• THURSDAY 9/30
In Hot Springs, Maxine’s offers up acoustic roots and blues from Australia’s Nick Charles, 9 p.m., free. Steven Curtis Chapman, the Christian pop megastar, plays the Church at Rock Creek alongside his wife, Mary Beth Chapman, 7 p.m., $20-$45. Roots rockers Jonathan Tyler and Northern Lights should be familiar to regular show-goers around town; they return to Little Rock for a show at Sticky Fingerz, 9 p.m., $10. In bar/lounge music, the Ted Ludwig Trio smooths it out at the Capital Bar & Grill, 5 p.m., and Jim Dickerson holds down the Sonny Williams’ piano room, 7 p.m., both free. Nu-metal act Drowning Pool takes to Juanita’s, 9 p.m., $18. Boogie-woogie roots trio Sad Daddy picks and harmonizes at the Town Pump, 10 p.m., $3. “Evita” returns for its final weekend of performances at The Rep, 7 p.m., $20-$40.
• FRIDAY 10/1
The new A.C.A.C. space at 608 Main St. (across from The Rep) hosts electro act Mad Happy, glitch skronk from Truckula and left-field experimental hip-hop from F.A.C.T.S., 9 p.m., $6. Revolution is out to titillate with its “Naughty Schoolgirl Night” party; DJ Jared Lawler handles the DJ booth, 7 p.m., $10. Jam bands are on the prowl at Sticky Fingerz with locals Weakness for Blondes opening up for Col. Bruce Hamilton & The Quark Alliance, 9 p.m., $10. In Argenta, Cornerstone Pub and Grill hosts the first night of the Arkansas Blues Contest, all day, continues on Saturday. Singer/songwriter Rena Wren plays Capi’s weekly music night, 8:30 p.m., free.
• SATURDAY 10/2
Brand-new act The Yipps takes its ’60s white-boy garage R&B to Town Pump, 10 p.m., $3. At Maxine’s, local modern rockers Underclaire join instrumentalists The Sound of the Mountain and San Antonio-based alt-rock act Pop Pistol, 9 p.m., $5. Brass soundtracks the night when the celebrated, trumpet-led Rodney Block & Co. hits the Afterthought, 9 p.m., $10. Tool tribute act Opiate takes to Revolution, 8:30 p.m., $10. At Discovery, Justin Sane mans the disco; Jarod Lawler spins in the lobby; Nina D’Angelo, Taylor Madison Monroe and Whitney & Britney Paige host the theater; the nightclub is also debuting a new hip-hop room, led by Little Rock favorite, DJ g-force, 10 p.m., $10. At Dickey-Stephens Park, the Central Arkansas Fermenters stake out for the 8th Annual Little Rocktoberfest; they offer beer, brats and live music, 6 p.m., $25.