Bad behavior
Arguably the new wave of sympathetic psychopaths was ushered along with help from Dexter Morgan, Showtime’s serial killer of serial killers. For Dexter: The Final Season — the series’ eighth — Dex (Michael C. Hall) matches wits and bits with The Brain Surgeon, yet proves to be one of the show’s “off” years. There’s a reason the…
Darkman
A very lanky and pale Liam Neeson (The Grey) portrays Peyton Westlake, a scientist working on creating synthetic skin, but can’t get it to last beyond 99 minutes. When his girlfriend (Moonrise Kingdom’s Frances McDormand, who appears in a brand-new interview on the disc) stumbles onto a secret memo she shouldn’t have, corporate goons destroy…
Bill pulled that would have defunded Oklahoma Arts Council
House Bill 2850, which proposed a 25 percent reduction in funding over the next four years, was pulled by its author. In a to Oklahoma Gazette, his administrative assistant, Lindsay Gasaway, confirmed that pulled the bill “rather than run a bill that was going to fail” and would not get the necessary votes needed to…
Yo ho ho and a flagon of rum
The band’s persistence resulted in a recording contract with Side One Dummy records (Irish punks Flogging Molly are label-mates) and a spot on Vans Warped Tour after a parking lot audition for Warped Tour owner Kevin Lyman. Its debut album, Forge & Flagon, came out in 2012. Band members went on to play their self-described…
Helen, teller
Pollard Theatre Company has revived The Miracle Worker, William Gibson’s 1959 biographical drama about the meeting of young Helen Keller with her first teacher, Annie Sullivan, in a production that features a couple of affecting performances by actors in the principal roles. And what great leading roles they are. Set in the 1880s around the…
Wills power
As OKPOP prepares to break ground on an actual brick-and-mortar building, its founders are currently collecting pop culture artifacts for various exhibits and displays that reflect Oklahoma’s varied stance in the world of popular culture — everything from music and movies to comic books and comedy. One of the most illustrious of these collections was…
Skating Polly — Fuzz Steilacoom
The former is a startlingly authoritative, snarling take of Kelli Mayo and Peyton Bighorse’s brand of punk-anchored “ugly pop,” a fully realized vision of doom and gloom showing just how lethal Skating Polly can be. The latter is a stripped-down, heart-tugging piano ballad on par with anything Regina Spektor has ever done, toying with lush…
Psyched up
As a new generation of youth absorbs psychedelic classics like The 13th Floor Elevators, Roky Erickson and Pink Floyd, others take it upon themselves to spawn new renditions of that familiar, swirly groove. All the while, the comparatively venerable Dead Meadow nods in approval. The trio was peddling those trippy dirges and swollen, guitar-driven voyages…
Hell-bent
When Leroy Virgil heard a Hank Williams Sr. album as a child growing up in Washington state, his lifelong love of country music began. That love only deepened when he heard the voice of Waylon Jennings. “I developed this obsession with Hank Williams Sr.,” Virgil said from his home near Reno, Nev. “And the moment…
Luck of the Irish
Punk-rock legends Dropkick Murphys will kick off their annual St. Patrick’s Day festivities with a tour of the Midwest before touching back down in their hometown of Boston for an annual gig — or gigs — on the Irish holiday. Always on the road, it seems, the band celebrates with its town and its people…
BOOKS
The Minimalists, Joshua Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus bring their 100-city tour to OKC, 7 p.m., Feb. 26. Full Circle Bookstore, 1900 Northwest Expressway, 842- 2900, fullcirclebooks.com. WED Wonna Cornelson Book Signing, author to sign copies of Echoes of Reality: Poems about the Drama of Life, 1-3 p.m., Mar. 1. Hastings, 1105 Garth Brooks, Yukon, 350-1803.…
Ghosts, busted
Are those bumps in the night, creaky floors or demonic eyes staring through the windows random acts of coincidental nature, easily explained through logic and reason? Or could they be something more, something from, perhaps, beyond our realm of scientific knowledge? Chances are the plumbing is just bad. But, still, Oklahoma is one of the…
Get plucky
The Oklahoma City Philharmonic welcomes Grammy-nominated harpist Yolanda Kondonassis to perform Mozart’s “Concerto for Flute and Harp in C Major” with flutist Marina Piccinini this Saturday as part of the Mozart & Mahler concert. The orchestra, under the direction of Joel Levine, will also be performing Mahler’s triumphant “Symphony No. 1.” “Concerto for Flute and…
Unordinary people
Cathleen Faubert Oklahoma’s artists are leaping forward with a larger scope in the latest installment of the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition’s (OVAC) Art 365, which aims to be one of the most ambitious exhibits Oklahoma City has seen yet. Starting February 28, Oklahoma spectators will have the opportunity to visit the highly anticipated exhibit at…
LIFE
The University of Central Oklahoma’s College of Fine Arts and Design will host the art exhibit Get Your Geek On: Celebrating Art in Anime, Comics and Video Games. The exhibit is a play on Comic-Con, a convention for fans to geek out about anime, comic books, video games and more. Artwork from UCO students, professional…
LIFE
Oklahoma State University’s Oklahoma City campus is hosting Organic Oklahoma, its first sustainable and organic production conference. The program will educate beginning and advanced growers in hands-on growing techniques, season extension, varietal selections and farm management practices. Guests will have the opportunity to tour the farmers market, green houses and high tunnel facilities and visit…
Inspired funding
Using a new, web-based initiative that is simple and straightforward, Allied Arts seeks to engage the community and bolster funding for arts programs throughout central Oklahoma. Power2give.org is a crowd-sourced funding site modeled similarly to popular crowdfunding sites such as Kickstarter or Indiegogo, created exclusively for arts and cultural nonprofits and connecting projects with donors…
Red Tie affair
Photo: Shannon Cornman This year marks the 22nd anniversary of Oklahoma AIDS Care Fund Inc.’s Red Tie Night to benefit Oklahomans with HIV/AIDS. March 1, Oklahoma City will come together again to rally a cause that has faded from headlines in the past decade, something that OACF wants to change. “It’s more serious today than…
OKG7 Eat: Casino chow
One River Restaurant and Bar The Black Hawk Casino 42008 Westch Road, Shawnee theblackhawkcasino.com 275-4700 The Black Hawk features One River Restaurant and Bar, open from 7 a.m. ’til 2 a.m. For breakfast, try the One River Special: Two eggs, bacon, sausage, a pancake and your choice of toast or biscuit and gravy. For dinner,…
FOOD
Chicken Soup for Every Stomach, learn to cook four different forms of this incredibly customizable soup, 6:30-9:30 p.m., Feb. 26. Francis Tuttle Technology Center-Rockwell Campus, 12777 N. Rockwell Ave., 717-4900, francistuttle.edu. WED OKC Midtown Rotary Spelling Bee(r), uniquely adult spelling bee/beer-tasting fundraiser, 6:30 p.m., Feb. 27. The Paramount OKC, 701 W. Sheridan Ave., 517- 0787,…
Roasted rumors
Photo: Mark Hancock It’s not OK how scared I was of Coffee Slingers. Laugh all you want, but many have heard the stories about how mean they are, how snobby, how expensive the coffee is, how cool the customers are, and on and on. And for the decidedly uncool among us (that’s me), it gets…
Shadid is ‘We the people’
A conversation between two ordinary people about their community happened next. Mostly, Shadid just listened — patiently. At the end of our conversation, for the very first time in my 50-plus years, I knew a political candidate had listened to what I said. Not only did Shadid win a landmark victory over an opponent that…
Valentine’s day
Photo: Bravo Media LLC Josh Valentine isn’t sure if he qualifies as a celebrity. When debating the title of a new program at Francis Tuttle’s School of Culinary Arts, Celebrity Chef Series was mentioned, as all of the chefs that are participating are household names in Oklahoma, especially among the foodies. Valentine charmed locals with…
A national celebrity
KOCO sports director Mick Cornett was no different. When I grew up and became a businessman and a community volunteer, I had the opportunity to get to know Cornett. By then, he was Councilman Cornett, soon-to-be Mayor Cornett. Candidly, he was still larger-than-life to me. Imagine my surprise to find that “Mayor Mick” was just…
Letters to the Editor: Feb. 25, 2014
In deriding state schools Superintendent Janet Barresi, CFN sniped that she is a dentist and not an educator, as if the two things must be mutually exclusive. Barresi co-founded and helped lead two widely respected charter schools in OKC: Charter Independence and Harding Charter Preparatory. Both are distinguished for their academic excellence. In fact, US…
Cornett is good for downtown
We were both in our mid 20s and looking for activities to do downtown after hours. I have vivid memories of visiting the Bricktown area. Many of the buildings were empty, and most businesses closed early. We had very few entertainment and dining options. There was no doubt that the city was living in the…
A Republican for Shadid
I support candidates who are committed to fiscal responsibility. I support candidates who will fight to break the stranglehold lobbyists, political action committees and special interest groups have on our politics. And I support candidates who will stand up for the regular people of Oklahoma City, not just downtown power brokers. On each of these…
Runaway grandma
They’re getting into all kinds of trouble these days. A 79-year-old woman was recently arrested and charged with kidnapping, burglary and robbery. Bobbie House drove the getaway car after she and 43-year-old Curtis Wacasey Jr. broke into Specialty Building Material (SW Third Street near Exchange Avenue) and stole hundreds of dollars worth of roofing shingles.…
Getting real about gun danger
A few weeks ago, we talked about Sally Kern’s “common sense” proposal to stop being so harsh on kids who wield weapon-shaped objects at classmates. The bill suggested that any child who creates a toy weapon and plays with it like one would play with a gun should not be harassed, punished or condescended to.…
Drummer porn
In a report from the news site Heavy, Meyering is “resisting extradition to California,” a state with strict antirevenge porn laws. What does that make us Okies? Oklahomans are tough on crime, and we’re tough on porn, but we’re not quite sure what to do when it’s a combination of the two. Also, if you…
To pledge, or not to pledge
Apparently that’s not good enough for lawmakers who have authored two bills making their way through the state Senate. KFOR reported Senate Bill 1143 and Senate Bill 1500 both passed the Senate Education Committee and are headed to the full Senate. SB 1143 would require elementary students in public schools to recite the Pledge of…
Comic relief
A person wearing a large yellow chicken costume first appeared at the Feb. 17 mayoral debate that was attended by three of the four candidates: Ed Shadid, Joe “Sarge” Nelson and Phil Hughes. Mayor Mick Cornett chose not to participate. The costumed character held a sign that read, “Why won’t Mick debate?” A day later,…
Debating the debates
Case in point: Three-term Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett chose not to participate in a forum on Feb. 17 with his three opponents. It was organized by the Black Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Oklahoma City and community members at Fairview Missionary Baptist Church, 1700 NE Seventh St. About 100 people attended. It was the…
News9/Oklahoma Gazette mayoral election poll
Poll results indicate challenger Ed Shadid will need to energize new voters in significant numbers to wage a successful challenge. Results of the poll were weighted by sex and age and were adjusted using a model reflecting participation in previous Oklahoma City mayoral elections. The poll was conducted from February 17 to 19, 2014. Selected…
The issues
Mick Cornett 1. Public safety: “We can have all the quality-of-life amenities, but if people don’t feel safe in their neighborhoods, it’s meaningless. That’s why the last decade, we’ve consistently put two-thirds of our budget towards public safety, we’ve used the MAPS 3 use tax to fund a new police fleet and new police helicopters,…
Traditional voters dominate
A joint KWTV/Oklahoma Gazette poll favors incumbent Mick Cornett ahead of the March 4 mayoral primary race; lead challenger needs a large turnout of new voters to win. By Jennifer Chancellor If the Oklahoma City mayoral election were held today, Mayor Mick Cornett would win, according to a recent poll. A News9/Oklahoma Gazette poll of…
Are you experienced?
In past Oklahoma City mayoral elections, incumbents have generally fared well. Current Mayor Mick Cornett has not faced a serious challenge to his seat since he took office in 2004. This time, however, he faces a well-financed, first-term Oklahoma City Council member, Ed Shadid. He also faces two dark horse candidates who could pull votes…
Norman Music Festival announces headliners
Also performing will be Moreland and Arbuckle on the Sailor Jerry stage. Downtown Norman will transform into one of the nation’s largest free music festivals with a main stage at Main Street and Porter Avenue, the Sailor Jerry Stage at Jones Avenue and Comanche Street and the Sooner Theatre stage at 101 E. Main St.…
BREAKING: Moby to headline ACM@UCO Rocks Bricktown festival
Grammy-nominated Richard Melville Hall, aka American songwriter, musician and world-class DJ Moby, will perform a DJ set 10 p.m. April 11 at the Chevy Bricktown Events Center. His performance caps off the free, fifth annual event that features performances of more than 70 students from the Academy of Contemporary Music at University of Central Oklahoma…
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