Rock Candy

Killed at age 44 by a gunshot fired by his fiancee’s brother, Arkansas painter Dewitt Jordan left a complicated legacy. A documentarian of the lives of rural Black people, he was willing to paint the past even when it made some viewers uncomfortable. arktimes.com/rock-candy/2025…

Arkansas native singer-songwriter Chris Maxwell co-created the score for a New Yorker short film, "Happy to Help You," which stars Amy Sedaris. arktimes.com/rock-candy/2025…

Get prepared for this weekend's Valley of the Vapors music fest in Hot Springs. arktimes.com/rock-candy/2025…

Up next for the Arkansas Times Film Series: “Girlfriends” (1978), directed by Claudia Weill. The movie screens at Riverdale 10 VIP Cinema on Tuesday. arktimes.com/rock-candy/2025…

Valley of the Vapors, the raddest and most genre-fluid independent music festival in Arkansas, kicks off on Friday in Hot Springs. arktimes.com/rock-candy/2025…

One of the most iconic characters in children’s or any other literature, Dr. Seuss’ “The Cat in the Hat,” will come to the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts stage beginning Saturday. arktimes.com/rock-candy/2025…

The First Ever 22nd Annual World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade takes place Monday in downtown Hot Springs. arktimes.com/rock-candy/2025…

“I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning,” Bright Eyes’ modern classic, turns 20 this year. Seems like as good a time as any to your angst on when they return to The Hall on Tuesday. arktimes.com/rock-candy/2025…

Searcy high school senior Silas Carpenter may only be 18 years old, but his uncommonly frank songs — and the wisdom with which he describes them — make it easy to forget he’s just a teenager. arktimes.com/rock-candy/2025…

Grammy-winning jazz trumpeter and composer Randy Brecker has lent his breath to a few of the most iconic artists of the past 50 years. He performs at The Joint on Thursday, March 13. arktimes.com/rock-candy/2025…

Billed as one of the world’s top Irish dance shows, “A Taste of Ireland” brings its roster of international dance champions to Arkansas in March for two performances in Little Rock and Fayetteville. arktimes.com/rock-candy/2025…

On Friday, Hot Springs-raised musician Harry Glaeser shared “BF 4-EVER,” a collection of songs he says is the last album he’ll release under the Banzai Florist moniker. It’s easily his least electronic, best-produced and most cohesive record. arktimes.com/rock-candy/2025…

Know any teenagers who’ve got the writing bug? On April 18, Arkansas Tech is hosting its first-ever Lit Fest, a free, one-day program for high school juniors and seniors that includes instruction from Arkansas novelists Eli Cranor and Kevin Brockmeier. arktimes.com/rock-candy/2025…

The Klipsch Museum of Audio History in Hope allows tourists and music lovers to ponder the life of a man whose name deserves mention in the same breath as Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla. arktimes.com/rock-candy/2025…

Mississippi musician Jimbo Mathus might win a few converts to his funky blues rock when he comes to the White Water Tavern on March 14 to mark the 20th anniversary of his fourth album, “Knockdown South.” arktimes.com/rock-candy/2025…

KAWS is a controversial artist. Is his work just a ruse — an elaborate prank on the credulity of consumers — or does something profound linger below the surface? Decide for yourself at Crystal Bridges' latest. arktimes.com/rock-candy/2025…

The Academy Awards are this Sunday, and we've got our fingers crossed for Arkansas filmmaker Tara Sheffer, who produced “A Lien,” one of the five movies nominated for Best Live Action Short Film. arktimes.com/rock-candy/2025…

“Will the Revolution Start at a Jesse Welles Concert?” New York Magazine weighs in on viral sensation and Ozark native Jesse Welles. arktimes.com/rock-candy/2025…

After a few years of sometimes picturesque, sometimes frigid programming at Cedar Glades Park, Valley of the Vapors, arguably the state’s raddest and most genre-fluid independent music festival, is returning indoors. It runs from March 14-16. arktimes.com/rock-candy/2025…

Songwriter and scholar Dom Flemons has explored a wide range of American musical history, covering 100 years of roots music in his solo career and time with the Carolina Chocolate Drops. He plays at the White Water Tavern in March. arktimes.com/rock-candy/2025…