Texarkana Entertainment Blog

Tonight on Halloween Eve I listened to “War of the Worlds” on Texarkana’s NPR affiliate, KTXK. This Saturday night’s show was a replay of the classic Mercury Theatre Halloween radio broadcast of Oct. 30, 1938, that inspired concern and outright fear in listeners, not to mention wild overreaction from the press. Of course the tale of attacking Martians was fiction, but that didn’t stop people from getting scared back then, and it’s easy to see why. Radio has the power to focus our attention, particularly if the tale is gripping and tense. Radio demands people use their imaginations to picture what we hear – imagine that! “War of the Worlds” is a classic in that manner with its masterful narration from Orson Welles and engaging, effective pacing.

All of which is to say that on Thursday and Friday nights, TAMU-T’s Drama Program and English Club presented “Three Skeleton Key,” a creepy fun radio play about three lighthouse keepers and their ferocious encounter with a hungry horde of rats. (It’s based on a story by George G. Toudouze.) Seeing a radio play in action is similar to seeing a readers’ theater play but with the added excitement of sound. It’s a wild plot premise but somehow the crew pulled it off for a fun show. Corinne Patterson, Brooke Strebeck, and James Morton played the lighthouse keepers, while Daniel Jones, Sherry Massey, and Karla Whitehurst were foley artists creating sound for a dramatic tale. Gretchen Cobb directed. “Props” to the crew and cast.

- Aaron Brand

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at Spring Lake Park. Robots below were found today at the park; I took a few pics this afternoon. It’s a public art installation from the TRAHCies folks (who did the “Book City” project and the art memorial to Albert Pike victims). Go make friends with these robots; they won’t harm you.

Edited Sunday a.m. to add: Looks like the robots are coming down today, so go see them while you can! Here’s an explanation of the project at the TRAHCies Tumblr site: When Robots Invade.

- Aaron Brand

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A week ago I first stepped onto the new TAMU-T campus out at Bringle Lake. It’s an impressive complex and the school’s location in a more rural, removed setting made for an idyllic walk up to TAMU-T’s University Center on a lovely fall night. On the third floor of that grand, clean structure is the John F. Moss Library, new home to art (in addition to the books).

So I wasn’t headed back to school to study or to teach, but I wanted to check out this year’s Four States Regional Art Club member show. A reception brought the artists out to hobnob, chitchat, gaze at each other’s work, and in general enjoy the camaraderie of a Friday evening spent together in good company. It’s a fun show with an interesting variety of work. This year’s theme is “The Twin Cities: Past and Present.” Artists mused upon that theme in many different ways, some realistically, some with more abstract style. Themes both quite familiar and surprising came to the mind of local artists. The exhibit is displayed through Nov. 22. (I caught a few snapshots of the art and two works are below.)

- Aaron Brand

"Organic," a colored pencil piece by Lauren Hehmeyer.

"Stonehenge Future," a watercolor piece by Stella Ellington.

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People can turn anything into sculpture: gigantic blocks of ice, large mounds of sand, car parts. It’s only natural some artists turn to pumpkins. A friend just passed on some photos of unique pumpkins that, in true Halloween and sculptural spirit, are ghoulish, funny, and intricate. It’s the work of artist Ray Villafane, who likes his pumpkins in 3D. He’s been featured on CBS Evening News and Food Network. Check out this Northern Michigan artist’s work here (as a tutorial): Ray’s Pumpkin Carving Tutorial. Once there, you can check out a gallery of his special pumpkins. Fun stuff.

Happy Halloween.

- Aaron Brand

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Next Thursday’s “CHAIR-ity Bizarre” auctions the artsy chairs the Regional Arts Center has exhibited since early September. About two dozen artistically re-imagined chairs will be auctioned to benefit Arts on Main, where TRAHC conducts art classes for kids and adults. The auction festivities start at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the RAC. It’s free and the public can come on by to watch, bid, and enjoy margaritas and munchies.

The next few days until the auction are also the final ones to check out the exhibit and even take your photo sitting in a chair. Evan Lewis’ project for “The CHAIRS” asks people to take a portrait and send it to trahcchairs@hotmail.com. His chair portraits (and others who’ve taken their photo in a chair) can bee seen at TRAHCChairs.com.

More info on the “CHAIR-ity Bizarre”: call 903-792-8681.

- Aaron Brand

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Too many things this month have kept me from logging on here to nail down my thoughts, though I’ve clicked on the page to make sure it’s still here. It is and so I am. So, I’m going to be catching up in the next couple days. Here’s a start.

A couple items:

1) Tonight and tomorrow, Friday night, at 7 p.m. at Eagle Hall in TAMU-T’s new University Center at the Bringle Lake campus, the university drama program and English club present a radio play, something a little different for Texarkana. It’s billed as a Halloween radio play and titled “Three Skeleton Key.” The public is invited to come listen. Admission: $5 for regular admission, $3 for students, faculty and staff. The plot, as described in the flyer: “Three lighthouse keepers battle for their lives against an army of rampaging, revolting, and ravenous rats!”

2) TRAHC’s next Perot Theatre series show is “Drumline Live,” a high-energy marching band extravaganza. Soul, Motown, hip-hop, jazz, swing, R&B—this show is a dynamic musical menagerie of bigtime marching band beats. The show (from the creators of the movie “Drumline”) is rooted in marching band traditions established at historically black colleges and universities. Looks like an exciting show to experience this upcoming Monday, 7:30 p.m., at the Perot Theatre. A drum-off competition starts around 6 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. before the show. Tickets: call the Perot Theatre Box Office at 903-792-4992. (See below for a submitted photo of the show, courtesy of Columbia Artists Management Inc.)

3) Did you know Texarkana has an upstart roller derby team? They’re the Vicious Vixens and just formed. It’s true. Looking into it.

- Aaron Brand

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A little bit of West Africa is headed to Hope, Ark., in the form of Bi-Okoto Drum & Dance Theatre and School of African Cultures next Thursday at 7 p.m. What brings the Cincinnati-based group down to our corner of Southwest Arkansas? A mission to educate people about African dance and music, and, in conjunction with that, the culture that creates those traditions. I talked with company manager Jeaunita Olowe recently about the group’s background and approach to performing. It should be an interactive evening and inspire people to get up and move. Olowe pointed out that there’s great variety found in African dance—after all, it’s a huge and diverse continent. Submitted photos below show the group’s performing energy. It’s positive, engaging, and fun. We previewed the show in today’s Accent page: Bi-Okoto shares African dance, drums.

- Aaron Brand

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Last night it was some jazzy Jimi Hendrix putting listeners in the good groove. The 4th Annual Meet and Greet Hour at the Regional Arts Center put the spotlight on jazz, including a jazzy spin with Hendrix music and selections from classic jazz artists like Charlie Parker. Under the direction of Don Colquitt, the TISD Jazz Band’s young musicians got up to do solos intermittently through the set—quite a treat and the crowd was enthused. So were the teens showing off their skills. If you ever get a chance to see them play, they’re worth a look; it’s refreshing to see younger players appreciate a uniquely American art form. TAAC plans to have all the local school district jazz bands perform at this annual Meet and Greet.

TAAC sponsors a number of programs and projects throughout this upcoming year for TRAHC, including: African-American Voice, Regional Celebration of African-American Artists Exhibit, Children’s Reading and Arts Program, and the Reader’s Theater (“Voices of Freedom: Ovecoming Barriers”).

- Aaron Brand

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I had the good fortune to interview the musician and entertainer Benise recently about his upcoming show, “The Spanish Guitar,” at the Perot Theatre. He comes to town Saturday, Oct. 23, to start this year’s TRAHC Perot Theatre series. For someone who’s traveled all over the world to exotic destinations like Venice, Paris, Dubai, and Spain, he was a pretty down-to-earth guy. He started out his career as a street musician in Los Angeles, after all. He says fans of the Gipsy Kings and other types of Latin music will enjoy his show. In the submitted photo below, he’s seen with his dancers, the Gitanas. We preview his upcoming Perot song and dance extravaganza in today’s Accent section: Multimedia musical journey.

- Aaron Brand

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The fall movie season has arrived, the time of year when I most love to burrow down deep into the cineplex chair, chomp on some popcorn, and get something serious on the screen. I’ll be working on a story about the fall and early winter movies in the next few days.

Best film I saw recently: “The Social Network”

Films I most want to see almost sure to bypass Texarkana: “Never Let Me Go” and “Nowhere Boy”

Film I’m seeing tomorrow, Friday, for review purposes: “Secretariat” (a movie I’m also pretty jazzed to see as well)

- Aaron Brand

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