IN BRIEF
THURSDAY 6/26
SATURDAY 6/28
VANAPALOOZA
9 p.m. Revolution. $10.
If you’ve seen a beat-up yellow van decorated with flames and racing stripes around town, you’ve seen The Van, a Little Rock institution operated by Aaron Reddin, who drives the vehicle as part of his homeless outreach nonprofit The One Inc., started back in 2010. “Our slogan is: No rules, no apologies, just help,” Reddin told the
Times in a 2011 interview. On Saturday, June 28, the nonprofit Arkansas Music United will host a live music showcase at the Rev Room to benefit The Van and its efforts, featuring Siversa, Thin Margins, The Federalis and The Whole Famn Damily. Headlining will be Little Rock indie pop group Knox Hamilton, who have been getting a fair amount of attention off the strength of their recent
“Great Hall” EP and particularly the single, “Work It Out.” The song is irresponsibly likable and should by now have probably already been featured in the trailer for a movie about young people on the brink of major life decisions (or a Nissan commercial at the very least). The video for the song finds them riding bikes around downtown Little Rock and will fill you with local pride. WS
The 63rd National Square Dance Convention continues at the Statehouse Convention Center through June 28; registration is $75. The MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military will host a free Vintage Military Vehicle Show beginning at 9 a.m. Improv group Armadillo Rodeo will be at The Joint at 7 p.m., $7. Third wave ska/ mall-punk group Reel Big Fish will be at Juanita’s at 8:30 p.m. with Survay Says!, $18. Brother Andy and His Big Damn Mouth will be at Maxine’s, in Hot Springs, with Christian Lee Hutson and Rachel Kate, and Discovery will host a GLOW party featuring free glow sticks and face painting, with DJs Ewell, Blade and Big Brown, 9 p.m., $10.
BENJAMIN KRAIN
FRIDAY 6/27
SATUDAY 6/28
ILLUMINATION: Kevin Brockmeier will be at the Laman Library 7 p.m. Tuesday, Free.
TUESDAY 7/1
KEVIN BROCKMEIER
7 p.m. Laman Library. Free.
Little Rock novelist Kevin Brockmeier released his first work of nonfiction earlier this year, a brilliant, tender, funny and sometimes excruciating memoir of seventh grade titled “A Few Seconds of Radiant Filmstrip.” I interviewed him at the time and he said it was an attempt to “give away what was most intimate to
me”: “One of the challenges for me was figuring out whether I would reflect on that time in my life or immerse myself in it,” he said. “How much distance, I wondered, should I permit myself? None, was my decision, or at least as little as possible.” He said the book also marked his “hardest effort to capture Little Rock as it actually exists, or at least as it did back in 1985,” and it’s a success on each
of these fronts. At a packed reading during the Arkansas Literary Festival, Brockmeier read a section involving betrayal, loneliness and tricking a fellow student into eating a sandwich soaked in urine. Since then, it’s received great reviews; Gawker, not typically a literary (or forgiving) venue, called it a “new Young Adult classic,” and the Boston Globe called it “graceful and roundly empathetic.” WS
Memphis Three” (the one they made into the movie), released the second book in her West Memphis Three trilogy last month, “Dark Spell: Surviving the Sentence.” The new book picks up where the first one left off and focuses on Jason Baldwin, the youngest of the Three, who collaborated with Leveritt to tell the story
of his experiences in prison. Rather than attempt, again, to untangle the intricacies of the trial, the book looks at its aftermath, offering a first-hand account of wrongful imprisonment. Leveritt will discuss the book with Baldwin (via Skype) at North Little Rock’s Laman Library Wednesday. WS
WEDNESDAY 7/2
MARA LEVERITT AND JASON BALDWIN
7 p.m. Laman Library. Free.
Mara Leveritt, longtime contributing editor at the Arkansas Times and author of the now-classic true crime book “Devil’s Knot: The True Story of the West
The 48 Hour Film Project, in which teams collaborate to produce a film in a single weekend, kicks off Friday and continues through Sunday, June 29; registration is $175. Self-proclaimed “Bayou Reggae” band Stiff Necked Fools will be at the Afterthought, 9 p.m., $7. Burlesque Rocks and Foul Play Cabaret will be at Revolution at 9 p.m. with Brother Andy and His Big Damn Mouth and Jessica Carder, $10$15. Memphis band The Dirty Streets will be at the White Water Tavern with Witchsister and The Sound of the Mountain, 9:30 p.m.
The 16th Annual LULAC Family Fun Fiesta, a celebration of Hispanic culture in Arkansas featuring music, food trucks and games for kids, will start at noon at the Clinton Presidential Center. Daughtry, a rock band fronted by onetime “American Idol” finalist Chris Daughtry, will be at the Magic Springs Timberwood Amphitheater, 7 p.m., with 9 Miles Ahead, $49.99-$54.99. North Little Rock metal group Cosmivore will be at Vino’s with Ozark Shaman and Apothecary, 9 p.m., $6, and Tulsa singer-songwriter John Moreland will be at the White Water Tavern with Kierston White and Arliss Nancy, 9:30 p.m. Platinum-selling pop-punk band Plain White T’s will be at Juanita’s at 10 p.m., $15 adv., $20 day of.
SUNDAY 6/29 Asheville country three-piece Locust Honey will be at Stickyz at 8 p.m., $5. Twin Forks, the latest project from Dashboard Confessional’s Chris Carrabba, will be at Juanita’s at 8 p.m. with SERYN, $12 adv., $15 day of. www.arktimes.com
JUNE 26, 2014
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