Tha BossFoundation performs at VFW 1881 for Fourth of July weekend concert

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Dubois summer concerts to benefit Chance Phelps Foundation and Needs of Dubois

Suzy Bogguss (shown in photo) and Western Underground will perform in concert in the Dubois Town Park on Friday and Saturday, August 19 & 20. The concerts will benefit two local charities: Chance Phelps Foundation (CPF) and Needs of Dubois (NOD) 

Call for entries: 11th annual Veterans Creative Arts Festival

From a press release:

The Cheyenne Veterans Administration Medical center Recreation Therapy Department is currently accepting visual and performing art entries for the 11th Annual Veterans Creative Arts Festival.

This event is open to all Veterans who have received care or services from the Cheyenne VAMC or any of the other VA clinics in southeastern Wyoming, northern Colorado and western Nebraska. Entry Forms are due by Feb 18, 2011 and may be picked up at the Laramie County Library, VA Medical Center 2360 E. Pershing Blvd or by contacting Kristi Ruben, local coordinator at 307-778-7550x7240.

There is no cost to enter the festival. Winners from each category will advance to a regional competition with the chance to advance to the 2011 VA National Creative Arts Festival. The VA Art Competition and Show provides our Veterans with an opportunity to showcase their artistic talents and skill and recognizes the value of the arts in the healing process.

This year's local art will be showcased February 24-27 at the Laramie County Public Library with an artists' reception at 3 p.m. on Saturday, February 26.

All art must have been created after April 1, 2010, except for the Military Combat Experience entries. For a complete list of the nearly 60 categories of acceptable art and an information packet, contact the Cheyenne VA Creative Arts Festival Coordinator: Kristi Ruben at 307-778-7550 x7240 or kristi.ruben@va.gov.

Cleo Parker Robinson dancers, "The Race Show" and veterans' voices at UW MLK Days of Dialogue

Calendar of events for the 2011 Martin Luther King, Jr. "Days of Dialogue" at the University of Wyoming. This year's theme: "A decade of defining diversity through dialogue:"

Monday, January 17th
10:00 am - 4:00 pm: National Service Day, Laramie Plains Civic Center
- Restoration Projects

4:00 pm - Martin Luther King Jr. March and Supper, Albany County Courthouse
- The March will start at the Courthouse and continue to the Wyoming Union where soup will be served. WASA and Ballet 7220 will be preforming.

Tuesday, January 18th
12:00 pm - 1:30 pm - ECTL Book Discussion, "War and the Soul: Healing Our Nation's Veterans from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder" - Union East Ballroom.
Registration required. Click here.

12:15 pm - GLBTQ Cultural Panel Discussion, "Commonalities Across Culture: GLBTQ Life in Various Cultural Communities" - Union Family Room
* Pizza Provided *

7:00 pm - MLK/DOD Keynote Speaker, Common - Hip Hop artist and activist. Union Ballroom

Wednesday, January 19th
12:00 pm - B.E.A.U.T.Y. Panel Discussion, "Standing at the Crossroads of Identity" Union Family Room
* Pizza Provided *

3:00 pm - 4:00 pm - Panel Discussion "Interfaith Dialogue: Spritual Wholeness In a Fractured World" headed by Dr. Sally Palmer. Union Family Room

4:00 pm - Film Screening: "The Calling" Union Family Room

8:00 pm - Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble, Laramie Plains Civic Center
* sponsored by the Student Activities Council, transportation from and back to campus provided by SAFE RIDE. *

Thursday, January 20th
10:00 am - 11:30 am - Master Dance Class with Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble - Union Ballroom
* No prior dance experience required.

4:00 pm - Ethnic Idenity and Voice in N*GGER WETB*CK CH*NK -A conversation with the actors - Union West Ballroom

7:30 pm - N*GGER WETB*CK CH*NK: The Race Show - A & S Auditorium
* UW Student Tickets $10.00
Non-Student Tickets $27.00 *

Friday, January 21st
1:00 - 3:00 pm - "How and Why We Are Different When We Come Back: A Veteran's Perspective" Union East Ballroom

2:00 pm - A Program with The Beehive Collective Union West Ballroom

6:30 pm, 9:00 pm, 11:30 pm - FNF Movie: "The Messenger" Union Family Room

9:00 pm - Dead Prez Concert, Union Ballroom
* Hip hop music, sponsored by Friday Night Fever *

Cody's Harry Jackson got his start as Marine combat artist

Great article in today's New York Times about the U.S. Marines' combat artists' program. During World War II, the Marines has 70 combat artists and today only one remains, Sgt. Kristopher J. Battles.

One of those World War II Marine combat artists was Harry Jackson of Cody. At 18 in 1942, he was the youngest of them all. The slide show accompanying the NYT article shows one of Harry paintings. Here's the caption:

"From World War II there's a vigorously worked scene of men engaged in combat on Tarawa, painted by Harry Jackson, later an Abstract Expressionist and today a hugely successful Western painter."

View Harry's painting of the battle of Tarawa -- and the rest of the slide show -- at http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/07/14/arts/design/20100718-MARINES-8.html. The painting is on exhibit at the National Museum of the Marine Corps, Triangle, Virginia.

Harry was awarded a Wyoming Arts Council Governor's Arts Award in 1990. Read about his very colorful life in his equally colorful autobiography at www.harryjackson.com/biography.cfm

"The Toll of War" hits stages in Utah

From the Salt Lake Tribune:

James Svendsen believes works of art about warriors from thousands of years ago might be used to serve warriors of today. The University of Utah dramaturge is helping produce a series of staged readings of "The Toll of War," two short one-act performances cut from Sophocles' 2,400-year-old plays "Ajax" and "Philoctetes."

"Ajax" tells the story of a suicidal warrior who takes his own life after struggling to come to terms with the unjust spoils of war. "Philoctetes" is a play about a disabled soldier who is abandoned by his commander.

Svendsen said it's not hard to find modern resonance in either play. And he hopes military members and veterans of recent wars -- the performances will be staged at Fort Douglas, the Salt Lake City VA hospital and other locations where they are likely to draw a military-oriented crowd -- will walk away understanding they are connected to generations upon generations of past warriors, who also struggled to "come home" from war.

Free performances of "The Toll of War" will be staged in these Utah locations:
Wednesday, 7 p.m. » Main Library Auditorium, 210 E. 400 South, Salt Lake City
March 6, 2 p.m. » Universe City, 2556 Washington Blvd., Ogden
March 8, 11:50 a.m. » Fort Douglas Post Theater, east of the University of Utah Campus
March 13, 7 p.m. » VA Hospital, Bldg.8, 500 Foothill Drive, Salt Lake City

FMI: http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_14493842