Neo noir
Samantha Crain 8 p.m. May 10 Resonant Head 400 SW 25th St., Suite A Phone Number resonanthead.com $22 Like hard-boiled detectives in black-and-white movies, singer-songwriters stereotypically work alone. Arriving on the scene Friday, May 2, Samantha Crain’s seventh full-length album, Gumshoe, finds a new formula, musically and lyrically. The sweet and poppy title track is…
Love, Antigua
Café Antigua 1903 N. Classen Blvd. cafeantiguaok.com 405-602-8984 What works:Breakfast is always absolutely on point. What needs work:The coffee bar can get very behind on orders, meaning sometimes you are well into your meal before your drink arrives. Tip: Use Yelp’s Waitlist feature to snag a place in the line; no physical waiting required. Drive…
Reservations recommended
Kitchen No. 324 is more than a pancake. I know that’s true, yet after a recent visit, the pancake takes up so much space in my brain — much as it does a dinner plate. It’s hard not to think of this perfect pancake as an edible mission statement: “Do one thing. Do it exceptionally…
Political pulse
If you didn’t already know, you’d probably never guess that our very red state is home to a left-leaning podcast that has surged in popularity during Donald Trump’s second term as president. Co-hosts Angie Sullivan and Jennifer Welch launched the I’ve Had It podcast in 2022 as a place to humorously vent about their petty…
Oklahoma Trailblazers: AJ Griffin
AJ Griffin served six years in the Oklahoma Senate, including two terms as vice chair for the Republican caucus. Two years ago, Griffin became the CEO of Potts Family Foundation, an Oklahoma City nonprofit focused on improving early childhood conditions in the state. The nonprofit also helps organize the Early Childhood Legislative Caucus, a bipartisan…
Church of Oklahoma
Okies may be acclimated to bad weather, but when it rains, it pours. Ushering in the new month, Gov. Kevin Stitt issued a groundbreaking executive order in support of “religious freedom.” Oklahoma.gov proclaimed it’s going to “make Oklahoma the strongest defender of religious liberty in the nation,” but Executive Order 2025-08 shakes the very foundation…
The math behind Stitt’s half and a path plan does not add up
By now, most everyone in Oklahoma has seen the ads for the governor’s plan to cut the income tax .5% each year until we get to 0% — or his “half and a path” plan. But what does that really mean for Oklahomans? For starters, we know that an across-the-board income tax cut does not…
School board elections
If there’s one thing education doesn’t need more of, it’s partisan politics. But in an era when Oklahoma’s top education official is pushing school-sanctioned religion and fealty to President Trump, state lawmakers want to see local school board elections injected with that same kind of right-wing pandering. Senate Bill 6, which was advanced last month…
Shopping carts
Oklahoma’s House of Representatives recently advanced a bill that would increase the penalty for stealing a shopping cart. A person could end up in jail for a year and pay a $1,000 fine if House Bill 1689 were to become law. Oklahoma has a special connection to the shopping cart. It was invented here in…
Shop local
Norman Music Festival April 24-26 Downtown Norman normanmusicfestival.com Free Touting more than 250 acts across three days on stages indoors and out (weather permitting), Norman Music Fest gives visitors a chance to relive the pre-algorithm days when you found out about new music by just kind of happening upon it. As fans of the continuation…
Power from the people
There’s nothing that scares Republican lawmakers more than giving more power to the people. Oklahoma is a politically conservative state, but when given the chance, voters have supported some fairly progressive issues in statewide votes, including Medicaid expansion and medical marijuana. That’s why the initiative petition process that puts issues on a statewide ballot has…
Leave it to Deevers
As always, the “Reddest State in the Union” continues to make headlines for all the wrong reasons. From The Independent to Rolling Stone, Oklahoma has come under fire due to the newly formed Oklahoma Freedom Caucus. Oklahoma is the 12th state to join the State Freedom Caucus Network, and the far-right political group seeks to…
The sequel
Kari and Eric Starkey bought LEAP Coffee Roasters in 2016 and quickly turned the small-batch roastery known for its exceptional coffee into one that also supports the local arts community. When they announced in February that they were passing the torch to new owners, I knew there was more to the story. Over a cup…
Killer instinct
The Psychology of a Murderer 8 p.m. Saturday, April 26 Tower Theatre 425 NW 23rd St. towertheatreokc.com $29.50-$164.50 Even before witnessing the death of a young girl at the age of 5, licensed clinical and forensic psychologist Rachel Toles was captivated by the darker side of human behavior. “I’ve always been drawn to the macabre…
History repeating
Ironically, the same religious conflicts within government leadership go back to biblical times. As the legislative and judicial assembly of elders, the Sanhedrin of the Second Temple of Jerusalem was divided between the conservative Pharisees and the secular Sadducees. Branching off of the Pharisees were the radical Zealots who opposed foreign influence and as the…
Downtown up
The NBA playoffs have long brought energy to downtown Oklahoma City, as player banners hang off tall buildings, local shops decorate their storefronts in Thunder colors and restaurants host watch parties. But this year’s playoff season feels a bit different for Kristen Vails. “This could be a historic run for the Thunder with how good…
Top billing
Norman Music Festival April 24-26 Downtown Norman normanmusicfestival.com free Readers of 2024 album-of-the-year lists and Oklahoma Gazette will find several familiar names in this year’s lineup for Norman Music Festival. La Luz (laluzband.com) — scheduled to take the festival’s main stage at 9:50 p.m. on Saturday, April 26 — made multiple year-end lists for its…
Dancing psychedelia
Shorts 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 9 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 10 2 p.m. Sunday, May 11 Civic Center Music Hall 201 N. Walker Ave. 405-594-8300 okcciviccenter.com/ $20-$103 Oklahoma City Ballet’s upcoming production, Shorts, brings together three distinct works that showcase different facets of contemporary dance in a single evening. While each piece stands on its…
Following the light
The blast from the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building bombing found Polly Nichols in a northwest corner office on the third floor of the Journal Record building, where she worked as the executive director of a nonprofit. The office was just across the street from the federal building, so the blast was devastating, collapsing the…
Breakfast and brunch
Hatch Early Mood Food multiple locations hatchearlymoodfood.com Get your Hatch fix at one of six locations across Oklahoma, including the Will Rogers International Airport. Hatch offers familiar breakfast and brunch dishes from steak and eggs to strawberry arugula salad, omelettes and sandwiches. Its full-service bar options include coffee cocktails, mimosas for the table, mocktails and…
Cockfighting returns?
Oklahoma voters banned the sport of cockfighting more than 20 years ago, but efforts to legalize or lessen penalties have resurfaced in recent years. A political action committee largely made up of cockfighters began pumping thousands of dollars into lawmaker coffers a few years ago, which helped allow some bills to receive a hearing and…
Remembering the bombing
The current article is intended to be an extension of Remembering the bombing. Odds are that most Oklahomans over the age of 40 can tell you where they were when they heard that the Oklahoma City federal building had been bombed. It is also fair to presume that anyone under 40 has no recollection of…
