Final bout for Roller Girls
Highlights
Composers Showcase
The KUAF Summer Jazz Concert Series season concludes on Friday with the popular Composers Showcase. The concert will be at the newly renovated University Theater on the University of Arkansas campus and will feature local musicians and composers.
Anchoring the concert will be a new 17-piece big band called the “Fayetteville Jazz Collective.” The group uses the traditional instrumentation of the big bands of the Swing era, but plays high energy arrangements blending older styles with more current musical trends.
Members of the group are: The rhythm section Claudia Burson, Ben Harris, Darren Novotny and Drew Packard; trumpeters Chase Cavalier, Al Gibson, Rob Kain, Shane Harris; trombonists Michael Olefsky, Chris Moore, Gerald Sloan, Lance Grisby and saxophonists Art Fogartie, Jonathan Howland, Nathan McLeod, Greg Press and Rick Salonen.
The Jazz Collective will premiere new compositions by Lendell Black and Rick Salonen. Salonen’s three-movement to feature pianist Claudia Burson is called the “Claudia Suite.” He also has written a reworking of a seminal Miles Davis tune which he calls “So Phrygin’ What,” based on an ancient church mode known as the Phrygian mode.
Also featured will be the Andrew Sieff Trio, which will premier a new piece by Sieff performed by Roby Pantall.
Two new compositions for jazz sextet by guitarist Ben Harris and a new work by Nathan McLeod.
Singer and pianist Bonnie Turner will perform two new songs, one by her husband Steve Turner and another by Al Gibson.
The concert will open with two pieces by guitarist James Greeson.
The concert starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15 general and $5 with student ID and are available at the door or in advance at www.digjazz.com.
Who’s Bad?
When the wheels begin to roll, the sound is unmistakable. We’re talkin’ Roller Derby. You can find out who’s the baddest, when the NWA Rollergirls Backwoods Betties meet the Green County Rollergirls Thunder Dollz from Tulsa in the last bout of the season at 7 p.m. Saturday at Roller City. The event has plenty of spills and thrills and audience can get close to the action. There are no walls around the track, so spectators are close. The teams of five each have one jammer, the person designated to lap the opposing team. The remaining four players use their bodies to block for the jammer. Points are scored as the jammer laps the opposing players. Roller City is at 1007 Century St. in Springdale. Tickets are $12 at the door. Children 12 and younger are free with a paid adult.
The Burning Chair Readings
Four Square Gallery at 3996 Frontage Road in Fayetteville will host The Burning Chair Readings from 3 to 6 p.m. Saturday. University of Arkansas graduates and poets Katy and Matthew Henriksen founded The Burning Chair Readings when they were living in New York. Now back in Fayetteville, they are reviving the poetry readings in NWA. Reading at Four Square will be: Samuel Amadon, Stephanie Anderson, Thomas Andes, Robert J. Baumann, Tim Earley, Jennifer Jabaily, Friedrich Kerksieck, Don Lee and Karl Saffran. Sam King will provide music.
Mulberry Mountain Harvest Music Festival and more
Wow! This is a week for music. The big ticket is the Mulberry Mountain Harvest Music Festival that opened yesterday near Ozark. The camping and music festival features a fine lineup that includes the legendary Ozark Mountain Daredevils and Nitty Gritty Dirt Band along with stellar acts like Squirrel Nut Zippers, Avett Brothers, Hot Buttered Run, The Lee Boys and oh, about 50 more. For a complete schedule go to www.mulberrymountainmusic.com
If you can’t make it to the fest, there’s good music happening in town too. Bluegrass band, The Lost Pines from Austin, will be at Mulberry Mountain, and they’ll also be at Smoke & Barrel tonight and at 6 p.m. Friday you can meet the guys when they do an in-store performance at Sound Warehouse. They’ll also do a Sunday night show at George’s with My-Tea Kind and Randy Crouch.
Peter Frampton, whose previously scheduled show at The AMP was cancelled, will play the outdoor venue at the Northwest Arkansas Mall on Sunday night.
Smoke & Barrel has a nice line up for the week, with NAMA winners Matt Smith Trio tonight and a couple of new local outfits, the edgy The Rox on Saturday (with The Good Fear and Egyptr) and The Devil’s Promenade (Adam Posnak, Shane Ritchey, Seth Shumate) on Wednesday night. Think “O Brother Where Art Thou” or as the band puts it “ a houseparty two miles from glory and 10 miles from hell.” It’s good and scratchy roadhouse.
Finally, don’t miss the I Heart John Ray benefit tonight at the Dickson Theater with Lloyd Marley, Matt Buell, A Good Fight and more.
