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ARKANSAS’S SOURCE FOR NEWS, POLITICS & ENTERTAINMENT 201 East Markham Street 200 Heritage Center West P.O. Box 34010, Little Rock, Arkansas 72203 www.arktimes.com arktimes@arktimes.com @ArkTimes www.facebook.com/arkansastimes PUBLISHER Alan Leveritt EDITOR Lindsey Millar SENIOR EDITOR Max Brantley MANAGING EDITOR Leslie Newell Peacock

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VOLUME 38, NUMBER 42 ARKANSAS TIMES (ISSN 0164-6273) is published each week by Arkansas Times Limited Partnership, 201 East Markham Street, 200 Heritage Center West, P.O. Box 34010, Little Rock, Arkansas, 72203, phone (501) 375-2985. Periodical postage paid at Little Rock, Arkansas, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to ARKANSAS TIMES, P.O. Box 34010, Little Rock, AR, 72203. 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.

JUNE 20, 2012

COMMENT

Identifying with McMath, Osborne Ernie Dumas’ story about Sid McMath (“Sid McMath: An Arkansan for All Seasons,” special supplement, June 13) was most fascinating and informative. I read the article to the last word. Ernie is a consummate writer, and I always enjoy his tomes. Although I am a history buff and political aficionado, I learned a lot about Sid McMath and Arkansas history and politics from this article. My next project is to read Sid McMath’s memoir, “Promises Kept.” The section about the McMath firm’s successful pioneering cases on behalf of the “little people,” folks whom I also represented during my entire 40 years in practice, demonstrates that trial attorneys can be systemic change agents. Like Sid McMath, my passion for the underdog arose from an impoverished Arkansas childhood (in Antioch, Hot Spring County). Although I was not born in a dogtrot house as was Sid McMath, like him I was born in a country shack by midwife (with the country doctor coming only in time to cut off a bump on my head, a trauma that may explain my “craziness” to this day). I studied the first three years in school by a coal oil lamp, and I still recall when electricity first came to the Antioch community, compliments of AP&L, whom I understand from the article were goaded into extending electricity to some rural areas in reaction to McMath’s electric cooperatives legislation. Also, I still own my grandfather’s log dogtrot house, which was built around 1880, and, yes, it has an electric line to it, courtesy of Governor McMath. The first election I remember was in 1952 as I listened on our battery radio (no electricity yet) to the McMath-Cherry returns. At the time I was for Cherry (I was 6 at the time and liked red). For the same color reason, I recall standing in my backdoor as a news report about the “Reds” and something called the “38th Parallel” in some faraway land called Korea came on the air. Guess whom I rooted for until set straight? Along with numerous other rural kids, I benefited as well from McMath’s education/school consolidation initiative with Antioch electing to join the Malvern School District rather than rural Bismarck or Ouachita, both of which were geographically closer. The education I received at Malvern propelled my career and expanded my mind. Also, I read with relish David Koon’s Jennings Osborne article (“The eye of the needle,” June 13). Great writing and 4

JUNE 20, 2012

ARKANSAS TIMES

a good human-interest story! I liked the “Rosebud” angle and “Citizen Kane” movie quote, and I detected shades of William Faulkner throughout. Indeed, David’s approach was almost Biblical in tone, echoing Mark 8:36, a scripture crocheted in red on white cloth in the Sunday School room of my childhood church: “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” When I depart this mortal coil, all that matters is what I have given of myself and worldly possessions to others more needy than I. After all, “things”

do not bring happiness, and I have no doubt that Jennings Osborne understood this and never lost his “soul.” Cliff Jackson Hot Springs

McMath piece well done The Sid McMath article that was texted by Ernest Dumas was great. Not only did it document the greatness of this man, the article provided information as to why Arkansas has been and still is behind most of the other states. In spite of the fact that Arkansas has produced more

Save Your Money. Save ur Water.

than its share of intelligent and progressive leaders, there remains strong forces that holds us back. It is too bad that corporations seem to have so much influence on our government. Ken Good Horseshoe Bend

On Osborne I was repulsed by the media’s voyeuristic coverage of the liquidation of the Osborne property and was disappointed to see that the Arkansas Times joined that party — with a nine-page cover story, no less. I don’t know the Osbornes at all, but I do know that any family’s financial collapse is a very painful, very personal experience — whether blue collar or high dollar. You showed the same lack of sensitivity and respect that all of your competitors did. You now live in a glass house and can no longer throw stones at the Demo-Zette, et al. whenever those media outlets publish something that offends your sensibilities. Shame on you. Charles L. Schlumberger Little Rock

From the web: What a beautifully written article. I wasn’t much of an Osborne fan while he was alive. Clearly there are two sides to every story, and I appreciate you showing me the other side of this man (and his family). Archaeopteryx From the web in response to a post on an Ozark Tea Party Board member telling a racist joke at a rally in Mountain Home:

The laWn and Garden SeaSon iS on The WaY

Central arkansas Water partnered with the University of arkansas research and extension Service to assist consumers with tips to save money by reducing outdoor water consumption through the Sprinkler Smart Program. households in Pulaski County can learn how to adjust their sprinkler system properly, the best times and how much to water, and what type of landscaping is best for your yard. To learn more about the Sprinkler Smart Program, visit carkw.com or contact your county extension agent, Mark Brown at 501.340.6650 or mbrown@uaex.edu.

This is just more proof that the reason a lot of conservatives oppose any sort of safety net is because the more melaninendowed might get some of it. In spite of the fact that the vast majority of people in poverty and in need of a helping hand are white. FDR found this out when he had to exclude farmers and farm workers from the original Social Security in order to get Southern senators on board with it. They haven’t the imagination to think they might ever need it. Jennings Osborne’s story on these pages should give them pause. They may not always be in high cotton. The outlier These racists are all around us and there’s not much we can do but give them hell when they dare to show their racism. Deathbyinches

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Submit letters to the Editor via e-mail. The address is arktimes@arktimes.com. Please include name and hometown.

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2012

Meet the Author Series

Tues, June 19, 6 pm P U B L I C

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Senator David Pryor “A Pryor Commitment: The Autobiography of David Pryor”

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Jane F. Hankins “Madge’s Mobile Home Park”

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JUNE 20, 2012

EDITORIAL

EYE ON ARKANSAS

Don’t book ’em, Marko

JUNE 20, 2012

ARKANSAS TIMES

PAUL BARROWS

ould you rather have Mark Martin obeying the law, or Mark Martin enforcing the law? For us, the choice is easy. A secretary of state who dutifully allows people to vote, perhaps even assists them in being good Americans, is better than a hybrid secretary of state/sheriff who goes looking for people to keep from voting. (Especially if the sheriff/secretary carries a gun, and Martin well might. Good judgment is not one of his prominent qualities.) A committee was appointed by Martin sometime back to study the operations of the secretary of state’s office. Chaired by a Tea Party-type Republican, Curtis Coleman, the committee has now made recommendations, some highly predictable, such as a proposal that the state pay private companies to clean and maintain the Capitol and grounds, rather than the secretary of state paying his own employees to do the work, as is now the case. To the Tea Party, a large purpose of government is to put taxpayer money into the pockets of private contractors. Helping the people rule is not nearly so valued by Tea Partiers, and often deplored. Republicans claim to fear election fraud, though it almost never happens, at least not the kind the Republicans worry about. (Republican Supreme Court justices do make off with presidential elections from time to time.) The Coleman Committee has suggested expanding the secretary of state’s powers to investigate alleged election fraud, including a “rapid response” team led by a lawyer. Special weapons and tactics? Once such a group is created, it will see the need. It might ask for drones. The Coleman Committee and Republicans generally want to make it harder for people to vote by imposing new identification requirements. Such requirements would discourage some potential voters — the poor, minorities, the elderly — and these happen to be people likely to vote Democratic. Republicans believe that voters aren’t burdened with enough red tape, and that gun buyers and corporations are burdened with too much. They want to reverse the proportions. Armed only with his guns, Jared Loughner was something of a nuisance, they admit. But, they say, think what damage he might have done in a voting booth. Martin, a Kansan by birth, may be influenced by Kris Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state, who has gained national attention for his efforts to win “prosecutorial authority” for his office. Kobach is an accomplished suppressor of dissent. In 2007, when he was chairman of the Kansas Republican Party, he set up a “loyalty committee” to pursue those suspected of lacking it. If any Republican official was found to have supported a Democrat, he or she was stripped of the right to vote in Party leadership elections. Republicans are way too fond of stripping people of the right to vote. They shouldn’t be given more authority to do it.

ANOTHER DAY DONE: The sun sets over the Arkansas River as seen from the Fort Roots overlook by Paul Barrows, who uploaded this photo to our Eye On Arkansas Flickr group.

Who runs Little Rock?

esolution of the current controversy over the proposed Little Rock Technology Park will say a lot about who runs the city of Little Rock. A neighborhood outcry has arisen because the new Tech Park Authority has targeted three sites in predominantly poor, black neighborhoods for a building to attract technology companies, supposedly because of proximity to UAMS and UALR. Some $22 million was included in the recent $500 million city sales tax increase to go toward construction. Millions more from the city will be expected. Though the city is providing the money, it has little control over the new agency. The Authority is the brainchild of Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce bigwig Dickson Flake. The Chamber wrote the legislation. The Chamber — through Flake; a former president, Eddie Drilling, and the current CEO, Jay Chesshir — holds three of the 7 seats on the Authority Board. The chamber controls the authority administratively. When questions are asked, they are typically answered by Chesshir, including about the poorly documented expenditures on the Chamber campaign to pass the sales tax. In 2010, the Chamber pushed in the U.S. Senate for a $1.7 million earmark for the project. That failed proposal targeted the neighborhood along Interstate 630 south of UAMS that Flake personally added to the list of sites. UAMS and UALR finally became uncomfortable enough about running roughshod over poor, black neighbors that they called for consideration of some alternative sites. OK, Chesshir said, but first we’re going to pick a neighborhood site. Neither he nor Flake has ever indicated a willingness to deviate from a Flake-hired consultant’s criteria that the building be placed within five minutes of UAMS and UALR. City Director Dean Kumpuris suggested a six-month site search moratorium and a deeper look at non-residential alternatives. Tech Park boosters didn’t like this, even though it won’t functionally delay the process. Kumpuris also made neighbors unhappy because they saw his resolution as little more than a way to defuse

City Director Kenneth Richardson’s more meaningful proposal to flatly block use of city money for acquisition of property by eminent domain. This column goes to press MAX before the City Board votes on BRANTLEY maxbrantley@arktimes.com the competing Kumpuris and Richardson ideas. The conventional guess is that the board majority will prefer Kumpuris’ window dressing to Richardson’s tangible help for neighborhood bargaining power. It would be nice if City Director Gene Fortson at least apologized for his earlier condescending remark that the debate had “taken on a life, an emotional level beyond the bounds of reason and history.” If an unelected agency controlled by a labor union was getting ready to condemn dozens of homes in the Country Club neighborhood with city tax money, I don’t think Fortson would have called threatened homeowners unreasonable, no matter how loud they screamed. And history? You’ll hear some history when a lawsuit is filed to prevent a Chamber of Commerce-controlled board from using city tax money to condemn private property to sale or lease to private interests. The city tried that in 1967. The Arkansas Supreme Court declared then, “Without the consent of the owner, private property cannot be taken for private use, even under authority of the legislature.” The Chamber of Commerce is used to getting its way. The City Board unconstitutionally appropriates $200,000 to the corporate lobby each year. Will a few poor people really stop the Chamber’s grab for $22 million? Bulldozing homes might be perilous. A neighborhood-wrecking city board beholden to powerful interests might jumpstart a movement for more democratic city government and an end to the chamber-controlled system that gives the balance of power to at-large city directors like Gene Fortson.

OPINION

Tea-partying GOP puts coal before kids

f the constant warfare over government regulation of business bores or confuses you, this week’s news furnishes a perfect primer. The campaign to stop the government from reducing the mercury and arsenic that coal-fired generating plants belch into the air and streams illustrates better than anything what the regulation battle is all about and what it means for the average American. It means life and health. Warfare may be a poor word because warfare isn’t one-sided. All the heat and inflamed rhetoric on regulation comes from one side, the Republicans, and, of course, the coal, chemical and oil industries that call the shots. Democrats typically have little to say. It is hard to get used to because Republicans not so long ago were the party of conservation and environmentalism. The great achievements in cleaning the air and streams and saving lives belonged to a couple of Republican presidents, Richard M. Nixon and George H.W. Bush, who signed the original Clean Air Act of 1970 and the 1990 amendments that nearly everyone in the party now is trying to thwart.

Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, the Republican point man on government regulation, ERNEST charges that the DUMAS Environmental Protection Agency and the Obama administration declared war on the coal industry and seek to shut it down. Inhofe says the EPA’s new rules requiring electric utilities, including those in Arkansas, to install technology that cleanses coalplant emissions of mercury, arsenic and other poisons would end the coal industry in 2015, the year that plants must have installed the technology. That is absurd on its face, but the Republicans argue that burning coal is becoming so expensive as a result of the regulation of emissions that utilities will stop burning coal and turn to cleanburning natural gas or nuclear. Research has shown conclusively that the mercury from the plants every year causes thousands of deaths and tens of thousands of illnesses, mainly in children — fetal brain damage, heart disease,

2012: A gentle GOP breeze

ith the runoffs completed, it’s appropriate to dig into the battle for control of the legislature — the centerpiece of election 2012 in Arkansas. In the state Senate, nine of the 35 races have already been effectively decided with five won by Republicans not facing Democratic opposition in the fall. In a half-dozen additional races, one party’s candidate has a decided advantage. This leaves 10 races where it would not be shocking if either candidate won. On the House side, the patterns are similar. Exactly half the races in that body have already been decided, evenly split between the two parties. Two years ago, the strong winds blowing in the Republican direction were already obvious. As the year went along, Republican advantages became stronger, pulled along by the Tea Party movement and its accompanying national momentum. And on Election Day, Republicans won in many state legislative races despite being outpaced in fundraising, electoral experience and geographical advantage by their Democratic opponents. The result was historic gains for the GOP in the Arkansas General Assembly.

Undeniably, the Arkansas Democratic Party faces challenges in 2012. The Republican Party has recruited JAY higher-quality BARTH candidates for the legislature than ever before, while Democratic Party activists remain shell-shocked by the 2010 election cycle. And antipathy towards President Obama remains widespread in the state, as evidenced by Tea Party “jokes,” conversations overheard in doctor’s waiting rooms and polling data. Anti-Democratic sentiment, while intense in pockets, appears to have reached a plateau since 2010. In 2012, it seems more like a gentle breeze that is blowing in the GOP’s direction. In the closely divided, recently redistricted legislature, therefore, outcomes will be determined not by partisanship alone, but instead by a district-by-district mix of geography, ideology and candidate personality. Arkansas has a long history of “friends and neighbors” voting patterns; as shown in the runoff results last week, geography is often the most important factor in deter-

asthma and other lung diseases. But the government’s concern should not be for those people, the tea-party Republicans say, but for the health of the coal industry. The Senate will vote in a few days on Inhofe’s bill to block the EPA from controlling the poisons that the coal plants emit. His position is that this is none of the government’s business. About half of the 700 coal plants are affected. They include all those in Arkansas, at White Bluff, Newark and Gentry, which are among the most poisonous in the country. The Arkansas utilities say they are aware of the health problems and are happy to install the equipment. Light bills will go up a little to pay for the machinery in a few years. In the fevered brains of tea-party zealots, the EPA is a rogue agency out to punish and destroy industry. Nearly all its life, under Democratic and Republican presidents, the EPA has been a pussycat, obeisant to the big polluting industries. Controlling sulfur and nitric oxide poisons (those are the ones that were killing forests and streams in the Appalachians and Adirondacks), mercury, arsenic and other poisonous effluents was the reason Congress passed the Clean Air Act amendments in 1990. Despite conclusive studies and overwhelming evidence of the climate harm

and a mandate from the conservative U.S. Supreme Court, the EPA still has not imposed rules to control greenhouse gases. But the EPA is finally moving. Twenty-two years ago when the Clean Air amendments were passed, studies showed that the mercury from coal burning caused fetal injuries and sicknesses, especially in small children. The 1990 law directed the EPA to study all the effluents from smokestacks and produce rules to control them. Each time the EPA produces a scientific study the industry demands another. Under court orders to do something, the second Bush administration started a cap-and-trade program to reduce mercury but it was thrown out. It rewarded big polluters. In 2008, a federal judge gave the EPA three years to comply with the Clean Air Act and develop standards for mercury, arsenic and other pollutants. Meantime, people died. From 1998, when the EPA delivered its first comprehensive report on the health impact of mercury and other pollutants, to 2005, when the Bush administration finally acted, mercury emissions shot up 8 percent and arsenic by 31 percent. They continue to soar, and so do deaths. Environmental and health groups, including the association of the country’s pediatricians, demanded that the EPA act. But this is none of the public’s, or the government’s, business, is it?

mining outcomes of primaries. It’s also crucial in deciding the winner of general elections during a cycle like 2012. While the Democratic leaders who drove the redistricting process last year were dealt a difficult hand by demographic patterns favoring Republicans, they often were able to benefit Democrats geographically. For instance, Democratic candidate John Paul Wells — running for a state Senate spot in a district east of Fort Smith — has a geographic advantage in his race over a GOP opponent whose home is at the far western edge of a west-to-east district. The Democrats’ geographic advantage is not universal, however — Democrat Bobby Joe Pierce is a strong candidate, but faces a geographic disadvantage against Henry Frisby of El Dorado in a long district running from Grant to Union Counties. In districts that are less geographically diverse, candidates’ perceived ideology will be the major force in shaping the election outcome. Arkansans reward moderation and, therefore, the goal of many candidates is to portray an opponent as out of the mainstream ideologically. For instance, in a Faulkner County Senate district, Democrat Rep. Linda Tyler and Republican Sen. Jason Rapert are in a ferocious debate in this regard. Because of her work as chair of the House Public Health

Committee that addressed health care exchanges and abortion legislation, Tyler is being portrayed as a liberal in lock step with President Obama. Rapert, who touts his support for the state GOP’s SIMPLE Plan, is being portrayed as a conservative extremist. More muted versions of the Rapert/Tyler race are taking shape all over Arkansas. Arkansas voters also want candidates who are fundamentally “like them.” Thus, candidates’ personalities can overcome flaws of geography or ideology in local races. For instance, it certainly is not difficult to characterize Rep. Loy Mauch, with a white supremacist past, as an extremist, but the incumbent’s ability to charm in person creates difficulty in making such negative portrayals stick. The key factor across the state that could turn many closely divided races into narrow GOP victories is money. Arkansas’s Democrats are committed to spend money to highlight flaws in the records of GOP candidates, especially incumbents, but their money will be limited to the state’s borders and will be matched by Arkansas Republican spending. A fundamental question is how much money arrives from outside the state to tilt the playing field in these closely divided districts in late October. www.arktimes.com

JUNE 20, 2012

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ARKANSAS TIMES

his crow diet I’ve been on the past few weeks has been utterly satisfying. Sports columnists become notoriously and uncharacteristically reticent when a drum they’ve been beating bursts in their faces. Pearls About Swine will not succumb to this tendency: I have been wrong about these baseball Razorbacks, and I draw much delight from my shortsightedness. Arkansas sits on the precipice of greatness now, having spent the better part of June 2012 defying conventional wisdom and sneering at naysayers who would not even deign to consider them a worthy entrant into the Super Regional round, much less the College World Series. The Hogs are 46-20 after snuffing out South Carolina’s ballyhooed 22-game NCAA tourney win streak in a razor’s-edge, 2-1 victory Monday night, and riding the raging momentum of having the country’s most unflappable collection of pitchers. If the Hogs’ nifty escape from the bear trap at Baylor in the Supers had an ordained, cosmic feel to it, the two games so far at TD AmeriTrade Park in Omaha have shown that the Razorbacks are not simply reliant on good fortune. They dominated one of the tourney’s newcomer darlings, Kent State, which then turned around and booted top seed Florida from the tourney in an elimination undercard before the Hogs and Gamecocks battled. And although South Carolina put the clamps on the Arkansas bats with lefty reliever Tyler Webb, the Hogs had done just enough at the plate early to play from ahead the entire night. Not long ago, Pearls pointed to this team’s season-long struggles in one-run games (eight losses, seven in conference play) as a certain impediment to postseason success. If you can’t win under fire, you probably can’t win your way to the pinnacle, at least in theory. So what has Arkansas done? Only win five onerun contests so far in the NCAA tourney. It seems that weeks upon weeks of cardiac-inducing games in the SEC have paid off, because now when Ryne Stanek, Brandon Moore or Barrett Astin trots out to the mound and someone reaches base, the tension ratchets upward everywhere but on the mound and in the field. The Hogs have committed 79 team errors in 2012, but time and time again in this tournament, these heady pitchers have been backed by uncannily good glove work all around the diamond. The statistics do not mislead: Since Stanek got bounced from the second

game at Baylor, the Hogs have yielded two earned runs in 32 innings of work, and every pitcher BEAU has stared down WILCOX every potent bat on the other team’s roster without a hint of flinching. Nolan Sanburn, the Hogs’ highest-drafted pitcher, has only accounted for three outs in that entire stretch, and he walked three batters in that stint. And what to say of these hitters? Well, they’re still not shooting line drives all over the park, but the long-lamented failures to manufacture runs have subsided. Arkansas put the leadoff man on base in all of the first four innings against South Carolina, and plated its two runs as a result of that. Against Kent State, the Hogs patiently permitted the Flashes’ southpaw starter, David Starn, to deal with his own command issues early. It was a rare exhibition of self-restraint, too, because one thing these Razorbacks have not done consistently is work pitch counts. They’ve been much more committed to that approach in Nebraska, and it has paid just enough dividends to keep their record spotless. Best of all, it’s plainly evident that this team relishes the constant reminders of its own limitations. As the ESPN tandem of Mike Patrick and Orel Hershiser took turns verbally pleasuring South Carolina, reminding us every 30 seconds that the Cocks’ win streak dated back to the founding of this country, the team kept plugging away, certainly not cognizant of what was being said in the broadcast booth. But you have to assume that these kids are taking appropriate cues from their coach: Dave Van Horn is a man of measured demeanor, but he has undoubtedly stoked this fire by playing all the right motivational cards. This is a team that believes in itself and gives nary a damn about what any third-rate yahoo (myself included) might write or say. It has made for compelling television and social media bursts these past few weeks. The stories about the gasping offensive engine that is the Hogs’ lineup have all taken a hard backseat to the real truth, which is that this group’s zeal for competition has not once waned through 66 games. Now they just want to play three more, starting Thursday night at 8 p.m. with the possibility of eliminating either Kent or South Carolina en route to the championship round.

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JUNE 20, 2012

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ARKANSAS TIMES

How many touchdowns did Rudolph Valentino score? Reporting on the gruesome new uniforms the Razorbacks will be forced to wear next year, Yahoo Sports said, “The numbers have a gradient look to them, which is similar to Arizona State. They’ve also added a sheik white helmet.” Maybe we should change the name of the team to Sheiks. It would go better with these uniforms than Razorbacks, which conveys a uniquely Arkansan rough-andreadiness. Now it sounds like we’ll be a mix of Arizona State and, I guess, West Virginia. Isn’t that where the anthracite is? “Anthracite” is given as the color of one of our new uniforms. I’m about ready to commit anthracide.

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OTTER CREEK. Otter Creek Land Co. chief Tommy Hodges finally landed Bass Pro Shops for 30 acres he’s long controlled at Interstate 30 and 430, a deal he almost had done in 2004. Hodges said the $25 million to $30 million 120,000-square-foot store will employ 250 and be open by the 2013 holiday season. Bass Pro sells hunting, fishing and camping gear, including boats, and the Southwest Little Rock location will include a restaurant and 12-lane bowling alley.

THE ARKANSAS LOTTERY. At a Lottery Commission meeting, Director Bishop Woosley revealed instant ticket sales were down $6.6 million from last May. The commission also voted to approve new contractual terms with the lottery’s instant ticket vendor Scientific Games International (SGI). In April, the commission voted, 7 to 2, to reaffirm its contract with SGI, after internal auditor Michael Hyde called the contract’s validity into question, and authorized Woosley to work with SGI on more favorable terms on instant tickets payments. The new terms could mean as much as $440,000 more for lottery scholarships, Woosley said. That’s still significantly less than the original terms offered by SGI, according to Hyde, who submitted his resignation May 11 and will work his last day Friday.

ARKANSAS RAZORBACK BASEBALL. The diamond Hogs ended South Carolina’s 22-game post-season win streak to advance to the winner’s bracket of the College World Series, where they’ll play the winner of South Carolina and Kent State, both of whom the Hogs have already beaten in the CWS. THE ARKANSAS STATE FAIRGROUNDS. After months of flirting with relocating the state fair to Jacksonville or North Little Rock, the board of the Arkansas State Fair and Livestock Show voted to remain in its current location, which the city of Little Rock has pledged, with the promise of $3 million and other assistance, to help the board expand.

THE ARKANSAS DEMOCRATIC PARTY. The Arkansas Democratic Party forced an Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reporter to leave a room Saturday during congressional district-level meetings on national convention delegate selection. The Democratic Party was sensitive to participation in the events because officials had ruled in advance that John Wolfe, who got a heavy protest vote in the Democratic presidential primary, could qualify for no delegates because of failure to follow party rules, including on meeting delegate selection criteria. Wolfe later sued. The party issued an apology to the reporter Monday.

Trade-a-kini! THE OBSERVER NOTES ON THE PASSING SCENE

Flower power THERE USED TO BE A HUGE MURAL

of a flower on the side of a building near the corner of Main Street and Third in downtown Little Rock: a vast, lush bloom of some sort (we’ve heard it called a rose, but it looked to us like something else, maybe a camellia), easily two stories high and done up in Miami pastels, the flower sprouting from a ring big enough to be God’s hula hoop. We emphasize “used to be” because we noticed last week that it had been painted over, the whole building shellacked in a lifeless and muddy brown and accented now only by a sign advertising lofts. It shocked us a bit to see the mural was gone, mostly because we didn’t know how long it had been gone. It felt like opening the newspaper and finding the obituary of a person we hadn’t seen in years. We’ve been looking at that mural most of our life, first from the rooftops of downtown back in our roofing days, and then for the past 10 years while walking out the door of the Arkansas Times heading to the Mobile Observatory every day. From the southern side of the building where The Observer works, there was a clear view of that mural, especially in the evening sun. A memory: Back in elementary school, we found a stock photo in our Social Studies book of a hardhat running a tower crane from high above a generic city, but we were able to I.D. the streets below as Little Rock’s, because we could see that mural, the great flower small enough from that high that it looked like it could be plucked and pinned to a man’s lapel. In recent years, the painting — faded, peeling and neglected — was still beautiful, but beautiful in a different way than when it was fresh. That’s the way big outdoor artworks are for us: pretty in the beginning, but more lovely somehow in the end, after the shine is gone from the paint and the wind begins to pick at them. Old murals — old Grapette signs, old signs advertising cigars, old signs advertising insurance agencies — never fail to remind The Observer of time, the relentless march of it, always sweeping things out the back door so other things can come in the front. Things change. Nothing stays the same.

Once we saw that the flower was gone, we started poking around on the Internet, trying to find out something about it — who painted it and why — but that great electronic library yielded up nothing but a few artsy black and white shots of it, taken from afar. It’s too late now, but can anybody out there tell us something about it? We need to know. LAST WEEK, in the Michigan state leg-

islature, a female representative had her speaking privileges removed for the day after she used the word “vagina” during a debate about a bill that would restrict access to abortion. Rep. Lisa Brown had the figurative Scold’s Bridle put on her after ending a speech with: “Mr. Speaker, I’m flattered you’re all so interested in my vagina, but ‘no’ means no.” House Speaker James Bolger said Brown’s femme finale failed to maintain the decorum of that august legislative body. The same day — probably not coincidentally — another female legislator had the muzzle slapped on her due to a failed attempt to attach an amendment to the bill. Her proposed improvement: a man seeking a vasectomy would have to prove his life was in danger from a testicular cause in order to be approved for the sperm-stifling snip-snip. Would some men’s fascination with turkey frying, assault rifles and/or 90-mileper-hour, signal-free lane changes on the freeway qualify as testicle-based life endangerment, we wonder? The Observer, long a fan of words and offending delicate sensibilities with them, talked all this over recently with a pal who happens to have two X-chromosomes. She was kind enough to pen the following response/biology lesson to the He-Man Woman-Haters of the Michigan legislature: Vagina. Labia majora. Labia minora. Cervix. Clitoris. Uterus. Fallopian tube. Ovary. Pudenda. Pudendal cleft. Grafenberg Spot. Hymen. Mons pubis. Vulva. What should Rep. Lisa Brown have said? “Va-jay-jay”? “Down there”? “Holiest of Holies?” “Yoni”? “Tuzzy-Muzzy,” “Hoo-hah” or “Cooter”? You’ve got to wonder, like Woof from the musical “Hair” did: “Father, why do these words sound so nasty?”

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JUNE 20, 2012

Arkansas Reporter

THE

IN S IDE R

JEFF NICHOLS: “Mud” director got $1.4 million in state aid.

JOANN AND KAITI TIDWELL

Glenwood teen ‘stuck’ in Mexico President Obama’s order this week that would stop the deportation of illegal immigrants who came to the United States before the age of 16 and are high school graduates and meet other conditions will not help Kaiti Tidwell of Glenwood, who returned to Mexico in May to get the necessary papers she needs to immigrate legally, she tells the Times. Tidwell was brought to the U.S. as an infant, floated across the Gulf of Mexico in a tire. She has lived in Glenwood since she was 6 months old. Her natural mother left her in the care of JoAnn and the late Grant Tidwell, who adopted her in 2008. Until recently, Tidwell had no birth certificate, leaving her undocumented in either Mexico or the U.S. Having failed four times in their petitions for citizenship in the U.S., Tidwell and her adoptive mother left for Mexico shortly after her 18th birthday, which triggered a U.S. Immigration Service deadline of 180 days for her to get papers from Mexico. (She was able to travel to Mexico thanks to a temporary I.D. procured with the help of state Sen. Randy Stewart, D-Kirby, and a temporary passport from the Mexican consulate here.) Complicating Tidwell’s situation are provisions in the Hague Adoption Convention that make her ineligible for adoption without the approval of the Mexican government. The convention was enacted April 1, seven days before Tidwell’s

CONTINUED ON PAGE 13

JUNE 20, 2012

ARKANSAS TIMES

The price of ‘made in Arkansas’ A look at Arkansas’s film incentive package. BY CHEREE FRANCO

ast year Little Rock native Jeff Nichols made “Mud” in the Arkansas Delta. The film received an 18-minute standing ovation at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, it brought Reese Witherspoon and Matthew McConaughey to town, and at least one international critic has suggested it’s an Oscar contender. Budget figures haven’t been publicized, but Nichols has said that his budget was larger than the $5 million of his previous film, “Take Shelter.” Hosting Hollywood (or even its resemblance) is glitzy, but film is an industry. Like any other big business, states vie to own it. In 2009, the legislature passed the Arkansas Digital Product and Motion Picture Industry Development Act in an effort to attract film and media projects to the state. The legislation allows the state to award film companies a 15 percent rebate on their qualified in-state expenditures and an additional 10 percent rebate on payroll for film crew who are full-time Arkansas residents. The state did not appropriate funding for the incentives in 2011, but Arkansas taxpayers gave “Mud” $1.4 million anyway, out of the governor’s discretionary fund. (Even if funds had been appropriated, the total amounted to more than the production would have been able to claim under rebate guidelines.) In a recent talk at the Little Rock Film Festival, Nichols said that, to keep the production in Arkansas versus Louisiana — particularly because the film is set on an island in the Mississippi River,

and these are both river states — he and the Arkansas film commissioner, Christopher Crane, worked directly with Gov. Mike Beebe. Ultimately Arkansas matched the amount Louisiana was offering as an incentive. Louisiana’s incentive is the most generous in the country. New technology has allowed big productions to become increasingly mobile, and states are now involved in what Crane terms an “incentive arms race.” But as crucial public services, such as education and subsidized healthcare, are chiseled out of state budgets, economists have begun to wonder if media is a wise public investment. At various points, 49 states have had incentive programs, but recently eight states — Michigan, New Mexico, New Jersey, Iowa, Idaho, Oklahoma, Georgia and Maryland — have suspended or scaled back the offerings. Right now, neighboring Missouri, which has a 35 percent tax credit, is considering doing the same. Since 2009, the Arkansas incentive has paid out $1.6 million to seven different production companies. Each production that receives funds must first commission an outside audit, to prevent false claims. “I tell filmmakers we have this incentive, it’s not funded, but I’ll fight for their project,” Crane said. “Our goal is to find a permanent funding source, so we’ll be trying to tweak the legislation in that direction during the next legislative cycle.” Two prominent nonpartisan think tanks, the Tax Foundation and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, have

published reports making a case against film incentives. In March 2012, the Tax Foundation traced the growth of incentive programs, from four states giving away $2 million in 1999 to 40 states giving away $1.4 billion in 2010. Both reports predict that these 2010 figures will represent the incentive peak, because the job creation is largely temporary and the true beneficiaries are out-of-state production companies. The Tax Foundation references seven studies in six states that found that film incentive programs return between 7 and 28 cents on the dollar, while the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities outlines method weakness in several state-commissioned impact analyses that skew in favor of the incentives. These incentives, particularly those including transferable (or sellable) tax credits, are highly vulnerable to abuse. Iowa suspended its program last year, after a public TV producer was accused (and has now been convicted) of stealing $9 million from the state in false claims. Louisiana’s former film commissioner was sentenced to two years in prison for similar abuse. A few weeks ago, Arizona representatives killed a $2 billion proposal that would keep the state’s incentive alive for the next 30 years. But not all states have given up on the film industry. Alabama, Colorado and Kansas are among the states that actually increased incentives in the past year. In 2009, Arkansas and Delaware were the only states without any incentives program. But 26 years prior, Arkansas introduced the Nickel Rebate, one of the first motion picture incentives in the U.S. It was a straightforward program — for every production dollar spent in-state, the state refunded the company a nickel. Later, the incentive changed to a 6 percent tax rebate on in-state purchases. But when the latter expired in 2007, it was far from a competitive offer. For several years, the state had had nothing but a hyper-local film industry. When Rep. Rick Saunders was elected to the House in 2005, he took up the cause. “My hometown of Hot Springs is so beautiful, I just envisioned movies being made here,” he said. “I thought it would be good for economic development and good to showcase Arkansas. It’s cheap enough to work in Arkansas that we’ll still get films, even with an incentive that’s smaller than some other states.” Saunders sponsored the bill in 2005 and 2007 but wasn’t successful until 2009. It took testimonies from CONTINUED ON PAGE 19

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TIMES TATS

To coincide with the Arkansas Arts Center’s upcoming exhibit “Tattoo Witness: Photographs by Mark Perrott,” the Arkansas Times decided to highlight photos of the tattoos (and the stories that go along with them) of some of the office staff. Leslie Newell Peacock has more on the exhibit on page 26.

INSIDER, CONT. adoption was legally recorded in court, though the adoption went through prior to the act. Though she has an Aug. 9 deadline to register with U.S. Immigration Service, Tidwell and her mother have so far been unsuccessful in getting an appointment with the Mexican Central Authority, the office that deals with adoptions under the Hague act, and which must issue a letter exempting Tidwell from the Hague act provisions for her to be able to return home. Tidwell said she plans to ask Sen. John Boozman to approach the Obama administration to see if there’s anything that could be done to bring her home. “We don’t really feel discouraged,” she said, “we just feel stuck.” She said she and her mother need to figure out the “right person” to get her an appointment with the Mexican government. The Tidwells are staying with a family in Cordoba, in Veracruz state, whom they were put in touch with through their 7th Day Adventist church. Kaiti Tidwell said the family, Dr. Jose Luis Granados and his wife, Sandra, have helped her with the Spanish she needs to communicate with the Mexican government.

ERIN HOLLAND: In the summer of 2008, I was having a bit of a rough year, acclimating to post-college life. Some friends had gotten tattoos the year before, and while I’d always wanted one, I didn’t know what to get. I was rereading some of my favorite books at the time, and when I read a passage by Nietzsche about fate, I knew I’d found the perfect thing: “Amor fati” – love your fate. I was in New York City visiting friends and decided to go for it, courtesy of a large man named “Buddha” at Red Rocket Tattoo in Manhattan. I was looking at some of his past work when I spied a framed New York Times article about the prostitute Elliot Spitzer had just gotten busted for having an affair with, including a photo of her wearing a short top that exposed some of her stomach, including a tattoo. When I asked Buddha why he had that framed on his wall, he grinned and replied, “Well, because that’s my work!” Of course, my girlfriends and I found this hysterical, and joked around about my being tattooed by a “celebrity tattoo artist.”

BRYAN MOATS: I’m not from Arkansas, but after marrying an Arkansas gal and living here almost 12 years, I have a connection to the state that’s deeper than any of the other places I’ve called home. I came up with this design for last year’s “Best Of Arkansas” issue of the Times. When we decided to find somebody to get it tattooed on their arm for the cover, it was clearly my responsibility to step up. It doesn’t just speak to my love of Arkansas, but also to the things a lightning bolt implies: ideas, imagination, energy, even destruction. Few things make me happier than the spark that puts a fire under a project.

ANGIE WILSON: When I was 20, I got a tattoo of a black gecko at what was then billed as the best shop in town. I was a little shy about getting my first ink, and the tattoo artists laughed at me because I asked them to shut the door. They were all hardcore tatted-up bad-asses. Years later, the lines had begun to blur, and I just really started to hate it. I’d heard that Jud Ferguson at 7th Street Tattoos was great at doing cover-up work, which is really an art within an art. Jud did the cover-up and you cannot tell at all that the gecko was ever there. He took my general, abstract ideas and created his own art out of it. I love it and I’ve been going to Jud ever since. He’s done five more tattoos for me. He’s really nice and personable, not a weirdo hardcore biker guy. Sometimes people have this stereotypical idea of what a tattoo artist is like, and he’s not that.

BRIAN CHILSON (4)

TRACY WHITAKER: I got married when I was 18, straight out of a very controlled nest. At 25, I was divorced, having never experienced any kind of real independence. My uncle fixed up an old lawnmower for me and taught me how to change the oil and grease the bearings by myself. The next obvious step to proving I was grown and free was to get a tattoo with a complimenting bellybutton ring. I’ve always loved turtles and always will. After weeks of perusing turtle photos, I eventually decided on a simple outline. It was taking too long to pick out a color scheme so I just had the outline done and a year or so later I had a different artist do the color. I’ve got no regrets about getting the tat although the placement clashes with some of my ideas for future tattoos. I wish it were a bit bolder and would like to someday have it spiced up. However, I am remarried now and would have to ask permission. Ha ha.

Arkansas colleges ‘crime-rattled’ The Daily Beast has done a roundup of what it calls America’s 25 “most crime rattled” colleges. Two Arkansas campuses make the list — UCA and Arkansas State University. But, hey, the Arkansas schools were in good company, with the likes of Yale and Duke. The study used per capita crime rate in the comparison of 500 schools, with a selection of more serious crimes given weights in the formula — murder counts 20 times more than burglary, for example. UCA’s on-campus double slaying in 2008 was noted as part of its No. 5 ranking. The criminal incidents (2008-2010) were two murders, one robbery, six aggravated assaults, 107 burglaries and 12 car thefts on a campus of more than 11,000. Arkansas State, with an enrollment of more than 13,000, made the list at No. 24 with 1 murder, two robberies, six aggravated assaults, 126 burglaries and eight car thefts in 2008-2010. www.arktimes.com

JUNE 20, 2012

AND THEY’RE OFF: Southland Park’s greyhounds.

RISKY O BETS Greyhounds put in harm’s way so racino can prosper. BY LESLIE NEWELL PEACOCK PHOTOS BY BRIAN CHILSON

JUNE 20, 2012

ARKANSAS TIMES

ver in West Memphis, at Southland Park, they spend hours in the dark, pawing at metal, making money for someone else at no small risk to their health. But the greyhounds, their trainers say, are better off than those gamblers. Unlike the men and women hunched over Southland’s 1,000 “electronic games of skill,” smoking cigarettes and losing money in vast rooms that never see the light of day, the dogs are doing what they love to do: Run.

Or so they say. Not everyone agrees that racing is a good life for a dog. Greyhound advocate organizations have piled up data nationwide about poor living conditions in track kennels and race injuries — some so severe they require the dogs to be put down — for the fleet species. The sport itself has lost popularity, losing out to more lucrative forms of gambling and a growing sentiment against racing dogs. In the past decade, 26 tracks have shut down. Some states, like Arizona, have curtailed the number of allowable racing days. Ardent greyhound protection group GREY2K USA wrote legislation that has ended dog racing in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire. Southland Park Gaming and Racing is one of the oldest operating tracks in the United States. Its dog injury record compares well with some tracks (429 at Southland, 1,351 at Gulf Greyhound Park in Texas for the years 2008-2011). Its operators and trainers insist the dogs are welltreated and that they are doing what they love to do, and there’s an onsite adoption agency, Mid-South Greyhound Adoption Option, whose customers post happy CONTINUED ON PAGE 16

PLAYTIME: Gamblers at the “games of skill” around noon on a recent Wednesday.

www.arktimes.com

JUNE 20, 2012

THEY’RE AT THE GATE: Kennel Club customers line up to place their bets.

stories and photos about their dogs on their Facebook page. The track has economic value; it is one of the top employers in West Memphis. Subsidized by the electronic wagers, Southland’s purses have improved. But the fact is, without the gaming, which the state allowed starting in 2006 as a way to compete with casinos in surrounding states, there would be no track. If the games of skill could be uncoupled from the live racing, the change in attendance and wagering, and impact on the West Memphis economy, would be barely noticeable. People would get to gamble, Southland would get to take their money and the dogs could become pets, running around a yard instead of a track.

decade ago, 15 states allowed dog racing. Arkansas is one of seven remaining states that still do. There are now only 22 tracks (13 in Florida alone) in operation. Arkansas law requires that electronic gaming be located only at racetracks, which is why gamblers have to go to the Oaklawn horse track in Hot Springs or Southland to play Caribbean Stud or Girls Just Want to Have Fun. The greyhounds bring in miniscule profits compared to the electronic games, but theirs are the tails that wag the business, and what a business Southland is: From January to April this

JUNE 20, 2012

ARKANSAS TIMES

year, $607.7 million was wagered, $173.7 million in February alone, on the electric games of skill (EGS). After a payout of $1.23 billion in winnings in 2011, its net in 2011 was $80 million. Compare that to the handle on the dog track: $19 million for all of 2011. The Racing Commission could not provide the net, but director Ron Oliver estimated it at about 65 percent of the handle. Troy Keeping, Southland’s president and general manager, says Southland is bucking a national trend, describing its track as a “very viable, profitable racing business.” But some track owners — like Caesars Entertainment, which operates the Bluffs Run Greyhound Park in Council Bluffs, Iowa — want to get out of the dog business. The New York Times reported in March that Caesars is losing millions of dollars each year at Bluffs Run and has gone so far as to offer the state of Iowa, which like Arkansas ties gaming to live racing, $49 million for the right to shut down the track. Keeping, himself a greyhound rescuer, said Southland has a better purse structure and better quality greyhounds than failing tracks. “I would almost define us as a niche market,” he said, with a long history — the park opened in 1956 — and a reputation as “always one of the top tracks.” He blamed the fact that some gambling operations

want to ditch their dogs on “certain animal activist groups.” Not Tallahassee’s, however. There, the Humane Society, GREY2K USA and track owners are on the same side, trying to change Florida’s law that ties poker rooms and slot machines to live racing. The bottom line motivates the gamers; the wellbeing of the dogs GREY2K.

he Arkansas Racing Commission does not require the dog track to keep statistics on injuries, though it does require a state veterinarian to be present during the races. Records supplied by the commission’s lawyer, Byron Freeland, show that there have been at least 23 dogs injured so far in 2012 — with fractures, tendon tears, lacerations, and one seizure. It’s unknown what treatment was given or whether any were euthanized, though records show that one dog died at the track after it ran into a rail. The number of dogs injured is a fraction of the 1,200 dogs kept in kennels on the property, but too many for GREY2K, which has compiled statistics on injuries at Southland since January 2008. According to GREY2K, there has been an average of 8.86 injuries a month at Southland since 2008, or 452 reported injuries in 440 dogs. The high year was 2008, with 182 injuries; there were 101 in 2009, 58 in 2010 and 88

in 2011. Most of the injuries, 47 percent, were leg and toe fractures; some suffered broken necks and backs. In 2008 and the first part of 2009, 32 greyhounds died or were euthanized. The track’s vet, Dr. Lisa Robinson, quit keeping data on outcomes in May 2009. She did not respond to requests for an interview by the Times, so this reporter used the GREY2K’s figures to extrapolate how many dogs may have been euthanized. In 2008, the percentage of injured dogs (182) that had to be euthanized (27) was about 15 percent. If 15 percent of the 452 dogs injured since 2008 had to be put down, that would mean 67 greyhounds were euthanized over four years. In 2007, seven male greyhounds died at Southland in a kennel. Two males began to fight and other greyhounds got excited and overheated; the temperature that day was 100 degrees plus. One dog died; the others were euthanized. The track, to its credit, discontinued its contract with the kennel operator, Washburn-Oregon Trail Kennel, for 2008.

outhland needed the EGS games to compete with the Tunica casino on the other side of the Mississippi River; without them, it would not have survived. Southland’s owner, Delaware North, headquartered in Buffalo, N.Y., invested

DETOUR: Showed he preferred the “quiet life” during his short racing career, adoption website says; he’s available for adoption.

A LESSON IN GREYHOUNDS: Racing director Shane Bolender talks to new hires about the dogs.

$40 million to transform the park into a racino in 2006 and is spending another $11 million this year on an expansion that includes a new bar/lounge area and 16,000 square feet of new gaming space. The dog track is less well-loved. The rail that the lure — a big, white stuffed bone — shoots around on is about 35 years old, park people say, and the day a reporter visited — a Wednesday, the only day afternoon races are run — a crew was at work welding and hammering on a problem spot. The self-betting area that opens onto the track apron is dingy and a space called the owners’ lounge hasn’t been swept in a few years; it is unused. A new sewer line has been installed by the track, a strip of white concrete and drain reveal, but it’s not quite doing the job, a breeze here and there revealed. The second floor Kennel Club is in much better shape, with TV screens positioned in the paying seats for race replays, a bar, the Bourbon Street Steakhouse Grill

and a small betting area set aside for nonsmokers. The small clientele ranged from well-heeled male retirees to couples; practically no one there was under 45, except the woman at the bar. Wednesday’s race, being a matinee, isn’t typical; Friday and Saturday nights are hopping, the bartender said. There is also simulcast horse and greyhound racing broadcast from large HDTVs on this floor as well. Trackside, Southland racing director Shane Bolender was giving a talk to about 20 new hires — Southland employs around 500 people — about greyhounds. Here’s what they learned: It is the greyhound’s nature to run; they can reach a speed of up to 40 miles per hour (only the cheetah can go faster). The races are over in about 32 seconds — during which time the coursing hounds have covered 583 yards chasing the speedy (40-50 mph) bone (“Rusty”). They wear muzzles to help the judges determine the winner, Bolender explained.

GREYHOUND ADOPTION IN ARKANSAS

id-South Greyhound Adoption Option in West Memphis, which is funded by Southland Park, contributions from kennel operators and other gifts, adopts out retired greyhounds. There are 16 hounds available currently, according to its website, www.midsouthgreyhound.com, which includes pictures and information on the dogs. The sweetest of them, the website narrative says, is Roy: “He had a relatively short and undistinguished career, but that meant he was truly destined to be a pet, not a professional athlete. He’s no fan of cats …” One of the dogs, Pryor, race name “LK’s Flashpoint,” fractured his right rear foot in February, according to race records; MSGAO’s narrative on Pryor says, “I might have been bumped or stumbled a few times as I made my way around the track 66 times, but my ratings show I didn’t let that stop me from winning.” To adopt, fill out the adoption application form on the MSGAO website and then contact the kennel at 870-735-7317. There is a fee of $250 to adopt. The organization has meet and greet days in Memphis, West Memphis and Olive Branch, Miss. on Saturdays; the schedule is on the website. The organization asks that adopters be educated in the ways of the greyhound: The dog is an indoor dog, due to its inability to adapt to hot or cold temperatures; they’re sight hounds, meaning they’ll probably dash after your cat indoors and must never be off a leash outdoors; and they don’t require a lot of exercise. The Friends of the MSGAO Facebook page is a forum for folks who adopt to share information and pictures.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 18

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(They also wear them because they have thin skin and can hurt other dogs during play.) There are 110 races a week; 18 to 20 of those races are nine-dog races; the others have fewer entries. Greyhounds are only 3 percent body fat, and if adopted, owners should know that they are healthier skinny and shouldn’t be fattened up. Their diet at Southland is meat and vegetables. They don’t sweat except through their feet, which is why they are thoroughly hosed down with cool water after every race and why post time is pushed to 4 p.m. in July and August. In an interview later, Bolender said the dogs are tested for drugs, just as horses are, but that positives are rare: “I haven’t had a bad test in I couldn’t tell you how long.” The last positive test he could remember was from a dog that had been fed bee pollen, an anti-inflammatory that masks soreness, a minor violation. Half the field in every race is tested. Special tests are ordered post-race if the results are out of the ordinary, he said, such as “if a longshot looked like gangbusters” or if the top-rated dog runs a bad race. Greyhounds are trained from puppyhood to chase things. They usually come to the track when they’re a year and a half old, Bolender said. “There’s a lot of time and effort and money that goes in to get a greyhound to set foot” on the racetrack, Bolender said, a cost he estimated at $3,500 to $4,000 per dog. He said he’d seen buyers at the National Greyhound Association headquarters in Kansas pay up to $60,000 or $70,000 for one “trackready” greyhound. The 1,200 greyhounds on the property at Southland represent an investment of about $4.5 million, he said. These pricey dogs are kept in 17 kennels that hold up to 78 dogs each. They’re let out for “school” at 3 or 4 a.m. a couple of times a week, for their race or sprints, and a few other times a day, an assistant trainer told the Times. Their racing days are over by age 4. It’s what happens then that has created a widespread backlash against greyhound racing: Up until the late 1980s, the dogs were routinely euthanized once they were no longer useful. There are horror stories of dogs being left behind by their owners at Florida track kennels to sicken or starve to death. (In 2003, the Paragould Animal Welfare Society in Greene County found six starving greyhounds, one of them pregnant, a dead greyhound in a racing cage, two dead greyhounds in a shed and 15 greyhound bodies in a non-working freezer at an abandoned breeding farm.) Though the Greyhound Racing Association frowns on it, some farms train puppies on live lures, like rabbits, guinea pigs or chickens. Arkansas laws on greyhound farms do not prohibit live lures, though the

JUNE 20, 2012

ARKANSAS TIMES

POST-RACE COOL DOWN: Rachel Hogue, an assistant trainer, hoses down a greyhound to bring its temperature down.

state’s animal cruelty laws should. Today, the Greyhound Racing Association says, 90 percent of retired racers are adopted. The association says on its website, www.gra-america.org, that its goal is to reduce the number of greyhounds bred. However, the Association also maintains that “the animal rights movement has never been successful in banning greyhound racing in a state where the sport actually exists,” a statement that is incorrect. The website could be out of date, rather than intentionally misleading.

hristine Dorchak, the president of GREY2K USA, describes herself as “just a dog lover” who happened to grow up next to Wonderland Greyhound Park in Revere, Mass. “I knew ... these dogs were suffering. I felt compelled to help. And standing handing out flyers wasn’t going to do it.” Dorchak and GREY2K have been compiling injury statistics, track histories, policy reports and news articles, all of which are on its website, www.grey2kusa.org. In addition to the fact that racing dogs are injured, GREY2K objects to how long they’re confined (more than 20 hours a day), the poor quality of meat they’re fed, and the fact that the only reason they’re racing, for the most part, are that state laws tie gambling licenses to tracks. Though their physiology is incompatible with hot or cold weather, the dogs are made to run during temperature extremes. Dogs no

longer fit to race are still put down by the thousands every year, despite adoption programs, GREY2K says. Do greyhounds love to run? “If you were kept in a cage for 20 or more hours a day … you’d bet they’d love to run,” Dorchak told the Times. Dorchak was responding to a reporter’s questions based on an interview she had had with Rachel Hogue, 25, of Memphis, a greyhound owner, assistant trainer and professional photographer. Hogue studied up on greyhounds when she was headed to Auburn University in Alabama as a freshman and wanted to take a dog with her. After considering several breeds, Hogue went for the hound. “They’re a perfect breed,” she said, easy going, “couch potatoes,” in fact (they are sprinters, not animals that want to run all the time). Once she got to school, she took in a second greyhound, a female. The female has since died, but she still has Dazzle, her first male. Hogue said she came to Southland after she graduated because “I wanted to see what my dog’s life was like before.” She was hired to take photographs and is now an assistant trainer for Billy O’Donnell (who, it turns out, in 2010 unsuccessfully sued the state of Massachusetts for $1 million, alleging the law outlawing greyhound racing amounted to an unconstitutional taking of property). Hogue’s degree is in animal science. Does she think the dogs are mistreated?

“I wouldn’t be here if I did,” she insisted. She said they were fed “the best kibble,” sleep on layers of padded carpeting, and get turned out five times a day. She said if the dogs don’t want to run they don’t have to: “Some dogs don’t have any interest.” (Times photographer Brian Chilson can attest to that. He saw one dog with a what-the-hell attitude come out of the box and just trot.) Still, a dog that Hogue had been hosing down after a race collapsed on its back legs when she brought it close for the photographer to get a look. Hogue said the dog was tired and needed more cooling; another trainer quickly took the dog back to the hosing area. Hogue admires the athleticism of the dogs. She maintains that the injury rate at the track is “less than 10 percent,” and most injuries are muscular, though data supplied by the state Racing Commission to the Times shows that 14 of the 23 injuries recorded by the state vet through March 19 were bone fractures. The dogs are athletes, she said, and athletes get hurt. Hogue brings Dazzle to the track for “meet and greet” on Mid-South Greyhound Adoption days and when he sees the track from the stands he gets excited, like he wants to race again, she said. “These dogs are very well taken care of,” Hogue said. “They’re the primary source of income for pretty much everyone out here.” That Hogue is an animal lover is unquestionable. Her photography website (rachelhogue.com) features hundreds of animal portraits: greyhounds, cats, horses, bison, the animals at the Memphis zoo. Her greyhound, Dazzle, features prominently. Are the greyhounds happy? “Absolutely,” said Hogue. No, says Dorchak. “I don’t think dogs are happy being in cages … being shot up with steroids to keep them from going into heat. … I would just like dogs to be dogs.” One of GREY2K’s victories this year: “Greyhounds are again dogs in Kansas,” Dorchak said. Kansas, the NGA’s headquarters, had disqualified greyhounds from the definition of dog in its pet protection law. That was corrected just this month, Dorchak said. Ironically, for the NGA at least, Kansas no longer has dog racing. Dorchak doesn’t question the genuine love the people at the track have for the dogs. “Nobody is saying this is about a personal relationship. It’s about a standard of neglect in the racing industry, where dogs are a commodity. They are treated as well or as poorly as the money they make for their owners. There is always a cost-benefit analysis. The greyhound, come one day, is going to be on the losing end of that analysis.”

MADE IN ARKANSAS, CONT. Arkansas-born celebrities such as Billy Bob Arkansas doesn’t subsidize unequivo- only from one of several sites that make the credits, they had problems with crews. You Thornton and Joey Lauren Adams, as well cally, though. Productions have to spend guide available. can’t offer that much if you can’t bring the as Beebe green-lighting an appropriation at least $50,000 in-state, over six months, It’s impossible to accurately estimate workforce to go with it,” Crane said. “They from his discretionary fund, to get the bill which means that local commercials, stu- how much a state gains financially from were trying to replace the auto industry, but through the House. dent films and shorts rarely receive funds. a production, because the numbers are they did it poorly. … We need to find that based on models and approximations. golden mean that can attract production Saunders asked Sen. Shane Broad- Thus far, no qualified project has failed to way to sponsor the bill in the Senate. At seek the subsidy, and according to Crane Crane acknowledges that not every film and still expand the revenue base for the an earlier legislative conference, Broad- neither “Mud” nor the $9 million Hank has inherent tourism value, and that incen- state and keep people working.” way had attended a presentation on Loui- Williams bio-pic “The Last Ride,” slated to tives are about more than pure economics. The requested appropriation for Arkansiana’s incentives. He remembered the buzz release nationally this month, would have “I don’t want to be Hollywood,” he said. “I’d sas’s incentive is $5 million a year, a sum around his hometown of Benton in 1995, shot in Arkansas without the incentive. love it if we could make 10 to 15 wonderful, Crane arrived at by looking at North Carwhen “Sling Blade” was filmed there. He But more than feature films, the bed- independent films. There’s a large group of olina, Oklahoma, Georgia and Mississippi, agreed to be the Senate sponsor. The bill rock of Arkansas production is national creative people in any state, and you have to because of similar topographies, econopassed unanimously in the Senate, without and regional commercials. After “Mud,” give them a chance to live in the place they mies and production industries. In Arkanmuch on-floor debate. the biggest recipient of incentive funds to love and do what they do. It creates a qual- sas, the program is only funded if there’s a “Arkansas is a diverse state. It has moun- date has been the now disbanded Dempsey ity of life, gives us an ‘it’ factor. Anyone who budget surplus. In 2011 the program wasn’t tains and lowlands. And from the movies Film Group Inc. A strictly commercial firm, comes here for any industry, they want to funded; nor is it funded thus far in 2012. But that have been made here, we knew there Dempsey received $126,000 for a variety of know that there’s music, theater, art and all there have been exceptions. In the case was a lot to offer, so we really needed to projects. “We wrote the legislation in part of those things in the community.” of “Mud,” Beebe decided to finance the make an effort to encourage people to to recruit more commercials to the state, An independent economic analysis of rebate out of discretionary funds because come. They bring their staff, they have to because that’s our bailiwick, and we want to Arkansas’s incentive is planned for 2013, he believed the film would offer Arkansas eat and stay somewhere. It’s just a good eco- keep our people employed,” Crane said. In once the numbers are in for “The Last Ride.” national and international exposure. “We nomic tool,” said Sen. Mary Anne Salmon of 2006 (the latest available figures) Arkansas If other states are any indication, those num- look at it on an individual basis,” said Beebe. North Little Rock, a co-sponsor of the bill. had 1,000 people employed in film produc- bers aren’t likely to be as positive as ERA “What is the investment of the film comIn the House, only three representatives tion. UALR, UCA, ASU, SAU Tech, Pulaski had predicted. pany? How much money are they going to (all Republicans) opposed the bill: Duncan Tech and Lyon College all offer some form “So many times, we’re given bills and told spend in the state? How much money do Baird, Daniel Greenberg and Debra Hobbs. of production training. this is going to provide a benefit that’s not we have?” And, he said, Dumas and StuttAs incentives go, Arkansas’s is “modest quantifiable, but it has a cost that is quanti- gart, the actual filming locations, could use Beebe thinks Arkansas’s incentive legislation was better researched than those of but competitive,” said Crane. Arkansas’s fiable,” said Rep. Baird, an opponent of the the break. “There’s not much economic some other states. In an interview with the incentives fall almost exactly mid-scale. incentive bill in 2009. “In state government, development opportunities for Southeast Times, the governor said, “We’re treating “When I look at the other incentive pro- we’re rarely able to follow up and find out Arkansas,” he added. Some people will always be detractors. this as economic activity created through grams, the ones that are scaling back are if the benefit justified the cost. Movies are the film industry. We did a cost-benefit landing where we are,” he added. Crane high profile. If a movie is made in Arkansas, Both Greenberg and Baird are against analysis, first … as long as we’ve got the helped draft the 2009 legislation after the it feels really good, but there’s never been industry-specific subsidies, except in dire checks and balances in there, it’s an eco- state commissioned the Los Angeles-based any evidence that the long-term benefits situations. “Speaking generally, if there’s nomic engine.” Economics Research Associates to do an from these credits actually outweigh the anything less praiseworthy than welfare The primary objective of any incentive Arkansas film industry analysis. ERA esti- cost to the taxpayers.” for people who can work, it’s corporate is to subsidize an industry only until infra- mated that for every $1 million film dollars But bill sponsor Saunders, who’s now welfare,” said Greenberg, who has a backstructure is in place. In the case of film and spent in the state, $224,000 would come in retired from the legislature, said that even ground in law and public policy. “The best TV production, there is a secondary objec- direct spending — in supplies, payroll, etc. if 2013 numbers are disappointing, the pro- kind of economic stimulus is free market tive — to help a state manage its image. Films — which would generate $380,000 in indi- gram should be revised rather than dropped. economics, letting people invest through can be public relation projects, and if a state rect spending. It said each million would “We’re new in the game with this model. I financial instruments, through putting selectively subsidizes, it has a hand in how produce 14.1 full-time jobs and $24,000 in hope we’re patient. I’d like to see us commit money in banks so that banks can make state sales tax. it’s portrayed to the world at large. No state at least 10 years to gauging if this works,” he loans, in letting the money go where it goes is willing to subsidize pornography, but There may also be long-term tour- said. “I think our model is strong.” naturally.” Crane emphasizes that he never wants some states have also refused to subsidize ism benefits. “Who ever heard of DyersBut without collateral, many banks horror and politically charged films. Arkan- ville, Iowa, before ‘Field of Dreams?’ Now Arkansas “to be Michigan.” Until Decem- won’t lend funds to production compasas’s legislation has a “no obscenities clause,” 100,000 people a year still tour that facility,” ber 2011, Michigan offered a 42 percent nies. Often films never recoup their budget, but Crane said he’s not in the business of Crane said. Closer to home, Mississippi’s transferable tax credit, the largest of any and even if they do, Arkansas has a consticensoring. “We want to go after those pro- “The Help” self-guided tour in Jackson has state. Now the credit has been reduced to tutional clause that prevents the state from ductions that portray Arkansas in a great been downloaded 6,772 times since the film 32 percent. “They’re just giving away money. collecting profit share from any industry, light, but periodically they won’t,” he added. wrapped last spring, and those figures are They couldn’t make good on all of their regardless of subsidies.

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JUNE 20, 2012

Arts Entertainment BRIAN CHILSON

AND

, S E R U C IN A M T E G ‘SOME WOMEN EBODY’ JI UST HIT SOM I

t’s 5:15 p.m. and at least 90 degrees on a Sunday afternoon at J.A. Fair Magnet High School. The Arkansas Banshees, one of Little Rock’s two women’s semi-pro, full-tackle football teams, were supposed to kick off the last game of the season 15 minutes ago. At the moment, my two friends and I make up the bulk of the crowd. The other fans include an elderly man in full ’70s regalia, right down to his brilliant orange Nike wristbands, and a 4-year-old in a paper Burger King crown. On the field, Banshee players and members of the visiting team, Houston Energy, shovel sand into sprinkler holes. No one seems worried about starting within the hour. Fifteen minutes later, the Energy players run through their warm-ups. There are probably two Energies to each Banshee. They arrived in a team-owned motor coach, and they have at least five corporate sponsors. Rae Meyer, co-owner of the Banshees, told me that Energy had been a team for seven years. The Banshees are a first-year team, and currently, they’re 5-2. Some of the players defected from The Wildcats, another Little Rock team, but a lot of them were recruits from places like the Walmart parking lot. Amy Wilson, a hulking linewoman and one of the best players, joined the Banshees to chronicle the experience for a sociology project. But the 32-year-old UALR student, mother, certified EMT and Sunday school teacher stayed on after her project ended. “Some women get manicures to de-stress,” she said. “I just hit somebody.” The Banshees have a roster of 26, although a handful of women spent the season nursing injuries on the sidelines. Their ages range from 19 to 42, and they count stayat-home moms, registered nurses, male impersonators and service industry workers among their ranks. There are eight games a season and daily practices — suggested, but not required. They work out in the J.A. Fair weight room during the season because their head coach, Erick Nelson, also coaches the J.A. Fair team. Unlike the Energy players, they drive their own cars to away games. Meyer 20

JUNE 20, 2012

ARKANSAS TIMES

dreams of the day that everyone will get paid, rather than paying $500 to play. By 5:45 p.m., there are about 30 people scattered throughout the shaded home bleachers. Kick-off is at 6:20 p.m. We fail to notice who gets the ball. I know nearly nothing about this sport, and I appear to be in good company. Seemingly every few minutes, Coach Nelson calls a time-out because there’s an extra Banshee on the field. There are penalties on both teams — lots of holding and clipping — and often the Banshees are unsure of their positioning. “Kim! To the left. To the left,” Nelson yells as his players move into formation. The sidelined Banshees are in good spirits. “Whose house? Our house,” they shout in unison. Lisa Blaylock, a lean, muscular player, comes off the field, blood streaming from her elbow. She yanks off her helmet and shakes sweat-clumped, cropped curls. She doesn’t seem to notice her elbow. On the field, someone does a dive roll and then there’s a pile-up. Three Energy players lunge at Wilson, grabbing her ankles, her waist, anything to bring her down. The sidelines smell like a locker room. At the end of the first quarter, the score is 16-14, Energy. Meyer tweets the score from her phone, because that’s one of the rules of the Independent Women’s Football League that this team belongs. It’s the second quarter. Nelson asks one of the players, “Why are you not in the game?” She shakes her head. “I’m seeing black spots.” The sun still pours, full force. There’s a breeze. Twenty seconds later, we don’t even remember it was there. Energy keeps scoring touchdowns. From the Banshee bleachers, someone yells, “Y’all need to do something. You’re wasting my money here!” (Admission is $5.) Blaylock has just been taken down. She’s on the field, tensed around the ball in a fetal position, clutching it to her gut. A few seconds later, an Energy player grabs Victoria Brooks, the Banshee quarterback, by her face mask. Kerr’s neck

A LOOK INSIDE WO MEN’S FULL-TACKLE FOO TBALL IN CENTRAL ARKA NSAS. BY CHEREE FRAN

wrenches painfully as she’s flung to the ground. The ref calls a penalty. The Banshees march to the locker room for halftime, their faces broadcasting anger and disgust. One woman looks like she’s about to cry. The score is now 30-14. “Don’t give them another yard,” Nelson admonishes his team. “Lose your minds. Hit somebody real damn hard.” Kiara Vinson, a former track star and current running back, scores a Banshee touchdown within the first few seconds of the third quarter. In fact, Vinson scores all of the Banshees’ touchdowns. She’s small, and she’s lightening-quick. It’s dusk. In the stands, someone’s aunt says to no one in particular, “Y’all better hurry this up. The mosquitos are coming.” Throughout the second half, Houston Energy gets cocky. They’re ahead by, well, a lot, yet they keep going for the two-point conversion. And they don’t punt the ball even once. Someone tells me that this is how you openly disrespect the other team’s defense. In the stands, the woman gives an updated mosquito report. “They’re here, y’all!” She slaps her bare arms. “If you get drunk, the mosquitos don’t bite no more. They don’t like that alcohol blood,” a man advises. He’s drinking something in an opaque plastic cup and doesn’t seem to be bothered by mosquitos. The stadium lights cast the surrounding woods in ominous shadow. The final score is 48-30, Energy. But the Banshees are in high spirits, despite the fact that Houston Energy just knocked them out of contention for the playoffs. “We were the first team that scored against Houston all season,” Wilson says, referring to an earlier game. This explains the visitors’ bad attitude throughout the second half. The season ends with a prayer and a cheer — “1-2-3, family!” the Banshees shout, tossing their fists in the air. Their respite will be brief. Next season’s practices begin in two days.

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

A&E NEWS VIA TRAVIS MCELROY, HEAD HONCHO of the Little Rock-based

label Thick Syrup Records, comes news that Jad Fair and David Fair — aka Half Japanese — will be playing at Maxine’s in Hot Springs Oct. 5-6. Jad will be playing a solo set and a set with local garage rockers The Bloodless Cooties on Friday. On Saturday, there’ll be a screening of the Half Japanese documentary, “The Band That Would Be King,” along with performances from Jad, David and Mark Jickling, a showing of artwork by the brothers and music from the Cooties and Ezra Lbs. There’s a great clip online from “The Band That Would Be King,” featuring a brilliant dissection of how to play guitar from the Fair brothers. “Some people worry about chords and stuff, and that’s all right too, there’s all kinds of music in the world,” David says. “You might wanna learn some other stuff if you’re doing that kind of music. For what I was doing, that was the beauty of it — you could learn it that first day.” “You do need cords in order to plug the guitar in,” David says, “but that’s pretty much it.” Genius.

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March 3 – September 16, 2012 “Play Ball” features decades of memorabilia from one of our country’s most storied franchises, the St. Louis Cardinals. This exhibition has over 100 items such as the World Series trophies from 2006 and 2011, championship rings, and artifacts from Baseball Hall of Fame members and Arkansas Natives Dizzy Dean and Lou Brock.

PORTISOLOGISTS REJOICE, for Butler Center Books will publish “Escape Velocity: A Charles Portis Miscellany” this fall. The collection — edited by journalist and humor writer Jay Jennings — will pull together fiction and nonfiction pieces, as well as a play and memoir by the author of “Norwood,” “True Grit,” “The Dog of the South,” “Masters of Atlantis” and “Gringos.” The title is taken from a quote by Ray Midge, the narrator of “The Dog of the South.” “A lot of people leave Arkansas and most of them come back sooner or later. They can’t quite achieve escape velocity.” Some members of the Arkansas Times staff happen to be very excited about this collection, but promise to refrain (at least in this space) from going on and on about how much they love Portis’ books and have read them over and over and whatnot.

For A Limited Time Only! • July 4 - July 22 – 2011 World Series Trophy • July 4 - September 16 – 2011 World Series Ring • August 3 - September 16 – Stan Musials’ newlyrestored uniform Join us as we reflect on the joy, the heartache and the fun that comes with being a baseball fan. On loan from St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame & Museum

1200 President Clinton Avenue • Little Rock, Arkansas 72201• 501-374-4242 • clintonpresidentialcenter.org www.arktimes.com

JUNE 20, 2012

THE TO-DO

LIST

BY ROBERT BELL

WEDNESDAY 6/20

STEVE MARTIN and THE STEEP CANYON RANGERS

7:30 p.m. Robinson Center Music Hall. $64-$92.

Though Steve Martin has long used the banjo as a prop for his stand-up comedy, he’s an accomplished player, winning a Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album for his 2009 album “The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo.” The Steep Canyon Rangers are no slouches either. The North Carolina quintet has released half a dozen albums in the last decade or so, including one with Martin that kicked off the group’s relationship with the storied folk label Rounder Records. That album, “Rare Bird Alert,” featured live renditions of Martin’s SNL classic “King Tut” and “Atheists Don’t Have No Songs,” a clever a capella number that recounts all the fine musical traditions enjoyed by the faithful that have eluded nonbelievers. The record is chock-a-block with accomplished playing and a light-hearted vibe, but it’s not all whimsy. For example, the instrumental track “The Great Remember (for Nancy)” is a gorgeous number, upbeat but also pensive, with a touch of melancholy.

STRING-BAND SHOW: Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers bring original bluegrass tunes to Robinson Center Music Hall Wednesday.

THURSDAY 6/21

WHORES, THE NIGH ENDS

10 p.m. White Water Tavern.

COUNTRY GENTLEMEN: The Derailers play “pure honky tonk” at Stickyz Thursday night.

THURSDAY 6/21

THE DERAILERS

9 p.m. Stickyz. $10.

As anyone who has scanned the radio dial in Central Arkansas in search of some actual country music can probably tell you, there aren’t too many options. I’m not talking about your slick Nashville dudes who wear sequined jeans and use copious amounts of expensive hair products 22

JUNE 20, 2012

ARKANSAS TIMES

or your new so-called “outlaw” country singers and their rote laundry-list songs, with obligatory mentions of dirt roads, trucks, cold beers, small towns and probably a jingoist jab or two at vague “others.” No, unfortunately, if you want to hear real country nowadays, you’re going to have to seek it out. The good news is that’s easier than ever, and recent decades have

still seen a good number of bands out there that still make the good stuff. One of the finest examples is probably The Derailers, a quartet that’s spent nearly two decades now with an unwavering devotion to the timeless sounds of such luminaries as George Jones and Buck Owens. A few years back, the band put out a fine tribute to the latter, called “Under the Influence of Buck.”

Atlanta trio Whores finds the sweet spot in the Bermuda Triangle of moody post-hardcore, the groove-focused metal of early Rollins Band or Helmet and the more sludgy of first wave of grunge bands. There’s also a misanthropic Amphetamine Reptile Recordstype vibe going on with the group’s 2011 EP “Ruiner.” Just check out some of the song titles: “Daddy’s Money,” “Fake Life,” “Shower Time,” “Straight Down.” Harsh stuff for sure, or as the band’s online bio states: “Good times, bad vibes.” Opening up is The Nigh Ends, a newish rock ’n’ roll concern with veterans of such notable local outfits as Smoke Up Johnny, Eclipse Glasses and numerous other bands, specifically, Alan Disaster, Matt Floyd, Nate Moore and Kyle Carpenter. Regarding sounds, Moore mentioned The Wipers and The Saints. Disaster seconded The Wipers influence, adding “but the chord progressions are starting to get real dark. It’s tough.” I have no doubts whatsoever about those claims.

IN BRIEF

WEDNESDAY 6/20

FRIDAY 6/22

NIGHT FOR JETT

7 p.m. White Water Tavern. $5 after 8:30 p.m.

If you ever went to the White Water Tavern, you probably saw James “Jett” Talbert sitting at the bar, or later in the evening, dancing on the tables to whichever band happened to be playing. He was a vital voice in the colorful oral history of the WWT that the Times published in 2010. This show is a celebration of the life of Jett, who passed away last week. White Water co-owner Matt White wrote eloquently of his friend, so I’m going to quote him at length: “In losing Jett, we lose an amazing storyteller and historian on the bar and Little Rock in general. He lived just up the street for over 20 years and his spirit, attitude, and heart were a perfect example of what makes the White Water such a unique and special place. When we took the place over five and a half years ago, he and Goose were seemingly inseparable and Jett had our backs from the very beginning. An avid music fan and people person, Jett witnessed more shows than most of us who worked here during those first couple of years. He was known by bands all across the country for dancing on the rail in the back of the room, helping them carry their equipment, and for being a wildly encouraging and HILARIOUS friend. … He was a friend to so many. A sweet heart. An original. He was an absolute staple to the bar and the neighborhood, and to say that the place won’t be the same without him barely begins to scratch the surface; it is so tough to comprehend that he won’t be walking in at two on the dot every afternoon.” There will no doubt be many tears shed on Friday, but also many great stories, and music from Amy Garland, Nick Devlin, Bart Angel, Andy Warr, Mandy McBryde, Iron Tongue, The P-47s and likely more.

FRIDAY 6/22

OPERA IN THE OZARKS

7:30 p.m. Inspiration Point, Eureka Springs. $20-$25.

It’s mid-June now, which means it’s time once again for Opera in the Ozarks at Inspiration Point. The program is in its 62nd year of showcasing budding performers from all over and training talent that has gone on to perform on every major opera stage in the world. My dad is a big fan of the outdoor series. “How many chances do you get to go to

the opera wearing jeans and short sleeves?” he asked. Well, if you live in Carroll County you’ll get several every year. But Opera in the Ozarks is a major draw for opera buffs from all over the region. This year’s slate kicks off Friday with Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” continues Saturday with Stephen Sondheim’s Broadway hit “A Little Night Music” and Tuesday with Puccini’s “La Boheme.” The season runs through July 20. See the calendar for the rest of the schedule.

FRIDAY 6/22

LOST IN THE TREES

7 p.m. Artchurch Studio, Hot Springs. $10.

Lost in the Trees is a North Carolina collective led by Ari Picker, a classically trained musician who studied at Berklee College of Music and was in the indie pop act The B-Sides. In 2008, Picker’s mother — an artist and someone who had long struggled with mental illness — took her own life, according to an NPR story from March. Part of Picker’s response was to craft “A Church That Fits Our Needs,” a 12-song album of lush, gorgeous chamber folk. “I wanted to give my mother a space to become all the things I think she deserved to be and wanted to be, and all the beautiful things in her that didn’t quite shine while she was alive,” Picker told NPR. “I feel like that’s what a church should do: They should give you the space to reflect and be the best person

7:30 p.m. Magic Springs’ Timberwood Amphitheater, Hot Springs. $30-$65.

Editor’s note: This is the second in an ongoing series profiling the groundbreaking early 21st century Oklahoma band Hinder and the mercurial genius at its fore, singer Austin Winkler. SEPT. 13, 2057, NORMAN, OKLA. — When considering the timeless influence of Hinder, a band that defined life, love, passion and high art for at least three generations of music lovers, one might be tempted to compare singer Austin Winkler’s life and indelible contributions to

pop music to the 1980s film “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure.” Much as the heroes of that story came from humble origins to reshape our perceptions of what music could be, uniting the world in a new era of peace and love, so too did the members of Hinder, a band that crafted music so achingly beautiful and profound that it made Sigur Rós sound like The Meatmen by comparison. Sitting at the bar at O’McFlannagins Irish College Pub, Winkler belches sonorously, a protest of sorts, directed against the elderly biker woman who just moments ago rebuffed his romantic advances. “She was cool about it, I guess,” he says. “Not everyone can handle someone of my stature, and I

THURSDAY 6/21

The Eroica Trio is a highly acclaimed, Grammy-nominated classical outfit that has performed with some of the most renowned symphonies in the world. The group plays three shows in Eureka Springs: at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Saturday at the Auditorium, $25$55, and at 2 p.m. Friday at The Grand Central Hotel & Spa, $20. For some contemporary Caribbean sounds, check out The Fire & Brimstone Duo, which now has a regular Thursday gig at Browning’s Mexican Food, 6-9 p.m. The Bluesboy Jag Band tears it up at The Joint, 8:30 p.m., $5.

FRIDAY 6/22 CHAMBER FOLK: Lost in the Trees returns to Hot Springs for a night of lush orchestral pop.

you can be.” Picker has cited Radiohead as a primary influence, and that band’s style has certainly informed Lost in the Trees. I hear traces of Bon Iver in the music as well. This will probably be an incredible show. The band has played in Hot Springs before, at last year’s Valley of the Vapors festival, reportedly leaving not a dry eye in the room. The opening act is Daytona.

SATURDAY 6/23

HINDER

The Arkansas Travelers play game two of a three-game series against the Springfield Cardinals, DickeyStephens Park, 7:10 p.m., $6-$12. Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre’s production of “Richard III” continues at Reynolds Performance Hall, UCA, 7:30 p.m., and again on Thursday at 7:30 p.m., $22-$27. If (white) lightnin’-fast bluegrass is your jam, don’t miss the great Kansas trio Split Lip Rayfield, Juanita’s, 9 p.m., $15. SLR also plays Friday night with The Goddamn Gallows at Maxine’s, 8 p.m., $10 adv., $12 door. The Kopecky Family Band plays Stickyz, 9 p.m., $7.

get that.” He punctuates this with another massive, ripping burp. But even witnessing his gaseous eruptions firsthand, one cannot forget the music he created, the enduring works of sophistication and elegance contained within albums such as “Jupiter than Stupider” and “One Toke Right at the Line.” The incident reminds this reporter of another 1980s film, “Amadeus,” whose titular character declares “I am a vulgar man. But I assure you, my music is not.” Winkler might be a vulgar man. But his music most certainly isn’t, and it will live on long after the dozens of biomedical devices keeping him going have given out. And for that, all of humanity is grateful.

Vino’s has a night of uncompromising modern rock, with Tennessee’s Lydia Can’t Breathe and openers Jessica Seven, Indie Bullshit and T3, 9 p.m., $7. Come out and celebrate for Stickyz, which turns 12 with a lineup including Weakness for Blondes and FreeVerse. It’s an 18-and-older show, 9:30 p.m., $7. “Graffiti Me” spoken word and poetry night is an open mic event with Foreign Tongues poetry group, JBoog, Rigsby St. Claire, Drekkia Writes, Sensear Dialect, HeavenLee and more, hosted by Osyrus Bolly, Restaurant 1620, 10 p.m., $7. Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre keeps rolling with “The Tempest” Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. at UCA’s Reynolds Performance Hall, $10; and “Twelfth Night,” 7:30 p.m. Friday through Sunday at Wildwood Park for the Performing Arts, $15-$20.

SATURDAY 6/23

Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre’s production of the musical “Big River” runs Saturday and Sunday, 1 p.m., UCA’s Reynolds Performance Hall, $30. Montgomery Trucking plays White Water Tavern, 10 p.m., $5. The American Taekwondo Association’s World Ceremony takes place at Verizon Arena, 7 p.m., $24-$54.

SUNDAY 6/24

The madman known as Unknown Hinson brings his act, which fuses classic country with a B-movie horror vibe, to Juanita’s, 8:30 p.m., $18 adv., $20 day of. You might recognize Hinson’s voice work from the Adult Swim series “Squidbillies.” www.arktimes.com

JUNE 20, 2012

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

CLASSES

Exploring Image. High school students and adults learn about block printing and alternative photo processes to create their own linoleum block print, cyanotype and vandyke brown photo prints. Artchurch Studio, 6 p.m., $100. 301 Whittington Ave., Hot Springs. 501318-6779. www.artchurch.org. Thea summer art classes. The Thea Foundation is taking registrations for Thea’s Art Class, a summer art camp with teacher Sarah Elizabeth Miller. Session 1 is July 2-5 and 9-12, from 9-11 a.m. for third through sixth graders and 2-4 p.m. for seventh through ninth graders. Session 2 is July 23-26, 30-31 and Aug. 1-2 (same hours as above). Fee is $75 for 8 classes; class limit is 15 students. For more information, go to theafoundation.org. Thea Foundation, Continues through July 25. 401 Main St., NLR. 501-3799512. www.theafoundation.org.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20

MUSIC

Acoustic Open Mic. The Afterthought, 8 p.m., free. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www. afterthoughtbar.com. Alternative Wednesdays. Features alternative bands from Central Arkansas and the surrounding areas. Mediums Art Lounge, 6:30 p.m., $5. 521 Center St. 501-374-4495. Artosphere Chamber Music Series at Cooper Chapel. Mildred B. Cooper Memorial Chapel, 7 p.m., $10. 504 Memorial Drive, Bella Vista. 479-855-6598. Ben Coulter. Cajun’s Wharf, 5 and 9 p.m., $5 after 8:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-3755351. www.cajunswharf.com. Chris Henry. The Tavern Sports Grill, 7 p.m.; June 27, 7 p.m.; June 29, 8 p.m., free. 17815 Chenal Parkway. 501-830-2100. www.thetavernsportsgrill.com. An Evening of Artsong: Artosphere Chamber Music Series with Mikael Eliasen and Julian Arsenault. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 7 p.m., $10. 224 N. East St., Fayetteville. Grim Muzik presents Way Back Wednesdays. Cornerstone Pub & Grill, 8:30 p.m. 314 Main St., NLR. 501-374-1782. cstonepub.com. Half Past Nine, Sam Walker, Rocktown Saints. Downtown Music Hall, 8 p.m. 211 W. Capitol. 501-376-1819. downtownmusichall.com. Jim Dickerson. Sonny Williams’ Steak Room, through June 21, 7 p.m.; through June 28, 7 p.m. 500 President Clinton Ave. 501-324-2999. www.sonnywilliamssteakroom.com. Karaoke at Khalil’s. Khalil’s Pub, 7 p.m. 110 S. Shackleford Road. 501-224-0224. www.khalilspub.com. Karaoke. Maxine’s, 8 p.m., free. 700 Central Ave., Hot Springs. www.maxinespub.com. Karaoke with Big John Miller. Denton’s Trotline, 8 p.m. 2150 Congo Road, Benton. 501-3151717. Kopecky Family Band. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 9 p.m., $7. 107 Commerce St. 501-372-7707. www.stickyfingerz.com. Ricky David Tripp. Rocket Twenty One, 5:30 p.m. 2601 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-603-9208. www. ferneaurestaurant.com. Split Lip Rayfield. Juanita’s, 9 p.m., $12 adv., $15 d.o.s. 614 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-1228. www.juanitas.com. Steve Martin & The Steep Canyon Rangers. Robinson Center Music Hall, 7 p.m., $64-$92. Markham and Broadway. www.littlerockmeetings.com/conv-centers/robinson. Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 5 p.m., free. 111 Markham St. 501-374-7474. www.capitalhotel.com/CBG. Whiskey Myers. 18-and-older show. Revolution, 9 p.m., $10. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-8230090. revroom.com.

COMEDY

THURSDAY, JUNE 21 SPEEDIN’ DOWN THE BLUES HIGHWAY: Little Rock quartet Interstate Buffalo specializes in a hard-driving, virtuoso brand of electric blues that will appeal to anyone who digs the crunchy, tube-amp groove of Gov’t Mule. The band plays a show at The Afterthought Saturday night to celebrate the release of its debut album, “One Step Away,” 9 p.m., $7. Loony Bin, 8 p.m.; June 22, 10:30 p.m.; June 23, 7, 9 and 11 p.m., $7-$10. 10301 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501-228-5555. www.loonybincomedy.com.

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. Summer Intensive and Dance Camp. Shuffles & Ballet II, through June 22, 9 a.m.; through June 29, 9 a.m., $150-$325. 1521 Merrill Drive. 501-223-9224. www.shufflesdancestudio.com.

EVENTS

Arkansas Foodbank Summer Feeding Sites. Two meals a day served at the Billy Mitchell Boys and Girls Club, Thrasher Boys and Girls Club, Penick Boys and Girls Club and Dalton Whetstone Boys and Girls Club in Central Arkansas, and the Boys and Girls Club in Benton in Saline County. Arkansas Foodbank, through Aug. 20: 8:30 a.m. and 12 p.m., free. 4301 W. 65th St. 501-565-8121. www.arkansas-

foodbank.org.

FILM

Movies in the Park: “Puss ‘N Boots.” Film begins at sundown. Riverfest Amphitheatre, 8 p.m., free. 400 President Clinton Ave.

SPORTS

Arkansas Travelers vs. Springfield Cardinals. Dickey-Stephens Park, through June 21, 7:10 p.m., $6-$12. 400 W. Broadway St., NLR. 501664-1555. www.travs.com.

CAMPS

Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre’s The Groundlings Company. Camp for ages 10-18. Students receive training from AST’s professional company of actors and teaching artists. Wildwood Park for the Performing Arts, through June 22, 9 a.m. p.m., $400. 20919 Denny Road. The Youth Theatre of Central Arkansas. For students in grades 3-12. University of Central Arkansas, Snow Fine Arts Center Recital Hall, through July 13: 9 a.m. p.m., $275-$300. 201 Donaghey Ave., Conway. 501-450-5092. www. uca.edu/theatre.

June 26 – July 22

This Neil Simon hit sparkles with charming characters who find joy amid inspired lunacy.

The Joint Venture. Improv comedy group. The Joint, 8 p.m., $5. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501-372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com. Mark Sweeney, Sid Davis, Tommy Nolan. The

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JUNE 20, 2012

ARKANSAS TIMES

MUSIC

4 Elementz (headliner), Darril Edwards (happy hour). Cajun’s Wharf, 5 and 9 p.m., $5 after 8:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. www. cajunswharf.com. Adam Faucett and The Tall Grass, Sound of the Mountain. Maxine’s, 8 p.m., $5. 700 Central Ave., Hot Springs. www.maxinespub.com. “After 7.” Includes open mic performances, live band, drink specials and more. Porter’s Jazz Cafe, 7 p.m. 315 Main St. 501-324-1900. www. portersjazzcafe.com. Bluesboy Jag Band. The Joint, 8:30 p.m., $5. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501-372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com. Dave Williams. The Afterthought, 8 p.m., free. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www. afterthoughtbar.com. The Derailers. 18-and-older show. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 9 p.m., $10. 107 Commerce St. 501-372-7707. www.stickyfingerz.com. Dogtown Thursday Open Mic Night. Cornerstone Pub & Grill, 8:30 p.m. 314 Main St., NLR. 501-374-1782. cstonepub.com. Eroica Trio. The Auditorium, June 21, 7:30 p.m.; June 23, 7:30 p.m., $25-$55. 36 Main St., Eureka Springs. www.theaud.org. An Evening of Artsong: Artosphere Chamber Music Series with Mikael Eliasen and Julian Arsenault. Thorncrown Chapel, 7 p.m., $10. 12968 Hwy. 62 West, Eureka Springs. Fire & Brimstone Duo. Browning’s Mexican Food, 6-9 p.m. 5805 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-6639956. www.browningsmexicangrill.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. Jason Burnett. Denton’s Trotline, 7 p.m., free. 2150 Congo Road, Benton. 501-315-1717. Jim Dickerson. Sonny Williams’ Steak Room, through June 21, 7 p.m.; through June 28, 7 p.m. 500 President Clinton Ave. 501-324-2999. www.sonnywilliamssteakroom.com. Josh Green. The Tavern Sports Grill, 8 p.m., free. 17815 Chenal Parkway. 501-830-2100. www. thetavernsportsgrill.com. Karaoke. Zack’s Place, 8 p.m. 1400 S. University Ave. 501-664-6444. www.zacks-place.com. Port Arthur Band. Parrot Beach Cafe, 9 p.m. 9611 MacArthur Drive, NLR. 771-2994. Puddin’head. Thirst n’ Howl, 7:30 p.m., free.

14710 Cantrell Road. 501-379-8189. www.thirstn-howl.com. Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 5 p.m., free. 111 Markham St. 501-374-7474. www. capitalhotel.com/CBG. Thru the Wall, Silence the Witness, More than Sparrows. Downtown Music Hall, 8 p.m., $6. 211 W. Capitol. 501-376-1819. downtownmusichall.com. Whores, The Nigh Ends. White Water Tavern, 10 p.m. 2500 W. 7th. 501-375-8400. www.whitewatertavern.com.

COMEDY

Mark Sweeney, Sid Davis, Tommy Nolan. The Loony Bin, through June 22, 8 p.m.; June 22, 10:30 p.m.; June 23, 7, 9 and 11 p.m., $7-$10. 10301 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501-228-5555. www.loonybincomedy.com.

DANCE

Summer Intensive and Dance Camp. Shuffles & Ballet II, through June 22, 9 a.m.; through June 29, 9 a.m., $150-$325. 1521 Merrill Drive. 501-223-9224. www.shufflesdancestudio.com.

EVENTS

Antique/Boutique Walk. Shopping and live entertainment. Downtown Hot Springs, third Thursday of every month, 4-8 p.m., free. 100 Central Ave., Hot Springs. Arkansas Foodbank Summer Feeding Sites. See June 20. Bobby’s Bike Hike. Group bike ride, with rentals available. River Market, 5:30 p.m., $0-$10. 400 President Clinton Ave. Brown Bag Lunch Lecture: The Cement Sculptures of Dionicio Rodriguez. Old State House Museum, 12 p.m., free. 500 Clinton Ave. 501-324-9685. www.oldstatehouse.com. Clean Energy Town Hall. The Sierra Club and Arkansas Interfaith Power and Light event to gather community input for recommendations to the Governor’s Arkansas Energy Plan. Philander Smith College, 6:30 p.m., free. 900 W. Daisy L. Gatson Bates Drive. 501-301-8280. www.sierraclub.org/coal/ar.

SPORTS

American Taekwondo Association Championship. Includes several competitions, certifications and other events. Statehouse Convention Center, through June 24, 8 a.m. 7 Statehouse Plaza. 501-568-2821. Arkansas Travelers vs. Springfield Cardinals. Dickey-Stephens Park, 7:10 p.m., $6-$12. 400 W. Broadway St., NLR. 501-664-1555. www. travs.com.

CAMPS

Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre’s The Groundlings Company. See June 20. The Youth Theatre of Central Arkansas. For students in grades 3-12. University of Central Arkansas, Snow Fine Arts Center Recital Hall, through July 13: 9 a.m.-4 p.m., $275-$300. 201 Donaghey Ave., Conway. 501-450-5092. www. uca.edu/theatre.

CLASSES

Thea summer art classes. See June 20.

FRIDAY, JUNE 22

MUSIC

Barrett Baber. The Tavern Sports Grill, 8 p.m.,

free. 17815 Chenal Parkway. 501-830-2100. www. thetavernsportsgrill.com. Big John Miller (headliner), Ashley McBryde (happy hour). Cajun’s Wharf, 5 and 9 p.m., $5 after 8:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-3755351. www.cajunswharf.com. Bluesboy Jag and His Cigar Box Guitars. Dogtown Coffee and Cookery, 6 p.m., free. 6725 John F. Kennedy Blvd., NLR. 501-833-3850. www.facebook.com/pages/Dogtown-Coffeeand-Cookery. Brian Nahlen. Flying Saucer, 9 p.m., $3. 323 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-8032. www. beerknurd.com/stores/littlerock. DJ Silky Slim. Top 40 and dance music. Sway, 9 p.m., $5. 412 Louisiana. 501-907-2582. Ed Burks. Sonny Williams’ Steak Room, June 22-23, 7 p.m. 500 President Clinton Ave. 501324-2999. www.sonnywilliamssteakroom.com. Eroica Trio. The Grand Central Hotel & Spa, 2 p.m., $20. 37 N. Main St., Eureka Springs. 479253-6756. www.theaud.org. “The Flow Fridays.” Twelve Modern Lounge, 8 p.m. 1900 W. Third St. Goldy Locks. West End Smokehouse and Tavern, June 22; June 23. 215 N. Shackleford. 501-224-7665. www.westendsmokehouse.net. Lost in the Trees, Daytona. Art Church Studio, $10. 601 Whittington Ave., Hot Springs. 501282-9056. valleyofthevapors.com. Lydia Can’t Breathe, Jessica 7, Indie Bullshit, T3. Vino’s, 9 p.m., $7. 923 W. 7th St. 501-3758466. www.vinosbrewpub.com. Mr. Lucky. Shooter’s Sports Bar & Grill, 9 p.m., $5. 9500 I-30. 501-565-4003. www.shooterslittlerock.com. A Night for Jett. Featuring a number of local bands paying tribute to James “Jett” Talbert, a White Water Tavern regular for more than 40 years, who passed away recently. White Water Tavern, 10 p.m. 2500 W. 7th. 501-375-8400. www. whitewatertavern.com. Raising Grey. Denton’s Trotline, 9 p.m., $6. 2150 Congo Road, Benton. 501-315-1717. RipStar. Cornerstone Pub & Grill, 9 p.m. 314 Main St., NLR. 501-374-1782. cstonepub.com. Split Lip Rayfield, The Goddamn Gallows. Maxine’s, 8 p.m., $10 adv., $12 door. 700 Central Ave., Hot Springs. www.maxinespub.com. Summer School featuring Mass Destruction. 18-and-older show, with MC Leo, Kreepa MC, Michael Shane, SpencerRx, Cheetah, Explicit. Revolution, 9 p.m. 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. Thread. Thirst n’ Howl, 9 p.m., free. 14710 Cantrell Road. 501-379-8189. www.thirst-n-howl.com. Weakness for Blondes, FreeVerse. 18-andolder show. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 9:30 p.m., $7. 107 Commerce St. 501-372-7707. www.stickyfingerz.com. William Staggers. The Afterthought, 9 p.m., $7. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www. afterthoughtbar.com. “YOLO.” Featuring four DJs and beach volleyball, 18-and-older. Flying DD, $5. 4601 S. University. 501-773-9990. flyingdd.com.

COMEDY

The Main Thing. Sketch comedy show. The Joint, 8 p.m., $20. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501-372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com. Mark Sweeney, Sid Davis, Tommy Nolan. The Loony Bin, through June 22, 8 p.m.; June 22,

10:30 p.m.; June 23, 7, 9 and 11 p.m., $7-$10. 10301 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501-228-5555. www.loonybincomedy.com.

DANCE

Summer Intensive and Dance Camp. Shuffles & Ballet II, through June 22, 9 a.m.; through June 29, 9 a.m., $150-$325. 1521 Merrill Drive. 501-223-9224. www.shufflesdancestudio.com.

EVENTS

Arkansas Foodbank Summer Feeding Sites. See June 20. Food Truck Fridays. Three food trucks on the corner of Main Street and Capitol Avenue. Main Street, Little Rock, 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Main St. 501-375-0121. LGBTQ/SGL Youth and Young Adult Group. 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. 800 Scott St., 6:30 p.m. 800 Scott St. Zoo Story Time. Little Rock Zoo, through Aug. 31: 10 a.m. 1 Jonesboro Dr. 501-666-2406. www. littlerockzoo.com.

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POETRY

“Graffiti Me” spoken word and poetry night. Open mic event featuring Foreign Tongues poetry group, JBoog, Rigsby St. Claire, Drekkia Writes, Sensear Dialect, HeavenLee and more, hosted by Osyrus Bolly. Restaurant 1620, 10 p.m., $7. 1620 Market St. 501-612-3937. www.1620restaurant.com.

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CAMPS

CLASSES

Thea summer art classes. See June 20.

SATURDAY, JUNE 23

MUSIC

Almost Infamous. The Tavern Sports Grill, 8 p.m., free. 17815 Chenal Parkway. 501-830-2100. www. thetavernsportsgrill.com. Bombay Black (album release). Shooter’s Sports Bar & Grill, 9 p.m., $5. 9500 I-30. 501-565-4003. www.shooterslittlerock.com. Chris Henry. Flying Saucer, 9 p.m., $3. 323 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-8032. www. beerknurd.com/stores/littlerock. Ed Burks. Sonny Williams’ Steak Room, 7 p.m. 500 President Clinton Ave. 501-324-2999. www. sonnywilliamssteakroom.com. Eroica Trio. The Auditorium, 7:30 p.m., $25-$55. 36 Main St., Eureka Springs. www.theaud.org. Fire & Brimstone Music Duo. Rod’s Pizza Cellar, 7 p.m., free. 3350 Central Ave., Hot Springs. 501321-2313. www.rodspizzacellar.com. Goldy Locks. West End Smokehouse and Tavern. 215 N. Shackleford. 501-224-7665. www. westendsmokehouse.net. Handmade Moments, Chuck Dodson Trio, Miquel Mickey Holmes. Maxine’s, 7 p.m., $5 adv., $7 door. 700 Central Ave., Hot Springs. CONTINUED ON PAGE 26

www.arktimes.com

JUNE 20, 2012

ART NOTES

‘KIM’: Perrott portrait from 1992, Meadowlands, N.J.

Tattoos for you Mark Perrott’s photographs, tat artists’ paintings, at AAC. BY LESLIE NEWELL PEACOCK

espite the fact that I don’t want to see one on my daughter, I appreciate the fact that tattoos are a genuine art form, and photographs of them yet another. Hence, the Arkansas Arts Center’s “Tattoo Witness: Photographs by Mark Perrott,” 25 large-scale portraits of men and women and their tattoos, is likely to be a show even the anti-tat crowd will want to see when it opens Friday, June 22. Perrott has been making portraits since 1979, first at Nick’s Island Avenue Tattoo parlor in Pittsburgh and later in tattoo parlors and conventions across the country. His career coincided with the rise in popularity among people across society — not just sailors — of the tattoo and serves to document its renaissance. The exhibition, from the Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg, Penn., features 44-inch-by-44-inch black and white portraits the photographer made between 1995 and 2004 at the studios of 10 mid-career tattoo masters. On the eve of the exhibit, June 21, Dr. Michael Atkinson, a sociology professor at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, and author of “Tattooed: The Sociogenesis of Body Art,” will give a lecture at the Arts Center on the change in tattoo culture in the past decade. Reception is at 5:30 p.m. and the lecture is at 6 p.m.; admission is $5 (free to Arts Center members). The Arts Center has fielded some calls from people concerned that the 26

JUNE 20, 2012

ARKANSAS TIMES

exhibit might be seen as an inducement to get a tattoo. You won’t be able to get a tattoo at the Arts Center — or at least, not a real one. You will be able to get a fake tattoo. The Arts Center does not endorse the practice; the exhibit is about the art of photography as much as the art of the tattoo. Perrott’s photographs are black and white, putting the emphasis on line, portraiture and photographic technique. Adding color to the show are Arkansas tattoo artists Robert Berry, Richard Moore, Caleb Pritchett, Chris Thomas, Brooke and Ryan Cook, Nancy Miller and Scott Diffee (photographs online at arktimes.com/tattoos), who were commissioned to paint murals — but that’s not really a tattoo, either. To see true body art, ink on skin, artists will also give live demonstrations at the Arts Center from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. June 24 (Golden Lotus Tattoo Studio), July 15 (Lucky Bella), Aug. 5 (7th Street Tattoo) and Aug. 26 (Electric Heart Tattoo). Docents will lead free tours of the exhibit at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. Saturdays and 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. Sundays until the show goes down Sept. 9. The Arts Center hopes also to present skin flicks — that is, videos created by Arkansans telling the stories behind their tattoos — in the Arkansas Tattoo Witness Corner. Videos will be accepted throughout the run of the show; they should be limited to 3 minutes. You can upload the videos at the Arts Center website, www. arkarts.com.

AFTER DARK, CONT. www.maxinespub.com. Hinder. Magic Springs’ Timberwood Amphitheater, 7:30 p.m., $30-$65. 1701 E. Grand Ave., Hot Springs. Indie Music Night Hip-Hop Showcase. Downtown Music Hall, 9 p.m. 211 W. Capitol. 501-376-1819. downtownmusichall.com. Interstate Buffalo (album release). The Afterthought, 9 p.m., $7. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www.afterthoughtbar.com. Jason Campbell & Singletree. Denton’s Trotline, 9 p.m. 2150 Congo Road, Benton. 501-3151717. Karaoke at Khalil’s. Khalil’s Pub, 7 p.m. 110 S. Shackleford Road. 501-224-0224. www.khalilspub.com. Karaoke. Casa Mexicana, 7 p.m. 6929 JFK Blvd., NLR. 501-835-7876. “KISS Saturdays” with DJs Deja Blu, Greyhound and Silky Slim. Sway, 10 p.m. 412 Louisiana. 501-907-2582. Knox Hamilton. A CD release party. Revolution, 9 p.m. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-823-0090. revroom.com. Montgomery Trucking. White Water Tavern, 10 p.m., $5. 2500 W. 7th. 501-375-8400. www. whitewatertavern.com. Mother Hubbard & The Regulators. Cornerstone Pub & Grill, 9 p.m. 314 Main St., NLR. 501-374-1782. cstonepub.com. Pickin’ Porch at the Library. Faulkner County Library, through Aug. 4: 9:30 a.m., free. 1900 Tyler St., Conway. 501-327-7482. www.fcl.org. Rip Van Shizzle. Thirst n’ Howl, 9 p.m., free. 14710 Cantrell Road. 501-379-8189. www.thirstn-howl.com. Saturday night at Discovery. Featuring DJs, dancers and more. Discovery Nightclub, 9 p.m., $10. 1021 Jessie Road. 501-664-4784. www. latenightdisco.com. Songwriters Showcase. Parrot Beach Cafe, 2-7 p.m., free. 9611 MacArthur Drive, NLR. 771-2994. Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 9 p.m., free. 111 Markham St. 501-374-7474. www.capitalhotel.com/CBG. Turnpike Troubadours, John D. Hale. 18-andolder show. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 9 p.m. 107 Commerce St. 501-372-7707. www. stickyfingerz.com. White Noise Theory (headliner), Brian & Nick (happy hour). Cajun’s Wharf, 5 and 9 p.m., $5 after 8:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-3755351. www.cajunswharf.com.

COMEDY

DANCE

Little Rock West Coast Dance Club. Dance lessons. Singles welcome. Ernie Biggs, 7 p.m., $2. 307 Clinton Ave. 501-247-5240. www. arstreetswing.com.

EVENTS

Argenta Farmers Market. Argenta, 7 a.m.-12 p.m. Main Street, NLR. Arkansas River cleanup. Includes breakfast food and cleanup supplies. Murray Park, 8 a.m. Rebsamen Park Road. 215-642-0692. www.unitedbyblue.com/cleanup/littlerock. Breakfast with Giraffes. Little Rock Zoo, 8 a.m., $13-$22. 1 Jonesboro Dr. 501-666-2406. www. littlerockzoo.com. Falun Gong meditation. Allsopp Park, 9 a.m., free. Cantrell & Cedar Hill Roads.

Hillcrest Farmers Market. Pulaski Heights Baptist Church, 7 a.m.-12 p.m. 2200 Kavanaugh Blvd. Little Rock Farmers’ Market. River Market Pavilions, through Oct. 27: 7 a.m.-3 p.m. 400 President Clinton Ave. 501-375-2552. rivermarket.info. Super Summer Saturdays. Free family event celebrating baseball. Clinton Presidential Center, through Aug. 11: 10 a.m., free. 1200 President Clinton Ave. 370-8000. www.clintonpresidentialcenter.org.

SPORTS

American Taekwondo Association World Ceremony. Verizon Arena, 7 p.m., $24-$54. 1 Alltel Arena Way, NLR. 501-975-9001. verizonarena.com. “Fight for the Troops” MMA event. Clear Channel Metroplex, 7 p.m., $20-$64. 10800 Col. Glenn Road. 501-217-5113. www.clearchannelmetroplex.com. Soul Spirit Zumba with Ashan. Soul Spirit Zumba fuses Latin rhythms with soulful inspirational music. Canvas Community Art Gallery, 9:30-10:30 a.m., $5. 1111 W. 7th St. 501-4140368.

CLASSES

Appealing Appetizers with Mary Twedt. Mary Twedt leads a beginner’s class. Winthrop Rockefeller Institute, 10 a.m. p.m., $80. 1 Rockefeller Drive, Morrilton. 501-727-5435. www.livethelegacy.org. Thea summer art classes. See June 20. Visual Journals. High school students and adults learn about surface techniques such as image transfer, additive and subtractive image making and applied finished to create their own books. Artchurch Studio, June 23, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; June 24, 1-5 p.m., $100. 301 Whittington Ave., Hot Springs. 501-318-6779. www.artchurch.org.

SUNDAY, JUNE 24

MUSIC

Gorilla Music Battle of the Bands. Downtown Music Hall, 4 p.m. 211 W. Capitol. 501-376-1819. downtownmusichall.com. Sunday Jazz Brunch with Ted Ludwig and Joe Cripps. Vieux Carre, 11 a.m. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www.vieuxcarrecafe.com. Unknown Hinson. Juanita’s, 8:30 p.m., $18 adv., $20 day of. 614 President Clinton Ave. 501-3721228. www.juanitas.com.

EVENTS

Bernice Garden Farmers’ Market. The Bernice Garden, through Oct. 14: 10 a.m.-2 p.m. 1401 S. Main St. 501-617-2511. www.thebernicegarden.org. Gallery Talk: Charlotta Kotik. Kotik, guest curator for the 11th National Drawing Invitational: New York, Singular Drawings exhibition and curator emerita at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, will lead a gallery talk. Arkansas Arts Center, 2 p.m., free. 501 E. 9th St. 501-372-4000. www. arkarts.com. Tattoo Artist Demonstration. In conjunction with the exhibition “Tattoo Witness: Photographs by Mark Perrott,” tattoo artist Chris Thomas from Golden Lotus will demonstrate his art on a living canvas. Arkansas Arts Center, 2 p.m., free. 501 E. 9th St. 501-372-4000. www.arkarts.com.

CLASSES

Thea summer art classes. See June 20.

MONDAY, JUNE 25

MUSIC

Hot Springs Concert Band. Whittington Park, 7

AFTER DARK, CONT. p.m., free. Whittington Ave., Hot Springs. 501984-1678. www.hotspringsband.com. Irish Traditional Music Session. Khalil’s Pub, Fourth and second Monday of every month, 7 p.m. 110 S. Shackleford Road. 501-224-0224. www.khalilspub.com. Karaoke. Thirst n’ Howl, 8:30 p.m. 14710 Cantrell Road. 501-379-8189. www.thirst-n-howl.com. Michael Underwood. The Afterthought, 8 p.m., free. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www. afterthoughtbar.com. Reggae Nites. Featuring DJ Hy-C playing roots, reggae and dancehall. Pleazures Martini and Grill Lounge, 6 p.m., $7-$10. 1318 Main St. 501-376-7777. www.facebook.com/pleazures. bargrill. Richie Johnson. Cajun’s Wharf, 5 and 9 p.m., $5 after 8:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-3755351. www.cajunswharf.com. Touch, Grateful Dead Tribute. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 8 p.m., $5. 107 Commerce St. 501-372-7707. www.stickyfingerz.com.

tavern.com. Jeff Long. Khalil’s Pub, 6 p.m. 110 S. Shackleford Road. 501-224-0224. www.khalilspub.com. Jim Dickerson. Sonny Williams’ Steak Room, through June 28, 7 p.m. 500 President Clinton Ave. 501-324-2999. www.sonnywilliamssteakroom.com. Karaoke Night. Cornerstone Pub & Grill, 8 p.m. 314 Main St., NLR. 501-374-1782. cstonepub. com. Karaoke Tuesday. Prost, 8 p.m., free. 322 President Clinton Blvd. 501-244-9550. Karaoke with Big John Miller. Denton’s Trotline, 8 p.m. 2150 Congo Road, Benton. 501-3151717. Lucious Spiller Band. Copeland’s, 6-9 p.m. 2602 S. Shackleford Road. 501-312-1616. www.copelandsofneworleans.com.

DANCE

Ricky David Tripp. Rocket Twenty One, 5:30 p.m. 2601 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-603-9208. www. ferneaurestaurant.com. Scott H. Biram, Lydia Loveless. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 7 p.m., $8 adv., $10 day of. 107 Commerce St. 501-372-7707. www. stickyfingerz.com. Top of the Rock Chorus rehearsal. Cornerstone Bible Fellowship Church, 7-10 p.m. 7351 Warden Road, Sherwood. 501-231-1119. www. topoftherockchorus.org. Tuesday Jam Session with Carl Mouton. The Afterthought, 8 p.m., free. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www.afterthoughtbar.com. Tuesday Night Jazz/Blues Jam. The Joint, 8 p.m. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501-372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com. Whitechapel, Seamless, The Battle Within.

Downtown Music Hall, 7 p.m., $14 adv., $16 day of. 211 W. Capitol. 501-376-1819. downtownmusichall.com.

DANCE

“Latin Night.” Revolution, 7 p.m., $5 regular, $7 under 21. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-8230090. www.revroom.com. Summer Intensive and Dance Camp. Shuffles & Ballet II, through June 29, 9 a.m., $150-$325. 1521 Merrill Drive. 501-223-9224. www.shufflesdancestudio.com.

EVENTS

Arkansas Foodbank Summer Feeding Sites. See June 20. Little Rock Farmers’ Market. River Market CONTINUED ON PAGE 30

TOAD SUCK COON SUPPER WAR EAGLE KING BISCUIT FIRST SECURITY

Summer Intensive and Dance Camp. Shuffles & Ballet II, through June 29, 9 a.m., $150-$325. 1521 Merrill Drive. 501-223-9224. www.shufflesdancestudio.com.

EVENTS

Arkansas Foodbank Summer Feeding Sites. See June 20. Video game tournament. Downtown Music Hall, 6 p.m. 211 W. Capitol. 501-376-1819. downtownmusichall.com.

SPORTS

Salvation Army Scholarship Golf Tournament. Four-person scramble, with 10:30 a.m. registration. Fees include lunch, soft drinks, bottled water, entry for door prizes and more. Burns Park, 12:30 p.m., $115 (individual), $400 (team of four). 2700 Willow St., NLR. 501-374-9296, ext. 110. Walmart NW Arkansas Championship. Pinnacle Country Club, -July 1, $25 daily, $50 weeklong pass. 3 Clubhouse Drive, Rogers. 479-715-6100. www.nwachampionship.com.

CAMPS

Hoop Dreams Youth Basketball Camp. Arkansas School for the Deaf, June 25-29, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., $52. 2400 W. Markham St. 501-3249543. www.arschoolforthedeaf.org‎. The Youth Theatre of Central Arkansas. For students in grades 3-12. University of Central Arkansas, Snow Fine Arts Center Recital Hall, through July 13: 9 a.m.-4 p.m., $275-$300. 201 Donaghey Ave., Conway. 501-450-5092. www. uca.edu/theatre. WILDKids Play!. Camp for ages 8-10 focuses on theatrical arts. Wildwood Park for the Performing Arts, June 25-29, 9 a.m.-12 p.m., $140-$150. 20919 Denny Road.

CLASSES

Thea summer art classes. See June 20.

TUESDAY, JUNE 26

MUSIC

AETN Presents: On the Front Row with Don’t Stop Please. RSVP at www.aetn.org/rsvp and arrive by 6:30 p.m. AETN Atrium, 7 p.m., free. 350 S. Donaghey, Conway. 501-682-4131. Brian & Nick. Cajun’s Wharf, 5 and 9 p.m., $5 after 8:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-3755351. www.cajunswharf.com. Brian Martin. Maxine’s, 8 p.m., free. 700 Central Ave., Hot Springs. www.maxinespub.com. The Funkanites. White Water Tavern, 10 p.m. 2500 W. 7th. 501-375-8400. www.whitewater-

Life in Arkansas is unique. That’s one of the reasons why we love it here – and why we have no desire to go anywhere else. We’ve done a lot of growing in our past 80 years, and we’re glad it’s all been inside our borders. It’s how our family-owned bank likes doing business. And our customers seem to think it’s one of the many reasons why banking with us is better. Member FDIC

Bank Better. fsbank.com www.arktimes.com

JUNE 20, 2012

MOVIE LISTINGS

JUNE 22-23

SERIOUSLY?: “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” is an actual thing, starring this guy, Benjamin Walker? Why not “Socrates: Zombie Killer” or “Charles de Gaulle: Unicorn Trainer” or “Confucius: Sasquatch Wrangler”? Market Street Cinema times at or after 9 p.m. are for Friday and Saturday only. Rave showtimes are valid for Friday and Saturday only. Movies 10 showings were not available as of press deadline. Find up-to-date listings at arktimes.com. NEW MOVIES Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (R) – Pretty much what it sounds like, from producer Tim Burton and director Timur Bekmambetov. Breckenridge: 11:40 a.m., 10:10 (2D), 2:05, 4:40, 7:40 (3D). Chenal 9: 10:30 a.m., 1:30, 7:30 (2D), 4:30, 10:30 (3D). Lakewood 8: 11:00 a.m., 4:20 (2D), 1:25, 7:30, 10:00 (3D). Rave: 10:45 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1:45, 2:15, 4:50, 7:30, 10:15 (2D), 10:00 a.m., 1:15, 4:00, 6:45, 9:25, midnight (3D), 5:30, 8:15, 11:00 (3D Xtreme). Riverdale: 8:20 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 1:35, 4:00, 6:30, 9:10. Bel Ami (R) – In which the dude from “Twilight” is some kind of rakish rapscallion who gets everyone’s bloomer’s in a tizzy in 1890s Paris, with Uma Thurman. Market Street: 2:00, 4:20, 7:15, 9:15. Brave (PG) – Animated fantasy tale of a Celtictype girl who must save her kingdom from something or other. Breckenridge: noon, 2:30, 5:00, 7:30 (2D), 11:30 a.m., 2:00, 4:30, 7:00, 9:30 (3D). Chenal 9: 1:15, 7:15, 10:15 (2D), 10:15 a.m., 4:15 (3D). Lakewood 8: 11:15 a.m., 4:05 (2D), 1:45, 7:00, 9:25 (3D). Rave: 10:00 a.m. 12:45, 3:30, 4:25, 6:15, 7:00, 8:45, 9:30, 11:20, midnight (2D), 11:15 a.m., 2:00, 5:00, 7:45, 10:30 (3D), 9:30 a.m., 12:10, 2:45 (3D Xtreme). Riverdale: 8:05 a.m., 10:15 a.m., 12:25, 2:35, 4:45, 7:00, 9:05. Girl In Progress (PG-13) – Touching comingof-age tale, with Eva Mendes and Matthew Modine. Market Street: 2:15, 4:15, 7:00, 9:00. Riverdale: 8:35 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 1:10, 3:20, 5:30, 7:50, 9:55. Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (R) – Ever wondered what Steve Carrell and Keira Knightley would do if they knew the world was about to end? Breckenridge: 12:10, 4:05, 7:15, 9:45. Rave: 11:45 A.M., 2:30, 5:15, 8:00, 10:45, midnight. Riverdale: 8:25 a.m., 10:45 a.m., 1:00, 3:15, 5:30, 7:45, 10:00.

JUNE 20, 2012

ARKANSAS TIMES

RETURNING THIS WEEK Avengers (PG-13) – Based on the Marvel Comics superhero series. Breckenridge: 12:40, 4:45, 7:50. Rave: 12:40, 7:40 (2D), 9:30 a.m., 4:00, 11:05 (3D). Riverdale: 6:15, 9:45. Battleship (PG-13) – Action adventure film starring Rihanna, whose Battleship many people would no doubt like to sink. Rave: 8:05 p.m., 11:45. Bernie (PG-13) – Based on a murder in smalltown Texas, starring Jack Black, Matthew McConaughey and Richard Linklater. Market Street: 2:00, 4:15, 7:00, 9:15. Riverdale: 8:35 a.m., 11:20 a.m., 2:00. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (PG-13) – British senior citizens go to India and learn about poor people and that it’s OK to eat weird stuff and it’s all very heartwarming. Market Street: 1:45, 4:15, 6:45, 9:15. Rave: 10:55 a.m., 1:55, 4:55. Riverdale: 8:30 a.m., 11:15 a.m., 1:55, 4:35, 7:15, 9:50. The Dictator (R) – Sacha Baron Cohen is a dictator from a fictional foreign country and he has a funny accent and so forth. Rave: 10:40 p.m. Hysteria (R) – Victorian-era comedy about the importance of vibrators, with Maggie Gyllenhaal and Hugh Dancy. Market Street: 1:45, 6:45. Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (PG) – The Dreamworks franchise rolls on, with Chris Rock, Ben Stiller and other people who make stupid amounts of money as talking animals. Breckenridge: 12:15, 2:40, 5:10, 7:35, 9:50 (2D), 11:45 a.m., 2:10, 4:20, 7:10, 9:25 (3D). Lakewood 8: 11:30 a.m., 2:05, 4:40, 7:25, 9:35. Rave 11:40 a.m., 2:10, 4:45, 7:10, 9:40 (2D), 9:35 a.m., 12:30, 3:10, 5:40, 8:10 (3D). Riverdale: 8:25 a.m., 10:40 a.m., 12:55, 3:05, 5:20, 7:25, 9:40. Men in Black 3 (PG-13) – This go-round, they’ve got to travel backwards in time or something. Breckenridge: 12:35, 4:35, 7:45, 10:15. Lakewood 8: 11:25 a.m., 2:00, 4:25, 7:20, 9:40. Rave: 1:30, 7:15 (2D), 11:00 a.m., 4:15, 9:50 (3D). Peace, Love & Misunderstanding (R) – Jane Fonda as an old hippie whose brute-force quirkiness offers a charming, obligatory counterpoint to her family’s modern-day uptightness. Market Street: 4:00, 9:00. Prometheus (R) – Shiny sci-fi from Ridley Scott.

Supposed to be an “Alien” prequel. Lakewood 8: 11:10 a.m., 1:55, 4:35, 7:15, 9:55. Rave: 10:35 a.m., 1:35, 4:35, 7:35, 10:35 (2D), 11:35 a.m., 2:35, 5:35, 8:35, 11:35 (3D). Riverdale: 8:10 a.m., 10:50 a.m., 1:30, 4:15, 6:55, 9:35. Rock of Ages (PG-13) – Two hours of Ol’ Middletooth doing butt-rock karaoke sounds just slightly less appealing than a gunshot wound to the crotch. Also starring Alec Baldwin. Lakewood 8: 11:05 a.m., 1:40, 4:15, 7:10, 9:50. Rave: 10:20 a.m., 11:20 a.m., 2:20, 4:20, 5:20, 7:20, 8:20, 11:15. Riverdale: 8:05 a.m., 10:55 a.m., 1:50, 4:45, 7:30, 10:10. Snow White and the Huntsman (PG-13) – Dark and foreboding Snow White reboot No. 2 for the year, this time with Kristen Stewart and Charlize Theron. Breckenridge: 12:20, 4:10, 7:05, 9:55. Lakewood 8: 11:00 a.m., 1:40, 4:20, 7:05, 9:45. Rave: 10:10 a.m., 1:10, 4:25, 7:25, 10:25. That’s My Boy (R) – Proof that Andy Samberg made a deal with the devil, who happens to be Adam Sandler. Breckenridge: 12:35 (open captioned), 3:50, 7:05, 9:40. Lakewood 8: 11:20 a.m., 1:50, 4:30, 7:35, 10:05. Rave: 9:40 a.m., 12:25, 1:20, 3:15, 5:55, 8:40, 10:15, 11:30. Riverdale: 6:50, 9:30. What to Expect When You’re Expecting (PG13) – Film mines bestselling pregnancy book for attempt at comedy. If that’s what you were expecting, you were right. Breckenridge: 10:00 p.m. Chenal 9 IMAX Theatre: 17825 Chenal Parkway, 821-2616, www.dtmovies.com. Cinemark Movies 10: 4188 E. McCain Blvd., 945-7400, www.cinemark.com. Cinematown Riverdale 10: Riverdale Shopping Center, 296-9955, www.riverdale10.com. Lakewood 8: 2939 Lakewood Village Drive, 7585354, www.fandango.com. Market Street Cinema: 1521 Merrill Drive, 312-8900, www.marketstreetcinema.net. Rave Colonel Glenn 18: 18 Colonel Glenn Plaza, 687-0499, www.ravemotionpictures.com. Regal Breckenridge Village 12: 1-430 and Rodney Parham, 224-0990, www.fandango.com.

MOVIE REVIEW

Where the Mississippi River meets the River Thames

‘THAT’S MY BOY’: Andy Samberg and Adam Sandler star.

If you aren’t a 14-year-old boy, avoid ‘That’s My Boy’ revives tired Sandler formula. BY SAM EIFLING

he first few minutes of “That’s My Boy,” the latest middle-finger to the world from Adam Sandler, do not contain Sandler and are actually pretty funny. An adolescent by the name of Donny Berger, clutching a pair of Van Halen tickets, screws up the nerve to proposition his teacher, the bombshellicious Mrs. McGarricle. That leads to detention, but detention leads to a hotfor-teacher affair of pure, blissful corruption that is exposed, of course, when a curtain rises at a school assembly to find Donny humping the bejeezus out of Mrs. McGarricle on a piano. While she gets pregnant and a 30-year prison term for her troubles, the media maelstrom propels Donny to bad-boy teen-idol fame unprecedented for a single father who can’t drive. We fast-forward to present-day Donny, played with alternate doses of obnoxiousness and borderline pathos by Sandler. He hasn’t paid 20 years of taxes and needs to scrounge up a slab of cash over a weekend to avoid prison. His last hope is to reach out to his estranged but highly successful son, the former Han Solo Berger, played by recent “Saturday Night Live” emigre Andy Samberg. The son, resentful about his crappy childhood, now goes by the assumed name Todd and tells everyone his folks died in an explosion years ago. But as it happens, he’s getting married to a shrill WASP during the very weekend his father is in gold-digging mode, and all at the lavish beachside estate of the son’s plutocratic boss (Tony Orlando). When Donny crashes the party, here come hijinks! That’s probably about as far as Sandler bothered to formulate this comedic open sewer when he pitched it, and why think ahead any further? The tatters of a plot are just an excuse for Sandler to crack beer after beer after beer (always mugging the labels for the camera; Sandler’s movies all double as product-placement infomercials) and climb into hot tubs

with bikini babes and make an array of scatological jokes and on and on. He leaves no orifice unplumbed, no fluid unsplattered. Most of the humor seems aimed at blowing a 14-year-old’s mind that someone could get away with putting X into a movie. Lots of drinking, fighting, masturbating, urinating, incest, profanity, strip-clubbing and general horndoggery. Vanilla Ice shows up to pee on himself. Once in a while, you chuckle, and there is, believe it or not, some genuine heart in the reconciliation of father and son. But most of what might’ve been considered jokes are neither funny nor very jokey. When you leave the theater, you look at the floor, hoping no one recognizes you for at least a 10-block radius. If this is Samberg’s intended launchpad into name-above-the-title features, we should all pray for an epiphany to strike him and for him to retreat to a Trappist monastery. The past 30 years of Hollywood comedies are already greased with the remains of former “SNL” talents, and Samberg is funny enough in other media. Like Sandler’s before him, Samberg’s humor veers toward the musical and toward the endearingly ridiculous, and it can be done with originality — see his Lonely Island music video shorts. He needn’t stoop to earning zillions of dollars this way. Samberg plays Todd as a compliant wimp with a reserve of repressed anger; as in so many comedies geared toward teen-aged boys who spend their lives taking orders from mothers and teachers, he’s bossed around by his bride-to-be and finally gets sick of taking it. But of course he does — this is a Sandler flick, in which the image of rebellion and independence falls precisely in line with how a 10th-grader imagines he wants to live one day, drinking cheap American lager and staring at cleavage. Kids, you’re being had. And for Samberg, there’s still time not to become the next Adam Sandler. One is more than enough.

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JUNE 20, 2012

COMEDY REVIEW

Dave Chappelle

Robinson Center Music Hall, June 13 BY LINDSEY MILLAR

“C

ome back, Dave!” someone hollered on Wednesday to comedian Dave Chappelle, who’s spent much of the last seven years not telling jokes in public. “I kind of am back,” he said to the near-capacity audience at Robinson Center Music Hall, the night after playing to a sold out show at the Orpheum theater in Memphis, his first ticketed theater gigs in years. “Tonight I’m back.” Back because he wanted to road test some material before launching a new tour? Back because he was going stir crazy on his ranch in Ohio? Back to gear up for a new version of “Chappelle’s Show,” the massively popular skit show he quit abruptly in 2005? Your guess is as good as mine. But don’t look for material from his Little Rock show on an HBO special anytime soon. “Honesty” would be the theme of the night, he told us soon after taking the stage around 8:40 p.m., after two openers and a long intermission. That turned out to be a lie. There wasn’t a theme. Or many jokes to speak of. After the first 20 minutes or so — and possibly for the entire show — the lanky (but now chiseled) comedian was clearly winging it. He riffed on rap lyrics too filthy to print even in this smut-slinging rag (turns out Dave Chappelle, intoning the lyrics to Tyga’s “Rack City” in the voice of Martin Luther King Jr., is comedy gold). He explained his absence from public life by saying he’d been traveling: across the country, including a stop at the Central High Museum, on his motorcycle; to China, and across time. Riffs started strong (“I was in China to pitch a TV show ... I was confident it would work. It was called ‘The Cosby Show’ ”), but often died on the vine. He still got laughs. He went quiet often, less like he was trying to gather himself than like he was trying to figure out a problem. He filled those pregnant pauses by chain smoking. He sighed. In the past, Chappelle hasn’t handled hecklers well. Before the Little Rock show, the DJ asked the crowd not to heckle. But there was too much dead space. So much that it was surely by design. Maybe Chappelle is coming back, and he’s trying to steel himself for a comeback tour. But while the crowd not surprisingly yelled out a lot of stupid things — “Free Bird!”, “pancakes!”, “diarrhea!” — it also set-up the best moments of the night. Like when someone yelled out, “I’m you, Dave!” “You mean spiritually or literally?” Chappelle asked. “Everyone tells me I look you!” So Chappelle asked the guy, Joe, to come onstage, and sure enough, he could probably fool people as a celebrity impersonators. Which led into perhaps his fun30

JUNE 20, 2012

ARKANSAS TIMES

niest riff of the night, something too dirty and too reliant on timing and Chappelle’s voice to ever convey here. Later, someone else yelled out, “Tell my cousin I said hello.” “Who’s your cousin?” Chappelle asked. “Maya Angelou.” “Maya Angelou is not your cousin,” Chappelle said, continuing as the woman protested. “You tell my cousin I said hello. His name is Frederick Douglass. He’s one of my time traveling buddies. Last time I seen Frederick Douglass he was in Denver, he had a high-top fade.” After a long pause, he asked. “You promise me Maya Angelou is your cousin?” But the woman was gone. “She left?” Chappelle asked incredulously. “She might’ve been telling the truth. That made me real paranoid.” Which led into an unprintably hilarious riff about Maya Angelou calling to scold him. Later, someone asked Chappelle to follow him on Twitter. His Twitter handle was Wizkidkilla. Chappelle did a dramatic reading of the recent tweets of Wizkidkilla while world-famous harmonica player Fred Yonnet played a blues number. During one pregnant pause, a few people started to call the Hogs, immediately drawing jeers from the crowd. But Chappelle heard it, and said, “Ladies and gentleman, I’ve done a million shows in my life. I’ve never heard a crowd make that noise before.” Which inspired him to film the crowd and himself (“that way we can get more hits”) on his phone for YouTube (“I’m back, baby. I’m going to be a YouTube star.”). Not since I was on a fifth grade school trip to New York and someone started to call the Hogs in the Statue of Liberty have I felt more ashamed and compelled to participate at the same time. The show meandered. Because of all of his time traveling, Chappelle said he can’t gauge time as it happens. Late in the set, he said he was working on a big show for the London Olympics. He said he might time travel to do “Half Baked” over. He said, “Honestly, really, I need you guys.” He said he’d be in the streets of Little Rock, but maybe as his avatar, Joe. He said, “Everything I say is the truth. And that is a lie. And that is the truth! These types of paradoxes are what keep us fastened to the present. If not for them, we’d all be time traveling.”

AFTER DARK, CONT. Pavilions, through Oct. 27: 7 a.m.-3 p.m. 400 President Clinton Ave. 501-375-2552. rivermarket.info. Science Cafe. Panelists will discuss the benefits, cultivation, economics and sustainability of bees, trees and mushrooms. The Afterthought, 7 p.m., free. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-6631196. www.sciencecafelr.com. Tales from the South. Authors tell true stories; schedule available on website. Dinner served 5-6:30 p.m., show at 7 p.m. Call for reservations. Starving Artist Cafe, 5 p.m. 411 N. Main St., NLR. 501-372-7976. www.starvingartistcafe.net. “Voluntary Simplicity.” Discussion course hosted by the Ecumenical Buddhist Society of Little Rock. Ecumenical Buddhist Society, June 26, 7:15 p.m.; July 10, 7:15 p.m.; July 17, 7:15 p.m.; July 24, 7:15 p.m., $35. 1015 W. 2nd St. 501-376-7056. arkansasearth.org/2011/voluntary-simplicity. Wiggle Worms: “Local Foods Local Foods with Argenta Market.” Museum of Discovery, 10 a.m., $8-$10, free for members. 500 Clinton Ave. 396-7050, 1-800-880-6475. www.amod.org.

BOOKS

Meet the Author Series: Jane Hankins. Artist and author Jane F. Hankins will read from her new novel, “Madge’s Mobile Home Park.” Laman Library, 6 p.m. 2801 Orange St., NLR. 501-758-1720. www.lamanlibrary.org.

CAMPS

Hoop Dreams Youth Basketball Camp. Arkansas School for the Deaf, through June 29, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., $52. 2400 W. Markham St. 501-324-9543. www.arschoolforthedeaf.org. The Youth Theatre of Central Arkansas. For students in grades 3-12. University of Central Arkansas, Snow Fine Arts Center Recital Hall, through July 13: 9 a.m.-4 p.m., $275-$300. 201 Donaghey Ave., Conway. 501-450-5092. www. uca.edu/theatre. WILDKids Play!. Camp for ages 8-10 focuses on theatrical arts. Wildwood Park for the Performing Arts, through June 29, 9 a.m.-12 p.m., $140-$150. 20919 Denny Road.

CLASSES

From the Garden with Lee Richardson. Chef Lee Richardson will be using fresh foods that can be found at local farmers markets. Eggshells Kitchen Co., 6 p.m., $50. 5501 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-664-6900. eggshellskitchencompany.com. Thea summer art classes. See June 20.

THIS WEEK IN THEATER

Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre: “Big River.” Musical based on Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” Reynolds Performance Hall, UCA, Sat., June 23, 1 p.m.; Sun., June 24, 1 p.m.; Wed., June 27, 7:30 p.m.; Fri., June 29, 7:30 p.m.; Sat., June 30, 7:30 p.m. 350 S. Donaghey, Conway. Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre: “Richard III.” Reynolds Performance Hall, UCA, Wed., June 20, 7:30 p.m.; Thu., June 21, 7:30 p.m.; Thu., June 28, 7:30 p.m.; Sun., July 1, 1 p.m. 350 S. Donaghey, Conway. Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre: “The Tempest.” Reynolds Performance Hall, UCA, Wed., June 20, 10 a.m.; Fri., June 22, 10 a.m.; Wed., June 27, 10 a.m.; Thu., June 28, 10 a.m.; Fri., June 29, 10 a.m.; Sat., June 30, 10 a.m. 350 S. Donaghey, Conway. Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre: “Twelfth Night.” Wildwood Park for the Performing Arts, June 22-24, 7:30 p.m. 20919 Denny Road. Auditions for “Southern Cross,” “Good People” and “Enemy of the People.” Cold readings from the scripts. The Weekend Theater, Sat., June 23, 10 a.m.; Sun., June 24, 6 p.m. 1001 W. 7th St. 501-374-3761. www.weekendtheater.org.

“Barefoot in the Park.” The Neil Simon classic is a comedy about a couple of newlyweds, their first apartment, eccentric neighbors and a meddling mother. Murry’s Dinner Playhouse, through July 22: Tue.-Sat., 6 p.m.; Wed., 11 a.m.; Sun., 11 a.m. and 6 p.m., $15-$33. 6323 Col. Glenn Road. 501-562-3131. murrysdinnerplayhouse.com. “Blithe Spirit.” The Hot Springs Pocket Community Theatre’s production of Noel Coward’s comic play about a novelist who consults a clairvoyant to get new material, but gets more than he bargained for. Pocket Community Theater, through June 23, 7:30 p.m.; Sun., June 24, 2:30 p.m., $5-$10. 170 Ravine St., Hot Springs. “Clarence Darrow Tonight!.” One-man show about the notable civil rights attorney, written by and starring Arkansas native Laurence Luckinbill. University of Arkansas, Fri., June 22, 7:30 p.m., $5. Downtown Fayetteville, Fayetteville. 479575-4752. “The Dixie Swim Club.” Five Southern women, whose friendship began many years ago on their college swim team, set aside a long weekend every August to recharge their relationships. Murry’s Dinner Playhouse, through June 23: Tue.-Sat., 6 p.m., $15-$33. 6323 Col. Glenn Road. 501-562-3131. murrysdinnerplayhouse.com. “A Loss of Roses.” William Inge’s rarely performed masterpiece concerns a widow, her grown son and a beautiful actress who arrives on their doorstep, initiating a love triangle that can only end in heartbreak. Arkansas Repertory Theatre, through July 1: Wed., Thu., 7 p.m.; Fri., Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 and 7 p.m., $35-$40. 601 Main St. 501-378-0405. www.therep.org. Opera in the Ozarks: “A Little Night Music.” Stephen Sondheim’s romantic Broadway smash about the intersecting love lives of several couples features the popular ballad “Send in the Clowns.” Inspiration Point, Sat., June 23, 7:30 p.m.; Thu., June 28, 7:30 p.m.; Sun., July 1, 7:30 p.m.; Thu., July 5, 7:30 p.m.; Sat., July 7, 7:30 p.m.; Wed., July 11, 7:30 p.m.; Fri., July 13, 7:30 p.m.; Thu., July 19, 7:30 p.m., $20-$25. 16311 Hwy. 62 W., Eureka Springs. Opera in the Ozarks: “La Boheme.” Puccini’s classic tale of bohemians living in Paris. Inspiration Point, Tue., June 26, 7:30 p.m.; Fri., June 29, 7:30 p.m.; Mon., July 2, 7:30 p.m.; Sun., July 8, 7:30 p.m.; Thu., July 12, 7:30 p.m.; Sat., July 14, 7:30 p.m.; Fri., July 20, 7:30 p.m., $20-$25. 16311 Hwy. 62 W., Eureka Springs. Opera in the Ozarks: “The Magic Flute.” Mozart’s final masterpiece and one of the most performed and enduring operatic works in the world. Inspiration Point, Fri., June 22, 7:30 p.m.; Wed., June 27, 7:30 p.m.; Sat., June 30, 7:30 p.m.; Tue., July 3, 7:30 p.m.; Fri., July 6, 7:30 p.m.; Tue., July 10, 7:30 p.m.; Sun., July 15, 7:30 p.m.; Wed., July 18, 7:30 p.m., $20-$25. 16311 Hwy. 62 W., Eureka Springs. “Spring Awakening.” Tony Award-winning musical adapted from Frank Wedekind’s 1891 expressionist play about the trials, tears and exhilaration of the teen-age years. The Weekend Theater, through July 1: Fri., Sat., 7:30 p.m.; Sun., 2:30 p.m., $16-$20. 1001 W. 7th St. 501-374-3761. www.weekendtheater.org. “Teddy Tonight!.” One-man show about Teddy Roosevelt, written by and starring Arkansas native Laurence Luckinbill. University of Arkansas, Sat., June 23, 7:30 p.m., $5. Downtown Fayetteville, Fayetteville.

GALLERIES, MUSEUMS

NEW EXHIBITS, ART EVENTS

ARKANSAS ARTS CENTER, MacArthur Park: “Tattoo Witness: Photographs by Mark Perrott,” 25 large-scale black and white photographs of tattoed men and women, docuCONTINUED ON PAGE 32

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THEATER REVIEW

AFTER DARK, CONT.

‘A Loss of Roses’

menting tattoos over 25 years, with murals painted by Arkansas tattoo artists Robert Berry, Richard Moore, Caleb Pritchett, Chris Thomas, Brooke and Ryan Cook, Nancy Miller and Scott Diffee, June 22-Sept. 9, lecture “Tattooed: The Sociogenesis of a Body Art,” by Michael Atkinson, 5:30 p.m. June 21 (lecture at 6 p.m.), $5 (free to members), tattoo demonstration 2 p.m. June 24; gallery talk with “11th National Drawing Invitational” curator Charlotta Kotik, 2 p.m. June 24. 3724000. OLD STATE HOUSE MUSEUM, 300 W. Markham: “The Cement Sculptures of Dionicio Rodriguez,” Brown Bag Lunch lecture, noon June 21. 324-9685.

June 15, Arkansas Repertory Theatre BY AARON SARLO

JUNE 20, 2012

ARKANSAS TIMES

CINDY MOMCHILOV

efore last Friday night, the saddest, most “depressing” Depression-era story I had read was Horace McCoy’s “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?” However, after watching The Arkansas Repertory Theatre’s opening performance of William Inge’s “A Loss of Roses,” I can attest that this play is as rough and unflinching as that Depression-era tale, or any other. The Rep has truly outdone itself by closing its 36th season with this unheralded masterpiece of 20th century playwriting. (So curiously under-appreciated is “A Loss of Roses,” penned by Pulitzer Prize-winner Inge, that it doesn’t even have a Wikipedia page. “Jersey Shore” has a Wikipedia page. The “Twilight” franchise has a Wikipedia page. “A Loss of Roses” does not. Yay, America.) The story revolves around the relationships between Kenny Baird, his mother and a longtime friend of the family, Lila Green. Kenny, the 21-year-old only child of Helen, is employed at a local service station, where he earns a good wage, enough to be able to split the household bills with Helen, who works as a nurse. They eat well and keep the kitchen stocked with the finest things in life: beer, cigarettes and store-bought pie. Lightly rooted in this blue-collar, Midwestern relative paradise is Kenny’s budding manhood, unhealthily tethered to his mother’s eternal doting. Helen, a church-going widow in her 40s, wants what’s best for Kenny, but certainly spoils him in the process. Into this fiscally sound, yet emotionally unsustainable family dynamic comes Lila, an out-of-work dancer and actress, old family friend and ex-babysitter to Kenny. During her stay, Lila inadvertently stirs up a complex broth of feelings in emotionally immature Kenny, and at first, consciously maintains strictly sisterly affections toward him. She also rekindles her friendship with Helen, and throughout her stay the two develop a healthy bond. In a crucial, tender scene, Lila confides in Helen and shares her story. There is drinking in her story, and late nights, and multiple men, a failed marriage, sexual abuse, social stigma, an attempted suicide and even self-institutionalization. Lila personifies the harsh effects of the Great Depression, particularly on women, as she has been forced, like millions, to lead a life of involuntary, survivalist moral squalor. In this stark moment, the two women commiserate in their mutually held belief that “there just aren’t any good men anymore.” Their sad realization haunts the rest of the play. The final line is as gut-wrenching and memorable as any in a play (or film) that I have seen. It quite literally still echoes

‘A LOSS OF ROSES’: Bret Lada stars in The Rep’s production.

in my mind. It is difficult to report which of the three lead actors turned in the best performance, as each one utterly commanded the stage. Bret Lada’s Kenny initially draws the attention as the play’s opening moments unfold. The gruff petulance that begins his character arc rings behind the opening lines of dialogue like the alarm that ends the dream. Lada imbues unease into his role, perfectly exemplifying the headstrong improvidence of youth, and it is a pleasure to watch Kenny feel genuine remorse for his selfish actions as he steps finally into the confusion that is adulthood. It is humbling to watch the spiritual degradation of Lila, who’s impossibly still full of love and hope, after a life of unfulfilled promises. Jean Lichty’s heart-breaking portrayal of Lila showcases quite subtly the disease that is human desperation. If it weren’t for Jane Summerhays as the wondrous, warm Helen, a character of strength and solemnity, I would have given “A Loss of Roses” my personal prize for the saddest thing I have ever seen. Summerhays’ Helen is, for certain, the warm glow around which the other characters’ huddle. “A Loss of Roses” is a bittersweet gem of a story, eloquently told by actors whose performances pay homage to a work of American fiction on par with the best of Tennessee Williams. Watching director Austin Pendleton, and the actors, bask in the feeling of (flawlessly) resuscitating a left-for-dead American masterpiece was something very special indeed. This is truly a play that should not be missed. “A Loss of Roses” continues through July 1. Curtain is at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 7 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays and 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $35 to $40.

MOUNTAIN VIEW ARKANSAS CRAFT GALLERY, 104 E. Main St.: Skip and Racheal Matthews, flame-painted copper, June 20-24, reception 5-7 p.m. June 20. 5-7 p.m. Wed., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Thu.-Sat., 1-4 p.m. Sun. 870-269-8397.

CONTINUING EXHIBITS

ARKANSAS ARTS CENTER, MacArthur Park: “The Rockefeller Influence,” 57 works donated or loaned by the Rockefeller family, through Aug. 19; “11th National Drawing Invitational: New York, Singular Drawings,” through Sept. 9, curated by Charlotta Kotik; “The New Materiality: Digital Dialogues at the Boundaries of Contemporary Craft,” through Aug. 5; 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat., 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sun. 372-4000. THE ART LOFT, 1525 Merrill Drive: Work by Dan Thornhill, Catherine Rodgers and others. 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Sat. 251-1131. BUTLER CENTER GALLERIES, Arkansas Studies Institute: “Pattern in Perspective: Recent Work by Carly Dahl and Dustyn Bork,” through Sept. 29; “Arkansas Art Educators State Youth Art Show 2012,” through July 28; “Small Town: Portraits of a Disappearing America,” through Aug. 25; “Making a Place: The Jewish Experience in Arkansas,” through June 23. 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Sat. 320-5790. CANTRELL GALLERY, 8206 Cantrell Road: 21st annual “Mid-Southern Watercolorists Open Membership Exhibit,” through June 23. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat. 224-1335. CHRIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 509 Scott St.: “Art Musings,” work by clients of the Creative Expressions program of the Arkansas State Hospital, through July 3. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Mon.Thu., 8 a.m.-noon Sun. CHROMA GALLERY, 5707 Kavanaugh Blvd.: Work by Robert Reep and other Arkansas artists. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Sat. 664-0880. COMMUNITY BAKERY, 1200 S. Main St.: Work by LifeQuest oil painters Lana Bethune, Susie Henley, Suzanne Warren, Sam Caruthers, Bruce Schratz, Bonnie Bartleson, Mary Lu Arrington, Nancy Irving Smith, L. P. Frasier, Jim Conard, Anne Crow, Linda Martz, Dee Schulten, Herb Monoson, Glenda Josephson, Barbara Hawes, Jai Ross and Scotty Shively, through June. 225-6073. GALLERY 221, 221 W. 2nd St.: “Impressions and Reflections,” work by Jennifer Cox Coleman, Catherine Rodgers, Larry Hare, Cynthia Ragan and others. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Mon.-Fri. 801-0211. GREG THOMPSON FINE ART, 429 Main St.: “Best of the South,” works by regional artists including Carroll Cloar, Theora Hamblett, Walter Anderson, William Hollingsworth, Noel Rockmore, William Dunlap, Philip Morsberger, Donald Roller Wilson, Gary

Bolding, Robert Rector and others, through July 10. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Sat. 664-2787. HEARNE FINE ART, 1001 Wright Ave.: “Montage 24,” 24 artists with the gallery for 24 years. 372-6822. KETZ GALLERY, 705 Main St., NLR: “Trees, Trees and More Trees,” pastels by Mary Ann Stafford, through July 14, also work by gallery artists. 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Sat. 529-6330, ketzgallery.com. LAMAN LIBRARY, 2801 Orange St.: “The White House Garden,” Smithsonian traveling exhibition, through July 21. 758-1720. L&L BECK GALLERY, 5705 Kavanaugh Blvd.: “Backyard Birds,” paintings by Louis Beck. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tue.-Sat. 660-4006. LOCAL COLOUR, 5811a Kavanaugh Blvd.: Robin Parker, featured artist for June. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat. 265-0422. M2GALLERY, 11525 Cantrell: New work by William Goodman, Dan Thornhill, Robin Tucker and Peter Razatos. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tue.-Sat. 225-6257. STATE CAPITOL: “Arkansans in the Korean War,” 32 photographs, lower-level foyer. 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sat.Sun. UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS AT LITTLE ROCK: “Works from the UALR Permanent Collection,” including paintings by Al Allen and Karen Kunc, photographs by Timothy Hursley, woodcut by Kathe Kollwitz, prints by Takeshi Katori and David O’Brien, and more, through July 20, Gallery I. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri. 569-3182.

ONGOING MUSEUM EXHIBITS

CLINTON PRESIDENTIAL CENTER, 1200 President Clinton Ave.: “Abraham Lincoln: Self-made in America,” reproduced artifacts, through July 17. “Play Ball! The St. Louis Cardinals,” memorabilia, including World Series trophies, rings and Stan Musial’s uniform, through Sept. 16; permanent exhibits about policies and White House life during 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, 200E.ThirdSt.: “A Collective Vision,” recent acquisitions, through March 2013; “Creating the Elements of Discovery: Tim Imhauser, Jason Powers and Emily Wood,” sculpture, drawings and paintings, through Aug. 5, “Doug Stowe: The Making of My Small Cabinets,” through July 8. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. 324-9351. MOSAIC TEMPLARS CULTURAL CENTER, Ninth and Broadway: “Creativity Arkansas Collection,” works by black Arkansas artists; permanent exhibits on African-American entrepreneurial history in Arkansas. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat. 683–3593. MUSEUM OF DISCOVERY, 500 President Clinton Ave.: “Extreme Deep: Mission to the Abyss,” through July 29; “Astronomy: It’s a Blast,” through Sept. 17; “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 12 and older, $8 ages 1-11, free under 1. 396-7050. OLD STATE HOUSE MUSEUM, 300 W. Markham: “Battle Colors of Arkansas,” 18 civil war flags; “Things You Need to Hear: Memories of Growing up in Arkansas from 1890 to 1980,” oral histories about community, family, work, school and leisure. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. 324-9685. More gallery and museum listings at www.arktimes.com.

Dining

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

BELLY UP Check out the Times’ food blog, Eat Arkansas arktimes.com

CHEREE FRANCO

WHAT’S COOKIN’

TURN IT UP TO 11: Eleven’s shrimp and grits.

Two high fives plus one

n most Sundays, Crystal Bridges’ Eleven is slammed around midday. And why not? The food is delicious and reasonably priced, the space is breezy and inviting, and you’re seated in the shadow of Claes Oldenburg’s 1975 “Alphabet/Good Humor” — three feet of pink cartoon letter/ intestines, mounted on a popsicle stick. It’s a unique experience, tempered by a few (slightly) annoying pitfalls. You’ll have to wait in line to order. It’s a long line, but it’ll move quicker than you think. You’ll take a seat and wait for the staff to bring your food. You’ll wait longer here than you waited in line. You’ll need to order dessert, adult beverages (a very limited selection of beer and wine) or coffee up front, or either join that line again. There’s no “after the crowds clear,” because the restaurant closes at 2:30 p.m. If you need a soda refill, you’ll have to muscle past the line and gesticulate wildly to attract the attention of an overwhelmed cashier. You’ll feel obnoxious and apologetic for having to do this. But you’ll forget all of that when you bite into what is among Arkansas’s most perfect burgers. Don’t let your prejudices (you know, the idea that a burger is bit rustic for an art museum) derail

Eleven

600 Museum Way Bentonville 479-636-1240 QUICK BITE Try the deserts. We polished off an excellent Mocha Cupcake with the airiest icing you’ll ever encounter, and the Double-wide Cookie is a house special. It’s your classic peanut-butter offering, with the not so classic additions of crushed cereals and potato chips. It’s a kid-friendly twist on the sweet and salty dessert trend. HOURS 11a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Sunday and Monday, 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 5 to 9 p.m. Wednesday and Friday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday; closed Tuesday and Thursday. OTHER INFO Beer and wine, all CC accepted.

you. The Eleven Burger ($8) is highquality beef, nestled on a thick homemade bun and dripping with buttery Havarti cheese and melded juices. The beef is coarsely-ground, which unlocks its inherent flavor and gives it a gamey edge. Ultimately, the meat tastes a lot like venison or buffalo. (We’ve heard that the chef prepares his own rub, and

we wish he would bottle and sell it.) The crusty bun is lightly spread with a sweet peppercorn mayonnaise and dressed with tomato and pepperoncini. Our only complaint is the side of fruit — unfortunately, we can’t get too excited about a clump of green grapes and a barely ripe strawberry. Eleven’s lunch menu is brief, which means vegetarian options are limited. The Prairie Wrap ($9), with white bean hummus and an abundance of purple and green leafiness, is adequate but less than thrilling. At least it tasted fresh. Toss some cucumber with your leaves, douse it in gritty tahini (dolled up with quinoa flakes), and roll it in a soft wheat shell, and there you have it. Nothing offensive, but next time we’ll just go with the Autumn Harvest salad, hold the chicken please. The Autumn Harvest ($9) is big enough to share. It starts with the earthiness we just met in the Prairie Wrap, but it offers a more satisfying play of light and heavy flavors. The dried blueberries bring a welcome chewiness, and the green apples are tart and crisp. Top it off with toasted pecans, sharp, crumbled chevre and tangy-sweet maple balsamic dressing, and you have one fantastic salad experience. Now we’ve come to the Shrimp and Grits ($12), the true standout of our meal. Like the beef, the grits are coarseground. We think the chef is onto something, because these are some of the most luscious grits we’ve ever had. We usually consider grits a carrier for other flavors, but at Eleven, the grits themselves are showstoppers. They’re tender, thick and cheddar-cheesy, and we could actually taste the corn. And we usually eschew shrimp, but these are large, succulent, mild and, despite our distance from the Gulf, fresh tasting. They’re sauteed in a creamy Worcestershire sauce, with a smooth, oily texture and a wood-smoke flavor that resonates throughout the dish. There’s something about Eleven’s Shrimp and Grits that make you feel warm, content and maybe even a little blissfully silly. And that’s a something we hope to repeat, as often as our northerly travels allow. Crystal Bridges is open for dinner on Wednesdays and Fridays. There’s table service and of course, the entrees are more pricier (though the priciest item is only $24, for the Eleven Beef Filet).

JUST SEVEN MONTHS after

Stephanie and Cameron Phillips opened SBiPs in the bottom of the Quapaw Tower condominiums, the American French fusion restaurant has called it quits. “We weren’t able to bring in the downtown lunch crowd that we expected, there are high business taxes, particularly on businesses that sell alcohol. And with this economy, people just aren’t eating out,” Stephanie Phillips said. “It was our first time [opening a restaurant], and we feel good about what we’ve done.” Phillips had never worked in the restaurant business before, and she held onto her job at FIS Global, even as she helped with the restaurant. As a 30-year veteran in the restaurant industry, Cameron Phillips handled the business side of SBiP’s. “Our spirits are not crushed,” said Stephanie Phillips, “but I don’t know if we have the heart to open another restaurant. It’s a tough business.”

RESTAURANT 1620 will be

closing June 30 for what general manager Rick Qualls called “a complete make-over of the restaurant from top to bottom.” Qualls said the restaurant will re-open in early September. In exchange for their patience during the retrofit, Qualls promised fans that the new and improved 1620 will be “one of the finest restaurants ever imagined in West Little Rock.” 1620 is located at 1620 Market St. The phone number is 221-1620.

DINING CAPSULES

LITTLE ROCK/ N. LITTLE ROCK

AMERICAN

4 SQUARE CAFE AND GIFTS Vegetarian salads, soups, wraps and paninis and a daily selection of desserts. 405 President Clinton Ave. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-244-2622. L daily. D Mon.-Sat. ARGENTA MARKET Deli featuring a daily selection of big sandwiches along with fresh fish and meats and salads. 521 N. Main St. NLR. Beer, Wine, All CC. $-$$. 501-379-9980. L daily, D Mon.-Sat., B Sat., BR Sun. ARKANSAS BURGER CO. Good burgers, fries and shakes, plus salads and other entrees. 7410 Cantrell Road. Beer, Wine, All CC. $-$$. 501-663-0600. LD Tue.-Sat. ASHLEY’S The premier fine dining restaurant in Little Rock marries Southern traditionalism and haute cuisine. 111 W. Markham St. Full bar, All CC. $$$. 501-3747474. BLD Mon.-Sat. BR Sun. CONTINUED ON PAGE 34 www.arktimes.com

JUNE 20, 2012

DINING CAPSULES, CONT. BELWOOD DINER Traditional breakfasts and plate lunch specials are the norm at this lostin-time hole in the wall. 3815 MacArthur Drive. NLR. No alcohol, No CC. $. 501-753-1012. BL Mon.-Fri. BRAVE NEW RESTAURANT The food’s great, portions huge, prices reasonable. 2300 Cottondale Lane. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-663-2677. LD Mon.-Fri. D Sat. BURGER MAMA’S Big burgers and oversized onion rings headline the menu at this downhome joint. 7710 Cantrell Road. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-225-2495. LD daily. CAPITAL BAR AND GRILL Big hearty sandwiches, daily lunch specials and fine evening dining all rolled into one. 111 Markham St. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-374-7474. LD daily. CAPITOL BISTRO Offers breakfast and lunch items, including quiche, sandwiches, coffees and the like. 1401 W. Capitol Ave. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-371-9575. BL Mon.-Fri. CATERING TO YOU Painstakingly prepared entrees and great appetizers in this gourmetto-go location. 8121 Cantrell Road. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-664-0627. L Mon.-Sat. CATFISH HOLE Downhome place for wellcooked catfish and tasty hushpuppies. 603 E. Spriggs. NLR. Beer, All CC. $-$$. 501-758-3516. D Tue.-Sat. CHEEBURGER CHEEBURGER Premium black Angus cheeseburgers, with five different sizes. For sides, milkshakes and golden-fried onion rings are the way to go. 11525 Cantrell Rd. No alcohol, All CC. $$. 501-490-2433. LD daily. CIAO BACI The focus is on fine dining in this casually elegant Hillcrest bungalow. 605 N. Beechwood St. Full bar, All CC. $$$. 501-6030238. D Mon.-Sat. CRAZEE’S COOL CAFE Good burgers, daily plate specials and bar food amid pool tables and TVs. 7626 Cantrell Road. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-221-9696. LD Mon.-Sat. DOE’S EAT PLACE A skid-row dive turned power brokers’ watering hole with huge steaks, great tamales and broiled shrimp, and killer burgers at lunch. 1023 W. Markham St. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-376-1195. LD Mon.-Fri., D Sat. EJ’S EATS AND DRINKS Hoagie shop downtown serves a handful of tables and by delivery. The sandwiches are generous, the soup homemade and the salads cold. 523 Center St. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-666-3700. LD Mon.-Fri. FLYING FISH The fried seafood is fresh and crunchy and there are plenty of raw, boiled and grilled offerings, too. 511 President Clinton Ave. Beer, Wine, All CC. $$. 501-375-3474. LD daily. HOMER’S Great vegetables, huge yeast rolls and killer cobblers. Follow the mobs. 2001 E. Roosevelt Road. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-374-1400. BL Mon.-Fri. THE HOUSE A gastropub where you’ll find traditional fare like burgers and fish and chips alongside Thai green curry and gumbo. 722 N. Palm St. Beer, Wine, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-6634501. D daily, BR and L Sat.-Sun. JIMMY’S SERIOUS SANDWICHES Consistently fine sandwiches, side orders and desserts. Chicken salad’s among the best in town. 5116 W. Markham St. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-666-3354. L Mon.-Sat. KRAZY MIKE’S Po’Boys, catfish and shrimp and other fishes, fried chicken wings all served up fresh. 200 N. Bowman Road. Beer, All CC. $$. 501-907-6453. LD daily. LOCA LUNA Grilled meats, seafood and pasta dishes that never stray far from country roots, whether Italian, Spanish or Arkie. 3519 Old Cantrell Rd. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-6634666. L Sun.-Fri., D daily. LULAV Downtown bistro with continental and

JUNE 20, 2012

ARKANSAS TIMES

Asian fare. 220 A W. 6th St. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-374-5100. BL Mon.-Fri., D daily. MILFORD TRACK Healthy and tasty are the key words at this deli/grill that serves breakfast and lunch. 10809 Executive Center Drive, Searcy Building. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-2232257. BL Mon.-Sat. OYSTER BAR Gumbo, red beans and rice, peel-and-eat shrimp, oysters on the half shell, addictive po’ boys. 3003 W. Markham St. Beer, Wine, All CC. $-$$. 501-666-7100. LD Mon.-Sat. OZARK COUNTRY RESTAURANT Specializes in big country breakfasts and pancakes plus sandwiches and several meat-and-two options for lunch and dinner. 202 Keightley Drive. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-663-7319. B daily, L Mon.-Fri., D Thu.-Sat. SALUT BISTRO This bistro/late-night hangout does upscale Italian for dinner and pub grub until the wee hours. 1501 N. University. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-660-4200. L Mon.-Fri., D Tue.-Sat. SCALLIONS Reliably good food, great desserts, pleasant atmosphere, able servers. 5110 Kavanaugh Blvd. Beer, Wine, All CC. $-$$.

501-666-6468. L Mon.-Sat. SHORTY SMALL’S Land of big, juicy burgers, massive cheese logs, smoky barbecue platters and the signature onion loaf. 1100 N. Rodney Parham Road. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-2243344. LD daily. SONNY WILLIAMS’ STEAK ROOM Steaks, chicken and seafood in a wonderful setting in the River Market. 500 President Clinton Ave. Full bar, All CC. $$$. 501-324-2999. D Mon.-Sat. STAGECOACH GROCERY AND DELI Fine po’ boys and muffalettas — and cheap. 6024 Stagecoach Road. Beer, Wine, All CC. $-$$. 501-455-4157. BL daily. D Mon.-Fri. TERRI-LYNN’S BAR-B-Q AND DELI Highquality meats served on large sandwiches and good tamales. 10102 N. Rodney Parham Road. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-227-6371. LD Tue.-Sat. (10:30 a.m.-6 p.m.). UNION BISTRO Casual upscale bistro and lounge with a new American menu of tapas and entrees. 3421 Old Cantrell Road. Full bar, All CC. $$$. 501-353-0360. WEST END SMOKEHOUSE AND TAVERN Its primary focus is a sports bar, but the dinner

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CURRY IN A HURRY Home-style Indian food with a focus on fresh ingredients and spices. 11121 North Rodney Parham. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-224-4567. LD Tue.-Sat. HANAROO SUSHI BAR One of the few spots downtown to serve sushi. With an expansive menu, featuring largely Japanese fare. 205 W. Capitol Ave. Beer, Wine, All CC. $$. 501-3017900. L Mon.-Fri., D Mon.-Sat. LEMONGRASS ASIA BISTRO Fairly solid Thai bistro. Try the Tom Kha Kai and white wine alligator. 4629 E. McCain Blvd. NLR. Beer, Wine, All CC. 501-945-4638. LD Mon.-Sun. PHO THANH MY It says “Vietnamese noodle soup” on the sign out front, and that’s what you should order. Traditional pork dishes, spring rolls and bubble tea also available. 302 N. Shackleford Road. No alcohol, All CC. $$. 501-312-7498. SEKISUI Fresh-tasting sushi chain with fun hibachi grill and an overwhelming assortment of traditional entrees. 219 N. Shackleford Road. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-221-7070. LD daily. SHOGUN JAPANESE STEAKHOUSE The chefs will dazzle you, as will the variety of tasty stir-fry combinations and the sushi bar. 2815 Cantrell Road. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-6667070. D daily. TOKYO HOUSE Defying stereotypes, this Japanese buffet serves up a broad range of fresh, slightly exotic fare as well as more standard shrimp and steak options. 11 Shackleford Drive. Beer, Wine, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-2194286. LD daily. WASABI Downtown sushi and Japanese cuisine. For lunch, there’s quick and hearty sushi samplers. 101 Main St. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-374-0777. L Mon.-Fri., D Mon.-Sat.

1524 W. Main St.

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CHIP’S BARBECUE Tasty barbecue piled high on sandwiches generously doused with the original tangy sauce or one of five other sauces. 9801 W. Markham St. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-225-4346. LD Mon.-Sat. DIXIE PIG Pig salad is tough to beat. It comes with loads of chopped pork atop crisp iceberg, doused with that wonderful vinegar-based sauce. Serving Little Rock since 1923. 900 West 35th St. NLR. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-7539650. LD Mon.-Sat.

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entrees are plentiful and the bar food is upper quality. 215 N. Shackleford. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-224-7665. L Fri.-Sun., D daily. WINGSTOP The joint features ten flavors of chicken flappers for almost any palate. 11321 West Markham St. Beer, All CC. $-$$. 501-2249464. LD daily.

1135 Skyline Dr.

Conway 501-205-1985

ARABICA HOOKAH CAFE This eatery and grocery store offers kebabs and salads along with just about any sort of Middle Eastern fare you might want, along with what might be the best kefte kebab in Central Arkansas. Halal butcher on duty. 3400 S. University Ave. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-379-8011. LD daily. CREGEEN’S IRISH PUB Irish-themed pub with a large selection of on-tap and bottled British beers and ales, an Irish inspired menu and lots of nooks and crannies to meet in. Specialties include fish ‘n’ chips and Guinness beef stew. Live music on weekends and $5 cover on Saturdays. 301 Main St. NLR. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-376-7468. LD daily. ISTANBUL MEDITERRANEAN CUISINE This Turkish eatery offers decent kebabs and great starters. The red pepper hummus is a winner. So are Cigar Pastries. Possibly the best Turkish coffee in Central Arkansas. 11525 Cantrell

DINING CAPSULES, CONT. Road. No alcohol, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-223-9332. LD daily. LEO’S GREEK CASTLE Wonderful Mediterranean food — gyro sandwiches or platters, falafel and tabouleh — plus dependable hamburgers, ham sandwiches, steak platters and BLTs. Breakfast offerings are expanded with gyro meat, pitas and triple berry pancakes. 2925 Kavanaugh Blvd. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-666-7414. BLD daily. SILVEK’S EUROPEAN BAKERY Fine pastries, chocolate creations, breads and cakes done in the classical European style. Drop by for a whole cake or a slice or any of the dozens of single serving treats in the big case. 1900 Polk St. No alcohol, All CC. $$. 501-661-9699. BLD daily. ZOGI’S EURO ASIAN BISTRO From the part of the world “where Europe meets Asia,” the menu says, and adventurous if not widely traveled diners will want to find out for themselves whether they like this fare or not. Our reviewers were impressed by soups, including the borscht (beets, beef, carrots, sour cream), and some of the main courses, including the Tsuivan — steamed wheat noodles stir-fried with beef, fried potatoes and veggies. Well worth a visit. 11321 W. Markham St. All CC. $-$$. 501-2464597. LD Mon.-Sat., L Sun.

ITALIAN

CAFE PREGO Dependable entrees of pasta, pork, seafood, steak and the like, plus great sauces, fresh mixed greens and delicious dressings, crisp-crunchy-cold gazpacho and tempting desserts in a comfy bistro setting. Little Rock standard for 18 years. 5510 Kavanaugh Blvd. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-663-5355. LD Mon.-Fri., D Sat. CIAO Don’t forget about this casual yet elegant bistro tucked into a downtown storefront. The fine pasta and seafood dishes, ambiance and overall charm combine to make it a relaxing, enjoyable, affordable choice. 405 W. Seventh St. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-372-0238. L Mon.-Fri., D Thu.-Sat. GRADY’S PIZZAS AND SUBS Pizza features a pleasing blend of cheeses rather than straight mozzarella. The grinder is a classic, the chef’s salad huge and tasty. 6801 W. 12th St., Suite C. Beer, Wine, All CC. $-$$. 501-663-1918. LD daily. IRIANA’S PIZZA Unbelievably generous hand-tossed New York style pizza with unmatched zest. Good salads, too; grinders are great, particularly the Italian sausage. 201 E. Markham St. Beer, Wine, All CC. $-$$. 501-3743656. LD Mon.-Sat. PIERRE’S GOURMET PIZZA CO. EXPRESS KITCHEN Chef/owner Michael Ayers has reinvented his pizzeria, once located on JFK in North Little Rock, as the first RV entry into mobile food truck scene. With a broad menu of pizza, calzones, salads and subs. 760 C Edgewood Drive. No alcohol, No CC. $$. 501-410-0377. L Mon.-Fri. U.S. PIZZA Crispy thin-crust pizzas, frosty beers and heaping salads drowned in creamy dressing. Count on being here for awhile. It takes half an hour to get your pizza, since it’s cooked in an old fashioned stone hearth oven. 2710 Kavanaugh Blvd. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-663-2198. LD daily. 5524 Kavanaugh Blvd. Beer, Wine, All CC. $$. 501-664-7071. LD daily. 9300 North Rodney Parham Road. Beer, Wine, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-224-6300. LD daily. 3307 Fair Park Blvd. Beer, Wine, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-565-6580 ý. LD daily. 650 Edgewood Dr. Maumelle. Beer, Wine, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-851-0880. LD daily. 3324 Pike Avenue. NLR. Beer, Wine, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-758-5997. LD daily. 4001 McCain Park Drive. NLR. Beer, Wine, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-753-2900. LD daily. 5524 John F Kennedy Blvd. NLR. Beer, Wine, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-975-5524 ý. LD daily. ZAFFINO’S BY NORI A high-quality Italian dining experience. Pastas, entrees (don’t miss the veal marsala) and salads are all outstanding. 2001 E. Kiehl Ave. NLR. Beer, Wine, All CC. 501-834-7530. D Tue.-Sat.

CROSSWORD EDITED BY WILL SHORTZ Across

31 One concerned about charges

1 Hawaiian entree

60 Being borrowed by 63 Pupil surrounder 64 1997 Carrey comedy 65 Spanky or Alfalfa 66 Words after “Que”

33 Alter

9 “___-Koo” (old 35 Assumes, as ragtime standard) costs

15 Emphatic call from the flock

38 The Lizard constellation

16 And so on

40 Ones on the move

17 Honoring at a banquet, say

41 President ___

18 Scotland’s Loch ___

Down

43 Bow shape 44 Redheaded boy of 1960s TV

19 Natal native 20 50th state’s bird

46 Bouquets

22 Kind of sandwich

52 Cure again, as leather

24 Street child

54 All-night party

26 Rock layers 28 Tennis whiz

57 Modern home of ancient Elam

30 One in la familia

58 Batman’s home

55 Sacked out 56 “The Heat ___”

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE A N E W

M A I N

A S N O

M A J O R

I M A G E

B B I T I O N O T T H E P E U T A A M A Z M M A L I A N M T H E R I E L E T I Z E L I T A R A S S I L P O R E A V D S C A

A S A H I

S K L O Y S

N I A G G H A T

Y U K O N

B R E W S

J A F P A G G R R A I G T P L R E S E N A Y S D U R P H O O N E

3 Doctor, ideally

10 “How was ___ know?”

G O M E Z

S P A D E

O A T S

T Y R E

13 O S O 14 S 21

H A Z E

U S E D

B E D S

11 Home of MacDill Air Force Base 12 Part of many a convent

Comment made while elbowing someone “And so on”

Violinmaker Amati

24 Raiment

27 Many a classical sculpture

18 20

31 35

7 Skin colorer

O P E R A

9 ___ Curtis, onetime cosmetics giant

5 Dojo floor covering

8 Former world heavyweight champion Johansson

6 Burgundy bud

25 Like the area around an erupting volcano

R O S A

2 Check figure

4 Asbestos, for one

50 Hard to find in Latin?

23 First-year J.D. student

1 Seder servings

44 51

56 59

30 34

57 60

Puzzle by Kevin Adamick

29 Soapbox derby entrant 32 Glimpses 34 Some anniversary events 35 Petri dish gel 36 South Pacific island 37 Generates, as fluids

39 ___ early age 42 Modernizes, as a factory 45 First 47 1964 Hitchcock thriller 48 2009 James Cameron blockbuster 49 Madrid madam

51 Like some committees 53 Musical with the song “N.Y.C.” 59 Indicator of how something is done 61 Actress ___ Park Lincoln 62 ___ pro nobis

For answers, call 1-900-285-5656, $1.49 a minute; or, with a credit card, 1-800-814-5554. Annual subscriptions are available for the best of Sunday crosswords from the last 50 years: 1-888-7-ACROSS. AT&T users: Text NYTX to 386 to download puzzles, or visit nytimes.com/mobilexword for more information. Online subscriptions: Today’s puzzle and more than 2,000 past puzzles, nytimes.com/crosswords ($39.95 a year). Share tips: nytimes.com/wordplay. Crosswords for young solvers: nytimes.com/learning/xwords.

THIS MODERN WORLD

LATINO

BROWNING’S MEXICAN FOOD Large, renovated space is a Heights hangout. Some holdover items in name only but recast fresher and tastier. Large menu with some hits and some misses. 5805 Kavanaugh Blvd. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-663-9956. LD daily. CANON GRILL Tex-Mex, pasta, sandwiches and salads. Creative appetizers come in huge quantities, and the varied main-course menu rarely disappoints, though it’s not as spicy as competitors’. 2811 Kavanaugh Blvd. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-664-2068. LD daily. COTIJA’S A branch off the famed La Hacienda family tree downtown, with a massive menu of tasty lunch and dinner specials, the familiar white cheese dip and sweet red and fiery-hot green salsas, and friendly service. 406 S. Louisiana St. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-244-0733. L Mon.-Sat. EL JALAPENO 9203 Chicot Road. No alcohol, No CC. $. 501-772-7471. LD Mon.-Fri. LAS MARGARITAS Sparse offerings at this taco truck. No chicken, for instance. Try the veggie quesadilla. 7308 Baseline Road. No alcohol, No CC. $. LD Tue.-Thu. LA REGIONAL A full-service grocery store catering to SWLR’s Latino community, it’s the small grill tucked away in the back corner that should excite lovers of adventurous cuisine. The menu offers a whirlwind trip through Latin America, with delicacies from all across the Spanishspeaking world (try the El Salvadorian papusas, they’re great). 7414 Baseline Road. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-565-4440. BLD daily.

www.arktimes.com

JUNE 20, 2012

BY JANIE GINOCCHIO PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRIAN CHILSON

eef, chicken, fish, veggies — even fruit — are all awesome after some time on the grill. Now that the temperatures are up, there’s nothing easier to keep the house cool than cooking outside. Krebs Brothers Restaurant Store has all of the latest gadgets to help create tasty dishes on your grill, from a cedar grilling plank 1 that adds a woodsy flavor to your meats to a grill surface thermometer 2 to an indoor/ outdoor potato baker by Nordic Ware 3. The potato baker’s unique design helps the spuds bake faster. New to the store this season is the Emile Henry Kabob Grilling Stone 4 that you can take from grilling to presentation. Another popular item from Emile Henry is their pizza and baking stones, which are now available in two

sizes. Krebs Brothers also has specialty cookbooks. If you’re looking for a place to buy the finest ingredients for your backyard barbecue, look no further than Terry’s Finer Foods in the Heights 5. There you’ll find prime and choice grades of beef with cuts like ribeye and New York strip. Terry’s also dry ages their beef in-house. Not in the mood for beef? You can also pick up organic, free range chickens as well as shrimp, halibut, sea bass and Alaskan salmon. Seafood is flown in from Hawaii and Seattle at least three times a week. Terry’s also offers items pre-made for the grill, such as chicken, beef or veggie kabobs and stuffed portobello mushrooms. They also stock fresh seasonal produce, and they make an effort to buy from local farms whenever possible.

GOT BEEF

HERE’S WHAT TO DO WITH IT

BY JANIE GINOCCHIO

We quizzed Donette Stump of the Arkansas Beef Council for grilling advice, and she gave us 10 tips for a tasty summer: 1. CHILL OUT. Grilling times are based on beef going directly from the refrigerator to the grill. There is no need to bring beef to room temperature. Shape burgers in advance, cover and refrigerate until the grill is ready. 2. ONLY YOU CAN PREVENT FLARE-UPS. Remove visible fat

before grilling to help prevent flareups, charring and excess smoke formation. 3. TAKE A DIP. Always marinate in the refrigerator. Tender beef cuts can be marinated for 15 minutes to two hours for flavor. Less tender beef cuts should be marinated at least six hours, but no more than 24 hours, in a mixture containing an acidic ingredient or a natural tenderizing enzyme. Pat beef dry after removing from the marinade

hearsay ➥ Tired of your old standby swimsuit but just can’t bear to throw it away? Until June 30, BARBARA GRAVES is hosting a trade-a-kini event, where you can bring up to three old swimsuits and trade them in on a new one, value $20. ➥ Arkansas native, lead singer of indie rock band Gossip and all-around badass BETH DITTO now has her own line of lipstick for MAC COSMETICS. The Beth Ditto Pro Longwear Lip Crème ($17) comes in four shades (the orange-y Booyah!!!, the purplish Heart Hangover, a light pink named Love Long Distance and a beige called You’re Perfect Already) and are available online or in department and specialty stores. ➥ Photographer MARK PERROTT documents 25 years of tattoo culture in the exhibition “Tattoo Witness: Photographs by Mark Perrott,” which will be at THE ARKANSAS ARTS CENTER from June 22 through Sept. 9. The Times is sponsoring an Arts Center members party June 21, with an after party at Seventh Street 36

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ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO ARKANSAS TIMES

Tattoo Parlor, also sponsored by the Times. ➥ This summer, the THEA FOUNDATION is offering the second installment of Thea’s Art Class, a summer art camp designed to utilize arts-infused education. Students will be immersed in the art movements and culture related to specific periods in history. The classes are broken down by age group, with one session geared toward children entering third through sixth grades and another for children entering seventh through ninth grades. Tuition is $75 per student for eight total classes. Scholarships are available for those who qualify. Class size is limited; to register, visit www. theafoundation.org/theas-art-class/. The registration deadline is June 29. ➥ For those of you who like your fast food in pretty settings, be sure to visit the new MCDONALD’S AT THE PROMENADE AT CHENAL, scheduled to open June 18. The burger behemoth will offer special events and giveaways in the coming weeks to celebrate the restaurant’s opening.

to promote even browning and prevent steaming. Do not save marinade for reuse. If a marinade has been in contact with uncooked beef, it must be brought to a full rolling boil before it can be used as a sauce. 4. REACH A HAPPY MEDIUM. Grilling over medium heat ensures even cooking and flavorful, juicy meat. If the heat is too high, the exterior can become overcooked or charred before the interior reaches the desired doneness. 5. GIVE IT SOME GAS. Since gas grill brands vary greatly, consult the ownerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s manual for information about preparing the grill for medium heat. 6. BE COOL WITH CHARCOAL. Never grill while the coals are still flaming. Wait until the coals are covered with gray ash (approximately 30 minutes), spread in single layer. To check cooking temperature, cautiously hold the palm of your hand above the coals at cooking height. Count the number of seconds you can hold your hand in that position before the heat forces you to pull it away; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s approximately four seconds for medium heat. 7. NO PIERCINGS ALLOWED. Use long-handled tongs for turning steaks; spatulas for burgers. A fork will pierce the beef, causing a loss of flavorful juices. And donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be tempted

to press down on the burgers â&#x20AC;&#x201D; it only releases juices and creates flare-ups. 8. USE THE RIGHT TOOL FOR THE JOB. The best way to determine doneness of burgers and steaks is to use an instant-read meat thermometer, inserted horizontally from the side to penetrate the center of the meat. Allow 10 to 15 seconds for the thermometer to register the internal temperature. 9. GET â&#x20AC;&#x2122;ER DONE. Cook burgers to at least 160 degrees. The color of cooked ground beef is not a reliable indicator of doneness. Cook steaks to at least 145 degrees (medium rare doneness). The color will be very pink in the center and slightly brown toward the exterior. 10. YOU GOTTA KEEP â&#x20AC;&#x2122;EM SEPARATED. Keep raw beef separate from other foods, both in the refrigerator and during preparation. Wash hands, all utensils and surfaces in hot soapy water after contact with raw beef. Never place cooked beef on platters that held raw product. Use clean serving platters and utensils. Serve cooked food promptly and refrigerate immediately after serving (within two hours after cooking). For more simple meal ideas, nutrition information and cooking tips, visit BeefItsWhatsForDinner.com.

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JUNE 20, 2012

Seasonal madness

e are coming upon mad cow season, when stricken bovines, sometimes masked, set upon terrified wilderness hikers of the human variety, most commonly in the Ouachita Mountains of western Arkansas. The resulting mad-cow disease doesn’t affect humans as gruesomely as rabies does — the symptoms more closely resemble those of Alzheimer’s disease — but it is incurable and ultimately fatal. The tragic part is, it’s fairly easy to escape from mad cows, as even healthyminded cows have a hard time maneuvering in the thick brush, the tight pinches and rocky defiles of the Ouachitas, and mad ones an even harder time. The mad ones mainly just lurch — more pitiable than threatening. If you keep your wits about you, you can get away from a deranged cow almost every time. If nothing else, climbing a sturdy tree will almost always foil them. They will work themselves into exhaustion trying to climb up there with you. A mad cow trying to climb a tree might be a funny sight if you’re not the one up the tree. An oddity here is that the mad cow, despite its fury, despite its lurchy determination, despite the ludicrousness of a hoofed quadruped trying to shinny a post oak, never ceases during its assault to swish away flies with its tail.

The mad cow might knock the tree over if the tree’s dead and brittle and no longer firmly rooted, but BOB it’ll not be able to LANCASTER climb it if it remains upright. If it succeeds in knocking your tree down, you can scramble to another one before it can cut you off. That’s presuming you aren’t immobilized by injury from the fall. If you are pinned down and hurt, you might indeed be in hazard — in which case it’ll do you no good to play possum. That might fool a mad bear but not a mad cow. Your last best hope in that situation might be a red-caped hiking companion who’ll divert the beast’s attention — mad cows have notoriously short attention spans, and even cows that aren’t mad can’t focus for long — or that a stranger on an ATV will appear unexpectedly and clatter past, with the cow staggering off in futile pursuit. I’d venture, though, that the odds of a serendipitous ATV appearance in that situation are not very good in your favor. Just pray that your destiny’s cow is not a longhorn. That it has no old rodeo scores to settle before it reincarnates whole again in Bombay.

We’re also incidentally entering madcrow season, and mad-crow disease is almost nothing like mad-cow disease even though there’s only one letter’s difference. A mad crow is nothing like one of the Angry Birds, either. That’s a different kind of mad. It’s even hard to tell a mad crow from one that’s unafflicted. They are about equally raucous, and diseased or not will dive menacingly at you if they surmise that you are unarmed. They recognize shotguns, deer rifles, and .22 rifles, and have a different contemptuous caw for each weapon, but they are most afraid of a paintball gun. It’s not the mortal danger to them that the other guns are, but they apparently fear being glopped with brightly colored and hard to remove paint even more than they fear death. The very idea of it offends their dignity unbearably. You’d have to be a crow to fully experience this peculiar phobia. No other birds have it, as far as I know. Jays might, to some small extent. Mad-crow disease does seem to exacerbate it. You outdoorsy types might also note that camp-meeting season has commenced, and hikers should beware of being waylaid by mad charismatics out practicing their woodland witnessing skills between brusharbor tonguing and rolling sessions. These people are normally reserved, even withdrawn, certainly not maniacal in the wildeyed sense that you see in the cartoon logo of the Mad Butcher, but the boonie revival

services are said to liberate them into a kind of bacchanalian frenzy that can become a threat to the woodland passerby. It’s something like confronting those mad cows. There’s a dark Dionysian element here that those temporarily enthused quickly repress and won’t discuss afterward, but one of the immediate consequences impossible of evasion, is that the charismatic conception rate peaks in the heart of camp-meeting season. And then the birth rate around the ides of March. There’s no good practical advice for trail pilgrims who find themselves beset by mad charismatics. You should circle your wagons if you have any. Phone 911. The conventional Ned Beatty/“Deliverance” wisdom of submission and acquiescence, until the frenzy runs its course and the concupiscent gang moves on, is not really a good idea, especially if venomous reptiles and poison ivy are known to be about. And there’s this: I don’t give credence to reports of a new malady, perhaps triggered by climate change or other environmental factors (fracking?), that is causing havoc amongst parochial populations of some of our tiniest insects. It’s generally called mad-gnat disorder. It might be more accurately called mad dog-peter gnat disorder but investigators thought that name might be more laughed at than cause for concern. Anyhow, something is up with the local dog-peter gnats, but I don’t see any cause for panic just yet.

ARKANSAS TIMES CLASSIFIEDS Legal Notices

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CASe NO. 12-DI-0145 Dept. I IN THE NINTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT OF THE STATE OF NEVADA IN AND FOR DOUGLAS COUNTY DAVID JAMES COHOE, Plaintiff, TARA LINDSEY NGUYEN COHOE, Defendant. THE STATE OF NEVADA SENDS GREETINGS TO THE ABOVE-NAMED DEFENDANT: You are hereby SUMMONED and required to serve upon plaintiff, DAVID JAMES COHOE, whose address is 10440 Maya Linda Road Apt. E305, San Diego, CA 92126, an ANSWER to the Complaint which is herewith served upon you, within 20 days after service of this Summons upon you, exclusive of the day of service. In addition, you must file with Clerk of this Court, whose address is shown below, a formal written answer to the complaint, along with the appropriate filing fees, in accordance with the rules of the Court. If you fail to do so, judgment by default will be taken against you for the relief demanded in the Complaint. This action is brought to recover a judgment dissolving the contract of marriage existing between you and the Plaintiff. The filer certifies that this document does not contain the social security number of any person. Dated this 14 day of March, 2012. TED THRAN Clerk of Court by Deputy Clerk Ninth Judicial District Court P.O. Box 218 Minden, NV 89423 June 20, 2012

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www.arktimes.com june 20, 2012 39

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