Entertainment

Davis makes her return to Little Rock, for the first since 2019, ahead of the release of a new album in October. The early self-assured and moody singles suggest it’s one we should be highly anticipating.

After a decades-long career as a curator, Brad Cushman is taking a breath.

Arkansas Times staff photographer Brian Chilson was onsite to catch Hank Williams Jr. at Simmons Bank Arena Friday night. Old Crow Medicine Show opened up, wearing their many Arkansas connections on their sleeves.

Think My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy and Taking Back Sunday. Grab your eyeliner. And maybe some skinny jeans.

Show up early to catch opening acts The Pretty Reckless, Lilith Czar and The Warning for a show that packs a punch.

The shop will do a soft opening this month and a grand opening on Friday, Sept. 2, in conjunction with Hot Springs' monthly First Friday Gallery Walk.

On the program: Bela Bartók's String Quartet No. 2 and Johannes Brahms' String Quintet No. 2 in G major, Op. 111.

If Kevin Hart is any indication, being an international celebrity in 2022 is wild, y’all. Also: No cash and no cell phones. Simmons Bank has gone cashless for its concessions, and the Hart show is prohibiting cell phones in the performance area.

He’ll be joined by Old Crow Medicine Show, whose song “Wagon Wheel” has become an anthem that all of Simmons Bank Arena is sure to sing along to. 

“Working from the many flower studies, combined with sketches from old photos of myself, my mother, my grandmothers, and great grandmothers, I create large paintings on inherited old tablecloths to draw attention to undervalued domestic work,” Wood wrote in an artist statement. She’ll be celebrated Aug. 5 with an opening reception.

Go, libraries!

Little Rock’s Ayana Gray weaves a love of history and power struggles into pan-African young adult fiction. We talk with Gray about man-eating lions, book sales during a pandemic, her dog Dolly, and the exotic land that is Arkansas, perpetually mystifying America at large.

Turns out: A business called Pit Stop on Macarthur, which serves barbecue and Mexican food, wants to expand to serve beer, and is taking over the Jimmy Doyle license. 

Russellville native and Little Rock resident Jordan Mears has years of experience as a videographer, film editor and on lighting and stage crews, but his turn at writer and director comes with "New West," a 45-minute feature film shot in Little Rock.

Like the opening track's title, the album is a big, open-armed invitation — by no means unaware that the world is utterly broken and coming apart at the seams, but unwilling to write it all off as hopeless.

DeFrance at Stickyz, Beethoven and Bartok at the White Water Tavern, Tiko Brooks at Four Quarter Bar, Vince Neil Emerson at Rev Room and more.

The Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism announced this week that $25,000 in grants for 10 historic properties and museums across the state, generated by the 1/8th-cent conservation tax, would go to help small history museums.

“I think solitary confinement, perhaps outside of the death penalty, is the worst thing that we can do to another human being,” Zachary Crow, Executive Director at DecARcerate said. “It's recognized by the United Nations and other human rights groups as a form of torture. And this is happening in really extreme ways right here in Arkansas, but it's largely hidden from public view.”

The gospel-anchored player and producer is behind the ivories of some of the biggest Kirk Franklin tunes to sweep modern American churches, but Martin’s known in jazz circles as one of many creative engines behind the touring supergroup Snarky Puppy (riyl: Chick Corea, Weather Report, being rendered dumbstruck at what humans can do with musical instruments).

Hill Records' mission, Jacob Hertzog told us, "is threefold; give the students as much hands-on experience in the music industry as possible, help content creators navigate the complex digital revolution, and provide promotional services to the label artists. The ultimate goal is to offer music business for-credit classes, but until then the volunteer students will receive top quality guidance for their fledgling record label. There is a board of advisors consisting of faculty, music industry representatives, legal experts, and others, but the label itself is run by the students.”