For years now, I’ve tried to get the wonderful singer Janet Rutland to devote one of her cabaret shows to the music from one of my all-time-favorite TV shows, PETER GUNN. You may recall that the setting of this trailblazing private-eye program was a jazz… Read More »JUST ANNOUNCED: Janet Rutland and John Wooley celebrate Henry Mancini’s 100th birthday
For about a decade and a half, Jim Millaway, aka Sherman Oaks, aka Mr. Mystery, etc. was a powerful force in Tulsa TV and radio. And for just about all of that time, he and I were close friends. I remember Jim in my latest… Read More »A Farewell to Mr. Mystery – Tulsa legend Jim Millaway was involved in numerous Oklahoma-based entertainment offerings.
If horror movies are your thing, you might be interested in a new documentary I co-produced with Bryan Crain for RSU TV — just in time for Halloween. It’s called TULSA TERRORS, and it’s all about the made-for-home-video explosion and how that fuse was lit… Read More »Circle Cinema hosting the theatrical debut of TULSA TERRORS
As regular readers of this newsletter know, we just held an online contest to call attention to the special 40th anniversary edition of Old Fears, the horror novel co-author Ron Wolfe and I first saw published – in hardcover, by the New York-based Franklin Watts –… Read More »OLD FEARS CONTEST STORIES HEADED YOUR WAY
Anyone who has a nodding acquaintance with classic horror movies knows the name Lon Chaney Jr. He’s the only actor ever to portray the wolfman, Dracula, Frankenstein’s creation, and the mummy — Universal Studios’ four classic movie monsters. What’s not as well… Read More »OKLAHOMA’S HORROR SUPERSTAR
I’ve known Bob Wiles since the late ‘80s, when I first began writing about the band he co-founded, the trailblazing and enduring Red Dirt Rangers. Since those days, Wiles has been cutting his own path through Oklahoma’s music scene, with a band he originally thought… Read More »THE STORY OF COWBOY JONES
In the June issue of OKLAHOMA Magazine, I devote my column to one of my favorite Tulsa-based artists, the immensely talented and creatively ingenious composer and pianist, Barron Ryan. Whatever he turns his hand to never fails to intrigue, and that includes his current projects,… Read More »DEFYING EXPECTATIONS
James Robert Webb is a rare guy indeed. Not only does he own athriving Tulsa-based medical practice; he’s also an up-and-comingcountry singer-songwriter — known for, among other things, hiswestern-swing reimagining of the classic “Tulsa Time.”Webb and his juggling of two very different careers take center… Read More »THREE CHORDS AND THE TRUTH
Now here’s a fun couple for you: Eldon Shamblin and William Castle. As far as I know, the master of the horror-movie gimmick and one of the greatest guitarists who ever lived never met one another. However, they were both born on this day, two… Read More »Eldon Shamblin and William Castle, born April 24
Long before there were the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards, well in advance of the availability of old horror movies online, on DVDs, or even on VHS tapes, there were kids who could only dream about seeing the fright films and stars of a bygone… Read More »Rondo Hatton, born April 22, 1894