Okgazette 12-171-14

Native talent

Young Native American artists share culture, religion and history through works.

BY KORY B. OSWALD P.28

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CONTENTS 41

4

ON THE COVER

Four local Native Americans — Benjamin Harjo Jr., J. Nicol NamiA-Piah, Anthony Pego and Yatika Fields — share why art is more than a pastime or even a career. Thanks to a long line of groundbreakers, neo Native American artists express themselves in ways that also help define our community’s past, present and future. Story by Kory B. Oswald.

P. 28.

— Jennifer Chancellor, editor-in-chief

NEWS

38

19

LIFE

LIFE

4

Education: Neu’s first 100 days

14

OKG picks

34

6

City: Classen Boulevard

19

8

State: judicial campaigns

Food & Drink: Mama E’s Wings & Waffles, food briefs, OKG eat: fireplaces

Active: Western Avenue Boxing Gym, King Marlin Swim Club Pro-Am Classic

36

Sudoku / Crossword

9

Metro briefs

25

Culture: OU’s alleged Nazi art

39

10

Chicken-Fried News

26

Holiday Services Directory

12

Commentary

28

Cover: Native American art

Music: Red Dirt Rangers Kids’ Christmas Show, Tilts, Annie Oakley, event listings, Naughty List

Letters

30

Ultimate Gift Guide

45

12

Film: The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

32

Performing Arts: The Nutcracker, Jane Austen’s Christmas Cracker!

46

Astrology

46

Classifieds

MISSION STATEMENT Oklahoma Gazette’s mission is to stimulate, examine and inform the public on local quality of life issues and social needs, to recognize community accomplishments, and to provide a forum for inspiration, participation and interaction across all media.

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NEWS EDUCATION

M A RK HA N COC K

The first 100

The OKC public schools superintendent has finished his first 100 days on the job, and he has assessed the district’s situation for good and bad.

Incoming State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister and Superintendent Robert Neu.

BY BEN FELDER

Talk is cheap, and Robert Neu understands that.

“Talk without action equals talk,” said Neu, agreeing that a lot of talk over the past few months has to lead to a lot of action.

After wrapping up his first 100 days, Oklahoma City’s ninth superintendent in 14 years said he has confirmed the truth that the state’s largest school district struggles with poor funding, low teacher pay, a lack of strong curriculum standards and poverty.

“There is no such thing as student failure; there is system failure,” Neu said.

“It’s our job to get it right.”

Neu reached his first 100 days on the job last month and said he has spent the past few months meeting with principals, teachers, parents and students in an effort to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of the district. He announced an aggressive strategy for increasing student performance and addressing critical needs in the district. But while he is counting on community buy-in for his plan, he realizes the city has seen grand talk before.

“All of us [new superintendents] come in with our style and our processes and our experiences ... and it’s led our staff down a pathway of fear, uncertainty, lack of vision, the mantra that I will outlast the superintendent,” said Neu before citing a recent chamber survey that shows just 13 percent of the OKC community is satisfied with the state of the district.

Some of the challenges the district faces are an issue of numbers. The school system had a fraction of the curriculum

development staff of other similarly sized districts and increased its numbers by nearly 300 percent. Not enough students were taking the SAT, Neu said, so he offered it for free to every sophomore and junior last fall.

Other problems are easy to identify, such as low teacher pay and a district security team of three people — compared to 57 in Tulsa — but will take an increase in funds to improve.

Neu outlined five critical issues he wants to address as a part of his 100 Day Transition Plan Report, which include increasing academic performance, especially among minority students; building safety; overcrowding on the district’s southside; improving central office support; and embracing new innovation and technology.

“This is not a finger-pointing exercise; this is the state of our schools,” Neu said.

Neu’s presentation took place in front of one of the largest school board crowds last week. Parents and teachers gave heartfelt appeals for the school board to improve school facilities and increase student activities.

A Star Spencer High School teacher cried when she discussed the poor condition of her building, and a parent of a young daughter said he was cautiously optimistic that change was coming.

Some parents are supportive of improving the district but fear money might be diverted from successful schools to struggling schools.

“I will not take anything from [successful] schools … I will not rob Peter to pay Paul,” Neu said. “Nobody will lose

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anything to shift costs or expenditures elsewhere.”

Neu said the district would look for money from private sources and a 2016 bond issue could also provide funds for building upgrades that he said were sorely needed. He also will appeal to the state Legislature.

Legislative presence

Neu has called the state’s A through F report card system a joke, criticized both political parties for its handling of Common Core and called out the state Legislature for not doing more to increase teacher salaries.

Neu’s arrival this year comes at a time when Oklahoma voters rejected the platform of its statewide superintendent and voted in Joy Hofmeister, whom Neu said he was glad to see taking the state’s top education post.

“It’s a vital relationship,” Hofmeister said about her relationship with the OKC school system. “I am eager to have a partnership with all superintendents throughout the state, but it is certainly going to be something that is extra important for those that serve the largest population of students.”

The Greater Oklahoma City Chamber has said education is a critical issue in its efforts to expand the local economy, and Drew Dugan, vice president of education and workforce development at the chamber, said it appears Neu will be the type of ally that has not always been found at OKC schools.

“Past superintendents [in Oklahoma

City] have said what they want at the capitol, but the business community and educators need to go to the capitol together,” Dugan said. “You need a strong voice [at the capitol] … and I think we have it with [Neu].”

During an education conference Tuesday, Neu said he and the Tulsa school district would be developing their own standards and look to work with the state in creating benchmarks that “make sense.”

“I’m impressed,” said Rep. Jason Dunnington, who will enter his first legislative session next year. “He obviously has a lot of difficulties ahead of him, but he has taken the right path.”

Dunnington, whose district is in the OKC school system, was one of several state and city officials to attend Neu’s presentation.

Change

The school board has appeared receptive of Neu’s plans, which he warns will be hard for some to adapt to.

“We can’t continue to do the things we have done in the past and expect change to happen,” said Lynne Hardin, chair of the school board.

Neu has also spoke a lot about improving the academic performance of African-American and other minority students, which is an area board member Ruth Veales said she is pleased to see.

“We have had lots of success [in the district] … but it has been long [time] since the African-American community has seen very much that we can say it has taken and sustained,” Veales said.

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NEWS CITY

Safe crossing M A RK HA N COC K

Creating safer bike and pedestrian crossings are a top priority for community leaders and area residents.

BY BEN FELDER

Many of Oklahoma City’s urban neighborhoods have stepped up their efforts in recent years when it comes to biking and pedestrian infrastructure.

However, moving from one community to the next by bike or foot remains challenging, especially when having to cross Classen Boulevard.

“How do we start rethinking Classen?” said Jon Dodson, who lives near Classen and helped establish Alliance for a Better Classen Boulevard. “Right now it divides the city. It divides Gatewood and Ten Penn and the Plaza [District] form Midtown, Heritage and Mesta [Park]. So we started thinking, ‘How do we do this in a low-impact way?’ and then, ‘How do we dream big?’”

Classen, which was once a major streetcar line, serves as an urban highway, snaking six lanes of traffic from west of downtown north through some of the city’s largest inner city residential neighborhoods. From 16th to 23rd streets, Classen is especially treacherous to cross, as a lack of sidewalks, short crossing times and messy intersections make it challenging, if not dangerous, for bikers and pedestrians.

“I cross [Classen] every day, so I’m very knowledgeable of the flaws in it,” said Dodson, who last week hosted a group of citizens and urban planners on a walking tour of a portion of Classen to dream up ways to improve the road.

This type of re-imaging of an urban corridor has been done before as the Institute for Quality Communities (IQC) has helped develop a streetscape plan for Western Avenue, a parking plan for the Plaza District and a streets plan for the 23rd Street commercial district.

Classen Boulevard and 19th Street Sidewalks close to the street make for an unsafe experience walking near fast-moving cars.

Classen Boulevard and 18th Street A short crosswalk signal does not give pedestrians enough time to cross.

There is also no northbound bus stop within two blocks of the Homeland grocery store.

Classen Boulevard and 16th Street/ Western Avenue It’s a 150-foot journey from one side of Classen to the other, and pedestrians have to cross Western Avenue to reach a button for a crosswalk signal.

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“We want to see if there is way a to make it safer for people to cross [Classen],” said Shane Hampton, a fellow at IQC. “There are only a few safe crossings for people biking or walking.”

Any plans developed by IQC will be shared with the city, and the hope for Dodson and his group is that Classen improvements will be incorporated into any future plans or potentially a future bond issue.

“I think there is a lot of interest from everyone to see this happen,” Hampton said.

Dodson said he has already had conversations with Ward 6 Councilwoman Meg Salyer about the city funding a study of Classen and potentially developing a plan.

“Right now, we are waiting to hear about what the outcome is going to be,” said Kim Cooper-Hart with the city’s planning department. “We need to know how we know we are done with our research. That piece right there is what is helpful to all of us, and I know that is just right around the corner.”

Connecting neighborhoods separated

by Classen is not just a quality-of-life issue but could boost economic development, said Kristen Vails, director of the Plaza District, which is six blocks west of Classen Boulevard on 16th Street.

“We would love to be a part of the [city’s] bike share program and be a part of any future transit that a happens here,” Vails said. “This intersection is really important in connecting the [Plaza] District with the downtown and Midtown areas.”

After last week’s walking tour, the group shared initial impressions, which

A group led by Jonathan Dodson, right, crosses Classen Boulevard at 18th Street, discussing and observing improvements. included an unsafe feeling walking on a sidewalk so close to a busy street, the lack of time given to cross at a crosswalk and the speed of traffic.

Short-term solutions could involve streetscaping, sidewalk construction and pedestrian infrastructure at intersections.

However, Classen has also been identified by the Association of Central Oklahoma Governments (ACOG) as a potential route for a streetcar line. In its regional transit plan, the new downtown streetcar line could be extended up Classen, which would make issues of bikeability and walkability even more important.

Dodson said the walking tour was an initial step that he hopes to follow with discussions with area neighborhood associations, businesses and other interested parties.

“We didn’t really feel like we could open up to public dialogue without first coming out here and walking it,” Dodson said. “We really want public engagement because we really feel like if we can get families on both sides of Classen to say, ‘This is a project that we can utilize,’ it will help boost this project.”

Dodson said he has been encouraged by conversations with city officials and believes improvements are a real possibility, especially with the city looking for ways to improve neighborhood connectivity. “[The city] believes we can find a way to make this work,” Dodson said. “This is the absolute right time to do this.”

NEWS STATE

Easy money?

A lot of money greases the wheels of campaigns for judges, and much of it comes from attorneys. Is there a conflict of interest?

BY BEN FELDER

On Oct. 24, attorney Michael Homsey asked Oklahoma County Judge Roger Stuart to deny a motion for judgment from a Mexican restaurant Homsey’s client was suing after slipping in the bathroom.

Seven days later, Homsey donated $1,000 to Stuart’s reelection campaign.

Russell Mulinix, another Oklahoma City attorney, is currently representing a drilling company in a breach of contract lawsuit with an energy company. That case is also before Stuart, who also received a $500 contribution from Mulinix in October.

Stuart’s reelection campaign also received a donation of $2,000 last month from Gerald E. Durbin, an attorney who also has a case currently before the judge.

These cases are still pending and there is no evidence of favoritism

by Stuart to any of his campaign contributors, but research into campaign donations to district judges up for election this year shows that most contributors are attorneys, including many who have cases before that particular judge or will likely be before them in the future.

More examples of attorneys donating to judges they are currently before with a case includes John Branum’s $500 contribution to Judge Thomas Prince and Shawn Jefferson’s $2,500 contribution to Judge Donald Deason.

In fact, of the nearly $600,000 raised by judicial candidates in Oklahoma County (District 7) for the November election, 72 percent of contributions came from attorneys and law firms, most of which practice law in Oklahoma County courtrooms.

The five judges who won election last month all funded more than half of their campaigns with money from lawyers and law firms, and Stuart was over 86 percent.

“It’s very common, and I think it is reasonable,” said Lee Slater, director of the Oklahoma Ethics Commission.

Slater said complaints of judges being impartial toward a contributor are rare or nonexistent in Oklahoma.

Slater also said he felt the practice was to be expected.

“I think it is only reasonable to expect the people who are most

intimately involved with an elective office to be the ones that participate in those campaigns,” said Slater, comparing donations from an attorney to that of an insurance agent to an insurance commissioner or donations from an energy company to legislators that will decide on energy policies.

“I think that’s just a fact of life,” Slater added. “Its more a question of whether the office [of judge] should be elected or not, in my opinion.”

Attorneys funding the campaigns of judges might appear to some to be a conflict of interest, but it’s legal in Oklahoma and most of the United States.

New York appears to be one of the few states to restrict attorneys from going before a judge who they have donated to within three years.

I think it is only reasonable to expect the people who are most intimately involved with an elective office to be the ones that participate in those campaigns — Lee Slater

An Oklahoma bill that would have required judges to reveal campaign contributors that are before them in a case failed to get out of committee last year.

Even if approved, House Bill 3002 would not have required judges to recuse themselves from any case involving campaign contributors.

Oklahoma statute restricts judges from allowing financial interest to influence a decision, and specifically, state campaign contributions could be a reason for a judge to recuse himself from a case.

The Oklahoma Statute on Code of Judicial Conduct states that recusal

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Follow the money An average of 72 percent of the campaign contributions given to the last five judges who won election in Oklahoma County came from practicing attorneys, many of which have had cases before these judges in the past year.

Aletia Haynes Timmons

60% Donald Deason

70% Don Andrews

70% Thomas Prince

76% Roger Stuart

86%

is required if “the judge knows or learns by means of a timely motion that a party, a party’s lawyer, or the law firm of a party’s lawyer has within the previous four years made aggregate contributions to the judge’s campaign in an amount that a reasonable person would believe could affect the fairness of the judge’s consideration of a case involving the party, the party’s lawyer or the law firm of the party’s lawyer.”

However, that same statute states that “contributions within the limits allowed by the Oklahoma Ethics Commission will not normally require disqualification unless other factors are present.”

Oklahoma isn’t alone in its lack of laws concerning campaign donations from attorneys to judges, and bills like HB 3002, which sought to increase disclosure, have failed in other states.

Nevada lawmakers voted down a bill in 2009 that would have prevented judges from hearing a case involving a party that had donated over $50,000 to the judge’s campaign.

In 2010, Wisconsin passed a law that prevents campaign contributions from being the sole reason for a judge to be recused from a case.

In an article on judicial elections, the Oklahoma Bar Association claims, “It is not considered unethical to receive campaign contributions from lawyers.”

However, the OBA acknowledges it could be considered a conflict of interest for a lawyer to donate to a judge when that lawyer has a case before that judge, a practice that is common in Oklahoma County.

Elected officials bankrolling their campaigns with funds from citizens, organizations and businesses with a vested interest in their work is nothing new, and it’s the lawyers and law firms that most commonly appear before judges that provide the bulk of campaign funds in judicial races.

State statute and the ethics commission assume campaign contributions do not impact the decisions of judges, even though that is an assumption that is often not made with other elected offices.

“With judges, it’s common,” Slater said.

METRO BRIEFS

PC is OK

One area school votes for political correctness regarding its Redskins mascot.

Capitol Hill High School is in search of a new mascot.

The Oklahoma City School Board voted 8-0 to dismiss the Redskins mascot after hearing from several students and community members who said the name was offensive to Native Americans.

Board chair Lynne Hardin said she was among many who grew up in OKC without viewing the name as offensive.

“But once you know, you can’t go back,” Hardin said.

Four Native American students told the board during last week’s meeting they were in favor of changing the name, and over half of the standing-room-only crowd stood in support of the students after they spoke. The OKC school district’s student population is 4 percent Native American.

J. Don Harris, president of the Capitol Hill Hall of Fame and alumni association, told the board the mascot was never meant to be offensive and had tradition going back to 1927. After the board vote, Harris said he was alright with the change.

“We never wanted to offend anybody,” Harris said. “Back in the day, everything down there was named Redskin Clinic or Redskin Barber Shop.”

Hardin said he was in favor of finding another name that paid tribute to Native Americans. The board said it would create a committee to select a new mascot.

Torres lone candidate

OKC school board member Gloria Torres will get a full term after two challengers for her seat withdrew last week.

Former District 6 school board member Jay Means and William Lee Molden had filed for the Feb. 10 race last week but later withdrew, according to the Oklahoma County Election Board.

Torres, who was appointed to the board this year following Means’ resignation, is the district’s first Latina board member and the only current Hispanic member of the board.

District 6 includes large portions of the city’s Hispanic community on the southside, and the school district’s student population is nearly half Hispanic.

Means resigned from the OKC school board in June, saying he wanted to focus more on his position as principal of a middle school in Woodward.

M A RK HA N COC K

BY BEN FELDER

However, last month, Means resigned as principal and there was talk that Means was interested in running again on a platform of being anti-illegal immigration.

Means was unable to be reached for comment on his withdrawal from the race, but he told The Oklahoman last week he would consider the other candidate’s stance on illegal immigration before deciding to stay in the race.

have cost the state $133,212 to give welfare assistance to those individuals, rather than administer tests.

Supporters of the law say testing might prevent some drug user from applying and the program does reduce taxpayer funds going to drug users.

However, the total number of residents to fail a drug test is 270, or 10 percent of those who are tested.

Do it

Say what?

The Oklahoma City Council approved a resolution this month to change the hours of operation at Martin Nature Park to 5 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Sunday, Oct. 1-March 31 and 5 a.m.-9 p.m.

Monday through Sunday, April 1- Sept.

30, including all holidays.

“The current hours are simply limiting,” Parks and Recreation Director Doug Kupper said. “The new hours will provide increased access to the park while also protecting the needs of this sensitive area.”

The new hours go into effect Jan. 2.

“My office named this train, and we are feeling kind of like parents sending their child out into the world,” said state Rep. Richard Morrissette, D-OKC, who authored legislation that helped bring about the Eastern Flyer rail line, passenger rail service that will connect OKC with Tulsa starting in February. “The popular success of this effort is entirely in the hands of Oklahomans. Without ridership, we will not succeed.”

Look in next week’s Oklahoma Gazette for a story on the efforts to bring passenger rail to Oklahoma and what makes the new Eastern Flyer a unique project.

By the numbers

$367,874. That’s how much extra money the state has spent to administer drug tests to some welfare recipients. Since 2013, when a new law required some welfare recipients to complete a drug test to receive any benefits, 2,612 residents have been tested, according to the Oklahoma Department of Human Services earlier this month.

The total cost to administer drug screenings and tests over the past two years is $501,086.

However, with the average adult payment being $51 a month, it would

Capital City

Visit okgazette. com to listen to last week’s episode of the Capital City podcast.

James Roller of the Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association and Whitney Pearson of the Sierra Club were guests who discussed the recent New York Times article on Attorney General Scott Pruitt’s relationship with the energy sector.

Click on the Capital City Blog link to find all archived episodes.

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CHiCKEN CKEN

FR FRiED NEWS

Hairy offense

When Kendrick Perkins thinks about trying to score on the basketball court, his best course of action is to just pass the ball. Besides the occasional wide-open dunk, Perkins’ role for the Thunder is not to give the team points. Even when he has an open look, passing the ball to Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook or even the ball boy is a better decision.

That’s why Perkins’ decision to challenge one of the NBA’s top defenders last week resulted in a hilarious and predictable outcome.

“Last night Kendrick Perkins tried to post up Anthony Davis,” Dan Zinski wrote for FanSided.com.

“Hilarious because Kendrick Perkins is a jackass and Anthony Davis is unibrowed sports awesomeness.”

As Perkins attempted to go up with the ball, Davis, the star player for New Orleans, was there to stop him with his hand, simply sending the shot from whence it came.

Don’t feel too bad, Perk. You

might not have the scoring or defensive skills of Davis, but you do have two eyebrows.

We’re No. 8!

Oklahomans rule.

Seriously. Nobody’s better. Just ask anyone. If you don’t believe us, check any social media outlet.

There’s this thing out there called the HeyLets Self-Promotion Index, and Oklahoma ranks No. 8 “most braggadocious” U.S. state.

Online sharing pros asked 2,500 ’Mericans to participate and rate the quantity of boastful posts.

That bitchin’ dinner at that oh-sospecial dinner party?

Check.

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Attendance at sold-out concerts?

(Justin Timberlake ring a bell?) Check.

Mass updates on Thunder games?

Check. That promotion? Check.

You get the point. We are damn proud of what we do every day, and we like to share our accomplishments with everyone.

The nation’s most braggadocious state is California, the study shows, where 77 percent of respondents “frequently engage in self-promotion.”

Oklahoma clocks in with 64 percent braggartness. (Is that a word? No? Well, we just created it. And we posted it to Twitter.)

Doin’ fine

Good ol’ Baphomet is doing fine these days, reports Vice.

The original design was made by the Satanic Temple and proposed for cozy placement next to the Ten Commandments monument on the lawn of our state Capitol.

Vice reports that the

statue is well past the casing phase and is “almost finished.” The dapper figure is imposing with its long goatee (heck, it’s a goat’s head) on a man’s body resting benevolently in a throne and welcoming young children.

The pagan idol also has a Twitter account. Learn more about his OKC shenanigans at twitter.com/ baphometOKC.

Naked sprint

Police arrested a 24-year-old man for allegedly breaking into several mobile homes — while drunk and naked — on the southeast side of OKC. The man also tried to run through walls and doors in an attempt to get away from the cops.

While one might be inclined to ridicule the man, let’s stop for a second to consider how the man got to this point in his life.

1. He dropped out of school and started doing drugs?

2. He is homeless, was drunk on hairspray and thought he was invisible?

3. He dropped out of school, started doing drugs, got drunk on

hairspray, thought he was in god mode and realized while he was in jail with no bond that his life is not a video game?

Regardless, the point is to stay in school and just say no to drugs.

used words were G-rated. I guess we are talking about match.com and not tinder or grinder. com.

Oil me up?

Match.com recently released the most often used descriptive word by state on their website. Oklahoma’s was “oil.” That word can imply about as many scenarios as there are applications for the substance, but let’s assume we are talking about the energy sector. The energy employees must be a lonely lot, slaving away for the man while secretly wishing they could find a way to talk to the redhead in Land but opting for love on the Internet instead.

Oil was also the most oft-used word in Texas and North Dakota.

Meanwhile, “farm” was the most used in Kansas. “Museum” appeared all over New York, “hunting” won out in Wyoming and Montana, and “kayak” reigned supreme in both Oregon and Idaho.

Disappointingly, all the most often

Trash talk

Michael Carter-Williams just keeps talking that trash, even when it’s no good for him. The point guard for the Philadelphia 76ers, who stands 6 feet 6 inches tall, just can’t seem to help himself. And who he’s really helping is OKC Thunder point guard and star player Russell Westbrook.

According to the website SBNation. com, the trash talking started with a March 4 meetup between the teams.

Feeling good after a win against the Orlando Magic, the 76ers point guard opened his big, fat mouth. Westbrook’s response was to score a triple-double with 13 points, 10 rebounds and 14 assists in his 21 minutes on the court.

You would think that would have schooled the rookie, but the next time

Dangerous shopping

the two met on the court, the smack talk continued. After popping off at Westbrook, this time, the OKC Thunder point guard managed 27 points in 14 shots in the Thunder’s winning game. It seems the more trash Carter-Williams talks, the better Westbrook plays.

In a comment about the incidents, Westbrook was unfazed.

“I like it; it’s good because that’s how I play anyway. I compete. That’s what I like to do. He wants to compete as well,” Westbrook said.

Leave it to one of our own to manage a condescending compliment as smooth as his playing.

Now, to improve his playing, Carter-Williams might want to lay off the talk and focus on the game. As far as we’re concerned, hats off to him, and let’s hope he keeps up the talk. It seems to give Westbrook and the OKC Thunder more of a competitive edge.

There’s danger lurking everywhere.

Take our shopping malls, for instance.

News9.com recently reported that while holiday business is booming, so has the handiwork of opportunistic criminals.

“They look for attractive targets and an attractive target is something that’s easy for them to steal,” Msgt. Gary Knight of the Oklahoma City Police Department told News9.com.

And if you’re at Penn Square Mall, watch your stuff. According to police report data compiled by the news outlet, 62 percent of holiday crime happens here. The north and south sides (Quail Springs Mall and South Shields Plaza) each garner 19 percent of crime.

If you’d like to shop more safely, Outlet Shoppes of Oklahoma City reported zero crime in the past year.

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COMMENTARY

Art for everyone, everywhere

BY ROMY OWENS

Public art is essential to the viability of our community. Yes, education, infrastructure, health care, housing ... yes, of course. However, public art must hold equal value in our conversations about civic improvement.

Moving forward, it is critical that we not take public art for granted.

Art is the mirror that reveals our singularity as a community, civilizes our surroundings, and humanizes our daily experience. Art inspires dreams, conversations and ideas. Art exposes who we are, who we were and who we can be.

Maybe you’re thinking, but isn’t that what the museum is for? Sure. I love the art museum, Oklahoma Contemporary, IAO Gallery and the Paseo and Plaza districts. I am indebted to each for the significant ways they benefit Oklahoma City.

But honestly, art cannot only be available to people who can pay

admission, and bluntly, not everyone feels comfortable going to an art gallery.

Public art plays a radically different and crucial role because it is accessible to anyone and everyone.

When done well, public art provides us with stimulating experiences in unexpected places. You know you’ll see art when you go to a museum; you don’t expect to see art when you drive through an underpass.

Communities with visible, thoughtful public art thrive because people want to be there. Public art invigorates our sense of place and excites us about where we are. In turn, art bolsters civic fundamentals: pride, economic growth and population retention.

Frankly, OKC needs to be a place where people want to live. While it is a slower path, public art paves a sustainable path that empowers us to be

better. We need to be better. For frack’s sake, have you seen the bleak statistics about teen pregnancy, child abuse and domestic violence? Regardless of the occupations, religions and backgrounds of our citizens, public art is a powerful and positive force that strengthens and unifies communities. We should embrace it wholeheartedly.

Because our civic leaders understand that investing in art translates to investing in the future, OKC benefits from a public art program, which means one percent of budgeted city construction must include public art.

However, the commitment to supply public art cannot solely lie with government. Non-government stakeholders carry a moral obligation to create a more dynamic community through art. (That’s you, corporations with stock exchange symbols.)

In the private sector, the Skirvin hosts

Opinions expressed on the commentary page, in letters to the editor and elsewhere in this newspaper are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of ownership or management.

a very public artist-in-residence program currently featuring Kerri Shadid. And last fall, Downtown OKC Initiatives selected artists Lisa Allswede, Dusty Gilpin, Jason Pawley and Kyle Van Osdol to create art that will engage the downtown public in exciting ways in 2015.

What we don’t need in our public art is more bronze sculptures of the olden days. What we crave is bold and challenging art, not controversial or shocking, but for the love of sunshine, we need art that is genuinely engaging and thought-provoking. Whether interactive, permanent or temporary, above all else, let it be captivating.

We need art to rouse self-reflection, awareness about our interconnected lives and about the social sphere we share; and we need the public to rejoice in it.

Romy Owens is an Oklahoma City artist/ curator. Her group exhibition OKC125 opened Dec. 5 in the downtown public space The Underground. Reach her at romyowens.com.

LETTERS 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.

Points and counterpoints

Responding to Pete Lepo’s letter, “‘Liberal’ bias” (Commentary, Letters, Nov. 26, Oklahoma Gazette), I have only a few counterpoints to offer and one clarification to request.

First, the clarification: Lepo refers to the Gazette as “a liberal-oriented weekly,” which I can agree with.

But he goes on to remark “in spite of the high cost per copy.” I’m unsure what he means by this, as the Gazette is offered free of charge wherever it is stocked.

Does he mean high cost of its publication?

Or high cost to his personal worldview?

Confusing.

Anyway, he goes on to make the dubious claim that Obamacare’s “burden on business is now a proven

fact.”

He offers no evidence to back up the claim.

He doesn’t even specify if he’s referring to large business or small business, because a little bit of research would pull countless articles (resourced everywhere from marketwatch.com to Forbes.com) that state small businesses — those with 50 or less employees — not only are exempt from providing insurance to their workers but are offered generous tax breaks and incentives.

He goes on to describe the federal funds offered Oklahoma for the purpose of expanding Medicaid and sustaining the minimum wage as the “Obamabribe.”

To look at services as necessary as Medicaid and minimum wage (woefully low already) as a bribe reeks of neoconservative cynicism.

We shouldn’t be proud to refuse the means to keep our residents healthy or provide a reasonable wage.

For such a state that pounds the drum of morality in the ears of the rest of the country, the “Screw them; I got mine” philosophy is really immoral.

He ends with, “Just as no baker, florist, photographer, etc. will be forced to support a gay wedding,”

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responding to the insistence that churches would not be forced to perform gay weddings.

Newsflash: Churches are not running a business (despite how some may act). They still operate under the freedom of religious expression and speech. That doesn’t mean people can’t protest the more hateful congregations, or even boycott them, but the U.S. government cannot legally force them to perform any ceremony that they feel infringes on their personal beliefs.

A business, on the other hand, is bound by the laws of the state and country in which it resides. In refusing certain customers service based on the state’s definition of what constitutes discrimination, that business is breaking the law. Plain and simple.

In the case of the baker in Colorado who was ordered by a judge to make a wedding cake for a gay couple, it wasn’t because anyone was trying to make him complicit in the ceremony or to even agree with it.

Colorado’s discrimination laws just happen to include gay Coloradans.

Like I said, just a few counterpoints. Besides inaccurately describing Obamacare, the “Obamabribe,” gay marriage, the minimum wage and defending James Lankford, I have to say it was a smashing good read!

— Josh Rauch-Willis Yukon

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OKG picks are events

recommended by Oklahoma Gazette editorial staff members.

For full calendar listings, go to okgazette.com.

BOOKS Bob Browne Book Signing, author of SYS-TAO; story of his career-long journey to find a better way for the people and the processes under his leadership in a business, 6:30-8 p.m., Dec. 18. Full Circle Bookstore, 1900 Northwest Expressway, 842-2900, fullcirclebooks. com. THU Holiday Classics Storytime, listen to some holiday favorites; Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and The Night Before Christmas, 7 p.m., Dec. 19. Barnes & Noble, 6100 N. May Ave., 843-9300, barnesandnoble.com. FRI Ray Dozier Book Signing, author of Legends of Oklahoma Football; Dozier profiles players and coaches who made Sooner football what it is today, 2 p.m., Dec. 20. Barnes & Noble, Quail Springs, 13800 N. May Ave., 755-1155, barnesandnoble.com. SAT New Ink, discover and learn about newly released books, 3-4:30 p.m., Dec. 20. Full Circle Bookstore, 1900 Northwest Expressway, 842-2900, fullcirclebooks. com. SAT

FILM Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Christopher Wheeldonís full-length ballet based on the classic story of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll in which he brings Carroll’s zany dream-world to life, 7 p.m., Dec. 17.

Cinemark Tinseltown, 6001 N. Martin Luther King Ave., 424-0461, cinemark.com. WED The Tale of Princess Kaguya, (JA, 2013, dir. Isao Takahata) a couple find a young girl and raise her as their own; she grows to attract prestigious suitors but struggles to find the right one; part of the Celebrating Studio Ghibli series, 7:30 p.m., Dec. 18; 5 p.m., Dec. 19; 2 p.m., Dec. 20. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, 236-3100, okcmoa.com. THU-SAT

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Only Yesterday, (JA, 1991, dir. Isao Takahata) a young woman travels to the countryside and brings up memories of her childhood; part of the Celebrating Studio Ghibli series, 8 p.m., Dec. 19. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, 236-3100, okcmoa. com. FRI Grave of the Fireflies, (JA, 1988, dir. Isao Takahata) two siblings are orphaned and move into an abandoned bomb shelter; they find entertainment and escape in the flickering light of the fireflies; part of the Celebrating

Leaf Your Mark The Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma wants you to make your mark by ditching your leaves. Yeah, they’re everywhere, and the food bank wants yours for mulch and compost use in Urban Harvest and other community gardens. Drop them off 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday at the food bank, 3400 S. Moulton Drive. To schedule pickup of 50 bags or more, email Mason Weaver at mweaver@regionalfoodbank.org.

Wednesday-Friday Film Row Holiday Party, family fun event with live music from Matt Stansberry and The Romance, food and drinks, treats and games for the kids, pictures with Santa and other fun activities, 7-10:30 p.m., Dec. 17. Dunlap Codding, 609 W. Sheridan Ave., 607-8600, dunlapcodding.com. WED

Studio Ghibli series, 8 p.m., Dec. 20. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, 236-3100, okcmoa. com. SAT

HAPPENINGS

Shop Hop, explore all that Automobile Alley has to offer; open house events at shops, live music, street artists, discounts at local restaurants and more, 6-9 p.m., Dec. 18. Automobile Alley, 1015 N. Broadway Ave., 488-2555, automobilealley.org. THU

North Pole Adventure, a one-of-a-kind interactive Christmas attraction for the entire family; Santa’s Post Office, Elf University, Santa’s Workshop and more, Dec. 17-24. Crossroads Mall, 7000 Crossroads, 631-4421, plazamayorok.com. WED-WED

Holiday Pop-Up Shops, shop local stores during this weekly holiday shopping village in Midtown; every week hosts new pop-ups from some of your favorite stores, 10 a.m.-9 p.m., Dec. 18-20; 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Dec. 21. OKC Pop-Ups, 399 NW 10th St., okcpopups.com. THU-SUN Premiere on Film Row, family-friendly event featuring film screenings, live music, art exhibitions and gourmet food trucks, 7-10 p.m., Dec. 19. Film Row, 700 W. Sheridan Ave., filmrowokc.com. FRI

PLUS FREE DELIVERY

FOOD Tea & Tips with Becky, learn healthy tips while enjoying refreshments, 9:30-10:30 a.m., Dec. 18. Uptown Grocery Co., 1230 W. Covell Road, Edmond, 509-2700, uptowngroceryco. com. THU

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Chesapeake Energy Holiday Lights Display Go cruising. The Chesapeake Energy Holiday Lights Display has brightened its campus and the intersection of 63rd Street and N. Western Avenue since 1999. See more than 61,000 strands holding 4.3 million LED bulbs in colors including blue, red, purple, white, green and pink 5 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. through Jan. 2. While there, check out displays on Classen Curve, Nichols Hills Plaza and even the construction cranes over Chesapeake.

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Whodunit Dinner Theater, dinner and a comedic murder mystery play involving the audience, 6:30 p.m., Dec. 19.

Spaghetti Warehouse, 101 E. Sheridan Ave., 235-0402, 40meatballs.com. FRI Weekly Farmers Market, shop goods from local produce, bakers and artisans, 9 a.m.- 2 p.m., Farmers Public Market, 311 S. Klein Ave., 232-6506, okcfarmersmarket.com. SAT Saturday Cooking Class, learn to make breakfast strata, 1 p.m., Dec. 20. Buy For Less, 3501 Northwest Expressway, 946-6342, buyforlessok.com. SAT

YOUTH The Gingerbread Jam, theater camp with sessions for kids ages 5-7 & 8-12, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Dec. 17-19. Oklahoma Children’s Theatre, 2501 N. Blackwelder Ave., 606-7003, oklahomachildrenstheatre.org. WED-FRI An Evening with Elsa and Olaf, an opportunity for children to discover the science behind Frozen through fun activities with their favorite Frozen characters, 7-10 p.m., Dec. 19.

Science Museum Oklahoma, 2100 NE 52nd St., 602-6664, sciencemuseumok.org. FRI

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Art education from animals Bundle up your kiddos and head to the Oklahoma City Zoo. While you’re there, grab some holiday gifts made by its very special occupants, including this piece, “Malee Elephant Kiss.” Other original works also are available from zoo flamingos, bears, fish, rhinoceros, snakes and more — they used everything from claws to real paintbrushes. Proceeds benefit animal health and enrichment programs. The zoo is open daily 9 a.m.-5 p.m., but art pieces are limited. Visit okczoo.com or call 425-0262.

Wednesday-Wednesday, ongoing Deck the Halls with Science, make ivory soap snowballs and launch them using a snowball shooter; shares the secrets of mixing and separating traditional holiday colors with chromatography, 7-10 p.m., Dec. 20. Science Museum Oklahoma, 2100 NE 52nd St., 602-6664, sciencemuseumok.org. SAT Red Dirt Rangers Kids Christmas Show, holiday fun for the big kids and the little kids, 2 p.m., Dec. 21. The Blue Door, 2805 N. McKinley Ave., 8431573, bluedoorokc.com. SUN Otto’s Winter Wonderland, spend the day playing in Otto’s Winter Wonderland and experiment with hot and cold ice, make a sorbet using CO2 and investigate dry ice, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Dec. 23. Science Museum Oklahoma, 2100 NE 52nd St., 602-6664, sciencemuseumok.org. TUE

PERFORMING ARTS Lyric’s A Christmas Carol, classic holiday story of Scrooge; highlights the universal truths of redemption and kindness to one’s fellow man, 7:30 p.m., Dec. 17-18 & 23; 8 p.m., Dec. 19; 2 p.m. & 8 p.m., Dec. 20; 2 p.m., Dec. 21. Lyric Theatre, 1727 NW 16th St., 524-9312, lyrictheatreokc.com.

WED-SUN

Birdhead (Chinese, founded 2004). The Light of Eternity No. 3 (detail), 2012. Black and white inkjet print. © Birdhead, courtesy of the artists and ShanghART Gallery, Shanghai.

Cowboy Bill Martin, comedy show; Bill Martin has traveled along side George Strait, Brad Paisley and Rascal Flatts among others, 8 p.m., Dec. 17-18; 8 p.m. & 10:30 p.m., Dec. 19-20. Loony Bin Comedy Club, 8503 N. Rockwell Ave., 239-4242, loonybincomedy.com. WED-SAT Sounds of the Season, holiday performance by the OKC Philharmonic Orchestra, 7:30 p.m., Dec. 18. Yukon Fine Arts Center, 850 Yukon Ave., Yukon, 354-8356, yukonps.com. THU

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GIVE HER WHAT SHE REALLY W A N T S T H I S Y E A R . . .T I M E ! continued

A Territorial Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens’s classic tale, adapted by Oklahoma playwright, Stephen P. Scott, is set in the days of the Oklahoma Land Run, 8 p.m., Dec. 18-19; 2 p.m. & 8 p.m., Dec. 20; 2 p.m., Dec. 21. The Pollard Theatre, 120 W. Harrison Ave., Guthrie, 282-2800, thepollard.org. THU-SUN The Nutcracker, holiday classic presented by the Oklahoma City Ballet with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic; never before seen sets and costumes, 7 p.m., Dec. 19 & 22; 2 p.m. & 7 p.m., Dec. 20-21. Civic Center Music Hall, 201 N. Walker Ave., 297-2264, okcciviccenter.com. FRI-MON

ACTIVE Chesapeake Energy Snow Tubing, the Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark is transformed into a winter wonderland; slide down a giant slope of snow, noon, 2 p.m., 4 p.m., 6 p.m., 8 p.m., Dec. 20-24. Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, 2 S. Mickey Mantle Drive, 2181000, bricktownokc.com. SAT-WED Santa’s Adventure on the Oklahoma River, be like Santa down the Santa Zip dropping presents into chimney targets, experience the Rumble Drop and fall faster than a snowflake, climb to the North Pole on the SandRidge Sky Trail along with many other adventures, 1-8 p.m., Dec. 20-21. Boathouse District, 725 S. Lincoln Blvd., 552-4040, boathousedistrict.org. SAT-SUN NCAA Women’s Volleyball Championship, volleyball championship hosted by the Big 12 Conference and Oklahoma City All Sports Association, 6 p.m., Dec. 18; 6:30 p.m., Dec. 20. Chesapeake Energy Arena, 100 W. Reno Ave., 602-8700, chesapeakearena.com.

THU/SAT OKC Barons vs. Rockford IceHogs, professional hockey game, 7 p.m., Dec. 20; 2 p.m., Dec. 21. Cox Convention Center, 1 Myriad Gardens, 602-8500, coxconventioncenter.com. SAT-SUN

Andre Tutak Exhibition, exhibit of Polish born artist now living in Yukon; produces works in oil and acrylic that are sold in galleries all over the world. Oklahoma State Capitol, 2300 N. Lincoln Blvd., 521-3356, ok.gov.

Art of Toys, art installation showcasing the craftsmanship of toys and display a variety of one-ofa-kind toys, Dec. 17-20. Istvan Gallery, 1218 N. Western Ave., 831-2874, istvangallery.com. WED-SAT Art on Paper, exhibit featuring multiple talented artists and their creative works on paper; prints, drawings, photographs, books and more. JRB Art at The Elms, 2810 N. Walker Ave., 528-6336, jrbartgallery.com.

Celebrations, exhibit showcasing acrylic painters Sue Hale, Dana Powell and Mary Howard along with glass artist Nicki Albright. In Your Eye Studio & Gallery, 3005A Paseo St., 525-2161, inyoureyegallery.com.

Connie Seabourn, contemporary artist known for her watercolors and bright, bold screen printing. 50 Penn Place Gallery, 1900 Northwest Expressway, Suite 113-R, 848-5567, 50pennplacegallery.com.

Goddess/Anti-Goddess, artists Deborah Brackenbury, Elyse Bogart, Douglas Shaw Elder & Karyn Gilman explore the history of deification and vilification the female form and psyche have faced. IAO Art Gallery, 706 W. Sheridan Ave., 232-6060, iaogallery.org.

IAO Artist Market, artwork for sale from IAO artists; live music, food and drinks, 6:30-9:30 p.m., Dec. 18.

The Bleu Garten, 301 NW 10th St., bleugarten.com. THU OKC125, 125 artists were given a disposable camera and 125 minutes to take photos of anything they wanted within the boundaries of downtown Oklahoma City. The Underground, 101 Park, 235-3500, downtownokc.com.

Oklahoma @ the Movies, exhibit that celebrates Oklahomans’ involvement with the motion picture industry; showcases the creativity and innovation of Oklahomans’ and their legacy of creating, starring in, and watching motion pictures. Oklahoma History

OKLAHOMA GAZETTE / FILE

OU Sooners vs. Weber State, men’s college basketball, 7 p.m., Dec. 22. Lloyd Noble Center, 2900 S. Jenkins Ave., Norman, 325-4666, lloydnoblecenter. com. MON

VISUAL ARTS

Durant Family Christmas Toy Drive It feels great to watch Kevin Durant drop balls into baskets. But it might just feel even better this season to help him drop gifts into holiday stockings. The second Durant Family Christmas Toy Drive runs through Saturday. The family hopes to help 5,000 people this year. Drop toys off at metro BancFirst and Hudiburg Auto Group locations. To be a recipient, head to the Cox Pavilion Monday at the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds, 3001 General Pershing Blvd. Find donation pickup points and learn more at duranttoydrive.com. You can catch Durant in action when the Oklahoma City Thunder plays the New Orleans Pelicans 6 p.m. Sunday at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Learn more and find tickets at nba.com/thunder/ schedule.

Wednesday-Saturday, ongoing

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P R OVI DE D

Christmas Cracker!

Reduxion Theatre Company’s original production Jane Austen’s Christmas Cracker! celebrates Austen’s life and works and was adapted by Erin Woods.

This musical event features English Regency-era music and dance. Attend the Christmas celebration with Austen and her characters 8 p.m. ThursdaySaturday at Broadway Theater, 914 N. Broadway Ave. For more information, visit reduxiontheatre.com. See the Gazette review on P.33.

Thursday-Saturday Center, 800 Nazih Zuhdi Drive, 521-2491, okhistory.org/ historycenter.

Jr. Museum of Art, 555 Elm Ave., Norman, 325-3272, ou.edu/fjjma.

Re-Action Painting, exhibit of local artist Don Holladay; printmaker who experiments with alternative materials for his artwork surfaces and uses non-traditional objects to create texture. Mainsite Contemporary Art, 122 E. Main St., Norman, 360-1162, mainsite-art.com.

The Toy Maker, a collection of recreated “Once Toys”ù which have been reanimated to amuse anew. Kasum Contemporary Fine Arts, 1706 NW 16th St., 604-6602, kasumcontemporary.com.

The Animal Kingdom, clayboard etchings by Linda Hiller; Masonite board with a layer of clay, covered with ink and then artwork is etched by hand. The Summer Wine Art Gallery, 2928 B Paseo St., 831-3279, summerwinegallery.com.

The Nature of Man: Paintings and Drawings by Harold Stevenson, exhibit honoring Mark White, the interim director and Eugene B. Adkins Curator at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art; explores Stevenson’s investigation of masculinity from his early career in the 1960s to more recent works from the 1990s. Fred Jones

These Are Not Your Grandmother’s Florals, artwork by Jerry Piper; oil and water paintings. The Purple Loft Art Gallery, 514 NW 28th St., Suite 400, 412-7066.

’TIS THE SEASON TO GIVE

Victory In Loss, series of oil paintings and embellished screen prints by Oklahoma based artist Bjorn Bauer. DNA Galleries, 1709 N.W. 16th St., 525-3499, dnagalleries.com.

Watch Out for the Under Toad, artist Romy Owens has created a series of work inspired by the crashing of water on land. AKA Gallery, 3001 Paseo St., 606-2522, akagallery.net.

Donate before December 31st

Give at www.kgou.org Melody Harwell, Owner Coffee Slingers Roasters &

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National Weather Center Biennale The submission deadline for National Weather Center Biennale: Art’s Window on the Impact of Weather on the Human Experience has been extended to midnight Friday. The international juried exhibition will run April 19-June 14 at the National Weather Center. It will be led by juror Mel Chin, an award-winning artist whose work and life was showcased in the PBS program Art of the 21st Century. The biennale is sponsored by Norman Arts Council, National Weather Center in Norman, Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art and Oklahoma University. Learn more and submit at ou.edu/content/ For OKG nwcbiennale.

Wednesday-Friday

music picks see page 43

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LIFE FOOD & DRINK

Mama’s love P HOTOS BY M A RK HA N COC K

Soul food is dished up with heaps of TLC at Mama E’s Wings & Waffles.

BY ANGELA BOTZER

Well-known American chef Thomas As a mac and cheese aficionado, I Keller has an oft-repeated quote: “A was happy to see that the noodles for recipe has no soul. You, as the cook, the side dish were shells and not elbow must bring the soul to the recipe.” macaroni. Here’s my time-tested mac This quote could easily be the motto and cheese theory: Shells hold more for the soulful food at Mama E’s Wings sauce than elbow pasta. While the & Waffles, 3838 Springlake Drive. mac and cheese tasted fine, it was a bit Keith Patterson, co-owner and soupier than I like. More cheese for a cook with wife Stephanie Patterson, is thicker sauce would have been welcome. known to say, “If you cook with love, The signature dish, wings and people taste it.” waffles ($11.95), is amazing. The large, It’s true from the time you come plate-size waffle comes with three in to the restaurant and see a seasoned fried chicken wings picture of the original and a dusting of powdered Mama E on the door. sugar with maple syrup on the side.

Soul is unmistakable I always in the homethought chicken style chicken and waffles was and dumplings a southern dish, ($10.95). The but Stephanie dumplings debunked that are lovingly myth. handmade and “The dish are combined with actually began in chicken in broth.

New York City, in This is Mom food, Harlem,” she said. and with two sides, it’s Legend has it that a hefty meal. during the Depression, Along with the jazz musicians wanted chicken and dumplings, something to eat in — Keith Patterson I had collard greens with the morning hours after bits of pork seasoned well playing late-night gigs. with black pepper. The Since it was too early for baked sweet potatoes were breakfast and too late for cooked perfectly, not mushy dinner, wings and waffles and just sweet enough. The made a perfect combination. cornbread muffin begged for butter Keith learned to cook from his late and held up wonderfully without mother, Evelyn (Mama E), and the falling apart. nine-year-old restaurant features all of

It’s traditional among [Southern] families to have Kool-Aid with their dinner — it’s what I had growing up.

above Mama E’s wings and waffles special with candied yams and collard greens. right Mama E’s pecan pie. her recipes, including grilled pork chops ($10.95) cooked to order. The ideal side for these juicy pork chops is spaghetti with home-cooked tomato sauce.

Also cooked to order is the catfish dinner ($12.95). The serving is huge and includes breaded and seasoned catfish and tartar sauce. Louisiana Hot Sauce goes very well with this.

“The baked chicken and dressing ($12.95) is what customers often come back for,” Stephanie said. “People just rave about our slow, rotisserie-baked chicken and homemade stuffing.”

Until this trip, I had never eaten neckbones ($11.95), but I ordered them anyway. The pork neckbones are braised in a seasoned broth, with the meat barely clinging to the bone.

Served with rice and collards, it was a true traditional soul food feast.

For beverages, there’s soda, sweet tea and Kool-Aid. Wait. Kool-Aid? “It’s traditional among [Southern] families to have Kool-Aid with their dinner — it’s what I had growing up,” Keith said.

The flavors vary daily and often include sour apple, raspberry and grape. Grape is my absolute favorite; just smelling the grape fragrance reminds me of my childhood

summers.

Desserts ($2.95) are a specialty at Mama E’s, with daily selections that include a fluffy lemon meringue pie, peach pie, traditional pecan pie, sweet potato pie and beautiful red velvet cake, a Southern specialty.

Also, if you’re a return visitor, you will notice it recently underwent a massive revitalization. Food Network’s TV show Restaurant: Impossible featured Mama E’s as chef Robert Irvine lead its renovation.

“Being on Restaurant: Impossible has really increased our business,” Stephanie said.

With a following of faithful customers, Mama E’s does just fine. As I was leaving, an incoming customer asked me, “Did you leave anything in there for me?” with a smile.

I answered, “I did, but just barely.”

O K L A H O M A G A Z E T T E | D E C E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 1 4 | 1 9

M A RK HA N COC K

FOOD BRIEFS

VALID ON DINNERS UP TO $1199 ONLY. DISCOUNT TAKEN OFF EQUAL OR LESSER PURCHASE. LIMIT 2 COUPONS PER PERSON. NOT VALID WITH ANY OTHER OFFERS. EXPIRES 12/24/14.

Beers and cheers Mustang Brewery’s December tour has morphed into a party with samples, history and growlers full of its tasty brew.

BY DEVON GREEN

NW 50TH & MERIDIAN OKLAHOMASTATIONBBQ.COM 947.7277

OKC Farmers Public Market

Farmers market again

OKC Farmers Public Market, 311 S. Klein Ave., has a long and colorful history.

The main building is on the register of historic places and lay dormant until its purchase by Burt and Jody McAnally

2 0 | D E C E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 1 4 | O K L A H O M A G A Z E T T E

MARK HANCOCK

11AM-9PM | MON-SAT • 11AM-4PM | SUN

Gary Shellman, master brewer, and Tim Schoelen, owner, at Mustang Brewery.

Ever wanted to hear the story of Mustang Brewery from its humble beginnings to today? How about hearing it while you sample craft beers fresh from the brewery?

You can by taking a tour, 1-5 p.m.

Saturday at its headquarters, 520 N. Meridian Ave. Learn about the company’s inception, including its growth from brewing beer in a garage to serving its first pint at James E. McNellie’s Public House.

The brewery gives bi-monthly tours of the premises but has changed its December tour into a party including story time, tastings and opportunities to order your own growlers filled with Mustang’s signature brews.

Guests must be 21 years old to attend. Due to state law, you can’t recycle old growlers from your home, as they must be labeled with the brewery’s name and address. Growlers are available for purchase at the brewery for $8. Fill them up for $12.

For more information, call 9430100. For a current beer selection, please visit mustangbrewing.com or email info@mustangbrewing.com.

in 2002. Restoration started that year and has returned some of the building’s former glory, with modern touches such as elevators and expanded restrooms.

The market is once again the site of an indoor, year-round farmers market.

Participating vendors include Jesko Farms, Wildhorse Canyon Farms and Winery and Walnut Creek Ranch.

Urban Agrarian also will represent about 30 suppliers. Market hours are 9 a.m.2p.m. Saturdays.

Construction on the building was completed June 16, 1928 on the grounds of Delmar Gardens, an amusement park that operated from 1902 to 1910.

The gardens were the epicenter of entertainment in our burgeoning city and drew the likes of Buster Keaton, Lon Chaney Sr. and Jack Dempsey.

Most historians consider Prohibition to have been the cause of its failure.

When the time came, the grounds were a good fit for a solution to the traffic problem between farmers selling their wares and downtown business.

The two-story, 40,000-square-foot building had a market on the first floor, and the second floor was an auditorium and entertainment center that hosted boxing matches, dances and live music.

In its heyday, Hank Williams Sr., Bob Wills and Count Basie played there.

For more information or to contact the market, visit okcfarmersmarket.com.

Donate and receive

Yeah, so maybe you can’t stand the holidays. They might make you want to hide in your cave until February.

The idea of togetherness and family might even have you climbing the walls.

Maybe you lack perspective:

Belly Dancing Saturdays • 8:30

It’s statistically proven that people who help others have better general mental health.

Drunken Fry, 5100 N. Classen Circle, and The Blue Note Lounge, 2408 N. Robinson Ave., are taking the whole “season of giving” thing literally by encouraging guests to join in on their Can for Can program.

Donate cans of food to Drunken Fry or The Blue Note Lounge and get a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon 4-8 p.m. each Monday through December. Sounds like a win-win to us.

You can also drop off canned food donations at The Grease Trap Gallery, 5100 N. Classen Circle.

PROVIDED

6014 N. May • 947-7788 www.zorbasokc.com

Christmas Cookbook sale proceeds are being donated to Ronald McDonald House Charities of OKC. Get yours at Dillard’s.

Southern giving

Who doesn’t love Southern Living?

With its sweetness and charm, it is the guide to Southern hospitality.

This holiday season, the publication produced a special two-part cookbook, exclusively available at Dillard’s stores.

Christmas Cookbook and YearRound Celebrations includes 200 new recipes, half devoted to Christmas and half to other yearly celebrations. The best part is the price. The full-color books are $10 each, and proceeds go to Ronald McDonald House Charities of Oklahoma City.

You can get them at metro Dillard’s stores, as well as in Lawton, Norman, Shawnee and Enid. You can also purchase them online at dillards.com. For more information about the work of Ronald McDonald House Charities, visit RMHCOKC.org.

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6305 Waterford Blvd, #100 • Oklahoma City • 405-848-1065 O K L A H O M A G A Z E T T E | D E C E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 1 4 | 2 1

Hot, hot, hot Here in Oklahoma, we sped straight into good, old chilled-to-the-bones winter.

It just feels a lot to ask for us to handle when we had such a pleasant spring and summer. Thankfully, we’ve rounded up some area restaurants with fires to keep you cozy while you dine.

— By Devon Green Photos by Mark Hancock and Garett Fisbeck

Rococo Penn

Redrock Canyon Grill

West Restaurant

2824 N. Pennsylvania Ave. rococo-restaurant.com 528-2824

9221 Lake Hefner Parkway ehsrg.com 749-1995

6714 N. Western Ave. westbar.com 607-4072

Rococo Penn has almost everything your heart desires: delightful eats, handcrafted cocktails and a roaring fire day and night. Fireplace Friday became a social media-validated rite of dining several years ago and continues today. In this sometimes-cold world, Rococo on Penn is one of the best places to unwind and enjoy life’s finer things.

Thaw your hands, heart and tummys with a blaze that warrants the term “fire pit.” With the stone walls and intimate lighting, you can imagine you’re dining in a castle with all the modern conveniences. It also has plenty of delicious menu items, including the Cluck-n-Oink, St. Louis-style ribs and mouthwatering rotisserie chicken. It comes with mashed potatoes and glazed carrots. Pair it with a hot drink and feel snuggly inside and out.

The menu is enough to keep you comfy through winter with hearty fare like meatloaf and West airline chicken.

There’s a crackling fire in the main dining room that will make you want to park it there and stay until the spring thaw. While at West, try one of its excellent cocktails that change with the seasons and order a delectable tenderloin steak. We recommend the blue cheese and red wine, served with rosemary potatoes.

ALL YOU CAN EAT

Catfish $10.95

2410 N PORTLAND AVE • OKC www.smokeysbbqokc.com

405-948-2001

Athens Greek &

Buy one entree and receive second entree

1/2 OFF WITH THIS AD (Does not include Tues/Wed Special)

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Patty Melt with Fries $6.99

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Ask about our Military, First Responders, Seniors (65+) Student/Teacher Discounts

7700 NW. 23rd St. Bethany, OK

617 SOUTH BROADWAY • EDMOND • 405-340-1925

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2 2 | D E C E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 1 4 | O K L A H O M A G A Z E T T E

405.787.4414

The Coach House

6437 Avondale Drive thecoachhouseokc.com 842-1000

Musashi’s

Saints

121 E. Sheridan Ave. tapwerks.com 315-9599

This place has a list of beers longer than your Christmas wish list. Lush, highbacked booths and a vivid blaze make it perfect for an intimate evening. TapWerks makes it a point of pride to offer the very best of what local brewers have in store.

Working through those beers is bound to make you hungry. This pub serves a full menu of items as varied as its beer list.

Having a Keep it Local OK card makes it at even sweeter deal. See its website for daily specials.

At The Coach House, diners look forward to some of the finest food that Oklahoma City has to offer. Nestled within the small restaurant is a two-sided fireplace. Whether you are seated in the main dining room or the smaller area within, you can feel comfortable while you enjoy fine seasonal fare. With its prestigious chef apprentice program, you are assured a unique dining experience in one of the city’s most well-loved restaurants.

At first glance, the atmosphere at this Japanese steakhouse and hibachi grill is tranquility itself, but the heart of the concept, both literally and figuratively, is fire. Shed your mittens while chefs work magic with flames and knives.

Patio heaters and torches allow a view of Western Avenue unlike any other. The sublime food and proximity to the wildest element will kindle your appetite.

The people of the Plaza District spoke and Saints listened with a spanking new addition just the nick of time. The front of the building, with its outside tables and chairs, could be called a patio and was great for lounging in the Plaza on warm days. Thanks to modern engineering, you now can enjoy the patio year-round. It features a roll-top shelter, heaters and festive lights so you can still sit outside and enjoy a cocktail.

TapWerks Ale House

Spread

1715 NW 16th St. saintspubokc.com 602-6308

4315 N. Western Ave. musashis.com 602-5623

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2 4 | D E C E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 1 4 | O K L A H O M A G A Z E T T E

LIFE CULTURE

P HOTOS BY N I C K OXFORD

Lost Shepherdess The University of Oklahoma has art stolen by the Nazis on display at Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art.

BY JOSH HUTTON

During the World War II occupation of France, the Nazis stole a painting belonging to Raoul Meyer. Seventy years and a few owners later, the piece, “La Bergére rentrant des moutons,” or “Shepherdess Bringing in Sheep,” by Camille Pissarro, hangs on a wall at the University of Oklahoma’s Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art in Norman. It is valued at more than $1 million.

Jewish-French businessman Raoul Meyer was a well-known art collector.

He had a large collection of impressionist paintings prior to WWII. His adopted daughter, Léone Meyer, has been fighting to get her family’s painting back since she discovered its location in 2012. Léone Meyer’s entire biological family died at Auschwitz between 1942 and 1944. At 75 years old, Léone is the sole heir to the painting and resides in Paris, France.

The painting presently belongs to the University of Oklahoma Foundation, Inc. The OU Foundation’s refusal to return the artwork sparked a social media backlash, a Change.org petition and an Oklahoma

House Government Modernization and Accountability committee hearing and investigation. Meyer sued the OU Foundation for the painting’s return, and the case is currently undergoing the appeals process.

History

Hitler’s Third Reich plundered more than 5 million artistic and cultural items during WWII. The National Archives’ lead Holocaust historian, Greg Bradsher, estimated the Nazis stole 20 percent of Europe’s great art. Fifty years later, when digitizing records, many of those pieces remained missing.

“There are at least 100,000 works of art still missing from the Nazi occupation,” Philip Saunders, editor of the stolen art register Trace, said in 1997.

In 2012, hundreds of paintings looted by the Nazis were found in a home in Austria. In February of this year, dozens more works of art looted during WWII were discovered in the same home. The

home housed more than 1,400 works of art estimated to be worth $1.35 billion.

At the European Union conference hosted by the Czech Republic in 2009, 46 countries signed the Terezin Declaration, an executive agreement that “urged” countries to decide Nazi-looted art claims based on facts and merits instead of procedural technicalities. The United States signed the agreement.

Art historians are able to accurately estimate the number of artworks missing because the Nazis kept detailed records.

The paintings were often displayed in German galleries or sold for profit.

The Meyer family’s Pissarro painting was one of those works. After the war, Raoul Meyer listed his stolen works of art in the Registry of Assets Looted in France during the War of 1939-1945. He eventually tracked down the painting and sued Swiss art dealer Christoph Bernoulli in 1953. Bernoulli, a Swiss art dealer, had purchased the painting. The Swiss judge dismissed the case on a technicality, stating

The Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art located at 555 Elm Ave. on the University of Oklahoma campus.

that Meyer missed the window for such lawsuits by five years. This established Bernoulli as the “good faith” owner.

The painting then made its way to New York, where Oklahoma oilman Aaron Weitzenhoffer and his wife, Clara, purchased it in 1956. The couple’s estate bequeathed the painting, along with 32 others, to the OU Foundation in 2000.

“I cannot conceive that the University of Oklahoma could aid and abet those crimes in any form,” Léone Meyer said in an open letter to the citizens of Oklahoma.

“The family that donated the paintings, including “The Shepherdess,” did so without realizing the dubious history of them.”

CONTINUED ON PAGE 27

O K L A H O M A G A Z E T T E | D E C E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 1 4 | 2 5

Christmas Schedule

Christ the King Catholic Church Christmas Eve Masses 4:30 p.m., 7:30 p.m., Midnight Christmas Day Mass 9:00 a.m.

New Years Eve Mass 5:00 p.m.

New Years Day Mass 10:00 a.m.

Confessions Saturdays 3:30-4:15 p.m.

8005 Dorset Dr.

(405) 842-1481 • www.ckokc.org

Christmas Eve

Lessons & Carols Family Worship Chapel 4:00 p.m.

family-friendly, featuring children’s and youth choirs

Candlelight Worship Sanctuary 10:30 p.m.

prelude begins at 10:00 p.m.

First Presbyterian Church NW 25 & Western Oklahoma City 405/525-6584 www.fpcokc.org 2 6 | D E C E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 1 4 | O K L A H O M A G A Z E T T E

ADVENT PENANCE RITE * Mon., Dec. 15, 6:30pm RELIGIOUS EDUCATION CHRISTMAS PAGEANTS IN THE CHURCH SANCTUARY

Preschool to Fifth Grade

Sun., Dec. 14 10:15 • Wed., Dec. 17 5:30

MASS SCHEDULE Christmas Eve Mass, Wed., Dec. 24 *4:00pm Music begins at 3:40 Vocals by Children’s Choir - grades 3-5 *6pm High School Music begins at 5:30 8:30pm Adult Choir Music at 7:55 11pm Adult Choir Music at 10:25 Christmas Day Mass, Thurs., Dec. 25 10am music begins at 9:40am Feast of Mary, Mother of God Vigil Mass, Wed., New Year’s Eve 5:30 New Year’s Day, Thurs., Jan. 1, 2015 10am *Nursery Provided

Catholic Parish of St. John the Baptist 900 S. Littler Ave. • Edmond, OK 405.340.0691

LIFE CULTURE COMMUNITY CHURCH Legal action

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In June of 2010, Annette Schlagenhauff, associated curator for research at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, contacted OU. Schlagenhauff informed the university that the painting had been stolen and Léone Meyer was the heir. The university did not reach out to Meyer, according to documents from Oklahoma State Rep. Mike Reynolds (R-HD 91).

In 2012, one of Meyer’s children discovered the whereabouts of the Pissaro painting. Meyer reached out to the university and the university asked for time to investigate the claim. Months went by and nothing occurred. Meyer filed a complaint against in the university in May of 2013 with the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York.

New York has a well-established history of finding Swiss decisions in effect right after World War II involving Nazi loot biased against Jewish families and heirs.

The lawsuit, however, was dismissed on May 14, 2014. Judge Colleen McMahon ruled the defendants must be tried “at home” in Oklahoma because they do not do sufficient business in New York. The Meyer family again lost due to a technicality.

Following the court’s decision, OU released a statement: “Simply transferring the piece to someone who has refused to cooperate in demonstrating rightful ownership or entitlement to it would, among other things, set a very poor precedent and risk disgracing all prior good-faith purchasers and owners of the painting (such as the Weitzenhoffers) whose families were gravely victimized during World War II.” The Meyer family has appealed a portion of the decision.

Representative fights

Rep. Reynolds, at the time the sitting chair of the Government Modernization and Accountability committee, sent a letter to Emily Neff, the director of the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art. In the letter he asked for Neff to detail the vetting process the university used when they initially received the donated painting. He wrote that the university’s “due diligence is lacking” and argued OU failed to comply with the American Alliance of Museums stance on the unlawful appropriation of artwork during the Nazi era.

The American Alliance of Museums’ accreditation board refused to review the case since litigation is ongoing. Reynolds asked why the university used private counsel instead of the state’s attorney general in his letter. The day after Neff

“La Bergére rentrant des moutons,” or “Shepherdess Bringing in Sheep,”

by Camille Pissarro is on display at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum in Norman. received the letter, she resigned.

Catherine Bishop, OU vice president for public affairs, said Neff’s resignation was not related to the lawsuit.

“Her desire was to pursue other career goals,” Bishop said.

The university refused to further comment on both her resignation and the lawsuit.

Reynolds wrote a second letter to OU President David Boren requesting all the records regarding Neff’s resignation, including emails and telephone records between Neff and any party, since the time she took over as director in January to the point of her resignation on Oct. 15.

“They don’t want to set a precedent because we suspect there could be other pieces in the collection that are stolen,” Reynolds said.

The Oklahoma Daily, the university’s student newspaper, discovered the museum owns 40 paintings considered to be Nazi-era provenance via research on the Nazi-Era Provenance Internet Portal.

The portal is a nonprofit that helps families and museums discover paintings that may have been looted by Nazis during World War II. The portal does not state that the 40 paintings were definitively looted by the Nazis. However, the portal contains information on potential Nazi-looted art based on three factors: the works of art must have been created before 1946 and acquired after 1932, the works of art underwent a change of ownership between 1932 and 1946 and the works of art were thought to be in continental Europe during that time.

For a museum to own many works of art that changed hands during the Nazi era is not uncommon. The majority of the paintings are likely in good faith.

However, Rep. Reynolds contends there might be as many as nine additional stolen paintings, based on research his committee has conducted.

The Meyer family’s attorney, Pierre Ciric, said Léone is not seeking any kind of financial compensation.

“She is simply seeking to get her painting back,” Ciric said.

O K L A H O M A G A Z E T T E | D E C E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 1 4 | 2 7

Native American art has transformed over the years, and current local artists blur the lines between tradition and contemporary even further.

BY KORY B. OSWALD

Oklahoma is perched atop the Native American art world. It has the advantage of being home to many artists of all mediums — past and present — who create work that is authentic, exciting and germane to the Native American experience while embracing its inherent ability to be unconstrained by that same spirit.

Because of fine artists of the past — as well as thoughtful curating by museums and galleries today — neo Native American artists can create work often sought by collectors while helping define and build their own communities.

Yatika Fields

Raised in Stillwater, Yatika Fields, 34, now travels the U.S. and abroad creating art.

Currently, Fields primarily paints murals, but he also works with canvas, black-andwhite photography and other mediums and has art in galleries around the globe.

In his work, Fields embraces the abstract and creates dazzling works that come alive with movement and color.

With only two years of formal training after high school, he dropped out of a Boston art school and took to the streets to create.

He eschewed both the benefits and limitations of an art education for realworld lessons in graffiti, networking and self-expression.

Both of Fields’ parents are artists, so he grew up learning basic artistic principles and has a natural gift for it.

He has traveled the world creating art and said he has met world leaders like President Bill Clinton and the Sultan of Brunei through his work.

“Being an artist means you’re constantly creating no matter what, but you’ve got to have an affinity toward it,” Fields said.

Fields is not just an artist in his work; in his everyday life, he talks with the ease of an artistic mind and the affability of someone who operates at a level of humanity that is often absent in day-today interactions.

Using cans of spray paint and almost a week of eight- to 10-hour days, Fields recently painted his first large-scale mural — a 125-foot-wide by 11-foot-tall wall — in Oklahoma City for Abraham’s Bail Bonds, 1219 N. Classen Blvd.

“I’m just happy to be alive and have opportunities that allow me to be creative and paint. Especially like bringing a mural to Oklahoma City. It’s something new for people,” Fields said. “When it comes to murals, these are outdoor things that exist in communities and its all meant to inspire and beautify places. You get to get out and present your work to the public and let it breathe in the open air.”

Fields, who belongs to the Osage, Cherokee and Creek tribes, was painting a mural in Portland, Oregon, when he was selected out of 10 other local OKC artists.

He had to apply and interview for the gig before being chosen by a review board.

“We found his piece to have the highest artistic merit, it fit the neighborhood … some of the artists in the community liked the idea that it was abstract, which means it wasn’t really tied to a time or theme,” said Kyle Golding, curator at 1219 Creative, the art gallery responsible for commissioning Fields for the mural.

“Among us all, we decided that the idea that we could get Yatika to do this for us would be really beneficial to the space.

He’s an Oklahoma artist … and for us to celebrate that is pretty phenomenal,” Golding said.

2 8 | D E C E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 1 4 | O K L A H O M A G A Z E T T E

BE T T F IS GARE

Artist Yatika Fields painted the mural on the side of Abraham’s Bail Bonds. He has been a professional artist for about five years and was selected from 10 artists for the mural piece at 1219 N. Classen Blvd.

Anthony Pego, artist and proprietor of Boo Science, holds his handmade jewelry.

Anthony Pego

Anthony Pego, 35, is an OKC-based artist focused on creating and selling handmade jewelry. Having worked as an audio engineer, musician and furniture designer, Pego has produced art of some kind — primarily photography and painting — for most of his life.

Under his business moniker Boo Science, based on his admiration of science and Dr. Seuss, Pego uses upcycled materials as well as pulverized and gutted coins to form his medallion necklaces. He also places a centerpiece — rose rocks, gemstones, trinkets, pieces of wood and even Oklahoma red dirt — in the coin and fills them with a melted polymer resin that resembles hard glass. Pego said he plans to eventually cast precious metals in his jewelry.

With art in approximately five stores around the metro and Enid, Pego hopes to expand to having his own storefront, but until then, you can find Boo Science online on Etsy and any number of social media sites.

Being Native American influences Pego’s art in numerous ways, and he said elements associated with his people also make for beautiful jewelry centerpieces.

“I’m from the Saginaw-Chippewa tribe, and they’re up in Michigan, where there are some old copper mines that were mined by the natives before anybody else came in. They were pretty much bled dry actually … the copper is the one thing that I feel a connection with on my pieces through my tribe,” Pego said. “And I love the striking contrast between the Oklahoma red dirt color and turquoise. It pops, so I use that a lot.”

MARK HANCOCK

Aboriginal art

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COVER

KORY B. OSWA L D

GA RE TT FI S BE C K

J. Nicole Nami-APiah, 32, is a Normanbased artist who has recently gained more recognition for her paintings.

She has exhibits at Jacobson House Gallery in Norman, Paseo Artworks in OKC and Southern Plains Museum in Anadarko and also has sold in markets in Sante Fe, New Mexico.

Additionally, she performs live painting events throughout the OKC metro area.

For Nami-A-Piah, painting provides a powerful connection to her culture that she didn’t feel in her youth. Painting vibrant images of historical Native Americans, from Jim Thorpe

J. Nicole Nami-A-Piah is a local Native American artist with work on display at Paseo Arworks and the Jacobson House in Norman.

Benjamin Harjo Jr. with his art.

to Chief White Wolf and Geronimo, Nami-A-Piah also uses American Indian mythology, as well as Native American women, who have historically been written about as an afterthought compared to their male counterparts, as inspiration.

“I remember looking at old Indian photos and seeing the men like the chiefs and warriors and you knew who they were. You knew their names. But the women, their names are unknown.

It made me mad,” she said. “These women were warriors too. They fought right alongside the men. They endured the same things that the men did. So, I want to honor them and [tell a story that history has left out]. Even though I don’t know their names … I’m honoring them.”

Nami-A-Piah, a Comanche Kiowa American Indian, paints the faces of her subjects in a pale gray, with deep splashes of color incorporated in and around them and heavy black lines throughout the pieces. She said the colors represent her emotions and the present, while black and gray represent the past. “[Painting is] therapeutic to me. At one point, when I was younger, I was ashamed of being Indian and I wanted

to be other things except Indian,” she said. “I didn’t feel proud. Now that I’m older and have gone through some ceremonies and been more involved with my language, it’s made me proud to be native.”

Benjamin Harjo Jr.

If these young artists are trailblazers, then Benjamin Harjo Jr. is a key local figure paving those trails into roads and showing younger generations the way.

A Seminole and Absentee-Shawnee artist based in OKC, Harjo studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and earned his bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Oklahoma State University.

Harjo is the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions and remembers when Native art wasn’t as widely accepted as it is today and there were few places for Native artists to hold art shows.

“I used to, in the early days, look for art shows, and when we started out doing them, they were in churches or malls or any place we could develop our art,” Harjo said. “There were very few galleries, very few museums, hosting

Native American art shows.”

Harjo said that because of pioneers before him, avenues for other artists to exhibit their work have widened.

Early in his career, Harjo and the artists around him went door-to-door to show and sell their art or trade it for gas or groceries.

For Harjo, now 69, those days are long past.

He has produced art professionally for almost 30 years and has work displayed all over the United States, including at the Smithsonian Institution.

“I identify myself as being a Native American artist. I can be an artist at times, I can be a Native American, but I always say my heritage is what defines me,” Harjo said.

Read more about Native American art history and its pioneers at okgazette.com.

O K L A H O M A G A Z E T T E | D E C E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 1 4 | 2 9

MARK H ANCOCK

J. Nicole Nami-A-Piah

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LIFE PERFORMING ARTS

Fresh Nuts

Artistic Director Robert Mills studies OKC Ballet dancers during a recent rehearsal of The Nutcraker.

Robert Mills has reimagined the Oklahoma City Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker.

BY DEVON GREEN

The Nutcracker 7 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sunday and 7 p.m. Monday Civic Center Music Hall 204 N. Walker Ave. okcballet.com 848-8637 $21-$59

The 2014 Oklahoma City Ballet production of The Nutcracker has been germinating in artistic director Robert Mills’ mind since he took over the position in 2008.

But his ideas about the ballet go back even further than that.

“I’ve been doing The Nutcracker, not only as a choreographer but also as a dancer, my entire life,” he said.

Over the years, Mills built up a checklist of what does and doesn’t work and filed it away, noting small pieces here and there until he finally got approval to make sweeping changes to the entire production.

That new production is exactly what you are going to see in this year’s version of The Nutcracker.

Even if watching The Nutcracker each year is a family tradition, Mills promised that this year’s show is like nothing you’ve experienced before.

Everything you see on the stage is new, including every set piece and every costume.

There is not new choreography, but that’s probably the only thing that remains the same.

“It’s been brewing since I took over,” Mills said. “I took over a ballet company that had an existing production, and we love to do it, we sell out almost every year, but in 2008, it was almost like [I was] a square peg in a round hole.”

Bit by bit, his vision took shape, Mills also had the final word as far

as creative control, though it was a collaborative effort.

“I have been thinking about what I could do differently and trying to really make this production what it could be,” Mills said.

This year’s show is a collaborative product of Mills, costume designer Susanne Hubbs and set designer Gregory Crane. Both helped Mills make minor changes in previous production runs.

“Working with Susie [Hubbs] has been a blast. It was years in the making,” Mills said.

Behind the scenes

Mills recently walked through the process of creating an entirely new Nutcracker.

“The first thing you want to do is dictate the time period, because this will dictate the way they are dressed, especially at the beginning,” Mills said.

Hubbs agreed.

“Fashion changed pretty drastically for women, especially during the 1800s,” he said.

This was critical to her bringing Mills’ creation to life, primarily because most of the first act takes place in a real-world setting.

“You have to keep in mind that the ballet was first performed in 1892, so I didn’t want to stray too far from that time period,” Mills said.

Mills decided on the 1850s, close enough to the original production

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date, but with some creative flexibility.

Mills also wanted to be honest about the production’s characters, including the family’s name, Stahlbaum, which suggests German heritage.

The first act, set in Germany, includes guests arriving to the party and young Clara getting ready, is where the audience will first notice changes.

“I had the most opportunity to bring in a lot of three-dimensional set pieces, the party in the grand parlor, Clara’s bedroom. All of those things I got to delve into a lot more elaborately,” Mills said. “You’ll see a lot less twodimensional painted flats.”

The second act takes place in a fantasy and therefore placed few limits on the creative processes of Mills, Hubbs and Crane.

Hubbs and Mills have worked together for years, both before and after joining OKC Ballet.

She said she also understands how to balance comfort and style because she has danced since she was 16 years old.

She not only designs costumes for ballet, but she does so for figure skaters and synchronized swimmers as well.

“I say, ‘If it moves to music and it sparkles, I will sew it,’” she said.

She knows what works onstage.

“He wanted it [the second act] to look like a German village with a toy shop and a candy factory,” Hubbs said. “We decided each of the

I have to say, out of the 115 or more of the costumes for this production, there isn’t a tutu in the group.

— Susanne Hubbs dances would have the influence of toysversus-sweets. It has been a constant conversation between the three of us.”

Hubbs worked on the costumes for the show for approximately a year.

During her interview with Oklahoma Gazette, Hubbs was in the final hours of making sure each costume was just right before the show’s debut.

One thing she said she is especially proud of regarding the design of this show is its respect for the tradition of the production. She’s also proud that Mills’ vision moves beyond the notion that there is one way The Nutcracker can be done.

“I have to say, out of the 115 or more costumes for this production, there isn’t a tutu in the group,” she said.

With all of it prepared to go, Mills is like a kid in the Kingdom of Sweets, watching his dream come true.

It has taken eight years of work, and he’s proud of what the company has done. The ballet company also received a generous grant from Devon Energy Corporation to help fund the production that Mills believes this city deserves.

“At the beginning of each performance, I am going to come out and personally thank people for their support,” Mills said. “We nearly sell out every year, but this year, we are really showing what we can do. It’s extremely gratifying to me.”

Reduxion Theatre Company’s Christmas Cracker! is shaky but fun.

BY LARRY LANEER

Jane Austen’s Christmas Cracker!

Reduxion Theatre Company 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday Broadway Theater 914 N. Broadway Ave. reduxiontheatre.com $18-$25 604-4730

The title alone would scare off discriminating theatergoers: Jane Austen’s Christmas Cracker! Then comes the subtitle: An Interactive Ball.

Oh lord.

Such is an entertainment now being put on by Reduxion Theatre Company (RTC) at its Broadway Theater. On the upside, your ticket gets you a free eggnog at the bar.

Erin Woods has adapted Cracker! from Jane Austen’s works, including characters from Emma, Northanger Abbey and Pride and Prejudice. Austen fans and English majors can vouch for the accuracy and efficacy of the adaptation, but the show’s themes include consternation over whether a certain eligible bachelor will attend a ball, concern about being snowed in away from home, awkward social encounters, rejected wooers and impertinent young men.

Woods and director Jason Beagle developed the script for the stage.

RTC makes a point of breaking the fourth wall in its productions, and this one involves even more audience interaction than usual.

To wit, they encourage audience members to come on stage between acted scenes and dance at the ball to such tunes as “Dover Pier” and “Ore Boggy.” At the reviewed performance, 25 or more people — including 12 cast members — were on the intimate Broadway stage at times. Some

Miss Jane Austen (Carolyn Oler) and Miss Cassandra Austen (Lucianna Maia) in Jane Austen’s Christmas Cracker! audience members got advance word and came in costume, notably the man in knee breeches with his arm in a sling. The audience participants need some dance instruction, which the cast handles as efficiently as possible under the circumstances, but the result is mainly confusion in 4/4 time.

On paper, this audience involvement might look like a good idea, but in execution, the results are shaky at best. The dancers seemed to be having great fun, but some sitting audience members were scrolling through their cell phones.

Set in 1796, in an English country house, the production achieves RTC’s usual level of quality, for the most part.

Jeffrey Meeks has designed handsome, period-inspired costumes in earth tones. The English accents range from nonexistent to inconsistent. The recorded music sometimes drowns out lyrics and dialog.

Carolyn Oler does a fine job playing Austen. Sometimes, she’s seen surreptitiously taking notes during private conversations. The play seems to take place in her dreams; she’s asleep at her writing desk, quill pen in hand, at the beginning and end, which makes the play somewhat anticlimactic.

Reduxion likes to experiment, which it’s definitely doing in this production, and kudos for doing so. Its motto is “revisit the classics,” a worthy objective, and if they want to do a holiday show, fine. And an edgy seasonal show is a welcome offering indeed.

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LIFE ACTIVE

Fight hub (and wife) When injuries ended Travis Hoffman’s boxing career, he used his experience and skill to launch Western Avenue Boxing Gym.

Breathing. It’s the first and last thing any of us will ever do. So why was it so hard for Travis Hoffman to remember?

Probably because he was born to fight. The wrestler turned cage fighter turned well-past-his-prime professional boxer has given everything he has to the martial arts — in more ways than one.

He married a professional fighter. His livelihood is based on teaching others how to fight. Along with his wife, Rebecca, Hoffman runs Western Avenue Boxing Gym, 4416 N. Western Ave., which teaches a variety of fighting styles to people of all different skill sets seven days a week.

He has lost a lot, too. Not just boxing matches, but there were plenty of those.

As he pulled out a row of fake teeth, Hoffman said what he had mostly lost was his health. A traumatic brain injury forced him to retire from boxing forever.

It was a sport he’d built his whole life around. Now just one punch could kill him.

“It’s kind of all I was for a really long time: boxer, boxer, boxer,” Hoffman said.

“That was taken away from me.”

Hoffman was used to taking hits, but this news was a different kind of blow.

He was afraid. He needed to find his inner calm. He needed to breathe again.

That’s when he began getting into Systema. He first heard about the Russian martial art at a health fair several years ago, and it intrigued him enough to eventually become a certified instructor.

The Western Avenue gym officially began offering Systema classes last year.

Systema dates back to the 10th century and is less a set of particular moves and techniques than it is a way of not only approaching combat but life itself. The Soviet Union suppressed many of its national traditions, including Systema. After the fall of communism, the style began steadily making its comeback in Russia and, now, internationally.

Blake LeBlanc’s path to Systema was very different from Hoffman’s. LeBlanc was not a professional fighter and has no desire to be. He was introduced to Systema in 2010 after a friend showed him a video demonstration by Vladimir Vasiliev, one of the premier figures in the martial art today. LeBlanc began incorporating some Systema elements into his regular workout routine. Later, he attended a seminar held by Vasiliev and said he was “blown away.”

GA RETT FI S BE C K

BY BEN LUSCHEN

It’s pretty much exploring your fears and dealing with them.

— Blake LeBlanc LeBlanc and Hoffman now both teach Systema classes at the Western Avenue gym once a week. They are the only certified Systema instructors in the state.

“That’s one thing about this gym,” Hoffman said. “Anything we use, we like to have the best people in it. Blake was the best in Oklahoma, so I got him here as quick as I could.”

For an unwitting assailant, attempting to grapple with LeBlanc is a bit like trying to grab a wet bar of soap. Whereas many fighters will square up and get tense, LeBlanc moves with the attacker, using his momentum against him. His movements are free-flowing, smooth and, above all else, calm.

Through proper breathing techniques, LeBlanc said Systema fighters learn how to preserve their calm even in the face of perceived danger. Anyone who has studied hard for a stressful test only to forget everything when test time actually comes knows how important it can be to remain calm.

“That’s one thing about Systema; it’s pretty much exploring your fears and dealing with them,” LeBlanc said.

Some martial arts styles, he said, add things on to you, like styles, equipment and, ultimately, some stress. Systema is about removing those things and learning

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Rebecca and Travis Hoffman take a pause from training at their business, Western Avenue Boxing Gym in Oklahoma City. who you are at your core.

“Systema says instead of building technique after technique and then learning to relax and move effectively, let’s just start there,” LeBlanc said.

While much of the talk surrounding Systema is about peace and calm, it’s a style that can be deadly efficient as well.

A tense boxing jab from Hoffman is effective, but it doesn’t send shockwaves through the target’s body like a more relaxed hit from LeBlanc. While a boxer might put his fists up and all but announce to you that he’s about to strike, a Systema fighter’s attacks are sneakier and don’t give the opponent fair warning.

LeBlanc said the great thing about Systema is that it can be picked up by anyone, even non-fighters like him — everyone uses Systema for their own ends, and that’s perfectly fine.

Adapting to Systema has not come easy for Hoffman. He first got interested in boxing because it was the toughest sport to learn. He restarted his professional fighting career at 37 after a 10-year hiatus. During his last professional fight at age 42, his opponent was less than half his age.

That’s a lot of tension he has built up

through the years, and there is a lot of unlearning to do.

“I do have all these bad habits,” he said, “all this tension and hand-raising I have to break and overcome after I was told, ‘Never let your hands drop. Never let your hands drop.’”

Hoffman said through Systema, he has found peace inside that he had been missing since his brain injury forced his retirement from boxing.

“I’ve been in this no-man’s-land of where I’m going to go, and Systema’s really guided me a lot and helped me with that,” he said.

When he boxed, Hoffman took loud, harsh breaths just so he could hear himself and remember to keep breathing.

When boxing was over, he no longer had that reminder. Systema filled the void.

“I built my whole life around boxing,” he said. “I’ve got a boxing gym, everything. Systema really picked me up and dusted me off, and I was able to just take a deep breath, so to speak.”

Hoffman teaches his Systema class at 10 a.m. on Saturdays, and LeBlanc teaches his at 5 p.m. on Sundays. Call 532-3204 or visit westernavenueboxinggym.com.

P HOTOS BY M A R K HA N COC K

Kings of swim

A swimming competition will turn the nation’s attention to an OKC college and a swimmer not yet old enough to attend it.

BY ADAM HOLT

The nation’s keenest eyes in swimming will focus on Oklahoma City Thursday-Sunday at the Oklahoma City Community College Olympic Festival Pool. The King Marlin Swim Club (KMSC) Pro-Am Classic brings together American professional swimmers and many of the country’s best amateurs, a distinctive event on the swimming circuit.

The meet is comprised of 30 individual and 10 relay events.

Individual races range from 50 to 1,650 yards and all four swimming styles: freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly. There are also two medleys, a race in which swimmers must use all four strokes.

There are a total of 15 events for both men and women.

There are also five relays, races in which teams of four swimmers compete. Each relay is comprised of 200, 400 and 600-yard freestyles and 200 and 400-yard medleys for each gender.

John Brown, founder and head coach of the KMSC Pro-Am Classic and the King Marlin Swim Club, has been a key figure in Oklahoma City swimming for more than 30 years.

He has coached Pan Am champions, Senior and Junior National champions and hundreds of children of all ages.

Brown began the event, then known as the Elite Pro-Am Meet, in 1992. Along with original meet director Jim Sullins, he wanted to create an event from a new mold.

“There weren’t any meets where amateurs got to face off with pros. It’s a one-of-a-kind event,” Brown said.

As distinctive as it is, the event’s beginnings were tough. Brown said that convincing others that this new format could work, along with the aches and pains of actually creating the event, were large tasks.

“I had to fight for it to keep it going,” he said.

Swimmer Kade Knoch with his coach, John Brown, at Lighthouse Sports & Fitness, where they practice.

All the work is now paying off.

In 1996, 400 swimmers participated.

Last year, a record 750 swimmers competed, which will likely increase this year. Top-flight swim clubs, officials and college recruiters now flock to the event. Some estimate it will bring $2 million into the local economy.

Kade Knoch, a 14-year-old male from Edmond, is one of Oklahoma’s swimming stars who will be competing in the Pro-Am for the second straight year. Knoch recently landed on USA Swimming’s All-Time Top 100 Swims list in the 13-14 Boys Division for his 200-meter backstroke with a swim of 2 minutes, 10 seconds and 57 milliseconds. His swim is ranked 89th.

To give some perspective, the Top 100 swims lists reach as far back as 1965, so Knoch’s swim holds up with the best at his age and backstroke from the last 49 years.

Brown speaks highly of Knoch.

“He’s as good as any I’ve coached.

He has a great feel for the water and is very coachable,” he said.

The event has made an impression on Knoch as well.

“It’s a whole new world of swimming. You can see how pros got there. They were once like us,” he said.

For more information on the KMSC Pro-Am Classic, visit teamunify.com.

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33 Fish on many a sashimi platter 35 Bryn ___ 39 Yankees teammate of Captain Clutch 40 Compos mentis 41 Relieved (of ) 42 Bread at a restaurant, typically 44 ID provider 47 Conk out 49 Unrefined material 50 Muttered commentary 51 Get a cut of 55 Transplants 57 Jubilance 58 Middle line of many an address: Abbr.

59 Google statistic 60 Part of OTOH 62 Java holder 63 Two will get you turned around 65 Cereal box abbr.

68 Paws 69 *Very durable 71 Bartiromo of Fox Business 72 Charmin competitor 73 City in which One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is set 74 Bald-spot coverer 75 Have a loan from 76 Charges 78 Content that’s hard for a search engine to access 80 All-___ 81 Standard of measurement 83 F.D.R. purchased the first one of these bonds 84 Sci-fi shooter 87 Result of a firing

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Not pay attention at all Was idle Paid at the end, say Big pitcher U.S. city that becomes another U.S. city if you move the last letter to the front 96 An eternity 98 Mother of Eos and Helios 99 Animal’s mouth 100 *What a massage may relieve 105 Ones with muses 107 Breather?

108 Big Three conference site 113 Create, as a canyon 114 *Not shirk a difficult task 117 Warren who wrote The War of the Roses 118 One with dreads 119 Engineers’ competition set in a ring 120 Director Almodóvar 121 Arches in Gothic architecture 122 Be a busy beaver?

123 Written paeans DOWN 1 Force ÷ acceleration 2 Small bra specification 3 Smurf in red 4 Nurses 5 French sea 6 It’s often left hanging 7 It’s been shortening since 1911 8 Matched up 9 Operatic baritone Pasquale 10 ___ Picchu (Peruvian high spot) 11 Crosses a threshold 12 Greek high spot 13 Sculling implement 14 Like some TVs, informally 15 Track, often 16 *Comfort provider during difficult times 17 Concert souvenir 18 Has way too much, briefly 20 Flame out 24 Jocund 28 Christmas gift holder 30 Rear 31 Is for two?

32 Armageddon

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MGM motto opener *Crushing burden Having special significance Something handled in a bar Dollop *Arnold Schwarzenegger, once Perturbed She played Joanie on Joanie Loves Chachi Goes viral, say Puff the Magic Dragon’s land Imbues, as with flavor Option in Hamlet Corroded Mantra sounds Idiosyncrasy

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Stumped? Call 1-900-285-5656 to get the answers to any three clues by phone ($1.20 a minute). The answers to the New York Times Magazine Crossword Puzzle that appeared in the December 10 issue of Oklahoma Gazette are shown at left.

Oklahoma Gazette

7

115

62 Sounds edited out of some audio 64 Barrett of Pink Floyd 66 Native ___ 67 Chinese “way” 70 Zigs or zags 77 April foolers, e.g.

79 Like some bars and blankets 80 The Godfather enforcer who “sleeps with the fishes” 81 The “m” of “yes’m” 82 Deed of derring-do 85 Mideast inits.

86 Org. with the Larry O’Brien Trophy 89 Vim 91 It contains uracil 94 The Little Mermaid villainess, for one 95 Melodious 96 La Dolce Vita actress 97 Coordinated gene cluster

109

110

116

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NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE CROSSWORD PUZZLE HOLDUP MAN By Jeff Chen / Edited by Will Shortz

100 Gestating, after “in” 101 Nasty sort 102 Mythological figure hinted at by the answers to the eight starred clues as well as this puzzle’s design 103 Something to chew on 104 Da’s opposite 106 Eternally 109 “Not to mention …”

110 Forte 111 Break 112 Kerfuffles 113 Ceiling 114 Sign of success?

115 Scheduling placeholder 116 “And ___!”

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P ROVI DED

LIFE MUSIC

Red Dirt wonderland The Red Dirt Rangers are rockin’ around the Blue Door’s Christmas tree.

BY LOUIS FOWLER

Red Dirt Rangers Kids’ Christmas Show 2 p.m. Sunday The Blue Door 2805 N. McKinley Ave. bluedoorokc.com 524-0738 $5

That red on Santa’s suit is going to be a little bit darker this year as local Americana legends the Red Dirt Rangers drop by the Blue Door once again with their annual kid’s Christmas concert, a venerable Oklahoma City holiday musical tradition that has been going on so long even the band has lost track of how many shows it has done.

“I think this is the 20th or 21st Christmas show, I don’t even know anymore,” John Cooper, lead singer of the Red Dirt Rangers, said. “It’s something that we started a long time ago and have just kept the tradition going.”

On Sunday at 2 p.m., the Red Dirt Rangers Kids’ Christmas Show drops down the Blue Door chimney, 2805 N. McKinley Ave. Part of the cover ($5) goes to its charity, the Red Dirt Relief Fund.

Both big and little kids (and their parents, of course) are invited to come out and celebrate.

“We’ve always done children’s shows, and we started doing this particular one with Greg [Johnson, owner of the

Blue Door] over 20 years ago because we thought it was important to the community,” Cooper said. “We were living in Oklahoma City at the time and wanted to create something that would become a tradition.”

Cooper, however, is still astonished that the kid’s concert, scheduled for the day after the band’s annual blowout at Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa, has circled back over the past two decades.

Now, Cooper said “kids have started bringing their own kids,” allowing the Rangers to see firsthand just how much fan support and influence he and bandmates Brad Piccolo and Ben Han have developed over the years.

“It is such a weird phenomenon,” Cooper said of the resurgence in popularity, especially with the Rangers’ children’s music. “The show hasn’t really changed too much, and it’s something we’ve always enjoyed doing. [The OKC show is] always the day after the Christmas show at Cain’s [Ballroom in Tulsa], and it can make it a little challenging for logistical reasons because we tend to party pretty good at Cain’s the night before. But we always have a good time.”

Blue Door brotherhood

The band has played Blue Door more than any other band in the venue’s history, and it’s quick to add that its “tight

Kids are a great audience because no one loves music more than kids.

— John Cooper

connection” to the place is one of the main reasons both Cooper, his bandmates and Johnson are determined to keep this tradition alive.

The band will perform most of its songs from its children’s record, Blue Shoe for Kids of All Ages, as well as holiday favorites. Also, Cooper said that Johnson usually has a setup of punch, fruit, cookies and “other fun stuff for the kids.”

While the band has remained committed to writing and performing songs that “write up” to youth, after more than 20 years of live shows, the Rangers also know the importance of crafting a tight, appealing show for everyone.

“Kids are a great audience because no one loves music more than kids,” Cooper said. “The thing with kids is that you have to be entertaining, because if you’re not, they don’t owe you one thing and they will just find something else to do if you don’t pull them in pretty quick.”

Beside originals like the tolerance allegory “Black Dog, White Dog” and other assorted animal tunes from the aforementioned Blue Shoes album, the Rangers decorate the show with both rocking holiday classics like Chuck Berry’s “Run, Rudolph, Run” or Elvis Presley’s “Blue Christmas” and more traditional singalong fare like “Jingle Bells,” all filtered through the band’s patented red dirt Americana sound and style.

“You have to keep it lively and interesting and generally the shows are shorter,” Cooper said. “You’re not gonna get an hour with kids. You’re gonna get 30 minutes until you start to lose them, so we try to pack as much as we can into a pretty small space.”

And even though the Rangers do all kinds of events, from rock ’n’ roll festivals to folk and bluegrass celebrations, Cooper believes that community-building events like these concerts that have kept the band together for over 26 years and, as long as they are still “standing and breathing,” will for decades to come.

“The Blue Door is the best music listening venue in Oklahoma, handsdown,” Cooper said. “The history and the acts that have come through there speak for itself.”

Saturday at 7 p.m. at Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa, the band holds its traditional holiday show with guests Tea Leaf Green and Mike Hosty Duo.

O K L A H O M A G A Z E T T E | D E C E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 1 4 | 3 9

P R OVI DE D

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Full Tilts

Despite controversy from left- and right-leaning music fans, Tilts doesn’t care about political correctness.

It cares about serious fun.

BY JOSHUA BOYDSTON

Tilts with Traindodge and Found Footage 9 p.m. Friday Blue Note Lounge 2408 N. Robinson Ave. thebluenotelounge.com 600-1166 $7

Politics isn’t of the highest concern for Tilts. The St. Louis-bred rock-in-all-caps band is mindful of those things offstage and passionate about them off-record, sure, but on the stage and on the record, it’s pure party ragers out of Van Halen’s book of dedicated, devious debauchery.

But like so many before them, Tilts became embroiled in a political tussle all the same.

Greg Gutfeld — political satirist and host of Fox News program Red Eye — is one of Tilts’ biggest fans. He’s also the most famous one.

A longtime devotee of Torche, the critically-lauded stoner metalheads that Tilts frontman Andrew Elstner also has slung an ax for since 2011, Gutfeld caught Tilts fever. He calls its self-titled debut “one of the greatest debut discs ever,” championing the four-piece to anyone who will listen.

So this last summer, as Tilts geared up to promote the band’s sophomore effort, Cuatro Hombres, Gutfeld penned a glowing and decidedly un-PC review of the record for conservative news site Breitbart and subsequently invited the act onto his show for an interview — a coup for the upstart, mostly independent rockers whose members make their living at day jobs or by moonlighting in other projects.

But coming from a left-leaning scene of DIY rockers and fans that feel much the same, some misinterpreted the publicity as inflammatory.

“It was a fucking firestorm for a week,” Elstner said. “People were trying to sabotage shows, saying we were this horrible, sexist band. It was the most

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bizarre thing.”

It all flamed out soon enough. The national exposure caused a bump in album sales, and Tilts’ fundamental belief in good times for all reaffirmed how silly the controversy truly was.

“We’re a party rock band called Tilts with a song called ‘Hot For Pizza,’” Elstner said. “You can’t take it that seriously.”

The group has found that there is a certain degree of seriousness it needs to have, though. There’s a reason classic vibes turned cartoonishly over-the-top in the ’80s and nearly killed rock ’n’ roll in the process.

Tilts — like Queens of the Stone Age and Arctic Monkeys before them — found a way to pick up where Led Zeppelin and AC/DC left off, maintaining its artistic integrity without putting itself on a pedestal or, conversely, making the band a parody of itself.

“There are riffs we wrote cracking up playing them, but it’s not that we are making fun of anyone,” Elstner explained of the band’s approach.

“Bands that tried to do that fall into Guitar Center kind of territory: A lot of corny, tired rock clichés. The way we want to do it is very much obvious who we are ripping off, but we are trying to have a good time with it.”

That was never more true for Tilts than it was putting together Cuatro Hombres, blatantly — cough — borrowing its title from ZZ Top’s Tres Hombres. It’s a passion project more than anything, a chance for four dudes to pay tribute to the heroes that adorned the posters tacked on their boyhood bedrooms and try and add something — however small — to that legacy.

Armed to the teeth with searing, oldschool riffage and dripping with ballsy bravado, songs like “Titanium Falcon,” “Kobra Kommander” and “Skeletears” bottle all that made their self-titled debut so good and strain it into something even better, louder and faster.

ANNE BABB

n h o y d d tthois new years eve DECEMBER 20

RED DIRT CHRISTMAS

W/ TEA LEAF GREEN, RED DIRT RANGERS AND HOSTY DUO

Ugly Grace Twins Grace and Sophia blend pillow-soft voices with blazing work ethic in Annie Oakley.

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Annie Oakley 9 p.m. Friday Bricktown Brewery 1 N. Oklahoma Ave. bricktownbrewery.com 232-2739

Grace and Sophia mirror each other.

They are both whip-smart, wise-beyondtheir-years songwriters speaking the same throwback folk-Americana language that eludes most others at their tender age of 17, their pristine but pillow-soft voices folding into immaculate harmonies to the envy of even the most vetted musical collaborators out there.

And as identical twins, that just so happens to manifest itself physically, too.

“Make sure to say Grace is the uglier one,” Sophia Babb said to a burst of laughter from her mom, Anne, and her sister. “Headline, even.”

But when the two lock eyes on stage, they don’t see their twin, sister or friend … they see a musical soul mate and a means to make their dream of a music career a reality.

“It’s not a selling point; at least, it shouldn’t be,” Sophia said. “I don’t want to be gimmicky, like, ‘Look at these twins singing.’ We want to be artists.”

Sophia is the John Fullbrightobsessed purist, digging into classic bluegrass and early red dirt where Grace favors the indie-leaning side of roots music. Together, it’s a modern classic sound that suits these modern classic ladies just right. As longtime fans of Allison Krauss and other classic folk luminaries, it made sense to channel all their feelings into something that so many of their heroes had had before them, laying Annie Oakley’s foundation.

Communication is key to making collaboration work, though as the sisters would tell it, it’s less psychic connection than brutal honesty.

“I do think it’s different. You might

21 & over • Reservations required be a little more inhibited with a stranger or even a friend,” Grace said of writing together. “We can be cutthroat.”

And that has been essential to the exponential growth Annie Oakley has exhibited since first playing publicly to the Songwriters Association of Norman (SWAN) under the suggestion of their guitar teacher Frank Lawrence in 2011.

They’ve continued to learn from SWAN over the past three years.

A self-titled debut EP came in late 2013, though with the addition of two new members (violinist Nia Personette and Gabee Rolla-Danley on mandolin).

“Our EP doesn’t even really represent us all that well anymore,” Grace said.

“We are really figuring out what our sound is.”

Folk has always been the music of the people, a megaphone for voices that would get lost in the conversation otherwise, and the Babb sisters are quickly finding themselves using songs to sipeak up as well.

That came to a head with the #YesAllDaughters movement and protest in Norman, raising awareness of the bullying and sexual harassment and spurring conversation about rape culture.

“I was writing a song about that, partly before the protest,” Grace said.

“After we left, it practically wrote itself.”

“It’s not in your face and obvious,” Sophia added.

“It’s the type of songs that you think about what they mean and then they start to have an impact on you,” Grace finished. “And that’s our goal: To write songs that have an impact.”

And at the end of the day, it’s about equality, be it condemning cat-calling (new song “Hey Honey Hey”) or just letting young girls know that if they want to follow in Annie Oakley’s footsteps, they can. Annie Oakley performs Friday at Bricktown Brewery and a pair of postChristmas shows at The Deli.

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O K L A H O M A G A Z E T T E | D E C E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 1 4 | 4 1

this saturday night

4 2 | D E C E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 1 4 | O K L A H O M A G A Z E T T E

LIVE MUSIC

Josh Grider, Wormy Dog Saloon. COUNTRY

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 17

Kirra, The Labyrinth, Norman. ROCK

Amy Speace/Rod Picott/Wild Ponies, The Blue Door.

SINGER/SONGWRITER

Michael Martin Murphey, National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. SINGER/SONGWRITER

Derek Harris Band, Baker St. Pub & Grill. ROCK

Miss Brown to You, UCO Jazz Lab, Edmond. JAZZ

North Meets South/Wink Burcham, The Deli, Norman.

VARIOUS

Pidgin Band, The Deli, Norman. ROCK

The Beatsmacks, UCO Jazz Lab, Edmond. VARIOUS The Friends No BS Jam, Friends Restaurant & Club.

VARIOUS Wayne McEvilly, Ronald J. Norick Downtown Library.

PIANO

W E S L E Y M A RS DE N

LIFE MUSIC Karen Khoury, Legend’s Restaurant, Norman. PIANO

Lauren Nichols/NIKI, Riverwind Casino, Norman.

COUNTRY

Randy Cassimus, Full Circle Bookstore. ACOUSTIC Recliners, Oklahoma City Limits. COVER Rick Jawnsun, Nonna’s Purple Bar. COUNTRY Samantha Crain/Cameron Neal/Jose Hernandez, CityPres. ROCK Stephen Salewon, The Paramount OKC. BLUES

THURSDAY, DEC. 18 Bread & Butter Band, 51st Street Speakeasy. BLUEGRASS Brent Saulsbury/Will Galbraith/Wayne Duncan, Friends Restaurant & Club. ROCK Hannah Wolff/Them Hounds/Regg, The Conservatory.

ROCK Horseshoe Road Jingle Bell Jam, UCO Jazz Lab, Edmond.

VARIOUS

The Clique, Friends Restaurant & Club. VARIOUS Traindodge/Tilts, Blue Note Lounge. ROCK

SATURDAY, DEC. 20 2AM, Belle Isle Restaurant & Brewery. ROCK Beth & Jess, Nonna’s Purple Bar. ACOUSTIC

Kyle Reid/The Souveneers, The Deli, Norman. VARIOUS

Blame It On The Boogie/Nights, The Deli, Norman.

VARIOUS

Rowdy Folk, Wormy Dog Saloon. COUNTRY

Blind Date, Oklahoma City Limits. COVER

Stars, Baker St. Pub & Grill. COVER

Don and Melodee Johnson, Twelve Oaks, Edmond. JAZZ

The Dave Thomason Band, Grady’s 66 Pub, Yukon.

COVER

FRIDAY, DEC. 19 80z Enuf, Remington Park. COVER Avenue, Tapwerks Ale House & Cafe. COVER Brent Blount, Jazmo’z Bourbon St. Cafe. JAZZ Caleb McGee, Grandad’s Bar. VARIOUS Chebon & Friends, Belle Isle Restaurant & Brewery. ROCK Christian Pearson/Gary Johnson, Skirvin Hilton Hotel.

PIANO DJ RnR, Russell’s, Tower Hotel. VARIOUS Down/Orange Goblin/Bl’ast/King Parrot, Diamond Ballroom. ROCK Jake Moffat, Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill. COUNTRY Jim the Elephant, Baker St. Pub & Grill. ROCK Jon Dee Graham/Mike June, The Blue Door. SINGER/ SONGWRITER

Electric Avenue, Russell’s, Tower Hotel. COVER

Ian Moore

Elms/Clare Morales/Chase Kerby, Blue Note Lounge.

FOLK Fever The Ghost/DJ Pyramid Hair, Womb Gallery.

VARIOUS

OKG

Grant Stevens, Skirvin Hilton Hotel. PIANO

An Evening with Ian Moore

music

Jim the Elephant, Baker St. Pub & Grill. ROCK Joesf Glaude, The Paramount OKC. JAZZ Karen Khoury, Legend’s Restaurant, Norman. PIANO Kelli Lynn and The Skillet Lickers, Grandad’s Bar. ROCK Kevin Fowler/Clare Dunn/Waterloo Revival, Diamond Ballroom. COUNTRY

Sunday

Austin singer-songwriter Ian Moore returns to Oklahoma City with his fourth annual holiday tour 8 p.m. Sunday at The Blue Door, 2805 N. McKinley Ave. Moore has a holiday surprise for you as well. He’s giving a free digital EP to everyone who attends the holiday shows.

Tickets are $25 in advance or $30 the day of the show and are available at Party Galaxy locations and online at ticketstorm.com.

Kyle Brewer, Jazmo’z Bourbon St. Cafe. ROCK Kyle Reid and The Low Swingin’ Chariots, Opolis, Norman. VARIOUS

Old Bulldog Band, UCO Jazz Lab, Edmond. ROCK

LUCKY, Tapwerks Ale House & Cafe. COVER

Purgatory/Iron Born/Sabertooth/Justice Keeper, The Conservatory. ROCK

Maurice Johnson, Avanti Bar & Grill. JAZZ

Replay, Remington Park. COVER

Mitch Casen, Friends Restaurant & Club. COUNTRY

Sibling Rivalry, 51st Street Speakeasy. VARIOUS

Morris McCann, Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill.

COUNTRY

Stat Band, Riverwind Casino, Norman. COVER

TUESDAY, DEC. 23 Caleb McGee/Bread & Butter Bluegrass Christmas, The Deli, Norman. VARIOUS LUCKY/Shaun Suttle, Skirvin Hilton Hotel. COVER

T.I./Tyga/Magic/Eden XO, Cox Business Center, Tulsa.

HIP-HOP

Samantha Crain, CityPres, Friday, Dec. 19

Tequila Songbirds, The Blue Door. VARIOUS

SUNDAY, DEC. 21 Edgar Cruz, UCO Jazz Lab, Edmond. ACOUSTIC Eric Herndon, Full Circle Bookstore. ACOUSTIC Ian Moore, The Blue Door. SINGER/SONGWRITER

TODD ROETH / PROVID ED

Mike Hosty, The Deli, Norman. ROCK

MONDAY, DEC. 22

Uncle Freddy, Belle Isle Restaurant & Brewery. ROCK

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 24 LUCKY/Shaun Suttle, Skrivin Hilton Hotel. COVER

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

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

Fax your listings to 528-4600 or e-mail them to listings@okgazette.com. Sorry, but phone submissions cannot be accepted.

Alan Orebaugh and Friends/The Handsome Devils, The Deli, Norman. ROCK Ali Harter Residency, Blue Note Lounge.

SINGER/SONGWRITER

O K L A H O M A G A Z E T T E | D E C E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 1 4 | 4 3

Celebrating Studio Ghibli!

40 & 8 Dance Club

LIFE MUSIC REVIEWS

Every Tuesday 7:30 - 10:30pm

featuring the

STEVE STORY BAND Vocals/Guitar/Fiddle

Have your office party here!

Cash Bar Available Best Hardwood Dance Floor

The Tale of Princess Kaguya

Naughty is oh-so nice

In Oklahoma 3100 SW 119th Street, OKC, OK

Thursday, 7:30 p.m. • Friday, 5 p.m.

Saturday, 2 p.m.

Only Yesterday

BY JOSHUA BOYDSTON

Friday, 8 p.m.

My Neighbor Totoro

Saturday, 5 p.m. • Sunday, 2 p.m.

Grave of the Fireflies Saturday, 8 p.m.

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind Sunday, 5 p.m.

For movie descriptions and ticket sales visit okcmoa.com

To keep something as specific as an Oklahoma-grown album of original indie Christmas songs fresh and exciting is a tall order.

That idea was very simple but genius one at the start, with bands like Evangelicals and The Boom Bang giving their spin on would-be Yuletide standards on the inaugural, Nice People-produced record.

The next three editions of the Fowler VW-presented tradition moved over to Blackwatch Studios, where plenty more acts as varied as Samantha Crain, Stardeath & White Dwarfs, Parker Millsap and ADDverse Effects created the next “Frosty the Snowman” or “Silent Night.”

Following the more tightly curated and sequenced Holly-Tonk & Jingle Beats release last year, the quest to become the “Indie Christmas Capital of the World,” is even more refined and narrowed with the fifth release: Naughty List. It’s a streamlined and cohesive lineup of Blackwatch regulars (Ryan Lindsey, Sherree Chamberlain, Brine Webb among them) who create the least compilation-like volume to date.

It’s a willfully diverse, musical time capsule of a record with its creators’ tongue planted firmly in their cheeks, one that is as eager to tickle your funny bone as warm your heart.

Tacky sweater jam “Santa Ain’t Got No Time 4 Dat” and extended poop joke “Xmas Jeans” are aggressively kitschy “Super Bowl Shuffle” parodies meets Grinchy Beastie Boy b-sides. They know exactly what they are, though: Winking drunk uncle gags, insincere good tidings. The Lindsey-sung title track does a better job working within that rigid ’80s pop camp context, making a song that is more likely

to crack the regular December rotation.

Skewering ’90s Christian pop pitfalls, “The Christmas Pledge” is the smartest and most sneakily clever — the muted flute at its climax and exaggerated pronunciation throughout are side-splitters — version of these satirical creations, though.

Maybe those overt entries speak to the flashy, over-the-top nature the holidays can so often succumb to. But it’s those subtler moments — earnest or not — when Naughty List best captures the spirit of the season.

In fact, the ambient mood vignettes might work even better than the amiable lyrical constructs and auditory lampoons. “Sugarplums” evokes the warm self-reflection and twinge of pensiveness that mark a time of year that can be so sweet for some and so empty for others.

And “Season’s Reasons” says a lot, despite leaning entirely on softly R&B-induced hooks bubbling with blooming jazz ebbs and flows.

Bringing a more human element works too. “Don’t They Know It’s Christmas” is simple choral sketch, but it’s sold with sparklingly immaculate execution: rich production, lush instrumentation and wintery sound flourishes.

Naughty List isn’t always able to find the perfect combination of “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” goofiness and hymnal sincerity, but when it does — especially on point in “Ring, Ring, Ring,” with a closing Johnny Cash middle finger to Ebenezer Scrooge: “If you make me work on Christmas / You can kiss my ass” — the “Indie Christmas Capital of the World” goal isn’t just a holiday wish but a real gift under the tree.

Various Artists Album: Naughty List | Available now | fowlervwchristmas.com/album/naughty-list

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Anime-zing

The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

A lovely folktale, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya kicks off a monthlong celebration of anime masterpieces from renowned Studio Ghibli.

BY PHIL BACHARACH

Celebrating Studio Ghibli!

The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

Moviegoers raised on the shrillness of American cartoons might not know what to think at first about the comparative calm of Japan’s Studio Ghibli.

It was founded in the mid-1980s

by Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, and its anime offerings are a blissful antidote to the mania of Westernized family flicks. That contrast is particularly evident in the 79-year-old Takahata’s first film in 14 years, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya.

The film, which screens Thursday through Saturday at Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive,

kicks off an extraordinary lineup of nine Studio Ghibli features that will play at the museum through Dec. 28. (All-access passes for Celebrating Studio Ghibli! are available; call 236-3100 or visit okcmoa.com for more information.) If you’re a fan of animation, and even if you’re not, don’t miss this rare opportunity to catch some bona fide masterpieces on the big screen.

Based on a 10th-century folk tale, Japan’s oldest recorded story, Princess Kaguya begins when an elderly bamboo cutter (voiced by James Caan) comes across a glowing bamboo shoot. Inside the shoot, he finds a miniature young woman who fits in the palm of his hand. The cutter, known only as Okina (meaning “old fella”), believes she is a gift from heaven and brings her home to his wife (Mary Steenburgen). Within seconds, the tiny curiosity transforms to a normal-sized baby. The cutter’s elderly wife, named Ona (“woman”), is suddenly able to nurse.

“This is all very strange,” Okina

says with considerable understatement.

The baby eventually takes the name Kaguya, which we are told translates as “shining light.” Growing at an extremely accelerated rate, Kaguya (Chloë Grace Moretz, The Equalizer) embraces life in the countryside and plays with a group of neighborhood kids whose leader, Sutemaru (Darren Criss, TV’s Glee), later serves as a romantic interest for the girl.

But Okina, certain that Kaguya is a princess and deserving of better things, yearns to give her a life of affluence.

He gets his chance when he revisits the bamboo forest where he found Kaguya.

This time, the old man finds gold and fine fabrics, enough to enable him and his family to move to a large house in the capital city of Kyoto and secure a teacher (Lucy Liu, Kung Fu Panda) to instruct Kaguya how to be a lady.

The Tale of Princess Kaguya grows more opaque as it goes along, capped by an ending that I figure might be less

baffling to Japanese audiences familiar with the story.

But the picture also reflects traits that have distinguished many Ghibli productions. It basks in the serenity of nature. And the princess carries on the studio’s tradition of strong and independent heroines, the kind of tough-minded female character you don’t often find in American animation without producers patting themselves on the back enthusiastically.

Most notably, the film boasts exquisite hand-drawn animation.

Approximating the stylized look of storybooks and Japanese watercolors, Princess Kaguya is imbued with a lovely melancholy. Almost any frame would be suitable for, well, framing.

Thursday’s screening is in the original Japanese with English subtitles, but an English-dubbed version screens Friday and Saturday.

Gettin’ Ghibli with it

Grave of the Fireflies

sumptuous. That’s a good thing. An English-dubbed version plays Dec. 26, with English subtitles at the Dec. 27 screening.

Frank Baum, only with an edgier bent.

A dubbed version plays Dec. 26 and 27, with the original Japanese version showing on Dec. 28.

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Here are some other Studio Ghibli gems worth seeing this month at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. Learn more at okcmoa.com.

My Neighbor Totoro 5 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday

Don’t be scared off by the “familyfriendly” label of 1988’s My Neighbor Totoro. This Hayao Miyazaki classic about a furry forest creature that befriends two young girls is one of the all-time greats, an enchanting fantasy that forgoes villains, violence and valuable lessons. Saturday’s screening is in Japanese with English subtitles; a very good English-dubbed version screens on Sunday.

8 p.m. Saturday

Chronicling a boy and his younger sister struggling to survive shortly before the end of World War II, the Isao Takahata-directed Grave of the Fireflies is as emotionally devastating as any live-action film. If you have not seen it before, trust me; you won’t think of animation the same way again. The museum screens only the Japanese-language version, and the film is too intense for young ones.

Howl’s Moving Castle 2 p.m. Dec. 26, 5 p.m. Dec. 27

This 2004 Miyazaki offering about an 18-year-old woman transformed into an old crone is as weird as it is visually

Whisper of the Heart 8 p.m. Dec. 26

Spirited Away

Spirited Away

5 p.m. Dec. 26, 2 p.m. Dec. 27, 5 p.m. Dec. 28

This 2001 Miyazaki stunner might be the director’s best-known work, having earned an Oscar for animated film.

Think Alice in Wonderland meets L.

Miyazaki wrote the screenplay for 1995’s Whisper of the Heart but handed the directorial duties of this coming-of-age tale to his protégé, Yoshifumi Kondō. Sadly, it was Kondō’s only film as director; he died several years later from an aneurysm.

It will be shown in Japanese with English subtitles.

O K L A H O M A G A Z E T T E | D E C E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 1 4 | 4 5

P HOTOS P ROVI DED

LIFE FILM

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY ARIES March 21-April 19 “Hell is the suffering of being unable to love,” wrote novelist J. D. Salinger. Using that definition, I’m happy to announce that you have a good chance of avoiding hell altogether in 2015. If there has been any deficiency in your power to express and bestow love, I think you will correct it. If you have been so intent on getting love that you have been neglectful in giving love, you will switch your focus.

I invite you to keep a copy of this horoscope in your wallet for the next 12 months. Regard it as your “Get Out of Hell Free” card.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Beetles are abundant and ubiquitous. Scientists have identified more than 350,000 species, and they are always discovering new ones. In 2011, for example, they conferred official recognition on 3,485 additional types of beetles. I’m seeing a parallel development in your life, Taurus. A common phenomenon that you take for granted harbors mysteries that are worth exploring. Something you regard as quite familiar actually contains interesting features you don’t know about. In 2015, I hope you will open your mind to the novelties and exotica that are hidden in plain sight.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Auguste Escoffier (18461935) was an influential French chef who defined and standardized the five “mother sauces.” But he wasn’t content to be a star in his own country. At the age of 44, he began his “conquest of London,” bringing his spectacular dining experience to British restaurants. He thought it might be hard to sell his new clientele on frogs’ legs, a traditional French dish, so he resorted to trickery. On the menu, he listed it as “Nymphs of the Dawn.” According to my reading of the omens, this is an example of the hocus-pocus that will be your specialty in 2015. And I suspect you will get away with it every time as long as your intention is not selfish or manipulative, but rather generous and constructive.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): The entomologist Charles P. Alexander (1889-1981) devoted much of his professional life to analyzing the insect known as the crane fly. He identified over 11,000 different species, drew 15,000 illustrations of the creatures, and referred to his lab as “Crane Fly Haven.” That’s the kind of single-minded intention I’d love to see you adopt during the first six months of 2015, Cancerian. What I’m imagining is that you will choose a specific, well-defined area within which you will gleefully explore and experiment and improvise.

Is there a subject or task or project you would have fun pursuing with that kind of intensity?

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): In Don DeLillo’s novel Underworld, Cotter Martin is a young boy living in New York in the 1950s. The following description is about him.

“In school they tell him sometimes to stop looking out the window. This teacher or that teacher. The answer is not out there, they tell him. And he always wants to say that’s exactly where the answer is.” I propose we regard this passage as one of your themes in 2015, Leo. In other words, be skeptical of any authority who tells you where you should or should not be searching for the answers.

Follow your own natural inclination, even if at first it seems to be nothing more than looking out the window.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): “It is always important to know when something has reached its end,” writes Paulo Coelho in his book The Zahir. Use this advice heroically in 2015, Virgo. Wield it to clear away anything that no longer serves you, that weighs you down or holds you back. Prepare the way for the new story that will begin for you around your next birthday. “Closing circles, shutting doors, finishing chapters,” Coelho says, “it doesn’t matter what we call it; what matters is to leave in the past those moments in life that are over.”

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): “On some nights I still

SENIOR CARE:

believe,” said rascal journalist Hunter S. Thompson, “that a car with the gas needle on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio.” In 2015, I invite you to adopt some of that push-it-to-the-edge attitude for your personal use, Libra.

Maybe not full-time; maybe not with the same manic intensity that Thompson did. Rather, simply tap into it as needed -- whenever you’ve got to up your game or raise your intensity level or rouse the extra energy you need TO ACHIEVE TOTAL, WONDROUS, RESOUNDING VICTORY!!! The coming months will be your time to go all the way, hold nothing back, and quest for the best and the most and the highest.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Twenty miles long, the Onyx River is the longest body of moving water on the continent of Antarctica. Most of the year it’s ice, though.

It actually flows for just two or three months during the summer. Let’s hope that continues to be the case for the foreseeable future. It would be a shame if global warming got so extreme that the Onyx melted permanently. But now let’s talk about your own metaphorical equivalent of the Onyx: a potentially flowing part of your life that is often frozen. I’d love to see it heat up and thaw. I’d love it to be streaming and surging most of the time. And in 2015, I think that’s a distinct possibility. Consider making the following declaration your battle cry: *I am the Flow Master!* SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): “The best way to keep a prisoner from escaping is to make sure he never knows he’s in prison.” That quote is attributed to both Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky and Russian author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Regardless of who said it, I urge you to keep it in mind throughout 2015. Like all of us, you are trapped in an invisible prison: a set of beliefs or conditioned responses or bad habits that limit your freedom to act. That’s the bad news. The good news is that in the coming months, you are poised to discover the exact

nature of your invisible prison, and then escape it.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): When he was 37 years old, actor Jack Nicholson found out that Ethel May, the woman he had always called his mother, was in fact his grandma. Furthermore, his “older sister” June was actually his mom, who had given birth to him when she was 17.

His relatives had hidden the truth from him. I suspect that in 2015 you will uncover secrets and missing information that will rival Nicholson’s experience. Although these revelations may initially be confusing or disruptive, in the long run they will heal and liberate you. Welcome them!

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): “Meupareunia” is an English word that refers to a sexual adventure in which only one of the participants has a good time. I’ll be bold and predict that you will not experience a single instance of meupareunia in 2015. That’s because I expect you’ll be steadily upgrading your levels of empathy and your capacity for receptivity. You will be getting better and better at listening to your intimate allies and reading their emotional signals. I predict that synergy and symbiosis will be your specialties. Both your desire to please and your skill at giving pleasure will increase, as will your understanding of how many benefits you can reap by being a responsive partner.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): “Be good and you will be lonesome,” said Mark Twain. Do you agree? I don’t -- at least as it applies to your life in 2015. According to my understanding of the long-term astrological omens, you will attract an abundance of love and luck by being good -- by expressing generosity, deepening your compassion, cultivating integrity, and working for justice and truth and beauty. That doesn’t mean you should be a pushover or doormat. Your resolve to be good must be leavened by a determination to deepen your self-respect. Your eagerness to do the right thing has to include a commitment to raising your levels of self-care.

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