Getting artsy in Dallas
“Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs” at the Dallas Museum of Art
DALLAS – From ancient Egyptian artifacts to Japanese noh masks to George Segal sculptures, Dallas’ arts district offers plenty to see these days.
Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau representative Veleisa Patton took my fellow journalist Jacob Roeschley of Texas’ Brilliant magazine and me on an extensive tour today of the city’s arts attractions.
The day started the day with breakfast and tour of the charming Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek, which was built in 1925 as a cotton magnate’s home but now operates as restaurant and hotel. The hearty and spicy chilaquiles with guacamole helped fuel me through a tour of the sprawling special exhibit “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs” at the Dallas Museum of Art.
Although the exhibit doesn’t include King Tut’s full-size coffin or mummy, which don’t leave Egypt, the collection of funerary items, statues, furniture and other artifacts from the famed “boy king’s” tomb and ancestors were interesting and impressive. The exhibit closes May 17, and I definitely recommend making the trip to south to see it before it leaves Dallas.
For lunch, we went to the popular nearby restaurant Stephan Pyles, where I sampled the delicious Southwestern Caesar salad and beef tenderloin enchiladas. After all, you can’t go to Texas without enjoying some great Tex-Mex food, and the swanky Stephan Pyles delivers off-the-charts tasty Tex-Mex.
We spent the afternoon taking in more art, including the amazing bronzes of the Trammell Crow European Sculpture Garden and the fascinating collection of traditional and contemporary Japanese noh masks. Noh is an ancient and stylized form of Japanese theater.
The intermittent rain showers cleared up long enough for us to enjoy the incredible sculture garden at the Nasher Sculpture Center, including works from Rodin, Picasso and de Kooning. Along with the great permanent collection, the center inside is showing “George Segal: Street Scenes,” an evocative collection of sculptures by the famed American artist. The exhibit closes April 5, so there’s only a week left to see it. But it’s another exhibit worth the drive if you have the opportunity to go south in the next week or so.
We also got a look and description of the under-construction Dallas Center for the Performing Arts, which includes a new opera house, 600-seat theater, outdoor performing arts venue and 10-acre public park. The center is set to open in fall.
The AFI Dallas International Film Festival is continuing here, and I’m hoping to get back to the theater tonight and catch another film.
-BAM
Little Big Town living the dream on first headlining tour
From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
Little Big Town living its dream
When the members of country singing quartet Little Big Town say they are living a fantasy on their first headlining tour, at least one of them means it literally.
Five years ago, singer-songwriters Jimi Westbrook, Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman and Phillip Sweet were opening a series of concerts for Keith Urban. They were taking turns driving a 15-passenger van all night long from show to show, including a stop at the House of Blues in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
“I remember so vividly everything about that night,” Schlapman said. “I dreamed that night on stage in Myrtle Beach that we would be able to pack a house like that one day on our own tour. We played that very club a month ago. The house was packed! It was a very special night.”
The group’s first tour as headliners will make three Oklahoma stops this weekend. The foursome talked in an e-mail interview about the tour, their music and traveling as a family.
“Our live show has a lot of energy and a lot of harmony of course. We are constantly changing the set list from night to night, so you never know exactly what you’re gonna hear. I like that because it keeps it fresh for us and for the fans,” Fairchild said.
She and Schlapman started Little Big Town in 1998, recruiting Westbrook and Sweet for a quartet specializing in four-part harmonies and alternating lead singers.
“We faced a lot of pressure to pick a lead singer because this is something that had never been done in country music. …We have found in our experience that people say they want change, but then when they really get change they’re like ‘Oh, we’ve never done it that way before,’” Schlapman told The Oklahoman in an October phone interview.
“So, we stuck to our guns and I’m really proud that we did that because I think that’s what makes our band really unique now.”
Their persistence paid off when the group’s 2005 album, “The Road to Here,” went platinum.
The quartet now is touring in support of its third album, “A Place to Land,” which it re-released last year after switching labels from Equity Music Group to Capitol Nashville.
“It is unusual to be able to take a record with you when you change record labels. We were very fortunate to be able to do that. … We feel like the music that was added only made it better,” Westbrook said.
The revised version has four bonus tracks, including their current single “Good Lord Willing” and their hit live cover of “Life in a Northern Town” with Sugarland and Jake Owen. The video to “Good Lord Willing” features footage of the group’s shows last year on Oklahoma native Carrie Underwood’s “Carnival Ride Tour.”
“We had a great time and played to some amazing crowds on Carrie’s tour. She is a terrific singer and puts on a great show,” Westbrook said.
The quartet has learned key lessons from all the stars they’ve opened for along the way, Schlapman said.
“Martina McBride taught us how to surround ourselves with people we can trust and taught me, personally, how to balance being a businesswoman and mother,” she said. “George Strait showed us how great it feels to play to 20,000 people night after night.”
A pair of tour buses has helped the group balance music and family. The quartet, their spouses and children all travel together on one bus; the band and crew ride in the other.
Fairchild and Westbrook are married to each other. Schlapman and husband Stephen have a daughter Daisy, 20 months. Sweet and wife Rebecca also have a daughter, Penelopi, 15 months.
“Having our new families out on the road has been working out surprisingly well, and it’s nice to wake up to smiling (or screaming) babies,” Sweet said. “They keep the atmosphere light and fun, and brings us together when it matters most.”
In concert
Little Big Town
Norman
When: 8 tonight.
Where: at Riverwind Casino, 1544 W State Highway 9.
Information: 322-6464 or www.riverwind.com.
Durant
When: 7 p.m. Saturday.
Where: Choctaw Event Center, 3702 Choctaw Road.
With: Zac Brown Band.
Information: (580) 931-8645 or www.choctaweventcenter.com
Tulsa
When: 7:30 p.m. Sunday.
Where: Mabee Center, 7777 S Lewis.
With: Zac Brown Band.
Information: (918) 495-6000 or www.mabeecenter.com.
-BAM
CD review: Bela Fleck, “Throw Down Your Heart”
From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
World music
Bela Fleck “Throw Down Your Heart, Tales from the Acoustic Planet, Vol. 3: Africa Sesssions” (Rounder Records)
Banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck took his open, creative mind and skilled fingers to Uganda, Mali, Tanzania and several other countries to make music with African performers in “Throw Down Your Heart,” the third of his occasional series “Tales from the Acoustic Planet.”
The Grammy winner and his crew effectively capture and convey the earthy beauty and diversity of African music with the 18 engaging tracks. The album offers a mix of traditionals, originals penned by Fleck’s collaborators and new songs co-written by the banjo picker and his African cohorts.
In the equally absorbing liner notes, Fleck says he was inspired to travel to Africa after learning of his instrument’s origins there. He also tells interesting stories about the recording process and the meaning of each song in the notes.
Fleck worked with several famous African talents, including talented guitarist D’Gary, singer/songwriter/activist Vusi Mahlasela and powerful songstress Oumou Sangare.
But some of the album’s best songs come from his collaborations with obscure African musicians who will probably never be known outside their own communities. Blind singer/thumb piano layer Anania Nogoglia pulls off incredible vocal feats on “Kabibi,” while the Nakisenyi Women’s Group, who cooked for Fleck and Co. on the trek, brings authentic warmth to “Tulinesangala.”
The songs sound exotic to American ears, and the performers create amazing sonic effects with their voices and instruments. But the exoticism doesn’t seem contrived; the music feels genuine and down-to-earth. And it’s a testament to Fleck’s skills that his banjo sounds right at home in these African songs.
- BAM
DVD review: “MST3K Volume XIV”
From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
MST3K fans will find plenty to adore in this four-DVD set packed with hilarious jokes, nonsensical sketches and fun special moments.
The cult TV show centered on a hapless man and his wisecracking robot sidekicks (portrayed by puppets) who are trapped on a spaceship and forced to watch horrid B-movies, which they gleefully deride.
The four episodes span MST3K’s 10 seasons on national cable. Two episodes feature series creator and original host Joel Hodgson and date to the show’s Comedy Central run. The other two star Mike Nelson as the host and come from the Sci-Fi Channel years.
“Mad Monster” is just the third episode the MST3K crew filmed after the show made the leap from a small Minneapolis cable access station to Comedy Central. It features original performer J. Elvis “Josh” Weinstein, who played mad scientist Dr. Laurence Erhardt and initially voiced smart-alecky robot Tom Servo. Weinstein left the show after its first season on Comedy Central, so it’s entertaining to hear him ridicule this abysmal werewolf flick.
Season 4 episode “Manhunt in Space” boasts the more familiar lineup of Hodgson, Kevin Murphy as Tom Servo, Trace Beaulieu as the voice/puppeteer of sarcastic robot Crow, and Beaulieu and Frank Conniff as baddies Dr. Clayton Forrester and TV’s Frank. It includes uproarious skits about beanbag pants and musical robots that help elevate the movie, a painfully cheap and dull 1956 space “adventure” about a Buck Rogers wannabe.
The 1990 “horror” film “Soultaker” which is scary for all the wrong reasons, was mocked in the 10th and final season. The movie stars Joe Estevez, Martin Sheen’s brother, but for diehard MST3K fans, the real stars of the episode are Hodgson and Frank “TV’s Frank” Conniff, former cast members who make a cameo.
Also from the 10th season, the 1985 spaghetti Western “Final Justice” – which follows a renegade Texas lawman tracking an Italian gangster on the island of Malta - features Joe Don Baker, a favorite MST3K target.
Bonus features: New interviews with Estevez and “Final Justice” writer-director Greydon Clark, “Mad Monster” trailer, MST3K on an episode of ESPN Classic’s “Cheap Seats Without Ron Parker” and four mini-posters.
- BAM
Weekend Warmup
Helen Russell, Darcie Deaville, David Lutken and Andy Teirstein are the cast of Lyric Theatre’s “Woody Sez,” a celebration of the life and music of Woody Guthrie.
- Watch the American premiere of “Woody Sez,” a musical theater tribute to Oklahoma songwriter Woody Guthrie, at 8 p.m. today and 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday at Lyric at the Plaza, 1725 NW 16. Information: 524-9312 or www.lyrictheatreokc.com.
- Take a walk on the Yellow Brick Road with the Oklahoma City Ballet’s production of “The Wizard of Oz” at 8 p.m. today and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at the Civic Center, 201 N Walker. Information: 848-8637 or www.balletoklahoma.com.
- Catch Oklahoma singer-songwriter Ali Harter at 9 tonight at Galileo Bar & Grill, 3009 Paseo. Information: 415-7827.
People ride the Steel Lasso roller coaster at Frontier City in 2008. (Photo by Chris Landsberger/The Oklahoman Archives)
- Ride the roller coasters as Frontier City, 11501 N Interstate 35 Service Road, opens for the 2009 season at 10:30 a.m. Saturday. Information: 478-2140 or www.frontiercity.com.
UPDATE: Due to the wintry weather, the Frontier City’s season opening has been delayed to noon Sunday.
- See Reduxion Theatre Company’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” at 8 p.m. today and Saturday at City Arts Center Theater at State Fair Park. Information: 651-3191 or www.reduxiontheatre.com.
- RED ROCK – Flash back to the ’80s at 7:30 tonight when Skid Row, Warrant and Great White play at 7 Clans Paradise Casino, 7500 Hwy 77. Information: www.okparadisecasino.com.
Motion City Soundtrack
- TULSA – Hear pop-punk band Motion City Soundtrack with This Providence, The Nightlife and Hush Hush Commotion at 7 tonight at The Marquee, 222 N Main. Information: www.myspace.com/themarqueetulsa.
- NORMAN – Hear Beau Jennings and Ryan Lindsey at 9 tonight at The Opolis, 113 N Crawford. Information: www.starlightmints.com/opolis.html.
- Hear Oklahoma City indie-rock band Aliens Vs. Robots with Motown Blood, Sgt. Cloud and Ethos in Motion at 8 tonight at Sauced Annex, 2912 Paseo. Information: 521-9801 or www.yoursauced.com.
Little Big Town
- Listen to country quartet Little Big Town at three shows around the state this weekend:
- NORMAN - 8 tonight at Riverwind Casino, 1544 W State Highway 9. Information: 322-6464 or www.riverwind.com.
- DURANT – With the Zac Brown Band at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Choctaw Event Center, 3702 Choctaw Road. Information: (580) 931-8645 or www.choctaweventcenter.com.
- TULSA - With the Zac Brown Band at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at the Mabee Center, 7777 S Lewis.
Information: (918) 495-6000 or www.mabeecenter.com.
-BAM
What to do in Oklahoma on March 27
Aliens Vs. Robots
Today’s featured event:
Hear Oklahoma City indie-rock band Aliens Vs. Robots with Motown Blood, Sgt. Cloud and Ethos in Motion at 8 tonight at Sauced Annex, 2912 Paseo.
For more information, call 521-9801 or go to www.yoursauced.com.
For more events, go to www.wimgo.com.
-BAM
“The Brothers Bloom,” Adrien Brody open AFI Dallas Film Festival
Adrien Brody at the premiere of “Cadillac Records” last winter. (Associated Press photo)
DALLAS – The 2009 AFI Dallas International Film Festival opened tonight with the con men caper “The Brothers Bloom,” and stars Adrien Brody and Rinko Kikuchi and writer-director Rian Johnson were on hand to show off the film. Johnson described it as a fairy tale about con men as well as a comedy.
Before the film, which packed two houses at the AMC Northpark 15, American Film Institute President and CEO Bob Gazzale presented Brody with the AFI Dallas Star Award. Gazzale praised Brody as an actor who takes his craft seriously and whose silences speak volumes in an age when movie stars often are featured in the gossip magazines talking about their “abs or favorite gelato flavor.”
After the screening, Brody, Johnson and Kikuchi participated in a 15- to 20-minute Q&A about the project. From the questions, it was clear that Kikuchi won the audience’s heart as Bang Bang, the virtually silent sidekick to the titular brothers. The Japanese actress doesn’t speak much English but talked happily about the experience of making “The Brothers Bloom.” She flew into the festival from Hong Kong, and it was her first time to see Brody and Johnson since filming wrapped.
The movie opens in May, and I can’t give you my review until the opening date. But I will tell you I loved “The Brothers Bloom” and can’t wait to see it again.
I just got back to the W Dallas-Victory hotel from the festival’s opening gala on the grounds of Northpark shopping center. Brody and Kikuchi could barely make it to the red carpet leading to the soiree because they were so busy graciously posing for pictures and signing autographs. They finally took a break from posing and signing but still mingled with the crowd at the party, chatting with patrons, filmmakers and other attendees.
I’ll be bringing you more from ”The Brothers Bloom” Q&A, as well as my take on the film, closer to the opening date.
And look for more updates from the AFI festival and Dallas over the next few days.
-BAM
Sneak Peek Video: “Monsters vs. Aliens” and Little Big Town
Gene Triplett and I talk about the stories coming in Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman in this week’s Sneak Peek. Gene attended the recent junket for the big 3D film opening this week, “Monsters vs. Aliens.” And check out my feature on country quartet Little Big Town, who will be playing three Oklahoma shows this weekend.
-BAM
Greetings from Dallas
W Dallas – Victory
Greetings from Dallas, BAM’s Blog readers. I’m checking in with you this afternoon from the W Dallas – Victory hotel in the impressive-looking Victory Park area. I just flew in today and am now relaxing in my swank and comfy 14th-floor room overlooking downtown Dallas and adjacent to the huge American Airlines Center.
I’m in town for a long weekend to cover the AFI Dallas International Film Festival and check out some of the arts options, attractions and restaurants in town.
I’ll be bringing you updates from Dallas here on the blog, and once I get back to Oklahoma City, keep an eye out for the stories I’ll be penning about this trip.
-BAM
Rickey Smiley and Fantasia to unite for Tulsa show
Fantasia (Associated Press photo)
Comedian Rickey Smiley and singer Fantasia will come together for one night of “comedy and soul” Mother’s Day Weekend at BOK Center, according to a news release.
The show will be May 8 at the Tulsa arena.
Tickets go on sale at noon Friday and will be available online at www.bokcenter.com, at area Reasor’s and Homeland stores, at the Arby’s BoxOffice or by calling (866) 7BOKCTR.
Ticket prices start at $35.
Smiley is best known for hosing BET’s Comic View and performing live on some of the most successful comedy tours in recent history. He will be performing as some of his comedic characters like Bernice and her church announcements to Coach McClainy and his lack of motivational skills.
Smiley has been working the comedy circuit for the past 12 years. Establishing himself as a clean comic, his downhome Southern humor has made him a favorite in the nation’s top comedy venues.
The 2004 winner of “American Idol” (one of television’s highest-rated shows), Fantasia has become a favorite performer among American music lovers.
The powerhouse vocalist from High Point, N.C., whose soulful delivery made her an instant favorite with millions of viewers, has also starred on Broadway for 16 sold-out weeks in Oprah Winfrey’s “The Color Purple”.
-BAM
