Friday, April 24, 2020

f r i day, a p r i l 24, 2 0 2 0

The show must go on(line) Annual Red Dirt festival goes virtual due to COVID-19

C OV E R S T O RY

Bob Childers Gypsy Cafe goes to livestream to reach fans Megan Hays Li fe s tyle E ditor @ m egtherep ort er

The road is still gravel out there west of Stillwater off of Highway 51. The building burned down years ago leaving just the land it was on.

There isn’t a building or a special plaque that denotes the sight as any place of importance.

But at a time there was a little barn building called the Gypsy Cafe and on that little plot of land, the Red Dirt genre was created.

Even with the building gone, people still celebrate the singer-songwriter attitude that came from the land and while the situation isn’t ideal, the Red Dirt Relief Fund is working to make sure people still can experience the Gypsy Cafe, just a little different, Red Dirt Relief Fund board member and Red Dirt Ranger member, John Cooper explains.

“We’re not having Gypsy Cafe as we traditionally have it,” Cooper said. “We’re calling it Gypsy Cafe Reimagined and we’re having 20 singer-songwriters and acts send in one song a piece and we’re putting it into an event that’s being put together. It is airing the same time we’d traditionally have it.”

On Wednesday, the Red Dirt Relief Fund is partnering with O’Colly TV to livestream the concert to all streaming devices. The main goal of

the concert is to replenish the Red Dirt Relief Fund’s foundation funds to keep up with their mission especially during this pandemic. Executive director Katy Dale said that the organization has been helping provide for people in the music industry.

“Something that’s happened recently is COVID-19 and the cancelations universally of festivals, gigs, venues, everything has affected everyone in the music business,” Dale said. “We launched an emergency COVID-19 musician relief grant program that is a one-time $250 emergency grant. In the first two weeks we served 400 music people across the state and gave away $100,000. We still have a waiting list of almost 200 individuals waiting for a grant.”

The fund isn’t just for Red Dirt musicians or even just musicians.

The grants only requires for people to have been involved in the music industry for five years and currently live in Oklahoma.

“We had to open it to musicians throughout the state of Oklahoma in all genres then we realized that we couldn’t just limit it to musicians, people involved in the music industry also need help and that includes stagehands, promotors, club owners,” Cooper said. “We’ve helped all kinds of people who are associated with the music industry as

well because we wanted it to be that.”

Bob Childers Gypsy Cafe is a big source of money for the fund and with the restriction on any social gathering, the committee had to think outside of the box when it came to raising that capital and awareness of the organization, they reached out to Kelly Kerr of the O’Colly Media Group.

“With the way everything is rolling right now with entertainment and what we’re seeing on a national level, this just makes perfect sense for us to offer our streaming service to do this concert,” Kerr said. “It gives them a nice platform and it also lets us participate.

It gives them a nice stage, I think that’s a nice way to put it. It is a good virtual stage to have the concert this year.”

Every year for the past nine years, Bob Childers Gypsy Cafe has celebrated the singersongwriter culture that developed out at the farm years prior. The man the event is named after was responsible for much of the genre’s development and helped many of currently active artists like Cooper write songs they still perform.

“We all wrote songs with Bob, he toured with us and we were all very close with Bob, he was a dear, dear friend,” Cooper said. “Bob was just a seminal figure in the scene and we wanted to honor him and his

Courtesy of Gypsy Cafe

With COVID-19 causing wide spread cancellations, the team for the Red Dirt Relief Fund is working with O’Colly TV to livestream their annual Bob Childers Gypsy Cafe.

contribution. He is considered a huge piece in Red Dirt music and really just music in the state of Oklahoma.”

In honor of that spirit, the Gypsy Cafe awards the Restless Spirit Award every year as a lifetime achievement award and as recognition for following in Childers footsteps.

Along with that award, the organization also continues to celebrate its singer-songwriter style by announcing the winner of the Jimmy LaFave Songwriting Contest.

“It’s the challenge of not being able to gather together for the feeling that you get when you’re in a group listening to live music together,” Dale said. “We still want

to somehow capture that through the storytelling…

We’re hoping to share this story that we feel is kind of like a wonderful beautiful secret with a lot more people through this format.”

It’s that story and style of Red Dirt music that lends itself well into bringing the festival online.

“It doesn’t have to be overly produced, I think that’s going to be the charm of this concert,” Kerr said. “I think that will be the redeeming value in it, it will have some charm to it and the value will be in the broken down performances.”

Even though the goal of the livestreamed festival is to replenish

funds so the organization can continue its work and demonstrate how the show must go on, a bigger part of it is how it can help other people get through this time of social distancing, stress and uncertainty.

“What I want people to see is the value in music and how it can be healing, it can be fun, all those things,” Kerr said. “That’s what I’ve taken away from this. We just need to make sure we appreciate art and all different kinds of art. My takeaway is that music is still there, it is still vibrant, it could speak to a lot of different people.”

N E WS

Cowboy CARES offers students financial relief amid coronavirus El li e Mele r o N e ws Ed itor @ e lean or _m el er o

The coronavirus has sent the world into an economic crisis that has affected many members of the Oklahoma State University community.

That’s why OSU is offering financial assistance to students through the Cowboy CARES Emergency Grant Fund.

“When the federal government passed the CARES Act recently, it contains a lot of measures to provide assistance due to the coronavirus situation,” Chad Blew, the director of Scholarships and Financial Aid, said. “Part of it is targeted for higher education, and part of that higher education money is to provide direct assistance to students. So that’s what (Cowboy CARES) is. It’s that federal money made available through the CARES Act.” Students can apply to receive money through the university’s financial aid website, and the application for the fund opened on April 16. By Tuesday, about 2,000 students had already applied.

Physiology pre-med junior Colby Hill said he applied because his job cut his hours so now he can only work 15 hours per week “I’ve got to pay for my rent still, and I gotta buy groceries because I don’t have food because I’m

Adam Luther/O’Colly

Students can qualify for up to $6,195 in financial assistance through the Cowboy CARES Emergency Grant Fund, which is federal money meant to help students who have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

paying for this stuff by myself,” Hill said. “So I need a little extra help.”

Hill said he still hasn’t heard back about his application.

Blew said the university is still working out how much to award students, but they are following guidance from the Department of Education.

The university received $8.3 million to give to students, and the maximum amount a student can qualify for is $6,195.

Blew said the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid hopes to start getting back to students as soon as Friday, but he’s not sure that will be possible.

The amount a student qualifies for will be based on need. The university

will look at whether a student has experienced income disruption, whether they have experienced any additional expenses because of coronavirus and the student’s financial situation before the pandemic.

Pro pilot senior Josh Jones said he hopes to receive at least $600 from the fund. He got this number by looking at his normal paychecks and the hours he would have normally worked over the past month and figuring out the difference in how many hours he did work.

“Due to everything going on and having to move back home, I have a reduced pay almost,” Jones said. “(My job is) still giving me a little bit of hours, but not being

able to have that full amount every month, that’s why I applied.”

Blew said if a student’s financial situation has changed since the last time he or she submitted the FAFSA, he encourages that person to contact the Office of Financial Aid directly to see if he or she qualifies for additional aid.

The money students receive is for them to spend how they see fit.

Although the money will be disbursed through students’ bursar accounts, the university cannot use it to pay any outstanding bills on a student’s bursar account.

“Normally, when we disburse scholarship or federal aid to a student’s bursar account, it pays

the bursar account first,” Blew said. “Then, the money that’s left over goes directly to the student. It’s an important point because students are used to when they get a refund, that means their bursar balance has been paid to zero and this is the money that’s left over.

“We don’t want students to think when they receive this money from CARES that means their bursar bill is zero because that is not the case.”

Cowboy CARES is one of several ways OSU has tried to help students who have been financially affected by the coronavirus.

In March, the university issued partial refunds for housing, dining, park-

ing and campus fees.

Additionally, student employees were able to receive up to two weeks’ pay if they were unable to continue working in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Blew said he encourages anyone who thinks they qualify for aid through Cowboy CARES to apply, and the Office of Scholarships and Financial aid is working to get that money “OSU is committed and remains committed to doing all we can to help students in this situation,” Blew said. “So we are very happy to have this Cowboy CARES funding from the Department of Education to help us with that.”

S P O RT S

N E WS

#DenimDayOK brings sexual violence awareness to OSU El li e Mele r o N e ws Ed ito r @ e lean or _ m el er o

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and Oklahoma State University’s 1 is 2 Many program plans to observe it through a virtual Denim Day on April 29.

Denim Day is the longest running sexual violence prevention and education campaign, and it began in Italy in the ‘90s after the Italian Supreme Court overturned a rape conviction with the reasoning that the plaintiff’s jeans were so tight she would have had to help her attacker take them off therefore giving consent.

Women in the Italian parliament wore jeans to work the next day to protest, and now, millions of people around the world wear jeans on Denim Day to protest and bring awareness to sexual violence.

“Denim Day is a great way to engage large groups of people,” 1 is 2 Many member Emmaline Belwood said. “The story behind Denim Day is amazing and the fact that all of these women and people, in solidarity, are wearing denim.

So, I encourage everyone to decorate some denim and wear some denim on April 29.”

Olivia Pendleton, the 1 is 2 Many specialist, said the group has been participating in Denim Day for four years, and they normally set up a jeans display around campus. They also usually host a symposium with

Courtesy of Olivia Pendleton

Denim Day is honored worldwide to bring awareness to sexual assault and prevention.

a guest speaker to teach people more about sexual violence prevention.

This year, 1 is 2 Many will participate in a virtual Denim Day through social media. In addition to asking people to wear jeans on Wednesday, the group is encouraging people to participate in their social distancing window display.

To participate in the window display, just decorate a pair of jeans and hang them in your window. Pendleton asked that people use #DenimDayOK with any photos they post on social media.

“I think it’s a great way to raise awareness,” Pendleton said. “I think it’s a very unique way to still engage in the message of Denim Day and to kind of do a spin-off of what we would typically do.

“I think the really cool thing about it is that it gives people the opportunity to impact their specific community rather than just the Stillwater community.”

Belwood joined 1 is 2 Many a year ago, and she

said prior to joining the group, she had never heard of Denim Day. That’s why she’s glad the group will still participate despite social distancing mandates.

“I believe it’s very important that we’re keeping up with all of our programming activities but especially Denim Day,” Belwood said. “In this time of quarantine, we are seeing cases of assault and domestic violence just because people are bound home.

So, being able to recognize that from the home is very important.”

In addition to coordinating the window displays, 1 is 2 Many is partnering with Wings of Hope to host a guest speaker on Facebook Live. Guest speaker Jaci Dietrick will talk about bystander intervention and how people can help put a stop to sexual violence. Her speech will begin at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Pendleton encourages people to participate in Denim Day, and hopes that people will be able to take something away from the event.

“I’m just really excited to see our community rally together and still show their support for victims of sexual violence and to make a public display even when we can’t all be together,” Pendleton said. “Clothing does not imply consent, and there’s nothing that could ever imply consent. So, I’m just excited to see our OSU community come together to participate in this event.”

Adam Luther/O’Colly

OSU guard Isaac Likekele dribbles during the Oklahoma State vs. No. 24 Texas Tech men’s basketball game on Saturday, February 15, 2020 at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater.

Likekele talks leadership, what he owes OSU after deciding to return for junior season Jo s e p h Fazi o S taff Re p o rte r @ Jo s e p h DFazi o

Isaac Likekele wanted to return for his junior season because he felt like he owed it to Oklahoma State and the city of Stillwater.

The 6-foot-4 point guard said he couldn’t leave OSU without giving it something special.

“I just felt like everywhere I’ve been from middle school, high school, I’ve always won,” Likekele said. “I got to help bring something special to the city of Stillwater, something to remember the team by. I feel like I just owed them that personally.”

Although he wants to bring a championship home to OSU, it didn’t mean the thought of playing professional basketball wasn’t on his mind.

Likekele said he had numerous conversations with the people close to him about the possibility of declaring for the NBA draft.

One of the people he talked

with was OSU coach Mike Boynton.

“I always trust coach Boynton,” Likekele said.

“Me and him talk about things, he always keeps everything honest and me and him both 100 percent agreed that I should be coming (back to OSU).

A major reason as to why Likekele didn’t push forward in the idea of declaring for the draft was the lack of an NBA combine. In a perfect world, Likekele would’ve wanted to compete at the NBA combine, talk to scouts about his game and decide from there.

“After we figured out there was no combine, we kinda knew it was kinda wrapped and we just decided to come on back,” Likekele said.

Likekele had a lot of time to think about his decision while he’s back home in Arlington, Texas. Among getting in a few shots here and there, Likekele said he’s been painting and meditating. Boynton even sent him

a book to read.

“I’m just trying to build new habits,” Likekele said.

With Likekele’s return, the Cowboys will have the leader they desperately need.

He’ll lead a top-5 recruiting class that features the No. 1 player Cade Cunningham.

Likekele will also have help from many returning players including one of the Big 12’s best shot blockers in Yor Anei.

In the end, it looks like a win-win situation for Likekele and OSU. “I feel like there’s really no excuse for me not to lead,” Likekele said. “In the past two years, I would lead and then sometimes I might stop leading for a couple of minutes but that’s because I know I had (Cameron McGriff, Thomas Dziagwa and Lindy Waters) right there.

“I’m one of the most experienced guys on the roster so I know that I gotta lead the whole time throughout the whole season on and off the floor for these young guys.”

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

Houses For Rent

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis

ACROSS 1 35th pres.

4 Smaller-than-life depiction 8 Larger-than-life creations 15 Spleen 16 Hilo shindig 17 Put into play 18 “The Shape of Water” director 21 Construction __ 22 Below 71-Across 23 “Frontline” network 24 What a pursuer seeks to narrow 28 Evergreen shrubs 31 Meat on a stick 33 English “L’chaim!”

36 Pack animal 39 “Gimme the skinny!”

42 Stiff 43 Snapchat marketing expert, in modern lingo 46 Northern Iraqis 47 Below 71-Across 48 Virtual-city denizen 49 __ column 51 Cabbage in a French café?

53 Long trip 56 Old tankard metal 59 Suffix for but61 Rolling rock?

63 High pair 65 “Watch your mouth!”

71 Garden-variety, and a hint to what’s hidden in 18-, 43- and 65-Across 72 Below 71-Across 73 In bygone days 74 __ status 75 Ward with awards 76 Explosive stuff DOWN 1 Lively dances 2 __ Roll-Ups 3 Urban of country 4 Not well 5 Numberless type of ball 6 Pole in a lock 7 Indifferent 8 Chest material FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 2020

600+ Rental Units Available Full Listings @ Stillwaterpm. com Stillwater Property 633 N. Husband 405-743-2126

Your Classified Ad or Business Square could be here! $10/Week Published online 3 times a week.

Email ads@ocolly.com or lori@ocolly.com Advertise your business specials, online or remote church activities, houses and apartments for rent, help wanted ads, or any other special your business is offering.

By Nancy Black Tribune Content Agency

Level 1

2

3

4

4/24/20

By Brian Temte and Jeff Chen

9 Like some wonders 10 LeBron’s team, on scoreboards 11 World Series mo.

12 Corner quartet, perhaps 13 Balkan native 14 Altar words 19 Welsh national emblem 20 Cheer for a banderillero 25 Have one’s chance to speak 26 Genesis victim 27 Conceals, in a way 29 Stylist’s braid 30 Others, in Latin 32 French flag couleur 34 Island nation whose flag has a Union Jack on it 35 Dutch cheese 36 Seeks permission 37 Common stock option?

38 Bartleby, notably 40 “__ delighted!”

41 Hold higher, as a baby bottle

Daily Horoscope

c las s if ieds

FOR RELEASE APRIL 24, 2020

Thursday’s Puzzle Solved

4/24/20

Solution to Thursday’s puzzle

©2020 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

44 License fig.

45 Swiss river 50 Spanish soccer association that means “the league” 52 Command to Fido 54 Bench mallet 55 Christmas __ 57 Conspicuous display 58 Hold sway

4/24/20

59 Savage of “MythBusters” 60 Super star 62 Roadie’s haul 64 Stain 66 Prefix with angle or athlete 67 Noir weapon 68 Fair-hiring initials 69 Co. that bought Netscape in 1999 70 Food service trade org.

Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit, 1 to 9.

For strategies on how to solve Sudoku, visit sudoku.org.uk

© 2020 The Mepham Group. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency. All rights reserved.

Today’s Birthday (04/24/20). Expand your horizons this year. Discipline with your work leads to rising value and excellence. Revise shared budgets this summer, before muses inspire your creativity. Shift itineraries to avoid obstacles.

Budget for reduced winter income before a shared venture blossoms into gold.

You’re learning valuable skills.

To get the advantage, check the day’s rating: 10 is the easiest day, 0 the most challenging.

Aries (March 21-April 19) -- Today is a 9 -- Your past work speaks well for you.

Dedicate your talents to a lucrative project. Fall into some good luck. You can get what you need.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) -- Today is an 8 -- Schedule time to indulge a personal passion. Relax and enjoy yourself. Take advantage of a lucky chance. You can take solid ground. Results satisfy.

Gemini (May 21-June 20) -- Today is a 7 -- Consider current circumstances from a spiritual perspective. Listen to your heart and align your plans toward what you love. Meditate on what’s next.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) -- Today is an 8 -- Connect with friends and allies.

Have patience with communications. Coordinate efforts to advance a shared cause. A long-desired prize is within reach.

Leo (July 23-Aug. 22) -- Today is a 7 -- All is not as it appears at work. The truth isn’t as expected. Stay calm despite changes or confusion. Revise plans. Find a lucky break.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) -- Today is an 8 -- Study a subject of lasting interest.

Read, discuss and write about a fascinating subject. Persuade with clear arguments. The truth gets revealed.

Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) -- Today is a 7 -- Work together to generate positive cash flow for shared accounts. Consistent efforts win. Coordinate your moves before making them. Strategize and organize plans.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) -- Today is an 8 -- Change direction intuitively.

Synchronize schedules with your partner. Support each other with a surprising development. Make sure that practical priorities get managed.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) -- Today is an 8 -- Establishing efficient routines saves money, time and energy. Take extra care of your physical health and wellbeing despite challenges. Rest and good food work wonders.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) -- Today is an 8 -- Use what you’ve kept hidden.

Enjoy your special toys and games. Have fun with family and friends. Romance would be delightful. Make an excellent connection.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) -- Today is a 7 -- Tend your garden. Manage domestic tasks and chores. Cook up something delicious and share it with the ones you love. Help others adjust to changes.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) -- Today is an 8 -- Take a leap of faith. Look at the situation from another vantage. Direct your passion toward solutions and communicational bridges. Reach out and connect.