An Oklahoma culinary institution for more than two decades, Cheever’s Café serves up southwestern and southern cuisine, plus cocktails and wine, to hungry OKC diners. But Tulsans needn’t worry – a brand new, 95-seat location will soon open on Cherry Street, within a 4,000-square-foot space formerly occupied by Q Clothier.
Along with brunch, lunch and dinner menus, Cheever’s offers craft cocktails plus beer and wine. Photos by Choate House
Keith Paul, chief executive officer and co-founder of Cheever’s parent restaurant group, A Good Egg, reflects on the restaurant’s storied history.
“We opened in 2000 and are now in the middle of our 24th year,” he says. “The space we chose [in OKC] had originally been for a French Creole café, and we made changes that eventually and gradually grew to our current concept of contemporary comfort food with southwest U.S. influences. To us, the food is simple, and that makes it approachable. The majority of the menu items have been with us since day one.”
Paul was the original Cheever’s Café chef while his wife, Heather – A Good Egg’s co-owner– ran the front of house operations. The pair kept expanding, and now A Good Egg Dining Group boasts nine restaurant concepts, including OKC gems like Red Primesteak, Kitchen No. 324, The Drake and Tucker’s Onion Burgers.
Menu highlights at Cheever’s run the gamut, but favorites continue to be the chicken fried steak with jalapeno gravy and the mixed seafood tamales, says Paul.
Cheever’s, which serves up southern food, will soon open its second location in Tulsa this month.
“There are also the chicken strudel and ice cream pecan balls that are big sellers,” “My personal favorite changes from working in the kitchen and trying and tasting so many things, but in general, my favorites lately are the Italian kale salad or the Alaskan halibut with shrimp risotto.”
Cheever’s owner Keith Paul says the chicken fried steak with jalapeno gravy is a tried-and-true diner favorite. Main image cutline: The mixed seafood tamales, one of Cheever’s most famous dishes, come with ancho cream and cilantro rice.
Cheever’s offers brunch, lunch and dinner menus, with options ranging from shrimp and grits to house-smoked brisket hash with roasted sweet potatoes, red onions, yellow bell peppers, two sunny side up eggs and barbecue hollandaise. Other must-tries include the spicy Caesar salad, the grilled ribeye and the ‘Brie-LT,’ with pepper bacon, heirloom tomato, brie, arugula and red pepper chutney. Diners can round out their meal with coconut cream pie, carrot cake or the chocolate layer cake, or indulge in one of several craft cocktails. Highlights include the Lavender Haze, with purple cucumber gin, elderflower liqueur, lime juice and simple syrup, as well as the Blood Oath, made with Banhez mezcal, lime, agave syrup, blood orange and soda.
The holidays will find the team at Cheever’s in a jolly spirit and the restaurant will be well-adorned.
“We love to decorate,” says Paul. “It’s a small space, but looks fantastic and it’s just a cozy space in the cooler weather. It’s our busiest time of the year.
As for the food, Paul mentions that seasonal specials will include “potatoes, squash and maybe some wild game.”
More than anything, the team is excited to bring their cuisine to Tulsans.
“We just love the historic area on Cherry Street and the historic building we’re in,” says Paul. “It’s just a great demographic there, a wonderful restaurant scene. We’re excited to be offering brunch, lunch and dinner.”
If you’re looking for authentic Mexican cuisine plus more tequila offerings than you’d believe, Dos Panchos in Tulsa is the place to go.
Starters include traditional favorites, like queso with chorizo, guacamole, nachos and shrimp ceviche. If you’re gunning to eat a bit healthier, good on ya – try the tortilla soup, the taco salad or the chicken fiesta salad, with grilled chicken, avocado, black bean pico and cheese.
Fresh off the grill are entree choices including chicken, steak and shrimp fajitas, plus carne asada and pollo a la parrilla – marinated grilled chicken breast with onions, peppers and melted cheese. Other traditional fare ranges from birria tacos to flautas, enchiladas, steak burritos and chimichangas. Perhaps the most enticing options, however, are on the specials section of the menu. Try the bisteca ranchera – beef skirt steak sauteed with fresh ranchera salsa. The camarones habaneros is another winner – sauteed shrimp in a spicy habanero sauce. And don’t miss the chili verde with carnitas, with tender pork, fresh tomatillo sauce, and rice and beans. If you’re got little diners with you, the kid’s menu offers tacos, enchiladas, quesadillas, chicken strips and burritos.
Finish your meal off with some churros, flan, sopapillas or tres leches. And of course, with all that tequila, you can find or create virtually any margarita option you’re craving.
Photo courtesy Palo Santo
Palo Santo
Sleek, stylish, and always bumping the latest tunes, Palo Santo is a trendy yet welcoming watering hole in OKC. For those looking to try something different in a cocktail, Palo Santo is the perfect place to venture out of your comfort zone. For example, the Oaxacchiato mixes mezcal, sherry, Oaxacan hot chocolate, vanilla, foamed milk and cinnamon. If you’d prefer your cocktail cold, try the Habanero Pisco Punch, with pisco, habanero pineapple shrub and lime. Others may be enticed by the Banana Nacional, with rum, creme de banana, pineapple, lime, Demerara and nutmeg.
And, while Palo Santo is known primarily as a bar, their food menu has some tasty gems. Start with complimentary popcorn, then venture to other options including Korean or barbecue wings, black bean hummus, taqueria chips with guacamole, salsa or ceviche, plus the okonomiyaki tots, with mayo, Okonomi sauce (think a sweeter version of Worcestershire sauce), bonito flakes, togarashi (Japanese spice blend) and scallions. Other goodies include green chili chicken pozole, street tacos, burritos and a slew of handhelds including the Katsu chicken sandwich – with chile aioli, shoyu cabbage slaw and pickles on a potato bun.
If you’re still hungry, try the Oaxacan chocolate mousse – with toasted pistachio, sea salt, chartreuse whipped cream and nutmeg – or a classic chocolate chip cookie.
As most of us grow up and grow older, we find that certain songs, for whatever reasons, cling to us and ultimately become a part of us – coloring how we see the world, those around us and ourselves. They may be well-known hits. They may be obscure releases like album cuts from the golden days of LPs. For whatever reason, we accumulate them and absorb them into our lives forever.
That’s as far as it goes for the majority of us. But if you’re a veteran musician with a recording studio, like Tulsa’s Mike Peace, then you have the wherewithal to take things a little farther by bringing in some musical friends, putting several of your special songs on a disc, and sending them back out in your own voice.
That’s what the singer-guitarist-harmonica player has done with Peace Grocery, his first solo CD. It comes after decades of his working steadily as a musician, most notably with the Tulsa-based rock ‘n’ roll group the Dinosaurs, which gigged around the area for some 13 years, and the early ’80s country-rock band Cactus Jack. Now, he’s crafted a disc full of songs whose wisdom and insight remain close to his soul.
“As I was sitting down and picking tunes, I thought, ‘This is kind of a looking-back, you know, at stuff that has stuck with me over the years,’” he says. “These are songs that mean a lot to me. For instance, ‘Good Time Charlie’s Got the Blues,’ with those lines about how everybody’s leaving town. All the Okies I grew up with, to get a job, left and went to California. They moved away, just like in the song.”
As is the case with “Good Time Charlie’s Got the Blues,” a Top Ten pop record for its writer, Danny O’Keefe, in 1972, some of the Peace Grocery cuts will be familiar to baby boomers. There’s Peace’s infinitely more melancholy version of the 1966 James and Bobby Purify soul-music single, “I’m Your Puppet,” as well as the classic Tony Joe White composition “Rainy Night in Georgia.” But there’s also the Muddy Waters/Little Feat tune “Why Are People Like That”; another from his friend, the late musician Danny Timms; an original one Peace wrote when he and his wife were living in Costa Rica; and a second, lesser-known Tony Joe White tune, the subtle but powerful indictment of segregation called “Willie and Laura Mae Jones.”
“I’ve always wanted to record that song,” Peace says of “Willie and Laura Mae Jones.” “I grew up in Sequoyah County, Oklahoma, during Jim Crow. A couple of my best friends in high school were Black. I played ball with ‘em, and I’d take ‘em home from games and practice, but they couldn’t go to a restaurant and eat with me.
“Then, when I was in the Army and got transferred to Troy, Alabama, it was another step back in time. I had a couple of good buddies who were Black, and we couldn’t even go out to a bar and have a beer. It was the song. It was `Willie and Laura Mae Jones.’”
During his time in Alabama, Peace’s interest in playing music took off. He admits it was a passion that came along relatively late in his life.
Photo captions: Peace Grocery in Short, Oklahoma, was owned by Mike Peace’s family, although it was destroyed in a fire in 1987. (Main image) Peace decided to honor the store – and his family’s legacy – by naming his album after it. Photos courtesy Mike Peace
“My brother and I took voice lessons in grade school and did recitals,” he recalls. “But when we got to be teenagers, we wanted to play football. My mom wanted me to take piano, but, it was, ‘No, we can’t do that stuff. That’s sissy stuff.’ So I never really got back to it until I was at Troy. I lived in a little trailer park, in an 8X35 trailer, and I only worked half a day in the air-traffic control tower at the little [Army] airport there. So I had lots of time, and I had my Bob Dylan albums, and I said, ‘I’m going to learn how to play guitar. I’m going to be Bob Dylan.’”
He chuckles. “So I drove to Montgomery and got me a really nice little Gibson acoustic guitar, bought a couple of harmonicas and a rack; luckily, I had a really good friend who was going to college and lived in the same trailer park. He was a local guitar player and singer, and his name was James Brown. He’s still alive. I finally looked him up on Facebook, and we reconnected.
“He’d come over, and we’d drink beer, and he’d show me chords. Like I said, I was going to be Bob Dylan – or James Taylor. I got into James Taylor, too, with the finger-picking and all.”
However, he didn’t start performing in front of audiences until he got his discharge papers and moved to Tulsa, near where he’d grown up. It was the very early ’70s, before there were many recording studios in the area, and Peace gravitated to one of the few, Derrick Studios, which had a subsidiary record label.
“I was hanging out there, drawing my unemployment from the Army, and trying to learn how to be an engineer,” he recalls. “That’s when I got acquainted with Don White and a lot of the Tulsa guys. [J.J.] Cale used to come in and record. Steve Ripley would come over.
“Don White had his gigs around town, and he’d heard me sing in the studio. When I’d go out to one of his gigs, he’d get me up to sing. So Don White ruined my life,” he adds with a laugh.
From there, Peace began playing and singing with different bands, leading ultimately to the Dinosaurs, which then laid the groundwork for a second career.
“In the Dinosaurs, I was playing harmonica with two electric lead-guitar players, and they were drowning me out,” he explains. “So I was always blowing reeds, ruining a lot of harps by trying to out-loud them.”
Then, in the late ’90s, Peace met a Vermont-based player named Jimmy Gordon at a harmonica convention. Gordon, as it turned out, was also an expert at working on the instruments. They became friends, and Peace himself learned the intricacies of harmonica repair. Since then, he’s been one of the major repairmen in that field, with clients from all across America.
That’s a long way from the business depicted on the cover of his new CD, Peace Grocery in Uniontown, Ark., about a mile from the Oklahoma border. But like the songs he’s chosen to feature on the disc, that old grocery store is something that’s stayed with Mike Peace, although it’s been gone since 1987, when it was destroyed by what he believes was an electrical fire.
“My great-grandfather established it around 1895, and after he passed, my grandfather took it over, during the Depression,” Peace says. “He raised six kids with the proceeds from that old store. Then, after my dad came home from World War II, he and my grandfather were partners, and then Dad started his own little store in Short, Oklahoma, which is just across the Arkansas border, and that’s pretty much where I grew up.
“Dad would always go back into the [original] store. He owned the building. He was kind of in and out, taking other jobs, but in the ‘80s, when that picture [on the CD cover] was taken, he still had it and was getting ready to retire.
“So,” he concludes, “using that name for the record is kind of a tribute to my family, my dad and grandfather and great-grandfather. They were stalwarts of that little rural community, very well known in the county. It was a nostalgic thing, I guess. I just wanted to honor them.”
All of Hope Egan’s ancestors, as far back as she can remember, were farmers. They ate what the land provided, so that farm to table concept is in her blood.
“My grandmother taught me how to cook,” she recalls. “My earliest memories were of standing on a stool helping her roll out biscuits and pie crusts. I remember once, when I was so little, I sat on the counter top as she was making strawberry jam. I was grabbing strawberries as fast as I could and eating them. I wish I’d paid closer attention to how she cooked, but I took it for granted. I just enjoyed being with her.”
Egan went to work at a restaurant when she was sixteen. Her childhood training came to the fore and, though she often worked as a server, she fell in love with cooking. She watched the chefs with admiration, held little dinner parties so she could experiment on her friends, and even started a small catering company. She also worked at a bevy of Tulsa mainstays, often behind the bar.
“Her inventive tastes, sharp cocktails and cunning service know-how,” one reviewer wrote in 2016, “have been a beloved fixture in the Tulsa food scene for more than twenty years.”
And it was about then that Egan decided it was time for a change.
She started a new, bigger catering outfit, Red Thistle, still in business today. (Visit redthistlecateringtulsa.com to see how to enjoy an Egan creation.) She bought a little house on Harvard Avenue, a magical place where, behind a quotidian exterior, a dining room of farmhouse tables and mismatched country chairs overlooked a kitchen. Egan held dinners there, the kind where you sit next to strangers and end up with friends. Everything on your plate was grown or raised by a farmer who was also Egan’s friend.
“Now the beets are from Three Springs Farm, that’s Mike and Emily,” she’d say. “I’ve pickled them for 30 days. You can eat them after a week, but they keep getting better.”
Chef Hope Egan hosts pop-up dinners in Tulsa, alongside painting workshops and other social events.
Photos courtesy Hope Egan
Then she’d bring out a dish of chicken from 413 Farms, marinated overnight in Lebanese toum then pan-seared, and it would be so good you’d stop talking.
In 2018, she moved to a farm and, a few years later, closed the house on Harvard. She became a farmer, like her grandparents.
“It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” she says, though some of her most dreadful days become comic when she retells them years later.
“We used to have a pig,” she recalls, “and she was big – big and wild. She’d break into our cooler and drink the beer. One day I got shocked on our electric fence and fell flat on my butt in the pig wallow. The pig thought I was playing and jumped on top of me, so there’s me rolling around in the mud wallow with a 300-pound pig.”
Sometime in 2021, Egan caught COVID-19, and it didn’t go away. The lingering effects of long COVID changed the way she lived her life.
“I couldn’t cook eighty hours a week, and I needed to make my soul happy,” she says. “I’ve always been an artist, but there was no time for it. I decided I’d paint every single day. I started with whimsical paintings of goddesses and farm life. Later, I did big abstracts. They made me push myself, trying to express emotion as color.”
In January of this year, one of her best friends, the sculptor Lisa Regan, put a house up for rent. Egan moved in. It’s a little wood home surrounded by big, leafy trees right near a low-slung building housing artists’ studios.
She’s started cooking again, doing occasional socials as well as pop-up dinner parties. At one recently, the courses included melon gazpacho with a hint of onion, sweet corn hushpuppies, a shrimp cocktail with the shrimp perched on a corn pudding as delicate as a souffle, a biscuit with chicken and curry-spiced molasses butter, a salad with fresh peaches she bought in Porter, and, the high point, shredded pork from a pig Egan raised on her farm.
“You have dinner surrounded by my paintings,” she says. “If it’s a paint workshop, I make food as you paint and I feed you. I’m lucky enough to have a clientele of wonderful people, so my dinners have the coolest, most fun people ever.”
Chef Egan’s Pozole Verde
Pozole:
2-3 pounds pork shoulder
4 cans hominy, drained and rinsed
2 onions
10 cloves garlic
4-5 dried chipotle peppers
8 oz. canned chopped green chilis
8 cups chicken stock (or water and 4 bouillon cubes)
2 tablespoons smoked paprika
4 tablespoons granulated garlic powder
2 teaspoons cumin
Salt to taste
Salsa Verde:
2 pounds tomatillos, peeled
1 yellow onion (peeled and quartered)
1-2 jalapeños
1 bunch cilantro
Toppings:
Radish bunch
Limes
Cilantro
Half a fresh cabbage
Jalapeños
Carrots
2 cups vinegar – white, rice or apple cider
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt
Instructions:
Generously salt your pork and rub all over with salt, a tablespoon of the garlic powder and a tablespoon of smoked paprika.
Place in a large Dutch oven or large pan you can cover tightly.
Slice your two onions into quarters and give your garlic a couple of chops. Add to pork.
Pour your stock over the pork and onions and add your dried chipotles, the rest of the spices, and a couple more pinches of salt.
Cover tightly and place in 250 degree oven. Check in 6 hours. Make sure it still has plenty of liquid. I usually cook mine for 10-12, or until it’s falling apart apart tender.
When you pork is done, remove from pan, save all that liquid!
Shred your pork and remove any bones. Remove the chipotles from the braising liquid and set aside.
Put your shredded pork back in, add the hominy and green chiles and stir together. Taste for seasoning. Add more salt if needed.
Return to heat to warm hominy and let simmer. (If you need more liquid add more chicken stock and spice it up to taste.)
For salsa verde:
Place tomatillos (papery skins removed) in a pan of water with one onion and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil 5 minutes or until tomatillos change color. Turn off heat and let sit 5 more minutes. Strain and transfer cooked tomatillos and onion to food processor.
Looking to dine out, enjoy delicious food and get as festive as possible while doing so? Here are just a few places in Oklahoma that decorate to the max for the holidays.
In Tulsa, perhaps the most well-known (for good reason) is Roosevelt’s on Cherry Street. Enjoy New American cuisine while glancing up at a ceiling that is covered – literally – in holiday baubles and greenery. Other Tulsa pit-stops include Bird and Bottle, Valkyrie, Smoke, Ti Amo, Mondo’s, the Chalkboard and Charleston’s.
In OKC, visit Tellers in the old First National Bank building for all things Christmas. Not only will you get delectable Italian cuisine and gorgeous holiday decor, but also specialized events like afternoon teas, a Christmas tree lighting, and a Breakfast with Santa event. Other heavily adorned OKC joints include Bricktown Brewery, Cattlemen’s Steakhouse, Cheever’s Cafe, FLINT and Cafe Cuvee.
Roosevelt’s, Tulsa; photo courtesy Roosevelt’s
Holiday Desserts
If you want to try your hand at a sweet treat for your next gathering, we offer a few suggestions. (Recipes can be found with relative ease online.)
The Shortbread Cookie: With a short list of ingredients that include flour, baking powder, salt, butter, sugar and pure vanilla extract, simple yet delicious shortbread cookies are sure to be a hit.
Millionaire’s Bars: Combining sugar, butter, almonds, flour, condensed milk, brown sugar, honey, heavy cream, vanilla extract, chocolate and sea salt, the Millionaire’s Bar is a rich, chocolatey confection that will have your guests hankering for more.
White Chocolate Truffle: Heavy cream, white chocolate chips, cream cheese, Biscoff cookies and sprinkles are all you need for these light, festive treats. You can also flex your design skills by adding festive imagery to the treats!
Eggnog Pudding: Mix condensed milk, half-and-half, nutmeg, molasses, brandy, salt, eggs, cornstarch, gingersnap cookies, heavy cream and sugar for this tiered pudding that will stun – both in taste and in aesthetics.
Apps Galore
While we can all enjoy a nice holiday ham, turkey, quail or whatever main dish you enjoy on Christmas, the apps can often be the true stars of the show. If you’re in charge of bringing an appetizer to your next gathering, try one of the following. (Recipes can be found with relative ease online.)
Asiago Cheese Biscuits: Already sounds delicious, right? Mini asiago cheese biscuits filled with thinly sliced prosciutto? Yes please.
Spiced Cashews: Blending sweetness, spice and salt, these warmed cashews are easy to make and easy to eat, too!
Pimento Cheese Bar: Perfect for those who want to avoid the oven, the pimento cheese dip just requires mixing cheese with mayonnaise, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. Dippables are a must – try crostinis, olives, crackers or fruit.
Skillet Spinach Artichoke Dip: Deliciously savory, spinach artichoke dip is a fun and easy-to-make dish for large groups. Consider bringing toast points or fresh bread to dip.
You can stay warm and cozy while enjoying some on-stage entertainment this month.
In Tulsa, the PAC beckons for offerings galore. First, enjoy American Theatre Company’s rendition of A Christmas Carol, running Dec. 6-12. Stick around for the Festival Bell Ringers, which offers a free performance on Dec. 11. Finally, Tulsa Ballet welcomes back the beloved Nutcracker, with engaging costumes, choreography, sets and live music by the Tulsa Symphony, from Dec. 8-22. Other Tulsa goodies include the Trans-Siberian Orchestra at the BOK Center on Dec. 6, as well as Signature Symphony’s Christmas in Tulsa, Dec. 13-14 at the TCC Van Trease PACE.
In OKC, the Civic Center Music Hall is the hub for all things festive. Start out with OKC Philharmonic’s A Very Merry Pops on Dec. 6-7, with special guests Tony DeSare and Ashley Brown. Next, Canterbury Voices brings Sing Now of Christmas on Dec. 8. Lastly, OKC Ballet offers The Nutcracker, created in partnership with Devon Energy and the Chickasaw Nation, from Dec. 14-23. Other must-sees in OKC include Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park’s Jane Austen’s Christmas Cracker, Dec. 5-22 at OK Shakes’ Blackbox Theatre; Deck the Halls featuring Red Steagall and the Boys in the Bunkhouse, Dec. 8 at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum; Lyric Theatre’s A Christmas Carol, running through Dec. 27 at Lyric at the Plaza; and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, visiting the Paycom Center on Dec. 30.
Around the state, enjoy A Celtic Christmas performance on Dec. 6 at Duncan’s Simmons Center, as well as Miami’s Coleman Theatre for a screening of It’s A Wonderful Life on Dec. 12. You can see The Oklahoma Nutcracker on Dec. 14-23 at Nancy O’Brien Center for the Performing Arts in Norman, or head to Pollard Theatre in Guthrie for A Territorial Christmas Carol, running through Dec. 22.
It’s no time to be a Scrooge – so make sure you venture to a community event this month to get into the holiday spirit.
In Tulsa, the brand new Nutcracker Festival kicks off Dec. 6-7 at Expo Square. Helmed by Tulsa Ballet, the event offers holiday-themed activities, food and drink, live presentations and performances. Winterfest, running through Jan. 6, can be enjoyed in downtown Tulsa with ice skating, ice slides, carriage rides, tasty treats and more. Can’t-miss light displays in T-Town include the Philbrook Festival through Dec. 29; the Tulsa Botanic Garden of Lights through Dec. 30; and the Rhema Christmas Lights, at Rhema Bible College, through Jan. 1. Non-holiday events include the Tulsa Dog Training Club Agility Trials, Dec. 6-8 at Expo Square, and the Tulsa Farm Show, Dec. 12-14, also at Expo Square.
In OKC, start feeling merry and bright at the Holiday Wine and Palette in the West event, Dec. 6 at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. There, you can sip on cocktails while creating a guided painted masterpiece with help from experts from A Good Space studio. Visit Scissortail Park on Dec. 29 to experience the OKC Community Chanukah Festival, led by the Chabad Community Center. Other must-visits include Earth Treefest, through Dec. 31 at the BancFirst Tower; the OKC Zoo Safari Lights display, through Through Jan. 1; Edmond Electric’s Luminance: An Enchanted Stroll, through Jan. 1 at Edmond’s Mitch Park; and the expansive Downtown in December event, running through Feb. 2 in downtown OKC with a slew of light displays, community gatherings, performances and free boat rides.
Around the state, you can enjoy a bevy of other Christmas programming, including the Kiddieland Express Holiday Experience, Dec. 6-7 at Kiddieland Park in Duncan; the Thompson House Victorian Christmas, Dec. 6-8 at the Thompson House in Tahlequah; the Minco Honey Festival, Dec. 7 at Minco High School; the Woolaroc Wonderland of Lights, through Dec. 22 at Bartlesville’s Woolaroc Museum and Wildlife Preserve; the Route 66 Christmas Chute, through Dec. 28 in downtown Sapulpa; and the Chickasha Festival of Light, through Dec. 31 at Chickasha’s Shannon Springs Park.
Photo caption: Downtown in December; photo courtesy the Downtown OKC Partnership
A Complete Unknown; photo courtesy Searchlight Pictures
The holidays are here! Ironically, I’ve got no festive films for the December list, but there are plenty of other great looking choices for the winter season. So grab a coat and head out to the theater – it’s time to see some movies!
First up, a slasher comedy film called Get Away. Starring Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead) and Aisling Bea (This Way Up), the plot follows a family vacation to a remote Swedish island. Things begin to go awry when the family finds out a serial killer is on the loose … gasp … on that very same remote Swedish island! The trailer depicts a bloody fun time with some great comedy to go with all that violence. It hits theaters on Dec. 6.
For your animated fix, check out The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim. Based on the popular J.R.R. Tolkien books made even more famous through Peter Jackson’s adaptations, this story looks back 183 years before those events with Frodo and the gang. Instead, the movie focuses on Helm Hammerhand (Brian Cox, Succession), a king who must defend his land from an invading army. Beautifully animated, the film draws from the appendices of The Lord of the Rings without involving Sauron or the One Ring, focusing on war and its effects in the land of Middle-Earth. We’ll see if it can add to the wonderful lore when it releases on Dec. 13.
If you want a historical drama, look into The Brutalist. Starring Adrian Brody (The Pianist) as an architect and Holocaust survivor, the film focuses on his move to the U.S. and his attempt to live the “American dream.” Critic reviews are positive, calling it a wonderful portrait of the immigrant experience. The film also stars Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything) and Guy Pearce (Memento), and will likely be a tearjerker when it releases on Dec. 20.
For a biopic about a titan of the music industry, take a look at A Complete Unknown. Starring Timeothee Chalamet as Bob Dylan, the plot follows the controversy surrounding his change from acoustic to electric, something that caused a huge divide within the folk music community. Directed by James Mangold (Ford v Ferrari), the film also stars Edward Norton, Elle Fanning (The Great) and Scoot McNairy (Speak No Evil), and looks to be beautifully shot and edited, with Chalamet looking the part to a T. Fun sidenote: I filmed a scene as a background pedestrian for this, so maybe you’ll catch me crossing the street when it releases on Dec. 25.
Lastly, a gothic horror film to really get into the holiday spirit! Titled Nosferatu, the film is a remake of the 1922 silent German expressionist movie of the same name, based on Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Much like the original, the 2024 movie concerns a vampire and his infatuation with a young woman, culminating in untold horror. Bill Skarsgard (It) stars as the vampire Count Orlok, with an ensemble cast including Nicholas Hoult (Renfield), Lily-Rose Depp (The Idol), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (The Fall Guy) and Willem Dafoe (Poor Things). Directed by Robert Eggers (The Northman), the movie looks to maintain his attempts at historical authenticity combined with absolutely stunning camerawork and set design. Here’s hoping it’s a perfectly spooky way to end the year when it creeps into theaters on Christmas Day.
Executive director and CEO of the Route 66 Alliance, Ken Busby has been heavily involved with Tulsa’s art and nonprofit scenes for decades. He previously served as executive director of the Arts and Humanities Council of Tulsa; the director of development for Tulsa Zoo Friends; and the director of communication for Gilcrease Museum. A Tulsa native and University of Tulsa alum, Busby also chaired the Tulsa Performing Arts Center Trust and the Arts Education Advisory Council of Americans for the Arts, alongside serving on the executive committees of the Tulsa Symphony and Workforce Tulsa. We caught up with Busby and got his thoughts on …
… the mission and objectives of the Route 66 Alliance.
The Route 66 Alliance, headquartered in Tulsa, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation founded in 2009 by Michael Wallis, the voice of “The Sheriff” in Disney/Pixar’s Cars. It is dedicated to the preservation, promotion and enhancement of historic Route 66 – past, present and future. The Alliance supports the efforts of organizations and people in each of the eight states through which Route 66 travels to preserve and promote historic sites, architecture, institutions, merchants and attractions that touch the lives of thousands of people from around the world who travel the 2,448-mile historic highway each year.
… what drew him to this job.
I have spent my career in nonprofits. Having established the Any Given Child arts education program at the Arts & Humanities Council of Tulsa and having overseen the design of, fundraising for and construction of the Hardesty Arts Center in the Tulsa Arts District, I was ready for my next adventure. Michael Wallis asked if I would be the executive director of his Route 66 nonprofit, and the timing was perfect.
… what he wants people to know about the Alliance.
As a small nonprofit with a large presence, it’s a lot of work managing the day-to-day operations. We have a dedicated board of directors, but even with a mission as engaging as it is, fundraising is always a challenge with so many needs in the community. Fortunately, we do have a very generous community. And we have incredible partners like VisitTulsa and the Tulsa Regional Chamber that have totally embraced Route 66 as a tourism and economic engine for Tulsa. That helps us do our work even more successfully.
… his proudest accomplishments to date.
Two in particular were at Gilcrease Museum and the Arts & Humanities Council of Tulsa. At Gilcrease, it was the Thomas Moran Exhibition in 1997 when I was communication director. We completed a major renovation of our special exhibition galleries to accommodate three large Thomas Moran paintings in particular: – “Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone,” “Chasm of the Colorado” and “Mountain of the Holy Cross.” These three paintings, originally conceived as a triptych, had never been displayed together on one wall as Moran had envisioned. We accomplished that in Tulsa – along with welcoming 149,414 visitors over the 13-week run of the exhibition. It was incredible!
My second favorite moment was the nine-year effort from concept, to design, to programming, to fundraising, to construction of what would become the Hardesty Arts Center in the Tulsa Arts District. Amazing board, staff, architects, construction team and donors made this an exhilarating effort that created an incredible facility that is fulfilling its original purpose today under the auspices of The University of Tulsa. 101 Archer is delivering on our vision and serving this community as originally intended.
… an average day on the job.
My day-to-day routine is never the same twice, which I love! This position allows me to work across the country to celebrate the most iconic road in America with a truly international appeal! Every day I’m meeting tourists, making connections, giving presentations and working closely with Lt. Governor Matt Pinnell, the best advocate our state has ever had, to showcase Route 66.
… Route 66’s centennial.
I serve on the Tulsa Route 66 Commission and the Oklahoma Route 66 Centennial Commission. Coordinating with these entities, the Route 66 Alliance is working on several Centennial projects, including the annual AAA Route 66 Road Fest and the closing festivities on November 11, 2026 – the actual 100th birthday of Route 66. I’m chairing this event where we will be honoring Veterans with a motorcycle rally, celebrating the key movers and shakers behind Route 66’s success and launching the next 100 years of the Mother Road!
… his love of T-Town.
It’s an honor to serve my community through my work and volunteer efforts. I love Tulsa! And I love sharing Tulsa with the world!
