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Leon Russell: The Tribute - 2019
Back to Tulsa one more time. First-call session player, producer and arranger, band leader, song writer, showman, recording artist, solo star at different points in his life, Leon Russell was all of these things. An award-winning musician and collaborator to some of the biggest artists of the 1960s and '70s, the late Leon Russell recorded at least 31 albums and 430 songs. Recorded at Russell's alma mater on Feb. 9, 2019, at the historic Will Rogers High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Leon Russell: The Tribute celebrates his life and 60-year career. This musical extravaganza features 16 musicians, many of whom performed with Russell at various times in his career. Among them, Ann Bell, Brian Lee, Jared Tyler, Johnny Williams, Brandon Holder, Frank Padilla, Alan Ransom, Jennifer Marriott, Pete Marriott, Wanda Watson, Peter de les Dernier, David Teegarden, Billy Estes, Bobby Taylor, and Corey Mauser. Paul Benjaman led the ensemble. Music historian and radio personality John Wooley was emcee. The concert was produced by Russell's 1959 classmate Dick Risk under the auspices of the Will Rogers High School Community Foundation, in collaboration with Teresa Knox and The Church Studio in Tulsa, once owned by Russell. The concert was recorded for television by the O'Colly Media Group of the Oklahoma State University's School of Media and Strategic Communications, directed by Kelly Kerr. The soundtrack was captured by Axiom Audio and mixed at Teegarden Studios. It was released by the National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA) to Public Broadcasting System (PBS) and Public Television affiliates on February 17, 2024. LEON RUSSELL: The Tribute is available to stream on pbs.org and the free PBS App, available on iPhone, Apple TV, Android TV, Android smartphones, Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Fire Tablet, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, and Vizio. (57:49)
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Leon Russell's 80th Birthday Concert - 2022
This exciting performance on April 3, 2022, was held in the historic art deco Will Rogers Auditorium in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The performing ensemble for Leon Russell's 80th Birthday Concert was comprised of instrumentalists and singers who toured and recorded with Leon, led by Music Director Paul Benjaman and Co-Director Frank Padilla, and including superstars Claudia Lennear and Ann Bell along with Don White and David Teegarden and many other Tulsa Sound legends: Beau Charron, Brandon Holder, Billy Estes, Pete Marriott, Jennifer Marriott, Tom Nicholson, David Thayer, Alan Ransom, Wade Inman, Johnny Williams, Jon Glazer, Jared Tyler Frederick, and Cortez Johnson. Music historian and radio personality John Wooley was the master of ceremonies. It was produced by Teresa Knox, owner of The Church Studio, founded by Leon Russell, and under the auspices of the Will Rogers High School Community Foundation by Leon's 1959 Will Rogers classmate, Dick Risk. (57:05)
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Gov. George Nigh: How Oklahoma Got Its State Song - 2023
Then 25-year-old George Nigh, a member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives in 1953, staged a legislative coup with the help of his boyhood acquaintance from McAlester, Oklahoma, Ridge Bond, who played the role of Curly in the original record-setting 1943 Broadway production of Oklahoma!, then on the National Tour, and in post-World War II London and Germany, to have the title song adopted as Oklahoma's State Song. It almost didn't happen. On March 26, 2023, 95-year old former Governor George Nigh, appeared on the Will Rogers stage during a Rodgers & Hammerstein concert to tell his story how, 70 years earlier, he made it happen. This interview was recorded in the school's library by Emmy Award-winning television producer Emily Spivy just prior to Nigh repeating it to the audience. He followed his story by leading the audience in singing the State Song, using the pen given to him in 1953 by Governor Johnston Murray, who had used it to sign Nigh's bill into law on May 11, 1953. Archival footage was provided by Geoff Bond. Brad Henderson was music director of the concert. The concert and Nigh's appearance were arranged by Dick Risk. (7:07)
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Will Rogers High School General Tour 2022
This video was prepared by Dick Risk, class of 1959, to be shown to tour groups who visit Will Rogers High School, to give them a preview of what they are about to see. It combines four segments. The first segment of this video was initially recorded off the air from KOTV Channel 6 in 1989, the 50th anniversary of Will Rogers High School, featuring one of the school's original architects, Joseph Koberling, who was 35 years old when selected along with Leon Senter in 1935. KOTV reporter Glenda Silvey produced this piece. The second segment of this video is the promise made by then-Superintendent Keith Ballard, Tulsa Public Schools, at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 2013, promising to restore Will Rogers High School to its greatness. The third segment, produced by Risk in 2015 as a recruiting tool for the school, features Principal Nicolette "Nikki" Dennis sharing the thrill of being introduced to the school on her appointment to that position.
The fourth segment, "A New Performing Arts Venue for Tulsa," was prepared by Risk in 2021 for the successful drive to raise funds to replace the 1955 theatre organ in the Will Rogers auditorium that had quit working in 1985. (16:20)
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Will Rogers Update - 2017
RSU-TV a Public Television affiliate owned by Rogers State University, serving the Tulsa area, airs The Kingston Trio "Holiday Cheers" hour Christmas special annually. These are the "pledge breaks" during the 2017 first year showings with studio guests Nicolette Dennis, principal of Will Rogers High School in Tulsa, Sen. David Rader, Will Rogers graduate, and Jo Anne Meade Lewis, past president of the Will Rogers High School Community Foundation. They presented the status of the school with its college preparatory curriculum. (42:48)