Friday, April 30, 2010
Oxford American sponsoring a Big Star tribute worth driving for
The remaining members of Big Star, Jody Stephens and Posies Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow and original bassist Andy Hummel (who left the band just before "Radio City" came out), will offer a tribute concert to Alex Chilton at the Levitt Shell in Memphis Saturday, May 15. The Oxford American is sponsoring.
So far the only semi-big names confirmed are Sondre Lerche and Brendan Benson (Ranconteurs), but I've heard that Paul Westerberg, Tommy Stinson, Mike Mills, Peter Buck, John Stirratt and Matthew Sweet are likely to participate, too.
Advance general admission tickets are $20. VIP is $65.
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Daily Digest: David Gordon Green, Dead Weather, 'splosions
David Gordon Green goes ever forward as the Bo Jackson of comedy, jumping into the inky world of animation. MTV is expected to order a 12-episode slate of 'Good Vibes,' a stoner comedy voiced by Adam Brody, Jake Busey, Debi Mazar and some other folks...including your dude and mine, this guy.
Garage rock supergroup Dead Weather are streaming their new album in a way only they would. Dig it.
Long lost Explosions in the Sky E.P. Por gratis.
Oh, and if you haven't checked out the controverSee that arose after our Q&A with The See last week, check it out. Brings the laughs.
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Sunday To-Do: Cinco de Mayo
CINCO DE MAYO
10 a.m., Riverfest Amphitheatre. $5.
The 12th annual celebration, sponsored by the Central Arkansas League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), is billed as “the largest showcase of Hispanic culture in Arkansas.” That means, from morning until near dark, there'll be singing and folkloric dancing and games for kids and all sorts of delicious Mexican and Latin American grub. More on that last item: If you like Mexican food, but have never sampled what southwest Little Rock is cookin' in any of the scores of taco trucks and mercados and restaurants where sometimes little English is spoken, you really, really owe it to yourself to go for a taste test. It's a rare day when real-deal authentic Mexican and Central American cuisine comes downtown. Don't miss out. Kids under 12 get in for free.
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Saturday To-Do: David Kimbrough Jr.
DAVID KIMBROUGH JR.
9 p.m., White Water Tavern. $10.
You know, I'd suspect that, by definition, it's impossible to be born into the blues. You've got to earn honest calluses on your fingertips, not to mention tap into some down deep mysticism or soulfulness, to really play the blues. Even if you're the only one of 28 children who chose to carry on the namesake of the venerable blues emperor for infinity and some, Junior Kimbrough. No sir, there's no room for nepotism on a juke joint stage and David Kimbrough Jr. certainly wasn't ushered onto the placards with a silver guitar in his hand. He began his career at 6, singing alongside his father at the local fish fry. He served time in Parchman Farm, the Mississippi state prison with a gory history of racism. Now he runs a juke joint outside of Holly Springs, carrying on the custom of his father's famous stomp shack, Junior's, and playing weekend gigs all around the South. Is it history repeating itself or a family tradition? Y'know, it doesn't really matter when he's taking his father's tribal repetition and salty licks and kneading it in with his generation's take on soul music. Mockingbird, self-described “fine purveyors of hillbilly psychedelia,” open alongside long-established local singer-songwriter Stacey Mackey. Before Kimbrough starts his blues set, all three acts will share the stage and perform a handful of what Mockingbird calls “genre bending” original songs.
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Mike Huckabee's new plan to capture hearts and minds
According to CMT, Mike Huckabee is in Nashville recording a country album. No info on who's participating in the sessions, just that the project will likely be officially announced in June.
Now let's come together and try to predict some song titles.
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Weekend: Velvet Kente/607, Magic Hassle/Literature, Leon Russell
VK doesn't know how to not kill it.
FRIDAY 4/30
One of the most reliably mind-blowing bands anywhere plays with one of the best rappers, period, for my show pick of the night: Velvet Kente hits the Juanita's stage with 607 at 10 p.m., $5.
Sticky Fingerz brings a second night of tribute bands with the band that could have been called “Ants Marching” or “Tripping Billies,” but that would have been way too obvious, right? The Dave Matthews Tribute Band plays, 10 p.m., $6 early admission.
April's Cool Shoes dance party at Downtown Music brings out DJs Kichen, Johan, Risky Biz and B. Pleiss, 10 p.m., $5 or $8 if you're under 21.
Austin's Literature returns after a fantastic show at White Water; the band shares the bill with local garage-pop outfit Magic Hassle at Union, 10 p.m., donations.
UALR Opera Theatre updates Mozart's “The Magic Flute” with a contemporary English translation and new setting in the NYC subway; Wildwood Park for the Arts hosts, 7 p.m., $15, $5 students.
Speaking of universities, UCA takes out Reynolds Performance Hall to showcase the school's cinematic talents with a night of shorts, docs and music videos in the sixth annual UCA Film Festival, 5:30 p.m., free.
SATURDAY 5/1
If you feel like getting off the beaten track, the legendary Leon Russell plays the Omaha Center in Cherokee Village, 7 p.m., $20 adv., $25 d.o.s.
Bluegrass outfit Pope County Bootleggers will be drinking at Town Pump, music to follow, 10 p.m., $5.
Speaking of drinking, if you plan on getting in it to win it, you could do worse than bellying up at Counterpoint for a night of music by party band The Gettys, 10 p.m.
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Friday To-Do: Foam Fest
FOAM FEST
6 p.m., River Market Pavillions. $25 adv., $30 d.o.e.
For more than a decade, this has been one of the annual spring events a goodly number of local folks await for weeks. It's a place where both those with discerning palates and scarred livers unite over good and — most importantly — copious beer from local distributors and microbreweries. That means everything Pabst to Chimay, Dos Equis to Diamond Bear. Yes, it's a fund-raiser to benefit the Arkansas chapter of the American Arthritis Foundation and that's all very well and good; arthritis affects the grip and it's gross drinking beer out of a straw. But let's get to brass tacks: It's a celebration of good beer, it's as decent a way as any to enjoy an evening river breeze after a week at work and, for $25 in advance and $30 at the door for three-hours of unobstructed access to over 100 beers, it may be best happy hour you'll find in town all year. Also, those who intend to do justice to this 13th annual Foam Fest would be wise to pocket a few bucks not only for a cab ride but to tip the music for the night, provided by acoustic act Canvas.
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Weekend To-Do: 'Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp'
Not the Arts Center production, but flopped up here for the LOLworthiness.
‘ALADDIN AND THE WONDERFUL LAMP'
7 p.m., Children's Theatre, Arkansas Arts Center. $11-$14.
After five productions since September, the Arkansas Arts Center's Children's Theatre is winding down its 2009-2010 season with one of the most well-known folk tales ever in “Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp.” Ever since Robin Williams hijacked everyone's perception of the story years ago, it's been difficult to separate his lampooning from the centuries-old story of the beggar, the sorcerer, the girl and the genie that's so familiar there's really little use in retreading it for anyone who's old enough to read this article. That said, if you have a tater tot running around your house, oblivious to the magic and action in “Aladdin,” it's high time to provide an introduction. The play continues through May 16, with performances at 7 p.m. Friday, 3 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday.
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Weekend To-Do: Toad Suck
Skillet.
TOAD SUCK DAZE
5 p.m., downtown Conway. Free.
Arkansas's favorite annual family celebration of drunken riverboat crews — who long ago would stop at a tavern outside of Conway, where they'd “suck on the bottle” until they swelled “up like toads” — returns this weekend for the 39th year. Here's hoping it doesn't end up like the 38th, which saw flash flooding wash out all of Saturday's events and muddy Sunday's. If the scattered thunderstorms in the forecast scatter (gulp), revelers will have an opportunity to ride carnival rides and ponies, lose sleep in a quest to win “Stuck on a Truck,” scale a climbing wall and, of course, participate in the ultra-competitive “World Championship Toad Races.” In the evening on Friday and all day on Saturday and Sunday, there's music in Simon Park. Memphis-based Christian hard-rockers Skillet (9 p.m.) lead the way on Friday. Saturday, Arkansas's rising country-rock standouts Riverbilly (7:30 p.m.) open for bona fide country superstar Clint Black (9 p.m.). Sunday, Southern gospel star Jason Crabb (3:45 p.m.) headlines. Check out the complete schedule at toadsuck.org.
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Thursday, April 29, 2010
Buy one get one free tix about to go on-sale for ZZ Top
Sales must be slow for ZZ Top because, beginning on Friday at 5 p.m. and continuing through Monday at 10 a.m., lawn seats are going two for one via Ticketmaster outlets. That's $25 for two tickets.
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Thursday: Yo Gotti, Bassnectar, Battery: Masters of Metallica
After pulling one over on Little Rock on April Fools' Day, Memphis' Yo Gotti brings his raspy 'Cocaine Musik' to On the Rocks, doors at 8 p.m., show at midnight, $5 early admission.
Big-beat, dubstep — how 'bout we just start chunking subgenres at the bass and see what happens? Bassnectar twiddles his knobs for an adoring public at Revolution, 9 p.m., $17 adv., $22 d.o.s.
Fun fact: Who opened up for Metallica on its 1998 “Garage Inc.” tour? Battery: Masters of Metallica, the cover band. That's hilarious. See the doppelgangers at Sticky Fingerz, 9 p.m., $10.
Times favorite Bonnie Montgomery fronts Montgomery Trucking and plays alongside 3 Penny Acre for a ROOT Cafe fundraiser at the Arkansas Flag & Banner building, 9:15 p.m.
Kat & Chuck of Katmandu play as a duo at Afterthought, 8 p.m., $5.
The Rep performs their fresh, new production of 'Frost/Nixon' (reviewed by Lindsey here) tonight at 8 p.m., $20-$40.
The Travs face off against the Tulsa Drillers tonight. The kicker? A post-game show by, yep, the Baja Men! Wow. 7:10 p.m., $6-$12.
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Trailer gazing: 'Winter's Bone'
The Little Rock Film Festival doesn't announce its line-up until May 11, but I gotta think they've managed to snag the much-hyped indie "Winter's Bone." It's an adaption of Daniel Woodrell's novel of the same name, set in the meth-plagued Missouri Ozarks near the Arkansas border and centered on a 17-year-old girl who's trying to track down her father, who's forfeited his family's house by skipping bond. Lots of actors whose names you probably wouldn't recognize, but who you've seen often: dudes from "Deadwood," Laura Palmer (!). Plus, Fayetteville native Lauren Sweetser.
The film won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance and, I gotta think, if the LRFF manages to book it, it'll be the odds-on favorite to win new $10,000 Oxford American-sponsored Southern film award.
Or is all the hype just the coasts getting high on a little Ozarksploitation? The trailer looks pretty good, but you gotta wonder...
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Thursday To-Do: Tony Joe White
TONY JOE WHITE
9 p.m., Juanita's. $10.
If you're not intimately familiar with Tony Joe White, here's what you need to know about The Swamp Fox: One, it's this writer's opinion that his first album, “Black & White,” is 35 minutes of the coolest music ever put on wax, period; two, his rich songbook has been covered by tons of familiars, notably, Johnny Cash, Tina Turner, Dusty Springfield and Elvis Presley; three, he wrote the ineffable classic “Rainy Night in Georgia.” Done. All rumbling baritone and guttural, tongue-y patois, Tony Joe White never enjoyed mainstream domestic success here the way he (inexplicably) did in France, but his particular, racially ambiguous take on electric swamp rock has been thrusting through American music for decades. Tony Joe's steadily made music for 40-plus years, mixing curious swamp rock hybrids with a foray into Michael McDonald-esque yacht rock, a loop and breakbeat-infused album of revisited hits and a brief detour into — gasp — disco territory! (Find his peccadillo-praising 1980 single “I Get Off on It” on hypem.com to turn that grimace into a quick grin.) For those who are quick to disparage this show as a cash-in revival, you're out of luck and in for another surprise. John Paul Keith and the One Four Fives, the jaunty Memphis-based regulars who reside on a low branch of the Tony Joe White family tree, open the show.
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Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Wednesday: 'Celtic Woman,' Rally for One, Ted Ludwig Trio
Celtic Woman, a five-piece vocal group from Ireland that found fame with a number of PBS specials performs their "Songs From the Heart" show for an AETN fundraiser at Robinson Center Music Hall tonight, 7:30 p.m., $40-$150.
The wide-ranging Dave Williams & Co hits Afterthought, 8 p.m., $5.
Long Beach, Californians Rally For One bring their piano-infused pop-punk to Juanita's alongside locals Swiss Family Knives, 9 p.m., $7.
Conway's Soundstage hosts emo-metal act The Curse Follows and Radiohead-quoting An Airbag Saved My Life, 8 p.m., $5.
Local regular Wednesday acts abound, as well: The Ted Ludwig Trio at Capitol Bar & Grill, 5 p.m., free; karaoke with DJ Debbi T at Counterpoint, 10 p.m.; Lucious Spiller Band at Sticky's, 9:30 p.m., $5.
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Rock Candy 500!!
Barely more than a week away: On Thursday, May 6, the second annual Rock Candy 500 pinewood derby returns to the River Market Pavilion. Like last year, we'll have a 40-foot track, beer and race-themed music. Unlike last year, we'll have non-beer drinks and we're requiring advance registration (only so making the bracket won't be such a hassle).
Registration date is April 30, slightly less than one week before the race. You can find a registration form this week in the paper, or you can print one out here. Or if mailing or dropping the form and your money by the office is a huge hassle, you can call me at 375-2985 and give me your credit card number.
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Event Calendar
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Re: The dude from 'Twilight' is making a movie about 'The Band'
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Re: Willie Nelson to Johnny Cash Music Festival
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Re: Willie Nelson to Johnny Cash Music Festival
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