Concerts with headliners Kelley Hunt at 7 p.m. Friday and Chris Thomas King at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at The Auditorium, 36 Main St., Eureka Springs, form the pinnacle of the now week-long Eureka Springs Blues Weekend, through June 21 in the "Little Switzerland of the Ozarks."
Earl & Them -- guitarist and vocalist Earl Cate, drummer Terry Cagle, guitarist "Baby" Jason Davis and bass player John Davies -- will open the Friday concert. Doors open at 6:30. Tickets are $25 plus fees.
Saturday's concert (doors open at 6) will begin with a tribute to Albert King by Albert King Award winners Jonn Del Toro Richardson, Nick Schnebelen and Noah Wotherspoon, followed by Chicago bluesman Jimmy D. Lane and Chris Thomas King, who played Tommy Johnson in the movie O Brother! Where Art Thou?. Tickets are $30 plus fees.
The week will also feature workshops, nightly performances Thursday-Saturday in the Barefoot Ballroom (by Shawn Holt & The Teardrops, the Bel Airs and the Nace Brothers, respectively) at the Basin Park Hotel and bands playing in clubs around town.
The event concludes with a Father's Day Blues Picnic at noon June 21 at Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge, Arkansas 23 south of Eureka Springs. It includes a gospel blues brunch and performances by Brick Fields, Lucious Spiller, the Noah Wotherspoon Band and an all-star jam.
Weekend passes, including general admission seating to Auditorium and Barefoot Ballroom shows and admission to the Sunday picnic, are $75 (plus $5 processing fee). Tickets to individual shows are $5-$30 plus processing fees. For ticket prices, a complete schedule and more information, visit the website, EurekaSpringsBlues.com.
Antebellum concert
Country trio Lady Antebellum, with special guests Kelsea Ballerini and Hunter Hayes, will perform at 7 p.m. today at the Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion, 5079 W. Northgate Road, Rogers.
Lady Antebellum's 2010 hit "Need You Now" won Grammy Awards for song and record of the year. It is one of nine No. 1 country hits the group has recorded. Their current album is 747.
Doors open at 6 p.m. Tickets are $35-$65. Call (479) 443.5600 or visit the website, amptickets.com.
Fayetteville Artosphere
Walton Arts Center will host its sixth annual Artosphere Festival from Tuesdaythrough June 27 at various Northwest Arkansas venues.
The Chapel Music Series (except as noted, all performances at 7 p.m.; tickets are $10):
• Thursday: Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem, Thorncrown Chapel, Eureka Springs
• Saturday: The Dover Quartet (Bryan Lee, violin; Joel Link, violin; Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, viola; and Camden Shaw, cello), Berry Performing Arts Center, John Brown University, 2000 W. University St., Siloam Springs
• June 22: Jayme Stone's Lomax Project, Cooper Chapel, 504 Memorial Drive, Bella Vista
• June 23: Artosphere Festival Orchestra Brass & Winds, St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 224 N. East Ave., Fayetteville
• June 26: Dover Quartet, St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Artosphere Festival Orchestra (except as noted, all performances, 8 p.m., Baum Walker Hall, Walton Arts Center, 495 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville)
• Friday: "Earth Sounding," symphonic works by Edvard Grieg, Carl Nielsen and Bernie Krause and Richard Blackford, 7:30 p.m. Music Director Corrado Rovaris conducts. $10-$25. Post-concert, 9:30 and 11 p.m., "Australia's The Fruits -- Spheres," performing arts company that fuses theater, dance and circus on 14-foot tall flexible poles, Tyson Plaza, Dickson Street, Fayetteville. Free.
• June 24: "Transfigured Night," concert and live radio broadcast (via public station KUAF-FM, 91.3) from Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville. Rovaris conducts Transfigured Night by Arnold Schoenberg and music by Giuseppe Verdi. 8 p.m. $40
• June 27: "Bold Spirit -- The Best of Beethoven." Pietro de Maria solos in Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1; Rovaris also conducts the Symphony No. 5. $10-$25
Other festival highlights include:
• Alonzo King LINES Ballet, 7 p.m. Tuesday, Baum Walker Hall. $10-$25
• Koyaanisqatsi, outdoor film screening, followed by telescope stargazing, Saturday, 8:30-10:30 p.m., Skyspace, Crystal Bridges, Bentonville. Free with online registration.
For a complete listing of and more information on Artosphere events and activities, call (479) 443-5600 or visit waltonartscenter.org/artosphere.
Arts forums
The Arkansas Arts Council, in the process of developing a five-year strategic plan, is seeking input on how to provide Arkansans with a "quality arts experience," via four public forums:
• 1:30-4 p.m. Monday, Jones Center, 922 E. Emma Ave., Springdale
• 1:30-4 p.m. June 24, South Arkansas Arts Center, 110 E. Fifth St., El Dorado
• 1:30-4 p.m. June 26, Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, 501 W. Ninth St., Little Rock
• 1-3:30 p.m. July 9, DeltaARTS, Holiday Plaza Mall, 1800 N. Missouri St., West Memphis
Reserve seats by calling (501) 324-9766 or emailing faye@arkansasheritage.org.
Style on 06/14/2015