THURSDAY 2/7

‘A CELEBRATION FOR MASON MAULDIN’

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7 p.m. Revolution. Donations.

With the passing of Mason Mauldin, Little Rock lost a sharp and funny friend, a thoughtful and serious (without taking himself too seriously) musician, a skilled and enthusiastic pilot and so much more. Those who knew him will always have their memories, and everyone will have his music. His friends created a website (masonmauldin.bandcamp.com) as a growing repository for the music he created and collaborated on. I just listened to an EP of his called “Middle Ground.” In just three songs, it shows off Mauldin’s sophisticated grasp of pop music, his understanding of atmospherics and the breadth of his songwriting abilities. It’s clear how deeply Mauldin loved music. So after Saturday’s beautiful memorial service, what better way to remember him and celebrate his life than with a big, raucous all-ages rock show? His friends in The See, Mad Nomad, Whale Fire and Amasa Hines will be performing. Donations will be taken at the door, and all proceeds will go towards the Mason Mauldin Aviation Scholarship Fund at Pulaski Technical College. RB

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SATURDAY 2/9

ARKANSAS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: ‘NIGHT AT THE MOVIES’

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8 p.m. Robinson Center Music Hall. $18-$58.

This weekend, the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra has lined up a billing of favorites from the silver screen. As ASO Conductor Philip Mann put it, the production has “everything from the classics all the way up to new releases.” Audiences can thrill to sounds from “Titanic,” “West Side Story,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “Harry Potter,” “Indiana Jones” and “The Pink Panther,” among many others. Mann promises the orchestra has some tricks up its sleeve as well. “Hear music for fight scenes, love scenes, car chases — we’ve got it all,” he said. The ASO will perform the show again on Sunday at 3 p.m. RB

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SATURDAY 2/9

SOUTH MAIN MARDI GRAS

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Noon. SoMa. Free.

So if you’re reading this, odds are better than OK that you won’t be in The Big Easy for Mardi Gras this year. (If you are going to be there, good for you. Have fun, get a Po’ Boy at Parkway, breakfast at Mother’s and bring some Advil.) For the rest of us, there are still options to be had for Mardi Gras revelry, including the Krewe of Barkus Parade starting at 2 p.m. on Sunday in Argenta (see calendar), and there’s this one on the other side of the river, the South Main Mardi Gras celebration. The parade starts at noon at 24th and Main streets, with beads and music and good times. Be sure to come by Bernice Garden at 12:30, where judging will begin for the first Root Cafe/Arkansas Times Beard-Growing Contest. There’s gonna be more hirsute faces than you can shake a razor at, all vying for the win in several categories, including “Most Original” and “Best Abraham Lincoln,” among others. Though there isn’t a category for it, I think there should be some acknowledgment of the “Totally Gnarliest” beard. The judges are KARK anchor Jessica Dean, “Arkansas Cooks” host Mary Twedt and food columnist and blogger Rex Nelson; Nathanael Wills is going to emcee this shindig. Each winner (provided that winner is 21 or older) will receive an engraved flask full of whisky and an individual prize that will vary for each category. There will also be live music courtesy of Mark Currey and Nathaniel Greer. Our own Jeff Borg is in the contest, so while we’re completely impartial and all that, we’d like to wish him luck. RB

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SATURDAY 2/9

DIRTY STREETS, IRON TONGUE, LASER FLAMES ON THE GREAT BIG NEWS

9:30 p.m. White Water Tavern. $5.

Times readers who have a yen for eardrum-shreddin’ heavy riff-o-rama blastilation are probably well familiar with Little Rock’s Iron Tongue and Memphis trio The Dirty Streets. The bands have shared the stage often and released a killer split 7″ EP last summer. They’ll be hitting up the White Water Tavern with Central Tennessee’s Laser Flames on the Great Big News. The Laser Flames have played in Arkansas previously, and released a split CD with Little Rock’s Snakedriver last year on CT’s Mutants of the Monster label. Three of those songs are also on the band’s “Lambs to the Slaughter” EP, which sounds like nothing else. It’s really cool how nowadays there aren’t any weird rules anymore about what your band can sound like. Remember how it used to be? “Well, we’re a punk band, so we’ve gotta sound like a punk band,” or whatever? And how if you tried to mix it up you got called pretentious? I guess it’s still like that in some quarters, but all that stuffiness and puritanical scene bullshit got thrown out the window at some point. The result is that now, if you want to have a metal band that has heavy riffs and breakdowns and harsh black metal screaming, but also lush harmonies and some viola and some Southern rock and some prog-rock and some beautiful clean vocals, it’s all good and nobody’s gonna give you a hard time about it. Thank God. RB

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TUESDAY 2/12

WWE SMACKDOWN

7 p.m. Verizon Arena. $17-$97.

Sorry to bust your bubble, dude, but wrasslin’ ain’t for real. That is to say: the performers aren’t actually out there exploiting each other’s’ phobias about spiders, turning each other temporarily gay through hypnotism, running for president on a platform of “Kickin’ Terrorist Asses!” and/or objecting at each other’s weddings in order to start a ruckus. As for the physicality of wrestling — the jumping, leaping, acrobatic, death-defying stuff — that part actually is all real, and quite amazing to watch in person. WWE superstar and bona fide actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson headlines a show full of real-life superheroes and super-villains with physiques that push the limits of what seems physically possible. It’s loads of fun — especially for the kiddos — as long as you don’t take it too seriously. DK

WEDNESDAY 2/13

THAT 1 GUY

9 p.m. Stickyz. $10.

If you’re tired of the same old same old in music, Mike Silverman, a.k.a. That 1 Guy, might be worth checking out. A former string bass player from Berkeley, Calif., who felt restricted by the instrument he’d mastered, Silverman decided to try another instrument — one he made himself called “The Magic Pipe,” a sculpture-ific construct of metal, strings, leather and electronics, played with a bow, fingers, feet, knuckles, deft touches and rapid slaps. As seen in videos on YouTube, the result is a sound and performance unlike anything else — dreamy, spacey, electronic, analog, part beat-box, part cello, part steel drum. At one point during a video I watched, Silverman played a plain ol’ cowboy boot (albeit one with a hidden jack in the heel to connect it to the amps) like a drum. Try getting that from The Eagles. Definitely worth the price of a ticket, just for the performance art. DK

WEDNESDAY 2/13

THE PRICE IS RIGHT LIVE!

7:30 p.m. Robinson Center Music Hall. $49-$60.

Man, oh, man. How does this reporter love “The Price is Right”? Let me count the ways. Growing up with a stay-at-home mom, we watched TPIR religiously, and often fantasized about landing on the show, spinning The Big Wheel and shooting it out with some house-frau in the Showcase Showdown. Who knew you could get so much drama out of the price of a box of Brillo pads? In celebration of the show’s 40th anniversary on TV, “The Price is Right” has taken to the road and has brought along all your favorites, including prizes, games, and the chance for audience members to “Come on down!” They even brought The Big Wheel and the Plinko board. Bob Barker, however, is not along for the ride. You and your un-neutered pets will just have to muddle through without him. DK

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