Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn graces pages of GQ
There are many magazines of which one would expect Oklahoma’s irreverent Sen. Tom Coburn could fill the pages. The NewRepublic, Time, Newsweek or something local like Oklahoma Today would seem logical. But check out the February issue of GQ. While the British cover boasts a salacious shot of pop diva Beyonce and the U.S.…
Oklahoma House Speaker seeks ‘100 Ideas’ from Oklahomans on improving state
Oklahoma House Speaker Lance Cargill and former state Rep. Thad Balkman say a new “100 Ideas Initiative” will be used to lobby state legislators ” but they won’t say who is bankrolling them. Unveiled at a January 2007 press conference at the Oklahoma History Center, the 100 Ideas Initiative seeks ideas from people…
Scotty Karate breaks out with unique punkabilly sound in OKC
You’ve got to be bold to include your appearance on TV reality show “Elimidate” as a resume builder in music, but with a name like Scotty Karate, boldness is probably just second nature. But the episode, which showed Karate throwing pizza on an arrogant competitor, shouldn’t dissuade anyone seeking out his high-energy honky-tonk. The…
Oklahoma endures ‘Icepocalypse’ 2007
In Oklahoma, we used to gripe that we didn’t get distinct-enough seasons. Well, forget that crap. Distinct enough for ya, now? In the waning hours as the Jan. 12 storm bore down on the state, local Wal-Marts, Targets, Albertsons and other food stores were mobbed for bread, milk, pet food and toilet paper until…
OKC’s natural food store tries to be trans fats free
Last December, the New York City Board of Health unanimously decided to prohibit restaurateurs from cooking with artificial trans fats, a type of fat found in partially hydrogenated vegetable oils. Could it happen in Oklahoma? Perhaps. CUTTING IT OUTSome health-conscious food stores, such as Akin’s Natural Foods Market at 2924 N.W. 63rd, do…
Tulsa’s Harmonious Monk specializes in jazz, optimism
Tulsa-based jazz band Harmonious Monk is spreading the good vibes of God, Miles Davis and the hippie nature of wonderment. “When we play, what is most important is that we are brothers sharing time and thoughts,” explained drummer Andrew Owen Bones. “Jazz might crawl up inside itself like a Gollum to speak about nothing…
World Trade Center: Commemorative Edition
2006 Oliver Stone seemed a peculiar choice to direct a movie about 9/11, but “World Trade Center” proves the skeptics wrong. Stone’s most restrained work to date, the film details with poignancy the true tale of two Port Authority police officers (Nicolas Cage and Michael Pena) who were in the Twin Towers when…
OKC mayor becomes master of the obvious
” “¦ I imagine that 2007 will be remembered as the year of the state centennial.” “Mayor Mick Cornett at Jan. 17’s State of the City luncheon
1900: Collector’s Edition
1976/2006 Bernardo Bertolucci’s sweeping, staggering epic of Italian life, love and death is at last available for consumption in its five-hour cut. Paramount’s exceptional two-disc set provides a lush, lovely print that highlights Vittorio Storaro’s peerless photography, as well as an opportunity to appreciate Bertolucci’s unexpurgated, if erratic, opus that features a pair of…
Norman’s Syke! covers Eighties rock classics
Even if it is a tongue-in-cheek Eighties cover band, Syke! is an act to be taken seriously. “It was like lots of other bands that ever start: It was everybody sitting around and drinking,” said drummer Doyle Dodd. COVERING BASESThe only influence the band collectively could agree upon was The Cars, but singer…
OKC lawyer recalls historic Roe vs. Wade victory
Sarah Weddington, who successfully represented Jane Roe in Roe vs. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court abortion case, remembers the day in 1973 she received the Court’s 7-2 decision via telegram. “In some ways it reminds me of how long ago it was, and yet, the need for people to protect their own fertility is…
Clerks II
2006 Director Kevin Smith isn’t aging gracefully so much as slowly realizing that his “dick and fart jokes” don’t have the resonance at 30 as they did at 20. “Clerks II” has a stale, reductive air about it that can’t be shaken “? from its hey-look-at-me celebrity cameos to its obligatory, inane musical montage,…
Tom Brosseau-Grand Forks
L oveless Tom Brosseau’s fifth release is a thematic tribute to the Grand Forks, N.D., which flooded in April 1997, displacing some 60,000 residents; 10 years later, Brosseau mourns for his hometown’s suffering while celebrating its elasticity. It’s an honorable effort, and his heart is in the right place. If only it weren’t so understated.…
Oklahoma parks, museums offer respite from cold-weather blues
For those who can’t stand sitting in the house waiting for the winter months to go away, the Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department recommends state parks that feature cabins. “Whether they are state park cabins or private cabins, sitting in front of a fireplace in the woods is very romantic,” said Ron Stahl, marketing director…
Frog got your vote?
Will there be changes in Edmond? Ask the whimsical frog. Edmond residents will have an opportunity to vote for a new mayor this year, but many of the problems facing Edmond will not simply disappear with regime change. Development, the double-edged sword for Edmond residents for decades, will again be brought to the forefront…
OKC’s The Stringents rock out with classical instruments
While artists such as Elvis Costello and Sting recently have dabbled in classical music, four classically trained Oklahoma City musicians have joined forces to form what they call a “rock string quartet.” The brainchild of longtime friends Sarah Wilhite and Jenn Mills, The Stringents came to life in 2006 and quickly began winning over…
New Edmond-based record label aims to prime bands for stardom
Scott Booker’s long experience managing bands ” not the least of which is The Flaming Lips ” makes him uniquely qualified to run Great Society, his new record label. Warner Bros. Records is on board with his latest imprint, in no small part due to his years with the Lips. “They already knew,…
Norman venue Studio 360 hopes metal music is here to stay
Studio 360 is Norman’s home for metal: grindcore, death metal, heavy metal, black metal, thrash and anything heavy enough to which one can start a bar brawl. Originally doubling as a private-party venue and recording studio, Studio 360 became a venue when co-owner Vance Phillips recruited Ryk Weston to promote and book bands heavy…
Michael J. Carey-Commotion
Indie Poetry “Commotion” isn’t likely to cause one. It’s roughly 45 minutes of Michael J. Carey reading his own poetry’ just his voice, with no other accompaniment’ and likely either will send you off to dreamland or push you squarely into irritability. Spoken word often fails to hold appeal beyond its small but loyal following;…
Don Peris – Go When the Morning Shineth
From Pennsylvania came the cold and The Innocence Mission. “Bright As Yellow” on the “Empire Records” soundtrack may have been the highest level of notoriety the dream-folk band achieved since beginning in the late Eighties. The band fell somewhere between adult contemporary and cult status with classic-rooted compositions tailor-made for NPR segues. Today, from a…
Hockey offers all-ages participation across OKC metro area
Believe it or not, there’s plenty of hockey to be had in the metro, ranging from the Oklahoma City Blazers all the way to kids’ leagues. “We have a wide variety of hockey available, but no one seems to know about it, so we are trying to get the word out,” said Mike McEwen,…
OKC doctor: Winter blues may be form of mild depression
If winter’s blah days have you feeling down, it might be a milder form of seasonal affective disorder, a still-not-quite-understood depression that affects 25 million Americans, primarily women. Unlike depression that can crop up with stress, loss or other life events, SAD apparently is tied to repeated sensitivity to seasonal changes between fall and…
DJ Clue?-The Professional Pt. 3
onal Pt. 3,” even he’s not so sure, relying on guest stars (Kanye West, Snoop Dogg, Nas, et al.) for each of his album’s 18 tracks. This head-on collision of identity yields a real crisis: one of adhesion. There’s a lot of anger brewing here, but the tracks render much of it superficial. Numbers meant…
Allergies don’t disappear during winter, says OKC doctor
According to Dr. Warren V. Filley of the Oklahoma Allergy & Asthma Clinic, winter brings with it “a different set” of allergens. And with approximately 20 percent of the population suffering from allergies, that’s a lot of Kleenex. Last fall, the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America ranked Oklahoma City as the fifth-worst…
Edmond man’s alleged drunken sleepover results in grabbing officer’s testicles charges
One could say that a metro man recently arrested in an alcohol-related incident allegedly had more balls than was best, at least at one point. According to a story in The Edmond Sun, Roy Eugene Underwood, 26, of Oklahoma City, was arrested after police officers found him having a sleepover in a running vehicle…
