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inside COVER INSIDE

Oklahoma Gazette commemorates Black History Month by sharing the stories and achievements of our communities and their leaders, from business owners to poets and musicians, as they contemplate our city’s black future. Cover by Chris Street.

MORRIS DAY & THE TIME

NEWS 4 6

9

City The Broadway Condominiums Education community, leaders

work to improve district schools

Business Black Chamber of

Commerce Metro Oklahoma City

10 Chicken-Fried News

12 Letters

EAT & DRINK 13 review Off the Hook reels

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14 Briefs

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15 Event OKCMOA’s Omelette Party 16 Gazedibles American dream

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20 Culture artists discuss creating

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25 Culture what it means to be 26 Culture Underground

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27 Culture Dope Poetry at ICE Event

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42 Puzzles sudoku | crossword

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cit y

NEWS

Home, sweet home

Automobile Alley pioneer Nick Preftakes plans a unique residential development that would showcase the district’s history and community commitment. By Laura Eastes

When developer Nick Preftakes and his business partner Mark Ruffin introduced an Oklahoma City loft apartment concept in 1995, Automobile Alley and other downtown districts were defined by their past. Only a handful of people recognized their potential as great urban districts.

The once-notable automobile sales locale became an area that had seen better days. The car sales industry, once centered on showrooms and custom factory orders, morphed into expansive lots, and customers drove their purchases home.

Dealerships followed the people to the suburbs, leaving a majority of the downtown businesses vacant or in disrepair.

District renaissance

With Automobile Alley’s prominent location near downtown — along N. Broadway and Oklahoma avenues between 13th and Fourth streets — and a nationwide trend of urban renaissance, a successful wave of redevelopment revived the area.

In 1995, Preftakes and Ruffin’s rehabilitation of a dilapidated, three-story, 1930s-era garage into The Garage Loft Apartments — New York-style rental loft units on the corner of NW 13th Street and Broadway Avenue near Midtown and 4

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Automobille Alley — became a key project in propelling the historical district’s rebirth.

Today, Automobile Alley is an economic success story. The area’s revival brought restaurants, retail development and business offices as well as luxury car dealerships and urban, loft-style housing.

The district continues to thrive. Last fall, Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center broke ground on a new, world-class campus dedicated to serving the community with arts classes, exhibitions and events. In late 2018, a modern streetcar is scheduled to launch daily service through Automobile Alley and nearby Bricktown, Midtown and Business District areas, likely spurring new businesses in its path.

Continued growth

However, Preftakes believes what the vibrant district lacks is higher-end residential infrastructure, he said during a recent Oklahoma Gazette interview.

Specifically, he sees a need for luxury condominiums or urban “lock and leave” homes, where owners trade maintenance for close proximity to a thriving downtown and metropolitan neighborhood.

“People are looking for urban living opportunities,” Preftakes, of Precor Realty Advisors, said. “Automobile Alley is a great place to colonize that. … We are looking forward to bringing residency to Automobile Alley, which has been missing.”

Preftakes is proposing a five-story development that will rise from a parking lot on the corner of NW Sixth Street and N. Broadway Avenue.

Preftakes believes The Broadway Condominiums — 12 luxury condominiums ranging from 1,600 to 3,300 square feet — will be the first-of-its-kind residential development in the area.

Unlike the soaring number of apartment rentals in the city’s urban core, Preftakes said his development offers something leases simply can’t.

“Certainly, this will be the first housing for sale in Automobile Alley,” Preftakes said.

The Broadway Condominiums, 700 N. Broadway Ave., will be located across the str eet from the former C.R. Anthony building, another of Preftakes’ projects, and Hudson Essex Building.

‘Historically unique’

For this project, Preftakes enlisted Oklahoma City-based Bockus Payne Associates Architects, who designed a building with modern conveniences while preserving historic Automobile Alley’s aesthetic.

“The Broadway Condominiums will serve as an anchor for Automobile Alley and will complement the urban fabric and local vernacular of this historically unique part of the city,” Collin Fleck,

An artist’s rendering shows The Broadway Condominiums at its proposed location at 700 N. Broadway Ave. | Image Skyline Ink / provided

project architect at Bockus Payne Architecture, wrote in a media statement to the Gazette. “The majority of the structure will be characterized by the brick aesthetic for which Automobile Alley is known, while the focal feature will be a contemporary composition of architectural metal and glass carved out of the building’s corner to distinguish the modern era of its inception and to highlight the building’s unbeatable downtown views.”

Showcasing the area’s commitment to philanthropic organizations — Automobile Alley is home to the Oklahoma City Community Foundation — and the district’s support of the arts, The Broadway Condominiums’ groundfloor window cases will display exhibits by local nonprofit organizations and local artists that are designed to introduce new ideas, broaden interests and develop appreciation and understanding of the various facets of culture and community.

The displays also will shield streetlevel views of resident parking.

While the development is still in the early planning stages — it has yet to be presented to the Automobile Alley Board of Directors, Downtown Design Review Committee or City of Oklahoma City — Preftakes anticipates the project’s completion during the summer of 2018.

The two- to four-bedroom condos will be sold through relator Wendy Chong of Re/ Max Preferred Properties.

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e d u c at i o n

NEWS

District turnaround

Community leaders, faith leaders, parents and youths work to improve student achievement in several OKC public schools. By Laura Eastes

Educators know very well when districts are forced to squeeze school budgets, the cuts mean a short supply of teachers, larger classes, less support and fewer opportunities for students.

All of this slows down student achievement.

“Every time we go through cuts and cut teachers — we can’t cut math or language arts — we cut programs and electives. Our kids have less and less to choose from,” said Jahree Herzer, principal of Spencer’s Rogers Middle School.

“When they have less to choose from, kids go to other [schools]. Then we have fewer kids and we get less funding. With less funding, we have more cuts. We see a cycle.”

The cycle paints a grim picture of the state of education at Rogers Middle School, one of 13 school sites in District 5 of Oklahoma City Public Schools.

Located in northeast and southeast sections of Oklahoma City and Spencer, District 5 schools are in some of the metro’s poorest neighborhoods and hold the district’s largest concentration of

black students. For decades, District 5 schools have demonstrated poor academic outcomes, low graduation rates and high rates of students leaving schools.

Such dismal results bring educators like Herzer and community leaders, faith leaders, parents and students together as the Northeast Task Force. The adage “It takes a village to raise a child” plays out Thursday nights around tables in a conference room on Metro Technology Center’s Springlake campus. At each meeting, the task force takes on issues and explores solutions in areas of school structure, academics and wraparound services, which relates to providing support networks among students with emotional or behavioral disabilities.

While there is no single overriding reason for failing schools, the task force looks at all sides of the issues to solve the problems. Channeling their passions and pride into improving District 5 schools, the task force finds opportunities to make changes, some big and some

electives to the middle school.”

Ideas like Herzer’s might work, broadening students’ academic experiences and increasing their success.

In distress

Sandino Thompson is a member of the Northeast Task Force, a group seeking to improve educational outcomes at Spencer and northeast Oklahoma City schools. | Photo Garett Fisbeck

small, within the district to yield better results for students.

With all eyes on Herzer, task force members listened as the principal defined a problem with school structure in terms of a possible solution.

“If we were able to align our days, we could share elective teachers,” Herzer said.

It’s not just about literacy and math scores, it’s about improving social-emotional competencies, which has an impact on students’ ability to learn.

Sandino Thompson Rogers Middle School, which begins classes at 9:10 a.m., is located less than a mile south of Star Spencer High School, where school begins at 7:35 a.m.

“We have six sections of speech and drama, but we don’t really need six sections,” Herzer said. “We could send three sections to the high school and the high school could send three other

The pressure to improve northeast OKC and Spencer schools is intense, and Northeast Task Force members are well-versed in school struggles.

The task force notion first took root following the contentious community debate over KIPP Reach’s application to expand its charter school program in northeast OKC last year. Noting that those on each side of the debate held a desire to see academically strong neighborhood schools, Superintendent Aurora Lora called for the formation of a community collaborative, increasing civic participation and helping solve some of the schools’ most significant challenges.

The task force is examining 11 schools: Northeast Academy for Health Sciences and Engineering Enterprise, Star Spencer High School, Frederick A. Douglass Mid-High School, Rogers Middle School, F.D. Moon Academy, Willow Brook Elementary, Spencer Elementary School, Green Pastures Elementary, Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary, Thelma R. Parks Elementary and Edwards Elementary.

For the 2014-15 school year, seven northeast OKC elementary schools posted test scores in math, reading, social studies, science and writing below state averages, according to data from the Office of Educational Quality and Accountability. At the middle and high school levels, End of Instruction test scores weren’t much better — 5 percent of Douglass students and 8 percent of Northeast students earned proficient or above on the biology exam.

All northeast OKC and Spencer schools earned “F” letter grades from the state Department of Education when the A-F school grades were released last October. Northeast Academy, grades nine through 12, received a “C-.”

District 5 students haven’t been struggling in secret. For years, the community has begged for a school system based on equality to make sure all students develop their potential. One such community member is Sandino Thompson, who now serves on the task force.

While troubled by the poor education outcomes, Thompson entered the task force determined to push the district to implement wraparound programs to help schools address the social and nonacademic barriers to student learning.

“It’s not just about literacy and math scores,” he said. “It’s about improving socio-emotional competencies, which has an impact on students’ ability to learn. … We have educators who were taught and learned how to be educators.

They were not trained to be psychologists and behavior health specialties. continued on page 8

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How do we bring those dynamics together so that we can get serious about learning?”

Task force work

When the task force began meeting on Jan. 19, the group was instructed to closely evaluate the district’s implementation of The Great Commitment — OKCPS goals and measures for student success — to benefit black students as well as review research and best practices to improve chronically low-performing schools over a seven-week period.

In the first five weeks, the group discussed many education approaches and strategies, like increasing support for teachers, providing teachers and staff trauma sensitivity training and positioning schools as community centers with multiple community partners ranging from food banks and clothes closets to social workers and counselors.

In small groups, task force members discussed exploring ways to reconfigure Title 1 funding, which helps schools with economically disadvantaged students, as well as eliminating the current middle-high school model at Northeast Academy and Douglass. Another suggestion calls for the district to establish stakeholders committees to define and monitor strategic visions for academic programming in each prekindergarten through 12th-grade feeder pattern.

In addition to assigned readings between meetings, task force members tour metro schools with similar student demographics, see successful programs and ask questions of school leaders and students. Schools toured include John Marshall Mid-High School in northwest Oklahoma City and KIPP Reach charter middle school. This week, members plan to visit Stanley Hupfeld Academy at Western Village.

On March 2, the task force reviews the final draft of recommendations, which will be delivered to district leaders and the Oklahoma City Public Schools Board of Education, which is ultimately tasked with implementing recommended measures or not. As the district continues to face financial setbacks, the result of dwindling state revenue collections, recommendations that require extra funding, resources and staff could be pushed to the backburner.

By rethinking school structure and building community support, the task force’s initiatives could potentially turn around failing schools, Thompson said.

“I would like to see a comprehensive effort and commitment to really respond to kids coming to school with socio-emotional baggage,” he said, referencing his desire for the district to implement the community-based schools model. “We can’t depend on the academics and discipline system alone.

The district has to go down that path.”

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Work continues Northeast Oklahoma City, home to the city’s largest black communities, has a rich and diverse history. However, the area has also suffered from decades of economic isolation, which made way for blight, high crime, poor health outcomes and unfavorable environmental conditions. Through a variety of community-driven endeavors, northeast OKC is receiving much-needed attention in areas of economic development, criminal justice and health. >> The Northeast Renaissance Stakeholder Committee is a community organization focused on the economic resurgence of the area. The group meets monthly, presenting updates on economic plans associated with the area, like the $45 million tax increment financing (TIF) district established by the Oklahoma City Council called the Northeast Renaissance Redevelopment Project. Major developments in northeast OKC include Northeast Town Center, located along NE 36th Street, which was redeveloped to lure a full-service grocery store to the area, and the redevelopment of the Page Woodson School building into residential housing. >> Oklahoma City Police Department Springlake Division received a $730,000 Safe Oklahoma grant from the Oklahoma Office of the Attorney General.

Through the grant, officers are establishing a community policy approach in which they go door to door to meet with residents.

Officers inquire about citizens’ concerns and answer any questions about the department. >> Healthy Community Collaborative — Northeast Oklahoma City began a multilayered initiative to improve the health of residents living in northeast OKC in 2016. Through the aid of Lynn Institute for Healthcare Research Inc., the 36-member collaborative has proposed community solutions and begins the implementation process this spring. Through community solutions in areas of environment, transportation, crime and the economy, the collaborative seeks to make an impact on the health and vibrancy of northeast Oklahoma City.

b u s i ness

Strong networks

Black Chamber of Commerce provides plentiful and critical opportunities for entrepreneurs and young adults. By Laura Eastes

Since rebranding the Capitol Chamber of Commerce to become the Black Chamber of Commerce Metro Oklahoma City in late 2011, the organization has soared into a community-driven entity focused on economic development.

“Being the Black Chamber and ensuring we understand the needs of the minority and black community, we don’t have the luxury of just being centered on economic development and entrepreneurship,” explained Eran Harrill, who was influential in the rebranding campaign and rose to the position of executive officer two years ago.

Oklahoma Gazette recently spoke to Harrill by phone about the chamber’s recent efforts. A member of the Oklahoma National Guard, Harrill is deployed in Ukraine.

Oklahoma Gazette: What is Black Chamber of Commerce Metro OKC’s role?

Eran Harrill: We create an atmosphere for people to be able to network and make business connections, make personal connections. A good example of that is working with a few entities, one being the Oklahoma branch of the FBI. They were looking for recruits with an emphasis on minority recruits. The fighting force didn’t look like the communities it served — not just on the agent level, but also in other positions. We have relationships with UCO (the University of Central Oklahoma) and OCCC (Oklahoma City Community College).

We hand-provided the FBI with quality applicants.

OKG: Tell me more about the chamber’s efforts to help minority youth gain career experience.

Harrill: With chambers ... you always want to ensure strong memberships with corporations. It takes that to really thrive and help the small business members.

In the past, we’ve never supported the youth, who we know will eventually be at those companies. Why not empower

Eran Harrill center at a Black Chamber of Commerce Metro Oklahoma City event with U.S. Rep. Steve Russell left and Col. Bobby Yandell. | Photo provided

kids in their high school and college years [through internships and mentorships]?

By the time they are juniors in college, you’ve invested in them. It’s a win-win for chambers and the businesses, as you’ve helped businesses get quality interns and, later, employees but at the same time kept talent in Oklahoma.

OKG: Thirty-eight percent of chamber members are startup businesses. Is startup activity by minority-owned businesses on the rise?

Harrill: We do a program called Meet the Lenders. Think [ABC’s] Shark Tank. … We put entrepreneurs in a room, and they pitch their ideas to different organizations like the SBC Foundation and the Community Action Agency. Those entities specifically help entrepreneurs and startup businesses. After, we evaluate the participants’ goals and where they want to take their business. On that same day, we get them in front of lenders who specialize in startup businesses.

Does this mean that every single one who comes through later starts a business and is successful years later? I would love to tell you yes, but it’s not and never will be. We keep the door revolving for people who have dreams and want to see if it can become a reality.

OKG: What is the vision for the chamber’s future?

Harrill: I always say, “We are building something that is 10 years ahead.” … We want to be a resource on a greater scale than what anybody ever expected. Last year, we hosted two election forums: House District 97 (northeast Oklahoma City) and the state questions. It was not geared toward endorsing a candidate or policy, but giving the community that education. The chamber had never done that before. Some people who came had never heard of us or had ever considered coming to a chamber forum before.

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10/14/16 5:05 PM

chicken

friedNEWS

Misfortune teller

Well, who saw this one coming?

Police recently charged Oklahoma City psychic Sonia Lisa Marks, who operates Mrs. Maples Psychic Reader at 4445 SW 33rd St., with fortune-telling for a fee.

Didn’t know that was illegal? You would not be the only one.

Oklahoma City police Master Sgt. Gary Knight told NewsOK.com that the charge is an “exceedingly rare thing” but has nonetheless been illegal in the state since 1915.

Police are unlikely to investigate such claims unless they receive complaints. Despite its rarity, fortune-telling for a fee is no small violation. Marks might see some jail time in her tealeaves if convicted.

The obscurity of the charge led Marks’ defense attorney to claim targeting, as other self-proclaimed psychics and fortune-tellers operate in the state without problems. Stephen Dillard-Carroll, owner of Oklahoma City’s The Traveling Tarot, told NewsOK his nine-year-old business has encountered no legal trouble.

“There’s a reason why this particular law is not really enforced,” he said. “By and large, the psychic business is a reputable business.”

Alas, a look into the Chicken-Fried News crystal ball reveals Marks has a murky past. Ohio news reports show that in the 1990s, she conned several fortune-telling clients out of as much as a cumulative $1 million.

In August, an undercover OKC police officer paid $60 for a six-minute session with Marks. Other agents were pressed to pay as much as $125 for additional meetings and “aura cleanses” that promised to bring them true happiness.

Chicken-Fried News doesn’t need an oracle to know those prices seem a tad steep.

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Hello, goodbye

It’s au revoir to the former Downtown Airpark! That’s right! It’s officially bye-bye to the old airpark once considered a “pioneer” of privately owned airport facilities, according to a 1946 Oklahoman article.

Since it has also been more than a decade since the airpark was operational, the exuberant staff of Chicken-Fried News say this is a sweet farewell! Visit the areas these days and you see families and couples riding the new Wheeler Ferris Wheel.

You’ll see public art! Cyclists cruising along bike trails! There’s live music! And picnic tables! And much more is on the way.

For the past few years, developers have planned the next great urban neighborhood in the area previously home to the Downtown Airpark.

In late January, Oklahoma City Council approved a public financing plan supporting Wheeler District redevelopment, according to a NewsOK. com article.

The Ferris wheel will soon be accompanied by offices, shops, restaurants and 2,000 mixed-used housing units, NewsOK.com reported.

Sayonara, airpark! Howdy, Wheeler!

Abortion altercation

Oklahoma lawmakers have already had a busy legislative session. Each year, they introduce a bevy of bills covering a range of topics including the separation of church and state, education, health care, taxes and even abortion.

One proposed abortion bill in particular caused waves of debate across the country.

Oklahoma Rep. Justin Humphrey proposed House Bill 1441, which would require a woman seeking an abortion to provide the embryo’s father’s name to her physician and obtain the man’s consent (we at Chicken-Fried News euphemistically call that “permission”) before the patient could have the procedure. The bill also states that if the man challenges paternity, he may demand a paternity test.

The Washington Post reported that though Humphrey says he wants to protect fathers’ rights, his comments have led many to believe he mistrusts

the ability of women to make appropriate decisions regarding their reproductive health care. In an interview with online news site The Intercept, he said that women’s bodies are merely “hosts.”

“I believe one of the breakdowns in our society is that we have excluded the man out of all of these types of decisions,” Humphrey told The Intercept. “I understand that they feel like that is their body. I feel like it is a separate — what I call them is, is you’re a ‘host.’”

Tulsa World reported that on Feb. 14, The House Public Health Committee approved the bill — as well as House Bill 1549, “which aims to ban abortions sought solely because of fetal defects” — and it is eligible for consideration by the House.

Here’s our suggestion: Follow Kentucky’s lead.

A Louisville lawmaker recently introduced a bill that would require men in that state to get a letter of approval from their wives before being allowed to use erectile dysfuntion drugs.

“I want to protect these men from themselves,” Rep. Mary Lou Marzian (also a nurse) told the Courier-Journal.

“This is about family values.”

Love letter

For those who love scandal like we do, Gov. Mary Fallin’s appointment to the state Supreme Court has proven to be a doozy!

After obtaining attorney Patrick Wyrick’s Oklahoma Supreme Court application and cross-checking voter registration and other public records, online news website NonDoc recently clarified some “alternative facts” regarding Wyrick’s residency.

It doesn’t appear Wyrick is the lifelong resident of Atoka he is made out to be, NonDoc reported.

The news website reviewed election records showing Wyrick cast ballots in Cleveland County elections and listed an Oklahoma City residence from “2016-now” on his application to the court. He also listed residences in Norman, Broken Arrow and Moore.

Under the Oklahoma Constitution — the big burrito of laws and rights that Fallin appointed Wyrick to preserve — applicants are required to be age 30 or older and a practicing attorney or judge for at least five years.

He totally nailed that part.

Also, the state constitution requires they also live in the district for a year prior to their appointment. Oops.

Fallin appointed him to the second supreme court district, which includes southeastern Oklahoma counties. While

Wyrick registered to vote in Atoka County on Oct. 12, 2016, two weeks before submitting his application to the court, the jury is still out on whether the justice lived there for a year.

On Valentine’s Day, ACLU of Oklahoma announced it’s suing Wyrick on behalf of residents in the second supreme court district, claiming their constitutional right to proper court representation was denied and the justice was improperly appointed to the seat.

Voters vamoose

Oklahoma County residents do not care at all. Oklahoma State Election Board unofficial results for the Feb. 14 elections — which included school board, municipal and special elections — paint a downright pathetic picture of modern democracy.

A whopping 27 people voted for the Ward 3 City Council seat in Warr Acres.

Two Edmond Public Schools bond issues drew more than 4,300 votes each.

Four Oklahoma City Council seat races mustered only 6,763 votes combined. There are 122,296 registered voters in those four districts,

which means a robust 5.53 percent of eligible voters actually cast a ballot.

That’s not good, folks.

While the world seems riveted to their screens watching what our newest commander in chief might do next, are they tuned in to the issues and leaders who most impact our everyday lives?

Who decides which roads to repair? The city council. Who decides if property deserves tax increment financing? The city council.

The election receiving the most votes on Valentine’s Day was the race for Oklahoma City School Public Schools Board chairperson — 7,354 people cast ballots. A run-off election is April 4 to decide between Paula Lewis and Stanley Hupfeld.

Maybe Oklahoma City was just in a haze of love on Feb. 14, but when the fog lifts, it’s clear: Either more people need to vote or we should get used to politics as usual in the metro and quit complaining so much.

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letters

NEWS Same ol’ same ol’

Oklahoma Gazette provides an open forum for the discussion of all points of view in its Letters to the Editor section. The Gazette reserves the right to edit letters for length and clarity. Letters can be mailed, faxed, emailed to jchancellor@okgazette.com or sent online at okgazette.com.

Include a city of residence and contact number for verification.

Charge ’em all

When I discuss abortion with “pro-life” folks, most say they oppose it because they believe that “life” begins at conception.

Therefore, abortion is murder.

However, I find that most of them don’t believe that at all. Let’s say you are walking by a fertility clinic and you see it is on fire.

You hear screams from inside. You rush in and see a tray labeled as containing 100 fertilized eggs. You also see a little 5-yearold girl screaming for help. You only have time to save the tray or the girl.

You know your answer. The girl is more precious than the eggs. You would be a monster if you saved the eggs instead of the girl. This would be true even if the tray contained 23-day-old embryos.

Here’s another way to look at it: A young woman in her first semester at college has unprotected sex. She finds she is pregnant,

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but abortion has been made completely illegal. She finds a doctor willing to perform one anyway, and they are caught and arrested.

If you believe that abortion is murder, then you must think the doctor should be charged with a capital crime. Beyond that, you surely must believe that the young woman should also be convicted of murder.

If a mother paid someone to kill her 5-yearold child, she would certainly be charged with murder. The woman who paid for an abortion is no victim.

Continuing this logical progression, the mother who drove her to the clinic is guilty of being an accessory to murder and also

should get life in prison. The student’s father, who knew of the plan but did not stop it, should also be charged. And her two friends, who find out afterward and did not call the authorities, should be charged as accessories after the fact.

If this sounds just to you, then you and I live by very different moral codes.

Being a man, I don’t believe I have much say in the difficult decisions some women must sometimes make concerning these things. And I am certain that if men were the ones with wombs, the right to choose would be enshrined in the Constitution.

Brooks Tower Oklahoma City

The Oklahoma Legislature recently started its session with many serious issues to focus on, including a monumental budget crisis while trying to figure out how to give teachers a pay raise.

So how did our lawmakers spend their first week back?

They focused on abortions and want to find a way to get a Ten Commandments statue back on state property.

In other words, the same ol’ same ol’.

Instead of focusing on issues that are important, once again, they’re working diligently to waste taxpayer money and time to pass bills that will eventually have to be defended (and ultimately lost) in court, spending millions more dollars that they don’t have in court costs.

Think of all the teacher raises that could be had with all that wasted money.

But what’s to be expected? As the old adage states, “If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always gotten.” As long as Oklahoma keeps voting in the same clowns into the state Legislature, nothing will change. I hope no one is holding their breaths for any real teacher raises from a party in control that’s trying to dismantle public education.

The Oklahoma Legislature has already proven where its priorities lie.

Paul Marek Oklahoma City

Photo Garett Fisbeck

review

EAT & DRINK

Fresh catch

Off the Hook reels in fervent fans and is about to catch a second location.

By Greg Elwell

Off the Hook Seafood & More 125 W. Britton Road | offthehookokc.com 405-840-3474 What works: Anything is better with lobster cream sauce.

What needs work: The small restaurant’s popularity means it gets crowded quickly.

Tip: Call-in orders have to be $50 or more, and payment is taken over the phone.

After years of knowing me, my dad is not easily impressed by tales of food.

But his ears perked up when I started describing the cuisine at Off the Hook Seafood & More.

Corey and Loniesha Harris’ restaurant, 125 W. Britton Road, began as a food truck. Though still a young man in his mid-30s, Corey already had decades of experience cooking when he started the seafood-focused business. His expertise quickly became evident, and the truck’s following grew just as fast.

The truck was a gold mine, but it had limits. So they leased a former Starbucks location and found an even bigger audience.

There are winners on every section of the menu, but if you can only try one thing, it has to be grilled fish, shrimp and grits ($15).

Don’t give me any of that “I don’t like grits” business, either. You won’t like these grits — you will love them. Harris’ recipe is simple and uses chicken stock, grits and cheese to create a texture that’s creamy and a flavor so rich it makes my knees turn to jelly.

On top of a heaping helping of grits comes a grilled catfish filet doused in Cajun seasoning. The mild fish is a perfect showcase for the mix of paprika, garlic and cayenne pepper. It comes with just a tickle of heat

Crispy seafood wontons | Photo Garett Fisbeck

that balances the fatty richness of the grits and the decadent spinach lobster cream sauce drizzled over the dish.

Five jumbo fried shrimp add crunch to the mix, and I recommend dragging them along the plate and loading up a big bite of grits with each one.

Another option is super smothered seafood rice (or fries) for $15. If you ask for it spicy, it will come with a generous supply of Sriracha on top.

The base of perfectly cooked rice has lobster cream sauce ladled over the top with a mix of shrimp, crawfish, crab and baby clams. Then the cooks put bacon and fried onions on that, melt some cheese on top and add a sprinkle of freshly chopped chives.

But that’s just regular smothered seafood rice. The “super” adds a big fried fish filet and five large fried shrimp.

At some point, you’ll need to lay off the lobster cream sauce. That’s when I recom-

Super smothered seafood rice | Photo Garett Fisbeck

mend gumbo ($6). The deep brown roux — the Louisiana staple for which flour is cooked in fat before slowly adding hot liquid to the mix — at Off the Hook gets added flavor from seafood stock that makes for a densely layered sauce that requires contemplation to fully appreciate. Bites of shrimp, chicken sausage, crawfish and crab float throughout, and a scoop of white rice adds body to the stew.

The gumbo has an initial burst of spice heat that fades quickly, so if you want something that’ll make you sweat, add some hot sauce. It’s delightful either way.

Off the Hook deals in decadence.

Similar to a crab Rangoon, each of an order of six crispy seafood wontons ($8) is filled with a mix of crab, crawfish and shrimp blended with cream cheese, minced red onion, chopped scallion and garlic Sriracha sauce before being deepfried to a vibrant golden brown.

Anyone bound and determined to get something green in their diet at Off the Hook should absolutely order a side of collard greens with smoked turkey ($3).

Collards are frequently bitter, but these are so expertly cooked that all I tasted was a tangy, bright vinegar with the greens’ natural earthiness. The addition of smoked turkey adds a little fat and a nice, meaty texture.

As if that weren’t enough, Off the Hook also has a section called Cheesy Grillers, which is full of over-the-top grilled cheese sandwiches.

The Flying Pig ($9) includes pulled pork from The Flying Pig food truck.

Crazy Crawdaddy ($11) is full of crawfish salad. But if you’re going wild, go all the way wild with The Melted Lobster ($12).

Cajun-spiced and boiled lobster meat is melted into creamy Monterey Jack cheese with roasted poblano peppers and grilled red onions between a couple slices of thick, buttery garlic Texas toast.

If there’s an issue here, it’s that lobster meat has a fairly mild flavor and it can get lost amid the heat of the poblanos and the sweetness of the grilled onions.

If you’re looking for another way to eat Off the Hook’s cuisine, Corey and Loniesha have good news. The restaurant plans to open a location on the south side, close to Will Rogers World Airport in the near future.

Community support “We have a lot of people who are amazed this is a black-owned restaurant,” said Corey Harris, who co-owns Off the Hook Seafood & More with his wife Loniesha. “Unfortunately, for a lot of people, a black-owned restaurant means it’s not in great shape.”

When they opened a brick-and-mortar location in 2015, it was important to them to make everything look sharp and create an atmosphere that was inviting and professional.

“When we opened, we didn’t want to feed into those stereotypes,” Corey said.

“Stereotypes are meant to be broken. So we put in the time and money and effort to make it legit.”

Finding support in the black community isn’t always easy, they said. One source of help came early on from Ricki and Cerese Bly, owners of Taste of Soul Egg Roll food truck.

“Starting out, Ricki and Cerese would help us out as much as possible,” Corey said. “I remember them as one of the few who would.”

That spirit became a strong friendship, and the entrepreneurs try to support and promote one another often.

“It’s not a competition thing,” Corey said. “You can’t feed everybody.”

However, Off the Hook gives it a good try. The dining room of the restaurant, 125 W. Britton Road, stays full from 11 a.m. through early afternoon. As customers come in and out, Corey greets almost everyone and inquires about their meals.

The praise of the diners borders on effusive.

Loniesha wishes the praise was as consistent in the black community, though.

“We ask ourselves a lot, ‘Do we do enough to support others?’” she said.

“It’s hard to please people. Reading a bad review is a hard pill to swallow.”

Seeing the business from the inside, she finds herself more sympathetic to other small business owners who are struggling to get by.

Corey said some of their harshest critics come from their own community. When a hailstorm knocked out the power and ruined thousands of dollars of seafood, a customer demanded recompense because the restaurant was out of some items.

But no one is harder on Off the Hook than head chef Corey, who is always pushing to improve the restaurant’s food and service.

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b r i e f s By Greg Elwell

EAT & DRINK

•B-E-E-R

GRANDSTAND SPORTS GRILLE

FAT TUESDAY (February 28, 2017)

Creole Bloody Mary or a Frozen Hurricane $4.00 Each Creole Shrimp Cocktail $10.95 Cajun Catfish or Gator Po Boy w/ jalapeno and onion slaw Cajun Fries $10.95 Jambalaya w/ Cajun Cornbread $10.95 Praline Drizzled Cheesecake $6.99

GRANDRESORTOK.COM I-40 EXIT 178 | SHAWNEE, OK | 405-964-7263 14

F E B R U A R Y 2 2 , 2 0 1 7 | O kg a z e t t e . c o m

Guests check in for OKC Midtown Rotary’s 2014 Spelling Bee(r). | Photo OKC Midtown Rotary / provided

Alcohol does not make spelling easier, but it does make it fun to watch. While intoxication is generally frowned upon at elementary schools, Oklahoma City Midtown Rotary Club’s annual Spelling Bee(r) is the perfect place to sip and spell.

The seventh annual Spelling Bee(r) is 6-11 p.m. Friday at Will Rogers Theatre, 4322 N. Western Ave., and raises money for local education, arts and international community programs.

Last year’s event raised more than $10,000, said Midtown Rotary public relations chairwoman Judy Vance.

“It’s really important for organizations to step up with so many budgets being cut,” she said. “The public education sector is struggling, so whether we’re purchasing art supplies or supplying new instruments to music departments, it goes a long way.”

Rotary leverages its funds with matching grants in order to stretch dollars further, she said.

Those attending Spelling Bee(r) can bid on silent auction items for local goods and gift baskets. German food and beer from Coop Ale Works, Anthem Brewing Company, Vanessa House Beer Co. and Black Mesa Brewing Company will also be available. All ticketholders can also enter the bee for free. Anyone who misspells a word can buy their way back into the competition, which comes with a $500 prize for the winner.

Comedian Spencer Hicks hosts the spelling bee segment of the 21-and-older event.

Tickets are $45 in advance at gazettetickets.com and $50 at the door.

Oklahoma Gazette is one of 14 sponsors of this year’s Spelling Bee(r).

New leaf

Paul Zimmerman bought a majority share in Leaf & Bean Feb. 10 and became the tea and coffee company’s managing partner.

Zimmerman has been a part of Oklahoma City’s coffee culture for 10 years, including work at Clarity Coffee.

He said he’s looking forward to making some exciting changes and revamping the coffee program.

The space is gorgeous and the equipment is high-quality, so Zimmerman is concentrating on bringing in new coffees and developing the restaurant’s tea selection.

“On a transition plan, we’ll be launching the Leaf & Bean lab downtown and distinguishing it from the drive-thrus,” he said. “The pillars of my philosophy remain that I just want to make people the best coffee they’ve ever had and be super kind to them.”

He hopes to continue making quality coffee and tea accessible to everyday consumers and “blow people’s minds.”

Caffeine jolt

Caffeine Crawl returns to Oklahoma City March 11 for its fifth year.

Kansas City graphic designer Jason Burton founded the event in 2011 as a way to connect local coffee shops and consumers. The idea quickly caught on, spreading to other cities and highlighting each region’s unique coffee culture.

Crawlers purchase tickets online at caffeinecrawl.com for different routes and then jog, bike or drive between shops for tastings and short, informative lectures on aspects of coffee and tea production.

“I’m so glad we listened to locals and, after visiting in 2012, noticed that Oklahoma City really did have a solid and developing coffee scene,” Burton said.

This year’s OKC crawl spots include Clarity Coffee, Coffee Slingers Roasters, Cuppies & Joe, Elemental Coffee Roasters, Junction Coffee and Urban Teahouse.

Edmond shops feature Cafe Evoke and Compass Coffeehouse, and Norman shops are Gray Owl Coffee, Mariposa Coffee Roastery and Second Wind Coffee House.

Tickets are $33-$35, and two of the five available routes are already sold out.

e v e nt

NOW OPEN!

Sinful dishes

OKCMOA’s Omelette Party 2017 features a Las Vegas theme. By Christine Eddington

Thirty-three years ago, a small committee of volunteers hatched a plan for what has become one of Oklahoma City’s bestloved, longest-running and most successful fundraising galas: Omelette Party, benefitting Oklahoma City Museum of Art. Its 2017 iteration, themed Viva Las V-EGG-as, is 7 p.m.-midnight March 3 at Chevy Bricktown Events Center, 429 E. California Ave., and will most likely sell out — prospective eggheads had better scramble to secure their tickets.

Tickets are $100-$125 and are only available in advance at okcmoa.com or by phone at 405-236-3100.

Highlights of the evening are its masterpiece-laden art raffle, which occupies a sizable section of the events center. Art for this year’s raffle was donated by 50 local artists, including sculptors, painters and jewelers.

“This is my seventh year to be a part of the Omelette Party and donate a piece of art,” said Oklahoma City sculptor Joe Slack.

Details surrounding this year’s piece have yet to emerge, and Slack often finds that inspiration doesn’t strike until the week before the event.

“There is nothing like a deadline to inspire a great idea,” said Slack, who has been a full-time artist for 12 years.

Art is his livelihood, and he feels a sense of obligation when it comes to supporting the arts community.

“You can’t have a thriving city without a museum, and you can’t have a thriving society without culture,” he said. “It’s my duty as an artist to support it.”

Egg-cellent chefs

Omelets are inexpensive to make, and that was one of the reasons for making the versatile dish the centerpiece of the event, which is the brainchild of legend-

Guests enjoy art and omelets at Omelette Party 2016. | Photo Gregory Brindley / Oklahoma City Museum of Art / provided

ary Oklahoma City architect and arts supporter George Seminoff, who passed away in 2013.

Fare for this year’s party will include omelets, egg dishes and sweets created by chefs from 13 restaurants, bakeries and other purveyors including Jason Campbell from Mary Eddy’s Kitchen x Lounge in the new 21C Museum Hotel; Michael Haddad from PaceButler Corporation; Frank Newcomb and his team of volunteers; and Bill Leib, a chef instructor from Francis Tuttle’s culinary arts department.

Leib, an East Coast transplant who has called Oklahoma home since 2009, and his team of 13 students have come up with a unique dish that looks a lot like an omelet.

I make sure to go around and test everyone else’s dishes.

Frank Newcomb “We are making an egg yolk taco,” he said. “You salt-cure the yolks and dehydrate them. Then you can roll them out and make what look like soft tortillas.

This process gives you a wonderful vehicle for serving an appetizer.”

It’s a dish he often served during his early years as a chef. He and his team will fill the egg yolk taco shells with sautéed beef tongue, cauliflower that has been deep-fried in chicken fat and house-made salsa verde and pickled onions.

“I’m not a huge fan of a traditional omelet, personally, but this dish looks a

lot like an omelet,” Leib said. “My students will help prep everything for the event. The timing is perfect because we are working on vegetable preparations right now, so pickling and salsas are perfect. We will begin the prep the Thursday before the event, and then on Friday, I will take a team of three to four students with me to actually execute and serve the tacos at the event. We’re bringing enough ingredients to make 600 egg yolk tacos.”

Frank Newcomb, owner of Tony Newcomb’s T-Shirts, has been cooking for Omelette Party guests for a long time.

“It’s been 12 or 15 years, maybe longer,” he said. “I got involved because I love to cook. I cook competitively; it’s what I do to unwind. One year, I just asked if I could be involved, and now I look forward to it each year.”

Newcomb competes in chili and barbecue events but has also added omelets to his competitive repertoire.

“We do events for all kinds of groups,” he said. “I’ve really enjoyed getting to know everyone we cook with at the Omelette Party, and I make sure to go around and test everyone else’s dishes.”

Newcomb’s team consists of himself, chef Bill Shipley, and a buddy, Joe Green, who’s a retired banker from Chickasha.

“We may be the only team that makes traditional, made-to-order, hearty omelets,” he said. “We have all of the veggies, cheese, bacon, ham and all sorts of things and make great omelets. There’s an element of showmanship to our station. We laugh and flip our omelets, and if the line isn’t too long, we’ll flip and catch each other’s omelets. That doesn’t happen too often because we usually have a pretty long line. We just love it.”

Viva Las V-EGG-as is co-chaired by Cindy Friedemann and Matt Thomas.

A plethora of showgirls will be on deck to lend authenticity, and guests will enjoy an open bar and a dress-up photo booth with a Sin City theme. DJ Brian Smith and live music by Stars will round out the evening’s entertainment.

“This year’s Omelette Party builds on a 33-year tradition with another great theme: Las Vegas,” Friedemann said.

“We’re excited to welcome back many of the wonderful chefs and restaurants that have made this party one of the most fun benefits in the metro.”

Last year’s event generated $135,000, and organizers hope to top it this year.

Proceeds benefit Oklahoma City Museum of Art, which hosts 125,000 visitors each year.

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Viva Las V-EGG-as Omelette Party 2017 7 p.m.-midnight March 3 Chevy Bricktown Events Center 429 E. California Ave. okcmoa.com | 405-236-3100 $100-$125

O kg a z e t t e . c o m | F E B R U A R Y 2 2 , 2 0 1 7

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g a z e di b l e s

eat & DRINK

American dream

For many, the foundation of the American dream is to own their own business. Working for themselves, these local AfricanAmerican businessmen and women have created thriving restaurants that feed the entire community. Some are relative newcomers to the metro, while others have spent decades serving food that nourishes the body and delights the palate. These are some flavors to savor all year round.

By Greg Elwell Photos Garett Fisbeck / file, Greg Elwell / file and Gazette / file

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Carican Flavors

C’est Si Bon

Florence’s Restaurant

If you love food, you will love Sharon McMillan’s restaurant Carican Flavors.

The restaurant’s name and menu is a blend of Caribbean and American cuisine. Since 2005, Carican Flavors has served a diverse and growing population dishes including braised oxtail, jerkseasoned chicken and tender smoked turkey legs. The food is flavorfully spicy, not heat-spicy, and McMillan herself is as gracious and welcoming as can be.

The lines inside owner and executive chef Ken Mills’ restaurants get long, but they move quickly as customers happily pick up plates of crawfish-stuffed fried shrimp, spicy red beans and rice and heavenly crawfish étouffée. For a rare experience, be sure to order some of C’est Si Bon’s crisp, golden frog legs. However you felt about Kermit the Frog as a child, you’ll fall in love with the expertly seasoned legs.

Mother-and-daughter team Florence and Victoria Kemp have shepherded Florence’s Restaurant through good times and bad with food that is as satisfying as it is delicious. Soul food doesn’t get much better than Florence’s baked chicken and dressing. It originally opened on NE Fourth Street, but Kemp moved the restaurant to its present location in 1969 and hasn’t stopped creating some of the city’s finest home cooking since.

2701 N. Martin Luther King Ave. caricanflavors.com 405-424-0456

101 N. Douglas Blvd., Midwest City cajuncatfishandpoboys.com 405-610-2555

1437 NE 23rd St. florencesrestaurant.com 405-427-3663

Kings Catering & Cuisine

Leo’s Barbecue

Cajun King

Wing Supreme

If you haven’t traveled to Oklahoma City’s south side for a meal at Kings Catering & Cuisine, there’s no time like the present. Now open for breakfast 7-11 a.m., the restaurant offers up a spicy Spanish omelet with bacon, onions and jalapeños or sweet and savory chicken and waffles before switching to its lunch and dinner menu. Feed a serious hunger with Kings’ Creole meatloaf and sides of collard greens, fried green tomatoes and jalapeño macaroni and cheese.

Started in 1974 by Leo Smith and now under the leadership of his son Charles, Leo’s Barbecue spent the last 43 years building a reputation for excellent smoked meats. Feast on a plate of juicy beef brisket or tear into a rack of luscious ribs and you’ll understand why customers keep returning to this eastside culinary staple.

And no visit to Leo’s is complete without a slice of strawberry-banana cake (pictured), so don’t try leaving without one.

Forget checkers. When someone says, “King me!” they’re talking about a visit to Cajun King. That’s because everyone feels like royalty when dining on exquisitely seasoned blackened pork chops; thick gumbo full of shrimp, crab and sausage; and Cajun King’s signature dish, catfish almondine. Gently dredged in almond flour and fried a vibrant gold, catfish almondine isn’t on the buffet — the staff bring it directly to your table.

Want more? Just ask. You’ll want more.

Owner Eric Johnson has decades of experience making delectable wings, and that know-how shows in every bite at Wing Supreme. Its wings are spiced, fried and slathered in sauce. Flavors range from mild, like honey barbecue and TeriQue, to raging-hot KO’s sauce and jerk seasoning. Cool down with some banana pudding before taking on another dish of wings.

4540 S. May Ave. kingscandc.com | 405-839-8288

3631 N. Kelley Ave. facebook.com/leosbarbecue 405-424-5367

5816 NW 63rd St. cajunkingokc.com | 405-603-3714

3925 N. Lincoln Blvd. wingsupreme.com 405-702-5464

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uli oklahoma is a chapter of the urban land institute, whose mission is to provide leadership in the responsible use of land and in creating and sustaining thriving communities worldwide. uli oklahoma is celebrating is 10th year this year!!

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F E B R U A R Y 2 2 , 2 0 1 7 | O kg a z e t t e . c o m

PRICE EDWARDS & COMPANY LEGACY BANK SWEET SIXTEENTH TODD & KELLI GLASS

the uli oklahoma impact awards recognize projects that exemplify best practices in the responsible use of land and in creating and sustaining thriving communities, through their contributions to the built environment and the public realm. the projects promote the creation of resilient communities, intelligent densification and urbanization, as well as outstanding quality of design and construction.

Vist us today at oklahoma.uli.org.

yo ut h

ARTS & CULTURE

Up-tempo

The Brothers of Stomp, through its building charter and personal growth program, provides possibilities for young men at Star Spencer High School. By Laura Eastes

For the young men of Star Spencer High School’s The Brothers of Stomp, stepping is never about winning or losing or chasing titles or trophies.

Behind their rapid-fire movements, rhythmically clapping their hands against their hips, legs and arms in time with the forceful cadence marked by their swift feet, The Brothers of Stomp provides a positive experience for its members, one far from the anxiety and hassle existing in their small Oklahoma County town.

We don’t even talk about winning — we talk about performing and getting better.

David ‘Coach Moe’ Mosley

Stepping, or stomping as it’s called around the Star Spencer hallways, is a dance form rooted in African and African-American cultures. It was made popular by black college fraternities and sororities and has been depicted in popular films like Spike Lee’s 1988 School Daze and the 2007 drama Stomp the Yard.

Step dancing combines percussive movement, such as synchronized clapping and stomping, with interweaving formation and call-and-response. Teams can create their own rhythms or perform to hip-hop tunes.

“The truth of the matter is stomping is about 10 percent of what we do. People don’t believe that,” said David “Coach Moe” Mosley, who established The

from left Angel “Bass Line” Santiago and Deiontay “GI Joe” Reed perform with The Brothers of Stomp during a recent step routine demonstration at Star Spencer High School. | Photo Mark Hancock / for Gazette

Brothers of Stomp in September 2010 and remains its sponsor. “Other step teams place an emphasis on stepping and winning. We don’t even talk about winning — we talk about performing and getting better. We believe that you can teach anyone to step; stepping is nothing but muscle memory.”

High-energy routines coupled with a program centered on building character and personal growth set Brothers of Stomp members on a positive trajectory toward becoming the best version of themselves.

Redefining fate

Located about 10 miles outside Oklahoma City, Spencer is a town of 3,912 residents in northeast Oklahoma County that faces challenges seen in both urban centers and rural communities.

Communalism permeates the area; however, at the same time, there is a certain degree of despair. Largely cut off from mainstream economic opportunities, the minority rural community holds a median household income below the state and national average. Spencer schools are part of the Oklahoma City Public Schools (OKCPS) district, which has been plagued with shrinking state funding and budget cuts impacting staffing, facilities, curricula and extracurricular activities.

During the 2015-16 school year, 89 percent of Star Spencer students qualified for free or reduced-price lunches.

This number is often used as a proxy measure for the percentage of students living in poverty.

In recent years, like other rural communities, addiction and mental health crises and a lack of services and opportunities for upward mobility have weighed heavily on residents.

Many who enter The Brothers of Stomp program are in at-risk situations and have poor grades and a low outlook on their futures, Mosley said.

“We practice six days a week,” he said.

“The reason … is commitment. It also teaches them as inner-city minorities from a poverty-stricken area [that] they are going to have to work three times as hard. That is just the reality.”

When talking to prospective students, Mosley explains it’s a program that offers young men an opportunity to change if they are willing to accept the change. He doesn’t promise straight-A report cards or college scholarships but instilling a drive for continual self-improvement.

“The best thing for me is giving them the chance to change, giving them the chance to shine,” Mosley said. “I talk about this all the time. We are not going to save 100 percent, but we have successes. What we use as a success rate is graduation.”

The Brothers of Stomp high school graduation rate is 95 percent. That rate means members are graduating at a higher rate than other students in the OKCPS district, which held a graduation rate of 73 percent in 2014.

tion. My deal is to take what they have and enhance it.”

According to group members Jason Watts and Angel Santiago, Mosley enhances much more than dance steps.

“I really couldn’t take criticism very well,” Watts said about his personality before he joined The Brothers of Stomp.

“It’s taught me to take it, not get angry, work for change and how to better myself.”

Before joining, Santiago recalled watching performances and thinking, “I couldn’t do that, even if I tried.”

“I used to talk to nobody, keeping my head down with my hoodie on,” Santiago said. “Brothers of Stomp opened my mind.”

From shy teen to a confident student and performer, Santiago found a supportive family — one that pushes him to succeed, whether in stepping, at school or socially — in The Brothers of Stomp.

“If I can put my mind to it,” Santiago added, “I can surely achieve it.”

Jason “Eagle Eye” Watts performs with The Brothers of Stomp during a recent step routine demonstration at Star Spencer High School. | Photo Mark Hancock / for Gazette

Achievers

On a mild and breezy early February day, eight Brothers of Stomp members chant seven core values — academics, citizenship, community, commitment, hard work, teamwork and humility — as they enter the school auditorium. Then they begin to step.

“People can’t always put a finger on us,” Mosley said as the students begin practice. “We are different because the kids collaborate. The kids make up a majority of the steps through collaboraDavid “Coach Moe” Mosley at Star Spencer High School | Photo Mark Hancock / for Gazette

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culture

ARTS & CULTURE

Future history

Oklahoma City artists discuss how and why they create and the importance of culture and education in our communities.

By Ben Luschen | Photos provided

In observance of Black History Month and as a quest to better understand the experiences of black artists locally, Oklahoma Gazette recently invited local artists to participate in a Q&A to share their perspectives. Each was asked the same questions. Here are some of their replies.

How does your upbringing, background or culture inspire or inform your art or creative process?

Ebony Iman Dallas: A lot of my work deals with political issues here and in Somalia. I remember spending the summer in Hargeisa [in Somalia] and struggling with perfectionism. This hindered my ability to create without stress. It was there that I realized the beauty in imperfection.

If your radio breaks, you don’t just replace it with one that’s brand-new; you call someone to fix it. In an attempt to break through my perfectionist tendencies, I developed a freestyle drawing technique where I would begin with an image in mind, then freestyle draw without erasing.

In turn, I created images that I couldn’t have imagined by continuing in the direction of so-called “mistakes”

and watching where they would lead. I learned to work with what I have organically, and this has forever altered my work.

Jabee: My black culture has been in my music since I started. I didn’t just recently start with it.

My first album sampled Malcolm X. I had a song about James Earl Jones and [another about] Stokely Carmichael. My album had Che Guevara on the cover, and the intro was Gil Scott Heron.

All of those things are my culture and make me the artist I am.

Do black or other minority youths have enough art or music opportunities available to them? Do you think arts education is important?

Jabee: These things are so important.

I teach a music class in an Oklahoma City high school. My students get excited and motivated by art and music.

It’s a big part of our culture. I know they need more, but over time, you look around [and realize] it’s being taken away from them.

Black kids are some of the most creative and trendsetting people in the

world. When you take those things away, it’s like taking away the language.

It shows kids we don’t care and they aren’t important — holding on to your comfy salary or job title is more important than giving these kids a fighting chance at a real future.

Don Eisenberg: The passion to create was given to me from my education through the arts program at Classen School of Advanced Studies and teachers who made you believe that what you were performing in that moment was bigger than one person, that the music had a life all its own and you were given the chance to experience that.

I fear that without the opportunities to explore one’s creative nature, black and other students of color will succumb to the lackadaisical world of underfunded public schools.

W. Jerome Stevenson: I’d say that such experiences are integral to the development of students of every background and particularly to the goal of developing artists and arts patrons within the African-American community.

I want students of color to see themselves and their stories onstage.

When they do, they will no longer inherently connect this art form to someone other than themselves.

What challenges have you faced as a black artist in Oklahoma?

Eisenberg: Being a black artist and attempting to break down the walls of the generic white boys club.

Also being pulled over prior to a per-

formance; the anxiety of being followed by the police from a highway, to a frontage road, to the public streets and then as you come to that last turn before you pull up to the venue, the lights come on.

To leave your own home en route to an event and to drive only two blocks from your home before a squad pulls you over to ask, “Where ya headed, pal?”

To have to perform in that trembling state; to have to entertain and not sulk in the thick air of systemic racism — it’s tough.

Deanne Brodie-Mends: Well, I see that as a people, we do need to come together and support one another. I believe as a black woman, it’s incredible that I can inspire people to be strong and to live for God and that doesn’t make you any less of who you are.

I come to defy the stereotypes that are placed on African-Americans with the way I choose to live my life as well as the things I post and say.

There are limitations, but I choose not to let that stop me from doing what God has called me to do.

How does art and music play a role in bringing Oklahomans from different backgrounds or cultures together? What could artists or the state do to increase or strengthen those connections?

Miillie Mesh: I think the food and the way people live and the type of scenery here brings different cultures together.

It’s a very “feel at-home” type of vibe with Oklahomans.

As far as art goes, I don’t think we do

Miillie Mesh

Deanne Brodie-Mends

Jabee

Ebony Iman Dallas

Hip-hop artist

Writer, poet and spoken word artist

Hip-hop artist, teacher and arts advocate

facebook.com/dbrodiem

facebook.com/jabeemusic

Local visual artist with family originating from Somalia; founder of Afrikanation Artists Organization

soundcloud.com/miilliemesh

facebook.com/eidartanddesign

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Don Eisenberg

W. Jerome Stevenson

Drummer for Bowlsey, Tonne and other local bands

Artistic director for Pollard Theatre Company in Guthrie

facebook.com/bowlseymusic facebook.com/tonnegroup

thepollard.org

anything out of the norm or above and beyond belief that would make someone come here specifically for that. It would be nice if state or city magazines and news platforms pulled together to shed light on more hip-hop and rap events going on in the city.

There are quite a few things that go on here that I don’t think too many know about. … In all honesty though, I dig the fact that I was raised in Oklahoma.

As an artist, I have to push myself twice as hard and find other ways to inspire myself or be motivated living here.

That’s not easy.

Stevenson: In theater, the audience is connected in a conversation that is initiated from the stage and allows the audience to share.

Much of our work in the theater deals in universal themes: love, loss, growth, fear, etc. The beauty of the theater is that we find ourselves sitting in the dark, sharing emotional experiences with complete strangers.

The Pollard [Theatre Company’s] mission is to showcase that “shared human experience,” and we feel it has been a critical component to our success and growth. Artists must continue to have faith in and seek to cultivate that audience and bring them together for more diverse works and artists.

Dallas: I definitely believe the opportunity for cultural exchange exists through the arts, but I do not believe we are exploiting it enough.

As artists and organizers, we have to be willing to step outside of our own comfort zones and be very intentional about working with diverse groups in meaningful ways.

Kirkpatrick Hall

What was it about the arts or music that first drew you in? Was it a person in your life or a feeling you had? What made you want to be creative?

Mesh: When I was younger, I was always musically inclined. I started piano lessons at age 6 when I lived in California. I moved away to Oklahoma and picked up violin at 8 years old and played up until sophomore year in high school. I didn’t get into rap music or writing raps until I was 13. At the time, I was a super big fan of young rap artist Lil’ Bow Wow. I wanted to be the female version of him. ...

I’ve always been a writer as well, and English was the subject I excelled in at school. For me, it was a way to use my thoughts and words in a positive way while venting and releasing bottled-up emotions.

Definitely seeing people who looked like me on television made me want to be in that kind of world.

Brodie-Mends: Before I began poetry, I always had a love for writing. I used to have so many notebooks. I would write stories for my friends and tell them what their lives would look like in the future.

As I grew up, I wrote out of frustration and it wasn’t anything positive.

My sophomore year in college, I met a man named Willis Lusk, and he did poetry, videos, etc. … He opened up my mind to this new world of poetry.

I loved the connectivity of the art. I loved how words could bring people together.

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culture

ARTS & CULTURE

Revealing identity

ruby trout

Ralph Ellison Foundation executive director Michael Owens explains how the past provides solutions to help blacks living in Oklahoma. By Ian Jayne

“I came to Oklahoma City because of Ralph Ellison.”

To Michael Owens, originally from Milwaukee, Ellison is both a historical icon and a visionary.

Owens managed operations at Ralph Ellison Library for six years before founding the Ralph Ellison Foundation in 2014.

Before that, he led a distinguished career in the U.S. Navy and earned history, political science and law degrees from the University of Wisconsin Parkside and a library information science master’s degree from the University of WisconsinMilwaukee.

The importance of Oklahoma Cityborn novelist, essayist and artist Ralph Waldo Ellison’s legacy becomes apparent in Owens’ own work at the foundation and as community development director for the Alliance for Economic Development of Oklahoma City, which gives him a unique perspective on the challenges facing blacks in Oklahoma today.

American identity

Black Oklahomans face both practical and ideological issues, he said.

Unemployment, food scarcity and information deserts, along with poverty and challenges in the education system, affect blacks while questions of “true American” identity continue to circulate in the larger cultural discussion.

“I think for blacks, we have always struggled to fit within this society … and to be heard in this society in a way that reaches the level of many of our counterparts,” Owens said.

To Owens, and to Ellison, these issues boil down to perception: how black identity is seen or not seen.

“One of the things the foundation tries to do is to assist black people in telling their own story,” Owens said. “I think American history is laced with others telling the story of minority peoples, and so the foundation gives voice to that social expression.”

Owens said the foundation elevates how people perceive discussions of race by amplifying Ellison’s legacy and empowering adults and children through community discussions, art and literacy events and promoting cultural awareness.

“We try to move from the macro-level to the micro-level,” he said.

Owens said labels and stratifications — markers of difference — persist on the large-scale level but become more human on a smaller scale.

“If we can get to know one another and

experience one another, that’s where change begins to happen,” he explained.

“It’s at that level where we meet each other, that raw level, where we meet each other and examine our existence within this space, this time.”

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Cultural literacy

Literature, renowned for arousing empathy, provides a space for changing perceptions, Owens said. Discussion of novels — especially those written by blacks and other minorities — encourages continued conversation outside the author-reader dynamic.

One way Ralph Ellison Foundation seeks to change perceptions is through a curriculum based on Flying Home and Other Stories, a posthumously published collection of Ellison’s early short fiction.

Owens said students connect with the 13 pieces — six of them published for the first time in this book — that semi-autobiographically wrestle with themes including the Jim Crow South, the Great Depression, war, Ellison’s father’s death, chasing his dream to become a musician and more.

The works incite discussions about cultural identity, race and gender. The foundation launches the curriculum 2:30 p.m. Tuesday at Douglass High School, 900 N. Martin Luther King Ave., Ellison’s alma mater, where he also played football and studied music before graduating in 1931. His Flying Home stories were written between 1937 and 1954, as the young man developed his literary voice.

Ellison died in 1994 at age 81.

Owens said that Ellison’s literary talent lies in his broader approach to race and culture and in his ability to impact those who most need to hear the message.

His perspective, while shaped by his identity as a black man, did not limit his ability to speak to everyone on a human level.

“Sight can be deceiving,” Owens said.

“Ellison is talking about a pure kind of vision of who and what we are experiencing in our lives. He had a more holistic view of the individual — it was almost a 360-degree perspective of what constituted the human experience.”

The foundation folds Ellison’s philosophy into all of its efforts, Owens said.

The organization’s In the Light Bulb Room community discussion series launched its 2017 discussions last week in Oklahoma City and continues later this year with events in Norman, Stillwater and Tulsa.

Reading clinics and writing workshops also incorporate themes of expression.

“The challenge for us is how do we

Michael Owens | Photo Garett Fisbeck

modernize that and make it relevant to the particular programming that we’re doing,” Owens said.

The Ellisonian focus on American acceptance and multiculturalism provides answers even to today’s problems, he said.

‘You’re great’

Owens characterized the foundation’s mission as providing a platform, not a lectern. By creating spaces for young writers of color to examine their selfperception, influenced by larger social understandings of identity, the organization helps diminish the cultural invisibility experienced by many blacks.

“We have to change that perception, but you — you’re fine, you’re great,” Owens said of the message Ralph Ellison Foundation imparts to writers.

While there are divisions and struggles within the black community, Owens said a new generation of black leaders is willing to move the community in a more inclusive direction.

“I think the challenge in the next coming decades is maintaining a sense of continuity to the past,” he said.

Owens also thinks Ellison and the foundation represent what is greatest about Oklahoma.

“The Ralph Ellison Foundation belongs to Oklahoma; Ellison is an Oklahoman,” he said.

If Ellison’s legacy serves as an indication, it is possible to truly see one another at a human level. Owens said Latino, Asian and black communities all provide amazing opportunities for cultural growth in Oklahoma.

“If we can begin to bridge the gaps that divide us, the nation will look at the ‘Oklahoma experience,’” Owens said. “It’s possible.”

Learn more about Ralph Ellison Foundation at ralphellisonfoundation. org. Listen to Owens’ socially conscious podcast, One Mic, One Voice, which he cohosts weekly with De’Shaun Thornton, at onemiconevoice.com.

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culture

ARTS & CULTURE

Local ghouls

Underground Monster Carnival carves out a local niche in the era of expensive and impersonal fan conventions. By Ben Luschen

Years before Dig It! Boutique co-owner Art Sunday opened the 16th Street Plaza District vintage and collectibles shop with his wife Stephanie or moved his Underground Monster Carnival 100 miles to Oklahoma City’s State Fair Park, he was begging street prostitutes to come see his self-booked and promoted punkrock shows in Tulsa.

Sunday is now known as something of a Don Corleone of local fantasy, science fiction and horror fandom, but he grew up sporting more band patches than pocket protectors.

“I was always a nerd, but I always played in punk-rock bands,” Sunday said.

“I was the nerd who had nasty dreads and was gutter-punked out.”

The sixth edition of Sunday’s Underground Monster Carnival is 1-9 p.m. March 4 in the Hobbies, Arts & Crafts Building at State Fair Park, 3001 General Pershing Blvd. In the era of highdollar franchised conventions, the annual, all-inclusive cosplay gathering has amassed a cult following by remaining strictly loyal to its non-corporate formula.

The event celebrates every fandom under the fiction umbrella. Sunday welcomes Trekkies and Batmaniacs to Furries and Walking Deadheads. The fest is loud and energetic but also familyfriendly, featuring music, vendors, film screenings, panels, local artists and creators, a fashion show, a carnival-themed 26

F E B R U A R Y 2 2 , 2 0 1 7 | O kg a z e t t e . c o m

kid zone and more.

Sunday is a veteran at putting on local events and gatherings. While everything is professionally run and tightly organized, he also has a knack for making events feel more like loose, do-it-yourself parties than competing big-box conventions could ever hope for.

Those looking to pay big money for a 12-second meeting with a certain television or film celebrity have plenty of other options, but Sunday makes Underground Monster Carnival unique by applying his grassroots punk-rock wherewithal.

“I came from a generation when we put on shows in basements and didn’t think about paying the bands, but we always did if we had the money,” he said.

“It wasn’t about paying to play or having to pay Facebook to even get your show seen.”

‘Different approach’

Growing up in the Tulsa punk and hardcore community, Sunday spent countless hours trying to persuade anyone and everyone to attend his small-venue shows. Good attendance was vital for convincing the venues that his future bookings would also be viable, so Sunday passed out fliers to friends and fellow musicians and anyone he came across on the street — from pedestrians to known escorts.

That nondiscriminatory attitude lives on at Underground Monster Carnival.

It welcomes all devotees of all fictional universes. Sunday prints fliers in both English and Spanish. He also keeps admission prices very low compared to larger fan conventions and refuses to sell advance tickets.

“If people can’t make it to the show, they can’t make it,” he said. “If they don’t want to go, they don’t want to go.

I don’t want them to buy tickets and then me get the money [if they can’t make it], because I’m not that kind of organization.”

The event is for-profit, but Sunday said it’s not something he started to get rich or be able to boast about drawing people from across the country. It is run by a pro bono crew that is as or more happy to be there than any of the guests.

“I came at it with a different approach,” Sunday said. “[I don’t] make it really militant where I have 20 employees and I’m making them all wear lame shirts. All our volunteers, I tell them, ‘Hey, if you’re going to come to our show and help, you dress however you want and have fun.’”

Intimate feel

Underground Monster Carnival began at the Tulsa fairgrounds. Sunday took the concept with him when he moved to Oklahoma City six years ago.

Part of the event’s purpose is for local aspiring writers, artists, filmmakers and crafters to have substantive, organic encounters with local and national fandom figures — encounters not just limited to a quick and expensive autograph or picture.

Special guests this year include John Ferguson (known more commonly for his recurring TV role as Count Gregore), actress Anjanette Clewis, artist David Richmond and a number of other writers and music acts. A fashion show bringing

Art Sunday poses with Frankenstein’s monster to promote Underground Monster Carnival. | Photo Garett Fisbeck

to life the art of Velvet Monkey Salon’s Ana Iaccarino is also planned.

Sunday said he wants his event to be something fun and open to everyone, not just nerd elitists.

“I love the comics and I love the books and the movies,” he said, “but just because you like X-Men doesn’t mean you want to go off and dedicate your life to going into comic books and telling people they’re wrong because Wolverine actually wears yellow.”

Sunday frequently bemoans what he calls “Wal-Mart conventions” and said those who visit his event expecting video-game stations, A-list celebrities and convention-center gloss might leave disappointed.

That doesn’t make the carnival inferior. It’s just something different for people searching for something more intimate. He compared Underground Monster Carnival to Dig It!’s Plaza District neighbors at local pizza parlor Empire Slice House.

“Some people are going to go to Pizza Hut, and some people are going to go to Empire,” he said. “That’s just the way nature is. If I got 1 percent of Oklahoma City to come to my show, that’s all I’d ever need.”

Tickets are $7-$11. Children under 3 years old get in free.

Underground Monster Carnival 1-9 p.m. March 4 Hobbies, Arts & Crafts Building | State Fair Park 3001 General Pershing Blvd. undergroundmonstercarnival.com Free-$11

culture

Art expression

Dope Poetry is one of several free weekly events at ICE Event Center & Grill. By Ben Luschen

Before he could begin speaking, J. Wiggins excused himself for a moment and pulled a wide-ruled notebook from his backpack. Thoughts and feelings are more to him than passing fancies; they are art, pieces of his soul. To move on and forget the perfect words would be to forever lose a piece of himself.

A few seconds to jot down his thoughts and Wiggins was ready to check back into the present. Yet in many ways, co-hosting the Wednesday night Dope Poetry open-mic event has allowed him to reconnect with a love for poetry and spoken word he once thought he’d left in the past.

Dope Poetry is co-hosted by Wiggins and Anthony “Proverb” Crawford and occurs weekly 7 p.m. Wednesdays at ICE Event Center & Grill, 1148 NE 36th St. Everyone is welcome to perform — from poets who have been writing for years to those who just finished writing their first piece 20 minutes ago.

Even those walking into ICE with no intention of getting on a stage might end up leaving the building with their first

poem performance under their belt.

Wiggins and Crawford can often be seen approaching those who enter with the sign-up sheet, encouraging them to give it a shot, self-identifying artist or not.

“I think everyone’s an artist, and that’s the main conversation I have with people when they come to the door,” Wiggins said. “They say, ‘Well, I’m not a poet,’ and we say, ‘No, you are a poet.’

You probably grew up with a diary. The only difference between me and you is I’m reading my diary and you’re watching me. It’s really just fear; that’s the only difference.”

Performer or not, attending Dope Poetry is opening oneself up to the full range of human emotion. Wiggins said even though he has hosted other poetry events in the past, the openness and positivity he has felt through Dope Poetry took him back to the height of his poetry career more than a decade ago.

“You will be happy; you will smile; you will laugh like you’ve never laughed before,” he said. “You will cry; you will be sad. You might walk off the stage and

Anthony Crawford and J. Wiggins co-host Dope Poetry every Wednesday night at ICE Event Center & Grill. | Photo Garett Fisbeck

get a trio of hugs. That’s happened within the last week or two.”

Dope Poetry began when Wiggins and ICE owner Marc Flemon noticed a void in the local market when it came to poetry nights. The first show was in November, and Crawford was soon a co-host.

Crawford is originally from California but now teaches English at Northeast Academy for Health Sciences and Engineering Enterprise. He said there are a good number of local performers, but many one-time poets have fallen out of practice due to lack of venues or waning interest.

“They just need a platform,” Crawford said. “They need somewhere where they can go and brush up and get their own things going.”

The co-host said one of their goals is to foster a minimally threatening performance environment. They push love and positive energy from start to finish.

“We allow them to be themselves,” Crawford said. “When they get on the stage, they see we’re being ourselves, so it opens up the door for them to be themselves. It becomes more than just poetry after that. It becomes a platform for people to get out some of the issues that they’ve been dealing with or some things that they may see in society.”

Visit iceeventcenterandgrill.com.

O kg a z e t t e . c o m | F E B R U A R Y 2 2 , 2 0 1 7

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ARTS & CULTURE

Eating disorders are an unintended but not

continued from page 31

H ealth

we not share any further personal details. She has become an advocate for people battling disordered eating and speaks to others in recovery when asked. To Laura, weight and mind management is a lifetime process requiring attention and commitment.

From anorexia and bulimia nervosa to binge eating disorder and unspecified eating disorders, obsessions with food, not eating, overeating or purging can take years to unravel and change. Many patients who are hopeless and do seek help learn that under all these behaviors are feelings of great trauma, grief or loss. Some learn a biological component in their thinking dooms them to severe illness once they begin dieting.

“My advice to those suffering is to realize they have a biological illness that is not their or their family’s fault,” Laura said. “The only cure to the illness is food. Period. Even if the sufferer is not ‘underweight,’ it’s critical to stabilize eating patterns.”

In a fast paced, image-driven world, men and women are bombarded with messages like “You are what you look like” and “If you don’t have a handle on your weight, you don’t have a handle on your life.” These messages can drive one to feelings of hopelessness if they become locked in a cycle of yo-yo dieting.

Weight is a key determiner of health, history and future wellness. But so is peace of mind. People can find these feelings with help, get to the root of them, stabilize and develop coping skills to deal with a lot of things they have been unable to face. The mind is amazingly effective at hiding our shame, fear and sadness.

“People try very hard to go in and out of these diagnoses,” Duty said. “So the bulimic will try very hard to not eat. That’s our job: Find them where they are. We teach them this is the amount of food you need to eat so you don’t obsess on purging because your body is going to heal on this food.”

Smith said once they begin adhering to more normal eating patterns, their mindset follows.

“As the body gets healthier, they

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F E B R U A R Y 2 2 , 2 0 1 7 | O kg a z e t t e . c o m

always unexpected development for some who battle weight and other issues. | Photo illustration bigstock.com

start feeding their mind as they feel it again,” she said. “They begin to be okay having a hamburger again. They begin to heal and not purge long enough to tolerate a five- to 10-pound weight gain.

They aren’t on the scale, as we asked them not to. But their dopamine and serotonin levels increase because they are nourished as the body gets healthier. It requires a team.”

The Academy of Dietitians said the best form of weight management is through therapy, seeing a dietitian or your family doctor and long-term weight management. It doesn’t produce quick results.

While many people never engage in these severe forms of disordered eating and thinking, they serve as caution to be aware of our bodies, our minds, our spirits.

They let us know that if we feel hopeless, it sometimes takes professional help. Whether it’s 30 pounds that refuses to budge or a lifetime of secret behavior to control our weight, Wade enthusiastically insists everyone can achieve all the things they want to in terms of weight management. And it doesn’t mean dieting, continuing to be depressed or keeping a secret.

“We aren’t here to make you fat; you’re not going to be fat if you eat this amount of food,” Wade said. “Hand over your skinny jeans because when you start eating again, you’re going to feel your body. You’re also going to engage in your life and learn what healthy eating is for you.”

Coming up: The Weighed Down series concludes with a review of weight loss options, benefits, risks, successes and maintenance.

About the author: Terre Cooke Chaffin is an Oklahoma City journalist, producer, writer and photographer. She specializes in physical and mental health, creativity and stories of personal growth. Her work encompasses her philosophy “Live Well Today.”

calendar events recommended

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

one compelling truth, 7 p.m. Feb. 23. Cinemark Tinseltown, 6001 N. Martin Luther King Ave., 405-424-0461, cinemark.com. THU Captain Fantastic,(US, 2016, Matt Ross) in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, a father raising six kids with a rigorous physical and intellectual education leaves his paradise and enter the world challenging his idea of what it means to be a parent, 8 p.m. Feb. 23. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, 405-236-3100, okcmoa.com. THU The Salesman,(US, 2016, Asghar Farhadi) a couple’s relationship begins to turn sour during their performance of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, Feb. 24-26. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, 405-236-3100, okcmoa.com. FRI-SUN Rusalka, go behind the scenes with the Met’s stars.

During intermission, interviews with cast, crew and production teams reveal what goes into the staging of an opera, 11:55 a.m. Feb. 25. and 6:30 p.m. March 1.

AMC Quail Springs Mall 24, 2501 W. Memorial Road, 405-755-2406, amctheatres.com. SAT, WED

HAPPENINGS

Crabtown Fat Tuesday Bash Mardi Gras comes to Bricktown for Crabtown’s fourth annual Fat Tuesday Bash 5-11 p.m. Tuesday at 303 E. Sheridan Ave. Join the 21-and-older soiree in the upstairs banquet room. A $5 ticket covers beads, masks, a crawfish-eating competition and a King Cake cupcake giveaway — featuring cupcakes from Cuppies & Joe — for the first 100 guests. Twentytwo plastic babies will be hidden among the 100 cupcakes with prizes for all who find them. Call 405-232-7227 or visit pearlsokc.com. Tuesday Photo Pearl’s Restaurant Group / provided

BOOKS Van Choat signs Undaunted, from an orphan’s innocence to a young woman’s heartbreaking choices, Undaunted is the biography of her narrow escape from the carnage of the Vietnam War, 2 p.m.

Feb. 25. Barnes & Noble, 540 Ed Noble Parkway, Norman, 405-579-8800, barnesandnoble.com. SAT Lara Bernhardt signs The Wantland Files, Kimberly Wantland uses her psychic abilities to investigate paranormal disturbances. Sterling Wakefield is a renowned illusionist and confirmed skeptic who hopes to debunk her psychic abilities. Investigations lead to an unexpected conclusion, 3 p.m. Feb. 25.

Full Circle Bookstore, 1900 Northwest Expressway, 405-842-2900, fullcirclebooks.com. SAT Corinne Joy Brown Hidden Star reading, join Brown during the Brown Bag Lunch Series: How the Spanish Inquisition Brought Jewish Culture into the American West as she connects the research for her Hidden Star novel to a deeper understanding of Western cowboy culture, 12-1 p.m. March 1. National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 NE 63rd St., 405-478-2250, nationalcowboymuseum.org. WED

Ad2OKC’s 4th Annual Agency Speed Dating, looking for an internship or a first job? Want to meet industry professionals? Meet the pros from BigWing Interactive, Freestyle Creative and more to learn about many of the agencies in the metro, 6 p.m. Feb. 23. TapWerks Ale House & Cafe, 121 E. Sheridan Ave., 405-319-9599, ad2okc.com. THU Amy Schwartz: Cards Against Humanity, a designer specializing in branding, digital experiences and games speaks at this AIGA event. Schwartz is currently the design director at Cards Against Humanity and Blackbox, 6:30 p.m.

Feb. 23. DC on Film Row, 609 W. Sheridan Ave., 405-410-3563, eventbrite.com. THU Spring Remodel and Landscape Show, this comprehensive and expansive home show brings together OKC homeowners and knowledgeable and experienced remodeling and building experts, Feb. 24-26. Cox Convention Center, 1 Myriad Gardens, 405-602-8500, coxconventioncenter.com. FRI-SUN 2017 Tennis Shoe & Tuxedo Ball, 104.5 KRXO hosts the annual event with music by Black Water Bridge, 7 p.m. Feb. 25. Riverwind Casino, 1544 State Highway 9, Norman, 405-322-6000, riverwind.com. SAT Meet the Muslims, join American Muslim Association for a community discussion. Panelists answer questions on Islam and Muslim beliefs, 2-4 p.m. Feb. 25. Grand Mosque OKC, 3201 NW 48th St., 405-9486188, amaokc.com. SAT Krewe de Banjo Mardi Gras, enjoy authentic cajun food and Jambalaya Jass Band, 6-9 p.m. Feb. 25. American Banjo Museum, 9 E. Sheridan Ave., 405-604-2793, americanbanjomuseum.com. SAT 15th Annual Art with a Heart, Tri Delta Children’s Fund presents a silent art auction benefiting Oklahoma Children’s Cancer Association. All artwork is created by current and past Jimmy Everest Center at Children’s Hospital patients, 6-9 Feb. 25. OU Children’s Hospital Atrium, 1200 N. Children’s Ave., 405-271-5813, artwithheartokc.com. SAT Making Memories, event designed for individuals with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia and their caregivers or loved ones, 10:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Feb. 27. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive,

405-236-3100, okcmoa.com. MON Watch-Out Forum to Focus on School Choice, school choice is back on the legislative agenda this year as proposals are weighed to create vouchers and expand tax credits for private-school scholarships. The public forum features Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs president Jonathan Small, and Oklahoma Education Association president Alicia Priest, 6 p.m. Feb. 28. Kamp’s 1910 Cafe, 10 NE 10th St., 405-230-1910, oklahomawatch.org. TUE

FOOD February Wine Down Wednesdays, event featuring a different Grenache. Stop by after work for a glass or bring a friend and share a bottle, 2-5 p.m. Feb. 22. O Bar, 1200 N. Walker Ave., 405-600-6200, obarokc.com. WED Margarita Smackdown Final, celebrate National Margarita Day with this cocktail competition. Watch, taste and vote on which Oklahoma bartender/bar creates the best, 5-7 p.m. Feb. 22. Iguana Grill, 9 NW 9th St., 405-606-7172, eventbrite.com. WED Cocktail Chemistry: Classic Cocktails, a guided tour through the world of handcrafted cocktails featuring an interactive mixology demo with tasting, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Feb. 23. V2 Events at Vast, 333 W. Sheridan Ave., 405-208-4347, vastokc.com. THU Toast to the Arts 2017: Bubbles and Blossoms, FJJMA Association’s annual spring fundraiser.

Sample wines and beers while enjoying live music, beautiful artwork and floral arrangements inspired by the museum’s permanent collection, 7-9 p.m.

Feb. 24. Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, 555 Elm Ave., Norman, 405-325-3272, eventbrite.com. FRI Cowtown Roots Revival, a celebration of good beer, good eats and good music with new Anthem Brewing Company tastings available and food trucks. Live entertainment by Kent Fauss, The Stockyard Playboys and more, 2-7 p.m. Feb. 25.

Anthem Brewing Company, 908 SW 4th St., 405604-0446, anthembrewing.com. SAT A Taste of Tuscany Wine Dinner, celebrate the cuisine and wine of Tuscany. Each course is paired alongside a carefully selected wine from the Piccini Winery and presented by renowned importer Blake Lindelow, 6-8 p.m. Feb. 27. Ludivine, 805 N. Hudson Ave., 405-778-6800, opentable.com/ludivine. MON

YOUTH Bringing Gardens to Life, indoor activity brings gardens to life by making a nature-based, take-home crafts, such as bird seed ornaments or handprint trees; best for ages 2-5. 10:30-11:30 a.m. Feb. 22.

Myriad Botanical Gardens, Crystal Bridge Tropical Conservatory, 301 W. Reno Ave., 405-297-3995, myriadgardens.com. WED OETA Winter Writers Fair, students meet local authors Gwendolyn Hooks and Stacy Nyikos to learn storytelling and illustration skills. Activities with special guest Al Bostick, learning stations and prizes, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Feb. 25. Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden, 2000 Remington Pl., 405-4243344, oeta.tv/home. SAT Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss! storytime, , a special storytime celebrating the author’s birthday featuring coloring, activities and more, 11 a.m. Feb. 25. Barnes & Noble, 6100 N. May Ave., 405-843-9300, barnesandnoble.com. SAT

Newsies: The Broadway Musical, set in New York City at the turn of the century. When publishing titans Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst raise distribution prices at the newsboys’ expense, Jack Kelly finds a cause to fight for and rallies newsies from across the city to strike for what’s right, Feb. 22. Harkins Theatre, 150 E. Reno Ave., 405-231-4747, harkinstheatres.com. WED

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F E B R U A R Y 2 2 , 2 0 1 7 | O kg a z e t t e . c o m

The Cat in the Hat, two children left home alone are visited by an interesting yet troublesome cat wearing a tall hat. The cat succeeds in creating a huge mess in their house. Can they get it cleaned up before Mom gets home? through March 10. Oklahoma Children’s Theatre, 2501 N. Blackwelder Ave., 405606-7003, oklahomachildrenstheatre.org.

Red Dirt Dinos, a journey around the state and world, the dinosaurs that once roamed over Oklahoma’s red dirt landscape return to Science Museum Oklahoma; three interactive, lifelike robotic dinosaurs and a variety of hands-on components help visitors explore, through Mar. 20. Science Museum Oklahoma, 2100 NE 52nd St., 405-6026664, sciencemuseumok.org.

After-School Art Program, activities include visits to the museum’s galleries with related projects and guest speakers/performers, 3-4:30 p.m. through March 31. National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 NE 63rd St., 405-478-2250, nationalcowboymuseum.org.

Power and Prestige Children’s Gallery, designed to complement the temporary exhibition Power and Prestige: Headdresses of the American Plains, the museum offers activity space to explore bravery, pageantry, artistry, community and respect for culture and diversity, through May 14. National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 NE 63rd St., 405-478-2250, nationalcowboymuseum.org.

PERFORMING ARTS Adam Devine Weird Life Tour, an actor, comedian, singer, screenwriter, producer and voice actor quickly becoming one of the most sought-after young personalities in the comedy world, 7:30 p.m.

Feb. 22. Rose State College Hudiburg Chevrolet Center, 6420 SE 15th St., Midwest City, 405-2972264, okcciviccenter.com. WED

2017 Academy Award nominated Best Short Films:, before watching the Oscars, see nominated best animation, documentary and live-action short films: Extremis, 4.1 Miles, Joe’s Violin, Watani: My Homeland and The White Helmets, Feb. 22. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, 405-236-3100, okcmoa.com. WED

Is Genesis History?,(US, 2017, Thomas Purifoy) explore the world to see how it intersects with the history recorded in Genesis. Del Tackett of The Truth Project hikes through canyons, climbs up mountains and dives below the sea to examine two competing views and

March 4 Photo Gazette / file

Ugly Bugs!, an exhibition of larger-than-life photos of insects all captured by the contest’s 2016 winners, through June 18. Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, 2401 Chautauqua Ave., Norman, 405-325-4712, samnoblemuseum.ou.edu.

FILM

2017 Academy Award nominated Best Short Films, see Best Short Film animation, documentary and live action nominees Sing, Silent Nights, Timecode, Ennemis Interieurs and La Femme et la TGV, through Feb. 23. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, 405-236-3100, okcmoa.com. WED -THU

Coop Ale Works Eighth Anniversary Party Local brewing pioneers Coop Ale Works, which has become a staple in bars and on shelves across the metro, celebrates its eighth anniversary with two events March 4 at the brewery, 4745 Council Heights Road. Tastings of rare beers are released every 30 minutes in two sessions, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. and 4-8 p.m.

Tickets are $20-$50. Admission is 21-and-older only. Visit coopaleworks. com or call 405-842-2667.

“Bricktown Okctopus” Opening Celebration The day of christening for Bricktown’s newest mural is finally here. Join artist Jack Fowler and others for the official unveiling of “Bricktown Okctopus,” a city-themed cephalopod with windy appendages spanning the north side of downtown’s Chevy Bricktown Events Center. Festivities are 9-10:30 a.m. March 3 at 429 E. California Ave. Junction Coffee provides free, fresh brew for the morning. Admission is free. Visit facebook. com/downtownokc or call 405-235-3500. March 3 Photo Garett Fisbeck / file

go to okgazette.com for full listings!

Seminar, four aspiring New York writers pay handsomely for a private writing seminar with a sought-after but pretentious and egotistical instructor, through Feb. 25. Shakespeare on Paseo, 2920 Paseo St., 405-235-3700, oklahomashakespeare.org. WED -SAT Michael Mack, his songs and song parodies have played on radio stations across the country including The Bob and Tom Show and XM Radio. He is known for brilliantly using music, light, impressions and parodies to produce his shows, Feb. 22-25. Loony Bin Comedy Club, 8503 N. Rockwell Ave., 405-239-4242, loonybincomedy.com.

WED -SAT

Assassins, a groundbreaking musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. This fictional portrayal of the men and women who attempted to assassinate presidents of the United States explores why the issues that drove these people to commit horrific crimes still affect Americans today, through Feb. 22-26. Lyric Theatre, 1727 NW 16th St., 405-5249312, lyrictheatreokc.com. WED -SUN How I Learned to Drive, the story of the strained sexual relationship between Li’l Bit and her aunt’s husband, Uncle Peck, from her adolescence into college and beyond, 8-10 p.m. Feb. 23-25. The Paramount Theatre, 11 N. Lee Ave., 405-637-9389, theparamountokc.com. THU -SAT Saturday Night Fever, the date is 1976 and in Brooklyn, Tony Manero, a young man with a deadend job and an extraordinary ability to dance, has only one ambition in life: To become the disco king, Feb. 23-26. UCO Jazz Lab, 100 E. 5th St., Edmond, 405-359-7989, ucojazzlab.com. THU -SUN The Vagina Monologues, V-Day Oklahoma City presents a two-night-only benefit reading of Eve Ensler’s award-winning play The Vagina Monologues at Individual Artists of Oklahoma, 7 p.m. Feb. 24-25. IAO Gallery, 706 W. Sheridan Ave., 405-232-6060, vday.org. FRI-SAT Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play, Anne Washburn’s imaginative dark comedy propels us forward nearly a century, following a new civilization stumbling into its future. Mr. Burns is an exploration of how the pop culture of one era might evolve into the mythology

choreographers Austin Hartel and Roxanne Lyst, Feb. 24-March 5. Catlett Music Center, 500 W. Boyd St., Norman, 405-325-0538, musicaltheatre.ou.edu.

Exit Laughing, when the biggest highlight in your life for the past 30 years has been weekly bridge night with the girls, what do you do when one of your foursome inconveniently dies? If you’re these three Southern ladies from Birmingham, you borrow the ashes from the funeral for one last card game and the most exciting night of your lives, through March 11. Carpenter Square Theatre, 806 W. Main St., 405232-6500, carpentersquare.com.

ACTIVE Men’s Basketball, OKC Blue vs Sioux Falls Skyforce, 7 p.m. Feb. 22. Cox Convention Center, 1 Myriad Gardens, 405-602-8500, coxconventioncenter. com. WED Men’s Basketball, OKC Thunder vs LA Lakers, 7 p.m. Feb. 24. Chesapeake Energy Arena, 100 W. Reno Ave., 405-602-8700, chesapeakearena.com. FRI Men’s Basketball, OU vs Kansas State, 5 p.m. Feb. 25. Lloyd Noble Center, 2900 S. Jenkins Ave., Norman, 405-325-4666, lloydnoblecenter.com. SAT Men’s Basketball, OKC Thunder vs New Orleans Pelicans, 6 p.m. Feb. 26. Chesapeake Energy Arena, 100 W. Reno Ave., 405-602-8700, chesapeakearena. com. SUN Women’s Basketball, OU vs Baylor, 7 p.m. Feb. 27.

Lloyd Noble Center, 2900 S. Jenkins Ave., Norman, 405-325-4666, lloydnoblecenter.com. MON Moon Meditation, a comfortable environment with discussion how the new moon affects thinking and emotions, 6-7 p.m. Feb. 28. School of Metaphysics, 908 NW 12th St., 405-228-0506, som.org. TUE

VISUAL ARTS A Yard of Turkey Red: The Western Bandanna, a glimpse of authentic neckwear once sought by young horsemen on the range and later popularized in Western fiction, through May 14. National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 NE 63rd St., 405478-2250, nationalcowboymuseum.org.

After the Floating World: The Enduring Art of Japanese Woodblock Prints, images carved onto wooden blocks used to create colorful prints on paper are among the most famous Japanese art forms. Ukiyo-e artists produced prints in a variety of subject matter including actors in the kabuki theater, female portraiture, folktales and mythology and landscapes, through May 14. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, 405-236-3100, okcmoa.com.

The National Poster Retrospecticus Featuring hand-printed works by more than 150 of North America’s biggest names in design, The National Poster Retrospecticus runs 6-10 p.m. Saturday at 3709 N. Western Ave. The touring exhibit showcases prints and posters for Ice T, Wilco, The Black Keys and the Fifty-Nine Parks Print Series, which celebrates all U.S. National Parks.

Admission is free. Visit nationalposterretrospecticus.com. Saturday Photo Brad Woodard / Brave the Woods / provided

of another, Feb. 24-26. and March 2-5. Civic Center Music Hall, 201 N. Walker Ave., 405-297-2264, okcciviccenter.com. FRI-SUN OU Symphony Band and Concert Band, under the direction of conductor Michael Hancock and guest conductor Teresa Purcell, directed by Brian Britt and Brian Wolfe, 8 p.m. Feb. 27. Sharp Concert Hall, Catlett Music Center, 500 W. Boyd St., Norman, 405325-4101, ou.edu/finearts. MON Fences, the human desire to cocoon an aspiration in the midst of one’s inner and outer turmoil yet still strive to dream is exemplified in the character Troy.

Playwright August Wilson reveals this plight that was, and in many cases still is, the journey of many African-American males in this country’s history, yet it is a tale of joy and triumph, through March 4. The Pollard Theatre, 120 W. Harrison Ave., Guthrie, 405282-2800, thepollard.org.

Sordid Lives, a cult classic black comedy about white trash, full of love, loss and big hair, 8 p.m. through March 4. The Boom, 2218 NW 39th St., 405601-7200, theboomokc.com.

Contemporary Dance Oklahoma, energetic and extraordinary modern dance works by resident

All That Southwest Jazz, using narrative text and historic photographs to trace Oklahoma blues lineage and legendary jazzmen, through Mar. 1.

Myriad Botanical Gardens, Crystal Bridge Tropical Conservatory, 301 W. Reno Ave., 405-297-3995, myriadgardens.com. WED -WED

Neo Noir Blade Runner costume party Local band Kali Ra enters a new chapter in its history with the help of ’80s science fiction. A Blade Runner costume party provides the backdrop for a show and video shoot showcasing the act’s jazzy, orchestral new seven-member lineup. Come dressed as Rick Deckard, Rachael or anyone else from the Ridley Scott classic. The party begins 8 p.m. March 4 at 89th Street Collective, 8911 N. Western Ave. Admission is $5. Visit facebook.com/officialkalira.

March 4 Photo Warner Brothers / provided Hollywood and the American West, candid, intimate and raw photographs including John Wayne, Natalie Wood, Ann Margret, John Ford, Gregory Peck, Paul Newman, Kirk Douglas, Bing Crosby, Danny Glover, Kevin Costner and more, through May 14. National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 NE 63rd St., 405-478-2250, nationalcowboymuseum.org.

Inherent Language of Life, Gina Dowling’s work focuses on the use of symbols, visual references and layers that convey a literal or symbolic story within a body of visual art, through March 10. Mainsite Contemporary Art, 122 E. Main St., Norman, 405360-1162, mainsite-art.com.

Kiowa Black Leggings: Through the Lens of Lester Harragarra, photography exhibit featuring photographs of the Kiowa Black Leggings Warrior Society as seen through the camera of the award-winning Yukon photographer, Feb. 25-March 31. Red Earth Museum, 6 Santa Fe Plaza, 405-427-5228, redearth.org.

Legend of the $5 Milkshake Art Show, a Quentin Tarantino-themed art show with work from local artists, themed menu, live music from Studda Budda, The So Help Me’s and more, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 25. 51st Street Speakeasy, 1114 NW 51st St., 405-463-0470, 51stspeakeasy.com. SAT Lowell Ellsworth Smith: My Theology of Painting, introduces the man, his methods and his belief

Artist Lecture: Finding Originality, offered in conjunction with Abbreviated Portrait Series: Poteet Victory. Artist speaks about the rare commodity of originality in the art world as it relates to his series, 1 p.m. Feb. 28. Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, 555 Elm Ave., Norman, 405-325-3272, ou.edu/fjjma. TUE

Contemporary Realism, four solo exhibitions of contemporary realism with David Crismon, Michele Mikesell, Mistsuno Reedy and Bob Sober, through Feb. 26. JRB Art at The Elms, 2810 N. Walker Ave., 405-528-6336, jrbartgallery.com. WED -SUN Cut Me Some Slack: New Work by Joe Slack, sculpture artist defined as creating primitiveinspired art with a modern spin and touch of humor, through March 3. Oklahoma City University, 2501 N. Blackwelder Ave., 405-208-5000, okcu.edu.

Equine and Vineyard Paintings, oil and pastel works on canvas, masonite and velour paper by self-taught artist Kim Norton through Feb. 28. 50 Penn Place, 1900 Northwest Expressway, 405-848-7588, 50pennplacegallery.com. WED -TUE Her Flag: A Solo Exhibition of New Works by Marilyn Artus, exhibit receptions, lectures, demonstrations, pop-up exhibits, interactive installations, performance and seasonal patron events, through March 28. Kasum Contemporary Fine Arts, 1706 NW 16th St., 405-604-6602, kasumcontemporary.com.

Off the Beaten Path, a photo-documented joint art exhibit by Scott and Katie Henderson; tour many of the state’s unusual, intriguing and lesserknown areas, through May 4. Science Museum Oklahoma, 2020 Remington Place, 405-602-6664, sciencemuseumok.org.

Photo/Synthesis, exhibition of photography by Will Wilson extends the body of portraiture of Native Americans in Oklahoma while shifting preconceptions about the historical narrative within which the Native community is often presented, through April 2. Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, 555 Elm Ave., Norman, 405-325-3272, ou.edu/fjjma.

The Artistry of the Westersn Paperback, study the works of A. Leslie Ross, Robert Stanley, George Gross, Stanley Borack, Tom Ryan and Frank McCarthy and decide: Is it art or something else? Does it belong on a bookshelf, on exhibit or both? through May 14. National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 NE 63rd St., 405-478-2250, nationalcowboymuseum.org.

The Cultivated Connoisseur: Works on Paper from the Creighton Gilbert Bequest, the renowned art historian specialized in the Italian Renaissance and was a foremost authority on Michelangelo. The bequest includes 272 objects, mostly works on paper, spanning from the 14th century to the 20th, through June 4. Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, 555 Elm Ave., Norman, 405-325-3272, ou.edu/fjjma.

Wastedland 2 at IAO Project Gallery, an immersive film experience from director Andrew H. Shirley takes viewers on a journey through an existential fantasyland where graffiti and animals rule a post-apocalyptic world, allowing viewers to enter the psychology of the narrative and redefine the way one engages with artwork, through March 4. IAO Gallery, 706 W. Sheridan Ave., 405-232-6060, iaogallery.org.

Character Play: Art of Writing in Contemporary China, featuring a diverse body of works from Chinese artists, both traditional Chinese art formats and high-tech digital art and installations expanding the meaning of pictorial forms, Feb. 22-24. The Lightwell Gallery, 520 Parrington Oval, Rm. 202, Norman, 405-3252691, art.ou.edu. WED -FRI Child Labor in Oklahoma: Photographs by Lewis Hine, 1916-1917, 25 powerful photographs taken

by Hine while he was in Oklahoma 100 years ago, through March 20. Oklahoma History Center, 800 Nazih Zuhdi Drive, 405-521-2491, okhistory.org/ historycenter.

in the power and potential of creative energy, through July 9. National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 NE 63rd St., 405-478-2250, nationalcowboymuseum.org.

Becoming Brave book signing You might remember seeing the names Sharon and Mary Bishop-Baldwin in the news. The couple were the lead plaintiffs in the 10-year court case that brought marriage equality to Oklahoma. Their new book Becoming Brave: Winning Marriage Equality in Oklahoma and Finding Our Voice is now available, and they have a book signing 6-9 p.m. March 2 at Full Circle Bookstore, 1900 Northwest Expressway. Admission is free. Visit facebook.com/becomingbraveoklahoma or call 405-842-2900.

March 2

Submissions must be received

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

Late submissions cannot 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 email them to listings@okgazette.com.

Sorry, but phone submissions cannot be accepted.

For okg live music

see page 40

Photo Gazette / file

go to okgazette.com for full listings!

O kg a z e t t e . c o m | F E B R U A R Y 2 2 , 2 0 1 7

37

event

MUSIC

Threes company

Harumph’s dice game-inspired debut will be the folk-jazz soundtrack for many good times to come.

By Ben Luschen

Thurs, Mar 2

reckless kelly w/ uncle lucius saT, Mar 4

bob wills birThday celebraTion Fri, Mar 10

Jimmy eaT world w/ aJJ sun, Mar 12

conor obersT w/ The felice broThers Mon, Mar 13

william singe & alex aiono Mon, Mar 20

maTisyahu

Tues, Mar 21

an evening wiTh dawes Thurs, Mar 23

casey donahew band Thurs, apr 6

an evening wiTh chris robinson broTherhood Tues, May 2

Trey anasTasio band Tulsa ok

423 norTh main sT

TickeTs & info cainsballroom.com

List your event in

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.

38

F E B R U A R Y 2 2 , 2 0 1 7 | O kg a z e t t e . c o m

While glancing over the credits for Harumph’s debut studio album, Oklahoma music fans are sure to spot more than a few familiar names.

Threes, the Norman folk-jazz fusion six-piece’s album being released Friday, was recorded by Travis Linville and Wes Sharon of 115 Recording and produced

by John Fullbright.

Harumph founder and songwriter David Leach has performed and recorded with Linville, Fullbright, John Calvin Abney, Samantha Crain and many more.

Though he primarily plays keys for Harumph, he grew a reputation as one of Norman’s go-to studio bassists.

The band is Leach’s first chance to show off his own songwriting chops. He doesn’t disappoint.

Harumph, a group of players that were friends before they were bandmates, has a distinct sound in the state and pretty much anywhere else it travels. Its album release shows are 10 p.m. Friday at The Deli, 309 White St., in Norman and 8 p.m.

Saturday at The Blue Door, 2805 N. McKinley Ave. Still, the cavalcade of artists Leach has supported through the years clearly influenced him, and not just musically.

Leach arrived at one of Harumph’s first rehearsals after a 2014 tour with Fullbright excited and eager to show everyone what he learned on the road. The bassist pulled out dice and taught everyone the game Threes, from which arose the title of the band’s latest studio project.

The game is played with five dice.

Players roll aiming to get the lowest combined score. Threes are worth zero; everything else is face value. Players keep one or two dice each roll and re-roll the remainders until they have five total.

Ties are broken with another roll-off between the lowest scorers.

“We still play it all the time,” said Harumph | Photo Cortney Kelley / provided

Harumph vocalist and guitarist Kate Dinsmore said. “We always have dice on us.”

Finding a singer

There are multiple variations of the Harumph lineup, but at full capacity, the band includes percussionist Kiel Dehnert, trumpeter Marcus Spitz, saxophonist Trevor Galvin and bassist Aaron Daniels with Leach and Dinsmore, who, as a pair, are the band’s nucleus.

Leach and Dinsmore got acquainted through the University of Oklahoma’s jazz band. They first met during a jazz jam night Leach performed in at a Norman restaurant. Dinsmore was the only person in the audience.

Leach was studying information technology, but halfway through his degree program, he knew he’d end up pursuing music anyway. He still graduated with his degree, but much of his time was spent writing songs.

Meeting Dinsmore, who was inspired by the work of Amy Winehouse, gave him a chance to pair a voice with his words.

“I’m not much of a singer, but I found a singer,” Leach said. “We kind of found each other.”

Harumph was founded in January 2015. The band quickly released a fivetrack EP, primarily for promotional purposes. Threes is the group’s first proper studio work. Leach wrote nearly all the lyrics on Threes, and Dinsmore’s powerful, soulful vocals bring the project to life. The pair often work together to interpret Leach’s written melodies into something that sounds good vocally.

“When I write melodies, it’s very simple, something you could pluck out at the piano with one finger,” he said.

“That’s where she’ll start, and then she’ll do a run or change an inflection and I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s a lot better than what I was doing.’”

The band’s unique jazz and folk mesh

Image provided

was more of a fortuitous coincidence than the product of a grand master plan.

It just so happened that Leach and Dinsmore’s closest friends were collectively everything they needed for a jazz band.

“We kind of lucked out,” Leach said.

“In our best friend group, it turns out we all played different instruments.”

Playing nice

Harumph is a fun band and a fun listen, so it makes sense that its first album is named after a game.

“Harumph is a silly name, so you can’t be like, ‘Our band name is Harumph and our album title is Search for the Truth,’” Leach said.

The band often plays casually over drinks and conversation. There isn’t much strategy involved, and newcomers always seem to end up out-rolling everyone else. They bet quarters, but never any more than that.

A generally laid-back attitude allows Harumph to excel in many different settings. The band is equally at home playing background music at a brunch spot, rocking a show at Saints in the 16th Street Plaza District or playing in front of a young, indie crowd in the Pacific Northwest.

While Harumph might be a silly name and its members might like to play games, they are seriously good as a unit.

They also serve as a worthy bridge between musical genres.

“We’re really proud of how the sound came together,” Dinsmore said. “I feel like it brings an accessibility to jazz, especially to people in Oklahoma who hear the word and are like, ‘Well, I don’t really like jazz.’ It’s more than that, and it’s brought to them in a simplified sort of way.”

Visit harumphmusic.com to order the album.

Harumph with Kyle Reid 10 p.m. Friday The Deli | 309 White St., Norman facebook.com/thedelimusic | 405-329-3534 $5 / 21+ 8 p.m. Saturday The Blue Door 2805 N. McKinley Ave. bluedoorokc.com | 405-524-0738 $10 / all ages

f e at ur e

Restored memory

Larry O’Dell and Oklahoma History Center work to preserve the stories of the city’s jazz and blues history. By Ben Luschen

Larry O’Dell is working with Oklahoma History Center to interview more than 300 musicians and entertainers from state history, with many more still to go.

Each story is useful, but few interviews or subjects are as consistently fruitful as Walter Taylor III. Taylor, who was featured in a December Oklahoma Gazette story, is a multigenre percussionist who has fought several years to revive old jazz and blues movements and record the music’s great history in the city.

O’Dell, Oklahoma History Center director of special projects, has worked with Taylor for nearly two years to collect stories about the city’s jazz and blues golden age from the musicians who lived the history.

“Walter and I get all kinds of crazy ideas in our heads,” O’Dell said. “We’ve done several programs with him here.

He’s always calling me up and saying, ‘You need to interview this guy.’”

The historian has collected around 12 stories since the project began in 2015.

Each is captured in high-definition.

What will become of the videos is still to be determined. Oklahoma History Center shares its collections with the upcoming Oklahoma Museum of Popular Culture, or OKPOP, a new attraction planned for Tulsa to showcase the state’s great music and entertainment icons.

The interviews might eventually end up at OKPOP, but O’Dell hopes to exhibit them in Oklahoma City in some way, perhaps at the history center, 800 Nazih Zuhdi Drive, or even online.

More important than how the stories are exhibited is that they are recorded.

O’Dell said he took on the project in part because firsthand recorded information from that era is so rare and also because he is personally interested in the subject.

“I always liked jazz and blues, so I

Saxophonist and Oklahoma musician Ernie Fields Jr. performs with blues vocalist Bobby “Blue” Bland. | Photo Oklahoma History Center / provided

wanted to save their stories,” he said.

Blues music reached its apex in Oklahoma City during the 1960s and early ’70s. Jazz popularity was fading, but blues was going strong. The Golden Eagle music venue near NE Fourth Street and what is now Martin Luther King Avenue was a hot spot for big-name touring acts like Otis Redding and Ike & Tina Turner. The jazz and blues scene faded from prominence for several different reasons.

“Touring changed; the Golden Eagle shut down,” O’Dell said. “The way people took in music changed.”

Oklahoma is rightfully regarded for great traditions in country, folk and rock music. “With the rise of rock ’n’ roll and this other popular culture that came out of the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, [jazz and blues] seem to have fallen through the cracks,” O’Dell said.

Over the years, the history center has interviewed Oklahoma musicians like singer Dorothy “Miss Blues” Ellis, Gap Band’s Ronnie Wilson and blues legend D.C. Minner (who died in 2008).

Regarding those musicians who have died since giving their interviews, including guitarist and vocalist “Sir” James Walker Sr., O’Dell said their deaths are reminders of how important it is to chronicle everything they can now from a generation of musicians that is steadily aging — some are in their 70s or older.

O’Dell said one of his biggest takeaways from this project is just how much quality talent was, and still is, present in the city.

“Most of these guys are as talented as anybody else,” he said, “but they had families and this and that and they were making a good living here.”

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O kg a z e t t e . c o m | F E B R U A R Y 2 2 , 2 0 1 7

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event

MUSIC

Coast-free music

No Coast Music-Industry Festival fuses Oklahoma’s eclectic music scene with Red Dirt Film Festival’s global audience. By Brian Daffron

Oklahoma’s ties to the film industry go back at least as far as Tom Mix and Will Rogers. Yet with roots in movies this strong, many Oklahoma performers still have to leave the state to find work.

The same is true for many musicians.

No Coast Music-Industry Festival ties both together March 3 as it brings live music to Red Dirt International Film Festival in Stillwater.

No Coast happens 10 p.m. March 3 at Eskimo Joe’s, 501 W. Elm Ave., in Stillwater and hopes to pull in film festival guests yearning for a taste of Oklahoma’s diverse musical offerings.

Performers include Mack, Tres Dudes, Aaron Hale and Bethany Keen.

Mack said musicians were selected to showcase a wide variety of influences to an international crowd that might have a one-dimensional view of Oklahoma music.

“What you’re going to get out of a No Coast group of musicians that are playing this inaugural event is extreme

These are events recommended

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

originality,” Mack said. “You’re going to see something that isn’t always showcased in Stillwater. It’s not just Red Dirt music. There’s going to be some rock ’n’ roll and some funk. It’s going to be killer songwriting.”

With the music industry’s strongest focus in New York City and Los Angeles, Mack said the “No Coast” title is fitting for both Oklahoma’s geographical location and its attitude.

“Here we are in Oklahoma, landlocked,” Mack said. “I think the key with the naming of the event is that we are of no coast. It’s not that we don’t identify with the stuff coming out of New York and LA; it’s just we’re not them.

We are in a land all of our own.”

For Mack, Oklahoma’s distinctive sound is a “uniqueness born of geography.” It’s a geographic crossroads that melds multiple influences from other parts of the country.

“A lot of our creative musicians and artists in Oklahoma harness that

outside influence and energy and anchor it down, right here in Oklahoma,” he said, “and give us a creative, unique spin on things.”

However, Mack doesn’t use the “landlocked” aspect as an excuse for Oklahoma artists not to seek out recognition or put in the hours of work that many musicians do. Creating festivals like No Coast is only a portion of what musicians have to do to find success.

“It would do a lot for my fellow Oklahoma musicians to get a firm grasp on how to appropriately market and advertise who you are and what it is you do,” Mack said. “Be super professional in all your attempts to go out and perform in front of other people and showcase your craft.”

Mack said, ultimately, he would like to see enough people come in from the film festival to experience the show to

Amanda Cunningham, Grady’s 66 Pub. SINGER/ SONGWRITER

CJ Boyd/Sun Riah/Drasa, Power House.

VARIOUS

Emily Scott Robinson/Caroline Cotter, The Depot, Norman. SINGER/SONGWRITER Nots, Opolis, Norman. ROCK Sean McConnell, The Blue Door. SINGER/ SONGWRITER

Blind Date, Oklahoma City Limits. VARIOUS Born in November, Belle Isle Restaurant & Brewery. R&B

THURSDAY, 2.23

Brandi Reloaded, Newcastle Casino, Newcastle. COVER

Aaron Newman, JJ’s Alley. FOLK

Burn the Past/The Gypsy Bravado/Turbo Wizard, Red Brick Bar, Norman. ROCK

Andy Adams/Kyle Reid, The Deli, Norman. COUNTRY

Darci Carlson, Hollywood Corners Station, Norman.

Blake Lankford, Blue Bonnet Bar, Norman. COUNTRY Dan Martin/Buffalo Rogers/Charlie Stout, The Blue Door. FOLK DJ Ku Rx, Coyote Ugly Saloon. DJ Not A Part Of It/The Normandys/Pawn Shop Heroes/Redneck Nosferatu, Blue Note Lounge. PUNK The Garage Band, Bourbon Street Bar. ROCK

FRIDAY, 2.24 Applied Music Program/Net/Cosmostanza, 51st Street Speakeasy. VARIOUS Boss County, Oklahoma City Limits. COUNTRY Danny Trashville, JJ’s Alley. SINGER/SONGWRITER Dirty Red and the Soulshakers, Mooney’s Pub & Grill, Norman. BLUES

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F E B R U A R Y 2 2 , 2 0 1 7 | O kg a z e t t e . c o m

COUNTRY

Captured! by Robots You like robots, right? And of course you like music. So of course you love robots and music!

Musician Jay Vance constructed two robots that join him to play instruments and interact with the crowd. The show begins 9 p.m. March 1 at The Root, 3012 N. Walker Ave. Admission is $10. Guests must be 21 or older to enter. The show is expected to sell out, so find advance tickets at eventbrite.com. Visit facebook. com/therootokc or call 405-655-5889.

March 1 Photo Captured by Robots / provided

David Wayne Broyles, JoJo’s Bar, Yukon. SINGER/ Midas 13, Brewskeys. ROCK

Dresden Bombers/The Lost End/The Sunday Flyers, Opolis, Norman. VARIOUS

PennyP/David Dondero/Blue Valley Farmer, Power House. VARIOUS

Florida Georgia Line, Chesapeake Energy Arena.

Sammy Mitchell, Room 222. COUNTRY

Hope Cory Duo, The Lobby Bar. SINGER/

SONGWRITER

John Simpson/Hattie Hughs/Mackynsie McKedy, Rodeo Opry. COUNTRY Kaitlin Butts, Wormy Dog Saloon. COUNTRY Mean Motor Scooter/Prof. Fuzz 63/Los Eskeletos, Your Mom’s Place. ROCK

Rick Toops, Bourbon Street Bar. ROCK The Civilized Tribe Faculty Dixieland Band, UCO Jazz Lab, Edmond. JAZZ Travis Linville, JJ’s Blues Saloon. FOLK

WEDNESDAY, 3.1 Adam Torres/Sun Riah, Opolis, Norman. ROCK American Grim/Heartbreak Heroes, 89th Street Collective. ROCK Dropkick Murphys/The Interrupters/Blood or Whiskey, Cain’s Ballroom, Tulsa. PUNK JAZZ

Dirk Quinn Band, Remington Park. JAZZ

GrayWolf, Full Circle Bookstore. POP

TUESDAY, 2.28 Morgan, ACM@UCO Performance Lab. POP

Maurice Johnson, The R&J Lounge and Supper Club.

SONGWRITER

COUNTRY

Free / 21+

Tift Merritt/Sera Cahoone, The Blue Door. FOLK

Meanstreak, Bourbon Street Bar. ROCK

The Soulmen, Bourbon Street Bar. R&B

facebook.com/nocoastmusicindustryfestival 405-714-7421

Comin Up Zero, Bourbon Street Bar. ROCK

Layken, Remington Park. COUNTRY

SATURDAY, 2.25

Eskimo Joe’s | 501 W. Elm Ave., Stillwater

MONDAY, 2.27

KISS, WinStar World Casino, Thackerville. ROCK

Zack Baker, Noir Bistro & Bar. SINGER/SONGWRITER

10 p.m. March 3

The Exclusives, Bourbon Street Bar. BLUES

ROCK

Whiskey Myers, Wormy Dog Saloon. COUNTRY

No Coast Music-Industry Festival

The Direct Connect Band, Elmer’s Uptown. R&B

Jim The Elephant, Belle Isle Restaurant & Brewery.

PowderChief, Your Mom’s Place. VARIOUS

warrant it being an annual event.

“We want to bring people together and give them an added experience to their time spent in Stillwater for the weekend,” Mack said. “If things go well, we want it back next year.”

No Coast Music-Industry Festival is a 21-and-over event. Visit facebook. com/nocoastmusicindustryfestival or call 405-714-7421. Learn more about Red Dirt International Film Festival at reddirtfilm.com.

Jonathan Shames, Sharp Concert Hall, Catlett Music Center, Norman. PIANO

Evan Burgess/Paul Hoefler/Wiz and John Hicks, Malarkey’s Dueling Piano Bar. PIANO

Kestral & Kite, Full Circle Bookstore. INDIE

WEDNESDAY, 2.22

Joe Mack | Photo provided

Sweet Brenda, Bourbon Street Bar. BLUES The Blue Cats, Riverwind Casino, Norman. BLUES Turnpike Troubadours, The Criterion.

COUNTRY

Eric Dunkin, Noir Bistro & Bar. SINGER/SONGWRITER

SUNDAY, 2.26 Emily Scott Robinson/Caroline Cotter, The Depot, Norman. SINGER/SONGWRITER

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!

free will astrology Homework: Find a new person or institution you can eagerly and earnestly respect. Report on your triumph at Freewillastrology.com.

ARIES (March 21-April 19)

My astrological radar suggests there’s a space-time anomaly looming just ahead of you. Is it a fun and exotic limbo where the rules are flexible and everything’s an experiment? That might be cool. Or is it more like an alien labyrinth where nothing is as it seems, you can hear howling in the distance, and you barely recognize yourself? That might be weird. What do you think? Is it worth the gamble? If so, full speed ahead. If not, I suggest a course correction.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)

Someone on Reddit.com asked readers to respond to the question, “What is the most liberating thought you’ve ever had?” Among the replies were the following six: 1.

“If new evidence presents itself, it’s okay to change my beliefs.” 2. “I get to choose who’s in my life and who isn’t.”

3. “I am not my history.” 4. “You can’t change something that has already happened, so stop worrying about it.” 5.

“I am not, nor will I ever be, conventionally beautiful.”

6. “I don’t have to respond to people when they say stupid s--- to me.” I hope these testimonies inspire you to come up with several of your own, Taurus. It’s a perfect time to formulate liberating intentions.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20)

It has been a while since I told you that I love you. So I’m doing it now. I LOVE YOU. More than you could ever imagine. And that’s why I continue to offer these horoscopes to you free of charge, with no strings attached.

That’s why I work so hard to be a playful therapist and an edgy mentor for you. That’s why I am so tenacious in my efforts to serve you as a feminist father figure and a kindly devil’s advocate and a sacred cheerleader. Again, I don’t expect anything in return from you. But if you would like to express your appreciation, you could do so by offering a similar type of well-crafted care to people in your own sphere. Now would be an excellent time to give such gifts.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) “I like the word ‘bewilderment’ because it has both ‘be’ and ‘wild’ in it,” says poet Peter Gizzi. I propose that you go even further, Cancerian: Express a fondness for the actual experience of bewilderment as well as the word.

In fact, be willing to not just tolerate, but actually embrace the fuzzy blessings of bewilderment. In the coming weeks, that’s your ticket to being wild in the healthiest (and wealthiest) ways. As you wander innocently through the perplexing mysteries that make themselves available, you’ll be inspired to escape formalities and needless rules that have kept you overly tame.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22)

Are you familiar with psychologist Carl Jung’s concept of the shadow? It’s the unflattering or uncomfortable part of you that you would prefer to ignore or suppress.

It’s the source of behavior about which you later say, “I wasn’t acting like myself.” Jungians say that the shadow hounds you and wounds you to the degree that you refuse to deal with it. But if you negotiate with it, it leads you to beautiful surprises. It prods you to uncover riches you’ve hidden from yourself. I mention this, Leo, because any shadow work you do in the coming weeks could generate rather spectacular breakthroughs.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)

You could make a vow like this: “Between now and April 15, I will be relentless in getting my needs met. I will harbor a steely resolve to call on every ploy necessary to ensure that my deepest requirements are not just gratified, but satiated to the max. I will be a dogged and ferocious seeker of absolute fulfillment.” If you want to swear an oath like that, Virgo, I understand. But I hope you will try a softer approach -- more like the following: “Between now and April 15, I will be imaginative and ingenious in getting my needs met. I will have fun calling on every trick necessary to ensure that my deepest requirements are playfully addressed. I will be a sweet seeker of unpredictable fulfillment.”

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)

How would Buddha ask for a raise or promotion? How would Jesus tinker with his career plans as he took into

consideration large-scale shifts in the economy? How would Confucius try to infuse new approaches and ideas into the status quo of his work environment? Ruminate deeply on these matters, dear Libra. Your yearning to be more satisfyingly employed may soon be rewarded -especially if you infuse your ambitions with holy insight.

How would Joan of Arc break through the glass ceiling?

How would Harriet Tubman deal with the inefficiencies caused by excess testosterone? How would Hildegard of Bingen seek more emotional richness on the job?

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)

I suspect you would benefit from acquiring a new bedroom name, my dear. But should I be the one to give it to you?

I’m not sure. Maybe you could invite a practical dreamer you adore to provide you with this crazy sweet new moniker. If there is no such person to do the job (although given the current astrological omens, I bet there is), I’ll offer the following array of amorous aliases for you to choose from: Wild Face . . . Kiss Genius . . . Thrill Witch . . . Freaky Nectar . . . Boink Master . . . Lust Moxie . . . Pearly Thunder . . . Peach Licker . . . Painkiller . . . Silky Bliss . . .

Slippery Diver . . . Swoon Craver.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)

Soon I’ll be off on my first vacation in 18 months. At first glance it might seem odd for an astrologer like myself to have selected two Sagittarians to be my housesitters.

Members of your sign are reputed to be among the least home-nurturing people in the zodiac. But I’m confident that by the time I return, raccoons won’t be living in my kitchen, nor will my plants be dead or my snailmail stolen or my TV broken. The current astrological omens suggest that most of you Centaurs, at least for the foreseeable future, will display an uncommon aptitude for the domestic arts

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

The near future will be mutable, whimsical, and fluky.

It’ll be serendipitous, mercurial, and extemporaneous.

You should expect happy accidents and lucky breaks.

Your ability to improvise will be quite valuable. Do you believe in lucky numbers? Even if you don’t, yours will be 333. Your sacred password will be “quirky plucky.”

The cartoon characters with whom you will have most in common are Bugs Bunny and Roadrunner. The place where you’re most likely to encounter a crucial teaching is a threshold or thrift shop. Your colors of destiny will be flecked and dappled. (P.S.: I suspect that an as-yetundiscovered talisman of power is crammed in a drawer full of junk.)

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)

Treat your body like a sublime temple, please. And regard your imagination as a treasured sanctuary. Be very choosy about what you allow to enter in to both of those holy places. This strategy is always a wise idea, of course, but it’s especially so now, when you are extra sensitive to the influences you absorb. It’s crucial that you express maximum discernment as you determine which foods, drinks, drugs, images, sounds, and ideas are likely to foster your maximum well-being -- and which aren’t. Be a masterful caretaker of your health and sanity.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20)

What would your best mother do in a situation like this?

Please note that I’m not asking, “What would your mother do?” I’m not suggesting you call on the counsel of your actual mother. When I use the term “your best mother,” I’m referring to the archetype of your perfect mother.

Imagine a wise older woman who understands you telepathically, loves you unconditionally, and wants you to live your life according to your own inner necessity, not hers or anyone else’s. Visualize her. Call on her. Seek her blessings.

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

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

O kg a z e t t e . c o m | F E B R U A R Y 2 2 , 2 0 1 7

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puzzles New York Times Magazine Crossword Puzzle do the splits

By Lynn Lempel | Edited by Will Shortz | 0219

VOL. XXXIX No. 8 1

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ACROSS 1 Topic for Dr. Ruth 7 Reimbursed expense for a

commuter, maybe 14 As yet 19 Sound system?

21 Major export of Florida 22 Blue hue 23 Berate some guy for getting too

much sun?

25 Like most Quo Vadis characters 26 Altar spot 27 “A bit of talcum / Is always

walcum” writer 28 Banquet 29 For whom Nancy was first lady 30 Gives an order 32 Remain undecided 33 Fabric from flax 34 Bearded animal 37 Suggestion to a bored short-

story writer?

40 Book reviewer?: Abbr.

43 Having less heft 45 Swinging Ernie 46 35-nation alliance, briefly 47 Drive-____ 48 Fasten 49 Kids’ TV character who refers to

himself in the third person 51 Greenhorn on the force 54 Horse for hire 55 Result of a serious wardrobe

malfunction at the beach?

57 Hit one out 58 Clean with a pressurized spray 60 First name in daredevilry 61 Turbid 62 Weighty matters?

63 He can be seen at the western

end of the National Mall, informally 64 Pens for hens 65 Toast word 67 M, on a form 69 March movement 73 It may deliver a punch 74 Scientist’s dilemma regarding

work vs. play?

76 “My only love sprung from my

only ____!”: Juliet 77 Entry 79 Wild revelry 80 Archives material 81 Gist

82 Sight at Tanzania’s Gombe

Stream National Park 83 Gist 84 It’s a drain 85 Entry on an IRS form: Abbr.

86 Dismaying announcement

about disaster aid?

91 What’s right in front of the tee?

92 Photographer Arbus 94 Old gang weapons 95 Heart of the matter?

97 Bit of cushioning 99 Arrears 100 Glitch 101 “Waterloo” band 105 Corroded 106 Roker’s appeal before gastric

bypass surgery?

109 Turn aside 110 Bad look 111 Five-alarmer 112 Irritable 113 Spreadsheet contents 114 Dripping

DOWN 1 Tour grp. since 1950 2 Breakfast chain 3 Disapproving sounds 4 Gather 5 “What’s the ____?”

6 Alito’s Supreme Court predecessor 7 Creature on the movie poster for

The Silence of the Lambs 8 With 34-Down, longtime public

radio host 9 Some space vehicles 10 It must turn over to start 11 Docket 12 With 42-Down, “Frosty the

Snowman” singer 13 Super suffix?

14 Pacific island wrap 15 Worry of stratospheric proportions 16 “That villain in comics has sure

gotta be sore!”?

17 Desiccated ____ Sea 18 Tear apart 20 Plunger alternative 24 Deputy: Abbr.

29 Dentist’s directive 31 Tip

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32 Traffic cone 33 Those who need sound

memories, per Montaigne 34 See 8-Down 35 W. Hemisphere treaty of 1994 36 What a cash-strapped beau

might take you on?

38 Pay 39 Certain rod 41 Was a busybody 42 See 12-Down 44 Beatrix Potter’s genre 47 Conveyance for soldiers 49 Timeline sections 50 ____ Palmas (Spanish province) 51 Talk wildly 52 Way to go: Abbr.

53 Pricey French fashion label

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55 Club cousins 56 Utah’s ____ State University 59 Cap similar to a tam-o’-shanter 61 London tea accessory 63 Fleshy-leaved succulent 64 1950s French president René 65 Steamed seafood dish 66 Abductor of Persephone 67 Exhibitor at 1863’s Salon des Refusés 68 Something easy, so they say 69 Grand Hotel star, 1932 70 AA or AAA 71 Group’s basic beliefs 72 Tool parts used for bending things 74 Run out 75 High hairdos 78 Jeer

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80 Take some shots 83 Annoys 84 Ad-agency output 86 Devil-may-care 87 “Aha!” 88 Mystical doctrine 89 Talk wildly 90 Gaming trailblazer 93 Sluggish 96 Having no room for more 97 Fuel from a fen 98 Building’s rain diverter 99 Sobel who wrote the Pulitzer- nominated Galileo’s Daughter 100 Editor’s override 102 One with a lot of tweets 103 Treat for a dog 104 Presently 106 Supplied 107 Parliamentary support 108 Corp. bigwig

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

Account EXECUTIVES Christy Duane, Saundra Rinearson Godwin Elizabeth Riddle, Stephanie Van Horn EDITOR-in-chief Jennifer Palmer Chancellor jchancellor@okgazette.com

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A L I S T E R S

Assistant EDITOR Brittany Pickering Staff reporters Greg Elwell, Laura Eastes, Ben Luschen Contributors Terre Cooke Chaffin, Brian Daffron Christine Eddington, Jack Fowler Ian Jayne, Michael Kinney, George Lang Photographer Garett Fisbeck Circulation Manager Chad Bleakley Art Director Chris Street Production coordinator Arden Biard Graphic Designer Anna Shilling www.okgazette.com Order mounted or ready-to-frame prints of Oklahoma Gazette covers, articles and photos at okgazette.yourheadline.com

New York Times Crossword Puzzle answers Puzzle No. 0212, which appeared in theFebruary 15 issue.

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The cash value of this copy is $1. Persons taking copies of the Oklahoma Gazette from its distribution points for any reason other than their or others’ individual use for reading purposes are subject to prosecution.

publisher Bill Bleakley

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Sudoku Puzzle Easy | n°2147474908 Fill in the grid so that every row, column and 3-by-3 box contains the numbers 1 through 9. www.printmysudoku.com

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M O O L I N G A D E R X I L E A B L E R I O R A G O N E K E O L O S R O U T A W T O

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P h o n e (4 0 5 ) 5 2 8 - 6 0 0 0 | E - m a i l a dv e r t i s i n g @t i e r r a m e d i ag r o u p. c o m

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Gardens at redinG startinG at $399 3 miles south of downtown next to sw medical center near the corner of grand & western 1 and 2 bedrooms with washer and dryers.

Gated Community | no pets please | 405-364-5622 GardensatredinGseniorlivinG.Com

Act of 1968, which makes it illegal to advertise any preference, limitation or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, national origin or an intention to make any such preference, limitation, preference or discrimination.

This newspaper will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate which is in violation of this law. Our readers are hereby informed that all dwellings in our newspaper are available on an equal housing opportunity basis.

List your event in cLASSIFIEDS

ECT.

405.528.6000 cLASSIFIEDS

music need Gear? got gear to sell?

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$25 service calls

EQUAL HOUSING OPPORTUNITY All real estate advertising in this newspaper is subject to the Federal Fair Housing

Advertise in the Gazette’s

Kathy Christian

OCC-24486

cLASSIFIEDS

License No: BUS-24861

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Submissions must be received by Oklahoma Gazette no later than noon on Wednesday seven days before the desired publication date. Late submissions will not be included in the listings.

Submissions run as space allows, although we strive to make the listings as inclusive as possible.

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

Sorry, but phone submissions cannot be accepted.

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43

The BMW X1

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2017 X1 xDrive28i | $359/month*

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Standard terms & Tag, Tax. 1st Payment, Aquisition fee, processing fee WAC *See dealership for details — offers subject to change without prior notice. *Febuary prices subject to change. European models shown.