My Newest Find

A story that began with the coercions of my buddy and Urban Tulsa Weekly arts writer Holly Wall has ended in a tragic picture of addiction.

The woman from now on known to me as Wallrus took my kid and I to the 41st Street Plaza at RiverParks for lunch Monday afternoon, where she was nice enough to buy us a sno cone to share.

At least, I thought she was being nice. Now I see she's part of a top-secret underground troupe to convert us all into shaved-ice-and-syrup-slurping idiots.

Conniving punk.

After partaking of her ingenious combination of Tiger's Blood (if you were a kid during the '90s, you know the strawberry/coconut flavor combination I'm talking about) and mango flavors and falling in love with the slushy sweetness that is sno cone all over again, I knew I had to try a cone from this spot in southtown that had caught my eye.

All four times I'd driven through the 91st and Memorial intersection within the past few years (just because I work on the border of south Tulsa doesn't mean I have to actually go there) I noticed a huge line - we're talking 30-40 Okies deep - sprouting from this little white-and-blue sno cone shack called Josh's.

I know, right? In the words of one of my all-time favorite Tulsa media icons, "Hey - What's the deal?"

Since I'd always been of the camp that proclaimed hot fudge ice cream sundae from Braum's as the cool summer treat of champions, I never thought twice about stopping long enough to stand in line and see what all the fuss was about.

That was, until the night following my passionate reunion with the sno cone that was mildly inappropriate considering the setting (a children's park - think: the old Herbal Essences commercials).

All three members of my little family and I used 20 minutes of our lives - 20 minutes we'll never, ever get back - to stand in line to order a couple of wacky, technicolor sno cones from Josh's.

I mean, doesn't this kid look like he's in need of a sno cone?

In dire need, I'd say. Anyone with a soul who sees this photo is bound to feel an ancient urge to throw sugary treats at it. I am human, too, I swear.

Just look at that menu board. With that many flavor options, especially Tulsa-centric ones like Golden Eagle and Blue Hurricane, my imagination was in overdrive. I needed the entire 20 minutes just to figure out what the heck I was going to do with the power to purchase just two sno selections.

Plus, I had a good time chatting with the preteens behind me in line about what exactly made the sno cones from this particular stand better than any others in town.

"The ice is, like, shaved better. It's finer, or something."

"They have more flavors than anyone."

"They have toppings. I always get gummi bears. They're 50 cents."

Pure gold, folks. Unmitigated preteen wisdom.

Something else about which most preteens are wise: Social media. Josh apparently knows this. That's why he's not only on Facebook, but also Myspace and Twitter.

Oh, Twitter. How I love thee.

As for that 20 minutes that was sucked into the black abyss of time I've spent during this life waiting in lines?

Refreshingly, icily, crunchily, sweetly, good-enough-that-you-wanna-watch-Nicktoons worth it.

...even if half my Crunch cone (doused with cranberry and fruit punch syrups) will never know the satisfaction of being the object of my satisfaction.

I'm sorry, but it's all about me. It's the addict's mindset.

Come to find out, Josh's is indie. It all started in 2005 at 71st and Garnett when some early-twenty-something kid thought it be a good idea to open a sno cone stand. Two summers ago, another shack popped up at 91st and Memorial. The lines outside the two shacks have been growing ever since.

As someone who couldn't more officially be in her mid-twenties, I was the second-oldest person in the 30-deep line at Josh's. I felt matronly. I mean, my shorts came down to my knees, and my paper-white calves illuminated the bare, pigmented, cellulite-free upper thighs of all the other girls. Also, I'm pretty sure I was the only one in line without braces.

No matter. No amount of girlish giggling or compulsions to buy a minivan or hyper-awareness of my newly minted mom butt could keep me away from that which is Josh's Sno Shack.

Hey, Josh? Where have you been all my life?

What To Do in Tulsa This Weekend

Catch this weekend's rundown bright and early this morning on the Morning News with Joe Kelley on KRMG? Even if you did go ahead and rise today early enough to get the worm, here's a written version of my play-by-play rundown of what's going on in T-Town this weekend. For your planning pleasure:

Festivals

What's summer in Tulsa without a slew of festivals? Try this weekend's selection on for size:

Porter Peach Festival

Where: Mainstreet Porter, Okla.

When: Now through Saturday

Details: You missed the Porter Peach Beauty Pageant if you didn't make it out last night, but not to worry; plenty will be going on for the rest of the weekend. Make sure to catch the antique tractor pull, the beard contest, the pet show and free peaches and ice cream, not to mention all the arts, crafts, live music, food and cooking contests, a parade, a car show and even a mini rodeo. Whew - I'm whipped just typing all of that zaniness. This is an event not to be missed, folks - more than worth the 45-or-so minute drive from T-Town.

An Affair of the Heart

Where: Expo Square, 21st and Yale, in the QuikTrip Center

When: Today and tomorrow, 9 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sunday, 11-5.

Details: What girl couldn't use another excuse to shop? We're all being encouraged to stimulate the economy, right? I'm sure the folks at An Affair of the Heart would concur with a resounding "Yep!" Bring $6 down to Expo Square and enjoy three full days of arts, crafts, antiques, collectibles, accessories and, of course, lots of gourmet food.

Annual Tulsa Powwow

Where: SpiritBank Event Center in Bixby

When: Today, 3-11 p.m; Saturday, 10 a.m.-11 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m.-11 p.m.

Details: Native American artists and craftsmen will be showing off their stuff, and there will be plenty of Native American cuisine on hand to enjoy (think: roasted corn. Oh, yum). Be sure to be in the crowd for the crowning of the 2010 Tulsa Powwow Princess tonight at 7:30; get there a bit early to check out the grand entry of dancers at 7. Don't forget to get a gander at the gourd dancing, traditional singing and intertribal and specialty dancing, as well as competitive dancing from junior and senior divisions. If you haven't been to a powwow, folks, prepare for an experience unlike any other. Don't forget to bring the kids.

Music

Thanks to a spot of weather that is, in highly technical terms, mighty hot 'n' humid rather than downright boilin', this weekend should make for some prime music listening time, especially if it's going down outdoors. Here's a schedule of some must-see acts:

Opening of Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz

Where: Chapman Music Hall at Tulsa Performing Arts Center

When: Today at 1:30 and 8 p.m.; Saturday at 2 and 8; Sunday at 2 and 7:30

Details: Been hearing a lot of about this musical act lately? Yeah, me, too. Know why? Because it's that good - three Tonys and a Grammy's worth of goodness, to be exact. This show is like a "The Making Of" that tells the story of how the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch got to be, well, the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch. With all the witches flying around, be advised that this isn't a production for kiddos under 8, and the pint-sized under 4 years won't be admitted to the theater at all. The price of admission ($32-$125, depending on if you want to wear your glasses or not) and a few hours' worth of a babysitter's time will be worth it.

Rhythm on the River

Where: 41st Street Plaza at RiverParks

When: Friday night; get there at 6:30, ends at about 8:30

Details: Hear the Latin American Rhythm Ensemble as you soak up the cool(er) air along the Arkansas. It all starts at 6:30, just in time to catch the full splendor of a mid-July sunset. Feel free to bring your lawn chairs, a dinner to go and the kids. If you leave the picnic basket in the driveway, though, no worries - food and drink will be available for purchase at the concert.

Guitars Gone Wild II

Where: Charles E. Norman Theatre at Tulsa Performing Arts Center

When: Sunday, 6 p.m.

Details: No, this isn't another installment of that video franchise you've heard advertised on late-night TV. Instead, it's a showcase of style after style of solo guitar music. Just think: Blues, classical, flamenco, folk, pop, even new age. Tulsa Guitar Society director Rod Saunders and other local guitarists will be performing, and they're willing to stick around for a little Q & A session after the jam session. That's quite an entertainment package for a mere $12.

Wine and Jazz Concert Series

Where: RiverWalk Crossing in Jenks at the Amphitheater

When: Sunday night, 6-8 p.m.

Details: Who couldn't use a little jazz with that wine? Forget that Monday comes tomorrow and get your fill of the good stuff in Jenks this Sunday evening. Wine and food will be available in plenty, and so will live jazz music. The cost? $20 per.

Other Stuff

What would life in Tulsa be like without the "Other Stuff" category? Here it comes:

Films on the Lawn

Where: North Lawn at Philbrook Museum

When: Friday night, gates open at 7:30 with showtime at dusk

Details: Love Paul Newman? Think Robert Redford, like a fine wine, only gets better with time? Then don't miss the showing of the 1973 film The Sting on the North Lawn at Philbrook Museum Friday night. Bring a date and dinner, a blanket or a few lawn chairs and make an evening of it. Admission is $7, or just $5 if you're a Philbrook member (if you're not, you should be).

Slumber Party at Circle Cinema

Where: Circle Cinema, 12 S. Lewis Ave.

When: Saturday night at 10 p.m. until Sunday morning at 8 a.m.

Details: Find yourself at Circle Cinema Saturday night for the first-ever Slumber Party in Tulsa's favorite movie house. On tap will be five cult films, supplemented by two surprise films (who doesn't love surprises?) with a bit of free Joe Momma's Pizza and Old School Bagels thrown in, just for kicks. Come with $20 (you get $10 back if you're man or woman enough to stay for the whole sleepover and to not flee into the streets of Whittier Square at 3 a.m.) and dressed in your best PJs, because I have a feeling this little shindig is going to be a party and a half.

PBR: US Border Patrol Invitational

Where: BOK Center, Third Street and Denver Avenue

When: Tonight at 8 p.m.; Saturday at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday at 2 p.m., with doors opening one hour before showtime on each day

Details: Who doesn't love a good old-fashioned rodeo? You can't deny it and still live in Okie-homa. Get back to your roots and head to the BOK Center to watch the top bull riders in the world compete for some real purdy trophies and prizes and whatnot. Pay anywhere from $10 75 in advance, or add $2 to each ticket price if you wait to buy tickets until you get to the door.

Tickets and Movies

Get your BOK Center tickets while they're hot off the presses. As for movies, you know the old adage: The hotter it is outside, the hotter the action on the screen in the moviehouse.

In Theaters: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (The sixth installment of the Harry Potter movie franchise; opened earlier this week), Bruno, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Public Enemies, The Proposal, The Hangover and more.

Paul McCartney, BOK Center One-Year Anniversary

Where: BOK Center

When: Tickets on sale Monday at 10 a.m.; Concert is Aug. 17 @ 7:30 p.m.

Details: Beatles man Paul McCartney is coming to help us celebrate one year of BOK Center events in Tulsa. This will be McCartney's only arena show on his current 2009 North American stadium tour, and it'll be his first time back in Oklahoma in nearly seven years (did he break a mirror when he was in Oklahoma City or something?). He'll be playing songs from his years with The Beatles as well as hits from Wings and his solo career stuff - none of it is to be missed. That is, if you've got the cash. Tickets range $59.50-$253.

That's all from me, folks. Have a good weekend!

Porter photos courtesy of the amazing talents of Amanda at Have Spork, Will Travel.

From the Ground Up

Let’s play a game. Which sounds more appetizing: A peach sprayed with pesticides and picked hard and green in an industrial orchard in California, processed and packed at a sprawling, faceless, corporate farm and trucked a couple thousand miles to your local grocery store...

Or, a peach picked ripe at a farm in a city you could, despite the geography courses at your public school, pinpoint on a map, delivered to your farmers’ market totally free of chemicals, long-distance travel damage and other modes of interference and sold to you by a friendly guy in a hat who reminds you of your grandfather?

Wait. There wasn’t really a choice presented there, was there? It’s one of those “duh” decisions. Who in this day and age doesn’t want unmitigated, fresh fruit grown by people they know? After multiple food safety scares, documentaries extolling the nutritional merits of fresh-picked produce and all those blurbs on TV about how we should all be reducing our carbon footprint, demand for food grown within a stone’s throw from home is on the rise.

Read the rest of this story in this week's edition of Urban Tulsa Weekly.

Boob Tube Bliss

Of all the crazy and backward things I've done to conserve skrill, there's one that, 100 percent of the time, gets either a gasp, a look of shock or one of these: "Wha?!"

I have no cable television service. I haven't had it since before I was married, five years ago.

I always feel like I have to explain why not. It's a strange feeling to be motivated to do that, mostly because I still haven't managed to come up with a plausible explanation for why I'm not participating in this country's most cherished medium of communication.

Read the rest of this story in Consumer Watchdog in this week's Urban Tulsa Weekly.

What To Do in Tulsa This Weekend

You might have missed hearing me on the Morning News with Joe Kelley this morning on KRMG, but don't worry. I'll be back on the air next week. Until then, have a blast this weekend and get your butts to these events:

Kathy Griffin at SpiritBank Event Center. If you haven't been out south to check out Regal Plaza, you're doing yourself a real disservice. Take the opportunity tonight and snag a bite of the best Chicago-style pizza in town at the new, two-story Savastano's location before you head over to the SpiritBank Event Center for some laughs courtesy of comedienne Kathy Griffin. Tickets (pricey though they are) are still available at Indigo Joes in Regal Plaza or by calling the Spirit Bank Event Center at 369.9360. Doors are at 7, show at 8.

Brady District Art Crawl. For about a year now, galleries in the Brady Arts District have been joining forces to collectively open their doors on the first Friday of each month. Greg Gray, owner of Club 209, organizes the event, which involves the Tulsa Artists' Coalition Gallery, Club 209, CFC Chocolatier, the Tulsa Glassblowing Studio and Donna Prigmore's pottery gallery holding exhibit openings and other art-related events all on the same night, at the same time. The entire event is free and open to the public. This edition of First Friday Art Crawl starts at 6 at Gypsy Coffee House and ends at 11 at Club 209, so stick around downtown after work today and get ready to be enlightened.

Films on the Lawn, Second Saturdays at Philbrook. What's more relaxing than kicking back with some dinner and a movie? Kicking back with some dinner and a movie under real, live stars, that's what. Get your fill Friday night on the north lawn at Philbrook Museum with the 1967 film, Cool Hand Luke. Gates open at 7:30, and the movie starts at about 9. Cost is $5 for members, $7 for not-yet-members. Bring a picnic dinner, a blanket and a few lawn chairs. If you're still up for some museum musing on Saturday, come by Philbrook for free admission and a slew of activities from 10:30-4, ranging hands-on art projects to scavenger hunts. Highly fun for the famsters.

First Friday Night Concert at LaFortune. Bring your favorite lawn chair or blanket and sit back and relax to the sounds of a local band. Head to the Gardens of LaFortune Park - along 51st Street between Yale and Hudson - at 7 p.m. to get in on the action with Three Hour Tour, a classic rock band. These concerts happen free-of-charge each first Friday of the month, so be sure to tune in the first week of August for the next act.

Crayons! Improv. Ever been to the Agora Coffeehouse, in the Fontana Shopping Center at 51st and Memorial. Hip little place, it is. It's even hipper when it's full of local improv comedians. One of times will happen Friday night starting at 8 p.m. Bring $5 or risk being the butt of one of the players' spur-of-the-moment jokes.

PlayDate. Looking for something to do this weekend that's off the beaten path? Look no further than the Blue Dome Diner, downtown at Second Street and Elgin Avenue. Starting at 8 Saturday night will be games galore, food, dancing and general splendid-time-havin', totally filling up the huge space in the back of BDD. Just try to find this much fun under one roof anywhere else in town for the PlayDate admission price of $10. Everyone, from singles to couples to groups, is invited because, duh, everyone likes to play.

12th Annual Art of Barbeque. Thanks to Oklahoma Central Credit Union and the Arts and Humanities Council of Tulsa, Tulsans can bear witness to a world-class barbeque cook-off, officially sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbeque Society. For all the yummy fun, head to OU-Schusterman Center at 41st and Yale tonight starting at 6 p.m. and tomorrow 11-4. Folks can get the People's Choice Tasting Kit on Saturday for 10 smackaroos, and that's only from 11:30-2. There will be some serious cash to win at this event - think $10,000 - so come ready to compete, or just to enjoy some overwhelming deliciosity.

Tokyo in Tulsa 2009. Tokyo in Tulsa is a Japanese and Pop Culture convention centered on Japanese animation. Head to this event for music, creative art and writing, gaming of both the video and tabletop variety and fashion. This event is on all weekend, so head downtown to the Tulsa Convention Center for some non-stop fun starting today (Friday) at 2 p.m. Registration at the door is $40 for the entire weekend, $20 for a day pass. See the Tulsa Convention Center site for a schedule of Tokyo in Tulsa events.

You make me feel like dancing, Tulsa. Show off your own moves and learn a few, too, with Ballroom Dancers of Tulsa at their Friday night event. Come to the Elks Lodge at 5335 S. Harvard for $10 dance lessons with a island luau theme. Come at 7 for the lessons; the dance starts at 8. For more info, go to the Ballroom Dancers of Tulsa Web site.

Cheap Date

Cash can't buy love (at least, that's what they try to tell us), so why try? After all, just because you're short on skrill doesn't mean you can't be long on love.

Thanks to our low cost of living, you'd have to earn 28 percent more in L.A. (52 percent more in Boston) to afford the lifestyle we all enjoy right here. Entertainment comes relatively cheap here in T-town. That's a good thing for your personal life, because we all know dating isn't the most inexpensive thing to do these days. We all do it (yes, even we marrieds, and hopefully only with our spouses), but not all of us manage to keep the resulting bills from Visa and Mastercard at bay.

Next time the bank calls on date night, give one of the outings listed below a shot. These plans are low-cost, high-excitement, and I know this because I've been on these dates myself. According to my experience (because I wouldn't tell you to do something I haven't done myself, not even for a good laugh), the flavor of the week won't guess that he or she is the subject of a budget date. It's hard to notice such things when you're having an absolute blast.

Read the rest of this story in Consumer Watchdog in this week's Urban Tulsa Weekly.

Cool Summer School

Kids at home for the summer about to drive you nutso? Here's a solution that's way more interactive than day care, cheaper than summer camp and more fun than summer school: College for Kids at Tulsa Community College, a nationally recognized program right here in T-Town.

We're solidly into July now, but that doesn't mean it's too late to sign up. Each class, varying in length from 1.5-3 hours each day, is a week long, with new classes starting as the previous week's classes end. By the end of the summer TCC will have hosted about 200 College for Kids classes ranging from rocket science to video game design to blogging, so there are lots of choices, too.

Marquetta Finley, director of continuing education in academic, family and youth enrichment at TCC, invited me a few weeks ago to sit in on a class focused on teaching math to kids through cooking.

This class couldn't have been more up my alley. I've always been a bit of a math geek, and we all know how much I love to cook and eat and simply exist in the presence of food. I wished I could have stayed the entire week.

I might have had a problem blending in, though.

These girls and boys (boys! In a cooking class! Oh, yeah!) are learning about volumes and measurement conversations from teaspoons to tablespoons to cups and pints and, well, you get the picture. The kids worked in groups, filling out worksheets along the way. Before long, they were covered in flour and, undeterred, on to the next project.

I loved how the kids got to learn two life skills in one sitting. I know too many kids who can barely pour a bowl of cereal, let alone whip up a batch of pancakes for Mom on Sunday morning. And as we've been told over and over during the past couple of decades, math education in this country is well behind that in others. Any way to get a little extra learnin' in, especially if it's tied to real-life situations and is thus validated as a useful subject in indignant minds, is a good thing, especially at a rate of as little as $6 per day.

Plenty of kids are taking advantage of the program - about 900 - and enrollment stands at 3,400, meaning plenty of kids are having too much fun to enroll in just one class. The courses start at $30 (just try to find someone to watch and enrich your kids for a few hours a day for a week at that price, y'all) and go up, depending on the child's age and course level, i.e., the rocket science course would, understandably, cost a smidge more than the blogging class.

The TCC Web site is the best place to get a course listing and to get signed up. If you prefer to pick up the phone, dial 918.595.7566 to enroll.

Happy learning, kiddos! Don't forget to invite me to the mini rocket launches; I always love a good rocket launch.