Tag: music

The 2014 Oklahoma Teacher of the Year, Peter Markes, is shifting directions and using music to expand frontiers on a broader scale. With Markes at the helm for 15 years, the Edmond North High School Orchestra performed twice in the National Youth Concert in Carnegie Hall. The orchestra earned 15 consecutive top State Sweepstakes Awards, received annual invitations to perform...

What does the engaging new autobiography of top rock music record producer Ted Templeman, famed for his work with the likes of Van Halen, the Doobie Brothers, and Little Feat, have to do with Oklahoma?  As it turns out, quite a lot.  First of all, Ted Templeman: A Platinum Producer’s Life in Music (ECW Press) is an as-told-to tome written by...

FiveMoments that Changed Musical History There’s a fundamental question about whether Oklahoma is musically different from any other state. Maybe people in Springfield, Missouri, or Little Rock, Arkansas, or, say, Bangor, Maine, also feel that their homegrown artists deserve more respect than they’ve received. Regardless, one assertion has been made hundreds or thousands of times, especially by people familiar with Tulsa’s...

I first met Ana Berry a little more than two decades ago, when my filmmaking partner Leo Evans and I cast our feature Café Purgatory. She came to our attention by her father, Milton Berry, who had a leading role in the picture – and she turned out to be absolutely perfect as the young teenager who takes up with...

September is kickoff time – not only for football but for myriad performing arts companies around Oklahoma. In Tulsa, Signature Symphony’s shows include The Wonderful Music of Oz on Sept. 6 and Classics - Tchaikovsky 5 on Sept. 28 at the TCC Van Trease PACE. The world-renowned Tulsa Ballet presents Creations in Studio K from Sept. 12 to 22, with...

“Chicagoans love their city” is a pervasive impression one gets when visiting America’s third-largest burg. Throngs of people enjoy, celebrate and participate in their energetic metropolis. Walkable highlights include downtown amid the skyscrapers, the streets beside and over the Chicago River, and nearby Lake Michigan, which creates a massive backdrop for the city. Chicagoans create a “happy hour” that lasts...

For some years, at precisely 8:30 a.m., Claremore’s Ray Bingham has gotten a phone call from veteran country-music star Leroy Van Dyke, known for classic hits like “The Auctioneer” and “Walk on By.” With few exceptions, this happens every morning of Bingham’s life. “I’ll get that call from Leroy no matter where he is,” Bingham says. “Now, if he’s out...

It happened in the early ’90s in an Oklahoma music store. John Cooper of the Red Dirt Rangers was chatting with the proprietor when the latter, who was both a musician and music historian, asked him how long the band had been together. “At that time, I think it was five or six years,” Cooper says. “And I said: ‘We’re...

The happiest day of your life should be filled with laughter, champagne toasts, romance, close friends and family. What should not be there are stress, negativity, disorganization and chaos. We offer advice, tips and a handy-dandy pros-cons list to help you plan and enjoy your wedding day. Cha-Ching, Cha-Ching To make a couple’s day come to fruition, a wedding budget is...

It might be nostalgia … or the next generation discovering the thrill of setting a stylus on a vinyl disc. Either way, the analog musical medium of long-play records has made a comeback in the state. While some may see the revival as a fad, many have always jammed out with vinyl. “I remember the dark days of the mid-’90s, when...