Blu-ray review: “Haywire”
From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
“Haywire”
Between Katniss Everdeen and Mallory Kane, there’s hope for smart and strong big-screen action heroines yet.
While Jennifer Lawrence’s bow-wielding “The Hunger Games” protagonist continues to dominate the box office, mixed-martial arts slugger Gina Carano’s ex-Marine-turned-mercenary-for-hire is sprinting onto Blu-ray and DVD Tuesday in Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh’s unfortunately little-seen espionage flick “Haywire.”
For movie-goers who got queasy from the shaky-camera battles in “The Hunger Games” or have wearied of the Michael Bay style of bombastic, implausible, jump-cut action sequences, Soderbergh offers a perfectly hard-hitting antidote with “Haywire.”
The maverick filmmaker built the film around Carano’s impressive Muay Thai kickboxing skills, and he compensates for her acting inexperience by surrounding her by A-list men: Channing Tatum as a fellow freelance covert operative, Ewan McGregor as their boss and Mallory’s former lover, Antonio Banderas and Michael Douglas as the government officials willing to pay big bucks for their services, Michael Fassbender as a British agent who teams with Mallory on an ill-fated mission, and Bill Paxton as Mallory’s former soldier/novelist father. All of them demonstrate a willingness to get beaten up by, or at least play second banana to, a woman and an eagerness to work with the “Traffic” helmer.
Taking his cues from 1960s and ‘70s spy movies, screenwriter Lem Dobbs, who also penned Soderbergh’s well-reviewed 1999 crime drama “The Limey,” provides a slick, businesslike story that gets the job done without trying to rewrite the genre. Besides his interesting use of natural light and composer David Holmes’ jazzy score, which is dropped in favor of the visceral sounds of fists and kicks landing during the fights, Soderbergh doesn’t add many frills. For the most part, the lean thriller doesn’t need them, but a bit of the charming humor of the director’s “Ocean’s Eleven” and its sequels would pleasantly warm the often-chilly proceedings.
But the refreshingly realistic action scenes are the movie’s reason for being, and the filmmaker showcases them in long, steady tracking shots that are a welcome change from the usual furiously edited, computer-generated graphics-enhanced onscreen brawls. After all, Soderbergh isn’t trying to convince us that some slender waif has the unlikely capabilities to take down full-grown men: He has Carano, who actually has the strength and skills to do just that, making her an action heroine worth watching.
Bonus features: Two making-of featurettes.
— BAM
The history of small town Bradley, Oklahoma, makes for a big book
From left, Dale Jones, editor of the new historical book "The Chronicles of Bradley, Oklahoma Thru 1968," chats with Debra Williams at his book signing April 13 at the First National Bank of Lindsay. Williams, a Lindsay resident, bought a copy of the book for her son, Kyle English, 29, whose late father Ray English attended Bradley schools, as well as a copy for her former mother-in-law, Clara Faye Hughes. Photo by Brandy McDonnell, The Oklahoman.
Small town’s history makes for a big book
BAM column: Lifelong farmer Dale Jones took on the role of book editor to preserve his community’s storied past in “The Chronicles of Bradley, Oklahoma Thru 1968.”
LINDSAY — Although a fierce blue and black dragon gleams on its golden cover, I’m more inclined to think of a phoenix when I look at the shiny new tome “The Chronicles of Bradley, Oklahoma Thru 1968.”
After all, the ashes of his old schoolhouse and the fire-hot dust of last summer’s drought prompted the unlikely transformation of my father, Dale Jones, into the creator of the recently released book.
Despite his fervent interest in history, I never imagined my dad, the lifelong farmer, would edit a historical volume. But on a recent Friday, he sat in the lobby of the First National Bank of nearby Lindsay with a black marker in his calloused hand as he participated in his first book signing, scrawling his name and reminiscing with a few of his fans and neighbors.
From left, Dale Jones, editor of the new historical book "The Chronicles of Bradley, Oklahoma Thru 1968," chats with L.B. Hoyle at his book signing April 13 at the First National Bank in Lindsay. Photo by Brandy McDonnell, The Oklahoman.
“The book, oh, I think it’s just marvelous. Dale has done a yeoman’s job on this, and had it not been for him, there would’ve never been any records or history of Bradley as he knew it back several years ago. I mean, he’s to be commended,” said fellow Bradley area denizen L.B. Hoyle.
“Had it not been for Dale doing this, it would have just fell by the wayside. No one would had never endeavored on that, and if it hadn’t have been a dry year farming, Dale wouldn’t have had time to do it,” he added with a laugh.
“Best thing that came out of the drought.”
Rather than dwelling on his crops burning up in the relentless triple-digit temperatures last summer, my dad decided to delve into the history of his dwindling hometown. Preserving that history had been on his mind since fall 2009, when he attended for his first time the annual reunion of the Bradley Alumni Association. Among that crowd of about 75 graybeards and grandmothers with whom he grew up, he was reminded that he will forever be the youngest of the Bradley Dragons. Now 61, he was the baby of the class of 1968, the last graduating class of Bradley High School.
At that 2009 reunion, he experienced a troubling realization: The keepers of his hometown’s history were getting older, while the community itself was becoming more and more a ghost town.
A year later, the abandoned Bradley schoolhouse, built in 1940 by the Works Progress Administration, burned out. The stately stone facade was left fragilely standing, but the inside was gutted by the fire. He realized then that soon no tangible sign would be left of the place where he made so many memories, unless someone in his generation created it.
My father partnered with our close friends Darrell and Gina Cable at Cable Printing Co. — publishers of the Lindsay News, where I got my first journalism gig in seventh grade as reporter for the Lindsay Middle School 4-H club — to create a true chronicle. Rather than relying on his and others’ recollections of Bradley and its school, he mined the archives of the Lindsay News, Chickasha Daily Express and even the long-closed Alex Tribune.
He made numerous research trips to the Oklahoma History Center, cajoled my sister into rekeying hundreds of newspaper articles and asked neighbors to write up and submit their family histories. For my part, I got to take a few photographs, help out with the acknowledgements and try my hand at sports journalism, interviewing my father and writing the nearly-lost story of the last game of the Bradley Dragons boys’ basketball team, which was shockingly upset on a snowy night in February 1968 in the Class C district championship.
For the book, my dad even got a local photographer to shoot the Bradley senior class panels, which still hang in the Bradley Community Center. Besides a smattering of houses, a few shuttered businesses, a relatively new playground and a post office that has been targeted for possible closure, the center is one of the few landmarks that remain in his hometown.
But the bustling past of the community and school is now carefully preserved in the nearly 700 pages of “The Chronicles of Bradley.”
“Bradley was a neat little town. Everyone kept their places just manicured back when I was about 12, 13 years old. Little white picket fences across the front of the places,” Hoyle recalled, pointing out of a photo in the book of himself at age 17, his foot jauntily propped on the running board of his dad’s 1941 Ford pickup.
“But if you wanted entertainment, most everybody came to Bradley on the weekend. … See, there was no law up there. Every weekend, it wasn’t anything to see two or three fights.”
“I get up in the mornings real early and sit there and read it and laugh and laugh and laugh about things I had forgotten,” Hoyle’s wife Inadean added.
For such a small town, the demand has been pretty impressive: Of the almost 400 copies he had printed and bound back in March, my dad has already sold 300, with many families buying four or five books. They are on display at Lindsay’s First National Bank and for sale at Cable Printing.
“Everybody is excited about having ‘The Chronicles of Bradley’ and looking to see where they’re mentioned in the book — good or bad,” said the bank’s assistant vice president/cashier Angie Stone. “It is great for the community.”
-BAM
Best Bets for April 27-29, 2012: Festival of the Arts, Joe Bonamassa, Red Dirt Rangers, Greg Jacobs and The Black Keys
The Red Dirt Rangers
Here are my picks for the Best Bets in entertainment happening around Oklahoma this weekend. For more options, go to www.wimgo.com.
1. Celebrate the visual, performing and culinary arts at the annual Festival of the Arts from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday in downtown Oklahoma City. Information: 270-4848 or www.artscouncilokc.com.
2. Listen to blues-rock guitarist/singer/songwriter Joe Bonamassa at 8 p.m. Sunday at Civic Center Music Hall, 201 N Walker. Information: 297-2264 or www.myticketoffice.com.
3. Hear Oklahoma red dirt musicians Greg Jacobs at 8 p.m. Friday and Red Dirt Rangers at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Blue Door, 2805 N McKinley. Information: 524-0738 or www.bluedoorokc.com.
4. TULSA — Catch The Black Keys with special guest Arctic Monkeys in concert at 8 p.m. Saturday at the BOK Center, 200 S Denver. Doors open at 7 p.m. Information: (866) 726-5287 or www.bokcenter.com.
-BAM
What to do in Oklahoma on April 27, 2012: Hear The Non, Dead Sea Choir, Peelander Z and many more at Norman Music Festival 5
Dead Sea Choir
Today’s featured event:
NORMAN – Hear The Non, Dead Sea Choir, Student Film, Peelander Z, New Fumes and a wide variety of many, many other musical acts playing on many, many stages during Day 2 of the fifth annual Norman Music Festival.
The FREE festival continues today and Saturday in downtown Norman, on Main Street in the Arts District, extending from the 300 block of E Main Street and the 100 block of W Main Street. Today, the music begins about 4:30 p.m. today and goes into the wee hours of the morning. The festival shifts to an all-day event Saturday.
Check out BAM’s Blog contributor Nathan Poppe’s coverage of Thursday’s launch of NMF5 by clicking here.
For more information, go to www.normanmusicfestival.com.
For more events, go to www.wimgo.com.
-BAM
21st Annual Tumbleweed Calf Fry begins in Stillwater today
Cody Canada & The Departed
STILLWATER – The 21st Annual Calf Fry, AKA the “testicle festival,” begins today at the Tumbleweed Dance Hall, Lakeview and Country Club roads.
Besides the signature dish, a great lineup of Texas country and red dirt music has been prepared for today, Friday and Saturday:
THURSDAY, APRIL 26
Eli Young Band
Kevin Fowler
Curtis Grimes
Jason Cassidy
Chance Anderson
After Party Inside w/ Taylor Atkinson and Brandon Jackson
FRIDAY, APRIL 27
Randy Rogers Band
Corey Smith
Cody Canada and the Departed
Shooter Jennings
Drake White
After Party Inside w/ William Clark Green and Brandon Jackson
SATURDAY, APRIL 28
Gary Allan
Wade Bowen
Brian Lumley
2 Steps Back
After Party Inside w/ John David Kent
To read my new interview with recent Academy of Country Music Award winners Eli Young Band, click here. And look for my new interview with Randy Rogers on Friday.
Also, the Travel Channel and the Tumbleweed are going to host a Calf Fry Eating Contest this afternoon, and the venue is recruiting contestants on its Facebook page. The contest will be at 4:30 p.m. today, and folks must have tickets, either purchased in advance or bought at the gate. Rumble will be there, Jon Smith will be the master of ceremonies, and the venue is looking for four or five people to join in the fun. For more on that, go to www.facebook.com/calffry.
Showtime is 5:30 p.m. each night; doors open at 4 p.m. For more information, go to www.calffry.com.
-BAM
Norman Music Festival starts today
Portugal. The Man
NORMAN — Some of the top local and national indie bands will rock Main Street when the Norman Music Festival celebrates its fifth year today, Friday and Saturday.
The three-day event will take place on more than a dozen local stages and include headliners Portugal. The Man on the festival’s Main Stage and Hayes Carll on its Jack Daniels stage.
The festival will be in downtown Norman, on Main Street in the Arts District, extending from the 300 block of E Main Street and the 100 block of W Main Street.
Last year’s attendance topped out about 35,000 on the event’s third night. To accommodate the growing audience, the Main Stage will be located at Main Street and Porter.
In addition to headliner Portugal. The Man, the Main Stage lineup includes Stillwater’s Other Lives (fresh off a support tour with Radiohead), self-proclaimed American rock band Red Wanting Blue, the Weekend Hustler, the Tulsa-based Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, Oklahoma City’s Modern Rock Diaries and Norman’s Rainbows Are Free and Crown Imperial.
The Norman Music Festival’s Jack Daniels Stage includes nationally known artists Hayes Carll, Alejandro Escovedo, the Giving Tree and the Possum Posse, as well as locally based artists Parker Millsap, The Damn Quails, Krystal Keith, Camille Harp and John Calvin.
The Dustbowl Arts Market will be an added attraction on Saturday in the 100 block of Main Street, featuring the work of local and regional artists and handmade vendors. Photography, jewelry, prints, screen-printing, clothing, accessories and textiles will be among items for sale.
The festival is free but organizers say one of the easiest ways to support the festival is through a VIP pass. Fans can mingle with the bands in VIP lounges, gain access to the VIP stage pit, enjoy complimentary food and beverages and a special edition T-shirt. VIP passes are $60.
For more information, go online to normanmusicfestival.com.
-BAM
Festival of the Arts continues in downtown Oklahoma City
Brianna Gaither
The 46th annual Festival of the Arts celebrating the visual, performing and culinary arts continues today in downtown Oklahoma City.
Hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. today through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday at the Festival Plaza, on Hudson Avenue and at the revamped Myriad Botanical Gardens.
The event will include 144 juried artists showcasing their wares, 31 fabulous food booths, about 300 performers providing live entertainment on four stages, plus a sculpture park, the South Hudson Gallery’s pro-am exhibition, children’s activities and exhibits and more. Oh, and admission is FREE.
I’ll be out at the festival today to interview the event’s designated street performer Al Millar, AKA The Human Knot. To read my preview of the event, click here.
For more information, call 270-4848 or go to www.artscouncilokc.com.
Here is today’s performing arts schedule. For the full schedule, click here.
Thursday
Café Stage
11 a.m. Emerald Flame – Traditional/Folk
Noon Gravity – Funk/Jazz
1 p.m. Jamie Bramble – Rock/Pop
2 Moore High School Wind Quintet – Instrumental
3 Colla Voce Harding Fine Arts – Choral
5 Dustin Prinz – Indie Folk/Accoustic
6 Brother Summit w/ Kerry Wayne – Old School Classics
7:30 Smilin’ Vic and the Soul Monkeys – Classic Oldies
Great Lawn Stage
11 a.m. Yukon Middle School – Choral
Noon Deer Creek Prairie Vale Honor Choir
1 p.m. Coronado Heights Choir – Choral
2 Harding Arts Dance – Dance
3 Moore West Tiger Choir – Choral
4 Science Museum Oklahoma Presents: The Science of WOW!
5 PM2: Perpetual Motion Teen Company- Dance
6 Festival Idol Competition
7 Kelvin “Mr. Guitar” Drake & Friends – Variety
Water Stage
11 a.m. Tuter, Brooks, and Williams- Rock/Jazz
Noon Brianna Gaither – Pop
1 p.m. Delivin Sirleaf – R&B
2 Carousal Revolt – Rock/Country
3 Okie Stompers – Clog Dance
4 Paul Barbre – Folk
5 Straight 2 Video -Rock
6 OKC Comedy – Comedy
7:30 Tele Mori – Rock/Pop
Art Moves Stage
11 a.m. Diane Coady – Silk-Dyeing Demonstration
Noon Erica Thomas and Terri Hlubek – Opera/Variety
1 p.m. Chad Slagle – Red-Dirt Country
5 Bread and Butter Band – Indie-Bluegrass
6 Local Honey – Traditional Folk/Country
-BAM
What to do in Oklahoma on April 26, 2012: Hear Zac Brown Band at Chesapeake Energy Arena
Today’s featured event:
Hear Zac Brown Band at 7 tonight at Chesapeake Energy Arena, 100 W Reno.
On Wednesday, the two-time Grammy winners announced that their forthcoming album will be titled “Uncaged” and released on July 10 on Atlantic Records/Southern Ground Artists.
The album will also mark the official debut of ZBB’s newest member, world-renowned percussionist Daniel de los Reyes.
In a recent phone interview, ZBB fiddler Jimmy De Martini told me that the group will play new music from the upcoming album during the OKC show.
“We’ve been in the studio. We’re actually finishing up on the new album. … We’ll play three or four new songs from the album, and we’ll also play all the ones that you love,” he said.
“It’s the same formula we always do. It’s the same Zac Brown-type song, you know. We’ve got some great songs written just the way we do it: We’ve got country songs, rock songs, island songs, all our influences melded into one the Zac Brown Band way. It’s just more of the same from us,” he added.
“A lot of us grew up listening to Bob Marley and Jimmy Buffett and that kind of laidback stuff. But we also play some fast-picking bluegrass kind of stuff that’s high-energy and some heavy rock tunes, too. So it kind of spans the board as far as the genres that we’ve been influenced by and the stuff that we take from it. But the laidback stuff is definitely one part of it.”
To read more of my interview with De Martini, click here.
The band is currently nominated for Billboard Music Awards’ Top Country Artist and for two CMT Awards, Collaborative Video Of The Year for “Knee Deep” featuring Jimmy Buffet and Best Group Video for “Keep Me In Mind.”
Zac Brown Band’s double-platinum major label debut “The Foundation” (Atlantic Records/Home Grown/Big Picture) was named one of Billboard’s Top 20 albums of 2009, and the platinum follow-up “You Get What You Give” (Atlantic/Southern Ground Artists) debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart in 2010.
Zac Brown Band is De Martini, singer/guitarist Zac Brown, bassist/singer John Driskell Hopkins, guitarist/organist Coy Bowles, multi-instrumentalist/singer Clay Cook, drummer Chris Fryar and percussionist Daniel de los Reyes.
For more information, go to www.chesapeakearena.com.
For more events, go to www.wimgo.com.
-BAM
Wednesday Video Spotlight: Norman Music Festival headliners Portugal. The Man and Hayes Carll
NORMAN — It’s almost here! Some of the top local and national indie bands will rock Main Street when the Norman Music Festival celebrates its fifth year on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
The three-day event will take place on over a dozen local stages and includes headliners Portugal. The Man on the festival’s Main Stage and Hayes Carll on its Jack Daniels stage.
For the past few weeks, I’ve been dedicating one of my Wednesday Video Spotlights to bands that will play this year’s festival, and this time, it’s all about the headliners.
The festival will be in downtown Norman, on Main Street in the Arts District, extending from the 300 block of E Main Street and the 100 block of W Main Street.
Last year’s attendance topped out about 35,000 on the event’s third night. To accommodate the growing audience, the Main Stage will be located at Main Street and Porter.
In addition to headliner Portugal. The Man, the Main Stage lineup includes Stillwater’s Other Lives (fresh off a support tour with Radiohead), self-proclaimed American rock band Red Wanting Blue, the Weekend Hustler, the Tulsa-based Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, Oklahoma City’s Modern Rock Diaries and Norman’s Rainbows Are Free and Crown Imperial.
The Norman Music Festival’s Jack Daniels Stage includes nationally known artists Hayes Carll, Alejandro Escovedo, the Giving Tree and the Possum Posse, as well as locally based artists Parker Millsap, The Damn Quails, Krystal Keith, Camille Harp and John Calvin.
The Dustbowl Arts Market will be an added attraction on Saturday in the 100 block of Main Street, featuring the work of local and regional artists and handmade vendors. Photography, jewelry, prints, screen-printing, clothing, accessories and textiles will be among items for sale.
The festival is free but organizers say one of the easiest ways to support the festival is through a VIP pass. Fans can mingle with the bands in VIP lounges, gain access to the VIP stage pit, enjoy complimentary food and beverages and a special edition T-shirt. VIP passes are $60.
The Norman Music Festival’s Event Team is looking for volunteers to help out. For more information, go online to normanmusicfestival.com.
-BAM
Norman Music Festival begins Thursday
Hayes Carll
NORMAN — Some of the top local and national indie bands will rock Main Street when the Norman Music Festival celebrates its fifth year on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
The three-day event will take place on over a dozen local stages and includes headliners Portugal. The Man on the festival’s Main Stage and Hayes Carll on its Jack Daniels stage.
“The festival has lined up some incredible bands and we can’t wait to share them with the public,” says Norman Music Festival Chair Steven White.
The festival will be in downtown Norman, on Main Street in the Arts District, extending from the 300 block of E Main Street and the 100 block of W Main Street.
Last year’s attendance topped out about 35,000 on the event’s third night. To accommodate the growing audience, the Main Stage will be located at Main Street and Porter.
In addition to headliner Portugal. The Man, the Main Stage lineup includes Stillwater’s Other Lives (fresh off a support tour with Radiohead), self-proclaimed American rock band Red Wanting Blue, the Weekend Hustler, the Tulsa-based Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, Oklahoma City’s Modern Rock Diaries and Norman’s Rainbows Are Free and Crown Imperial.
The Norman Music Festival’s Jack Daniels Stage includes nationally known artists Hayes Carll, Alejandro Escovedo, the Giving Tree and the Possum Posse, as well as locally based artists Parker Millsap, The Damn Quails, Krystal Keith, Camille Harp and John Calvin.
The Dustbowl Arts Market will be an added attraction on Saturday in the 100 block of Main Street, featuring the work of local and regional artists and handmade vendors. Photography, jewelry, prints, screen-printing, clothing, accessories and textiles will be among items for sale.
The festival is free but organizers say one of the easiest ways to support the festival is through a VIP pass. Fans can mingle with the bands in VIP lounges, gain access to the VIP stage pit, enjoy complimentary food and beverages and a special edition T-shirt. VIP passes are $60.
The Norman Music Festival’s Event Team is looking for volunteers to help out. For more information, go online to normanmusicfestival.com.
-BAM
