Oklahoma Ghost Towns

'Talihina Sky' kicks off deadCenter with a rock-'n'-roll bang

What do Pentecostal Christians and sweaty, international rock stars have in common?

More than you think.

About three-quarters through the worldwide premiere of director Stephen Mitchell’s Kings of Leon-focused rockumentary “Talihina Sky,” the brothers and cousins Followill whip their hair back and forth (sorry) in a montage of high-octane, rock-'n'-roll-driven frenzy, interspersed with vintage black-and-white and home recorded shots of impassioned parishioners writhing, tongue-waggling, shaking and otherwise undulating under the influence of the Holy Ghost.

It was easily the coolest and most perceptive visual juxtaposition of the documentary, the premise of which examines the boys’ personal conflict between their fundamentalist Christian nurturing and the fleshly indulgence of their "youth and young manhood."

The film, which headlined this year’s deadCenter Film Festival, premiered to a crowd of about 3,000-4,000 gathered on Automobile Alley on Friday in downtown Oklahoma City. Many people leaned up against parked cars and — with craned necks — sprawled out on the bare concrete, aching for a decent view. Also in attendance was much of the Followill clan (none of the Leon boys, though), who loudly cheered every time one of their own appeared on the big screen.

And that was fairly often.

Named for the miniscule Oklahoma town where the Followill family gathers for their annual reunion, “Talihina Sky” did well to depict the roots of the band’s religious rockabilly and Southern charm that eventually earned them international acclaim with the release of 2007 album “Because of the Times.”

“We mostly play arenas now,” one of the boys casually tells his wrinkled, tiny aunt in what becomes one of the film’s surreal moments upon the realization that they’re treading barefoot in a town whose greatest point of interest is its Iron Cowboy Motorcycle Camp.

Like every rock documentary, there’s footage of The Band Playing Holes-in-the-Wall Before They Were Famous, there’s footage of The Band Doing Stupid But Humorous Things While Under the Influence of Semi-Controlled Narcotics and footage of The Band Getting Off Their Enormous Touring Plane Now That They’ve "Made It."

Adhering perhaps too strongly to conventional rockumentary form, the film lacks a satisfying answer to its implied premise. It ends with lead singer Caleb (who gets epically chewed out by one of his bandmates midway through for his excessive narcissism) shrugging off years of debauchery with the type of grin some describe as "shit-eating.

KEOKUK FALLS “Ghost” town of Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma ...

“Keokuk Falls was named for Moses Keokuk, Chief of the Sac & Fox.  The little town was branded as one of the most infamous, sensational saloon towns that mushroomed along the Oklahoma territory border after the second “run” for homesteads on September 22, 1891.  Wild happenings centered around the “7 Deadly Saloons” of Keokuk Falls made the town one of the wildest, most turbulent, and dangerous in the entire old west, where many of the toughest, most nefarious outlaw robbers and killers hung out during the pre statehood days.  It was here that early day desperadoes rode pell-mell through the streets with their six-shooters spouting hot lead, and attracted the derelicts and the refuse of humanity.

Moses Keokuk, the namesake of the town, had migrated with his tribe from Kansas, arriving on December 14, 1869.

D.N. Beaty, who had been “proving up” a homestead claim in Oklahoma county, and had opened a saloon in Choctaw City, opened the first saloon in Keokuk Falls in 1891.  It was called the “Black Dog Saloon.”  Lewis Irick and Allie Irick, along with several brothers, were credited with founding the Nazarene church in Oklahoma.  John M. White and Tom Homan farmed near town.  Robert Pachacek lived three miles west of town after arriving in 1898.  The Benes and the Kluts families lived northeast of town.  Mr. Bourley had a store until 1910.  Claude Giles worked in the J.H. Patterson store.  John Turner was at one time the town Marshall, and Gene Lomax was a Deputy Sheriff.  Cal Washburn owned the drug store.

A.D. Hammer owned a flour mill and sawmill in town about 1900.  Jim Coleman was a blacksmith until 1899.  J.E. Delaney was superintendent of Keokuk School in 1898 and later went to Ada to establish East Central College.  Dr. D.M. Holloman was the first doctor in the area in 1891.  Dr. William Abraham L. Cossey was also an early day doctor before 1900 and was affectionately know as “Dr. Will.”  Dr. Cossey who married Narcissa Johnson, daughter of William Perry Johnson, had three Children:  Clyde, Angus and Mabel.  Later another daughter, Maud Johnson, married Lewis Joseph Brant, son of William Henry Brant, formerly of near Neal, who moved to Keokuk Falls in 1907.  Lewis Joseph Brant’s daughter, Margaret, later worked for 35 years for the Indian Agency in Shawnee.  Mrs. Maud Brant ran the store and was postmaster and later ran the local telephone exchange.