Texarkana Entertainment Blog

If you’re going to talk about the Hope Watermelon Festival and the role of those melons in Hope history, you can’t go too far without including the Bright family. About a week ago I and one of our photographers, Megumi Rooze, got to walk through Lloyd Bright’s watermelon patch in Hope to see how these delicious, thirst-quenching treats are doing (they’re behind this year, according to Bright) and discover just what makes a watermelon farmer tick. Bright was quite forthcoming about what he as a grower looks for when it comes to the fruit. This Sunday, the Accent page features an overview of some of the festival’s history and an interview with Mr. Bright. Down below is a video from the Hope-Hempstead Chamber of Commerce showing the world’s largest watermelon (picked in the summer of 2005, it’s the second watermelon in the video – the first is dropped). It came from the Bright farm and checked in at 268.8 pounds. Check out this Sunday’s Accent page to learn about some monster melons. 

- Aaron Brand

Yes, that’s right. The 1959 Ed Wood Jr. science fiction flick regarded by many a film buff as the absolute worst ever made will be shown at the local Texarkana Cinemark movie theater on Thursday, August 20, at 7 p.m. The screening is “RiffTrax Live: Plan 9 From Outer Space,” a live, one-night showing of the film with commentary (that’s the “riffing”) from Mystery Science Theater 3000 vets Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett, whose discussion is broadcast from the Belcourt Theatre in Nashville, Tenn., to movie theaters across the country to go along with the movie. This screening is one of a number of special events brought to the movie theaters by NCM Fathom. Below is a trailer clip from a restored, color version of the movie. It’s humorously hideous. 

- Aaron Brand 

AFI has launched an online video portal (with its videos hosted at YouTube) to make its archive material accessible to movie buffs all over. It’s a great site featuring everything from red carpet interviews of new stars to clips honoring those who’ve received AFI Life Achievement Awards (such as George Lucas, Michael Douglas, and Tom Hanks) for their many contributions to the movies. To get to it, go to AFI.com’s video section: www.afi.com/video. Particularly interesting to me are some interviews with master directors like Spielberg. Imagine sitting in on a film seminar with him! Or, such as the James Earl Jones clip down below, actors discuss some of their most fascinating roles and flicks. I’ll include a clip of Alfred Hitchcock talking about controlling tension in a film.

- Aaron Brand

If you were a fan of the late Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, and want to help the hungry among us, Saturday provides a chance to do just that and see some talented locals at “We Are the World, We Are Texarkana,” which is a tribute to Jackson and a food fundraiser for Harvest Texarkana. Harvest Texarkana is a food rescue program that donates excess (and edible) food to local agencies that give direct help to folks going hungry in our community. Harvest collects food from a number of sources: restaurants, caterers, and even local schools. In fact, with schools out for the summer, it’s even more difficult now for Harvest to meet the need for food donations. The Saturday show from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Central Mall is a chance to give either a food donation or monetary donation. A variety of performers will provide an entertaining experience, and if you’d like to participate as a performer you should e-mail Liz Cain today or tomorrow at laughalotstudio@cableone.net. 

- Aaron Brand

Hot off the wire this afternoon. Gidget, who starred in famous Taco Bell ads from 1997 to 2000, is gone: Taco Bell ad star Gidget the Chihuahua dies at 15. 

- Aaron Brand

Summer is a natural time to celebrate that delicious, succulent treat known as the watermelon. Naples, Texas, continues its own longstanding tradition of holding a watermelon festival on Friday and Saturday. And Hope is famous for its melon party, this year to be held August 6 through 8. For the first time in 16 years, the Hope Watermelon Festival will have a big musical headliner in the form of country music performer Tracy Byrd, He’ll play at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, August 8, at Legion Field in Fair Park. Gates open at 4:30 p.m. with musical acts the Night Hawk Band and the Jason Helms Band opening for Byrd starting at 6 p.m.. The winner of the “Watermelon Idol” contest will also do a few numbers before the southeast Texas-based Byrd gets on stage. I talked with Byrd on Tuesday and he’s a pretty down-to-earth guy. He’s played around here a number of times and says he’ll bring a full band in for the Hope performance. Of course, it’s probably a safe bet he’ll perform “Watermelon Crawl.” Check out the Hope Watermelon Festival Website to see the many places you can get concert tickets; also, you can buy them online at UACCH’s Website. Byrd concert ticket prices: $12 in advance, $15 at the door; kids are $6. 

- Aaron Brand

I’ve been doing some research and writing on a couple of theater wiz kids from Texarkana who’ve really made good. Matt and Kim Lyle are originally from this area and now reside in Chicago as Matt studies writing at Second City. Their Bootstraps Comedy Theater was selected by the New York International Fringe Festival to present “The Boxer,” a “silent film on stage,” as they put it, written by Matt and first performed in Dallas a couple years ago. From what I’ve seen and heard so far, it seems like a good-hearted comedy in some ways. Both Lyles graduated from Texarkana College’s theater department and are veterans of TexRep shows; Texarkana’s theater scene is where they first met, too, before they went off to Stephen F. Austin University and Dallas to get their dramatic careers going. I had the good fortune to interview them last week, and I’m working on a story for Sunday Accent. Down below is a video clip of “The Boxer,” which they’ll get a chance to perform for some serious theater lovers in August. 

- Aaron Brand

Submitted photo:

Kim Lyle, left, performs in "The Boxer," billed as a silent film for the stage and written by her husband, Matt Lyle.

A week from today an eclectically-minded indie band comes to town to play at Club Next. The Thursday night at 9 p.m. show (cover: $5) brings Orange County, Calif.-based Dusty Rhodes and the River Band to our heat-drenched town. They’ve received a good deal of buzz from such publications as Alternative Press Magazine, AMP Magazine, Las Vegas Weekly, the Orange County Register, and Q Magazine in the U.K. They deserve it. Their quirky take on rock, with discernible influences like  folk and gospel, is the real good deal and a sweet lot of fun. Their second album, “Palace and Stage,” was released in May on SideOneDummy Records. I talked with Kyle Divine, who does vocals and guitar for the band, earlier this week, and the story spun from that will be in tomorrow’s Gazette. 

- Aaron Brand

The U.S. Army Field Band & Soldiers’ Chorus perform at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, August 1, at the Perot Theatre right in the heart of downtown Texarkana. These “musical ambassadors of the Army” bring a patriotic, stirring program of music along with them, including selections by Aaron Copland, Antonin Dvorak, Charles Ives, Richard Wagner, and, naturally, John Philip Sousa. The Texarkana show is part of the second leg of their summer tour for these performers and soldiers based at Fort Meade, Md.

The concert is free but you must get tickets in advance. They can be picked up during business hours at Cable One, 401 Baylor St.; American State Bank, 4646 Cowhorn Creek Road; or the Texarkana Gazette, 315 Pine St. You can also acquire tickets by sending a stamped, self-addressed envelope to the Texarkana Gazette, Attn: Army Field Band Tickets, 315 Pine St., Texarkana, Texas 75501. We suggest mailing those request this week so there’s sufficient handling time. 

- Aaron Brand

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One of this weekend’s Sunday Accent stories covers the 2009-2010 Visual Arts Series at the Regional Arts Center. It’s a fairly interesting roster of shows coming up this next year at the RAC, starting Sept. 1  with some Latin American folk art in “Dichos: Words to Live, Love, and Laugh By.” Dichos are the sayings inscribed by the drivers on buses and trucks from Mexico to South America; they come with colorful art and speak to many different things, whether it’s love, advice, or a pun. It should be a fun exhibit. New Boston artist New Boston, Texas, Gary Bachers has an exhibit of new work on the way, and there’s another that explores Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant. Check Sunday’s Accent page for a look at what’s in store. 

- Aaron Brand

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