by John Tarpley

WEDNESDAY 4/20

Advertisement

DISNEY ON ICE: ‘PRINCESS WISHES’

7 p.m., Verizon Arena. $12-$45

Advertisement

Heading to the refreshingly cool, darkened confines of Verizon Arena for a couple of hours to munch on junk food and geek out over Disney characters — balloon-headed cartoons and dime-piece princesses alike (Tinkerbell, holla) — pantomiming canned dialogue and whirling through the air like human gyroscopes may just sound like the single greatest imaginable way to observe Wednesday’s unofficial holiday. But being stoned around a gaggle of squealing children is awful creepy. Not as in “children are creepy when you’re high” (although we have no doubt they are): as in “great idea, but that’s something creepy people would do.” We here at the To-Do List in no way, shape or form condone either creepiness or celebrating 4/20 by getting baboon-butt ripped and going to a family event. No way, Cheech. We know you were thinking it, too. The ice show stays at the arena through Sunday.

‘UP IN SMOKE’

Advertisement

9 p.m., Revolution. $4.20

This, on the other hand, is an appropriate place for folks who plan on getting high as a Martian fart. Exhibit A: Headliner Muck Sticky has smoked himself stupid. Or brilliant. He looks like something you’d find scratched into a junior high kid’s denim Trapper Keeper skin, right in between the peace frog and the “take me to your dealer” alien. A mish-mash of Bloodhound Gang, that talking poop from “South Park” and “Narduwar, the Human Serviette,” the Tennesseean ups his hazy ante with a little-person back-up dancer and supporting vocals from his own mom. Young, local rap duo Adam Bomb & Lilo Eskimo open the night, right off of releasing their latest mixtape, “The Joint,” which is available for free streaming on datpiff.com. Long-time goof-rap greats Futuro Boots remind the crowd that “the only F-bomb [they] want to hear out of your mouth is ‘Futuro.’ ” DJs Digital Love and Kichen handle the “School of Dub” afterparty, offering up a 4/20 coda full of dubstepping wubwubwubwubwubwubwubwubwubbery.

Advertisement

THURSDAY 4/21

BRIAN ‘HEAD’ WELCH

7:30 p.m., Revolution. $18

In a nutshell: Guy co-founds Korn, one of the heaviest, most successful bands of metal provocateurs in the ’90s. Guy earns millions of dollars and fans; falls into a nasty addiction to booze, meth, Xanax and general pessimism; stays spun all day for years, becomes manic depressive, removed from wife and daughter. One day, after having a line of meth, he has a religious revelation; quits Korn; Korn gets pissed off, but posts a nice, succinct press release on its website, saying Head has “chosen the Lord Jesus Christ as his savior and will be dedicating his musical pursuits to that end.” Head goes to India to build orphanages; releases Christian metal album and memoir, both named “Save Me from Myself”; everyone notices that Head has looked a whole lot like J.C. the entire time. The story’s changed, but the music’s still the same: shrieking, chunky and raw, as in both “painfully honest” and “undercooked.” Christian acts Decyfer Down and The Letter Black open alongside Fayetteville act The Wedding.

Advertisement

BOONDOGS ANNUAL SHAREHOLDERS MEETING

10 p.m., White Water Tavern. $5.

Appearances of the unified melodic front known as The Boondogs are rare. As far as we can tell, the last time the band performed publicly was over a year ago, during a fund-raiser for John Adams’ (unfortunately) failed bid for Vic Snyder’s congressional seat. The members of the band, busy multi-talents all, are ubiquitous around town, though. Indy Grotto is wrapping up her anticipated, upcoming solo record, Jason Weinheimer has taken to fronting Love Ghost, Chris Michaels is still leading The Cranks, Jesse Aycock (the resident Oklahoman) is keeping it Okie and Isaac Alexander is up to his usual: quietly making everyone else in town look lazy and uninspired in comparison. Pulaski County’s pop X-Men are set to play short solo sets and, BoonGod willing, will squad up to showcase some of the band’s effortless melodics. Also performing: Greg Spradlin, who last Friday at White Water wailed his way into this writer’s choice for “best guitarist in Little Rock,” at the very least.

SATURDAY 4/23

DOODLEBUG

9 p.m., Cornerstone Pub & Grill.

Every once in a long while, Cornerstone bags a hip-hop icon or two and ‘heads around the state profit. Case in point: The Blackalicious show from 2006 is about as mythical as it gets. Now, Doodlebug, one cog in early ’90s jazz rap trio Digable Planets, is slated to bring his one-man show to the Argenta bar. Admittedly, Digable Planets were the Aerosmith to A Tribe Called Quest’s Rolling Stones. And 20 years after the trio released their untouchable breakout single, “Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat),” Doodlebug’s partner Butterfly is making some of the best new hip-hop under the moniker Shabazz Palaces. But when anyone from an act as esteemed as Digable Planets comes to town, you’d be flat-out wrong not to go show your propers and have a blast while you’re at it.

EDGEFEST VII

1 p.m., Arkansas State Fairgrounds. $35 adv., $40 d.o.s.

Last year, I found out that a lot of Edgeheads are more delicate than their music of choice could ever suggest. After poking fun at last year’s lineup, this here writer — and the paper at large — was targeted as Public Enemy No. 1 for Edge faithfuls. One listener — a misguided fella standing out of thousands of well-adjusted folks — even took to an affiliated Facebook page to imply knocking me off: “theres plenty of places to hide the body on roosevelt. im just sayin…” [Sic!] And Eek! (But if it does come to that, see I’m buried behind Homer’s. De-licious, y’all.) Now, thousands of people are going to show up to this, the 12th annual modern rock festival, so we’re obligated (and happy, believe it or not) to cover it. I’m not here to throw any beef back on the grill. Also, getting death threats from one or more wackos makes my family deadbolt their doors and lose sleep. So here’s the lineup, free of any commentary: Avenged Sevenfold, Stonesour, Three Days Grace, Seether, Theory of a Deadman, Skillet, Sevendust, Helmet, Halestorm, My Darkest Days, Art of Dying, Dark From Day One.

ROONEY

9 p.m., Juanita’s. $16 adv., $20 d.o.s.

All right, ladies of Little Rock: fess up. Which one of you is rubbing tummies with one (or more) of the guys from Rooney? It seems the Los Angeleno rockers play our town every sixth week. Not like that’s a bad thing, though. As far as melodic, vintage rock played in the key of Vitamin D goes, you could do a lot worse than this band. Fronted by Robert Schwartzman, actor and cousin to Nicolas “The bees! The bees are in my eyes! Aaaarrrhhhh!” Cage, and rounded out by a crew of models and other thesps, Rooney may just be one of the best “good looking bands.” (Hot people don’t make good music: fact. All considered, even The Beatles were haggard-lookin’ dudes.) Also, their name is fantastic, provided it’s a tip of the hat to the Chicago high school dean of students and not the a-hole soccer diva with a face that looks like my knee. Guitar poppers Voxhaul Broadcast and Australian garage rockers The Skybombers open.

TUESDAY 4/26

BOB SEGER & THE SILVER BULLET BAND

7:30 p.m., Verizon Arena. $65

“Wait, wait, wait: Bob Seger did more than that Martina McBride duo from ‘Hope Floats’?!” That’s right! “He did more than ‘Shakedown,’ the hit single from the soundtrack of yuk-a-minute Eddie Murphy action-comedy ‘Beverly Hills Cop 2’?!” Yeah, dummy! You know: Bob Seger! “The guy who provided an inspirational anthem for JoBeth Williams in 1984’s ‘Teachers’?” Yeah! The very one! You know, the more Bob Seger you listen to, the more you end up liking him. This week, after saving a Bob CD from a used bin for this blurb, I realized why his “Greatest Hits” is the best-selling catalog album of the 2000s, selling more than even The Beatles’ “1.” Everyone knows “Night Moves,” “Turn the Page,” “Old Time Rock & Roll” and “Against the Wind” by heart. But rediscovering other greats like “Roll Me Away” and “Hollywood Nights” — that is, the ones that haven’t been shoved down our collective throats for 30 years by Chevy — is another reminder for us cocky youngsters that, yeah, our parents are still right about these things. Folks who were around for Seger Fever already know why this one is a To-Do.

Be a part of something bigger

As a reader of the Arkansas Times, you know we’re dedicated to bringing you tough, determined, and feisty journalism that holds the powerful accountable. For 50 years, we've been fighting the good fight in Little Rock and beyond – with your support, we can do even more. By becoming a subscriber or donating as little as $1 to our efforts, you'll not only have access to all of our articles, but you'll also be helping us hire more writers to expand our coverage and continue to bring important stories to light. With over 63,000 Facebook followers, 58,000 Twitter followers, 35,000 Arkansas blog followers, and 70,000 daily email blasts, it's clear that our readers value our great journalism. Join us in the fight for truth.

Previous article Getting it Next article Tea Party governance in Baxter County