FRIDAY 5/30

AUGUST ALSINA

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9 p.m. Clear Channel Metroplex. $35.

XXL magazine’s annual “Freshmen” issue, designed to introduce emerging young rappers, hasn’t actually broken any new artists since the invention of YouTube, but the 2014 list’s inclusion of August Alsina was notable nevertheless, if for no other reason than that he isn’t a rapper. The 21-year-old New Orleans native, who released his debut, “Testimony,” in April, is an R&B singer in the classical sense of the term, a sensitive crooner from a rough background. His appearance on the “Freshmen” cover is just another indication of the wave of buzz he’s riding at the moment, momentum not at all hurt by his pattern of collaborations with high-profile Atlanta MCs like Jeezy, Rich Homie Quan and Trinidad James. If you don’t recognize the name, you’d probably at least recognize the horn riff on his biggest hit, “I Luv This Shit.” WS

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SATURDAY 5/31

LEGENDS OF ARKANSAS FESTIVAL

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Noon. First Security Amphitheater and Riverfront Park. Free.

Way back in March, the Legends of Arkansas Festival asked fans to vote for the local acts they’d most like to see headline a festival. The results are in, and the event, boldly scheduled only a week after the state’s biggest music festival, promises to be a kind of grassroots, Arkansas-only antidote to the tourist-heavy Riverfest madness, a hometown hangover cure featuring the now-certified “Legends of Arkansas” Good Time Ramblers, Stephen Neeper and The Wild Hearts, Swampbird, 607, Flatland Funk Donors, Joe Pitts Band, Moonshine Mafia, Jamie Lou Thies and about a hundred others. It’s free, family-friendly and gates open at 11 a.m., with an “official” after party scheduled at the Rev Room with DJs Ewell, Lawler, Joe C. and Teezy. WS

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SATURDAY 5/31

POP on Main

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Noon. Main Street between Markham and Second streets. $35 adults, $10 children 6-12.

Just because you aren’t participating in the Gran Fondo (the Orbea/Mini Cooper/Ben E. Keith-sponsored 70-mile bike ride for 250 cyclists) doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy this sister pop-up event, with food by five top chefs and beer by Diamond Bear, outside Orbea bike’s concept store. In the spirit of the pop-up neighborhood design events Little Rock’s seen in the past couple of years, chefs Matt Bell of South on Main, Tomas Bohm of The Pantry, Donnie Ferneau of Good Food, Travis McConnell of Butcher & Public and Arturo Solis of le klaxon noir will offer a culinary pop-up, offering gourmet nosh at a price that would let you sample only a couple of these master chefs’ talents. Also, you’ll get to cheer on the arriving cyclists, who should start hitting the finish line at 11:30 a.m., right before the chow begins to be served up. Show up in Spandex if you want to horn in on the acclamation that will attend those who’ve just biked to East End and back. The Arkansas Times and Ben E. Keith Foods are the Pop on Main sponsors. LNP

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SATURDAY 5/31

BRIAN POSEHN

9 p.m. Juanita’s. $15.

There’s a running joke in “The Comedians of Comedy,” the 2005 stand-up tour documentary, about Brian Posehn getting recognized in public only for his role on the sitcom “Just Shoot Me!” These days, it’s one of the more dated bits in the film, as Posehn is a constant presence in the comedy nerd community, with three live albums, a host of high-profile appearances on shows like “The Sarah Silverman Program” and “Tim and Eric,” a feature-length special (a Netflix hit called “The Fartist”), headlining spots at Bonnaroo and the Gathering of the Juggalos and a podcast called “Nerd Poker,” which I’m pretty sure is just him playing Dungeons and Dragons with his friends. Angry Patrick and Michael Brown will open. WS

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SUNDAY 6/1

TRAIL MIX CONCERT TOUR

1 p.m. and 5 p.m. Crystal Bridges Museum, Bentonville, and the Frisco Trail, Fayetteville. Free.

What is so rare as a day in June? A day in which folks can hike, bike, see sculpture and hear music all at once. And not just on any trails, but those on the bucolic grounds of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville and the Frisco Trail in funky Fayetteville. The Artosphere 2014 Trail Mix Concert Tour, which kicks off the final week of the Walton Arts Center’s Artosphere month of art and music, runs from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. in Bentonville, where musicians will play at Compton Gardens (the south entrance to Crystal Bridges’ trails) and eight other museum trail stops, and from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at 10 stops on the one-mile Frisco Trail. Hear Candy Lee and the Sweets (next to the bronze bear at CBM and at Center and Mountain Streets in Fayetteville), Cry You One (Walker Landing and West Prospect and West Douglas), Carter Sampson (at the Turrell skyscape and on Meadow Street), Smokey and the Mirror (Bernice and Bryan Hembree of 3 Penny Acre, at the rock “Chaise Gaibon” and on Maple Street), Martha Redbone (CBM museum store plaza and Arsaga’s at the Depot), the Street Drum Corps (Champion Eastern White Pine) and the Artosphere percussion, string, brass and mixed ensembles. It’s free, it’s fun and it’s rare, coming just one day a year. For maps, go to waltonartscenter.org/artosphere and click on music. LNP

SUNDAY 6/1

CONWAY PRIDE PARADE AND FESTIVAL

2 p.m. The Pink House. Free.

In January, Robert Loyd and John Schenck will celebrate 40 years as a couple. Loyd is a Vietnam veteran, and Schenck tended bar at the Stonewall Inn during the infamous riots named for the bar. For the last 28 years, they’ve been perhaps Conway’s most famous gay couple. Since 2004 — the same year they were legally married in Canada — they’ve hosted the Conway Pride Parade and Festival. It hasn’t been easy. The first year, a thousand protesters showed up to heckle several hundred marchers. Someone dumped manure along the parade route and in the yard of the couple’s iconic home, the Pink House (it’s painted pink, with a rainbow-painted picket fence and a “Teach Tolerance” sign over the entryway). But things are looking up. Protesters are now few to none. It’s been years since anyone shot at the Pink House, the couple said in a YouTube video made last year to celebrate the event’s 10th anniversary. Meanwhile, Loyd and Schenck were plaintiffs in Wright v. Arkansas, the lawsuit that successfully overturned the state’s ban on same-sex marriage until the ruling was stayed by the Arkansas Supreme Court. Loyd and Schenck didn’t take advantage of the week of marriage equality in Arkansas because their home county, Faulkner, refused to abide by the ruling. They said they’d wait. The fight for equality marches on. Meanwhile, the parade marches from the Pink House, 1605 Robinson Ave., to Simon Park. The parade lineup begins at 1 p.m. At the festival in Simon Park, there will be vendors and a cash prize for the best parade float. LM

TUESDAY 6/3

ESTER RADA

8 p.m. South on Main. $15.

For a certain type of person, the idea of Erykah Badu doing neo-soul remixes of the “Ethiopiques” series is probably music heaven. If you are that person, you absolutely, positively must see Ester Rada play at South on Main, an event hosted by the Oxford American magazine. Rada is an Ethiopian-Israeli singer who delivers supremely groovy fusion. On her eponymous debut, released earlier this year, she takes an around-the-world approach (Ethio-jazz, reggae, Motown) that might devolve into ready-made NPR candy in lesser hands, but Rada’s a showstopper, funky and distinctive and fun. This is exactly the sort of show that South on Main should be angling for: an interesting new artist with the sort of musicianship that doesn’t fit easily into the noisy-bar scene. Tickets are available only via metrotix.com until 6 p.m. on the day of the show, at which point tickets can be purchased at the door. DR

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