IN BRIEF
THURSDAY 2/21
FRIDAY 2/22-SUNDAY 2/24
LANTERNS! FESTIVAL
6 p.m. Wildwood Park for the Arts. $10.
I was a kid from the sticks in my youth, back in the dim days before Internetin’ and textin’ and X-Boxin’ and all the other bleep-bloop-bleeping that keeps modern young whippersnappers indoors and pasty. In my day, our nighttime entertainment was going outside! In the dark! And if you got snake bit or bear mauled or went temporarily
blind from shoddy moonshine likker, you just rolled with it. These days, as a city dweller, I recall fondly those days of tromping the moonlight. But you don’t have to be a “Gran Torino”-grade old fart like me to enjoy the nightlife, and the Lanterns! Festival at Wildwood Park sure makes the dark a lot more pretty than my daddy’s Army flashlight. The festival, which is scheduled to coincide with the first full moon of the lunar new year, kicks off Friday night and runs through Sunday. One of Arkansas’s
only festivals made to be best enjoyed after dark, the Lanterns! Festival allows visitors to walk the trails of Wildwood Park for the Arts by the glow of beautiful, flickering displays of fire and light built around a series of cultural themes. This year’s themes include the Caribbean, Germany, New Orleans, Shakespeare’s England, Venice and Rio De Janerio, with international foods and beverages available for purchase. Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for ages 6-12, and kids 5 and under get in free. DK
SATURDAY 2/23-SUNDAY 2/24
ARKANSAS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: ‘TRUTH & TRIUMPH’
8 p.m. Robinson Center. $14-$52.
“Truth & Triumph” will no doubt be one of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra’s biggest productions this
season. Visiting the ASO will be Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Jennifer Higdon, whose “Concerto for Orchestra” has been hailed as one of the best orchestral compositions in recent memory. In a video detailing the show, ASO Composer Philip Mann said Higdon’s work will show off “the technical virtuosity of every section including
the brass, percussion, wind and strings, and all done with the beautiful color palette of a virtuoso composer.” In the second half of the show, the symphony performs Shostakovich’s 10th Symphony, which “features a large orchestra taken to its limits,” Mann said. The Sunday performance will be at 3 p.m. RB
“authentic” anymore. Sure, your average bar-band blooze-wailers are still annoying, but in the hands of inspired players — even those reverent of tradition — the blues can still sound awesome and electrifying. You’d be hard-pressed to find any finer practitioners currently going than the North Mississippi Allstars. You’re all probably pretty familiar with the band by now; they’re from just down the road and they’ve played in Arkansas a bunch. The
Dickinson brothers — Luther and Cody, sons of the legendary Jim Dickinson — are pretty much Southern music royalty. Together with bassist Chris Chew, they lay down a grimy, funk-informed take on the blues that’s irresistibly fun while still conveying a lot of soul and substance. Add it all up and you’d have to be a real stick in the mud to find fault with the Allstars. Opening the 18-and-older show will be The London Souls. RB
SATURDAY 2/23
NORTH MISSISSIPPI ALLSTARS
9 p.m. Revolution. $20.
It’s a testament to the strength of the form that the blues continues to fascinate listeners and musicians lo these many, many decades after it emerged from the Delta. It’s been through so many iterations, duplications, permutations, mutilations, rebirths and revivals that it’s almost meaningless to try to determine what’s
TUESDAY 2/26
JENNIFER EGAN
7:30 p.m., UCA College of Business Auditorium, room 107. Free.
I don’t think I’ve read a book I’ve liked more than Jennifer Egan’s “A Visit from the Goon Squad” since it was published in 2010. The novel, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2011, is made up of chapters each told from a different character’s point of view, with characters later popping up in supporting roles as the book zips back and forth through time. Most all the stories orbit around an aging punk rocker-turned-record executive and
The great Jim Mize makes a welcome return to the White Water Tavern, with cow-punkers extraordinaire The P-47s and Uncle Joe and The Backsliders’ Choir featuring Mize on dobro and Times contributor Joe Meazle, 9 p.m., $5. The Little Rock Wind Symphony presents “An Organ Extravaganza!” at Second Presbyterian Church, 7:30 p.m., $8-$10, free for students. Pulaski Technical College hosts a screening of the Little Rock punk scene documentary “Towncraft” in the R.J. Wills Lecture Hall, with a Q&A with producer Burt Taggart after the film, 6 p.m., free. Up in Conway, Hendrix College will host Dr. Eric Goldman, who presents “Looking at Ourselves: The American Jewish Experience” in Room C at the Mills Center, 7:30 p.m.
FRIDAY 2/22
Vino’s has a big night of hip-hop, with “The Beat Party XI,” showcasing producers Ferocious, King Boom, QNote, Mannie Gee and Don Dash Beatz and live performances from #NECESSARY, Duke Stigall, Fresco the Caveman, Arkansas Bo, Sleepy Floyd and Zii Dimensional. It’s hosted by Osyrus Bolly, Panda Rozay and DJ Swift, 9 p.m., $6. Get your weekly fix of burly-ass rock, with Brother Andy & His Big Damn Mouth, Cornerstone, 8 p.m. Revolution has heavy alt-rockers (HED)p.e., with Saint Diablo, At War’s End and Sychosys, 18-and-older, 9 p.m., $12 adv., $15 day of. This is the last weekend to catch “Ain’t Nothing But A Thang” at the Weekend Theater, 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, $12-$16, see theater listings for more details. Community Theatre of Little Rock’s production of “The Pursuit of Happiness” continues this weekend, 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday, The Public Theatre, $12-$14. The Mosaic Templars Cultural Center hosts Family Movie Night with “Remember the Titans,” 6 p.m., free.
SATURDAY 2/23 the troubled woman who works for him. Egan’s often categorized as a post-modernist, but “Goon Squad,” for all its non-linear-ness, is grounded in always compelling realism. As Egan told Heidi Julavits in Bomb magazine, “More and more I feel you’d better not try and say anything too clearly or too loudly in fiction, because you end up eliminating the mystery that’s at the heart of any great literary experience.” Egan will read and sign books on Tuesday and talk craft and answer questions at 10 a.m. Wednesday in Thompson Hall 331. LM
A VISIT FROM THE ‘GOON SQUAD’ AUTHOR: Jennifer Egan comes to UCA Tuesday and Wednesday for a reading and a craft talk.
First Presbyterian Church hosts the first annual Arkansas PFLAG Conference, featuring workshops about a variety of topics relevant to the LGBT community. Registration begins at 9:30 a.m. and the conference starts at 10 a.m., $20. For an evening of excellent singer/ songwriters, check out Amy Lavere and Mandy McBryde, White Water Tavern, 9:30 p.m., $7. Up in Conway, Swampbird tears it up over at Bear’s Den Pizza, 9:30 p.m., free. The Town Pump has a great lineup of local rock ’n’ roll, with Little Rock’s War Chief and The Stephen Neeper Band, 9 p.m., $3.
www.arktimes.com
FEBRUARY 21, 2013
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