Tonight on South on Main stage: ROUTE 358 & TEN PENNY GYPSY!

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Route 358 & Ten Penny GypsyJoin South on Main on Saturday, August 17 for an evening of roots music with Route 358 and Ten Penny Gypsy.

Show begins at 9 pm. Purchase advance tickets for $7 in advance or pay $10 at the door. Tickets do not guarantee you a seat. Please call (501) 244-9660 to reserve a table.

ABOUT ROUTE 358 – https://artistdata.sonicbids.com/band/route-358/au…
Route 358 began as a jam session at the kitchen table that sounded anything but musical. Then a trip to the studio to record a live performance video of the song “Alone Tonight” started the four-piece Americana/Roots artists on their current trajectory.

358’s sound can be described as having one foot in bluegrass and the other in a swampy mixture of pop, country, folk and rock.Their songs tell tales of love, love-lost, ghosts, prohibition speakeasies and the roads they travel together.

“Only The River Knows,” the bands first album, was praised for its “distinctively vintage sound, combined with beautifully honest songwriting and emotional performances” (Rebecca Cullen, Stereo Stickman).

Songs from the album earned the band a nomination for “Americana/Roots Artist of the Year” by the Arkansas Country Music Awards as well as a selection as a showcase artist for Folk Alliance Mid-West and The John Hartford Memorial Festivals.

For the past two years the band has toured playing venues and festivals in Arkansas, Colorado, Nebraska, Indiana, Missouri and Texas. In October of 2018 tthey released their latest album “Lantern’s Light”.

ABOUT TEN PENNY GYPSY – https://www.tenpennygypsy.com/music
Arkansas singer/songwriters Justin Patterson and Laura Lynn Danley have been successfully following the beat of their own drum for years, separately as solo artists. That musical direction took an exciting and robust turn recently when they recruited the talents of renowned multi-instrumentalist/producer Anthony Crawford (Neil Young, Steve Winwood, Dwight Yoakam) to help their songs blossom, and the Americana duo Ten Penny Gypsy was born.

Recorded in 2017 at Crawford’s Admiral Bean Studio in Loxley, Alabama, Ten Penny Gypsy’s self-titled debut album contains eleven finely crafted songs, sweetly harmonic, yet delivered with a unique dose of Americana swagger. Whether it’s the waltzing hopefulness of “Old Woman By the Sea”, the plaintive longing of “Back On Level Ground”, or the rollicking rhythm of “Perfectly Imperfect”, each song wears its emotion on its sleeve. Combining Patterson’s strong voice and exquisite guitar work with Danley’s infectious delivery and melodic hooks, Ten Penny Gypsy has grown into a commanding duo that will draw you in like no other.

“I do believe that ‘Ten Penny Gypsy’ is a snapshot of Justin Patterson and Laura Lynn Danley in full bloom”, says Crawford.

Many others agree, as Ten Penny Gypsy was named a finalist in three categories for the 2018 Arkansas Country Music Awards : “Album of the Year”, “Americana/Roots Artist of the Year”, and “Vocal Group of the Year”.

“Ten Penny Gypsy” was released on August 25th, 2017, and is available on Amazon, itunes, Spotify, and in retail outlets throughout the country.

FREE admission at Clinton Center today in honor of President Clinton’s Birthday

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President Clinton’s birthday is next week.  But the Clinton Presidential Center is offering visitors the present.  Today from 9am to 5pm, the Clinton Presidential Center admission fees will be waived.

This is a chance to tour the permanent exhibits, including replicas of the Oval Office and the White House Cabinet Room, as well as the current temporary exhibit, Washed Ashore, at no charge!

Washed Ashore is a family-friendly exhibit that will eature more than 20 giant sea life sculptures – made entirely of trash and debris collected from beaches. This exhibit poignantly illustrates the toll trash takes on our oceans and waterways.

The incredible marine life sculptures will be accompanied by educational signage allowing visitors to learn about the fascinating species, environmental stewardship, responsible consumer habits, and how “every action counts” to help save our waterways.

Washed Ashore is a visual reminder of the disposable products that end up in our waters, and that each of us can take action to prevent further pollution.

Elvis Lives – or at least he will be on stage of Arkansas Rep in September with MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET

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August 16 marks the 42nd anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley.  (Or did he die?  Is he actually living in seclusion with JFK and others?)

In September, Elvis will come back to life as the Arkansas Repertory Theatre presents MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET.

Four musical legends. A one-in-a-million recording session.
On December 4, 1956, in the studios of Sun Records in Memphis, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis gathered to meet with legendary producer Sam Philips. What happened next was pure rock and roll magic.

A casual introduction of Lewis to Perkins unexpectedly evolved into an epic jam session of country, gospel and rock classics, captured on tape but not released until 1981.

With a collection of hit songs that includes “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” “Great Balls of Fire,” and “Hound Dog,” this Tony Award-winning musical is guaranteed to blow the roof off!

The show, which won a Tony Award and was nominated for Best Musical, was written by Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux.  The Rep’s production is directed by Hunter Foster who played Sam Phillips in the original Broadway cast.
The production opens on September 6 and plays through October 6.

3 shows highlight Arkansas Rep’s Spring 2020 season!

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The Arkansas Repertory Theatre, the state’s largest nonprofit professional theatre, has announced its Spring 2020 Season. The new season, which begins in January 2020, marks the first productions selected under the leadership of Little Rock native Will Trice, the Rep’s new executive artistic director.
 
“The season is a trio of productions I think audiences are going to love,” Trice said, adding that in Fall 2020 The Rep will resume a full-season schedule on a school-year calendar. “We’ve got a Tony Award-winning icon in a tour-de-force performance; a visionary adaptation of a contemporary, best-selling novel; and undoubtedly the most fun of the classic musicals.”
 
Trice added: “These are three very different stories, each told in a very different way. But they are all uplifting, entertaining, and can only be experienced live at The Rep. I can’t wait to share this season with my hometown.”
 
The Spring 2020 Season starts with Ann. Written by Holland Taylor, the Rep’s production will star Tony winner Elizabeth Ashley as Texas Governor Ann Richards. Known for her no-holds barred approach, Ann Richards was opinionated and possessed a wicked sense of humor. Taylor’s script captures the essence of Richards. (When Taylor was still developing the play, she appeared at the Clinton School as part of the speaker series.)
 
Ashley, who won a Tony for Take Her, She’s Mine and has been nominated for Barefoot in the Park and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, was most recently on Broadway in The Best Man. It will be directed by her frequent collaborator Michael Wilson. A Drama Desk Award winner, Wilson has directed two Tony nominees for Best Play and two more for Best Play Revival (three of which have starred Miss Ashley.)
 
Ann will run from January 29 to February 16 of 2020.
 
Next on Arkansas Rep’s stage will be The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Based on Mark Haddon’s best-selling novel of the same name, this play by Simon Stephens has won five Tony Awards, six Drama Desk Awards, and seven Olivier Awards, including Best Play from all three. 
 
It tells the story of Christopher, a 15-year-old boy who describes himself as “a mathematician with some behavioral difficulties” who has never ventured alone past his street. Now he is on a mission – an investigative adventure that will upturn the world of his family and community forever.
 
Through innovative design and storytelling, it puts the audience inside Christopher’s mind as together they go on this incredible journey. The production will run from April 1 to April 19.
 
The classic musical Bye Bye Birdie will take the Rep stage in the summer. Written by Michael Stewart, Lee Adams, and Charles Strouse, it takes a comic, tuneful, nostalgic look at rock ‘n roll, the early days of television, teenage love, and family dynamics.
Experience this beloved classic through a fresh, new production directed by Jeff Award-winner and Olivier Award-nominee David H. Bell (Hot Mikado, the Closing Ceremonies of the Atlanta Olympics). When It first appeared, Bye Bye Birdie won four Tony Awards, including Best Musical.
 
It will be on the Rep stage from July 8 through 26 of 2020.
 
Season Subscriptions are on sale at TheRep.org or by calling the Box Office at (501) 378-0405. Subscriptions start at just $96 and are the most economical way to see all of the productions included in the Spring 2020 Season. Single ticket will go on sale four weeks before a show opens.
 
Two productions remain in the Rep’s 2019 season. Million Dollar Quartet opens next month and It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play is the December holiday offering.

Celebrate Country Music tonight at CALS Ron Robinson Theater

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Join the Central Arkansas Library System as they celebrate country music with a screening of the 45-minute advance trailer of Ken Burns’ Country Music documentary.

The showing will be followed by a special performance of classic country songs by The Salty Dogs and special guests Buck Trent, Tim Crouch and Chuck Dodson.

The sixteen-hour Country Music film premieres September 15th on AETN/PBS.

This event is FREE and open to the public with general admission seating on a first come, first served basis. Doors open at 7:00pm and the event starts at 8:00pm.

Presented by CALS Arkansas Sounds and AETN/PBS.

Little Rock Look Back: Birth of longtime Arkansas Arts Center director Townsend Wolfe

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Townsend Wolfe, who led the Arkansas Arts Center for 34 years, was born on August 15, 1935.  He was hired to lead the Arkansas Arts Center 50 years ago this month.

Though not the founding director of the Arkansas Arts Center, Wolfe was the director for well over half of the institution’s 57 year history. Hired in 1968 at the age of 32 (making him one of the youngest art museum directors in the US at the time), he retired in 2002.  That year he was honored with the Governor’s Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement by the Arkansas Arts Council.

A native of South Carolina, Wolfe held a bachelor’s degree from the Atlanta Art Institute and a master’s degree from the Cranbrook Academy of Art. He also received a certificate from the Harvard Institute of Arts Administration, and honorary doctoral degrees from two other institutions.  After teaching some classes and seminars at the AAC in the early 1960s, he was recruited to return full-time to the Arkansas Arts Center by Governor and Mrs. Winthrop Rockefeller.

During his tenure at the Arts Center, he first was responsible for creating financial stability. After drastic cost-cutting measures, he refocused programming which led to the creation of the current Museum School, a focus of works on paper for the collection, cultivating a thriving collectors group, establishment of a children’s theatre, expansion of statewide services, and several additions to the physical structure.  He encouraged others to collect art and expanded Arts Center programming into Little Rock neighborhoods.

In addition to serving on the National Council of the Arts, Wolfe was a member of the National Museum Services Board and the board of the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts in New York. He was curator for an exhibition in the First Ladies’ Sculpture Garden at the White House in 1995, and was the recipient of the 1997 Distinguished Service Award (outside the profession) by the National Art Educators Association.

Over the years, Wolfe has served in a variety of capacities for the Association of American Museums, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Wolfe, who died in 2017, was posthumously honored by the Arts Center in 2018 with one of its Portrait of a Patron awards.  In 1973, he received the first Winthrop Rockefeller Memorial Award from the Arkansas Arts Center.

Six Weeks of STAR WARS on CALS Ron Robinson Theater screen ends with RETURN OF THE JEDI

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Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi PosterFor six weeks this summer, the Central Arkansas Library System has been showing the first six episodes of the STAR WARS saga on Thursday evenings at the Ron Robinson Theater.  They are being shown in episode order, not release order, or any of the other orders dreamed up by fans.

Tonight the triple fortnight concludes with 1983’s Episode 6 – Return of the Jedi  

As an epic battle for the fate of the galaxy approaches, the Empire quickly finishes construction on another Death Star battle station, and the Emperor himself soon arrives to personally oversee the operation. Rescuing Han Solo from his captor Jabba the Hutt, Princess Leia helps organize the Rebel attack and Luke Skywalker prepares for final confrontation with Darth Vader to prove himself a Jedi and perhaps bring out the good within his father’s soul.

This is the film which (SPOILER ALERT) Boba Fett dies.  It is also the movie in which Carrie Fisher had to wear a gold bikini.

The cast includes Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, Alec Guinness (in cameos), Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, Kenny Baker, David Prowse, Ian McDiarmid, and the voice of James Earl Jones.

Directed by Richard Marquand (selected by George Lucas), the film was nominated for four Oscars: Music (John Williams third nomination for the trilogy), Sound Effects, Sound, and Art Direction.  As had the first two films in the triad, it received a Special Oscar for Visual Effects.

The screening starts tonight, August 15, at 7pm. Admission is $5.00.