Bring lawn chairs or blankets for seating and your favorite refreshments to the free concert in Lions Park, 400 South Flood, Norman. Music begins at 7:30 PM.
Born in Corsicana, Texas in 1939, Billy Joe saw a mesmerizing Hank Williams concert as a boy. Although he would take a few detours along the way, he sensed early on in his life that his salvation would lie in country music.
After leaving the Navy, which he had joined at age seventeen, Shaver took a series of odd jobs to make ends meet. Working at a lumber mill, his right hand caught in the machinery, amputating the better part of two fingers. He developed a serious infection from the accident. After eventually recovering, Shaver taught himself to play the guitar.
Shaver has written many honest and real lyrics including a good majority of the songs on Waylon’s Jennings’ 1973 landmark Honky Tonk Heroes album. He has also written incredible songs that have been recorded by some of the biggest names in music, Old Five and Dimers, Bob Dylan; (Just Because) You Ask Me To, Elvis Presley; Sweet Mama, The Allman Brothers; Old Chunk of Coal, John Anderson; Live Forever, Johnny Cash; and the good time standard Georgia on a Fast Train, recorded by Johnny Cash, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Commander Cody, Cody Morrow and Willie Nelson.
Click here to download PDF of Summer Breeze Poster
May 6 Billy Joe Shaver (Country) - Lions ParkSinger, songwriter, author and actor Billy Joe Shaver is known around the world for his raw lyrics and cowboy way of life. Don’t miss the original Honkey Tonk Hero. http://www.billyjoeshaver.com/
May 20 Leo Kottke (Acoustic Slide Guitar) - Andrews ParkLeo Kottke blends folk, jazz and blues into his own unconventional style. He has become a widely-recognized master of the guitar. http://www.leokottke.com/
Jun 3 Danny O’Keefe (Singer / Songwriter) - Lions ParkHis top-ten hit, and now standard, “Good Time Charlie’s Got the Blues”, has been recorded by Elvis Presley, Leon Russell, Jerry Lee Lewis, Mel Torme, Chet Atkins and many others. http://www.dannyokeefe.com/
Jun 17 Watermelon Slim (Blues) - Lions ParkWatermelon Slim is a blues giant who is the real deal. He plays a mean left-handed National Steel guitar with a powerful, weather-beaten voice, tough harmonica in front of a talented band of bluesmen. http://www.watermelonslim.com/
Jul 8 Steppin’ In It (Folk and Fun) - Andrews ParkCelebrating American roots music, Steppin' In It is an acoustic quartet playing everything from blues to bluegrass, calypso to cajun, and woeful waltzes to western swing. http://www.steppininit.com/
Jul 22 Mike Hosty Duo (“Okie” Roots) - Lions ParkMike Hosty can make you laugh and dance as hard as your ticker can take. The Duo has a penchant for catchy songs and high-octane live performances. http://www.hosty.com/
Aug 5 Mountain Smoke (Bluegrass) - Andrews ParkMountain Smoke has toured the United States for more than thirty-five years and the sound is as fresh now as when they began. http://www.mountainsmokeband.com/
Aug 19 Travis Linville and Friends (Red Dirt) - Lions ParkLinville seems to personify the Red Dirt sound with dazzling instrumental virtuosity and simple, heartfelt songwriting, leaving no lines drawn between Charlie Christian and Woody Guthrie. www.sonicbids.com/travislinville
Sep 9 Kane, Welch, & Kaplin (Singer/Songwriter) - Lions ParkWhen Hieran Kane, Kevin Welch and Fats Kaplin get together, count on an intimate musical conversation, full of nuanced meaning and passionate playing. http://www.kevinwelch.com/
Sep 23 Byron Berline (Western Swing) - Andrews ParkFor an exciting evening of traditional bluegrass and western swing music, join three time national fiddle champion Byron Berline and his band. http://www.doublestop.com/
The Depot will also be open on Saturday, May 5, from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM, as will several other NGA galleries. Admission is free.
The International Visions Exhibition, of which the Depot exhibition is a part, was coordinated by Norman artist Corazon Watkins, and also features international artists showing at MAINSITE Contemporary Art in Norman and in two Oklahoma City Galleries.
Lerner views art primarily as a vehicle for sharing emotions and believes that the first and most important of these is an appreciation of beauty, a notion that is almost excluded from a large part of current artistic discourse. The artist directly and creatively reflects the dynamic properties of nature in painting in his richly colored, vital body of work. For Lerner, “art is nothing if it does not touch the viewer’s soul.”
Ilya Lerner emigrated in 1989 and has since lived in Europe and different parts of the United States. Since 2001 he has lived in the Binghamton area of Upstate New York.
His artworks have been shown extensively throughout the United States and Europe including a retrospective of a hundred paintings and drawings at the Roberson Museum in Binghamton, New York in 2004 – 2005. Lerner has won numerous awards and is currently represented by three premier art dealers. His work can be seen in corporate, private, museum and other collections on five continents.
Her painting is characterized by a reduced palette, a rigorous construction, a granite–like quality of the material which catches the light, and subjects of everyday life. Her drawings and tapestries take us into a more unreal world, more approaching the strip cartoon. After using oil for years, she uses now acrylics and mixed media.
Solange has had numerous personal exhibitions and has participated in Salons in Paris and throughout France, New York, Rome and in the Czech Republic. She is the winner of numerous awards for her work.
Performing Arts Studio Gallery exhibitions are made possible in part by grants from Norman Arts Council, Oklahoma Arts Council, The National Endowment for the Arts and Arvest Bank.
For additional information, call The Performing Arts Studio at 405-307-9320 or visit www.thepas.org.
