Kyle Maclachlan’s been in town working on Sterlin Harjo’s new TV show—which appears to have changed titles from The Sensitive Kind to The Lowdown, by the way—and I do like to imagine him ambling around our city Dougie Jones-style, enjoying a damn fine cup of coffee at Topeca or perhaps discovering evidence of unspeakable crimes like the time he found that severed ear in Blue Velvet. (My best guess for where? Soundpony bathroom.)
But, it seems reality in this case is a little off from fiction. In fact Maclachlan has been using his credentials as the (fictional) governor of Oklahoma to socialize with local beverage industry people. Who knew that the real guy has his own winemaking operation?
Maclachlan stopped by Provisions last week to spend his afternoon tasting wines and posing for photos with the staff:
Do any of our fine readers work for Provisions? If so, please get into the comments and let us know what the tasting notes are on Maclachlan’s Pursued By Bear wines. —Matt Carney
National Media Parachutes Into Lawton And Actually Does A Pretty Good Job
Usually when reporters from national media outlets drop in on small Oklahoma communities, the results are not so great. But I gotta say that the New York Times’ Eli Saslow recently reported a vivid, compassionate and intimate profile of Antonio Austin, a used car dealer in Lawton who’s feeling the full weight of the Trump tariffs. From the Times:
Antonio knew most of his customers by name, and they loved him for his prices and for his eccentricities. He cursed and then quoted Scripture in the same sentence. He carried a gun on his hip while serenading customers. He was a vegetarian in cow country and a self-described “hardcore conservative” who had always been skeptical of Trump. Now, the administration’s new tariffs had begun to disrupt his supply chain, as the 25 percent tariff on imported new cars drove more buyers to the used market.