What to do in Oklahoma on May 11, 2013: See the 28th Annual Armed Forces Day and Shriners Parade in Del City
Air Force Col. Steven Bleymaier and his daughter, Caroline, 5, ride on the back seat of a convertible in the parade. Bleymaier is commander for the 72nd Air Base Wing. He is the base commander for Tinker AFB. Del City and eastern Oklahoma County residents lined S Sunnylane Road to show their support for America’s military, applauding and cheering participants who marched and rode in the city’s Armed Forces Day Parade on Saturday morning, May, 19, 2012. The parade worked its way along the Del City route for a little more than an hour. Photo by Jim Beckel, The Oklahoman Archives
Today’s featured event:
DEL CITY — Watch the 28th Annual Armed Forces Day and Shriners Parade at 10 a.m. Saturday in downtown. Information: www.cityofdelcity.com.
For more events, go to www.wimgo.com.
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Tickets on sale May 17 for Luke Bryan, Thompson Square and Florida Georgia Line show at Tulsa’s BOK Center
TULSA – Tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, May 17 for Luke Bryan’s “Dirt Road Diaries Tour” fall stop at the BOK Center.
The tour, featuring duos Thompson Square, which features Miami, OK, native Keifer Thompson and his wife Shawna, and Florida Georgia Line, which consists of Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard, will play Saturday, Sept. 14 at the Tulsa arena.
Tickets for the show are priced at $27.50 and $52, according to a news release. They will be available starting May 17 online at www.bokcenter.com, Arby’s Box Office, all Tickets.com outlets, or by calling (866) 7-BOKCTR.
Bryan’s cache as a seasoned performer has long been recognized by his growing legion of fans and has recently captured the attention of the music community. His ability to draw great crowds to his concerts became evident earlier this year as it was announced that the first leg of shows on his headline tour, the “Dirt Road Diaries Tour,” all sold-out. The tour has been extended with a second leg including the Tulsa concert.
“I feel like I have waited a lifetime to take my own show on the road,” Bryan said in the news release. “The band and I have a lot of exciting things in store for the fans and are eager to get it started!”
Bryan’s recent Academy of Country Music Award wins for Entertainer of the Year and Vocal Event of the Year (“Only Way I Know” with Eric Church and Jason Aldean), along with his first-time ACM hosting duty with Oklahoma superstar Blake Shelton, are just a few of the career highlights the Georgia native has enjoyed lately. Additional accolades include multiplatinum albums sales, back-to-back No. 1 singles and his first No. 1 album debut with “Spring Break…Here To Party.” His spring break shows in Panama City Beach, Fla., back in March brought in 120,000 fans during the two-day concert event, and his performance at the Houston Rodeo was the second largest attendance in the rodeo’s history with 75,000 fans.
His last studio album, “tailgates & tanlines¸” produced three back-to-back platinum singles, became a Top 10 album of 2012 and sold 7 million tracks. He has placed a total of six career singles at No. 1 and was named the No. 1 Artist of 2012 and No. 1 Male Artist of 2012 by Country Aircheck. Billboard named “tailgates & tanlines” the No. 2 Country Album and the No. 3 Country Artist Album of 2012 and claimed Bryan as the No. 3 Top Country Artist of the Year. Also in 2012, he took home 11 music awards, including a record nine wins at the American Country Awards as well as his first American Music Award.
For more information about the Tulsa show, go to www.bokcenter.com.
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Best Bets for May 10-12, 2013: Turnpike Troubadours, Asian Festival, OKC Philharmonic and Jason Aldean
Turnpike Troubadours
Here are my picks for the Best Bets in entertainment in Oklahoma this weekend, as listed in Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman. For more events, go to www.wimgo.com.
1. CONCHO — Hear Oklahoma red dirt band the Turnpike Troubadours at 8 p.m. Saturday at Lucky Star Casino, 7777 N U.S. 81. Doors open at 7 p.m. Information: 262-7612 or www.luckystarcasino.org.
2. Take in food, art, crafts and activities from nine Asian cultures at the free 27th Annual Asian Festival from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Langston University Oklahoma City campus, 4205 N Lincoln Blvd. Information: 819-3652 or (918) 853-1929.
3. Listen to the Oklahoma City Philharmonic play its season finale “A Globetrotter’s Guide to the Orchestra,” featuring selections from Wagner, Tchaikovsky, Strauss and more, at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Civic Center, 201 N Walker. Information: 842-5387 or www.okcphilharmonic.org.
4. TULSA — Catch country superstar Jason Aldean, plus special guests Jake Owen and Thomas Rhett, in concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the BOK Center, 200 S Denver. Information: (866) 726-5287 or www.bokcenter.com.
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Video: “Herb Ritts: Beauty and Celebrity” photography exhibit opens at Oklahoma City Museum of Art
Herb Ritts may not be a household name, but much of the art he created has become ingrained in popular culture.
Herb Ritts’ “Matthew McConaughey, Palmdale,” from 1996, is featured in the new exhibit “Herb Ritts: Beauty and Celebrity” at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. Photo provided by the Herb Ritts Foundation.
“Chances are you’ve seen his work and you just don’t know it,” said Sandy Cotton, development director for the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, where the special exhibition “Herb Ritts: Beauty and Celebrity” opened this week.
The 80 black-and-white photos in the exhibit depict notable personalities from the worlds of film, fashion, music, art, sports and politics.
“Beauty and Celebrity” includes Ritts’ portraits of Madonna, Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Axl Rose, Christopher Reeve, Matthew McConaughey, Dale Chihuly, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Nelson Mandela, Ronald and Nancy Reagan, among others.
“Herb Ritts became woven immediately into American culture in the 1980s and ‘90s because of so many magazine covers and magazine editorials, fashion advertisements, commercials and also music videos. So he not only created fine art photography, but also had a very successful commercial side to his photography, one that was easily disseminated throughout culture,” said Jennifer Klos, associate curator at the museum.
“(He was) extremely influential. Herb Ritts created and propelled his own style.”
In this NewsOK video, Angi Bruss talks to Klos about the exhibit. To read more about the new show, click here.
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Bryan Adams’ and Herb Ritts’ celebrity photographs by on view in Oklahoma City
Bryan Adams’ photograph “Lindsay Lohan, New York, 2007″ is featured in his exhibit “Bryan Adams: Exposed” at Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center. Photo provided.
A version of this column appears in Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
Celebrity photographs on view in Oklahoma City
“Bryan Adams: Exposed,” which includes portraits the singer/songwriter-turned-shutterbug has taken of fellow famous faces, is on exhibit at Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center, while “Herb Ritts: Beauty and Celebrity,” featuring iconic images from the late, great California artist, opened this week at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.
Singer/songwriter-turned-shutterbug Bryan Adams isn’t sure whether his own celebrity helps put some of his famous subjects at ease.
“It’s not something I’ve ever asked anyone, nor would I,” Adams said in an email interview from his home near London.
But look at the portraits in his “Exposed” exhibit at Oklahoma Contemporary Art Center and it’s easy to see the Grammy-winning rock star has a knack for capturing candid, insightful images of fellow celebrities, including the late Amy Winehouse, Victoria Beckham, Mick Jagger, Lindsay Lohan, Kate Moss, Danny Trejo, Pink, Mickey Rourke, Sir Ben Kingsley and Queen Elizabeth II.
In that respect, Adams’ photographs can be likened to iconic images taken by the late, great Herb Ritts, renowned for his innovative and intimate portraits of Madonna, Richard Gere, Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Christopher Reeve, Matthew McConaughey, Dale Chihuly, Michael Jordan, Nelson Mandela, and Ronald and Nancy Reagan.
Many of the California artist’s photos of famed faces are featured in the new exhibit “Herb Ritts: Beauty and Celebrity” at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.
“Herb Ritts grew up in Brentwood and was neighbors with Steve McQueen, so he was very familiar and felt comfortable with this idea of celebrity. He saw these as his friends. He didn’t see them as anything different than (other people). He was very familiar with celebrity culture,” said Jennifer Klos, associate curator at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.
“He’s a self-taught photographer, so when he began taking photographs in the very early part of his career, he truly was taking snapshots of his local surroundings, that being Los Angeles and celebrities. Yet it became something that he was a quite a natural with an innate sense of having a good eye. “He had the eye to determine how to see everyone in their most true, beautiful sense.”
Herb Ritts’ “Richard Gere, San Bernardino,” from 1978, is featured in the new exhibit “Herb Ritts: Beauty and Celebrity” at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. Photo provided by the Herb Ritts Foundation.
Celebrity culture
With the rise of gossip blogs and tabloids, people are bombarded by celebrity photos nowadays. But the portraits by Ritts and Adams are a far cry from the paparazzi pics and cell phone snapshots we often see of today’s musicians, actors and sports stars.
“People are fascinated by celebrity culture. … Even over the past 20 to 30 years, images of celebrity are disseminated in a very quick way now with the Internet and digital photography. But Herb Ritts really predates the very heightened digital photography world,” Klos said. “He was still embracing the traditions of photography that have been respected in the field of art history since the beginning of photography. He had an ability to capture life in a very realistic, quick moment in time.
“What we see today is almost a heightened saturation of celebrity. Many of these images would have been in magazines — in truly the physical form of a magazine cover on the newsstand. But I think the way people see them (celebrity photos) today probably also came about due to some of the talent of Herb Ritts.” and many others through the 1980s and ‘90s.”
Ritts, who died in 2002 at age 50, took a classical approach to his portraits. He preferred to work in black and white and take his photos outdoors using natural light. He is known for his clean, graphic style and strong compositions.
But he embraced the modern methods of the day to circulate his work. The intimate publicity photos he shot of Richard Gere at a San Bernardino gas station in 1978 launched Ritts’ career after they appeared in several top magazines.
“Herb Ritts became woven immediately into American culture in the 1980s and ‘90s because of so many magazine covers and magazine editorials, fashion advertisements, commercials and also music videos,” So he not only created fine art photography, but also had a very successful commercial side to his photography, one that was easily disseminated throughout culture,” Klos said.
One of the exhibit’s key images is the portrait Ritts took of Madonna for her “True Blue” album cover. He also worked with the superstar in her “Cherish” video and directed the indelible videos for Janet Jackson’s “Love Will Never Do (Without You),” Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game” and Michael Jackson’s “In the Closet.”
Klos said the “True Blue” cover photo, a dramatic profile shot that Ritts took about 60 rolls of film to get, became iconic for a reason.
“It’s the idea that she is sort of strong, feminine, yet masculine at the same time. But “She is really evoking a single moment in time. You can almost see her extending her neck, creating this suggestion of her music. And I think that’s what has captivated viewers of this photograph since then, that you can almost feel the energy,” Klos said.
Bryan Adams’ photograph “Victoria Beckham, London, 2005″ is featured in his exhibit “Bryan Adams: Exposed” at Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center. Photo provided.
Relaxed portraits
About a dozen years ago, Adams took up a camera with an eye toward shooting his own album covers and wound up with a second career as a professional photographer. His OKC exhibit, which closes May 17, features photos he’s done for magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar, Esquire and Interview.
“I always let people be themselves. Sometimes I have a set which can be useful to play with, or an interesting location, but the best photos I think are the simplest ones,” he wrote in his email.
With a cigarette dangling from her crimson-colored lips, Lindsay Lohan regards the camera with a rebellious sideways look. Fashion designer/Spice Girl Victoria Beckham manages to look the saucy sophisticate even perched on an inelegant-looking bicycle. A large-scale black-and-white photo of Mick Jagger showcases the Rolling Stone frontman’s larger-than-life persona.
“He’s really developed as a photographer over the last 10 years and he’s now very self-assured, I think, of what he does. And he knows a lot of these people. I think that helps so much because they’re at ease when they’re with him,” said Oklahoma Contemporary Executive Director Mary Ann Prior.
“They’re not haphazard moments. They really are all staged, but the people are relaxed and it doesn’t look in any ways forced.”
Herb Ritts’ “Madonna (True Blue Profile),” from 1986, is featured in the new exhibit “Herb Ritts: Beauty and Celebrity” at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. Photo provided by the Herb Ritts Foundation.
ON EXHIBIT
“Bryan Adams: Exposed”
When: Through May 17.
Where: Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center (formerly City Arts Center), State Fair Park, 3000 General Pershing Blvd.
“Last Look”: 5:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday.
Information: 951-0000 or www.oklahomacontemporary.org.
“Herb Ritts: Beauty and Celebrity.”
When: Through July 28.
Where: Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive.
Information: 236-3100 or www.okcmoa.com.
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Interviews: Musician praise the Blue Door, celebrating its 20th anniversary in May
Grammy-winning songwriter Jimmy Webb, an Elk City native, will play May 17-18 at the Blue Door.
A version of this story appears in Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman. To read interviews with Blue Door owner Greg Johnson and Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter John Fullbright, click here.
Musicians praise the Blue Door
In the past two decades, the Blue Door and proprietor Greg Johnson have played host to many acclaimed singer-songwriters, including Elk City native Jimmy Webb, former Stillwater resident Jimmy LaFave, Soper native Ray Wylie Hubbard, Midwest City High School graduate Kevin Welch, Bearden native John Fullbright, Arlo Guthrie, Lucinda Williams, Michael Fracasso, Ellis Paul and Shelby Lyn
Here’s what some folks have said about playing the fabled listening room:
“I always look forward to it. I really admire Greg for hanging in there and keeping that little venue open and functioning all these years. … These little places are cultural organs in the community. Sometimes they may not look like much from the outside, but these are practically the only places that young songwriters get a chance to start a career these days, and they’re becoming fewer and farther between. So to actually have something like that in the community in Oklahoma City, it really is an asset.”
— Jimmy Webb
“I’ve been playing there for a long, long time, ever since I think it’s been open. And it’s just one of my favorite venues to play. The vibe and the sound and the audience are just stellar, just pristine. And so it’s just a great, great fun gig, man, I just love coming up there.”
— Ray Wylie Hubbard
“It’s one of our favorite places for sure. … We’ve been on the stage at the Blue Door more than any other act ever … without a doubt, between all the benefits we’ve done, the Woody (Guthrie tribute) shows, the Kids Christmas show every year. We do two shows ourselves a year. We’ve played there since the day he opened it.”
— John Cooper of the Red Dirt Rangers
“The Blue Door is one of my favorite rooms in the country. … It’s a really special place and just always feels like you’re sitting in somebody’s living room or somethin’. And it practically is. You know, Greg Johnson, he’s just such a fan to begin with, and against all his better judgment, he’s kept that place going.”
— Dustin Welch
“Greg Johnson is a really special person. He’s just got great energy. He loves music more than anything, and he makes you feel so at home from the moment you walk in. The sound is great, and he has such passion for music. He just gets it.”
— Alicia Witt
“I love the Blue Door. That’s a special place. Only one of those in this country. I don’t know a lot of other venues that are like that. It’s just got such a homey, chill vibe.”
— Carrie Rodriguez
“I love passing through and visiting Greg over at the Blue Door. He’s always been a wonderful host, and the folks there have been real supportive over the last few years.”
— Tony Lucca
GOING ON
Blue Door 20th anniversary celebration
The Blue Door, 2805 N McKinley, will celebrate its 20th anniversary month in May with a special lineup of shows. Information: 524-0738 or www.bluedoorokc.com.
John Fullbright: 8 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Doors open at 7 p.m. Sold out.
Jimmy Webb: 8 p.m. May 17-18. Doors open at 7 p.m. Limited tickets available.
Kevin Welch: 8 p.m. May 24. Doors open at 7 p.m.
Michael Fracasso with Miss Brown to You: 8 p.m. May 25. Doors open at 7 p.m.
Shawna Laree, Rick Toops & Best of OKC: 8 p.m. May 30. Doors open at 7 p.m.
Red Dirt Rangers “Lone Chimney” album release show: 8 p.m. May 31. Doors open at 7 p.m.
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Interview: Blue Door celebrates its 20th anniversary, John Fullbright plays sold-out three-night stand at the listening room
Blue Door proprietor Greg Johnson poses for a photo May 6 at the beloved listening room, 2805 N McKinley, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary. Photo by Jim Beckel, The Oklahoman
A version of this feature appears in Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman. To read what some of the musicians who have played the Blue Door over the years have to say about the venue, click here.
Blue Door celebrates its 20th birthday
John Fullbright, Jimmy Webb, Kevin Welch, Michael Fracasso and the Red Dirt Rangers are among the house favorites who will play the fabled listening room in May, its anniversary month.
John Fullbright is coming back to the Blue Door, or as he calls it, “My Point A.”
“It’s kind of a launching pad more than a home base, just because I don’t have a home base right now,” the Bearden-based singer-songwriter said by phone from the road in Wyoming. “But when I play the Blue Door, it’s a hometown crowd … and careerwise, that was Point A. And now we’re at Point Something-Else. But it definitely was instrumental in launching me into this craziness.
“I would be a very different artist if I didn’t kind of start out there.”
The Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist is playing a sold-out three-night stand this weekend in honor of the fabled listening room’s 20th birthday. Others playing during the Blue Door’s anniversary month include house favorites Jimmy Webb, Kevin Welch Michael Fracasso and the Red Dirt Rangers.
“I’m trying to become an institution before they put me in one,” joked Blue Door proprietor Greg Johnson, who also manages Fullbright. “There’s just something really special about a live show that’s really intimate, and when you’re at the Blue Door, the worst seat is 60 feet away.”
From left, Louise Goldberg and Mary Reynolds are Miss Brown to You.
Fortunate history
Johnson calls opening the Blue Door a “happy accident.” In 1993, he had just moved back home to Oklahoma City from Austin, Texas, was doing a little freelance journalism and even had a job interview at the Nashville newspaper The Tennessean.
“The way Nashville was in 1993, well, it’s probably worse now, but it was getting pretty bad by then. It was getting pretty squirrelly, for the sounds I like anyway,” he said last week over lunch at his favorite restaurant, Lido’s. “I speak my mind and I certainly speak truth to power, especially in the music business, because there’s so much dishonesty.”
Instead of moving east, the Oklahoma City native learned through his sister, Fran Derrick, that their musician pal Mary Reynolds was getting ready to relocate to Austin herself. Reynolds, who called Texas home for six years before crossing back to Oklahoma, was living and hosting a few shows in a humble rent house she had dubbed “Hotel Bohemia.”
“Mary kind bequeathed me the Blue Door,” said Johnson, who eventually bought the building. “I was kind of missing all my songwriter buddies from Austin, so she said, ‘I’ve got this place over on McKinley; maybe you can bring some of your friends up.’”
Using Reynolds’ mailing list, He brought in Fracasso for a January show at the venue, which wasn’t yet called the Blue Door, and 50 people turned out.
“I said, ‘Wow, this is easy,’” he said with a laugh. “Little did I know that I would love many, many nights to have 50 people at the Blue Door. … It’s funny every time Mary plays there, I say, ‘Well, it’s your fault.’ She said, ‘I hope you don’t cuss me too often.’ I don’t.”
Jimmy LaFave, Ray Wylie Hubbard and the Red Dirt Rangers played some of the first shows at the listening room, he said. Reynolds was still getting moved out when Welch performed the first official Blue Door concert in May; she recalls the fellow singer-songwriter helping her haul her belongings out of the large, main room of the house.
“If you had asked me would that building still be standing in 2013, I would’ve said ‘I doubt it.’ But they were able to save it … because of the renovations that have been done,” said Reynolds, whose duo Miss Brown to You will open Fracasso’s May 25 show.
“I’m very much happy to have been a part of it. It is a remarkable place, and there aren’t very many places like it in the world. It’s a great thing for this town. It has sparked interest in that kind of music around here that would not have been there otherwise.”
Blue Door owner Greg Johnson looks at the posters and pictures from the many shows he has hosted at his beloved listening room the Blue Door, 2805 N McKinley. The venue, which is also Johnson’s home, is celebrating its 20th anniversary. Photo by Jim Beckel, The Oklahoman
Listening room
While he gets constant calls from singer-songwriters all over the country wanting to play his place, Johnson said there aren’t many listening rooms like his left. Over the years, he has hosted legendary singer-songwriters like Arlo Guthrie, Ellis Paul and Lucinda Williams.
“There were times that I thought ‘There’s just no way we’re going to be able to continue to do this. It’s just impossible.’ And then people stepped up with contributions to get the building fixed,” he said. “It’s still the greatest house concert in America. It really is.”
The Blue Door isn’t a club. Johnson, 61, lives there. He doesn’t sell alcohol, although concertgoers are invited to bring in wine, 3.2 beer and nonalcoholic drinks. He’s selective about who invites to play in his house and gets frustrated when he hosts great musicians and they draw meager crowds.
“The best part is being able to introduce people to all these great songwriters who they, for whatever reason, haven’t had a chance to check out, (either) didn’t know how to find them or didn’t know that many were out there,” he said. “You’ve got a lot of people my age who’ll say, ‘Well, where are all the guys like John Prine around now?’ And I’ll say they’re everywhere; just start with Greg Jacobs in Checotah and then go to Tom Skinner and then Bob Childers, of course.”
Grammy-nominated Oklahoma singer-songwriter John Fullbright will play a sold-out three-night stand at the Blue Door this weekend.
Continuing legacy
Johnson and Fullbright first met when the latter played with the Mike McClure Band at a 2008 Childers memorial at the Blue Door. Although they initially clashed, they eventually developed a mutual respect and rapport.
Johnson became Fullbright’s manager, and the singer-songwriter recorded his first album, “Live at the Blue Door,” at the venue in 2009. His 2012 studio debut, “From the Ground Up,” earned a Grammy nomination for best Americana album.
“It’s almost like the whole spirit of the Blue Door and the whole reason I stuck with it all these years when it was like a month-to-month situation to where I didn’t think I could keep it open was ‘cause I just believe songs matter. They matter in our culture. And John is like the culmination of that,” Johnson said.
“When John came along, it’s like he represents a new, younger generation of what I’ve been trying to do … and I’m sure John’s profile has certainly helped the Blue Door.”
Fullbright, 25, recalls Skinner telling him about the venue before he ever darkened those blue doors, which appropriately enough, open onto the small stage.
“He said, ‘The Blue Door is probably the only place that I still get really nervous before I play because people are listening and they’re really intuned to what you’re doing.’ You’re up there all by yourself and there’s no place to hide,” Fullbright said.
“There’s no place like the Blue Door, but the little listening rooms, I always kind of think of them as places that you don’t really realize that you need it until you get there. And you experience a really good show and it really touches you in a certain way, and then you realize this is kind of a form of therapy. The artist is bringing you into his world, and you’re going — and you’re going all the way. … And you walk out of there with something that you didn’t have when you walked in.”
GOING ON
Blue Door 20th anniversary celebration
The Blue Door, 2805 N McKinley, will celebrate its 20th anniversary month in May with a special lineup of shows. Information: 524-0738 or www.bluedoorokc.com.
John Fullbright: 8 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Doors open at 7 p.m. Sold out.
Jimmy Webb: 8 p.m. May 17-18. Doors open at 7 p.m. Limited tickets available.
Kevin Welch: 8 p.m. May 24. Doors open at 7 p.m.
Michael Fracasso with Miss Brown to You: 8 p.m. May 25. Doors open at 7 p.m.
Shawna Laree, Rick Toops & Best of OKC: 8 p.m. May 30. Doors open at 7 p.m.
Red Dirt Rangers “Lone Chimney” album release show: 8 p.m. May 31. Doors open at 7 p.m.
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What to do in Oklahoma on May 10, 2103: See Yellow Rose Dinner Theater’s “Soul Express”
Today’s featured event:
MOORE – See Yellow Rose Dinner Theater’s production of “Soul Express” tonight at 1005 SW 4 Street.
“Soul Express” features the best in American soul and R&B music from the last 60 years. From the music of Muddy Waters, BB King, Etta James and the Drifters to Bruno Mars, Boys to Men, John Legend and many other great artists. Seating and dinner start at 6:30 p.m., pre-show at 7 p.m. and the main production at 7:30 p.m. “Soul Express” will play every Friday and Saturday evening through May 25.
For more information, go to www.yellowrosetheater.org.
For more events, go to www.wimgo.com.
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Photos and video: Red Dirt Rangers honored at the Oklahoma Capitol
The Red Dirt Rangers, from left, Ben Han, Brad Piccolo, John Cooper appear at the Oklahoma State Capitol in Oklahoma City. Photos by Brett Deering
Red Dirt Rangers are recognized at the Oklahoma House of Representatives.
The Red Dirt Rangers, from left, Ben Han, Brad Piccolo and John Cooper, pose for a photo with Rep. Lee Denney.
Music pioneers the Red Dirt Rangers were honored at the House of Representatives at the Oklahoma State Capitol building Monday afternoon with an official proclamation, led by Rep. Lee Denney of Cushing.
Upon presenting the resolution to the House, Denney said, “We want to honor the Red Dirt Rangers for their contribution to the music of Oklahoma, which they have taken around the country and the world, for the past 25 years. They are a musical treasure for our state and we want to recognize their significant contribution.”
This resolution comes as the Red Dirt Rangers prepare to drop their new record “Lone Chimney,” releasing later this month, and the start of their “Oklahoma World Tour,” which they will be undertaking throughout 2013.
The official resolution recognizes the importance of “The Farm” in Stillwater and the group’s vital role in developing the Red Dirt music genre. It details the Red Dirt Rangers’ musical accomplishments, their mentorship to emerging artists and their ongoing charitable work achieved through benefits, tributes and as organizers of the Red Dirt Relief Fund. The document ultimately credits the group for making a “significant contribution to the quality of life for the people of Oklahoma” and preserving Oklahoma’s rich history, according to a news release.
Vocalist-guitarist Brad Piccolo said “Receiving recognition in the form of an official proclamation from the State of Oklahoma was a very humbling experience. When we started the Red Dirt Rangers 25 years ago, our goal wasn’t to do it for the fame or money and we had no illusions of changing the world or even making a difference. All we wanted to do was have fun and make some good, original music. Somewhere along the way, however, we realized that our songs connected with people and that we could make this world a better place in our own little way.”
Piccolo continued, “We are proud to be lifelong Okies and we will continue to spread the word of our love for this great state and the amazing people that live here. I guess Red Dirt music is our soapbox to stand on and shout it to the world. I promise we will never take this recognition for granted.”
Vocalist-mandolinist John Cooper added, “To me, it’s really a recognition of the entire Red Dirt scene, which we are so proud to be a part of. It’s amazing to think that what started as a group of friends gathering at an old farmhouse outside of Stillwater to make good, original music that has become a nationally and internationally recognized form of music. It shows what great talent we have here and that people around the world see and hear it as well.”
The venerable Payne County band will play an album release show for “Lone Chimney” May 31 at Oklahoma City’s Blue Door. For more information, go to www.bluedoorokc.com.
Check out the video of the official presentation, embedded from the Oklahoma House of Representatives website:
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Video: John Fullbright performs “When You’re Here,” two other songs for “Jam in the Van”
Bearden singer-songwriter John Fullbright recently performed three songs live in Malibu, Calif., for the “Jam in the Van” series. His new song “When You’re Here” was among the songs he played for what JamintheVan.com called “one of the prettiest sessions we’ve ever shot.”
The Oklahoma musician performed two other songs, “Fat Man” and “Satan and St. Paul,” both from his Grammy-nominated 2012 album “From the Ground Up.”
MP3s of all three songs are available for download if you register for the site; to do so, click here.
Fullbright will play three sold-out shows this weekend at what he calls his “Point A” – the Blue Door – as part of the Oklahoma City listening room’s 20th anniversary. For more information, go to www.bluedoorokc.com. Look for part of my new interview with him about the Blue Door on Friday.
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