Oklahoma City Museum of Art celebrating “American Moderns” Sunday with Family Day, free admission
Georgia O’Keeffe’s “2 Yellow Leaves (Yellow Leaves)” is featured in the special exhibit “American Moderns, 1910-1960: From O’Keeffe to Rockwell” on view through Jan. 6 at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.
From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
Oklahoma City Museum of Art offers free admission Sunday for Family Day
An array of complementary activities are planned to celebrate the special exhibit “American Moderns, 1910–1960: From O’Keeffe to Rockwell,” closing Jan. 6.
From authentic red dirt music by the Red Dirt Rangers to five paintings by legendary artist Georgia O’Keeffe, the Oklahoma City Museum of Art is offering a thoroughly diverse sampling of American culture at its next Family Day.
The museum will celebrate Family Day in honor of the special exhibition “American Moderns, 1910-1960: From O’Keeffe to Rockwell” from noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. Sponsored by Sonic, the event will offer free admission to the museum as well as an array of free family-friendly activities.
“It’s to celebrate the exhibition, but it’s also to really open the doors to our community and welcome everyone in to really experience all that the museum has to offer. So there’s something for kids, there’s something for adults, and they don’t have to be burdened by the admission charge. So that’s a blessing,” said Chandra Boyd, senior associate curator of education.
The Red Dirt Rangers will give two free performances Sunday at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art’s Family Day.
Venerable Payne County band the Red Dirt Rangers will give their debut performances at the museum at 3 and 4 p.m. Sunday. Since the Family Day goes with “American Moderns,” Boyd wanted a band known for making “real traditional American music” with instruments like the guitar, mandolin and fiddle.
“I went to Stillwater, so I’ve heard them play since I was a lot younger,” said Boyd, an Oklahoma State University graduate, with a laugh. “I love them, and they do such good kids’ music.”
Magician Jim Green, a returning favorite, will perform at 12:30 and 1:30 p.m. Sunday.
“He is such a huge hit. I mean, the kids love him, the parents love him,” Boyd said. “He puts on a great show.”
Hourly prize drawings and giveaways, scavenger hunts and story times provided by the Metropolitan Library System will be included in festivities. Docents and staffers will offer guided family tours of “American Moderns” every hour from 1 to 4 p.m.
The traveling exhibit, which closes Jan. 6, features 53 paintings and four sculptures from the Brooklyn Museum. “American Moderns” includes artworks by Georgia O’Keeffe, Norman Rockwell, Anna Mary Robertson “Grandma” Moses and many others.
Alison Amick, the Oklahoma City museum’s curator of collections, said “American Moderns” explores how several 20th-century U.S. artists addressed questions like “what is really America, what is unique (about it) and what is our artistic heritage” in their work.
“The more time you spend in the gallery, it really continues to unfold,” she said. “There is a lot of variety,” she said. “It really does give a sense of the number of different approaches artists had and how they were all influenced by the same things but in their own different ways.”
With the diverse artworks in “American Moderns,” museum staffers are planning a wide range of hands-on art activities for Family Day. Adults, teens and children can create cubist collages, mixed-media cityscapes, zany hats and O’Keeffe-style flowers.
“Really, all ages can do them. You know, a teenager’s not going to get bored with them. But a little kid’s not going to struggle too much; they may need a little bit of help from Mom and Dad or Grandma and Grandpa,” Boyd said.
Local artist Clarissa Sharp will not only paint faces — always the most popular Family Day activity — she also has been researching Rockwell’s 1944 painting “The Tattoo Artist” and has prepared some retro-style temporary tattoos just for Sunday’s event.
As the exhibit’s title indicates, O’Keeffe’s work will be well-represented, too. Four of her paintings are featured in “American Moderns.” Along with her famed flower studies, the traveling show includes the distinctive “Fishhook from Hawaii — No 1,” which the artist painted in 1939 while living in the islands and working on a series of never-used illustrations for Dole Pineapple, Boyd said.
In addition, Family Day visitors can see the museum’s own O’Keeffe painting, 1927’s “Calla Lily (Lily-Yellow No. 2),” which is back on view in the second-floor galleries after touring Europe as part of a prestigious traveling exhibit.
“They can see the whole museum. They can check out ‘American Moderns,’ they can go up to the third floor and see the way the galleries have been newly reinstalled and see more of our permanent collection, plus Chihuly,” Boyd said, referring to the museum’s vast collection of Dale Chihuly glass art.
“There have been a lot of changes in the galleries, so it’s fun to see what all we have coming out from the vault.”
GOING ON
Family Day
Celebrating: The special exhibition “American Moderns, 1910–1960: From O’Keeffe to Rockwell.”
When: Noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.
Where: Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive.
Admission: Free.
Information: 236-3100 or www.okcmoa.com.
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Sam Baker to play Winter Wind show Sunday in Norman
From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
Sam Baker to play Winter Wind show Sunday in Norman
The Texas native’s show will be at the Norman Depot.
NORMAN — Sam Baker’s powerful lyrics punch through the noise of the contemporary music scene with the skill of a master storyteller
Baker will take the Winter Wind stage in the Norman Depot, 200 S Jones, on Sunday. Tickets are $20 for the 7 p.m. performance. Refreshments will served.
With his raspy, almost spoken-word vocal style and his literate, poignant, and carefully observed songs that grapple with the beauties, complexities, and little tragedies of this world, Baker specializes in songs that will touch listeners, if not shake them to the core of their beings.
Baker grew up in Itasca, Texas, a prairie town southwest of Dallas. He was exposed to a wide array of music as a child, not the least of which was his father’s collection of country blues artists. His mother was a church organist who loved Broadway albums.
The defining moment in Baker’s life came in 1986 when he was traveling on a train to visit Machu Picchu in Peru. A terrorist bomb exploded on the train, and Baker was gravely injured, losing most of his hearing and suffering serious injuries to his left arm and hand. He had 18 corrective surgeries over the next decade and the consequent physical, emotional, and spiritual journey Baker experienced helped him form his quiet and passionate view of the world.
Baker has self-released several critically acclaimed albums reflecting that view, including a trilogy that included “Mercy (everyone is at the mercy of another one’s dream),” “Cotton (talk about forgiveness)” and “Pretty World (how beautiful are these days).”
For somebody who’s gone through the pain and trauma he’s gone through, Baker has an amazingly positive outlook on life. “Everything is a gift at this point,” he declares. “All we’ve got is this one breath. And then, if we’re lucky, we have the next breath.”
For more information about Baker’s show and other Performing Arts Studio programs, call 307-9320 or go to www.pasnorman.org. Gallery and office hours are 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday-Friday and 10 a.m. to noon Saturday.
Winter Wind Concerts are made possible, in part, by grants from the Norman Arts Council and the Oklahoma Arts Council and by sponsors Tom McAuliffe of Don Cies Real Estate; Cindy Merrick of Therapy in Motion; and Nancy McClellan. Additional support comes from contributors Glen Brown; Skye Diers, Gingerbread Nursery School; Hugh and Keri Young; Dale Wares, Wares Properties; and Danna Primm. Friends include Marie Soliel, Tom & Mary Cay Woodfin; and The Grider Family. In-kind support comes from Cafe Plaid, The Montford Inn and Norman Music Institute.
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Historic Murray-Lindsay Mansion planning Christmas open house Sunday
The historic Murray-Lindsay Mansion will celebrate the season with a Christmas open house from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday. (Photo from TravelOK.com)
From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
LINDSAY — The historic Murray-Lindsay Mansion will celebrate the season with a Christmas open house from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday.
During the event, Santa and Mrs. Claus will visit the mansion, which will be decked out for the holidays. Cookies, punch and cider will be served in the dining room. Admission is free, but donations will be accepted.
Also, a holiday arts and crafts market will be open from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the two-room Pikes Peak School across the street.
The Murray-Lindsay Mansion features the home and furnishings of Irish immigrant Frank Murray and his Choctaw wife, Alzira McCaughey, according to travelok.com. When it was built in 1880, it was the largest and most ornate house in the western Chickasaw Nation, containing 15 rooms, two baths and four fireplaces.
The Pikes Peak schoolhouse was built in 1908.
The mansion and schoolhouse are located about 2 ½ miles southwest of Lindsay on State Highway 76.
For more information, call (405) 756-6502.
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Best Bets for Nov. 30-Dec. 2, 2012: Reba McEntire, Oklahoma City Philharmonic’s “Christmas Show,” Canterbury Chorale Society’s “Baroque Christmas,” John Fullbright & Alicia Witt
Alicia Witt
Here are my picks for the top events happening in Oklahoma this weekend, as listed in Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman. For more events, go to www.wimgo.com.
1. Watch the Oklahoma City Philharmonic’s “The Christmas Show,” starring Broadway’s Michele Ragusa, at 8 p.m. Friday and 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday at Civic Center Music Hall, 201 N Walker. Information: 842-5387 or www.okcphilharmonic.org.
2. Hear Oklahoma singer-songwriter John Fullbright and actress/musician Alicia Witt at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Blue Door, 2805 N McKinley. Doors open at 7 p.m. Information: 524-0738 or www.bluedoorokc.com.
3. Catch Canterbury Chorale Society’s concert “Baroque Christmas,” featuring Handel’s “Messiah” and Bach’s “Magnificat,” at 7 p.m. Sunday at the Civic Center, 201 N Walker. Information: 232-7464 or www.canterburyokc.com.
4. CATOOSA — Hear Oklahoma country music superstar Reba McEntire play a sold-out show at 8 p.m. Saturday at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa, 770 W Cherokee Street. Information: (918) 384-7625 or www.hardrockcasinotulsa.com. (On Thursday, ABC announced that it was picking up more episodes of Reba’s new sitcom “Malibu Country”; to read more, click here.)
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What to do in Oklahoma on Nov. 30, 2012: Hear Coheed and Cambria at the Diamond Ballroom
Today’s featured event:
Hear rockers Coheed and Cambria play at 6 tonight at the Diamond Ballroom, 8001 S Eastern Ave.
As previously reported, the all-ages was originally scheduled for last month but postponed to tonight after frontman Claudio Sanchez became ill and was placed on vocal rest due to throat swelling.
For more information, go to www.diamondballroom.net.
For more events, go to www.wimgo.com.
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Video: Toby Keith releases 2nd preview of “Hope on the Rocks” music video, full version due Friday
Oklahoma country music superstar Toby Keith has released the second behind-the-scenes preview of his music video for “Hope on the Rocks.” The official video is due out Friday.
Like the first preview, which dropped earlier this week, the second introduces some of the characters featured in Keith’s mature and melancholy story-song about a bartender encountering the hurt and displaced folks that drift in and out of our lives. “Hope on the Rocks” is the title track to his new album, as well as his favorite song on his latest annual release.
“There’s so many people in your life that you forget about — and everybody has ‘em — but it’s those people that it’s like there are two or three years and you see them every day. … There’s so many of them that go by the wayside like that that have problems that you don’t know what happened to them,” Keith told me in an interview last month.
“It was a long process. Like ‘Should’ve Been a Cowboy’ I wrote in 20 minutes; this one had to have more thought put in it ‘cause it’s a lot deeper song.”
To read more of my recent interview with Toby, click here.
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Tickets on sale at 10 a.m. Friday for Eric Clapton’s March 20 Oklahoma City show
Eric Clapton (AP file)
Tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday for Eric Clapton’s March 20 show at Chesapeake Energy Arena.
The three-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee announced Monday a major U.S. tour in spring 2013 that will include Oklahoma City and culminate in his fourth Crossroads Guitar Festival.
The Wallflowers will be special guests for the Oklahoma City show. Starting Nov. 30, tickets will be available at www.Ticketmaster.com, all Ticketmaster locations and by phone at (800) 745-3000
Ticket prices for the Oklahoma City concert are $53.50, $73.50 and $93.50, plus fees.
It will be Clapton’s third time to play the OKC arena, following performances on June 9, 2004 and March 5, 2007.
The Crossroads Guitar Festival, which has become legendary in its own right for hosting performances and impromptu collaborations from the world’s most legendary guitar players, will take place April 12-13 for the first time at New York City’s famed Madison Square Garden.
Clapton and his band will visit more than a dozen cities across the U.S. beginning March 14. The tour will end with the two-night festival where Clapton will gather the past, present and future of guitar music onto one stage for an unparalleled musical event. All profits from the festival will benefit The Crossroads Centre, an Antigua treatment and education facility founded by Clapton for chemically dependent persons. The festival is presented by Chase.
Since its inception, Clapton’s vision for the Crossroads Guitar Festival has been to create an event where his friends and contemporaries can have fun and perform together for the benefit of a good cause. This year’s festival will feature two nights of musical performances with once-in-a-lifetime guitar collaborations. Known as pioneers in their field, the roster of artists spans old and new. The audience can expect unrivaled entertainment, brilliant guitar work, surprise guests and impromptu jams that are the hallmark of these performers.
The first Crossroads Guitar Festival in June 2004 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, was an unprecedented collection of guitar icons from blues, rock and contemporary music. The sold-out show was chronicled in a two-disc DVD that has since gone on to become one of the world’s top-selling music DVD’s. The Crossroads Guitar Festivals 2007 and 2010 were the second and third such concerts by Clapton and were staged at Toyota Park in Chicago. Both Festival were filmed for DVDs and met similar acclaim and achieved multi-platinum status. This will be the festival’s first-ever visit to New York and Madison Square Garden.
“The Crossroads Festival is the realization of a dream for me, to gather a group of amazingly talented musicians to perform on one stage,” said Clapton in the release. “The Crossroads performers are all musicians I admire and respect.”
See Clapton’s spring tour schedule after the break.
ABC orders additional episodes of Reba McEntire’s new sitcom “Malibu Country”; Reba playing Tulsa Saturday
Reba McEntire (AP)
ABC has picked up five additional episodes each of Reba McEntire’s new comedy “Malibu Country” as well as Tim Allen’s sophomore sitcom “Last Man Standing,” the network has announced.
The pick-ups join previously announced orders for new drama “Nashville,” new comedy “The Neighbors,” and returning drama “Scandal.”
“Last Man Standing” and “Malibu Country” air Friday nights at 7 and 7:30 p.m., respectively, on the ABC Television Network.
Since its premiere, ABC’s sophomore comedy “Last Man Standing” is the top-rated show in Friday’s 7 p.m. half-hour with Adults 18-49 (2.1/7), according to a news release Boosting its time period year to year by 76 percent in Total Viewers and by 91 percent in Adults 18-49 on average, “Last Man Standing” premiered with ABC’s biggest numbers in the half-hour in well over 2-1/2 years – since Jan. 1, 2010.
Retaining 100 percent of its Adult 18-49 lead-in (2.1/7) from “Last Man Standing” and gaining viewers, ABC’s “Malibu Country” stands as TV’s most-watched freshman comedy this season (8.7 million), according to the release. The new ABC sitcom is No. 1 in the time period across all key Women demographics (W18-34 / W18-49 / W25-54) and is the broadcast leader with Teens 12-17.
Like its lead-in, “Malibu Country” is producing big year-over-year increases for ABC, improving its half-hour by 85 percent in Total Viewers and by 91 percent in Adults 18-49 from the same nights last year. Among Adults 18-49, “Malibu Country” opened as Friday’s top-rated scripted series debut on any network in more than 5 years — since October 2007.
“Last Man Standing” stars Tim Allen as Mike Baxter, Nancy Travis as Vanessa Baxter, Molly Ephraim as Mandy Baxter, Kaitlyn Dever as Eve Baxter, Amanda Fuller as Kristin Baxter, Christoph Sanders as Kyle Anderson, Flynn Morrison as Boyd Baxter and Hector Elizondo as Ed Alzate.
“Malibu Country” stars Oklahoma-born and bred singer/actress McEntire as Reba, Lily Tomlin as Lillie Mae, Sara Rue as Kim, Justin Prentice as Cash, Juliette Angelo as June and Jai Rodriguez as Geoffrey. The series is executive-produced by Nastaran Dibai (“According to Jim,” “3rd Rock from the Sun”), Mindy Schultheis (“Reba,” “Titus”), Michael Hanel (“Reba,” “Titus”), Reba, Narvel Blackstock, Dave Stewart (member of the rock group The Eurythmics) — who also created the series — and Pamela Oas Williams (“The Amazing Spider-Man”). “Malibu Country” is from ABC Studios.
However, McEntire, who previously starred in the sitcom “Reba” from 2001-07, is not completely giving up her music career. The country music superstar, who grew up in Chockie, will play a sold-out show at 8 p.m. Saturday at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa, 770 W Cherokee Street. For more information, go to www.hardrockcasinotulsa.com.
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Video: Charlie Wilson to celebrate birthday with January release of new album “Love, Charlie,” play Friday night in Thackerville
Grammy-nominated RCA Records recording artist and R&B icon Charlie Wilson, who hails from Tulsa, is preparing to celebrate his 60th birthday with the release of his new, highly-anticipated album, “Love, Charlie,” on Jan. 29. The album will be available for pre-order at iTunes, Amazon.com and other leading retailers on Dec. 11.
The first single, “My Love Is All I Have,” is already a top 10 hit on the Billboard Urban Adult Contemporary Chart. Check out the video for the ballad, posted above.
The selection of songs on “Love, Charlie” cover the various aspects of love that people experience – from the joy of discovering it on “I Think I’m In Love,” to one’s heart speaking to another’s on the lead single, “My Love is All I Have,” according to a news release. For the Oklahoma native, the love of self and faith in God is represented on “If I Believe,” his most poignant song on the album.
“The first track on ‘Love, Charlie’ sets the tone for this project,” says Wilson in the release. “As everyone knows I have not only survived some of life’s challenges, I have been triumphant and ‘If I Believe’ is my testimony which I hope will inspire others.”
Wilson, whose career began with his brothers as the incomparable and funky GAP Band, has been enjoying an extraordinary solo career which includes two Grammy nominations for each of his last two albums, “Uncle Charlie” and “Just Charlie.” The latter release spawned the chart-topping hit “You Are” which claimed the No. 1 spot Billboard’s Urban Adult Contemporary chart for 13 consecutive weeks.
In addition to his success as a solo artist, Wilson has collaborated with numerous chart-topping artists and producers including Snoop Dogg, R. Kelly, Kanye West, Jamie Foxx, Fantasia, T. Pain, Justin Timberlake and his recent performance on the 2012 Soul Train Awards with 2 Chainz.
With a repertoire of many hit songs, Wilson continues to perform to sold-out audiences around the country including his critically acclaimed and heralded performance at the 2012 Essence Music Festival in New Orleans. The following quote in the New Orleans Times Picayune says it all: “…a performance that left the Dome crying ‘Uncle.’ There’s really no other way to put it – Charlie Wilson is a force of nature.”
Wilson will play a home state show at 9 p.m. Friday at WinStar World Casino in Thackerville. For more information, go to http://winstarworldcasino.com/events.
Check out the track listing for “Love, Charlie” after the break.
All-American Rejects talk baseball, coolness and perform “Walk Over Me” in MLB Fan Cave
The All-American Rejects perform in the MLB Fan Cave.
Pop-rockers All-American Rejects, who have Stillwater roots, were the latest music artists to perform and sit down for a chat in the MLB Fan Cave. To see their performance and interview clips, click here.
At MLBFanCave.com, new videos, photos and blogs featuring Major League Baseball’s biggest stars along with celebrities, musical acts and other guests are posted every day, allowing fans to interact with the game in an entirely new way. The MLB Fan Cave, located at 4th Street and Broadway in the heart of New York City’s Greenwich Village, is a first-of-its-kind space mixing baseball with music, popular culture, media, interactive technology and art.
The Rejects, who are due to play a home state show Dec. 14 at Oklahoma City’s Diamond Ballroom, played “Walk Over Me” from their 2012 album “Kids in the Street,” in the MLB Fan Cave. They also talked about their tour and tried to define coolness. Check out the video about the thrill of throwing out the first pitch at a Yankees game to hear them chat a bit about maintaining their Oklahoma roots and raising money for various charities, including OKC-based Feed the Children.
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