Sound Advice

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Ben Folds, Blank Generation, Little Rock Folk Club, Little Rock Free Press, Old State House Museum, Send You Back to Arkansas: Our Own Sweet Sounds II, Sticky Fingerz

“Beer or Bust”

Blank Generation will hold its “Beer or Bust” Festival on June 4-5.

“It’s kind of like our last hurrah to stay in business,” co-owner Shoni Estes says. “It’s a benefit festival to help us pay the costs of our liquor license.”

The festival features two nights of live music for a $5 cover each night. Kansas City’s The James Dean Trio will play along with O Death, My Child, Incursion and September 22^nd on Friday, June 4 at 8 p.m. Saturday’s lineup includes D.C.’s Washington Social Club, Orlando’s Mesmer Machine, Hidebound, Soundburn, and Matt Mahar, starting at 8 p.m. 

Though their music calendar runs through July on their Web site, Estes says those shows are dependent on whether the business gets the license, noting that even Chuck E. Cheese’s offers beer.

“In Little Rock, if you don’t have a liquor license it’s almost impossible,” she says. “A lot hinges on this. I’m not exactly sure if we’ll still have shows. We may have to use that space for something else.”

Sticky’s 4^th Anniversary

Sticky Fingerz will hold its 4^th Anniversary Party June 23-26, featuring live music, special T-shirts, and door prizes of paraphernalia with the Sticky Fingerz logo.

“We opened up four years ago and we’re excited that we’ve made it this far, co-owner Chris King says. “We’ve been real fortunate, as we’ve made a lot of good friends down here.”

The party starts Wednesday, June 23 with the Greyhounds opening for the front porch soul of MoFro at 9 p.m. Tickets are $8. B-Side opens for the “hick-hop” of The Hosty Duo at 9 p.m. Friday, June 25. The Tragikly White Band will conclude the weekend with a party rock flavor at 9:30 p.m. Saturday, June 26. Tickets are $6. Although some of the bands have played Sticky’s before and have become friends, King chose the bands for the anniversary because “they’re real popular.”

Folk Club celebrates 15 years

The Little Rock Folk Club will hold its 15th Anniversary celebration Saturday, June 5 at 7:30 p.m. in the Unitarian Universalist Church of Little Rock’s Thomson Hall at 1818 Reservoir Road.

As part of the foundation of Little Rock’s vital non-mainstream music scene, Little Rock’s oldest traditional/contemporary music organization will feature a wide variety of performers from LRFC¹s early days performing music from across the wide folk spectrum in a good old-fashioned LRFC format of 15 minute and 30 minute slots. Scheduled artists include Robert Bowen, Kelley Franklin, Len Holton, Lark in the Morning, Meet on the Ledge Band, and The Metrognomes of Love.

Admission is $10 at the door. Students can receive a 50 percent discount with a valid student ID, while children 12 and under are free. 

Arkansas turns 168

Arkansas’s 168th Birthday Party celebration will be held Saturday, June 19, from 5:30 to 8 p.m. on the front lawn of the Old State House Museum, which is the oldest surviving state house west of the Mississippi River and was Arkansas¹s original state capitol building. The celebration features live music, museum tours, a silent auction, face painting, storytelling and hands-on activities for children.

Tickets for Arkansas’s 168th Birthday Party are $6 per person or $25 for a family, and can be purchased at the museum¹s front gate. Food, beverages and birthday cake are included in the price of admission. This year’s proceeds will help support the upcoming blues concert planned in conjunction with the museum’s exhibit, “Send You Back to Arkansas: Our Own Sweet Sounds II.”

A new organization, the 1836 Club, is co-sponsoring the party with the Old State House Museum. The club limits membership to adults between 18 and 36. In addition to raising funds and awareness on behalf of the Old State House Museum, the club intends to get more young adults involved with the museum and its mission.

“It is the hope of the 1836 Club that the Arkansas Birthday Party will become an annual event to help raise money for the Old State House Museum to support future exhibits and events celebrating Arkansas¹s heritage,” says Jamie Zachrich, OSHM 1836 Club Treasurer.