Memory Lane

 The town of Enid, Oklahoma is proud of their public art.  Street after street, block after blocked is dotted with statues, sculptures and highly detailed murals celebrating the town and the people in it.  But there's one mural in particular that reaches past local culture and into the collective madness that was the 80s.  Behold the grandeur:

  

This eye-catching beauty was created by Enid artist Tox Murillo in 2020 and is packed with details about the often misunderstood decade.  So just for fun, I thought I'd point out a few of my favorite touches in this magnum opus.

Song Lyrics

First up we've got the most famous phone number in music history as heard in the 1981 song "867-5309/Jenny" by Tommy Tutone.  There are multiple stories of the origins of the number but the general consensus is that the songwriter just made it up.  For years unfortunate folks who happen to have that number in various area codes were on the receiving end of endless prank phone calls asking for "Jenny."  If you dial 405-876-5309 or 918-876-5309 who would you get?  I don't know but it's probably best to leave them alone.

Floating above E.T. and Eliot you'll see a red balloon with the number 99 one it as an homage 1983's "99 Luftballons" by German band Nena.  The song is about a misunderstanding leading to an overzealous military reaction which is somewhat similar to what happens in E.T., right?  (It's been awhile.)

To the right of the balloon are lyrics from the 1987 song "Beds Are Burning" by the Australian band Midnight Oil.  It's about the poor treatment of Aboriginals by the Australian government.  This being Oklahoma, it's not a far walk to relate it to the state's treatment of Indigenous peoples.   

Copper Bones Key from Goonies

From the private collection of Chester Copperpot comes this spooky artifact from 1p85's The Goonies.  If I remember correctly, it was supposed to do something useful but ended up springing a booby trap for the gang on their way to discovering One Eye'd Willie's treasure.  The prop was so popular that you can know find replicas for sale all over the internet.  

Anachronistic Yoda

My only (very minor) quibble with the artwork is this rendition of our boy Yoda.  The reference photo the artist worked off of is from one of the prequels, which were well past the 1980s timeframe of the mural.  In the 80s, Yoda was all Muppet but by the early 2000s he had morphed into Ass-Kicking CGI Superhero™️ as seen in this pose.  Don't get me wrong though, I'll take any Yoda over no Yoda ten times out of ten.

Video Game Characters

I'm not a video game guy.  In fact, my knowledge and interest in video games probably began and ended with these two guys.  There were a few different designs of Pac-Man back in the day including the "Pie Chart" design and that weird one where he kind of looked like one of his ghost antagonists except with feet.  The design seen here is definitely my favorite because it reminds me of an old gum ball machine I had as a kid.

And, or course, we get peak Mario in all his 8-bit glory.  There have probably been a 100 Mario games since this one but none of them had anywhere near the cultural impact as this one.

And the rest...

I've only scratched the surface of the fun stuff going on in this artwork.  Whether it's Daniel Striped Tiger or Skeletor or the Miyagi-Do logo, the talent of the artist comes across as much as the fun that we all had back then.  The next time you find yourself in Enid, stop by and check it out.  

OKPOP Groundbreaking

The OKPOP museum is scheduled to open in Tulsa sometime in late 2021 and last week the Oklahoma History Society had their ceremonial groundbreaking.  I was able to be there along with other press, various dignitaries and a collection of fellow Oklahoma cultural enthusiasts.

The windy day included speakers like Governor Stitt (who, upon mispronouncing Bob Wills' name, was promptly corrected by many in the crowd), Lt. Governor Pinnell, Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum and one of the Hanson brothers (you have a 1 in 3 chance of guessing right).

After the surprisingly large number of speakers, the dais of dignitaries, construction company executives, historians, and one pop star (you guess yet?) wore their Golden Driller helmets and brandished their guitar shaped shovels (both nice touches, I thought) and gathered around the ceremonial dirt for the ceremonial groundbreaking.

They were joined by family members of Oklahoma honorees like Archie Goodwin's son and Roy Clark's widow and, to the tune of Rodgers & Hammerstein's "Oklahoma," they proceeded to...

...move some dirt around...I guess?  It was all ceremonial, as most groundbreakings are these days, so no actual digging was required.  But this was the first groundbreaking I had ever been to so I was into it and glad to be there.  Now all we have to do is wait for the building to be built and maybe I can get some sweet ribbon cutting footage!

Top 5 at the Banjo Museum

Previously:

Top 5 at the Harryhausen Exhibit

Top 5 at the Oklahoma History Center  - -  Top 5 at the Museum of Osteology

The American Banjo Museum in the Bricktown area of Oklahoma City is serious about banjos.  And they don't want to mislead you about what's inside.  This place is chock full of wall-to-wall banjos.  Everywhere you look, guess what?  Banjos!  So when it came time to give it the ol' Top 5 treatment, we got into full "banjo mode!"

It's worth mentioning that I don't know anything about banjos or banjo music so if/when I get some detail wrong please go easy on me.  And with that plea for mercy, here's the Top 5 Banjos at the American Banjo Museum:

5.  Hummingbird by Renee Karnes

If you don't think about banjos that much then you probably never think about how banjos are made.  But it's a unique art form and someone who is particularly good at it as Renee Karnes.  She was inducted into the Banjo Hall of Fame in the "Design & Manufacture" category in 2005.  This is one of her creations.

4.  Gibson Bass Banjo

I don't know if I've ever seen or heard of one of these but it seems like it would fill the same role as a standard upright bass in a musical group.  I don't think I've ever seen footage of it being played and I'm genuinely curious as to what it sounds like.

3.  Roy Clark's Banjo

You might remember (depending on your age) the legendary Roy Clark as one of the hosts of Hee Haw but he's also a very prolific musician, member of the Grand Ole Opry, and an inductee in the Country Music Hall of Fame.  He also lived in Tulsa and sang at (fellow Oklahoman) Mickey Mantle's funeral.  This is one of his many banjos.

2.  Gilbrech Automatic Banjo Entertainer  

You're probably thinking to yourself, "That doesn't look like a banjo!?!"  And you're right it doesn't.  The museum describes it as "a one-of-a-kind banjo curiosity!"  It's essentially the equivalent of a player piano.  It was made to play on its own, no banjo player necessary.  That's the kind of banjo I could play.

1.  Smokey Montgomery's Banjo

 Whenever I try to fake my way through a banjo conversation (it happens more than you'd think), I play the "Smokey Montgomery card."  The reason is because he's one of the few banjo players I've actually heard of.  He was a member of the "Light Crust Doughboys" and I worked on a documentary project involving his work a few years back so I was pleased to see one of his banjos here.

So the next time you're in the mood for some pickin' and grinnin' you know just where to go to create you're own favorites list.

Top 5 at the Oklahoma History Center

Previously:

Top 5 Bones at the Museum of Osteology 

The Oklahoma History Center has multiple floors filled with artifacts and exhibits chronicling Oklahoma's distant and not so distant past.  Beautiful Native American artwork sits side by side with a Jim Thorpe Wheaties box.  Well, maybe not side by side but the collection is very eclectic and very far reaching.

But since this blog is "Oklahoma Pop Culture," I decided to make this Top 5 List a list of the best Pop Culture items on display...or rather the five pop culture items I liked when I saw them on my last visit.  So without further ado...

5.  Pokey Hand Puppet

We may all be a little too young to remember the HoHo the Clown show (or various KOCO-TV shows) but several decades ago HoHo and his sidekick Pokie (along with a huge rotating cast of characters) would be welcomed into the homes of Oklahoman baby boomers via black and white TV.  While HoHo may have gone to that big circus in the sky, Pokie, in all his homemade sock puppet glory, remains on display.

4. One of Roy Clark's Outfits

Singer, actor, musician and favorite son of Oklahoma, Roy Clark, was many things.  But first and foremost, he was a showmen.  So flamboyant outfits like this one were in the regular rotation during his time co-hosting "Hee Haw" (hey kids, go ask your parents what Hee Haw was...you won't regret it) or at one of his many live musical performances.

3.  Decades Old Sonic Bag

It's always nice to see something that was meant to be thrown in the trash actually be preserved.  It's the mundane pieces of memorabilia that really help to paint a picture of day to day life in the past.  I think this is from the 60's but I'm positive that its previous owner had the foresight to realize that in the future people would want to look at a sandwich bag in a museum.  Good job, old school Sonic customer!

2.  89ers TV Cards

These days when you watch a game on TV there are any number of technological advancements that allow you to immerse yourself in the competition.  But back when the Dodgers where known as the 89ers, the TV station had to literally hold up cards like these in front of the camera to advertise ticket sales.  We've come a long way...now the NFL has their own robot.

1.  3-D Danny Costume

Well, we started with a local kid's TV show and we'll end with one.  3D Danny (Dan D. Dynamo) was the alter ego of Oklahoma broadcaster Danny Williams who portrayed the standard 50's scifi hero that had adventures and was friends with a robot.  His cool super suit remains as inspiration for today's youth who would also like to befriend a robot some day.

This is just a surface scratching assembly of the huge collection of Okie memorabilia on display at the center.  When you get a chance go stop by and make your own Top 5 List.  Tell 'em 3D Danny sent you.