Elsewhere in entertainment, events and the arts:
TODAY
Alley Party
The Downtown Little Rock Partnership will hold an Alley Party, 5-8 p.m. today on the west side of Main Street and Daisy Bates Drive in the SoMa neighborhood of Little Rock. The party will feature music from the Buh Jones band, pizza by the slice from Raduno Brick Oven & Barroom and craft beer from Stone's Throw Brewing. Call (501) 410-4875 or visit facebook.com/events/196609887794109.
Blues guitar
Blues guitarist Mary Flower performs at 7:30 p.m. today at The Joint, 301 Main St., North Little Rock, part of the Argenta Acoustic Music Series. Tickets are $25. Call (501) 425-1528, email steve@stevedavison.com or visit argentasacoustic.com.
SATURDAY
Ruffles and Rust
Texas-based Ruffles and Rust Expo brings more than 100 vendors of vintage, boutique and handmade items, including furniture and clothing, to Little Rock this weekend, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday at the Arkansas State Fairgrounds, 2600 Howard St., Little Rock. Tickets are $5, admission is good both days, free for children 12 and younger. Parking is free. The first 100 customers in line on Saturday and the first 50 customers on Sunday will enjoy a "swag bag" with free merchandise and discounts from vendors. Call (806) 231-9822 or visit rufflesandrustexpo.com.
Strawberry Jam
Nearly 20 bands will perform during two days, Friday-Saturday at the Strawberry Jam Music & Arts Festival, 241 Prince Cemetery Road, two miles north of Bald Knob, kicking off at 6 p.m. Friday as Jason Lee Hale & The Crossrams take the North Central Arkansas Amphitheater stage. Cashroh, Bluesboy Jag & The Juke Joint Zombies and Under the Influence will follow in that order. Saturday's acts include Winona Road, the Legendary Pacers, A Year & A Day, Josh Morningstar and Stephen Neeper & The Wild Hearts; the headliner will be Grateful Impressions of Jerry Garcia, a Grateful Dead tribute band. Armbands are $20, cash only, available only at the gate. Call (501) 626-7403 or email baldknobbarth@gmail.com.
Playing in El Dorado
The new Murphy Arts District Playscape, two acres of playground equipment, including slides (among them a giant Razorback slide), ropes, tunnels, ladders and a zip line, plus water features -- a large splash pad and a jetting "oil derrick," debuts at 9 a.m. Saturday at 301 S. Hill Ave., between Pony Street and East Cedar Street, El Dorado, adjacent to the Murphy Arts District Amphitheatre. It'll be open 8 a.m. to sunset through the summer months, weather permitting, with concessions open 9 a.m.-6 p.m., daily. Parental supervision is required. Admission is free. Call (870) 863-4547 or visit eldomad.com/mad-playscape.
Pioneer Days
Dutch oven cooking, soap-making and blacksmith demonstrations; a hunter, trapper, and trader tent from the early frontier, and a Civil War camp-life demonstration will be part of Norfork's annual Pioneer Days event, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday at the Jacob Wolf House Historic Site, 13775 Arkansas 5 South, Norfork, and other sites across the town. All activities reflect the historic site's timeline of interpretation, 1829-63. Admission is free. Call (870) 499-0556 or visit tinyurl.com/y7bwu2vz.
SUNDAY
Music for the Garden
Arkansas Symphony Orchestra members will give a concert at 3 p.m. Sunday in Anthony Chapel, Garvan Woodland Gardens, 550 Arkridge Road, Hot Springs. The Platypus Players (Beth Wheeler, oboe; Katherine Williamson, violin; Kater Reynolds, viola; and David Gerstein, cello, with pianist Naoki Hakatani) will perform Bruce Adolphe's Little Red Riding Hood with narrator Stephanie Smittle and Peter Schickele's Emperor's New Clothes with narrator Philip Mann. Principal tuba Ed Owen will join the Rockefeller String Quartet (Trisha McGovern-Freeney and Katherine Williamson, violins, with Reynolds and Gerstein) to play Ballade for tuba and string quartet by Roland Szentpali. Principal bassoonist Susan Bell Leon and the quartet will play Bassango by Mathieu Lussier and an arrangement of "Amazing Grace" for jazz bassoon and strings. Tickets are $50, $35 for members, $25 children 12 and younger accompanied by a ticketed adult. Reservations are required. Call (800) 366-4664.
ETC.
NEA grants
The National Endowment for the Arts has handed out six Fiscal Year 2018 grants, totaling $814,600, to Arkansas organizations and agencies, among 1,071 grants totaling $80.5 million nationwide:
• Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Art Works -- Museums grant, $40,000 to support the exhibition and related programming for "Native North America."
• Artist's Laboratory Theatre, Fayetteville, Our Town -- Design grant, $25,000 to support a design workshop and artist-facilitated community planning for Fayetteville's Southside neighborhood.
• University of Arkansas Main Campus, Fayetteville, Art Works -- Folk & Traditional Arts grant, $30,000 to support a folk and traditional arts program at the UA Libraries.
• Sonny Boy Blues Society, Helena-West Helena, Art Works -- Music grant, $25,000 to support the King Biscuit Blues Festival.
• Arkansas Arts Center Foundation, Little Rock, Art Works -- Museums, $50,000 to support the conservation of art works by John Marin.
• Arkansas Arts Council, Little Rock, Partnerships (State & Regional), $644,600 to support arts programs, services and activities statewide.
TICKETS
Mathis at Robinson
Tickets -- $49-$125 -- go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday for Johnny Mathis' "Voice of Romance" tour concert, 7:30 p.m. Sept. 8 at Robinson Center Performance Hall, 426 W. Markham St. at Broadway, Little Rock. Call (800) 745-3000 or visit Ticketmaster.com.
'Nailing' Memphis
Nine Inch Nails, on its "Cold and Black and Infinite North America 2018" tour, with "special guest" The Jesus and Mary Chain, performs at 7 p.m. Sept. 24 at the Orpheum Theatre, 203 S. Main St., Memphis. Tickets, $60-$138, will be on sale 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday during the "Physical World Presale" at the Halloran Centre, next door to the Orpheum (no lineups before 6 a.m.). Call (901) 525-3000 or visit orpheum-memphis.com.
Weekend on 05/17/2018