Highlights- Spoon, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Sick Puppies

Another big week
If you didn’t wear yourself out last week hitting all the big shows in town, get ready to head out for more. Here’s the scoop.

Australian rockers Sick Puppies (now based in Los Angeles) will be in town for an all-ages show Tuesday night at George’s. The band’s influences range from Rage Against the Machine to Green Day. You may remember their tune, All the Same, as the music behind the U Tube video Free Hugs. After the George’s show, the power rockers will be hooking up with Evanescence and Julien-K for a two-month tour of the U.S. Thanks for Nothing will open.

Also in town this week is the Texas/Oklahoma band and local fave, country rockers Cross Canadian Ragweed. They’ll be hosting a CD release party Monday night at George’s and are offering a super deal. Fans can go to the band website, crosscanadianragweed.com, and for $20 get the new CD Mission California, a t-shirt and a ticket to the show. These tickets will go fast, so hop on it.

A couple of local shows to checkout: George’s will be hosting the Pink Trash Ball—a fundraiser for the Susan G. Komen foundation on Friday night. Big’uns will entertain. Dress is casual to outrageous. Tickets $20.

Saturday night, catch a couple of NWA bands to watch, Apartment 5 and Basement Brew, who’ll be rocking Arsaga’s Crossover at a free show.

Also on Saturday night, another local group on the rise, Holy Ghost Children, will play the Dickson Theater. HGC puts out an interesting blend of ambient psychedelic rock. The band includes Kale Ogle, whose dad, comeback rocker Wade Ogle will be sharing the bill. Wade will be playing songs from his newly released CD, Fort Destroyer.

Finally, don’t forget the double CD release party tonight at George’s with MAR and Ben Rector.

Spoon
Spoon is from Austin, but recently they’ve caught the fast rocket from Texas to become a band of the world. They have performed their pop rock on Leno and Letterman this summer, played Sasquatch, Bonnaroo, Lollapaloza and major cities worldwide, selling out three nights in Los Angeles earlier this month. The band is currently on tour to showcase songs from their sixth album Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga that was released in July.

Although they’ve been together for 10 years, early on they hit a few snags with label issues, but that was then and this is now—read: the fast-track to stardom.

Spoon’s 2005 album, Gimme Fiction received raves from Time, Newsweek, Vanity Fair, The New York Times and Entertainment Weekly and wound up on Blender and Spin’s Best of 2005 lists.

Spoon songwriter, guitarist and vocalist Britt Daniel co-authored the score to the feature film “Stranger than Fiction,” to which Spoon contributed the track “The Book I Write” and several other songs.

The band will play a free show at the Chi Omega Greek Theater on the UA campus Sunday night. If you can’t get enough Spoon then, head to Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa on Saturday or Liberty Hall in Lawrence on Wednesday. After that, the band is headed out of the region and who knows when they’ll make it back. Show starts at 7 p.m. with Chicago punk rockers The Ponys opening.

University Opera Theater
The University of Arkansas’ music and opera programs are like bonus bucks for those of us in NWA. Throughout the academic year, there are concerts by students and faculty for free or minimal cost. Check out 8 Days a week to keep abreast of what’s happening there and enjoy some of these first rate performances.

A good example is tonight and Friday night when the opera department presents an Evening of Opera scenes by Gluck, Mozart, Rossini, Offenbach, Delibes, Leoncavallo and Puccini, with guest director Jennifer Peterson.

Peterson, a conductor, pianist and harpsichordist, was formerly the chorus master with the Des Moines Metro Opera. She co-founded the Rochester Chamber Orchestra and is currently music director for the ‘Composers & the Voice’ workshop series with American Opera Projects in Brooklyn, N.Y. When she is not working in opera, she performs with the baroque trio Galileo’s Daughters with Mary Anne Ballard and Sarah Pillow. Peterson has held positions at the New York City Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Florida Grand Opera, Austin Lyric Opera, Opera Memphis, Connecticut Opera, and the International Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv.

Performing Evening of Opera are: Corderro Baxter, Lindsey Bowlin, Rachel Boyd, Courtney Bradford, Michael Baker Brown, Nathan Cook, Shelby Coplon, Rachel Dake, Idra Green, Emily High, Tracy Hone, Jayne Jackson, Trista McVey, Sarah Mesko, Jessica Montgomery, Taylor Moore, Xavier Moore, Jinho Park, Jonathan Perry, Jason Rutledge, Leanne Scaggs, Maja Sevo, Margaret Stall, Meisha Stewart.

An Evening of Opera at the UA Fine Arts Concert Hall. Tickets available at the door. $10 general; $5 seniors and students free. Doors at 7 p.m.