1 COUNTRY
George Strait and Martina McBride will have Verizon Arena rocking, country-style, as Strait’s The Cowboy Rides Away Tour lands in North Little Rock, 7:30 p.m. Friday. Tickets are $86 and $108.50. Call (800)745-3000 or visit ticketmaster.com. See story Page 4E.
2 CHRISTIAN Also at Verizon Arena, Contemporary Christian rock band Third Day, with Colton Dixon and Josh Wilson, will put on a Miracle Tour concert at 7 p.m. today. Tickets are $20.50-$43. Call (800) 745-3000 or visit ticketmaster.com.
3 CONCERTOS Violinist Midori solos in the Violin Concerto by Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky with the Arkansas Symphony and conductor Philip Mann at 8 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday at Robinson Center Music Hall, West Markham Street and Broadway, Little Rock. Tickets are $14-$52, $10 for college students and active military members, free for K-12 students to the Sunday matinee with a paying adult. And she’ll be coaching and soloing in the first movement of Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with the Arkansas Symphony Youth Orchestra at 7:30 p.m. Friday, also at Robinson; tickets are $10. Call (501) 666-1761 or visit ArkansasSymphony.org.
4 CHRIS Chris Brubeck and Triple Play (Peter “Madcat” Ruth on harmonica, guitar, jaw harp, percussion and vocals; Joel Brown on folk and classical acoustic guitar and vocals; and Brubeck on electric bass, bass trombone, piano and vocals) will put on an Artspree season-closing concert at 3 p.m. Sunday in the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall, Fine Arts Building, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 2801 S. University Ave., Little Rock. Tickets are $20, with discounts for UALR faculty and staff, free for UALR students with ID. Call (501) 569-8993 or visit ualr.tix.com.
The trio will also perform at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Administration Auditorium at Harding University in Searcy, part of the university’s Lyceum Series. Tickets are $3. Call (501) 279-4343 or e-mail music@harding.edu.
5 (ACTING) COMPANY The Acting Company (founded in 1972 by director, producer and Oscar-winning actor John Houseman and current producer Margot Harley) will put on its touring production of William Shakespeare’s As You Like It at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Vada Sheid Community Development Center, Arkansas State University-Mountain Home, 1600 S. College St. The show is part of the university’s Performing Arts Series. Tickets are $35, $17.50 for students 18 and younger.
Call (800) 514-3849 or (870) 508-6280 or visit thesheid.com.
6 CAJUN Things will get hot and spicy at the River Market Pavilions for the annual CARTI Ragin’ Cajun Bash, 6 p.m. today. The benefit for the Central Arkansas Radiation Therapy Institute includes a crawfish boil, silent auction, music and dancing. Tickets are $30 in advance, $40 at the door. Call (501) 296-3406 or visit carti.com.
7 COMMITMENT Gather for a one-mile walk and a day of fundraising at Walk MS: Little Rock, Saturday at the Riverfest Amphitheatre. The site opens at 9 a.m. and the walk starts at 10:45.
There’s no registration fee, but walkers are encouraged to raise donations and pledges to help fund multiple sclerosis research and support programs. Call (800) 344-4867 or (501) 663-8104 or visit nationalmssociety.org.
8 CHARITABLE CREATIVITY A little refreshment, a little music and some dramatic bidding will make for a lively evening at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre, 601 Main St. Nearly 90 Arkansas artists will have pieces on the auction block for the Rep’s Art Works XXV, 6:30 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $50. Call (501) 378-0405.
9 (ROLLER) COASTER The “theme” part - rides and entertainment - of Magic Springs Water and Theme Park, U.S. 70 East, Hot Springs, opens for the season at 11 a.m. Saturday. The water-park part opens May 11 and its newest attraction, Splash Island (more than four stories tall, featuring 10 water slides, a bucket that dumps 1,000 gallons of water every 10 minutes and bunches of ways to get wet) is set to debut May 25. Season passes are $69.99 through Sunday, $74.99 there after.
Call (501) 624-0100 or visit MagicSprings.com.
10 COSMIC CONVENTION The Inn of the Ozarks Convention Center, U.S. 62, Eureka Springs, will be ground zero for extraterrestrial investigation and and other inexplicable phenomena during the 26th annual Ozark UFO Conference, Friday-Sunday. A complete schedule of speakers, events and workshops is available at ozarkufoconference.com; call (479) 738-2348 or e-mail info@ozarkufoconference.com .
Weekend, Pages 31 on 04/11/2013