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The Great Divide reunites to play its College Days Festival tonight at Stillwater’s Tumbleweed

The Great Divide is no longer divided.

More than eight years after its original lineup split up, the seminal red dirt band is reviving its College Days Festival and playing a reunion show Friday at the Tumbleweed Dance Hall & Concert Arena in Stillwater.

“It’s really cool. I think our music meant a lot to people. It was definitely something different at the time, and a lot of people have a lot of college memories tied up to that particular music and that particular group playing that music,” said singer/songwriter/guitarist Mike McClure in a phone interview en route to a rehearsal. “So it’s going to be fun to rehash those songs with those guys. It’s just going to be a feel-good summer event.”

The reunited bandmates have spent much of the summer busily relearning their well-loved songs. Seeing the show on his calendar still is a bit of a shock, admitted drummer J.J. Lester.

“It’s freaking me out,” he said. “Yeah, it’s surreal, but it’s fun surreal. I didn’t think that I would ever see that again, for sure. So I’m excited about it.”

Red dirt pioneers

For a decade, Lester, his brother, rhythm guitarist Scotte Lester, bassist Kelley Green and McClure not only nurtured their rootsy country-rock sound in the musical hotbed of Stillwater but also took the red dirt beyond Payne County and into the mainstream.

“Anytime someone would bring up The Great Divide, the only thing I’d think of was the bitter breakup. And going back and mending that fence, now when I hear about it, I can think about all the positive things we did, which was really pretty impressive for a bunch of boneheads from Stillwater,” McClure said with his typically dry wit. “We were the first ones to get a major deal and fly the banner. … That’s the facts; I’m not even bragging.”

The Great Divide started in 1992 and self-produced two albums – “Goin’ for Broke” and “Break in the Storm” – that sold well at all their shows, according to The Oklahoman Archives.

Their albums were so popular with their fans that Rick Blackburn of Atlantic Records in Nashville, Tenn., stumbled onto the fact that The Great Divide’s records were outselling much bigger acts and signed the band without even seeing them live.

The group inked a contract with Atlantic Records and released a repackaged “Break in the Storm,” and experienced moderate success with their Caribbean-flavored single “Pour Me a Vacation.” The band started Stillwater’s College Days to showcase their red dirt brethren like Cross Canadian Ragweed, Jason Boland & the Stragglers and Stoney LaRue.

After the release of their follow-up album “Revolutions,” the band’s momentum stalled, even after a stage show at 1998′s Fan Fair (precursor of the CMA Music Festival) in Nashville, and Atlantic dropped them.

“I feel like at Atlantic Records we were about to cross whatever that imaginary hump is to get to that place where we probably didn’t have to worry quite as much … and it didn’t work out. So that hurt everybody,” J.J. Lester said in a recent phone interview.

“We were burnt, we were tired, I’m sure that all of us were probably doing extracurricular things with alcohol that we shouldn’t have been. Maybe too much, it was too readily available. I definitely think egos got into place, and I think there were a lot of times that we probably could have stepped back and for whatever reason we didn’t. So some of it was in our control and some of it wasn’t.”

In 2000, the group signed with Broken Bow Records, — the indie label now best known as the home of hitmaker Jason Aldean – which released the appreciated “Afterglow: The Will Rogers Sessions.” But their next album, “Dirt and Spirit,” didn’t sell as they hoped, so the group left that label in 2001 and went back to marketing their own music. The quartet independently released the CD “Remain” the following year.

McClure left The Great Divide in 2003 to start a solo career and formed The Mike McClure Band, which has continued to tour vigorously. He has released eight albums and produced CDs for Ragweed, the Turnpike Troubadours and the Damn Quails.

“You put any band together on the road for 10 years, they’re gonna get sick of each other. You know, I just think what I was wanting to do musically wasn’t really what the band was leaning towards,” McClure said. “Every band goes through it, and we were certainly no exception.”

Micah Aills joined The Great Divide as the band’s new lead singer, and the group released the 2005 album “Under Your Own Sun” before eventually calling it quits.

“I think wherever Mike was at in his life, he was ready to change. And I think that speaking for myself and probably for Scotte and Kelley, we were definitely needing change, too. There certainly was a breakdown in communication, and Mike decided to leave,” J.J. Lester said. “It just is what it is, you know.”

Bridging the divide

Over the years, the band members have fielded various proposals to reunite. Earlier this year, the new ownership at the Tumbleweed contacted McClure offering to let the group take back College Days. He sent an email to his former bandmates and, on impulse, followed up with phone calls.

“I didn’t know if they’d tell me to get bent or whatever ‘cause we hadn’t talked. It was kind of an ugly breakup — like most bands go through — back in the day. So, I just sent ‘em and email and told them, you know, there’s an offer on the table and I was into it if they were,” he said.

J.J. Lester said he was surprised to hear from McClure. All four musicians are long married and raising children. For the sake of themselves and their families, they wanted to reconcile, so the former bandmates met for coffee.

“Honestly, I certainly wasn’t expecting it,” J.J. Lester said. “He indicated he was at a place in his life where he had made some changes about how he was approaching things and his extracurricular activities and was thinking a little bit differently these days and … wanted to reconcile, if nothing more than just to be friends.”

The first meeting was a friendly occasion and a clean slate, McClure said.

“It was cool. I think enough time had gone by everybody had kind of gotten over it. I know I had. We had something to do, which was relearn those songs, so we just started playing music again. Which is what we’d gotten away from,” McClure said.

Getting back into the music was a bit more challenging. Except for McClure, the others had pursued careers outside music. J.J. Lester is college pastor at Countryside Church in Stillwater. His brother has an independent welding business and builds houses, while Green works for Stillwater Steel.

“I was a little nervous ‘cause … J.J.’s been playing some, but the other guys haven’t really been in several years. And hell, I hadn’t really played those songs, so I was pretty rusty-crusty, too,” McClure said. “So the first few practices were wobbly, but you know, it was still there. And the last few, I’ve been really confident. After a couple of practices, hell, I was ready to go hit a stage.”

“I’m still scared to death about it,” J.J. Lester added about their reunion show. “The rehearsals have been great. I mean, there’s certainly been some rust spots as far as remembering songs and stuff like that. But there’s still a lot of laughing and remembering.”

While they have enjoyed the memories and music, he said the reunited Great Divide is focused on putting on a great show for their excited fans. A live CD and DVD will be recorded and a documentary filmed at the reunion concert, which is one of only two currently planned.

Now that they are no longer a band divided, the quartet has even talked about making new music together, especially since McClure’s Ada home features a recording studio.

“We’ve talked about it, and I’m down for it,” McClure said. “If they’re up for doing it, I am, too.”

Going on

College Days Festival

Friday lineup: The Great Divide reunion show, Jason Boland & the Stragglers, Stoney LaRue, No Justice, Turnpike Troubadours.

Saturday lineup: Pat Green with Kyle Park, Rich O’Toole, Drake White, Steve Brack, Stage County.

Hours: Doors open at 4 p.m.; music begins at 4:30 p.m.

Where: Tumbleweed Dance Hall & Concert Venue, Lakeview and Country Club roads, Stillwater.

Information: www.calffry.com.

-BAM

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Stoney LaRue gets mellow with new album “Velvet,” playing College Days tonight in Stillwater

Stoney LaRue hopes his fans can feel the love and artistry he has put into his long-awaited new album “Velvet” from the moment they get it in their eager hands.

After all, the CD cover comes draped in rich red faux velvet. Such finger-pleasing fancies are a rarity in the download era, and the red dirt standout said he and his management company spent hours figuring out how to make it happen.

“If you have a record deal or something like that, they try to cut costs and corners and then give you a product that is to the lowest bidder. But since I don’t have a record deal and I’ve been self-sufficient my entire career, I get to call the shots on how my product is packaged. So whenever we came up with the ‘Velvet’ thing, I said, ‘Wouldn’t be cool if the whole cover was velvety,’ and believe me we had to pull some teeth to get it done,” LaRue said in a recent phone interview from the road in Montana, far from his Edmond home.

“You know, I figure if I’m going to take about six years between my last (studio) album and this one, it’s gotta be something great, it’s gotta be something that’s art in every way. And I hope that’s something that comes across.”

The Taft, Texas-born and southeastern Oklahoma-bred singer-songwriter can’t quite articulate why it took so long for him to make a follow-up to his first studio effort, 2005’s “The Red Dirt Album.” But he has been fairly busy.

“We recorded ‘Live at Billy Bob’s’ (in 2007) two weeks after I put my band together, which is kind of unheard of. Then after that we released the album and it kind of took off from there. And I spend a lot of time touring — and what I mean by a lot of time is 262 days … last year — and when you’re traveling that much, it’s hard to find time for other things,” said LaRue, who also issued a live acoustic album in 2009.

But he also has philosophical reasons for not rushing into his sophomore studio album.

“People are trying to put out quantity instead of quality, I think. A lot of people are putting out … three or four albums a year or something like that. I think as a result, you know, music is kind of suffering because it’s not really quality some of it. They don’t take their time on it. It’s just like, ‘Oh, I’ve got some of the same stuff that we did before, here, try this.’

“I leave a lot of things up to God, to the universe, whatever you want to call it. You know, you have your goals … and I’ve been lining up everything in my personal and business life. And it all happens. I can’t explain the magic,” he added with a laugh. “Call me silly or whatever, but I think it definitely just happened when it was supposed to, and it wouldn’t happen any sooner and it can’t happen after the fact, can it?”

Although he has been honing his craft onstage for 12 years, the indie musician considers “Velvet” is first truly professional recording experience, and he was able to line up top-notch talents to help him. Frank Liddell, who has helmed projects by Tishomingo resident Miranda Lambert, Jack Ingram and Lee Ann Womack, signed on to produce “Velvet.”

“I was pretty excited that he was interested at all. … This is my first major thing that I’ve ever really done — well, it’s the biggest to date I should say — as far as collaborating, how long it took, the money involved and the people involved and everything,” LaRue said. “It’s his vision on how to record, which took a lot of pressure off me. I could just sit there and create as opposed to having to worry about all the nerve-racking crap that producers have to worry about.”

Along with connecting him with renowned session musicians and backing vocalists — including Liddell’s wife Womack and Sarah Buxton — the producer also paired LaRue with Nashville, Tenn.-based singer-songwriter Mando Saenz, who co-wrote nine of the album’s 10 tracks.

“He’s just a great writer, and we’re kind of similar in our styles and things. You never know if it’s gonna be a good writing session or not until you sit down with a person. We just really hit it off, I thought, and got a great album out of it.”

Like the velvety album cover, LaRue’s new music is smoother and mellower than most of his fans are probably expecting, with the finely textured title track and lead single setting a wistful, more mature tone.

“The writing is a direct reflection of what I’m feeling and every emotion that is involved with that,” said the married father of three. “There’s a lot of layers to it, and so it’s really cool to see what people kind of hit on.”

While he is eager to get the new CD into fans’ hands Monday night at his album release show at the Wormy Dog, LaRue has another exciting concert on his slate this weekend. He will play Friday night at the College Days Festival at the Tumbleweed Dance Hall in Stillwater, where he will be among the openers for reunited red dirt pioneers The Great Divide. He first got to see The Great Divide play when he was in high school, and the band had a major influence on LaRue, Jason Boland & The Stragglers, Cross Canadian Ragweed and many others.

“Hey, Great Divide was THE red dirt band to go see, and they brought it to another level in their time,” he said. “They took it all the way through Texas and really kind of broke that whole thing open for Ragweed, for Stragglers, for us, for No Justice. At that time, that played a crucial or integral role in our success, I think. “So to see them get back together and be up on stage again, I’ll be like a kid. It’ll be like time stood still for 10 years.”

In concert

The Great Divide’s College Days Festival

Friday lineup: The Great Divide reunion show, Jason Boland & the Stragglers, Stoney LaRue, No Justice, Turnpike Troubadours.

Saturday lineup: Pat Green with Kyle Park, Rich O’Toole, Drake White, Steve Brack, Stage County.

Hours: Doors open at 4 p.m.; music begins at 4:30 p.m.

Where: Tumbleweed Dance Hall & Concert Venue, Lakeview and Country Club roads, Stillwater.

Information: www.calffry.com.

Stoney LaRue “Velvet” CD release show

When: 8 p.m. Monday.

Where: Wormy Dog Saloon, 311 E Sheridan.

Cost: Free. CDs will be available at the door. First come, first served.

Information: 601-6276 or www.wormydog.com.

-BAM

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Pistol Annies fire off red-hot debut album “Hell on Heels”

Miranda Lambert introduced the Pistol Annies with an appropriate bang, premiering her all-girl trio during the nationally televised concert special “Girls’ Night Out: Superstar Women of Country.”

But for the Tishomingo resident and fellow Annies Angaleena Presley and Ashley Monroe, the opening shot in their new musical sisterhood was fired at 2 a.m. two years ago.

“Just on a whim one night, Ashley and Miranda were having this kind of girls’ campout-writing weekend, and they had written a few songs. They weren’t really for Ashley, they weren’t really for Miranda, and they didn’t know what to do with them. So Ashley was like, ‘Well, hey, have you ever heard of Angaleena Presley?’ And Miranda was like, ‘No,’” Presley said with a laugh during a recent phone interview.

“The next thing you know, 2 o’clock in the morning, they’re calling me, and Ashley’s like, ‘Get up, get up, you have to send me and Miranda your record.’ And I was like, ‘Miranda who, Ashley?’ It’s like, ‘You’re crazy, I’m in the bed, I have my 2-year-old laying next to me, whatever.’ … And she was like, ‘You’d better get up and do it. It’s Miranda Lambert!’”

Presley, 34, obligingly rolled out of bed and emailed her unreleased record, and the red-hot country star was immediately impressed.

“When I heard a few of the songs Angaleena had written, I just felt we were kindred spirits; she is an amazing storyteller,” Lambert told me in an email interview earlier this summer. “We all started hanging out more in late 2009 and just wrote music together and sang together. Ashley is truly a wordsmith and has the voice of an angel. It felt natural, and I got very inspired musically, so we started singing for other friends and it was fun.

“The next natural progression was recording it, and now we can’t seem to stop.”

The “Girls’ Night Out” TV special — taped in Las Vegas on April 4, the day after Lambert bagged four Academy of Country Music awards — aired just four months ago, but the Pistol Annies earlier this week fired off their first album, “Hell on Heels.” The album shares its title with the Annies’ down-and-dirty first single, which sets the authentic, shoot-from-the-hip tone for their collaboration.

“I think our common theme is just honesty. I think that we all three kind of talk about what women are thinking but are afraid to say sometimes. And then we go on and we write songs about it. And I hope that all the girls out there will like ‘em, and even the boys maybe they can learn how to treat their women better if they listen to our record,” Presley said with a laugh.

“We’re all obviously country girls. We’re all from the eastern part of our states. It’s really not contrived at all; it’s not really forced. I don’t know, we just have this weird chemistry together.”

The Annies have forged a tight bond, complete with nicknames. And if they sound like the kind of monikers a trio of girlfriends might come up with after staying up too late talking and giggling together, that’s probably because they are. Texas native Lambert has been dubbed Lone Star Annie; laidback Tennessean Monroe is known as Hippie Annie; and Kentucky-born and bred coal miner’s daughter Presley goes by Holler Annie.

“Fun is definitely something that comes easy for us,” Presley said with a laugh. “It’s so crazy. It’s like we go to work and it’s so funny to call it work because we have such a good time together. We’re great friends, and somebody’s always laughing. If somebody’s not cryin’ — and then if we’re cryin’ we get it over it in like 10 minutes and everything’s fine. Yeah, we have a great time.”

Lambert’s husband, fellow country music star Blake Shelton, also has gotten in on the fun, earning the nickname Pistol Andy and helping the trio pen the scathing rebuke “Family Feud.”

“We do a lot of little girl weekends … and this one it just happened that Blake was there and he actually was doing the dishes — he had just made us some biscuits and gravy — and we were over there playing guitar and singing,” Presley said. “And he goes, ‘Girls, y’all have a clique and I’m not in it.’ And we were like, ‘Aw, Blake, it’s OK, you can be in it, just for once.’ So we handed him a guitar and he started playing this cool melody.”

Along with their love for writing songs and having fun, the Annies share a penchant for old-school country that wings through loud and clear on “Hell on Heels,” hich often calls to mind classic cuts from Loretta Lynn’s “Rated X” and “Fist City” to Tammy Wynette’s “D-I-V-O-R-C-E” and “Your Good Girl’s Gonna Go Bad.”

“We love, love all that classic country sound. I don’t think that we set out to do that, but I think that we got in the studio and that’s just kind of the vibe that when we played our songs for the band … that they picked up on. I think it was a really natural thing,” Presley said.

For the singer-songwriter, the enthusiastic fan response to the trio’s sets during Lambert’s shows gives her hope that the Pistol Annies will blast down the barriers that keep women from releasing daring music. Her debut solo album remains unreleased because “people are scared (expletive) of it if I do say so myself; it’s just a really edgy, raw record.”

“We’ve had a blast watching the fans go from question marks over their heads to now screaming and going crazy when we come out and singing along to our songs. It’s just been really cool to watch that evolution as people learn about us,” Presley said.

“Hopefully, groups like Pistol Annies are breaking down the doors for artists like me who are really honest and talk about things that need to be talked about.”

-BAM

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CD review: Pistol Annies “Hell on Heels”

Pistol Annies “Hell on Heels” (Columbia Nashville)

From the smoldering title track, the Pistol Annies makes themselves clear: They’re pretty, they’re smart, and they’re going to say and do whatever they want. And they’re coming for you.

Tishomingo resident Miranda Lambert, Tennessee native Ashley Monroe and eastern Kentuckian Angaleena Presley may share cute matching nicknames and favor snazzy matching outfits, but the formidable trio of singer-songwriters quickly blasts away any notion that they are a typical girl group.

Clocking in at a lean half-hour, their debut album delivers on the promise of their partnership: It’s sharply penned, impeccably sung, unapologetically raw and often brutally honest. And the title track, a saga of three merciless man eaters on the prowl that opens the album, truly is just the beginning.

A blazing girl-power powder-keg, “Hell on Heels” channels the classic country of Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette with an uninhibited modern sensibility. The 10 tracks strike much deeper than the sassy kiss-offs and power ballads that female singers typically belt out in the pop-infused contemporary country era.

“Housewife’s Prayer” crackles with escalating desperation, “Trailer for Rent” builds slowly and then explodes with woman-scorned fury, and “Family Feud” scathingly rebukes greedy relatives who can’t even wait for the reading of mama’s will before they start plundering her keepsakes.

As with Lambert’s solo work, the sound and fury immediately captures the ear, but the Annies aren’t just angry. They’re cheerfully behaving badly on “Takin’ Pills” and “Bad Example,” and they’re fervently hoping for better days on “Lemon Drop.” They take dead-eye aim on the musical trend of country boys proving how country they are with the uproarious toe-tapper “The Hunter’s Wife,” then turn around and pay affectionate tribute to “Boys from the South.”

But the Annies are at their strongest with their most vulnerable song: “Beige,” a melancholy, true-to-life ode about a shotgun wedding.

— BAM

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DVD review: “NCIS: The Eighth Season”

In its eighth season, popular procedural “NCIS” delves deeply into the colorful pasts of its quirky, well-formed characters, which set the series part from the other crime dramas on television.

The top-rated scripted series on network TV, the likable series chronicles the investigations of a fictional major case response team of the real-life Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Based in Washington, D.C., the team follows the lead of hard-nosed but soft-hearted Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs (the appealing Mark Harmon).

The chemistry among the team members — charming joker Anthony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly), computer whiz Timothy McGee (Sean Murray), former Israeli Mossad officer and new American citizen Ziva David (Cote de Pablo), chatty chief medical examiner Donald “Ducky” Mallard (David McCallum) and happy, hyperactive tattooed forensics specialist Abby Sciuto (Pauley Perrette) — enliven the murder-a-week format.

The season opens by firmly knotting the bloody ties that have bound Gibbs to a ruthless family of Mexican drug dealers for 20 years, but the past remains a theme throughout the 24 episodes. In a two-part season highlight, the show traces the long relationship between enigmatic NCIS director Leon Vance (Rocky Carroll) with Eli David (Michael Nouri), the head of Mossad and Ziva’s father.

DiNozzo must reflect on his choice not to accept a promotion in Rota, Spain, when that team, led by less experienced Agent E.J. Barrett (Sarah Jane Morris), comes to D.C. in pursuit of a serial killer.

William Devane guest stars as the grandfather with a shady background who gets involved with the investigation into his granddaughter’s kidnapping; Bob Newhart plays the retired NCIS coroner who preceded Ducky; and Robert Wagner and Ralph Waite return as the indelible dads of DiNozzo and Gibbs, respectively.

By the time Season 8 ends, DiNozzo has been tasked with a top-secret assignment and several of the show’s recurring characters have faced drastic turns of fortune, including Ray Cruz (Enrique Murciano), Ziva’s CIA agent boyfriend who gets his own hush-hush mission; Trent Kort (David Dayan Fisher), a shifty CIA operative who often crosses paths with the team; and Mike Franks (Muse Watson), a retired NCIS legend and Gibbs’ mentor.

DVD features: Behind-the-scenes short documentary, several making-of featurettes and commentaries on four episodes.

— BAM

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Country Music Singers Association of Oklahoma City Heartland Opry starts “Singing for Miracles” Saturday

The Country Music Singers Association of Oklahoma City Heartland Opry will host a series of live musical performances called “Singing for Miracles” at various locations around Oklahoma City beginning August 27 Saturday to benefit Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and Children’s Hospital Foundation.

“The Country Music Singers Association of Oklahoma is committed to supporting Oklahoma pediatrics and Oklahoma’s children through community fundraising as it fulfills its mission of preserving Oklahoma’s rich country, gospel and bluegrass music heritage,” said Helen Moore, the association’s advertising and promotions chairwoman.

“Singing for Miracles” will kick off with a Gospel Praise Night at 6 p.m. Saturday at the Lord of Life Lutheran Church, 15400 N Western in Edmond. Performers will include Gospel Elvis, The Layman’s Quartet, Rocky Bolin, Charles Jones, Bob Dannatt, Gerald Wills and Darrel Graef. Admission will be free to the event, and the entertainers will be accepting donations.

Donations will help children like Sam, a six-year-old who is courageously battling Cystic Fibrosis, a disease that affects the lungs and digestive system. The aspiring police officer receives his medical care here in Oklahoma.

On Oct. 15, six teams of award-winning entertainers will perform from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at locations throughout Oklahoma. One team will include TJ Rhea and the Steamrollers performing a tribute to Elvis. There will be raffles, auctions and donation opportunities at each location. Tickets to the Grand Finale will be available for purchase at each performance. Locations, dates and times will be outlined on www.heartlandopry.com.

The Grand Finale will be at the Country Western Museum and Hall of Fame in Del City at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 15. The top three finalists from the “Voice for a Cure” competition will be showcased as well as a silent auction and raffle.

Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to helping children by raising funds and awareness while keeping 100 percent of donations in the community where they are raised. Children’s Hospital Foundation is a proud affiliate of CMN Hospitals and is dedicated to providing funding for pediatric programs in research, education and clinical care for Oklahoma’s children.

For more information about “Singing for Miracles,” call Helen Moore at 609-6505.

-BAM

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What to do in Oklahoma on Aug. 26, 2011: Check out the closing show for “Art Gone Wild” in the Paseo

Today’s featured event:

Check out paintings by flamingos, grizzly bears, elephants, snakes and other Oklahoma City Zoo animals tonight at the closing show for the second annual “Art Gone Wild ” exhibit at In Your Eye Studio & Gallery, 3005 Paseo A.

The closing show for the exhibit, featuring works of art created by many of the furry, scaled and feathered friends who call the OKC Zoo home, is set for 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. today. It is the last opportunity this year for art lovers to see and purchase paintings created by the OKC Zoo Animals.

Each work of art has been made especially for the show by the zoo’s resident animal artists, with some help from their keepers. Some animals use a paintbrush while others choose to paint with their paws, claws, tails and scales. Each work of art will be for sale, and profits will support the zoo’s conservation projects.

Also on display will be portraits of the OKC Zoo animals, created by their human art friends from In Your Eye Gallery.  The gallery artists created unique portraits of their favorite animals in a variety of media, including photography, mixed media, acrylic, glass and encaustics. In Your Eye will donate 10 percent of their sales to zoo conservation projects, too.

The Oklahoman’s resident OKC Zoo expert Carrie Coppernoll recently went behind the scenes to determine how an Egyptian tortoise created its paintings; to read her story, click here.

For more information on “Art Gone Wild,” go to www.inyoureyegallery.com.

-BAM

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Jamie Lee Curtis to guest-star on “NCIS”

Two-time Golden Globe winner Jamie Lee Curtis will guest star on two episodes on the ninth season of the top-rated TV drama “NCIS,” reports EW.com.

Curtis will play strong-willed career woman and single mom named Charlotte Ryan who works with Office of the Inspector General in the Department of Defense. She will tangle with Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon) and his major case response team.” Her episodes will air in November.

Her guest-starring stint on “NCIS” will reunite Curtis and Harmon, who co-starred in the 2003 remake of the movie “Freaky Friday” as an engaged couple.

“The role of ‘Charlotte Ryan’ got even better when the enormously talented Jamie Lee Curtis agreed to join us,” “NCIS” executive producer Gary Glasberg tells EW.com. “Jamie’s shoot-from-the-hip style embodies everything we want from Ryan — humor, heart, strength, and a lot of fun. We couldn’t be more excited she’s here. And don’t be surprised if there are sparks between Gibbs and Ryan. We’re expecting some real chemistry.”

The ninth season premiere of “NCIS” will air Sept. 20 on CBS. Look for my DVD review of “NCIS: The Eighth Season” on Friday here on BAM’s Blog, on NewsOK and in the Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.

-BAM

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Video: St. Vincent, “Cruel”

Tulsa-born singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist St. Vincent released today her new music video, “Cruel,” in which she is kidnapped, held at gunpoint and eventually buried alive but manages to sound downright ethereally beautiful doing it.

“Cruel” will be included on her upcoming album “Strange Mercy,” due out Sept. 13.

“Strange Mercy” will be the follow-up to her 2009 sophomore effort “Actor,” which made my top 10 list for that year.

-BAM

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Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond to appear Friday on “Good Morning America,” debut show Saturday on Food Network

Oklahoma celebrity Ree Drummond, AKA The Pioneer Woman, is scheduled to appear Friday on “Good Morning America” Friday and cook a special recipe, reports my lovely colleague Melissa Hayer on the NewsOK TV blog. “Good Morning America” airs from 7 to 9 a.m. on ABC (KOCO-5 here in Oklahoma City).

An award-winning blogger and best-selling cookbook author, Drummond is bringing her signature wit and down-home recipes to an all-new Food Network series, “The Pioneer Woman,” premiering at 10:30 a.m. Saturday. Shot on location at her family’s picturesque Oklahoma ranch, “The Pioneer Woman” will serve up a slice of frontier life along with the “accidental country girl’s” step-by-step recipes for creating wholesome, hearty family meals and elegant menus for entertaining.

“Ree’s easy-going humor and down-to-earth approach to food and life have won her millions of devoted fans online,” said Bob Tuschman, General Manager and Senior Vice President, Programming and Production for Food Network, in a news release. “In her new series, she’ll welcome us onto the ranch and into her home to share her secrets for turning simple variations on traditional American fare into memorable mealtimes for family and friends.”

Over the past five years, the Bartlesville native has chronicled her life as a city-gal-turned-rancher’s-wife on her phenomenally popular food and lifestyle blog, also called “The Pioneer Woman,” With her new Food Network series, Drummond will invite viewers home to her family’s ranch near Pawhuska, and they can watch and learn as she flips Lemon Blueberry Pancakes for son Todd’s birthday breakfast, achieves a Perfect Pot Roast for Sunday family dinner, and serves up Fig, Prosciutto and Arugula Pizza and Sangria for ladies night in. In between culinary conquests, Ree takes time to wrangle horses, compete in a shooting contest with her husband Ladd (AKA “The Marlboro Man”), have fun with her four adorable kids and try to keep Charlie the basset hound out of trouble.

Drummond is a writer, photographer, ranch wife and mother of four. Her blog, ThePioneerWoman.com, attracts more than 20 million page views per month and was named Weblog of the Year at the 2011, 2010, and 2009 Bloggie Awards. Drummond is also the author of the No. 1 best-selling cookbook “The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl” and the 2011 memoir “Black Heels to Tractor Wheels—A Love Story,” which debuted at No. 2 on The New York Times Best Seller list for nonfiction hardcover. Ree’s children’s picture book, “Charlie the Ranch Dog,” which chronicles the adventures of her much-beloved basset hound, also premiered at No. 1 on the New York Times Best Seller list. Drummond has appeared on numerous national talk shows including “GMA,” “Today,” “The View” and “Fox & Friends.”

For more information, videos and recipes go to www.foodnetwork.com/pioneerwoman and checkout Ree’s blog at http://thepioneerwoman.com.

-BAM

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