For decades, all kinds of technologies have promised to replace the vinyl record, but those perfectly round black discs are a lot like the resilient cockroach, an under-estimated creature that breezed through the ice age and ultimately outlasted its supposedly fiercer competitors. Indeed, vinyl has triumphed over every bright, shiny, new technology that has tried [...]
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Bavinger House is History
After months of concerned speculation, crazy rumors, and crossed fingers that all couldn’t be as bad as it seemed, it appears that, sadly, the worst fears are true. The Bavinger House is history. Bruce Goff’s most spectacular architectural creation was severely damaged last spring, whether due to storms or to the owner following through [...]
Rolling Deep: Deep Deuce Music Festival
The newly gentrified Deep Deuce neighborhood, streets once walked by Charlie Christian (the first electric guitarist of note), Ralph Ellison (author of Invisible Man, one of the greatest American novels), and Count Basie (who needs no introduction), among others, paid tribute to it’s musical and cultural history Saturday with a music festival. Photographer Lynne [...]
Saturday in the Park
Formerly a ghost town except during the annual Festival of the Arts, the new and vastly improved Myriad Gardens recently received a $30 million makeover as part of the $180 million Project 180 plan for downtown. Included in the renovation of the 17-acre park is a repaneled Crystal Bridge (with LED-lighted glass panels to illuminate [...]
Masterpiece in Peril: Bruce Goff’s Bavinger House
In a state with a great abundance of unique and diverse architectural treasures, the other-worldly Bavinger House in Norman is considered by many to be Oklahoma’s — and even the nation’s — finest example of organic Modernism. And now, sadly, it may be lost forever. But, more about that in a bit. Let’s [...]
Diving OKC
(Editor’s Note- this is the first in a series of articles about and reviews of local dive bars) I’ve always loved a good dive bar, and when I say dive bar, I’m not talking about your local sports hangout or the upscale gathering spot on “Cheers.” I’m talking about a down and dirty place that [...]
Thank you for being a Friend: Friends of the Library Booksale
It’s all well and good to say you’re a friend of the library; you can go to the library from time to time, check out a book, read some journal articles, watch a puppet show, grab a nap…but when it comes down to it, what have YOU done for the Library lately? The library [...]
My Holiday with Nick Hornby
Every year, our family escapes the normally drab, gray Oklahoma winter for several days of waist-high snow and skiing in Colorado, but this year, the snow we left was almost as high as the snow that greets us upon our arrival in Aspen. However, I feel somewhat consoled by the fact that we no longer [...]
City of the Future: St. Patrick’s Catholic Church
I first became aware — well, REALLY aware, I should say — of St. Patrick’s Catholic Church a few years ago when my friend David and I, for seemingly the millionth time, found ourselves discussing local mid-century architecture. (If you’re thinking that we’re a couple of geeks to spend our time on such topics, [...]
Bruce Goff – Human Architect or Pan-Dimensional Alien Genius?
A new exhibit celebrating Oklahoma’s most famous architect, Bruce Goff, and his work opened last weekend at the Fred Jones, Jr. Museum of Art on the OU campus in Norman. The exhibit is rather lamely titled, “Bruce Goff: A Creative Mind.”
