8 minute read
THE TO-DO LIST
BY STEPHANIE SMITTLE
Vax up, mask up and support your local creatives however you can. As more and more artists — and local venues — move toward requiring proof of vaccination, make sure you have that card ready to go. Gathering safely these days is hard; be on the lookout for policy changes or date changes, and handle them with all the grace you can summon.
MUTANTS OF THE MONSTER
FRIDAY 9/10-SUNDAY 9/12. VINO’S, DREAMLAND BALLROOM. FREE-$97.
This growing heavy music fest helmed by musician and organizer Chris Terry (CT, of Rwake, Deadbird), which went virtual in 2020, is back in person this year. There will be sets at the historic Dreamland Ballroom, Vino’s Brewpub and the pop-up “Heavy Metal Parking Lot,” a free open-air concert and market between Vino’s and Art Outfitters on Saturday, Sept. 11, 11 a.m.-7 p.m., with vendors, beer, pizza, art for sale and more. Performers include John Moreland, Pallbearer, Weedeater, Adam Faucett & The Tall Grass, Sumokem, Frozen Soul, Terminal Nation, Burned Up Bled Dry, Knoll, Devourment, Pantheon, Morbid Visionz, Low Spirits, Living Sacrifice, Bask, IV and The Strange Band, Atomic Bitchwax, Joe Buck Yourself, Yautja, Rebelmatic (pictured) and more. Get tickets at lastchancerecords.com, and check for updates on showtimes and lineups by following Mutants of the Monster on Facebook and @mutantsofthemonsterfest on Instagram.
BIG SILVER 20TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW, ADAM FAUCETT
FRIDAY 9/3. WHITE WATER TAVERN. 9 P.M. $10.
If you’ve garnered half as much enjoyment as we have from the clever tunes Isaac Alexander and Brad Williams dropped this past year-and-change under the name The Eulogy Brothers, chances are you’ve already got some Big Silver in your collection — and this show on your personal calendar. Alexander, whose gift for melody will be front and center at this anniversary show for Big Silver’s album “Love Note,” brings something along the lines of an original lineup for the occasion, plus music from the ever-enchanting Adam Faucett, and in a room that’s come to love both of their voices well. Proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test is required for admission; see White Water’s full calendar at whitewatertavern.com.
‘BEAUTIFUL: IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER’
THROUGH 9/4. HEARNE FINE ART, 1001 WRIGHT AVE. 10 A.M.-4 P.M. MON.-SAT. FREE.
This multimedia exhibition at Hearne Fine Art Gallery examines the notion of beauty through the lenses of Little Rock-based silverpoint virtuoso Marjorie WilliamsSmith and a host of artists from around the country: collage artist Phoebe Beasley of Los Angeles, the late renowned printmaker and sculptor Elizabeth Catlett, Baltimore-based painter and printmaker Latoya Hobbs, mixed media artist Artis Lane, Los Angeles-based printmaker Samella Lewis, and wire mesh sculptor Anyta Thomas. Only a few days remain in the exhibit, but check out the work at hearnefineart.com or tune in to Hearne Fine Art’s YouTube channel for archived conversations with the artists.
ADAM FERGUSON
FRIDAY 9/10-FRIDAY 12/3. WINDGATE MUSEUM OF ART AT HENDRIX COLLEGE. FREE.
Two fall exhibitions open at Windgate Museum of Art on Hendrix’s campus, one of which can be viewed from an outdoor walk around the gallery. “Migrantes,” a project from New York Times photographer Adam Ferguson, places a remote control to Ferguson’s large-format camera in the hands of migrants along the Mexican border, lending “keen insights of what their migration experience is like and what put them on the path to immigration in the first place,” a release states. Curated by 2021 Hendrix grad Victor Gomez, the “Migrantes” exhibits’ 5-by-4-foot photographs are visible in Windgate’s Window Gallery at all hours. Inside, you’ll find “Southbound,” a collection of 220 photographs from 55 photographers meditating on the American South, coupled with essays, poems and other responses to the imagery. See windgatemuseum.org for more “Southbound”-adjacent programming, and note that in keeping with campus pandemic protocols, masks are required for entry to “Southbound”; “Migrantes” can be viewed from outdoors, where masks are required if appropriate distance cannot be maintained.
ELIZABETH CATLETT
ARKANSAS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: ‘CELEBRATE LITTLE ROCK, TOGETHER’
THURSDAY 9/16. ROBINSON CENTER. 7:30 P.M. FREE.
Presented in partnership with the Dunbar Historic Neighborhood Association, this free performance includes selections from Dvorak’s New World Symphony, powerhouse vocalist Genine LaTrice Perez performing the music of Aretha Franklin, and the world premiere of Little Rock native and pioneering African American composer Florence Price’s own orchestration of her Piano Concerto, performed by concert pianist Karen Walwyn (pictured). “The Dunbar community is pleased to welcome the music of Florence Price back into her hometown. We’re elated about all the accolades she is receiving as an iconic Black composer from people across the country and around the world,” said Angel Burt, executive director of the Dunbar Historic Neighborhood Association. Masks are required while on the property for the concert, regardless of vaccination status, and tickets will be given away Thursday, Sept. 2, on a first-come, first-served basis at 10 a.m. on the Robinson Center steps.
EMBASSY OF SOUND
SUNDAY 9/12. THE FLOATING LOTUS, 900 NORTH UNIVERSITY AVE. 7 P.M. $25.
If there were ever a year that called for placing yourself at the hands of a gong player intent on helping you release tension and anxiety, it’s 2021, yeah? Sound therapist Daman Hoffman, with a collection of delicately tuned chimes, gongs, singing bowls and other instruments, has been leading gong baths at local yoga studios and elsewhere, lulling participants into a blissful state of meditation. Visit linktr.ee/embassyofsound to reserve a spot at 7 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 12, at The Floating Lotus, $25; 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 22, at Copper Well Retreat at 12418 Cantrell Road, $45; or at 5:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 26, at Sixth House Wellness Studio at 110 W. Sixth St., $25, and follow Hoffman at @embassyofsound on Instagram for details on other sound bath events. No prior knowledge or ability is needed, a recent post assures, but do bring along your own mat, pillow, blanket and water bottle.
THE QUEBE SISTERS
TUESDAY 9/7. WOODLANDS AUDITORIUM, HOT SPRINGS VILLAGE. 7 P.M. $25.
Armed with 15 years of turning Bob Wills’ Western Swing imprint into a polished “progressive Western Swing” sound, as they put it, Dallas-based siblings Sophia, Grace and Hulda Quebe bring their triple fiddle, threepart harmony sound to the stage at Hot Springs Village’s Woodlands Auditorium in support of their self-titled 2019 record. Get tickets at quebesisters.com.
KEELY FUTTERER: ‘ON THE HIGH C’S: A ROYAL SERENADE’
TUESDAY 9/7. ST. LUKE’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 4106 JFK BLVD., NORTH LITTLE ROCK. 7 P.M. FREE.
Coloratura soprano Keely Futterer, violinist Andrew Irvin and pianist Timothy Smith are a dream team of Arkansas classical musicians and here, they perform songs by Mozart, Fauré, Strauss, Rossini, Bachelet, Dell’Acqua and Sarasate as part of the Festival of the Senses, a free concert series at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in North Little Rock. For more information, visit stlukeepiscopal.org.
“TANK HEAD” BY BUZ BLURR, 2000, MIXED MEDIA.
‘A VISIONARY VERNACULAR ROAD TRIP,’ 34TH ANNUAL SMALL WORKS ON PAPER, BUTCH ANTHONY
THROUGH FRIDAY 10/15 AND MONDAY 9/27. BRAD CUSHMAN GALLERY, MANERS/PAPPAS AND FOCUS GALLERIES, WINDGATE CENTER OF ART AND DESIGN, UA LITTLE ROCK. 10 A.M.-4 P.M. MON.-FRI. FREE.
Works on loan from 18 public and private collections in Arkansas, Texas, Tennessee and Michigan make up “A Visionary Vernacular Road Trip,” curated by UA Little Rock Art Gallery Director Brad Cushman and made up of, a release states, “non-conventional work, including folk art, outsider art, and self-taught art, created by artists not formally trained.” The series, Cushman said, “features visionary makers of pictures and sculptural objects inspired by a divine spirit, as well as seemingly ordinary people making marks and transforming commonplace materials into extraordinary art to communicate messages to a keen observer.” It’s up through Friday, Oct. 15. Also up at UA Little Rock in the Maners/ Pappas Gallery through Sept. 27 is the 34th annual Small Works on Paper, a touring exhibition of juried works from artists around the state. Finally, catch the bizarre work of Butch Anthony in the Focus Gallery through Sept. 27, an Alabama native whose 80-acre compound full of animals and outdoor art — in particular, a collection of curiosities called “the Museum of Wonder” — serves as inspiration.
CONWAY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
FRIDAY 9/17. LAUREL PARK, 2310 ROBINSON AVENUE, CONWAY. 7:30 P.M. FREE.
“You supply the picnic blanket and lawn chairs and we’ll supply the 60-piece orchestra playing all your classic favorites from Bugs Bunny to Lord of the Rings.” That’s the deal Conway Symphony Orchestra Music Director Israel Getzov wants to strike with you for this annual free outdoor concert in Conway’s Laurel Park, featuring the aforementioned crowd pleasers, “Song of the Riverman” from Arkansas composer William Grant Still’s “The American Scene” and more. Visit conwaysymphony.org for details.
HARLEM QUARTET
From the Chamber Music Society of Little Rock comes a concert from the renowned Harlem Quartet, a group of decorated string players who freely mingle Debussy with Dizzy Gillespie, Prokofiev with Tania León. Violinists Ilmar Gavilan and Melissa White, violist Jaime Amador and cellist Felix Umansky have played with Chick Corea and performed at the Obama-era White House; if you’re venturing out to indoor events these days, this one is going to stun. Get tickets at chambermusiclr.com.
BALLET ARKANSAS: MOVEMENT IN THE PARKS
Ballet Arkansas has been as nimble with its pandemic resourcefulness as the company is with its pirouettes and arabesques. Take, for one, this new partnership with Little Rock Parks & Recreation, in which Ballet Arkansas performs at MacArthur Park, War Memorial Park, the First Security Amphitheater at Riverfront Park and Southwest Community Center, accompanied by a series of lecture demonstrations for K-12 students. “Movement in the Parks ensures all within our community have access to worldclass dance performances in stunning outdoor settings, free of charge,” said Michael Fothergill, Ballet Arkansas’s executive and artistic director. The full schedule: noon and 3 p.m. Sept. 25 at MacArthur Park; noon and 3 p.m. Oct. 16 at Southwest Community Center; 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. March 12, 2022 at Riverfront Park (within the River Market Entertainment District, which means restaurant patrons can carry libations along to the performance); and 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. April 2, 2022, at War Memorial Park. Bring a lawn chair and keep in mind that times and dates are subject to change; follow Ballet Arkansas on Facebook and at ballet_arkansas on Instagram.
