THE TO-DO
LIST
BY LESLIE NEWELL PEACOCK AND WILL STEPHENSON
FRIDAY 5/16
ARKANSAS FESTIVAL BALLET’S ‘SNOW WHITE’
7:30 p.m. Arkansas Arts Center Children’s Theatre. $10-$12.50.
It’s the fairy-tales-for-grownups age, what with “Grimm” and “Once Upon a Time” on the tube and “Snow White and the Huntsman” and “Maleficent” on the silver screen. “Snow White” in toe shoes should be far and away more appealing to young fans of such tales. Arkansas Festival Ballet Artistic Director Rebecca Stalcup will choreograph the production, which will also be performed at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 17, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, May 18. LNP
FRIDAY 5/16– SUNDAY 5/18 BRIAN CHILSON
GREEK FOOD FESTIVAL
11 a.m.-9 p.m. Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church. Free.
Opa! No bundt cake here! No, the Greek Food Festival is all about such culinary delights as baklava (and chocolate baklava), tabbouleh, hummus dip, souvlaki, spanakopita and much more. The tradition carries on: Dine picnic style while being entertained by a multicultural lineup that includes Greek-American folk musicians, Irish and Indian dancers, cloggers, American rock by songbird Heather Batchelor, and more. After you’ve downed your gyros, you can set off for the Old World Market to pick up jewelry, Russian nesting dolls, ceramics, jewelry, artwork and other goodies. There’s also a drivethrough window and frozen foods to take home. It’s Little Rock’s rite of spring, and besides being fun, the festival is your way to contribute to the Arkansas Children’s Hospital, CARTI, Community Connections, Easter Seals, Harmony Health Clinic, Wolfe Street Foundation and Youth Home while chowing down on chicken kebabs. In its 30 years, the Greek Food Festival has raised $1.3 million for Arkansas charities. LNP 28
MAY 15, 2014
ARKANSAS TIMES
THICK SYRUP: Brother Andy and His Big Damn Mouth will headline the Thick Syrup Anniversary show 9:30 p.m. Friday, $5.
FRIDAY 5/16 – SATURDAY 5/17
THICK SYRUP RECORDS ANNIVERSARY
9:30 p.m. White Water Tavern. $5.
Travis McElroy’s Thick Syrup Records is a Little Rock institution, something we can all be proud of. Its roster is almost unaccountably wide-ranging and surprising, extending to celebrated outsiders like Half Japanese and Chrome Cranks, but it has always kept an ear to the ground in Arkansas as well, and will celebrate its eighth anniversary with a set of shows
highlighting its local talent. First up, on Friday night, will be Brother Andy and His Big Damn Mouth (who sing about having been “baptized in a hot tub,” and once described their sound to this paper as “Dinosaur Jr. plus Modest Mouse minus Modest Mouse”), plus Adam Faucett (back in town from taking over the country) and Nathan Brown, followed by a night of noise and haunted mayhem from Ginsu Wives, Twelve Tone Elevator and Jumbo Jet on Saturday. Both
of these shows will be at White Water, and McElroy has been dropping hints that they’ll also double as a celebration of owner Matt White’s birthday, and that some secret, unannounced happenings will be going on after these bands play — “even the sound guy doesn’t know what we’re doing,” is all he’s willing to say at press time. Another lineup, at Maxine’s Live in Hot Springs on May 24, will feature Bloodless Cooties, Ezra Lbs and Trophy Boyfriends. WS
Arkansas’s second Chihuly exhibit opens in Arkansas, at the Clinton Presidential Center, showing work from the Tacoma, Wash., artist whose name is synonymous with the rebirth of studio glass. In keeping with the occasion, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will come to Little Rock for a private artist’s reception Friday, May 16. Chihuly will give a public
lecture at 11 a.m. Saturday and will sign books from noon to 1 p.m. in the Great Hall. The lecture is free, but reservations are required; email operationslr@clintonfoundation.org or call 501-748-0425. See examples of some of Chihuly’s work — his red reeds, mille fiori and seaforms — at clintonfoundation.org. The exhibition runs through Jan. 5, 2015. LNP
SATURDAY 5/17
‘CHIHULY’
Clinton Presidential Center
When Dale Chihuly’s exhibit of blown glass seaforms and other organic creations opened at the Arkansas Arts Center in 2000, it was a blockbuster show in keeping with the event: the opening of the new wing of the Arts Center. On May 17,