What's the big deal with trivia nights?

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contents 43

40

19

NEWS

LIFE

LIFE

4

State: budget

19

34

9

Metro: tourism videos

Food & Drink: Bossa Nova Bar, The Silvertops, Food For All, briefs, OKG eat: world tour

10

Chicken-Fried News

24

Eat Local

37

Books: John Thompson

12

Commentary

26

OKG shop: thanks

38

Sudoku / Crossword

12

Letters

27

Shop Local

40

Fit Local

29

Cover: trivia nights

40

Active: Dodgers season

31

Culture: historic black towns tour

41

32

Visual Arts: Silver Soirée, Life Out of the Box

Music: Fiawna Forté, Diana Krall, Gogol Bordello, listings

46

Astrology, Classifieds

29

ON THE COVER

Kevin Sine, owner of 51st Street Speakeasy, said Tuesdays might be so slow that it’s barely worth being open ... except for trivia. Those stopping in for a nip at Speakeasy after 8 p.m. on a Tuesday might be hard-pressed to find a table in the non-smoking wing. Similarly, Live Trivia nights are flourishing across the metro, too. So, Oklahoma Gazette asks, what’s the big deal about trivia?

Story by Laura Eastes and Greg Elwell. P.29

LIFE 14

OKG picks

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.

Performing Arts: Silence! The Musical, Baron Vaughn, Poetry Out Loud

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news state

Looming shortfall What action can be taken to close Oklahoma’s budget gap?

It is no secret that Oklahoma lawmakers face a bleak budget situation for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1, 2016.

Dropping oil prices, shrinking monthly tax collections and a looming tax cut has state leaders wondering and worried about piecing together a state budget for the next funding cycle.

While lawmakers can only speculate on the deficit amount, they can say with certainty there will be cuts.

There are no easy answers when reports suggest the deficit could approach $1 billion by the time lawmakers return to session in less than three months.

When lawmakers were last at the Capitol, they faced a $611 million hole. A year earlier, the gap was $188 million.

“We are going to have to cut spending because there is no way that we can see coming up with the money to balance (the budget) with tricks, gimmicks and one-time finds,” said Sen. Clark Jolley, R-Edmond.

The chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee talked about the budget realities when addressing The Oklahoma Academy, a nonpartisan leadership group that brings attention to state issues. The news of the governor’s executive order to cut nonessential expenses by 10 percent dropped the same day the academy’s Oct. 26 event focused on the state budget and featured speakers Jolley, Rep. Earl Sears, Gov. Mary Fallin and Treasurer Ken Miller.

Jolley’s House counterpart Sears referred to the last sessions as the most difficult year for producing a balanced budget. When it comes to cuts, the former educator highlighted the gravity of reductions, naming common education as an example. If common education were to lose funding by 1 percent, he said, that’s $24 million the state agency would operate without.

“We must and we have to do a better job,” said the Republican from Bartlesville, who chairs the House Appropriations and Budget Committee.

“I think we are. It is not that easy in regards to balancing these budgets and keeping some of them flat. We still get beat up in regards to public education. …

[Last session] we kept public education funding flat; I am very proud of that. I can’t promise we will do it this year.”

mark ha ncock

By Laura Eastes

Scott Inman left and Jeff Hickman take part in a Oklahoma Watch forum at Kamp’s 1910 Cafe in October.

No promises

Funding cuts, which often translate to service cuts, are the only promise. Fallin highlighted the severity of the budget situation when she signed a string of executive orders tied to sluggish state revenue. The first order called for all agencies, boards and commissions to cut nonessential services by 10 percent through the rest of this fiscal year and for the year after.

In attempts to cushion revenue, the governor squashed out-of-state travel plans and called for selling state-owned “underutilized” land and buildings.

Calling it a “critical time in our state,” Fallin continues to advocate for modifying the budget process by examining “off-the-top” spending. She said she believes that such a move would reroute funding to the general revenue fund and give lawmakers more funds to allocate to core government services and provide equal scrutiny to state programs.

“Everybody knows it is going to be another tough budget year and we are going to experience some budget shortfalls,” Fallin said as she addressed The Oklahoma Academy. “It is going to require some very creative and innovative solutions, but there is an old saying:

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At the end of the day, we are all Oklahomans and we are going to have a solution.

— Jeff Hickman

‘Never let a [serious] crisis go to waste.’”

“Off-the-top” spending diverts money away from the general revenue fund, either to support specific government programs or economic incentives.

Typically, the state hands out $1.7 billion in tax credits, incentives and exemptions each year. Another $3 billion is set aside for specific programs like the teachers’ retirement fund, the state’s college scholarship program and a major state transportation fund.

The two-term Republican governor made the call before, namely during her State of the State address in February.

“My challenge to all of us is to reverse that trend and use this session to really unpack the way the state is spending

its money,” Fallin said during the state address.

Taking a microscope to “off-the-top” spending is one way to approach the budget challenge, and it has been met with support.

Both Jolley and Sears pledged to curtail tax credits and incentives. Last year, Sears authored a bill (that became law) to reform incentives and credits available to the wind energy industry.

House Minority Leader Scott Inman, D-Del City, argues if millions are offering in tax credits during a period when core services are cut, dollars are not spent in the best interests of taxpayers.

“We need to make the pain felt across the board,” said Inman during an Oct. 19 budget discussion featuring Inman and House Speaker Jeff Hickman and hosted by Oklahoma Watch.

Hickman, R-Fairfield, argues better oversight is needed when it comes to tax credits. However, the 10-year lawmaker pointed out that reform will not be easy, as lawmakers can expect to hear opposition from constituents and lobbyists. continued on page 6

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View more events at

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news state Budget hole

Getting a handle on tax incentives has mixed results when reviewing past sessions. During the spring 2014 session, the Legislature reviewed an expiring tax program benefiting the state’s oil and natural gas industry. Ultimately, lawmakers gave approval for the incentive program to continue, with a slight change.

Historically, Oklahoma placed a 7-percent tax on horizontal drilling; however, in 1994, lawmakers created an incentive to lower the tax rate to 1 percent for the first 36 months.

Horizontal drilling was new, and the tax incentive spurred growth in the developing technology. In 2002, the incentive was extended with expiration set for 2015, which would return the rate to 7 percent. After debate, lawmakers passed legislation setting the tax rate at 2 percent for the first 36 months.

Proponents believed the tax break would keep drilling dollars in the state and allow the energy industry to continue on its path as a leading driver of economic growth.

Those who opposed the tax break said Oklahoma’s horizontal drilling tax was already among the nation’s lowest and remained low, even after eliminating the tax incentive. Horizontal drilling is now a popular trend in Oklahoma. About 2,600 oil and natural gas wells were completed by horizontal drilling in 2013, according to data from the Oklahoma Tax Commission.

Outside the Sooner state, nonprofit organization Tax Analysts compared various states’ gross production taxes,

[Last session] we kept public education funding flat; I am very proud of that. I can’t promise we will do it this year.

— Earl Sears

including Oklahoma’s taxes, for the publication State Tax Notes.

“Oklahoma’s policy of exempting production from horizontal wells for up to four years goes way beyond encouraging innovation and reducing investment costs and exempt wells that oil and gas producers would drill and develop even without exemption,” wrote Jennifer Carr in the 2014 report.

“Although horizontal wells cost far more to drill, even in states such as North Dakota, where tax rates are fairly high, the severance tax doesn’t seem to hamper growth. The length of Oklahoma’s exemption is unjustified.”

Mary Fallin

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Revenue stream

In another move, introduced for the business community, the governor and lawmakers supported legislation to drop the personal income tax rate from 5.25 percent to 5 percent. The change goes into effect Jan. 1.

In a 2013 media release, Fallin called the cut an “important tool for job creation and economic development.”

“One of the first questions I get when I am talking to business owners throughout the country is, ‘If I come to Oklahoma, are you going to raise my taxes?’” Fallin said in the media statement. “Passing a significant and responsible tax cut will help us to recruit these businesses and retain the ones we already have. Our tax cut will ultimately lead to more job opportunities for all Oklahomans.”

According to the release, the tax drop would “pump $237 million into the private sector.”

In other words, that money will no longer be in the hands of lawmakers to help them fund state agencies.

According to the bill’s summary, the cut leads to an estimated $57 million loss in revenue for the current year and a $147 million depletion for the next budget cycle. By fiscal year 2018, the state is expected to be out near $200 million. The tax rate, which was 6.65 percent in 2005, will fall to 4.85 percent in 2018 if triggered by certain revenue growth.

During that legislative session in which lawmakers extended the drilling tax break and cut the personal income tax, lawmakers approved a $120 million bond issue to repair the Capitol. A year later, lawmakers agreed to another two bond projects, each calling for $25 million in bond revenue to fund the OKPOP Museum in Tulsa and The American Indian Culture Center and Museum in Oklahoma City.

From the treasurer’s point of view, the moves to pass a tax cut and take out bonds made little sense.

“I think the fact that we are reducing our recurring revenue stream, i.e. the income tax, at the same time we

laura eastes

David Boren

are increasing our recurring expenditures is de facto crazy,” Miller said.

Low-tax state

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities considers Oklahoma a lowtax state. The organization reports Oklahomans pay 27 percent — or $943 — per person less in state and local taxes than the national average. With no state property tax or local income tax, Oklahoma’s revenue comes from taxing personal income, sales, corporate income, motor vehicles, motor fuels and gross production (severance).

Oil and gas tax collections play a key role in budget stabilization, as severance is typically the third largest state tax. When oil prices are falling, like now, lawmakers can expect sluggish tax revenues.

The treasurer’s office reported gross production collection at $36.69 million in September. That amount is a decrease of $41.23 million from a year ago.

September collections reflect oil field activity in July, when the average price of crude oil was $50.90 per barrel for West Texas Intermediate. There is no sign of upswing anytime soon. On Oct. 26, the average price was $43.19 per barrel.

Sensible reform

As a low-tax state, many, including Miller, argue a fairer and broader tax system needs to be implemented.

“Oklahoma would certainly benefit from comprehensive tax reform that lowers rates by broadening the base and better prioritizing spending,” Miller told Oklahoma Gazette. “If we were to design an equitable tax code to encourage entrepreneurial activity, productivity and growth, we would not end up with the tax structure we have today.”

Currently, Oklahoma relies heavily on revenue from personal income and general sales taxes.

On average, Oklahomans face an 8.77 percent sales tax rate, which is relatively high when compared to other states. The state’s sales tax rate is 4.5 percent, but local municipalities impose a percent too, pushing it as high as 10.5

percent in Clinton, Fort Gibson, Kiowa, Red Rock and Savanna.

Oklahoma doesn’t impose a servicebased tax on transactions such as oil changes, haircuts, dog grooming, dry cleaning and lawnmower repair.

Also, lawyers and health care services are not taxed.

“It doesn’t make much sense to go to a Starbucks in a strip mall and pay tax on your coffee and then go next door for a haircut and not pay sales tax when both businesses are paying the same costs in rent and labor,” Miller said.

In recent years, some states have adapted an “Amazon” tax, adding sales tax on purchases made when residents shop online.

In October, an interim study exploring a tax on service transactions was conducted with Rep. Mark McCullough, R-Sapulpa, leading the charge to bring a service tax and eliminate the corporate income tax.

McCullough serves on the House Tax Policy Working Group, established a year ago to brainstorm ideas for tax reforms. Sears, who is also a member, said tax reform is a huge discussion for the coming legislative session.

“We must continue to go down the path of talking about tax reform in Oklahoma,” Sears said.

Budget process

The process of putting together the budget has been far from ideal and has to change, Jolley said.

The problem starts with December’s State Board of Equalization meeting, where preliminary budgeting numbers are released for the first time. In February, at the beginning of session, the governor proposes a budget based upon those December numbers. In late February, the Board of Equalization meets to re-release revenue numbers, which are different from the previous meeting.

That’s what happened earlier this year. In early February, Fallin released her budget with cuts reflecting a $300 million deficit. By the end of February, lawmakers were told the budget hole had more than doubled when the Board of Equalization released the final estimate.

“The governor’s numbers are fictional, and it is a waste of time,” Jolley said.

Tasked with developing the budget, the Legislature constructs a plan with the governor’s proposal in mind, along with input from the state agencies and the public. Once complete, an appropriations bill begins the law process. Once the Legislature approves the final bill, which often takes place at the end of the session, in May, the bill moves to the governor’s desk for a continued on next page

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news state Annual revenue loss from cut to personal income tax Current fiscal year

Next budget cycle

Fiscal year 2018

$1 billion

$0.0

$50 million

To wrap your head around the potential budget shortfall, here’s what $1 billion could buy:

-$57 million

>> Build another 50-story skyscraper, like the Devon Tower, and have $250 million to spare.

>> Purchase 13,477 Jaguar XJ Sedans

$100 million

$200 million

-$147 million

-$198.8 million

okl a hom a ga zet t e

$150 million

at Jaguar of Oklahoma City.

>> Attend 1,079,913 Oklahoma City Thunder games in the lower level at Chesapeake Energy Arena.

>> Stay for 2,785,515 nights in a suite at The Skirvin Hilton Hotel Oklahoma City.

>> Order 1,176,705 $85 bone-in strip steaks at Vast restaurant.

Source: Revenue impact numbers released by the Oklahoma Legislature

signature. The fiscal year begins July 1.

During the last two legislative sessions, Rep. Randy Grau, a Republican who represents Northwest OKC, has introduced legislation to alter the budget process and give lawmakers more time to spend examining the budget. Grau called for lawmakers to craft the budget every legislative session but push policy issues to every other year. Increasing time spent on the budget would allow meaningful review and discussion on funding priorities. Grau’s proposal is similar to other states’ budget practices.

Education tax

Oklahoma’s Children, Our Future is a grassroots group dedicated to strengthening funding in common education, CareerTech and Higher Education. Led by University of Oklahoma President David Boren, a former governor and U.S. senator, the group filed a petition to bring a 1-cent sales tax proposal to voters on the November 2016 ballot. The petition was submitted to the Secretary of State’s office on Oct. 21.

Moments before submitting it, Boren described an ongoing education crisis occurring in Oklahoma.

Teacher shortages, low pay, fewer dollars funding instruction and raised college tuition trouble the former Democratic politician. Boren reviewed alternative funding, but “came to the sales tax as the last resort.”

“The situation is likely to get worse,” Boren said. “We face a $1 billion shortage in revenue in our state budget. … How in the world do you close that deficit without even more cuts to education?”

For the proposal to move forward as a state ballot question, it requires approval by the Oklahoma Supreme Court.

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With the court’s consent, about 123,000 signatures will be sought during a 90-day circulation period.

If voters approve the proposal, an estimated $615 million would be deposited annually in the new Education and Reform Fund, another “off-the-top” fund, which lawmakers couldn’t touch.

Common Education would receive $424 million to increase teacher salaries by $5,000 and give additional funding to schools struggling with low test scores and high dropout rates.

The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education would see $120 million dedicated to student tuition. School districts could apply for grants to enhance learning opportunities from a $50 million fund overseen by the State Department of Education. CareerTech would garner $20 million to increase workforce readiness and industry certification.

Opponents to the education sales tax worry it will have a damaging impact on the poor. Boren admits the tax proposal “isn’t perfect,” but Oklahoma has “one of the lowest tax burdens in the country.”

The proposal garnered the support of members of the business community as well as state leaders, including two former Fallin cabinet members: David Lopez, former commerce secretary, and Phyllis Hudecki, former education secretary.

“Budget negotiators and legislative leaders have been very candid that there simply wouldn’t be funds to address the needs of the state, particularly in education,” Hudecki said when she launched her support for the proposal at the Capitol on Oct. 21. “In other words, we have shaken all the trees, searched the closets and looked under the beds. We simply cannot find funding. We have no other option.”

Not many lawmakers have publicly

pledged their support of the Oklahoma’s Children, Our Future petition; however, few were surprised by such a proposal to fund education.

Inman, an eight-year lawmaker, believes the sales tax proposal is another example of the state “passing the buck.” When core services are cut, municipalities, schools and social services are forced to step in to fill the void.

“If the folks in charge wouldn’t step up to do what they are supposed to and fund education appropriately, then, by golly, let the people of Oklahoma do it,” Inman said.

Tough road

In the next session, Republicans and Democrats will have to work together to create a budget deal during a session that could see a fiscal crisis of historic proportions. It will be tough to produce a budget and call for reform during a session already deemed challenged months out.

“We are going to have to work together to sort all of this out,” Hickman said. “At the end of the day, we are all Oklahomans and we are going to have a solution. … It is going to take a civil conversation. We will have to agree where we are first, agree on what the numbers are and agree where we want to be.

Currently, we are not where we want to be.”

For change to come, lawmakers might need a push. That push will need to come from constituents.

“We have to fix structure problems with our budget, and that will take fiscal discipline,” Miller said. “For fiscal discipline on people like us [elected officials], it is going to take more people from the populous and more citizens to hold us accountable.”

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New approach Oklahoma City Convention & Visitors Bureau launches a video campaign and hopes locals get involved.

By Laura Eastes

The Oklahoma City Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB) uses promotional videos to showcase the city as a travel destination for tourists and out-of-town guests.

In the past, an outside firm took months to shoot and edit the film. By then, OKC had evolved — streetscapes, buildings and attractions changed in popular target areas. After such an investment of time and money, scrapping the video was unthinkable.

Through focus groups and surveys, CVB staff recognized that young mothers typically decide family vacation locales after watching videos on social media. That discovery corresponds with national findings by Scripps Networks Interactive, an organization affiliated with the Travel Channel, that found 87 percent of travelers believe videos impact their travel choices more than written articles.

The research nudged CVB President Mike Carrier to address videos in a different manner.

“It is great to look at pretty pictures in a printed guide, but wouldn’t it be neat to see a video about the Boathouse District?” Carrier asked. “In that video, you would find out that you can learn how to paddle a kayak there and the guides teaching you are Olympic athletes. Where else can you experience that?”

CVB launched a new campaign to create more videos in-house. The organization depends on its website — visitokc.com — and social media platforms for exposure but also expects local involvement.

Multimedia Content Manager Caleb Everett joined the CVB staff about three months ago. He began working with local ad agency Ackerman McQueen, 1601 Northwest

Caleb and Sarah Everett shoot video at Red Earth Museum.

Expressway, to create a series of short-form videos that take viewers on a 30-120-second journey through OKC locations. The spirited videos communicate the energy of the particular district or activity.

“We don’t want them watching a slideshow,” said Everett, whose goal is to produce informative and entertaining videos. “We want it interactive and to make [the viewer] want to share it.”

Everett is tasked with creating videos for the various districts as well as capturing footage for the monthly “What to OKC” video posted on CVB’s website and YouTube channel.

The CVB staff believes social media like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram will help increase the videos’ visibility.

Text appears only in the introduction and the ending of the district videos, to serve non-English speakers. Local music replaces stock soundtracks and is often provided by artists attending the Academy of Contemporary Music at the University of Central Oklahoma (ACM@UCO).

All videos are worth sharing on social media for giving non-OKC friends and family a feel for the area, said Seth Spillman, CVB’s director of marketing and communications, who said the social media hashtag #SeeOKC is for locals as well as tourists.

The videos are meeting their first goal: People are tuning in. The twominute overview video has garnered nearly 60,000 views on CVB’s Facebook page.

“There is a lot to see in Oklahoma City,” Carrier said, “and the ability to use videos puts us in a great place.

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Chicken Party foul

The Pump Bar wants to rock ’n’ roll all night and party every day. Neighbors, eh ... not so much.

After bringing karaoke to its Monday night lineup, The Pump, 2425 N. Walker Ave., has been hearing more than the warbles of high-spirited guests over prerecorded backing tracks.

According to KOCO.com, neighbors began to complain about the sound on the Nextdoor app and to police.

It’s one thing to call the cops, but to start posting mean messages on Nextdoor is just beyond the pale.

What’s next? Gossiping about widow Henderson from down the block? A petition asking those boys on the bikes to wear shirts?

Owner Ian McDermid told the TV news station that they’re trying to keep the racket down. They moved the speakers and now end karaoke at midnight, which put an end, at least temporarily, to complaints.

Fried news We at Ye Olde Gazette like to have fun as much as the next independent weekly, so we propose a compromise. At 9 p.m., the karaoke catalog is replaced with a list of lullabies. That way, singers still get to belt out some tunes and neighbors can float off to dreamland.

Something ventured

Is this news? Nope! But Rolling Stone thinks it is, which makes it perfect fodder for the humble and hardworking reporters on the ChickenFried News desk.

Y’all know Don Henley, right? He co-founded a rock act named the Eagles and co-wrote and sang lead on the hits “Witchy Woman,” “Desperado,” “Life in the Fast Lane” and “Hotel California.” His solo career highlights include “New York Minute,” “Dirty Laundry” and “The Boys of Summer.”

But that’s not news, either.

Anyway, the musician has a new album with a country bent,

Cass County, and celebrated with a concert on the stage of the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee.

While there, he covered Tears for Fears, Randy Newman and Chris Gaines.

Yes, Chris Gaines!

Wait. Who’s Chris Gaines?

He’s the fictional Aussie rock star who released the album Greatest Hits — also known as his only album, also known as Garth Brooks in … The Life of Chris Gaines — in 1999.

Yep, ol’ Henley paid tribute to the real, Yukon-raised country superstar by digging into his super-, mega-, ultradeep cuts.

And it was pretty amazing. The audience punctuated the performance with occasional hoots and woos as Henley sang and a piano played and nobody recognized the song but everybody loved it.

Congratulations, Chris Gaines.

If you weren’t famous before, you certainly are now.

Appropriated antiquities

It turns out Oklahoma’s Green family has been much busier than we imagined. In addition to spending a large amount of time and money to avoid covering some forms of birth control on their employees’ insurance, they might have been knowingly bringing religious artifacts into the country by not-so-legal means.

The Daily Beast broke the story and reported that the Hobby Lobby owners have been under federal investigation since 2011 for “the illicit importation of cultural heritage from Iraq.”

The news website reported that the Green family bought 200-300 clay tablets featuring cuneiform writing — “the script of ancient Assyria and Babylonia, present-day Iraq” — and claimed on the FedEx shipment paperwork that they were “hand-crafted clay tiles” worth only $300.

The tablets were purchased for Hobby Lobby’s Museum of the Bible, set to open in Washington, D.C., in 2017.

“There was a shipment and it had improper paperwork — incomplete paperwork that was attached to it,” Cary

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!

Summers, president of the museum, told The Daily Beast.

It would be helpful if the Greens could say they knew nothing about buying antiquities and could say it was an amateur mistake, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. The Daily Beast reported that the Greens own “40,000 or so ancient artifacts” set to be displayed in the museum.

And in 2010, they allegedly met with DePaul University law professor Patty Gerstenblith, who explained the intricacies of provenance (the record of ownership of a historical artifact) and how to legally purchase antiquities.

Despite that meeting, the Greens don’t seem too concerned about what is legal and what isn’t.

“Is it possible that we have some illicit [artifacts for the museum]? That’s possible,” CEO Steve Green told The Daily Beast for an upcoming article in The Atlantic.

Safety, schooled

No longer are Oklahoma college frat boys’ parties the only ones front-andcenter on the state’s largest newspaper.

Law enforcement officers, who enjoy cutting loose way too much, are the new party fouls recently revealed by The Oklahoman.

According to NewsOK.com, “wild partying that included extramarital sex and several nights of hard drinking” took place — in addition to narcotics assault training — at Camp Gruber in May. The training session offered annually by the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drug Control brought more than 40 Oklahoma state, local and federal law enforcement officers together for the federally funded training.

The article doesn’t say too much about the training, though. Instead, readers get a glimpse at the termination and discipline notices handed down last month. The Department of Public Safety conducted the four-month internal investigation into the excessive partying at an event where alcohol was not allowed to be served.

“Absolutely not. … We do not permit it,” an Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drug Control spokesman told NewsOK.com.

Some Oklahoma Highway Patrol Troopers drank to the point of intoxication. One trooper took a video, which was later sent to others, of a female officer “lifting her shirt in front of other troopers.”

There was even whoopee in the bathroom between two officers, but investigative reports show that was described as an “accident.”

OHP Chief Rick Adams related the non-training incidents to an “off-duty frat party.”

“A bunch of young men made a really bad decision, bad choices and they wish they could take them back,” Adams said in the article. “But you can’t take some things back.”

At Chicken-Fried News, we expect no officers arriving to next year’s training saying, “Let’s party.”

Drug beef

Rustling, which we learned is not just a more intense form of roughhousing, is when someone steals a cow. About 3,000 are reported stolen each year.

Man, those guys must really like pot roast — or, as it turns out, meth, according to Reuters.

“Some city meth head is going to be kicking your door in and taking your TV,” retired Oklahoma City Police officer and “cowboy cop” Jerry Flowers told Reuters. “An outlaw here in the country is going to be cutting your fence and taking your cattle.”

As it turns out, beef is very popular, which has led to a spike in prices for cows — up to $3,000 a head. Flowers said about 75 percent of cattle rustlers are doing it to feed their drug habits.

When caught, rustlers no longer face the noose, but they can get up to 10 years in prison. That has to be an interesting conversation to have with your cellmate.

Cattle rustling is on the rise in Oklahoma.

OKLAHOMA CITY

TURKEY TROT

Thanksgiving morning | 8:15 AM Lake Hefner, East Wharf Register at OklahomaCityTurkeyTrot.org

Benefiting the Eagle Ridge Institute foster care, prevention, and residential programs.

O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e | n ov e m b e r 4 , 2 0 1 5 | 1 1

commentary

P ROV I D ED

Worth every penny

By Jessieca Garcia

My four daughters’ futures are worth a penny.

Their futures depend on me standing up, speaking out and advocating relentlessly for what they need and deserve in school.

I learned that in Stand for Children Oklahoma’s Stand University for Parents (STAND UP). During STAND UP, I learned how to speak with my daughters’ teachers and principal, what a quality school should look like and what it takes at home and in school for my girls to be the first in our family to go to college.

When I walked across the stage — along with 26 others — to receive my STAND UP diploma and shook Oklahoma City Superintendent Robert Neu’s hand, there was much applause.

The sound of the audience’s loud cheers was thrilling.

But it was the pride I saw in my girls’ faces I remember most.

I’ve heard people say we just need to be patient and things might get better in a few years. I can’t accept that; no parent should.

Smiling from ear to ear, they were so proud that I cared enough about them to go through STAND UP. I also saw the wheels turning in their own minds about how, one day, it could be them walking across a stage for a diploma.

It’s those dreams my daughters have for themselves and what I dream for them that inspired me to write this column.

I know their teachers and principal are doing the best they can with the

resources they have. But class sizes get bigger every year, and teaching shortages are getting worse in Oklahoma City and across the state. Schools are cutting back on what they offer at a time when we need more opportunities, not fewer, for kids to be competitive. Teachers haven’t seen a raise from Oklahoma in nearly a decade, and schools are weakening right before our eyes, with major consequences for my daughters and all children.

I’ve heard people say we just need to be patient and things might get better in a few years. I can’t accept that; no parent should. My oldest is 10 now, and she can’t afford for things to maybe get better four or five years from now. She only gets one shot at elementary school and junior high, and it’s my responsibility, and Oklahoma’s, to give her and all children what they need to be successful now, not years from now … when it’s too late.

A quality education for all means

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.

quality teachers in every classroom and smaller class sizes. It means paying teachers a livable wage and better supporting students in the classroom.

That’s why I support the ballot measure plan that will invest a penny more in sales tax to education.

My family lives on a fixed income, so I know the value of every dollar. But the reality is our teachers and students need immediate attention. The cost of doing nothing is much higher for my family than a penny here and there to ensure my daughters walk across a stage one day, get their high school diploma and go to college.

Please join me and the many others who want to invest in education and put this issue to a vote of the people.

Visit okchildrenourfuture.org, stand up and advocate relentlessly for our sons and daughters and all Oklahoma children. Their future is our own.

Jessieca Garcia is an OKCPS parent and graduate of Stand University for Parents.

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.

Open letter

A letter to the government of America: I am 66 years old and on Social Security and Medicare. I live with my two children because, to be honest with you, I just don’t have the money to get a place of my own.

Anyway, I heard that in 2016, we who are on Social Security will not be getting a cost-of-living raise. I am confused.

In case you have not gone grocery shopping lately, please let me tell you the price of food has gone sky-high and out of control for many on a fixed income.

Many food items like milk, eggs and meat had to be dropped from our food lists because they cost too much.

Maybe you need to look into that fact, and then I am sure you will clearly see Social Security needs that raise.

I heard a story that a while back that our government took a huge amount of money from Social Security and spent it elsewhere.

It has been hinted that the reason Social Security is low on funds is because of the money that was taken, or should I say stolen, from the people who really need it to survive.

I am sure this can’t be true; nevertheless, I am sure you want to check into this at once.

After all, if the funds have been stolen, the ones responsible should be in jail and their property and money used to pay back Social Security. I am sure you agree.

One last thing, if you will. I am very concerned about you raising the cost of Medicare.

I must tell you that many of us who are on Medicare could not afford to pay a higher premium.

To be honest, I am very sure I would have to drop it completely. It’s just too costly for me. I am sure you do not want the elderly to suffer without

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health care, and I am sure you will straighten this out at once.

After all, it was us working for so many years that have kept Social Security going, and now our own children have taken over where we left off.

It is our money right.

OK, I said that was the last thing I had to say.

However, I just heard an ugly rumor that Congress and other government officials are getting a raise.

I am sure this can’t be true. After all,

how could any caring person take a raise when they know Social Security and said “No way!” to the elderly of our world.

How in the world could our leaders, who, as we know, make more money than anyone on Social Security, accept even a dime more when the older American citizens get nothing?

Yes, this must be an ugly rumor. It could not be true.

— Judy Eichstedt Tulsa

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O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e | n ov e m b e r 4 , 2 0 1 5 | 1 3

okg picks are events

recommended by Oklahoma Gazette editorial staff members.

For full calendar listings, go to okgazette.com.

BOOKS Story Time With Julie, kid-friendly story time with the latest children’s books, 10:15 -11 a.m., Nov. 7. Full Circle Bookstore, 1900 Northwest Expressway, 842-2900, fullcirclebooks.com. SAT Ken Hada Poetry Reading, a professor at ECU, Ken Hada finds creative inspiration in nature, where he does much of his writing; Hada, who is known for his smooth reading style, will be performing selections from his five published collections, 2 p.m., Nov. 8. The Depot, 200 S. Jones Ave., Norman, 307-9320, pasnorman.org. SUN

bigstock.com

Joelle Charbonneau Signing, a new social networking site is on the rise, and it promises to fulfill the needs of every person using it ... for a price; Charbonneau’s newest young adult novel, NEED, is out now, and it asks us just what humans are willing to stop at if it means gaining everything we’ve ever wanted, 5 p.m., Nov. 10. Best of Books, 1313 E. Danforth Road, Edmond, 340-9202, bestofbooksedmond.com. TUE Art Adventures, children can experience the world of art through stories and projects in this event series; this week’s story will be Katie Meets the Impressionists

by James Mayhew, 10:30 A.M., Nov. 10. Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, 555 Elm Ave., Norman, 325-3272, ou.edu/ fjjma. TUE

FILM MI: Rogue Nation, (2015, US, dir. Christopher McQuarrie) darling agent of the Impossible Mission Force, Ethan Hunt has been forced to go rogue in his most impossible mission yet; to take down a vaguely evil organization known as the Syndicate, whose skills rival IMF’s own, 6 p.m., 9 p.m., and midnight, Nov. 6. Meacham Auditorium, 660 Parrington Oval, Norman, ou.edu/upb.html. FRI

HAPPENINGS Through the Eyes of the Lynx: Galileo Natural History and the Americas, The Academy of the Lynx was one of the world’s earliest scientific societies, whose star pupil happened to be Renaissance artist and scientist (among other vocations) Galileo Galilei; this exhibit celebrates the contributions of Galileo and the Academy of the Lynx in the areas of natural science and history. Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, 2401 Chautauqua Ave., Norman, 325-4712, snomnh.ou.edu.

SZ E TSU NG L EON G / COU RTESY YOSSI MILO GALLERY, NE W YORK / P ROVID ED

Bikes & Beers, in honor of OKC’s first indoor bike rack, Oak & Ore is teaming up with DNA Racing to celebrate with an evening of music and revelry, along with some previews from their brunch menu before it launches, 6-9 p.m., Nov. 5. Oak & Ore, 1732 NW 16th St. THU

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Cheese & Wine of Spain Celebrate the craft, history and diversity of Spanish cheese making at this Cheese & Wine of Spain pairing and tasting event 6:45 p.m. Friday at Forward Foods, 2001 W. Main St., Suite 111, in Norman. Tickets are $35. Visit forwardfoods.com.

Friday Vintage Market Days, an upscale vintage-inspired indoor/outdoor market in Oklahoma City, featuring original art, antiques, clothing, jewelry, handmade treasures, home decor, outdoor furnishings, consumable yummies, seasonal plantings and a little more, all day, Nov. 6-8. Farmers Public Market, 311 S. Klein Ave., 2326506, okcfarmersmarket.com. FRI

Handmade Soap Workshop, the first rule of the Laughing Rabbit handmade soap class is that you do not talk about the Laughing Rabbit handmade soap class; just kidding, you can totally tell all your friends; what did you think this was, some kind of fight club? 2 p.m., Nov. 7.

Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave., 445-7080, oklahomacitybotanicalgardens.com/events. SAT

OKC People’s Choice Awards, come check out the rap/ hip-hop event of the year; the 1st annual Oklahoma City People’s Choice awards will showcase performers from the Oklahoma area, boasting awards for best dressed, best R&B and rap artists, best rap group, best new artist, and more, and will kick off at 6 p.m. with a red carpet, Nov. 6. The Mayfair Center Inc., 3200 NW 48th St. FRI

Gourd Stitch Beadwork, also known as the “peyote technique,” gourd stitch is a lot more lawful than it sounds; this ancient beading technique creates intricate rectangular and spiral patterns and is still used popularly in keychains and jewelry today, 10 a.m., Nov. 7. Oklahoma History Center, 800 Nazih Zuhdi Drive, 521-2491, okhistory.org/historycenter. SAT

Shared Space: Photography from 1987 and Beyond Many of the world’s top contemporary photographers and videographers are showcased in these works from the Bank of America Collection. The exhibit has traveled from Berlin to Havana and captures social landscapes from the late ’80s through today. Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center is open 9 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Friday and Saturday at 3000 General Pershing Blvd. Admission is free. Visit oklahomacontemporary.org or call 951-0000.

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Tuesday 2015 Jing-A-Bell Holiday Market, featuring the best of Oklahoma’s local merchants selling gifts for the holiday, jewelry, accessories, home decor, beauty essentials and more; a portion of proceeds benefit Sunbeam Family Service, all day, Nov. 8.

Nigh University Center Ballroom A, 100 North University Drive, Edmond. SUN Free Zen Meditation Class, find the zenith of zen in this free meditation and Buddhist teachings class offered every week until the end of November; the monastery is supported entirely by the generous donations of its students, 10 a.m.-noon & 7-9 p.m., Nov. 10. Buddha Mind Monastery, 5800 S. Anderson Road. TUE

FOOD

EASIER WAY

Uptown Cooking Class, almond bark can be used to chocolate- or candy-coat just about everything: fruit, cakes, marshmallows, nuts, fingers, toes... if you can think it, you can dip it, 10 a.m., Nov. 7.

Uptown Grocery Co., 1230 W. Covell Road, Edmond, 509-2700, uptowngroceryco.com. SAT Kinfolks Soul Food Festival, this event fuses together the tradition of good times, good music and good food with an opportunity for an average of 10,000 consumers per market to engage with brand ambassadors and non-profit organizations dispensing invaluable free information, 2 p.m., Nov. 7. Cox Convention Center, 1 Myriad Gardens, 6028500, coxconventioncenter.com. SAT 8th Annual Chili Bowl, all-you-can-eat artisan chili is at your fingertips at the 8th annual Chili Bowl, brought to you by the OU School of Art and Art History; help support the school and grab your very own one of a kind ceramic handmade chili bowl to fill with as much chili as you can physically handle, 11:30 a.m., Nov. 11. University of Oklahoma, 660 Parrington Oval, Norman, 325-0311, ou.edu. WED

YOUTH Tape & Tunnels, get psyched for recyclables at the newest exhibit at SMO, where kids can experience an interactive wonderland with packing tape tunnels, bungee cord mazes and cardboard clubhouses where they can climb, build and explore. Science Museum Oklahoma, 2100 NE 52nd St., 602-6664, sciencemuseumok.org.

Operation Troop Treats, trade in your treats for toys and treat the troops while you’re at it; Kool Smiles partners with Operation Gratitude to send soldiers care packages complete with candy as well as dental care items to make their day while helping them improve their health, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Nov. 4.

Kool Smiles Midwest City, 1200 South Air Depot Blvd., Midwest City. WED

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Journeys with Celtic Christians Join local author, reverend and Oklahoma City University religious life director Rodney Newman for a book signing to celebrate the release of his work Journeys with Celtic Christians 1:30-3:30 p.m. Sunday at Full Circle Bookstore, located inside 50 Penn Place at 1900 Northwest Expressway. Journeys chronicles the spread and growth of early Christianity in Scotland, Ireland, Wales and northern England from the 5th to 11th centuries. Admission is free. Call 842-2900.

Sunday

Chemistry Day, Science Museum Oklahoma has a theory that this year’s Chemistry Day will spark some major reactions, not to mention provide solutions to get kids to do some bonding time with science; with a propulsion rocket workshop, gas ignition demonstration, a Reaction Station, this year’s Chemistry Day is bound to be the most explosive yet, igniting kids’ interest in science, all day, Nov. 6. Science Museum Oklahoma, 2100 NE 52nd St., 602-6664, sciencemuseumok.org. FRI Crafts For Kids, make stars and stripes windsocks to hang outside for Veterans Day to honor those who have served our country in the greatest manner possible, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., Nov. 7. Lakeshore Learning Store, 6300 N. May Ave., 858-8778, lakeshorelearning.com. SAT Kid-Friendly Homemade Bread, join local bread geniuses from Prairie Thunder Baking Co. for a kid-friendly, hands-on baking class that will give your children everything they knead to learn to bake delicious bread; they are sure to rise to the occasion, 11 a.m., Nov. 7. Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave., 4457080, oklahomacitybotanicalgardens.com/events. SAT

PERFORMING ARTS Daniel Dugar, born in New Orleans and raised in the Oakland, San Francisco Bay Area, Dugar is one of the funniest up-and-coming comics in the country, 8 p.m., Nov. 4 & 5; 8 & 10:30 p.m., Nov. 6 & 7. Loony Bin Comedy Club, 8503 N. Rockwell Ave., 239-4242, loonybincomedy.com. WED-SAT A Christmas Story: The Musical, throw on your favorite bunny suit and finish off your Ovaltine before heading out to see everyone’s favorite Christmas movie adapted into a stage production complete with singing and dancing musical numbers; a great fudging time for the whole family, 7:30 p.m., Nov. 4 & 5; 8 p.m., Nov. 6; 2 & 8 p.m., Nov. 7; 2 & 7 p.m., Nov. 8. Civic Center Music Hall, 201 N. Walker Ave., 297-2264, okcciviccenter.com.

WED-SUN Whodunit Dinner Theater: Showdown at Madam Yahoo’s Saloon, Oklahoma’s longest-running dinner theater presents: Showdown at Madam Yahoo’s Saloon, an old west watering hole where they serve up beer and rotgut, and for an unlucky few murder’s on the menu., 6 p.m., Nov. 6. Ted’s Cafe Escondido, 2836 NW 68th St., 420-3222, whodunit.net. FRI

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TnT Burlesque’s Fraktured Fairy Tales, featuring a multitude of performers from all over the tristate area and abroad comes a twist on the classic tales we all know and love; see dancers, singers, pranksters, and more will dazzle and delight onstage in a performance that’s just as much kitsch as it is kink, 8 p.m., Nov. 6 & 7.

The Boom, 2218 NW 39th St., 601-7200, theboomokc. com. FRI-SAT Welcome to Night Vale Live, Night Vale is a sleepy little desert town where everything you can think of exists and every conspiracy theory is true; Welcome to Night Vale is a distressingly popular podcast which follows the narrations of its host Cecil as he broadcasts news and happenings to Night Vale’s citizens; Night Vale is an experience unlike most others, 8 p.m., Nov. 6. Rose State College, 6420 SE 15th St., Midwest City, 733-7673, rose.edu. FRI Lewis Black, boasting over 30 years in the comedy industry, Lewis Black isn’t known for being reserved; the outrageously outspoken comedian will be performing for one night only, and you won’t want to miss his hilarious, impassioned rant-fest, 7 p.m., Nov. 8. Rose State College, 6420 SE 15th St., Midwest City, 733-7673, rose.edu. SUN

ACTIVE OU Women’s Basketball, check out the OU Sooners women’s basketball team as they take on the SWOSU Bulldogs in the first match of the season, 7 p.m., Nov. 4. Lloyd Noble Center, 2900 S. Jenkins Ave., Norman, 325-4666, lloydnoblecenter.com. WED OKC Thunder vs. Toronto Raptors, the Raptors might be loud, but the Thunder is louder, and Billy Donovan is out to prove he’s no Dr. Alan Grant; hold onto your butts for an amazing game, 7 p.m., Nov. 4. Chesapeake Energy Arena, 100 W. Reno Ave., 602-8700, chesapeakearena.com. WED Haunted Hike, if you’re already a bit nostalgic for the creepy crawly heebie jeebies of only seven days before, a haunted hike through Martin Nature Park may be exactly what you need; scout out tons of creepies and a few crawlies too as you learn about some of nature’s spookiest nocturnal animals, 7-10 p.m., last hike leaves at 9:30 p.m., Nov. 7. Martin Park Nature Center, 5000 W. Memorial, 755-0676, okc.gov/parks. SAT

Central DASH 5K & Market and Craft Fair, in the morning, grab your workout gear and hit the pavement during the 5K and one mile fun run; the craft show includes local vendors with beautiful products and craft booths full of unique pieces of artistry Yukon Middle School Track, 801 Garth Brooks Blvd., 354-2501, centraldash.com. SAT OKC Thunder vs. Phoenix Suns, come find out if the Thunder’s storm is strong enough to eclipse the Suns, or if Phoenix will leave OKC in the dust, 6 p.m., Nov. 8. Chesapeake Energy Arena, 100 W. Reno Ave., 6028700, chesapeakearena.com. SUN

VISUAL ARTS America the Beautiful, Freda de Odis Flatt has spent her life documenting in paint the beauty of the American wilderness, often en plein air, the French term for painting out in the open air; in this way Flatt is able to capture most truly not only the sight of the landscape but also the energy present in nature not immediately perceivable to the naked eye. Oklahoma State Capitol, 2300 N. Lincoln Blvd., 521-3356, ok.gov.

Bert Seabourn: American Expressionist, a full-time painter since 1978, Seabourn brings a unique approach to color and line in his postmodern expressionist works which are on display all over the world; of Cherokee descent himself, Seabourn often uses Native subjects and imagery. Gaylord-Pickens Oklahoma Heritage Museum, 1400 Classen Drive, 235-4458, oklahomaheritage.com.

Blast of Glass, it isn’t nearly as painful as it sounds; glass has many unique properties not found in other media: it shines, it can be blown into many shapes, it is smooth, and often reflects and refracts light in the most beautiful and unexpected ways; this month’s art exhibit showcases the many facets of glassworks. Jann Jeffrey Gallery, 3018 Paseo St., 607-0406.

Christmas Market, the art-lover in your family deserves a gift as unique as she is; show you care with one of the small works available at the Christmas Market exhibition, featuring small works by local artists. The Purple Loft Art Gallery, 514 NW 28th St., Suite 400, 412-7066.

Ellen Lisle/Mary Lou & John Moad, in celebration of the Studio Gallery’s 25 years in business, come see

their featured artists’ works, including the wildflower macrophotography of Ellen Lisle and the paintings of Mary Lou & John Moad. The Studio Gallery, 2642 W. Britton, 752-2642, thestudiogallery.org.

Enrique Moya Gonzalez, part of the Norman-Arezzo art exchange, Enrique Moya Gonzalez is one of three Italian artists to exhibit at MAINSITE this fall; featuring the overlay of human forms over texts and manuscripts in combination with a collage of physical objects, Gonzalez’ works give a thrilling sense of illicitness by putting art on surfaces where art ought not go. Mainsite Contemporary Art, 122 E. Main St., Norman, 360-1162, mainsite-art.com.

Evoking Emotion, Robert Smartt’s portrait photography is anything but lifeless; specializing in vividly capturing moments in time is Smartt’s specialty, featuring everything from expectant mothers to newborns to weddings and more. Paseo Gallery One, 2927 Paseo St., 524-4544, facebook.com/paseogalleryone.

Line Gallery Exhibit, featured artists include Gary Locke, Brett Mcdanel, Angela Slack, Joe Slack & Kjelshus Collins.

Line Gallery, 4623 N. Portland Ave. Little Prairies, Romy Owens’ uniquely sparse and innovative medium choices interpretations of miniature landscapes invite viewers to question what makes a landscape a landscape, what makes beauty beauty, and what makes art art. The Project Box, 3003 Paseo St., 609-3969, theprojectboxokc.com.

Mystical Menagerie, Katie O’Sullivan and Diana J. Smith’s abstract creature creations wed the whimsical and the bizarre in this collection of acrylic paintings and handmade clay sculpture; Smith’s clay sculptures are delightful animal wizard characters, while O’Sullivan’s paintings depict a plethora of animal creatures who border on human shrouded in a psychedelic frenzy of color. Kasum Contemporary Fine Arts, 1706 NW 16th St., 604-6602, kasumcontemporary.com.

This Place We Have Become, Barry Snidow’s photographic prints, Shane Scribner’s paintings of brief ordinary moments, and Sara Scribner’s eternal women all combine the timeless with the distinctly dated; together, these artists fill the gallery with varied artworks, all asking the viewer how we know where we are in time.

JRB Art at The Elms, 2810 N. Walker Ave., 528-6336, jrbartgallery.com.

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NASA talks: the Saturn System and the Cassini Mission

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NASA Cassini Project scientist and planetary ring system expert Linda Spilker will speak about the seven-year journey from Earth to Saturn and what was learned from its mission, including the icy jets at its north pole, rings, moons and methane rain. She joined NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 1977 and has worked on Cassini since 1988. The public forum begins 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 4, at the National Weather Center, 120 David L. Boren Blvd., in Norman. Forum admission is For okg free, as is entry to a 6:30 p.m. reception. Call 325-3095.

Wednesday, Nov. 4

music picks see page 45

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life food & drink

Super Nova

Bolinhos de bacalhau

p hotos by Ga re tt fi s be c k

After months of renovations, Bossa Nova Bar reopens with a new look and menu.

By Greg Elwell

Blame it on the Bossa Nova Bar. The laughter.

The new number in your phone.

Those pictures.

That bar tab.

After months of renovations — much longer than owner and chef Ana Davis planned — the Bossa Nova Bar has reopened atop Café Do Brasil, 440 NW 11th St., with a new look, a new menu and the same trademark fun.

The Caipirinha (Brazil’s most famous drink) has found new life at the bar after Davis spent time working in the kitchen of renowned São Paulo restaurant Mocotó.

There’s a twinkle in her eye as she talks about cooking with Rodrigo Oliveira.

Each time she returns to the country of her birth, she amasses new ingredients and recipes and ideas for her Oklahoma customers.

This time, she gushes over the variety of infused cachaça — a rumlike spirit made from distilled sugarcane — and the inspiration she received for the bar’s new menu. “[Oliveira’s] bar is like a fresh fruit buffet,” she said.

In Brazil’s vast and varied climates, it’s easy to find almost every kind of fruit. In Oklahoma ... not so much.

Davis has scoured Super Cao Nguyen and other grocers to get her hands on the ingredients she needs for the eight new Caipirinhas that join the original on the menu.

The Agua De Beber ($10) includes three different kinds of grapes while the Modinha ($9) uses roasted cashewinfused cachaça that adds a warm, smoky bite to the smooth, intoxicating beverage.

But it’s not just the drinks that have gotten an overhaul. Bossa Nova now serves a bevy of vegetarian and gluten-free snacks along with cocktails.

The most stunning and seductive is the dadinho ($9).

Blending tapioca and queso fresco, these flash-fried cubes of crunch are light and inviting. But the wow factor really kicks in when you dip them into a jelly made of malagueta and biquinho peppers. The vinegary pop and sweetness of the pepper jelly is a joy for the senses.

In a way, the new menu is the

Ana Davis at Bossa Nova Bar

Modinha

Dadinho

[Oliveira’s] bar is like a fresh fruit buffet.

— Ana Davis

perfect continuation of the other changes returning customers might find at the new Bossa Nova.

Gone are the nooks and crannies and winding walls of its former incarnation.

The renovation has left the room open for more visitors and more sunlight.

The long, three-sided bar fences in the captive bartenders, who will be too busy mixing intricate cocktails to

leave anyway. And outside, the rooftop patio still has one of the best views of Oklahoma City around.

With a space this beautiful and drinks this good, Davis rightly expects more customers will soon be blaming some of the best lost nights of their lives on the Bossa Nova for years to come.

O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e | n ov e m b e r 4 , 2 0 1 5 | 1 9

life food & drink

Chart toppers m a rk ha n coc k

For 25 years, The Silvertops have been packing the dance floor at Ingrid’s Kitchen.

By Greg Elwell

The Silvertops have not been at Ingrid’s Kitchen, 3701 N. Youngs Blvd., every Saturday for 25 years. But only because owner Lee Burrus didn’t realize what he had when he purchased the European bakery and restaurant 15 years ago.

“They are very influential in our Saturday business,” he said. “I didn’t realize that when I first bought the place, but the employees very quickly told me we had to get them back. They were only gone probably a couple of weeks.”

Burrus soon realized that while the meatloaf, weinerschnitzel and decadent European pastries keep the crowds fed, the music and dancing was what drew them in on Saturdays.

Formed by the late Curly Cardinal, The Silvertops play music of the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s as a mostly older crowd gets on the dance floor and cuts loose.

“Watching them out there is one reason I still want to play,” said Sid Goodman, the drummer and the band’s only original member. “This is their environment.”

The comforting tunes of Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey and Frank Sinatra are like a musical fountain of youth, Goodman said. Seeing them dance invigorates the band, as well.

“I look forward to this every week,” Goodman said.

Pianist Gary Johnson took over as bandleader in 2007 when Cardinal died and works with Goodman and bass player Don Munday to prepare a setlist each week. Jerry Smith and Earl Hefley are on horns, rounding out the arrangement.

Working together for so long gives band members a trust in one another that shows on stage. Flowing from one song

The Silvertops — from left Sid Goodman, Dave Soukup, Gary Johnson and Jerry Smith — perform at Ingrid’s Kitchen. to the next, it’s almost as if they can read each other’s minds.

It wasn’t always that way, Goodman said. In his earlier years, he was a trombonist, and not a good one.

“The bandleader said, ‘How would you like to play bass drum?’” he said.

“Luckily for me, one of the teachers was the principal percussionist for St. Louis Orchestra.”

In addition to their musical repertoire, The Silvertops also have built up a cache of stories about current and past band members. The man who started it all is still a frequent topic of fun.

“Curly was a ladies’ man,” Johnson said. “He had several girlfriends ... none of which knew about the others. In the

middle of a set, he would wave from stage and they’d all wave back.”

Though Cardinal’s girls might have taken up some of the space, the rest of the band’s popularity has kept the crowds coming in long after he left. Johnson said it’s a good relationship all around. They get to play the music they love, see people dancing and enjoying their tunes and the restaurant sees a packed house hungry for a good time and a good lunch from noon to 2 p.m. every Saturday.

Just as Cardinal always did at the end of every show, The Silvertops still play “Smile.” For the men and women who still love to shake it on the dance floor to the hits of yesteryear, that’s exactly what they’re doing anyway.

Gratitude & Love

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Ga re tt fi s be c k

SPONSORED PROGRAM

Hungry truck A local collective raises funds for a food truck that would help feed Oklahoma’s hungry.

By Greg Elwell

Made Possible By Us is hungry for a win. The deadline for donations to get the Food For All food truck off the ground is Friday, and as of press time Monday, there’s less than $20,000 left to go of the $53,000 needed.

“We don’t have a contingency plan,” said Made Possible co-founder Adrian Young. “We have no consideration for Oklahoma not stepping up.”

That’s because the project was picked by residents. When the group started the “What if OKC” hashtag on Twitter, its goal was to get input on what Oklahoma City needed most from the people who want to help.

One theme kept appearing: feeding the hungry.

So the group gathered a coalition of people who know food and money — Whole Foods Market, First National Bank of Oklahoma — and they found a project: a self-sustaining food truck that will send 100 percent of net proceeds to Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma.

“Every street fair, every public event, which is about a million, it’ll be there,” Young said. “And the menu will always be changing. They’ll serve whatever the volunteer chef is inspired to create.”

Young said creating a selfsustaining model is key to Made Possible’s mission. Unlike Kickstarter or Indiegogo, where a donation goes toward a single project or product, the goal is to make something that reinvests in the community in perpetuity.

The Food For All truck is designed to take a one-time gift and turn it into a steady stream of meals for Oklahoma City’s food-insecure population, many of which are children.

BJ Todd and her son, Tyler, donate to the Food For All truck during a recent COOP Ale Works Tap Room Halloween Party.

The need for food in Oklahoma City has grown exponentially since Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma was started in 1980 by Executive Director Rodney Bivens. The first year, he gave away 280,000 pounds of food. Now, the food bank gives away that much every 1.4 days.

People who give won’t receive T-shirts or downloads or tech gadgets, Young said, but they’ll be putting Oklahoma City on a better path.

The truck will go once a month to a Kids Cafe — a food bank-run after-school program providing food, mentoring, tutoring and other activities to more than 6,300 children in central and western Oklahoma — where chefs will teach children about nutrition while serving food.

“For some, Kids Cafe is their only meal for the day,” Young said.

“Without it, on weekends, during summers, they don’t get fed. The truck will help feed them, but it will also engage them. The truck opens up and they get to see how the food is made.”

With profits going to the food bank’s unrestricted fund, it gives administration the tools to put resources where they’re most needed, marketing director Angie Doss said.

And if the funding doesn’t come through? Young refuses to think about that.

“This has to happen,” Young said.

“We just need the community to step up and help.”

More information about the truck and links to give are online at madepossibleby.us.

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O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e | n ov e m b e r 4 , 2 0 1 5 | 2 1

just towed away from my driveway. I am thrilled to be supporting KGOU and I know it’s helping support some of my favorite programs.

food briefs

by Greg Elwell

”

TO DONATE YOUR VEHICLE, GO TO KGOU.ORG or CALL 855-277-2346 (855-2PRADIO)

PROVI DED

JOIN US FOR GAME DAY ON THE PATIO!

Dirty Q OPEN DAILY 11AM - 2 AM

CORNER OF CLASSEN & BOYD, NORMAN 405.329.3330 | THEMONT.COM

BBQ sauce is a frequent help in fighting hunger. It’s a panacea for all sorts of overcooked meats and mealy vegetables. But Cos’s Okie Red Dirt BBQ Sauce takes it one step further by joining Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma to Knock Out Hunger.

For every bottle of sauce sold, $1 is donated to the food bank, said Cos’s founder Ellick Cosby.

More people need to know about the problem of hunger in Oklahoma, Cosby said, and this is a delicious way to make a difference.

To purchase a bottle of Cos’s Okie Red Dirt BBQ Sauce and help Knock Out Hunger, visit knockouthungerok.com.

Historical eats

Our wine pairs well with turkey and difficult relatives.

Cheers to Fall!

712 N BROADWAY WED 11AM-7PM

405.232.WINE (9463) THURS-SAT 11AM-11PM

2 2 | n ov e m b e r 4 , 2 0 1 5 | O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e

WEWOKC.COM SUN 1PM-7PM

The Edmond Historical Society & Museum wants to take you on a time-traveling trip with its Wine Through Time annual fundraiser.

The event is 6:30-8:30 p.m. Nov. 12 at the museum, 431 S. Boulevard, in Edmond. Tickets are $75 and include food from Boulevard Steakhouse, Cafe 501, Cafe Icon Sushi & Grill, Mt Everest Cuisines, Broadway 10 Bar & Chophouse and Alfredo’s Mexican Cafe, a coffee bar provided by Parks and Co. and a dessert table.

And, of course, wine.

In addition to auctions, this year’s event features a wine pull and a meal deal where participants who donate $25 to Edmond Historical Society & Museum receive a $25 value or more gift card to a restaurant or a bottle of wine.

It will also be the last chance to get a look at the museum gallery before the Department of Environmental Quality State Armory Cleanup project begins. The museum plans to reopen next spring.

MARK HANCOCK / FILE

SPONSORED PROGRAM

“My 2002 Ford Focus was

Karen Sonntag of Norman donated her 2002 Ford Focus

BEER BEE

WE HAVE OVER 30 TAPS AND 70 BOTTLES!

Ludivine wants to connect diners with producers at a Sea to Table dinner 6:30 p.m. Monday.

The restaurant will serve a seven-course dinner highlighting different species of fish that are caught in small-scale and sustainable wild fisheries around the globe.

Travis Riggs from Sea to Table, an organization that connects fishermen with chefs, will discuss how each dish got from the ocean to the plate. Riggs has a driving interest in the health of the oceans; many of his family are fishermen and marine biologists.

There’s limited seating for the dinner, and tickets are $90 or $140 with wine pairings. For reservations, call 778-6800.

The KISS Army has helped transform the former site of Buddha Tao Asian Bistro and Dan O’Brien’s Public House on Memorial Road into the new home of Rock & Brews.

Started in part by KISS members Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, the franchise serves American cuisine — burgers, pizzas, sandwiches — and a selection of craft beers.

With 7,700 square feet to play with, including a patio, a bar and upstairs seating, the new restaurant opened Oct. 28 at 2737 W. Memorial Road.

Stanley and Simmons, which sounds like a dynamite mattress company, will visit the Oklahoma City location on Jan. 28 for a grand opening celebration to benefit local veterans and active military.

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O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e | n ov e m b e r 4 , 2 0 1 5 | 2 3

Worldly mysteries Hola. Bonjour. Hey. Hi. How ya doin’? Every day, around the world, people are tragically forced to interact — some with greetings and others with handshakes or hugs. But even a simple nod of the head and eye contact is too much. Do your part to end this international reign of terror by eating these foods from different countries without engaging in human contact.

— by Greg Elwell, photos by Mark Hancock and Garett Fisbeck

Cafe Kacao

Primo’s d’Italia

Ol’ Gyro

3325 N. Classen Blvd. cafekacao.com | 602-2883

1215 Garth Brooks Blvd., Yukon primositalian.com | 350-9090

3513 N. Classen Blvd.

606-2266

Guatemala, land of mystery! Take a trip to South America as you experience the cuisine of Guatemala at Cafe Kacao. Discover the answers to longheld questions like, Why is there a line outside of that restaurant at 10 a.m. on a Saturday? (Hint: It’s because Cafe Kacao is really, really good.)

Italy, land of mystery! If the only thing you know about Italy is that it’s shaped like a boot, you’ll be delighted to find that it absolutely does not taste like a boot. Primo’s d’Italia will let you indulge in cheesy, carby pastas or cut into juicy prime rib. The only heel you’ll find is the one who didn’t take you to Primo’s sooner.

The Mediterranean, land of mystery!

Stalking the wild plains of the Mediterranean is the gyrosaurus, a deliciously seasoned beast that might kind of taste like a blend of beef and lamb. Lapping at creamy lakes of tzatziki sauce, it can only be defeated by being wrapped in pillowy pita bread, as it is at Ol’ Gyro.

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2 4 | n ov e m b e r 4 , 2 0 1 5 | O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e

Tsubaki Sushi & Hibachi 5900 W. Memorial Road 792-7818

Japan, land of mystery! So many mysteries. Are dragons real? (No.) Are ninjas real? (Maybe.) The biggest mystery, of course, is how sushi changed so radically by the time it got to Oklahoma. Cream cheese and jalapeno?

C’mon, guys. While you can get “Okie” sushi at Tsubaki, it’s also one of the best spots for truly fish-forward Japanesestyle sushi.

Blackbird Gastropub

Speedy Wok

Amazonia Latin Flavor

575 S. University Blvd., Norman gldining.com/blackbird | 928-5555

11122 N. Rockwell Ave. speedywokokc.com | 721-3559

825 NW 12th St., Moore 759-2699

England, land of mystery! What dark delights hide on the River Thames?

Will you ever be the same once you see what real Cadbury chocolate is supposed to taste like? You can start down that dangerous path at Norman’s Blackbird Gastropub with an incredibly English dish of ... Irish-poached bangers and mash. Okay, maybe that’s more Great Britainish than English, but whatever.

China, land of mystery! If you’d like to solve the mystery of how American Chinese food came to be, I suggest you watch the excellent documentary The Search for General Tso. And there’s no better way to enjoy that fascinating look at the rise of Chinese-American cuisine than with a pile of takeout from Speedy Wok: egg rolls, hot and sour soup and, of course, an order of General Tso’s Chicken.

Venezuela, land of mystery! The mystery is why you haven’t been to Amazonia.

While Mexican food reigns supreme in Oklahoma, for a real south-of-thesouth-of-the-border treat, you must stop at Amazonia for some authentic, home-style Venezuelan cooking. Owner Einar Perdomo is especially proud of his national dish, pabellón, which combines rice, beans, plantains and tender shredded beef.

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M-F 7am-6:30pm • Sat 9:30am-4pm 2310 N Western 524-0887 O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e | n ov e m b e r 4 , 2 0 1 5 | 2 5

Giving back

mark ha ncoc k

This Thanksgiving season, while you’re out shopping for friends and family and get-togethers — or just for yourself — take a moment to think about giving to your community, too. Ask local retailers about discounts, “buy one/give one” opportunities and what you might be able to share with your neighbors in need. Retail therapy always makes us feel good, especially when it helps keep everyone’s spirits up. Here are a few options to foster community thoughtfulness, too. — By Brittany Pickering

Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum 620 N. Harvey Ave. oklahomacitynationalmemorial.org 235-3313

Take a moment to reflect on everything this great city has, including its residents, who never fail to help out friends and neighbors in a crisis. Stop by the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum and remember and support those involved in the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building tragedy. All donations go toward museum upkeep and help “ensur[e] that future generations will continue to learn how our community and our country came together as others were trying to tear us apart.”

and a memorial service begins at 11:30 a.m. Pets get a free goody bag and St. Francis medallion, and Oklahoma City Pet Food Pantry will be on hand so your little buddies won’t go hungry. Skyline Urban Ministry’s Food Resource Center and Clothing Closet also will be open.

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Oklahoma Artists Invitational Fall Art Benefit 4 p.m.-8 p.m. Nov. 13, 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Nov. 14 and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Nov. 15 Shoppes at Northpark northparkokc.com

Blessing of the Animals

12100 N. May Ave.

9 a.m. Nov. 14

751-1453

Skyline Urban Ministry

Oklahoma Artists Invitational Fall Art Benefit is selling art to raise money for Mercy Foundation Stroke Treatment and Education Program. The nonprofit will set up at Shoppes at Northpark 4-8 p.m.

Nov. 13, 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Nov. 14 and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Nov. 15. Twenty-two artists are contributing paintings, portraits and jewelry. Dr. Richard Smith will talk about new stroke treatments at 2 p.m. each day.

500 SE 15th St., Moore skylineurbanministry.org 632-2644

Skyline Urban Ministry is setting aside a day this month to honor pets. So gather Snickers and Garfield up in their carriers and take them to 500 SE 15th St. in Moore for a day of fun and remembrance. Blessing of the Animals is 9-11 a.m., a free lunch will be 11-11:30 a.m.

p r ov i de d

Oklahoma City Turkey Trot 8 a.m. Nov. 26 Lake Hefner East Wharf 3701 S. Lake Hefner Drive oklahomacityturkeytrot.org 463-7533 Free-$30

Put on your running shoes and wait a few hours to gobble up your Thanksgiving feast. Oklahoma City Turkey Trot kicks off 8 a.m. Nov. 26 at Stars & Stripes Park at Lake Hefner, 3701 S. Lake Hefner Drive.

All proceeds from race registration are used to support Eagle Ridge Institute, a local organization that provides foster care, youth mentoring and substance abuse prevention and treatment to Oklahomans.

Students Against Hunger Food and Fund Drive regionalfoodbank.org 600-3174

Oklahoma students are taking a stand against hunger by gathering food for those in need. Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma’s 11th annual Students Against Hunger Food and Fun Drive runs through Nov. 13. Schools in OKC, Edmond, Yukon and Moore are participating. The food bank especially needs canned meats, canned fruits and vegetables, peanut butter and rice and beans. Monetary donations are also accepted, as the food bank is able to provide five meals for every dollar donated.

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Turkey Day 5K & 1 Mile Fun Run 8:30 a.m. Nov. 26 Norman High School 911 W. Main St., Norman

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a colorful little hippie store, & so much more 5012 n. meridian mon-Sat: 10am-7pm | Sun:1pm-5pm fb.com/theindigoattic

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Norman’s Turkey Day 5K & 1 Mile Fun Run is back. The 5K begins at 8:30 a.m. and the fun run kicks off at 9:30 a.m. Both take place on Norman High School’s campus, 911 W. Main St. This year’s fundraising goal is $20,000, and proceeds benefit Cleveland County Habitat for Humanity, which will build houses for 10 families who were affected by the May 2013 tornado in Moore.

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art classes, jewelry, crafts, handmade art, furniture, gifts with an edge! fOllOW us!

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Rococo Northpark 5th Anniversary Part y - 11/5/15 6-9pm Food and Drink Specials Live Music by Born In November featuring C+ Don’t wait, book your holiday parties now. Call Rococo Catering (405) 823-2125 for creative cuisine with exceptional service.

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NOVEMBER 5-7 Tea with Princess Fiona 6:45 pm A pre-show experience for youngsters!

Shrek, the Musical 8:00 pm Buy tickets online at www.oc.edu/GoShrek or call 405.425.6310

2 8 | n ov e m b e r 4 , 2 0 1 5 | O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e

life cover

Ga rett fi s bec k

Obscure pursuits Smart bar owners draw an intelligent mix of Q-and-A lovers as trivia night popularity grows across the metro.

By Laura Eastes and Greg Elwell

A guy walks into a bar in Knoxville, Tennessee, and begins to answer trivia questions.

It seems trivial or like the beginning of a joke, but that’s how James Cramer’s trivia jockey career began.

“I thought, ‘Hey, I can do that,’” Cramer said of a night in which he watched a trivia jockey entertain bar guests for two hours with Live Trivia. “I got in touch with the manager for that area, and I spent the next six weeks at a brewery.”

In 2009, Cramer became a professional trivia host, spending his evenings with good-sized crowds and firing off questions about music, movies, history, geography, science, sports and pop culture into a microphone. When he shared the answers, he heard shouts of joy and saw high-fives — although his patrons squawked or pounded the table when they missed an easy question.

It was all in good fun for Cramer, who worked the gig like a DJ as he built relationships and interacted with patrons.

After those six weeks in Knoxville, Cramer was approached to bring the franchise to Oklahoma City by the president of Memphis-based Challenge Entertainment, a company that provides Live Trivia and other game services to bars and restaurants across the United States.

Two weeks after the conversations, Cramer arrived in OKC to get Live Trivia rolling. In November 2009, Old Chicago was the first to welcome Cramer

and Challenge Entertainment, and trivia fever spread quickly. Six years after starting in two Old Chicago locations, Cramer now oversees trivia nights — along with a few other bar games — at more than 30 locations, including The Boom, Saints, Deep Deuce Grill and The Garage Burgers & Beer.

“I’ll put it this way: When I talk to a bar or a restaurant manager about what they offer, they mention drink specials, menu promotions and televisions. But what sets them apart?” asked Cramer before answering, “Entertainment that is free.”

Trivia nights offer competition, prizes, camaraderie and a different sort of nightlife fun that many different age groups can get into, Cramer said.

“You can have a group of friends, still eat and drink, but the trivia questions become part of it,” he said. “They are going to be at the bar anyway. Why not be entertained?”

Getting lost

Tuesday nights are not, traditionally, the busiest nights for bars.

Kevin Sine, owner of 51st Street Speakeasy, said Tuesdays might be so slow that it’s barely worth being open ... except for trivia.

Those stopping in for a nip at Speakeasy after 8 p.m. on a Tuesday might be hard-pressed to find a table in the non-smoking wing. Even around the corner from the stage, it’s packed.

At the front of the room, seated at a

A group discusses a Live Trivia question at Deep Deuce Grill.

Our questions are designed to get people talking to each other. That’s where it becomes fun.

— Patrick Riley

wide folding table, are comedians Ryan Drake and Spencer Hicks, the emcees and quizmasters of The Lost Ogle Trivia Night.

Patrick Riley, owner, founder and head writer for the “obscure local social blog” TheLostOgle.com, said his trivia career began in 2010, when he and a writer for the site stopped in at the venue after doing a radio show for The Spy. “There were three teams. One guy was on stage, asking questions for 10 people,” he said. “I love trivia nights. I’m a trivia nerd. That was just sad.”

So he went to Sine and asked how much they paid that trivia operator and said he’d do it for the same amount.

TLO Trivia Night has been going strong since, only taking breaks for holidays and Thunder playoff games.

The mini empire has grown in fits and starts and also hosts weekly competitions at Anchor Down and

Buffalo Wild Wings.

“Trivia works best at a bar,” Riley said. “Anchor Down feels more like a bar, and at Buffalo Wild Wings, we’re in the bar. It just has a more grown-up vibe to it.”

The vibe might be the only thing grown-up about the stage show, which relies just as heavily on the oftensophomoric humor of its hosts as it does the strength of its questions. Riley said the silliness and occasional crassness of the atmosphere is a draw.

“The chemistry of the hosts is key.

It helps fill the void between questions,” he said. “Our questions are designed to get people talking to each other. That’s where it becomes fun.”

The game

At Live Trivia, teams receive a scoring card and about 20 small pieces of paper.

The card allows a team to keep track of points earned, and the note card-sized paper is for submitting answers to the trivia jockey. After a question is asked, a song is played. At the end of the song, all answers must be turned into the jockey, who then reveals the answer.

After three rounds with three questions each, a halftime question is announced. Teams play an additional three rounds and face a final question.

The top three teams earn prizes, which continued on next page

O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e | n ov e m b e r 4 , 2 0 1 5 | 2 9

m a rk ha n coc k

m a rk ha n coc k

life cover

Garett fisbec k

Guests fill 51st Street Speakeasy for a weeknight competition of The Lost Ogle’s trivia night.

Spencer Hicks and Ryan Drake host TLO Trivia Night at 51st Street Speakeasy. questions are difficult and, at times, the answer can be disputed. Often, the question’s phrasing allows for more than one answer.

“I’ll tell them to pull out their phone and show me a source for it,” Cramer said. “If they find it, I’ll give them credit.

The whole point is we want people to have fun and come back.”

The format

James Cramer hosts Live Trivia at Deep Deuce Grill. often include a reduced bar tab or gift certificates for future visits to the eatery.

Challenge Entertainment trivia jockeys look to the company for the questions, which are uploaded onto computers they view throughout the night.

Questions can be multiple-choice or call for more than one answer. For example: “What actress had a minor role as the wife of the title character in the 1998 film The Big Lebowski? And name the 2015 film that actress starred in with the subtitle ‘Oh Hell No!’” The answer is Tara Reid and Sharknado 3.

Cramer admitted that sometimes

Rather than turn in a slip of paper after each question, Lost Ogle trivia features four rounds of 10 questions followed by a “Final Ogle” question. The depth of knowledge needed to compete at Speakeasy might stymie those who find Challenge Entertainment’s trivia difficult.

Riley works with his writers to craft questions each week and draws on current events, history, literature, sports and the somewhat infamous percentage questions.

Megan Hulshizer competes on Tuesday nights and hosts Thursdays at Anchor Down. She and her friends (team name Saudi Labia on a recent evening) have a childish and somewhat successful penchant for answering percentage questions with “69.”

Riley calls those a great equalizer because even hardcore trivia nerds have to guess when one comes up.

For the serious players and teams, both The Lost Ogle and Challenge Entertainment provide league opportunities for trivia supremacy. Teams return two or three times a week to test

3 0 | n ov e m b e r 4 , 2 0 1 5 | O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e

their knowledge with an opportunity to move points totals forward into the next week until the ultimate winning team is named.

Cramer said Challenge Entertainment sent “close to a dozen” OKC league teams to Las Vegas for the 2015 National Trivia League finals, where they played for large cash prizes.

The mayor comes in about once a month.

It’s dinner and entertainment.

— Kevin Sine

The players

Trivia nights offer unique opportunities to bring friends, neighbors or coworkers together. Maybe one person knows a lot about literature and art, while another is an engineer and passionate golf fanatic.

Add in others with different strengths, and a trivia team is formed.

Laci Bevans plays at Deep Deuce Grill. Her strengths are music and movies, but she likes interacting with teammates and crafting an occasional blind guess in hopes of answering a question correctly. Recently, she guessed the state of Washington as the home of the Olympic Peninsula. She was right.

“Sometimes I don’t come for the trivia but it is happening when I get here,” Bevans said.

Longtime friends David O’Donnell, Bryan Denehy and Jared Michaels said it was their first trivia night in a while and it was a great way to grab a few drinks and chat.

For Jacob Galleciez, who takes part in The Lost Ogle league with his team We Didn’t Reddit, it combines everything he loves: drinking, jokes and useless knowledge.

Zach Gozlan said his team, Participation Trophy Wives, loves TLO Trivia Night because it happens late on Tuesdays, a good night to get away with friends, enjoy a drink and avoid children.

“It’s like being productive and drinking at the same time,” Gozlan said.

There is also something to be said for winning something.

Challenge Entertainment venues allow gamers to earn bar tab credits. (Full

disclosure: A third-place finish earned Oklahoma Gazette members Laura Eastes, Greg Elwell and Garett Fisbeck a $10 tab reduction at Deep Deuce Grill.)

Rewards inspire players to take the game seriously and keep drinking, much to the delight of venue management.

“On the business side, it increases sales,” Cramer said. “Trivia keeps you in your seat longer.”

Sine said cash prizes and beer giveaways at TLO Trivia Nights make dead Tuesdays much more lively and bring in a crowd that might not otherwise visit Speakeasy.

“It really has a great vibe. The drinking is fairly moderate, lots of professionals, not so many out-of-control college kids,” he said. “The mayor [Mick Cornett] comes in about once a month.

It’s dinner and entertainment.”

If you walk out knowing something new, that’s just a bonus.

Learn about metro-area trivia nights >> TLO Trivia Night: thelostogle.com >> Challenge Entertainment’s Live Trivia: challengeentertainment.com >> Geeks Who Drink Quizzes: geekswhodrink.com

Road trip The Coltrane Group launches its first Oklahoma City-based tour of historical, all-black communities on Nov. 21.

By Kaley Patterson

Historical Black Towns Heritage Tour 7:45 a.m.-6 p.m. Nov. 21 Oklahoma History Center 800 Nazih Zuhdi Drive 206-948-8852 $60

The Coltrane Group hosts one of the first Oklahoma City-based tours of historical black towns on Nov. 21 as it takes guests through four of the state’s 13 long-surviving allblack communities, including Boley, Brooksville, Clearview and Langston.

“The main purpose is to make people more aware, because you’d be surprised how many people don’t know the history of these black towns,” said André Head, CEO and founder of The Coltrane Group/History in Progress, an Oklahoma-based organization focused on preserving the history and of all-black towns throughout the state, “whether it’s on the national basis or statewide, Oklahoma basis.”

Head said he noticed that most tours of this type begin in Muskogee or Tulsa and saw a need to base one out of Oklahoma City. Tickets for the educational road trip are $60 and include meals and entertainment.

“When we go to the towns, the mayor or a historian will be there to represent the town and give the history of the town,” Head said. “They will also have some type of entertainment for us and it will be a walking tour.

They have several older buildings that have history to them. It will be pretty interesting.”

Buses depart at 8 a.m. from Oklahoma History Center, 800 Nazih Zuhdi Drive, and the tour’s first stop is in Brooksville, founded in 1903 and one of the two all-black towns founded in Oklahoma Territory.

Next will be Clearview, home to the African-American Educators Hall of Fame. Then, it rolls through Boley for a homemade barbecue lunch before

Boley, an all-black historical town, is one of four Nov. 21 tour stops. visiting the bank where members of infamous Pretty Boy Floyd’s crew attempted a robbery in 1932. The last stop will be Langston, the second black town settled in Oklahoma Territory and home to Langston University.

Once there, guests will enjoy an abbreviated dinner and a performance from the Langston University Concert Choir.

While traveling, Head and his wife Jessilyn Hall-Head, chief operating officer of The Coltrane Group, along with special guest Judge Henrietta Hicks of Boley will join passengers for discussion.

Last month, Hicks participated in a discussion sponsored by The Coltrane Group at Redlands Community College, Black Towns Then ... Black Towns Now, with mayors and trustees of historic black towns across Oklahoma.

“We’re trying to bring new life back into these towns because it is a part of not only Oklahoma history, but it’s a part of American history and a part of black history,” Head said.

“It’s definitely part of Oklahoma that has helped to shape not only those communities, but it did help mediate this state.”

The tour and Redlands event grew from a collaborative pictorial exhibit by Oklahoma History Center and The Coltrane Group. Colored Memories ran January through June at the Oklahoma History Museum.

More than two dozen photos of Boley (the town of Head’s ancestors) in the 1920s and ’30s were colorized and put on display.

More than preserving bygone times, Head’s mission is to reunite former town residents and their families with each other and their shared history.

Deadline to RSVP for the tour is Nov. 21.

THE COLTRANE GROUP / OKLAHOMA HISTORY CENTER / PROVIDED

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P ROV I D ED

ExclusivEly at

Shining soirée The Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art Association brings four decades of history into focus with its fall fundraiser.

By Kaley Patterson

Silver Soirée: Join the Legacy 8 p.m. Nov. 13 Legacy Park 1898 Legacy Park Drive, Norman ou.edu/fjjma eventbrite.com 325-2297 $75-$100

The Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art (FJJMA) Association hosts its annual fall fundraising party from 8 p.m. to midnight Nov. 13 at Norman’s newly opened Legacy Park. But this year, the association visits the museum’s past with a modern twist during Silver Soirée: Join the Legacy.

Each year, the association holds a party for members of the museum, but since FJJMA recently became a free admission museum, the Silver Soirée is open to nonmembers.

Tickets include two complimentary beverages, admission to the first tier of the event and valet parking.

Melissa Scaramucci, Silver Soirée committee chairwoman, said the party is an evolution and unique for Norman.

“It’s been transitioning from a party to where we said thank you to our members and gave back for everything they gave us,” Scaramucci said. “Now we’re in a position, like 40 years ago, where we need to establish a strong community of supporters for the museum for acquisition and restoration.”

The night, filled with dancing, food, entertainment and art, will replicate the Silver Ball the association hosted in 1975. The association learned about the ball by looking through old files and found a scrapbook of the association’s lavish party. Scaramucci is excited that Silver Soirée will be more of a dancing and celebratory event honoring the museum rather than a seated dinner with a live auction.

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Guests Tim Kenney and Jean Reed Ward enjoy last year’s Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art fall fundraiser.

“It’s a celebration of the history of the museum,” Scaramucci said. “We’re going to be highlighting acquisitions that the association has made over the past 40 years so people can really connect to that history.”

The evening will feature music from SquadLive band and DJ Nexus, along with performance artists and entertainers and a photo booth. Instead of a black-tie dress code, the group requests that guests wear their best silver attire. The event will be held in a gigantic, heated tent so people won’t be too chilly in the middle of November.

Scaramucci said anything that’s silver is a part of the evening’s dress code.

“It could be anything, like Aspen glamour: Put on your fizzy Ugg boots and a silvery sparkly sweatshirt and come. Or you can put on your cocktail dress with a silver mink if that’s what you’re into,” Scaramucci said. “We want people to know it’s not a stuffy party. It’s you going out on a Saturday night, looking your fiercest.”

Funds from Silver Soirée go toward art restoration and contemporary art acquisitions for the museum.

Scaramucci said that with the purchase of a ticket, guests can vote on what they want their money to fund.

She hopes this will further help the museum and association continue to engage with the community.

“I think it really helps for people to see where their money is going,” Scaramucci said. “It’s not just brick and mortar and that stuff. They get to have that fun, exciting part of building a museum that they can have a connection to and be a part of the legacy.”

P ROV I D ED

Box tops A Stillwater-based start-up connects artisans with global consumers in order to provide free school supplies to in-need youth in developing countries.

By Oraynab Jwayyed

Quinn Vadenberg and Jonathon Button wanted to make a difference.

After hours of research, they learned that Central American youth were in desperate need of school supplies and could use the help of two 20-somethings.

They quit their corporate jobs in California and flew to Nicaragua.

Once there, they began working with local non-government agencies and uncovered the talents of artisans to create products that can be sold to support the children’s needs. Since November 2012, they have used their Stillwater-based start-up, Life Out of the Box, to accomplish this feat.

LOOTB has since expanded to three continents: Central America, Africa and Southeast Asia.

“We have products from Nicaragua, Guatemala and Morocco, and we work with organizations from all over the world,” Button said. “We’ve given school supplies to Kenya, we’re giving school supplies through one of our team members in Peru and we were able to give school supplies to students all over Southeast Asia this summer.”

The company’s mission is simple: Help educate children out of poverty.

“We work with artisans from all over the world,” Vadenberg added, “but right now, we’re focused on setting up a micro economy in Guatemala, Nicaragua and Morocco and working with their artisans to create sustainable jobs in these countries.”

Each product is assigned a unique identification number, which can be keyed in at the company website so customers can follow the partners as they work.

“We want to connect our customers with the impact they make,” she said. “It comes full circle to giving and receiving.”

The pair also creates videos that document their journeys and interactions so people can feel included.

Life Out of the Box co-founder Quinn Vandenberg works to provide school supplies to youth in underdeveloped countries.

“We’re calling it a ‘Life Out of the Box experience’ that people are now able to have something they can see where their impact was actually made,” Vadenberg said.

Three years after launching from a hostel, this summer, LOOTB was named runner-up in the 2015 USA Creative Business Cup, a competition that pits entrepreneurs from around the world against each other. It is one of two companies to represent the U.S. during Global Entrepreneurship Week this month in Copenhagen, Denmark.

They heard of the contest while in Nicaragua and agreed to apply.

Vadenberg described the process as “very thorough and very long.”

When they returned to Oklahoma, the co-founders learned LOOTB was selected to compete as one of two companies representing the United States. It’s a chance they decided they couldn’t say no to.

“Just networking with this great group of people wanting to create things, change the world and move forward,” she said. “We’re excited to be meeting people with the same mentality.”

The pair also has plans to expand their company.

When asked what they learned about poverty through their work, Button responded, “[We] believe that every child is born equally and deserves the right to go after their dream career. We found the main resource to do this was through education.”

Vadenberg stressed the importance of education.

“We see poverty as something that no one really deserves and that education is really the way out,” she said.

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life performing arts

Obscenely funny Silence! The Musical is as delightful as it is disgusting, making it flavorful fare for its audience.

By Jack Fowler

8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday CitySpace Theatre Civic Center Music Hall 201 N. Walker Ave. okctheatrecompany.org 297-2264 $10-$25

It might be difficult to write a thoughtful review of a production when its most memorable number is “If I Could Smell Her Cunt,” but if your comedy tastes run toward the raunchy, you won’t have any trouble savoring every minute of Silence! The Musical.

An award-winning musical comedy created by Jon and Al Kaplan as a parody of the 1991 classic film The Silence of the Lambs, Silence! is silly, gross and, at times, wickedly funny. OKC Theatre Company, living up to every inch of its reputation for tackling daring scripts, handles the absurd and profane romp with considerable aplomb.

The opening number, “Silence!,” is performed by The Lambs, a kind of Greek chorus that sets the scenes throughout the play.

Six singers, dressed in black sweats and woolen caps with floppy ears, all play multiple roles that float in and out of the lives of FBI agent Clarice Starling and her interview subject, Dr. Hannibal Lecter.

It’s a difficult task in the intimate, 100-seat CitySpace Theatre and isn’t easily performed or choreographed, but the cast and director Kory KightPagala handled the rapid-fire character handoffs and seamless, minimal scene changes admirably.

“Thish Ish It”

The scene changes, costumes and music (all minimal to the point of being abstract) were written into the script as part of the production’s overall aesthetic, and indeed, nothing is off-limits as far as one-liners go.

This includes Megan Montgomery’s syrupy Jodie Foster impersonation.

As Starling, the FBI agent hot on the trail of serial killer Buffalo Bill, Montgomery’s first solo is “Thish Ish It,” sung with hilarious earnestness in Foster’s horrible, lisping, West Virginia brogue.

Montgomery carries the lead role well throughout, stomping around in a bad wig and a knit pantsuit so atrocious it’s unbelievable Lecter can abide being in the same room with her.

Even in such a small venue, however, her voice was a little weak during some of the busier numbers, and it was difficult to discern her lines from the chorus that traipsed and sang around her.

Although all of the actors can sing, none particularly amaze with their vocal prowess, but that’s hardly the point of this production.

The point is the script, which is filled with clever lines, double entendres, silly sight gags and subtle twists of the film’s original dialogue.

It’s why song lyrics might be slightly more important than song performance and dialing things down a bit on stage might have helped sell some of Montgomery’s better jokes.

“Quid Pro Quo”

Some of the musical’s funniest moments come during Starling’s interactions with Lecter, played with a creepy, very funny straight-man aesthetic by Lance Overdorff.

He doesn’t mimic Anthony Hopkins’ Lecter, but he does share the actor’s understated, businesslike cadence when portraying the famous cannibal.

His interactions with the more physical Montgomery are wonderfully balanced, strong enough to move the plot along rapidly and very often cover-yourmouth hilarious.

There’s no better example than the aforementioned “If I Could Smell Her Cunt,” a kind of tender love song Lecter sings to and about Clarice in an aside.

Lovingly performed in Overdorff’s beautiful, high tenor voice, there are so many filthy lines in this song that it’s unbelievable I’ve been singing it since the play ended.

But I have, because it’s very pretty, wonderfully performed and an honestto-god earworm.

Most of the songs are, actually.

“Quid Pro Quo,” a dark and atmospheric tango of a duet between Montgomery and Overdorff, is a snappy, taut plot-mover reminiscent of The Lion King’s “Be Prepared.”

“Are You About a Size 14?,” the

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provid ed

Silence! The Musical

Silence!

The Musical

Lovingly performed in Overdorff ’s beautiful, high tenor voice, there are so many filthy lines in this song that it’s unbelievable I’ve been singing it since the play ended.

song about how Buffalo Bill chooses his victims, is so rollicking and chipper, I could imagine the Rockettes kicking on the final chorus.

Wil Rogers plays Buffalo Bill with the camp and self-assurance of a famous drag queen, and he’s the biggest scenestealer of the show.

He’s also the beneficiary of the production’s two funniest songs: “I’d Fuck Me” and “Put the Fucking Lotion

in the Basket.” The latter, performed perfectly by Rogers and Kaylan Ferrell (as Catherine Martin, Bill’s victim) is as obscenely funny as anything you’ll see this year.

At the end of the night, the raunch is the best part of Silence!

The play’s funniest, most wellcrafted lines come during the songs, and it seems at times as if the Kaplans just decided to phone in some of the dialogue that came in between.

The speaking scenes are filled with jokes, but they’re not as entertaining and often rely on puns, sight gags or formulaic asides.

A series of “your mama’s so fat” jokes made me wince after my ear had been attuned to the script’s clever vulgarity.

Most of that is hardly the actors’ fault, though, and with a few small exceptions, Silence! kept me laughing all evening.

The beauty of this play lies in its filth. If you don’t mind getting dirty, get in and roll around.

You won’t regret it.

Black power Baron Vaughn blurs color, comedy and social boundaries with his distinctive brand of stand-up.

By Jennifer Chancellor and Greg Horton

7:30 p.m. Saturday ACM@UCO Performance Lab 329 E. Sheridan Ave. ticketstorm.com $15-$18

Comedian, writer and actor Baron Vaughn was born in Portales, New Mexico, but grew up in Las Vegas, where he became enthralled with the ubiquity of entertainment in Sin City and throughout American culture.

“There are billboards everywhere, advertising comics, high kicks, guys who can make buildings disappear — We’ve got five of those! — so I knew pretty early I wanted to be in entertainment,” he said of the experience. “I wanted to see my name on a sign.”

At age 34, he has achieved that goal.

Vaughn rolls into Oklahoma City on Saturday to headline a stand-up at ACM@UCO Performance Lab, 329 E. Sheridan Ave., where he said he’ll also work through new material for an upcoming comedy album.

He’s a regular on the star-laden Netflix original comedy series Grace and Frankie, a story about affluent, white baby boomers (Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin) who discover their husbands (Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston) are far more than work partners. Vaughn plays an attorney who is also Tomlin and Waterston’s black, adopted son.

Color lines are fluid for Vaughn. In his stand-up comedy, he moves between jokes about race and jokes about everything else with ease and candor.

On his 2011 comedy album Raised by Cable, he tells the story of an argument over slavery’s origins that he had with his white stepfather while on Christmas vacation at his mother’s house in Las Vegas.

“My mother’s house was a microcosm of the racial tensions in America,” he said. “I was 22 or 23 at the time, and all I had to do to experience racism was walk into my mother’s living room. This man was not a stranger; he was in my home.”

For his new album, Vaughn intends to work through material that finds him “discovering and discussing [his]

Baron Vaughn

A N YA GA RRE TT / p rovi ded

OKC Comedy Presents: Baron Vaughn with Josh Lathe, Alex Sanchez and BradChad Porter

position in the world.”

“Things like race, mental health, depression — that’s something that people of color don’t talk about enough, I think,” he said.

Vaughn pays attention to the cultural climate we live in and said it reminds him of the racial tensions that led to and emerged from the civil rights movement of the ’50s and ’60s.

“We’re now in a place where horrible things had to happen to get us to have this conversation,” Vaughn said.

“People were killed, and we were finally talking about it.”

Vaughn pointed to Jon Stewart, John Oliver, Amy Schumer, KeeganMichael Key and Jordan Peele as comedians who are finally talking about race, sexism and economics in addition to politics. Their approach is satirical: Place the real next to the ideal and mock the absurdity.

Vaughn has been writing consistently since the release of Raised by Cable, but he said there is little proof of it other than a few YouTube videos and late-night television routines.

His live weekend shows, arranged between shooting the second season of Grace and Frankie, help him shape material for his next album, which he hopes to release within the next year.

Saturday’s show will be his first in Oklahoma City, but not his first in Oklahoma. Not too long ago, he performed at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah. While there, he learned his first lesson on how to pronounce the names of the state’s cities and towns.

“I was calling it Tuh-LEE-qua,” he said. “They told me that was a black girl’s name.”

O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e | n ov e m b e r 4 , 2 0 1 5 | 3 5

life performing arts

Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park leads a statewide poetry competition through public schools.

By Kaley Patterson

Shared Space: Photographs from 1987 and Beyond World’s top contemporary photographers in works from the Bank of America Collection

10/29 - 12/18 3000 General Pershing Blvd. | Oklahoma City, OK 73107 www.oklahomacontemporary.org | 405 951 0000 9 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday | 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday-Saturday

Image: Wout Berger, Vietnam (Cat Ba Island), 1998. Color coupler print, 1998 negative, printed 2003, 4/12. Courtesy of the artist.

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This fall, Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park is reaching out to high schools across the state to engage students in the 2015-16 Poetry Out Loud competition.

Selected by Oklahoma Arts Council (OAC), Shakespeare in the Park will promote the competition throughout state high schools and organize regional and state competitions to select one winner to represent Oklahoma at the national finals in Washington, D.C., in May. OAC received several bids for the opportunity, and Shakespeare in the Park impressed with its innovative program ideas.

Shakespeare in the Park will provide resources and materials to teachers who are sponsoring each school. According to Amber Sharples, Arts Council executive director, one of the proposals from Shakespeare in the Park includes the nonprofit promoting poetry to students in a theatrical way.

“We felt that rather than bringing reciting poetry into the classroom, they were going to liven classrooms by going out and interfacing with schools with a new idea,” Sharples said.

“They also made a strong proposal that poetry and theater could build a bridge to get students excited about the theater arts.”

Poetry Out Loud is a national competition founded by the National Endowment of the Arts. The program, launched in 2006, encourages students to learn about the literary form through memorization and recitation.

Every year, each state receives a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts to administer competitions, Joel Gavin, OAC’s director of marketing and communications, said. One student is selected from each state to compete in the national competition in Washington, D.C. “In our case, we chose to allow a nonprofit arts organization to share the stake to manage and facilitate the program, to bring their ideas to the table and to work it into their mission,” Gavin said. “There’s a lot of opportunity there with those organizations that already have connections across the state. We thought it could be really interesting.”

In the spring, Shakespeare in the

ARTS & HUMA NITIES OF TULSA / PROVIDED

SHARED SPACE

Words aloud

Edson Alvarado of Bethany, winner of the 2014 and 2015 Oklahoma Poetry Out Loud competitions Park will be responsible for hosting regional competitions across the state, and those will culminate in a state competition determining Oklahoma’s competitor in the national finals.

According to Sharples, both students and their schools benefit from the Poetry Out Loud competition.

The first-place winner of the state’s Poetry Out Loud competition will also receive a $200 scholarship and an all-expense-paid trip with one adult chaperone to the Washington, D.C., competition. The first-place winner’s school will also receive a $500 stipend for the purchase of poetry books.

The first runner-up will receive a $100 scholarship and a $200 stipend for his or her school library, organizers said.

“It was evident [Shakespeare in the Park] had some established relationships with the schools in the rural areas of the state,” Gavin said.

“So we knew that they would provide a great opportunity to reach a broad spectrum of students, especially those who don’t have access to these types of programs that we have in the metro area.”

High schools that are interested in organizing a competition may contact Kathryn McGill, Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park executive and artistic director, at 235-3700 or info@ oklahomashakespeare.com. For more information on Poetry Out Loud, visit poetryoutloud.org.

life books

Classroom lore A Teacher’s Tale recalls urban school troubles in Oklahoma City and offers ideas for reform.

By Laura Eastes

Atypical educator

The award-winning historian entered the education field after witnessing an influx of drugs moving into his neighborhood after the devastating oil bust of the 1980s in Oklahoma. When Thompson passed crack

houses during walks with his dog, children would run to him to pet the dog and then engage in a friendly conversation.

Thompson got attached to the children, who he mentored. Despite witnessing the struggles of OKCPS, such as seeing the Harding High School administrators driving around midmorning to pick-up students skipping class, he entered the district as a history teacher in 1992. He was assigned to John Marshall, which was similar to Harding with truancy issues; however, it held a reputation of gang activity and violence.

After a few days in the classroom, Thompson realized his students would teach him to become a great teacher and he just needed to listen.

Poverty reform

Thompson encountered countless students from backgrounds of generational poverty as well as pupils who had experienced trauma.

“I saw the same story over and over,” said Thompson, who earned runner-up status for OKCPS’ Teacher of the Year award. “Our kids were behind (when they got to high school), but they were doing just fine in elementary school. Then, the grandmother that raised the kids died of diabetes or cancer. The kids would fall off the conveyor belt, and there was no way to get them back on.”

Thompson tried. Between classes, he stood outside his door to fist-bump passing students. After school, he played basketball with many of them. On weekends, he was at college fine arts auditions with students. When the worst happened, he went to hospital bedsides and attended funerals.

As the call for data-driven reform

Ga rett fi s bec k

Dr. John Thompson is known for sharing countless stories from his teaching days at John Marshall High School in blog posts and newspaper columns.

The retired educator doesn’t write the stories to reminisce or complain about inner-city school teaching.

Instead, Thompson writes to illustrate implementation of the controversial No Child Left Behind Act and how that accountability system — based on data — overlooked educational difficulties caused by poverty.

His firsthand accounts from 18 years spent in the Oklahoma City Public Schools district are now presented in a 464-page book appealing to those in education and those not. Thompson describes it as a teacher memoir mixed with “a case study of teaching in the inner city during an age of reform.” Tate Publishing will release A Teacher’s Tale: Learning, Loving and Listening to Our Kids on Tuesday. In it, Thompson advocates for more student connections, a team approach to student learning and less federal policies implemented into urban school districts.

“It is the story of how a run-of-themill inner-city school, John Marshall, had problems but had a lot of great strengths,” said Thompson in an Oklahoma Gazette interview. “The school was ripped apart by school reform. We still don’t know how to turn around schools that have that intense concentrations of poverty.”

John Thompson poses for a photo with his dog, Chloe, at the site of a former crack house in Oklahoma City, where, in the 1980s, he would stop and engage youth in friendly conversation while walking his dog. increased, so did the need for “superhero” educators, who were deemed the answer for addressing high-poverty schools.

Thompson admits teachers, especially those who are compassionate, can influence learning outcomes and problems, but poverty is not one.

Progress is made when teachers, administrators, bus drivers and cafeteria and maintenance staffs create a team approach toward teaching students, he said.

“Too many reformers, especially those who question teachers’ hard-earned wisdom, believe that teachers’ will power is the key to overcoming the effects of trauma and poverty,” he wrote. “Reformers do not seem to understand that the working conditions of teachers are the learning conditions of students. … The

key to learning is loving relationships. The best way to nurture those relationships is to help adults help children cope with the stresses that undermined schools.”

High praise

Jay Mathews, education columnist at The Washington Post, wrote in his Aug. 23 column, “Talented urban teacher says new national education laws won’t work,” that he witnessed what Thompson describes many times in the Washington, D.C., schools. Mathews called Thompson’s second book “riveting” and “revealing.”

“A close reading of Thompson’s deep book,” Mathews wrote, “will reveal what is missing from the latest top-down plans coming to us from Washington and the state capitals.”

O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e | n ov e m b e r 4 , 2 0 1 5 | 3 7

sudoku/crossword Sudoku Puzzle hard

www.s udoku-p uzzles . net

Fill in the grid so that every row, column and 3-by-3 box contains the numbers 1 through 9.

New York Times Crossword Puzzle answers Puzzle No. 1025, which appeared in the October 28 issue.

S L I M S

C A D E T

A B O D E

L O N E W O M G M L C H E F J A M E O N O B A R I N D R A I V O L C R O S E P J O K E A G R O C L A P K E I L S T E

I A R S T K N S A S H W N I O N S H A S B K O S H O E Z N M A N I T E A O W R S W R O F O R L O R A M Y

C O L A S T R O P H I C

B O W T I E S A L P A C A

I F I L S Y L O W

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

A S S E T

S H I N G L N E F S L B L L E T D U T P R E K E E N T D S

S O R T O V E I L E N T R E A R E E N E X S T L E T E E L I N T O V D S E L A O R E B O L C A S E O C E S L K E P C O A C A H I C K E N V E T E I N

T I M E S E W B R A S S T I E R S

s U w o ll o F on

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Oklahoma Gazette

ACROSS 95 Execute perfectly 1 Church leaders 96 Eponym of a hot- dog chain 7 Torn asunder 98 Letters before many a state’s 15 In sufficient quantity name 20 Collier’s transport 101 Mil. authority 21 Fact addition 102 First-aid supply 22 “Truly” 104 … a silent film star?

23 Halloween costume for … a 108 It never goes off CNN anchor?

109 Singer Falana and others 25 Net results?

110 ____ mission 26 Three times daily, in Rx’s 111 Snares 27 Yiddish cries 113 Caviar 28 Scand. country 115 The George W. Bush years, e.g.

29 Bank abbr.

116 Stimpy’s TV pal 31 Side dish that’s sometimes 117 Be unsatisfied with, say mashed 119 Ancient Hebrew liquid 32 “Do we have approval?” measure 35 Misdeed 120 Insouciant syllables 36 Is a buttinsky 122 … a pop-folk singer with 38 7-5, e.g.

numerous 1970s hits?

39 … a former Dateline host?

128 Gutter locales 46 No one says his art was 129 Majority pointless 130 “Time heals all wounds” and 48 Head, for short others 49 “Lord, We Ask Thee ____ We 131 Forecast that might call for Part” (hymn) gloves and galoshes 50 Turbaned sort 132 Tied 51 Beehive hairstyle, e.g.

133 Like a pirate’s treasure 52 Brewer Coors 55 Info for an airport run DOWN 57 “Cómo ____ usted?”

1 One of two at a wedding 58 … a onetime House speaker? 2 Wrath 63 Fender product 3 You can’t predict the weather 64 Winter Olympics event

with this 65 Who said, “In waking a tiger, 4 Do really well on a test

use a long stick” 5 Spreadsheet input 66 Eastern sch. with a noted film 6 Theater sign program 7 Doubtful 67 Tuition, e.g.

8 Cribbage one-pointers 68 Longtime Chicago Symphony 9 One running races for a conductor living?

71 One of three for J. R. R. 10 “True” Tolkien: Abbr.

11 Lace 73 “Tush!”

12 Con man 75 Aspects 13 When the French toast?

77 ____ fault 14 Figure above God’s throne, in 78 Goose egg Isaiah 80 Sports org. with 25-Across 15 How a phone may be slammed 82 Resembles week-old flowers, say down 84 Hotel capacity: Abbr.

16 ____ juice (milk) 85 … an old Notre Dame 17 Doesn’t take any chances

basketball coach?

18 Actress Kedrova who won an 91 Doing

Oscar for Zorba the Greek 93 Cry of surprise 19 Polite rural reply 94 Like the expression “Sakes alive!” 24 Impend

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VOL. XXXVII No. 44

Oklahoma Gazette is circulated at its designated distribution points free of charge to readers for their individual use and by mail to subscribers.

The cash value of this copy is $1.

Persons taking copies of the Oklahoma Gazette from its distribution points for any reason other than their or others’ individual use for reading purposes are subject to prosecution.

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30 Position of greatest importance 32 Children, in legalese 33 Like ooze 34 Scored between 90 and 100, say 37 Besides 40 Cool, as soup 41 Hard labor spot 42 Common sitcom rating 43 Equal 44 Coal extractors 45 Vistas 47 Sleep on it 53 Noted remover of locks 54 “Run to ____” (1961 hit) 56 Petty braggart 59 Summer romance, maybe 60 Carpet fuzz

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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 October 28 issue of Oklahoma Gazette are shown at left.

Oklahoma Gazette

7

61 Comment made with a handshake 62 “Be that way!”

68 Like Christmas lights 69 Tuba sound 70 Party straggler 72 Religious deg.

74 Tater Tots maker 76 “Where should ____ the check?”

79 Cell part 81 Water, e.g.: Abbr.

83 “Trick” or “treat,” e.g.

86 The “V” of R.S.V.P. 87 Slimy stuff 88 Flopped 89 Maxim tear-out 90 Winter Olympics equipment 92 Too, too 97 Start of a rationalization 99 Attic function

1101

New York Times Magazine Crossword Puzzle Halloween costumes By Bill Zais / Edited by Will Shortz

100 Like some Roman aphorisms 103 Out of action, in baseball lingo

105 Functional 106 Really get to 107 Tic-tac-toe starters?

112 Coke, to Pepsi 113 Hwys.

114 Mouthy?

117 Sauce brand since 1937 118 Conference USA sch.

121 Actor Marvin 123 Book after Exodus: Abbr.

124 Guy whose face might get slapped

125 Mai ____ 126 Gamer’s prefix with pets 127 Retired boomer

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Forward thinking Fresh off its historic 2015 season, the Oklahoma City Dodgers are already thinking ahead to 2016.

New members save 25% with this ad.

By Brendan Hoover

For more information visit www.cityofyukonok.gov cityofyukonokgov @cityofyukonok @cityofyukonokgov

Back in the old Brooklyn Dodgers days, fans had a saying to express their love and optimism for the team, despite any on-the-field shortcomings: “Wait till next year!”

For the Oklahoma City Dodgers, next year is now.

After a historic 2015 season, the Dodgers are thinking ahead to next season and planning more promotions, giveaways and baseball entertainment, said Michael Byrnes, team president and general manager.

“I think our staff is excited to build on the momentum that was put in place this year,” he said. “We want to see more people coming out and engaging with the team beyond what we did in 2015.”

2016 highlights

The Oklahoma City Dodgers open its 2016 season on the road and will begin its 19th season at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark on April 15 against the Nashville Sounds. Opening night will be the first of 13 fireworks nights during the season, including all Friday-night games and July 4 against Colorado Springs Sky Sox. Dodgers field trip days return May 4 and May 17. Both games begin at 11:05 a.m., and gates open at 10 a.m.

The team welcomes area summer camps with an 11:05 a.m. game on June 15.

Full-season, half-season and partial-season ticket package renewals are now being accepted, and the group-preferred buyer period is underway for those who enjoyed an outing in 2015 and want to book another for 2016. New group ticket and hospitality packages are available to the public beginning Monday.

Success building During the 2015 regular season, 471,996 fans watched the Los Angeles Dodgers Triple-A affiliate play at The Brick, including 23 sellouts, the team’s highest attendance since 2007. The Dodgers are

4 0 | n ov e m b e r 4 , 2 0 1 5 | O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e

Oklahoma City Dodgers fans watch the season opener earlier this year at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. the only Pacific Coast League (PCL) team to see an increase in attendance in each of the past five seasons.

The team’s rebranding generated excitement, and the game experience proved unique to Oklahoma City while staying Dodger true, from hearing legendary broadcaster Vin Scully’s voice saying, “It’s time for Dodger baseball,” to getting a famous Dodger Dog from the concession stand, Byrnes said.

The Dodgers’ on-the-field success didn’t hurt; it finished the regular season with PCL’s best record, 86-58, a record for most wins in the modern era. It won PCL’s American Northern Division for the second time in three years.

Off-the-field leadership

Byrnes was one of three finalists for 2015 PCL Executive of the Year award. The league nominated Dodgers Senior Vice President Jenna Byrnes for 2015 Rawlings Woman Executive of the Year. The award will be formally presented during the Baseball Winter Meetings Award Luncheon Dec. 7 in Nashville, Tennessee.

The Dodgers are becoming community leaders as well. It established the nonprofit Oklahoma City Dodgers Baseball Foundation this year, with a mission to help families, provide youth education opportunities and support local first responders. The organization also received the 2015 Gold Star Award from the Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitation Services Support Services Division for its work in hiring disabled youth. It recently partnered with the Oklahoma Highway Safety Office and Safe Kids Oklahoma to host a free car seat check at The Brick.

For more information, call 218-1000 or visit okcdodgers.com.

Heart, strings Death, destruction, drugs, rehab and redemption transformed Fiawna Forté’s life and her powerhouse rock ’n’ roll music.

By Adam Holt

When seen live, Fiawna Forté is a force to be reckoned with, an energy to be experienced. With a voice slightly lower than the average female, soft, breathy notes can and often surge to a high pitch sometimes conveying a message, other times only a sound, but always drenched in emotion.

The 27-year-old’s musical foundation is strummed from the thick tones of her Gibson Hollow Body guitar and anchored by her band, whose bassist, Phillip Hanewinkel, is her husband. Her life, both personally and musically, is one of transition, an existence filled with life-changing moments composed of triumph and tragedy, and Forté uses her creativity to make sense of it. Her chords are her joy; her words are her therapy.

Her fourth and latest album, Deciduous, is set to be released Nov. 14.

(She said she’ll announce an Oklahoma City metro release party soon.) Forté often uses these moments as lyrical themes and wraps them in a sound straight from Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee. Notes of Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley are present among the rockabilly and spaghetti-Western tones of the record.

Guitars, heartaches

To truly understand the Fiawna Forté of Deciduous, you must understand her transitions.

Forté was born in Lake City, Florida, in 1988 to a family who held music close.

“I grew up in a major musical family,” Forté said. “Both sides of my family, everyone plays, sings and writes.”

She quickly displayed promise, reflecting her family’s talent.

“I wrote my first song at 2 years old.

It was called ‘Jesus Setteth Me Free.’

My mom still has it on tape,” said Forté with a laugh.

At age 7, her mother bought her a guitar, an instrument many of her relatives play. By the end of the first week, through watching her relatives and experimenting, she learned four chords and wrote a song.

By that time, Forté was in the middle of her first transition. Her family owned and ran a sporting goods store

in Florida when she was 5 years old. In a nine-month stretch, both her house

Fiawna Forté

the more soulful and lively, predominately black churches, and everything in between. Forté made the most of the adventure that still influences her to the day.

“I love that old-style church music,” she said. “There wouldn’t be rock ’n’ roll without it.”

Gospel truth

and family business burned down and her father died in an accident at age 30.

Forté’s memories of the tragedies are foggy, though they often enter her thoughts and dreams, especially since she is closing in on age 30 herself.

She still struggles with the negativity of the events.

“Your brain kind of develops the idea that that’s normal, that things are supposed to go wrong,” she said.

“It’s literally taken till the last two years to understand that that’s not normal.”

Four years after her dad’s death, her mother remarried a traveling minister and youth counselor. The family moved to Tulsa, though at times, it was more of a home base than a home. Her family

joined her stepfather in the traveling ministry.

From the ages of 12 to 16, Forté’s family crisscrossed the United States, visiting churches in New York, California, Hawaii and the Deep South. They called on numerous congregations, each with their own unique qualities, particularly in music.

There were predominately white churches that sang hymns in angelic choirs, contrasts to

About that time, Forté experienced another transitional moment. She was not allowed to listen to secular music. However, one day, when no one was home, she walked to the radio and reached for the dial. After searching frequencies, she heard Ann Wilson of Heart singing “Crazy On You.” “It was the first time I’d heard real rock ’n’ roll, classic rock, with a female singing front, singing like that,” she said. “I knew that’s what I wanted to do.”

The only mainstream artists she was exposed to previously were Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison, but only their gospel works.

That day changed everything.

From the ages of 16 to 17, Forté and her brother, a musician and artist, created and toured in a folk-rock duo named Silence Dogood. The two developed a following and found themselves the recipients of a five-year contract from a label associated with Warner Bros.

The situation is one many musicians dream about. However, Forté felt uneasy.

“Looking at five years on a page was terrifying to me,” she said. “I knew in my gut it really wasn’t what I wanted to do.”

Forté also said the project, though enjoyable, was more her brother’s and she felt a need to express herself. The duo turned down the contract and disbanded. continued on next page

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Breaking free

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Throughout the first 16 years of her life, Forté was extremely shy. She sang and performed in the background during her family’s church travels, usually quietly, with her hair in her eyes. Her actions were similar while in Silence Dogood.

At age 17, she said, something in her mind snapped and she decided she would no longer be secondary.

“Everyone wants to be the lead role in their life,” she said about the change.

She put together a band and went fullsteam into her solo career, touring regionally.

Her eagerness came with a price.

“I got too much power too fast, and I actually exploded,” Forté said.

Caught up in the whirlwind of touring and constantly writing and performing music, she found herself turning to cocaine.

“I got to this place where I didn’t want to live but I didn’t want to die.

The drugs were a way to balance that out,” she said.

One day, the 20-year-old was exhausted, frustrated and strung out while loading her vehicle with her gear. She looked into the sky and began to scream.

I got too much power too fast, and I actually exploded.

— Fiawna Forté

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“God, if you exist, you are going to have to help me,” she yelled.

That night, her fortune began to change. She met Phillip Hanewinkel, who would one day become her husband.

“He wasn’t even supposed to see me,” she said. “I tried to leave after the first act but was stuck in the crowd.”

Liking her performance, he came to her next show and brought 11 people with him.

Forté went cold turkey and attended rehab. During the stay, she wrote half the songs that would appear on her first album, Transitus, Latin for “transition.” The 2010 record has an overall indie rock feel,

and its lyrics reflect the atmosphere where many were written — rehab — and her mindset while there.

“I think it’s about coming to terms with reality,” she said.

She added that the experience taught her to speak up, ask for help and become a leader.

The band’s composition changed.

Hanewinkel took over on bass with his nephew Hank on drums. Another friend took lead guitar. Within six months of joining the band, Hanewinkel and Forté began dating. Within a year and a half, they were married.

She credits Hanewinkel and his family with helping her stay clean and sober.

The 2013 acoustic record The Album To Fund The Album produced funds to help Forté create the 2014 experimental release mi-MOH-suh pud-EE-kuh. The name is the phonetic spelling of the Mimosa pudica plant.

“Whenever you touch it, it closes up. There’s something about that symbolism that worked for me,” she said.

The lo-fi project was produced using old equipment, including a digital hard drive from the 1980s.

Forté said the songs are more theatrical in nature.

“I did things instrumentally and musically in a way that you wouldn’t want to do on an album you wanted to sell a lot of,” she said.

With Deciduous, Forté returns to the melodies of her youth, but this time, it’s more on the secular side.

On the track “So Darn Cute,” the unmistakable influence of a young Elvis can be heard through the instruments and in Forté’s versatile vocals. The opening track, “Stella,” rings in the ear like a song from a Western movie soundtrack or a Quentin Tarantino film.

Though guitar vibrato and reverb are present throughout the project, the real star is Forté’s voice. It’s sometimes intense, sometimes sultry, but always pure emotion.

The songs have received an amazing response in live shows, but what truly satisfies Forté is the process of writing music.

“I want people to love it, and I want people to connect to it, but I want to create,” she said. “If that gets me across the world or next door, I don’t care.”

PROV I D ED

life music

Redefining standards

7 p.m. Nov. 15 Thelma Gaylord Performing Arts Theatre Civic Center Music Hall 201 N. Walker Ave. okcciviccenter.com 297-2264 $65-$80

Diana Krall brings her Wallflower World Tour to Civic Center Music Hall.

By Wilhelm Murg

Jazz singer and pianist Diana Krall will perform Nov. 15 at Civic Center Music Hall, 201 N. Walker Ave., in support of her latest album, Wallflower, which covers classic pop songs from the ’60s to the present.

Krall revived jazz as a commercial art form in 1998 with her breakthrough album When I Look in Your Eyes, which was the first jazz album to be nominated for the Album of the Year award in 25 years at the Grammys. Billboard ranked the album ninth on its list of Top Jazz Albums of the Decade.

Krall was born in 1964 in British Columbia, where she began taking piano lessons at the age of 4. Her father was a stride pianist who had an extensive collection of jazz records, and Krall acknowledges the inspiration she took from legendary pianists Fats Waller, Nat

King Cole and Oscar Peterson.

Though she seemed like an overnight sensation, Krall released four albums leading up to her success with When I Look in Your Eyes. With her follow-up release, 2001’s The Look of Love, her record company changed her image from a jazz performer to a pop chanteuse, and the record company played up her photogenic looks, giving her a sultry, sexy mystique to go with her husky contralto voice. Krall is said to be uncomfortable with the glamour photo shoots, and though the formula has been widely successful for her over the years, her real fans agree that her best asset is her voice.

In 2009, she did an extensive interview with Sir Elton John on Spectacle — the Showtime series hosted

by Krall’s husband, Elvis Costello —

where she reclaimed her jazz roots by beautifully performing works by Peterson and Cole off the top of her head.

While Krall’s last album, 2012’s Glad Rag Doll, paid homage to obscure, pre-WWII jazz, pop and vaudeville songs she learned from her father’s record collection, Wallflower seems to continue that exploration into her influences and past but updates it to the music from Krall’s formative years.

Wallflower mostly consists of covers of soft pop hits from the ’60s, beginning with The Mamas & the Papas’ “California Dreaming” up through Randy Newman’s 1995 composition “Feels Like Home.” Krall takes these songs, many of which have been marginalized by critics over the years as “mere” pop music, a genre seen

as “lower” than rock music to some, and performs them as post-modern standards. Because of the pervasiveness of The Carpenters’ “Superstar” or the Eagles’ “Desperado,” they are as familiar to our age as the Great American Songbook was to earlier generations.

Krall also throws in some oddball choices amid the Jim Croce and Gilbert O’Sullivan songs on Wallflower that show this is more than simple nostalgia.

Among them is an unrecorded Paul McCartney song left over from his 2012 album Kisses on the Bottom, which Krall also worked on, and the title track, a 1971 song written by Bob Dylan that wasn’t released until 20 years later.

The Wallflower World Tour is a unique opportunity to see a major artist revisit the music that inspired her to become the artist she is today.

felt life should have.

“When we scream on stage, it’s to acknowledge all cultures are beautiful masks, but they only take you so far — to a nice carnival or masquerade. True human spirit is beyond culture,” Hütz said. “That’s why my main interest is in human potential. Music is a way to explore that, and you can see how it links up with the idea of pura vida. Pura Vida is pure life; Conspiracy is wordplay on the fact that most of the people in the world are so focused on everything going wrong that they fail to see the 50 percent going right.”

The album’s definitive track, Hütz said, is “We Rise Again.” It continues the band’s efforts to achieve a sort of world citizenship that was started with its 2010 release, Trans-Continental Hustle. Another Pura Vida track, “It Is The Way You Name Your Ship,” captures the motion of a rocking pirate vessel, an easy task with Gogol Bordello’s primal sound.

“The song is about the power of the word and its intent,” Hütz said. “Naming your ship determines where you go and how you get there.”

He said the album stays true to the group’s polyamorous sound and combines an adventurous spirit with a stronger rock anchor.

Once known for its incessant touring, these days, the act takes things just a little bit more slowly. Its members wanted more personal time and more flexibility to pursue other creative ventures.

Hütz said Monday’s stop at Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa might be the last time the band is seen in Oklahoma for quite awhile.

And it will be worth the trek from Oklahoma City.

“The show’s on the road, and we have some original members back. It’s a very special tour, and you’ll see us in a cool, rock ’n’ roll experience,” Hütz said.

BRYA N A DA MS / PROVI D ED

Diana Krall

Nomadic sound PROVID ED

Gypsy punk stalwart Gogol Bordello brings its peripatetic sound to Cain’s Ballroom on Monday.

By Paul Fairchild

Gogol Bordello With Jessica Hernandez & The Deltas 8:15 p.m. Monday Cain’s Ballroom 423 N. Main St., Tulsa cainsballroom.com 918-584-2306 $26-$41

On Monday, New York City’s Gogol Bordello brings its high-energy gypsy punk to Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa.

Formed in 1999 in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, the act pushes borders outward, experimenting with Italian, dub, reggae, punk, Tex-Mex and classical influences planted firmly within the Ukrainian Gypsy influences frontman Eugene Hütz grew up with.

“We don’t really consider [our shows] to be high-energy; it’s just our energy,” Hütz said. “We’re all performers by nature, and we have a great interaction and chemistry on stage that keeps us all

spontaneous; it’s crucial. Every single person in our band, their energy is so impactful on everybody else’s energy. For us, it’s just energy — joyous, creative, cathartic energy.”

The core of the group’s early members were Eastern European, each with their own musical background.

Fascinated by unorthodox bands like Suicide, Sonic Youth and Beastie Boys, the group — well-known for leaving piles of destroyed sound equipment in its wake — combined a postmodern approach with its unique heritage and gave birth to what’s now dubbed Gypsy punk.

“It’s just a free flow, really, of creative joy,” Hütz said. “I really don’t think there’s any other way to approach art.”

Pura Vida Conspiracy takes its name from the chant of a Colombian crowd during the band’s Latin American tour. After leaving the stage, Hütz and company heard the crowd yelling “Pura vida!” It had an energy to it that Hütz

O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e | n ov e m b e r 4 , 2 0 1 5 | 4 3

4 4 | n ov e m b e r 4 , 2 0 1 5 | O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e

James McMurtry, Sooner Theatre, Norman.

SINGER/SONGWRITER Kim & The Gang, Sliders. VARIOUS Life of the Party, Oklahoma City Limits. COVER

Edgar Cruz/Jeff Nokes, Avanti Bar & Grill. ACOUSTIC

Locust Avenue/Calabar/Shameless Friend, Opolis, Norman. ROCK

Jason Young Band, Baker Street Pub & Grill. COUNTRY

Mike McClure Band, Grady’s 66 Pub, Yukon. COUNTRY

Lost Kings, Kamps 1310 Lounge. ELECTRONIC

MLP Band, Bourbon Street Bar. ROCK

Maurice Johnson, R&J Lounge and Supper Club.

NOTS/Creep City, Mainsite Contemporary Art, Norman.

ROCK

Scott Lowber/Will Galbraith/Ed VanBuskirk, Friends Restaurant & Club. COVER Title Fight, 89th Street Collective. ROCK

THURSDAY, NOV. 5 Brent Saulsbury/Will Galbraith/Wayne Duncan, Friends Restaurant & Club. ROCK Escape The Fate/A Skylit Drive, 89th Street Collective. ROCK Gum/Sports/Buhu, Blue Note Lounge. VARIOUS Mark Jenkins, Armstrong Auditorium, Edmond. JAZZ Okie Soul Jam, Bourbon Street Bar. BLUES Power Pyramid/Wild Honey/Cherry Death, 51st Street Speakeasy. INDIE

Overdrive, Remington Park. COVER Sam Riggs, Wormy Dog Saloon. COUNTRY TJ Chesshire, Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill.

COUNTRY Turtle Island Quartet, Bass School of Music, OCU. JAZZ Wrinkle Neck Mules, The Blue Door. BLUEGRASS

SATURDAY, NOV. 7 411 Band, Riverwind Casino, Norman. COVER

Don and Melodee Johnson, Twelve Oaks, Edmond. FOLK Groove Underground, Oklahoma City Limits. ROCK

The Weathermen, Baker Street Pub & Grill. ROCK

Jacob Stiefel, Grady’s 66 Pub, Yukon. COUNTRY

411 Band, Riverwind Casino, Norman. COVER Arliss Nancy/They Stay Dead/Don’t Make Ghosts, Blue Note Lounge. ROCK Copperheads/Dome Dwellers/Animal Spirit, Opolis, Norman. ROCK Daniel Jordan, Fuze Buffet & Bar. ACOUSTIC DJ Six, Russell’s, Tower Hotel. VARIOUS Granger Smith/Kaitlin Butts, Diamond Ballroom.

COUNTRY

music

Casey & Minna, Bedlam Bar-B-Q. FOLK

Steve Poltz, The Blue Door. SINGER/SONGWRITER

FRIDAY, NOV. 6

okg

Big G, Remington Park. BLUES

Friday

Kaitlin Butts

Indie folk and roots rock five-piece Wrinkle Neck Mules, from Virginia and Texas, comes together for a concert stop this weekend in Oklahoma City. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and showtime is 8 p.m. Friday at The Blue Door, 2805 N. McKinley Ave. Tickets are $15-$20. Visit bluedoorokc.com or call 524-0738.

Midas 13, Whiskey Chicks. ROCK MilkDrive, The Blue Door. ACOUSTIC Miss Blues, Bourbon Street Bar. BLUES Pat Payne/James Hostler/George Garrison, Rodeo Opry. COUNTRY

SUNDAY, NOV. 8

Replay, Russell’s, Tower Hotel. COVER Smilin’ Vic, UCO Jazz Lab, Edmond. BLUES

Casey & Minna, Uptown Grocery Co., Edmond. FOLK

Stockyard Playboys, Blue Note Lounge. BLUEGRASS Sundown, Sliders. VARIOUS

Cynthia Clawson/Bruce Greer, First Baptist Church of Oklahoma City. CHRISTIAN

The Weathermen, Tapwerks Ale House & Cafe. ROCK

Edgar Cruz, Skirvin Hilton Hotel. ACOUSTIC Kristi Rose & Fats Kaplin, The Blue Door. COUNTRY

Ian Moore, VZD’s Restaurant & Club.

SINGER/SONGWRITER

Ian Moore VZD’s Friday

Max Carl/Mojo Men, Oklahoma City Limits. BLUES Mike Hosty One Man Band, The Deli, Norman. ROCK tr avis pie rce / provid ed

Gum Blue Note Lounge Thursday

pick

Wrinkle Neck Mules

w esle y marsden / PROV IDE D

Live Music WEDNESDAY, NOV. 4

MB C e l e lla / P ROV I D ED

life music

Scott Lowber/Will Galbraith/Rick Toops, Friends Restaurant & Club. COVER Stardeath & White Dwarfs, 89th Street Collective. ROCK The Birth Defects, Blue Note Lounge. ROCK

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 11 Blood On The Dance Floor, 89th Street Collective.

ELECTRONIC

Tim Stanford & The Exclusives, Bourbon Street Bar. BLUES

Edgar Cruz/Kyle Dillingham, UCO Jazz Lab, Edmond.

ACOUSTIC

MONDAY, NOV. 9

Jackyl/Left To Die, Diamond Ballroom. ROCK Jonathan Byrd, The Blue Door. SINGER/SONGWRITER

Carnifex/Within The Ruins, 89th Street Collective. ROCK

Lower 40, Baker Street Pub & Grill. COUNTRY

Rick Toops, Friends Restaurant & Club. ROCK

Maurice Johnson, R&J Lounge and Supper Club.

Scott Lowber/Will Galbraith/Ed VanBuskirk, Friends Restaurant & Club. COVER

TUESDAY, NOV. 10 Brightmusic Chamber Ensemble, St. Paul’s Cathedral.

CLASSICAL Heather Maloney, The Depot, Norman. INDIE Lucero, Cain’s Ballroom, Tulsa. COUNTRY

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.

O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e | n ov e m b e r 4 , 2 0 1 5 | 4 5

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY

by ROB BREZNY

Homework: Brag about a talent or ability that few people know you have. Tout one of your underappreciated charms. Report to FreeWillAstrology.com.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) In 1978, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield began selling their new ice cream out of a refurbished gas station in Burlington, Vermont. Thirty-seven years later, Ben & Jerry’s is among the world’s best-selling ice cream brands. Its success stems in part from its willingness to keep transforming the way it does business. “My mantra is ‘Change is a wonderful thing,’” says the current CEO. As evidence of the company’s intention to keep re-evaluating its approach, there’s a “Flavor Graveyard” on its website, where it lists flavors it has tried to sell but ultimately abandoned. “Wavy Gravy,” “Tennessee Mud,” and “Turtle Soup” are among the departed. Now is a favorable time for you to engage in a purge of your own, Aries. What parts of your life don’t work any more? What personal changes would be wonderful things?

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) Before he helped launch Apple Computer in the 1970s, tech pioneer Steve Wozniak ran a dial-a-joke service. Most of the time, people who called got an automated recording, but now and then Wozniak answered himself. That’s how he met Alice Robertson, the woman who later became his wife. I’m guessing you will have comparable experiences in the coming weeks, Taurus. Future allies may come into your life in unexpected ways. It’s as if mysterious forces will be conspiring to connect you with people you need to know.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) Small, nondestructive earthquakes are common. Our planet has an average of 1,400 of them every day.

This subtle underground mayhem has been going on steadily for millions of years. According to recent research, it has been responsible for creating 80 percent of the world’s gold. I suspect that the next six or seven months will feature a metaphorically analogous process in your life. You will experience deep-seated quivering and grinding that won’t bring major disruptions even as it generates the equivalent of gold

deposits. Make it your goal to welcome and even thrive on the subterranean friction!

differences to be differences. And more than that: Celebrate them!

CANCER (June 21-July 22) Here’s the process I went through to create your horoscope. First I drew up a chart of your astrological aspects. Using my analytical skills, I pondered their meaning. Next, I called on my intuitive powers, asking my unconscious mind to provide symbols that would be useful to you. The response I got from my deeper mind was surprising: It informed me that I should go to a new cafe that had just opened downtown. Ten minutes later, I was there, gazing at a menu packed with exotic treats: Banana Flirty Milk . . . Champagne Coconut Mango Slushy . . . Honey Dew Jelly Juice . . . Creamy Wild Berry Blitz . . . Sweet Dreamy Ginger Snow. I suspect these are metaphors for experiences that are coming your way.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) In the mid-19th century, an American named Cyrus McCormick patented a breakthrough that had the potential to revolutionize agriculture. It was a mechanical reaper that harvested crops with far more ease and efficiency than hand-held sickles and scythes.

But his innovation didn’t enter into mainstream use for 20 years. In part that was because many farmers were skeptical of trying a new technology, and feared it would eliminate jobs. I don’t foresee you having to wait nearly as long for acceptance of your new wrinkles, Libra. But you may have to be patient.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) The Beatles’ song “You Never Give Me Your Money” has this poignant lyric: “Oh, that magic feeling, nowhere to go.” I suggest you make it your motto for now. And if you have not yet begun to feel the allure of that sentiment, initiate the necessary shifts to get yourself in the mood. Why? Because it’s time to recharge your spiritual battery, and the best way to do that is to immerse yourself in the mystery of having nothing to do and nowhere to go. Put your faith in the pregnant silence, Leo. Let emptiness teach you what you need to know next.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Should a professional singer be criticized for her lack of skill in laying bricks? Is it reasonable to chide a kindergarten teacher for his ineptitude as an airplane pilot? Does it make sense to complain about a cat’s inability to bark? Of course not. There are many other unwarranted comparisons that are almost as irrational but not as obviously unfair. Is it right for you to wish your current lover or best friend could have the same *je ne sais quoi* as a previous lover or best friend? Should you try to manipulate the future so that it’s more like the past? Are you justified in demanding that your head and your heart come to identical conclusions? No, no, and no. Allow the

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SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) Is it possible to express a benevolent form of vanity?

I say yes. In the coming weeks, your boasts may be quite lyrical and therapeutic. They may even uplift and motivate those who hear them. Acts of self-aggrandizement that would normally cast long shadows might instead produce generous results.

That’s why I’m giving you a go-ahead to embody the following attitude from Nikki Giovanni’s poem “Ego Tripping (there may be a reason why)”: “I am so perfect so divine so ethereal so surreal / I cannot be comprehended except by my permission.”

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) Regard the current tensions and detours as camouflaged gifts from the gods of growth. You’re being offered a potent opportunity to counteract the effects of a self-sabotage you committed once upon a time. You’re getting an excellent chance to develop the strength of character that can blossom from dealing with soul-bending riddles. In fact, I think you’d be wise to feel a surge of gratitude right now. To do so will empower you to take maximum advantage of the disguised blessings.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) You are slipping into a phase when new teachers are likely to appear. That’s excellent news, because the coming weeks will also be a time when you especially need new teachings. Your good fortune doesn’t

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PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) The Sahara in Northern Africa is the largest hot desert on the planet. It’s almost the size of the United States.

Cloud cover is rare, the humidity is low, and the temperature of the sand can easily exceed 170º F. (80º C.). That’s why it was so surprising when snow fell there in February of 1979 for the first time in memory.

This once-in-a-lifetime visitation happened again 33 years later. I’m expecting a similar anomaly in your world, Pisces. Like the desert snow, your version should be mostly interesting and only slightly inconvenient. It may even have an upside. Saharan locals testified that the storm helped the palm trees because it killed off the parasites feeding on them.

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

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

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4 6 | N ov e m b e r 4 , 2 0 1 5 | O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) American author Mark Twain seemed to enjoy his disgust with the novels of Jane Austen, who died 18 years before he was born. “Her books madden me so that I can’t conceal my frenzy,” he said, even as he confessed that he had perused some of her work multiple times. “Every time I read *Pride and Prejudice,*” he wrote to a friend about Austen’s most famous story, “I want to dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shin-bone.” We might ask why he repetitively sought an experience that bothered him. I am posing a similar question to you, Aquarius.

According to my analysis, the coming weeks will be an excellent time to renounce, once and for all, your association with anything or anyone you are addicted to disliking.

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end there. I suspect that you will have an enhanced capacity to learn quickly and deeply. With all these factors conspiring in your favor, Capricorn, I predict that by January 1, you will be smarter, humbler, more flexible, and better prepared to get what you want in 2016.

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

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