It was a full house inside Cain’s Ballroom Thursday night as friends, family and fans celebrated the late Lee Roy Chapman and supported the production of a book and documentary about Chapman’s work as an independent journalist in Tulsa.
The festivities, dubbed “You’re Doin’ It Wrong,” included performances by BRONCHO’s Ryan Lindsey and Red Dirt Rangers, plus a rough cut screening of the new documentary “Lee Roy Chapman Versus the Ghost of Tate Brady.” The film was produced by Center For Public Secrets, a Pearl District venue dedicated to Chapman’s work. The group also organized Thursday’s event with support from Ida Red.
Chapman, who died in 2015, worked tirelessly to expose long-hidden truths about the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and the involvement of city cofounder Tate Brady and other prominent Tulsans. Ethan Hawke’s character Lee Raybon in Sterlin Harjo’s FX series “The Lowdown” is loosely based on Chapman and his work.
The book, “Lee Roy Chapman’s Tulsa,” blends rare photographs, original essays, artwork, personal ephemera and interviews with the people who knew him best into a new retrospective work. Photographer Western Doughty and journalist Michael Mason are overseeing the book’s publication, which is available for pre-order ahead of its spring release.
While the Red Dirt Rangers entertained the crowd, Doughty sat down with the Flyer on a backstage couch to discuss Chapman’s legacy and his role in “The Lowdown,” which aired its first season this fall.
This event serves as a fundraiser for the book and the documentary you’re showing a rough cut of here. Why now?
The great series Sterlin is doing, “The Lowdown,” is loosely based on Lee, and the reader is kind of a companion to the show that shares what Lee really did and the type of truth seeking that he did. There are the Tate Brady stories and the Elohim (City) stuff. I think, as people watch the series, they’ll be like, “Is this a real thing?” and they’ll better be able to make the connection between Lee Raybon and Lee Roy.
In “The Lowdown,” Hawke’s character drives a big beat-up white van like Lee Roy did. There’s the investigative journalism and the persona. You were very close to Lee Roy. What has it been like for you to watch the show be made — and be a part of that — and then to revisit his work for these projects?
It’s kind of surreal and interesting. Lee, of course, was like a brother to me, and I was hired as a creative consultant for the show. I was also hired as the cook for Sweet Emily’s (a restaurant featured in the show). Sterlin told me two or three years ago that he had this idea, and quite frankly, when he told me that, honestly, Sterlin, to me, was the only person who could do this series or do anything in relation to Lee because Sterlin was in that small group that really knew Lee. There’s no other person I would have trusted to do a story about Lee Roy Chapman. So I felt safe and I felt confident that even though it’s loosely based, I knew that Sterlin would do it right.
Scott Mason and I went into the writers room and we told stories about Lee Roy. It’s funny to see little tidbits of our stories in the storyline and stuff. All of the people that work on the production, they become family. They’re just awesome people.
You mentioned playing the Sweet Emily’s cook. I love the photo Charles Elmore took of you behind the scenes during production. You and Sterlin have been close for many years, so what was it like having him direct you?
Watching Sterlin work and being on set was great. First off, I don’t fanboy much, but Keith David is a hero of mine. So “Clockers” and “The Thing” are top tier for me, so Keith David walks on the set and my jaw drops. Then Run The Jewels is one of my all-time favorite bands and then Killer Mike’s on set, and I’m fanboying out. I get to work with these people that are, you know, I mean, come on!
Working with Sterlin it’s just so relaxed, and it’s just so cool. I mean, everybody’s just cool. There’s none of that Hollywood pomp or bulls–t. Everybody’s just cool. We all hang out and we all drink and we all talk and we all love film. We all love movies. We all love art, and that’s why I love it.
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