Just as things started to get really good, “Buddy Holly” came on the radio. I paused to turn it up, killing the moment and any chance of advancing my quest any further. After dropping my date off, I went to Wal-Mart, purchased The Blue Album and that, as they say, was that. The experience filled me with […]
Louis Fowler
Posted inMusic
Crooks for life
With country currently among the most popular genres on the music charts, more bands have to find new ways to make themselves sound different from everything else on the radio. This is a credo that Josh Mazour, songwriter and lead singer of Crooks, has taken to heart, going as far as to create a new […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Disorderlies
While most of it is my fault, I like to take comfort in the idea that I was doomed from the get-go: • Blame a Depression-era father who forced me to clean my plate through shame and guilt.• Blame a public school free-lunch system that taught gravy as a food group.• Blame cable television for being so […]
Posted inNews
Word on the street
Marco Powell is a Curbside Chronicle vendor. Credit: Shannon Cornman It was an idea that Whitley O’Connor, executive director of The Curbside Chronicle and a self-proclaimed “social entrepreneur,” has seen benefit the destitute of many cities throughout the U.S. “It’s not a new idea, but we’ve put a new spin on it,” he said. O’Connor […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Passion play
A, B, A, B, B, A, up, down, up, down, select. If that means anything to you, you’re the exact type of patron who Stephen Kovash, the founder of the Istvan Gallery, wants. “The Istvan is one of the few commercial galleries in Oklahoma City that actually show urban, street, young people, hip — whatever […]
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High Society
Greg Simkins When Jerrod Smith opened The Society’s doors two years ago, the Plaza District venue was meant to be a community-driven art space that would also function as a studio for himself and a couple of other artists. But, to be honest, he wasn’t sure it would last one year, let alone two. “I […]
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Roots radical
Bill Kirchen Bill Kirchen is a man of many titles. Some people call him one of the “founding fathers of Americana”; others, “Titan of the Telecaster.” He helped pioneer the Americana movement, as well as the “twangcore” and “dieselbilly” scenes. Many know him as the lighting-in-a-bottle guitarist behind country rock’s Commander Cody and His Lost […]
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Aisha Eustache — Love & Addiction
Where are the chanteuses who once graced the charts, like Betty Wright, Roberta Flack or The Three Degrees? Where are the beautiful declarations of love and fidelity? The soul-stirring rock-bottoms of heartache and loneliness? A return to honest, resonant emotion? Those questions are answered with the five songs of Love & Addiction, the debut EP […]
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Look who’s Tonking
Like a local Zelig, Friedman — whose father owned Horn Trader Music, where many local musicians got their start — was the mastermind behind Inner State Studio, which produced such acts as The Reverb Brothers, as well as being the brains behind the Acoustic Oklahoma online series. But at the height of his success, he […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Beast master
Max Ogan — or Maximus, as he likes to be called — is surrounded by giant monsters and giant robots in his Plaza District studio, Bomb Shelter, but he’s not running for cover or summoning twin fairies for help. It’s all part of his latest exhibition, Machines vs. Monsters: Final Wars, his tribute to kaiju, […]