Red Dirt Rangers celebrating 20th anniversary tonight with benefit show
Red Dirt Rangers
From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
Red Dirt Rangers mark anniversary
Oklahoma music pioneers the Red Dirt Rangers are celebrating two decades of blending Western swing, folk, rockabilly and a variety of other styles into the homey sonic stew known as red dirt music.
In customary red dirt fashion, the Payne County band will mark its 20th anniversary tonight with a Cain’s Ballroom concert that also will function as a musical family reunion and benefit show.
“In a nutshell, they can expect the unexpected,” Red Dirt Rangers singer/guitarist Brad Piccolo said of the event. “It will be a constantly changing group of people sitting in. … It will be a typical red dirt show.”
Along with the Rangers, the lineup will feature up-and-comers the Turnpike Troubadours and a one-night reunion of the influential band Medicine Show.
“They’re like musical cousins of ours; they started their band within about six months of when we started ours 20 years ago. They’ve kind of quit playing, but they’re going to reunite for this since they feel like it’s a great cause,” Piccolo said.
The show will raise money for Oklahoma musicians who need financial help with medical care. The concert is free but the Rangers will be hitting everyone up for donations. Piccolo said the band isn’t taking a dime, sending 100 percent of the proceeds to their musical brethren in need.
“We’ve been playing together so long that we know it seems like about every musician in this region,” said Piccolo in a phone interview from his rural Payne County home, where he was wrangling his 2- and 4-year-old daughters.
“Musicians often don’t have insurance, or if they are (insured), if you have a major procedure, there’s so much out of pocket that it can be devastating to somebody like a musician who relies on each gig to make bills.”
The Rangers – Piccolo, guitarist/singer Ben Han and mandolin player/singer John Cooper – know from experience how potentially ruinous health problems can be. In 2004, the bandmates were seriously injured in a helicopter crash near Cushing. They were the beneficiaries of several charity shows.
“One thing that’s unique to this musical scene is everybody tries to help each other out when there’s a crisis,” Piccolo said. “The people that are on the receiving end get more than just money, they get a good vibe, just a healing encouragement and love from their fellow human beings.”
Good vibes are in the foundation of the red dirt scene the Rangers have helped build. He and other members of the band that became the Red Dirt Rangers actually played their first gig, a talent show at Oklahoma State University, back in the early ’80s.
Along with their mentor, the late Bob Childers, who is considered the godfather of red dirt music, the Rangers and many fellow musicians gravitated to the Farm, an old farmhouse outside the Stillwater city limits.
“It was kind of a free-for-all, musically and otherwise,” he said. “It was like a crash pad for every musician that came down the pike. … And that was kind of a vortex sort of for the sound that developed ’cause everybody would hang out there and jam together on the porch ’til all hours of the morning.”
The like-minded artists wrote their own songs or covered each other’s tunes. The encouraging atmosphere fostered cross-genre experimentation.
“What he (Childers) always said was that it’s really all just one big band. And he’s so right … and that’s kind of our philosophy. And this show is really going to showcase that. We’re all just one big band,” he said, adding former members of the Rangers are expected to play with the group at the event.
Piccolo hopes the band’s legacy is positive music that makes people feel good.
“We’ve gotten to see and do things through our music that we might not have ever gotten to do otherwise. We’ve traveled coast to coast playing music and we’ve even gone to Europe,” he said. “How many people get to hang out with their buddies and drive around and fly around the world doing what they love to do? I feel blessed.”
Cody Canada of Cross Canadian Ragweed said the red dirt scene is blessed to have bands like the Rangers.
“A lot of people ask what the red dirt and the Texas (music) scene’s all about, and that’s what I always answer. We help each other,” Canada said in a recent phone interview. “Willie Nelson helped us out a bunch … and the Red Dirt Rangers and Mike McClure, you know, everybody’s done something for us. … And that’s what it’s all about.”
In concert
Red Dirt Rangers 20th Anniversary Show
Featuring: Medicine Show and Turnpike Troubadours.
When: 7 tonight.
Where: Cain’s Ballroom, 423 N Main, Tulsa.
Cost: Free but donations will be taken for musicians in need.
Information: (918) 584-2306 or www.cainsballroom.com.
-BAM
Movie review: “Food, Inc.”
From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman. 2 1/2 of 4 stars.
Watching the documentary “Food Inc.” is like noshing a giant serving of chicken livers and Shock Tarts at 3 in the morning.
The film overstuffs the viewer with rich food for thought but leaves you with the unsatisfied feeling that it missed the mark. And the liberal sprinkling of scare tactics quickly adds a sour taste.
“Food Inc.” is showing this weekend at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.
Filmmaker Robert Kenner asks an important question: “How much do we really know about the food we buy at our local supermarkets and serve to our families?” It’s a vital question because many Americans don’t know much about how our country now produces what’s for dinner.
From the outset, he rightly dispels the myth that much of our food comes from those idyllic family farms we see pictured on the side of butter containers and cheese wrappers. Nowadays, a few multinational corporations grow, raise, slaughter, process, package and ship from highly mechanized factory settings the vast majority of what we eat.
Efficiency is the bread and butter. And yes, it’s disturbing that making lots of money and lots of cheap food seems much more important than food safety standards, humane treatment of animals and workers, the livelihood of farmers and decent environmental practices.
Several of the corporations in question refused to be interviewed for the film. Kenner focuses most of the screen time on two writers, Michael Pollan, author of “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” Eric Schlosser, author of “Fast Food Nation.” He occasionally features a farmer, crop council representative or corporate suit. His most effective interviews are with a grieving mother whose son died of E. coli, making her an advocate for tougher meat processing safety laws, and an independent farmer using organic methods.
The film tours overcrowded chicken coops, various slaughterhouses and supermarket aisles. Often, a somber unidentified narrator, urgent music and lingering shots of doomed cows and pigs are used to ramp up the shock value. Kenner’s apparent determination to scare Americans onto a starvation diet often overshadows the good information he wants to convey.
But not all of the film’s information is good, or at least it’s one-sided. As the daughter of one of the few independent, traditional, commercial family farmers still in business in this country, I can tell a bull from a steer. And I’m not going to be so grossed out by slaughterhouse scenes that I don’t notice the bull.
The film states as fact that feeding corn to cattle has produced powerful strains of E. coli bacteria; this is at best a theory. My father feeds the cattle he raises for our home use alfalfa and straight corn (not corn blended with other grains like the feed lots the film shows), and we haven’t contracted E coli. And while one E. coli outbreak, recall or death is truly too many, considering the amount of beef produced in these mega-processing plants, it seems that if corn were the culprit, we’d see more E. coli episodes.
It’s easy and fashionable these days to vilify corn, which my dad wants Kenner to know is not as easy or profitable to raise as the film would have you think, because it’s in so many products, including several unhealthy ones.
And it’s easy to laugh or scoff at the “veggie libel” laws that allowed beef producers to sue Oprah Winfrey after her episode on mad cow disease. But the film doesn’t show a farmer like my father who lost thousands of dollars that day because of a celebrity’s half-baked, dramatized-for-TV statements.
But for all the information – good and bad – Kenner stuffs into the film, he manages to only allude to the essential point. In one scene, the organic farmer, Joel Salatin, mentions that some customers complain about paying $3 a dozen for his eggs while swilling 75-cent cans of soda.
The truth that “Food Inc.” doesn’t push too hard is that corporations aren’t really the culprits. We are. As consumers, we demand that our three squares a day come dirt cheap, so we have more cash for $4 lattes and $1.25 pops. The corporations just cater to our huge appetites for junky, cheap food – and do whatever it takes to keep it as cheap as we demand it.
And that’s a much tougher message to swallow.
- BAM
DVD review: “Fired Up”
From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
“Fired Up Unrated Edition”
Guilty pleasures don’t get much guiltier than the snappy, laugh-out-loud funny, PG-13-rated teen sex comedy “Fired Up.”
Even deep-fried Twinkies seem a bit more virtuous compared to chortling consistently at the antics of smart-alecky best buds Nick (Eric Christian Olsen) and Shawn (Nicholas D’Agosto). But the believable “bromantic” chemistry between the leads and their quick delivery of countless clever one-liners give the formulaic story a fun kick.
At Gerald Ford High School, Nick and Shawn are the stars of the football team and the most active lotharios on campus. Unenthused about the prospect of spending three babe-free weeks at football camp in sweltering El Paso, Texas, the pals decide to ditch the pigskin. Instead, they con their way onto the pom squad just in time to make the trip to Fired Up cheerleading camp, where 300 nubile cheerleaders await romancing.
As far as plots go, “Fired Up” is as predictable as a pom girl chanting “two, four, six, eight, who do we appreciate.” After seducing many fellow campers, Shawn finds himself falling for suspicious team captain Carly (Sarah Roemer), while Nick is determined to win over chief counselor Diora (Molly Sims), wife of the crazily spirited Coach Keith (the hilarious John Michael Higgins). And of course, the guys become much more invested in cheering and their teammates than they anticipated.
The movie pushes the envelope of the PG-13 rating, but even with the added unrated footage doesn’t really enter R territory. Along with the expected crass sexual humor, “Fired Up” tosses out a few surprises, including a riotous tribute to the cheerleading comedy “Bring It On.”
DVD extras: Uncensored gag reel, commentary, two making-of featurettes and fake footage of the movie’s press junket.
- BAM
Weekend Warmup for Aug. 28-30, 2009
Jackson Browne
Here is a list of events happening in Oklahoma this weekend (Aug. 28-30):
- Hear Jackson Browne at 8 tonight at the Zoo Amphitheatre, 2101 NE 50. Gates open at 6:30 p.m. Information: 364-3700 or www.zooamp.com.
- Take in hands-on art activities, mini-tours, dance demonstrations and more from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday at the Family Day celebrating the exhibit “Turner to Cezanne” at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive. Information: 236-3100 or www.okcmoa.com.
- NORMAN – See the wares of local artists and crafters and hear live music at the Dustbowl Arts Market from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday on Buchanan Street on Campus Corner. Information: 447-5929 or www.dustbowlartsmarket.com.
- NORMAN – Catch Mama Sweet in concert at 10 tonight at The Deli, 309 White Street. Information: www.thedeli.us.
Joe Ely
- Listen to Joe Ely at 7:30 and 10 p.m. Saturday at the Blue Door, 2805 N McKinley. Information: 524-0738 or www.bluedoorokc.com.
- Catch the cowboy action at the 25th Annual Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association Range Roundup at 7:30 p.m. today and Saturday at State Fair Arena. Information: 948-6807 or www.okstatefairpark.com.
- TULSA – Hear country star Lee Ann Womack and CMT’s “Can You Duet?” winners Steel Magnolia at 7 p.m. Saturday at Osage Million Dollar Elm Casino’s Osage Event Center, 951 W 36 Street North. Information: www.milliondollarelm.com/event-center.
- BRISTOW – Listen to Oklahoma country-rock singer Shawna Russell perform a benefit concert for the Bristow Chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police Saturday at the Freeland Center, Hwy 16 and Ash, on the campus of the Bristow High School. Doors will open at 6 p.m., with opening band The Sock Monkeys taking the stage at 7 and Russell starting her set at 7:45. Information: (918) 367-2251.
The Uglysuit
- NORMAN – Listen to The Uglysuit with Dead Sea Choir at 9:30 tonight at The Opolis, 113 N. Crawford. Information: www.ticketstorm.com.
- STILLWATER – Hear The Uglysuit, Sherree Chamberlain and Deer People at 8 p.m. Saturday at Eskimo Joe’s, 501 W Elm. Information: www.eskimojoes.com.
- THACKERVILLE and NORMAN – Hear Heart at 9 tonight at WinStar World Casino, 777 Casino Ave. in Thackerville. Information: www.winstarworldcasino.com. Or catch the classic rockers at 8 p.m. Saturday at Riverwind Casino, 1544 West Hwy 9. Information: www.riverwind.com.
Larry the Cable Guy
- SHAWNEE – Laugh along with Larry the Cable Guy at 5 and 8 p.m. Saturday at Firelake Grand Casino, 1601 S Gordon Cooper Drive. Information: www.firelakegrand.com.
- TULSA – Celebrate the Red Dirt Rangers’ 20th Anniversary at a benefit show at 7 tonight at Cain’s Ballroom, 423 N Main. The show will raise money for musicians facing medical problems. The concert also will feature the Turnpike Troubadours and reunited band Medicine Show. Information: www.cainsballroom.com.
- Listen to Student Film, Feel Spectres and Depth And Current at 8 tonight at The Conservatory, 8911 N Western. Information: www.conservatoryokc.com.
- See Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park’s performance of “Twelfth Night” at 8 tonight and Saturday on the Myriad Gardens Water Stage in downtown. Performances will continue through Sept. 5. Information: www.oklahomashakespeare.com.
Pat Green
- MIAMI – Hear Pat Green at 8 p.m. Saturday at Buffalo Run Casino, 1000 Buffalo Run Blvd. Information: www.buffalorun.com.
- Celebrate the 30th anniversary of Individual Artists of Oklahoma with visual and performance art, poetry, film, live music, dancing, free food and a cash bar from 8 p.m. to midnight Saturday at the new IAO Gallery, 706 W Sheridan. Information: www.iaogalleryorg.
- TULSA – Check out the Hardwork Summer Fest featuring Native Lights, Dead Sea Choir, Unwed Sailor, Callupsie and Fiawna Forte at 8 p.m. Saturday at The Marquee, 222 N Main Street. Information: www.ticketstorm.com.
- Take in the Oklahoma County Free Fair today and Saturday at State Fair Park. Information: www.okstatefairpark.com.
-BAM
What to do in Oklahoma on Aug. 28, 2009
Today’s featured event:
NORMAN – Hear Mama Sweet at 10 tonight at The Deli, 309 White Street.
For more information, go to www.thedeli.us.
For more events, go to www.wimgo.com
-BAM
Kristin Chenoweth to be guest judge on “American Idol”
Kristin Chenoweth (Associated Press photo)
Oklahoma native Kristin Chenoweth will be the latest celebrity to temporarily fill Paula Abdul’s former seat on the “American Idol” judging panel, People.com is reporting.
The singer/actress will join Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Kara DioGuardi for the Orlando auditions later this week, according to People.
A Tony winner for the musical “You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown” and nominee for “Wicked,” Chenoweth is a Broadway star who brings considerable vocal prowess to the reality TV show’s judges’ table. (She also is an Emmy nominee for ABC’s late great show “Pushing Daisies.”)
Other celebs who have recently filled in for Abdul include Neil Patrick Harris, Victoria Beckham, Mary J. Blige, Shania Twain and Joe Jonas.
-BAM
CMA Awards nominees to be announced on TV Sept. 9
Lee Ann Womack
Darius Rucker (Associated Press photo)
The announcement of the final nominees for the 2009 Country Music Association Awards will aired live Sept. 9 from the “Good Morning America” studios in the heart of New York City’s Times Square on ABC.
The live announcements will take place during the 7:30 a.m. half-hour of the morning news program on Sept. 9.
The 43rd Annual CMA Awards will be broadcast live from the Sommet Center in Nashville from 7 to 10 p.m. Nov. 11 on ABC. For the second year, the show will be hosted by reigning CMA Male Vocalist of the Year Brad Paisley and reigning CMA Female Vocalist of the Year and Oklahoma native Carrie Underwood.
The final nominees in select categories will be announced by Darius Rucker, who has quickly established himself as a fan and industry favorite with three No. 1 singles to his credit, and Lee Ann Womack, a former CMA Female Vocalist of the Year with 18 career CMA Awards nominations to her credit.
Check out the blog Friday to see my feature on Womack, who is playing Saturday in Tulsa.
“I was so honored to perform at the 2008 CMA Awards Show, and I feel privileged to be a part of this year’s nominee announcement,” said Rucker in a news release.
Rucker first came to prominence as the lead vocalist and songwriter for the pop group Hootie & The Blowfish, whose 1994 debut album, “Cracked Rear View,” sold more than 16 million copies to become one of the best-selling albums in history. In early 2007, Rucker signed with Capitol Records Nashville and has since been embraced by the country music community with his chart-topping 2008 debut, “Learn To Live,” an album that has produced three consecutive No. 1 singles. Rucker’s transition has been highly praised, with The New York Times proclaiming he has “one of the year’s most vibrant country albums.” Rucker is currently on tour with Rascal Flatts (which includes Joe Don Rooney of Picher).
“The excitement that comes with the announcements of the CMA Award nominations brings me such delight every year,” Womack said in the release. “I can remember watching the wards aas a young Texas girl and dreaming of one day being a part of something that brings such honor to what I’ve always been so passionate about. It’s a time to celebrate the artists, songwriters, musicians, producers and the industry in general.”
Womack has sold more than 6 million albums, won two Grammys, numerous other milestone awards, and received notoriety for her last album, “There’s More Where That Came From.” Released February 2005 on CD and classic vinyl, the album swept CMA Award trophies the fall of the same year for Album of the Year and Single of the Year (“I May Hate Myself In The Morning”). She is also recognized for No 1 singles “The Fool,” “A Little Past Little Rock,” “I’ll Think Of A Reason Later,” and the mega smash “I Hope You Dance.”
Womack’s current album, “Call Me Crazy,” has garnered critical acclaim from Rolling Stone, USA Today, Entertainment Weekly, Billboard, and The New York Times, to name a few. Debut single “Last Call” was nominated fo r a Grammy earlier this year in the Best Female Country Vocal Performance category.
In addition to the nominee announcements, Chuck Wicks will announce the finalists for the 2009 CMA Broadcast Personality and Radio Station of the Year in four categories (small, medium, large, and major markets) as well as the finalists for the CMA National Broadcast Personality of the Year live on Premiere Radio Networks from their New York studios.
“I am thrilled once again to be able to announce the Broadcast Nominees,” Wicks said in the release. “Country radio has been so supportive of me this year and I’m happy to be able to be back again and be a part of these special announcements.”
RCA Nashville recording artist Wicks found an instant hit with his first single, “Stealing Cinderella,” from his debut album, “Starting Now.” The song climbed to No. 5 and was the first single from a new country artist to crack the Top 5 in 2008. His follow-up single, “All I Ever Wanted,” also soared up the country charts and marked his second consecutive Top 15 hit. After a hugely successful run as the opening act on the final leg of Brad Paisley’s “Bonfires & Amplifiers” Tour in 2007, Wicks rejoined Paisley in 2008 for the “Hershey’s Presents the Paisley Party Tour.” In 2009, Wicks has been on tour on his own playing at festivals across the country.
The audio announcement of the CMA Awards nominees and Broadcast Awards finalists will be available via satellite and FTP from CMA’s official radio partner Premiere Radio Networks. Premiere has provided outstanding, radio coverage of the CMA Awards nominations for more than a decade.
The 2008 CMA Awards, held in Nashville during November Sweeps (Nov. 12), ranked behind only the Academy Awards and Grammy Awards during the 2008-09 season for awards shows among total viewers. With the 42nd Annual CMA Awards, ABC won Wednesday evening in both total viewers (15.9 million) and adults 18-49 (5.0/13). According to Nielsen research, 34.6 million unique viewers watched six minutes or more of the program.
The CMA Awards nominees and winners are determined by the 6,000 plus industry professional members of CMA, which was the first trade organization formed to promote an individual genre of music in 1958. The first CMA Awards Banquet and Show was held in 1967. The following year, the CMA Awards were broadcast on NBC television for the first time – making it the longest running, annual music awards program on network television. The show aired on NBC through 1971 and on the CBS Television Network from 1972 through 2005 before moving to ABC in 2006.
-BAM
Tickets on sale Saturday morning for Alan Jackson’s Tulsa show
Alan Jackson (Associated Press photo)
Alan Jackson, an American country music icon with more than two decades of hits, will play Nov. 7 at the BOK Center in Tulsa.
Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday. They can be purchased at www.bokcenter.com, the venue’s Arby’s Box Office, all Tickets.com outlets or by phone at (866) 726-5287.
Ticket prices are $69.75 and $49.75.
Jackson has sold more than 50 million records and has scored 25 No. 1 singles since beginning his career 20 years ago. His most recent album, “Good Time,” features the songs “Small Town Southern Man,” “Country Boy,” and “I Still Like Bologna.”
-BAM
What to do in Oklahoma on Aug. 27
From left, Jon Haque plays Sir Toby Belch; Hal Kohlman as Malvolio and Douglas Brown as “Sir Andrew Aquecheek” of Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park production of ” Twelfth Night”
Today’s featured event:
See Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park’s opening performance of “Twelfth Night” at 8 tonight on the Myriad Gardens Water Stage in downtown. Performances will continue through Sept. 5.
For more information, go to www.oklahomashakespeare.com.
For more events, go to www.wimgo.com.
-BAM
Bonus Wednesday Video Spotlight: Kings of Leon on TV
Kings of Leon appear on the “Today” show July 31 in New York. (Associated Press photos)
Rockers Kings of Leon, who have Oklahoma ties, performed their single “Use Somebody” Monday night on “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien.”
The band also performed a trio of songs a few weeks ago on the “Today” show.
Here are videos of both TV performances:
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
-BAM
