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INSIDE COVER P.12 As the dining options expand in

Oklahoma City, so do the number of online restaurant reviewers. Oklahoma Gazette speaks with Yelp, small restaurants that have benefitted from high rankings and other restaurants and chefs about how they track and respond to feedback.

By Jacob Threadgill Cover by Tiffany McKnight Photo by Alexa Ace Cover models: Albreuna Gonzaque and Dominique Raney

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NEWS Homeland officials announced the company’s intent to open a full-service store of roughly 30,000 square feet in northeast OKC. | Photo Alexa Ace

street from the future location.

The next steps are to sign a lease and finalize site layout and costs.

CIT Y

Community stewards

Feeding Oklahomans With a full-service grocery store set to open in northeast OKC by 2021, city leaders continue finding more ways to ease the area’s food insecurity. By Miguel Rios

Northeast Oklahoma City has dealt with food insecurity for years, but a new grocery store and a potential rezoning could significantly improve access to fresh, quality food.

Since 1993, Ward 7 council representatives have tried to bring a full-service grocery store to northeast Oklahoma City.

Those efforts, started by Willa Johnson and now primarily carried by councilwoman Nikki Nice, will culminate with a Homeland set to open in late 2020.

“Everyone’s picked up the baton and worked and carried it, and I’m just thankful, grateful and honored that I’m able to help it get where it needed to go,” Nice said. “This is a community effort, and this comes from the leadership that had been in this seat previously to even help us to get the tools that we needed in order to make this deal a success.”

Homeland officials announced they signed a letter of intent and plan to open a full-service grocery store with a pharmacy, a butcher shop, a bakery, a deli and fresh produce on NE 36th Street and Lincoln Boulevard. It is expected to be roughly 30,000 square feet and cater specifically to the surrounding community.

“We know that they are committed to be in our community, and that’s what we are most grateful for,” Nice said. “The impact is momentous. Unfortunately … we still have a wait. That’s the only down part, but the fact that we know something new is coming, something better is coming for our community, it means so much. And it’s time, it’s been long overdue.”

With the recent closure of Smart Saver, which was not even a full-service 4

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grocery store, the 73111 ZIP code area was left with zero grocery options in the area.

However, Homeland CEO Marc Jones said the announcement is not quite a response to the closure because officials have been in discussions with city leaders and The Alliance for Economic Development for years.

“It’s taken so long because there’s all sorts of different things to consider. It’s the location, and it's cost of real estate, and it’s traffic patterns, and it’s financing and it’s a lot of different pieces that have to come together,” he said. “We wouldn’t normally, quite honestly, announce at the letter of intent stage, but we thought it was important to let the community know what was going on … given some of the events of the last month or so. …

“It’s inspiring that it’s happened, but it’s happened not because it just kind of fell out of the sky. It happened because of a whole bunch of different people and different constituencies all kind of working hard and being creative and trying stuff that didn’t come to fruition and then finally figuring out the solution that works for everyone. It’s very inspiring when this sort of situation can happen. It’s this proverbial win-win-win.

Our little employee-owned company wins. An underserved part of the city that we call home wins. The community wins. The city wins.”

Along with the grocery store, Homeland will also open new headquarters in the same area. Its current headquarters is already in northeast OKC, down the

Some members of the community criticized Smart Saver and its owners for not being good stewards of the community or respectful of their shoppers.

Nice said she trusts Homeland, which is an employee-owned chain, to be more committed to northeast OKC. “I think we all respect the Homeland brand. You know you’re going to get a quality product when you shop at Homeland,” she said. “And with their corporate headquarters, I don’t expect anything less. For them to commit their corporate headquarters in the same campus or the same area as the store, we know it’s going to be the best option for the community that’s going to be offered. We’re excited about that, and we deserve it. Everyone deserves better.”

Jones said Homeland intends to provide the “full portfolio” of what it has to offer while making sure the store reflects the needs of the community.

“We’ve got 74 grocery stores that we operate, so we think we bring a base of knowledge. But within that context, we can pick and choose,” he said. “Ultimately, we’re a business, and our business only succeeds if we give our customers what they want. So asking our potential customers before we open the store what they’re looking for just seems like a real logical move for us. … Our current office isn’t that far from the proposed site, so if anybody wanted to stop by and chat about it, we’d be happy to do it.”

The current headquarters employs members of the community, who Jones said have already started suggesting various things the store should offer.

“To me, that’s the fun thing, and another fun thing about retail is we can try a bunch of things,” he said. “Each of our stores is kind of its own — hopefully, if we do it right — communityfocused grocery store. A big part of our

process … is going to be talking to the neighbors and saying, ‘OK. Pharmacy, deli, bakery, meat, but what are you looking for? Within that, what are you looking for?’”

Healthy outcomes

A full-service grocery store is only part of the solution to addressing the area’s food insecurity and negative health outcomes. In May, Oklahoma City Council passed a resolution brought forth by Nice to implement a 180-day moratorium on “small box discount stores” in the 73111 ZIP code.

At the Aug. 27 council meeting, officials passed a resolution to initiate a rezoning application to establish a Healthy Neighborhood Overlay District in the ZIP code.

“The goal, obviously, with the moratorium is to prevent a proliferation of those small box stores, so the [rezoning] allows for more and better and healthier options to come into the community,” Nice said. “We’re not saying [small box stores] can’t come, but we hope that if they do, they will help provide at least 500 square feet of dedicated fresh produce. … Because we want to decrease the health outcomes in our community.

We want to address the concerns of infant mortality. We want to address the concerns of cancer morbidity. The rates are high in those ZIP codes, and it becomes prevalent when you don’t have access.”

The rezoning will now go through the planning phase, but Nice hopes it will go into effect by November.

“With that, we’ll have an overlay district — and, again, it’s just for one ZIP code,” Nice said. “It’s not the whole city, but it’s for us to address the health concerns that are within our community.”

Following Smart Saver’s closure, Nice created a task force to help connect northeast Oklahomans with food resources. Visit neokcfood.com. left Ward 7 councilwoman Nikki Nice said a full-service grocery store in northeast OKC is long overdue. right Homeland CEO Marc Jones is excited to work with the community to ensure the future grocery store reflects its needs. | Photos Miguel Rios

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NEWS

CIT Y

The highest allocation of MAPS 4 money, $140 million, is for the city’s parks. | Photo Alexa Ace

City investments

Oklahoma City Council and the mayor unanimously voted to approve a MAPS 4 package despite some concerns. By Miguel Rios

Sixteen projects are in the MAPS 4 package that was unanimously approved

by Oklahoma City Council last week.

Allocations are based on an estimated $978 million revenue from a one-cent sales tax set to last eight years.

During the Aug. 27 meeting in which the package was voted on, many councilmembers said they did not like every project but were content overall. The projects encompass a variety of social services and neighborhood needs as well as some entertainment and tourist attractions.

“I’m very pleased that ultimately, we were able to develop potentially something here that is inclusive of lots of different interests in our community,” mayor David Holt said. “I think this is an ideal culmination of the 26 hours we spent here talking about this over the summer.”

All 16 projects included in the package were formally presented in a series of four special meetings throughout July and early August, which all lasted at least five hours. “$700 million of this MAPS is going to go to our neighborhoods and our human needs that have for too long kept too many of our people from access to education to health care to education to a better quality of life,” Ward 2 councilman James Cooper said. “Are there things in this MAPS that I do not like?

You betcha. But those things pale in comparison to the things I know they’re about to improve — the hearts, the minds and the bodies, the existence of our people.”

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Though the 10-page resolution declaring the council’s intent for MAPS 4 passed unanimously, some councilmembers expressed their concerns with the package.

Ward 6 councilwoman JoBeth Hamon expressed that her experience with the process had not been as transparent as people were made to believe. She also brought up her concerns regarding funding for neighborhood and human needs and issues surrounding endowments.

“When I hear people say things like, ‘Well MAPS is a compromise. Democracy is all compromise,’ it’s hard for me to swallow that when I think about all of these needs that have been compromising for decades are the ones having to compromise more,” she said. “My second concern is with the endowment piece of the package. I’m pretty skeptical, I guess, that we’re going to see a 4 percent return on those investments, and in my mind, it seems like a poor use of taxpayer money to take $100 million and put it in a fund somewhere to minutely cover the operations of some parts of this package.”

Roughly $106 million has been allocated for operating funds, or endowments. Park projects, youth centers, senior wellness centers, the Innovation District, Freedom Center and Clara Luper Civil Rights Center, and beautification allocations include an endowment.

Former councilman Ed Shadid spoke during the meeting and also criticized

the council for using endowments, which he said suffer during recessions when money is needed most, and for being secretive.

“Those cuts are going to be painful.

They’re going to hurt the poor and the marginalized disproportionally. Your endowment program is woefully, fiscally irresponsible. It will take you years to collect the money,” he said. “By meeting in small groups and hiding from the people things like the Boathouse Foundation asking you for another $3 million this year, and keeping that from the people, you’re not allowing the people to fully understand the operational pressures. … You’re not allowing the people to have informed consent.”

Shadid also said most voters want to vote on projects separately and asserted he would challenge the all-or-nothing vote in court.

“You’re telling the domestic violence victim, ‘You can have your family justice center, but you’re going to have to vote to tax yourself for a multipurpose stadium in order to get it,’” he said. “It is so far beyond an unpalatable choice, it makes me nauseous.”

Failed motions

Hamon made two motions to amend the package. Her first motion would have taken $10 million from the Innovation District’s innovation hall and allocated it to the homelessness housing package.

Nice was also critical of the Innovation District’s innovation hall, which would be in her own ward.

“Again, there is a TIF for the Innovation District that is in place. I think that’s something that we should have been taking into account with this, and we’re still waiting for a lot of things to be implemented in the Innovation District, and that’s the unfortunate piece,” she said.

“In my opinion, some of those things should’ve been done already.”

Ultimately, both motions failed 3-6 with Cooper and Ward 7’s Nikki Nice voting alongside Hamon.

“Listen. I have some ideas too, but this is the package that was presented to us,” said Ward 5 councilman David Greenwell. “If we start allowing individual changes, then I would say let’s defer it, let everybody come back and start picking this apart if that’s what the council wants to do.”

Hamon’s second motion would have removed three words from the Innovation District part of the resolution, which she argued would have helped distribute $25 million for connectivity to more than the one bridge specified.

“I want to get along, but I’m going to vote no because I don’t want to spend the rest of the day changing commas, periods, question marks,” said Ward 8 councilman Mark Stonecipher. “This could go on forever, and I think we will all work together. I think there’s sufficient language here when it says ‘including.’ That doesn’t limit it one specific street.”

Next steps

Despite having big concerns about the package, Hamon joined the rest of the council in approving the package. On Dec.10, Oklahoma City voters will decide whether or not to approve the MAPS package in a special election.

Visit okc.gov/government/maps-4.

MAPS 4 approved allocations Allocations are based on a revenue estimate of $978 million.

PARKS — $140 million • $16.5 million operating funds CHESAPEAKE ENERGY ARENA — $115 million YOUTH CENTERS — $110 million • $30 million operating fund for operations • $10 million operating fund for capital improvements TRANSIT — $87 million SIDEWALKS, BIKE LANES, TRAILS AND STREETLIGHTS — $87 million INNOVATION DISTRICT — $71 million • $21 million operating fund FAIRGROUNDS COLISEUM — $63 million HOMELESSNESS — $50 million MENTAL HEALTH AND ADDICTION — $40 million PALOMAR FAMILY JUSTICE CENTER — $38 million ANIMAL SHELTER — $38 million MULTIPURPOSE STADIUM — $37 million SENIOR WELLNESS CENTERS — $30 million • $15 million operating fund BEAUTIFICATION — $30 million • $5 million operating fund for dedicated city staff positions FREEDOM CENTER AND CLARA LUPER CIVIL RIGHTS CENTER — $25 million • $9 million operating fund DIVERSION HUB — $17 million

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O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | S E P T E M B E R 4 , 2 0 1 9

NEWS

METRO

Edmond Railyard will feature six restaurant concepts, a craft bar and two office spaces. | Photo Pete Brzycki

Edmond’s yard

The Edmond Railyard development is nearly complete and the first restaurant has already opened. By Miguel Rios

The first restaurant in Edmond Railyard opened last week, and five more are expected to open throughout the fall, along with a craft bar and office spaces.

A year and a half ago, Grant Group Commercial Real Estate Services bought the building, one of the town’s oldest and one that had served as a lumberyard for about a decade before. It was converted into Edmond Railyard, 23 W. First St., which now includes restaurant spaces, common areas and several seating options. It is about 80 percent completed.

“It was a 20,000 square-foot, wideopen building that we thought it would be cool if we could make into a destination. Edmond doesn’t have very many local restaurants. They have a lot of franchise stuff,” said Chris Anderson, Grant Group principal. “All the restaurants are local.”

The former lumberyard was converted to accommodate restaurants and reflect the group’s vision of a unique, open concept that can appeal to many.

“The lumberyard had four large overhead doors — two on the north side and two on the south side of the building.

So we took two of those doors and made that, from north to south, a pedestrian Kristopher Kanaly painted a 20-foot mural on one of the building’s walls. | Photo Pete Brzycki

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walkway. So you can walk through the building, and all of the restaurants have street retail even though they’re within the building,” Anderson said. “It’s openair, so we have those — I’m not cussing here — but those Big Ass Fans in there, circulating air, and we have heaters up on the ceilings. Our goal is to have those doors open 99 percent of the time so that it’s open-air and you don’t feel like you're inside of a building. It’s nice and bright and very open.”

Restaurants will open on their own schedule, but Anderson said they plan to host a grand opening event once everything is operational. Hott Wings, which opened last Thursday, is currently the only open restaurant.

“That is a concept from Eddie’s Bar & Grill in Edmond. He is known for his wings,” Anderson said. “He always gets voted best wings in OKC metro, so this is a concept that focuses mainly on his wings.”

The other tenants are Oak City Pizza, formerly the Smoke N Oak Pizza food truck; Gogi Go, a Korean barbecue restaurant with a location in Midtown; Cities, a new concept from Capitals Ice Cream; and 1884, a craft bar by the owners of The Patriarch Craft Beer House & Lawn. There are two more restaurants that have not been officially announced.

“1884, which is the craft bar, and it’s the same ownership group as Patriarch that’s located in Edmond, this is a new concept for them. Patriarch focuses just on craft beer. And this location will also have the craft beer, but they’ll have a full bar with craft cocktails and wine as well,” Anderson said. “The two that haven’t announced are a hamburger restaurant and a taco restaurant.”

Edmond Railyard also includes two office spaces, one of which is already leased out. The other space has served as storage during construction but will be cleared out and ready to lease once it is completed.

Serving Edmond

So far, Anderson said they have gotten mostly positive responses from the community. He said people are excited to have a unique, family-friendly destination in Edmond.

“Oklahoma City just opened some concepts similar to this. So Edmond’s never seen anything like it. We see it as a family environment. My partners and I have kids. And one of the struggles you have is when you get in the car, where do you go to eat?” Anderson said. “The nice thing about Edmond Railyard is we have six different restaurants. So your family can go to one location. If the kids want pizza, they can grab pizza.

If dad wants wings, he can get wings. If mom wants a hamburger, she can get a hamburger. And everybody can sit down together and eat.”

Each restaurant will have seating within its own section but there will also be common areas within the building. A 10,000 square-foot patio provides outdoor seating in front of a colorful mural by OKC artist Kristopher Kanaly.

“We partnered with the Edmond Visual Arts Committee on doing that mural that’s about 20 feet tall and is the whole west side of the building. You see it when you drive down First [Street],” Anderson said. “It’s a great addition to downtown Edmond. I see a lot of photos being taken there. And he’s hidden a bunch of things in his art to where you could even have a scavenger hunt. There’s a lot of little clues that tie to the community.”

Edmond is lacking in local restaurant concepts and patio space, Anderson said, so being able to provide both for the community was important.

“All the local, fun restaurants have focused more on Oklahoma City, so we’re finally getting some of those local concepts instead of the national chains,” he said. “It’s been very well-received. The family environment for Edmond has been very well-received. We’ll have an outdoor area for games — bean bag toss and connect four and Jenga. … We wanted to provide somewhere that families could go, but also you could go after work and have a drink with your friends.

It can accommodate everybody.”

Visit facebook.com/edmondrailyard.

Hott Wings, a concept by the Eddie’s Bar & Grill owners, was the first restaurant to open in Edmond Railyard. | Photo Pete Brzycki

O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | S E P T E M B E R 4 , 2 0 1 9

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chicken

friedNEWS

Job fulfillment?

Sorry we’re late, but a happy belated Amazon OKC1 Fulfillment Center Day to you and yours. In case you missed it, Gov. Kevin Stitt proclaimed Aug. 25 as a day celebrating the official launch of Amazon’s first Oklahoma fulfillment center. According to a press release faithfully regurgitated by too many local media outlets to name here, fulfillment center general manager Hamon Gupta said the warehouse will create “more than 1,500 new full-time jobs with comprehensive health care benefits that start on the first day of employment.”

Fortune 500 lists Amazon.com as the fifth largest corporation in the U.S., generating $232.8 billion in revenue and employing 647,500 people. National Council for Occupational Safety and Health lists Amazon among its Dirty Dozen “companies that put workers and communities at risk due to unsafe practices,” citing six worker deaths in seven months in addition to “a high incidence of suicide attempts; workers urinating in bottles and workers left without resources or income after on-the-job injuries.”

Vickie Shannon Allen, for example, told The Guardian that she injured her back while counting goods at the Amazon fulfillment center in Haslet, Texas, in 2017.

“I tried to work again, but I couldn’t stretch my right arm out and I’m righthanded,” Allen said. “So I was having a hard time keeping up. This went on for about three weeks.”

During that time, Allen said she was driving 60 miles to work every day only to be sent home without pay. She eventually returned to work, only to be injured again at the same workstation. When she was evicted from her home, she began chronicling her experiences living in her car outside the fulfillment center on YouTube.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, meanwhile, owns multiple homes, including three luxurious New York City apartments purchased for more than $80 million in what The Wall Street Journal called one of NYC’s most expensive real-estate transactions in 2019. In 2017, he purchased the largest house in Washington, D.C., for $23 million, according to The Washington Post. If you — unlike Oklahoma City Council, which voted to approve $1.7 million in incentives to Amazon in May of 2018 — forgot to give Bezos anything for Amazon OKC1 Fulfillment Center Day, we’re pretty sure we know what he wants: everything you or anyone else has or will ever have, forever.

Didgeridon’t

The didgeridoo is the instrument most associated with aboriginal Australian culture, predating the arrival of British colonialists by centuries.

The instrument’s unique drone is immediately recognizable, but apparently the instrument by itself isn’t quite so easy to pick out.

A man in Tulsa was shot by a security guard stationed at a QuikTrip after waving the didgeridoo at the guard last week.

According to Tulsa World, a fight broke out inside the store and spilled out into the parking lot, and the security guard pulled the trigger on the man after he waved the didgeridoo — originally identified as a club — at the guard while also holding a knife.

The man was shot several times in the groin, which makes it an even worse evening than your casual “get shot” kind of night.

Witnesses told police that the suspect gave the knife to a homeless person before authorities arrived. The security guard was not charged in the shooting because security footage corroborated his claim of self-defense.

It’s easy to see why the didgeridoo

was identified as a club because there were no dulcet tunes emanating from the instrument.

Perhaps if the suspect had played the didgeridoo instead of swinging it around wildly, he could’ve avoided being shot.

It should serve as a reminder that the next time you’re in a gas station fight with a didgeridoo in hand, start blowing and you’ll quickly get everyone to calm down because it’s impossible to be angry with all that droning going on. That’s why it’s the perfect instrument for a bong circle.

Bad look

A KOCO anchor compared her black co-anchor to a baby gorilla, and she got to keep her job. But it’s 2019 and a white supremacist-enabling narcissist is running the country, so we can’t be too surprised.

Despite being one of the more diverse news stations in Oklahoma City (which really isn’t saying much at all), KOCO employees could definitely benefit from some intensive diversity training.

Oh, and accountability. That would be good too.

Everyone’s a Critic.

We’ve featured constructively minded food journalism in our pages since before “foodie” was a word (and we’re not saying it should be one). Everyone has an opinion, while OKG boasts a 40-year legacy of intelligent criticism.

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Morning anchor Alex Housden seemed to think it was harmless to compare co-anchor Jason Hackett to a baby gorilla during a segment meant to be fun and entertaining. It didn’t seem to be intentionally harmful or racist, but that is part of the problem.

It is no longer acceptable to be tonedeaf or ignorant to historically racist tropes and stereotypes — especially when working in broadcast news.

“Kind of looks like you when you take a picture," Housden said at the end of the segment where a baby gorilla was shown taking a video selfie.

Hackett reacted with an awkward laugh and simply played along because that’s what is usually expected of black and brown people in the face of blatant racism — particularly during a live broadcast. Being the professional that he is, Hackett appeared with Housden the next day.

Housden tearfully apologized and Hackett accepted but said he hoped it would be a teachable moment.

“The lesson here is that words matter,” he said. “We have to unWe cater & Deliver!

derstand the stereotypes, we have to understand each other’s backgrounds and the words that hurt, the words that cut deep.”

Asked if Housden was disciplined, general manager Brent Hensley told The Washington Post through an email that “personnel matters are private.” So, no. No consequences beyond an on-air apology.

Hackett and Housden seem like genuine friends and (hopefully) Housden simply made an honest mistake, but it’s still one that affected many viewers personally. The racist comment also underscores the need for more people of color in leadership roles within editorial and management departments, which are predominantly white.

Hell, it would even be good to have more than two or three reporters or anchors of color per station. Just take a look at KOCO, KFOR, News 9 and OKC Fox’s news team pages and try not to be blinded by the white.

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EAT & DRINK Julie Porter Scott is the Yelp community manager for Oklahoma City. | Photo provided

“If Facebook had the same protections in place, we wouldn’t be wondering if there was [foreign] interference in our elections, or if YouTube had the same protections in place, I’d be able to let my kids watch YouTube,” Scott said.

Community building

Scott is Oklahoma City’s only Yelp community manager, taking the position when it expanded into the market in 2012. She is charged with meeting with business owners to make sure they know the tools the service provides and building the metro’s community of Elites, the most trusted and active users on the app.

There’s no amount of money that anybody could ever pay to suppress or promote Yelp reviews.

COV E R

Julie Porter Scott

Review culture

The explosion of online reviews for restaurants is a double-edged sword for staff and serves as a unique socializing opportunity for users.

By Jacob Threadgill

Whether the platform is Google, Yelp, Facebook or Travel Advisor, the publicfacing digital billboard for businesses is now its rating out of five stars.

The influence of online reviews is growing. Yelp, which was founded in 2004, crossed its 100 millionth review in 2016 and is already currently over 190 million reviews, according to Julie Porter Scott, Yelp’s Oklahoma City community manager.

While retail shopping encompasses the largest portion of Yelp reviews, the service’s relationship with restaurants — where service, taste and the interpretation of culinary arts collide — is the most publicized and volatile, with some restaurants owing their livelihood to Yelp’s algorithm and recommendation software.

“We’ve gotten a lot of flak for that over the years from businesses because we don’t explain the algorithm because it’s our secret sauce,” Scott said.

She said there are dozens of factors that go into the digital algorithm that lead to about 75 percent of submitted reviews factoring into a business’s 12

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overall rating. Yelp was accused of suppressing positive reviews for pages that didn’t purchase advertising on the site, but independent investigations by Harvard Business School and Federal Trade Commission cleared the company of manipulating scores for profit by 2015.

“There’s no amount of money that anybody could ever pay to suppress or promote Yelp reviews,” Scott said after noting that if the algorithm wasn’t in place, a large corporation like Starbucks could afford to provide a gift card in exchange for a five-star review. “It would be the top-ranked business on Yelp in every metro in the United States, and you would never find an Elemental [Coffee Roasters], Coffee Slingers [Roasters] or Stella Nova.”

Beyond digital safeguards, Yelp also provides human review for consumer protection alerts for things that violate its terms of service, like reviews from business owners, restaurants that offer reviews in exchange for discounts or potentially biased reviewers.

She plans regular RSVP Elite meetings at new restaurants that promote an eatery as well as networking among like-minded people.

Kristina Song moved to the Oklahoma City area a few years ago to work at Tinker Air Force Base.

“I found out about Yelp Elite, and after I got involved, I was able to extend networking to people that also enjoy trying new places,” Song said. “I’ve met friends that aren’t military, and it’s a great opportunity that anyone can take on with meeting people outside their immediate social life.”

Elite member Katie Goldbach moved to Oklahoma City from Buffalo, New York, two years ago.

“I was bored, and I didn’t know anyone in Oklahoma because I moved here for work and I didn’t know anything about the city,” Goldbach said. “I like to eat and write reviews. I started posting, and it became a thing. Now, friends rely on me to be their restaurant person. … Without Yelp, I don’t know that I would’ve made as many friends and met as many really cool people,

business and restaurant owners. It’s pushed me to experience the city. Being an outsider, it’s easy to feel left out because everyone knows each other here, but Yelp helps you feel like part of a community.”

5-star status

Owners have the ability to claim their business on Yelp, which unlocks a webpage that gives them access to analytics and the ability to communicate with users who have left reviews.

Of the more than 1,300 restaurants in Oklahoma City alone, only two retain a perfect 5-star rating across all major platforms: Yummy Mummy (two locations) and Four J’s Diner, 2920 S. Agnew Ave., Suite 3.

Yummy Mummy co-owner Mohamed Hussein moved to Oklahoma City from Egypt to work for Halliburton in 2011.

During the energy downturn around 2016, Hussein watched as his colleagues were laid off, so he developed the concept of Yummy Mummy as a contingency plan if he was next. He kept his daytime job but went full-speed-ahead with Yummy Mummy as his wife and co-owner Nesrine ran the kitchen with a menu based on Egyptian recipes with wraps, platters and salads.

Hussein built the restaurant’s tenets into its sleek branding that includes green to represent fresh and healthy options, white for cleanliness and gray to represent the fact the menu is comprised of ancient recipes.

Even while working a full-time job that requires travel, Hussein takes time to respond privately to every Yelp review, thanking people for 5-star reviews and asking them to spread the word to friends and family. If they’re anything less, he wants to know how the restaurant can improve, even offering them to try items again.

“It’s a lot of work,” he said. “I respond even when I’m visiting Egypt.”

When the couple opened Yummy Mummy in a strip mall at 1315 N. Pennsylvania Ave., Hussein said the reviews were a driving factor for customer service and cleanliness. He asked every new customer how they heard about the restaurant and began to notice that many of them said it was

Keith Paul is the co-founder of A Good Egg Dining Group. | Photo provided

through online reviews.

They opened a second location downtown in the food court at 119 N. Robinson Ave. in late 2017, which is only open 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Monday-Friday. Both locations have 5-star ratings on Yelp, but the downtown location is three times as popular, despite the shorter operational hours.

“At [the Penn and Memorial] location, you don’t see it translated to sales,” Hussein said. “For every six customers, five are from out of state. What’s making us survive, unfortunately, is not locals.

It’s people driving through Oklahoma or visiting from another state and checked it online.”

The sterling online rating and highlevel branding has attracted attention from investors, including Fransmart, the company that helped Five Guys Burgers and Fries and The Halal Guys go national. Hussein said the downtown Yummy Mummy location meets Fransmart’s standards for sales per square foot needed for expansion, and they told him once he hits the target at the original location, to give them a call.

Hussein has also signed a franchise agreement for Yummy Mummy with an operator in Katy, Texas, outside Houston that could yield as many as four locations in the area if the first one does well.

“What I’ve felt with my family — my wife and kids — from the Oklahoma people is more than you can imagine,” Hussein said. “I consider everyone family. … We feel that when we’re away from home. My wife and I go to Egypt

Rachel Cope is the founder and CEO of 84 Hospitality Group. | Photo provided

for a week, and we miss Oklahoma.

When we open the store in Houston, I want to give a 25 percent discount if any customer shows an Oklahoma I.D.” Alex and Bouakham Panhguay moved to Oklahoma City from Seattle about 20 years ago. After cooking food from their native Laos for friends, they were encouraged to open Four J’s Diner, where they’ve serve Laotian and Thai food since 2015. It is the highest overall rated restaurant on Yelp in Oklahoma City.

“A lot of [customers] found us from Yelp, Google and some Travel Advisor,” Alex Panhguay said. “I would say that we benefit a lot from social media. Otherwise, we wouldn’t make it. Now people like the food and people find out just by searching best Thai food in the area.”

In the case of a problematic review, we gather information from the restaurant staff and make corrections when necessary.

Rachel Cope In the small restaurant, located in a strip mall about a mile south of Stockyards City, placards, photos and descriptions of Laotian specialties also ask customers to leave Google and Yelp reviews if they like the food.

“First, we got a call from Google [to confirm address and phone number], and then after about a year, more people started coming and we figured out they found us on Yelp,” Panhguay said. “We don’t have money to advertise, so it’s made a big difference.”

The Panhguays purchased a new space a block east and are looking to move into the new building in early 2020. They want to expand the menu with more specials at the new location.

“It’s exciting because we’ll have more room for the kitchen,” Panhguay said.

“It is body-to-body in there.”

“I look forward to having a walk-in cooler,” Bouakham Panhguay, who runs the kitchen at Four J’s said. “It’s so packed Bouakham and Alex Panhguay are the owners of Four J’s Diner, the highest overall rated restaurant on Yelp. | Photo Alexa Ace

Mohamed Hussein is the owner of Yummy Mummy. | Photo Alexa Ace

right now that we’re only able to keep the most popular items on the menu.”

Review tracking

At A Good Egg Dining Group (Cheever’s Cafe, RedPrime Steakhouse, Iron Star Urban Barbeque, Mexican Radio, Tucker’s Onion Burgers, The Drake Seafood & Oysterette, Republic Gastropub, Barrios Fine Mexican Dishes, Museum Cafe and Kitchen No. 324), founder Keith Paul said management looks over an aggregate of weekly reviews from four to five sites compiled by the service Review Trackers.

“We read the reviews and answer 90 percent of them privately. It’s something we have to pay attention to, but we don’t live and die by what those reviewers say,” Paul said, noting that hard-working employees shouldn’t get down over one service and the company also uses secret shoppers to gauge performance.

At Ludivine, 320 NW 10th St., general manager Andy Bowen has heard from several out-of-town visitors that they found the restaurant through its Yelp page.

“It’s definitely a double-edged sword, though,” Bowen said. “Online reviews are a useful tool, both for consumers and businesses, but some people seem to like to play at being experts or journalists in a way that is often irritating and always irrelevant.”

He said management tracks reviews seriously and carefully, adding that management staff holds a meeting after any review less than four stars.

“We examine that guest’s complaints, talk about what we could have done better, talk about whether that situation represented a failure of policy or execution or whether it represented a failure at all,” Bowen said. “As obnoxious as bad reviews can be, it’s difficult to think of a more effective tool to push us to improve. Twenty years ago, restaurants spent thousands of dollars a year on feedback cards and surveys and demographic research. Now all we have to do is pull up Yelp or Google and be willing to be accountable for what it says about us.”

At 84 Hospitality Group (Empire Slice House, Gorō Ramen, ¡Revolución!, Gun Izakaya, Burger Punk), founder and CEO Rachel Cope said the company doesn’t track reviews but does monitor them on a regular basis.

“After reading them for so many

Andy Bowen is the general manager at Ludivine. | Photo provided

years, we’re able to pick out the pieces of some reviews that may be real problems,” Cope said. “In the case of a problematic review, we gather information from the restaurant staff and make corrections when necessary. Sometimes, I’ll track down the reviewer via Facebook and reach out to them personally to make amends — gift cards, refunds or sometimes all they want is to be heard. As much as we restaurant people like to bag on Yelp, out-of-towners definitely use it.

A lot of the reviews I read are from nonlocal folks. It is frustrating when Yelpers try to use it to their advantage — ‘You should comp (discount) my food/I want special service I’m an Elite on Yelp.’

Come on. Be cool.”

Chef Marc Dunham is operating partner at Iguana and owner of Nashbird, 1 NW Ninth St., which has locations planned for Edmond this fall and Norman in 2020. Dunham trained at Culinary Institute of America and balances his perspective as chef and business owner when reading reviews, to which he said he responds personally on Yelp and Google.

“It’s hard to listen to feedback sometimes when you’re in that creative state of mind sometimes,” Dunham said, speaking of the chef community. “I grew up in an era and training in restaurants where customers had to have critical conversations at the time of their visit.

We were taught to have those conversations and solve the problem. Part of the challenge now is that youngerish people don’t know how to have hard conversations and feel timid or might have anxiety about having them, and it’s easier to go home and get on their keyboard because there’s no external threat.”

He trains his staff to aim for perfect service but realizes that isn’t always a reality. When a problem occurs in the restaurant, they take the meal off the bill and do whatever it takes for the customer.

“I like that people have a voice, and the reality is that it gives us a lot of data in real time. … It’s critical for me to have a calm state of mind when I read feedback to get to the truth of it and get through all the emotions of it. The human in me also looks at it and thinks, ‘Do they really know more than me?’”

Dunham said with a laugh.

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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

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EAT & DRINK

F E AT U R E

Sashimi at Masa Ramen & Sushi is served with artful garnish. | Photo Alexa Ace

Masa momentum

Fresh off a four-day free food giveaway, Masa Ramen & Sushi builds on its success. By Jacob Threadgill

When Masa Ramen & Sushi co-owner Leo Chen told the other owners his idea for a grand opening would be four days of free-food giveaways, it took some convincing that it would be a good idea.

“I wanted to make a big splash,” Chen said. “It was like an advertisement so that more people would know about and talk about Masa. I don’t care how much money we spend; I want to get the word out and make business better. I knew the sushi chefs and kitchen could handle it.”

Chen also runs Szechuan Bistro, which is located across the street from Masa, near the intersection of Memorial Road and Western Avenue, with his wife Sophia. He worked on the Masa concept for over a year and put his blood, sweat and tears into the concept with the help of only a few people to paint and install the bar and other showstopping items like lights leading to the bathrooms.

Many days, he was by himself, modeling the space after his own designs.

After all of that hard work, he wanted to think of a gesture that would match his enthusiasm for the restaurant.

“Friends and other [restaurant] owners told me that I was crazy,” Chen said. “Maybe now other owners will copy this idea.”

Masa didn’t place any restrictions on the amount of times a customer could visit for its grand opening free meal, held August 19-22, which included a limited menu for both lunch and dinner.

“The line wrapped all the way outside the building,” manager Don Kerr said.

“Periodically, I’d go out and talk to people and make sure they knew we were thinking about them. We made everything to-order, and even though we were giving food away, we didn’t want to diminish the quality.”

Kerr said people came multiple times during the four days, and he has already seen a few of them back in the restaurant to pay in full.

“I love the response we’ve had from people,” Kerr said. “I’ve already had multiple people say it’s the best sushi in OKC. The difference is the quality of ingredients, not just fish, but down to the rice. We spend the money to get a higher grade of rice, and the rice ratio is smaller compared to everything else in there, so you’re not getting a mouthful of rice in there, and it’s a nice balance with the fish.”

Friends and other [restaurant] owners told me that I was crazy.

miso broth — the latter is vegetarian — but a standalone vegetarian broth is in the works.

“It’s all homemade and no MSG,” Kerr said. “It is low sodium and not like the packets at home where you’re dumping a truckload of salt. It is clean, and you can taste the ingredients as well.”

Masa even offers its ramen for takeout orders by utilizing a container that separates the broth, noodles and toppings, to replicate the dine-in experience at home.

In addition to offering takeout, Masa sets itself apart from other ramen shops by offering a full bar that features an extensive Japanese liquor selection.

“We’re trying to have more of a bar than most sushi places, most Asian restaurants,” Kerr said. “We have a fullservice bar and not just a choice of wine and sake.”

Masa offers a flight of Japanese whiskey for tasting as well as rare bottles like a 16-year Fukano. Kerr said there were only six bottles in the state and they have a 25-year Fukano on order.

Masa a lso of fers Japanese gin and vodka.

Its Japanese cocktails are named after flowers. The Carnation is a version of an Old Fashioned with Japanese ingredients. The commitment to Asianinspired drinks continues to its beer selection, which includes an imported bottle selection as well as local Vanessa House Beer Co.’s ginger and lemongrass lager on tap.

Concept building

The Chens opened Szechuan Bistro in 2011, and they began to search for a home for Masa about a year ago after business partners pushed them to chase the popularity of ramen and sushi in the market.

After a successful opening for Masa, the Chens are already beginning to eye an expansion of the Masa brand over the coming years.

“It gives us more confidence to search for more locations,” Sophia Chen said. “We want to keep the quality up here first and then look to expand.”

“We’re looking to go anywhere from here down to Norman,” Leo Chen said.

“We might just have to have free food for four days again,” Sophia Chen said in response with a smile.

Visit masaramensushi.com.

A Japanese whiskey flight is part of Masa Ramen & Sushi’s extensive offerings of Japanese liquor. | Photo Alexa Ace

Leo Chen Masa offers an extensive sushi selection prepared by trained chefs and presented in an elevated manner with flowers for garnish.

It offers 20 chef’s special rolls like the house Masa roll with tempura shrimp topped with spicy tuna, eel and yellowtail.

The Passion Roll is served to look like a heart as spicy salmon, seaweed salad and crunchy yellowtail line the roll.

They also have seven “crunchy” rolls and five offerings of naruto, which is rolled paper-thin with a cucumber replacing rice, for those looking to reduce their carb intake.

The kitchen staff spends eight hours making the broth for its ramen. Masa is currently serving pork, chicken and

Tonkatsu ramen | Photo Alexa Ace

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GAZEDIBLES

EAT & DRINK

Rice revelry

September is National Rice Month in the U.S. Rice is not native to this country, so why not celebrate it with food from countries that do it the best?

By Jacob Threadgill with photo provided and Gazette / file

Sheesh Mahal 4621 N. May Ave. 405-778-8469

The rice options are plentiful at Sheesh Mahal, and that even includes dessert.

It offers basmati rice with every entrée, and the biryani is layered with chicken, herbs and spices. The green masala rice is cooked with a mixture of greens and is as flavorful as it is colorful. It also offers zarda, which is sweet basmati with nuts and raisins, and a pair of rice puddings.

Tokyo Japanese Restaurant

Indian Dhaba 4600 NE 120th St. 405-478-2151

7516 N. Western Ave. tokyookc.com | 405-848-6733

Sushi is incomplete without rice; otherwise, you’re thinking of sashimi.

Oklahoma City’s longest-open sushi restaurant certainly delivers with its rolls and nigiri. The sable nigiri get a brief singe from a blowtorch before arriving to your table. There are more rice options than sushi, like the ochazuke from Tokyo’s happy hour menu. It is a bed of rice with cooked salmon and eel finished with a light broth.

This restaurant might be known for its buffet options, but it has plenty of variety if you want to order off the menu.

You can choose from both vegetable and meat options, and to enjoy rice, it’s best to order biryani, where the basmati rice is the star. The dish is cooked with plenty of herbs and spices, and Dhaba offers vegetable, chicken and goat varieties. The goat (also called mutton) adds a depth of flavor not found from the standard chicken.

ThirsTy Thursday $2 domesTics

$6 old fashions

SUMMER SALAD

ALWAYS ASK ABOUT BAR SPECIALS

COLLEGE FOOTBALL SPECIALS $4 SHINER BOCK BOTTLES DURING OU & OSU GAMES

LUNCH ö DINNER ö DRINKS

BRUNCH

SAT & SUN 10AM 7301 N MAY, OKC ö 405-242-6100

WWW.NEDSSTARLITELOUNGE.COM 16

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11AM

$8.99 4PM

MONDAY through FRIDAY Fresh Spring Mix, Sweet Strawberries, Juicy Grilled Chicken Breast, Sprinkled with Feta Cheese, Diced Tomato, Boiled Egg, Sliced Red Onion, and House Made Strawberry Vinaigrette

GRANDRESORTOK.COM I-40 EXIT 178 I SHAWNEE, OK I 405-964-7263

Thai House

500 NW 23rd St. facebook.com/thaihouseokc 405-524-0503

You’ve got nine variations of rice options at Thai House, where the choices range from standard fried rice with a choice of protein to more interesting dishes. Add some sweetness with the pineapple fried rice or enjoy other options with the seafood variety featuring shrimp, scallops, squid and mussels. The kao pad kra pao is spicy basil fried rice; go with the pork, which is finished with bell peppers, basil leaves and spicy hot basil sauce.

Cafe Saffron

770 Deans Row Ave., Norman facebook.com/cafe.saffron.shawerma. kabobs.persian 405-360-8050

This Norman staple serves approachable Persian favorites and has done so for almost two full decades. Entrees consist of kebabs, lamb shanks, ground beef skewers, chicken and vegetable options. The best way to soak up all those meat juices is the saffron rice, which is served with every entrée, along with salad and yoghurt sauce.

Mickey Mantle’s Steakhouse

7 S. Mickey Mantle Drive mickeymantlesteakhouse.com 405-272-0777

The care and love it takes to properly make risotto — adding stock to the rice as it cooks on the stove, a little bit a time — makes it one of the most luxurious dishes for a night on the town. Mickey Mantle’s Steakhouse takes the dish to another level with the addition of lobster that appears with and on top of the rice. You can practically make a meal out of it, but it pairs great with either land or seafood.

Lang’s Bakery

2524 N. Military Ave. 405-528-5141

Upon first mention, you might think about this local bakery as a one-stop shop for banh mi, but the menu goes much deeper than that. It’s got hu tieu bo kho—a pot roast-like soup that is a cousin to pho — and a few broken rice options. The com tam bi, thit tuong, cha combines both charbroiled and shredded pork over rice with a baked egg patty and fresh vegetables. The meal has everything you could want; just make sure you bring cash because Lang’s doesn’t take cards.

Need lunch for a small or large group?

We’ve got you covered with our box lunches, party trays & party subs.

Choose from any of our cold sandwiches Includes chips & a cookie

M-F 7AM-6:30PM • SAT 9:30AM-4PM 2310 N WESTERN • 524-0887 O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | S E P T E M B E R 4 , 2 0 1 9

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O k l a h o m a

S t a t e

F a i r

T IC K ET S A RE O N SAL E N O W! TICKET PRICES START AT

September 12-16 Thursday, Sept. 12. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7:30 p.m.

Friday, Sept. 13. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 14. . 11:30 a.m., 3:30 & 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, Sept. 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1:30 & 5:30 p.m.

Monday, Sept. 16 . . . . . . . . 10:30 a.m. & 7:30 p.m.

PRCA XTREME BULLS & BRONCS TOUR & CONCERTS MIDLAND

SCOTTY McCREERY Saturday, September 21 7:30 p.m.

Friday, September 20 7:30 p.m.

BOX SEATS (ALL AGES)

BOX SEATS (ALL AGES)

Upper Level Adult (12+) . . . . . . $32 Upper Level Child (2-11) . . . . . . $25

Upper Level Adult (12+) . . . . . . $35 Upper Level Child (2-11) . . . . . . $28

CARNIVAL RIDE ARMBANDS

when you purchase an unlimited carnival ride armband at the State Fair Park Box Office or through our other ticket buying options. (outside Gate Admission NOT INCLUDED)

EASY WAYS TO BUY TICKETS!

MONDAY-THURSDAY / $20 advance / $35 regular FRIDAY-SUNDAY / $30 advance / $45 regular

HURRY, OFFER ENDS SEPTEMBER 11!

STATE FAIR PARK BOX OFFICE, okstatefair.com or 405-948-6800

C H I C K A S A W C O U N T R Y E N T E R TA I N M E N T S TAG E CONCERTS

September 12 KEVIN FOWLER 7:30 p.m.

September 14 RESURRECTION - A JOURNEY TRIBUTE 8 p.m.

September 15 LA ENERGIA NORTEÑA September 13 6 p.m.

LARRY, STEVE & RUDY: THE GATLIN September 16 BROTHERS UNSPOKEN 7:30 p.m.

7:30 p.m.

WITH OUTSIDE GATE ADMISSION

September 17 THE GRASS ROOTS, THE BUCKINGHAMS, THE BOX TOPS 7:30 p.m.

September 18 ELVIS EXTRAVAGANZA 7:30 p.m.

September 19 EASTON CORBIN 7:30 p.m.

September 20 DRU HILL 7:30 p.m.

September 21 NIGHT RANGER 8 p.m.

September 22 TONY LEWIS FROM THE OUTFIELD 6 p.m.

The Official Soft Drink of State Fair Park

“ O k la h o m a ’ s P re m ie r Fa m i l y A t t ra c t io n ” 19_OKLAHOMA_GAZETTE_9.25XX12.25_4C.indd 18 S E P T E M B E R 4 , 2 0 1 9 | O KG A Z E T T E . C O M 1

8/22/19 10:15 AM

T H E AT E R

ARTS & CULTURE

Werq space The official RuPaul’s Drag Race world tour brings its intergalactic act to Oklahoma. By Jeremy Martin

Promoted as “the largest drag show in the world,” Werq the World has its sights set even higher.

The tour, featuring performers from RuPaul’s Drag Race, lands in the metro 8 p.m. Sept. 12 at Rose State College Hudiburg Chevrolet Center, 6000 S. Trosper Place, in Midwest City.

Season 11 standout Plastique Tiara said fans of the television show will still be surprised at the epic scale of the live tour.

“Oh my gosh! It’s a whole totally different feel because it’s a production where each girl, basically, we can do what we want,” Tiara said. “Each girl has their own little planet, and we have our own elements that we can play up to. Some of us are more theatrical. Some of us are more high-energy. … I have got to say, this is the highest-production drag show I’ve ever been a part of, and I’m so excited.”

Tiara worked closely with producer Brandon Voss to develop an individual intergalactic fantasy world.

“My planet is Neptune,” Tiara said.

“I am the ice queen. I can’t reveal too, too much, but … when they pitched me the idea of how they’re going to set up the stage and how everything is going to play out, I was just floored. … I like everything to be perfect. I like to know every single thing. He made every vision in my head come true.”

Season 10 runner-up Kameron Michaels said the tour — which hit Europe earlier this year and has scheduled stops in South America, Australia, Drag Race judge Michelle Visage serves as host and “mission leader.” | Photo Voss Events / provided

New Zealand and Asia after its North American dates — has only “upped the ante” since she joined it.

“I’ve been with the tour for, I guess, over a year now, and even with the short amount of time that I’ve been on the tour, the production value and the level of performance on the show has astronomically grown,” Michaels said. “It is a large-scale drag show. It’s the biggest one that that has ever been in the history of drag. … It’s an amazing show to watch — props, dancers; it’s the whole nine yards. It’s a very high-quality production. … We’re in larger theaters now.

A few of the girls, including myself, have an aerial act which requires us to be hoisted up by wires into the ceiling. So, yeah, it’s definitely a lot different from the bar gigs and stuff that some of the girls are used to doing.”

The show, hosted by Michelle Visage and Asia O’Hara, also features Aquaria, Detox, Kim Chi, Monét X Change, Naomi Smalls, Violet Chachki, Vanessa Vanjie Mateo and Yvie Oddly. While previous tours have placed performers in individualized set pieces, the current tour finds them in a unified — and universal — storyline.

“Past Werq the Worlds have just been kind of whatever the girls wanted to do for their number, but this time, we all collectively came together and came up with a theme for the whole show,” Michaels said.

“We’re saving the galaxy, and each of us represent a planet in the solar system. I am Mars, the bringer of war, which I think is very fitting for my aesthetic.”

Finding inspiration

Michaels, a self-described “muscle queen” likes to imbue her performances with elements drawn from her favorite pop culture.

“I tapped into something that I think is very true to my inner child,” Michaels said. “I loved fantasy movies. I loved video games. I loved all of those things as a child. And I think that really is represented now in my drag with the fantasy and the headpieces. Lord of the Rings and movies like that are where I get a lot of my ins pi r at ion from. I think I just dove into my childhood and

found my favorite things.”

Tiara, who was born in Vietnam, said she draws inspiration from Asian pop icons such as Minh Tuyết. Whenever Drag Race challenges required knowledge of American pop culture she was unfamiliar with (most infamously Beyoncé), Tiara had to “wing it.”

“I just kind of faked it till I made it,” Tiara said. “I would be like, ‘Oh yeah!

Fun!’ but I didn’t know what they were talking about. … Now I have a little bit more of a sense of American pop culture, and drag has helped me a lot, too, with that. I would know my references now … but my drag is more Asian-inspired.

That’s what molded me.”

In addition to learning about the legend of Queen Bey, appearing on Drag Race gave Tiara, who came to drag through social media, the chance to sharpen her skills as a performer.

We’re saving the galaxy, and each of us represent a planet in the solar system.

Kameron Michaels “Now, I actually get to go around and be a professional drag queen and work with all these girls,” Tiara said. “So that helped me become more confident, knowing that I have this under my belt now. … When I went into it the first time, I never worked with other drag queens before.”

The Hollywood Reporter said Tiara’s “highlight, contour and impeccable wig game could put any Kardashian-Jenner or beauty influencer to shame,” but she said the demands of performing require different considerations than crafting a flawless Instagram look.

“Onstage, there’s so many more elements to it,” Tiara said. “I have to make sure my hair stays on, my outfit and everything looks good, but then everything can’t be too, too perfect because then you’ll lose the mobility.”

Speaking of appearance versus reality, Tiara said all of the as-seen-on-TV Drag Race drama between performers has been settled.

Werq the World, featuring performers from Rupaul’s Drag Race, hits Midwest City 8 p.m. Sept. 12 at Rose State College Hudiburg Chevrolet Center. | Photo Voss Events / provided

“We went on the season 11 tour together and everyone seemed pretty good,” Tiara said. “It was a TV show, and it happened over a year ago. Everything seems fine. … We’re here to make money, so it’s all good now.”

Michaels, who had a reputation for being a quiet introvert on season 10, said she is not as shy in person as at home viewers might believe.

“It’s funny,” Michaels said. “People come to my shows now, and they realize that I was very reserved just being in front of cameras and on TV. I’m not really reserved in real life, so I do just fine on tour.”

Though Michaels got her start performing in bars, she also used social media apps to sharpen her skills — specifically the lethal lip-synching ability that enabled her to survive a record five face-offs in a single season.

“Know your words first,” Michaels advised. “Dance around your house in front of your mirror like an idiot and just get in your character. I used Dubsmash for a long time to develop my lip-synching. Dubsmash, TikTok, those are great apps to lip-sync to. Just be silly and do stuff on your own.”

Tiara said today’s performers have the chance to make their own rules and rule their own worlds.

“I think we define modern drag more than anything, the people who are doing it,” Tiara said. “They say drag is dressing as a girl, but nowadays, there are just club kids and bio queens and gender females doing drag. It’s just a jambalaya of everything amazing and artsy, and I love it.”

Tickets are $52-$162. Visit vossevents.com.

RuPaul’s Drag Race: Werq the World 8 p.m. Sept. 12 Rose State College Hudiburg Chevrolet Center 6000 S. Trosper Place, Midwest City vossevents.com $52-$162

O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | S E P T E M B E R 4 , 2 0 1 9

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Shoppes at Northpark, 12028 May Ave. 405-751-8930

Mental leap The third Norman Film Festival features an array of films to transport viewers to different places and states of mind. By Jeremy Martin

After premiering in Indonesia in June, a film shot in the Oklahoma City metro in 2016 will have its first public showing in Oklahoma.

Lord Finn — which won awards for best actor, director, screenplay, music and ensemble at the Asia Pacific International Filmmaker Festival & Awards in Jakarta — screens 6:30 p.m.

Sept. 14 at Sooner Theatre, 101 E. Main St., in Norman as part of the third annual Norman Film Festival.

“This movie is very unconventional; it’s nonlinear; it’s a different kind of animal,” said director and screenwriter Al Mertens. “It’s a film that has several different storylines, the main one being about a biracial Native American and Irish individual who has some mental problems, so these storylines kind of twist and turn and then come together in a pretty interesting way at the end. But that’s been one of the joys of my creative life here this last several years, to listen in on people trying to describe what it’s about.”

Ben Richardson, who stars as Daniel Finley and also served as the film’s producer and casting director, elaborated.

“It deals with the mashing of two cultures and what it’s like to have one foot in each of those cultures without being fully immersed into either one of them while the lead character is also dealing with a mental disability, specifically dissociative identity disorder,” Finley said. “Dealing with that as some20

S E P T E M B E R 4 , 2 0 1 9 | O KG A Z E T T E . C O M

body that is all there can be overwhelming and cause anxiety and all these different things, but now you’ve added another layer, and that’s just the main storyline.”

The film’s other plots focus on Cheer (Sarahjoy Mount), a character Richardson described as “an inmate in a female prison that tells these fantastical stories, this enigmatic person,” and Warren (Delno Ebie), a car thief, and Jasmine (Jamie Loy), a prostitute, meeting at a hotel.

As a first-time feature director, it was a little intimidating to make that emotional mental leap.

Al Mertens “You think these are all really nonsensical and they don’t really match,” Richardson said, “but then what Al has done is masterfully craft the script to collide all three of these storylines together, to have a really charismatic and cathartic ending that hopefully no one really sees coming but in the end really was inevitable if you look at the clues along the way.”

Okko’s Inn screens 4:15 p.m. Sept. 14 at Sooner Theatre in Norman. | Photo provided

Lord Finn screens 6:30 p.m. Sept. 14 at Sooner Theatre in Norman. | Photo Al Mertens / provided

Richardson said the role of Daniel Finley required extensive preparation.

“I spent hours and hours researching dissociative identity disorder. I really wanted to be authentic and true to this mental disability,” Richardson said. “I read, actually, three different books on mental disorders, on dissociative identity disorder, on borderline personality disorder and different mental diseases that are similar so that I could get an idea what’s not only going on in his brain, but how other people would be possibly affected by that.”

He also watched YouTube videos and read articles by medical professionals.

“As much as you prepare for something, though, obviously when you’re in the middle of it, it’s never going to be quite the same,” Richardson said, “and that’s where Al’s direction really came in stupendously to mesh me together with all of the other components.”

Mertens, who previously wrote and directed the short films In This Golden Cage I Must Live and Sacrificios, combined two ideas he had for shorts that seemed thematically linked and added a third plot.

“As a first-time feature director, it was a little intimidating to make that emotional mental leap,” Mertens said.

The film, shot over 13 days in November of 2016, also faced an exterior obstacle: a highly contentious presidential election.

“We realized no matter which side of the aisle they were on, people will need time to process it,” Richardson said. “So we decided to give ourselves three days off after the election, which is obviously not typical. Usually when you’re filming, you’re going to film, but we wanted to make sure that everybody was there 100 percent and not coming in with personal views that might change the feel of the film … that our actors and our crew, that everyone was engaged.”

Another locally produced film, Arrows of Outrageous Fortune — written and directed by Mickey Reece and starring Alex Sanchez, Mary Buss, Cate Jones, Michaelene Stephenson and Kinsey Charles — screens at 8:45 p.m. Sept. 14 at Sooner Theatre. The film — which IndyRed called “an off-beat, unusual film that is off-beat and unusual in the best possible way” and Film Threat’s Alex Saveliev called “an oddity that left me utterly stumped” was also an official selection of Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival, Chattanooga Film Festival, Tulsa’s Circle Cinema Film Festival and deadCenter Film Festival.

A Poem Is a Naked Person — a documentary Les Blank (Burden of Dreams, The Blues According to Lightnin’ Hopkins) filmed at Leon Russell’s Grand Lake home recording studio — screens 5:30 p.m. Sept. 14 at Opolis, 113 N. Crawford Ave., in Norman, followed by a music video showcase. Blank filmed the movie between 1972 and 1974, but Russell prevented its commercial release until 2015. Critic Robert Christgau called it an “arty horror movie of a documentary” and Blank’s “most ambitious film.”

The Norman Film Festival screenings also include short films (with family-friendly and adults-only screenings), features both national (Steam Room Stories: The Movie, The Biggest Little Farm, A Dog’s Journey, Lift) and international (Japan’s Okko’s Inn and Germany’s Flesh City) and parties, workshops and a drag show.

The festival runs Sept. 13-14.

Admission is free. For a full schedule of events, visit normanfilmfest.com.

Selma from Rosa Faia Up to a G Cup Available

Shoppes at Northpark 122nd & N. May 405.936.0030 Mon-Fri 10-5, Sat 10-4

READ US AT

Norman Film Festival 3 Sept. 13-14 Downtown Norman 101 E. Main St., Norman normanfilmfest.com Free

EXPERIENCE FIRST FRIDAY GALLERY WALK Friday, Sept. 6, 2019 • 6-9pm

Live Music: Hannah Butler ARTS DISTRICT Mobile Vendors: Yum Pig, The Big Friendly Craft Beer Bus, Growe Flower Truck and Country Girl Kitchen

In the Paseo Art Space at 3022 Paseo Photofest This annual juried exhibition showcases all types of photography-based artwork. Sept. 6-28

Local and national art, great food, art classes and plenty of shopping!

#FirstFridayPaseo

405.525.2688 • thepaseo.org O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | S E P T E M B E R 4 , 2 0 1 9

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ARTS & CULTURE

Furniture family

Henry Home Interiors in Norman continues a long-standing family tradition of furniture retail and design. By Jo Light

The Henry Home Interiors showroom is a big, bright space filled with plush sofas upholstered in customizable fabrics, trendy side tables, marble lamps with clean lines, patterned rugs and more.

The Norman showroom, 3720 W. Robinson St., Suite 112, opened in November 2018, but the family behind Henry Home Interiors has been in the furniture and design business for much longer than that.

Storeowner and interior designer Katelynn Calonkey Henry is part of a family legacy that started over 80 years ago.

“I grew up in the business,” Henry said via phone. “My dad ran a furniture store that was opened by his father, and prior to that, my great-grandfather opened up a furniture store in Norman in the 1930s.”

The family’s first store was Landsaw Furniture, followed by Mister Robert Fine Furniture, both in Norman. Henry dug into retail and design work from a young age and also worked on the wholesale side while attending Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. In 2011, she moved back to Norman and started working full-time with her father, Steve Calonkey.

“In June of last year, I decided to step away from that family business and start my own,” Henry said. “I thought that Oklahoma needed something a little more fresh and updated.”

Henry Home Interiors focuses on slightly more upscale and transitional pieces in more of a boutique setting.

Furniture lines carried in the store include Century Furniture, Hancock & Moore, Massoud Furniture and Sherrill Furniture.

Henry also has a distinguished background in interior design.

In 2017, she was honored as a Forty Under 40 in Home Furnishing Business magazine for her design work. The list

highlights forward-thinking millennial designers, managers and business owners within the furniture industry.

Her recent design work includes a restaurant in Tulsa and a law office in downtown Oklahoma City. Henry also is currently working with a builder who needs furniture for an entire private residence.

“We can either do one piece of furniture, or we can do all the furniture in your home,” Henry said, “fitting your budget, your timeline, your style, your needs, your lifestyle.”

I love working with clients and customers in their homes.

Katelynn Calonkey Henry Henry Home Interior’s lead designer, Steve Simpson, also has extensive experience in the furniture industry. He has been working in the business for over three decades, a period that includes 30 years at Brown Furniture Company in Shawnee, which closed in 2014.

“So I’ve been doing this a while,” Simpson said.

As an interior designer, he appreciates that he gets to be creative in his job.

“I was an art major back in college, so it’s kind of a creative outlet,” he said.

“I enjoy going in and helping clients to interpret their own style, what they want, and hopefully transform a space for them into something that is comfortable and inviting.”

Henry, Simpson and Calonkey all provide interior design services. They also offer furniture customization.

Both Henry and Simpson said the design side of the business is one of the most rewarding aspects of their work.

“I love working with clients and cus-

tomers in their homes,” Henry said, “getting in their homes and making their vision come to life.”

Neighborhood niche

The store is a prominent feature of the Brookhaven Village shopping area at W. Robinson Street and 36th Avenue NW. “The location is just ideal,” Simpson said. “We’ve got a lot of other great businesses around that [are] a draw for people, so we get tons of traffic through here.”

For instance, the Norman location of OK Runner is just next door, and Simpson said they get a great deal of runners stopping by Henry Home Interiors.

“And the proximity to the highway is really great because we have a lot of clientele who are in Oklahoma City and Edmond,” Simpson added.

Henry Home Interiors was also involved in this year’s Oklahoma City Orchestra League’s Symphony Show House.

The Symphony Show House is an annual fundraising event. A local property is staged as a showcase of local interior designers and furniture retailers. The work is all volunteer-based.

The event, founded in 1948, contributes to Oklahoma City Philharmonic and music education programs.

Henry is a member of the Oklahoma City Orchestra League and has been involved in the event for several years, designing rooms on her own since 2012.

“It’s fun to do because we don’t have a client,” Henry said. “And so we get to show some different things off or some combinations that a client hasn’t demanded yet.”

This year, the event transformed a Mesta Park building that once housed offices and classrooms for Sunbeam Family Services, which provides social services to children. The building is now known as Sunbeam Home Apartments, and Henry Home Interiors designed two units. Henry went for an “uptown girl” design in her solo unit.

Lisa Reed, executive director of Oklahoma City Orchestra League, praised Henry’s design skills and flexibility. Over the years, the Symphony Show House has transformed diverse spaces, from historic buildings to new builds.

“I think the thing about [Henry’s] style is that she is so incredibly adaptable,” Reed said. “I can’t imagine that there would be any project that you would lay out in front of her that she couldn’t do.”

Reed called Henry’s designs elegant yet approachable, with bold statement pieces like unexpected light fixtures or artwork in unique frames.

Henry plans to celebrate the store’s one-year anniversary in November with a storewide event.

“This past year, our expectations for opening a new business have been completely blown away,” Henry said.

Visit henryinteriors.com.

In addition to furniture, Henry’s Home Furnishings carries accent pieces like pillows and lamps. | Photo Alexa Ace

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CALENDAR are events recommended

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

BOOKS Hollie Stuart and Jill Keuth book signing the authors will autograph copies of Ready to Fly Volume 2 the newest book in the Women’s Anthology Project, 6:30 p.m. Sept. 9. Full Circle Bookstore, 1900 Northwest Expressway, 405-842-2900, fullcirclebooks.com. MON Hope*writer day a meet-up and discussion group for local writers, 7-9 p.m. Sept. 10. Full Circle Bookstore, 1900 Northwest Expressway, 405-842-2900, fullcirclebooks.com. TUE Lawrence Baines book signing the author will autograph copies of Privatization of America’s Public Institutions: The Story of the American Sellout, 6:30 p.m. Sept. 5. Full Circle Bookstore, 1900 Northwest Expressway, 405-842-2900, fullcirclebooks.com. THU Mary Anna Evans book signing the author will autograph copies of her novel Catacombs, a thriller about an archeologist exploring the tunnels below Oklahoma City, 1-2:30 p.m. Sept. 7. Best of Books, 1313 E. Danforth Road, Edmond, 405-340-9202, bestofbooksok.com. SAT Mid-Oklahoma Writers a meetup for local writers featuring guest speakers and literary discussions, 7-9 p.m. the second Tuesday of the month. Eastside Church of Christ, 916 S. Douglas Blvd., 405-732-0393.

TUE

Second Sunday Poetry hear the works of a variety of local poets, 2 p.m. second Sunday of every month.

The Depot, 200 S. Jones Ave., Norman, 405-3079320, pasnorman.org. SUN Writers for Migrant Justice poets Janine Joseph and Iliana Rocha host this reading and fundraiser for Immigrant Families Together, 7 p.m. Sept. 4.

Commonplace Books, 1325 N. Walker Ave., 405-534-4540, commonplacebooksokc.com. WED

FILM Art & Victory: Making Short Films a filmmaking discussion panel hosted by Christian Pearson and featuring Laron M. Chapman and Alyx Picard Davis, 6:30-9:30 p.m. Sept. 9. The Depot, 200 S. Jones Ave., Norman, 405-307-9320, pasnorman.org. MON The Cat Rescuers (2018, USA, Rob Fruchtman and Steven Lawrence) a documentary about a group attempting to save New York City’s feral cat population, Sept. 6. Rodeo Cinema, 2221 Exchange Ave., 405-2353456. FRI VHS and Chill: Blockbusted Video riff along with comedians and film fans at this monthly movie screening where audience participation is encouraged, 7-9 p.m. first Wednesday of every month. The Paramount Room, 701 W. Sheridan Ave., 405-887-3327, theparamountroom.com. WED

HAPPENINGS Afro Beats a dance party with soca, hip-hop, Caribbean, dancehall and other genres of music provided

by DJ Sinz, 11 p.m.-2 a.m. Fridays. Glass Lounge, 5929 N. May Ave., 405-835-8077, glasshouseokc.com. FRI Banquet Cinema Bingo Night buy a card for a chance to win cash prizes, 7-8:45 p.m. Wednesdays.

The Banquet Cinema Pub, 800 NW Fourth St., banquetcinema.com. WED Drag Me to Bingo bingo night hosted by Teabaggin Betsy, 9 p.m. Tuesdays. Partners, 2805 NW 36th St., 405-942-2199, partners4club.com. TUE Fall Gardening learn what vegetables can be grown in Oklahoma through autumn at this informational lecture, 6 p.m. Sept. 11. Will Rogers Garden Center, 3400 NW 36th St., 405-943-0827, okc.gov.

WED

Filmrow Trivia Night test your cinematic knowledge at this monthly competition hosted by VHS and Chill, 7 p.m. the second Tuesday of every month. The Paramount Room, 701 W. Sheridan Ave., 405-8873327, theparamountroom.com. TUE The Friend Zone: Speed-Friending make new friends five minutes at a time at this platonic meetup, 7 p.m. second Monday of every month. Oak & Ore, 1732 NW. 16th St., 405-606-2030, oakandore.com.

MON

Landscaping With Natives learn about planting native species in your yard and garden at this three-part series hosted by the Central Chapter of the Oklahoma Native Plant Society, 6:30 p.m. Sept.

5., Oct. 3 and Nov. 7. OSU-OKC Campus, 900 N. Portland Ave., 405-947-4421, osuokc.edu/home/. THU Party Like It’s 1920 a Roaring ’20s-themed celebration featuring jazz, Charleston dance demonstrations, Prohibition cocktails, 7:30-9 p.m. Sept. 6.

Edmond Historical Society & Museum, 431 S. Boulevard, 405-340-0078, edmondhistory.org. FRI Renegade Poker compete in a 2-3 hour tournament with cash prizes, 3 p.m. Sundays. Bison Witches Bar & Deli, 211 E Main St., 405-364-7555, bisonwitchesok.com. SUN World Long Drive Championship golfers will compete to see who can drive the ball the farthest, Sept. 3-4, Through Sept. 4. WinStar World Casino, 777 Casino Ave., 866-946-7787, winstarworldcasino. com. TUE-WED

FOOD 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

Deep Deuce Director’s Cut: The Princess Bride What if, instead of heaping more praise on novelist and screenwriter William Goldman’s The Princess Bride, this paragraph was actually an ill-advised “hot take” about how overrated it is? Think how mad you, a person who believes in true love, would be. You might already be mentally composing an angry response as you read this. Balancing a sense of actual adventure and romance with genuinely funny jokes and featuring a nearly inconceivable number of iconic lines and performances, this beloved 1987 classic is the rare film that multiple generations of moviegoers seem to agree on. Bring blankets and lawn chairs and see it outdoors at this dog-friendly screening that includes a costume contest. Subtitles will be displayed in case you don’t already know all the words. As you wish 8-11 p.m. Friday at 320 NE Second St. Admission is free. Visit deepdeucedistrict.com.

FRIDAY Photo provided

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 storytime 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 Stone-Age Necklace workshop a prehistoricthemed, hands-on children’s crafting activity, 11 a.m-3 p.m. Sept. 7. Lakeshore Learning Store, 6300 N. May Ave., 405-858-8778, lakeshorelearning.com. SAT

YOUTH

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

Down Syndrome Association of Central Oklahoma Storytime children can hear stories and meet therapy dogs while their parents enjoy coffee, 9:30-10:30 a.m. Sept. 4. Down Syndrome Association of Central Oklahoma, 600 NW 23rd St., (405) 600-9981, dsaco.org. WED

Storytime Science the museum invites children age 6 and younger to hear a story and participate in a related scientific activity, 10 a.m. Tuesdays and Saturdays. Science Museum Oklahoma, 2020 Remington Place, 405-602-6664, sciencemuseumok. org. TUE-SAT

Early Explorers toddlers and preschoolers can

PERFORMING ARTS Art of Rap hosted by Jim Conway, this monthly rap battle pits local MCs against one another for a cash prize, 9 p.m. Mondays. Hubbly Bubbly Hookah & Café, 2900 N Classen Blvd. Suite K, 405-609-2930.

MON

Banjo Fest hear live music by Debbie Schreyer, Lee Floyd and Gary “Biscuit” Davis and view the new exhibit Reflections Of Our Past – The Jim Bollman Collection, Sept. 5-7, Sept. 5-7. American Banjo Museum, 9 E. Sheridan Ave., 405-604-2793, americanbanjomuseum.com. THU-SAT Blue Sunday a monthly blues tribute show hosted

by Powerhouse Blues Project,6-8 p.m. the second Sunday of every month. Friends Restaurant & Club, 3705 W. Memorial road, 405-751-4057, friendsbarokc. com. SUN Driving Miss Daisy a widow and her chauffeur forge an unlikely friendship in Alfred Uhry’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play; directed by W. Jerome Stevenson and starring Brenda Williams and Albert Bostick, Aug. 23-Sept. 7, Through Sept. 7. The Pollard Theatre, 120 W. Harrison Ave., 405-282-2800, thepollard.org.

FRI-SAT

Pawsitively Pampered Dog Wash This fundraising benefit for Yukon no-kill animal shelter Pets & People Humane Society has maybe the most adorable slidingscale pricing model. Nail trims are all $10, but dog washes are $10-$20 and grooming is $20-30 “based on size and fluffiness.” Attendees can also look forward to food trucks, vendors and music that hopefully isn’t too loud for big, fluffy ears. Pamper your pup 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday at Yukon National Bank, 1550 Garth Brooks Blvd.

Admission is free.SUNDAY Photo provided

Every Brilliant Thing when a young boy’s mother attempts suicide he begins keeping a list of the things that make life worth living in this experimental play by Duncan Macmillan and Johnny Donahoe, Sept. 6-22, Sept. 6-22. CitySpace Theatre, Civic Center Music Hall, 201 N Walker Ave, 405-594-8300.

FRI-SUN

Okonedo, 2 p.m. Sept. 8. OCCC Visual and Performing Arts Center Theater, 7777 S. May Ave., 405-6827579, tickets.occc.edu. SUN Rebels & Royals Drag King Show hosted by former Mister USofA Damian Matrix-Gritte, this monthly show features local drag kings and special guests 10:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. first Saturday of every month. Frankie’s, 2807 NW 36th St., 405-602-2030, facebook.com/frankiesokc. SAT

ACTIVE Adult New Modern Square Dance Lessons learn the basics of square dancing at these classes led by Jeff Holley; no partner required, 7-9 p.m. Mondays and Thursdays, Sept. 9-Oct. 3. Mitch Park, 1501 W. Covell Road, Edmond, 405-359-4630, edmondok. com/parks. MON-THU Bocce Ball Tournament 16 teams will compete for top honors in this four-week tournament, 5:306:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Sept. 24. Kerr Park, 102 Robert S. Kerr Ave., 405-235-3500, downtownokc. com/kerr-park. TUE Botanical Balance an all-levels yoga class in a natural environment; bring your own mat and water, 5:45 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays and 9 a.m. Saturdays. Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave., 405-445-7080, myriadgardens.com. SAT-THU Monday Night Group Ride meet up for a weekly 25-30 minute bicycle ride at about 18 miles per hour through east Oklahoma City, 6 p.m. Mondays. The Bike Lab OKC, 2200 W. Hefner Road, 405-603-7655.

MON

Namas-Bey Yoga a yoga class featuring Beyoncé’s music in celebration of her birthday, 6-7 p.m. Sept.

4. Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave., 405445-7080, myriadgardens.com. WED OKC 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb a stair climb honoring firefighters who died in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and benefitting the Oklahoma Firefighters Foundation, 7 a.m.-2 p.m. Sept. 7. The Petroleum Club, 100 N. Broadway Ave., 405-2321184, petroleumclubokc.com. SAT Out Of The Darkness Walk a fundraiser for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, 10-11 a.m. Sept. 7. Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, 2 S. Mickey Mantle Drive, 405-218-1000, okcballparkevents.com. SAT Run the Alley a three-mile social run for athletes of all abilities ending with beers at The Yard, 6:30 p.m. Thursdays. OK Runner, 708 N Broadway Ave., 405-702-9291, myokrunner.com. THU 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

Frost/Nixon a play based on David Frost’s historic interview of President Richard Nixon and the lead up to it, Sept. 4-22, Sept. 4-22. Lyric Theatre, 1727 NW 16th St., 405-524-9310, lyrictheatreokc.com.

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

National Theatre Live: Antony & Cleopatra a filmed stage production of William Shakespeare’s historical tragedy starring Ralph Fiennes and Sophie

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, wheelerdistrict.com.

WED-SUN

GO TO OKGAZETTE.COM FOR FULL LISTINGS!

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C A L E N DA R

Party

CALENDAR TUE

Yoga with Art workout in an art-filled environment followed by a mimosa, 10:30 a.m. Saturdays. 21c Museum Hotel, 900 W. Main St., 405-982-6900, 21cmuseumhotels. com. SAT

VISUAL ARTS 12×12 Preview Exhibition view works that will be included in Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition’s 12x12 Art Fundraiser, Sept.

Wilcoxson, Sept. 6-29. Contemporary Art Gallery, 2928 Paseo St., 405-601-7474, contemporaryartgalleryokc.com. FRI-SUN Stories of Love and Longing/Encircled an exhibition of works by painter Marjorie Atwood and sculptor Tim Cooper, Sept. 6-30. JRB Art at The Elms, 2810 N. Walker Ave., 405-528-6336, jrbartgallery.com. FRI-MON Thoughts on Africa an exhibition of Don Nevard’s photographs of native African wildlife, through Oct. 31. Inasmuch Foundation Gallery at Oklahoma City Community College, 7777 S. May Avenue, 4056827579. SAT-THU

Friday, September 6, 2019 7:30pm – 9pm • 21 & up Step back in time to the Roaring 20s! Enjoy a selection of finger foods, wine, draft beer, and 2 prohibition-era cocktails, music, dancing, and so much more— all set to the tune of the Jazz Era. It’s an evening that will make you say, “Ain’t We Got Fun?!” Costumes not required, but welcomed.

Tickets available online at EdmondHistory.org • 405-340-0078

VegFestOKC Back for a second annual helping, VegFestOKC offers information, fitness classes, cooking demonstrations and more for people passionate or curious about adopting plant-based lifestyles, animal rights and environmental sustainability. Enjoy guest speakers, kids activities, local vendors and food trucks serving something you can actually eat. Veg out 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday at Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave. Admission is free. Visit vegfestokc.com. SATURDAY Photo / provided

9-15, Sept. 9-15. The Art Hall, 519 NW 23rd St., 405231-5700, arthallokc.com. MON-SUN Advancing the Pencil Portrait, Part II learn how to create better pencil portraits at this class for all experience levels, 6 p.m. Aug. 29-Sept. 19.

National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 NE 63rd St., 405-478-2250, nationalcowboymuseum.org. THU Brenda Kingery: A Retrospective an exhibition of 23 paintings by the Chickasaw artist and Oklahoma City native, through Sept. 6. Oklahoma City University, 2501 N. Blackwelder Ave, 405-2085000. SAT-FRI

Watercolor Workshop for Kids: Landscape Painting elementary and middle school students can learn about watercolors at this hands-on art class and go home with their own landscape painting, 6-7:30 p.m. Sept. 10. Heart Studios, 3208 Teakwood Lane, Suite 103, 405-664-4194, heartstudiosllc.com. TUE With Intent an exhibition of works by artists Bee Doublehue, Gayle Curry, Marissa Raglin and Josh Vaughn, Sept. 6-29. The Paseo Plunge, 3010 Paseo St., 405-315-6224, paseoplunge.org. FRI-SUN

Colors of Clay an exhibition of clay pots, bowls, pitchers and jars created by Native American artists, through May 10, 2021. National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 NE 63rd St., 405-478-2250, nationalcowboymuseum.org. FRI-SAT How to See to Draw learn to improve your drawing skills at this workshop taught by Brad Price, Sept. 9-13. The Depot, 200 S. Jones Ave., Norman, 405-307-9320, pasnorman.org. MON-FRI INTEGRIS Art Show view a variety of art works created by people whose lives have been affected by cancer, through Sept. 6. Integris Cancer Institute, 5911 W. Memorial road, 405-773-6400, integris.tv/ cancer. THU-FRI Local Art Live enjoy food, drinks, local art and live performances at this event raising funds for art classes for low income youth, 6-10 p.m. Sept. 7.

Heart Studios, 3208 Teakwood Lane, Suite 103, 405664-4194, heartstudiosllc.com. SAT

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

Paseo Arts District’s First Friday Gallery Walk peruse art from over 80 artists with 25 participating business for a night of special themed exhibits, refreshments and a variety of entertainment opportunities, 6-10 p.m. first Friday of every month. Paseo Arts District, 3022 Paseo St., 405-525-2688, thepaseo.org. FRI Shibori Panel Workshop create a decorative fabric panel using three different manipulations at this workshop led by Agnes Stadler, 1-4 p.m. Sept. 7.

Artspace at Untitled, 1 NE Third St., 405-815-9995, 1ne3.org. SAT Simply Put an exhibition of paintings by Lynden

24

S E P T E M B E R 4 , 2 0 1 9 | O KG A Z E T T E . C O M

Submissions must be received

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

Late submissions will not be included in the listings.

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

Sorry, but phone submissions cannot be accepted.

For OKG live music

see page 27

GO TO OKGAZETTE.COM FOR FULL LISTINGS!

EVENT

MUSIC

Tap tunes

Eight local bands and eight local breweries team up for a concert and beer-tasting at The Jones Assembly. By Jeremy Martin

Several local musicians are celebrating their new releases with beers, and you can join them.

Local Tap, 2 p.m.-2 a.m. Sept. 14 at The Jones Assembly, 901 W. Sheridan Ave., pairs eight local bands with eight local breweries to create custom small-batch beers for a tasting and concert event.

Cody Anderson, head brewer at Vanessa House Beer Co. and guitarist for Foxburrows, said Local Tap is inspired by Beer Nebraska, a similar festival held in Omaha. Foxburrows plans to release a single called “Shedding Season” to coincide with the festival, and Frenzy Brewing Company has created a beer called Shedding Saison for the event.

“All of us like beer,” Anderson said.

“All the guys like that style, and we’re going to put some fun hops in there to kind of dry-hop it and give it a cool aroma. I think it’s something fun that we’ll all enjoy. We’re pretty happy with it so far.”

Boone Brady, Foxburrows’ lead vocalist, said the band is also happy with the new music.

“It’s got a lot more fullness to it,” Brady said. “It’s still kind of ethereal and has some of the more spacey effects and things of that nature, but a little bit less of the soft, loud, soft type thing.

And it does feel like it’s a bit more mature in its songwriting.”

Brady, who also works at Vanessa House, said the crafts of beer brewing and songwriting are comparable.

“I feel like there’s a lot of crossover between beer drinkers, beer makers and musicians,” Brady said. “As far as the process, it’s kind of interesting. You have a base that you can kind of sculpt upon, and as far as our songwriting goes, we do a lot of that. Cody brings a lot of

the bases of songs to the table, and then from there, they kind of organically grow with everybody else’s input. That’s how we’ve always written songs, and it seems to work pretty well.”

But too much beer drinking is not conducive to music making.

“We usually have a beer or two beers,” Brady said. “Getting together and playing is sort of a hangout time for us as well … but generally we stay pretty sober during the entire songwriting process.”

Anderson, calling himself a “lightweight,” agreed. Vanessa House collaborated with Audio Book Club, which recently released the EP What If We Got Buff?, to create a yet-unnamed limezest lager.

“It’s basically like a cerveza base, and we zested a ton of fresh limes into it,” Anderson said. “It’s pretty good. We’re pretty proud of it so far. We haven’t nailed down a name yet. With the [state alcohol laws], you can’t have really anything that’s related to getting drunk or inebriated in the name, and I think their top three ideas were ‘Let’s Get Drunk,’ pretty much. So we’re trying to dial it in and find some common ground, but I think we’re getting there.”

Husbands, the duo featuring Danny Davis and Wil Norton, released the single “Mexico” on Aug. 27.

“It feels good to get it off of our chests because I feel like we’ve been sitting on a bunch of stuff for a long time,” Davis said. “It’s mostly guitar-based, pop-type stuff, but we definitely did a lot more with the drums this time. Because before, we would use samples pretty heavily and kind of build songs around the samples, but this time, we actually properly recorded in a studio with our drummer [Alberto Roubert], so from that perspective, it’s a little more inten-

tional. ... There are cool synths and the ways that we use rhythms, I think, that are different. And also, I guess, lyrics that are more specific, maybe.”

The lyrics are inspired by the life changes that occurred since 2015’s Golden Year.

“Wil’s had a baby and graduated law school,” Davis said. “I’ve just been working, but I guess I turned 30, it’s a thing, and Wil turned 30 as well. … So it’s a lot about feeling kind of old and not even feeling old but basically just thinking about what it means to kind of get into a rhythm in life, because before, you’ve got all these possibilities, and now we’re sort of seeing what it is. I guess the simplest way to put it is it’s feeling like you’re in your 30s. That’s not a bad thing at all. It’s just kind of a new thing.

You just feel settled, when before we would kind of value the feeling of being unsettled. It’s all good. It’s just basically processing those sorts of feelings.”

The band paired with Lively Beerworks, where Nick Williams, Davis’ friend from high school, works.

“We’re sort of a fun band, so having a drink with your friend is sort of one of our vibes or whatever,” Davis said.

Poolboy released its self-titled album in June and teamed with 405 Brewing Co. to create a custom beer.

“One of our singles is ‘Be Radical,’ so I think they’re going to call our beer Be Radical,” vocalist and guitarist Michael Loveland said, “but then afterwards, we were like, ‘Maybe we should’ve called it Beer Radical,’ but I didn’t get a response back from them.”

Like the beer, Poolboy’s current sound and setlist might only be available for a limited time.

“We’re trying to make sure it’s spicy and interesting and new,” Loveland said. “We’re not going to do the same things forever. We’re going to always Husbands released the single “Mexico” on Aug. 27. | Photo Connor Schmigle / provided

Twiggs releases III, its third album, in October. | Photo Ryan Magnani / provided

improve and try to make it fun.”

Twiggs releases its third album, III, on Oct. 4. The band teamed with COOP Ale Works — which vocalist and bassist Abbey Philbrick called OKC’s “OG brewery” — to create Shady Baby Lager, named after lyrics from the single “Shady,” released in July. Guitarist and vocalist Joe White III said he is excited to return to the local music scene here after spending a decade in Nashville, where the amount of musicians and the pressure to be successful can be overwhelming.

“Here, it just now seems like it’s starting to happen and it doesn’t really know what it is yet,” White said. “And it’s cool to be a part of the beginning of something because everyone knows each other and it’s tighter. People are eager to go to shows. … That creates a scene; that creates a vibe, and it’s cool to be around.”

Twiggs’ upcoming album reflects the change of scenes.

“It’s real effortless now,” White said.

“Our boys in the band are really awesome, a perfect fit, so the new music is just really natural.”

Philbrick agreed.

“It’s got a lot of homey vibes because we’re back home.”

LCG & the X, The Nghiems and Breakup also share the bill, and beers from Roughtail Brewing Company, Anthem Brewing Company and Angry Scotsman Brewing will also be available. Tickets are $25 and include five complimentary beer tastings. Visit thejonesassembly.com.

Local Tap 2 p.m.-2 a.m. Sept. 14 The Jones Assembly 901 W. Sheridan Ave. thejonesassembly.com | 405-212-2378 $25 | 21+

O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | S E P T E M B E R 4 , 2 0 1 9

25

MUSIC

EVENT

Rebirth Brass Band infuses traditional New Orleans jazz with elements of funk and hip-hop. | Photo provided

Harmonious Rebirth

New Orleans’ Rebirth Brass Band brings its brand of jazz to Tower Theatre. By Jeremy Martin

It really began hundreds of years earlier, when Africans brought to America on slave ships brought their musical traditions and rhythms with them, but jazz first became as codified as it ever could be in New Orleans more than a century ago.

For 36 of those years, Rebirth Brass Band — playing 8 p.m. Monday at Tower Theatre, 425 NW 23rd St. — has upheld the tradition and added to it, combining early French Quarter street-corner swing with elements of funk and hip-hop.

Founded in 1983 by brothers Phil and Keith Frazier (sousaphone/tuba and bass drum, respectively), Rebirth Brass Band has survived lineup changes, health problems and Hurricane Katrina to tour the world, win a Grammy and appear on HBO’s Treme as a symbol of New Orleans’ perseverance.

“I think the biggest thing about our longevity is the guys in the band, they just really like playing music,” Keith Frazier said. “For whatever reason, some guys decided to stop. It could be for physical, mental or family reasons, but even if they’re not here anymore, they still love playing music. They just can’t travel as much. We just find guys who like to play. It’s not about the money or anything. They just want to play music.”

In addition to the Frazier brothers, the current lineup includes Glen 26

S E P T E M B E R 4 , 2 0 1 9 | O KG A Z E T T E . C O M

Andrews (trumpet), Stafford Agee (trombone), Derrick Tabb (snare drum), Vincent Broussard (saxophone) and Chadrick Honroe (trumpet). Keith Frazier said the band’s style incorporates decades of music history.

Songs that were played in the ’40s ’50s and ’60s, we can make them sound brand-new.

Keith Frazier “The music can cycle through different genres,” Keith Frazier said. “You can play traditional music; you can play modern music; you can play slow tempos, fast tempos. With the lineup that we have with the horns, we can pretty much play anything. So you can just play with whatever’s popular at the time. You can turn it into a New Orleans jazz tune or a jazz standard. It all depends on what’s going on at the present time. We always want to remind people where the music is coming from, but you have a different interpretation from the guys who played it 30 or 40 years ago. That keeps the music new.”

The fact that modern musicians with their influences and attitudes are playing the music can make even the oldest standards sound fresh.

“Songs that were played in the ’40s ’50s and ’60s, we can make them sound brand-new,” Keith Frazier said. “It’s just their interpretation of what came before them. As a matter of fact, we do that quite a bit. People hear a song and they’re like, ‘Oh that’s something from the ’40s or ’50s, but it sounds so new.’

That’s just our interpretation of it.”

The band’s highly improvisational style also depends on chemistry between the band members.

“The offstage stuff plays a part in what happens onstage because if you’re not vibing with a guy offstage, it’s going to be kind of hard to communicate with him onstage,” Keith Frazier said. “You don’t have to be best buddies or stuff like that, but you have to be able to have a working relationship. … When we’re not working, we still talk about other things that we can actually bring to our music. So I think that plays a part, especially when you’re trying to improvise, because most of our music is not written, so you’re just kind of going off the guy playing next to you. If you know him in a personal way, you can kind of feel what he’s thinking or how he’s feeling about a particular tune. That helps a lot.”

Mutual respect and admiration also go a long way on the road.

“You don’t want to have an adversarial relationship with someone that you’re going to be touring with two or three weeks or months at a time,” Keith Frazier said. “That makes a very uncomfortable situation.”

Improvising on standards and popular Rebirth songs such as “Do Watcha Wanna”

and “I Feel Like Funkin’ It Up” onstage ensures that no two shows are exactly the same.

“We’ll play something, and come next week, it’s, ‘Hey, man. Do you remember that song?’ ‘No; I forgot it,’” Keith Frazier said. “So what we’ve been doing lately is trying to record all the sets, but sometimes, still, if you hear it played back, you don’t remember what gave you that feeling to play what you played. So you can lose quite a bit. … We never really try to recreate them. If we go back into something and we try to replay it, we manage to create something new instead of what we did on the stage.”

But losses can lead to innovation.

One time before a gig, Keith Frazier lost the metal coat-hanger hoop brass band percussionists often use to hit their cymbals, so he replaced it with a screwdriver and never went back.

“I tried the flathead screwdriver on the cymbal, and I liked the sound that it made, a very distinct metal-on-metal that will cut through anything,” Keith Frazier said. “You don’t really have to mic it because metal will cut through anything.”

Other drummers have since adopted the method. Keith Frazier said just about any screwdriver will do as long as it is a flathead and not a Phillips.

“The materials they’re making the cymbals out of now are not as sturdy as they used to be,” Keith Frazier said, “so you want something flat that’s not going to tear your cymbal up too much.”

Though Keith Frazier now lives in Texas and returns to New Orleans to play with the band or just joins them on tour, he said the old feeling comes back when the music starts.

“If the band was brand-new, that would be something different, but our band’s been around for such a long period of time and I’ve been playing in the band since day one,” Keith Frazier said. “So it’s kind of like, they say, riding a bike.

Once you learn you, you always know how to do it when you jump back on it.”

People unfamiliar with Rebirth’s style of music also seem to know what to do when the band begins to play.

“We know people are excited to see it if they don’t get a chance to see it or hear it a lot,” Keith Frazier said. “It’s something different for them, so they’re all in.”

He only offered one piece of advice for anyone who has never heard New Orleans jazz.

“Be prepared to dance,” he said. “That’s what we do. We play dance music.”

Tickets are $17-$27. Visit towertheatreokc.com.

Rebirth Brass Band 8 p.m. Monday Tower Theatre 425 NW 23rd St. towertheatreokc.com | 405-708-6937 $17-$27

LIVE MUSIC These are events recommended

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

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 4 Adam Aguilar & the Weekend All Stars, Sidecar Barley & Wine Bar. COVER

One Two Ten/Cavern Company/Josh Fudge, Opolis. ROCK Tyler Lee Band, Iron Horse Bar & Grill. COVER

SATURDAY, SEPT. 7 Brad Fielder, The Patriarch Craft Beer House & Lawn. AMERICANA Derek Paul & The Aints/Kierston White, The Blue Door. SINGER/ SONGWRITER

The Fixx, Tower Theatre. ROCK

The Killings/Wicked Shimmies/Demon Seeds, Blue Note Lounge. ROCK

John Carlton & Kyle Reid, The Winston.

Miss Brown to You, Full Circle Bookstore. Folk

Why?/Barrie/Yip Deceiver, Opolis. HIP-HOP/

Teenage Bottlerocket/Mean Jeans/Clowns, 89th Street-OKC. PUNK

SINGER/SONGWRITER ROCK

Soulfly/Unearth/Incite, 89th Street-OKC. METAL

Tiny “Epic” Dennis/Chanda Graham/ Earl Day, NE OKC Community & Cultural Center.

09 . 13 . 19

7:00 P.M.

CASINO NIGHT, SPIRITS & LIVE ENTERTAINMENT NATIONALCOWBOYMUSEUM.ORG/ANTE-UP

BLUES/SOUL

THURSDAY, SEPT. 5

Wayne Newton/Darla Z, First Council Casino.

Hot House Band, Othello’s Italian Restaurant.

JAZZ

SUNDAY, SEPT. 8

The Mavericks, Tower Theatre. COUNTRY/ROCK

And Then There Were Two, Frankie’s. AMERI-

Shelly Phelps & Dylan Nagode, Jazmo’z Bourbon St. Café. ACOUSTIC

“ALL IN” FOR EDUCATION

POP

CANA

Celtic Jam, Full Circle Bookstore. FOLK Drive, Newcastle Casino. COVER Hosty, The Deli. ROCK Jinjer/The Browning, Diamond Ballroom.

METAL

MC Astro/Stik/Disordr, Arcadia Lake. ELECTRONIC

Midday Static, Resonator Institute. ELECTRONIC/HIP-HOP

Costanzas/Damones/Madaline, Bison Witches Bar & Deli. PUNK

Store Closing 60% off storewide Barn Door Office Furniture Farm Tables Book Cases Computer Equipment Printers Holiday Decorations Light Fixtures And more!

MONDAY, SEPT. 9 FOLK

Country Clique, Friends Restaurant & Club.

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09.06.19

LINDA RONSTADT: THE SOUND OF MY VOICE

In LINDA RONSTADT: THE SOUND OF MY VOICE, Ronstadt is our guide through growing up in Tucson singing Mexican canciones with her family; her folk days with the Steve Poneys; and her reign as the “queen of country rock” in the ‘70s and early ‘80s.

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09.13.19

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Jason Hunt, Sean Cumming’s Irish Restaurant.

TUESDAY, SEPT. 10

MAIDEN In 1989 Tracy Edwards leads the first all-female crew in the Whitbread Round the World Race, a grueling yachting competition that covers 33,000 miles and lasts nine months.

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COUNTRY

Kyle Reid, Scratch Kitchen & Cocktails. SINGER/

Stepmom If there’s anything wicked about Stepmom, it’s probably only in the “Yankees suck,” “Park the car in Harvard Yard” Boston accent sense. Fronted by guitarist and vocalist Lindsey Cox (The So Help Me’s) and featuring multi-instrumentalist Danielle Szabo (Oklahoma Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra), drummer Josh Carpenter (The Fervent Route) and cellist Cheyenne Rain — all recently seen in Factory Obscura’s March of the Sun King celebration — Stepmom plans to release single “Paper & Wax” on Sept. 13, but till then, you can bask in its strings-attached dream pop live. Swim Fan and Mad Honey share the bill. Welcome to the family 9 p.m. Friday at The Paramount Room, 701 W. Sheridan Ave. Admission is $3. Call 405-887-3327 or visit facebook. com/theparamountroom.

SONGWRITER

Senses FailHot Mulligan/Yours Truly, Tower Theatre. ROCK

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 11 Adam Aguilar & the Weekend All Stars, Sidecar Barley & Wine Bar. COVER Chris Knight, Tower Theatre. SINGER/SONGWRITER

John Carlton & Kyle Reid, The Winston.

SINGER/SONGWRITER

G A R D E N

We Deliver

FRIDAY, SEPT. 6 Brandon Rhyder, Western Nights. COUNTRY

Desiree Abba/Janice Francis Smith, Bluebonnet Bar. FOLK Don’t Tell Dena, Sanctuary Barsilica. ROCK Heartbreak Rodeo, Othello’s Italian Restaurant.

ACOUSTIC

Janice Francis Smith, Full Circle Bookstore. FOLK Jessica Tate & John Rouse, Bossa Nova Caipirinha Lounge. JAZZ John Anderson, Riverwind Casino. ACOUSTIC Kyle Reid & the Low Swingin’ Chariots/Samantha Crain, Legacy Park. JAZZ/FOLK

S U P P LY

NOW OPEN

FRIDAY Photo provided

Brian Lynn Jones & the Misfit Cowboys, Remington Park. COUNTRY/ROCK

Got Questions? Call us.

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!

1101 N Meridian 405.415.9480 cultivateokc.com O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | S E P T E M B E R 4 , 2 0 1 9

27

CANNABIS

THE HIGH CULTURE

Full cup

The organizers behind Oklahoma’s first High Times Cannabis Cup said most of the issues at the event were due to its overwhelming popularity. By Matt Dinger

Both High Times and Lost Lakes Entertainment Complex chalk up the initial day’s missteps to the same factor: The first Oklahoma Cannabis Cup was more successful than anyone imagined it would be.

High Times does not release attendance numbers for its Cannabis Cups, vice president of content Jon Cappetta said. But Lost Lakes managing partner Brad White said an estimated 20,000 people attended the two-day festival.

However, staffing and resources were calculated based on the number of presale tickets, which White said only numbered about 3,500 through Wednesday.

“I’ve been doing concert promotion for about 30 years,” he said. “The rule of thumb when you’re going to host an event like this is to keep track of ticket counts and work with your promoter to make sure that you’re preparing for the crowd that they intend on receiving. …

As a host, I have to say I was a little disappointed for the High Times folks.

They were expecting a really major ticket sale situation.”

Lost Lakes prepared for 5,000 people, including dedicating about 200 spots for handicapped parking. White said the lot inside the park holds about 600-700 cars, and the auxiliary parking lot across the street has about 1,000 spaces.

“You can prepare a little bit, but when you have a walk-up that is double what you have previously sold in tickets, that’s unheard of. That’s Woodstock stuff,” he said.

High water levels due to rains earlier in the summer not only prevented the park from using the slides and wakeboarding area, but also washed out the bridge that connected the stage area and the vendor area. They were unable to rebuild it before the Cannabis Cup. 28

S E P T E M B E R 4 , 2 0 1 9 | O KG A Z E T T E . C O M

Additionally, White said the half-mile dirt path around the lake was dry and dusty until days before the event.

“And here comes a rainstorm. I go from dust to mud in a matter of hours, and it rains from eight o’clock at night to eight o’clock in the morning that Thursday morning,” he said. “We had, at that point, a little over 24 hours to try to get the road smoothed out.”

As far as the lack of food and water in the vendor village, White said that was a result of being forbidden to provide either in an area where open consumption of cannabis was permitted.

“The city told them, the Health Department said, ‘No concessions in the area where you’re going to have the vendors. None.’ I call back, I said, ‘Listen. You can’t have people over there with no food and water.’ ‘Water’s OK.’ ‘OK. We’ll do water.’ ‘You’ve got to give it away.’ I didn’t get it for free. I can’t give it away. I’m happy to help a person in need, but if I’m going to really support those people, just let me set up a stand over there and sell waters,” White said.

“They finally agreed, on the second day.

That was High Times agreeing to take the heat on it. I didn’t get approval from the city. I just did it because people were falling fucking out.”

Unforeseen hurdles

Cappetta said High Times was impressed with the state and the Cannabis Cup turnout and plans to host more of them in Oklahoma.

“There was some road bumps, and we definitely have some learning things for next time, but we’re excited,” Cappetta said. “It seems like the vendors were excited, the patients were excited. I know it was hot and fucking muggy. I was apologizing to people all weekend, being

THC

like, ‘Oh, man. We had no idea it was gonna be this hot or rainy or whatever,’ and everyone was like, ‘Dude, this is Oklahoma.

We’re used to this. Come on. You California boys don’t know what it is out here.’”

You can prepare a little bit, but when you have a walk-up that is double what you have previously sold in tickets, that’s unheard of.

Brad White Cappetta said the layout for the Cup was designed around the idea of the bridge being intact and blames lengthy wait times in line on a thorough security procedure.

“As I’m sure you know, this is a concealed carry state, and it’s extremely important to keep these events safe. Not that stoners are violent people by any means, but we do need to ensure that everyone comes through does not have any weapons, and then we also have to comply with the alcohol laws, so making sure people aren’t bringing in outside booze,” Cappetta said. “There were a lot of curveballs that were unexpected, and obviously the plan was never to make anybody walk like that or to have to deal with the mud. We never make a site map that’s that big. Cards on the table, we want our vendors as close to the regular things as possible.

“The other thing is in a perfect world, and what we do with some of our other Cups, usually there’s some ability to have legal sales and to be able to have them sample and then have everybody try the products and things like that. This always happens in early legalization. The rules are still getting worked out. But we’re confident. What usually happens in other cities and other [designated marketing areas] is we do these things, they see the economic impact that it brings to the town and they realize this

Thousands more people than expected turned out to the first High Times Oklahoma Cannabis Cup. | Photo Alexa Ace

can be not only something beneficial, but something that’s a revenue driver and not as harmful as we think. ...

Because of the heat, we definitely had a few people who got very sunburned and heat exhaustion, but those are a much smaller number than everyone seems to be claiming online. Trust me. I’m in the comments. I see this.”

Cappetta and White both pointed out that there were no fisticuffs or surly attendees being drunk in public. White said the only arrest made at the event was after he called police to try to clear out the shell game grifters preying on people in line, but Cappetta also takes issue with the claims that people were not receiving appropriate or timely medical treatment.

“People are talking about people fell left and right. Obviously, that wasn’t there. We overstaffed the medic teams, and they were great. The response time was always fantastic. There were a few times where we tried to sit some people down and just give them water, make sure they were in the shade and kind of relax a little bit. But no fights. There’s never any real problems. Obviously, it’s marijuana. No one overdoses. I think that this, for all of the headaches, I don’t think that people can really, justifiably say this was an unsafe event,” he said.

“The reason why we work with this team time and time again is because life hands you lemons, man, but we gotta make lemonade, the show must go on and making history is never easy. I’m very proud of this production team and all that they overcame to make the best event possible for a state that we think really needs this kind of encouragement.”

White agreed that Cannabis Cup was a successful event in terms of number of attendees.

“I would say this is a big, big, big business statement for the state of Oklahoma in terms of the outgoing support for it,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything in my history — and I’ve done this a long time — have a walk-up that’s double what the sales are. Never.”

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B y a p p o i n t m e n t o n l y, please contact us for more details.

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THE HIGH CULTURE

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CANNABIS

8805 S. Western • Oklahoma City, 73139

Cup holders The High Times Oklahoma Cannabis Cup winners are celebrating their victories this week and answering phones that are ringing off the hook with orders. By Matt Dinger

The first High Times Oklahoma Cannabis Cup is now in the books, with a new class of ganjapreneur who can lay claim to the mantle of cannabis champion.

Jon Cappetta, High Times vice president of content, said Oklahoma submitted a record-breaking number of entries for a Cannabis Cup event.

Fire Leaf was the major winner of the inaugural competition, with two Cannabis Cups in hand — one for best sativa concentrate and one for best hybrid concentrate — and three other medals.

The only other Oklahoma company to snatch two Cups was CBD Plus USA/ Lotus Gold. It won best topical for its Colorado Cures Pain Cream and best hemp-derived CBD product for its collaboration with White Mousse Oklahoma.

“My hemp pain cream that I personally created won a Cup. The first product that CBD Plus launched underneath the CBD Plus brand is the product that is our number one seller.

It’s the first product ever in a High Times Cup that was in a cannabis space category and won from 100 percent CBD product. It’s the unicorn. It’s never been done,” CBD Plus USA/Lotus Gold founder and CEO Ryan Vicedomini said. “Our second Cannabis Cup was a collab with White Mousse Oklahoma. This was their first crop, and it won the Cup. It’s totally hemp-derived. When people actually have to go to a point where they’re using dabs for medical and not just recreational, now they’re going to be able to get a true full spectrum based off what we formulated Fire Leaf dispensary’s Cannabis Cup trophies | Photo Phillip Danner

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S E P T E M B E R 4 , 2 0 1 9 | O KG A Z E T T E . C O M

Tyler Doolittle poses with Fire Leaf’s Cannabis Cup prizes. | Photo Phillip Danner

together. It’s amazing. The profile on that product is mind-blowing.”

The name of the collaborative champion is the CBD BHO Badder.

Stability Grows, which grows for and sells to Lotus Gold, won the thirdplace category for two prizes with Forbidden Fruit. It took home medals for indica flower and for non-solvent concentrate in collaboration with Country Hash.

Bringing Fire

Fire Leaf owner Tyler Doolittle said his company put in a total of 17 entries among the 16 categories. In addition to the Cups for best sativa concentrate with Lemon Cheese Quake and best hybrid concentrate with Fruity Pebbles OG, both were also awarded to Oklahoma Dab Labs, the processing company under the Fire Leaf umbrella. Fire Leaf also picked up a third-place win for its White Pineapple vape carcontinued on page 35

O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | S E P T E M B E R 4 , 2 0 1 9

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tridge and a second-place win for its Maple Bacon Krispi Barz.

Doolittle said they entered some categories more than once and others not at all.

“Our bacon maple bar won, but we also entered our gummies, our Happy Sap and a few other things,” he said. “In the cartridge category, we took third place and we entered like four or five cartridges. We just entered a bunch of different flavors and varieties because it’s hard to know what the judges are looking for.”

The edible was in the works for about three months and hit shelves about a month before it won second place.

Fire Leaf also took third place in the pre-roll category with its “jeffrey” infused pre-roll.

“It’s a pre-roll with some good weed, and we cover it with bubble hash,” Doolittle said. “That’s our name for it.

Everybody calls them different things.

For us, that’s just what we went with.”

The timeframe I had to work in to be able to enter something wasn’t really in my favor.

Jayson “Giddy Up” Emo As far as their Cup-worthy concentrates, if you do not already have a batch, you will have to wait for the next run.

“The White Pineapple was a short run. It’s a clear run, so we double-distill it, and we had it for approximately two weeks. First of all, we do a flower run through our BHO extractor and then we run it through the double-distillation process. We do it two times and do a couple other proprietary things to it.

About a month ago, we started doing that. They sell out. As soon as we get any of those, they are gone. They last about a day. They’re kind of more of what I want to call our reserve line,” Doolittle said. “So we’re going to have regular Dab Lab products that are a little bit more affordable and then some of those prod-

ucts that are double distilled and flower ran and stuff like that. They’re a little bit more pricey, but for the connoisseur, they’re a lot better quality and flavor and stuff like that. We want to offer something for everybody.”

Fire Leaf did not enter the indica concentrate category.

“We didn’t put in an indica concentrate, so in my mind, I think if we would have, maybe we would have got all three, but the two that we did do, we won,” he said.

Doolittle said Fire Leaf’s extractor works in the lab here for about a month and then travels to Washington to train further under extractors there who have been doing runs for about 20 years.

Fresh start

Jayson “Giddy Up” Emo helped mentor New Leaf Medicinals on its laboratory processes. They took home a Cup for infused product with its moon rocks and a second place sativa flower win for its Tropicana Cookies.

Emo decided not to enter the competition the first year.

“I take my preparation for the Cup pretty seriously, so the timeframe I had to work in to be able to enter something wasn’t really in my favor,” Emo said.

“And to be frank, I have so many Cups at this point that I’ve trained people in the state, and one of the people that I trained won a Cannabis Cup, first place.

They got second place for their flower.

Seeing those guys get up there and those guys win is better. They need this to separate themselves in the industry and kind of go forward and rise to the top. I’m already validated with my work, so now we’ll let them get out there, get a taste of it, rock with it for a year. And we’ll come back next year and put my best up against theirs and see if they improved over the year, see if they get what it takes to battle some serious competition.

“I think it’s nice that everybody got to warm up and see what the competition is all about, to see what the event is all about.

Because I’m bringing some heat next year.

Nobody has any more excuses.”

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Ryan Vicedomini, founder and CEO of CBD Plus USA and Lotus Gold, won a Cannabis Cup for the Colorado Cures CBD topical he developed. | Photo Alexa Ace

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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

GROWERS allows the entity togrow, harvest, and package medical marijuana for the purpose of selling medical marijuana to a dispensary, processor, or researcher

FLOWER REVIEW

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.

Strain name: Banana Kush Grown by: Greener Pastures Acquired from: Planet Hollyweed Date acquired: Aug. 20 THC/CBD percentages: 17.2 percent/0 percent (per 405 Analytical LLC) Physical traits: Light green with long, dull orange stigmas and fuzzy with trichomes Bouquet: Earthy and sweet

Submit your photos to mdinger@okgazette.com.

Submission must include high-resolution photos, your name, location of grow (city), strain name and if it is a personal or commercial grow.

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S E P T E M B E R 4 , 2 0 1 9 | O KG A Z E T T E . C O M

Review: This is one of those buds that appears out of focus when you look at it due to the trichome density, a trait similar to other strains grown

by Greener Pastures sold exclusively at Planet Hollyweed. A second, closer examination using a Smokus Focus lighted jar revealed that the trichomes causing the almost furry appearance are hook-shaped in a manner that resembles Velcro. Splitting open the nug by hand before putting it in the grinder revealed that it was also frosted through and through. The earthy smell intensifies once ground, while minimizing the sweet scent. The smoke was mildly

sweet but also very smooth and never got harsh even as the bowl was close to being cashed. The high itself was pretty mellow but a definite mood-lifter characteristic of most hybrid strains. The parents of this strain are also two hybrids, Ghost OG and Skunk Haze, but the result leans toward an indica-dominant strain. This one did not tire me but definitely chilled me out.

It’s a strain for any time in the day, but it’s particularly geared toward relaxation.

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY Homework: Saul Bellow wrote, “Imagination is a force of nature. Is this not enough to make a person full of ecstasy?” Do you agree? FreeWillAstrology.com ARIES (March 21-April 19)

John Muir (1838–1914) was skilled at creating and using machinery. In his twenties, he diligently expressed those aptitudes. But at age 27, while working in a carriage parts factory, he suffered an accident that blinded him. For several months, he lay in bed, hoping to recuperate.

During that time, Muir decided that if his sight returned, he would thereafter devote it to exploring the beauty of the natural world. The miracle came to pass, and for the rest of his life he traveled and explored the wilds of North America, becoming an influential naturalist, author, and early environmentalist. I’d love to see you respond to one of your smaller setbacks—much less dramatic than Muir’s!—with comparable panache, Aries.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)

Of all the children on the planet, three percent live in the U.S. And yet American children are in possession of forty percent of the world’s toys. In accordance with astrological omens, I hereby invite you to be like an extravagant American child in the coming weeks. You have cosmic permission to seek maximum fun and treat yourself to zesty entertainment and lose yourself in uninhibited laughter and wow yourself with beguiling games and delightful gizmos. It’s playtime!

GEMINI (May 21-June 20)

The ama are Japanese women whose job it is to dive to the sea bottom and fetch oysters bearing pearls. The water is usually cold, and the workers use no breathing apparatus, depending instead on specialized techniques to hold their breath. I propose we make them your inspirational role models. The next few weeks will be a favorable time, metaphorically speaking, for you to descend into the depths in quest of valuables and inspirations.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) Renowned Cancerian neurologist Oliver Sacks believed that music and gardens could be vital curative agents,

as therapeutic as pharmaceuticals. My personal view is that walking in nature can be as medicinal as working and lolling in a garden. As for music, I would extend his prescription to include singing and dancing as well as listening. I’m also surprised that Sacks didn’t give equal recognition to the healing power of touch, which can be wondrously rejuvenating, either in its erotic or non-erotic forms. I bring these thoughts to your attention because I suspect the coming weeks will be a Golden Age of nonpharmaceutical healing for you. I’m not suggesting that you stop taking the drugs you need to stay healthy; I simply mean that music, nature, and touch will have an extra-sublime impact on your well-being.

in proportion to one’s courage. 5. It was while helping others to be free that I gained my own freedom.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22)

“I hid my deepest feelings so well I forgot where I placed them,” wrote author Amy Tan. My Scorpio friend Audrey once made a similar confession: “I buried my secrets so completely from the prying curiosity of other people that I lost track of them myself.” If either of those descriptions apply to you, Scorpio, the coming weeks will be an excellent time to secure a remedy. You’ll have extra power and luck if you commune with and celebrate your hidden feelings and buried secrets.

If you visualize what ancient Rome looked like, it’s possible you draw on memories of scenes you’ve seen portrayed in movies. The blockbuster film *Gladiator*, starring Russell Crowe and directed by Ridley Scott, may be one of those templates. The weird thing is that Gladiator, as well as many other such movies, were inspired by the grandiose paintings of the ancient world done by Dutch artist Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836– 1912). And in many ways, his depictions were not at all factual. I bring this to your attention, Leo, in the hope that it will prod you to question the accuracy and authenticity of your mental pictures. The coming weeks will be a favorable time to get fuzzy and incorrect memories into closer alignment with the truth, and to shed any illusions that might be distorting your understanding of reality.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)

I don’t know if the coming weeks will be an Anais Nin phase for you. But they could be if you want them to. It’s up to you whether you’ll dare to be as lyrical, sensual, deep, expressive, and emotionally rich as she was. In case you decide that YES, you will, here are quotes from Nin that might serve you well. 1. It is easy to love and there are so many ways to do it. 2. My mission, should I choose to accept it, is to find peace with exactly who and what I am.

3. I am so thirsty for the marvelous that only the marvelous has power over me. Anything I can not transform into something marvelous, I let go. 4. Life shrinks or expands

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)

“When you’re nailing a custard pie to the wall, and it starts to wilt, it doesn’t do any good to hammer in more nails.” So advised novelist Wallace Stegner. I hope I’m delivering his counsel in time to dissuade you from even trying to nail a custard pie to the wall—or an omelet or potato chip or taco, for that matter. What might be a better use of your energy? You could use the nails to build something that will actually be useful to you.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)

“No Eden valid without serpent.” Novelist Wallace Stegner wrote that pithy riff. I think it’s a good motto for you to use in the immediate future. How do you interpret it? Here’s what I think. As you nourish your robust vision of paradise-on-earth, and as you carry out the practical actions that enable you to manifest that vision, it’s wise to have some creative irritant in the midst of it. That bug, that question, that tantalizing mystery is the key to keeping you honest and discerning. It gives credibility and gravitas to your idealistic striving.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

The coco de mer is a palm tree that grows in the Seychelles. Its seed is huge, weighing as much as forty pounds and having a diameter of nineteen inches. The seed takes seven years to grow into its mature form, then takes an additional two years to germinate. Everything I just said about the coco de mer seed reminds me of you, Capricorn. According to my analysis of the astrological

omens, you’ve been working on ripening an awesome seed for a long time, and are now in the final phase before it sprouts. The Majestic Budding may not fully kick in until 2020, but I bet you’re already feeling the enjoyable, mysterious pressure.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)

If you throw a pool ball or a bronze Buddha statue at a window, the glass will break. In fact, the speed at which it fractures could reach 3,000 miles per hour.

Metaphorically speaking, your mental blocks and emotional obstacles are typically not as crackable. You may smack them with your angry probes and bash them with your desperate pleas, yet have little or no effect. But I suspect that in the coming weeks, you’ll have much more power than usual to shatter those vexations. So I hereby invite you to hurl your strongest blasts at your mental blocks and emotional obstacles. Don’t be surprised if they collapse at unexpectedly rapid speeds.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20)

In the thirteenth century, the Italian city of Bologna was serious about guarding the integrity of its cuisine.

In 1250, the cheese guild issued a decree proclaiming, “If you make fake mortadella . . . your body will be stretched on the rack three times, you will be fined 200 gold coins, and all the food you make will be destroyed.”

I appreciate such devotion to purity and authenticity and factualness. And I recommend that in the coming weeks, you commit to comparable standards in your own sphere. Don’t let your own offerings be compromised or corrupted. The same with the offerings you receive from other people. Be impeccable.

Go to RealAstrology.com to check out Rob Brezsny’s expanded weekly audio horoscopes /daily text message horoscopes.

The audio horoscopes are also available by phone at 1-877-873-4888 or 1-900-950-7700.

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PUZZLES NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE CROSSWORD PUZZLE “HOW’S TRICKS?” | 0908

By Matt Ginsberg Puzzles edited by Will Shortz ACROSS

1 Literally, “commander” 5 Sights at Zion National Park 10 Didn’t sink, say 14 Miles away 18 Where to find big bucks?

20 Jack who co-starred with Charlie Chaplin in The Great Dictator 21 Tepid greeting 22 Title film villain whose first name is Julius 23 When you can ice skate outside?

25 Poker player in the Old West after being caught with a card up his sleeve?

27 Checks’ counterparts 28 Lamb offering 30 “Whew baby!”

31 The Wizard of Oz co-star 32 “Let’s shake on it” 33 Edwin with the 1970 #1 hit “War” 34 Fling 37 Not for 39 Language in which “dd” and “ff” are treated as single letters of the alphabet 42 Interprets 45 ____ glance 46 Like the motion of the ocean 47 Curse 49 One going for big bucks?

50 Bad pun?

53 French greeting 54 Pea picker-upper 55 ____ bottle (topological curiosity) 56 Site of one of the 12 labors of Hercules 58 Manual part of an early printing press?

60 Cellar problem 62 Work with planes, maybe 64 Typically 65 Westworld airer 66 “The ____ of Christ” (classic work in Florence’s Uffizi Gallery) 68 Dull-witted sloth in Ice Age 69 Profession since the Bronze Age 72 Leo, for example 73 Jerry, to Tom, in cartoons 77 Need for parents who weren’t expecting twins?

79 One-named singer with the catchphrase “cuchi-cuchi” 81 Like some riyals 82 Barristers’ wear 83 Surfer wannabe 85 Rookeries?

87 Singer Grande, to fans 88 Portuguese wine 90 “____, Macduff” (phrase from Shakespeare) 91 Consumes 92 City that becomes another city if you change both its vowels to A’s 94 Perfume part 95 Japanese noodle 96 Suspiciously flattering, say 97 Emulated an Argonaut 99 “Stat” 101 Red letters?

103 Like a sonnet, in a way 105 Chronicler of Troy

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107 Emmy-nominated actor for Westworld 111 Toothpaste aisle?

113 Illusionist’s phrase illustrated by seven Across answers in this puzzle?

115 Informal negation 116 Pout 117 Wan 118 Famed orange troublemaker 119 D.C. nine 120 Brings up, say 121 ____ of all 122 Location of Cassius, who “has a lean and hungry look”

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EDITORIAL

ADVERTISING

OPERATIONS

INTERIM EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Brittany Pickering bpickering@okgazette.com

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three tires but get a whole set?

16 Anecdotal collections 17 Retirement account option, informally 19 Game of Thrones actress Chaplin 24 Foreign-language toast 26 Astrologist’s reference 29 Tons 32 Pickle 33 “Dunno” gestures 34 Warmongers 35 Of use 36 Mumbai royal 38 Opinion, informally 40 Ballerina’s cabriole, e.g.

41 Peace, in the Mideast DOWN 43 Poet who wrote “To His Mistress 1 Steed for a sheik Going to Bed” 2 “____ Lisa” 44 Run for, as office 3 Rustic poem 46 Not ridiculous, as an argument 4 Bad news from Detroit 48 Order before “Fall out!”

5 Queen Margrethe II, e.g.?

51 0 0 0 6 Din-din 52 Gleans 7 It’s après “après” 54 P.M. who took office in 2015 8 Grammy-winning songwriter Mann 57 Brain area, jocularly 9 School boards?

59 Ivy League newspaper name 10 Many a mixer 61 Trick question 11 Fare for Little Miss Muffet 63 It’s hard to hit 12 Nice crossword experience 66 Big-circulation magazine 13 Thick (of) originally titled So You’re Going 14 Stick to Be Married 15 Arrangement in which you buy 67 Get all tangled

Order mounted or ready-to-frame prints of Oklahoma Gazette covers, articles and photos at okgazette.yourheadline.com

118 122

69 Feature destroyed in the 2019 Notre Dame fire 70 Visit to baby Jesus?

71 Gradually diminished 73 Illusionist’s phrase illustrated by three Down answers in this puzzle?

74 ____ bar 75 Perfect 76 Actress Spacek 77 Big smack 78 Lure 80 Pike 84 An alarm may interrupt it 86 Where Tokyo is 88 Scout’s honor 89 Perennial London football powerhouse 93 Some inexpensive brews 96 Model of the solar system 98 PayPal money and the like 100 Stood 102 Onetime MS. accompanier 103 Volunteer’s words 104 Donizetti’s “Pour mon âme,” e.g.

105 Lead 106 Symbols of might 107 Blinkers 108 Major city bisected by I-80 109 Opposite of “Too rich for my blood” 110 Farmer’s purchase 112 French way 114 “Huh?”

3701 N. Shartel Ave. Oklahoma City, OK 73118-7102 PHONE (405) 528-6000 FAX (405) 528-4600 www.okgazette.com

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SUDOKU VERY HARD | N° 9963

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

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S E P T E M B E R 4 , 2 0 1 9 | O KG A Z E T T E . C O M

NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE CROSSWORD PUZZLE ANSWERS

Puzzle No. 0901, which appeared in the August 28 issue.

R I P E N

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V E G A

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G E T S T H E B L R O L L I N G

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I F T S S H E E T L A T C H E O T E U N S H O P S O R S A T A T E L L A S L R I O T C T O P I A S T M T A R O T S B R O A G E Y L E S E T H S T A K N T U R N C A S E O X H E

I T G R I O R O L M B A A P P A A R M A A T N E A D E T N A

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C H E C H E S U O E S F D E F N A L A T E N A T I L S T A O L A R B O K I O A S O N E N D S E N A G I O C A D B R A I R N T T E E E R

K Q U N U S O R A S C O N K O T B K I R M C A L O V B S A I N D A Z O O B E T Y S O S O M S R I A R T U R Y M I S A S M A M E R G I N S E

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JOBS

* NEW TATTOO SHOP *

GRAND DESIGN ARTS

P.O. Box 85 Fittstown, OK www.dunnsfishfarm.com (800) 433-2950 M-F 9am-5pm 10 yr EXP.

NOW ACCEPTING NEW CLIENTS WANTED:

TATTOO APPRENTICE & RECEPTIONISTS

OpiOid prOblems?

Call us! >> Outpatient medication assisted treatment >> Long term medication management for addiction

4 0 5 - 8 0 0 - 4 6 5 0 T E X T O N LY or Q IG: @GRANDDESIGNARTS

8-9am: Bethany Country Store, 3401 N Rockwell, Bethany 10-11am: Tuttle Grain Supply, 1 SW 5th, Tuttle

Saturday, September 21st

8-9am: Ellison Feed & Seed, 115 S Porter Ave, Norman 10:30-11:30am: DC Feeds, 17625 N MacArthur, Edmond • Channel Catfish • Bass • Hybrid Bluegill • Redear Bream • Coppernose Bluegill • Fathead Minnows • Black Crappie • Grass Carp All types of pond and lake supplies available!

WE TRY TO CARRY EXTRAS BUT PLACING ORDERS THE WEEK BEFORE IS RECOMMENDED! TO PLACE AN ORDER, OR FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL ONE OF OUR CONSULTANTS.

Mon-Fri at 800-433-2950

List your event in

Payment OPtiOns available

405.230.1180

3033 N. Walnut Ave. West Building 73105

CLASSIFIEDS

CLASSIFIEDS

HOMES

ETC.

CARING HEARTS CARING HANDS

l r Specia Summeup your system,

We will fire flow valve, check the back d s an adjust the head x. bo l ro nt set the co

80

$

*

*Prices may vary depending on zones

DOC SPRINKLER

IRRIGATION • INSTALLATION • REPAIR

Call to set up appt.

405.408.5181

Email:TommyKeith1964@hotmail.com “The Doctor is Making House Calls”

DAVE’S APPLIANCE REPAIR All makes washers, dryers, ranges, dishwashers, refrigerators, disposals.

24 years experience

314-3191

Deliveries will be:

Tuesday, September 17th

$25 service calls

NOW HIRING ALL POSITIONS Full-time & Part-time | Flexible Scheduling Come in and apply today!

PRIVATE DUTY HOME CARE

303 E. Sheridan Ave.

VA APPROVED CERTIFIED NURSING

Appointment Escorts Medication Reminders Errands/Shopping/Meal Prep Light Housekeeping Experience with Alzheimer’s & Dementia Personal Care/24 Hour Care Private Pay & Insurance LIC: #HC8083

405.905.0500

NOW HIRING ALL POSITIONS Full-time & Part-time Flexible Scheduling

10804 QUAIL PLAZA DR. STE 500, OKC

Come in and apply today!

CARINGHEARTCARINGHAND.COM

4300 W. Reno Ave.

JOB 134,070 GAZETTE SEEKERS

Spri ti tual Healing

JUST SAW THIS AD!

Advice on all matters of life and transactions of all kinds + Palm and Tarot Card Readings 7805 S. Penn | 405.255.1265

CALL 528-6000 FOR ADVERTISING INFO

WE’RE SOCIAL. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER

AND NEVER MISS A TWEET

@OKGAZETTE

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.

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

Sorry, but phone submissions cannot be accepted.

O KG A Z E T T E . C O M | S E P T E M B E R 4 , 2 0 1 9

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Oklahoma’s Largest Indoor Used Car Showroom Every Make, Every Model

Over a thousand used vehicles to choose from. You can work with our internet people online… Find the car, truck, or SUV you want. Check out our special offers. Value your trade. Get pre-approved for financing.

Schedule a test drive. Come in, do the deal, and drive home in your new vehicle in about an hour.

Buy online or visit the indoor showroom.

405.295.0401 • 14203 Broadway Ext., Edmond, OK 73013 Next door north of Cooper BMW Mini