Highlights- Ian Moore, Battle for the Pentagon Papers, Anonymous 4 and Art, Art, Art

Ian Moore
Ian Moore has run with the big dogs—Dylan, the Rolling Stones, played The Today Show and David Letterman and is known for moving swiftly and effortlessly through a variety of musical styles. The Seattle via Austin songwriter will play the Dickson Theater on Nov. 8. Moore released his soul/pop album “To Be Loved” in August and it is a significant departure from his earlier releases, which prompted the press to call him the next Stevie Ray Vaughn. But Moore’s new style is getting rave reviews from fans and music critics. Seattle’s free weekly, The Stranger compares him to Nick Drake, Jeff Buckley and Richard Buckner, stating that “your new favorite artist has arrived.” The Austin Chronicle picked David Bowie and Tom Waits as comparisons. Others have murmured Wilco, Leonard Cohen, Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe. Moore himself calls the new album “….Southern Gothic, like Flannery O’Connor….with lots of shades and subtlies.” This will be the first time Moore has toured with a full band in five years. In addition to Moore and his Loosy Coils, on the same bill will be Wade Ogle and Benjamin del Shreve. Should be a really good show. Get there early. This show may sell out. 18 and up. Tickets $10 general, $12 under 21. Doors at 8, show at 9.

The Art Scene
This month William Mayes Flanagan’s students are showing their art at The Perk on Wedington. Flanagan’s work was recently accepted in the Delta watercolor show in Little Rock. Flanagan teaches different techniques of watercolor. His familiar nighttime paintings fill the walls of his classroom. Showing their work at The Perk are: Show organizer, Cheryll Anderson who shows her knack for allowing wet color to flow, run and marry. Paulene Reed who became inspired by visits to the Gilcrease Museum in Oklahoma. Looking at the Western and Indian paintings gave Reed a need to begin watercolor painting. Amy Edie, who taught high school art and earns income through portraits and drawings and considers herself a beginner in everything. Edie is drawn to watercolor because it’s easy to put in a backpack and take outdoors. When Edie saw the progress Marcia Donley had made in Flanagan’s class she started attending regularly. Charlie Alison painted from photographs of relatives with a style inspired by art owned by his family. Steve Holst, a cartoonist, uses scenery from his kayaking hobby to paint landscapes and flowers. Holst explained the challenges of watercolor saying that the paints have ideas of their own and those are usually better than any of his ideas. He sees watercolor as a medium that hasn’t been completely explored the way oil painting has. There will be an opening reception for the artists from 4 to 6 p.m. Sunday. Free.    Maryevelyn Jones

Other art openings around town:

A reception for the NWA Art Expo at The Legacy Building will be 6:30 p.m. Friday. Artists displaying work are: Nathan Beatty, Ruben Ruiz, Doug Randall, Lisa Bauer, Katie Russell, Linda McMath, Isabel Rodriguez, Karen Spencer, Karrie Evenson and Diana Michelle. Rogers Jazz Trio will play and there will be appetizers, wine and an auction. $10.

Sunday from 5 to 8 p.m. at La Maison des Tartes four Fayetteville artists, Robert Andes, M.M. Kent, John Newman and Golsa Yaghoobi will have a show and sale. Andes experiments with traditional materials, using the techniques of the old masters combed with modern imagery for his portraiture and figurative work. Kent’s work is primarily colorful figurative work and cityscapes. Newman’s recent work includes color lithographs, watercolor and oil paintings that explore historic events of social significance from an African American perspective.
Yaghoobi, native of Iran, grew up amid the horror and carnage of the Iran-Iraq conflict. Her work addresses Persian traditions and the freedoms she has found in the U.S. Free.

On Stage
Anonymous 4
The music of the Anonymous 4 will fill the Walton Arts Center at 7 p.m. Sunday.  The New York based group is known for their vocal stylings that combine music, poetry and narrative for their program of folk songs, shape note hymns and revival songs. Joining them for the Long Time Traveling show are fiddler and mandolin player Darol Anger (David Grisman Quintet, Psychograss, Stephane Grappelli) and guitarist Scott Nygaard (Tim O’Brein, Tony Furtado). Tickets $20 to $30.

LA Theatre Works
LA Theatre Works will bring their “radio theater” to the Walton Arts Center on Nov. 8 for Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers. The production stars Obie winner John Heard, Susan Sullivan, Gregory Harrison and John Vickery and is directed by John Rubenstein. The Pentagon Papers were the results of a study commissioned in 1966 about the U.S. involvement in Vietnam. A copy was leaked to The New York Times and after printing excerpts; The Times was prohibited by federal order from publishing more of the papers. Editors at The Washington Post risked the possibility of an indictment for espionage, by publishing from the papers, despite the earlier injunction. Ticket are $30 to $45.