‘Mock,’ yeah
Guthrie’s Pollard Theatre Company presents Christopher Sergel’s dramatization of Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird. This is interesting, because Guthrie in 1935 may have been much like the fictional Alabama town where Lee set her classic tale. Who hasn’t read the Pulitzer Prizewinning book or seen its 1962 movie version? When a theater company…
OKG7 places to imbibe and dine
Royal Bavaria3401 S. Sooner, Mooreroyal-bavaria.com 799-7666 An authentic German restaurant that’s also a brewery sounds like a great idea, doesn’t it? That’s because it is. Duh. Check out its menu online for a ton of foods you can’t pronounce but will surely enjoy. Wash it all down with King’s Gold, a traditional Munich lager, or…
Banned in the USA
O. Louis Guglielmi’s Subway Exit (1946) When the topic of artistic censorship is raised, odds are that works cited include Andres Serrano’s Piss Christ or just about anything by Robert Mapplethorpe. The United States government, however, in that golden era of anti-Commie paranoia, arguably did the best job of it by the disbanding and dismantling…
Super naan-y
Chef Rag Gautam By: Shannon Cornman Consistency is key to a restaurant’s survival. Diners need to be confident that each time they go into a restaurant, they’ll get the same quality of food and level of service they expect. Heritage India, Edmond’s new and highly touted Indian restaurant, is turning out great food. And the…
In with the new
A $2 million tax incentives package helps land a new anchor tenant for Quail Springs Mall. BY MARK BEUTLER When Quail Springs Mall opened in 1980, northwest Oklahoma City was a very different place. The mall was the only retail location for miles and boasted some of the top stores of its day: Rothschild’s, Sanger-Harris,…
Middling money
Gary Marrs The Ward 7 city council race included seven candidates vying for the seat currently held by OKC attorney Ronald “Skip” Kelly, and three candidates battled for the Ward 1 seat held by retired fire chief Gary Marrs. Ward 3 Councilman Larry McAtee and Ward 4 Councilman Pete White ran unopposed. The results of…
Raging river
SandRidge Sky Trail credit: Georgie Read Hanging tightly on to the safety harness firmly attached to the rail above her, she lingered a few seconds on the plank, trying to keep her balance against the unrelenting push of the wind before going back to the platform of the sky trail. She smiled broadly. “It’s keeping…
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 pbacharach@ okgazette.com or sent online at okgazette.com, but include a city of residence and contact…
Remembering
Jim Ross served his country with honor while risking his life every day on a foreign battlefield and in a war that seemed senseless to many Americans. A veteran of the Vietnam War, the Arcadia resident is author of a new memoir, Outside the Wire: Riding with the ‘Triple Deuce’ in Vietnam 1970, which tells…
Diving in
Three local entities in that city — the YMCA, Edmond Public Schools and its municipal government — have joined forces to nourish a rapidly growing community. After 15 years of discussion, The Mitch Park YMCA Recreation and Aquatics Center plans to open its doors by December of this year. The $24.8 million project is a…
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 pbacharach@ okgazette.com or sent online at okgazette.com, but include a city of residence and contact…
Unknown soldiers
Photo: Neil Krug Unknown Mortal Orchestra is about as digital age as it gets. The Portland-based project, helmed by New Zealand export Ruban Nielson, has generated a substantial amount of buzz in less than three years of existence — largely because of a rigorous touring schedule in which the gasps for air are scant. Yet…
The sporting life
By: Brad Gregg In separate ventures, the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Kevin Durant and the New England Patriots’ Wes Welker have teamed up with Hal Smith Restaurant Group to bring two very different concepts to town. Durant’s restaurant, which will feature Southern cuisine and more traditional steakhouse fare, will be in Bricktown adjacent to Toby Keith’s…
All about TIF
Cathy O\’Connor Credit: Mark Hancock The Oklahoma City Council last week approved a $25 million budget increase for Tax Increment Finance (TIF) 2. Cathy O’Connor, president of the Alliance for Economic Development, told council members that TIF 2 has exceeded expectations, reflecting the quick pace and sizable impact of downtown development. Authorized in the state…
Point: Time to fix workers’ comp
Our current system makes employers and employees adversaries while impairing the rehabilitation of injured workers, burdening families and placing a heavy drag on Oklahoma’s economy and productivity. Ours is a system where everyone loses: the employers, the taxpayers and, most importantly, the injured workers themelves. For example, our system devotes more resources to litigation and…
What about Bob (Jones)?
Credit: Brad Gregg Bob Jones University, you might recall, earned international fame in 2000 when its 73-year history of forbidding interracial dating came to an end. The South Carolina university is known for its biblical literalism and strict student morality codes. As such, a school that unironi cally refers to itself as BJU is an…
Down with science
Credit: Brad Gregg The slyly named Scientific Education and Academic Freedom Act narrowly passed out of a House committee, despite it having drawn the usual ridicule from the national mainstream media who defend such piffle as “climate change,” “gravity” and “the orbit of the planets.” Blackwell has insisted HB 1674 has nothing to do with…
Buffalo roams
Brother Bear at The Buffalo Lounge in 2012 Photo: Stephen Carradini Started in 2011, The Buffalo Lounge is a showcase for the Sooner State’s artists at the massive music, film and interactive festival that is SXSW. Its first year was a rousing success. “We went down there, and it could have flopped,” said Daniel Walcher,…
Polly wanna parrot?
Owner Jack Malysa By: Shannon Cornman Aside from their terrifying, beady demon eyes, they have sharp objects attached to their bodies for the sole purpose of impalement. It is obvious that, in another life, I lived through a fowl-tastrophe of epic proportions. My curiosity recently beat disdain, however, when I spotted a sign that read,…
Air supplies
With tornado season drawing near, an educational summit that begins Sunday is aimed at enhancing awareness and preparation for the impending severe weather. The National Tornado Summit brings together nationally recognized weather experts and insurance professionals to share their expertise. Lectures will address tornado safety practices and communicating more efficient recovery methods within the industry.…
Big help
Volunteers will celebrate Community Service Day and extend their services to any metro resident. “The main mission is to say ‘thank you’ to the community,” said Rachel Winters, program coordinator. “We looked into that mission and decided to shift it to the citizens as well as the local establishments.” While volunteer positions are open only…
Cosmostanza — Champs
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal;mso-outline-level:1″><span style=" Times New Roman” ,”serif”;mso-fareast-times=”” new=”” roman”;=”” mso-font-kerning:18.0pt;mso-fareast-language:es-bo”=””> The gruesome twosome of guitarist Maxwell Moore and drummer Raney Aboud shows what it’s learned on the heels of August’s awesome Rad Vibes, yet knows to keep the things that made Cosmostanza so intriguing in the first place: sugary hooks, youthful energy. Champs…
One in Three
center Nathan Mickle “My parents always had a bunch of Frank Sinatra records lying around, along with Tony Bennett and Harry Connick Jr. … all of those guys I would sing along to,” Mickle said. “The records actually taught me how to sing before I even really got into it professionally.” A music career almost…
CFN Quote of the Week
“Part of their (women’s) identity is the potential to be a mother. They are being asked to suppress and radically contradict part of their own identity, and if that wasn’t bad enough, they are being asked to poison their bodies.” —Dr. Dominic Pedulla, an OKC cardiologist, to the Tulsa World. State Sen. Clark Jolley, R-Edmond,…
White flight
Photo: Diane White You’d be hard-pressed to find a more tightly knit band than White Mystery. Like Jeff the Brotherhood, but with one less Y chromosome, the Chicago garage-rock duo proves that the siblings who play together, stay together. “A brother and a sister, you kind of have this nurturing relationship,” singer and guitarist Alex…
Clip art
“If you really want to make something happen for yourself, you can’t wait around thinking,” said Nik Harper. “Just go out and make what you want. That’s literally all we did. We’re really lucky that people liked what we were doing.” Their video for Philadelphia rapper Lushlife’s “Magnolia” (see below), selected to be showcased at…
CFN Quote of the Week
“Part of their (women’s) identity is the potential to be a mother. They are being asked to suppress and radically contradict part of their own identity, and if that wasn’t bad enough, they are being asked to poison their bodies.” —Dr. Dominic Pedulla, an OKC cardiologist, to the Tulsa World. State Sen. Clark Jolley, R-Edmond,…
Homeward bound
“The program takes advantage of existing assets, so very little new money is actually needed,” said Dan Straughan, executive director of Homeless Alliance. “The goal is to get them to a place where we can concentrate our resources.” More than 100 people volunteered in January to conduct surveys of the metro’s homeless population to identify…
Something Fishy
Credit: Brad Gregg Unless you’re the Dallas Mavericks, of course. The poor little Mavs have had kind of a rough season (or two). And when things seemed like they couldn’t possibly be worse, Fisher — whom the team signed with the wild expectation of keeping him for more than nine games — wasted no time…
Frank gets clubbed
Credit: Brad Gregg Last week, the organization issued a “Primary My Congressman” list of nine RINOs (Republicans In Name Only) that the group wants defeated in their next primary elections. So why did Lucas make the list? According to Club for Growth, the 11thterm congressman “has a long record of voting against cutting spending” and…
Building brains
Credit: Shannon Cornman The idea was generated in December 2010 when the school district’s board of education approved funding for the pre-K teachers over a four-year period. Sixty have been hired so far, with an additional 60 slated to be added by the 2014-2015 school term. A report from the district last year shows full-day…
Counterpoint: Don’t punish workers
Bob Burke I’m not against change, but the reforms suggested by the state Senate in Senate Bill 1062 are a direct assault upon Oklahoma’s working men and women. The legislation seeks to lower the costs of workers’ compensation rates in the state by drastically cutting benefits to workers. There is no reduction in medical costs,…
TPB AFK: The Pirate Bay — Away from Keyboard
The keyword there is “copyrighted,” of course. Violations of that law of have inflamed Hollywood, which responded with predictably fierce legal action. A 2008 court battle drives much of the new film TPB AFK: The Pirate Bay — Away from Keyboard. The feature debut of director Simon Klose, the documentary becomes available on demand from…
Swine breeds success
In 1986, Edmond Memorial High School’s principal kissed a pig after the students raised an unprecedented amount of money for a good cause. Since that infamous smooch, the school’s students have raised more than $3.5 million for various charities, during the annual, appropriately named Swine Week. “They are truly passionate about Swine Week, and it’s…
Smashed
New to Blu-ray and DVD after a too-brief theatrical release, the indie drama is reminiscent of 1988’s Clean and Sober, also a sturdy-enough addiction movie that lives and dies on its central performance — in other words, one actor shoulders the entire burden, elevating what is otherwise unremarkable (but not incompetent) material. He or she…
Here comes the judge
President Barack Obama selected Bacharach in January 2012 to fill the position vacated by Robert Henry in 2010. Despite widespread bipartisan backing, the nomination languished as Senate Republicans slow-played it in hopes that the GOP would take the White House in the presidential election and subsequently allow a President Romney to make such appointments. Even…
Sleepless Night
An opening cocaine heist turned bloody has authorities thinking “gangland killing,” but the man who’s really to blame is one of those investigating authorities: Vincent (Tomer Sisley, The Heir Apparent: Largo Winch), a Bad Lieutenant dealing with Far Worse Criminals. In retribution for having his bag of kilos swiped, nefarious club owner Marciano (Serge Riaboukine,…
The Millennium Bug
For his feature debut, The Millennium Bug, writer/director Kenneth Cran imagines that Something Actually Happened besides a world’s collective “whew!” Taking place on Dec. 31, 1999 (natch), the movie follows the Haskin family, whose three members head for the mountains in order to escape the panic and presumed riots. Instead, the happy campers find trouble…
A Western sunset
Born in Harrah, he served in World War II, where he was twice injured in combat, and briefly was a prizefighter before eventually drifting into acting. Hollywood came knocking after movie agents noticed photos of Robertson, who had been stationed after the war at San Luis Obispo, Calif., in the storefront window of a Los…
