ENTERTAINMENT NOTES
Elsewhere in entertainment, events and the arts this weekend:
TODAY ‘Utopia Dystopia’
“Utopia Dystopia,” a collection of paintings by Charles Henry James, who says his work blends “ontology, Buddhism, horror/sci-fi films, comix, psychedelics, and humor; add a disdain for corporatist culture,” opens with a reception, 5-9 p.m. today at the Matt McLeod Fine Art Gallery, 108 W. Sixth St, Suite A, Little Rock. Musician Jeff Dee Laux will perform at 7. Refreshments will be served. The exhibition will be on display through June 28. Gallery hours are 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday. Call (501) 725-8508, email matt@ mattmcleod.com or visit mattmcleodgallery.com.
Mother’s Day music
Soprano Mary Ann Robinson, English hornist Beth Wheeler and organist David Glaze will perform “Songs of Love and Remembrance — Music to Celebrate Mother’s Day,” 7 p.m. today at Trinity Presbyterian Church, 4501 Rahling Road, Little Rock. The program will include “Ave Maria” settings for soprano, English horn and organ by Luigi Cherubini and Astor Piazzolla;
Songs of Consolation for soprano and organ by David Conte; Variations on “Amazing Grace” for English horn and organ by Calvin Hampton; and solo pieces for organ, including a setting of the spiritual “Give Me Jesus,” Toccata by Theodore DuBois and Variations on an American Hymn Tune by Gordon Young. Admission is free. Call (501) 868-5848.
FRIDAY Landscapes in the Loft
“Andrew Rogerson: Landscapes” opens Friday in the Loft Gallery, Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, 401 President Clinton Ave., Little Rock, as part of 2nd Friday Art Night, 5-8 p.m. Friday. Admission is free. Dogtown Ukulele, an all-ukulele rock band, will perform. Rogerson, chancellor of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, spent decades as a microbiologist and researcher; his landscapes explore nature as he sees it. The exhibition is on display through Aug. 25. Gallery hours are 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday. Call (501) 320-5700 or butlercenter.org.
Wartime Arkansans
Also during during 2nd Friday Art Night, 5-8 p.m. Friday, the lawn of the Old State House Museum, 300 W. Markham St., Little Rock, will transform into a World War I-era Red Cross canteen with refreshments, living history characters and music by the Michael Carenbauer Jazz Group. Saturday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., living history interpreters will enact World War I-era soldiers, who will give first-hand demonstrations on infantry and cavalry training methods; suffragists; Red Cross nurses; and women working on programs at home, including the Better Baby Campaign, the Home Extension Service and the Willingness to Serve Campaign. Games and activities will continue throughout the day.
Admission to both events is free. The museum can validate parking at the next-door Doubletree hotel; metered parking near the museum is free after 6 p.m. on weekdays and all day on weekends. Call (501) 324-9685 or visit oldstatehouse.com.
‘Secret Stories’
And at Historic Arkansas Museum, 200 E. Third St., Little Rock, 2nd Friday Art Night, 5-8 p.m. Friday, will feature a reception for the exhibit “Secret Stories: Anais Dasse and Holly Laws,” Dasse’s paintings and Laws’ sculptures, in the museum’s Trinity Gallery for Arkansas Artists. Sad Daddy will provide entertainment. The museum will serve beverages, including Arkansas-made beer, and appetizers in the Stella Boyle Smith Atrium. The artists will discuss their work in the museum’s Ottenheimer Theater, Dasse at 5 p.m. and Laws at 5:30. The exhibit will be on display, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 1-5 p.m. Sunday, through Aug. 5. Admission to the reception and the exhibit are free. Call (501) 324-9351 or visit historicarkansas.org.
Stick Fly
Family tensions bubble beneath the surface and then reach a boiling point when secrets are revealed as an affluent black family gathers at their Martha’s Vineyard home for the weekend in Stick Fly by Lydia Diamond, 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, May 18-19 and 24-26, 2:30 p.m. May 20 at the Weekend Theater, 1001 W. Seventh St., Little Rock. Tickets are $16, $12 for students and senior citizens. Visit weekendtheater.org; for more information, call (501) 374-3761 or email info@weekendtheater.org.
SATURDAY Bridal Bazaar
The inaugural Bernice Bridal Bazaar, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday at Bernice Garden, 1401 Main St., Little Rock, showcases bridal wear, cakes and baked goods, catering, floral arrangements, jewelry and accessories for unconventional couples. It’s “a unique opportunity for attendees to explore small or independent businesses for weddings and receptions that they may not find elsewhere [and] an opportunity for businesses that have a creative edge to market their bridal-related products and services to a targeted audience,” explains Ashley Moore of co-sponsor ESSE Purse Museum. The event will culminate in a fashion show “to bring the vision of an alternative wedding to life.” Admission is free. Visit thebernicegarden.org or the Facebook event page, facebook.com/ events/350277548816211.
Being in Beebe
The Arkansas Historic Preservation Program’s May “Walks Through History” tour will visit downtown Beebe, starting at 11 a.m. Saturday at the corner of North Main and West Illinois streets. The tour will explore the town’s historic commercial corridor and discuss its history and architecture. Co-sponsors are the White County Historical Society and the Arkansas Humanities Council. Admission is free. Call (501) 324-9880, email info@arkansaspreservation.org or visit arkansaspreservation. org.
ETC. 15th Fluke fanzine
The 15th and latest issue of
Fluke, a “fanzine” that began in 1991 as a chronicle of the Little Rock punk scene, is available, featuring interviews with punk rock singer and Gurdon native Gary Floyd; Fugazi and Minor Threat singer/guitarist Ian MacKaye; and Mike Watt of the Minutemen. Also found within the black-and-white pages are writing and art from Arkansas artist buZ blurr, and an interview with photographer, writer and Arkansas native Adam Smith. Copies, $4, are for sale at Arkansas Record and CD Exchange, 4212 MacArthur Drive, North Little Rock; order online at flukefanzine.com.
TICKETS J. Cole’s ‘KOD’
Tickets — $25-$99.50 plus service charges — go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday for J. Cole’s “KOD Tour” concert, 7:30 p.m. Sept. 12 at North Little Rock’s Verizon Arena. There is an eight-ticket limit per household. Call (800) 745-3000 or visit ticketmaster.com or LiveNation.com.