interview with a rockstar - oklahoma city

The Oklahoman is doing a special with Oklahoma celebrities and their hometowns. Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips grew up and now lives just north of downtown OKC. He showed us his house, where he went to high school, the Long John Silvers where he worked even after getting signed with Warner Brothers, the first venue they played, and the newly dedicated Flaming Lips Alley in Bricktown.

Check out the entire project including an hour long interview, a couple videos about the Flaming Lips Alley dedication, and our OKC trip at newsok.com/video/waynecoyne.

Also, there's a great remix blog post about our initial interview with Wayne from some local guys at thelostogle.com. I'm still not sure why they called me Elliot.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• tannerherriott
• newsok.com
• wayne
• coyne
• the
• flaming
• lips
• OPUBCO

[moonandantarctica2]

this is cool, but fearless freaks covers all this stuff in heaps more detail and in a much better way, so go watch it if you havent already :)

[tannerherriott]

is that a compliment? uh... thanks?

[lizberry81]

I love Wayne. He's is the shit.

He's drives better while being interviewed than I drive period. I would have gotten in to the car, started it, and crashed by the first question.

[bubblerolly]

it's called Classen Ten Penn. the neighborhood. i grew up there.

[trilobite3339]

haahahaha he bought the rental houses too

[PartiallyBillHicks]

Nice video. He's such a nice guy.

[1WC4L]

Im disappointed in Wayne.

Its not pronounced "Norman"

ITS FUCKING "NOMPTON" !!! :D

[RaininBabies]

Um.... did you actually watch the video OR read my comment? Wayne said "when you get across 16th Street... ...and they'll go for $80,000." He was talking about Gatewood, not Classen-Ten-Penn, where you technically bought and where his house is. Of course there are houses in CTP that are $35,000. But houses NORTH OF 16TH, WHERE HE WAS TALKING ABOUT, IF YOU HAD PAID ATTENTION, routinely go in the $150K to $250K range, depending upon square footage.

[DerekDoublin]

Um... he is absolutely not underestimating the value of the houses in his area. If anything he is overestimating their value. I just purchased a 7,000 square foot building on Gatewood between 16th and 15th (roughly 2 blocks from Wayne's house) for $136,000.00. It is a giant space. There is a house for sale right behind my building going for $35,000.00. The neighborhood is a ghetto. And most houses are falling a part. He is not embellishing.

[lordblazer]

living in Japan right now, and yes this is very cheap. 80,000 dollars gets you a small 1 bedroom apartment here in Japan.

[phlizmo]

I live in southern California so yeah that's really cheap by comparison.

[RaininBabies]

Hah. Well, he's underestimating it a bit. When you get across 16th street, just a couple blocks north of Wayne, most houses don't go for $80,000, they actually go for more like ONE or TWO HUNDRED eighty thousand. Still chump change from a national pespective, but Wayne's underestimating the houses in Gatewood. Makes for good storytelling though... Wayne's really great for both neighborhoods.

[phlizmo]

wow. Property is dirt cheap in OKC!

[WhaleRider86]

naaa, you're partly right but I bet his car (and the most other cars in the US) have automatic gear shifts, so its very easy to drive.