Arkansas Times - August 3, 2017

NEWS + POLITICS + ENTERTAINMENT + FOOD | AUGUST 3, 2017 | ARKTIMES.COM

RESTAURANT MONTH DEALS

DETAILS INSIDE - PAGE 22

The Arkansas Times, in partnership with First Security Bank, will honor its fourth class of Women Entrepreneurs this October, and we want to know who you believe should be in the spotlight. Here’s what to keep in mind: • Your nominee must be a woman who started her own business or took over a business and is still the owner/operator.

• She must be an Arkansan.

• She must be in business currently and have at least one year in business by the time of your nomination.

• We welcome nominees who are LGBTQ.

• She must fit in one of these industry categories: food, professions (teachers, doctors, attorneys, financial advisors, etc.), nontraditional, retail and design, and two new categories - trailblazers (women who do not have their own business but have led their profession to success – pastors, teachers, CEOs, writers, etc.), and those women entrepreneurs outside of Pulaski County.

NOMINEES WILL BE ACCEPTED UNTIL SEPTEMBER 1, 2017 Submit your nominee and her contact information to Kelly Jones, kelly@arktimes.com, and we will announce our honorees in September.

A panel of judges will determine the finalists, and they will be announced by industries in the following issues:

OCTOBER 5, 12, 19, AND 26

PAST HONOREES: WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS CLASS OF 2016 COMMUNITY BUSINESS Heather Smith Mary Jo Siikkema Javonne Jordan Lindsey Gray Bernice Osei-Danquah Lisa Marshall Rene Hooper Collin McReynolds

PROFESSIONAL & DESIGN Sarah Catherine Gutierrez Erin Eason Brittany Sanders Amy Milholland Gina Radke Kristi Dannelley Amy Denton Mary Nash

TRAILBLAZERS Sarah Anne Vestal Maggie Young Erma Jackson Jan Ham Berlinda Helms Nicole Hart Mireya Reith Supha Xayprasith-Mays

ARTS & EDUCATION Tina McCord Helen Scott and Cindy Scott Huisman Kristy Carter Vicki Farrell Nicole Winstead Bess Heisler Ginty Shamim Okolloh Kathryn Tucker

A luncheon hosted by First Security Bank is planned.

First Security Bank and The Arkansas Times are not affiliated 2

AUGUST 3, 2017

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3

COMMENT

Martin does it again I don’t believe this! Mark Martin released the info of every Arkansas voter not just once, but twice? Is he really that eager to grovel at the feet of Herr Trump?

I don’t know which is worse, Martin’s amazing stupidity or Kris Kobach’s evil intentions.

Setting up a hotline after the voter info has already been released is about as useful as teats on a boar hog. The damage is already done.

Get used to it, folks. This is life in a full-blown corporate oligarchy. Big Brother is watching you now.

Martin has betrayed the people of this state. He should be fired.

Brad Bailey Fayetteville

Rights For decades now, Democrats have believed that all people are entitled to certain benefits. Even the U.S. Declaration of Independence lists life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as inalienable rights and that the government is designed to secure these rights. Republicans, on the other hand, want government out of everyone’s rights and business. Democratic President Franklin Roosevelt offered his Second Bill of Rights, which guaranteed employment, farmers’ rights, housing, medical care, Social Security, education and freedom from monopolies. Republicans want the free market to handle all these things. In 1965, President Johnson and his Democrats gave us Medicare and Medicaid.

Today, Democrats agree that Americans are entitled to Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, unemployment and welfare programs. Republicans are trying to unravel and privatize those programs.

Here in Arkansas, Governor Hutchinson and his Republicans practically kicked 60,000 Arkansans off Medicaid. Hutchinson says these poor Arkansans will buy health insurance on the Obamacare market, which Republicans are trying to destroy. Meanwhile, health providers across Arkansas have lost 60,000 customers. To make matters worse, Hutchinson also signed a punitive act to remove a tax exemption on unemployment benefits. Newly unemployed health professionals will be less likely to exist on unemployment income.

Republicans will not allow these people to live, be free and pursue happiness.

Gene Mason Jacksonville

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AUGUST 3, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

Cycling good for Central Arkansas I was glad to see the Pulaski County Quorum Court pass the resolution to accept FLAP funding for the Southwest Trail. I did appreciate the opposition voicing concern for the single mom in Wrightsville holding down two jobs and how funding for the Southwest Trail might impact her.

I am, however, unsure of the necessity of the attack on the cycling community by hoping we eventually leave the Big Dam Bridge for the Southwest Trail for the safety of himself and his children.

I ride with a lot of passionate Republicans and Democrats. I ride with believers and nonbelievers, with professionals and blue-collar workers. All these differences are nullified on the bike. We all have a common goal of cycling for fun. I’m a member of two Central Arkansas cycling clubs and have ridden with most others. I sit on a bicycle advocacy board that represents a cross section of cyclists who use their bikes to commute, ride

off-road and ride for exercise or competition. There are thousands and thousands of voters cycling in Central Arkansas. And as the court saw in letters and phone calls and then in person, we make up a passionate bloc of voters.

We are a force economically.

Allied Cycle Works has brought in some of the industry’s best minds to Little Rock to create the only largescale production carbon bike facility in North America. It is receiving international accolades for this effort. Meanwhile, there are a dozen bike shops in Central Arkansas, selling thousands of bikes and providing ongoing mechanical service and support to this large community. In addition, Bobby’s Bikes rents thousands more bikes each year to tourists and residents, and Little Rock will soon launch its own bike share program.

And most cyclists aren’t pedaling $5,000-$10,000 bikes as was suggested by another opponent of this measure. Though the comment was an attempt to paint us as out-of-touch elitists, spending on bikes is a posi-

tive economic issue. Still, most average biking citizens who benefit from the bike lanes and trails don’t spend near that on their bikes.

Our community involvement runs deep. Recycled Bikes for Kids provides bicycles, helmets and safety training to an underserved community, including the single mom in Wrightsville holding two jobs. We want her children to know the joy and freedom of riding, as well.

In September, many of us will again ride to fund multiple sclerosis research as a small part of the national Bike MS program. Each year, cyclists in Central Arkansas raise roughly $100,000 by requesting donations and then traversing the hills of the Ouachita Mountains to Hot Springs Village. Then, we’ll turn around and come back the same way the next day.

Safety is a big concern out there on roads, and we spend much of our time talking about it. We talk about considerate riding, sharing the road, and how better to protect ourselves with onboard cameras, lights and safe riding skills. We’ve lost fellow riders

Knowing our clients personally is what we do. to distracted drivers. Every year, in the middle of July, over 600 cyclists and volunteers meet in Scott to participate in a memorial ride to honor Marilyn Fulper by doing what she loved. This is a ride of which few noncycling citizens are aware. Funds are primarily used for improvements on the Arkansas River Trail.

But the real return on investment is to our broken health care system.

When I took up cycling six years ago, I was overweight, already on blood pressure meds and being encouraged to add another for cholesterol control. In six months, I lost 15 percent of my body weight, improved all my cholesterol numbers and stopped taking blood pressure medication.

I am extending my life by riding — physically and mentally. A friend recently told me she and her husband have taken up cycling and lost over 60 pounds in just two months. Another friend recently lost 60 pounds, and he, too, no longer needs any cholesterol or blood pressure medicine. In a state with one of the highest obesity rates in a country with one of the highest rates among developed countries, I’d say the lower cost of health care is an adequate economic benefit in and of itself.

Randall Hula Little Rock

From the web In response to a July 31 blog item about the firing of White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci 10 days into his job: I just hope I’m around long enough to read the all Trump administration tell-all books that will come out in the future. Of course, that’s assuming the fool doesn’t do something so monumentally stupid that none of us will have much of a future.

Sigh.

In response to the July 27 Arkansas Blog item “County approves bike trail”: All cyclists and/or bicycles should be taxed or licensed to help pay for this expenditure. There is no good reason why this elitist group, who may afford expensive cycles and equipment, should not contribute rather than receive a free ride on

the backs of their neighbors.

Baker Everybody pays taxes, baker. The vast majority of people who ride bikes are also car owners who drive just as much as everyone else. Regional paths like the proposed Southwest Trail have been proven to benefit the communities along them and the counties around them, so this is an investment in everyone’s future, more than just a giveaway to your neighbors who ride bikes. Or, simply think of it as a linear public park.

That being said, I do like your logic when applied to things that don’t have a clear benefit to the community at large. Let’s repeal the general sales taxes that go to highway widening and replace that funding stream with tolls. Are you with me?

Knowing our clients personally is what we do.

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Timbo In response to the July 28 Arkansas Blog item “Senate defeats Obamacare”: I heard McConnell was crying on the Senate floor.

I hope so.

Maybe somehow he can find a little empathy for the millions upon millions whose health care he keeps putting into jeopardy.

He lost a vote. Many of them will lose their lives if he ever gets his way.

Perplexed We live in one of poorest states that relies on all of the money we can get. Cotton and Boozman just voted against our best interests. Will those that voted for them choose another candidate? Nope! Blind pride and loyalty is the game and ignorance is their game.

Yapperjohn I pray that was McCain’s last hurrah.

71909er There’s nothing to worry about.

We had the highest health care in the world before, and we’ll have the highest health care in the world after. A for-profit system will always deliver a high-priced product or service than a nonprofit.

Screwing around with health insurance is just a useful distraction from the corporations making the real money.

Ivan the Republican

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5

EYE ON ARKANSAS

WEEK THAT WAS

Federal Judge Kristine Baker last week enjoined enforcement of a new state law outlawing the most common surgical procedure used in second trimester clinical abortions as well as three other laws aimed at ending abortions in Arkansas. Most of the laws were to take effect July 31 and would have crippled the last remaining provider of clinical abortions in the state.

The injunction stops enforcement until a full trial but it suggests success of the suit by plaintiff Dr. Frederick Hopkins. Similar laws targeting the dilation and extraction procedure, the preferred method of second-trimester abortions, have failed elsewhere.

Little Rock Family Planning, where Hopkins works, is the only clinical abortion provider in the state.

The judge, in a 140-page opinion, also enjoined three other new laws: one that demands vast amount of personal records for a woman seeking an abortion; one that sets requirements for disposal of fetal remains (hotly controversial because notice is required of the father of an aborted fetus, someone who might be a rapist); and another raising to 16 from 14 the age of women receiving abortions for whom fetal tissue must be sent to the state Crime Lab. Hopkins argued that the statutes threaten him with criminal penalties and “deny and burden patients’ constitutionally protected rights to decide to end a pre-viability pregnancy, to make independent decisions related to their pregnancy care, and to protect their private medical information.” The judge agreed.

Two other laws remain under challenge. A hearing is set in federal court in August on a law requiring heightened inspection requirements for abortion clinics, more than for other medical offices. Baker had enjoined the other, which required a doctor with admitting privileges at all clinics, even the Planned Parenthood clinics that only dispense miscarriage-inducing pills.

The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals last week lifted an injunction on that law, a troubling ruling by an ultra-conservative panel of Republican judges.

Another voter data dump The hotly controversial request for voter information from an ad hoc panel working for President Trump was renewed and once again Arkansas has again turned over voter data. The original request for voter information 6

AUGUST 3, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

DINNER PROTEST: Latino activists gathered July 27 in front of the Marriott hotel, where the Reagan Rockefeller Dinner was held, to demand action to secure DACA for immigrants.

from the president’s Advisory Commission on Election Integrity was met with widespread resistance. Only Arkansas supplied information before the initial request was withdrawn on account of pending lawsuits. The commission, later given a pass by a federal judge in one case now on appeal, told Arkansas officials that information was “deleted.”

Commission Vice Chair Kris Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state infamous for bogus voter fraud claims, sent letters to all 50 states asking for all publicly available voter information. California has already refused.

Arkansas Secretary of State Mark Martin has now twice sent to Kobach files that include names, addresses, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, birth dates and voting history (which elections, including which primaries) and party identification. This information is available on disk to anyone who asks for a $2 charge and is often tapped by political parties and candidates for getout-the-vote efforts. Nonetheless, many voters haven’t been happy to learn this personal information is being shared so widely. Martin wasn’t too happy to get calls at home after his information was shared. In some states, voters have canceled registration rather than having information shared.

BRIAN CHILSON

Abortion laws halted

Support for bike trail from quorum court The Pulaski County Quorum Court approved spending county matching money toward building a 65-mile bike/foot trail from Little Also a photo with the speaker (six-perRock through Saline County to Hot son limit). And dinner every year with Springs. The vote was 10-3, with two the speaker. Just don’t pick up his dinabsent. ner tab if you are a lobbyist or employ County Judge Barry Hyde, a recre- one, because that wouldn’t be legal. Of ational biker himself, rounded up the course, who but a lobbyist or some10 Democratic members of the county body who employs one would want to governing board necessary to approve commit to $5,000 in annual payola to the spending, which matches a federal a legislative caucus? grant of $2.6 million. The vote was 10-3, The House Caucus seems to put more with three Republicans in opposition value in Speaker Gillam than, say, the and two Republicans absent. Republi- Republican State Committee. On July can opposition had slowed the project 29, it adopted a resolution objecting to previously. a rule change engineered by Gillam that ended seniority as an element in House committee assignments and made the speaker the dictator. The resolution Give $5,000 a year to the House called for a return to the seniority sysRepublican Caucus and you, too, can tem. Gillam said his way is better in getown a genuine, autographed (not auto- ting members on committees to which pen, we hope) thank-you letter from they are best suited. He told the DemoHouse Speaker Jeremy Gillam, accord- crat-Gazette: “Democracy should have ing to a flyer for a Sept. 14 Arkansas a little bit more forethought going into House Republican Caucus fundraiser. it than a random draw out of a bowl.”

Cozy up to the speaker

OPINION

Crisis at 60

T

he city of Little Rock, the school district and the National Park Service last week announced extensive plans for events in September to mark the 60th anniversary of the Central High desegregation crisis.

The use of federal troops to enforce a desegregation order was a landmark in the struggle for civil rights. Music, art, lectures and a reunion of the eight surviving members of the Little Rock Nine, who entered Central with protection by federal troops, are scheduled. The city, expecting visitors, has embarked on a branding campaign. The theme: “Reflections on Progress.”

There’s progress to be found, no doubt, and I trust the campaign will emphasize them. Leave it to me to look on the darker side. Topics for visiting reporters 60 years later: • Federal case law now finds disfavor with devising means to achieve

racial balance, or even token integration, in oneMAX race schools.

BRANTLEY • The school maxbrantley@arktimes.com district where federal troops escorted a handful of black students into a single high school is now overwhelmingly black.

• The Little Rock City Board essentially segregated the city years ago with a decision to allow westward city expansion to occur outside the Little Rock School District.

• The school district no longer has an elected school board. Its majorityblack board was abolished by the state of Arkansas for academic shortcomings in several mostly black schools.

• The state Board of Education has helped further segregate the school district with proliferating charter schools.

• A white member of the Board

of Education angrily told a patron asking for return of local control that he was sick of hearing about the Little Rock School District.

• The current City Board includes white members who favored the school district takeover and who voted against a resolution urging a return of local control.

• The neighboring Pulaski County School District just fired a superintendent and lawyer for mentioning the possibility of a boundary change that would combine majority white western Little Rock with the majority black Little Rock School District.

• Suburban cities have outstripped Little Rock in growth thanks to people fleeing Little Rock and what are perceived as substandard schools. The schools, coincidentally, are heavily populated by impoverished black children. The decaying center city and its high crime rate fuel suburban growth, too. State highway officials meanwhile lobby for hundreds of millions in freeway construction to get the suburbanites out of town

most dangerous avenues for stopERNEST DUMAS ping the Russian probe. Trump went silent.

• He appointed his fourth communications director in six months, a blustering bully self-named “The Mooch,” a man who a year earlier had called him a bigmouthed, anti-American hack unfit for the presidency, and then was gleeful when the potty-mouthed Mooch condemned the president’s top aides and advisers in normally unprintable language in The New Yorker. He elevated The Mooch above his chief of staff, then got the chief of staff to resign and replaced him with a retired general, whose first act was to demand the president fire The Mooch right then.

• Flouting his campaign promises, Trump announced by Twitter that transgender people could no longer serve in the armed forces, but the Joint Chiefs declared the Trump tweet worthless.

• Having announced days into his presidency that he was putting the finishing touches on a surefire bill to repeal and replace Obamacare, all his succeeding promises that a beautiful health-care plan for everyone was in the offing came to naught when he couldn’t get 50 senators to vote for a single stripped-down bill, despite threats to defeat Republicans and

harm their states. grand budget overhaul, or the outlines • Having declared flatly on Jan. 2 of it, and he surrendered. He pleads that that “it won’t happen” when the dicta- they keep trying to give him a victory on tor of North Korea said he would test an health care before adopting their own intercontinental missile that could plop budget and tax cuts. a nuclear bomb inside the U.S., Trump • Still insisting that he doesn’t believe watched silently as the little tyrant actu- Russia meddled in the presidential election ally fired two ICBMs within a few days, or helped him, Trump in the last week of the second with a range that could put July saw the whole grand scheme collapse. a bomb on Trump Tower. Boast not of Over his objections, Republicans and Demtomorrow … . ocrats in both houses framed tough sanc• Having promised tough reprisals tions against Russia for its meddling in the against China for its trade and currency election to help Trump and made it imposdeceptions, Trump met China’s president, sible for Trump to give Putin the relief he adored him and asked him to make North wanted from the sanctions imposed by Vietnam behave and not test ICBMs. In the President Obama. Trump mutely signaled week that was, Trump explained sympa- that he would sign it. thetically why China just couldn’t do that.

• Vladimir Putin recognized in Trump’s • His big department heads at Defense, eager panderings in one meeting and teleState and intelligence agencies along phone call after another that Trump was with his UN ambassador regularly fol- not going to be the lifeline he counted on. low their own policies, often in direct Having withheld retaliation for Obama’s conflict with the president’s. With impu- last sanctions in expectation of better nity. The defense secretary flatly contra- times with Trump, Putin imposed his dicts Trump on issue after issue, bellig- own sanctions, shutting down most of erently after Trump said the U.S. should the U.S. diplomatic presence in Russia have taken over Iraq’s oil. Abroad, his vice and starting military movements along president gives vague lip service to the the borders of former Soviet client states. president’s ideas while assuring nations Putin’s spokesman said the boss now conthat the United States’ real policies are sidered Trump “irrelevant.” What’s next the opposite.

— the Miss Universe hotel clips?

• His grand plan for a giant program to Even with a grizzled old Marine now rebuild America’s infrastructure and cre- running his show, this guy is no threat to ate millions of jobs is a dead letter. Repub- destroy the democracy or to achieve, well, licans wouldn’t let Obama do it and they much of anything beyond some transiquietly let Trump know he can’t either. tory reductions in human rights gains. If • His own party instantly scrubbed his you read Proverbs, God told you so.

Ten days

L

ast week confirmed what was already obvious. The Book of Proverbs was composed as either a primer or an omen for Donald Trump.

You remember many of its warnings from Sunday school: Let another man praise thee, not thy own mouth; pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall; a wrathful man stirreth up strife but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife; boast not of tomorrow for thou knowest not what a day brings forth; whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein; the wicked flee when no man pursueth; labor not to be rich; the braggart who reveals himself to be an ineffectual twit shall cease to be venerated.

OK, the last got left out of the proverbs, but it’s a summation of them.

In the most confounding 10 days in presidential history, consider some of what happened.

• The president, who earned his fame for barking “you’re fired!” at TV-show contestants (producers actually made the call on whom to fire), repeatedly denounced his attorney general in hopes he would resign and then, when the usually obsequious little man wouldn’t, the president’s own congressional leaders warned him that if he fired the fellow they wouldn’t even allow him a recess appointment, shutting off all but the

even faster after work in Little Rock.

• A majority of Little Rock police officers, particularly white officers, don’t live in Little Rock. Many say they find the schools unsuitable and the city unsafe.

• The City Board is elected only partially from wards, so that the white business community can control the balance of power through three atlarge seats. These interests led the movement to oust the school board.

• Central High, which my kids attended, itself remains a beacon of academic achievements, but its critics insist that white students are favored in advanced placement classes while black students are steered elsewhere.

The Walton-financed charter school lobby is pushing hard to upend an assignment system that helped preserve a desegregated Central.

I could go on. But that should be enough to encourage conversation. Disagree with my spin, by all means. But we’re wasting time on the 60th if the observance doesn’t include some sober thought on what 1957 has wrought.

Follow Arkansas Blog on Twitter: @ArkansasBlog

arktimes.com AUGUST 3, 2017

7

Putin’s missteps

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8

AUGUST 3, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

good title for the entire TrumpPutin saga might be “The Naive and Sentimental Dictator.” Assuming, that is, that it all plays out as farce — certainly the direction events are trending in the White House.

What did Vladimir Putin think he was getting? Is it possible that he mistook an egotistical buffoon like Donald J. Trump for an apprentice strongman? If so, he badly misunderstands America. It’s not simply Russia with better plumbing. Granted, Trump himself lacks the self-discipline for autocracy. But he also lacks the servile population.

Putin is known to regard Western ideals of liberty, freedom and democracy as sentimental illusions. Trump disdains all laws that impede him. But if Congress accomplished nothing else by imposing new sanctions against Russian meddling in our politics, it proved that Putin’s best American friend has become the weakest president in living memory.

Not that Trump can’t still do enormous damage. But sentimental illusion or not, he won’t be able to undo the Constitution.

For all his bluster, Trump’s increasingly becoming a figure of fun — almost as laughable as his comic opera (and now dethroned) mini-me, the Mooch. His falsehoods expire overnight, often due to his own foolish tweets.

Nobody fears Trump, not really. See, he can’t have me thrown into prison for mocking him. Also unlike Putin, he can’t have Sen. Jeff Flake, the Arizona Republican, shot dead in the street for denouncing his own party’s “Faustian bargain” with Trump.

“Silence in the face of an erratic executive branch is an abdication,” Flake writes in Politico, “and those in positions of leadership bear particular responsibility.”

OK, so that makes a total of four Republican senators with spines. A few others have also made noises.

But back to Putin. No, we definitely don’t need another Cold War with the Russians. Never did. But it’s the Russian dictator that badly overplayed his hand — possibly why his diplomats are already hinting that mutual accommodation might still be possible.

Meanwhile, Trump might like to undo the sanctions, but he hasn’t got the power.

He’d also like to rid himself of Robert Mueller, the investigator systematically probing exactly what Putin’s got on him. However, Trump can’t make that happen.

Another Republican senator with at least a vestigial backbone, South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham, said: “Any effort to go

after Mueller could be the beginning of the end of the Trump presidency unless Mueller did something wrong.”

GENE One theory is LYONS that Putin never really imagined that his efforts would bring about a Trump presidency — that his real motive was sowing confusion and Russianstyle cynicism about democracy itself. Certainly, Russian operatives’ approach to the amateurish schemers in Trump Tower last June was like something out of a Donald Westlake comic crime caper.

Writing in the New York Times, former CIA chief of station Daniel Hoffmann argues that what looks like incompetent Russian tradecraft indicates a baited mousetrap that Donald Trump Jr. clumsily jumped into. An email from an intermediary vowing Russian government support for the Trump candidacy and promising to deliver dirt on Hillary Clinton?

So naturally Trump Jr. copied and forwarded the incriminating message with the helpful subject line “Russian — Clinton — private and confidential.”

An email? Not the sharpest tool in the shed, Junior.

Has anybody ever not read a message so marked? Except we’re expected to believe that boy genius son-in-law Jared Kushner never did, although he attended the meeting with five Russian operatives anyway. A big bust, he claims, a real nothingburger.

But now The Washington Post reports that the president himself drafted a deceptive statement after word of the suspect meeting first materialized in the press. The meeting was about Russian orphans, see, not Clinton dirt.

Followed, as day follows night, by the appearance of the aforementioned “private and confidential” emails.

So which is more incompetent, Team Vladimir or Team Trump?

The CIA’s Hoffman thinks he knows: “To me, the clearest evidence that this was a Russian influence operation is the trail of bread crumbs the Kremlin seemed to have deliberately left leading from Trump Tower to the Kremlin. This operation was meant to be discovered.”

But why? The commonest use of kompromat, as the Russians call incriminating evidence, is blackmail.

Too late now. Russians commonly say that Putin’s a cunning plotter, but a strategic dope. If he wanted Trump in his pocket, looks like he’s got him.

But the end result is chaos.

Sham hotline

S

ecretary of State Mark Martin has set up a hotline for Arkansans to call with feedback about the individual voter data he so eagerly turned over on two separate occasions to the newly created Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity. Lawyers for President Trump argued successfully in a recent lawsuit that this commission, led by notorious vote suppressors Vice President Mike Pence and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, is not an agency, but merely a presidential advisory panel.

This distinction should lead to questions about the true purpose of the commission and how closely it will be tied with the Trump reelection campaign he launched on Inauguration Day by filing paperwork with Federal Election Commission.

I’ve heard some of the people who like to refer to themselves as “patriots” and who tend to elevate the Second Amendment over the rest of the Bill of Rights, fall in lock step behind President Trump and criticize the bipartisan resistance to the data request from secretaries of state across the country and ask the same question they ask when the government is trying to overreach or the Fourth Amendment is being eroded to those who stand up for privacy: “What are you trying to hide?”

Sigh. This is the kind of thinking that gets us closer and closer to an authoritarian state, as if only those who are doing something wrong would dare stand up for privacy and against searches of our data, cars and homes. It is the same mentality that gave us the Patriot Act and secret warrants and the idea that a dog can breathe funny outside a car and a police officer gets to search it. If this sounds like complaining and overreacting then we probably all need a primer on freedom and privacy.

It may come to the point where the people are so tired and worn out from all the carrying on by the Trump administration and his supporters that they just throw their hands up and quit fighting.

People are exhausted and horrified. Many Arkansas college and university employees anxiously await the arrival of guns on campus. In between struggling to save Medicaid and protect immigrants and transgender service members, people are subject to the daily White House circus.

Thankfully, White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci only

lasted 10 bizarre days, but with reality star Omarosa Manigault and half the Trump family in the West Wing, AUTUMN we wearily wait to TOLBERT see what is next.

But back to the hotline. What is its purpose? How will it help? Has Martin really set up a specific phone line because he is so concerned about what the people of Arkansas have to say about his actions? It is too late to get the voter information back even if every single citizen of Arkansas called the hotline with an objection to its release. The cat is out of the bag. The data is in the hands of the president. Phone numbers, addresses, date of registration, political party, whether the voter casts a ballot early or on election day, and other data that we would hope the mere proximity to the secret ballot tradition would provide some protection. It is true that this information was available to Arkansas residents if sought under a Freedom of Information Act request, but Martin did not require the commission to follow the law. He made it easy for hackers and others with nefarious purposes to get their hands on our data. In fact, the information is now on the deep web.

I’ll tell you the purpose of the hotline.

It’s a placebo. A sugar pill. It’s the “close door” button in an elevator. It makes us feel good and powerful, but accomplishes nothing. It also takes time and energy away from actual endeavors or phone calls that could make a difference. Martin, in order to avoid his main phone lines being overrun with calls by upset Arkansans, has shooed those concerns away to a secondary phone number. He is giving the people the brush off. Last year, he set up a hotline for the Ten Commandment monument complaints and he will continue to do it for other hot button issues.

The calls to the hotline are probably somehow logged or recorded or noted.

However, if you want Martin to know you are out there and you are upset, forget the hotline. Call the main number. Don’t let him and other elected officials dismiss your concerns so easily. Be thankful, maybe just this once, for term limits.

‘It’s a placebo.

A sugar pill.

It’s the “close door” button in an elevator.’

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ARKANSAS TIMES

Preview, part 1

B

y the time you read this, Arkansas will have put in about a week’s worth of gridiron prep for a 2017 season that has such an odd feel, what with the deflating close of 2016 a distant but still germane development and the cast of skill and special teams players looking substantially different.

The Hogs start the season on a Thursday night in War Memorial Stadium against MEAC also-ran Florida A&M. The Rattlers got pummeled by Miami last year 70-3 to start their 4-7 season, so let’s be honest, it will not hurt for a somewhat beleaguered Arkansas team to have this kind of opponent right out of the gate.

Last year, Austin Allen had to pick himself up off the turf repeatedly in the face of an aggressive Louisiana Tech pass rush. The Hogs nipped their foes from Ruston by a single point on a late TD, and in retrospect that game was a harbinger of things to come. While the offensive line did make some strides and the offense sharpened generally, the abuse Allen withstood on Labor Day weekend became fairly thematic throughout the duration of the season.

Frankly, with no derision meant for the Rattlers here, this is the kind of game the entire Razorback program needs. One, it will soothe the wounds that opened up at the end of 2016 a little, and it will get Allen comfortable with a few of his newer and less tested weapons. This also marks the first Thursday night regular-season game for the program in over a decade, and that should stir things up on the old golf course for a lively evening to usher in the holiday weekend. Look for Devwah Whaley to show out early as well. Arkansas 48, Florida A&M 7.

The Thursday opener also provides two additional days of rest before TCU comes to Fayetteville, and that extra prep time will facilitate defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads’ gameplan for containing quarterback Kenny Hill, who is set to finish out a star-crossed career that seemingly spanned a decade or so. The Horned Frogs’ senior quarterback actually hasn’t had his best collegiate moments against the Razorbacks, being largely unsteady before a big finish in leading Texas A&M to an overtime comeback win in 2014 and then sabotaging a possible victory for his new team last fall with a memorably ill-timed throat slash that set the Hogs up with

a short field late in the game. Arkansas cruised down to tie the game on a touchdown and twopoint conversion before stealing the win in overtime on Allen’s plowing run to paydirt.

BEAU That loss damWILCOX aged the Frogs’ psyche more than anything else. TCU fell out of the rankings and lost six of its last nine games, getting embarrassed at home three more times by lowly Texas Tech, Oklahoma State and Kansas State before bottoming out to a 6-7 finish with a loss to Georgia in the Liberty Bowl.

Gary Patterson is simply too polished a coach to let his team fold the tent again in 2017, though, and the Frogs will again challenge Arkansas on the strength of a variable offensive attack. In the end, though, the home-field edge will mean a lot — Allen’s fourth-quarter moxie leads to a pair of scores and the Hogs survive their former SWC rivals again in another one that goes to the wire.

Arkansas 34, TCU 28.

The 2-0 start buoys the program and a bye week makes life a little easier, too.

This time, the Hogs go to Arlington to take on Texas A&M with an unusually cool and unaffected approach, knowing that after five straight losses to the Aggies since they began an SEC chapter of their long rivalry, the pressure rests on the team in maroon to keep their ridiculous knee-high boots on Arkansas’s metaphorical throats. Kevin Sumlin, itching to prove he’s worthy of being retained after a litany of late-season slippages, does not have the signal-caller to keep the Razorback defense befuddled this time.

In fact, this time, it’s Allen who treats the springy turf at AT&T Stadium as a catalyst for the remainder of his senior season. His three first-half touchdown passes stake the Hogs to a 24-14 halftime lead, but it’s his fiery halftime reminder to the team that they cannot wilt after halftime that really ramps up the momentum. A big picksix by Ryan Pulley early in the third quarter pushes the inspired Razorback defense to a three-possession advantage and Rhoads turns lineman Sosa Agim loose for a couple of huge sacks thereafter. Arkansas bolts to 3-0 for the second straight season. Arkansas 41, Texas A&M 20.

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THE OBSERVER NOTES ON THE PASSING SCENE

Adieu, Mooch

I

f The Observer were prone to feeling sorry for folks who further the aims of a corrupt authoritarian fanboy, we could almost feel sorry for those who Trump has chewed over and spit out during his six months in office. Almost. Yours Truly has had some horrible bosses in our day, as maybe you have, too. It’s the nature of work to put the most clueless and least empathetic ass in charge so the employees hate her or him instead of the name on the incorporation papers and thus don’t feel justified in ripping off office supplies, desk chairs and the occasional Jackson from petty cash. But that Trump. Lordy. He is turning out to be just as awful as we feared, especially when it comes to those who have sacrificed, either on purpose or by accident, for his cause: Spicey, Priebus, Flynn, Sessions, Comey, Republicans in Congress, poor folks out here in flyover country who bought his hokum, et al. Tony Soprano might have been a murderous scumbag, but at least Tony would have the decency to tell you why you were being whacked instead of firing you by Twitter.

The latest to climb onto the roaring pyre of this presidency with Donald the Unburnt was Anthony Scaramucci, a mini-Trump who, we somebody on the internet said recently, dresses like the owner of a Lamborghini dealership.

When we heard The Mooch had been fired after 10 days — 10 days he began by stepping to a White House lectern and literally, repeatedly, professing his love for Trump – we must admit we burst out laughing, the idea of Trump letting go someone in whom he had proclaimed utmost confidence a little over a week before so absurd and so Trumpian that we couldn’t help but feel like a man who expects to wake up from a strange dream. Such is life in Trumpmerica, 2017.

After a while, you pinch yourself so many times that you stop being able to feel the pinches.

When the inside baseball of Scaramucci’s firing started to seep out is when we actually, sorta, kinda started to feel sorry for the guy. The hedge fund he sold (albeit for an obscene amount of

money) because he wanted to work for Trump. The pregnant wife who divorced him rather than see her name attached, even tangentially, to a dim flim-flam man who history will revile as an abomination to the office he holds, barring Trump’s surprise triumph over alien invaders from Xerxon 5. The fact that Mooch missed the birth of his child because he was at the Boy Scout Jamboree, listening to Trump whip up young men pledged to be kind and honorable into gales of jeers for the press, the “sewer” of their own government, and his political opponent in a contest nearly a year past won. Yeah, Scaramucci is so smart he couldn’t understand that you have to say “off the record” before you call your ostensible boss a paranoid schizophrenic and invite the president’s pet fascist to gum his own wang. But in the end, a guy who actually bought a ticket on the U.S.S. Trumptanic and stepped to the bow to triumphantly scream “I’M THE KING OF THE WOOOOOORLD!” even though he could look over the rail and clearly see Rose and Jack floating on a door amid frozen corpses and chunks of iceberg was unceremoniously issued a cardboard box for office nick-knacks that hadn’t even had time to gather dust and marched to Pennsylvania Avenue. What happens to a dream deferred?

Like we said, we could almost feel sorry for the guy. Almost. But then again, not. He is ridiculously rich, after all, and while money cannot buy happiness, it can surely buy you stuff that makes you happy. Too, we all make our choices, and learn our lessons. Sometimes the lesson is, you’re a terrible person who makes decisions based on greed and power instead of love and service. Not that anybody who needs to learn that lesson is ever going to listen, because — as Scaramucci and pretty much everybody in Trump’s rogues Cabinet shows — failing to heed it can be insanely profitable. Those people can, however, be a lesson for others who haven’t yet sold their souls for a greenback dollar. And in that way, they can be of service to the greater good whether they want to or not. Even The Mooch.

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arktimes.com AUGUST 3, 2017

11

Arkansas Reporter

THE

BENJAMIN HARDY

LOCKUP: Mansfield’s is one of six state facilities that were once operated by private companies but are no longer.

State still holds reins over youth lockups After Jan. 1 takeover.

BY BENJAMIN HARDY ARKANSAS NONPROFIT NEWS NETWORK

S

ix juvenile treatment and correctional facilities that were unexpectedly taken over by the state in January will not be returning to private hands anytime soon, a spokesman for Governor Hutchinson said last week.

On Dec. 16, Hutchinson directed the Arkansas Department of Human Services’ Division of Youth Services (DYS) to assume provisional management of the lockups in response to a political dispute over which private entity would be awarded a DYS contract to run the facilities. Although they have always been owned and overseen by the state, the DYS has paid two Arkansas-based nonprofits to operate the lockups for over two 12

AUGUST 3, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

decades. In 2016, however, the agency decided to switch to an Indiana-based forprofit company called Youth Opportunity Investments. The two ousted nonprofits — South Arkansas Youth Services and Consolidated Youth Services — decried the bidding process as unfair, and some legislators of both parties sympathized with their complaints.

In December, a legislative committee blocked the contract with the new provider. With the old contract set to expire at the end of the year and the new contract stalled, the governor was forced to step in at the last minute to avoid a shutdown of the facilities on Jan. 1. At the time, Hutchinson said the state takeover would

last for at least six months.

Seven months later, the state is still determining its course of action. “[The] review, which will assist with what to include in any future facilities contract, is still ongoing,” J.R. Davis, the governor’s communications director, wrote in an email. “The governor receives regular reports from the DYS on the operations of those facilities and expects to have a recommendation in the future as to whether there’s a necessity for a third-party operator of these facilities through the DYS. A final decision is expected before the end of the year.”

Marq Golden, the DYS’ assistant director for residential programs, said the timeline built into the human services agency’s budgeting process means the state will keep managing the lockups until at least the end of the current fiscal year, in June 2018. “If we decided to go out tomorrow with the bid, it’s still almost a year-long process,” he said. “What’s critical right now is looking at the services being provided — what should be outsourced and what should be maintained by the state.”

The six lockups — comprised of facilities in Dermott, Mansfield, Lewisville, Colt and Harrisburg — housed 191 youth as of July 25. (Another 109 are confined at the state’s seventh and largest facility, the Arkansas Juvenile Assessment and Treatment Center in Alexander, which

is managed by a private provider, Rite of Passage, a Nevada-based for-profit company.) Thirty-eight more youth remanded to DYS custody are waiting in county juvenile detention centers for space to become available at the state lockups. Youth in DYS custody can be placed in county facilities for up to 90 days before being placed in one of the treatment facilities.

Although the proximate reason for the takeover was last year’s contract skirmish, the question now is whether those youth are better served — and the facilities more efficiently managed — directly by the DYS or by a private provider.

The initial transition to state control was rocky. Scott Tanner, Arkansas’s juvenile ombudsman at the state Public Defender Commission, said the DYS struggled with procurement of basic resources, including hygiene products.

“Toilet paper, clothes, detergent, cleaning supplies, food, propane, all that stuff.

It requires multiple bids, because of state law, and there was a real concern about programs running out of supplies. Do we have enough food to make it through the week? There was a learning curve — how to find the vendors, how to get them paid administratively.”

Most lockup staff were retained and transferred to the state payroll, but some departed and weren’t replaced, leading to staffing shortages. Some sites were left without adequate vehicles to transport youth to appointments. Mental and behavioral therapy services unexpectedly ground to a halt.

“The state learned the therapy was being provided by subcontractors. That was news to the state, and news to me,” Tanner said. “So, when the state severed its contract with South Arkansas and Consolidated, the subcontractors went away.”

On Jan. 26, the advocacy organization Disability Rights Arkansas sent a letter to DYS Director Betty Guhman outlining “neglect that rises to the level of abuse” at several lockups. The DRA letter warned of “critical shortages of staff … and deplorable, unhealthy physical conditions.” It emphasized the “complete lack of mental health therapy for youth at these facilities” — especially troubling because the stated purpose of the facilities is to provide reha-

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bilitative treatment to children. Typically, therapy is part of the treatment plan that youths are required to complete in order to be released. “Youth feel concerned that they are being held without any opportunity to complete the treatment which will lead to their release,” the letter stated.

“Youth feel like they are trapped in a bad situation without any hope.”

The disability rights organization said it also found “a failure to provide required and necessary education” at the lockups. “At Lewisville, monitors observed students in both classrooms watching movies, including the math class viewing a documentary on lions,” the organization wrote at the time. At the Dermott Juvenile Treatment Facility, “youth attend only three or four periods a day where they receive instruction and then have ‘electives,’ which as described by staff and youth alike consists of playing hangman, sitting around, and sometimes going outside when the weather allows.” Students with disabilities were not receiving accommodations, DRA said, in violation of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Act. The organization noted that it had raised concerns about special education deficiencies at the lockups “for more than two years” — long before the takeover.

DRA expressed hope that state control might bring improvements. However, the January letter concluded, “at this point, things have only worsened.”

The situation appears to have somewhat stabilized in the ensuing months.

Disability Rights Arkansas attorney Sharon Cowell said in a recent interview that youth are now receiving therapy, after an initial lapse of several months. Golden said treatment is being provided by way of a separate arm of DHS, the Division of Behavioral Health Services: “Beforehand, they were sending kids off-site for therapy. There were no offices for therapists on campus. … We feel that having the therapists right there on campus is a big asset for our kids.”

The organization remains dissatisfied with the “quality and quantity of mental health treatment the children are getting while in custody,” Cowell said. “My sense is that the therapists are coming, but it’s taken so long to get everyone through intake and to assess their needs that I

THE

Inconsequential News Quiz:

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drive-thru edition

Play at home, while enjoying some not-quite-as-bad-as-youthought-it-would-be horehound candy!

1) Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee recently took to Twitter to issue a rare apology. What did he apologize for?

A) “All the doo-doo jokes.”

B) Injuries caused by faulty grommets on recalled pairs of Mike Huckabee’s Fat Again Slacks (“The Slacks With a Drawstring!”).

C) A comment on Fox News in which Huckabee said retired Gen. John Kelly, recently named White House chief of staff, “didn’t ride the short bus,” a reference that incensed many parents of special needs children.

D) This photo: 2) The tiny town of Avoca (pop. 512) in Benton County recently did something that puts it ahead of more populated centers like Little Rock and Fayetteville. What did the town do?

A) Seceded from Arkansas, declared itself part of Massachusetts and began accepting intellectual refugees from the rest of Benton County.

B) Legalized medical methamphetamine.

C) Started allowing liquor stores to sell alcohol on Sundays.

D) Moved up voting in the 2020 presidential election to last Tuesday and went with “any living human being but Trump” in a landslide.

3) The Desha County Quorum Court recently voted 7-2 to approve something that might be a bit controversial. What did the court do?

A) Moved all public toilets outdoors with no surrounding stall so transgender people will be too embarrassed to use them.

B) Required all citizens in the county to take a three-hour seminar on how to spell “quorum.”

C) Allowed members of the quorum court — and only members of the quorum court — to carry handguns to their meetings.

D) Mandated that loudspeakers in the quorum court chamber blare Rihanna’s “Bitch Better Have My Money” as members enter and exit their monthly meeting.

4) A 77-year-old woman serving as an usher during a recent funeral at Jonesboro’s First United Methodist Church experienced something that required a call to the police. What happened?

A) She emerged from the blazing funeral pyre with three newly hatched dragons and a vow to return her exiled family to Craighead County’s Corncob Throne.

B) The foolhardy decision to serve a punch made of spiced rum, Clamato and Mello Yello at the wake led to the corpse rising from the coffin in protest, thus beginning the long-promised zombie apocalypse.

C) After the funeral, she found that one of the attendees had stolen her wallet out of her purse.

D) She got confused while exiting the church and drove off in the hearse, setting off a madcap chase through the streets of nearby Paragould.

5) Something unexpected happened recently at a Little Rock outlet of the Cracker Barrel restaurant chain. What was it?

A) A diner under the age of 30 ate there by choice, while not accompanied by her parent or grandparent.

B) A radioactive spider crawled out of a vintage can of Dr. Hubbard’s Radium Liniment, bit an assistant manager and transformed him into the world’s newest superhero: The Black Cracker!

C) A driver passed out while pulling into the parking lot and drove her Honda CRV through a wall and into the restaurant.

D) A patron browsing the gift shop mistakenly purchased the first bag of horehound candy sold in the continental United States since 1922.

ANSWERS: C, C, C, C, C

CONTINUED ON PAGE 33 arktimes.com AUGUST 3, 2017

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AUGUST 3, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

BRYAN CLIFTON

BRAINS BEHIND THE WHEELS: Engineer Sam Pickman (left) was lured away from California by HIA Velo CEO Tony Karklins (right) to design bikes for Little Rock’s Allied Cycle Works.

HIA Velo says the heck with Asia, builds carbon-fiber frames in Little Rock. BY LESLIE NEWELL PEACOCK PHOTOGRAPHY: BRIAN CHILSON arktimes.com AUGUST 3, 2017

15

You know that vintage 1950s Roadmaster bike you’ve admired on Pinterest, with its “electronically welded” steel frame, fenders, horn tank and kickstand?

Depending on your own vintage, maybe you even had one.

16

AUGUST 3, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

You may think it has nothing in common with it’s made in Little Rock. That’s thanks to Karklins. the bike that Bicycling magazine has proclaimed “What separates HIA Velo from anybody else the “hottest bike of 2017,” Allied Cycle Works’ Alfa, setting up a bike company comes down to Tony a sleek racing ride practically as light as air thanks Karklins,” says cycling journalist Patrick Brady. to its carbon fiber construction.

Brady, who writes about cycling on his blog, “Red But it does. Like AMF’s old Roadmasters of Kite Prayer,” came to Arkansas from California in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, the Alfa is manufactured May to see the operation and try out the Alfa All in Little Rock. The factory, on Brookwood Drive Road, the multisurface member of the Alfa family. in Riverdale, doesn’t turn out 3,000 complete “I don’t have any reason to build up the legend of bikes a day, as the AMF factory did on West 65th Tony Karklins — it doesn’t do me any favors,” Brady Street, but what it does is special this way: With said, “but he’s one of the most interesting people the exception of billion-dollar bike-maker Trek and in the bike industry right now.” artisan builders, Allied Cycle’s is the only carbonPlus, Brady said, he’s smart. “He understands fiber frame manufactured in the United States, what it takes to make a quality bicycle.” and Trek is making 99 percent of its bikes in Asia.

So here’s how you become a quality bike frame Little Rock native Tony Karklins, who founded manufacturer in Arkansas: You raise close to and is CEO of the manufacturing company HIA $3 million from some well-heeled folks — they Velo, which created the Allied Cycle Works brand, trust you because of your 36-year career in the says the company will have produced between 800 bike business — and buy at a bankruptcy auction and 1,000 bikes by the end of this year and plans a factory that had been in business for 24 years to double that number in 2018.

(Guru) in Montreal. (The $400,000 loan you get So not only does the Alfa model have a “Made from the Governor’s Quick Action Closing Fund Here” label on it, Arkansans also can take pride that and the $50,000 grant for training helps, too.) Then

MAKING A CARBON FRAME: The manufacturing of the Alfa bike frame requires the placement of hundreds of pieces of carbon fiber into a mold that is heated, coated and heated again before it moves to the final stages of sanding and painting.

arktimes.com AUGUST 3, 2017

17

you haul the factory to Arkansas in six semi tractortrailers. You fly Specialized bike company engineer Sam Pickman to town from California and put him up at the Capital Hotel (“with all the upgrades,” Karklins says); Pickman immediately buys a house in Hillcrest.

Guru’s mechanic, Olivier Lavigeuer, decides he’ll join you, moves from Montreal to downtown Little Rock.

Jim Cunningham, founder of CyclArt, knowing nothing about humidity, agrees to move from San Diego to Little Rock to create the amazing paint finishes on the bikes.

You spend your first year in business putting in about 100 hours a week developing the frame, hiring and training dexterous workers to place the 351 small and weirdly shaped pieces of carbon fiber that go into the making of the frame. Then you hire another 25 to cure the frames, machine them, sand them, paint them, put them on a rotisserie so the paint doesn’t drip and ship them out, either fully assembled with parts ordered by the customer or the frame alone.

The process — from bringing the factory to Arkansas in March 2016 to putting out five to six bikes a week now — has been accomplished at “hyper speed,” Pickman said.

But the business is still ramping up, tweaking the technology and production time and proving that the investment was a good one. Karklins envisions a factory that one day will employ 250 to 300 people and sell several thousand bikes a year. But right now, marketing is taking a back seat to catching up with the orders that “clobbered” Allied after Bicycling magazine wrote that the Alfa “absolutely rips.”

Why in Little Rock? Because it’s Karklins’ hometown, where he’s been in the bike business since he was 11 years old, when he had a job at Chainwheel fixing flats. And because investors wanted it here.

“I knew it could be done very economically here,” Karklins said. The factory space “costs $6,000 a month to rent here. That would be $50,000 to $60,000 in Southern California.”

Why bikes? “Because I was a troublemaker growing up,” Karklins said. “My parents had been saving money for a minivan — they were both social workers — but instead they figured out a way to buy a small piece of Chainwheel so I could get a job. They knew I was going to get in trouble in the afternoons if they didn’t plop my ass in Chainwheel. It gave me structure. So I grew up in bike retail in Little Rock.”

By age 16, Karklins — who didn’t even ride a bike before he began working at Chainwheel — had purchased a third of the business and become manager.

“It gave me a home and it was really cool. The people were cool in the bike world. And I loved the equipment and I loved selling bikes. … I loved selling bikes to people like you,” he said, nodding to this reporter, “because I’d teach them about bikes and see that that customer would come back and buy a better bike and then a better bike and within two or three years be

doing the Big Dam Bridge 100. I’d think, ‘I did that to that person.’ I love that.”

The annual Big Dam Bridge 100 is in its 11th year. By the time it rolled around, Karklins had been in the bike business more than two decades: He’d bought and sold Chainwheel and brought the U.S. headquarters of the Spanish bike brand Orbea to Little Rock. He was Orbea’s North American managing director from 2004 to 2014.

“Then,” Karklins said, “I went off on this quest on what to do next.” After visiting 20 bike companies that he thought should be in the United States, he decided he didn’t want to do that again. “I had this sort of epiphany,” he said. “Nobody makes anything

what drew me to this.”

At HIA Velo, where he is hands-on during the whole frame-making process, Pickman can not only improve on the Allied brand; he can also improve on “literally every unit” of the Alfa the plant turns out.

“Our business model,” Karklins said, “is to identify all the things that the big companies that manufacture in Asia cannot do, and that’s exactly what we are doing.”

The Alfa, which comes in 12 sizes and can also be custom-sized (“in case you have extremely short arms, or something,” Pickman said), sells for between $4,000 and $10,000, depending on the needs of the buyer.

Allied Cycle Works will fit the frame out with the gears and handlebars and seats, etc., of the buyer’s choice; the buyer chooses the color, as well.

The bikes are competitive with those sold for $2,000 to $4,000 more, cycling writer Brady said. “The Alfa All Road — it’s a bike that I put alongside the best from the biggest companies in the world.” And, he added, he’s reviewed thousands of bikes. “So this Alfa that I’m reviewing, I’m going to make it mine.”

What makes the bike so good, Brady said, is the quality of fiber work going into the frame: “It is an order of magnitude more complicated” than other work he’s seen.

Carbon fiber is both light and strong, which is why it’s used in aviation, but the fibers run in only one direction. For strength, they must be laid into the frame form in pieces in varying orientations — Brady compared it to papier-mache. In addition to coming up with the strongest fiber recipe for each frame, Allied has partnered with polypropylene fiber manufacturer Innegra Technologies of South Carolina to add another layer of strength to the carbon.

For Little Rock cyclist Traci Howe, however, the reason she decided to buy an here. It’s really kind of sick.” So, rather than marketing Alfa when she wanted to replace her old Orbea bike, a bike made in Asia, Karklins decided to create and was not just its quality, but because “I wanted a bike manufacture a brand here. that was made here in America. I thought, ‘How cool Bikes aren’t manufactured in the United States for is that?’ ” the same reason nothing else is made here either: It’s Howe, 45, who rides with the bike club CARVE cheaper to manufacture abroad. “It’s hard,” bringing (Central Arkansas Velo, no connection to HIA Velo), manufacturing back to the U.S., “and after being involved also likes the look of the bike. “There’s a little symbol on in this project, we know how hard it is,” Karklins said. the downtube,” she said, referring to the eagle logo, and To make it in the U.S., “we have to be smarter, faster the word Allied in small print on another part of the bike, and do it in a place like Arkansas,” he said. and that’s it. Other bikes, she said, have their names But if it’s hard to build here, it’s equally hard to be all over them. The Alfa has a clean, sophisticated look. innovative when you don’t, engineer Pickman said.

HIA (which stands for Handmade in America) Velo The 36-year-old — one of the fastest amateur cyclists (bicycle in French, deriving from the Latin for speed, as in the U.S. before he got married and settled down — in velocity) owes a large part of its success to cofounder began working at Specialized right out of college in Doug Zell, Karklins says. Zell, the founder and CEO 2004. Unlike at Specialized, for Allied he doesn’t have of Chicago’s Intelligentsia brand coffee and a bike to fly back and forth across the Pacific Ocean to meet enthusiast, co-founded HIA Velo. The Times couldn’t with manufacturers, and he doesn’t have to convince get an interview with him, but Karklins described his company to invest to come up with something new. him as “one of the most interesting persons I’ve ever “You’re handcuffed” at big companies, Pickman said. encountered. He lives in Boston, Chicago, bought a “You say, ‘I want to try this,’ and they say, ‘Nah.’ … house in Napa and now he lives [in Little Rock] in the “If you really want to evolve, take bicycles to that Heights; he relocated his primary residence to North next step, you have to break out of that model. That’s Jackson Street.”

Karklins envisions a factory that one day will employ 250 to 300 people.

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ARKANSAS TIMES

Zell, who founded Intelligentsia in 1995, sold a majority stake in the company to Peet’s Coffee in 2015; Karklins knew he was looking for a new project. “I really went to him because I wanted his help in crafting a brand. That’s hard stuff. I’ve been in other projects, you create a brand and present it to the world and it’s like crickets. Doug was very instrumental in bringing the Allied brand together.”

When Karklins took the first finished Alfa to Philadelphia to meet with the editors of Bicycling last year, he was nervous. “We were flying to Philadelphia with this bike that was going to be on the cover and no one had ever seen it.” He took it out of its case, “and everybody went, ‘Oh, my god.’ It was the coolest, most genuine moment.”

The bike — which had come off the line only three days before — was chrome red and classy. “The bike industry has been in this Nascar graphic thing: How many times can you put your name on a bike?” Karklins said.

He’d once sold a bike that had its brand

name on it 21 times.

The look of the bike was important because the old way of selling bikes had changed. “When I was with Orbea,” Karklins explained, “the way it used to work was you would find the fastest rider and he would be in every one of your ads and your catalog. And then they’d all get busted for drugs. So we thought, ‘Shit, we’ve got to come up with a new way.’ ” The eagle logo on the bike is just like the eagle on the Intelligentsia coffee packaging, only its wings are lifted; it’s in flight.

Zell is also the founder of The Meteor coffee shop, which opened in June at the corner of Kavanaugh Boulevard and Markham Street, in the same building as Spokes bike shop. Zell also bought Spokes, which is now known as Spokes at The Meteor; it will gradually coast away from the Spokes name. The Meteor is co-owned by Chris St. Peter, a lawyer and friend of Zell’s from Chicago.

St. Peter said coffee shops and bike shops complement each other: “There’s

ALFA FANS: Traci Howe (above) decided to replace her old Orbea bike with an Alfa because it was made in Arkansas. “How cool is that?” she asked. Red Kite Prayer blogger Patrick Brady (below) puts the Alfa All Road that he’s testing “alongside the best” bikes in its class.

arktimes.com AUGUST 3, 2017

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ALFA, A Works b sophist their bik Alfa at T co-foun

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ALPHA: The Alfa, the first bike manufactured by HIA Velo’s Allied Cycle brand, sports the eagle symbol and little else along its frame for a clean, ticated look. First, the bike gets painted (left); buyers can personalize kes with any color they want. Chris St. Peter (below) poses with his The Meteor, the Stifft Station coffee/bike shop he owns with HIA Velo nder and Intelligentsia coffee CEO Doug Zell.

a general sense of community. Coffee houses bring people together and cycling also serves that purpose.” So it made sense to him and Zell to combine the businesses. It also made sense to do it in Little Rock: Zell was involved in HIA Velo and Little Rock had a “vibrant” community of cyclists, St. Peter said. The historic building that Spokes is located in — the old Little Rock Paint and Wallpaper Co. — also seemed perfect.

The Meteor has renovated the famous Little Rock Paint sign and will restore its neon.

St. Peter, who enjoys racing, was surprised at the number of bike enthusiasts in Little Rock. He participates in the once-a-week “Velo lunch ride” that sets off from the Brookwood office and heads to Burns Park over the Big Dam Bridge. It’s as fast a ride as any St. Peter participates in, he said, with cyclists zipping along at 30 miles per hour.

Not surprisingly, St. Peter rides an Alfa, which he calls one of the best all-around racing bikes, “proficient in all categories,” from stiffness of material to aerodynamics to comfort. “It’s among the best bikes I’ve ever owned,” he said. He hopes to be able to sell them in the bike shop when Allied Cycle is geared up to get ahead of its orders.

Arkansas may be flyover country, but it is in the early stages of becoming known as a destination for cyclists. There are a number of biking clubs in Little Rock — Mello Velo, Major Taylor Cycling Club, Arkansas Heels on Wheels, the Arkansas Bicycle Club among them.

“I had no idea that the cycling culture was so strong here,” Pickman said. He finds it curious that Little Rock doesn’t do a better job of selling its River Trail to tourists. Little Rock’s cycling is known regionally, but not nationally yet.

That’s not the case in Northwest Arkansas, where the Walton Family Foundation has poured money into creating bike trails. The trail system — which includes more than 200 miles of mountain biking as well as the Razorback Regional Greenway from Fayetteville to Bentonville — “scrambled my brain,” said cycling journalist Brady. “It’s colossal. And the cost of living there … I could move to Bentonville tomorrow and all my money woes would disappear.” (Brady lives in Santa Rosa, Calif.) “The imagination used in creating those trails is world class,” he added.

The Big Dam Bridge, which opened in 2006, has undoubtedly contributed to Arkansas’s biking and hiking culture. It has given Arkansas an identity other than the place where Orval Faubus called out the troops to keep nine black children from desegregating Central High, a reputation happily replaced by its being the birthplace of Bill Clinton. The Big Dam Bridge 100, the Tour de Rock and the Little Rock Gran Fondo may not

be as famous as the Mt. Tam Century in Marin County or the Leadville 100 in Colorado, but they do attract cyclists in the thousands.

But Arkansas’s noncyclists have a long way to go, noted members of the CARVE group gathered last week at the Clinton Presidential Center for an evening ride along the Southwest Trail to the Terry Lock and Dam. A woman named Sheila — this writer didn’t get her last name before she pedaled off — said she’s had bottles of water thrown at her from passing cars, once in the Rockwater riverside neighborhood in North Little Rock and once in the parking lot of the Two Rivers Bridge, which is dedicated to pedestrian and bike traffic. Sheila’s companion said cars have gunned it behind him and passed with little room to spare; they do not understand, nor do they want to understand, road etiquette. One of Little Rock’s rides, the Wampoo Roadeo Metric Century, honors the memory of cyclist Marilyn Fulper, who was killed by a driver who just didn’t see her on the road. Upholstery tacks have been scattered on Highway 300 and Pinnacle Valley Road, a popular biking route northwest of Little Rock.

But if Little Rock could get its motorists educated, it would find that having a cycling infrastructure improves the quality of life in a city. It’s a way to not just attract tourism or new business but, Brady said, to convince people who might otherwise move off to literally greener pastures to stay.

That bike trails increase the appeal of a region is an idea that seems to have finally sunk in at the Pulaski County Quorum Court, which in June turned down a $2.6 million federal grant to engineer a 65-mile trail between Little Rock and Hot Springs, part of a “rails to trails” program. A few justices of the peace said the grant’s match — $520,000 to be split between Pulaski, Grant and Garland counties — would be better spent on highway improvement. A study’s conclusion that the trail would be a multimillion-dollar boon to the economy by bringing tourist dollars and jobs to the county did not convince them. Last week, however, the JPs reversed course and voted 10-3 to accept the grant.

Central Arkansas Water is also studying putting a mountain bike trail around Lake Maumelle.

“That would be huge,” Karklins said.

In the meantime, Allied Cycle Works will build its business. Karklins hopes to get ahead of orders and have a showroom in six months or so. The company, which is working with distributors in five companies in Asia, has also worked out a deal to distribute the bike in Scandinavia. The United Kingdom and Spain are next.

arktimes.com AUGUST 3, 2017

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Arts Entertainment AND

‘TURN TO GOLD’: Six-piece Nashville band Diarrhea Planet may have started as a joke, but the group’s gained a real following since its inception at Belmont University.

Diarrhea what?

A Q&A with Evan Bird of Diarrhea Planet.

BY JACOB ROSENBERG

D

iarrhea Planet was basically a party band that was too good. Everything from their ridiculous name to their abundant guitar solos began as a way to blow off steam among hypertalented music students at Belmont University in Nashville. Then, it kept working.

As “party band” gave way to “actual band,” the group has kept the ridiculousness: four guitars reigning down hair metal solos, lyrics about “ripping through the streets of heaven” and a raucous live show replete with crowd surfing. “Even if we were playing classical music, I feel like we’d still be running around,” Evan Bird, a guitarist for the band, told me in a conversation ahead of a performance at Revolution on Friday, Aug. 4. You should go watch 24

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ARKANSAS TIMES

them shred.

How has your writing as a band evolved over the years?

Nowadays, when we write, it’s a bit harder because I think we are a little bit more aware; it’s not spray and pray like the old days. Because, I mean, it kind of was a joke originally. Well, not necessarily a joke, but it wasn’t supposed to be particularly serious. I think the four-guitar thing — at least when that lineup was solidified for the band — I don’t think it was supposed to be a real band. It just snowballed into this thing where we all said, “OK, maybe let’s give it a real shake.” Out of necessity, we learned how to listen to each other and shifted from being this college party trick with a drunken circus act

live show to really having to back it up musically. When more and more people started paying attention to us, we realized pretty quickly that we didn’t want to be a one-trick pony.

And I’m sure certain friends of mine would light a real fire under my ass hearing me say that — I bet they’d be able to just torch me — but, yeah, we grew. …

There are so many more doors that are open to us now, though, since we’ve been playing together so long.

We can kind of choose whether we want to be ridiculous. Do all four of us want to play power chords right here? Or do all four us want to play one note, and it makes a chord? Or do two of us solo? It gives us a lot of freedom [live] that a lot of other bands only have in the studio when they overdub.

Was there a song or a specific point where you found yourself saying, “This is what Diarrhea Planet sounds like”?

Well, I was not initially in the band. And one of my friends had been actually trying to get me to

see DP for a long time. But I kept blowing her off and going, “Diarrhea what? Oh no, I’m cool.” “No, you got to come with me, they’ve got a song called ‘Ghost with a Boner’!”

I was like, “Yeah, that’s not really helping your argument; I think I’m going to stay in tonight.” But, finally, she brought me out. They were playing somewhere; I can’t remember how long they played even, and the song “Raft Nasty” stood out. I was like, “All right, here’s some not particularly challenging but thoughtful guitar playing. Here’s a very poppy sound hook. Here’s a lot of ridiculous soloing over some parts. And the big gang vocals thing.” It just ticked every box for me. That was the first song where I said, “Maybe there’s more to this; maybe I should have given this more of a chance.” After that, I started going to more of the shows, and that was right around the same time that Emmett [Miller] and I were playing in this side band.

One thing kind of spiraled into the next and suddenly I was in the band.

Your sound has grown and matured, but at the same time, it doesn’t sound like you’ve lost that edge of, essentially, being a party band.

How have you kept that?

I think from day one we were not afraid to take risks, especially live, and we are doing that in the studio now, too. In the early days, it was like, “What do you mean that guy just spent three songs in the mosh pit getting almost strangled by his own guitar cable? He can’t do that.” Well, you can do that. “What do you mean this guy is climbing the speakers and falling over and he threw his guitar and just danced for a song? You can’t do that!” Well, again, you can do that.

One time, I played an entire show in roller skates I found on the street on the way to the venue. That stuff is just fun! It’s making me laugh; it’s making Emmett [Miller] laugh. Shit, the audi-

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A&E NEWS ence will probably laugh. It’s a guy making faces sliding all over the stage but playing seriously, executing it in a very serious manner. Maybe that brings it full circle to why this band even exists. I mean, if you want to start a band with your buddies and literally pick the worst name you think of at the time, do it.

Nobody is going to stop you.

Was there something going on in Nashville that helped y’all create that?

The big thing that pushed us all together, as people, when we first met was that we were going to a school that has an incredible music business program, and they have incredible commercial performance programs. You could pick any instrument, you could be a producer, and I mean you could be anything. It’s really pretty incredible, but their whole strategy was if you want to play music and make money and win a Grammy and be successful and have a street named after you, then do all of these things. … But, I don’t think any of us were particularly concerned about how this was going to look to an accountant. You know, none of us were thinking, “What do I do now so I can buy my mansion and fleet of Jet Skis?” I think we were more focused on, “How do we just play and have fun?” … So, to very clumsily answer your question, I think we were kind of more “right place, right time.” I think Diarrhea Planet would’ve existed in some form or another, but it really does take a village to raise a bunch of idiots with Marshalls [guitar amps].

Diarrhea Planet plays at Revolution Friday, Aug. 4, 8:30 p.m., $10-$13.

Matt O’Baugh and Katie McGowan of Sherwood’s Black Cobra Tattoo, the two tattoo artists who competed in season six of Spike TV’s “Ink Masters,” are back on the show, competing for a grand prize of $200,000. The current season, called “Ink Masters: Shop Wars,” involves a twist in which eliminating one team means that a veteran team from a past season may be introduced — in this case, Sherwood’s own McGowan and O’Baugh. “Ink Masters” airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. For more information or to view past episodes, visit spike.com/shows/ ink-master.

Lucinda Williams, a three-time Grammy Award winner and daughter of poet and Arkansas native Miller Williams, was announced as the featured act for this year’s Oxford American gala, which will celebrate 25 years of dedication to “the very best in Southern writing, while documenting the complexity and vitality of the American South,” as its mission states. The 25th anniversary celebration, “Books, Bourbon & Boogie” takes place Thursday, Nov. 2, at the Center for the Humanities and the Arts Theater on the campus of the University of Arkansas Pulaski Tech, 3000 West Scenic Drive in North Little Rock. Tickets range from $125-$175 and include a pre-concert reception with drinks and appetizers; a portion of the price is a tax-deductible donation to the Oxford American. Tickets go on sale at noon Thursday, Aug. 3, at metrotix.com or 800-293-5949. For more information, visit oxfordamerican. org/gala.

The Little Rock chapter of the 48 Hour Film Project will hold its “Best of” screening and awards ceremony from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday, Aug. 4, at the Ron Robinson Theater. Films to be shown in clude “A Wolf in Sheeps Clothing” by Oh Yeah! Productions; “Angels and Idiots” by Faux Pas Productions; “Crooked Arrow” by 4 Grads and a Dropout; “Keep Going” by Firefly Productions; “Knock” by The Happily Miserable; “Long For Tongs: A Martial Arts Story” by Rockwood Films; “Once Upon a Session”

by Luminaughty; “Someone Else” by SS Pictures, PLLC; “The End of the World As We Know It” by Backyard Pictures; “The Last Assassin” by MRM and Stryking Image Productions; “The Little Big Hit” by Maxout Productions; “Tongs of Endearment” by What Are You Doing?; and “The Wedding Band” by Take 6.

The winner will proceed to the festival’s Filmapalooza, to be held in Paris, France, in March 2018. Tickets for Friday’s screening and awards ceremony are $10 and available at Eventbrite.

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BY STEPHANIE SMITTLE

THURSDAY 8/3

MARCELLA AND HER LOVERS

LISA MAC

7 p.m. Mosaic Templars Cultural Center. $35.

Since we last spoke with zydeco heiress Marcella Simien in November 2016, she’s taken her frottoir and accordion savvy to the Beale Street Music Festival with an outsized, horn-enhanced version of her swamp soul outfit, filmed covers of The Strokes’ “Someday” and Frank Ocean’s “Self Control” with vocalist Brennan Villines, and hustled around Memphis doing “singing telegrams” to raise funds for her band’s upcoming LP. All that’s to say that an increasing number of listeners are falling head over heels for Simien’s earthy, tongue-in-cheek delivery and barefoot joie de vivre, and I suspect the audience at this show — a fundraiser for ACANSA’s 2017 arts festival, to be held Sept. 20-24 — will do the same. ACANSA’s lineup this year includes The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, pianist Tatiana Roitman Mann, Secret Sisters, an exhibit of Will Counts’ photography of the 1957 Central High School desegregation crisis and many other events.

Check out the full schedule at acansa.org, and if you’ve got some cash to throw toward the organization’s efforts, catch Marcella and Her Lovers.

THURSDAY 8/3

ELISE DAVIS

8 p.m. South on Main. $10.

For those who claim country music as their jam but would wrinkle their noses at the prospect of Thursday’s night’s Verizon Arena offerings (see below), Elise Davis is bringing tunes from last year’s Make the Kill Records/ Thirty Tigers release “The Token” to South on Main (and if her prolific songwriting in the past is any indicator, probably some new ones, as well). Recorded in a cabin in Maine last January with Sam Kassirer — a producer who’s fine-tuned albums for Erin McKeown, Josh Ritter, Elephant Revival and Lake Street Dive — “The Token” is “a sort of diary, a collection of stories/ feelings centered on the friction between a more modern path against that of a traditional sort,” Davis told Vice Magazine’s music blog. “The record also speaks to females being in more control than they are given credit for in many instances across the human spectrum. And that’s not a matter of body. It’s a matter of prowess.” Davis’ 2016 release has prowess in spades, accented with lots of electric guitar, heavy echo, cigarette smoke and melodies captured with enough clarity to boast all the colors of Davis’ voice. For these reasons and many more (not the least of which is the aching, tender “Married Young”), count me among the crowd that was elated to discover that the Little Rock native is back in the studio, and that there are violins involved.

SWAMP SOUL: Marcella Simien brings her zydeco band to Mosaic Templars Cultural Center on Thursday night to raise funds for the 2017 ACANSA arts festival.

THURSDAY 8/3

TIM MCGRAW AND FAITH HILL

It was 2007 when the so-called “King and Queen” of country music last went out on tour together.

About 10 years before, McGraw proposed, and Hill responded with an all-caps “YES” graffitied in Sharpie on the mirror that hung in McGraw’s dressing room. They’ve got three teenagers now, and they’ve made the rounds on talk TV the last several months in anticipation of this “Soul 2 Soul” World Tour, playing adorable, G-rated games of “Never Have I Ever” (spoiler: they’ve used each other’s toothbrushes) and showing off cellphone shots of McGraw’s drawer of Ellen DeGeneres-branded underwear. If you cooed at any of that, or if you still know the words to “This Kiss” (don’t lie), this show’s for you. Lest you worry that “Live Like You Were Dying” didn’t make the set list and your highdollar ticket will be for naught, don’t. McGraw’s so tired of the tune he nearly cut it, but Hill and thousands of fans have convinced him to keep it around.

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GREGG ROTH

7:30 p.m. Verizon Arena. $70-$120.

MAKE THE KILL: Elise Davis performs tunes from her latest, “The Token,” at South on Main Thursday night.

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IN BRIEF

THURSDAY 8/3

FRIDAY 8/4

607, $ME, TSUKIYOMI, DJ DOOLEY

8:30 p.m. Vino’s. $5.

“You won’t come.” That’s the text that scrolls across a poster detailing the lineup for 607’s upcoming show(case) at Vino’s, and it’s a line in the sand the rapper, whose given name is Adrian Tillman, has grown accustomed to drawing. More broadly, though, it’s Tillman’s way of daring audiences who might not typically show up at rap showcases to step out of their own comfort zone. For the many Little Rock residents who have expressed a desire to counter a rising level of violence in the city, it’s a challenge to make good on those intentions — not with a feel-good fundraiser or “stop the violence” picnic, he says, but by showing up and absorbing some of what the city’s up-andcoming rappers and producers have to offer. For starters, there’s Tsukiyomi, a prolific 19-year-old rapper who does all his own album art and taught himself Japanese (check out the second verse of his track “Kyoto” on SoundCloud). Tsukiyomi is joined

by DJ Dooley, Phatte400 and Self-Made Entertainment and 607 himself. If you can’t make it, here are 15 hip-hop artists with Arkansas connections to cue up on Spinrilla, Spotify, YouTube or elsewhere: Bazi Owenz, Bilayshia, QuarterPiece, Fresco Grey, Ferocious, Feezi Redd, King Dyl, DMP Jefe, Beedy, the prolific Yuni Wa (catch him at White Water Tavern Tuesday, Aug. 8, with Joshua Asante), Wuda, Big Piph, Goon des Garcons, Solo Jaxon and SA (SoloAct).

To check out my full conversation with Tillman, visit our entertainment blog, Rock Candy.

AUG

Leisure Club kicks off what it’s calling “a genuine rock revue for dads and punks” at the White Water Tavern, with Bad Boyfriends and new music from Phillip Martin, 8:30 p.m., $5.

Pottsville, Penn., glam rockers Crobot return to Little Rock for a show with the formidable Royal Thunder, 7:30 p.m., Rev Room. $10-$15. The Arkansas Travelers take on the Tulsa Drillers at Dickey-Stephens Park, 7:10 p.m. Thu.-Fri., 6:10 p.m. Sat.-Sun., $7-$13. Four Quarter Bar throws an afterparty immediately following the Tim McGraw and Faith Hill show at Verizon Arena, with The Salty Dogs, $5.

Saxophonist Pamela K. Ward headlines Thursday night at Cajun’s Wharf, 9 p.m., $5. Comedian J.R. Brow goes for laughs at The Loony Bin, 7:30 p.m.

Thu.-Sat., 10 p.m. Fri.-Sat., $8-$12.

FRIDAY 8/4

Vocalist Samarra Samone returns to South on Main with a gospeland soul-inspired set, 10 p.m., $15.

Trumpet player and electronic dance music producer Ryan Viser pumps his “brass-infused bass music” at Revolution, with Michael Brown, 8 p.m. Israeli singer-guitarist Bat-Or Kalo and her eponymous band land at Midtown Billiards, 1:30 a.m., $5.

Pianist Andrea Zlabys performs at UA Little Rock’s Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall as part of the Faulkner Chamber Music Festival, 7:30 p.m., $15. Detroit MC Kash Doll lands at the Clear Channel Metroplex, 10 p.m., $20-$75. Bluesman Lightnin’ Malcolm performs at the White Water Tavern, 9 p.m., $7. Up in Fayetteville, University of Central Arkansas creative writing professor Mark Spitzer reads from his latest book, “Beautifully Grotesque Fish of the American West,” 7 p.m., Nightbird Books, free. CosmOcean takes its classically trained lead vocalists to Maxine’s in Hot Springs, 9 p.m., $5. New Orleans folk ensemble The Tumbling Wheels bring its old timeinspired harmonies to Four Quarter Bar, perfectly matched with an opening set from Trey Johnson and Jason Willmon, 9 p.m., $8. Katmandu lands at Thirst N’ Howl Bar & Grill, 8:30 p.m., $5. Flint, Texas, country singer William Clark Green takes the tunes from “Live at Gruene Hall” live at Stickyz Rock ’n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 8:30 p.m., $10-$12. Brian Nahlen and Nick Devlin duo at Cajun’s, 5:30 p.m., free, and the Big Dam Horns take the stage at 9 p.m., $5.

Dirty Lindsey performs at West End Smokehouse, 10 p.m., $7. St. Louis reggae-informed sextet The Driftaways perform at Kings Live Music in Conway, with an opening set from Caleb Patton, 8:30 p.m., $5. Pamela K. Ward and The Last Call Orchestra bring their sax-infused dance set to Oaklawn’s Silks Bar & Grill, Hot Springs, 10 p.m. Fri.-Sat., free.

17

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27

THE

TO-DO

LIST

BY STEPHANIE SMITTLE

SATURDAY 8/5

GUNS N’ ROSES

6:30 p.m. War Memorial Stadium.

In the words made famous by Dionne Warwick in 1968, “Promises, promises, this is where those promises, promises end/I don’t pretend that what was wrong can be right.” Two decades ago, the members of Guns N’ Roses swore they’d never tour together again, and, well, here we are. The reunited Duff McKagan, Slash and Axl Rose doubled down on the reconciliation routine with a stop in St. Louis last Thursday, a city they avoided after a 1991 performance of the song “Rocket Queen” ended in destruction (hey, the words “Appetite for Destruction” were right there in the album title!) and was thereafter known as the Riverport Riot. Since then, they’ve torn through Minneapolis, where they played for three hours and left enough time for Axl to AXL, DUFF, SLASH AND STURGILL: Country maverick Sturgill Simpson opens the highly anticipated Guns N’ Roses show at War Memorial Stadium on Saturday night. drop in on an adjacent Billy Joel concert. Now, the tour is headed for the storied War Memorial Stadium, where GNR will perform with country music rabblerouser Sturgill Simpson. Simpson, a GNR fan since childhood (his mom threw away copy after copy of “Appetite” after seeing the album art, he told Marc Maron on the comedian’s “WTF” podcast last May), is returning from Japan to join the tour in Denver, Little Rock and Miami, where he’ll likely confound the uninitiated by ripping out tunes about spirit molecules and psilocybin mushrooms. If you were scratching your head when you heard a country artist was slated to join GNR on the War Memorial bill, check out Simpson’s January performance of “Call to Arms” on Saturday Night Live. Things might make a little more sense. P.S.: Unlike at Razorback football games, War Memorial will be selling beer for the concert.

SATURDAY 8/5

TAB BENOIT

8 p.m. Revolution. $20-$25.

Guitarist, songwriter and activist Tab Benoit has come to be nearly synonymous with his home state. Born in Baton Rouge, a resident of Houma in Terrebonne Parish and now a champion of coastal preservation through his nonprofit Voice of the Wetlands, Benoit plays with a percussionist’s adherence to the beat, finding ways to make familiar blues tunes sound weird and wild again and avoiding the pitfalls that tend to make listeners like me flee from anything labeled “blues rock.” He’s been honored year after year at the Blues Music Awards, was named Conservationist of the Year by the Louisiana Wildlife Federation in 2009 and has set up shop in his own hometown with a club called Tab Benoit’s Lagniappe Music Cafe. When he’s not performing, Benoit’s a tireless advocate for the swamplands, showing up in Washington, D.C., and else-

where to discuss the ins and outs of arcane stuff like levee failures, coastal oil rigging and dredging policy. Whether a white guy can expect to be an ambassador for blues music is a complicated question, and one that asks the inquirer to look deeply at the tradition’s origins, to examine the logistics and consequences of the slave trade in states like Benoit’s native Louisiana. If you asked Benoit’s mentor and sometimes-collaborator Buddy Guy, though, don’t expect a history lesson; he may well respond as he did when speaking about blues star Quinn Sullivan to an audience at his Chicago blues club: “I don’t bite my tongue when I hear shit that I don’t like. ... And I get a fuckin’ stupid question asked of me a lot, and it’s that, ‘Can a white person play the blues?’ And I say, ‘I don’t [have an] advantage over a white person. I’ve only got five fingers. If I had six fingers, I could answer you differently. Now, this young man can play.”

‘VOICE OF THE WETLANDS’: (photo credit Jerry Moran) When he’s not performing, guitarist Tab Benoit advocates for wetland conservation in coastal areas like his native Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana.

28

AUGUST 3, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

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IN BRIEF

10 p.m. Four Quarter Bar. $8.

Time heals all wounds, and we now know that pretty much the only thing that could successfully assuage the mudstompers who follow The Ben Miller Band after washboard maniac Doug Dicharry’s 2016 departure was a giant dose of Tyrannosaurus Chicken. The band in its current iteration, with multi-instrumentalists and mad string scientists Smilin’ Bob Lewis and Rachel Ammons, lands at Four Quarter Bar this weekend. That’s a lot of band in a small space, especially considering Miller and co. evidently have zero problems projecting major energy and panache to enormous stadium and festival crowds elsewhere. For a taste of what the quartet can do without any amplification, check out the video for “Hurry Up and Wait” the group filmed in Amsterdam for Paradiso Sessions last September.

For the full, amped-up, harmonica-through-a-telephone-receiver effect, check out the band’s mashup of “Black Betty” and “John the Revelator.”

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SATURDAY 8/5

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Publication: ARkansas Times

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‘ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM’: The Ben Miller Band, complete with members from Arkansas’s Tyrannosaurus Chicken, lands at Four Quarter Bar Saturday night.

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Colour Design, Adam Faucett & The Tall Grass and Fiscal Spliff play a rock show at White Water, 9 p.m., $7. South on Main celebrates its fourth anniversary with Sonny Burgess & the Legendary Pacers, 8 p.m., $10. Lypstyck Hand Grenade takes its set to Thirst N’ Howl, 8:30 p.m., $5. Mark Currey brings tunes from his debut, “Tarrant County,” to Core Public House in Argenta, 6 p.m., free.

Ben Byers performs for the happy hour crowd at Cajun’s, 5:30 p.m., free, and Earl & Them take the stage at 9 p.m., $5. Country bass singer Josh Turner performs his Grand Ole Opry-certified songs on the Timberwood Amphitheatre stage at Magic Springs Theme & Water Park, 8 p.m., $35-$55.

Country stars Lady Antebellum land at the Walmart AMP in Rogers on the band’s “You Look Good” world tour, with opening sets from Kelsea Ballerini and Brett Young, 7:30 p.m., $38. South Carolina’s Cranford Hollow brings its Southern rock set to Smoke & Barrel Tavern in Fayetteville, with Austin, Texas, duo Hardcore Sex, 10 p.m., $5. Elmira, N.Y., band Sabella shares an early metal show with Hot Springs’ Census, Of Human Action and Oblivion Rising at Vino’s, 7 p.m., $10. Seth Freeman lands at West End Smokehouse, 10 p.m., $7.

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SATURDAY 8/5

SUNDAY 8/6

A cappella group Straight No Chaser and Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox are on tour together, and make a visit to the Walmart AMP with an opening set from John McLaughlin, 7:30 p.m., $40-$80.

MONDAY 8/7

SUNDAY 8/6

‘COLLECTED STORIES’

7 p.m. 21c Museum Hotel. $5 suggested donation.

If, like a lot of Central Arkansas denizens, you’ve heard rumblings of cultural and culinary leaps in the Northwest corner but have yet to head up to check it out, add ArkansasStaged to the list of groups to keep on your radar. With a museum-hotel hybrid as a primary venue and a slightly left-of-center take on theatrical programming, Artistic Director Laura Shatkus and her team have been putting plays by, about and directed by women at the forefront. They performed Lauren Gunderson’s “The Taming” on

Inauguration Day with proceeds benefiting Planned Parenthood, and on Mother’s Day, the company staged George Brant’s “Grounded,” about a fighter pilot who gets reassigned to directing drone strikes after she becomes unexpectedly pregnant. For this Sunday’s experiment, ArkansasStaged puts up Donald Margulies’ “Collected Stories,” a story about a relationship between mentor Ruth Steiner and protegee Lisa Morrison that becomes strained when Morrison crafts an award-winning novel based on Steiner’s secrets. The reading has a run time of around two hours, features actors Emily Riggs and Lauren Halyard, and is directed by Morgan Hicks.

Adam Duritz and Rob Thomas fans, take note: ’90s hitmakers Matchbox 20 and Counting Crows bring their tour to the Walmart AMP, 6:45 p.m., $125. The Hot Springs Concert Band pays tribute to America’s natural landscape with a concert titled “A Celebration of Our National Parks,” 6 p.m., Whittington Park, free.

Find New Beginnings.

Call 501-242-4091 to visit!

TUESDAY 8/8

Yuni Wa and Joshua Asante join forces for a bill at White Water, 9 p.m. The Central Arkansas Library System screens Alex Nicols’ 1958 horror flick, “The Screaming Skull,” at Ron Robinson Theater as part of its Terror Tuesday series, 6 p.m., $2. The Arkansas Travelers face off against the Frisco RoughRiders, 7:10 p.m. Tue.-Thu., $7-$13.

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arktimes.com AUGUST 3, 2017

29

Dining WHAT’S COOKIN’

BARK BAR, where you can enjoy a cockertail and a Red Rocket hot dog while your best friend frolics beside you or in the bar’s dog park, opened Tuesday at 1201 S. Spring St., in the former Dreamweavers space (a former church). Elizabeth Michael, Kara Fowler and Dan Roda unleashed the new breed of bar, and worked with architect Adam Day to renovate the space into a suitable design for the two- and four-footed. The simple menu includes cheese dip, 100 percent beef hot dogs, coffee, sodas, local craft beers and cockertails, including the Pit Bullini, the Melon Collie, the Saucy Setter, the Salty Dog and so forth. Michael, who works at CJRW and is a master punster, said the bar will host a VIP Grand Opening Pawty on Saturday, Aug. 26, National Dog Day, with entertainment, live puppy portraits, a photo booth, food and drink specials. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at barkbar.com.

You can also buy Bark Bar merch, including T-shirts, koozies and portraits that will hang on the Founding Paw-tners Wall.

Dogs require “memberships”: Owners must provide proof that their dogs are up to date on shots. One-time, monthly or annual memberships may be bought. The off-leash dog park will be double-gated.

Hours are 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.

The eighth annual LITTLE ROCK RESTAURANT MONTH, which features weekly deals by areas of town, kicked off Monday downtown, with free and reduced-price items at 40 restaurants, bars and cafes.

Through Aug. 6, for example, you can get half off all appetizers at 109 & Co., a three-course lunch at Cache for $12 or a two-course dinner for $35; an $8 soup and pimiento cheese sandwich combo at Boulevard Bread Co.; a $16 pitcher of Working Class Hero and a basket of homemade pork rinds at Rebel Kettle Brewing; a 20 percent break off dinner at The Root Cafe; $5 off the This and That Platter at Zin Wine Bar. Be sure and mention Restaurant Month when ordering to get your deal. Week 2 deals are in West Little Rock: Aug. 7-13, find such deals as $2 off two hamburger steak dinners at Black Angus; a $30 three-course dinner at Capers; free cheese dip or hummus with a burger or salad at Big Orange (on Chenal Parkway); a free iced latte with a purchase at Honey Pies; or a FREE iced sugar cookie, petit four or cupcake with the print ad in this newspaper. Week 3 (Aug. 14-20) deals are in Midtown; Week 4 deals are in Southwest Little Rock and the airport; and Week 5 (Aug. 28-31) deals are in the River Market’s Ottenheimer Hall.

The $12.5 million, seven-story Hilton Garden Inn at Rock and Fourth streets, which is set to open in October, will feature a restaurant and bar on the ground floor named THE GARDEN and a top-floor venue, POSH. The Pinnacle Hotel group made the announcement on its blog.

30

AUGUST 3, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

Salsa to the rescue

WARM AND TASTY: The white cheese dip with chorizo.

Few highlights at Agave Grill.

F

rom the looks of it, Benton’s new- sphere. There’s lots of seating, concrete had fallen in. To be fair, we almost feel est Mexican-American restaurant floors, lots of nice ambient light coming bad complaining about a $5 margarita, was doing quite well on a recent through large windows, and every seat but if this one had been even a tiny bit Saturday night. The place was absolutely is within eyeshot of a huge television. An better, its shortcomings would’ve been packed. There were even a few patio- MMA fight night raged on as we nibbled easier to overlook. A little fresh lime juice sitters, celebrating the unseasonably cool on chips and salsa. The blood flowing and decent brand or amount of tequila weather. But the peacefulness outside from an opponent’s gashed nose looked can go a long way. belied the panic within. a little too close to enchilada sauce for We ordered two appetizers — the guaHaving grown a little too used to what our taste. But others didn’t seem to mind. camole ($7) and the queso fundido ($9). the Little Rock Mexican food scene has Back to that salsa, though. Agave has If there’s one thing we can’t overlook at to offer, we were quite excited to ven- a great salsa — fresh tomatoes, onion and a Mexican-inspired restaurant, it’s bad ture down Interstate 30 just a bit. A few cilantro are blended into a slightly chunky guacamole. Fresh Agave’s was not. It had minutes after being seated, our enthusi- mixture. We loved the texture and also an unappealing sheen to it and looked asm started to wane. The staff members the heat from fresh jalapenos. The chips more brownish-yellow than green. The seemed frantic. They were at once over- were thin and crispy, sprinkled with a avocado seemed to have been pureed, as whelmed and aimless. Never a good sign. nice bit of seasoning blend, and it didn’t there were no fresh chunks. It reminded The woman at the table next to us picked take long to take down the first bowl. us of the packets of pre-made guacamole at her plate and gave a disappointed look We’d stay away from the house mar- you find in the grocery store with large to her husband. As they left, we noticed garita ($5). It’s heavy on the sweet and chunks of onion and tomatoes thrown more than half of their food remained on sour mix and light on the tequila. The rim in. We left most of it on the table, which the table, untouched. of our glass was halfway covered in salt, rarely, if ever, happens.

Agave has a definite sports bar atmo- and the drink tasted as if the other half The queso fundido didn’t arrive until

Follow Eat Arkansas on Twitter: @EatArkansas

BELLY UP

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

Agave Grill

17324 Interstate 30 Benton 501-316-4227 agavegrillbenton.com Quick bite But Agave’s menu features a wide variety of options including street tacos and even a Cheese-Dip Burger, which we weren’t brave enough to go for. If it’s shots you’re looking for, the tequila menu is pretty extensive.

PORK FAJITAS, CARNE ENCHILADAS: Fruit in the former, cinnamon in the latter.

Hours 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to midnight Sunday. Kitchen closes at 10 p.m.

Other info Full bar, credit cards accepted.

after our entrees. The manager came to The black beans were standard: seasoned the table and apologized and offered to nicely but nothing special. The side of take it off our tab, which we appreciated. rice tasted mostly of butter, which is not We’ve had this dish at other restaurants necessarily a bad thing. and expected a slightly different presenThe Carne Al Orno Enchiladas ($12) tation. Instead of arriving sizzling on a were substantial and flavorful. The metal fajita plate, the fundido came in a enchilada sauce was the highlight of the fairly large bowl. There wasn’t much to dish. The red sauce tasted of tomatoes complain about, other than the timing. and chipotle peppers with spices, maybe The white cheese dip was warm and tasty. even a hint of cinnamon. The meat was The chorizo added a nice bit of greasy a little greasy but very tender, and the spice, and the tomatoes and red onions portion was huge. The refried beans had helped to cut some of the richness. A a nice smoky bacon flavor but were very layer of broiled cheese sat atop the bowl. salty. This dish came with a slightly difIt tasted fine; we were just too far along ferent variety of rice, which, again, tasted in our meal to really enjoy this appetizer. mostly of butter.

The Pastor Fajitas ($13) looked more Agave Grill has some kinks to work like carnitas. The more-than-adequate out in the kitchen and with staffing in portion of shredded pork was juicy but order for it to stand out. Service was bland, except for a hint of fruit juice. It friendly; management was apologetic. was served with store-bought flour tor- Great food could have made the diftillas, grilled peppers and onions (which ference in our experience. It’s just not were perfectly fine), black beans and rice. there yet.

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5103 Warden Road | North Little Rock arktimes.com AUGUST 3, 2017

31

MOVIE REVIEW

Rom-com remix ‘The Big Sick’ subverts genre.

BY GUY LANCASTER

T

he words “based upon a true ate school to become a therapist and story” have typically applied has no time for relationships, while his to sweeping historical epics, traditional parents have made it clear though recent events are also now regu- they will disown him if he marries anylarly packaged for the movie-going pub- one other than a decent Pakistani girl. lic, especially if they touch upon war or In fact, when Emily finally learns that terrorism and feature Mark Wahlberg Kumail has not told his family about yelling a lot. Few romantic comedies, her, she storms out of his life. Things by contrast, have any grounding in re- between them should have ended here, al-world happenings, if only because but soon Emily is hospitalized with a most of us woo and wed without the mysterious disease and has to be put calamitous series of misunderstandings into a medically induced coma to save and the charismatic cast of characters her life. Almost by default, Kumail ends necessary to entertain an audience of up helping her out-of-town parents millions.

(Holly Hunter and Ray Romano in two Director Michael Showalter’s “The absolutely perfect performances) while Big Sick,” however, is both a true rom- they negotiate their daughter’s care. com and a true story. Kumail Nanjiani As he interacts with them during this, plays himself, a Pakistani American one of the worst times of their lives, he who works as an Uber driver in Chi- comes to gain a new perspective on the cago while struggling to make it big as intersection of family expectations and a comedian. One night at the comedy personal needs. club, he meets Emily (Zoe Kazan), and Hollywood loves telling this story they quickly fall in love despite their of lovers from across a cultural divide intentions otherwise — she is in gradu- struggling for acceptance from each

32

AUGUST 3, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

WAITING ROOM: Holly Hunter, Ray Romano and Kumail Nanjiani star in “The Big Sick,” a semi-autobiographical romantic comedy written by Nanjiani and his wife, Emily V. Gordon.

other’s people, be it comedies like “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” or dramas like “A United Kingdom.” “The Big Sick” seems, on the surface, to be playing within the same sandbox as “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” — the immigrant parents with their devotion to tradition and the homeland they left years ago, combined with the Americanized child who finds love and meaning outside those structures. We relish this story, for it justifies both our relentless individualism and our “melting pot” idealism. It’s the American paradox reconciled via the magic of Hollywood.

But “The Big Sick” does more than just substitute Pakistanis for a boisterous Greek family — it completely subverts some noteworthy tropes of the romantic comedy genre. Sure, Kumail undergoes an important change while Emily lies in a coma like Sleeping Beauty on a respirator, but he does that without her being conscious of it. In fact, he probably spends more of the movie’s runtime with her parents than he does with her. And so when, upon Emily’s awakening, Kumail offers the

grand romantic gesture, packaging his time spent at her side as objects of devotion, her reaction flies in the face of the rules of the romantic comedy — the genre where grand gestures are always welcome, no matter how unwanted, no matter how much they border upon stalker like behavior.

Instead of resolving its romantic tension with a quick fix, “The Big Sick” (written by Kumail and his real-life wife, Emily V. Gordon) employs its comedic framework to explore the hard work necessary to build and sustain a relationship. And the movie likewise works to build and sustain a relationship with its viewers. When the comedy starts to dissipate as Kumail reaches his point of crisis, we remain invested in him, for he is more than a source of jokes by this point. In fact, no characters, not even the stodgy immigrant parents, are played just for laughs; their behavior may cause a chuckle, but their wounds can run deep. By trusting us with its pain, the movie assures us that its happy ending, its true story, can be ours, too, if we but commit to a life of love beyond the confines of genre.

YOUTH LOCKUPS, CONTINUED don’t know how regularly they’re seeing each kid and how much progress is really being made toward their goals.”

In June, the DYS announced a partnership with Virtual Arkansas, a project of the Arkansas Department of Education that provides online coursework to public schools across the state, particularly campuses in rural communities. Golden said Virtual Arkansas will be the primary means of educational delivery at the six lockups beginning in August. “Students will do their classwork online every day, and then [some] days out of the week, the teachers will broadcast themselves to the students,” he said, meaning teachers will remotely deliver video lessons that are streamed to students in real time. Educational coaches and special education teachers will be on-site to assist students in the classroom, he said. “In addition to that, we’re keeping our GED courses … and we’re also adding some vocational skills courses for older students on-site.”

Four teachers system-wide will be displaced by the Virtual Arkansas contract, Golden said; that number is small in part because the facilities were already short of teachers.

Cowell said DRA “still has concerns about the education of the kids while they’re in DYS custody. The quality and the rigor — we don’t feel that it’s aligned with state standards.” She also expressed some skepticism about the plan to use Virtual Arkansas. “I don’t think sitting in front of a computer is the same as what they would get if they were in a regular public school.”

Still, Cowell continued, the state has made progress since January. “They didn’t have nurses on staff [at first],” Cowell said. “So, basic physical, medical needs — they didn’t have a way to take care of that. They hadn’t really figured out dentists or eye doctors … and they didn’t have contracts with suppliers for basic hygiene products. Now, those things seem to have been taken care of.”

Various facility needs — such as roof damage at the Dermott Juvenile Treatment Center caused by a tornado — have since been addressed, she said.

Because the nonprofit providers owned the vans used to transport youth, the DYS also faced a vehicle shortage after the takeover. “We had to purchase all new vehicles for the facilities through our motor pool,” Golden said. The providers took other hardware with them as well, he said, while some items simply needed to be upgraded. “There were a number of small items that we had to come back and replace — uniforms, lin-

ens, kitchen equipment, bed mattresses.

And we also had to clean up facilities. We probably spent an excess of a million dollars trying to get those facilities up and going within that timeframe,” he said.

“That’s hard cost, not payroll.”

The state paid the nonprofits $12.7 million in the last fiscal year to operate the six lockups. Golden said that while the state has been operating under budget since the takeover, he expected the cost of the state running the facilities eventually would be similar to the cost of the state paying the nonprofits to run them.

Asked whether the facilities were in poor condition at the time of the takeover, Golden replied, “I’m not going to say that.

They were in adequate shape. They just needed some upgrading.”

Cowell said it was too soon to tell whether or not the lockups are better off under state control than in the hands of the nonprofit providers. “I think you can argue that, yes, in some areas we’ve seen improvements; I don’t know if overall it’s a whole lot better. It was quite a learning curve for the state to take over, because they really don’t have any experience in running juvenile facilities. I don’t know that I would argue the previous providers were any better, but there were some things where they did have experience in running juvenile facilities. So I don’t know if I can answer that yet. I think we need to see how this plays out a little bit longer.”

Tanner, the juvenile ombudsman, said it was “healthy” for the state to be forced to examine how the DYS lockups operate “on a molecular level.”

“DYS is learning more about the programs that they, in theory, have always administered,” Tanner said.

Ultimately, he continued, it doesn’t matter whether the facilities are staterun or contracted to a private provider — the state must be held accountable for conditions there. “Whether nonprofit provider or state provider, both entities made an effort to provide consistency and structure. … I find failings with both,” Tanner said. “Part of the logic the state used in 2000, 2001, when the [Alexander] facility was privatized, was to minimize the state’s liability. ... But that’s not how it works. Youth are remanded to the care of the state, and so the state is responsible for what happens, regardless.”

This reporting is courtesy of the Arkansas Nonprofit News Network, an independent, nonpartisan news project dedicated to producing journalism that matters to Arkansans.

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LITTLE ROCK: 10TH & MAIN • 501.374.0410 NORTH LITTLE ROCK: 860 EAST BROADWAY • 501.374.2405 • Tasting Thursday, August 3, 3-7pm at our Broadway location. Come see us!

HOURS: LR • 8AM-10PM MON-THUR • 8AM-12PM FRI-SAT •NLR • MON-SAT 8AM-12PM

32nd Annual Arkansas Book & Paper Show August 5-6, 2017

Rare & Collectible Books Postcards, Maps, Documents & Photos Arkansas Ephemera Jacksonville Community Center 5 Municipal Drive, Jacksonville Admission $5.00 Students $2.00 Saturday 10am - 5pm | Sunday 11am - 4pm arkansasbookandpapershow.com Call 501-985-1663 or email mcintrcoll@aol.com for more info.

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33

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Go

It’s the Party to the Party!

On October 7th Ride the Arkansas Times Blues Bus to the King Biscuit Blues Festival! It’s the Biscuit, Baby! And we can’t wait!

King Biscuit turns 32 and we are going to see Government Mule!

P E H T P S E ' H T I T $109 PER TICKET O T

INCLUDES: Transportation provided by Cline Tours (let’s go in style y’all), Entrance to the Blues Festival, Lunch at the Hollywood Café, Live Music on board the bus by Bill “Bluesboy” Jagitsch, and adult beverages.

Tickets available on centralarkansastickets.com BUS TRANSPORTATION PROVIDED BY CLINE BUS TOURS.

34

AUGUST 3, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

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ALSO IN THE ARTS

THEATRE

“The Pervert and the Pentecostal.” The Main Thing’s summer musical comedy. 8 p.m. Fri.-Sat., through Sept. 1. $24. The Joint Theater & Coffeehouse. 301 Main St., NLR. 501-372-0205.

“The Wizard of Oz.” Murry’s Dinner Playhouse presents the family classic. 7:30 p.m. Tue.-Sat., dinner at 6 p.m.; 12:45 p.m. and 6:45 p.m. Sun., dinner at 11 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., through Aug. 26. $15-$37. 6323 Colonel Glenn Road. 501562-3131.

“Comedy Yet Magic: An Evening with Scott Davis.” A 90-minute family production from Five Star Dinner Theatre.

7 p.m. dinner, 8 p.m. curtain Wed., Fri.Sat., through Aug. 9. $17-$38. 701 Central Ave., Hot Springs. 501-318-1600.

FINE ART, HISTORY EXHIBITS MAJOR VENUES ARKANSAS ARTS CENTER, MacArthur Park: 59th annual “Delta Exhibition,” through Aug. 27; “Drawing on History: National Drawing Invitational Retrospective,” works from the permanent collection, through Sept. 24; talk by “Delta Exhibition” artist Cathy Burns at “Feed Your Mind Friday,” noon-1 p.m.

Aug. 4. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat., 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sun. 372-4000.

AT JUSTUS FINE ART: Pottery by Michael Ashley is on exhibit at Hot Springs gallery Justus Fine Art along with work by other Arkansas artists. Reception is 5-9 p.m. Friday, Aug. 4.

ARTS CENTER OF THE OZARKS, 214 Main St., Springdale: “Sensory Iconoclast,” paintings by chefs, through Sept.

10, reception 6-8 p.m. Aug. 8, to be followed Aug. 23 by a dinner prepared by painters, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Sat. 479-751-5441.

CLINTON PRESIDENTIAL CENTER: Permanent exhibits on the Clinton administration. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun., $10 adults, $8 seniors, retired military and college students, $6 youth 6-17, free to active military and children under 6.

Y T R !

A P RTY A P

VISITOR CENTER, Bates and Park: Exhibits on the 1957 desegregation of Central and the civil rights movement. 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. daily. 374-1957.

US a B ES elen U L B H s n i e l m s Ti Festiva s e u l B ry ARTS & SCIENCE CENTER FOR SOUTHEAST ARKANSAS, 701 S. Main St., Pine Bluff: “Color in Space: The Art of Justin Bryant,” through Sept. 9. 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Tue.-Fri., 1-4 p.m. Sat. 870-536-3375.

BUTLER CENTER GALLERIES, Arkansas Studies Institute, 401 President Clinton Ave.: “Sammy Peters: Then and Now,” abstract paintings, through Aug. 26; “Historic Bridges of Arkansas,” photographs by Maxine Payne, through Aug. 26. 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Sat. 320-5790.

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CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL MUSEUM

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CRYSTAL BRIDGES MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART, One Museum Way, Bentonville: “Chihuly: In the Gallery and in the Forest,” works by the glass artist Dale Chihuly, through Aug. 14, $20, ticket required (tickets.crystalbridges. org); “Animal Meet Human,” 16 works, including Adonna Khare’s 40-foot-long pencil drawing, “Elephants,” and Helen Frankenthaler’s “The Bullfight,” through Oct. 30; “Not to Scale: Highlights from the Fly’s Eye Dome Archive,” drawings and models of Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic dome, through March 2018; American masterworks spanning four centuries in the permanent collection.

11 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon., Thu.; 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Wed., Fri.; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sat.-Sun., closed Tue. 479-418-5700.

ESSE PURSE MUSEUM & STORE, 1510 S. Main St.: “Take Your Purse With You: The Reimagined Work of Katherine Strause,” paintings, through Aug. 27; “What’s Inside: A Century of Women and Handbags,” permanent exhibit.

11 a.m.-4 p.m. Tue.-Sat., 11 a.m.-3 p.m.

Sun. $10, $8 for students, seniors and military. 916-9022.

FORT SMITH REGIONAL ART MUSEUM, 1601 Rogers Ave.: “Carlos Luna,” mixed-media on wood, paintings and Jacquard tapestries, through Sept. 18; “K. Nelson Harper: Lasting Impressions,” art of the letterpress, through Sept. 3. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tue.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. 479784-2787.

HISTORIC ARKANSAS MUSEUM, 200 E. 3rd St.: “Gordon and Wenonah Fay Holl: Collecting a Legacy,” through Feb. 4, 2018; “Traces Remain,” installation

by Dawn Holder and works on paper

by Melissa Cowper-Smith, through Aug.

6; “Portraits of Friends” by Dani Ives, through Aug. 6. Ticketed tours of renovated and replicated 19th century structures from original city, guided Monday and Tuesday on the hour, self-guided Wednesday through Sunday, $2.50 adults, $1 under 18, free to 65 and over.

(Galleries free.) 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. 324-9351.

MacARTHUR MUSEUM OF ARKANSAS MILITARY HISTORY, 503 E. 9th St. (MacArthur Park): “Work, Fight, Give: American Relief Posters of WWII,” through Aug. 16; “Waging Modern Warfare”; “Gen. Wesley Clark”; “Vietnam, America’s Conflict”; “Undaunted Courage, Proven Loyalty: Japanese American Soldiers in World War II. 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

Mon.-Sat., 1-4 p.m. Sun. 376-4602.

MOSAIC TEMPLARS CULTURAL CENTER, 9th and Broadway: “Not Forgotten: An Arkansas Family Album,” photographs by Nina Robinson; permanent exhibits on African-American entrepreneurship in Arkansas. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.Sat. 683-3593.

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35

MUSEUM OF DISCOVERY, 500 President Clinton Ave.: “Human Plus,” low and high-tech tools that extend human abilities, through Sept. 10; also interactive science exhibits. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun., $10 ages 13 and older, $8 ages 1-12, free to members and children under 1. 396-7050.

OLD STATE HOUSE MUSEUM, 300 W. Markham St.: “A Confused and Confusing Affair: Arkansas and Reconstruction,” seminar, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Aug. 5, with speakers Jay Barth, Carl Moneyhon, Ken Barnes, Col. Damon Cluck, Blake Wintory, Tom DeBlack and Rodney Waymon Harris, $15, call 324-0685 or email tanya.canada@arkansas.gov for ticket availability; “Cabinet of Curiosities: Treasures from the University of Arkansas Museum Collection”; “True Faith, True Light: The Devotional Art of Ed Stilley,” musical instruments, through 2017; “First Families: Mingling of Politics and Culture” permanent exhibit including first ladies’ gowns. 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Mon.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. 324-9685.

SOUTH ARKANSAS ARTS CENTER, 110 E. 5th St., El Dorado: “Curiosities,” paintings and pastels by Virmarie DePoyster; also watercolors by Lee Scroggins, both through August, reception 5-8 p.m. Aug. 5. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri. 870-862-5474.

TOLTEC MOUNDS STATE PARK, U.S. Hwy. 165, England: Major prehistoric Indian site with visitors’ center and mu-

ALSO IN THE ARTS, CONT.

seum. 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., noon-5 p.m. Sun., closed Mon. $4 for adults, $3 for ages 6-12, $14 for family. 961-9442.

UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS AT LITTLE ROCK: “Nasty Woman,” work by 35 women artists from Arkansas and across the nation, including Heather Beckwith, Susan Chambers, Melissa Cowper-Smith, Norwood Creech, Beverly Buys, Nancy Dunaway, Margo Duvall, Melissa Gill, Mia Hall, Louise Halsey, Diane Harper, Tammy Harrington, Heidi Hogden, Robyn Horn, Jeanie Hursley, Catherine Kim, Kimberly Kwee and Jolie Livaudais, through Aug. 25, closing reception 5-7 p.m. Aug. 18. Weekdays 10 a.m.-5 p.m. 569-8977.

WALTON ARTS CENTER, Fayetteville: “Glacial Shifts, Changing Perspectives,” large-scale paintings and photographs documenting glacial melt by Diane Burko, through September, Joy Pratt Markham Gallery. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. weekdays, noon-4 p.m. Sat. 479-443-5600.

SMALLER VENUES ARGENTA ART GALLERY, 413 Main St., NLR: “Requiem Dreams,” mixed media

by Jessica Carder, through Aug. 5. @argentagallery.

ARTISTS WORKSHOP GALLERY, 610 Central Ave., Hot Springs: Paintings

by June Lamoureux and Jim Stanley, through August, reception 5-9 p.m. Aug. 4, Hot Springs Gallery Walk. 10 a.m.-5

p.m. Mon.-Sat., noon-5 p.m. Sun. 6236401.

BARRY THOMAS FINE ART & STUDIO, 711 Main St., NLR: Paintings by Thomas.

11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat. 349-2383.

CANTRELL GALLERY, 8205 Cantrell Road. “Chasing the Light, from Arkansas to California,” photographs by Paul Caldwell, through Sept. 2. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat. 224-1335.

CHROMA GALLERY, 5707 Kavanaugh Blvd.: Work by Robert Reep and other Arkansas artists. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Sat. 664-0880.

COX CREATIVE CENTER, 120 River Market Ave.: “Kaleidoscope,” work by Sandra Marson. 8 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. 918-3093.

DRAWL GALLERY, 5208 Kavanaugh Blvd.: Work by regional and Arkansas artists. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 11 a.m.4 p.m. Sat. 240-7446.

GALLERY 221, 2nd and Center Sts.: Work by William McNamara, Tyler Arnold, Amy Edgington, EMILE, Kimberly Kwee, Greg Lahti, Sean LeCrone, Mary Ann Stafford, Cedric Watson, C.B. Williams, Gino Hollander, Siri Hollander and jewelry by Rae Ann Bayless. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. weekdays, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

Sat. 801-0211.

GALLERY 26, 2601 Kavanaugh Blvd.:

Recent works by members of the Arkansas Printmakers Society. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tue.-Sat. 664-8996.

GALLERY CENTRAL, 800 Central Ave., Hot Springs: Paintings by Janis Polychron and other artists. 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Mon.-Sat. 318-4278.

GREG THOMPSON FINE ART, 429 Main St., North Little Rock: “Southern Abstraction,” works by Sammy Peters, Gay Bechtelheimer, James Hendricks, Pinkney Herbert, Robyn Horn and Don Lee. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sat. 664-2787.

HEARNE FINE ART, 1001 Wright Ave.: “XXIX Prime,” anniversary exhibition, through Aug. 5. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sat. 372-6822.

JUSTUS FINE ART GALLERY, 827 A Central Ave., Hot Springs: “Summer Exhibition Series,” with work by Michael Ashley, Matthew Hasty, Dolores Justus, Jason Sacran, Sandra Sell, Gary Simmons and others, through August, reception 5-9 p.m. Aug. 4, Hot Springs Gallery Walk. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wed.-Sat. 321-2335.

KOLLECTIVE COFFEE + TEA, 110 Central Ave., Hot Springs: “Dreams and Shadows,” drawings by Kirk Montgomery, through Aug. 3. 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Mon., Tue., Thu., Fri., 7 a.m.-9 p.m. Wed., 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Sat., 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Sun. 7014000.

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AUGUST 3, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

stylesheet

BACK TO SCHOOL

Don’t catch the end-of-summer blues — shop for back-to-school gifts and goodsh these favorite local retailers. ies from the

SOMETHING TASTY AS WE CELEBRATE THE END OF SUMMER (BACK-TO-SCHOOL) FROM COLONIAL 1 oz. Bombay Sapphire gin, 1/2 oz. Dolin Blanc vermouth 1/4 oz. Cointreau, 1/2 oz. Campari, A lemon twist Stir all the ingredients with ice until well chilled and diluted, about 30 seconds. Strain into a chilled coupe. Express citrus oil from a large piece of peel onto the cocktail. Garnish with a twist.

— Colonial Wine and Spirits

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Beat the heat and head to Edwards for their latest produce. Fresh Arkansas watermelon and cantaloupe are in! Don’t miss out on your taste of Arkansas’s summer harvest.

Find the featured items at the following locations:

THE DIET CENTER 4910 Kavanaugh Blvd.

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EDWARDS FOOD GIANT 7507 Cantrell Rd. 614.3477 other locations statewide edwardsfoodgiant.com

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AUG 11

THE 2ND FRIDAY OF EACH MONTH 5-8 PM

300 East Third St. • 501-375-3333 coppergrillandgrocery.com

Opening reception for: t Danny Campbell & Winston Taylor t No-Type. Identity of Us plus live music & Arkansas-made beer

USE OF BICYCLES OR ANIMALS summer shindig

A benefit for the Van

A museum of the Department of Arkansas Heritage

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friday, August 11th 5 pm - 8 pm @ the bella vita shop 523 S. Louisiana

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Free parking at 3rd & Cumberland Free street parking all over downtown and behind the River Market (Paid parking available for modest fee.)

38

AUGUST 3, 2017

ARKANSASâ&#x20AC;&#x2C6;TIMES

Your bike is a vehicle on the road just like any other vehicle and you must also obey traffic lawsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; use turning and slowing hand signals, ride on right and yield to traffic as if driving. Be sure to establish eye contact with drivers. Remain visible and predictable at all times.

301B PRESIDENT CLINTON AVE. nexuscoffeear.com

Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t miss it â&#x20AC;&#x201C; lots of fun!

The driver of a motor vehicle overtaking a bicycle proceeding in the same direction on a roadway shall exercise due care and pass to the left at a safe distance of not less than three feet (3â&#x20AC;&#x2122;) and shall not again drive to the right side of the roadway until safely clear of the overtaken bicycle.

AND CYCLISTS, PLEASE REMEMBER...

COME IN AND SEE US!

These venues will be open late.

Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s plenty of parking and a FREE TROLLEY to each of the locations.

Every person riding a bicycle or an animal, or driving any animal drawing a vehicle upon a highway, shall have all the rights and all of the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle, except those provisions of this act which by their nature can have no applicability.

OVERTAKING A BICYCLE

COFFEE. BEER. WINE. ART. 108 W 6th St., Suite A (501) 725-8508Â www.mattmcleod.com

DRIVERS PLEASE BE AWARE, ITâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S ARKANSAS STATE LAW:

FREE TROLLEY RIDES!

ALSO IN THE ARTS, CONT. LAMAN LIBRARY ARGENTA BRANCH, 420 Main St., NLR: “Three Stories,” mixed media work by Jeannie Fry, Suzzette Patterson and Barbara Rhodes. 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Sat. 687-1061.

LEGACY FINE ART, 804 Central Ave., Hot Springs: Blown glass chandeliers

by Ed Pennington, paintings by Carole Katchen. 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Fri. 7620840.

LOCAL COLOUR GALLERY, 5811 Kavanaugh Blvd.: Artists collective. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat. 265-0422.

MATTHEWS FINE ART GALLERY, 909 North St.: Paintings by Pat and Tracee Matthews, glass by James Hayes, jewelry by Christie Young, knives by Tom Gwenn, kinetic sculpture by Mark White. Noon-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat. 831-6200.

MATT McLEOD FINE ART, 108 W. 6th St.: Work by Arkansas artists. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sat. 7258508.

MUGS CAFE, 515 Main St., NLR: “Three Dollar Icon,” paintings by Melissa Wilkinson. 7 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Sat. 3799101.

THE HOUSE OF ART, 108 E. 4th St.: Mixed media work by Kesha Lagniappe and Lilia Hernandez.

UCA DOWNTOWN, 1105 Oak St., Conway: “Gene Hatfield: A Lifetime of Distinction, Achievement and Emeritus,” paintings and sculpture, through Aug. 25. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays. 852-2598.

WALKER-STONE HOUSE, 207 W. Center St., Fayetteville: “Summer Art Exhibition,” works by Fenix artists Cindy Arsaga, Carol Corning, Michael Davis, Amber Eggleton, Jan Gosnell, Corey Johnson, Leilani Law, Ed Pennebaker, Meikel S. Church and Jason Sacran, through Aug. 5, concert 5:30-8 p.m.

Aug. 3 with musicians Sharon Bourbonnais and Beth Galiger, $5 at the door.

Noon-7 p.m. Wed.-Fri., 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

Sat. @fenixfayetteville.

OTHER MUSEUMS

JACKSONVILLE MUSEUM OF MILITARY HISTORY, 100 Veterans Circle, Jacksonville: Exhibits on D-Day; F-105, Vietnam era plane (“The Thud”); the Civil War Battle of Reed’s Bridge, Arkansas Ordnance Plant (AOP) and other military history. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. $3 adults; $2 seniors, military; $1 students. 501-241-1943.

LAKEPORT PLANTATION, 601 Hwy. 142, Lake Village: Antebellum mansion; exhibits on plantation life from before, during and after the Civil War. 9 a.m.-3 p.m. weekdays. $5 general admission.

870-265-6031.

MUSEUM OF AUTOMOBILES, Petit Jean Mountain: Permanent exhibition of more than 50 cars from 1904-1967 depicting the evolution of the automobile.

10 a.m.-5 p.m. 7 days. 501-727-5427.

MUSEUM OF NATIVE AMERICAN HISTORY, 202 SW O St., Bentonville: Native American artifacts. 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Mon.-Sat. 479-273-2456.

PLANTATION AGRICULTURE MUSEUM, Scott, U.S. Hwy. 165 and state Hwy. 161: Permanent exhibits on historic agriculture. 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. $4 adults, $3 children. 9611409.

POTTS INN, 25 E. Ash St., Pottsville: Preserved 1850s stagecoach station on the Butterfield Overland Mail Route, with period furnishings, log structures, hat museum, doll museum, doctor’s office, antique farm equipment. 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Wed.-Sat. $5 adults, $2 students, 5 and under free. 479-968-9369.

ARKANSAS TIMES

MARKETPLACE TO ADVERTISE IN THIS SECTION, CALL LUIS AT 501.375.2985

FIRST PLACE TRANSPORTATION

Hiring Drivers & Aids Must be over 21 years old and background check required For more information call Mr. Johnson at (501) 425-8174

OASIS DAY CENTER IS HIRING HIRING

Adult Day Care Center Assisting with Activities of Daily Living Must pass background check Call Monday - Friday 9am-2pm Mrs. Tatum or email oasisdaycenter@gmail.com

Needs Salad/Prep person. 40 hours per week.

Availability 2:00 PM to close Mon – Sat Sunday 8:00 AM - 3:00 PM Knife skills a must.

Opportunity to move to other cook positions.

CALL SHANNA OR CAPI at 501-221-3330 8201 Cantrell Road, Pavilion in the Park

ROGERS HISTORICAL MUSEUM, 322 S. 2nd St.: “On Fields Far Away: Our Community During the Great War,” through Sept. 23. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat. 479621-1154.

SCOTT PLANTATION SETTLEMENT, Scott: 1840s log cabin, one-room school house, tenant houses, smokehouse and artifacts on plantation life.

10 a.m.-3 p.m. Fri.-Sat. 351-0300. www. scottconnections.org.

PANAMERICAN CONSULTING, INC. Interpretation and Written Translations (Spanish – Portuguese - French) Latino Cultural and Linguistic Training

MICHEL LEIDERMANN, President (Minority Business - AR State Vendor) mleidermann@gmail.com • Mobile: (501) 993-3572

These puppies are part English bulldog and pit. The dad is a full pit and very very loving, great with other dogs and kids. The mother is a beautiful English bulldog. Two boys and one girl left. The puppies are 12 weeks old, they’ve had their eight week shots and are due for their next and have been wormed. Selling for $75 a piece. Looking for wonderful homes, please call Jimmy @ 870-613-5824 arktimes.com AUGUST 3, 2017

39

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AUGUST 3, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

7507 CANTRELL RD 501-614-3477

7525 BASELINE RD 501-562-6629

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2203 NORTH REYNOLDS RD, BRYANT 501-847-9777