A Place for Food & Friends

An Interview at the Skylark Café

NESTLED IN THE CHARMING SMALL TOWN of Leslie, Arkansas, just off of Highway 65, stands Skylark Café. What may seem like nothing more than another pit stop on a busy journey through the Ozarks is actually a quaint, family-style gem with a beautifully crafted menu and even more thoughtful dessert choices. You know you’re home and among friends when you see that bright turquoise exterior and step through the front door. We were honored to sit down with owner Joy Ellis to discuss her plans for the future, what it’s like running a business and family, and how to make the most of what we’re given.

A FIELD FULL OF LIFE

INSIDE SPRINGFIELD’S EARTH DAY MUSIC FEST

A PLASTIC-FREE, COMMUNITY-POWERED FESTIVAL led by local musician Molly Healey returns for its 5th anniversary, raising nearly $100,000 for environmental causes and inviting you into something real.

The Wheelhouse’s Recipe for Success:

A New Menu, New Location, and New Team

Photo by Mikle Kelly

FOR MORE THAN A DECADE, one of Springfield, Missouri’s own and favorite food trucks, Wheelhouse, has been bringing Thai and Mexican fusion cuisine to the city’s ever-growing food scene. Through the years since its conception in 2012, the food truck now turned brick and mortar has faced its challenges, but through new ownership, a new menu, new location, and a talented brigade, the Wheelhouse has solidified itself as a revamped staple in Springfield’s culinary landscape.

Co-owner Lijah Sparlin and other team members of the Wheelhouse sat down with Deitra Magazine to give us the details on these implemented changes, as well as their culinary backgrounds and passions for what is to come.

Stevie Victory: World of Another

HE'S A MULTI-TALENTED ARTIST with a distinct personal style. His acting roles can be seen on such independent films as Counting to 1000, a post-modern horror flick that has received the Best Film award from SATO48 — Stevie himself landing runner up for Best Actor. He has a solid background writing and performing music in various formations, and is an incredible portrait artist, painter and a master of the Deitra runway, adding his own personal flair of character stemming from his acting experience. A truly deep soul and creative entity, Stevie has a mind that we could dive into head first. Following is a photo shoot created by Deitra photographer, Leslie Tucker, as well as an exclusive interview that merely scratches the surface of this ultra-talented dude.

Myths & Monsters: The Fauness

For this photo shoot, Editor Tamara Styer and Beauty Director Kristen Lentz were inspired by “The Fauness,” an illustration and sculpture in Rose O’Neill’s Sweet Monsters collection.

Modeled by Cori Edwards and photographed by Matt Loveland, Styer and Lentz set out to capture the charm and whimsy of the female version of the faun - a mythological half-human, half-goat creature notorious for their lustful nature and their love of the forest and music. Though few female fauns can be found in stories, our Fauness is as beautiful as she is sly and cunning, luring us into her wooded abode with dancing and the eerie enchantment of her pan flute song.

Best Friends Part Deux: Acroyoga

Following suit with our Best Friends photo shoot series, I had a lot of fun with this one as well! Jessica Manuel, Leah Haines and Chelsea Campbell were my models for this shoot because they truly have such a special bond of friendship. Their sisterly-like love for each other flows into everyone they meet and they always want to make sure everyone’s included. I love that about them! 

Deitra Fashion: Best Friends at Tommyhawks

Have you ever just met someone, and after spending about five to ten minutes with them, you just know you're going to be instant friends?! That's how we all felt when chatting with Kacey Jennings, the co-owner and manager of TommyHawks Axe House in Springfield, MO. This was such a perfect vibe to get as this whole photo shoot revolved around the theme of Best Friends. I wanted a summer fashion photo shoot with guys. The big difference is that nine times out of ten when you see a guys’ photoshoot, they're posed all too cool for school in some suburban area. Don't get me wrong, I genuinely have an appreciation and love for those! But for this, I just wanted something with a totally different feel to it. (Usually, I'm working with ladies doing hair and/or makeup, so I love that this was pushing me out of my element a bit.) I wanted that nice, summer casual feel along with some activity where a couple of friends would go to hang out and have a good time. Axe throwing was the first thing that popped into my head, and I'm so glad we were given the opportunity with TommyHawks. 

Boss Babes: Beauty & The Editor

Written by Tamara Styer | Photographed by Matt Loveland

DEITRA MAGAZINE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Tamara Styer and Beauty Director Kristen Lentz met while working at Victoria’s Secret in Springfield, Missouri. They have since become great friends and creative allies, on a mission to turn the local fashion and beauty scene on its head. These two boss babes sit down for lunch at Springfield’s Cafe Cusco to talk about their journey working together at the magazine since its debut in 2011 — as well as plans for the future and some of the most important moments in their careers. As seen in Issue 14 of Deitra Magazine!

Art Inspired Academy: Girls Just Want To Have Fun

Written by Kristen Lentz | Photographed by Matt Loveland

Back in March and April, I had an amazing opportunity to be involved in our community in such a fun and inspiring — if you will — way. The Art Inspired Academy held five weeks of classes for teenage and young adult ladies called “Girls Just Want To Have Fun.” Over the span of these five weeks, girls learned how to create vision boards of fashion they love, hair and makeup tricks, wardrobing, runway walking and so much more. At the end of the classes, we held a fashion show during April’s First Friday Art Walk in Springfield, Missouri where the ladies would strut their stuff in the outfits they chose! With differing activities each week, I loved how these girls felt more and more comfortable in their own skin, as well as with each other.

All That Glitters: 99x Party

Glitz and glamour will set the Springfield Art Museum aglow at this year’s 99x event.

Andrew Batcheller: Flights of Fantasy

written by Charles Goodin

IT'S THE SCENE'S UNAPOLOGETIC bleakness that first draws me in: a bird, perched pensively on a dry, weathered branch and framed only by the slightest hint of a wispy, blue dusk. As the creature's beady eye bores into mine, I begin to see the tableau as the solemn epilogue to a story of apocalyptic proportions — one in which the sole survivor of some world-rending disaster needs no words to indict my character.

Laughing Stock: Merr's Addiction

Written by Tamara Styer | photographed by Matt Loveland

WITH THE EVER-GROWING music and arts scene in Springfield, Missouri, another art form has been popping up right alongside the rock bands and indie artists. Deitra Mag sits down with Mark Archambeault of Laughing Stock to discuss why Springfield could become a central hub for stand up comedy.

Gary Bedell: Bump in the Night

Written by Tamara Styer

GARY BEDELL IS A NAME you'll hear often on the streets of downtown Springfield, Missouri. He is a staple of the independent arts scene, often doing live art in the window of a gallery called Canvass during First Friday Art Walk. He supports other artists and musicians and performs as a DJ, Agent Traxxident. He is one of the most sought-after artists in the area, doing everything from art for band posters to publishing his own books and creating video games. Deitra Mag sits down with Bedell to discuss his art, influences, dreams and upcoming plans, and why Springfield is where he wants to be.

David Samples: The True Artist

written by Tamara Styer / photographed by Tyler Hutcherson

SITTING IN A SMALL living room with the members of his band, David Samples is hunched over an electronic pad creating his latest artistic vision. As he zooms deeply into the drawing, scribbling little lines and blobs around the deepest layer of interior design, I cannot see the end result he has in mind. Then he zooms back out and I can see the subtleties of detail hardly visible to my untrained eye, hidden deep inside the figure head of Samples' creation.

     Later we meet about his upcoming interview and photo shoot. As I pull out my journal, ready to jot some notes, I notice Samples has one out as well – a thick book full of writings and drawings, worn with use and creative energies. He explains that this journal embodies his main sense of worth in his band, Assembly Line Gods.

       

The M.E.O. Podcast: From podcast to Radio

Written by Tamara Styer | Photographed by Kali Fisher

This Friday night, June 17, at the Outland Ballroom in downtown Springfield, Missouri, supporters of the M.E.O. Podcast are coming together for an all ages benefit concert with local musicians, comedians, artists and entertainers.

Since January 1, 2011, hosts of the M.E.O. Podcast, Eric Fisher and Merr, have gone from starting the podcast in Fisher’s apartment, to getting their own radio show on 99.9 KBFL, as well as 1060 AM and Springfield Web TV. Every week they came out with a new podcast without fail. They’re doing it for free, and they’re doing it on their own. Their rapid growth is indicative of their ambition and drive for what they do.