THURSDAY 4/26-SUNDAY 4/29

ARKANSAS LITERARY FESTIVAL

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Various times. Various venues. Free-$40.

In case you missed last week’s Arkansas Times cover story, here’s a reminder that the Arkansas Literary Festival is back, and it’s giving readers a chance to connect with authors, illustrators and fellow bookworms in real live meatspace. Highlights include a bread-baking demo from Fayetteville native Martin Philip, a banjoist and the current head baker at King Arthur Flour; a concert from rockabilly royalty Wanda Jackson; tons of free children’s programming, including the “Wickedly Free Book Fair” Saturday; Mackenzi Lee’s tour of “Bygone Badass Broads” in history; a talk from author Jamie Quatro in a 175-year-old church; a tutorial on duck calls from author Mike Lewis; a Lou Reed tribute concert at Four Quarter Bar; a boozy history of Arkansas beer at Flyway Brewing; a Sudoku and crossword puzzle competition; a screening of the documentary “Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise” preceded by a look at Angelou’s memoir; Ken Ilgunas’ case for opening private property for public recreation; a visit from the Pulaski County Humane Society’s mobile adoption vehicle; a catalogue of “Beautifully Grotesque Fish of the American West”; the Arkansas Times‘ “Pub or Perish” reading throwdown with Traci Berry as host; and much more. To make some bookish plans, visit arkansasliteraryfestival.org for the full schedule. SS

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THURSDAY 4/26

MOLLY MCCULLY BROWN, SETH PENNINGTON

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7 p.m. The Joint Theater & Coffeehouse. $35.

The eugenics movement in the U.S. during the early 20th century feels, if not geographically, at least chronologically distant. Historians disagree about the motivations of so-called “racial betterment” plans, and about the extent to which California and other state programs influenced similar movements in Nazi Germany. Few of them disagree that the practices of forced sterilization and isolation of people deemed genetically “unfit” were morally repugnant. Still, remnants of state institutions like “The Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded” (now, the Central Virginia Training Center) remain. In her acclaimed book of the same name, poet Molly McCully Brown reminds us that such institutions are not so removed at all and, in fact, makes them feel as if they are within earshot. Brown, who was born with cerebral palsy, gives those ghosts not only a voice, but whole lives teeming with questions about dignity, faith and what it means to inhabit a body that friends, family and strangers alike struggle to understand. She’ll read for this episode of “Potluck and Poison Ivy,” and she’s joined by Seth Pennington, editor of Sibling Rivalry Press and author of “Tertulia,” which he calls a collection of “love letters to manhattans, meteor showers and mononucleosis; to friends hundreds of miles apart; to the great love I sleep with.” Brown and Pennington are joined by John Burnette, a velvet-voiced guitarist whose ballad “She Called Him Jim,” from Burnette’s eponymous debut, belongs in the permanent canon of heartbreak songs. SS

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FRIDAY 4/27-SUNDAY 5/6

ARTS & THE PARK

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Various times, venues, Hot Springs. Map at hotspringsarts.org.

The Spa City exercises its cultural muscle for 10 days with exhibitions, poetry slams, dramatic performances and music, along with demonstrations of some good old-fashioned arts: cooking, pine-needle basketmaking, weaving and spinning. The fourth annual event, sponsored by the Hot Springs Cultural Alliance, has added artist and craftsman studio tours to the lineup, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, April 28-29; 20 studios in Hot Springs and two in Glenwood are participating (maps and full event schedule available at hotspringsarts.org). Fortunately, almost every day of the festival starts at 7 a.m. and runs into the evening, so besides getting your tours in you can also see exhibits at various galleries and other venues. Some particulars that illustrate the great diversity of the programming: Find “A Journey in Self-Publishing with Jessica Key” on April 29; the Hot Springs Architectural Tour on Monday, April 30; the “Art of the Roast” on Tuesday, May 1; “Wednesday Night Poetry featuring Kai Coggin” on May 2; a local author book fair, a gold-leafing workshop with Randall Good and a Jazz Night at the Ohio Club on Thursday, May 3; an influx of food trucks and music by Christine DeMeo on Friday, May 4; a chalk walk, an Arkansas Arts Center Children’s Theater production and Blues After Dark on Saturday, May 5; and singer Sylvia Stems on Sunday, May 6. That’s just a tiny sample of what are full days of art experiences to be had. A launch party from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday at the Mid-America Science Museum will feature improvisational dance with bubbles as a celebration of the intersection of art and science, an exhibition of the work of Gary Simmons in the Pop-Up Gallery and a presentation of the 2018 Arts Ambassador Award to Davis Tillman. There will be eats and drinks, too. Tickets to the launch party, available at hotsprings.org/launch-party-tickets, are $30 in advance or $35 at the door. LNP

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FRIDAY 4/27

HURRAY FOR THE RIFF RAFF, WAXAHATCHEE

8:30 p.m. Rev Room. $20.

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It must have been a very different thing to see Hurray for the Riff Raff in 2015, when the band landed in Little Rock as part of the Oxford American’s concert series. “Small Town Heroes” was still fresh, and Alynda Lee Segarra’s scholarly hymns to Appalachia were on full display, borrowing from Woody Guthrie and Hope Sandoval and offering an answer to folk’s history of murder ballads from the perspective of the victim floating down the river. 2017’s “The Navigator,” by contrast, sets Segarra in a warehouse party, trading partners against a bouncing nightclub bass beat for “Hungry Ghost,” spilling Dylan-esque narratives and voguing on a rooftop with an army of urbanites for “Livin’ in the City” or sounding the trumpet for a Latino/trans/Muslim/woman/immigrant resistance, as in “P’alante.” The “power to the people” element is no less visible than it was in the band’s past, but with “The Navigator,” that march moves to the beat of bongos, not banjos. They’re joined here by Waxahatchee, the evolving rock confessional project from Birmingham native Katie Crutchfield (with her sister and longtime songwriting partner, Allison, on keys and vocals). Their harmonies and guitar riffs leave me wanting to cue up Lush’s first album and see what 1992 sounds like from 2018. Icing on the cake: Japanese Breakfast, the bedroom-pop-turned-outer-space-pop project from Michelle Zauner, performs with Snail Mail at Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack just down the street, and your ticket for the Rev Room show gets you into Stickyz for free. SS

SATURDAY 4/28

CHAINS FOR A CHANGE

8 a.m.-3 p.m. Reservoir Park. $60.

The first ever “Chains for a Change” disc golf tournament and fundraiser is Saturday at Reservoir Park, and if you’re into the sport (one that’s growing in the state), this event is a great way to support the community and pick up some tips. The tournament is for teams of two and has three divisions: recreational, amateur and professional. Regardless of skill level, the entry fee is $60. That fee covers lunch, snacks and plenty of local craft beer. The tournament benefits Little Rock Parks and Recreation volunteer programs like Adopt-a-Flowerbed, Adopt-a-Park, Adopt-a-Trail, Volunteer Park Rangers, Junior Park Rangers and the Little Rock disc golf community. Attendees and players will be able to win prizes, play games and enter a raffle. (Raffle ticket purchasers will have access to the food and beer, too.) Credit and debit cards will be accepted at the course. Contact Karen Sykes at 442-7320 or ksykes@littlerock.gov for more information. JL

SATURDAY 4/28

‘ART IN ITS NATURAL STATE’

9 a.m.-9 p.m. Winthrop Rockefeller Institute, Petit Jean Mountain.

Nine temporary outdoor artworks installed at Petit Jean State Park overlooks and meadows and on the property of the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute will be unveiled Saturday morning. Arkansas and regional artists whose work was chosen during a competition will be on hand to talk about their work and its relation to the Arkansas environment; food trucks will provide the nourishment; and partner institutions, including the Arkansas Arts Center, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, the Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre, State Parks and others, will offer demonstrations, performances and interactive events. The morning kicks off on WRI’s front lawn and shuttles will transport visitors to the sculpture sites. Daytime events, including demonstrations, are free; tickets to a 5:30 p.m. reception on the tennis court, which will feature music by the symphony’s Rockefeller Quartet and Bonnie Montgomery, are $50. Register for both free and paid events on eventbrite.com. Participating Arkansas artists include collaborators Phoebe Lickwar and Laura Terry, and Sabine Schmidt, all of Fayetteville; Russell Lemond of Little Rock; and Marshall Miller of Hot Springs. The sculptures will remain in place for a year. LNP

SATURDAY 4/28

AMASA HINES

9 p.m. Rev Room. $12-$15.

Against the backdrop of a saffron wall at Fellowship Hall Sound and a “Strawberry Fields” repeating pattern on the keyboard, an electrical current seems to pour from Amasa Hines frontman Joshua Asante’s mouth. His outpour — which sounds to me like “that blue kind of feeling/Such a cruel time to leave me” — is woven in with the song’s namesake, the fictional blind swordsman “Zatoichi.” It’s the video for an exploratory single from the group’s forthcoming five-song EP, “Ivory Loving Glass,” and a harbinger of what audiences may hear on Amasa Hines’ string of dates across the Southern United States with Tropicalia-soul purveyors Chicano Batman. Catch Amasa Hines here at home, in the middle of that run, with the inimitable girl-gang duo Dazz & Brie warming things up. SS

SUNDAY 4/29

DANCE MONKEY DANCE

8 p.m. Four Quarter Bar. Free.

God only knows what Doug Dicharry could do with an extra set of arms and legs, but he gets by pretty well with only a pair of each and a loop machine. Pulling from a toybox too full of instruments to inventory (trumpet, trombone, guitar, kick drum and a kazoo rigged up to a microphone with masking tape, to name a few), Dicharry MacGyvers everything from a looped version of “(Your Love Keeps Liftin’ Me) Higher and Higher” (easily the highlight of the “Ghostbusters 2” soundtrack, right?) to a wrenching a cappella anti-DAPL plea, “Don’t Dig Up My Graveyard.” SS

SUNDAY 4/29

RUBY THE HATCHET, HEAVY TEMPLE, TEMPUS TERRA

8 p.m. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack. $10.

Heads up! Weird proggy outer space rock isn’t just for dudes. Exhibit A: this show, with women at the core of every one of the heavy acts on the bill. Ruby the Hatchet, a Philadelphia-based outfit with theatrical vocalist Jillian Taylor at the forefront, makes a stop here on the last leg of its U.S. tour. (Think: Ozric Tentacles covers Warlock.) Ruby’s joined by Heavy Temple, a fellow Philadelphian doom rock outfit with women at the core, and our own local heavy rockers Tempus Terra. SS

WEDNESDAY 5/2

TAV FALCO’S PANTHER BURNS

8 p.m. White Water Tavern. $10-$15.

For a few decades now, Tav Falco’s art has been so reliably far ahead of the curve that by the time our musical zeitgeist has bestowed favor on a particular musicological corner, Falco has already been blending it with five other performance mediums. And then adding tambourine and a belly dancer. Or, as Robert Palmer put it, “He was post-modern when post-modern wasn’t cool.” His act — equal parts David Lynch, John Waters and Ennio Morricone — goes up Wednesday night in the sort of dive suited for him, as he aspires to do, to “stir up the dark waters of the unconscious.” High-art honky-tonk hellraiser/darling Bonnie Montgomery opens the show. SS

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