Rev. Elvis on the MoundBaseball and Horses and Birds, Oh My!

Thursday, August 16

Ah, there's nothing quite so romantic as a group wedding at a baseball stadium . . . officiated by a miniature Elvis impersonator. Dontcha think? Apparently all the men-and-wives-to-be at tonight's Drillers game against the Frisco Rough Riders do. That's right, folks, this evening Drillers Stadium, 15th & Yale, will be the site of a mass wedding officiated by Little E--the shortest Elvis impersonator out there--while thousands of onlookers raise a beer to the whole shebang. A spectacle not to be missed. Game starts at 7pm.

Friday, August 17

It's one thing to read a piece of fiction or poetry in the quiet of your own home . . . the experience is personal, internalized, safe. It's quite another to experience the works of authors as read aloud in a public place by the authors themselves. The moment is charged . . . and strangely intimate. Heller Theatre's Writers' Night gives you the opportunity to experience the poetry and fiction of local authors live and in person. Check it out this evening at 8pm. Heller Theatre is located at 5328 S. Wheeling.

Saturday, August 18

Regarded as the second biggest and nearly best fundraiser parties of the summer, Wild Brew is back again this year. Benefiting the Sutton Avian Research Center, Wild Brew features more than 40 beers from around the world, some food from Tulsa restaurants, and live classic rock from Mid-Life Crisis. It all happens tonight, 5-8pm at the Expo Exchange Center I, 21st and Yale.

Sunday, August 19

As you probably know, Sundays are traditionally very good for contemplating moral issues. Like, for example, whether or not it's a good idea to tell big ol' honkin' lies. Are your little kiddos (or certain well-known tenants of the White House) having some trouble in this particular area?

Monday, August 20

It's still not too late to see Gilcrease Museum's current exhibit, "Space Silent Spirit: Maynard Dixon's West" featuring the wide-ranging styles of famed American Western artist Maynard Dixon. From realism to modern cubism, Dixon created some of the most iconic American images of the past century. Gilcrease is located at 1400 Gilcrease Museum Rd.

Tuesday, August 21

Indie rock darling Ben Kweller's music is smart, poppy, quirky, edgy and best experienced live. Don't miss out on an opportunity to catch one of the best young American songwriters in action tonight on Cain's Second Stage, 423 N. Main. Tim Fite opens the show. Doors open at 7pm.

Wednesday, August 22

Horse lovers take note: The 2007 National Snaffle Bit Association Horse Breeders Championship Futurity and World Championship Show will take over Expo Square today, 21st and Yale. More than 1,300 entries are expected in 124 classes representing nearly every breed. Definitely a lot of horsin' around. Don't miss it! For a full schedule of events visit www.nsba.com.

Thursday, August 23

Artist Nathan Opp wants to make you think. He uses domestic scenes and emotionally isolated figures to explore interpersonal tension in his paintings, forcing you to ponder the deeper story behind his images. See what he's all about today at the Tulsa Artists' Coalition exhibit "Intimate Spaces: Paintings by Nathan Opp." Gallery is located at 9 E. Brady. Hours: 6-9pm.

Jazz it Up. Celebrate Tulsa's thriving jazz scene at the ever-popular annual Jazz and Blues Heritage Festival, Sat., Aug. 18, under the stars on the corner of "Jazz and Blues" (better known as Greenwood and Archer).

Performing this year are Tulsa Public School's Young Musicians at 5:30pm, Ray D. Rowe and Down Home Blues at 6:15pm, Rebecca Ungerman and Frank Brown Trio at 7:15pm, Charlie Red and Full Flava Kings at 8:15pm, Earl Clark and Spectrum at 9:15pm and Tom Braxton at 10:15pm. Admission is free.

Time to Rock and Roll. Local teenage metal band, Crooked X, brings their Metallica-inspired mayhem to Cain's Ballroom, 423 N. Main, on Sat., Aug. 18. Opening for the young lads are Tulsa's Congress of a Crow, bringing back the 311 sound (along with a little reggae/thrash/pop), and brother/sister duo Red Alert.

Tickets are $15 in advance and $17 the day of the show. Purchase tickets in person at Cain's Box Office, 423 N. Main St., www.cainsballroom.com, Starship Records & Tapes, Reasor's Customer Service, or order by phone at 866-443-8849. Doors open at 7pm.

Write On. Hear what the locals have to say this week at Heller Theatre's Writers' Night, featuring readings of original works created by the varied writers of Heller's writing group. This production will showcase everything from fiction to poetry on Fri., Aug. 17 at 8pm. Tickets are $5.

Always wanted to try your hand at writing, you say? Join the informal writing group and free your inner Hemingway. Meetings take place every Wed. from 5:30-7pm. All levels of experience are welcome. Heller Theatre is located at 5328 S. Wheeling. Call 746-5065 for more information, or go to hellertheatre.com.

It's a Homerun... Watch the Drillers take on the Frisco Rough Riders, Aug. 16-17, 7pm, at Drillers Stadium. Don't forget to bring your bride for the largest wedding in Oklahoma, officiated by little E., the shortest Elvis impersonator out there.

And to top it all off, it's Thirsty Thursday...one dollar sodas and beers. On Fri., Aug. 17, all the kids involved in the Library's Summer Reading Program will be rewarded for their good work. While you're at one of the Tulsa County Libraries, pick up your free general admission tickets for Friday's game.

The first 1,500 kids, 14 years-old and under, to walk into the stadium on that night will receive a new Driller's Backpack, just in time for school.

On Sat., Aug. 18, the first 2,000 fans to arrive will receive a Driller's Card Set featuring the Driller's Major League Stars. Saturday is Mascot day! Hornsby and his mascot friends will be firing up the crowd for the game against the Midland Rock Hounds at 7pm.

On Sunday, Aug. 19, the first 500 fans under 14 years old will get a special edition Hornsby Wobbler one night only!

The Drillers take on the Midland Rock Hounds at 6pm, and the team wants to thank the fans for their support throughout the season. As part of this effort, Drillers players and staff will go above and beyond for the fans tonight.

The players will be welcoming you at the front gates, maybe selling your game day programs and working other areas throughout the ballpark. Plus, they'll be signing autographs pre-game until approximately 5:30pm. And don't spoil your dinner because kids eat free during the Sunday games.

Monday, Aug. 20 is Ladies Night. The first 1,000 ladies to come to the game, Drillers Vs. Rock Hounds, 7pm, will receive a coupon package with discounts for food and drinks. While skimming the coupons, get a massage or have your nails done along the concourse.

Indie Rock'n'Hip Hop. Popular indie rocker Ben Kweller will be performing on Cain's 2nd Stage, Tues., Aug. 21. His opening act, Tim Fite, will bring his own unique twist on the Brooklyn hip-hop sound. (Don't let his Pee Wee Herman-esque look throw you . . . he does a mean Cypress Hill imitation. Check him out on MySpace.com.)

Tickets are $19. Purchase tickets in person at Cain's Box Office, 423 N. Main St., Cainsballroom.com, Starship Records & Tapes, Reasor's Customer Service, or order by phone at 866-443-8849.

Nightingale Theatre is Hot This Summer. One of Tulsa's hottest picks for entertainment, The Nightingale Theater, has got your weekend covered. Don't miss Born Screaming in America: A tribute to Bill Hicks by Brian Rattlingourd who wrote and stars in this bio-play and tribute to stand-up comedian Bill Hicks (1961-1994). In 1993, Rolling Stone declared Hicks the "Hot Stand-Up Comic" of the year. Show runs every Friday through Aug. 31 from 8-10pm.

Get your fundamentalist fix with, Born Again Yesterday, a story about a man in recovery from being raised fundamentalist: "Hello, my name is John, and I'm a fundamentalist. It has been one week since I've judged someone fit for eternal damnation."

Local comedian and actor, Justin McKean, portrays multiple characters in this comic chronicle of a man being born again from having been born again. Funny, sassy and at times touching and startling, Born Again Yesterday is the tale for our times, politically, socially and spiritually. Show runs every Saturday though Sept. 1, 8-10pm. Nightingale Theater, 1416 East 4th St. No reservation required. Call 633-8666 for more information.

Oh, the Isolation of Humanity. Tulsa Artists' Coalition, 9 E. Brady, presents "Intimate Spaces: Paintings by Nathan Opp" through August 25.

Opp says the exhibit explores tension and isolation between people and uses domestic scenes and emotionally isolated figures as metaphors. For the past eight years, Opp has been teaching studio art and art history courses at Oral Roberts University.

The exhibit is free and open to the public. Galley hours are Tues.-Fri, 11am-2pm, and Thurs., Fri. and Sat., 6-9pm. For more info contact the gallery at 592-0041 or tacgallery.org

Pinocchio Comes Alive. Tulsa Spotlight Children's Theater presents the classic kid's tale of a little wooden boy with a big, big dream, Pinocchio, Aug. 17--19, directed by John Barker.

Spotlight Theatre is located at 1381 Riverside Drive. Showtimes are Fri. at 7pm, and Sat. & Sunday at 2pm. Call 587-5030 or go to spotlighttheatre.org for more information.

Farrell's at it Again. Jane's Addiction front man Perry Farrell has a new gig: Perry Farrell's Satellite Party, a mix of funk with a dark, '80's Gothic groove--plus, a message of love sweet love. Catch him in action along with opening act Mink at Cain's Ballroom, 423 N. Main, Wed., Aug. 22.

Tickets are $29 and doors at 7pm. Purchase tickets in person at Cain's Box Office, 423 N. Main St., Cainsballroom.com, Starship Records & Tapes, Reasor's Customer Service, or order by phone at 866-443-8849.

Birds of a Feather Drink Together. Wild Brew, the annual fundraiser benefiting the Sutton Avian Research Center, is set for Sat., Aug. 18, 5-8pm at the Expo Exchange Center I, 21st and Yale.

Beer vendors from around the country participate in this event, which helps raise money for conservation, education and research on endangered, rare and neglected species of birds.

More than 40 fine beers are available along with food from many of Tulsa's finest restaurants. Mid-Life Crisis will be performing as well. There will be a special patrons-only-hour featuring early beer tasting, food sampling and music beginning at 4pm.

Each ticket costs $40 and must be bought in advance. No tickets will be sold at the door. You must be 21 or older to attend Wild Brew. For more information contact the Wild Brew Hotline, 699-8985.

Best in Show. The 2007 National Snaffle Bit Association Horse Breeders Championship Futurity and World Championship Show will take place Aug. 22-26 at Expo Square, 21st and Yale.

The first NSBA World Championship Show was a huge success, offering 124 classes with over 1,300 entries representing nearly all of the NSBA recognized breeds. The show paid out in excess of $440,000 in cash and prizes.

In 2007, the NSBA has added 13 more classes to the NSBA World Show schedule. These new classes include the Novice Division and the Green Division. Call the NSBA Office, 270-1469 INCLUDEPICTURE "http://www.nsba.com/components/com_extcalendar/images/spacer.gif"; \* MERGEFORMATINET for more information or visit HYPERLINK "http://www.nsba.com"; www.nsba.com.

Coping with Difficult Communication. "Fluency vs. Skills: Installations, Photography and Performances" by Mark Wittig of Tulsa, continues through Aug. 23. Using photography, installation, and performance art, Wittig strives to create artwork that discusses the physical, emotional, and intellectual aspects of the learning-disabled experience within education and cultural systems based on alphanumeric communication.

In particular, he is interested in exploring the strained relationships these individuals have with written text. "I have skills. I have fluency. I have mastery. I will continue to learn through the physical methods which are natural to me and I will define (and refine) the definitive terms of my abilities, and accomplishments on my own through my art," says Wittig. Gallery hours are Thurs. 5-8pm and Sat. 1-4pm, or call 585-1234 for an appointment.

Ethereal. Head over to M.A. Doran Gallery, 3509 S. Peoria Ave., for its latest exhibit, "Sam Joyner--Black & White Photographs from Bali, Thailand, and the U.S."

For the past 20 years, photographer Sam Joyner has studied with master photographers Bruce Barnbaum, John Sexton, Ruth Bernhard, and many more at 14 photography venues including the Ansel Adams photography Workshop, Yosimite, California; the Maine Photographic Workshop, Rockport, Maine; and the Oklahoma Arts Institute at Quartz Mountain.

His work clearly reflects an Ansel Adams influence combined with his own unique twist of otherworldliness. Joyner's work has been juried into numerous exhibits, receiving various awards including Best of Show at the 1995 Lawton Arts for All Festival and juror's awards in the 1998 and 1999 Tulsa Mayfest.

His work has been seen in numerous group shows statewide including M.A. Doran Gallery and Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa. Joyner also serves as a United States Magistrate Judge in Tulsa. Exhibit runs through Sept. 1. Gallery hours are Tues.-Sat. 10:30am-6pm.

Students on Display. The University of Tulsa School of Art presents "The Best of Gussman," showcasing the best of the best student artists. The Annual Gussman Student Art Exhibition features ceramics, painting, sculpture, graphic design, prints and photographs. See it all through August 30 in the gallery of the Tulsa PAC, Mon.-Fri., 10am-5:30pm.

It's Hot, Hot, Hot. Outside anyhow. Inside the Pearl Gallery, 1201 E. 3rd St., the air will be cool, but the art will be sizzling during "Long Hot Summer." Come see a collection of nudes and summer themed art through Aug. 17, Wed.-Fri. from 1-6pm, with extended hours on Thurs. until 8pm, or any time the light are on. For more info, call 588-1500.

Calling All Muggles! It's time to catch the fifth film installment of the Harry Potter mania. Even if you already saw it opening night, now you can see it on IMAX. In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, young Potter is about to start his fifth year at Hogwarts.

He's desperate to get back to school and find out why his friends Ron and Hermione have been so secretive all summer. However, what Harry is about to discover in his new year at Hogwarts will turn his world upside down. Cinemark IMAX is located at 10802 E. 71st. For showtimes, call 307-2629.

Views Of an Ancient Land. Through Aug. 19, you can view "Celestial Nights" at the Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art, 2021 E. 71st. The exhibit will feature black and white photography by Neil Folberg of the night skies over Israel.

Folberg's photographs describe places where the spiritual is at once near, imprinted in the forms of the arid landscapes, and far away in the dark, starlit recesses of space. The museum is open Mon.-Fri., 10am-5pm, and on Sundays from 1-5pm. For details, call 492-1818.

Icon of the Great American West. Through Sept. 30, you can witness Space Silent Spirit: Maynard Dixon's West. Dixon's style moved from defined realism toward modernism, abstraction, and cubism--though he spurned such titles.

He simply sought the poetic beauty of the West and in the process created some of the most iconic images of the American West of the early 20th century. See them for yourself at Gilcrease Museum, 1400 Gilcrease Museum Rd. For more information, call 596-2700.

For Your Viewing Pleasure. Thru Aug. 26, you can take another peek at the personal collection of the late Hungarian-born Jewish artist, Theodore Fried, a selection of paintings of animals and still lifes.

Fried was a rising star in post-WWI Paris, exhibiting alongside Picasso, Kandinsky, Munch, and Nolde in a circle of young expatriate painters before fleeing the German occupation of Paris in 1940.

This unique and thankfully recovered collection will show at The Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art, 2021 E. 71st. For details, call 492-1818 or visit jewishmuseum.net.

Art, Unleashed. Acclaimed by the critic Théophil Gautier as the "Michelangelo of the Menagerie," Antoine-Louis Barye (1795-1875) was called one of the greatest French sculptors of the nineteenth century.

Rodin acknowledged him as his teacher and his work was an important inspiration to Henri Matisse. This exhibition, "Untamed: The Art of Antoine-Louis Bayre," features more than 130 highlights from the Walters Art Museum's renowned collection of his sculptures.

It runs through September 2 at the Philbrook Museum, 2727 S. Rockford Rd., 749-7941.

Search For Our Okie Identity. Through Sep. 16, the Price Tower Arts Center in Bartlesville, 510 Dewey Ave., will be exhibiting "Out of Oklahoma: Contemporary Artists from Ruscha to Andoe."

Starting with the Pop Art movement of the '60s and traveling through abstraction, minimalism, photorealism and even the new figurative painting.

The work of 20 artists, including Larry Clark, John Fincher, and Daniel Lang, encompasses works in paint, watercolor, photography, glass, bronze and more to represent the diversity of Oklahoma and its people. For more info, visit pricetower.org.

The Joys of the Simple Life. Through Aug. 26, you can glimpse the beauty, elegance and simplicity of rural American life through the art of Andrew Wyeth.

The rarely-seen works in "Andrew Wyeth Drawings and Watercolors: Selections from the Marunuma Art Park Collection, Japan," may allow you to see more clearly into the rural existence of the Christina and Alvaro Olson family of Cushing, Maine, which Wyeth so loved painting.

The exhibition is at Gilcrease Museum, 1400 Gilcrease Museum Rd. For more information, call 596-2700.

Your Dream Job... was to be an astronaut when you were a kid, right? Well, now you can glimpse the magnificence of floating in space with Astronaut, the most recent film to show at Tulsa Air and Space Museum's Bertlesmeyer Planetarium.

It argues that the exploration of space is the greatest endeavor humankind has ever undertaken. You will explore the amazing worlds of inner and outer space, and encounter the perils that await space travelers, as they subject a test astronaut, Chad, to everything space has to throw at him.

Discover if you have what it takes to become an astronaut! The planetarium is located at 3624 N. 74th E. Ave. For showtimes, call 834-9900.