has always been interested in building and creation. As a young man, he watched as his parents built a house from scratch. As a kid, he would build landscapes for G.I. Joe figures or create Lego buildings.

Taking a shop class in middle school further grew his desire to build things and made him more comfortable with the idea of working with large tools.

While his knowledge at that time was rudimentary, he said, “I could build some really simple things that were useful.”

Learning to build things served what Montgomery called “[his] cheap side,” as rather than run out to buy a gift or a piece of needed furniture, he could use his grandfather’s tools and scrap materials around his parents’ house.

Originally, he thought his career would take him into music production.

That led him into classes at Academy of Contemporary Music at University of Central Oklahoma (ACM@UCO).

Mike Montgomery of Midwest City parlayed his passion for building things into a YouTube-fueled full-time business. | Photo Modern Builds / provided

As he became more known for his building skills, he began to build items for his college classmates.

“I always had some kind of side hustle,” Montgomery said. “I just got engaged in building stuff, so it was kind of my hobby as well.”

While studying at ACM@UCO, he grew restless and wanted to start his own business. He learned many of the basics of production, and along the way, he learned how to do more extensive carpentry. He began watching do-ityourself videos on YouTube and thought there was a niche in the midcentury modern design space that was not being filled. Perhaps, he thought, he could be the first. He created Modern Builds, figuring both words would also help him stand out in online searches.

And while some DIY channels on YouTube focused on elaborate creations, Montgomery wanted to aim for projects people who were new to the hobby could actually complete.

“Modern Builds is kind of geared toward people in their first year of making things,” he said.

His aim was originally to put out one video each week, and that growth on his channel was slow and steady.

“There was never, like, the breakthrough moment; I’ve never really had a video go viral,” he said. “It’s been a cumulative effort of consistently putting out good content, just slowly accumulating new audience.”

Montgomery said his focus is on teaching others how to make their own projects. While he has created many furniture items, he tends to use them himself or give them to friends or family.

“The product for me has always been the video,” he said. “I don’t have to sell my pieces, which really frees me up creatively.”

When he started, his goal was to get the videos out and build something consistently.

“At the beginning, it was very backyard, very DIY,” he said. “I was just setting up a camera, finding somewhere that had decent enough natural light, just setting a camera on a tripod and doing it.”

Now, he has multiple

BEST! standing sets, including a living room and outdoor workshop.

“It’s all set up now and kind of standardized, which is nice,” Montgomery said.

As he continues to grow his fan base, he would like to focus on even bigger projects. Currently, he said, his room renovation videos are among his most popular, and at some point, he would like to attempt renovations on an entire house. Relatively inexpensive real estate in Oklahoma makes taking on a larger-scale project more affordable.

“I’ve got a 12-year-old’s dream job,” he said. “You ask any 12-year-old nowadays and they want to be a YouTuber.”

While he has had meetings about taking his skills to television or other mediums, he is focused on his streaming channel. For one, it is more lucrative.

“If I landed a first season of a TV show, I’d be taking a pay cut to do it,” Montgomery said.

For another, he has a great degree of control over how and what he does each day.

“I just go out to the garage, I film myself building stuff, and I put it on YouTube,” he said. “It’s a really silly thing when you look at it that way, but it’s a lot of fun and I’m really appreciative to get to be creative and not have to be in a cubicle or do something that I really don’t like all day long.”

Montgomery said the maker community is growing, and while people who wanted to build things would just do so alone in their garage for years,

BEST!

Selection of Authentic & Repro Mods, RDAs & Tanks

Mike Montgomery provides plans for projects like this wood and metal conference table at modernbuilds.com. | Photo Modern Builds / provided

the growth of an online community of makers has made DIY more accessible.

The DIY community online has been welcoming, and he has made friends through his time working on his videos.

He hopes to travel around the United States in the near future, meeting others in the DIY community and working on projects together.

Montgomery bought a school bus that he hopes to turn into a kind of tiny house to stay in during his tour. He thinks having his home base on wheels will give him more time to absorb the feeling of each community he stops in.

“I have the freedom to travel and do some cool stuff, so I definitely want to do that,” he said.

He also has another milestone in his sights.

“I’m really looking towards getting a million subscribers,” he said. “It seems insane to me to have that many people following what I’m doing.”

Visit modernbuilds.com.

Selection of Premium & House eLiquids

BEST!

Selection of • Wick •Wire •Accessories

BEST!

Customer Service Device Knowledge Build Expertise

BEST! VAPE SHOP

Epoxy and wood coffee table | Photo Modern Builds / provided

2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 Nominee

6608 N MAY • OKC• 418-4996 WE PROUDLY SUPPOOR VAPE ADVOCACY O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9

35

REACH 134,070

WEEKLY READERS THAT LOVE TO SHOP

with

THAT SWEEPS YOU OFF YOUR FEET!

ORDER TODAY FOR THE BEST SEATS AT THE BEST PRICE

(405) 524-9312 • LyricTheatreOKC.org

June 25 - 30

Jeremy Benton

Tatum Grace Ludlam as Kathy Seldon

Lexi Windsor

as Lina Lamont

Richard Riaz Yoder as Cosmo Brown

Each week 134,070 Gazette readers are looking to support local, independent businesses.

Put your advertising message in the OKG Shop editorial supported section the first issue of each month and run of paper the third issue of each month.

Celebrate Hollywood’s Golden Age with this romantic, musical-comedy classic! Your entire family will dance, laugh and sing along to a memorable song score featuring a dazzling orchestra and splashy production numbers... all while it magically rains on the entire Civic Center stage!

as Don Lockwood

Oklahoma Gazette readers shop local!

Book by Betty Comden and Adolph Green Music by Nacio Herb Brown Lyrics by Arthur Freed Directed by Michael Baron

Call your account executive at 528.6000 or email advertising@okgazette.com

today to reserve your space!

36

J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9 | O KG A Z E T T E . C O M

OKG Lifestyle

Around OKC EAT Rooster Burger at Red Rooster WATCH “Watch What You Say” by Jabee and Thelonious Martin on

YouTube

LISTEN “ABNL (All Blessings No Luck)” by Thomas Who READ Where the Dead Sit Talking by Brandon Hobson LOVE Denise Duong’s new West Village Parking Garage mural, “Life in

the Light” @ N. Classen Boulevard and W. Sheridan Avenue.

EXPERIENCE Aikido at Windsong Dojo

Christopher “Original Flow”Acoff’s Picks The Krow’s Nest / Healthy Koncious / The Press EAT Black Mirror on Netflix WATCH The Spy FM LISTEN Blacker Than Shakespeare’s Ink: Diary READ of a Nostalgic Kid by Cordney McClain The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim on PC LOVE

Outside OKC

Never miss Norman Music Festival EXPERIENCE in downtown Norman

EAT Mid City Grill in Johnson City, Tennessee WATCH Luke Cage on Netflix LISTEN chill-hop instrumentals on YouTube READ Angels A to Z by Evelyn Dorothy

Oliver and James R. Lewis

LOVE Final Fantasy 7, 8, 9, 10, and 15

EXPERIENCE Hiking the trail of the Appalachian Mountains. I’ve never

felt peace like that before, and it was truly blissful.

Christopher Acoff, aka Original Flow, grew up in northeast Oklahoma City and performs and records with his band, The Fervent Route.

DENISE DUONG’S “LIFE IN THE LIGHT” | PHOTO ALEXA ACE • ROOSTER BURGER AT RED ROOSTER | PHOTO ALEXA ACE CHRISTOPHER “ORIGINAL FLOW” ACOFF | PHOTO ALEXA ACE • THE SPY | IMAGE PROVIDED • BLACK MIRROR | IMAGE NETFLIX / PROVIDED FINAL FANTASY | IMAGE PROVIDED • LUKE CAGE ON NETFLIX | IMAGE PROVIDED O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9

37

List your event in

CALENDAR are events recommended

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

BOOKS Book Writing Workshop aspiring authors can learn about sending query letters, copyright laws, branding and more at this workshop, 2-4 p.m. June 15. Ice Event Center & Grill, 1148 NE 36th St., 405208-4240, iceeventcentergrill.eat24hour.com. SAT

FILM Above the Rim (1994, USA, Jeff Pollack) Tupac Shakur stars in this drama about three brothers, 6 p.m. June 13. The Banquet Cinema Pub, 800 NW Fourth St., banquetcinema.com. THU Carmine Street Guitars (USA, 2018, Ron Mann) a documentary about a guitar store in New York City’s Greenwich Village, through June 13. Rodeo Cinema, 2221 Exchange Ave., 405-235-3456. FRI-THU Las Sandinistas (2018, Nicaragua. Jenny Murray) a documentary chronicling the women who led rebel troops in Nicaragua’s 1979 Sandinista Revolution, 6-8:30 p.m. June 15. Church of the Open Arms, 3131 N. Pennsylvania Ave., 405-525-9555, openarms.org. SAT Late Night (2019, USA, Nisha Ganatra) a late-night talk show host (Emma Thompson) gets more than she bargained for when she adds a woman (Mindy Kaling) to he all-male writer’s room, June 14. Rodeo Cinema, 2221 Exchange Ave., 405-235-3456. FRI Planet Africa: Celebrating African & African Diaspora Cinema a curated four-film series featuring Khalik Allah’s 2018 experimental documentary Black Mother, 1980 London reggae-scene drama Babylon, and two films by Senegalese director Djibril Diop Mambéty, 8 p.m. June 13-16. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, 405-236-3100, okcmoa.com. THU-SUN Sonic Summer Movies: Trolls (2016, USA, Mike Mitchell) Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake lend their voices to the popular toys in this animated family film, 8-10:30 p.m. June 19. Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave., 405-445-7080, myriadgardens.com. WED Where Did the Horny Toad Go? a screening of a locally produced nature documentary about the disappearance of the once-common lizard, 6-10 p.m.

June 15. COOP Ale Works Tap Room, 4745 Council Heights Road, 405-842-2667, coopaleworks.com. SAT

HAPPENINGS

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.

African American Task Force On Mental Health an effort to improve the mental health care provided to people of color and create a statewide social network with expert speakers and roundtable discussion, 6-8 p.m. June 13. Credit Union House of Oklahoma, 631 E. Hill St., 405-445-1511, creditunionhouseok.com. THU Board Game Day enjoy local craft beer while playing old-school board and arcade games with friends, 5-8 p.m. Sundays. FlashBack RetroPub, 814 W. Sheridan Ave., 405-633-3604, flashbackretropub.com. SUN

Rocketman If Bohemian Rhapsody’s PG-13 take on Freddie Mercury’s X-rated antics drove you stone cold crazy, perhaps this print-the-legend R-rated take on Sir Elton John’s ascension to supernova status, made with the blessing of Captain Fantastic himself, might be more to your liking. John was so adamant about keeping all the drugs and sex intact that he and the filmmakers released a joint statement condemning Russian distributors for editing out the juiciest bits, calling the censorship “a sad reflection of the divided world we still live in.” Had they cut “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart,” however, we might have had to agree. Get back, honky cat, 7 p.m. Friday at Banquet Cinema Pub, 800 NW Fourth St. Tickets are $35 and include a 10-inch pizza, cinnamon buns and three glasses of wine. Visit banquetcinema.com.

FRIDAY Photo provided Boot Camp to Brunch a 45-minute outdoor workout led by trainer Stephanie Fowler followed by a champagne brunch, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. June 15. The Bleu Garten, 301 NW 10th St., 405-879-3808, bleugarten. com. SAT

Chicago Steppin Class learn how to do the popular dance at this free weekly class, 7-9 p.m. Thursdays.

L & G’s on the BLVD, 4801 N. Lincoln Blvd., 405-5242001, facebook.com/landgsontheblvd. THU Civic Saturday connect with other civic-minded citizens at this meetup hosted by Citizen University founder Eric Liu, 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. June 15. The Paramount Room, 701 W. Sheridan Ave., 405-8873327, theparamountroom.com. SAT Conversational Spanish Group Meetup an opportunity for all experience levels to practice speaking Spanish, 7 p.m. Tuesdays. Full Circle Bookstore, 1900 Northwest Expressway, 405-842-2900, fullcirclebooks.com. TUE Deconstructed: Conversations with a Drag Artist learn about the process behind drag performances from local artists Tape, Shalula, Topatio, Cassidy Queerface, Q, and Lady K, 6 p.m. June 19. Wreck Room, 2127 NW 39th St., 405-525-7610. WED Downtown Recyclers Toastmasters practice your public speaking skills at this ongoing weekly meeting, noon-1 p.m. Wednesdays. Department of Environmental Quality, 707 N. Robinson Ave., 405702-0100, deq.state.ok.us. WED

Submit your listings online at okgazette.com or e-mail them to listings@okgazette.com.

Sorry, but phone submissions cannot be accepted.

Freedom School Day Camp Children ages 5-18 can connect with the history and culture of the Motherland at this weeklong camp with crafts, games, music, dancing and dinner with the theme Back to Africa. Any chance you can get to encourage kids to hang out in a local bookstore is not to be missed, and we are not just saying that because our whole business model requires people to read. The camp runs 6-8:30 p.m. Monday-June 21 at Nappy Roots Books, 3705 Springlake Drive. Admission is free, but campers should search “Freedom School” on eventbrite.com to reserve their spot. Call 405-896-0203 or visit facebook.com/nappyrootsbooks.

Drag Bingo hosted by former Miss International Gay Rodeo Association Luxx Bentley, this fundraiser for Other Options and Great Plains Rodeo Association will feature food, drinks and prizes, 7-9 p.m.

June 16. The Boom, 2218 NW 39th St., 405-6017200, theboomokc.com. SUN Governor’s Club Toastmasters lose your fear of public speaking and gain leadership skills by practicing in a fun and low-stakes environment, noon-1 p.m. Wednesdays. Oklahoma Farm Bureau Building, 2501 N. Stiles Ave., 405-523-2300, okfarmbureau. org. WED In the Groove for Possibilities a disco-themed benefit for local nonprofit Possibilities Inc., 7-10 p.m.

June 13. Will Rogers Theatre, 4322 N. Western Ave.,

MONDAY-JUNE 21 Photo provided 38

J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9 | O KG A Z E T T E . C O M

GO TO OKGAZETTE.COM FOR FULL LISTINGS!

405-604-3015, willrogerstheatre.com. THU

ANTI-AGING SERVICES

WE’RE SOCIAL.

MICRODERMABRASION

$30 First Treatment $200 Package of 5

Juneteenth with Carmen Fields journalist Joyce Jackson interviews Boston Globe reporter and columnist Carmen Fields, 7-8:30 p.m. June 18.

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

$15 Glycolic Peel $25 Jessner’s Peel

JUVEDERM • RADIESSE

BOTOX $11 Per Unit

Miss Gay Oklahoma USofA at Large an evening honoring Armani Nicole Davenport, Miss Gay Oklahoma USofA at Large, 9 p.m. June 15. Angles Event Center, 2117 NW 39th St, 405-525-0730. SAT

NEOKC Juneteenth & 5th Anniversary Celebration commemorate both the end of slavery and the anniversary of the NE OKC Community & Cultural Center at this celebration featuring live entertainment, noon-8 p.m. June 15.

NE OKC Community & Cultural Center, 3815 N Kelley Ave., 405-401-3350. SAT Oklahoma Modernism Weekend a celebration of mid-century modern architecture with panels, presentations and workshops, June 14-16.

St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, 2121 N. Portland Ave., 405-946-4441. FRI-SUN Pests, Prevention and Annihilation learn how to prevent and repel pest infestations using non-chemical means at this gardening class, 2-3 p.m. June 15. TLC Garden Center, 105 W. Memorial road, 405-751-0630, tlcgarden.com. SAT Play in the Park: Fly a Kite fly kites provided for families by the Moore Public Library, 7-8 p.m.

June 13. Moore Central Park, 700 S. Broadway St., 405-793-5090, centralpark.cityofmoore.com. THU Pollinators and the Plants They Love learn what plants to include in your garden in order to attract butterflies, bees, hummingbirds, bats and other pollinators at this lecture, 6 p.m. June 12.

Will Rogers Garden Center, 3400 NW 36th St., 405-943-0827, okc.gov. WED Pooches on the Patio bring your best friend to this dog-friendly happy hour with drink specials, appetizers and free pet treats, 4-7 p.m. May 11. Café 501 Classen Curve, 5825 NW Grand Blvd., 405-844-1501, cafe501.com. SAT Pottawatomie County LGBTQ Pride Picnic kick off Pride Week with a potluck lunch, swimming, games and a live performance by Shades of Gray, noon-3 p.m. June 15. Glenn Collins Memorial Park, 33559 Homer Lane Road, 405-878-1529, shawneeok.org. SAT Rage in the Cage 66 see 15 mixed-martial-arts fights including five title matches, 6:30-10:30 p.m.

June 14. OKC Farmers Market, 311 S. Klein Ave., 405-486-0701. FRI Red Dirt Dinos: An Oklahoma Dinosaur Adventure learn about regional prehistoric reptiles at this hands-on exhibit featuring three interactive robotic dinosaurs, through Sept. 2, Through Sept. 2. Science Museum Oklahoma, 2020 Remington Place, 405-602-6664, sciencemuseumok.org. THU-MON

PHILLY CHEESESTEAK FOOD TRUCK

MICRODERMABRASION ADD-ONS

LIVE! on the Plaza join the Plaza District every second Friday for an art walk featuring artists, live music, shopping and more, 6-10 p.m. second Friday of every month. Plaza District, 1618 N. Gatewood Ave., 405-426-7812, plazadistrict.org. FRI

Moore Chess Club play in tournaments and learn about the popular board game at this weekly event where all ages and skill levels are welcome, 1-4 p.m.

Sundays. Moore Library, 225 S. Howard. SUN

OKC’S FIRST AND ONLY TRADITIONAL

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER AND NEVER MISS A TWEET

@OKGAZETTE

Schelly’s Aesthetics

SHOW US YOUR LOVE AND NOMINATE US FOR BEST OF OKC FOOD TRUCKS!

Shoppes at Northpark, 12028 May Ave. 405-751-8930 Open Mon-Fri www.skincareokc.com Gift Certificates Available

FAMILY OWNED AND OPERATED SINCE 2014

Celebrations FOR ALL OF LIFE’S

Celebrations FOR ALL OF LIFE’S

N A I F E H P R I VA T E L A B E L

Red Tent women are invited to share stories, experiences and wisdom in a safe space; bring objects to decorate the tent before the ceremony, 6-9 p.m. June 15. Beautifully Connected, 13524 Railway Drive, Suite J, 262-753-6852, beautifullyconnectedwellness.com. SAT Stash Flower Power Market shop for handcrafted and vintage items as well as local food and craft beer, 6-9:30 p.m. June 14. Stash, 412 E. Main St., Norman, 405-701-1016, stashok.com. FRI Summer Soiree enjoy live music, local craftbrew beer and wine and heavy hors d’oeuvres at this Roaring ’20s-themed fundraiser for Preservation Oklahoma, 7-10 p.m. June 15. Overholser Mansion, 405 NW 15th St., 405-525-5325, overholsermansion.org. SAT

N A I F E H P R I VA T E L A B E L

Toastmasters Meeting hone public speaking and leadership skills in a move-at-your own pace environment, 7-8:30 p.m. Thursdays. McFarlin United Methodist Church, 419 S. University Drive, 623-810-0295. THU 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., 405-6078822, mattymcmillens.com. TUE Wags to Riches a craft fair benefitting 1 Day Ranch animal rescue in Bethel Acres, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. June 15. Cole Community Center, 4400 Northwest Expressway, 405-418-7636, okcfirst. com. SAT

continued on page 40

O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9

39

CALENDAR C A L E N DA R

continued from page 39

FOOD A Clockwork Pour Presents: The Obahoshe Tiki Room enjoy Polynesian and Caribbean inspired appetizers and classic and custom cocktails featuring Oklahoma’s Obahoshe Rum, 4-10 p.m. June 17. St. Mark’s Chop Room & Bar, 6462 Avondale Drive, 405-848-6200, stmarkschoproom.com. MON

Guinness & Oysters Party a patio party with drink specials and a live DJ, noon-11 p.m. June 15. James E. McNellie’s Public House, 1100 Classen Drive. SAT Music & Wine Festival a family-friendly event with wine and beer tastings, live music, food trucks and pop-up shops, 5-10 p.m. June 15. Will Rogers Amphitheater, 3430 N. Portland Ave., melissa@ oklahomagypsyglam.com. SAT Paseo Farmers Market shop for fresh food from local vendors at this weekly outdoor event, 9 a.m.noon Saturdays, through Oct. 19. SixTwelve, 612 NW 29th St., 405-208-8291, sixtwelve.org. SAT

YOUTH Children’s Garden Festival: Where the Wild Things Are a celebration of Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s book Where the Wild Things Are featuring activities, artistic displays and more, through June 16.

Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave., 405-445-7080, myriadgardens.com. FRI-SUN Creativity Camp for Littles children 4-8 years old can explore the connection between artistic expression and creative movement at this camp; comfy play clothes recommended, 10-11:30 a.m. June 10-13.

Sweet Yield Studio, 629 W. Sheridan Ave., Suite 103, 405-615-2141. MON-THU 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 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

Stop Motion Animation Night Time Camp children 8-16 years old will learn to create their own films from the storyboard stage to background and character creation, 6:30 p.m. June 17-19. Artsy Rose Academy, 7739 W. Hefner Road, 405-603-8550. MON-WED Story Time with Britt’s Bookworms enjoy snacks, crafts and story time, 10:30-11:30 a.m. first and third Thursday of every month. Thrive Mama Collective, 1745 NW 16th St., 405-356-6262. THU 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 Super Silly Monster Fun a monster-themed story and craft time, 2-3 p.m. June 13. Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave., 405-445-7080, myriadgardens.com. THU Wild Plants children ages 6-10 learn about vines, carnivorous and edible plants and take a plant home, 1-2 p.m. June 14. Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave., 405-445-7080, myriadgardens.com. FRI

PERFORMING ARTS Andrew Rose the Oklahoma-based standup will perform, along with local comics Lenny Vanhorn, BradChad Porter, CJ Lance and James Nghiem 7-10:30 p.m. June 15. The Paramount Room, 701 W. Sheridan Ave., 405-887-3327, theparamountroom.com. SAT The Comedy of Errors Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park presents the Bard’s chaotic comedy of mistaken identities; directed by D. Lance Marsh, through June 29. Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave., 405-445-7080, myriadgardens.com. THU-SAT Divine Comedy a weekly local showcase hosted

by CJ Lance and Josh Lathe and featuring a variety of comedians from OKC and beyond, 9 p.m.

Wednesdays. 51st Street Speakeasy, 1114 NW 51st St., 405-463-0470, 51stspeakeasy.com. WED Don Quixote Open Mic a weekly comedy show followed by karaoke, 7:30-9 p.m. Fridays. Don Quixote Club, 3030 N. Portland Ave., 405-947-0011. FRI Eddie Izzard the actor and standup comic stops on his international Wunderbar tour, 8-11 p.m. June 16.

Rose State College, 6420 SE 15th St., 405-733-7673, rose.edu. SUN Heard on Hurd a street festival featuring live music and family friendly activities, 6-10 p.m. June 15.

Citizens Bank of Edmond, 32 N. Broadway, Edmond,

405-341-6650, citizensedmond.com. SAT Iron Horse Open Mic and Showcase perform music on stage at this show open to all experience levels, 7-10 p.m. Wednesdays. Iron Horse Bar & Grill, 9501 S. Shields Blvd., 405-735-1801. 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., Norman, 405-701-4900, othellos.us. TUE LOL Comedy Show Ashima Franklin, Blaq Ron, Cory Miller, and Velly Vel are scheduled to perform, 7-11 p.m. June 15. The Douglass at Page Woodson, 600 N. High Ave., 405-601-1989, facebook.com/thedouglasspagewoodson. SAT Lumpy’s Open Mic Night play a song of your own or just listen to the performers at this weekly show hosted by John Riley Willingham, 9 p.m.

Wednesdays. Lumpy’s Sports Grill, 12325 N. May Ave., 405-286-3300, lumpyssportsgrill.com. WED Monday Night Blues Jam Session bring your own instrument to this open-stage jam hosted by Wess McMichael, 7-9 p.m. Mondays. Othello’s Italian Restaurant, 434 Buchanan Ave., Norman, 405-7014900, othellos.us. MON The Nightingale Classical Ballet School students perform this ballet based on the story by Hans Christian Andersen, June 14-15. Bishop McGuinness Catholic High School, 801 NW 50th St., 405-8426638, bmchs.org. FRI-SAT OK Country Cafe Open Mic show off your singing talent, 6 p.m. the second and fourth Thursday of every month. OK Country Cafe, 6072 S. Western Ave., 405-602-6866, okcountrycafe.com. THU OKC Improv performers create original scenes in the moment based on suggestions from the audience, 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

Oklahoma City Improv, 1757 NW 16th St., 405-4569858, okcimprov.com. FRI Triple’s Open Mic a music and comedy open mic hosted by Amanda Howle, 7:30 p.m. every other Wednesday. Triple’s, 8023 NW 23rd St., 405-7893031. WED Open Mic at The P share your musical talent or just come to listen at this weekly open mic, 7 p.m.

Wednesdays. The Patriarch Craft Beer House & Lawn, 9 E. Edwards St., 405-285-6670, ThePatriarchEdmond.com. WED

Othello’s Comedy Night see professionals and amateurs alike at this long-running weekly open mic for standup comics, 9 p.m. Tuesdays. Othello’s Italian Restaurant, 434 Buchanan Ave., Norman, 405-7014900, othellos.us. TUE Pick-A-Tune with Lucas Ross people who have never played the banjo are invited to learn a song; instruments provided, 2-3 p.m. June 15. American Banjo Museum, 9 E. Sheridan Ave., 405-604-2793, americanbanjomuseum.com. SAT Public Access Open Mic read poetry, do standup comedy, play music or just watch as an audience member at this open mic hosted by Alex Sanchez, 7 p.m. Sundays. The Paseo Plunge, 3010 Paseo St., 405-315-6224, paseoplunge.org. SUN Red Dirt Open Mic a weekly open mic for comedy and poetry, hosted by Red Dirt Poetry, 7:30-10:30 p.m. Wednesdays. Sauced on Paseo, 2912 Paseo St., 405-521-9800, saucedonpaseo.com. WED Rhyme in Reasons share your talent or just watch other artists perform at this weekly open mic, 7:30-10 p.m. Thursdays. Reasons Lounge, 1140 N. MacArthur Blvd., 405-774-9991. THU 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 The Skirvin Jazz Club a monthly live jazz show presented by OK Sessions, 7:30 p.m. third Friday of every month. Park Avenue Grill, 1 Park Ave., 405-7028444, parkavegrill.com. FRI Stan Engle and Friends the jazz trumpeter is scheduled to perform with his band, 7 p.m. June 13.

UCO Jazz Lab, 100 E. Fifth St., Edmond, 405-3597989, ucojazzlab.com. THU The Trailer-Hood Hootenanny join Rayna Over and friends for a night of comedy, music and drag performances, 10 p.m.-1 a.m. the second Friday of every month. Frankie’s, 2807 NW 36th St., 405-6022030, facebook.com/frankiesokc. FRI VZD’s Open Mic Night a weekly music mic hosted by Joe Hopkins, 7 p.m. Wednesdays. VZD’s Restaurant & Bar, 4200 N. Western Ave., 405-6023006, vzds.com. WED Weekly Jams bring an instrument and play along with others at this open-invitation weekly jam session, 9:30 p.m.-midnight Tuesdays. Saints, 1715 NW 16th St., 405-602-6308, saintspubokc.com. TUE

ACTIVE Botanical Balance an all-levels yoga class in a natural environment; bring your own mat and water, 5:45 p.m. Tuesdays and 8 a.m. Saturdays. Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave., 405-445-7080, myriadgardens.com. SAT-TUE Co-ed Open Adult Volleyball enjoy a game of friendly yet competitive volleyball while making new friends, 6-8 p.m. Wednesdays. Jackie Cooper Gymnasium, 1024 E. Main St., Yukon, 405-350-8920, cityofyukon.gov. WED 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 Open Badminton hit some birdies in some morning pick-up games of badminton with friends, 10 a.m.noon Saturdays. Jackie Cooper Gymnasium, 1024 E. Main St., Yukon, 405-350-8920, cityofyukon.gov. SAT Run for Recognition participate in a 5K or 1-mile fun run to benefit Special Olympics Oklahoma, 7-9 p.m. June 14. Run for Recognition, 708 N. Broadway, runforrecognition.com. FRI Stars and Stripes Spin Jam a weekly meetup for jugglers, hula hoopers and unicyclers, 6-8 p.m.

Wednesdays. Stars & Stripes Park, 3701 S. Lake Hefner Drive, 405-297-2756, okc.gov/parks. WED Twisted Coyote Brew Crew a weekly 3-mile group run for all ability levels with a beer tasting to follow; bring your own safety lights, 6 p.m. Mondays.

Twisted Spike Brewing Co., 1 NW 10th St., 405-3013467, twistedspike.com. 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 Women of Color Art Showcase June’s installment of this every-other-month exhibition features art by Jodi Renne, Stacie Monday, Marcia Ermey, Clarissa Watkins, Corri James, Taryn Haze Guess, Erica Nkechi, Sunee Rice and Sylvia Archie.

Enjoy light snacks and drinks, meet the artists and buy their work, knowing that they are guaranteed 100 percent commission on all their sales and have not been charged anything to participate. Your admission fee will go toward an arts education program for children. What is not to love? The showcase is 6-10 p.m. June 22 at Heart Studios, 1605 E. Second St., in Edmond.

Admission is $15-$20. Call 405-664-4194 or visit heartstudiosllc.com. JUNE 22 Photo provided 40

J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9 | O KG A Z E T T E . C O M

GO TO OKGAZETTE.COM FOR FULL LISTINGS!

Alicia Saltina Marie Clark a solo exhibition featuring the work of the Oklahoma-based artist, June 13-July 7. DNA Galleries, 1709 NW 16th St., 405525-3499, dnagalleries.com. THU-SUN Beautiful Minds: Dyslexia and the Creative Advantage an exhibition of artworks created by people with dyslexia including students from Oklahoma City’s Trinity School, through Aug. 4. Science

Looking for a fun and productive summer activity?

True Crime Trivia If you have ever wanted to make your friends extremely proud and extremely unsettled at the same time, try taking them to this trivia night hosted

by Banjobug and show off all that knowledge gleaned from all those creepy podcasts, Netflix serial-killer documentaries and all the other gruesome research, er…, guilty pleasures you have been putting into your brain. No one is judging. It is imperative that people like you have a hobby to keep your mind occupied. Kill the competition (with kindness) 7-9 p.m. Wednesday at Nashbird, 1 NW Ninth St. Competing is free.

Call 405-600-9718 or visit nashbirdchicken.com.

WEDNESDAY Photo bigstockphoto.com

Museum Oklahoma, 2020 Remington Place, 405602-6664, sciencemuseumok.org. FRI-SUN

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

Dancing Around the Edges an exhibition of KB Kueteman’s abstract acrylic paintings, through June 30.

Contemporary Art Gallery, 2928 Paseo St., 405-601-7474, contemporaryartgalleryokc.com.

Wonderful Watercolors workshop learn about painting from artist Connie Seabourn, 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m. June 19-20.

The Depot, 200 S. Jones Ave., Norman, 405-307-9320, pasnorman.org. WED-THU

WED-SUN

From the Golden Age to the Moving Image: The Changing Face of the Permanent Collection view portraits painted by Kehinde Wiley, Anthony van Dyck, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and George Bellows, through Sept. 22. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, 405-236-3100, okcmoa.com. FRI-SUN Karl Brenner/Jeff Dodd/Brenda Kingery an exhibition featuring works by three painters, through June 30. JRB Art at The Elms, 2810 N. Walker Ave., 405-528-6336, jrbartgallery.com.

FRI-SUN

Life Imagined: The Art and Science of Automata see examples of mechanical proto-robots from 1850 to the modern day, through Sept. 29.

Science Museum Oklahoma, 2020 Remington Place, 405-602-6664, sciencemuseumok.org. SUN Prix de West Invitational Art Exhibition & Sale an annual exhibition and art sale featuring more than 300 Western paintings and sculptures by contemporary Western artists of landscapes, wildlife and illustrative scenes, through July 8. National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 NE 63rd St., 405-478-2250, nationalcowboymuseum.org.

FRI-MON

Seeing Now an exhibit of multimedia art works

by Hank Willis Thomas, Ken Gonzales-Day, Travis Somerville, Paul Rucker, Graciela Sacco, Terence Hammonds, and Michael Waugh, through Dec. 31.

21c Museum Hotel, 900 W. Main St., 405-982-6900, 21cmuseumhotels.com. THU-MON Sweat Soldering learn to solder and use a jewelers saw, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. June 15. The Craft Room, 3017 N. Lee Ave., Suite F, 817-455-2972, craftroom. us. SAT Welcome Home: Oklahomans and the War in Vietnam explores the impact of the war on Oklahoma families as well as the stories of Vietnamese families relocated to Oklahoma, through Nov. 6.

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

J U N I O R C U R AT O R C A M P

Saturday, July 15-19 ­

This program is for students ages eight to twelve. Registration is $130 for OHS members and $150 for the general public. Registration opens June 3 and closes July 10.

For more information please email education@okhistory.org or call 405-522-0765.

For more information call 405.522.0765 or visit okhistory.org 800 Nazih Zuhdi DR, OKC

The Oklahoma History Center is a division of the Oklahoma Historical Society and is an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, National Archives and is an accredited member of the American Alliance of Museums.

see page 46 O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9

41

42

J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9 | O KG A Z E T T E . C O M

MUSIC

EVENT

Singer/songwriter Josh Ritter plays Sunday at Tower Theatre. | Photo David McClister / provided

Breaks tradition Josh Ritter hopes to expand the boundaries of Americana music. By Jeremy Martin

Maybe Josh Ritter’s latest album, Fever Breaks, is different from the nine that came before it, but the singer-songwriter cannot say how, exactly.

“It’s hard for me to compare records,” Ritter said. “It’s kind of like how you look in the mirror from day to day; you don’t see the changes in your face. It’s almost too close. For me, my job is to always be looking for the next thing that excites me, and that may mark some kind of artistic progression, but I can never tell, myself. It’s hard to see yourself from the outside.”

Ritter, who said he will be making his first Oklahoma stop in “about 17 years,” plays Sunday at Tower Theatre, 425 NW 23rd St. Fever Breaks was released in April, and one obvious difference from previous releases is the presence of producer Jason Isbell, whose 400 Unit serves as Ritter’s backing

band on the album, creating what Rolling Stone’s Brittney McKenna called “classic Ritter on Muscle Shoals-bred steroids.”

Even if he has trouble comparing the new album to past releases, Ritter said his intention in working with Isbell and The 400 Unit fiddle player Amanda Shires on the album was to add a different element to his music.

“I just knew that I needed to make a change for myself, change the situation that I worked in,” Ritter said. “I didn’t know if that was going to create a new sound or not, but as it turned out, it really did. They brought their amazing musicianship to the thing. Amanda helped translate some of these ideas and Jason had such a sure grasp of what he heard the song sounding like, and working with them was a real beautiful thing.”

Ritter is confident, however, that the result is unlike Isbell’s own albums with The 400 Unit.

“There’s times when I might be afraid that the message would become mixed or whatever, but with Jason, he was always very clear that what we were working on was a chance for us both to extend our artistic visions in different directions,” Ritter said. “That was really cool, that we were both getting a chance to do something new.”

In recent years, Ritter had the chance to approach music from different perFever Breaks, Ritter’s 10th album, was released in April. | Image provided

spectives, writing songs for folk singer Joan Baez and Dead & Company frontman Bob Weir.

“When Joan asked me to work on some songs for her, she said, ‘Turn on the tap,’ and she really got it,” Ritter said. “One of the great, exciting things about writing is that you’re really going fishing, and you have no idea what you’re going to catch. So you start off writing something, and it ends up as something else, and you have five or six different ideas that are just there. You have all these exotic new ideas and new things to work on. So when you start writing for somebody, inevitably, you start writing also for yourself or for all sorts of situations, and it’s really fun that way. So working with both Bob and Joan was kind of mentally fruitful for myself. … It really did change how I thought about, initially, working with somebody else on this record, in the sense that finding more fulfillment in collaboration was relatively new to me.”

Discussing his previous album, 2017’s Gathering, Ritter told Independent music reporter Roisin O’Connor that protest songs are “just not [his] medium,” but on Fever Breaks’ haunting dystopian centerpiece “The Torch Committee” and “All Some Kind of Dream,” which describes “children in the holding pens” and “justice with a tattered hem” in “darker days than any others that we’ve seen,” he seems to have changed his tune somewhat.

I didn’t know if that was going to create a new sound or not, but as it turned out, it really did.

Josh Ritter “It’s just very difficult to write protest songs, for me, that feel like they pass the bar,” Ritter told Oklahoma Gazette, “because I feel like so often songs can come off sounding preachy or dated so quickly because they deal with current events, and those things don’t interest me. The last thing I want to do is tell anybody what to think. …

There’s just stuff in the world that is so flagrant that to not write about it when it’s right there, this ugly thing, it’s sort of like, What are you spending your time writing about? The time to talk about this stuff is now, and if that’s what protest is, I guess that’s what it is. I have, I feel like, a responsibility to address this stuff.”

Here, too, Ritter said, Baez has served as an inspiration.

“She’s the leading light of carrying forward a social message,” Ritter said.

“That’s not just in her music but in her life. I think we all in music have so much to learn from someone who’s done that.

She’s been a remarkable influence, and

not just an influence, but an example to try and live up to. She’s just a remarkable person to be around, her essence of dignity, and she treats people just with such empathy and respect on a daily basis. I was lucky enough to get to travel all over the place with her when I was first getting started. … To see somebody acting with such natural nobility was really something.”

Novel ideas

Ritter’s songwriting also takes inspiration from other art forms. His magicalrealist World War I novel Bright’s Passage was published in 2011, and one of his impressionist landscape paintings served as the cover for Gathering.

Nurturing one creative pursuit with another is something he learned from his childhood in Moscow, Idaho.

“I think it’s all related,” Ritter said.

“Where I grew up is mostly wheat fields, and the crop rotation and letting stuff lie fallow, there seems to be such an important lesson there. … We’re all creative. We all have to find some outlet, and it’s important to have that, but it’s also important to let the land lie fallow until you get new ideas. Sometimes novel writing or painting has offered me a real good reason to let the songs sit for a while. … I think anything you take up with love will bear fruit in some way in your main passion in life.”

Similarly, Ritter said, the Americana genre could benefit from expanding its boundaries beyond folk and country music to include the other forms of music sprouted from American soil such as jazz, blues and hip-hop.

“We have to define the term of Americana and make it as hugely wide as we possibly can, and I’m a big believer in that,” Ritter said. “It’s important that we look at music as a real, profound indicator of where we are in culture and where our battles are at and where our hearts lie. I think I’ve always felt that. The important thing that we have to remember is that all forms of American music are equally the product of American culture, and it’s important to approach them all with great respect. … Everything that makes it into our ears got there somehow, and it’s amazing to think that it all came out of this rich mulch.”

Tickets are $25-$34. Shires opens.

Visit towertheatreokc.com.

Josh Ritter 8 p.m. Sunday Tower Theatre 425 NW 23rd St. towertheatreokc.com | 405-708-6937 $27 O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9

43

MUSIC

NOMINATE US FOR

BEST OF OKC

BEST NON-PROFIT BEST PLACE TO VOLUNTEER BEST CHARITY EVENT

EVENT

VISIT VOTE.OKGAZETTE.COM

Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853–1890). Daisies, Arles (detail), 1888. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond.

Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon. Photo: Travis Fullerton. © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

44

J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9 | O KG A Z E T T E . C O M

Dream evil

Legendary metal vocalist Ronnie James Dio died in 2010, but his semi-holographic image is a current road warrior. By Jeremy Martin

Legendary metal vocalist Ronnie James “Dio” Padavona died May 16, 2010, but thanks to a combination of 19th- and 21st-century technology, he returns to Oklahoma City on a US tour — sort of.

The Dio Returns tour, featuring a pseudo-holographic Dio, stops in OKC June 20 at The Criterion, 500 E. Sheridan Ave. Joining the digital projection of the rock god onstage are former Dio bandmates Craig Goldy (guitar), Simon Wright (drums) and Scott Warren (keyboards) as well as bassist Bjorn Englen and vocalists Tim “Ripper” Owens and Oni Logan, who began touring with the band, rechristened Dio Disciples, in the years following the original frontman’s passing.

Wright, who began drumming for Dio in 1990 after leaving AC/DC and lived in the singer’s house for several years, said seeing the computerized representation of his old friend and bandmate originally felt odd.

“It was a little weird at first,” Wright said. “I mean, it was a little strange and stuff. I think I, initially, was a little bit, kind of, ‘Wow!’ you know? But I got used to it. It didn’t freak me out because

I thought it was a great idea.”

In an interview with Revolver, Chad Finnerty, director of creative development at Eyellusion hologram production, explained the Dio “hologram,” like the holographic Tupac Shakur and Michael Jackson that preceded it, is “not technically a hologram” though it is “probably the closest thing” modern technology can achieve without equipping everyone in the audience with virtual reality goggles. MerriamWebster defines a “hologram” as “a three-dimensional image reproduced from a pattern of interference produced by a split coherent beam of radiation (such as a laser),” but the digitized Dio, Finnerty said, is actually a two-dimensional projection of a three-dimensional model utilizing “a reflective screen that bounces an image onto a seethrough screen.” Known as Pepper’s ghost, the illusion was first described in the 16th century but popularized in Victorian London theaters in the 1860s and famously used in Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion attraction.

Wright said he was intrigued when Wendy Dio, the singer’s widow and business manager, first introduced the

The late metal vocalist Ronnie James Dio performing in the 1980s | Photo PG Brunelli / provided

idea of a holographic Ronnie James Dio, and he was impressed with Eyellusion CEO Jeff Pezzuti’s respect for his deceased bandmate.

“We sat with him and we talked with him,” Wright said. “The first thing that kind of grabbed me about Jeff was his enthusiasm. He loved Ronnie. He was a kid when he saw Ronnie, and he’s been a huge fan ever since. He’s a really cool guy. He travels with us and stuff. He’s almost like a member of the band in a funny kind of way.”

The hologram debuted at the German heavy metal festival Wacken Open Air in 2016 and toured Europe in 2017 before it was revamped for the current US tour. In an interview with Patch.com, Wendy Dio said the new design is “a million times better” than the original.

“I wanted Ronnie to look more like Ronnie,” Wendy Dio said. “I was very picky about the eyebrows actually.

Maybe someone else wouldn’t have noticed it, but I noticed it. I wanted to make sure that everything was perfect.”

The U.S. tour began May 31 in Fort Myers, Florida, but a planned June 2 stop in St. Petersburg, Florida, was canceled. Though Wright said the band still has “a couple of little things to iron out,” the show was canceled not due to snags with the computer technology but because of a dimensional problem in the real world.

It’s just great to be up there, playing and hearing Ronnie’s voice again.

Simon Wright “As far as I was told, the venue got the dimensions wrong for the actual equipment that needed to go in there, so, at the end of the day, it wasn’t safe for that to be in the building,” Wright said. “There’s codes and restrictions and fire regulations. That’s what I heard. I didn’t deal with it, obviously, but at some point, hopefully, we’ll be able to go back there and maybe play a bigger building.”

In the new show, the band fronted by the Dio hologram plays some of the singer’s best-known songs from his time as lead vocalist in Rainbow (“Man on the Silver Mountain”), Black Sabbath (“The Mob Rules,” “Heaven and Hell”) and his own eponymous band (“Rainbow in the Dark,” “Holy Diver,” “The Last in Line”). According to Setlist.fm, the set is briefer but similar to the one the singer himself performed at OKC’s now-closed In Cahoots in February of 2001. From Wright’s perspective, the biggest change in playing with a hologram as

the lead singer is using a click track to ensure he stays completely synced with the pre-recorded vocals.

“The difference is that when we play with the hologram, I have to play with a click because the vocal is taken from different performances from the past,” Wright said. “The only time I ever played with a click is when we’ve done some albums using Pro Tools … but I’m getting used to it. It’s not a problem.

It’s just great to be up there, playing and hearing Ronnie’s voice again. It’s marvelous, just absolutely marvelous.”

Reviewing the May 31 show, Fort Myers News-Press’ Charles Runnells wrote, “Dio did look kind of cool in his black leather pants and white cross shirt as he struck dramatic poses, threw his famous ‘devil horns’ hand gesture, bounced to the beat (sort of) and thrust out his microphone for audience sing-alongs. But here’s the thing: Hologram Dio never really felt real. His mouth didn’t quite sync with Dio’s recorded, awe-inspiring vocals. … His movements looked too herky-jerky, manic and nonstop to feel lifelike. And the whole thing lacked that hard-tonail-down but immediately recognizable spark of life.”

In his influential 1970 essay “The Uncanny Valley,” Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori described the “eerie sensation” one feels upon discovering that something mimicking human appearance and behavior is not, in fact, human.

“Imagine a craftsman being awakened suddenly in the dead of night,” Mori wrote. “He searches downstairs for something among a crowd of mannequins in his workshop. If the mannequins started to move, it would be like a horror story.”

Wendy Dio told Patch.com that critics are “entitled to their opinion” but asked that “people come and see the show first before criticizing.”

Wright agreed, noting that videos shot by concertgoers posted online do not capture the full effect.

“It’s the same deal when you see video of a show or any concert; it doesn’t do it justice,” Wright said.

“You’re not there. You can’t smell it and feel it. It’s just a whole different thing. … The power of it is really not captured on a tiny iPhone screen; that’s for sure.”

Regardless of the tour’s popularity, Wright said he does not think he will ever be made into a hologram himself.

“I highly doubt it,” Wright said, “but I’d be extremely flattered if that happens.”

Tickets are $32.50-$35. Visit criterionokc.com.

Dio Returns 8 p.m. June 20 The Criterion 500 E. Sheridan Ave. criterionokc.com | 405-840-5500 $32.50-$35

NOMINATE TODAY!

NOMINATION BALLOTS PUBLISH JUNE 5 & JUNE 12 RUNOFF BALLOTS PUBLISH JULY 17 & JULY 24 RESULTS PUBLISH AUGUST 21 OFFER UP THANKS PUBLISH AUGUST 28 B E S T O F O K L A H O M AC I T Y. C O M

CALL TODAY 405.528.6000 OR EMAIL US AT ADVERTISING@OKGAZETTE.COM O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9

45

LIVE MUSIC SUNDAY, JUN. 16

These are events recommended

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

As Cities Burn/All Get Out, 89th Street-OKC. HARDCORE

Levi Parham, Lions Park. FOLK/ROCK

MONDAY, JUN. 17

WEDNESDAY, JUN. 12

Jason Hunt, Sean Cumming’s Irish Restaurant. FOLK

Hawthorne Heights/Emery, 89th Street-OKC. ROCK

Poppies/Sojii, Opolis. POP

Kyle Dillingham/Jabee, Myriad Botanical Gardens.

COUNTRY/HIP-HOP

TUESDAY, JUN. 18

Sprout the Anti-Hero/Dusty Grant, The Deli.

Kyle Dillingham & Peter Markes, Healthy Living OKC.

SINGER/SONGWRITER

FOLK/COUNTRY

THURSDAY, JUN. 13 Citizen Cope, Cain’s Ballroom. SINGER/SONGWRITER

Thundercat, Tower Theatre. JAZZ

FRIDAY, JUN. 14 Jordan Whitmore, Sauced on Paseo. SINGER/

SONGWRITER

Poolboy/Net/Lust, Opolis. ROCK Tim Buchanan/Blaze McKenzie, 51st Street Speakeasy. SINGER/SONGWRITER While God Sleeps/Maul/Hushed, The Dojo. METAL/

HARDCORE

SATURDAY, JUN. 15

Son Volt, The Jones Assembly. COUNTRY/ROCK

Americana Fest Unless you are the kind of weirdo who would have plopped their diaperless toddler in a Woodstock mud hole, few music festivals are anything close to family-friendly, but American Banjo Museum’s fourth annual Americana Fest promises not only good tunes — banjo pickers Bill Bond and Wayne Cantwell, Oklahoma acts Byron Berline Band and Steelwind, Houston’s All Stars Youth Banjo Band — but actual kid-friendly art and craft activities, a children’s stage hosted by Rise and Shine’s Lucas Ross and, of course, the museum’s Jim Henson: Life and Legacy exhibit featuring none other than Kermit the MF-ing Frog! That’s good, clean family fun for just about everyone, but hippies take note: This is probably the kind of shindig where pants are strongly suggested. The festivities are 11 a.m.-5 p.m. June 22 at American Banjo Museum, 9 E. Sheridan Ave. Tickets are $10. Call 405-6042793 or visit americanbanjomuseum.com. JUNE 22 Photo provided

Audra Mae, The Blue Door. SINGER/

SONGWRITER

Silent Planet/Understanding Eris, 89th Street-OKC. METAL/HARDCORE

Billy Joe Winghead/Captain Eyeball, Opolis. ROCK Davy Knowles/Dirty Red/Cadillac Blues Assembly, Belle Isle Restaurant & Brewing Company. BLUES

Sweet Knives/Psychotic Reaction, Blue Note Lounge.

ROCK

Vore/Broken Flesh/Left to Die, Diamond Ballroom. METAL

WEDNESDAY, JUN. 19 Adam Aguilar & the Weekend All Stars, Sidecar Barley & Wine Bar. COVER Mark Gibson/Chanda Graham, Saints. SINGER/SONG-

WRITER

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

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

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

Sorry, but phone submissions cannot be accepted.

GO TO OKGAZETTE.COM FOR FULL LISTINGS!

BEST BUDTENDER BEST DISPENSARY BEST STRAIN (SMOKIE OKIE)

CANNAVERSARY

JUNE 26 | 7PM-CLOSE DISCO COWBOY THEME BRANDS & BOOZE | LIVE DJ PATIENT CELEBRATION

TICKETS AVAILABLE AT

15% off edibles

TWI STED TUESDAY

20% off pre-rolls (made from flower, not shake)

WEAR I T WEDNESDAY

15% off apparel and 15% off your purchase

J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9 | O KG A Z E T T E . C O M

MOST KNOWLEDGEABLE STAFF!

(when you wear Okie Kush gear)

THANK YO U THUR SDAY

20% off for military, first responders, healthcare & teachers (with ID)

FOG GY FR I DAY

Buy 2 or more carts for $50 each (or 15% off one)

SHAT TER DAY

15% off all wax, budder & shatter

OUT THE DOOR PRICE $6 PREROLLS TAX INCLUDED FLOWER PRICING N Western Ave #E | Memorial & Western | 405.252.4193 NOW OPEN 13801 825 SW 19th St, #11 | Moore | 405.237.3471 10th | Midtown | OKC Blvd. | Campus Corner | Norman COMING SOON 431541 NWS University

OKCANNAVERSARY.COM WWW.OKIEKUSHCLUB.COM 46

#ORGANICSOKC #YOURHOMEGROW

MUNCHI E MONDAY

DA I LY SP E C IA L S

OKLAHOMA’S FIRST

405-528-GROW

Organics OKC GARDEN SUPPLY T-F 10am-6pm S 10am -5pm 2800 N Pennsylvania Ave, Oklahoma City, OK 73107

EST.

2010

TOUCH DOWN JUNE 2019

CANNABIS DISPENSARY PROVIDING STELLAR

Flower Vapes Edibles Tinctures Wax Moonrocks Glassware And More P E T F R I E N D LY PAT I O | P E O P L E F R I E N D LY STA F F

SHOP OUR OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD ACCESSORIES NOW!

VISIT STELLARHERB.COM

I-35 BETWEEN HEFNER & 122ND | NEXT DOOR TO FRONTIER CITY O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9

47

CANNABIS

THE HIGH CULTURE

Grumpy’s getaway

Uncle Grumpy’s Green Retreat combines guest speakers, bands and an urban retreat in a two-day event later this month. By Matt Dinger

Chris Moe hosts his Uncle Grumpy’s Green Retreat later this month at Lost Lakes Entertainment Complex. While it is expected to be crammed with speakers, bands and other entertainment, he said it is definitely not just a big party.

The idea began before the vote on State Question 788 with an event Moe — also known as “Uncle Grumpy” — called Cannabis in the Park.

“Somebody called me and said that he wanted to bring the awareness of 788 to Muskogee and everybody was afraid to say the word ‘cannabis’ in Muskogee,” Moe said. “But he rented this park and wanted me to get involved, and I said, ‘I’ll get involved, but we have to do this my way.’ So in three weeks’ time, I managed to bring out about 600 people and 15 businesses. … We had a blast.

Nothing went wrong. I mean nothing.

“That’s kind of where my wanting to celebrate this started was a year ago, thinking that if we pass this, then we need to do this on a regular basis. We need to unite. Yes, this is a medical program. And I’ll tell you, I’ve caught some grief for some of the videos that have been out promoting the event from some people who think that I’m promoting recreational. Here’s the thing: Anybody who’s watched me for long enough knows I’m very appropriate and very deliberate in what I do. I did not party after the passage of 788 with a cannabis party; I did not go to any of these events where cannabis parties were going on. I went to one Christmas party.

I have waited for reasons — real reasons — that we can stand with people who don’t use cannabis and celebrate how we’ve moved forward as a state, not so that we can have a big party and smoke.”

For Moe, one of the keys to a successLost Lakes Entertainment Complex will host Uncle Grumpy’s Green Retreat. | Photo provided

48

THC

J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9 | O KG A Z E T T E . C O M

ful event was getting buy-in from a diverse set of companies.

“I have tried really hard to get some other industries involved,” he said.

“What I want is recycling companies and environmentally safe companies out there so we can unite hemp, cannabis, pot — whatever you want to call it, this plant is the key to so many things on this planet. It truly is. And I think that we have set a new tone in Oklahoma.”

Uncle Grumpy’s Green Retreat is June 28-29 at Lost Lakes, 3501 NE 10th St. Tickets for the event are two for the price of one for each day at $20.

Primitive camping sites with one vehicle per site are available for $20 per day, and there are 100 VIP tickets available for $150. VIP tickets include a special T-shirt for the event as well as a gift bag, free parking, food and additional access to bands and speakers.

For the one-year anniversary of the passage of SQ788, Moe has assembled a series of guest speakers, including state Reps. Jon Echols, R-Oklahoma City; Scott Fetgatter, R-Okmulgee; and Jacob Rosecrants, D-Norman; activists like Norma Sapp and law enforcement agency representatives like Mark Woodward of Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control (OBNDD).

“I’ve talked to Mark and some of the lawmakers,” Moe said. “We’re going to be doing dunk tanks. And so I’m actually going to get the lawmakers and the OBNDD in dunk tanks to raise money for charity. I told him about the idea.

[Woodward] laughed and said he would try and get as many people from the OBNDD as possible. Nobody else can deliver that but Uncle Grumpy, I’m telling you.”

In addition to speakers, many of whom apparently will also end up in the dunk

tank that day, 29 musical acts have also agreed to play the event as of June 6.

“Luckily for me, they’re almost all professional cover bands, so I’m actually going to enjoy the music,” Moe said. “I’ve been to a couple of these openings where they’ve had music and stuff, and it’s just obnoxious. I’m old. I like old ’80s music.”

At least one of those bands features a lawmaker reprising his role from a past life.

“Scott Fetgatter used to play in a band back in the ’80s, and they apparently did a pretty mean AC/DC,” Moe said. “They will actually be performing. His band still performs to this day, but without him, and we booked them during the time slot when he will also be there. He’s going to get up and do a few songs too before he does possibly the dunk tank. I don’t know if Scott wants to get in a bathing suit, but possibly.”

There will also be camping, swimming, wakeboarding, nature walks and beach yoga at the event as well as food trucks and cannabis businesses on hand and a patient drive hosted by Chronic Docs.

“So far, I think we’ve got about 40 or 50 different businesses that have signed up,” Moe said.

Co-organizer Max Baker visited Lost Lakes on June 6. The event will continue even if they have to find an alternate location or reschedule.

“I’ve been out looking at the lake, which now has become a river. I’m going to have to make a decision on what’s not only best for the community, but what’s best for the public,” Baker said. “This is a celebration. It’s not a convention. It’s a celebration for everybody in a state of Oklahoma to have medical freedom that they voted for. … The important people

Max Baker is the co-organizer of Uncle Grumpy’s Green Retreat. | Photo Alexa Ace

that are speaking, they have a mission.

I didn’t go after big bands. I went out for all local community bands people know, to keep entertainment flowing. If people can free their mind and go back to their teenage years for a day or two and really relive what they what this is all about and how it’s helped truly helping them, then we’ve done something good.

“When I was younger, I got in a lot of trouble with it. And then I fell and hurt myself, and being a recovering drug addict, I wouldn’t take the pills. So I like to say the same medicine that wrecked my life has also saved my life because going back to that medicine and using it, I’ve been able to get out of a wheelchair and walk and lose 205 pounds.”

That sums up Moe’s mission.

“For the last year. I’ve truly done this for one reason and one reason only: Because I’ve watched sick people get better,” Moe said. “And right now is the one-year anniversary of when 507,852 of us got together and decided, ‘Maybe the reefer madness was wrong. Maybe the world needs to look at a new way.’

And we’re doing that and we’re going to celebrate that.’”

Visit lostlakesamp.com.

Uncle Grumpy’s Green Retreat June 28-29 Lost Lakes Entertainment Complex 3501 NE 10th St. lostlakesamp.com | 405-702-4040 $10-$200

NOW OPEN! D A I LY D E A L S AVA I L A B L E I N S TO R E O N LY. NE W LOW E R P R I C ES F I R S T TI ME DI S C O U N T S S E N I OR D I S C O U N T VET DISCOUNT WHEN QUALITY AND CUSTOMER SERVICE MATTERS!

IT’S ABOUT THAT TIME AGAIN...

151 E . 33 R D S T. S U I T E 102 , E D M O N D , O K

4 0 5 . 6 9 7. 3 9 3 9

VOTE US

Best Dispensary Best Concentrates Best Budtender (DRE)

$150 daily oz specials Home of the $8 gram Senior Sundays

10 DIFFERENT KINDS OF .

10% OFF for Seniors

Moon Rock Mondays $30 grams

Twisted Tuesday

Buy 2 Prerolls Get 1 Free

Wear It Wednesday

Wear in your Canna South or Gorilla Gas gear and get 10% off your purchase YOU voted for it...and we’re here for YOU! Flower | Edibles | Plants | Vapes | Tincture | & more!

Consistent Affordable Quality Products

Medical Marijuana Dispensary Family Owned & Operated

405.429.7570 | 1221 SW 59th ST, OKC MON-SAT 10AM-9PM SUN 12PM-6PM

CANNASOUTH.NET @canna_south

STAY TUNED

.

BEST DISPENSARY BEST CANNABIS STRAIN BEST BUDTENDER MON-SAT 10-7 | SUN 11-7 1015 NW 1ST | 405-992-0558 O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9

49

PLACE TO BUY CBD PRODUCTS

52

J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9 | O KG A Z E T T E . C O M

THE HIGH CULTURE

THC

MON T H SPECI A L bring this ad in for 15% off in June!

QUALITY MEDICINAL CANNABIS PRODUCTS SURROUNDED BY BEAUTIFUL ART AND A PET FRIENDLY PATIO

CHECK OUT OUT OUR SPECIALS ON LEAFLY AND WEEDMAPS A NURSE CONSULTANT COMPANY AND DISPENSARY DEVOTED TO PROVIDING QUALITY CANNABIS PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

CANNABIS

3017 N. LEE

Summer strains

Oklahoma is an ideal climate for growing cannabis, but whether June is too early or late to put your plants outdoors is a matter of opinion. By Matt Dinger

Whether mid-June is too early, too late or just the right time to start your outdoor grow for Oklahoma’s climate is a matter of opinion, but three local growers agree that the state is an ideal place to cultivate cannabis.

However, now is definitely too late to be popping seeds and testing genetics. If you have not already been preparing your plants indoors, clones are going to be the way to go.

“Right now, we’d be starting clones,” said Justin Jicha with Organics OKC. “Late season clones. So we’ll be pushing into October before harvest. So if we get early freezes, that could be a problem. Spend the extra $25 to $55 on your strain that someone’s already grown up for you, harden it off and plant it in your garden.”

But even though he thinks it is late for outdoor planting, it is not impossible.

“Last year, I got my license towards the middle of September,” Jicha said.

“I popped autoflower seeds. I got a harvest before the end of October.

Autoflowers, they’re so quick. It wasn’t great product, but it was homegrown quickly done outdoors and it was mostly just to prove I could do it when everybody else was saying, ‘No, you can’t.’ Autof lowers, you can.

Photoperiods, you’d be running into trouble because they’re not going to flower as quickly as an autoflower.

Autoflowers’ lifespan, when it’s mixed correctly, is going to be 45 to 65 days typically for an indica-bred one; sativa

Organics OKC offers a variety of products for both indoor and outdoor cannabis grows. | Photo Alexa Ace

will be closer than 90. So if you’re trying to do late, definitely go with the indica autoflowers.”

Jicha said Oklahoma’s climate is ideal for growing cannabis, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture’s plant hardiness zoning map.

“One of the great things about Oklahoma is we’re a zone 7b, which, if you look at the world, all the greatest cannabis grow sections of the world are zone 7b,” he said. “Mendocino County, over in the Middle East, all over through India, Vietnam — all these great areas where we get our wonderful strains that we’re always like, ‘Yeah, these are amazing.’ All zone 7b.

The entire state is prime, not just a little section of it like in California.”

That being said, there are a lot of other concerns for outdoor growing in the state, namely the intense summer heat, the number of pests and the risk of pollinating plants due to the amount of wild hemp still growing in the state.

“For the hobbyist that’s trying grow it for their medicine, I do recommend indoors. If you’re going outdoors, I usually end up with a lot of seeds because there’s a lot of hemp farms here.

Pollen will travel for miles. There’s current lawsuits from New York suing

LOOKING FOR A CONCENTRATED DEMOGRAPHIC FOR YOUR MEDICAL CANNABIS PRODUCTS?

THC Advertise next to Gazette’s medical cannabis section

THE HIGH CULTURE

to gain market share and top-of-the-mind awareness.

Gazette’s weekly section, The High Culture, explores Oklahoma’s new medical cannabis industry, including the social, medical and economical impact as it unfolds across the metro.

Speak to YOUR demographic 405.528.6000 advertising@okgazette.com Weed-Friendly since 1979

continued on page 54

O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9

53

THE HIGH CULTURE SINCE 2018

Let us be the first stop on your journey to wellness.

Medical Marijuana Recommendations in a family friendly atmosphere.

LARGE SELECTION OF:

Lab-tested edibles Lab-tested drinks Top-shelf flower

Bloom Healthcare, Inc 9212 N Kelley Ave, Ste 100 Oklahoma City, OK (405) 849-4794 | bloomdoctors.com

Call or visit! | 405-208-8229 6444 S. Western Ave. Suite 202 OKC

CANNABIS

continued from page 53

VOTE FOR US!!

BEST DISPENSARY BEST BUDTENDER BEST DISPENSARY FOR CONCENTRATES ENJOY THESE SPECIALS WHEN YOU BRING IN THIS AD & SHOW YOU’VE VOTED FOR US MUNCHY MONDAYS TOASTY TUESDAYS PRE-ROLL WEDNESDAYS THICK THURSDAYS

BUY 2 GET 1 50% OFF EDIBLES 10% OFF FLOWER GET A PENNY PREROLL FOR EVERY $50 SPENT (UP TO 5) 10% OFF CONCENTRATES THEPEAKOK.COM @THEPEAKOK

SKIP THE LINE, ORDER ONLINE! THEPEAKOK.COM/CURRENT-MENUS

PATIENT INQUIRIES HELLO@THEPEAKOK.COM PATIENT NUMBER 405.412.2448 PARTNERS INQUIRIES HIGH@THEPEAKOK.COM 54

J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9 | O KG A Z E T T E . C O M

California on polluting their air with pollen. I was shocked to hear that myself,” Jicha said. “People think that, ‘Well, a little pollen’s not going to hurt.’ One grain of pollen has enough spores on it to pollinate every cannabis plant on Earth 80 times over.”

Time passages

John Degerness of Lucky’s Grow Supply thinks that it is still way too early to be planting outdoors.

“Right now, we get about 14 and a half hours of daylight and people that are going outdoors are seeing that their plants are starting to flower. Well, that’s not the normal timeline for cannabis.

Cannabis, it finishes in the early to mid fall, especially here. So, yeah, their plants are going to start flowering right now, and then once summer days get longer, it’s going to go back into veg and then once they start getting shorter, as fall kicks into full swing, we’re flowering. I’m telling people not to go outdoors until about mid-July,” he said. “When you’re growing cannabis, you need more than 14 hours of daylight to stay in a vegetative state. Anything under 15, 14 hours is going to trigger flower. That’s why you try to keep your lights on for vegetative growth at least 18 hours. And you can leave them on for 24 hours; you don’t have to actually have a dark period.

Your veg growth will be slower. And then once you want to start flowering, you take it to 12 on 12 off, well below that 14 hours. That is what tells the plant that, ‘Okay, we’re now getting into fall.

There’s shorter days; you better start reproducing now.’ It starts producing flower, and that flower’s looking to get pregnant. Pollen would normally be in the air in an outdoor environment, so that how the plant gets pollinated. And then the female plant would grow seeds, it would die off, dumping those seeds all over the dirt and the process would continue next season.”

That gives people time to prepare their growing medium. Degerness recommends using tan Smart Pots for outdoor growing and picking hardy strains.

Justin Jicha at Organics OKC offers growers advice and products to help with Oklahoma’s outdoor growing season and their indoor operations. | Photo Alexa Ace

“Our climate, it lends well to South American sativas because they did a similar climate style. Some Ecuadorian sativas out of landrace would do crazy well,” Degerness said.

And Chris Brady of Redbud Soil Company thinks now is the best time to go.

“June 1st is like your safe date, but with the weather that you guys have been having, I know some people that are holding off a week or two and doing more prep work just to be safe because your pots will just turn into fucking ponds and the plants will just rot,” he said.

“You’ll get root rot and they’ll just die.”

Brady recommends using organic soil like the kind Redbud Soil Company sells and planting now to have your harvest completed by late summer or early fall.

“The thing to consider is we all know that when the State Fair comes, it rains, and that’s about when the first part of harvest season begins,” he said. “So all the other variables you got to deal with throughout summer, all the insects, the heat, the wind, the humidity, you get through all of that, then you’re going to get rain for like two or three weeks, and you can get bud rot and that whole crop’s just fucked. For higher success rate, I would try to find some clones that are really indica-dominant that flower very fast, and that you can maybe pull towards the end of September.

“Me personally, I’m a sativa guy,” Brady said. “I would have a sativa that’s going out there until goddamn Christmas. It’s new to most everybody there. They should go with like some sort of indica-dominant, something that just flowers pretty fast. The longer it’s out there, the longer it’s alive, the more shit’s going to get fucked up, so you want to lessen the likelihood of it and just get a crop under your belt and learn from it, and then next year, if you feel like you want to try some sativas, try some sativas.”

OPEN 365 DAYS

Vacate and Medicate All In One!

20 + strains

Everything to suit your cannabis needs

$ 1 0, $ 1 5 , $ 2 0

grams ta x i n c l u d e d

military, vets, and new customers

10% off everyday

(no double discounts)

Happy Hour

first and last hour of the day mon-sat 10am-11am & 9pm-10pm sun 12pm-1pm 6pm-7pm

1 5 % o f f e v e ry t h i n g

HOURS mon - sat 10am - 10pm & sun 12pm - 7pm

“OMG Becky, look at her BUD, it is sooo BIG”

% BOGO ANY TWO ITEMS 50 OFF

8805 S. Western • Oklahoma City, 73139

405-900-5668 “fair prices for top shelf, quality flower”

$10 CLONES Expires 7/15/19

ALL VETERANS GET A DISCOUNT EXPIRES 7/15/19 COMING SOON TO 106 N. ROCK WELL STE. B

4723 SE 29TH, DEL CITY, OK 73115 405-900-6588 • CANNABISISLANDOK.COM

Munchie Monday

twofer tuesday

10% BUY TWO OFF ALL DIFFERENT EDIBLES! THC PRODUCTS, 10% OFF!

Wednesday Humpday

PRE ROLLS 10% OFF!

thc thursday

Flower friday

shatterday saturday shatter & Crumble

CARTS & PREMIUM & MOON SYRINGES TOP SHELF ROCKS ARE FLOWER & HASH 10% OFF! 10% 0FF! 10%OFF!

SENIOR SUNDAY 10% 0FF FOR SENIORS 65+

We can help you with your Medical Marijuana recommendations

check us out on leafly!

UR VOTE O Y S U W O H S AND GET:

15% O

ENTIR EP

URCH

FF

ASE

MOONROCK MONDAY

THERAPEUTIC THURSDAY

TASTY TUESDAY

FLOWER FRIDAY

20% off Moonrock.

20% off Edibles.

WAXXY WEDNESDAY

20% off Concentrates.

15% off CBD, topicals, & GroKC Flower.

RY A S N E P BEST DIS LES F F B A I T D S E E T L AB BES E G D E L W O N K T S MO M-F 10AM-9PM CLOSED SUN

25% off Flower.

SHATTER DAY SATURDAY 25% off Shatter.

14201 N MAY AVE SUITE #205

405.242.5325

RINGSIDEMEDICAL.COM O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9

55

When it comes to testing, we’re far from green.

Trust your cannabinoid testing to a NELAC Certified Environmental Lab — a team of degreed analysts with almost 100 years of combined experience.

THC

TOKE BOARD

CONSUMERS natural person or entity in whose name a marijuana license would be issued

Applications Received: 130,288 Applications Approved: 129,085

DISPENSARIES allows the entity to purchase medical marijuana from a processer licensee or grower licensee and sell medical marijuana only to qualified patients, or their parents or legal guardian(s) if applicable, and caregivers

Applications Approved: 1,479

405 488 2400 | CannabestLabs.com

GROWERS allows the entity to grow, harvest, and package medical marijuana for the purpose of selling medical marijuana to a dispensary, processor, or researcher

Applications Approved: 3,026 SOURCE June 3, 2019 twitter.com/ommaok

THC

FLOWER REVIEW

SUPER FRUIT Strain name: Berry G’oood Grown by: High Country Genetics Acquired from: High Country Genetics

Did you know...

Date acquired: May 22 THC/CBD percentages: Not tested

50% of people who switch to medical cannabis stop taking prescription medications

HOME OF THE $35 CRUMBLE & SHATTER

BEST DISPENSARY BEST HEALTH & BEAUTY CANNABIS-INFUSED PRODUCT

MON - SAT 10A- 8P • SUN 10A - 6P 33 W. 15TH ST, EDMOND 73013 • 405.696.5354 1304 E. LINDSEY PLAZA DR, NORMAN, OK 73071 • 405.310.6100

ACCREDITED BY: 56

J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9 | O KG A Z E T T E . C O M

Physical traits: Deep purple with flecks of green, a small number of orange stigmas and frosted with trichomes Bouquet: Fruity with a bitter twist Review: I am still getting adjusted to the vast varieties of cannabis now available in Oklahoma and am drawn to the novelty of purple strains. Admittedly, I have only seen “purp” a handful of times prior to legalization, so I am drawn to anything with shades of violet. Photos cannot really do this one justice, and I have never seen bud this purple. High Country Genetics originally hails from Mendocino County, California, and its experience shows. A cross of Jah Goo and Berry White, the nugs were perfectly cured and trimmed with buds that are fresh but do not stick in the grinder. Once ground, the bitter notes really come to the front, reminding

Berry G’oood from High Country Genetics | Photo Alexa Ace

me of licorice. I took a couple deep hits and went from zero to stoned in a couple minutes. The high was intense and lasted a moderate amount of time without making me tired when it wore off. It might be a little too intense for technical tasks but gives a good daytime high if you do not have much on your plate for the next couple of hours. Curiously, High Country also has a purely green phenotype of this same strain that is lime green in color but has the same bouquet.

Cannabis effects vary wildly from patient to patient based on a multitude of factors, including THC tolerance, brain chemistry and personal taste. This review is based on the subjective experience of one patient.

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY Homework: Tell how you have sometimes been able transform liabilities into assets. Testify at FreeWillAstrology.com.

moment like this could unfold for you in the coming weeks, Gemini. Be alert!

We may not have to travel to other planets to find alien life. Instead of launching expensive missions to other planets, we could look for exotic creatures here on earth.

Astrobiologist Mary Beth Wilhelm is doing just that.

Her search has taken her to Chile’s Atacama Desert, whose terrain has resemblances to Mars. She’s looking for organisms like those that might have once thrived on the Red Planet. In accordance with astrological omens, I invite you to use this idea as a metaphor for your own life. Consider the possibility that you’ve been looking far and wide for an answer or resource that is actually close at hand.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) My dear Cancerian, your soul is so rich and complicated, so many-splendored and mysterious, so fertile and generous. I’m amazed you can hold all the poignant marvels you contain. Isn’t it sometimes a struggle for you to avoid spilling over? Like a river at high tide during heavy rains? And yet every so often there come moments when you go blank; when your dense, luxuriant wonders go missing. That’s OK! It’s all part of the Great Mystery.

You need these fallow phases. And I suspect that the present time might be such a time. If so, here’s a fragment of a poem by Cecilia Woloch to temporarily use as your motto: “I have nothing to offer you now save my own wild emptiness.”

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22)

ARIES (March 21-April 19)

Philosopher Martin Buber believed that some stories have the power to heal. That’s why he said we should actively seek out stories that have the power to heal.

Buber’s disabled grandfather once told Buber a story about an adored teacher who loved to dance. As the grandfather told the story, he got so excited that he rose from his chair to imitate the teacher, and suddenly began to hop and dance around in the way his teacher did. From that time on, the grandfather was cured of his disability.

What I wish for you in the coming weeks is that you will find stories like that.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20)

In the 1960s, Gemini musician Brian Wilson began writing and recording bestselling songs with his band the Beach Boys. A seminal moment in his development happened while he was listening to his car radio in August 1963. A tune he had never heard before came on: “Be My Baby” by the Ronettes. Wilson was so excited he pulled over onto the shoulder of the road and stopped driving so he could devote his full attention to what he considered a shockingly beautiful work of art. “I started analyzing all the guitars, pianos, bass, drums, and percussion,” he told The New York Times. “Once I got all those learned, I knew how to produce records.” I suspect a pivotal

America’s premier eventologist is Leo-born Adrienne Sioux Koopersmith. When she was going through a hard time in 1991, she resolved to buoy her spirits by creating cheerful, splashy new holidays. Since then she has filled the calendar with over 1,900 new occasions to celebrate. What a perfect way to express her radiant Leo energy! National Splurge Day on June 18 is one of Adrienne’s favorites: a time for revelers to be extra kind and generous to themselves. That’s a happy coincidence, because my analysis of the astrological omens suggests that this is a perfect activity for you to emphasize during the coming weeks.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)

“Let me keep my mind on what matters, which is my work, which is mostly standing still and learning to be astonished.” Virgo poet Mary Oliver made that statement.

It was perfectly reasonable for her, given her occupation, although a similar declaration might sound outlandish coming from a non-poet. Nonetheless, I’ll counsel you to inhabit that frame of mind at least part-time for the next two weeks. I think you’ll benefit in numerous ways from ingesting more than your minimum daily dose of beauty, wonder, enchantment, and astonishment.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)

Libran philosopher Michel Foucault articulated a unique definition of “criticism.” He said that it doesn’t dish out judgments or hand down sentences. Rather, it invigorates things by encouraging them, by identifying dormant potentials and hidden beauty. Paraphrasing and quoting Foucault, I’ll tell you that this alternate type of criticism ignites useful fires and sings to the grass as it grows. It looks for the lightning of possible storms, and coaxes codes from the sea foam. I hope you’ll practice this kind of “criticism” in the coming weeks, Libra—a criticism that doesn’t squelch enthusiasm and punish mistakes, but instead champions the life spirit and helps it ripen.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)

Help may be hovering nearby, but in an unrecognizable guise. Rumpled but rich opportunities will appear at the peripheries, though you may not immediately recognize their value. A mess that you might prefer to avoid looking at could be harboring a very healthy kind of trouble. My advice to you, therefore, is to drop your expectations.

Be receptive to possibilities that have not been on your radar. Be willing to learn lessons you have neglected or disdained in the past.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)

As much as I love logic and champion rational thinking, I’m granting you a temporary exemption from their supremacy. To understand what’s transpiring in the coming weeks, and to respond with intelligence, you will have to transcend logic and reason. They will simply not be sufficient guides as you wrestle and dance with the Great Riddle that will be visiting. You will need to unleash the full power of your intuition. You must harness the wisdom of your body, and the information it reveals to you via physical sensations. You will benefit from remembering at least some of your nightly dreams, and inviting them to play on your consciousness throughout the day.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

For the sake of your emotional and spiritual health, you may need to temporarily withdraw or retreat from one or more of your alliances. But I recommend that you don’t do anything drastic or dramatic. Refrain from

harsh words and sudden breaks. For now, seal yourself away from influences that are stirring up confusion so you can concentrate on reconnecting with your own deepest truths. Once you’ve done that for a while, you’ll be primed to find helpful clues about where to go next in managing your alliances.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)

I’ve got a list of do’s and don’t’s for you. Do play and have fun more than usual. But don’t indulge in naïve assumptions and infantile emotions that interfere with your ability to see the world as it really is. Do take aggressive action to heal any sense of abandonment you’re still carrying from the old days. But don’t poison yourself with feelings of blame toward the people who abandoned you. Do unleash wild flights of fantasy and marvelous speculations about seemingly impossible futures that maybe aren’t so impossible. But don’t get so fixated on wild fantasies and marvelous speculations that you neglect to embrace the subtle joys that are actually available to you right now.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20)

“At times, so many memories trample my heart that it becomes impossible to know just what I’m feeling and why,” writes Piscean poet Mark Nepo. While that experience is familiar to everyone, it’s especially common for you Pisceans. That’s the bad news. But here’s the good news: in the coming weeks, your heart is unlikely to be trampled by your memories. Hence, you will have an excellent chance to know exactly what you’re feeling and why. The weight of the past will at least partially dissolve and you’ll be freer than usual to understand what’s true for you right now, without having to sort through confusing signals about who you used to be.

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.

O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9

57

PUZZLES NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE CROSSWORD PUZZLE STONERS’ FILM FESTIVAL | 0616

By Erik Agard Puzzles edited by Will Shortz ACROSS

1 Up in the air 6 Memo abbr.

10 How many network sitcoms are rated 14 Floats 19 World capital spelled “София” in the Cyrillic alphabet 20 Bubble-tea flavor 21 One who might get a parade 22 Singer Goulding 23 Stoner movies?

25 Fired 26 Pioneer who lent his name to six U.S. counties 27 Île de la ____ 28 At some point 30 Components of stoner movies?

32 Flooring wood 33 Furniture wood 34 Rubberneck 35 Certain Franciscan 36 Salsa variety 38 Chief Ouray and others 39 Came down to earth 40 Farrow with a Golden Globe 43 Tension in a stoner movie?

46 Stoner movie that flops at the box office?

48 Youngest Jetson 49 Wheat ____ 51 “____ a dream …”

52 Rock’s Brickell 53 Ancient Greek land that hosted the Olympics 54 ____ Calrissian, Star Wars role 55 Game’s end 56 Blood flow aid 57 Set a good example, perhaps 58 Half of doce 59 Having two beats per measure,

in music 61 Gives what for 62 Ending of a stoner movie?

65 Honeydew relative 68 Smooths 69 Peewee 70 The Horned Frogs of the Big 12 Conf.

73 Animal wearing red pajamas in a children’s book 74 Make a jumper, say 75 Broadcasts 77 Piece on a1 78 Inter ____ 79 Singer Chesney 80 Two tablets, maybe 81 Dog, for some 82 & 84 Like an audience during a stoner movie?

86 After-hours convenience 87 ____ track (attack song) 88 Style to pick?

91 Splits lickety-split 92 Top-tier 94 Bottom-heavy fruit 95 Part of V.S.O.P. 96 Initials hidden in “jetway,” appropriately 98 Bad actor in a stoner movie?

101 Certain Mexican-American 103 Lit ____

1

2

3

4

5

6

19

7

24

27

28

32

10

43

44

48

49

25

26 30

59

87

47 52 56

70

76

89

90

100

104

105

109 113

106

91 96

102 108

110

111

112

114

115

116

15 HI goodbye 16 Item taken out of its packaging before it’s sold 17 Window option 18 Notices 24 In worse health 29 Be short 31 Kiddie ride 33 Swirl 37 Density symbols 39 Bush 41 “That bothers me” 42 Lends a hand with contraband?

43 Command to a dog 44 “Encore!”

DOWN 45 Davis Cup competition 1 Adoption org.

46 “____ we?”

2 Site of an annual May race 47 Back 3 Unfindable, so to speak 50 Quality feigned by a humblebrag 4 Piccolo relative 51 Overstayed, e.g.

5 Dance specialty 54 Film heroine who says: 6 Squad bringing more than their “Somebody has to save our skins.

B game?

Into the garbage chute, flyboy” 7 Careful word choice, maybe 56 Orkney resident 8 Fencing along a sidewalk 58 Buckwheat noodles 9 Samin ____, best-selling 60 Deploy cookbook author 61 Repentance subjects 10 Terse email reply 62 Dissident/writer Khashoggi 11 Give a hard time

63 Big nonprofit that operates the 12 Kitchen work before cooking Department of Defense Safe 13 Cupid, e.g.

Helpline 14 Line on many a business card 64 One being taught a lesson

97

103

107

104 Like ornithologists’ studies 105 TV host with the autobiography Born a Crime 107 Be behind the camera for a blockbuster stoner movie?

109 Very, in slang 110 Hella cool 111 James in both the Blues and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame 112 Certain godchild 113 Midlife-crisis feeling 114 Big acronym in education 115 No longer gray, say 116 Woman’s nickname that elides “Na”

ADVERTISING

OPERATIONS

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF George Lang glang@okgazette.com

advertising@okgazette.com 405-528-6000

OPERATIONS & MARKETING MANAGER Kelsey Lowe

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Saundra Rinearson Godwin Christy Duane Chris White

STAFF REPORTERS Jacob Threadgill Jeremy Martin Miguel Rios Matt Dinger

CREATIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR Kimberly Lynch ILLUSTRATOR/ GRAPHIC DESIGNER Ingvard Ashby

PHOTOGRAPHER/ VIDEOGRAPHER Alexa Ace

95

101

Peter J. Brzycki

EDITORIAL

CALENDAR COORDINATOR Jeremy Martin

85

94

99

72

81 84

88

71

77

80

PUBLISHER

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Brittany Pickering

69

93

42

64

79

86

41

61

75

VOL. XLI NO. 24 Oklahoma Gazette is circulated at its designated distribution points free of charge to readers for their individual use and by mail to subscribers. The cash value of this copy is $1. Persons taking copies of the Oklahoma Gazette from its distribution points for any reason other than their or others’ individual use for reading purposes are subject to prosecution.

40

60

74

83

18

First-class mail subscriptions are $119 for one year, and most issues at this rate will arrive 1-2 days after publication.

51

68

82

17

Please address all unsolicited news items (non-returnable) to the editor.

46

63

78

16

31

55

67

15

39

50

62

92

22

45

58

73

14

35

54

66

13

21

38

53

12

34

37

57

11

29

33 36

98

9

20

23

65

8

65 Maryland’s ____ Barton Parkway 66 Set apart 67 The cutting of one’s jib?

70 Travel kit contents 71 Shift from one dialect to another, depending on the social context 72 Strummed instruments, for short 74 Fratty feats 76 Center of the U.S. auto industry 77 Underhanded plan 79 Jewish snack 81 ____ the lily 83 Indignant denial 85 Big name in insurance 88 Tough H.S. science class 89 Scornful syllable 90 Subjected to a hostile takeover 93 Tips for journalists 95 First post-B.C. year 97 Befuddled 98 Rival of Ole Miss 99 Bard of ____ 100 Not worth hashing out 102 Museo contents 103 Kind of seeds inhealth foods 106 Siamang or orangutan 108 Cause of a blowup, in brief

MARKETING ASSISTANT Kendall Bleakley ACCOUNTING/ HR MANAGER Marian Harrison ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE Karen Holmes CIRCULATION MANAGER Chad Bleakley

GRAPHIC DESIGNER Tiffany McKnight

CONTRIBUTOR Matthew Price EDITORIAL INTERN Nikita Lewchuk Order mounted or ready-to-frame prints of Oklahoma Gazette covers, articles and photos at okgazette.yourheadline.com 3701 N. Shartel Ave. Oklahoma City, OK 73118-7102 PHONE (405) 528-6000 FAX (405) 528-4600 www.okgazette.com

Copyright © 2019 Tierra Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

SUDOKU MEDIUM | N° 236891901

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

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

SKULLDUGGERY LANE By Ingvard Ashby

NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE CROSSWORD PUZZLE ANSWERS

Puzzle No. 0609, which appeared in the June 5 issue.

D E J A

A B R A S L E I T W O D E N

58

J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9 | O KG A Z E T T E . C O M

I M U S

H E P C A T

O R I O L E

O B A M A

A R L E N

W A R M A N D F U S S Y

N A E R Y O F M O T A R A T P I E I M R I B G R H I A T E O F R M T E R A R A G I C E L O C S A A R

C R Y P T I C M A S S I F M E A R A

R A B I C E O U R P R E E D A T E E T E I N A P L O E A T N N I E S A N D Y R E S U M E D O W N I T S A M E C E O R N T B E T I E S P Y

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

S H O A P D L R E E R H A B B E S T S O P F O O A N M M Y A M N A

T E L L M E N O L I C E A R M E N I A N

A L G A E

B L A N D

E D I T O R

R A G S O N

R T C E A N E C H O

E E L S

CLASSIFIEDS

CLASSIFIEDS

HOMES

ETC.

DAVE’S APPLIANCE REPAIR All makes washers, dryers, ranges, dishwashers, refrigerators, disposals.

24 years experience $25 service calls

314-3191

l r Specia Summeup your system,

We will fire flow valve, check the back d an s adjust the head x. l bo set the contro

80

$

*

*Prices may vary depending on zones

DOC SPRINKLER

IRRIGATION • INSTALLATION • REPAIR

Call to set up appt.

CLASSIFIEDS

HEALTH

Seeking Answers About the Past, Present, and the Future?

Psychic Readings

Call for your one free question: 405-318-2588

Gift’s for dad FREE MELINDA’S HOTSAUCE WITH $20 PURCHASE ($5.95 VALUE)

PLUS ADDITIONAL HOT DEALS! 1033 S. MERIDIAN 405-949-900

810 WEST DANFORTH 405-359-8200

OpiOid prOblems?

Call us! >> Outpatient medication assisted treatment >> Long term medication management for addiction

WE’RE SOCIAL.

Payment OPtiOns available

405.230.1180

3033 N. Walnut Ave. West Building 73105

CLASSIFIEDS

JOBS

405.408.5181

Email:TommyKeith1964@hotmail.com “The Doctor is Making House Calls”

CLASSIFIEDS

MUSIC

WE’RE SOCIAL.

BRENTWOOD VOCAL

Joan Colée

TEACHER OF THE STARS hollywood & los angeles favorite

ACCEPTING APPLICANTS FOR PART-TIME SALES ASSOCIATES. APPLY AT 8009 W RENO TODAY!

NOW ACCEPTING NEW STUDENTS

405. 840. 1242

LIKE US ON FACEBOOK

AND NEVER MISS A POST

@OKGAZETTE

NOW HIRING

Floral delivery driver

Tropical plant delivery driver Plant maintenance tech

Must have good driving record and work history.

Love of plants a plus. Benefits included.

Fill out application at 5308 N Classen or email sarah@calverts.com

FOLLOW US

ON INSTAGRAM AND NEVER MISS A POST

@OKGAZETTE

134,070

GAZETTE JOB SEEKERS

JUST SAW THIS AD! CALL 528-6000 FOR ADVERTISING INFO O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 9

59

OWN THE HORIZON. THE BMW X4.

2019 230i Coupe | $459/month*

2019 330i Sedan | $399/month*

2019 X2 xDrive 28i | $419/month*

2019 650i Gran Coupe | $1,009/month*

2019 X7 xDrive50i | $1,139/month*

2019 740i Sedan | $739/month*

IMPORTS 2019 X2 xDrive 28i, 36-month lease, $3,000 down, MSRP $42,295, Standard Terms 2019 330i Sedan, 36-month lease, $3,000 down, MSRP $44,145, Standard Terms 2019 740i Sedan, 36-month lease, $5,500 down, MSRP $86,345, Standard Terms

BMW

14145 North Broadway Extension Edmond, OK 73013 | 866.925.9885

2019 230i Coupe, 36-month lease, $2,750 down, MSRP $38,895, Standard Terms 2019 650i Gran Coupe, 36-month lease, $5,500 down, MSRP $95,795, Standard Terms 2019 X7 xDrive 50i, 36-month lease, $4,500 down, MSRP $95,145, Standard Term

Web: www.cooperbmw.com Email: rkeitz@cooperautogroup.com

Standard terms & Tag, Tax. 1st Payment, Aquisition fee, processing fee WAC *See dealership for details — offers subject to change without prior notice. *June prices subject to change. Offers expire 6/30/2019. European models shown.