In the 1950s, segregation was everywhere on the United States map. In the underground dance clubs, however, the revolution in music and culture to come was stirring. For a young white radio DJ named Huey Calhoun, the world is about to change when he falls for both a new kind of music and Felicia, a beautiful black club singer. The birthplace of rock ‘n’ roll, Memphis, 2010 Tony Award winner for Best Musical, intersects with Tulsa and Oklahoma City this month on a high of soulful sounds and electrifying performances. The musical plays at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center Nov. 1-6 and at the OKC Civic Center Music Hall Nov. 8-13. Inspired by the story of a Memphis disc jockey, the late Dewey Phillips, and his efforts to integrate American music in the 1950s, showcases the sound of an era in upheaval for all its images of white suburbia and homemaker-in-pearls tidiness. www.myticketoffice.com
The Wayman Tisdale Story
Oklahoma native son Wayman Tisdale’s mercurial life will be remembered and celebrated this month with the release of the award-winning documentary The Wayman Tisdale Story on Nov. 22.
The Wayman Tisdale Story details the story of the former basketball star and jazz musician. Told through his own words, The Wayman Tisdale Story journeys through Tisdale’s life from this childhood as a preacher’s son to his battle with cancer – ultimately succumbing at just 44 years old. The documentary will be released on DVD and CD/DVD by Rendezvous Music/Mack Avenue.
While attending Booker T. Washington High School in Tulsa, Tisdale was one of the most highly touted high school basketball players in the country. He played basketball at the University of Oklahoma, where he was the first player in college basketball history to become a first team All-American in his freshman, sophomore and junior seasons. After winning the gold medal in the 1984 Olympic games, Tisdale entered the 1985 NBA draft. Over the next 12 years, Tisdale became an NBA star while playing for the Indiana Pacers, Sacramento Kings and Phoenix Suns. As his basketball career was ending, he turned his focus to his self-described “first love” with the release of his debut jazz album, Power Forward, followed by eight other eclectic jazz albums – four of which hit No. 1 on the jazz charts.
Rendezvous Music complements the telling of Wayman’s story with a soundtrack featuring 13 tracks, including the previously unreleased track, “Slam Dunk,” produced by Jeff Lorber, and “Cryin’ For Me,” which was written and performed as a tribute to Tisdale by Toby Keith. For information, visit www.thewaymantisdalestory.com.
Tulsa will play host to the world premiere of “The Wayman Tisdale Story” at 7:30pm on Saturday, October 29 at the Walter Arts Center at Holland Hall, located at 5666 East 81st Street. Doors open at 6:30pm. The event is free and open to the public.
Surf, Sand And Oklahoma
With its manic drum intro and wild wawahhhh-wawawawawawahhhhh chorus, Ronny and the Daytonas’ “G.T.O.” roared out of speakers like a jet-fueled dragster in that summer of ’64, the last great year for the distinctly American rock ‘n’ roll genre that came to be known as surf ‘n’ drag.
The template had been struck a couple of years earlier, when the first Capitol Records single by a new band called the Beach Boys featured a tune about surfing (“Surfin’ Safari”) on one side, and one about hot rodding (“409”) on the other. Before you could say “Surf’s up!” a whole passel of acts with names like the Rip Chords, the Hondells, the Surfaris and Jan & Dean were roaring up the charts with records about motorbikes and dragstrips and beautiful beach bunnies standing wistfully by the lonely sea, spreading the powerfully seductive image of a sun-drenched endless California summer all across the USA.
Here in Oklahoma, we may have been a good 1,400 miles away from that action, but we were by no means immune to its pull on our hearts and souls. After all, we could dream, couldn’t we?
Ronny and the Daytonas, who produced a classic tune in each of the surf ‘n’ drag categories (respectively, the lush, melancholic ballad “Sandy” and the raucous “G.T.O,”), were one of those West Coast bands that fired our imaginations – or so we thought. Actually, the boys in the band lived even farther from Southern California than we did.
Boy might be more accurate. And Oklahoma boy would be even more accurate still. While he was joined in the studio by fellow musicians like Buzz Cason, Bobby Russell and Bergen White – who would become well-known country-music figures – and on the road by many different players, high schooler John Buck Wilkin was the guy behind the whole thing. Ronny and the Daytonas started in a Nashville studio, but Wilkin came from Oklahoma, having been born in Cherokee and raised for the first 11 or so years of his life in Tulsa.
The family had relocated to Music City because John’s mother, Marijohn Wilkin, had become a successful country-music songwriter. (Her hits included “Long Black Veil,” “Waterloo,” and “P.T. 109”: later, she’d co-write the gospel standard, “One Day at A Time,” with protégé Kris Kristofferson.). In 1963, she started a publishing company with another well-known Nashville figure, musician and arranger Bill Justis.
“They met through a producer from the West Coast, Nick Venet,” remembers Wilkin. “He was a staffer at Capitol Records, a real young guy. He’s my all-time hero in the music business. He was kind of a cosmic, spiritual, big-brother connection to the West Coast sound.”
In fact, Venet will forever be known as the man who signed the Beach Boys to Capitol, kicking off the whole surf ‘n’ drag craze. He also produced their first two albums for the label. It was just one of the many things he did for Capitol Records, some of which would take him to Nashville.
“Nick would come down here and do some sessions, hire Bill as an arranger and hire me as a musician, when I was like 16 years old,” adds Wilkin with a chuckle. “So he gave me a very early break.”
So did Justis.
“Bill and my mom had just started the company, and he said, ‘Well, if you want to do some recording, write some songs, and we’ll see what we can do.’ So, basically, I didn’t have to go out and pay any dues,” says Wilkin. “A lot of guys play in bars for 20 years before they get a break. All I had to do was walk in the studio.”
Even if Venet hadn’t shown up in John Buck Wilkin’s life, the teen’s own songwriting and singing would’ve been heavily influenced by Southern California acts like the Beach Boys.
“Totally,” he says. “They were my heroes, and they were what was going on. They were the people I was listening to on the radio. They’d started around ’61, so they were already a big deal. I was late to the surfin’ scene. But then again, I was landlocked and removed from it,” he adds, chuckling again.
The first tune he wrote and recorded was called “Hey Little Girl.” Through Justis’ connections, he got it released on Mala Records, a small New York label that produced more than its share of hits.
“Bill said, ‘Well, we’ve got to have a group name,’” Wilkin recalls. “So I made up a list of about 20 names, and he liked Ronny and the Daytonas the best.”
After “Hey Little Girl” failed to make the charts, Justis took the youngster aside and said, “Write me a hit.” And Wilkin did – penning the verses for “G.T.O.” during his high school physics class after seeing a layout about the new, souped-up auto in Car and Driver magazine. The song shot into the upper reaches of Billboard magazine’s Top 40 charts in 1964, peaking at No. 4 and joining the Beach Boys’ “I Get Around,” Jan and Dean’s “Dead Man’s Curve,” and the Hondell’s “Little Honda” on the list of endless-summer songs that, at least for a while, countered the British invasion of rock ’n’ roll radio that the Beatles had begun a year earlier.
The band charted twice more in ’64 with tunes in the same genre, “California Bound” and “Bucket T.” and began touring. But since Ronny and the Daytonas weren’t really a group, notes Wilkin, the road band “was a different bunch of guys every time.”
“It was whoever I could get,” he adds. “If we were playing around the South, I’d try to get as many studio guys as I could – those who were willing to go out. We would rent a trailer and go to Alabama or Mississippi or Florida. If it was Texas, we’d fly. But we didn’t tour all that much and I always lost money on the road, so it never was great.”
Except, he says, for the work he did with the USO. “You didn’t really get paid anything, but it was a chance to travel, and they treated you nice.”
It was during one of those tours that he cut most of the second Ronny and the Daytonas album, Sandy. The title track had already been recorded in Nashville – “pretty much by me alone, on two two-track Ampex quarter-inch reel-to-reel machines,” he says.
“We had been doing a USO tour in Germany, and Justis called from Nashville and said the label wanted an LP right away,” Wilkin recalls. “Justis came to Munich, where he had recorded before, so he knew the studios, where to eat, what to eat. We spent two weeks in the dead of winter in Munich, and that’s where the lush sound originated. The orchestra players were from the Munich Symphony, and worked all day for what the lesser Nashville string players would get for one three-hour session.”
Even though “Sandy” was the only track from the disc that charted, the Sandy album is a beautifully bittersweet set of songs that sounds, now, well ahead of its time. It proved to be the final LP for Ronny and the Daytonas, although Wilkin continued to work in the music business, and still does.
He also remains quite proud of that disc.
“I was trying to do something good, and I think there are some unique qualities about it,” he says. “I really don’t think you can say it sounds like anybody else you’ve ever heard.”
What Lies Beneath
Kent Buehler is not afraid to get his hands dirty. As an archeologist, he’s searched for information about ancient cultures, but that’s not all he’s digging for these days.
Buehler and his Crime Scene Archaeology Recovery Group are lending their expertise to law officers as they assist in uncovering human remains at crime scenes. That work has taken them all over the state and involves everything from excavating scattered surface skeletal remains to bodies buried under hundreds of pounds of concrete.
“If you think about excavating a buried body, who has more experience in doing that than archeologists?” Buehler asks.
While the work is always challenging and often unpleasant and time consuming, Buehler says it’s a job that needs to be done.
“We do it because there is a need for it,” Buehler says. “It can make a difference in the outcome of a criminal case. And if nothing else, it helps to recover the remains of a loved one who, in some cases, may have been missing many, many years. And it’s a good feeling to help with that, and it’s a good feeling to help put a bad guy away.”
The group, which began working cases a few years ago, also includes Dr. Heather Ketchum, a forensic entomologist, Angela Berg, an anthropologist with a medical examiner’s office and graduate student at OU, as well as other anthropology students.
Buehler says the group has developed a strong relationship with law enforcement across the state, but believes many still are not familiar with their services.
“There is a need for this kind of work and it’s something that law enforcement is just not exposed to, nor do they have the expertise and the knowledge to deal with this,” Buehler says.
While helping on crime scenes is something new for Buehler and his team, forensic science is not. In the late 1970s, the Oklahoma Archaeological Survey at the University of Oklahoma became among the first in the country to delve into the subject, when they introduced courses in crime scene archeology.
The department primarily worked with the Oklahoma City Police Department, teaching law officers the principles and techniques of forensic archeology. Buehler joined the staff in 1987 and was later chosen to head the program in 1996.
After a brief hiatus, the program was reintroduced a few years ago. During the few short years the group has been around, they have helped with cases across the state. The majority have been in the Oklahoma City and Tulsa metro areas, but the group assists rural police departments as well.
Buehler says the average case involves about two-and-a-half workdays, but they have spent as many as 21 days on a single case.
“During that case we were looking for a grave over a large area with nothing to indicate where it was,” he says. “We tried ground penetrating radar and ultimately we did not find anything.”
Each crime scene presents a different set of challenges for Buehler and his team, but it is not all that different from an archeological dig.
“We use some high-tech equipment like remote sensing tools, but there can be a lot of physical labor when we do hand excavation,” Buehler says. “You need to be flexible and figure out what techniques will work best. Sometimes we’re looking for a grave in large area and do not have any information about where it might be.”
When he’s not fighting crime, Buehler works at the Oklahoma Archeological Survey, where he manages the lab, conducts research, teaches and works with the State Historic Preservation and Oklahoma Historical Society to preserve and protect cultural resources within the state.
Lunch Lady Land
Soy patties. Cardboard pizza squares. Unidentifiable casseroles. The phrase “school lunch” conjures up a host of unappetizing images for many people. But the nutrition teams at the public school systems in Oklahoma City and Tulsa are changing all of that. In an age when childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes are on the rise, some children are finding the fare at their schools is more nutritious and tasty than what may be served at home.
Steve Gallagher, director of Child Nutrition Services at Oklahoma City Public Schools, is excited about the changes his district recently has implemented.
“One of our most exciting programs is the Fresh Fruit and Vegetables Program at the elementary schools,” Gallagher says. “This is a program that allows us to deliver fresh fruits and vegetables to all elementary classrooms every day through the Fresh Fruit and Vegetables grant. Our goal is to expose our students to a variety of items that they may not usually have a chance to taste and enjoy.
“Ultimately, we feel this will help create better eating habits for life,” he adds.
According to Gallagher, the program equates to $1 million worth of fresh fruits and vegetables being consumed by Oklahoma City students every year.
Among other initiatives underway is participation in the Farm to School Program, which brings locally grown products to cafeteria tables, and the Made In Oklahoma program, showcasing local products once per month.
Mikael Harp, executive chef for Tulsa Public Schools Child Nutrition Services, is also on a mission to revolutionize the way his students eat lunch. Like OKCPS, Tulsa Schools participate in the Farm to School and the Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Program.
In addition, Harp says, “Our menus have been adjusted to incorporate a greater percentage of fresh fruits and vegetables. Sandwich bread, rice and the majority of breaded products are of the whole grain variety. Plant-based (vegetarian) items are offered every day, and legumes are offered at least once a week.
“The menu change also incorporates more scratch cooking and less processed food product usage,” Harp continues. “We have developed training for our staff and expanded communications to our schools, parents and community. The students are in a learning environment in the cafeteria, and we have to encourage them to broaden their experiences with food. Our department is working diligently to balance menu items that are familiar, inspirational, nutritious and fun.”
René Norman, a registered dietician with Nutrition Consultants of Tulsa, fervently applauds the efforts of Oklahoma’s public school systems to bring a healthy lifestyle into the cafeteria, especially during a time of tight funding. According to her, the menus of both school districts “are in good shape, nutritionally speaking.”
Fresh Music
My Brightest Diamond, All Things Will Unwind
You may be familiar with Shara Worden, best known as My Brightest Diamond, for her recent collaborations with a range of indie music heavyweights; she’s contributed her haunting vocals and astounding range to works by The Decemberists, Sufjan Stevens and David Byrne. The classically trained musician honed her skills down the turnpike at the University of North Texas in Denton, and she effortlessly combines opera, cabaret, chamber music, rock, punk, electronica and a little bit of everything to create something all her own. Her third studio album is a collaboration with the famed yMusic chamber ensemble.
Ryan Adams, Ashes & Fire
Alt-country dreamboy, Ryan Adams is a quite a prolific guy. Ashes & Fire marks his 13th studio album since bursting onto the scene with his 2000 debut Heartbreaker. He’s also found time to produce for Willie Nelson and for countless collaborations with musicians from Counting Crows to Toots & the Maytals – not to mention his 2009 marriage to Mandy Moore. His latest '60s folk-tinged effort features tracks with Norah Jones.
Coldplay, Mylo Xyloto
With four albums under their belts, Coldplay is by all accounts one of the world’s most successful bands with more than 50 million records sold and a bevy of awards. The band’s last album, Viva La Vida, debuted at number one and sold millions, yet didn’t seem to be as well crafted as previous efforts. According to early reviews, Mylo Xyloto is more reminiscent of the songwriting found on the band’s breakthrough X&Y.
Vince Gill, Guitar Slinger
Norman, Okla. native, Vince Gill, has always done things his own way. He may not get tons of radio play anymore, but he’s still one of the biggest names in country music. And as his last album, the 2006 Grammy-winning four-disc opus, These Days, shows he’s still a master of his craft. As the name suggests, Gill’s latest effort indulges the guitar and includes everything from dark, moody to bright and cheery tracks. It also features his wife Amy Grant and his daughters Jenny, Sarah and Corrina.
Drinking Buddies
Wine clubs come in as many varieties as vino itself, even in a state with arcane laws restricting both mail-order wine-of-the-month clubs and the availability of wines that are everyday in most of the world. Still, clubs of all sorts are great ways to try and to learn about wine and to share with others.
Oklahoma City’s Paseo Grill has launched a special program for wine lovers. With Vintages, guests can purchase fine wines at the best prices available in the market and store their selections in a newly built, 2,220-bottle wine cellar. Their wine steward is available to confer with guests about which wines to purchase. 405.601.1079.
Vintner’s Cellars VC Wine Club offers members fine wines made in Oklahoma from grapes imported from all around the world. Every two months, members receive two bottles of wine selected by their vintner, complete with notes and suggested food pairings. 405.359.9463.
Tulsa Hills Wine Cellar is free to customers with some interesting benefits in addition to discounts, advance notice of special releases and access to invitation-only tastings and events. Members gain access to a website that enables them to see what they’ve purchased from Tulsa Hills Wine Cellar, add their own tasting notes and rank their purchases. 918.445.8804.
Trula
Walk into the lobby of the Mayo Hotel and you’re surrounded by the opulence of a bygone era. Now the Mayo has food worthy of a hotel where presidents, tycoons and movie stars once rubbed shoulders. It’s served in a more casual setting just off the main lobby, a two-tier eclectic jumble of Art Deco molding, postmodern metal pipes and beams, and chairs adorned with frescoes of Prohibition-era flappers. Chef Jeff Meldrum, who spent eight years cooking at Southern Hills Country Club, has designed a menu of elegant, classic dishes that would have been acclaimed by the gilded long-gone elite that patronized the Mayo in its glory days. Sole Marguery, invented in Paris around 1890 and a favorite of gilded-era gourmand Diamond Jim Brady, features filet of sole adorned with crab, lobster, mushrooms, and a rich, bubbling French hollandaise. There are modern, cutting-edge entrees, too. A coffee-crusted filet mignon is topped with wilted shallots and a chipotle demi-glace. For those craving a lighter meal, small plates such as beef Carpaccio and oysters Acapulco round out the menu. 115 W. 5th St., Tulsa. www.themayohotel.com
Kansas City, Here We Come
Arriving early on a Friday evening permits the opportunity to check into your hotel and not have to miss an evening in cultural and cosmopolitan Kansas City, Mo. First you’ll want to experience the culinary king of KC, barbecue. Try the third-generation-perfected barbecue at Gates Bar-B-Q or the Zagat-praised Fiorella’s Jack Stack Barbecue. Feel free to indulge, because you can work off some of dinner’s calories at some of the highest energy nightlife venues in the city afterward. Dance at Marquee in downtown’s Power & Light District or enjoy a classic cocktail at the deliciously old-school speak-easy-inspired Manifesto in the Crossroads District. Czar Bar on Grand Boulevard downtown features live music and DJs in an environment both intimate and energetic. If your nocturnal travels take you to Westport late, check out the wine flights and eclectic menu at Firefly Lounge.
Grab breakfast Saturday morning at your hotel or enjoy the relaxed atmosphere at Happy Gillis or the equally friendly Cook Shack Café. You’ll need your strength for the day’s whirlwind tour of the city. Strategically map out the best route to visit Kansas City’s most colorful sites, such as the Jesse James Farm & Museum, Arabia Steamboat Museum, National Frontier Trails Center and Fort Osage National Historic Landmark. For high culture, the American Jazz Museum is a must-see, and you will want to stroll the Crossroads Arts District to get a look into the vibrant art heart of KC. Don’t miss The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art and the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art. For an indulgent Saturday night dinner, pull yourself away from iconic barbecue and instead consider The American Restaurant, Kansas City’s only Mobil Four-Star Restaurant, or the acclaimed Progressive American culinary stylings at Bluestern. Your must-see evening jazz crawl should include visits to The Blue Room and The Phoenix Jazz Club. Definitely end up at midnight at the Mutual Musicians Foundation for the historic venue’s weekend “The 12 O’clock Jump” live radio program and general bacchanalia.
Sunday morning after breakfast, see the sites you missed on Saturday, plus the new handsome Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, and check and see if any of the numerous annual festivals are underway. Otherwise wind down your visit with shopping at the City Market or Country Club Plaza, lunch and a farewell to KC.
Stay In Style
Kansas City has a broad range of accommodation types, including these options.
The Raphael Hotel is conveniently located in the Plaza district and renowned for quality of service and simple elegance. www.raphaelkc.com
The Hyatt Regency Crown Center is a traditional full-service hotel catering to conference guests, so it’s also buoyed by excellent staff, an impressive array of services and amenities and immaculate rooms. Grab an upper floor room for a terrific city view. http://crowncenter.hyatt.com
Q Hotel & Spa is Kansas City’s inclusive “green” hotel located in the heart of the city and complete with free amenities such as parking, wi-fi, yoga, breakfast, evening drinks and shuttle service to area attractions. Affordable accommodations range from clean and simple to the stellar Special Occasion Suite. www.theqhotel.com
At A Glance
Kansas City has been dubbed “Paris of the Plains” as well as the “City of Fountains” for its 200-plus fountains located around the city. Situated opposite of Kansas City, Kan., the surprisingly cosmopolitan city is well-known for its contributions to the musical styles of jazz and blues as well as to cuisine (Kansas City-style barbecue).
Access: Although just a few hours easy drive from most of Oklahoma, Kansas City is also served by most major American carriers via Kansas City International Airport.
Population: Approx. 460,000
Climate: Located not far from the middle of the country and sitting at the confluence of the Missouri River and Kansas River, Kansas City’s weather is entirely seasonal with its most extreme weather at the height of summer and winter.
Main Attraction: Arts and culture abound in the Paris of the Plains, including a new performing arts theater, numerous art and history museums and music venues that conjure the original jazz era. Nightlife and dining resemble those of larger, cosmopolitan cities back east.
Hot Picks
Shop: For more than 150 years, KC’s City Market has linked local growers and small businesses to city residents. Consider a weekend morning visit for a vibrant farmers market, but there are also numerous fulltime vendors.
Eat: The Golden Ox (www.goldenox.com) is Kansas City’s most famous steakhouse and conjures memories of when KC was home to the second largest stockyards in the country (after Chicago).
Fest: Beginning in September and running for almost three months, American Royal is an annual celebration originally inspired by agriculture but now encompassing everything from a launch parade to equestrian events, shows, balls and special events that accentuate KC and Great Plains life and history.
Visit Online
www.visitkc.com
Sports: Oklahoma City Barons Hockey
It’s been a year since the Barons debuted as Oklahoma City’s official hockey team, and the American Hockey League affiliate of the Edmonton Oilers. Some might guess that the hard part – the first season – is over. When you consider the expectations built up over the course of a year, fans gained and the team’s status as a top development league for players rising in the sports ranks, the Barons have a challenging season ahead. When it comes down to it, the object of the sport from the Barons’ point of view is as much about continuing the momentum as it is scoring on the ice. The team opens its 2011-12 season on the road with an Oct. 9 game against the Texas Stars. Be prepared when the Barons bring it home Oct. 15 to the Cox Convention Center to play the Stars once again. Also look for some hometown action on Oct. 16 with the Houston Aeros. For a look at the season schedule and other information, go to www.okcbarons.com.
