Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Coming soon River cruisin'
Good looking flyer and line-up. Tickets available at White Water, Green Grass,
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What's going on / Music Wednesday To-Do: Sister Hazel
8 p.m., The Village. $17 adv., $20 d.o.s.
Best known for its unavoidable 1997 hit — and one of the better late-'90s M.O.R. singles — "All For You," Sister Hazel refused to follow its one-hit wonder comrades into the dark, instead steadily releasing albums since, each keeping in step with a carefree, Southern-kissed vibe of optimism and long afternoons. In fact, their last album, "Release," is their most successful, highest-charting so far. This all, thanks to the sound that resonates with the radio-ready set and, surprisingly, with an unlikely audience in the jammier factions of the college-aged crowd, in spite of the fact that Sister Hazel is not a jam band by any stretch of the headphones. It's a familiar sound, inoffensive almost to a fault and easily digestible, filling ears without ever nourishing them. But in the realm of musical junk food, you could do worse than this Gainesville, Fla., troupe. Femme poppers Aslyn open the night.
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What's going on / Film Wednesday To-Do: 'The Dark Knight'
8:30 p.m., Riverfest Amphitheatre. Free.
In the theaters, we're a nation that likes our sugar extra sickly sweet and our lovey with as much dovey as possible. So how in the world did a movie so nihilistic, so unwaveringly dark and with such a complete lack of resolution manage to resonate with an entire country? After all, towards the end, when Batman harnessed Patriot Act technology by tapping into every cell phone in Gotham, it was hardly a fist-pumping moment of superhero ingenuity. With that scene, not only did the Adam West archetype get thrown from the highest tower of Arkham Asylum, the entire popular superhero mythos, the sum of all comic book cartoon levity was run out of town with it. This movie is a stark character study, a criticism of society's decaying morality and an indictment against mass apathy that, like "The Wire," is played out on a taut chain made of unforgiving sociopaths and players in a corrupt civic system. So how exactly did this type of dank pessimism manage to gross over half a billion dollars at domestic box offices alone? Because it's one of the best, most engrossing action movies since "Jaws" and it's meant to be seen on the biggest screen you can plop down in front of. Done and done. Go see it again.
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Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Music Hilarious kiddie hoodlums run amok in new Ear Fear video
So are 607 and Bobby going to do a video for every song on both of their new albums? I hope so.
This is definitely the best one yet. Dig the kiddie dance.
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What's going on Tuesday: Agent Orange, The Glyph, "Latin Nights"
Classic, trailblazing punk/surf-rock trio Agent Orange have been providing music for skateparks for more than three decades and, most recently, making me damn near jump clear out of my skin after trying to do a Google image search for that picture right up there. they're coming to Juanita's tonight with Chicago's power-punk three-piece Juicehead and heavy Fayettevillians Well Well Well, 9 p.m., $12.
Local newcomers The Glyph take their modern rock melodies to Sticky Fingerz tonight, 9 p.m.
Revolution hosts their weekly night of salsa, merengue and cumbia dancing with the "Latin Nights!" dance party, 7 p.m., $5 ($7 under 21).
Prost keeps trucking with their new weekly party, Karaoke Tuesdays, 8 p.m., free.
Down the block, Bill St. pops off with DJ Hy-C with their Tequila Tuesday party, 8:30 p.m.
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Monday, June 28, 2010
True Blood / Recaps True Blood: Heads will roll
Are we already over the hump? Only twice in last night's episode three did I wish an act of blood and carnage would swoop in and free me from scenes of emotional gooey-ness, down a good 30% from episodes one and two! The most wretched, of course, involved yet another flashback. This time, of Bill going home to visit to visit his wife in the early postbellum days. Their son is dead, recently, of small pox, which is a cheap way to make us care about Bill's past family. The reunion, predictably, does not go well: Bill cries tears of blood, Mrs. Bill shoots Bill, Lorena comes and freaks everyone out further and, though Lorena spares Mrs. Bill's life, Bill leaves with the understanding that vampires and humans don't mix. All of which is supposed to help us understand why he's able to forsake Sookie: Burn my loved ones once, shame on naivete; burn them twice, shame on foolishness. But why is turning her, as the King of Mississippi suggests, so out of the question? Because he thinks its wrong, or because he knows she's some supernatural other?
Otherwise, this episode had great stuff: Eric kills an evil werewolf gruesomely. Vampire Detective Franklin Mott woos Tara and makes a severed head talk. Sam's reunion continues with his new family (who are more than a little rednecky, no? Who, other than Arkansas hillbilly cartoons, wears only saggy, dirty whitey tighties?). Upon finding the body that was once attached to Jessica/Franklin's severed head, Sheriff Dearborn quits exasperatedly, leaving an obvious in for Jason join the force and quickly cut-off his uniform's sleeves. And, for a certain contingent, most importantly: Werewolf Alcide Herveaux comes to Sookie's aid, with a Just For Men beard, a lumberjack plaid shirt and a significantly gruffer interior voice than his speaking voice (it's the beast within, of course). Which means that the show now has the three pillars of leading man cliches in trash romance — the Southern Gentleman (Bill, duh), the Rogue (Eric) and the Blue Collar Brawler — all fighting for Sookie's affections. Even if Alcide's type is almost less interesting than Bill's (at least in every way except wish fulfillment), at least he gives Sookie something more to say than a variation on "I've got to find Bee-Yul!"
Lingering questions from this episode: Is Eric the only vampire who can fly? If not, why, other than special effects cost a lot, is this not happening more? What's the point of the "humans must ask vampires to enter their home" rule if vampires can just glammer them? Seems like cheating. And what would you call that move from the closing scene between Bill and Lorena? Hate sexing with a twist?
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Saturday, June 26, 2010
Reviews / Music Lights out
The Drive-by Truckers literally rocked the lights out last night at the Rev Room. About four or five songs into the set, all the power to the band's instruments shut down. The only thing left on were the microphones. After joking with the audience for a couple minutes and warning them to "not get all pissed off," the Truckers launched into an a cappella version of "Bulldozers and Dirt." It was one of those live music moments that the attendees will likely not forget, with the crowd and the band singing as one big, harmonizing voice. After a short break, the power came back to the amplifiers - but not the air conditioning - and the band soldiered through a sweat-soaked set including a number of tunes from their new album "The Big To-Do" and other crowd-pleasers like "Where the Devil Don't Stay." The crowd left drenched, but happy, after seeing one of the better rock shows to come through Little Rock since the last time the band was in town.
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Theater Dracula: A thrilling time at UCA theater
David Koon reports on Dracula, showing through Saturday, July 3, at UCA as part of the Arkansas Shakespeare Festival:
The Arkansas Shakespeare Festival has made a habit out of throwing some curveballs in their annual salute to The Bard. One of this year's examples was especially exciting to Yours Truly, given that I was a vampire lit freak long before anybody heard of "Twilight" or Sookie Stackhouse. Then again, it's hard to think of a better pairing that Shakespeare and Bram Stoker. Both wrote well about bloodsuckers, though ol' Bram's were of the literal variety while Shakespeare's were much more apt to be feeding on more figurative heartsmilk.
In short: All those hours drilling actors on Shakespeare leading up to the festival have paid off in spades for "Dracula," which turns out to be a genuinely thrilling time at the theatre.
Though the sets by veteran designer Doug Gilpin are spare, rich lighting and sound — along with an interesting tiered stage and sometimes-transparent-sometimes-opaque curtains — make the production seem much more lush than it is, not to mention more mysterious. That deep stage and gauzy curtain are used to great effect in scenes dealing with flashbacks to Jonathan Harker's torturous sojourn in Transylvania as a guest of the Count.
The acting, as with all the Shakespeare Festival productions I've seen, is first rate. One clear standout is Greyson Lewis as Renfield, who plays Dracula's John the Baptist with a flailing, Puck-like glee. Also fine is Tracie Thomason as Mina, and Paul Saylor as her Jonathan Harker, with both of them navigating the slippery slope from carefree and in love to terrified and hunted believably enough to give the play quite a bit of suspense. Nathan Hosner is also good as Count Dracula, though we don't see much of him. As in the book, Dracula is often the imagined threat lurking just out of the edge of the light, and that works here to good effect.
If I had to point out a flaw in the production, it's that I wish they'd been a bit more adventurous with the character of Dracula. Hosner is decked out in a version of the classic Dracula garb, with red waistcoat and black cape, and is clearly channeling Bela Lugosi's famous, sinuous performance here. The effect, in this post-"Twilight" world, is to leave the Granddaddy of All Vamps looking a little dated and campy. My feeling coming away was that a bit more of a dark and subdued look and mannerism might have been in order, and could have added a different facet to the character without adding a word.
Even at that, Dracula is a good time at the theater, full of fine performances and satisfying stagecraft. Unlike its namesake, it definitely does not suck.
DRACULA
Arkansas Shakespeare Festival 2010
Reynolds Performance Hall, UCA
7:30 p.m. Sunday, June 27
7:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 30
7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 1
7:30 p.m. Saturday July 3
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Friday, June 25, 2010
What's going on Saturday To-Do: Life Size Pizza album release show
- Life Size Pizza
LIFE SIZE PIZZA
9 p.m., White Water Tavern. $5.
If you just heard the sound of breaking glass, that'd be me, blasting my impartiality out the window. For months now, I've been evangelical — into this keyboard and to friends — about Life Size Pizza. It's my single favorite local band and one of the most divisive acts this town's ever bickered about. Either you love the fellas' goofy, drunken stabs at that weird space between hyper slack-rock and hedonistic garage or — hopefully not — you're the type that'll shrug off to the other room with the rest of the joyless, tin-hearted, arm-crossing bums who don't deserve rock 'n' roll. Yeah, they jack riffs from B-52s' "Rock Lobster" ("Rock and Roll") and The White Stripes' "Hello Operator," ("Eddie's Song"), yeah, they're usually sloppier than not and sure, sometimes it gets downright impossible to hear lead singer/drummer Jack to the Future mumble into his mic. That may not be everyone's bag, but those into LSP's forbears from K Records or their local uncles-in-spirit, The Rockin' Guys, know this band's the real deal. No other act is going to sing an ode to Jesus with lines like "fuck you, hippie, he's pure of heart/and he's good at Quiz Bowl 'cause he's really, really smart/He's Jesus/He's our man." And now, after months of gigging, the guys finally release their debut, "Queer Ideas." It's an addictively repeatable ramble, crammed with engaging, dynamic tracks about love, banjos, blue laws and being on the lam as seen through a hilarious, totally Southern lens a la Charles Portis. And it's a ridiculous affair; I love the hell out of their unassuming brilliance and hope you do, too. The raucous drum and bass duo Androids of Ex-Lovers open alongside the proto-garage outfit, Frown Pow'r.
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What's going on Friday To-Do: Drive-By Truckers
- Drive-By Truckers
DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS
9 p.m., Revolution. $25 adv., $30 d.o.s.
It's damn near impossible to find Drive-By Truckers' name in print without finding a Skynyrd reference trailing behind. But heavy are the shoulders that wear Ronnie Van Zant's "Tonight's the Night" shirt. For the last number of years, the Athens, Georgia, act has been the mayor of Southern rock — even though the band shrugs off that idea. But you can't very well have songs called "Dead, Drunk and Naked" and "You and Your Crystal Meth" without being as Southern as a barbecue behind a baptismal. Their sound is a three-guitar powerhouse drawl that sounds like it could be recorded 10 miles away from wherever you're reading this right now. It's sweat-glazed and highly relatable. In fact, I bet when the band's principal songwriters, Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley, were teen-agers, they could burp the tracklist to Molly Hatchet's "Greatest Hits" and maybe even fart all the major characters in the Snopes trilogy. But what's most astounding about the big-time cult is their ambition seemingly knows no bounds — we're talking "let's make a two-disc concept album about the decline of the South in the 1970s, using Lynyrd Skynyrd as a metaphor" ambitious. It's that kind of work ethic that makes Drive-By Truckers worthy of every bit of their enormous, feverish fanbase. Songbird Amy Wood opens the night.
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What's going on Friday To-Do: A+ Setup reunites!
- A+ Setup
A+ SETUP
6 p.m., Music Fort Smith. $6.
When A+ Setup released its debut LP, "Language," in 2006, the band put out, bar none, one of the best, most essential Arkansas albums of the aughts. About the last thing you'd expect to zoom out of Booneville, it's a frayed-edge album of catchy dance commanders with serious post-punk jitters, all jammed to critical mass with some of the wryest lyrics this side of Manchester, England. ("My baby joined the Ottoman Empire/She's marching away/She doesn't need a man when we've got a country.") And live? They were the realest of deals, ripping a shimmy out of even the most stone-y of regulars. It was a band out to dominate an audience, not just three dudes playing dress-up for a Factory Records party. But after two years with a replacement drummer and an unexpected break-up, A+ Setup has reunited (now with an additional member on keyboards) and the state is all the better for it. Their re-debut goes down at Music Fort Smith this Friday at a fund-raiser to benefit the burgeoning West Arkansas music venue. If you're in for a Friday night road trip, you could do a lot worse than trucking up the interstate for the post-punk resurrection. A slew of bands lead the way, with indie surf rock from Taifas, indie poppers Physical Science, an acoustic set from No Hickeys and soundtrack-rock from Silent Waits the Archer.
(A+ Setup videos after the jump for any uninitiated.)
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What's going on Weekend: Chuck Dodson, Cool Shoes, "Dance 'til You Disintegrate"
- Chuck Dodson
FRIDAY 6/25
Pianist Chuck Dodson releases his newest classical jazz album, "The Wildwood Sessions," at Maxine's in Hot Springs, performing alongside his studio-accompanied cellist and violinist, 7 p.m., $5.
"American Idol" contestant Charity Vance shares the Juanita's stage with heartfelt pop outfit Benjamin's Army, 9 p.m., $9.
Monthly dance party Cool Shoes returns with DJs Risky Biz, Cameron Holifield and Patrick Malpractice, Downtown Music Hall, 10 p.m., $5-$8.
Midtown continues booking the occasional local band with rockabillies Josh the Devil & The Sinners and omnipresent Little Rock favorites Brother Andy & His Big Damn Mouth, 12:30 a.m., $5.
"Jesus Christ Superstar," the classic rock opera, continues its stand at The Weekend Theater, 7:30 p.m., $18.
SATURDAY 6/26
ACAC throws "Dance 'til You Disintegrate," a fund-raiser for its annual July fashion show with music by DJs Cameron Holifield and Michael Inscoe at Union, 9 p.m., $3 members, $5 non-members.
The long-standing free music paper, Nightflying, celebrates its 30th year in publication with an Arkie-packed anniversary party in Fayetteville at George's Majestic with Southern soul pioneers The Cate Brothers, Fayetteville songstress Tiffany Christopher, anthemic pop act A Good Fight and American Aquarium, 9 p.m., $5.
The smooth trumpet soul and R&B of Rodney Block & Co. comes to The Afterthought, 9 p.m., $10.
The late-night blurriness at Midtown Billiards gets a soundtrack from Austin bar-rockers Uncle Lucius, 12:30 a.m., $5 non-members.
Rena Wren brings her brand of bouncy, poppy country to Town Pump, 10 p.m., $3.
Country rockers Jason Greenlaw and The Groove take to Bill St., 10 p.m., $5.
Dizzy's Gypsy Bistro brings the Dizzy Seven, a self-described "mini-big band," with a horn-driven slant on jazz and classic R&B, 8 p.m., free.
And if you're as blindingly pissed about BP as we are, Hot Springs Community Gardens will play home to "Hands Across the Sand," a nationwide show of support for clean energy and opposition to off-shore drilling, noon, free.
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Thursday, June 24, 2010
What's going on Pharewell, Pharaohs
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TV / Coming soon Little Rock writer near a deal with AMC for college football drama
Here's how The Hollywood Reporter describes it:
"The Wreck," set in the world of Southern college football, centers on the high-profile head coach of a once-legendary team that has just finished a losing season. The school gives the coach one last chance to turn the team into winners or he's fired.
Gordy co-created the drama with Michael Fuller, a writer for "The Soup." John Lee Hancock, fresh from directing everyone's mom's favorite movie, "The Blind Side," is on board as executive producer.
AMC bought the pilot and, according to Gordy, is near making a deal for the entire show.
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Music / Coming soon Joe Nichols headed to East End for benefit
The outdoor show will be held in a lot next to East End Baptist Church at 4701 East End Road. 7 p.m. Admission is free, though, donations obviously are encouraged.
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