Art and Culture

LeRoy Dulley’s hoarse shout animates his manic version of the Church of God in Christ chant, “I’m a Soldier (in the Army of the Lord).”

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I’m Jim McKeown, welcome to Likely Stories, a weekly review of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.

Barbra Kingsolver is a widely read novelist.  The Poisonwood Bible is one of her most admired works.  The best parts of the book were those written by the mother, and the four children.  The family is led by a Baptist Missionary determined to live out one year in the Congo.

Hearing some old music from a television show is a reminder of how things have changed.

A few years ago, a good friend of mine spent four days in the hospital while doctors poked around on him trying to figure out a puzzling malady.  Consequently, he found himself with more free time than usual and spent a fair amount of it watching TV, especially at times during the day when he would usually be doing something else.

He called me late one morning to excitedly report that he was watching an episode of the old Raymond Burr TV show “Ironside.” What had struck him most was the music. He’d never considered it before, he said, but somebody really put a lot of 

The unknown Reverend Leon Hamner and the Holy City Travelers cut loose of the gospel rave-up "I've Got the Love of Jesus".

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I’m Jim McKeown, welcome to Likely Stories, a weekly review of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.

Ever since high school, I have carried a secondary obsession with the ancient Greeks and the myriad gods, goddesses, nymphs, and warriors, like Achilles, Ajax, Hector, Paris, Hellen, and, of course, Odysseus.  Natalie Haynes is a writer and broadcaster.  Her latest book is A Thousand Ships¸ detailing the greatest war ever fought until the 1914.

Greece and Nigeria are just two of the countries which question whether art that was hauled off long ago ought to stay with the people who took it.

The unknown Rev. Leon Hamner and the Holy City Travelers cut loose on the gospel rave-up, “I’ve Got the Love of Jesus.”

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On this week's show, host Kennedy Sam talks with Ashley Stone about this year's Juneteenth celebration in Waco, and Brayden Braziel, who has created a brand new local drama troupe.

With a big new exhibit now up at one of the country’s premier museums, now is a good time to remember a pioneer of American painting.

When was the last time you remember seeing a painter on The Tonight Show?  If you’re like me, you couldn’t answer that question very quickly, and, when you finally did, you might well say “uh, never.”

If you had tuned in to Johnny Carson on the night of February 21, 1984, alongside an Olympic skier, and actress Mariette Hartley, you’d have met a charming and vivacious 84-year-old painter named Alice Neel.  Carson seemed captivated by her.

Alice Neel was born in Pennsylvania in January of 1900.  She graduated from high school in 1918 and three years later began talking art classes at the Philadelphia 

I’m Jim McKeown, welcome to Likely Stories, a weekly review of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.

Maaza Mengiste is the author of The Shadow King.  She was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  She is a Fulbright Scholar and professor with an MFA in the Creative Writing & Literary Translation program at Queens College.  The story is based on the early days of the 1935 invasion ordered by Mussolini against Ethiopia.

An Artist who helped American painting get past the dominant style of her day get her story told in a new book. 

Last week I mentioned a new biography of artist Helen Frankenthaler entitled Fierce Poise that I’m really looking forward to reading.  Maybe this summer.  Her career was a remarkable one, and her influence on American art very significant.

In 1952 she painted a breakthrough piece called Mountains and Sea.  Because muted color made up so much of the visual impact of her painting, this new style became known as “color field” painting, one of the successor movements to abstract expressionism.  Morris Louis, who became one of Frankenthaler’s fellow “color field”

Did you know Ike and Tina Turner once released a great gospel LP in 1973?

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I’m Jim McKeown, welcome to Likely Stories, a weekly review of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.

Janie Chodosh has written a marvelous story of The Elephant Doctor of India.  She is a former elementary-and-middle-school educator and environmental scientist at Santa Fe Community College.