Elsewhere in entertainment, events and the arts:
Paintings, sculpture
Paintings and sculpture by Elizabeth Weber are on display Friday-Aug. 29, with an opening reception, 5-8 p.m. Friday, at Justus Fine Art Gallery, 827A Central Ave., Hot Springs. Due to covid-19 precautions, no refreshments will be served during the opening; attendees are asked to wear masks and to maintain recommended social distancing. The gallery's August exhibit will also include work by Michael Ashley, Kristin DeGeorge, Robyn Horn, Tony Saladino, Sandra Sell, Gene Sparling and Emily Wood. Gallery hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Wednesday- Saturday and by appointment. Call (501) 321-2335 or visit justusfineart.com.
Boomtown Opry
Joe Beasley as Ray Charles, April Sanders, Eric Shipp and Kristina Kyle are the featured performers for the KTVE Boomtown Opry's annual Rock 'N' Roll Show, focusing on music of the '50s and '60s, 7 p.m. Saturday at the El Dorado Municipal Auditorium, 100 W. Eighth St., El Dorado. Tickets are $10 in advance (visit itickets.com), $15 at the door, $5 for children 12 and younger, free for kids 5 and under. Call (870) 665-9315, email [email protected] or visit facebook.com/boomtownopry.
Bombing anniversary
The Arkansas Coalition for Peace and Justice, Arkansas Women's Action for New Directions and Pax Christi Little Rock are sponsoring a virtual event commemorating the 75th anniversary of the United States' August 1945 bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 7-8 p.m., today via facebook.com/acpj.acpj.
Students from the Amnesty International chapter at Pulaski Academy will read stories of survivors of the bombings, according to a news release, and will interview two women, Melisa Laelan and Faith Laukon, from the Marshallese community in Northwest Arkansas, whose families left the Marshall Islands after the U.S. testing of nuclear weapons during the 1950s left many islands uninhabitable. The program will also include speakers, a short video, poetry and a plea for citizen action.
Organizers say the event will be archived on YouTube for later viewing. Call (501) 225-1323.
Art League exhibition
The 2020 Annual Pine Bluff Art League Exhibition opens today and remains up through Sept. 12 at the Arts & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas, 701 S. Main St., Pine Bluff. Juror Tom Richard, a professor of art at the University of Arkansas at Monticello, has awarded prizes for best in show and first, second and third places. The awards ceremony will livestream at 4:30 p.m. today on the center's Facebook page, facebook.com/asc701. Hours are 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday. Gallery admission is free. Visit asc701.org.
Also this weekend at the center, Paul Morphis performs at 5 p.m. Friday with saxophonist Damen Tolbert taking the stage at 6:30 for the center's monthly Live@5 Concert (in-person capacity limited to 20 with social distancing protocols in place, as well as livestreamed). All attendees will be required to wear masks. Tickets are $10, $5 for center members, including complimentary alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages; you must be 21 or older to enter. Sponsor is M.K. Distributors. Call (870) 536-3375 to reserve a seat.
And the Second Saturday Family FunDay: Watercolor Painting, 1 p.m. Saturday, will take place via Facebook.com/asc701 and Instagram.com/asc701. Pick up a free "take & make" kit in the front entrance breezeway, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday.
Camden Fun Day
The Great Camden Outside Fun Day — Saturday in Camden — will include the Rumble on the River $10,000 Team Bass Tournament, with anglers competing for more than $10,000 in prize money — visit arkansasbassteamtrail.net; the Dynamic Disks Trilogy Challenge Disc Golf Tournament, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. in Carnes Park on Carnes Park Drive — register by today at tinyurl.com/y3383f2e or call (870) 807-1080; a 10K Bike Fun Ride; the South Arkansas Horse Show Association horse show, 1 p.m. at the Circle C Riding Arena, 100 Ouachita County Road 451; and a sidewalk chalk art competition. Visit explorecamden.com or the Facebook page: facebook.com/explorecamden.
Play festival continues
Fayetteville-based TheatreSquared's 2020 Arkansas New Play Festival will continue with a reading of "The Interrogator" by Russell Leigh Sharman, 7 p.m. Friday, streaming with encores through Monday at playarkansas.com. The World War II-era thriller is based on transcripts of the actual interrogations carried out at Fort Hunt, a top-secret prisoner of war camp. "Admission" is free with a suggested donation; Play Fest Passes, $45, are available at playarkansas.org.
Meanwhile, TheatreSquared will livestream a concert by Grammy Award-winning guitarist Larry Mitchell, U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo and blues-folk musician Katie Martin at 7 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are available for a suggested donation at theatre2.org. A small audience of invited guests will attend the performance in person.
Virtual festival
The Central Arkansas Library System is moving its 17th annual Six Bridges Book Festival online, still set to begin Oct. 8, though the dates "may be extended to adjust to the new format," according to a news release. A schedule will eventually be available at SixBridgesBookFestival.org; call (501) 918-3048 or email [email protected].
Rescheduled festival I
Helena/West Helena's Delta Roots Music Festival, originally scheduled for June 6 and twice postponed, now until April 24, will still honor the late Phillips County native Levon Helm, and the lineup, including headliner The Weight Band, will take part. Ticketholders must decide by Aug. 12 whether to roll over their tickets for the April show, receive a complete refund or donate their ticket money. Call (870) 572-5223 or email [email protected].
Rescheduled festival II
The Mountain View Bluegrass Association has postponed its annual bluegrass festival, originally slated for Nov. 12-14 at the Ozark Folk Center State Park, to March 11-13. The lineup will include Bluegrass Hall of Fame member Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, Monroe Crossing, Chigger Hill Boys, Springstreet, Audie Blaylock, Joe Mullins and The Redmond Keisler Band. Tickets will go on sale after the New Year at MountainView-Bluegrass.com. The nonprofit organization benefits the Music Roots Program in Mountain View Public Schools.
Sean Clancy contributed to this roundup.