The Thacker Mountain Radio Hour, Oxford’s long running music and literature program, will kick off the 2024 Oxford Film Festival with a free show at the Gertrude C. Ford Center featuring film star/author Andrew McCarthy on Thursday, March 21 at 5 pm. The show is free and open to the public with no festival pass required. Doors will open at 4:30 pm. The Ford Center is located at 351 University Avenue in Oxford.
Following Thacker at 7:30 pm, the festival will present a screening of Adam the First. The family drama was filmed in Mississippi and a Q&A with writer/director Irving Franco will follow the screening.
A full schedule of Oxford Film Festival events (March 21–24) is available at https://www.ox-film.com/.
Thacker’s literary guest, Andrew McCarthy, is best known for his acting in memorable films from the 1980s including Pretty in Pink, St. Elmo’s Fire, Less Than Zero, and cult favorites Weekend At Bernie’s and Mannequin. His memoir chronicling this time, BRAT: An ‘80s Story, became a New York Times Bestseller in 2021. A documentary based on his book, written and directed by McCarthy, Brats, will stream on Hulu later this year.
His latest book is Walking with Sam, a chronicle of his 500-mile trek across Spain’s Camino de Santiago with his hard-to-impress 18-year-old son, Sam.
McCarthy will greet fans and sign books at Square Books at 2 pm on Friday, March 22.
Musical guests on Thursday’s Thacker will include Memphis songwriter Cyrena Wages and Alabama roots rockers, Reed Brake.
The show is hosted by Jim Dees with a special appearance by Paul Tate and the Yalobushwhacker Big Band featuring the Thacker Horns and vocalist Mary Frances Massey.
The show will air live locally on WUMS (92.1 FM in Oxford) and on Mississippi Public Broadcasting and other platforms (including Spotify, iHeart Radio) on Saturday, March 30. Check local listings or the Thacker website (https://thackermountain.com/) for airtimes for this show and all broadcasts throughout the spring and summer.
Thursday’s performance begins the final month of live shows before Thacker’s season finale on April 18.
Upcoming shows will feature the Ole Miss Gospel Choir and songwriter Cary Hudson (March 28); the Oxford Conference for the Book with Memphis funkster Hope Clayburn and novelist Kaveh Akbar (April 4); Memphis songwriter Talibah Safiya (April 11) and a foot-stompin’ season finale at the Graduate Hotel with gospel rockers, The Wilkins Sisters (April 18).
The radio program, now entering its 27th year, will hit the road this summer for dates in Clinton, Miss., the Neshoba County Fair, and Ocean Springs, Miss. with other cities to be announced. The show will resume live performances in Oxford on Thursday, September 5.
