David Morris: Great Video on Skinny Slims!
So a few months ago I did some video interviews on then newly opened Skinny Slims in Bricktown. And then, I lost the video. David Morris ultimately came to the rescue and did a superb video on what Skinny Slims represents – a continued closing of the gap between Deep Deuce and Bricktown and much more.
Don’t just watch this to learn about a great new bar opening in a cool old building. Watch this to understand how the downtown community is coming of age, and see for yourselves why pedestrian access between Bricktown and Deep Deuce is so important.
Tornado outbreak of May 20, information according to the National Weather Service, Norman Forecast Office
The Tornado Outbreak of May 20, 2013
Note: The NWS survey conducted by several teams on May 21, 2013 has now rated the Newcastle-Moore tornado as EF-5. The damage survey teams have also determined that the tornado began 4.4 miles west of Newcastle and ended 4.8 miles east of Moore, yielding an approximate tornado path length of 17 miles. The preliminary maximum damage path width is 1.3 miles. Crews will continue to sort through damage for a final intensity rating.
In addition, another tornado occurred in Stephens County near Duncan, OK and traveled along a 6-mile path from 7 miles south-southeast of Marlow, OK to 3 miles west of Bray, OK.
Below is a map with the preliminary damage path of the Newcastle-Moore-South OKC tornado.
Fast Facts
- A rating of EF-5 has been given to the tornado that affected the Newcastle, south OKC, and Moore areas in McClain and Cleveland Counties.
- The tornado had.a path length of approximately 17 miles and was on the ground for approximately 40 minutes from 2:56 PM – 3.35 PM CDT.
- The preliminary maximum path width is 1.3 miles
- SOURCE: National Weather Service, Norman Forecast Office
Tornado outbreak of May 19, weather synopsis, according to the National Weather Service, Norman
The Tornado Outbreak of May 19, 2013
Synopsis
On Sunday, May 19th, with an upper level low approaching off the Colorado Front Range through the Panhandles a fairly stout dry line began to surge eastward off the Texas Cap Rock and Panhandle reaching as far east as El Reno, OK. With deep layer moisture and more than favoriable wind fields across central Oklahoma, supercell storms quickly developed along the dry line, primarily along the Interstate 44 corridor, and moved quickly to the east/northeast. As these storms gained intensity, many became tornadic in nature, with tornadoes impacting Edmond, Arcadia, Luther and Carney, Lake Thunderbird (eastern Norman) and Shawnee, and two near the town of Prague. The most intense tornado occured within the city of Shawnee, where EF-4 damage was found as the tornado traveled north of the city before crossing I-40.
SOURCE: National Weather Service, Norman Forecast Office
Oklahoma quarterback Blake Bell believes he’s ready to command the full offense
Blake Bell appeared at the Sooner Caravan event in Wichita, Kan., on Wednesday. AP PHOTO
WICHITA, Kan. — Oklahoma junior quarterback Blake Bell returned home for Wednesday’s Sooner Caravan event at the Hyatt Regency.
Bell, who played high school football at Wichita’s Bishop Carroll High, is currently battling sophomore Kendal Thompson and redshirt freshman Trevor Knight to be the Sooners’ signal caller in 2013.
He joined senior tight end Brannon Green — another Kansas native — and coach Bob Stoops as the football team’s representatives Wednesday night.
Bell has rushed for 24 touchdowns over the past two seasons out of the “Belldozer” package, in which he’d enter the game for starter Landry Jones, take a shotgun shap and plow ahead for short-yardage gains and goal-line touchdowns.
“Following Landry, he did a great job commanding the offense, but I think I’m right there,” Bell told reporters before the event began. “I’ve got to get better this summer and things of that nature. But by the season, hopefully a lot of us are ready to go.”
Bell said he hopes his running skills — combined with the passing ability no one has seen in a collegiate game situation — will make OU’s offense better.
“Obviously that’s not all I want to do and I’m going to do,” Bell said of running. “We’re going to be out there and throw a little bit, but I think the key is being able to do a little bit of both and keeping the defense on their heels.”
Our 12 candidates at No. 12
Darnell Mayberry’s look Thursday at University of Miami point guard Shane Larkin concludes our series on 12 prospects the Thunder might consider for the No. 12 pick in the NBA Draft on June 27.
Below are excerpts of each player’s interview session at the pre-draft combine in Chicago last month. The videos come from DraftExpress.com:
Maryland center Alex Len (June 9)
Gonzaga center Kelly Olynyk (June 10)
Pittsburgh center Steven Adams (June 11)
Indiana center Cody Zeller (June 12)
Louisville center Gorgui Dieng (June 13)
Duke center Mason Plumlee (June 14)
French center Rudy Gobert (June 15)
Syracuse point guard Michael Carter-Williams (June 16)
UCLA small forward Shabazz Muhammad (June 17)
San Diego State point guard Jamaal Franklin (June 18)
German point guard Dennis Schroeder (June 19)
Miami point guard Shane Larkin (June 20)
- John Rohde
RIP Kim Thompson
Kim Thompson. (photo credit: Lynn Emmert; via Fantagraphics)
Fantagraphics reported the death this morning of the company’s co-publisher Kim Thompson. The editor, publisher, translator and journalist had been at the forefront of alternative comics for decades. He was diagnosed with lung cancer in February. Thompson was 56.
The full release as published at the Fantagraphics blog:
Fantagraphics co-publisher Kim Thompson died at 6:30 this morning, June 19. “He was my partner and close friend for 36 years,” said Gary Groth.
Thompson was born in Denmark in 1956. He grew up in Europe, a lifelong comics fan, reading both European and American comics in Denmark, France, and Germany. He was an active fan in his teen years, writing to comics — his letters appeared in Marvel’s letter columns circa early 1970s — and contributing to fanzines from his various European perches. At the age of 21, he set foot, for the first time, on American soil, in late 1977. One “fanzine” he had not contributed to was The Comics Journal, which Groth and Michael Catron began publishing in July of 1976. That was soon to change.
“Within a few weeks of his arrival,” said Groth, “he came over to our ‘office,’ which was the spare bedroom of my apartment, and was introduced by a mutual friend — it was a fan visit. We were operating out of College Park, Maryland and Kim’s parents had moved to Fairfax, Virginia, both Washington DC suburbs. Kim loved the energy around the Journal and the whole idea of a magazine devoted to writing about comics, and asked if he could help. We needed all the help we could get, of course, so we gladly accepted his offer. He started to come over every day and was soon camping out on the floor. The three of us were living and breathing The Comics Journal 24 hours a day.”
Thompson became an owner when Catron took a job at DC Comics in 1978. As he became more familiar with the editorial process, Thompson became more and more integral to the magazine, assembling and writing news and conducting interviews with professionals. Thompson’s career in comics began here.
In 1981, Fantagraphics began publishing comics (such as Jack Jackson’s Los Tejanos, Don Rosa’s Comics and Stories, and, in 1982, Love and Rockets). Thompson was always evangelical about bandes dessinées and wanted to bring the best of European comics to America; in 1981, Thompson selected and translated the first of many European graphic novels for American publication — Herman Huppen’s The Survivors: Talons of Blood (followed by a 2nd volume in 1983). Thompson’s involvement in The Comics Journal diminished in 1982 when he took over the editorship of Amazing Heroes, a bi-weekly magazine devoted to more mainstream comics (with occasional forays into alternative and even foreign comics). Thompson helmed Amazing Heroes through 204 issues until 1992.
Among Thompson’s signature achievements in comics were Critters, a funny-animal anthology that ran from 50 issues between 1985 to 1990 and is perhaps best known for introducing the world to Stan Sakai’s Usagi Yojimbo; and Zero Zero, an alternative comics anthology that also ran for 50 issues over five years — between 1995 and 2000 — and featured work by, among others, Kim Deitch, Dave Cooper, Al Columbia, Spain Rodriguez, Joe Sacco, David Mazzuchelli, and Joyce Farmer. His most recent enthusiasm was spearheading a line of European graphic novel translations, including two major series of volumes by two of the most significant living European artists — Jacques Tardi (It Was the War of the Trenches, Like a Sniper Lining up His Shot, The Astonishing Exploits of Lucien Brindavoine) and Jason (Hey, Wait…, I Killed Adolf Hitler, Low Moon, The Left Bank Gang) — and such respected work as Ulli Lust’s Today Is the Last Day of the Rest of Your Life, Lorenzo Mattotti’s The Crackle of the Frost, Gabriella Giandelli’s Interiorae, and what may be his crowning achievement as an editor/translator, Guy Peelaert’s The Adventures of Jodelle.
Throughout his career at Fantagraphics, Thompson was active in every aspect of the company, selecting books, working closely with authors, guiding books through the editorial and production process. “Kim leaves an enormous legacy behind him,” said Groth, “not just all the European graphic novels that would never have been published here if not or his devotion, knowledge, and skills, but for all the American cartoonists he edited, ranging from Stan Sakai to Joe Sacco to Chris Ware, and his too infrequent critical writing about the medium. His love and devotion to comics was unmatched. I can’t truly convey how crushing this is for all of us who’ve known and loved and worked with him over the years.”
Thompson was diagnosed with lung cancer in late February. He is survived by his wife, Lynn Emmert, his mother and father, Aase and John, and his brother Mark.
Oklahoma State basketball: Re-filling Gallagher-Iba Arena the goal
OSU only lost twice at home last season. / Photo by Nate Billings.
Back in the Eddie Sutton heyday, an OSU basketball ticket was gold. Great teams. Miniature arena. Fabulous atmosphere. You got a chance to go see Sutton’s Cowboys, you didn’t let the tickets lie dormant on the countertop.
That was then. Now, OSU is in the same pickle much of college basketball finds itself. Difficult to get people in the doors for all but the biggest games.
I wrote about the OSU football ticket success story for the Wednesday Oklahoman. You can read that column here. But basketball, even in the wake of Marcus Smart, Markel Brown and Le’Bryan Nash all postponing pro careers for a year, remains a tough challenge in Stillwater.
“Ten, 15 years ago, if you got two tickets to a game here at Gallagher-Iba, you made sure your tickets were used,” said OSU ticket manager Craig Bauman. “You didn’t know if you’d get the chance to do that again.”
Now, with Gallagher-Iba more than doubled in size, from 6,381 to 13,611, and the Cowboys not always playing at the same level as Sutton’s great teams, season-ticket holders will cherry pick. A game against Sam Houston State at 8 p.m. on a Wednesday doesn’t have quite the magnetic pull it once did.
My theory: Lots of OSU fans have made the trade from basketball to football. Some have only so much discretionary income. They heard the message that football is important, that football is paramount, and made the jump. With rousing success, both on the field and at the gate.
Many fans have only so much time and/or money.
But there are other theories. Team performance is a factor. The national trend, particularly with students, is declining attendance.
OSU is taking steps to re-pack Gallagher-Iba. Starting with the students.
“This is challenging,” OSU athletic director Mike Holder said. “There’s so much more for a student to do. Lot of competition for their time and energy.”
So OSU has established a new student ticket policy. In the old days, students were on an A/B rotation. They basically got in to half the games with their student ticket. Then their ticket got them into all the games. Then their ticket became a combo football/basketball ticket.
Now, an OSU student ticket to football gets a student into every athletic event, including basketball, and the price has been reduced from $330 to $240. “We’re hoping to sell more than 12,000,” Holder said, “and give us more of a pool to draw from for basketball. Students are critical for both sports, but absolutely essential for basketball.”
And it doesn’t hurt Smart and Co. return for another run at hoops glory.
“We saw a spike the day of the press conference,” announcing the return of Smart, Brown and Nash, Bauman said, “and it really hasn’t let off since. We’re hoping there’s a lot of excitement around the basketball programs.”
Mel Tillis, Sammy Hagar and John Anderson added to Toby Keith’s Oklahoma Twister Relief Concert
Sammy Hagar
A version of this story will run in Thursday’s The Oklahoman.
Mel Tillis, Sammy Hagar and John Anderson added to Toby Keith’s Oklahoma Twister Relief Concert
In addition, Ford Trucks, Verizon, Wal-Mart, and the Academy of Country Music’s charitable arm, Lifting Lives, have come aboard as sponsors for the benefit concert.
Country Music Hall of Famer Mel Tillis, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Sammy Hagar and country singer John Anderson have been added to the July 6 concert at the Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium at the University of Oklahoma.
Previously announced performers include Keith, Country Music Hall of Famer and Owasso resident Garth Brooks, Brooks’ wife Trisha Yearwood, former Tulsan Ronnie Dunn and Country Music Hall of Famer and Texas icon Willie Nelson.
“When Toby asked me to come on board, I immediately said ‘Yes!’” said Sammy Hagar in a news release. “He’s put together a hell of a concert lineup to help raise funds for the brave and resilient people of Oklahoma. My job is going to be to help them take their minds off their problems and have some much needed, good old-fashioned fun.”
In addition, Ford Trucks, Verizon, Wal-Mart, and the Academy of Country Music’s charitable arm, Lifting Lives, have come aboard as sponsors for the benefit concert. Sponsorship donations and underwriting of the concert will allow 100 percent of ticket proceeds to benefit Oklahoma tornado recovery efforts, according to the news release.
Keith, who was born in Clinton, grew up in Moore and now lives in Norman, began planning the concert the day after a deadly EF5 tornado tore through Moore on May 20. Net proceeds (minus only credit card merchant fees and Oklahoma sales tax) will benefit The United Way of Central Oklahoma May Tornadoes Relief Fund.
“I’ve got lots of family and friends who were directly affected. I know these folks and they’re resilient, but we’re going to keep helping them any way we can. I’m proud to get together with some others from around here who are just as committed as I am to supporting these communities,” Keith said in a news release.
Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday online at Ö Ticketmaster.com, by phone at (800) 745-3000 or at Homeland store locations. All seats are $25 (all taxes and fees included), all seats reserved, with an eight-ticket purchase limit.
Doors will open at 1:30 p.m. July 6, and the show will begin at 3 p.m.
Brooks will play two shows in two states in one day to participate in the benefit show. He will open the charity concert in Norman and then fly out to perform a previously booked return engagement at the Wynn Las Vegas that night, according to his publicist.
“Once we got the news that the tornado had hit Toby’s hometown, Miss Yearwood and I told Toby we were at his service for whatever he chose to do,” Brooks said in a news release. “I am amazed at the human spirit the tornado victims have shown. I am humbled by the giving of the volunteers. It is an honor to get to be a part of this healing process.”
For more information on the event, go to www.tobykeith.com.
-BAM
Oklahoma State adds JUCO defensive tackle to 2014 class
Mike Gundy shot out a mysterious tweet on Tuesday night, proclaiming ‘Pistols Firing!’ without giving a reason for his excitement.
In all likelihood, it was in response to another recruit joining Oklahoma State’s 2014 class.
Jeremiah Ledbetter, a 6-foot-3, 290-pound JUCO defensive tackle, committed to the Cowboys on Tuesday, as first reported by Scout.com.
Ledbetter apparently impressed the coaching staff at OSU’s recent mini-camp, performing well enough to earn the offer. He will play at Hutchinson (Kansas) Community College this upcoming season.
That makes 12 recruits committed to OSU for the 2014 class. Here’s the full list.
What to do in Oklahoma on June 19, 2013: Hear Generationals play the Heal OK benefit show at The Opolis
Generationals
Today’s featured event:
NORMAN – New Orleans touring act Generationals will headline the Heal OK benefit concert at 8:30 tonight at The Opolis, 113 N Crawford in Norman. The Louisiana rockers, who experienced a similar calamity when Hurricane Katrina ravaged their hometown, volunteered to play the show for free to raise funds for American Red Cross of Central and Western Oklahoma.
Oklahoma musicians Skating Polly, The Wurly Birds and Colin Nance will open Wednesday’s show, according to Joshua Boydston, communications director for the Norman Arts Council and the show’s organizer.
Tickets and information: http://opolis.org and www.ticketstorm.com.
For more events, go to www.wimgo.com.
-BAM
