What’s the “Sweetest Thing?” Well, a woman you’re fond of, according to JJ Grey. The second sweetest? Seeing him live in concert, like you can in early August in Fort Smith.

Scanning local concert websites, I came across the following… JJ Grey and Mofro are booked for a show on Aug. 1 at Neumeier’s Rib Room in Fort Smith. The Rib Room’s website confirms the date, although it’s not listed on Grey’s site.

The band from Florida has released several albums, most recently the live album and DVD “Brighter Days.”

Tickets to the 8 p.m. show are $15 and are onsale now.

On the way – JJ Grey and Mofro, Aug. 1 at the Rib Room

Tonight

Arkansas New Play Festival — “Uprooted” by Clinnesha Sibley, 7:30 p.m., Nadine Baum Studios in Fayetteville. $7. theatre2.org.

What happens when long-separated siblings reunite after the death of a parent? When successful film actress Venus Kettle returns to Indianola, Miss., to her mother’s “home going,” she is greeted by her sisters with a wide range of emotions, from enthusiastic glee to cold-shoulder resentment. In the meantime the play follows the parallel story of Venus’s brother, who is incarcerated in a facility in Pine Bluff. “Uprooted” is described as a moving tribute to the redemptive power of family.

Saturday morning

“We Built This City” — Polyglot Theatre’s audience-constructed city made with thousands of repurposed cardboard boxes, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. & 3-5 p.m., Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville. $5 children; free for adults. 443-5600.

Saturday afternoon

Country Throwdown — Country music stars, including Gary Allan, will converge on Lampe, Mo., starting around 3 p.m. Saturday for the annual Country Throwdown tour. The event, which will take place at the Black Oak Mountain Amphitheater in southern Missouri, includes multiple stages and performances by Corey Smith, Josh Thompson and more. Passes range from $19.95 to $150 and are available through www.countrythrowdown.com.

Artists’ Reception — For “Art in the Landscape,” curated and organized by Christopher Fischer & John Rankine, 5-9 p.m., The Space at 2 Pine St. in Eureka Springs. Exhibit open through May 26. 253-3326.

Saturday evening

Arkansas New Play Festival — “The Spiritualist” by Bob Ford, 6 p.m., & “The Ballad of Rusty and Roy” by Janelle and Troy Schremmer, 8 p.m., Nadine Baum Studios in Fayetteville. $7 per show. theatre2.org.

“The Spiritualist” — Inspired by true events, this comedic drama introduces Rosemary Dunn, an English widow who cooks for the school lunch service and communes with the spirits of dead composers. When an enterprising American reporter tries to unmask the self-proclaimed psychic as a fraud, he finds there may be more at play than simple musical sleight-of-hand.

“The Ballad of Rusty and Roy” — This new play with live, original music, follows the story of two half-brothers, both musicians with roots in Texas who have found their way to New York City along starkly divergent paths. One has an enthusiastic following on the New York music scene, the other among toddlers at the neighborhood church playgroup where he works. Circumstances reunite the two brothers, but a deeply troubled past involving a boyhood road trip threatens to tear them apart once again.

The Couples Game — This is a shameless plug for a fundraiser for my husband, who died May 9, to help with his medical and funeral bills. Allyn Lord will emcee the Couples Game, kind of like the Newlywed Game, at 7 p.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Fayetteville. There will be a silent auction starting at 6 p.m., food, music and hopefully lots of laughter.

Flights of Fantasy — With the Fort Smith Symphony, 7:30 p.m., Arkansas Best Corp. Performing Arts Center in Fort Smith. $15-$35. 452-7575.

Anyone else recall the $80 billion tax dollars we shelled out to save GM and Chrysler Motors? I sure do.

And now I learn from their CEO’s own mouth back in February, 2011, that 70 percent of GM’s autos are being made outside the United States, largely in the People’s Communist Republic of China. CEO Dan Akerson proudly told the Chinese during a trip to that nation in 2011 that GM’s “commitments to China” are strong.

In fact, he said the company is now in 11 joinht ventures with the Chinese Communist government and has 2,700 dealerships and sales outlets there. He called this thrust GM’s “11 keys to success.”

Akerson also told the large Chinese audience (taped via You-Tube online) that GM had 11 assembly and four power train plants in China as of that date. How wonderful for the workers of China.

So we used our tax dollars to bail out a once-proud American corporation (were any products more American than Chevy and apple pie in the 50s and 60s? Well, maybe Coca Cola too) so it can now produce seven our of every 10 of its autos offshore, largely in China? One wag asked if GM should now be renamed China Motors? This movement apparently began during the 1990s when China initiated a strong push to get GM and others involved in its markets.

I just thought every American ought to know what’s going on with this auto manufacturer, and from the mouth of its own CEO.

Crowds gather to watch a band at last year's Block Street Block Party. This year's event takes place Sunday.

Sunday isn’t often a big day for music. But not every weekend is the Block Street Block Party, either.

This Sunday (May 20) is the second such festival, which takes place on Block Avenue in downtown Fayetteville. During the event, dozens of bands will perform on six stages, ranging in genre from kid friendly to indie pop to folk.

You can find a full schedule on the Block Street website, but, in general, the festival runs from 11 a.m. until dark.

Elsewhere, you can find Mountain Sprout at George’s Majestic Lounge tonight (May 18). The Eureka Springs freak-grass band is always entertaining.

Bluesman Tas Cru will be in town this weekend, too, including for a show at 9 p.m. Saturday (May 19) at Legacy Blues.

What will you see this weekend?

The weekend in music, with bands on Block Avenue and more

The event is set for Suite 101,  4476 Waterside Court, Fayetteville. The building is located near the intersection of 71B and Zion Road.

If there’s any good news to add to this latest news, it’s that at least the rate of foreclosures is well below last year’s level.

The state’s leader (if that’s even possible) is Benton County. One in every 970 homes or so homes there was in some stage of foreclosure last month says RealtyTrac, an online service for foreclosure properties.

All together, the county had 96 homes in foreclosure. That was up 31.5 percent from March, but a whopping drop of  77.2 percent from a year ago. Washington County is number three statewide with one in every 1,187 homes in jeopardy of being reclaimed by mortgage lenders. In that county, 74 homes were in the foreclosure process in April. That was up 45.1 percent from March, but down 81.3 percent from a year ago.

My guess is that this sad process will continue probably well into 2013 before it drops back to what a decade ago were considered “normal” foreclosure levels. But hey, I’m just one guy guessing.

The song above is “New Blessings” by Messy Sparkles. Perhaps blessings are headed his direction after a magazine names him one of the Arkansas’ best acts.

Paste magazine’s 50 State Project made a splash across my Facebook feed yesterday — it seem as if all of my musically inclined friends posted this link already.

But in case you haven’t seen it, Paste listed its 12 favorite current bands in Arkansas as part of the ongoing series. Although the bulk of the 12 artists come from Central Arkansas, a few local acts made the cut, including Messy Sparkles, Teenagers and Damn Arkansan.

Here’s the full list.

Congrats to all who were listed.

Paste recognizes best Arkansas bands, including a few locals

The retailer beat Wall Street revenue projections of $110.5 billion by posting an 8.6 percent year-over-year gain to hit $112.27 billion.

Profits were up 10 percent over fiscal 2012 first quarter at $3.74 billion.

Darrel Cole — 8 p.m., Cherokee Casino, West Siloam Springs.

Michael Shaw — 7-10 p.m., Foghorn’s on College, Fayetteville.

Trapt — and The Dreaming, George’s Majestic Lounge, Fayetteville.

Russ Hutchison — JJ’s Grill, Fayetteville.

Jeff Fox — JJ’s Grill, Prairie Creek.

Earl and Them — Jose’s Restaurant & Club, Fayetteville.

Acoustic Refugees — 7 p.m., Landry’s New Orleans Cafe, Fort Smith.

Blues jam — 9 p.m., and Walter Savage, 6 p.m., Legacy Blues, Fayetteville.

Stardeath — and White Dwarfs, The Lightbulb Club, Fayetteville.

Velcro Pygmies — 9 p.m., Neumeier’s Rib Room, Fort Smith. $5.

Boom Kinetic — 8 p.m. Powerhouse Seafood & Grill, Fayetteville.

Matt and Gus Smith — Smoke & Barrel Tavern, Fayetteville.

Red Ambition — 7 p.m., Village on the Creeks, Rogers. Free.

For a more complete live music calendar and updates on the live music scene, visit Kevin Kinder’s blog at www.nwatunedin.com.