Rock Candy: September 2007 Archives

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Friday, September 28, 2007 - 17:02:02

Friday To-Do: 'A Ride with Bob'

‘A RIDE WITH BOB’
7:30 p.m., Reynolds Performance Hall, UCA, Conway. $30-$35.

Ray Benson and Asleep at the Wheel have made a career out of carrying the torch for the music of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys (and won nine Grammys along the way). In “A Ride with Bob,” they take their reverence for Wills and the Western Swing music he popularized to a logical culmination: They perform as Wills and the Texas Playboys. "Part memory play, part loving homage, part country concert," the show features 30 actors, dancers and musicians in a musical journey that follows Wills from his early genre-mixing days, making dance music out of pop, jazz and country-string music, to his years of waning popularity, to the reemergence that followed Merle Haggard’s 1970 album tribute, “The Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World.” Anne Rapp, who wrote the screenplays for “Cookie’s Fortune” and “Dr. T. and the Women,” penned the musical, which runs through Sunday.

Posted by Lindsey Millar at 05:02 PM | Permalink | Comments [0]

Friday/Saturday To-Do: Maumelle Family Fest

Blue-eyed soulman Josef Hedinger

MAUMELLE FAMILY FEST
10 a.m., Lake Willastein. $7 adv./$10 d.o.s.

Butch Stone has mellowed in his middle years. The legendary music biz mover and shaker has traded managing over-sexed long-hairs and ne’er-do-wells (Black Oak Arkansas and Roger Clinton) for wholesome young folks (a blue-eyed soulman and a Nashville girl group), and swapped booking behemoth touring bands like the Eagles for kid-friendly festivals with draws like “the state’s largest petting zoo.” Which is not at all to say he’s grown less savvy. The line-up he’s assembled for the Maumelle Family Fest reads like the recipe for crack for kids, a saccharine combination of all their dreams, gathered within a few acres and two days (the festival kicks off Friday night, from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.). Here’s what’s on the bill: pony rides, carnival rides, games, magic shows, Jamal the Clown, a fishing contest, a boat show, presentations from the Air Force and Army, an Elvis impersonator, people dressed up like Storm Troopers from “Star Wars,” a screening of “The Wizard of Oz” (with concert sound, on Friday) and lots of music, including Josef Hedinger, the blue-eyed soulman, and Parker Branch, the Nashville girl-group. The fun goes on a full 12 hours on Saturday. Visit www.maumellefamilyfest.com for ticket locations.

Posted by Lindsey Millar at 05:00 PM | Permalink | Comments [0]

Friday To-Do: American Princes + The Good Fear

THE AMERICAN PRINCES / THE GOOD FEAR
10 p.m., Juanita’s. $7.

It’s been four months (a third of a year!) since Little Rock’s favorite sons played a show here. That’s the longest we’ve ever been American Princes-less, and you can be sure that won’t be lost on the band or its ever-widening local fan base. A new album — the group’s fifth — should be mixed and mastered by the time the APs get to town, though because they’ve signed on with a big PR firm, a large advance promotional push means it won’t go on sale until mid-February next year. The fellas are excited about the new record and sure to be antsy for folks to hear it, so expect quite a bit of live preview. Also worth noting: After years touring as a four-piece, the Princes last year added a third guitarist, Will Boyd (late of Evanescence). In the handful of times they’ve played here since then, he’s added a noticeable lift to an already dynamic act. The Good Fear, based largely in Fayetteville, rarely play Little Rock. They specialize in epic Southern pop-rock, full of dramatic arrangements and swirling guitar work. Among the six-piece, Jason “T-shirts” Rich’s swelling pedal steel is a particular highlight. Look for new material from the Good Fear, too. J. Roddy Walston and the Business also fit into the bill, which’ll play an encore show at George’s Majestic in Fayetteville on Saturday. Walston and the Business put on a raucous show at Pizza D several months back that folks still rave about

Posted by Lindsey Millar at 09:03 AM | Permalink | Comments [0]

Friday To-Do: 'The Triangle Factory Fire Project'

‘THE TRIANGLE FACTORY FIRE PROJECT’
7:30 p.m., Weekend Theater. $10-$14

Nearly a hundred years ago, a fire in New York City’s largest shirtwaist factory took only half an hour to kill 146 workers, who either got caught by the flames or died as a result of jumping out of windows or down elevator shafts. It remains the largest industrial disaster in the city’s history. The play, by Christopher Piehler with Scott Alan Evans, tracks the background of the factory — most of its employees were young immigrant women working long hours for little pay — and the headline-dominating trial that followed the fire, where the factory owners, who kept exit doors locked and let flammable fabrics pile up in the building, escaped criminal charges for the deaths, but were forced to pay civil penalties. The fire and its aftermath gave the labor movement the impetus and strength to successfully push for a lot of the labor standards we enjoy today. Frank Butler directs the social commentary, which runs through October 13.

Posted by Lindsey Millar at 08:46 AM | Permalink | Comments [0]

Thursday, September 27, 2007 - 16:36:08

Dinos

Lest anyone's missed the growling ad for "Walking with Dinosaurs" on our website, here's a note of correction: In this week's print issue of "Fall Arts," we listed the wrong dates for the show. Parents of the dino-obsessed, listen up, the ridiculously real-looking animatronic beasts come to town for seven shows from November 7-11. Tickets are onsale here.

Posted by Lindsey Millar at 04:36 PM | Permalink | Comments [0]

Hotel Chevalier for free

"Hotel Chevalier," the short prologue to Wes Anderson's forthcoming "The Darjeeling Limited," is on iTunes for free. Like all of Anderson's work, it looks like a diorama, with everything meticulously considered and placed (and several actual dioramas). Vintage designer suitcases and such.

Here's a not-so bold prediction, "Darjeeling" is going to be rudderless and empty and a little creepy (what with recent suicide attempt Owen Wilson all bandaged and bloody). "Hotel" is rudderless and empty, but that's fine in a 12 minute film. Also, Natalie Portman gets nekkid-ish. So: Probably NSFW.

Posted by Lindsey Millar at 11:30 AM | Permalink | Comments [1]

Wednesday, September 26, 2007 - 14:53:30

Anticipating: The Good Fear, J. Roddy Walston and the Business and the American Princes

1. The American Princes haven't played here in 4 months.
2. That's the longest time the band's ever gone between Little Rock shows.
3. The hiatus is mostly because they were making a new album.
4. Chuck Brody, who's worked with the Beastie Boys, Wu-Tang Clan and Peter Bjorn and John produced.
5. We're hearing good things.
6. Because 5/6 of the Good Fear live in Fayetteville, they rarely play here.
7. The band features current and former members of White Whale, Lucero, the New Amsterdams, Thee Higher Burning Fire and Woods Afire.
8. When they're on, the Good Fear are better than all those bands.
9. They've been in the studio for what seems like decades working on their sophomore album.
10. We're hearing good things.
11. Included in the cover (for at least early comers), a CD with a single, "Tools of Trade," and video track, to be played on computer, of the band's new music video for the song (shot by the Deluxe36 dudes who did the Moving Front's "Zombies")
11. J. Roddy Walston and the Business, despite their cumbersome name, are supposedly really good live.
12. They come endorsed by the Princes, Good Fear and the dozens who saw them at Pizza D on the 4th of July.

Posted by Lindsey Millar at 02:53 PM | Permalink | Comments [0]