Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Trusty music video unearthed
Here's a time capsule, alright. Times photographer Brian Chilson hipped us to a VHS rip of Trusty's 1995 video for "A Modest Proposal" posted on Facebook yesterday by ex-Trusty James Brady. It's great: all guys mugging for the camera and scampering about Monkees-style.
It's catchy like whoa, so brace yourself before putting it on loop.
Register for the Rock Candy 500
Photo by Patrick Jones.
Just a friendly reminder: The Rock Candy 500 is on the horizon. We race on Thursday, May 6. But, new this year, we're requiring advance registration by April 29 (so making the bracket won't be such a bitch). You can print out the registration form here, or find it in this week's paper. If mailing it in or dropping it by our office is a real pain for you, send me an email at lindsey @ arktimes.com, and we'll work out a way to do a credit card order.
More stuff you need to know.
1. Here are the rules.
2. You can get pinewood car kits, which come with a block of wood, wheels and axles, at just about any hobby store in town. Or you can order all kinds of pre-cut car shapes and slick add-ons -- decals, fenders, speedier axels -- from Pine Pro online. If you mention the Rock Candy 500, they'll give you free shipping.
3. You do not have to be handy to put together a pinewood derby car. If you get a pre-cut one (also available at hobby shops), merely painting it pretty will put you in the running.
4. Spread the word. The 500 was major league fun last year.
Posted by Lindsey Millar | Permalink | Comments
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Beth Ditto is one of the beautiful people
"I said to my teacher, ‘I can’t be a singer because I’m not pretty enough and I’m fat.’ And she looked at me and said, “Tell that to Nell Carter, babe.’ That changed my life forever!” Beth Ditto, giving good quote in her 482nd cover story, this time in Paper Magazine, which also has a behind-the-scenes video of her cover shoot (watch to see an awesome Slick Rick-style eyepatch that didn't make the cut).
Posted by Lindsey Millar | Permalink | Comments
Watch: Juggalo jokes, more '$5 Cover'
With a special appearance by Mrs. Potato Dick.
It's been out there for a minute now, but 'SNL's' parody of Juggalo culture is spit-on-your-computer-screen funny. Stick with it; it gets funnier the longer it goes on. Though, I guess I should say, it's NSFW for language, probably.
More opportunities to waste your afternoon: I happened on a couple of the companion mini docs from "$5 Cover" in Memphis and some of them are really great. Alijca Trout and Jack Oblivian's are both intimate, honest seeming portraits of the musicians making art work in their lives. Amy LaVere's is a collection of evocative shots with LaVere goin' on about love. And Harlan T. Bobo's stop motion philosophical treatise on love is deliriously wacked out.
Also: "Humpday's" Lynn Shelton is doing a "$5 Cover" in Seattle. Looks not bad.
Maybe Little Rock can get one in 2020.
Posted by Lindsey Millar | Permalink | Comments
Androids to rock no more (2007-2010)
(photo by Lizzie Burnham)
It's always a huge bummer to hear of local outfits adjourning before their time, but when the news is unexpected as the disbanding of local bass and drum duo Androids of Ex Lovers, it bums doubly.
A synthesis of DFA1979 and The Melvins, Androids specialized in tooth-vibratingly rock, loud, expansive and boiled down to its essence with bassist/singer Chris McCollum and drummer Sean Rowe both bringing tremendous technical prowess to their signature, howling hard-math sound. Those in the know will surely agree they consistently put on some of the best shows in town. Those who slept on their gigs, you missed out. Big time.
Here's hoping for a final show for both their devotees and those poor ears who never picked up the signal.
Thick Syrup Records released their self-titled debut last year. MP3 downloads are available at Amazon.
Posted by John | Permalink | Comments (1)
R.I.P. Herb Ellis
Herb Ellis, the truly legendary jazz guitarist who called Fairfield Bay home since the 1980s passed last night in Los Angeles after a long battle with Alzheimers.
While most notable for his tenure as member of the Oscar Peterson Trio, he also backed Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Stan Getz, Joe Pass and Louis Armstrong amongst scores of others.
So respected is the man in jazz circles that in 1991, Gibson introduced a Herb Ellis signature model guitar, one of the most esteemed honors available to musicians.
Check out a couple videos of the man in action after the jump.
Eclipse Glasses go digital
Before hanging up their horns, the late, great Eclipse Glasses printed precious few copies of their self-titled 6-track EP on cassette. Fans of the short-lived experimental, Afro-gypsy soundtrack funk outfit that didn't score one of the cassettes have, if lucky, sated themselves with second and third generation copies for months now.
But today, Max Recordings released it digitally for the masses. Hecka good news.
Cop it at Amazon, iTunes or eMusic.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Daily Digest: "Boggy," "Drunk Girls," "Shame," Duke
The Fouke Monster heard the new LCD Soundsystem track, too.
"The Legend of Boggy Creek," the most well-known movie by the late Arkansan director Charles B. Pierce, is being remade. According to the Facebook page, it's currently in post-production. Take a gander at the teaser here. More to come.
Send in a few bucks to NPR for being awesome today. They're streaming two new albums, "I Learned the Hard Way" by Sharon Jones and Dap-Kings and "Shame, Shame" by Dr. Dog.
While you're at the Post Office, squat in a bag and send it to James Murphy. After a weekend of digestion, the Rock Candy HQ agrees: "Drunk Girls" is unredeemable.*
Fresh news from Daily Duh Digest. Somewhere in Maumelle, an oblivious housewife is quietly sobbing. (via Perez Hilton)
Clark Duke hosts WWE Raw alongside the rest of the "Hot Tub Time Machine" cast tonight.
*In no way do Lindsey and I condone using the USPS to dispatch poop.
Posted by John | Permalink | Comments (1)
Monday To-Do: Screaming Females
SCREAMING FEMALES
8 p.m., Vino's. $7.
A bit of a surreal band, these guys are. The New Jersey trio's fronted by Marissa Paternoster, a 5-foot tall tomboy who jumps from teenaged Marianne Faithful chanting, ululations and all, to throaty Medusan shrieks the next, shredding — and I mean shredding — a Strat that dwarfs her all the while. The bass player trades in any typical garage bass-player trappings for PiL-by-way-of-Larry Graham licks as the drummer rips blisters into his kit. It's power pop with just enough of a gruff edge, or maybe The Slits on Pixy Stix. Either way, it's as good of a Monday night show as you'll find in town. Heck, with Dutch thrashers Elle Bandita and lo-fi psych from Bad Assets, it's as good of a show as you'll find any night in town.
—John Tarpley
Posted by Lindsey Millar | Permalink | Comments
Watch a slideshow from the Designer's Choice Fashion Preview
The third Designers Choice Fashion Preview proved the old saying true, as last night's Saturday's show was the annual event's slickest production yet. Tyson Beckford joined perennial emcee Korto Momolu to host, but thankfully their talking segments were kept to a minimum. Despite Momolu's and Beckford's stardom and Beckford's enthusiastic fans, the focus was squarely on the designers.
A large screen behind the runway helped streamline the flow of collections by playing pre-recorded, short interviews with each designer before each segment. Like last year, the number and diversity of designers provided a well-rounded offering of garments.
We saw tailored jackets, sexy cocktail dresses and a surprising amount of swimwear. Saturday's show had more energy and forward-thinking concepts than at either of the past two events. Fashion seekers in Little Rock have a lot to look forward to as this show continues to position itself as a springboard for local designers.
—Kathryn Heller
Posted by Lindsey Millar | Permalink | Comments
Friday, March 26, 2010
Yo Gotti to Robinson on April Fools' Day
Memphis' Yo Gotti will make an April 1 stop at Robinson Center Music Hall (?!?) in support of his new album "Live From the Kitchen." Waka Flocka and Bigga Rankin join.
UPDATE: April Fools already! He's not. Did anyone care in the first place?
'Hot Tub Time Machine,' possibly good
That's him on the far right.
So far, despite 65ish% ratings on Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes, a lot of the country's most respected critics actually seem to kind of like "Hot Tub Time Machine," the first starring role for Glenwood's Clark Duke.
Here's a quick round-up:
I can't be sure, but I think the density of the f-word reaches the saturation point in 'Hot Tub Time Machine.' I may have heard it employed as three different parts of speech in the same sentence. One wonders if American-spoken English could survive without it. What did we say in the old days? It must have been a quiet land.
The bottom line is, gross-out guy comedies open twice a month, and many of them are wretched excesses. "Hot Tub Time Machine," which wants nothing more than to be a screwball farce, succeeds beyond any expectations suggested [Roger Ebert, Three Stars]
If you are a connoisseur of sexual, scatological or just plain stupid humor, you will find your appetite satisfied, even glutted. But viewers of a certain age and background — let’s say those who know the lyrics to “Jesse’s Girl” by heart, even if they never really liked that song — are likely to endure the merry anarchy with a twinge of pained, slightly nauseated nostalgia. [A.O. Scott, NY Times. Scott describes Duke as "looking like a younger, less smug version of the Apple scapegoat and ersatz know-it-all John Hodgman" and ends his review with, "It’s fun, it’s sad, and it’s kind of sad that it’s so much fun," which Metacritic translates into a perfect score.]
Duke could be Rainn Wilson's weird younger brother, he has the same off-center charm. [Betsy Sharkey, LA Times, in a similarly positive review]
But much of the story hinges on character actors Rob Corddry and Clark Duke, who overdo everything with a shrillness that makes the movie's crass jokes and gags all the more obnoxious — and a lot less funny than they might have been. [David Germain, AP. Burn]
Posted by Lindsey Millar | Permalink | Comments
Robert Plant to Robinson
The erstwhile Led Zep frontman's bringing a reconstituted Band of Joy with him to Robinson on July 15. As all true Robert Plant geek's know, Band of Joy was the act Plant and John Bonham played in pre-Zep.
This new version of Joy includes noted producer and roots singer/songwriter Buddy Miller on guitar and Patty Griffin on backing vocals, so I'm guessing it'll find Plant exploring territory more in the neighborhood of his recent Grammy winning collab with Allison Krauss than the rawk of yore. A Plant and Band of Joy album is due out sometime this summer or early fall on Rounder.
Tickets go on-sale next Saturday.
Posted by Lindsey Millar | Permalink | Comments
Sunday To-Do: Iron Tongue / Sweet Eagle
A Sweet Eagle.
IRON TONGUE / SWEET EAGLE
7:30 p.m., Juanita's. $3.
Dear Juanita's, thanks for hosting a weekend of much-needed local rawk. Iron Tongue is really great stuff. I don't think you'll be disappointed. They're so loud and forward that it literally contorts your body. Once, during one of their sets, my friend told me that I “looked like I sat on a crooked stump,” whatever that means. Sounds about right, though. When a band roars and thrashes and sounds like a warship made out of muscles, you're bound to walk a bit funny. And Sweet Eagle…let me tell you, Juanita's, they're going to chip the paint off of that big, blue mural on your wall. They're a true super group in a town where, well, everyone's a super group by default. The Eag — can we start calling them “The Eag,” y'all? — is like when you're a kid (or, y'know, 25) and you make your “perfect team” out of baseball cards, except it's with dudes in town who are just, y'know, really freaking good at ripping blisters in people's ear canals with their instruments. Thanks for a good weekend. Keep 'em coming. Best to you, Juanita's.
—John Tarpley
Posted by Lindsey Millar | Permalink | Comments
Saturday To-Do: Designer's Choice Fashion Show
Photos from last year's event. By Brian Chilson.
DESIGNER'S CHOICE FASHION PREVIEW
7 p.m., Metroplex. $35-$50.
In the increasingly bustling — well, at least growing — local fashion scene, no event brings out more spectators or star wattage than the Designer's Choice. In its third year, the fashion show brings back Korto Momolu to host, this time with Tyson Beckford, who's famous for modeling for Ralph Lauren, making music video cameos and hosting Bravo's “Make Me a Supermodel.” Still, the focus as ever remains on local designers. There are nine locals: Brooke Benham, Krystal Cornelius, Daisy Jackson, Leah Jackson, Tashika Keown, Feleke Ross, Johnathan Nichols, Ngozika O'keke and Leslie Pennell. And three out-of-towners: Ocie Collins, Essence Flowers and Elwood Shannon. Tickets are available at Jeante OneofOne, Box Turtle, Vogue Visage, 4th Dimensions Salon and Uncle T's. A $50 VIP ticket includes a meet and greet with Momolu and Beckford (at 5:30 p.m.), free booze and food, good seats and free access to the after party.
Posted by Lindsey Millar | Permalink | Comments
Event Calendar
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Re: Friday To-Do: Good Time Ramblers
So excited about this show!!!
- on May 16, 2013
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Re: Ashlie Atkinson will be in the new Fox series 'Us & Them'
Ashlie deserves this great chance and I have some high hopes that they will do…
- on May 15, 2013
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Re: Here's the schedule for Movies in the Park
zzzzzzzzzz
- on May 15, 2013
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Here are some photos from Thursday's Cirque du Soleil performance at Verizon Arena.
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