10th Annual deadCENTER Film Festival downtown

The pictures are worth a thousand words, even though I still have to preface these with mentioning the limitations of a crappy camera when the sun goes down. It was difficult to convey an en entire block full of people shoulder to shoulder.

And after tonight and running into so many old friends and seeing so many trendy people pack Broadway and revel in the story of Mat Hoffman..it was truly a celebration of Okies who honor Oklahoma by dreaming big and defying normative standards and stereotypes. I can't say it enough. There is just something cool and special that you can only get from being a part of the beginning of something. It's just that "well-kept secret" that makes Oklahoma's massive hip scene so unique. A lot of outsiders have commented on it, how here in this "new city" that nobody really hears or thinks about we've got all these quirky people and great bands and people that just hit it big.

Those of us who are a part of OKC's urban renaissance and the massive growth in local culture are part of something that is brand new and has the sense that we have already stumbled across something very big. And it will continue to get bigger. Is OKC the next "Austin"? No of course not, OKC is just the next..OKC. That will mean something soon, and it already does in a very real way to us.

Facts:
-10th year for the festival
-Will run 5 days, from June 9th to June 13th
-7 locations include the OKCMOA, IAO Gallery, Untitled Artspace, Kerr Auditorium, Norick Library, and outdoor locations.
-Attendance is expected to exceed 10,000 (after "The Birth of Big Air" tonight on Broadway, they're already well on their way.
-There will be over 100 movie screenings
-There will be 12 official deadCENTER party events as well]
-All-access pass is $125, all-screenings pass is $75, and individual screenings are $10
-Supporting this goes a LONG ways toward support the emergency of local culture and identity as well as a great event.

Before the Mat Hoffman and Spike Jonze took the stage to introduce the film at the beginning of the screening, there was actually a short-lived, albeit sweet, chant of "OKC! OKC! OKC!" OKC? Yeah. Like I said..I really feel like being here in OKC right now, we are on the verge of something big.

Bad Egg Restaurant Group

This post has been deleted. Keith Paul contacted me, the offending server has been dealt with, and everything is good--and I am back to support Good Egg restaurants, just not the Norman Iron Starr.

It pained me to recommend people avoid their restaurants, not just because of the impeccable attention they pay to their appearance as well as food, but also because of their genuine community support. I gain nothing in blaspheming them, so I just want to get rid of this post now that the situation is fixed.

-Nick

What a great state

Just got back from a trip up and down Route 66 from OKC to Tulsa and back, although I must confess, I cheated and took the new highway back. I just wanted to make a comment about what a special, one-of-a-kind place Oklahoma really is. I realize how negative and controversial I sometimes come off, and I don't mean to sound so pessimistic, it's just one of those things where if everything's alright then nothing needs to be said. This blog is about urban change, and I say if it aint broke, don't fix it.

Another thing I constantly strive to find in Oklahoma is uniqueness, and it's not hard to find. We all love to support local establishments. In the last three days or so I have been spending my time at the UCO Jazz Lab, the Paseo Arts Festival, getting my kicks on Route 66 (passing dozens of vineyards), and exploring the Philbrook collections, and grounds. And don't forget coffee and then dinner on Brookside. And yeah, Pops is absolutely awesome.

Name me one small state where summer means such a complex wellspring of arts, music, cuisine, and more.

Friday Night on the Plaza

I am now officially in love with the Plaza District. Imagine a piece of OKC that 5 years ago was NOTHING and today is lined with trendy LOCAL shops, coffee shops, countless art galleries...and far more importantly, PACKED with people. Yes--imagine a neighborhood in OKC that is truly built around pedestrians that go from shop to shop, from gallery to gallery, from cafe to cafe, enjoying the sights and sounds, people watching, and especially enjoying the live music scene.

Virtually every shop has a stage area in the back for a concert, the coffee shops, galleries, even the Velvet Monkey salon also feature live music on Friday nights. People who couldn't book a stage just take their guitar to the sidewalk and serenade their friends outdoors.

The area also has a special Okie identity that separates it not just from other urban districts elsewhere but also from OKC's own urban districts. Because all of the shops are local, many of them sell shirts and stuff that feature edgy Native American depictions, many incorporate the OKC skyline, and so on. And who would have thought a designer could do that and make very cool clothing at the same time? The reality is that most of it is far cheaper than what you would pay for as good a shirt at the mall--the locally-designed tees in the Plaza's shops are only $15/$20.

I think when it comes to solving OKC's identity issues, the Plaza District shops have the answer. This place is on to something. I also think that there is something priceless about a neighborhood with so much character. You can not people watch like this anywhere else in OKC, not even Bricktown--not for lack of people in Bricktown in the evening, just for lack of interesting people, really. There is infinitely more value in what's happening in the Plaza District than anything else going on in OKC--I really just can't rave about it enough.

BUT I would be forlorn if I didn't make the two most important points about the significance of the Plaza's rise:

1. It all happened with a community block development grant in which the community actually raised the money for the streetscape project first and got a funding match from the City of OKC. Did Bricktown ever take the initiative on its own to find funding for the canal and ballpark? Did downtown ever do that for the convention centers and Ford Center and so on? Of course not--primarily because they don't have to, being at the center of the city. The Plaza, being off-center and waaay off the radar, had to come up with a vision for this all on its own, and I doubt any of it would have ever happened without the presence of the Lyric Theater.

2. Look at the economy and all of the projects that have stalled and all of the momentum that's been lost in areas like Bricktown and Deep Deuce. "The economy" mantra has grown so old to me that I've been forcing people to look at all of the development in Tulsa, BUT instead of Tulsa, just look at all of the development going on in the Plaza. Hopefully that will be "OKC enough" for the Tulsa-haters. Jeff Struble and others have, in the middle of a recession that has crippled development everywhere else in OKC except NW 9th and Broadway, spurred a tremendous revitalization and landed OKC with a major asset in my opinion: a local culture. Perhaps there's something to be said here about the ability of local culture and local establishments to withstand and weather a recession much better than the big national chains who rely on financing schemes and fuzzy national economic trends.

Without much further ado, here's some bad pictures taken on my phone (I'm not going to go all heavy-duty photog when I'm hanging out with my friends):




















Where's Waldo: Whoever finds first the local celebrity whose back is in one of these pictures.

Shoppe Crawl in the Plaza District

This looks cool: Plaza District's Alliope Shoppe Crawl. I have no idea on earth what "Alliope" is but I know what "crawl" is and how it's done and it sounds cool and so I think I will be there. Maybe I'll even find out what "Alliope" means, so I will have learned something too.

It is tomorrow evening. The Plaza District is always a good time every 2nd Friday of the month.


THIS Friday May 14th 7-11 PM
NW 16th between Indiana & Blackwelder

Quick Peek for LIVE on the Plaza April
Outdoor: Outdoor Arts Market and POPS 66 Truck for soda and food
Velvet Monkey Salon: Artwork by Lindsay Martin and Micheal T. Bane
Collected Thread: Welcoming Spring with new fashions by Nora Ivy
DNA Galleries: Artwork by Dylan and Amanda Bradway
Shop Good: Sugar Free Allstars CD Release (6pm Kids Show, 9pm Grown Up Show), Art by Julie Robertson
Bad Granny’s Bazaar: 10% off everything in store with Shoppe Crawl Damages and Dire Wolf live music 8 pm
Curious and Curiouser: Open House
JuJu Gallery: Open house, Shoppe Crawl discounts
Midwest Media: @1614: artist Ryan Cunningham
Chaparney: Open house
No Regrets Tattoo: $40 Thunder Tattoos
Warpaint Clothing: New spring fashions
Paula & Co Realtors: Karaoke Cookout

Me and friends were planning on going to the Plaza District tonight for live music anyway. Not sure if the Shoppe Crawl is worth doing too, but if it looks good, I think I'll partake as well. I've heard rave reviews of the Plaza District scene and can't wait to see it for myself, since I've been away for so long.

Keep Austin, what?

You've all heard of Keep Austin Weird. I even own a t-shirt. But now from Austin's conservative suburbs, comes this. Make Austin Normal and Keep Austin Corporate. It's hard not to understand the point of Make Austin Normal, explained as: "Let's see, do I want 30% off a best selling book at Barnes and Noble or do I want to pay full price at Book People? Dude, chain stores rule."

I love Barnes & Noble. I love Full Circle Bookstore even more.