The Tulsa Voice | Vol. 5 No. 19

S E P T. 1 9 – O C T. 2 , 2 0 1 8

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VOL. 5 NO. 19

YES WE CANNABIS TULSA’S WEED DEALERS TALK SQ788 | P24

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September 19 – October 2, 2018 // THE TULSA VOICE

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tickets available at McNellie’s & beerfests.com THE TULSA VOICE // September 19 – October 2, 2018

CONTENTS // 3

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September 19 – October 2, 2018 // THE TULSA VOICE

September 19 – October 2, 2018 // Vol. 5, No. 19 ©2018. All rights reserved.

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

FALL BEER IS HERE P20

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

BY TTV STAFF

Tipple what’s on tap (and on shelves) in Tulsa this autumn

AD SALES MANAGER Josh Kampf CONTRIBUTORS Alicia Chesser, Matt Chinworth, Charles Elmore, Angela Evans, Barry Friedman, Destiny Jade Green, Eric Howerton, Greg Horton, Jeff Huston, Fraser Kastner, Clay Jones, Cassidy McCants, Deon Osborne, Alexandra Robinson, Kris Rose, Damion Shade, John Tranchina, Brady Whisenhunt

The Tulsa Voice’s distribution is audited annually by

YES WE CANNABIS P24

BY FRASER KASTNER

Tulsa’s weed dealers talk SQ788

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NEWS & COMMENTARY 7 HOT BOX

B Y DAMION SHADE

28 STRIP-MALL CONFIDENTIAL

B Y KRIS ROSE

Policymakers still have big questions to answer on medical marijuana

In a sea of synthetic stucco, these stores stand out

8

THE BAD BAPTIST BOARD

BY BARRY FRIEDMAN

30 THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT

B Y ALICIA CHESSER

God and voting at Brookside Church

10 ‘GIMME SHELTER’

BY DEON OSBORNE A social worker shines light on the potential of homeless youth

12 A TALE OF THREE COUNTIES

BY DAMION SHADE Sentencing disparities reveal the depth of Oklahoma’s incarceration crisis

FOOD & DRINK S E P T. 1 9 – O C T. 2 , 2 0 1 8

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VOL. 5 NO. 19

14 GASTRONOMY OF SCALE

B Y ANGELA EVANS Forward-moving fare headlines at new restaurant and jazz lounge

16 TULSA TACO CRAWL, PT. II

B Y ERIC HOWERTON

MUSIC

ARTS & CULTURE

‘ Tour de Quartz’ brings local student artwork to Gilcrease Museum

31 SEEING STARS

B Y JOHN TRANCHINA

NHL hockey comes to BOK Center on Sept. 22

36 AMERICAN DOGCORE

B Y BRADY WHISENHUNT DüClaü’s bone-chilling agenda to liberate local canines, enslave humanity, and rock Tulsa

38 ‘I CAN’T ESCAPE BEING ME’

BY ALEXANDRA ROBINSON Parker Millsap comes home with confidence

40 SUPERBLY ANTI-SUBURB

B Y CASSIDY MCCANTS Three neighbors bring the party to Owen Park’s porches

ETC. 6 EDITOR’SLETTER 9 CARTOONS 32 THEHAPS 42 MUSICLISTINGS 45 FULLCIRCLE 47 THEFUZZ + CROSSWORD

TV & FILM 44 ‘DO THE HUSTLE’

BY CHARLES ELMORE

‘ White Boy Rick’ enters the American crime film cannon to mixed results

45 NOBLE PRIZE

B Y JEFF HUSTON

Glenn Close gives a screen-acting masterclass in ‘The Wife’

Continuing the search for T-Town’s tastiest taquerias YES WE CANNABIS TULSA’S WEED DEALERS TALK SQ788 | P24

ON THE COVER Tulsa weed dealers respond to Oklahoma’s changing marijuana policies.

ILLUSTRATION BY MATT CHINWORTH

18 UP IN SMOKE

B Y GREG HORTON Mezcal offers an artisanal buzz, ‘but not in a hipster way’

THE TULSA VOICE // September 19 – October 2, 2018

CONTENTS // 5

editor’sletter “The Nixon White House [. . .] had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying?

We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”

T

hat’s Nixon White House domestic affairs advisor and Watergate co-conspirator, John Ehrlichman, explaining the origins of the War on Drugs—a racist boondoggle that has been dutifully pursued by every presidential administration since 1969.

Ehrlichman’s admission is disturbing, but not surprising. U.S. drug policy has always been about policing minorities. Nixon’s man just said the quiet part loud.

Cannabis laws originated in this country as a reaction to Mexican “immigration” in the American southwest. (The foreign-sounding marijuana was a term promoted in order to peg the flowering plant as not-white.) Today, people of color

are far more likely to serve time in Oklahoma than their Anglo counterparts, and a disproportionate number of those sentences are for nonviolent drug charges.

SQ788, which legalized medical cannabis in Oklahoma, is a major victory for champions of common sense drug policy—but there’s nothing to celebrate when it comes to unequal application of the law. Too many people are locked up on charges that have nothing to do with making our communities safer and everything to do with preserving the racial and class-based inequalities baked into our justice system.

How can we go about our lives, blazing dank medical nugs while

people suffer in our cash-strapped jails and prisons?

Legalization isn’t enough. We must commute the sentences of every incarcerated nonviolent drug offender. Let’s free our neighbors, reunite them with their families and communities, then use the savings to fund our schools, pay our teachers, and expand opportunity for everyone through robust public investment in healthcare, substance abuse treatment, and jobs programs. It’s more than smart policy—it’s our only hope for survival.

This issue of The Tulsa Voice features interviews with local weed dealers about their feelings on SQ788 (pg. 24). I was drawn to it

RECYCLE THIS Plastic jugs & bottles

for a lot of reasons, but mostly because it honors our commitment to bring you voices you won’t find anywhere else. You’ll also find an urgent piece about sentencing disparities across three Oklahoma counties (pg. 12); a punk band who dresses up like dogs (pg. 36); and other great, weird stuff—but I’m over my word count, so just read it. Enjoy! Love you. a

JEZY J. GRAY EDITOR

NOT THAT Plastic toys

Throw toys away in your gray trash cart or donate them

Plastic jugs and bottles are perfect for recycling, but

plastic toys

6 // NEWS & COMMENTARY

are NOT!

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TulsaRecycles.com September 19 – October 2, 2018 // THE TULSA VOICE

okpolicy

HOT BOX Policymakers still have big questions to answer on medical marijuana

by DAMION SHADE for OKPOLICY.ORG

THE TULSA VOICE // September 19 – October 2, 2018

M

ore than half a million Oklahomans voted in favor of State Question 788, which legalized medical marijuana. The State Question directed the Department of Health to issue rules governing the law’s implementation, and after a flurry of controversy, Gov. Fallin signed new emergency rules on July 31.

The regulation process, however, is still incomplete. While the emergency rules implement the language of SQ 788, there are several areas—including laboratory testing of cannabis products, changes to law enforcement practices, and patient licensing procedures—that remain unsettled because SQ 788 did not explicitly authorize the Health Department to create rules. These gaps will require a legislative fix, and a working group of legislators must balance concerns of law enforcement and public health officials with one of the least restrictive medical marijuana ballot measures in the nation.

Oklahoma’s medical marijuana law is relatively permissive.

License holders can possess a large amount of marijuana compared to other states—including smokeable cannabis, which isn’t allowed in several other states with medical marijuana. There are also relatively few regulations on marijuana businesses, including growers, processors, and dispensaries. Those applying for a business license must be at least 25, and their board members and managers must also be Oklahoma residents. The application fee for a commercial license is relatively low at $2,500. By contrast, there are firm limits on both the capital requirements and the number of marijuana business licenses in many other states.

However, gaps in the law have created confusion for law enforcement and regulators. At a legislative working group meeting in August, law enforcement

expressed concern about the law’s internal conflicts and unforeseen consequences. For example, SQ 780 reclassified most simple drug possession crimes as misdemeanors punishable by up to a year in prison, while SQ 788 calls for a $400 fine and no jail time for illegal possession of up to 1.5 ounces. Prior to SQ 780, first-time simple possession of marijuana was usually a misdemeanor, but the difference between these statutes still leaves law enforcement uncertain of which law to follow.

Allowing licensed patients to grow and carry amounts of medical marijuana beyond what’s allowed in other states also concerns law enforcement. Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics Director John Scully told the working group that he believes these loose restrictions will create an enormous black market and dramatically increase DUI rates. However, it’s not clear that this is the case. Data on the black market effects of legalization are difficult to track, but one recent report shows that three years after legalization, there was no statistically significant difference between the rates of DUI crashes in these states than those without legalization.

Yet another serious concern for policymakers is lab safety.

Some marijuana businesses will likely create their own testing and safety process, but without a common regulation, there’s no standard method to ensure patient safety.

Legislators will ultimately have to balance advocates’ intent and the realities of regulation in the spring legislative session. For the time being, law enforcement and police will likely have to simply use their arrest and prosecutorial discretion to resolve the SQ 780 and SQ 788 conflicts. Legislators wary of voter discontent seem satisfied with adopting the Department of Health’s emergency rules temporarily, but they will have to confront all of these issues in 2019. a NEWS & COMMENTARY // 7

The bad Baptist board God and voting at Brookside Church

by BARRY FRIEDMAN “You are literally disgusting.

Pretending to be a religious outlet to push your agenda. Burn in Hell you ignorant f—cks.”

T

hat was one of the texts Brookside Church Senior Pastor Danny Stockstill received after the following message appeared on the church sign that faces Peoria Avenue: “The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left.”

It was Aug. 28, and Brookside Church was a polling place for the runoff election.

The passage is from Ecclesiastes 10:2, and the translation has to do with approaching life from a position of strength—the right, literally, having to do with the fact that most people are right-handed; thus, the dominant hand or position. The left, concurrently, is the weaker of the two. In no translation in any Christian bible is this considered some punk-ass nod to right wing American politics.1 Stockstill says that wasn’t the motivation of the person who put it up, anyway—which I’m not buying—but we’ll get to that in a moment. He and I have maintained a friendship since I profiled him back in February2 when he was running for congress as a Republican in the 1st Congressional District. I found him to be the most reasonable candidate in the GOP field and not some bible-thumping, constitutionally-ignorant nut job, which is why reports of this story were disappointing. He finished, not surprisingly, last in a field of five.

I also like the guy.

“So, what the hell happened?”

I asked him, as we sat down for lunch a few weeks ago. “I spend 8 // NEWS & COMMENTARY

Brookside Church Senior Pastor Danny Stockstill | KELLY KERR

all that time in the earlier piece building your reputation and this is how you repay me?”

He laughed.

“To be fair, the only thing people knew about me was that my crazy church posted a crazy right-wing, Trump-loving post on Election Day,” he said of the message and the overwhelmingly negative reaction to it. “I would think the same thing if that was the only information I had.”

According to Stockstill, a few days before the election, someone on his staff suggested the passage be put on the church message board which looks out on Peoria.

“This exact passage?”

“Yeah.”

“So, what did you say?”

“I told them it wasn’t going up.

It doesn’t promote who we are. It doesn’t do us any good, especially in our community.”

“But it went up anyway,” I said.

“Were they trying to make you look bad?”

“No. This wasn’t a political statement. The person who did it was going for comedy.”

“Comedy? C’mon.”

“I know the person who did it. She was not trying to stoke either side.”

“That’s tough to believe,” I said, “especially since the left was the one stoked. The right never would have been stoked on a sign at a Baptist church.”

“You’re probably right,” he admitted.

“But, for sake of argument— OK, have it your way. You had already rejected the sign. And she put it up anyway. How does that happen? You run the show, right?”

The answer is yes and no.

He said that’s the way church hierarchy works, especially Baptist church hierarchy—which Brookside is, even if the “Baptist” part has been taken off the signage.

“We have two co-pastors with equal control,” Stockstill said. “One of the struggles within the Baptist church—and the reasons we’re dying so much—is that everybody has authority and ownership of the church, and so, the feeling is, that I should be able to decide what the church does because I have just as much of a relationship with God as anyone else.”

“So is that why there are so many Baptist churches? Groups are always getting pissed off and breaking away?” I asked.

“Pretty much.”

“Talk me through the day.”

“I got up that morning, got dressed—and, since I’m not running for anything anymore, social media is not the first thing I pick up in the morning; so I go vote.

I’m driving down the street, and at 9 a.m., I get a direct message from a great friend who writes, ‘What is this?’ and I look at the [picture of the] message board and immediately send a text message and say to two people [at the church], ‘This has to come down ASAP!’ and then I called our custodian and said, ‘Go pull it down now.’”

And this happened, he says, before anyone from the media or any group contacted him.

“Did you know this was bad at the time?”

“Yeah.”

Here’s the disconnect—my disconnect: This Baptist pastor whose church put up something so monumentally stupid and religiously arrogant is the same Baptist pastor who tries to work with Planned Parenthood and doesn’t believe in Christian exclusivity in heaven, as I described in my initial piece on him. He also said this during a Republican debate about a Republican president: “We like President Trump because he says what he says and he means what he says… So why are we so afraid to say, ‘There’s no way I want my son to act like [Trump]’? If my daughter ever dates a man who treated her like he treats women, I’m going to use my Second Amendment rights,” Stockstill said. “If I ever find out my son has treated women the way

September 19 – October 2, 2018 // THE TULSA VOICE

he has, I don’t care how old [my son] is, I’m going to come down on him.

If we can’t stand up and say out loud, ‘I disagree with President Trump in the way he treats people,’ shame on us.”3

He was booed when he said it. Conservative talk radio skewered him.

But he was right, and not one of the people on stage—not Andy Coleman; not Nathan Dahm; not Tim Harris; not Kevin Hern, the eventual nominee (all men of God, they’ll tell you)— could find even the semblance of a backbone to distinguish between the policy “successes” of the president, debatable though they may be, and his misogyny and infidelity.

“I know the right answer,” Stockstill said. “I know I’m supposed to be the role model for my kids, but as I listened to good men, Andy Coleman and Tim Harris, not be able to [make the distinction between Trump’s policies and character] because of politics, I found myself getting more and more frustrated that because we’re running for office, we can’t speak the truth.”

He said this, too, during the debate: “I despise the fact he thinks it’s OK to have an affair with a porn star, pay her off, and pretend like it doesn’t matter,” Stockstill said. “It’s one thing to say we don’t have one man and one woman anymore,

but for us to say it’s OK to have one man and five women is a disgrace.

We’ve got to separate. He is not a role model. Is he a good president so far? I think he’s doing a pretty good job. Is he a role model for my kids? Not as long as I’m alive.”

You give a guy like that a mulligan for a sign on a message board, even though he didn’t fire or reprimand the person who posted it—which, for the embarrassment and insubordination it caused, seemed the appropriate thing to do. He did institute a new policy where all messages coming from the church will now have to be approved by him, but that counts on the good will of those at the church who have already demonstrated their willingness to circumvent his wishes.

In any event, he knows this battle is over. It’s lost.

“That billboard did more damage in two and a half hours than we did good in the past six years—not necessarily in our community, but the perception of what church is because it looks like we’re trying to manipulate people. It was only up for a couple of hours. I’m not sure how many people actually saw it, but the perception is all over the place.”

“Have to ask,” I say. “I know the left skewered you, but what about the right? Hear from anyone in support of the message on the sign?”

“One guy called and said, ‘I’m

THE TULSA VOICE // September 19 – October 2, 2018

so glad to see this sign. This is the kind of church I want to be a part of.’ I told him, ‘You may not be happy here because that sign was a mistake. That’s not who we are.’”

“What did he say?”

“I don’t think he was really looking for a church.”

“Why’s that?”

“It ended in profanity.”

Thinking back, Stockstill sees the problem was in the cherry-picking.

“I don’t really care what people think of me, but our message has to be grace, and there is a difference between the God I believe in and the God that is pushed out there so often,” he said. “What the church has been doing is taking individual verses, taking them out of context, and trying to manipulate people’s lives, which is not what we do.”

“What does this do—and remember we met over this issue— about your feelings about the separation of church and state?”

I asked. “The people who acted most angrily to this are those who want your religion out of their politics.”

“As for that separation, it should be strengthened, because that separation protects religion,” he said. “That’s why I see it as necessary.”

And this is why the guy gets a mulligan.

“I nearly had you come to church this Sunday,” he told me.

“Because the message was built completely around our church sign and what our message is. I start-

ed off by saying how the Bible actually supports polygamy—went to the verse in 2 Samuel where Nathan looks at King David and says, ‘I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your arms, and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added you many more things like these.’ Then I talked about how God also condones—in fact, demands—child sacrifice, if you go back to Abraham and Isaac.

And the congregation is looking at me as if to say, ‘This is the first two points of your sermon?’ But then I talked about the dangers of the church trying to manipulate actions of people based on individual scripture, rather than the context of the whole Bible.”

Which brings us back to a billboard on a church at the end of August.

“We have to be extremely intentional about what our message is to our community,” Stockstill said. “If our message is focusing on actions or attitudes or lifestyles, we’re getting it wrong.”

They got it wrong. a

1) answersfromthebook.net: Can you explain what Ecclesiastes 10:2 means?

2) thetulsavoice.com: What’s wrong with the Right 3) tulsaworld.com: Republican congressional candidate shames fellow GOPers for not criticizing Trump’s treatment of women

NEWS & COMMENTARY // 9

community

I

magine if, instead of avoiding a homeless person on the street, you sought to communicate, understand, and offer assistance. For one Tulsa social worker, helping the homeless isn’t a feel-good hobby. It’s his job.

Youth Services of Tulsa case manager Daniel Howell works with homeless youth in the organization’s transitional living program. The program helps these young Tulsans (ages 17-22) become independent by providing a stable, safe place to live while equipping them with educational, occupational, and life skills for their transition into adult living.

Having graduated from Oral Roberts University with a degree in psychology, Howell said it was the community outreach experiences as a student with people from different socioeconomic backgrounds that set him on the path of social work.

“Seeing they were not the caricatures I’d been taught, and seeing the value of listening to people and affording them dignity—that really whet my appetite for just saying, ‘I want to do this with my life,’” Howell said.

With a relaxed attitude and a quiet voice, it only takes a few questions about what impacts him most for the passion in his work to spread across his face and around the room.

“I’m really passionate about clients that have some justice involvement in their youth,” Howell said. “Because of the stigma attached to them.”

Howell said Youth Services of Tulsa has accepted homeless youth with varying needs and backgrounds. Many come from unstable homes, DHS, or the Office of Juvenile Affairs. Almost all of them have some family conflict or trauma.

“They’re just seen as bad,” Howell said. “This reduces a multidimensional person with goals, dreams, and complex trauma to a very one-dimensional characterization of who they are.”

It takes a person with a 10 // NEWS & COMMENTARY

Youth Services of Tulsa case manager Daniel Howell | GREG BOLLINGER

‘GIMME SHELTER’ A social worker shines light on the potential of homeless youth

by DEON OSBORNE non-judgmental personality to work for Youth Services of Tulsa, according to assistant director Tania Pryce.

“It’s about somebody’s ability to form connections with other people,” Pryce said. And not just connections between clients and case workers. Youth Services partners with several other agencies to serve the homeless youth population.

Of the dozens of programs YST offers, one partners with the Mental Health Association for housing needs and another partners with the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma for an entrepreneurial taco food service run by clients. Union Public Schools runs G.E.D. classes in the YST facility, and the OSU School of Community Medicine helps run a medical clinic.

“No one agency can do it all,” Pryce said.

Howell said one of the biggest issues he’s noticed is that zip codes often determine life outcomes.

“Clients that come from zip codes further north in Tulsa don’t have nearly as much access as clients

further south.” Due to differences in education funding, and other resources, two young adults who have both experienced homelessness but come from different neighborhoods aren’t equally equipped to access the services they need.

Howell said he and his coworkers don’t judge applicants based on their past. The goal is to help them find their way to self-sufficiency.

The intake process only applies to applicants who are currently homeless, according to Howell.

After turning in an application, an admissions specialist contacts the client to come in for an evaluation.

“We get more or less a picture of their history and the things that led them to requiring our services,” Howell said.

From there, the client meets with a case manager where they engage in an informal, conversational interview. Then a round of assessments on trauma, financial needs, and medical needs follow a drug test to determine the holistic status of the applicant. After the three to five-week intake process is complete, case managers move

their clients into an available space inside their mixed-housing apartment.

Half the tenants are regular paying renters, and about half are clients in the program. The full length of the program from homelessness to graduation usually takes 12-18 months.

Pryce said the organization prioritizes forgiveness over punishment. “If they make mistakes, we want to give them multiple opportunities before resorting to having them exit the program.”

From Howell’s perspective, transitional housing gives young people dignity, privacy, and autonomy while teaching them responsibility, self-sufficiency and life skills.

“Doing this kind of work, you have to let people be vulnerable, and you have to be vulnerable with them,” Howell said.

There’s reason to be hopeful for their success. This year, a groundbreaking new program called A Better Way started in Tulsa that offers housing-insecure individuals an opportunity to earn a wage by beautifying the city.

Despite this and other programs, however, Tulsa’s homeless population is increasing, according to the Community Service Council.

While partnerships between private organizations and state agencies like the Office of Juvenile Affairs are expanding, Howell and Pryce both said state leaders need to fund more services to combat the rising issue of youth homelessness.

Regardless of the stresses of the job, Howell said the support system and collaboration his coworkers offer each other help make it worthwhile. But he said nothing brings him more joy than seeing his clients reach their potential.

“Seeing clients who haven’t had access, who are told they won’t amount to much—I see the light switch come on. They start to realize they’re not defined by those experiences. They’re not even defined by the worst thing they’ve ever done.” a

September 19 – October 2, 2018 // THE TULSA VOICE

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NEWS & COMMENTARY // 11

statewide

T

here are 77 counties in Oklahoma—each with its own culture. Football mascots, greasy spoon diners, hipster bars, oil pipelines, and churches are all little pieces of that culture.

Ultimately, a culture is just a collection of stories. It’s the continuous conversation a civilization has with itself. We tell deeply human stories about the Oklahomans who inhabit certain parts of our community. Then there are the stories we do not tell—those of the people our culture has conspired to keep invisible.

According to a recent Bureau of Justice Statistics report, Oklahoma became the most incarcerated state in America in 2016— with 1,300 of every 100,000 adults locked behind bars. In a country representing 4.4 percent of the world’s population, but 22 percent of its prisoners, Oklahomans are now the most incarcerated people on the planet.

This story has been shaped as much by geography as politics.

Urban, rural, and suburban communities have entirely different criminal justice systems, and zip code is often the best determinate of how long an Oklahoman goes to prison.

About 32 percent of the incarcerated people in Oklahoma are in our local jails, and many of those people are locked up even though they haven’t been found guilty of a crime. They’re often just stuck in the court process. The story of police, prisons, and people in these Oklahoma counties is a microcosm of the larger story of why so many people end up incarcerated in America.

TULSA COUNTY Jill Webb is a public defense attorney in Tulsa County. In 2003, she went to a predominantly African American church in Chicago and felt called by God to become a public defender.

“My friend and I were the only ones in that particular service who happened to be white,” she said.

“In the middle of her sermon, the minister said ‘Raise your hand

12 // NEWS & COMMENTARY

prison and eventually reuniting them with their kids.

“One of the things Tulsa County does well is having a more integrated treatment system than other parts of Oklahoma— [which] the police, judges and district attorneys are all starting to become brought into,” said Webb.

“I think a lot of people in law enforcement in Tulsa are starting to proactively look for alternatives to prison. The racial disparities in the Tulsa jail are still pretty profound, but folks at places like Family and Children’s Services are genuinely making a difference in people’s lives every day.”

A TALE OF THREE COUNTIES Oklahoma County assistant public defender Francie Ekwerekwu | COURTESY

Sentencing disparities reveal the depth of Oklahoma’s incarceration crisis

by DAMION SHADE if you know somebody who is in jail,’ and every hand went up except mine and my friends [. . .]

Then she said, ‘Keep your hands up if that person had a good lawyer,’ and every hand went down.”

That service changed Webb’s life. She became a public defender in Cook County in Chicago before eventually moving to Tulsa. Webb learned the peculiar realities of Tulsa’s justice system up close.

“If you get arrested for a felony in Tulsa, and you can’t make your bond that first day, then you’ll be in jail for six days,” Webb said. “That’s how long it takes for a person to even be assigned a lawyer, because there are so many cases. Then, once you get a lawyer, it’s usually another three days before you can get a hearing to reduce your bond or even come before a judge. That’s nine days

in David L. Moss [Tulsa’s county jail] before the process has even started.”

What happens to a single mother struggling to pay her bills when she goes to jail in Tulsa County and misses nine days with her job and her kids? She’s likely to lose her job and be shoved through a revolving door of court fees and fines, then arrested repeatedly for the crime of being unable to pay.

Tulsa is fortunate, however, to be a large, relatively urban community which has seen an infusion of local investment in alternatives to jail for those experiencing mental health issues, homelessness, and substance abuse. Programs like the Lindsey House and the Kaiser Foundation’s Women in Recovery have been very successful at keeping mothers out of

MUSKOGEE COUNTY Less than 50 miles away in Muskogee County, the story is quite different. Many of its towns, like Haskell and Beggs, are small and rural. Though the population of Muskogee County is around five percent of Tulsa’s population, it had the second-highest felony filings per capita of any county in Oklahoma in 2015 according to a report by the Oklahoma Policy Institute.

Prosecutors are charging more people with felonies, on average, and those individuals are often serving longer sentences. Some towns in Muskogee County, like Fort Gibson, have made slight investments in substance abuse treatment and alternatives to prison in recent years, but many places simply lack the resources to send addicts anywhere but prison.

Last July, The Pavillion—an inpatient, acute psychiatric crisis unit in Muskogee—was forced to close after its provider contract was terminated. Patients in need of behavioral health treatment were either transferred to Laureate, a relatively expensive provider in Tulsa, or sent home. There is only one other mental health crisis unit in Muskogee, run by Green Country Behavioral Health Services (GCBHS).

GCBHS chief executive officer Joy Sloan considers the unit’s closing endemic of the challenges faced in this region. “Anytime you

September 19 – October 2, 2018 // THE TULSA VOICE

lose a big community partner like that—no question, there is harm to the community,” she said.

Meth and cocaine have been major drivers of incarceration in southwestern Oklahoma, and the opioid crisis has exacerbated these problems. Many of the most at-risk people in small communities are addicts who desperately want help, but who just can’t find treatment anywhere near where they live.

“The Pavillion was able to hold someone for 23 hours and 59 minutes before they were admitted to a hospital,” Sloan said.

“So for people that are maybe intoxicated, maybe need to sober up over a few hours and then they’re OK—or maybe someone has experienced an event that’s left them despondent, and they need to be kept safe for a few hours. Anytime during that 24 hours, they can decide to admit them or send them to outpatient services or a higher level of care.

I think we’re going to feel the effects of that more than the loss of the inpatient care.”

It’s hard to overestimate what the absence of these services does to a community. Crime rates often rise as municipalities lose investments in mental health services. This leads to rural towns and cities where the largest local mental health provider is often the local jail.

OKLAHOMA COUNTY Francie Ekwerekwu is an assistant public defender in Oklahoma County—home of Oklahoma City, Edmond, Midwest City, and Bethany, to name a few. She’s also a site supervisor at The Education and Employment Ministry (TEEM), an outreach group serving formerly-incarcerated people in the OKC area.

TEEM advocates for jobs and job training for hundreds of people with criminal justice involvement around OKC. The sheer size of Oklahoma County creates jail conditions which often seem like some type of fatalistic trap.

“When you’re arrested in Oklahoma County—depending on the day of the week, and how busy the jail is that day—on average, it can actually be a 6-12 hour process before you’re booked in officially,” Ekwerekwu explained.

“Once you’re booked, you’re

placed in another area where you can get dressed into the jail clothing and you wait to get a assigned to a cell.”

There are 13 floors at the Oklahoma County Jail. The jail is so busy that it takes about 48 hours before most people get arraigned, and that arraignment happens via video conference with a judge. There are so many people at the jail every day that it would be physically impossible to transport everyone to a hearing, and there aren’t any judges or magistrates in the building.

The judge at your arraignment is often the first person who explains in detail what you’ve been arrested for, though not necessarily what the district attorney has charged you for. The DA may not have formally charged you with anything in the first 48 hours.

Often a judge on a video monitor just tells you what crime you were arrested for, and you’re given a bond based on that.

“It may be at the four-day mark, or the six-day mark, or even eight days before the district attorney explains what your official charges are,” Ekwerekwu said.

“Our rule is that, after ten days with no charges, Judge McCray releases those defendants. It’s really up to you to keep checking with your bondsman, or keep checking online through OSCN, to see if charges have actually been filed based on your arrest.”

If you’re charged in Oklahoma County before the end of that ten days, then you have to bond out of jail to get out.

“If you don’t qualify for any of the bonds that get you out on your own recognizance, or if you just can’t afford to pay your bond, you sit there until your next court date,” Ekwerekwu said. “Generally that next court date is not for another 30 days, because the court system is so backed up. Our public defenders usually don’t attach until around that 30-day mark.”

Many poor and homeless inmates who don’t qualify for bond release programs will sit in jail for more than 30 days in Oklahoma County before they’re even assigned a public defender. Judges often won’t appoint a public defender to people with full time jobs, no matter how much an inmate makes per hour, because they don’t want to overwhelm the

THE TULSA VOICE // September 19 – October 2, 2018

public defenders’ caseloads—and the need for public defenders is astronomically high.

Sometimes inmates will hire someone briefly just to get themselves a continuance, so they can go work their job long enough to hire an attorney full time. How long you stay in jail is often determined by how much money you make.

The set of facts governing these realities is overwhelming. Race, poverty, and a natural concern for public safety are all factors that created this system. It’s difficult to see how our community is helped by locking up someone’s mom or dad for being a drug addict, or—more vexingly—for simply being poor.

D’Marria Monday works as a client advocate at Still She Rises, a non-profit, holistic public defender’s office in Tulsa. “Because I am formerly incarcerated, I’ve been through a lot of the things that our clients have been through,” Monday said. “We have to start thinking about how our justice system affects a whole community—what it does to the children whose parents are gone, or whole neighborhoods dealing with historic and unresolved trauma. I strive to bring trauma-informed care to women in prison. Because a lot of women who are justice-involved have been through trauma, and that trauma is often the root cause of their incarceration. Without that root cause being dealt with, the cycle continues.”

Systems have inertia. It’s hard to alter the trajectory of these long-standing problems, but many district attorneys and public defenders in Oklahoma are seeking more compassionate and practical alternatives to incarceration.

Justice outcomes shouldn’t look different by county. We should be able to lock up violent bad guys without making our cities worse.

There’s reasonable bipartisan argument to be had on this issue, but we should all be able to agree that a city shouldn’t be defined by the inequities of its jails. a

Damion Shade is criminal justice policy analyst at the Oklahoma Policy Institute.

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NEWS & COMMENTARY // 13

foodfile

Chilled sweet pea soup, interior of Duet, and gingersnap-encrusted salmon with forbidden noodles | GREG BOLLINGER

Gastronomy of scale

Forward-moving fare headlines at new restaurant and jazz lounge

by ANGELA EVANS

T

he umistakable tssss-tss-tsstsssss from a high-hat pings off brick facades like audible confetti. I’m lured deeper into the cluster of auburn red buildings that now line Archer Avenue, right along the tippy-top of the Arts District. A breeze of tinkling piano keys swirls around me, drawing me to the lively patio at Duet, the newest restaurant in downtown that feels like New York, but is unmistakably Tulsa.

Duet is a multi-faceted operation—a classy spot for a quick lunch, a swanky place for dinner, and soon-to-be the most swingin’ jazz lounge in town. The jazz lounge plus restaurant concept is yet another brain child of the Kaiser Foundation, which handed creative reign to Tuck and Kate Curren, a couple of the coolest cats and restauranteurs in Tulsa.

Vast floor-to-ceiling windows pull the buzz of the city streets into the dining room, a minimalist space where exposed cement columns and brick give way to chic design elements. A retractable door is flung open, and every stanza from the quartet playing on patio breathes élan vital into the

14 // FOOD & DRINK

dining room. The sleek feel of the space is tempered by an easy charm the Currens impart to all of their endeavors.

All great maestros need their virtuosos, and the Currens found theirs in Chef Nico Albert. She has been making her mark on restaurants in Tulsa for years, but this was her first opportunity to expand her repertoire.

Albert’s menu for Duet is written like a bright melody that remains tethered to earthy tonality. Dishes are parsed into Soil, Sea, Land and Sky, like an incantation—a summoning of faraway flavors.

The menu runs the gamut of flavor profiles—Viet-Cajun mussels share the menu with beet and sweet potato gnocchi—within a price range that won’t disappoint.

Albert’s riff on a classic tostada includes fried oysters, a nod to New Orleans cuisine. Fried chicken gets an Asian treatment, while barbecue ribs are elevated with dark cherries and sumac vinaigrette.

The most experimental corners of jazz can feel chaotic and unhinged, but there is a method to the menu’s madness.

“I wanted to have a single vein running through everything—a center line,” Albert said. “Jazz is based around a book of standards.

Songs that people have been playing for generations all over the world. But improvisation is what keeps jazz exciting, because no one plays that one standard the same. Cooking is very similar.

There are standards, like tried-andtrue comfort food favorites. So, I’ve taken these traditional dishes that everyone enjoys, and tried to do something that is familiar but exotic at the same time.”

The gingersnap-encrusted salmon with forbidden noodles is a frenetic-sounding dish that is actually tightly composed. The gingersnaps—gluten-free and made in house—are ground into a powder-like consistency. It creates a smooth, caramel-colored coating that imparts a delicate crunch with a soupçon of sweetness and spice.

The salmon perches upon a nest of inky black noodles with a toothsome texture, dressed in a balanced sesame scallion vinaigrette.

The chilled sweet pea soup was perhaps the most versatile dish of the evening. The broth

itself is velvety and verdant, but the pistachio carrot pesto lends a surprise salty richness. Splashy orange swirls of carrot crème fraiche provide a honey-like minerality and creamy depth.

Though all players at Duet are wunderkinds in their own right—from back of house, to front of house, and everything in between—like any jazz ensemble worth its salt, they understand the importance of working from each other’s cues. Beautiful drinks flow from the bar, while dynamic dishes sail out of the kitchen to guests with ease. From start to finish, no one misses a beat.

The jazz lounge is located downstairs, and is set to open Oct. 4, with a performance by acclaimed trumpeter Christian Scott, who plays a genre-defying fusion of styles he calls “stretch music.” Badass bar bites and sizzling snacks will be part of the jazz lounge’s offering, along with a full bar with craft cocktails, and an expertly-chosen selection of beers and wines. The Duet restaurant is open 11 a.m. to 11 p.m daily, and serves brunch on Saturdays and Sundays. a

September 19 – October 2, 2018 // THE TULSA VOICE

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THE TULSA VOICE // September 19 – October 2, 2018

FOOD & DRINK // 15

citybites

Tulsa taco crawl, pt. II Continuing the search for T-Town’s tastiest taquerias

by ERIC HOWERTON In Part I, the author and his dining companions J. and C. spent an early Friday evening tackling a few of Tulsa’s standout taquerias, with stops at Tacos Don Francisco, La Flama, and Mexican Corner. We join them now—bellies pooching, jaws throbbing—as they continue their pursuit for the best tacos in T-Town.

E

l Rio Verde (38 N. Trenton Ave.) has a throwback air with its lunch counter and swiveling stools, but those hankering for a nostalgia diner’s bland offerings should take heed: The chile plants flanking El Rio Verde’s southern wall serve as a warning that the salsa here doesn’t pull any punches.

The chile de arbol salsa, a scarlet lacquer that packs a wallop, melted blissfully into the grilled shrimp taco. Several supple crustaceans swam in cream sauce beneath a bed of shredded lettuce, while the construction of it all helped keep the salsa-induced insanity at bay.

The al pastor boasted kabob-ish chunks of pork that proved the most texturally satisfying of all. Succulent and rich, the meat was just on the verge of falling apart.

Also well received was the deshebrada taco. Abundantly stuffed with ribbony, shredded beef and topped with a smoky sauce, the deshebrada needed no adulterating.

The fish taco featured breaded tilapia, which was moist and well prepared—but, when starches steal the show, the delicate taste of the fish gets lost in a carb cloud. Such was the case here, though stripping off one of the two tortillas helped keep the focus on the fish.

The carnitas taco, while still a bargain at $1.50, wasn’t as nicely 16 // FOOD & DRINK

Tacos from Tortilleria De Puebla | GREG BOLLINGER

browned or strongly porcine as expected, and the corn tortillas— while finely griddled—seemed thicker and somewhat diluted the other flavors. None of this, however, prevented us from cleaning our plates, as even underwhelming carnitas are still an apt vessel for guiding salsa through the gorge.

SATURDAY With only a few hours to rest and digest, J. and I rose with renewed commitment to a day spent in the

maize maze. C. was waylaid with work, but promised to join us later.

Tortilleria De Puebla (3118 S. Mingo Rd.) is both a restaurant and a tortilla manufacturer occupying two retail fronts. The sit-down restaurant and tortilla factory (which has several booths for more casual dining) are separated by a comic book store, though they presumably share a kitchen.

One thing was clear from the outset: De Puebla was in it to win it. On the table, we found a shaker

of Mexican oregano (a pinch adds herbaceousness) and our food came with escabeche carrots, radishes, and an addictive table salsa.

The chips, made from De Puebla’s own tortillas, were thick and flaky, while the tortillas were soft and airy.

On top of having more accouterments, a gold-standard table salsa, and fresh tortillas, De Puebla was absurdly affordable at $1.00 per taco.

The al pastor was on par with Don Francisco’s, and the barbacoa (beef cheek) was flavorful and juicy, if a tad oily. However, the pollo and tripas tacos were gold-medalists.

The shredded chicken boasted a well-rounded flavor that breast meat alone lacks, and the tripas weren’t disguised in any way.

Each individual tripa was plump (not pressed or chopped) and uniformly browned. Tripas’ color can reveal a lot about its texture.

Off-white tripas will be chewier.

The longer the meat is grilled, the more it sweats, developing a mahogany hue and crackly sear.

I left De Puebla thinking it would be difficult to find better tripas, but a challenger arose almost instantly. A taco truck idled across the street, beckoning us like a meat-filled oasis on wheels. The universe had opened a door, and so we stepped through.

Don Tacos (3111 S. Mingo Rd.) specializes in tacos and Mexican hot dogs, which have more toppings than your average pizza.

While the dogs—loaded with bacon and more—were a tempting offer, we held firm.

The tripas taco rivaled De Puebla’s in terms of color, crispiness, and mild flavor, though it’s difficult to compete with freshly-prepared tortillas.

September 19 – October 2, 2018 // THE TULSA VOICE

Don Tacos is owned and operated by members of the same family that runs Mexican Corner.

While De Puebla’s pollo was still in the lead, Don Tacos’ pollo edged out Mexican Corner’s in two small ways: larger portion size and moister chicken. Additionally, the roasted serrano at Don Tacos was undeniably hotter than Mexican Corner’s, and I believe every meal should hurt a little. (It’s how good meals are earned.)

Next up was Supermercados Morelos (12920 E. 31st St.), which offers—along with groceries—an array of prepared foods like tacos, tamales, and full plates.

However, we had stopped for the pastry case.

Brimming with croissants, brightly-colored conchas, empanadas, and churros laced with cajeta (a rich caramel made from goat’s milk) the selection was impressive. Like donuts, churros are best straight from the fryer, and while the churros at Morelos weren’t piping hot, this didn’t prevent them from being less heavenly when reheated in a home toaster.

(Full disclosure: I have previously inflamed a toaster by cooking things other than sliced bread, so use caution!)

On the road again, we passed several taco trucks that were shuttered and therefore unable to help us gullet ourselves senseless. We took refuge at La Reyna Taqueria (11649 E. 21st St.), a truck that serves as the mobile arm of the brick-and-mortar La Reyna (831 N. Sheridan Rd.) We were immediately impressed by the menu size: 13 different fillings in seven possible containers. In addition to tacos, La Reyna offers tortas (hot sandwiches), burritos, quesadillas, gorditas (stuffed masa cakes), and sopes (masa cups with beans, meat, and cheese). Other vessels included huaraches (double-wide tortillas), sincronizadas (elevated quesadillas), and flautas.

Seeing it for the first time, I ordered the suadero taco, or “rose meat.” This lean cut from the up-

per hindshank usually finds its way into ground beef and is known for its pleasing softness.

The texture of the suadero was fantastic. Sliced into thin strips, it was so tender and light in color I initially doubted it was beef, thinking it chewed like pork. The flavor, however, was unmistakably bovine.

The tripas at La Reyna were served without much chopping or pressing and were somewhat pale, which meant less rendering and plumper bites. Like the minimally messed-with suadero, these were a purist’s tripas: gamey, rubbery, and slippery too.

The pastor taco was sweet and glistened with caramelized onions, but the pollo taco triumphed here. Still, it could not unseat De Puebla’s despite nearly doubling the portion size.

SATURDAY EVENING C. joined us at our last stop: the mystery truck we’d spotted excitedly—as though spying a lion or a sasquatch in the brush—while driving to El Rio Verde.

Tacos El Chino (223 S. Utica Ave.) had a tented seating area and a rare offering that I immediately requested: chicken tinga. While none of the chicken we’d tried thus far came in a sauce, chicken tinga is a dish that distinguishes itself with a chipotle adobo made from vinegar, garlic, and tomatoes.

Like the deshebrada at El Rio Verde, tingas’ flavor profiles shine on their own. J. and C. both agreed that had they known how good tinga was, they would have ordered it over their standard chicken tacos, which were passable but not contenders.

The tripas tacos, on the other hand, were just as good as De Puebla’s in terms of care of presentation, preparation, and management of crispiness and chewiness. Each bite took me further and further into a daydream where meat echoes rippled across my memories of the past 24 hours. I doused the rest of my taco in Tacos El Chino’s avocado green sauce and took another bite.

Before long, the tripas—like the memories of the bad tacos I’d eaten that started my Tulsa taco tour—quickly disappeared. a

THE TULSA VOICE // September 19 – October 2, 2018

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FOOD & DRINK // 17

downthehatch

A

ll tequila is mezcal, but not all mezcal is tequila.

That’s the easiest way to remember that tequila is a subclass of mezcal, the family of Mexican spirits made from distilled agave.

While tequila has long dominated the American market, mezcal’s recent growth here is exponential.

“It’s the fastest-growing spirit category in the country,” Jared Reeder, bar manager at Amelia’s, said. “I think it’s because people can relate to something that is not mass produced, and mezcal production is traditionally a small operation.”

In fact, most mezcal is produced by small farming operations close to a water source. They are sustainable by necessity, as Reeder points out, because a crop of agave takes a minimum of seven years to mature for harvest. Some mezcal batches are made from agave that takes more than twenty years to mature. No one is in mezcal to get rich, which means it doesn’t attract large-scale farming operations.

“Mezcal is artisanal, but not in a hipster way,” Reeder said. “It’s genuinely handcrafted.”

But no one cares about handcrafted booze if it doesn’t taste good, so much of the market surge is being generated because drinkers who care about quality, craftsmanship, and complexity are falling in love with mezcal.

Tony Collins, a representative for Republican National Distributing Company, said terroir is one reason serious drinkers love the product. Terroir is typically associated with wine, and it refers to what local soil and climate impart to grapes in terms of flavors and character. The same grape varietal grown a few hundred yards apart can have dramatically different characteristics. According to Reeder, mezcal is the same way, because there are approximately thirty different varietals of agave.

“It really is like wine grapes,” he said. “With the different varietals and the different soils 18 // FOOD & DRINK

Amelia’s Smashed Beet Margarita | GREG BOLLINGER

UP IN SMOKE Mezcal offers an artisanal buzz, ‘but not in a hipster way’

by GREG HORTON

AMELIA’S SMASHED BEET MARGARITA .75oz honey syrup (5:1 ratio honey to water). Amelia’s uses McGhee’s Honey Farms Pure Raw Honey from Dill City, Okla. • 1oz fresh lime juice • 2oz Illegal Joven mezcal infused with beets. Amelia’s uses the same roasted beets in their smashed beet salad. The mezcal is rested on the beets for at least 48 hours. • 2 dashes Regan’s Orange Bitters Combine all ingredients in a shaker tin, add ice, shake hard and strain into a salt-rimmed double old fashioned glass filled with ice.

and climates in the nine different Mexican states in which it’s legal to produce mezcal, the variations in flavors and styles are pretty obvious.”

The most noticeable aroma and flavor component of mezcal is the smokiness. With very rare exceptions, mezcal is going to smell smoky to a degree ranging somewhere between “fire in the distance” and “your house is burning down.” The hearts of the harvested agave, called piñas, are roasted in wood-burning ovens

underground, lending a deep smoke flavor to the finished product. Scotch drinkers, as a rule, take an instant liking to some mezcal styles because of the similarity to the whiskey’s peated quality.

Depending on the level of smoke, mezcal can overwhelm a drink, but in the hands of a good bartender, nearly any classic cocktail can be made with mezcal as a substitute. Reeder makes one such cocktail at Amelia’s, Poblano Negroni, a variation on the classic Negroni. The Campari is still in

the drink, but he adds an ounce of Del Maguey Vida mezcal, plus a half ounce of a distillate of poblano peppers called Ancho Reyes Verde.

Amelia’s also makes a Smashed Beet Margarita, with two ounces of beet-infused Illegal Joven mezcal in place of tequila. The drink should pair well with the roasted beet salad, as Reeder uses the same beets for the infusing process, allowing at least 48 hours of contact to impart rich, earthy flavors to the mezcal.

The margarita is an easy choice for a variation, because, according to Reeder, any cocktail with tequila can take mezcal, and the result will just be a ramping-up of flavor and intensity. Because tequila is only made from blue agave, and because it has become a mass-production business, many products are now overly homogenous, so that most flavor variation comes from the barrel aging, not the process. Think of tequila as Sauvignon Blanc and mezcal as every other style of wine available; it’s hyperbole, but it’s close to true.

Valkyrie has three mezcal cocktails on their list, including the Hypnotoad, made with Sombra mezcal, IPA syrup, lime, Cointreau and cayenne. It’s a smoky, spicy, earthy, fruity cocktail with layers of complexity and texture.

To really appreciate mezcal, though, it should be consumed neat. Reeder said it will open up as it sits in the glass so that the final drink will be remarkably different than the first sip—but, unlike bourbon, it’s not meant to be mixed with water. “Room temp, no ice,” Reeder said.

Amelia’s has the best stock of high quality mezcal in Tulsa, but you can find excellent products at El Guapo’s, Hodges Bend, and Valkyrie as well. Look for Del Maguey, especially the single village selections, mezcal Vago, Sombra, and El Buho. For beginners, the mezcal Vago Elote—like the corn—has minimal smoke and a touch of sweetness. a

September 19 – October 2, 2018 // THE TULSA VOICE

RESTAURANT

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THE TULSA VOICE // September 19 – October 2, 2018

FOOD & DRINK // 19

FALL BEER IS HERE TIPPLE WHAT’S ON TAP (AND ON SHELVES) IN TULSA THIS AUTUMN

BY TTV STAFF

With Oklahoma’s modernized liquor laws going into effect Oct. 1, and Oktoberfest right around the corner, there’s plenty to celebrate this fall when it comes to booze.

We plan on doing it with some cold beer, so here’s a list of seasonal brews on tap and on shelves at breweries and liquor stores around town.

20 // FEATURED

Welltown Brewing 114 W. ARCHER ST. Oktoberfest, 6% ABV: Clean, crisp, caramel Caribbean Queen, 7.5% ABV: Fruity, tropical, not-your-typical stout Saints and Scoundrels, 9.4% ABV: Smoke, scotch, malt Three fall beers are coming to Welltown this season. Naturally, the brewery will have a Märzen-style Oktoberfest, which is a traditional Oktoberfest lager with a clean and crisp malty caramel flavor.

Co-owner Jeremy Diamond said the Caribbean Queen, a tropical stout, has fruiter notes. “It’s not your typical coffee-like stout,” he said. Head brewer Jordan O’Dell said the fruity notes in the hay stout are due to the larger yeast.

Additionally, Welltown has Saints and Scoundrels, a smoked scotch ale. O’Dell said the wheat-heavy brew’s smoky flavor balances with the sweetness for an autumn delight you won’t want to miss.

Nothing’s Left Brewing Co. 1502 E. 6TH ST. Basic Bitch, ~5% ABV: Pumpkin spice, fall in a glass Pröst!, ~4.5% ABV: malty, crispy The Bitch is back—Basic Bitch beer, that is. Nothing’s Left will have their sweet, pumpkin spice brew this fall ready for

sipping. “People like to try it just for the name,” said taproom and operations manager Lacy Richards.

In addition, they’ll have a chocolate milk stout on tap containing several batches of Hershey’s chocolate syrup. Richards said it’s different than other chocolate stouts because it’s not bitter: “We use milk chocolate rather than dark chocolate.”

Nothing’s Left’s Oktoberfest beer, Pröst!, will be on tap soon as well. Coming in early October, this Märzen-style brew will come just in time for beer’s biggest holiday. “If we have a holiday, it’s Oktoberfest,” Richards said.

American Solera 108 E. 18TH ST. (SOBO) / 1801 S. 49TH W. AVE. Terpy Wet Hop, 8% ABV: Hoppy, pineapple, candy Terpy Wet Hop is the newest beer to join American Solera’s Terpy series. The key to this brew is getting the fresh hops from where they’re grown in Michigan to American Solera’s brewery in West Tulsa—all within a 24-hour period. “It takes crazy coordination to get the ingredients to the brewery,” brewmaster Chase Healey said.

The batch was just canned Saturday, Sept. 15, so get it while it’s fresh (and while it lasts). Healey said American Solera will have new hoppy beers every couple of weeks—so there’s not a specific fall

brew—but there will be new ones to try throughout the season.

Cabin Boys Brewery 1717 E. 7TH ST. Bearded Theologian, 8.4% ABV: Clove, raisins, caramel Felix Et Tenebris, 8.7% ABV: Chocolate, roasty, crisp Aromas and flavors of raisins and caramel enrich the Belgium Quad Bearded Theologian at Cabin Boys Brewery. “This ale has beautiful aromas of baking spices and clove that are created by our Belgian house strain of yeast,” brewer Austin McIlroy said.

It’s also becoming stout season, so Cabin Boys’ American-style Felix Et Tenebris will be available at the taproom as well as other places around town. The extensive malt bill balances this complex beer. “We use oranges in the later part of the boil for a crisp robust finish,” McIlroy said.

Marshall Brewing Company 618 S. WHEELING AVE. This Land Lager, 4.8% ABV: Clean, crisp, easy-drinking In celebration of their 10-year anniversary and Oklahoma’s evolving liquor laws, This Land Lager is set to debut Oct. 1. For

September 19 – October 2, 2018 // THE TULSA VOICE

THE TULSA VOICE // September 19 – October 2, 2018

FEATURED // 21

the first time since its inception, Marshall Brewing Company will sell the beer in sixand twelve-pack cans—cold.

Wes Alexander described the German-style Helles brew as “everybody’s drinking beer.” An “everyday” ode to the ancient Augustiner Bräu Edelstoff, this clean and crisp lager will quench your thirst.

Marshall’s fall classic, the Oktoberfest lager, will also be available on draft and in six-packs.

Heirloom Rustic Ales 2113 E. ADMIRAL BLVD. Winter Warmer, 7.2% ABV: Oatmeal, spice Morning Devotion, 6.1% ABV: Coffee, cinnamon Unlike some breweries with a traditional Oktoberfest offering, Heirloom doesn’t exactly brew the same thing twice (except for a few specific beers). One coming soon on tap has roots in Oklahoma. Their currently-unnamed Belgian strong dark beer will include Norton grapes grown in Oklahoma on a vineyard that’s been dry-farmed. “The vines are 13 years old, which is unheard of for Oklahoma grapes,” said Jake Miller, co-owner and brewer.

Two more seasonal swigs include the Winter Warmer, a thick “oatmealy” beer heavy on the oats and rye. Miller said it’s super spicy. “With our darker beers, we try to do esoteric things,” he said.

Another brew coming through the spout soon is Heirloom’s Morning Devotion, which contains Fair Fellow Coffee cold brew and cinnamon.

Renaissance Brewing Co. 1147 S. LEWIS AVE. Deutschican, 5.9% ABV: Light and toasty Pumpkin-spiced milkshake IPA, varied ABV: Pumpkin. Spice. Milkshake.

Black Gold, 5.6% ABV: Chocolate, coffee Renaissance’s first fall beer is Deutschican, a Vienna Lager. “We brewed this beer especially for the Oktoberfest season,” head brewer Kelsey Schumacher said. The brew is made with a large portion of Vienna malt which provides a smooth, light, toasty beer that is easy to drink. Schumacher said they are releasing it exclusively during the Oktoberfest festival in Tulsa and will have limited quantities at Oktoberfest and the Renaissance tap room only.

Specialty-release beers from the taproom include a pumpkin-spiced milkshake IPA and multiple sour beers, including a cherry and peach gose.

“Last but not least, we are ramping our production of one of our flagship beers—Black Gold—for the fall season,” Schumacher said. “This beer is the perfect stout for fall with its chocolate and coffee notes. Somewhat dangerous, given its high drinkability.”

22 // FEATURED

High Gravity 6808 S. MEMORIAL DR., STE. 146 Honey Nut Beerios, 5.7% ABV: Toasted pecans Sinister Stout, 6.0% ABV: espresso, cream Chicken Dance Oktoberfest lager, 6.0% ABV: malty, sweet Tulsa’s home brewing store and taproom has three fall beers on its 11 taps to greet autumn with a hospitable hello. The Honey Nut Beerios, a Northern English Brown Ale, features toasted pecans right here from Oklahoma.

The Sinister Stout is a milk stout.

Co-owner Dave Knott explained the beer gets a bit of sweetness from lactose, “Like an espresso with cream.” This dark, full-bodied, slightly roasty ale is perfect for cold winter nights or frosty winter mornings, Knott said. The beer also has a reduced amount of gluten. The Chicken Dance Oktoberfest has a balanced flavor of malt and hops. “Having a rich textured palate with an underlying sweetness— true to tradition,” Knott said.

“On average, you will see two new beers on the board each week,” he said.

High Gravity also has an Oktoberfest celebration coming up, with special beers brewed just for the occasion, scheduled for Oct. 27 to avoid conflicting with others.

Last but not least, High Gravity’s collaboration with Dead Armadillo will go on tap Oct. 1 at their taproom and Oct. 5 at Dead Armadillo. It’s a Märzen-style lager on raspberries called Red Oktober.

Prairie Brewpub 223 N. MAIN ST. That Mango Life, 4.7% ABV: Fruity, tart, vanilla Instant Jackpot!, 6.8% ABV: Juicy, fruity You’ll find new beers on the menu board at Prairie Brewpub roughly every two weeks.

On Oct. 1, they're rolling out eight. A fruited sour ale with mango and vanilla dubbed That Mango Life will lead the charge, offering an unexpected fruity fall treat with vanilla sweetness.

Instant Jackpot!, an IPA, is brewed and dry hopped with Mandarina Bovaria and Mosaic hops. Prairie is also going to release of an imperial stout aged in Buffalo Trace bourbon barrels. (The ~13% ABV stout has been aging in those barrels since last October, so this offering is sure to be a boozy winter warmer.) This heavy-hitter will go easy on the carbonation to optimize the silky mouthfeel, according to head brewer Greg Anderson.

Elgin Park 325 E. MATHEW B. BRADY ST. New England Double IPA, 8% ABV: Mango, citrus, tropical Imperial Stout, 8% ABV: Boozy, semi-sweet dark chocolate, coffee Sometime in October, Elgin Park will undergo a big change coinciding with Oklahoma’s new liquor laws. “All year-round beers will go up in alcohol percentages as well,” head brewer Ben Birney said.

For the season, though, Elgin Park will feature a New England-style double IPA—a hazier, juicier cousin to the pine-and-grapefruit characteristics of west coast IPAs. You might’ve tried the 4% ABV version when it was previously on tap at Elgin Park, but with the new laws it’ll be double that.

Also in October, Elgin Park will have an imperial stout on tap, Birney said. This rich, velvety flavor bomb clocks in at 8% ABV and will feature the coffee and chocolate notes that make the style the go-to choice for celebrating the coming of fall. a

Dead Armadillo 1004 E. 4TH ST. Dunkelweizen, 5.9% ABV: Banana, clove, malty, creamy Bump in the Road, 7.9% ABV: Sweet, fruity Dead Armadillo’s autumn specialties include the Dunkelweizen—a dark wheat ale fermented with German Hefeweizen yeast that brings out traditional banana and clove esters. “The sturdy body and malty backbone is lightly hopped, which lends to a creamy, roasted finish,” said taproom manager Brian Welzbacher. It’s currently on draft and in six-pack cans around Oklahoma and at Dead Armadillo’s taproom.

Also on tap is the Bump in the Road, the latest in the brewery’s rotational double IPA series. Welzbacher said the sweet, bread-like malt in this imperial red ale has a bright finish from the dry hopping of fruity Cascade and Citra hops.

Local taprooms aren’t the only place to get your fall beer fix. Pay a visit to your favorite neighborhood bottle shop—like RANCH ACRES WINE & SPIRITS (3234 A E. 31st St.); MODERN SPIRITS (401 E 11th St); or PARKHILL’S WAREHOUSE LIQUORS & WINE (2432 E 51st St.)—and pick up the season’s finest autumn brews in bottles and cans.

(Left to right: Weihenstephaner Festbier, ABV 5.8%: pear, white pepper, herbal hops, COOP Oktoberfest, ABV 5.6%: malty, caramel, fall spices, Marshall Oktoberfest Lager, ABV 6%: honey, lemon, caramel, Anthem Ogletoberfest, ABV 5%: crisp, sweet malt, grassy hops, Shipyard Pumpkinhead, ABV 4.7%: pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg. PHOTO BY GREG BOLLINGER September 19 – October 2, 2018 // THE TULSA VOICE

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3324 E 31st St #A • 918-747-1171 THE TULSA VOICE // September 19 – October 2, 2018

FEATURED // 23

YES WE CANNABIS TULSA’S WEED DEALERS TALK SQ788

BY FRASER KASTNER • ILLUSTRATION BY MATT CHINWORTH 24 // FEATURED

September 19 – October 2, 2018 // THE TULSA VOICE

OKLAHOMA VOTERS APPROVED STATE

ANONYMOUS DEALER #1 SELLING FOR: 5 years SELLS: Unspecified amount WEED ORIGIN: California, Oregon, Colorado SQ788: Voted yes

want that on paper for their career. [. . .] So then they’re gonna of course stick with the black market. They’re gonna hit up people like us, and then we can deliver it pretty much 24/7.

I’m always on call.

FRASER KASTNER: How much would you say you sell per month?

KASTNER: Well it’s kind of a Catch-22 for people who want to make the law more restrictive. More restrictive laws just create the need for a black market.

QUESTION 788 IN JUNE, LEGALIZING MEDICAL MARIJUANA. Since then, industry hopefuls have applied for more than 1,200 dispensary, cultivation, and processing licenses. Applicants can expect their requests to be processed sometime next year, when Oklahoma’s legislative session begins in January. Until then, applicants won’t know what regulations they will face, what kinds of products they can offer, and what testing standards will be like.

We won’t see any storefronts for a while, but that doesn’t mean cannabis is impossible to come by in Tulsa. Even with Oklahoma becoming a medical marijuana state, the black market is booming. Much ink has been spilled over the effects the new law will have on employers, medical professionals, and law enforcement, but what about people who are already involved in the cannabis trade?

While some dealers are apprehensive of the changes, others suspect medical marijuana will increase supply to the black market. Most of the people I talked to think cannabis should be legal, but until then, they’re going to play the game by the old rules as long as possible.

I sat down with four anonymous sources to learn more about the Tulsa weed market and see what dealers are saying about SQ788.

THE TULSA VOICE // September 19 – October 2, 2018

ANONYMOUS DEALER 1: I don’t know if I’m comfortable answering that.

KASTNER: Do you have any thoughts on State Question 788?

AD1: Honestly, I haven’t been keeping up with it. [. . .] It was funny when it passed, because everyone was calling me, all my buddies who are doing the same thing. Everyone’s freaking out, because we’re like, “What are we gonna do?” My other buddies are texting me like, “Get a job!” [laughs].

I think everyone’s concerned. Everyone who’s doing what I’m doing is concerned. It’s like, we’ve been doing this forever and we’ve been working hard. Selling drugs is easy money, but it takes a lot to get established with good people and get comfortable with it. And that’s the big thing— getting all the clientele you trust, that’s the hardest part.

And then you’re gonna see people move in here [. . .] all these big people trying to make a bunch of money, and then it’s gonna push us out, is what everyone is thinking. But I don’t really know, because it’s like, it has a black market because that’s the culture of it. Everyone I sell to is like my best friend. I’ve known people for, like, five years that never had to get it from anywhere else because I’ve had it. And it’s the same for me.

KASTNER: And at least the idea behind some of the legislation was that the penalty of getting caught with it without a medical license was gonna be much, much lower. It would be like a fine as long as you could come up with some excuse, and so it’s possible that some people might not bother. Why should they have to be on a government list to get some weed?

AD1: Exactly. [. . .] Me and one of my buddies, we were talking about it and we read up on it. The way they had it written out—this was a month or two ago, so I don’t know if they’ve changed it—but it almost made it seem like it would be easier for us [. . .] If they’re gonna be documenting who all has med cards, who all is using it, a lot of people aren’t gonna

AD1: My concern [is] if recreational gets passed. [. . .] Because now in Oklahoma, I can just not answer you for a day [laughs]. It’s like, “Fuck you—what are you gonna do?” But now it’s gonna get more competitive. It’s gonna be some price match shit. I’m looking at dispensaries’ prices and I’m like, “Fuck, dude, I gotta lower this?”

KASTNER: Did you vote on SQ788?

AD1: Yeah—I voted yes.

KASTNER: You voted for it?

AD1: Is that weird? [. . .] I voted yes on it, because in the grand scheme of things they can make a bunch of tax money and Oklahoma fixes some shit and does something good with it.

Like schools, because Oklahoma’s so fucked right now. The only thing that sucks about it is bigger companies coming in. I like the idea that all the weed in Oklahoma has to be grown in Oklahoma. I think that’s great, and I think that’s really cool. But like, a bunch of people from Colorado already have a bunch of money and they’re stepping on our toes.

KASTNER: Can you imagine a reason people would buy from you even if there were dispensaries?

AD1: I was talking to some people I sell to, and they were like, “Yeah, it’s cool, but we still like the delivery thing.” And I deliver. Unless the dispensaries start doing some UberEats type shit, that’s when I’m gonna be like “Fuck, it’s over.”

I’m sure when it first happens, everyone’s gonna want to experience going and buying it. And then maybe they’ll come back and be like, “Yeah, it’s not that great.” If they restrict the potency of it, that’s kind of sabotaging it itself. If they do that, I don’t have anything to worry about, because I can get wax and all that at the same potency [. . .] at the same price the dispensaries are selling it. If they restrict it pretty hard, they’ll have a black market. If they really let go of it, then that’s when I’ll be like, “Fuck.”

FEATURED // 25

FROM

ORE G

I smoke is I got constant back pain. [. . .] I’ve got friends who did a lot of prescription drugs and got addicted to harder stuff, and it just went to bad places. I’ve done everything to just avoid that shit.

ON

KASTNER: So, do you have any thoughts on State Question 788?

FROM CO LORAD

ALIFORNIA

FR OM

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WHERE TULSA GETS ITS BUD

SOURCES IN CALIFORNIA, OREGON, COLORADO, AND TEXAS KEEP T-TOWN’S UNDERGROUND WEED MARKET HUMMING ANONYMOUS DEALER #2 SELLING FOR: 4-5 years SELLS: 4 oz. every 2 months WEED ORIGIN: Colorado SQ788: Didn’t vote

FRASER KASTNER: Do you have any thoughts on State Question 788?

ANONYMOUS DEALER 2: I didn’t vote on it. But I’m happy it got passed. I didn’t vote because I figure it was kinda like voting against your own business, in a way. But at the same time there was no way I was gonna vote against it because I think it should be passed.

KASTNER: So you didn’t want to vote against your own interests?

AD2: There was that, and I didn’t fully read the whole bill. I also don’t keep up to date with politics a whole lot.

So I knew about it and I was hoping it would get passed. But financially, it felt like I was voting against my own business.

26 // FEATURED

KASTNER: What about recreational?

AD2: That would be a much bigger change. I still probably won’t vote on it. Again, if it gets passed, that’s great. [. . .] I’m not completely sure what I think of that whole thing. I mean, this isn’t my main income or anything—if it was, I would have more thoughts about it. But I support everybody who’s trying to get it to go recreational.

KASTNER: Would you sign a petition a recreational petition if you saw one?

AD2: Probably not. But I also don’t typically sign petitions for things.

It’s not gonna hurt me that bad if I quit selling. It’s not that big of a deal. It’s always just been a small extra side income. Sometimes I sell more and sometimes I sell less.

ANONYMOUS DEALER #3 SELLING FOR: 4 years SELLS: 2 oz./week WEED ORIGIN: Colorado SQ788: Voted yes

ANONYMOUS DEALER 3: I just try to sell to heady people, essentially.

KASTNER: What people?

AD3: Heady. People who like, you know, hallucinogens—or just chill people.

KASTNER: So, even if it’s someone you’ve known for a while, you won’t sell to them if you think they’re sketchy.

AD3: If I think they’re sketchy, I won’t, no [. . .] there’s the etiquette, or like, you’ve gotta be vouched for. If it’s like, “Hey, I’ve got a brother who’s got an aunt with back problems or whatever and she doesn’t want to take pills,” I’m like, “Yeah, absolutely.” And she’ll come over and we’ll get it all worked out. That’s another reason. The reason

AD3: I’m all for it, man. Especially with my parents. They started taking CBD and my dad said their prescription use dropped by a third. Which is great, you know?

That sort of stuff would most certainly help my dad, because he’s had like 13 back/neck surgeries; and my mom’s had a few neck operations, and for a while she was going to bed just drinking alcohol and (taking) morphine. And my mom’s a really loveable woman, but my dad told me, “Hey, you’re mom would get a little aggressive sometimes.” Her mood would change.

The state would be turning a massive profit. We’d get out of our debt, our deficit. Because the oil boomers, they didn’t think about the bust. They just started doing fracking and anything to keep a profit going, and now we’re at a fucking financial crisis. Definitely, if they can legalize recreational and tax an extra five, six percent [. . .]

I support it. Even if, at the end of the day, it makes what I’m doing obsolete, what I’ll probably do is find a way to work at a grow operation. I don’t mind sitting, cutting plants for eight hours a day listening to music or learning about how these things work. I’d be willing to take a job that will give me that experience and be around something that I like to be around.

KASTNER: So you’ll stop selling if it’s fully implemented?

AD3: If it’s fully implemented, yeah. I wouldn’t doubt there would be still a market, but at a cheaper rate because there will be some people who don’t want to pay taxes. But then it comes to the whole quality control because, if I’m selling it, it needs to be as good or better than what’s at a dispensary. I think that will be a major issue when recreational becomes legal. That will probably be the final nail in the coffin.

But I’ve been prepared for this for a few months. And business has still been going. [Phone dings.] Y’see, right there.

KASTNER: Are people texting you right now for weed?

AD3: Yes! [laughs] September 19 – October 2, 2018 // THE TULSA VOICE

ANONYMOUS DEALER #4 SELLING FOR: 8 years SELLS: 2 lb./month WEED ORIGIN: Oregon, California, Colorado SQ788: Didn’t vote

FRASER KASTNER: Mainly we’re just looking for local dealers and their reaction to what’s been going on.

ANONYMOUS DEALER 4: Market’s flooded. End of story. [. . .] I’ve already got more, different strains of weed than I ever have carried. And then I also have gummies, cartridges, honey bears.

KASTNER: How long have you been selling?

AD4: I’m not sure when I started [. . .] at least 2010. Mostly weed products.

If someone requests, I might be able to scare up some mushrooms or acid.

One of my vendors, she even said to me, “I don’t understand why you don’t sell acid.” I felt like I just got all the packaging and branding and everything for this down pat. I don’t know if you saw, but I got those poptop containers.

KASTNER: I was gonna ask about those.

strains. [. . .] Some folks who grow up in a place like this, where it’s not been legal or they just don’t have that much experience with the drug, I’ve heard say, “Whatever, weed is weed.”

And I’m like, “Well, if you understand how the plant works and how it interacts with your brain. . .” There’s a lot of factors. Every single person is different.

KASTNER: I mean, there are hundreds of substances, and they’re present in different amounts in different strains—right?

AD4: Yeah, and just understanding the basics between a Sativa and an Indica. And then the fact that [. . .]

80 percent of the stuff out there is hybrid, and [knowing] how much of one or another it is.

KASTNER: How many strains do you have in stock right now?

AD4: Like, five? Between five and eight. I don’t have them all open is the thing.

AD4 shows me their weed drawer. It contains various strains weighed out in different amounts in Tupperware containers, as well as a few vacuum-sealed bags of weed.

AD4: The little blue ones are supposed to carry an eighth, the green ones carry a quarter, and the silver are supposed to be a half. Of course it depends on the strain and how big the nugs are.

AD4: This is the one that was unmarked, so I’ve just been calling it Mystery. This one’s Blackberry.

KASTNER: So, right now you’re running something like an underground dispensary.

AD4: I think that’s a half-pound, but it might not be. If it’s less, he gave me more of the other. Altogether from that guy I get a pound, usually twice a month. That’s a rough estimate—it depends on how fast it goes. The outdoor usually does go faster, just because a lot of people are limited for funds. Some people are like “Hey, gimme the best ya got.” But a lot of people are wanting that $30 eighth. And it’s not schwag.

It’s still really good kind bud. It’s just because it was grown outdoors I can sell it for cheaper.

AD4: Like, a really small one. When I lived in [Colorado] I worked in a dispensary. I learned different ways of how to roll things, how to fill cones, all the little techniques that you learn when you’re actually in the business. And I have a respect for that because I spent most of my childhood in healthcare, or in the hospital. I would like to keep a level of professionalism to it.

KASTNER: How much weed am I holding right here?

KASTNER: How much do you sell?

KASTNER: Where does your weed come from?

AD4: I’m not a really big seller. I have a lot of clients that just come through and get eighths and quarters. [. . .] I always try to know the names of the

AD4: I have four different vendors.

Some of them get it from California or Colorado. My direct guy that mails to me is in Oregon. So all over, real-

THE TULSA VOICE // September 19 – October 2, 2018

ly. My homegirl who’s in town who gets me indoor, she gets it from a few different places. It really just depends.

KASTNER: What are your thoughts on State Question 788?

AD4: I’m just excited about us having more selection. I’m not threatened by it at all. I really stand behind marijuana for the health aspect. I’m not in it to get fucked up. I’m not in it to be a big baller. I’m not trying to make a million dollars. I’m just trying to get enough to where I can get more products.

When I worked at a dispensary in Colorado, I saw medical marijuana go in place. We would have seniors and people on walkers come in. Now we also had young men who looked totally able-bodied who were obviously dealers. They would come in and get their limit every day. I imagine that’s gonna happen here too.

KASTNER: So you’re not gonna stop selling.

AD4: I don’t have any reason to. I don’t have any concerns, really. I have friends and clients who come through every other day—some that come through once a week. The bulk of my clients are once-a-month clients. But my friend who was here just yesterday, he spends at least $300500 every time he’s here. And he’s a nurse at [redacted]. That’s one of the reasons I want to continue to diversify my product line.

KASTNER: Did you vote on State Question 788?

AD4: I didn’t end up voting on it. That day was really busy for me. I also, through working for the Oklahomans for Health campaign two out of the four years, and seeing the work that Green the Vote did and all the other organizations, I knew it was probably gonna pass. Also, my final decision that I’m not gonna try and open my own dispensary. It didn’t end up affecting me, you know?

If I really wanted to bust ass I could, like, go rent a space. But like I said: I’m not trying to make a million dollars. I do have some friends that are interested, but I don’t think they understand the legwork that goes into it—and I don’t want to be the one left holding the bag. No pun intended. a

“I’m not threatened by [legalization] at all.

I really stand behind marijuana for the health aspect.

I’m not in it to get fucked up.

I’m not in it to be a big baller.

I’m not trying to make a million dollars.”

FEATURED // 27

community

The Comic Empire | GREG BOLLINGER

Strip-mall confidential In a sea of synthetic stucco, these stores stand out

by KRIS ROSE

T

ulsa is filled with strip malls of all sizes. Some are in disrepair, with a seedy-looking neighborhood bar as the anchor—or perhaps a Family Dollar or payday loan lender a few doors down. Others seem to be in good shape, but the banality of beige, synthetic stucco slides past your car window unnoticed, never to be thought of again.

However, there are treasures hidden within the rows of shoe repair shops, locksmiths and laundromats. I visited a few of Tulsa’s best to get a sense of what makes these hidden gems truly special.

THE COMIC EMPIRE The Comic Empire sits in a small strip of shops on Mingo Road just south of 31st Street. Mike McCormick has been the sole owner since 1984. That makes The Comic Empire the oldest surviving comic book store in Tulsa. To many loyal customers, this gem is no secret. Even with the advent 28 // ARTS & CULTURE

of the internet, they choose to return every month rather than order comics online or read them digitally. A lot of that has to do with McCormick.

McCormick is an easygoing guy who can talk about almost any subject intelligently and thoughtfully. His love of 60s garage rock has made him an unstumpable expert on every obscure garage band from Nowhere, U.S.A.—no matter how many times I’ve been sure I’d finally brought him a head scratcher.

McCormick, an obscure comic book trivia whiz, enjoys underground comic illustrators, most of whom have never drawn a single superhero comic in their lives. Empire sells new issues of every kind of comic, from the major players down to locally-created works. The majority of the store is filled with boxes of back issues, which McCormick sells for half off during his bi-yearly sales. (The fall sale is right around the corner!)

He acknowledged the future of any brick-and-mortar store is precarious. “This could all be gone in six months,” he said. But McCormick is still getting new customers at a steady rate, and he has a c’est la vie outlook on small business ownership.

The Comic Empire is located at 3122 S. Mingo Rd. Perhaps you can find a 60s garage band McCormick hasn’t heard of yet. Lord knows I’m still trying.

EMILY’S ESOTERIC EMPORIUM Emily Halifax started out doing psychic readings on the east coast.

She’s originally from Tulsa, but she lived in New York and the surrounding area for more than 15 years. It shows in her “Brooklynese” accent and her free use of the “F-word” throughout our conversation—a habit I found charming. The sign outside her shop advertises Hoodoo products, readings, classes, and private lessons.

Halifax made sure to reiterate that Hoodoo is a Christian practice, and in fact, she says daily Psalms as part of her candle work.

A self-taught practitioner, she became interested in Hoodoo about a decade ago. It seemed a natural progression from her regular work of psychic readings and Wiccan spells to candle readings and “root work.”

“They call practitioners ‘root doctors’ because we treat your ‘condition,’ and the work is a prescription for that condition,” Halifax said. “You have to follow directions—just like with any other doctor—or it won’t work!”

Halifax opened a store because she wanted to help those in need.

“Money is a big issue, of course,” she said, when asked why people come to her. When I was there, Halifax dressed a candle for a client who was hoping to get a better position at work. She claims to know the candles, oils, herbs, and seeds to fix almost any condition.

September 19 – October 2, 2018 // THE TULSA VOICE

Hoodoo originated with Africans brought to America during the transatlantic slave trade, who mixed their religion with Native American beliefs and European folk practices, and many of the items used can easily be found around the house. “They had to use what was available, like honey and ammonia.”

It seems as if there’s a candle and a powder for almost any problem. Halifax will sell you everything you need to do your own works at home—or, for a little bit extra, she will do everything for you. She’ll be doing a free Root Work 101 lecture at my own bookstore, Bound for Glory Books, at 7 p.m. Sept. 29. In the meantime, you can go by Emily’s Esoteric Emporium at 3230 E. 15th St., or watch her online in one of her many Psychic Emily Halifax YouTube videos.

ALBARKA FOOD INTERNATIONAL Albarka is part grocery store, part café, located at 5010 S. Sheridan Rd. The inside is small but has all the essential ingredients for a good home-cooked Indian meal.

I picked up a bag of split red lentils, canned chickpeas in brine, a jar of Ghee, pink salt, and two “Today” brand donuts in individual packages. One donut was for my husband, and one was for my ever-present partner in adventure, Jen. We decided to try out the café’s offerings since we were both starving and the $1.19 samosas looked so very tempting.

Added to the four samosas were two huge pieces of tandoori chicken, covered in chopped onions. Seated at a table in the small cafe area in the back of the store, we dug in as several curious shoppers asked us if the food was good. We confirmed that yes, in fact, the food was very good—and affordable, too! (The chicken was only $3 per piece.)

After a good-natured chat with the friendly cashier, we paid for our meal and groceries—along with sodas from the cooler—and made our way out to the car, pleasantly full of samosas and spiced chicken, confident that we would be back soon.

THE HUSSAR The Hussar is a shop my husband would have invented when he was

10 years old, if charged with creating his very own dream store.

It’s full of assembled, painted model soldiers and vehicles, as well as unpainted, unassembled kits. World War II figures are featured very heavily, but other conflicts and historical eras are also in the mix. There are Israeli troops from the Six Day War, American Vietnam troops, and several movie star, Old West, fantasy, and post-apocalyptic science fiction figures that have nothing to do with military history.

Just as impressive as the many figures and model kits is the assortment of new and used books about military history, uniforms, and firearms. Also notable are the many authentic military collectibles, ranging from British full dress parade uniforms to American and German World War II combat helmets, and even a fullsize metal artillery shell canister painted Afrika Korps desert tan.

The store has been in its current location, 6029 S. Sheridan Rd., since it opened in 1982.

Owner Mike Davidson is affable and knowledgeable, and he will gladly explain and share knowledge about the hobby in a way that is engaging for beginners and experts alike.

“I feel very lucky to be supported by such a strong community of painters,” Davidson said. At every turn there is something that will delight and fascinate any history buff, leaving even people who grew up in the hobby exclaiming, “I can’t believe they have that!”

Even though they may not look like much from the outside, all of these places have something unique to offer. A vision tailored to each individual owner’s passion, without oversight from “headquarters” or “corporate”—a throwback to the days when small business was the norm and the communities that developed around them were as important as the business itself. Next time you need something, take the time to see if there’s a place tucked away in a forgotten corner of Tulsa that can take care of your needs before you reflexively drive to your go-to big box store. You might just find more than you expected. a

THE TULSA VOICE // September 19 – October 2, 2018

THE WOODY GUTHRIE CENTER PRESENTS

August 31st – January 13th PRESENTING SPONSOR IN TULSA

102 East M.B. Brady Street • 918.574.2710 woodyguthriecenter.org

An urban park and event space in the heart of Tulsa’s Art District.

111 East M.B. Brady Street, Tulsa, OK 74103

www.guthriegreen.com

ARTS & CULTURE // 29

artspot

To see the world anew

‘Tour de Quartz’ brings local student artwork to Gilcrease Museum

by ALICIA CHESSER

S

ometimes you have to get away before you can be found.

For 40 summers now, an arts center in the remote Wichita Mountains of southwestern Oklahoma has hosted a gathering of high school students from remote towns and big cities across the state—all chosen for their exceptional artistic ability, brought together for two weeks of intensive study and explosive growth in disciplines including creative writing, orchestra, drawing and painting, dance, photography, acting, and film.

Oklahoma’s creative future gets born again each year, 300 students at a time, at the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute (OSAI) at Quartz Mountain. Now, a taste of that future is hanging at Gilcrease Museum, part of an exhibit called the Tour de Quartz, which annually brings student pieces created during the summer into public view at galleries across the state.

Gilcrease has been the Tulsa host of the Tour for more than five years, this time placing the student work on walls that, appropriately, lead into the museum’s Creative Learning Center.

Striking pastels, acrylic self-portraits, and large-format photography by teenagers from Yukon and Guthrie and Kingfisher, on view around the corner from art by T. C. Cannon and Thomas Moran at one of the region’s most esteemed museums?

OSAI’s vision doesn’t get any clearer than that. For kids whose art might otherwise be hiding in a notebook, taking up space at the Gilcrease is a really big deal.

When the Oklahoma Arts Institute was founded in 1977, thenGov. David Boren hoped it would be a way for talented students to get high-level arts education that wasn’t readily available in schools,

30 // ARTS & CULTURE

Quartz Mountain student Easton Taite | COURTESY OAI

particularly in rural areas of the state. That hope has only grown with the years, said OAI president and CEO Julie Cohen, and today thousands of students audition every spring for a coveted spot—each of which comes with free tuition.

“Access to a program like this is especially important in Oklahoma, which over the past decade has made the deepest cuts in funding for K-12 education of any state in the nation,” Cohen said.

“Many Oklahoma students simply have no access to quality arts education. By offering tuition-free attendance, we ensure that Oklahoma’s most talented students have access to arts education of the highest quality.”

That quality comes in many forms. One is world-class teachers: The likes of Richard Avedon and Maria Tallchief have taught at OSAI through the years. Students whose work is up in the Tour de Quartz studied with noted painter Geoffrey Todd Smith and international photojournalist Paul Taggart, who took them well out of

their comfort zones in an atmosphere of challenge and discovery.

“I decided to ignore their age and treat it like a much more advanced workshop,” Smith said of his OSAI drawing and painting students in his artist statement.

“I was completely shocked at the willingness of such young students to embrace abstraction and other complex art ideas normally reserved for much later in the study of art.”

For his part, Taggart challenged his students—part of a generation saturated with screensized, disappearing photos—to think more deeply about photography. “The goal was to slow the image-making process down to make each photographic decision more considered,” he said. Having students take photos without using a viewfinder—so they had to engage the subject, not the image—was just one way of exploring the possibilities in the process.

For the students, having highly gifted peers to engage with is every bit as life-changing as working with

teachers who are the finest in the field. (It seems to have done some good for Megan Mullally and Tim Blake Nelson, both OSAI alums.)

“I was used to always being the best artist in the class,” said Easton Taite, whose bold pastel drawing of a Ferris wheel is a mind-bending attention-grabber.

“But since the program at OSAI was full of the best artists in their classes, it was much more challenging. After OSAI, I realized that the only way to get better was to push myself. By the end of the two weeks, I felt as if I had grown more than I have done in a year on my own time.”

Booker T. Washington student Kasimir Pratt, a photographer, has a mesmerizing portrait, full of deep shadows and delicate colors, featured in the Tour de Quartz.

She agreed with Taite that the peer environment at OSAI is key.

“Being surrounded by people that were original and excelling in the photography world was inspiring and challenging,” she said. “There was so much talent and support at Quartz you didn’t have to worry about what others would think, which was a breath of fresh air from the competitive side of the industry.

“It is wonderful to know that places like Quartz Mountain exist for young people to explore how much good art does for this world,” Pratt continued. “I hope that when people see my artwork in Gilcrease, they feel something.

I hope others can start seeing the world in different perspectives from the work I, and everyone from Quartz, created.” a

TOUR DE QUARTZ Sept. 10 – Oct. 28 | Gilcrease Museum 1400 N. Gilcrease Museum Rd. 918.596.2700 | gilcrease.org

September 19 – October 2, 2018 // THE TULSA VOICE

sportsreport

BERNSTEIN

Overture to Candide Divertimento for Orchestra Three Dance Episodes from On The Town

DVOŘÁK

Cello Concerto in B minor

A packed BOK Center crowd watches hockey. | TEEJAY CRAWFORD PHOTOGRAPHY

Seeing stars NHL HOCKEY COMES TO BOK CENTER ON SEPT. 22

by JOHN TRANCHINA THE TULSA OILERS DON’T OPEN THEIR 2018-19 season until Oct. 13, but the biggest hockey game of the year in Tulsa will take place on Saturday, Sept. 22 at the BOK Center when the Dallas Stars face off against the Florida Panthers in an NHL pre-season contest.

It’s a unique, rare opportunity for area hockey fans to get a glimpse of elite NHL players such as Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, and John Klingberg in person instead of just watching them on TV. It will be the first-ever NHL game in Tulsa.

“I think having the game in Tulsa is great for hockey,” said Oilers coach Rob Murray. “Hopefully, it’s a good game. There is a rule in the NHL that says every exhibition game, 10 guys in your lineup have to have NHL experience of some sort. Hopefully the Stars come with all their stars and play them. I’m looking forward to it.”

The process of bringing the NHL to town started with the management team at the BOK Center pitching the idea to the Dallas front office.

“I believe that they called us wanting for us to come up to the BOK Center and have a game,” Alberts said. “So we talked about it and said, ‘Sure.’ Obviously, you’ve got to work through the money, and we went and got Florida to be the opponent.

Tulsa is on the outskirts, basically, of our viewership area (with Stars games televised on Fox Sports Oklahoma), but they are in it, so we were like, ‘Hey, there’s Stars fans up there and there’s no (NHL) hockey

team, obviously, in Oklahoma, so it’s not a bad place to expand a pre-season schedule and go play a game.’ And that’s a great building.”

Even though Alberts has never been to the BOK Center, the arena’s reputation is well-known.

“I know it’s a very good building,” Alberts said. “I know, from just being in the business, and SMG runs it and SMG’s our partner at our minor league facility in Austin (the AHL’s Texas Stars), so we chatted with those guys, and that building gets rave reviews in the industry. I know it’s a very, very good building.”

Alberts is confident that Tulsa hockey fans will come out and fill the building, and acknowledged that a large, enthusiastic crowd could prompt more Stars pre-season games here in the future.

“It’s possible, yes, for sure,” Alberts said. “Let’s see how the attendance is, because then the building and SMG will have to decide whether or not that was a good business decision to have another game. And if it is, I would presume that they will ask us, and if we have a good experience up there, which I’m presuming we will, then we may want to do it again, for sure. It’d be great if there was a good crowd.”

So Tulsa hockey fans are encouraged to pack the BOK, and wear green to support the Stars. Visit bokcenter.secureboxoffice. com/Tulsa for tickets, which start as low as $23. a

THE TULSA VOICE // September 19 – October 2, 2018

UPRISING AN ELEVATED STATE OF BEING

TULSA ARTIST FELLOWSHIP & BLACK MOON TULSA FT. CYPHER 120 FIRST FRIDAY, OCT. 5 // 6-9PM REFINERY // 109 N. MLK JR. IMAGE: ALEXANDER TAMAHN ARTS & CULTURE // 31

TULSA STATE FAIR Thursday, Sept. 27 through Sunday, Oct. 7 Expo Square

T

here’s plenty of reasons to get excited about the fair. This year, what we’re most anticipating (aside from corndogs and funnel cakes, of course) is the debut of Expo Square’s new permanent outdoor stage. Fair headliners—including Easton Corbin, Austin Mahone, Everclear, Branjae, and more—will perform on the massive stage.

Other events and attractions include the Red Dirt Rodeo, Disney On Ice, livestock and horse shows, the Oklahoma State Picking & Fiddling Championships, midway games and rides, and much more. tulsastatefair.com, Admission: $6–$10

32 // ARTS & CULTURE

CULTURE FESTIVAL

PETS

Celebrate Greek culture with a wide variety of food, traditional dancing, games, and shopping at Tulsa Greek Festival. Sept. 20–23, $5, Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, tulsagreekfestival.com

At Woofstock, Oklahoma’s largest (and grooviest) pet adoption event, you can find a new friend or bring one for pet contests, microchipping, vendors and services, and live music. Sept. 22, 10 a.m.– 2 p.m., Jenks Riverwalk, animalallianceok.org

CULTURE FESTIVAL

MUSIC FESTIVAL

The multi-cultural Festival Americas will feature an outdoor art gallery and market, tequila garden, a performance by Grammy-winners Flor de Toloache, and more. Sept. 22, 4–10 p.m., Guthrie Green, guthriegreen.org

At the inaugural Tiny Porch Festival, local bands will perform on porches of homes near Owen Park.

Find more information on pg. 40. Sept. 22, 3–8 p.m.

MUSIC

HOCKEY

100 Days of Opening Celebration at Gathering Place continue with Choir! Choir! Choir! (for which the audience is the choir) on Sept. 20, NOLA Night with Dumpstaphunk and Dirty Dozen Brass Band on Sept. 21, and much more. gatheringplace.org

The NHL’s Dallas Stars and Florida Panthers will play a pre-season game at the BOK Center. Sept. 22, 7 p.m., $15–$167, bokcenter.com

FUNDRAISER RUN

AUTHOR

Join the fight against cancer at the St. Jude Walk/ Run to End Childhood Cancer, which starts and finishes at ONEOK Field. Sept. 22, 6:30 a.m.–10 a.m., $10–$20, stjude.org

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas will discuss his book, “Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen.” Sept. 23, 7 p.m., Gilcrease Museum, humanities.utulsa.edu

September 19 – October 2, 2018 // THE TULSA VOICE

THE TULSA VOICE // September 19 – October 2, 2018

ARTS & CULTURE // 33

BEST OF THE REST TASTE OF KENDALL WHITTIER Sept. 25, 5:30–9 p.m., $45, visitkendallwhittier.com

T

ake trolley rides to a dozen stops at restaurants, breweries, and more—including the Kendall Whittier Community GROW Garden at the annual tour.

MUSIC FESTIVAL

The second-annual Tulsa’s Soul Festival—a tribute to Wayman Tisdale—will feature performances by Musiq Soulchild, Lakeside, Ready for the World, Faye Moffett, and more at Guthrie Green. Sept.

27–28, guthriegreen.com BALLET

Tulsa Ballet concludes the 2018 run of “Creations in Studio K” with Ballet in the Gardens: A Special Night with Tulsa Ballet at Philbrook. Sept. 29, 7:30 p.m., $12–$64, Philbrook Museum of Art, tulsaballet.org

COMEDY

The Second City: Made in America, Some Assembly Required // The legendary sketch comedy company’s touring troupe satirizes our great, big, dysfunctional nation. Sept. 29, 8 p.m., $45–$75, Tulsa PAC – John H. Williams Theatre, tulsapac.com

EVENTS Brookside Block Party at the Ballet // 9/20, Tulsa Ballet, tulsaballet.org Nothing’s Left Grand Opening Weekend // 9/21, Nothing’s Left Brewing Co., nothingsleftbrew.co

34 // ARTS & CULTURE

TU Volleyball vs Memphis // 9/21, Reynolds Center, tulsahurricane.com

Halloween Festival // 9/28, The Castle of Muskogee, okcastle.com

TU Softball vs Southeastern Oklahoma State // 9/22, Collins Family Softball Complex, tulsahurricane.com

IICOT Indian Taco Sale & Vendor Art Fair // 9/29, American Legion Post 1, facebook.com/ iicot

Tulsa Roughnecks FC vs Swope Park Rangers // 9/22/18, ONEOK Field, roughnecksfc.com

BrickUniverse // 9/29, Cox Business Center, brickuniverse.com

ORU Volleyball vs South Dakota // 9/23/18, Cooper Aerobics Center, oruathletics.com

PERFORMING ARTS

TU Women’s Soccer vs Cincinnati // 9/23, Hurricane Stadium, tulsahurricane.com

Little Shop of Horrors // 9/21, Clark Youth Theatre, clarkyouththeatre.com Montrose Trio // 9/22, Tulsa PAC - Kathleen Westby Pavilion and John H. Williams Theatre, tulsapac.com Symphonic Dances // 9/22, Van Trease PACE, signaturesymphony.org

TU Volleyball vs Tulane // 9/23, Reynolds Center, tulsahurricane.com Tulsa Buffaloes vs OKC Flyers // 9/23, Veterans Park, tulsabuffaloes.com ORU Men’s Soccer vs Central Arkansas // 9/25, Case Soccer Complex, oruathletics.com

Diary of a Worm, a Spider and a Fly // 9/27, Tulsa PAC - John H. Williams Theatre, tulsapac.com Black Violin // 9/30, Tulsa PAC - John H. Williams Theatre, tulsapac.com

COMEDY Jason Russell, Brad Scott // 9/19, Loony Bin, tulsa.loonybincomedy.com Frankie Paul // 9/26, Loony Bin, tulsa.loonybincomedy.com Anjelah Johnson // 9/28, Hard Rock Casino - The Joint, hardrockcasinotulsa.com

TU Volleyball vs North Texas // 9/26, Reynolds Center, tulsahurricane.com ORU Women’s Soccer vs Omaha // 9/27, Case Soccer Complex, oruathletics.com TU Volleyball vs Wichita State // 9/29, Reynolds Center, tulsahurricane.com Xtreme Fight Night 352 // 9/29, River Spirit Casino - Paradise Cove, riverspirittulsa.com ORU Women’s Soccer vs North Dakota // 9/30, Case Soccer Complex, oruathletics.com Tulsa Roughnecks vs Rio Grande Valley FC Toros // 10/6, ONEOK Field, roughnecksfc.com

SPORTS

FOR UP-TO-DATE LISTINGS: THETULSAVOICE.COM/CALENDAR

ORU Volleyball vs Denver // 9/21, Cooper Aerobics Center, oruathletics.com

Tulsa Roughnecks vs Sacramento Republic FC // 9/19, ONEOK Field, roughnecksfc.com

Tulsa Roughnecks vs Seattle Sounders 2 // 10/13, ONEOK Field, roughnecksfc.com

TU Women’s Soccer vs ECU // 9/20, Hurricane Stadium, tulsahurricane.com September 19 – October 2, 2018 // THE TULSA VOICE

E V E N T S @ T PA C

Katie Pernu PAC Art Gallery Now - Oct. 1 Wicked Celebrity Attractions Now - Sept. 23 Montrose Trio Chamber Music Tulsa Sept. 23 Diary of a Worm, a Spider and a Fly Tulsa PAC Trust Sept. 28 Black Violin Innovations Arts & Entertainment Sept. 29 The Second City: Made In America Tulsa PAC Trust Sept. 29 Vicente Fox Tulsa Town Hall Oct. 5

SEPT. 29 @ 8 P.M. Tulsa Performing Arts Center John H. Williams Theatre

TICKETS @

TULSAPAC.COM or 918.596.7111 VIP MEET & GREET TIX ALSO AVAILABLE!

TICKETS @ TULSAPAC.COM 918.596.7111

THE TULSA VOICE // September 19 – October 2, 2018 VT_ TPCE Tulsa Voice 9x6 Ad.indd 1

ARTS & CULTURE // 35 9/17/18 12:51 PM

musicnotes

American dogcore

DüClaü’s bone-chilling agenda to liberate local canines, enslave humanity, and rock Tulsa

by BRADY WHISENHUNT

D

üClaü is a band of dogs.

They play songs about dogs, for dogs.

The three band members, Tick Fullblood (bass), [No Name] (bass), and Rufus (drums) share vocal duties. (It’s rumored that these are actually pseudonyms for real-life humans Jacob Fuller, Andrew Noga, and Joshua Gifford, respectively, but DüClaü wouldn’t go on record to confirm this.)

Tick’s crooning, Danzig-esque swagger, [No Name]’s unhinged shouts and yelps, and Rufus’ hardnosed vocal bombast culminate in a fever pitch of howling, dog-conscious angst.

With two bassists and a drummer, their instrumentation is a thick morass of twin bass grooves locked into chunky, cowbell-forward drum beats. Their sound evokes the chaotic, mid-tempo punk maelstrom of Flipper on the one hand, and the red-blooded, meat-and-potatoes classic rock of UFO on the other. But unlike traditional rock bands, DüClaü’s low-frequency “dogcore” sound contains no guitar, perhaps due to the unique hearing sensitivities of their canine comrades.

“We’ve created these sounds humans can hear that tricks them into what we want them to do,” Rufus said, his eyes gleaming with vengeance.

Lyrically, DüClaü’s songs are convicted, bizarre commentaries on the trials and tribulations of dog life. “I Just Wanna Get Out,” for example, is an anguished, aching look at a dog’s desire to run, to sniff around, and to play.

The song’s title is screamed over and over before culminating in a plea to the protagonist’s slothful captor: “I know you just want to sit on your ass / but come with me ‘cause we’ll go have a blast.”

36 // MUSIC

DüClaü in the wild | DESTINY JADE GREEN

To speak candidly with the members of DüClaü is to plunge snout-first into a dizzying rabbit hole of intrigue—from the band’s extraterrestrial origins on Planet Outside, to their arch enemy The Mailman, to their opinions on cats, the joys of sticks and birds, and more. This dense lyrical universe is connected by a spine of radical, dog-positive politics and collective scorn for the human race.

“Humans are inherently evil.

Dogs are a superior species,” said Fullblood.

“We’re not resting until all humans are on leashes, sleeping in the rain, eating from bowls on the ground, drinking out of toilets,” he continued. “Well—we’ll share the toilets.”

It’s hard to tell how much of DüClaü’s militancy is driven by politics, and how much is influenced by traumatic past experiences.

“I was once with a human friend of mine. It was a turning point. He had a ball in his hand, and pretended to throw it, and I ran. There was no ball. I came back and. . .” Fullblood’s voice broke off.

After collecting himself, he continued. “He’d had the ball in his hand the whole time.” Fullblood’s story hinted at countless dog years of hurt. “Deception.

Humans are liars. They’re vile creatures.”

With an air of malicious glee, Rufus explained that mesmerizing human audiences turns the tables on a centuries-old power dynamic.

“I mean, they think it’s fun when they throw the ball. But we’re making them go get the ball. It’s fun for us.”

DüClaü will call a temporary truce with humans on Sept. 19 at Soundpony, as they team with

local shelters to hold a special fundraiser to aid the adoption of local dogs. Starting at 5 p.m., attendees can enter their own dogs to compete in a pageant, culminating in the announcement of a Best in Show winner. Categories and prizes will be announced on the day of the event.

Visitors won’t be able to take home a pooch at the event, but a cash donation will be awarded to a local shelter of the winner’s choosing. The competition will be followed by a performance by the band at 11 p.m. Donations are encouraged but not required for admission.

“We’re trying to free our fellow soldiers in the fight,” said Fullblood. “They’re euthanizing almost 50 animals a day in Tulsa.”

After a few moments of mournful howling, the band elaborated.

“We hope to get some adoptions to humans, because that’s the only way to get [dogs] out of the cages,” said Rufus. “That’s when we hope to get more communication to our brethren via those humans, via our songs. Once we get our album released, we’ll have some hidden tracks that will speak to the animals subliminally.”

DüClaü are intense, spontaneous, and passionate. But more importantly, they are very good boys.

“As long as there are dogs sleeping outside on a leash, there will be DüClaü to fight for them,” said Youngblood. a

BEST IN SHOW SHELTER BENEFIT & DOG PAGEANT Wednesday, Sept. 19, 5 p.m.

Soundpony Bar | 409 N. Main St. Check out DüClaü’s tunes on Bandcamp: duclau.bandcamp.com.

September 19 – October 2, 2018 // THE TULSA VOICE

THE TULSA VOICE // September 19 – October 2, 2018

MUSIC // 37

Parker Millsap | DAVID MCCLISTER

musicnotes

‘I CAN’T ESCAPE BEING ME’ Parker Millsap comes home with confidence

by ALEXANDRA ROBINSON

P

arker Millsap can’t seem to get away from his Pentecostal, Oklahoma roots.

Not that it’s what 25-year-old singer, songwriter, and guitarist aims to do. Millsap’s four internationally-acclaimed albums are filled with characters Okies know so well. He muses fondly about playing the three chords he knew for his Purcell congregation in a past life. On his latest release, Other Arrangements, you’ll still hear his soulful, pleading voice backed by a gospel choir.

Parker Millsap brings his band—featuring longtime collaborator Michael Rose on bass, classically-trained fiddler Daniel Foulks, and drummer Andrew Bones—to Cain’s Ballroom on Sept. 28. He’s coming back to his home state to take you to church, but maybe not in the way you think.

ROBINSON: Well maybe we’ll try to get that movement going!

MILLSAP: ‘Can you guys all just clap in unison really loud for me?’ [laughs] ROBINSON: I knew I loved Other Arrangements the moment I heard the line about Texas drivers in “Some People.” [“They got their Texas plates / they’re gonna cut you off.”]

MILLSAP: If you’ve driven in Texas you know what I’m talking about!

ALEXANDRA ROBINSON: So you were in Europe for a couple weeks, right?

38 // MUSIC

MILLSAP: It’s interesting. They’re just as enthusiastic between the songs, but they don’t clap during the songs as much. And then in Denmark, they do this thing (and in a lot of Scandinavia) toward the end of a set: If you really nail a song or something, they’ll all start clapping in unison [mimics claps].

I would love it if people in the States did that.

PARKER MILLSAP: Two and a half— almost three.

ROBINSON: Was there a particular instance that inspired this? Or was it a handful of Texans that did this to you?

ROBINSON: I know there’s a huge “Americana” fanbase there, and that always surprises me for some reason. What are your European audiences like?

MILLSAP: [laughs] There were multiple instances. I mean, most of our touring at the beginning was in Texas, so we were going back and forth between Oklahoma

September 19 – October 2, 2018 // THE TULSA VOICE

and Texas—and Texan drivers are pretty aggressive [. . .] I don’t want to lose any Texas fans over this interview! [laughs] ROBINSON: You wrote this album both on and off the road after moving to Nashville. Did that change your creative process?

MILLSAP: Yeah, it did! I don’t know why but a lot of the songs kind of came from more guitar riffs.

I wrote a lot of the music before the lyrics on this one—and on previous record I wrote, like I had an idea for a story and I’d have a set of lyrics that I’d put music to.

But this one, guitar lines and stuff came first and everything else kind of followed.

fled. I’ve been fortunate enough to kind of hang out with him two or three times—it’s always surreal [laughs]. What’s truly great is he’s a music head he wants to talk about old blues piano players and Aretha Franklin deep cuts. It’s inspiring that you can be on that level and be an international superstar and he’s still way into the craft and what he does.

ROBINSON: You’ve gotten to play a lot of really cool gigs—Elton John’s Apple Music Festival in London, and The Ryman in Nash-

ville, to name just a couple—but what does it mean to you to be playing a headlining show at Cain’s Ballroom?

MILLSAP: I love playing Cain’s! It’s always great. Tulsa is one of the first cities besides Norman or the McClain County Fair that we played! [laughs] ROBINSON: What was the first Tulsa venue you played?

MILLSAP: The Colony! I love that place.

ROBINSON: You said Other Arrangements is the first album you’ve felt totally confident about releasing.

Where did you find that confidence?

MILLSAP: I’m not sure [. . .] I was trying to figure it out, and I think I reached the 10,000-hour rule or something? Where you put 10,000 hours into something and then you’re competent, basically [laughs].

Yeah—I think sometime in the past two years I hit my 10,000 hours, so now I feel like it’s not so mysterious and I can work, you know? a

ROBINSON: How do you feel when your music is described as “gospel-tinged”?

MILLSAP: I’ve spent so much of my life playing and listening to gospel and gospel-inspired music, blues, soul, things like that, and I just can’t really escape that. I’m fine with it!

ROBINSON: It seems like you’re starting to get a little more interested in jazz, and jazz forms, and the experimental nature of it. Is that recent?

MILLSAP: Yeah, it is [. . .] I feel like I’m just learning more about music [laughs] and learning to appreciate different things—and how to incorporate those things and still be me, you know? Something I’ve learned is that I can’t escape being me anyways.

ROBINSON: Do you come back to Oklahoma often?

MILLSAP: I try to. There are things I miss about Oklahoma. I miss the big sky thing. It’s always a little cloudy in Nashville. And there are way more trees in Nashville—I wanna see the storm rolling in!

I don’t like it to sneak up on me!

ROBINSON: The Sir Elton John said that you and Sarah Jarosz “restored his faith in music.” That’s insane! What’s it like to have his fandom?

MILLSAP: Yeah, it’s kind of insane.

I’m just grateful and kind of bafTHE TULSA VOICE // September 19 – October 2, 2018

MUSIC // 39

musicnotes

SUPERBLY ANTI-SUBURB Three neighbors bring the party to Owen Park’s porches

by CASSIDY MCCANTS

From left: Tommy Branch, Rusty Rowe, and Daniel McIntosh. | GREG BOLLINGER

I

n an attempt to connect with their neighbors, Rusty Rowe, Tommy Branch, and Daniel McIntosh planned the first-ever Tiny Porch Festival, which was to be a late-May music fest in Owen Park.

What they didn’t expect was to catch the interest of more than 700 people on Facebook.

“Every time I try do something cool, there’s a balance of complete terror and excitement—like everything worth doing, right?” said Rowe, a musician, former owner of Mod’s Coffee and Crepes, and recent Oklahoma House District 66 candidate.

“We’re still going to give it our all,” said Branch, who is also a musician, as well as a board member for the Owen Park Neighborhood Association. While he, Rowe, and McIntosh believe Owen Park is the best neighborhood in Tulsa, they’ve noticed some of its areas are disconnected, indicating a problem they believe pervades our culture.

“It feels like we’re siloed, like we don’t interact,” said McIntosh, who works for 36 Degrees North and is the executive director of the nonprofit Parish Network.

“I was talking to Tommy about his [past] presidency of the Neighborhood Association,” McIntosh said. “His impulse in getting involved was to connect 40 // MUSIC

the whole of the neighborhood together, and he thought after two years we still hadn’t breached that gap. I said, ‘What do we need to do, then?’ He said, ‘Well, I’ve been in bands a long time. . .’”

They moved forward from there, inspired by NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts and a huge porch music festival in New Jersey. They chose a few Owen Park porches as venues and gathered seven bands to play throughout the afternoon and evening of Memorial Day, May 28.

But then the City of Tulsa noticed the event’s popularity on Facebook and told them they’d need permits, portable toilets, etc., for a festival so large.

The event was postponed so Rowe, Branch, and McIntosh could figure out a format that would adhere to city codes and regulations. Now, instead of the pub crawl layout they’d planned for initially, with folks moving from house to house (porch to porch) between sets, they’ll have bands play simultaneously on multiple porches throughout the afternoon of Saturday, Sept. 22.

Three Owen Park porches will double as venues until 6 p.m., when the crowd will funnel to Pershing Studios (1903 W. Easton St.) for the final event. This way, the city won’t have to worry about the possibility of hundreds of

people migrating together at once all afternoon.

“The city is looking at it more like it’s Halloween,” Rowe explained. Such vendors as Cirque Coffee Roasters, Willows Family Ales, and KillerWail Barbecue will keep festival-goers hydrated and satiated at Pershing for the final event.

Now more than 1,100 people have responded to the event on Facebook. The primary mission is still to connect neighbors—but it’s also about bringing people to Owen Park.

“We wanted to bond our neighborhood together—at this point we want to have a connection with the rest of the city, as well. A happy accident!” McIntosh said of the event’s still-growing exposure.

“Everyone has preconceived ideas about West Tulsa, North Tulsa, but if you go you’ll see they’re just people’s homes. It’s a neighborhood just like every other neighborhood,” Rowe said. “It’s a comfortable way to get out of your comfort zone. How many years have I been stuck in my house, gone straight to work, gone through the whole daily routine not realizing there are amazing people living feet away from me?”

The Tiny Porch Festival lineup features nine bands, including Grazzhopper Trio, The Lonelys,

Endless Forms, Bringer, and more.

These groups are passionate about neighborly connection, too.

Though historic Owen Park, like many parts of our city, suffers from some disconnection, its residents do seem to value knowing who’s next door. One family participating in the festival told Rusty they’ve met more neighbors in the year and a half they’ve lived in Owen Park than during the 25 years they resided in Broken Arrow.

“I think this area of downtown is really drawn to that,” McIntosh said. “We were actually going to name it the Anti-Suburbs Fest.” a

TINY PORCH FESTIVAL Saturday, Sept. 22 | Owen Park Rosedale Porch (332 N. Rosedale Ave.) 3 p.m.: Hot Toast Music (kid-friendly) 4 p.m.: Endless Forms 5 p.m.: Cedar House Cameron Porch (1707 W. Cameron St.) 4 p.m.: Rose Gold 5 p.m.: Sam Westhoff Easton Porch (1721 W. Easton St.) 4 p.m.: Zero for Conduct 5 p.m.: Grazzhopper Trio Pershing Porch (1903 W. Easton St.) 6 p.m.: Bringer 7 p.m.: The Lonelys

September 19 – October 2, 2018 // THE TULSA VOICE

THE TULSA VOICE // September 19 – October 2, 2018

MUSIC // 41

musiclistings Wed // Sept 19

Sat // Sept 22

Wed // Sept 26

Blackbird on Pearl – Wubby Wednesday Bound for Glory Books – *Hot Sauce Koalas, 30-30s, Black Horse Cellar Dweller – Grazzhopper Trio Gathering Place – Red Dirt Rangers Hard Rock Casino - Riffs – Runnin On Empty Los Cabos - BA – Nick Whitaker Los Cabos - Jenks – Caleb Fellenstein Mercury Lounge – Jared Tyler Soul City – Don & Stephen White Soundpony – *Düclaü The Colony – Tom Skinner Science Project The Vanguard – *Guys on a Bus Record Release – ($10)

Blackbird on Pearl – Billy Joe Winghead Guthrie Green – Izis La Enferma de La Salsa Hard Rock Casino - Riffs – Jesse Joice, FM Live Hard Rock Casino - The Joint – Billy Idol – (SOLD OUT) Inner Circle Vodka Bar – Feenix Los Cabos - BA – Doctors of Replay Los Cabos - Jenks – Scott Pendergrass Los Cabos - Owasso – Steve Liddell Mercury Lounge – The South Austin Moonlighters Mulligan’s Sports & Spirits – DJ MO Osage Casino Tulsa – Deuces Wild Owen Park – *Tiny Porch Festival w/ Bringer, The Lonelys, Endless Forms, Cedar House, Grazzhopper Trio, Zero For Conduct, Rose Gold, Sam Westhoff, Hot Toast Music Soul City – Jordan Rainer – ($10) Soundpony – Bacon Beats and Buttcheeks The Colony – Robert Hoefling – ($5) The Hunt Club – BC and the Big Rig The Run – Stars The Vanguard – Dead Metal Society – ($10-$20) The Venue Shrine – Afroman, Mountain Sprout – ($12-$15) Woody Guthrie Center – Branjae, Dane Arnold & The Soup, Roots of Thought – ($25)

Blackbird on Pearl – Wubby Wednesday Cain’s Ballroom – *Ghostland Observatory, Gibbz – ($26-$41) Cellar Dweller – Grazzhopper Trio Hard Rock Casino - Riffs – Rusty Meyers Los Cabos - BA – John Dooly Los Cabos - Jenks – Ronnie Pyle Mercury Lounge – Wink Burcham, Jacob Tovar Soul City – Don & Stephen White Soundpony – Crystal Killers, The Duke The Colony – Tom Skinner Science Project The Vanguard – Eve to Adam – ($15)

Thurs // Sept 20 Cain’s Ballroom – Reckless Kelly & Hayes Carll – ($23-$38) Gathering Place – *Choir! Choir! Choir!

Hard Rock Casino - Riffs – Scott Eastman, DJ and the Band Los Cabos - BA – The Hi-Fidelics Los Cabos - Jenks – Lost on Acoustica Los Cabos - Owasso – Nick Whitaker Mercury Lounge – Garrett Capps Mulligan’s Sports & Spirits – DJ MO River Spirit Casino - Paradise Cove – *Dwight Yoakam – ($60-$70) Soul City – The Begonias Soundpony – Road to Renewal w/ DJ Chicken Strip The Colony – Jacob Tovar’s Western Night The Colony – Chriss Lee Becker - Happy Hour The Fur Shop – Manta Rays, Mirror Fileds The Hunt Club – Ego Culture The Run – Zinners Jam

Fri // Sept 21 Blackbird on Pearl – Curtis Roper Band – ($5) Brady Theater – Rober Plant & The Sensational Space Shifters – (SOLD OUT) Chimera – Keep Flying, Spencer Radcliffe, Downward, The Beaten Daylights Gathering Place – *Dumpstaphunk, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band Hard Rock Casino - Riffs – Weston Horn, Zodiac IDL Ballroom – Whipped Cream, Disco Donnie, Subsonix – ($15) Los Cabos - BA – Radio Nation Los Cabos - Jenks – C-Plus Los Cabos - Owasso – Maveric and Goose Mercury Lounge – Chris Welch and the Cicada Killers Osage Casino Tulsa – The Rumor Pit Stop – DJ MO River Spirit Casino - Paradise Cove – Slash ft.

Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators – ($38$53) Soul City – Dane Arnold & The Soup – ($10) Soul City – Susan Herndon Soundpony – Soft Leather The Colony – *Levi Parham & Dustin Pittsley – ($5) The Colony – Jillian Holzbauer - Happy Hour The Hunt Club – Dante and the Hawks The Run – Stars The Vanguard – My So Called Band – ($10) The Venue Shrine – Mezclave Salsa – ($8-$10)

42 // MUSIC

Sun // Sept 23 Brady Theater – *Primus – ($32-$37) Cain’s Ballroom – Burn Co Barbecue Brunch w/ Joe Mack – ($15) East Village Bohemian Pizzeria – Mike Cameron Collective Guthrie Green – Paul Thorn, Weston Horn & the Hush Los Cabos - BA – Jacob Dement Los Cabos - Jenks – The Fabulous Two Man Band Mercury Lounge – *All Hail The Yeti, Zero Theorem Soul City – Bruner & Eicher Soul City – Dustin Pittsley Gospel Blues Brunch The Colony – Paul Benjaman’s Sunday Nite Thing The Colony – Singer Songwriter Open Mic Matinee The Hunt Club – Randy Crouch The Venue Shrine – Demarrio vs The Universe – ($5)

Mon // Sept 24 Blackbird on Pearl – The Portal Hodges Bend – Mike Cameron Collective Mercury Lounge – Brandon Clark - Happy Hour Soul City – Danny Baker Soundpony – Hello Zodiac Shit Show The Colony – Seth Lee Jones The Colony – Ryan Browning - Happy Hour The Vanguard – Revocation, Exhumed, Rivers of Nihil, Yautja – ($16-$40) The Venue Shrine – The Situation – ($5)

Tues // Sept 25 Blackbird on Pearl – The Pearl Jam Mercury Lounge – Chris Blevins Soul City – Tuesday Bluesday The Colony – Dane Arnold & The Soup The Colony – Deerpaw - Happy Hour

Thurs // Sept 27 Blackbird on Pearl – El Dub Gathering Place – Lisa Loeb Hard Rock Casino - Riffs – Travis Kidd, Squadlive Los Cabos - BA – Local Spin Duo Los Cabos - Jenks – Maveric and Goose Los Cabos - Owasso – Scott Pendergrass Mercury Lounge – Jared Tyler Mulligan’s Sports & Spirits – DJ MO Soul City – The Begonias Soundpony – Big Ro TV The Colony – Chriss Lee Becker - Happy Hour The Run – Zinners Jam The Venue Shrine – Aarom Kamm and the One Drops – ($7-$10) Tulsa State Fair - Oklahoma Stage – Colt Ford

Fri // Sept 28 Barkingham Palace – *The Big News Hans Gruber and the Die Hards Blackbird on Pearl – The Stylees Cain’s Ballroom – *Parker Millsap, Aaron Lee Tasjan – ($15-$30) Gathering Place – Montéz de Durango Guthrie Green – *Tulsa’s Soul Festival w/ Ready for the World, Charlie Redd and the Full Flava Kings, Ms. Val Hard Rock Casino - Riffs – The Hi-Fidelics, Jason Nelson Los Cabos - BA – Aviators Los Cabos - Jenks – Local Spin Los Cabos - Owasso – Bria and Joey Mercury Lounge – Paul Benjaman Osage Casino Tulsa – The Stars Pit Stop – DJ MO Retro Grill & Bar – J’Parle Reloaded Soul City – Travis Fite Reggae Nite – ($10) Soul City – Susan Herndon Soundpony – DJ WhyNot The Colony – Dan Martin, Justin Bloss – ($5) The Colony – Jillian Holzbauer - Happy Hour The Hunt Club – Less Than 12 The Run – The Downbeat The Vanguard – Vicious Rumors – ($12) The Venue Shrine – *Bryce Dicus Album Release – ($10) Tulsa State Fair - Oklahoma Stage – Easton Corbin

Los Cabos - BA – Fuzed Los Cabos - Jenks – Scott Pendergrass Los Cabos - Owasso – Bret Giddens Trio Mercury Lounge – *Haha Tonka Mulligan’s Sports & Spirits – DJ MO Osage Casino Tulsa – Jesse Joice Soul City – Tulsa Blues Challenge – ($10) Soundpony – Pleasuredome The Colony – TK & The Right Pieces – ($5) The Hunt Club – BC and the Big Rig The Vanguard – The Secret Post, The Bourgeois, White Mansion – ($10) The Venue Shrine – 2FAC3D & KEDZIE – ($10$15) Tulsa State Fair - Oklahoma Stage – Black Stone Cherry

Sun // Sept 30 Cain’s Ballroom – *The Decemberists, Kacy & Clayton – ($35-$189) Cain’s Ballroom – Burn Co Barbecue Brunch w/ Zoey Horner – ($15) Colorfeed A/V – *Daikaiju, Tom Boil, Plastic Psalms, Sylvia Wrath East Village Bohemian Pizzeria – Mike Cameron Collective Guthrie Green – *Son Volt, The Plateros, Perizad Hard Rock Casino - The Joint – Clint Black, Sawyer Brown – (SOLD OUT) Los Cabos - BA – Travis Kidd Los Cabos - Jenks – Nick Whitaker Duo Mercury Lounge – The Yawpers Soul City – Bruner & Eicher Soul City – Dustin Pittsley Gospel Blues Brunch Soundpony – Cheer Up, Provide The Colony – Paul Benjaman’s Sunday Nite Thing The Colony – Singer Songwriter Open Mic Matinee Tulsa State Fair - Oklahoma Stage – Granger Smith

Mon // Oct 1 Cain’s Ballroom – Lord Huron, Cut Worms – (SOLD OUT) Hodges Bend – Mike Cameron Collective Mercury Lounge – Brandon Clark The Colony – Seth Lee Jones The Colony – Ryan Browning - Happy Hour Tulsa State Fair - Oklahoma Stage – Casting Crowns, I Am They

Tues // Oct 2 Cain’s Ballroom – *Iron & Wine, Erin Rae – ($33-$48) Mercury Lounge – Chris Blevins Soul City – Tuesday Bluesday The Colony – Dane Arnold & The Soup The Colony – Deerpaw - Happy Hour The Vanguard – Wolf Skin – ($10) Tulsa State Fair - Oklahoma Stage – Austin Mahone

Sat // Sept 29 Cain’s Ballroom – *Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, DJ Moody – ($26-$41) Fassler Hall – *Steph Simon w/ The Vets Band – ($5) Guthrie Green – *Tulsa’s Soul Festival w/ Musiq Soulchild, Lakeside, Faye Moffett Hard Rock Casino - Riffs – Travis Marvin, Paul Bogart September 19 – October 2, 2018 // THE TULSA VOICE

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THE TULSA VOICE // September 19 – October 2, 2018

MUSIC // 43

The statutes of the Lord are RIGHT, rejoicing the HEART: the commandment of the Lord is PURE, enlightening the EYES. FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST

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TELL US WHAT YOU’RE DOING So we can tell everyone else Send all your event and music listings to voices@langdonpublishing.com Matthew McConaughey and Richie Merritt in “White Boy Rick” | COURTESY

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44 // FILM & TV

‘White Boy Rick’ enters the American crime film cannon to mixed results IS THERE ANYTHING MORE AMERICAN THAN the American crime story? These narratives present the American dream of wealth, power, and success as attainable to the working class only through good oldfashioned hustling. It’s about the willingness to get one’s hands dirty to make a little scratch. We love films like “Goodfellas,” “American Hustle,” and “Scarface” because we love to see the downtrodden and marginalized get one over on the institutions designed to make them struggle.

“White Boy Rick” is the true-life tale of Richard Wershe Jr. who, at the ripe old age of 15, is recruited by the FBI as an undercover informant during the heyday of the 1980s drug epidemic in Detroit. When the FBI no longer needs him, Wershe quickly establishes himself as a major player in the Detroit drug trade before ultimately getting life for possession—all before turning 17 years old. It’s a story so implausible you’d think it was Hollywood fiction, if it weren’t for the fact that it’s all true.

While the highly ambitious film never reaches its full potential, the performances by the cast more than make up for it.

“White Boy Rick” leans heavily on Matthew McConaughey, who brings a dignified pitifulness to Richard, Rick’s street-hustling father with ambitions of going legit by get-

ting in early on the VHS rental business.

McConaughey is dependably solid, but the film’s breakout performance comes from newcomer Richie Merritt. Plucked out of obscurity for this role, Merritt confidently vacillates between an authentic, street-savvy hustler and a vulnerable teen barely treading water.

Clocking in at nearly two hours, the film drags a bit when it devotes too much time to Dawn, Rick’s drug-addled sister played by Bel Powley. While Powley portrays Dawn with a tragic fragility, her purpose is really only to show you how terrible the drug epidemic is. It’s easily the weakest link in a movie that feels simultaneously slight and overstuffed.

“White Boy Rick” strives to belong in the same conversation as such American crime classics as “Goodfellas” or “The Public Enemy”—films that celebrate the tenacity and can-do spirit of the hustler, the blue-collar criminal, and the gangster, while also showing the very real consequences of a life defined by drugs and crime. And in true American fashion, no matter how successful you become, no matter how much power you accrue, there’s always some institution waiting around the corner, ready to bust the door down and leave you empty handed.

— CHARLES ELMORE

September 19 – October 2, 2018 // THE TULSA VOICE

Olivia Wilde and Oscar Isaac in “Life Itself” | COURTESY

NOBLE PRIZE Glenn Close in “The Wife” | COURTESY

Glenn Close gives a screen-acting masterclass in ‘The Wife’ IF YOU TOOK THE SCRIPT FOR “THE WIFE” at face value, without a title page, it would likely read as “The Nobel Prize Winner”—a story about a male literary titan whose professional and personal flaws come home to roost as he accepts the biggest honor of his career.

But it’s Björn Runge’s direction and Glenn Close’s Oscar-worthy central performance that make the film’s title apt.

The Swedish director’s filmmaking may never be flashy—playing out in rooms between two or three characters in a way that could easily translate to the stage— but you’d be hard-pressed to find a better example of what cinematic language is really, truly all about.

It’s more than just documenting what’s on the page, telling a clear narrative, or wowing moviegoers with some signature visual flair. At its core, film language creates a story through what’s seen rather than what’s said. Fundamentally, it’s about shot choices. Those choices create a point of view, a perspective. That perspective is the story.

Here, the center of attention is the man, but the shots—and the story—are about the woman.

When Glenn Close is the focus of those shots, she can tell you the real story, even when her dialogue masks it. She may not spill all of the details, but she communicates the full emotional weight and psychosomatic damage of an entire personal history.

Hell, with someone of her caliber, Close doesn’t even need to say a word; and in some of her best, most piercing moments—which start early and recur often—she doesn’t.

Joe Castleman (Jonathan Pryce,

“Game of Thrones”) is a legendary author whose celebrated work and personal charisma have garnered him fame. Glenn Close plays his devoted wife, Joan, who has foregone her own literary ambitions in order to raise their two kids and support his talents.

Joan’s repressed sacrifices, her personal identity most prominent among them, finally rise to the surface on a trip to Stockholm where Joe will be given the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Joan can no longer play the role of dutiful spouse but not because of some need for validation. Joe’s narcissism has taken its toll, now augmented on the grandest global stage. His fraudulent self-import has made a farce of the truth—the limits of his actual talents; the accommodations she’s made to foster his reputation—in a way that only they know.

The arc follows familiar beats (public facades, private resentments, explosive confrontations) but in uncharacteristically complex ways. There is genuine love between them, and Joan hasn’t simply been bullied into this life; she’s made conscious choices. Joe is not dismissive or patriarchal, either, but he lacks self-awareness and his ego is fragile. He’s taken her for granted, too, and as the film unfolds, we learn by just how much.

The rest of the cast doesn’t match Close and Pryce—including Christian Slater, who’s merely serviceable as a shady, interloping biographer—but they don’t need to. And if Close goes on to win her first Academy Award, it’d be especially fitting for this role. When it comes to her status as a multi-nominated Oscar bridesmaid, Glenn Close has been ignored for way too long. — JEFF HUSTON

THE TULSA VOICE // September 19 – October 2, 2018

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

OPENING SEPTEMBER 21 LIFE ITSELF This multi-generational saga of romance, marriage, and family comes from writer/director Dan Fogelman, the creator of NBC’s hit drama, “This Is Us.” The all-star cast includes Oscar Isaac, Olivia Wilde, Annette Bening, Mandy Patinkin, and more. Rated R. LOVE GILDA A new documentary celebrating the life of Gilda Radner, the beloved comedy legend who was a breakout star of the original “Saturday Night Live” cast. The evening screening on Friday Sept. 27th will begin at 6:45 p.m. to kick off and preview the Circle’s 5th Annual Oklahoma Jewish Film Festival, coming in October. Not Rated.

WE THE ANIMALS Three children grow up in a volatile home, slowly becoming versions of their father, and one escapes into an imagined world of his own. Rated R. BACKPACK FULL OF CASH Narrated

by Matt Damon, this documentary examines the impact of the increasing privatization of public schools.

OPENING SEPTEMBER 28 BLAZE A biopic about the mostly-unknown country music singer, Blaze Foley, from writer/director Ethan Hawke (who stays behind the camera). Singer Ben Dickey stars, with Sam Rockwell, Steve Zahn, and Kris Kristofferson.

Rated R. 1945 This black-and-white Hungarian drama examines one small town’s paranoia when two Jewish Holocaust survivors return to reclaim their property.

MANHATTAN SHORTS 2018 The 21st annual event is an official Oscarqualifier for Short Film entries. Viewers across the nation will vote for the fest’s Best Short Film award. Viewer discretion advised.

SPECIAL EVENTS 2018 HUNTING FILM TOUR A nationwide tour highlighting conservation-oriented adventure stories, co-sponsored by the Wild Sheep Foundation, Ducks Unlimited, and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.

Includes a meet-and-greet vendor fair and door prizes, starting at 5:30 p.m.

Presented by Backwoods Tulsa.

(Thu., Sept. 20, 6 p.m.)

CASA DE LA CULTURA Free monthly screening showcasing films from Mexico’s cinematic golden age from 1933 to 1964. (Tue., Sept. 25, 7 p.m.)

BAD REPUTATION A special onenight-only screening of the new Joan Jett rockumentary that examines her groundbreaking career, including new interviews with Jett. (Wed., Sept. 26, 7 p.m.)

NT LIVE: KING LEAR Stage and screen legend Ian McKellen (“The Lord of the Rings”) stars in in the hailed London production of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedy. Admission $17; Seniors $16; Circle members $15. (Thu., Sept. 27, 5:45 p.m. pre-show; 6 p.m. start) FAR WESTERN A unique documentary about the popularity of American country music in post-World War II Japan, presented by This Land Films.

(Thu., Oct. 4, 7 p.m.)

FILM & TV // 45

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September 19 – October 2, 2018 // THE TULSA VOICE

free will astrology

by ROB BREZSNY

VIRGO (AUG. 23-SEPT. 22): Virgo businessman Warren Buffet is among the top five wealthiest people on the planet. In an average year, his company Berkshire Hathaway adds $36 billion to its already swollen coffers. But in 2017, thanks to the revision of the U.S. tax code by President Trump and his buddies, Buffet earned $65 billion—an increase of 83 percent over his usual haul. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, you’re entering a year-long phase when your financial chances could have a mild resemblance to Buffet’s 2017. I’m not predicting your earnings will increase by 83 percent. But 15 percent isn’t unreasonable. So start planning how you’ll do it!

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): As he stepped up to use an ATM in a supermarket, a Scottish man named Colin Banks found £30 (about $40 U.S.) that the person who used the machine before him had inadvertently neglected to take. But rather than pocketing it, Banks turned it in to a staff member, and eventually the cash was reunited with its proper owner. Shortly after performing his good deed, Bank won £50,000 (about $64,500 U.S.) in a game of chance.

It was instant karma in dramatic action—the positive kind! My analysis of the astrological omens reveals that you’re more likely than usual to benefit from expeditious cosmic justice like that. That’s why I suggest you intensify your commitment to doing good deeds.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): As you dive down into your soul’s depths in quest for renewal, remember this testimony from poet Scherezade Siobhan: “I want to dig out what is ancient in me, the mistaken-for-monster… and let it teach me how to be unafraid again.” Are you brave and brazen enough to do that yourself? It’s an excellent time to douse your fear by drawing wild power from the primal sources of your life.

To earn the right to soar through the heights in November and December, delve as deep as you can in the coming weeks.

ACROSS 1 Like crunchy veggies 4 Gin go-with 9 Rx dose, sometimes 13 Place for all previous days 17 Freudian study 18 Ant settlement 19 Solos for sopranos 21 Fodder storage tower 22 A little photo gallery? (Pt. 1) 26 “Towering” film thing 27 Gaucho’s plain 28 Eight-person groups 29 Big name in chicken 30 Mosquito repellent ingredient 31 Not bona fide 33 Twin in Genesis 36 What gears do 39 Sax type 43 A little photo gallery? (Pt. 2) 49 A citrus fruit 50 Intimated 51 Summoned your butler 52 Rationed (out) 53 Savory jelly 55 Coin-___ (some washers) 56 “___ Como Va” (Santana hit) 57 Quiets 58 Ridicule, in a way 61 Vast time period 63 Luxurious pampering place 65 A little photo gallery? (Pt. 3) 74 Father or soda 75 Human balancing point 76 In rows crossing columns 77 U-turn from never

82 Approx. project completion date 85 Sound from the disgusted 87 Some ones and fives 88 Thing often wished for the world 89 Some savings vehicles 90 Grind together, as teeth 93 Wash up 94 A little photo gallery? (Pt. 4) 98 Do horse maintenance 99 Language of a particular group 100 Hawaiian island 101 “… can’t believe ___ the whole thing!”

102 Prefix with knock or bodies 105 Provide a leg up 110 Be a helper 114 Poetic Elinor 116 Easily shaped or bent 118 A little photo gallery? (Pt. 5) 122 Cookie stuffed with vowels 123 Po-po alert 124 Menacing African fly 125 ___ Aviv 126 Part of a cemetery 127 Watches carefully 128 It’s uplifting in a bakery 129 Jamaican jams DOWN 1 Install to new specs 2 Throes, pains and woes, together 3 Scarfs, as food 4 Little city 5 Miscellaneous grab bag 6 French refusal 7 English fireplace

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): According to author Elizabeth Gilbert, here’s “the central question upon which all creative living hinges: do you have the courage to bring forth the treasures that are hidden within you?” When I read that thought, my first response was, why are the treasures hidden? Shouldn’t they be completely obvious? My second response was, why do you need courage to bring forth the treasures?

Shouldn’t that be the easiest and most enjoyable task imaginable? Everything you just read is a perfect riddle for you to contemplate during the next 14 months, Sagittarius.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): A blogger named Sage Grace offers her readers a list of “cool things to call me besides cute.” They include dazzling, alluring, sublime, magnificent, and exquisite. Is it OK if I apply those same adjectives to you, Capricorn? I’d like to add a few more, as well: resplendent, delightful, intriguing, magnetic, and incandescent. I hope that in response you don’t flinch with humility or protest that you’re not worthy of such glorification. According to my astrological analysis, now is one of those times when you deserve extra appreciation for your idiosyncratic appeal and intelligence. Tell your allies and loved ones that I said so. Inform them, too, that giving you this treatment could help mobilize one of your half-asleep potentials.

8 Batting feat involving four hits 9 Mountain pond 10 Con ___ (with vigor, musically) 11 Informal relative 12 Light blow 13 Secretive “over here” 14 Assistant on the job 15 Part of a crate 16 Happy Meal lures 18 Louis Armstrong’s instrument 20 One leaning on the building at lunch 23 MLB manager Durocher 24 Couldn’t stomach 25 Unreturned serve 30 Because of 31 Corpulence 32 Greatly excited 34 Get droopy 35 Time-wasting commotion 37 Relative of Claudius 38 Howdy from Australia 39 Wows 40 Plaster foundation 41 Squirrel’s home 42 Huge things for underdogs 43 Natural rope fiber 44 Glass medicine container 45 Horse’s utterance 46 Playful antic 47 “Everything will be fine” 48 Fowl Down Under 49 Dreamworld “land” 54 The Windy City, cut 57 Simple laugh 59 Pharaoh’s serpents 60 Blue pool ball 62 Butterfly enclosure 64 It calls the kettle black 66 Emulate a surgeon

67 Sandpaper description 68 Repeat sign, in music 69 Wane 70 Trade association 71 Islam’s deity 72 18-Down feature 73 Tam-wearer’s language 77 Powerful jungle creatures 78 Jacob’s first wife 79 1993 Texas siege site 80 Pulsating pain 81 Vote of agreement 83 Plant for poi 84 Spumante lead-in 86 Vietnam city 89 “___ my wit’s end!”

91 Mermaid’s habitat 92 “Yeah, I’ll bet!”

95 Sudden bursts 96 Sacred song of David 97 Ready for marriage 101 Y kin?

103 ___ Gritty Dirt Band 104 Point and say “Nah, nah!”

106 Horrible gymnast 107 Tear-inducing bios 108 Aerodynamically designed 109 Car brand needing no gas 110 Playing hooky from base 111 Lee of desserts 112 Bouillabaisse is one 113 Symbol on a smartphone 114 Shout from a park swing 115 Desires 116 Vets’ concerns 117 “… ___ ye be judged” 119 It rolls with pips 120 Attempt 121 Mauna ___

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

THE TULSA VOICE // September 19 – October 2, 2018

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Many educated Americans and Europeans think of reincarnation as a loony delusion, even though it’s a cornerstone of spiritual belief for over 1.5 billion earthlings. I myself regard it as a hypothesis worthy of intelligent consideration, although I’d need hundreds of pages to explain my version of it.

However you imagine it, Aquarius, you now have extra access to knowledge and skills and proclivities you possessed in what we might refer to as your “past lives”—especially in those past lives in which you were an explorer, maverick, outlaw, or pioneer. I bet you’ll feel freer and more experimental than usual during the next four weeks.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): “When the winds of change blow,” says a Chinese proverb, “some people build walls while others build windmills.” Since the light breezes of change may soon evolve into brisk gusts of change in your vicinity, I wanted to bring this thought to your attention. Will you be more inclined to respond by constructing walls or windmills? I don’t think it would be foolish for you to favor the walls, but in the long run I suspect that windmills would serve you better.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): “The flower doesn’t dream of the bee. It blossoms and the bee comes.” So says poet and philosopher Mark Nepo in The Book of Awakening. Now I’m transmitting his observation to you. I hope it will motivate you to expend less energy fantasizing about what you want and devote more energy to becoming the beautiful, useful, irresistible presence that will attract what you want. The coming weeks will be an excellent time to make plans to produce very specific blossoms.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Budi Waseso, the former head of the Indonesian government’s anti-narcotics division, had a radical plan to prevent escapes by people convicted of drug-related crimes. He sought to build detention centers that would be surrounded by moats filled with crocodiles and piranhas. But his replacement, Heru Winarko, has a different approach. He wants addicts and dealers to receive counseling in comfortable rehabilitation centers. I hope that in the coming weeks, as you deal with weaknesses, flaws, and sins—both your own and others’—you’ll opt for an approach more like Winarko’s than Waseso’s.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): In one sense, a “patron saint” is a Catholic saint who is a heavenly advocate for a person, group, activity, thing, or

place. St. Jude is the patron saint of lost causes, for instance. St. Francis of Assisi is the guardian of animal welfare and St. Kentigern is the protector against verbal abusers. “Patron saint” may also be invoked poetically to refer to a person who serves as a special guide or influence. For example, in one of his short stories, Nathaniel Hawthorne refers to a veteran nurse as “the patron saint of young physicians.” In accordance with current astrological omens, I invite you to fantasize about persons, groups, activities, things, or places for whom you might be the patron saint. To spur your imagination, here are some appropriate possibilities. You could be the patron saint of the breeze at dawn; of freshly picked figs; of singing humorous love songs in the sunlight; of unpredictable romantic adventures; of life-changing epiphanies while hiking in nature; of soul-stirring music.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): In August 1933, author Virginia Woolf wrote a critical note to her friend, the composer Ethel Smyth, lamenting her lack of emotional subtlety. “For you,” Woolf told Smyth, “either things are black, or they’re white; either they’re sobs or shouts—whereas, I always glide from semi-tone to semi-tone.” In the coming weeks, fellow Cancerian, you may encounter people who act like Smyth. But it will be your sacred duty, both to yourself and to life, to remain loyal and faithful to the rich complexity of your feelings.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “People think of education as something they can finish,” said writer and scientist Isaac Asimov, who wrote or edited over 500 books. His point was that we’re wise to be excited about learning new lessons as long as we’re on this earth. To cultivate maximum vitality, we should always be engaged in the processes of absorbing new knowledge and mastering new skills and deepening our understanding.

Does that sound appealing to you, Leo? I hope so, especially in the coming weeks, when you will have an enhanced ability to see the big picture of your future needs for education.

Imagine you get three wishes on one condition: they can’t benefit you directly, but have to be wished on someone else’s behalf. 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 LO G Y. C O M .

UNIVERSAL SUNDAY CROSSWORD COLD SNAPS

By Timothy E. Parker

© 2018 Andrews McMeel Syndication

9/23 ETC. // 47

SATURDAY

BRET MICHAELS

8PM

THURSDAY

SCOTTY MCCREERY

8PM

TLC

8PM

10.27

11.08

THURSDAY

11.15

NOVEMBER

2&3

SATURDAY

11.10

SATURDAY

12.01

STEVIE WONDER

8PM

CAT & NAT

8PM

GARY ALLAN

8PM

LIGHTING IT UP SCAN TO PURCHASE TICKETS

Schedule subject to change.

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Pleas e re cycle this issue.

9/17/18 12:07 PM