Going AWOL
The frustration of coming so close almost burned him out, but a solo project offered, at the very least, the full creative control he’d always desired. Bruno began working under the moniker AWOLNATION and soon was approached about then upstart Red Bull Records about releasing his debut. AWOLNATION’s first full-length effort, “Megalithic Symphony,” saw the…
$30 million question
The budgets were presented to each of the eight MAPS 3 project subcommittees July 26 and 27, and came before the MAPS 3 Citizens Advisory Board July 28. Within those preliminary proposed budgets was $252 million for the convention center, the largest and most expensive of the MAPS 3 projects. The exact amount of money…
Fork in the road
“We wanted more diversity on the list,” Strother (pictured) said. “Our philosophy at Deep Fork remains the same: Two pages is better than six. I just wanted a better selection of regions and styles within those parameters.” For example, Strother said he added David Arthur Sauvignon Blanc and Domaine du Salvard Unique Sauvignon Blanc to…
‘Unprecedented crisis’
Warmer air holds more water vapor than cold air. Periods of high temperatures will last longer. Heavy rains and floods will become more extreme. Consider the following: —The size and scope of the current heat wave is unprecedented in modern times. —The year 2011 has produced more tornadoes and extreme weather events than any year…
Eat your greens
A few months ago, I visited The Herbfarm, a restaurant and inn in Woodinville, Wash., where they grow all of the produce used in the restaurant. Watching the chefs create dishes with herbs and vegetables they had just picked, I wondered if there were any such restaurants in Oklahoma, especially those that utilized space for…
‘Dino’ might
The Rev. Steve Kern says, “I challenge (James) Nimmo to refute the observable evidence that has convinced me that dinosaurs and man lived at the same time.” The so-called evidence of dinosaurs (excluding birds) coexisting with humans is so horrid that it is widely held in disrepute even in creationist circles. The most common claim,…
Be-jeweled
The prices in the shops along the Ponte Vecchio made my head hurt, so I struck out to the smaller alleys and discovered a jewel of an antique shop, where I became the proud new owner of a vintage, hammered, rose gold bracelet. I love jewelry like this: not necessarily expensive or “fine,” but fun…
Good deal
Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch, hosts a special concert next Wednesday, Aug. 10, in conjunction with its current exhibit of works produced under President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Public Works of Art Project, “1934: A New Deal for Artists.” The one-time musical event, titled “1934 in Concert: Composers of the Federal Music Project,” is…
‘Off’ still on
Broken ceiling tiles and spent beer bottles littered 66 Bowl after last year’s Okie Twist-Off served as the historic venue’s swan song. Fans lingered outside, cussing under their breath, wondering if they’d witnessed the end of an era. After all, the bowling alley that opened its doors in 1959 had been the perfect place for…
Travel plans
In fact, at Travel by Taste Deli and Market, 4818 N. MacArthur Blvd., you can keep your voyage for delicacies within the Oklahoma City limits. Tucked away in the Warr Acres Shopping Plaza, this culturally sound spot has been in business since 1997, when owner Parviz Rezaian (pictured) opened it. The establishment is split in…
About that lockout …
“Unfortunately, due to the current labor situation, I am not able to contact the guys at this time,” Brian Facchini, the Thunder’s director of basketball communications, told Chicken-Fried News. “I would be more than happy to help once I am able.” Lockout be damned! Through the magic of the innerwebs, CFN has obtained relatively fresh…
Page One: Inside the New York Times
Startling admission: As a career-long journalist in one form or another, it is difficult for me to be truly objective about the documentary “Page One: Inside The New York Times.” No such problem exists with the Times’ own Michael Kinsley, who panned it as “a mess,” but don’t listen to him — I’m guessing most…
Hair today
Hollywood hard rockers Warrant have done a lot of growing up. The glam-metal group used to party with the best of them in the early ’90s, touring the country with massive hits like “Cherry Pie” and “Heaven.” Now, if not early to bed, they are early to rise, having ditched most of the sex and…
New sensation
Winner of nine Tony Awards, the 1975 stage classic follows a group of performers auditioning for a Broadway show. During the course of the day, the domineering director Zach encourages them to reveal their histories, hopes and dreams as he slowly but surely narrows down the field to a lucky few. While the show is…
Flame on!
UPDATE: Due to a terminal illness in one of the band-member’s family, In Flames will not be performing at Mayhem Festival. It’s hard to think of a more cheerful place than Scandinavia. With all its blondes, free health care and cheap/ trendy furniture, it’s heaven on earth in many ways. The bulk of the music…
Ball-in’
Paseo’s 10th annual Fairy Ball, a free event full of magic and music for children and their families, takes place Saturday as an ode to summer nights. Designed this year by the local nonprofit arts organization Theatre Upon a StarDanceSwan, the ball will be held from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. just west of Paseo Grill,…
May I help you?
Cooking Girl and Fat Daddy Sweets 8020 N. May 607-1187 If you know where Gulfport Seafood Market is, you’ll have no problem discovering the new Cooking Girl and Fat Daddy Sweets, just two doors down. Christa Carretero (Cooking Girl) and Alicia Helsley (Fat Daddy Sweets) combined two businesses that are putting out high-quality food every…
‘Curse’ words
Well, perhaps not universally. Adam Mowery made his own stage of doom in “Curse of the Crescent Isle.” Except in his version, if you stand on the single block too long, it breaks. And you die. “I grew up playing on NES. I thought, ‘No one’s ever done anything since, like, Mario 2.’ So I…
Dance this
With modern choreography and innovative performances, the state’s largest dance fest will feature more than 30 local dancers at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Oklahoma City Community College’s Bruce Owen Theatre, 7777 S. May. Tickets are $10-$18. Visit perpetualmotiondance.com. Friday-Saturday
Odyssey de Culinaire
The event will feature Tulsa chefs Tony Perez, Warren Duck Club; Tuck Curren, Biga and The Local Table; Sam Bracken, The Canebrake; Doug Atkinson, The Brasserie and Sonoma Wine Bar & Bistro; and Jakub Hartlieb, Elements of River Spirit Casino. They will prepare a six-course meal and an accompanying wine selection, as well as a…
Drink thyme
She squeezed the syrup into a tumbler of ice, mixed in a fresh dash of mandarin vodka and a generous pour of something citrus, and the cilantro cocktail was born. A clear, fresh drink made grass-green by the bits of floating herbs, it tasted just like summer. To Khalilian, the cilantro makes the drink. But…
No more ‘war’
I think there is bigger story behind these two articles. Here was an obviously competitive, intelligent, motivated young man with problems. His health issues were “well-documented.” His “run-ins with the law have been well-documented.” According to both articles, these problems have been known since at least high school. Jim Priest, the executive director of the…
Bad egg
We’ll just let former committee chair Dexter Pruitt take it away, as reported in the Ada Evening News: “We don’t want to be that mean, but if we don’t get on top of our town we’ve got too many n—–s and Mexicans moving in.” We’ll give you a second to pick your jaw up off…
CFN Quote of the Week
“People who are usually angry get a lot angrier when it’s hot.” —Howard Kurtz, Oklahoma City University criminology professor
His cups runneth over
The horny-cups are the most expensive find in the history of the show, according to the Washington Post, beating out an 18th century Qianlong Jade collection. The cups’ owner, who understandably wished to remain anonymous, said, “I guess I won’t have to rely on Social Security anymore,” the Post reported. Well, at least somebody now…
‘Hardly surprised’
I am hardly surprised at Tom Furlong’s endorsement of the “Kern-pone logic” that the July 6 issue thankfully lacked! Furlong has the commonly held dream of his sect: that his God is the “majority” and that a Bible full of fairy tales proves it. Millions of Muslims and Hindus disagree. And as to the number…
War on logic
All rational people should agree that the war on drugs declared by former President Richard Nixon 40 years ago has been an epic failure that needlessly has filled our prisons with nonviolent inmates and cost taxpayers enormously. The numbers are staggering: Media reports show the United States spent $15.5 billion in 2010 on drug control…
Mod-ified
The couple is part of a growing number of MCM — mid-century modern — enthusiasts who can’t get enough of the sleek design and creativity of modern architecture marked by the time period of the 1940s through the 1960s. Thanks to “Mad Men,” the hit television drama about advertising executives on Madison Avenue in New…
Nice glass
A waist-high tympani drum. Instead of hitting the drum, you hit a foot pedal that will make sound and illuminate the instrument with light. Blue, red and yellow are a few of the colors dancing on the beautiful surface of this glass drum. Yes, glass. With an opening reception from 6 to 10 p.m. Friday,…
Limitless movement
For many, the passion to learn dance comes from seeing dance. When ballet dancers float upon their toes as their arms sway through the air, their fluidity can seem magical. But the children, teens and adults at City Arts Center’s Movement Without Limitations ballet classes have never really seen dancing at all. Many have seen…
Kart tunes
Even when Christian rock’s Stellar Kart decides to cut loose, its four members still wind up seeming pretty wholesome. In between studio albums, they decided to record a short, goofy EP for release this summer. The subject matter? Disney, of course. “We’re all fans of Disney, and I have a 4-year-old daughter that I’ve took…
PR BS
—“Local Groups Mobilizing for New Palin Film’s Oklahoma City Premiere” —“Request From Libya” —“JASON MRAZ TO EMBARK ON GLOBAL CONCERT TOUR” —“Fleshgod Apocalypse reveals ‘Agony’ track list” —“Eskimo Joe’s, Oklahoma State University to unveil first-ever Joe/Pete t-shirt July 18” —“UNESCO launches ICT in Education Indicators for Arab States Project in Jordan” —“Ximena Sariñana Selected As…
Race track
The district covers part of eastern Oklahoma County and goes into northern Cleveland County, encompassing parts of Oklahoma City, Del City all of Valley Brook and part of Moore. Reynolds announced his resignation in May, effective July 1. Reynolds, who has held the Senate seat since 2000 and was facing term limits, was elected as…
Summer harvest
Harvest Foster Kids Camp is a free, four-day camp for children aged 7 to 11 who are in foster care. Some children attending the camp have been in as many as 11 foster homes. Of the 8,605 cases of child abuse and neglect in the state, more than 2,000 of those cases were reported in…
‘Stop yelling, start listening’
While illustrating how wrong it was to attempt to link progressives to what I referred to as history’s biggest mass murderer, Marty corrects my error by indicating that Joseph Stalin held that title, and that he (Stalin) is “admired by some progressives even today.” Do I need to point out the irony of that statement,…
Cowboys & Aliens
But in one of the pleasant surprises of the summer-movie season, this genre mash-up is lean, handsomely crafted entertainment. It works precisely because it acts as if there’s no joke. You’ve got cowboys, and you’ve got aliens. ’Nuff said. It certainly starts with a bang. A man (Daniel Craig, “Quantum of Solace”) wakes up in…
This guy
When you live and breathe music like classically trained bassist Mike Silverman, it can be hard finding others to play with who are as obsessive. After a while, he quit trying. “I got kind of frustrated working with people,” said the Las Vegas-based Silverman. “It felt like if I was by myself, I could work…
‘Dirty’ job
The film takes place in 1987, when sassy Norman High School student Danielle (Juno Temple, soon to be seen in the next Batman movie) runs away with her fat-and-gay best friend and a sack of flour they’ve named Joan. Along the way, she crows things in her best Okie accent like “What are your thoughts…
Brady bunch
For alt-rock act Primus, the very thing that made it hard to break through is the thing that’s kept it from going away. “I think the key has been not being relevant, in the sense of music genres as they’ve come and gone, and we never really fit into any of them,” guitarist Larry LaLonde…
Mapmakers
The City Council wards, as required by federal law and the city charter, are redrawn every 10 years after the census is taken to ensure that each encompasses near-equal populations. There are a few proposed changes in the ward lines, such as all of the Capitol Hill community being included in Ward 6. The city…
Black Canyon
Chamberlain appears on three of the seven tracks which combine to tell a Civil War coming-of-age and love story written by Black Canyon front man Jake Morisse. Rich with his guttural twang, elegiac piano arrangements and former Mayola singer Riley Jantzen’s gazillion different instrumental contributions, “Battlefield Darlins” is one of the strongest country-rock offerings this…
Dinocroc vs. Supergator
How? Don’t ask questions. Just accept it. If you’re going to ask questions, these are not the 87 minutes you want. See, Dinocroc (2004’s “Dinocroc”) is your everyday crocodile with prehistoric spikes down his spine, while Supergator (2007’s “Supergator”) is an alligator who stands hilariously on raptor-like hind legs (but, despite his name, bears no…
Your Highness
That’s “Your Highness” in a nutshell (pun not intended): an utterly juvenile comedy flooded with jokes of anal rape, masturbation and other acts that involve this part and that part, but not in service to any story. “Pineapple Express” director David Gordon Green re-teams with Danny McBride, who also co-wrote this film, for a limp…
The Puppet Monster Massacre
Mad Nazi scientist Dr. Wolfgang Wagner invites a handful of people to participate in a most interesting experiment for a chance at $1 million: Survive a night in the infamous Wagner Mansion, which will prove more problematic than they ever could guess, what with the ferocious creature he’s created and whatnot. Among the game players…
Eastbound & Down: The Complete Second Season
Now, as “Eastbound & Down”‘s second season opens, his mullet is in cornrows and he’s making scratch as a cockfighter. Still a legend in his own mind, Kenny (Danny McBride, “Your Highness”) relents and joins the local baseball team, the Charros; inexplicably lands a new gal pal in a sexy, single-mom songstress (Ana de la…
Super
Miles away from his “Office” stint as Dwight Schrute, Rainn Wilson absolutely nails his role as diner fry cook Frank, grieving over losing his in-recovery wife (Liv Tyler, “The Incredible Hulk”) to a skeezy drug lord (Kevin Bacon, “X-Men: First Class”). Believing he is touched by the fingers of God, Frank’s fragile psyche tells him…
Dylan Dog: Dead of Night
Unfortunately, I’m afraid this misbegotten project was doomed from the get-go. The horror comedy is too silly to be scary, and simply not funny. It has loads of spirit to burn, but no wit to light the fuse. But other than that, Mrs. Lincoln … Routh stars as Dylan Dog, New Orleans private investigator specializing…
Yo Gabba Gabba!: Party in a Box!
Not having infants, I’m not in tune with the Nickelodeon children’s series until the three-DVD set “Party in a Box!” landed on my desk with a happy thud. Although the show is headed by DJ Lance, an ever-smiling African American in a fuzzy hat, at its core are creatures who remind me of Teletubbies with…
Burn Notice: Season Four
But the third season underwhelmed me, so I opted to wait to watch season four when it hit DVD. Now that it has, and now that I did, I think I’m kinda over it. The concept remains the same, as the unchanged credits attest, but the stories aren’t nearly as fun as they once were.…
Don’t forget homeless during heat wave
Rick Swyden, Midwest City resident and homeless advocate, said for him, helping the less fortunate is a test of goodwill. Ever since he and his wife began Hotdogs for the Homeless in January 2003, their organization has given out 118,635 hot dogs to people living on Oklahoma City streets. “They’ve just been out there, (so)…
Bio-Dead
However, it takes literally 32 minutes for anything of significance to happen. Until then, it’s just a bunch of disembodied voices, belonging to faces you mostly don’t see, talking about the importance of gloves and masks like they’re stockers at Party Galaxy on the last week leading up to Halloween, as they amble about empty…
Theophilus London — Timez Are Weird These Days
Nothing out of the ordinary with that, but it oughta tell you that if you’re looking for a true spitter, then look elsewhere. From get-go track “Last Name London,” the Brooklyn rapper(ish) makes it clear that he’s aiming for modern pop-star status. I offer the following as evidence: • the Kanye West “Lost in the…
The Death of Andy Kaufman
In his effort to prove or disprove the rumor that the outré comedian faked his own death in 1984, director Christopher Maloney’s aim is true, but hampered by budgetary restraints. A great deal of Kaufman’s act hinged on pulling the wool over his audience’s eyes, so it’s no unreasonable for people to assume — as…
Tishomingo attorney, former mayor eyeing Boren’s House seat
Tishomingo City Attorney and former Mayor Dustin Rowe (pictured left) stated in a press that he would be forming an exploratory committee to consider running for the seat vacated by current Rep. Dan Boren, who announced he would not be running again in early June. Rowe, 35, said he has been considering the decision for…
