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contents 30

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ON THE COVER

NEWS

LIFE

LIFE

Transformations are nothing new to the Dillons. About 12 years ago, they transformed MG Novelty, the company started by their grandfather, Michael Guy Dillon, and run by their father Bill and uncle Royce, into Party Galaxy.

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City: wellness campus

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36

Sudoku / Crossword

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Active: Fields & Futures, Making Strides Against Breast Cancer

Novelties, said Mike Dillon, hold a different connotation these days. But everybody can enjoy a party.

Story by Greg Elwell. P.27

Education: TEEM

Food & Drink: Broadway 10, Chaîne des Rôtisseurs, briefs, OKG eat: sandwiches

9

Education: apprenticeships

26

Fun & Frights

10

Chicken-Fried News

27

Cover: family business

41

Music: Skylar Spence, James McMurtry, listings

12

Commentary

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Culture: Sisters Doll Hospital

42

Hallowfreakingween

12

Letters

30

Culture: haunted warehouse

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31

Visual Arts: City Rescue Mission, Red Earth Buffalo Bash

Film: screamin’ streamin’, Bridge of Spies

50

Astrology

50

Classifieds

LIFE 14

OKG picks

Mission statement Oklahoma Gazette’s mission is to stimulate, examine and inform the public on local quality of life issues and social needs, to recognize community accomplishments, and to provide a forum for inspiration, participation and interaction across all media.

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Ok l ah o ma Ga z et te | oc to b e r 2 8 , 2015 | 3

m a r k ha n coc k

news city

Southern living Leaders want to bring a wellness campus to an area that now experiences some of the poorest health outcomes in the county.

By Laura Eastes

Oklahoma City Councilman Pete White knows the southside. A resident since 1941, White bought his first home near S. Walker Avenue. He sent his children to Parmelee Elementary School at 6700 S. Hudson Ave. These days, his law office is a short drive south of the school and Southern Oaks Library, a branch of the Metropolitan Library System.

He knows the neighborhood and what’s absent: the Oklahoma CityCounty Health Department. When White learned officials were seeking a permanent home in southwest OKC, he joined the effort.

“I thought it was a great idea,” White said. “Every time we turned around, there was another partnership being formed.”

The quest to bring a wellness facility to an area with documented poor health outcomes isn’t limited to the City of Oklahoma City and the health department. Over the past year, Oklahoma City Public Schools (OKCPS), the Metropolitan Library System, Oklahoma City Community College and the University of Central Oklahoma joined the distinctive union.

to a basketball court, playground and aging community center, which would move its programs across the street if campus development plans move forward.

Oklahoma County Commissioner Brian Maughan backs the proposal. Like White, Maughan has a long history with the area. He learned to read at Southern Oaks Library, where he still checks out books. He sees potential for a wellness campus and modern park.

“It is a great place to get mosquitoes,” the District 2 commissioner said as he described the site’s current state during an Oct. 19 public meeting. “That is what it is now. We have the opportunity to enhance the green space here.”

We are going to build this park the way it should have been built 30 years ago.

— Pete White

Southern proposal

The health department wants to construct and operate a facility in the city’s Southern Oaks Park. The 15,200-square-foot Southern Oaks Learning and Wellness Campus will feature services like immunization, preventive care, counseling, family planning, cooking classes and nutrition/ family wellness classes. The Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program also will be housed at the location, built on an acre of land.

With improving overall community health as its goal, the health department will incorporate OKCPS’ Parmelee school into its campus. Plans include creating classroom space for after-school tutoring programs. The intent is for the campus to connect to Parmelee, a kindergartenthrough-fifth-grade school, with access to a gym that will double as a safe room.

Additionally, the two college partners would provide new education programs designed for aspiring urban teachers.

The proposed Southern Oaks Learning and Wellness Campus would bring new amenities, including walking trails, soccer fields and a community garden, to the park. Currently, it is home

Other officials also support Maughan and the site development proposal. Oklahoma City Councilman David Greenwell, who represents the southside in Ward 5, pledged his support. The Oklahoma City Park Commission approved a memorandum of understanding between the city, OKCPS and the health department at the Sept.

9 meeting. The blessing from the park commission advances the document for appearance on agendas for the Oklahoma City Public Schools Board of Education and the city council.

Community concerns

Over the past month, project developers and proponents have dispelled misconceptions. In mid-October, three public meetings introduced the project and addressed community questions.

Neighbors voiced concerns about health site services as well as traffic around Parmelee, which already is heavy before and after school.

Just north of the proposed site is land designated for the second MAPS 3 Senior

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Health and Wellness Center at S. Walker Avenue and Grand Boulevard, between Capitol Hill High School and Hosea Vineyard Park. While both facilities focus on health and wellness, Melinda McMillan, a manager for the city’s Parks & Recreation Department, said services will differ and will appeal to different age demographics.

“The senior wellness center for MAPS 3 is truly focused on seniors,” McMillan said. “This campus, with our elementary school, library, college partners and health department, is coming together to serve everybody, from providing prenatal care to vaccinations.”

The health department will house a mental health counselor on the Southern Oaks campus. That employee will work closely with staff to identify patients who arrive for other services but might also require mental illness treatment. The Southern Oaks center counselor will refer patients to other facilities equipped to help.

White shared concerns of increased traffic along S. Hudson Avenue, which currently ends past the school. Part of the proposal includes extending the road by connecting it to S. Walker Avenue, just north of Southern Oaks Library.

“That was part of the initial piece of the plan,” asserted White. “It is not funded right now, but it is absolutely necessary to make the rest of the plan go forward. It cannot go forward without that piece.”

White believes construction for the building and road would begin first, followed by new park amenities.

Needed service

Ken Johnson, health department spokesperson, said the Southern Oaks Learning and Wellness Campus will mirror the department’s two-year-old Northeast Regional Health and Wellness Campus at 2600 NE 63rd St. That 54-acre venue provides indoor and outdoor physical activity opportunities, nutrition activities and clinical services. Visitors find an auditorium, playground and walking trails made possible by a donation from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oklahoma.

In the near future, it also will be home to Oklahoma City Energy Football Club’s practice facility.

Johnson reports that, since July 2014,

left Pete White proposes turning aspects of Southern Oaks Park and Community Center, located next to Parmelee Elementary School, into a Southern Oaks Learning and Wellness Campus.

20,890 people have visited the Northeast Regional site, which includes visits to community meeting rooms, the OU Medical physicians clinic and WIC. “There is a tremendous need” to bring similar services to southwest OKC, Johnson said. Currently, the health department maintains a location in the city’s southwest quadrant and leases space in a shopping center at 2149 SW 59th St. It lacks room for expansion or for incorporating wellness activities.

The 73129 ZIP code remains among the least-healthy places to live in the county, according to the health department’s 2014 Oklahoma County Wellness Score. That data propelled department officials to bring a new facility to the zip code, which includes neighborhoods with lower socioeconomic statuses and higher teen pregnancy and single-mother family numbers.

Additionally, the data shows that residents have a higher rate of heart attack and chronic lower respiratory disease deaths.

Next up

White believes the proposed campus is one-of-a-kind and a “giant step” toward creating a better model of community wellness.

Before dirt moves, White and his fellow council members must approve the memorandum. The school board faces the same task. Approval will advance the Southern Oaks Learning and Wellness Campus into fruition.

White said community meetings will continue to keep the neighborhood informed.

“The focus has been on the health addition. … That is going to be a nice thing, but the value is … we are going to build this park the way it should have been built 30 years ago,” he said. “We are going to finally fix the area around the library and the school. … The side benefits are going to far outweigh the initial benefit.”

Ok l ah oma Ga z et te | oc to b e r 2 8 , 2015 | 5

news education

Ga rett fi s bec k

Simmering opportunities A new culinary arts program launched by The Education and Employment Ministry gives female offenders heaping servings of self-reliance and hope.

from left Shelia Jackson, Myra Brooks and Tina McAtee work together in a new culinary program established by TEEM.

By Laura Eastes

Shelia Jackson learned early on there was nothing quite like homemade cooking.

Growing up in her grandparents’ home in Louisiana, Jackson spent many days in the kitchen, watching her grandmother cook for her eight grandchildren.

“Nothing was ever from a box,” Jackson remembered. “Her food was from the heart.”

Cooking remains a favorite hobby for Jackson, but her sights are no longer set on family cooking. Since the end of August, Jackson has traded her gray, issued clothing from Kate Barnard Community Corrections Center for a black chef’s jacket, required attire for the culinary arts training program at The Education and Employment Ministry (TEEM).

Jackson is among the first to graduate from the inaugural program at TEEM, an Oklahoma City-based nonprofit dedicated to “breaking cycles of incarceration and poverty through education, personal development and work readiness training.”

“Cooking is part of me, and I love doing it,” Jackson said.

A first

Since 1987, TEEM has served more than 13,000 people in a variety of ways. In its early years, its staff helped men. More

recently, it switched its primary focus to providing education and job placement services to male and female inmates three to six months before their scheduled release. Individuals recently released from correctional facilities also can enroll in TEEM services.

Lance Evans, communications director, said TEEM helps remove the barriers of incarceration and reentering society. Traditionally, participants enrolled in education programs like GED classes, but that changed with the addition of Work Ready Oklahoma, which partnered with CareerTech and the Oklahoma Department of Corrections to provide programs.

Troubled by the fact that Oklahoma incarcerates more women than any other state, TEEM sought grant funding to expand programs to women, including those serving at Kate Barnard Community Corrections Center in Oklahoma City. In 2014, the ministry was awarded a $100,000 grant from the charitable organization Impact Oklahoma, which spawned new services for female participants.

Inmate culinary programs are known for success across the country, which was one reason TEEM pursued the idea with Work Ready Oklahoma. Additionally, TEEM had classroom space and a

6 | oc to b e r 2 8 , 2015 | Ok l ah oma Ga z et te

commercial kitchen ready for use.

A partnership between the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, It’s My Community Initiative and CareerTech crafted a six-week program to provide the training and experience needed for real-world work. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration also provided grant funding for needed kitchen equipment. Additionally, lessons focus on developing resumes, interview skills and behaviors for working in professional kitchens as well as interacting with the public. Graduates leave the program with certification from CareerTech and TEEM as well as a food handler’s license.

“It came together,” Evans said of the program’s recent creation. “We wanted to include the employment factor with discussing jobs, resumes and interviews.

We wanted the individuals to learn effective skills and immediately be able to work after graduating.”

Employment partnerships already exist with local companies such as Buy For Less and A Good Egg Dining Group.

2015 class

On Oct. 22, Jackson, Tina McAtee and Myra Brooks graduated from the program at a ceremony featuring community leaders and Gov. Mary

Fallin, who led the Special Task Force on Women Incarcerated as lieutenant governor in 2004.

With her formal training completed, Jackson believes she is on course for employment at a local restaurant. At TEEM, she researches eateries in the computer lab and is impressed by A Good Egg Dinning Group, especially Red PrimeSteak.

“Working with the best is what I want,” said Jackson, who pleaded guilty to a driving while under the influence charge in 2014. “I would love the opportunity.”

McAtee also aims for the top.

Originally from Cache, McAtee was eager to “be picked” by the TEEM program because she knew it would influence her life in positive ways.

“They’ve been a mentor, but more like a family,” McAtee said.

In July 2014, she began her sentence for possession of a controlled dangerous substance. She is set to be released in six months. The grandmother admits she made mistakes and turned to drugs after her father died.

“They’ve helped me advance in my life. I am ready to go to work and for the next phase of my life to begin,” she said. continued on page 8

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Ok l ah oma Ga z et te | oc to b e r 2 8 , 2015 | 7 10/23/15 12:42 PM

news education When asked what she hopes to achieve with her culinary training, McAtee replied, “Buy For Less. You can advance there, and I am open to all of it — working in the deli or the bakery.

Maybe shoot for management.”

McAtee, along with Jackson and Brooks, began working for Buy For Less on Oct. 23. They will work shifts at the Oklahoma City-based grocery store chain until their release and may choose to stay on.

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Marilyn Davidson, legislative liaison with Oklahoma Department of Corrections (DOC), said reentry programs like the one offered by TEEM are “very important.”

“You hear it all the time. We are first in the nation for incarcerating females. That’s something we are not proud of,” Davidson said during a Sept.

16 state Senate interim study examining high incarceration rates.

In early September, there were 3,211 female inmates in state custody, which doesn’t include offenders on parole or released with GPS monitoring, he said.

State DOC statistics, shared

by Davidson, reveal 94 percent of incarcerated females will be released and their average length of stay is 1.8 years. Drug-related crimes are the top offense for women, and 79.1 percent are incarcerated for nonviolent crimes.

Mohsen Pourett, director of the Evaluation & Analysis Unit at the state DOC, studies offenders and examines the causes of female incarceration. After reviewing 30 years of state records, he concluded that 50 percent of incarcerated females don’t hold a high school diploma. Additionally, a majority are one-time, nonviolent offenders.

“Could we have done something different rather than send them to prison?” asked Pourett during the senate study, attended by public safety committee members. “The ones that come in for one or two years, it impacts them for the rest of their lives. We need to look at that, make sure we are not missing something and stop sending them to prison.”

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Kris Steele, a former state lawmaker and speaker of the house, is now TEEM’s executive director. During his time at the Capitol, Steele worked to pass the Justice Reinvestment Initiative, which listed recommendations for enhancing public safety, addiction treatment and mental health as well as strengthening post-release supervision programs. It also called for the state to invest in programs to help offenders find and keep employment, along with postrelease transportation and housing.

The initiative, despite being signed by Fallin in 2012, was not fully

Success story Following a recommendation by Gov. Mary Fallin, the Oklahoma Board of Corrections approved a policy change that greatly impacted 190 offenders.

Jamie Bassett, convicted of firstdegree manslaughter and robbery, was one of them. She was deemed an “85 percent offender,” meaning her efforts in education and behavior were not being applied to shorten her time served until after the 85 percent mark.

The Sept. 10 decision reversed that sentencing policy and allows credits to be applied as they are earned.

During the past legislative session, state lawmakers reviewed a proposed bill calling for similar change; however, it never reached a Senate vote.

The law was deemed a cost-saving measure with the potential to save $87,000 annually.

In September, Bassett became eligible to participate in the reentry program of The Education and Employment Ministry (TEEM). Bassett first visited the TEEM office to enroll in the Work Ready Program the week of the Board of Corrections meeting.

With the two-day-old policy in place, Bassett was handed her release papers. She was unaware of the board’s approval and the governor’s reform push.

Bassett reentered society in her DOC-issued clothes and her $364 savings loaded onto a debt card.

Originally from Tulsa, Bassett found a phone and called a friend.

Two days later, she came to TEEM for help.

The TEEM caseworker immediately found Bassett housing and provided her with a cell phone, clothing and hygiene products. She takes classes focused on improving her education, finances and anger management. Now, she is applying for jobs in Oklahoma City.

“Without this program, I wouldn’t have the help I needed,” she said. “I feel like I can accomplish my goals.”

implemented. However, that hasn’t stopped TEEM and other nonprofits from answering the call.

“We know that our program works because the research tells us. The research says that employment alone can reduce recidivism by 42 percent,” Steele said.

Evans said TEEM will continue to offer culinary arts and welding programs, which both get funding help from local nonprofit It’s My Community Initiative.

“We don’t want to be known in Oklahoma for our incarceration rates,” said Sandino Thompson, executive director. “We want to be known for what we did about it.”

news education

Alternative paths These days, establishing a successful career isn’t always contingent on the ability to access or earn a college education.

By Brett Dickerson

G arett fisbeck

Nearly 85,000 job openings in the state remain unfilled due to a lack of skilled manpower, Natalie Shirley, Oklahoma secretary of education and workforce development, said recently. “[The shortage is in part exacerbated by a misconception that] everybody should be going to college,” added Tara Barlean, state director for the American Subcontractors Association. “From our standpoint, that simply is not true.”

Barlean advocates for subcontractors and helps develop alternative ways to train workers. She said subcontractors are ready and willing to teach almost anyone willing to “show up for work.”

Many of the 84,897 job vacancies do not require two- or four-year college degrees. For example, plumbers, pipefitters and electricians instead call for training and certification provided by vocational schools and apprenticeship programs.

Apprenticeships return

The Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 344 union started its Joint Apprenticeship and Training Program in 1953 and now uses an alternating schedule so faculty and staff can accommodate the student load, said Tommy O’Donnell, training director for the Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 344 Training Center at 5315 S. Shartel Ave. “Our program has been around for a long time, but we find that a lot of people don’t know about it unless they are already in the career tech programs,” he said.

O’Donnell said the local union’s fiveyear apprenticeship program is designed to push students beyond the bare-bone basics needed to pass state licensing exams.

Union subcontractors pay more for skilled laborers, which means that they must also provide higher-quality work done right the first time, O’Donnell said, especially when making initial project bids that compete against nonunion shops. Apprenticeship programs help union contractors add to that value.

The Joint Apprenticeship and Training Program also places students with union-affiliated subcontractors, who are required by the union to assign them a journeyman, or licensed plumber/ pipefitter, to help them learn the trade.

The program is certified by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Apprentices work for subcontractors during the day, earning valuable, on-thejob field experience. They also attend classes two nights a week from October to

April at the training center.

“It’s a lot of math in the first and second year,” O’Donnell said. “And then once they reach their third year, they go off to their particular trade [in the training sequence].”

The heavy use of applied math can be a challenge, and for that reason, applicants must have a high school diploma or GED in order to be accepted into the program.

O’Donnell said that “about 40 percent” of students come to the center with GEDs and the on-the-job math training they receive during the program is critical to their future success.

Apprentice choice

One such apprentice is 38-year-old Charles Canty, a Chicago native and retired Navy veteran. Nearing the end of his five-year Plumbers and Pipefitters apprenticeship, Canty speaks bluntly about its value.

“I’ve come to realize now, even as a fourth-year apprentice, I make more money and better benefits than most people that have gone to college,” he said.

Canty told Oklahoma Gazette that he was stationed at the Navy E3 maintenance facility at Tinker when he retired. At first, he considered using his GI Bill benefits for college.

Instead, he chose to enter an intensive plumbing and pipefitting program

Charles Canty works in a welding class at the Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 344 Training Center in Oklahoma City. that quickly placed him well into the apprentice levels of the trade. His skills fill a need that he and his Oklahoma employers know all too well.

“Right now, America is facing a serious craftsman shortage,” he said. “Baby boomers are retiring. That’s a fact. There [are] not enough people to take these jobs of being the welder or the pipefitter or the sheet-metal man or the electrician.”

Starting gate

Oklahoma’s career tech programs cover most of the state and are designed to help train people of all ages to move into careers that don’t immediately require college degrees. They are also effective for high school students starting to explore employment paths.

O’Donnell said that the union’s apprenticeship program works closely with state career tech programs and offers a placement outlet for students once they earn a high school diploma or equivalent.

Metro Technology Centers, a career tech district in Oklahoma County, serves Oklahoma City and Crooked Oak public schools.

Its strategic partnership with Tinker Air Force Base in Midwest City has a

solid apprenticeship component, made easier because of its on-base campus.

Cindy Friedemann, Metro Tech’s executive officer for district strategy and development, explained that after six months in the program, “students actually have the opportunity to apply to work at Tinker” and “if they are hired, they start working at Tinker during the day and then [the program is] so flexible and agile [that it] train[s] them at night.”

Dennis Portis, Metro Tech’s associate superintendent of instruction, said not all of its programs utilize that model, but, “if [they] could say one day that all of [their] programs had apprenticeship models that tied to it, it would be a great day.”

Wider education

Portis, O’Donnell and Barlean made similar comments regarding the need for a broader scope of training and teaching opportunities for both Oklahoma workers and employers. Education leaders must work together to develop strategies to better equip youth and adults so that jobs can be filled.

“Everyone needs to see value in each other in order to make it happen,” Portis said.

Ok l ah o ma Ga z et te | oc to b e r 2 8 , 2015 | 9

Chicken Raw Milk

Pop star Miley Cyrus has been hanging out a lot with 50-something psychedelic pied piper, Plaza District resident and Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne, who recently announced Cyrus is ready for her closeup money shot.

We’re talking about dairy, people.

Probably!

According to Philly.com, the “renowned” and “revolutionary … cutting-edge gal” allegedly wants to appear nude — along with the sansduds Lips and audience — in her upcoming video for “The Milky Milky Milk.”

And while she has not publicly commented about it, Coyne was pretty darn explicit.

“Oh fuck..!!!,” he recently shouted at fans via his Instagram account.

Fried news “@mileycyrus is planning a show where her, the band (us) and the audience are all COMPLETELY naked with milk (well, white stuff that looks like milk) is being spewed everywhere.”

The tour to support her latest album, Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz, runs through December, and as of our press deadline, there is no other confirmation about if, when or where the garmentless gig might occur.

AMA assist

There’s a brook in his name, but that doesn’t mean Russell likes to babble.

Oklahoma City Thunder’s favorite brawler, baller and shot-caller Russell Westbrook took to Reddit for an AMA (ask me anything) chat session with fans, and his

answers were ... terse.

While some celebs take AMAs as an opportunity to expound on who they are and what they do, user RealRussWest44 kept most of his replies short, sweet and (sometimes) to the point.

Here are a few highlights: Q: If you could posterize anyone in the world, who would it be?

RealRussWest44: You. Q: What, if anything, have you gotten out of Oklahoma that you never expected?

RealRussWest44: How nice, supportive and good the people are and the fans are here.

Q: Would you rather fight one Kevin Durant-size duck or 100 ducksized Kendrick Perkins?

RealRussWest44: I don’t fight, I’m a nice guy.

One juicy nugget he dropped is that “Stephen” is the funniest guy in OKC. That might mean fellow Thunder player Steven Adams, but RealRussWest44 never followed up on it.

Are you named Stephen?

Are you in Oklahoma City? If so, Russell Westbrook might think you’re very funny!

Bad boy

Justice was swift for a man police believe stole a paycheck from an Oklahoma City mother of eight.

Silvia Hernandez had just cashed the check at a local food mart on SE 44th Street when Bufford Wilson, 52, “by force and fear” entered her car, according to KFOR.com.

“She got in her car and he opened

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the door, and that’s when he slammed her,” Hernandez’ friend told the TV station. “He grabbed her by the shirt and pushed her to her seat, and that’s when it happened.”

The victim gave the man her money — $422 — but not without a fight and a quick call to the police.

Police located and arrested Wilson and returned the cash.

He was wanted for “several other violent crimes,” according to KFOR.com.

NEWS9.com elaborated, saying Bufford was wanted for another robbery at another food market located on Pennsylvania Avenue.

OKCFOX.com also reported he was wanted for a Blaine County burglary.

“It makes her sad to see people like that,” Hernandez’ friend told KFOR.com.

“They should work for what they want.”

Not cool

It’s not nice when your friends try to steal your ideas and use them for their

own purposes.

It’s especially not nice when you’ve been paying them to do a job.

According to NewsOK. com, former Coolgreens CEO Scooter Aselton, Chief Operating Officer Ron Aselton, restaurant manager Cody Aselton and consultant Ken Aselton were ordered by Oklahoma County District Court Judge Bryan Dixon to hand over all the Coolgreens info — including laptops and recipes — the company believed they had stolen in a scheme to open a competing restaurant chain.

Coolgreens owners obtained a restraining order against the Aseltons after finding emails mentioning their plot.

The affidavit Chief Financial Officer Robert Lee gave to the court even asserts that Scooter Aselton and his wife broke into the restaurant and

stole food and proprietary information on Sept. 28.

NewsOK.com reported that the restraining order was issued Sept. 29 and “bans the Aseltons from opening a competing restaurant in Oklahoma.”

It would be so much easier if people who do things like this were just named Judas so everyone would be warned.

Tilly tizzy

Let’s be honest; when Gov. Mary Fallin calls and asks you to serve on a board or commission that oversees our state agencies, it’s an honor.

Only citizens who meet the legal, time and moral responsibilities should respond, “Yes, I’ll do it.”

In the event a family member works at the Oklahoma Office of the Attorney General, you should probably tell the governor, “Hey, I’m honored, and thanks for the invite and all that, but perhaps it’s just not a good idea for me right now.”

Ideally, anyway, that’s how things should have gone earlier this year when Fallin appointed J. Matt Tilly to a sixyear term on the Oklahoma Board of

Corrections.

His wife, Megan, is an assistant attorney general, according to NonDoc.com.

The AG’s office does a lot more than collect telemarketer complaints.

It also investigates criminal matters, and Megan Tilly leads the multicounty grand jury.

Recently, that selfsame grand jury was tasked with looking into state execution issues.

On Oct. 13, J. Matt Tilly resigned from his board seat “in order to avoid even the appearance of impropriety,” according to a copy of his resignation letter published on NonDoc.com.

Some might argue — they did in NonDoc’s coverage — that Megan Tilly should recuse herself from this particular investigation because executions and DOC talk might also be pillow talk in the Tilly home.

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commentary

P ROVI DED

A median ordinance protects everyone

By Georgie Rasco

Most every day, Oklahoma City motorists see and hear the requests and needs of persons standing in medians: work, food, gas money, church and charity donations, an election or candidate vote, a car wash, etc. Many are ubiquitous, others are heart-wrenching, but all are firmly protected by the United States Constitution with the right to ask.

However, where they are located while asking is a public safety concern that the City of OKC is tackling, and it is proving to be a very sensitive and difficult issue.

Ward 6 Councilwoman Meg Salyer recently introduced a median safety ordinance that would prohibit anyone from standing in a median to conduct business, but thankfully public speech is federally protected and the proposed ordinance has not interfered with anyone’s

right or ability to ask for your input to help make public sidewalks, public easements and curbs safer for everyone.

Whether or not you believe the stories written on their signs or want to give to all the causes you see is not the issue. What is at issue is whether we, as a city, feel that safety protocols are needed to protect the drivers and the median solicitors.

If the Girl Scouts encouraged standing in medians or roadways during afternoon traffic to solicit cookie sales, we would immediately march to City Hall and demand a safety ordinance banning the practice. Then why do we argue whether the same safety concerns should be afforded the disproportionately poor, who are typically found soliciting in those same areas?

Fortunately, this hotly debated

ordinance has shed light on the plight of the poor in our city and our combined need to support programs that can systematically and effectively help.

I agree there needs to be a campaign to educate citizens on ways to efficiently give to our less fortunate residents. The City of OKC, Neighborhood Alliance of Central Oklahoma and other nonprofits expressed an interest in helping create this campaign even before Salyer’s ordinance was introduced, and I trust this will still come to fruition.

It saddens me that some have said their religious beliefs forbid them from supporting this ordinance because they believe it limits their ability to give to the poor. Fortunately, religious and nonreligious Oklahomans give to charitable causes at a higher rate than

Opinions expressed on the commentary page, in letters to the editor and elsewhere in this newspaper are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of ownership or management.

in most other states, and this ordinance simply adds a layer of safety to both givers and receivers of one-on-one street donations.

The city’s rigorous process of vetting new ordinances has proven successful here, as Salyer and the city’s legal staff are modifying the original language of her proposal, with plans to reintroduce the median safety ordinance in December.

Sensitive issues like this that abut constitutionally held rights can sometimes create expensive and lengthy court battles, which no one wants.

I strongly support Salyer in her attempts to create an ordinance that will provide median safety protocols while simultaneously protecting First Amendment rights.

I ask you to join me.

Georgie Rasco is executive director of Neighborhood Alliance of Central Oklahoma.

LETTERS Oklahoma Gazette provides an open forum for the discussion of all points of view in its Letters to the Editor section.

The Gazette reserves the right to edit letters for length and clarity. Letters can be mailed, faxed, emailed to jchancellor@ okgazette.com or sent online at okgazette. com. Include a city of residence and contact number for verification.

Drunk history

On the evening of Oct. 13, I watched something so personally offensive to me regarding the Sooner State that I feel it needs to be seen by every Oklahoman.

Drunk History is a television program on Comedy Central where people drink to excess then attempt to describe historical events. On Oct. 13, the topic was Oklahoma, and the episode was filmed at Legends Dance Hall in Tulsa.

The show began with a woman who referred to Oklahoma as “the armpit of the United States.” After that brilliant gem, the production then mocked the lives and achievements of Kentucky Daisy, Gordon Cooper and U.S. Deputy Marshal Bass Reeves.

It is bad enough to have ignorant, cultural elitists from other states run down Oklahoma. It is worse to watch Oklahomans join in on the bashing. I can already guess the cliché responses from people who disagree with me: You

just don’t get it. It’s a joke. Lighten up.

You’re taking it too seriously.

Others might argue that such a program helps promote Oklahoma and introduces the state’s history to a younger generation. My response to such logic is if this is what it takes to promote the great state of Oklahoma to doofus hipsters who have no appreciation for the Sooner State in the first place, why bother?

— David Farris Edmond Love story

It was on Oct. 2, 2015, that I fell in love with Hillary Clinton. I had just turned on the TV, and there she was with a big smile on her face and her arms raised high. All I heard her say was, “If you want somebody who will listen to you, you’re lookin’ at her.”

All I could remember about what we Americans accomplished when she and President Bill Clinton were in the White House before was: “We ended the war in the Balkans with no casualties and we avoided a war in Somalia.”

I went online to see what all we got done during their eight years, and it was a lot. Very, very impressive.

— David R. Oliver Oklahoma City

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Corrections

>> Our Sept. 23 Oklahoma Gazette cover story “Family, extended” contained several misrepresentations and errors.

First, DNA Galleries owners are rental tenants and do not own the property at 1709 NW 16th St. Second, Kristen Vails is the former executive director of Plaza District’s Main Street program and worked with it for three years. Third, Aimee Ahpeatone’s quotes about the Main Street program were used out of context. “From both Ahpeatone’s and Vails’ accounts in the interviews, the Oklahoma Main Street program was a huge success in setting the grassroots effort of becoming organized. For three years, the district worked with the Main Street program to lay the foundation for the work for the next several years,” Ahpeatone, Vails and Susan Hogan

wrote in an email to the Gazette. Fourth, we wish to clarify Gatewood Historic District’s role; it did not found Plaza District Association. Fifth, we wish to clarify the history of Plaza Theatre and Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma. Indeed, Oklahoma City Councilwoman Ann Simank’s support was important to the district’s revival, but Lou Kerr is widely recognized as the man who lead Lyric and district supporters into purchasing and rehabilitating Plaza Theatre. >> Social media posts for the Gazette’s Sept. 30 issue included a wrong photo with the online link to “Main Street YMCA finds itself right where it needs to be for new members.” A photo of YWCA chief support services officer Deb Stanaland was attached instead of the intended group shot of the Main Street YMCA ribbon-cutting ceremony.

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Ok l ah o ma Ga z et te | oc to b e r 2 8 , 2015 | 13 10/13/2015 3:09:52 PM

okg picks are events

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For full calendar listings, go to okgazette.com.

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BOOKS Lenny Foster Book Signing, Foster’s photography captures the life and beauty of the human spirit; his latest project showcases the hands of people who seek to be, in his own words, “in constant communion with the divine,” hands belonging to both spiritual leaders and devoted disciples, 5-7 p.m., Oct. 30. Full Circle Bookstore, 1900 Northwest Expressway, 842-2900, fullcirclebooks.com. FRI Oklahoma Authors, support your local authors, featuring a number of local authors, including Tom Lindley, Will Thomas, Rachel Vincent, Doug Hacking, Bill Lehman, and others, noon-2 p.m., Oct. 31. Best of Books, 1313 E. Danforth Road, Edmond, 340-9202, bestofbooksedmond.com. SAT

FILM Victoria, (2015, Germany, dir. Sebastian Schipper) shot in a single take, this film follows the titular Victoria as she holidays through the streets of Berlin, where she meets some friendly locals who may turn out to be notso-friendly after all, 5:30 & 8 p.m., Oct. 29. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, 236-3100, okcmoa. com. THU

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John Carpenter’s Halloween, (1978, US, dir. 1978) come see the original in all its glory, the movie that launched a franchise and crowned Jamie Lee Curtis the original Scream Queen; after being locked away in a psychiatric hospital for 15 years, Michael Myers has escaped, and now he’s looking for you, 7:30 p.m., Oct. 29. AMC Quail Springs Mall 24, 2501 W. Memorial Road, 405-755-2406, amctheatres.com. THU Midwest Horror Shorts Film Festival, Oklahoma horror hosting legend Count Gregore will be your ghoulish guide through over 20 fantastic and frightening films both local and international; support independent filmmakers while also getting scared out of your shorts by these shorts, various times, Oct. 30. OKC Farmers Public Market, 311 S. Klein Ave. FRI Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon, (2015, US, dir. Douglas Tirola) they worked hard, they played harder, and they made us laugh hardest of all; see rare and never before seen footage of John Belushi, Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, and Gilda Radner in this history of one of the greatest and most notorious comedy publications and production companies of all time, 8 p.m., Oct. 30 & 31; 2 p.m., Nov. 1. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, 236-3100, okcmoa. com. FRI-SUN Ant-Man, (2015, US, dir. Peyton Reed) the strength of ten men but the size of… well, an ant; that’s the power of the suit brilliant hacker/master thief Scott Lang just stole as one last big heist to get back on his feet after his release from prison, 6 p.m., 9 p.m., & midnight, Oct. 30.

Meacham Auditorium, 660 Parrington Oval, Norman. FRI Two Days One Night, (2014, Belgium, dir. Jean-Pierre Dardenne) in her Oscar-nominated performance as best actress, Marion Cotillard as Sandra has just been released from the hospital to find that she no longer has a job; over the course of one weekend, Sandra must confront each coworker individually in order to convince them to give up their bonuses so she may come back, 2 p.m., Nov. 1. Meinders School of Business, NW 27th St. & McKinley Ave. SUN

HAPPENINGS H&8th, join everyone’s favorite Midtown monthly food truck festival for one final hurrah of the year before it becomes an annual event in late spring; if there are any trucks you’ve been dying to try, now is the time, 7-11 p.m., Oct. 30. H&8th Night Market, 900 N. Hudson Ave. h8thokc.com. FRI

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I Am Oklahoma Children’s Series, authors Jane McKellips, Pati Hailey, Gwendolyn Hooks, Darleen Bailey Beard, and Cheryl Schuerman will be discussing and signing their books about influential Oklahomans who have had a lasting impact on our state, including Te Ata, Leona Mitchell, Bill Wallace, Jordan Tang, and Will Rogers, 5 p.m., Nov. 3. Best of Books, 1313 E. Danforth Road, Edmond, 340-9202, bestofbooksedmond.com.

TUE

The Silvertops This lively Oklahoma City polka band has played Ingrid’s Kitchen every weekend for as long as anyone can remember. The Silvertops are an institution, much like the beloved German, European and American eatery, which celebrates 25 years of hosting the act noon-2 p.m. Saturday at 3701 N. Youngs Blvd. Entry is free, but you’ll wanna order lunch, because you’ll probably be there awhile. Visit ingridskitchen.com or call 946-8444.

Saturday Izumicon, Oklahoma City’s largest anime convention is back this Halloween weekend, boasting local and international artists, actors, and industry professionals, panels, contests, gaming rooms, and much more, 8 a.m.-midnight, Oct. 30-Nov. 1. Cox Convention Center, 1 Myriad Gardens, 602-8500, coxconventioncenter.com.

FRI-SUN 11th Annual Terror on 10th Street, both educational and pants-dampening, this haunted attraction is unique in that, where most haunts are set in large buildings or the woods, this one takes place in an actual house; the interactive walk-through features theatrical performances which eerily recount the house’s haunted history, 7-11 p.m., Oct. 30-31. Terror on 10th Street, 2005 NW 10th St., 232-1816, facebook.com/ terroron10thstreet. FRI-SAT Drop-In Art, Model Magic clay is that weirdly lightweight air plastic deceptively dry-yet-moldable sculpting medium that makes us all question the existence of sorcery, so come down to make some candy you definitely shouldn’t eat at the Drop-In Art Model Magic Sweet Treats event, 1 p.m., Oct. 31. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, 236-3100, okcmoa.com. SAT Walking Tour, come explore the wonders you might never have noticed at the Myriad Gardens while learning about the plants and flowers; tours are free and walk-ups are welcome, 10 a.m., Oct, 31. Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave., 445-7080, oklahomacitybotanicalgardens.com/events. SAT Day of the Dead Festival, this year’s event will include local artists, food, music, crafts and games for the kids and a La Catrina parade, and District House will host movies and a public ofrenda, open to anyone wishing bring photos to honor lost loved ones, 1-7 p.m., Nov. 1. Plaza District, 1618 N. Gatewood Ave. , 367-9403, plazadistrict.org. SUN Free Dental Day, Dental Depot has partnered with Dentistry from the Heart to offer a day of dental care including cleanings, fillings, and more, free of charge, with no strings attached; but get there early, as space is limited and patients will be taken on a first come, first serve basis, 1-5 p.m., Nov. 1. Dental Depot, NW 23rd St. and Drexel Blvd. SUN

FOOD Mediterranean Food Festival, stuff your brain with culture and your cheeks with tabouli at the annual Mediterranean Food Festival; featuring fare from Lebanon, Serbia, Macedonia, and more, this event is a must for foodies who are fans of expanding their palates, all day, Oct. 30 & 31. St. Elijah Orthodox Christian Church, 15000 N. May, 755-7804. FRI Weekly Farmers Market, shop goods from local produce, bakers and artisans, 9 a.m.- 2 p.m., Oct. 31.

Farmers Public Market, 311 S. Klein Ave., 232-6506, okcfarmersmarket.com. SAT Saturday Cooking Class, no actual porcupines were injured in the creation of these tasty porcupine meatballs, but Sonic the Hedgehog did burn the roof of his mouth on one, so try not to eat them too fast, 1 p.m., Oct. 31. Buy For Less, 3501 Northwest Expressway, 9466342, buyforlessok.com. SAT Uptown Cooking Class, if you didn’t like them apples, then you are certain to like these apples because they are actually called The Perfect Caramel Apples; learn to make them this weekend, unless you are some kind of apple-hating, doctor-loving miscreant, 10 a.m., Oct. 31. Uptown Grocery Co., 1230 W. Covell Road, Edmond, 509-2700, uptowngroceryco.com. SAT

YOUTH Haunt the Zoo, if you’re looking for a safer trick-or-treat option this year, or you just want to help the kids pad their candy stashes a little extra, you can head down to the annual Haunt the Zoo treat trail and go on a super sweet candy safari, 6:30-8:30, Oct. 26-31. Oklahoma City Zoo, 2000 Remington Pl. Operation Troop Treats, trade in your treats for toys and treat the troops while you’re at it; Kool Smiles partners with Operation Gratitude to send soldiers care packages complete with candy as well as dental care items to make their day while helping them improve their health, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Oct. 30-Nov. 4. Kool Smiles, 1200 South Air Depot Boulevard, 73110, 1200 South Air Depot Boulevard, Midwest City. FRI-WED

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Haunted Hikes Martin Park Nature Center dresses up its Nov. 7 nature hike in creepy crawlies for Haunted Hikes. Trekkers encounter snakes, spiders, bats and more as Martin Park employees work to dispel the scarier aspects of nature’s most misunderstood creatures. Groups leave every half hour, starting at 7 p.m., and the last hike begins at 9:30 p.m. Guests are encouraged to dress appropriately and wear closed-toe shoes. Children must be at least 6 years old to participate, and tickets are $8.

Visit okc.gov/active to register.

Nov. 7

Museum of Osteology Halloween Bash, probably the scariest thing about the human body is that there is a spooky skeleton following your every move, and it is hiding inside your skin right this very moment; come see over 300 more spooky, scary skeletons at this very special after-hours event for all ages, 6-9 p.m., Oct. 31 Museum of Osteology, 10301 S Sunnylane Road, 814-0006, museumofosteology.org. SAT Crafts For Kids, come make a spooky googlyeyed spider & web; this spider is much cuter than the ones crawling around right outside your window, and in your garage, and in the attic, and maybe in your shoes just waiting for your feet, and between your bed sheets, and oh my gosh what’s that on your shoulder right now, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., Oct. 31. Lakeshore Learning Store, 6300 N. May Ave., 858-8778, lakeshorelearning.com. SAT

PERFORMING ARTS Mike Baldwin, after winning the Trial By Laughter in Indianapolis, becoming a finalist in the San Francisco Comedy Competition, being twice named Funniest Comic in Kansas City, winning the 2011 Seattle Comedy Competition, and having his debut album go all the way to No. 8 on the iTunes US comedy charts, Mike Baldwin is coming to OKC and you’re invited, 8 p.m., Oct. 28 & 29; 8 & 10:30 p.m., Oct. 30 & 31. Loony Bin Comedy Club, 8503 N. Rockwell Ave., 239-4242, loonybincomedy. com. WED-SAT continued on next page

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The Rocky Horror Show The University of Oklahoma Theatre and Weitzenhoffer School of Musical Theatre present campy classic The Rocky Horror Show. The music, lyrics and book are by Richard O’Brien, and the guest director and choreographer is Richard J. Hinds. Showtimes are 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 11:30 p.m.

Saturday, with additional performances Nov. 5-7. The production is rated R. Tickets are $10-$30. Visit theatre.ou.edu or call 325-4101.

Friday-Saturday, ongoing

echoBOOM, this modern retelling of the Greek tragedy Antigone examines what it means to be a millennial through the tragedy of a high school shooting; this brutally honest tale has been molded in its telling by the student actors who have been mostly handed the creative reigns, 7:30 p.m., Oct. 29-31; 2 p.m., Nov. 1.

UCO Mitchell Hall Theater, 100 N. University Drive, Edmond, 974-2000, uco.edu. THU-SUN Tony Devine: Hypnotist & Mentalist, unlike stage magic, which aims to entertain through the showing of skill, trickery and misdirection, mentalism demonstrates the performer’s ability to access higher mental and intuitive states; to create a fun and lively atmosphere, Devine will both demonstrate and explain some of his abilities, 6:30 p.m., Oct. 29. Artspace at Untitled, 1 NE 3rd St., 815-9995, artspaceatuntitled. org. THU OKC Dead, part performance, part interactive adventure, Reduxion Theatre Company turns Civic Center Music Hall into the total zombie apocalypse experience; survival teams of eight will have to solve puzzles, shoot zombies, and avoid becoming the walking dead themselves in order to find the cure and save the city, Thurs.-Sat., Oct. 8-31. Civic Center Music Hall, 201 N. Walker Ave., 297-2264, okcciviccenter. com. THU-SAT Silence! The Musical, if you have often found yourself watching 1991 psychological thriller The Silence of the Lambs and thinking to yourself, “Gee, I love this movie, but wouldn’t it be better if, say, all the characters sang Broadway musical numbers?” then do we have good news for you: The self-proclaimed “unauthorized parody” of the horror classic is coming to Oklahoma City, but do not expect the singing and dancing to diminish the terror; under age 12 not admitted, BYOL (bring your own lotion), 8 p.m., Oct. 29-31. Civic Center Music Hall, CitySpace, 201 N. Walker Ave. THU-SAT

ACTIVE OKC Thunder vs. San Antonio Spurs, a storm is coming, and it is loud, proud and bringing a crowd; join the OKC Thunder as it reminds the Spurs that this town ain’t big enough fer the both of 'em, 7 p.m., Oct. 28. Chesapeake Energy Arena, 100 W. Reno Ave., 6028700, chesapeakearena.com. WED

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Free to Breathe Run/Walk, help raise awareness for lung cancer as you improve your own respiratory function with exercise and fresh air, noon, Nov. 1.

Regatta Park Landing, 701 S. Lincoln, 702-7755, okrivercruises.com. SUN OU Women’s Basketball, check out the OU Sooners women’s basketball team as it takes on the SWOSU Bulldogs in the first match of the season, 7 p.m., Nov. 4. Lloyd Noble Center, 2900 S. Jenkins Ave., Norman, 325-4666, lloydnoblecenter.com. WED OKC Thunder vs. Toronto Raptors, the Raptors might be loud, but the Thunder is louder, and Billy Donovan is out to prove he’s no Dr. Alan Grant; hold onto your butts for an amazing game, 7 p.m., Nov. 4. Chesapeake Energy Arena, 100 W. Reno Ave., 602-8700, chesapeakearena.com. WED

VISUAL ARTS All in All, you don’t make it onto the wall of the Chesapeake Arena Thunder Family VIP Lounge for nothing; boasting a BFA from State University of New York College, Christie Owen’s organic abstract and modern impressionist acrylic works are displayed all over Oklahoma draw inspiration from natural and industrial textures, from both the organic and the inorganic. Verbode, 415 N. Broadway Ave #101.

America the Beautiful, Freda de Odis Flatt has spent her life documenting in paint the beauty of the American wilderness, often en plein air, the French term for painting out in the open air; in this way Flatt is able to capture most truly not only the sight of the landscape but also the energy present in nature not immediately perceivable to the naked eye. Oklahoma State Capitol, 2300 N. Lincoln Blvd., 521-3356, ok.gov.

Bert Seabourn: American Expressionist, a full-time painter since 1978, Seabourn brings a unique approach to color and line in his postmodern expressionist works which are on display all over the world; of Cherokee descent himself, Seabourn often uses Native American subjects and imagery. Gaylord-Pickens Oklahoma Heritage Museum, 1400 Classen Drive, 2354458, oklahomaheritage.com.

Cale Chadwick, exhibit of artwork by artist Cale Chadwick who creates pieces of art using her drawing, painting and photography skills; the natural, organic elements found throughout the original Chickasaw allotment that her family still resides on, plays a role in her artwork. Exhibit C, 1 E. Sheridan Ave., Ste. 100, 767-8900, exhibitcgallery.com.

DNA Anniversary Show feat. Colby Bowers, local artist and musician Colby Bowers doesn’t shy from color in his bright, streamlined depictions of insects and animals, which often seem to pop off the canvas thanks to his use of a solid background and singular subject; join DNA for its anniversary show and experience truly unique local art. DNA Galleries, 1709 NW 16th St., 525-3499, dnagalleries.com.

Enrique Moya Gonzalez, part of the Norman-Arezzo art exchange, Enrique Moya Gonzalez is one of three Italian artists to exhibit at Mainstite this fall; featuring the overlay of human forms over texts and manuscripts in combination with a collage of physical objects, Gonzalez’ works give a thrilling sense of illicitness by putting art on surfaces where art ought not go. Mainsite Contemporary Art, 122 E. Main St., Norman, 360-1162, mainsite-art.com.

Enter the Matrix: Indigenous Printmakers, exhibition exploring how printmaking has become a matrix for cultural and key figures of artistic exchange. Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, 555 Elm Ave., Norman, 3253272, ou.edu/fjjma.

Immortales: The Hall of Emperors of the Capitoline Museums, people may not live forever, but their fame certainly can; this is best exhibited in this selection of 20 busts from the Capitoline in Rome which offers busts of emperors, empresses, and patricians from the 1st century B.C. to the 5th century A.D. Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, 555 Elm Ave., Norman, 325-3272, ou.edu/fjjma.

News from the Woods, Debby Kaspari’s plein air drawings and acrylic paintings portray how time and nature transformed the abandoned places she found during a residency in Massachusetts’ Harvard Forest.

The Depot, 200 S. Jones Ave., Norman, 307-9320, pasnorman.org.

October Show, this month the featured artists include graphic artist J. Kapil Renninger, photographer Sheryl McLain and painter Dustin Caballero. Paseo Gallery One, 2927 Paseo St., 524-4544, facebook.com/ paseogalleryone.

Playground of Curiosity, imagine falling down a rabbit hole and into a magical world where everything is weird and wonderful and looks like the abstract offspring of microbes and paisley and you’ll have a decent idea of what it’s like to stroll through the works of Kerri Shadid, poet and paper marbler extraordinaire. The Project Box, 3003 Paseo St., 6093969, theprojectboxokc.com.

Robert Peterson Exhibit, all at once realist and surrealist, Oklahoma painter Robert Peterson immortalizes figures of media, sports, and music in gorgeous brighter-than-life portraits; in his short time as an artist, Peterson has already garnered worldwide fandom and recognition with his supernatural and highly detailed depictions of pop culture icons. 50 Penn Place Gallery, 1900 Northwest Expressway, Suite 113-R, 848-5567, 50pennplacegallery.com.

Terra, New York artist Orly Gender’s work is inspired

by Oklahoma’s wide open spaces and red dirt.

Campbell Park, NW 11th Street and Broadway Avenue.

bigstock.com

Landscapes, merging the avant garde with the abstract to create a cacophony of crazed and confusing images that speak at once of everything and nothing.

Just kidding, this exhibit is essentially exactly what it sounds like: landscapes in all shapes, sizes, and colors.

Jann Jeffrey Gallery, 3018 Paseo St., 607-0406.

Mystical Menagerie, Katie O’Sullivan and Diana J. Smith’s abstract creature creations are a marriage of the whimsical and the bizarre in this collection of acrylic paintings and handmade clay sculpture; Smith’s clay sculptures are delightful animal wizard characters, while O’Sullivan’s paintings depict a plethora of animal creatures who border on human shrouded in a psychedelic frenzy of color. Kasum Contemporary Fine Arts, 1706 NW 16th St., 604-6602, kasumcontemporary.com.

Run the Boolevard 5K & Kids Fun Run This USA Track & Field-certified 5K race and kids fun run starts and finishes at Orvis Risner Elementary School. For one morning, your kids can flaunt those “No running inside!” rules as they make their way through the school’s hallways until they reach the fun run finish line. Events start 8 a.m.

Saturday at 2801 S. Rankin St. in Edmond. Admission is $15-$35. Visit orpta.com.

Saturday

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What needs work: The wood-fired stove is unpredictable early in the day.

Tip: Lunch is a great chance to sample the menu before scheduling a big night out.

If a server asks how your meal is, tell him.

Tactfully, if possible. Kindly.

But be honest.

It has taken me a good long time to be able to tell a waitress if there’s a problem with my meal. For one thing, it seems like a lot of people complain to try and get free food.

That’s just crappy behavior.

It’s also difficult to criticize.

When someone asks, “Was everything good?” it’s so much easier to blurt, “Wonderful! Thank you!” than to offer a reasonable explanation of why your meal was not good. That’s how restaurants get better. You’re more likely to go back to a restaurant that fixes their mistakes rather than one that needs to improve but doesn’t know how.

You don’t have to tell them, but I do. If I’m willing to write something for everybody to read, I need to be able to say it in person to someone from the restaurant.

Even still, I hesitated when the server at Broadway 10 Bar & Chophouse, 1101 N. Broadway Ave., asked me how I was enjoying my steak.

Honestly, it was burned. Inside, the 6 oz. prime “Scotch cut” sirloin ($21 with a side) was a perfectly cooked medium rare, but the crust had gone too far, imparting off flavors to an otherwise wonderful piece of meat.

She offered to replace it. Then she insisted. The next steak she brought out was perfect, a flavorful crust framing a picture-perfect red center.

The food itself tasted great, but the service and attention to detail made everything even better.

Speaking of sweet, the pankofried coconut shrimp ($14 for 6) were precisely that. I could have eaten 50 of these big boys with that perfect counterbalance of crispy, crunchy fried breading and tender shrimp. (Okay, maybe I could only eat 10, but I wanted to eat 50.)

If you are a fan of pungent cheeses, as I am, then the black pepper blue cheese wedge salad ($7) is right up

How fancy do you want a burger to be?

French onion soup

Scotch cut sirloin with Brussels sprouts

your alley. It’s a wedge of iceberg lettuce, of course, but the lack of flavor from the greens just lets the powerful blend of cheese, onion and crisp chunks of bacon take over. This is not a healthy salad. But it is a good salad.

Likewise, the french onion soup ($5 for a cup, $9 for a bowl) is not going to fulfill your vegetable requirements for the day without also heaping generous amounts of cheese,

cream and bread into the mix. I’m forever a sucker for this dish when it’s done well, and Broadway 10 definitely knows how to prepare a piping-hot crock of meltingly flavorful onions.

How fancy do you want a burger to be? Do you want it to be made from a special breed of Japanese cattle imported to the U.S. in 1992 and raised in Texas? Then you’re in luck.

The Akaushi mushroom burger ($15 with a side) is a very hoity-toity burger

made with a kind of beef that roughly translates to “red cow.” The mushrooms, onions and sauce made for a mildly sweet flavor that was pleasant but really overshadowed the beef.

While I enjoyed it, I really wonder what the Akaushi burger would taste like sans sauce and toppings. It just seems a shame to cover up such fine meat, but your mileage may vary.

On the side, I tried the smoked cheddar au gratin potatoes and the roasted Californian Brussels sprouts (included with entree or separate for $9). The potatoes were very rich and a little oily from the melted cheddar, and they tasted wonderful.

The Brussels sprouts were tender and had the delicate sweetness that comes from caramelization. A sprinkling of pomegranate on top gave it a tart contrast.

I’m incredibly happy that Brussels sprouts are back in favor and skilled chefs are taking the time to reintroduce them into civilized society.

Broadway 10 just feels fancy.

With a sky-high ceiling and expansive windows, it has an open, airy look that is different from the claustrophobic atmosphere of some fine-dining restaurants.

I think Broadway 10 is coming into its own. The owners listened, they learned and they adapted. If you’ve been waiting to try it out, it’s time.

Ok l ah oma Ga z et te | oc to b e r 2 8 , 2015 | 19

p hotos by m a rk h ancoc k

By Greg Elwell

life food & drink

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20 | oc to b e r 2 8 , 2015 | Ok l ah oma Ga z et te

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If it’s on the menu, they don’t want it on the table.

If you’re sitting with Confrérie de la Chaîne des Rôtisseurs, standard isn’t good enough. Because this centuriesold culinary society with a chapter in Oklahoma City is all about celebrating and expanding the understanding of food.

The history of Confrérie de la Chaîne des Rôtisseurs goes all the way back to 1248, when King Louis IX created a guild of goose roasters dedicated to improving the cuisine.

The group’s purview expanded over the next 500 years to include other Shrimp meats and ceviche dishes as it became the keeper of culinary arts.

Then the French Revolution happened and, you know, that was that.

In 1950, a French doctor, two journalists and a chef revived Chaîne.

I had duck so good that I dreamed about it.

— Leslie Blair

In 1960, it expanded to the U.S., where there are about 6,000 members in 125 different chapters, or bailliages.

Right here at home is Bailliage des Oklahoma City of Confrérie de la Chaîne des Rôtisseurs, where chancelier (president) Phillip Jody and vice-chancelier-

p hotos by G a r e t t fi s b e c k

Members wait to dine during a recent Chaîne des Rôtisseurs gathering at Opus Prime Steakhouse. argentier (vice president and treasurer) Keith Chappell preside over a group of about 50 culinary enthusiasts.

“You don’t have to eat at Vast every night to be a member,” Chappell said.

“We just want people with an interest and appreciation for the food who want to come out three or four times a year for a truly excellent meal.”

That’s why the group hopes to expand its membership with younger foodies; Chappell said its members are more interested in trying new dishes and traveling to the outer edges of cuisine.

“It can be difficult to get people past the idea of steak-and-potato as fine dining,” he said. “What’s the point of being in Chaîne if it’s stuff you can get from the menu any night of the week?”

Sometimes it’s difficult to embrace a dish until it’s prepared by a true professional, said member Leslie Blair.

“I used to despise duck. They’d shoot it and overcook it,” she said. “At a Chaîne dinner, I had duck so good that I dreamed about it.”

It’s a dream for restaurateurs, as well, said Billy Wilson, proprietor of Opus Prime Steakhouse, which recently hosted a dinner.

“We really appreciate hosting an event like this,” he said. “We don’t always get to play around with food.

We really had a ton of fun coming up with this menu.”

Dinners range in price depending on the menu and alcohol. An informal “dining around town” dinner might

cost $50 or $60 per person. A more formal Chaîne dinner, like the one at Opus, might be $180 or more.

But just because the food is fancy doesn’t meant mean the gatherings aren’t parties. A group of connoisseurs gathered to drink wine and taste oneof-a-kind meals likes to talk. They are opinionated, and they get rowdy.

Jody said it’s an exciting time to love food.

“There’s a new generation of culinary artists here. Younger chefs are making Oklahoma City their home,” he said. “People are having an awakening and an awareness about food that was missing here.”

Ruth Beller and her husband Jack have been members for years, after being introduced to the group by friends. What they learned since joining Chaîne is that food, whether prepared at home or served at a restaurant, should be great.

“The next dinner is always something to look forward to,” she said.

Chappell said the sense of excitement with each dinner is borne of the free rein each chef is given.

“They have complete freedom to do whatever they want,” he said. “They’re bound only by their creativity.”

In a city burgeoning with chefs and food lovers, that’s as good a reason as any to pull up a seat.

Learn more about Chaîne des Rôtisseurs at chaineus.org.

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12252 N. May Ave. • Rococo-Restaurant.com Ok l ah oma Ga z et te | oc to b e r 2 8 , 2015 | 21

food briefs

m a rk h ancoc k / fi le

by Greg Elwell

Winter insurance Some animals go south to escape winter. Others hibernate. But the animals at Urban Agrarian have a different idea about getting through the winter — they’re having a fancy dinner.

Winter is a tough time to sell local produce, said Urban Agrarian founder Matt Burch.

“When we get big, heavy, long frosts, people can’t get in the fields to harvest,” he said. “It’s not like we can just order stuff off the truck.”

So the crew planned a series of dinners to highlight its local and flavorful products.

“Before we even opened as a retail space, we hosted a Ludivine test kitchen,” he said.

Since then, they’ve held dinners for several other chefs, but now they’re turning the reins over to their own chef, Tim Mort.

Burch credits the idea to Andrea Koester, who is in charge of booking for the event, and it’s something they hope to do again on a monthly basis or even more often. The first dinner on Nov. 5 is five courses and features products from local pastured pork producer 38 Ranch and paired wines from Putnam Wines for $85. Those interested in attending this or future events can call Koester at 255-5337.

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Foodie Foot Tours are known for taking guests on culinary and neighborhood journeys with Ashley Stevenson, but in November, she’s encouraging folks to take a load off at her Saturday Sip and Sample.

Teaming up with Automobile Alley’s Waters Edge Winery, Stevenson brings in experts to teach guests how to pair wine with cheese and chocolate.

Scheduled 2 p.m. Nov. 7, 14 and 21, each two-hour course features a wine tasting with paired snacks, which can be helpful when planning holiday parties, creating gifts or just enjoying an afternoon.

Tickets are $40 and are available at foodiefoottours.com.

Ga re tt fi s be c k

Fizzy fun

ma rk h an cock / fi le

Finally, much-loved but muchout-of-the-way POPS in Arcadia is opening its second location, and it’s not quite so far off for Oklahoma City soda fans.

POPS plans to open October 30 in Nichols Hills Plaza, 6447 Avondale Drive, with a heavier focus on the dining side. Open 7 a.m.-9 p.m. daily, POPS specializes in diner eats with burgers, chicken-fried steaks, salads and milkshakes, and visitors will still find more than 700 different kinds of soft drinks and an enhanced vintage candy section.

Bakery fresh Baking bread from scratch is a one-of-a-kind experience for Prairie Thunder Baking Company manager Kelli McKay-Conrady, and she wants to share it with a new generation.

She’ll get her chance Nov. 7 when she teaches the Kid-Friendly Homemade Bread class 11 a.m.noon at Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave. “I’ll be teaching kids to make a no-knead bread dough,” she said.

“They’ll make the beginning stages of it with enough to take three loaves of dough home.”

McKay-Conrady said it’s important to teach youth where foods come from and how to eat real food. To help, her 9-year-old daughter will be there as a teaching assistant.

“My grandma was always in the kitchen,” McKay-Conrady said.

“She was my inspiration on food.”

The class is recommended for children age 7 and up, and tickets are $11-$13. Guests must register by Tuesday at oklahomacitybotanicalgardens.com.

Ok l ah o ma Ga z et te | oc to b e r 2 8 , 2015 | 2 3

Sand witches Candy is great. Nobody is saying candy isn’t wonderful.

Settle down. But while sweet treats are the norm for Halloween, there is another ghoulish gastronomic delight that is frightfully tasty. The Sand Witches (sometimes misspelled as “sandwiches”) are a bunch of sorceresses who can concoct amazing bread-based meals you can carry with you. Magic!

— by Greg Elwell, photos by Mark Hancock and Garett Fisbeck

The Sandwich Club

City Bites

Kamp’s 1910 Café

3703 N. Western Ave. thesandwichclubokc.com | 525-0799

3939 N. MacArthur Blvd. citybites.net | 495-3444

10 NE 10th St. kamps1910cafe.net | 230-1910

Alan and Isaac are weird guys. For one thing, they’re obsessed with the 1980s.

For another, they quit working in the go-nowhere tech industry to make the big bucks in Oklahoma City’s burgeoning sandwich market. One of their signature dishes is the Bib Fortuna, which brings together a dream team of fixings with tuna, bacon, cheddar, avocado and mayo.

And just like its creators, this sandwich is a wonderful addition to OKC.

Laverne: “What if we remind people what a turkey sounds like when it’s alive while they’re eating a sandwich made of a turkey?”

Dave: “I don’t think people would wa—” Laverne: “We’ ll call it the Garden Gobbler!”

Dave: [audible sigh] And that’s how a turkey, provolone, vegetable and ranch sandwich was born.

In Havana, it’s illegal to leave the word “sandwich” off the term “Cuban sandwich” after a series of cannibal-related incidents. Luckily, when you go to Kamp’s 1910 Café and say, “I’d like to devour a Cuban,” they just make you a delicious Smokestack Cuban sandwich piled high with pulled pork, ham, Swiss cheese and mustard instead of tackling you to the ground while the police are called.

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Shawarma Vite 1129 Elm Ave., Norman shawarmavite.com | 329-1401

There is a secret anti-chickpea organization quietly working behind the scenes to sully the name of garbanzo beans everywhere. Why else would the extremely delicious fried mashed chickpea ball be called “ falafel”? That rhymes with awful! And there is nothing awful about the Shawarma Vite falafel sandwich, unless you count that feeling you get when you realize you’ve taken the last bite and the falafel is gone.

Penny Hill Deli & Subs 1424 W. Lindsey St., Norman phdeli.com | 217-8339

Whoever invented egg salad is a hero.

Not a gyro; a hero. He or she was likely a farmer raising chickens and lettuce when the drought came. Suddenly, the lettuce crop was gone. No romaine. No baby kale. No iceberg. But everybody still wanted salad. They demanded it. And he or she, like the wise folks at Penny Hill Deli, decided to use what was available — delicious eggs — and create a “salad” so tasty it could make the gods weep.

Hobby’s Hoagies

Quoc Bao Bakery

222 S. Santa Fe Ave., Edmond hobbyshoagies.com | 348-2214

2501 N. Classen Blvd.

760-6322

If you haven’t eaten a cheesesteak, here is a short quiz for you: Are you a) a vegetarian, b) allergic to happiness (aka cheese) or c) a cow?

If none of those are applicable, you have no excuse for avoiding one of the finest foods on this earth, the Hobby’s Hoagies Philly cheesesteak. It has beef, it has cheese, it has a tangy mix of chopped cherry peppers — it’s perfection in an Italian roll.

Ban me?! What did I do? I’m just a guy who wants a delicious Vietnamese sandwich on a freshly baked baguette, maybe with some roast pork and jalapeños and carrots! What kind of a world do we live in where you get kicked out of a restaurant for requesting a sandwich? ... Oh. You said “Bánh mì,” not “ban me.” Sorry. Yes, I’ll take one of those, please. And what do you mean I need to put on some pants first?

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14600 N PORTLAND AVE, OKC • CROSSINGSOKC.ORG/FALL-CARNIVAL 26 | oc to b e r 2 8 , 2015 | Ok l ah oma Ga z et te

Costume Party A local party store chain works year-round to stay relevant after Halloween is over.

By Greg Elwell

The business of fun is still a business.

There’s a look of dismay and guilty fun painted across the faces of Mike and Marty Dillon as they look at the Wall of Bad Ideas inside one of their Party Galaxy stores at 300 N. MacArthur Boulevard.

Marked 50 percent off, the costumes on this aisle enable the Dillons to see their hubris and missed predictions in full color. Not many people are dressing up as Hannah Montana or Sue Sylvester from Glee these days.

But they don’t hold a grudge. They just let the stock winnow away to nothing while more popular costumes fly off the shelves. That’s life.

In the month leading up to Halloween, the Party Galaxy co-owners’ lives are busy — fifteen hours a day, seven days a week. The rush begins in late September and ratchets up to a breakneck pace by the time Oct. 31 finally hits.

Unlike Christmas, “which happens and then it’s over,” Marty said Halloween has a week or two of costume parties and trick-or-treat events that call on adults and kids alike to transform into someone or something new.

Novelty parties

Transformations are nothing new to the Dillons. About 12 years ago, they transformed MG Novelty, the company started by their grandfather, Michael Guy Dillon, and run by their father Bill and

uncle Royce, into Party Galaxy.

(Their cousins, Mark and Donald Dillon, split off the importing side of the company into Oklahoma City-based Dillon Importing Co., Inc.) Novelties, said Mike Dillon, hold a different connotation these days. But everybody can enjoy a party.

Throwing a party is a little harder, said Marty Dillon, which is where the training really comes in for Party Galaxy’s staff. Employees need to be the expert voice to guide people through planning a shindig.

“The key to a great party is knowing the room,” Mike said. “You don’t want a room that seems empty, but you also don’t want to spend a fortune filling a room with expensive decorations.”

Party Galaxy’s staff learns little things, like how many balloons look good on a table or how an 80-cent roll of crepe paper can make a big difference in a room’s appearance. Manufacturers are also addressing that need with something called “scene setters” — giant, themed posters that are easy to hang and help decorate an entire wall for around $7.

Right price

To grow the business, the Dillons moved away from large margins and embraced volume sales. A combination of personalized customer service and competitive prices on costumes keeps them going in a world where Sam’s Club, Target and Amazon are constantly trying

Kelly Verzani checks out customer Tim McBride at the main Party Galaxy store at 300 N. MacArthur Blvd.

Bill Dillon, son of Party Galaxy founder Michael “Guy” Dillon, stands near a display of his father’s portrait at the store’s offices in Oklahoma City. to cut out local businesses.

The most basic of kids’ costumes — witches, fairies, cowboys, pirates — start around $6.99 and grow as customers begin looking at licensed properties and flashier accessories.

One of the most expensive costumes Party Galaxy has sold is a $500 deluxe Stormtrooper outfit from Star Wars.

But most sales fall into the $50 range, which is still a bit mind-boggling to Mike.

“When we first got into costumes, we never thought people would spend more than $20 on one,” he said.

They’ve found that the biggest surprise sellers are well-made costumes for toddlers. The outfits for very small children are fluffy, comfortable and get a lot more use than just one night trickor-treating, Mike said. Given the chance, kids will dress up as their alter egos about as often as possible.

“We bought a few, thinking we’d give it a try, and they were sold out immediately,” Marty said.

Costumes are a real guessing game, but one the Dillons have tried to turn into a science. They keep tabs on TV ratings and movie box office receipts and also are turning their attention to trends in video games to predict the costumes they’ll order next Halloween.

“We bought heavy on Frozen, but not heavy enough,” Mike said. “That’s been the biggest licensed product seller in the last 15 years.”

Even when their sales rush is over, Party Galaxy is immediately getting ready for next year with visits to trade shows across the country. And when there’s a costume idea they like but the product isn’t there yet, they turn to their friends in manufacturing to create a better one. That’s how they turned some ordinary work shirts into some of the most authentic The Walking Dead police outfits around.

Sadly, a little of the magic is lost on the Dillon boys. They’ve spent so long looking at costumes as commodities that they don’t have quite the same sense of wonder as many customers.

“It’s like ... well, here’s an example.

The business used to sell a lot of stuffed animals,” Mike said. “After awhile, they just didn’t mean much. In our bedrooms

growing up, there weren’t any stuffed animals.”

Their father, though, has been away from the business long enough that Halloween is fun again.

“Dad does lots of inflatables in his yard. I think he gives away, what, like 400 pounds of candy every year?” Marty said. “He gets dressed up as a ghoul. He’s got enough distance to enjoy it again.”

Like many of their male customers, the Dillon brothers have a bad habit of last-minute Halloween shopping.

Their houses might be all decorated with tombstones and cobwebs, but their costumes are purely panic-driven, a condition that has helped inform the business.

Among the $50 and $75 costumes are a few shirts and masks that they call the “cool guy” costumes. Not everyone is willing to put in the effort to make a great costume, they said. So they have a few mix-and-match items and costumes that require less investment.

Meanwhile, there’s also a big trend into DIY costumes, which is why the stores put a lot of effort into stocking accessories needed to set apart an otherwise basic outfit.

Celebration time

Party Galaxy certainly gets busier near Halloween, but the Dillons say the bread and butter of their business is party goods. And Mike said even that requires a bit of prognostication and trend spotting.

“Color schemes are a slow evolution, but you start to see more people asking for mocha-colored table runners and fewer people wanting turquoise balloons,” he said.

The lynchpin of the business’ day-to-day operations is still listening to customers. When people want something, they’ll tell you, Marty said.

Buying things a year out is always tricky, but it helps when you hear it straight from the customer’s mouth.

“In the end, we’re just trying to make an educated guess on the mind of a twoyear-old,” Mike said, smiling.

And if they’re wrong, well, it’ll just be another odd costume on the Wall of Bad Ideas.

Ok l ah o ma Ga z et te | oc to b e r 2 8 , 2015 | 27

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Oklahoma Gazette

Cherie Gorden mends family history for herself and her clients at Sisters Doll Hospital in Guthrie.

By James Benjamin

Cherie Gorden keeps loose arms and legs on the hospital shelf in case she ever needs them.

She keeps heads, too. She doesn’t really need those; she just likes to look at them.

Drawers full of eyeballs and an operating table covered with stitching needles, scissors and a chemical or two make Sisters Doll Hospital in Guthrie a state leader in porcelain pediatrics.

“I save everything,” said Gorden, the hospital’s founder and lead practitioner. “I’m a bit of a hoarder when it comes to parts and fabrics or laces. You never know when you’re going to need that little bit or that one little thing to make the repair.”

The hospital is tucked away in the back room of Aunt Gertrude’s House, Gorden’s American craft gallery, founded at Guthrie’s 112

A doll reaches from a box as it patiently awaits aid from Cherie Gorden, Sisters Doll Hospital founder and lead practitioner.

E. Oklahoma Avenue in 1997. It’s roped off from the rest of the store, which features fine arts, crafts and jewelry from some of the state’s most celebrated artists.

On occasion, Gorden can be found in back, wearing a ventilation mask as she stands over a wood-based composition doll, repainting and restoring its fine, weathered details.

She repairs composition dolls, porcelains, rag dolls, stuffed animals and just about everything in between.

With a wall full of spare limbs and a dozens of pairs of eyes staring in every direction, it’s a room in which a child’s imagination could easily run wild. Some react better than others,

Body parts rest on the shelves at Sisters Doll Hospital.

2 8 | oc to b e r 2 8 , 2015 | Ok l ah oma Ga z et te

To them, they’re their babies, so I try to treat that with respect.

— Cherie Gorden

especially young kids who might have caught a Chucky rerun at some point.

“Kids come back here sometimes because they want to see the doll hospital, and it just freaks them right out,” Gorden said.

During Guthrie’s annual downtown trick-or-treat night (Friday this year), Gorden might pull some of her resources together to create a window display for the youth. A bowl of glass eyes might watch them as she hands out candy from her large witch’s cauldron.

But Gorden says her hospital isn’t as creepy as it is fabulous.

Her operating room is less of a cold dungeon and more of a warm space outfitted with plush

Cherie Gorden makes repairs to a doll at Sisters Doll Hospital in Guthrie. red carpeting, display cases full of beautifully dressed antique figures and, of course, Gorden’s friendly smile.

Little girls especially love the environment.

“When I have a little girl come in with her doll, very often, I find out the doll’s name. I write it on the ticket,” she said. “Little girls tell me what their doll’s favorite TV shows are. They’re really cute with their dolls. To them, they’re their babies, so I try to treat that with respect.”

Valued secrets

Gorden was one of those little girls once. She recalls that her aunt, Gertrude Zigler, for whom her shop is named, presented her with her first doll at age 8.

Aunt Gertrude was Gorden’s first exposure to dolls and particularly doll repair. Her aunt and grandmother had their own doll hospital, Zigler’s Antiques and Doll Studio in Oklahoma City, which they opened together in the early 1950s.

Young Gorden would spend hours having fun and imagining with her sister and their dolls in Zigler’s large playroom.

“We would just tell [the dolls], ‘It’s OK; we won’t tell anyone if you come alive. We won’t give away your secrets,’” she said.

Doll repair is a family business for Gorden. She opened her own Oklahoma City doll hospital around 1989 before eventually moving into her current space in Guthrie.

She learned many of her techniques from watching her grandmother sew while her aunt performed body repairs.

Her father also did a lot of work on porcelain.

Though she has always loved dolls and is still a collector, Gorden said that as a girl raised around dolls at all times, she sometimes failed to see how special some of that work was.

“My dad, when he did the

repairs, I wasn’t as interested in it at the time,” she said. “Then he got to where he could no longer do it because of health.”

In her 30s, Gorden said she started getting serious about continuing the family business.

She took a series of intensive restoration courses to refresh her skills and learn new techniques that were developed since her aunt started years ago.

Family histories

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Now, as one of the few such hospitals left in the nation, Gorden said she gets shipments and restoration requests from all over.

The length of time a repair takes depends on the severity of the damage, along with other factors.

Sometimes orders can pile up.

Children’s requests always move to the front of the line, though.

At the end of each year, Sisters Doll Hospital stops taking orders so she can attempt to get caught up before Christmas.

Through years of handling and collecting dolls, Gorden said she has developed a natural sense of the age and value of the figures. By the time most dolls end up seeing her, their market value is almost completely diminished.

What never fades, however, is the emotional value attached to them.

Often, the dolls have passed through generations of family, collecting history along the way.

“Ninety-five percent of what I do is for sentiment,” she said.

So, as Gorden works in front of her wall of limbs, she’s also surrounded at all times by heirlooms.

Decades of untold stories hide behind the faint smiles on those porcelain faces.

If those faces should ever wake, those secrets are safe with the surgeon who has already vowed to keep them.

Learn more at auntgertrudeshouse.com.

Ok l ah o ma Ga z et te | oc to b e r 2 8 , 2015 | 2 9

ARTISTRY IN WOOD Oct. 31 & Nov. 1, 2015

life culture

Ghastly resurrection

Saturday, 9:00 to 5:00 Sunday, 10:00 to 4:00 Hobbies & Arts Building, OKC Fair Grounds • Oklahoma City

Finest Wood Carving & Woodworking Exhibition in OK

In many ways, this once-modest scare house helped bring a forlorn warehouse district back to life.

By Brett Fieldcamp

Bricktown Haunted Warehouse

FEATURING Whittling Contest • Demonstrations Door Prizes • Vendors Purchase Awards CONTACT Kent Wallace (405) 819-0460 E-mail kentwallace10@gmail.com www.okcarver.org

30 | oc to b e r 2 8 , 2015 | Ok l ah oma Ga z et te

7 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark 2 S. Mickey Mantle Drive bricktownhaunt.com 236-4143 $14-$24

Each autumn for 29 years, Bricktown Haunted Warehouse has drawn scream-seekers who, in the process of fostering fright, also contributed to bringing the former distribution district back from the dead.

As the horror genre enjoys a surge of interest, reflected in huge box office numbers and television ratings, audiences are hungry for the all-out gore of The Walking Dead and the cerebral, psychological scares of American Horror Story.

Some might think this puts attraction organizer Brent Brewer and his team in the seemingly precarious position of competing with desensitized crowds and soaring expectations.

But he’s not worried.

“I grew up in the time of slasher films like Halloween, Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street,” he said. “It’s a combination of the characters, the dialog, the scenes and, ultimately, the scare. If you can line up the stars like this, then it will provide a memory that the customer will leave with for a lifetime.”

Brewer has had many, many years to perfect his formula.

“The best scare is providing a suspenseful atmosphere that builds up to the element of surprise at a time when no one expects,” he explained.

“Chainsaws never disappoint.”

Brewer, son of Bricktown legend Jim Brewer, recently told Oklahoma Gazette how the simple holiday fright house in a dilapidated part of the city became a holiday mainstay.

“A group led by Jim Brewer was looking at foreclosed buildings in the Bricktown district for potential

investment and redevelopment,” he said.

At the time, the Hunzicker Building, filled with cobwebs, was being used to store antiques. “[While touring the facility,]” Brewer said, “a person within the group said, ‘This place is scary and would make a great haunted house.’”

That is a sentence from which legends are built.

Jim Brewer contacted friends of friends who operated a haunted house in Kansas City, and they helped him design the first Bricktown Haunted Warehouse.

“We had to advertise it being located three blocks east of the Myriad [now Cox Convention Center] since at the time, very few people even knew that the Bricktown district existed,” Brewer said. “We drew 18,000 people the first year.”

Jim Brewer and his sons have owned and operated the attraction for almost three decades.

“We have built an experience that people look forward to,” Brewer said.

“We consider ourselves mainly an ‘old-school’ haunted house, [focusing] on the elements of suspense and fear as well as providing a funhouse experience to the customer. We draw a fine line between technology and the art of the scare.”

This year, organizers also invited Oklahoma’s growing film community to participate as actors.

“The more job opportunities we can provide these creative professionals, the more likely they are to stay in Oklahoma City to build their careers,” he said.

Plus, it benefits his business.

“Horror … helped introduce people to Bricktown in the beginning and has remained a Halloween tradition ever since. We love doing it and think the film community can help us do it even better,” he said.

Bricktown Haunted Warehouse opens 7 p.m. nightly through Saturday.

p r ovi de d

OKLAHOMA CITY’S WOODCARVING SHOW

life visual arts

Radiant rebirth

German artist Werner Ritter donates a transformative collection of his art to City Rescue Mission.

m a rk ha n coc k

By Jack Fowler

There’s something very familiar about the artwork that covers the walls of the chapel at City Rescue Mission at 800 W. California Ave. They don’t necessarily look like the same artist created them. A series of crucifixion scenes resembles a digitized version of a medieval battle tapestry. A weeping Mary, cradling the body of her dead son, hints at cubism.

The approaches might vary, but ignore the religious themes and an instantly recognizable thread runs through each piece: These are modern interpretations of famous, centuries-old religious artworks, and German artist Werner Ritter said making sacred art accessible again is the point.

“At the time of the old masters, art was mostly used for the gospel, and the gospel gave art an important meaning,” said Ritter from his home in Aschaffenburg, Germany. “In those days, pictures were used to communicate because many people could not read, and the pictures were not at the museum, but in places of everyday life.”

Ritter said he feels like today’s culture — literacy aside — might rely on the same kind of visual stimulation that medieval citizens did. He cited the use of pictures and colors instead of text used in so much modern media as an example.

“I want to hope that the interpretation of these pictures touches people again,” he said.

‘Be present’

Ritter, a working digital/postproduction artist since 2000, met Adam Jones, City Rescue Mission’s executive director, in

2007 while Jones was in Germany.

The two became friends and arranged for Ritter to stage a series of exhibitions at the mission. The first debuted in 2009. After four shows in seven years — his only American exhibits — Ritter decided to gift the entire collection to the organization.

The work’s effect on the chapel is startling. The pieces are huge and vibrant; some of them are so Technicolor and choppy that they look like prints Warhol would have made if he had lived through the Wars of the Roses.

Ritter also doesn’t flinch from bleak subject matter. Religious art from that period can be horribly violent (crucifixions, burning martyrs, etc.), especially by today’s standards of what’s considered public art, and he updates them without blunting any of the scenes’ visceral qualities.

The majority of Ritter’s work, however, is peaceful. One of Jones’ personal favorites is the artist’s update of Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s “Dove of the Holy Spirit,” a stained glass masterpiece that has been housed in the Vatican since 1660. Brilliantly hued with clean lines and clear focus, Ritter’s interpretation hangs at the front of the chapel, beside the stage.

“For me, it represents hope and it represents peace,” Jones said when asked how Ritter’s artwork changed the venue’s atmosphere. “I also love it because there are a lot of things competing for my attention right now, like all of us. I can be thinking about a meeting or an email I need to return or phone call I need to make, and that piece in particular serves as a visual reminder to me to be present.”

“I do hope that the Holy Spirit uses these pictures as a key to the hearts of every viewer,” said Werner Ritter of his work.

Decidedly unusual

Jones echoed Ritter when asked about the vividly updated throwback art.

It’s decidedly unusual in 2015 for any religious building to cover its walls with work from the 1500s, but Jones said Ritter’s skill for adaptation gives the pieces a fresh relevance.

“Anybody seeing the master works today might walk right by them,” Jones said. “It might just be a history lesson to them instead of a museum piece. But to me, when I see Werner’s art, it brings me immediately to the present.”

Jones said the reactions from the almost 700 people now housed at the mission are as varied as they would be at any other art display.

Sometimes new mission clients don’t know how to react on their first visit, Jones said, while others find the room so peaceful they use it as a place of daily reflection and respite.

Ritter, a fervent Christian, said his hope is that everyone who sees his work will see his own faith reflected on the canvases.

“I wish that all people who come to this place will be inspired,” Ritter said.

“I do hope that the Holy Spirit uses these pictures as a key to the hearts of every viewer, so that every heart gets to know and understand the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Ok l ah oma Ga z et te | oc to b e r 2 8 , 2015 | 3 1

32 | oc to b e r 2 8 , 2015 | Ok l ah oma Ga z et te

life visual arts p rovi de d

Native cowboys The hallmark of Oklahoma’s Native American art is its lack of rigid definitions and expectations.

By James Benjamin

Red Earth Buffalo Bash & Wild West Showdown 7 p.m. Nov. 5 Will Rogers Theatre & Event Center 4322 N. Western Ave. redearth.org 427-5228 $75

This year, Red Earth hopes to channel Pawnee Bill and Calamity Jane in a carnival-like atmosphere for the American Indian cultural art and education nonprofit’s Buffalo Bash event.

Buffalo Bash & Wild West Showdown is the organization’s key annual fundraiser.

Eric Oesch, Red Earth deputy director, said he hopes this year’s event, which is 7 p.m. Nov. 5 at Will Rogers Theatre, 4322 N. Western Ave., appeals to a wide audience and, hopefully, new supporters.

This year’s party will not feature an auction like some of its past iterations have. Instead, guests can participate in several carnival-style games for opportunities to win a variety of prizes, such as day spa passes, event tickets, gift certificates or bottled wines.

“No one’s going to lose,” Oesch said. “If you don’t win a big prize, you might win a drink at the bar; you might win some cotton candy.”

In addition to food and libations, a country band will perform for anyone hoping to practice boot-scootin’. Oesch suggested coming dressed in cowboy duds.

“This party isn’t all [about] Indian art because we realize that some people might not care for Indian art, and that’s fine,” he said.

Oesch hopes the event, which benefits educational and operational efforts of Red Earth Art Center downtown, attracts guests who are new to the nonprofit.

“You always want the next group of supporters, and you’re always trying to reintroduce people to who you are,” he said.

Growing history

Red Earth’s location, a remodeled former salon in the shadow of the historic Skirvin Hilton Hotel, has been the group’s headquarters since 2010.

Oesch’s small office was once home to a few tanning beds.

“I don’t have any drawers or anything, but that’s how nonprofits operate, at least small ones like us,” he said modestly. “Bare-bones.”

The nonprofit employs a handful of full-time employees and part-time staff.

They are, however, managed by a large and diverse board comprised of natives, non-natives, artists and art enthusiasts.

The walls of its facility, which also functions as a museum and gallery, are covered with Indian art of all styles and from all eras. Aside from paintings and sculptures, the museum also features collections of pottery, cradleboards and kachina dolls. Along the glass storefront rest massive totem poles that originated from a tribe in Alaska.

Red Earth is in the process of adding more storage and display space to its headquarters. The completed project will double the size of its home.

Red Earth Inc. launched in 1978 when it established the Center of the American Indian. It merged with Red Earth Native American Cultural Festival in 1992 to form Red Earth.

“It was just the perfect merger because we were able to have good name recognition with year-round operation,” Oesch said.

The yearly Red Earth festival, the largest event the nonprofit puts on each year, began in 1987 to showcase native culture and art. The event built brand recognition through the years, in part by welcoming some of the best indigenous artists in the state and nation. Oesch estimated the event has hosted thousands of artists.

“If you win an award at Red Earth, you’ve pretty well made a name for yourself in the art world,” he said.

Oesch, who has worked off and on with Red Earth since 1998, said while local interest in the festival has fluctuated through the years, its future looks promising.

“Events have peaks and valleys, and we’ve had peaks and valleys before, too,” he said. “But we’re on the upswing, and we had almost 30,000 people attend Red Earth last year. And we have a long-term agreement with [Cox] Convention Center to continue to have it there.”

Artist James Lambertus and Osage Nation Congresswoman Shannon Edwards enjoy a prior Red Earth Buffalo Bash & Wild West Showdown event.

Defining art

A painting by contemporary artist Tillier Wesley called “Dali Buffalo” is displayed on a wall not too far from Oesch’s office.

Though strong with its use of native imagery, it is stylistically different from what one might envision when considering Native American art. Buffalos walk the plains on spidery stilt legs, and bright colors serve as a counter to familiar and traditional symbols.

“Dali Buffalo,” Oesch said, is a good example of everything native art can be.

“Indian art doesn’t have to be of tepees and people on horseback with feathers,” he said. “Indian art is anything an Indian person creates, so it can be anything.”

For a piece of Native American art to be recognized as such, Oesch said the artist is required to have a Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood (CDIB).

While the turquoise and silverwork style of a place like New Mexico or Arizona might be easy to identify, Oesch said Oklahoma is unique in that its native art has no true defining characteristics.

In all, 39 tribal nations, most of them relocated from other regions, are represented in the state.

As a result, the state has become a melting pot of native art and culture with an “almost endless” talent pool of creative individuals.

“That’s why Oklahoma Indian art is so diverse and it’s hard to pinpoint it,” Oesch said. “I think that makes it fun for us because we get a big variety.”

Ok l ah oma Ga z et te | oc to b e r 2 8 , 2015 | 33

SHARED SPACE

life performing arts

Shared Space: Photographs from 1987 and Beyond World’s top contemporary photographers in works from the Bank of America Collection

10/29 - 12/18

Welcome Night

3000 General Pershing Blvd. | Oklahoma City, OK 73107 www.oklahomacontemporary.org | 405 951 0000 9 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday | 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday-Saturday

A paranoid, conspiracy-filled small town comes alive in Welcome to Night Vale’s tour, which comes to Rose State College next week.

Image: Wout Berger, Vietnam (Cat Ba Island), 1998. Color coupler print, 1998 negative, printed 2003, 4/12. Courtesy of the artist.

By Jack Fowler

Opening reception: 6-8 p.m. Oct. 29

Welcome to Night Vale with musical guest Eliza Rickman 8 p.m. Nov. 6 Hudiburg Chevrolet Center Theatre Rose State College 6420 SE 15th St., Midwest City rose.edu 297-2264 $30

Armstrong

C O N C E R T – G O I N G

A S

Auditorium

I T ’ S

M E A N T

T O

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B E

One of America’s most popular podcasts brings its live show to Rose State College next week.

Welcome to Night Vale, a hugely successful, twice-monthly podcast performed in the style of community radio updates, goes live 8 p.m. Nov. 6 at Rose State College’s Hudiburg Chevrolet Center Theatre.

Night Vale, located “somewhere in the Southwestern United States,” is a place where all those conspiracy theories you read about on the Internet are true.

The town’s nightly radio updates feature reports from the Sheriff’s Secret Police and warnings about puzzling lights in the night sky and shadowy characters in hoods mixed in with local weather and cultural happenings.

Created in 2012 by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor, Night Vale has been described as Lake Wobegon dispatches translated through a Stephen King-like filter.

An atmospheric, geek-friendly

Cecil Baldwin and Meg Bashwiner perform live as part of Welcome to Night Vale. horror/comedy, Night Vale is full of players with a theater background, so live performances of the creators’ popular podcast will feel like a natural progression to many. It took only a year after its creation for the podcast to morph into a live act, and the live tours have taken the troupe back and forth across the States and to Canada, Australia and New Zealand, selling out multiple venues along the way.

The live performances immediately increased the show’s popularity and helped propel Night Vale into becoming iTunes’ most downloaded podcast in 2013.

It also spawned a novel of the same name, released earlier this month.

When the book became available for pre-purchase in March, it almost immediately shot to No. 2 on Amazon’s best-seller list.

Meg Bashwiner, the voice of the Proverb Lady listeners hear at the end of each show, said Night Vale’s initial popularity might have had as much to do with its format as its quality.

“I think because it was a fictional podcast, right away, that separated it,” Bashwiner, a writer and performer living in New York City, told Oklahoma Gazette. “Early on,

P H OTOS BY W HITNEY BROW NE / P ROVI DED

Meg Bashwiner is Proverb Lady in the Welcome to Night Vale podcast and its live, touring production.

You get live music, comedy, drama.

People who listen to the podcast get to interact with a community of other listeners.

— Meg Bashwiner

it was one of the very few fictional podcasts that were out there. But that storytelling is what really draws people to it. That connection has kept them there, and it’s had a real snowball effect. Certain people are really, really getting into it.”

The cast’s theater training might be a huge part of why the show connects so well with audiences.

Bashwiner, like the rest of the main players, has stage experience.

She’s quick to praise her fellow actors.

Cecil Baldwin is the voice of Cecil Gershwin Palmer, Night Vale’s host, main character and narrator, and is responsible for holding a room for 90 minutes with minimal stage distractions.

Bashwiner said he has mastered it.

“The cast, every one of them, is exceptional,” she said. “Cecil is one of the better actors I’ve ever seen. He holds the room for an hour and a half

just talking into a microphone, and he’s got them. That’s an incredible talent. It’s like watching a master class.”

As for the rigors of the road, Bashwiner said traveling with grownups really helps.

“The cast are all super solid people on the road,” she said and sounded almost relieved. “They take care of themselves, they pack light, they listen. The road is tough.

You’re away from your family and away from the comforts of home, so it’s hard. But I also get to see a lot of great places and meet a lot of different people. I also get to see what this does for us and our fans, and it’s great to grow and learn from these experiences. Maybe ask me this question again though, once we’re in our twentieth city.”

Fans of more standard theater performances should also find plenty to love about Welcome to Night Vale, according to Bashwiner.

“It’s interesting in the sense that our structure isn’t a big production.

We’re much more stripped down, much more like New York theater.

But it’s still very lively and exciting, just without a lot of bells and whistles,” she said. “There are really good jokes, really good storytelling, and really fun musical acts. You get live music, comedy, drama. People who listen to the podcast get to interact with a community of other listeners. It’s really a full night of theater.”

For more information about the Nov. 6 show, visit rose.edu.

Ok l ah o ma Ga z et te | oc to b e r 2 8 , 2015 | 35

sudoku/crossword Sudoku Puzzle EASY

www.s udoku-p uzzles .n et

Fill in the grid so that every row, column and 3-by-3 box contains the numbers 1 through 9.

New York Times Crossword Puzzle answers Puzzle No. 1018, which appeared in the October 21 issue.

P A L E R

A L I N E

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B U R S T Y N L E M M A M M M R E D

E A D M N A T A B L S I A G A L A U T O A L S A I D G R A K A R E R C R E D R A D E L E A O S N E W Y E T H A A N Y D A Y N A E T Y S H

T H E R O B E N E A T N O O N I C U

R A S H A G U E S H E L A T T G E I O G R L H I M O C D S T A A T S R R O T E E E S P A A R T F R E E R K T E B R I S L A G H T H E S T S

T A T A

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NOW HIRING!

itor to ing for a Managing Ed ok lo is tte ze Ga a m g team.

Oklaho energetic, fun-lovin g, in rk wo rd ha its t round ou e in the journalism

1 8 9 0 - 2 0 1 5 UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL OKLAHOMA w w w. uc o . e d u / 1 2 5 • ( 4 0 5 ) 9 7 4 - 2 0 0 0 3 6 | oc to b e r 2 8 , 2015 | Ok l ah o ma Ga z et te

experienc e at least five years of Applicants should hav profession. ial and photography lude managing editor d Job requirements inc Gazette and Associate editing to Oklahoma and g itin . wr , ent nts nm iro me assign orative env lity to work in a collab Press style and an abi dlineail-oriented and dea highly motivated, det be ferred. uld pre is sho ff s sta ant ial plic Ap and supervising editor ing nag ma e enc eri driven. Exp

Y E A R

87 Libation with a floral bouquet ACROSS 1 Supreme Court justice who once 88 Noted second-place finisher 90 Make sense of compared the majority’s 91 “Smack!” reasoning to “the mystical

aphorisms of the fortune cookie” 92 Maybe not even that 95 Rockies game 7 Low part 96 Comic’s copy of The 12 Classify

Importance of Being Earnest?

18 A dozen for Hercules 100 “Oh, no!”

19 Silk case 102 Home of Future World 20 Words of defiance 106 Soil: Prefix 22 Admission of a lack of 107 Upbeat

familiarity with Mr. Hockey?

108 Rocky debris 24 Business feature?

110 Brazilian berry 25 Ancient Persian 111 Applaud 26 Like sailors’ talk 113 Assign blame to the singer of 27 Celebrity cook Paula

“Blurred Lines”?

29 Curse (out) 117 Lake Wobegon Days writer 30 Fusses 118 Writing award won multiple 32 Kyoto concurrence times by Alice Munro 33 Less serious works by the author 119 Where Quiznos and Mapquest of Brighton Rock?

are headquartered 36 Take responsibility for 120 Erotic 38 Makes fast 121 “All I ____ Do” (Sheryl Crow hit) 40 Roman law 122 Tavern vessels 41 One making a roaring start?

45 Only one person can do it DOWN 46 Fits comfortably 1 Slenderizes 50 Toque 2 Midshipman’s counterpart 52 Reason for Brosnan fans to 3 Residence

watch 1980s TV? 4 Single copy of The Bonfire of 55 Home, ____

the Vanities?

56 Beach fronts?

58 A title might be presented in it: 5 N.Y.C. line 6 Questions Abbr.

7 Farfalle shapes 59 Being dragged along 8 Sore 60 John Lennon’s middle name 61 Brand name whose middle two 9 Great Lakes’ ____ Canals 10 Disperse

letters are linked in its logo 11 Fidgety 62 Cameo stone 12 Net-worth component 63 Some briefs 13 Topsiders?

64 Round house?

65 Trying to sell one’s Au Revoir 14 Spain’s Costa del ____ 15 Go too far

les Enfants video?

68 Where safety goggles may be worn 16 Actress O’Connor of Xena:

Warrior Princess 71 Don Juan’s mother 17 Saturn’s largest moon 73 Plowmen’s cries 19 Rum mixers 74 “Rhyme Pays” rapper 21 “What we want most, but what, 75 Catch-22 pilot

alas! we use worst,” per William 76 Deplete Penn 78 Flaky stuff 23 “Uh-uh” 79 Foam 28 Questioning interjections 80 Challenge for a virologist 82 Explosive side of a former tennis 31 Like Vatican guards 33 Ripsnorter great?

34 Pressing work 85 Fruitcakes

1

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VOL. XXXVII No. 43

Oklahoma Gazette is circulated at its designated distribution points free of charge to readers for their individual use and by mail to subscribers.

The cash value of this copy is $1.

Persons taking copies of the Oklahoma Gazette from its distribution points for any reason other than their or others’ individual use for reading purposes are subject to prosecution.

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35 Fidgety 37 Japanese drama 39 Some Thanksgiving decorations 41 Dead-end position 42 Modern-day home of the

ancient Ashanti empire 43 Some sites on the

National Mall 44 Home of Jar Jar Binks in

Star Wars films 46 TV’s ____ Network

(sports presenter) 47 Relaxes and has some fun 48 Chess’s ____ ratings 49 Singers do this 51 Nutrition-related 53 Confound 54 Resident of southern Mexico

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Stumped? Call 1-900-285-5656 to get the answers to any three clues by phone ($1.20 a minute). The answers to the New York Times Magazine Crossword Puzzle that appeared in the October 21 issue of Oklahoma Gazette are shown at left.

Oklahoma Gazette

7

102 109

115

103 110

116

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57 Llama’s kin 61 Radio freq.

62 Come-____ 63 Nonkosher lunch order 65 Onetime title for Obama

and Clinton 66 “They got me!”

67 Preceded, with “to” 69 Former kingdom of Provence 70 Military muckety-mucks 72 Midwesterners, stereotypically 76 Modern TV feature 77 Hundred Acre Wood resident 78 Farrow or Hamm 79 Mother of Ares 80 France’s ____ Polytechnique 81 Buy into Common Sense?

83 Post office?

84 Hardly fancy

1025

New York Times Magazine Crossword Puzzle BIG NAMES IN E-TAIL By Dan Schoenholz / Edited by Will Shortz

86 L’Amore dei ____ Re

(Montemezzi opera) 89 Sophocles tragedy 92 Sue Grafton’s ____ for Innocent 93 Come in under the radar, say 94 Artist Neiman 96 Raise, with “up” 97 Eyes 98 Poisonous snake 99 Producer of wrinkles, it’s said 101 Comprehension 103 First year in

Constantine’s reign 104 Like some port vessels 105 Levels 108 ____ Fein 109 LAX figs.

112 Jupiter’s locale: Abbr.

114 “Got it!”

115 Hankering 116 Riled (up)

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Ok l ah o ma Ga z et te | oc to b e r 2 8 , 2015 | 37

life active

Aiding athletics

VICTORIA THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29 5:30 P.M. | 8:30 P.M.

Competitive yet compassionate Edmond North High School students choose Fields & Futures and Roosevelt Middle School as 2016 BALTO Week recipients.

EXPERIMENTER FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30 | 5:30 P.M. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31 | 5:30 P.M. SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 1 | 5:30 P.M.

DRUNK STONED BRILLIANT DEAD: THE STORY OF THE NATIONAL LAMPOON FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30 | 8:00 P.M. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31 | 8:00 P.M. SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 1 | 2:00 P.M.

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3 8 | oc to b e r 2 8 , 2015 | Ok l ah o ma Ga z et te

Fields & Futures has rebuilt 12 athletic fields in the Oklahoma City Public Schools (OKCPS) district. Now it’s working on a 13th and has a goal to rehab all 44 in the district.

Oklahoma City Energy Football Club partner Tim McLaughlin and his wife Liz founded Fields & Futures in 2012 and remain heavily involved in the nonprofit and its work.

McLaughlin is so engaged in the effort that he now donates $2 of each Energy FC ticket sold.

“That’s going to be six figures plus this year to the foundation,” he said.

And Keith Sinor, OKCPS athletic director, described the McLaughlins’ project as a “game changer for us.”

He pointed to Webster and Jefferson middle schools, where participation in football more than doubled since Fields & Futures rebuilt their athletic fields.

Completion of three athletic fields at Capitol Hill High School was marked Sunday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and youth playtime. As he watched children on the field, McLaughlin said, “We’ve got a long ways to go, but we’re on the right path.”

Suburban interest

With a unique turn of events that brought a suburban school’s student body closer to their mission, Fields & Futures is now poised to increase its staff in order to speed up the process.

This school year, Edmond North High School students will focus their philanthropic events on the athletic fields at Roosevelt Middle School in south Oklahoma City.

The decision for one student body to help another is a generous, and some might think unexpected, one.

Three North student leaders attended the Sept. 21 OKCPS board meeting and announced their 2016 BALTO Week fundraising recipient will be Fields & Futures, with funds to be earmarked for construction of athletic fields at Roosevelt.

The McLaughlins and North student leaders spoke to Oklahoma Gazette after their presentation to the board.

Student Cameron Cato said their decision was made easier because they “fell in love with them the day [they] met them.”

A North tradition since 1995, BALTO stands for Bringing a Light to Others and engages the student body in

m a rk ha n coc k

By Brett Dickerson

Tim and Liz McLaughlin walk along a Fields & Futures Foundation rehab project at Webster Middle School in Oklahoma City. raising money for the community.

The student organization reported that it has raised over $2 million since it began, with donations going to organizations like Children’s Hospital Foundation and Jim Thorpe Rehabilitation Hospital.

“Why we love Fields & Futures is this isn’t something that is just going to happen and be done,” said North student Emily Humphries. “By building this field at Roosevelt, it’s going to leave a lasting impact.”

Support reasons

The connection between athletic confidence and involvement for school children is critical, McLaughlin said, as it was in his own life.

“It’s a giant link to the academic mission,” he said. “If you look at all the studies, if you are a part of a team, you have a higher likelihood of graduating.”

McLaughlin estimated that right now, OKCPS’ sport participation level is about 30 percent, meaning around 5,500 students participate. Nationally, school sport participation is closer to 55 percent, according to the 2011 annual High School Athletics Participation Survey conducted by the National Federation of State High School Associations.

McLaughlin applied the 55 percent to OKCPS and said the number should be closer to 9,000.

“We’re missing about 3,500 kids,” he said.

But what about maintenance once fields are built? “[Money raised through Energy FC donations and from others] maintains the field[s], so we don’t just build them; we also maintain them,” McLaughlin said.

Liz McLaughlin, who is heavily

involved in making Fields & Futures work, talked about why she works so hard for the foundation.

“It’s a positive for all of our family,” she said. “It’s giving back to the community. Our kids get to see that, and they get to live it and experience it and see the results. There are really no negatives; it’s fun to be us every day.”

Each student BALTO leader shared reasons they chose to support the foundation.

“I am really excited about doing this … because the community aspect of BALTO is just so important to us,” Humphries said.

Similarly, Katie Cheap is excited “for both schools to benefit from this,” as North and Roosevelt will gain insight and strength from the partnership.

“It’s something new and different than we have ever done before, so the direct partnership is going to be awesome,” added Cato.

‘Game changer’

Sinor said when he first arrived as the district’s athletic director, most fields had rocks and glass strewn across them. But since Fields & Futures started rebuilding and maintaining the fields, excitement has grown and drawn in more players.

Sinor said about 35 students went out to play football at Webster Middle School last year, compared to 70 this year. Jefferson Middle School had about 35, compared to over 100 this year.

“When you walk out now and see what they have, they take great pride in it and want to be a part of it,” Sinor said.

“It’s a game-changer.”

Fields & Futures’ next project is the fields at Northwest Classen High School.

p r ovi de d

Tammy Padgett

Run on

New to Oklahoma City this year, American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer event aims to raise funds to finish the fight.

BY BRENDAN HOOVER

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer 8:30 a.m. Saturday The Adventure District 2801 NE 50th St. makingstrideswalk.org/oklahomacityok Donations encouraged

Tammy Padgett didn’t ask for much.

She only wanted to live to see her two sons graduate from high school, attend college and maybe get married someday.

“I prayed for all those milestones that we take for granted and don’t really think about unless you’re faced with something like this,” said Padgett, 53, an Edmond resident who, at age 39, was diagnosed with stage II breast cancer after finding a lump during a self-exam in 2001.

Her two sons, Zack and Clay, were ages 5 and 3 at the time.

“My big fear was, what’s going to happen to them in all this? If I died, they’re too young to remember me.

Who’s going to mother them?” she said.

Now a 14-year breast cancer survivor, Padgett and others touched by the disease will join Oklahoma City’s first American Cancer Society (ACS) Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk Saturday at the ASA Hall of Fame Stadium parking lot, 2801 NE 50th St. Registration for the noncompetitive event begins at 7:30 a.m., and the family-friendly 5K walk through the Adventure District starts at 8:30 a.m. It also features music, dancing, Zumba, educational and advocacy activities, a survivors’ tent, refreshments and more. There is no registration fee, but donations are encouraged.

Making Strides is one of the largest networks of breast cancer awareness events in the nation, uniting nearly 300 communities against the disease, organizers said. Over 11 million

supporters raised more than $685 million since its inception in 1993.

Local participants hope to reach a fundraising goal of $100,000, and the event offers support, strength and the opportunity to honor lost loved ones, said Ashley Bowlin, ACS community manager and event coordinator for Making Strides walks in Oklahoma City and Tulsa.

“It’s a powerful event that helps celebrate survivorship,” Bowlin said. “It’s the right time to bring it to Oklahoma City.”

An estimated 2,770 Oklahoma women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year, and 520 will die from the disease, according to ACS. About 1 in 8 women in the United States will be diagnosed with breast cancer, Bowlin said. She started working for the organization as a volunteer after a good friend died from the disease.

Padgett underwent a double mastectomy and participated in a clinical trial in which she received Herceptin, a drug developed with the help of research funded by the ACS, which also has invested $86 million in breast cancer grants, supporting education and prevention.

“I just feel like I have a debt to pay forward,” said Padgett, who volunteers with many ACS programs and has advocated for the cause at the state capitol and in Washington, D.C. “I know the funds I’m raising today may be a breakthrough 10 years from now.”

Zack, 19, is now a University of Oklahoma sophomore, and Clay, 17, is a junior at Edmond North High School. Zack excelled in orchestra in school, and Clay aspires to play college football.

“I’m so grateful that I have lived to see those milestones that I prayed for,” Padgett said.

Ok l ah oma Ga z et te | oc to b e r 2 8 , 2015 | 39

40 | oc to b e r 2 8 , 2015 | Ok l ah oma Ga z et te

Rhythm rebel Saint Pepsi isn’t upset about PepsiCo’s cease-and-desist order. In fact, the name change to Skylar Spence signaled the rise of his newfound voice.

Skylar Spence

By Adam Holt

Skylar Spence (fka Saint Pepsi) with Akiba 9 p.m. Monday Opolis 113 N. Crawford Ave., Norman ticketstorm.com opolis.org $12-$14 21+

In December 2012, Ryan DeRobertis, working at the time as Saint Pepsi, released homemade, retro-electronic tracks through the online distribution platform Bandcamp. A Japanese music blog caught wind of the project and reviewed the release. A small following ensued.

Three years later, DeRobertis now works as Skylar Spence. He has toured the United States and Europe and fronts a live band that plays songs that are written and recorded in the same bedroom as the original tracks to large audiences.

Was this his original plan?

“Absolutely not,” DeRobertis said. “I was still in school (Boston College), trying to figure out how I was going to make it through four years of college. Music as a full career was never something that I entertained because I didn’t really think that I was good enough.”

DeRobertis’ dive into vaporwave — electronic, sample-based pop music heavily influenced by 1980s music such new wave, pop and jazz — has been fruitful, surprising the artist whose initial expectations were meager.

His September release on Carpark Records, Prom King, received positive reviews from online music publications such as Stereogum and Pitchfork. He performs Monday at Opolis, 113. N. Crawford Ave., in Norman.

Born in Baltimore and raised in Long Island, DeRobertis, now in his early 20s, began his life in music playing electronic drums in a neighborhood screamo band, Machetes & Machine Guns, in the seventh grade.

“I don’t play drums very well,” DeRobertis said. “The screamo scene was not my cup of tea.”

The final straw, however, foreshadowed what his future would be.

“I was kicked out of the band because they didn’t like that I was always using the techno drums setting,” he said.

His beat

His penchant for electronic rhythms became the foundation of what Skylar Spence is all about. The full, luscious bass and snare-drum sound of a house-style beat switches to the staccato clicks of a wristwatch with little or no warning.

During his time as a college student, DeRobertis developed his musical knack.

Early on, it was music production, not music performance, that gained his interest. He created sound collages by experimenting with Ableton digital audio workstation software.

Wanting to progress from collages to full-scale songs, DeRobertis also taught himself guitar and bass. He benefited from previous piano instruction he received in his school years. Under the name Saint Pepsi, he released the initial tracks that spawned his early following.

DeRobertis left Boston College and continued as Saint Pepsi. In May 2013, he released Hit Vibes and then performed his first live shows, DJ-based performances at events such as CMJ Music Marathon in New York City. Audiences tended to be comprised of two types of people.

I was kicked out of the band because they didn’t like that I was always using the techno drums setting.

— Skylar Spence

“It was a of mix people who liked to dance and people who liked to smoke weed,” he said. “It had an Internet, underground vibe. It was a lot of people who talked to me on Twitter and Facebook.”

In January 2014, he released the song “Mr. Wonderful.” It caught the ear of Chris Cantalini of the blog and XM Radio show Gorilla vs. Bear. Cantalini played the track on the show. Through the airwaves, it found its way to the ears of Todd Hyman, founder of Carpark Records. “[Hyman] reached out to me to see if I was signed, which I wasn’t, and I was talking to a few record labels at the time,” DeRobertis said. “I was really interested in going back and singing on my tracks …

He was one of the only people who was down with me trying something new.”

His voice

The partnership allowed DeRobertis to perform vocally on his songs. His first release on the label was the single “Fiona Coyne” in July 2014.

He was not ready for what came next.

“That’s when shit got kind of real,” he said.

The tune became a hit and was heavily rotated on SiriusXM. It was lauded on

websites like BuzzFeed. People’s view of DeRobertis also changed.

“People didn’t really know that I wrote songs and played instruments because much of my music was sample-based,” he said. “It was the first step for people taking me seriously as a musician. I think it opened me up to a much wider audience.”

That audience included PepsiCo, makers of the soft drink Pepsi. They weren’t too keen on the Saint Pepsi moniker and sent DeRobertis a cease-anddesist letter. He changed his project name to Skylar Spence, combining two names of characters from the Woody Allen movie Everyone Says I Love You. In September, his first full album release on Carpark Records, and as Skylar Spence, hit shelves. On Prom King, Skylar Spence has a voice, an aspect not found during most of the Saint Pepsi period.

“I’m kind of a weird person, emotionally,” he said. “A lot of issues I have, like the fact that I don’t say things when I feel them and I harbor all these unreconciled emotions. I lot of what I wrote for this record was trying to get those out on paper.”

The success of “Fiona Coyne” and Prom King also has afforded DeRobertis the opportunity to tour with a live band.

The songs as heard on the album are concoctions of software-generated sounds and drumbeats sequenced together.

Playing them live with guitar, bass, drums and synthesizer gives them life a computer cannot provide.

“It’s fun to jam out on some part that doesn’t go for long on the record,” DeRobertis said. “We always feed off the energy of the people. The show really benefits from that.”

Ok l ah o ma Ga z et te | oc to b e r 2 8 , 2015 | 41

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s ha n e m cc aul e y / P ROVIDED

life music

Sharp humor Longtime singer-songwriter and musician James McMurtry brings his Complicated Game to Norman.

By Greg Horton

James McMurtry 8 p.m. Nov. 6 The Sooner Theatre 101 E. Main St., Norman soonertheatre.org 321-9600 $40-$50

“Honey, don’t you be yelling at me when I’m cleaning my gun / I’ll wash the blood off the tailgate when deer season’s done.”

So begins “Copper Canteen,” the first track on Complicated Game, folk rock musician James McMurtry’s first album in six years.

He’s the kind of songwriter who makes other songwriters speak of him as if he’s a rare breed. Critics love him, too. CNN called him “America’s fiercest songwriter,” an evocative accolade, for sure.

James McMurtry

The 53-year-old has produced a remarkable corpus of Americana, roots, and rock ’n’ roll, but it has become difficult to describe someone who opens a new project with something as genuinely funny as “Copper Canteen” and closes with the profoundly haunting “Cutter.”

The praise and critical acclaim started in 1987 at Kerrville Folk Festival in Kerrville, Texas. The event always focused on songwriting, and previous competition winners include Lyle Lovett, Robert Earl Keen and Steve Earle. In 1987, McMurtry joined those distinguished alumni, which have created some of the most respected and well-received works in Americana, folk, roots and bluegrass.

McMurtry’s storytelling ability was nurtured from a young age. His mother was an English educator and his father, author Larry McMurtry, won the 1986

46 | oc to b e r 2 8 , 2015 | Ok l ah oma Ga z et te

Pulitzer Prize for fiction for his novel Lonesome Dove.

“My father had books like wallpaper,” McMurtry said during a recent Oklahoma Gazette interview. “They were stacked everywhere. He was a collector, and he had a rare book shop for 30 years.”

The boy liked music, so his mom taught him to play guitar.

“I wanted to be Johnny Cash,” he said.

He started by playing obscure covers of songs he liked but soon discovered he needed to learn popular music, too, so he could get gigs.

“I learned Jimmy Buffett so the food and beverage guy could recognize the music and hire me,” he said.

Then, that folk festival happened.

“Kerrville really kicked off my writing,” he said. “I worked from a scrap

pile, even then. I jot things down and then keep coming back to it to see if it makes sense.”

Love, resentment, commitment and confusion dance together throughout his songs. Its darkest iteration has to be “Cutter.” The music itself is heavy and brooding, and its lyrics are simple, disturbing and effective: “I cut myself sharp and deep / It’s the only thing that let’s me sleep / Takes the pain from off my face / And puts it in one tiny space.”

The tableau comes from the soul of a middle-aged man, one who fully understands how complicated living and loving can be. Humor leavens the darkness with hope and acceptance on Complicated Game.

McMurtry plays 8 p.m. Nov. 6 at The Sooner Theatre, 101 E. Main St., in Norman.

P ROVIDED

Ali Harter, Oklahoma State Fairgrounds; Oklahoma Expo Hall, Thursday

P ROVIDED

Live music WEDNESDAY, OCT. 28 Edgar Cruz/Jeff Nokes, Avanti Bar & Grill. ACOUSTIC Grant Wells, Skirvin Hilton Hotel. JAZZ Mac Miller/Goldlink/Domo Genesis, Diamond Ballroom.

HIP-HOP Maurice Johnson, R&J Lounge and Supper Club.

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THURSDAY, OCT. 29 Ali Harter, Oklahoma State Fairgrounds; Oklahoma Expo Hall. ACOUSTIC Brent Saulsbury/Will Galbraith/Wayne Duncan, Friends Restaurant & Club. ROCK Okie Soul Jam, Bourbon Street Bar. BLUES Red Dirt Rangers, The Blue Door. COUNTRY Shiny Penny/The Happily Entitled/NoiseBleedSound, Post 352 Music. ROCK SquadLive, Baker Street Pub & Grill. POP

FRIDAY, OCT. 30 Brian Gorrell & Jazz Company, UCO Jazz Lab, Edmond.

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Lee Mullen Band, Riverwind Casino, Norman.

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Halloween at Eskimo Joe’s Saturday

Dress up in your most creative, contest-winning costumes and head over to Eskimo Joe’s, 501 W. Elm Ave., in Stillwater for a Halloween show featuring Kaitlin Butts (pictured), Dylan Stewart & the Eulogists and Mike McClure. The party starts 10 p.m. Saturday.

Guests must be at least 21 years old, and the cover charge is $5. Call 372-8896 or visit eskimojoes.com.

Bandromeda, Thunder Alley Grill and Sports Bar. COVER Big G, UCO Jazz Lab, Edmond. BLUES Bleu Edmondson, Wormy Dog Saloon. COUNTRY Casey & Minna, Hillbilly’s. FOLK Daniel Jordan, Fuze Buffet & Bar. ACOUSTIC Don and Melodee Johnson, Twelve Oaks. VARIOUS

Tallows/Tonne/Forum, 51st Street Speakeasy. VARIOUS

Klamz/Shutdown Shutouts, Blue Note Lounge. ROCK

Lee Mullen Band, Riverwind Casino. COUNTRY

The Weathermen, Tapwerks Ale House & Cafe. ROCK

Mike Hosty, JJ’s Alley. ACOUSTIC

Lost On Utica, Russell’s, Tower Hotel. ROCK

Theory of a Deadman/Aranda/Artifas, Diamond Ballroom. ROCK

Stevie Wonder, Chesapeake Energy Arena.

SINGER/SONGWRITER

SUNDAY, NOV. 1

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 4

Annie Oakley, The Depot, Norman. FOLK

Edgar Cruz/Jeff Nokes, Avanti Bar & Grill. ACOUSTIC

Mayday Parade/Real Friends/This Wild Life, Cain’s Ballroom, Tulsa. ROCK

Maurice Johnson, R&J Lounge and Supper Club.

Mother Duck, Bourbon Street Bar. ROCK

Red Dirt Rangers, The Blue Door, Thursday

Mike Hosty One Man Band, The Deli, Norman. ROCK

Scott Lowber/Will Galbraith/Ed VanBuskirk, Friends Restaurant & Club. COVER

Scott Lowber/Will Galbraith/Rick Toops, Friends Restaurant & Club. COVER

Title Fight, 89th Street Collective. ROCK

Tim Stanford & the Exclusives, Bourbon Street Bar. BLUES

Scott Lowber/Will Galbraith/Ed VanBuskirk, Friends Restaurant & Club. COVER

MONDAY, NOV. 2 Kylesa, 89th Street Collective. ROCK Rick Toops, Friends Restaurant & Club. ROCK

provided

Skylar Spence, Opolis, Norman. ELECTRONIC

TUESDAY, NOV. 3 Gill Landry, The Blue Door. SINGER/SONGWRITER

Submissions must be received by Oklahoma Gazette no later than noon on Wednesday seven days before the desired publication date. Late submissions will not be included in the listings.

Submissions run as space allows, although we strive to make the listings as inclusive as possible.

Fax your listings to 528-4600 or e-mail them to listings@okgazette.com. Sorry, but phone submissions cannot be accepted.

Ok l ah oma Ga z et te | oc to b e r 2 8 , 2015 | 47

p hotos p r ovi de d

life film

House slaughter This Halloween, invite your favorite, creepy ne’er-do-wells into your living room.

By Jennifer Chancellor, Greg Elwell and James Helton

Frankenstein, Leatherface, Jason, Chucky, Pinhead and Freddy are household names as much as they are harbingers of classic horror.

However, there are others that seldom get the fright-inducing Halloween respect they deserve.

With the popularity of screaming, er … streaming services, there are seemingly endless opportunities to invite each of those haunting atrocities into your home.

Go ahead, genre lovers; salute them over your popcorn bowl as you queue up these recommendations.

Willow Creek

2013 | NR | Amazon, iTunes, PlayStation, Vudu The backwoods is exactly where comedianturned-director Bobcat Goldthwait takes us in this horror thriller that breathed new life into the “found footage” genre. Set in the infamous location that spawned the Bigfoot legend and its earliest “filmed” footage, two unsuspecting filmmakers find there is plenty of evil in them thar woods. The most notable scene is a 20-minute single-take that will stand your neck hair on end.

The Devil’s Rejects

A Nightmare on Elm Street 1984 | R | Amazon, iTunes, PlayStation, Vudu

OK, OK. We’re starting this list with an obvious choice. With only seven minutes of actual screen time, midnight mutilator Freddy Krueger quickly slashed his way into the imaginations of horror fans everywhere. Wes Craven’s classic spawned eight related films, none of which would exist without the breakout success of the original. The movie also introduced the concept of the male heartthrob terror victim as it presented fledgling actor Johnny Depp to unsuspecting girls the world over (and gave youth yet another reason to fight reasonable bedtimes).

2005 | R | iTunes, PlayStation, Amazon, Vudu Nothing screams psychopathic, sadistic serial killers quite like the Firefly family in this modern horror cinema piece.

The film is filled with a cast of genre icons like Sid Haig and Bill Moseley, and rocker-turned-auteurwriter-and-director Rob Zombie owned the black comedy/horror genre in 2005. Having matured greatly as a director with this sequel to his debut film, House of 1000 Corpses, Zombie created a delightfully violent and disturbing romp through Ruggsville, Texas.

4 8 | oc to b e r 2 8 , 2015 | Ok l ah o ma Ga z et te

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil

2010 | R | Amazon, iTunes, Netflix, PlayStation, Vudu What if those creepy backwoods weirdos who encounter the promiscuous college students on their way to a remote cabin weren’t killers? Tyler Labine and Alan Tudyk find out how stereotypes and bad luck combine to ruin their fishing trip in director Eli Craig’s debut horror-comedy Tucker and Dale vs. Evil. The somewhat hapless duo is terrorized by a group of idiots who think Tucker and Dale have kidnapped their friend. It’s an extremely fun movie with a few good scares and lots of slasher flick deconstructionism.

Slither

2006 | R | Amazon, iTunes, PlayStation, Vudu

Grabbers

2012 | NR | Amazon, iTunes, Netflix, PlayStation If you enjoy a lot of laughter with your gory, gross-out thrills, then Slither and Grabbers are ideal for your Halloween night movie marathon.

Slither, written and directed

by James Gunn, is a who’s who of pop culture greatness. Mal from Firefly!

Pam from The Office! Elizabeth Banks from absolutely everything you’ve ever seen! And they’re fighting a bunch of parasites bent on procreating the world to death!

For an Irish twist on a similar subject, there’s Grabbers, in which a different bunch of octopus-like aliens want to kill everyone by slurping out their bodily fluids.

So what are the heroes to do except throw a giant party, keeping everybody absolutely blind drunk, so the aliens won’t want their blood?

The Babadook

2014 | NR | Amazon, iTunes, Netflix, PlayStation In the polluted film world of CGI and computer graphics, it is interesting to see what a director can do with a small budget.

The Babadook takes us on a “Bloody Mary”-style journey of anxiety with next to nothing in the bank. Playing into the urban legend film genre, writer/ director Jennifer Kent provides such basic elements as cardboard stand-ins, great camerawork and psychological tricks that are as much about what you don’t see as what you do, right up to the paranoiac ending.

You might not meet ax-wielding maniacs or soul-stealing demons this Halloween (at least, we hope you don’t), but this list does come with a grave warning: Watch all of these movies in one go and you might find yourself facing one of the scariest monsters of all — a very sleepless night.

DRE A M WORKS / FOX 2 000 / p r ovi de d

Bridge of Spies

Beguiling Bridge Spielberg’s artful storytelling provides viewers with a slow-burning, tension-filled spy-vs.-spy drama.

Set largely during the early 1960s, the height of the Cold War, Bridge of Spies tells the true story of James B. Donovan (Tom Hanks, The Da Vinci Code), an insurance lawyer who accepts the task of representing and defending exposed KGB agent Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance, Days and Nights). This assignment makes him rather unpopular with the American public.

Things are further complicated when American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers (Austin Stowell, Whiplash) is shot down over Soviet territory and captured.

Donovan is then recruited by the CIA to negotiate a trade for Abel to retrieve Powers as well as an economics student (Will Rogers, The Bay) arrested on the wrong side of the newly built Berlin Wall.

In a year overstuffed with spy films, director Steven Spielberg offers a refreshing take that relies not on spectacle but on good, old-fashioned slow-burn tension and storytelling.

It also raises the flag for classic Spielberg-ian lessons like treating enemies with empathy and finding common ground when discussing differences.

With tensions between Russia and the U.S. rising yet again and another election year approaching, these are lessons as relevant now as they were decades ago.

Hanks imbues Donovan with the actor’s trademark idealistic, Jimmy Stewart, everyman quality; it would run the risk of being corny if portrayed by anyone else. Hanks doesn’t play the lawyer as a holierthan-thou saint. Instead, Donovan is a fundamentally good man who is

good at what he does; an extension of Spielberg’s fondness for the classic “right man at the right time in history” tale, demonstrated in films Amistad and Lincoln.

The rest of the cast, while not brimming with huge names, is made up of solid character actors Amy Ryan, Alan Alda, Domenick Lombardozzi and Jesse Plemons.

Rylance, in particular, stands out as he gives deadpan and stoic Abel a humanity that allows Donovan — and, in turn, the audience — to warm up to the captured spy and even root for his safe return to his Soviet handlers. Rylance and Hanks share a noticeable chemistry in their scenes together, which makes them some of the film’s best.

If Bridge of Spies has any faults, it is that it suffers from heavy-handed dialogue and imagery that, at times, borders on preachy.

It works best when it isn’t spoonfeeding the audience lessons and instead lets big moments feel earned.

Spielberg does an excellent job of not overloading the film with too much schmaltz. He is assisted by fluid camerawork by cinematographer Janusz Kaminski and a score by Thomas Newman.

Joel and Ethan Coen, along with co-writer Matt Charman, deliver a script that is funnier than one should expect from a movie about this subject matter, especially considering its two-and-a-half-hour runtime.

While most of its scenes consist of characters sitting in rooms and talking, Bridge of Spies is one of the most exciting and sincere movies of the year.

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Ok l ah o ma Ga z et te | oc to b e r 2 8 , 2015 | 49

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY Homework: Send pictures of your favorite scarecrows or descriptions of your dreams of protection to me at Truthrooster@gmail.com.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) On a January morning in 1943, the town of Spearfish, South Dakota experienced very weird weather. At 7:30 a.m. the temperature was minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit.

In the next two minutes, due to an unusual type of wind sweeping down over nearby Lookout Mountain, thermometers shot up 49 degrees. Over the next hour and a half, the air grew even warmer. But by 9:30, the temperature had plummeted back to minus 4 degrees.

I’m wondering if your moods might swing with this much bounce in the coming weeks. As long as you keep in mind that no single feeling is likely to last very long, it doesn’t have to be a problem. You may even find a way to enjoy the breathtaking ebbs and flows.

Halloween costume suggestion: roller coaster rider, Jekyll and Hyde, warm clothes on one side of your body and shorts or bathing suit on the other.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) How dare you be so magnetic and tempting? What were you thinking when you turned up the intensity of your charm to such a high level? I suggest you consider exercising more caution about expressing your radiance. People may have other things to do besides daydreaming about you. But if you really can’t bring yourself to be a little less attractive — if you absolutely refuse to tone yourself down — please at least try to be extra kind and generous. Share your emotional wealth. Overflow with more than your usual allotments of blessings. Halloween costume suggestion: a shamanic Santa Claus; a witchy Easter Bunny.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) In the last ten days of November and the month of December, I suspect there will be wild-card interludes when you can enjoy smart gambles, daring stunts, cute tricks, and mythic escapades. But the next three weeks will not be like that. On the contrary.

For the immediate future, I think you should be an upstanding citizen, a well-behaved helper, and a dutiful truth-teller. Can you handle that? If so, I bet

you will get sneak peaks of the fun and productive mischief that could be yours in the last six weeks of 2015. Halloween costume suggestion: the most normal person in the world.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) Members of the gazelle species known as the springbok periodically engage in a behavior known as pronking. They leap into the air and propel themselves a great distance with all four feet off the ground, bounding around with abandon. What evolutionary purpose does this serve? Some scientists are puzzled, but not naturalist David Attenborough.

In the documentary film Africa, he follows a springbok herd as it wanders through the desert for months, hoping to find a rare rainstorm. Finally it happens. As if in celebration, the springboks erupt with an outbreak of pronking. “They are dancing for joy,” Attenborough declares. Given the lucky breaks and creative breakthroughs coming your way, Cancerian, I foresee you doing something similar.

Halloween costume suggestion: a pronking gazelle, a hippety-hopping bunny, a boisterous baby goat.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) “A very little key will open a very heavy door,” wrote Charles Dickens in his short story “Hunted Down.”

Make that one of your guiding meditations in the coming days, Leo. In the back of your mind, keep visualizing the image of a little key opening a heavy door. Doing so will help ensure that you’ll be alert when clues about the real key’s location become available. You will have a keen intuitive sense of how you’ll need to respond if you want to procure it.

Halloween costume suggestion: proud and protective possessor of a magic key.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) The ancient Hindu text known as the Kama Sutra gives extensive advice about many subjects, including love and sex. “Though a man loves a woman ever so much,” reads a passage in chapter four, “he never succeeds in winning her without a great deal of talking.” Take that as your cue, Virgo. In the coming weeks, stir up the intimacy you want with a great deal of incisive talking that beguiles and entertains.

Furthermore, use the same approach to round up any other experience you yearn for. The way you play with language will be crucial in your efforts to fulfill your wishes. Luckily, I expect your persuasive powers to be even greater than they usually are. Halloween costume suggestion: the ultimate salesperson.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) I encourage you to be super rhythmical and melodious in the coming days. Don’t just sing in the shower and in the car. Hum and warble and whistle while shopping for vegetables and washing the dishes and walking the dog. Allot yourself more than enough time to shimmy and cavort, not just on the dance floor but anywhere else you can get away with it. For extra credit, experiment with lyrical flourishes whenever you’re in bed doing the jizzleskazzle. Halloween costume suggestion: wandering troubadour, street musician, free-styling rapper, operatic diva, medicine woman who heals with sound.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) I expect you to be in a state of continual birth for the next four weeks. Awakening and activation will come naturally. Your drive to blossom and create may be irresistible, bordering on unruly. Does that sound overwhelming? I don’t think it will be a problem as long as you cultivate a mood of amazed amusement about how strong it feels. To help maintain your poise, keep in mind that your growth spurt is a natural response to the dissolution that preceded it. Halloween costume suggestion: a fountain, an erupting volcano, the growing beanstalk from the “Jack and the Beanstalk” fairy tale.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) “Just as a snake sheds its skin, we must shed our past over and over again.” So says Buddhist teacher Jack Kornfield. Can you guess why I’m bringing it to your attention, Sagittarius? It’s one of those times when you can do yourself a big favor by sloughing off the stale, worn-out, decaying parts of your past. Luckily for you, you now have an extraordinary talent for doing just that. I suspect you will also receive unexpected help and surprising grace as you proceed. Halloween costume suggestion: a snake molting its skin.

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CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Speaking on behalf of your wild mind, I’m letting you know that you’re due for an immersion in revelry and festivity. Plugging away at business as usual could become counterproductive unless you take at least brief excursions to the frontiers of pleasure. High integrity may become sterile unless you expose it to an unpredictable adventure or two. Halloween costume suggestion: party animal, hell raiser, social butterfly, god or goddess of delight. Every one of us harbors a touch of crazy genius that periodically needs to be unleashed, and now is that time for you.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) I hope you will chose a Halloween costume that emboldens you to feel powerful. For the next three weeks, it’s in your long-term interest to invoke a visceral sense of potency, dominion, and sovereignty.

What clothes and trappings might stimulate these qualities in you? Those of a king or queen? A rock star or CEO? A fairy godmother, superhero, or dragontamer? Only you know which archetypal persona will help stir up your untapped reserves of confidence and command.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) It’s time to stretch the boundaries, Pisces. You have license to expand the containers and outgrow the expectations and wage rebellion for the sheer fun of it. The frontiers are calling you. Your enmeshment in small talk and your attachment to trivial wishes are hereby suspended. Your mind yearns to be blown and blown and blown again! I dare you to wander outside your overly safe haven and go in quest of provocative curiosities. Halloween costume suggestions: mad scientist, wild-eyed revolutionary, Dr. Who. Go to RealAstrology.com to check out Rob Brezsny’s expanded weekly audio horoscopes /daily text message horoscopes.

The audio horoscopes are also available by phone at 1-877-873-4888 or 1-900-950-7700.

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