 |
 |
 |
« February 2008 | Main | April 2008 »
Monday, March 31, 2008 - 11:36:09
Monday To-Do
Things are going to be a little slow around here while Lindsey's on vacation, but the less hip around the office are going to do what we can. Meanwhile, something to do tonight:PHANTOM PLANET
Chances are if you know Phantom Planet you’re good at pop culture trivia. The band first came onto the scene when founding — but not current — drummer Jason Schwartzman started to get rave reviews for his role in “Rushmore.” A little farther down the road, the group’s sunny anthem “
Sunday, March 30, 2008 - 23:35:02
Whistling in the graveyard?
Re: this review, from this week's letter's page.I just wanted to express my disappointment/disgust with Lindsey Millar's review of the John Prine show. As someone who really wanted to attend but couldn't afford the ticket, I was anxious to read the review. Instead of a review of the show, what I got was a detailed description of Millar's whistling. When he whistled, how loud he whistled, how many fingers he used to whistle. By his own admission he was drunk and obnoxious, though I don't think he was aware of how obnoxious his actions were. Really, how disrespectful can you be to an artist, thinking that your whistling to the chorus enhances his music? Perhaps it is a good thing I couldn't afford a ticket because my show would have been ruined by Millar's incessant whistling.
Does the Times really endorse their contributors getting drunk and acting a fool at these events? I hope I never have the misfortune of attending a show in which Millar is in attendance and I hope the Times never relies on him for a review in the future.
Cathy Barker-Brown
North Little Rock
This was one of three letters registering disgust over my drunken, persistent whistling. I got one on Friday from someone who admitted to fantasizing about judo chopping my pharnyx so hard that blood spew and who owned up to following me out of the auditorium and very nearly pushing me down the stairs.
SO. In case this unsigned letter writer happens to read the blog and someday sees my picture somewhere, DO NOT convince yourself that the balding and pudgy middle-aged dude who was whistling so hard at the John Prine concert that he appeared to be very near passing out has somehow morphed into a lanky, goofy-looking redhead with a full head of hair and kill me. He is not me. It was a joke. I was trying to imagine what was going through the (very-real) whistler's head.
I'm sure all y'all got it, though?
More critical love for "Shotgun Stories"
|
Jeff Nichols continues to rake in critical acclaim for "Shotgun Stories." In addition to the favorable NY Times review I posted about the other day, he's pulled a really glowing lead review from my favorite movie critic, David Edelstein, in New York magazine (with another big pic of Alan Disaster as Shampoo). Nichols is a graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts, also home to the film’s co-producer, David Gordon Green (director of George Washington and the recent Snow Angels), and Shotgun Stories is broadly in the category of what we sniggering urbanites used to call “deadbeat regionalism” (before the indie movement was kicked into the mainstream by Quentin Tarantino and Harvey Weinstein). But the sensibility here is more subversive, more attuned to the South’s subliminal violence. Adam Stone’s wide-screen cinematography captures the heat and the corrosive moisture, the lush green of the cotton fields and the rust of the pickup trucks, the natural beauty juxtaposed with the unnatural human debris. The place is breathtaking—and utterly indifferent to the people who inhabit it.
Salon's Andrew O'Heir gushes: "If there's one below-the-radar American movie of the past year that has caused film buffs, on their way out of festival screenings, to call their friends and demand, 'Why the hell haven't we heard more about this one?' - that movie is Shotgun Stories... I honestly believe that in another era Shotgun Stories might have become a huge hit."
GreenCine Daily has a bigger wrap-up of all the critical hits. |
Sunday To-Do: State of Chaos Tour
Avengend Sevenfold.
ROCKSTAR TASTE OF CHAOS TOUR
4 p.m., Riverfest Amphitheatre. $27.
The premier hard rock festival on the road right now makes a stop in Little Rock. Yeah, it's a Sunday fairly early in the afternoon, but I suspect you can rally. So-Cal's Avenged Sevenfold — the only band to headline the Warped Tour and Ozzfest — leads the pack behind its latest self-titled, self-produced album, which debuted last year at number four on the Billboard charts. Atreyu, from Orange County, Calif., may be named for the kid in “The Neverending Story,” but they kick out punchy hard rock. Hugely popular British metal band Bullet for My Valentine comes through on only its second stateside tour. Plus, there are bands like Blessthefall, from Arizona, and Mucc, from Japan, that sound in the neighborhood of what you'd expect.
Saturday, March 29, 2008 - 15:51:44
Saturday To-Do: Miss Gay Revolution
MISS GAY REVOLUTION8 p.m., Revolution. $10.
Michael Brown, a longtime manager at Discovery and a DJ who goes by nom de turntables Mandonna, thinks he might be the only straight promoter of Miss Gay USA in the country. “The art of female impersonation” is how he describes it, but some of the contestants might take issue with that characterization. Like RuPaul once pointed out, “How many women do you know who wear seven-inch heels, four-foot wigs and skintight dresses?” Not to delve too deep in semantics: This is men dressing up as women and competing in a contest that adheres to the traditional pageant formula. Pre-show, contestants participate in an interview with judges. At the event, queens battle it out, gracefully, in an evening gown section, a talent portion and an onstage question. The winner of this event goes on to compete in Miss Gay Arkansas, which, of course, sends a finalist to Miss Gay USA. RK Collections sponsors and contributes its fashion show expertise to the production. Brown says if this event goes well, he hopes to hold a monthly dance event geared to the gay community at Revolution.
Saturday To-Do: Designer's Choice Fashion Preview
DESIGNER'S CHOICE FASHION PREVIEW
7 p.m., Clear Channel Metroplex. $20-$35.
Isn't Little Rock fashion-forward all of a sudden? Wasn't it just last season that the biggest stage local designers saw was the front porch of Ciao Baci? Now, just months after the Delta Style fashion show at the Arkansas Arts Center drew several hundred folks out on a rainy night, the Designer's Choice Fashion Preview aspires to an even larger audience. Mychael Knight, a former “Project Runway” contestant who's gone on to date Brandy and design clothes for Ciara and Queen Latifah, hosts the showcase of the latest from eight local designers: Georgia Ashmore, Andrea Jenkins, Missy Lipps, Erin Lorenzen, Marcus Lewis, Korto Momolu, Natasha Rawls-Dixon and Stephanie Thomas. A fashion expo will precede the preview at 5:30 p.m. Admission is steep, relative to past events, but a model I know from around the way says that preparation for this has been on a whole other level, so bring high expectations with your nice pair of jeans.
Saturday To-Do: Buy books
LORENZEN'S LAST DAY
8 a.m.-6 p.m., Lorenzen and Co. Booksellers. Half price books.
Full disclosure: I spent more than a year loitering behind the cash register, dusting bookshelves and reading thousands of back cover book blurbs at Lorenzen and Co. Booksellers not too long ago. It was a great job, even if it didn't fit my post-collegiate-haze aspiration to land a job where I could read all day long. Still, just surveying shelves and catching fleeting glimpses of sold books on their way into paper sacks expanded and provoked my literary interests immeasurably. Who could envision a cozier store in which to browse, full of tight bookcase passageways, tiny rooms, worn Oriental rugs and sun-bleached armchairs? Then, of course, there's Rod Lorenzen, the store's owner and namesake, who's been a force in the Little Rock book business off, but mostly on, for more than 30 years. He opened the Paperback Writer (which later became WordsWorth) in 1975 and Lorenzen in 1990. You'd be hard-pressed to find a bookseller with more encyclopedic knowledge or an easier smile. After Saturday, when all of the store's remaining books will be half off, there will be no local major retailer of used books. Who cares if you can buy a used copy of “Go Down, Moses” on Amazon for a dollar? I want the unexpected. Go tell Rod you'll miss him and pick up something strange for the road. It goes to a good cause: All proceeds from the last day's sale will go to local literacy projects.
'Paper Trails' vs. 607
'Shotgun Stories' reviewed in NY Times
Wednesday To-Do: Joshua Bell
Deadline for the 1st Arkansas Music Video Competition
Tuesday To-Do: The Dirtbombs
Arkansas Linkage: Al Green, Kevin Brockmeier and Wal-Mart putting the squeeze on major labels
Tuesday To-Do: Epiphany and One Night Stand
Tuesday To-Do: Hector Faceplant
The Rep announces 2008-2009 season
Monday: David Slade and Matt Quinn and Justin Carr
Tune in: 'Greek' season premiere
Saturday To-Do: Rock 'n' Roar
Saturday To-Do: Mike Epps
The Weekend: Randy Rogers Band, Jonathan Wilkins, Machina
Friday To-Do: Eric Roberson
Friday To-Do: 'Sing, Dance, Repeat!'
Five spring albums to anticipate
Trip 7 Film competition
Friday To-Do: Ben Nichols
Thursday: Limbeck, Ted Ludwig and Rodney Block
Thursday To-Do: The Lions
Thursday To-Do: Big Downtown Thursday
The ethics of bracketology
Wednesday: Kingsdown, Kiss Kiss and more
New Brockmeier
MLB in Memphis
Tuesday: J. Roddy, Pasties and more
Tuesday To-Do: Jonah Lehrer 'Kanye West Was a Neuroscientist'
Keep up with SUJ and the Front
Gravity will get you
Monday: St. Patrick's Day doings
Hogs Fall After Their Own Improbable Run
SEC Championship: Halftime Update
Razorbacks Shock Tennesse, Rest of Arkansas
Saturday To-Do: Energy Shift
Saturday To-Do: Newsboys
Friday: More VOV, Boondogs and Big Silver, Kyoto Boom, the Ho Bash and more
Friday To-Do: 'Sing, Dance, Repeat!'
Friday To-Do: Inksplosion!
Friday To-Do: Marky Ramone
Friday To-Do: 'Golda's Balcony'
Friday To-Do: 'Stars & Stripes & Pops!'
Thursday: VOV, Chase Pagan, the Ataris and more
The Razorback Legacy: Marches Past
Woebegon Idol
Damn Bullets "Done You Wrong" video
Carrie Underwood and her hot pants are coming to Alltel
Wednesday: Valley of the Vapors, Jim Mize, Kevin Gordon and more
The last word from the judges
The Finals' Score: 607
The Reds "Eddie Leatherwood" video
Tuesday: Denny, Birds of Avalon, Bryan Scarry and the Shredding Tears, New Monsoon and more
Linkage: Iggy does Madonna, post-'Wire', FNL and Megazoid
Tuesday To-Do: Black Mountain
The Hag
Last Saturday: Michael Bublé
Monday: Glossary, Justin Townes Earle, the Strugglers and more
Last night: John Prine
Saturday: The Munks, hip-hop at the Village, Colour Revolt and more
Saturday To-Do: American Princes / J. Roddy Walston and the Business
Saturday To-Do: Michael Bublé
Showcase Finals: Kyoto Boom
Showcase Finals: Brian Martin and the Circulators
Showcase Finals: Epiphany and One Night Stand
Showcase Finals: 607
David Gordon Green is busy
The Show(case) must go on
Meet the FINALS guest judge: Michael Marion
Meet the FINALS guest judge: Jim Harris
Your favorite bands and their favorite bands
Showcase Finals
Thursday: John Barrett's Bass Drum of Death, the Effects, Ted Ludwig, the Gettys and more
Linkage: Biggie? chimp retirement homes; MC Hammer is still releavant and more
Thursday To-Do: Libras do Bob Dylan
Thursday To-Do: Cirque
Wednesday: Buzz Cason, g-force, Adam Faucett, Mermaid Police and more
Make plans: "Kanye West was a Neuroscientist" at the Clinton School
Linkage: Malkmus, R.I.P. E. Gary Gygax, dwarf strippers, etc.
Tuesday: Rebirth Brass Band, State Radio, the Weisenheimers
Best press release of the day: The PickleSickle
The Dickson St. Music Fest featuring Charlie Daniels, .38 Special, Little Feat and...Sonic Youth?!?
Last Night: Western Meds
Monday: Ginsu Wives and Western Meds get psychedelic
Saturday Night: Rascal Flatts and Kellie Pickler
Saturday To-Do: Lucero
Saturday To-Do: 'Eroica'
Saturday To-Do: Rascal Flatts
-
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
RSS Feed |
 |
  |
| © 2004 - 07 Arkansas Times. All Rights Reserved. |  |
