You can also hear This Week in Texas Music History on Sunday at precisely 6:04 p.m. on KERA radio. But subscribe to the podcast so you won’t miss an episode. And our thanks to KUT public radio in Austin for helping us bring this segment to you. And if you’re a music lover, be sure to check out Track by Track, the bi-weekly podcast from Paul Slavens, host of KXT’s The Paul Slavens Show, heard Sunday night’s at 8.

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Mickey Newbury was born on May 19, 1940, in Houston. He began his musical career while working on shrimp boats along the Gulf coast. In the early 1960s, Newbury moved to Nashville and joined a new generation of young Texas songwriters that included Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson. In 1968, Newbury became the first and only songwriter to have No. 1 hits in four different musical genres at the same time. Dozens of artists have recorded Mickey Newbury’s songs, including Andy Williams, Eddy Arnold, Solomon Burke and the First Edition, featuring a young vocalist from Houston named Kenny Rogers.

Mickey Newbury moved to Oregon in the mid-1970s, where he continued to write songs until his death in 2002. In 2008, he was inducted into the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame.

Next time on This Week in Texas Music History, we’ll meet a true visionary who helped redefine Texas-Mexican music.

Afternoon Delight is a daily diversion for when you’re just back from lunch, but not quite ready to get down to work. Check back weekdays at 1 p.m. for another one.

Taylor Swift plays Cowboys Stadium on Saturday. But we’re still praying that T-Swizzle and T-Pain will finally end their beef and reunite. Also: Has their ever been a more menacing rap lyric than: “You don’t wanna fight me/In my extra-small white T”?

On Thursday, Elledanceworks closed its 16th season at the John Anthony Theatre at Collin College. Elledanceworks has been the resident dance company at Collin College for a few years now, but before last night it had yet to actually perform at “home.” So this year, the company decided to forgo its usual spot at the Bath House Cultural Center, and try a new space out. And it was a good move. A traditional stage with full lights and a proscenium suits this company well.

The night opened with company member Melissa Johnson’s “Moments in Time.” Here we saw how a traditional stage setting benefits this company. With the ability to use a lighting design that can create shapes and atmosphere, and a stage that has complete curtains and more depth, Elle was able to spread out and dance larger than it usually can.

“Moments in Time” tells the story of a community of women; exactly what Elle is all about. Johnson cleverly goest for motif building to get her concept across: a horizontal line of five women, holding hands, moving slowly from one side of the stage to the other, switching hands and places in the line, like the braiding of a rope. Little bursts of partnering occurred, but before the duets could move too far from the line, the dancers were sucked back in. These bits and pieces created a strong sense of community – the imagery was solid.

We saw Elle at its best in Melissa Bjork’s “Somewhere Along the Lines We Find.” It successfully combines its musicality and choreography—the work lives in, on top of and throughout the music. Bjork askes a lot of her dancers, and they gladly reciprocate. The narrative and characters are clear, as are their relationships. The quartet of Tiffanee Arnold, Delanie Bitler, Melissa Johnson and Tracy Kennedy seamlessly transitioned in and out of duets that use traditional and unconventional lifts. Each dancer was strong in her partnering, and the level of comfort with one another, which comes from working together for more than a decade, shows.

Halfway through the piece the partnering becomes repetitive and predictable. More play is needed as these dancers are capable of exploring different methods of lifting and manipulating their bodies.

Co-director Ronelle Eddings stayed true to her style of combining contemporary dance with metal music – in this case, A Perfect Circle. “Mine” flipped front on us and had the dancers facing the back of the stage for the beginning of the piece. Watching just the backs of their legs twitch with each downbeat, and the four dancers try to push and pull each other out of their small square of stage space (created by lights) was an interesting choice. But it, too, became completely predictable and disappointing when they turned around to face us. Here was a missed chance to explore the backspace, and to see what happens when you don’t give the audience what it wants— in this case, the dancers’ faces.

The piece is aggressive both in music and movement – the dancers slap themselves, try to bite each other and slump all over one another. So why not explore what that could look like if we never see an emotion or a face, and only have body language to rely on?

This is especially beneficial when tension is an integral part of a dance work. In “Mine,” that is the center of the piece, the tension and aggression between the dancers. But when they turn around, that instantly disappears. Their focus is unclear as it becomes more about a performance for the audience than a battle between the four dancers. However, Jennifer Dennison and Bjork take bites out of the choreography, literally. They snap their mouths in the air, trying to catch a piece of the other two performers, and commit to falling off their center.

“A Step Closer,” from company member Tiffanee Arnold, used an original score from resident composer Amy Seltzer. It was the most conceptual piece of the evening. Utilizing a wall of mirrors (that at first brought to mind a scene from “A Chorus Line”), it slowly creates an obstacle for the dancers, and the audience, to overcome.

What is distracting at first, the fact that the mirrors confuse the audience’s eye and distort the dancers’ figures, becomes an integral part of the piece. What are we supposed to watch? The dancers in the mirrors or the dancers in front of us? It becomes a game, and one that we gladly played. It’s an adult version of hide and seek.

Committed performances came from Amanda Hunt and Bjork. In a brief duet between the two, they travelled downstage attacking the athletic movement and moving perfectly in sync with one another.

“Characters in Colour: Movement,” choreographed by co-directors Eddings and Michele Hanlon, brought their previous work for the Dallas Museum of Art to Collin College’s stage. Inspired by works by Marc Chagall, which are included in a recent exhibit at the DMA, the movement works to capture the joy and fear in the paintings.

Here is a challenge that always faces Elledanceworks: Howe do you to take a site-specific work and restage it in a new space. Even though this work was originally performed in the Horchow Auditorium at the DMA (a stage), it benefits from the audience just seeing the paintings in real life. They could stare face to face with Chagall’s brushstrokes and experience the brilliance of his colors live. At this performance, we had only projected slides of their inspirations. A bit of the magic was missing. The costuming choice caused further confusion. Wearing billowing white pants and brightly colored two-toned tops, the costumes read more Caribbean than Russian.

What was lacking in location and dress, the dancers made up in energy and performance. It was apparent that they were comfortable with the movement and could live inside of it. There was a passion for the dance and the concept that came across clearly.

Elledanceworks continues its performance of Elledanceworks 16 at the John Anthony Theatre at Collin College this weekend.

• Nikita Abrosimov, 24, Russia (published May 20, 2013)
• Luca Buratto, 20, Italy (published May 14, 2013)
• Sean Chen, 24, USA (published May 15, 2013)
• Alexey Chernov, 30, Russia (published May 18, 2013)
• Sara Daneshpour, 26, USA (published May 21, 2013)
• Alessandro Deljavan, 26, Italy (published May 21, 2013)
• Fei-Fei Dong, 22, China (published May 15, 2013)
• François Dumont, 27, France (published May 16, 2013)
• Yury Favorin, 26, Russia (published May 22, 2013)
• Lindsay Garritson, 25, USA (published May 13, 2013)
• Jayson Gillham, 26, Australia/U.K. (published May 18, 2013)
• Giuseppe Greco, 23, Italy (published May 22, 2013)
• Ruoyo Huang, 24, China (published May 20, 2013)
• Claire Huangci, 23, USA (published May 22, 2013)
• Vadym Kholodenko, 26, Ukraine (published May 15, 2013)
• Nikolay Khozyainov, 20, Russia (published May 19, 2013)
• Marcin Koziak, 24, Poland (published May 16, 2013)
• Kuan-Ting Lin, 21, Taiwan (published May 13, 2013)
• Steven Lin, 24, Taiwan (published May 19, 2013)
• Alex McDonald, 30, USA (published May 17, 2013)
• Gustavo Miranda-Bernales, Chile (published May 20, 2013)
• Nikita Mndoyants, 24, Russia (published May 14, 2013)
• Oleksandr Poliykov, 25, Ukraine (published May 16, 2013)
• Beatrice Rana, 20, Italy (published May 17, 2013)
• Tomoki Sakata, 19, Japan (published May 14, 2013)
• Scipione Sangiovanni, 25, Italy (published May 13, 2013)
• Yekwon Sunwoo, 24, South Korea (published May 17, 2013)
• Alessandro Taverna, 29, Italy (published May 19, 2013)
• Jie Yuan, 27, China (published May 18, 2013)
• Eric Zuber, 28, USA (published May 21, 2013)

They were chosen from 132 applicants who auditioned for a five-member screening jury in Hong Kong, Hanover, Moscow, Milan, New York and Fort Worth in January and February, 2013.

The 2013 Cliburn Competition competitors hail from all over the world, representing 12 countries: the United States (7), Italy (6), Russia (5), China (3), Ukraine (2), Australia, Chile, France, Japan, South Korea, Poland and Taiwan. They range in age from 19 to 30. 

TICKETS: For additional information about and to purchase tickets for the Fourteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth, visit www.cliburn.org/cliburn-competition/tickets/

JURY: Maestro John Giordano (United States) will serve as chairman of the jury for his eleventh competition since he assumed the post in 1973. Other jury members include: Dmitri Alexeev (Russia), Michel Beroff (France), Andrea Bonatta (Italy), Richard Dyer (United States), Joseph Kalichstein (Israel), Yoheved Kaplinsky (Israel), Liu Shih Kun (China), Minoru Nojima (Japan), Menahem Pressler (United States), Blanca Uribe (Colombia), Arie Vardi (Israel), and Xian Zhang (China).

WEBCAST: For those who cannot attend the Competition, all performances will be streamed live in their entirety and available on-demand at Cliburn.org, making it possible for virtually anyone anywhere to experience the music. We will also stream the webcast in our TheaterJones special section.

The Fourteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition will take place May 24-June 9, 2013, at Fort Worth’s Bass Performance Hall and will welcome 30 of the world’s finest pianists to Texas. Continuing its longstanding commitment to new music, the Cliburn has selected composer Christopher Theofanidis to write the commissioned work that will be performed by all competitors during the Semifinal Round. Additionally, the competition has been dedicated to showcasing both the extraordinary talent of its competitors in recital performance as well as their ability to collaborate with other musicians. The Fourteenth Competition will mark the first Cliburn appearance by the world-renowned Brentano String Quartetperforming a piano quintet with each of the 12 semifinalists. The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, which has appeared at every Cliburn Competition, will perform two concerti with each of the six finalists, under the baton of Maestro Leonard Slatkin for the first time.

Now comes word of the artists who’ve accepted the challenge – and a taxidermy mounting board – to create a piece of work for the auction that will raise money to fund Art Conspiracy main event later this fall.  Artists range from screen printers to robot builders, and part of the fun will be seeing how they incorporate the mounting board into their work.

Here’s who’s playing this year:

Mike Arreaga

Cabe Booth

Gary Buckner

Travis Bush

Meagan Dahl

L.E. Doughtie

Dylan Dowdy

Pamela Dowdy

Angela Faz

Erica Felicella

Sarah Francis

Sergio Garza

Erik Glissmann

Corey Godfrey

John Gonzales

Kurt Griesbach

Gabbe Grodin

David Harrel

Ross High

Levi Leddy

Lisa Lindholm

Randy Lisbona

Jessie Martinez

Julie McCullough

Aralyn McGregor

Alex Mitchell

Vanessa Neil

Kevin Obregon

Caroline Oliver

Steve Rainwater

Danny Rose

Richard Ross

Edward Ruiz

Julia Schloss

Clint Scism

Brad Ford Smith

Rachel Spire

Rachel Stephens

Kris Swenson

Esteban Tijerina

Can Turkyilmaz

Hobbes Vincent

Tyrees Allen has returned to North Texas to act for the African-American Repertory Theaer in DeSoto. In Los Angeles the past 20 years, Allen has appeared in more than three dozen TV series such as CSI: Miami and Law & Order.  KERA’s Jerome Weeks asks Allen about his return to the stage – and what has changed.

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Expanded online story:

Tyrees Allen acted on North Texas stages for nearly 15 years – before he left for Los Angeles in 1994. He‘s played recurring characters in such TV shows as Alias and The Practice. In the ABC series, Women’s Murder Club, Allen played Warren Jacobi, Angie Harmon’s detective partner. In one scene, he confronted her after she messed up, building up to a fine tirade: “You want to work yourself into the ground, fine. Hell, you want to have sex with your ex-husband who happens to be our boss and pretend it didn’t happen, fine. I might think it’s sad and stupid, but that’s your business. But this – this is my business.”

Allen says that the entire scene was shot in just two takes, even though the guest director had planned on three hours. Allen recalls, “I said, ‘Look, man, all you gotta do is do my close-up, do hers and let’s get out of here.’ He’s like, ‘Are you serious?’ I said, ‘C’mon man, I’m from the theater, baby!”  

Tyrees Allen as Warren Jacobi confronts his partner, played by Angie Harmon, in Women’s Murder Club

Allen may be from the theater, but he hasn’t done a lot of theater lately. On Broadway, he enjoyed a run  in the hit Elton John musical Aida. He also appeared in Shakespeare’s Henry IV with Kevin Kline and Ethan Hawke. In LA, he played Colin Powell opposite Keith Carradine as President George W. Bush in Stuff Happens. That’s playwright David Hare’s controversial drama about the Bush administration’s decision to invade Iraq.

But that’s pretty much all of Allen’s theater work the past decade. Then Regina Washington, founder of the African-American Rep in DeSoto, asked him to take on August Wilson’s drama, Fences. Allen says he wants to support African-American Rep. It’s the only company in the immediate Dallas area devoted to black plays and actors. But Troy Maxson, the lead character in Fences, is a demanding role. It’s the black equivalent to Willie Loman in Death of a Salesman: The role powers the play. Twenty years ago, Allen played Troy at Stage West in Fort Worth. But he says that doesn’t mean much now, when he’s climbing back onstage.

Allen: “It’s just not easy work anymore. You know, you got to get your legs back. You got to get your confidence back. And you know, listen, I’m not as young as I used to be. So — .”

Weeks: “But this role would seem to fit you like a glove.”

Allen: “Oh it does. It does fit pretty well. But the last time I did it I was – 38? And I remember I gained weight to play him, and I shaved my head, just so I could have some gravity. But now it’s just so much more present in me. So many parts of it, I don’t have to act.” 

Fences is set in the 1950s. Troy Maxson had been a great baseball player in the old Negro League, but the color barrier meant he never had a chance to break into the majors. As Troy’s friend, Jim Bono, tells him, he was born too early: Jackie Robinson hadn’t come along yet. So instead, at age 53, Troy has settled down — uneasily — with a family and a job as a garbage collector.

But he still bristles at frustrations, old and new, domestic and racial. As in the opening lines of Fences, when he and Bono discuss an incident that had occurred earlier that day on the job. Bono worries that Troy may lose his position for challenging the traditional segregation in the garbage business. “I ain’t worried about them firing me,” Maxson declares. “They gonna fire me because I axed a question?  That’s all I did. I went to Mr. Rand and axed him, Why you got all the white mens driving and the colored toting? What’s the matter?  Don’t I count?”

Allen understands Troy’s frustrations. Many actors, Allen’s peers, left Dallas in the mid-‘90s. Many had moved to town because of the Theater Center’s hiring of Adrian Hall as artistic director. But then the administration changed. So did the economy. Professional, Equity companies like Stage No. 1 folded. Lucrative commercial work dwindled. But Allen also felt that – as a black actor – he was being denied roles he deserved.

“Yeah, I did leave Dallas out of frustration,” he says, “because I wanted to work. But regardless of all the stuff that wasn’t so great, it was an exciting time to be in Dallas. I mean, Adrian Hall was coming to the Theater Center. Dallas, the TV series was being shot. There were, what, eight or nine Equity theaters? I look back at it now and I think, Boy, that was really a special time. I wish that I would have had the head that I have now – because my path may have been easier.”  

As for what his increasing years have done to change his portrayal of Troy Maxson, Allen says, this time, he’s not pushing Troy’s rage. It’s there. But he also  looking for moments of tenderness.

“You know, there’s that line he says, ‘I give you my blood and my sweat. I ain’t got no tears. I done spent ‘em.’” Allen says. “I don’t believe him.”  

Tyrees Allen’s famous entrance in Robocop:

In 1987, Robocop started shooting in North Texas, and a number of local actors found work, including the late Spencer Prokop in a choice, comic turn as the silent gas-station attendant. Tyrees Allen had a role as one of the police officers in crime-ridden ‘Old Detroit.’ His first scene — in fact, the first scene shot in the entire film — was in the police locker room, filmed in a Dallas school. When the newfangled cyborg police officer, played by Peter Weller, arrives, all the half-dressed cops stop what they’re doing to gawk.

Allen swears he was told, possibly by an assistant director or a.d., that when the director, Paul Verhoeven, shouted “Action!,” that was his cue — for something unexpected.

Places like Italy, China and Russia have become breeding grounds for the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. But this year’s field also includes a competitor from spot that rarely makes the cut – Dallas. Here’s the story of the musician who’s finally getting to compete in his own backyard.

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This won’t be the first time Alex McDonald has performed at Bass Performance Hall. He fondly remembers the last crowd he played for there.

“You could just like feel the A.D.D. in the room,” he says.

The hall on that day was filled with fourth graders.

“And three of the times I’m pretty sure they talked through the whole thing,” he remembers from the piano bench of Park Cities Presbyterian Church. “But one of them they kind of got into it, and they started clapping along with the rhythm, which was so distracting and so wonderful I almost completely botched the performance because I just loved it so much.”

That probably won’t happen today, when McDonald becomes the first native North Texan to compete at the Cliburn since 1977.

Even though he lives in Dallas, he’s staying with a host family in Fort Worth – Allan and Sandra Howeth.

“Of all the several million people in the Metroplex, there’re bound to be a lot of talented people,” Allan Howeth says. “Fortunately, one has shown forth enough to be part of this competition. Which I guess is probably overdue, but it just has to happen when it’s ready.”

When the tall, clean-cut McDonald finally takes the stage, he’ll realize a lifelong dream.

“Competing in the Cliburn means a lot to me because Van Cliburn was a childhood idol,” he says. I remember meeting him when I was about 8 years old – this 6-foot-4 giant – not knowing what to call him. I think I went with Mr. Van Cliburn, sir.”

McDonald grew up in Plano – his mom’s a piano teacher. He started playing at 4, and by the fifth grade, he wanted to make music his life. Since then, he’s attended New England Conservatory and earned a Ph.D from the Julliard School of Music.

Eight hours of practice a day has made him one of the world’s top young pianists.

McDonald’s road to the Cliburn hasn’t been easy. He applied as an 18-year-old but didn’t get an audition. At 22, tendonitis kept him out. And at 26, his doctoral work didn’t allow the necessary practice. Now he’s 30 – the age limit for the Cliburn.

“Just last year, I realized this was my last shot,” he said. “So I wanted to give it a try”

Going forward, he plans to perform and teach. But his life goal is much bigger.

“It sounds a bit like Miss America, but it would be great to heal the world through music. People need beauty.”

McDonald’s seen that healing power. In 2011, he traveled with fellow Julliard students to Ishinomaki, Japan – one of the areas hit hardest by the tsunami.

“The effect that music had on survivors living in shelters was just heartbreaking,” he says. “It reminded me of the potency of music. When you’re in a conservatory setting, you’re swimming in it and you’re happy actually just to get a break from it all. But then you see what an impact music can have on people’s lives.”

McDonald battles nerves before a big performance. But age and experience have taught him to channel that energy into the music. It’s one of the advantages he may have over younger competitors.

“It’s very different being in a competition near where I leave. I don’t have jetlag, I’m not traveling to unfamiliar terrain, I know the food, I know the culture.”

But that’s not all he knows.

“There’s perhaps a more frightening aspect – namely, I know just how big the Cliburn is.”

TBT AND FWSO: It’s been five years since Texas Ballet Theater performed with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra – an arrangement that ended due to budget cuts. Since then, TBT almost had to close up shop. The company still can’t afford the FWSO. But the two will be back together, if only for five performances, next season. May 30-June 1, 2014, the orchestra will team up with TBT for Swan Lake. As dfw.com reports, the collaboration is possible thanks to a gift from US Trust, Bank of America.

A STELLAR DEBUT: The Dallas Opera has announced that American mezzo-soprano Susan Graham is the winner of this year’s Maria Callas Debut Artist of the Year. If you’re an operagoer, her performance should be fairly fresh in your mind. She performed the role of Tina in Dominick Argento’s The Aspern Papers just a few weeks ago.