pop Kendall Brown, editor CONTACT US
Phone: 366-3533 Fax: 366-3516 pop@normantranscript.com WEEKLY DEADLINE NOON TUESDAY All faxed or mailed information submitted must be typed and send to pop@normantranscript.com. NINE NIGHTS CALENDAR Submissions should include event name, time, date, location and admission price. PATRONS Photo submissions must be highresolution and include caption information with the names of people in the photo, along with the date, place and name of event where it was taken. Photos are printed as space allows.
pop is published each Friday by The Norman Transcript, P.O. Box 1058, Norman, OK 73070. To advertise, call 366-3554. CORRECTION In the July 29 edition of POP, several artists were mistakenly identified in a review of the Firehouse Faculty show. The correct artists’ names were Craig Swan, sculptor; Wayne Rives, potter; Beverly Herndon, painter; and Carla Chew, potter.
CONNECT Facebook.com/ normanpop Twitter.com/ transcriptpop ON THE COVER
Photo from the the collected works of Tom Lee.
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High Notes
THE DISH F ROZEN BEVERAGE By K e n d a ll
Bro w n
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Tom Lee and a life changed veryone is afforded in life those few moments, those ‘flashbulb memories,’ where you meet someone truly inspiring, someone who in an instant changes your life forever. Something they do, something they say or maybe just something they simply are touches something inside of you, and you’re better for it. Tom Lee did that for me. I was a freshman in college, a scared, timid little Northwest Oklahoma transplant that was unsure of where I was headed in life. All I knew were two things: first, I needed a job and second, I thought I might like to take pictures. Not enough to commit to changing my major, mind you, as the thought of telling my parents I’d become the dreaded ‘art student’ was too much to bear, but just enough to toy with the idea of the mysterious, glamorous idea of a future as a ‘photojournalist.’ That’s when I saw it: a listing in the classified section of the student paper stating, simply, ‘Local photographer looking for an assistant.’ Well, that was it, I was sold. I immediately applied for the job and, without ever having actually spoken with this local photographer over the phone, set up an interview. I was nervous, I was ecstactic, I was convinced that this job was going to set me on my way. When I walked into Tom Lee’s studio later that week I was both shocked and shocking. You see, what I did not know until I walked in that afternoon was that this local photographer, this Tom Lee, was a quadrapalegic. I was shocked, of course, but he looked just as surprised as I was. My name, Kendall Brown, is an admittedly androgynous one, and he had apparently expected a bulking young man to walk through the door, not barely 5 feet and 120 pounds of small blonde girl. Once the shock wore off for both of us, we settled in for our conversation. I can’t call it an interview, because that’s simply wasn’t what it was. Tom was looking for someone to not only help with his photography, but also daily needs, something I wasn’t strong enough to do. Many people would have probably simply said ‘thanks’ and shown me the door. Tom
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invited me to sit down and asked why I wanted the job in the first place. I explained to him that I thought that being his photo assistant would help me decide whether I wanted to be a photographer. I wanted to know for sure before I committed even so much as a semester of college to the new course of classes. Tom, to be quite honest, looked absolutely bemused at my stupidity. “Why would being my assistant teach you if you want to be a photographer?” he asked, staring at me with a half smile on his face. “Go be a photographer. That will teach you if you want to be a photographer.” That was the last time I saw Tom Lee. He called me the next day and left me a very kind voicemail informing me of what I already knew, that I wasn’t right for the job, but that I was welcome to come by his studio any time to talk shop. I was too intimidated by the man and his talent to even return his call. But I did what he said. I went and I became a photographer. I changed my major to photography and began spending countless hours in the basement of the art school, wrists deep in photo chemicals learning the alchemist magic that is traditional photography. Many late nights in the darkroom, as I would tire of being there, tired of printing the same image over and over again, looking for that perfect print, I would think of Tom. I would be near to giving up, to putting my prints up to dry and returning back to my apartment for just a few hours of precious sleep when I would think about what I saw that one afternoon in Tom Lee’s studio, how his work made me feel. I wanted my work to inspire. So I kept going. Tom passed away in the last year, and it will always be one of my deepest regrets that I never stopped by his studio to ‘talk shop.’ But I am so glad for his influence that led me to becoming a photographer and, eventually, to being the editor of POP. I hope that many in the community will join me tonight for IAO’s retrospective of his work. Tom spent much of his life quietly producing amazing work in Norman, and now it’s time for us to loudly celebrate it.
The Mont More than 20 people in Norman, including Nolita Stewart Morgan, Amara Elizabeth Patty and Juli Hall nominated The Mont’s Sooner Swirl this week as their favorite frozen alcoholic beverage in Norman. The Sooner Swirl, an Oklahoma original to the Mont, is a frosty beverage made of their secret recipe sangria frozen and swirled together with their frozen house margarita to icy perfection. The cold beverage then is topped off with the Mont's signature swizzle stick, the multi-color palm tree that many in Norman have come to know and love. The ice-cold drink goes great with the current hot conditions and is a bargain at $5.50. The Dish is a weekly feature dedicated to reader suggestions on Norman’s culinary highlights. Next week’s category: French fries — who makes your favorite? To nominate, email pop@normantranscript.com.
DIY DELICACIES Caramel Popcorn Ingredients 1 cup butter 2 cups brown sugar 1⁄2 cup corn syrup 1 teaspoon salt 1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 5 quarts popped popcorn Directions 1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (95 degrees C). Place popcorn in a very large bowl. 2. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in brown sugar, corn syrup and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil without stirring 4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in soda and vanilla. Pour in a thin stream over popcorn, stirring to coat. 3. Place in two large shallow baking dishes and bake in preheated oven, stirring every 15 minutes, for 1 hour. Remove from oven and let cool completely before breaking into pieces.
Have a DIY recipe for a beverage or side you want featured? Email pop@normantranscript.com