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Ron DeSantis for President
In my pre-presidential primary post, I provide a detailed explanation of the delegate allocation process for Oklahoma. As I mentioned in the same post, I am voting for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in the 2024 Oklahoma Republican Primary. A BatesLine reader asked me why the names of so many candidates...
Memorial Day weekend 1973: Saturday night in Tulsa
For fun, I decided to look up the local newspaper from 50 years ago this weekend. I was particularly curious to see what kind of live entertainment was on offer, and what people were watching on TV. (News clips below are from newspapers.com. Click the image to see the original...
Should conservatives celebrate OKC's big league status?
Why would any conservative celebrate regressive taxes to support billionaires who kow-tow to Chinese Communists and politically correct causes?
Remember and Rise cancelled over survivors' reparations demands
Stage for the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission's cancelled "Remember & Rise" commemorative event, set up in the middle of ONEOK Field. May 28, 2021. Copyright 2021 Michael D. Bates. All rights reserved. Omar Villafranca of CBS News reports this morning that the cancellation of Monday's "Remember and Rise"...
An open letter to Tulsa visitors on the centennial of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre
To journalists, photographers, and visitors, pilgrims this week of the centennial of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre: Welcome to Tulsa. Some context may help you interpret what you see and hear this week.
Bob Wills discography in Record Research
In 1966 and 1967, a trio of researchers, Glenn White, Bob Healy, and Bob Pinson, published a series of articles in Record Research: The Magazine of Record Information and Statistics, covering the life and career of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys. The introduction to this four-part series mentioned that...
Tulsa redecorates Golden Driller, begs for Tesla
It's cringe-worthy. Some persons, apparently with the permission of the Tulsa County Public Facilities Authority, painted the Tesla logo on the chest of the Golden Driller, and painted the name Tesla on his belt buckle, over the word Tulsa. If that weren't bad enough, used some kind of wrap to...
"Hancock's Half Hour" classic radio sitcom episodes available online
If you're a fan of the British sitcoms that have made their way to American television -- "Fawlty Towers," "One Foot in the Grave," "Keeping Up Appearances," "Yes, Minister," to name a few examples -- you will enjoy the radio show that set the standard for the Britcom genre. "Hancock's Half Hour" has become my favorite British comedy, and a family favorite as well.
Bob Gregory: A tribute from his son
After I posted my tribute in memory of Bob Gregory, I received an email from his son, Jason Pitcock, who included a copy of the eulogy he wrote for his dad and delivered at his service. What an amazing life he led! Like Bob Gregory's work, Jason's tribute to his...
Apollo 11 50th anniversary: Video, audio, and documents from 1969 and today
For folks of my age and older, watching men walk on the moon for the first time was an unforgettable thrill. Happily, through the wonders of the internet, there are many ways you can relive that experience and share it with the Gen Xers and later generations that missed...
A vision of Middle Earth: New Zealand's Blue Spring at Te Waihou
A friend recently asked for advice on places to visit in Australia and New Zealand. Our family had the blessing of visiting both countries a couple of years ago, and I returned briefly the following year. I had plenty of happy memories to share. I don't write about our travels...
No on SQ 788: medical marijuana
It has been interesting to learn that many of my medical friends who are advocates of alternative medicine and of the medical use of CBD oil (cannabidiol) and hemp are also opponents of SQ 788, the initiative petition that would, for all practical purposes, legalize recreational use of marijuana...
Smithsonian Channel mangles Greenwood history
There was some excitement among Tulsa history buffs when it was learned that the Smithsonian Channel would be showing colorized clips from home movies showing Greenwood, Tulsa's historic African-American district, as it was in the mid-to-late1920s. Instead we have another instance of the erroneous notion I call the "Greenwood...
Luther at the Movies: "Here I sit!"
About 10 years ago, an intelligently entertaining (and often spiritually edifying) pop culture blog went on permanent hiatus. It's worth revisiting, in this year of the 500th anniversary of its pseudepigraphous author's great historical moment. The premise of Luther at the Movies: The Great Reformer, famed for his blunt speech,...
Wayne McCombs profile in GTR Newspapers
A bit of good news to break up the election stuff: Wayne McCombs, local baseball historian and executive director of the J.M. Davis Arms & Historical Museum in Claremore, is the subject of a profile in GTR Newspapers. The profile by Terrel Lester begins with the story of McCombs's first...
Boston Beer Garden, 1937-1983
Found while looking for something else: In the Tulsa Library's growing digital archive, a December 22, 1983, Tulsa Tribune, story about the the Boston Beer Garden, destroyed by fire in the wee hours of December 21, 1983. The fire took the life of the bar's janitor and night watchman, Lennis...
Jack Davis and Marni Nixon, RIP
Two important but behind-the-scenes contributors to popular culture in mid-century America died this week. Jack Davis was 91. Marni Nixon was 86. Jack Davis was a prolific illustrator and caricaturist. He was a regular contributor to Mad magazine, alternating with Mort Drucker to illustrate TV and movie parodies. He had...
Israel 2015: March 7-8: The journey there
Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great;...
A bidding prayer for Christmas, A.D. 2014
Edited from the version originally published on December 25, 2012 Merry Christmas to anyone who happens by BatesLine today. As a Holland Hall high school student, I attended and sang in the annual service of Christmas lessons and carols at Trinity Episcopal Church, modeled after the annual Christmas Eve service...
Bill Kerr, RIP
Bill Kerr, veteran of radio, stage, and screen in Britain and Australia, died on August 28, 2014, at his home in Perth, at the ripe old age of 92. His son Wilton Kerr told ABC (Australia) News: "He said he wasn't feeling too well quite recently and he was just...
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