Maybe you’ve asked yourself why, of all the great music acts to come out of Oklahoma, Leon Russell seems to be the one who still inspires the most intense emotion. When I asked myself that question, I came up with my latest OKLAHOMA Magazine column, which you can find HERE.
It was somewhere around 15 years ago that my longtime chum Robert A. Brown started sending me letters, usually a page or so long, written with a manual typewriter on authentic 1930s air-mail stationery — and sent with real old air-mail stamps. Something like this might have been surprising coming from anyone else in my… Read More »THE CLEANSING: BOOK I
The first time I interviewed bassist Dean DeMerritt, following his return to Tulsa from Atlanta four years ago, he told me he’d read and enjoyed GHOST BAND, my spook novel set in the world of touring musicians. Of course, that made me happy, but I guess it was kind of logical, since Dean spent a… Read More »Coming Full Circle
The first of the Red Dirt acts to crack the national charts, Stillwater’s Great Divide has persevered for a quarter of a century. Read their story in my latest OKLAHOMA Magazine column, HERE.
Tulsa’s Caravan Swing Band may have been the best unrecorded band in the history of western-swing music, with ex-Texas Playboys like Glenn “Blub” Rhees. Tommy Perkins, and the incomparable Eldon Shamblin on its roster. In fact, however, it was informally recorded at least once, in 1981, on reel-to-reel tapes during a live show. Now, producers… Read More »More Than the Wills Boys
Like Dr. Frankenstein, Claremore’s Craig Lamb has dug up old parts and stitched them together into something very creepy. Instead of a monster, however, he’s created a new monster Movie. You can read about Craig and his film, Dracula’s Ghost, in my latest Oklahoma Magazine column, found HERE.
For decades, the late Bill Davis symbolized Tulsa’s rock ’n’ roll music scene as few others have ever done. I’ve devoted my September OKLAHOMA Magazine column to Bill. You can find it HERE.
Three veterans of Tulsa’s original punk-music scene have created a brand-new documentary that’s already won a major international award. OIL CAPITAL UNDERGROUND is the subject of my latest OKLAHOMA Magazine column, and you can read all about it HERE.
Because of production deadlines, my story for OKLAHOMA Magazine was written before Jimmy’s house fire, and also before we could get in news of the big benefit being held for him at the Cain’s Ballroom on Saturday, July 14th. Those scheduled to appear include Gary Busey, Don Nix, and Ann Bell, as well as a full… Read More »Ending a String of Bad Luck
Working with the skilled photographer Sam Joyner, my good friend and great editor and writer Suzanne Wallis has just produced ART DECO TULSA, an ode to Tulsa’s Art Deco buildings and the people who made them. Read all about it HERE.