Articles (Blog)

Jake Flint (IV) — 25th Annual Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, 2022

R.I.P. Jake Flint, 1985 – 2022

Oklahoma Red Dirt musi­cian Jake Flint, age 37, died Sunday, mere hours after mar­ry­ing his fiancée, Brenda. His long­time pub­li­cist ...
Nancy Apple, from Upstage — 17th Annual Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, 2014

Woodyfest 2014: Nancy Apple

I met “Princess of Twang” Nancy Apple in 2013, my first year vol­un­teer­ing to doc­u­ment the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival ...
Kyle Dismukes, Kurt “Frenchy” Nielsen, Wink Burcham, Kevin Smith, & Chris “Poppa” Foster — 17th Annual Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, 2014

Woodyfest 2014: Wink Burcham

Wink Burcham will return to Woodyfest for the sev­enth time in 2021. His pre­vi­ous appear­ance was in 2019, which we’ve ...
Dan Web (I) — 17th Annual Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, 2014

Woodyfest 2014: Dan Weber

Dan Weber is the only song­writer in the his­tory of the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival to have pulled off the ...
Water Tower (I) — The famous triple water towers in Okemah, Oklahoma. The city cannot afford to repair the two older towers, each nearly a century old, & may demolish them in 2015.

Woodyfest 2014: Backstage, Band Camp, & Okemah

Today’s post presents a photo gallery com­pris­ing images I cap­tured in var­i­ous back­stage areas at the 2014 Woody Guthrie Folk ...
Anna Larson (Accompanied by Jon-Michael Rogers) — 22nd Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2019

Woodyfest 2019: Songwriting Contest Winners

Saturday night at Woodyfest 2019 kicked off, as in pastThis is the sev­en­teenth post in our cov­er­age of the twenty-sec­ond ...
Rita, Terry, & Jean — Chris J. Zähller Birthday Celebration

3 Score Times around the Sun

This week­end, I cel­e­brated my six­ti­eth birth­day sur­rounded by friends and fam­ily. If you had told me I would be ...
Trees in Snow, University of Oklahoma, Valentine’s Day 2021

The Valentine’s Day Blizzard, Norman, Oklahoma

On Valentine's Day, 2021, a mas­sive win­ter storm pushed across the cen­tral and south­ern US plains, plung­ing tem­per­a­tures to record-break­ing ...
SONiA disappear fear (II) — 17th Annual Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, 2014

Woodyfest 2014: SONiA disappear fear

Emerging from Baltimore’s folk scene in the late 1980s, Sonia Rutstein formed the folk-duo Disappear Fear (styl­ized “dis­ap­pear fear”) with ...
Steve Fisher, Terry “Buffalo” Ware, & Lori Holyfield (II) — 17th Annual Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, 2014

Woodyfest 2014: 1st-Place Songwriting Contest Winner Lori Holyfield

As in years past, Woodyfest 14 show­cased three song­writ­ing con­test win­ners. Thursday evening at the Pastures of Plenty Stage kicked ...
Jared Tyler Band (II) — 22nd Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2019

Woodyfest 2019: Jared Tyler

By his own rec­ol­lec­tion, Woodyfest reg­u­lar Jared Tyler Frederick began his pro­fes­sional music career around the time he turned four­teen ...
Rad & John Wort Hannam — 17th Annual Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, 2014

Woodyfest 2014: John Wort Hannam

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: in 2001, a school­teacher on a large Blackfoot reserve in south­ern Alberta ...
Lance & Carlos — 17th Annual Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, 2014

Woodyfest 2014: Lance Canales & the Flood

In 2013, Lance Canales and his band, the Flood, cov­ered Woody Guthrie’s song “Refugee.” Guthrie wrote the song shortly after ...
Stoll Vaughan (Upstage View} — 22nd Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2019

Woodyfest 2019: Stoll Vaughan

Two-time chart-top­per Stoll Vaughan made his Woodyfest debut in 2019. Vaughan took the Crystal Theatre stage mid-after­noon on fes­ti­val Friday ...
Fiddle Solo — Sam Baker at the Crystal Theatre, Woody Guthrie Folk Festival 16

Woodyfest 2013: Sam Baker

We wrote about Woodyfest reg­u­lar Sam Baker just over a year ago so we won’t repeat our­selves here. Baker has ...
The Myrrors (II) — The Myrrors at Dope Chapel

Sonoran Trance: The Myrrors at Dope Chapel

Forming in 2007 while its mem­bers were in high school, The Myrrors play “a sun-baked, mys­ti­cal form of psy­che­delia informed ...
Annie Guthrie (with Arlo & Cathy) — 22nd Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2019

Woodyfest 2019: Annie Guthrie (Featuring Arlo & Cathy)

Self-described “folk-punk” singer-song­writer Annie Guthrie per­formed a set on the Crystal Theatre stage on fes­ti­val Friday. Guthrie is the mid­dle ...
Grown-Up Anger: The Connected Mysteries of Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, and the Calumet Massacre of 1913 — 22nd Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2019

Woodyfest 2019: Grown Up Anger with Author Daniel Wolff

As part of Woodyfest’s con­tin­u­ing edu­ca­tional out­reach, author Daniel Wolff gave a short talk about his book, Grown Up Anger ...
Sam, Riley, & Special Guest Douglas Francisco (II) — Sam Doores + Riley Downing & the Tumbleweeds at the Brick Café, Woody Guthrie Folk Festival 16

Woodyfest 2013: The Deslondes

When they appeared on the Brick Café stage dur­ing Woodyfest 2013, The Deslondes were still billing them­selves as Sam Doores ...
Pushing Chain (Upstage View) — 22nd Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2019

Woodyfest 2019: Pushing Chain

Self-described “folky-tonk” duo Pushing Chain made their Woodyfest debut on the Bound for Glory stage on fes­ti­val Friday. The pair ...
Siblings — 22nd Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2019

Woodyfest 2019: Kids’ Harmonica Class

For the sec­ond straight year, Woodyfest hosted an expanded children’s out­reach, fea­tur­ing sev­eral youth con­certs and work­shops. These included a ...
Carolann Solebello & Audience (View from Upstage Right) — 22nd Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2019

Woodyfest 2019: Carolann Solebello

Red Molly cofounder Carolann Solebello per­formed an inti­mate solo set on the Crystal Theatre Stage dur­ing Woodyfest 2019. The small ...
John Fullbright — 22nd Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2019

Woodyfest 2019: John Fullbright

I wasn’t assigned to pho­to­graph John Fullbright at last year’s fes­ti­val, but I did catch this shot of Fullbright jam­ming ...
Accompanist David Amram (II) — Woody Guthrie Poets, Woody Guthrie Folk Festival 16

Woodyfest 2013: Woody Guthrie Poets with David Amram

As of this writ­ing the Woody Guthrie Poets have pre­sented read­ings at fif­teen con­sec­u­tive Woody Guthrie Folk Festivals. They gave ...
Jamie Lin Wilson (Smile) — 22nd Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2019

Woodyfest 2019: Jamie Lin Wilson

By some stan­dards, Jamie Lin Wilson is a late bloomer. She was nine­teen when she heard Natlie Maines per­form­ing a ...
So Much Jammin’ — 22nd Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2019

Woodyfest 2019: Jacob Tovar

Jacob Tovar didn’t set out to be a musi­cian. The Tulsa-based musi­cian grew up with a deep, abid­ing love of ...
Guitar Break — Samantha Crain at the Crystal Theatre, Woody Guthrie Folk Festival 16

Woodyfest 2013: Samantha Crain

Critically praised Choctaw singer Samantha Crain appeared on the Crystal Stage at Woodyfest in 2013. It was her fourth time ...
Wave — 22nd Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2019

Woodyfest 2019: Red Dirt Rangers

Marking their twenty-first appear­ance at Woodyfest 2019, the Red Dirt Rangers took the stage fol­low­ing fid­dler Randy Crouch. Crouch remained ...
Unidentified VIP (Backstage) (Backstage) — 22nd Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2019

Woodyfest 2019: Thursday Backstage

Between 2018 and 2019 I did some horse­trad­ing and upgraded my Hasselblad 500c/​m to a 503cx. I also acquired a ...
Donna — Still on the Hill at the Brick Café, Woody Guthrie Folk Festival 16

Woodyfest 2013: Still on the Hill

Bringing their “low-tech” PowerPoint to the Brick Street Café in 2013, musi­cal duo Still on the Hill had the audi­ence ...
Wink Burcham (I) — 22nd Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2019

Woodyfest 2019: Wink Burcham

In 2019 Tulsa-based singer/​songwriter Wink Burcham made his sixth straight Woodyfest appear­ance, per­form­ing a late-after­noon set on the Bound for ...
Tim (I) — Tim Easton at the Crystal Theatre, Woody Guthrie Folk Festival 16

Woodyfest 2013: Tim Easton

We’ve fea­tured folk-trou­ba­dour Tim Easton at the bureau pre­vi­ously. But we first met him in 2013 when he made his ...
Andy Adams (III) — 22nd Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2019

Woodyfest 2019: Andy Adams

Although Andy Adams is no stranger to music, the Tahlequah native admits the title of his lat­est release, Back to ...
Gypsy Twang & Friends (II) — 22nd Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2019

Woodyfest 2019: Community Outreach with Gypsy Twang & Friends

We’ve writ­ten about Gypsy Twang before, so we’ll keep this short. The Tulsa band appeared at Woodyfest for the sec­ond ...
Giovanni “Nooch” Carnuccio — Backstage Area, Pastures of Plenty, Woody Guthrie Folk Festival 16

Woodyfest 2013: Band Camp & Backstage

Today we present can­did images from my first year as a vol­un­teer pho­tog­ra­pher for the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival. I ...
Larry (I) — 22nd Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2019

Woodyfest 2019: Larry Long

In 1977, twenty-six-year-old vagabond singer Larry Long wrote Pope County Blues in sup­port of farm­ers fight­ing a high volt­age power ...
Zachariah's Guitar — Zombie Bolt After Life Party, Guthrie, Oklahoma

Gallery: The Secret Post (Zombie Run 5K After-Life Party)

Five years ago I pub­lished a story about the 5k zom­bie race in Guthrie, Oklahoma. At the time I shared ...
Dan & Brad (II) — Brad Fielder & Dan Martin Song Swap at the Deli

Brad Fielder & Dan Martin (Song Swap at The Deli)

A pair of Oklahoma’s pre­mier song­writ­ers shar­ing a stage should draw a crowd. But if it’s Monday night the week ...
Southwest View — Prairie House, Norman, Oklahoma

Herb Greene’s Prairie House

In 1957 a young archi­tect named Herb Greene returned to his alma mater, the University of Oklahoma, to teach. Working ...
The Mighty Hunter’s Bounty — Oklahoma Morel Foraging, 2019

Be Vewwy Quiet — We’re Hunting Mushwooms!

My friend RT Valine and his wife Jackie were vis­it­ing the Bureau one evening and we got to dis­cussing food ...
Shara Nova (Outtake 2) — OKIE-X (Oklahoma Musicians on X-ray Film)

My Brightest Diamond at Guestroom Records (OKIE-X Outtakes & Gallery)

My first encounter with the music of My Brightest Diamond was a track on a RED + HOT com­pi­la­tion. During ...
Punk Rock! — The Dollyrots at the 89th St Collective

The Dollyrots: Interview & Gallery

It’s been years since the Dollyrots played Oklahoma City. But for­tune finally favored the city’s denizens: last April they opened ...
Zoë's Entrance (II), Beats Antique "Animal Mechanique" Tour

Black and White Gallery: Beats Antique at the Diamond Ballroom

Here are the pre­vi­ously unpub­lished black and white pho­tos from elec­tronic world fusion group Beats Antique play­ing the Diamond Ballroom ...
Feather Dance (III), Beats Antique "Animal Mechanique" Tour

Color Gallery: Beats Antique at the Diamond Ballroom

I’m mov­ing the bulk of my Flickr pho­tos to their new per­ma­nent home. Back in 2012 I posted some pic­tures ...
Lynx (III), Beats Antique "Animal Mechanique Tour"

Gallery: LYNX at the Diamond Ballroom

As part of my cleanup of my Flickr account, here are some pho­tos of LYNX I took at the Diamond ...
John Fullbright at the Keyboard — 21st Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2018

Woodyfest 2018: Randy Crouch, Johnny Irion, & John Fullbright

This writer had only one offi­cial assign­ment (cov­er­ing gritty soul-singer Opal Agafia) at the big out­door stage on fes­ti­val Saturday ...
Jacklyn Guthrie, Cathy Guthrie, Sophia Irion, & Mez Mezera in the Green Room — Backstage at the 21st Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2018

Woodyfest 2018: Saturday Backstage

I took the same medium for­mat gear to the Pastures of Plenty back­stage as I had on Thursday and Friday ...
Michael Schembre, Justin Easter, Opal Agafia, David Lucas Gesualdo, & Ron Landis — 21st Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2018

Woodyfest 2018: Opal Agafia & the Sweet Nothings

The biggest musi­cal influ­ence in Opal Agafia’s life is her mom. Agafia char­ac­ter­izes her­self as a “life­long seri­ous shower singer,” ...
Kyle Reid & Ken Pomeroy — 21st Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2018

Woodyfest 2018: Ken Pomeroy

I first met singer-song­writer Ken Pomeroy on New Year's Eve, 2015. Her father, Skippy, builds rac­ing motor­cy­cles in the large ...
Willis (XIII) — 21st Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2018

Woodyfest 2018: Willis Alan Ramsey

In my sopho­more high school year, my fam­ily moved from the house we had been rent­ing in the sub­urbs to ...
Josh Okeefe — 21st Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2018

Woodyfest 2018: Josh Okeefe

At first glance, one could be for­given for dis­miss­ing twenty-five-year-old singer-song­writer Josh Okeefe as a mere pas­ticheur. An inter­net image ...
And Then There Were Two (I) — 21st Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2018

Woodyfest 2018: And Then There Were Two

Despite the band name, And Then There Were Two does not com­prise two mem­bers. The band num­bers three: singer Amy ...
Guthrie Family (Fisheye I) — 21st Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2018

Woodyfest 2018: Guthrie Kids & the Family Band

Members of the Guthrie fam­ily per­formed a musi­cal show­case at Okemah’s St. Paul’s United Methodist Church on Saturday after­noon of ...
L to R: Hannah Carriker, Amour Carriker, Lillian Hill, Kelby Vass, Riley Amanda, London Reilly, Blakelee Pugh, & Autie Rich — Kids’ Songwriting Contest Awards Announcement, 21st Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2018

Woodyfest 2018: Youth Songwriting /​​ Showcase Competition

Woodyfest held its innau­gural Woodyfest Youth Songwriting/​Showcase Competition in 2018. The show­case fea­tured per­form­ers age six­teen or younger. Master of ...
Students & Teachers — Kid’s Harmonica Class, 21st Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2018

Woodyfest 2018: Kids’ Harmonica Class

The Woody Guthrie Folk Festival has pro­vided a vari­ety of children's pro­gram­ming over the years. Last year the fes­ti­val expanded ...
Road Case (Ammo Box) — 21st Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2018

Woodyfest 2018: This Frontier Needs Heroes

Brad Lauretti has been wan­der­ing. Originally from Brooklyn, then based in Florida, now call­ing Nashville home, Lauretti rarely sleeps in ...
Jazon Mraz with Audience (II) — 21st Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2018

Woodyfest 2018: Ellis Paul & Jason Mraz

Ellis Paul loves Woody. Of the Woody Guthrie tat­too on his right shoul­der, he says it’s the only thing he ...
Sam Busts Me Sneaking an Upstage Shot — 21st Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2018

Woodyfest 2018: Sam Baker

Sam Baker has told the story of barely sur­viv­ing a train bomb­ing many times. The stark out­line: some three decades ...
Nellie Marie Clay, John M. Cooper, & Carter Sampson — Backstage at the 21st Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2018

Woodyfest 2018: Friday Backstage

I took the same medium for­mat gear back­stage to the Pastures of Plenty as I had on Thursday. I’ve already ...
Alice Thatcher & Robert Thatcher — 21st Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2018

Woodyfest 2018: 3rd Place Songwriter Robert Thatcher

Third place in the annual Woody Guthrie Folk Festival Songwriting Contest (2018) went to Robert Thatcher and Tom Brown. Thatcher ...
Cigarette (detail) — 21st Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2018

Woodyfest 2018: The Damn Quails

According to their band bio, The Damn Quails began life as a weekly jam ses­sion between song­writ­ers and core band­mem­bers ...
Tim Easton — Exposition Sessions

Tim Easton: Exposition Interview & Gallery

I drove to Okemah in early December to see folk singer and song­writer Tim Easton. Easton was on the first ...
Kalyn (II) (detail) — 21st Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2018

Woodyfest 2018: Kalyn Fay

Your hum­ble author first met musi­cian Kalyn Fay in early 2016 when jour­nal­ist Nathan Poppe brought her to the Bureau’s ...
Brad & R.T. (Upstage View) — 21st Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2018

Woodyfest 2018: Brad Fielder & R. T. Valine

The first time this writer heard Brad Fielder was in 2013. I was at the Bluebonnet Bar to see Alex ...
Micah Moseby, Cody Clinton, Tyler James, Desirae Roses, & Mike Kindell — 21st Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2018

Woodyfest 2018: Desi & Cody

Friday at the fes­ti­val found this writer still cov­er­ing the enter­tain­ment at Lou’s Rocky Road Tavern. Erik “The Viking” Oftedahl ...
Erik “The Viking” Oftedahl & Blake Lankford — 21st Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2018

Woodyfest 2018: Erik the Viking & Blake Lankford

Festival Friday proved to be uncom­fort­ably hot in the beer gar­den attached to Lou’s Rocky Road Tavern. The pre­vi­ous day’s ...
Scott (I) — Community Outreach, 21st Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2018

Woodyfest 2018: Scott Taylor (Community Outreach)

This year’s Woodyfest con­tin­ued a long-stand­ing tra­di­tion of pro­vid­ing acces­si­ble enter­tain­ment through­out the host-town of Okemah. On fes­ti­val Friday ...
Chloe-Beth with Audience — 21st Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2018

Woodyfest 2018: Chloe-Beth

Let’s just get it out of the way. Chloe-Beth Campbell (just “Chloe-Beth” when she per­forms) is tiny. Just shy of ...
Gypsy Twang (I) — 21st Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2018

Woodyfest 2018: Gypsy Twang

Making their Woodyfest debut, Gypsy Twang played the Hen House stage Friday after­noon. Husband and wife Steve Huhn (bass) and ...
Dan (III) — 21st Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2018

Woodyfest 2018: Dan Martin

You know how some­times you see a movie, and you’re pos­i­tive that a favorite actor appeared in it, and later ...
Turnpike Troubadors (Kyle Nix, Gabe Pearson, Evan Felker, R.C. Edwards) — 21st Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2018

Woodyfest 2018: Turnpike Troubabdours

Marking their third appear­ance at the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, the Turnpike Troubadours closed open­ing night 2018 on the Pastures ...
Carter Sampson (Seen from Upstage) — 21st Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2018

Woodyfest 2018: Carter Sampson

This writer first saw Carter Sampson three-and-a-half years ago, when she played a short set at the Community Improvement Association ...
Morgan, Brad, John M. Cooper, & John Fullbright — 21st Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2018

Woodyfest 2018: Red Dirt Rangers

The Red Dirt Rangers may not have birthed Red Dirt, but they helped mid­wife the musi­cal genre into the world ...
Charlie Mosbrook (I) — 21st Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2018

Woodyfest 2018: 2nd Place Songwriter Charlie Mosbrook

This year’s sec­ond place song­writ­ing con­test title went to Charlie Mosbrook for his song “Remember Who We Are.” Mosbrook per­formed ...
Ron Landis, Justin Easter, Becky Gragg, Opal Agafia, & Gary Hart in the Green Room — Backstage at the 21st Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2018

Woodyfest 2018: Thursday Backstage

As most Woodyfest sup­port­ers know, fes­ti­val favorite Audrey Auld Mezera died of com­pli­ca­tions from can­cer three years ago. The Tasmanian ...
Mary — 21st Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2018

Woodyfest 2018: Mary Battiata

From the moment she began to sing “Trance” from the Brick Café stage, Mary Battiata had this writer's short hairs ...
Cleveland County Election Board Sign & Seal

Early In-Person Absentee Voting, 2018 Mid-Terms, Cleveland County, Oklahoma

Cleveland County res­i­dents may cast early in-per­son absen­tee bal­lots at the Cleveland County Election Board at 641 East Robinson Street ...
Stephen D. Ineson (II) — 21st Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2018

Woodyfest 2018: Milagro Saints

Led by vet­eran English rocker Stephen D. Ineson, The Milagro Saints had the audi­ence rock­ing in their seats in a ...
Jammin’ with Rad — 21st Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2018

Woodyfest 2018: Johnsmith

Making his fourth appear­ance as a per­former at the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, Johnsmith thrilled the audi­ence with a rock ...
Rick Reiley — 21st Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2018

Woodyfest 2018: Rick Reiley

Rick Reiley has never missed attend­ing the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival. At least, he doesn't think so. Reiley kicked off ...
Jaane Doe (Behind the Drumkit) — 21st Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2018

Woodyfest 2018: Jaane Doe

Born in the Bronx under the name Elizabeth Gowan Berliner, Jaane Doe started her musi­cal career at age eleven in ...
Bill Lewis (VI) — 21st Annual Woody Guthrie Festival, 2018

Woodyfest 2018: Bill Lewis

Kicking off the 21st annual Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, Bill Lewis brought his solo trou­ba­dor act to the base­ment of ...
Michael Walker, Grillmaster — Faculty Heights Neighborhood National Night Out, 2018

National Night Out, Faculty Heights

Last Tuesday evening, the Faculty Heights neigh­bor­hood joined thou­sands of oth­ers across the U.S. to cel­e­brate National Night Out. National ...
Crab Eyes [Crop] — Charon’s Garden Wilderness Area, Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge. The two boulders are each about the size of a minivan and are balanced on a narrow granite spine.

Trekking thru the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge with a 4×5 Field Camera

Last Sunday I drove out to the Lawton area with cus­tom leather­worker and hik­ing enthu­si­ast Michael Parham. Our goal was ...
Kick!

Skating Polly: The Make It All Show Tour Kickoff

Returning to the scene of their very first show, for­mer Okies Skating Polly played to a sold-out house at OPOLIS ...
Damaged

Tea with Tyson Meade (Interview & Gallery)

On 26 May, cen­tral Oklahoma felt an earth­quake. The vibra­tions were from the nee­dle drop­ping on Godfather of Alt-Rock Tyson ...
Walter (III)

Walter

Through a series of unfor­tu­nate cir­cum­stances, my friend Mark Campbell lost cus­tody of his ther­apy dog, a cairn ter­rier named ...
Happy

Hoot at the Root

Visual artists and musi­cians pooled their tal­ents last Saturday to raise money for the annual Woody Guthrie Folk Festival. Hosted ...
Former Bank Building, Wanette, Oklahoma (Rear, seen from North)

Wanette, Oklahoma

This past Independence Day, my best friend and pho­to­graphic con­spir­a­tor Joe Crumley and I drove to see the aban­doned Gandini ...
Washita County Courthouse

Tuttle, Cordell, Mountain View, & Anadarko

On the same week­end that Joe and I trav­eled to Roosevelt, we stopped to pho­to­graph sev­eral other small towns. Our ...
Downtown, Roosevelt, Oklahoma

Downtown Roosevelt, Oklahoma

Roosevelt is a small, all-but-aban­doned town in west­ern Oklahoma. According to the lat­est cen­sus, the pop­u­la­tion num­bers 248. Today it’s ...
Paige S. Wilson

Paige S. Wilson, Photographer

Photographer Paige S. Wilson recently dropped by Mercury Photo Bureau for a facil­i­ties tour. We traded places behind the cam­era ...
Jim Edwards

X-Ray Film Portraiture with Modified Rembrandt Lighting

This is an exam­ple of a por­trait made using x-ray film and a mod­i­fied “Rembrandt” light­ing setup. I used a ...
I Voted

In Person Early Absentee Voting — 2016 General Election Edition

Cleveland County res­i­dents cast early absen­tee bal­lots in the November 2016 General Election begin­ning today. Despite the national trend lim­it­ing ...
Uke Solo

Who Is Evan Jarvicks? An Interview & Gallery

Jarvix. The man. The musi­cian. The mys­tery. Cynics call his music twee. The less jaded and more gen­er­ous call it ...
Claude “The Master” Butler — shoeblack, counselor & friend, lover of jazz

Claude “The Master” Butler

I met Claude Butler when he 1st moved to Norman in 1987. He had an arrange­ment with the man­age­ment at ...
Dayna Cannon Wins a Raffle Prize

Benefit Concert for Sprint4Sarcoma 5K & 1M Fun Run

Friends and fam­ily of 25 year-old Norman res­i­dent Dayna Cannon gath­ered at the Deli on Thursday for a ben­e­fit con­cert ...
Kathy Heiple

City or Norman Special Election

Norman res­i­dents had the oppor­tu­nity to cast their bal­lots today dur­ing early absen­tee vot­ing in the munic­i­pal elec­tion ...
“Starman” (II)

The Wurly Birds Present: A David Bowie Tribute

Unless you’ve been trapped at the bot­tom of a well for the past 2 weeks, you know the great David ...
Exposure & Developer Test, Cranberries

X-Ray Film Exposure Test (Cranberries)

This is a series of shots I made to work out the expo­sure char­ac­ter­is­tics of Kodak Ektascan B/​RA film. Ektascan ...
Don’t Stop Me Now (II)

The King of Queen

Featuring the music of the late Queen front­man Freddie Mercury, Friday and Saturday’s per­for­mances of The King of Queen played ...
Annie Oakley (I)

J. J. Cale Tribute at the Power House Bar

Continuing on the heels of his suc­cess­ful Roger Miller, John Prine, and Smiths trib­ute shows, last month musi­cian Jerrod Beck ...
Flowers for Moz

Musical Tributes at the Power House Bar

One of the most pop­u­lar recent broad­casts on KOSU the SPY FM’s Oklahoma Rock Show was their all Roger Miller ...
Self Portrait (I), Adjusted

Another Lighting Test (and a Cool Bowtie)

I found this cool bowtie on an online auc­tion site — you know the one — and it was just ...
Astro the Cat (Puppet)

Fun with Macro Photography

Astute read­ers may have noticed that I’ve been tran­si­tion­ing to using mostly my Fujifilm X-T1 cam­era, with my Leica M9-P ...
Display Only (I)

For Display Only

I made my usual Tuesday gro­cery shop­ping stop at the Cleveland County Farmers’ Market and I saw this very attrac­tive ...
Gaffer Tape (I)

Camera Bag Essentials: Gaffer’s Tape

The most essen­tial item in any photographer’s bag is a rel­a­tively inex­pen­sive item, often over­looked — the hum­ble roll of ...
Violets

Violets

Just some flow­ers, in case you hadn’t noticed that it's Spring. I found these lit­tle beau­ties when I went out ...
Okra in Chair (III)

Okra

My acquain­tance, Robert Mark Campbell (he goes by “Mark”), recently adopted a 5-year-old cairn ter­rier after his long­time ther­apy dog, ...
Jamie with Jug (V)

Modeling Shoot: Lighting Test with Jaime

My friend Jaime Ladd coör­di­nates an “adven­tur­ous din­ers” group on a pop­u­lar social media plat­form; one of the group mem­bers ...
Self Portrait: Duck Hunter

Using the Paul C. Buff Einstein with a Light Meter

In con­tin­u­ing to learn the ins and outs of my recently acquired Paul C. Buff “Einstein” (model E640) stu­dio strobe, ...
Lighting Test

Paul C. Buff “Einstein” Lighting Test

I bought a used Paul C. Buff “Einstein” (model E640) stu­dio strobe just before Christmas; the pack­age arrived on New ...
The Big Sign

#YesAllDaughters Student Walkout & Protest

An online cam­paign to bring atten­tion to Norman High School and local law enforcement's response to the alleged rape of ...
Sue

Midterm Elections Early Voting

Cleveland County vot­ers may cast their bal­lots before Tuesday at the Cleveland County Election Board, 641 East Robinson, just east ...
Vote Here Signs (I)

Runoff Election, Cleveland County, Oklahoma

Norman Democrats cast their bal­lots today in the statewide runoff elec­tion. Democrats will decide between John Cox and Freda Deskin ...
Cutting the Cake (I)

Teaser: Jabee’s Birthday Party

Yes, that’s Emmy-win­ning rap­per Jabee slic­ing birth­day cake with my pock­etknife ...
The Surrogate Band

The Surrogate Band at Opolis (Gallery)

Yesterday we told you about the Surrogate Band, formed in 2011 to per­form Pink Floyd’s The Wall. The Surrogate Band ...
The Surrogate Band (not shown: J. R. Reagor)

The Surrogate Band Presents: A David Bowie Tribute

Originally formed in 2011 for an extrav­a­gant per­for­mance of Pink Floyd’s The Wall, the Surrogate Band has reformed for a ...
Manhattan Cocktail

Cooking with Kali-Ra, Episode One

My good friend David Goad is rais­ing money to tour with his band, Kali Ra, by record­ing a cook­ing show ...
Buying Tomato Plants

Cleveland County Farmers’ Market Opens; Features New Hours

Today marks the return of the Cleveland County Farmers’ Market. Hours have changed from the famil­iar Saturday and Wednesday morn­ing ...
Kelli Finale (III)

Skating Polly Show at Guestroom Records

One of Oklahoma’s most antic­i­pated music releases of 2014 dropped 23 February, with the release of Skating Polly’s third full-length ...
Tumbling Nebulæ Interview (III)

Tumbling Nebulæ Interview & Gallery

Tumbling Nebulæ formed in early 2013 when bassist Steven Machovic and key­board player Cynthia “Luxy” Machovic got together with gui­tarist ...
Guitar Break (I)

Rebekah Pulley at the Brick Café — Woody Guthrie Folk Festival

One of nine sib­lings, Rebekah Pulley grew up in rural Alaska lis­ten­ing to her the gui­tar play­ing of her dad ...
Alex & Me

Alex Culbreth: Black & Blue (Interview & Gallery)

I first met singer-song­writer Alex Culbreth (Parlor Soldiers, Alex Culbreth and the Dead Country Stars) in July, when he was ...
Rebecca Loebe (V)

Rebecca Loebe at the Crystal Theatre — Woody Guthrie Folk Festival

As singer-song­writer Rebecca Loebe told the audi­ence at the Crystal Theatre this past July, she didn’t mean to become a ...
Paddy Mills (IX)

Paddy Mills at the New Dominion Stage — Woody Guthrie Folk Festival

Fresh from win­ning the Rose Garden Coffee House Performing Songwriter Competition in Mansfield, Maine and plac­ing 2nd in the New ...
Otis Gibbs (XIV)

Otis Gibbs at the Crystal Theatre — Woody Guthrie Folk Festival

With his full beard streaked grey and his horn-rimmed eye­glasses, Otis Gibbs might be mis­taken for one-time Nashville res­i­dent Steve ...
Phil & Alison (I)

Riders on the Orphan Train — Woody Guthrie Folk Festival

Between 1854 and 1929, the Children's Aid Society (and later, the Catholic New York Foundling Hospital) removed over a quar­ter ...
Nancy & Rob (II)

Nancy Apple & Rob McNurlin — Okemah Nutrition Center, Woody Guthrie Folk Festival

Princess of Twang Nancy Apple and coun­try trou­ba­dour Rob McNurlin are are almost as famil­iar to Woody Guthrie Folk Festival ...
Bill McCloud Gives Kim Gentry Her Artist’s Pass (I)

Kim Gentry at the Crystal Theatre — Woody Guthrie Folk Festival

One half of brother-sis­ter duo Berteal , Kim Gentry made her Woodyfest debut at the Crystal Theatre this past July, ...
Garrett (IX)

Garrett LeBeau — Pastures of Plenty Stage, Woody Guthrie Folk Festival

Born and raised on the Wind River Indian Reservation near Lander, Wyoming, soul­ful singer-song­writer Garrett LeBeau grew up vir­tu­ally with­out ...
Dan Weber (XII)

Dan Weber at the Crystal Theatre — Woody Guthrie Folk Festival

It just keeps get­ting bet­ter for Dan Weber. In 2010, he was nom­i­nated for the pres­ti­gious Dave Carter Songwriting Contest ...
Audrey Auld (III)

Audrey Auld at the Crystal Theatre — Woody Guthrie Folk Festival

Although singer-song­writer Audrey Auld iTunes describes her style as music with the dirt left on, that’s dirt from a dis­tinctly ...
Alex Culbreth (II)

Alex Culbreth at The Brick Café — Woody Guthrie Folk Festival

Making his Woody Guthrie Folk Festival debut this past July, Alex Culbreth (Parlor Soldiers, Alex Culbreth and the Dead Country ...
Keith & Ezra (I)

Trout Fishing in America Children’s Matinee — Woody Guthrie Folk Festival

The Woody Guthrie Coalition have been try­ing to book Grammy Award-nom­i­nated duo Trout Fishing in America to play the annual ...
Salsa Picante at Taqueria Ruiz

Taqueria Ruiz

Last week I stopped at Taqueria Ruiz for lunch after run­ning some morn­ing errands. I ordered a taco revuelta with ...
Finale (I)

SonicViolence Interview & Gallery

This past Sunday the Bureau invited noise-rock­ers SonicViolence, along with video direc­tor Mike Walsh, to drop by for an inter­view ...
Davey at Blackbird

Shift, Davey!

My friend David Goad (Kali-Ra, Of the Tower) and his wife Alicia are head­ing to Europe for vaca­tion soon, and ...
RAD JAM Organizers Nico Lantelme, Oliver Holden-Moses, and Chase

Moore Tornado Relief RAD JAM

Chase Anderson and Oliver Holden-Moses, both age 14, and Nico Lantelme, age 13, are pretty nor­mal teenage boys — like many ...
Will (II)

Post Mortem: Shi++y/Awesome’s Final Bow

Local garage-rock­ers Shi++y/Awesome formed on a whim in 2009, when Guestroom Records co-owner Travis Searle and man­ager Will Muir got ...
Travis (IV)

Travis Linville at Music4Moore

Chickasha native Travis Linville was 1 of many Oklahoma artists per­form­ing at the Music4Moore fundraiser this past May, as we’ve ...
Audience (II)

Jazz in June 2013 Headliners: The Dirty Dozen Brass Band

The city of Norman cel­e­brated its 30th annual Jazz in June music fes­ti­val a cou­ple of weeks ago by shak­ing ...
We Annoint You with the Oil of Salvation

Baptism & Christening

My cousin and his fiancée cel­e­brated the bap­tism and chris­ten­ing of their infant daugh­ter last Sunday at Saint Thomas More ...
Ramsay (II)

Ramsay Midwood at Music4Moore

Texas singer-song­writer Ramsay Midwood trav­elled from Austin with his band to per­form at the Music4Moore ben­e­fit in the wake of ...
LumiQuest SoftBox III

LumiQuest LQ119 SoftBox III

The Lumiquest SoftBox III is a small, highly portable soft­box that attaches eas­ily to var­i­ous speed­lights. Deployment it greatly enhanced ...
Not Just a Lemonade Stand

Skating Polly Interview & Galleries, Part 2

In the con­clu­sion to our Skating Polly inter­view, step­sis­ters Peyton Bighorse and Kelli Mayo talk about meet­ing musi­cal heroes, music ...
Skating Polly

Skating Polly Interview & Gallery, Part 1

Skating Polly have been busy. The youth­ful sis­ter act per­formed sev­eral shows at this year's SXSW fes­ti­val, knocked out audi­ences ...
Screenshot: Rev Hi-Fi YouTube

Mercury Photo Bureau at Rev Hi-Fi (Video)

To launch our new col­lab­o­ra­tion with direc­tor Mike Walsh Mercury Photo Bureau was the lat­est guest on his Rev Hi-Fi ...
The Chloës

The Chloës Interview & Gallery, Part 3

In this con­clud­ing part of the Chloës inter­view, we hear the never-before-told story behind crowd-pleaser “Put that Dick Away”, plus ...
The Chloës (II)

The Chloës Interview & Gallery, Part 2

In part 2 of our inter­view with the Chloës, the ladies talk about the joys and pit­falls of audi­tion­ing drum­mers, ...
Tiffany, Lysandra, Brandie, April, & Leila

The Chloës Interview & Gallery, Part 1

I spent most of NMF6 run­ning from venue to venue pho­tograph­ing bands, but man­aged to squeeze in a cou­ple of ...
Nikolas (IV)

Kite Flying Robot Reunion Show & Interview

Kite Flying Robot sprang from the sin­gu­lar vision of Nikolas “Kite” Thompson. The band itself has seen a rotat­ing cast ...
Leica MT (typ 245) Silver Chrome Front

Exclusive Scoop: Newest Leica “M” System Camera Announced

When we began hear­ing rumors about a Leica project code-named Chronos in late September last year, we assigned a small ...
Joshua and Jonathan

The Trading Co. Interview & Gallery, Part 2

This is part 2 of our inter­view with Jonathan Eldridge and Joshua Griffin, who, together, form The Trading Co. an ...
The Trading Co. (I)

The Trading Co. Interview & Gallery, Part 1

Blues-rock duoThe Trading Co. belong to a small sta­ble of artists call­ing Old Dog Records their home. Like label ...
Duet (I)

Bowlsey at the Velvet Monkey: Interview & Gallery

Acoustic duo Bowlsey is mov­ing fast. They granted Mercury Photo Bureau an inter­view before their sec­ond pub­lic per­for­mance, and, in ...
Chris & Gabe

The Venditos Interview & Gallery

Featuring an ever-chang­ing lineup of local musi­cians (includ­ing more drum­mers than Spinal Tap), the Venditos have been rockin’ Oklahoma City ...
The Kamals

The Kamals Interview & Gallery

Five-piece fuzz rock out­fit the Kamals (minus guitarist/​backup vocal­ist Brad Nance) dropped by the Bureau in January, fol­low­ing their resched­uled ...
The Band

One Gun Solution — Interview and Gallery

Neo-grunge musi­cians One Gun Solution drove down from Oklahoma City to speak with me ear­lier this month. I met them ...
Nicole (IX)

mr. Gnome at The Conservatory, Oklahoma City

The word “atmos­pheric” gets tossed around a lot when describ­ing Cleveland-based mr. Gnome. Also “schiz­o­phrenic,” “psy­che­delic,” “weird,” “exper­i­men­tal,” “thun­der­ous,” “dreamy,” ...
Feather Dance (IV)

Beats Antique Releases New Music Video (Skeleton Key)

In September 2012, elec­tron­ica and exper­i­men­tal world fusion band Beats Antique played the Diamond Ballroom in sup­port of their Animal ...
Boxmen!

Urizen at Club Dada, Dallas — Hallowe’en

Opening for Peelander-Z at Club Dada on Hallowe’en, local favorites Urizen enter­tained the audi­ence at the Deep Ellum nightspot with ...
Rad (XIV)

Radoslav Lorković’s Best Christmas Ever

According to a copy­right story by News on 6, the most pho­tographed Chinese accor­dion in the world has been returned ...
Greeting the Audience

Electric Eel Shock at Club Dada, Dallas — Hallowe’en Night

Citing Van Halen, Aerosmith, and Guns and Roses among their pri­mary influ­ences, Japanese rock­ers Electric Eel Shock astounded the audi­ence ...
David (V)

David Goad (Kali Ra) Interview, Pt. 2

I expended prac­ti­cally no effort get­ting Kali-Ra front­man David Goad to talk for an over an hour about music, tech­nol­ogy, ...
David Supine (II)

David Goad (Kali Ra) Interview & Gallery, Pt. 1

David Goad, front­man for Kali-Ra and var­i­ous other musi­cal and per­for­mance projects, recently sat down with us to answer some ...
Mark, Christopher, & Morgan

Kill the Reflection at the HiLo Club, OKC

Kill the Reflection front­man Morgan Routt took time out after the band’s recent shows at the HiLo Club, Blue Note ...
Beers at the Abner House

The Concert That Wasn’t

Kali-Ra front-man David Goad dropped by for an inter­view yes­ter­day before head­ing over to Opolis to open for CHUD. After ...
Red Boots (Flaming Red)

Patty Griffin and Max Gomez at the Sooner Theatre

Singer-song­writer Patty Griffin returned to Norman’s Sooner Theatre for a nearly sold-out per­for­mance in late October. Mercury Photo Bureau was ...
Leon (V)

Psychic Milk at the HiLo Club

I sat down with youth­ful neo-psy­che­delic rock­ers Psychic Milk, after pho­tograph­ing when they opened for Kill the Reflection at Oklahoma ...
If You Can See Pink, Then You Are a Good Person

Peelander-Z Hallowe’en Show at Club Dada, Dallas

Hailing from District Z on Planet Peelander, self-described Japanese action comic punks Peelander-Z trav­eled across the galaxy to eat our smiles ...
Vote Here Signs (I)

Early Voting, Cleveland County, Oklahoma

Cleveland County vot­ers may cast their bal­lots before Tuesday at the Cleveland County Election Board, 641 East Robinson, just east ...
The Family That Eats Brains Together — Oklahoma’s Premier Zombie Race: Zombie Bolt 5K, Guthrie, Oklahoma

Zombie Bolt 5K — Oklahoma’s Premier Zombie Run

Guthrie, Oklahoma — Billed as Oklahoma’s Premier Zombie Race, the 5K Zombie Run unleashed rav­en­ous mobs of the undead onto sprint­ers in ...
Gallery View (II)

Goddamn Gallows at the Wormy Dog Saloon

The Goddamn Gallows, who blend rock­a­billy, roots, folk, Americana, and coun­try music “with just enough hard­core and punk […] to ...
Angelo and Helen

The Greek House

The aroma of grilling meat and pota­toes fry­ing in gyros grease per­me­ates the block around the busi­ness, guar­an­tee­ing a packed ...
Jeannie (I)

Photographing Concerts with a Leica Rangefinder

I do a fair amount of con­cert pho­tog­ra­phy with the Leica M9-P dig­i­tal rangefinder cam­era. This presents cer­tain chal­lenges not affect­ing ...
Greybeard (Richard)

Adobe Lightroom 4 Tutorial: A Workflow Example

Adobe Lightroom is a pow­er­ful tool for man­ag­ing and pro­cess­ing dig­i­tal pho­tos. It can cat­a­logue and orga­nize your pho­tos, auto­mate ...
Gitzo GT1542T Series 1 Traveler w/ Arca-Swiss P0 Monoball Fix

Hands on with the Arca-Swiss P0 Tripod Head Panning System & SlideFix QS Quick Release

The Arca-Swiss Monoball P0 Tripod Head, retail­ing for $299 USD, fea­tures a kno­b­less tri­pod head with a three-ele­ment geared lock­ing ...
Leica 135mm f/4.5

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Circle of Confusion (Pt. 3)

I spent the next cou­ple of months obses­sively research­ing Leica cam­eras and lenses. I began by down­load­ing the owner's man­ual ...
Joe with Denise Crosby (He has no idea who she is)

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Circle of Confusion (Pt. 2)

… Then Joe took a trip to Roswell. As I men­tioned in Part 1, Joe rides motor­cy­cles: BMWs, Kawasakis, and ...
Joe Crumley with his trusty Leica M4-P.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Circle of Confusion (Pt. 1)

My best friend Joe Crumley is an inter­est­ing char­ac­ter. He grew up on a farm in west Texas, served his ...
Völkertafel

Tufte CSS: An Adaptation

Tufte CSS pro­vides tools to style web arti­cles using the ideas demon­strated by Edward Tufte’s books and hand­outs. Tufte’s style ...
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