Downtown chow down
Park Avenue Grill By: Shannon Cornman Whether you’re coming from the latest blockbuster at the Harkins movie theater, stumbling out of another riotous Thunder game or even renting a U-Haul, one of the most common dilemmas when downtown is where, and what, to eat. With so many overly familiar chains invading, along with their name-brand…
Bolo
Bolo is a punch used by boxers — a wide, sweeping uppercut. It also is the title of Fall Films’ latest local production. We recommend skipping the former and taking the latter. With free beer from Titswiggle Brewing Co. and live music beforehand from local harpist Jessica Tate, Bolo premieres Saturday at City Arts Center.…
The Fabulous St. Knicholas Cage — Shit Surf
The four-piece might become a National Treasure if it keeps producing music as good as it does on Shit Surf; this five-track effort is pretty Kick-Ass, not once rolling Snake Eyes. Shit Surf departs off like a maddened criminal flying Con Air with “Duane & The Eddies” boasting a guitar lick that will melt your…
Chin up
Photo: Caitlin Lindsey Kyle Mayfield doesn’t sleep … not well, at least. But he doesn’t let that cripple him, musically or otherwise. In fact, the music he crafts as Larry Chin wouldn’t have the same panache if Mayfield was leading a more lucid existence. “I’ve been having sleep issues for such a long time. When…
Ex marks the hot
Photo: Renate Winter Conventional isn’t really Ex-Cult’s thing. The Memphis punk outfit, which is set to perform Monday at The Conservatory, inked a deal with a hometown label within a remarkably short time frame and played its first show mere months after formation. In the time since, an unwavering deluge of momentum has hurled these…
They’re gonna rock you, sucka
Peter Anthony Seay II, front man for Oklahoma City garage rockers Junebug Spade, has a million cool points for you if you catch the movie their name references. Take a minute to think about it, if you need to … Time’s up. “It’s from I’m Gonna Git You Sucka,” Seay said. “We were debating a…
Looking Askew
“Your grandpa is a felon,” Sweet tells her 10-year-old nephew, Dustin. “A felon and a Christian. He says he’s a felon because he’s a Christian. Now, what kind of baloney is that?” So begins Rilla Askew’s newest novel, Kind of Kin, released this month. In it, she captures the trials of a woman trying to…
Merv verve
Merv Johnson When it comes to broadcasting, Oklahoma Sooners play-by-play announcer Toby Rowland said this about Merv Johnson: “I’m glad he doesn’t follow the rules. Some of our best calls are when Merv is hollering things out while I’m talking. I love it. I think it’s awesome.” Not your typical guy with headphones and a…
Kitchen caboodle
Culinary Kitchen By: Mark Hancock Believe it or not, the right kitchenware can spark some excitement. Enter Culinary Kitchen (7222 N. Western; 418-4884). Replace eating straight from a takeout box with Red Vanilla bone china dishes. After all, the colorful and good-for-you meals that you’re so proud of cooking deserve to be displayed properly. Don’t…
OKG7 Downtown Restaurant Week stops
Nonna’s Euro-American Ristorante & Bar1 S. Mickey Mantlenonnas.com235-4410 For lunch, delight in your choice of chicken tortilla soup or tomato and red onion salad. It will set the stage for entree options: crab cakes, crispy pork chops with Guinness gravy or blackened chicken. For dinner, try the chop and chutney or lemon walnut pesto pasta.…
Pho-nomenal
By: Mark Hancock Wonderful things happen when you’re not quite sure what’s happening. I think it’s fair to say there is a bit of a language barrier at some local restaurants. It is something to be expected when sampling the cuisine of foreign lands, especially at restaurants noted for authentic flavors. Sometimes foreign accents come…
Faves you crave
You knew it wasn’t going to be good when you ordered. You knew it wasn’t going to be good when you started shoveling it in your mouth. And you’ll remember how bad it was when you’re awake in the middle of the night with an intense need to visit the bathroom. Fast-food is the worst.…
Pizza pizzazz
By: Mark Hancock Sandro Osmani, the owner of Sandro’s Pizza and Pasta, is keeping alive his family tradition. “My grandfather, Giovanni Osmani, taught me how to cook when our family still lived in Roma,” he said. “We’ve always been in the restaurant business.” And business has been good for the first-generation Italian and Albanian-American. So…
Avenging the kitty
Credit: Brad Gregg And then there is that volatile hybrid of “cat and gun people.” Witness the case of Fred Meyer, who recently was arrested for threatening to shoot an Oklahoma City veterinarian at an animal hospital after his cat died while in their care. Apparently, the cat escaped, ran willy-nilly around the clinic, and…
A vital resource
Impact Hunger Food Resource Center Credit: Mark Hancock Being one of the working poor sometimes means having to choose between car repairs or medicine and buying food. At the Impact Hunger Food Resource Center at City Rescue Mission, no one should have to make that choice, said Tom Jones, rescue mission president. “Part of our…
R.I.P. Pokey
Credit: Brad Gregg Ed Birchall, the man behind the Ho-Ho character, passed away in 1988. More sad news came last week with the death of Bill Howard, the gentle wit, and hands, behind Pokey, Ho-Ho’s irrepressible puppet sidekick. Howard was 77. Farewell, Bill. You brightened many a childhood, and you’ll be missed.
Hurri-can’t
Credit: Brad Gregg Or not. Oklahoma freshmen congressmen Jim Bridenstine, R-Tulsa, and Markwayne Mullin, R-Westville, voted last week against a bill to provide $10 billion in emergency relief for flood victims of Hurricane Sandy, which caused an estimated $70 billion in damage in New York and New Jersey. Fortunately for the victims of Sandy, the…
Hit me, baby, one more Thai
By: Shannon Cornman I love Thai food the way most women love their children. And if I can have that love in a casual atmosphere, quickly and affordably, at a place that also delivers … Well, then I think that’s the definition of “having it all.” Spoon Thai is not only quick and affordable; it’s…
Stark words
Credit: Brad Gregg In that article, a 2000 interview was quoted in which leading lady Beverly Garland bagged the picture as “the most awful film” she’d ever made — and mind you, she starred in a good number of stinkers that went on to be skewered on TV’s Mystery Science Theater 3000. But, wait —…
School pride
Credit: Brad Gregg In many cases, a main factor behind selection is affordability. While the national economy inches toward recovery, families are still tasked with finding the all-around best college for their pride and joy, as well as for their pocketbooks. According to kiplinger.com, Oklahomans need not look far, with three schools in the…
Defining rape
Tyrone Nash Tyrone Nash was charged in September 2011 with five counts of second-degree rape and five counts of forcible oral sodomy for having an alleged sexual relationship with a student at Western Heights High School, where Nash was the physical education teacher and a coach. According to an affidavit in the case, the 33-year-old…
Drought bout
Lake Hefner Credit: Shannon Cornman Lake Hefner, the primary source of the city’s drinking water, is around 17 feet below maximum capacity, said Debbie Ragan, spokeswoman for the city utility department. In addition, Lake Overholser is 7 feet below maximum capacity; Lake Stanley Draper is also 17 feet below capacity; and Lake Atoka, which supplies…
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…
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…
The fallacy of test-driven school reform
Credit: Mark Hancock I have taught in the inner city for 19 years, have served on the MAPS for Kids Steering Committee and have been intimately involved in local education reform. MAPS promised policies based on our best social science and the collaborative exchange of evidence. We promised high-quality early education, intensive instruction of reading…
Tai Chi Zero
In an acting debut that deliberately doesn’t require him to act much, wushu champ Yuan Xiaochao plays Lu Chan, nicknamed “The Freak” from birth because a horn-like protrusion on the side of his forehead. When pushed, his eyes go milky and, for a brief time, he hulks out with brute force until blood spurts out…
The Trouble with Bliss
Seemingly unable to score a role of tangible value outside of his gig as Dexter, the talented Michael C. Hall is Morris, a guy who’s involved sexually with an 18-year-old schoolgirl named Stephanie (Brie Larson, 21 Jump Street). Heck, she’s young enough to be his daughter — which makes sense since Morris learns too late…
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution
The film fills in the details of Holmes’ three-year spell of assumed death — “Only the facts have been made up,” teases a title card — by pairing the great detective with the great psychoanalyst, Sigmund Freud. Arguably more notable is that Solution is the first dilated-pupils depiction of Holmes, the only to tackle head-on…
Suddenly
Especially for generations who were introduced to Ol’ Blue Eyes via Cannonball Run II, it’s easy to forget Sinatra could act, and in Suddenly, he does that quite well as John Baron, an assassin for hire who takes over a nice family’s home in the small town of the title in order to whack the…
Ethics exec
Slater served as state Election Board secretary from 1971 to 1988. Since that time, he has served as legal adviser to the state Senate. He is also co-owner of Campaign Technology Professionals LLC, a campaign finance reporting firm. The 69-year-old Slater has represented a number of clients who have appeared before the Ethics Commission, as…
Game Change
If Sen. McCain’s choice of the largely unknown Alaska Gov. Palin as his veep choice seemed out of nowhere then, there’s good reason: Because it pretty much was. McCain, here played by Ed Harris (Man on a Ledge), wanted Sen. Joe Lieberman, but was talked into someone “more transformative” by hired gun Steven Schmidt (Woody…
Premium Rush
Please note that doesn’t mean it’s the best of the lot — it’s just that its zippy pleasures arrive with no strings, messages or ulterior motives attached. This is a well-made action film, albeit a disposable one — no more, no less. In what may be the only film centered on the world of bike…
Road test
Most council members praised the so-called Alternative A as a good compromise between opposing sides. The proposal calls for a 300-foot section of the future street to be elevated to avoid the complicated traffic area of Western and Reno avenues and Classen Boulevard. The measure passed 7-2, with Ward 2 Councilman Ed Shadid and Ward…
