To review the movie, I need only tell you what it’s about. The dictator of communist Albania has swiped dozens of United States “world leaders,” including Butterfly McQueen, Johnny Weismuller, Maureen O’Sullivan, Dorothy Lamour, Xavier Cugat, Col. Sanders, Busby Berkeley, the Bowery Boys, Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy. (Mind you, all of them appear as […]
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Magnificent 7
Photo: Nathan Poppe Right in the thick of a deep run into the NBA playoffs, Oklahoma City came together earlier this year in not only a frenzy of fandom, but a dawning realization that this indeed is a major-league city and, by extension, state. Somewhere between the OKC Thunder sweeping the Dallas Mavericks and taking […]
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Shiny Toy Guns — III
It marks not only singer Carah Faye Charnow’s return to the band whose founders were born in Shawnee, but also a return to the New Wave synth-pop sound that made them famous. The opening trio of “Somewhere to Hide,” “Waiting Alone” and “Carrie” are just as synthsational as the band has ever been. “Carrie” is […]
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Dan Deacon — America
With America, we can add “thoughtful” and “poignant” to the mix. A bundle of goofy energy in a Technicolor Cosby sweater, Deacon long felt like the class clown who would never threaten to grow up especially in Spiderman of the Rings and Meetle Mice. There was some growth in 2009’s Bromst, to be sure, but […]
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Sooner the Sunset — Sooner the Sunset
Their chemistry is undeniable, and from the sound of this self-titled debut EP, the two bring out the very best of each other — no small feat for artists who are incredible in their own right. The pair finds the perfect blend of pop and indie folk, crafting songs that recall the likes of Mumford […]
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Roll of the ’dise
Noise-pop act Merchandise is something of a ghost on the Internet — a rarity in this digital age. It takes some deep Googling to find it. And yet the group is finding its way, only recently accepting the help of a publicist and booking agent … and only because lead singer Carson Cox met them […]
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One direction
Six months ago, John Johnson and Joie Sherman-Johnson, both University of Oklahoma alum who make up the duo North Meets South, were working corporate jobs in Washington, D.C., playing “casually, not even weekly, not even monthly for about two years,” per Johnson, before relocating to Norman. Fresh from a short tour of the Midwest, the […]
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Mind the Fox — Songs for the Needy
The 11-track effort has the feel of a product made for and formulated in a dingy basement with dusty floral couches, shag carpet and tacky wood wall paneling … and I mean that in the best of ways. It’s something of a time capsule uncovered from four or five decades back, neither updated nor refurbished […]
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Locked and loaded
UK rock band Young Guns didn’t have the biggest expectations for its first substantial trek across the pond. “We were kind of thinking, ‘We are first ones on, from England, and no one is going to give a shit,’” singer Gustav Woods said. “It’s been fantastic, though. We were hungry. It’s so great to come […]
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Rock of ageless
It was as if the birth of Nirvana had never happened. It was as if music never stopped being fun. And catchy. And above all, horny. That’s the power of Lita Ford, Poison and Def Leppard. Maybe I had been living in Colorado too long. Maybe I had been too accustomed to concerts featuring Brooklyn-based […]