Art and Music

Lucinda Williams, Randy Rogers Band, G.Love, Saliva, JJ Gray and Mofro and more

We’d like to start this roll, by giving a little credit where a lot of credit is due…to Brian Crowne and Harold Weities, the booking team at George’s, who have got to be one of the best booking teams in the nation. The music biz is a cruel and risky business and yet this duo is able to pull Grammy winners and national acts to our relatively small town on a regular basis. They also bring the best NWA talent to their stage. Week after week, we’re amazed by the acts that come to NWA thanks to this duo.

Just look at who’s breezing into NWA this week: Grammy winner Lucinda Williams, Randy Rogers Band, the hot Jonathan Tyler & The Northern Lights, the popular G.Love & Special Sauce who will be coming to town with the very impressive Eric Hutchinson, Miami punk rockers The Crumbs, JJ Gray & Mofro, Patrice Pike and metal rockers Saliva, Aranda and Pop Evil. That’s a lot of big time talent in a week.

Lucinda Williams who George’s is bringing to the Fayetteville Town Center on Wednesday night is one of the nation’s best and we love her even more since she once called Fayetteville home. (Her father, the poet Miller Williams, still lives here). The thing about this award-winning songwriter and performer is that she just keeps getting better and her band is fine tuned to the nth. Lucinda’s 2008 album, “Little Honey,” made the top album lists of almost every caliber publication including Rolling Stone, Spin, Paste, Time and Newsday. This will be a show to talk about. Tickets are $33 at George’s.

The Randy Rogers Band, which received a nomination for Top Vocal Group from the Academy of Country Music just last week, will be at George’s on Mardi Gras night. RRB also garnered seven nominations in the Lone Star Music Awards this year.

On Saturday night, there’s a benefit at George’s for the Farmington-based Feed Just One organization that helps get food to those in need. Playing will be the smooth Jackson Waters from Nashville, and local stars Will Gunselman, Hot Shot Karate, Jarris and The Smithstonians.

Art to WoW You

There are two very fine exhibits currently showing in downtown Fayetteville that you don’t want to miss. The Sid Sargent retrospective at the ddp gallery is amazing. Sid, a Free Weekly cartoonist for many years, was a talent with a range that most people are unaware of.  In her final years, she was best known for her trinkets and postcards made from found objects. But, at the ddp show, which runs until Feb. 28, you will see that she could also create some amazing fine art. This is a world-class show and should not be missed.

Another unique exhibit is the Art of the Book show at the 4 Square Gallery. On display are books created by artists. The subjects vary from those that lean toward more traditional type books to objects that one would not immediately recognize as a book. The show opened last week and will run through March 14. Most of the books are one-of-a-kind and all are limited editions. The books reflect the artists’ individual interpretation of what a book is. Artists showing are Ellen Andes, Tanya Johnston, Sean Fitzgibbon, Michael Peven, Lesha Shave, Patsy Watkins, Nichelle Wilson-Parish, Cindy Wiseman, Michael Shipley, Ben Buonaioto and Sage Billing.

In conjunction with this exhibit, the University of Arkansas Fine Art Center Gallery and Mullins Library on the UA campus will show books created by students of Michael Peven March 2-25.