Little Rock Gets Abducted by Phoebe Bridgers

Garfield famously called Mondays the “armpit of the week,” which is sometimes true, but I’m a big fan of a recent Monday.

A little after noon on Monday, May 11, I was alerted by fellow staffer Memory Lab Coordinator Meredith Li that four-time Grammy Award–winning singer-songwriter and record producer Phoebe Bridgers was performing a pop-up show nearby at Little Rock’s Rev Room that evening, just a block from our offices in the CALS Roberts Library in the River Market. The catch was that we needed to get in line ASAP to get one of the 500 wristbands that were being given out starting at noon. Wristbands guaranteed that you could buy your ticket at the door later that evening for the show. I grabbed EOA Media Editor/Butler Center Digital Archival Assistant Starr Carr, and we immediately ran over (in shoes very much not meant for running) and got in line, scoring wristbands number 345 and 346. Meredith was able to make it over and snag one a little after us. I’m a huge Phoebe Bridgers fan and dressed up as her for Halloween a few years ago at work (including drawing on many of her tattoos!), so this was very much a full circle moment for me.

(Want to check out some of Bridgers’s music? CALS has you covered with these CDs in the collection either by Bridgers or featuring a song performed by her.)

Phoebe Bridgers recently kicked off a secret tour of no-phones-allowed pop-up shows on May 8, in Roswell, New Mexico. The concerts have been announced no sooner than a day before the show, with word being spread through flyers and posters throughout the area near the venues rather than by posting online. This word-of-mouth approach makes the hype all the more intense. They are chronically offline, much like the show itself. In fact, not even pencils and paper were permitted inside the venue. The reason for suddenly touring in random cities hasn’t been officially announced or verified by Phoebe Bridgers or her team.

So, why did she come to Little Rock, Arkansas? “Phantoms” (or, as some fans call themselves, “Pharbz”) all over the internet have come up with various theories as to how she is choosing the cities for this pop-up tour. Her first two shows were in Roswell, New Mexico, and Lubbock, Texas, both cities that have had reported significant UFO and alien activity. Coupled with the alien-themed decor and exclusive merch at the pop-up shows, this has fans speculating that cities are being selected based on the prevalence of extraterrestrial activity.

UFO sightings (then referred to as “air ships”) were reported in Arkansas as early as 1897 but aren’t all that prevalent in the Little Rock metro. (Read more on the CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas about UFO Sightings in Arkansas.) The restaurant the Flying Saucer is located across and just down the street from the Rev Room, so perhaps that’s the extent of the UFO connection. Bridgers’s song “Scott Street” from her 2017 debut album Stranger in the Alps might be another connection, given that Little Rock’s Scott Street is only one block west of the concert venue. After Little Rock, Bridgers went on to play at the Hi Tone in Memphis, Tennessee, followed by Duling Hall in Jackson, Mississippi, so the jury is still out on how venues are being selected. Perhaps some official word will be given once this secret tour comes to a close, but I think it’s safe to say that fans are loving the cryptic and mysterious vibe of this endeavor (unless they have missed a nearby concert, of course…).

Either way, I was psyched for her sudden descent into our city and honored to hear the five unreleased songs she shared with those lucky enough to attend the show. After the set was complete, attendees were invited to stay and meet Bridgers and get one item signed, which was an experience I never thought I’d have in Little Rock. Some concert-goers opted for her to sign their shirts, CDs, records, or whatever folks had on hand. Meredith asked her to sign their CALS library card, and I snagged her autograph on one of the “no phones” signs that hung in the venue.

Being fully unplugged for a few hours with Phoebe Bridgers was such a meaningful and unforgettable experience for me, and I’m counting myself lucky to be among the 500 who got to be gathered there, happy to have been abducted.

Bekah Ervin is the cataloging and serials librarian at the CALS Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, housed at the CALS Bobby L. Roberts Library of Arkansas History & Art.