Highlights

Art Amiss 8

Art Amiss 8 will be May 8 at the Dickson Theater and the Ozark Mountain Smokehouse.

Art Amiss 8 will showcase the work of more 30 visual artists, musicians, filmmakers, fashion designers and a team of installation artists. The art show will take place in the Dickson Street Theater, while film screenings and an installation of art created from recycled materials will be at the Ozark Mountain Smokehouse Garden Room and patio next door to the theater.

Art Amiss 8 Chapbooks with literary work from Arkansas writers and poets will be distributed free to the first 300 patrons.

A fashion show will begin at 9 p.m. and will showcase the work of local fashion designers as well as hair and makeup artists.

There will be a 24-hour film festival created by 10 teams who will show five-minute films, that were produced in a 24-hour period.

The visual arts component is a juried show and all artwork is for sale. Participating artists will be on hand to talk with patrons, with “quiet hours” between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., before the music starts.

There will be more than 100 works from artists who are natives or residents of Arkansas in a variety of disciplines, including paintings, drawings, photography, digital art, sculpture, ceramics and experimental media.

Tickets are $5 at the door.

World Press Freedom Day

The OMNI Center and the local chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists will host an event to mark World Press Freedom Day at 2 p.m. Saturday at United Campus Ministry, 902 W. Maple St. in Fayetteville.

Michael Woods, staff photographer for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Northwest edition, will give a slide show presentation and talk about his experiences in covering the war in Iraq. Woods won an award from
Editor and Publisher for a photograph that he shot in Iraq.
In addition to Woods’ presentation, the names of journalists killed in the line of duty will be read. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 127 journalists and 50 media support workers have lost their lives in Iraq as a result of hostile actions since 2003.

CPG reports that 65 journalists were killed in 2007, the highest death toll in more than a decade. Since the first of this year, eight journalists have been killed.

China, which has failed to meet its promises to improve press freedom before the 2008 Olympics, continues to be the world’s leading jailer of journalists.

For more information call Dick Bennett at 442-4600.

Ska now

NAMA XIII nominees, Hustles the The Hall, will host a CD Release Party tonight at George’s Majestic Lounge. This is the ska outfit’s first full-length album. Formed in early 2007, the seven-piece band plays a combination of ska, punk and rock and delivers with finesse. The band’s live shows are high energy, horns in your face. The band lineup is: Shane Harris, guitar and vocals and Scott Cornish, trombone and vocals, both of the late great Cecil the Cat; Chase Cavalier, trumpet; Derek Faires, drums; Chris Harriman, trombone; Charles Spann, trumpet; and Cherokee Turner, bass. Also on the bill is this year’s NAMA winner for best electronic/groove, Fayetteville Funk Ensemble. Eighteen and up with a $5.

Music like crazy

There’s so much good music going on this week it’s crazy. Tonight Lucero will play the Dickson Theater with The Good Fear and Inner Party. Friday night’s highlights are Dry Branch Fire Squad at GoodFolk, Hadden Sayers and Wes Hart at The Bayou, and Trio De Janeiro performing the music of Antonio Carlos Jobim at Teatro Scarpino. With their new album, “Other People” in tow, the hot, hot, hot, American Princes will play George’s on Saturday, fresh from NYC’s Mercury Lounge. George’s will be hopping on Sunday night too, with the Gin Blossoms, Benjamin Del Shreve and Lauren DeMiranda. Tuesday night check out Skinny Squinty and players from Newton County—there’s a bunch of ‘em and they’re good—at the Green Door.

Finally, there will be musical benefit to help Ronnie Brooks with medical bills at 1:30 p.m. Sunday at Riggs & Co. II, west of Miami, Okla. on Route 66. Brooks played with late Steve Gaines (Lynyrd Skynard) and Fayetteville’s Zorro and the Blue Footballs. Performing at the six hour show will be Zorro’s Windy Austin, Jacobs Brothers, The Websters, Oklahoma Mudslide and many more.