Editor's Choices for the Week

Top Pick

History buffs definitely won't want to miss "1776-1876: A Century of American History in Art," the new exhibit opening Fri., Aug. 24 at Gilcrease Museum, 1400 Gilcrease Museum Rd. The exhibit features Neoclassical paintings of important historical events and rare documents from one of the foremost archival collections in the US, including the only known certified copy of the Declaration of Independence and George Washington's Address to the Delaware Nation. Also featured in the exhibition is a rare broadside of the Emancipation Proclamation signed by Lincoln, a dispatch from George Custer discussing field operations only months before his defeat at Little Big Horn in 1876, and many other notable documents. Visit gilcrease.org for more info. (Pictured: George Washington by Charles Willson Peale.)

Thursday, August 23

The uniquely American musical style known as Texas Swing is alive and well today partly because of the tireless touring and recording scedule of Asleep at the Wheel. This Grammy Award-winning group has stuck by their beloved musical style for more than three decades now, through thick and thin, and we're all the better for it. Catch 'em in concert tonight at (where else?) Cain's Ballroom, 423 N. Main. Oklahoma Stomp will open the show. Doors open at 7pm.

Friday, August 24

The hit British comedy film The Full Monty followed the exploits of a group of out-of-work men in a working class English town who decide to put on a striptease show as a way of making some quick cash. That concept has now been Americanized for the Muskogee Little Theatre presentation of The Full Monty (the men are now unemployed steel workers from Buffalo, NY) but the fun is still universal...and uproarious. Catch a performance tonight, Cincinnati & D St., in Muskogee. Call 816-0688 for showtimes.

Saturday, August 25

Council Oak Men's Chorale will be getting earth conscious for their summer concert this evening at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center, 2nd & Cincinnati, featuring songs about the four basic elements...earth, wind, fire and water. Songs will include "Earth Angel," "They Call the Wind Maria," "Ring of Fire" and "Bridge Over Troubled Water," among others. Music starts at 8pm.

Sunday, August 26

Sometimes on a Sunday evening, with the upcoming workweek looming just hours away, what you really need to do is laugh. A lot. Call it preemptive stress relief.

Monday, August 27

Catch a screening tonight of Oklahoman Sterlin Harjo's first feature film, Four Sheets to the Wind, at Circle Cinema, 10 S. Lewis. This humorous and affirming film follows the life of reservation dweller Cufe Smallhill who is exposed to the larger world outside his small town as a result of his elderly father's death. Call 592-FILM for showtimes.

Tuesday, August 28

The only thing better than a laidback summer night at the ballpark watching the Drillers play is a FREE laidback summer night at the ballpark watching the Drillers play. That's right folks, the boys will take on the Arkansas Travelers this evening at Drillers Stadium, 15th & Yale, and general admission is nada if you pick up a ticket at QuickTrip, Arby's, Mazzio's or Subway. Game starts at 7pm.

Wednesday, August 29

For a fascinating glimpse into the differences and similarities of artistic perception, check out "Facets of Perception," the new exhibit at Tulsa University's Alexandre Hogue Gallery, 600 S. College Ave. Organized by the University of Tulsa's School of Art and Zeuxis, a New York-based association of still life painters, each artist in the exhibition agreed to paint a still life that includes one identical element--a small glass tumbler. The results of their work, however, are anything but identical. Gallery hours are 8:30am-4:30pm. The exhibit is free and open to the public.

Thursday, August 30

Get a heapin' helpin' of local history today at Tulsa's History Museum, located in the Tulsa Historical Society, 2445 S. Peoria. The facility is currently hosting two simultaneous exhibits, "Flashback '57: Tulsarama & The Buried Belvedere," which features items recently pulled from the buried Belvedere time capsule, and a selection of photographs from the Beryl Ford Collection featuring images of Tulsa schools. Museum hours are 10am-4pm.

Good 'Ol Texas Swing. Cain's Ballroom, home of Bob Wills, is the perfect venue for the Grammy Award-winning, Asleep at the Wheel. The Texas swing band's biggest success was in 1999 when their critically acclaimed album, Ride With Bob, struck gold on the charts and at the Grammys. And to top off the success of that CD, the members created an original musical drama, A Ride With Bob, that relives the story of Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys, starring Ray Benson, Asleep at the Wheel, and an all-star cast of actors, dancers and musicians. Over the last 36 years, Benson and the Wheel have boldly defied the fickle lures of the mainstream...keeping that distinctly American art form, western swing, alive and kicking. See them at Cain's, 423 N. Main St., Thurs. Aug. 23, with Oklahoma Stomp opening. Doors open at 7pm. Tickets: $21 adv. and $24 day of. Buy tickets at Cain's Box Office, Starship Records & Tapes, Reasor's Customer Service, by phone at 866-443-8849 or online at cainsballroom.com.

A Musical to Get Rich Quick. Muskogee Little Theatre presents the Oklahoma premiere of the musical The Full Monty, Aug. 23-25. Breaking community theatre box offices everywhere, this Americanized, musical version of the hit movie promises to be a wild evening of fun, laughs and great music. Steel workers from Buffalo, N.Y. come up with a bold way to make some quick cash and in the process they discover self-esteem, the importance of friendship, and the ability to have fun. There is great heart to The Full Monty, and the ultimate themes expressed in the show, about taking charge of one's life and following one's dreams, are lessons for all. This production contains adult themes, adult language and content. For additional information, visit muskogeelittletheatre.com or call 816-0688. Advanced tickets may be purchased at Soundworld, 683-4901.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame. Come out to Drillers Stadium, 15th & Yale, and support all of the Drillers advertisers who have supplied great giveaways and entertainment all season long, Aug. 28 and 29 at 7pm. Also enjoy free General Admission tickets for the games against the Arkansas Travelers. Tickets are distributed exclusively through Drillers Sponsor locations throughout the area, at QuickTrip, Arby's, Mazzio's or Subway.

Local Hero. Four Sheets to the Wind, by Oklahoman Sterlin Harjo, premieres at Circle Cinema, 10 S. Lewis Ave, on Fri., Aug. 24. Harjo's first feature is a fresh and delightful film about healing and the ties that bind people together. Cufe Smallhill's father never has much to say, but one day, he is quieter than usual. When Cufe finds his father dead beside a bottle of pills, he does as he promised and drags the body out to the family pond, unceremoniously sinking it to the bottom. But everyone in the community is expecting a big funeral, so Cufe, his cousin, and his mom decide to fake one. In the midst of mourning, Cufe realizes he is compelled to explore the world outside the reservation and find a more fulfilling life. His sister, Miri, comes from Tulsa for the funeral and invites him to visit her in the big city. She opens the door for Cufe into a new world. Call 592-FILM or go to info@circlecinema.com for showtimes.

Celebrating a Legacy. The Circle Cinema presents I Have Never Forgotten You: The Life and Legacy of Simon Wiesenthal on Tues., Aug. 28. Simon Wiesenthal, a survivor of the Nazi death camps, dedicated his life to documenting the crimes of the Holocaust and to hunting down the perpetrators still at large. As founder and head of the Jewish Documentation Center in Vienna, the freelance Nazi hunter, usually with the cooperation of the Israeli, Austrian, former West German and other governments, ferreted out nearly 1,100 Nazi war criminals, including Adolf Eichmann, the administrator of the slaughter of the Jews; Franz Murer, "The Butcher of Wilno," and Erich Rajakowitsch, in charge of the "death transports" in Holland. Call 592-FILM or go to info@circlecinema.com for showtimes.

Half Empty or Half Full? "Facets of Perception" represents an unusual collaboration among artists who have individually agreed to arrange and paint objects of still life that include one identical element--a small glass tumbler. The exhibition is organized by a New York-based association of still life painters called Zeuxis and presented by The University of Tulsa's School of Art and the Alexandre Hogue Gallery, 600 S. College Ave. in the Phillips Hall. Painters as diverse as Chardin, Manet, and Matisse demonstrated how the simple motif of the half-filled glass could capture complete, complex worlds of light; though small, its reflective surfaces, crystalline highlights, and distorting refractions would seem to contain the entire light and atmosphere of a complicated still life. The exhibition includes paintings by the 23 members of Zeuxis and their invited guests. Their paintings vary from the highly naturalistic to the semi-abstract, from the expressionistic to the firmly controlled. The inclusion of the one identical object highlights their very different approaches and demonstrates the wide possibilities of still life painting today. The exhibition is accompanied by a full-color 36-page catalogue with an essay by Martica Sawin and will be on display from Aug. 23--Sept. 28. Gallery hours are Mon.--Fri., 8:30am-4:30pm. The exhibit is free and open to the public. Call 631-2202 for more information.

Elements of Nature. On the heels of the Live Earth concerts, Council Oak Men's Chorale pays tribute to our environment with a concert of songs about the four basic elements: earth, wind, fire and water. Songs in this original program include "Earth Angel," "They Call the Wind Maria," "Ring of Fire" and "Bridge Over Troubled Water." Show starts at 8pm, Aug 24-25, at the John H. Williams Theatre in the Tulsa Performing Arts Center, 110 E. 2nd St. Tickets are $15. Call 596-7122 or go to tulsapac.com for more information.

American History Up Close. "1776 - 1876: A Century of American History in Art" opens Fri., Aug. 24 at the Gilcrease Museum, 1400 Gilcrease Museum Rd., and will be on display through Dec. The exhibit has original commemorative portraits of the people involved in the revolution, expansion, and southern secession, as well as painted historical scenes of the defining moments in American history. John Vanderlyn's Neoclassical painting of Washington and Lafayette and the Battle of Brandywine has returned to the museum after being on display at the new museum on George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate. The exhibition also includes several rare documents from one of the premier archival collections in the United States. Among the documents included in the exhibition is the only known certified copy of the Declaration of Independence, Washington's Address to the Delaware Nation, Andrew Jackson's correspondence to his wife Rachel, a rare broadside of the Emancipation Proclamation signed by Lincoln, and a letter from George Custer discussing field operations only months before the events on the Little Big Horn River in 1876. Call, 596-1400 or visit gilcrease.org for more info.

Somethin' to Talk About. Cain's Ballroom has the gift of gab Fri. night. Mix master Gregg Gillis has built up a party-obsessed cult following as Girl Talk over the past five years. The project began with Gillis tearing apart mainstream music using digital signal processing and re-piecing various songs back together into glitchy avant-garde renditions of pop music. He developed the initial incarnation of his self-proclaimed "over the top" live show, complete with synchronized dance squads, outfit changes, and plenty of crowd interaction/participation. These flashy performances were a response to the increasingly widespread sit-behind-a-laptop-and-look-bored-while-simultaneously-boring-the-audience-style laptop shows. For his latest album, Night Ripper, Gillis has developed a style strictly for the dance floor. Pounding beats are mixed with an endless flow of familiar Top 40 samples. Girl Talk at Cain's Ballroom with openers Citizen Mundi, Callupsie and Congratulations. Doors open at 7pm and tickets are $11 advance and $14 day of the show.

More Than Meets the Overalls. Big Smith, favorite band of the Ozarks, is coming to Cain's Ballroom for a hillbilly of a good time this Sat., Aug. 25. Long before the O Brother soundtrack, Big Smith was demonstrating to unsuspecting audiences what joy and liberation could be found in the unlikely combination of the energy of bluegrass, the soul of gospel harmonies, and the raw mojo of indigenous, authentic Ozarks culture. The ten plus years they've been together have bore witness to an evolving instrumentation and sonic palate. The hillbilly thing is still there, but anymore it seems Big Smith simply aspires to be a great American band, regardless of whether the guitars are solid and amped or woody and earthen. Taking place on Cain's second stage, 423 N. Main, with opener Travis Linville. Doors at 8pm. Tickets are $13.

Enter the Comedy Zone. Get a dose of laughter this weekend with two up and coming comedians, Scotty K. and William Sloan. Scotty K. learned his comedic trade by joking his way out of eternal damnation as he grew up a Southern Baptist preacher's son. Scotty's characterizations, improv and music just might save you too. Sloan, a North Carolina native, was born and bred to do comedy. His comedy covers a wide range of topics, from personal experiences to current events. Sloan's versatility on stage and his comedic timing, which sometimes has the punchline coming well after the joke is finished, is the recipe for F-U-N. Catch the show on Sat., Aug. 25 at 8pm and 10:30pm, at Cowboy Sharkies, 58th & Memorial. Call 280-9000 to make reservations.

Laughs at Looney Bin. For more than 20 years, Todd Yohn's high energy, non-stop act has blended stand-up, improv, and music into one deliciously stimulating show. His fresh and clever original comedy tunes such as "The Femenine Hygene Song," "Daddy Please Don't Go" and "Orange Barrels" have separated Todd from the "other" guitar-playing comedy acts. Live at the Looney Bin, 6808 S. Memorial Dr., Aug. 23-26. Call 459-1017 for reservations. Showtimes at 8pm and 10:30pm. Visit looneybin.com for more information.

British Invasion. Steve Hirst brings his British act to the Looney Bin on Wed., Aug 29. Hirst shares his woes of culture shock as he learns about American ways. He covers everything from taking a toke to Austin Powers. Call 459-1017 for reservations, showtimes at 8pm and 10:30pm.

Tulsarama Relived. Through March 31, 2008, "Flashback '57: Tulsarama & The Buried Belvedere" allows patrons to see the items in the time-capsule plus other artifacts and images from 1957. Tulsa's History Museum is located at the Tulsa Historical Society, 2445 S. Peoria. Hours are 10am-4pm, Tues.--Sat. For more details, call 712-9484 or go to HYPERLINK "http://www.tulsahistory.org/"; \o "http://www.tulsahistory.org/"; tulsahistory.org.

See the Genesis of Tulsa. A selection of photographs from the Beryl Ford Collection featuring Tulsa's schools is on display through Nov. 1 at Tulsa's History Museum in the Tulsa Historical Society, 2445 S. Peoria. Thousands of vintage photographs collected by Tulsa historian Beryl Ford have been scanned since the collection was acquired last year by the Rotary Club of Tulsa. Museum hours are 10am-4pm, Tues.-Sat. Call 712-9484 or go to tulsahistory.org for more information.

A Jew Surrounded by Jesus Freaks. Circle Cinema, 10 S. Lewis, is showing Sister Rose's Passion, an Academy Award nominee, Sunday, Aug. 26 at 2pm. This documentary explores Sister Rose Thering, a Dominican nun, whose passion is anti-Semitism. Archival footage looks at her growing up in rural Wisconsin and taking the veil in her teens. Interviews with scholars and common people capture the extent to which anti-Semitic language was standard in the Catholic description of the Jews. Her research at Saint Louis University in the 1950s led to the publication of "Nostra Aetate," a document released in 1965 by the Second Vatican Council. Since that time, she's dedicated herself to eradicating anti-Semitism. Reception to follow in the Circle Cinema lobby, free and open to the public.

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.

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.

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.

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.