What's Going On

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General

THE ALLSTAR BAND

>> The Allstar Band will perform country-western and swing music from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday at Music City Mall, 4101 E. 42nd St.

Call Bob Hudnall at 208-3853.

UTPB MUSIC PROGRAM

>> UTPB has scheduled the following music programs.

Today through Sunday: 8 p.m., 41st Annual Jazz collaboration with West Texas Jazz Society at Hilton Midland Plaza, 117 W. Wall St.

Saturday: 3 p.m., Student Jazz Clinic at Hilton Midland Plaza.

Reception will follow program.

Event is open to the public.

E-mail keast_d@utpb.edu or visit www.utpb.edu/music.

Auditions

>> The Permian Playhouse will have two auditions at The Permian Playhouse, 310 W. 42nd St.

Saturday: 2 p.m., Kaleidoscope & Tadpole Company; 4 p.m., “Bye Bye Birdie.”

Sunday: 2 p.m., Kaleidoscope & Tadpole Company.

Sunday and Monday: 7 p.m., “Bye Bye Birdie.”

For information, call 550-5456.

Book signing

>> Guy Mills, author of “The Girvin Social Club” will be signing his book from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at Hastings, 3895 E. 42nd St.

The book is the first of a series of fictional novels dedicated to life on the Pecos.

Roland Z

>> Roland Z will perform from 9 p.m. to midnight Saturday at Harrigan’s Grill & Bar, 2701 JBS Parkway.

Dance Benefit

>> American Legion Riders have scheduled a benefit dance featuring Jody Nix from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. Saturday at the American Legion Hall, 2701 E. Eighth St.

The dance will benefit the VA Hospital in Big Spring.

Tickets are $15 for couples and $10 for singles for first dance and $10 per person for second dance.

For information, call Antonio Rodriguez at 634-1015.

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Heron’s western art takes center stage

Eight years have passed since his death, but Clyde Heron’s legacy lives on the canvas.

And memories of the nationally known Odessa painter will resurface with his artistic display at the city’s most historic home — the White-Pool House, which happens to be a place he helped save.

The “Clyde Heron Art Exhibit” will be at the house from Wednesday through Aug. 31 — mostly prints on loan through an educational program of the Ellen Noël Art Museum.

Marilyn Bassinger, the art museum’s executive director, said she remembered meeting Heron in Fort Davis more than 20 years ago.

“He just had a palette that reflected West Texas and the south,” she said. “There was a story behind each painting. They were realistic and beautifully researched — very well executed and accurate.”

A 1989 Heritage of Odessa Foundation winner, Heron is recognized for his painted portraits hanging in the Presidential Museum — former presidents Gerald Ford, Lyndon B. Johnson and George H.W. Bush.

Heron was also a history buff by nature, specifically the Civil War era, and painted several scenes of Robert E. Lee and the Texas buffalo soldiers.

Bassinger said Heron was also active in military re-enactments and would often going to schools to talk about his Civil War paintings, dressed in his Confederate uniform.

“He was a character. Clyde was greatly beloved in the community, especially here at the museum,” she said. “He was really creative and always full of great ideas.”

Some of the pieces to be exhibited at the White-Pool House are Clyde Heron paintings that his daughter, Fritzi Heron, currently displays at her home in Odessa. She has continued the artistic tradition as a watercolor painter.

“My mom and dad were both artists. I thought everybody did that,” she said.

Because her father had a part in saving the White-Pool House, Fritzi Heron said the upcoming exhibit there carries a special connection for her.

“He photographed the house in its condition to take before the commissioner’s court to see if it could be saved,” she said. “He was raised to be very giving and helping to the community.”

With galleries throughout the United States and overseas, Clyde Heron was not only respected as an artist, but as a community member as well.

Fritzi Heron said her father’s magnetic personality encouraged people to be more interested in history and the art that described it — something he was known for.

“He always felt very strongly that people learned history visually,” she said. “He was really excited when people did more to be aware of it.”

WANT TO GO?

>> The “Clyde Heron Art Exhibit” will be showing from July 11 to Aug. 31 at the White-Pool House Museum, 112 E. Murphy St.

>> The museum is open 10 a.m. through 3 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday.

>> Admission is free.

>> Call 333-4072.