9 minute read
THE TO-DO LIST
BY STEPHANIE SMITTLE
Booster up, mask up and support your local creatives however you can. We’re not in the clear with the pandemic, and an increasing number of shows require proof of vaccination, so make sure you have that card ready to go. Gathering safely again is a work in progress; be on the lookout for policy changes or date changes, and handle them with all the grace you can summon.
HOLIDAY HANGOUT
The annual music festival hosted by Last Chance Records, Tree Of Knowledge and the White Water Tavern is back in the flesh, and the lineup is stellar as ever: Adam Faucett, Isaac Alexander, Bonnie Montgomery, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Rev. Greg Spradlin, Brent Best, Slobberbone, Tim Easton, Isaac Hoskins, Joey Kneiser and Kelly Suzanne Smith, John Calvin Abney, Samantha Crain, Cory Branan, John Paul Keith, Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires, Sister Dynamite featuring Nikki Hill and more to come. Visit whitewatertavern.com for updates to the lineup and schedule.
POSTMODERN JUKEBOX
SUNDAY, 12/5. REYNOLDS PERFORMANCE HALL, CONWAY. 7:30 P.M. $30-$40.
Could retro revivalists Postmodern Jukebox have imagined a more perfect roaring ’20s parallel for their return to live performance than the post-pandemic 2020s? Jazz pianist Scott Bradlee’s revolving collective has spent the last year and a half in front of their formidable YouTube following, doing that time warp jig they do so well — filtering the Pixies’ “Where Is My Mind?” through a ’60s-Roy Orbison string quartet lens, for example, or superimposing Olivia Rodrigo’s “Drivers License” onto a finger-snapping ’50s swing beat. Or, as in a video with ’90s duo The Rembrandts from February 2020, interpreting the “Friends” theme song across a century of musical styles in less than 5 minutes. Get tickets at uca.edu/publicappearances.
DANA LYNN PLEASANT
KEVIN KING
LOUISE MANDUMBWA’S “BLESSING,” 2021
CRAWFORD AND LOUISE MANDUMBWA: HOME, WHEREVER THE SOUL CONNECTS
THROUGH 12/18. HEARNE FINE ART, 1001 WRIGHT AVE., SUITE C. 10 A.M.-4 P.M. MON.-FRI. FREE.
Depicting subjects local to Arkansas as well as Nigeria, Botswana and Zambia, this father-daughter exhibit examines the idea of home, suggesting that “rather than a singular place on a map, home can instead be found in both the familiar and unfamiliar, and can be found in the intangible, fleeting and sensory.” For both Louise and Crawford Mandumbwa, the studies in acrylic, pastel, charcoal, graphite and oil represent ideas of the familial and the far-flung. Louise Mandumbwa, a native of Francistown, Botswana, who’s based in Central Arkansas, attained her degree in painting from the University of Arkansas. Her father, Crawford Mandumbwa, was born in Chavuma, Zambia, and has been featured in publications in Zambia and Botswana. He was the subject of a 2015 documentary titled “Libertai,” screened in film festivals across Latin America that year. See the work in person at the Hearne gallery or online at hearnefineart.com.
KEVIN KING
TAB BENOIT’S SWAMPLAND JAM & THE SAMANTHA FISH BAND
FRIDAY 12/10. THE HALL. 8 P.M. $30.
If blues-rock guitar fireworks are your thing, this show is your thing, too. Kansas City genre bender Samantha Fish puts on a badass live performance, and her new record “Faster” is custom-built for the big stage. “I really thought that after 2020 I’d end up with a really dismal, bleak album,” Fish said, “but instead, we came up with something that’s fun and sexy and so empowering.” Fellow guitarist (and swampland preservation advocate) Tab Benoit is bringing his formidable band, bound to make the dance floor at The Hall feel like a party on the Louisiana bayou. Get tickets at littlerockhall.com.
‘IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE: THE RADIO PLAY’
TUESDAY 11/23-TUESDAY 12/21. MURRY’S DINNER PLAYHOUSE. DINNER 6 P.M., CURTAIN 7:30 P.M. TUE.-SAT.; DINNER 11 A.M., CURTAIN 12:45 P.M. AND DINNER 5:30 P.M., CURTAIN 6:45 P.M. SUN.; SEE MURRYSDP.COM FOR DETAILS ON SPECIAL MATINEES.
If the TV screen was your only dose of George Bailey in Yuletide 2020, consider a visit to this long-running dinner playhouse for a radio play twist on Frank Capra’s classic. Staged as a 1940s radio broadcast, playwright Joe Landry’s take tinkers as much with the art of foley as it does with nostalgia, coming ’round to the same core message as did the movie: Being a good neighbor matters, deeply. Get tickets at murrysdp.com.
LYZA RENEE
CHARLEY CROCKETT
FRIDAY 12/3. THE HALL, 721 W. NINTH ST. 8 P.M. $25-$34.
When Charley Crockett opens his mouth, the sound of San Benito, Texas, spills out — “Gulf and Western,” it’s been called. Rocking a thick-as-brick bass timbre that drips with humidity and hard times, Crockett has come into a youth-obsessed country music industry as a relatively late bloomer, and with 10 records out over the course of the last six years, he’s making up for lost time; going under the knife for open-heart surgery tends to create a sense of urgency. Like many of his predecessors and contemporaries, he’s wont to raise a lyrical middle finger to the trappings of Nashville showbiz even as he’s hailed as its darling — “I’ll take the money but these fools don’t own me,” the lyrics to his tune “Tennessee Special” go. Crockett’s joined on this show by Fort Worth singer-songwriter Summer Dean, whose 2021 debut “Bad Romantic” is a Texas dancehall classic in the making. Get tickets at littlerockhall.com.
MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET CHRISTMAS
SATURDAY 12/4. ROBINSON CENTER. $29-$69.
On Dec. 4, 1956, at the Sun Record Studios in Memphis, a country-rock-gospel collision of historic proportions took place, putting an impromptu jam session between Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley on tape. A jukebox musical sprung up in 2010 dramatizing the events of that day, and a holiday spin goes up at Robinson Center exactly 65 years after that recording was made, trading out “Blue Suede Shoes” for “Blue Christmas,” and “Ghost Riders” for “Run Run Rudolph.” Here, Alex Swindle is Elvis Presley, Jared Freiburg plays Jerry Lee Lewis, Zack Zaromatidis portrays Carl Perkins and Bill Scott Sheets plays Johnny Cash. Get tickets at ticketmaster.com.
AARON LEE TASJAN, KEVN KINNEY
SUNDAY 12/12. STICKYZ ROCK ’N’ ROLL CHICKEN SHACK. $20.
Looking like Lennon, sounding like Petty, ruminating like Rumi, Nashville rocker Aaron Lee Tasjan tells you much of what you need to know about his outlook in the four minutes that make up the video for 2020’s “Computer of Love” — namely, that social media is a trap, outer space is awesome and time is a construct that you may as well spend playing drums and shooting lasers. God knows the pandemic likely left Tasjan with enough stage patter for a lifetime, but he’s joined on this acoustic bill by Kevn Kinney, the frontman for seminal Atlanta rock band Drivin N Cryin. Get tickets at stickyz.com.
MELISSA DOOLEY
THURSDAY 12/9-SUNDAY 12/12. ROBINSON CENTER.
With 14 professional dancers from Ballet Arkansas, a community cast of over 200 children and adults, live accompaniment from the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s beloved melodies, “The Nutcracker Spectacular” marks a return to full-fledged live performance for classical dance in Arkansas. In addition to the ballet company’s schedule of educational student matinees, there are four public performances: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 10; 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 11; and 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 12. Audience members are encouraged to visit the company’s “Nutcracker Boutique,” which will be set up in the Robinson Center lobby. Proceeds earned through the sale of holiday merchandise at the boutique go toward the enhancement and upkeep of the production’s many sets, props and costumes. Meanwhile, a breezier all-ages comedic version of the ballet, sans live music, “The Nutty Nutcracker,” goes up at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 9, and again at 6 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 12. Get tickets at balletarkansas.org, by contacting the Celebrity Attractions Box Office at 501-2448800, or by visiting the Box Office inside the Robinson Center.
GLOWILD!
THROUGH 1/15. LITTLE ROCK ZOO. $20.
Handcrafted silk-covered lanterns illuminated by over 50,000 LED lights are blanketing the Little Rock Zoo’s 33 acres for “Glowild!” a nighttime light festival that depicts a kaleidoscope of peacocks, lions, marine animals, flora, stars that light up as you cross them on the path, and more. Visit littlerockzoo.com/events for an FAQ section on the festival and details on which select dates the festival runs, and bring along a mask if you plan to step indoors to the zoo’s Africa Cafe or gift shop. Parking is free during the light festival’s hours, and kids under the age of 3 are admitted free. While most of the real-life animals will be getting their beauty rest during the festival’s hours, the Zoo encourages visitors to “catch some of our late-night party animals,” like spider monkeys, duikers, alpaca and elephants. Get tickets at Eventbrite.
ARKANSAS RAZORBACKS VS. HOFSTRA PRIDE, ARKANSAS RAZORBACKS VS. UCA SUGAR BEARS
SATURDAY 12/18. SIMMONS BANK ARENA. 1 P.M. AND 7 P.M. $10-$35.
Come cheer on both the women’s and men’s Arkansas Razorback basketball teams (or University of Central Arkansas, if that’s where your loyalties lie), no trip to Bud Walton Arena required. The women’s basketball game, pitting the Razorbacks against the UCA Sugar Bears, starts at 1 p.m., and the men’s game against the Hofstra Pride of Hempstead, New York, begins at 7 p.m. Get tickets at simmonsbankarena.com.
FRIDAY 12/10. 5 P.M. FREE; RSVP REQUIRED.
The Center for Cultural Community was launched by arts administrator Sarah Stricklin in 2020 to help local working artists find health care, financial counsel, grants and other resources that might help them keep earning a living through their art (and keep bringing that art to your eyes and ears). Now, the organization is looking for its first physical home. For this fundraising party at ESSE Purse Museum, the group seeks to match the $5,000 grant it’s been given from ArtSpace and the Windgate Foundation, and to educate the local public on what the organization’s team has been up to — and what it’s got planned. The event is free, but an RSVP is required; head to centerforculturalcommunity.org/party-for-placemaking to do so.
NICK SHOULDERS
SATURDAY 12/18. WHITE WATER TAVERN. $15.
Nick Shoulders has a penchant for poking around in the American South’s dimly lit corners — and for sounding off a subsequent report with a mouthbow and a pristine yodel. Because his music was born in the dancehalls and dives of New Orleans — and perhaps because the word “entertainer” is etched across the strands of his DNA — Shoulder’s songs translate in the barroom as party anthems, though it’s the salty takes on culture and colonialism that leave tunes like “New Dying Soldier” and “Hank’s Checkout Line” lingering in the ear. Get tickets at whitewatertavern.com.
ASHTRAY BABYHEAD, ADAM FAUCETT
SUNDAY 12/26. WHITE WATER TAVERN. $12.
Remember before the pandemic when the White Water used to spend the holidays reuniting seminal old Little Rock bands for Christmas-adjacent shows? Yeah, that’s happening again. 1997, 2021, alt rock, punk pop, six of one, half a dozen of the other. Revisiting Ashtray Babyhead’s playful and yet masterful “O-Rama” and the band’s 2000 record “Radio” are great preludes to this throwback reunion show; an opening set from resident rock pandit Adam Faucett will do you one better. Get tickets at whitewatertavern.com.
