Tuesday 21 May
OKG Newsletter
Louis Fowler
Mucho Gusto
Take it from our reviewer and online cooking-show star Hilah Johnson: Salvadoran fare is alive and well in OKC.
Restaurant Reviews
Louis Fowler
Pupuseria El Buen Gusto
2336 S.W. 29th
636-1399
What works: the pupusas, all for an unbelievable low price
What needs work: It’s cash only, so a card reader would be nice. Unless you speak Spanish, sometimes communication can be difficult.
Tips: three words — horchata, horchata, horchata
Freshly brewed community
In an effort to revitalize N.W. 39th Street, Beans and Leaves proves to be more than just a coffee shop.
Features
Louis Fowler
Once-beleaguered historic areas such as the Paseo and the Plaza District have evolved from mere Oklahoma City neighborhoods into centers of art, culture and community.
Lovely bones
Instead of taxidermy, one OKC company preserves dearly departed pets by cleaning and posing the doggone skeleton.
Features
Louis Fowler
While most people look at skulls and skeletons as symbols of death, Jay Villemarette, owner and president of Skulls Unlimited International, sees life.
Reverb brotherhood
Members of the metro music scene band together to pay tribute to one of its pioneers, the late Basile Kolliopoulos.
Music
Louis Fowler
Basile Benefit Bash with The True Believers, The Fortune Tellers, The Reverb Brothers, DJ Jon Mooneyham and more
9 p.m. Friday-Saturday
VZD’s Restaurant & Club
4200 N. Western
vzds.com
524-4203
$20 Friday, $10 Saturday
Here for the party
Embracing her outlaw image, Gretchen Wilson is still proud to be country’s original ‘Redneck Woman.’
Music
Louis Fowler
Gretchen Wilson with Outlaw Son
6 p.m. Thursday
Newcastle Casino
2457 U.S. 62, Newcastle
mynewcastlecasino.com
387-6013
free
Code 22 — Going Soft: The Acoustic Album!
Pop
Louis Fowler
The guys of Oklahoma City’s Code 22 seem like a likable group of fellas. Their latest release, Going Soft: The Acoustic Album!, is likable enough as well — so likable that on first listen, I took its clean, acoustic sound and clear, unstressed vocals as an alternative praise-and-worship band.
Tom Skinner — Tom Skinner
Country
Louis Fowler
Sincerity is nearly dead in songwriting. The image of the earnest singer with eyes tightly shut and a crack in his voice as he plunges to emotional depths has become a joke.
Big Worm — Bench All-Stars
Hip Hop/Rap
Louis Fowler
Fans of the comedy classic Friday may recognize the name Big Worm, but the Big Worm behind Bench All-Stars is rooted not in South Central L.A., but on the streets of Oklahoma City.
No reservations
A Warr Acres treasure has some of the best Indian tacos around.
Restaurant Reviews
Louis Fowler
Tim’s Drive Inn
5037 N. MacArthur Blvd., Warr Acres
789-5410
What works: Indian tacos, of course
What needs work: cash only, no debit or credit cards
Tips: Order one of their “special” Dr. Peppers.
To market
Metro farmers’ markets offer locally produced greens — and a party, to boot.
Food and Drink Features
Louis Fowler
Not to sound like a late-night infomercial, but how many times has this happened to you?
Better off Red
Grady’s 66 Pub devotes its stage to preserving Oklahoma’s Red Dirt roots, one band at a time.
Music
Louis Fowler
For almost two decades, Grady Cross was a member of Cross Canadian Ragweed, one of the most popular Red Dirt bands ever to cross the Red River. After years on the road and in the studio, he hung up his guitar to spend more time with his family in Yukon.
Sustainable learning
The SixTwelve project aims to turn community into a renewable resource.
Features
Louis Fowler
The large, dilapidated structure at N.W. 29th and N. Lee, in the heart of the Paseo, was only days away from demolition when it was rescued by Amy Young and James Varnum. In 2010, the pair bought the property, an eight-plex apartment in its former life, with the idea of turning it into a center of community living. Hence, they became the brains behind Project SixTwelve — a nonprofit named for the street address, 612 N.W. 29th, natch.
Sculpt fiction
Two renowned sculptors combine for one sharp exhibition at [Artspace] at Untitled.
Visual Arts
Louis Fowler
Don Reitz and Marko Kratohvil
through June 1
[Artspace] at Untitled
1 N.E. Third
artspaceatuntitled.org
815-9995
free
Spyda “the Wise Musician” — Mr. Metaphor
Hip Hop/Rap
Louis Fowler
Oklahoma City’s rap revolution continues with Mr. Metaphor from Spyda “the Wise Musician,” a self-proclaimed “worldwide producer” with a style that’s “more doper than rocks of crack.”
Core values
IAO’s annual erotic art show returns to get it on — thoughtfully — with the metro.
Visual Arts
Louis Fowler
Biting the Apple
7 p.m.-midnight Friday-Saturday
Individual Artists of Oklahoma
706 W. Sheridan
iaogallery.org
232-6060
$25
