Tag Archives: Oxford American

Local Live tonight – The Acousticatz at South on Main

Posted on by

Local Live logoJoin the Oxford American magazine for this week’s free Local Live concert at South on Main! The featured artist is The Acousticatz, bringing American roots music together in a blend of traditional and contemporary approaches.

The concert starts at 7:30 p.m.  Call (501) 244-9660 to ensure your seat at a table for this popular weekly event!

The Acousticatz are steeped in bluegrass but tinged by pop, jazz, and country, and they can best be summed up in just five words: Everything old is new again. This group offers a refreshing, wholesome approach that crosses demographic lines and embraces young and old alike.

The Acousticatz were Arkansas State winners and national semifinalists (one of 10 acts out of more than 100,000) of the Colgate Country Showdown, the biggest country music competition in the world. Performing a blend of original and traditional favorites, the group has enjoyed extensive touring throughout Arkansas and the U.S., as well as maintaining a brisk schedule for the Arkansas Arts Council Arts On Tour program. 
The Acousticatz are also a featured group with the Mid-America Arts Alliance, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts. The group has three CDs to their credit and are working on their fourth recording project with some exciting new original material.

Pete Brown heads up the stage performances for The Acousticatz with driving fiddle, mandolin, and baritone vocals. Brown has been performing for three decades for bluegrass and country audiences, and he frequently gets asked to judge state and national fiddle championships.

Buddy Case is a gifted singer/songwriter and is considered a top fingerstyle guitar player. Raised in California, Case’s family moved to Little Rock when he was fourteen, and he then began playing lead guitar in a forty-piece church orchestra. During his career, he has recorded a number of solo and collaborative albums.

Patti LaFleur, a classically trained pianist since the age of four, picked up the banjo at nine and bought a bass at the age of twelve. Her driving style is the glue that holds The Acousticatz together. LaFleur sings tenor and lead.

A Mary Birthday

Posted on by

MarySteenburgenDec09It is Oscar month, so it is fitting to highlight at Arkansas’ own Academy Award winning actress, Mary Steenburgen on her birthday.  She was born on February 8, 1953 in Newport, Arkansas.  After moving to North Little Rock as a schoolgirl, she had her first starring role as Emily in the 1971 Northeast High School production of Our Town, which was the new school’s first play.

After moving the start of a successful film career, she started returning to the stage in a London production of Holiday in 1987.  In 1993, she made her Broadway debut in the Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of Candida (during Roundabout’s initial season with a Broadway house).  Her costars included Robert Foxworth and Robert Sean Leonard.

The next year, she starred in Marvin’s Room in Los Angeles.  She returned to the New York City stage with 2000′s The Beginning of August at the Atlantic Theater Company.  Steenburgen has remained an active supporter and is now a member of Atlantic.  In 2007, she and husband Ted Danson were honored by the Atlantic Theater Company.

Throughout her career, Mary Steenburgen has been a champion of the arts in Central Arkansas.  She has long been a supporter of the Arkansas Repertory Theatre, where she and Danson served as honorary chairs of the Rep’s recent successful capital campaign.  In addition, she has been very involved in two other Central Arkansas arts endeavors.  Steenburgen has spoken at acting workshops and lent her support in many other ways for The THEA Foundation (which encourages arts education in Arkansas).

Steenburgen has also been an active supporter of the Oxford American magazine as well as South on Main restaurant and performance venue.

Meshugga Klezmer Band at South on Main Local Live Tonight

Posted on by

meshugga11-14.jpeg.190x140_q60_cropTonight’s installment of Local Live features the fabulous Meshugga Klezmer Band! 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.  The music starts at 7:30 p.m.

The Meshugga Klezmer Band was formed in Little Rock in 1999. They are still to this day Arkansas’ only klezmer band. Klezmer music has eastern European Jewish folk roots and is characterized by the cantorial, vocal, and emotional style reminiscent of Jewish prayer. Like the cantor, the lead musicians sob, laugh, growl, and slide from note to note. Meshugga Klezmer Band has performed with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, for Bar/Bat Mitzvahs and weddings, and at local festivals, lounges, and private parties.

Band members include Jim Harper (clarinet), Stephanie Smittle (vocals), Izzy Getzov (violin), Casey Huie (trombone), Peter Miller (guitar), Roland Gladden (bass), and Rand Retzloff (drums).

Jazz on Main returns to South on Main tonight with Peter Martin & Romero Lubambo: New Orleans Meets Rio

Posted on by

peter_martin_cropped_2.jpg.190x140_q60_cropJoin the Oxford American magazine for the continuation of their 2014-2015 jazz series at South on Main featuring Peter Martin & Romero Lubambo! This special evening will include a live multi-camera video shoot of the showby AETN – Arkansas Educational Television Network.

The OA jazz series is sponsored by the University of Central Arkansas College of Fine Arts and Communication. Doors open at 6:00 PM with dinner and drinks available at that time. The concert begins at 8:00 PM.

Single tickets went on sale September 1 at $30 for reserved seats at tables and $20 for general admission. Purchasing a reserved seat assigns you to a specific guaranteed seat at a table. However, seating at tables is family-style, and unless you purchase the entire table, you will be seated with other patrons. General admission tickets are good for barstools and standing room, available on a first-come first-served basis.For ticketing questions, please contact Metrotix at (800) 293-5949.

Raised by parents who are both classical musicians, Peter Martin began studying music at the age of three. After graduating from high school, Martin received the Presidential Scholar in the Arts Award from President Reagan. He then attended The Juilliard School in New York on scholarship, studying piano with Martin Canin, until moving to New Orleans in 1990.

While in New Orleans, Martin honed his skills working with key musicians such as Nicholas Payton, Germaine Bazzle, Brian Blade, and Victor Goines. He also embarked on an active solo career and toured and recorded with artists such as Betty Carter, Wynton Marsalis, Dianne Reeves, Chris Botti, Joshua Redman, Christian McBride, Roy Hargrove, and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. Martin has performed with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, and the Sydney Symphony, as well as numerous other orchestras around the world. He’s also played at The White House twice.

Martin performed on and arranged Dianne Reeves’ Grammy winning release A Little Moonlight, as well as co-produced her 2004 Blue Note CD Chrismas Time Is Here. He appeared in George Clooney’s 2005 film Good Night, and Good Luck and was featured on the movie’s Grammy-winning soundtrack. Wynton Marsalis called Martin, “An unbelievable musician with a unique kind of charisma. Not just the technical competence, but a deep kind of penetrating insight into music.”

In 1985, Romero Lubambo came to the United States, and brought with him a new sound in Brazilian jazz guitar. His guitar playing unites the styles and rhythms of his native Brazilian musical heritage with his fluency in the American jazz tradition, forming a distinctive new sound. From the cool, sophisticated rhythms of his native Brazil to hard bop, Lubambo is a guitarist who’s comfortable in any musical setting. He is an uncommonly gifted soloist and musical improviser with a steady stream of unpredictably creative musical thoughts and the virtuosity to deliver them ever so tastefully.

Lubambo has performed and recorded with many outstanding artists, including Dianne Reeves, Michael Brecker, Yo-Yo Ma, Kathleen Battle, Diana Krall, Wynton Marsalis, and Paquito D’Rivera among many others.

“Guitarist Romero Lubambo may be the best practitioner of his craft in the world today… [his] facility, creativity and energy are in a class all their own.”—JAZZIZ Magazine   

Bijou with Onyx the Band headlines tonight’s Local Live at South on Main

Posted on by

bijoux.jpg.190x140_q60_cropTonight at 7:30, Join the Oxford American magazine for this week’s Local Live free concert at South on Main. Bijoux featuring Onyx the Band is our act this week! Call ahead at (501) 244-9660 to guarantee your seat for this popular series.

Bijoux—a native of Little Rock—is a sultry, soul singer adept in various styles. The daughter of West African parents, Bijoux grew up in a household exposed to differing genres of music including folk, classic rock and roll, makossa, country, and R&B.

Bijoux’s jovial spirit, endearing vocals, vibrant entertaining, and musical versatility make her a perfect artist for any event or atmosphere!

Band members include Quintin Stephens (drums), Jay Starks (bass), Rick Horton (keys).

YTOG featuring Matt Dickson on tap for Local Live at South on Main tonight

Posted on by

ytog_cropped.jpg.190x140_q60_cropJoin the Oxford American magazine at South on Main this week for the free Local Live music series, welcoming YTOG featuring Matt Dickson! Call ahead and make a reservation to ensure your seat.

YTOG is a group of Little Rock musicians that have been forming a bond over the last two years.  Little Rock stalwarts Ted Seibs (drums) and Walter Henderson (trumpet) anchor a band steeped in local musical culture and tradition.  Chris Michaels (bass), Matt Dickson (saxophone), and Chris Parker (piano) round out the quintet.

The music gets going at 7:30 p.m.  In order to assure a place to view them, show up early – grab a bite or a drink.

Tonight at South on Main – Big Piph & Tomorrow Maybe

Posted on by

bigpiph2Tonight at 10pm, join the Oxford American magazine for a special release event for the new Big Piph & Tomorrow Maybe project: Cell Therapy! Tickets are $10 each, cash only at the door. Come celebrate Big Piph’s last Arkansas show before embarking on AMA Overseas Tour for several months.

Big Piph & Tomorrow Maybe is a fusion of funk, soul, and rock mixed nicely over a hip-hop foundation. Six musicians and vocalists with their own bands and followings combined with lead emcee, Big Piph, to form a creation all of their own. Come jam with them one last time before they leave the country for a month long tour in Africa. Their latest project, Cell Therapy: The Unplugged, Unauthorized Session of Big Piph & Tomorrow Maybe will also be newly available for purchase.

Performing as Big Piph & Tomorrow Maybe: Big Piph (lead vocalist), Bijoux (vocalist), Dee Dee Jones (vocalist), Corey Harris (bass), Lucas “Cool Hand” Murray (lead guitar), Dre Franklin (keys), and Paul Campbell (percussion).