Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne with a fan.
All photos: JEREMY CHARLES for TULSA WORLD
OKLAHOMA CITY -- On Friday night in Oklahoma City, the Oklahoma History Center previewed the opening of the "Another Hot Oklahoma Night: A Rock and Roll Exhibit" to a VIP audience that included some of Oklahoma's most famous musicians and radio personalities.
Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne mingled with fans at the portion of the "Another Hot Oklahoma Night" exhibit that featured his band of more than 30 years.
In a gray pin-striped suit, he laughed about the red and green alien suit on display, worn in the filming of "Christmas on Mars," a sci-fi flick Coyne shot mostly in Oklahoma and released last year. He greeted kids and smiled for pictures. He hugged fans and signed autographs.
"This is my first time to see the exhibit," said Coyne, grinning. He pointed to a starched-stiff, blue polyester, red and blue Long John Silvers uniform hanging in a glass case next to the alien suit. "It doesn't look as piratey as you would expect," he laughed. "It's kind of generic, but I wore that until 1990, right as we were signed to Warner Bros. (record label)." Coyne worked at Long John Silvers sea food franchises in Oklahoma City to make ends meet from the time he was 16. ("That was in 1977," he said.) The words "Seaman Second Class" are etched into the nametag.
Pictures of Coyne from high school, as well as band shots from the late 1980s and early 1990s also play prominently in the exhibit, as does a boombox from the Flaming Lips "boombox experiments," which were symphony-like crowd-participation "symphonies" with tape cassettes and portable radios the band did through the late '90s.
The band's 2002 favorite, "Do You Realize??" was named the official rock song of Oklahoma on Tuesday.
Scott Booker, CEO of the Academy of Contemporary Music at the University of Central Oklahoma (ACM@UCO) and manager of the Flaming Lips, said of the 8,000 square feet dedicated to the rock 'n roll exhibit, "All of this looks like something you'd see in the Smithsonian.
"I was in Washington DC recently, and this rivals anything you'd see there."
Coyne and wife Michelle.
On Saturday, all things music will explode from Oklahoma City, with a blowout celebrating the public opening of "Another Hot Oklahoma Night: A Rock and Roll Exhibit," at the Oklahoma History Center. It's free, and runs 11 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday in Oklahoma City.
This family-friendly exhibit explores the rock 'n' roll artists, radio stations, personalities, venues and fans that have called Oklahoma home.
Read the full story, a schedule of Saturday performances and more at 
tulsaworld.com.
Also, for more coverage, check out George Lang's Static Blog at NewsOK.com.
