Oct 28

Punk rock and Magnolia. Poster art for bands like Nirvana. That’s what happening through November at Southern Arkansas University’s Brinson Fine Arts Gallery for an exhibit (by the name of “Don’t Call Me Pretty”) of artist Art Chantry’s work. Chantry, a Pacific Northwest-based graphic designer, has made posters for a number of punk (or, more specifically, punk-like and grunge) bands like The Cramps, Nirvana, Hole, Pearl Jam, and Mudhoney. He also worked for The Rocket, an influential Seattle music newspaper. I lived in Seattle and Portland and remember the kind of wild, innovative posters he put out. You’d see them plastered all over utility poles and at music stores. He has a unique style, to put it mildly. Now his work will be at SAU with 52 posters collected, subjects ranging all over the map from rock to AIDS. Honestly, it’s kind of amazing and great that his work has found it’s way to South Arkansas. The Brinson is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

- Aaron Brand

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Sep 23

It’s a bit of a drive from Texarkana, but Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia hosts a potentially fascinating and inspiring question and answer session and lecture Tuesday evening that movie fans (or anyone intrigued by young dreamers) may want to check out.

It’s a neat opportunity to see two young and precocious filmmakers speak, one of whom attended SAU. Twin brothers Noah and Logan Miller directed the film “Toucing Home,” starring Ed Harris, Brad Dourif, and Robert Forster; the movie, which has yet to gain wide release but has played at film festivals, chronicles their real life struggles with an alcoholic father who died in jail. For a time, Noah was an SAU student on a baseball scholarship. But he ultimately left the school when he had to return to California.

The Miller brothers wrote a book on how—without much money and no Hollywood connections—they accomplished their dream of making a movie. I read a bit of the book online and it features some crisp, great writing, and it seems like both a sad and redemptive tale. It’s also funny and insightful.  The book is called “Either You’re In or You’re In the Way,” and they’ll discuss it at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Grand Hall of the Donald W. Reynolds Campus and Community Center at SAU.

More info on the Miller brothers is available at www.inorintheway.com.

- Aaron Brand

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Mar 27

Tracy Lawrence is an alum of Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia, Ark., just down the road from Texarkana and his hometown of Foreman.

And all things Mulerider will be touted Wednesday for a 100-year anniversary celebration of the university, which serves students from all over the area. As part of the festivities, Lawrence will be in town to headline a concert. (Opening for him are the Warner Bros. Nashville recording artists The Dirt Drifters.) Lawrence plays at 7 p.m. on the SAU Mall. If there’s bad weather, the show moves to the W.T. Watson Athletic Center. 

Here’s the price: free. That’s right. 

For more information on the SAU celebration, check out www.saumag.edu/100. 

- Aaron Brand

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