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
To her dying day, my mother could not understand my love of John Steinbeck’s work — especially GRAPES OF WRATH, which was published on this day in 1939. No matter how much I tried to talk to her about the shabby nobility and innate goodness… Read More »THE GRAPES OF WRATH, Published April 14, 1939
I am a fan of not one but two movie people named Bert Gordon. One is the producer-director Bert I. Gordon, whose extensive motion-picture resume includes such monster-kid-era favorites as THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN, BEGINNING OF THE END, and TORMENTED. I once ran his fan… Read More »Bert Gordon, born April 8, 1895
As the TULSA WORLD’s country-music writer for 23 years (from 1983 through most of 2006), I was privileged to see and hear many of our great veteran artists. I remain convinced that today’s birthday boy Merle Haggard — dubbed, among other things, The Poet of the Common… Read More »Merle Haggard, born April 6, 1937
Today is the birthday of two of our greatest horror-fiction and pop-culture figures, Robert Bloch (b. 1917) and Roger Corman (b. 1926). Both wielded a huge influence on tens, maybe hundreds, of thousands of so-called monster kids, those fantasy-obsessed youngsters who came of age in… Read More »Robert Bloch and Roger Corman, born April 5
Today is the Christian faith’s Good Friday. This year, it’s also the birthday of Lawton, Oklahoma native Claude Russell Bridges, known to the world as Leon Russell. So, if you’re listening to Holy Week-appropriate music, I humbly suggest you mix in Leon’s “Roll Away the… Read More »Leon Russell, born April 2, 1942
MARCH 30 — On this date in 1999, Ed Galloway’s Totem Pole Park, a few miles east of Foyil, Oklahoma, was named to the National Register of Historic Places. I have a real affinity for that particular roadside attraction; growing up in Chelsea, about six miles… Read More »March 30, 1999, Ed Galloway’s Totem Pole Park Named to the National Register of Historic Places