Arkansas Times - May 1, 2014 by Arkansas Times

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VOLUME 40, NUMBER 35 ARKANSAS TIMES (ISSN 0164-6273) is published each week by Arkansas Times Limited Partnership, 201 East Markham Street, Suite 200, Little Rock, Arkansas, 72201, phone (501) 375-2985. Periodical postage paid at Little Rock, Arkansas, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to ARKANSAS TIMES, EAST MARKHAM STREET, SUITE 200, Little Rock, AR, 72201. Subscription prices are $42 for one year, $78 for two years. Subscriptions outside Arkansas are $49 for one year, $88 for two years. Foreign (including Canadian) subscriptions are $168 a year. For subscriber service call (501) 375-2985. Current single-copy price is 75¢, free in Pulaski County. Single issues are available by mail at $2.50 each, postage paid. Payment must accompany all single-copy orders. Reproduction or use in whole or in part of the contents without the written consent of the publishers is prohibited. Manuscripts and artwork will not be returned or acknowledged unless sufficient return postage and a self-addressed stamped envelope are included. All materials are handled with due care; however, the publisher assumes no responsibility for care and safe return of unsolicited materials. All letters sent to ARKANSAS TIMES will be treated as intended for publication and are subject to ARKANSAS TIMES’ unrestricted right to edit or to comment editorially.

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MAY 1, 2014

COMMENT

Hypocrisy and big money Despite your fulminations against the Koch brothers and the Citizens United and McCutcheon v. FEC cases, you completely ignore some inconvenient truths right under your noses. You feign righteous indignation about the corrupting influence of money in politics, but never mention or complain about the hundreds of millions of dollars ($900 million in the 2012 election cycle alone) donated by organized labor — all of which goes to the Democratic Party and its candidates. Hedge fund billionaire Tom Steyer pledges $100 million to the Democratic Party if it advances the climate change hoax, and you say absolutely nothing. Your hypocrisy is offensive. Be forthright about it: You like big money as long as it promotes your causes and candidates. Michael Emerson Little Rock

Kill ’em quick For years I’ve read the Times rail against those nasty fiscal conservatives who only want to lower taxes and gut important social programs such as Social Security. I am happy to see that the Times is finally doing more than just pontificating about the problem. We all know that one of the big problems with Social Security (other than the previously referenced nasty fiscal conservatives) is simply that people are living longer than they used to and taxing the system during their extended life span. In the latest Arkansas Times I saw at least two fullpage advertisements for cigarettes. Good job, Times! If we can only get more people to smoke, the battle is half won. Kill ’em off quickly before they get a chance to draw any of that money. And, since we all know that universal health care will not cost the taxpayers anything, the expense of caring for these folks is not a consideration. Way to go! You have shown once again that superior intellect always triumphs in the end. Connie Meskimen Hot Springs

From the web In response to last week’s cover story, “Arkansas Times Academic All-Star alumni are scattered around the world, still succeeding”: 4

MAY 1, 2014

ARKANSAS TIMES

Great update! One was the daughter of a childhood friend and I was hoping to see her in the updates. Another was a young woman I worked with on a project about a year back that had really impressed me. I had no idea she had been an AT scholar. I did know she was very competent and a pleasure to work with. My favorite issue of the Times every year. Some people complain about the weather but don’t do anything about it. The Arkansas Times champions

education and the development of our future citizens without complaint. Citizen1 In response to “On the path of the tornado”: When Tom Cotton is elected, the budget for this kind of foolishness will disappear. We all agree that if we eliminated food stamps — as Tom is working hard to do — this country would no longer have poor people without food. We all agree that if we eliminated gun control — as Tom is working hard

to do — this country would no longer have gun murders. We all agree that if we eliminated taxes — as Tom is working hard to do — this country would no longer have a deficit. Why can’t we all agree that if we eliminated disaster recovery — as Tom is working hard to do — this country would no longer have disasters? I am not sure why liberals do not see that. Paying Top Dollar for Legislators In response to the Arkansas Blog post, “Mark Martin seeks to pry into the private lives of Voter ID plaintiffs”: Why doesn’t someone in the Democratic Party check into Mark Martin, Martha Adcock’s and Jerry Cox’s respective financial and personal closets? What they might [find] may not be good for public consumption. At the same time, what does the GOP have over Tea Party Dixiecrat Larry Teague, who is a big supporter of the Republican’s Voter ID poll tax. Teague, on his blog, recently gave a spirited defense of the same Voter ID legislation that he held hands with Tea Party Republicans to move out of the Senate Chamber. This is the same Democrat who also has blocked any attempts to broadcast live proceedings of the Senate goings on because it may hurt his efforts to raise campaign funds. According to the DemGaz, Herr Teague is not big on open government: “When you watch some of those [meetings], maybe somebody is texting or answering an email on their phone, it looks like they maybe are not paying attention,” he (Teague) said. “I am not a big fan at this point,” Teague said. “I just worry about a 3-second video clip out of it where it looks like they aren’t paying attention coming back to bite them in a campaign.” Teague seems to be more concerned about how people may perceive his ineptness, rather than simply doing what’s right. Time for him to either resign or change parties. Professor Emeritus

Submit letters to the Editor, Arkansas Times, 201 E. Markham, Suite 200, Little Rock, AR 72201. We also accept letters via e-mail. The address is arktimes@ arktimes.com. Please include name and hometown.

WORD S

The L word and the C word I was excited to see the newspaper headline “Bielema liberal.” “After all those neo-Nazis, we’ve finally got a coach who thinks right,” I told friends. “I wonder if he belongs to the ADA.” Then they pointed out to me that I’d only read the first line of the headline. The second was “defining ‘sacks’. ” So the headline writer meant only that Bielema was “not literal or strict” in defining certain football terminology, not that he’d enlisted in the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign. That incident, and the fact it’s an election year, started me thinking about “liberal” and “conservative” as they’re used in political discourse. William Safire was a hard-core conservative himself, but sometimes fairminded. In “Safire’s Political Dictionary,” he gives these definitions: “LIBERAL — currently one who believes in more government action to meet individual needs; originally one who resisted government encroachment on individual liberties. “In the original sense the word described those of the emerging middle classes in France and Great Britain who wanted to throw off the rules the dominant aristocracy had made to cement its own control.” “CONSERVATIVE — a defender of the

status quo who, when change becomes necessary in tested institutions or practices, prefers that DOUG it come slowly, SMITH and in moderation. speedodoug40@gmail.com ...Today the more rigid conservative generally opposes virtually all governmental regulation of the economy. He favors local and state action over federal action, and emphasizes fiscal responsibility, most notably in the form of balanced budgets.” There’s a lot more, and some of it seems dated today. Safire’s Dictionary was first published in 1968. He’s correct though in pointing out that conservatives have succeeded in making “liberal” a dirty word in some quarters, so much so that some liberals avoid the term themselves. “In the 1976 presidential primaries, Rep. Morris Udall told columnist David Broder: ‘When a word takes on connotations you don’t like, it’s time to change the label.’ Henceforth, Udall said — though he would think of himself as a liberal — he would use the word ‘progressive’ instead because the word ‘liberal’ was ‘associated with abortion, drugs, busing and big-spending wasteful government.”

WEEK THAT WAS

It was a good week for… ARKANSAS VOTERS. Circuit Judge Tim Fox struck down the 2013 Voter ID law because it unconstitutionally adds requirements to be eligible to vote, specifically production of approved forms of ID. SEN. JOHN BOOZMAN. He was released from a Rogers hospital Sunday following successful heart surgery April 22. KEEPING THE BUFFALO RIVER CLEAN. The Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission granted petitions to begin the rulemaking process to prohibit new controlled animal feeding operations in the Buffalo National River Watershed.

It was a bad week for… WEATHER. A massive tornado killed 15 people, injured hundreds and caused

millions of dollars in property damage. Especially hard hit were two cities that are no stranger to catastrophe — Mayflower, site of last year’s oil spill, and Vilonia, which was severely damaged by storms three years ago. SECRETARY OF STATE MARK MARTIN. Filings in a still-pending lawsuit challenging the Voter ID law (separate from the suit that prompted Circuit Judge Tim Fox to strike down the law) show that Martin wants to pry into the private lives of plaintiffs in the lawsuit. A defendant in the case, Martin is seeking access to medical benefit, tax and other records of the plaintiffs. Jeff Priebe, attorney in the lawsuit, has filed a motion to quash the subpoenas. PHILIP HOLTHOFF. The Star City social studies teacher was suspended from school after Southern Poverty Law Center’s Hate Watch website reported that his writing, under a pseudonym, appears on a white supremacist website.

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MAY 1, 2014

EDITORIAL

EYE ON ARKANSAS

Same old, same old

No man

epublicans are building a reputation as “the party of No,” and Tom Cotton could be the poster boy for the movement. A U.S. representative from the Fourth District, now a candidate for the U.S. Senate, Cotton voted against this year’s farm bill, the only member of the Arkansas delegation to do so. Longtime congressional observers were aghast. How could a congressman from a small, poor, agricultural state vote against the farm bill? Cotton said the bill was too generous to the hungry families who depend on the food stamps that are part of the farm bill. Can’t they eat dirt? There’s lots of dirt in East Arkansas, where many of the impoverished users of food stamps live. Evidently, Cotton wants people to think outside the box. 6

MAY 1, 2014

ARKANSAS TIMES

BRADLEY WIDDING

emarking as we were on the dreariness of this year’s election campaigns, we failed to pay sufficient tribute to the NRA, one of the most unsavory and, in its predictability, dullest of the biennial participants in the passing political parade. No matter how many children die in schoolyard shootings, the NRA’s response is always the same, and it does not include serious discussion of gun violence in America. What’s needed, the NRA says, is more guns in the hands of more people, and serious political reprisals against anybody who says otherwise. That the result of this prescription is more bullet holes in more kids does not weaken the NRA’s commitment. The NRA has found two candidates who meet its rigid requirements in the gubernatorial race this year, one in each of the major political primaries, and made two endorsements. Mike Ross, the Democrat, was the NRA’s go-to guy in the U.S. House when he represented Arkansas’s Fourth District. Asa Hutchinson, the Republican, has had an itchy trigger finger in all the various government offices he’s held. When he was head of the Drug Enforcement Administration under George W. Bush, and raging against cancer patients who sought marijuana to relieve their suffering, it was easy to imagine him taking his rifle and picking them off one at a time, like the prison camp commander in “Schindler’s List.” Probably didn’t happen, but it’s easy to imagine. He speaks fondly of his favorite weapons, a Remington 870 Express 12-gauge shotgun and a Springfield .45 semi-automatic handgun. The governor’s race offers a distasteful but easy choice for non-friends of the NRA. Ross is a generally reasonable man when not carrying water for the NRA, and sometimes supports reasonable causes. Hutchinson is a right-wing extremist, scary even when he doesn’t have a gun.

SURVEYING THE DAMAGE: People work to clean up tornado damage in Vilonia on Monday. A tornado tore through Central Arkansas on Sunday night, killing 15. See additonal coverage on page 10.

El Dorado’s school success

he Office of Education Policy at the University of Arkansas reported recently that it had found precisely what the Arkansas Times has noted often since the El Dorado Promise scholarship program began in 2007. The $50 million from Murphy Oil to provide a college scholarship for every graduate of El Dorado public schools has reversed the drain of students, particularly those better off economically, from the increasingly black El Dorado school district to surrounding whiter ones. The Promise pays up to the highest tuition and mandatory fees charged at any Arkansas public university. Students can also take that money, now about $7,800 annually, out of state. The UA report contained the important finding that El Dorado students outperformed peers on math and reading tests. Better still, gains in math and literacy were even greater among black and low-income groups, typically groups that lag the most. A UA researcher called the work to my attention. Surely I’d want to cheer UA work that I liked, wouldn’t I? Indeed I would, though it doesn’t alter my thinking that the Walton-funded UA division too often functions as a cheerleader for the school agenda of their patrons, the heirs to the vast Walton fortune. Charter schools. Vouchers. Merit pay. The evils of teacher unions and tenure. And so on. It’s to the UA’s credit that it is touting the research and El Dorado, where more than 300 students received a Promise scholarship this week. It’s evidence of the flaws in the Walton billionaires’ demonizing of conventional school districts and the premise that charters and vouchers are the solution. Faced with a school problem in El Dorado, some rich guys “threw money” at the conventional school district, to use the popular sneering phrase. Eureka! It worked. The good news is not solely rooted in the college scholarship program.

The Murphy money — credit much of it to former Murphy CEO Claiborne Deming, also a charter school club member, I’m sorry to say — also has been thrown at financial rewards for students MAX who hit targets on standardized BRANTLEY tests, such as AP tests. They threw maxbrantley@arktimes.com money at math, science and foreign language specialists. They threw money at math camps for black students. Where other districts struggle under fractious leadership, El Dorado enjoyed the calm and steady hand of Superintendent Bob Watson, who’ll retire this summer after a remarkable 29 years as superintendent. Watson is the kind of leader who could rally support for a tax increase in a city trending solidly Republican to build a magnificent high school. I’ve toured it with Watson. It’s not only a temple for students. It was designed to open its doors to the broader community every day in after-school hours. They built a high school worthy of the championship football team, as they like to say at Rotary Club. Watson doesn’t buy teacher trash talk. It’s popular among the billionaires to believe that calcified collegetrained educators are easily replaced by a revolving corps of brainy Ivy Leaguers. Watson told an interviewer once: “People will say teachers are not as good as they used to be, they’re not as focused, they’re not as dedicated, and I don’t agree with that. I think they’re better prepared. I’ve seen that over the years.” El Dorado could have gone the charter school route. But its leaders had to know this would mean further deterioration of the core school district and, with it, the whole city, already in population decline. Instead, they fixed the existing school district. Imagine if the Waltons would throw a comparable amount of money at a Little Rock Promise.

OPINION

Moocher Bundy, poster boy for the paranoid

ust as we were speaking of paranoia and polarization last week, that modern political style was putting up a new icon, a rebel Nevada rancher. As a token of the paranoid movement that has transfixed the base of one of the national political parties, you can’t beat Cliven Bundy, who has made his fortune mooching off the public while proclaiming himself its victim. For a few days last week Bundy looked like the Republican poster boy for the 2014 elections. Fox News’ Sean Hannity proclaimed him a hero for leading a band of armed buddies and backing down Bureau of Land Management agents who were following court orders to remove 400 of his cattle from public lands. When a Democrat entered the White House 21 years ago, Bundy stopped paying the tiny fee for grazing his cows there and he now owes either $300,000 by his accounting or $1 million by the BLM’s. He has ignored repeated court orders over the years to pay it or move his cattle to his 160-acre ranch or

say there was no place for such overt racism. A few other Republicans followed suit. But the wider response was that Bundy’s racial animosity was beside the point. No one could have been shocked that a rancher in one of the sundown states held such views. What matters are his notions about the government of the United States, which happen in varying degrees of subtlety to be those of the minor but dominant wing of the GOP. Dale Bumpers spent a good part of his 24 years in the Senate in a one-man losing battle against the federal policy since President Grant of spending vast tax dollars to conserve and improve public lands while letting profiteers — energy companies, mineral speculators, timber companies and big ranchers — exploit the land and pay only pennies (or nothing in Bundy’s case) back to the people. More about that in a minute. Some commentators had fun pointing out that the $1.35 per cow a month that Bundy had refused to pay for foraging was not a demand from Obama but an executive order from President Reagan in 1986. Some conservatives said Reagan shouldn’t be forgiven for such lapses. But that little bit of tyranny — the

description that is applied to executive orders by Obama — was unintentional. Reagan actually issued it to mollify ranchers who feared that the government, under a formula of the 1978 Public Rangelands Improvement Act, would raise the grazing fee much higher. Reagan’s order said fees had to be at least $1.35 but not much higher. Even at $1.35 or its peak, $1.98 per cow, the fee amounts to a vast government subsidy to the ranchers. National agricultural statistics showed that in 1993, when Bill Clinton took office, the market price for foraging was $9.80 per cow on private lands rented by ranchers and $4.58 on public lands owned by the states—three to five times the fee for federal grazing. Bumpers saved his biggest battles for the coal, oil, gas and timber companies, which were getting an even more scandalous deal — paying a few dollars without bids to hold mineral rights and leases on thousands of acres of federal lands. Western senators, Democrat and Republican, beat him year after year, but Bumpers finally forced competitive bidding on leases on federal lands around his boyhood home at Charleston, which brought millions of dollars to the state and to the schools as well as the federal treasury.

steady diplomatic and economic pressure is more likely to restrain Putin than futile military gestures. any Russian head of state willingly surTalk like that invariably stimulates what rendering control of Calvin Trillin dubbed the “Sabbath Gasbags” warm-water naval to question the president’s virility. On Meet bases on the Black the Press, hairy-chested, he-man David Sea. Brooks, the New York Times columnist GENE Even if the vast who thought invading Iraq was a terrific LYONS majority of Crimean idea, opined that “Obama, whether deservcitizens didn’t yearn to return to Mother edly or not, does have a — I’ll say it crudely Russia, as quite clearly they did. — manhood problem … Is he tough enough Meanwhile, the role of Good Guy in the to stand up to somebody like Assad, someUkrainian melodrama has fallen by default body like Putin?” NBC’s Chuck Todd went all canine on to President Barack Obama, who appears disinclined to play it. him. Obama’s critics, he said, don’t actually “Why is it that everybody is so eager to disagree so much with the president’s policy use military force,” the president asked decisions as they think “He’s not alpha dog recently “after we’ve just gone through enough. His rhetoric isn’t tough enough.” a decade of war at enormous cost to our Now me, I don’t miss junior high school troops and to our budget? And what is it at all, but let’s get basic. Back in 1956, when exactly that these critics think would have Soviet tanks rolled into Budapest, Presibeen accomplished?” dent Dwight D. Eisenhower, who liberHe didn’t call any names, but Obama did ated Europe from the Nazis, declined to mention the Sunday TV talk shows, where engage the Russian army in its own back 2008 presidential rival Sen. John McCain yard. Nobody questioned Ike’s masculinity. frequently holds forth. It’s a rare interview When the Soviets crushed the “Prague that doesn’t find the bellicose Arizonian, Spring” rebellion in 1968, everybody underwho’s supported all 14 of the nation’s last stood there wasn’t a sane thing the U.S. three wars, yearning to bomb somebody. could do about it. Everybody was extra “Do people actually think that some- careful not to mention LBJ’s manliness how us sending some additional arms into for fear he might decide to whip … Well, Ukraine could potentially deter the Rus- to make a public spectacle of it. sian Army?” Obama asked. He added that It was much the same when Putin

responded forcibly to Georgian provocation in August 2008. President Bush reacted by decisively going on vacation. Karl Rove now claims the White House sent Putin a strong message — probably dropped him from the Christmas card list or something. These things happened because whatever the testosterone levels of U.S. presidents, Russia is what we scholars of international affairs call a very big bleeping country, with a big bleeping army. President Obama can make light of Russian military prowess all he wants, but he also knows that Napoleon and Hitler sent superior armies into Russia that never came back. Ukrainian officials are fools if they imagine that the U.S. or NATO will help them fight a civil war where no member’s vital national interests are involved. Alas, the kinds of extreme right-wing nationalists who decked out public buildings in Kiev with Fascist regalia and passed laws (since withdrawn) removing Russian as an “official” language, are all too prone to folly. These and similar provocations have been all but censored in U.S. media even as they’re wildly exaggerated in Moscow. What’s also unclear is exactly how much control Putin has over Russian-speaking militias occupying public buildings in eastern Ukraine — maybe a lot less than some imagine. Either way, the last thing anybody needs there is heroes.

other private lands because he says the government of the United States is not legitimate and the old laws he is violatERNEST ing are unenforceDUMAS able. John C. Calhoun would think that was a little extreme. Bundy’s militia chased away federal workers at gunpoint, so it was a great symbolic triumph over the tyrant Barack Obama, although the BLM was carrying out court orders and not those of the president. Candidates from presidential aspirant Rand Paul to congressional wannabes rallied to his cause. But Bundy couldn’t restrain his well-known bigotry in front of the cameras and volunteered that blacks were better slaves than free citizens. See, they didn’t demand food stamps when they were slaves. Bundy had violated the subtlety rule, so Sen. Paul had to retract his praise and

The Ukrainian melodrama

irst comes the melodrama, next comes the killing. Good vs. evil, suffering innocents vs. swaggering bullies, heroes vs. villains. The “Two Minutes Hate,” Orwell called it — the way of the world since the invention of mass media. So it is during the current political crisis in the Ukraine. In the U.S. media, the identity of the Bad Guy has been clearly determined: Russian President Vladimir Putin, the one-time KGB operative with the hooded eyes. “The world has not yet forgotten World War Two, but Russia already wants to start World War Three,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk has declared. He accuses Moscow of acting like a “gangster,” of supporting “terrorists,” and alleges that Putin wishes to build a new Berlin Wall. So what’s taking him so long? If Putin really wanted a shooting war in the Ukraine, he’s had ample opportunities to start one since the overthrow of that country’s Russian-leaning elected government last February. Instead, Putin managed to transfer the Crimean peninsula, with its strategically crucial military bases, from Ukrainian to Russian sovereignty without firing a shot — an impressive feat of geopolitical gamesmanship whether you trust the cunning rascal or not. Indeed, it’s hard to imagine

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ARKANSAS TIMES

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Glimmers of hope T

he unspeakable toll of tornadoes puts a pall over our state that lingers, but may there always be relief or at a minimum, momentary distraction, in the realm of sport. Arkansas scuffled through its weekend baseball series against Auburn, and finds itself 10-11 in league play with nine huge games left. The Hogs aren’t terribly highly regarded this spring for a variety of causes, and they’re maddeningly uneven on the offensive side even this late into the year, but they find themselves well positioned to surge at the end thanks to their avoidance of prolonged droughts. It’s common knowledge that .500 baseball in the SEC translates well for NCAA Tournament prospects, certainly better than that level of performance might be parlayed in other conferences. What might be more critical for Arkansas this year than in other seasons is to thrive at the conference tourney in Hoover, because it’s not been an especially friendly excursion over the years and a surprising run late into the week would likely snuff out recent, baffling RPI concerns about this team. Knocking out six wins over the final nine and showing well in the league double-elimination bracket should legitimately make the Hogs a second seed in a respectable and winnable regional, if not give them an outside shot at getting to host at Baum for a weekend. Spring football came to a close with the Red-White game. The pervasive skepticism about the 2014 team engendered by a luckless and mostly unskilled 2013 bunch depressed attendance, but it was a relatively acceptable show nonetheless. Austin Allen made some errors, but showed himself to be superior to his elder brother, Brandon, who got picked on his first throw and struggled thereafter to establish any rhythm. Alex Collins, scrutinized in the offseason because of Bret Bielema’s consternation, had a quiet four-carry day but the Red team rode Korliss Marshall’s and Jonathan Williams’ explosiveness to a 61-22 rout. Deatrich Wise and Darius Philon acquitted themselves nicely up front, and Brooks Ellis is emerging as a linebacking leader.

This scrimmage, of course, rarely provides any compelling insight into what may happen in BEAU the fall. There’s a WILCOX pervading belief that Rafe Peavey’s got the requisite combination of speed and size, as well as time over the next few months, to make a coaching staff inclined to play a true freshman under center. Whether you deem that welcome news or a harbinger of further depression is dependent upon your frame of reference and your battery of prescription pills; what it almost certainly means is that neither Allen brother has enough control of things to warrant full-throttle support from anyone come autumn. None of the above seemed to matter much after fierce weather ravaged Central Arkansas Sunday night. For all the harrowing fatalities and the untold damage, there’s still spirit in this state and there will be opportunities for that to be on display as the year winds onward. The 2012 baseball Hogs, light-hitting and aggravating on the basepaths from time to time, helped smooth over the fanbase’s raw and rough edges after Bobby Petrino’s imbroglios dominated the news for weeks. When Vilonia was battered the first time, in April 2011, some of its denizens got to smile again when the football team made a fine march to a Top 5 ranking and Cotton Bowl win amid the rebuilding project. It’s a farce to make too many leaps about the psychological impact of sports, but one of the reasons the Hogs own the state’s culture is that they’ve been an imperfect cultural bedrock to lean on when life’s gravity starts to pull too hard. There’s not a lot going on in Razorback Country right now, but if some first-responders or some displaced folks get a chance to flash a grin through the strain by watching ESPN Fan Hall of Famer Canaan Sandy rumbling down the Razorback Stadium turf for a 50-yard touchdown run, that validates the program more than any ranking or series win ever can.

THE OBSERVER NOTES ON THE PASSING SCENE

Chaos theory THE OBSERVER GOT UP TO VILONIA AND MAYFLOWER on Monday. We got as close to those towns as we could, which wasn’t all that close, and we Observed. You go to see a thing. That is the job. You try to make sense of it on paper, if not in your own head, so others can make sense of it. You employ the oldest, best advice: The Bigger and More Terrible Something Is, the Tighter Your Focus Should Be. It’s the only way to feel it. It’s the only way to distill the scope of it: not aerial photos of destruction, but hairbrushes, splintered wood, packets of Christmas cards, baby shoes knotted carefully together, books and DVDs and bottles of dog shampoo, a shattered car with A Precise Concordance of the New Testament untouched on the back seat, a broken sink where someone brushed their teeth just that morning, T-shirts and blue jeans and chunks of barn tin crumpled so artfully that they could be displayed as masterpieces in any gallery in the world. You get down in the mud and push the tragedy of it along with the tip of your nose. You walk that strip of the earth that had people and homes on it, all scrubbed out by chaos, a butterfly having flapped her wings in Fiji with just the right velocity and angle to send a tiny vortex spinning, bigger, growing, until it wound up here, big enough finally to sweep someone’s toaster and mattress and baby book and dog leash and cabinet door up into the clouds to deposit it by the side of the freeway, a hundred yards or a thousand from where they started. With a fire, things are destroyed — sooted, warped, burned to ash and lost. The frustrating thing here, though, is that so much of what’s left looks almost useful. Cars sitting on their wheels that look fine until you look closer and realize that God has coughed and blown out all their windows, fenders and doors rippled with a thousand pin-prick hits of flying nails and splinters of wood; clothes that look fine until you look closer and see they’re shot through with holes, as if moths have been at them;

2x4 studs that look as if they could be cleaned and reused, until you look closer and see the hairline cracks born of titanic force, rending the fibers. The Big Picture is easy. The Big Picture looks like a few weeks with trash bags and skidloaders piloted by the National Guard, and it’ll be right as rum. Focus, on the other hand, is hard. Focus is heartbreaking. In the absence of an owner, for instance, who will decide what is lost and what is found, what is salvageable and what is irreparable? A home is full of things that mean nothing except to the people who live there. How many dreams will be carted off to the dump or burned in great bonfires by the side of the road in coming days? How many more dead lie in the rubble? How many are maimed? How many will never sleep again through a night rattled by thunder? How many will lie awake when rain hits the windows years from now and imagine that swirling black tree of horrors bearing down on them again? Who, dear Lord, can say? CORRECTIONS ARE WARRANTED, and a particularly embarrassing one in this case: Last week was Pub or Perish, the lively and well-attended bar reading this Observer has hosted for lo these many years on the Saturday of the Arkansas Literary Festival. T’was a hoot, and thanks for asking. If you missed it, you definitely missed a good time. The correction is, we somehow became convinced that this year was the 11th year for Pub or Perish, instead of the 10th. We wrote a piece on PoP for the Times under the spell of that confusion, and went so far as to personally pen an ad which triumphantly proclaimed 2014 our XI Year! using the Roman numeral, which looks much classier than plain ol’ 11 in our experience. Alas, we were wrong, possibly because we hate Big Anniversaries (5! 10! 15!) so much that we were trying to speed the plow. Apologies, and here’s hoping you never have a job where you have to print all your screw-ups in a box on the second page of the newspaper.

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THE

IN S IDE R

A shadowy outside group is touting Republican attorney general candidate David Sterling for his advocacy of adoption of a “stand your ground” (kill the witness) law in Arkansas. Sterling, a Religious Right lawyer (who despite his professed religiosity has done some legal work for a racy underwear shop that sells skin flicks online), opposes Leslie Rutledge in the Republican primary. She’s a pistol-packing conservative who’s as far right on issues such as abortion, Obamacare and the rest as Sterling is. And she has some GOP establishment credentials through work for Mike Huckabee and the Republican National Committee. She’s raised about $200,000 so far. He’s raised about $175,000. But now he’s benefitting from a big ad buy by the American Future Fund. It is one of those 501(c)(4) organizations. It doesn’t expressly advocate election of David Sterling. Thus it is free from the sort of disclosure of contributors and expenditures required of regular campaign advertising. But make no mistake, this ad buy is an endorsement of Sterling for his support of a Stand Your Ground law (it mentions his anti-abortion position, too). The fund is a multistate group that backs “conservative” and “free market” candidacies with such advertising support. It’s based in Des Moines and issued this release on the Sterling ad: “Nick Ryan, Founder of the American Future Fund, said: ‘David Sterling has been a consistent, conservative leader for Arkansas families. Arkansas families need to know they can feel secure in their neighborhoods and in their homes, and they will have the right to defend themselves and their families. David Sterling is standing up for the security of Arkansas families. The American Future Fund applauds him for his efforts and urges Arkansas families to thank David Sterling for standing for them.’ ” Source Watch provides more background on the outfit: “American Future Fund is a 501(c)(4) conservative nonprofit largely dedicated to running television and web ads that promote conservative causes and influence elections. Like many (c)(4) groups, the Fund has been very secretive about who controls or manages it. AFF was founded in 2008 by Nick Ryan, who worked as an advisor on Rick Santorum’s 2012 presidential campaign as well as founded the pro-Santorum Super PAC, Red White and Blue Fund. Their records indicate that they CONTINUED ON PAGE 11 10

MAY 1, 2014

ARKANSAS TIMES

DAVID KOON

AG candidate gets outside assist

CHAOS: An overturned truck and other debris in Mayflower.

On the path of the tornado Surveying the damage in Mayflower and Vilonia. BY DAVID KOON

nevitably, somebody gets around to saying that it looks like a bomb went off. But it doesn’t look like a bomb. A bomb is fire. A bomb is deliberation — a human hand and mind deciding where to plant it or drop it, when to set the timer or light the fuse. This isn’t that. This is the worst kind of random. On Sunday, April 27, a tornado that formed around 7:30 p.m. near Roland in Pulaski County tracked northeast, devastating a sizeable chunk of the city of Mayflower before taking dead aim on Vilonia, the Faulkner County town that had been hit by an F2 twister on April 25, 2011, almost exactly three years prior. After passing through Vilonia, the funnel may have

stayed on the ground all the way to the Missouri state line. The National Weather Service has issued a preliminary rating for the tornado as an EF3, with wind speeds between 136 and 165 miles per hour. At this writing, the number of homes listed as uninhabitable due to damage in Vilonia and Mayflower is around 3,000, with an official death toll of 15. That number of dead will likely climb before the week is out. The tornado crossed Interstate 40 just south of Mayflower, wiping cars off the road and sucking wooden posts used to string a guide wire in the median out of the ground like rotten teeth. Monday morning around 10 a.m., a red Volvo rig lay on its side on the southbound lanes of the interstate,

an even larger wrecker working to right it. A car, almost unrecognizable as a car, sat in a heap of debris. At Mayflower RV along the I-40 access road, the main building was piled into a broken wad of metal, bricks and lumber 30 feet high, studded with demolished trucks and trailer frames. Everybody survived, somebody told somebody as I walked past, even the office cat. Just last week, they were in business selling Nature Lite: trailers and motorhomes with satellite TV and electric lights, hot water showers and queensized beds, ready to hook onto and head for Yosemite or Yellowstone, a running-waterconcrete-pad version of getting out into the wilderness. But nature — true nature, bared teeth and red eyes, the monster in the darkness outside the firelight — rose up and found them here Sunday night at dusk and obliterated that dream. The land to the east of I-40 at Mayflower was mucky bottomland before the freeway, the lot the RV dealership sat on built up with fill dirt and gravel, the back of the property falling away in a drop of 20 feet or more. CONTINUED ON PAGE 12

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Some friends visiting from Germany recently discovered the White River National Refuge and the Big Woods and were struck by their natural beauty. They found very helpful staff on the refuges but little public information on these unspoiled swamps and rivers. Why doesn’t the state of Arkansas publicize these areas more?

Joe David Rice, director of tourism in the state Parks and Tourism Department, got the same question the Times did from the same caller, and he said he appreciated it. “My answer to him was that we probably haven’t done enough. When you look at the Buffalo River, we promote the hell out of it. But the Big Woods are not nearly as accessible.” Unlike along the Buffalo, there aren’t outfitters along the lower White or the Bayou DeView or the Cache River to provide kayaks and canoes to would-be paddlers. There are places to stay in Brinkley, but little lodging elsewhere. Dining establishments are few and far between. There’s a Catch-22 at work: There are few tourists, so there aren’t many accommodations. “And then there’s the multitude of

ownerships,” Rice said, including the state Game and Fish Commission, the Nature Conservancy and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife agency, a “patchwork” he said that makes it harder to coordinate publicity. But Rice said his agency has plans to address the lack of information on East Arkansas: He’s asked the agency’s communications staff to put together a blog on the area. “In fall, it’s a great place to visit,” Rice said, “and with other things going on in eastern Arkansas” — like Johnny Cash’s boyhood home in Dyess that is being restored — “it would be foolish for us to ignore” the area. “We’re going to do better,” he said. Rice said he welcomed the questions, and told the caller that the next time his friends were in the area to let him know and he’d take them out.

were incorporated by Alex N. Vogel and his wife, Jill Holtzman Vogel, who together run the consulting agency Holtzman Vogel. The first president of the group, Nicole Schlinger, was the former executive director of the Iowa Republican Party. According to NPR, a large number of AFF’s leadership were members of Mitt Romney’s 2008 failed campaign for president. “The American Future Fund received $1.1 million from the Center to Protect Patient Rights in 2011 after getting $1.3 million in 2009 and $11.7 million in 2010.” The fund spent $25 million in 2012 elections and $26 million in 2010, generally targeting liberal candidates. Seed money came from an ethanol magnate in Iowa. And, sure, there are Kochs at the bottom of this barrel. Again from Source Watch: “According to a 2014 ProPublica report, ‘the American Future Fund, which pulled in a whopping $68 million in 2012, got more than 92 percent of that money from Freedom Partners and the Center’ and ‘according to tax and FEC records, the American Future Fund poured at least $19.8 million from the Center and Freedom Partners into elections.’ CPPR is run by Sean Noble, who Politico described as a Koch Operative, Nobel was hired by the Kochs to coordinate with other conservative superPACs to target Democratic representatives in 2010.” Why do they want to buy the attorney general of Arkansas? Not for a gun law, you can reasonably speculate. The attorney general, in Koch World, wouldn’t be filing class-action lawsuits against profiteering private corporations. He or she wouldn’t be rigorously enforcing environmental regulations. He or she wouldn’t be raising sand about the perils of an interstate pipeline that could carry Koch oil to a Koch refinery. He or she wouldn’t opine unfavorably on the constitutionality of all manner of legislation that could affect the corporate interest. But advocacy of Stand Your Ground is reason enough to oppose Sterling. Arkansas, as friendly toward guns as it is, has so far resisted, in part because of opposition from state prosecutors of all partisan colors. Florida tells us graphically what happens under Stand Your Ground laws. Floridians are used to gunning down people who can’t give their side of the story after being plugged dead for giving offense to a gun toter. The number of homicides ruled “justifiable” have jumped sharply in states such as Florida where the laws were enacted. The laws haven’t been accompanied by decreases in other crimes. And the law also is often seen as producing racially disparate treatment — that is, more forbearance for whites who shoot blacks because they say they felt threatened. The issue rose to prominence in the Trayvon Martin case. www.arktimes.com

MAY 1, 2014

JEFF DAILEY

BRADLEY WIDDING

ON THE PATH OF THE TORNADO, CONT.

A BIRD: Amongst the rubble in Vilonia.

When the tornado came shrieking over the interstate, tumbling cars and tractor trailer rigs, it scraped almost everything off that higher ground and into the mud beyond like a petulant child swiping a bowl off a high chair with her arm. Behind the lot, the trees were stripped, festooned with wadded sheets of tin. A giant old moving truck lay on its side like a mastodon fallen into the tar pits. There was the rotten-egg smell of propane in the air, and every once in a while, maybe a whiff of something dead.

A hundred yards away, a Blackhawk helicopter hovered out over the marsh. The employees of Mayflower RV posed for a picture with the sign that used to be on the roof. Fifteen feet away, a spray-painted gold horseshoe sat among the rubble. Nearby, Burt Wade stood beside a barricade of smashed trucks, saving what he could from his RV, which lay on its side in the rubble. The roof was stripped away and the battery dangled out of the frame by one cable.

BUSINESSES DESTROYED: Firefighters examine damage in Vilonia.

“On the national news last night, they ‘World’s Greatest Papa’ on it. It’s in there. were calling it a ‘tow truck’,” he said. “But That, I would like to have back. My grandthat’s a 30-foot, brand-new, 2014 Thor kids always say: ‘Oh, Papa! You’ve got on your hat! You’ve got on your hat!’ But it’s Freedom Elite motor home.” He’s owned it since July 2013. He gone now. Out of all of it, that cap is the only brought it in Friday afternoon for some thing I can think of that I really hate to lose.” work to get ready for summer. They’d given Out in the gravel lot, among the insulahim the choice to bring it in on Friday or tion and broken roof joists, the contents of Monday, and he chose Friday. “I was get- someone’s home lay scattered and sodden, ting ready to go on a good, long trip in it,” he carried here from who knows where: shamsaid with a laugh. “But I’m not going now.” poo bottles, a smashed toilet, a pink glass Wade said the only thing he really hoped perfume bottle, a Captain America T-shirt, to find was a cap given to him by his great- highlighted textbooks swollen with rain, a grandkids and grandkids. “My grandkids book called “Married for Life.” Meanwhile, 50 feet away, a woman in call me Papa,” he said, “and the cap says

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ARKANSAS TIMES

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BRADLEY WIDDING

ON THE PATH OF THE TORNADO, CONT.

IN VILONIA: Gov. Mike Beebe addresses the media.

track shoes and gloves was working near a capsized boat. Someone had tied an American flag on a pole to the upturned boat motor, and it flapped in a steady breeze. Slowly, deliberately, the woman picked up one piece of shattered lumber at a time, then carried it to a growing pile. Soon, others joined her. The boat was righted. When enough people had gathered, including two soldiers in fatigues, they lifted a vast, splintered section of camper wall and carried it to the pile, then went back for more. Just up the access road at Lifeline Fellowship Church, Bailey Butler was helping salvage audio equipment from the concrete

BRIDGE

CHURCH STREET: In Vilonia.

block sanctuary, which had been all but leveled. I didn’t catch his age. One doesn’t ask for age in the apocalypse, but he was young, maybe 19. He had attended that church since he was 6 years old, he said, and was thankful that there had apparently been no deaths among the parishioners as far as anybody knew. “Maybe it’s just God’s way of saying we need to be someplace else, you know?” Butler said. “He works in mysterious ways.” Farther north and east, the town of Vilo-

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nia was sealed Monday afternoon, police cars with their lights turning at every road heading in, not even the press being allowed in after a press conference that morning. Every road had become the neck of a black jug, concealing misery. The only place you could get a hint of what lay beyond the checkpoints is at the place the tornado crossed U.S. Highway 64 south of town before continuing over the hill, where it reportedly ground a good bit of the city — including a new, soon-to-open

middle school and some of the same neighborhoods decimated in the 2011 tornado — into bent nails and plaster dust. The track is easily a half-mile wide at the highway, and, looking back at Mayflower, continues southwest almost to the horizon. Blasted homes leaned in the distance, the trees around them denuded by the wind. One could hear the growl of multiple chainsaws. Along the edge of the highway, a fence had been ripped out of the ground and spun into a clenched muscle of steel wire. In the cow pasture beyond, a pickup truck was almost embedded in the ground, as if dropped from a passing plane. Across the freeway, what had been a house was leveled to the foundations except for a single wall containing two windows. On the side of the highway below the demolished house, northern Pulaski County resident Ken Hunt was loading flattened cardboard boxes onto a four-wheeler, as many as he could carry. They were for a family just over the hill whose house had been destroyed. They were trying to pick through and save what they could, he said. They needed boxes, so he brought them boxes. “We know a lot of folks from our church who live around up here,” he said, “so we come to help out. When your family needs help, you come help ’em.”

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Out of the Democratic blue ‘Doc’ Bryant. BY LESLIE NEWELL PEACOCK

ynette “Doc” Bryant, 57, is a cipher, an atypical candidate. She filed to run for governor on the last day of the primary filing period, out of the blue. She’s running for the highest office in Arkansas, but declines to provide details about her family life, the sorts of facts politicians usually reveal, if not exploit, as a way to define themselves. Why did she move to Arkansas some 20 years ago? For a job, she says, but won’t elaborate. Children? Yes, she says, but no more. There are details in the public record, she concedes, but she’s not talking about them and she wishes the press wouldn’t either. She’s not personally shy, however. She appeared on “Capitol View,” the KARK-TV talk show hosted by Roby Brock, decked out in a bathrobe (fully clothed underneath), saying folks might as well stay in bed come voting day because of what she calls the state Democratic Party’s “pre-slated” roster of unopposed candidates. She had with her a poster that compares the Democratic primary ballot with the Republican ballot to illustrate her point. That visual and references to President George Washington’s warning against usurpation of the government in his farewell address are common themes in her campaigning. Bryant claims it’s the party’s fault that there are no contested Democratic primary races for the top state and congressional positions, that it’s undemocratic, and that it motivated her to run against former Congressman Mike Ross for governor. She lists her issues on her campaign website, votedocbryant.com — pre-K for all and other educa-

tional issues, fighting obesity, care of the elderly and so forth — but most of her talking points are about is the party’s snub of her and what she says BRYANT is “political bullying” by the party to dissuade Democrats from entering primary races. Gov. Mike Beebe’s early endorsement of Ross’ candidacy was inappropriate, she maintains. Bryant is particularly dismayed that, she says, party chief Vince Insalaco introduced Ross as the next governor of Arkansas at a Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner in Pine Bluff. (Party spokesperson Elizabeth Price did not know whether Insalaco had said such a thing, but noted that he is Ross’ friend and was Ross’ choice for party chief. The party denies that it has endorsed any candidate during the primary season.) Bryant was also irked that the Young Democrats referred to Ross as the next governor in the program for their April convention. (The Young Democrats extended a last-minute invitation to her to attend the convention.) She complained to the Saline County party when she was not invited to speak at its Jefferson-Jackson Day event. (Chair George Ellis, in an email to Bryant, told her he understood her position but he could not allow every candidate in the room to talk. “We would be there all night long and into the morning. This is not a “speakin’,” he wrote.) As it turned out, however, Ross, who was the keynote speaker, invited Bryant to address the crowd, which she did. As a result, Bryant has written letters of complaint to the party, the NAACP, the attorney general’s office and the state Board

of Election Commissioners about what she considers to be unfair treatment. Bryant, who was a delegate for Hillary Clinton when she ran against Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008, said she’s worked a long time for the party. But, as she told Tea Party radio show host Jesse Lee Peterson, “Arkansas’s Democratic Party only wants indentured servants.” That she was asked to be interviewed on a Tea Party radio show — Bryant said she got a call from the Anaheim host after Peterson saw stories about her — did not raise her suspicion that the call was motivated by Republicans wanting to get someone on the air to gripe about Democrats, she said. She said she’d never heard of Peterson. “I don’t question why they are doing it,” she said. “I don’t dig into all that stuff.” A Twitter account, @DrBryantUpdates, which describes itself as an advocacy account for Bryant’s candidacy, has tweeted several times about the Democratic Party “belittling” Bryant “& her attempt to break through the glass ceiling.” To a cynical eye, the account — followed by Koch brothers lobbyist Teresa Oelke, Americans For Prosperity Arkansas, GOP Senate candidate Tom Cotton communications director David Ray, businessman Carlton Saffa and other Republicans — appears to be an amateurish dirty trick of the GOP, designed not just to criticize the party, but draw African-American votes away from Ross. Bryant has no idea who created the account, she said; her own Twitter account is @VoteDocBryant. Bryant said she has not heard rumors that she was put up to the race by Republicans seeking to cause trouble for Ross. She has overheard people at various events wonder who put up the $12,000 filing fee for her. She paid that out of her own pocket, she said,

along with a $2,202.50 Central Arkansas Transit bus ad and the cost of bumper stickers and brochures that she said will appear soon on an amended campaign expense report. She said someone had offered her $100 if she would agree to support Ross after the primary, but she turned them down. She is friendly with Republicans, however — “you never know who you’re going to get a drink of water from” is her philosophy, she said. She noted that a Republican neighbor in the St. Charles subdivision (she declined to identify him) encouraged her to run and has put her sign in their yard. Her position on Common Core education — she is opposed to it — is also in alignment with the GOP. But she says she’s always been a Democrat and faithful to the party. If Bryant seems thin-skinned about the party’s lack of attention to her candidacy, it may be because she had an earlier run-in with the electoral process. In 2012, she was initially denied a spot on the ballot for position 8 on the Little Rock Board of Directors because she was told she was one short on valid signatures on her petition. Bryant complained, the city clerk counted again, and found she had enough valid signatures. She ran against Dr. Dean Kumpuris. Kumpuris, the incumbent, won, but Bryant got 36 percent of the vote. Bryant knew last year she would run for some position this year. Last June, she paid for the CAT ad to run during this year’s primary season. She didn’t specify which race at the time. Bryant earned a medical degree from East Carolina University “a long time ago,” but has not taken her boards, opting to substitute teach here instead. She also helped found the Harmony Health Clinic. If she loses the Democratic gubernatorial primary against Mike Ross, she said, Bryant will resume studying for her boards and get a license to practice.

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MAY 1, 2014

TINA ROWDEN

‘DEVIL’S KNOT’: Jet Jurgensmeyer as Stevie Branch, Brandon Spink as Christopher Byers and Paul Boardman Jr. as Michael Moore.

DECADES OF DOUBT

The question persists: Who killed the kids?

ast Saturday, students at Rhodes College in Memphis — some of whom were not yet born in 1993 when three Cub Scouts were murdered in West Memphis — held a mock trial in that case titled “State of Arkansas vs. Terry Hobbs.” Hobbs is the stepfather of one of the victims. Although the trial followed formal mock trial procedures and was overseen by a Memphis attorney who teaches at Rhodes, it differed from competitive events in that it was neither juried nor scored. Rather, this unofficial proceeding was organized by students who wanted to test evidence and arguments that have arisen since the original trials but never presented before an Arkansas court. By law, Hobbs is presumed innocent. He has never been charged with the murders, much less convicted of them. And by law, the teenagers convicted in 1994 — Jessie Misskelley, Jason Baldwin and Damien Echols — remain guilty. But doubt, about both their involvement in the murders and the legitimacy of their trials, has bur-

MAY 1, 2014

ARKANSAS TIMES

BY MARA LEVERITT

geoned over the past two decades. Ultimately, an accumulation of doubt led to a bizarre deal on Aug. 19, 2011, in which the men pleaded guilty while maintaining their innocence in order to be freed and state officials accepted that plea. Lingering questions about the case, including a 2007 DNA analysis that reported Hobbs as the source of a hair found inside a knot used in the crime, prompted the imagined trial at Rhodes. That classroom reinterpretation in Tennessee of a case deemed settled by Arkansas officials was video-recorded and may soon be placed online. This weekend, a much bigger film about the case will have its U.S. theatrical premiere in Little Rock. “Devil’s Knot,” a film based on my book by the same title, will open at the Central Arkansas Library System’s Ron Robinson Theater two days before the 21st anniversary of the still-troubling murders. Producer Elizabeth Fowler said she hopes “Devil’s Knot” will refocus attention on whether justice has been achieved for the 8-year-old victims: Stevie Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore. Here, to accompany the pre-

miere, the Arkansas Times presents two articles relating to the theme of doubt that runs through the film and the case. The first is an interview with British actor Colin Firth, who portrays Ron Lax, a prominent Memphis private investigator who understood the importance of doubt. Soon after the murders, Lax became the first to question the strength of the state’s case against the three accused teenagers — and to volunteer his investigative expertise in their defense. Firth voices his own views on doubt — regarding both the case and his role in “Devil’s Knot.” The second is an excerpt from my new book, “Dark Spell: Surviving the Sentence,” written with Jason Baldwin, the youngest of the three men who, though free, remain convicted of the murders. This section presents Jason’s account of entering the Arkansas Department of Correction at the age of 16, where, as a result of his sensational trial, he was viewed as a satanic sexual predator and child-killer. Without special protections — which he refused — officials doubted he’d survive.

‘DEVIL’S KNOT’ PREMIERES Firth on the ‘decency’ of doubt.

TINA ROWDEN

nowing that he would not be able to attend this weekend’s premiere of “Devil’s Knot” in Little Rock, Colin Firth spoke about his role in the film by phone from his home in London. He said he felt a bit daunted after he’d accepted the offer of his friend, Canadian director Atom Egoyan, to play the part of Ron Lax. Firth understood that he’d be portraying the Memphis private investigator who volunteered to help the defense teams representing the three accused teens. What he did not grasp at first was how contentious the story remains. He said, “I suddenly realized I was walking into something with which people were not only acquainted, but had opinions about — and many of these opinions were passionately held. I think people would have been forgiven for looking at me and saying, ‘Who are you and why the hell would you get involved?’ ” On top of that, Firth said, “The whole case was very strange and very complex.” And, like the film’s title, “Devil’s Knot,” the story was “hard to untangle.” Firth also faced the challenge of portraying a man who sees a tragedy unfold without being able to avert it. In that sense, he saw Lax, the veteran investigator, as representing many others who, over the years, have come to see in the West Memphis case tragedy compounded — without knowing how to confront it. “When a case is so traumatic and feelings are running so high, people are going to be very, very sensitive,” he said. “I quickly realized that if I had anything going for me, it was that I could cast a dispassionate eye over everything, which it seemed very few people at the time were able to do.” He likened his situation as an actor to Lax’s situation after the teenagers’ arrests. “If anything, Ron Lax himself came to the case as an outsider, not with any prejudgment. He was not from West Memphis. He was urban. He was not connected with the police. He didn’t know any of the bereaved.” He said, “As an actor — a storyteller — my way into the film was to shadow that. Ron came in as an outsider to investigate something. He got involved for legal reasons. My reasons were different — artistic, if you like.

BY MARA LEVERITT

FIRTH: In “Devil’s Knot.”

“Nevertheless, he found himself more and more engaged the more he became acquainted with the story. And that’s how it was for me.” But the concerns Lax embodied defy Hollywood conventions. As Firth put it, “He doesn’t get his man. He doesn’t argue his case before a judge. He doesn’t have demonstrable victories. And that troubled me in terms of film craft and storytelling. But Atom was convinced that that was important, almost from a Kafkaesque point of view.” (“Kafkaesque,” Kafka biographer Frederick R. Karl once said, “is when you find yourself against a force that does not lend itself to the way you perceive the world. You don’t give up. You don’t lie down and die. What you do is struggle against this with all of your equipment, with whatever you have. But of course you don’t stand a chance.”) Firth concluded that what Lax represented was doubt — shrewd and committed but powerless. It could be no other way. “When you play a real person and deal with a story that affects real people,” he said, “you try to play that part as honestly as possible.” Looking back, he said, “I think there’s something very humane and critical in the voice of Ron, because he’s trying to keep doubt alive. And personally, I believe that the more you do that — the more you recognize doubt — the better chance you have of showing some truth.” Firth seemed to speak about doubt as useful both in acting and in investigations — or maybe they’re similar. “Doubt does not go well with rage and revulsion,” he said, “and all the things we’re likely to feel when crimes are committed against children. It’s very hard to be that distressed and horrified and stay with something as impassive as uncertainty. “And that applies, not just to West Memphis. It applies continually everywhere. Whereas, if you

try to be truthful, that resonates. I would like to feel the film opens up questions that might have closed in people’s minds.” The actor mentioned meeting Jason Baldwin, the youngest of the West Memphis Three. “I was struck — incredibly struck,” Firth said, “by his gentleness and humanity, his decency, and his apparent lack of bitterness, despite being somebody who’s lost that many years in prison. I was amazed that he was able to be as compassionate as he was regarding everyone, evidently without any self-pity.” Firth hoped that viewers would find a similar sense of “decency” in the film. Speaking of the murders, he said, “Of course people want to find who did it. But it’s important that we don’t allow ourselves to become monstrous in the pursuit of the truth. “I’m hoping that the film, rather than condemning the protagonists, offers some understanding of how this thing got so confused, so derailed — that it actually allows us to understand how these things can happen. “It’s not just about West Memphis, or Arkansas, or even the United States of America. It’s about what happens to all people where feelings and fears are running so high. People have reflexive reactions. We presume. Our prejudices kick into play very quickly. “Instead of demonizing the people who prosecuted Jason and Damien and Jessie, I think it’s just a lot more productive if you can understand things properly. If you can see things from all sides, you actually have a better shot at bringing a case to justice.” He finds no justice in the case as it stands. “If you look at Damien, Jessie and Jason,” he said, “they’re a walking paradox. They’re innocent people convicted of a horrific crime, who are walking free, and that can’t please anybody.” Firth said he understood that the Alford plea — the deal by which the men were freed — was an attempt at compromise. “But it can’t be right,” he said. “Nobody can look at this situation and think it’s sorted out. If you’ve murdered children, you can’t be walking the streets. If you haven’t, you shouldn’t be convicted murderers. It’s a legal and logical absurdity.” www.arktimes.com

MAY 1, 2014

GROVE PASHLEY

BEHIND BARS: Jason Baldwin in 1996 at Arkansas’s Varner Unit.

‘DARK SPELL’ DEBUTS Baldwin on ‘Surviving the Sentence.’ BY MARA LEVERITT

This section picks up after Jason has heard himself sentenced to life in prison without parole for the 1993 murders of three children in West Memphis.

n that Saturday, March 19, 1994, when Judge David Burnett sentenced Jason to life in prison, the teenager’s 17th birthday was still more than three weeks away. The following Monday morning, guards cuffed and shackled him for the three-hour ride from 18

MAY 1, 2014

ARKANSAS TIMES

the jail in Jonesboro, in Arkansas’s northeast corner, to the Arkansas Department of Correction’s Diagnostic Unit in Pine Bluff, about 150 miles south. Carrying his Bible and $35 from his mother and friends at the jail, he climbed into a van with six other prisoners. Three hours later, the van approached a big brick building surrounded by barbed wire: the prison system’s Diagnostic Unit. “My heart starts beating really hard now,” Jason said, “and my breathing speeds up. I see the guard towers. We pull up to one and the officer driving speaks

to another officer up on the balcony, and he says he’s got seven from Craighead County, and yes, Jason Baldwin is one of them. “At the sound of my name, my heart just stops. This is really happening. I am going to prison for murder. Everything seems to be happening in slow motion. The officer in the tower lowers a milk crate on a rope and the officers up front drop their guns in the basket and it is hoisted away. Then the little bar in front of the van is raised up and we enter the grounds of the prison.”

 Part of the entry process included a meeting with a department psychologist. “She tried to put me on some medication which I refused,” Jason recalled. “My reasoning was that there wasn’t anything wrong with me. The only thing I was experiencing emotionally was because of what I’d been through. There was nothing to be medicated. “She wanted to put me on Zoloft, which was experimental at the time. She said, ‘I want you to take it and tell me how you feel.” She said, ‘Your family has a history of mental illness and suicide.’ But I’m like, ‘No. I’m not suicidal in any way, shape or form.’” Jason reasoned that if he complied with the order to take antidepressants, administrators could claim he was being treated for depression and place him in the Suicide Prevention Unit, or SPU, where he would be under closer supervision. He decided that that was not going to happen. Before his arrest, Jason had seen the film “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” starring Jack Nicholson. And already, in his short time at the Diagnostic Unit, he’d observed men from the SPU walking down the halls, doing what inmates called “the Thorazine shuffle.” He didn’t want Zoloft because, as he put it, “If they put me in SPU, I had no idea what could have come next.” Sure enough, members of the classification board asked Jason if he would like to stay long-term at the Diagnostic Unit, on the SPU ward. “They told me that Jessie was already there and that I would have my own cell and everything. They tried to make it sound really nice. I didn’t trust them. “They told me that if I didn’t go to the SPU, their only alternative would be to send me to the Varner Unit. Then they proceeded to tell me how horrible that unit was and that if I were to go there I would not survive. They told me Varner was Gladiator School. “It did not sound like a happy place, but I would go if I had to. I’d already heard enough about SPU to know that I did not want to go there. They were already trying to dope me up so I wouldn’t be able to think clearly. I could only imagine what they would do if I were in a psyche ward. “‘No,’ I said, ‘you can send me to Varner if that is what it has come to. I refuse to be so doped up that I cannot even think about fighting for my freedom.’ ” SARAH WOODROW COLLIER

Jason felt the free world slipping away as he “Then he points me to a shower spigot in the moved toward the building. “I am led out, the corner and I am to shower there in front of all of them — the board’s hateful stares and now shackles biting into my ankles,” he said, “the chains dangling from my waist to my handcuffs. this old man’s hungry-looking one. I tell him I hold onto my paper sack that contains a few not to look at me — and I stare directly into his eyes. He bows his head and turns around and letters from my mom and brothers, my Bible I learn then that I will survive. and the little bit of money that was given to me, and I walk through a gate. Into the building I “After I have showered the old man gives go. I set foot into prison. It is dark, but my eyes me a clean towel and points to a bench where get used to it.” some clothes are neatly folded: a white prison jumpsuit, some boxers and socks. I dry off and Adaptation, while essential to prison survival, does not assure it. Jason’s eyes adjusted quickly. try to put the boxers on and I can’t even get them Intuitively, he knew that the challenge ahead over my hips they are so tight. The old man is would be to discern where he could adapt — and looking at me again and smiling that dirty smile. to decide where he would not. “An officer comes “I tell him he better get me some boxers that and takes the cuffs and shackles and chains off. fit and do not play any games with me because I am told to wait in line with the other guys to I do not play. I was warned of people like him be processed. I wait, and eventually I reach an from the guy at the county jail — sexual predaold man who takes inventory of all that I have. tors. I tell him I am in here for murder. He asks He takes my money and tells me it will be put did I really kill someone. He says that I do not look like a killer to him. onto my account. ‘My very first account,’ I think to myself — so different from what I had planned. “Then I am in a room standing in front of three people sitting in front of a table with a bunch of papers in front of them. It’s some type of hearing board. They are all sharply and nicely dressed. I am conscious of my orange jail jumpsuit. They tell me to get naked. I must not have heard them right. This time it is an order: ‘Get naked,’ they say. So I take off my clothes until I am in my underwear. ‘All of it,’ they say, so I take them off too and stand there in front of them and their hateful stares. One of them says, ‘You think you’re tough, don’t ya?’ “I think to myself, ‘Yeah, I’ve got to be tough to survive all of this.’ I’ve got to be and my mantra is born: ‘I am tough.’ I say that out loud. And then one of them says to the others, ‘He won’t be tough for long,’ and they all laugh. It is TODAY: Baldwin with wife Holly Ballard. humiliating. “Someone told me to hold out my arms. I couldn’t even see who was talking. I “I tell him that is what I am in here for so know there was one rude voice. He sounded he better not mess with me. I wasn’t lying. It does not matter that I am innocent; I begin to like he probably hates everybody who comes through there. He told me my number — 103335 see that now. It works, and he gets me some — and told me not to forget it. Then somebody boxers that fit. I soon learn that I should stop came over and pretty much looked at everybeing shy about getting naked in front of people thing, looking for tattoos, birthmarks, scars — because it is nothing for an officer to tell you that kind of thing. to take off all of your clothes for a strip search.” “They asked me my name and my charge Entering prison is a form of death — removal and how much time I’d been given. They asked from civil society — so it’s fitting that a prisonme, ‘Did you do it?’ I had no way of knowing ers’ initiation includes being stripped naked, if this was part of their job or if they were just cleaned, inspected and finally clothed in white. curious or what, but it was the same at the jail. Prisons themselves have much in common with Everybody always asked that — the inmates, cemeteries. With walls and gates and rows the guards, everybody. of cells like graves, they are places set apart “Then, an old white man, an inmate, comes from normal life. Prisoners, like the dead, are to me and tells me to hold out my hands, and expected to shed their corrupted pasts. he pours a foul-smelling liquid into them and To leave prison — if they do — they must tells me to put it everywhere I have hair. It is be legally resurrected, to begin life anew. Like delousing shampoo, he says. many aspects of law, it reads better than it works.

“Dark Spell: Surviving the Sentence” will be released early this summer. Sign up at maraleveritt.com to be notified when the book goes on sale and the mock trial video is placed online. www.arktimes.com

MAY 1, 2014

Arts Entertainment J

MAGNOLIA PICTURES

AND

THE LAST

BIG STAR JODY STEPHENS COMES TO LITTLE ROCK TO LOOK BACK. BY WILL STEPHENSON

MAY 1, 2014

ARKANSAS TIMES

ody Stephens has outlived every other member of Big Star, the commercially unsuccessful group of friends who produced three albums in the 1970s, crystallizing the genre of “power pop” and eventually becoming near legendary for having done so. The group had unreasonable expectations of pop infamy, fell short and ultimately splintered, leaving behind at least one tragic death, a heap of unanswered potential and an increasingly unimpeachable legacy encouraged by the quality of the music itself, which is ghostly and compulsively catchy and seemed dated-on-arrival in the most productive possible way. Stephens, the band’s drummer and affable “anchor” (as he puts it) and director of A&R at Ardent Records, will be in town Friday, May 2, to introduce a screening of the recently released documentary “Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me,” and to participate in a post-screening Q&A. We spent an hour on the phone last week discussing awesome jackets, T.G.I. Fridays and Three Six Mafia. Here’s our conversation: Tell me about meeting Andy Hummel and Chris Bell. I was still in high school and I was playing drums in the University of Memphis’ production of “Hair.” I’d somehow lucked into playing drums for that and my brother played bass. Andy saw the play and came up afterwards and said, “We’re putting a band together, want to come over and play some?” And I said sure. Turned out to be at Chris Bell’s parents’ house. They had this house that they’d moved to the back of their property. Like a small 1920s home. That’s where we jammed, back there. It didn’t have heat except for whatever electric heaters we would bring in. So in the wintertime it wasn’t great. Then, of course, I wind up over at Ardent, meeting [engineer, studio founder] John Fry. The first time I went there, Chris and Steve Ray were working. They had a project called Icewater, Steve and Chris. John taught them both how to engineer. They would hit record and then run out into the studio and record the basic tracks. The whole reason I was invited over to play drums was that Steve Ray was leaving for college and they needed a new drummer. Thank God for higher education. We were pretty responsible kids, at least we were while Ardent was over on National [Street], because National was

in the middle of nowhere, so there wasn’t much trouble to get into. Nobody got into trouble until Ardent moved over a couple of blocks from Overton Square. That became the center of the music-slash-liquor-bythe-drink universe for Memphis. They lowered the drinking age to 18 in the midst of all the Baby Boomers — I mean, there were thousands of people down there. There was T.G.I. Fridays and three or four bars had music, and it was an opportunity to let your inhibitions go. I talked to a friend of yours recently, Rick Clark, and he told me to ask you how you always managed to have the coolest rock ’n’ roll jackets in the band in those old promo photos. Because I worked at Chelsea Ltd.! It was a store just down on the square, a couple of blocks from Ardent. And I could borrow. That coat on the back of “Radio City” was borrowed. When Chelsea opened its doors we had access to all these cool clothes, but they were expensive, they were all imports. The owner of the store had been a model in London, so she had all these contacts with Granny Takes a Trip and all these cool clothing manufacturers. So we all started wearing these clothes, right around “Radio City.” I worked there for maybe six or seven months so I got a discount. There’s a promo shot of me wearing some platform boots, and that’s where they’d come from. It’s funny, because they’d trace your foot and send it off to England and send them back. They came back about a quarter of an inch too short, so I could wear them, but not comfortably. So I just wore them in a few pictures. I haven’t seen anything like Chelsea since, or really any kinds of cool clothes, since that era of the ’70s. I wish I still had some of those shirts. Ardent had a longtime relationship with Stax. Did you meet any of their artists? We always came in after they’d finished but I remember coming in and seeing Staple Singers tapes. They’d cut the tracks down in Muscle Shoals, then [producer, engineer] Terry Manning might do an overdub or two. Like on “Respect Yourself,” there’s this little ARP synth part that weaves its way through it, and that’s Terry. John Fry worked with Luther Ingram and they both worked with Booker T. and Isaac Hayes. They did “Hot Buttered Soul” at Ardent, which was a challenge because CONTINUED ON PAGE 27

ROCK CANDY Check out the Times’ A&E blog arktimes.com

A&E NEWS THE ARKANSAS ARTS CENTER’S CHILDREN’S THEATRE announced its 2014-15 lineup this week, a season that artistic director Bradley Anderson promised would “reflect our continued tradition of bringing joy and laughter into the hearts of our audience.” “Go,

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Dog, Go!” kicks off the season Sept. 17 and runs through Oct. 5. From Wikipedia: “The book describes the actions and interactions of a group of highly mobile dogs, who operate cars and other conveyances in pursuit of work, play, and a final mysterious goal: a dog party.” Next up is “Pinocchio,” a moderately unsettling children’s story that draws on near-E.T.A. Hoffmann levels of fantasy and occasional horror, Oct. 24-Nov. 9. “The Velveteen Rabbit” will ring in the holidays on a tragic note, Nov. 28-Dec. 21. The New Year will lead off with “Rumpelstiltskin,” Jan. 21-Feb. 8. The press release cites its lessons regarding “the destructive nature of vanity and greed.” “The Cat in the Hat” will run March 5-29, and “The Legend of Robin Hood,” April 24May 10, will wrap up the season. THE ARKANSAS ARTS COUNCIL has named log cabin maker Robert Runyan its 2014 Arkansas Living Treasure, an annual award recognizing local craftsmen who make a significant effort toward preservation of tradition art forms. Runyan, a 65-year-old selftaught native of Newport, has been building cabins for decades using hand tools and a team of mules. Now based in Winslow, he lives without electricity, running water or natural gas, instead utilizing solar panels and wood stoves. “I chose this lifestyle mostly for environmental reasons,” he told the Arts Council. “I’m just a nature boy at heart. This lifestyle is demanding, but fulfilling. It’s like a job.” He will be honored at a reception on Thursday, May 15, at 6 p.m., at the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History. www.arktimes.com

MAY 1, 2014

THE TO-DO

LIST

BY LESLIE NEWELL PEACOCK & WILL STEPHENSON

THURSDAY 5/1-FRIDAY 6/6

ARTOSPHERE FESTIVAL

Walton Arts Center, Fayetteville.

This week, Irish graffiti artist Maser ushers in the Walton Arts Center’s annual Artosphere Festival, a celebration of art and nature featuring national and local artists. Maser’s installation, which begins on the lawn of Nadine Baum studios and continues along the Frisco Trail, will also serve as a stage for the Artosphere Trail Mix Concert (June 1). The outdoors will be celebrated indoors as well, with the exhibition “Translating Earth, Transforming Sea” by three-dimensional artists Shawn Bitters, Joan Hall and Laura Moriarity opening May 1 (Fayetteville’s First Thursday art walk) at the Joy Pratt Markham Gallery. There will be a curator talk at the event, 5-7 p.m. Musical performances coming up: jazz; Still on the Hill; the Artosphere Festival Orchestra’s performance “Live from Crystal Bridges: Mozart in the Museum”; the Dover Quartet, and the Trail Mix Concert Tour featuring Candy Lee & the Sweets, Carter Sampson, Cry You One: A Project of ArtSpot Productions & Mondo Bizarro, ensembles from the Artosphere Festival Orchestra, Martha Redbone Trio, Smokey & the Mirror and Street Drum Corps. Full schedule at waltonartscenter.org/artosphere. LNP

SATURDAY 5/3

CARROLL CLOAR BIKE RIDE

7 a.m. Arkansas Arts Center. Free.

It’s flat in East Arkansas, so a 14-mile bike ride to sites that Carroll Cloar grew up around in Crittenden County should be an easy, as well as unique, way to get a feel for the artist’s birthplace and muse. Dr. Stanton Thomas, curator of the exhibition “Crossroads of Memory: Carroll Cloar and the American South” at the Arkansas Arts Center, will lead the tour, one similar to a ride he led last June for the Brooks Museum of Art, where he is on staff. Those wishing to ride should meet at the Arts Center parking lot at 7 a.m. to ensure a 10 a.m. arrival at the Crittenden County Museum at Earle (by car). Among the sights riders will see: Rev. George Washington’s funeral monument (“Angel in the Field”), Gibson Bayou Church (the cemetery scene in “Gibson Bayou Anthology”) and other rural landmarks portrayed by Cloar. The Arts Center says the ride will suit “the least athletic of us”; you will not be pursued by hostile butterflies. LNP 22

MAY 1, 2014

ARKANSAS TIMES

SATANIC PANIC: Of Montreal will play at Revolution Friday at 9 p.m. with Collin Vs. Adam, $15 advance, $18 day of.

FRIDAY 5/2

OF MONTREAL

Empire).” That was the order of the day Little Rock a couple of years ago called back then: The biggest thing in Athens “Little Rock.” He swore he’d never be 9 p.m. Revolution. $15 adv., $18 day of. was the Elephant 6 collective, which coming back to our “shitty little town.” Of Montreal comes from Athens, included Neutral Milk Hotel and The The other day I emailed him about it Ga., where they used to make whim- Olivia Tremor Control, and Of Mon- and he said he didn’t really remember sical and endearingly homemade sun- treal were the younger cousins on its why his experience had been so bad. shine pop with album-length concepts fringes. Then front man Kevin Barnes He said, “I think I just liked the idea in the tradition of The Pretty Things’ got into Prince and reinvented himself of writing a song about Little Rock.” “S.F. Sorrow” or The Kinks’ “Arthur with his laptop; now people dance at Locals Collin Vs. Adam will open the (Or the Decline and Fall of the British their shows. Barnes wrote a song for show. WS

IN BRIEF

THURSDAY 5/1

SATURDAY 5/3SUNDAY 5/4

SHOWER THE PEOPLE: THE MUSIC OF JAMES TAYLOR

8 p.m. Robinson Center Music Hall. $18-$59.

WAKE UP EVERYBODY: Harold Melvin’s Blue Notes will play this year’s Blues on the River at the First Security Amphitheater Saturday at 2 p.m., $30 adv., $40 day of.

SATURDAY 5/3

BLUES ON THE RIVER

2 p.m. First Security Amphitheater. $30 adv., $40 day of.

Founder and sometimes frontman Harold Melvin died in 1997, but his group the Blue Notes are still very much alive and will headline this year’s Blues on the River, brought to us by KOKY FM 102.1. The group launched Teddy Pendergrass’ career, were crucial to the development of Philly Soul and disco, sued Neil Young for stealing their name in the late ’80s and

reunited for last year’s Soul Train cruise. They’re absolutely one of the most important bands of the 1970s: “You without me is like Harold Melvin without the Blue Notes,” as Snoop Dogg said on the intro to “Doggy Dogg World.” Also performing will be Tawanna Campbell, Billy “Soul” Bonds, OB Buchana, Willie P. and Jaye Hammer. Tickets are available at Uncle T’s Food Mart, the Record Rack (in Pine Bluff), Lindsey’s Hospitality House, Butler Furniture Depot and Ugly Mike’s. WS

“Shower the People: The Music of James Taylor,” the fifth and final concert program in the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra’s 2013-14 Acxiom Pops Live! Series, will be held Saturday (at 8 p.m.) and Sunday (at 3 p.m.) at the Robinson Center Music Hall. Taylor rose from obscurity as a singer-songwriter from Chapel Hill, N.C., to international celebrity for his tranquil, some would even say narcotic, folk songs about weather, Mexico and, not uncommonly, himself. An occasional heroin user and noted draft dodger (“psychological reasons”), he also appeared alongside Dennis Wilson in Monte Hellman’s muscle-car classic “Two-Lane Blacktop.” WS

WEDNESDAY 5/7 SATURDAY 5/3

‘DEVIL’S KNOT’ U.S. PREMIERE

6:30 p.m. Ron Robinson Theater. Sold out.

Arkansas Times contributing editor Mara Leveritt has been covering the story of the West Memphis Three from the very beginning, interviewing Damien Echols in a maximum security prison for a cover story back in 1994, following up on the case over the next several years as the rest of the country caught on, and

eventually publishing the definitive true crime account of the events in 2002, “Devil’s Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three.” The book has now been adapted into a film by the Academy Award-nominated Atom Egoyan, who will be in attendance at the film’s U.S. premiere at the Ron Robinson Theater. Also there will be several actors from the film, including Stephen Moyer and Collette Wolfe, Jason Baldwin (one of the Three), and Echols’ mother and sister. WS

SATURDAY 5/3

ARKANSAS TIMES HERITAGE HOG ROAST

5 p.m. Argenta Farmer’s Market. $10-$30.

On Saturday, 16 hogs from Scott Heritage Farms in Scott, Ark., will be roasted whole and prepared in 16 different ways by chefs from local venues like South on Main, The Root, Ristorante Capeo, Midtown Billiards and Southern Gourmasian. I’m telling you this both because the

Arkansas Times is sponsoring the event, and also because it’s important: 16 hogs! Also beers and delicious sides and TVs with Kentucky Derby coverage and the everelusive opportunity for friendly, engaged conversation and fellowship. There will be live music from Ghost Town Blues Band, Runaway Planet and The Salty Dogs as well, and the event benefits the Argenta Arts District. All-day tickets are $25 in advance and $30 day of, and music-only tickets (available after 8 p.m.) are $10. WS

DISNEY ON ICE: ROCKIN’ EVER AFTER

7 p.m. Verizon Arena. $16-$51.

Early in the official trailer for “Disney On Ice: Rockin’ Ever After,” we’re introduced to the director of the children’s iceskating spectacular, Patty Vincent, who is wearing a plaid beret and seems to be standing, oddly, on an archery range. “Get ready to kick off the party,” she tells us. Then we are shown footage of figure skaters dressed as lobsters and giant candlesticks gliding around a rink. “This show is part talent show, part fairy tale and all fun,” Vincent explains. “There’s fourlegged fun,” she says, “with a skating horse.” Then we are shown the skating horse. It looks like two figure skaters sharing a single horse costume; it looks dangerous. We are promised “spunky and enchanted servants,” and “a pretty awesome set.” She also tells us we’ll be dancing in our seats. WS

“Paws on the Runway,” a benefit for Central Arkansas Rescue Effort for Animals (CARE), will be held at the Governor’s Mansion at 6 p.m., $50. At 7 p.m., the Ron Robinson Theater will host a free screening of the documentary “Inequality for All,” narrated by Robert Reich, followed by a panel discussion. Nashville country singer Frankie Ballard (“Helluva Life”) will be at Juanita’s with The Swon Brothers (from NBC’s “The Voice”) at 8 p.m., $10. Local favorites Swampbird will play at the Afterthought at 9 p.m., $7.

FRIDAY 5/2 “Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me,” the documentary about the 1970s power pop band, will screen at Ron Robinson Theater at 7 p.m., followed by a Q&A with drummer Jody Stephens, $5. The Weekend Theater’s new production, “A Strange and Separate People,” opens Friday at 7:30 p.m. and will run every Friday and Saturday through May 17. Tickets are $12-$16. “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” the Academy Awardwinning film based on the play by Lucy Alibar, will screen for free at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art at 7:30 p.m., followed by an outdoor Creole concert by Snake Eyes and the Bug Band. Blues guitarist and drummer Cedric Burnside (grandson of the Fat Possum legend R.L. Burnside) will be at Vino’s at 9:30 p.m., $8.

SATURDAY 5/3 At 6 p.m., the Connor Performing Arts Center at Pulaski Academy will host “Jackson to Jai Ho: Icons and Their Songs,” a fundraiser for Harmony Health Clinic featuring dancing, music, a fashion show, dinner, a silent auction and guest speaker Gov. Mike Beebe. Director Christopher Kay and crew will be at Market Street Cinema at 6:30 p.m. to present a free screening of their documentary “Of By For” (a critical look at dark money in politics). Countryrock band The Wild Feathers will be at Revolution with Stephen Neeper and the Wild Hearts, 9 p.m., $12 adv., $15 day of. Arkansas native singer-songwriter Adam Hambrick will be at Stickyz at 9 p.m. with Canopy Climbers, $7 adv., $10 day of. Locals American Lions will hold their album release show at Bear’s Den Pizza in Conway, 9 p.m. Little Rock indie rock groups Whale Fire and Sea Nanners will be at White Water, 10 p.m. Former Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland and his new band The Wildabouts will play at Juanita’s at 10 p.m. with The Raskins, $37 adv., $40 day of. www.arktimes.com

MAY 1, 2014

AFTER DARK All events are in the Greater Little Rock area unless otherwise noted. To place an event in the Arkansas Times calendar, please email the listing and all pertinent information, including date, time, location, price and contact information, to calendar@arktimes.com.

THURSDAY, MAY 1

MUSIC

Bonnie Montgomery, Andy Warr. White Water Tavern, 9:30 p.m., $5.2500 W. 7th St. 501-375-8400. www.whitewatertavern.com. Casey Donahew Band. Revolution, 9 p.m., $20. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-823-0090. revroom.com. Frankie Ballard, The Swon Brothers. Juanita’s, 8 p.m., $10. 614 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-1228. www.juanitas.com. “Inferno.” DJs play pop, electro, house and more, plus drink specials and $1 cover before 11 p.m. Sway, 9 p.m. 412 Louisiana. 501-907-2582. Jim Dickerson. Sonny Williams’ Steak Room, 7 p.m. 500 President Clinton Ave. 501-324-2999. www. sonnywilliamssteakroom.com. Krush Thursdays with DJ Kavaleer. Club Climax, free before 11 p.m. 824 W. Capitol. 501-554-3437. Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 Clinton Ave. 501-372-4782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com. Neff Henton. The Joint, 9:30 p.m., $10. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501-372-0205. thejointinlittlerock. com. RockUsaurus. Senor Tequila, 7-9 p.m. 10300 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501-224-5505. www.senortequila.com. Swampbird. Afterthought Bistro & Bar, 9 p.m., $7. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www.afterthoughtbar.com. Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 7:30 p.m., free. 111 Markham St. 501-374-7474. www.capitalhotel.com/CBG.

COMEDY

NOTHING’S FUNNY: The Dilinger Escape Plan will be at Juanita’s Monday with Tera Melos, Vattnet Viskar and Fear the Aftermath, 7:30 p.m., $14 advance, $16 day of.

MUSIC

Amy LaVere, Will Sexton. White Water Tavern, 9:30 p.m., $7. 2500 W. 7th St. 501-375-8400. www. whitewatertavern.com. Cedric Burnside. Vino’s, 9:30 p.m., $8. 923 W. 7th St. 501-375-8466. www.vinosbrewpub.com. Cypress Creek Park Southern Gospel Singing. Cypress Creek Park, May 2-3; Sept. 5-6. Cypress Creek Avenue, Adona. 501-662-4918. www. cypresscreekpark.com. Iron Tongue, Enchiridion, Terminus. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 9 p.m., $6. 107 Commerce St. 501-372-7707. www.stickyz.com. Jeff Coleman. Sonny Williams’ Steak Room, May 2-3, 7 p.m. 500 President Clinton Ave. 501-3242999. www.sonnywilliamssteakroom.com. Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 Clinton Ave. 501-372-4782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com. Of Montreal. Revolution, 9 p.m., $15 adv., $18 day of. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-823-0090. revroom.com. Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 9 p.m., free. 111 Markham St. 501-374-7474. www.capitalhotel. com/CBG.

COMEDY

Park for the Performing Arts, 6:30 p.m., $75. 20919 Denny Road. LGBTQ/SGL weekly meeting. Diverse Youth for Social Change is a group for LGBTQ/SGL and straight ally youth and young adults age 14 to 23. For more information, call 244-9690 or search “DYSC” on Facebook. LGBTQ/SGL Youth and Young Adult Group, 6:30 p.m. 800 Scott St.

FILM

“Beasts of the Southern Wild.” Free outdoor movie screening followed by Creole concert by Snake Eyes and the Bug Band. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 7:30 p.m. 600 Museum Way, Bentonville. 479-418-5700. crystalbridges.org. “Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me.” Followed by a Q&A with Big Star’s Jody Stephens. Ron Robinson Theater, 7 p.m., $5. 1 Pulaski Way. 501-320-5703. www.cals.lib.ar.us/ron-robinson-theater.aspx.

BENEFITS

Relay for Life. A fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. Clinton Presidential Center, 6 p.m. 1200 President Clinton Ave. 370-8000. www.clintonpresidentialcenter.org.

KIDS

The Second City. Arkansas Repertory Theatre, 7 “Sleeping Beauty.” Arkansas Arts Center, 7 p.m., p.m., $35. 601 Main St. 501-378-0405. www.therep. $12.50. 501 E. 9th St. 501-372-4000. www.arkarts.com. org.

DANCE

SATURDAY, MAY 3

Amphitheatre, 2 p.m., $30 adv., $40 day of. 400 President Clinton Ave. Jeff Coleman. Sonny Williams’ Steak Room, 7 p.m. 500 President Clinton Ave. 501-324-2999. www. sonnywilliamssteakroom.com. Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 Clinton Ave. 501-372-4782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com. “Mayday! Mayday!” party. Featuring Ewell, Autumatick and The Sleepy Genius. Discovery Nightclub. 1021 Jessie Road. 501-664-4784. www. latenightdisco.com. Michael Henderson and Friends. Broadway Night. Afterthought Bistro & Bar, 9 p.m., $7. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www.afterthoughtbar.com. New Era Saturdays. 21-and-older. Twelve Modern Lounge, 9 p.m., $5 cover until 11 p.m. 1900 W. Third St. 501-301-1200. Scott Weiland and The Wildabouts, The Raskins. Juanita’s, 10 p.m., $37 adv., $40 day of. 614 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-1228. www. juanitas.com. “Shower the People: The Music of James Taylor.” The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra presents the fifth and final concert in its 2013-14 Acxiom Pops Live! Series. Robinson Center Music Hall, May 3, 8 p.m.; May 4, 3 p.m., $18-$59. Markham and Broadway. www.littlerockmeetings.com/convcenters/robinson. Something To Stand For, Sold Short, Motives, Bitter Times, Terminal Nation. Vino’s, 8:30 p.m., $7. 923 W. 7th St. 501-375-8466. www.vinosbrewpub.com. Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 9 p.m., free. 111 Markham St. 501-374-7474. www.capitalhotel. com/CBG. Whale Fire, Sea Nanners. White Water Tavern, 10 p.m. 2500 W. 7th St. 501-375-8400. www.whitewatertavern.com. The Wild Feathers, Stephen Neeper and The Wild Hearts. Revolution, 9 p.m., $12 adv., $15 day of. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-823-0090. revroom.com.

The Second City. Arkansas Repertory Theatre, 7 p.m., $35. 601 Main St. 501-378-0405. www.therep. Ballroom Dancing. Free lessons begin at 7 p.m. org. Bess Chisum Stephens Community Center, 8-11 Adam Hambrick, Canopy Climbers. Stickyz Rock p.m., $7-$13. 12th & Cleveland streets. 501-221- ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 9 p.m., $7 adv., $10 day of. The Second City. Arkansas Repertory Theatre, 7 7568. www.blsdance.org. 107 Commerce St. 501-372-7707. www.stickyz.com. p.m., $35. 601 Main St. 501-378-0405. www.therep. Hillcrest Shop & Sip. Shops and restaurants offer “Salsa Night.” Begins with a one-hour salsa lesson. American Lions. Album release show. Bear’s Den org. discounts, later hours, and live music. Hillcrest, first Juanita’s, 9 p.m., $8. 614 President Clinton Ave. Pizza, 9 p.m. 235 Farris Road, Conway. 501-328Thursday of every month, 5 p.m. P.O.Box 251522. 501-372-1228. www.littlerocksalsa.com. 5556. www.bearsdenpizza.com. 501-666-3600. www.hillcrestmerchants.com. Blues on the River. Featuring Harold Melvin’s Blue Little Rock West Coast Dance Club. Dance lesPreservation Crustaceans. A crawfish and shrimp Notes, Tavanna Campbell, Billy “Soul” Bonds, OB sons. Singles welcome. Ernie Biggs, 7 p.m., $2. boil sponsored by the Historic Preservation 16th Annual Wine and Food Festival. Wildwood Buchana, Willie P. and Jaye Hammer First Security 307 Clinton Ave. 501-247-5240. www.arstreetswing. Alliance of Arkansas. Argenta Plaza, 5:30 p.m., $45com. $75. 502 Main St., NLR. www.preservearkansas.org. “Of By For.” Market Street Cinema, 6:30 p.m., free. 1521 Merrill Drive. 501-312-8900. www.marketstreetcinema.net. “Inequality for All.” Free screening and panel discussion. Ron Robinson Theater, 7 p.m. 1 Pulaski Way. 501-320-5703. www.cals.lib.ar.us/ron-robinArgenta Farmers Market. Argenta Farmers Market, son-theater.aspx. 7 a.m. 6th and Main St., NLR. 501-831-7881. www. argentaartsdistrict.org/argenta-farmers-market. Arkansas Times Heritage Hog Roast. Whole-hog Cliff Harris Dinner. A dinner honoring former cooking competition, with live music, beer and Dallas Cowboy Cliff Harris, featuring keynote more. Argenta Farmers Market, 5 p.m. 6th and speaker Gene Stallings, to benefit the Fellowship Main St., NLR. 501-831-7881. www.arktimes.com. of Christian Athletes. Immanuel Baptist Church, 6 Civil War marker dedication. MacArthur Museum p.m., $100. 501 N. Shackelford Road. of Arkansas Military History, 1 p.m., free. 503 E. 9th Paws on the Runway. Benefit for Central Arkansas St. 376-4602. www.arkmilitaryheritage.com. Rescue Effort for Animals. Governor’s Mansion, 6 Falun Gong meditation. Allsopp Park, 9 a.m., free. p.m., $50. 1800 Center St. 501-377-1121. Cantrell & Cedar Hill Roads. Harmony Health Walk Grand Opening. Harmony FRIDAY, MAY 2 Health Clinic, 10:30 a.m. 201 East Roosevelt. Heritage Herb Garden Extravaganza. Ozark

MUSIC

COMEDY

EVENTS

DANCE

EVENTS

FILM

EVENTS

BENEFITS

MAY 1, 2014

ARKANSAS TIMES

PARTY AT OUR PLACE!

FILM

Book Our Party Room Today!

SPORTS

Blades Over Broadway. The Diamond Edge Figure Skating Club’s 2014 spring ice show. Arkansas Skatium, 5 p.m., $7 adv., $8 day of. 1311 S. Bowman Road. Second Annual Bike Month Bash Dash. Bicycle scavenger hunt. River Market Pavilions, 11 a.m. 400 President Clinton Ave. 375-2552. www.rivermarket.info.

All American Food & Great Place to Watch Your Favorite Event

Premiere: “Devil’s Knot.” Ron Robinson Theater, 6:30 p.m., Sold Out. 1 Pulaski Way. 501-320-5703. www.cals.lib.ar.us/ron-robinson-theater.aspx. “Sleeping Beauty.” Arkansas Arts Center, 2 p.m., $12.50. 501 E. 9th St. 501-372-4000. www.arkarts.com.

KIDS

SPORTS

Blades Over Broadway. The Diamond Edge MONDAY, MAY 5 Figure Skating Club’s 2014 spring ice show. Arkansas Skatium, 11:30 a.m., 5 p.m., $7 adv., $8 day of. 1311 S. Bowman Road. Aqua Nebula Oscillator, Jean Jean, Mainland Divide. Vino’s, 8:30 p.m., $6. 923 W. 7th St. 501375-8466. www.vinosbrewpub.com. Jackson to Jai Ho. Dancing, music, a fashion The Dillinger Escape Plan, Tera Melos, Vattnet show, dinner and a silent auction, featuring guest Viskar, Fear the Aftermath. Juanita’s, 7:30 p.m., speaker Gov. Mike Beebe. Proceeds benefit $14 adv., $16 day of. 614 President Clinton Ave. Harmony Health Clinic. Connor Performing Arts 501-372-1228. www.juanitas.com. Center, Pulaski Academy, 6 p.m. 12701 Hinson Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Road. Ernie Biggs. 307 Clinton Ave. 501-372-4782. litWild Wines of the World. Benefit for the Arkansas tlerock.erniebiggs.com. Zoological Foundation. Little Rock Zoo, 5 p.m., Monday Night Jazz. Afterthought Bistro & Bar, $65-$100. 1 Jonesboro Dr. 501-666-2406. www. 8 p.m., $5. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. littlerockzoo.com. www.afterthoughtbar.com.

MUSIC

BENEFITS

CLASSES

Silk Shibori Scarf Workshop. Instructor Catherine Rodgers will show students how to create three to five unique wearable art pieces. University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 9 a.m., $75-$94. University Plaza Suite 300. 501-569-3182.

KIDS

DANCE

Shuffles and Ballet II Recital. The recital for the official school of Ballet Arkansas. Robinson Center Music Hall. Markham and Broadway. www.littlerockmeetings.com/conv-centers/robinson.

Closing Date4/28/14 QC: CS

POETRY

Poetry Night. Vino’s. 923 W. 7th St. 501-375-8466. www.vinosbrewpub.com.

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MUSIC

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MUSIC

EVENTS

TUESDAY, MAY 6

“Sleeping Beauty.” Arkansas Arts Center, 2 p.m., $12.50. 501 E. 9th St. 501-372-4000. www.arkarts.com. After Jack. Bear’s Den Pizza, 9 p.m. 235 Farris Road, Conway. 501-328-5556. www.bearsdenpizza.com. SUNDAY, MAY 4 Gil Franklin & Friends. Holiday Inn, North Little Rock. 120 W. Pershing Blvd., NLR. Jeff Ling. Khalil’s Pub, 6 p.m. 110 S. Shackleford Black Star Riders, Jessica Seven, 9 Miles Road. 501-224-0224. www.khalilspub.com. Ahead. Juanita’s, 8 p.m. 614 President Clinton Jim Dickerson. Sonny Williams’ Steak Room, 7 Ave. 501-372-1228. www.juanitas.com. p.m. 500 President Clinton Ave. 501-324-2999. Irish Traditional Music Session. Hibernia Irish www.sonnywilliamssteakroom.com. Tavern, 2:30 p.m. 9700 N. Rodney Parham Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Road. 501-246-4340. www.hiberniairishtav- Ernie Biggs. 307 Clinton Ave. 501-372-4782. litern.com. tlerock.erniebiggs.com. Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Lucious Spiller Band. Copeland’s Restaurant of Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 Clinton Ave. 501-372- Little Rock, 6-9 p.m. 2602 S. Shackleford Road. 5014782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com. 312-1616. www.copelandsrestaurantlittlerock.com. “Shower the People: The Music of James Lyle Lovett and His Acoustic Group. Walton Taylor.” See May 3. Arts Center, 7 p.m., $49-$79. 495 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville. 479-443-5600. Music Jam. Hosted by Elliott Griffen and Joseph The Second City. Arkansas Repertory Theatre, Fuller. The Joint, 8-11 p.m., free. 301 Main St. No. 7 p.m., $35. 601 Main St. 501-378-0405. www. 102, NLR. 501-372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com. therep.org. Old Man Markley. Juanita’s, 9 p.m., $8 adv., $10 day of. 614 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-1228. www.juanitas.com. Bernice Garden Farmer’s Market. Bernice Thee Tsunamis. White Water Tavern, 9:30 p.m. Garden, 10 a.m. 1401 S. Main St. www.theber- 2500 W. 7th St. 501-375-8400. www.whitewaternicegarden.org. CONTINUED ON PAGE 29

COMEDY

Publication: Arkansas Times

Trim: 2.125" x 5.5" Bleed: none Live: 1.875" x 5.25"

“Live from the Back Room.” Spoken word event. Vino’s, 7 p.m. 923 W. 7th St. 501-375-8466. www. vinosbrewpub.com.

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Folk Center State Park, 10 a.m. 1032 Park Ave., Mountain View. Hillcrest Farmers Market. Pulaski Heights Baptist Church, 7 a.m.-2 p.m. 2200 Kavanaugh Blvd. Historic Neighborhoods Tour. Bike tour of historic neighborhoods includes bike, guide, helmets and maps. Bobby’s Bike Hike, 9 a.m., $8-$28. 400 President Clinton Ave. 501-613-7001. LaunchPad. A start-up competition with a grand prize of $15,000, to be judged by MC Hammer as part of Toad Suck Daze. Pork & Bourbon Tour. Bike tour includes bicycle, guide, helmets and maps. Bobby’s Bike Hike, 11:30 a.m., $35-$45. 400 President Clinton Ave. 501-613-7001.

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When a conservative radio host announces theheairand that he and announces on the airon that announces on the air that he and his renew wife will renew his wife will their vowstheir vows his wife will renew their vows in all SinofCity, of the residents of in Sin City, the all residents of in Sin City, all of the residents of Tuna, Texas come Tuna, Texas come along for along the for the Tuna, Texas come along for the ride.characters Favorite characters ride. Favorite from pastfrom past ride. Favorite characters from past Tuna productions return, Tuna productions return, and new and new Tuna productions return, and new are introduced! “What hapones are ones introduced! “What hapones are introduced! “What happens stays in Vegas stays in pens in Vegas in Vegas, butVegas, but pens in Vegas stays in Vegas, but what happens when what happens when Tuna hits Tuna the hits the what happens when Tuna hits the lodge delightfully slots mayslots lodgemay delightfully in your in your slots may lodge delightfully in your lifetime.” - L.A. Times May 20for–aJune head for ahead lifetime.” - L.A.21 Times head for a lifetime.” - L.A. Times

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May 8 Old Hat Studio by Mesilla Smith

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Live music by Finger Food featuring Steve Davison & Micky Rigby

A museum of the Department of Arkansas Heritage

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FrEE TrOllEy ridEs! MAY 1, 2014

ARKANSAS TIMES

200 River Market Ave., Suite 400 501.374.9247 • www.arcapital.com

The Old State House Museum is a museum of the Department of Arkansas Heritage

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THE LAST BIG STAR, CONT. Continued from page 20 all those songs were like 15 minutes long. I think every major Stax artist worked at Ardent except Otis Redding. How important was John Fry to the Big Star sound? Chris Bell was really in the producer seat for the first Big Star record and Alex [Chilton] was certainly in the producer seat for Radio City. Doesn’t mean there weren’t contributions from other folks, but they were the primary pilots for those. John Fry was the engineer, but the way he recorded and mixed those records — that was musical input, creative input. John’s records sparkle, and a lot of other records back then sounded pretty dull in comparison. He was a smart guy. He had his parents convert their garage into a proper studio and was putting short-wave radios together and pirate broadcasting. He’d incorporated Ardent and had his first 45 in hand when he was just a month into being 15 years old. John had a sense of purpose. He says the reason he got out of it was because the knobs got too small. But you know, there are long hours that go into it, and I think he wanted out of that. He taught and mentored other engineers — Jim Dickinson, Terry Manning, even some of the Stax engineers. Where do you feel most in your element, in the studio or live? I love both, personally. From the beginning, though, I mean “#1 Record” was definitely a studio record. We had the ability to just go out and try parts until they worked, and you don’t get that except in a studio. Chris would sit in the studio for hours working on guitar parts and vocals. All those melodies and performances just kind of came out of thin air. Doesn’t mean we didn’t put time into stuff, listening to The Kinks and Procol Harum and Lou Reed. It all finds its way in when you’re working. There’s nothing quite like the studio, though. The production approach on the first two albums is so different from that on “Third.” Did you have a preference? It’s hard to say. Maybe the best comparison is with a person: It’s hard to say what one trait of a person is appealing, because it’s more about a series of their expressions and actions. It’s the same with Big Star. The first is a thoughtfully produced record and has very innocent topics, songs like “Thirteen” and “In The Street.” And then Chris leaves the band and Alex takes over producing, and with “Radio City,” there’s the introduction of this worldly sophistication to some extent. Everything’s a bit edgier. Alex was changing his guitar sound, my drums were different. Those are my favorite drum sounds on “Radio City.” Then the third album is pretty dark, or darkly sweet. It’s pretty bitter. Songs like “Thank You Friends,” which to this day nobody can figure out if it’s sarcasm or not.

I’ve always wondered that, listening to the record. Especially “Jesus Christ.” Yeah, and you know at that moment, I didn’t know, either. I know Alex said he opened up a Presbyterian hymnal and apparently was inspired by some of the lyrics. But to tell you the truth, I don’t know what he was thinking. The sad thing is, there are so many people we can no longer go to and ask about these things. Steve Ray, Andy, Chris, Jim Dickinson. What was your experience of making “Third”? How did you feel about it at the time? I was alternately perplexed and inspired. I remember, say, the bass player playing something really pretty and Alex asking him to playing something else that was off and weird. Jim Dickinson played drums some of the time, which helped with that deconstruction vibe of it — that feeling that things seem to be falling apart emotionally — because he wasn’t a drummer. And then we’d practice something and say “OK, I think I got it, let’s do it,” and Jim or Alex would say, “No, that’s it, that’s fine, we got it.” They’d recorded it. People would still be finding their way through the songs, and there’s something Alex always achieved by getting those types of [accidental] performances from people. It’s pretty brilliant really. If the songs had been played too well, where you didn’t have that spontaneity, it would have just sounded typical. That “Third” album was a mystery for me. It took a while to appreciate what it was, and how brilliantly John and Jim and Alex achieved what Alex was going through emotionally at the time. I also heard that Alex wasn’t involved in the mix because Jim thought he would ruin it, I don’t know. But it’s a brilliant mix. There sure was a lot to mix. I remember Alex stepping out and just making all these weird noises, I didn’t know where it was going. But John would put it in the mix, and it was just brilliant. John has said he was uncomfortable with those sessions. Could you sympathize? Oh yeah, there were times when it was uncomfortable for me. It wasn’t necessarily a lifestyle I was leading. The drugs and alcohol — I guess the good thing is that Alex stopped, he survived all that — but it got a bit uncomfortable because of that at times. But then, you know, he’d step into the studio and sing “Blue Moon.” Damn. It’s not like there was a lot of infighting. There was with Chris and Andy — but then that was really just one punch. There’d be some bickering and stuff, but it was kind of normal family stuff until that “Third” album. Then it got dark at times. My role was being the constant. I don’t know, that’s kind of my role in a lot of things, just being a constant. I guess maybe that’s what drummers do, CONTINUED ON PAGE 29 www.arktimes.com

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travel with the Arkansas Times to see paintings by great French masters and others in the “The William S. Paley Collection: A Taste for Modernism” at Crystal Bridges museum of American Art in Bentonville. the exhibit of 60 works from the CBs mogul’s collection features work by Pablo Picasso, Paul Gaugin, Andre Derain, Henri Matisse, Paul Cezanne, Edgar Degas, Henri ToulouseLautrec and more contemporary artists, including Francis Bacon. the exhibition was organized by the museum of modern Art (momA) in new york.

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THE LAST BIG STAR, CONT. Continued from page 27 they’re anchors. I think I was an anchor not only as a drummer, but as a member of the band. Why have you stayed on at Ardent over the years? There’s nothing quite like being in a place that’s creative, and a catalyst for things. John Fry said the great thing about Ardent was that magic things can happen here. And you just look at the folks who have recorded here, and lots of magic things have happened and still can. Alex made a solo record there in the ’90s there, right? What was that like? With Alex, you just provide the studio and the tools, and he does the rest. There certainly wasn’t any A&R input. Why would you want to do that with Alex? Not that he would let anybody. But he’d show up, be in the studio recording and then go home. It was great having him here but there wasn’t much interaction between us. You’ve recorded a lot of Memphis rap in recent years as well. Yeah, we have, Yo Gotti and a lot of folks. Al Kapone. Even Three Six Mafia. We mixed that song that won the Oscar here, “It’s Hard out Here for a Pimp.” Al Kapone, I’ve had a lot of interaction with, Al’s a great guy. Yo Gotti, I’ll see when he comes in. Cee Lo Green came in for a couple of days,

everybody really liked him, nice guy. Sometimes artists come in and they don’t want you to talk to them or look at them. I didn’t meet Bob Dylan when he came. His manager warned us off. He said they didn’t want anyone hanging out, didn’t want fans to show up. So I was afraid to go in and say anything. Jack White, I’ve spent a little time with. He was fascinating to watch in the studio. While they were mixing, Jack would sing along. He had the most remarkable enthusiasm, it just floored me. What was it like to watch the documentary for the first time? A little worrisome. I kept wondering what was around the bend. But actually I loved it, especially the way it ends, with John Fry bringing “September Gurls” to a mix, and pushing back from the console and smiling. It kind of put a punctuation mark on it. You could see in his eyes that real feeling and heart he had for it, and that we all had for it. All our spirits are summed up in the look on John’s face. You’ve been singing lead at live shows lately — what happened to inspire that? It’s a challenge. I’ve been sitting behind a drum set and having that security. I just thought, it’s time to talk to the audience. And I can’t talk to the audience from behind a drum kit, there’s too much distance. So I thought I’d step out front.

AFTER DARK, CONT. tavern.com. 7 p.m., $16-$51. 1 Alltel Arena Way, NLR. 501-975Tuesday Jam Session with Carl Mouton. 9001. verizonarena.com. Afterthought Bistro & Bar, 8 p.m., free. 2721 Gil Franklin & Friends. Holiday Inn, North Little Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www.after- Rock. 120 W. Pershing Blvd., NLR. thoughtbar.com. Jim Dickerson. Sonny Williams’ Steak Room, 7 p.m. 500 President Clinton Ave. 501-324-2999. www.sonnywilliamssteakroom.com. Stand-Up Tuesday. Hosted by Adam Hogg. The Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Joint, 8 p.m., $5. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501- Ernie Biggs. 307 Clinton Ave. 501-372-4782. lit372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com. tlerock.erniebiggs.com. Sir Mix-A-Lot. Juanita’s, 9 p.m., $12 adv., $15 day of. 614 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-1228. www. Latin Night. Revolution, 7:30 p.m., $5 regular, $7 juanitas.com. under 21. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-823- Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 7:30 p.m., 0090. www.littlerocksalsa.com. free. 111 Markham St. 501-374-7474. www.capitalhotel.com/CBG.

COMEDY DANCE

EVENTS

COMEDY

Tales from the South. Authors tell true stories; schedule available on website. Dinner served The Joint Venture. Improv comedy group. The 5-6:30 p.m., show at 7 p.m. Call for reservations. Joint, 8 p.m., $7. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501Starving Artist Cafe, 5 p.m. 411 N. Main St., NLR. 372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com. 501-372-7976. www.starvingartistcafe.net. The Second City. Arkansas Repertory Theatre, Trivia Bowl. Flying Saucer, 8:30 p.m. 323 President 7 p.m., $35. 601 Main St. 501-378-0405. www. Clinton Ave. 501-372-8032. www.beerknurd.com/ therep.org. stores/littlerock.

FILM

“The New Black.” Community Cinema Tuesday. Laman Library, 6:30 p.m. 2801 Orange St., NLR. 501-758-1720. www.lamanlibrary.org.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 7

MUSIC

DANCE

Little Rock Bop Club. Beginning dance lessons for ages 10 and older. Singles welcome. Bess Chisum Stephens Community Center, 7 p.m., $4 for members, $7 for guests. 12th & Cleveland streets. 501-350-4712. www.littlerockbopclub.

FILM

Splice Microcinema. Film TBA. Vino’s, 7:30 p.m. Disney on Ice: Rockin’ Ever After. Verizon Arena, CONTINUED ON PAGE 31

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FEBRUARY 20, 2014

AFTER DARK, CONT. 923 W. 7th St. 501-375-8466. www.vinosbrewpub.com.

LECTURES

“Our History of Food through Gardening, Canning and Reaching Out to Desperate Communities.” Brown Bag Lunch Lecture. Old State House Museum, noon. 300 W. Markham St. 501-324-9685. www.oldstatehouse.com. Richard Louv. Lecture by the author of “The Nature Principle: Human Restoration and the End of Nature-Deficit Disorder.” Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 7 p.m. 600 Museum Way, Bentonville. 479-418-5700. crystalbridges.org.

POETRY

Wednesday Night Poetry. 21-and-older show. Maxine’s, 7 p.m., free. 700 Central Ave., Hot Springs. 501-321-0909. maxineslive.com/shows.html.

1900 N. Grant, Little Rock, AR 501-663-8999 www.fantasticchinarestaurant.com

THIS WEEK IN THEATER

THEATER

“A Strange and Separate People.” The Weekend Theater, through May 17: Fri., Sat., 7:30 p.m., $12-$16. 1001 W. 7th St. 501-374-3761. www.weekendtheater.org. “Come Blow Your Horn.” Dinner and a performance of Neil Simon’s first play. Murry’s Dinner Playhouse, through May 11: Tue.-Sat., 6 p.m.; Sun., 5:30 p.m., $33-$35. 6323 Col. Glenn Road. 501-562-3131. murrysdinnerplayhouse.com. “Hamlet.” Walton Arts Center, through May 4: Wed.-Sat., 7:30 p.m.; Sat., Sun., 2 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m., $10-$35. 495 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville. 479-443-5600. “Into the Woods.” Conway Dinner Theater, through May 10: Thu.-Sat., 7 p.m., $17.50-$27.50. 2201 Washington Ave. Suite 12, Conway. “Ripped and Wrinkled.” An original rock musical about a world famous band from North Little Rock called The Dogs. The Joint, through May 31: Fri., Sat., 8 p.m., $20. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501-372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com.

GALLERIES, MUSEUMS

NEW EXHIBITS, EVENTS

ARKANSAS ARTS CENTER: “InCiteful Clay,” 35 ceramic sculptures that offer social commentary, through June 29, Winthrop Rockefeller Gallery, lecture by Judith Schwartz, exhibition curator, 6-7 p.m. May 1, free to members, $10 nonmembers; “The Crossroads of Memory: Carroll Cloar and the American South,” 70 paintings by the late Arkansas native, through June 1, “Carroll Cloar Bike Tour,” 14-mile ride to Cloar sites led by curator Dr. Stanton Thomas of the Brooks Museum of Art, meet at Arts Center lot at 7 a.m. May 3 for drive to Crittenden County Museum (10 a.m. gathering time at museum); 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat., 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sun. 372-4000. CANTRELL GALLERY, 8206 Cantrell Road: “Painting Arkansas — Finale,” new work by John Wooldridge, opening reception 6-8 p.m. May 2, show through June 21. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat. 224-1335. COX CREATIVE CENTER, 120 River Market Ave.: Arkansas League of Artists’ “Spring Members Show,” juror Kevin Kresse, May 1-31, reception 5-8 p.m. May 9, 2nd Friday Art Night. 918-3093. L&L BECK ART GALLERY, 5705 Kavanaugh Blvd.: “Backyard Birds,” giclee giveaway drawing 7 p.m. May 15. 660-4006. ST. MARK’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 1000 N. Mississippi St.: “Icons in Transformation,” 100 expressionist works by Ludmila Pawlowska, CONTINUED ON PAGE 32 www.arktimes.com

MAY 1, 2014

AFTER DARK, CONT. May 3-Aug. 17, percentage of sales proceeds FAYETTEVILLE to Artist-in-Residence program at Arkansas THE DEPOT, 548 W. Dickson St.: “Point Scratch Children’s Hospital, artist’s reception 6-8 p.m. Squint,” paintings by Benjamin Lowery, May May 3. 225-4203. 1-29, with installation by Ben Flowers and Luke STEPHANO’S FINE ART GALLERY, 1813 N. Grant: Knox. 479-587-9100. Bronze sculpture by actor/artist Tony Dow, paint- LALALAND, 641 Martin Luther King Blvd.: ings by Stephano, May 1-June 1, artists’ reception “Women of DAPA (Drawing and Painting 6:30-9:30 p.m. May 3. 563-4218. Association of the UA),” Raven Halfmoon, Ashley Byers, Carrie Gibson, Mia Buonaiuto, EUREKA SPRINGS Ashley Lindsey, Jessica Lynnlani Westhafer, EUREKA FINE ART GALLERY, 623 N. Main Emily Chase, and Natalie Brown, reception St.: Mark Rademacher, sculpture and pottery, 7-9 p.m. May 1 with music by Witchsister and through May, artist’s reception 6-9 p.m. May 3. Ben Buonaiuto, $2 and donations encouraged. 479-363-6000. WALTON ARTS CENTER: “Translating Earth, Transforming Sea,” sculpture by Shawn Bitters HOT SPRINGS and Joan Hall and 3-D painting by Laura Moriarity, ARTISTS WORKSHOP GALLERY, 610 A Central May 1-June 21, Joy Pratt Markham Gallery, openAve.: Joann Kunath, pastels, and Teresa ing reception and curator talk 5-7 p.m. May 1. Widdifield, paintings, through May, Gallery Walk reception 5-9 p.m. May 2. 623-6401. ROGERS BLUE MOON GALLERY, 718 Central Ave.: Suzi ROGERS HISTORICAL MUSEUM, 322 S. Second Dennis, paintings. Gallery Walk reception 5-9 St.: “Regional Foodways,” food-related artip.m. May 2. 318-2787. facts, “Hog Wild: Our Area’s Love Affair with the FINE ARTS CENTER, 626 Central Ave.: “Art & Pig,” farm tools, sausage-making gadgets, folk Music Exhibition,” work inspired by the Hot art, books, through Aug. 9, “What’s Cookin’,” Springs Music Festival repertoire, May 2-June themed tour of the Hawkins House, May 3-31. 17. 501-624-0489. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat. 479-6210-1154. GALLERY CENTRAL, 800 Central Ave.: Paintings by Robin Hazard-Bishop, Jacqueline Ellens, Doyle Young. Gallery Walk reception 5-9 p.m. The Center for Artistic Revolution is seeking May 2. 318-4278. heart-shaped or heart-referencing works of HISTORICAL FARMERS MARKET, downtown: art for its 10th annual “Corazon,” a benefit “Juried Artisan Showcase,” handcrafted items for the work of CAR. One entry will be used by area artists, noon-5 p.m. May 4. in promotional materials; deadline for applicaJUSTUS FINE ART, 827 Central Ave.: Annual “Tree tion to be that entry is May 23. Deadline for Show,” work by Steve Griffith, Matthew Hasty, other completed work is June 13. The event Dolores Justus, Rebecca Thompson, and Dan is set for 7 p.m. June 28 at Boswell-Mourot Thornhill. Gallery Walk reception 5-9 p.m. May Fine Art, 5815 Kavanaugh Blvd. CONTINUED ON PAGE 39 2. 501-321-2335.

CALL FOR ENTRIES

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MOVIE REVIEW OFFICIAL SELECTION

SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL 2014

WINNER FIPRESCI PRIZE

OFFICIAL SELECTION

TORONTO

CANNES

FILM FESTIVAL

2013

‘OTHER WOMAN’: Leslie Mann, Nicki Minaj, Cameron Diaz and Kate Upton star.

Avoid ‘Other Woman’ It’s unfunny and generally unpleasant. BY SAM EIFLING

omeday, sooner than its producers would like, “The Other Woman” will appear on video and on Netflix, where some clerk will dutifully file it under the romantic comedy section, when it is in fact neither. But wait, you say. It has Cameron Diaz and Leslie Mann and Kate Upton laughing on its poster — why, it’s got to have at least a couple of laughs inside, right? That might in fact cover it, actually. There’s an unintentionally funny moment after Diaz, playing a sharky attorney, learns that her new steady boyfriend is in fact married, to a vulnerable, voluble stay-at-homer played by Mann. She makes this discovery in fact when she blithely arrives at their front door dressed like a hooker/plumber. The wife later presses the issue, and they start to bond. Before you can say “odd couple,” the mistress swerves more “Lethal Weapon.” Fending off this needy new friend, Diaz blurts, “I’m getting too old for this shit,” and that’s worth a chuckle. We’ll throw in two more laughs for kicks, though their provenance escapes me in hindsight. Something big and unpleasant happened to this movie in its conception that it never overcomes. Here’s a guess: The premise is mind-blowingly awful, and runs like a warped male fantasy of what would happen if the disparate loves in his twisted life ever intersected. (It’s a little surprising to find that a woman, first-timer Melissa Stack, wrote this hash.) For example: After their initial come-to-Jesus conversation over drinks, Mann, staggering out to a waiting towncar, gets floppy-drunk huggy with Diaz, even craning backwards to kiss her neck. And this after finding out the husband and Diaz’s character had boinked dozens of times over several

“EASILY THE

weeks. Who are these people, and why are they behaving this way? There’s a problem when the only plausible character in a story is the scumbag. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (a.k.a. Jaime Lannister from “Game of Thrones”) is a wolfishly handsome twotiming financier, as quick with a lie as he is with a hello. He, at least, evinces a modicum of motive, rooted though it is in sociopathic tendencies. CosterWaldau ain’t a bad actor, so watching his comeuppance veer toward the jejune LITTLE ROCK is embarrassing. OnceCinema his wife and his Market Street paramour (501) team 312-8900 up (make that plural, once the twosome find and turn Upton to their side) the indignities overflow. Weaponized laxatives, hair remover in the shampoo bottle, estrogen pills in the morning smoothie — it’s a teenager’s version of revenge carried out by 40-something ladies in Connecticut and the Hamptons, a Farrelly brothers movie hopped up on Chardonnay. All of this would be perfectly serviceable if not for the heap of attempted pathos that director Nick Cassavetes dumps in. Mann actually plays this for laughs — she’s the funniest thing in the film, by far — but manages to pull off some dignity for her character. To find suddenly that a spouse has been leading a shady double life would be a crippling experience for anyone. The script puts Mann in the position of having to experience that trauma while clowning sufficiently to keep the sap quotient low. It’s an impossible balance to attain, but Mann, with her strange mix of rabbity energy and emotional bruising, makes an admirable effort. It’s almost as if no one pulled her aside to cushion the blow, by letting her know the movie she’s working so hard in is actually doomed to mediocrity.

MOST SUSPENSEFUL AMERICAN FILM OF THE YEAR.” -Gabe Toro, INDIEWIRE

EXCLUSIVE ENGAGEMENT

STARTS FRIDAY, MAY 2

LITTLE ROCK Market Street Cinema (501) 312-8900

CHECK DIRECTORIES FOR SHOWTIMES NO PASSES ACCEPTED

IN THEATERS, ON ITUNES & ON DEMAND NOW

Arkansas Times WED 04/30 4.5" X 5.5" 1/4 PG JL/AL ALL.BLU-R1.0430.ATEMAIL

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MAY 1, 2014

Dining WHAT’S COOKIN’ IT’S WHOLE HOG TIME! This Saturday, the Arkansas Times will be hosting its second annual Heritage Hog Roast at the Argenta Farmer’s Market at Sixth and Main streets in North Little Rock. The event, featuring pit-roasted heritage-breed hogs raised at Scott Heritage Farm, benefits the Argenta Arts District. There will be 16 hogs roasted by teams from area restaurants including Whole Hog, South on Main, The Root, Southern Gourmasian and many more. There will be everything from pulled pork bahn mi to Moroccan pig roast tagine to classic Memphis barbecue. Plus a few surprises, we’re sure. Gates open at 5 p.m. and food, including pork and two sides from each team, will be served at 6:30 p.m. It’s all you can eat; your favorite team may run out eventually, so we’d recommend getting there early. Buy tickets — $25 in advance or $30 day of the event — and get more info at arktimes.com/heritagehogroast. The ticket price also includes a slate of music by Memphis’ Ghost Town Blues Band, Runaway Planet and The Salty Dogs. If you want to see the music and skip the food, tickets are $10 after 8 p.m. There will also be a beer and wine garden ($5 each). GREAT NEWS FOR LITTLE ROCKERS bracing for the heat and humidity coming our way: Le Pops will be offering up its “gourmet ice lollies” this summer at a new brick-and-mortar shop in the Heights. The 860-square-foot shop will be at 5501 Kavanaugh Blvd., next door to Eggshells Kitchen Co.; owner Laurie Harrison is shooting for a June 1 opening. Le Pops previously had a shop in the River Market. Fans of Harrison’s frozen sweet treats can look forward to familiar favorites: ice pops made from local berries, peaches and coffee beans. The creative flavors rotate; some highlights include cucumber jalapeno, grapefruit avocado, Mexican chocolate and blackberry lavender. Harrison said there will also be some new offerings, including shaved ice with fresh fruit, and a new twist she’s keeping mum about for the time being. “We’re going to be doing more fun things with the pops,” she said. “Top secret for now.” In addition to the shop, Le Pops will continue to serve up pops at festivals, markets and events around town, including the Little Rock Farmer’s Market on Saturdays. She should have a truck ready soon, Harrison said — “you’ll see it bopping around town.” Harrison will continue her wholesale business as well. Her son David is now helping her with the business. The shop will likely be open seven days a week.

MAY 1, 2014

ARKANSAS TIMES

Jerky’s Spicy Chicken and More 2501 S. ARCH ST. 246-3096

QUICK BITE Jerky’s bills itself as Little Rock’s first and only “Jamerican” joint. So expect to find exactly that — a smattering of Jamaican spices spread across commonly found American foods. Burgers, fries and chicken all get a spicy upgrade here. The portions are sizable and the prices are generally low, which makes it an excellent spot for a quick lunch any day of the week. HOURS 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. OTHER INFO Beer, credit cards accepted.

JERKED: Chicken and ribs combo plate at Jerky’s Spicy Chicken and More.

Chicken rules roost at Jerky’s Jamaican spices, American menu.

n many fine-dining restaurants, chicken often plays second fiddle; it’s usually outshone by an expensive cut of beef, an imported fish, or the mighty lobster. We’re just as guilty as most diners in our tendency to brush off chicken dishes at such locations. Anthony Bourdain once wrote, “Chicken is boring ... chefs see it as a menu item for people who don’t know what they want to eat.” But in the right hands, and when given the proper attention, chicken takes on a more dignified role. And so it is at a cozy little chicken shack just south of downtown called Jerky’s Spicy Chicken and More. As advertised, Jerky’s specializes in jerk-rubbed chicken and features it in a number of settings on its menu. We started with the chicken and ribs combo plate ($13.99). The chicken is seasoned with a proprietary blend of spices that gives the chicken a wonderful herbaceous and spicy flavor. Then it’s smoked

over hickory. The white meat chicken we sampled was tender, juicy and easily sliced through with the edge of a fork. Our meal came with a few slices of bread, and we proceeded to stuff a few forkfuls of jerk chicken between the slices, creating wonderful makeshift sandwiches (you can also order the chicken chopped on a sandwich if you prefer to take the easy route). It was clear to us why the smoked jerk chicken is the star of this establishment. The accompanying pork ribs were fair but had a texture issue. These were smoked a little too quickly and tended to be a bit tough and chewy, requiring a tad too much force to rip from the bone. But they were, at least, juicy with a decent flavor, being seasoned with that same house jerk seasoning. We were quite pleased with the provided barbecue sauce, however. This was a thin, vinegar-based concoction, which added a nice, slightly sweet and tangy note to the spicy chicken and ribs. We would

have gladly taken a bottle home for later. The jerk fried chicken plate ($6.99) was less successful than its regular smoked variety. The bird was given an excessively thick and chunky coating that was reminiscent of a boxed stovetop stuffing mixture. The underlying meat was good, but we preferred it without the crust. Jerky’s also offers a few basic burger options, but you can also grab a “jerk burger” ($5.25) that comes seasoned and spiced in that same aforementioned jerk seasoning. We did get a nibble of the turkey burger ($6.25) and found it reasonably tasty if uninspiring. Turkey burgers, again, may be ordered “jerked,” if you please, and we slightly regret not going this route with our sandwich choice. Our meals were accompanied by a number of side dishes, all of them passable but none that deserve particular mention here. We did enjoy the spicy paprika-flavored fries, even if they were clearly of the bagged and frozen variety. We were pleased to end the meal with the bourbon glazed bread pudding off the dessert menu. It was sweet, creamy and laced with cinnamon and brown sugar. Jerky’s features both a sit-down dining room for those wanting to take their time at lunch and a take-out window for those on the run. And while our experience was rather hit or miss overall, we’ll likely be back to Jerky’s to nab a quick chopped jerk chicken sandwich.

Information in our restaurant capsules reflects the opinions of the newspaper staff and its reviewers. The newspaper accepts no advertising or other considerations in exchange for reviews, which are conducted anonymously. We invite the opinions of readers who think we are in error.

B Breakfast L Lunch D Dinner $ Inexpensive (under $8/person) $$ Moderate ($8-$20/person) $$$ Expensive (over $20/person) CC Accepts credit cards

Crown Royal Reserve Canadian Whisky Reg $80.99 ............................. Sale $64.99

APRIL 30 - MAY 6, 2014

DINING CAPSULES

LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK

AMERICAN

ACADIA A jewel of a restaurant in Hillcrest. Unbelievable fixed-price, three-course dinners on Mondays and Tuesday, but food is certainly worth full price. 3000 Kavanaugh Blvd. Full bar, CC. $$-$$$. 501-603-9630. D Mon.-Sat. BIG ORANGE: BURGERS SALADS SHAKES Gourmet burgers manufactured according to exacting specs (humanely raised beef!) and properly fried Kennebec potatoes are the big draws, but you can get a veggie burger as well as fried chicken, curried falafel and blackened tilapia sandwiches, plus creative meal-sized salads. Shakes and floats are indulgences for all ages. 17809 Chenal Parkway. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-821-1515. LD daily. 207 N. University Ave. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-379-8715. LD daily. BLACK ANGUS CAFE Charcoal-grilled burgers, hamburger steaks and steaks proper are the big draws at this local institution. 10907 N. Rodney Parham. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-228-7800. LD Mon.-Sat. BOBBY’S CAFE Delicious, humungo burgers and tasty homemade desserts at this Levy diner. 12230 MacArthur Drive. NLR. No alcohol, No CC. $. 501-851-7888. BL Tue.-Fri., D Fri. BOUDREAUX’S GRILL & BAR A homey, seatyourself Cajun joint in Maumelle that serves up all sorts of variations of shrimp and catfish. With particularly tasty red beans and rice, jambalaya and bread pudding. 9811 Maumelle Blvd. NLR. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-753-6860. L Sat., D Mon.-Sat. BOULEVARD BREAD CO. Fresh bread, fresh pastries, wide selection of cheeses, meats, side dishes; all superb. Good coffee, too. 1920 N. Grant St. Beer, Wine, All CC. $$. 501-6635951. BLD Mon.-Sat. 400 President Clinton Ave. Beer, Wine, All CC. $-$$. 501-374-1232. BL Mon.-Sat. 4301 W. Markham St. No alcohol, All CC. $$. 501-526-6661. BL Mon.-Fri. 1417 Main St. Beer, Wine, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-375-5100. BL Mon.-Sat.; 4301 W. Markham St. No alcohol, All CC. $$. 501-526-6661. BL Mon.-Fri. BREWSTERS 2 CAFE & LOUNGE Down-home done right. Check out the yams, mac-andcheese, greens, purple-hull peas, cornbread, wings, catfish and all the rest. 2725 S. Arch St. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-301-7728. LD Mon.-Sat. BUTCHER SHOP The cook-your-own-steak option has been downplayed, and several menu additions complement the calling card: large, fabulous cuts of prime beef, cooked to perfection. 10825 Hermitage Road. Full bar, All CC. $$$. 501-312-2748. D daily. CAJUN’S WHARF The venerable seafood restaurant serves up great gumbo and oysters Bienville, and options such as fine steaks for the non-seafood eater. In the citified bar, you’ll find nightly entertainment, too. 2400 Cantrell Road. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-375-5351. D Mon.-Sat. COMMUNITY BAKERY This sunny downtown bakery is the place to linger over a latte, bagels and the New York Times. But a lunchtime dash for sandwiches is OK, too, though it’s often packed. 1200 S. Main St. No alcohol, CC. $-$$. 501-375-7105. BLD daily. 270 S. Shackleford.

No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-224-1656. BLD Mon.-Sat. BL Sun. COPPER GRILL Comfort food, burgers and more sophisticated fare at this River Market-area hotspot. 300 E. Third St. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-375-3333. LD Mon.-Sat. DAVE’S PLACE A popular downtown soup-andsandwich stop at lunch draws a large and diverse crowd for the Friday night dinner, which varies in theme, home cooking being the most popular. Owner Dave Williams does all the cooking and his son, Dave also, plays saxophone and fronts the band that plays most Friday nights. 201 Center St. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-3723283. L Mon.-Fri., D Fri. DELICIOUS TEMPTATIONS Decadent breakfast and light lunch items that can be ordered in full or half orders to please any appetite or palate, with a great variety of salads and soups as well. Don’t miss the bourbon pecan pie — it’s a winner. 11220 N. Rodney Parham Road. No alcohol, All CC. $$. 501-225-6893. BL daily. DIZZY’S GYPSY BISTRO Interesting bistro fare, served in massive portions at this River Market favorite. 200 River Market Ave. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-375-3500. LD Tue.-Sat. THE FADED ROSE The Cajun-inspired menu seldom disappoints. Steaks and soaked salads are legendary. 1619 Rebsamen Park Road. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-663-9734. LD daily. FRANKE’S CAFETERIA Plate lunch spot strong on salads and vegetables, and perfect fried chicken on Sundays. Arkansas’ oldest continually operating restaurant. 11121 N. Rodney Parham Road. No alcohol, All CC. $$. 501-225-4487. LD daily. 400 W. Capitol Ave. No alcohol, All CC. $$. 501-372-1919. L Mon.-Fri. FRONTIER DINER The traditional all-American roadside diner, complete with a nice selection of man-friendly breakfasts and lunch specials. The half-pound burger is a two-hander for the average working Joe. 10424 Interstate 30. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-565-6414. BL Mon.-Sat. OLD MILL BREAD AND FLOUR CO. CAFE The popular take-out bakery has an eat-in restaurant and friendly operators. It’s self-service, simple and good with sandwiches built with a changing lineup of the bakery’s 40 different breads, along with soups, salads and cookies. 12111 W. Markham St. #366. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-228-4677. BL Mon.-Sat. BR Sun. RED DOOR Fresh seafood, steaks, chops and sandwiches from restaurateur Mark Abernathy. Smart wine list. 3701 Old Cantrell Road. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-666-8482. BL Tue.-Fri. D daily. BR Sat. RIVERFRONT STEAKHOUSE Steaks are the draw here — nice cuts heavily salted and peppered, cooked quickly and accurately to your specifications, finished with butter and served sizzling hot. 2 Riverfront Place. NLR. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-375-7825. D Mon.-Sat. ROBERT’S SPORTS BAR & GRILL If you’re looking for a burger, you won’t find it here. This establishment specializes in fried chicken dinners, served with their own special trimmings. 7212 Geyer Springs Road. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-568-2566. LD Tue.-Sat., D Mon., Sun. ROCKET TWENTY ONE The former Hillcrest fine-dining restaurant, now in a new location CONTINUED ON PAGE 38

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Please join us for the

16th Annual

Friday, May 2, 2014 Indoors at

Wildwood Park for the Arts 6:30 – 9:00 pm $75.00 per person

Table 28 Cache Bravo 1620 Savoy Copeland’s Blue Cake Company

Specially selected wines and artful edibles created by Little Rock’s ﬁnest chefs and restaurants combined with grape stompers and live music make this indulgent evening an absolute feast for the senses! Proceeds from this event support the summer 2014 launch of the Wildwood Academy of Music and the Arts, WAMA! (wama.wildwoodpark.org)

For tickets visit wildwoodpark.org or call 501.821.7275

Cellar 220/Lulav Chenal Country Club …and More!

20919 DENNY ROAD • LITTLE ROCK, AR 72223

www.arktimes.com

MAY 1, 2014

hearsay ➥ Local businesses immediately started rallying in support of the victims of the tornado that killed 15 in Arkansas on April 27. Here are some of the ways you can help out: VESTA’S is gathering clothing for women, men and children. Clean out your closets and bring donations to Vesta’s, and they will distribute via the United Way of Faulkner County. Goods will be taken to both Mayflower and Vilonia communities. For more information, call 501-375-7820. STATES OF MIND CLOTHING CO. is selling an Arkansas tornado relief T-shirt for $25. All proceeds will be donated to The Van, a local charity on the ground helping in areas of need. You can also donate the shirt to those affected. Order at www.statesofmindclothing.com. The FAULKNER COUNTY SPCA is coordinating animal rescue efforts for Vilonia. They need donations of tarps; tents; crates and dog kennels; dog, cat and horse food; medical supplies; bandages; tape; gauze, and gas cards. BAREFOOT STUDIO is collecting water, toiletries and diapers for the Arkansas Food Bank. Items can be dropped off at their location at 3515 Old Cantrell Road. ➥ In other news: A franchise of KILWINS CHOCOLATE KITCHEN is scheduled to open in the Arcade Building downtown in the near future. The shop sells chocolates, caramel and toffees, as well as specialty popcorn and brittles. According to their website, Kilwins is “where people celebrate, vacation and share the experience of life, family and gifting in a very special nostalgic Americana setting.” The store boasts about the “finest quality, traditional down-home confections priced with a value that focuses on being kitchen made fresh from premium ingredients and original recipes.” ➥ L&L BECK GALLERY’S May exhibit will be “Backyard Birds.” The giclée giveaway of the month will be a piece titled, “Wrens” and will be given away at a drawing scheduled for 7 p.m. May 15. The exhibit will run through the month of May. ➥BARBARA GRAVES INTIMATE FASHIONS has a free gift with any Swm Systems purchase promotion while supplies last. 38

MAY 1, 2014

ARKANSAS TIMES

DINING CAPSULES, CONT. by the Riverfront Wyndham hotel. 2 Riverfront Drive. NLR. Full bar, All CC. $$$-$$$$. 501-6039208. L Mon.-Fri., D Tue.-Sat. RUDY’S OYSTER BAR Good boiled shrimp and oysters on the half shell. Quesadillas and chili cheese dip are tasty and ultra-hearty. 2695 Pike Ave. NLR. Full bar, All CC. 501-771-0808. LD Mon.-Sat. SO RESTAURANT BAR Call it a French brasserie with a sleek, but not fussy American finish. The wine selection is broad and choice. Free valet parking. Use it and save yourself a headache. 3610 Kavanaugh Blvd. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-663-1464. LD Mon.-Sat., D Sun. TRIO’S Fresh, creative and satisfying lunches; even better at night, when the chefs take flight. Best array of fresh desserts in town. 8201 Cantrell Road Suite 100. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-221-3330. LD Mon.-Sat., BR Sun. YANCEY’S CAFETERIA Soul food served with a Southern attitude. 1523 Martin Luther King Ave. No alcohol, No CC. $. 501-372-9292. LD Tue.-Sat. ZACK’S PLACE Expertly prepared home cooking and huge, smoky burgers. 1400 S. University Ave. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-6646444. LD Mon.-Sat.

ASIAN

CHI’S CHINESE CUISINE No longer owned by Chi’s founder Lulu Chi, this Chinese mainstay still offers a broad menu that spans the Chinese provinces and offers a few twists on the usual local offerings. 5110 W. Markham St. Beer, All CC. $-$$. 501-604-7777. LD Mon.-Sat. CRAZY HIBACHI GRILL The folks that own Chi’s and Sekisui offer their best in a three-inone: tapanaki cooking, sushi bar and sit-down dining with a Mongolian grill. 2907 Lakewood Village. NLR. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-8129888. LD daily. FANTASTIC CHINA The food is delicious, the presentation beautiful, the menu distinctive, the service perfect, the decor bright. 1900 N. Grant St. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-663-8999. LD daily. LILLY’S DIMSUM THEN SOME Innovative dishes inspired by Asian cuisine, utilizing local and fresh ingredients. 11121 N. Rodney Parham Road. Beer, Wine, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-716-2700. LD Tue.-Sun. MT. FUJI JAPANESE RESTAURANT The dean of Little Rock sushi bars offers a fabulous lunch special and great Monday night deals. 10301 Rodney Parham Road. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-227-6498. LD daily. 10301 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501-227-6498. OSAKA JAPANESE RESTAURANT Veteran operator of several local Asian buffets has brought fine-dining Japanese dishes and a well-stocked sushi bar to way-out-west Little Rock, near Chenal off Highway 10. 5501 Ranch Dr. $$-$$$. 501-868-3688. L Tue.-Sat., D Tue.-Sun. SKY MODERN JAPANESE Excellent, ambitious menu filled with sushi and other Japanese fare and Continental-style dishes. 11525 Cantrell Road, Suite 917. Full bar, All CC. $$$-$$$$. 501-224-4300. LD daily. SUSHI CAFE Impressive, upscale sushi menu with other delectable house specialties like tuna tataki, fried soft shell crab, Kobe beef and, believe it or not, the Tokyo cowboy burger. 5823 Kavanaugh Blvd. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-663-9888. L Mon.-Sat. D daily.

BARBECUE

CHATZ CAFE ‘Cue and catfish joint that does heavy catering business. Try the slow-smoked, meaty ribs. 8801 Colonel Glenn Road. No

alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-562-4949. LD Mon.-Sat. CORKY’S RIBS & BBQ The pulled pork is extremely tender and juicy, and the sauce is sweet and tangy without a hint of heat. Maybe the best dry ribs in the area. 12005 Westhaven Drive. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-954-7427. LD daily. 2947 Lakewood Village Drive. NLR. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-753-3737. LD daily, B Sat.-Sun. PIT STOP BAR AND GRILL A working-man’s bar and grill, with barbecue, burgers, breakfast and bologna sandwiches, plus live music on Friday and Saturday nights. 5506 Baseline Road. Full bar, No CC. $$. 501-562-9635. BLD daily. WHITE PIG INN Go for the sliced rather than chopped meats at this working-class barbecue cafe. Side orders — from fries to potato salad to beans and slaw — are superb, as are the fried pies. 5231 E. Broadway. NLR. Beer, All CC. $-$$. 501-945-5551. LD Mon.-Fri., L Sat. WHOLE HOG CAFE The pulled pork shoulder is a classic, the back ribs are worthy of their many blue ribbons, and there’s a six-pack of sauces for all tastes. A real find is the beef brisket, cooked the way Texans like it. 516 Cantrell Road. Beer, Wine, All CC. $$. 501-664-5025. LD Mon.-Sat. 12111 W. Markham. Beer, Wine, All CC. $$. 501-907-6124. LD daily. 150 E. Oak St. Conway. No alcohol, All CC. $$. 501-513-0600. LD Mon.-Sat., L Sun. 5107 Warden Road. NLR. Beer, Wine, All CC. $$. 501-753-9227.

EUROPEAN / ETHNIC

ALADDIN KABAB Persian and Mexican cuisines sound like an odd pairing, but they work fairly well together here. Particularly if you’re ordering something that features charred meat, like a kabab or gyros. 9112 N Rodney Parham Road. No alcohol, All CC. 501-219-8787. LD daily. CAFE BOSSA NOVA A South American approach to sandwiches, salads and desserts, all quite good, as well as an array of refreshing South American teas and coffees. 2701 Kavanaugh Blvd. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-614-6682. LD Tue.-Sat., BR Sun. DUGAN’S PUB Serves up Irish fare like fish and chips and corned beef and cabbage alongside classic bar food. The chicken fingers and burgers stand out. Irish breakfast all day. 401 E. 3rd St. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-244-0542. LD daily. GEORGIA’S GYROS Good gyros, Greek salads and fragrant grilled pita bread highlight a large Mediterranean food selection, plus burgers and the like. 2933 Lakewood Village Drive. NLR. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-753-5090. LD Mon.-Sat. HIBERNIA IRISH TAVERN This traditional Irish pub has its own traditional Irish cook from, where else, Ireland. Broad beverage menu, Irish and Southern food favorites and a crowd that likes to sing. 9700 N. Rodney Parham Road. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-246-4340. D Mon.-Sat., L Sun. LAYLA’S GYROS AND PIZZERIA Delicious Mediterranean fare — gyros, falafel, shawarma, kabobs, hummus and babaganush — that has a devoted following. All meat is slaughtered according to Islamic dietary law. 9501 N Rodney Parham Road. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-227-7272. LD daily (close 5 p.m. on Sun.). TAJ MAHAL The third Indian restaurant in a onemile span of West Little Rock, Taj Mahal offers upscale versions of traditional dishes and an extensive menu. Dishes range on the spicy side. 1520 Market Street. Beer, All CC. $$$. 501-8814796. LD daily. TAZIKI’S GREEK FARE Fast casual chain that offers gyros, grilled meats and veggies, hummus and pimento cheese. 8200 Cantrell

Road. Beer, Wine, All CC. $$. 501-227-8291. LD daily. 12800 Chenal Parkway. Beer, Wine, All CC. $$. 501-225-1829. LD daily. THE TERRACE MEDITERRANEAN KITCHEN A broad selection of Mediterranean delights that include a very affordable collection of starters, salads, sandwiches, burgers, chicken and fish at lunch and a more upscale dining experience with top-notch table service at dinner. 2200 Rodney Parham Road. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-217-9393. LD Mon.-Fri., D Sat. YA YA’S EURO BISTRO The first eatery to open in the Promenade at Chenal is a date-night affair, translating comfort food into beautiful cuisine. Best bet is lunch, where you can explore the menu through soup, salad or half a sandwich. 17711 Chenal Parkway. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-821-1144. LD daily, BR Sun.

ITALIAN

BRAVO! CUCINA ITALIANA This upscale Italian chain offers delicious and sometimes inventive dishes. 17815 Chenal Pkwy. Full bar, All CC. $$$. 501-821-2485. LD daily. BR Sun. BRUNO’S LITTLE ITALY Traditional Italian antipastos, appetizers, entrees and desserts. Extensive, delicious menu from Little Rock standby. 310 Main St. Full bar, CC. $$-$$$. 501-372-7866. D Tue.-Sat. GRAFFITI’S The casually chic and ever-popular Italian-flavored bistro avoids the rut with daily specials and careful menu tinkering. 7811 Cantrell Road. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-2249079. D Mon.-Sat. RISTORANTE CAPEO Authentic cooking from the boot of Italy is the draw at this cozy, brick-walled restaurant on a reviving North Little Rock’s Main Street. Familiar pasta dishes will comfort most diners, but let the chef, who works in an open kitchen, entertain you with some more exotic stuff, too, like crispy veal sweetbreads. They make their own mozzarella fresh daily. 425 Main St. NLR. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-376-3463. D Mon.-Sat. SHOTGUN DAN’S PIZZA Hearty pizza and sandwiches with a decent salad bar. Multiple locations, at 4020 E. Broadway, NLR, 945-0606; 4203 E. Kiehl Ave., Sherwood, 835-0606, and 10923 W. Markham St. Beer, CC. $-$$. 501-2249519. LD Mon.-Sat., D Sun. ZAZA Here’s where you get wood-fired pizza with gorgeous blistered crusts and a light topping of choice and tempting ingredients, great gelato in a multitude of flavors, call-yourown ingredient salads and other treats. 5600 Kavanaugh Blvd. Beer, Wine, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-661-9292. LD daily. 1050 Ellis Ave. Conway. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-336-9292. LD daily.

LATINO

CHUY’S Good Tex-Mex. We’re especially fond of the enchiladas, and always appreciate restaurants that make their own tortillas. 16001 Chenal Parkway. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-821-2489. LD daily. JUANITA’S Menu includes a variety of combination entree choices — enchiladas, tacos, flautas, shrimp burritos and such — plus creative salads and other dishes. And of course the “Blue Mesa” cheese dip. 614 President Clinton Ave. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-372-1228. LD Tue.-Sat. LA SALSA MEXICAN & PERUVIAN CUISINE Mexican and Peruvian dishes, beer and margaritas. 3824 John F. Kennedy Blvd. NLR. Full bar, All CC. 501-753-1101. LD daily. LOCAL LIME Tasty gourmet Mex from the folks who brought you Big Orange and ZaZa. 17815 Chenal Parkway. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-448-2226. LD daily.

AFTER DARK, CONT. Plein Air on the White River 2014, to be held through May 3, is accepting entries from artists to show work at the Vada Sheid Community Center at Mountain Home and to compete in the Quick Draw competition at the “Art, Music and Barbecue” in Cotter May 2. Landscape artist Bruce Peil will be judge. Artists’ registration runs through May 2; entry fee is $50. Cash prizes to be awarded. For more information go to White River Artists on Facebook, email whiteriverartists@gmail. com or call 870-424-1051.

ARKANSAS TIMES MARKETPLACE

CONTINUING EXHIBITS

BOSWELL-MOUROT, 5815 Kavanaugh Blvd.: “New Works by Hans Feyerabend, Rod McGehee and Michael Warrick,” through May 10. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Sat. and by appointment. 664-0030. GALLERY 26, 2601 Kavanaugh Blvd.: Recent works by Ben Krain, Logan Hunter and Jason Smith, through May 10. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tue.Sat. 664-8996. J.W. WIGGINS NATIVE AMERICAN ART GALLERY, Sequoyah National Research Center, 2801 S. University Ave.: “Art from Above the Arctic Circle,” Inuit basketry, prints, drawings, carvings, beadwork, pottery, wool appliques, Greenland tupilaks, through May 16. 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri. 658-6360. MUGS CAFE, 515 Main St., NLR: Work by V.L. Cox, through May 13. 379-9101. UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS AT LITTLE ROCK, 2801 S. University Ave.: “Revision, Missing, Listen, Light, Fly: Drawings by David Bailin,” charcoal and mixed media drawings, Gallery II, through May 30, reception 6:30-8 p.m. May 15; “Annual Student Competition,” Gallery I, through May 5; “BFA Thesis Project Exhibition,” Jennifer Perren and Gaylan Lewallen, through May 2. BENTONVILLE C RY S TA L B R I D G E S M U S E U M O F AMERICAN ART, One Museum Way: “The William S. Paley Collection: A Taste for Modernism,” works by Paul Gaugin, Andre Derain, Henri Matisse, Paul Cezanne, Edgar Degas, Pablo Picasso and others, through July 7; permanent collection of American masterworks spanning four centuries. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon., Thu.; 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Wed., Fri.; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sat.-Sun., closed Tue. 479-418-5700.

ONGOING MUSEUM EXHIBITS

CLINTON PRESIDENTIAL CENTER, 1200 President Clinton Ave.: Permanent exhibits on the Clinton administration. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. $7 adults; $5 college students, seniors, retired military; $3 ages 6-17. 370-8000. HISTORIC ARKANSAS MUSEUM, 200 E. Third St.: “Patterns from the Ozarks: Contemporary Ceramics, Quilts and Folk Art Painting,” works by Karen Harmony, Jo Smith and Blakely Wilson, through June 8; “Ciara Long: A Different Perspective,” sketches, through May 4; “A Sure Defense: The Bowie Knife in America,” through June 22; “Arkansas Made,” ongoing. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. 324-9351. MOSAIC TEMPLARS CULTURAL CENTER, 501 W. Ninth St.: “Repurposed Wonders: The Sculpture of Danny Campbell,” permanent and changing exhibits on black entrepreneurship in Arkansas. 683-3593. MUSEUM OF DISCOVERY, 500 President Clinton Ave.: “Wiggle Worms,” science program for pre-K children 10 a.m.-10:30 a.m. every Tue., 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun., $10 ages 13 and older, $8 ages 1-12, free to members and children under 1. 396-7050.

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This is Your Dog! Maybe the most affectionate, playful dog we have met. “Puppy” appears to be pure bred boxer with incredible playful energy. We live on a farm in north Pulaski County and she was dropped off at an isolated country church down the road from us. She has recently had babies and we have waited ten days, feeding her at the church and hoping to find the puppies beneath the building, but we are now sure they do not exist. She is at our house and is good with the kids, the other dogs and is very smart. When she made a move at our free range chickens and peacocks, one loud “no” was enough to keep her from chasing the birds. We have four other dogs and that is the only reason we cannot keep her. I cannot emphasize what a good loving dog this is. I think she is under 2 year old. Call Kaytee at 501 607 3100 or kaytee. wright@gmail.com

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