It was built in 1970 by renowned architect John Johansen, and opened as the Mummers Theatre. It served as a hub for arts and cultural events over the next decades, but a flood in 2010 forced its closure. With millions of dollars in estimated deferred maintenance and no party with the resources to save it, […]
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Posted inArts & Culture
A Single Shot
Shot‘s sights are set on John (Sam Rockwell), a dirt-poor hunter who mistakes a young woman for a deer — not necessarily a negative except that a trigger was involved and John’s aim is true. When he tends to her dead body, he finds a lot of cash next to her and assumes it won’t be missed. […]
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Past, present, future
Oklahoma’s Century Chest exhibit bares unique Indian artifacts from a 100-year-old time capsule. When the Oklahoma Century Chest was opened in April, 100 years after the time capsule was buried, Chad Williams, director of research at the Oklahoma History Center, was surprised. “When we opened it, we couldn’t see anything because each item was wrapped […]
Posted inMusic
Soul Williams — Love, Soul: The Musical Letters Collective, Part 1
With a humble swagger and beats that could knock down the walls of Jericho, Williams’ newest album fills the pews with a low-down gospel message that, refreshingly, isn’t afraid to pull out a whip and strike down the false prophets crowding the temples of the holy. For example, the second track, “Revolutionary Minds” — co-written […]
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Grand theft bravado
Reluctantly, Nathan Williams — the leader of indie rock outfit Wavves — is growing up, and pretty fast, too. Sure, the notorious stoner might have spent a good chunk of this month plopped on the couch, under the influence, playing Grand Theft Auto V, but consider it the reward for a good amount of work […]
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Center stage
Although the property’s new owner, Kestrel Investments Management Corporation, has plans to seek a demolition permit in November, hope still exists to somehow save the building described last year in Architectural Record as a “love-it-or-hate-it” structure. For decades, the now-defunct theater — complete with its concrete forms, brightly colored steel ramps and large corrugated metal […]
Posted inMusic
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 […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Paul Williams: Still Alive
Both documentaries deal with a musician wrongly presumed to be dead; the difference here is that the love comes straight from the director, Stephen Kessler (Vegas Vacation), whose impetus for the project is purely, deeply personal. With all the extra layers removed, I began to feel it, too; his adoration for his subject is infectious. […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Cherry Tree Lane
Likely, that film opens with an unspeakable act that calls for retribution, and ends with said retribution being achieved. And in the middle are cat-and-mouse games and close calls and rounds of table-turning to keep conflict chugging. Cherry Tree Lane, however, removes that midsection, condensing the story to assumedly real time. In between its bookends, […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Girls: The Complete First Season
The result, Girls, generated instant millennial buzz — not all of it positive — and Emmy love. It may deal with the lives of four unmarried, 20-something women in New York City, but it’s no Sex and the City, and thank the stars above for that. One of its characters, the shy virgin played by […]