Nashville’s Dana Cooper will bring more than two decades worth of original songwriting to Cousin Andy’s Coffee House, 402 W. Mill St., for a performance of pop-folk music tonight.

Cooper’s latest album, Miracle Mile, has been praised in Playboy and Entertainment Weekly magazines. The former referred to Cooper as a singer and songwriter with a superb sense of melody, while the latter called the album an undeniable power-pop gem.

Miracle Mile, which contains 11 Cooper originals, includes guest appearances by Lyle Lovett and Maura O’Connell.

Advertisement

Cooper recently won Best Songwriter in Houston and was nominated Best Male Vocalist by the Kerrville Music Foundation and was also nominated for its Hall of Fame.

The local a capella group For Healing Purposes Only will begin warming up the crowd around 7:30 p.m. Doors open at 7 p.m.

Admission for the Dana Cooper/For Healing Purposes Only show is $5 for adults and $3 for students and low-income individuals.

SIUC professor of history to give Civil War presentation

Historian John Y. Simon, a history professor at SIUC, will discuss the role of Southern Illinois in the Civil War at 2 p.m. Sunday at Barnes and Noble Booksellers, 1300 W. Main St.

Four recent publications will be featured in Simon’s presentation:Reminiscences of a Soldier’s Wife:An Autobiography, by Mrs. John A. Logan; Black Jack’:John A. Logan and Southern Illinois in the Civil War, by James Pickett Jones; A History of the Ninth Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, with the Regimental Roster, by Marion Morrison; and Army Life of an Illinois Soldier:Including a Day-by-Day Record of Sherman’s March to the Sea, by Charles W. Wills.

Simon provided a new foreword for each of the books he will discuss. Each book is a publication of the Southern Illinois University Press.

Advertisement*

For more information call 453-6633 or 351-0404.

Paducah Film Society screens award-winning film

The winner of the Palme d’ Or at the Cannes Film Festival, Underground, will be shown by the Paducah Film Society at 7 p.m. Sunday at the Market House Theatre, 141 Kentucky Ave. in Paducah, Ky.

The film was directed by Emir Kusturica (Arizona Dream and When Father was Away on Business). Underground is a foreign blend of passion and politics and serves as a telling reminder to Western cultures that, beneath the bloodshed in the former Yugoslavia, is a people’s proud and defiant spirit.

The film is 192 minutes long, in Serbo-Croation with subtitles.

The screenings are opened to the public. Tickets are $5, $3 for students, and may be purchased at the door.