To-Do List

The mighty Rachel Ammons will be firing up her "one-man band" operation tonight at Kings Live Music in Conway and tomorrow at South on Main in Little Rock's SoMa District. If you haven't seen Ammons obliterate your preconceived notions of what a single musician can do with two hands and two feet, here's a chance to remedy that. 

Hot Water Hills Music & Art Festival, an all-ages festival put on in downtown Hot Springs every fall by Low Key Arts, is back for its tenth year, and the lineup looks awesome.

What’s a reasonable estimate for the number of babies made while listening to Shalamar, solo Jody Watley, Keith Sweat, LSG, Babyface or any of the jillion jams Babyface produced? It’s gotta be a million.

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.

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.

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.

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 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).

Free outdoor show from Gina Chavez at Argenta Plaza Friday night.

Arkansas-based actor Satia Spencer stars in the lead as Felicia, and anyone who's ever seen Spencer onstage knows full well that she can bring it. Don't miss this one, y'all.

Saddle up, we’re going to KurtisTown … or, actually, KurtisTown is coming to us.

Pop, hip hop and experimental electronic at Vino's Friday night.

Merch fair at Vino's tomorrow.

One of the most compelling and heart-wrenching voices in country music circa 2022 is wailing at the White Water Tavern tonight. Tickets are sold out, but should any open up last-minute, grab them with the quickness. 

Benefiting the children and families served by Methodist Health is Shine-Ola, a marathon of short sets at South on Main from some local gems: Jason Lee Hale & The Space Invaders (who's also organizing the event), Billy Jeter & The Shine Eye Band, the Brian Nahlen Band, Monsterboy Lives, Cliff & Susan, Mark Simpson, Mark Currey, Texas Rikki D, Paul Tull, Cherise Martini & Peacekeepers and more.

What started in Tasmania and Australia as a little casual competition between forestry workers — “the original extreme sport,” Stihl Timbersports boasts — is now a fully souped-up stadium showdown with bright lights, Jumbotrons and vociferous sportscasters giving the play-by-play and starting the stopwatch countdown with a booming call: “Stand to your timber!”

The program’s become a bastion of affirmation and empowerment for Arkansas girls at an age when they’re otherwise bombarded with messages that are neither affirming nor empowering.