The Dry Line Podcast

On Saturday night, Ryan’s phone pinged. A text from a family member with a link. Feeling reckless, he clicked the link. It was a page that said Donald Trump was coming to Oklahoma, to Durant of all places, for a “midterm rally”. The website looked like it had been constructed on Squarespace with the first, basic template. It looked like a scam. Ryan Googled “Trump Oklahoma”.

Not a scam, a legitimate event. A for real event.

Which begged the question: Why?

Ryan dug around and came up with a theory, one which has Oklahoma actually beating Texas. In this situation. Not on the football field, of course.

In the Oklahoma News Round-Up, Ryan breaks down Buc-ee’s and OKC making things official, Markwayne Mullin’s shouting match with a former Edmond mayor, and Stephanie Bice’s hot mic up at an event in Stillwater, along with the most important development in his life since the birth of his son, the pothole getting fixed on Kelly at the railroad tracks before I-235.

LINKS

* The Oklahoman’s reporting on Markwayne in Edmond: https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/politics/2026/09/28/dhs-sec-mullin-edmond-shouting-match/91909057007/

* The Oklahoman’s reporting on Bice’s hot mic in Stillwater: https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/politics/2026/09/29/republican-u-s-rep-bice-oklahoma-says-its-time-to-end-iran-war-trump/91925588007/

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/ugly-mothers/armisticeLicense code: 4FKLPIAMMJW3LZJ6

The Oklahoma State Fair is pure, unbridled Oklahoma Americana. It’s full of heart, full of commercial opportunity, full of people you don’t usually hang out with, and full of opportunities to fall more and more in love with this strangely endearing home of ours.

Systematically, Ryan and Robert go through their two trips to the Oklahoma State Fair this year, looking for what they loved and would do again, and also looking for ways that the fair could improve. Food. Rides. Buildings. Goats. Music. Rabbits. Pork belly lollipops. Roasted corn. The Midway.

But the real question was… would they go back in 2027?

LINKS

Ryan’s article from this week: “Why Doesn’t the State Fair Feel Like the State Fair Anymore?”

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/ugly-mothers/armisticeLicense code: 4FKLPIAMMJW3LZJ6

Change is afoot. The signs are everywhere across Oklahoma City. On street corners. In front yards and gardens. Almost ubiquitous at this point, they’re colored yellow and black. And we’re not talking about the monarchs’ ongoing migration across Oklahoma (which is super cool and should be highlighted more often). No, we’re talking about the campaign signs for attorney general candidate Nick Coffey. Because those signs are everywhere.

Part of this groundswell of support is attributed to Nick’s roots, with him growing up in OKC and being a proud law graduate of The University of Oklahoma. But we believe it has more to do with Nick’s campaign messaging. He’s a Democrat on the ballot, but he’s said publicly that the Office of the Attorney General should not be a partisan office. He says it should be a law enforcement office acting on behalf of public interest, and partisan politics should have no role. That simple promise—almost idealistic in today’s political environment—is resonating with voters who want their leaders to start focusing on real issues impacting Oklahomans.

Graciously, given his schedule ahead of November’s election, Nick joined Ryan to discuss the issues that voters care about—data center development, cannabis legislation, and the Inola smelter project—along with how OU offense can right the ship against New Mexico on Saturday.

After their conversation, Ryan rounds up the Oklahoma news from this week, which involved an upcoming jury trial against Turn Key Health Clinics, the Oklahoma Prison inmates doing telemarketing, and the Harkins Theatre and A24 breakup.

LINKS

Nick Coffey’s campaign site: https://www.coffeyforok.com/

The Frontier’s reporting on the Shannon Hanchett death: https://www.readfrontier.org/stories/this-company-promised-to-improve-health-care-in-jails-dozens-of-its-patients-have-died/

Ryan’s column from this week about reimagining cannabis culture in Oklahoma

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/ugly-mothers/armisticeLicense code: 4FKLPIAMMJW3LZJ6

First, a promise: after this podcast, you won’t be hearing about weather from us again. Not in 2026. We’re done, and we’re turning the page into fall no matter what the high temperature is.

Second, what this episode is about: weather. Ryan recaps the summer inferno in all of its statistical glory, then he vents about those mirage merchants, the meteorologists.

Third, there was a lot going on in Oklahoma this week: IKEA is coming, a constitutional convention is coming whether you want it or not, and Bitcoin is coming for all of El Reno’s water. Most newsworthy though, an eight-month-pregnant Oklahoman ran an insanely fast marathon in Australia.

LINKS

Ryan’s column from this week: Is the Cold Front Coming? For Real. Is It Coming? I NEED TO KNOW.

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/ugly-mothers/armisticeLicense code: 4FKLPIAMMJW3LZJ6

We’ve arrived folks, at the reason for living in Oklahoma, at the reason for living at all: football season.

Exhaustively, position by position, Ryan has a first of its kind ranking for you: the OU Football All-Name First Team. He had too much fun, spent too much time on this. Next year, we’ll be budgeting our time differently and putting him on a different project for fall because he can’t be trusted with that much Oklahoma football on his brain. Riveting, yes, but an irresponsible allocation of our resources.

Also, as reported in the The Oklahoman, the Gold Dome found a surprise buyer this week. Ryan tells us what it all means and tells us if this leads us any closer to demolition.

LINKS

Ranking OU Football’s 100 Best Names of the Century

The Oklahoman’s article on the Gold Dome’s future

Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/ugly-mothers/armisticeLicense code: 4FKLPIAMMJW3LZJ6

Yesterday, the Republication runoff election featured a zebra in Oklahoma politics, the moderate Republican Gentner Drummond, and what’s become more commonplace than a Big Gulp cup littering the shoulder of I-35, the MAGA Republican Mike Mazzei.

This was Oklahoma’s best chance to elect a reasonable governor since 2011. And what happened? Mike Mazzei won by 2,020 votes.

In today’s podcast, Ryan breaks down the real impact of Trump’s endorsement, the growing gulf between registered Republicans and Democrats in Oklahoma, Drummond’s campaign mistakes, and what a term with Mike Mazzei might mean for Oklahomans.

Links

Ryan’s article from yesterday: Can Oklahoman’s Still Elect a Reasonable Governor?

Gentner Drummond’s concession speech

Mike Mazzei’s acceptance speech

Alright, yes, The Harvey is a deserving winner of Best Brunch. And yes, we hear you, Bunker Club is worthy of Best Dive Bar. But of the 2026 Best of OKC winners in August’s edition of the OK Gazette, would we really miss any of them 20 years from now if they disappeared?

Ryan and Robert break down this year’s results, then answer that question while comparing OKC’s past with its present.

Links

The OK Gazette’s Best of OKC Winners: https://community.okgazette.com/oklahoma/BestOf

Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/ugly-mothers/armisticeLicense code: 4FKLPIAMMJW3LZJ6

Tell me what the following three places have in common: Crystal’s Pizza, The Wilds, and Laserquest.

For one, they were all awesome, unique, and legendary.

For two, they are all now defunct.

We grieve with every second we must live in Oklahoma City without their presence, but the stabbing pain of their memory didn’t prevent Ryan and his father Robert from calling up more ghosts of decades past. They thoroughly combed through the 80s, 90s, 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s for the bars, restaurants, shops, venues, people, and sports that they desperately wished still existed.

Then, in Part II—dropping over the weekend—they pose a dangerous question: Is OKC’s past actually better than its present?

LINKS

* Ryan’s interview with his grandfather, David Scott, the Southside’s Master of Festivities: https://thedryline.substack.com/p/interview-david-scott-the-southsides

Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/ugly-mothers/armisticeLicense code: 4FKLPIAMMJW3LZJ6

The smash-hit musical Hamilton is playing at the Civic Center from August 11th to August 23rd, which means one thing: Elvie Ellis is back… but did he really ever leave?

Elvie grew up in Oklahoma City where he received his musical training at Classen SAS before graduating with a degree in vocal education from the University of Oklahoma. (He was also Boomer, the mascot, and Ryan got him to share a few stories with us). Elvie’s ascent into theatre, where he now tours with Hamilton, is a both a testament to his talent and a credit to his unrelenting resolve. Before joining Hamilton, a show he tried out for six times, he played Judas in the national tour of Jesus Christ Superstar and also played swing in Waitress. He’s performed on Broadway in New York and the West End of London. And throughout all of those stops, he continued working in a hybrid position at OU Health Sciences Center until recently when he opened his own show.

Get yourself a ticket and go watch an Oklahoma Cityan perform at the Civic Center. It’s too hot to do anything else. Football doesn’t start for three more weeks. No excuses.

Links

Watch Hamilton (8/11-8/23) at the OKC Civic Center

Watch Elvie perform his new show “Tomorrow, Tonight” at Sooner Theatre (8/17)

Follow Elvie on Instagram

Check out Elvie’s website

*Best of OKC Culture: Follow Caboose Coffee on Instagram

Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/ugly-mothers/armisticeLicense code: 4FKLPIAMMJW3LZJ6

If you want to enjoy your life in Oklahoma, in August, in this heat dome, you must be ruthless and decisive. Afternoon eats morning for breakfast. Don’t let it eat you too, Ryan says. Out maneuver it.

This week, Ryan puts forth his rankings of the times of day in an Oklahoma summer. As you might expect, some of these times of day really suck. That’s okay. Because the glory that awaits you, if you’re strategic, at the right time of day, makes all the suffering worth it.

And so does Braum’s. See you there at nine.

Show Notes

Follow Paul Lewis’s sculpture journey

Check out Uncommon Ground’s vision for a park in Edmond

How High School Football Teams are “Beating the Heat” - The Oklahoman

The Most Beautiful Color Scheme Ever Imagined for a Soccer Team - OKC United