Tonight at South on Main’s Local Live Concert – Luke Pruitt

llsom lukepAt 7:30 tonight, Luke Pruitt will take the stage at South on Main for the Oxford American’s Local Live free concert series . 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.

Although Luke Pruitt spent several years honing his songwriting craft in Nashville, Tennessee, it was moving back to his hometown of Fort Smith that gave the songwriter the inspiration for his Songs of Home album series, which Pruitt describes as “a sort of op-ed about the American Dream in a post 9/11 world.”

In Pruitt’s debut EP Songs of Home, pt. 1, released in 2014, we hear the story of a young millennial kid playing for tips and dreaming of a future in music success, as well as a hometown story about Vietnamese immigrants in Fort Smith who were forced to adapt to a new home after the fall of Saigon, and have built their own American Dream as restaurant owners. Part 1 gives good insight into Pruitt’s influences not only in songwriting, but in classic American literature, as his stories have both poetic and prosaic tendencies.

Songs of Home, pt. 2 will be Pruitt’s first full length release, due out in 2015, and will finish the story of the American Dream that the writer started in part 1.

Archetypes and Troubadours headed to South on Main as part of Oxford American music series

OA archetypes 15162e6b4_1320267846-oxa_logoTickets are now on sale for the 2015-2016 Oxford American Music Series at South on Main. There are three different series offered throughout the year. Today looks at the Archetypes and Troubadours.

Archetypes and Troubadours

AUGUST 27, 2015 – POKEY LAFARGE

8:00 PM—The Oxford American magazine is excited to welcome Pokey LaFarge to the South on Main stage! Pokey is kicking off our 2015 – 2016 Concert Series as part of the Archetypes & Troubadours sub-series. Doors open at 6:00 PM, with dinner and drinks available for purchase at that time. This series is made possible in part by the generosity of The Summer Foundation.

OCTOBER 22, 2015 – LEO BUD WELCH WITH GUEST JIMBO MATHUS

7:30 PM—The Oxford American magazine is excited to bring Leo Bud Welch to the South on Main stage as part of our Archetypes & Troubadours Series! Welch is welcomed by the Esse Pure Museum. Doors open at 5:30 PM, with dinner and drinks available for purchase at that time. This series is made possible in part by the generosity of The Summer Foundation.

MARCH 10, 2016 – THE FAIRFIELD FOUR

8:00 PM—The Oxford American magazine is excited to welcome The Fairfield Four to the Little Rock! These guys are the third show in our 2015 – 2016 Archetypes & Troubadours Series. Doors open at 6:00 PM, with dinner and drinks available for purchase at that time. This series is made possible in part by the generosity of The Summer Foundation.

APRIL 7, 2016 – RUTHIE FOSTER

8:00 PM—The Oxford American magazine is excited to welcome Ruthie Foster to the South on Main stage! Foster is the fourth and final show in our 2015 – 2016 Archetypes & Troubadours Series. Doors open at 6:00 PM, with dinner and drinks available for purchase at that time. This series is made possible in part by the generosity of The Summer Foundation.

Tickets for the series range from $71 to $114. Single tickets (available June 15) tickets will range from $12 to $35.

Fret & Worry tonight at South on Main’s Local Live concert series

llsom fretTonight at 7:30 is this week’s installment of the South on Main Local Live concert series.  This week features Fret & Worry!

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.

Fret & Worry (Uncle Joe Meazle on guitar and RJ Looney on harmonica) sing songs that celebrate Arkansas and cover the subjects of trains, ladies of the evening, wrongful deaths, and moonshine.

Local Live tonight at South on Main featuring Rodney Block & The Love Supreme

llsom rblockTonight at 7:30pm, this week’s installment of the South on Main Local Live concert series features Rodney Block & The Love Supreme!

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.

Rodney Block is a native of Dumas, Arkansas, where he began studying trumpet in the school band at a young age. Block has shared the stage with such artists as Earth, Wind, & Fire, Joe, Algebra, Whodini, Johnny Gill, Dwele, Johnathon Butler, Dave Hollister, Wynton Marsalis, and Eric Roberson. He has backed for artists such as Liv Warfield, Conya Doss, Dwele, Sy Smith, Carol Riddick, and Anthony David.

Shorts and Features everywhere in Day 3 of 2015 Little Rock Film Festival

LRFF2015 longThe 2015 Little Rock Film Festival kicks into high gear today.  At 10am at the Ron Robinson Theatre there is an LRFFYOUTH! Screening of the film “Three Wishes Once Choice” and “Flowers in Concrete.”

Tired Moonlight will be shown at 11:15 at the Ron Robinson Theater. At 1pm, at the Butler Center, the documentary Holbrook/Twain: An American Odyssey looks at Hal Holbrook’s sixty year career of portraying Mark Twain. Also at 1, the film I Am the People will be shown at the Ron Robinson Theater.

At 3pm the Made in Arkansas Shorts (Block 2) will be shown at The Joint .  The films being shown are “MatchMaker” by Robin Sparks, “Hush” by Kenn Woodard, “Dim the Lights” by Dwight Chalmers, “The Pop N’ Lock” by Jadon Barnes, “Rapture Us” by Levi Agee, “The Ask” by Edmund Lowry and “Contact” by Alexander Jeffery.

“One, Two” World Shorts Block will also screen at 3pm.  It features “Biscayne World,” “one hitta quitta,” “Boxeadora,” “Day One,” “Hunter’s Fall,” and “Bookin’.”  It will be shown in the Bill and Margaret Clark Room on the 3rd floor of the River Market.

The Chinese Mayor will be screened at 3:30 in the Ron Robinson Theater. Also at 3:30, How to Dance in Ohio will be shown at the Butler Center.

At 4:45, the panel “Made in Arkansas: Can I Make a Living Doing This?” will take place in the Filmmakers Lounge.  Local working Filmmakers Bryan Stafford, Daniel Campbell, Brent Bailey, and UCA Professor Bruce Hutchinson discuss the current professional environment for filmmaking in the state of Arkansas. The panelists will share their secrets for making a living in the Industry without moving to the coasts. From producing your own work, to freelancing for the advertising community, to getting work on Hollywood productions in the surrounding states, this panel will help get you on your way to a career in film production right here at home.

At 5:30, Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead will be shown at the Clinton School.  This film looks at three Harvard graduates who started the first national humor magazine for adults, launching the careers of some of Hollywood’s most legendary talent. Also at 5:30, Krisha will be shown in the Butler Center.  And at 5:30 as well, “Made in Arkansas” Shorts Block 1 will be shown.  It includes “Loser” by Andrew Lisle, “Forsaken” by Krisha Mason, “Monotony Broken” by J. C. Cocker, “Stranger Than Paradise” by Johnnie Brannon, “Rites” by Cody Harris, and “The Dealer’s Tale” by Justin Nickels.  These will be shown at the Albert Pike Memorial Temple.

Another round of “Made in Arkansas” Shorts will also be shown at 5:30.  Block 3 consists of “Undefeated” by Nathan Willis, “Little Brother” by Eric White, “Spoonin’ the Devil” by Michael Carpenter, “Meredith” by Scott Eggleston, and “The Town Where Nobody Lives” by Al Topich.  It will be shown at the Ron Robinson Theater.  Another “Made in Arkansas” film, this time the feature length The Grace of Jack will be shown at The Joint at 5:30.

Finally, the last 5:30 slot goes to “Quirks” World Shorts.  It features “The Department of Signs and Magical Intervention,” “Woman of the World,” “reConception,” “Happy Hour,” “Miss Famous,” “Love in the Time of March Madness,” and “Jake Plays First Base.”  This will be shown at the Bill and Margaret Clark Room on the third floor of the River Market.

At 8:00pm:

  • Uncertain – Ron Robinson Theater
  • King Jack – Butler Center
  • Made in Arkansas The Phone in the Attic – The Joint
  • “Made in Arkansas” Shorts Block 4 – Albert Pike Memorial Temple
    • “The Tricycle”-David Bogard, “What Was Lost”-Romello Williams, “Overgrown”-Bruce Hutchinson, “Pyro”-Cole Borgstadt, and “The Space Station”-Michael Sutterfield
  • “Explore” World Shorts Block – Bill and Margaret Clark Room
    • “Swimming in Your Skin Again,” “Beach Week,” “The Many Sad Fates of Mr. Toledano,” “Displacements,” “Pequeño bloque de cemento con pelo alborotado conteniendo el mar” and “When I Write.”

At 10pm, the “Made in Arkansas” Blow Out at South on Main.  The party will feature food from the kitchen of executive chef Matthew Bell and feature cocktails from Mixologist David Burnette. Music performed by Isaac Alexander and band. This party is open to following pass holders: Sponsor, Filmmaker, Press, Gold, Silver, and Student.

Student Showcase tonight at South on Main highlighting UALR visual and performing arts students

UALR Coopt artistsStudents in the visual and performing arts at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock will present their work at South on Main from 5 to 9 p.m. tonight (May 7)

The event is free and open to the public. Seating at the bar is open, but reservations must be made for table service. Reservations can be made at 501.244.9660 or at opentable.com.

For the third consecutive semester, visual artists will display their work for the viewing public at the event known as Co-opt.

“Twenty students will have the chance to hone, and share, their craft with a public audience at an established location and promote the arts at UALR,” said Taimur Cleary, UALR Artist in Residence and instructor of the course that inspires the event.

UALR’s Department of Art and Department of Theatre Arts and Dance are teaming up with Oxford American magazine and South on Main to host the semi annual event in order to promote these emerging artists.

Cleary and his students will speak briefly at 7 p.m. during the show. Following their talk, students from the Department of Theatre Arts and Dance will share a selection of four plays all written, directed, and performed by the students.

This will be the first time performing artists from both music and theatre will be included in the show.

In addition to the live presentations, artwork will remain on display in Oxford American’s Annex Gallery from Thursday, May 7 through Saturday, May 9.

According to Cleary, the title Co-opt carries a number of meanings, namely to cause someone to become a part of your movement. It also refers to cooperative learning strategies that the class uses.

In Cleary’s class, Learning Co-Op, students representing almost every department on campus create works of art through printmaking, painting, ceramics, and sculpture.

Cleary is a painter and teaches full-time at UALR. His artistic direction is informed and fueled by evolving interests in art history, perception, meteorology, memory, abstraction, and photography.

Local Live Tonight at South on Main – Cindy Woolf and Mark Bilyeu

pic_cindy_woolf_(1).jpg.190x140_q60_cropTonight at 7:30 PM—Join the Oxford American magazine for this week’s Local Live concert at South on Main, starring Cindy Woolf and Mark Bilyeu! 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 Cosmic Cowboy Music.

Guitarist Mark Bilyeu and banjoist Cindy Woolf have been playing together for the better part of ten years, performing on the Americana/Folk and singer-songwriter circuit. They are a full-time duo in music and in life, having wed in 2013. Spring of 2015 finds them in the studio recording an album of traditional Ozarks’ songs, culled from the folksong collections of Max Hunter (from Springfield, Missouri, Mark’s home town) and John Quincy Wolf (from Batesville, Cindy’s home town); thus the title Wolf Hunter. This will be the first album from these two as a duo; Cindy has three CDs under her own name; Mark has one solo title plus the back catalogue from his previous work in Big Smith.