THE WEEKEND TEN

1 FAIR Concerts, food, livestock and creative arts competitions, professional bull riding, a midway full of rides and much more are on tap for the 2013 (74th annual) Arkansas State Fair, Friday-Oct. 20 at the State Fairgrounds, 2600 Howard St., Little Rock. This weekend’s concerts, all at 8 p.m. on the Wendy’s Main Stage: The Charlie Daniels Band on Friday, 38 Special on Saturday and country singer Josh Thompson on Sunday. General fair admission is $8, $4 for children 6-12 and senior citizens 60 and older, free for children under 6; fairgrounds parking is $5 per vehicle. Advance discounts on tickets and ride passes are available at participating central Arkansas Walgreens stores through Friday or online before 5 p.m. today at ArkansasStateFair.com, where you’ll also find information on daily admission and ride specials. Or call (501) 372-8341. See story on Page 4E.

2 FILM The 22nd annual Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival kicks off with a champagne and popcorn reception at 6 p.m. Friday at the Arlington Hotel, 239 Central Ave., Hot Springs. Doors open at 6:30 for a screening of Ryan White’s Good Ol’ Freda. Subject Freda Kelly, the secretary who worked for the Beatles for 11 years, will talk about her role in their lives and careers in a post-screening session, with heavy hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar. Tickets are $25. The 10-day festival’s new McKinnis Sports Documentary Series includes the world premiere of Mama Called, partly filmed in Fordyce, about the life and career of Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant, 5 p.m. Saturday, and the festival closing night highlight, the world premiere of Jose Canseco: The Truth Hurts, 6:30 p.m. Oct. 19 (former baseball player Canseco and director Bill McAdams Jr. are expected to attend). The festival runs through Oct. 20 and all screenings are at the Arlington; festival tickets range from $5 for an individual screening to a $175 all-inclusive VIP Pass. Call (501) 538-2290 or visit hsdfi.org or hotsprings.org.

3 FEST Gregg Allman, Robert Cray and Marcia Ball are headliners for this year’s King Biscuit Blues Festival, through Saturday in Helena. Various stages are set up along downtown Cherry Street for the festival, which starts at 11 a.m. each day. Tickets to the main stage area are $45 for all three days and all other stages are free.

Children under 6 are free with a paying adult. There will also be a children’s area, a barbecue cook-off for $10 and a 5K/10K race; $15-$35 today and $15-$45 on Saturday. Call (870) 572-5223 or visit kingbiscuitfestival.com. See story on Page 5E.

4 “(HAVE A LITTLE) FAITH” Grammy-winning gospel/soul singer Mavis Staples and her band will perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the sanctuary at Christ Episcopal Church, 509 Scott St., Little Rock. Tickets are $35 for general admission pew seats, $20 for standing room in the stage-side transepts. Call (501) 375-2342. See story on Page 5E.

5 FANTASY Members of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra will be donning costumes, and are encouraging their audiences to do likewise, as the orchestra plays spooky screen tunes in “Halloween Spooktacular,” the first of the season’s Acxiom Pops Live! concerts, 8 p.m.

Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday at Robinson Center Music Hall, West Markham Street and Broadway.

Philip Mann will conduct music from Ghostbusters, Superman, Edward Scissorhands, Jaws, The X-Files, Michael Jackson’s Thriller, Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and Star Wars. Tickets are $18-$59, $10 for students and active military, free for K-12 students with a paying adult. Call (501) 666-1761 or visit ArkansasSymphony.org.

The orchestra is also opening a new series, “ACT in Concert with the ASO,” with a concert called “Angels and Demons,” 7 p.m. today in the Sally Riggs Insalaco Theater, Argenta Community Theater, 405 Main St., North Little Rock. The program will include Giuseppe Tartini’s “Devil’s Trill” Violin Sonata, George Crumb’s Black Angels for electric string quartet and Maurice Ravel’s Introduccion et Allegro with harpist Alisa Coffey. Doors open at 6. Presenter is Judy Kohn Tenenbaum.

Tickets are $20. Subsequent series concerts are Feb. 13 and May 8; three-concert series tickets are $50. Visit etix.com. See story on Page 4E.

6 FRIGHT Magic Springs, East Grand Avenue (U.S. 70), Hot Springs, is scaring up its annual “Magic Screams” Halloween festival, 4-11 p.m. Saturday and 4-9 p.m. Sunday through Oct. 27. There will be two haunted houses (this year’s theme is “There’s a Reason to be Paranoid”), a trick-or-treat area, costume contests, something called “Shiver Me Timbers” for smaller children and two new music shows; several of the park’s rides will be open. Tickets are $29.99, $19.99 for kids 3 and older and/or under 48 inches in height and senior citizens 55 and older; discounted tickets are available at area Walgreens or for visitors who donate a nonperishable food item for Hot Springs’ Project Hope Food Pantry. Visit magicsprings.com for a complete schedule, including a list of promotional appearances during the festival,or call (501) 624-0100.

7 FEAR Sketch comedy troupe Red Octopus Theater pays homage to film classics including Murder on the Orient Express, Clue and Electric Boogaloo II in The Haunting of Red Octopus, 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday and Oct. 17-19 at the Public Theatre, 616 Center St., Little Rock.

Doors open at 7:30. Tickets are $10, $8 for senior citizens, members of the military, students and anyone in costume. The show is recommended for mature audiences, but they’ll still be handing out free candy in keeping with the season. Call (501) 291-3896, email RedOctopusTheater@gmail.com or visit redoctopustheater.com.

8 FLUTISTS Diane and Barry McVinney will help the Little Rock Wind Symphony open its 21st season with a concert called “Dancing Flutes,” 7:30 p.m today at Second Presbyterian Church, 600 Pleasant Valley Drive, Little Rock.

The McVinneys will solo in Three Dances for Two Flutes by Gary Schocker and Jerry Brubaker’s arrangement of the “Flower Duet” from Leo Delibes’ opera Lakme. Karen Fannin will also conduct the band and subsidiary groups in works by Leonard Bernstein, Frank Ticheli, Richard Strauss, Franz Krommer and Boris Kozhevnikov. Tickets are $10, $8 senior citizens, free for students. Call (501) 666-0777 or visit lrwindsymphony.org.

9 FONDNESS The Arkansas Chamber Singers and conductor John Erwin kick off their 2013-14 season with a program titled “Love’s Soaring Spirit,” 7:30 p.m. Friday at St. James United Methodist Church, 321 Pleasant Valley Road, Little Rock, and 7 p.m. Sunday in the Great Hall of the Clinton Presidential Center, 1200 President Clinton Ave., Little Rock. Stephen Paulus’ The Furnace of Love’s Fire is the centerpiece; the program will also feature Johannes Brahms’ first set of Liebeslieder Waltzes, op.52. Tickets are $15, $10 senior citizens and students in advance, $18 and $12 at the door. Call (501) 377-1121, email info@ar-chambersingers.org or visit AR-ChamberSingers.org.

10 FABRICATION Are robots good? Are they bad?

What can they do? The Museum of Discovery addresses questions like these with its newest exhibit, “Robots +Us,” Saturday-Jan. 26. If you stop by the museum at 2 p.m. Sunday, you can also catch a concert by Tom and the Space Cadets. The museum is open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, 1-5 p.m. Sunday.

Admission is $10, $8 for children 12 and under and ages 60 and older. Call (501) 396-7050 or visit museumofdiscovery.org.