Over an impressive professional career spanning four decades, Olney has built a reputation as a kind of musical outlaw – a performing songwriter with a sharp literary mind that often cuts to the bone of the human condition. His most recent CD, One Tough Town (2007), takes listeners on a back roads tour of American music. The title track describes a seasoned performer who tells a young colleague that of all the stops on the universal circuit, he can count on the planet Earth to be the toughest gig.
“I guess I see One Tough Town as a retrospective of a hundred years of American music – blues, country, rock, swing and all stops in between,” Olney said. “No such vision can be complete. There's just too much to cover to achieve that kind of goal. But it has been my life's work, and my life's pleasure, to see how close I can come.”
Texas-born, Nashville-based Webb is an in-demand guitarist/songwriter who partners with Olney for live shows. He counts Olney among his musical influences, as well as J.J. Cale, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Jim Messina, Baxter Black and Gail Davies.
Tickets for the performance are $15. Seating is limited and advance purchase is recommended. Tickets are available at the Performing Arts Studio or TicketStorm outlets, including Guestroom Records and Party Galaxy stores in the metro area. A small service charge will be applied to tickets purchased through TicketStorm.
Winter Wind Concerts are made possible in part by grants from the Norman Arts Council, Oklahoma Arts Council and National Endowment for the Arts, as well as support from Tom McAuliffe, Nancy McClellan, Cindy Merrick, Skye Diers, Glen Brown, Mark and Teresa Marsee, Becky Grider, Danna Primm and Marie Soleil.
For more information on Winter Wind and other PAS programs, call (405) 307-9320.
Elephant Revival, a neo-acoustic quintet on the cutting edge of an emerging new genre known as transcendental folk, will perform at 7 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 21 as part of the Performing Arts Studio’s Winter Wind concert series. The concert will be held at the PAS’s home, the historic Santa Fe Depot, 200 S. Jones Ave.
Elephant Revival’s wide variety of styles include original folk pieces and traditional ballads, as well as Scottish/Celtic fiddle tunes, psychedelic country, indie rock, reggae, 1940s and ‘50s jazz standards and an occasional hip-hop beat.
Band members are Bonnie Paine (vocals, washboard, djembe, musical saw), Sage Cook (electric banjo/guitar, acoustic guitar, mandolin, viola, vocals), Dango Rose (double-bass, mandolin, banjo, vocals), Daniel Rodriguez (acoustic guitar, electric banjo/guitar vocals) and Bridget Law (fiddle and vocals). Individually and collectively, they have performed with such prolific performers as Little Feat, George Clinton, Bela Fleck, Leftover Salmon, John Paul Jones, Yonder Mountain String Band and Michael Franti.
Elephant Revival tours in a vegetable oil powered 1989 school bus.
Tickets for the performance are $20. Seating is limited and advance purchase is recommended. Tickets are available at the Performing Arts Studio or TicketStorm outlets, including Guestroom Records and Party Galaxy stores in the metro area. A small service charge will be applied to tickets purchased through TicketStorm.
Norman’s own musical icon Mike Hosty will entertain children of all ages at the Performing Arts Studio’s “Kids ‘n’ Kazoos” concert scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 20. The free concert will be held at the PAS’s home, the historic Santa Fe Depot, 200 S. Jones Ave.
Hosty started his musical career at age 11 when he received his first guitar. He mimicked jazz and blues techniques to create a unique sound that became a trademark. Known for playing multiple instruments simultaneously – the guitar with his hands and drums and bass pedals with his feet – Hosty also is an expert kazoo player, transforming the sound of the simple instrument into one that resembles a saxophone.
The kazoo is a wind instrument into which one hums, causing a buzzing quality to the player’s voice. Based on instruments used for centuries in Africa to disguise voices or imitate animals, the kazoo was invented and first manufactured in Macon, Ga. in the 1800s. It is one of the few acoustic instruments to be developed in the United States.
The “Kids ‘n’ Kazoos” concert will conclude with the distribution of kazoos to young audience members so they can join Hosty in making some memorable music.
For more information about “Kids ‘n’ Kazoos” or other PAS programs, call 307-9320.
Theresa-Ann “Trixie” Walther will be the featured poet at The Performing Arts Studio’s Second Sunday Poetry Reading at 2 p.m. Feb. 14 at the historic Santa Fe Depot, 200 S. Jones Ave.
Walther’s poems frequently focus on the darker side of human nature; many describe life with her mother, who Walther says was deeply wounded by alcoholism, drug addiction and schizophrenia.
A native of Canada who moved to Oklahoma City as a teenager, Walther currently is a professor of English at Rose State College. There is no charge for the poetry reading. For more information, contact The Performing Arts Studio at 307-9320.
A special blend of music, art and the romance of train stations will mark The Performing Arts Studio’s participation in February’s Second Friday Circuit of Art from 6 to 10 p.m. Feb. 12 at PAS’s home in the historic Santa Fe Depot, 200 S. Jones Ave.
The Valentine’s Day-themed event will feature the paintings and drawings of Norman artist Nick Wu, whose work is on exhibit at the Depot through March 28. Wu will conduct a painting demonstration from 7-8:30 p.m.
Members of the Norman Singer/Songwriter Association plan a song circle jam during the course of the evening. Valentine refreshments will be provided.
For more information about PAS programs, call 307-9320.