Art, Music & Merriment

Art by local artists
We’ve been keeping you posted on holiday shows by local artists and there’s still one more to tell you about. One of the best-kept secrets for local art in NWA is the Corner Gift Shop in the north end of Restaurant On the Corner, just north of Sam’s Club on Arkansas 112. Here you can find original art ranging from jewelry and stained glass to paintings, drawings, pottery and more.
Open for almost two years now, the shop offers work by 38 regional artists including Dan Kerlin, Ed Daggett, Dixie Rhyne, Tana Janeen, Kim Whitter, Roxanne Markline, Vickie Warbuton, Maya Lesovsky, Betony Weakley-Maringer, Teresa Hall, Mary Foster, Ron and Renee Levey, Mary Curtis, Janet Greeson, Duncan Martin, Rae Dunn, Don and Lee Jackson, Mike Waldie, Melissa Purdy, Michelle Reeves, Brad Williams, Barbara Rayburn, Robert Burgess, Linda Cullers, Fred Derwin, Peg, Helen and Tom Maringer, Red Star, Rachel Garcia, Joyce Taylor, Tom Elskes, Judy Hobbs, L. Leflett, Brian Chism, Dick and Jeffi O’Kane and Nancy Langbein.
The shop is open from 11 a.m to 7 p.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. And, of course, while you’re there, you can enjoy a great meal and imbibe in a little holiday cheer.

Music and Merriment
Things are beginning to wind down a wee bit in the clubs as we get closer to Christmas, but some of the biggest local shows of the year are happening this week.
Friday night for Happy Hour (5 to 7 p.m.) at George’s, the Ozark Blues Society will be showcasing the winners of the NWA Blues Challenge, Isayah Warford, Kory Montgomery and Nathan Aronowitz, who will be competing in the International Blues Challenge. After their performances sitting in for an All Star jam will be local blues greats Brian Crowne, R.J. Mischo, Ocie Fisher, Ed Nicholson, Wes Bowlin, Max Mitchell, Leah Spears, Dave Stiles, Pamela Nelson, Liz Lottmann and others.
The Blues Society does a lot to bring the history and tradition of the blues to the schools and stages in NWA. The group is also responsible for seeing that NWA is represented with some fine talent at the International Blues Challenge. Get out and support OBS at this fundraiser, which will raise funds to send Warford, Montgomery and Aronowitz to IBC in Memphis in February. Cover is $5 and this will be one rockin’ show. This is the last Happy Hour before Christmas, so get out and spread some cheer.
Another big show will be the Christmas Boogie at Chelsea’s in Eureka Springs. On Saturday night, Earl Cate, R.J. Mischo, Terry Cagle, Zach Bramhall, Jason Davis and Mike Murray will have everyone on their feet for dancing and merriment on the last Saturday before Christmas.
On Sunday night at the Wet Pig in south Fayetteville, the Pioneers of Rock will be getting together to spring some riffs that these Ozark legends still love to play. We haven’t gotten a list of who will be making it this year, but these are the guys who started playing rock ‘n’ roll in NWA some 40 years ago. The Wet Pig is on Razorback Road, south of Sixth Street near the Arkansas State Revenue office.
And, at GoodFolk, you may be too late to catch a couple of very popular annual shows that happen this time of year and are generally sold out. Still on the Hill will present their annual holiday show on Friday night. This is a feel-good show with lots of fine music.
Saturday night at GoodFolk, more local favorites, the excellent, Outside the Lines (Emily Kaitz, Ed Nicholson and Stan D’Aubin) will be joined by hometown fiddle player, Jenee Fleenor, who’s now working in Nashville and making a name for herself. Both shows are at 8 p.m. with a $15 cover. Call 521-1812 to make sure seats available.
Although we haven’t been to the new Smoke and Barrel yet, the lineup there this Saturday night is enough to get us out. American Princes, Memphis Pencils and The Good Fear will be taking the stage at the club, which is at the back of Jose’s on Dickson, in the spot previously occupied by Toothpicks.
For more traditional holiday music, the Arkansas Winds will perform holiday favorites for all ages in a free concert at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Arts Center of the Ozarks in Springdale. The winds will perform Peter and the Wolf, A Christmas Festival and Sleigh Ride. There will be a special guest conductor in a white beard and a red stocking cap.