|
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Mama Sweet

"Mama Sweet” members Alan Orebaugh, left, and Aron Holt practice in Norman. BY STEVE SISNEY, THE OKLAHOMAN
Sunday: Jack's Off the Wall, Fort Worth, Texas
Wednesday: Seven47, Norman
May 8: The Deli, Norman
May 9: Wormy Dog, Oklahoma City
May 17: The White Elephant, Fort Worth
May 19: Spring Jam III, Zoo Amphitheater, Oklahoma City
Band comes back after rough patchFans spread throughout Oklahoma
By James S. Tyree
Staff Writer
NORMAN — Three years after facing a bleak future, the Norman-based band Mama Sweet is back and making its "First Last Stand” on the metro area music scene.
"First Last Stand” is a song that opens the band's compact disc "Welcome to the Well,” a 13-song compilation released early last month. The music blends rock ‘n' roll with country, folk and the blues into a sound the band calls Western rock.
"I was into weird jazz and progressive stuff, so to me this is extremely radio-friendly,” bass player Boyd Littell said. "It's helped me re-establish my appreciation for pop music and the power of a song that's stuck in your head, whether you like it or not.”
Thanks to frequent live performances and the Internet, Mama Sweet is catching on throughout Oklahoma and beyond.
The Sports Animal in Tulsa plays "First Last Stand” as intro music on its Sports Morning radio show, and lead guitarist Alan Orebaugh said the band sends compact discs to Europe and Latin America, thanks to access on the Web.
"We got an e-mail that said, ‘We can't wait to see you in Germany,' and I'm thinking, ‘Uh, yeah,'” Orebaugh said, "But it is pretty cool.”
Music fans in Oklahoma and Texas will have far better luck catching Mama Sweet live than those in other countries, at least in the foreseeable future. The band is scheduled to perform tonight at the Happy Tyler Day benefit in Okarche, and Sunday in Fort Worth, Texas, and it's on the bill for Spring Jam III at the Zoo Amphitheater in Oklahoma City on May 19.
Last fall, Mama Sweet performed at Tunes for Tomorrow, a fundraising event lead singer/guitarist Aron Holt said raised $2,100 for the music program of Jefferson Elementary School in Norman.
But the band's bread and butter is playing at metro area clubs. The most frequent spot is The Deli in Norman, where Mama Sweet plays energized sets to jumping and dancing audiences.
None of this seemed likely a few years ago. Holt left Norman in late 2003 to pursue a singing career (and a girl) in New York, and Carnuccio went home to Philadelphia the following year for an internship at an Internet-based music label.
Holt had some interesting experiences in New York. He recalled getting $75 for a gig and "I gave half of it to a guy outside going through trash.” Yet, he never could get Mama Sweet out of his head or Norman out of his heart.
"I was so homesick, I was going to get an Oklahoma flag tattooed on my back,” Holt said. "So I came back, finished my degree and we finished the Mama Sweet record, ‘Welcome to the Well.'”
Carnuccio enjoyed his time back in Philly and said he learned a lot about the music business. But he, too, kept thinking of his old band.
"When I was back there, I was pushing Mama Sweet and (Holt) was pushing Mama Sweet when he was in New York,” the drummer said. "We were all pushing Mama Sweet, even though we couldn't be a band any more.”
Meanwhile, Orebaugh and Littell stayed active in the metro area. Orebaugh spent most of his time with a country band, while Littell was a member of several bands at once, notably progressive rock band The Ills and Latin jazz band Conjunto Clave.
Littell's decision to focus on Mama Sweet when it reformed typified the members' belief in the band and confidence in each other. Orebaugh said they rarely rehearse, other than to practice new songs, because "we know what we're doing.”
They also complement each other in songwriting. Lyrics and melody come easy to Holt, but he always had trouble finishing songs. That's where the other three come in — they take Holt's song ideas and round them out into completed works.
The band's Web site is www.myspace.com/mama sweetrocks.
Friday, April 20, 2007
Keith Anderson
![]() |
Anderson’s sound is somewhere between country and rock. His lyrics are pure country, but the music is closer to rock. |
![]() |
By MATT ELLIOTT World Scene Writer
4/20/2007
Keith Anderson became a star the old fashioned way -- he earned it
Keith Anderson didn't become the country artist he is today by winning a contest.
He did it the old fashioned way. The Miami, Okla., native rolled up his considerable sleeves, left behind a construction career and spent the last 10 years or so performing in Nashville bars, befriending big-name songwriters and honing his own song craft.
Gretchen Wilson recorded one of his songs ("The Bed") and he befriended John Rich from Big & Rich, co-writing songs with him. Then the labels came calling.
But when his two-year-old Arista Records debut, "Three Chord Country and American Rock & Roll" went gold, he didn't forget how he did it. His band packed the Third and Lindsley Bar & Grill one more time and Anderson came armed with a thick book of people to thank.
"There's an old bar that we played every week or two weeks for about two years when I was trying to get my record deal, just trying to create a buzz and just trying to get people to notice what we were doing."
When he first started playing the bar, maybe 20 people would show up. But by the end of that period, folks lined up out the door to see Anderson.
This week, he performed at the Grand Ole Opry Tuesday and he wraps the week up with a Saturday show at Tulsa's Cain's Ballroom.
His ballroom show is probably the best deal you'll get on a concert by a performer of his stature: Tickets are $9.98 at the door. He tries to keep his ticket prices low so fans can see his shows, but the other side of that means that he has to play more shows to make money. So it's harder work.
"For us, it's all about the fans and all about being accessible to the fans and trying to meet them before and after the show and making the ticket prices as low and as available as you can."
Anderson's sound is somewhere between country and rock. His lyrics are pure country, he said, but his harmonies and guitars are closer to rock.
What sets the 38-year-old Oklahoma State University graduate apart from his peers is that he writes and performs his own songs. Not only does that help his pocketbook, it adds some honesty to his music.
The connection he feels to his home town and state were made clear last November, when Anderson returned to Miami to film the video for the single "Podunk."
The song, about drinking down on the river and nights spent cruising the main drag, was filmed during a free concert there, using people from his hometown instead of actors. His parents still live in Miami.
"We tell stories about my hometown everywhere we go and people relate to it. I think small town life, no matter where you go, is small town life."
The former baseball player, landscaper, personal trainer and model is also in the midst of recording his follow up disc. He jokingly described the album, produced by Jeffrey Steele (author of Collin Raye's "Couldn't Last a Moment"), as "rap polka."
"No, it's kind of more of the same," Anderson said. "But I mean, a lot of people are saying the word on the street is that it's a little more, uhh, a little more . . . I don't know . . . I hate to use the word 'mature' . . .
"The album as a whole is going to be just like the first -- a lot of fun, upbeat party songs, a lot of just rowdy fun."
That said, Anderson does his share of serious stuff, such as the song "Plan B" from his debut about altering life's direction due to major obstacles
He had just delivered the album's first single, "Sunday Morning in America," to radio stations when he was interviewed last week. Anderson warns fans: The song might just throw you for a loop.
"Some people look at that title and go, 'Here we go again.' But, it's not one of those beat-your-chest, we're America and we're going to kick your butt, we're the greatest people on Earth things.
"It's kind of like Springsteen or Mellencamp, the way they would sing about America. It's just real-life grit."
KEITH ANDERSON
When: 6 p.m., Saturday, with opener Mary Cogan
Where: Cain's Ballroom, 423 N. Main St.
Tickets: $5.98 in advance, $9.98 day of show, available at Cain's Box Office 584-2306
Classmate says Anderson was always headed for the top
Tulsa musician Greg Klaus thought it seemed a little far-fetched when he heard his former high school classmate Keith Anderson was headed for Nashville to pursue his dreams.
The competition there is sort of tough -- the city is packed with guys chasing that vision of their names in lights. But, that was 10 years ago, at Klaus's 10-year reunion when he learned the news.
That was 10 years before Anderson had a gold-selling album and had written a song performed by Gretchen Wilson.
"It sounded far-fetched 10 years ago. It's like, 'Well, good luck at that.' But, obviously he had a plan and made it work."
At the time, Anderson had just left Texas to try his hand at Nashville and Klaus was performing with the Tulsa band Social Butterfly. Klaus has known Anderson since he was a kid. The hit-making country singer even appears in one of Klaus's childhood birthday photos. The two graduated in 1986.
"He was just a really good, well-rounded guy. He was the type of guy that lettered in three sports, was an A student, played in the band," Klaus said. "I don't think he was a partier or anything like that. I never saw him take a drink until our 20-year reunion here last summer."
Anderson, whose parents still live in Miami, was definitely with the in-crowd in high school but wasn't a snob, said Klaus, now the singer of the band Mudville, a local nickname for Miami.
"He didn't fit into the stereotypical jock role."
Klaus and Anderson, then a drummer, faced off during a talent show their senior year. Their bands were the only two in the show.
"This is the '80s and Heart was really popular. They did one of the current Heart hits really well, had a girl singer."
Anderson is an avid weightlifter these days but wasn't as beefy back then as he is now. But, he has the same drive to succeed at whatever he seeks to do, Klaus said.
By MATT ELLIOTT World Scene Writer
All-American Rejects
The All-American Rejects will be in concert at 8 p.m. Saturday in the University of Toledo’s Savage Hall. Tickets are $15 for UT students at the Savage Hall box office and Rocket Copy in the Student Union, or $30 for the general public, available from the box office, 419-530-4653. More information on the band is available online at www.theall-americanrejects.com. |
By DAVID YONKE
BLADE STAFF WRITER
The Oklahoma musicians may be All-Americans, but when it comes to selling discs they’re certainly not Rejects.
The All-American Rejects, who will be in concert Saturday night at the University of Toledo, were trying to come up with a humorous and memorable band name when someone suggested the All-Americans. Another person recommended the Rejects, and the two terms were merged into one to give the punk-pop band from Stillwater, Okla., its distinctive name.
The group’s self-titled debut disc, released on the DreamWorks label in 2003, sold more than a million copies, fueled by the hook-laden hit single, “Swing, Swing.”
Nick Wheeler, the band’s 22-year-old guitarist, said in a phone interview last week that he and his musical and song-writing buddy since junior high, Tyson Ritter, the Rejects’ 21-year-old bassist and lead vocalist, got their first break from Doghouse Records, a label that was founded by Toledoan Dirk Hemsath.
“When we were signed by Doghouse, we only had five songs,” Wheeler said. “Dirk and [wife] Emily came to Tulsa in the summer of ’01 and signed us pretty much right there. We had to wait one semester for Tyson to finish high school, and then we finished the album.”
The music, with its brash guitars, tuneful melodies, and punk-rock spirit, caught on with skaters and teens and got the attention of DreamWorks, the major label that signed a distribution deal with the smaller, independent Doghouse.
Now the Rejects are back in action with their sophomore release, “Move Along,” released last fall on Interscope.
Recording the second disc, which already has gone Gold and produced three hit singles — “Dirty Little Secret,” “It Ends Tonight,” and the title track, proved a formidable challenge in many ways for the young rockers.
For one thing, the DreamWorks label folded, leaving the All-American Rejects temporarily in the lurch until they were picked up by another major label, Interscope Records.
For another, the musicians felt more pressure than ever to produce more hits.
“It’s hard enough coming out of nowhere,” Wheeler said. “It’s harder when you’ve got somebody’s attention to keep their attention.”
One record company official told the young musicians that not only was he counting on them to score another best-selling CD, so was his entire family.
“He said we were his livelihood, that we are his kids’ tuition, and we gotta make this happen,” Wheeler said with a sigh. “Everybody was certainly freaking out and unsure of themselves at times.”
“It’s kind of nice. We’ve been unwinding, finding our headspace, remembering why we do this in the first place,” he said.
He started playing guitar when he was 7 and grew up listening to his parents’ country music discs, including such artists as Vince Gill, Garth Brooks, and George Strait.
“Then I discovered my sister’s collection, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, and it was all over after that. Then my mom had to get the cable company to disconnect MTV because it’s all I watched.”
He and Ritter moved from Oklahoma to Destin, Fla., a town of about 12,000 in the Florida panhandle, a few years ago, forsaking the usual music-business capitals.
“L.A. and New York are kind of busy, there are always distractions,” Wheeler said. “We grew up in the anti-distraction of Stillwater, Okla. We wanted to re-create that, but with a beach.”
The All-American Rejects will be in concert at 8 p.m. Saturday in the University of Toledo’s Savage Hall. Tickets are $15 for UT students at the Savage Hall box office and Rocket Copy in the Student Union, or $30 for the general public, available from the box office, 419-530-4653. More information on the band is available online at www.theall-americanrejects.com.
Contact David Yonke at: dyonke@theblade.com or 419-724-6154.
Jackie DiPillo
4/19/2007
Trying to make it as a songwriter in a city full of the richest songwriters in the world -- Nashville -- can be arduous. No one knows that more than McAlester native Jackie DiPillo.
The mother of three and former Miss Oklahoma contestant has been living with her husband in Nashville since 1998, working full time at getting that one big break: either a publishing deal or landing a song with a recording artist.
"I think I was always a songwriter. I just never really knew it until I came to Nashville," DiPillo said.
Now she's a contestant in an online competition at cf,fgc www.cmt.comcf,ceno called the NSAI Song Contest.
Her song -- "Dang" -- is one of the final 15 songs chosen out of approximately 10,000 submissions, DiPillo said.
Fans can cast online votes to select which of the 15 will win the CMT Listener's Choice Award.
"Dang" was inspired by a Gretchen Wilson music video for the single "California Girls."
She and her co-writers, Chris Caminiti and Lisa Chamberlin, were writing one day last September when the video came on and they noted Wilson's muscular physique in the video.
"I just said, 'Look at that, dang,' " DiPillo said.
If DiPillo wins, her prizes will include a single-song publishing contract with a major publisher -- that elusive foot in the door.
Her husband works for a company owned by Johnson & Johnson, so she's able to spend her days grasping at melodies, attempting to wrap chords around words.
She takes her songs to a studio where, for a few hundred dollars, she can record a demo with some of the best studio musicians in the world.
But the quality of her demo recordings, the days spent in songwriting classes at Vanderbilt University and 40-hour weeks spent feeling out chords on her acoustic guitar mean nothing in Nashville unless you know somebody who knows somebody.
"I wouldn't do it if I didn't love it because, seriously, my tax man is telling me that I need to make some money," she said.
DiPillo, who grew up playing the clarinet, lived in McAlester until she was about 18. She was a top-10 finalist in the 1983 Miss Oklahoma pageant and some family members live in Tulsa and McAlester.
You can vote an unlimited number of times for DiPillo until Monday at www.cmt.com/asm/contests/nsai/cmt_choice/2007/.
Matt Elliott 581-8366
matt.elliott@tulsaworld.com
By MATT ELLIOTT World Scene Writer
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Brandon Jenkins News
Cairde
"Dustin" dmusica@cox.net earlymusican
Tue Apr 17, 2007 5:58 pm (PST)
Podcast ( http://www.celticmu
(34?). They played the song "Johnson's Motorcar" from your latest CD
"Alexandra." That ROCKS!!!! I really need to get up there some time.
Cheers,
Dustin Cooper
Celtic Oklahoma
http://celticoklaho
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Camille Harp
join me tomorrow night at pearl's lakeside. the great alan orebaugh will be my sideman. we'll start around 6:30 and play til closin' time....10ish.
friday night, ryan engleman and i will rock the socks off of othello's in norman.
saturday, wallstreet in duncan with chris foreman and ryan engleman. fo' sho gonna be a good time!
see ya out!
c
Ruben Studdard
![]() |
Ruben Studdard, also known as the Velvet Teddy Bear, will perform with other “American Idol” finalists next month in Tulsa. |
|
By MATT GLEASON World Scene Writer
4/16/2007
The May 25 concert at Expo Square also features other 'Idol' contestants.
"American Idol" season 2 winner Ruben Studdard comes to Tulsa on May 25 for the Expo Square Pavilion concert, "Superstar Idols Live!"
Joining Studdard will be season 4 and 5 finalists Ace Young, Lisa Tucker, Will Maker, Jessica Sierra, Lindsey Cardinale and Mikalah Gordon.
Studdard, known to his fans as the Velvet Teddy Bear, boasts a silky R&B voice, which beat out "Idol" favorite Clay Aiken in 2003.
Studdard's debut album, "Soulful," hit No. 1 on the charts in 2003 and yielded the Grammy-nominated single "Superstar," which was composed by Tulsa legend Leon Russell and Bonnie Bramlett.
In 2004, Studdard released his gospel album "I Need an Angel," which promptly hit No. 1 on the gospel charts.
His latest R&B effort, "The Return," hit shelves in October 2006.
Regular tickets to the "Superstar Idols Live!" concert are on sale for $10, $20, $25 and $30. The $100 ticket includes a meet-and-greet backstage pass, autograph and after-party access.
For more information, call 376-6000, or go to online to www.exposquare.com.
Matt Gleason 581-8473
matt.gleason@tulsaworld.com
By MATT GLEASON World Scene Writer
Friday, April 13, 2007
Pumping up the keys
![]() |
“The demands of body-building and playing the piano are quite the same,” says Bates. |
|
By JAMES D. WATTS JR. World Scene Writer
4/8/2007
Pianist uses his body building to hone his performance skills
Leon Bates spends a good part of his time in what might appear to be two different worlds.
Bates is an internationally known pianist, acclaimed as an interpreter of Rachmaninoff's music, and a tireless advocate for bringing classical music to new audiences.
He also is a dedicated body-builder, who has spent years and countless hours in gymnasiums, carefully sculpting his physique into optimal shape.
"Actually, the demands of body-building and playing the piano are quite the same," Bates said, in the course of a telephone conversation. "The mindset you have to have in the gym -- the focus you need to train a specific muscle -- springboards back to what I do on with the piano, as I work at developing the best way to play a certain passage."
Bates began lifting weights as a teenager. "And it was strictly for vanity's sake," he said, laughing. "I wanted to look good. But over the years, it's become something more health-related, and more related to my work with the piano.
"My workouts help not just with endurance and energy, but they're also great in terms of keeping my focus, both mentally and physically," he said. "One feeds off the other."
Bates will be in Tulsa this week as the guest artist for the final concert in the 2006-2007 Classics series of the Signature Symphony at Tulsa Community College.
Bates will perform Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini. The evening also will feature the orchestral adaptation of Liszt's popular Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2.
"I've had a long relationship with this piece," Bates said of the Rhapsody. "I've not played it a lot in recent years, but early in my career I was playing it constantly."
The theme on which the piece is based is taken from the last of the 24 Caprices for solo violin by Paganini. It was a popular tune among composers -- Brahms, Schumann and Liszt wrote their own variations of it.
Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody is made up of 24 variations of this theme.
"Some composers aren't as accomplished at using variation techniques," Bates said. "I've heard some pieces where you come away thinking you could have written better variations.
"But Rachmaninoff was so creative and inventive that he was able to give this piece a sense of movement, of direction and adventure," he said. "It gives the whole thing the feel of a traditional concerto."
But unlike some concertos, Bates added, the piano is well-integrated with the orchestra.
"You are practically a member of the orchestra with this piece," he said. "Of course, there are moments when the piano emerges out of the fabric of the music and you're definitely alone in the spotlight, so to speak.
"But for the most part, there's no adversarial relationship between the soloist and orchestra, the way there is in things like the Chopin concertos," Bates said. "In fact, the orchestra has to work just as hard as I do in this piece."
James D. Watts Jr. 581-8478
james.watts@tulsaworld.com
Friday, April 6, 2007
Camille Harp
Brandon Jenkins
Brandon Jenkins News
The Brandon Jenkins traveling circus will be making it's way across Texas this week hitting Midland in west Texas on Thursday, then over to Aggie country in College Station on Saturday. It's gonna be a blast! We also want to send out a special Congrats to our booking agency KB Talent on their 2nd Anniversary, keep up the good work, and ah, I need more money!
- SHOWS THIS WEEK
- Thurs 4-5 The Ranch Midland, TX
- Sat 4-7 Schotzi's College Station, TX
| | ||||
| | ||||
| | ||||
|
|
Fat Dixie
Fat Dixie will be playing once again at C4 in
THIS WEEK: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
For info call: (580) 235-0336 Ages: 18 To Enter 04/07/2007 @ 09:30 PM - J B's Bar & Grill w/ Josh Hucke & the Goin' Nowhere Band
UPCOMING SHOWS:
For up to date Fat Dixie news and shows, go to www.myspace.com/fatdixie. |
See You At The Shows,
Fat
Email: fatdixieband@yahoo.com