October 15, 2013

This Machine will have the fried chicken. In this issue, two Oklahoma legacies mark their birthdays with a tell-all; David Burkus fires all the experts; Mitch Gilliam tours Tulsa with “Weird” Al Yankovic; Jonathan Lethem takes Oklahoma to the top of New York; and Jon Mooneyham stares into your soul.

IT’S NOT A STRIP CLUB: Celebrity Club turns 50. Mark Brown crawls through the single window in the stucco edifice of Tulsa’s velvet restaurant, where the red carpet stretches from wall to wall.

THE CELEBRITY OF PLACES: A map of the apartments, streets, and the empty shopping mall that starred in the feature film UHF, shot in Tulsa 25 years ago. Mitch Gilliam rides shotgun, his literary debut.

IT CAN’T BE DONE: Jay Martin made a name for himself by proving Them wrong. By David Burkus.

KISSING COUSINS: The one in which New York is like Oklahoma, just turned 90 degrees. Fiction by Jonathan Lethem, who at this moment has his eyes set on Tulsa.

HAUNTING: A collection of the best ghost stories published by This Land, compiled by Holly Wall.

ORIGINAL OKIE: Jon Mooneyham, a former member of The Flaming Lips, is a post-punk enthusiast and host of the radio show “Millions Now Listening Will Never Die.”

DO THIS: A battle of wits, the King of the Road, a graveyard classroom, floating orbs, and Carya illinoinensis: The best things to do in Oklahoma between now and Nov. 1