By RICK DANLEY // June 6, 2018 Billy Ray Hayes was born and raised on a Cherokee reservation in eastern Oklahoma. When he was old enough to join the service, the U.S. government shipped him to Hawaii. At the end of his military tenure, Billy Ray stayed on in Hawaii, but eventually his money dried up. … Continue reading Billy Ray Hayes, Leaf Weaver
by RICK DANLEY // September 13, 2017 Skeeter has a theory. Here it is: the Midwest produces more and better clowns because the Midwest — lovely though it can be — is, for the most part, dull. Kids here, says Skeeter, are compelled, by the encircling boredom into which they’re born, to create their own kinds … Continue reading Meet Skeeter
by RICK DANLEY // September 23, 2017 Fate smiled on eight high school boys Thursday morning when former Miss Kansas Adrienne Bulinski plucked them from among hundreds of students gathered at the Bowlus Fine Arts Center. She sat them in a row on stage and, after a minute of lively banter, sang a suggestive version … Continue reading Blood, Sweat & Tiaras
by RICK DANLEY // February 22, 2019 We all know the Frankenstein story: Mad scientist, through a special alchemy of repurposed flesh and raw electricity, invests a humanoid creature with life. The creature then proceeds to turn on his creator, and in this act of rebellion we’re meant to understand the ill-fated consequences of intellectual hubris, … Continue reading A Misunderstood Monster
by RICK DANLEY // July 14, 2017 In 1976, the Register published a three-paragraph notice concerning “pot corner”: “Nobody knows for sure how it was started, but a country road intersection east of Moran has been known for years as ‘pot corner.’ … The landmark gets its name from four chamber pots, one sitting on a … Continue reading The People of Pot’s Corner
by RICK DANLEY // June 16, 2018 Late last month Republican gubernatorial candidate and former state Sen. Jim Barnett took the unprecedented step of selecting his wife, Rosie Hansen, to be his running mate. In doing so, Barnett rejected the usual bits of political advice that suggest a candidate should choose a running mate based … Continue reading Love & Politics
by RICK DANLEY // July 31, 2017 Dennis Polson is a pleasant, genial man in a cowboy hat, tasselled boots and a turquoise neckerchief, who doesn’t mind smiling on occasion but who is dead serious about his barbecue. He’s the sort of kindly stickler given to the phrase “the rules are the rules.” The 73-year-old … Continue reading The BBQ Crew
by RICK DANLEY // December 2, 2015 Santa Claus is inviting area children to Iola’s courthouse square Thursday between 5 and 7 p.m. Old Saint Nick, currently on the road promoting Christmas, met with the Register in a back booth at the A&W on Tuesday. He spoke expectantly about the kids he’ll meet this week … Continue reading Lunch with Santa
by RICK DANLEY // January 14, 2019 Once upon a time — let’s call it the early 1950s — three colossi of the American theater overshadowed all the other playwrights in the land. Award-winning scripts tumbled from their desks and were picked up by Broadway and performed for packed houses and praised to the skies … Continue reading On Inge
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