ENTERTAINMENT NOTES
Elsewhere in entertainment, events and the arts:
TODAY IBLA recital
Prize-winning musicians in the IBLA Foundation competition, held annually in Ragusa, Italy, perform at 6:30 p.m. today in Sloan Auditorium at Lyon College, 2300 Highland Road, Batesville. The concert is part of a world tour that concludes May 7 at New York’s Carnegie Hall. Sponsors are Batesville Mayor Rick Elumbaugh, the Batesville City Council and Sister Cities USA. Admission is free. Email sarah.weston@lyon.edu.
WEDNESDAY Legacies & Lunch
Tim Nutt, director of the Historical Research Center at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and former head of Special Collections at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, discusses the history and evolution of the Central
Arkansas Library Tim Nutt System
in a talk titled “A Thing of Beauty and Convenience,” noon Wednesday in the Darragh Center, CALS Main Library, 100 Rock St., Little Rock. It’s part of the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies’ monthly Legacies & Lunch series. Admission is free. Attendees can tote their own lunches; the Butler Center provides beverages and dessert. Call (501) 320-5700.
ETC. Songwriting camps
Trust Tree Programs is holding two June arts-program camps for girls who want to write and record their own songs — June 3-7 (songwriting only), June 17-28 songwriting and visual arts — at the Center for Humanities and Arts, University of Arkansas-Pulaski Technical College, 3000 W. Scenic Drive, North Little Rock. Both programs combine group activities and one-on-one mentoring by a team of female arts educators, multi-instrumentalists and songwriters. Space is limited. Cost $350 for the one-week session, $600 for the two-week session; register and explore the possibilities of financial assistance at trusttree.org.
Bands to battle
June 22 is the deadline to sign up for the El Dorado Murphy Arts District’s first “MAD Battle” band competition, Aug. 9-10 on the First Financial Music Hall stage, 101 E. Locust St., El Dorado.
To qualify, bands must have at least one cover song in the 15-minute set they would perform Aug. 9. The committee of judges — Terry Stewart, CEO of Murphy Arts District, former president and CEO of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland; Little Rock soul singer Bijoux; singer Stephanie Smittle, also culture editor for the Arkansas Times; and Caleb Burger, operations manager of Noalmark Broadcasting Corp., which operates a consortium of El Dorado area radio stations — will choose five bands to play a 20-minute set Aug. 20.
Register online at eldomad.com; submit a band logo, photos and member biographies, including musical background and contact info, with audio and video files, including one cover song. Bands that have played previously at MAD are not eligible. Registration fee is $25 “early bird” through May 17, $35 “advance” (May 18-June 21), $45 day of deadline.
First prize is $2,500 plus a promotional package put together by a production/ marketing team and guaranteed booking at the Griffin Music Hall; additional prizes include $100 for best vocals, $100 for best instrumentalist, $100 for best showmanship. Sponsors are the Arkansas Times and Noalmark Broadcasting.