Gerry Bonds invites you into ‘The Living Room’
Bonds, who anchored the nightly news broadcast on OETA for 14 years, hopes to bring intellectually stimulating conversations to the round table as she talks to Janet Barresi, state superintendent of public instruction, and two representatives from Teach for America about the state of education. “On a personal level, it’s the intellectual stimulation and the…
Without Thunder
But that doesn’t mean you have to lock yourself into your homemade bomb shelter until David Stern starts waving his little, white flag. Climb the stairs and click on the TV, at the very least. We promise there’s stuff to do this fall besides mourning the Thunder. —Gotta get that fix? There’s a certain, extremely…
Neon Indian — Era Extraña
Case in point: “Era Extraña.” After 2009’s laughable, infectious debut album, “Psychic Chasms,” Palomo’s dropped into minor keys, thickened the wall of sound and reinforced his drum machines for greater impact. All signs in this description point to some bizarre, electronic-Goth-dance hybrid, but I’ve left out one important sonic quality that turns that on its…
Frankenhooker
Now on Blu-ray from Synapse Films, the raunchy 1990 comedy provides a delirious take on the Frankenstein legend, with crazed electrical worker Jeffrey Franken (James Lorinz, “The Sweet Life”) wanting to bring Elizabeth Shelley, his dead girlfriend (Patty Mullen, a former Penthouse Pet), back to life. Since she was killed by a runaway lawn mower,…
Crescent Market closing Oct. 30
As recently as last week, Pemberton refused to comment on the situation. Early this week, he decided to announce the official closing date. Cliff Davis, spokesman for Crescent Market, said while this is the end of one chapter, it is not the end of Crescent Market. He noted that this is not the original location.…
Dead Alive
When her skin begins to peel, her loving son gets out the mucilage. Pretty soon, she dies, only to become a bloodthirsty zombie. Then everyone she bites becomes a zombie, too, while Sonny Boy keeps all the herky-jerky corpses rounded up in the basement as best as he can. The final half of 1992’s “Dead…
Bite Size: 10-5-11
O’CONNELL’S PUB GOES GREENIn Norman, where people eat, sleep and breathe football, one Campus Corner restaurant is taking steps to make game-day eating just a little greener. O’Connell’s Pub and Grill, 769 Asp, introduced its new 100 percent “compostable,” FDA-approved food service tray. The sturdy new tray is made from plant fiber and offers all…
Lockout lookout
Several downtown businesses are keeping a close eye on the prospect of a canceled season, and hoping the situation gets resolved soon. So what caused the current situation, and how does it affect the city? What happened? The last collective bargaining agreement between NBA players and the NBA was agreed upon June 21, 2005. The…
Shaping a better city
Everyone addressed the issue based on their own experience and expertise, providing a diverse range of perspectives. Still, there was certainly a common theme repeated over and over again: It became quite clear that a connection exists between the type and density of development, municipal functions and quality of life. One aspect of this relates…
Restless
As limp as overcooked spaghetti noodles, this drama has to be a low point in the ever-wavering, oftexperimental directorial career of Gus Van Sant (“Milk”), because it feels as if it were created by tweens rather than grown men. Van Sant has recruited actors who play their teenaged characters as if they were half that…
South-of-the-border Bordeaux
That’s a very short life span in wine years. The brand was built on inexpensive, mass-produced wines, as Chile and Argentina both tried to use exports to help their devastated economies. The first Chilean fine wine exported to the U.S. was Concha y Toro’s Don Melchor Cabernet in 1987. Concha y Toro is much better…
Smag 7: It’s showtime!
Taste of Egypt 3604 N. May 843-3344 This restaurant actually started as a lark because owner Hesham Shafik also operates a car dealership, but he is now loving the restaurant business that opened in early August. Shafik, a native Egyptian, shows off ancient recipes featuring delicious food. Thus far, many physicians in town have loved…
Name value
Band-to-band comparisons are a necessary evil in the universe of emerging acts. However, media outlets like NPR and Interview take a little of the sting out by making comparisons to Radiohead, Arcade Fire and Bon Iver. “From a musician’s standpoint, you want to be your own thing and not necessarily compared to anyone,” said Kyle…
Stoney LaRue — Velvet
The song opens Edmond resident Stoney LaRue’s second studio full-length, “Velvet,” six years after “The Red Dirt Album.” At times, LaRue and his band (which features CMA favorite Randy Scruggs on guitar) kid themselves with the limited singer’s range, but they really nail the dark, smooth feeling suggested by the title, with soft-rock guitar fills…
Oral argument
The same law that condemns the eating of shellfish and the wearing of blended fabric also says that murder is wrong. While the letters of the New Testament are full of admonitions for avoiding sexual sin (i.e., sex outside of marriage — that clearly between a man and a woman), there is hardly any mention…
Max on Mummers, mack
Then they got this idea to build this Stage Center structure with the theater in it. Away from the fact that it was uneconomical to operate, the reality is that it was designed for a type of theater that basically isn’t executed anymore. What’s happened is the same problem we had with Rupel J. Jones…
A letter to President Barack Obama
You are trying to find a solution for our deficit crisis. Maybe it is time to put this responsibility where it belongs: on us, the citizens. It is time for us to go back to basics. Right now, our nation’s money goes toward: —Welfare: Families with two healthy parents at home unemployed. There are generations…
Wylde thing
Few people can claim Ozzy Osbourne as the godfather to their child. Guitar icon Zakk Wylde might be the only one; the 44-year-old leader of Black Label Society and ex-Osbourne guitarist resides in the upper echelon of the metal gods, even if he laughs at the very idea of being voted one. “It’s hysterical. Sure,…
Auss-ome
After years of relentless touring and 13,000 records sold independently, self-made minstrels The Wishing Well show no signs of slowing. A festival fixture in Europe and its native Australia, the orchestral-rock act remains relatively unknown here, but the group hopes its maiden tour of the States will change that. Founding members, vocalist/guitarist Jai Larkin and…
A little ‘Tart’
Guest director Timothy Mooney helms the University of Central Oklahoma’s production of “Tartuffe,” Molière’s 17th-century satire on religious hypocrisy playing for one weekend only. Staged by UCO’s Theater Arts Department, the play tells the story of the seemingly pious Tartuffe. He’s invited to live in the home of Orgon, who wants his family to enjoy…
Math test
The clouds menaced Tulsa’s Brady Street Block Party in August, eventually spawning fat droplets of rain spread around by Oklahoma’s signature winds. Suddenly, Mutemath drummer Darren King feared the worst. “We were about two minutes away from playing, 111 degrees, sunny. And then all of a sudden, God’s wrath comes through,” King said. “It was…
Carpenter union
The “devastating” flood not only took out CST’s office, but also its stock of furniture, props and costumes. “It was shocking to see furniture and appliances floating in 3 feet of water, sometimes a hundred feet away from where it had been sitting before,” said Rhonda Clark, artistic director. She knew then that if Stage…
Get in the car
The University of Oklahoma welcomes the printmaking duo Satan’s Camaro for a three-week exhibit, “Medieval Techno Show.” The brainchild of East Coast university art professors Justin Strom and Lenore Thomas, the prints are on display through Oct. 21 in OU’s Lightwell Gallery in the Fred Jones Art Center, 520 Parrington Oval in Norman. Both artists…
Lead on
The nonprofit organization began in 1981 after a group of city leaders felt civic involvement had skipped a generation. To fix that, a 30-person class was born to train community members to be effective volunteer leaders who use their skills to better their surroundings. “Being a servant leader to the community is putting a lot…
Horror on the frontier … kinda
Ghouls, goblins and every nightmare imaginable are once again haunting Frontier City as a part of the Halloween season’s FrightFest. At 11501 N. Interstate 35 Service Road, the theme park will be open to chill-seekers Friday through Sunday nights through Oct. 30 for the creepy festival. Admission prices remain the same as in-season tickets, which…
Sassy savvy
In Piedmont, Sophie Thompson and Logan Simunek are living the 14-year-old dream by running their own fashion design business. Yes, the teens own, run and manage Sassy Sistaz Designs under the pseudonyms Natalia Banks and Brooke Clemons. Their franchise began when they were doing what they loved: sewing. “We like a lot of couture magazines…
Urban jungle
“(My roommate) came in and said, ‘You’ve got to see this.’ There was a little opossum, about 7 inches long, sitting on the ping-pong table just looking at us,” Hall said. “We figured the cats might hurt it, so we put the opossum in a carrier, and a second one started climbing down the shelves…
Making an impact
Such is the annual scene for Impact Oklahoma, the nonprofit organization comprised of communityminded women who donate $1,000 a year to impact the quality of life in Central Oklahoma in five focus areas: family, culture, health and wellness, environment and education. Then they gather to listen to five nonprofit finalists’ pitches, and decide who will…
Newbies
The gorgeous vintage and antique store opened earlier this year in the old Army surplus store, and the vintage vibe of the building only adds to the character of the place. Verdigris is first shop for sister owners Kimberly Spicer and Melissa Graham. The large store has about 30 vendors, but the sprawling space is…
Bow-wow-wow, yippee-yo-yippe-yay
If you want to find out what your dog was like before he or she was a pushover who could be tamed with dinner scraps or a belly scratch, visit the “Wolf to Woof: The Story of Dogs” exhibit at the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History, 2401 Chautauqua in Norman. “Woof” is the largest…
Seoul kitchen
It may be unusual to hear smacktalk from a man of the cloth, but those were his words about spouse SunSoo Chong’s cooking. He explained that in their Korean homeland, the trend has been toward adding more sugar and MSG to recipes. This goes against their mission statement on the menu that reads, in part:…
Gourmet grinds
Beans & Leaves, 4015 N. Penn, is a new coffeehouse that offers many unique gourmet coffees as well as cookies, cakes and specialty teas. Unlike many gourmet coffee shops, which offer basic choices, manager Desiree Moore brought her own creations to the business. “I tried to bring in at least a few new drinks,” Moore…
Louie’s latest
The 16th Louie’s Grill & Bar, 7300 N. Western, just made its debut, and the Oklahoma-based concept is popping up around town with more to come. Calling itself a casual American-fare grill, there are Louie’s all over the metro, plus others in Broken Arrow, Jenks, Stillwater and Tulsa. Beyond this, there is a Louie’s in…
A little bit of diss …
First, Kevin Durant drew the ire of certain die-hards for practicing with Oklahoma City Thunder teammates at the University of Texas (although he attended the school for a short while). If those Austin antics weren’t enough, he then had the audacity to say that Louisiana State University (coached by former Oklahoma State head coach Les…
Tweet and sour
Take, for instance, recent comments via Twitter from State Superintendent Janet Barresi’s chief of staff Jennifer Carter (that’s the same Jennifer Carter who, earlier this year, was unable to get confirmed to the spot at a raucous State Board of Education meeting). The tweet was in reference to Union and Jenks school officials who brought…
Senate showdown
Voters in Senate District 43 will cast their ballots Tuesday and send a new state senator to the Legislature. The election will replace term-limited Republican Sen. Jim Reynolds, who was elected as treasurer in Cleveland County last November. The district covers part of eastern Oklahoma County and goes into northern Cleveland County, encompassing parts of…
But do they have a library card?
According to KFOR-TV, the nasty little buggers invaded the library a couple of weekends ago and forced the library to actually shut down. (We’re sure the classier bookworms were all appropriately miffed to see such scalawags.) “The library is sort of a hub for the community, so we’re going to see a lot of different…
Oklahoman hospitality
In the late ’90s, CJR bestowed the paper the title “Worst Newspaper in America,” and Oklahoman columnists have also taken CJR to task. Now CJR is criticizing The Oke’s profile of its soon-to-be new owner, Colorado billionaire Philip Anschutz, who is acquiring all of OPUBCO this month. In a Sept. 27 piece titled “How not…
PR BS
—“Obama’s Vacation Home For Sale & Free Diamonds in California” —“Honors College has ice cream social for honor students” —“Can You Be Trusted? The Answer May Surprise You” —“Do not read this email . . . unless you want to automatically track hot news and know about it when it happens” —“Local author condensed life…
Rep. Paul Wesselhöft questions Islamophobia
We agree with her that many Muslims abhor the killings of 9/11. However, instead of keeping her cause positive, she had to demonstrate how many more Muslims have been killed in our war on terror; and then she accuses Oklahomans and especially her lawmakers of being Islamophobic and “ill-informed” and “brainwashed” and believing in “distortions.”…
Hub flub
The Oklahoma City Council, on Sept. 13, approved submission of a grant application to the U. S. Department of Transportation for $17 million. That $17 million, coupled with sales tax from MAPS 3, money from the Association of Central Oklahoma Governments and the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, would total $26 million to fund the first…
Downtown digs
The study, commissioned in January 2011, was to be presented to the Oklahoma City Council at its Sept. 27 meeting, but when the meeting began to run long, the presentation was delayed until the Oct. 11 meeting. “It’s a very profound study and one that merits the full attention of the council,” said Ward 3…
Centennial highs
OKC’s grand dame of hotels re-opened in 2007 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. A week-long celebration is planned to commemorate 100 years (see sidebar Page 22). The Skirvin Hilton, located at 1 Park Ave., gets its character from a combination of the old and new: vintage woodwork in the lobby, intricate…
How to Make It in America: The Complete First Season
That’s what the show’s about ostensibly, but really, it’s a look at how young New Yorkers live and love: sorta half-assed on both counts. Sad-sack Ben (Bryan Greenberg, “Friends with Benefits”) and street-smart Cam (Victor Rasuk, “Stop-Loss”) are two best buds seeking the next big thing after a venture in skateboard decks failed to take…
Killer Party
Why? I don’t know, but my good graces were won over in an instant. As ’80s as ’80s can be — big ‘n’ frizzy hair, mismatched socks, paper clips as earrings — the movie centers on three girls pledging a sorority the same time a murderer stalks the campus. (Since when does Greek initiation take…
Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop
Things did not go according to plan. Ratings tanked for both Leno and O’Brien. After less than eight months. NBC returned Leno to the time slot, effectively giving O’Brien the boot. The brouhaha sparked a jaw-dropping level of outrage as TV viewers across the country took sides. If only wars prompted as much public engagement.…
The Hour
1. It’s about journalism, my chosen profession.2. It’s also an espionage thriller, a favorite genre.3. It’s set in the 1960s, visually the best decade in history.4. Perhaps most of all, it’s an hour-long, limited series on the BBC, who’ve rocked my world in the past year with “Sherlock,” “Luther” and “Zen,” all of which blew…
The Pee-wee Herman Show on Broadway
“On Broadway” is a mix of that and the Saturday-morning classic “Pee-wee’s Playhouse,” staged on a near-exact re-creation of that series whacked-out set. Many characters return, both human (Miss Yvonne, The King of Cartoons) and not (Magic Screen, Globey). So do many of the elements, from a “Penny” claymation cartoon to the infamous “Lunchroom Manners”…
Shaft: The TV Movie Collection / The Man from U.N.C.L.E.: 8-Movie Collection
In other words, he’s still the black private dick, just no longer the sex machine to all the chicks. Still, in making the jump from the big screen to the boob tube for a short-lived series in 1973, Roundtree stayed put, and that has to count for something. It does, even if the show is…
The Phantom of Hollywood
Witness Brian De Palma’s cult classic “Phantom of the Paradise,” the ’80s straight-to-VHS slasher “Phantom of the Mall” and the somewhat obscure “The Phantom of Hollywood,” a 1974 CBS movie of the week now brought back to public consciousness via Warner Archive. Without me telling you, you can guess its basic story points: The fictional…
BKO: Bangkok Knockout
Despite the team’s intimidating name, the members of Fight Club are the good guys of this Thai actioner. The bad guy is the cigar-chomping gringo Mr. Snead (Speedy Arnold), who runs a high-stakes gambling operation where the minimum wager is $5,000. On what do his richie-rich clients bet? Quasi-gladitorial games between pairs of fighters in…
Controversial Keystone XL pipeline focus of public meeting
The State Department is seeking citizen input on the pipeline, which would be owned by a Canadian company and would pass through Oklahoma. left, Protesters gather Aug. 23 at a Keystone XL demonstration at the White House. The planned pipeline has been criticized by some. The Sierra Club said it plans to attend the meeting…
The Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman
I’m not insulting you, dear readers — those are merely the three animals that figure prominently in the opening of Hong Kong’s action-comedy “The Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman,” as broad as its continent’s schoolgirls are sexualized. Doug Liman (director of “Go,” “Swingers” and “The Bourne Identity”) serves as executive producer, which I take…
Black Zoo
But Michael’s “children” are in danger — or is that endangered? — when greedy, swingin’ businessman Jerry Stengel (Jerome Cowan, “The Maltese Falcon”) keen on visiting a particular “striptease parlor” wants to take the land on which the zoo sits so he can rezone it as a residential district. Michael refuses to sign the contract, so…
Copy that
Listen to any of Cut Copy’s three full-length records — particularly this year’s striking, shimmering “Zonoscope” — and you’ll be overcome by a sense of exotic locale. It’s not just because the synth-heavy, super-literate band hails from down under, or even because it finds inspiration in films set in fantastical locations, like the Amazon of…
Police Story: Season One
Shout! Factory has released the first season — all 22 episodes of it — on a six-disc set. It was worth the wait. Now I just pray the remainder will follow. “Police Story” makes for terse drama. As Wambaugh states on the bonus interview with him, the series is not about the cop on the…
Wong Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
In “Cuckoo’s Nest,” Wong takes on the topic of the high rates of depression and suicide among Asian-American women, and she does it with great charm and piquant humor. Written and performed by Wong, the show has a rhythmic ebb and flow between poignancy and comedy. A San Francisco native, Wong insists the show is…
Green Schools Program offers teachable moments
Take the Oklahoma Green Schools Program, for example. The program allows schools to participate in assistance with service learning projects, carbon dioxide reduction and LEED certification. “We have everything from classroom teachers to architects to energy consulting businesses that have come together to try to assist schools that want to become greener and healthier,” said…
Born of Earth
This means he has to:• Spout supposedly dramatic and/or serious lines like “Eggs? They weren’t eggs, you son of a bitch. They were my family!”• Convince his estranged sister-in-law (Jennifer Kincer, “Trust”) to let him take her and her punky, rebellious daughter (Shannon Zeller, “Seraphim Falls”) to the county fair. • Eventually fight the flesh-eating…
