Rain on Me

Because of my mother's dedicated fandom, I've grown up listening to The Beatles. My mother can recall -- and she's told the story more than a few times -- the first time she, as a teenager, saw the Fab Four on the Ed Sullivan Show.

Although most girls her age were smitten by Paul and/or John, Ringo was always her favorite, the Beatle she imagined herself one day meeting, falling in love with and marrying.

Nearly every Beatles song comes with a story from my mom, and she knows all the words to everything they recorded. And she wasn't even a fanatical devotee; that level of appreciation seemed to be pretty much the norm where The Beatles were concerned.

And a significant number of my peers, while growing up, exhibited the same level of admiration for the group, never mind that the band broke up 13 years before any of us were born.

Still, music like that never really goes away, as evidenced by the many Beatles fans still rocking out to The White Album. And one group is helping ensure The Beatles' music never dies by performing it regularly all over the world.

Rain: A Tribute to The Beatles is just that -- a tribute band, not a cover band.

The group got its start in the 1970s as Reign, and they played gigs, mostly Beatles tunes, in Los Angeles and Orange County. It didn't take long for the band to garner a strong following and plenty of attention from the media, which would often misspell the band's name.

It didn't turn out for the worse, though, as the actual Fab Four had a hit in 1966 by this title -- the group, comprised of Mark Lewis (John Lennon), Joey Curatola (Paul McCartney), Joe Bithorn (George Harrison) and Ralph Castelli (Ringo Starr) -- and the revamped version of the group changed its name to Rain.

In 1998, Steve Landes joined the group as Lennon, and Lewis stepped back to support the group on keyboards and percussion.

According to its members, the band "has distinguished itself by focusing on details, always being faithful to The Beatles with the ultimate goal of delivering a perfect note-for-note performance."

Lewis has called The Beatles "the Mozarts of pop."

Rain's members use The Beatles discography like textbooks, working to ensure their performances match the harmony, vocal tone, chord inversion, handclap, cowbell and string arrangement of The Beatles' performances.

Rain's repertoire includes more than 200 songs, spanning The Beatles' entire career. The group has played more than 4,000 gigs and makes its debut at Tulsa's Performing Arts Center, Chapman Music Hall, 110 E. Second St., Tuesday, March 30 for an eight-show engagement through April 4.

Shows are at 7:30pm March 30-April 1, 8pm April 2-3, 2pm and 8pm April 3 and 7pm April 4.

Tickets to Rain, presented by Celebrity Attractions, are $16-$53 and available at www.tulsapac.com.

Inked

On Friday, March 26, local tattoo artists will show off their creative talents -- but not on skin.

"Low Brow Art Show" features works on paper -- mostly pencil, ink and watercolors -- by Brando, Mark and Austin, artists at the Rock-N-Rolla shop at 1322 E. 15th St. These works will be on display at Downtown Lounge, on the corner of Archer Street and Cheyenne Avenue, from 8pm to 2am on Friday.

The show is open to patrons 21 and older. Food from Brookside's Keo will be provided.

Ooh La La

Tulsa Symphony Orchestra continues its worldly musical exploration with "The Music of France" Saturday, March 27 in the Tulsa PAC's Chapman Music Hall.

The concert features Hector Berlioz's "Royal Hunt and Storm" from Les Troyens and Maurice Ravel's Piano Concerto in G and Daphnis et Chloe.

Andrew Grams is the guest conductor and Sun Min Kim, 2008 winner of the Rotary Club of Tulsa's Crescendo Music Awards, is guest pianist. Tulsa Oratorio Chorus will also perform.

Tickets to the concert, second to last in TSO's "Hear the World with Tulsa Symphony Orchestra" -- only "The Music of Spain and Latin America" remains -- are $10-$65 and are available at the PAC's Web site.

Hungry?

Grace Ann Productions and Gnaw Raw present a raw food workshop and cabaret Saturday, March 27.

Raw foodist Caleb Meadows leads the raw food demonstration, and E. Kirby Jr. provides the vocal entertainment. The event begins at 5pm, and tickets are $40.

More information, including the location of the event, is available by e-mailing caleb@gnawraw.com.

Face With the Name

Judi Grove, founder of Breast Impressions and co-chairperson of this year's Breast Cancer Awareness Day (April 26) seeks photographs of Oklahoma men and women who've been affected by breast cancer.

Grove will compile the photos into a multimedia presentation to be shown throughout the day on the fourth floor rotunda of the state Capitol.

Grove asks families to send photos of survivors, along with their names and ages at diagnosis, as well as photos of those lost to cancer, with their names and ages at death. E-mail photos to Grove at breastimpressions@cox.net by March 31 to be included in the presentation.

Photos may also be mailed to 4645 S. Vandalia Ave., Tulsa, OK, 74135. Include a self-addressed stamped envelope, so the photo may be returned.