boyd street issue 1

8/13/2019 Boyd Street Issue 1

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Issue 1 Vol. 13

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January 17, 2014 Issue 1 Volume 13

TECH ATTACK

The Fullbright Companys GoneHome is, in short, a video gamethat defies expectations. Notyour average video game, itwill suprisingly deliver a dose ofnostalgia ...

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FEATUREIn this issue, Mel Guapo equipsus to start our new year with newmusic. He introduces us to Normannotables in the music world and hasthem share their experience and

personal favorites. This varied grouphas many flavors for our variedreadership.

13

ROMANCEIts a new year, and Alexis tosses herresolutions and strives for successanother way. Her friend is on boardand has her own hopes. Hint: Ithas to do with the complicated andinconsistent language of love.

10

ON THE CORNERHappy January to you all! Welcome back college students! I hope this is your be stsemester yet! Enjoy it while you still can because growing up sucks.

This issue has got all kinds of great stuff for you to read! We have our classic tech andromance column that are always entertaining, along with a new feature about some of the

best local artists in Norman. Maybe you can add attending more local music events toyour list of resolutions. That seems like a better one than hit the gym three days a week.

xoxo,

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFKelli Smith

ART DIRECTORKelli Smith

COPY EDITOR

Ashley Roy

PHOTOGRAPHYMark DoescherEmilye Lewin

CONTRIBUTORSAshley Roy

Alexis AucklandChase CookMel Guapo

ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVESJoe Wilhite

PUBLISHERJoe Wilhite

Boyd Street MagazineP.O. Box 721494

Norman, Oklahoma 73070

Copyright Boyd Street Magazine

Phone: (405) 321-2400E-mail: [email protected]

Any articles, artwork or graphicscreated by Boyd Street Magazineor its contributors are sole property ofBoyd Street Magazineand cannotbe reproduced for any reason withoutpermission. Any opinions expressed in

Boyd Streetare not necessarily that ofBoyd Streetmanagement.

WEBSITE & SOCIAL MEDIAboydstreet.com

BOYDSTREET MAGAZINE

ON THE CORNERThe Good Life hospitality groupowns a few of the big landmarks inNorman: Blackbird, Coachs, TheLibrary and Blu. This issue explainswhy we love the latter: good drinks,especially wine, great food and anatmosphere to match.

8

Kelli SmithEditor-in-Chief

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Great ExpectationsDisclaimer: Major spoilers for Gone Home

We always remember the moments that defy our expectations.

In Gone Home, a short video game by The Fullbright Company, you spend a couple hoursexploring a typical home, searching for the family you left behind a year ago. The plan wasa reunion after studying abroad, but what youre left with is an empty building littered withnotes, secrets and angst.

Video games typically follow a formula: You are the hero, this is your story and its your jobto play through the preordained events. You can die, but thats not how things are supposedto go. So you spawn at a checkpoint with another chance to finish the game as it wasdesigned.

Gone Homedefies that formula. Sure, you have to follow the story, but all the trappings ofplayer versus enemy conflict is gone. Its your job to piece together what happened in theyear you were gone, so you e xplore the home looking at scraps of pa per and listening toaudio journals.

Instead the conflict is found within the characters of the story as you piece together their livesover the last year. As you play, you expect cer tain video game things to happen, but theynever do. The developers mission here is telling you a story, and once you understand that,the focused narrative hits you like a freight train, barreling through you with 90s music,teenage angst and all of the fear a nd loathing kids experience in high school.

Weve always played games to avoid reality, jumping into the skins of soldiers and saviorsto forget about a hard day, that bully at school or how you feel about that one kid in mathclass.

But Gone Homestrue success is that it never acts like a video game. There is no action,there is no violence and there is no big s care at the end.

Its a short story that we read, page by page, as we explore the home, pick up bits ofpaper and involve ourselves in a world that isnt different than our own. Were scared andsurprised because, for once, we can relate to the button presses and visual cues. The notesyou read arent much different than the notes we passed to each other in high school.

It isnt the most bombastic story of video games, but it is the most explosive. You nevermeet any of the characters, but the shrapnel of their frustration, self-doubt and dreams areembedded throughout the house. As you assemble those fragments and learn about thepeople in that home, you unexpectedly recall similar moments in your life.

It takes us to a time when we were insecure. When we didnt know if we were cool or if thatcooler kid liked us back. When our parents didnt understand us and we didnt understandthem. When we thought if we could just run away, well, then everything would be OK.

Gone Homedoesnt want you to leave. It wants you to remember.

And anyone who plays it wont forget.

Chase CookTech Attack

Hammerwatchis a little indie game developedby Crackshell that plays much like Gauntlet.You explore a castle and battle monsters withspells and swords.

But what makes Hammerwatch so fun ispoking and prodding every corner of thecastle, finding secrets and money that canbe spent on power-ups and new abilities.Each class has different abilities that can bepurchased, as well as combo abilities thatreward players for killing enemies quickly.

The game is challenging with a set number oflives that run out before the game forces youto start over. You can play with other players,but you share a life pool, so be careful runningaround near spikes.

It doesnt revolutionize dungeon crawlers, butits still fun enough to play through a few timeswith friends. The pixelated graphics are brightand crisp and the music provides a greatsoundtrack for exploring. Just dont expect thegame to offer a ton of variety.

HammerwatchReview

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Back in college, I realized that overwhelmingly the mostadvantageous friends to have were the native Normanites. Not onlywere they effortlessly cool, but they also knew all the places to go. Ididnt have to waste my time on trying hit-or-miss bars or getting foodpoisoning from the hole in the walls that werent amazing (a rarity in

Oklahoma because almost all the local little joints rock my socks).One night back in my junior year of college, my Normanite friendMelissa said we should meet up at Blu.

Blu?

Blu. She nodded dreamily (and probably had dancing two-dollarwells floating through her mind).

Wheres that?

A little behind Main Street, on Crawford. Youll see the blue lightsso youll know youre in the right place. Its by the bank.

Well, all righty, then. A place called Blu thats blue.

Now Id know why Melissa affectionately referred to Blu as Normansbest-kept bar secret. Granted, Blu isnt really a bar bar (well, it is, butI think of it as something more), but it has an excellent one. How todefine it well, it serves fine wine and food, as the subtitle to thename makes explicit.

But for all you college kids, heres a little something awesome aboutBlu: two-dollar wells and three-dollar doubles. Rum and cokes,mimosas and more! (Note: Blu is the only place I guzzle mimosas at10 p.m. For two bucks, why not?)

Oh yeah I once got a little happy just off four dollars worth ofdrinks. Im sure I got your attention there, college students.

Now that thats out of the way, I want to be clear that I dont wish toreduce Blus awesomeness to that (though it is quite nifty). The foodis fabulous. Read: macaroni and cheese with a bread crumb crust,bacon and cilantro. Its fancy and delicious. The crinkle sweet potato

fries are the perfe ct amount of crisp, and their vegan dipping sauceis the perfect accompaniment. Pizzas, quesadillas, cheese platesand, my favorite, the Mediterranean plate, are all straight shooters(the latter has hummus, feta cheese and olive tapenade). Blu has aEuropean feel with scrumptious tapa sorts of snacks that are perfect

with the good quality wine it boasts.And, true to the name, there are bleu cheese snacks. Maytag blucheese potato chips rule. Its like gourmet cheese fries. For lunch youcan get the Beef and Blu sandwich, a hot black angus roast beefdrizzled with blu cheese dressing.

Yowza.

Seriously, you feel like such a classy little college student when yourethere. The atmosphere has evocative ink blot paintings that, pairedwith wine and the complex flavors of the food, leave you squintingat them and debating what the shapes are. And the lounges! Myfriend swears I saved her 21st when I suggested Blus lounge whenthe Monts blue room was booked. And you know what? The loungerocked. I felt like I was in a better version of my living room as we allreclined on the leather sofas, blasted our iPod on the speakers andpartook of the gastronomical goodness of Blu.

Wow your friends and take them to Blu. Just like I wowed my familywhen we went there for my graduation dinner. Yep, I was eating anddrinking a lot better than they thought.

Sidebar:

Blu is part of The Good Life hospitality group, which includes otherNorman favorites such as The Library, Blackbird and CoachsBrew house. Each bar/eatery has a different flavor for variousNormanites tastes.

Dont forget Blu has brunch every Sunday from 10 a.m. til 3 p.m.!

Blu is located at 201 S. Crawford Avenue Norman, OK 73069 Callor make reservations at 405-360-4258

Ashley Roy

Look for the Blu LightsNormans Blu is a hip destination of The Good Life

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One of my wisest friends recently told me herthing for the countdown to the New Year wasto make a goal, not a resolution. This ingeniousplan made a lot of sense to me because itseemed to be a softer approach to making aserious change.

NY resolutions are not only far-fetched 80

percent of the time, but their unbending naturemakes them hard to swallow. These resolutionswe set? Theyre unkind. Theyre unattractivelyconcrete, fiercely rigid and meant to be loyallyadhered to for the rest of our lives or until wefall of the wagon (which for me is usually abouta month down the line). This is why I really likedmy friends little theory. I could deal with a goal, not a life changeup. A goal meant I couldgive it a solid try, slowly and steadily gaining on my intention, but without beating myselfup for a few slips here and there.

Her words were magic to my NYE future, and in true wisest-friend nature, she ended upexploding my mind at the end of our talk. As she explained to me her New Years goaltheory, she also enlightened me specifically on what her goal was for 2014.

Her New Years goal for 2014 was to learn the language of love that her boyfriendspoke. It sounded totally stupid, but with a bit more detail, I sank my te eth right into herphilosophy. It wasnt really hers, though. She got it out of a book; shes a big reader andloves non-fiction. Lately, shed ventured into a bit of self-help and stumbled across a bookabout climbing to a higher level of bonding by discovering your partners love language.

She explained that every human has his/her own version of love. The way he/she

understands, feels and expresses love is just asunique as their fingerprint. That means the likelihoodof your partner relaying to you the level of theiradoration in a manner that you understand, expectand easily accept isnt great.

For instance, a woman may think that if her partnerreaches instinctively for her hand on the way intothe grocery store, then he is demonstrating a grandgesture of love. He, on the other hand, may notthink about hand holding at all, believing it doesntshow the slightest amount of emotional attachment.Holding hands might be as important to him ascatching the next episode of The View.

Think about how many ways your partner may beexpressing his/her love for you without you catching it because you were gauging him/heron your own measuring stick. He may think hes Casanova because he stayed at home tohang with you on Thursday night instead of watching a game with the boys, and you thinkhes indifferent because you always have to say, I love you first at bedtime.

Youre both showing your lovejust doing itdifferently. There are words, gifts, touch, acts ofservice, quality time and your own concoction ofmannerisms to display love. Which display is mostimportant to you? Think about it, and then thinkabout the likelihood of your partner considering thatdisplay to be most important to them.

If you really want to get close to the person you lovethis year, figure out their language of love. Ask them.Listen to them. Then set a goal to be come fluent.

Alexis Auckland

Foreign Love Language

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Mel Guapo

New Music for a New YearSome of Normans hardest working and best talent provide a list ofavorite music from 2013 to soundtrack your life in 2014

Feature

Opinion is the essence of humanity. Essentially, we aspeople function as Complex Taste Machines. We feed ourTaste Machine Souls with the things we love and hate, andour Souls hum and feed back that love and hate in whateverways we direct it.

Music is a way to influence our Taste Machine Souls. Wehave now all entered into the New Year 2014 and we mustlook to the future. How will we set the soundtrack of ourlives for 2014? What follows is a list comprised of some ofNormans finest musical minds of the greatest records from2013. Music to live 2014 by.

Jeff Richardsonis a family man and front man for severallocal acts, including Locust Avenue, an original rock-and-roll act from Norman, and more recently Empty Bottles,a country cover band, which plays tunes that cover severaldecades and can be seen with regularity at The Deli andOpolis. Empty Bottles original holiday song Kiss ThemAll Goodnight was a part of Fowler VW Presents, ABlackwatch Christmas, Volume 3: Jingle Beatsand Holly Tonk. Richardson has taken part in severaltribute shows over the years, dedicated to covering the workof bands like The Who. Jeff also has a reputation as one ofNormans friendliest bartenders, and you can get to knowthe man himself most evenings of the week and tal k musicwith him by sidling up to his bar a t Pepe DelgadosonCampus Corner. If hes not there, chances are hes playingdown the street at The Deli or across Main at The Opolis.

Jeff Richardsons 2013 Favorites for 20Light Heat / Light HeatThe National / Trouble Will Find MeThe Baptist Generals /Jackleg Devotional to tGrant Hart / The ArgumentJanelle Monae / The Electric Lady

Dont be fooled by how easy he makes it lookCalvinis one of the hardest working and mossupernaturally talented musicians in the state. Won tour with his own or another act, he can benights of the week playing solo or sitting in witof acts across a rainbow of genres. Calvin is amember of two of Normans most exciting actstwo years:Addverse Effects(hip-hop) and P(garage rock). You cannot put John Calvin in aalthough I would like to see you try, because hand you will fail miserably. Im not sure there iOklahoma who plays music with more pure joyCalvin. The list of Oklahoma music projects thabeen a part of and made richer with his soulfustaggering.

John Calvins 2013 Favorites for 2014Jesse Aycock / Flowers and WoundsBeachwood Sparks / Tarnished GoldThee Oh Sees / Putrifier IIKurt Vile / Wakin on a Pretty DazeMidlake / AntiphonOPEN

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Addverse Effectsfront man Joshua Rehanek is theNorman Music Scenes foremost flavor scientist. Rehanekhas assembled and leads a team of players, amassing aunit that has brought the Life back to Live Music. AddverseEffects is a complex construction of diverse elements fromThe Oklahoma Soul, giving life to a new organic brand ofhip-hop that is immediately relatable in a Live Performancesetting (he will literally have you singing his hooks by themiddle of your first listen). Not only do the tunes move you,but there is also substance in the music and the lyrics and,more important than that, an emerging culture in the sound;the true meaning of the word flavor.

Joshua Rehaneks 2013 Favorites for 2014:Chance The Rapper / Acid RapA breath of fresh hip-hop air.Autre Ne Veut / AnxietyBeautiful underground RnB.Earl Sweatshirt / DorisTechnique on Technique.James Blake / OvergrownBlends RnB and hip-hop effortlessly, and that voice Van Morrison / Astral WeeksReleased in 1968, found its way to me in 2013, this albumwas my Summer. Changed my writing and myself forever.

Michael Lovelandis a young father and husband tolocal Norman artist Ruth Lovelandand has a longhistory of playing music in Norman. In the beginning, therewasEarly Beat, self described and best described as afun-loving rock and roll band with a twist of In Your Face

Punk After becoming a father, Lovelands life changed,and so did his approach to music. His outlet in music tooka back seat to his family, and thus was formed the moreinformal group DAD, a two-man rock and roll outfit withfriend and fellow first-time father Reese Truesdell, formerowner of The Wild Hare bead shop on Campus Corner, nextto Campus TV. After Truesdell left town, Early Beat ignitedagain, along with the formation of the new outfit Poolboy,a garage rock project with John Calvin on drums and SeanBarker on bass. Both Early Beat and Poolboy are currently

active in the Norman scene and have r eleased projectswithin the past year (Early Beat full-length, ShapeshifterandPoolboy EP, Soda Kids, respectively). Loveland has a uniqueand undeniable voice that embodies the Soul of Normanmore completely and unpretentiously than any other artist intown.Loveland had this to say about his list of favorites from 2013:

Well, this is obsessive, all this came from roughly the samearea of the country. But, I am obsessed. So

Michael Lovelands 2013 Favorites for 2014:Ty Segall / SleeperFuzz / FuzzThe Oh Sees / Floating CoffinKing Tuff / Was Dead(Rerelease on Burger Records)The Oh Sees / Single Collection, Vol. 3

Samantha Crainhas given our state a great deal to beproud of, and Norman is incredibly lucky to call her one ofits own. With blood, sweat and gasoline she has crawledacross our mighty nation, garnering persistent attention fromour countrys most refined music sources such as RollingStone, Pastemagazine and NPR. Crain maintains an activepresence in Oklahoma between long stints on the road,as well as co-hosting Songs from the Plains(alongwith her good friend Samantha Lamb, another notableNormanite) on KOSUand The Spy FMSunday nights,

Joshua Rehanek, front man of Normans groundbreaking Hip-hop actAddverse Effects, making the possibly intentional mistake of sendingme a New Years Eve photo with an Arkansas Razorbacks logo in the

background. Luckily its upside down.

an hour of radio dedicated to Americana. In 2013, Crainreleased her third full-length record, Kidface, to worldwideacclaim. During the month of January, Samantha will befirst doing a small run on the northwest coast before goingoverseas to play through the end of February all over theEU, bringing evermore pride to our state.

Samantha Crains 2013 Favorites for 2014:Devendra Banhart / MalaJohn Moreland / In the ThroesMolly Drake / Molly DrakeJames Blake / Overgrown

Drake / Nothing Was the Same

Matt Duckworth is a man of a thousand bands, and this yearhe has added another major project to his name, emergingas the front man of a collaboration, Brainwasher,developed with Tommy McKenzie (formerly of The BoomBang, and active member of half a dozen Norman-basedbands). Duckworths main gig, Stardeath & WhiteDwarfs, in which he plays drums and shares songwritingand vocal duties, completed their sophomore record thispast year and will look to release it in 2014. When hesnot playing or recording original music, hes on the roadselling merch with The Flaming Lipsor contributing in thestudio at Bell Labs. Matt has a wide range of tastes andcapabilities and he has proven himself to be an unrelentingexplorer and is emerging as one of Normans prodigiousmusical creators.

Matt Duckworths 2013 Favorites for 2014:Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds / Push the Sky AwayDarkside / PsychicVampire Weekend / Modern Vampires of the CityPhosphorescent / MuchachoA$AP Rocky / Long Live A$AP

John Moreland / In the Throes

Kyle Reidhas one of the boldest and yet mostyles in the state. His jazzy guitar licks and swtempos house a collection of original tunes thathe dark and serious to the sunny and playful. rowdy but his technique is pure. Reid works inas a session player at Normans own BreathiStudioswith producer Steve Boaz, who ca

seen sitting in with Kyle at The Deli, amongstaround the state. His tenacity as both a playersongwriter have made him an important and gof the Norman music scene. He will be performband, The Low Swinging Chariots, on Ja7:30 p.m. at the Norman Train Depotfor aof original swing tunes and classic standards. $7 for students.)

Kyle Reids 2013 Favorites for 2014:Luke Winslow-King / The Coming TidePreservation Hall Jazz Band / Thats It!John Moreland / In the ThroesCaitlin Rose / The Stand-InTallows / Memory Marrow

Matt Duckworth, far right, playing drums on New Years at OKCsBricktown Music Hall with Stardeath & White Dwarfs, fronted by

Tyson Mead (formerly of the Chainsaw Kittens) collaborating togetherto cover David Bowies entire Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from

Mars. (Photo by Autena Torbati.)


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