Tulsa’s Art & Music Scene Growing
By CHUCK CISSEL
Mark Bruner and Shelby Eicher
Now that the holiday parties, shopping, carol singing and gift giving is behind us, we look to the coming warmer months with promise of entertainment, fun and cultural enrichment for all of us to enjoy. From the Brookside and Brady districts, to Cherry Street and downtown Tulsa, the Inside Scoop will offer you a real cool mixture of music and special places to visit and relish.
Let’s take a look at the scene on Cherry Street or 15th Street, as it is commonly known. One of Tulsa’s most popular restaurants, Camarelli’s, features savory Italian cuisine and sumptuous music to boot. On every other Thursday, Camarelli’s features two outstanding musical acts—Ruby’s Begonia (blue grass and a little bit of everything else thrown in) and the wildly popular and Tulsa Spot Award Winner, Susan Herndon, strumming her guitar and singing popular hits of the day. For those of you who want to enjoy a nice Sunday dinner (try the Seafood Ala Vodka or the Chicken Tequila), stop by Camarelli’s and enjoy the versatile guitar and mandolin stylings of Mark Bruner and Shelby Eicher. You can never go wrong with this wonderful restaurant and the music is always a lovely complement to your dining experience.
If you are looking for another type of musical experience, take a ride over to Boston’s on 18th and not only enjoy American cuisine (burgers, fries), but check out the full calendar of music each week: Mondays, Midwest Kings; Tuesdays, Open Mic; Wednesdays, Tom Skinner Project; Thursdays, Phil; Fridays, Larry Arnet; and on Saturday kick back and enjoy Rewake. Music begins around 9 p.m. each night – for more info, call 583-9520.
Another new hot spot is Emilio’s Piano Lounge out South at 81st and Memorial. Music starts cooking at 6:30 p.m. until 12 midnight on Friday and Saturday evenings. Emilio is a world-class pianist having played in Las Vegas, Buckingham Palace for the Queen of England and with the legendary Elton John on several occasions.
If you catch Emilio playing, you will quickly note that Liberace has nothing on him. Emilio even wears exquisite jewelry on his fingers. He also provides complimentary limousine service to patrons who need transportation. Now is that cool or what?
The Inside Scoop also notes that on stage at Emilio’s, you can catch, SCORE—the jazz trio featuring Chuck Gardner on piano, Sandy Gardner on bass and vocals and Tony Yohe on drums. Also, keep your eyes and ears peeled for SCORE’s brand new CD titled Double Exposure. The new CD also features the trumpet wizardry of Tulsa favorite, Mike Bennett and will be unveiled at the CD release party in March at the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame. In addition, Emilio’s showcases a guitarist and a rock band each weekend. Needless to say, the continental cuisine is deliciously prepared and the music ranks high on the menu as well. Stop by on Friday and Saturday evenings—tell ‘em the Inside Scoop sent you.
Another red hot spot in Tulsa is located in the Cherry Street District and is located right across the street from Camarelli’s—it is the Full Moon Cafe which features some of the best burgers and steaks in town—the music is cool too. On any given Friday or Saturday, stop in and snap your fingers to the Dueling Pianos. The action begins at 9 p.m.; call for details at 583-6666.
At one of Tulsa’s popular “hang out” locations, one can always take a spin to Brookside and enjoy a number of hot restaurants, cool shopping, and musical venues. One of our favorite music spots is Suede, located at 3340 S. Peoria, where the music and the partying begins early in the week straight through Saturday night. Thursday night is “Ladies night” and Saturdays, you can catch DJ Dave spinning your favorite hit records. Call for info at 743-0600.
Coming to the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame in February are a number of special events. On Sunday February 12 at 5 p.m., the Annual Jazz Keyboard concert will feature six of Tulsa’s finest pianists: Rick Fortner, Chuck Gardner, Sonny Gray, Pat Moore, Pat Murray and Donald Ryan. Also on board will be Ed Garcia, Jr. on bass and Ken Leverette on drums—for music lovers, it doesn’t get any better than this. To celebrate Black History Month on February 16th, the Jazz Hall will present dynamic male vocalist, Garrick Handy, in concert singing, jazz, blues, gospel and R&B. The show begins at 7 p.m.. Also, on Saturday, February 25 at 8 p.m. the Jazz Hall celebrates the annual Mardi Gras with a musical extravaganza, highlighting the music of New Orleans and featuring a band from New Orleans, complimentary New Orleans Cajun cuisine, drink coupon, cash bar, dancing, mask contest and the BEST time of your life—don’t miss this salute to New Orleans and the men and women of Camp Gruber. Call 596-1001 for details or visit online at www.okjazz.org.
For you visual arts lovers, make plans to check out The Living Arts Studio located at 308 S. Kenosha St. in downtown Tulsa, and currently featuring the works of Tulsa artist, Mark Lewis. The Gallery is open 1-4 p.m. on Saturdays and 5-8 p.m. on Thursdays – call 585-1234 for more info. And speaking of visual arts, one can’t go wrong by hanging out at two of Tulsa’s museum treasures—Philbrook Museum (749-7941) and Gilcrease Museum (596-2700).
The music and arts scene in Tulsa continues to expand and The Inside Scoop will tell more in coming weeks about two new music clubs opening in the downtown Tulsa area and both are on First Street. They will open within days of each other and both will explode with the new Tulsa Sound—jazz, blues, folk music and country music. Stay tuned for the opening dates and the opening night music artists.
Updated 01-24-2006
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