The Tulsa Voice | Vol. 6 No. 1

paradise never sounded So Good.

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Bad company dec 28 Ron white dec 31 sinbad jan 12 Boyz ii men jan 19 toni braxton jan 25 styx feb 14 michael bolton feb 21 charlie wilson feb 22

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2 // CONTENTS

December 19, 2018 – January 1, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

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THE TULSA VOICE // December 19, 2018 – January 1, 2019

CONTENTS // 3

4 // CONTENTS

December 19, 2018 – January 1, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

VOICE’S CHOICES P20

December 19, 2018 – January 1, 2019 // Vol. 6, No. 1 ©2018. All rights reserved.

BY TTV STAFF

Staff picks for the best (and worst) of 2018

PUBLISHER Jim Langdon EDITOR Jezy J. Gray ASSISTANT EDITOR Blayklee Freed DIGITAL EDITOR John Langdon

‘TIMELESS CALAMITY’ P22

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Madeline Crawford GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Georgia Brooks, Morgan Welch PHOTOGRAPHER Greg Bollinger

BY MASON WHITEHORN POWELL

Joe Andoe discusses Tulsa’s influence on his art from his Brooklyn studio

AD SALES MANAGER Josh Kampf

HEAVEN ON EARTH P24

CONTRIBUTORS Alicia Chesser Atkin, Hunter Cates, Charles Elmore, Rebecca Fine, Barry Friedman, Greg Horton, Eric Howerton, Jeff Huston, Fraser Kastner, T.E. McGouran, Joe Nguyen, Mary Noble, Michelle Pollard, Sarah Powell, Mason Whitehorn Powell, Valerie Wei-Haas, Brady Whisenhunt The Tulsa Voice’s distribution is audited annually by

BY HUNTER CATES

The past, present, and future of downtown’s Cathedral District

Member of

The Tulsa Voice is published bi-monthly by

1603 S. Boulder Ave. Tulsa, OK 74119 P: 918.585.9924 F: 918.585.9926 PUBLISHER Jim Langdon PRESIDENT Juley Roffers VP COMMUNICATIONS Susie Miller CONTROLLER Mary McKisick DISTRIBUTION COORDINATOR Amanda Hall RECEPTION Gloria Brooks

Boston Avenue United Methodist Church at 1301 S. Boston Ave. | VALERIE WEI-HAAS

NEWS & COMMENTARY 8 LEARNING CURVE

B Y REBECCA FINE

MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD

Oklahoma should renew its efforts to reduce classroom sizes

Send all letters, complaints, compliments & haikus to: voices@langdonpublishing.com

10 THE 2018 BAD PENNY AWARDS

BY BARRY FRIEDMAN

FOLLOW US @THETULSAVOICE ON:

Your 10th annual guide to the worst of the year

12 NEW DEPUTY IN TOWN

BY FRASER KASTNER

Amy Brown rises up the ranks

FOOD & DRINK 14 BONA FIDE BUBBLES

B Y GREG HORTON

30 THERE, HERE

B Y ALICIA CHESSER ATKIN A US/Mexico performance collaboration brings it all back home

31 THE HUNTER RESTS

B Y T. E. MCGOURAN

THE TULSA VOICE // December 19, 2018 – January 1, 2019

Merry and bright, with a change of soundtrack

Jave Yoshimoto’s radical empathy

34 OH, WHAT A NIGHT!

B Y BRADY WHISENHUNT From champagne toasts to toasting marshmallows, there’s a New Year’s Eve celebration for everyone

TV & FILM 44 DIVERSITY REPRESENTS IN 2018

B Y CHARLES ELMORE AND JEFF HUSTON

TTV film critics look back on the year in movies

ETC.

AND JOE NGUYEN

Even on gray days, The Tropical keeps it vibrant

Local musicians on their favorite albums of 2018

32 ACTIVE LOOKING

B Y BRADY WHISENHUNT

A tour of Tulsa’s spun and dusted chicken

ON THE COVER THE YEAR IN EVERYTHING: ART, FOOD, MUSIC, POLITICS, AND MORE

MARY NOBLE, AND BRADY WHISENHUNT

41 HELL’S BELLS

B Y TTV STAFF

Grower Champagne out-drinks the big houses

17 THE LEMONGRASS IS

ALWAYS GREENER

B Y ERIC HOWERTON

36 ON RECORD(S)

B Y JOHN LANGDON,

Fiction

16 WINGIN’ IT

B Y SARAH POWELL

MUSIC

ARTS & CULTURE

YOUR 2019 BALLOT P28

6 EDITOR’SLETTER 35 THEHAPS 42 MUSICLISTINGS 43 FULLCIRCLE 46 ASTROLOGY + SUDOKU 47 THEFUZZ + CROSSWORD

CONTENTS // 5

editor’sletter “All time is all time. It does not change. It does not lend itself to warnings or explanations. It simply is.

Take it moment by moment, and you will find that we are all, as I’ve said before, bugs in amber.”

— Kurt Vonnegut, ‘Slaughterhouse Five’

T

he Tulsa Voice turned five years old this week.

We celebrated the milestone at Studio 75 in Kendall Whittier, with an art show featuring every TTV cover ever printed. There was something moving about seeing them all at once: immaculately-designed snapshots of a city before I knew it, each marking the passage of another two weeks in Tulsa.

The bottom row featured covers from my time in the editor’s chair—a paltry 10 of 120.

Six months. Half a year. It was surreal to see the representation of a small blip of time that has felt so very large to me.

I thought about the largeness of the stories inside: Alicia Chesser Atkin’s moving, humansized look at detention and

asylum for a young Venezuelan immigrant named José; Carl David Goette-Luciak’s harrowing dispatch from the bloody political uprising in Nicaragua; Liz Blood’s deep dive on domestic violence in Tulsa; Lyndsay Knecht’s lyrical history on the Oklahoma roots of regional ballet in the United States; and Fraser Kastner’s flyon-the-wall interviews with the hardworking weed dealers of our fine city—to name just a few that have jostled me (and, I hope, some of you) over these last six months.

The timing of this anniversary is fitting, as year-end norms compel us to take stock of the year behind us. We’ve got a whole issue dedicated to the act of looking back. First: Barry Friedman’s 10th annual Bad Penny Awards, in which our resident bullshit-caller

takes on the worst of the past twelve months (pg. 10). You’ll also find year-end picks from TTV staff (pg. 20); a rundown on local musicians’ favorite albums of the year (pg. 36); and a 2018 wrap-up with our film critics Jeff Huston and Charles Elmore (pg. 44).

Then, some looking-back that’s more spiritual. Mason Whitehorn Powell reports from the Brooklyn studio of Tulsa artist Joe Andoe, who draws on his adolescent memories of Green Country to create ghostly, dreamlike paintings of horses and landscapes that will mysteriously break your heart (pg. 22).

We’ve also got a beautiful story about Tulsa’s historic downtown cathedrals by Hunter Cates, with gorgeous photos by Valerie WeiHaas, which digs into the history

RECYCLE THIS Cardboard

of these stunning, pre-statehood structures and ponders their future and ours (pg. 24).

Year-end culture, like timekeeping itself, can feel oppressive in its way—an authoritarian impulse to reflect and rank. But even if these units of time are arbitrary, or history never really ends, or you didn’t listen to much new music this year, there’s value in pausing a moment to gather ourselves against the dumb thrumming of time.

So here it is, Tulsa: our bug in amber, the year in everything. a

JEZY J. GRAY EDITOR

NOT THAT Styrofoam

Throw styrofoam away in the gray trash cart.

Cardboard boxes are perfect for

LEARN MORE AT

recycling, but styrofoam is NOT

TulsaRecycles.com

acceptable for the blue recycling cart.

6 // NEWS & COMMENTARY

December 19, 2018 – January 1, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

OPEN THROUGH JANUARY 6

www.TraversMahanApparel.com South Lewis at 81st • The Plaza • 918-296-4100

WHEN YOU LIFT UP ONE, YOU LIFT UP ALL Giving Back. It’s long been a cornerstone of our company and our employees. Whether it be through charitable giving or volunteering with an organization that needs help, our dedication to Tulsa has never been stronger: Nonprofit Contribution – $2 million in annual contributions to local Tulsa nonprofits in 2017.

Learn For Life – Our employees are proud to teach financial literacy to children and through our program reached over 2,100 Tulsa kids in 2017.

MLK Parade – A proud supporter and sponsor of Tulsa’s MLK Parade for 22 consecutive years.

United Way – Over $1.7 million in annual contributions to the Tulsa area United Way. Bank of Oklahoma was honored to be named the 2017 Outstanding Philanthropist by the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

More important, we are grateful to be part of Tulsa’s past, present and future.

www.bankofoklahoma.com © 2018. Bank of Oklahoma, a division of BOKF, NA. Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender.

THE TULSA VOICE // December 19, 2018 – January 1, 2019

NEWS & COMMENTARY // 7

okpolicy

L

LEARNING CURVE Oklahoma should renew its efforts to reduce classroom sizes

by REBECCA FINE for OKPOLICY.ORG

8 // NEWS & COMMENTARY

ast April, the Oklahoma Legislature finally passed revenue bills which restored $480 million dollars of education funding. The majority of the new revenue is being used to fund a long-awaited pay raise for teachers. Lawmakers also increased funding for school operations by $50 million—far less than the $200 million teachers demanded, and less than one-third of the amount that has been cut from schools since 2008. Now, as we near the midpoint of the 20182019 school year, public school administrators must again struggle with how to allocate insufficient resources.

One commonly-cited challenge that educators and students talked about during the walkout was growing classroom sizes, and that concern is well founded. One of the most consistent findings in education research is that class size impacts student outcomes. It is also a factor that state legislatures can directly control through legislative action. Funding class size limits would build on the progress made last spring and improve education outcomes in Oklahoma.

Oklahoma did successfully reduce class sizes in 1990 but has since backtracked on that progress. HB 1017, the Education Reform Act of 1990, was another landmark reform package brought about by a teacher strike.

In addition to generating more funding for public schools and initiating other changes, HB 1017 required class sizes no larger than 20 students per teacher in grades one through five, and a limit of 140 students a day for middle and secondary teachers.

In the initial years following HB1017, teachers saw a significant drop in classroom size. However, that progress did not last. By 2002, common education funds were $158 million below projections, and by Dec. 1 of that year 189 of the 541 school districts in the state had been exempted from the class-size mandates. Today, all school districts in Oklahoma have been exempted from HB1017

class size limits, according to the Oklahoma State Department of Education.

Research makes clear why Oklahoma should renew its efforts to reduce classroom sizes.

Smaller class sizes are particularly beneficial for students in kindergarten through third grade. In a prominent study, researchers randomly assigned kindergartners to classrooms varying in class size from 13-15 students to 22-28 students. By third grade, those students in the smaller classes showed achievement gains equivalent to about three months of schooling compared to those in the larger classes. Significantly, these gains lasted throughout their schooling.

Reducing class size may be a particularly good approach for low-income students and students of color. Many of these students face an opportunity gap that makes it more difficult to reach academic proficiency, and schools must determine the best way to address these needs. Some researchers expect the positive effect of class size reduction could narrow the racial opportunity gap by about one-third. While reducing classroom size requires increased investment, the longterm benefits for schools with a high proportion of low-income students could exceed the costs by two-to-one.

As Oklahoma looks towards our next legislative session, there will be many debates about how to spend growing revenue collections. Making strategic decisions about how to spend these dollars begins with taking a closer look at key factors known to directly impact student learning. Now that we’ve provided a sorely needed teacher raise, reducing class sizes back to early ‘90s levels should be the next step to undo the damage caused by years of education cuts. a

Rebecca Fine is an education policy analyst with Oklahoma Policy Institute (okpolicy.org).

December 19, 2018 – January 1, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

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NEWS & COMMENTARY // 9

that a lack of loyalty and acceptance of mediocrity are tearing at the fabric of the nation. He then agreed to reward the team, which finished 6-6, by playing in the Liberty Bowl.

viewsfrom theplains

THE 2018 BAD PENNY AWARDS Your 10th annual guide to the worst of the year

by BARRY FRIEDMAN

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH THE REAL JIM BRIDENSTINE?

Former First District Congressman Jim Bridenstine, now NASA administrator and back among the sentient, said, “I believe fully in climate change and that we human beings are contributing to it in a major way.”

If you were holding a snowball, it would have melted in your hand.

“A bad penny always returns.” - Grandma Sylvia Like many one-night stands, 2018 was initially exciting. In this case, there were teacher strikes and marches, resulting in higher teacher pay and more money for education; rapacious oil and gas producers were forced to pay a greater (and fairer) share of their taxes; and special election victories—including one where Allison Ikley-Freeman, a married lesbian mother of three, ousted a conservative Republican.

If we had met 2018 in a bar, we would have made some flimsy excuse about needing a ride home. But then on Nov. 7, the morning after Oklahoma’s midterm election, we would have looked over to see a gaseous and snoring figure, hogging the bed.

Good thing we can now sorta legally get high.

On the other hand, Tulsa had a nice year. Gathering Place—a good place for adults and a great place for kids and armed militias—became the city’s fulcrum, even if residents who live nearby are about ready to slash every tire on every parked car from Riverside to Peoria. Meanwhile, downtown is no longer simply faddish, Route 66 is alive and well and shamelessly self-promoting itself, and Brady Street, Brady Theater, and Lee Elementary School all have new names.

And now to the reason for the season, something that needs no introduction: the Bad Penny Awards.

Actually, if you’re new to our show, it might.

The term refers to the undesired certainty that a disreputable son or daughter will always return to the family, usually causing gobs of trouble. In my case, it was something Grandma Sylvia said every time she saw me. “Nu! The bad penny returns.”

As you can tell, we were very close.

But I digress.

The greater meaning is that unwanted events will keep occurring. The disreputable dependent will never fully leave.

Welcome to Oklahoma.

Welcome to the Bad Penny Awards.

And does anyone embody that more than this year’s winner?

The winner of the 2018 Bad Penny Award— the odds-on favorite going into the tournament—a man who also needs no introduction (or, for that matter, tactical pants) is Scott Pruitt, Oklahoma’s former attorney general, plucked by Trump to gut the Environmental Protection Agency.

Pruitt’s profligacy and petty greed were breathtaking, even for this administration. He then returned to Oklahoma for a victory lap, but not before writing President Trump: “I believe you are serving as President today because of God’s providence. I believe that same providence brought me into your service. I pray as I have served you that I have blessed you and enabled you to effectively lead the American people.”

Jesus wept. And then wandered around Guthrie Green in a daze with a couple bottles of hooch, kicking the air.

Let’s begin …

10 // NEWS & COMMENTARY

THE STUPID. IT BURNS. The Republican Party in Canadian County, the fourth-largest in the state, sent out letters saying, “If public education shall continue as a state institution, we should move towards reducing its dependence on the tax structure by funding it through such means as sponsorships, advertising, endowments, tuition, fees, etc.”

Yes—sponsorships. Something like The Jim Glover Dodge Chrysler Jeep Ram Fiat Owasso 7th Grade Center.

Coming to us now is the story of a chairman of the board who didn’t know his organization was a homophobic, Islamophobic, xenophobic, liberalsmearing insane asylum that believed Donald Trump was asked by God himself to save America.

After Marc Nuttle, a Norman attorney, was named head of Governor-elect Stitt’s transition team, it was discovered he was also chairman of the board of the wing-nutty Oak Initiative—a group that believes gay marriage is sick and depraved, Islam is a gutter religion, liberals will sway young voters to Hitler, and those who oppose Donald Trump are being led astray by Satan. Nuttle eventually resigned from Oak Initiative, saying he was shocked— shocked—it held such views.

He did stay on as head of the transition team, though.

IT’S ALWAYS THE JEWS.

At a meeting of the Oklahoma Conservative Political Action Committee in November, organizers claimed the left wants to end the Electoral College, is run by the ‘Jerusalem News Media,’ and is filled with socialists who desire the end of American civilization.

MIKE GUNDY’S DOUCHEBAGGERY, PART INFINITY OSU head football coach, Mike Gundy—he’s a man, don’t forget—believes the problem with modern society is “snowflakes, liberalism, and entitlement,” especially when the Cowboys lose close games. Gundy, who teases the school every year or so about leaving for greener pastures, fears

NOW THAT THIS IS OVER, I HAVE A CONFESSION TO MAKE: I DON’T REALLY LIKE VOLLEYBALL.

REI, the outdoor gear company, decided not to build a retail store at Helmerich Park (71st Street and Riverside Drive), ending a yearslong battle between developers and those concerned that the pristine beauty of the area—which includes a Burger King, Chinese buffet, FedEx, and a credit union across the street—would have been compromised.

December 19, 2018 – January 1, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

YOU REALLY HAVE TO BE A RACIST TO NOT WANT A DAY OFF FROM WORK.

Back in January, several town employees in Warner, Oklahoma had some thoughts about the federal holiday celebrating the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “We’re off for n***** day? I’m going to celebrate n***** day,” said one.

“We can just call it JER Day: James Earl Ray. It’s not that we don’t like black people,” said another.

Ready for the big finish?

“I’m not racist, that’s just what it’s called here,” said another.

They seem nice.

executive editor Charles Biggs, also asked readers to support President Trump because of Trump’s “conservative, Christian values.” Biggs then burst into flames from mendacity.

LIKE HE DOESN’T HAVE ENOUGH TO DO. WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG? Governor-elect Stitt nominated Kenneth Wagner to be Oklahoma’s secretary of energy and environment. Wagner was a founding partner of the Tulsa law firm Lathan, Wagner, Steele & Lehman, which hired Scott Pruitt, who in turn hired Wagner to head Pruitt’s PAC.

HE SUCKS AT BLACKJACK, TOO.

LADIES, THIS WAY TO HELL. Sen. Joseph Silk, R-Broken Bow, a vacation property manager by trade and in-vitro specialist by legislative session, introduced a bill criminalizing abortion in Oklahoma. “It’s gonna be classified as a homicide because, essentially, a fertilized egg is a human life just like a one-year-old baby is a human life,” he said. “So, an abortion would be considered intentionally taking a human life.” Silk didn’t mention if the men who impregnated these women would also be charged with murder.

Something tells me they won’t.

THERE’S NO POLYP LIKE AN OKLAHOMA POLYP. To prove to Gentner Drummond, who had questioned whether he was even eligible to be attorney general, Mike Hunter said he could prove he was an Oklahoma resident. He cited number of elections in which he had voted, and that he had his colonoscopy done here.

On Aug. 7, Stormy Daniels canceled her performance at Tulsa’s Night Trips. She gave no reason.

“THERE’S SO MUCH TO COVER. WHERE SHALL WE BEGIN?” First words Preston Doerfl inger, former Oklahoma Secretary of Finance and Revenue, will hear should he consider therapy.

An editorial published in The Tulsa Beacon—think those old Watchtower booklets without the cool Beelzebub illustrations— asked readers to “Vote for Judge Morrissey and not for the homosexual.” Its author, one-time Tulsa World writer and now Beacon’s

THE TULSA VOICE // December 19, 2018 – January 1, 2019

PEOPLE WE’LL MISS

Olivia Hooker, first African American woman to enter the U.S. Coast Guard. She was also a psychologist, professor, and the last known survivor of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.

Roy Clark, musician.

Patricia Jane Rohleder, actor.

OVERHEARD: “This is truly a great time to be in Tulsa, but it’s still in Oklahoma, so let’s not get too excited.”

HE’S ABSOLUTELY RIGHT, TOO—EVERY SINGLE MAJOR MEDIA OUTLET IN OKLAHOMA ENDORSED HIM.

Senator Jim Inhofe, who never let a misfiring of his synapses keep him from opening his mouth, told military officers at the National Defense University, “Don’t trust the media.”

FIRING HIM WAS THE TULSA WORLD’S PROUDEST MOMENT

1. George Kaiser* 8. Kendra Horn 19. Ken Busby 43. John Wooley 71. Monroe Nichols (*I will brook no argument on this one.

Without him, we’re Flint, Michigan.)

State Representative Nathan Dahm, who was put on this earth to make the rest of the state GOP seem intelligent, sponsored legislation “making all wildlife found in the state property of God.”

Bill Shapard, president of Sooner Poll, bet $5,000 that former District Attorney Tim Harris would beat businessman Kevin Hern in the GOP runoff for the First District congressional seat. Sooner Poll had Harris winning by 11 percent. Hern won by 9.

LIFE DIDN’T SEEM WORTH LIVING ON AUG. 8.

TULSA’S TOP 100 (ABRIDGED)

Good thing OTU hired Tom Coburn; otherwise, it might have been laughed out of court—oh, wait.

Calling the efforts by Oklahoma Taxpayers United to overturn the landmark education funding bill “legally insufficient,” the Oklahoma Supreme Court wrote: “The gist of the petition is not in keeping with the language of the petition itself” and “is fundamentally misleading to potential signatories.”

2019 PREDICTIONS Congressman Markwayne Mullin, in a grammatically-challenged press release, will announce his intention to run for retiring Jim Inhofe’s senate seat.

In retirement, Mary Fallin’s approval rating will finally crack 30 percent.

A surprising number of University of Tulsa professors will go public with their disgruntlement.

Blake Ewing … ah, hell, let’s just leave him alone for a year.

A rash of green scooter thefts will stymie law enforcement officials.

Frozen yogurt stores will stage a comeback.

Opening a marijuana dispensary will not, upon reflection, be a financial panacea. a NEWS & COMMENTARY // 11

community

New deputy in town Amy Brown rises up the ranks

by FRASER KASTNER

O

n January 14, the City of Tulsa’s Deputy Chief of Staff Amy Brown will begin her new job as Deputy Mayor. The University of Tulsa alumna will be replacing Michael Junk, who will leave the Mayor’s office next year to serve as chief of staff to Gov.-elect Kevin Stitt.

Amy Brown has been interested in public service since her days as an A.P. U.S. History student at Stillwater High School.

She admired Thomas Jefferson and Madeleine Albright, taking inspiration from their leadership.

She came to Tulsa in 2006 to study Political Science at TU. During her senior year, she took a semester off to work for Kathy Taylor as a mayoral aid. That was her first introduction to work in city government, and she found that it suited her.

“When you study political science in school it’s all very conceptual. There’s a lot of political theory,” Brown said. “I think what I really like about working in local government is it’s real and tangible. It impacts people’s daily lives, from the water they use to make their morning coffee to the experience they have as they travel to their job.”

After graduating with her BA, Brown took a job as a City Council aide. She served in this role for five years. It was during this time that she met then-Counselor G.T. Bynum. She says that she likes Bynum’s nonpartisan, cooperative approach to governance.

“On one hand it’s sort of like the Golden Rule, the most common sense thing in the world,” said Brown. “And at the same time it’s sort of been recognized as a radical way of doing business in local government and in politics.”

12 // NEWS & COMMENTARY

Incoming Deputy Mayor Amy Brown | GREG BOLLINGER

For his part, Mayor Bynum has nothing but good things to say. “Amy Brown has one of the best minds I’ve encountered in public service at any level. I’ve worked with her for years, both on the City Council and now in the Mayor’s Office. Over the last two years, she has taken on some of our most challenging projects … She has proven herself as an adept manager and leader and will make a great Deputy Mayor.

I am thankful she has agreed to move into this role,” he said in a press release.

Brown left the City to attend

TU Law School in 2014. She graduated just as Bynum won the mayoral election. “I thought I was changing gears. I thought I was going to do something really different with my life, professionally,” Brown said.

But when Mayor-elect Bynum offered her the position of Deputy Chief of Staff, Brown jumped at the chance. “For me it was a dream job and an opportunity to work with hands-down the best team of people in Tulsa.”

When asked if anything about working for the City surprised her, she seized the opportunity to

praise her colleagues. “I’m always impressed but never surprised by the ingenuity of our team at the City.” She should know; as Deputy Chief of Staff she is responsible for thousands of city employees.

Brown has a lot on her plate in her current position. She oversees the administrative and public safety support divisions, chairs the pension board, works with several government bodies to reduce pretrial incarceration rates, and works as Mayor Bynum’s veterans liaison. Her promotion will see her continue these duties and a few more. Starting next year, she will be responsible for serving as acting mayor should the mayor be absent coordinating policy matters on behalf of the City.

She says that she is looking forward to engaging directly with Tulsa’s communities, as she did when she worked for City Council. “One thing that’s kind of exciting is to be out in the community a little bit more. Hopefully provide a little more transparency in our city government,” she said.

“I’m hoping to do a little bit more of that as deputy mayor.”

Brown is excited to help advance the mayor’s agenda. She hopes to continue increasing public safety staffing, improving traffic protections in Tulsa, and making sure the City of Tulsa does the best it can for its citizens.

She said she wants to develop best practices for the City with proven, data-driven methods.

“When we talk about being ‘future focused,’ a lot of it is things like economic development and community development,” she said. “But part of it is also just making sure that [in] the core services as a city, that we are leading the way.” a

December 19, 2018 – January 1, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

THE TULSA VOICE // December 19, 2018 – January 1, 2019

NEWS & COMMENTARY // 13

downthehatch

Bona fide bubbles Grower Champagne out-drinks the big houses

by GREG HORTON

G

rower Champagne first arrived in the U.S. in 1976 when legendary wine importer Kermit Lynch introduced the country to J. Lassalle, a family-owned Champagne house.

Acceptance was slow; the big Champagne houses, many of them household names, have far larger marketing budgets—exponentially larger.

Chris Putnam, owner of Putnam Wine Merchants, brought J. Lassalle and another Grower, Paul Bara, to Oklahoma about 10 years ago, and he did it because he believed something was puzzling about how Champagne is marketed.

“Champagne is the only appellation in France where the perceived best wines come from the biggest producers,” Putnam said.

That sort of thinking is counterintuitive in French wine production. It’s axiomatic that a house that produces more than one million cases—as many of the large houses do—cannot do it with the same quality as a boutique, family-owned winery.

France has bet on that axiom for more than a thousand years, and their wine is widely believed to be the best in the world.

“I brought Grower Champagnes to Oklahoma because they are unique, delicious, handcrafted, and made by the same people who grew the grapes,” Putnam said.

Mass-produced Champagne has three distinct flavors that are prominent on first taste: sulfur, toast, and yeast. Matt Sanders, owner of Vintage Wine Bar at 324 E. 1st St., said that ought not to be the case.

“Champagne is made from Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier, or some combination of those grapes,” he said.

“Wines made with Chardonnay should taste like Chardonnay.

14 // FOOD & DRINK

Glasses of Lasalle sparkle in The Tulsa Voice studio | MICHELLE POLLARD

Grower Champagnes actually taste like the grapes they’re made with, not sulfur.”

Vintage has a large selection of Grower Champagnes on the list.

Sanders said he doesn’t carry the big houses at all. It’s the only place in Tulsa to find Billecart-Salmon available by the glass. In fact, it’s a bit of a rarity, because most Champagne is non-vintage, but Sanders is pouring the 2007 vintage of Billecart-Salmon. He was an early supporter of Growers in Tulsa, and his list is one of the most extensive.

“The big houses focus on a house style that is consistent every year, and they spend a lot of money on branding and marketing,” Sanders said. “The Growers

focus on place, and the wines express the grapes and the terroir of a place. I think of it like farmto-table wine, with the added incentive of supporting a family winery that produces 250 cases, so the family is dependent on the product, versus a big house with millions of cases.”

The most surprising thing about Grower Champagne, besides the extraordinary freshness and vitality of the wine, is the price point. The wines are typically priced at or below similar big house Champagnes.

“They’re priced competitively, and you’ll often get a better wine for half the price of a big name,” Sanders said. “We tasted the Growers against the big names

in a blind taste when the Growers first started expanding in the state. It was amazing, because the big names taste flawed when tasted alongside Growers.”

Still, Sanders insists the point isn’t to make people feel bad about liking what they like. Rather, the idea is to expose customers to more options at lower prices that support the ideals of local farming, showcasing terroir, and producing wine sustainably, a common practice in the organic-biodynamic ethos of French, boutique winemaking.

As the New Year approaches, people start thinking about wine for their celebration, and Grower Champagne offers a delicious, sophisticated, high-quality option at a great price. In addition to the Billecart-Salmon at Vintage, Hodges Bend is pouring J. Lassalle by the glass, so you can taste the original before you invest in a whole bottle. Most restaurants and bars can’t afford the risk of opening Champagne for by-theglass pours, but bottle lists all over Tulsa are peppered with Grower options, including good selections at Bull in the Alley, Juniper, Mahogany, Polo Grill, and Prhyme, the latter of which also has Billecart-Salmon.

Ranch Acres and Parkhill’s both have outstanding selections of Grower Champagne on the shelf. The best price points are likely to be on Aubry, Marc Hebrart and Gaston Chiquet.

All three houses produce zippy, fruit-forward sparklers with excellent balance and enough toasty notes to know you’re drinking Champagne. Prices typically start about $45, and at every tier, the wines drink better than more expensive big names.

If money isn’t an object, look for Dhondt-Grellet, Pierre Gimmonet & Fils Special Club, and Larmandier-Bernier. a

December 19, 2018 – January 1, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

THE TULSA VOICE // December 19, 2018 – January 1, 2019

FOOD & DRINK // 15

ALBERT G’S “THE LOW AND SLOW WING” 2748 S. Harvard Ave., 421 E. 1st St.

citybites

In addition to delicious barbeque, Albert G’s also serves a killer chicken wing. These wings were unlike any others: seasoned with G’s rub, slow smoked, and tossed in the sauce of your choosing. We ordered the hot honey flavor, and the sweetness and heat played well with the smoky meat. These wings are sure to impress the barbeque fanatic in your life.

Smoked chicken wings with hot sauce: $15/12 wings

WINGIN’ IT A tour of Tulsa’s spun and dusted chicken

by SARAH POWELL and JOE NGUYEN

W

THE BROOK “THE DO-IT-YOURSELF WING” 3401 S. Peoria Ave., 7727 E. 91st St.

ROZAY’S WINGS “THE BEALE STREET BLUES WING” 2627 E. 11th St.

Breaded and battered, these mouthwatering hot wings are crunchy and flavorful. The wings are fried in a homemade spicy batter and served with your choice of ranch or bleu cheese to tame the heat. An option of mild or extra hot sauce comes on the side, which makes it great to share, catering to the level of spiciness that your guests enjoy. It also ensures that the wing stays crispy as you transport it to your next gathering. Hot wings with extra hot wing sauce: $17.95/18 wings

Specializing in a Memphis-style wing, these are naked and marinated in a dry rub seasoning.

Rozay’s offers a variety of flavors, but we went with the fan favorite—honey gold. An appetizing sauce similar to honey mustard offered a nice tangy and sweet flavor that complimented the crispness of the chicken skin.

These wings come with a fluffy buttered roll on the side. Honey gold flavored cut chicken wings: $15.99/16 wings

16 // FOOD & DRINK

FAT GUY’S BURGER BAR “THE TRADITIONAL TAKE-OUT WING” 140 N. Greenwood Ave. 7945 S. Memorial Dr. Playing off the flavors packed in their peanut butter and bacon Thai-style burger, Fat Guy’s chicken wings are not to be missed. Covered in a savory peanut butter sauce, reminiscent of a chicken satay that you would expect at any Thai food restaurant, these wings come garnished with bacon and cilantro. Biting into one will transport you to Southeast Asia via New York.

Peanut butter bacon thai wings: $12.99/1lb

OPEN CONTAINER “THE NEW YORKER WING” 502 E. 3rd St. #39 The Boxyard’s newest kitchen addition at Open Container now has a full food menu catering to all appetites. One of their signature items includes traditional buffalo-style wings that are naked and fried to perfection. They offer sauces and dry rubs for these wings, but we went with the ever-so-popular medium buffalo sauce. The sauce was tangy and would pair perfect with a nice hoppy beverage. Medium traditional chicken wings: $15/1lb. a

December 19, 2018 – January 1, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

BROOK, ROZAY’S, FAT GUY’S: SARAH POWELL; OPEN CONTAINER: COURTESY

GREG BOLLINGER

ith the next wave of weekend tailgate and holiday parties right around the corner, it’s inevitable you’ll be looking for that perfect wingman to bring to your next event. That’s right—we’re talking chicken wings. From Brookside to north-of-the-IDL, we’ve found five local restaurants with five distinct wing personalities. It’s like matchmaking for your taste buds.

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December 19 episode sponsored by Gilcrease Museum THE TULSA VOICE // December 19, 2018 – January 1, 2019

FOOD & DRINK // 17

foodfile

T

he ornate and sizable dining room at The Tropical was relatively empty when my dining partners and I arrived on the chilly end of a Tuesday lunch hour. Under normal circumstances, a ghostly dining room might serve as a warning sign. However, given the prestige of The Tropical—along with fanfare surrounding its sibling restaurant, Lanna Thai, and the Karnchanakphan family’s depth of cooking experience—I chalked up the day’s vacancies to the forbidding construction at the corner of 49th Street and Memorial Drive.

The barren dining room meant we had our choice of tables. It also meant we wouldn’t have to be embarrassed by the absurd amount of food we were about to order. But, most importantly, it meant we’d get to experience The Tropical’s food and service in an almost pristine, scientific capacity.

How would one of Tulsa’s most revered Thai restaurants—one known for a deep-diving menu utilizing fresh ingredients grown on the premises—fare on a slow day in the thick of early winter and without a busy crowd to account for mishaps?

The Tropical fared fairly well.

For starters, we ordered the refreshing and acidic som-tum (papaya salad) with crispy chicken wings ($11) and the rambutan chicken ($8), which were tasty chicken dumplings wrapped in noodles and fried until the exterior takes on the shaggy appearance of the fuzzy rambutan fruit.

Served with a peanut-y sauce, these dumplings only looked sweet, harboring a savory taste behind their playful appearance.

The rendering and crispiness of the papaya salad wings made them solid rivals to the best bar wings. While the accompanying soy-based sauce erred on the mild side compared to the beast-mode hot sauces and smoky barbecue lacquers wing joints pump out, the wings themselves were exceptionally crispy and the meat was tender enough to effortlessly pull from the bone. No rubbery patches

18 // FOOD & DRINK

Green curry seafood medley and jasmine rice at The Tropical | GREG BOLLINGER

The lemongrass is always greener Even on gray days, The Tropical keeps it vibrant

by ERIC HOWERTON of skin. No gnawing the joint required. The only downside to the appetizers was that instead of being starters, they were finishers; both apps arrived well after our entrees. I’m not opposed to a meal in reverse, but in this case we’d already missed dessert. Sad face.

Our entrees were balanced, flavorful, and fresh despite the fact that The Tropical’s produce garden was on temporary hiatus. The green curry ($9.95 for chicken, beef, pork or tofu) with bamboo shoots, bell peppers, snap peas and jasmine rice may strike some as a reserved choice, but with the elevated option of a

seafood medley (+$11 for shrimp, scallops, calamari, and salmon) this classic couldn’t be denied.

We ordered the curry at a twoout-of-five heat level and found it perfectly palatable, with more sweet than heat. Thankfully, for the self-scorching among us, the table settings came complete with salt, pepper, and a potent, red pepper paprika that matched Scovilles with ground cayenne but exhibited a far more complex depth of flavor.

The shrimp, salmon and calamari swam in a sweet coconut sauce, and while I appreciated the cook on the seafood I was

disappointed that the dish only contained a single scallop when the menu clearly said “scallops.”

To boot: the scallop was gritty and had a rubbery exterior with only a hint of the central silkiness within. I would have preferred no scallop and more calamari, which were scored to created a compelling texture and cooked until soft.

Once over the distasteful scallop, I set about devouring the rest of the curry, which had already begun to dematerialize as my dining partners’ spoons whisked about the table. The shrimp were of varying sizes, cooked until tender, and the velvety salmon virtually melted into the sauce.

The grilled rainbow trout with tamarind glaze and ka prao (fried basil; $21) had a crisped skin, a slightly-browned fi let, and a sweet and tangy sauce for pouring over. The dish comes in multiple variants, with ranging sauces and toppings. Worth every penny, the garlic fried rice (+$1) that came with the trout had a potent aroma and was universally enjoyed by everyone at the table. We agreed that next time we’d forgo all the white rice (we’d foolishly ordered two white, one garlic) and order garlic fried rice with every dish.

The toasty, sweet character of the garlic helped the rice become more than a delivery vessel for the sauce, and turned dishes into more complex endeavors.

The table favorite was the nam prik-pao fried rice with chicken ($9.95), a dark-horse dish of sweet, gingery chicken, julienned green apples, cilantro, and a thin egg omelet cut into ribbons. The dish disappeared from the table faster than the green curry.

A few days later—as I stared longingly into my refrigerator—I remembered the nam prik-pao fondly. I longed for those crispy wings. In that moment, the lack of leftovers felt like an undeserved cruelty. The landscape of my fridge was as unexciting as the view from my winter window: white rice and wilted greens. Outside, the cold wind gusted. I shut the refrigerator door and pined for something Tropical. a

December 19, 2018 – January 1, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

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FOOD & DRINK // 19

M A D E L I N E C R AW F O R D , C R E AT I V E D I R E C T O R BEST MOVIE: “A Star is Born” BEST ALBUM: Golden Hour by Kacey Musgraves BEST MIDTERM ELECTION RESULT: The number of women in the country who ran and won.

WORST MIDTERM ELECTION RESULT: Kevin Stitt.

VOICE’S CHOICES Staff picks for the best (and worst) of 2018

BEST NEW RESTAURANT OR BAR: Mother Road Market — bar, patio, Chicken and the Wolf — there is so much to taste and enjoy. Having it in my own neighborhood it is an extra treat.

BEST MOMENT FOR TULSA: Gathering Place is really all we could’ve dreamed of in a park. It will bring so much joy to so many people. Thank you, GKFF. WORST MOMENT FOR TULSA: Too many scooters lying around.

B L AY K L E E F R E E D , A S S I S TA N T E D I T O R BEST MOVIE: “Black Panther” was, to put it simply, awesome.

BEST TV SHOW: “Homecoming” on Amazon Prime. This is a show based on a podcast, and it’s a trip. Julia Roberts makes the perfect TV debut.

BEST LIVE SHOW: Fall Out Boy in OKC. This was part of my bachelorette party and was the perfect dose of nostalgia.

It was a great show, too!

BEST ART EXHIBIT: “Amazing!” by Mel Bochner at the Philbrook was something I got to write about. I already loved the work, but interviewing Bochner made me even more of a fan.

BEST ALBUM: Tell Me How You Really Feel

by Courtney Barnett. Good from start to finish, Courtney Barnett manages to yet again create an album’s worth of catchy tunes and compelling lyrics.

BEST SONG: “Plain Jane” by A$AP Ferg.

Though this came out on the 2017 album Still Striving, I wore this song out this summer.

BEST MIDTERM ELECTION RESULT: The record number of women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ folk that got elected into Congressional seats.

December 19, 2018 – January 1, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

WORST MIDTERM ELECTION RESULT: Beto O’Rourke’s loss in Texas was devastating.

should follow into battle against student loan servicers and health insurance companies.

BEST NEW RESTAURANT OR BAR: Rabbit Hole Bar and Grill. Finally, a place with food next door to The Max again.

WORST MIDTERM ELECTION RESULT: The lack of broad voter support for teacher candidates; the election of Kevin Stitt; the re-election of ghouls like Markwayne Mullin, Charles McCall, and the rest of the rich white guys closing our hospitals, robbing our classrooms, and cooking our planet.

BEST MOMENT FOR TULSA: Opening the Gathering Place. It’s amazing to see our community engaged with something positive together.

J E Z Y J . G R AY, EDITOR BEST BOOK: “The Underground Railroad”

by Colson Whitehead. This surreal, spellbinding novel about a young enslaved woman’s quest for freedom from the antebellum South won the Pulitzer for fiction in 2017—but a serial adaptation by director Barry Jenkins (“Moonlight”) is set to drop next year on Amazon. Read it first!

BEST ALBUM: Bark Your Head Off, Dog by Hop Along. The Philadelphia band’s latest is a high watermark of lyrical, emotive indie rock that doesn’t sound like anything else. I saw them twice this summer: at The Riot Room in Kansas City, and The Opolis in Norman. I also interviewed singer/ guitarist Frances Quinlan, which was my personal highlight of the year. We talked about death, grief, and the final Oklahoma resting place of the dog from “Frasier.”

BEST TV SHOW: “The Great British Baking Show.” The sweet spot between prestige TV and college football: high drama, great characters, and intense competition.

(While not “new,” s/o Hulu for bringing “King of the Hill” back into my living room where it belongs.)

BEST MOVIE: “BlackKklansman.” Spike Lee returns to form with one of the best movies he ever made. It will have you cheering in your seat and crawling out of your skin—a funny, disturbing, symphonic caper that explodes into one of the most infuriating and affecting finales you’ll see all year. I felt this movie in my whole body.

BEST LIVE SHOW: Neko Case at Cain’s Ballroom. I’m not sure how I made it so long without seeing her in concert—but I finally did, and it was great.

BEST MIDTERM ELECTION RESULT: Locally—Kara Joy McKee winning her Tulsa City Council seat; Kendra Horn’s victory in OK-5; and my pal Kelly Albright in HD-95. Nationally—the queen, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whom all good Millennials

THE TULSA VOICE // December 19, 2018 – January 1, 2019

BEST MOMENT FOR TULSA: The announcement of a city commission to search for mass graves from the 1921 Race Massacre.

WORST MOMENT FOR TULSA: The extension of city’s 287(g) contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

AMANDA HALL, DISTRIBUTION C O O R D I N AT O R BEST BOOK: “The Song of Achilles” by Madeline Miller. It’s a telling of the myth of Achilles with his lover, Patroclus, as the narrator. Both Achilles and Miller’s other Greek Myth Book, “Circe” (which is great as well) weave the spots where famous mythic characters pop up into a cohesive narrative, and they both work really well.

BEST TV SHOW: There are two “genre” shows I just can’t stop watching, and I can’t really pick between the two. “The Magicians” on SYFY is really engaging, and with a super diverse cast and great pacing it makes for a really entertaining hour of TV. I just love it. It will punch all of your nerd buttons. Plus the performances are really amazing and nuanced for a show that could have easily been Harry Potter, but with really hot people having sex. I am also “stanning” The Good Place.

(Is that how you use that? I’m an old.)

Mother forking shirtballs, it’s hilarious!

BEST MIDTERM ELECTION RESULT: Democrats retaking the house is so good. The checks and balances that are in place in our government just can’t work when just one party is in control. Come on, January!

WORST MIDTERM ELECTION RESULT: Brian Kemp winning the Georgia governorship was so disappointing. It really brought to light how absurd it is that anyone can oversee an election that they are running in.

BEST NEW RESTAURANT OR BAR: Either Jane’s Delicatessen or Saint Amon Bakery.

Both are fantastic and are so different!

Jane’s burger is awesome, and my boy-

friend is obsessed with their poutine. And I can’t stop eating their made-in-house pickles. Saint Amon has the tastiest indulgences in town: double chocolate croissants, cheesecake, macarons, turnovers—and it looks like I’m going to have to order a buche de noel from them for Christmas. If you have a sweet tooth and haven’t been out there, go go go!

JOHN LANGDON, D I G I TA L E D I T O R BEST MOVIE: If “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” had been two hours of Tom Waits panning for gold, it would still probably take the top spot.

BEST TV SHOW: Season 2 of “Westworld” kept me delightfully baffled and champing at the bit. The finale opened the door to worlds of possibilities.

BEST LIVE SHOW: Stevie Wonder is unparalleled.

BEST SONG: The Chats’ “Smoko” was released last year, but 2018 was the year the world needed it.

BEST MIDTERM ELECTION RESULT: A single party no longer controls all three branches of government.

WORST MIDTERM ELECTION RESULT: Most of the rest of it.

BEST NEW RESTAURANT OR BAR: Though they call it Duet, their food, drinks, and jazz lineup are a perfect three-part harmony. (Ba-dum-tss) BEST MOMENT FOR TULSA: I’ll expand my “moment” to the entire season of Fall. The one-two punch of grand openings at Gathering Place and Mother Road Market felt like a seismic shift. (The good, metaphorical kind.)

WORST MOMENT FOR TULSA: That it took this long to drop the name Brady.

HOPES FOR TULSA IN 2019: More openness, less division.

JULEY ROFFERS, PRESIDENT OF LANGDON PUBLISHING BEST MOVIE: “Phantom Thread” (but “Incredibles 2” was a close second!)

BEST TV SHOW: “Real Time with Bill Maher”

BEST LIVE SHOW: Stevie Wonder (but the old Midwesterner in me liked Garrison Keillor, too.)

BEST ART EXHIBIT: Patrick Dougherty’s “Prairie Schooners” downtown. So much fun!

BEST MIDTERM ELECTION RESULT: A more divided national government; I’m uncomfortable when either party has all the power.

WORST MIDTERM ELECTION RESULT: Bull Stitt (welcome back, Mary Fallin!)

BEST NEW RESTAURANT: Society BEST MOMENT FOR TULSA: Just has to be the opening of Gathering Place.

WORST MOMENT FOR TULSA: Try driving down Riverside or getting to GP on a Saturday.

HOPES FOR TULSA IN 2019: I hope that visionaries in our community will begin to make plans to recognize the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre (2.5 years from now). Plans that are respectful, heart-felt and educational about the past and for the future.

MORGAN WELCH, GRAPHIC DESIGNER BEST BOOK: “Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things” by Jenny Lawson. She makes me feel sane in this insane world.

BEST MOVIE: Shamelessly watched “The Kissing Booth” three times.

BEST TV SHOW: “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” was everything I could have hoped for and more.

BEST LIVE SHOW: The Peace and the Panic Tour featuring Neck Deep, Trophy Eyes, Stand Atlantic and WSTR. Celebrated my 29th rotation around the sun in true pop punk style.

BEST ALBUM: The American Dream by Trophy Eyes.

BEST SONG: “When the Party’s Over”

by Billie Eilish. I could cry just thinking about it.

HOPES FOR TULSA IN 2019: The same thing I’ve hoped for for the last few years: more pop punk shows. Not sure what Tulsa has against them, but I’m tired of driving to Dallas. a

FEATURED // 21

Three of Joe Andoe’s paintings lean against the walls of his Brooklyn studio | MASON WHITEHORN POWELL

‘Timeless calamity’ JOE ANDOE DISCUSSES TULSA’S INFLUENCE ON HIS ART FROM HIS BROOKLYN STUDIO

BY MASON WHITEHORN POWELL

F

rom the Brooklyn Navy Yard, a view of Lower Manhattan sprawls across the East River. Joe Andoe’s art studio is burrowed in one of the brick buildings of that industrial park. His building is surrounded by trucks and vans loading and unloading merchandise. Inside, 22 // FEATURED

long white halls look all business and resonate with the sound of labor. He began our meeting by telling me about the Navy Yard’s history.

It was constructed on what used to be Canarsie Indian marshland, though Brooklyn was entirely colonized by the end of the American Revolutionary War. During this period, 11,500 British “prison ship martyrs” died and were buried there in mass graves. In 1801, the government constructed the Navy Yard, where U.S. Navy vessels were built and repaired for every American war. It was closed in 1966 because modern ships couldn’t fit under the bridges.

After waves of city revitalization, the Navy Yard is now home to various commercial ventures

and several artists’ studios.

Andoe has occupied studios all over New York City, and has been at the Navy Yard for one year.

Paintings line the walls of his studio: white faces of wolves in close-up against black backgrounds, bikini clad girls in repose against the same black space, and his landscapes and horses, familiar to anyone who knows Green Country.

Against another wall are three large skull paintings. He described them as “Neanderthal skulls,” and said he was inspired to paint them after taking a DNA test that revealed he had excessive amounts of the Neanderthal genome.

There are also several works in progress—one large canvas done in sky blue with clouds, waiting

for a horse to gallop toward the viewer.

Andoe’s paintings have always been minimal. He distills the essence of figures and objects from memory onto dreamlike fields of monochrome. Many of his landscapes are angled as if the viewer is glancing out the window of a moving car. Done in color or black and white, they resemble the outskirts of Tulsa as seen by day or night. Though his early work takes the symbol as object, such as horns or wreaths or flowers, these are not signs to be interpreted.

They are pure image meant to convey feeling.

“I use abstract language, but I paint figuratively,” Andoe said.

He described how universal feelings arise from particular images, saying that it doesn’t December 19, 2018 – January 1, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

necessarily matter that people know where an image comes from. He leaves it open so that others can relate to what he feels when painting.

Tulsa is the place from which Andoe’s work both arrives and departs—in a literal and metaphorical sense. He had to leave Tulsa to find any recognition in the art world, yet his hometown subject matter is what set him apart in that environment.

“Tulsa—it’s not like I’m nostalgic for it,” Andoe said. “It’s more like my muse, my tuning fork. It’s like, I want my work to look like that. There was a sort of generic plainness in the early ‘70s, probably when my frontal lobe developed … I can almost trace it to the second where I realized. I’m sitting in my car, some place on the edge of town, and I’m probably listening to Houses of the Holy or something, and I just realized how beautiful everything is—how cool this is. And my record kind of skips on that.”

He would take this beauty and refine it, first in classes at Tulsa Junior College, where he realized you could make money as a professional artist, and then at the University of Oklahoma where he graduated with his BFA and MFA. Andoe’s final project at OU was a 3x45-ft. landscape set below skylights. The painting would change as the natural light in the gallery shifted. He discussed how the climate at school during this period shaped his creative outlook.

“It was the ‘70s, and it was all free-form. Anti-style,” Andoe said. “They really didn’t want you to be derivative of someone else, and you were painting in these open studios, and you were constantly being pushed out into the lane even if your gesso looked like somebody else. Originality was held at a high—it was what we were going through at every step of the painting.

“I had a vision of just air blowing through them—not tying them off at the end—they’re just open. I’m not drawing any conclusions. I’m not directing you to feel one way or the other. If I do it right, it has more to do with how you feel than how I feel. It has more to do with the viewer than with me, and hopefully it looks THE TULSA VOICE // December 19, 2018 – January 1, 2019

different to you every time you see it. Like a mirror: Every time you see it, you feel something different.”

Andoe moved to NYC in 1982, but his work wouldn’t be shown in Tulsa until a 1999 exhibit at the Gilcrease Museum.

Since then, he’s had one more show in Tulsa at Exhibit by Aberson in 2015. Titled “Grand Lakes,” it was his first show to feature works on paper and collages that he made at home when he was between studios.

Andoe has always painted daily. He doesn’t attribute his worldwide recognition to goals that he set, or a vision of success, but to what he finds joy doing.

“What I want to do is make things, actualize. Make things that look the way I feel,” he said.

In “Jubilee City: A Memoir at Full Speed” (2007), Andoe laid his life bare in poignant stories about growing up in Tulsa and his transition to life in NYC. He repeated this process, but instead channeled it through fictionalized perspectives of people he knew, for a collage fi lm project called “RAINBOW ROAD.” A blend of black and white footage, cut-out photographs, drawings, and text narrated by the artist, the texture of the fi lm matches its narrative potency. Andoe’s writing and fi lm projects are fi rst-hand accounts of his feelings about Tulsa.

His most recent solo show, “Rainbow Road Part 2,” was this year in Brussels at Almine Rech Gallery—who currently represents Andoe. They presented a painting at Art Basel Miami this month, and next year they’re hosting another solo show of his work in NYC. Although there’s repetition in his work, and the foundation of his subject matter is established, Andoe is not a one-trick pony.

His 2015 show “Super Highway” at Nathalie Karg Gallery in NYC engaged with technology, reimagining the familiar spaces of Tulsa from the digital perspective of Google Maps satellites.

Telephone poles figure prominently, with fields bombarded by radio waves beaming from outer space—a conversion of technology into paint, representing our experience of it.

(Above) Numerous paintings fill Joe Andoe’s Brooklyn studio. (Below) Joe Andoe stands in front of one of his landscape pieces in his Brooklyn studio. | MASON WHITEHORN POWELL.

“There’s that old Frankenstein movie,” Andoe said. “It’s a dead guy, he’s put together with parts, and then the lightning strikes and he moves his hand and takes a breath. It’s almost like the minute it takes a breath, I want to stop. … It has life in it. That’s where the effort and the content resonate.”

The way in which life is represented in his work is both familiar and distant—almost as if his memories are able to carry over to the viewer and engage them in the same process of recollection.

Even those who haven’t driven through East Tulsa in an American muscle car or seen horses grazing Green Country pastures will likely be moved by these

images. The power of Andoe’s work speaks because it isn’t saying too much or too little. It’s speaking to a higher truth about what it means to be young, and how the beauty of the natural is reflected in us.

I asked Andoe if his paintings contained a message.

“I just want to be timeless, like timeless calamities,” he replied.

Tulsa has its calamities just as Brooklyn does, but they’re not on the surface. They lie hidden, buried underground. Andoe’s art resonates this depth without showing it directly. Whether a wolf, a girl, or bare skull against a black background, those images express the timelessness of our desire and tragedy. a FEATURED // 23

First United Methodist Church at 1115 S. Boulder Ave.

HEAVEN ON EARTH T

BY HUNTER CATES PHOTOS BY VALERIE WEI-HAAS

The past, present, and future of downtown’s Cathedral District

First Presbyterian Church at 709 S. Boston Ave.

24 // FEATURED

he church bells chime through the steel and glass towers of downtown as they have done thousands of Sundays before. Their sequential cadence competes with the whistling of the wind on this bitter, cold December morning. It is a familiar, even comforting sound.

Gentle rhythms echoing from the past, rising toward heaven above, calling in the flock from all corners of the city.

Thousands of Tulsans attend worship services downtown every week, most of them at the southern end of the IDL known as the Cathedral District. Many of these people drive miles out of their way, past other churches, to come here. In our culture of convenience, with so many obligations and distractions competing for our time, why are people still drawn to worship at a cathedral?

“People want this sense of awe, this sense of beauty,” said Rev. Aaron Tiger, executive pastor of First United Methodist Church.

“The purpose of a cathedral is to make all of us feel small, so that God feels big.”

Rev. Deron Spoo of First Baptist Church said being in a

place with a centruy of history can add to the church experience. “To sit in a room and worship where people have been worshipping 100 years, there’s a sense of continuity,” he said. “Did a person, when they leave here, say ‘I met with God’? I would drive a long, long way to experience that.”

Whether it is to gaze with wonder at the work of human hands and divine inspiration, or to connect with the past—and, perhaps, with what awaits us beyond—what draws people here to worship is as unique as the worshipers themselves. So it has been for decades.

While it is one of the newest designated zones downtown, the Cathedral District is home to some of Tulsa’s most enduring structures. Their towering, sharply-pointed spires, carefully-cut stonework, and gothic arches are as much a part of downtown’s landscape as the theaters, arenas, hotels, and bars that followed.

Maybe even more so, as the churches were here first and still stand serving their purpose today.

Most were founded well before statehood. First Presbyterian, Tulsa’s oldest church, was founded in 1885. Then came First United Methodist in 1886, followed by Boston Avenue

United Methodist in 1893. Holy Family Cathedral was dedicated in 1914, while the signature domed roof of First Church of Christ, Scientist has stood in its present spot since 1918.

Each church has served Tulsa’s faithful for more than a century. A long time, to be sure, though they are adolescents when compared to their European forebears. Westminster Abbey in London, Notre Dame in Paris, and St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome are synonymous with their cities and emblems of European culture. But while each welcomes millions of visitors annually, most tourists who enter their doors do not seek salvation, but selfies. Not enlightenment, but an experience.

Thousands of churches like these populate Europe. Most are no longer active places of worship, but remnants of the old world.

Europe’s churches are more like museums or monoliths—magnificent, much-admired structures left over from a superstitious era, beautiful, but ultimately irrelevant in our present, secular age.

That the same destiny could confront downtown’s churches is jarring to consider, perhaps even to non-believers. The churches have been here longer than living memory. Generations past and

December 19, 2018 – January 1, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

Holy Family Cathedral at 122 W. 8th St.

Boston Avenue United Methodist Church at 1301 S. Boston Ave.

present have memories there. But while familiarity breeds comfort, it risks becoming invisible against Tulsa’s ever-changing backdrop.

We’re a city on the move, but stone purposefully stands still.

America has proven more immune to the rise of secularism than Europe, especially in the Bible Belt. Even so, 24 percent of Americans report being religiously unaffi liated, according to a

26 // FEATURED

2017 study by the Public Religion Research Institute. Of those, 16 percent describe themselves as a “religious person,” showing that rather than agnosticism or atheism, a “nothing in particular” spiritualism is the growing trend. Besides the rise of the “nones,” religious observance and affi liation among the faithful is changing as well.

Both Protestant and Catholic

churches are experiencing a demographic shift. Since 2006, white evangelical protestants dropped from 23 to 17 percent, white mainline Protestants from 18 to 13 percent, and white Catholics from 16 to 11 percent. Today more than one-third of Protestants are now nonwhite and 36 percent of Catholics are Hispanic. When looking at followers under age 30, the numbers are even larger.

Only half of evangelical Protestants under 30 are white, while 52 percent of Catholics under 30 are Hispanic.

These are all national trends, and Oklahoma is following its own path on certain figures.

According to the 2014 Religious Landscape Study by the Pew Research Center, while evangelical Protestantism and Catholicism declined in Oklahoma (from 53 to 47 percent and 12 to 8 percent, respectively), mainline Protestantism grew from 16 to 18 percent.

Analyzing data can be as complicated as memorizing the catechism, but practicing theology is more than following trend lines. What is certain is that the people downtown’s churches were built to serve a century ago are not the same people they serve today. Even the mightiest structures cannot withstand the winds of change, as Europe’s churches show. Does a similar fate await the churches of downtown Tulsa?

“It could happen,” said Rev. David Wiggs, senior minister of Boston Avenue United Methodist Church. “Whether we become more or less relevant will depend on our ability to observe and understand our ever-changing culture and develop meaningful ministry for people today.”

“It is a great opportunity to challenge our cultural grounding in Christianity, especially here in the Bible Belt, and rediscover the radical nature of the Gospel,” said Rev. Ryan Moore, co-pastor for First Presbyterian Church. Rev. Moore lived in Europe for a few years and said he “discovered a European church that is far more missionary, mobile and local. I think we’ll see that here at home in the years and decades to come.”

The idea of a mission-driven church—one unbound by a building, which asks for more from its followers than a few hours every Sunday—is a sentiment shared by pastors across downtown.

“One of the draws of being a downtown church is we invite people not to sit here, but to serve,” Rev. Spoo said.

“That’s the call of every Christian community,” Rev. Moore said. “To seek the welfare—spiritually, economically, socially—of

December 19, 2018 – January 1, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

the people and places to which they find themselves.”

With the homeless population downtown, serving the poor is critical to each church’s mission.

Likewise, many are also adding contemporary-style worship services to complement their traditional service. It’s a way to attract parishioners who come from a mega-church background.

Beyond community outreach and contemporary services, the churches are ensuring their place in downtown’s culture through the designation of the Cathedral District itself. “The coalition of property owners that became the Cathedral District wants to create its place in the culture of downtown,” said Brenda Reed, business administrator for Boston Avenue. “The Cathedral District was formed to promote, develop and revitalize the area.”

As far as branding an area, the Cathedral District is catchy, even if it’s technically inaccurate.

“Cathedral” comes from the Latin word for “seat,” and denotes the church in a Catholic diocese that houses the seat of the local Bishop. According to the literal

THE TULSA VOICE // December 19, 2018 – January 1, 2019

defi nition, the only Cathedral in the district is Holy Family Cathedral. But with Tulsa Community College’s Metro campus, Foolish Things Coffee Co., and Public Services Company of Oklahoma as members, the Cathedral District’s vision extends beyond the pulpit.

“The Cathedral District isn’t about the churches,” Reed said.

“It is about developing a vibrant walkable community that is in connection with the entire downtown area. I believe the churches will benefit as the area changes and becomes a more inviting place to spend time.”

It is a goal that is already being realized. With more people coming downtown over the past decade, more people are choosing to worship there as well.

“When you have people, you need a church,” Rev. Spoo said, who notes that weekly attendance was much lower when he arrived at First Baptist 18 years ago.

Other ministers have noticed the same uptick.

By enhancing visibility and walkability, the neighborhood association known as the Cathedral

District hopes to create a more spirited community. But for the district’s namesake churches, the challenge remains to maintain a spiritual core.

“If we serve people effectively then the churches becoming museums will not occur here as it has in Europe,” Rev. Wiggs said.

“There’s a perception that you have to be a certain kind of person to worship at a downtown church—if the building is that pretty, my life must be as well,” Rev. Tiger said. “It’s up to our congregations to say, ‘We’re all welcome in this space.’”

Whether downtown’s churches remain thriving places of worship or become remnants of a bygone era, nobody knows. To the churches themselves, it is less about the building and more about the people they serve.

Whatever happens next ultimately comes down to faith.

“A church building serves its purpose in its time” said Rev. Spoo. “A flower is beautiful even if it’s not going to be around forever. I hope we stay vibrant, but that’s up to the people and up to God to see us through.” a

Boston Avenue United Methodist Church at 1301 S. Boston Ave.

First Christian Church at 913 S. Boulder Ave.

FEATURED // 27

It’s once again one of our most eagerly anticipated times of the year, when we ask you to voice your opinions on who and what are the Best of Tulsa.

Between exciting new developments and trustworthy favorites, there’s a lot to celebrate in our city. Cast your vote in these 97 categories of food, art, entertainment, and fun to reflect what to you makes Tulsa a great place to live, work, and play.

And to sweeten the deal, by submitting a Nomination Ballot, you’ll be entered to win a $500 dining package.

WWW.THETULSAVOICE.COM/BOT

HOW IT WORKS: Best of Tulsa nominees, finalists, and winners are entirely reader-generated through two online ballots. First, in the Nomination Ballot, readers fill out open-ended text fields for each category. The top five most-nominated entities—or more, in the case of ties for fifth place—move on to the multiple-choice Runoff Ballot.

The Runoff is from Feb. 1 through Feb. 28.

Winners will be announced in a special issue of TTV in late March.

A giveaway winner will be selected at random following the conclusion of the Nomination round.

Nominations are open from Dec. 19 through Jan. 20.

FOOD & DRINK Best Breakfast Best Brunch Best Bloody Mary Best Coffee Shop Best Bakery Best Grocery Store Best Food Truck Best Deli Best Diner Best Sandwich Best Burger Best Chicken Best Chicken Fried Steak Best Barbecue Best Pizza Best Takeout Pizza Best Steak Best Seafood Best Taco Best Chinese Best Indian Best Italian Best Japanese/Sushi Best Korean Best Mexican Best Middle Eastern/Mediterranean Best Thai Best Vietnamese Best Vegetarian/Health Food Best Patio Best View Best Family Dining Best Chef

Ballots must be at least 60% complete to be eligible.

Best Service Best New Restaurant Best Restaurant for Locally Sourced Ingredients Best Spot for Day Drinking Best Place to Watch the Big Game Best Bar Food Best Beer Selection Best Wine List Best Cocktails Best Bartender Best Brewery Best Tap Room Best New Bar Best Dive Bar Best LGBTQ+ Bar/Club Best Bar for Smokers Best Liquor Store Best Late-Night Dining

ART & ENTERTAINMENT Best Art Show/Exhibition of 2018 Best Stage Show of 2018 Best Local Album of 2018 Best Gallery Best Museum Best Performing Arts Company Best Performing Arts Space Best Comedy Night Best Podcast Best Free Entertainment Best All-Ages Venue Best Small Music Venue (<1000 capacity) Best Large Music Venue Best Place for Live Local Music

Best Open Mic Best Record Store Best Movie Theater Best Casino Best Trivia Night Best Place for Dancing Best Karaoke Best Night Club Best Annual Festival

AROUND TOWN Best Place to Learn Something New Best Place to Take Out-of-Towners Best Health/Fitness Center Best Place to Strike a (Yoga) Pose Best Running/Athletic Store Best Foot Race/Run Best Bike Shop Best Place for Cycling Best Place to Hike Best Picnic Spot Best Park Best Family Outing Best Place to Go with Your Dog Best Place for People-Watching Best Hotel Best Local Gift Best Salon Best Clothing Store Best Vintage Clothing Store Best Antique Store Best Tattoo Parlor Best Election Result Best Nonprofit

VOTE AT WWW.THETULSAVOICE.COM/BOT

onstage

W

hen artists connect, they find ways to keep making art together, whatever fortune might throw at them. Tulsa seems to cultivate these kinds of connections.

It’s a small town, after all, where bonds made through art can last for decades.

For visual artist Peter Hay of Durango, Colorado, and dancer/ choreographer Stephanie Garcia, of Mexico City, Tulsa was the soil that sprouted an artistic partnership that’s now growing across all kinds of borders.

There were murmurs of “Who are they? And what is this?” when Garcia’s dance collective Sur Oeste Arte Escenico arrived in Tulsa to perform their “Taxdermia” at the 2015 Dia de los Muertos festival at Living Arts.

By the end of an evening that led the audience into every corner of the gallery (even the fridge in the kitchen)—and into a searing journey through the physicality of oppression (political, emotional, and then some)—viewers left wrecked and exultant, clamoring for more. It was one of the strongest performances that’s happened in Tulsa in the last decade.

It turned out that “Taxdermia” was transformative for Hay as well as for the festival.

“That show stands out in my mind as one of the most impactful on my ideas of what performance can be,” he said. “The ease and professionalism Sur Oeste carried through the entire engagement set a high standard. It was truly inspiring and I knew then that I wanted to work with Sur Oeste again someday.”

On Dec. 28, Garcia’s creative comet returns to Tulsa’s orbit in partnership with Hay and Steve Liggett, the same people who brought her company here for the first time three years ago. Then, Liggett was artistic director of Living Arts and Hay its director of development and public relations. Now, at the helm of the newly-resurrected Liggett Studio, Liggett presents “Ex is T(h)ere,” a collaboration between Garcia and

30 // ARTS & CULTURE

Stephanie Garcia moves through a performance of “Ex is T(h)ere.” | PETER HAY

THERE, HERE A US/Mexico performance collaboration brings it all back home

by ALICIA CHESSER ATKIN Hay, who since 2016 has served as exhibits director at the Durango Arts Center.

Hay and Garcia have been discussing ideas for an ongoing US/Mexico exchange since their first encounter, way back at the National Performance Network annual meeting, held at Living Arts in 2014. But it took until last year for them to start creating work together.

For “Ex is T(h)ere”—whose title plays on the Latin word “exis-

tere,” which means “to exist”— they link their disciplines into a performance installation that was initially inspired by dreams in which Garcia saw images she wanted to recreate in real life.

After inviting her to collaborate on a new piece, Hay mentioned that his mother, Barbara Hay, was a poet whose haikus might be another source of inspiration.

“I have been surrounded by my mother’s writing and poetry as long as I can remember,” Hay

said. “She has been writing haiku every day for years now and suggested I create haiga (drawings that accompany haiku poems) from her work. Steph had an idea for a piece that she had not had the chance to make and we saw this as a chance to pull some of these ideas together.”

Liggett Studio—an open, affordable gallery space beloved by independent artists since Liggett acquired it in 2006—provides an intimate venue for a work that invites close focus on cycles of birth and death, departures and arrivals. The piece has given both artists a chance to push themselves: Garcia in what dance can mean outside of a theater, Hay in what visual art can mean outside of creating objects. Garcia is the potent sole performer, moving to a rich sound score within a visual environment Hay has fi lled with tactile, dream-like poetry.

A sketch of “Ex is T(h)ere” premiered in Durango earlier this year, but as with all site-specific work, it is evolving as it takes form in this new/old space that has itself come back to life under the encouragement of Liggett, now retired but somehow more energized than ever in support of emerging creators.

“I love how the space has a dialogue with the piece and with me,” Garcia said. “I find more connection with the audience in my site-specific work in alternative venues because in this way, the audience becomes part of the piece. This process is the one I love the most, so it is really gratifying to converge with Peter who has the same interest but comes from the visual arts field, which makes the ideas that we work in grow. We found an amazing artistic dialogue to make this happen.”

What leaves, returns; what ends, begins again. Place “Ex is T(h)ere” on top of the story of how and where its makers are making it, and you’ll see how process and product are bound to each other through the people who dream the dreams. Place your own self in there, too, and see what happens. a

December 19, 2018 – January 1, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

The hunter rests

by T. E. MCGOURAN

“Y

ou know,” he says.

“Your average cow steak is about twenty percent fat.”

“Oh yeah?” I glance over my shoulder, hands resting in the soapy dishwater as I watch him prop up his feet with a sigh. As he settles, his breath escapes in one big whoosh.

“But wild boar, it’s only five percent.” His arm goes over the back of the sofa, angling his body in my direction.

“Huh, is that so.” I lean a dripping plate on the drying rack to my left and reach down into the rapidly darkening water for another.

He scratches his shoulder.

“Yeah,” he says, then moves to scratch his head, pulling off his neon orange hat to rough up his matted hair.

“When I skinned it, you could barely see any fat.”

I turn back to the dishes as he stands back up, listen as he opens the grate to the fire and pokes at the burning wood inside. One flaming log crashes into another.

“How’s it looking?”

I glance at the timer. Nine minutes and forty-three, forty-

two, forty-one seconds on the clock.

“It should be done soon.”

I rinse off the last glass and set it aside, then dry my hands and open the oven door. Scent carries heat, blooming in my face. In the oven rests a hunk of meat, notquite-browned, but almost falling off the bone. My mouth waters.

“Smells good.”

“You know,” he says, like he’s recovered a half-forgotten thought, “processing it in the field is what counts; learning how to do it yourself. It only tastes gamey the longer you wait.”

“Hmm.” Dad, Mom, the boys, and me. We’ll need five plates. I take them down from the shelf above the sink and set them alongside the flatware, next to the stove.

“Once you get the basics down, processing is pretty much the same, deer or boar. I’ve shown you how, right?”

“Yeah, you had me help you with a doe last fall.” I stay facing the counter, hiding my smile.

“Good, good . . . You know, elk has less than one percent fat?”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.” a

E V E N T S @ T PA C

fiction

A Christmas Carol American Theatre Company Now - Dec. 23 The Nutcracker Tulsa Ballet Now - Dec. 23 Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet Tulsa Symphony Jan. 5 The Book of Mormon Welcomed by Tulsa PAC Trust, presented by Celebrity Attractions Jan. 8-13 Beauty and the Beast Theatre Tulsa Jan. 11-26 Wild Kratts Live Innovation Arts & Entertainment Jan. 20 The Sound of Science Choregus Productions Jan. 25 Kenari Saxophone Quartet Tulsa Symphony Jan. 27

TICKETS @ TULSAPAC.COM 918.596.7111

MANY OKLAHOMANS ARE STILL EXPOSED TO SECONDHAND SMOKE AT WORK.

THAT’S 100% clean indoor air laws are one of the simplest, cheapest and most effective ways to protect employees and patrons from dangerous secondhand smoke.

Let’s protect hardworking Oklahomans. Join the fight at

TTV partners with Nimrod international Journal to publish poetry and flash fiction from Tulsa-area or Tulsa-connected writers. Submit your work for consideration using Nimrod’s online submission form at nimrodjournal.submittable.com/submit.

THE TULSA VOICE // December 19, 2018 – January 1, 2019

ARTS & CULTURE // 31

artspot

Active looking Jave Yoshimoto’s radical empathy

by BRADY WHISENHUNT

I

n 2015, Jave Yoshimoto was working at a refugee camp in Greece when he learned about the life preserver scam.

Red and grey lifejackets were made available to people who fled their home countries by boat, at a heavy cost. “They were being charged 100 Euros for a lifejacket,” he said.

The insidiousness of charging anything for the basic amenity of safe passage was compounded by instances of outright fraud. “The lifejackets weren’t always real. The human traffickers there are actually hiring refugees to build fake ones,” Yoshimoto said.

“The Breached Macrocosm,” an exhibition of Yoshimoto’s work, opened at TAC Gallery on Dec. 7 and will be on display through Dec. 29. The intricate, laser-engraved wood reliefs and brilliantly-colored paintings focus on social issues that have left an imprint on the artist’s life—like his experience helping refugees.

“Art to me is kind of a healing experience, because I think the world is a traumatic place to exist in. Trying to figure out how to navigate and get through each day,” Yoshimoto said. With that in mind, the 2017 Tulsa Artist Fellow says his highest objective is to create an opportunity for the viewer to pause, look, and empathize. “If I can just get them to stop and think for a minute, I think I did my job.”

Yoshimoto’s bright, finely-detailed paintings—like the ones in his “Disaster” series—often portray disturbing events like the Fukishima Daiichi nuclear disaster, as told through Yoshimoto’s rich visual language. Drawing inspiration from the works of Katsushika Hokusai and weaving elements of fantasy into social commentary, Yoshimoto’s paint-

32 // ARTS & CULTURE

“Land of Freedom, Home of Courageous” (2018) – Laser engraved and cut digital illustration, glue, varnish on wood (12x24x1 in). | JAVE YOSHIMOTO

ings don’t merely beg the viewer’s attention. They earn it.

A year ago, a serious arm injury threatened to stall Yoshimoto’s artistic momentum.

“The muscle in my elbow kind of started tearing away from the bone, so I couldn’t paint. I couldn’t hold anything in my right hand for awhile,” he said.

Unable to hold a paintbrush, he forged ahead nonetheless.

“I thought, ‘I still need to keep

making stuff. I have five shows coming up.’ That’s when I started making these laser cuts.”

Made entirely of thin, laser-engraved wooden layers assembled together as a 3D relief of an iPhone, “What is your emergency?” depicts a city scene shortly after a bombing. Smoke billows far off in the distance as soldiers and civilians wander amid the rubble and confusion. A Syrian woman in the foreground,

her face bleeding, stares out into the distance as another woman to her side strains to breathe through a wadded handful of her hijab.

The familiar graphics on an incoming call screen show the caller’s name, “Aleppo.” Underneath the name are two familiar icons: “Ignore” and “Answer.”

Groups of people huddle around displays of Yoshimoto’s work toward the end of his exhibit’s opening night at the TAC Gallery. They lean forward to discover the finer and finer layers of detail.

“People are curious about what’s behind the work,” Yoshimoto says. “They’re approaching me and asking me questions. It’s not just one person, but multiple people throughout the course of the night, so it’s nice.” His craft piques the viewer’s interest, calling them to get a closer look. What better way to share an urgent message?

In a world of trouble and pain, sometimes just to survive our own crises, we learn to fi le away horrors like bombings into slots in our mental ROM (read-only memory) where information can be read but not changed. Empathy, Yoshomito’s work suggests, is the moment we realize that we are not a spectator to an issue, but a participant.

It takes energy to break through that wall—and if you make a career of bringing viewers close enough to peer over to the other side, as Yoshimoto has, you need focus and discipline. The lifejacket hanging in his studio is a powerful symbol that cuts the artist’s purpose into sharp relief.

“The more time that passes since 2015, I start losing interest or faith. But whenever I see this, I’m like, ‘Right. I’m doing this for a reason.’” a

December 19, 2018 – January 1, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

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THE TULSA VOICE // December 19, 2018 – January 1, 2019

ARTS & CULTURE // 33

From champagne toasts to toasting marshmallows, there’s a New Year’s Eve celebration for everyone • BY TTV STAFF

Start the year off with six metal bands at BAD ASS RENEE’S: Iron Cathedral, Forbidden Serenity, Day After Mourning, Arjüna, Spook, and Doxy.

12/31, 7 p.m.

Dynamic Sounds & Lighting will host an early NYE party at VFW POST 577 with non-stop EDM and hip hop, a cash door prize, and $5 off entry for anyone born in December. 11/29, 9 p.m.–2 a.m., $15, facebook.com/ tulsavfw Celebrate the new year in nature with a hike and a bonfire at OXLEY NATURE CENTER, complete with hot cocoa, cider, and s’mores. 12/31, 5:30– 8 p.m., $5, oxleynaturecenter.org Broken Arrow’s STONEY CREEK HOTEL will host A GREAT GATSBY NEW YEAR EXTRAVAGANZA, which will include a Scotch tasting and music by Texas Gypsies. 12/31, 6 p.m.–1:30 a.m., tickets start at $85, facebook.com/ stoneycreekba DUET will offer a special prix fixe menu with seatings at 6:30 p.m, and 9 p.m. ($50) followed by an underground COMBSY concert starting at 10:30 p.m. ($20).

12/31, duetjazz.com 34 // ARTS & CULTURE

THE CAMPBELL HOTEL’S Renaissance Square Event Center will host The Fabulous Mid-Life Crisis Band with light bites and champagne. 12/31, 8 p.m.–12:45 a.m., facebook.com/ thefabulousmidlifecrisisband Comedian RON WHITE will perform at RIVER SPIRIT CASINO’S Paradise Cove (8 p.m., starting at $85), followed by the MARGARITAVILLE VIP NEW YEARS EVE PARTY, which will include appetizers, Boat Drinks, and music from DJ Noodles. 12/31, 9 p.m.– 1 a.m., $49–$69

Party like it’s 1982 at the AWESOME ‘80S NEW YEARS EVE at the DoubleTree at Warren Place, which features a dinner buffet. 12/31, 8 p.m.–1 a.m., $75, facebook.com/ doubletreetulsa

FOOLISH THINGS: BAR AND BISCUIT will host THE FIRST FOOLISH NEW YEAR’S EVE BASH, with small bites, a midnight toast, entertainment, and late-night take out. 12/31, 9 p.m.– 1:30 a.m., barandbiscuit.com

THE MAYO HOTEL will host the fashionable AVANT GARDEN in its Crystal Ballroom and Penthouse Bar. 12/31, 8 p.m.–1:30 a.m., $95, themayohotelevents.com

The 9th annual CRYSTAL BALL is a masquerade party at IDL BALLROOM, ENSO BAR, and UNICORN CLUB. 12/31, 9 p.m.–1:30 a.m., $35, $60/couple, tulsacrystalball.com

HOTEL INDIGO will host a gourmet dinner of filet of tenderloin and lobster tail and is discounted room pricing.

12/31, $68–$289, facebook.com/ hotelindigotulsa

The MAX RETROPUB will offer drink specials, a champagne toast and music from DJ Afistaface. 12/31, 9 p.m., $10, facebook.com/ themaxretropub

SOUL CITY will host a bash with music from DESI & CODY, door prizes and giveaways all night, a champagne toast at midnight, and no cover.

12/31, 8 p.m.–2 a.m., tulsasoul.com

Bartlesville’s PRICE TOWER will host the OLIVE DROP, which will include champagne, live music, and a giant neon olive dropping into a martini glass at midnight. 12/31, 10 p.m.– 2 a.m., $20-$25, pricetower.org

The CELLAR DWELLER will host the intimate EXCLUSIVE SPEAKEASY NYE PARTY, which will include live music, hors d’oeuvres, and champagne.

12/31, 8 p.m.–2 a.m., $50, facebook.com/cellardwellertulsa KISS MY ALE PUB will host a Mexican feast catered by Epicurean Delights with Marita. 12/31, 8 p.m. $20–$25, facebook.com/kisserintherye

RETRO ROCKETS NEW YEARS EVE EUPHORIA is a space age dance party with light appetizers and party favors at Studio 308. 12/31, 8 p.m.–1 a.m., $30, retrorocketstulsa.com

Ring in the new year Red Dirt-style with TURNPIKE TROUBADOURS and KAITLIN BUTTS at CAIN’S BALLROOM. 12/31, 9 p.m. $50-$65, cainsballroom.com

JUICEMAKER LOUNGE will celebrate its grand opening with a PURPLE NYE CELEBRATION with live music from Full Flava Kings, Freak Juice, Jellybean Johnson of Morris Day and the Time, and a special guest. 12/31, 8 p.m.–1 a.m., $30, facebook.com/ juicemakermusic

FLYING TEE will offer unlimited play, a buffet, and a bottle of champagne, starting at $55 per person. 12/31, 9 p.m.–1 a.m., flyingteegolf.com

LUX’s NEW YEARS EVE RUMBA at CHIMI’S on Cherry Street will feature DJs spinning salsa, bachata, merengue, reggaeton, hip hop, and house. 12/31, 10 p.m.–3 a.m., $10, facebook.com/lux.918 Start the year off on the right foot and RACE INTO THE NEW YEAR with a midnight 5K, followed by food, drinks, and fun at RIVER WEST FESTIVAL PARK. 12/31, 11:45 p.m.–2 a.m., $10–$30, runnersworldtulsa.com Have some hair of the dog at the HANGOVER BALL with CODY CANADA, JASON BOLAND, WILLIAM CLARK GREEN, and more at CAIN’S BALLROOM. 1/1, 7:30 p.m., cainsballroom.com a

SEE OUR MUSIC LISTINGS FOR MORE NEW YEARS EVE CONCERTS. December 19, 2018 – January 1, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

BEST OF THE REST EVENTS How to Think Like a Scientist // 12/19, Magic City Books, magiccitybooks.com Trap Karaoke and Ugly Sweater Christmas Party // 12/19, Mainline, facebook.com/ blackmoontulsa Daniel Gulick’s 8th Annual Art Hunt // 12/20, Philbrook Museum of Art, philbrook.org Book Launch: “Los Luceros”

by Michael Wallis // 12/20, Magic City Books, magiccitybooks.com Christmas Fiesta // 12/21, Dead Armadillo Brewery, dabrewery.com Santaclaustrophobia // 12/21, The Starlite, thestarlite.net American Solera’s Holiday Open House // 12/22, American Solera, americansolera.com Meet Lucha Claus // 12/22, Elote Cafe, elotetulsa.com MUSED. Poetry Night // 12/30, Magic City Books, magiccitybooks.com Salinger 100 Marathon Read: The Catcher in the Rye // 1/1/19, Magic City Books, magiccitybooks.com

COMEDY Christine Stedman, Keith Lenart // 12/19-12/22, Loony Bin, loonybincomedy.com T-Murph, Velly Vel // 12/20, Duet, duetjazz.com Very Edgy Thrown-Together Show // 12/22, Nightingale Theater, nightingaletheater .com

Christmas Joy Joy w/ Crayons Improv & Comfort Creatures // 12/22, Rabbit Hole Improv, rabbitholeimprov.com Ashlyn Johnson, Wade McFarland, Ryan Green, Laura Cook, Hilton Price // 12/22, The Starlite, thestarlite.net Open Mic Comedy // 12/24, The Fur Shop, facebook .com/thefurshoptulsa Matt Sadler // 12/26-12/31, Loony Bin, loonybincomedy .com Blue Dome Social Club: Y2K19 Apocalypse Now! // 12/29, Rabbit Hole Improv, rabbitholeimprov.com Ron White // 12/31, River Spirit Casino - Paradise Cove, riverspirittulsa.com Open Mic Comedy // 12/31, The Fur Shop, facebook .com/thefurshoptulsa

SPORTS TU Women’s Basketball vs Arkansas // 12/20, Reynolds Center, tulsahurricane.com Tulsa Oilers vs Kansas City Mavericks // 12/22, BOK Center, tulsaoilers.com ORU Men’s Basketball vs TU // 12/22, Mabee Center, oruathletics.com Tulsa Oilers vs Wichita Thunger // 12/27, BOK Center, tulsaoilers.com Tulsa Oilers vs Kansas City Mavericks // 12/28, BOK Center, tulsaoilers.com TU Women’s Basketball vs UTEP // 12/29, Reynolds Center, tulsahurricane.com

THE TULSA VOICE // December 19, 2018 – January 1, 2019

PLANNING A WORK CONFERENCE, WEDDING OR PARTY? VISIT THE TULSA VOICE VENUE GUIDE!

ARTS & CULTURE // 35

musicnotes

ON RECORD(S) Local musicians on their favorite albums of 2018

by JOHN LANGDON, MARY NOBLE, and BRADY WHISENHUNT We asked some of the artists who appeared in the pages of our music section this year to pick their favorite album of 2018.

Here’s what they chose.

Burnt Sugar GOUGE AWAY + Friendship Music SURFBORT It’s hard to choose between these albums. While the two are not comparable, each is powerful in its own regard. Gouge Away took a step back from their metal riffs, keeping the driving and intense vocal style and politically charged lyrics. Surfbort’s album is fun, intense, hyper, and REAL AS HELL. I’m a lyricist so I love interesting subject matter with driving meaning and purpose.

Bad Behavior BRONCHO

[Untitled] MEWITHOUTYOU

Born on Black Wall Street STEPH SIMON

Because it’s sexy and funny and it never stops. They keep reinventing what a band can be for themselves.

Is it music? Is it an art project?

Catchy as hell.

Heavy and aggressive in all the right ways and moments while still taking time to gently tell you a story and make you think. It features attention-grabbing guitar solos on several of the tracks that I find important components in the album’s storytelling. This record is everything any mwY fan could want.

Album of the year would have to be Steph Simon’s Born on Black Wall Street. I feel like it was just the right balance of emotions and storytelling.

It just felt relatable.

SCOTT BELL, LEAD AUDIO VISUAL TECHNICIAN AT GATHERING PLACE AND GUTHRIE GREEN, “TUNE IN TULSA” ENGINEER

SHAKERA SIMMONS A.K.A. BAMBI, RAPPER

SUSIE MCCOMBS, SINGER/ SONGWRITER, BROTHER RABBIT

Keep the Dream Alive CHAZ HOFLER

[Untitled] MEWITHOUTYOU

No News is Good News PHONTE

Chaz Hofler is an artist that I know from college. He’s originally from New York, currently resides in Virginia, but lived in Tulsa some time ago.

Essentially for me I think any good project carries longevity. The positive social impact that his album put forth speaks volumes and is very inspirational.

Heavy and aggressive in all the right ways and moments while still taking time to gently tell you a story and make you think. It features attention-grabbing guitar solos on several of the tracks that I find important components in the album’s storytelling. This record is everything any mwY fan could want.

DAVONTE SUAREZ A.K.A IAMDES, RAPPER

SUSIE MCCOMBS, SINGER/ SONGWRITER, BROTHER RABBIT

I’ve been listening to it over and over since I interviewed him. It’s very reflective; I like how he talks about health and trying to eat better, his dad dying. There were a lot of things that I related to on that level. His overall lyricism and delivery is just flawless to me. People out there saying real hip-hop doesn’t live anymore: You’re just not looking hard enough.

ALI SHAW, 105.3 KJAMZ HOST

ALLISON WARD, TOM BOIL 36 // MUSIC

December 19, 2018 – January 1, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

THE TULSA VOICE // December 19, 2018 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; January 1, 2019

MUSIC // 37

Born on Black Wall Street STEPH SIMON + Saturday Morning Cartoons & A Box of Cereal, Vol.1 IAMDES It’s a two-way tie. Both projects inspired me musically. A reminder to tell stories within your music and how powerful words are.

Lady Lady MASEGO

Bad Behavior BRONCHO

Heaven and Earth KAMASI WASHINGTON

Masego is a very young, creative, and talented artist who plays multiple instruments. His album this year was super fire. He produced the majority of the songs himself. It’s really classical with an R&B style to it. It’s the type of music that will last for a while—that good throwback music.

As a longtime Ryan Lindsey fan, I am digging the new compositions and arrangements with this band. Very groovy from start to finish.

There’s no better place to get lost in thought and groove. The additional hidden record, The Choice, binds the album’s two halves—the enduring and the ephemeral—into a question of will.

MIKE GILLILAND, CUCUMBER AND THE SUNTANS, THE DULL DRUMS, WHO & THE FUCKS

SARAH SHORT A.K.A. AYILLA, RAPPER

TANESHA RUSHING A.K.A. TEA RUSH, RAPPER

Born on Black Wall Street STEPH SIMON

SR3MM RAE SREMMURD

Tell Me How You Really Feel COURTNEY BARNETT

This imaginative, polished LP shines a spotlight on black excellence in Tulsa and has further cemented Simon as an innovator within the community.

Simon masterfully speaks on Tulsa’s racial wounds under the pseudonym ‘Diamond Dick Roland’ (the elevator operator blamed by whites for instigating the 1921 Massacre) over feelgood, original beats. The music video for the track “Upside,” was shot on the lawn of the Brady Mansion where former KKK member Tate Brady once lived, symbolizing that Tulsa is headed in a new, positive direction.

The 40 best seconds of 2018 begin at the 2:48 mark in “Guatemala.”

This specific moment demonstrates the exhilaration underneath these 27 tracks. We see the sparkly glare of the wild ride of fame that Swae Lee and Slim Jxmmi are more than enthusiastic to brag about, but we’re warmed by evidence of the raw, rad mystery of happiness we’re all trying to tap into, because it rubs off.

I’ve always been a sucker for a surprising turn of phrase, and Courtney pulls me back into her lyrics over and over whenever I get distracted by that delicious, crunchy, screaming guitar.

They’re so conversational, like she’s sitting next to me, talking cynically about my life’s decisions while the band wails in the background.

BRADY WHISENHUNT, TTV CONTRIBUTOR

RACHEL BACHMAN, SINGER/ SONGWRITER, ECHOES & COPYCATS

JOHN LANGDON, TTV DIGITAL EDITOR

A Laughing Death in Meatspace TROPICAL FUCK STORM The Australian supergroup kept it as safe as an Irish Catholic on their wedding night with their 2018 release.

This ADHD funhouse mirror reflects the mad genius of lead vocalist Gareth Liddiard. A textual perverse attack of off-kilter rhythms and sloppy, out-of-tune guitars creates a soundtrack perfect for communicating with dolphins high on PCP. ANDREW NOGA, DÜCLAÜ

MARY NOBLE, TTV CONTRIBUTOR 38 // MUSIC

December 19, 2018 – January 1, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

Fame and Fortune MICK’S JAGUAR

Negro Swan BLOOD ORANGE

Tacoma Night Terror: Part 1 JACKIE COHEN

Hive Mind THE INTERNET

It’s rock ‘n’ roll swagger that’ll have you shaking your booty and pissing in the streets in no time.

It’s somewhere between Prince, Michael Jackson, and Thundercat.

It’s a straight-through listen. Possibly baby-making music. So beware.

She did a really good job encapsulating the mid- to late-70s LA sound with also adding some really good pop songs throughout it, and I love TASCAM 388 recordings.

Absolutely delivers from top to bottom.

The songs are original, soulful, funky, and sexy.

JACK VANBATON, ACID QUEEN

GABRIEL ROYAL, SINGER/SONGWRITER

Firepower JUDAS PRIEST When I think of being 70 years old, I think of sitting in an oversized recliner and watching “Jeopardy,” not touring the world in a staple heavy metal band. This album sounds like it came straight out of 1983. I love that in the age of mumble rap, JP is keeping the spirit of OG heavy metal alive.

JACOB FULLER, BLIND OATH, DÜCLAÜ

Saturday Morning Cartoons & A Box of Cereal, Vol.1 IAMDES It’s a great look into the artist as a person who shows vulnerability … a full rap album telling the story of his past and upbringing. If you grew up eating cereal, watching blockbuster movies, going to Toys “R” Us with cousins that wasn’t cousins—or if you were just a kid in the 90s—this album is definitely worth listening to. That’s especially true if you don’t think you can relate, because you may discover you and iamDES have more in common.

KEENAN LANE A.K.A. KEENG CUT, RAPPER

DANE ARNOLD, DANE ARNOLD & THE SOUP

GARON BURCH, THE SHELTER PEOPLE

Northern Chaos Gods IMMORTAL

Kill the Lights TONY MOLINA

When I first learned founding front man Abbath had been replaced by his co-founder Demonaz, I was a little put off, but it’s incredible! Right from the start, this album hits you like a blizzard blast to the face. It has everything you want from these black metal legends. Soul ripping shreds, blistering blast beats, and melodic, atmospheric segments. You feel like you’re in a demon-infested, battle-scarred, frozen tundra. I’ll be blasting this years from now.

I inherited a deep appreciation for music from my mother. I always felt kind of guilty for never liking The Beatles, who she loved—like I was missing this amazing bonding opportunity with the very person who got me into music. Then along came Tony Molina’s new record. I remember thinking, “This totally reminds me of The Beatles, but I dig it. I bet my mom would love this.” She did and she made a point to tell me numerous times in the weeks after I introduced it to her. She passed away unexpectedly soon after. This is not only my favorite record of 2018 but also the final thing I got to share and enjoy with my mother. I will love this record until I die.

ERIC MILLER, BLIND OATH

BRIAN TROTH THE HOLY VOID, END TIMERS a THE TULSA VOICE // December 19, 2018 – January 1, 2019

MUSIC // 39

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40 // MUSIC

December 19, 2018 – January 1, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

HELL’S BELLS

feats of strength, and an unadorned aluminum pole.

Certainly a holiday in the annals of Tulsa music history, Soul City will host Steve Pryor’s Birthday Celebration (12/28). The tribute to the late and legendary guitarist will feature Damon Daniel, LD Price, and Dave “Skintight” White, as well as some surprise guests.

As for the tinsel-covered

elephant in the room, there’s no need for Christmas traditions to be stale. Try T-Town Drag Queen Story Hour’s Merry Drag-mas at Bound for Glory Books (12/22).

There’s also Seasons Readings at Magic City Books (12/23), where Public Radio Tulsa personalities (including TTV contributor Barry Friedman) will perform excerpts of David Sedaris’s “Holidays on Ice.”

If your celebrations must include some Christmas tunes, our picks are Christmas with Brother Rabbit and Kalyn Fay at pH Community House (12/21, $5 suggested donation), go “Looking for the Magic” at Dwight Twilley’s Holiday Party at Soul City (12/21), or Merry Riffmas at Blackbird on Pearl with Girls Club, Bandknife, and Creepozoidz (12/22, $5). a

Merry and bright, with a change of soundtrack

by TTV STAFF

T

he holiday season is in full swing and with it comes countless traditions and plenty of the same music you’ve heard every winter of your life. So this year, before the thousandth refrain of Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmastime” sends you to the madhouse, attend these events marking some other important late-December days and the following alternative yuletide gatherings.

The longest night of the year calls for stealing away somewhere cozy with a stiff drink and deep grooves. The Solstice Celebration at Duet (12/21, $20) with Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey founder, pianist Brian Haas, percussionist/ vibraphonist Mike Dillon, and bassist James Singleton is the perfect nocturnal paean.

In a move we can only hope would bring Frank Costanza a semblance of serenity, The Starlite will host a Festivus Party (12/23) complete with the airing of grievances,

THE TULSA VOICE // December 19, 2018 – January 1, 2019

MUSIC // 41

musiclistings Wed // Dec 19 Cellar Dweller – Grazz Trio Coffee House on Cherry Street – Open Mic Crow Creek Tavern – Music Heals Open Mic Duet – Shadley, Hehl, González – ($5) Hard Rock Casino - Riffs – Hudson Drive Mercury Lounge – Jared Tyler & Seth Lee Jones Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame – Tommy Crook, Shelby and Nathan Eicher River Spirit - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – Travis Fite Soundpony – Creatures of the Earth The Colony – Tom Skinner’s Science Project w/ Kelly Oliver The Venue Shrine – Doyle (formerly of the Misfits) – ($13-$16) Vanguard – Catbamboo, Petty Fox, Kinda Collective – ($10)

Thurs // Dec 20 Blackbird on Pearl – Dylan & The Damn Quails – ($5) Hard Rock Casino - Riffs – Barrett Lewis Band, The Rosy Hips Hard Rock Casino - The Joint – Michael McDonald – ($45-$65) Lefty’s On Greenwood – Leon Rollerson Mercury Lounge – Paul Benjaman Renaissance Brewing Company – Open Mic River Spirit - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – DJ 2legit Soul City – Don & Steve White Soundpony – Push Gang The Colony – Jacob Tovar’s Western Night The Colony – Robert Hoefling - Happy Hour The Hunt Club – Ego Culture The Venue Shrine – Jackson Taylor and The Sinners – ($15-$20) The Willows Family Ales – Ryan Browning

Fri // Dec 21 American Legion Post 308 – Double “00” Buck Blackbird on Pearl – *Whirligig Festivus Eve Eve – ($5) Duet – *Brian Haas, Mike Dillon, James Singleton Solstice Celebration – ($20) Fassler Hall – *Ludachristmas Party w/ Damion Shade, Verse, Hakeel Eli’juwon, DJ Kylie – ($5) Hard Rock Casino - Riffs – Dante Schmitz, Hollywood 5 Mercury Lounge – Kody West pH Community House – Christmas w/ Brother Rabbit, Kalyn Fay Rabbit Hole – Funk the Halls w/ Frequency, TFM, Petty Fox, Cherokee Rose River Spirit - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – Fuzed River Spirit Casino - Volcano Stage – Ayngel & John Soul City – *Dwight Twilley Holiday Party Soul City – Susan Herndon - Happy Hour Soundpony – Afistaface The Colony – *Gogo Plumbay Holiday Jam – ($5) The Colony – Scott Evans - Happy Hour The Hunt Club – The Nightly Dues The Venue Shrine – Red Dirt Christmas w/ Red Dirt Rangers, Carter Sampson – ($20-$25) Vanguard – Nate’s Tacky Christmas Party

Sat // Dec 22 The Max Retropub – DJ P Bad Ass Renee’s – Dixie Wrecked, Solid Ground, ESC Ctrl, Obscure Sanity, The Sales Blackbird on Pearl – *Merry Riffmas w/ Girls Club, Bandknife, Creepozoidz – ($5) Bound for Glory Books – A Very Sludgy Christmas w/ In’ere, Grass Giant, Carcinogen Daily, End Timers 42 // MUSIC

Cain’s Ballroom – Rock Christmas w/ Dead Metal Society, Str8ght Shot, Rocket Science, Sweatin Bullets, Poster Child, Quinque – ($15) Duet – Charlie Brown Christmas – (SOLD OUT) Guthrie Green – Celi TheArtiz & Johnny Bean Hard Rock Casino - Riffs – Big Rain Mercury Lounge – Tony Romanello, American Shadows Rabbit Hole – Hey Judy, Contra, The Dull Drums River Spirit - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – The Hi-Fidelics River Spirit Casino - Volcano Stage – Fuzed Trio Soul City – *Blues Society of Tulsa Christmas Party w/ Pilgrim, Dead Letter Kings – ($10) Soundpony – DJ Mooneyham The Colony – Hosty – ($5) The Hunt Club – Firebird The Venue Shrine – Grateful Dead Experience: The Schwag – ($10-$15) Vanguard – My So Called Band – ($10) VanTrease PACE – Christmas with Brian Nhira, Jill Donovan, Jenks Trojanaires, Tona Mason, Nhira Iverson – ($25-$55)

Sun // Dec 23 Bad Ass Renee’s – *Ayilla, Keezy, Savvy Kray, Dial Tone, Vivid, Young DV, Hakeel Eli’Juwon, You.th, Adam The God Blackbird on Pearl – The Neighbor$ East Village Bohemian Pizzeria – Mike Cameron Collective Fassler Hall – *Henna Roso, Combsy Mercury Lounge – Brandon Clark Rabbit Hole – Selected Sundays w/ Skanka River Spirit - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – Brent Giddens Soul City – Bruner & Eicher Soul City – Blues Brunch w/ Dustin Pittsley Soundpony – *Sauce, NuBlvckCity, Kadesh Flow The Colony – Paul Benjaman’s Sunday Nite Thing w/ Mike Satawake The Colony – Singer Songwriter Open Mic Matinee w/ David Hernandez

Mon // Dec 24 Blackbird on Pearl – Open Mic Hodges Bend – Mike Cameron Collective Mercury Lounge – Chris Blevins Rabbit Hole – Chris Foster River Spirit – Travis Kidd The Colony – Seth Lee Jones The Colony – Ryan Browning - Happy Hour

Tues // Dec 25 Blackbird on Pearl – Community Sound Mercury Lounge – Wink Burcham Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame – Depot Jazz and Blues Jams River Spirit – Faye Moffett Soundpony – Roll Through premiere The Colony – Dane Arnold & The Soup The Colony – Deerpaw - Happy Hour The Gypsy Coffee House – Open Mic The Venue Shrine – Freak Show – ($7-$10)

Wed // Dec 26 Cellar Dweller – Grazz Trio Coffee House on Cherry Street – Open Mic Hard Rock Casino - Riffs – Bobby Ray Mercury Lounge – Jared Tyler & Seth Lee Jones Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame – Shelby and Nathan Eicher River Spirit - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – Travis Fite

Soundpony – *Lyrical Smoke w/ Bambi, Gangar, Jay Mizz, Kromatic, Micki Ronnae The Colony – Tom Skinner’s Science Project

Thurs // Dec 27 Blackbird on Pearl – The Windrows – ($5) Duet – Shelby, Nathan, and Isaac Eicher – ($5) Hard Rock Casino - Riffs – Jesse Joice Band, Boogie Fever Mercury Lounge – Paul Benjaman Renaissance Brewing Company – Open Mic River Spirit - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – DJ 2legit Soul City – The Begonias Soundpony – The Alternate Gardes The Colony – Jacob Tovar’s Western Night The Colony – Robert Hoefling - Happy Hour The Willows Family Ales – Joseph Neville, Ryan Browning

Fri // Dec 28 American Legion Post 308 – American Strings Blackbird on Pearl – Meandering Orange, My-Tea Kind, Randy Crouch, Bonnie Paine – ($5) Cabin Boys Brewery – Mike Herndon Crow Creek Tavern – GogginThrash Duet – Olivia Duhon – ($5) Hard Rock Casino - Riffs – 80’z Enuf, Replay Hard Rock Casino - The Joint – *Third Eye Blind – ($29-$49) Mercury Lounge – Weston Horn and the Hush Rabbit Hole – *Dismondj w/ Johnny Mullenax & The HH Collective River Spirit - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – Derryl Perry River Spirit Casino - Paradise Cove – Bad Company – ($60-$75) River Spirit Casino - Volcano Stage – Crystal Williams Soul City – *Steve Pryor’s Birthday Celebration w/ Damon Daniel, LD Price, Dave “Skintight” White Soul City – Susan Herndon - Happy Hour Soundpony – DJ WhyNot The Colony – *Jared Tyler – ($5) The Colony – Scott Evans - Happy Hour The Fur Shop – Kompulsive Child, Second Glance The Hunt Club – Firebird The Starlite – Synthesizer ResurXtion w/ DJs Jessy James & Mike Castle The Venue Shrine – Mountain Sprout, Deerpaw – ($8-$10) Vanguard – Downward, Piece of Mind, Greynier, Full Color Dream – ($10)

Sat // Dec 29 Bad Ass Renee’s – The Alive, Second Glance, Whispers of October, Kompulsive Child Broken Arrow PAC – Home Free: A County Christmas – ($25-$65) Cain’s Ballroom – American Aquatium, Joshua Ray Walker – ($20-$35) Duet – The Cynthia Simmons Jazz Quartet – ($5) Gathering Place - Williams Lodge – Finnegans Awake Hard Rock Casino - Riffs – Travis Marvin, Breaking Southwest Hard Rock Casino - The Joint – Jon Pardi – (SOLD OUT) Mercury Lounge – The Shame, The Normandy’s, The Stiffies Rabbit Hole – *The Stylees River Spirit - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – Faye Moffett River Spirit Casino - Volcano Stage – Brent Giddens

Soul City – Robert Hoefling and Family Soundpony – Pleasuredome The Colony – *Scott Ellison Band album release w/ Dustin Pittsley – ($5) The Fur Shop – Billy Joe Winghead and Friends Vanguard – The Beaten Daylights, Goodfella

Sun // Dec 30 East Village Bohemian Pizzeria – Mike Cameron Collective Hard Rock Casino - Riffs – DJ Sally, DJ What Mercury Lounge – Brandon Clark Rabbit Hole – Selected Sundays w/ Skanka River Spirit - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – Brent Giddens Soul City – Hamilton Loomis Soul City – Bruner & Eicher Soul City – Blues Brunch w/ Dustin Pittsley Soundpony – Camp Counselor, Pealds The Colony – Paul Benjaman’s Sunday Nite Thing w/ Cooper Waugh The Colony – Singer Songwriter Open Mic Matinee w/ David Hernandez

Mon // Dec 31 Bad Ass Renee’s – Spook, Doxy, Day After Mourning, Arjuna, Iron Cathedral, Forbidden Serenity Cain’s Ballroom – Turnpike Troubadours, Kaitlin Butts – (SOLD OUT) Duet – *Combsy, Branjae – ($20) Fassler Hall – *Paul Benjaman, Paddy Ryan, Bo Hallford, Jesse Aycock, Jacob Tovar – ($10) Hard Rock Casino - Riffs – Squadlive, Weekend All Stars Hodges Bend – Mike Cameron Collective Juicemaker Lounge – *Freak Juice, Full Flava Kings, JellyBean Johnson of Morris Day and the Time – ($20) Lennie’s Club & Grill – Gear Dogz Mercury Lounge – Chris Blevins Rabbit Hole – Chris Foster River Spirit - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – Travis Kidd River Spirit Casino - Volcano Stage – DJ Noodles Soul City – *Desi & Cody Soundpony – *DJ Trigger Warning, DJ Swang Em Studio 308 – Retro Rockets – ($30) The Colony – Seth Lee Jones The Colony – Ryan Browning - Happy Hour The Fur Shop – NYE Pop-Punk Ball w/ The Beaten Daylights, New Time Zones, Lights-Out On Sheridan, Follow The Buzzards – ($5) The Hunt Club – The Brothers Moore The Max Retropub – Afistaface The Venue Shrine – Glitterati Gala w/ Jeremy Dawson, Along Came a Robot, DJ Kylie, DRUMADDIC – ($15-$50) The Willows Family Ales – Feral Ghost Vanguard – *Lilac Kings album release w/ CLIFFD\VER, Øvercast, All For mOre – ($10)

Tues // Jan 1 Cain’s Ballroom – *Hangover Ball w/ Cody Canada, Jason Boland, William Clark Green, Wade Bowen, Jamie Lin Wilson, Nikki Lane, Jonathan Tyler, Mike McClure, BJ Barham, Evan Felker – ($22-$42) Mercury Lounge – Wink Burcham Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame – Depot Jazz and Blues Jams River Spirit - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – Faye Moffett The Colony – Dane Arnold & The Soup The Colony – Deerpaw - Happy Hour The Gypsy Coffee House – Open Mic

December 19, 2018 – January 1, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

Saoirse Ronan in “Mary Queen os Scots” | COURTESY

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

OPENING DEC. 21 MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS Acclaimed London theatre director Josie Rourke puts a feminist spin on the 16th Century monarchal showdown between Mary Stuart, the queen of Scotland, and England’s Queen Elizabeth I. Oscar nominees Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie star. Rated R.

OPENING DEC. 25 VICE Christian Bale stars as Dick Cheney in this incendiary biopic about George W. Bush’s vice president. From Oscar-winning writer/ director Adam McKay (“The Big Short”), the all-star cast includes Amy Adams as Lynne Cheney, Sam Rockwell as Bush, and Steve Carell as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Rated R.

OPENING DEC. 28 SHOPLIFTERS Japanese auteur Hirokazu Koreeda examines family dynamics once again in this story of small-time crooks who take in

a homeless child. Winner of the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Rated R.

SPECIAL EVENTS NANA Director Serena Dykman retraces the unique horrors of her grandmother’s Auchwitz survivial story in this compelling documentary—a powerful reflection on the Holocaust and its impact across generations. Special guests Julia Elaine Mills (associate producer) and Nick Walker (cinematographer) will be in attendance for a post-screening Q&A. Tickets only $5! (Sun. Dec. 30, 2 p.m.)

WINGS (1927) Kick off the Oscar season with this first-ever Best Picture winner from 90 years ago.

A big budget action drama of its day, “Wings” boasts groundbreaking aerial dogfight footage. This World War I epic screens for a special Saturday night event. Cast includes silent-era starlet Clara Bow and a young Gary Cooper.

(Sat. Jan. 5, 7 p.m.)

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FILM & TV // 43

onscreen

(Left to right) Kiki Layne and Stephan James in “If Beale Street Could Talk,” Constance Wu in “Crazy Rich Asians,” Chadwick Boseman in “Black Panther” | COURTESY

Diversity represents in 2018 TTV film critics look back on the year in movies

by CHARLES ELMORE and JEFF HUSTON JEFF HUSTON: It’s the end of the year and, for movie lovers, it’s awards season. With it comes a deluge of prestige fi lms, but it’s also time to reflect on the entire year in movies. Before we do that, though, let’s not bury the lede: what’s getting buzz right now?

Of fi lms that are, two stand out the most. The first is “Roma,” Alfonso Cuarón’s follow-up to “Gravity.” This Spanish-language passion project is set in the 1970s Mexico City of his youth. (It’s new to Netfl ix, and you can find my review of it on thetulsavoice. com.) The other is Barry Jenkins’ “If Beale Street Could Talk,” the powerful adaptation of the 1974 James Baldwin novel that proves “Moonlight” was no one-off fluke. “Beale” is a timely lament for two relevant issues—charges of sexual assault, and racial injustice in our legal system—while also being a soulful, spiritual love 44 // FILM & TV

story and stunning achievement of fi lm craft.

CHARLES ELMORE: I absolutely fell in love with “Beale Street.” With his follow-up to “Moonlight,” writer/director Jenkins cements his place as one of our most vital American storytellers. The tale of this young African American couple finding love in ‘70s Harlem was so beautiful yet heartbreaking, and Jenkins handles the James Baldwin material with such deftness and maturity.

Interesting aside: This year saw the follow-up fi lms from both Jenkins and his contemporary, Damien Chazelle, who took the best director statue the same year “Moonlight” won Best Picture.

Chazelle’s biopic about the stoic, determined astronaut Neil Armstrong (“First Man”) was technically masterful and ambitious, blending various formats includ-

ing IMAX, yet the fi lm felt a bit underwhelming.

Even so, as we wrap this year up, I can’t help but feel we’ve been gifted with a multitude of cinematic riches, and not just the prestige pics typical of awards season.

Throughout 2018 there was an abundance of great movies. As I try to assemble my year-end best list, I find myself overflowing with choices. Are you finding yourself in the same boat?

HUSTON: “Overflowing” would be a stretch for me—but yes, as with virtually any year, the great fi lms are out there to be found, almost too many for the average person to keep up with, especially for discerning cinephiles. They even came from Hollywood which, for its part, stepped up its game.

Setting aside that dud “First Man,” when you consider how Ryan Coogler turned Marvel

tentpole “Black Panther” into a parabolic rallying cry for African American agency; or that Bradley Cooper somehow turned the fourth version of “A Star Is Born” into a fi lm that felt deeply personal (marking an auspicious directorial debut along with his best acting to date, all while guiding Lady Gaga’s big-screen breakout); or seeing the year’s runaway rom-com crowd-pleaser “Crazy Rich Asians” with its allAsian cast completely upend a lot of old Hollywood assumptions about what the American public will embrace (while also escaping a Netfl ix purgatory)—well, Tinseltown gave us some richly rewarding pop art.

Plus, Tom Cruise continues to defy age, gravity, and most other laws of physics with a “Mission: Impossible” franchise that still dares to do the most audacious, insane stunts—for real, on

December 19, 2018 – January 1, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

camera—rather than having them digitized and comped by some computer.

three that also landed devastating impacts (Zhao’s Native American rodeo elegy especially).

ELMORE: I agree wholeheartedly!

This year seems to be such a standout because it really seemed like our pop entertainment was just as enjoyable as the more serious, art-house driven offerings.

Tom Cruise not only defied our expectations by delivering one of the most satisfying action fi lms with “M:I–Fallout,” the sixth entry in a franchise that easily could’ve been stale by this point, but he practically killed himself in the process!

I’m glad you brought up “Black Panther” and “Crazy Rich Asians.” This year felt like such a groundswell of fi lms that featured diverse subjects and representation. In 2018, we entered a golden age of African American cinema.

After “Moonlight” won Best Picture for 2016 and then Jordan Peele’s “Get Out” gained critical success and Oscar screenplay gold a year later, the floodgates for diverse cinema have fully been opened and, in 2018, we reaped the harvest of that wave.

Along with “Black Panther,” which adhered to the Marvel style while delivering a powerful discourse on African American identity, fi lms like “Blindspotting,” “Sorry to Bother You” and “The Hate U Give” (even “Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse”!) gave us glimpses into modern-day life in Black America, while fi lms like “Beale” and Spike Lee's “BlacKkKlansman” delivered up moving throwbacks to a different time while still feeling very much of our time.

Lee delivers a masterclass in bluntness and style while showing us he’s not quite ready to pass the baton to the next generation just yet.

Add to that the variety of fi lms that featured strong Asian-centric stories and characters like “Crazy Rich Asians” and “To All The Boys I've Loved Before,” this was a great year for diverse fi lms that really felt reflective of the rich tapestry of our culture and society.

The past 12 months were almost like a response to the oddly tone-deaf offerings from 2017, where out of the nine Best Picture nominees almost all

ELMORE: These all proved more effective than the nihilistically brash “The Favourite” from Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos. Stars Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz, and Emma Stone (all likely Oscar nominees) are riveting in this satirically sinister period piece, but the escalating sadism ends up playing like an elaborate, sociopathic fetish.

Other gems that slipped by were genre-benders, like the narrative/documentary hybrid “American Animals,” a true crime thriller, and “Annihilation,” Alex Garland’s trippy, feminist sci-fi (starring Natalie Portman in a nearly all-female cast) gets under your skin and into your psyche in more ways than one.

(Above) Millicent Simmonds and John Krasinski in “A Quiet Place” (below) Elsie Fisher and Emily Robinson in “Eighth Grade” | COURTESY

featured the struggles of white people or pescaphiles! Call it our fi lm culture catching up with our current culture, but this year felt more representative of the multitude of issues we’re working through in this country while also adorning it in some highly entertaining dressing.

HUSTON: Yeah, Blaxploitation went both art house and mainstream in 2018. Meanwhile, some liberal white fi lmmakers remain a bit predictable (again, “First Man”)—namely Adam McKay’s “Vice,” the Dick Cheney biopic that’s little more than red meat for blue voters, or the palatable Civil Rights formula of “Green

THE TULSA VOICE // December 19, 2018 – January 1, 2019

Book.” Even so, there’s also “Can You Ever Forgive Me?,” a true story starring Melissa McCarthy as a 1990s literary forger; it doesn’t reinvent any wheels but, under the incisive direction of Marielle Heller, it feels like peak Woody Allen.

Art-house horror can’t be ignored either. From “Hereditary” to “Mandy” to “Suspiria” and even “A Quiet Place,” the genre continues to elevate in the hands of serious visionaries. Smaller, under-seen portraits like Paul Dano’s “Wildlife” (shot in Oklahoma), Lynne Ramsey’s Joaquin Phoenix PTSD indie-thriller “You Were Never Really Here,” and Chloe Zhao’s “The Rider” were

HUSTON: Two of the year’s biggest risk payoffs came from a fi rst-timer and a legend: Bo Burnham’s low budget “Eighth Grade” palpably delves into middle school anxiety in the social media age, while “First Reformed” is “Taxi Driver” screenwriter Paul Schrader’s fi rst foray into slow-burn transcendentalism. It could garner star Ethan Hawke an Oscar. (It’s available now on Amazon Prime.)

Speaking of what’s available at home, that brings us back to Netfl ix. Along with “Roma,” the streamer also gave us “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs,” a darkly comic and quietly sobering Western anthology from the Coen Brothers (with Tulsan Tim Blake Nelson in the title vignette) and “Private Life,” director Tamara Jenkins’ raw dramedy about a New York couple struggling to conceive a child. Being exclusive to Netfl ix kept its stars Kathryn Hahn and Paul Giamatti outside the Oscar conversation, unfortunately, because they— along with newcomer Kayli Carter (also in Netfl ix’s “Godless”)—have us laughing through gut punches in the year’s most searing emotional gauntlet.

In the end, diversity has been a hallmark of 2018, a virtue that we can only hope is a watershed for years to come rather than some short-lived halcyon anomaly. a FILM & TV // 45

free will astrology

by ROB BREZSNY

SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22-DEC. 21): Until 1920, most American women didn’t have the right to vote. For that matter, few had ever been candidates for public office. There were exceptions. In 1866, Elizabeth Cady Stanton was the first to seek a seat in Congress. In 1875, Victoria Woodhull ran for president. Susanna Salter became the first woman mayor in 1887. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, Sagittarius, 2019 will be a StantonWoodhull-Salter type of year for you. You’re likely to be ahead of your time and primed to innovate. You’ll have the courage and resourcefulness necessary to try seemingly unlikely and unprecedented feats, and you’ll have a knack for ushering the future into the present.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Studies show that the best possible solution to the problem of homelessness is to provide cheap or free living spaces for the homeless. Not only is it the most effective way of helping the people involved; in the long run, it’s also the least expensive. Is there a comparable problem in your personal life? A chronic difficulty that you keep putting band-aids on but that never gets much better? I’m happy to inform you that 2019 will be a favorable time to dig down to find deeper, more fundamental solutions; to finally fix a troublesome issue rather than just addressing its symptoms.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Many people in Iceland write poems, but only a few publish them. There’s even a term for those who put their creations away in a drawer rather than seeking an audience: skúffuskáld, literally translated as “drawer-poet.” Is there a comparable phenomenon in your life, Aquarius? Do you produce some good thing but never share it? Is there a part of you that you’re proud of but keep secret? Is there an aspect of your ongoing adventures that’s meaningful but mostly private? If so, 2019 will be the year you might want to change your mind about it.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Scientists at Goldsmiths University in London did a study to determine the catchiest pop song ever recorded.

After extensive research in which they evaluated an array of factors, they decided that Queen’s “We Are the Champions” is the song that more people love to sing than any other. This triumphant tune happens to be your theme song in 2019. I suggest you learn the lyrics and melody, and sing it once every day.

It should help you build on the natural confidence-building influences that will be streaming into your life.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Consumer Reports says that between 1975 and 2008, the average number of products for sale in a supermarket rose from about 9,000 to nearly 47,000. The glut is holding steady. Years ago you selected from among three or four brands of soup and shampoo. Nowadays you may be faced with twenty varieties of each. I suspect that 2019 will bring a comparable expansion in some of your life choices, Aries—especially when you’re deciding what to do with your future and who your allies should be. This could be both a problem and a blessing. For best results, opt for choices that have all three of these qualities: fun, usefulness, and meaningfulness.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): People have been trying to convert ordinary metals into gold since at least 300 AD. At that time, an Egyptian alchemist named Zosimos of Panopolis unsuccessfully mixed sulfur and mercury in the hope of performing such magic. Fourteen centuries later, seminal scientist Isaac Newton also failed in his efforts to produce gold from cheap metal. But now let’s fast forward to twentieth-century chemist Glenn T. Seaborg, a distinguished researcher who won a share of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1951. He and his team did an experiment with bismuth, an element that’s immediately adjacent to lead on the periodical table. By using a particle accelerator, they literally transmuted a small quantity of bismuth into gold. I propose that we make this your teaching story for 2019. May it inspire you to seek transformations that have never before been possible.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): United States President Donald Trump wants to build a concrete and fenced wall between Mexico and America, hoping to slow down the flow of immigrants

Place the numbers 1 through 9 in the empty squares so that each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once.

NOVICE

across the border. Meanwhile, twelve Northern African countries are collaborating to build a 4,750-mile-long wall of drought-resistant trees at the border of the Sahara, hoping to stop the desert from swallowing up farmland.

During the coming year, I’ll be rooting for you to draw inspiration from the latter, not the former. Erecting new boundaries will be healthy for you—if it’s done out of love and for the sake of your health, not out of fear and divisiveness.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Cancerian poet and filmmaker Jean Cocteau advised artists to notice the aspects of their work that critics didn’t like—and then cultivate those precise aspects.

He regarded the disparaged or misconstrued elements as being key to an artist’s uniqueness and originality, even if they were as-yet immature. I’m expanding his suggestion and applying it to all of you Crabs during the next ten months, even if you’re not strictly an artist.

Watch carefully what your community seems to misunderstand about the new trends you’re pursuing, and work hard to ripen them.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): In 1891, a 29-year-old British mother named Constance Garnett decided she would study the Russian language and become a translator. She learned fast.

During the next forty years, she produced English translations of 71 Russian literary books, including works by Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Turgenev, and Chekhov. Many had never before been rendered in English. I see 2019 as a Constance Garnett-type year for you, Leo. Any late-blooming potential you might possess could enter a period of rapid maturation.

Awash in enthusiasm and ambition, you’ll have the power to launch a new phase of development that could animate and motivate you for a long time.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): I’ll be bold and predict that 2019 will be a nurturing chapter in your story; a time when you will feel loved and supported to a greater degree than usual; a phase when you will be more at home in your body and more at peace with your fate than you have in a long time. I have chosen an appropriate blessing to bestow upon you, written by the poet Claire Wahmanholm. Speak her words as if they were your own. “On Earth I am held, honeysuckled not just by honeysuckle but by everything—marigolds, bog after bog of small sundews, the cold smell of spruce.”

MASTER

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): “Be very, very careful what you put into that head, because you will never, ever get it out.” This advice is sometimes attributed to sixteenth-century politician and cardinal Thomas Wolsey. Now I’m offering it to you as one of your important themes in 2019.

Here’s how you can best take it to heart. First, be extremely discerning about what ideas, theories, and opinions you allow to flow into your imagination. Make sure they’re based on objective facts and make sure they’re good for you. Second, be aggressive about purging old ideas, theories, and opinions from your head, especially if they’re outmoded, unfounded, or toxic.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Memorize this quote by author Peter Newton and keep it close to your awareness during the coming months: “No remorse. No if-onlys. Just the alertness of being.” Here’s another useful maxim, this one from author Mignon McLaughlin: “Every day of our lives we are on the verge of making those slight changes that would make all the difference.” Shall we make it a lucky three mottoes to live by in 2019? This one’s by author A. A. Milne: “You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”

Write a parable or fairy tale that captures what your life has been like in 2018. t h i s w e e k ’ s h o m e w o r k // T E S T I F Y AT F R E E W I L L A S T R O L O G Y. C O M .

46 // ETC.

December 19, 2018 – January 1, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

THE FUZZ THE TULSA VOICE SPOTLIGHTS: TULSA SPCA

2910 Mohawk Blvd. | MON, TUES, THURS, FRI & SAT, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. 918.428.7722

You can often find EEVIE poolside. This water-loving pup can be a little nervous around new people—but she’s used to living in a home and warms up quickly. Other dogs can give her confidence, and she may do best with another friendly, confident dog. Eevie would love an active owner who takes her on walks, swims with her, and takes things at Eevie’s pace.

ACROSS 1 Warrior princess played by Lucy Lawless 5 Netanyahu nickname 9 Grits go-with 15 Put an end to 19 Good fighter?

20 Principal water carrier 21 Type of roll 22 A violinist, violist and cellist might form one 23 After applying this answer’s first word to the start of the second ... United or American 26 Small stream 27 Suddenly bright star 28 Originates (from) 29 Far from fashionable 31 Try 34 Actress Russo 35 Colorful visualization in a weather report 36 Twelve, on a clock face 37 ... catches wind of 41 Shoo-___ (sure winners) 42 Krabappel of Springfield Elementary 44 Adams with the 1991 hit “Get Here” 45 Do a bar job 46 Raggedy ___ 48 Forest animal or animals 49 Farrow of “Rosemary’s Baby” 50 Spacewalks, in NASA lingo 52 Farming prefix 55 ... often-automatic car feature 61 Japanese noodles 62 Tennis great Arthur 64 Way in 65 “What are ___ waiting for?”

SHANE is a quiet kiddo, but those sweet eyes tell you everything! He was pretty shy when he first came in, but he’s getting more social by the day. This boy is guaranteed to steal your heart. Shane is six months old.

66 A bit 67 Desdemona’s Shakespeare play 70 Ready to serve, at a bar 72 Battle 74 Custardy dessert 75 Health-care lobby org.

77 Spittoon sound 78 “Life of Pi” author Martel 79 Thing 1?

80 ... polite dude 85 Do part of a triathlon 86 Punch 87 Nev. neighbor 88 Blonde queen in “Frozen” 92 Albany is its capital (Abbr.)

94 Palindromic magazine 96 Certain Arabian Peninsula dweller 98 Compete on “American Idol” 99 Pester 101 ... two cubed 105 One of the Stooges 106 It’s taken for coll. credit 108 Post-Christmas curb sight 109 They couldn’t string Odysseus’ bow 111 Stormer of Iwo Jima 112 Midsize Kia model 115 Read a blog without commenting 116 Gets 100% on 117 ... natives for whom a Great Lake is named 122 “The One ___ Got Away” (Katy Perry hit) 123 Follows the edges of 124 Org. with the Final Four 125 Like some threats 126 Skirt lines 127 Getting ready to go home, say?

128 Start of an idea 129 Prepare for a baby bird DOWN 1 Gen ___ (millennial’s parent) 2 Twilight 3 Vaper’s craving 4 Pain reliever brand 5 Health meas. calculated with weight and height 6 Actor McDiarmid or McShane 7 Dallas, to sports fans 8 Come into, in a way 9 Powdery sport 10 Bring in the sheaves 11 Anger 12 Egyptian goddess of motherhood 13 “12 Angry ___” (classic 1957 film) 14 Like better 15 Walk with a swagger 16 ... have the rights to 17 Bottom of a crankcase 18 Coral-forming animals 24 Like a recently used bathrobe 25 Place for a match 30 Tabula ___ 31 Fired 32 Teaser trailer 33 Bell-shaped flower 35 Went berserk 38 Certain tide 39 Stiletto, for one 40 Embassy figure 43 Lord Voldemort, for Harry Potter 47 Fills with disgust 51 Seabird that prays on penguin eggs 53 Ancient Colosseum visitor 54 Unique person, in old slang 56 Offspring of Loki 57 Nuptial vow 58 Potentially offensive, informally

PATCHES would make a great family dog. She loves to play with toys. She is a goofball and seems to enjoy making people smile. She likes to roll in the grass and will sit for treats. This eight-monthold, 38-pound. cutie is eager to please!

59 Crime boss John, aka “The Teflon Don” 60 Electric shaver brand 62 Attorney follower 63 ... paper purchase 67 Switch positions 68 Metallica drummer Ulrich 69 Scrambles’ relatives 71 Sty inhabitant 73 Ob-___ 76 Final butterfly stage 81 Wrinkly citrus hybrid 82 Faddish berry 83 “___ of New York” (2002 period drama) 84 Yale of Yale 89 Elegant trip to a red carpet gala 90 Tubes for shallow diving 91 Eons 93 Peruse 95 Restaurant’s specials, often 96 Track-and-field legend Jesse 97 Stereotypically boring office event 99 Jets quarterback who was the MVP of Super Bowl III 100 Navajo neighbor 102 Experienced with 103 Squeak squelcher 104 Scrabble piece 107 You might take them shopping 110 Shroud of ___ 112 It forms on a healing cut 113 Whale that eats seals 114 A single time 118 Suffix for “north” or “south” 119 Needlefish 120 Yosemite ___ (“Looney Tunes” character) 121 Harden

Find the answers to this issue’s crossword puzzle at thetulsavoice.com/puzzle-solutions.

THE TULSA VOICE // December 19, 2018 – January 1, 2019

The Tulsa SPCA has been helping animals in our area since 1913. The shelter never euthanizes for space and happily rescues animals from high-kill shelters. They also accept owner surrenders, rescues from cruelty investigations, hoarding, and puppy mill situations. Animals live on-site or with foster parents until they’re adopted. All SPCA animals are micro-chipped, vaccinated, spayed/neutered, and treated with preventatives.

Learn about volunteering, fostering, upcoming events, adoptions, and their low-cost vaccination clinic at tulsaspca.org.

Looking for a quiet feline friend with a sweet disposition? Calm and docile CAYENNE is your girl. She has been living it up in our cat colony room, surrounded by other cats she tolerates well. This precious one-yearold is patiently waiting to meet her forever family.

PORT is quite the goofy, playful guy! He’s leash trained and loves treats and snuggles. Port usually needs a bit of time to warm up to new people, but he is such a delight after he gets comfortable! Port is two years old.

UNIVERSAL SUNDAY CROSSWORD THE LONG AND SHORT OF IT

by John Guzzetta, edited by David Steinberg

© 2018 Andrews McMeel Syndication

12/30 ETC. // 47

THURSDAY

12.20

SATURDAY

12.29

SATURDAY

01.19

MICHAEL MCDONALD

8PM

12.28

JON PARDI

8PM

01.04

DAVID SPADE

8PM

01.25

FRIDAY

FRIDAY

FRIDAY

THIRD EYE BLIND

8PM

THE FOUR TOPS

8PM

CLAY WALKER

8PM

GIVE THE GIFT OF ENTERTAINMENT SCAN TO PURCHASE TICKETS

Schedule subject to change.

CNENT_61700_HR_Dec_TulsaVoice_PrintAd_1823972.indd 1

Pleas e re cycle this issue.

12/13/18 2:23 PM