Austin’s Graham Returns

by B.J. Huchtemann

This week’s big show is the return of Jon Dee Graham to the Sunday Roadhouse series this Sunday, Feb. 12, 5 p.m. at The Side Door Lounge. Graham’s music is tough and tender, ferocious and luminous. His songs reflect the day to day struggles of life in all its rawness and richness, with a thread of indomitable hope running through it all.

In Austin, a town noted for its extraordinary musicians, Graham is the only...

 

In Short Order

by Ryan Syrek

Animated and live-action short films typically get about as much attention as soft-spoken and fact-based political discourse, until it’s time to fill out an Oscar ballot. Lucky for us, Film Streams at the Ruth Sokolof Theater (filmstreams.org) is continuing their glorious annual tradition by screening the tiny nuggets of awesome that were nominated this year. The magnificent art house also gives you the chance to...

 

Heartfelt

by Michael J. Krainak

The Hot Shops Art Center has lost one the fondest members of its extended family of artists and artisans with the recent passing of Ed Van Ackeren. Van Ackeren died quietly last Wednesday surrounded by family and friends after a decade-plus battle with heart disease.

This gentle, jovial giant of character and personality was a fixture at Hot Shops, particularly as a founding organizer of the center’s student and...

 

Pick: Red Wanting Blue

by Chris Aponick

Feb. 9
Red Wanting Blue
The Waiting Room Lounge, 6212 Maple St.
9 p.m., $8, onepercentproductions.com

Red Wanting Blue may just be turning up on the radars of those who love honest, hooky heartland rock, but the band has been around 16 years since forming on the campus of Ohio University. The band, led by singer Scott Terry, now calls Columbus, Ohio home. Terry's deep, road-roughened voice is the highlight....