Video: Johannah Walker “Oklahoma Strong,” dedicated to those affected by Moore tornado
University of Oklahoma student Johannah Walker uploaded a video of her strumming and singing her original song “Oklahoma Strong” to YouTube on Wednesday, just two days after the EF5 tornado ravaged Moore.
The song is about the devastating twister and Walker has dedicated to all the people of Moore.
“My heart is with my home away from home and all those affected by the tornadoes,” she writes on YouTube. “I’m so humbled by the teachers who protected so many children, the first responders that were on the scene immediately, and all the volunteers who are there helping. Make sure to keep sending prayers and donations their way.”
See her “Oklahoma Strong” lyrics after the break.
Junior League of Oklahoma City members celebrate at 85th Anniversary Gala
Junior League 85th Anniversary Chairmen Sara Crooks and Katie Moore. (Photos by Helen Ford Wallace).
400 Oklahoma City Junior League members and guests celebrated the 85th anniversary with a party at the Oklahoma City Golf and Country Club. They recognized the past by introducing past presidents and past award winners. They recognized the present with a video about the impact the JL has had on the community through effective action and leadership of trained volunteers. They recognized the future by presenting 85th anniversary gifts to the YWCA and Myriad Botanical Gardens. Accepting for the YWCA was Jackie Steyn and for the Myriad Gardens was Maureen Heffernan.
Sara Crooks and Katie Moore were co-chairmen of the event and committee members were Taylor Boswell, Mandi Briggs, Kristen Brown, Peggy Burris, Amna Choudry, Matilda Clements, Dana Culton, Janet Daugherty, Mary Delafield, Katherine Hager, Margaret Hoge, Ashley Jackson, Leah Jackson, Caroline Joyce, Kristi Leonard, Alexis Lux, Macey Panach, Jennifer Privett, Jenifer Randle, Cristi Reiger, Leigh Scully, Leah Sullivan, Kimberly L. Swan, Whitney Tero, Danielle Toussaint, Tracy Washam and Christi Woodworth. Cristi Reiger is JL President.
Tall vases of roses and green hydrangeas decorated some of the tables and other tables had short vases filled with roses. Cloths were black and white striped. Thinly sliced beef tenderloin Carpaccio and lobster risotto fritter, white asparagus soup and an assortment of desserts of chocolate truffles, pralines, mini crème brulees, strawberry parfaits and mini cupcakes were served to the party-goers. Another group, who didn’t come for dinner, arrived at 9 p.m. for the Encore Bash and dancing. Souled Out Band played.
For the formal event guests wore long and short dresses including: Karla Wallace, short rose-colored dress with rhinestone straps; Jeary Seikel, white chiffon top with gold slacks; Kay Oliver, navy blue short dress with ruffles; Cristi Reiger, navy blue floor -length dress with chiffon appliquéd overlay; Becky Howell, dusty rose silk long dress; Katie Moore, sequined strapless white long dress; Adrienne Nobles, gray silk long dress; Jose Freede, white glittery pants suit; Miki Farris, black- sequined short dress; Whitney Tero, white rose-patterned ballgown with one shoulder strap.
Junior League President Cristi Reiger.
Becky Howell, Jose Freede, Adrienne Nobles.
Joan Gilmore, Kay Oliver.
Miki Farris.
Beautiful tables.
“The Bobby Bones Show” auctioning signed guitars from Blake Shelton, Toby Keith, Carrie Underwood and more for Oklahoma tornado relief
After a devastating tornado tore through the city of Moore on Monday, Premiere Networks’ “The Bobby Bones Show” reached out to friends on Music Row for help. This week, country music’s biggest stars stopped by the program’s Nashville studios or called in to offer their support, perform songs to inspire listeners and donate personal items, concert tickets, signed memorabilia and more.
“The Bobby Bones Show” launched an online auction of the donated items today on eBay.com with all proceeds to benefit the disaster relief efforts of the American Red Cross.
Among the items now up for auction at www.ebay.com/bobbybones through Thursday:
• Blake Shelton – 2 tickets, 2 meet-and-greets, hotel and airfare to any show on his summer tour
• Jason Aldean – signed guitar
• Jake Owen – limited edition signed guitar
• Luke Bryan – signed guitar and clothes from his video shoot for “Crash My Party”
• The Band Perry – signed guitar
• Tim McGraw – signed guitar, 4 tickets and meet and greets to any show, suite next to stage, receive signed guitar on stage
• Brad Paisley – signed guitar
• Kenny Chesney – signed “The Boys of Fall” jersey
• Taylor Swift – signed guitar and signed limited edition lithograph
• Kellie Pickler – signed guitar and signed ballroom dancing shoes she wore on Dancing With The Stars
• Carrie Underwood – signed guitar
• Rascal Flatts – 4 tickets and 4 VIP passes to a show
• Zac Brown Band – signed Jack Daniels barrel (empty)
• Hunter Hayes – signed skinned electric guitar
• Dierks Bentley – airfare, hotel rooms, backstage passes to a show and signed guitar
• Toby Keith – signed limited edition guitar
• Florida Georgia Line – signed guitar
• Eli Young Band – tickets to a show, meet-and-greet, and signed guitar
• Kip Moore – signed guitar, 4 tickets, plus meet-and-greet, private show and drinks on tour bus at any stop
• Thompson Square – signed guitar, signed Jay Leno bottle of wine
• Brantley Gilbert – signed guitar, 4 tickets and VIP passes to a show, signed hats
• Little Big Town – tickets and meet and greet to a show in winner’s city
• Chris Young – signed guitar
• Justin Moore – signed guitar
• Lee Brice – signed guitar
• Craig Campbell – signed first cowboy hat, backyard BBQ (at winner’s home)
• Tyler Farr – one-of-a-kind camo signed guitar from “Redneck Crazy” music video
• Will Hoge – BMI guitar for No. 1 song “Even If It Breaks Your Heart” with handwritten lyrics on guitar, tickets and airfare to Nashville June 4 show
• CMA Awards – Trace Adkins, Vince Gill, Lee Ann Womack & (30+ other artists) signed guitar
• Montgomery Gentry – signed guitar
• Brett Eldredge – signed guitar
• Cassadee Pope – signed guitar
• Chris Janson – harmonicas
• Colt Ford – signed guitar
• David Nail – signed shirt from “Let It Rain” video
• Dustin Lynch – cowboy hat, signed guitar
• Gary Allen – signed memorabilia
• Greg Bates – signed cowboy boots
• Jana Kramer – signed guitar
• Parmalee – 2 signed Taylor guitars
• Phil Vassar – signed keyboard
• Randy Rogers – signed guitar, trip (airfare and hotel) to see a show
• The Henningsens – signed guitar
• Thomas Rhett – signed guitar
• Tracy Lawrence – song download and signed guitar
“The outpouring of support from the Country music community has been amazing,” said Bones in a news release. “This is yet another great example of Country music banding together to help those in need. The generosity, quick reaction and gathering of resources by the artists and music labels is truly remarkable and we can’t begin to thank them enough.”
In addition to the auction items, Broken Bow/Stoney Creek Records, Black River Entertainment and Big Machine Label Group donated $5,000 each.
Darius Rucker also announced on The Bobby Bones Show that he will be donating all proceeds from his concert in Oklahoma City to the relief effort. Rucker is playing June 8 at the Zoo Amphitheatre. For tickets and information, go to www.protix.com.
Plus, Tracy Lawrence – who grew up in tornado alley – announced on the show that he will record a special mix of his song “Butterfly People,” which will be available for purchase via iTunes with proceeds benefitting the American Red Cross.
For more information, updates, as well as photos and videos of the stars who stopped by The Bobby Bones Show this week to show their support, please visit www.BobbyBones.com.
-BAM
Wanda Jackson added to lineup for “Music4Moore” Oklahoma tornado benefit concert
Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Wanda Jackson, a Maud native and longtime Oklahoma City resident, has been added to the already-impressive lineup for next week’s “Music4Moore” tornado benefit concert
The concert will be staged from 5 to 11 p.m. on Wednesday at the Chevy Bricktown Events Center, 429 E. California Ave.
Along with Jackson, artists confirmed to perform on the “Music4Moore” main stage include JD McPherson, Graham Colton, Parker Millsap, Colourmusic, ADDverse Effects, Evangelicals, Taddy Porter, Hosty, Ramsay Midwood, Beau Jennings & the Tigers, Feel Spectres, Kyle Reid, Black Canyon, Skating Polly, Jacob Abello, DEERPEOPLE, The Damn Quails, John Calvin and Camille Harp.
The show will aid victims of this week’s ruinous tornadoes, including the EF5 twister that killed 24 people and injured more than 370 others as it tore through Moore, Newcastle and south Oklahoma City.
“The music community immediately began discussing how we could help and this was the best way we could think of,” Jonathan Fowler, vice president of operations for Fowler Holding Co. and an event co-organizer said in a news release. “To provide something to hopefully distract from the seriousness of what the city of Moore is going through while providing much needed resources is the least we can come together and do. Everyone is doing whatever they can to help, and Oklahoma music supporters want to pitch in too.”
Beer concessions will be provided by COOP Ale Works, Mustang Brewing Company and Budweiser. Cocktails will be available for purchase by Republic Beverage Company.
A second stage will be set up for a free outdoor concert. The musical lineup for the outdoor stage is pending.
Tickets are $25, available at the door and online via TicketStorm.
All proceeds from the event (including admission, parking and concessions) will be donated to the Oklahoma Chapter of the American Red Cross.
This concert brought to you by The Oklahoma Standard.
More info will be posted on Facebook and at www.music4moore.com. Twitter: #music4moore.
-BAM
Oklahoma tornadoes: OG&E, CenterPoint partners again in power restoration
Crews from Houston-based CenterPoint Energy Inc. are among hundreds of out-of-state utility workers helping Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co. with power restoration after the May 20, 2013, deadly tornado that hit Moore and south Oklahoma City.
Employees of Houston-based CenterPoint Energy Inc. are among the hundreds of out-of-state utility workers helping restore power in the wake of this week’s deadly tornadoes.
CenterPoint has about 100 employees in Moore and south Oklahoma City assisting Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co. with repairs. While the utilities have worked together on storms before, this week’s restoration has added significance for the two utilities since their parent companies decided to form a master limited partnership for their midstream operations. The deal closed May 1 and will combine OG&E’s Enogex division and CenterPoint’s pipelines and operations into an $11 billion company.
Bruce Baxter, operations manager for CenterPoint, said the utility has several crews in the area, including about 40 workers doing high-line work. Most of the workers left Houston early Tuesday and arrived that evening to a staging area at Crossroads Mall. The high-line workers came in on Wednesday.
CenterPoint has been concentrating on repairs around Briarwood Elementary School in Moore, Baxter said. Most of the high-line work has been near Southmoore High School. They are working 16-hour days to restore service and expect to be here five to seven days.
“We’re helping rebuild the infrastructure around the most damaged areas so they’ll have power when they’re ready to rebuild,” Baxter said.
Baxter said CenterPoint has plenty of experience restoring power after hurricanes, but tornadoes aren’t as frequent in the Houston area as they are in Oklahoma. Hurricanes typically inflict damage over a widespread area. He said tornado damage is limited to a smaller area but can be very intense, like the the devastation in Moore and south Oklahoma City.
Outside of the new ties between their parent companies, CenterPoint and OG&E crews get to see some old friends when they team up for power restoration following disasters.
“We’ve worked other storms with OG&E and over the years had a good relationship,” Baxter said. “You get used to seeing some of the same faces.”
John Gilbert biography offers look at real-life inspiration for ‘The Artist’
Even casual movie fans probably know something of the rags-to-riches-to-ruin story of silent era matinee idol John Gilbert because “The Artist,” the popular, Oscar-winning homage to Hollywood’s golden age by French director Michel Hazanavicius, was in part inspired by Gilbert’s glamorous but tragic career.
Gilbert once rivaled Rudolph Valentino as the silent cinema’s “great lover,” and he became one of the biggest stars of the day after starring in King Vidor’s “The Big Parade” in 1925. Gilbert appeared opposite some of the silver screen’s great beauties, including Norma Shearer in “He Who Gets Slapped,” Mae Murray in “The Merry Widow” and Lillian Gish in “La Boheme.” And like Valentino, his career faded with the onset of the talkies and he died an untimely death.
“John Gilbert: The Last of the Silent Film Stars” (University Press of Kentucky, $39.95) is author Eve Golden’s finely detailed and gracefully written effort to set the record straight about this forgotten movie star whose life and career have become shrouded in myths and, according to the author, in half-truths.
While it has been widely assumed that Gilbert failed to make the leap from silent films to talkies because he possessed a high-pitched voice that didn’t project well on screen, Golden questions that narrative and offers other possibilities for his downfall (perhaps his public problems with drinking, his four marriages and his high-profile affairs with numerous actresses, his career-long feud with MGM mogul Louis B. Mayer that was rumored to have led to fistfights).
Golden, a veteran researcher who has also written about the ultimate Ziegfeld girl Anna Held and early show-biz figures Kay Kendall and dancers Vernon and Irene Castle, works diligently to separate fact from fiction as she traces the actor’s life from a childhood spent traveling with vagabond acting troupes to the peak of his fame.
Along the way, she relates many colorful anecdotes involving figures such as Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich (Gilbert’s final lover) and his own mother, silent screen beauty Leatrice Joy. Much source material is derived from interviews with Gilbert’s daughter, Leatrice Joy Gilbert Fountain, who herself has written an insightful biography of her father titled “Dark Star.”
While Golden’s book doesn’t necessarily mine any startling new information about this suave, handsome man in slicked-back hair and pencil moustache, it does, with its abundance of trivia, insights into relationships, sharp analysis of his many screen roles and 62 black-and-white photos, paint a complete and compassionate portrait of a star who blazed onto the screen and sank under the burden of his own fame.
Just as “The Artist” was fine, juicy melodrama to feed our silver screen dreams, so John Gilbert’s life was one of triumph and tragedy that it seems could only be imagined and lived in Hollywood.
- Dennis King
Miranda Lambert’s Mutt Nation Foundation assisting with pet rescues in the wake of Oklahoma tornadoes
Miranda Lambert’s Mutt Nation Foundation, the donation-supported organization working to end pet suffering and homelessness that the country music superstar founded with her mom, Bev, is aiding in pet rescue operations in the wake of this week’s devastating Oklahoma tornadoes.
North Shore Animal League America, in collaboration with the Bella Foundation and MuttNation Foundation, has deployed one of its Mobile Rescue Units to Moore to help the families and pets who have been affected by this tragedy, according to the league’s website.
“I’m so proud that MuttNation Foundation can help even a little,” Lambert, who lives in Tishomingo, said on Facebook.
The North Shore Animal League’s Emergency Rescue Team and Mobile Rescue Unit arrived in Oklahoma on Wednesday. The organization is working with the Oklahoma City Animal Welfare Division to identify shelter animals to transport back to its Port Washington, N.Y., headquarters so the Oklahoma shelter can house animals newly displaced by the tornado until they can be returned to their owners.
While her foundation is helping with pet rescue efforts, Lambert herself is joining her husband, fellow country music star Blake Shelton, at his telethon “Healing in the Heartland: Relief Benefit Concert” set for Wednesday at Chesapeake Energy Arena, 100 W Reno.
As previously reported, Oklahoma natives and Country Music Hall of Famers Reba McEntire and Vince Gill will join the couple during the benefit show. Additional guests for the concert will be announced shortly, according to a news release.
The concert will be televised live at 8 p.m. on NBC. It also will air on cable networks Style, G4, Bravo, E! and CMT on either a live or delayed basis.
Tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday. Tickets are $25, with a limit of eight per person. Tickets can be purchased at the Chesapeake Energy Arena box office, all Ticketmaster locations, by phone at (800) 745-3000 and online at Ticketmaster.com.
“Everyone has their way to help, and mine as an entertainer is to perform to help raise money and awareness for this tragedy,” Shelton said in the news release. “This is why I want to do this special and especially hold it in Oklahoma City, which is near ground zero.”
The event will raise funds for the United Way of Central Oklahoma May Tornadoes Relief Fund. Working with their local community partners, United Way of Central Oklahoma will use the fund for immediate, intermediate and long-term recovery and rebuilding efforts in Oklahoma following the tornadoes that devastated Moore earlier this week.
Born and raised in Oklahoma and currently residing in the city of Tishomingo, the recent tragedy that struck the state this week hit close to home for Shelton. The one way the country singer knew he could help immediately would be through the “Healing in the Heartland: Relief Benefit Concert” aiding the United Way of Central Oklahoma.
This isn’t the first time Shelton has reached out to those in the wake of tragedy in Oklahoma. In 2011, Shelton and longtime friend Reba went back home to Oklahoma to host the “Tornado Relief Concerts” for victims affected by the Atoka County tornadoes. The two-sold out concerts, which featured special guests and over two hours of entertainment, raised $500,000 for the Oklahoma victims.
For more information, go to www.chesapeakearena.com.
-BAM
Howard Dean’s foot in mouth disease
When Howard Dean sought the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination, a National Review cover famously declared, “Please nominate this man.”
Dean showed why Republicans wanted him to be the face of the Democratic Party when, in a recent TV appearance, he proclaimed, “Benghazi is a laughable joke.” When a Republican National Committee spokesman pointed out that the death of four Americans didn’t seem funny, Dean responded, “Oh, stop it.”
As we now know, the Obama administration insisted on claiming the Benghazi attack was a protest of a YouTube video, not a terrorist attack, long after the administration knew better. Whether that was politically motivated incompetence or something worse remains to be seen, but this should be beyond debate: The murder of Americans serving overseas is no laughing matter.
Dean’s comments show how out of touch he remains, and why Republicans may soon demand: “Please make this man Obama’s press spokesman.”
Cheaper by the dozen
When causes and bladders collide: Actor Matt Damon said he asked a fellow thespian for advice on how to play a gay man when Damon was considering the role of Liberace’s lover in the film that became “Behind the Candelabra,” airing at 8 p.m. Sunday on HBO. The response from Heath Ledger, who left the straight and narrow for a part in “Brokeback Mountain,” was to drink 12 beers.
That was in 2007. This year, Damon pledged to avoid using the bathroom in a satirical stunt designed to call attention to worldwide water and sanitation concerns. Drinking even two beers would make the toilet-avoidance pledge difficult to keep for even an hour.
Damon might have needed a second six pack when considering the tremendous flop his most recent theatrical movie was. It was called “Promised Land,” a fictional treatment of some of the same themes covered in a 2010 “documentary” called “Gasland.”
We’ll avoid relating that title to Damon’s bathroom pledge except to say that cheap celebrity stunts are often full of sound and fury, signifying little or nothing.
Miranda Lambert, Reba McEntire, Vince Gill to join Blake Shelton at “Healing in the Heartland” Oklahoma tornado benefit
Blake Shelton
Ada native Blake Shelton has assembled an all-star team of fellow Oklahoma country music stars to join his telethon “Healing in the Heartland: Relief Benefit Concert.”
His Grammy Award-winning wife and fellow Tishomingo resident Miranda Lambert, as well as Oklahoma natives and Country Music Hall of Famers Reba McEntire and Vince Gill will perform alongside Shelton at the benefit show. Additional guests for the concert will be announced shortly, according to a news release.
Shelton, a celebrity coach on NBC’s hit reality show “The Voice,” has organized and will headline the telethon, which will take place Wednesday at Chesapeake Energy Arena, 100 W Reno.
The concert will be televised live at 8 p.m. on NBC. It also will air on cable networks Style, G4, Bravo, E! and CMT on either a live or delayed basis.
Tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday. Tickets are $25, with a limit of eight per person. Tickets can be purchased at the Chesapeake Energy Arena box office, all Ticketmaster locations, by phone at (800) 745-3000 and online at Ticketmaster.com.
“Everyone has their way to help, and mine as an entertainer is to perform to help raise money and awareness for this tragedy,” Shelton said in the news release. “This is why I want to do this special and especially hold it in Oklahoma City, which is near ground zero.”
The event will raise funds for the United Way of Central Oklahoma May Tornadoes Relief Fund. Working with their local community partners, United Way of Central Oklahoma will use the fund for immediate, intermediate and long-term recovery and rebuilding efforts in Oklahoma following the tornadoes that devastated Moore earlier this week.
Love’s Travel Stops is underwriting the concert cost. The Oklahoma City-based company previously announced it was earmarking $1.5 million of a $3 million total donation to fund a benefit event.
R.A. Clark, who produces the Academy of Country Music Awards, is executive producer for the televised event.
This isn’t the first time Shelton has reached out to those in the wake of tragic tornadoes in his home state. In 2011, Shelton and longtime friend Reba went back home to Oklahoma to host the “Tornado Relief Concerts” for victims affected by the Atoka County tornadoes. The two-sold out concerts, which featured special guests and over two hours of entertainment, raised $500,000 for the Oklahoma victims.
For more information, go to www.chesapeakearena.com.
-BAM
