April is the month of showers. But March was soggy enough for two months' worth of cold rain, so this year's April comes with other forecasts: sprinkles of ferrets, splashes of dandelions, drenches of income tax forms and filings, puddles of penguins, and rainbows of Easter eggs.
1 April Fools' Day, National Humor Month, National Poetry Month.
His name was Tom Foolery,
And fun was his game;
Her name was Joy Buzzer,
And she felt the same;
The first day of April,
They danced on the rules,
And played every trick
Like a couple of fools.
GOODBYE, FOOL WORLD
2 Tyler Perry's Madea's Farewell Play Tour through April 3 at Robinson Center Performance Hall, Little Rock. Details at celebrityattractions.com. Call (501) 244-8800.
ALL THAT JAZZ
3 Jazz in the Park through April 24 at Riverfront Park, Little Rock. Free concerts, 6-8 p.m. Bijoux, April 3,; Tawanna Campbell, April 10; Genine LaTrice-Perez, April 17, and Ramona Smith, April 24. Details at rivermarket.info. Call (501) 375-2552.
GET THE LOW-DOWN
4 Adopt a Ferret Month — when everybody loves a slinky.
GREAT CAESAR'S ROAST
Royal Players comedy A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum through April 14 at the Royal Theatre, Benton. Details at theroyalplayers.ticketleap.com. Call (501) 315-5483.
THE OTHER MAN'S SHOES
Dead Man Walking author Sister Helen Prejean, 6:30 p.m. at Saint Mark's Episcopal Church, Little Rock. Details at lovesaintmarks.eventbrite.com. Call (501) 413-1102.
NEW IN THE KNOW
Arkansas New Play Festival through April 7 at TheatreSquared, Fayetteville. Details at theatre2.org. Call (479) 777-7477.
DOWN BY THE STATION
6 Railroadiana Show and Sale, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. at Arkansas Railroad Museum, Pine Bluff. Details at arkansasrailroadmuseum.org. Call (870) 535-8819.
MALE CALL
7 River City Men's Chorus concert, Imagine — Justice, Freedom, Peace, 3 p.m. April 7, also 7 p.m. April 8, and 7 p.m. April 11 at Second Presbyterian Church, Little Rock. Details at rivercitymenschorus.com. Call (501) 377-1080.
"I DO" ADO
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Conway Bridal Show, 1-4:30 p.m. at Farris Center, University of Central Arkansas, Conway. Details at arkansasbridalcommunity.com. Call (501) 378-3807.
BY THE NUMBERS
8 Mathematics and Statistics Awareness Month calculates a 99.99999 percent chance that nobody cares.
JUST ONE OF THOSE TWANGS
9 International Guitar Month, Straw Hat Month, National Pest Management Month. A country song strummer, a lid made for summer, a creep-crawly bummer.
WHAT'CHA HAVIN', HONEY?
10 Broadway musical Waitress through April 14 at Walton Arts Center, Fayetteville. Details at waltonartscenter.org. Call (479) 443-5600.
BUGLER SOUNDS REVERIE
11 Drama Lincoln's Dream through April 14 at the Weekend Theater, Little Rock. Details at weekendtheater.org. Call (501) 374-3761.
ET, ROAM HOME
12 Ozark Mountain UFO Conference through April 14 at Inn of the Ozarks, Eureka Springs. Details at ozarkufoconference.com. Call (479) 738-2348.
Mary saw a little light
That beamed an eerie glow,
And everywhere that Mary went,
The light was sure to go;
It followed her, and swooped her up,
And flew her off to Mars;
The moral is, pack lightly
For a journey to the stars.
PANTS ON FIRE
13 Arkansas Symphony Concert, Beethoven and Blue Jeans, 7:30 p..m. April 13 and 3 p.m. April 14 at Robinson Center Performance Hall, Little Rock. Details at arkansassymphony.org. Call (501) 666-1761.
NAG, NAG, NAG
Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Racing and Gaming, Hot Springs. Details at oaklawn.com. Call (800) 625-5296.
SOONER OR LATKE
14 Jewish Food and Cultural Festival, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. at War Memorial Stadium, Little Rock. Details at jewisharkansas.org. Call (501) 663-3571.
UNCLE SAMMY WHAMMY
15 Income tax pay-up-or-else day.
INTEREST AND PENALTIES
16 National Stress Awareness Day — especially for those who forgot that April 15 was tax day.
QUICK! — TO THE BAT POLL
17 Bat Appreciation Day — when the Bat-Signal warns that April is the Joker's month.
SLIPPITY DO-DAH
18 Disney on Ice: Dare to Dream through April 21 at Verizon Arena, North Little Rock. Details at verizonarena.com. Call (800) 745-3000.
THAT'S ALL FOLK
19 Arkansas Folk Festival, music, crafts, beeswax and goat's milk soap through April 20, Mountain View. Details at yourplaceinthemountains.com. Call (870) 269-8068.
HEDGE FUN
Comedy Native Gardens through May 5 at Arkansas Repertory Theatre, Little Rock. Details at therep.org. Call (501) 378-0405.
BULL RUN
20 TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Is today your birthday? If so, run with the bulls. Forget the red cape, though — it's your day to walk the red carpet. Paw the ground with the ladies of the field: Queen Elizabeth II of England, 93 on April 21; and Wonder Woman Gal Gadot, 34 on April 30.
BIG FUN ON THE BAYOU
Hot Springs Gumbo and Crawfish Festival and cook-off, downtown Hot Springs. Details at hsgumbofest.com.
GROUND LEVEL
Earth Day celebration through April 21 at Pinnacle Mountain State Park near Little Rock. Details at arkansasstateparks.com. Call (501) 868-5806.
HOPPITY DO-DAH
21 Easter Sunday.
EASTER SONNET
Irving Berlin's song "Easter Parade" contains the curious lyric, "The photographers will snap us,/ And you'll find that you're in the rotogravure." But what's the rotogravure? — (A) High society gala in fancy Easter dress, (B) Old-time newspaper printing process, or (C) Posed on a turntable. In a rotogravure contest, the elegantly turned-out winners were the last couple standing, while the dizzy losers fell off.
Answer at April 27.
ALL THIS AND BEAR STEW
Mountainman Rendezvous at Woolly Hollow State Park near Greenbrier. Details at arkansasstateparks.com. Call (501) 679-2098.
GLOBAL CONCERN
22 Earth Day.
"Nothing but the whole wide world for us." — Jakob Dylan.
ERIN THERE
23 Celtic Woman, 7:30 p.m. at ArcBest Performing Arts Center, Fort Smith. Details at fortsmith.org. Call (479) 788-7300.
SNIPPITY DO-DAH
24 Comedy Shear Madness through June 1 at Murry's Dinner Playhouse, Little Rock. Details at murrysdp.com. Call (501) 562-3131.
WHO-WHO-WHO
WROTE THE BOOK I LOVE?
25 Arkansas Literary Festival through April 28, Little Rock, with authors including Rick Bragg (All Over but the Shoutin') and children's writer Laurie Friedman (Mallory McDonald), at the Central Arkansas Library System's Library Square and other venues. Details at arkansasliteraryfestival.org.
ARTY INVITATION
26 Arts and the Park celebration of music, dance, poetry, art studio tours through May 5, Hot Springs. Details at hotsprings.org. Call (501) 321-2277.
THE JOKER AND OTHER CARDS
Funny as Ish Comedy Tour with Mike Epps, Rickey Smiley, DC Youngfly, Chico Bean, Lavell Crawford and Karlous Miller, 8 p.m. at Verizon Arena, North Little Rock. Details at verizonarena.com. Call (800) 745-3000.
"Stand by your truth — and then run for your life." — Rickey Smiley
ISH KABIBBLE
"Ish" can be slang for a word that some rappers use, but newspapers don't. But according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, "ish" means: (A) Somewhat, (B) Somewhere, or (C) Somehow
Answer at April 30.
BY GOSH, BY GOLLUM
Tolkien tale The Hobbit through May 12 at Arkansas Arts Center Children's Theatre, Little Rock. Details at arkansasartscenter.org. Call (501) 372-4000.
OUT TO LARCH
How to celebrate Arbor Day: Give 'em what fir.
DROP THE MIC
27 National Karaoke Week clears the room.
ROTO ROUTER
Roto a-go-go quiz answer: (B) A printing process. Also, a newspaper photo section was called the "rotogravure," as Fred Astaire meant when he sang the word to Judy Garland in the movie Easter Parade (1948). Today, the updated lyric would go: "Your selfie on Facebook is so hot that — yikes!/ Already, you've gotten a million-plus likes."
"JINGO" UNLEASHED
28 Santana with guitarist Carlos Santana, 7:30 p.m. at Walmart AMP, Rogers. Details at waltonartscenter.org. Call (479) 443-5600.
WELDERS CARRY THE TORCH
29 How to celebrate National Welding Month: Solder on.
BON TEMPS,BURN TEMPERATURE
30 Louisiana admission day, 1812. Louisiana admits that a bottle of Tabasco sauce will stay hot three times longer than uranium.
'DO WOP
Hairstyle Appreciation Day, National Honesty Day, and a question no man should be dumb enough to answer: "Is my hair too short?"
GONE 'ISH'IN
Sillyish quiz answer: (A) Somewhat, as in the sentence: "The first day of April is foolish, and the last day of April is like a person from Finland — Finnish."
Coming next month: May! Write to Ron Wolfe at
rwolfe@arkansasonline.com
by tax-day April 15 to suggest May calendar entries or how to celebrate May 22 as Buy a Musical Instrument Day, such as: Pick a piccolo, burgle a bugle, dig a didgeridoo. All entries require a web address and/or phone number that is answered during business hours.
Style on 03/26/2019