NEWS + POLITICS + ENTERTAINMENT + FOOD / DECEMBER 18, 2014 / ARKTIMES.COM
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DECEMBER 18, 2014
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3
COMMENT
Raping with impunity In Gene Lyons’ Dec. 11 column “Rolling Stone Now Publishing Fiction,” he asked a rhetorical question: “Had American culture really coarsened to where college boys could rape with impunity?” I’m writing this letter because I thought he might like to know that question has been empirically answered by social scientists. A few years ago, psychologists at the University of Massachusetts in Boston conducted a survey of 1,882 undergraduate men that asked, among other things, if they had ever forced anyone to have sex against that person’s will. One hundred twenty respondents — or 6.4 percent — said that they had. The methods the selfreported rapists used varied, with most saying that they had used alcohol or drugs to incapacitate the other person, while others admitted to using physical force to coerce sex from their victim. The 120 self-reported rapists acknowledged committing a combined total of 483 rapes, slightly more than four rapes per rapist. Other social scientists have replicated the University of Massachusetts study and found similar results. In the third paragraph of Lyons’ column, he wrote that he found the Rolling Stone story regarding rape at University of Virginia difficult to believe because he “wouldn’t go to a movie with such cartoon villains.” Although Mr. Lyons may ultimately be proven right about the Rolling Stone article he criticizes, he may wish to consider the possibility that his glibness about this topic is perhaps misplaced. Nigel Halliday Conway
Boozman voted for this bill and Sen.-elect Cotton, as the 4th District representative, did not, but I could not get a comment from his staff as to why he opposed the bill. There is not one thing about this provision that is good for the U.S. taxpayer. It only allows the big banks to gamble with you, the taxpayer, as their backstop. The profit potential for them is huge, billions of dollars, and now the cost of losing their bets is zero, courtesy of taxpayers. I urge you to contact your congressional representatives to get this banking provision repealed. We cannot afford another $700 billion bank bailout.
Mike Flemming Hot Springs
From the web In response to “A racist system,” a guest column by Sam O’Bryant: If we are going to discuss the nature of race and police shootings, then it is incumbent on us to discuss this honestly. If you have a shooting like John Crawford’s, where it is evident that the police came storming into Walmart with intent to kill, then you can show a problem. If you have a kid like Trayvon Martin
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who is shot in the act of trying to kill someone, justice is done the moment the citizen fires that shot in self-defense. Some of the cases clearly have a racial animus in them, yet they seem to be the ones that get little airplay. Also forgotten is that in some of these cases, the full court of justice has found in defense of some of those black lives. The shooter of Oscar Grant is out of a job, unlike the shooter of John Crawford. Michael Dunn is doing 60 years in the killing of Jordan Davis. As far as zip codes, yes, that is true. It also works that way for non blacks, too. If you’re Hispanic, and born into a certain zip, your life expectancy is not much better. That delves more into issues of community, rather than race. Blacks in other zip codes that have more mixing and less gang trouble do tend to live longer. Same goes for Hispanics born outside of East L.A., or in my case, Echo Park. We got out; I got a better life. The question then becomes why are so many blacks committing so many crimes, and how can these communities get together to properly address the problem, instead of blaming others. Michael Brown and Martin were examples of the system working well, and justice being served. Trayvon was not stalked, and Brown was not shot in the back with hands held high, and Eric Garner was not choked to death. There have been a legion of lies to show these cases as ones of racial animus, but the facts do not hold that up. Still, people seem to want to buy into the dubious nature of these shootings to legitimize the riots and lootings that have happened since. Yet nobody riots for Tamir Rice, or John Crawford, which are clear cases of police murders. Will Al Sharpton make a speech about Crawford, or will Obama and Holder get the DOJ to investigate Rice? There may be a point to the racial hysteria. It is entirely possible. For that point to be honestly made, one has to cull the dubious from the righteous. Brown, Martin and Garner are definitely dubious, and trying to hinge any aims towards justice on the lies that play in those narratives only creates racial strife. Steven E Equal protection and due process shouldn’t require you to first be a saint for those constitutional principals to apply. Even if one inserts himself into the criminal justice system, his experience throughout should be dictated by the constitution not his or her race or class. A black suspect should have the same fair process as anyone else. Studies and stats have repeatedly shown that is not the case. J.O.
2015 ARKANSAS TIMES
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DECEMBER 18, 2014
5
EYE ON ARKANSAS
WEEK THAT WAS
Quote of the week “This report has a stamp of authority and breadth to it … This simply documents what we’ve really already known intuitively.” — Gov.-elect Asa Hutchinson concurring with the Senate Intelligence Committee’s damning conclusions on the use of torture by the CIA. In 2013, Hutchinson led a bipartisan task force that published its own harsh findings that the United States has indeed engaged in torture. Other Arkansas Republicans were not as thoughtful as Hutchinson; Sen.-elect Tom Cotton said the new Senate report was “full of lies.”
Packing in Walmart A shopper in Searcy was twice booted out of a Walmart for openly wearing his pistol in the store. He and other pro-gun activists say open carry is entirely legal in Arkansas, due to a 2013 bill that smuggled ambiguous language into the code regulating firearms. It’s a question that will remain unresolved until a court or the legislature clarifies the statute. In the meantime, Walmart itself is staying judiciously neutral. “There is no policy against customers carrying their handgun in our stores as long as he/she is legally permitted by their state to carry the handgun,” said the company.
Out with a whimper Attorney General Dustin McDaniel has done some commendable things with the office — pursuing Exxon after the Mayflower oil spill, speaking truth on capital punishment — but he made an indefensible move last week by joining a lawsuit to challenge President Obama’s recent executive order on immigration. His reasoning? Leslie Rutledge, his successor as AG in January, asked him to do so. How polite. We’re sure that courtesy, not an opportunistic glance at November’s election results, is behind McDaniel’s reasoning. CHILD ON BOARD
Bumpy ride An 11-year-old girl from Bryant made news by swiping $10,000 from her grandmother’s sock drawer and hailing a Little Rock cab … to Jacksonville, Fla. She was planning on visiting a boy she met on vacation; the cabbie accepted a $2,500 fare ($1,300 up front) to make the drive. The girl made it to the outskirts of Atlanta before police located her, and she was 6 DECEMBER 18, 2014
ARKANSAS TIMES
THREE DAYS OF GARTH: The veteran country star Garth Brooks played his favorites, and sang with wife Trisha Yearwood, in an unprecedented-for-Arkansas three-day run of concerts at Verizon Arena.
returned to her frantic family unharmed.
No, no, no The U.S. House of Representatives passed, with plenty of bipartisan support, a spending measure last Thursday to avoid a government shutdown. Among the 67 House Republicans who voted against Speaker John Boehner’s bill was Rep. Tom Cotton, who wants to avoid funding the federal government until the White House reverses course on its immigration policy. Expect more such absurdity in the Senate.
Friends in high places Amendment 3, passed by Arkansas voters in November, places some tough new restrictions on gifts to legislators. The lobbyist community is still trying to suss out the new landscape: Free meals and open bars for individual members are forbidden, but what about buying a buffet for the whole legislative body, as many lobbyists are doing right now? As long as all 135 members are invited, it may be within the letter of the law, albeit certainly not the spirit. Or what about gaining access to a corporate-rented skybox at a Garth Brooks concert at Verizon Arena? Pictures of legislators doing just that cropped up on Facebook over the weekend. Even if those
lawmakers bought the high-price tickets with their own cash, there’s still the smell of a favor being extended: Such tickets
aren’t made available to the general public, and annual corporate rental of a skybox costs money.
Eugene Ellison, by the numbers Last week, the federal Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments in a wrongful death suit against two Little Rock cops who shot an unarmed man to death in his own home in 2010.
67
4
6’1’’
The age of Eugene Ellison when he was killed by Little Rock Police Officer Donna Lesher. She and another officer were working off-duty security when they saw that Ellison’s door was open, entered the apartment to investigate and got an angry response from the older man.
The number of police on the scene when Lesher fired into Ellison’s apartment from the balcony outside his door. According to the police report, Ellison was swinging his cane in a threatening manner.
Ellison’s height, pertinent because the trajectories of the two bullets that struck his chest traveled frontto-back at a downward angle. Lesher is 5-foot-6. Attorneys for the plaintiffs say this casts doubt on her story that Ellison was standing upright and advancing when she fired the shots.
19
The number of years that Ellison’s son, Troy, has served on the LRPD. Sergeant Troy Ellison is one plaintiff in the case; the other, his brother Spencer, is a former LRPD detective. Troy says he’s suffered employment retaliation due to the ongoing litigation, and his lawyers have written the U.S. Justice Department to request an investigation of the LRPD’s internal practices. The letter also asserts that Eugene Ellison’s death is part of a larger pattern of excessive police force against African-American residents of Little Rock.
OPINION
Women’s work in the House
T
he new Republican majority in Arkansas came with the support of female majorities in some key
races. Democrats had traditionally enjoyed an edge among female voters, partly because of reproductive rights, but also because of progressive school, home and health issues. Times change. Two Republican women were elected to statewide offices. Female Republicans knocked off some Democratic incumbents in the legislature, propelled by their opposition to expanded health care. The early news on future legislation is equally unprogressive, but enjoys support from Republican women legislators. Let’s begin with a superficial, but symbolic happening. New legislators had orientation last week. In the House, the dress code is always discussed. It’s brief. Men must wear
ties on the floor and, when they go to the MAX well of the House BRANTLEY maxbrantley@arktimes.com to speak, must don jackets. Women are expected to dress in business attire. This year, rising Speaker Jeremy Gillam asked outgoing Republican Rep. Stephanie Malone to give the 20 women of the House an informal session on the dress code. Was it because a new legislator appeared for orientation, as one told me, dressed for an “evening at a bar”? Malone insists it was just a routine orientation. She told the group that women shouldn’t bare arms on the floor (bearing arms is another matter altogether) and avoid clothing cut “too low or too short.” Most important, though, was the urging of veteran female members to always don a jacket when speaking in the well. At least one new Republican legislator, Julie Mayberry, objected. She’s a former TV
Good policies, bad politics
D
emocrats are like Republicans in one way. One party or the other suffers devastating losses at least every eight years and then engages in a noisy search for blame and atonement. Whether the politicians and commentariat are Democrats or Republicans, they always detect a vain drift by the party that, unless corrected, will make it increasingly irrelevant. They are always wrong because they see momentary vexations in a large part of the electorate as great philosophical shifts. That has been true from Barry Goldwater to Barack Obama. This time, the popular analysis is that Democrats lost because they didn’t connect to their base, working middleclass voters, either because they did not emphasize the right lunch-bucket issues or failed to stand up for President Obama and demolish Republican claims about how terrible things were under the president. They happen to be right about the president’s record — there is hardly an
economic or social measurement by which the country is not better off than it was under either of the past ERNEST two Republican DUMAS presidents, but the 2014 elections were far too late for Democrats, including the president, to be trying to fix public impressions. Even during the bitter 2014 campaign, Democrats never entered the real propaganda game, which was about the national well being. Voters went to the polls Nov. 4 to show their displeasure with Obama, whom they were told had foisted policies on the nation that were leading it to ruin — immigrant hordes, spiraling budget deficits, unemployment, a health-insurance law that was destroying medicine and depriving people of health care, careless security that invited Muslim terrorists and a deadly virus into the country, and an aimless foreign policy that was letting
announcer. She likes dresses. She thinks her dress appropriate and would prefer not to throw on a jacket, too. Malone put it this way: If women want to be taken as seriously as men, they should wear a jacket, too. I’d rather judge seriousness of purpose by legislation than outerwear. In that category, trouble is brewing. Male and female Republicans plan to further marginalize women. Republicans likely will succeed in 2015 with legislation to prevent federal money from flowing to Planned Parenthood to educate teens on avoiding sexually transmitted diseases. Planned Parenthood offers a range of health services, including contraception, but it also provides abortion. Anybody engaging in that legal activity must be punished by the state. Legislators seem likely to make abortion providers provide still more scare information to talk women out of abortions. One female legislator wants to require presence of a doctor when a woman is given an abortion-inducing drug. Abortions can be dangerous, she says. Childbirth can be more dangerous. Perhaps a doctor should be present when women have sex to fully inform them of health risks — not to mention the potential for ungrateful children.
Republican Kansas also tells us where Arkansas may be headed. A giant tax cut in Kansas didn’t produce the boom Gov. Sam Brownback envisioned. Now he’s having to raid reserves and cut state services to balance the budget. Gov.-elect Asa Hutchinson is talking of a cumulative $150 million in tax cuts over the next two years. He’s not yet gotten behind the Obamacare Medicaid expansion, which has provided health security to a quarter-million Arkansans, including multitudes of children. If he doesn’t get behind it — and if some of those new Republican women don’t vote for it — its collapse will drain hundreds of millions more from state services. Kansas is slashing pre-K education. Already beggared in Arkansas, it seems unlikely to get much love from Asa Hutchinson. He has described it as a welfare program, not a vital catch-up for kids most in need. Early detection of kids’ medical problems, primary care for adults and care for the elderly are all on the line in the Medicaid vote. These were once women’s issues. But if you want to be treated like a man these days, you have to not only dress like a man, you must vote like one, too.
the bad guys run roughshod over United Democrats, Schumer said, should instead States interests everywhere in the world. have just emphasized things that excited Never mind that the facts in every case the big middle class, which votes. Sure, he were close to the opposite. Voters in the said, health care costs keep skyrocketing and South and Plains states voted against men some lose their insurance, but most people and women they were told were aligned, don’t care because they are insured either even theoretically, with the dastardly by government — Medicare, Medicaid, VA black man. Democrats may not have had — or through their employers. a united strategy to counter the message Instead, Democrats should have shown this summer and fall, but it would have the middle class that they cared about goodmade little difference if they had. paying jobs, Schumer said. If he checked the Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, the Senate calendar he would be reminded that third-ranking Democrat in the Senate and those initiatives were sidetracked either unofficial head of the party’s Wall Street by the controlling Senate Republican caucus, offered himself as the man to minority and Southern Democrats or the lead the Democrats out of the wilderness. later Republican majority in the House of Although the most ballyhooed, his was the Representatives. But if Schumer meant the most inane of all the Democratic critiques. president’s and Democratic leadership’s He was on the mark only if you failure to push for a higher national acknowledge that the best political minimum wage until 2014, he might have strategy of Democrats is to try to do a point. nothing important when they are in power. But he offered no suggestions about Big achievements drive the opposition how the Democrats could have addressed to extremes and often are messy in the jobs and wages, and Republicans certainly short run. never offered anything that should have Schumer said Democrats blew the appealed to that economic class, unless it opportunity Americans gave them in 2009 were more tax cuts for corporations and by focusing on “the wrong problem — health the wealthy. Polls show that most voters care reform.” Most people suffering from favor higher taxes on the rich and lower the faulty U.S. health care system were just taxes on themselves. the poorest, only about 5 percent of the It is the crassness of Schumer’s vision electorate, who either don’t vote or don’t that is troubling for a man who seeks to lead vote intelligently for their own interests. his party: The best thing for America is what CONTINUED ON PAGE 44 www.arktimes.com
DECEMBER 18, 2014
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ARKANSAS TIMES 8
DECEMBER 18, 2014
ARKANSAS TIMES
‘Rape culture’ merits scrutiny
I
f the great Rolling Stone campus rape hoax proved nothing else, it’s that True Believers make lousy reporters. I’ve always found it useful to keep in mind what my brother and I call the state motto of our native New Jersey: “Oh yeah, who says?” By now, it’s clear that none of the lurid allegations in author Sabrina Rubin Erdely’s account of a fraternity house assault on a histrionic University of Virginia freshman named “Jackie” stands up to skeptical analysis. Large parts of the narrative are demonstrably false. Nothing the putative victim told her friends about the alleged encounter survives scrutiny. It’s not even clear that Jackie had a date with a handsome frat boy on that fateful night. Nor that the fellow actually exists. Photos she’d shared with Virginia students interviewed by the Washington Post turned out to be social media screen grabs of a near stranger (and non-UVA student) with an ironclad alibi. Two other young men Jackie named as her betrayer have categorically denied ever dating her. If they turned out to be lying, those boys would be in deep trouble. Then there are Jackie’s callous friends — the ones who supposedly urged her not to report being gang raped by seven men because it might result in fewer party invitations. “It’s important that people know that the way she portrayed us is not who we are,” Kathryn Hendley told the Post. Dubbed “Cindy” in Rolling Stone, Hendly was characterized as a “selfdeclared hookup queen” by a reporter who never met her. “Why didn’t you have fun with it?” the magazine quoted Cindy saying. “A bunch of hot Phi Psi guys?” So tell me again how disbelieving Jackie’s melodramatic tale of woe means that I’m disrespecting women. (I’m embarrassed that the “hot Phi Psi guys” thing failed to start my personal BS detector blinking code-red immediately.) Almost needless to say, skeptical responses to Rolling Stone’s debacle inspired the usual chorus of ideologues insisting that women never lie about rape and that only women-hating apologists for something called “rape culture” ever doubt them. “The current frenzy to prove Jackie’s story false” wrote Jessica Valenti in The Guardian “whether because the horror of a violent gang rape is too much to face or because disbelief is the misogy-
nist status quo — will do incredible damage to all rape victims, but it is this one young woman who will GENE suffer most.” LYONS Oh yeah? Well it says here that all human beings lie, and that sex is one of the more common topics they lie about. No conversation that doesn’t acknowledge that is worth having. The good news is that grown-up feminists increasingly resist this kind of Dick and Jane thinking. “The idea that fully investigating or truthfully reporting on rape claims boils down to a simple ‘belief’ in a victim’s account,” writes Amanda Hess in Slate “is simplistic and offensive.” Indeed, several of Slate’s DoubleX writers have been instrumental in debunking the Rolling Stone hoax. Possibly the sanest reaction comes from that magazine’s Emily Yoffee. In an astringent analysis entitled “The Campus Rape Overcorrection,” she disputes the idea that there’s anything resembling a rape “epidemic” on American college campuses. Instead, there’s a kind of moral panic: a witch-hunt. At a recent White House conference, President Obama announced that “an estimated one in five women has been sexually assaulted during her college years — one in five.” Can anybody seriously believe it? After all, if one in five Starbucks customers got molested, the chain would go out of business. Furthermore, with violent crime rates in the United States dropping steadily — FBI statistics show sexual assault down 60 percent nationwide since 1995 — why would campus sex offenses be rising sharply? The answer, Yoffee shows, is that they aren’t. Not really. The study used to justify the one-in-five claim employs statistical legerdemain that would put you in a federal penitentiary if you did your taxes that way. Compare the National Crime Victimization Survey, which found that “an estimated 0.8 percent of noncollege females age 18-24 … were victims of threatened, attempted, or completed rape/sexual assault. Of the college females … approximately 0.6 percent reported they experienced such attempted or completed crime.” Not one in five; closer to one in 20.
Drivers Please be aWare, it’s arkansas state laW: Use of bicycles or animals
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.
We’ve gone Pappy for the Holiday! Come in this December for a chance to buy an elusive bottle of Van Winkle Whiskey between 11am – 11:45am on the dates below. Drawing at 12pm each event day. • 12/6 • 12/13 • 12/20 • 12/23 • 12/27 • 12/30
overtaking a bicycle
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 (3’) and shall not again drive to the right side of the roadway until safely clear of the overtaken bicycle.
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anD cyclists, Please remember...
You’re vehicles on the road, just like cars and motorcycles and must obey all traffic laws— signal, ride on the right side of the road and yield to traffic normally. Make eye contact with motorists. Be visible. Be predictable. Heads up, think ahead.
Pappy Holidays 4281 McCainBlvd, N. Little Rock, AR | (501) 945-5153
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DECEMBER 18, 2014
9
PEARLS ABOUT SWINE
Portis must carry Hogs
A The third installment in Arkansas Times’ new film series collaboration with the Little Rock Film Festival at the CALS Ron Robinson Theater.
7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 18 • $5 CALS Ron Robinson Theater • 100 River Market Avenue
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rkansas basketball is such a weird, aggravating thing. I don’t know if the karmic tradeoff for one blissful year of “40 Minutes of Hell” was two ensuing decades of purgatory, but it sure seems that way. The Hogs have been the archetype of inconsistency since the 1994 national championship, and to be honest, it began immediately. You’ll recall that the national champions were the presumptive favorites the following year as well, because they returned all five starters and just about every pivotal role player, too. So what happened? The Hogs did surge all the way back to the title game, losing to UCLA in a still-shocking rout, but it was a far bumpier road, and it started from the opener when John Calipari’s UMass squad throttled the Razorbacks in an early road test. Calipari’s still a nemesis 20 years later, and he’s getting the last laugh even if the general public, Pope Francis perhaps included, is suspicious of his methods. Kentucky isn’t just getting the five-star guys year in and year out, but the Wildcats are now blessed with the thing that they didn’t have in the later years of Tubby Smith’s tenure and in Billy Gillispie’s utterly forgettable and brief stretch at Lexington: quality depth. Last week, dependable post Alex Poythress went down for the year with an ACL tear; Calipari put on his usual smarmy sheen about how greatly they’ll miss him (they won’t), and Kentucky stayed right in its cushy No. 1 position by destroying North Carolina. That was Saturday at Rupp Arena. The joint was mostly full. Carolina, as traditional a power as there is, looked lost. Saturday at Bud Walton Arena, Arkansas dispatched Dayton by the same 14-point margin that Kentucky disposed of the Tar Heels, amid a different setting. The arena was something around half-full at best, which is frankly inexcusable on a Saturday against a fairly high-caliber foe with football’s regular season now in the rearview. There’s an appreciable level of hype for this team despite two bad road losses in recent days, so where are the students? At any rate, Bobby Portis is clearly the most gifted in-state product to don the cardinal and white since Joe Johnson, but he seems more inclined to embrace a leadership role than Johnson did. This year, his baby face has been often seen with more of a determined glare or scowl. He’s taller, a little thicker, and playing with more composure than he did in a steady freshman campaign. In every facet, the
Little Rock Hall product looks like he’s taken to heart the role he’s being charged with carrying out, and as BEAU a result, Arkansas WILCOX seems likely to advance farther this season if he stays that course and remains healthy. In other words, he’s belying his years, which is exactly what has made Kentucky so good. Never do the Wildcats, despite being laden with teenagers, permit their alleged inexperience to show. On occasion they’ll play sloppy or not be in sync, but that’s largely attributable to a lesser foe playing at its highest possible plane. Take, for instance, Columbia, which frustrated Kentucky for a good 35 minutes before the Wildcats eked out a 10-point win. That game was analogous, perhaps, to the Hogs’ prior bout with Clemson, save for the fact that Arkansas thoroughly and irrevocably gagged that one in the waning minutes. Again, Mike Anderson hasn’t been the cure-all for the team’s long-standing road issues. The Hogs are a clean 6-0 in their own yard, even if the place won’t get loud until sometime in January, and they do play with a different brand of spirit when the painted porcine floor is beneath their sneakers. That’s perfectly fine when you consider that scheduling tilts the home/away slate in favor of the former, but at some point the Hogs must establish toughness on foreign lands. Portis seems like the conduit through which this could flow. He’s agile and multifaceted on the floor, and engaging and personable off it. Production is one thing, but being able to put your stamp on the program in this day and age of short-term stays is pretty difficult to do unless you have that panache. While there are still some deficiencies to his game — he’s notoriously shy about putting his back to the basket much of the time — he’s still easily the best player the program has had in a long while, and his home-state ties make him even more likely to thrive in the mold of a Corliss Williamson, who earned the “Big Nasty” moniker for a reason. If Arkansas hopes to return to the NCAA Tournament and make meaningful progress in the spring slate of SEC games, he’s got to carry that torch. There’s no shortage of irony in the program being dependent on someone born 10 months after the Hogs stormed the floor in Charlotte while President Clinton proudly looked on.
THE OBSERVER NOTES ON THE PASSING SCENE
Full confession
T
he Observer lingered a bit last week over the story of the 11-yearold from Bryant who nicked $10,000 from her grandma’s sock drawer, hitchhiked to Little Rock in the dead of night, then hired a taxicab to take her to Jacksonville, Fla., apparently on a mission to see a boy she’d met on vacation a few years prior. The cabbie, clearly disregarding the superior Redneck Riviera Express route through Lake Village, made it all the way to Atlanta before the police, her parents and the cab company were able to track her down. All’s well that ends well, though The Observer would bet a dollar to a dead goldfish that there was some ungentle language spoken on the drive back to home base with her parents. While many folks took to social media to tsk-tsk the young lady’s behavior, The Observer can’t say much. While we never had the funds — filched or otherwise — to get up to interstate shenanigans during our formative years, we did do some ignert stuff as a kid. Once, at 7, tinkering in Pa’s cluttered shop, we decided to see what would happen if we wired up an old car antenna to an old lamp cord and plugged it in. The Lad Observer was hoping for a sort of lightsaber effect, but all we managed to do was blow a fuse and render the outlet a blackened hulk that never worked again. On another occasion, at 9, The Observer’s older brother asked Yours Truly to check how much gas was left in the tank of his Briggs-and-Stratton-powered go-kart. The Observer couldn’t see the bottom of the tank, so we decided to see what we could see by the light of a cigarette lighter we’d lifted from the dashboard of Pa’s truck. Fried hair and a three-alarm faceburn ensued, with the Young Pyro being forced to go to school for weeks sans eyebrows and with a significantly broadened forehead. How our dear old Ma and Pa survived seeing their middle child to adulthood, we’ll never know. Like the man said: Mama tried. But we got away with quite a lot while she had her back turned for one ... solitary ... second. Full
confession: On yet other questionable stops between birth and voting age, The Observer paddled out into a green stockpond in a plastic kiddie pool bought at Magic Mart (towing a washtub as a thankfully unneeded lifeboat); fended off the neighbor’s bone-vicious dog with an arm cast we’d earned in another escapade; swallowed an Alka-Seltzer tablet on a dare, then retched up bitter foam; rode my banana-seat bike out in front of a propane truck, forcing the driver to lock the brakes, climb down from the cab, and swear at me with hot tears standing in his eyes; stabbed a lineman’s spike into one ankle while trying to climb a pine tree in the front yard; touched a live and wholly unrestrained copperhead with a bare finger, and rode a sheet of rusty barn tin down a snowy, 45-degree, tree-covered slope, winding up in four feet of icy cold water and with a two-inch wound that healed to a pale and puckered scar we’ll carry to the grave. We never struck out for Florida in a taxi, but it’s only because it never crossed our devious little mind. It was likely the same for you, Dear Reader, if you’ll think back. This is what you learn as a parent: Watch your kid like an Alcatraz guard, because they’re like drunk, suicidal elves until they’re about 12 or so, at which point most of them turn into antisocial cave bears who often wish, aloud, that they’d been grown in a lab so they didn’t have to suffer the indignity of having parents. Bar none, the hardest part of being somebody’s Old Man has been allowing Junior to make his mistakes. Childhood, The Observer has to say to the graying chump in the mirror on almost a weekly basis, is the time for mistakes, some of them more dangerous and stupid than others. Screwing up — even screwing up royally — is what kids are supposed to do. Still, The Observer should probably go ahead and take the 10 grand out of our sock drawer and put it behind the detergent bottle in the laundry room, where he’ll never find it. Better safe than sorry. www.arktimes.com
DECEMBER 18, 2014
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Arkansas Reporter
THE
IN S ID ER
Fayetteville to try again on civil rights ordinance Fayetteville City Attorney Kit Williams has drafted a new city civil rights ordinance to replace the ordinance repealed by voters in a referendum Dec. 9. He told The Fayetteville Flyer he thought it “ill-advised” to move so quickly after a hard-fought election, but he said he’d do as aldermen and the mayor requested. He said he did so with a number of concerns — one being that a revision of Code 119 might require a supermajority of aldermen for approval. Instead, he said he tried to create a totally new ordinance that could attract broad support. To do that, he suggested not using a model from the Human Rights Campaign, as originally done, but modeling it after the 21-year-old Arkansas Civil Rights Act. His ordinance adds sexual orientation to the types of discrimination prohibited. It will exempt churches. It also won’t cover gender identity because, Williams said, federal case law already appears to support that discrimination on the basis of gender identity is prohibited. This would eliminate one of the key points of opposition to the ordinance, repealed in a 51.6 percent to 48.3 percent vote: about people using restrooms for the gender with which they identify. (To put it another way, those people the Duggars are worried about already have protection of federal law to use the restroom of their choice.) The proposed ordinance guards against discrimination, using the state statute’s language, in employment, public accommodation (defined as any place of “public resort, accommodation, assemblage or amusement”), housing, credit and other contractual transactions and voting. There is no fine for a violation. In a memo on the ordinance, Williams wrote: “I ended the ordinance with a requirement for mediation and conciliation with a referral for a possible revocation of a person’s business license for a person who will not refrain from continuing illegal discrimination. No new position of Civil Rights Administrator would be created. No new committee or commission is created by this ordinance. “Like most nondevelopment ordinances, its enforcement is statutorily left to the mayor. ‘The mayor of the city shall be its chief executive officer and ... [it] shall be his or her special duty to cause the ordinances and regulations of the city to be faithfully and constantly obeyed.’ The mayor can assign this task to any
The big bang Unrestricted high explosives, available at a sporting goods store near you. BY DAVID KOON
R
ight now, on the shelves of almost every major sporting goods store in Arkansas, there is a product that goes by the brand name Tannerite. You’ve probably never heard of it. Most people haven’t. Tannerite is a binary high explosive, the best-selling brand of exploding rifle target in America. The legitimate use of the product is in small quantities as a shot indicator in long-range rifle shooting. A bang and a white puff of smoke shows that a bullet has hit the target, saving the shooter a walk to check. As seen in hundreds of videos online, however, exploding target compounds are being mixed in bulk quantities, used to create explosions that look more like IED blasts than target practice. A member of the Little Rock Fire Department bomb squad said exploding target compounds — some of which feature detonation energy that rivals TNT — are dangerous, and could easily be used to create a bomb. As the name “binary explosive” suggests, exploding target kits consist of two components: ammonium nitrate and aluminum powder. Unmixed, both are inert and cannot explode. For that reason, as-purchased exploding targets aren’t considered explosives in most states or by the federal government. Even when sold as a kit, they can be bought with few regulations, purchased online or shipped through the U.S. Mail. Once the two components are mixed — an operation that’s as easy as opening an envelope of dark powder and a canister of tiny white beads, then shaking them together in a supplied plastic jar — even a pound of Tannerite will explode with an amazing amount of force when subjected to a violent shock, such as a high-powered rifle shot or blasting cap. A minor impact such as a hammer blow, drop to concrete or even a lower-velocity round from a handgun will not set it off. A line in the warnings on the bright orange label of every Tannerite brand target notes that the moment you mix the two components,
“you become the manufacturer of an explosive and assume any/all liabilities.” In bulk, Tannerite sells for around $8 a pound. It’s available in bulk boxes of up to 10 pounds, though there’s no restriction on how much you can buy at once. While not required by law to do so, most sporting goods stores require purchasers to be over 21 to purchase exploding targets. (When the reporter bought a Tannerite brand target at Gander Mountain in North Little Rock earlier this week, I was asked for a date of birth, but wasn’t required to show a driver’s license.)
of feet. In another video, called “FPS Russia almost dies,” a young man shoots a pickup in which exploding target material has been placed and the resulting explosion bends the truck’s frame into a U-shape, sending a huge piece of jagged steel — what appears to be the truck’s mangled door — tumbling past the shooter with only inches to spare. While imagining either of those trucks parked on a city street is enough to give any American nightmares, it’s not all “What ifs.” There have been several reported incidents involving detonations of large quantities of exploding target material, including a Minnesota man who was fined and sentenced to probation after detonating 100 pounds in a dump truck, creating an explosion so strong that it threw parts hundreds of feet in the air and triggered a lockdown at the Prairie Island Nuclear Power Plant almost five miles away. In May 2012 in Celina, Ohio, a woman’s hand was severed after a friend shot a clothes dryer
TANNERITE IN A TRUCK: This Youtube video still shows what the explosive can do.
A call to Tannerite Sports LLC, the Oregon company that makes Tannerite brand exploding rifle targets, was not returned at press time. The evidence that exploding target compounds could be used for deadly purposes is incontrovertible. A search for the word “Tannerite” on YouTube returns 136,000 results, including videos of one massive detonation after another, footage of people demolishing trucks, mobile homes, old houses, barns and a herd of live feral pigs. Many are accomplished with less than $200 worth of the material. One video, called “30lbs of Tannerite vs 79 Ford Bronco” shows an explosion so powerful that it obliterates the SUV’s steel body, throwing metal fragments hundreds
with exploding target material inside. In June 2013 a Minnesota man was killed at a bachelor party after shrapnel thrown by an exploding target placed in a steel container hit him in the abdomen. The Federal Bureau of Land Management has banned exploding targets on its land, citing them as the cause of several wildfires that cost over $30 million to fight. The National Forest Service has since banned the targets on NFS land in the Rocky Mountain Region for the same reason. (A FAQ page on the Tannerite website says the product will not start fires and are “designed from conception to be non-incendiary.”) In March 2013, the FBI sent out a bulletin to law enforcement agencies saying CONTINUED ON PAGE 44
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THE
BIG PICTURE
Pallbearer "Foundations of Burden"
Jim Mize "Jim Mize"
LISTEN UP
The Little Rock Top 10 Here are the Little Rock albums we listened to more than any others this year, the ones that meant the most to us and that we’d push on any out-of-towners who asked what was new in the Little Rock music scene. This leaves out dozens of weird and inspiring records by the likes of Wasted Colors, Doc Casino, Chris Denny, BLACK PARTY, Ginsu Wives, Dead Anchors, Cool Chris, Bombay Harambee, Glittercore, Big Piph and countless others who live in Fayetteville or who we’ve never heard of or who released their album too early in the year for us to remember it. We are sorry to all of them. Despite all the sadness in the Little Rock music scene this year (rest in peace, Gerald Johnson, Larry “Goose” Garrison and T.C. Edwards), it was genuinely fun, too, and it’s only getting better.
The Body "I Shall Die Here"
TOP 10
The Coasts "Racilia"
Kari Faux "Laugh Now, Die Later"
Tune in to the Times’ “Week In Review” podcast each Friday. Available on iTunes & arktimes.com
INSIDER, CONT. employee. “As a heterosexual who does not discriminate against homosexuals, I assumed there really was not a problem with discrimination against gay or lesbian people in Fayetteville before the marathon City Council meeting opened my eyes. Fayetteville is a wonderfully tolerant and accepting city, but for the rare occasions when the sting of discrimination lashes out against our gay and lesbian friends, neighbors and co-workers, we should have a simple and straightforward ordinance that places Fayetteville on the side of equality, justice, love and inclusion. I hope the ordinance attached to this memo will unite Fayetteville in freedom and fairness.” Simple. Gay people in Fayetteville should get the same protection that women, minorities, the elderly, the disabled and religions receive under the Arkansas Civil Rights law. No church incursions. No bathroom incursions. No worries for businesses with fewer than nine employees. Surely chamber boss Steve Clark and the various Baptist pastors meant it when they deplored discrimination but worried about unintended consequences. The Flyer said: “Alderman Matthew Petty, the sponsor of the original Civil Rights Administration ordinance, said he questioned whether transgender residents are indeed a protected class under federal law, but called Williams’ proposal ‘a great framework’ to begin discussion of a new anti-discrimination ordinance. Petty said Monday he agreed with Williams’ suggestion to draft a new law.
Honorable confirmation watched closely at home
Country Florist "CF-1"
Goon des Garcons "Meanwhile..."
Amasa Hines "All The World There Is"
Bonnie Montgomery "Bonnie Montgomery"
Adam Faucett "Blind Water Finds Blind Water"
The nomination of Arkansas Public Service Commission Chair Colette Honorable to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is on the list of presidential nominations that Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid hopes to push through confirmation votes this week, according to Politico. She’ll make it next year, regardless, because her nomination lacks opposition from Republicans. But confirmation this week is important back home. Word continues to circulate of quiet Republican opposition to a vote on Honorable this week. If she’s confirmed now, it allows Gov. Mike Beebe to appoint someone to fill out her term. If not, Asa Hutchinson gets the PSC pick after he becomes governor Jan. 13. www.arktimes.com
DECEMBER 18, 2014
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THINK BIG And change Arkansas for the better.
As is annual tradition, the Arkansas Times recently solicited suggestions from readers and a variety of experts on how to make Arkansas a better place to live. We present their ideas here and hope you find them as inspirational as we do. If any especially strike a chord with you, help make them happen. Many are works in progress; those that aren’t only lack the right collection of advocates to be realized. See even more Big Ideas for Arkansas at arktimes.com/bigideas14.
WHEELER: State legislators should gain first-hand knowledge of challenges around the state.
Establish an intra-state legislator exchange program BY ELLIE WHEELER
S
tate legislators, by definition, represent the narrow interests of their individual constituents,
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but they’re also responsible for passing laws that reflect the diverse interests of the state as a whole. There’s a big difference between the ultra-affluent parts of Arkansas and the areas where poverty is prevalent, and those differences are reflected in many of the laws that get passed. But what if we could change that?
Build a planetarium in Little Rock BY LESLIE NEWELL PEACOCK
T
he size of Kevin Delaney and Dr. Tony Hall’s idea is astronomical: A planetarium for the River Market district downtown. Delaney, the Museum of Discovery employee who’s appeared on the “Tonight Show” with his feats of science, and Hall, the astronomer at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, would like to do it right, build it from the ground up with state-of-the-art equipment — maybe not in league with the Hayden Planetarium, but something decent. “If you are going to put kids on the path to science and engineering, you’ve got to impress them,” Hall said. The projectors that beam the images on the dome now use computers; “anything you can do on a computer you can do on a dome,” Hall said, including taking the audience undersea or into cell structures. “We feel like, given the amount of STEM education happening all over Arkansas, the absence of [a planetarium] is noticeable,” Delaney said. There’s plenty going on in space right now, with the European Space Agency’s landing of little Philae on a comet and NASA’s Orion flight test, and there is plenty going on in Arkansas’s science
museum community, with the Amazeum going up in Northwest Arkansas, the MidAmerican Science Museum renovation and the Reynolds Foundation-launched Arkansas Discovery Network. So what’s it going to take? Maybe around $1 million for the building and the projector. There are grants available from the National Science Foundation that could help operate the planetarium. And though Hall wouldn’t mind seeing UALR’s own planetarium refurbished (its projector crashed and burned a while back), he thinks downtown makes more sense. “The more we looked into it, the more we felt it wasn’t really practical [to build on campus]. College campuses aren’t meant to have kids running around ... and we love the idea of having it in downtown,” Hall said, especially if it could reach Little Rock’s underprivileged kids. The planetarium could also give meteorite collections of UALR and the museum “a permanent home,” Delaney said. Plus, Delaney said, the Central Arkansas Astronomical Society could use the planetarium “as a hub for space geeks.”
What if we could show a representative from a rich district what it is like in a poor Delta school? What if a senator from a majority-white district could see the world through the eyes of someone who represented a majority-black one? Let’s institute a legislator exchange program. Each legislator would be required to spend a week in another area of the state at least twice each year. They would meet with the people there to learn about their unique needs, resources, strengths and limitations. During the week they would visit coffee shops, hospitals, schools and businesses. They would gain first-hand knowledge of the unique challenges other areas of the state face. They’d run into people who come from different racial and socioeconomic backgrounds. It’s one thing to hear about such issues, but it’s another to talk with people and share thoughts about how
those challenges change lives. Our legislature has 135 members — 35 senators and 100 members of the House of Representatives. Each district covers a lot of ground, but because of population differences, more than half of our legislators come from just 9 out of Arkansas’s 75 counties. The needs of the state’s rural and underpopulated areas are not equally represented. If we really want state laws to address statewide issues equitably, let’s expand our horizons a bit. Who knows what might come of it? Here’s hoping for fairer tax policies, education reform aimed at eliminating inequities, or maybe just the knowledge that not everybody’s got it as good as you may have. Ellie Wheeler is a senior policy analyst with Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families.
BIG IDEAS
A Regional Food Innovation Center for Central Arkansas It’s in the works.
BY LESLIE NEWELL PEACOCK
T
remendous attention Amanda Philyaw Perez of has been paid to the UA Cooperative Extension Service. the potential for a new technolThe Hunger Relief ogy-based econoAlliance, which wants to create my in Arkansas. There’s a pala food “gleaning” pable urgency facility where to mentor endonated fresh trepreneurs and food is collected create foundries for redistribufor biotech and tion, got on board. nanotech invenThe timing was just tions. right: Perez was aware Now, Arkansas’s traof the “Local Foods” iniSABIN ditional economy — farming tiative, which put out requests — is being invited to join the revolution, for applications in July. with the creation of what’s being called Modeled on programs at Ohio State a Regional Food Innovation Center as University, Oregon State University and a companion to the Argenta Innovathe Rutgers Food Innovation Center in tion Center maker/mentor/art space in New Jersey, Arkansas’s Regional Food downtown North Little Rock. Innovation Center, to be built adjacent The idea came from forward-lookto or near the Argenta Innovation Center, ing folks at the Arkansas Regional will have a certified kitchen to develop Innovation Hub, the state Agriculture new food products, a labeling and packaging area, a greenhouse and garden for Department, the University of Arkansas instruction, and a gleaning center. With Cooperative Extension Service and the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance. Their access to the Innovation Center’s Launch idea is to create a place for farmers and Pad for inventors and Silver Mine busiothers to develop new foods, strateness accelerator, food industry entrepreneurs can explore new business models. gies for marketing and packaging, better access to nutritious food in “food des- “I have a lot of friends who are farmers,” erts” and new agricultural technologies. Sabin said, “and they are some of the most The idea has already borne fruit: The technologically adept people I know.” partnership was one of just 26 in the The North Little Rock location of the nation selected by the federal “Local center would make access convenient Foods, Local Places” program to win for the state’s food industry community. its assistance in improving economic The “Local Foods/Local Places” award provides the services of conopportunities for farmers and increasing access to healthy food. sultants that will work with the InnovaOn a trip to business accelerator protion Center over a period of months to grams in Chicago last April, Warwick produce a plan; expect the first public Sabin, executive director of the Hub, hearing in February. When the plan is met the creator of an electronic device complete, the Food Center project will that plugs into a combine harvester and be eligible for funding from the partcollects data on crop and soil composiner federal agencies; agencies here will tion. The startup, 640 Labs, has since raise funding from local sources. Sabin been acquired by Monsanto. It made said the partners are now working to Sabin wonder, what could the Hub do expand the group, calling on others to address farmers’ needs? “The more in the food industry to join in. “We I dug into the idea, the more I learned want to cast a wide net to make sure about these efforts going on around the we don’t leave anybody out. Everybody country,” he said, and not just for farmfrom restaurant owners to St. Joseph’s ers, but all involved in the food industry. Farm,” Sabin said. The group does not Sabin got with Zack Taylor, marwant to replicate other programs or keting director at the state Agriculcompete. “We want to make sure it’s ture Department. Taylor brought in value-added.”
WILKINS: Hunting and fishing provide all sorts of benefits to young people.
Teach minority youth to hunt and fish BY JONATHAN WILKINS
W
e live in a state where too many residents of urban, economically depressed neighborhoods don’t have access to the natural world and all of the benefits that exposure to it provides. That’s PC code language for: Poor black and brown folks from the cities don’t ever go in the woods. They don’t hunt, they don’t fish, they don’t forage. They suffer from a lack of meaningful physical activity, poor diets and the medical issues that result from not moving enough and eating crap food. What would happen if some of the young people in these communities were introduced to hunting and fishing? Not a fishing derby at a stocked pond in Little Rock, but being mentored for the long haul in the woods of Arkansas and on its lakes and bayous. Take an average 10-year-old with no exposure to guns except in media, and perhaps instances of human-onhuman violence. (We’ll use a boy for this example, but a girl would work just as well.) Bring him to an Arkansas Game and Fish Commission gun range and teach him how to safely and responsibly shoot a .22 rifle, under strict supervision. Transform the idea of a gun from a status symbol into a tool to hone a meditative skill. Find the target, steady your aim, let out half a breath, hold it, and slowly squeeze the trigger. Let the bullet going off surprise you. Upon mastering the rifle range, take that child on a squirrel hunt at Wattensaw Wildlife Management Area. Let him hear the woods wake up in the morning and see the palette of colors that a sunrise produces in an oak grove. Show him how to walk with intentional, methodical, carefully placed steps, punctuated with long pauses of stillness and silence and breathing and listening. On a hunt, there is no bravado, only competency. Maybe he gets a squirrel, and maybe he doesn’t. Teach him that there is always value in listening and learning from the woods.
Let these lessons build on themselves year after year. How to fish, how to swim and how to work with dogs. How to find food in wild places, how to process it and how to cook it. Link the privilege of participating in such a program to academic performance. Make kids earn every bit of it. I hazard to guess that the result will be a child who absorbs skills that will help him succeed in living anywhere, whether in the city or in the country. There will be personal triumphs of harvesting deer and putting food on his family’s table, but there will also be lessons derived from failure. And, the health benefits of walking and climbing and running will become evident. You’ll end up with a 16-year-old who has learned valuable skills and developed relationships with people he might not otherwise have ever met. Maybe the older gentleman who taught him how to gut a deer needs help this summer at the warehouse he owns. Perhaps the skeet instructor from last year is on the board of a local college. Or maybe none of that happens, and you just end up with a person who is able to live a healthier lifestyle, provide organic, free-range protein for his family, and pass on these skills to his own children. Setting up such a program would require an investment of time and money from volunteers, schools, the AGFC, local chefs, business owners, land owners and others in the statewide community. But, it would be worth it to create an environment where people are more responsible for others and the world around them, a world that is a little bit more like the one most of us say we want to live in. Let’s put our money and our time where our mouth is. Jonathan Wilkins is an avid outdoorsman who lives in rural Pulaski County. He is a sales manager for Arkansas Fresh Bakery in Bryant. www.arktimes.com
DECEMBER 18, 2014
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BIG IDEAS
ENGLISH: State should teach real world job skills.
Build a real workforce education system BY SEN. JANE ENGLISH
M
y goal for a very long time has been to find a way to build a system for workforce development. Right now we have a lot of silos: K-12 education, two-year colleges, higher education and business all live in their own world. For me, though, education is “K through career.” Even when you’re in a career, there ought to be education and skills training that helps people move up in their jobs. For the past 20 years, we’ve said the only way to be successful is to go to college, and there’s only one path to go to college. But fewer than 40 percent of Arkansas students seeking a bachelor’s degree graduate within six years of starting school. What good does it do for someone to go off to college and
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flunk out? Where do they go with the rest of their lives? We’ve got to have things in place to make sure folks can have a career. There are not a whole lot of 18-yearolds who know what they want to do with the rest of their life when they get out of high school. We must get the business community to help us begin introducing different types of job opportunities to kids in the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. We should create technical programs where kids in the ninth through 12th grades can take classes that teach them applied skills, whether it’s in information technology or manufacturing. They can earn a certification along with their high school diploma and are able to get a job right out of high school. In Lonoke, the school district has had a problem with students dropping out in ninth grade. The superintendent asked some kids why, and they told her, “Because there’s nothing here for us.” They said they wanted to learn how to weld. So, she set up a welding program in the high school. Now kids are learning math and science and English — all the things they’re supposed to be learn-
ing — but they’ve also got something that catches them and holds on to them. It’s a reason for staying in school, like football or basketball. Ninety-six percent of the kids who are in career and technical education programs graduate from high school, which is far higher than the average. They have something that has enticed them to stay. We also have to get companies to help us understand what jobs are out there and what the skill requirements are. Other states have figured this out long before we have. We’ve had an Arkansas employer tell us that they can’t hire computer science majors because some of the things the students learn at the university aren’t relevant. We have a manufacturing company on Interstate 40 that’s been without two or three management positions for years. We’ve got a data company that can’t find the data people to come and work. There are good things going on as well. For example, the University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton has formed a partnership with local businesses to teach people the skills they need for one high-demand field: heating and air conditioning. In Paris, Cloyes Gear is working with the local Chamber of Commerce, the school superintendent and Arkansas Tech University to train workers. We also need to do more to help workers learn new skills and earn certifications. We have many people here in the state who dropped out of school to work; they’re good people but they don’t have basic skills, and employers recognize that. We have a program right now where employers can utilize state-funded adult education teachers to help employees learn basic skills — say, reading, or math — because the employers want to keep them. This is why talk about the minimum wage is misguided. Who in the world wants their child to end up in a minimum wage job? Nobody! It’s a good start, but only a stepping stone. There has to be a career pathway for that person to advance. We’ve got to make sure that K-12, the colleges and the business community — this whole line of education and training — is hooked together. Education is a product, and we have to make sure that the product we’re delivering to students is a good one. Jane English is a Republican state senator who represents District 34. She lives in North Little Rock.
BIG IDEAS Welcome the future wave of Gulf Coast refugees BY BENJAMIN HARDY
L Use private capital to effect social change BY ERIC WILSON
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nnovation always carries risk, but the complexity and scale of challenges facing society require us to take that risk. Eighty-five percent of the economic growth in the United States comes from private-sector innovation. How do we direct that innovation toward society’s most pressing problems? Arkansas should join an increasing number of states in employing Social Impact Bonds (SIBs) — also known as “Pay for Success” — to mitigate the public’s financial risk of innovation and access untapped private capital to invest in performance-based programming in social sectors. First implemented in Great Britain, the first SIB in the U.S. was announced in August 2012 with the goal of reducing recidivism among 16- to 18-year-old males at New York City’s Rikers Island prison. Here’s how it works: • Goldman Sachs loans $9.6 million to the nonprofit MDRC, which manages the intervention program. • To offset the risk, Bloomberg Philanthropies guarantees $7.2 million of Goldman Sachs’ investment. • An independent evaluator monitors and determines the results of the program. New York pays MDRC based on the associated cost savings from the reduced number of reincarcerations. • For Goldman Sachs to break even on its investment, the program needs to produce a 10 percent reduction in recidivism. If the program fails, the taxpayers pay nothing. This model provides a platform for the public, private and nonprofit sectors to come together, leveraging their different strengths to solve a social problem. With only five SIB projects underway in the U.S., both advocates and critics are anxiously awaiting the results of this new financial instrument. However, the U.K. is already reporting progress
on its first SIB. While the national average of reconvictions for adult males serving sentences less than 12 months rose 10 percent, the SIB pilot intervention program at a prison in Peterborough, England, saw an 11 percent decline over that same period, putting investors on track to recoup their loan and possibly make a return. The Social Impact Technical Assistance Lab at the Harvard Kennedy School works with governments to foster social innovation, and played an important role in designing the first SIB projects in the U.S. Based on its experience, successfully implementing an SIB starts with “enthusiasm and commitment among leadership.” We saw an indication of this during the 2013 legislative session when Rep. Warwick Sabin (D-Little Rock) presented his public-private partnerships bill (HB 1251) to support major infrastructure projects. While the legislation ultimately failed to pass the Senate, it started the conversation about how the private sector can invest in public sector projects and share in the risks and rewards. Cost-saving preventive services in government-funded sectors like prisons and early childhood education offer investment vehicles for the private sector to participate and offset the risk of innovation for taxpayers. SIBs have the potential to create a new social services marketplace in Arkansas to pilot and scale solutions that have a clear and measured impact. Pursuing this innovative model now is an opportunity to showcase our state’s strong entrepreneurial heritage. Eric Wilson is CEO of Noble Impact, a new high school education venture in partnership with the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service. You can follow him at twitter.com/ eric_wilson.
et’s develop a 50-year plan for the Little Rock metropolitan area to deal with the very real possibility of a massive influx of displaced humanity from New Orleans and south Louisiana as ocean levels rise. The truth about climate change is that nobody knows exactly what’s going to happen in the coming decades, not me or you or James Inhofe. Maybe catastrophe will be avoided — or maybe, as indicated by the geological record and our best predictive modeling systems, higher concentrations of atmospheric carbon will incrementally dial up global temperatures, triggering feedback effects that accelerate the melt of polar ice caps and imperil coastal cities from Mumbai to Miami. Obviously, what we most urgently need right now is prevention. We must implement global, national and state-level strategies to drastically scale back our use of fossil fuels (as Arkansas is contemplating doing). But we also need a state and local plan for what to do if business as usual continues and catastrophe comes to pass. Because they know the threat is real, coastal cities like New York, Chicago, and London have crafted long-term plans for dealing with rising seas and extreme weather events. Inland states like Arkansas face a different challenge: migration. About 14 million people live in coastal counties along the Gulf of Mexico, and if the ocean threatens to overwhelm their homes in a generation, they’ll have to go somewhere. Look at a map. Austin, San Antonio and Dallas would likely absorb refugees from Houston. Florida’s huddled masses would stream toward Southeastern cities like Atlanta. And the residents of Greater New Orleans and south Louisiana will head north, to Shreveport and Jackson and points beyond. Why not encourage the future New Orleanian diaspora to resettle here in Little Rock en masse? We’ll need a massive, rapid development of new housing and civic infrastructure. I suggest building along the banks of the Arkansas River, east of present-day downtown (the Arkansas is a lesser echo of the Mississippi, to be sure, but it’s also a more manageable companion for a city). Since Little Rock so badly wants its own streetcars, development can center on a public transit system designed to mimic
the look (if not the efficiency) of the St. Charles and Canal lines. We’ll need huge investments in social services and public education. We’ll need to craft a workforce and economic development plan in collaboration with every major business interest in the region. I have high hopes that the Walton Family Foundation will feel some responsibility to pitch in a few billion dollars for resettlement costs, since they’ve invested so heavily in the charterization of New Orleans public schools in the past. Pulaski County should welcome displaced New Orleanians with open arms partly because they’re our neighbors and partly because every American bears the collective guilt of all those tons of atmospheric carbon. But we also stand to reap great benefits from their arrival, since (as was often said post-Katrina) the essence of New Orleans is contained in its people, not in a few particular square miles of Louisiana. The second lines and Carnival, the roast beef po’ boys and the drive-through daiquiris, the brass and the bounce and all the more ineffable things that comprise the most beautiful and culturally complex city in America — that’s what we’ll welcome. What we’re really talking about here is trying our best to move what will remain of New Orleans itself, salvaging whatever we’re able in the face of unthinkable loss and transporting it to Arkansas. Little Rock as we know it would be transformed, even subsumed — but hey, that’s history for you. Like it or not, we’ll probably inherit NOLA’s climate as well. At least we’ll have live oaks. I know what some of you are thinking: Yes, there’s a lot to love about New Orleans, but what about its unsavory elements? I hear you. Along with all the working and creative classes of the city, we’ll also inevitably have to deal with a number of troublemakers and freeloaders. I’m talking about New Orleans’ oil industry executives, financiers and old money scions — the people, in short, whose wealth and moral inertia will enable the climate crisis in the first place. I have my qualms too, but listen: We have to be charitable. If they reform their ways, they’ll be welcome here in the new Little Rock as well. We believe in second chances. Benjamin Hardy is an associate editor at the Arkansas Times. www.arktimes.com
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BRIAN CHILSON
BIG IDEAS
HANCOCK: Make the State Street overpass a bridge worth crossing.
Unlock the gate on the State Street overpass to connect historic West Ninth with Philander Smith College BY CHRIS HANCOCK
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ome call it a bridge to nowhere: the State Street overpass that leads from historic West Ninth Street to the campus of Philander Smith College, or at least it would, if not for the gate that closes the street to all vehicular traffic, making bicycle and pedestrian traffic impossible. As a former employee of the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, I heard several complaints from visitors, students and professionals after thwarted attempts to walk the short distance between historic West Ninth and Philander Smith. There are often lectures, screenings, exhibit openings and other events along West Ninth at MTCC and Dreamland Ballroom and in various locations on the campus of Philander Smith College. It would be mutually beneficial for each of these cultural venues to allow visitors to walk or ride between Philander Smith and West Ninth. Wesley Chapel, a historic church founded by the father of Charlotte Stephens, is located just inside the gate. Wesley Chapel would surely benefit from being more accessible to its congregation as well as visitors interested in its history. A closed gate isn’t welcoming to the visitors — families, reunions, tour groups, researchers, jazz aficionados — who visit West Ninth and Philander to explore the rich history of the area. Once known as “The Line,” Ninth Street was a bustling east-west thoroughfare with a trolley line. It was a vital community with a thriving urban fabric of mixed-use development that was largely black-owned. Booker T. Washington spoke at Ninth and Broadway in 1913. Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong and others performed at the Dreamland Ballroom and other jazz clubs along Ninth. Daisy and L.C. Bates ran their Arkansas State Press there, and, from the present location of MTCC, the Mosaic Templars operated a politically and financially influential headquarters. The campus of Philander Smith once spanned north to West Ninth before Inter18 DECEMBER 18, 2014
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state 630 tore through the social and economic fabric of the district. As Philander Smith welcomes a new president and continues to attract competitive faculty as well as prospective students by hosting dynamic programming, this is an opportunity to envision the entrance at the State Street bridge as a gateway rather than a barrier. Bicycle and pedestrian traffic are among the most vital signs of a thriving community. While we attempt to make other areas of our city walkable, why prevent it here? It is pragmatic to allow pedestrian and bicycle traffic between Philander Smith and the burgeoning cultural corridor of Historic West Ninth Street, and it’s poetic to bridge the divider that dismantled the district: I-630. There are many potential compromises that will prevent unwanted vehicular traffic while allowing bicycle and pedestrian traffic, such as a side-gate, removable traffic poles or simply opening the gate and using a temporary traffic barrier. A bridge is a terribly expensive thing to waste. One of the goals of the 2015 Pop Up in the Rock project, Pop Up West Ninth, is to use the bridge for community development in the burgeoning cultural district. Pop Up in the Rock, a joint volunteer project of studioMAIN and Create Little Rock, is a community development organization that creates temporary demonstrations (pop ups) of what is possible on a block with under-developed potential. These short-term demonstrations have lasting impact by illustrating what is possible when businesses, cultural institutions and communities come together. A Pop Up West Ninth in the fall of 2015 is proposed to span from the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center at Ninth and Broadway to Dreamland Ballroom at Ninth and State and across the State Street bridge to the campus of Philander Smith. Chris Hancock is co-chair of Pop Up in the Rock 2015 and a City Beautiful commissioner.
Honor local culture through grassroots organizing BY MEREDITH MARTIN-MOATS
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hen most people think of community centers, they imagine a large, modern building with glass double doors and an indoor basketball court. Such recreational facilities are an important part of any town, but we also need other shared spaces in our communities that nourish local culture and civic life. In early 2015, the McElroy House: Organization for Cultural Resources is slated to open a small community center in Dardanelle that will serve as an idea hub for Pope and Yell counties. It will be a home for small skill-sharing workshops led by community members, a living room for socializing, and a place for parents, elders and children (in both English and Spanish-speaking communities) to gather, share concerns and ideas, and learn from one another. Back in 2006, I had the opportunity to work with Michael Morrow, the man behind the West Kentucky African American Heritage and Research Center in Russellville, Ky. Morrow and other members of his community researched the area’s history and genealogies dating back to slavery and worked collectively to renovate and preserve structures dating from the
1700s. (White people often take for granted how easy it is to research our own histories. At the same time, we often forget the importance of knowing the everyday stories of our community’s deep past.) As I watched Morrow turn near-dilapidated houses into places of fearless learning, I began dreaming of returning to my hometown of Dardanelle and exploring what it can mean to dig into the past with the goal of working toward a new kind of future. Together with Marie Williams, a Dover native who recently received her MA in history from Arkansas Tech University, we’re working to create a community idea hub for our section of the River Valley. The McElroy House is built on valuing our landscape and cultural resources, exploring how the past informs the present, and creating partnerships across generations, races and cultures. We work to find commonalities between working class communities in urban and rural areas across Central Arkansas. We believe in exploring the past for the sake of the future and the importance of deep listening and collective action. So far, our work has focused on
BIG IDEAS
Create a safe place for Craigslist transactions BY CARLTON SAFFA
researching and documenting local oral histories and creating communitybased media pieces for print and radio. Soon, though, we will open a community center in the house from which our organization gets its name. Built in the 1940s, this home once belonged to Lloyd and Golda McElroy, former tenant farmers and chicken plant workers who raised their family in Yell County. They were everyday people, living in a simple house, and their histories are similar to many others’ in the community. We’ve worked with the University of Arkansas Community Design Center to create a low-impact parking lot that will reduce water runoff, and we’ll explore ways everyday people can rethink our relationship to this most important of resources. We’ll cover the grounds in perennials donated from area gardens and native plants that attract bees and butterflies. We’ll cultivate vegetables in partnership with a local heirloom seed saving group that is working to ensure our regional vegetable varieties are around for generations to come. We believe that even small amounts of food production can reduce food insecurity in low-income communities; in a largely low-income state, people in both rural and urban areas have been engaging in resource conservation and so-called “green living” for generations. We plan to hold workshops on everything from understanding the
local election process to making herb tinctures, from anti-racist dialogue to knitting classes to developing initiatives for creating locally based incomes. Community members will suggest topics, and our offerings will grow to reflect a diversity of needs and voices. We want to bring people together to explore history, even the difficult stories we all need to learn in order to work across divisions of race, class and culture. We don’t know exactly where this will lead us, but that’s the point. We want to create a space, both conceptually and literally, to bring people together so we all listen deeply to one another and find ways to learn from our past in such a way that plans for our collective future. Our center isn’t about acquiring big grants for sustainability initiatives or complicated programming. It’s about starting where we’re at, rethinking our approaches to living and working spaces, and honing the skills of our grandparents for our current needs. We want our center to be a working example of how even the simplest structure can be a place to harness rain, grow a little food and rethink local resources for the benefit of all. Meredith Martin-Moats is a mother, organizer, folklorist, gardener, oral historian, freelancer writer and Arkansas native. She writes at boiledownjuice.com.
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t first glance, this Big Idea might not seem so big at all. That is, of course, unless you were one of the two Little Rock men shot on a Tuesday evening last month while trying to kick the tires of a used car spotted on Craigslist. The Little Rock Police Department ought to dedicate a few of the 44,000 square feet in its new 12th Street Station as an Internet transaction space. It would be a safe room (as well as a spot or two in the parking lot) from which a Craigslist seller and a Craigslist buyer could meet without shooting at one another. Like most good ideas, this one is borrowed, inspired by a similar bazaar in Pennsylvania, but that in no way diminishes its potential impact on our city. Interestingly, Little Rock is perfectly poised to implement this plan, with 6,300 square feet of that new substation reserved for retail currently sitting vacant, and likely to be for years to come. It appears that the bond financing that made the station possible now makes, for the time being, that portion of the building unavailable for outside retail lease. So there it is. It could be up and running by week’s end. I’m no tech wizard; I’ve never bought anything off Craigslist. But here’s one big idea that may save your life or at least give you some peace of mind while buying or selling your stuff. Carlton Saffa is the Arkansas manager of Washington National insurance company. In January he’ll begin work as senior advisor to Gov.-elect Asa Hutchinson.
Call out prosecutors for misconduct BY MARA LEVERITT
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o what the Arkansas Supreme Court won’t: Call out prosecutors who don’t play by the
rules. Though the state Supreme Court continually reprimands private attorneys for missteps — it disbarred President Clinton — the court has not sanctioned a prosecuting attorney in at least the past 25 years. This bias protects state’s attorney’s political aspirations, while concealing information about violations that may have caused grave injustice. The nonprofit Center for Prosecutor Integrity is addressing this nationwide transparency problem. Using state and federal court records that cite prosecutor misconduct, the nonprofit has created a multifunctional public database: prosecutorintegrity.org/registry/ database. It costs about $50 to research a case for inclusion on the Registry of Prosecutor Misconduct, which partly explains why only two cases from Arkansas have been added so far. But tax-deductible donations could change that. Send checks (and the names of cases in which courts have found misconduct, if you know of any) to: CPI, P.O. Box 1221, Rockville, MD 20849. Mark your checks “for Arkansas” — and help lift that thumb off our scales.
Mara Leveritt is contributing editor to Arkansas Times and the author of the books “Dark Spell,” “Devil’s Knot” and “The Boys on the Tracks.” www.arktimes.com
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BIG IDEAS Arkansas needs a state fossil BY WALTER MANGER
HONOR THE FOSSIL: Dr. Walter Manger (left) and students at the 2003 discovery of the record-sized Rayonnoceras solidiforme in Fayetteville.
Continue the private option BY DAN RAHN
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othing is more important to the future of our city and state than the health of the population. The best idea I can think of to make Little Rock and Arkansas better places to live, work and raise a family is the
continuation of funding for insurance expansion. As a society we must all work together to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to have access to high quality health care. Positive change in our health system rests on this issue of access. Dan Rahn is chancellor of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
CHILDREN’S MUSEUM: Just as the Carnegie Foundation is known for libraries (2,509 of them), other wealthy family foundations could be known for creating children’s museums. That’s the idea of museum planner Alison Hall and architect Britt Gremillion’s, who are seeking philanthropic support to build a “Worlds to Explore” children’s museum. Their motto is, “Everywhere there are children, there should be children’s museums.” Gremillion has created a design for a sustainable building that is a metaphor for the “Giant Turtle” that supports the earth in Native American mythology. It will take children on an imaginative journey from Past World (prehistory and history) to Pretend World (literature) to Present World (community) to Possible World (future). They’ve done their work. Now it’s the philanthropists’ turn.
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Anne Orsi, a Little Rock lawyer and “dinosaur geek,” and paleontologist Walter Manger, professor emeritus in the department of geosciences at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, are among those who would like to see Arkansas name a state fossil. Arkansas is one of only 10 states that have not designated a state fossil. In fact, Orsi thinks we could use both a state fossil, to honor the giant nautiloids found in Northwest Arkansas, and a state dinosaur, Arkansaurus, the only dino uncovered in Arkansas (since the state was largely underwater during the Cretaceous). Orsi hopes to get teachers and elementary students involved, for both a science and government lesson: The children could learn about Arkansas’s ancient past as well as how
the legislature works by following the passage of a bill naming the fossils through the committees to the floor. Manger wrote the following for the Times:
S
ea monsters in Fayetteville? It’s true! In 2003, the longest straight-shelled nautiloid cephalopod ever found, bearing the imposing name Rayonnoceras solidiforme, was excavated from a culvert near Interstate 540 (now Interstate 49) in the Fayetteville city limits by three geology students from the University of Arkansas. The shell of this specimen measured 8 feet. Amazingly, it was the second such find of a giant Rayonnoceras: The previous record for this species, measuring a mere 7 feet, 2 inches, had been found in Fayetteville 40 years earlier. Both individuals lived and died about 325 million years ago in shallow seas that covered the southern
Embrace community policing BY SPECIAL SANDERS
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s I have watched the tragic events unfold recently in Ferguson, Mo.; Staten Island, N.Y.; and Cleveland, I can’t help but ponder where we go from here as a nation and as a state. It seems that we conveniently run away from our past instead of completing an honest assessment of our present. The unrest in Ferguson demonstrates that even small cities aren’t immune to the disconnect that exists between minorities and the police departments that serve them. I live in a town in Southeast Arkansas with a population of fewer than 5,000, yet I feel there is nothing to prevent the place I call home from becoming the next Ferguson. Many young minority residents (myself included) do not trust the local police due to past misbehavior and a sustained lack of professionalism from former officers. Even with new staffing, it’s hard to trust those would-be leaders when we still encounter disrespect and suspicion from law enforcement. If citizens lose hope in the justice system, people do not cooperate with local police even in instances where working together would produce mutually beneficial outcomes. I don’t have all the answers, but it’s time for a statewide initiative to encour-
age all Arkansas police departments to embrace community policing. Officers need to get out of their cars and speak to the citizens in the neighborhoods they patrol. They should connect with folks via social media. Cops should work with local nonprofits and reach out to youth — not just small children, but teenagers and beyond. If officers feel that they cannot relate to the people they serve, then their department should make an investment in diversity training and community outreach efforts so that these groups of individuals are at least vaguely familiar with each other. For this to succeed, it can’t just be the work of the police, however. Members of the community need to do their part by talking with law enforcement and letting them know how they feel — positively and negatively. None of this can happen without trust. In order for people to gain the trust of others, they must first feel that they will be taken seriously and that their viewpoints and perceptions matter. Special Sanders is a community organizer who lives in McGehee.
BIG IDEAS Ozark region during what geologists call the Mississippian Subsystem of the Carboniferous System. The nautiloids are distant cousins of the smaller modern chambered cephalopod Nautilus, which is coiled and lives in deep-water environments of the Indo-Pacific region. In addition to its straight shell, composed of calcium carbonate, Rayonnoceras would have had several feet of tentacles extending from the aperture of the shell. Like Nautilus, it also likely had eyes, a jaw-like beak and a siphon called a hyponome. The nautiloids, and other cephalopods, swim by jet propulsion. Water is drawn in beside the head and forced out through the hyponome. The hyponome can be moved by muscles that allow the cephalopod to swim either forward or backward. After death, these individuals would have floated in the ancient sea for some period of time. Other marine organisms, big and small, would have fed on the soft parts of these dead animals. The chambers would slowly fill with seawater, causing the shells to sink to the sea floor, to be covered by the barely oxygenated black mud that became the Fayetteville Shale. A typical Rayonnoceras from the Fayetteville Shale might reach 3 feet: Hundreds of these individuals have been found in the Fayetteville Shale. Many other fossil cephalopods exhibit the same pattern of a few giant individuals, perhaps three or four times the average diameter of the typical specimen. So how did these individuals become giants? A number
of modern cephalopods, and other living organisms, exhibit what is called mass semelparity, meaning they reproduce once and die — like Pacific salmon — in a single area. This explains the many “hot spot” fossil localities recorded in northern Arkansas by the UA’s department of geosciences, and why these students were out collecting on that January day in 2003. These individuals are all about the same size. Giants, such as our 8-foot specimen, have a pathological condition that prevented them from reaching sexual maturity; hence they continue to grow to sizes far greater than a typical mature adult. Arkansas has achieved worldwide recognition for its Carboniferous fossil cephalopod occurrences. Faculty and students in the UA geosciences department have produced nearly 60 years of world class research on these fossils, involving literally hundreds of papers and presentations. Type specimens from the southern Ozarks are housed at many of the major American museums and universities, including the University of Arkansas Museum. Most of the world’s researchers on Carboniferous cephalopods have visited the university and northern Arkansas. The quadrennial International Symposium on Cephalopods — Past and Present was held in Fayetteville in 2004, the only time it has been held in the United States. It would be fitting to acknowledge these contributions by designating Rayonnoceras solidiforme, particularly its two pathologic giants, as the state fossil of Arkansas.
Build a wall BY JACK WAGONER
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y initial starting point for my “Take Back Little Rock” initiative would be to build a Berlin Wall-type structure immediately on the west side of Interstate 430 where the city demographic changes from blue to red. People on the west side of the wall would not be allowed to cross over to the east side. People on the east side would be allowed to move to the west side, but once they left the east they would never be allowed back. Anyone on the east side
caught voting Republican would be ejected from the east side, required to live on the west side, and be required to immediately join the Chenal Country Club and Fellowship Bible Church. This would make those of us who have lived 50 years in Little Rock more comfortable, since to us Little Rock ends at I-430. We generally refer to everything west of that as “East Perryville.” Jack Wagoner is a Little Rock lawyer.
Reform juvenile justice BY JACOB PESICEK
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he Arkansas juvenile justice system needs major reforms. To reduce incarceration and recidivism among our youth, we need proven approach that includes a highly responsive probation program for juveniles, evening reporting centers, notification caller programs for upcoming juvenile court dates, and improved statewide data collection. A model already exists for the first item for the probation program. Hawaii’s Opportunity Probation with Enforcement (HOPE) imposes predictable and immediate sanctions for probation violations, such as detected drug use or missed probation appointments. These swift, incremental sanctions are more effective at modifying behavior than traditional probation. An independent 2009 study conducted for the U.S. Department of Justice found that HOPE probationers were 55 percent less likely to be arrested for a new crime than probationers not in the program, 72 percent less likely to use drugs, 61 percent less likely to skip appointments with their probation officer and 53 percent less likely to have their probation revoked. Overall, they were sentenced to 48 percent fewer days of incarceration. Saline County is now home to a pilot program for adult offenders that’s modeled on HOPE; why not extend that program to juveniles? Second, in many rural, low-income areas of Arkansas, judges have limited alternatives to incarceration. Even when alternatives exist, juveniles frequently are not matched with appropriate existing programs. In more urban areas, evening reporting centers are popular and relatively low-cost alternatives to incarceration for youths charged with nonviolent offenses, often in cooperation with local churches and schools. Youth crime tends to increase during the times of day when kids are idle or unsupervised, so providing them with recreational, educational and other structured activities on weekday evenings
and on weekends makes a big impact. Evening reporting centers should be expanded and provided with more resources. Hiring staff members from the local community and providing free transportation to and from the ERC are essential to their success. Third, as simple as it sounds, placing a call to remind defendants of an upcoming court date has been shown to significantly reduce the likelihood of a “failure to appear” in court. This conserves court and law enforcement resources. A Jefferson City, Mo., a pilot program showed a 43 percent reduction in failures to appear if live callers contacted the defendant one week before his or her court date. (Automated calls, on the other hand, were determined to be less effective.) We could do something similar for Arkansas juvenile defendants, perhaps with court-vetted volunteers. Finally, data collection on juvenile justice in Arkansas must be improved. Juvenile detention centers in Arkansas are locally operated and have limited uniform or centralized reporting requirements, according to a 2014 report by Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families (“Why Detention is Not Always the Answer”). Forms are left incomplete in many cases, which means there is often no record of whether a youth was placed in detention awaiting a hearing or if he or she was detained upon being judged delinquent. Effective and lasting change will require broad-based community support and participation; in order to make the case for reform, we must have good data and measurable results. Jacob Pesicek is a pro bono lawyer at Janus Institute For Justice, a nonprofit organization committed to the advancement of environmental and social justice through education, advocacy and activism, social media, volunteerism, community outreach and other forms of nonviolent, civic engagement. www.arktimes.com
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BIG IDEAS Encourage gay foster parents
Institute a West Little Rock ‘sprawl tax’ to subsidize downtown housing
BY CATHERINE CRISP AND TARA DEJOHN
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magine a state where you are a child and you have been removed from your parents because of neglect or abuse. Imagine that you are placed in group homes, residential treatment centers and numerous foster homes and have been moved from place to place to place. The primary reason behind these moves is driven by a lack of placements: There just aren’t enough foster/adoptive parents to meet the demands of children lingering in care. Imagine that you are an adult with a stable job, a loving spouse, a home to share, and you want to be a parent to a child who needs loving parents. Imagine that despite being identified as a parent anyone would want to have, you continue to be denied the opportunity to parent a child because you are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. You are denied this right because people in Arkansas continue to believe that LGBT people are still unfit to parent and you and your spouse are consistently overlooked as potential parents. Now imagine that all this has changed. Imagine that child welfare workers throughout the state of Arkansas have been adequately provided with placement resources and are supportive of LGBT adults who want to be foster and adoptive parents. This change in people’s attitudes has led to more than enough foster and adoptive parents for all the children in Arkansas who need care. This is the vision we have for Arkansas. We envision Arkansas as a state where LGBT adults are actively recruited and encouraged to become adoptive and foster parents, thus increasing the number of children placed in loving homes and reducing the number of out-of-home placements. We also envision a state where child welfare workers in both public and private agencies throughout Arkansas are trained to be sensitive and responsive to the needs of all youth in care, including LGBT youth. We envision a state where child welfare workers understand LGBT youth’s unique needs and support them in being placed in loving and caring homes. Catherine Crisp and Tara DeJohn are assistant professors in the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s School of Social Work.
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BY OMAYA JONES
A Biodigest pig waste BY JEFF SHORT
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eeling down every time you eat a BLT? That’s how I feel, knowing I am encouraging the Cargill piggery at Mt. Judea to go about its business, raising animals that create tons of manure each day, a byproduct Cargill must deal with in a way that preserves profitability of the operation. Concentrated Area Feeding Operations, or CAFOs, are nasty affairs, and are the source of much of the meat we consume in this nation. To keep the piggies safe and healthy as they grow, Cargill washes the solids they excrete into large holding ponds. Once the ponds get full, the manure-water is sprayed periodically on the surrounding landscape. All the data — anecdotal and empirical — suggests that various forms of nasty waste will work its way into local watersheds and groundwater and end up in the Buffalo National River. If that is not enough, the accompanying smells wafting from the spraying will surely sting your nose and eyes — and no doubt, disturb your concentration if you are at the nearby school or church. The latest mitigation proposal is to treat the filthy pond water with pyrolysis, an energy-intensive technique used in a wide variety of industrial processes in cooking (as in making confections), the chemical industry and the energy industry. In this case, the pyrolysis would be used to vaporize the hazardous components in the pig water, which would range from bacteria, pass-through medicines and other drugs to keep the pigs healthy, and the feces with all its attendant, volatile organics. There are several ways to “pyrolyze” stuff, but apparently the Mt. Judea system will go the hightemperature route — burning — leaving a nice crusty carbon. This “char” may actually improve soil quality if the soil has a high clay content, since the minerals are concentrated and released slowly.
All of this will raise the cost of my BLT. My big idea is to use biodigesters instead. They will not only treat the waste and smell, but also generate methane that can be used to offset energy costs for the operation. The technology is not new and is “scalable” to big or small operations. Biodigesters are currently being used to treat pig effluent in the United States, Australia, China, Philippines and many other locations. The process is fairly simple: Put some of the piggery water into a vessel or other device for a couple of weeks, manage the process to maintain temperature, residence-time and control off-gassing, and you are left with a fairly innocuous product and energy in the form of biogas. The paybacks are abundant. The biodigester reduces the volume of the pig water and destroys pathogens while reducing the presence of odors. Application of the residue (digestate) is beneficial to the soil — generally, without noxious smells from ammonia. Since the farmer is making — and, it is hoped, using — the biogas for the piggery operation, there is an offset to the carbon dioxide emissions from other energy sources. An agricultural engineering study in Thailand shows the extent of the returnon-investment of a pig-poo biodigester system. Basically, for every 8.3 Thai pigs, the system derives one cubic meter of biogas (methane). This is equivalent to about 23 ounces of gasoline or from 1.2 to 1.4 kilowatt-hours. Multiplied by thousands of pigs that will reside at the Mt. Judea CAFO during their growth, biogas systems could equate to more profitability with less environmental or social impact. Air Force (Ret.) Col. Jeff Short was an engineer for the U.S. Department of Energy and a commissioner on the Governor’s Commission on Global Warming.
lthough the renewed focus on economic development in downtown Little Rock is positive, it also raises serious concerns about gentrification: Over the long term, will current residents be displaced as housing values rise? Will the new crop of people flocking to the downtown and South Main areas inadvertently price out their lower-income neighbors? It’s not inevitable. If we were to focus on building affordable housing, lowerincome people wouldn’t necessarily have to leave the neighborhood, which would be a boon to everyone. This could be accomplished with a new property tax on sprawl in West Little Rock. John Roman, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute, argues that there’s actually nothing wrong with gentrification in itself, but only if the poor people stay. The key to reducing crime and violence and building a better city, he argues, is having a healthy mix of people of various backgrounds and incomes living side by side. If the problem with gentrification is the displacement of people who are already living in a community, then what we need to do is implement policies that allow them to stay in the homes and neighborhoods that they helped to shape. Our focus should be on increasing the housing supply in these areas, by creating incentives for developers to build for low- and middle-income families. A “sprawl tax” — an additional property tax — on property between, say, Shackleford Road and the town of Roland would help pay for incentives. This would hopefully slow the pace of development on the western fringes of the city and encourage investment in downtown Little Rock. “Density matters because we’re a social species geared to learn from people around us,” writes Harvard economist Edward Glaeser, author of “Triumph of the City.” Cities are hubs of innovation and creativity, especially when they are home to diverse populations living side by side. We should be implementing policies to promote that, not encouraging continued outward expansion. Omaya Jones is a Little Rock native with a B.A. in comic books. He enjoys public policy as a hobby and knows just enough to be dangerous.
BRIAN CHILSON
BIG IDEAS
JONES: Encourage investment in downtown Little Rock by charging West Little Rock property owners a “sprawl tax.”
Like elves on a mission, we love exploring Little Rock during the holidays! Searching for that special, one-ofa-kind gift in the city’s unique neighborhood shops, grabbing a delicious meal as we carefully check off our lists, and watching the beautiful lights of the bridges and the Holidays in the Park light show before heading for the warmth and comfort of home. Little Rock has a new Southern style that’s uniquely its own, and we get to experience it each day, right here in Little Rock.
HOLIDAY EVENTS NOV. 29, 2014 – JAN. 3, 2015 Holidays in the Park Enjoy a winter wonderland of lights set to holiday music at First Security Amphitheater
SATURDAY, DEC. 6 Big Jingle Jubilee Holiday Parade/ Lighting of the State Capitol SUNDAY, DEC. 21: Women’s SEC/Big 12 Challenge Texas vs. Texas A&M Arkansas vs. Oklahoma
For a complete listing of holiday activities and events, go to HolidaysinLittleRock.com
www.arktimes.com
DECEMBER 18, 2014
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BIG IDEAS Go native with plants BY RANDY C. FORST
H
Develop exhibit ‘pods’ for Arkansas BY STEPHEN KOCH
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his idea isn’t so big, so it must be eminently doable, right? In fact, its essence is travel-sized. While on a book tour this year, I stopped by the Simply Jazz and Blues Festival in Beckley, W.Va., and discovered a travel trailer that the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame has outfitted into a tribute to its native heroes. Exhibits are mounted behind Plexiglas on either side, and a rubber-matted path runs through the middle. Something similar could be done with Arkansas music, which is so
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often overlooked. (Beloved, heavily featured Mountain State performers Little Jimmy Dickens and Bill Withers would likely be crowded out of the musical conversation if they were Arkansawyers.) But music is only one possibility. The concept could be expanded to create other educational pods on practically any Arkansas subject, which would be nearly as viscerally cool as the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s mobile aquarium. Speaking of travel, commuters could ponder these pods on plat-
forms while waiting for the electric tram running through the center strip of Wilbur D. Mills Freeway (I-630), or while aboard the noiseless commuter boats ferrying folks from west Pulaski and outlying counties to and from downtown Little Rock along the Arkansas River. Stephen Koch is the author of “Louis Jordan: Son of Arkansas, Father of R&B” and the host of “Arkansongs,” a public radio program syndicated throughout Arkansas.
ere’s an idea for healthier plants and less fertilizer and water use in our gardens: Go native. Using natives is ideal: The plants that are native to where you live have spent hundreds of years adapting to growing conditions. That means they don’t need much help from you to grow — less fertilizer, moisture and mulch. Once they are established, they are usually as tough as nails. Have you ever been driving along the highways in the month of August and noticed the red/orange blooming plants in the ditches? This plant is butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa), and the Highway Department doesn’t have to tend it: Its tap root keeps it going even during dry conditions. Native plants tend to have better manners in the garden. By this, I mean that they are rarely invasive. Nature has a way of keeping them in line with natural predators. Native plants are a great way of introducing birds and butterflies to the garden. They rely on it for food, shelter and nesting habitats. Nothing makes a garden come alive more than seeing colorful butterflies and birds darting around in the landscape. Native plants can be quite beautiful. They come in a wide array of colors, from the white bloom of Queen Anne’s Lace (Daucus carota), the yellow of goldenrod (Solidago nemoralis), the orange of Blackberry Lily (Belamcanda chinensis), the red of cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis), the pink of spotted knapweed (Centaurea stoebe), the blue of Carolina larkspur (Delphinium carolinianum) to the rosy hue of purple coneflower (Echinacea pallida). No sun in your garden? There are native plants for the shade as well. If you are fortunate enough to have both growing conditions in your landscape, try planting a few of each. In a few years you could have a whole garden planted in the oldies but goodies, and you will have done the environment a favor, too. For more information, call or email the Pulaski County Extension Office at 340-6650 or rforst@uaex.edu. Randy Forst is with the Pulaski County Cooperative Extension Service of the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture.
BIG IDEAS
tweet LOCAL ARKANSAS TIMES
Make health care costs transparent
SUMMER TEACHING OPPORTUNITIES
JUNE 10 - JULY 25, 2015
Faculty applications, all disciplines, will be accepted through January 5. Staff applications will be accepted through February 23. For more information contact the AGS Office at 501-450-1279 or apply online at www.hendrix.edu/ags
BY SEN. DAVID SANDERS
T
he rise of high deductible insurance plans paired with tax-free health savings accounts (HSAs) has created more engaged health care consumers. But there is a problem: A bedrock principle of consumerism is that end users should be able to make informed decisions based on price and quality. Consumers need access to better information if they are to choose the best insurance policy, primary-care doctor or hospital to meet their needs. Currently, the burden often rests on the individual, who, when something goes wrong, just wants the system to work correctly. How exactly is the average consumer supposed to navigate our complex structure of doctors, specialists, surgeons, hospitals, outpatient clinics and ambulatory surgical centers — not to mention the multiple payers involved (insurance companies, self-insured plans, Medicaid and Medicare)? This is all made more complicated by outdated and overlapping regulatory and legal structures that vary according to jurisdiction and who is paying. Transparency is sorely lacking. In the past, insurers, pharmacy benefit managers, pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and doctors have been barriers to creating objective health care transparency measures. Their fear: A more transparent system would financially advantage some players in the health care system at the expense of others. As a result, quantitative and qualitative measures — how much care costs and how good that care is — remain largely invisible to the patient. So, it’s no surprise that costs inflate, insurance rates increase, waste and abuse rise, and misdiagnoses fuel unnecessary treatments and procedures. Meanwhile, the end users (and taxpayers) increasingly feel disconnected from their health care and helpless to do anything about it. Arkansas has consistently received
failing grades from organizations that rate states’ health care transparency laws. That needs to change. Here are three substantive statewide initiatives that will get the ball rolling: • a scorecard that rates health care providers based on validated, regularly updated information about price and quality, including diagnoses, medical procedures and outcomes. • disclosure and reporting of all ownership arrangements, grants, studies, awards and clinical trials made to the institutions and/or individuals we entrust with our health care. • a tax incentive for individuals, families or businesses that use an independent, nongovernmental decision-support system staffed by medical professionals to assist with health care choices based on patients’ medical information and the latest peer-reviewed data. Retreating to a single national health policy might appear to be the only way to gain certainty over a system that has evolved into a model of dysfunction and inefficiency. Yet the monumental disruption caused by President Obama’s signature law demonstrates that a comprehensive, one-size-fits-all approach is flawed in concept. Instead, we need a truly consumer-driven system. That will require some additional demandside reforms (the creation of incentives to promote consumer engagement) but the most significant changes are now needed on health care’s supply side. Arkansas has already taken significant steps to increase private health coverage and advance systemwide payment reform. Our progress will be all for naught unless we can also transform health care into a transparent system driven by informed consumers. David Sanders is a Republican state senator who represents District 15. He lives in Little Rock. www.arktimes.com
DECEMBER 18, 2014
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BIG IDEAS
LIVING HISTORY: Reenactors charge at the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Prairie Grove.
Use battlefields to attract tourists BY MARK CHRIST
A
s we enter the final year of the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War, it is a good time to recognize the potential of Arkansas’s battlefields as economic development engines. There were more than 770 offensive operations in Arkansas during the war (only Virginia, Tennessee and Missouri saw more action), ranging from fullscale battles like Pea Ridge or Arkansas Post to scouting expeditions and bushwhacker-hunting raids. Many of those battles took place in remote parts of the state and their locations remain almost pristine today, providing landscapes where modern-day visitors can see the fields of conflict in virtually the same condition as did the soldiers who fought there in the 1860s. And those visitors spend money. A lot of money. “Blue, Gray & Green: Economic & Tourism Benefits of Battlefield Preservation,” a 2013 study by the Civil War Trust, found that Civil War tourists are wealthier and better educated than other tourists, and that they stay longer and spend more — an average of
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$1,000 for a visit by a family of four. That’s money that is spent at local restaurants, hotels and small businesses, creating jobs and putting tax money into the coffers of state and local governments. The study found that in five states — Missouri, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia — Civil War sites annually attracted 15.8 million visitors who spent $442 million and helped support 5,150 local jobs. We could see those results in Arkansas, but more effort needs to go toward the acquisition and development of the state’s battlefields through privatepublic partnerships. While Pea Ridge National Military Park and Prairie Grove Battlefield Historic State Park have excellent visitor centers and interpretive exhibits, places like Marks’ Mills, Devil’s Backbone and Hill’s Plantation have little if anything to show that anything of note happened there. That’s money lost. In the current economic environment, battlefield preservation can be a tough effort. Currently, for instance, the Nevada County Depot and Museum in Prescott is working with state government and national nonprofit groups to acquire 448 acres of the Elkins’ Ferry battlefield, the site of an April 1864 engagement during the Red River Campaign that the National Park Service describes as “among the most pristine Civil War battlefields in Arkansas. This rural area has only seen slight changes since
the Civil War. Like other battlefields associated with the Camden Expedition of 1864, it offers a tremendous opportunity for preservation and interpretation of the entire historical landscape.” Around $625,000 has been pledged for the acquisition of the site, but the effort to raise the remaining $325,000 needed to close the deal is struggling. (Times readers, by the way, can make a contribution to the cause at fundly.com/elkin-s-ferry-battlefield-preservation-effort.) If developed as a heritage tourism site, the Elkins’ Ferry battlefield has the potential to become a tremendous economic development asset for Prescott and Nevada County. The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department estimates that 27,000 vehicles pass near the battlefield on Interstate 30 every day. If even 1 percent of those cars and trucks pulled off to visit Elkins’ Ferry, restaurants, stores and gas stations would see a marked uptick in business. As the Civil War sesquicentennial fades into the sunset, I urge an increase in investment in Civil War battlefield preservation by public entities, nonprofits and business groups, not only to protect land that is hallowed by the blood of American soldiers who fought and died there, but to bring prosperity to their descendants. Mark Christ is the author of several books on the Civil War and is community outreach director for the Department of Arkansas Heritage.
BIG IDEAS
Legislative pay for performance BY STEPHANIE SPENCER
T
he passage of Issue 3 in November provides for the development of a new citizens’ commission to set the salaries of legislators and constitutional officers in Arkansas. Since most of us in the real world must meet financial and quality metrics in our annual performance review to get a raise, why not apply this same merit-based standard to determining pay for our state government? The following three metrics give an objective measurement of the general health, well being and prosperity (or lack thereof) of Arkansas citizens that should be measured every year during the Citizens’ Commission annual review. These metrics are responsive to actions and priorities taken by the General Assembly and the governor. If these metrics have improved, they will get a raise. If these metrics decline, they get a pay cut. 1) Decrease in Arkansas mortality rate age 45-65. Death rates in Arkansas
from stroke and heart disease in ages 45-65 (an age group in which 25 percent of Arkansans did not have health insurance prior to the private option enacted last year) were respectively 54 to 62 percent higher than national averages 2005-2010. But Arkansas death rates from stroke and heart disease begin to approach national averages after age 65 when Arkansans have access to universal health care through the Medicare program. In Arkansas, this metric of health has the greatest need for improvement and is the most susceptible to state legislation improving access to health care. The period preceding death is commonly accompanied by severe illness, frequent hospitalizations and the need for disability assistance, costs which are frequently absorbed by hospitals and taxpayers for individuals without insurance. Taking deliberate steps to decrease the mortality rate for this age group would save taxpayers money by addressing the root
cause of these expenses. 2) Decrease in the poverty rate. We have a relatively low rate of unemployment (22nd in the nation) but the fourth highest poverty rate in the nation at 19.8 percent. Widespread poverty ends up costing the taxpayers a great deal of money in SNAP and WIC benefits, Medicaid expenses, higher rates of incarceration, Section 8 housing, etc. Instead of slashing stop-gap public assistance to the most vulnerable, wouldn’t it be better to make decreasing the poverty rate with jobs a legislative priority? 3) Increases in percentage of Arkansans with a college or technical school degree. Arkansas again trails the national average (38 percent) with only 28 percent of its population with a college degree. Any legislative action that could increase this percentage again would address root causes of poverty and lead to a lessened need for public
assistance. Perhaps the legislature could even get a Christmas bonus for improvements in state rankings in the above metrics. They’ve already proven they can do this — by decreasing the rate of uninsured Arkansans from 49th in the country (topped only by Texas) to tying with New Hampshire at 22nd thanks to the private option. Legislative “Pay for Performance” would keep legislators continually aware of the priorities that matter in Arkansas. To steal James Carville’s phrase: It’s the PEOPLE, stupid. Stephanie Spencer is an RN and directs the Congestive Heart Failure Clinic at Arkansas Heart Hospital in Little Rock. She worked with her husband, Paul, on the original ethics ballot measure introduced by the group Regnat Populus in 2012.
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www.arktimes.com
DECEMBER 18, 2014
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Arts Entertainment AND
IT FIGURES: A partial list of releases shows an eclectic group of artists on the Let’s Talk Figures label.
Q&A: Let’s Talk Figures The warped visionaries behind the Fayetteville record label open up (sort of). BY ANDREW MCCLAIN
W
hen Conway sextet Don’t Stop Please migrated to Fayetteville in 2013, they brought with them an orbiting group of musicians, creating countless side projects. Let’s Talk Figures, the label the band created to release 2012’s “Crowded Car” EP, became the home for a deluge of oddball, Internet-only releases for the extended circle of musicians in the wake of Don’t Stop Please’s recent hiatus. Comfortable Brother, the label’s most active band, consists of Dick Darden (also of LTF’s High Lonesome) and four members of Don’t Stop Please (Will King, Bob Gaiser, Nick Caffrey and Willie Krzeszinski). The “releases” page of LetsTalkFig-
ures.com boasts exactly 30 releases (at press time) — an intimidating discography full of silly, inscrutable one-off projects (full of gems, assuredly), among them the “LTF Summer Sampler 2014,” a compilation that includes tracks from most of the label’s growing roster. The label’s web presence is alternately cryptic and tongue-in-cheek, and the Times’ queries for an interview were directed to one Graves Landrum, who claims the title of chief operating officer for Let’s Talk Figures. Mr. Landrum, what brought you to LTF? What do you do for the label? I came to Let’s Talk Figures after my
sponsor alerted me to the most-happening new band in Arkansas, Don’t Stop Please. I formed an intimate relationship with one of the members (Joel Ludford; we had sex, there were drugs involved) and assisted the band with their plans for an independent Arkansas record label. It wasn’t long before the Internet bestowed upon me the title of Music Czar #UpInTheHeavensAbove. As chief operating officer of Let’s Talk Figures, I have absolute veto power over which artists make the LTF roster and which are swept into the dustbin of history, filled with wailing and gnashing of teeth.
on the LTF label to facilitate their creative visions, as well as outside artists who want a professional and fun atmosphere in which to record.
What is Let’s Talk Figures? Let’s Talk Figures is Arkansas’s finest independent record label, providing quality multimedia entertainment for good folks who like good stuff.
You’ve built up an impressive roster in a relatively short amount of time — what made this possible? Is there any type of artistic mission statement that you all share? Let’s Talk Figures has accrued 16 artists, with others waiting in the wings. We reach out to artists all across the state in order to build a strong musical community that Arkansans can call their own. Our manifesto at Let’s Talk Figures is simple: Hang out have a good time. We encourage all LTF fans (LTFers) to hashtag all their social media endeavors with #hangouthaveagoodtime.
I understand there’s an LTF studio in Fayetteville — what’s it called and what goes down there? The LTF Studios are located on Dickson Street in Fayetteville. Our seasoned recording engineers and production team work around the clock with artists
The LTF roster is pretty eclectic — what’s the common thread between all of them, artistically speaking? Let’s Talk Figures promotes good music of all genres. All our artists are tied together by a common desire to get #backontop2014, to #liveitloveit2015, CONTINUED ON PAGE 54
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ROCK CANDY Check out the Times’ A&E blog arktimes.com
A&E NEWS MUSICIANS, THE SEARCH IS ON for the 2015 Arkansas Times Musicians Showcase, to be held at Stickyz throughout January and February. Performers of all genres will compete for an array of prizes (including money!) and any acts with at least four songs of original material are encouraged to enter. The finals will be held at the Rev Room in March. Our friends at KABF-FM, 88.3, will be hosting this year, and an esteemed panel of judges will be announced in coming weeks. The deadline for entry is Jan. 1, and interested artists can apply online at showcase.arktimes. com or via snail mail by sending an entry form and a demo CD to Arkansas Times Musicians Showcase at 201 E. Markham St., Suite 200, Little Rock, AR 72201. For more information, email will@arktimes.com.
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THE REVELATIONS FROM LAST month’s massive Sony hack have so far included embarrassing financial statements, embarrassing emails and many other categories of embarrassments. Now even Arkansas is involved, however tangentially, with the news that Little Rock native Jeff Nichols might be attached to direct the “Aquaman” movie. This is both very surprising and potentially untrue: The rumor is based on an email sent from Sony executive Michael De Luca to Sony co-chairman Amy Pascal. As far as we know, Nichols is still at work on his John Carpenter-inspired sci-fi epic, “Midnight Special,” starring Michael Shannon, Kirsten Dunst and Adam Driver, due out in 2015. WYNTON MARSALIS VISITED PINE Bluff last week to pay a visit to the 93-year-old jazz legend Clark Terry (currently accepting donations for his medical care). Terry, born in St. Louis and mentored by Louis Armstrong, played in bands with such icons as Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus and Quincy Jones, and was a stated influence on trumpeters like Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie (who considered Terry the greatest jazz trumpeter in the world). He retired to Pine Bluff in 2006. Marsalis and a group of other musicians had originally intended to perform for Terry on his birthday (Dec. 14) but decided to move quickly following Terry’s recent hospitalization. Marsalis described the scene on Facebook: “As Clark’s bed was wheeled in we launched into Duke and Strayhorn’s “Peanut Brittle Brigade” from their version of Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker.” After playing, we each went over to his bed, introduced ourselves and said a little something about our pedigree and how much we appreciated his contributions to our personal development and to the music. He recognized each of us and responded to every salutation with some pithy comment of joyful appreciation.” www.arktimes.com DECEMBER 18, 2014
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THE TO-DO
LIST
BY WILL STEPHENSON
THURSDAY 12/18
‘TEXAS LOVE LETTER’ LISTENING PARTY 6 p.m. South on Main. Free.
The Oxford American, the quarterly literary magazine based in Little Rock, is maybe best known for its annual music issues, which for the past several years have focused on a particular state and its music culture. This year it’s Texas: The new issue (on newsstands this month) includes in-depth features on, among other things, Roy Orbison, DJ Screw, Texas folklorists, Willie Nelson’s drummer, Daniel Johnston and the roots of Tejano music. Plus, a new Texas music compilation. “These CDs practically belong in the Smithsonian,” New York Times critic Dwight Garner once wrote of the magazine’s mixes. “If a fire broke out in my house, I would — after saving my family, pets, photos and favorite cocktail shaker — make a beeline for them.” This year, the magazine has also assembled a limited-edition vinyl release, “Texas Love Letter,” with a completely different track listing, including Doug Sahm, Charlie Sexton and Townes Van Zandt’s previously unreleased final recording. The price tag is high ($240), so the magazine is hosting a listening party and official release event for those of us who can’t afford it.
THURSDAY 12/18 LOVE LETTER: “Blue Velvet” is playing at the Ron Robinson Theater 7 p.m. Thursday as part of the Arkansas Times Film Series, $5.
THURSDAY 12/18
‘BLUE VELVET’
7 p.m. Ron Robinson Theater. $5.
“The key to the whole duck is the eye and where it is placed,” David Lynch once said, explaining his approach to filmmaking. “When you’re working on a film, a lot of times you can get the bill and the legs and the body and everything, but this eye of the duck is a certain scene, this jewel, that if it’s there, it’s absolutely beautiful. It’s just fantastic.” In “Blue Velvet,” Lynch’s dreamlike 1986 mystery, the “eye of the duck” is a scene that occurs about halfway through the movie, in which Kyle MacLachlan (as Jeffrey Beaumont) is kidnapped by the 30
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nightmarish, gas-huffing lunatic played by Dennis Hopper and taken to a strange apartment, where Dean Stockwell takes up a microphone and lip-syncs, very powerfully and oddly, Roy Orbison’s “In Dreams” (“A candy-colored clown they call the sandman ...”). It is not our first hint as to the movie’s strange intentions, but it is the moment at which what has seemed like a noir thriller tips over into a kind of surreal fugue state. David Foster Wallace once wrote that the term “Lynchian,” “refers to a particular kind of irony where the very macabre and the very mundane combine in such a way as to reveal the former’s perpetual containment
within the latter.” “For me,” he went on, “Lynch’s movies’ deconstruction of this weird irony of the banal has affected the way I see and organize the world.” Or, as he later put it to Charlie Rose, “I find him instructive and useful to think about.” As his most personal and profound take on the contradictions of the domestic sphere, the intrusion of dream-logic into the everyday and the inherent violence of sexuality (all things Lynch has repeatedly explored, in “Twin Peaks” and elsewhere), “Blue Velvet” is, I’d submit, highly instructive and useful to think about. For these and other reasons, it’s our December pick for the Arkansas Times Film Series at the Ron Robinson Theater.
CELEBRITY KARAOKE
7 p.m. Verizon Arena. $24.50-$49.50.
This year KABZ-FM, 103.7, The Buzz, hosts its 10th annual Christmas Celebrity Karaoke showcase at Verizon Arena benefitting Youth Home. In a top-secret email sent several weeks ago, probably to a lot of people, the station revealed some highlights from its lineup, which is bizarre: Country star Justin Moore will be performing, as will former Razorbacks, local TV personalities, Gov. Mike Beebe and Gov.-elect Asa Hutchinson. The only thing not revealed in the top-secret email was the playlist, so I’ve taken the liberty of creating one for them. Beebe, I would think, should lean darker, moodier, but with a respectable hint of triumph. Something from “All Things Must Pass,” maybe, or T.I.’s “Still Ain’t Forgave Myself.” Hutchinson, on the other hand, can afford to go a little more off-kilter. Possibly something by The Troggs (“Love Is All Around”?) or “Just Be Good To Me,” by the S.O.S. Band. Other acceptable Asa options include “Method of Modern Love,” by Hall and Oates, “Clay Pigeons,” by Blaze Foley or “Behind Closed Doors” by Charlie Rich.
IN BRIEF
THURSDAY 12/18 Lisa Lee, author of “This Is Country: Backstage at the Academy of Country Music,” will sign copies of her book at Barnes and Noble at noon. Hot Springs songwriter Rick McKean is at Another Round Pub at 6 p.m. Hornucopia 2014 is at Stickyz, featuring Blues Boy Jag and The Juke Joint Zombies, Two Lane Blacktop and more, 7 p.m., $20. Comedian BT is at The Loony Bin through Saturday, 7:30 p.m., $7 (with shows at 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, $10). Chris Duarte is at Juanita’s with Steve Hester and Deja Voodoo, 8 p.m., $12. KABF’s Shoog Radio presents local favorites Amasa Hines at the Afterthought, 9:30 p.m., $7.
FRIDAY 12/19
JIMBO MATHUS AND THE TRI-STATE COALITION
10 p.m. White Water Tavern. $10.
Jimbo Mathus, the self-proclaimed “Arkansas Son-in-Law,” who founded the Squirrel Nut Zippers and has been compared to Huck Finn (by Jim Dickinson) and Captain Beefheart (by me), is one of the best of the White Water Tavern regulars (there should be a softball team) — a true believer and a genuine, bugged-out visionary. The last time I saw him he was filming a car commercial (of sorts) at the Bernice Garden. He showed up with a trunk full of jumpsuits, helmets and antique radio equipment, insisted on a ’60s NASA theme, then spent most of the shoot wearing a gas mask and just generally frightening and inspiring everyone in a two-block radius. “Jimbo Mathus is that last of the Mississippi troubadours,” as Greg Spradlin once put it (in an interview with Joe Meazle for the Times). “The bastard son of Jessie Mae Hemphill if her baby-daddy was Jimmie Rodgers.”
FRIDAY 12/19 DYSC’s Big Gay Variety Show kicks off at 7 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church, featuring musicians, poets, “gender illusionists” and more, $8-$15. The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra presents its “Swingin’ Holiday Extravaganza” at Pulaski Academy’s Connor Performing Arts Center at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday. Mark Currey performs at The Undercroft, at Christ Episcopal Church, 8 p.m. At Stickyz, John Neal Rock ‘n’ Roll performs with Flat Top Tony and The Purple Canoes and Weedhorse, 9 p.m., $7. Conway songwriter Jim Mize plays at Vino’s at 9 p.m. with Frontier Circus. The Goodtime Ramblers are at the Afterthought, 9 p.m., $7-$12. William Clark Green is at Stickyz, 9:30 p.m., $8 adv., $10 day of.
FRIDAY 12/19-SATURDAY 12/20
IMPROV AT THE PUBLIC THEATER
TEFLON DON: Rick Ross is at Barton Coliseum 7 p.m. Sunday, $50-$120.
10 p.m. The Public Theater. $5.
There are no good Christmas movies, and there is no good Christmas music. The holidays, slickly sentimental and flush with financial problems and seasonal affective disorder and boredom, just don’t lend themselves well to quality entertainment, other than parades and maybe bonfires and, OK, we can make an exception for the 1966 Chuck Jones-directed “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” but that’s about it. The Public Theater, however, aims to rectify the situation with two nights of top-shelf improv, brought to you by the team that performs weekly in Argenta as The Joint Venture. Friday night they’ll present an “Improvised Christmas Movie Story,” in which they “make up an entire Christmas movie on the spot ... inspired by your ideas and fueled by your mirth.” (This is far superior to a screening of any preexisting Christmas movie for reasons already discussed.) Saturday marks the 10th annual ImprovLittleRock Family Christmas. Both performances begin at 10 p.m., $5.
SUNDAY 12/21
RICK ROSS
7 p.m. Barton Coliseum. $50-$120.
Folklorist Alan Lomax made two trips, in 1941 and 1942, to Coahoma County, Miss., a triangular slice of the Delta in the northwest corner of the state, across from Arkansas, south of Helena. Accompanied by researchers from Nashville’s Fisk University, Lomax recorded Muddy Waters there, in a cabin on Stovall Plantation, and countless other locals, too. He wrote about it in his book “The Land Where the Blues Began.” In 1976, the same year a much wealthier Muddy Waters was playing in The Band’s “Last Waltz,” William Leonard Roberts II, later called Ricky Rozay or Teflon Da Don or usually Rick Ross, was himself born in Coahoma, though his parents had the good sense to leave before long. They moved to Miami. Miami is the land where the blues
ended. From 2 Live Crew to Flo Rida, the city’s hip-hop has always embraced the aspirational, the excitably cartoonish and the danceable. This is the backdrop for Ross’ ascension into the pop canon — he took the gorgeously superficial “Miami Vice” worldview, added a patina of realityrap lyricism and, most importantly, emphasized grunting excess. Whereas the Clipse and Young Jeezy made coke dealing sound generally depressing and panic-inducing, Ross, a former corrections officer (as an infamous scoop by The Smoking Gun proved in 2008), stripped criminality of its paranoia and consequences. Like all great pop stars, he made himself into a character in a very expensive and well art-directed movie. “I’m riding down Elvis Presley Boulevard,” as he raps on his latest record. “My face familiar.”
SATURDAY 12/20 The Green Corner Store is holding a Holiday Pop-Up Shop starting at 11 a.m. through Dec. 23. Sketch comedy group The Main Thing performs its original Christmas-themed production, “A Fertile Holiday,” at The Joint on Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., $22. Alt-country legends Lucero come to Revolution with the Mighty Soul Brass Band, 8:30 p.m., $21 adv., $26 day of. Dance-rock band Booyah! Dad is at White Water Tavern, 10 p.m.
SUNDAY 12/21 Stickyz hosts “12 Drummers Drumming,” featuring Travis Nelson, Paul Campbell, Calvin Martin, Aerion Jamaal Lee and more, 7:30 p.m., $5-$20. L Cole and Q Dot Davis are at Juanita’s at 8 p.m., $8.
TUESDAY 12/23 “Tales from the South” is at Stickyz at 6:30 p.m., $10. The Joint presents Stand-Up Tuesday hosted by Adam Hogg, 8 p.m., $5. The Moving Front is at White Water Tavern with Pockets and Rad Rad Riot, 9 p.m.
www.arktimes.com
DECEMBER 18, 2014
31
AFTER DARK Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 7:30 p.m., free. 111 Markham St. 501-370-7013. www.capitalbarandgrill.com. “Texas Love Letter” Listening Party. The Oxford American magazine premieres its limited-edition new vinyl release. South on Main, 6 p.m. 1304 Main St. 501-244-9660. southonmain.com. Tragikly White (headliner), Steve Bates (happy hour). Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 and 9 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. www. cajunswharf.com.
All events are in the Greater Little Rock area unless otherwise noted. To place an event in the Arkansas Times calendar, please email the listing and all pertinent information, including date, time, location, price and contact information, to calendar@arktimes.com.
THURSDAY, DEC. 18
MUSIC
2014 Christmas Celebrit y Karaoke. Featuring Justin Moore, Asa Hutchinson and Mike Beebe. Verizon Arena, 7 p.m., $24.50$49.50. 1 Alltel Arena Way, NLR. 501-975-9001. verizonarena.com. Amasa Hines. Shoog Radio Presents. Afterthought Bistro & Bar, 9:30 p.m., $7. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www.afterthoughtbistroandbar.com. Chris Duarte, Steve Hester and Deja VooDoo. Juanita’s, 8 p.m., $12. 614 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-1228. www.juanitas.com. Hornucopia 2014. With Blues Boy Jag and The Juke Joint Zombies, Two Lane Blacktop and more. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 7 p.m., $20. 107 Commerce St. 501-372-7707. www.stickyz.com. “Inferno.” DJs play pop, electro, house and more, plus drink specials and $1 cover before 11 p.m. Sway, 9 p.m. 412 Louisiana. 501-9072582. Jim Dickerson. Sonny Williams’ Steak Room, 7 p.m. 500 President Clinton Ave. 501-3242999. www.sonnywilliamssteakroom.com. Karaoke. Zack’s Place, 8 p.m., free. 1400 S. University Ave. 501-664-6444. Krush Thursdays with DJ Kavaleer. Club Climax, free before 11 p.m. 824 W. Capitol. 501-554-3437. Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 Clinton Ave. 501-3724782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com. Open Jam. Thirst n’ Howl, 8 p.m. 14710 Cantrell Road. 501-379-8189. www.thirstn-howl.com. Open jam with The Port Arthur Band. Parrot Beach Cafe, 9 p.m. 9611 MacArthur Drive, NLR. 771-2994. Rick Mckean. Another Round Pub, 6 p.m. 12111 West Markham. www.anotherroundpub.com. RockUsaurus. Senor Tequila, 7-9 p.m. 10300 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501-224-5505.
GIVE the GIFT of
WILDWOOD!
COMEDY
BT. The Loony Bin, 7:30 p.m., $7. 10301 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501-228-5555. www. loonybincomedy.com.
EVENTS
Antique/Boutique Walk. Shopping and live entertainment. Downtown Hot Springs, third Thursday of every month, 4 p.m., free. 100 Central Ave., Hot Springs. Around the World Thursday: Baracoa, Cuba. Forty Two, 6:30 p.m., $27.95. 1200 President Clinton Ave. 501-537-0042. www.dineatfortytwo.com.
FILM
“Blue Velvet.” Arkansas Times Film Series. Ron Robinson Theater, 7 p.m., $5. 1 Pulaski Way. 501-320-5703. www.cals.lib.ar.us/ronrobinson-theater.aspx.
POETRY
POETluck. Literary salon and potluck. The Writer’s Colony at Dairy Hollow, third Thursday of every month, 6 p.m. 515 Spring St., Eureka Springs. 479-253-7444.
BOOKS
ANOTHER NIGHT FOR TC: The week of tribute concerts and events for TC Edwards, the Little Rock musician and friend to hundreds who was found murdered Dec. 7, culminates with a massive celebration of Edwards’ life at 5 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 21. John McAteer (The Reds), Kevin Kerby (Mulehead) and Mike Mullins and Edison DeLeon (Underclaire) will play acoustic sets. They’re joined by Mulehead, Crisco Kids, Peckerwolf, The Dangerous Idiots, Trophy Boyfriends, Josh the Devil and The Sinners, Weedhorse, Jab Jab Suckerpunch, The P-47s and My Brother, My Friend. The concert is free, but donations are appreciated; they’ll go to Edwards’ longtime friend and caretaker, Mike Poe, to help with expenses related to Edwards’ death.
Lisa Lee book signing. An appearance by the author of “This Is Country: Backstage at the Academy of Country Music” Barnes & Noble, noon. 11500 Financial Center Parkway. 501-954-7646. www.barnesandnoble.com.
FRIDAY, DEC. 19
MUSIC
All In Fridays. Club Elevations. 7200 Colonel Glenn Road. 501-562-3317. Big John Miller (headliner), Richie Johnson
Concert Package
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THE MULLIGAN BROTHERS April 2
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WINE & FOOD FESTIVAL May 29
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DECEMBER 18, 2014
ARKANSAS TIMES
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DO NEW YEAR’S EVE BIG!
COMEDY
BT. The Loony Bin, 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m., $10. 10301 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501-2285555. www.loonybincomedy.com. “A Fertile Holiday.” An original comedy by The Main Thing. The Joint, through Dec. 20: 8 p.m., $22. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com. An Improvised Christmas Movie Story. The Public Theatre, 10 p.m., $8. 616 Center St. 501-374-7529. www.thepublictheatre.com.
DANCE
Contra Dance. Park Hill Presbyterian Church, first and third Friday of every month, 7:30 p.m.; fourth Friday of every month, 7:30 p.m., $5. 3520 JFK Blvd., NLR. arkansascountrydance.org. “Salsa Night.” Begins with a one-hour salsa lesson. Juanita’s, 9 p.m., $8. 614 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-1228. www.littlerocksalsa.com.
EVENTS
Holiday Pop Up Shop. The Green Corner
Booyah Dad. White Water Tavern, 10 p.m. 2500 W. 7th St. 501-375-8400. www.whitewatertavern.com. Canvas (headliner), R and R (happy hour). Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 and 9 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. www.cajunswharf.com. Club Nights at 1620 Savoy. See Dec. 19. Earl and Them. Another Round Pub, 9 p.m. 12111 West Markham. www.anotherroundpub.com. Karaoke at Khalil’s. Khalil’s Pub, 7 p.m. 110 S. Shackleford Road. 501-224-0224. www. khalilspub.com. Karaoke. Casa Mexicana, 7 p.m. 7111 JFK Blvd., NLR. 501-835-7876. Zack’s Place, 8 p.m., free. 1400 S. University Ave. 501-664-6444. Karaoke with Kevin & Cara. All ages, on the restaurant side. Revolution, 9 p.m.-12:45 a.m., free. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501823-0090. www.rumbarevolution.com/new. K.I.S.S. Saturdays. Featuring DJ Silky Slim. Dress code enforced. Sway, 10 p.m. 412 Louisiana. 501-492-9802. Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 Clinton Ave. 501-3724782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com. Lucero, Mighty Soul Brass Band. Revolution, 8:30 p.m., $21 adv., $26 day of. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-823-0090. www.rumbarevolution.com/new. Midnight Ghost Train, Red Devil Lies. Vino’s. 923 W. 7th St. 501-375-8466. www.vinosbrewpub.com. Pickin’ Porch. Bring your instrument. All ages welcome. Faulkner County Library, 9:30 a.m. 1900 Tyler St., Conway. 501-327-7482. www.fcl.org. Ramona Smith. Afterthought Bistro & Bar, 8 p.m., $10-$15. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-6631196. www.afterthoughtbistroandbar.com. Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, “Swingin’ Holiday Extravaganza.” Connor Performing Arts Center, Pulaski Academy, through Dec. 20, 7:30 p.m.; Dec. 21, 3 p.m. 12701 Hinson Road. Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 9 p.m., free. 111 Markham St. 501-370-7013. www. capitalbarandgrill.com.
COMEDY
BT. The Loony Bin, 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m., $10. 10301 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501-2285555. www.loonybincomedy.com. “A Fertile Holiday.” An original comedy by The Main Thing. The Joint, 8 p.m., $22. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501-372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com. ImprovLittleRock’s Family Christmas. The Public Theatre, 10 p.m., $8. 616 Center St. 501-374-7529. www.thepublictheatre.com.
DANCE
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Store, Dec. 19-23, 11 a.m. 1423 Main St. 501374-1111. thegreencornerstore. LGBTQ/SGL weekly meeting. Diverse Youth for Social Change is a group for LGBTQ/SGL and straight ally youth and young adults age 14 to 23. For more information, call 244-9690 or search “DYSC” on Facebook. LGBTQ/ SGL Youth and Young Adult Group, 6:30 p.m. 800 Scott St.
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(happy hour). Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 and 9 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. www. cajunswharf.com. Club Nights at 1620 Savoy. Dance night, with DJs, drink specials and bar menu, until 2 a.m. 1620 Savoy, 10 p.m. 1620 Market St. 501-221-1620. www.1620savoy.com. Goodtime Ramblers. Afterthought Bistro & Bar, 9 p.m., $7-$12. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www.afterthoughtbistroandbar.com. Jim Mize, Frontier Circus. Vino’s, 9 p.m. 923 W. 7th St. 501-375-8466. www.vinosbrewpub.com. Jimbo Mathus and The Tri State Coalition. White Water Tavern, 10 p.m., $10. 2500 W. 7th St. 501-375-8400. www.whitewatertavern.com. John Neal Rock and Roll, Flat Top Tony and The Purple Canoes, Weedhorse. Revolution, 9 p.m., $7. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-823-0090. www.rumbarevolution. com/new. Josh Green. Another Round Pub, 9 p.m. 12111 West Markham. www.anotherroundpub. com. Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 Clinton Ave. 501-3724782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com. Mark Currey. Christ Episcopal Church, 8 p.m. 509 Scott St. 501-375-2342. Paul Sammons. Maxine’s, 9 p.m., free. 700 Central Ave., Hot Springs. www.maxinespub.com. Route 66. Agora Conference and Special Event Center, 6:30 p.m., $5. 705 E. Siebenmorgan, Conway. Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, “Swingin’ Holiday Extravaganza.” Connor Performing Arts Center, Pulaski Academy, Dec. 19-20, 7:30 p.m.; Dec. 21, 3 p.m. 12701 Hinson Road. Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 9 p.m., free. 111 Markham St. 501-370-7013. www. capitalbarandgrill.com. William Clark Green. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 9:30 p.m., $8 adv., $10 day of. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 9:30 p.m., $8 adv., $10 day of. 107 Commerce St. 501-372-7707. www.stickyz.com.
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CONTINUED ON PAGE 34 www.arktimes.com
DECEMBER 18, 2014
33
AFTER DARK, CONT. Little Rock West Coast Dance Club. Dance lessons. Singles welcome. Ernie Biggs, 7 p.m., $2. 307 Clinton Ave. 501-247-5240. www. arstreet.swing.com.
EVENTS
Argenta Farmers Market. Argenta Farmers Market, 7 a.m. 6th and Main St., NLR. 501-8317881. www.argentaartsdistrict.org/argentafarmers-market. Falun Gong meditation. Allsopp Park, 9 a.m., free. Cantrell and Cedar Hill Roads. Hillcrest Farmers Market. Pulaski Heights Baptist Church, 7 a.m.-2 p.m. 2200 Kavanaugh Blvd. Historic Neighborhoods Tour. Bike tour of
historic neighborhoods includes bike, guide, helmets and maps. Bobby’s Bike Hike, 9 a.m., $8-$28. 400 President Clinton Ave. 501613-7001. Holiday Pop Up Shop. The Green Corner Store, through Dec. 23, 11 a.m. 1423 Main St. 501-374-1111. thegreencornerstore. Pork & Bourbon Tour. Bike tour includes bicycle, guide, helmets and maps. Bobby’s Bike Hike, 11:30 a.m., $35-$45. 400 President Clinton Ave. 501-613-7001.
SPORTS
Arkansas Razorbacks vs. Southeast Missouri Redhawks. Men’s Basketball. Verizon Arena, 7:30 p.m., $34.45. Verizon Arena, 7:30 p.m., CONTINUED ON PAGE 36
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ARKANSAS TIMES
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2015 ARKANSAS TIMES
MUSICIANS SHOWC ASE The search is on.
Deadline for Entry JANUARY 1
It’s the return of the annual Arkansas Times Musicians Showcase with performers competing for an array of prizes. All acts that have at least four songs of original material are encouraged to enter. All styles are welcome. ARKTIMES.COM/SHOWCASE
CASH PRIZE TO WINNING BAND! PLUS MUCH, MUCH MORE! 2014 Winner Mad Nomad
ARK ANSA S TIMES MUSICIANS SHOWC A SE ENTRY FORM
Semifinalists will compete throughout January and February at Stickyz.
NAME OF BAND
Weekly winners will then face off in the finals at the Rev Room in March.
HOMETOWN
SEND THIS ENTRY AND DEMO CD TO:
DATE BAND WAS FORMED
Arkansas Times Musicians Showcase 201 East Markham St, Suite 200 Little Rock, AR 72201
AGE RANGE OF MEMBERS (ALL AGES WELCOME) CONTACT PERSON
OR
ADDRESS
Enter online and upload your music files at showcase.arktimes.com
CITY, STATE, ZIP PHONE
For more info e-mail willstephenson@arktimes.com
FACEBOOK LINK HAS YOUR BAND ENTERED THE SHOWCASE BEFORE?
❏ YES
❏ NO
Please attach a band photo.
IF YES, WHAT YEARS?
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DECEMBER 18, 2014
35
AFTER DARK, CONT. Mount Magazine State Park
$34.45. 1 Alltel Arena Way, NLR. 501-9759001. verizonarena.com.
SUNDAY, DEC. 21
MUSIC
Enjoy a hike on
New Year’s Day
In step with America’s State Parks’ “First Day Hikes” health initiative, state parks around Arkansas will host guided hikes on January 1. It’s a great way to get outside, connect with nature, and start the new year on the right foot. Visit ArkansasStateParks.com for a participating state park near you.
My park, your park, our parks
ArkansasStateParks.com
#ARStateParks
12 Drummers Drumming. Featuring Travis Nelson, Paul Campbell, Calvin Martin, Aerion Jamaal Lee and more. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 7:30 p.m., $5-$20. 107 Commerce St. 501-372-7707. www.stickyz. com. Irish Traditional Music Session. Hibernia Irish Tavern, first and third Sunday of every month, 2:30 p.m. 9700 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501246-4340. www.hiberniairishtavern.com. Karaoke. Shorty Small’s, 6-9 p.m. 1475 Hogan Lane, Conway. 501-764-0604. www.shortysmalls.com. Karaoke with DJ Sara. Hardrider Bar & Grill, 7 p.m., free. 6613 John Harden Drive, Cabot. 501-982-1939. L Cole, Q Dot Davis. Juanita’s, 8 p.m., $8. 614 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-1228. www. juanitas.com. Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 Clinton Ave. 501-3724782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com. Rick Ross. Barton Coliseum, 7 p.m., $50-$120. 2600 Howard St. www.arkansasstatefair.com. Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, “Swingin’ Holiday Extravaganza.” Connor Performing Arts Center, Pulaski Academy, 3 p.m. 12701 Hinson Road. A Tribute to TC Edwards. Featuring Mulehead, Peckerwolf, The Dangerous Idiots, Trophy Boyfriends, Jab Jab Suckerpunch, My Brother My Friend and more. Vino’s, 5 p.m., donations. 923 W. 7th St. 501-375-8466. www. vinosbrewpub.com.
EVENTS
Holiday Pop Up Shop. The Green Corner Store, through Dec. 23, 11 a.m. 1423 Main St. 501-374-1111. thegreencornerstore.
SPORTS
Women’s SEC/Big 12 Challenge. Verizon Arena, 12:30 p.m., $18-$25. Women’s Basketball Championship. Verizon Arena, 12:30 p.m., $18-$25. 1 Alltel Arena Way, NLR. 501-975-9001. verizonarena.com.
MONDAY, DEC. 22
MUSIC
Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 Clinton Ave. 501-3724782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com. Monday Night Jazz. Afterthought Bistro & Bar, 8 p.m., $5. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www.afterthoughtbistroandbar.com. Open Mic. The Lobby Bar. Studio Theatre, 8 p.m. 320 W. 7th St. Richie Johnson. Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. www. cajunswharf.com.
EVENTS
Holiday Pop Up Shop. The Green Corner Store, through Dec. 23, 11 a.m. 1423 Main St. 501-374-1111. thegreencornerstore.
BENEFITS
Happy Holiday Fundraiser. A fundraiser for Legends of Arkansas, with live 36
DECEMBER 18, 2014
ARKANSAS TIMES
music by Chris DeClerk, Charlotte Taylor, Weedhorse and ReCreation Studios. Cache Restaurant, 7 p.m., $30. 425 President Clinton Ave. 501-850-0265. www.cachelittlerock.com.
TUESDAY, DEC. 23
MUSIC
Brian and Nick. Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. www. cajunswharf.com. Irish Traditional Music Sessions. Hibernia Irish Tavern, second and fourth Tuesday of every month, 7-9 p.m. 9700 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501-246-4340. www.hiberniairishtavern.com. Jef f Ling. Khalil’s Pub, 6 p.m. 110 S. Shackleford Road. 501-224-0224. www. khalilspub.com. Jim Dickerson. Sonny Williams’ Steak Room, 7 p.m. 500 President Clinton Ave. 501-3242999. www.sonnywilliamssteakroom.com. Karaoke Tuesday. Prost, 8 p.m., free. 322 President Clinton Blvd. 501-244-9550. willydspianobar.com/prost-2. Karaoke Tuesdays. On the patio. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 7:30 p.m., free. 107 Commerce St. 501-372-7707. www. stickyz.com. Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 Clinton Ave. 501-3724782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com. The Moving Front, Pockets, Rad Rad Riot. White Water Tavern, 9 p.m. White Water Tavern, 9 p.m. 2500 W. 7th St. 501-375-8400. www.whitewatertavern.com. Music Jam. Hosted by Elliott Griffen and Joseph Fuller. The Joint, 8-11 p.m., free. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501-372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com. Tuesday Jam Session with Carl Mouton. Afterthought Bistro & Bar, 8 p.m., free. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www. afterthoughtbistroandbar.com.
COMEDY
Stand-Up Tuesday. Hosted by Adam Hogg. The Joint, 8 p.m., $5. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501-372-0205. thejointinlittlerock. com.
DANCE
“Latin Night.” Revolution, 7:30 p.m., $5 regular, $7 under 21. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-823-0090. www.littlerocksalsa.com.
EVENTS
Holiday Pop Up Shop. The Green Corner Store, 11 a.m. 1423 Main St. 501-374-1111. thegreencornerstore. Tales from the South. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 6:30 p.m., $10. 107 Commerce St. 501-372-7707. www.stickyz. com. Trivia Bowl. Flying Saucer, 8:30 p.m. 323 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-8032. www. beerknurd.com/stores/littlerock.
FILM
“It’s A Beautiful Life.” Vino’s, 7:30 p.m. 923 W. 7th St. 501-375-8466. www.vinosbrewpub.com.
ARTS CONTINUED ON PAGE 43
2015
New Italian Chinese Japanese Mexican “Fun” Indian Other Ethnic Food Truck Vegetarian/Vegan Bakery Barbecue Sandwich Breakfast Brunch Catfish Fried Chicken Deli/Gourmet to go Hamburger Pizza
Since 1981, Arkansas Times has asked readers to vote for their favorite restaurants. Our annual Readers Choice Restaurant Awards are the first, and most renowned restaurant awards in the state. We’re introducing new rules for the survey this year: From Jan. 5 through Jan. 23, vote online at arktimes.com/ readerschoice2015 for your favorite restaurants in Central Arkansas and around the state in the 35 categories listed here. You may only submit your votes once, but you can return to your ballot as often as you need during the voting period. Only online votes will be accepted. After Jan. 23, we will determine the top four vote getters for each category. Those four and last year’s winner will then advance to a final round of voting that will run Feb. 10 through Feb. 27. The winners will be announced in the April 9 issue of the Arkansas Times, and the awards party will be held prior to the issue date at the Pulaski Technical Culinary and Hospitality Institute. We’re excited about this new voting system and look forward to your participation and the final results.
Seafood Buffet Steak Desserts Ice Cream/Cold Treats Coffee Home Cooking Place for Kids Romantic Gluten Free Business Lunch Yogurt Wine List Server Chef Butcher
ONLINE VOTING ONLY
READERS CHOICE AWARDS
Overall
www.arktimes.com/readerschoice1
LITTLE ROCK
REST OF STATE
BEST RESTAURANTS IN THE AREAS AROUND Benton/Bryant ________________________________
Conway________________________________________
Eureka Springs ________________________________
Hot Springs ____________________________________
Fayetteville/Springdale/Rogers/Bentonville _________________________________________________________ www.arktimes.com
DECEMBER 18, 2014
37
Dining
Information in our restaurant capsules reflects the opinions of the newspaper staff and its reviewers. The newspaper accepts no advertising or other considerations in exchange for reviews, which are conducted anonymously. We invite the opinions of readers who think we are in error.
B Breakfast L Lunch D Dinner $ Inexpensive (under $8/person) $$ Moderate ($8-$20/person) $$$ Expensive (over $20/person) CC Accepts credit cards
WHAT’S COOKIN’ NEWS FROM CACHE RESTAURANT: Matthew Cooper, general manager and executive chef, is leaving the restaurant at the end of the year. Payne Harding, chef and co-owner, will take over executive chef duties. Cooper, a graduate of the Western Culinary Institute, is a previous Iron Chef winner and just took home the (fun if not prestigious) “Not Your Great, Great, Great Grandfather’s Egg Nog” prize at the Historic Arkansas Museum’s 10th Ever Nog-Off last Friday. He is leaving Cache “to pursue a new opportunity,” according to a press release from Cache. Harding is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America. “Matthew Cooper has been integral in our initial success at Cache,” the news release said. “We hate to lose Matt, but his job over this first year was to help us get the restaurant created and to jump start us to being successful in the heart of the River Market. He has done that and done it well. We appreciate his efforts and we wish him all the best in his new endeavor,” said Rush Harding, co-owner of Cache. “Payne and I look forward to building on the success of our first year.” Denis Seyer, the longtime restaurateur, continues as chief consultant for the Hardings.
DINING CAPSULES
AMERICAN
4 SQUARE CAFE AND GIFTS Vegetarian salads, soups, wraps and paninis and a broad selection of smoothies in an Arkansas products gift shop. 405 President Clinton Ave. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-244-2622. BLD Mon.-Sat., L Sun. APPLE SPICE JUNCTION A chain sandwich and salad spot with sit-down lunch space and a vibrant box lunch catering business. With a wide range of options and quick service. Order online via applespice.com. 2000 S. University Ave. No alcohol, All CC. $$. 501-663-7008. L Mon.-Fri. (10 a.m.-3 p.m.). ARKANSAS BURGER CO. Good burgers, fries and shakes, plus salads and other entrees. Try the cheese dip. 7410 Cantrell Road. Beer and wine, CC. $-$$. 501-663-0600. LD Tue.-Sat. BELLWOOD DINER Traditional breakfasts and plate lunch specials are the norm at this lostin-time hole in the wall. 3815 MacArthur Drive. NLR. No alcohol, No CC. $. 501-753-1012. BL Mon.-Fri. THE BLIND PIG Tasty bar food, including Zweigle’s brand hot dogs. 6015 Chenonceau Blvd. Full bar, CC. $-$$. 501-868-8194. D Wed-Fri., LD Sat. BONEFISH GRILL A half-dozen or more types of fresh fish filets are offered daily at this upscale chain. 11525 Cantrell Road. Full bar, All CC. $$$. 501-228-0356. D Mon.-Fri., LD Sat-Sun. BRAVE NEW RESTAURANT Chef/owner Peter Brave was doing “farm to table” before most 38
DECEMBER 18, 2014
ARKANSAS TIMES
EXPRESS LUNCH: A recent offering included (from left) a pear tart, scallops, mushroom soup and tuna tartare.
Still the best One Eleven, formerly know as Ashley’s, hits all the right notes.
L
et’s be clear up front: This is an ode to decadence. To artful culinary possibilities opened up by the creative arrangement of excellent ingredients and meticulous attention to detail. For many diners, favorite bites in Arkansas lean on the downhome end of the spectrum — a catfish crust still crackling from grease or the succulent punch of barbecue. And that is all right; to everything a season. But sometimes you might want to put on your fancy dress and treat yourself to something fine. In recent years, that meant Ashley’s, the signature restaurant at the Capital Hotel downtown that helped establish former executive chef Lee Richardson as one of the most talented chefs in the South. Richardson, who arrived at the Capital Hotel in 2006 to reopen Ashley’s, drew national acclaim for his work in Little Rock, earning multiple nominations for the James Beard Foundation Awards, the prestigious honors awarded to the nation’s top chefs and restaurateurs. Richardson left in the summer of 2012 and later that year, the Capital brought
in Chef Joël (pronounced to rhyme with Noel) Antunes, a native of France who has worked around the world, picking up a 2005 James Beard Best Chef of the Southeast Award in 2005 for his work with his namesake restaurant in Atlanta and helping London restaurant Les Saveurs win a Michelin star back in the ’90s. Like many Arkansans, some of the best and most memorable meals we’ve had in the state were at Ashley’s, so we’ve been eager to see what Antunes would bring. Last May, the restaurant closed for a redesign and reopened in August with a new name, One Eleven. After a few recent visits, we are happy to report that this new incarnation remains the go-to spot for an evening of splurging on fine food in Little Rock; and, while it will remain a special occasion for most diners, has pleasantly reinvented itself with a more modern and relaxed atmosphere. The biggest change is a redesign of the dining room. No need to put it delicately: If the old Ashley’s often had the best food on offer in the state, the ambience was a nearly catastrophic bummer. The stuffy decor
One Eleven at the Capital 111 W. Markham St. 370-7011
QUICK BITE Gone is the $75 per person prix fixe dinner at Ashley’s. Whether that makes One Eleven cheaper or more expensive depends on how you order. With so many wonderful options among the hot and cold appetizers, a tapas approach is fun and affordable. HOURS Breakfast: 6:30 a.m. until 10 a.m. Sunday through Saturday. Brunch: 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. Sunday. Lunch: 11:30 a.m. until 2 p.m. Monday through Friday. Dinner: 5:30 p.m. until 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 5:30 p.m. until 10 p.m. Friday through Saturday. OTHER INFO All major credit cards. Full bar.
— heavy drapes, excessive crown molding, dreary carpet, mirrors everywhere — was an icy caricature of old-fashioned ritzy hotels. The aim was class, the result claustrophobic. One Eleven is now more inviting — there’s a sleek zinc bar up front, they’ve done away with the awkward partition in the middle of the room, there is plenty of light and the emphasis is on tasteful, minimalist design. Like the name One Eleven, the new look is clean if slightly generic. To some extent, they’ve traded one caricature for another: We are unmistakably at an upscale hotel restaurant, of the chic CONTINUED ON PAGE 54
ICATES F I T R E GIFT C AILABLE oga AV eginner’s Y
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DINING CAPSULES, CONT. of us knew the term. His focus is on fresh, highquality ingredients prepared elegantly but simply. Ordering the fish special is never a bad choice. His chocolate crème brulee sets the pace. 2300 Cottondale Lane. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-663-2677. LD Mon.-Sat. BRAY GOURMET DELI AND CATERING Turkey spreads in four flavors — original, jalapeno, Cajun and dill — and the homemade pimiento cheese are the signature items at Chris Bray’s delicatessen, which serves sandwiches, wraps, soups, stuffed potatoes and salads, and sells the turkey spreads to go. 323 Center St. Suite 150. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-353-1045. BL Mon.-Fri. BUFFALO WILD WINGS A sports bar on steroids with numerous humongous TVs and a menu full of thirst-inducing items. The wings, which can be slathered with one of 14 sauces, are the starring attraction and will undoubtedly have fans. 14800 Cantrell Road. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-868-5279. LD daily. BY THE GLASS A broad but not ridiculously large wine list is studded with interesting, diverse selections, and prices are uniformly reasonable. The food focus is on high-end items that pair well with wine — olives, hummus, cheese, bread, and some meats and sausages. Happy hour daily from 4-6 p.m. 5713 Kavanaugh Blvd. Beer and wine, All CC. $$. 501-663-9463. D Mon.-Sat. CAFE BRUNELLE Coffee shop and cafe serving sweets, tasty sandwiches and Loblolly ice cream. 17819 Chenal Parkway. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-448-2687. BLD daily. CAFE@HEIFER Serving fresh pastries, omelets, soups, salads, sandwiches and pizzas. Located inside Heifer Village. 1 World Ave. No alcohol, All CC. $. 501-907-8801. BL Mon.-Fri. CAPITAL BAR AND GRILL Big hearty sandwiches, daily lunch specials and fine evening dining all rolled up into one at this landing spot downtown. Surprisingly inexpensive with a great bar staff and a good selection of unique desserts. 111 Markham St. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-370-7013. LD daily. CAPITOL BISTRO Serving breakfast and lunch items, including quiche, sandwiches, coffees and the like. 1401 W. Capitol Ave. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-371-9575. BL Mon.-Fri. CATCH BAR AND GRILL Fish, shrimp, chicken and burgers, live music, drinks, flat screens TVs, pool tables and V.I.P room. 1407 John Barrow Road. Full bar. 501-224-1615. CATERING TO YOU Painstakingly prepared entrees and great appetizers in this gourmetto-go location, attached to a gift shop. Caters everything from family dinners to weddings and large corporate events. 8121 Cantrell Road. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-614-9030. Serving meals to go: LD Mon.-Sat. CIAO BACI The focus is on fine dining in this casually elegant Hillcrest bungalow, though excellent tapas are out of this world. The treeshaded, light-strung deck is a popular destination. 605 N. Beechwood St. Full bar, All CC. $$$. 501-603-0238. D Mon.-Sat. CRAZEE’S COOL CAFE Good burgers, daily plate specials and bar food amid pool tables
and TVs. 7626 Cantrell Road. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-221-9696. LD Mon.-Sat. CUPCAKES ON KAVANAUGH Gourmet cupcakes and coffee, indoor seating. 5625 Kavanaugh Blvd. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-664-2253. LD Mon.-Sat. DEMPSEY BAKERY Bakery with sit down area, serving coffee and specializing in gluten-, nutand soy-free baked goods. 323 Cross St. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-375-2257. Serving BL Tue.-Sat. DOE’S EAT PLACE A skid-row dive turned power brokers’ watering hole with huge steaks, great tamales and broiled shrimp, and killer burgers at lunch. 1023 W. Markham St. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-376-1195. LD Mon.-Fri., D Sat. DOUBLETREE PLAZA BAR & GRILL The lobby restaurant in the Doubletree is elegantly comfortable, but you’ll find no airs put on at heaping breakfast and lunch buffets. 424 West Markham St. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-372-4371. BLD daily. EJ’S EATS AND DRINKS The friendly neighborhood hoagie shop downtown serves at a handful of tables and by delivery. The sandwiches are generous, the soup homemade and the salads cold. Vegetarians can craft any number of acceptable meals from the flexible menu. The housemade potato chips are da bomb. 523 Center St. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-666-3700. LD Mon.-Fri., BR Sun. FILIBUSTER’S BISTRO & LOUNGE Sandwiches, salads in the Legacy Hotel. 625 W. Capitol Ave. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-374-0100. D Mon.-Fri. FIVE GUYS BURGERS & FRIES Nationwide burger chain with emphasis on freshly made fries and patties. 2923 Lakewood Village Drive. NLR. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-246-5295. LD daily. 13000 Chenal Parkway. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-225-1100. LD daily. FLYING FISH The fried seafood is fresh and crunchy and there are plenty of raw, boiled and grilled offerings, too. The hamburgers are a hit, too. It’s counter service; wander on through the screen door and you’ll find a slick team of cooks and servers doing a creditable job of serving big crowds. 511 President Clinton Ave. Beer and wine, All CC. $$. 501-375-3474. LD daily. GINO’S PIZZA AND PHILLY STEAK 8000 Geyer Springs Road. 501-562-0152. LD daily. THE GRAND CAFE Typical hotel restaurant fare from this Hilton cafe. 925 South University Ave. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-664-5020. BD daily. GREEN LEAF GRILL Cafeteria on the ground floor of the Blue Cross-Blue Shield building has healthy entrees. 601 S. Gaines. No alcohol, CC. 501-378-2521. GRUMPY’S TOO Music venue and sports bar with lots of TVs, pub grub and regular drink specials. 1801 Green Mountain Drive. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-225-3768. D Mon.-Sat. GUS’S WORLD FAMOUS FRIED CHICKEN The best fried chicken in town can now be had in West Little Rock. 300 President Clinton Ave. Beer, CC. $-$$. 501-372-2211. LD daily.; 400 N. Bowman. Beer. 501-400-8745. LD daily. HOMER’S Great vegetables, huge yeast rolls and killer cobblers. Follow the mobs. 2001 CONTINUED ON PAGE 40
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DECEMBER 18, 2014
39
DINING CAPSULES, CONT.
THE UNIQUE NEIGHBORHOODS OF CENTRAL ARKANSAS Full of interesting voices and colorful portraits of 17 Little Rock and North Little Rock neighborhoods, this book gives an intimate, block-by-block, native’s view of the place more than 250,000 Arkansans call home. Created from interviews with residents and largely written by writers who actually live in the neighborhoods they’re writing about, the book features over 90 full color photos by Little Rock photographer Brian Chilson.
Payment: CHECK OR CREDIT CARD Order by Mail: ARKANSAS TIMES BOOKS, P.O. BOX 34010, LITTLE ROCK, AR 72203 Phone: 501-375-2985 Fax: 501-375-3623 Email: JACK@ARKTIMES.COM Send _______ book(s) of The Unique Neighborhoods of Central Arkansas @ $19.95 Send _______ book(s) of A History Of Arkansas @ $10.95
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Send _______ book(s) of Almanac Of Arkansas History @ $18.95 Shipping and handling $3 per book
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November 10 – January 7
T
he lens of photographer Johnny Cash Gordon Gillingham June Carter provides backdoor perspective Elvis Presley Roy Rogers on the longest running radio Patsy Cline program in the world, the Minnie Pearl Grand Ole Opry. During the Chet Atkins 1950s, Gillingham captured Hank Williams Jr. the carousing spirit of the … MORE! era, both on- and off-stage. Many of these remarkable photographs have never before been published or reproduced. The Grand Ole Opry exhibit unveils this insider’s view of a vital hallmark of American culture in historical context, including audio snippets of the radio show itself.
A program of ExhibitsUSA, a national division of Mid-America Arts Alliance with The Arkansas Arts Council and The National Endowment for the Arts.
ARGENTA BRANCH 420 MAIN STREET • NORTH LITTLE ROCK 5 0 1 - 6 8 7 - 1 0 6 1 • W W W. L A M A N L I B R A R Y. O R G W I L L I A M F. L A M A N P U B L I C L I B R A R Y S Y S T E M
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DECEMBER 18, 2014
ARKANSAS TIMES
E. Roosevelt Road. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-374-1400. BL Mon.-Fri. 9700 N Rodney Parham. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-224-6637. BLD Mon.-Sat., BL Sun. IRONHORSE SALOON Bar and grill offering juicy hamburgers and cheeseburgers. 9125 Mann Road. Full bar, All CC. $. 501-562-4464. LD daily. J. GUMBO’S Fast-casual Cajun fare served, primarily, in a bowl. Better than expected. 12911 Cantrell Road. Beer, All CC. $-$$. 501-916-9635. LD daily. JERKY’S SPICY CHICKEN AND MORE Jerk chicken, Southern fried chicken, Southern fried jerk chicken, along with burgers, sandwiches, salads. 2501 Arch St. No alcohol. 501-246-3096. JIMMY’S SERIOUS SANDWICHES Consistently fine sandwiches, side orders and desserts for 30 years. Chicken salad’s among the best in town, and there are fun specialty sandwiches such as Thai One On and The Garden. Get there early for lunch. 5116 W. Markham St. No alcohol, CC. $-$$. 501-666-3354. LD Mon.-Fri., L Sat. K. HALL AND SONS Neighborhood grocery store with excellent lunch counter. The cheeseburger is hard to beat. 1900 Wright Avenue. No alcohol, CC. $. 501-372-1513. BLD Mon.-Sat. (closes at 6 p.m.), BL Sun. KILWINS Ice cream, candies, fudge and sweets galore made in-house and packaged for eatit-now or eat-it-later. 415 President Clinton Ave. No alcohol, CC. $-$$. 501-379-9865. LD daily. KRAZY MIKE’S Po’Boys, catfish and shrimp and other fishes, fried chicken wings and all the expected sides served up fresh and hot to order on demand. 200 N. Bowman Road. Beer, All CC. $$. 501-907-6453. LD Mon.-Sat. LOCA LUNA Grilled meats, seafood and pasta dishes that never stray far from country roots, whether Italian, Spanish or Arkie. “Gourmet plate lunches” are good, as is Sunday brunch. 3519 Old Cantrell Road. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-663-4666. BR Sun., LD Mon.-Fri., D Sat. LULAV A MODERN EATERY Bistro-style menu of American favorites broken down by expensive to affordable plates, and strong wine list, also group-priced to your liking. Great filet. Don’t miss the chicken and waffles. 220 W. 6th St. Full bar, CC. $$$. 501-374-5100. LD Mon.-Fri., D Sat. THE MAIN CHEESE A restaurant devoted to grilled cheese. 14524 Cantrell Road. Beer and wine. $-$$. 501-367-8082. LD Mon.-Sat. MILFORD TRACK Healthy and tasty are the key words at this deli/grill that serves breakfast and lunch. Hot entrees change daily and there are soups, sandwiches, salads and killer desserts. Bread is baked in-house, and there are several veggie options. 10809 Executive Center Drive, Searcy Building. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-223-2257. BL Mon.-Fri., L Sat. MOORE 2 U Deli sandwiches, salads, fruit bowls, burgers, fish, chili dogs, and chicken and waffles. 5405 Geyer Springs Road. No alcohol. 501-5621200. NATCHEZ RESTAURANT Smart, elegant takes on Southern classics. 323 Center St. Beer and wine, CC. $$-$$$. 501-372-1167. L Tue.-Fri., D Wed.-Sat. NEXT BISTRO AND BAR Live music, on the outdoor patio in nice weather, bar with specialty drinks like cheesecake shots, strawberry fizz martinis. No cover. 2611 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-6398. THE OYSTER BAR Gumbo, red beans and rice (all you can eat on Mondays), peel-andeat shrimp, oysters on the half shell, addictive po’ boys. Killer jukebox. 3003 W. Markham St. Beer and wine, All CC. $-$$. 501-666-7100. LD
Mon.-Sat. OZARK COUNTRY RESTAURANT A longstanding favorite with many Little Rock residents, the eatery specializes in big country breakfasts and pancakes plus sandwiches and several meat-and-two options for lunch and dinner. Try the pancakes and don’t leave without some sort of smoked meat. 202 Keightley Drive. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-663-7319. BL daily. PANERA BREAD This bakery/cafe serves freshly baked breads, bagels and pastries every morning as well as a full line of espresso beverages. Panera also offers a full menu of sandwiches, hand-tossed salads and hearty soups. 11525 Cantrell Road. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-227-0222. BLD daily.; 314 S. University. 501-664-6878. BLD daily. PLAYTIME PIZZA Tons of fun isn’t rained out by lackluster eats at the new Playtime Pizza, the $11 million, 65,000-square-foot kidtopia near the Rave theater. While the buffet is only so-so, features like indoor mini-golf, laser tag, go karts, arcade games and bumper cars make it a winner for both kids and adults. 600 Colonel Glenn Plaza Loop. All CC. $-$$. 501-227-7529. D Mon.-Wed., LD Thu.-Sun. POTBELLY SANDWICH SHOP Tasty, affordable sandwiches from fast causal chain. 314 S University Ave. No alcohol, CC. $-$$. 501-6604441. LD daily. PURPLE COW DINER 1950s fare — cheeseburgers, chili dogs, thick milk shakes — in a ‘50s setting at today’s prices. 8026 Cantrell Road. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-221-3555. LD daily, BR Sat.-Sun. 11602 Chenal Pkwy. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-224-4433. LD daily, BR Sat.-Sun. 1419 Higden Ferry Road. Hot Springs. Beer, All CC. $$. 501-625-7999. LD daily, B Sun. RACK’UM SPORTS BAR AND GRILL 2817 Cantrell Road. 501-603-0066. THE RELAY STATION This grill offers a short menu, which includes chicken strips, french fries, hamburgers, jalapeno poppers and cheese sticks. 12225 Stagecoach Road. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-455-9919. LD daily. THE ROOT CAFE Homey, local foods-focused cafe. With tasty burgers, homemade bratwurst, banh mi and a number of vegan and veggie options. Breakfast and Sunday brunch, too. 1500 S. Main St. Beer, All CC. $-$$. 501-414-0423. BL Tue.-Sat., BR Sun. SALUT BISTRO This bistro/late-night hangout does upscale tapas. 1501 N. University. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-660-4200. L Mon.-Fri., D Tue.-Sat. SANDY’S HOMEPLACE CAFE Specializing in home style buffet, with two meats and seven vegetables to choose from. It’s all-you-can-eat. 1710 E 15th St. No alcohol, No CC. $. 501-3753216. L Mon.-Fri. SATCHEMO’S BAR AND GRILL Pulled pork egg rolls, chicken fries and a “butter” burger star. 1900 W. Third St. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-725-4657. L Mon.-Wed., LD Thu.-Sun. SCALLIONS Reliably good food, great desserts, pleasant atmosphere, able servers — a solid lunch spot. 5110 Kavanaugh Blvd. Beer and wine, All CC. $-$$. 501-666-6468. BL Mon.-Sat. SCOOP DOG 5508 John F. Kennedy Blvd. NLR. No alcohol, No CC. 501-753-5407. LD daily. SHAKE’S FROZEN CUSTARD Frozen custards, concretes, sundaes. 12011 Westhaven Drive. No alcohol, All CC. $. 501-224-0150. LD daily. SHIPLEY DO-NUTS With locations just about everywhere in Central Arkansas, it’s hard to miss Shipley’s. Their signature smooth glazed doughnuts and dozen or so varieties of fills are well known. 7514 Cantrell Rd. No alcohol, All CC. $. 501-664-5353. B daily.
DINING CAPSULES, CONT. SHORTY SMALL’S Land of big, juicy burgers, massive cheese logs, smoky barbecue platters and the signature onion loaf. 11100 N. Rodney Parham Road. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-224-3344. LD daily. SLIM CHICKENS Chicken tenders and wings served fast. Better than the Colonel. 4500 W. Markham. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-9070111. LD daily. SONNY WILLIAMS’ STEAK ROOM Steaks, chicken and seafood in a wonderful setting in the River Market. Steak gets pricey, though. Menu is seasonal, changes every few months. 500 President Clinton Ave. Full bar, All CC. $$$. 501-324-2999. D Mon.-Sat. SOUTH ON MAIN Fine, innovative takes on Southern fare in a casual, but well-appointed setting. 1304 Main St. Full bar, CC. $-$$. 501-244-9660. L Mon.-Fri., D Tue.-Sat. STAGECOACH GROCERY AND DELI Fine po’ boys and muffalettas — and cheap. 6024 Stagecoach Road. Beer and wine, All CC. $-$$. 501-455-7676. BLD Mon.-Fri., BL Sat.-Sun. TABLE 28 Excellent fine dining with lots of creative flourishes. Branch out and try the Crispy Squid Filet and Quail Bird Lollipops. 1501 Merrill Drive. Full bar, CC. $$$-$$$$. 501-224-2828. D Mon.-Sat. TERRI-LYNN’S BBQ AND DELICATESSEN High-quality meats served on large sandwiches and good tamales served with chili or without (the better bargain). 10102 N. Rodney Parham Road. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-227-6371. L Tue.-Fri., LD Sat. (close at 5pm). WEST END SMOKEHOUSE AND TAVERN Its primary focus is a sports bar with 50-plus TVs, but the dinner entrees (grilled chicken, steaks and such) are plentiful and the bar food is upper quality. 215 N. Shackleford. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-224-7665. L Fri.-Sun., D daily. WHICH WICH AT CHENAL Sandwiches in three sizes, plus cookies and milkshakes, online or faxed (501-312-9435) ordering available. Also at 2607 McCain Blvd., 501-7719424, fax 501-771-4329. 12800 Chenal Parkway, Suite 10. No alcohol. 312-9424. WING LOVERS 4411 W 12th St. 501-663-3166. LD Mon.-Sat. WING SHACK 6323 Colonel Glenn Road. No alcohol. 501-562-0010. WINGSTOP It’s all about wings. The joint features 10 flavors of chicken flappers for almost any palate, including mild, hot, Cajun and atomic, as well as specialty flavors like lemon pepper, teriyaki, Garlic parmesan and Hawaiian. 11321 West Markham St. Beer, All CC. $-$$. 501-224-9464. LD daily.
D Mon.-Sat. MIKE’S CAFE VIETNAMESE Cheap Vietnamese that could use some more spice, typically. The pho is good. 5501 Asher Ave. Beer, CC. $-$$. 501-562-1515. LD daily. MR. CHEN’S ASIAN SUPERMARKET AND RESTAURANT A combination Asian restaurant and grocery with cheap, tasty and exotic offerings. 3901 S. University Ave. $. 501-562-7900. LD daily. NEW CHINA A burgeoning line of massive buffets, with hibachi grill, sushi, mounds of Chinese food and soft serve ice cream. 4617 John F. Kennedy Blvd. NLR. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-753-8988. LD daily. 2104 Harkrider. Conway. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-764-1888. LD Mon.-Sun. OISHI HIBACHI AND THAI CUISINE Tasty Thai
and hibachi from the Chi family. 5501 Kavanaugh Blvd. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-603-0080. LD daily. PHO THANH MY It says “Vietnamese noodle soup” on the sign out front, and that’s what you should order. The pho comes in outrageously large portions with bean sprouts and fresh herbs. Traditional pork dishes, spring rolls and bubble tea also available. 302 N. Shackleford Road. No alcohol, All CC. $$. 501-312-7498. LD daily. ROYAL BUFFET A big buffet of Chinese fare, with other Asian tastes as well. 109 E. Pershing. NLR. Beer, All CC. 501-753-8885. LD daily. SEKISUI Fresh-tasting sushi chain with fun hibachi grill and an overwhelming assortment of traditional entrees. Nice wine selection, also serves sake and specialty drinks. 219 N. Shackleford Road. Full bar, All CC. $-$$.
501-221-7070. LD daily. SHOGUN JAPANESE STEAKHOUSE The chefs will dazzle you, as will the variety of tasty stir-fry combinations and the sushi bar. Usually crowded at night. 2815 Cantrell Road. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-666-7070. D daily. TOKYO HOUSE Defying stereotypes, this Japanese buffet serves up a broad range of fresh, slightly exotic fare — grilled calamari, octopus salad, dozens of varieties of fresh sushi — as well as more standard shrimp and steak options. 11 Shackleford Drive. Beer and wine, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-219-4286. LD daily. WASABI Downtown sushi and Japanese cuisine. For lunch, there’s quick and hearty sushi samplers. 101 Main St. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-374-0777. L Mon.-Fri., D Mon.-Sat.
your Holiday Headquarters
ASIAN
A.W. LIN’S ASIAN CUISINE Excellent panAsian with wonderful service. 17717 Chenal Parkway H101. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-821-5398. LD daily. CHINA PLUS BUFFET Large Chinese buffet. 6211 Colonel Glenn Road. Beer and wine, All CC. $-$$. 501-562-1688. LD daily. CHINESE KITCHEN Good Chinese takeout. Try the Cantonese press duck. 11401 N. Rodney Parham Road. No alcohol, CC. $-$$. 501-224-2100. LD Tue.-Sun. HANAROO SUSHI BAR One of the few spots in downtown Little Rock to serve sushi. With an expansive menu, featuring largely Japanese fare. Try the popular Tuna Tatari bento box. 205 W. Capitol Ave. Beer and wine, All CC. $$. 501-301-7900. L Mon.-Fri.,
Please visit us online at www.edwardsfoodgiant.com
Visit any of our locations: 1701 Main Street, Little Rock | 501.376.3475 7507 Cantrell Road, Little Rock | 501.614.3477 10320 Stagecoach Road, Little Rock | 501.455.3475 7525 Baseline Road, Little Rock | 501.562.6629 2203 N. Reynolds Road, Bryant | 501.847.9777
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DECEMBER 18, 2014
41
ARKANSAS TIMES SOCIAL MEDIA
IS YOUR BUSINESS SOCIAL? MOSESMAN: Christian Bale dumps Batmobile for a horse.
S
ocial media is not as simple as setting up a Facebook page or starting a Twitter account. Running a successful social media campaign takes time, and lots of it. It takes a combination of marketing, communication and customer service skills. Chances are that your staff doesn’t have the time or the skills necessary to take full advantage of these powerful marketing tools that will help your business grow. That’s where we come in. WE HELP YOU GET NOTICED ONLINE, FOR ALL THE RIGHT REASONS.
WE OFFER A RANGE OF SERVICES INCLUDING: Social media strategy • Studio photo shoots Monthly analytics data • Targeted advertising
CONTACT LAUREN BUCHER, SOCIAL MEDIA DIRECTOR, AT 501.375.2985 EXT. 311 OR LAURENBUCHER@ARKTIMES.COM. 42
DECEMBER 18, 2014
ARKANSAS TIMES
Old Testament in CGI ‘Exodus’ wows, but skimps on storytelling. BY SAM EIFLING
“E
xodus: Gods and Kings,” the second big-budget Biblical epic of the year, demonstrates on multiple fronts why we need more big-budget Biblical epics. For one, the source material is some of the most fantastic stuff in world literature: The Old Testament wouldn’t stand as the backbone of multiple major religions if it were not, at its core, quite the jaunty little yarn. But like “Noah” this past spring, “Exodus” makes so many strange choices, and seems so reliant on digital effects, that you come away wondering whether its director suffered some sort of stage fright in the adaptation. We need more of these if for no other reason than to get everyone to loosen up already. Maybe the next time a studio sinks a quarter-billion dollars into reviving, say, the tale of Jonah or some of Abraham’s greatest hits, we’ll get a fleshier protagonist than the Moses of “Exodus.” Christian Bale plays the son of Egyptian royalty (John Turturro is the pharaoh Seti) who finds out he’s adopted, born of Hebrew slaves. This doesn’t play well with Ramses (Joel Edgerton), his virtual brother. The prince becomes king and casts Moses to the wilds once his identity is revealed, and in the interim, Ramses seems to undergo a real transformation. Moses, despite the excommunication, keeps a steady pace throughout, save for a few moments when he gets to bicker with God, appearing here as what appears to be a 10-year-old boy from London. Ridley Scott’s Egypt, in fact, is a crazyquilt of accents and modified skin hues, many in the form of white people playing brown people while black people watch silently. Such are the economics, apparently, of making a big-budget Biblical epic, since “Noah” also insisted on stocking
the pictures with nothing but white folks. These aren’t merely retrograde casting decisions (the global market can handle seeing more diverse hues), they’re bad storytelling. It’s a bit of an internal distraction, having to ask yourself, “Wait — isn’t this supposed to take place in Africa? Why is the darkest person with a speaking part Ben Kingsley?” Moses goes through his wander years without doing much of interest, other than marrying and learning to herd goats. Meanwhile Ramses becomes a slave-driving maniac, obsessed with monuments and his own glory. You know the comeuppance in store for this gilded buffoon, and yet, it’s still such a pleasure to see it unspool in slow motion. Does anyone else in the Bible so consistently, so stubbornly charge into the teeth of God’s will? It takes a certain combination of hubris, cruelty and stupidity to ignore the obvious logic of a full-blown series of miracles and plagues and continue to insist, despite every indication to the contrary, that you outmatch the divine. Ramses may be all of the above; yet Edgerton imbues him with a strange appeal throughout. If only he and Moses had more, like, conversations here, to help us care more. Speaking of plagues: They’re a riot. Here, Scott’s reverence bleeds over into the appropriately lurid. And the parting of the Red Sea? The climax that generations of Americans tried to stay awake for when “The Ten Commandments” rolled around in December is pretty spectacular. To the credit of “Exodus,” it makes clear Moses does not pry apart the waters. He, like the rest of us, is simply trying to figure out what the hell is happening as the Almighty does his thing, and hopes not to get squashed by the waves along the way.
AFTER DARK, CONT.
THEATER
“Don’t Dress for Dinner.” Murry’s Dinner Playhouse, through Dec. 31: Tue.-Sat., 6 p.m.; Wed., Sun., 11 a.m., $25-$35. 6323 Col. Glenn Road. 501-562-3131. murrysdinnerplayhouse. com. “Elf.” Arkansas Repertory Theatre, through Dec. 28: Wed., Thu., Sun., 7 p.m.; Fri., Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m., $20-$55. 601 Main St. 501-3780405. www.therep.org. Moscow Classical Ballet’s The Nutcracker. Walton Arts Center, Fri., Dec. 19, 7 p.m.; Sat., Dec. 20, 2 and 7 p.m.; Sun., Dec. 21, 2 p.m., $33 - $47. 495 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville. 479443-5600. “Other Desert Cities.” The Weekend Theater, through Dec. 20: Fri., Sat., 7:30 p.m. 1001 W. 7th St. 501-374-3761. www.weekendtheater.org. “The Velveteen Rabbit.” Arkansas Arts Center, through Dec. 21: Fri., 7 p.m.; Sat., 4 p.m.; Sat., Sun., 2 p.m., $12.50. 501 E. 9th St. 501-372-4000. www.arkarts.com.
NEW GALLERY EXHIBITS, EVENTS New exhibits, events in boldfaced type L&L BECK ART GALLERY, 5705 Kavanaugh Blvd.: “Religious Art,” work by Louis Beck, through December, giclee giveaway 7 p.m. Dec. 18. 660-4006. RED DOOR GALLERY, 3715 JFK, NLR: Paula Jones, new paintings; Jim Goshorn, new sculpture; also sculpture by Joe Martin, paintings by Amy Hill-Imler, Theresa Cates and Patrick
YOUR ULTIMATE FAMILY PUPPY!
Cunningham, ornaments by D. Wharton, landscapes by James Ellis, raku by Kelly Edwards and other works. 753-5227. 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sat.
Jasper (black) is a great little puppy we picked up on the Buffalo River near the town of the same name. He loves to play with our dogs, cats and other farm animals. He is a great cuddler and bed partner with our kids. He is house broken, very smart and learns quick. He needs lots of room to run a play and is extremely social both with people and other animals. We have four other dogs or we would keep him. We think he is really special and needs a forever home. He has had his first round of puppy shots and has been wormed. He is extremely healthy and just a few months old. We are asking $25 to cover the cost of his puppy shots and medication.
FORT SMITH REGIONAL ART MUSEUM, 1601 Rogers Ave.: “An American in Venice: James McNeill Whistler and his Legacy,” through Jan. 4, “Whistler: Music & the Abstract of Design,” lecture by Dr. Henry Rinne, 6 p.m. Dec. 18; “Vivid,” works by Liz Whitney Quisgard, through Jan. 18. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tue.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. 479-784-2787.
Call Kaytee
501.607.3100
SCOTT PLANTATION AGRICULTURE MUSEUM, U.S. Hwy. 165 and state Hwy. 161: “Holiday Crafts Open House,” family craft activities, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Dec. 20, $3 a person or $10 for a family. 961-1409.
WE ARE IN NORTH PULASKI COUNTY, 11 MILES WEST OF CABOT NEAR HWY 107.
CONTINUING ART EXHIBITS
(Central Arkansas) ARGENTA GALLERY, 413 Main St., NLR: “Sacred Images: Icons of Sylvia Inzerella,” through Dec. 23. 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Tue.-Thu., 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Fri.Sat. 590-8103. ARKANSAS ARTS CENTER, MacArthur Park: “William Beckman: Drawings 1967-2013,” through Feb. 1; “A Sense of Balance: The Sculpture of Stoney Lamar,” through Jan. 18, “Color, an Artist’s Tale: Paintings by Virmarie DePoyster,” through Feb. 15, Museum School Gallery. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat., 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sun. 372-4000. ARTIST INC. HOLIDAY ART SHOW, 413B St., NLR: Through Jan. 5. 993-1234.
Shop shop LOCAL ARKANSAS TIMES
Friday, December 19 7:00pm Unitarian Universalist Church 1818 Reservoir Rd.
Including Performances By: • Gender Illusionists • Musicians • Poets • Singers • And So Many More
We will be sharing 15% of the evening’s proceeds with the Living Affected Corporation to support their HIV/AIDS advocacy/prevention work. The remainder of the proceeds will be used to provide resources for The LMH Youth Center at CAR—Arkanas’s only LGBTQ youth drop-in center. There will be concessions available.
Tickets are on sale now! Sliding scale from $8-$15 Email kat.n.crisp@gmail.com or (501) 244-9690 to purchase your tickets. Tickets will also be available at the door. You can also find this event on Facebook: • DYSC’s 5th Annual HoHoHo • Big Gay Variety Show! www.ArtisticRevolution.org
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DECEMBER 18, 2014
43
BIG BANG, CONT.
hearsay ➥ Are you buying for a gentleman that likes ties with meaning? Then check out the Arkansas Children’s Hospital tie for sale at GREENHAW’S MEN’S WEAR – it’s decorated with the handprints of some of the smallest patients. Proceeds go to benefit ACH. ➥ Select fall and winter pants are marked down 40 percent at VESTA’S and outerwear and boots are on sale for up to 50 percent off. ➥ Stop by B. BARNETT on Dec. 18 and see La Petit Robe by di Chiara Boni spring 2015 trunk show. ➥ The G O O D E A R T H GARDEN CENTER has all Christmas décor marked down 20 percent. They also have gifts, and not just for the gardeners on your list. They can also wrap them in beautiful gift bags, as well as creating custom gift baskets filled with gorgeous gift options from local artists. ➥ SOUTHERN ACCENTED’S Christmas sale is underway, with rack of clothing priced $15, $30 and $60. ➥ WHITE GOAT’S Little Rock and Conway locations are hosting a 12 days of Christmas sale, with different specials each day. Dec. 18 is day six, with rugs 20 percent off. Day seven is chairs 20 percent off, day eight is art 20 percent off, day nine is furniture 20 percent off, day 10 is Christmas items 30 percent off, day 11 is custom paint 20 percent off and day 12 is everything 30 percent off. ➥ E. LEIGH’S also has their own version of the 12 days of Christmas: Dec. 18 is 20 percent off three items, 15 percent off two items, or 10 percent one item; Dec. 19 is 30 percent off all shoes; Dec. 20 is 30 percent off a top with a purchase of a bottom; Dec. 21 is 40 percent off dresses; Dec. 22 is buy one, get one free on all jewelry; and Dec. 23 is 30 percent off sequenced dresses. Advertising Supplement 44
DECEMBER 18, 2014
ARKANSAS TIMES
lead his party: The best thing for America is what is most likely to get Democrats re-elected, even if it is doing nothing. The same arguments were made in 1994, when Democrats suffered a landslide defeat in the midterm elections. The analysts said President Clinton caused the disaster by trying to pass a national health care law when he should have tried instead to pass a tough campaign-finance law, which would have helped Democrats win future elections by de-escalating the big-money surge. In 2008 as in 1992, every Democratic candidate for president promised to overhaul the health-insurance system, which polls consistently showed was a priority with voters. It had been a goal of most presidents of both parties since Franklin Roosevelt. And far from affecting only the very poorest Americans and despite imperfections in drafting the Senate bill that became law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is proving to be good for nearly everyone, nowhere in better multiples than in Arkansas, where people had lower access to medical care and worse outcomes than anywhere in the nation. In spite of efforts by Republicans in Congress, statehouses and the U.S. Supreme Court to render it ineffective, the law in its earliest stages has given access to medical care to 10 million Americans, protected everyone’s coverage for life and helped hold medical spending growth to the lowest level in 54 years. That was one of the objectives of all the Republican presidents who talked about health-care reform and now we have it, if we can keep it. That may not be good politics for Democrats in 2014 but history will credit them.
BRIAN CHILSON
DUMAS, CONT.
EASY BLENDING: Tannerite can be had for around $8 a pound.
exploding target compounds “can be used as an explosive for illicit purposes by criminals and extremists,” adding that as regulations on ammonium nitrate-based fertilizers increase, “motivated criminals and extremists seeking ammonium nitrate for illicit use will be more likely to seek alternative sources, such as [exploding targets].” Pulaski County Chief Deputy Prosecutor John Johnson said the prosecutor’s office doesn’t answer hypothetical questions, so he couldn’t say on the record whether someone who set off a large-scale explosion using exploding target material in Pulaski County would be charged with a crime. He did, however, direct the reporter to the Arkansas state statute dealing with “Causing a Catastrophe,” which says that both using explosives to cause a catastrophe and threatening to use explosives to cause a catastrophe are felonies. Capt. Jason Weaver has been with the Little Rock Fire Department bomb squad for the past six years. He said exploding target materials like Tannerite are considered high explosives, and can easily be turned into a bomb.
IT’S ABOUT BEING WELL.
AND STAYING WELL.
Dr. Bev Foster
Chiropractic Health & Rehab 2701 West Markham Street Little Rock, Arkansas 72205 (501) 371-0152 DrBevFoster.com
ARKANSAS TIMES
2014
B 4 201
OF THE
“It’s dangerous stuff,” he said. “I look for the ATF to regulate it. I don’t know why they haven’t up to this point.” Weaver said that depending on the brand, an explosion can propagate through an exploding target compound at between 8,000 to 20,000 feet per second, meaning that shrapnel from any solid object immediately around the blast — what Weaver called “frag” — will also be moving at close to that speed initially. By contrast, Weaver said the blast from TNT moves at 22,000 to 24,000 feet per second, while most explosives used in earth moving clock in at 8,000 to 17,000 feet per second. Bullets fired by most highpowered rifles travel at around 3,000 feet per second. “It’s up there with some military-grade explosives,” Weaver said. Asked if exploding target materials like Tannerite should be banned for sale to the general public, Weaver said that while the material does have a use in long-range target shooting, it should be regulated, and should include “taggants” that would allow investigators to learn when and where the material was manufactured if it was used in building a bomb. “In my opinion,” Weaver said, “it’s susceptible to abuse. It most definitely could be easily transformed into an improvised explosive device, so I think it should be heavily regulated. I don’t know if they should prohibit the sale, but I think it should be [sold] like they used to do old dynamite: You come in, show your I.D. and you have a certain quantity that you are allowed.” Weaver said that even if a person plans to use an exploding target compound as the manufacturer intended for legal target shooting, the easy availability can convince consumers that the product is much safer than it actually is. “A lot of people think that because they sell it over the counter, that it’s not that dangerous — that if they’ll trust just a regular citizen, it can’t be that stout,” he said. “But everybody I’ve talked to who has used it is really impressed with the effects. They can’t believe the power and the thump that it gives.”
COUNTDOWN TO 2015
New Year’s Eve ANOTHER YEAR is almost in the books and we’re ready to ring in 2015 with a bang! From a quiet dinner to big parties, there’s something for everyone this New Year’s Eve. Check out the happenings at area hot spots in our special Countdown to 2015 feature. Budweiser reminds you to DESIGNATE A DRIVER and enjoy the great times! Remember Designated Drivers need more than a pat on the back for being responsible, so consider buying your DD dinner for keeping the night safe. As always, a taxi is a safe way to travel on New Year’s Eve. GET YOURS BY CALLING 222-2222. ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT ©DOLLAR PHOTO CLUB, YELLOWJ - FOTOLIA ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT www.arktimes.com www.arktimes.com
DECEMBER 18, 2014 DECEMBER 18, 2014
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Cache Restaurant hosts a four-course dinner in the dining room and “The Party at Cache 2015” in the upstairs lounge.
1620 SAVOY
COLONIAL WINE AND SPIRITS
BIG WHISKEY’S
DIZZY’S GYPSY BISTRO
1620 Market St. 221-1620 1620savoy.com Enjoy live music, classic cocktails and a special New Year’s menu by Chef Timothy Morton and his team while ringing in the New Year at 1620 Savoy. This swanky restaurant will be the perfect place to bring in 2015 in style. Reservations are required. Call now to book your spot while openings are still available.
225 E. Markham St. 324-2449 Big Whiskey’s will be open for New Year’s Eve past midnight to celebrate the countdown to 2015 (regular hours are 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.). If you’re headed downtown to pick up your car or are in need of a hearty meal after the previous night’s festivities, they will be open at 11 a.m. on New Year’s Day.
CACHE RESTAURANT
425 President Clinton Ave. 850-0265 cachelittlerock.com facebook.com/cacherestaurantlr.com Toast the New Year and dance the night away at Cache. The dining room will offer a four-course dinner with seating options at 5:30 p.m. or 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $75 per person and provide entry into our signature event – alcohol not included. Call for reservations. The signature event, “The Party at Cache 2015”, is in the upstairs lounge, starts at 8 p.m. and features the music of Party Planet. Tickets for the signature event only are $50 per person and available through the Cache Facebook page. Must be 21 to attend. 46 46
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ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT
11200 W. Markham St. 223-3120 colonialwineandspirits.com facebook.com/colonialwines Stock up on your pre-party and after-party supplies with the best selection and the friendliest staff in town. Make sure to see owner Clark Trim’s personal recommendations for your party supplies in the following pages.
200 River Market Ave. 375-3500 dizzysgypsybistro.net facebook.com/dizzysgypsybistro Dizzy’s Gypsy Bistro will be bringing in the New Year with good ole Southern comfort food and happy hour all night long. Enjoy smoked spiral cut ham, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole and cornbread as you count down to midnight. Don’t forget to try one of the spicy black-eyed pea “shooters” for good luck in 2015. The celebration begins at 5 p.m. with the special New Year’s Eve food and cocktails menu. Bring your best or most absurd resolution with you for the chance to win a $100 gift certificate. Stop in and start your new year off right.
THE DOUBLETREE HOTEL
424 West Markham St. 372-4371 The DoubleTree Hotel is just walking distance away from the River Market. So after you are done ringing in the New Year, don’t drink and drive — be safe and get a room downtown starting at just $109.99. Call today! 372-4371.
DUGAN’S PUB
401 E. Third St. 244-0541 duganspublr.com Dugan’s Pub will have the Shannon Boshears Band with no cover. Enjoy dinner specials while you’re enjoying the music. Be sure to stay for the champagne toast at midnight. Make sure your 2015 is full of luck! On New Year’s Day, they’re serving up black-eyed peas and cornbread for every order until they’re gone on a first come, first served basis.
THE EMPRESS OF LITTLE ROCK BED AND BREAKFAST
2120 Louisiana St. (Quapaw Quarter) 374-7966 theempress.com Skip the noise and noisemakers and attend the “Victorian Affair”Wine Dinner Dance at The Empress of Little Rock. Plans are for an evening inspired by “Downton Abbey” with food, wine, dancing and entertainment. The chef will prepare four, elegant courses paired with hand-selected wines from the wine sommelier. Period attire is requested, but not required. The event is black tie and begins at 8 p.m. Seating is limited. Call to make reservations early for this exclusive event.
ERNIE BIGGS
307 President Clinton Ave. 372-4782 Count down to 2015 at Little Rock’s favorite piano bar. Ernie Biggs is throwing a New Year’s Eve party featuring their dueling pianos downstairs and the party continues upstairs. Get there early since the cover charge will go up as the events start to fill up. Call for more information.
FLYING SAUCER
323 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-8032 Celebrate Brew Year’s Eve at Flying Saucer with live music by Rodge Arnold and a champagne toast at midnight. Plus, enjoy drink specials all night. The party starts at 9 p.m. and is free for UFO Members and $10 for non-UFO members. Reserve a four-person table for $40.
GRAFFITI’S
7811 Cantrell Rd. 224-9079 littlerockgraffitis.net Celebrate 30 years of Italian cuisine with a stylish New Year’s Eve dinner at Graffiti’s. Fantastic dinner specials will be available and their cocktail menu will get you in the spirit of the new year so make your reservations now.
JONES BROS POOL TABLE
309 W. Broadway NLR, AR 72114 Since 1924 Jones Brothers Pool Tables has been a part of Billiards. From the moment you walk into our store, you’ll see many different ways you can make fun a part of your life. Our showroom is filled with the best selection of quality pool tables and games in Arkansas. Plus, we carry the accessories, art, and furniture to make it all feel right at home. Be sure to check out their pool tables at some our your favorite local hangouts like The Hillcrest Fountain and West End Smokehouse & Tavern this New Year’s Eve.
LITTLE ROCK MARRIOTT
Three Statehouse Plaza 906-4000 facebook.com/littlerockmarriott Bring on 2015 at Little Rock’s newest New Year’s Eve celebration at the Marriott featuring Tragikly White, dueling pianos, a disco and dueling DJ’s in the lobby. Cash bars will also be all over the hotel. Tickets are $50 in advance in the gift shop or $65 at the door, 21+.
O’LOONEY’S WINE & LIQUOR
3 Rahling Rd. at Chenal Parkway 821-4669 If you’re more into having a house party or get-together instead of a night on the town, the folks at O’Looney’s can get you stocked with all the necessities. They have excellent pricing and offer case discounts on wine and champagne. Jonathan Looney, owner, offers this advice: “My desert island wine? Bubbles. Champagne. Sparkling, Brut, Extra Dry, Demi-Sec. Cava. Sekt. Cremant. Prosecco. Doesn’t matter where they’re from, just that they’re good. And cold. Ask me? Bubbles are where its at, at holiday and everyday.” #theeverydaysommelier
REV ROOM
300 President Clinton Ave. 823-0090 revroom.com Ring in the New Year with live music at Rev Room with Arkansas’s ultimate party band, Boom Kinetic with Barrett Baber, winner of the CBS GRAMMY Gig of a Lifetime 2014. The party gets underway at 9 p.m. where in addition to the music, you’ll enjoy party favors, door prizes and a champagne toast at midnight. Tickets are $20 in advance and are on sale now. Call 823-0090 for pre-show dinner reservations.
RIVER MARKET
400 Pressident Clinton Ave. 376-4781 Make Holidays in the Park part of your New Year’s Eve experience in the River Market. What better way to celebrate with friends than by taking a stroll through the light show getting fantastic photos of your revelry. Shows are free from 5-10 p.m. through Jan. 3 on the stage of First Security Amphitheater. Visit holidaysinlittlerock.com for additional information on all New Year’s events in the Rivermarket.
CELEBRATE NEW YEAR’S EVE WITH US!
Complimentary shuttle until 2am to all the downtown hotspots and complimentary breakfast the next morning. With two award winning restaurants on property, an amazing dinner is just steps away. BOOK YOUR ROOM TODAY!
1-800-WYNDHAM
SPRINGHILL WINE AND SPIRITS
4281 McCain Blvd., NLR 945-5153 springhillwineandspirits.com A New Year’s Eve party stop destination is Springhill Wine and Spirits. Get everything you need to get the night started right. They even carry pre-mixed shots that are a great way to get you in the party mood. They carry a wide variety of liquors, beer, wine and mixers. They will be open regular hours on New Year’s Eve from 9 a.m. to midnight.
STICKYZ ROCK ‘N’ ROLL CHICKEN SHACK
107 River Market Ave. 372-7707 stickyz.com Head down to the River Market for live rock music by Little Rock’s Four on the Floor with very special guests. Revelers in the Lyric Lounge can dance to the tunes of a live DJ. Each attendee will receive a complimentary gift package. Enjoy party favors and a champagne toast at midnight. The party gets going at 9 p.m. Advance tickets are on sale now for $10. Call 3727707 for more information.
STRATTON’S MARKET
405 E. Third St. 791-6700 Planning a party? Come to Stratton’s Market for all your New Year’s party supplies. Check out their wine wall and
HAPPY NEW YEAR AND BE SAFE! Budweiser reminds you to DESIGNATE A DRIVER and enjoy the great times! Remember Designated Drivers need more than a pat on the back for being responsible, so consider buying your DD dinner for keeping the night safe. As always, a taxi is a safe way to travel on New Year’s Eve. GET YOURS BY CALLING 222-2222. ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT www.arktimes.com www.arktimes.com
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stay in a King Suite on New Year’s Eve, dinner for two in Table 28, breakfast for two and a late checkout on Jan. 1. Call 224-8051 to make New Year’s Reservations for dinner and/or the Burgundy Hotel package.
WHITE WATER TAVERN
2500 W. 7th St. 501-375-8400 whitewatertavern.com In the mood to just enjoy your neighborhood watering hole as you ring in 2015? Look no further than White Water Tavern and its New Year’s Eve featuring Cory Branan with Tyler Childers. Admission is $10 and they will be open their regular hours from 2 p.m. to 2 a.m. Â
WYNDHAM HOTEL
Celebrate New Year’s Eve by reserving the hot tub suite at the Wyndham Hotel. spirits collection. From gourmet cheeses and meats, they will have exactly what you need to kick off 2015.
TABLE 28
1501 Merrill Dr. 224-2828 facebook.com/Table28 If you’re looking for a romantic way to ring in 2015, head to Table 28 at the Burgundy Hotel. Executive
Chef Scott Rains has planned a lavish five-course meal, with a twist for New Year’s Eve. Choose from 21 items in five separate categories like Hot, Not, A Little, A Lot More and the Drop the Ball dessert portion. Enjoy live entertainment by the Ted Ludwig Jazz Trio from 7-10 p.m. Pricing is $75 per person; tax and gratuity not included. Add to the evening with a stay in one of the custom-designed suites at the Burgundy Hotel. The full package is $249 plus tax and includes a one night
2 Riverfront Dr. North Little Rock 501-371-9000 Celebrate New Year’s Eve with the Wyndham. They will have a complimentary shuttle until 2 a.m. to all the downtown hot spots and complimentary breakfast the next morning. With two award-winning restaurants on the property, an amazing dinner is just steps away. Book your room for NYE today. Rooms are filling up fast. For more information, contact The Wyndham at 1-800-WYNDHAM.
Happy New Year
Get all your shopping done at the *Last Minute Shopping Dash* Sunday 12/21/14 10am – 7pm Gene Moss Bldg., Tyndall Park, Benton FREE ADMISSION Door Prizes
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New Year’s Eve‌Empress Style Join us New Year’s Eve for a
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"/ Ĺ? ) ,
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Jonesbrospooltables.com 48 48
DECEMBER 18, 2014 DECEMBER 18, 2014
ARKANSAS TIMES ARKANSAS TIMES
Table Tennis
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Poker Tables
“Downton Abbey�
Wine Dinner Dance hosted by Sharon Welch-Blair and Bob Blair. Book your reservations now for this annual New Year’s Eve “Victorian Affairâ€?! Known as one of the top New Years Eve events in Central Arkansas, The Empress of Little Rock will host an evening of food, wine, dancing, entertainment, excitement and the beginning of the New Year in a Downton Abbey experience. More information at www.theempress.com 2120 Louisiana St. • 501.374.7966
Phillip Kokinos of Springhill Wine and Spirits can help you find the right wines for your party at their tasting bar.
GET IN THE
SPIRIT
OF GIVING!
champagne ch hampagne toast @ midnight
LOOK FOR YOUR CO PY IN THIS WEEK’S ISSUE !
live music by
rodge arnold
PERFECT
STOCKING STUFFERS PAGE 8
ADD SOME
SPARKLE
HOLIDAY
SPIRITS
PAGE 6
PAGE 2
DRINK SPECIALS SPECIA IALS & PARTY FAVORS
CELEBRATE
WINE PAGES 3-5
COLONIAL WINE S & SPIRITS • W WW W.. C O L O N I A LW
11200 West Markham Street | 501-223-3120 www.colonialwineshop.com | facebook.com/colonialwines
TABLE RESERVATIONS $40 FOR 4 PERSON TABLE
I N E S H O P. P COM
323 PRESIDENT CLINTON AVE., 72201 (501)372-8032 BEERKNURD.COM ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT www.arktimes.com www.arktimes.com
DECEMBER 18, 2014 DECEMBER 18, 2014
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L i t tle Ro ck M a r r i o t t
Ballroom Bash Gu estro o m Package s s t art in g a t Ind i v idual t icke t s
$50 each
$229
G rand Ballro o m at Lit t le Rock M a r r i o tt fr o m
9pm – 2am
Entertainment: Dave Rasico Dueling Pianos and Th e Big John M ille r B a n d
Midnight Breakfast in t he Ballroom Fo ye r E V E N T O N LY T ICK E T S G o t o : w w w . t i ck e t w e b.com a n d en t e r “L i t t l e Ro ck B a l l r o o m B ash” Gu es tr o o m P ack ag e s IN CL U DIN G 2 T i cke ts Go t o : w w w . m ar r i o t t .co m / l i t p b
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DECEMBER 18, 2014
ARKANSAS TIMES
RING IN THE NEW YEAR
RIVE R M A RK E T PLAY STAY
Make HOLIDAYS IN THE PARK part of Your NYE experience in the
FREE SHOWS
EAT
in the
RIVER MARKET.
from 5pm until 10pm through January 3rd on the stage of First Security Amphitheater.
For information on all things NYE, visit www.HolidaysInLittleRock.com
SHANNON BOSHEARS BAND NO COVER DINNER SPECIALS
STRATTON’S S T TRATTON’S RATTON S Market M arket
Fine Wine
Spirits s
FOR ALL OF YOUR NEW YEARS EVE SUPPLIES!
Dizzy’s Gypsy Bistro will be ringing in the New Year with good ole deep-south comfort food and happy hour all night long. They will be serving smoked spiral cut ham, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole and cornbread. Don’t forget to try one of the spicy black-eyed pea “shooters” for good luck in 2015. The celebration begins at 5 p.m. with the special New Years Eve food and cocktails menu. Bring your best or most absurd NYE resolution with you for the chance to win $100 gift certificate. Stop in and start your new year off right. 200 S. RIVER MARKET AVE, STE. 150, • dizzygypsybistro.net • facebook.com/DizzysGypsyBistro
501.375.3500
NEW YEAR’S EVE INFO! REV ROOM
Arkansas’ Ultimate Party Band BOOM KINETIC with Barrett Baber (winner of CBS’ “GRAMMY Gig of a Lifetime 2014”)
$20 advance tickets on sale now 9pm Party Favors, Door Prizes & Champagne Toast Call 501-823-0090 for Preshow Dinner Reservations
300 President Clinton Ave. • revroom.com
The Party At CACHE with
PARTY PLANET
Toast the New Year and dance the night away at Cache!
The dining room will offer a 4-course dinner with seating options at 5:30pm or 8:30pm Tickets are $75 per person and provide entry into our signature event - alcohol not included CALL FOR RESERVATIONS The upstairs lounge will host our signature event starting at 8:00pm THE PARTY AT CACHE FEATURING THE MUSIC OF PARTY PLANET Tickets are $50 per person and available through the Cache Facebook page • Must be 21 to attend #CacheNYE2015 501-850-0265 | 425 President Clinton Ave. | Little Rock, AR 72201 | cachelittlerock.com
STICKYZ ROCK’N’ROLL CHICKEN SHACK
Live Rock Music by Little Rock’s FOUR ON THE FLOOR and very special guests plus Live DJ in the Lyric Lounge Complimentary Gift Package for Each Attendee Party Favors and Champagne at Midnight $10 advance tickets on sale now 9pm Call 501-372-7707 for more information
107 River Market Ave. • stickyz.com
DON’T DRINK RINK & DRIVE! ROOMS START AT $110 WALKINGG DISTANCE TO THE RIVER VER MARKET!
424 WEST MARKHAM • (501) 372-4371 • WWW.DOUBLETREELR.COM
www.arktimes.com
DECEMBER 18, 2014
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hearsay ➥ Are you buying for a gentleman that likes ties with meaning? Then check out the Arkansas Children’s Hospital tie for sale at GREENHAW’S MEN’S WEAR – it’s decorated with the handprints of some of the smallest patients. Proceeds go to benefit ACH.
LAST MINUTE GIFT IDEAS
It’s getting down to yhe wire on holiday shopping. Visit these retailers to finish up those last minute shopping needs.
Jones Brothers Pool Tables
➥ Select fall and winter pants are marked down 40 percent at VESTA’S and outerwear and boots are on sale for up to 50 percent off. ➥ Stop by B. BARNETT on Dec. 18 and see La Petit Robe by di Chiara Boni spring 2015 trunk show. ➥ T H E G O OD E A RT H GARDEN CENTER has all Christmas décor marked down 20%. They also have gifts, and not just for the gardeners on your list. They can also wrap them in beautiful gift bags, as well as creating custom gift baskets filled with gorgeous gift options from local artists. ➥ SOUTHERN ACCENTED’S CHRISTMAS sale is underway, with racks of clothing priced $15, $30 and $60. ➥ WHITE GOAT’S Little Rock and Conway locations are hosting a 12 days of Christmas sale, with different specials each day. Dec. 18 is day six, with rugs 20 percent off. Day seven is chairs 20 percent off, day eight is art 20 percent off, day nine is furniture 20 percent off, day 10 is Christmas items 30 percent off, day 11 is custom paint 20 percent off and day 12 is everything 30 percent off. ➥ E. LEIGH’S also has their own version of the 12 days of Christmas: Dec. 18 is 20 percent off three items, 15% off two items, or 10% one item; Dec. 19 is 30 percent off all shoes; Dec. 20 is 30 percent off a top with a purchase of a bottom; Dec. 21 is 40 percent off dresses; Dec. 22 is buy one, get one free on all jewelry; and Dec. 23 is 30 percent off sequined dresses.
Krebs Shown in photo, from left to right: Govino Flutes are shatterproof, reusable and recyclable. They will impress any guest and save you time from cleaning up any broken glass mishaps. This In-Bottle Wine Aerator by soireehome is perfect for any wine connoisseur. The Tempour all-in-one perfect pourer filters and chills! It also serves as a stopper enhancer. Save the leftover champagne with Capa Bubbles. They’re caps to keep the bubbles fresh and feature clever sayings like “I really earned it!” and “Brunch”. Capa Bunga wine cap and reseal lets you savor for wine for longer even if you’re “Naughty” or “Nice”. 4310 Landers Rd., NLR » 687.1331 krebsbrothers.com
DECEMBER 18, 2014 DECEMBER 18, 2014
ARKANSAS TIMES ARKANSAS TIMES
309 W. Broadway, NLR » 372.0168 jonesbrospooltables.com
Smart Event Managers Ozark Outdoor Supply
LAST MINUTE SHOPPING DASH Want to finish your holiday shopping in one “Last Minute Shopping Dash?” Join us Sunday, Dec. 21, at the Gene Moss Building at Benton’s Tyndall Park from 10 a.m.-7 p.m. for loads of shopping fun. Buy wow-worthy gifts for everyone on your list from one of the many local vendor booths. Admission is free and there will be pictures with Santa, door prizes, raffles and more. This event is FUN for the whole family! 517.1173 or 249.1913 smarteventmanagers.com facebook.com/smarteventmanager
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No New Year’s Eve bash is complete without your very own dart board. Jones Brothers Pool Tables has a variety of dart boards and darts to choose from. They make the perfect gift to finish up gift lists and get prepared for New Year’s Eve festivities. Stop in to see the full selection.
ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT
ARKANSAS NATIV ECO FLEECE HOODIE The softest, most comfortable stylish hoodie, the Arkansas-based line Nativ fulfills their vision of providing high quality relaxed apparel featuring unique original designs inspired by The Natural State. Although, sold out in most locations, you can find this and many other great gifts for all outdoor enthusiasts at Ozark Outdoor Supply. 5514 Kavanaugh Blvd. » 664.4832 ozarkoutdoor.com
Colonial Wine and Spirits Your holiday wine and spirits headquarters Look for the Colonial Gift Guide in this issue of the Arkansas Times!
Clark Trim, owner
CALERA CENTRAL COAST PINOT NOIR Smooth and supple, it’s perfect with a wide range of foods.
FONT VILLAC SAINT EMILION Enjoy now! It has robust dark fruit and berry with very soft tannin.
PASCAL JOLIVET SANCERE A wine of style marked by richness, elegance and smoothness.
LANDMARK OVERLOOK CHARDONNAY An artfully selected blend of grapes from the finest vineyards in California.
11200 W. Markham St. » 501-223-3120 Colonialwineandspirits.com » Facebook.com/ColonialWines
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DECEMBER 18, 2014 DECEMBER 18, 2014
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STILL THE BEST, CONT.
Q&A: LET’S TALK FIGURES, CONT. and to record in the world-class LTF Studios, located in scenic Fayetteville, Arkansas. Describe the following artists using only three words: Comfortable Brother: corduroy, paradigm, beefcake High Lonesome: literate, literal, antebellum Alaskan Firedog: upset, Kanye West Devin Nu Phlo: alien, reelest, Shinobi LRG: Hollywood, vocoder, phasometer Bob For Apples: vanity, vexation, selfie PZA: pizza pizza pizza Virtual High School: か冷舌 Who were the Ronald Rayguns? The Ronald Rayguns were a troupe of actors, swindlers, con men and shit-kickers who lied, stole and cheated their way into a record contract with LTF. Their meteoric career saw them rise to the heights of the greater Central Arkansas music scene. Playing esteemed venues such as George’s Majestic Lounge, The Great Thurberdome and the 27th annual African Methodist Episcopal Big Tent Healing and Revival Meeting, the Rayguns were well on their way to being international bestsellers. Controversy swirled around the band after the release of a song about state Sen. Jason Rapert. But the fame and booze quickly went to their heads. With the disappearance of the singer and organ player The Rev. Matthias Duncan, the fans were left with nothing but a hangover and the Rayguns album, “Pax Rayguna.” No one is completely sure about the band members’ whereabouts, although there have been rumors of sightings in places as far away as Chicago; Burbank, Calif., and the Nomad’s Food Truck. What’s next for LTF? In #2015ReturnToFamilyValues, Let’s Talk Figures is looking to expand our event horizons, penetrate new frontiers and diversify our portfolio. With a focus on synergy, we are actively reaching out to new consumer markets, and utilizing social media to bring the fans Into The Minds of Let’s Talk Figures artists. In the months to come you can expect new releases from Comfortable Brother, Waterguns, Pablo Luke, Dividend, Virtual High School and many more! 54
DECEMBER 18, 2014
ARKANSAS TIMES
and contemporary variety rather than the old-money dandy sort. Still, this is unquestionably an improvement, bright and open, an inviting space to relax and indulge in decadent offerings. More importantly, the food does not disappoint. Ashley’s under Richardson perhaps had more of a distinctive style, often employing the Dixie gourmet edge (fancy takes on the familiar) that has become an art form in Richardson’s native New Orleans. Antunes has slightly toned down the Southern vibe at One Eleven, though there are still touches here and there (the shrimp and grits ($14) is a nice rendition featuring tangy-creamy grits and tender cubes of spicy sausage). The large menu is varied and cosmopolitan, with influences from Europe, Asia and New American cuisine. It’s set up to be friendly to locals out for a nice occasion or tourists passing through the hotel, a kind of greatest hits of high-end choices. Call it around-the-First-World. The appetizers include a number of showstoppers. In case you’re the sort turned off by beets from being subjected to the grubby canned variety as a child, trust us: The organic beetroot salad ($13) is a revelation. Baby beets of various colors were served around burrata, a semisoft Italian cheese made from mozzarella. The lovely citrus dressing popped with robust flavor, accenting the punchy, almost tropical zip of the beets. The warm octopus salad ($14) was another treasure. Succulent pieces of octopus, roasted almonds, sundried tomatoes and artichoke hearts were placed around a delightful almond puree. The arrangement was swimming in a shallot dressing with a citrus kick (less sweet than the dressing for the beet salad; one of Antunes’ gifts is a few repeated notes here and there that give the menu a kind of thematic unity, but each effort is distinct). Various other classic high-end starters are on offer. There are Oysters Rockefeller ($18), the famous New Orleans indulgence. Antunes’ version hits the mark with luscious Maine oysters encased in a subtly flavored but exuberantly creamy baked topping. If oysters are an aphrodisiac, this is quite the showcase: It’s a heavenly sensory thrill as the outer crisp breaks gently to the tangy and herbal mayonnaise-and-olive-oil filling and finally the oyster within as exclamation point (an order comes with six, perfect for sharing with a big party, as just one is quite rich). The house-smoked salmon with dill dressing ($14) is also excellent — buttery, flavorful, delicate — and is served with pickled cucumbers and espresso mustard. Those might sound a bit strange, but they turn out to be a wonderful combination with the fish: rich, clean and complex.
Here we see Antunes at his best: simple flavors but never one-note, subtly sneaking in combinations that sing together. One nit to pick: The brioche toast that came with the salmon was a bit heavy and tended to overpower the delicate fish. Skip the bread or ask for crackers. And sorry PETA, but we had to try the foie gras ($16). It was perfectly seared, each bite the sort of luxury that almost feels otherworldly — exquisitely lush and fatty, yet somehow also light. It’s a melt-in-yourmouth distillation of gamey flavor. Many of Antunes’ entrees are served with an array of fresh vegetables and a sauce beneath — a simple arrangement that yields rich flavors and surprising complexities. Take the seared diver scallops ($26) we sampled on a recent visit. The scallops were perfectly cooked, with the most gentle resistance to the bite (it’s always a boon to find a place that does scallops right — is there any food with such a clearer line between divine and disaster?). They were served with pillowy gnocchi, zesty sundried tomatoes, zucchini, artichoke hearts and lima beans. What really sent the dish over the moon was the tomato-based sauce, made with chicken stock, brown sugar and anchovies — aromatic and sweet, with a jarring and punchy bite. The pulse of the savory flavors was a wonderful surprise, and enriched the vegetables so that familiar flavors felt fresh and new. Antunes’ knack for coaxing interesting flavors out of simply prepared vegetables was likewise on display in the roast chicken breast confit ($16) we sampled for lunch. The sweet, juicy pop of a shallot (almost fruity), fully immersed in the fatty sauce was unforgettable. Do we have praise songs for shallots? We should, apparently. Antunes is a kind of wizard in this way, finding maximal possibility in the familiar and avenues for adventure in simplicity. In every dish, little treasures abound, and the attentive diner enjoys some culinary detective work: Was that an apricot? Were those truffle flakes? Was that a little flower of fennel? The plating is immaculate and playful. What a treat, for example, to find every tiny mushroom arranged stem up around the roast halibut with potato gnocci ($29), a delicious and perfectly executed arrangement over an earthy broth, with a miniature pitcher of velvety redwine-butter sauce to pour on top. Not every entree we sampled was a home run. The Berkshire pork with orecchiette pasta and chorizo ($23) and the roast duck breast with figs and gnocchi romaine ($26) were both quite good, but the meat was a bit chewy and the brown sauces were well made but not memorable. Still, the vegetables were a perfectly
selected medley. The service at One Eleven is now crisper and more efficient and professional than it had been at the tail end of Ashley’s before Antunes arrived. We had a few niggling critiques, of the sort only noticeable at an upscale place — occasional bumbling and a disappointing lack of familiarity with the details of the dishes among a number of servers. To be clear, the service was friendly and attentive but well short of dazzling, which does matter to some diners when they’re spending for a big night out. One of the hallmarks of high-end dining in bigger cities — the sorts of places that One Eleven should aim to compete with — is a breezy professionalism among the servers that primes their customers’ palates with knowledge of the menu and imparts a feeling of smooth confidence. This element (while not an outright problem) remains a work in progress at One Eleven. Management at One Eleven hopes that the restaurant’s new incarnation will attract casual diners and be more than a specialoccasion destination. For most Little Rock residents, color us skeptical, particularly if you’re interested in the restaurant’s excellent and encyclopedic wine list or its exquisite rotation of dessert options (we can’t stop raving about a recent sampling of blueberry tart with honey thyme ice cream), since a night out for two is probably going to be in the range of $200 after drinks and tip. The lunch menu does offer a couple of very good deals; the “express lunch” ($16) pulls together small portions of soup, starter, main course, cheese, bread and dessert served at once; the “3 cocottes” special ($13) offers a three-course sampling of three dishes (the latter was the source of the only dud we’ve experienced at One Eleven: The crab quiche opener was fine, but the fried vermicelli noodles that followed were dull, and the broiled sea bass closer was overwhelmed by an overly sweet sauce). Still, both the atmosphere and the price tag are likely going to be on the high end for the everyday downtown lunch crowd. All that said, the prices at One Eleven are by no means outrageous; if anything, they’re more reasonable than similar restaurants in other cities. The key is food that feels worth the extravagance, and Antunes delivers. At a previous stop in New York, he was criticized for overly busy food, too heavily French-accented. Whatever the merits of those complaints, he won’t be accused of that in Little Rock. He has gone elegant, simple and familiar. And as it turns out, One Eleven fills a needed niche in the rapidly improving Little Rock dining scene: subtle refinement so well executed that it feels spirited and new.
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ARKANSAS TIMES MARKETPLACE ❤ ADOPTION ❤
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Maumelle’s First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
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Misfits Welcome Sunday 10:45 4001 Club Manor Dr (501) 851-8423 www.facebook.com/ fccmaumelle NOTICE OF FILLING APPLICATIONS FOR SMALL FARM WINERY SMALL FARM WINERETAIL PERMIT
Notice is hereby given that the undersigned has files an application with the Alcoholic Beverage Control Division of the State of Arkansas for a permit to sell wine produced at Small Farm Wineries, to be carried out and not consumed on the premises described as: 219 River Market Little Rock 72201. Said application was filed on October 30, 2014. The undersigned states that he/she is a resident of Arkansas, of good moral character; that he/she has never been convicted of a felony or other crime involving moral turpitude; that no license to sell alcoholic beverages by the undersigned has been revoked within five (5) years last past; and, that the undersigned has never been convicted of violating the laws of this State, or any other State, relative to the sale of controlled beverages. Name of Applicant: Margaret J Raimondo. Name of Business: Raimondo Winery LLC. Sworn to before me this 8th day of December, 2014. Linda L. Phillips, Notary Public. My commission Expires: September 28, 2016. #12350768.
ARKANSAS TIMES
C U S T O M F U R N I T U R E tommy@tommyfarrell.com ■ 501.375.7225
NOTICE OF FILLING APPLICATIONS FOR SMALL FARM WINERYMANUFACTURER AND SMALL FARM WINERYWHOLESALE PERMITS
Notice is hereby given that the undersigned has files an application with the Alcoholic Beverage Control Division of the State of Arkansas for permits to manufacture and sell wine at wholesale on the premises described as: 3021 East Broadway, North Little Rock 72114. Said application was filed on October 30, 2014. The undersigned states that he/ she is a resident of Arkansas, of good moral character; that he/she has never been convicted of a felony or other crime involving moral turpitude; that no license to sell alcoholic beverages by the undersigned has been revoked within five (5) years last past; and, that the undersigned has never been convicted of violating the laws of this State, or any other State, relative to the sale of controlled beverages. Name of Applicant: Margaret J Raimondo. Name of Business: Raimondo Winery LLC. Sworn to before me this 8th day of December, 2014. Linda L. Phillips, Notary Public. My commission Expires: September 28, 2016. #12350768.
DIG ITA L A DV E R TIS IN G SA L ES M A N AGE R / D I GI TA L GU R U
Arkansas Times is looking for a digital sales manager to oversee the day-to-day operations of all revenue-generating parts of our media group. Job duties include training, motivating and supervising salespeople; creating and overseeing the development of new sales products; overseeing our 5-year-old social media sales division, and providing strategic guidance for all things digital. Candidates should be fluent in analytics, social media and general web trends. Arkansas Times media includes our flagship, a 40-year-old weekly with one of the strongest web outputs in the alt-media community; El Latino, a Spanish-language weekly; Savvy, a moms-focused weekly; Arkansas Wild, a outdoors quarterly, and Food and Farm, a magazine published four times a year that matches farmers and producers with restaurants and consumers. Monetizing or growing revenue in display advertising, sponsored content/native ads, enewsletters, videos, digital subscriptions, podcasts, quizzes, surveys and archival content are among the specific areas on which the digital sales manager would focus.
ARKANSAS TIMES
Please email publisher Alan Leveritt at alan@arktimes.com and tell him about yourself.
www.arktimes.com
DECEMBER 18, 2014
55
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DECEMBER 18, 2014
ARKANSAS TIMES
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