Tag Archives: South on Main

Master Mix-Off celebrates historic cocktails to promote historic structures

Posted on by

Master-Mix1-300x278Preserve Arkansas, the Historic Preservation Alliance of Arkansas, is hosting the First Annual Master Mix-Off tonight.  This will features some of Central Arkansas’s best bartenders engaging in a bartending competition.  It promises to be a rip-roaring good time celebrating prohibition-era mixology!!!

Eight of Central Arkansas’s best bartenders will mix for the masses with a prohibition-era drink, hoping to win the “People’s Choice” Award. Then our “best in the business” judges will judge a second round of mixing, where bartenders will serve an updated, modern version of their favorite prohibition-era drink.

Joann “Jojo” Sims of Cache Restaurant, the reigning Arkansas Times Best Server in Little Rock, will be the emcee.

Participating Bartenders are:

The “Best in the Business” Judges are:

DATE: Thursday, June 25, 2015
TIME: 5:30-7:30 pm
LOCATION: Albert Pike Memorial Temple, 712 Scott Street, Little Rock

On Father’s Day Week – Sad Daddy is featured at Local Live this week

Posted on by

llsom sad daddyThis week’s installment of our Local Live concert series features Sad Daddy!  It is tonight at 7:30 at South on Main.

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.

Sad Daddy began as the meeting of three musical minds—Brian Martin (guitar), Melissa Carper (bass), and Joe Sundell (banjo). The dynamic songwriting of the original three members carried the group’s 2010 self-titled release and won them a loyal following in and around the great state of Arkansas. However, with Carper and Sundell residing in Austin, TX and Martin far away in Ozark country, the group’s opportunities for collaboration and performance were few and far between.

Now, with the original members all back in Arkansas, as well as with the addition of standout fiddler Rebecca Patek, Sad Daddy is embarking on the next chapter of their musical journey, which includes a follow up album in the works and a full schedule of tour dates. While Sad Daddy’s musicianship and stagecraft are worthy of mention, the songwriting of Martin, Carper, and Sundell remains the cornerstone of the group’s allure and allows them to connect with a wide range of audiences.

Stuart Baer with Bugtussle Slim on the bill tonight at South on Main’s Local Live

Posted on by

llsom bugTonight at 7:30 at South on Main is the Oxford American’s Local Live free concert series featuring Stuart Baer with Bugtussle Slim. Call ahead at (501) 244-9660 to reserve your seat at a table for this popular series. Local Live is made possible by the generous support of Ben and Jane Hunt Meade.

Little Rock’s own Stuart Baer began to study classical piano at age six and continued college level instruction at UALR at age fourteen. He began playing the blues as Hammond player for Arkansas blues legend Michael Burks, and he produced Burks’ first CD in 1996.

Bugtussle Silm (Lance Womack) also played with Burks at this time and served as session drummer. Baer toured with Burks for a couple years as well as Son Seals, Guitar Shorty, and Dr. Hector and the Groove Injectors (Riverfest, 2000). Baer authored two songs and is featured on the CD Axe to Grind by the Joe Pitts Band, to be released April 2015.

Stuart Baer and Lance Womack were both inducted into the Arkansas Blues Hall of Fame in 2013.

A second season of Jazz at South on Main set for 2015-16

Posted on by
2e6b4_1320267846-oxa_logoAfter last season’s successful Jazz on Main series, the Oxford American is bringing more Jazz to South on Main next season.  
Things kick off on September 3 at 8pm with Anat Cohen.  Clarinetist/saxophonist Anat Cohen has won hearts and minds tAnat Cohen [Jazz Series]he world over with her expressive virtuosity and delightful stage presence. Anat was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, and raised into a musical family. She began clarinet studies at age twelve and played jazz on clarinet for the first time in the Jaffa Conservatory’s Dixieland Band. At sixteen, she joined the school’s big band and learned to play the tenor saxophone; it was this same year that Anat entered the prestigious “Thelma Yellin” school, where she majored in jazz. After graduation, she discharged her mandatory Israeli military service duty from 1993-1995, playing tenor saxophone in the Israeli Air Force band.
Doors open at 6:00 PM, with dinner and drinks available for purchase at that time.
Aaron Diehl [Jazz Series]
In an era revolving around celebrity hype and mediocre entertainment, Columbus, Ohio native Aaron Diehl seeks to stand out as an artist in his generation that exemplifies excellence, sophistication, and a fluency in the American musical vernacular. The 2011 Cole Porter Fellow of the American Pianists Association, Diehl has been hailed by the New York Times as “a smart young pianist with a fastidious grasp of Jazz traditions.” He is committed to unearthing the treasures of a musical aesthetic through collaborative efforts with musicians across generations.
The Oxford American magazine is excited to welcome Aaron Diehl to Little Rock on November 5 as the second show in our 2015 – 2016 Jazz Series! Doors open at 6:00 PM, with dinner and drinks available for purchase at that time.
Victor Goines [Jazz Series]
On January 21 at 8:00 PM, Victor Goines takes the South on Main stage! This is the third show in our 2015 – 2016 Jazz Series!  Clarinetist, saxophonist, and educator, he is one of the most respected and multi-faceted musicians in the jazz world today. He is also an acclaimed and sought after solo artist who leads his own quartet and quintet.

Adept in a bevy of instruments, Mr. Goines has also collaborated, recorded, and/or performed with many noted jazz and popular artists.  Victor Goines has played the clarinet since the age of eight and continued his studies with Carl Blouin, Sr., who introduced him to the saxophone at St. Augustine High School. In 1980, he entered Loyola University in New Orleans where he studied clarinet and saxophone, receiving a Bachelor of Music Education Degree in 1984.

Doors open at 6:00 PM, with dinner and drinks available for purchase at that time.

Bria Skonberg [Jazz Series]
Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with Jazz when Bria Skonberg perofrms on the South on Main Stage at 8:00 PM.   This is the fourth and final show in our 2015 – 2016 Jazz Series!  Hailing from Chilliwack, BC, and now living in New York City, award-winning trumpeter / vocalist / composer Bria Skonberg is “poised to be one of the most versatile and imposing musicians of her generation.”Best known for her knowledge of classic jazz and instigative nature, she is now creating an adventurous style rooted in New Orleans jazz and blues, world percussion, soul, and cabaret. She currently tours the world, headlining major clubs and festivals, as well as programming music education workshops for all ages.

Doors open at 6:00 PM, with dinner and drinks available for purchase at that time.
This series is made possible by presenting sponsor, the UCA College of Fine Arts & Communication.

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

Posted on by

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.

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

Posted on by

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

Posted on by
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.