The Tulsa Voice | Vol. 6 No. 9 by The Tulsa Voice

FREE THE WEED, FREE THE PEOPLE

BIG PHARMA PAYS BIG CASH

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VOL. 6 NO. 9

Tulsa’s 4/20-friendly cuisine P24

MEDICAL CANNABIS DISPENSARY GUIDE P28

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April 17 – 30, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

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CONTENTS // 3

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4 // CONTENTS

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April 17 – 30, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

EAT YOUR GREENS

P24 BY ANGELA EVANS

Tulsa chef re-thinks edible cannabis at White Rabbit Medicinals

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8 NEW LEAF B Y LAUREN TURNER

P12

P14 APRIL 17 – 30, 2019

VOL. 6 NO. 9

20 5 O’CLOCK, TULSA TIME B Y ANDREW SALIGA

The such-as-it-is mettle of Mitt Romney

12 FREE THE WEED, FREE THE PEOPLE B Y DEON OSBORNE Oklahoma should make cannabis reform retroactive

16 GET IN THE VAN B Y KRISTI EATON

Tulsa’s 4/20-friendly cuisine P24

ETC.

ON THE COVER Food provided by White Rabbit Medicinals, Bong provided by Bong Boutique PHOTO BY VALERIE WEI-HAAS THE TULSA VOICE // April 17 – 30, 2019

30 DEEP RUN B Y JOHN TRANCHINA

10 PROFILE IN ‘COURAGE’ B Y BARRY FRIEDMAN

A Better Way fights job insecurity while beautifying Tulsa

MEDICAL CANNABIS DISPENSARY GUIDE P28

18 FRIENDLY PHO B Y TERRIE SHIPLEY Cult classic Pho Da Cao is a religious experience

OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma pays up BIG PHARMA PAYS BIG CASH

ARTS & CULTURE

Unity Bill hits a high note with legislators and cannabis advocates

14 PUBLIC NUISANCE B Y FRASER KASTNER FREE THE WEED, FREE THE PEOPLE

FOOD & DRINK

NEWS & COMMENTARY

6 EDITOR’SLETTER 32 THEHAPS 38 MUSICLISTINGS 44 FULLCIRCLE 46 THEFUZZ + CROSSWORD

Inside Blue Dome’s newest watering hole

31 MEET THE FELLOWS B Y TTV STAFF

22 GLASS ACT B Y GREG HORTON

Dispatch from the Wine Forum of Oklahoma

MUSIC 34 GO ELECTRIC B Y MASON WHITEHORN POWELL

Oilers chase first championship in 26 years

In the studio with Rachel Hayes

TV & FILM 40 PITCH SHIFTER B Y ALEXANDRA ROBINSON

‘ Shrill’ is the buoyant, body-positive feminist comedy we deserve

42 AN ORDINARY RECKONING B Y JEFF HUSTON

Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth talks Dylan, guitars, and Tulsa

Tulsa native Mary Kay Place shines in award-winning film

36 DON’T DREAM IT’S OVER B Y BECKY CARMAN

42 RESTLESS NATIVE B Y CHARLES ELMORE

M. Lockwood Porter sees a better world coming

Ashton Sanders offers a captivating, uneven literary adaptation

39 THIS MACHINE BLOWS OUT THE CANDLES B Y TTV STAFF Woody Guthrie Center’s Sixth Anniversary Celebration

CONTENTS // 5

editor’sletter

ore than $4 billion stuck to the Sacklers between 2008 and 2016. The following year, despite barely cracking the Top 20 in Forbes’ list of America’s richest families, they had hoarded wealth in excess of $13 billion. This was decades after Richard Sackler and his team at Purdue Pharma developed OxyContin, a pain pill whose active ingredient is stronger than morphine. In 2017, after the Sacklers celebrated their $13-billion milestone, 47,600 people died at the hands of these powerful, addictive opioids. (For scale: that’s more than the entire population of Owasso.) Ruthlessly marketed in places like Oklahoma, with pills outnumbering people in some communities across the U.S., the painkillers obliterated entire swaths of the country while making one already-wealthy family rich

beyond any normal person’s wildest dreams. Meditate on the word billion. What even is it? Crudely, this: 1,000,000,000. But it’s more emotionally resonant, for me, to consider the number in long scale—one thousand million. Imagine, if you can, one million dollars. (I can barely do this.) In the time it took me to rack up the national-average $30k in high-interest student loans across two humanities degrees, the Sackler family made one thousand million dollars, four times, from the sale of one deadly drug. Imagine one thousand million dollars four times. Now imagine one thousand million dollars five times. Six times. 13. Purdue recently settled a lawsuit with the State of Oklahoma for $270 million—a brick in the family castle, to be sure, but hopefully enough to help some

of our neighbors struggling with addiction here in Tulsa. Check out Fraser Kastner’s tidy summation of the settlement on pg. 14. Then read about Tiffanie Dartez, a former food truck operator suffering from MS who managed to break free of her “really good relationship with opiates” with the help of medical cannabis—a now-legal medicine in Oklahoma, whose body count is zero—which she infuses into sweet and savory treats at White Rabbit Medicinals (pg. 24). We’ve also got the case for retroactive drug sentencing (pg. 12); an edible guide with recipes and tips (pg. 25); and the rundown on Tulsa’s medical cannabis dispensaries (pg. 28). If you’re curious: The Sacklers were #19 on the Forbes “Richest Families in America” list. The wealthiest was the Walton Family, whose net worth absorbs all light

RECYCLE THIS Glass Bottles and Jars

in the known universe at $130 billion. That’s $130,000,000,000— one thousand million dollars, 130 times. (Entry-level Walmart employees make $11/hr., which is $4.41 shy of the hourly wage needed to afford the Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom home in Oklahoma.) Regardless of the specific harms done by the elite to a community, or their lack of accountability to the workers who generate their grotesque profits, a simple truth remains: No one needs a billion dollars. And we don’t need billionaires. a

JEZY J. GRAY EDITOR

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NEWS & COMMENTARY // 7

okpolicy

NEW LEAF

Unity Bill hits a high note with legislators and cannabis advocates by LAUREN TURNER for OKPOLICY.ORG

8 // NEWS & COMMENTARY

ov. Stitt signed the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana and Patient Protection Act—also called the “Unity Bill”—on March 14. This legislation is the result of months of work by the bipartisan medical marijuana working group, and it passed easily through both the House and the Senate. According to Senate President Pro Tem Greg Treat, the goal of the working group and the legislation is to “ensure that State Question 788 would be implemented in the most efficient and responsible way possible” and ensure the law will be “implemented as intended.” The Unity Bill clarifies SQ 788. Its cornerstone is the creation of the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA) to regulate the medical marijuana program, including the authority to investigate alleged violations of the law and administer penalties. It also establishes the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Revolving Fund for fines and fees collected by the OMMA. Other changes include: establishing requirements for testing medical marijuana inventories for contaminants and THC/CBD content; requiring the use of child-resistant containers at the point of sale; labeling requirements— including a universal symbol for THC, potency, a statement that the product has been tested for contaminants, and a ban on the packaging that is made to appeal to children; a ban on counties making laws that restrict access to medical marijuana; and a ban on licensed medical marijuana users being denied access to safety net programs such as SNAP and Medicaid because of marijuana use. The bill also includes the right of medical marijuana patients to own firearms; restrictions on smokable marijuana in public that mirror restrictions on public tobacco use; reduced license fees for veterans who are 100 percent disabled; “seed-to-sale” inventory tracking requirements for dispensaries; creation of a caregiver license, which would authorize caregivers to buy and deliver products to a medical marijuana

license holder; rules and regulations for establishing medical marijuana businesses—including commercial growers, processors, transporters, laboratories for testing, and dispensaries; and regulations on medical marijuana research. Two parts of the Unity Bill are somewhat controversial among medical marijuana advocates. The law bans employers from penalizing applicants for a job based on a positive test for marijuana with one exception: those with “safety-sensitive” jobs (including firefighting), jobs that require handling a firearm, hazardous materials, or power tools, and child care workers. Advocates argue that this is unnecessary because there are already laws that cover intoxication in safety-sensitive jobs. Also, there is no standard test to determine if someone is under the inﬂuence of marijuana and no standard for how much THC in one’s system constitutes being impaired. The creation of a medical marijuana patient registry set forth in the new law also concerns some advocates. The law allows all physicians access to the registry, and advocates are concerned that some doctors who provide pain management or cancer treatment will refuse to treat patients who are using medical marijuana. Some doctors are hesitant to treat medical marijuana patients due to differences in federal and state marijuana laws that could lead to doctors losing their ability to prescribe controlled substances. While there is some disagreement about these finer points of the law, advocates for medical marijuana are generally happy with the bill. Shelley Free, executive director of Oklahomans for Health—a group that advocated for SQ 788—stated: “Although it’s not perfect, I respect that we got so much help and cooperation from legislators. We have a foundation to build from now.” a

Lauren Turner is a mental health policy analyst with Oklahoma Policy Institute (okpolicy.org). April 17 – 30, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

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Proﬁle in ‘courage’ The such-as-it-is mettle of Mitt Romney by BARRY FRIEDMAN

icking on Mitt Romney is as easy as hitting a piñata full of alarm clocks and kittens without a blindfold in broad daylight—but for the love of the cauda equina, the bundle of spinal nerves and spinal nerve rootlets of the lumbar cistern, if the former Massachusetts governor were any more spineless, echinoderms would be telling him to grow a pair. Romney, who has been Utah’s senator for fewer than four months, was on “Meet the Press” on April 7, and is already ashamed of his work and his title.

That’s it? You were against a bill years ago the president just recently and cynically dangled in front of Congress in a clunky, transparent attempt to get his cockamamie wall funded, and that shows off your cojones? What made the moment more absurd, as impossible as that was, Romney immediately walked back even that nothing burger.

CHUCK TODD: Do you prefer Governor or Senator still?

Shorter Romney: If you’re watching Mr. President, please don’t hurt me. Romney, rather than taking off the gloves in criticizing Trump, lathered his hands in Neosporin, wrapped them in gauze, put on a pair of mittens, and put both hands under his underarms.

CHUCK TODD: Are you still against — SEN. MITT ROMNEY: — we’re on the same page.

SEN. MITT ROMNEY: The term Governor’s always better, but I guess I’ve got to go by my current title, which is Senator. CHUCK TODD: That’s exactly what we — SEN. MITT ROMNEY: But Mitt—but Mitt is just fine, Chuck. Mitt is just fine.

I’ll tell you: If my urologist hated his work as much as Romney hates his, I never would have let him near my prostate. But I digress. Romney was on the show — actually, there was no good reason for him to be on the show other than Chuck Todd’s desire to prove there are national GOP figures supposedly willing to stand up to Donald Trump. CHUCK TODD: Welcome back. Most Republican office holders have been reluctant, even a bit scared, to criticize President Trump. Not Mitt Romney. Just two days 10 // NEWS & COMMENTARY

Mitt Romney | COURTESY

before he took the oath as a new senator from Utah, Mitt Romney wrote this: “Presidential leadership and qualities of character is indispensable. And it is in this province where the incumbent’s shortfall has been most glaring.”

Yes, exactly. Todd pulled that quote out of the bag to prove Romney’s disgust with the president’s moral failings. (How will Trump ever recover from such a rhetorical beatdown is beyond me.) Todd reminded Romney that he, Romney, once said he was, compared to Trump, the true badass when it came to opposing the hordes of foreigners from “shithole countries” coming to our border. Short of shooting little Ecuadoran kids in the back as they ﬂee the border, I’m not sure how that is actually possible, but Todd pursued the questioning.

CHUCK TODD: One of the things that you had said is you’d be tougher on illegal immigration than President Trump. Your positions. Give me an example where you feel as if you’re tougher on this than he is. SEN. MITT ROMNEY: Well, I was referring to a time some years ago when I was running for president and, and noted that I was not in favor of the DREAM Act.

Phumpherer, line one. And the president supported earlier in 2017 giving the DACA individuals legal residency. So I was referring to that point. But at this stage, I think —

SEN. MITT ROMNEY: I would provide legal status for those Dreamers in the country. That’s something the president’s put on the table. I think we should get that job done. And hope we will get that job done.

He would treat human beings as human beings. Leadership! But overall, we need to complete the border fence.

… or, you know, start, repair, update, fi ll-in, and/or secure whatever it is we’re calling the thingy on the border these days. We need to have a system that keeps people from getting jobs here if they’re here illegally, and that’s an e-verify system. April 17 – 30, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

And then we’ve got to deal with this asylum issue that’s really overwhelming our system.

Romney doesn’t want people working here illegally and wants to deal with the asylum issue. This, apparently, is what passes for special moxy in the GOP these days and gets you booked on Sunday mornings. CHUCK TODD: You, you have, you were very aggressive in getting, in getting candidate Donald Trump to try to release his tax returns.

This assumes, as the kids like to say, facts not in evidence, but please continue. He now wants to fight this effort by Congress all the way to the Supreme Court. And while I could maybe understand he wants to do it on privacy grounds, he still doesn’t want to show the country his tax returns. How problematic is that?

Okay, senator — uh, governor — you released your tax returns, 12 years worth, and were not exactly Albert Schweitzer in your adult years. You also took the heat for your 47 percent comment. Bring the hammer, as it was brought against you. SEN. MITT ROMNEY: Well, I’d like the president to follow through and show his tax returns. He said he would.

“I’d like the president—” Wait, that’s not a hammer. Try again. I think it was on The Today Show. He said he would be happy to release his returns. So I wish he’d do that.

You’re kidding with this, right? Nope. But I have to also tell you I think the Democrats are just playing along his handbook, which is going after his tax returns through a legislative action is moronic. That’s not going to happen. The courts are not going to say that you can compel a person running for office to release their tax THE TULSA VOICE // April 17 – 30, 2019

returns. So he’s going to win this victory. He wins them time after time.

Wins what time after time? And what about the point of the release? And, you know, the Green New Deal, all these candidates out there talking about getting, getting rid of Obamacare and traditional health care and putting in place Medicare, these things are just, just nonstarters.

Guess we’re not talking about the president’s tax returns anymore, but rather the talking points Romney jotted down on the car over to the studio. As for Obamacare, let us take the time to recall its similarities to a program Romney passed in Massachusetts, a time when he enjoyed so much being the state’s governor. Here’s what MIT Professor Jonathan Gruber, who helped craft the actual bill, said of Romney’s signature achievement. “The problem is there is no way to say that,” Gruber said. “Because they’re the same fucking bill. He just can’t have his cake and eat it too. Basically, you know, it’s the same bill. He can try to draw distinctions and stuff, but he’s just lying.”

Todd, through the entire discussion of healthcare, didn’t remind Romney of that, for reasons that defy understanding. Worse, he let Romney get away with this: And I think the Democratic party is finding itself in a real difficult position with those kind of positions.

Expanding Medicare and taking global climate change seriously — those are difficult positions for Democrats? Really? Only a guy who said this after accepting his party’s nomination for president in 2012, would think so. ”President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans and heal the planet,” he said. The crowd burst into applause. Adding after a long pause:

“My promise … is to help you and your family.”

Hilarious. In returning to the premise— Romney’s moral outrage at the president —Todd asked the former governor about whether anyone in the GOP would challenge Trump in 2020. Romney recalled the time he curled up into ball and started cooing at the White House. SEN. MITT ROMNEY: I have places where I disagree with the president. I was in his office just a couple weeks ago and said I disagreed with the steel and aluminum tariffs.

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Quick! Get the man a cookie. On the other hand, I said, “I’m overwhelmingly in favor with what you’re doing on China.”

No word if he rolled over and had his underbelly stroked. In my opinion, you can get as hard as you want to get, pushing back on China. I think you also have to say the president has followed the Republican playbook when it comes to the domestic economy. Lowering taxes, lowering regulation. The economy’s doing very, very well. It’s hard not to recognize that’s a pretty strong record.

But what of the question, Senator/Governor/Bain Capital Man, of a primary challenge? Are you concerned about the president’s morality and character, or not? Will you, yourself, consider running, for the sake of the GOP, for the sake of the country? Will you encourage others to do so? SEN. MITT ROMNEY: As to whether or not there’s a primary, time will tell. But parties typically do just fine when there’s a primary.

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If Romney were any more irresolute, he would have wafted away like pollen through an open window. a For complete citations, visit the hyperlinked version of this story at thetulsavoice.com.

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Ryan Gentzler, policy director for Open Justice Oklahoma, which analyzes public data to educate on criminal justice reform. | GREG BOLLINGER

Free the weed, free the people Oklahoma should make cannabis reform retroactive by DEON OSBORNE

klahoma’s drug laws took a sharp left turn in June 2018 when a strong majority of voters chose to legalize medical cannabis. Seen as one of the most liberal medical marijuana policies in the U.S., State Question 788 reduced penalties for possession of less than an ounce of cannabis to no more than a $400 fine with no jail time, if a person could state a medical condition. Becoming the 30th state in the nation to say yes to medical cannabis shouldn’t have been a shock when you consider the fact that SoonerPoll showed widespread support for the measure as far back as 2013. The measure’s passage followed successful efforts at the ballot box to reduce penalties for low-level drug and property crimes in 2016. But while recent efforts by lawmakers to retroactively apply the 2016 measures (State Questions 780 and 781) have gained bipartisan support, so far the state has been silent on whether to forgive all marijuana convictions before medical marijuana was passed. Ryan Gentzler, policy director for Open Justice Oklahoma, believes that retroactivity for at least some criminal justice mea12 // NEWS & COMMENTARY

sures is bound to pass within the next year or two. “State question 780 and 781 passed with very strong majorities across the state,” Gentzler said. “And more recent polling in the last few months tells us that support for 780 and 781 has only grown since it was implemented. So, the scare tactics from law enforcement and district attorneys has really not worked on the whole.” State question 780 reduced some drug penalties from felonies to misdemeanors, while 781 did the same for felony property crimes. Nationally, California, which legalized recreational marijuana in 2016, has announced it will expunge the records of marijuana convictions. Baltimore’s State Attorney Marilyn Mosby said her office would no longer prosecute marijuana possession crimes. And with New York set to legalize recreational use, black NY lawmakers are pushing the state to go further by ensuring communities that were disproportionately harmed by the failed War on Drugs are given reparative justice in the form of funds for job training and business licenses in the new industry.

African Americans are four times as likely to be arrested for possession of the herb, despite using it at similar rates to white Americans, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Not only has Oklahoma surpassed Colorado in the rate of new dispensaries opening, but the number of patient and business licenses of more than 100,000 have already doubled expectations, indicating at least 150,000 licenses will be issued by the end of the first year, according to the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority. “As of April 8, 96,808 patient, 1,124 caregiver and 4,662 business applications received, 102,594 total,” an OMMA representative tweeted. “88,574 [approved] total.” These numbers reveal that nearly three percent of Oklahomans are already seeking to actively invest in the new medical cannabis industry less than one year after the passage of the law. Intentional actions should be taken to ensure that the pattern of legalized states doesn’t continue to reveal a picture of wealthy, white men benefitting in the new industry while low-income and especially black Oklahomans continue to be prosecuted and fined

for cannabis use at higher rates across the state. The most direct way to offer reparative justice is to change police priorities on the local level away from simple possession and offering expungement for past convictions. Gentzler said the main reason SQ 780 and 781 have gained so much support in the state legislature is because of Oklahoma’s unique role as the largest per-capita incarcerator in the world. “We don’t have the money to incarcerate all the people we currently have in there,” Gentzler said. “This is a pretty quick and palatable way to take a pretty sizeable chunk of people and get them out on supervision.” While retroactively applying reduced drug sentences to people currently incarcerated is an important step in the right direction, continuing to allow Oklahomans to live with the stigma of a marijuana conviction when other Oklahomans are gaining capital from the budding industry represents a hypocritical stain on our Constitution, a gross transfer of wealth from poor communities to district attorneys offices, and a denial of the racist implementation of this nation’s failed War on Drugs. a April 17 – 30, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

THE TULSA VOICE // April 17 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 30, 2019

NEWS & COMMENTARY // 13

statewide

he State of Oklahoma made national headlines late last month when Attorney General Mike Hunter reached a $270 million settlement with OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma. The settlement includes $75 million from the Sackler family, who own the company. Also named on the lawsuit are Johnson & Johnson, Allergan, Teva Pharmaceuticals, and others. Hunter fi rst fi led suit on behalf of the state two years ago, alleging that pharmaceutical companies helped instigate the opioid crisis through aggressive marketing and sales of opioid painkillers. Purdue, particularly, was accused of spreading false and misleading information about the painkiller OxyContin. The settlement was reached one day after the Oklahoma Supreme Court denied the company’s appeal for a 100-day delay of the trial. While the settlement doesn’t erase the damage of the humanitarian crisis, it could have a big impact on people struggling with addiction in Tulsa. In fact, $200 million from the settlement has been endowed to the OSU Center for Wellness and Recovery which specializes in pain and addiction. Hunter said in a press conference that the Center “is already a national leader in studying and treating addiction as a brain disease and finding innovative ways to cure it. This endowment will allow the university to expand its footprint to a national level to combat the [opioid] crisis.” The settlement also includes $12.5 million for cities and counties to directly address the effects of the opioid crisis, $60 million in litigation costs, and an agreement from Purdue not to promote opioids in Oklahoma. Purdue has been hounded by allegations of improperly advertising opioids for years. In 2007 14 // NEWS & COMMENTARY

In 2017, 47,600 Americans died from opioid overdoses, according to the CDC. PURERADIANCEPHOTO / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

PUBLIC NUISANCE OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma pays up by FRASER KASTNER Purdue, along with three executives, pleaded guilty in federal court to misleading regulators, doctors, and patients about OxyContin’s risks. In a statement of facts from the plea deal, Purdue admitted that “beginning on or about December 12, 1995, and continuing until on or about June 30, 2001, certain PURDUE supervisors and employees, with the intent to defraud or mislead, marketed and promoted OxyContin as less addictive, less subject to abuse and diversion, and less likely to cause tolerance and withdrawal than other pain medications.” The statement then goes on to acknowledge that salespeople were mistrained and spread falsehoods about the product. Lies included a claim that less oxycodone could be extracted from the pill, and

that the drug produced a milder euphoria. In fact, oxycodone—the active ingredient in OxyContin— is twice as strong as morphine. A 2015 deposition divulged internal emails from 1997, the year after OxyContin hit the market. The emails were between Purdue head of sales and marketing Michael Friedman and Dr. Richard Sackler, whose family owns the company. Friedman wrote to Sackler, noting that many doctors falsely believed the drug was weaker than morphine and advising that this view not be corrected. “It would be extremely dangerous at this early stage in the life of the product to make physicians think the drug is stronger or equal to morphine,” Friedman wrote. “I agree with you,” Sackler wrote back, then asking if there was any resistance from

within the company. Court documents show that the Sackler family made more than $4 billion from opioids alone from 2008 to 2016. The following year, 47,600 people died from opioid overdoses, according to the CDC. It is estimated the opioid crisis will cost $9 billion in Oklahoma, where more deadly overdoses involved prescription painkillers than alcohol and illegal drugs combined. Purdue is facing bankruptcy amid the litigation. Some attorneys believe that the settlement is a sign of things to come for the company, which is facing over 1,600 lawsuits in a federal court in Northern Ohio. The U.S. House Oversight Committee has also asked the company to turn over documents related to marketing and sales of OxyContin. “The agreement reached today will provide assistance to individuals nationwide who desperately need these services—rather than resources on protracted litigation,” the Sackler family said in a press release. The statement goes on to decry the “attacks on our family,” saying that they “misdirect attention away from crucial issues such as the terrifying rise in illicit fentanyl overdoses. “To that end, Purdue Pharma recently received fast-track approval from the FDA for its groundbreaking drug, Nalmefene, which is designed to reverse fentanyl overdoses.” Attorney General Hunter has since dropped a number of the original claims against the companies, consolidating into a charge of public nuisance. Hunter said that “as we got closer to trial, it became more and more apparent to us that [was] our strongest cause of action against the defendants.” The trial is set to begin May 28. a April 17 – 30, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

Street Cred brings an underused area of town to life for a day. This year, TYPROS is teaming up with Tulsa Art Alley to turn a forgotten part of downtown into a creative oasis.

April 28, 2019 at 1 p.m. Oral Roberts University Mabee Center

No registration fee Donations encouraged Learn More & Register events.parkinsonoklahoma.com THE TULSA VOICE // April 17 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 30, 2019

Or Call For Information 918-877-2704 NEWS & COMMENTARY // 15

community

Get in the van

A Better Way ﬁghts job insecurity while beautifying Tulsa by KRISTI EATON

inding work is hard. It can be next to impossible for people who have experienced homelessness. Meet Nora Billie. She moved in with her mom after losing her job to a panic attack and her house to a fi re. Billie also suffers from several mental illnesses, complicating the already-difficult task of fi nding and maintaining a job. Still, she hasn’t given up looking for steady work. On a recent chilly Wednesday morning, Billie was up before the sun to get in line around 7 a.m. with the other participants waiting on a bright green van at Denver House on W. 17th Place. She was among a group of people taking part in A Better Way, a program designed to give those experiencing homelessness and job insecurity a chance to earn money for a day’s work. After pick-up, the participants are transported to parks throughout Tulsa to pick up trash and lay down mulch. Today’s route picks up at Denver House, but the van does a roving outreach on Mondays and Fridays, with stops at various locations around town with a high density of people experiencing homelessness. The van fits eight people, meaning there’s often a waiting list. The program recently celebrated its first year, helping more than 800 people get the chance to earn money by beautifying Tulsa. That number obliterated officials’ initial goal of reaching 200 people, according to program director Kellie Wilson. A Better Way—a collaboration between the Mental Health Association Oklahoma, the City of Tulsa, and Tulsa Area United Way—was inspired by a similar program in Albuquerque, New Mexico. 16 // NEWS & COMMENTARY

A Better Way Program Director Kellie Wilson at Denver House on W. 17th Place. | GREG BOLLINGER

“We’ve patterned the program mostly after what they’re doing, but we tweaked it for what works for us, so it’s a little bit different,” Wilson said. One difference is the resource level. Instead of providing an overnight shelter or a day center, the Tulsa program partners with local nonprofits, including the Day Center for the Homeless, Salvation Army, Iron Gate and Community Service Council, and others to meet those needs. Around 11:30 a.m. on Nora Billie’s work day, participants gather for lunch from T-Town Tacos, a Youth Services initiative staffed by clients who have gone through the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma’s Culinary Trade Program. While Better Way workers happily nosh on pork carnitas and chicken fajita tacos, a service navigator and employment specialist talks about the type of services offered through the program. “Her whole focus is helping to overcome the barriers to getting jobs, and that is things like transportation, housing, untreated mental illness, physical illness,

addictions, not having an ID,” Wilson said. “There’s just all sorts of things that make it very difficult for someone to get a job and keep a job.” Participants usually work about six hours each day before returning to the Denver House, where they are paid $65 for their work. At that time, the participants can enroll in the program to meet with the service navigator and employment specialist and get on a path to employment, if that’s what they are seeking. “The need is much greater than we originally thought it would be,” Wilson said. “Since we know there are so many people who want to participate, we try to limit it to one time so everyone gets a shot on the van and getting introduced to the program.” This is different than the Albuquerque model, which allows participants to take part many times. “Either model, I think, is good … but right now we’re trying to get everyone the opportunity to work on the van,” she said. Wilson has learned a lot during this first year, especially when it comes to collaborative partner-

ships—something she has found essential to engaging participants quickly. “When we first started the program, we didn’t realize there would be so many people engaging in it and so we were kind of overwhelmed with everyone making appointments to get access to the case manager of employment services,” she said, adding that some people had to wait a week or two to get access. “And when you’re living on the streets, a week might as well be a year,” she said. Today, the program’s employees try to see the participants within 24 hours. A report conducted by the organization showed 28 percent of participants enrolled in the program’s services, and 68 participants found permanent employment during the first year. The report notes that 15 participants found stable housing, below the program’s initial goal of 25 percent of program participants. “We find out what they’ve done in the past, what they like to do, their skills—also, what they don’t want to do,” said Ron Harmon, the Better Way employment specialist who works with participants interested in rejoining the workforce. Harmon tries to maintain a relationship with the program participants once they find steady work, and makes sure they are overcoming challenges like keeping a working phone, finding reliable transportation, and finding a place to live. With this kind of groundlevel support from A Better Way, programs participants like Robert Sheahart hope the program leads to long-term employment. “I’m just trying to get myself up off the streets and work every day,” he said. a April 17 – 30, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

APRIL 26 7-9 P.M. FREE ADMISSION Join us for a night of crafting and fun featuring craft cocktails, craft beer and make-and-take crafts Sponsored by

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THE TULSA VOICE // April 17 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 30, 2019

4/10/19 1:59 PM

NEWS & COMMENTARY // 17

foodfile

If you’ve got a craving for Vietnamese specialties in Tulsa, nowhere satisfies quite like Pho Da Cao. | GREG BOLLINGER

Friendly phở

Cult classic Phở Da Cao is a religious experience by TERRIE SHIPLEY

he fervor my family and I have exhibited toward phở over the years is almost religious in nature. For my peer (read: upper millennial) readership, the best comparison I can draw is the phenomenon of people incessantly quoting Fight Club throughout high school and college. I have friends who must have seen the cult classic, like, three dozen times. I don’t often rewatch movies, but I’ve made more trips to Phở Da Cao than I can count. The first rule of Phở Club is: You do not say “foe.” (Phở is your friend!) The proper pronunciation of phở is something like “fuhhh?” as the last letter is drawn out, like a delicious question, denoted by the squiggle on the “o.” For the uninitiated, phở is a rice noodle soup prized for its hardwon beef stock, usually seasoned with cinnamon, cloves, coriander, star anise, cardamom, and fish sauce. “We use a lot of our brisket and bones and let it sit and boil for a whole day basically, to get all the ﬂavor,” Thai said. Don’t try this at home. I, for one, have ruinously failed to recreate the stock in my InstantPot. (Damn you, Pinterest.) I’ve eaten hundreds of bowls of phở if you count my California childhood, when my dad and Vietnamese stepmother would regularly pile us kids into the van

18 // FOOD & DRINK

to get our fix at our favorite East Bay joint, a cherished rite. When we have that craving for phở in Tulsa, nowhere else satisfies quite like Phở Da Cao. Feeling down? Stuck in a rut? Allow this Vietnamese eatery to deliver a punch in the mouth à la Brad Pitt circa 1999. The Vietnamese population is notably large in our community, with an estimated 3,815 in Tulsa County, according to the Census Bureau. Many of these folks live in East Tulsa, where Phở Da Cao is located (just west of 31st Street and Mingo Road). At least, that’s where you’ll find a lot of them eating—a good sign, I might add. The decor at Phở Da Cao provides a distinctly un-trendy Asian setting, complete with images of tranquil scenery: mountains, a waterfall, cranes. The menu is not frilly: associated with each item is a letter and number to aid in communication, common practice at phở spots. (“P7,” for example, is my go-to.) Soft spoken and eager to please, 24-year-old Lawson Thai greets me warmly. Thai is a utility player for the Vietnamese-Chinese family owned and operated establishment. His oldest brother assumed ownership in the summer of 2009. Since then, Thai has been cleaning, restocking, prepping food,

and learning how to cook. Mostly, though, he’s been doing his best to make guests happy. On a recent occasion, someone ordered a hard boiled egg to go with her phở. “I had to ask her twice to make sure,” Thai said. “The people in the kitchen got mad at me but I was like, I’m sorry, but I can’t say no!” The entire staff is similarly accommodating. On one recent Christmas Day, we brought my extended family, as most other restaurants were closed. There were a dozen of us, aged one to 93, including a vegetarian (note: they have a veggie phở option) and some who had never eaten Vietnamese food. The waitstaff took care of us all; we felt like family among family. The kitchen and ﬂoor staff is comprised of blood relatives— such as Thai’s five siblings and father—as well as people who are considered to be family such as Snow, the server who always greets me with a smile and knows my usual order by heart. THE SACRAMENT My family’s religious phở fervor can best be understood by our rituals. We always order the large (the price break is too good). We always take the rest to go (the large is huge). We have a special way of

pouring the leftovers into the carry out container without spilling it all over ourselves (there’s a trick). And my most delicious ritual: The P7, phở đặc biệt. It has the classic, complex-yet-light soup base and includes a combination of proteins—thinly-sliced eye of round steak and lean brisket; beef meatballs, which are a bit chewy from the added cartilage; thick, soft, and utterly satisfying tendon; and fun-to-bite tripe. You know what? Don’t think too hard about the ingredients; just enjoy their unique textures. (Or, if all that weirds you out, get the P1, which just has the steak.) Like all phở, it is served with a plate of fresh bean sprouts, cilantro, Thai basil (which the Vietnamese call “cinnamon basil”), fresh sliced jalapenos, and lime. Tip: Dump it all in your bowl as soon as it arrives to allow your steaming hot soup to soften the aromatics. Next, doctor up your phở with your choice among the array of condiments stationed at each table: hoisin, fish sauce, sriracha, soy sauce, or chili oil, the latter of which will make you feel alive—I always add it along with a squirt of hoisin and a doodle of sriracha. Kool Aid is overrated; if I’m going to drink something to prove my loyalty, it’s this soup. a April 17 – 30, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

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downthehatch

5 o’clock, Tulsa time Inside Blue Dome’s newest watering hole by ANDREW SALIGA

hether designed intentionally or occurring through happenstance, bars have character, and developing that character requires time. When well-executed, it’s not that a single style of bar is better than another, rather that they all have a time and place. When envisioning The Tulsan, the owners settled on a simple concept—tailor the bar towards real, everyday people. The path to ensuring The Tulsan embodies that ethos has been anything but rushed. The Tulsan quietly opened its doors in the Blue Dome District in March, and its following has grown organically through word of mouth and the hard work and perseverance of its owners. The Tulsan is owned by three hospitality industry veterans, each providing different expertise. Kyla Holderness is perhaps most wellknown as the owner of Empire, Tulsa’s soccer-centric sports bar. While you may not personally know Torey Brown, it’s likely you’ve seen his craftsmanship in the woodwork at Hodges Bend, Topeca, or Amelia’s to mention a few. The third owner, Justin Brauchie, has years of experience providing point of sale systems to the hospitality industry. The vision of The Tulsan was to create a casual environment that was welcoming to the average Tulsan. “I love Tulsa. I’ve lived downtown since I was 20 years old,” said Brown. “I started thinking about how we perceive Tulsa. It’s visually clean; it’s affordable and well-rounded.” That idea was formed nearly two years ago. As authentic as it gets, The Tulsan was built on slow and steady “Tulsa time” with an emphasis on hospitality. “It’s

20 // FOOD & DRINK

After building much anticipation, The Tulsan quietly opened its doors in March. | GREG BOLLINGER

pretty important when you say The Tulsan on the front that you have that mindset,” said Brauchie. “We are the city that still holds the door open for you. That’s who we are in Tulsa.” When walking in, the first thing you’ll notice is the natural light cascading across the plants along the front window and wall—as bright and clean as the rest of the space. Brown’s woodworking skills are showcased throughout the establishment, but most prominently at the bar. The white walls and shelves holding the bottles are framed by several massive wooden beams. The intricate woodwork on the guests’

side features 66 diamonds—a touch that seems to be a nod to Route 66, but Brown says it was happenstance. In addition to the bar seating, benches, and tables, there are two private booths that can comfortably seat five people. The booths each have a TV and offer the perfect setting to watch a game with a few friends, while still feeling connected to other patrons at the bar. Determined to self-fund and open the bar debt-free proved to be a timely process, but it’s one that is exponentially more rewarding. “Those shelves, I want them to be full,” said Brauchie, “but

when they are full it is because we have earned it.” However, their wooden shelves are far from sparse. The Tulsan’s drink selection spans the gamut of beer, spirits, and cocktails, with an emphasis on local options when possible. Their taps include selections from Cabin Boys Brewery and Prairie Artisan Ales, and they have plans to add some local ciders. The spirits selection has a slight emphasis on whiskeys, but there are plenty of bottles allowing them to craft a variety of cocktails. Several of the spirits are also certified gluten-free, a choice that was informed by Brauchie’s perspective, as his wife has a gluten allergy. A noteworthy original cocktail, The Schrute, contains Infuse Mango Habanero Vodka, beet juice, lime, and club soda. The upcoming full cocktail list will feature six to eight seasonal options and a build-your-own mule. They also have plans to offer a house limoncello. While serving drinks may be the primary aim of a bar, hospitality takes precedence at The Tulsan. Bartenders are encouraged to get out from behind the bar and talk with guests. “The first thing we should be asking is how can I make your day better,” said Brauchie. The Tulsan keeps an active event calendar with table tennis tournaments every Tuesday and plans to add trivia and charity events. They also plan to support the community by offering a place for local artists to display their work. An official grand opening party with a DJ and food trucks is tentatively planned for June. The Tulsan is open from 4 p.m. to at least 12:30 a.m. on Monday through Friday and 2 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Friday through Sunday. a April 17 – 30, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

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downthehatch

Several Tulsa chefs and restaurants participated in this year’s Wine Forum of Oklahoma in Stillwater, which raised $17,000 for student scholarships and support. | LANCE SHAW

Glass act

Dispatch from the Wine Forum of Oklahoma by GREG HORTON

itting in a seminar in Stillwater, Oklahoma, with winemakers and winery owners from all over the world on a panel in front of the room creates a surreal sensation. “You have to remind yourself that you’re in Stillwater,” Mia Mascarin-Oven said. Mascarin-Oven grew up in Tulsa, and she oversees operations and business development for 32 Winds, a Napa Valley winery owned by her father, Tulsa resident Ed Mascarin. She and her father were honorary co-chairs at this year’s Wine Forum of Oklahoma, held every other year for the past 10 years on the campus of Oklahoma State University. They were joined as co-chairs by another father-daughter duo with Tulsa connections, Tricia Bump Davis and Larry Bump. Larry Bump lives in Tulsa and owns Darms Lane, also a Napa Valley winery. Tricia Bump Davis is the general manager, and like Mascarin-Oven, she grew up around Tulsa, graduating from Jenks High School. “The Wine Forum is a bigger deal than people realize,” Bump Davis said. “We’ve been there for all five forums, and it gets better every year. The first couple of events, I’m not sure the attend22 // FOOD & DRINK

ees realized who the people were sitting on panels and standing behind the tables pouring wine. That’s no longer the case.” The Forum is a program within the School of Human Sciences, and the funds raised go toward student scholarships and other means of student support. The Friday night gala dinner and auction on April 5 raised $17,000 for the students. Ticket sales for the grand tasting also benefit students, but a final tally was not available at press time. With the exception of faculty oversight tasks, the entire forum is run by the students, a massive undertaking that this year involved more than three dozen wineries and portfolios, as well as winemakers, owners, and portfolio managers. Mascarin-Oven said 32 Winds participates because they love the program at Oklahoma State, and they’re excited to help the students learn the business of wine and hospitality. “It’s a great intersection of wine business and education in one place,” she said. “The students and attendees get an in depth look at viticulture, winemaking, and the business of wine, and the professional networking is outstanding.”

Larry Bump graduated OSU in 1964, and his daughter followed suit with a degree in management information systems in 1994. “I feel compelled to say that I washed out of the hospitality program,” she said. “It sounds bad, but the weed-out course was food prep; it’s the one that got everyone, mostly because of the 8 a.m. lectures on food preparation.” Bump Davis said the family supports the Forum because of who it benefits, both the students at OSU and the wine culture of Oklahoma. “The students work so hard to make this event happen, and their hard work has paid off in that we have these amazing people coming to Stillwater to participate in what is becoming a world-class wine event.” Several Tulsa chefs and restaurants also participated. Southern Hills executive chef Jonathan Moosmiller prepared the gala dinner, and Tulsa restaurants from the Justin Thompson Group and McNellie’s Group, as well as Laffa and SMOKE. on Cherry Street were on hand for the Saturday night grand tasting. Amanda Jane Simcoe, a private chef and cheese monger, was part of a group called Friends of HTM (Hospitality-Tourism Management).

“We don’t have brick-andmortar restaurants, so we come here as a group of private and catering chefs who like to support the program,” Simcoe said. “I’ve been to all but the second one— yes, I missed Francis Mollman— and I’ll participate as often as they ask me. The program is incredible. It’s super competent students learning critical lessons about the hospitality industry, and they’re eager and excited to learn. That is totally worth my time!” Students are assigned to work with chefs, wineries, brokers, and other entities within the food and wine industry. Event planning, set up, tear down, and logistics are all handled by the students, and they receive academic credit toward their program as a result. It’s an exhausting, nearly nonstop, 48-hour process, and the general consensus is that the students have created one of the best wine events in the world. “It’s my favorite wine event, period,” Mascarin-Oven said. “The attitudes are amazing; people are excited to be here; it’s positivity all around; the wineries get excellent showcasing, and the attendees are genuinely curious about wine and the wine business.” a April 17 – 30, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

E V E N T S @ T PA C

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FOOD & DRINK // 23

EAT YOUR BY ANGELA EVANS

TULSA CHEF RE-THINKS EDIBLE CANNABIS AT WHITE RABBIT MEDICINALS THE CONCEPT OF USING FOOD AS MEDICINE WAS ONCE relegated to the hair-brained ethos of new age hippie types who were eating seemingly off-the-wall food items like kale and chia seeds in lieu of meats and potatoes. Now, it’s hard to find someone who is not on some kind of specialized diet to improve their health, whether it be paleo or plant-based. The next evolution of “food as medicine” is now presenting itself in the form of marijuana-infused edibles, and, with the passage of State Question 788, has found a new cadre of devotees here in Oklahoma. White Rabbit Medicinals is one of the first licensed marijuana processors in Oklahoma to take this food-as-medicine approach to the next level. Tiffanie Dartez made her name in Tulsa as the owner of Stella Reaux food truck, which churned out delicious Louisiana-inspired eats and lots of sass. Recently, however, she is most well-known for being an outspoken advocate for SQ 788 and medical cannabis. Like most of the people who voted yes and believe that Oklahomans deserve access to marijuana’s medicinal properties, Dartez’s reasons for supporting the new regulations are deeply personal. Dartez had worked in corporate catering for years until chronic health issues slowed her down. She was finally diagnosed with multiple sclerosis—a nervous system disease that affects the connectivity between the brain and nerves of the body. Basically, it’s an auto-immune disorder that destroys the protective coating of nerve that helps 24 // FEATURED

transmit instructions from the brain. There is no cure for multiple sclerosis, and pharmaceutical options to manage the oftentimes debilitating symptoms are primarily experimental, ineffective, or opiate-based. “When I was diagnosed and suffering, I tried the pharmaceutical route for a few years. I had a really good relationship with opiates,” said Dartez. “It’s so easy to go into ERs when you have MS and get whatever you want, and I used that to my advantage; because I have a prescription, because I have a disease, nobody can judge me.” For years, she had been told that marijuana could be a balm for the symptoms she experienced, but Dartez hasn’t always had such an affinity for marijuana. In fact, aside from smoking a bit in high school, she was intensely anti-pot. One day, a friend noticed she was having tremors, and offered her some marijuana. Exhausted from pain and frustration, she relented and gave it a try. She experienced almost instant relief. Dartez has been off opiates for almost a decade, and what she once considered “the devil weed” turned out to be an angel in disguise. “The big thing I notice is the effect it has on my tremors—the spasticity in my muscles. I will wake up and be like the Tin Man in ‘Wizard of Oz,’ needing my oil can,” said Dartez. “It feels like my muscles and all the fibers are tight rubber bands, but as soon as I smoke or have some edibles, it relaxes and then I can start functioning.”

She began traveling to Colorado regularly, not just to be near the legal medication that improved her quality of life, but also to do extensive research. “I smoked 76 strains in six months. I wanted to know what was affecting me and what was helping me,” said Dartez. “I also built a journal that turned into an Excel spreadsheet because I’m a big nerd. So, when someone does want something from me specifically, I whip out my old lady journal and let them know which strains are effective for the symptoms they are having. It feels really good to pass that education on.” Dartez went on all the dispensary tours, spoke to the owners and the growers to gain as much knowledge as she could from those in the legal marijuana industry. With her chef background, she has always been drawn to food and has relied on medicated edibles to treat her MS symptoms. But after recently being diagnosed with diabetes, standard edibles on the market—like gummies and candies—were no longer an option for her. “I was looking at the market and seeing a huge void of products for diabetics. So it put people like me in a position to where medicating to treat one disease would flare up another disease,” said Dartez. When SQ 788 passed with flying colors, Dartez knew what she wanted—needed—to do. “I kept telling everybody that if it didn’t pass, I was going somewhere where I could medicate people like me. And if I can change the environment a little bit by throwing it into food, hopefully it will help raise the stigma from it. I mean, come on, everyone loves to eat,” said Dartez. White Rabbit Medicinals is Dartez’s answer, a marijuana processing outfit that produces modern marijuana edibles and medicated meals. The creations she whips up in her kitchen are a far cry from the bong-water flavored brownies and cloying gummies that flood the market now. “I want to skip all the bullshit. Skip all the things that make people actually sicker, and go a different route with edibles,” said Dartez. “I’m using purely organic ingredients, and they are sugar free, or use different types of sugar. Many of our recipes are also keto friendly.” The backbone of her menu offerings is the oils, butters, and spice blends that are infused with marijuana. Medicated avocado, grapeseed, and olive oils are perfect for sautéing vegetables. Adorable bunny-shaped butters come in flavors like green onion and chives, or salted garlic and rosemary. Dartez medicates everything from fancy tea cakes to ranch dressing. Dartez’s edible items tend to be at the higher end of THC concentration, so following the directions indicated on the package is vital. For example, one of her flavored bunny butters is not meant to be eaten in one sitting. By slathering a piece of toast with the cinnamon and sweet honey butter for your morning dose, then add a finishing touch to a bowl of pasta, you can get the recommended dosage. “It’s very important to follow the dosing directions with edibles,” said Dartez. “A lot of these people getting into cannabis now are used to maybe smoking a joint, but edibles affect you differently because they are absorbed through the stomach. Edibles are like barbecue—gotta go low and slow. Pace yourself, know your dose tolerance, and know the edible that you are getting is from a legit source.” The sugar-free cookie dough is perfect for eating raw (egg free!), or for baking up a cookie or two at the end of a long day. White Rabbit is also looking to create coffee melts to medicate that morning cup of joe, and the medicated chocolate bunnies are a perfect late-night treat for those with insomnia. White Rabbit uses specific strains of weed to enhance the food items they produce. Dartez has a developed a palate for detecting terpenes—the oils that give different strains of weed their aromatic qualities—and blending them into dishes. April 17 – 30, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

Tiffanie Dartez is the brain behind White Rabbit Medicinals. GREG BOLLINGER

“Cannabis is a flower, and each one has its own scent or flavor profile. Terpenes are like their signature fragrance,” said Dartez. “I want to taste the plant in my edibles. I want to know that I’m eating cannabis. There are definitely savory strains that taste piney, almost like a rosemary or sage, while other strains are fruity and citrusy.” All of White Rabbit’s medicated products must be purchased through a licensed dispensary. Currently, FlowerCraft Co., just a few doors down from White Rabbit’s kitchen in the budding “Flower District” at 26th Street and Sheridan Road, is carrying the full line of edibles. Soon, they are launching a medicated meal plan program where patients can order food, like chicken tikka masala, medicated butter carrots, and other nutritious meals in advance. White Rabbit isn’t just dealing in medicated food items. They are also operating under White Rabbit Catering and will be serving un-medicated grab-and-go breakfast and lunch items, with full-sized family dinners available in the case of their storefront, too. “We are treating marijuana like a food allergen in our kitchen,” said Dartez. “It has its own utensils, its own cooking pans, so people know that if they are going to order from our catering side, there will be zero transfer of THC to their food.” By normalizing the use of medical marijuana in foods, Dartez hopes that more people can get the health benefits they need, when they need it. “I have had so many people approaching me, saying they need to medicate, but they have kids and can’t just go smoke a joint in the backyard. With these edibles, you are now able to medicate yourself discreetly,” said Dartez. “Because I know by being able to medicate with marijuana, I’m extending my life. I’m buying myself time with cannabis. I feel more comfortable with my kids knowing that I depend on a flower—that I depend on a plant—rather than a pill.” White Rabbit Catering’s storefront is open from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. to serve hot breakfast and lunch items, with event catering available. White Rabbit products, like medicated butters, cookies, and even bath bombs, can be purchased only from dispensaries. Follow White Rabbit on Facebook and Instagram for new product additions and for upcoming medicated tea parties and Mad Hatter-themed events. THE TULSA VOICE // April 17 – 30, 2019

A guide to safely ingesting edibles Pay close attention to dosages. Just like with any medication, taking too much can cause adverse effects. Edibles can take up to two hours to kick in. Be patient. It is not advised to drink alcohol—interactions of the two can cause nausea, vomiting, dizziness, and other symptoms—and remember to stay hydrated. When taking for the first time, find a comfortable location and give yourself time to determine how it affects you. Every person metabolizes differently. Ate too much? Don’t panic! Find a cozy spot to ride it out and drink plenty of water.

VEGGIE SAUTEE WITH WHITE RABBIT MEDICATED BUTTER AND SALT START TO FINISH: 30–40 MINUTES SERVES 4 1 pound baby or medium carrots (approximately 2 bunches), cleaned. Leave greens intact. 3 tablespoons of White Rabbit Butter 3 cloves garlic, minced ½ tablespoon Italian seasoning ½ White Rabbit Medicated Salt ¼ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper Preheat oven to 375 F. Lightly grease a baking sheet. Place carrots onto the baking sheet and add butter, garlic, Italian seasoning, medicated salt and pepper. Toss to combine. Arrange the carrots in a single layer. Wrap greens in foil to protect from burning. Place baking sheet into the oven. Bake until tender, about 35-40 minutes.

SOUS VIDE DECARBOXYLATION To release the THC from weed, it must be “decarbed,” or heated. Here are directions for decarbing marijuana in its raw form. Or as Dartez likes to say, “Sous vide yo weed.” 3.5 g of cannabis 1 airtight jar or vacuum-sealed bag 3 quarts of water Heat water to 202 F. Break apart cannabis into small pieces and place in an air-tight glass jar or vacuum-sealed bag. Place jar or bag in water and leave it alone for an hour. Remove jar/bag carefully. Cannabis should be dark brown in color. Let it chill. Coarsely grind the cooled cannabis and store in an air-tight container for future use. Finer grind if using it in drinks or smoothies. Infuse oils by simmering on super-low heat for an hour, then strain. Shelf life for decarbed cannabis is around two weeks.

FEATURED // 25

FlowerCraft Dispensary and Event Center FlowerCraft Co. is hitting the ground running with ideas on how to turn Tulsa’s “Flower District”—a collection of growing cannabis-related businesses located at 26th Street and Sheridan Road—into a thriving community for marijuana patients. In addition to the already-open Coweta and Tulsa dispensaries, FlowerCraft Event Center will round out the brand, giving a venue option public relations manager Joanna Francisco calls “788-friendly,” meaning licensed patients can consume cannabis on the premises. The venue has already held some private events, but their grand opening will be part of the Flower District’s 4/20 festivities. The free event marks the grand opening of two other Flower District shops, Bong Boutique and White Rabbit Medicinals. Several local artists will be on hand for the high holiday extravaganza. FlowerCraft founders Shawn and Lauren Jenkins weren’t necessarily planning to start a cannabis business, much less three. Shawn, a disabled combat veteran and former teacher, was instrumental in the passage of State Question 788, working on the Yes to 788 political action committee and taking trips to the Capitol to talk with lawmakers. The couple has four children, two of whom have epilepsy, so the issue of having access to medical marijuana is more than close to home with them—it’s their life. Shawn and Lauren were planning to just grow medicine for their family at their home out in the country, but their entrepreneurial spirit led them to launch a bigger idea that has morphed into two dispensaries and an event center. “Balancing time and family right now is extra hard, but thankfully we have an incredible team and our staff helps us tremendously,” Lauren Jenkins said. “Usually we have to tag-team, with one of us taking care of the kids and handling business remotely, and the other up at the offices taking care of administrative duties. Of course, we will be happy to take a breather in the next few months and get back to focusing on our family!” Both dispensaries offer an array of products like bud, wax, and edibles, including cannabis-infused Ghee, said Chassidy Saffell, a lead budtender at the Tulsa location. All the ﬂower at FlowerCraft is lab-tested, and the budtenders can give you more information about the cannabinoids that make up various strains. “We hope to have our own line of concentrates rolling out within the next few months, and then by this time next year we hope we can have a whole host of products like edibles, tinctures and even our own ﬂower,” Lauren Jenkins said. —TTV STAFF

FlowerCraft owners Lauren and Shawn Jenkins and their daughter Lyra. The Jenkins have two children with epilepsy that beneﬁt from medical marijuana. GREG BOLLINGER

Bong Boutique Don’t call it a head shop. The women who run Bong Boutique offer products for the discerning cannabis user, from glassware to handmade gifts. It’s not a dispensary, so no need for a medical card, though you need to be 18 to get in the door. Gorgeous hand-blown bongs are displayed in the spacious showroom like works of art. The boutique carries popular brands like Grav Labs, Six B Glass, and Yocan. Friendly employees will be on hand to share their knowledge and help you go home with the perfect piece. Other highlights include specialty items like CBD pet treats, hemp-infused canned drinks, and Magical Butter Machine, which looks like an instant pot and can infuse herbs with butter, oil, and grain alcohol. It’s also a great place to grab a handmade gift. The store carries handmade jewelry and clothing items, including an all-natural hemp line from Brianna Masingale called Sew Conscious. Rather than having to stop at a shady head shop jam-packed with an overwhelming amount of options, store manager Jesserea Morgan and co-owners Nicole Holt and Brandice Aitken strive to provide a unique and inclusive shopping experience for everyone. “We want everyone to feel safe when they come in,” Morgan said. Bong Boutique will have their grand opening at the Flower District shopping center’s 4/20 party at 2606 S. Sheridan Rd. —TTV STAFF From left: Wendy Roberts, Jesserea Morgan, Brandice Aitken, Nicole Holt, and Chelle Cook. GREG BOLLINGER 26 // FEATURED

April 17 – 30, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

3 oz.

AMOUNT OF FLOWER PATIENTS CAN HAVE ON THEIR PERSON AT ANY GIVEN TIME

NUMBER OF MATURE PLANTS A PATIENT CAN POSSESS

NUMBER OF SEEDLING PLANTS A PATIENT CAN POSSESS

1 oz

AMOUNT OF CONCENTRATED MARIJUANA PATIENTS CAN HAVE ON THEIR PERSON AT ANY GIVEN TIME All of Whole Leaf’s products are lab-tested. (Inset) Ryan Sheehan. GREG BOLLINGER

Best buds TALKING THC WITH WHOLE LEAF DISPENSARY

Whole Leaf was one of the Tulsa-area’s first dispensaries to open and carries a wide variety of products, all of which are lab-tested. The shop at 91st Street and Yale Avenue also offers discounts and daily deals—all products will be 15 percent off on 4/20—along with a rewards program for customers. Whole Leaf owner Ryan Sheehan talked with TTV to give some perspective and insight into the cannabis industry, including important information for first-time medicators. —TTV STAFF

72 oz.

AMOUNT OF EDIBLE MARIJUANA PATIENTS CAN POSSESS

8 oz.

AMOUNT OF FLOWER PATIENTS CAN HAVE AT THEIR RESIDENCE

1.5 oz.

AMOUNT OF MARIJUANA NON-LICENSED PATIENTS THAT CAN STATE A MEDICAL CONDITION CAN HAVE ON THEIR PERSON WITHOUT GETTING A FELONY

$400

MAXIMUM FINE FOR MISDEMEANOR MARIJUANA POSSESSION THE TULSA VOICE: What’s the difference between sativa and indicia? RYAN SHEEHAN: Indicia for most people is going to be more sedative. It’s going to relax you, whereas a sativa—once again this is for most people—it’s going to be more uplifting and energetic. So a lot of people, if they differentiate between a day and night medicine cycle, they’ll do sativa during the day and indicia at night. TTV: Can you talk about some specific strains you carry? SHEEHAN: Right now it’s limited as far as carrying strains week-to-week. It’s just what the growers are producing right now, and as you can get it, you get it. Our hope is to eventually work with growers to be able to say, “Here’s the six or eight we regularly have,” and then bring in exotic strains as that capability arises … The vast majority of the market right now is hybrid. A true sativa, true indicia, it’s kind of hard to find nowadays because there has been so much cross breeding to try and increase root stock and potency and stuff like that, so you get a lot of hybrids. TTV: What sets Whole Leaf apart from other dispensaries? SHEEHAN: Being tested, that’s kind of one of the differentiating factors. We do the testing, whereas others may not be doing that. We can provide testing [results] to whoever needs it. TTV: It looks like you guys have one of the biggest varieties of products in Tulsa. SHEEHAN: Oh yeah, we’ve been around since November, so I think we’re light-years ahead in many aspects of other dispensaries, especially ones that are just getting on now reaching out [to growers] on Instagram or Facebook for flower. TTV: The products you carry have to be from Oklahoma, right? SHEEHAN: If it’s medicated, if it has THC or medical marijuana in it, it has to come from inside the state. Imagine there’s a giant wall all around [Oklahoma]. It all has to come from inside the wall. … Originally all we had was flower. When we opened, we had four varieties of flower, and it was probably a couple weeks in before we started getting [wax] cartridges, so in the industry, the supply outstrips some of the demand. It gets sent off to a processing facility, and that’s where you start getting all these non-dried flower products. THE TULSA VOICE // April 17 – 30, 2019

$100

APPLICATION FEE FOR A MEDICAL MARIJUANA LICENSE

$20

APPLICATION FEE FOR A MEDICAL MARIJUANA LICENSE FOR MEDICAID, MEDICARE, OR SOONERCARE PATIENTS

$2,500

APPLICATION FEE FOR A RETAIL, GROWING,OR PROCESSING LICENSE

MINIMUM AGE REQUIRED TO GET A RETAIL, GROWING, OR PROCESSING LICENSE

1,000 ft.

MINIMUM DISTANCE RETAIL ESTABLISHMENTS MUST KEEP FROM SCHOOLS

7 percent

TAX ON RETAIL SALES

75 percent

AMOUNT OF SURPLUS TAX REVENUE THAT GOES TO FUND COMMON EDUCATION

25 percent

AMOUNT OF SURPLUS TAX REVENUE THAT GOES TO FUND DRUG AND ALCOHOL REHABILITATION

SOURCE: STATE QUESTION 788 FEATURED // 27

In the weeds YOUR MEDICAL CANNABIS DISPENSARY GUIDE After a long and hard-fought political battle, legal medical cannabis is the law of the land in Oklahoma. The industry is in rapid-growth mode, and dispensaries are popping up left and right across our fine city. With so many businesses catering to different specialties and vibes, it can be hard to find the right dispensary for you. We’re here to help, with a starter guide to the medical cannabis purveyors of Tulsa. —TTV STAFF

TULSA

Good Greens 341 E. Apache St. (918) 395-0900, goodgreensabb.com Green Flower Dispensary 5711 E. 11th St. (918) 856-5336, facebook.com/gfdispensary Greenwood Wellness Dispensary 1216 E. Apache St. #B (918) 289-0321 Healthy Buds Dispensary 7727 E. 21st St. (918) 210-5966, healthybudstulsa.com HempRx 8160 S. Memorial Dr. (918) 994-7204, facebook.com/hemprxtulsa

918 Buds 7425 N. Peoria Ave., Suite A (918) 551-6370, facebook.com/918buds

Inhāl 5048 S. Sheridan Rd. (918) 416-9005, facebook.com/inhaltulsa

918 ELEVATE 2828 E. 91st St., Suite G (918) 528-5400, facebook.com/918elevatetulsa

Jade Wellness Center 9402 E. 55th Pl., Suite B (918) 856-6331

AROMATICS Rx 8112 E. 21st St. (918) 574-8716, aromatics-rx.business.site

King Cronic Premium Cannabis 6849 S. Peoria Ave., Suite B (918) 493-3401, kingcronictulsa.com

CBD Plus 6024 S. Memorial Dr. 5333 S. Mingo Rd., Suite A 8010 E. 106th St. cbdplususa.com

Lady Jane's Naturals 316 S. Rockford Ave. (539) 302-4562

Central Purp 6709 E. 81st St., Suite G (539) 832-8688, centralpurp.com Crown Cannabis 6610 S. Peoria Ave. (918) 771-0648, tulsacannabiskush.com The Dankery Dispensary 8125 E. 51st St., Suite O (918) 576-6793, thedankerydispensary.com Doctor Green 3232 E. 15th St. (918) 271-5631, doctorgreenusa.com

Level420 5121 E. 11th St. (918) 938-6420, facebook.com/level420tulsa Mary Jane’s Treehouse 2030 E. Pine St., Suite A (918) 289-0612, mary-janes-treehouse-dispensary.business.site Mary Janes 918 7919 New Sapulpa Rd. (918) 561-6270, facebook.com/maryjanes918 Medijuana 9757 E. 31st St. (918) 586-2844, medijuanapharm.com

Earthly Mist 5318 S. Peoria Ave. earthlymist.com

MMJPlantation 7620 E. 46th St. (918) 551-6160, facebook.com/mmjplantation.dispensary

The East Village Dispensary 202 S. Lansing Ave., Suite A (918) 900-4181, tulsaeastvillagedispensary.com

Nirvana Cannabis Dispensary 3206 E. 11th St. 5234 S. Peoria Ave. (918) 895-0028, nirvana-dispensary.com

The Fire Station 7123 S. 92nd E Ave., Unit D (918) 994-7977, the-fire-station-cannabis-store.business.site

Northside Dispensary 549 E. 36th St. N (918) 770-2567, northtulsadispensary.com

FlowerCraft 2606 S. Sheridan Rd. (918) 442-1651, ﬂowercraft.com Fort Apache Medical Marijuana Dispensary 10 S. 91st E Ave. (918) 878-7788, fortapache.business.site Gravity Dispensary 8706 E. 41st St. (918) 932-8797, gravityok.com

OK Aloha 7272 W. 81st St. S, #4 (918) 206-1794, okaloha.com Oklahoma Home Grown 9954 E. 21st St., (918) 561-6087 6908 S. Lewis Ave., (918) 973-2190 ohgllc.com One Love Wellness 7709 E. 42nd Pl., #103 (539) 777-6068, onelovewellnessllc.com

The Plug 918 3412 W. 42nd Pl. (918) 378-0695, the-plug-wellness-center.business.site RedEye 420 1525 S. Sheridan Rd. (918) 934-5309, redeye420.com Route 66 Clones and Cannabis 6305 E. 11th St., Unit A (918) 350-8444, route66clones.com Sativa Savvy 1007 E. Archer St. (918) 202-4760, sativasavvy.com

CLAREMORE

Green Canopy Solutions 1321 W. Will Rodgers Blvd. (918) 965-1234, facebook.com/greencanopysolutions Koli Cannabis 655 W. Ramm Rd. (918) 923-2212

COLLINSVILLE

World of Weed 1113 W. Main St. (918) 378-8149, world-of-weed.business.site

COWETA

T-Town Medical Marijuana Dispensary 3524 S. Sheridan Rd. (918) 600-4723, ttownmedicalmarijuana.com

FlowerCraft 33448 E. State Hwy 51 (918) 442-1651, ﬂowercraft.com

Therapeutic Hemp Center 2777 S. Memorial Dr. (918) 878-7795, thc-tulsa.com

GLENPOOL

Treehouse Dispensary 4127 S. Peoria Ave. (918) 561-6146 Tulsa Dispensary 5910 S. 107th E Ave. (918) 872-1100, tulsa-dispensary.com

CBD Plus 11476 S. Union Ave. cbdplususa.com

Pure Leaf Dispensary 111 E. 141st St. (918) 995-7022, pure-leaf-dispensary.business.site

MANNFORD

Whole Leaf 4785 E. 91st St., Suite A (918) 442-1515, wholeleaf.net

Keystone Alternative Medicine 103 Bill Phelps Ave. (918) 865-5844, facebook.com/keystonealternativemedicine

Wuänä contact@wuanaok.com wuananok.com

OWASSO

Ye Olde Apothecary Shoppe 5874 S. Mingo Rd. (918) 660-2699, yeoldeapothecaryshoppe.com

BIXBY

Native Releaf Dispensary 14613 S. Memorial Dr. (918) 970-4498, nativereleafdispensary.com

Broadleaf Dispensary 8355 N. Owasso Expy (918) 671-8669 The Greenery 7800 N. Owasso Expy, Suite A (918) 516-2549 Big Buds Natural Releaf 11505 E. 83rd St. N ilikebigbuds.net

BROKEN ARROW

Simply Plus 422 E. 22nd St. (918) 376-6473, facebook.com/simplyplusdispensary

Compassionate Alternative Medicine 205 A W. Kenosha St. (918) 884-4064, facebook.com/ compassionatealternativemedicine

SAPULPA

CBD Plus 610 S. Aspen Ave. cbdplususa.com

Earthly Mist 732 W. New Orleans St., Suite 112 earthlymist.com Entitled Health Dispensary 22428 E. 71st St. (918) 994-7603, entitledhealth.com Med Pharm 24683 E. Highway 51 (918) 994-6025, medpharmok.com OKMC 1811 S. Aspen Ave. (918)259-1149, oklahomamc.com

CATOOSA

CBD Plus 750 S. Cherokee St., cbdplususa.com

OKind Dispensary 19 N. Park St. (918) 500-4295, okindcannabis.com Ounce By Ounce 617 N. Mission St. (918) 216-1106, ouncebyounce.com The Sacred Herb 14920 W. Route 66 (918) 216-1835, thesacredherb.net VaporHerbs Dispensary 921 S. Main St., Suite A (918) 209-8808

SKIATOOK

Big Buds Natural Releaf 317 E. Rogers Blvd., ilikebigbuds.net Ganja Hut, Inc 305 E. Rogers Blvd. (918) 578-5023, theganjahut.com

D I S C L A I M E R : W E M AY H AV E I N A D V E R T E N T LY M I S S E D A P U R V E Y O R I N O U R R E S E A R C H . I F S O , P L E A S E I N F O R M U S AT V O I C E S @ L A N G D O N P U B L I S H I N G . C O M . 28 // FEATURED

April 17 – 30, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

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SUBSCRIBE TO THE TULSA VOICE INSIDER E-NEWSLETTER so you'll always be in the know about what's happening in Tulsa!

CANNED FOOD DRIVE • 4/14- 4/20 Patients must bring 4 canned items and make a purchase to earn 20 raffle tickets.

MENTION THIS AD FOR 15% OFF Red Dirt Rangers 4/19 @ 4:19pm

549 E. 36th St. N.

4/20 RAFFLE

Located on 36th St. N. between Peoria Ave. and Martin Luther King

(918) 770-2567 northtulsadispensary.com northsidedispensary

tulsadispensary

DRAWING EVERY HOUR FINAL DRAWING @ 4:20pm

food trucks snacks & drinks

202 S Lansing Ave • 918.900.4181 tulsaeastvillagedispensary.com

Located at 91st and Yale

4785 E 91st St, Suite A (918) 442-1515 wholeleaf.net

15% OFF STOREWIDE Must have valid medical marijuana card for purchase. Deals do not stack.

THE TULSA VOICE // April 17 – 30, 2019

FEATURED // 29

sportsreport

Deep run

Oilers chase ﬁrst championship in 26 years by JOHN TRANCHINA

he last time the Tulsa Oilers won a league championship, Nirvana was the biggest band around, “Jurassic Park” was breaking box office records, and most of the players on the current team hadn’t even been born yet. A lot has changed since the Oilers won the 1993 Central Hockey League title, but following one of the greatest regular seasons ever by a hockey team in Tulsa, they are ready to chase another championship. In their fifth year in the ECHL (essentially the Double-A level of minor league hockey, the second rung below the NHL), Tulsa fi nished with a 42-24-6 record, compiling their most victories since 1982 and the thirdmost in their 67 seasons. They claimed the Mountain Division crown, fi nished second in the Western Conference, and will participate in the playoffs for the fi rst time in four years and the third since 2005. The Oilers face the Kansas City Mavericks in the opening round, hosting Games 1 and 2 on April 11 and 14 at the BOK Center. But as great as the regular season was, for Rob Murray, second-year head coach and director of hockey operations, it will all mean nothing without playoff success. “That was our focus, to make the playoffs. We got that done, but now, we can’t be satisfied with that. We’ve got to perform well in the playoffs,” said Murray, who won the ECHL’s Kelly Cup with the Alaska Aces in 2014. “It’s been a few years since playoff 30 // ARTS & CULTURE

Adam Pleskach, team captain for the Tulsa Oilers. | COURTESY TULSA OILERS

hockey’s been played in Tulsa, and I’m proud of the team that we’re able to accomplish that. But I would be disappointed if we don’t make a deep run, to be honest with you.” Leading the Oilers has been 30-year-old captain Adam Pleskach, who put together a stellar performance in his sixth year with Tulsa, leading the entire ECHL with 38 goals and finishing second with 75 points. “He’s meant everything to us,” Murray said. “He’s a quality person. He’s a great captain—a character hockey player. He just gets it done every day, be it in practice or the games, and never takes a day off. For me, he’s priceless, really. When you look back, without Adam Pleskach, I don’t think we are where we are.” The humble Pleskach, whose previous career highs were 24 goals in 2015-16 and 52 points last year, deﬂected any praise to his teammates.

“Part of it is just the players I’ve been playing with. I’ve been playing with some pretty gifted guys,” said Pleskach, who was named to the All-ECHL First Team. “I’m getting up there in age a little bit, but I take good care of myself. I came off a bad injury two years ago, which kind of held me back for a year, year and a half, and physically, I’m feeling the best I have in a while, so that’s probably been the biggest reason.” Things might have imploded in early March if not for the performance of backup goalie Ian Keserich, who had been retired since 2013 but began serving as an emergency backup late last season. He got into a handful of games, but usually just participated in practices and was available if the team needed an extra goalie, just in case. So when both goaltenders Devin Williams, who led the ECHL with a 2.12 goals-against

average, and Evan Fitzpatrick, who spent a good chunk of the season with AHL San Antonio, got injured in mid-February, Keserich stepped in and more than held his own. He won the next three games, then got hurt himself for three games (two of which were losses) before starting seven straight from March 1–24, going 6-1-0 in those contests. Overall, Keserich was 9-3-0 with a 2.27 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage. “We were in a tough spot,” Murray acknowledged. “We had Ian here as a backup goalie and he got into a period here or a period there, really didn’t play much, and then one night, Williams gets hurt. Fitzpatrick, up in San Antonio, gets hurt. Ian had been practicing with us all year, so it’s not like we got him off the couch. I had full confidence that he could get the job done.” Both Williams and Fitzpatrick are back healthy and in Tulsa, and it is unlikely Keserich will play during the playoffs unless one or both of them gets hurt again, but his role in the team’s success was significant. Now that the club’s fi rst goal of reaching the playoffs has been achieved, it will be fun to see how far they can go towards a Kelly Cup. “They don’t hang banners for playoff appearances, and I think the whole team is on board with that,” Pleskach said. “There’s been hockey here for so long and the fans here are passionate about it, and just being here for a long time, you kind of feel like you owe it to the city. I think [a championship] would mean a lot.” a April 17 – 30, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

inthestudio

T U L SA N O I S E F E ST M A Y 2 , 3 , 4 2 01 9

Tulsa Artist Fellow Rachel Hayes | DESTINY JADE GREEN

MEET THE FELLOWS In the studio with Rachel Hayes

MEET THE FELLOWS TAKES YOU INSIDE the studios of the 2019 Tulsa Artist Fellowship recipients for a look at their life and work. Since 2015, Tulsa Artist Fellowship has recruited artists and arts workers to Tulsa, where they “have the freedom to pursue their craft while contributing to a thriving arts community.” For more information, visit tulsaartistfellowship.org. THE TULSA VOICE: Can you tell us a little about your background and work? RACHEL HAYES: I grew up near Kansas City and come from a family of artists and musicians, so I always had support from a young age to pursue the arts. I studied textiles, painting and sculpture in college … My work is a product of loving every medium I ever learned to work with. When my work is blurring the boundaries of craft, art, design, fashion and architecture, and a piece is hard to categorize, I feel confident, and liberated. TTV: Can you talk about your history at the Tulsa Artist Fellowship and its impact on your work? HAYES: The fellowship has provided a home base for my art, and having the studio and financial support has been invaluable. Being based in Tulsa and having the visibility through the program has already provided some great opportunities for my work, such as creating an installation last year in the Philbrook Museum’s rotunda. I have officially moved here, my kids are in school, and I own my home. My husband Eric Sall (also a fellow) and I … are going on our fourth year in Tulsa, and this is the longest we’ve ever lived in one city concurrently since graduating from undergrad. Giving this kind of commitment to a community, city and state, lends a feeling of relief I didn’t anticipate, and I’m looking forward to digging in and seeing what can happen here. THE TULSA VOICE // April 17 – 30, 2019

TTV: You recently installed a piece for Facebook. Can you talk about that? HAYES: The piece at Facebook is titled “Not Face Away,” and was commissioned by the Taubman Museum in 2015. When the show was finished at the museum, Facebook acquired the installation, and I temporarily installed part of the piece at Facebook in 2016. I’ve been working closely with the engineers for the last two years, planning for this installation in a brand-new building on their campus at Menlo Park. TTV: How about your work with the Italian fashion house Missoni? HAYES: We established the relationship through social media, and collaborated on four projects together around the world. I made 99 percent of the work myself right here in Tulsa—it was fast, furious, and a totally exhilarating experience. … I was able to focus solely on my work for the first time in years, and have the space to make it in thanks to the Tulsa Artist Fellowship. TTV: Any shows or projects on the horizon you’re excited to share? HAYES: In May I’m installing some of the smaller textile pieces I made for Missoni at the downtown Tulsa Library, and debuting a video I shot during the Missoni ad campaign on their large outdoor screen. The library has a makerspace I’ll be working in on May 15 from 4 to 6 p.m. I’m also working on an ambitious outdoor installation with the Tulsa Botanical Garden, so stay tuned for that. TTV: Thanks for taking the time to talk to us! HAYES: Sure thing! Come say hi during the next First Friday. I’ll be in my fellowship studio right down the alley from Duet Jazz bar. — TTV STAFF

THE RITA PEDESTRIAN DEPOSIT SICKNESS WITCHES OF MALIBU BONEMAGIC COMPACTOR STRAIGHT PANIC CLANG QUARTET SPRING BREAK DEVELOPER SCATHING PAGE 27 MISERY RITUAL SWORD OF KAHLESS BODY INFLATION SEQUENCE RAGK RITUAL CHAIR CRANK STURGEON RAT BASTARD SOELL WHITEY ALABASTARD T.E.F ENDLESS CHASM NATTY GRAY BULLSHIT MARKET AMBIGERE HUMAN FLUID ROT BOAR ANIME LOVE HOTEL CULLED REMAINS TO BE SEEN CHUCK STEAK LICKING WOUNDS EXCITON LUNG AJILVSGA TOM BOIL FIERCE DEITY BREAKDANCING RONALD REAGAN PATRICK HOPEWELL BLACK CAT SCUMBAG FRED SID YIDDISH BLOOD OF CHHINNAMASTIKIA MASON LAST KING OF POLAND HYPOXYPHILIA CAMPBELL & GARDNER PAIN CHAIN BLUE MOVIES DR.NOIZE BATTALION OF CLOUDSHIPS BLURT Flesh Buzzard YUNG SNICKERS SKOTOS OMAN MOONBEAM TERROR TICK SUCK ALAN DOYLE DEAR SATAN THIS IS NOT OKAY RUSH FALKNOR DEUTERANOPIA TWIN TOWERS JAY LOCKE CHRIS CONDE BONES OF THE EARTH TULSA ARTIST FELLOWSHIP

303 N. MAIN St ARTS & CULTURE // 31

Saturday, April 20, 1–7 p.m. Guthrie Green and Philbrook Downtown, guthriegreen.com Celebrate the conservation of our beautiful planet with a day of Earth-centric events and speakers, including Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune. There will also be educational booths and demos, family activities, and live music.

32 // ARTS & CULTURE

BEER

ZOO PARTY

Enjoy beer and barbecue while raising funds for Turkey Mountain trail maintenance at Ales for Trails. Apr. 18, 6 p.m., $40, Dead Armadillo Brewery, tulsaurbanwildernesscoalition.org

Celebrate Earth Day at Tulsa Zoo’s Party for the Planet, which will feature conservation activities and ﬁfteen specialized zookeeper chats. Apr. 20, 9 a.m.–3 p.m., tulsazoo.org

DISCUSSION

STORIES

Reimagining the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre // Songwriter and playwright Ronvé O’Daniel and novelist Jen Latham (“Dreamland Burning”) will discuss using art to remember the past. Apr. 18, 7 p.m., TU’s Tyrrell Hall, humanities.utulsa.edu

The “Best Storyteller in Tulsa” will be crowned at the Ok, So Grand Slam, each competitor will tell a true story based on the theme: “Yes.” Apr. 20, 7 p.m., $11–$13, Tulsa PAC – John H. Williams Theatre, oksotulsa.com

PARSLEY THYME

MUSICAL ANNIVERSARY

More than 20,000 herbs and plants will be on sale during Herb Day in Brookside. Apr. 20, 9 a.m.– 4 p.m., Brookside Church Parking Lot, brooksidetheplacetobe.com

Woody Guthrie Center will celebrate its 6th Anniversary with six days of concerts and events. See pg. 39 for the full schedule. Apr. 23–28, woodyguthriecenter.org

April 17 – 30, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

BEST OF THE REST EVENTS

COMEDY

Tulsa Master Gardeners Plant Sale // 4/18, Expo Square - Exchange Center, tulsamastergardeners.org

James Ervin Berry, Nat Baimel // 4/174/20, The Loony Bin, tulsa.loonybincomedy.com/

Support your local dispensaries! // This year, they’re truly the reason for the season.

OK Aquarium Easter Egg Hunt // 4/20, Oklahoma Aquarium, okaquarium.org

The Popovich Comedy Pet Theater Show at Tulsa Little Theater // Ok, yes, this show is two days before 4/20, but it’s a shoo-in for this list because … pet tricks.

American Heart Association Heart Walk // 4/20, ONEOK Field, www2.heart.org/ site/TR?fr_id=3987&pg=informational& type=fr_informational&sid=1020

Cracking Up the Playhouse w/ Byron Trimble, Amberla Tepe, Leon Purley, Gary Hillman, Nicole Miller // 4/18, Broken Arrow Community Playhouse, bacptheatre.com

As the first 4/20 since medical marijuana was legalized in Oklahoma, there’s plenty to celebrate. And because the holiday lands on a Saturday this year, there are many ways to do it. Here’s our shortlist of things to do while feeling festive:

Waldo’s Forever Fest at Route 66 Cannabis Dispensary // This day-long event will feature vendors, cannabis education, live music, a food truck Munchie Court, giveaways, and more. 420 Patio Party at Fuel 66 // Vendors, live music, and five food trucks to nip those munchies in the bud. Earth Day Celebration at Guthrie Green // Because it’s the Earth, man! Celebrate it. Go see some live music! // Whether you want to chill out or have your mind blown, find the right show in our music listings on pg. 38. FlowerCraft Event Center Grand Opening // Find more information on pg. 26.

OK POP

OKPOP celebrates the release of JJ Cale: Stay Around with a screening of new music videos and Cale’s 2005 concert ﬁlm “To Tulsa and Back.” Apr. 26, 7 p.m., $25–$40, circlecinema.com

Boxyard Easter Egg Hunt // 4/20, The Boxyard, tulsaboxyard.com Inﬁnite Mimicry // 4/22, Living Arts, livingarts.org Real Lord of the Flies: The Robbers Cave Experiment // 4/23, IDL Ballroom, magiccitybooks.com Bare Bones International Film Festival // 4/23/19-4/29/19, Various Locations, barebonesfestival.org Anna Quindlen // 4/25, Congregation B’Nai Emunah, magiccitybooks.com

In TBII: The Next Generation, see world premiere works by up-and-coming choreographers Price Suddarth, Yury Yanowski, and Tulsa Ballet’s own Daniel Van de Laar. Apr. 26 & 28 at Studio K, Apr. 27 at Zarrow Performance Studio, $25–$30, tulsaballet.org

HOUSE TOUR

Get a glimpse of downtown living, touring 13 properties in and around the Deco, Blue Dome, and Tulsa Arts districts during Tulsa Foundation for Architecture’s Dwell in the IDL. Apr. 27, 11 a.m.– 4 p.m., $22–$25, tulsaarchitecture.org

STORIES

Celebrate Independent Book Store Day at Magic City Books with Anne Bogel, host of the What Should I Read Next? podcast. Apr. 27, 2 p.m., magiccitybooks.com

Step back in time as the Oklahoma Renaissance Festival returns for its 24th year at the Castle of Muskogee every Saturday and Sunday Apr. 27 through June 2. $5–$17, okcastle.com

THE TULSA VOICE // April 17 – 30, 2019

Lady Improv & Comfort Creatures // 4/20, Rabbit Hole Improv, rabbitholeimprov.com Dante // 4/24/19-4/27/19, The Loony Bin, tulsa.loonybincomedy.com Funny Makes Laugh // 4/26, Rabbit Hole Improv, rabbitholeimprov.com Revengers: Improvgame // 4/27, Rabbit Hole Improv, rabbitholeimprov.com 2019 Stand Up Against Child Sexual Abuse Comedy Show // 4/28, Loony Bin, saveouryouthok.com

Spring Home & Outdoor Living Expo // 4/26-4/28, Expo Square - RiverSpirit Expo, springhomeexpo.com

Talk Show Incorporated w/ Landry Miller // 4/28, Nightingale Theater, facebook. com/talkshowinc

Gilcrease After Hours: Crafts // 4/26, Gilcrease Museum, gilcrease.org

Die Laughing Improvisational Comedy // 4/29, Van Trease PACE Studio Theatre, tulsa.edu/pace

80s Prom // 4/27, Cain’s Ballroom, 80sprom.com

Greenwood Farmers and Artisans Market // 4/27, Langston University, facebook. com/tulsagreenwoodfarmersmarket Jenk Herb ‘n Plant Festival // 4/27, Main Street Jenks, jenksgardenclub.com Safari Joe’s Easter Egg Hunt // 4/27, Safari Joe’s H2O, safarijoesh20.com

PERFORMING ARTS Words and Tunes // 4/17, Duet, magiccitybooks.com Popovich Comedy Pet Theater Show // 4/18, Tulsa Little Theatre, eventbrite.com/e/ tulsa-world-famous-popovichcomedy-pet-theater-tickets-59473875964 Bollywood on the Green // 4/19, Guthrie Green, guthriegreen.com Mahler’s Resurrection // 4/20, VanTrease PACE, signaturesymphony.org Michael Carbonaro // 4/27, River Spirit Casino - Paradise Cove, riverspirittulsa.com Retro Rockets Spring Fling // 4/27, Studio 308, studio308.com The Funky Fracas // 4/27, The ReVue, therevuetulsa.com

RENAISSANCE FAIRE

Sondra Slade // 4/19, The Starlite, thestarlite.net

Realms and Apparitions // 4/25-5/25, Joseph Gierek Fine Art, gierek.com

Charles Page Studios Spring Block Party // 4/27, Charles Page Studios, facebook.com/charlespagestudios BALLET

Silly Humans // 4/19, Rabbit Hole Improv, rabbitholeimprov.com

Meghadootam: The Cloud Messenger // 4/27, Tulsa PAC - John H. Williams Theatre, tulsapac.com Carpe Diem String Quartet // 4/28, Tulsa PAC - John H. Williams Theatre, tulsapac.com Sassy Mamas // 4/28-5/5, Tulsa PAC Liddy Doenges Theatre, tulsapac.com

SPORTS TU Softball vs UCF // 4/18, Collins Family Softball Complex, tulsahurricane.com Tulsa Drillers vs Arkansas Travelers // 4/18, ONEOK Field, tulsadrillers.com Tulsa Drillers vs Arkansas Travelers // 4/18, ONEOK Field, tulsadrillers.com Tulsa Drillers vs Arkansas Travelers // 4/18, ONEOK Field, tulsadrillers.com TU Softball vs UCF // 4/19, Collins Family Softball Complex, tulsahurricane.com TU Softball vs UCF // 4/20, Collins Family Softball Complex, tulsahurricane.com Where Hands and Feet Meet 5K // 4/20, Mohawk Park, thsa.cc Roughnecks FC vs Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC // 4/24, ONEOK Field, roughnecksfc.com TU Softball vs Wichita State // 4/26, Collins Family Softball Complex, tulsahurricane.com Smoke & Guns VI // 4/27, BOK Center, bokcenter.com TU Softball vs Wichita State // 4/27, Collins Family Softball Complex, tulsahurricane.com Parkside By Your Side 5K // 4/27, Mohawk Park, parksideinc.org Roughnecks FC vs OKC Energy FC // 4/27, ONEOK Field, roughnecksfc.com Golden Driller Marathon // 4/27, River West Festival Park, fleetfeettulsa.com TU Softball vs Wichita State // 4/28, Collins Family Softball Complex, tulsahurricane.com ORU Baseball vs OSU // 4/30, J.L. Johnson Stadium, oruathletics.com ARTS & CULTURE // 33

musicnotes

Lee Ranaldo and Leah Singer come to Tulsa on April 27. | COURTESY

Go electric Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth talks Dylan, guitars, and Tulsa by MASON WHITEHORN POWELL

ee Ranaldo is one of the founding members of Sonic Youth, playing with the iconic art rock band from 1981 to their culmination in 2011. Recognized as one of the most innovative guitar players of all time, he’s also released approximately a half-dozen solo records. The Bob Dylan Center is bringing Ranaldo to Tulsa for a live show on April 27 at Duet Jazz Club as part of the Woody Guthrie Center’s sixth anniversary celebration. He will be performing with his partner, multimedia artist Leah Singer, in “Contre Jour: Cinema and Suspended Electric Guitar Phenomena.” Their musical/fi lm performance will blow minds to a degree Tulsa rarely gets to experience. Below are snippets from a conversation with Ranaldo about his upcoming performance, Tulsa as a burger town, and Bob Dylan. 34 // MUSIC

MASON WHITEHORN POWELL: It’s been a decade since you’ve been to Tulsa. Sonic Youth last performed at the Cain’s Ballroom in 2009. What is your impression of the city? LEE RANALDO: I remember Cain’s because we were excited to go there, both for its former life as a country music hall and of course because of the Sex Pistols and all that kind of stuff, so we definitely were reveling in the fact that we got to play at Cain’s. That was super cool… I remember [Tulsa] was pretty ﬂat and that the downtown buildings were really art deco, which was kind of beautiful, and I remember cruising out of town— somebody had told us about an amazing hamburger place and we went and found it … I’m a pretty big cyclist, and three or four of us had bikes on that tour, and I remember taking an amazing bike ride out of town into the sur-

rounding country that was pretty beautiful. I’m definitely planning and hoping to get a few rides in when I come back to Tulsa at the end of the month.

for me, it’s a lot of very electronic music, there’s a lot of singing, there’s not a lot of guitar playing on it—it’s a different kind of musical landscape.

POWELL: Recently, you’ve been recording in Barcelona, reading poetry at Ferlinghetti’s birthday celebration, and performing various shows. What else have you been up to?

POWELL: What’s your connection to Dylanology?

RANALDO: The main thing I’ve been up to is working on this new record. My partner these days in music is a guy named Raül Fernandez, who lives in Barcelona. We’ve made my last couple records together and this one’s gonna be a record with both of our names on it. We did most of the recording in New York City and I’ve been to Barcelona twice for about two weeks, each in the last six weeks, and we just fi nished the mixes on the record … It’s kind of a curve ball

RANALDO: I’ve been super deep into his work and life, for I don’t know [how long] at this point, probably close to 30 years or more. I mean he’s the Shakespeare of our time you might say. I find it’s endlessly rewarding work to move through and discover, and I delight in listening to it. I’m fascinated by him as a person and as a mystery, and as a creative force for our time. POWELL: You we’re a member of the supergroup The Million Dollar Bashers for the “I’m Not There” soundtrack—could you tell me about that? April 17 – 30, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

RANALDO: Yeah, I was the one who put it together. The director of that movie, Todd Haynes, had asked me if I would work with him on the music for that film. Obviously, he had a lot of different people working on the music, but he asked me if I would come in to work on particularly the first electric era of Dylan’s work when he was going electric and making those groundbreaking records that Cate Blanchett would be miming to in the film. So it was a period of Dylan’s work that I loved, and I got a chance to put this all-star cast together with Tom Verlaine on the other guitar, and Steve Shelley on the drums, and John Medeski on keyboards—a great friend of mine over the years who is just amazing—and Dylan’s then and current bass player Tony Garnier on the bass. We recorded a number of those mid-sixties songs for the film. And Steve Malkmus, [we] ended up using him for the vocalist; he’s the voice you hear when Cate Blanchett is singing in the movie. It was an awesome project and it was really fantastic to work with all those guys. POWELL: What about Dylan’s technique as a guitar player? What makes his playing style unique? RANALDO: He’s not often credited very much as a guitar player because from the time he went electric he had all these fantastic guitar players at his side, whether it was Mike Bloomfield or Mark Knopﬂer or whoever—he had amazing guitar players in his groups. But if you listen to the pre-electric stuff, he’s a fantastic guitar player, especially in those early tapes. There’s a few early tapes in the [Bob Dylan] Archives that I really want to hear from the first period in New York. There’s a couple that have not been circulated that are really supposed to be high-quality recordings of coffee house sets and things like that— like Gerde’s Folk City—they’re definitely some of the things I want to listen to. I mean, I thought he was a fantastic guitar player. POWELL: Tell me then about Dylan’s Gibson Nick Lucas? RANALDO: Ah! [Laughs.] How do you know about that? THE TULSA VOICE // April 17 – 30, 2019

huge change in our culture, what [Dylan] provided. He was not alone in that period of time, but he was pretty unique. The thing I always say is that he’s been in our eye, I don’t even know anymore, probably sixty years as a performer, and he remains a very mysterious character. That is a feat in itself after 60 years, for the public to still not know who you are. It’s a pretty magical feat. He continues to keep us guessing. POWELL: What’s it like being in a band and making music as a group, as opposed to Dylan, for example?

Lee Ranaldo | JESPER NORSTROM

POWELL: [Michael] Chaiken. RANALDO: I was completely obsessed with this guitar. And supposedly Jacob Dylan has that original, although for many years it was deemed lost. But I think reports recently are that someone saw it while in Jacob’s possession not too long ago. The Nick Lucas was a really strange Gibson guitar—I don’t know how deeply you want me to go into this because I could talk about this for awhile—but in brief, it was a small body guitar that was very deep, much thicker than a typical guitar of that size, so it had a specific characteristic. Some people really love the sound of this guitar. And I had never seen one or played one, but I always read about Dylan’s. His was unique for a few reasons. First of all, the top had been refinished, it was no longer sunburst, which was a characteristic of those guitars— [Dylan’s] was natural wood finish. And you can see him playing it in all those ‘64/‘65, like in “Don’t Look Back” and just before and after that he’s photographed a lot with that guitar … So I’ve never seen or played one of these 13-fret guitars but it’s one of those guitar player’s holy grails I guess. POWELL: Dylan’s music has gone through many transitions and phases, and Sonic Youth experi-

enced this as well. What’s your perspective on how sounds change and develop over time? RANALDO: Well, I think the thing that’s clear about Dylan from the very beginning of his career is that—this is what he wanted in a way, from his life, to be a traveling troubadour, which is really his main art. He puts out these amazing records, and makes drawings, and writes books and things—but he’s a performing musician and he’s wanted that from the very beginning of his career. And he’s stuck to his guns and he’s living it to this day. I think in a way the changes that come along are just part and parcel of being an artist who’s continuing to work over a long period of time. POWELL: You seem to have a philosophic understanding of Dylan and his career. RANALDO: Like I said, I’m pretty deeply involved in just—thinking about it, I guess, more than anything. Reading all the books, it’s like one of these clubs where the more people know that you’re interested in it, meeting someone like Clinton [Heylin, Dylan’s biographer] or meeting a bunch of other people that I’ve met that are deeply into his work. It is almost like a scholarly pursuit at a certain point. It contributed to a

RANALDO: Well, it’s real different. The thing that made Sonic Youth special was this collective aspect of it, the fact that we composed everything as a group. All the songs are credited to the four of us—to the band—because that’s the way we worked on music. It was a much more communal process. At this point, I’ve had a chance to see it from inside and out, because since Sonic Youth stopped playing I’ve been more of a band leader than a co-band leader, which is what we each were in Sonic Youth, and more of a director, out front. And in a way that’s Dylan’s role from the very beginning. He’s always been center stage. POWELL: What can people expect from your performance at Duet Jazz Club? RANALDO: I offered them the idea of another project, which was something I do with my partner Leah Singer that’s fi lm and music. It’s an experimental sort of cinematic-with-live-musical-accompaniment evening, and I usually have my guitar suspended from a cord and do this kind of hanging guitar phenomenon. It’s usually a bit theatrical and we play with my shadows on the screen in front of Leah’s fi lms … [The Bob Dylan Center] went for that. Their mindset seemed to be: Let’s challenge the Tulsa audience a little bit more. a

LEE RANALDO W/ LEAH SINGER Duet Jazz 108 N. Detroit Ave. April 27, 8 p.m., $20 MUSIC // 35

musicnotes

Don’t dream it’s over M. Lockwood Porter sees a better world coming by BECKY CARMAN

n his music video for “The Dream Is Dead,” Tulsa songwriter M. Lockwood Porter is at the tail end of the fifth stage of grief—acceptance. “The dream is dead, and everybody knows it,” goes the refrain, as an energized Porter, awakened by a glimmer of hope buried deep in a barrage of bad news, hangs ﬂiers across Tulsa in hopes of inspiring human connection. “There’s a better world coming,” taped to the glass of a hollowed-out community center. “I will do no more hoping.” “I will get out on the street.” The single, from Porter’s new album Communion in the Ashes, makes a salient point about our collective sense of doom, whether about politics or about society as a whole. He’s right: The dream is dead. Everybody does know it. So now what? Porter’s complicated relationship with “the dream,” in the sense of the classic American dream, started early, in his hometown. “Growing up in Skiatook, I didn’t think, ‘I live in this town where there are less opportunities for people.’ I thought everyone was the same. In a lot of ways, I based my conception of myself around the American dream … that I could be this self-made person,” Porter said. “That really got challenged for me over the last decade in a lot of ways. Going to Yale gave me a sense of it because I thought I was coming in on equal footing, but a lot of those kids went to board schools, prep schools … they know things I don’t know, and I may never understand the world the way they do. There’s a barrier to entry.” He graduated in 2009, shortly after the Great Recession, and moved to the Bay Area of Califor36 // MUSIC

M. Lockwood Porter’s latest, Communion in the Ashes, is out now via Black Mesa Records. | KRIS PAYNE

nia as he and his friends struggled to make sense of their new economic reality. While there, he taught for four years in a low-income public school, illuminating the dearth of opportunity for people who grow up in poverty. “Seeing how much of a struggle it was for everyone with basic things like health insurance made me question that fundamental optimism I’d had,” Porter said. He mourned that loss on 2016’s How to Dream Again. “Anyone can make it in the USA / All you have to do is struggle and pray,” he laments on “The Future Ain’t What It Used to Be.” Throughout that album, Porter not only laments the loss of his American dream but also recontextualizes for himself what it means to be a songwriter on the other side of that. “Am I a coward to keep singing songs of sadness and love / With so much blood in the streets, so many bombs up above,” he sings on “Sad/Satisfied.”

“I started trying to fuse songwriting, art, the sociopolitical interests I have,” Porter said. “It stopped being interesting to me to record country songs about being sad.” Before leaving California for Tulsa, he wrote the songs for Communion in the Ashes, his political tendencies heightened in the wake of the 2016 presidential election. “I spent a year, like a lot of people probably, depressed, afraid, trying to figure out. I’d just made a record about the political situation in our country, and then things got even worse,” Porter said. “I didn’t want to make the same record again. Out of that, I tried to find a more positive take.” He recorded the album with a handful of longtime collaborators including engineer and drummer Peter Labberton, guitarist Jeremy Lyon, bassist Bevan Herbekian, keyboard player Jeff Hashfield, and vocalist Tracey Holland. Much of it was recorded in live band takes with few rehearsals,

and that confidence and energy contribute to the calls to action in the lyrics. “I wanted to make a record that communicated optimism. Even though things are so bad, we should try to do something about it,” Porter said. “Where the last record was really about the grief of losing that future I thought I would have, this record is kind of about me trying to fi nd some belief system to replace that.” “I will do no more hoping,” says the ﬂier tucked under a windshield in downtown Tulsa. “I will dig the dirt myself.” Protest records are nothing new, but Porter’s position is more that of a fatalistic pragmatist. It’s a uniquely modern perspective that could capture the heart of discerning nihilists everywhere. “If I’m being 100 percent rational, the outlook is pretty bleak, but I’m choosing to have faith that we can do something,” Porter said. “That attitude guides my thinking about the world we’re currently living in, my political outlook. We have no choice. In my small way as a musician or just as a member of society, with whatever little microphone I have, I feel like it’s important for me to normalize the idea that we can do big things.” “Our redemption song can topple walls, but first we must compose it,” Porter sings, before nearly all the sound drops out from behind him, save for one brave, lone guitar. “The dream is dead, and everybody knows it.” a

M. LOCKWOOD PORTER Thurs., April 25, 7 p.m. Fassler Hall 304 S. Elgin Ave. April 17 – 30, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

THE TULSA VOICE // April 17 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 30, 2019

MUSIC // 37

musiclistings Wed // Apr 17

Sat // Apr 20

41 Brookside – Jacob Dement Duet – Words and Tunes – ($5) Hard Rock Casino - Track 5. – Pumpkin Hollow Band Juicemaker Lounge – Jared Tyler Los Cabos - Jenks – Daniel Jordan Mercury Lounge – Beau Roberson Mother Road Market – Smoochie Wallus Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame – Eicher Wednesday w/ Tim Shadley – ($10) River Spirit Casino – Travis Kidd Soundpony – Sneak the Poet The Coffee House on Cherry Street – Open Mic The Colony – Tom Skinner Science Project

36th Street North Event Center – Lil Mike & Funny Bone, Michelle Dobyne, JD Tci – ($10-$100) 41 Brookside – Dan Martin 727 Club – Glam R Us Bad Ass Renee’s – Labadie House, Spook, Miss Misery, Agony Inc., Brass Knuckle Riot Blackbird on Pearl – Grass Giant, Acid Queen – ($5) Blue Rose Caf_ – Dave Lovell Bound for Glory Books – Avery Marshall, Vagittarius, Astraphoria Brady Theater – Robin Trower – ($42.50-$49.50) Bull and Bear Tavern – The Dirtboxwailers Cain’s Ballroom – Hippo Campus, Samia – ($20-$99) Duet – Shelby Eicher and the Music of David Grisman – ($12) Dusty Dog Pub – James Groves Blues Band El Coyote Manco – Le Energia Norte–a, Sexto Grado, Conjunto Generacion Four Aces Tavern – Kevin Jameson, Echo Fuel 66 – The Stylees, Soup du Jour Hard Rock Casino – Jesse Joice DJ Mib, Chinatown Hard Rock Casino – Carry Miller Band, DJ Demko IDL Ballroom – Ill.Gates, An-Ten-Nae, Jesse Strenage, King Coopa – ($15-$20) Juicemaker Lounge – Seth Lee Jones, Paul Benjaman, Chris Combs Lefty’s On Greenwood – Your Drunken Uncle Lennie’s Club & Grill – Shawn Roach and the Pocket Kings Los Cabos - Broken Arrow – Honey Badgers Los Cabos - Jenks – House Party Los Cabos - Owasso – Ronnie Pyle Trio Mercury Lounge – Dane Arnold and the Soup, The Dull Drums – ($5) Rabbit Hole Bar & Grill – Golden Ones EP release w/ Carlton Hesston, Okipa River Spirit Casino - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – FuZed River Spirit Casino - Volcano Stage – Caleb Fellenstein Soul City – John Fullbright – ($10) Soundpony – High and Tight w/ DJ Kylie The Colony – Free Association 4/20 Jam – ($5) The Greenery – Space Horse, Jhohn Arlie, Chrim The Hunt Club – Let Slip the Dogs The Max Retropub – DJ AB The Run – Stars The Starlite – Afistaface The Vanguard – My So Called Band – ($10) Wyld Hawgz – Murderous Mary, Severmind

Thurs // Apr 18 Blackbird on Pearl – Droplitz, CoAtlas, YeshwaH – ($10) Centennial Lounge at VFW Post 577 – Cade Roth and the Black Sheep Duet – Benny Green Trio – ($30) Four Aces Tavern – Scott Pendergrass Fuel 66 – Deacon & Walker Hard Rock Casino - Riffs – Blake Turner, NightTrain Hard Rock Casino - Track 5. – Jacob Tovar, DJ Demko Heirloom Rustic Ales – Sissy Brown IDL Ballroom – Casii Stphan & The Midnight Sun, Weston Horn & The Hush, Multiphonic Funk benefit for 12 & 12 Addiction Recovery Center – ($10) Juicemaker Lounge – Cypher 120: Experience Lefty’s On Greenwood – David Hernandez & Friends Los Cabos - Broken Arrow – Jacob Dement Duo Los Cabos - Jenks – Zene Smith Los Cabos - Owasso – Myron Oliver Mercury Lounge – Paul Benjaman Renaissance Brewing Company – Open Mic River Spirit Casino – DJ 2Legit River Spirit Casino – Foreigner – ($55-$379) Soul City – Don & Steve White The Colony – Jacob Tover’s Western Night The Colony – David Hernandez - Happy Hour The Hunt Club – Songswappers The Run – The Zinners Jam The Vanguard – Michael Frazier, Wolf Ugly, Optional Hypocrisy – ($10) Tulsa Botanic Garden – Jordan Hehl Jazz Trio – ($4-$8)

Fri // Apr 19 41 Brookside – Matt Sanders Blackbird on Pearl – Take the Day, Nameless Society, Lights Out on Sheridan – ($5) Blue Rose Café – Nick Whitaker Bound for Glory Books – Adrienne Gilley, Sister Silent, Rachel Bachman Bull and Bear Tavern – Scott Musick Duo Cabin Boys Brewery – Ryan Allen Cain’s Ballroom – San Holo, Robotaki, Taska Black, Eastghost – ($25-$99) Cimarron Bar – Kevin Jameson, Echo Dead Armadillo Brewery – Dan Martin Duet – Adam and Kizzie – ($12) Elwoods – Chris Clark Fassler Hall – Bassel & The Supernaturals, Henna Roso Hard Rock Casino – Dante Schmitz, DJ 2Legit, Superfreak Hard Rock Casino - Track 5. – Jimmy Allen, DJ Demko Heirloom Rustic Ales – Dracla, Blind Oath Lefty’s On Greenwood – The Feelers Los Cabos - Broken Arrow – House Party Los Cabos - Jenks – The Downbeat Los Cabos - Owasso – Lost On Acoustica Mercury Lounge – The Stylees – ($5) Rabbit Hole Bar & Grill – Tristan, SlimmCo, David Puffin, Dismondj River Spirit Casino – Jason Young River Spirit Casino – The Doobie Brothers – ($60-$70) River Spirit Casino - Volcano Stage – Dane Arnold Soul City – Carter Sampson – ($10) Soul City – Susan Herndon - Happy Hour Soundpony – DJ Mooneyham’s Musical Explosion The Colony – Paul Benjaman Band – ($5) The Colony – Scott Evans - Happy Hour The Hunt Club – RPM The Max Retropub – Boo Ya w/ DJ Jeffrey Fresh The Run – Stars The Vanguard – TAUK, Combsy – ($15) The Venue Shrine – Daikaiju – ($7) Whittier Bar – Bradford Loomis Wyld Hawgz – The Dirtboxwailers 38 // MUSIC

Sun // Apr 21

River Spirit Casino – FuZed Soul City – Tuesday Bluesday The Colony – Dane Arnold and the Soup The Colony – Deerpaw - Happy Hour The Run – Campfire The Vanguard – Knocked Loose, The Acadia Strain, Harms Way, Sanction, Higher Power, Piece of Mind – ($20)

Wed // Apr 24 Cain’s Ballroom – Badflower, Deal Casino, Fencer – ($9.75-$12) Duet – Pam Van Dyke Crosby – ($5) Hard Rock Casino - Track 5. – Running On Empty Juicemaker Lounge – Jared Tyler Los Cabos - Jenks – Laron Simpson Mercury Lounge – Beau Roberson Mother Road Market – Randy Brumley Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame – Eicher Wednesday – ($10) River Spirit Casino – Travis Kidd The Coffee House on Cherry Street – Open Mic The Colony – Tom Skinner Science Project

Thurs // Apr 25 Blackbird on Pearl – Steve Liddell Brady Theater – ThePianoGuys – ($47-$197.50) Crow Creek Tavern – Jake Flint Duet – David Amram Jazz Combo – ($15) Fassler Hall – M. Lockwood Porter Four Aces Tavern – Scott Pendergrass Hard Rock Casino – Scott Ellison, DJ Mib, Continuum Hard Rock Casino - The Joint – Melissa Etheridge – ($39.50-$59.50) Hard Rock Casino - Track 5. – DJ Demko Juicemaker Lounge – Cypher 120: Experience Los Cabos - Broken Arrow – Ronnie Pyle Los Cabos - Jenks – Weston Horn Duo Los Cabos - Owasso – Chris Hyde Mercury Lounge – Dale Watson album release party River Spirit Casino – DJ 2Legit Soul City – The Begonias Soundpony – Flixxx, GxThree, Showstopper, Mr. Burns, Pushgang, 2Mucchhh The Colony – Jacob Tover’s Western Night The Colony – David Hernandez - Happy Hour The Hunt Club – Ego Culture The Run – The Zinners Jam The Vanguard – Joe Purdy, The Honeydew Drops, Smokey & The Mirror – ($20) Whittier Bar – Mannequin Pussy, Tom Boil

Fri // Apr 26

Bound for Glory Books – Fred Trepto, Without Adjectives, Bone Magic, Erik Anarchy, Gutteral Stutter – ($5) Hodges Bend – Mike Cameron Collective Juicemaker Lounge – Open Mic Mercury Lounge – Chris Blevins Rabbit Hole Bar & Grill – Chris Foster River Spirit Casino – Jesse Weaver Soundpony – T-Town Boys Present: Finally Free The Colony – Seth Lee Jones The Run – Jermey & Friends The Run – Kevin Jameson

41 Brookside – Kevin Jameson Blackbird on Pearl – Somatoast, Rhizomorphic, Jonteal – ($10) Bound for Glory Books – Sailor Poon Bull and Bear Tavern – Disco Slice Cabin Boys Brewery – King Warbler Duet – Chris Peters – ($5) Guthrie Green – WGC Celebration: Red Dirt Rangers, Nightingale, Count Tutu, WGC Student Band Hard Rock Casino - Riffs – Kalo, DJ 2Legit, Members Only Hard Rock Casino - Track 5. – Cody Canada, DJ Demko Los Cabos - Broken Arrow – The Downbeat Los Cabos - Jenks – Str8ght Shot Los Cabos - Owasso – Bria & Joey Mercury Lounge – Acid Queen, Carlton Hesston Osage Casino Tulsa – Walk Off the Earth – ($30-$45) Rabbit Hole Bar & Grill – La Rimas Caliente, L Smooth, The Neighbors, Alien Inc., Jay Mizz, Ill Paparazzi, DJ Such and Such Retro Grill & Bar – J’Parle Reloaded River Spirit Casino – The Hi-Fidelics River Spirit Casino - Paradise Cove – Kesha – ($65-$85) River Spirit Casino - Volcano Stage – Blake Turner Soul City – Pilgrim – ($10) Soul City – Susan Herndon - Happy Hour Soundpony – Eclectic Sounds with DJ $ir Mike The Colony – Alex Alco, Cucumber and the Suntans The Colony – Scott Evans - Happy Hour The Hunt Club – Dante and the Hawks The Max Retropub – DJ Afistaface The Run – After Party The Starlite – Resurxtion 55: 50s Sock Hop The Vanguard – Soft Kill, The Secret Post, Downward – ($10) The Venue Shrine – Mountain Sprout – ($8-$10)

Tues // Apr 23

Sat // Apr 27

Cain’s Ballroom – Burn Co BBQ Brunch w/ Jacob Dement – ($15) East Village Bohemian Pizzeria – Mike Cameron Collective Four Aces Tavern – Sunday Band Guthrie Green – klondike5 Hard Rock Casino - Track 5. – Brent Giddens Los Cabos - Broken Arrow – Wesley Michael Hays Los Cabos - Jenks – The Fabulous Two Man Band Mercury Lounge – Brandon Clark Rabbit Hole Bar & Grill – Selected Sundays w/ Skanka River Spirit Casino – Brent Giddens Soul City – Blues Brunch w/ Dustin Pittsley Soul City – Bruner & Eicher Soundpony – DJ Burak The Colony – Paul Benjaman’s Sunday Nite Thing The Colony – Singer Songwriter Open Mic Matinee w/ Cody Clinton The Starlite – The Archipelago

Mon // Apr 22

Blackbird on Pearl – The Pearl Jam Gypsy Coffee House – Open Mic Marshall Brewing – Jyl Johnson, The Comedic Tide Mercury Lounge – Wink Burcham Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame – Depot Jazz and Blues Jams

36th Street North Event Center – OMB Peezy, Young Cutty, Steph Simon, Thrill, D2, Bash the Rapper 41 Brookside – Blake Lillard Bad Ass Renee’s – Goodbye Autumn, Brought by Fate, Oliver’s Ghost

Barkingham Palace – The Shame, On Holiday, All the Wine, Hummin Bird Blackbird on Pearl – The Stone Sugar Shakedown – ($5) Bound for Glory Books – Stone Machine Electric, Iron Cathedral, The Danner Party Cain’s Ballroom – 80s Prom – ($25-$50) Centennial Lounge at VFW Post 577 – Supersonic (Oasis Tribute) – ($5) Cimarron Bar – Posterchild Duet – Lee Ranaldo & Leah Singer: Contre Jour – ($20) Dusty Dog Pub – The 29th Street Band Guthrie Green – WGC Celebration: Ramy Essam, Mary Gauthier, Guy Davis, HuDost, Jaimee Harris Hard Rock Casino – Miracle Max, DJ Mib, Weekend All Stars Hard Rock Casino - Track 5. – James Muns, DJ Demko IDL Ballroom – Desert Dwellers, Random Rab, Flintwick, Nugster – ($15-$20) Josey Records – Jackie Venson Juicemaker Lounge – I Put On for My City - OmaleyB Lefty’s On Greenwood – Faye Moffett Los Cabos - Broken Arrow – The Usual Suspects Los Cabos - Jenks – Stereotype Los Cabos - Owasso – Scott Pendergrass Mercury Lounge – KALO River Spirit Casino – Stars River Spirit Casino – Brent Giddens Soul City – JJ Cale Tribute w/ Don White & Paul Benjaman – ($10) Soundpony – Pleasuredome The Colony – Mu, The Calamities, Adrienne Gilley The Hunt Club – The Agenda The Max Retropub – DJ Jeffrey Fresh The Run – Sweatin Bullets The Venue Shrine – Ben Miller Band – ($10-415) Unit D – Bobby Rush, The DuoSonics

Sun // Apr 28 Bad Ass Renee’s – Key Factor, Hakeem Eli’Juwon, Mizzo5, Slimmco, No Kap, YSK, DJ Walliemayne – ($5) East Village Bohemian Pizzeria – Mike Cameron Collective Four Aces Tavern – Sunday Band Guthrie Green – WGC Celebration: John Fullbright and Friends, Quebe Sisters, Jackie Venson, Johnny Irion, Lance Canales and the Flood Hard Rock Casino - Track 5. – Rob Robertson Inner Circle Vodka Bar – She The Serpent, Gutter Villain, Team Hopeless, Gadgets Sons, Alan Doyle, Constant Peril, The Secret Post Los Cabos - Broken Arrow – Laron Simpson Los Cabos - Jenks – The Fabulous Two Man Band Mercury Lounge – Brandon Clark Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame – Modern Oklahoma Jazz Orchestra – ($10) Rabbit Hole Bar & Grill – Selected Sundays w/ Skanka River Spirit Casino – Brent Giddens Soul City – Blues Brunch w/ Dustin Pittsley Soul City – Bruner & Eicher Soundpony – DJ A Dre The Colony – Paul Benjaman’s Sunday Nite Thing The Colony – Singer Songwriter Open Mic Matinee w/ Cody Clinton The Vanguard – Scarlet View, ArjŸna, Spook., Forbidden Serenity, Dark Matter – ($10)

Mon // Apr 29 Hodges Bend – Mike Cameron Collective Juicemaker Lounge – Open Mic Mercury Lounge – Chris Blevins Rabbit Hole Bar & Grill – Chris Foster River Spirit Casino – Jesse Weaver The Colony – Seth Lee Jones The Run – Jermey & Friends The Vanguard – Wallows – ($1.45) Whittier Bar – Black Jaguar & Thee Indigo Ocelot

Tues // Apr 30 Blackbird on Pearl – The Pearl Jam Brady Theater – *Leon Bridges – ($39.50-$59.50) Gypsy Coffee House – Open Mic Marshall Brewing – Ryan Howell, Tulsa Story-Tellers Mercury Lounge – Wink Burcham Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame – Depot Jazz and Blues Jams River Spirit Casino – FuZed Soul City – Tuesday Bluesday The Colony – Dane Arnold and the Soup The Colony – Deerpaw - Happy Hour The Run – Campfire The Vanguard – Born A New, Sledge Skysia, Gangar, OTM – ($10)

April 17 – 30, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

SATURDAY, APRIL 27 Symposium Woody, Pete, and Lead Belly: Folk Roots and Current Events Day One: Folk Roots 10 a.m. Anna Canoni: “Marjorie Guthrie and the Huntington’s Disease Society of America” 11 a.m. Tony Trischka: “Pete Seeger at 100” Noon Terika Dean and Alvin Singh: “3 Friends, 1 Apartment” 1 p.m. Jim Brown: “Documenting Woody and Pete: Unseen Interviews and Performances from 40 Years of Work” Flyloft – $15 per day or $25 for both

2:30–9 p.m. Guthrie Green Performances by Ramy Essam, Mary Gauthier, Guy Davis, HuDost, and Jaimee Harris – Free 8 p.m. Duet Lee Ranaldo & Leah Singer: Contre Jour – Cinema and Suspended Electric Guitar Phenomena – $20 SUNDAY, APRIL 28 Symposium “Woody, Pete, and Lead Belly: Folk Roots and Current Events” Day Two: Current Events and Relevance 10 a.m. Ron Cohen with Michael Chaiken: “Bob Dylan and Folk Music”

11 a.m. Mark Fernandez, Gus Stadler, and Stephen Petrus: “This Machine Still Kills Fascists: Woody Guthrie and Contemporary Activism” Noon Will Kaufman: “Woody and Old Man Trump” 1 p.m. Joe Klein: “How Did Woody’s People Become Donald Trump’s Base?” Flyloft – $15 per day or $25 for both 2:30–9 p.m. Guthrie Green Performances by John Fullbright and Friends, Quebe Sisters, Jackie Venson, and Lance Canales and the Flood – Free a

THIS MACHINE BLOWS OUT THE CANDLES Woody Guthrie Center’s Sixth Anniversary Celebration by TTV Staff Woody Guthrie Center will ring in six years with six days of concerts and events, including a two-day symposium on folk roots and current events.

TUESDAY, APRIL 23 6 p.m. WGC Member Event at Welltown Brewing WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24 6:30 p.m. WGC Theater Screening of “Woody Guthrie: Three Chords and the Truth” followed by a Q&A with BBC Filmmaker Todd Austin and contributor Will Kaufamn – $7–$10 THURSDAY, APRIL 25 6 p.m. Gilcrease Museum “Plane Wreck at Los Gatos (Deportee),” a multimedia program focused on human rights issues with roots musician and activist Lance Canales – $5 8:30 p.m. Duet A discussion on Leonard Bernstein and Woody with David Amram, Judy Blazer, and Will Kaufman, followed by a performance by the David Amram Jazz Combo – $15 FRIDAY, APRIL 26 5:30–10 p.m. Guthrie Green Performances by Red Dirt Rangers, Nightingale, Count Tutu, and the WGC Student Band – Free THE TULSA VOICE // April 17 – 30, 2019

MUSIC // 39

popradar

PITCH SHIFTER ‘Shrill’ is the buoyant, body-positive feminist comedy we deserve by ALEXANDRA ROBINSON

SNL star Aidy Bryant in “Shrill,” streaming now on Hulu | COURTESY

’ll be honest about my bias: “Shrill” hits all the right notes for me. I am the demographic for which the new Hulu show, starring and co-produced by SNL star Aidy Bryant, was written. As a 20-something woman whose conversations in therapy tend to be a series of circular questions that can be boiled down to, Yeah—but am I a real girl?, “Shrill” took me on an all-too-familiar journey. I was hurled back to the times in my own life I felt ashamed of the space I take up in the world as a woman, and the inevitable awkwardness that ensues in the process of learning that I deserve to be met with the same love and respect as everyone else. The show, produced by Lorne Michaels and Elizabeth Banks, is loosely based on Lindy West’s 2016 memoir of the same title. Lindy has become Annie, an aspiring young writer at a Portland alt-weekly, who navigates friendships, a career, and love as a young fat woman in America. Ever the expert in subtle comedy, Aidy Bryant plays Annie with a disarming buoyancy and a charm that evolves over the six-episode arc. In Bryant’s rendering of this role, Annie isn’t “shrill” by any means, at least not yet. Over the course of the six

40 // FILM & TV

episodes—which ﬂy by so quickly they almost feel like a tease—we’re given only hints of the emerging outspokenness and unapologetic candor associated with West’s writings and public persona. In the series’ opening, we meet Annie during a cringe-y exchange on her morning coffee run. A fat-shaming personal trainer whose rude commentary veiled in fake concern is met by our heroine with a joke, a smile, and an apologetic demeanor. However, by the end of the same episode, Annie’s feminist guns are ablaze as she confronts her boss and male coworker, Andy, with a line I’m totally gonna steal next time some dude talks over me: “I’m sorry … you’re great in a lot of ways, but I’m better in most.” “Shrill” has pretty much everything I want from TV: memorable characters, a sharp look, and a fire soundtrack. There is the almost-too-on-the-nose Dan Savage impression in the form of Annie’s tyrannical boss, Gabe (John Cameron Mitchell) and his quips which range from clueless—“I love the whole female empowerment shit, I kind of invented it in the ‘90s. I was the original bass player in Bikini Kill”—to cruel. (He calls Annie a “shitty cunt” as a “joke” in episode one, and

thwarts her writerly ambitions at every turn.) A clean, saturated look by Karl Lefevre helps these characters pop on screen, rounded out with music by first-class femme artists from Jen Cloher to Tierra Whack to Angel Olsen. (The show’s musical bent carries over into director credits from Jesse Peretz of The Lemonheads, and Sleater-Kinney guitarist Carrie Brownstein.) Maybe the best part of the show is Luka Jones as man-baby/ love interest Ryan, whose sometimes fake-woke bumbling countenance and fixer-upper boyfriend status is so relatable. Because who among us hasn’t wasted our precious time dating a fuck boy with “normcore Ted Kaczynski” vibes? For women who have grown up with a limited-to-nonexistent sense of self-worth, men like Ryan are our cross to bear, until we realize they’re not. Jones is hilarious, though. Lolly Adefope provides a delightful foil to Annie as her roommate and best friend, Fran. Their heart-to-heart in episode one lays the groundwork for the rest of the season, as Annie confesses her internalized deficiencies: “There have been moments in my life where I didn’t think that I would ever get to have [a partner, a

family] because of what I looked like or because there’s a certain way that your body is supposed to be and I’m not that. And that maybe if I was just sweet enough and nice enough and easygoing enough with any guy, that that would be enough for someone.” Fran’s reply is perfect: “We need to un-train you from thinking of yourself in such a brutal way.” The creators attempt to pack a lot of action into six short episodes—Annie goes to a strip club; Annie fights with her parents ( Julia Sweeney and Daniel Stern); Annie’s man-baby disappoints her; Annie’s article goes viral; Annie goes to a pool party with other fat babes; Annie gets an abortion; Annie has an online troll. But at the heart of this show is a deeper look at something we haven’t seen on TV: the experience of being female in a body that is not thin. “Shrill” is for the women who have felt their mothers’ disappointment in the way they look, who have balked at the unconditional love their friends offer, and who have chased after withheld affection from partners who can’t see their value. Aidy Bryant has proven she’s not just “the fat girl” on Saturday Night Live—she’s a goddamn star. a April 17 – 30, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

M. Lockwood Porter Communion In The Ashes

Featured in Billboard

Available Now on Black Mesa Records

Show at Fassler Hall • April 25th blackmesarecords.com

REAL COLLEGE RADIO

Tune into Tulsa’s eclectic, uniquely programmed, local music loving, commercial free, genre hopping, award winning, truly alternative music station. @RSURadio | WWW.RSURADIO.COM THE TULSA VOICE // April 17 – 30, 2019

FILM & TV // 41

onscreen

Mary Kay Place in “Diane” | COURTESY

AN ORDINARY RECKONING

Tulsa native Mary Kay Place shines in award-winning ﬁlm WINNER OF LAST YEAR’S TRIBECA FILM Festival, “Diane” doesn’t so much tell the story of its title character as much as it walks in her shoes. Keenly observed rather than meticulously plotted, its slice-of-life episodic realism employs the subtlest of metaphors. Take, for example, the opening. Diane, seated in a chair, has dosed off. She awakens suddenly, startled, subconsciously blurting out “What’s wrong?” That moment, we come to see, succinctly represents the current state of her daily malaise and unsettled soul. So does Kay Place’s deeply personalized performance. A quintessential character portrait, this debut narrative from documentarian Kent Jones (“Hitchcock/Truffaut”) follows an upstate New York retiree who, as she enters the third act of her life, finds herself at an existential crossroads. The script, also by Jones, is a loose assembly of scenes, though not random ones, from Diane’s small town routine. Each follows a sequential trajectory, driven by a defining characteristic: Diane helps everyone except herself. Whether bedside with her cancerstricken cousin, serving meals at the local church soup kitchen, visiting family and friends in need, or checking in on her drug-addicted adult son with some clean clothes and tough love, Diane is always giving but rarely resting. Yet for all of her generosity, volunteerism, and self-sacrifice, a sense of purpose still eludes her. During her drives between various acts of regimented kindness, we see the face of a woman who’s exasperated and lost, drained rather than fulfilled. For Diane, giving of herself seems to be a way of avoiding herself. Deep down she’s 42 // FILM & TV

not dealing with her past, ignoring regrets instead of confronting them. Initially, these regrets aren’t made known to us. When they are, Jones references and reveals them in organic ways rather than big, dramatic ones. This approach feels more realistic, more honest. Our burdens, no doubt, are often like Diane’s, so ingrained and deep-seated that we take them for granted, or dismiss them outright, firmly believing we’ve moved on, not cognizant of the dysfunctional problems they’ve actually become. That’s because those burdens can be carried in ways we don’t even recognize, not expressed through obvious self-destructive habits or dependencies. For Diane, her life of charity and service—though completely sincere and heartfelt—is her Freudian compulsion toward penance. Those closest to her can see this, or sense it. In one of Diane’s most vulnerable moments, a cancer-stricken cousin (someone who’s also tied up in one of Diane’s biggest regrets) has to reach out to her, take her hand and say, “You’re not alone.” Diane is also at the phase of life where, as loved ones age and pass, confronting death becomes common. It’s a process that can be as numbing as it is devastating, but for Diane it’s a quiet catalyst for change, where something as simple as a journal of poetry becomes a personal confessional. For all of the film’s angst, it culminates to a very satisfying climax of grace and repentance, forgiveness and acceptance, yet still sobered with a poignant coda. In “Diane,” we see that the most important part of taking care of yourself is to be honest with yourself. Only then can we reconcile the mistakes of our life, while we still have it. — JEFF HUSTON

Ashton Sanders in “Native Son” | COURTESY

RESTLESS NATIVE Ashton Sanders offers a captivating, uneven literary adaptation

MUCH OF THE SOURCE MATERIAL remains intact in HBO’s titular adaptation of Richard Wright’s groundbreaking 1940 novel, “Native Son.” But artist and firsttime director Rashid Johnson, along with screenwriter and Pulitzer Prize-winner Suzan Lori-Parks, have brought Wright’s novel into our current moment, and in doing so have created a lyrically mesmerizing meditation on racism and identity in the era of the Black Lives Matter movement. Set in modern-day Chicago, “Native Son” follows Bigger Thomas (Ashton Sanders), a young black man from an economically depressed neighborhood who is given an opportunity of a lifetime to become a chauffeur for Henry Dalton (Bill Camp), a wealthy businessman. Soon, Bigger is enticed by a world of wealth and privilege, including a precarious friendship with Mary, the entitled daughter—a relationship that will alter his life forever. “Native Son” boasts a phenomenal roster of talent. Margaret Qualley and Bill Camp, another perennial that guy, do their due diligence as the privileged daughter and taciturn businessman respectively, while KiKi Layne gives a subtle but not slight performance that acts as companion to her turn in last year’s “If Beale Street Could Talk.” But Ashton Sanders is the revelation here. Sanders made his auspicious breakout playing the middle Chiron in “Moonlight” and while he only carried one third of that film, here he’s absolutely magnetic. This adaptation feels less concerned with poverty than perception, particularly that of a character like Bigger who breaks through the stereotypes one may associate with his economically desperate neighborhood in the South Side of Chicago. From

his green hair to the safety pinned leather jacket scrawled with the phrase “I’m Freaking Out,” Bigger is more Bad Brains than Boogie Down Productions. His musical choices swing between hardcore punk and Beethoven’s Ninth, confounding his peers. “Native Son” not only features stellar performances in front of the camera but behind as well. Cinematographer Matthew Libatique, a longtime collaborator with Darren Arronofsky and most recently Oscar nominated for “A Star is Born,” photographs a Chicago that feels both decaying and decadent. You can feel his deft touch throughout the film, working with first-time director Johnson. It’s no surprise Libatique is also credited as a co-producer. One of the early central conﬂicts in “Native Son” comes when Big finds himself torn between the high-paying chauffeur work or his best friend’s offer for a quick cash grab. He has two choices: Be “the help” or be a criminal. However, in the world of “Native Son,” the job of a chauffeur may just be the closest people like Big will ever get to the lifestyle of the wealthy and privileged, even if it comes with the cost of being perceived as some exotic thug to be looked upon with a mix of excitement and fear—like a caged beast. It all makes for a fascinating exploration of race and class. “Native Son” veers into topical territory by diverting the climax of away from the denouement of Wright’s novel to a more socially conscious ending that draws on Chicago’s ongoing issues of police brutality. The closing imagery is arresting, but feels a bit too convenient of an ending for this powerful and thought-provoking adaptation. — CHARLES ELMORE April 17 – 30, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

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FILM & TV // 43

A BRIEF RUNDOWN OF WHAT’S HAPPENING AT THE CIRCLE CINEMA

OPENING APRIL 19 THE BRINK Documentarian Alison Klayman follows former Trump political strategist and white nationalist Steve Bannon as he travels around the country during the 2016 midterm elections. Not Rated.

The best of Tulsa: music, arts, dining, news, things to do, and more.

OPENING APRIL 26 HIGH LIFE A provocative, sexuallycharged sci-fi drama starring Robert Pattinson about a group of prisoners on a space mission to find alternate energy near a black hole. During the journey, they must undergo sexual experiments led by a cruel doctor (Juliette Binoche). It’s the English-language debut of French filmmaking legend Claire Denis. Rated R.

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AMAZING GRACE The stirring, critically-acclaimed documentary about Aretha Franklin’s seminal live recording of a Gospel album at a Los Angeles Baptist Church. For two showtimes on Saturday, April 27, the Metropolitan Baptist Church Choir will perform live prior to the 4:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. screenings.

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THE BIGGEST LITTLE FARM An inspiring documentary for the whole family about one California couple’s eight-year journey to transform drought-depleted land into a place of diverse habitats, where various crops, animals, and vegetation could thrive. A panel discussion follows the debut screening on Thursday night, April 25. Rated PG.

Episodes are released the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of each month.