Reaping what you gamble
When the Democratic-controlled Legislature effectively handed the tribes a monopoly on casino gambling in 2004, some skeptics suggested that we might pay a price. (Some also wondered why those same legislative leaders and Gov. Brad Henry were raking in so many hundreds of thousands in tribal campaign dollars at the same time, but never mind.)…
Depth & Current — Transient
Transient, the Norman noise outfit’s second LP (if you can call it that) marks a departure from the sprawling psychedelic anthems of its self-titled debut. At eight songs, this mini-album effort clocks in at less than 14 minutes, with each track less than two minutes. The band — front man Chris Harris, guitarist Derek Lemke…
SNAP to it
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, sometimes referred to as food stamps, helps more than 600,000 low-income households statewide purchase food, but it can be hard to find nutritious fare in the heart of Oklahoma City, said Urban Agrarian founder Matthew Burch. “We’re located in an urban area of Oklahoma City where SNAP-eligible families don’t have…
OKG7 eats in Edmond
Flatire Burgers318 E. Ayers, Edmondflatireburgers.com359-2006 Start with the fried pickles or ranchero salsa and chips. As for the burgers, get creative with the Havana Burger, which comes with grilled ham, cheese, salami, pickles and chipotle mayo. Skipping meat? Try the portobello shroom burger. It has balsamic marinated portobello, sautéed spinach, tomato, onion and herbed goat…
Wrong again
Claiming authority from a long-dead scientist is nonsense. Louis Pasteur was a great scientist in large part because of his commitment to methodological naturalism. He rejected religious supernatural explanations for natural phenomena. Pasteur disproved spontaneous generation, the idea that organisms appear fully formed. What he disproved was special creationism, not evolution. Furthermore, there is no…
Out with a Bang
Photo: Doug Schwarz Oklahoma City punk-rock outfit The Boom Bang is headed to the big glass house in the sky, exiting this world in a blaze of smoke bombs, cheap beer, broken glass and partial male nudity. Pizza cookers, firework vendors and local music fans alike mourn the loss of one of the greatest live…
More faves you crave
Those cucumbers in the fridge are so overripe your finger goes right through them. Baby carrots have grown dry. Kale? You bought kale? Meanwhile, your trash can is full of Styrofoam cartons emblazoned with cartoon logos shilling for all the foods you shouldn’t love but do anyway. So why fight it? If you’re going to…
Nic of time
By: Shannon Cornman There are two problems with the burgers at Nic’s Grill. 1. The line out the door before you can squeeze inside the 17-seat restaurant just to order. 2. Finding the bottom of the thing to pick it up. Fans of reading comprehension will note that I didn’t say the burger isn’t worth…
Flatlined
Hundreds of Oklahomans in need of free dental care packed the Oklahoma Mission of Mercy in Lawton last month. Photo: Clifton Adcock On a cold February evening at the Comanche County Fairgrounds in Lawton, a steady stream of people entered the building and walked between the cattle gates erected on either side herding them to…
Jump street
Photo: Clayton Elder Electronic bands face an uphill climb in the Sooner State, which boasts a proud musical heritage long defined by the obvious (country), the unassuming (folk rock) and, more recently, the brash (garage and punk). Oklahomans like their guitars — for good reason — and the instrument’s reign atop the state is unlikely…
Webb fluid
Few songwriters have reached the stratospheric heights as that of Jimmy Webb. By age 16, he was working for Motown Records. At age 20, he wrote “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” which later was a smash for Glen Campbell and would become one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century. With…
Street cred
In grade school, a lot of us were too busy playing Nintendo and sipping Capri Sun to even think about attempting anything artistic. But not Jabee Williams, aka Oklahoma City rapper Jabee. “I wrote my first rap when I was 7. That’s when I started,” Jabee said. “It just went on from there. I went…
Welcome pest
By: Emily Etherton Some strong acting highlights an uneven production of Tracy Letts’ drama Bug, a collaboration between OKC Theatre Company and Ghostlight Theatre Club. It takes a while to get going, but the show hits a thrill bump in the last scene, which is played under the eerie glow of real bug zappers. Directed…
Comedy by the slice
<span style=" Arial” ,”sans-serif””=””> Jim Gaffigan is white. Very white. So white, he’s dubbed his current stand-up tour as “The White Bread Tour.” “I’ve heard that my style of comedy is kind of white bread, in kind of a derogatory way. So I thought it would be funny to just embrace it,” Gaffigan said. “And…
Welcome, spring!
It’s time to celebrate in spite of your sneezing and over-the-counter allergy-medicated state. Spring means transformation and regeneration. It means wardrobe upheavals, the cleaning of home spaces, the rearranging of closets and the purchasing of new running shoes and workout gear appropriate for the burgeoning temps. Whether you’ve been hitting the pavement or the treadmill…
Capitol care
Lou Carmichael By: Mark Hancock Variety Care, a nonprofit community health care center, has received a $335,000 grant to construct a freestanding building at Capitol Hill High School in south OKC. The nonprofit provides affordable, accessible health care in medically underserved areas. At Capitol Hill, where teen pregnancy and dropout rates are high, a center…
CEOh, brother!
Illustration: Brad Gregg Most recently, SandRidge Energy CEO Tom Ward is facing possible unemployment thanks to TPG-Axon Capital and its takeover attempt. Ward has a few months to find gainful employment elsewhere, but it’s not so easy to scout out jobs for energy CEO. Well, there happens to be one such opening at Chesapeake Energy,…
Love is all you need
Illustration: Brad Gregg The measure, which passed the full House and is now in the Senate, would allocate money for a “statewide public service announcement campaign … promoting marriage as a tool against poverty and targeting all members of the public.” Funds to pay for the ads would come from those previously set aside for…
Feelin’ hot, hot, hot
Illustration: Brad Gregg This once again proves that our landlocked location boasts some damn fine-looking people. Country music’s comely couple, who will celebrate their second anniversary this May, were ranked alongside other paparazzi-worthy duos like Jay-Z and Beyonce, Portia de Rossi and Ellen DeGeneres, and Barack and Michelle Obama.
‘Sex Machine’: Still chuggin’!
Illustration: Brad Gregg “As a film, this is a fat, greasy-spoon diner, not some big, fancy, five-star restaurant in New York City,” said Sharpe of his Frankenstein-meets-Memento story. “We had to cut a lot of corners because of the budget, but we knew we were making something cool.” But nearly a decade later, the $8,000…
Puttin’ on the Switz
Illustration: Brad Gregg But as it turns out, Switzer is quite fond of his outerwear, which he’s had for more than 40 years. And not only was it stylish, but tremendously practical … well, for the human wearing it, at least. “When the weather’s cold and it’s 20 degrees and the wind chill’s 17, I…
Speak English!
Illustration: Brad Gregg U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa, feels your pain. (Or is it xenophobia?) Under his proposed English Language Unity Act, the federal government would be required to conduct all its affairs in English. “This will obligate the federal government to preserve, protect, and enhance the role of the English language within our government,”…
Endangered hipsters
Illustration: Brad Gregg You peer closer … Are they all — male and female alike — really wearing the same type of women’s pants? It’s difficult to make eye contact with them past the blur of thick-framed glasses and hand-knit beanies. We’re speaking, of course, of hipsters. For those allergic to the species, just be…
Walk on
The initial project for the first phase of sidewalks will comprise almost six miles with an estimated cost of $1.4 million. Construction will begin in late spring with a completion target of Oct. 31. With buzzwords like “connectivity,” “sustainability” and “walkability” floating around, Sidewalks Subcommittee chairwoman Sue Hooper said she is excited about the project…
Paseo visionary
“All of a sudden, everyone hears this big, baritone voice, and it reverberated throughout the entire building,” said Karen Orr, the gallery owner. “I can’t get that out of my head. There was no microphone, and it wasn’t required.” Belt, an attorney and urban developer, was known for working behind the scenes and doing little…
From board to booked
District Attorney David Prater Photo: Mark Hancock Mack Martin, an attorney for the board members, called the charges unfair. “What they did is not a crime,” he said. “That’s my opinion, and my opinion is just as important as David Prater’s.” But the D.A. contends he had no choice after he offered not to pursue…
Making schools safe
For many years, I’ve been concerned about this issue. I was privileged to work with 22 other Oklahomans appointed to the OCSS to analyze our current school security climate. The panel consisted of professionals from diverse fields such as local education, homeland security, mental health, local law enforcement, parents and operational planning. When tragedies strike,…
Boxed in
Box, a developer and owner of The Greens Country Club, said he has has few alternatives in connection with the sacred dome, which long ago lost its glistening golden look of yesteryear. His top options include the sale of the property or its demolition. Box is losing $10,000 a month on the old, vacant bank…
Pole position
There’s no shortage of pageant queens in Oklahoma. They wear tiaras, wave in parades and, more often than not, give answers onstage that can make you cringe. But those ladies had better watch out, because an upstart pageant is coming to town, and these competitors will work it. On Friday night, Miss Pole Dance Oklahoma…
‘Whole’ living
He’s founding president of the Health Alliance for the Uninsured and creator of The Art of Happy Living podcast. Now he can add “book author” to his list of titles. It might be one reason his office bookshelves, while filled with volumes on psychiatry and mental illness, also have room for a copy of Stephen…
SXSW 2013: OK Sweetheart / Defining Times / Samantha Crain
OK Sweetheart knows how to write a pop tune, whether it’s a slow ballad or a peppy, full-band sing-along. The Tulsa quintet showed both sides of their prowess during its set. The latter were marked by enthusiastic clapping from the band and audience. This energy carried over to the songwriting, as the bass lines were…
A Nightmare on Elm Street Collection
But it’s hardly the reason this five-disc box set holds purchase appeal. That is, of course, the chance to have the initial stretch of Freddy Krueger movies together on Blu-ray — a format the last four sequels hadn’t been released on until now. A near-instant phenomenon upon its 1984 bow, Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on…
SXSW 2013: Zach Winters / Parker Millsap
The Norman man’s voice is a high, yearning one, perfect for injecting a sense of longing into a tune. He also had three female vocalists with him, and their vocals added a unique dimension to Winters’ sound. A drummer, hand percussionist, bassist and electric guitarist filled out the rest of the band, which gave Winters’…
SXSW 2013: Guardant / The Del Toros / The Kamals / Josh Sallee
It only took Guardant 30 seconds to win me completely over to its team. The quintet’s hyperactive, quirky dance pop is simply irresistible. The group head-bobbed, shared microphones, switched instruments, clapped for each other, clapped in songs, and generally had as much fun as possible. Its incredibly peppy sound was anchored by herky-jerky keyboards, speedy…
SXSW 2013: Bowlsey / Desi and Cody / Brave
The mellow hip-hop and chill-pop vibes of Oklahoma City’s Bowlsey set the afternoon off at a very easygoing pace. Composed of organ, acoustic guitar, synths and gentle beats, the trio’s tunes casually made their way to my ears. Its spartan musical arrangements put the focus squarely on the vocals. Two of the three members were…
Storage 24
Among the few unfortunates sealed within its labyrinthian walls are a newly dumped Charlie (Doghouse’s Noel Clarke, who also scripted) and his ex, Shelly (Antonia Campbell-Hughes, Albert Nobbs), both of whom have come to retrieve their stuff. Each has brought a friend, too: Mark (Colin O’Donoghue, The Rite) and Nikki (Laura Haddock, The Inbetweeners Movie).…
Prater files charges against the state’s Pardon and Parole Board
Prater announced the filings late today.?? “Every effort was made by me to resolve this matter in a fair and equitable manner before the filing of the criminal information,” he said in a written statement.?? He also indicated the board members were offered an opportunity to step down two at a time to allow the…
Staying docked
Annual rental notices typically are mailed by April 1 for the upcoming boat season, said Debbie Ragan, spokeswoman for Oklahoma City’s Department of Utilities. The decision to suspend or cancel the renewals will be made later this month. A resolution adopted yesterday by Oklahoma City Council gives Marsha Slaughter, Department of Utilities director, the authority…
SXSW 2013: Horse Thief / Colourmusic
But neither string of terms does justice to the Horse Thief sound, which is the sort that takes command of a room. A SXSW volunteer standing next to me leaned over halfway through Horse Thief’s set and informed me of how amazing the band was — even though we had not said a word to…
SXSW 2013: Tallows
Oklahoma City band Tallows uses this technique frequently and to great effect. During the song “Small Talk” last night at The Buffalo Lounge, two guitarists and the bassist each hammered away at their fretboards. The resulting intricate indie rock was impressive in composition and performance. Tallows’ music includes elements of charming indie pop, fast ’n’…
SXSW 2013: Paperscissor
It was remarkably easy to find The Buffalo Lounge’s new digs at The 512, as the venue sits even closer to the center of the action on Sixth than the old location of Friends Bar did. The location of the venue isn’t the only thing to laud: The new two-floor setup delivered as advertised. The…
