Category Archives: Music

2nd Friday Art Night ‘neath the June Moon

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2FAN logo Font sm2Tonight at Historic Arkansas Museum during 2nd Friday Art Night, there will be a reception celebrating Arkansas artists Heather Condren & Miranda Young.  It will feature live music by Handmade Moments.  Historic Arkansas Museum’s Year of Arkansas Beer* continues with Core Brewing Company of Springdale, AR.

Heather Condren uses repurposed books to create low relief portraiture illustrating that “books don’t have to tell a story through writing, they can also tell a story through form.” Condren (Conway) earned her BFA with an emphasis in Graphic Design at the University of Central Arkansas.

Miranda Young combines her experience working with diverse media in this exhibition of linocuts and quirky ceramic sculptures mounted like taxidermy. Animal imagery in Young’s work explores the spiritual and emotional meanings that humans associate with animals. Young (Little Rock) is a Printmaking Instructor and Scenic Designer at the Arkansas Arts Center. She earned her BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute.

The exhibition continues in the Second Floor Gallery through August 9, 2015.

 

At the Old State House Museum, live music will be the artform that is celebrated.  Join musicians Bonnie Montgomery and Geoff Robson will play on the lawn of the Old State House Museum on Friday, June 12, to kick off a weekend celebrating 179 Years of Arkansas Statehood. Bring your picnic blankets and lawn chairs to enjoy the music and weather. This event is free.

 

 

 

Selections from GUYS AND DOLLS tonight at South on Main for Local Live

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llsom guysanddollsLuck will be a Lady tonight as songs from Frank Loesser’s Tony winning Guys and Dolls are highlighted!

This week’s installment of our Local Live concert series features The Muses! Presented by the Oxford American magazine, Local Live showcases the best of local and regional music talent and is always free and open to the public. Call ahead to South on Main to make your reservations and ensure a table: (501) 244-9660. Local Live is made possible by the generous sponsorship of Ben and Jane Hunt Meade.

Join The Muses for a special evening of tunes from the classic musical Guys and Dolls. Featuring a combination of local and national artists, including singers Daleen Davidson, Jeanne Bennett, Scott Lindroth, and Stacey Murdock, with pianist Gloria Kim.

This is a special preview show for the full staged production of Guys and Dolls, by Frank Loesser, June 12, 13, and 14 at the Muses Cultural Arts Center in Hot Springs (428 Orange Street). For more information, visit www.themusesproject.org.

LR Look Back: The Rice Family and LR Auditorums

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1906 LR auditoriumOn June 7, 1920, the Little Rock City Council finally authorized the demolition of Little Rock’s 1906 temporary auditorium.  The structure had originally been built as a skating rink which, when chairs were added, could be used for public meetings.  Since the mid 1910’s, the City Council had discussed tearing it down over safety concerns.  But since Little Rock had no other structure as a substitute, the Council kept delaying the decision.

J Rice 1920In 1920, though there was not alternative space available, the Council decided that the structure had to come down.  So City Engineer James H. Rice was authorized to have the building removed.

JimRice RobinsonToday, Rice’s grandson, also known as Jim Rice is the COO of the Little Rock Convention & Visitors Bureau.  In that capacity he is overseeing the renovation of Little Rock’s 1940 municipal auditorium – Robinson Center Music Hall.

Tonight’s Local Live – Cutthroat Trout at South on Main

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llsom cutthroattroutThe pirate movie Cutthroat Island may have been a bomb.  But the gypsy jazz ensemble Cutthroat Trout is a treat!  Tonight at 7:30 PM, join the Oxford American magazine for this week’s Local Live concert at South on Main, featuring Cutthroat Trout!

As always, Local Live is free and open to the public. To guarantee a table/seat for this popular series, call ahead at (501) 244-9660. Local Live is made possible by the generous sponsorship of Ben and Jane Hunt Meade.

Cutthroat Trout is a gypsy jazz ensemble that plays music in the style of Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grapelli. Based in Fort Smith, the group’s reverence for classics, innovative arrangements of pop tunes, and period originals keep their sound fresh and unique. Combined with excellent musicianship and tight three-part vocal harmonies, Cutthroat Trout allows audiences to relive this timeless music.

Tonight at South on Main – The Steel Wheels

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Photo by Ruby Sky

Photo by Ruby Sky

Tonight at 7:30, the Oxford American magazine welcomes The Steel Wheels to South on Main! Doors open at 5:30 PM.

Reserved tickets guarantee you a seat at a specific table. Choice of seats at that table is first come first seated when doors open. Seating at tables is family-style unless you purchase the entire table, you will be seated with other patrons.

General admission tickets are good for stools at the bar, perimeter chairs (not at tables), and standing room only. Seating is limited for general admission ticket buyers and available on a first come first seated basis when doors open.

Some things come to be in their own time, of their own accord. Such has been the case with The Steel Wheels. In the beginning, it was simply a matter of four young men who’d happened to cross paths at a formative moment in each of their lives reveling in the shared experience of plucking acoustic instruments and blending their voices. But over the years, what had begun organically as a pure lark evolved into a mission: to fuse the personal with the universal, the deeply rooted past with the joys and sorrows of everyday existence.

These thematic and stylistic vectors intersect powerfully on Leave Some Things Behind (released April 13 on the band’s own Big Ring label), a deeply human, emotionally authentic work that interweaves timely songs with timeless sounds. On the album, co-produced and engineered by Ben Surratt, the four band members—lead singer/guitarist/banjo player Trent Wagler, standup bass player Brian Dickel, fiddler Eric Brubaker and mandolin player Jay Lapp—are joined on various tracks by roots-music luminary Tim O’Brien, Nashville-based singer/songwriter Sarah Siskind (who co-wrote two songs and sang on another), drummer Travis Whitmore and Hammond B3 player Ethan Ballinger. Together, they’ve wrought a work that is musically intricate and conceptually resonant, the sounds serving the songs at every moment.

Brian Whelan headlines a special singer-songwriter edition of Tales from the South tonight at Best Impressions

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talesfromthesouthA very special Tales from the South will take place tonight.

Dwight Yoakam’s MVP sideman, Brian Whelan plays the pedal steel, electric guitar, the occasional mandolin (primarily when Dwight wanted to change an arrangement into a bluegrass tune), keys/piano and spot-on harmonies. Brian was both in Dwight’s touring and recording band, and played on the critically acclaimed, 3 Pears (#1 on the Americana charts), and is also currently featured on Dwight’s current release, Second Hand Heart (debuting #2 on the Billboard charts).

Brian recently left Dwight’s band to focus on his own music. With instrumental abilities that made him a key member of Dwight Yoakam’s band, a voice reminiscent of Jackson Brown, and a lyrical streak that makes him seem like he’s been writing hook-laden hits for years, Brian Whelan is poised for a much wider attention with the release of his second album. Produced by fellow Yoakamite drummer Mitch Marien, the new record throws Whelan’s hat into the a ring crowded with the likes of John Fullbright, Sturgill Simpson, Mike Stinson, and Jason Isbell. When Brian Whelan is not touring, he can be found in a Los Angeles studio playing on someone’s album or even producing.

Tonight’s program will take place at Best Impressions restaurant at the Arkansas Arts Center.  Music will be provided by The Salty Dogs and bluesman Mark Simpson.

“Tales From the South” is a radio show created and produced by Paula Martin Morell, who is also the show’s host. The show is taped live on Tuesday. The night is a cross between a house concert and a reading/show, with incredible food and great company. Tickets must be purchased before the show, as shows are usually standing-room only.

Dinner is served from 5pm to 6:30pm, the show starts at 7pm.  Admission is $15.  Dinner can be purchased separately.

You MUST purchase your ticket before the show.  Any tickets still available at the door can be purchased for $20.

Previous episodes of “Tales from the South” air on KUAR Public Radio on Thursdays at 7pm.  This program will air on June 25.

Little Rock Look Back: Cornice placed on Robinson Auditorium

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JTR CorniceOn June 1, 1939, the cornice was installed on Robinson Auditorium.  This granite slab noted the name of the building as the Joseph Taylor Robinson Memorial Auditorium.  (It is interesting to note that it used the more modern “u” instead of the classical “v” which was often used in buildings during prior decades – as evidenced by the Pvlaski Covnty Covrt Hovse across the street.)

This was a milestone marking the completion of the front facade of the structure.  Much work would continue on the interior of the structure.  This step in the construction was considered major enough that the Arkansas Gazette mentioned it in a news article.

Today the cornice is again surrounded by construction materials and braces. The front lobby, the cornice and columns are pretty much the only parts of the building not currently under construction as Robinson Center is readied for its second act.  It is scheduled to open in November 2016.