THURSDAY 5/10
Gourmands can sample food from several Central Arkansas restaurants at Taste of the Rock, River Market Pavilion, 5:30 p.m., $15 adv., $20 door. For some barroom country with a touch of rockabilly, check out Bonnie Montgomery, who plays a free show at The Afterthought, 8 p.m. The New Music Test at Revolution features Sonex 180, Randy Harsey and Neon Skin, 9 p.m., $5 21 and older, $10 18-20. Brown Soul Shoes brings a mix of originals and classic rock, blues and R&B covers to an 18-and-older show at Stickyz, 9 p.m., $5. Americana-tinged pop songstress Audrey Dean Kelley plays Live at Laman, Laman Library, 7 p.m., free.
FRIDAY 5/11
Metal behemoths Rwake headline a show at Maxine’s, with Sound of the Mountain and Mainland Divide, 8 p.m., $6 adv., $8 door. The Weekend Theater’s production of the musical comedy “A … My Name is Alice” returns, 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, $12-$16. Douglas Blackmon, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “Slavery by Another Name,” will discuss his work at CALS Main Library, 6:30 p.m., free. Exhale at RiverTop returns to The Peabody, with DJs g-force and Tre’ Day, 9 p.m., $8. Singer/songwriter Eric Sommer has been building a real following in the area, with dexterous playing and great original tunes. He’s back at Midtown, 12:30 a.m., $5. Emo-flavored pop-punkers Red Jumpsuit Apparatus come to Downtown Music Hall, with local rockers Se7en Sharp and Belair, 7:30 p.m., $14.
SATURDAY 5/12
Bass & Woofers is a benefit show for Last Chance Arkansas, featuring several DJs, Shooter’s Sports Bar & Grill, 6 p.m., $5 after 10 p.m. Fayetteville invades The Spa City, with a CD release show from pop-punkers Dreamfast and The Inner Party, Maxine’s, 8 p.m., $5. Music in the Garden includes educational events about gardening, activities for kids, food from local restaurants and more, including music from Rod Bryan‘s band First Baptist Chemical, Dunbar Community Garden, 3 p.m., $3-$5. Nashville singer/songwriter Janey Street presents a workshop for songwriters about the art of writing for film and TV, Second Presbyterian Church, 1 p.m., $45-$55. It’s time once again for the annual Stueart Pennington Running of The Tubs, in Hot Springs. Teams of costumed contestants will push customized mobile bath tubs — filled with water and a bather — down the city’s historic Bathhouse Row, 9:30 a.m.