Entertainment blogging from The Oklahoman's Brandy McDonnell

Voting closes today for 2nd American Country Awards

Voting closes today in most categories for the second annual American Country Awards.

Fans can vote for their favorite American Country Awards nominees at www.theacas.com. Voting ends today in every category except for Artist of the Year. Voting in that category closes on Friday, Dec. 2.

The fan-voted awards show will air live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas from 7 to 9 p.m. Monday, Dec. 5 on Fox. Broken Arrow native Kristin Chenoweth, who was inducted Thursday into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame, will co-host the show with country star Trace Adkins, who hosted the inaugural show solo.

The ACAs are billed as the only country music awards show that “gives fans the opportunity to vote for their favorite artists not only in traditional categories but also in previously unrecognized areas of the business such as touring, encompassing the entire spectrum of country music and bestowing honors that no other awards show has.”

Artists with Oklahoma ties nominated for the 2011 ACAs include Thompson Square, Blake Shelton, Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood, Reba McEntire, Rascal Flatts and Toby Keith.

See the full list of nominees for the second annual American Country Awards after the break.

Read the rest of this entry »

Concert review: Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame induction featuring Kristin Chenoweth, Nokie Edwards and more

Concert review: Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame induction
Kristen Chenoweth, Nokie Edwards, The Wayman Tisdale Band and more entertained as they received their honors.

MUSKOGEE — Kristin Chenoweth turned down invitations to present a prize at Wednesday night’s CMA Awards and perform at Thursday’s taping of the “CMA Country Christmas” TV special in Nashville, Tenn., for a better offer closer to her heart and home.

The Broken Arrow native returned to her home state for her induction Thursday into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame. And for the crowd of more than 2,000 music lovers who attended the hall’s Annual Induction Ceremony and Concert, the Country Music Association’s loss was certainly their gain.

As the headliner of the hall’s 2011 class, the Emmy- and Tony-winning singer/actress capped the more than three-hour celebration with an eclectic set of Broadway show tunes, pop standards and contemporary country songs. It was an especially fitting finale considering the diversity of the honorees, whose musical styles range from American Indian fusion to contemporary jazz to surf rock.

“People ask me what the best moment in my career has been so far all the time … and this is something I’ve always wanted since I was a little girl because music is an extension of me. I love it so much. And it is my honor and pleasure to be here and be a part of this prestigious club,” Chenoweth said after a video tribute from fellow Oklahoma Music Hall of Famer and singer/actor Sam Harris, who told her, “You are singular.”

Chenoweth, 43, opened her set belting the show tune “Should I Be Sweet?” from her 2001 debut album “Let Yourself Go,” and the diminutive blonde’s huge voice and oversized personality immediately seemed almost too big for the Muskogee Civic Center. She was unfazed by the occasional spates of microphone feedback, sometimes even using them as an excuse to show off her witty sense of humor.

“It is so nice to be here. Don’t worry if you don’t like opera, it’s almost over,” she quipped, switching from musical theater to contemporary country with “What Would Dolly Do,” a feisty tribute to Dolly Parton she co-wrote for her 2011 debut country album “Some Lessons Learned.”

The night was a mixture of sweet and bittersweet. The hall of fame inducted Thursday eight new members, including four posthumous honorees.

Along with Chenoweth, the class of 2011 includes basketball great and popular jazz bassist the late Wayman Tisdale and Rock; Roll Hall of Famers Nokie Edwards and the late Bob Bogle, both members of surf-rock pioneers The Ventures; and Gene Triplett, longtime entertainment editor of The Oklahoman.

The class of 2011 also features the late guitarist/keyboard player Jesse Ed Davis, who performed with Leon Russell, George Harrison and John Lennon; the late composer, lyricist and performer Ralph Blane, who wrote the holiday classic “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and the Oscar-nominated “The Trolley Song” from the musical “Meet Me in St. Louis”; and Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame Rising Star Award recipient Cheevers Toppah, a Kiowa/Navajo singer and Grammy nominee.

“A friend of mine called me the other day and he said, ‘Everywhere I go, Jesse’s with me. He’s in the car, on the radio, in the pharmacy, in the market. And it’s true. Everybody has heard him, and you don’t know that you’ve heard him,” said Kelly Davis, the widow of the respected session musician, who died in 1988 after overdosing on heroin.

The Russell Saunkeah Band opened its musical tribute to Davis with Jackson Browne’s jangly classic rocker “Doctor My Eyes” and Taj Mahal’s “Six Days on the Road,” two of the many hits on which the Norman-born guitarist played. The group paid homage to Davis’ musical prowess and Kiowa-Comanche heritage with the bluesy anthem “Alcatraz,” which Leon Russell wrote and Davis recorded for his 1972 album “Ululu.” American Indian poet/activist John Trudell helped close the set with “Rockin’ the Res,” one of his collaborations with Davis as Graffiti Man.

Read the rest of this entry »

At 81, Clint Eastwood believes he has reached a new prime of his life

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — At 81, Clint Eastwood believes he has reached his prime, or at least one of them.

His hearing isn’t as sharp as it used to be, his make-my-day squint isn’t quite as keen, but the actor-turned-filmmaker can still play the role of an imposing tough guy, even when he is occupying the director’s chair.

For one scene in his latest film, the biopic “J. Edgar,” Eastwood and his longtime stunt coordinator Buddy Van Horn, 82, gave some rather hard-hitting instruction to stars Leonardo DiCaprio, who plays founding FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, and Armie Hammer, who portrays Hoover’s right-hand man Clyde Tolson.

“It was the fight scene that we had to do in the hotel room, and Clint decided to show us sort of what he wanted … and they basically just had a fight right in front of us,” Hammer said with a grin from his seat next to Eastwood at a recent press conference at the posh Beverly Wilshire Hotel.

“Clint comes sort of sauntering up and he’s like, ‘OK so you know, I was just thinking that this is a very important scene so maybe for the fight you might just wanna do something like THIS.’ Bam, bam, bam. And these two guys just start waling on each other, rolling around on the ground. And then Clint gets up at the end, dusts himself off and he goes ‘Something like that.’ It’s like, ‘Sure whatever you say.’”

When asked if aging has affected his work, the actor/filmmaker known for playing steely-eyed cowboys and cops proved he has kept his sense of humor robust, even if his hearing has deteriorated.

“What was that again?” he deadpanned, cracking up the roomful of journalists and prompting DiCaprio to lean in and exaggeratedly repeat the question.

“I haven’t heard it,” Eastwood quipped, continuing, “I think aging so far has been OK. I think it’s good. I mean, a lot of people regret (it) because we live in a society that reveres being at the prime of life and everything. But you know, you have certain primes at certain times. And mine happens to be, I think, now. I think I’m doing better at certain things right now than I have in the past, and maybe not so good at others.”

“J. Edgar” marks the first collaboration for four-time Academy Award-winning director Eastwood and three-time Oscar-nominated actor DiCaprio.

“From an outsider’s perspective, it’s amazing what he does,” DiCaprio said. “I mean, if he’s not directing a film, he’s acting in it or rather he’s composing the music for that film. His commitment to what he does is astounding for all of us to witness. It’s inspiring, actually.”

In the past two decades, the filmmaker has worked at a speedy and steady pace. Since 1990, Eastwood has directed 19 movies.

“I do believe if one keeps busy, it’s very good for a person. In fact, people are always rushing into retirement. We read in Europe that people are talking about the retirement age, moving it to 67 or something. Well, back when they started retirement funds and everything, the average age was 70 or 60. And then of the sudden now it’s 80 and so — oh, I passed it,” he joked again. “You keep yourself mentally in shape. If you keep yourself mentally in shape, chances are physically will follow suit.”

Although he hasn’t appeared onscreen since playing the lead role in his acclaimed 2008 drama “Gran Torino,” Eastwood hasn’t ruled out a return to acting.

“I’ve been trying to retire to the back of the camera for quite a few years. And then in 1970, when I first started directing, I said, ‘You know, if I could pull this off, I could someday just move in the back of the camera and stay there.’ And was never able to pull it off ‘cause somebody offered me a role,” he said.

“Once in awhile they come up with sort of a grumpy old men thing, and they say, ‘OK, let’s get Eastwood for that.’ So we’ll see … but regardless of what age you are — and I think most of the actors here would all agree — it’s all based upon material. And the material’s gotta spark with you.”

Based on a script by Oscar-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black (“Milk”), “J. Edgar” skips back and forth in time to touch on the highlights and low points in Hoover’s nearly half-century tenure with the FBI.

“It was an interesting way to … show him in his (older) present-day attitude and how he was when he was younger and just starting out with all kinds of vinegar and ready to roll,” Eastwood said.

“I think the best example we had is when we did J. Edgar Hoover going in to see the president. We pretty much duplicated both shots, so you’d see Leo going in as a young man (to see FDR), and then come in at the final one when he goes in to see President Nixon, he does the exact same gestures, but as an old man. So if you put those two pieces together, you see a dramatic change,” Eastwood said.

Portraying Hoover and Tolson in their 70s required DiCaprio and Hammer to undergo dramatic physical transformations involving extensive prosthetics, makeup and padding.

“Having 11 (or) 12 pieces of rubber glued to your face and wearing those suits and feeling that drag, a lot of that informed sort of the movements of the old characters,” Hammer said.

“Then watching videos on like stroke victims, how it affects motor reflexes … all that stuff is part of it.”

“And having an 81-year-old director right there in front of you,” Eastwood added with a grin.

“Who moves better than we all do,” Hammer countered with a smile. “So that didn’t really help for research.”

-BAM

Leonardo DiCaprio plays another complex real-life character in “J. Edgar.”

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — For all the challenges involved in portraying real-life people onscreen, Leonardo DiCaprio found at least one big advantage in playing the title role of “J. Edgar.”

“To me, you couldn’t write a character like J. Edgar Hoover and have it be believable,” DiCaprio said with a laugh during a press conference last week at the swanky Beverly Wilshire Hotel.

“He was a Crockpot of eccentricities. We couldn’t even fit all his eccentricities into this movie … but the fact is that this man was if not the most powerful man in the last century, one of the most in our country. And he lived with his mother until he was 40 years old.”

In “J. Edgar,” DiCaprio – who turns 37 on Friday, the day the film opens nationwide — portrays the influential, enigmatic and controversial founding director of the FBI. The time-shifting biopic marks the movie star’s first collaboration with Oscar-winning director Clint Eastwood, but it isn’t his first time bringing a complex fact-based person to the big screen.

The Hollywood native has often won acclaim portraying real-life people, from drug-addicted street tough Jim Carroll in “The Basketball Diaries” to talented conman Frank Abagnale Jr. in “Catch Me If You Can” to reclusive business tycoon Howard Hughes in “The Aviator.”

As with his Academy Award-nominated turn in Martin Scorsese’s 2004 Hughes biopic, DiCaprio is earning Oscar buzz with his portrayal of Hoover. Along with his best actor nod for “The Aviator,” DiCaprio has been nominated for best actor for 2007’s “Blood Diamond” and best supporting actor in 1994’s “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape,” but he has not yet taken home an Oscar.

The potential for Academy Award glory aside, DiCaprio said he and Eastwood were compelled to take on the project after reading Oscar-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black’s script. which created “a very fascinating portrait” of Hoover. The film delves into Hoover’s relationships with the few closest to him: his demanding mother Annie (Judi Dench), his loyal secretary Helen Gandy (Naomi Watts) and his faithful assistant director Clyde Tolson (Armie Hammer), with whom many believe he shared a romantic interest.

“He was this incredibly ambitious young genius that … created this federal bureau that to this day is revered and feared. Yet he was a mama’s boy,” DiCaprio said. “He was incredibly repressed emotionally. His only outlet was his job. He wasn’t allowed to have any kind of personal relationships — or he felt that — and no matter what his sexual orientation was, he was devoted to his job. And power was paramount to him, and holding on to that power at all costs was the most important thing in his life,” DiCaprio said.

In nonlinear fashion, “J. Edgar” touches on several high and low points in Hoover’s nearly half-century tenure with the agency that became the FBI. including his investigation into the kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh Jr., his advocacy for the development of forensic science and his underhanded penchant for collecting dirt on his political enemies.

“You can’t deny that he was a patriot, but at the same time, his tactics were pretty deplorable,” DiCaprio said. “What was I was fascinated by was his (Black’s) take on entering J. Edgar Hoover’s career during a time of almost a terrorist invasion by communists, the Red Scare, that sort of paranoia that was infused in our country, and the sort of lawlessness of these bank robbers that were going from state to state and becoming free men when they crossed state lines, and how J. Edgar Hoover really transformed the police system in America.”

“Of course, the story goes on to his later years when he became, in essence, a political dinosaur who didn’t adapt to the changing of our country,” he added. “When the Civil Rights Movement came along, he saw that as an uprising of the people.” He didn’t adapt or change to our country, and he stayed in power way too long and he didn’t listen to his own critics. He was a staunch believer in his moral beliefs and his beliefs about what was right for our country, and therefore, his career ended on a failed note, in my opinion.”

Playing the bureaucrat as a young go-getter required DiCaprio to dye his hair brown, wear dark contact lenses and don mouth appliances, a nose augmenter and a prosthetic double chin. But portraying Hoover in his 70s forced the handsome star to undergo an even more dramatic metamorphasis involving full facial prosthetics, a bald cap with punched-in hair and prosthetic hands. He credited Eastwood for creating an immersive environment on set and for reserving the latter-day scenes for the end of the production.

“We got to get our sort of footing in the characters, and then … the last few weeks, we sat in the makeup chair for five or six or seven hours sometimes,” DiCaprio said. “The challenge for me was not just the prosthetic work and how to move like an older man, but more so how to have 50 years of experience in the workplace and talk to a young Robert F. Kennedy as though he was some political upstart that didn’t know what the hell he was talking about.”

The star likened preparing for the part to taking a college course on Hoover.

“As an actor, I just love researching this stuff. We got to take a trip to Washington, and I got to meet people … that knew him and really understand and capture this guy to the best of my abilities. That’s half the fun of making a movie for me.”

-BAM

Movie review: “J. Edgar”

For a public figure who made uncovering other people’s secrets his business, J. Edgar Hoover proved remarkably adept at keeping his own.

Shrouded in notoriety and mystery, the founding director of the FBI is both a fascinating and challenging subject to chronicle in a Hollywood biopic. But four-time Oscar-honored director/producer Clint Eastwood (“Million Dollar Baby”) and Academy Award-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black (“Milk”) delve into the facts, the rumors and most importantly the relationships with the goal of getting to Hoover’s humanity with their new film “J. Edgar.”

Featuring strong performances from Leonardo DiCaprio, Judi Dench, Naomi Watts and Armie Hammer, the nonlinear biopic skips back and forth in time to touch on the highlights and low points in Hoover’s nearly half-century tenure leading the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a position that made him one of the most powerful people of the 20^th century.

Nearly 40 years after his death, Hoover’s closely guarded personal life continues to attract considerable speculation, while his long and controversial tenure as founding director of the FBI tends to draw extreme, often conflicting viewpoints.

With all the wild stories and conjecture about Hoover’s sexual preferences and possible cross-dressing tendencies, “J. Edgar” could have become a trashy ripped-from-the-tabloids affair, but fortunately, Eastwood is too classy a filmmaker to wallow in salacious tittle-tattle. In fact, one could easily argue that the biopic is more refined and sympathetic than Hoover deserves, given his penchant for illegal wiretaps and smear campaigns against those whom he perceived as a challenge to his power.

For his part, Black mostly succeeds in presenting a fair but not especially flattering portrait of Hoover as both the patriotic law-enforcement leader determined to protect the public from Bolsheviks and gangsters and champion the development of forensic science and the jealous, manipulative power-monger who kept blackmail-ready secret files on presidents and first ladies and considered Martin Luther King Jr. a dangerous liar.

The film first introduces film-goers to the elderly but still iron-fisted Hoover, who has decided to dictate his memoirs and the history of the FBI to a series of young agents because “it’s time this generation learned my side of the story.”

The flashbacks to the past start with a literal blast, with the 24-year-old Hoover taking a leadership role in the Bureau of Investigation within the Justice Department when his boss Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer (Geoff Pierson) is nearly killed in a bombing tied to communist radicals.

The biopic continually shifts and finds parallels between his early days pursuing Bolsheviks and anarchists, leading the hunt for bank robbers and starting the first crime lab and federal fingerprint database and his later years clashing with Robert Kennedy (Jeffrey Donovan), illegally wiretapping JFK and falsifying ugly rumors in attempt to force MLK to decline his Noble Peace Prize.

At the heart of Hoover’s relating of his professional exploits beats the “crime of the century”: the engrossing investigation into the kidnapping and death of Charles Lindbergh’s (Josh Lucas) 18-month-old son.

But the soul of “J. Edgar” are the relationships with the few people closest to him: his domineering mother Annie (Dench, who may well be the most chilling movie matriarch since “Psycho”), who will tolerate nothing less than greatness from her son; his loyal longtime secretary Helen Gandy (Watts, who makes the most of her small role), who turns down Hoover’s marriage proposal but accepts his job offer, which includes keeping his secret files; and his faithful right-hand man and associate director Clyde Tolson (Hammer, who is building an impressive resume after his twin turn in “The Social Network), who becomes his near-constant lifelong companion.

Since the 1940s, rumors have circulated the Hoover and Tolson were lovers; although no one knows for certain the true nature of their relationship, Black’s script speculates that it was more complicated than that.

Cinematographer Tom Stern creates an appropriately shadowy film, and a team of makeup artists convincingly transform DiCaprio, Hammer and Watts into senior citizens. But Eastwood’s sure-handed direction, Black’s time-shifting storytelling and the stellar performances make “J. Edgar” worth watching.

— BAM

DVD review: “Cars 2″ Blu-ray + DVD

The animation whizzes at Pixar crowd “Cars 2” with too many colorful characters, exotic locales and madcap plotlines for the sequel to run smoothly.

But the gearheads, racing fans and little boys who made 2006’s “Cars” a huge hit and a merchandising champion will likely consider the follow-up a high-octane winner.

Well-known car buff John Lassetter, now the chief creative officer at Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios, returns to the director’s seat for “Cars.” But his return trip to the world of anthropomorphic automobiles, based on Ben Queen’s stuck-in-overdrive screenplay, isn’t a simple story about an ambitious racer learning to slow down.

The sequel opens with a fun homage to James Bond, as British super spy Finn McMissile (Michael Caine) snoops around a deep-sea oil rig on a secret mission. The evil Professor Z (Thomas Kretschmann) is up to no good, but Finn is confronted by the villain’s pack of henchmen before he can figure out who is the bad professor’s latest employer.

In the sleepy Route 66 town of Radiator Springs, low-beam tow truck Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) is eagerly awaiting the return of his best pal, racer Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson), who has been busy winning the Piston Cup. McQueen has been looking forward to a quiet summer at home but soon ends up accepting obnoxious Formula 1 car Francesco Bernoulli’s (John Turturro) insulting challenge to race in the inaugural World Grand Prix.

Sir Miles Axelrod (Eddie Izzard), a pricey SUV who has turned electric, is planning the race through Tokyo, Paris and the fictional Italian town of Porto Corsa to tout his new alternative fuel Allinol. But McQueen’s girlfriend Sally (Bonnie Hunt) views it as a chance for the Piston Cup champ to take his small-town BFF on the road with him.

Their friendship hits a huge pothole when Mater’s usual small-town rube routine embarrasses McQueen in front of his souped-up friends. While McQueen is trying to save face, Mater gets mixed up in the mission Finn and his rookie partner Holly Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer) have mounted to stop Professor Z and his army of lemon cars, who want to make Allinol crash and burn.

Pixar fans expecting the hefty themes and nuanced storytelling of “WALL-E,” “Up” or even the “Toy Story” films will consider “Cars 2” a car wreck, and the shifting of the story’s focus from McQueen to Mater will annoy those with a low tolerance for Larry the Cable Guy’s corn-pone humor.

But the little boys who beg for Lightning McQueen-theme shoes, T-shirts and toys will love taking another zippy ride with “Cars 2.”

Bonus features: Director’s commentary, the “Toy Story” short film “Hawaiian Vacation” and the “Cars” short “Air Mater.”

— BAM

CD review: The Damn Quails “Down the Hatch”

 

From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.

Country/folk

The Damn Quails “Down the Hatch” (598 Recordings)

Don’t let the title fool you: The Damn Quails fly high on their debut album, “Down the Hatch.”

Norman-based singer-songwriters Bryon White and Gabriel Marshall emerge as the premier duo of the red dirt music scene with their first album, which also happens to mark the debut of 598 Recordings, the upstart new label owned by Great Divide frontman Mike McClure and business partner Chance Sparkman.

The Damn Quails’ penchant for pretty melodies, poetic lyrics and fine musicianship becomes apparent from the first single, the folksy toe-tapper “Fool’s Gold.” As each of the 14 earthy tracks comes “Down the Hatch,” it becomes increasingly clear that the fertile Oklahoma music scene has nurtured a pair of exceptionally talented country-folk performers.

The duo has developed a rootsy sound that is both distinctly Oklahoman and uniquely their own. The album opener “Better Place to Stop” calls to mind the kind road anthem Woody Guthrie might have penned right up until the electric guitar solo starts wailing, and even then you get the sense Woody still would have appreciated the song’s everyman vibe.

White and Marshall take turns on lead vocals and share guitar duties, and they are such a well-matched pair that their voices sound different yet cohesive from song to song. Although your ear can’t help but be caught by the lovely, layered instrumentation, both singers are adept at conveying emotion, from the melancholy loneliness of the partiers in “Midnight Swagger” and the mournful resignation of the heartbroken suitor in “Another Story.”

The sweetly pleading fiddle- and mandolin-infused ballad “Through the Fire” isn’t just a highlight of the album, it may just be my favorite love song of the year.

The Damn Quails are continuing to play their weekly shows at 10 p.m. Mondays at The Deli through Nov. 28 and will perform a Thanksgiving concert at the Norman venue. They also have several other Oklahoma shows planned through the end of the year. Since “Down the Catch” is gaining the duo national attention, local red dirt fans should plan to catch the Quails in concert while they can.

— BAM

OKC Improv celebrates 2nd anniversary with 3-week run of shows

Over the past two years, OKC Improv has entertained more than 3,500 people at 100-plus shows, taught at least 175 classes and helped foster a cohesive improv scene in Oklahoma City.

Even better, the founders of the state’s first ongoing professional improv showcase have reached a series of milestones that indicate more Oklahomans are appreciating improvisational theater as a true art form.

“While we took a pragmatic approach when discussing our goals as an organization when we first began, our dreams for what OKC Improv could become were ambitious from the start. Whether we’d succeed was anyone’s guess. Would other established improv groups participate in the community we were trying to build and perhaps most importantly, would there be an audience willing to support regular improv shows? The amazing thing is that after two years, we have our answer,” said OKC Improv co-founder and co-producer Eric Webb.

“At the end of our first two years we are proud of what we’ve accomplished, but most of all are grateful to be able to be part of this amazing community of people.”

Naturally, OKC Improv is celebrating its second anniversary by putting on a three-week run of shows starting at 8 and 10 p.m. Saturday at Ghostlight Theatre Club, 3110 N Walker in the Paseo Arts District. Performances will continue at 8 and 10 p.m. Nov. 19, 25 and 26 at Ghostlight.

The upcoming run will feature 22 different acts, three of them making their OKC Improv debuts, plus two world premieres. Hunter Canedy and Gloria Jones of Oklahoma City University Improv will perform as a long-form improv duo Saturday, marking their first time on the showcase.

The November lineup includes the first public performance at 10 p.m. Nov. 26 of nerd-pop/folk/rock/hip-hop band The Memepunks.

“This will be the first time we’ve ever hosted a band on our stage,” Webb said. “Our regular fans will find a lot of common ground with Memepunks.”

The Big O, a new boundary-pushing group of OKC Improv students Kyle Gossett, Ben Davis, Stephen Dillard-Carroll and Jessi Kyle, also will make their debut at 8 p.m. Nov. 26.

Along with putting on shows, OKC Improv remains committed to teaching improvisation, with its current run of Saturday afternoon Level 1-3 improv classes continuing through Nov. 26. In addition, the organization is planning a series of four advanced workshops, one per Sunday starting this weekend. Topics include unadulterated fun, physical comedy, scene editing and musical improv.

“With enough imagination and skill, there are no limits to the places improv can go, the kinds of stories that can be created, and how they are told,” Webb said.

“The number of active performance groups in the metro (over the past two years) has increased from five to 35, with the promise of more groups and projects to be developed during the course of the next year. Most importantly is the community of performers that has come together and bonded over a mutual love of this unique art form.”

OKC Improv recently was accepted to the Oklahoma Arts Council’s Performing Artist Roster, which Webb said means a great deal to the producers and performers.

“From the start we’ve wanted to find ways to partner with existing arts organizations, to share the art of improv, but also because we want to be a part of the arts community in Oklahoma. Improv is about so much more than just making people laugh. This is a legitimate performance art that unleashes creativity in both practitioners and audiences,” he said.

“Being vetted by and vouched for by the Oklahoma Arts Council is a huge affirmation for our improvisers, many of which have worked for years to hone their craft. It also gives us an opportunity to reach a wider audience, taking our showcases to other parts of the state.”

Artistic directors Buck and Clint Vrazel recently were recognized as part OKCBiz’s “Forty Under 40” for their innovative leadership and impact on the local arts community, and OKC Improv has joined the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce and Arts Council of Oklahoma City.

After selling out last year, OKC Improv will again be featured at the Arts Council of Oklahoma City’s Opening Night New Year’s Eve celebration.

“We are so excited to welcome OKC Improv to the membership roster of the Arts Council of Oklahoma City,” said Executive Director Peter Dolese. “We urge everyone to take advantage of the opportunity to see this professional improv group take the stage.”

For more information on OKC Improv, go to www.okcimprov.com.

-BAM

Best Bets for Nov. 11-13, 2011: Zac Brown Band, Red Dot and “Memphis”

Here are my Best Bets for the top events happening around Oklahoma this weekend. For more events, go to www.wimgo.com.

1. Rock along with the Tony Award-winning musical “Memphis” at 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday and 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday at the Civic Center, 201 N Walker. Information: (800) 869-1451 or www.celebrityattractions.com.

2. Bid on work by more than 130 Oklahoma artists and sample festive food from several local restaurants at the annual Red Dot art auction from 7 to 11 p.m. Friday at Individual Artists of Oklahoma Gallery, 706 W Sheridan. Information: 232-6060 or www.iaogallery.org.

3. Celebrate the second anniversary of OKC Improv with performances by Kind of a Big Deal, Two’s Company and The MiDolls at 8 p.m. Saturday and Homemade Fireworks, Oklahoma City University Improv and Red Letters at 10 p.m. Saturday at Ghostlight Theatre Club, 3110 N Walker. Information: 343-1570 or www.okcimprov.com.

4. TULSA — Hear Zac Brown Band, with special guests Sonia Leigh and Nic Cowan, at 7 p.m. Friday at BOK Center, 200 S Denver. Information: (866) 726-5287 or www.bokcenter.com.

-BAM

Kristin Chenoweth, Wayman Tisdale, members of The Ventures and more inducted into Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame

MUSKOGEE — Wearing a short, silvery dress and a wide smile befitting a Cinderella, Kristin Chenoweth stooped to sign an oversized guitar with the message “I’m just an OKLAHOMA GIRL!”

So far this year, the Emmy- and Tony-winning actress/vocalist has sung for Oprah Winfrey, President Obama and the Queen of England. She added another highlight Thursday night when she was inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame.

“All those other things are amazing. I’d be a liar if I didn’t say singing for the queen and Oprah and presidents and all that is amazing. But when you come back home and you sing for your family and you sing for people who said, ‘You done good,’ that’s where the loyalty and the love is,” Chenoweth told The Oklahoman.

“This is who I am. This is who I am, and I can’t forget it.”

The Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame ushered in its 15th class during Thursday’s Annual Induction Ceremony and Concert. Along with Chenoweth, the class of 2011 includes basketball great and popular jazz bassist the late Wayman Tisdale and Rock; Roll Hall of Famers Nokie Edwards and the late Bob Bogle, both members of surf-rock pioneers The Ventures; and Gene Triplett, longtime entertainment editor of The Oklahoman.

The class of 2011 also features the late guitarist/keyboard player Jesse Ed Davis, who performed with Leon Russell, George Harrison and John Lennon; the late composer, lyricist and performer Ralph Blane, who was twice nominated for the best original song Oscar; and Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame Rising Star Award recipient Cheevers Toppah, a Kiowa/Navajo singer and Grammy nominee.

This is a totally unexpected honor. I don’t play guitar and sing as well as any of these folks here, but I’m just really proud to be here,” said Triplett, who has been at The Oklahoman for 30 years and spent the last decade as entertainment editor, at the press conference before the ceremony.

“This is a great place if you’re gonna write about music and entertainment. This is the place to be. (As you can see) from the fantastic panel up here, Oklahoma is just a really rich breeding ground for great talent … something in the water. Or the dirt, I don’t know.”

“It’s the dirt,” Chenoweth said with a laugh.

Judging from the class of 2011, the Oklahoma dirt provides a fertile breeding ground for musical diversity, with the honorees representing an array of styles, from Broadway show tunes and contemporary jazz to American Indian fusion and rock ‘n’ roll.

Kelly Davis, Davis’ widow, said that friends laughed and asked “Do they surf in Oklahoma?” when they heard that The Ventures were part of the same hall of fame class as her husband.

“I’m from California, and we met in California … but he was a proud Oklahoman, and this is a tremendous honor” Davis said.

Along with Toppah, Davis, who was full-blood Kiowa Comanche, and Edwards, who is Cherokee, represent Oklahoma’s strong American Indian roots.

“To be amongst the greatest musicians to come out of Oklahoma, it’s humbling for me, and to be Native American and represent the state of Oklahoma, it’s one of the greatest awards I’ll ever have,” said Toppah, 28.

Edwards, 76, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008 as a member of The Ventures and earlier this year became a Native American Music Awards Hall of Famer.

“This is my third hall of fame I’m in, but I’m very happy to be inducted into the hall of fame here in my home state,” Edwards said, adding he was sorry that his bandmate and fellow inductee Bogle, who died in 2009, was not there to be honored with him.

Bob Spalding, who has played lead and bass guitar with The Ventures since 1981, accepted the induction award and performed on behalf of Bogle his wife and six children, five of whom were in attendance.

Regina Tisdale, Tisdale’s widow, accepted the honor for her husband, who the former University

of Oklahoma All-American basketball player who became a professional jazz bassist after his 12-season career in the NBA. She has accepted many of his posthumous awards since Tisdale died in 2009 at the age of 44 after a long battle with bone cancer.

“We’re very excited to be here. Wayman would’ve absolutely loved it. “Although he was an athlete, if you asked him what his first love was, he’d tell you music. So he’d be all smiles if he was here and he’d be honored to be among these musicians,” she said.

The hall of fame also inducted posthumously Blane, a prolific composer who co-wrote the holiday classic “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and the Oscar-nominated standard “The Trolley Song” for the 1944 movie musical “Meet Me in St. Louis.” He earned a second Academy Award nomination for “Pass That Peace Pipe,” from the 1947 musical comedy “Good News.”

“I met Ralph Blane when I was a teenager, and he influenced my life a great deal. And the last 10 or 15 years of his life, we became very close,” said Billie Sue Thompson, who accepted on his behalf.

“I’m probably the luckiest one here because my most famous mentor, Ralph Blane, and my most famous former student, Kristin Chenoweth, are both going to be inducted into the hall of fame tonight,” said Billie Sue Thompson, who accepted on his behalf.

As a teacher at Broken Arrow High School, she nurtured Chenoweth’s natural talent, cast Chenoweth in the title role of “Cinderella” and always knew the tiny blonde with the huge voice would be a superstar.

“Singing has been the greatest love of my life, and it is definitely an extension of my soul and something that God saw fit to give me. I can’t balance my checkbook and I’m not a very good driver, but I do enjoy singing,” Chenoweth said with a grin. “I’m very, very honored to be here tonight.”

More to come

Look for my review, along with photos and video, of the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame 2011 Induction Ceremony and Concert on NewsOK.

-BAM

Powered by Wordpress | WP Premium theme by WP Remix
Copyright 2007. BAM's Blog. All rights reserved

• Home
• RSS Feed
• About the Author
• Contacting BAM’s Blog
• Newsok | A&E