GIDDY UP, FRIENDS! Today on a very special episode of The OKPOP Radio Hour: Ponyboy Curtis himself, actor and musician C. Thomas Howell! Tommy, as he likes to be called, is in Tulsa this weekend for a show Saturday at Venue Shrine (https://www.facebook.com/tulsashrine) with his band, The Pony Express. He'll also be at the Outsiders House Museum (https://www.facebook.com/theoutsidershousemuseum) Sunday from 11am - 1pm. Tommy was kind enough to talk with us yesterday about a number of topics, including:

= Smoking cigarettes at 13 to land his first movie role working for Steven Spielberg in the 1982 classic E.T.

= The clever psychological tactics he says Francis Ford Coppola employed to create real tension between the Greasers and Socs during the filming of The Outsiders

= How he wound up getting punched FOR REAL during the film's "rumble" scene

= His relationships with other members of The Outsiders cast, and with author S.E. Hinton

= What drove him to pick up a guitar and write his first song - just THREE YEARS AGO!

Give us a listen and STAY GOLD friends!