Oklahoma History Center rocks to state’s tuneful past
Flaming Lips help launch music exhibit at Oklahoma museum
Buzz up!
BY GEORGE LANG and JENNIFER CHANCELLOR
Published: May 3, 2009
Modified: May 5, 2009 at 1:23 pm

As Wayne Coyne and more than 2,800 visitors filed through "Another Hot Oklahoma Night,” the new rock ’n’ roll exhibit opening this weekend at the Oklahoma History Center, a slew of memories came flooding back. And not just memories of rock shows, but of hard-earned pennies in the food-service industry.

"This is my first time to see the exhibit,” said Coyne, grinning. He pointed to a starched-stiff, red and blue polyester Long John Silvers uniform hanging in a glass case next to an alien suit. "It doesn’t look as piratey as you would expect,” he laughed. "It’s kind of generic, but I wore that until 1990, right as we were signed to Warner Bros.” He worked there for 13 years as a struggling musician.

"All of this looks like something you’d see in the Smithsonian,” said Flaming Lips manager Scott Booker at a VIP event at the center on Friday. "I was in Washington, D.C., recently, and this rivals anything you’d see there.”

What’s on display?
Exhibits included the harvest-gold jumpsuit worn by Tulsa’s Leon Russell in 1974, a drum kit played by Jim Keltner during Bob Dylan’s 1981 "Shot of Love” tour, and an interactive video exhibit featuring early rockabilly acts Wanda Jackson and the Collins Kids. In addition, rock radio pioneers Danny Williams and Ronnie Kaye are honored in the exhibit.

Despite heavy morning rains that forced Saturday’s performers indoors, musicians performing at the opening weekend events were enthusiastic about playing on the center’s two stages.

"I think it’s showing that people are (starting to realize), ... that the one thing that everyone has in common is music. No matter what tribe or ethnicity you are, music is what brings us together,” said Chase Kirby of The City Lives. "Being able to give back and leading by example is what all Oklahoma bands should do.”

Brycen Newell, 14, and his mother, Deborah, traveled in the rain from Ardmore to visit the exhibit.

Newell hunched over on a worn sofa and strummed a guitar as part of an interactive niche at the center, made up to look like a garage with soundproof foam, a worn couch and gig posters lining the walls.

"My favorite part was all the stuff about the All-American Rejects,” Newell said of the multiplatinum Stillwater music act. "It’s really cool here.”

All But 1 bassist Erika Barker, 17, said: "It’s amazing, because it instills a sense of actual Oklahoma pride in me,” "It makes me feel really good about being a musician and promoting Oklahoma and making it a place where people want to live.”

Korean students Youn-Suk Jong and Jin-Hwa Jung strolled through another room that highlighted the history of Oklahoma radio. "I’ve learned a lot,” Jong said.

Jung said the center and its interactive video exhibits were most impressive. "I’ve heard this is one of the most famous museums in Oklahoma,” she said. "You can touch a button and learn about history. It’s very interesting.”


‘It’s long overdue’
Mike Black of the long-running oldies band Mike Black and the Stingrays said he had been waiting years for Oklahoma to commemorate its storied rock ’n’ roll heritage, and the exhibit lived up to his expectations.
"All the time I’ve been growing up here, all my life, and I love Oklahoma and I love country music, but that’s been it,” Black said. "They’re actually going to recognize rock ’n’ roll in Oklahoma? It’s wonderful, and it’s long overdue. And I’m honored and blessed to be a small part of it.”