Friday, October 4, 2024
Courtesy of Monty Peliti Cross Canadian Ragweed held a benefit concert at the Wormy Dog Saloon for the OSU plane crash victims in February 2001.
The ‘Boys From Oklahoma’ are back Long-awaited reunion, concerts to be held at OSU BY KENNEDY THOMASON
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wenty-four years ago, Josh Crutchmer made a last-minute decision to ditch an OSU football game for a Cross Canadian Ragweed concert. It turned out to be one of the catalysts for his love of Red Dirt music. Now a planning editor for The New York Times, Crutcher then was
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a sports editor for The O’Colly. Instead of traveling to Austin, Texas, to see the Cowboys face the University of Texas, Crutchmer decided he’d still make the trip. But it would be to watch Ragweed perform alongside country music artists Stoney LaRue and Jason Boland. “And so I was a very, very, very early insider to Red Dirt music,” he said. On Tuesday, Ragweed announced
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it will play its first concerts in 14 years — in the town where the band cut its teeth. On April 11 and 12, the band will co-headline with Turnpike Troubadours, another Oklahoma-born country band. Other country music heavy-hitters, The Great Divide, Jason Boland and The Stragglers and Stoney LaRue, are also set to play. All flourished alongside Ragweed in Stillwater’s bar scene before making bigger
names for themselves. The concert will be the first in Boone Pickens Stadium. The announcement was something Crutchmer expected. But not for another 10-15 years, when Ragweed members Cody Canada, Grady Cross, Randy Ragsdale and Jeremy Plato would retire and finally have their kids out of the house.
See Boys on page 5A
OSU alumnus Garth Brooks accused of sexual assault, battery KENNEDY THOMASON EDITOR-IN-CHIEF @_KENNEDYPAGE
Jace Bormann Reporter Isaac Terry hits a glass bottle, sending shards of glass across the room.
Mental Break crashes onto Stillwater scene ISAAC TERRY STAFF REPORTER
and a paint room. After only about a year of living in Stillwater, they had their ribbon cutting July 11 and a grand opening July 13 with a special incentive to get folks Nichole and Nathen Lewis found to come check them out. themselves wanting more fun in “Cowboy Towing here in town doStillwater. nated a car,” Nathen said. “They were The couple and their daughter had like, ‘We have a Pontiac G6 out here just moved from Canton, Texas. Once that we can drop off.’” settled, they looked around Stillwater After fitting the car into one of their and found less than they hoped. destruction rooms, they let the public “We wanted something to do in the take a swing. By the end, the car was a town,” Nichole said. “There’s not a mangled frame. lot, y’know. There’s food, there’s drink The role of retail entrepreneurs is and there’s shopping, but not enternew to the couple, but a way to blow tainment.” off stress was a wonderful idea to So they got to work. After acquiring Nathen, who said he is ex-military and a small building on South Westpark has dealt with anger issues before. Court, Nathen grabbed a hammer and wood and manually separated a portion of it into two destruction rooms See MENTAL on page 6A
OSU alumnus and country music artist Garth Brooks has been accused of sexual assault and battery by a former hairstylist and makeup artist. “Jane Roe” filed a complaint in a California court Thursday, which states the alleged incidents occurred in 2019, as reported by CNN. The alleged instances include a rape; repeatedly exposing his buttocks and genitals; sharing sexual fantasies with Roe; changing his clothes in front of her; and sending sexually explicit text messages.
Brooks previously denied the claims and tried to block Roe from publicly repeating them. Roe worked for Brooks starting in 2017 but was first hired to work for Trisha Yearwood, Brooks’ wife, in 1999. In the suit, aquired by CNN, Roe alleges Brooks groped her and forced her hands onto his genitals. Roe alleges there were several instances of misconduct during the period she worked for him. Brooks last performed at OSU in April 2023. His song, “Friends in Low Places,” is played between the third and fourth quarter of every home football game. news.ed@ocolly.com
File Photo OSU alumnus Garth Brooks was accused of sexual assault and battery in a California lawsuit Thursday. Brooks last performed at OSU in April 2023.