Category Archives: Music

Little Rock Look Back: Media preview, Gordon MacRae concert prior to Arkansas Arts Center Opening

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Photo of singer Gordon MacRae from the 1963 Arkansas Arts Center dedication booklet

On Friday, May 17, 1963, Little Rock’s media were treated to a preview of the new Arkansas Arts Center.  It was set to open to the public the next day.  The media were invited to attend between 6:30pm and 10:00pm.

One of the highlights was the chance to view the exhibit:  Five Centuries of European Painting.  The works were from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Arts.  The exhibition featured works by Titian, El Greco, van Dyck, Murillo, Gainsborough, Monet, Courbet, Renoir, Degas, Pissarro, and Gauguin.  Another artist featured was Paul Signac.  Today the Arts Center has one of the largest collections or works by Signac due to the generosity of collector James T. Dyke.

At 8pm that evening, there was a concert appearance by film and recording star Gordon MacRae.  This took place in the Arts Center’s theatre for Arts Center patrons. (Or at least the 389 who could get tickets to it.)  At 10pm, the press were treated to an encore performance by Mr. MacRae.

After it concluded around 11pm, it was time for the staff and volunteers to wind down for the evening and get ready for two major events on May 18, 1963.

Elvis Has Left the Building (Robinson Center, that is) – May 16, 1956

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Photo by Wayne Cranford

After two visits in 1955 where he was down on the bill, Elvis Presley made his third and final appearance at Robinson Auditorium on May 16, 1956.  This time he was the star and Robinson was packed. The tickets were $1.50 in advance at Walgreens and $2.00 at the box office.

The ads featured 8 great acts in “his” variety show which consisted of the Jordonaires; Rick and Emil Flaim and their orchestra; vocalists Frankie Conners and Jackie Little and comedian-magician Phil Maraquin. A second show was added at 9:30 p.m. to accommodate the ticket demand.

About 30 minutes late, due to a missed flight, Elvis appeared on stage in a purple blazer and started singing “Heartbreak Hotel.”  The crowd rushed the stage. Little Rock police officers were able to control them eventually and get the teenagers back to their seats.  While the crowd was impressed, the police officers were less so.  One of the patrolmen told the Arkansas Gazettereporter: “I wouldn’t know him if I saw him. And I wouldn’t be here unless I was being paid.”

Disc jockey Ray Green recorded the concert that night.  Copies of the concert on CD (which also includes an interview with Presley) are prized possessions of Presley collectors.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette has a special section on its website containing quotes from some of the concert attendees.

Little Rock Look Back: Miss America Donna Axum sings at Robinson Auditorium

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Photo from Encyclopedia of Arkansas, courtesy of Mike Polston

While she had made a few other appearances in Little Rock during her reign as Miss America, on May 11, 1964, Donna Axum appeared in concert at Robinson Auditorium.

She sang with the Arkansas Symphony (not directly connected with the current Arkansas Symphony Orchestra) and the Arkansas Choral Society.

The concert was part of the Arkansas State Festival of the Arts which was an annual event from the late 1950s until the mid 1960s.

Miss Axum’s most recent appearance at Robinson was last June when she appeared, along with several other former Miss Arkansas title holders, at the 2017 Miss Arkansas pageant.  She was joined on stage by Savvy Shields, who like Miss Axum, was a former Miss Arkansas who held the title of Miss America.

Little Rock Look Back: William Grant Still

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Long known as the Dean of African American composers, Dr. William Grant Still was a legend in his own lifetime.

Dr. Still, who wrote more than 150 compositions ranging from operas to arrangements of folk themes, is best known as a pioneer. He was the first African-American in the United States to have a symphonic composition performed by a major orchestra. He was the first to conduct a major symphony orchestra in the US; the first to conduct a major symphony in the south; first to conduct a white radio orchestra in New York City; first to have an opera produced by a major company. Dr. Still was also the first African-American to have an opera televised over a national network

Dr. Still was born May 11, 1895 in Woodville, Mississippi to parents who were teachers and musicians. When Dr. Still was only a few months old, his father died and his mother took him to Little Rock. Inspired by RCA Red Seal operatic recordings, his musical education began with violin lessons.  He graduated from Gibbs High School in Little Rock.

After his studies at Wilberforce University and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, he played in orchestras and orchestrated for various employers including the great W. C. Handy. For several years he arranged and conducted the “Deep River Hour” over CBS and WOR.  He also played in the orchestra for the 1921 musical Shuffle Along, which was the first Broadway musical to feature an all African-American cast and writing team.

In the 1920’s, Still made his first appearances as a serious composer in New York. Several fellowships and commissions followed. In 1994, his “Festive Overture” captured the Jubilee prize of the Cincinnati Symphony orchestra. In 1953, he won a Freedoms Foundation Award for “To You, America!” which honored West Point’s Sesquicentennial Celebration. In 1961, he received honors for this orchestral work, “The Peaceful Land”. Dr. Still also received numerous honorary degrees from various colleges and universities, as well as various awards and a citation from Arkansas Governor Dale Bumpers in 1972.

In 1939, Dr. Still married journalist and concert pianist Verna Avery, who became his principal collaborator. They remained together until Dr. Still’s death in 1978.  In a proclamation marking the centennial of Dr. Still’s birth, President Bill Clinton praised the composer for creating “works of such beauty and passion that they pierced the artificial barriers of race, nationality and time.”

In 1995, Dr. Still was posthumously inducted into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame.  In 2016, the ballroom at Robinson Center was named in his honor.  Earlier this month, Opera in the Rock performed Still’s opera Troubled Island.

$644,600 from NEA is going to the Arkansas Arts Council

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In pursuit of its commitment to advance the creative capacity of people and communities across the nation, the National Endowment for the Arts announces its second round of funding for FY 2018.

This funding round includes annual partnerships with state, jurisdictional, and regional arts agencies as well as the categories of Art Works, Creativity Connects, Our Town, and Research: Art Works.

One of the grantees was the Arkansas Arts Council which will receive $644,600.  This will support arts programs, services, and activities associated with carrying out the Arkansas Arts Council’s NEA-approved strategic plan.  The Arts Council is an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage.

There were a total number of six (6) grants to entities in Arkansas.  These grants are worth $814,600.  As noted yesterday in a post, one of the grantees was the Arkansas Arts Center.

Earlier this year, the NEA announced its first round of grants which included $10,00 for the Arkansas Repertory Theatre to support production of The Call; $12,500 to the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra to support the Canvas Festival, which combined visual arts and the performance of live symphonic music; $10,000 to the Chamber Music Society of Little Rock to support a series of chamber music performances and related educational programming; and $25,000 to the Oxford American to support the publication and promotion of the magazine.

Dr. Jane Chu, who is the Chairman of the NEA, has announced she will be stepping down on June 4, 2018, at the conclusion of her four year term.  A graduate of Arkadelphia High School and Ouachita Baptist University, she has visited Little Rock during her tenure at the helm of the NEA.

SHORTIE STORIES tonight at Wildwood Park with The Friends & Family Band

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Tonight at Wildwood Park for the Arts….

“Shortie Stories” features inspired harmonies, a jet-flying bassist, and bluegrass instruments, along with generational tales by Melissa Thoma and Ron Hughes, the Friends & Family Band brings mountain music to The Studios at Wildwood for a toe-tapping evening of great music and laugh-out-loud family lore that will warm your heart.

When Melissa Thoma hosts her musical family in Little Rock, they are joined by Ron Hughes and Johnny Scroggins, who altogether make the Friends and Family Band.

Mark Bair, banjo and guitar picker, and Russell Bair, fiddle player, both of Pryor, OK; Rex Bair, mandolin player from Maumelle, AR; Ron Hughes, guitar, banjo, fiddle and bass player and lead singer for the Greasy Greens; Johnny Scroggins, bass playing prodigy who has played with the likes of Leon Russell and Jerry Lee Lewis—and he’s a retired jet pilot to boot! Melissa Thoma provides vocal harmony, having sung everything from bluegrass to opera onstage in Central Arkansas.

Together, they are the Friends & Family Band. “And since everyone is probably either friend or family, we welcome any and all who want to make – or just enjoy – mountain music!”

7:30 pm (doors open at 7)
Onstage in The Studios at Wildwood

The Force is with the ASO

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StarWars_Showpage-91d5a5a9f8The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, Philip Mann, Music Director and Conductor, took advantage of Star Wars Day to announce a presentation of The Music of Star Wars, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, October 20th and 3:00 p.m. Sunday, October 21st at the Robinson Center.

The concert will feature music selected from the entire series of 10 feature films, an animated film, three TV films, and six animated series spanning more than 40 years. The celebrated film composer John Williams (Star Wars, Jaws, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter), composed all music from the eight saga films (Williams is also slated to score the ninth and final film), with award-winners Michael Giacchino and John Powell composing the music for the spin-off films.

ASO NewThe program will feature costumes, trivia, and decoration of the Robinson Center to create a multi-sensory experience. Audiences are invited attend this family-friendly event in costume as their favorite character.

Tickets go on sale to the general public on September 4th; ASO donors can begin purchasing tickets on May 14th during a special pre-sale event. To become an ASO donor, visit www.ArkansasSymphony.org/support or call Cambria at 501-666-1761, ext. 112..; prices are $16, $36, $57, and $68; active duty military and student tickets are $10 and can be purchased online at www.ArkansasSymphony.org/starwars; at the Robinson Center street-level box office beginning 90 minutes prior to a concert; or by phone at 501-666-1761, ext. 1.

All Arkansas students grades K-12 are admitted to Sunday’s matinee free of charge with the purchase of an adult ticket using the Entergy Kids’ Ticket, downloadable at http://www.arkansassymphony.org/freekids.