“Ain’t It Fun?”
A 90-degree evening didn’t stop music fans from filling The Zoo Amphitheatre for Paramore’s After Laughter Summer Tour, nor did it diminish the spirits of the energetic musicians onstage. In fact, right at the start of the opening set, a perfect cloud blocked the blazing sun and lowered the temperature at least ten degrees. Sure,…
Not last
When Yes on 788 officially declared victory on election night, a joyful cheer rang throughout 51st Street Speakeasy, where hundreds gathered indoors and out for an official watch party. It is appropriate that victory on the medical marijuana state question would be declared inside a bar taking inspiration from the speakeasy drinking establishments that popped…
Cherub rock
The Smashing Pumpkins: Shiny and Oh So Bright Tour 7 p.m. July 14 Chesapeake Energy Arena 100 W. Reno Ave. ticketmaster.com 1-800-653-8000 $21-$125 The sound system crashed, the lights went out and fans sweltered in the middle of December, but the show went on. The Smashing Pumpkins, now 75 percent reunited and celebrating the 25th…
Art and commerce
In the august offices of Norman’s Fowler Holding Company, 37-year-old Jonathan Fowler sits behind a heavy wooden desk surrounded by classic, stately décor. There are no posters for Norman Music Festival (NMF), the massive annual event he helped launch over 11 years ago, or any obvious indicators of his love for the music of local…
Okie body
What we put on our skin can be as important as what we put in our bodies. On a quest for potions that are natural, non-toxic, cruelty-free and nourishing, three Oklahoma women have devoted their business lives to bringing guilt-free, effective, ethical skincare to a market swamped with mass-produced, chemical-laden options. Heather Scott, owner of…
History’s heroines
The Revolutionists Thursday-July 21 Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park 2920 Paseo St. oklahomashakespeare.com 405-235-3700 $20-$30 Three long-since headless women from history, one rabble rouser and one bohemian visage of an ideal woman shouting over the frenzied voices of the masses during the French Revolution — these are the characters brought to life in The Revolutionists,…
Fresh passion
The sign hanging outside Lip Smackers Restaurant includes the phrase “cooking with passion and love,” and it’s something that owner Jabbar Chaibainou takes to heart. After years in the hotel restaurant industry and owning a Camille’s Sidewalk Cafe franchise, Chaibainou branched out on his own in May at his humble eatery connected to VP Fuels…
Path finder
Many people would call the idea of living comfortably in Oklahoma City without a car impossible. But for John Tankard and his wife Elizabeth, it was a reality they willingly lived for three years. John works as a bike and pedestrian planner for the City of Oklahoma City Planning Department. He also helped run the…
Irish steps
Students of Jean Hill have reaped the benefits of her multifaceted love of Irish culture and arts for decades. This appreciation is apparent in everything from her music selection to the ancillary cultural influences and the tenacity of maintaining one of the state’s only Irish dance outposts for over 20 years. Hill began independently teaching…
Chicken-Fried News: Lamb fries
If you live in the Oklahoma City media market, you can be forgiven for thinking Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb was having the Oklahoma Governor’s Mansion measured for drapes and gun ranges. Lamb ads absolutely flooded OKC television viewers this spring. They started in April with the cute-but-benign “Go, Dad, Go!” spot featuring daughter Lauren and…
Gazedibles: Celebrating ‘Murica
In honor of Independence Day, let’s take a look at seven dishes that trace their origins to the United States: chicken-fried steak, s’mores, chocolate chip cookies, meatloaf, gumbo, Buffalo wings and apple pie. These seven eateries will satisfy your craving to indulge in America. by Jacob Threadgill | Photos Gazette / File and provided…
Cooking cannabis
Edible marijuana is a powerful medicinal tool that unlocks compounds not derived through smoking or offered through CBD (cannabidiol), but it also packs a much more powerful psychoactive effect that requires regulation, especially in recreational uses, according to Oklahomans for Health co-founder Chip Paul. Related Smoking marijuana gets THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) into the system faster because…
Split decision
In early June, Troy Stevenson wrote a Facebook post celebrating the fact that a group from Oklahoma County Republican Party had committed to marching in this year’s OKC Pride Parade. But not everyone on the social media site celebrated along with him. Several social media posts wondered why the GOP, a party with a vocal…
‘Doin’ fine’
Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!: The Birth of Modern Musical Theatre and a New Image for the State 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays Oklahoma History Center 800 Nazih Zuhdi Drive okhistory.org 405-521-2491 Free-$7 For John Steinbeck’s Joads, Oklahoma was a Dust Bowl nightmare they’d give up almost everything to escape. Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!, on the other hand,…
Solid foundation
Hopscotch 10909 N. May Ave. hopscotchok.com 405-286-4246 What works: The jalapeño bread packs a kick. What needs work:Communication between servers. Tip: Be on the lookout for non-sandwich additions to the menu in coming months. Hopscotch is a game that crosses generations. Whether you’re a 5-year-old or 90-year-old, you’ve had experience with the game that is…
Ideal music
Woody Guthrie Folk Festival July 11-15 Okemah woodyfest.com $30-$100 Woody Guthrie said he always heard the best jokes, stories and songs from the people who society shuns. “You can learn a lot by talking to a shine boy,” Guthrie told folk historian Alan Lomax in an interview included with the singer’s Library of Congress recordings…
Call on Dolly!
Hello, Dolly! Tuesday-July 15 Civic Center Music Hall 201 N. Walker Ave. lyrictheatreokc.com $47-$93 Carol Channing and Dolly Levi made each other famous. Channing won a Tony for playing the original version of Levi, the titular vivacious widow in Hello, Dolly! on Broadway in 1964. Then for the next 30 years, according to Playbill, Channing…
Chicken-Fried News: Teaching lessons
As the two-week teacher walkout failed to get the increased school funding that it hoped in April, teachers and Oklahoma Education Association licked their wounds around the rallying cry of “Remember in November.” If last week’s primaries were any indication, the education coalition is following through on its call to action. Two of the 10…
Chicken-Fried News: Signs of times
On a recent dusky evening, the esteemed Chicken-Fried News panel gathered around its clairvoyant oracle, which we set up last Thursday in the office break room after Scott Pruitt’s voodoo doll got boring. “Oh ye mystical powers of the universe,” we howled in unison, “if’t be true that Oklahoma is a state locked in ceaseless…
