Arkansas Times - February 01, 2018 by Arkansas Times

PROGRESS MADE. STILL WORK TO BE DONE.

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FEBRUARY 1, 2018

ARKANSAS TIMES

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VOLUME 44, NUMBER 22

ARKANSAS TIMES (ISSN 0164-6273) is published each week by Arkansas Times Limited Partnership, 201 East Markham Street, Suite 200, Little Rock, Arkansas, 72201, phone (501) 375-2985. Periodical postage paid at Little Rock, Arkansas, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to ARKANSAS TIMES, 201 EAST MARKHAM STREET, SUITE 200, Little Rock, AR, 72201. Subscription prices are $150 for one year. For subscriber service call (501) 375-2985. Current singlecopy price is 75¢, free in Pulaski County. Single issues are available by mail at $2.50 each, postage paid. Payment must accompany all single-copy orders. Reproduction or use in whole or in part of the contents without the written consent of the publishers is prohibited. Manuscripts and artwork will not be returned or acknowledged unless sufficient return postage and a self-addressed stamped envelope are included. All materials are handled with due care; however, the publisher assumes no responsibility for care and safe return of unsolicited materials. All letters sent to ARKANSAS TIMES will be treated as intended for publication and are subject to ARKANSAS TIMES’ unrestricted right to edit or to comment editorially.

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COMMENT

Brother’s keeper

I read the article “Lock Up Last” (Jan. 11). Thanks for all the information on a good program. It made me angry that no increase in funds had been given in 20 years. Dedicated staff persons, judges and probation officers have helped many youths. I commend each of them for their service to build better individuals with personal attention and guidance. Benton and Washington counties have large corporate offices that could contribute to the entire system. All would benefit greatly. State legislators have the ability to request additional funds, too. Be your brother’s keeper for his 4

FEBRUARY 1, 2018

ARKANSAS TIMES

End of FEMA?

Hurricane season wrapped up by the end of November. The last days to file Federal Emergency Management Agency claims for hurricane damage by Hurricane Irma were in November. So now that hurricane season is over it is time once again for Republicans

CENTER

in Congress to try to cut funding for FEMA before hurricane season starts again at the end of May. Why do Republicans want to cut FEMA? The main reason is because Republicans hate President Carter, the Democrat who ushered in the new agency back in 1979. Republicans hate Carter because his attempt to rescue a bunch of American hostages from Iran was thwarted when one of Carter’s rescue choppers hit an airplane. Anyway, the pertinent reason is because Carter expanded bureaucracy by creating another

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FEBRUARY 22-24

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The SHOT Show (Shoot ing, Hunt ing a nd Outdoor Trade) recently took place in Las Vegas, despite the fact that 58 people were murdered and 851 were injured in a mass shooting there mere months ago. It seems in poor taste. Even more distasteful was the fact that Arkansas Governor Hutchinson attended to help gun manufacturers dr um up more customers. But there’s no need to worry about the safety of Hutchinson or the gun dealers in Vegas. It’s not just gun safety advocates who know that guns don’t make us safer; these firearm manufacturers know it, too. The SHOT Show was practically a gunfree zone. Per their website, “NO personal firearms or ammunition allowed. Only firearms on display by exhibitors whose firing pins have been removed (and have been inspected by SHOT Show Safety Advisors) will be permitted on the show f loor.” These firearms experts are happy to make money off of our tragedies, but clearly know better than to put themselves in the line of fire. It’s appalling that our governor signed a bill in 2017 allowing loaded guns into bars and on our college campuses, which are two of the very last places guns should ever be. And it’s even more appalling that Hutchinson enjoyed a level of safety and peace of mind at the SHOT Show that he is denying to public college students in our state. Has there ever been a more blatant display of hypocrisy? Austin Bailey Little Rock

son or daughter. He would do the same for you. Giving a hand up enriches each soul. A nita Gatzke Little Rock

Hypocrisy

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federal agency that wrested control of disaster funding from the hands of Congress. Why is FEMA so important? Sometimes, legislators such as U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton vote against disaster relief. Cotton voted against relief for Superstorm Sandy back in 2013. Congressman French Hill recently voted against relief for hurricane victims in Puerto Rico. FEMA is a more reliable source of relief than Congress. But all good things must end, and so it may be with FEMA. Republicans are hot to eliminate the agency. Arkansan James Lee Witt said, “As director of FEMA, I responded to 350 presidential disaster declarations. Disaster responses are about people, not politics.” Gene M ason Jacksonville

An analogy

Recently I had what NPR calls a driveway moment listening to a young lady named Joy Buolamwin t a l k i ng w it h Guy R a z about facial recognition and skin color. Buolamwin is a graduate researcher at the MIT Media Lab. Two years earlier she was experimenting with artificial intelligence and facial recognition. She discovered that the software was not able to identify her black face. Only when she put on a white mask did the computer respond. Why didn’t the computer detect her face? As Buolamwin explained, computer vision uses m ach i ne -lea r n i ng t e ch n ique s and the training was done with a set of faces that were not diverse, preventing detection in some cases. Buolamwin returned recently from Hong Kong, where she toured local startups, one of which used a social robot outfitted with facial recognition. Imagine her feeling when the demo worked on everyone in the group except her. It seems the software has not been improved. The main thrust of the interview was to point out the problems as police departments add facial recognition to their crime-fighting toolbox. But possibly misidentifying criminals was not what kept me sitting in my truck until the story ended. The following analogy was playing in my brain. Little Rock schools are as deficient as facial identification software. They lack diversity and we seem hell-bent on keeping them that way. The lack

of diversity causes skewed results just as it does in computer facial recognition. Common sense and experience tell one that rejection hurts deeply. Rejecting thousands of our little children causes harm, sometimes lasting, to their self-image and heavily influences behavior. We have gone out of our way to create places for preferred children to attend school while turning our backs on thousands of others, forcing them to go where told. That cruel, harmful mindset prevents diversity a nd helps form the ca lloused, criminal minds of some youth. Not long ago a man holding the highest religious office in Arkansas gave a sermon praising parochial schools. He inserted “pagan” for the word “public” when he used the phrase “public schools.” For example, he was proud to tell everyone how far he rode his bike past the “pagan schools” to get to his parochial school when he was a child. Sadly, he showed no remorse when confronted at the end of the service. Consider the thinking of an esteemed social activist living over 2,000 years ago and ask what he would do for the children in Little Rock. He would

say, “Merge the private schools with public schools in such a way so as not to traumatize anyone during the process. Keep children together for as long as possible in the best facilities possible and above all with the best educators possible. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.” (Romans 12:16) R ichard Emmel Little Rock

An open letter to President Trump News reports state that in a recent meeting you wondered aloud why so many people interested in immigrating to the United States are from countries that do not even have a modern sewage system and public restrooms with actual toilets. Why, you reportedly asked, does not the United States have more immigrants from nations like Norway? Persons from nations dreadfully impoverished by overpopulation, Western colonialism and corruption in their own governments are eager to escape their indescribably dire

circumstances. For about 125 years, the world has perceived the United States as the place to do that. In your father’s lifetime, even countries like Norway were sufficiently uncomfortable and lacking in opportunities for betterment that many people left. However, in the past 100 years the Norwegians have made many improvements, so many that there is reason to question whether the United States could possibly offer a better quality of life. And, in fact, the United States no longer can. Beginning with Ronald Reagan’s presidency, government policies have impelled the United States toward overpopulation, colonialism (by global corporations) and corruption in government setting her on a slippery slope to misery, rather soon to become commensurate with that of the nations you derided. Please, seek answers to this very important question you have asked. Pamela Gibson Little Rock

From the web

In response to an Arkansas Blog post about Sen. Tom Cotton telling constituents to never contact him

again: I have never heard of an elected government official sending out cease and desist letters to the people who elected him to office and whose salary, insurance, etc. Arkansas taxpayers foot the bill for. Also, when disabled people showed up at his office in Little Rock and Washington, D.C., with questions about health care, he gave orders to his office to have them arrested by the police. Why hasn’t Tom trained his office staff to answer constituents’ questions on the phone or in person? They could read off a script he types up for them. I don’t think Tom has plans to come back to Arkansas. Maybe we could withhold his paycheck until he learns some manners. Not much of a threat since he now works for big donors with big money. I just wish he didn’t have Arkansas attached to his name. Now that FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is retiring early, does that leave an opening for Tom? I have read five different reasons for McCabe leaving. ShineOnLibby

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WEEK THAT WAS

Quote of the week

“I want to come home to a homecooked dinner at six every night, one that she fixes and one that I expect one day to have daughters learn to fix after they become traditional homemakers and family wives — think Norman Rockwell here and Gloria Steinem be damned. … I want daughters to have their own intelligence, their own dignity, their own workspace and their own degrees; I want them to build home-based enterprises and live in homes shared with good husbands and I don’t want them to grow up into career-obsessed banshees who forego home life and children and the happiness of family to become nailbiting manophobic hell-bent feminist she-devils who shriek from the tops of a thousand tall buildings they think they could have leaped over in a single bound — had men not [been] ‘suppressing them.’ ” Arkansas native Courtland Sykes, a former staffer for Republican 4th District Rep. Bruce Westerman and a candidate for U.S. Senate in Missouri. Sykes’ statement was in response to the question, “Do you favor Women’s Rights?” and was posted on his Facebook page.

Files pleads guilty to federal charges

State Sen. Jake Files, 45, a Fort Smith Republican, pleaded guilty in federal court to charges of wire fraud, 6

FEBRUARY 1, 2018

ARKANSAS TIMES

bank fraud and money laundering, and resigned his Senate seat Monday. Files’ plea related to misuse of General Improvement Fund money appropriated by the legislature and pledging a forklift he did not own as collateral for a $56,700 bank loan. Court documents say Files misspent state GIF money designated for a sports complex at Fort Smith that his construction company was supposed to build but never completed. He admitted falsifying bids for a water line on that project that was awarded to an employee. The employee said she gave Files the money and he used it to pay workers of his construction company as well as keeping some for himself. Criminal charges had been expected. Files’ financial troubles were well known. They surfaced when he got a loan from a lobbyist, Bruce Hawkins, to help pay bills. The troubled sports project, multiple liens and the loss of his house to foreclosure have been among the Files-related headlines in recent months. Files, a senator since 2011, had announced he wouldn’t seek re-election this year. He’ll be sentenced after completion of a probation office report. But the fiscal session of the legislature is soon to begin, and his departure is a

loss of a vote in support of the Medicaid expansion under Obamacare that the governor has dubbed Arkansas Works. Each year, the fight to continue the program has had some drama because of a group of hard-core Republicans that opposes any spending on the program. The reauthorization of the program requires a supermajority approval of 75 percent in both houses of the legislature.

Another LRPD recruit fired for using a racial slur

A third Little Rock Police Department recruit has been fired for having a social media page with a post in which a racial slur appeared. The latest, a black recruit, Katrina Jones, 25, was fired because — after all LRPD officers were instructed to clean up social media posts — she apparently overlooked the use of an offensive word in a post done when she was 16 years old. The first to be fired was a white recruit, Brandon Schiefelbein, who was fired for having a photo on his page of a sleeping military friend who was black with a line from black comedian Kevin Hart, “Go night, night nigga.” He said his friend took no offense. He apologized to a black recruit who was

offended. The post was removed. The second, Brandon Gurley, was a black recruit who complained about the white recruit’s Facebook post. But he, too, had used the word in a Facebook post, and he was fired.

Spring game coming to LR

It’s not the real thing, but the Razorbacks are adding a football game in Little Rock in 2018 in addition to the one Southeastern Conference game promised at War Memorial Stadium in the fall. The Razorbacks will play their spring game in Little Rock at 1 p.m. April 7. Admission will be free and some other activities will be announced. A Northwest Arkansas “family friendly” spring event will be announced later by the Fayetteville-based Hogs. Hunter Yurachek, the new athletic director, said in a statement: “One thing that has become abundantly clear to Coach Morris and me is the importance of the Razorbacks throughout the state. From every corner and region, people are calling the Hogs. To better connect our new staff and program across the state this spring, Coach [Chad] Morris and I have decided that we will be taking the spring game to War Memorial Stadium ... .”

Lock him up

o no one’s surprise, Republican state Sen. Jake Files of Fort Smith entered a negotiated guilty plea Monday in federal court to bank and wire fraud and money laundering charges. Files used his position as legislator to steer $46,000 in pork barrel state surplus money to a Fort Smith sports project that his construction company nominally was supposed to build for the city. Some deal. The city poured $1 million into Files’ company. The project has been scrapped. That state surplus money went into his pocket and also to employees of his construction company, apparently something of a hammer-and-nails Ponzi scheme. Files undoubtedly hoped it would catch up and become profitable and complete jobs it won, but bank liens, tax liens and foreclosures came instead. Files also admitted he used a piece of equipment he no longer owned as collateral on a $55,000 bank loan. Files’ problems were old news and

OPINION

not only as to the specific charges. The Arkansas Times broke the story in 2015 of a tardily reported MAX loan of $30,000 BRANTLEY Files got from maxbrantley@arktimes.com lobbyist Bruce Hawkins to help him out of a tight spot. Files faced tax liens and was under investigation for hot checks. Files is the second Republican legislator to admit profiting from the pork barrel known as the General Improvement Fund, recently declared an unconstitutional scheme by the Arkansas Supreme Court. Micah Neal confessed to taking kickbacks from hundreds of thousands of dollars funneled by multiple legislators to the shady Ecclesia College in Springdale, incorporated as a church. It got money that no state school got. Former Sen. Jon Woods (R-Springdale) faces trial

Inspired by LBJ

rdinarily, you turned to Lyndon B. Johnson to dislocate a congressman’s elbow and to get things done, not for oratory and inspiration. For that, you had Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy. But I remembered a particularly moving speech that President Johnson gave at Texarkana to dedicate a memorial square to Kennedy in 1964 on approximately the first anniversary of his dedicating the Greers Ferry Dam at Heber Springs right before his assassination at Dallas. I wondered if it was as inspiring as I remembered it and thus appropriate to the current times. I thought it was and that I would share it. First, a little context. Gov. Orval E. Faubus was still riding high for trying to stop the integration of Central High School at Little Rock in 1957 when he was to be President Kennedy’s host at the dam dedication in early October 1963. Thousands turned out to see the suntanned and exuberant young president, but Faubus started it on a sour note in his introduction by attacking Kennedy for introducing a civil rights bill that made segregation in public facilities illegal and made it unlawful to discriminate against people in employment, public accommodations and voting

requirements based on their race, religion, color or national origin. Reading solemnly from ERNEST his text, Faubus DUMAS accused Kennedy of sponsoring “civil wrongs” in a bill masquerading as civil rights. He described the bill in ways that were simply not true, though it was the language of Southern demagogues of the time. Kennedy graciously ignored the attack, thanked Faubus, praised every member of the Arkansas congressional delegation by name and talked about how the dam and lake would transform the economy of the region. (It did.) The event would create some angst for the governor. He looked boorish, Kennedy gallant. Faubus’ old Socialist father, Sam, came down from Madison County to see his young hero and Faubus gave him his seat at the fairgrounds lunch next to Kennedy. Kennedy told the old man that a few days earlier he had received a letter from Sam’s daughter and Gov. Faubus’ sister, Bonnie Lou Salcido, praising his efforts to pass a civil rights bill and he asked Sam to tell her how much it meant to him. When the

as the key man in that kickback scheme, as does a friend who was an alleged intermediary and the college president. Another legislative lobbyist has been named and not charged. Neal made hours of recordings of colleagues as his guilty plea drew near. Files has agreed to testify, if asked. There have long been rumors of corruption in the GIF spending and legislators in the “consulting business,” as Woods was. But the statute of limitations draws near. That does not mean the end of what we ought to know and what justice demands. We ought to know the contents of those tapes Neal made. They seem likely to contain elements of comedy and criminal avarice — “Goodfellas” set over slabs of pie at Neal’s family-style restaurant. If Woods doesn’t dodge prosecution thanks to FBI sloppy handling of evidence, we’re likely to hear some of it at his trial. This scandal was huge. Had Neal not blown the whistle, Woods had really big plans for Ecclesia. He talked of making it a beneficiary of the tax on medical marijuana at one point. At another, he drew up a plan to have it qualify for a

special higher education appropriation as a “work-study” institution. He also was the architect of the measure that lengthened term limits, watered down new ethics rules and restored the public treasury as a source of taxpayer subsidies for chambers of commerce. Everybody under the Capitol dome loved him. He was building a Louisiana-sized swamp. Justice demands prison time for Jake Files. He stole tax money, shook down a lobbyist (for what, you must wonder), and cheated banks and clients. If he doesn’t get hard time, Republican U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton might for once be proved right: We do have an “underincarceration” problem. The sentencing guidelines might let Files off with as little as 15 months. The decision is up to federal Judge P.K. Holmes. A useful comparison: Martha Shoffner, the Democratic state treasurer, got a 30-month sentence as a broke 70-year-old for taking cash kickbacks from a bond dealer she’d favored with state business. She was released to live with her family, destitute, at the end of 2017 after serving 26 months. She was not in a league of her own.

president was martyred at Dallas the next month, people recalled Faubus’ callous attempt to score political points with his segregationist base at Kennedy’s expense. When Johnson went to Texarkana on Sept. 25, 1964, it was in the midst of an unusually bitter and divisive campaign. He had just pushed Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act, with a bipartisan vote. Immigration was a nasty issue filled with racial innuendoes, and he would soon pass a sweeping immigration bill that has flooded our country with Asian doctors and the Medicare and Medicaid acts — again with bipartisan votes. Here’s Johnson, speaking at the spot where we first saw Kennedy when he made a short campaign speech at the state line in September 1960: “In your lifetime and mine, great gains have been made in this land, the greatest gains ever made in any land at any time. And there is no time for us tonight to give those gains away or to allow them to be taken from us. But those gains will go, and they will be taken from us, if ever we allow any people to divide us. Because the ultimate test of moral fitness for men who seek a public trust is their devotion to perfection of our system and their devotion to justice in our society. “All that we are, all that we ever hope to be, is placed in mortal jeopardy by those who would divide us, by those who would set class against class, and creed against creed, and religion against

religion, and color against color, and section against section. “Let us remind each of you tonight that here in Texarkana I stand astride the boundary line between the two great states. Only a few miles out yonder and a few miles behind me,” he said, waving his big right arm up the Red River toward Oklahoma and then his left one toward Louisiana, “two other great states join these two. Almost anywhere else in the world these lines would be marked by fences, or barriers, or walls — but not here in America. “As it is among Americans, so it is between us and our neighbors. “Only last week I stood on our border with the prime minister of Canada, far away from here. Only today, at noon, I stood on our border with the president of Mexico. On neither border are there fortifications or barbed wire fences or fears. And this is the way that Americans want to live — in the world and at home. And this is another reason why we must guard against those who would erect around our regions or our states prejudice and the barriers of hate or misunderstanding. “My beloved friends, as I stand here before you tonight, looking into your faces and into your eyes, I face to the south. I speak words which were spoken long before when I say, “Abandon all these local animosities and make your sons Americans.”

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Country songs

DOCUMENTING HATE

HAVE YOU BEEN THE VICTIM OF A HATE CRIME? The Arkansas Times has joined the nonprofit news organization ProPublica’s “Documenting Hate” project, a collaboration with newsrooms across the country to track hate incidents that might otherwise go unreported. The project aims to create a comprehensive database of where hate crimes are happening and what groups are being targeted. If you have an incident to report, submit it at arktimes. com/dochate. Information provided will not be shared with law enforcement or to anyone outside the group working on the project.

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riving along recently, I had a heretical thought: A person could get more sensible advice about men and women from the country oldies station than The New York Times. Or from The Washington Post, The New Republic, National Review or any publication devoted to nonstop analysis of metropolitan sexual angst written by twentysomething Women’s Studies majors from expensive liberal arts colleges. See, I’d been thinking about “Grace,” the anonymous protagonist of a kissand-tell narrative on the website babe. Of course there was a lot more than kissing in Grace’s graphic account of a one-night-stand gone wrong with a public figure — comedian Aziz Ansari. So, anyway, on the car radio came Travis Tritt’s classic country hit “Here’s a Quarter (Call Someone Who Cares).” “Call someone who’ll listen and might give a damn/Maybe one of your sordid affairs/But don’t you come ’round here handin’ me none of your lines/Here’s a quarter, call someone who cares.” There’s scarcely a man alive who can’t identify, if only on a vestigial level. Nor, for that matter, with Tritt’s heartache song “Anymore.” (“I can’t hold the hurt inside, keep the pain out of my eyes anymore … .”). I’ve been lucky in love all my life, but anybody who’s never experienced rejection and heartbreak hasn’t really lived. That’s one of country music’s enduring lessons. According to her own account, “Grace” pursued a well-known celebrity until she caught him. She ended up half in the bag back at his place and helped him take her clothes off, at which point things evidently went bad, to hear her tell it. There’s a country song about that, too, Loretta Lynn’s “Don’t come home a drinkin’ (With lovin’ on your mind),” although it’s about husbands and wives. Next morning, Grace sent Ansari an angry text saying he should have responded more tenderly to her “nonverbal” reluctance. He apologized. Next came the pseudonymous screed in babe, pretty much a backstabbing career-assassination attempt. And still the hapless comic has continued to apologize to every feminist writer on the East Coast. Meanwhile what’s amazed me — as an inveterate reader of novels and opinion columns written by women — has basically been two things: what naive readers supposedly educated people can be when their ideological pas-

sions are engaged; also that nobody’s thought to turn the situation inside-out. In literary terms, any halfway sophisticated reader would call “Grace” an unreliable narrator. Her version of events is highly subjective, prone to exaggeration, and her motives are suspect. Yet people prating about “unequal power dynamics” and “patriarchy” treat the fool thing as scripture. So far, Ansari has been too much of a gentleman, to use an outGENE dated concept, to LYONS respond in kind. But suppose he did? To wit, what if the genders were reversed, and “Grace” found herself lampooned by name in a comedy routine? Actually, it could happen. Most comics have a mean streak, you know. Which brings us to the saga of the president and the porn star, also anticipated in a country song: “Fancy,” by Reba McIntire. She said, “Just be nice to the gentlemen, Fancy,/And they’ll be nice to you.” There are a couple of unique things about porn stars, which our naive chief executive clearly neglected to take into consideration. First, “Stormy Daniels” is by definition an exhibitionist, so of course she’s going to tell. Second, Trump’s bagman/lawyer could buy her off, but the non-disclosure agreement ended the moment he was elected and she realized how to monetize her notoriety. What’s he going to do, sue her for breach of contract? Meanwhile, the only halfway appropriate country music accompaniment for the tale of Hillary Clinton and the misbehaving spiritual advisor would have to be Dolly Parton’s “Nine to Five” — a perfectly dreadful song. Anyway, I’ve got an aversion to preachers in politics. If I’d been running things, he’d have been shown the exits after the first naughty email — although none of us knows how naughty it was. What we do know, however, is that Hillary’s getting scolded for “protecting” a staffer charged with sexual harassment after merely docking his pay and mandating therapy. Which happens to be, Joe Conason points out, exactly how The New York Times dealt with ace reporter Glenn Thrush, who blames heavy drinking. There must be a million country songs about that.

Jimmy who?

t is anyone’s guess whether Donald Trump will be at the top of the Republican ticket in 2020. There’s a recognized possibility that Trump will be unable to complete his first term, most likely because of the evolving scandal mixing Russian engagement in the 2016 election with possible obstruction of justice. (At the moment, 40 percent of participants in the Predictwise prediction market think Trump will be unable to make it until Jan. 20, 2021.) Even if the president serves out the term, he might well be weakened to the point that he is not in a position to seek re-election. While the odds might be even regarding Trump’s literal presence at the top of the GOP ticket in the next presidential election, there is absolutely no doubt that he will be at the virtual head of that ticket. This reality should guide the Democratic Party as it begins its search for a 2020 standard-bearer, and a much-derided former governor of Georgia should be the party’s prototype as they pursue the ideal anti-Trump. Of course, I refer to Jimmy Carter — the one-term “New South” governor of Georgia who had left office in early 1975 and immediately morphed into a presidential candidate so widely unknown that his own campaign selfmockingly referred to him as “Jimmy Who?” In that campaign, Carter’s strength as a candidate was driven by the fact that he presented himself as a foil to a man who hadn’t been in office for over two years: former President Richard Nixon. I’ve been thinking about the 1970s in recent weeks because of listening to “Slow Burn,” Slate’s outstanding podcast overviewing Watergate (the last episode posted this week). While the major events of Watergate are well known, the podcast focuses on weirder moments in the scandal (Arkansans will enjoy Pine Bluff native Martha Mitchell’s role in the first episode), provides new insights on the political dynamics that played out during Watergate (particularly telling was just how popular Nixon remained across much of 1973 and how quickly those approval ratings fell), and examines the long-term impact of Watergate in American life (including the way in which it normalized conspiracy theories). The stench of Watergate, the amorality that undergirded it and the attacks on democratic institutions still wafted over the 1976 campaign cycle.

Entering this scene in the 1976 election cycle was Carter, a born-again Baptist Sunday School teacher who had worked to weave a state together following the civil rights battles of the 1960s. As he worked audiences in the Iowa caucuses and early contests against a large field of well-known opponents, the following became Carter’s mantra: “I’ll never tell a lie. I’ll never make a misleading statement. I’ll never betray the confiJAY dence that any of BARTH you had in me.” It was followed by another omnipresent phrase: “I want a government as good and as kind and as loving as the American people.” An energetic closing by President Gerald’s Ford campaign (including the most infectious campaign song ever) shrank the gap decidedly, but Carter was able to pull out a victory. While there are vital differences between Watergate and the Trump/ Russia scandal, “Slow Burn” implicitly suggests that there are some sharp similarities (a view reinforced by the news last week that a “Saturday Night Massacre” nearly occurred early last summer). Just as important, the lies and halftruths told by President Trump and his team on a daily basis have become part of the Trump brand for a healthy majority of Americans. A December Quinnipiac survey asked Americans what the first word that came to mind when hearing the president’s name was; “liar” was one of three bunched at the top along with others suggesting incompetency. Such a stain will have electoral consequences that remain with the GOP in 2020. Just as Carter was in the lead up to 1976, a Democrat who legitimately combines an authentic, values-based commitment to service and personal steadiness is well suited to this political moment. Some folks on that list: Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy (who’s shown unflinching dedication on gun issues since Newtown), Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (a Quaker with a deep dedication to solving homelessness), Minnesota U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (a steady former prosecutor with a notorious sense of humor) and Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine (whose brand was marred by the 2016 campaign loss, but otherwise fits the bill).

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aryl Macon went through an- Trey Thompson, who hardly dented other midseason cold spell and the stat sheet, but played a tough 29 it set the Arkansas basketball minutes after being seemingly out of team squarely on the ropes. But as se- shape all year, and contributing a huge niors should do, the skinny, fearless block to deny Georgia’s game-winner at product of Little Rock Parkview just the rim in the seckept firing, and Mike Anderson had ond OT. better be thankful that he did. Thompson got In an absolutely pivotal two-game some mojo back dance at Georgia and then back home f rom that, a nd for Oklahoma State in the Big 12/SEC against Oklahoma Challenge, Arkansas skated away 2-0, State, his seven BEAU and did it in an unclean and distress- points were impor- WILCOX ing manner. This is a 15-6 team with tant on a day where a 4-4 conference record, and it’s hard no one except Macon cracked double to fathom how it has shaken out that digits. That lack of balance meant that way unless you’ve watched the games Thompson, who for all his faults and unfold. Sometimes it’s a listless and excluding a couple of bungled layups, uninspired team that takes the floor, actually played a critical offensive role and then gives way to some kind of against the Cowboys. He was largely post-halftime monster that was in a ineffectual until about this stage of strange hibernation early on. 2016-17, too, and so if he’s getting in Both of the wins that could have good work on the floor, it is of tremeneasily been losses stuck by that play- dous importance to the Hogs’ February book and it was, in large part, Macon outlook. Thompson’s 26 minutes Satwho singlehandedly rescued the Razor- urday were meaningful because Gafbacks from what would have been one ford struggled and Mike Anderson damaging defeat or two kneecapping seems completely unwilling to give ones. Against Georgia, the Hogs felt Adrio Bailey or Arlando Cook anything they could extract a rare road win more than spot duty. The Forrest City from always-maudlin Stegeman Coli- product responded with six rebounds, seum, but another hideous start almost two more blocks, and two steals, while doomed that. With an earlier than typi- committing no turnovers. cal start time, Arkansas was in a douIt was that defense that propelled ble-digit hole before dusk. But Jaylen the Razobacks to another desperation Barford was instrumental in getting the post-halftime surge. The Cowboys mirHogs bailed out of that 16-point deficit, rored Georgia’s early burst, going up which was narrowed to five by half- 9-0, then responding to the Hogs’ quick time and then disappeared entirely in eight by running out 15-3 over the next a back-and-forth second half. Georgia’s several minutes. Arkansas’s 13-point all-everything forward Yante Maten deficit was its biggest of the game, and was predictably brilliant in moving again, the Hogs dutifully shaved it inside and out and keeping defenders down to as little as three points before like Daniel Gafford and Dustin Thomas walking into the Bud Walton Arena unsteady. But Macon, seemingly stew- lockers staring at a 40-32 deficit. ing over some clunker games in JanuWhere this game differed from ary, shook off all the cold. the Georgia marathon was that the In the second and clinching over- coaches, in a rather earth-shattering time, Macon was rather phenomenal moment, did make some tangible halfand in many ways was playing against time adjustments. There was a noticehis training. He fired off three after able uptick in full-court pressure, and three, as is common, but these were it paid immediate dividends with a 12-0 contested and the remainder of the second-half run that snaked across foot-soldiers seemed anchored to the exactly five minutes of clock. In other floor as the senior guard dribbled his words, Arkansas didn’t exactly employ way into a position to elevate and fire. an efficient attack during this stretch, And fire, he did: Macon poured home but this was the defense that got the three long daggers in a two-minute team on its late-season scald a year span of the second overtime, the center- ago — OSU’s depleted backcourt was piece of scoring the Hogs’ last 16 points tormented by the traps, and when they of the game and closing out the 80-77 escaped, there would be a rushed shot win with two late free throws. The to follow. There’s that five minutes of game was also notable for senior post hell we like to see, right?!

THE OBSERVER

NOTES ON THE PASSING SCENE

rkansas Times Senior Editor Max Brantley, who hired The Observer as a pup a few eons back, recently took to the Arkansas Blog to mark his two score and five years so far in the newspaper business. It tickled many of our own heartstrings about Little Rock, this profession, and what it all means in 2018 A.D. A slightly abbreviated version appears below. Enjoy: I dropped out of Stanford grad school in the fall of 1972. When I dropped by to say goodbye to my advisor, Bill Rivers, I related that I’d already been turned down for a job at the Arkansas Gazette. Managing Editor Bob Douglas had told me, with good reason given my limited experience as sports editor of a smalltown Virginia weekly during college days, that I needed some farm-team work first. He suggested Pine Bluff. Rivers told me he’d write a letter to Gazette City Editor Bill Shelton, whom he’d met researching a journalism project with Ben Bagdikian. (Yes, the reporter who landed the Pentagon papers in “The Post.”) By the time I’d wound home by car to Louisiana after a few stops in Texas, a copy of Rivers’ kind letter to Shelton was waiting for me. The next day, early in the New Year, I woke with a hangover and figured it was time to wobble down to the Lake Charles American Press and apply for a job. I’d never considered anything but working on a newspaper. Before I could leave the house, the phone rang. It was Bill Shelton, offering me a job. A few days later I was in Little Rock, sharing a desk with a raffish police reporter in the old Gazette newsroom. I stubbed cigarettes out on the parquet floor like everyone else. The next 45 years passed quickly (though not the first six weeks of my quitting cigarettes in 1977). I met Ellen, we sent two kids into the world and, after almost 19 years, witnessed the end of the Arkansas Gazette. I moved to the Arkansas Times on the invitation of publisher Alan Leveritt, whom I’d met when he was a relief obit writer at the Gazette in 1973. And here I am 26 years later.

The world of newspapering is in disarray thanks to the Internet and what it wrought — Craigslist, Amazon, Facebook, Google and all the rest. But I’m also grateful for the Internet. It gave me an entry almost 14 years ago, as a weekly newspaper editor, back into daily (minute-by-minute even) news. The Arkansas Blog continues to offer reporting, opinion and aggregation. I remember the newspaper of 1973 fondly: A switchboard operator, a morgue full of clip files, a photo darkroom, Underwood upright typewriters, Linotypes, copy boys, clattering wire service machines, the spike that Shelton slammed copy on after editing, the “rim” where copy editors worked, mining the Criss-Cross, City Directory and Facts on File for information, telephone books, the worn marble stairs in the Gazette building, the hailstorm sound of typewriters banged at deadline by Ernest Dumas, Doug Smith, George Bentley, John Woodruff, Bill Lewis, Jim Bailey, Orville Henry, Charles Albright, Richard Allin, Bob Lancaster, Mike Trimble and other legendary figures. Women were outnumbered but they were there when I arrived — such as Matilda Tuohey, Ginger Shiras, Brenda Scisson, Tish Talbot, Martha Douglas, Betty Fulkerson, Harriet Aldridge, Pat Trimble Patterson, Diane Woodruff, Julie Baldridge, historian Margaret Ross. General assignment and cop reporters worked into the night but cheap pleasures were many. Some of them: The Shack, the Brunswick, Peck’s, the Ship Ahoy, the Pitcher, Arkansas Fats, Old Hickory, the Press Club, Fisher’s BBQ, Cuz Fisher’s, Town Hall, Ballard BBQ, Island X, Bottom of the Rock, Lin’s, the Band Box, Thalheimer’s Smoke Shop and, for really special nights out, steaks and soda bread at the Leather Bottle, where Bob Hayes played guitar and sang in the lounge. Hayes entertained at the Ballardcatered barbecue dinner the night before my 1976 wedding, a gig I won with a $90 bid at the Tabriz hot dog night auction. Bob’s gone now but my marriage endures. OK. Enough about my change in latitude in 1973. Thanks for checking in. And keep the tips and jokes coming. As the song says, if we couldn’t laugh we’d all go insane.

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GUEST COLUMN

Modeling a wave

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envisioned this column as a means for doing for Arkansas politics what the Indivisible Guide did for the resistance: to demystify how it works and to arm Arkansas Times readers with the information and tools they’d need to remake the system as they saw fit. Distinct projects with shared ideals. With the help of data scientist John Ray and digital strategist Jesse Bacon, the column’s first and second editions parsed a sea of electoral, demographic and polling data to build a foundation for understanding if and how the revolt in red states might spread to Arkansas. Even to us, those initial results proved surprising — we didn’t expect to see so many opportunities for Democratic Party gains in Arkansas. But we also realized that we weren’t living up to our goal of making Arkansas politics and elections accessible to folks beyond the state’s cynical pundit class. To do so, we needed to do a better job of explaining how we built our model and how we plan to update it throughout the year. In both our House and Senate models, we used eight variables to simulate what might happen if the 2018 election were held today. Only three variables — district-level Democratic vote share from the previous contested election, statewide Clinton share of the 2016 general election and statewide presidential approval — proved to be statistically significant. The others — district-level shares of the black voting-age population, Latino voting age population, residents holding a bachelor’s degree or higher, median household income and population density — all failed tests for statistical significance. The output our model generates is a simple win probability, or the odds of a Democrat winning a particular state legislative seat. This doesn’t tell the whole story, however. Failing a statistical test for significance doesn’t necessarily render a variable insignificant. Indeed, the racial, education and income measures included are all cornerstones of electoral modeling in the political science literature. We know they matter and that’s why we’ll continue to include them. We used the 96 state House and 52 state Senate races that have transpired since Election Day 2016 as data points to calibrate our model — meaning we ran about 10,000 iterations or simulations to generate a modal-rounded seat prediction. That’s the number you’ve seen beside each state legislative district in our results (e.g. HD-84 [96 percent]). As

more state legislative races are held over the course of this year, we’ll continue to treat them as data points against which our model can be tested. For our next simulation — which we’ll run after candidate filing closes on March 1 — we’re BILLY introducing FLEMING important changes Guest Columnist to our Clinton vote share and presidential approval variables. Rather than statewide approval or vote shares, we’ll have district-level estimates for both variables. As far as we know, we’ll be the only ones with that information. We’ll also introduce a variable for candidate quality. Expect our projections to change a lot over the next nine months. But we also know that there’s plenty we can’t or won’t measure in our model that could make a big difference on Election Day. Chief among those is campaign infrastructure, the grassroots network of people who knock the doors, make the calls and raise the money that wins elections. A central theme of state and national political coverage since President Trump’s election has been the growing resistance to his agenda, one that has already carried Sen. Doug Jones to victory in Alabama, flipped 15 Virginia House of Delegates seats and helped Democrats running for state legislative seats in 2017 outperform their predecessors by an average of 24 points. Those who insist that a wave isn’t building have not been paying attention. To get a sense of how all this is playing out in Arkansas, I asked progressive leaders about their electoral plans. Democratic Party of Arkansas Chairman Michael John Gray remarked that, “One of the reasons I ran for chair was to rebuild our [candidate] support system. We’ve been reaching out to issues-based organizations who’ve already built strong grassroots networks across the state to try and mobilize them alongside us.” This is an important point, as no one could rebuild a statewide organizing infrastructure from scratch in a single cycle. The good news is that the party won’t have to. All of the Indivisible group leaders I spoke with are working on voter registration, canvassing trainings and other get-out-the-vote strategies aimed at ensuring their electoral expertise is as great as their enthusiasm.

CANNABIZ

Hemp panel meets

he Industrial Hemp Committee held its first meeting Tuesday, passing draft regulations to the full Plant Board for approval and moving the state nearer to creating a bureaucracy for the new industry in Arkansas The board hopes that farmers will plant the first batch of industrial hemp this year. In the last legislative session, the Industrial Hemp Act — passed in near-unanimous fashion (only one “nay” vote in the House) — created a 10-year research program for growing the plant. Hemp, which contains less than .3 percent THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, can be used for cosmetics, food, fibers and, increasingly, a concrete-like building material called hempcrete. The plant is federally approved to be grown for research under the 2014 Farm Bill. Hemp grown for research hemp can be sold and marketed. Arkansas’s law set up a research pilot program to align with federal laws and tasked the Plant Board with creating rules for the new industry. The newly drafted regulations presented today — largely uncontroversial — drew on the 30-plus other states that have approved hemp for research. The rules would require both growers and processors (who take the hemp and create products from it) to apply for licenses from the Plant Board. The licenses would be valid for 12 months (starting July 1 to accommodate the need to budget around the fiscal year). If farmers intend to market the hemp beyond research, Terry Walker, Plant Board director, said the regulations will require them to “have a document in hand ... [explaining] a mechanism to move [the hemp] from the field to the processor.” But less clear is how the seed to grow hemp will get into Arkansas in the first place. While federal regulations allow the growing of hemp in research programs, laws on moving the seeds across state lines are murky. “That is a big hiccup right now,” said Mary Smith, the seed division director for the Plant Board and author of the regulations. Jason Martin, CEO of Tree of Life, an Arkansas-based hemp seed seller operating in six states and hoping to sell seeds in Arkansas, said the seeds could be mailed to the Plant Board. Asked if this was illegal, he told the committee,

“It’s being done.” “It’s a pretty simple process. In the rules and regulations here, the seed has to be shipped here. It has to arrive at the Plant Board,” he told the Times after the meeting. “It’s not really difficult.” Martin said his company labels mail as containing hemp seeds and has had no problems. “It just shows up,” Martin told committee members of the hemp seeds arriving at the Plant Board. “So do the DEA officials; they just show up too,” said Jerry Hyde, chairman of the hemp committee, to laughs. The board is trying not to wade into legal areas outside its control. “We’re not going to authorize movement across state lines. We run the program in this state,” Walker said. He noted that other states, including North Carolina, have sought state attorney general authorization to receive hemp seed. “The AG decrees it’s OK to bring seed into the state. Maybe that’s something that we approach.” In whatever way the hemp gets to Arkansas, once it’s here the board will certify whether it meets the low THC content standard. In the future, the state will work to create further certification specifications — personalizing national standards for industrial hemp created by the Association of Official Certifying Agencies (AOCA), which has a chapter in Arkansas. The Plant Board can limit the scale of a hemp farm to one acre. There will not be a set number of licenses issued to either growers or processors, but regulation author Smith said the board hopes to start small and grow the industry. “We want to keep it small — if we can,” Smith said. “But we don’t want to limit someone that has a processor that says he needs 100 acres when we’re only wanting to let him grow one acre. So, we will work with the applicant.” Certain requirements discussed Tuesday were contentious, including a rule that disallows growers and processors “within 1,000 feet of a school, daycare or similar public areas frequented by children.” A first draft had not allowed growers or processors within 1,000 feet of any residence. Martin pushed back on the 1,000foot rule, and asked for further clarification on why 1,000 feet was the rule. The committee — and Plant Board staff — could not give a reason, beyond its being in other regulations.

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Arkansas Reporter

THE

Retention woes More than a third of new hires in 2017 left before the year was up. The culture is the problem, former officers say. BY JACOB ROSENBERG

hirty-eight percent of the of the Cummins and Varner Unit on U.S. correctional officers hired Highway 65, the ADC advertises starting by the Arkansas Department officer salary as $14.92 an hour. of Correction in 2017 have left the The legislature’s Joint Budget department. Whether the 313 guards Committee has endorsed a proposed quit or were fired is unknown; the spending plan for the ADC that includes ADC does not differentiate the reason $1.9 million to pay for overtime for guards. for dismissal in aggregated data. The In justifying to legislators the need department hired a total of 819 new to funnel more money into overtime, MISSING GUARDS: Vacancies at the ADC skyrocketed despite a July pay bump. officers in 2017. ADC Director Wendy Kelley told the The high turnover rate for new guards committee that the problem with officer and while some sergeants take the for a variety of reasons,” Graves said continued, despite a July pay raise that turnover is “largely” the job market. grievances home for review, many more, of the poor retention rate. “The was aimed at shoring up vacancies. The “When the economy is good, then people she said, just toss the inmate grievances improved economy and resulting low pay raise seemed to have an impact. In can find a job,” she said. Kelley also into the trash. She remembered often unemployment allows more employment July, the ADC hired 183 new staffers, far blamed media reports of violence. calling for backup only to have no opportunities for everyone. Additionally, more than any other month last year. But, after the inability to retain support come and being told to treat it takes a uniquely courageous individual, But it did not last. On average, 35 more guards despite an increase in pay, violence in the prison as if it were with a professional demeanor, to be a employees left the department than she said the ADC would be working normal. “If you’re too scared to do the correctional officer. While not every were hired from August to December to bolster the retention rate in other job, they’re going to tell you to leave,” officer resigns because of pay, every in 2017. ways, too. Solomon Graves, spokesman she said. individual has a responsibility to provide By December, the department had for the department, said the ADC Hall and other guards describe a for themselves and their families to the 712 vacancies, more than at any other would look into changing the training hectic workplace where criticism of best of their ability.” point last year. academy and creating an employee standard practice is treated with hostility Dr. Caterina G. Spinaris, executive The ADC employs nearly 3,900, wellness committee. “The department — both by inmates and other guards. director of Desert Waters Correctional according to state records updated Jan. 2, is committed to reducing our current “If you ‘snitch’ on anything, it can be Outreach and an authority on paying more than $140 million in annual vacancy rate by focusing more on the smallest thing, it’s a death sentence,” correctional officer wellness, told the salaries and wages. But the departure of retention,” he said. Hall said. Times that “a sense of being abandoned many new employees, along with the Former guards told the Arkansas “You’re down there by yourself,” said by their administration” is common 1,067 people terminated in 2017 from Times they’re not surprised that a pay Malik Appleby, who also worked at East among correctional officers. ADC overall, has created a massive and raise didn’t help retain guards. Arkansas Regional before being fired “It’s a very, very demanding job,” she costly churn. “The pay is fantastic,” said Christina for bringing in drugs, according to a said. “[They’re] often understaffed, According to ADC, there are 450 Hall, a former sergeant at the East dismissal file — a charge he denies. “I outnumbered; [they] have to think guard positions vacant, representing Arkansas Unit in Brickeys (Lee was in danger for the whole 12 hours.” quickly on their feet and have to deal 21 percent of the officer staff. Officers are County) — especially compared to other Appleby claimed the pay was “the with a bunch of personalities.” Spinaris working overtime across units — often employment options, mostly minimum main attraction of the job.” But, he said, listed the many roles officers have to shuttling to the Varner Unit, which is wage, in the rural areas where the state “after having urine [thrown] in my face perform while adhering to hundreds of severely understaffed. The department builds prisons. “There’s nothing out three times in a day, and then having protocols: security, custody personnel, has blamed a series of violent incidents here,” she said. supervisors not care — instead telling first responders, role models, educators. on vacancies. The problem, said Hall, who quit him to “come do paperwork and get back “It’s probably the most challenging job I In July, ADC raised the starting last year, was an internal culture and to work” — his patience grew thin. can think of and also underpaid,” she said. officer wage from $12.89 to $13.96 administration that ignores the realities “The money was good. But for While starting pay is $13.96 an hour in plus an additional 6 percent for hazard of being a correctional officer. somebody to actually like doing their Arkansas — which might be a lot for the pay for all employees, no matter the At the training academy, Hall said job? No,” Appleby said. “[They need] rural areas where prisons are located assignment. At the maximum security ADC presents a rose-colored version of better supervisors … . It’s a great job. It — “guards are paying with their lives,” units, there were additional hazard being a guard that is “not the way that doesn’t make sense for the turnover rate Spinaris said. Correctional officers pay bumps on top of that: 6 percent for things work within the unit.” Guards, in to be the way it is.” Appleby thought it’d have increased rates of post-traumatic correctional officers at Cummins, East the absence of adequate training, create be hard to pay someone enough to make stress disorder and obesity. Unless paid Arkansas Regional, Tucker Maximum their own standards of behavior, she said. the work worthwhile, but changes in the exorbitant amounts of money compared Security Unit and 10 percent for Varner. Sergeants are not given enough time culture could help. to most state employees, Spinaris In a large purple banner stuck in front to review inmate grievances, Hall said, “Individuals resign their employment told the Times, “correctional officers, 14

FEBRUARY 1, 2018

ARKANSAS TIMES

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especially early on, they’ll say, ‘Forget it; it’s not worth it.’ ” Spinaris has a term for the toll of the emotional and physical factors that weigh on officers over a career: “corrections fatigue.” She said if a department does not actively look to aid guards, it can “leak into the culture — enough people are affected and the whole place is contaminated.” ADC Director Wendy Kelley pointed out to legislators that there are nationwide problems in prison staffing. She mentioned West Virginia, which has had to call in the National Guard to deal with shortages. That state’s turnover rate for guards who were hired and left within fiscal year 2017 was 36 percent, a few points lower than Arkansas’s for calendar year 2017, according to a spokesperson. There are many others: Louisiana’s vacancy rate for guards is above 10 percent, according to data from the department; Nebraska launched a series of wellness initiatives in 2017 to deal with a 32 percent turnover rate; Mississippi in October 2017 shut down units and moved 400 prisoners because of staffing. The few states able to retain correctional officers, Spinaris said, have powerful unions, like California. Arkansas lawmakers have been concerned about spending on prisons — passing legislation in 2017 to bring down one of the highest incarceration rates in the country at 591 prisoners for every 100,000 state residents — and Sen. Joyce Elliott (D-Little Rock) has often asked ADC what the department needs to retain officers. She’s pestered Kelley to look beyond increased wages. “I kept pushing on that question: ‘Are you sure it’s salary?’ ” Elliott said in an interview. “Because, oftentimes, when you have that kind of chaos and that kind of turnover there’s something wrong with the working conditions and the work environment itself.” Elliott, who chairs the legislature’s Charitable, Penal, and Correctional Institutions committee, said the high turnover rate is “highly unfortunate, and it isn’t surprising. “There’s something systemically at odds here. It just seems to me willful blindness not to understand that the work environment, the culture must be part of the problem,” she said. “I think this is something much bigger than money.”

THE

Inconsequential News Quiz:

BIG Cease and desist PICTURE

Edition

Play at home, with your Panzerschreck close at hand!

1) Far-right Republican gubernatorial candidate Jan Morgan appeared in the Southwest Arkansas town of Fouke earlier this month to stump. What, according to the Texarkana Gazette, was one of the things she said during a meeting, at which she also — and we are not making this up — accepted a hug from a person dressed as the famous crypto-hominid, the Fouke Monster? A) That try as she might to avoid it, she is fooled into misguided romance every time Bugs Bunny dresses up like a girl bunny. B) Complained that the libtards at the ATF say she can’t carry her World War II German Panzerschreck rocket launcher for self-defense against illegal immigrants in tanks. C) That the FBI has informed her that she is on ISIS’ “hit list.” D) That she was worried that hugging the Fouke Monster would bring the molecules of two fanciful, wholly imaginary characters into close contact and thus lead to a “Ghostbusters”-like total protonic reversal in “Ghostbusters.” 2) During testimony in the recent bribery trial of former State Rep. Micah Neal, who is accused of taking kickbacks to funnel money to the private Ecclesia College, Neal reportedly testified to something that surely made colons clench all over the state Capitol. What did he say? A) That a new federal law stipulates that lobbyists may only use burning $10 bills to light legislators’ cigars, as opposed to the traditional $100. B) That due to a recent cave-in, the W.J. “Bill” McCuen Memorial Whores and Coke Tunnel that connects the House and Senate cloakrooms to a hollow tree near the freeway is indefinitely closed. C) That between March and October 2016, he’d secretly recorded any conversations with his colleagues that he thought might interest federal corruption investigators. D) That legislators will be required to pass exams on ethics and basic U.S. civics before being allowed to vote in the next session. 3) Little Rock Police Chief Kenton Buckner recently fired an LRPD recruit for using the N-word in a social media post. What was weird about the firing? A) The recruit was black. B) The recruit was 16 years old when she made the post. C) The recruit was the second black LRPD recruit sacked for using a racial slur in old social media posts since a white recruit was fired late last year for posting a photo of a sleeping black man with the caption “Go night night nigga.” D) All of the above, even though — and we don’t think we’re out on a limb here — a black person using the word is in no way equivalent to a white person using it. 4) According to a sign prominently displayed on the doors of Benton High School’s Butler Auditorium, which of the following is banned from the auditorium? A) Needing no education while being another brick in the wall. B) Glitter. C) Your gatdamn fancy-schmantzy diploma from an accredited trade school, college or university. D) Failed Republican U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore of Alabama. 5) News went viral recently that U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton has been doing something surprising in response to some constituents who have called his office with strongly worded criticisms of the way their senator is handling his job. What was it? A) Tear-stained letters telling them that they are no longer welcome at his birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese, so don’t even try coming. B) Online video rants in which a shirtless Cotton fans out a large stack of hundred dollar bills before calling his constituents “scrub-ass ho-dogs.” C) Urban warehouse knife fight/dance-off between Cotton and his critics, as seen in Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” video. D) Sending constituents “cease and desist” letters informing them that if they contact the office of the elected official who allegedly represents their interests again, it will be considered harassment and they will be reported to the police. Answers: C, C, D, B, D

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FEBRUARY 1, 2018

ARKANSASâ&#x20AC;&#x2C6;TIMES

FACING DOWN THE KKK: William Harold Flowers addresses an NAACP meeting in 1952 at First Baptist Church in Pine Bluff after he received letters from the Ku Klux Klan telling him to leave Arkansas.

THE LEGACY OF WILLIAM HAROLD FLOWERS

The Pine Bluff attorney made the NAACP powerful in Arkansas. BY JOHN KIRK

T COURTESY STEPHANIE FLOWERS

he National Association for Yet the NAACP’s heroic efforts in the Advancement of Colored paving the way for school desegregation People (NAACP) was the single in Little Rock is just one part of its much most important organization longer history in the state. Just as the in the single most important event in NAACP is America’s oldest civil rights the 20th century in Little Rock and organization in continuous existence, so Arkansas: the 1957 desegregation of too is the NAACP Arkansas’s oldest and Central High School. At a local level, longest-serving civil rights organization. the NAACP, through Daisy and L.C. Arkansas’s first NAACP branch was Bates, assisted by local attorneys Wiley founded in Little Rock on July 4, 1918; Branton and Christopher C. Mercer this year marks the NAACP’s 100th year among others, provided support for of operation in the state. the Little Rock Nine and fought in the However, it was not until the early courts for school desegregation. At a 1940s, thanks to the efforts of Pine Bluff national level, Thurgood Marshall, head lawyer William Harold Flowers, that of the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund Inc. the NAACP significantly expanded its and its team of attorneys successfully activities. Born in Stamps (Lafayette supported local court action and County) on Oct. 16, 1911, Flowers was helped defeat a whole battery of state- the son of an insurance salesman and sponsored harassing legislation and a schoolteacher. His legal career was litigation aimed at putting the NAACP inspired by childhood trips to the out of business in Arkansas. courthouse in Little Rock with his father.

At the age of 15, on one of those trips, he witnessed the burning of lynching victim John Carter on a funeral pyre at the intersection of West Ninth Street and Broadway, an event, he later recalled, that “truly converted [him] to be a lawyer.” Flowers worked his way through law school, taking parttime classes at the Robert H. Terrell School of Law in Washington, D.C. After graduation, he returned to Arkansas, hanging his shingle in Pine Bluff in 1938. In October that year, Flowers wrote to NAACP national executive secretary Walter White that Arkansas’s chapter badly needed organization and leadership. Letters of reply arrived from NAACP special counsel Charles Hamilton Houston and the then-NAACP assistant special counsel, Thurgood Marshall. Both offered sympathy but little concrete help.

arktimes.com FEBRUARY 1, 2018

COURTESY STEPHANIE FLOWERS

THE EARLY DAYS OF THE NAACP IN ARKANSAS: William Harold Flowers (center, photo on the right) led delegates from Pine Bluff to an NAACP meeting in Malvern in 1946, where he was elected state president. Later, Flowers (seated, far left, photo on the left) led a membership drive with his fellow works at New Jerusalem Baptist Church.

Flowers decided to take matters into support for the NAACP. In response accompanied by Flowers, together his own hands. On March 10, 1940, at a to this rising local interest, the NAACP with Flowers’ younger protégé, meeting in Stamps, Flowers launched national office began to take more Wiley Branton, he became the first a Committee on Negro Organizations interest in the state. In 1945, an NAACP black student to attend classes with to mobilize the state’s black population. Arkansas State Conference of branches whites at a Southern university since Flowers was convinced that if blacks was established, with Flowers Reconstruction. More black students began to purchase poll-tax receipts appointed as its chief recruitment soon followed his example. and cast their vote at elections, it would officer. The year before the Arkansas Still, the NAACP national office prove a vital first step in raising black State Conference came into existence remained cautious about developments political consciousness to challenge the Smith v. Allwright (1944) ruling by in Arkansas. When the Arkansas State the Arkansas Democratic Party’s all- the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed all- Conference was established, Flowers white primary elections. He tirelessly white Democratic Party primaries. The was given the post of chief organizer stumped the state for his cause. “Drive work of Flowers and the CNO meant of branches, but the presidency went to Increase Race Votes Is Successful” that when blacks could finally reap to Rev. Marcus Taylor, an older, more headlined the Arkansas State Press, the benefits of the vote, they began to conservative and more pliable figure Little Rock’s black newspaper, owned make an immediate impact. In 1940, from Little Rock. Rivalry between the by L.C. and Daisy Bates. It anticipated the number of registered black voters two men quickly developed. In 1948, a record turnout of black voters. Two in Arkansas stood at only 4,000. By Flowers and his supporters ousted years later, after more successes, it 1947, that number had increased more Taylor as president. By then, even printed Flowers’ photograph with the than tenfold to 47,000. Through poll- the national office was beginning caption “He Founded A Movement.” tax drives, voter education rallies and to come around. “I will admit that I Significantly, a legal breakthrough for the raising of political awareness and may have underrated Pine Bluff and black Arkansans came later that year. activity, Flowers and the CNO made its leadership,” wrote NAACP national In March 1942, a member of the Little sure that black political organization membership secretary Lucille Black. Rock Classroom Teachers’ Association, pre-dated national rulings. When NAACP regional secretary Sue Morris, successfully launched a In 1948, Flowers handled the Donald Jones attended the annual suit for the right of black teachers admission of the first black student, Arkansas State Conference meeting to receive the same salary as white Silas Hunt, to the University of that elected Flowers as president in teachers in the city’s school system. Arkansas Law School. Flowers’ 1948, he reported that spirits were The teachers’ salary suit had a long- demands, coupled with national “high and militant,” and that, “Largely term impact on the struggle for black rulings gained by the NA ACP, responsible for the fine NAACP freedom and equality in Arkansas. finally persuaded white authorities consciousness in Pine Bluff and the The local effort attracted the help of at the University of Arkansas to growing consciousness in the state is Thurgood Marshall, whose presence desegregate without going to court. Attorney Flowers whose ... tremendous in Little Rock garnered newfound When Hunt enrolled in February 1948, energy ha[s] made him the state’s

FEBRUARY 1, 2018

ARKANSAS TIMES

acknowledged leader.” Flowers’ election gave heart to other local activists. In Little Rock, Daisy Bates filed an application to form a countywide “Pulaski County Chapter of the NAACP.” By forming a countywide NAACP chapter, she hoped to usurp the power base of older leaders that dominated the Little Rock NAACP. In her application for a branch charter, Bates included 50 membership subscriptions and a filing fee, and nominated herself as president. The response Bates received from the NAACP national office revealed that there were limits to the autonomy it was prepared to grant local activists. The NAACP’s director of branches, Gloster B. Current, in a short reply to Bates, pointed out that there was already an NAACP branch in Little Rock and that if people were interested in helping the organization they should join it. Amid the ongoing infighting, Flowers resigned from office in 1949. He was replaced by elder statesman Dr. J.A. White. When White fell ill and resigned in 1951, undertaker W.L. Jarrett, a veteran of CNO campaigns, acted as a temporary replacement. The question of the direction of Arkansas State Conference leadership was finally resolved when Daisy Bates was elected president in 1952. Reporting to

GELEVE GRICE, COURTESY STEPHANIE FLOWERS

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PLANTED THE SEEDS: Harold Flowers grew the NAACP in Arkansas.

the NAACP national office, NAACP southwest regional attorney Ulysses Simpson Tate questioned Bates’ ability to work with older, more established leaders in the state. He was also wary of her tendency “to go off the deep end at times.” But, he concluded, “[Although] I am not certain that she was the proper person to be elected ... there was no one else to be elected who offered any promise of doing anything to further the work of the NAACP in Arkansas.” Tate’s begrudging acceptance of Bates’ election singularly failed to anticipate that she would become the most recognized face of the NAACP in Arkansas history. It was Bates who went on to lead the organization through the tumultuous events of the 1957 Little Rock school crisis. By then, the groundwork laid by her friend and mentor William Harold Flowers was overshadowed and largely forgotten. But it was Flowers who paved the

way for the NAACP’s growth and for Bates’ subsequent leadership during the school crisis. In myriad ways, Flowers planted the seeds for the NAACP’s and the civil rights movement’s emergence in Arkansas. His legacy continues today. The Arkansas Black Lawyers Association was rena med the W. Ha rold Flowers Law Society in 1981 in his honor. Moreover, Flowers’ daughter, Stephanie Flowers, serves in the Arkansas Senate, and his grandniece, Vivian Flowers, serves in the Arkansas House of Representatives. They both continue to carry the torch of Flowers’ earlier ambitions for black political empowerment and the expansion of civil rights in the state. John A. Kirk is the Donaghey Distinguished Professor of History and director of the Anderson Institute on Race and Ethnicity at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

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Arts Entertainment AND

Scion of swing

careers. Did you always take being surrounded by music as a given? Was there a moment when you realized that something in your background A Q&A with jazz heiress Catherine Russell. was exceptional? Music was a given because I didn’t BY STEPHANIE SMITTLE first integrated all-women’s band in the know anything else. … The two things U.S., and Luis Russell, longtime musical that were exceptional were that my atherine Ru s s e l l ’s director for Louis Armstrong. I talked mother was a bass player. Actually, interpretation of Perry with Russell ahead of her appearance with the International Sweethearts Bradford’s “Crazy Blues” at South on Main as part of the Oxford of Rhythm, she was a guitar player on the soundtrack for the American Jazz Series. and sometimes vocalist, but mainly a HBO series “Boardwalk Empire” is rhythm guitar player. So, people asked unflinching. It’s whole and hefty and One of the tunes you chose for me, “What does your mother do?” and seamlessly connected all the way “Harlem on My Mind” was “You’ve I said she was a bass player. And they’d up and down her vocal range. More Got the Right Key But the Wrong say, “What?” And I’d have to explain vitally, it’s not an imitation of Mamie Keyhole,” which you perform with that. The other thing was that my dad Smith, the vaudeville blues pioneer so much playfulness and humor. The worked with Louis Armstrong. And that popularized it in 1920. It’s not an innuendo’s pretty mild here, but nobody believed that, you know, kids attempt to capture something “vintage” there are much more explicit tunes don’t believe that. And in those days, befitting the Prohibition-era series. It — songs Bessie Smith and Ida Cox did, everybody knew who Louis Armstrong does not sound like it’s emanating from for example. What is your approach was, even as children. And after we’d an antique Victrola. It is perfectly new, to these “innuendo” songs? visit his house, I remember saying to as brash and as lyrically dark now as it Well, I’m a big fan of that genre and this bully that “Hey, we went to Louis was when audiences first devoured it, of the writing of that time: the early Armstrong’s house,” and he was like, and maybe that has something to do with ’20s. I just have to pick my audiences. If “Yeah, right!” So, that kind of thing. the interpreter’s musical DNA. Russell it’s an all-ages audience in the United is the daughter of the late Carline Ray, States, then I’ll pick the lighter ones, How frustrating — as a kid, to be rhythm guitarist for the International like “Kitchen Man.” A friend of mine — telling the truth and not be believed. Sweethearts o f now she’s grown — but when she was Eh, it didn’t frustrate me. I just Rhythm, the a child, she just thought “Kitchen Man” moved on. Like, “OK, they don’t believe was about food! me, so that’s fine.”

Sure. When I hear “Need a Little Sugar in My Bowl” now, it’s like, “How did I hear this as a child and not think, ‘What’s goin’ on there?’ ” Kids just don’t know. There are jokes in Alberta Hunter tunes, also, that are just gonna go right over a child’s head. You don’t get these references until you have the images to go with them. Even in these days of “everything is everywhere,” there’s still things you’re not gonna get unless you’ve lived, you know? Which is a good thing. I want to ask about your parents, Carline Ray and Luis Russell, both of whom were jazz pioneers in their own

You, like a lot of the greats, have this ability to phrase melodies creatively, to find reasons to elongate a phrase or to cut it short to keep it interesting to the ear. Much of that, of course, depends on your ensemble. Can you tell us a little about your band for these guys you’re gonna be playing with in February — Matt Munisteri on guitar, Mark Shane on piano and Tal Ronen on bass? Well, first: Thank you. I appreciate that, and let me just say that I always start with the lyric. The lyric determines first where I go with the phrasing. Then, of course, I do have the best trio in the land. They help me with arrangements, they help me because they understand swing and blues, and audiences love the way they sound. I’ve been with Mark Shane and Matt Munisteri about 10 years, and Tal Ronen was introduced to me about four and a half years ago, so

that makes for a great deal of musical understanding between us. In taking the work that comes, you have worked a lot as a backup singer, and it’s easy, after hearing something like “Harlem on My Mind,” to wonder why anybody would put you in the background. Steely Dan, for example. Was that hard, or did you enjoy not being the leader all the time? I’m a singer. So I like whatever kind of good work can happen. I’m not in any way not fully expressing myself when I sing behind somebody great like Donald Fagen. It just doesn’t exist. Lead singing and backup singing are two different sets of skills, and singing with somebody great like David Bowie is just a different way of expressing oneself. The artists that I have been privileged enough to work with are also very respectful of the people who work with them. I’ve been working with Donald Fagen for 30 years, almost, and love every minute of it. I didn’t get into this business to be the focus, I got into it for the music. People have this misconception that it’s like “Twenty Feet From Stardom.” That you’re back there saying, “Ugh, I can’t wait ’til I’m in front,” and that people’s careers aren’t taking off. Not really! All of it’s fun. A lot of us are very happy doing what we do. When I saw Steely Dan at Red Rocks in 2015, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker broke away and left the stage for a good half hour in the middle of the show, and we didn’t miss them. What happened during that “break” with the band — all of them soloists in their own right — was so magical. Right. And this is my point. The confident, iconic people that I’ve been privileged to work with are strong enough in themselves to have very strong backing musicians. … Everybody’s got other careers in addition to Steely Dan, which makes it even stronger, you see? All situations feed each other and strengthen each other.

Catherine Russell performs with her trio at South on Main, 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 1. Tickets, $30-$48, are available at metrotix.com or by HARLEM ON MY MIND: Jazz singer (and royalty) Catherine Russell calling 800-293-5949. lands in Little Rock Thursday night with her trio: Matt Munisteri on guitar, Mark Shane on piano and Tal Ronen on bass.

FEBRUARY 1, 2018

ARKANSAS TIMES

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

Find great events and buy tickets at CentralArkansasTickets.com

A&E NEWS LITTLE ROCK NATIVE BEN DICKEY scored the U.S. Dramatic Competition’s Special Jury Award for Achievement in Acting at this year’s Sundance Film Festival for his portrayal of Malvern native Blaze Foley in “Blaze.” The film, directed by Ethan Hawke, was based on “Living in the Woods in a Tree,” a book by Foley’s longtime partner, Sybil Rosen, played on screen by Alia Shawkat (“Arrested Development,” “Search Party”). Dickey, a veteran of the Towncraft-era band Shake Ray Turbine, discussed the accolade in an interview with Variety magazine after the announcement: “There’s a lot of me in Blaze. Just starting with where he’s from. He’s from Arkansas, I’m from Arkansas. I’ve got family in Georgia, he lived in Georgia. I’ve got family in Texas, he lived in Texas. And I’m a musician and an artist who’s been met with wild indifference my whole life.” CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS of the first Central Arkansas Music Awards, a ceremony of recognition put on by Arkansas Times and the Arkansas Sounds project of the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, and to the outstanding nominees in each category: Best Listening Venue: White Water Tavern; Classical Innovator: Katherine Williamson; Expat of the Year: Beth Ditto; Best Supporting Role in a Scene: Matt White; Best Album Art: Bucketflush Butler for Junkbomb’s “Tourtape”; Best Live Performer, Rock/Indie: Dazz & Brie; Best Live Performer, Folk/Bluegrass: Runaway Planet; Best Live Performer, Punk: Ghost Bones; Best Live Performer, Electronic/DJ: G-Force; Best Live Performer, Funk/Soul: Amasa Hines; Best Live Performer, Blues: the late CeDell Davis and Brethren; Best Video: Bazi Owenz for “Don’t Blow My High”; Best Radio Show/Podcast: Arkansongs; Best Festival: Valley of the Vapors; Best Live Performer, Jazz: Ted Ludwig Trio; Best Live Performer, Heavy Music: Sumokem; Best Live Performer, Country: The Salty Dogs; Best Live Performer, Hip-Hop: Big Piph; Album of the Year: Big Piph, “Celebrate”; Best Songwriter: Adam Faucett; Artist of the Year: Dazz & Brie; Local Legend: Nick Devlin. Thanks goes to the performers, the board members who chose the winners and to the partners and sponsors for investing in the Central Arkansas music scene: Glazer’s Beer, 107 Liquor, Bella Vita Jewelry and Shiner Bock.

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arktimes.com FEBRUARY 1, 2018

THE

TO-DO

LIST

BY STEPHANIE SMITTLE AND LESLIE NEWELL PEACOCK

THURSDAY 2/1

JOHN CAIN’S 81ST BIRTHDAY BASH

ARKANSAS TIMES MUSICIANS SHOWCASE: ROUND 1

part of the Navy forces, time absorbing Little Rock’s Ninth Street jazz scene and then, later, advocating tirelessly 8 p.m. White Water Tavern. for parts of it to be rehabilitated — The KABF-FM, 88.3, tagline is notably, the Mosaic Templars Cultural “The Voice of the People,” and one of Center and its rebuilding after a fire in the most instrumental voices in that 2005. This weeknight toast, with sets chorus belongs to John Cain, self- of blues and jazz from Charles Woods described musicologist and longtime and other local jazz and blues players, program manager of the station. His celebrates Cain’s contributions to the life story reads like a movie plot — stints city’s community radio station, its on an oil tanker in southern Japan as music scene and its culture. SS

FRIDAY 2/1

‘PERSONAL VISION — THE EXHIBITION’

Photographs of Adger Cowans. Hearne Fine Art.

Adger Cowans’ photography, primarily in black and white, includes documentary shots of the 1960s, “street journalism,” portraiture, still lifes and experimental work and has been exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Studio Museum of

Harlem, the Cleveland Museum of Art and other premier arts institutions. Now the photographs, as well as the artist, will be in Little Rock. Cowans, who is also a painter and who will be in Arkansas for a symposium at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art on Feb. 3, will be in attendance at a reception at the Hearne gallery from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Feb. 9 and will give a talk at 2 p.m. Feb. 10. LNP

8 p.m. Stickyz Rock ’n’ Roll Chicken Shack. $5-$8.

The Arkansas Times Musicians Showcase turns 26 this year, with a list of past champions that reaches back to Towncraft-era Little Rock and serves as evidence for how varied the sounds of winning musicians have been over the years: Ho-Hum, Ashtray Babyhead, Big John Miller & The Direction, Runaway Planet, Hannah Blaylock & Eden’s Edge, 607, Velvet Kente, Brother Andy & His Big Damn Mouth, Tyrannosaurus Chicken and Dazz & Brie, to name just a few. Nearly 60 bands sent in their work for consideration in advance of this year’s showcase, and we’ve narrowed those submissions down to 19 bands, each of which will perform in one of four semifinal rounds to be held each Thursday night in February. They’ll be judged in four categories: songwriting, musicianship, originality and showmanship. This year, the

crowd will get the chance to weigh in, too, and add their votes by way of a written ballot to each band’s totals for the evening. The winner of each of those semifinal rounds, as well as a “wild card” winner (the top-scoring semifinalist that did not win its particular semifinal round) will advance to the final round of competition, to be held at the Rev Room on Friday, March 9. The showcase champion will receive a prize package including cold hard cash, an in-studio showcase at Capitol View Studio, a live spot at the Arkansas State Fair Bud Light Pavilion, a live spot at Musicfest El Dorado, a live spot at Low Key Arts’ Valley of the Vapors Independent Music Festival in Hot Springs, a Thursday Night Live performance at Griffin Restaurant in El Dorado, eight hours of artist development at The Hive Studio, a PRS SE 245 Standard 22 Electric Guitar from Sunrise Guitars and more. First up are: Laith, Black River Pearl, Route 358, The Rios and Princeaus. SS

‘POLYPHONY No. 8’: Susan Schwalb’s metalpoint drawings are on display at the Arkansas Arts Center through April 29.

FRIDAY 2/2

‘A LUMINOUS LINE: FORTY YEARS OF METALPOINT DRAWINGS BY SUSAN SCHWALB’ Arkansas Arts Center.

Metalpoint is the creation of fine lines using styluses of silver, bronze, copper and other metals against treated paper. Susan Schwalb has made her mark on the medium as well, introducing the historic form to modern art. Thus she is called the “pied piper of silverpoint” and has inspired American artists, including Arkansas’s master of metal work, Marjorie Williams-Smith, to take up the wire. This show includes 35 works, beginning in 1977, created by Schwalb using metal drawing tools as well as graphite, gouche and gold leaf. “My new drawings,” Schwalb says in a press release, “use the classical Renaissance technique of metalpoint in a way that challenges all the traditional concepts.” The show runs through April 29. LNP

FEBRUARY 1, 2018

ARKANSAS TIMES

IN BRIEF

THURSDAY 2/1

‘SOUL OF A NATION’: Painter and printmaker Benny Andrews’ “Did the Bear Sit Under a Tree” is part of an exhibition subtitled “Art in the Age of Black Power,” opening with a symposium this weekend at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.

Nashville’s The Cadillac Three take “Dang If We Didn’t” and other Southern rockers to the Rev Room, 8:30 p.m., $20-$25. Fire & Brimstone play a happy hour set at Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 p.m., free, followed by Brian Ramsey, 9 p.m., $5. Josh Phillips spins comedic tales at The Loony Bin, 7:30 p.m. Thu.-Sat., 10 p.m. Fri.-Sat., $8-$12.

FRIDAY 2/2

SATURDAY 2/3

‘SOUL OF A NATION: ART IN THE AGE OF BLACK POWER’

set apart, addressing issues of racism as well as working within the abstract art movements of the mid-20th Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, century. At 1 p.m. Feb. 3, Crystal Bridges will offer a free 45-minute guided tour to ticket-holders. A symposium $10 nonmember adults. If you saw the 2017 exhibitions “Here.” at the that day with Tate Modern curators as well as artists Arts & Science Center of Southeast Arkansas and is sold out, but will be streamed by Crystal Bridges; a “AfriCOBRA NOW” at Hearne Fine Art, shows that link to the livestream of the symposium, which starts highlighted Chicagoans and others working during at 10 a.m., will be posted Feb. 3 at crystalbridges.org/ the height of the civil rights movement, you’ll know soul-of-a-nation-symposium. Crystal Bridges curator right away why “Soul of a Nation” is a must-not-miss of contemporary art Lauren Haynes will speak with show. If you didn’t see those exhibitions last year, then artists Betye Saar and Alison Saar at 10:30 a.m.; a you really must not miss “Soul of a Nation,” works by panel discussion with AfriCOBRA artists Jae Jarell, 60 of America’s finest African-American artists. While Wadsworth Jarrell, Carolyn Lawrence and Gerald Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko were exploring Williams begins at 11:15 a.m.; a panel discussion on abstract expressionism, the artists of “Soul of a Nation” photography with Ming Smith, Adger Cowans and — including collage artist Romare Bearden, sculptor Dawoud Bey begins at 1:30 p.m.; Haynes will talk with Noah Purifoy, craft artist Martin Puryear, quilter Faith artists Melvin Edwards and William T. Williams at Ringgold, assemblage artist Betye Saar, painter Alma 2:15 p.m.; a panel of educator artists will talk about the Thomas, WPA muralist Charles White, painter and visual arts education at 3:15 p.m.; and Tate curators printmaker Benny Andrews, portrait and conceptual will talk with performance artist Lorraine O’Grady artist Barkley Hendricks, abstractionist Sam Gilliam (Mlle. Bourgeois Noire) at 4 p.m. and Faith Ringgold and the others in the show — were working in a world at 4:30 p.m. LNP

FRIDAY 2/2

YOUNG VALLEY, EMPTY ATLAS, JOSHUA ASANTE 9 p.m. Maxine’s, Hot Springs. $7.

In a 2016 performance of “The Fly” for Mississippi Public Broadcasting, it’s as if the Jackson-based Young Valley sat down and set out to write its own “Cripple Creek.” Harmonica frames the barely-walking-tempo stanzas and sung phrases get traded

off, leaning heavily on the drummer: “Well, the North country weather was killin’ me/I had to set my sights down South/Bathe in the rivers of Tennessee just to wash my worries out.” Whether Levon was on their minds is anybody’s guess, but that’s the scene they paint here. Twins Zach and Dylan Lovett and their rock outfit put on a charged, energetic show last August opening for Andrew Bryant of Water Liars,

and at least a handful of listeners took note to catch them when they came around again. They’re joined by fellow Mississippians Empty Atlas and the endlessly gifted songsmith, photographer and guitarist Joshua Asante (Amasa Hines, Velvet Kente). If this one’s not in the cards, catch Young Valley at the White Water Tavern with Bonnie Montgomery on Saturday night. SS

Mulehead kicks off a set of writerly rock at the White Water Tavern, 9:30 p.m. C.J. Boyd and William Blackart share a bill at The Cavern in Russellville, 9 p.m., $3-$5. The Weekend Theater announces its summer musicals at “Carnival Cabaret,” with emcee Kayla Esmond, a performance from Foul Play Cabaret and an art auction, 7:30 p.m., 1001 W. Seventh St., $25. Howard & Skye play a set at the Markham Street Grill and Pub, 8:30 p.m. A new stage play from Chris James, “The Odds Against Us,” goes up at Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, 7:30 p.m., $20. It’s Open Stage Night at Club Sway with a “Love Shack” theme, 9 p.m. Chelsea McNutt, Dr. Simon Hosken, Dr. Cherisse Jones-Branch and Carmen Lanos Williams speak at The Black History Commission of Arkansas’s workshop, “African Americans in Arkansas’s Rural History,” 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, free, register at Eventbrite. Buh Jones performs at Cajun’s for happy hour, 5:30 p.m., free, and later, Charlotte Taylor takes the stage, 9 p.m., $5. The Kris Lager Band entertains at Four Quarter Bar, 10 p.m., $7. Jason Talbert takes the stage at Gigi’s Cafe & Lounge, 9:30 p.m. Mayday By Midnight, Nerd Eye Blind and The Big Dam Horns perform sets for the benefit of cancer patients at “Monsters of Todd IV,” 7 p.m., Rev Room, $10. The Driftaways perform at Kings Live Music in Conway, with a set from the velvet-voiced Tyler Sellers to kick things off, 8:30 p.m., $5. Liquid Kitty kicks off a set at Thirst N’ Howl Bar & Grill, 8:30 p.m., $5. Pocket Community Theatre in Hot Springs kicks off a run of Agatha Christie and Frank Voster’s “Love From A Stranger,” 7:30 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 2:30 p.m. Sun. through Feb. 11, $15. Over at Oaklawn Racing & Gaming in Hot Springs, The Pink Piano Show kicks off at Pops Lounge, 5 p.m. Fri.Sat., and Aaron Owens carries the late-night crowd at Silks Bar & Grill, 10 p.m. Fri.-Sat.

SATURDAY 2/3 Tawanna Campbell, Crissy P and Dee Dee Jones sing for “A Tribute to Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner and

Follow Rock Candy on Twitter: @RockCandies

CONTINUED ON PAGE 27 arktimes.com FEBRUARY 1, 2018

THE

TO-DO

LIST

BY STEPHANIE SMITTLE AND LESLIE NEWELL PEACOCK

FRIDAY 2/2

AVENGED SEVENFOLD

were nominated for the “Best Rock Song” category at Sunday evening’s Grammy Awards (Foo Fighters won), but you didn’t see them on television. After it was determined that “Best Rock Song” wouldn’t be part of the telecast and it would cost upward of

$150,000 to attend and still keep their tour schedule on track, the musicians decided against attending, basically tweeting, “Nah, we’re good.” At least, though, we got SZA and Pink and Childish Gambino, and fortunately for Little Rock audiences, we can

still hear the opening shred patterns of that nominated title track, “The Stage,” in a live performance here, with Breaking Benjamin and Bullet For My Valentine. SS

Newman, for one, who composed for “Cars,” “Toy Story,” “Monsters, Inc.” and five other Pixar flicks. There’s There’s already a lot going for “Wall-E,” the franchise’s silent Pixar films, musically speaking: Randy masterpiece about consumerism,

humanity and a lonely robot. This concert puts choice clips from 16 films in Pixar’s repertoire with a live orchestra playing a score coordinated to fit the movie montage — in this case,

the Conway Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Conductor and Music Director Israel Getzov in his 13th season with the CSO. SS

6:25 p.m. Verizon Arena. $25-$75.

Zachary Baker, Brian Haner, Matthew Sanders, Jonathan Seward and Brooks Wackerman of the Southern California-based heavy rock quintet Avenged Sevenfold

SATURDAY 2/3

PIXAR IN CONCERT

7:30 p.m. Reynolds Performance Hall, Conway. $27-$35.

‘THE INVENTOR’: Kevin James, an innovator in the field of magic effects, is part of the lineup for “The Illusionists,’ a touring magic show that lands at Robinson Center on Saturday.

SATURDAY 2/3

THE ILLUSIONISTS

5 p.m. and 8 p.m. Robinson Center Performance Hall. $47-$102.

Count this among the list of things you are way too cool for until you actually see them live, right next to the television show “Penn & Teller: Fool Us” and the entirety of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra catalogue. Think of it as a sort of supergroup of magicians: daredevil and escape artist Jonathan Goodwin, who, according to the show’s website, has been “hung by his toes from helicopters, burned at the stake, attacked by sharks, and even sewn up inside a dead cow”;

the Sherlockian mentalist Colin Cloud, “The Deductionist”; Kevin James, a French-born American inventor and descendant of P.T. Barnum, who’s credited with creating magic effects like “The Floating Rose” popularized by David Copperfield; “The Manipulator” An Ha Lim, a cardtrick guru from South Korea; and “The Trickster” Jeff Hobson, longtime Vegas emcee and pickpocket magician. The show is intended for all ages, but magic can be a little dark; producers recommend bringing the age 6-plus contingent in your family. SS

FRIDAY 2/2

‘THE MISEDUCATION OF RODNEY BLOCK’ 10 p.m. South on Main. $15.

The Rodney Block Collective, a trumpet-centric revolving ensemble 26

FEBRUARY 1, 2018

ARKANSAS TIMES

of some of the most polished performers in town, reprises its tribute to Bob Marley, Lauryn Hill, Burning Spear and the Fugees with a program called “The Miseducation of Rodney Block.” Onsite to lend a

hand — and to give the uninitiated a peek into Little Rock’s growing reggae scene — is Katrice “Butterfly” Newbill, as well as Collective regular Bijoux, educator and musician Tim Anthony, Tammi J, Dee Davis, DJ

Hy-C and others. If you thought Little Rock’s connection to the Caribbean diaspora was limited to Darril Harp Edwards’ steel drum work, here’s a chance to get educated. SS

IN BRIEF, CONT.

NOLAN KNIGHT

‘AFTERIMAGE’: Singer and guitarist R.LUM.R performs at Stickyz on Saturday night.

Anita Baker” at Gigi’s Soul Cafe & Lounge, 9 p.m., $15-$20. Vanimal Kingdom brings the saxophoneguitar jams (and the animal costume onesies) to Four Quarter Bar, 10 p.m., $7. At 6 p.m., Barnes & Noble in West Little Rock hosts a 20th anniversary celebration of all things Hufflepuff with games and trivia for Harry Potter Book Night, 6 p.m. The 11th annual Bob Marley Birthday Bash kicks off at the Rev Room, 8 p.m., $15. Almost Infamous plays a set or two at Thirst N’ Howl, 8:30 p.m., $5. Ben Beyers plays a set at Cajun’s Wharf for happy hour sippers, 5:30 p.m., free, or come later for saxophonist/vocalist Pamela K. Ward, 9 p.m., $5. San Antonio’s triple Grammy-nominated rock outfit Nothing More visits the Clear Channel Metroplex, with The Contortionist, Big Story and Kirra, 7 p.m., $20-$125. Tyler Kinchen & The Right Pieces play a set at Kings Live Music, 8:30 p.m., $5, with opener Tyler Grady. Sad Palomino, The Chads and Whoopsi share a bill at Maxine’s in Hot Springs, 9 p.m., $5. Just down Bathhouse Row in Hot Springs, Trey Johnson sings the blues at the Bubba Brew’s Brewing Co. Taproom, 528 Central Ave., Suite 100, 8 p.m.

SATURDAY 2/3

R.LUM.R

9 p.m. Stickyz Rock ’n’ Roll Chicken Shack. $15-$17.

The chorus to R.LUM.R’s single “Frustrated” starts on an E5, a note some lower altos go to lengths to avoid. Vocally, it’s head voice territory for a deeper instrument like R.LUM.R’s, and musically, it’s the same terrain Sade and D’Angelo wander around in, coupled here with a heavy, transfixing throb of a bass beat. A singer who sidelined aspirations in classical guitar and film music, R.LUM.R — Reginald Lamar Williams — squished together his first and middle names and moved to Nashville to “create [his] own lane,” as he told a music blog called “Behind the Setlist” last year: “I could’ve gone to Atlanta or Chicago or L.A. or Portland or whatever, but those places already have a sound that you think of when you think of urban — read: black — music. L.A. has Kendrick, the beat scene. Atlanta, there’s that wonderful trap music that’s poppin’. New York City there are the boom-bap rappers. Chicago, it’s Mick Jenkins. People, you know, who have a history in those places.” As a person outside looking in, I didn’t think Nashville had a lane yet for a black guy making traditional black music, you know what I’m saying?” R.LUM.R performs here between dates in Memphis and Oklahoma City, with a perfectly matched crooner of an opener: Sean Fresh. SS

SUNDAY 2/4 AJ Styles, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn star in WWE Pre Game Pandemonium at Verizon Arena, 1 p.m., $18-$103.

MONDAY 2/5 Michael Nelson, Fulmer professor of political science at Rhodes College, gives a talk titled “Trump’s First Year” at the Clinton School of Public Service, noon, free. Floyd Mutrux and Colin Escott made a jukebox musical about the lives of the so-called “Million Dollar Quartet” — Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins — the touring version of which is up at Reynolds Performance Hall in Conway for one night only, 7:30 p.m., $27-$40.

TUESDAY 2/6 SATURDAY 2/3

‘ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE’

8:30 p.m. BeSpoke Media Group, 2211 Cantrell Road. $12-$14.

If Target’s inspirational home decor is to be believed, we’re supposed to be playing more, daring to be wrong, thinking happy thoughts and making today awesome. To that end, here’s an age 18-and-over event with a “big kid ball pit”; music from Flintwick, Tilomere, Pineapplebeatz and Jesse John Shavel; wine from Chateau Aux Arc; beer from Stone’s Throw Brewing; a photo booth; a giant game of Twister; art and activity installations; performances from acroyoga artists and the circus performers of Arkansas Circus Arts; and a costume contest for the best red or love-themed garb. It’s part of a collaborative event called the “Signature Artist Series” in a space near Cajun’s Wharf in Riverdale. Get tickets by searching local on brownpapertickets.com or by calling 501-701-3622. SS

DeFrance returns to the White Water Tavern with road-tested Southern rock riffs, and with Aaron Stephens and Arkansas Dave in tow, 9 p.m. The live-action musical “The Lion King” isn’t coming to the Robinson Center until April, but the Central Arkansas Library System tides us over with a screening of the Disney film that inspired it, 6 p.m., Ron Robinson Theater, $2.

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.

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.

AND CYCLISTS, PLEASE REMEMBER...

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

WEDNESDAY 2/7 The Going Jessies are first up this month at South on Main’s “Sessions” series, curated in February by Trey Johnson, 8 p.m., $10. Follow Rock Candy on Twitter: @RockCandies

arktimes.com FEBRUARY 1, 2018

Dining WHAT’S COOKIN’

THE ARSAGA FAMILY in Fayetteville plans to do a major remodeling of the 3,400-square-foot space previously occupied by the Greenhouse Grille, Cary Arsaga said this week. He thinks the remodel should take at least six months, but that may be optimistic, he conceded. The new restaurant, the third to be opened by the coffee-roasting Arsaga family, will have a coffee shop up front, similar to Arsaga’s at the Depot. Cary Arsaga said they’ll serve breakfast, lunch and dinner. There will also be a full bar. Chef Patrick Lane is working up a menu now. Greenhouse Grille was known for introducing locally sourced ingredients, and Arsaga said the family will carry on that tradition. Arsaga will build a pavilion for outdoor seating behind the restaurant, which, like Arsaga’s at the Depot, abuts the Razorback Regional Greenway bike trail. There’s no name yet, but “ ‘Arsaga’s’ will be in it somewhere,” Arsaga said. He figures it could be determined by what people call it: The family named Arsaga’s at the Depot Arsaga’s Espresso Cafe and Creperie, but it didn’t stick, and chill Fayettevillians call Arsaga’s at Church and Center “Toast,” since that’s what it serves (with several toppings). The family has long been in the coffee shop business but started roasting its own 12 years ago. AN ARTIST, A CURATOR and a filmmaker will walk into a bar — or more accurately The Hive restaurant at 21c Museum Hotel in Bentonville — at 7 p.m. Feb. 8 to talk about the impact of Latino farm workers on how we eat in the South. The filmmaker is Ava Lowery of the Southern Foodways Alliance, and she, artist Lina Puerta and Chief Curator Alice Gray Stites will hold a panel discussion inspired by the exhibition, “Labor&Materials,” which includes Puerta’s series “From Field to Table: Seven Tapestries Honoring Latino Farm Laborers from the American South.” The Southern Foodways Alliance documents culture and food in the South. The panel discussion is free (though a donation of $10 to the Alliance is welcome) and is part of the hotel’s celebration of its fifth anniversary; a pajama party with music by Funk Factory follows. EAT MY CATFISH, the Arkansas-based chain begun as a food truck venture by Travis Hester in Benton in 2008, is opening its fourth location in the spring, the company has announced. The new restaurant will be in the McCain Plaza Shopping Center next to Dick’s Sporting Goods. Eat My Catfish goes beyond the whiskered to serve crab legs, shrimp and crawfish; it also caters. The other EMC outlets are in Conway and at Breckenridge Village. 28

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ARKANSAS TIMES

SEOUL FOOD: The “Seoul Pizza” features marinated chicken, cheeses, peppers, onions and jalapenos.

Rooftop speakeasy

Little Rock is not Los Angeles. Nor should it try to be.

ur local restaurant history is riddled with failed attempts to create faux-exclusive, chic, and aggressively hip dining atmospheres — attempts that have often left us feeling silently judged and uneasy instead of enjoying a slightly upscale evening. Maybe it’s something innate in Arkansans, but we do not have a track record of rewarding pretension. Happily, Agasi 7 seems to have found the sweet spot that others have missed, and landed somewhere between a casually elegant restaurant and chill speakeasy. Let’s start with the location — on the top floor of the Hilton Garden Inn, overlooking downtown Little Rock. Nothing against the Hilton brand, but Follow Eat Arkansas on Twitter: @EatArkansas

Agasi 7 is definitely more pleasantly trendy than I would expect from a chain hotel bar. There are two separate outdoor seating areas with spectacular views of the city (downtown and the River Market itself). Fire pits and comfortable lounge seating beckoned us despite the chilly weather. Inside, the vibe is comfortable, with a partially open kitchen and an ambient playlist that invited pleasant, intimate conversation instead of shouting. Agasi 7 has a cocktail list that steers toward the adventurous without being intimidating. For instance, after noticing a different flavor in our tasty “Agasi Old Fashioned” ($8, made with Rocktown bourbon and garnished with orange and cherry), the waitress informed us that the restaurant “smokes” all of the

glasses for whiskey drinks by capturing smoke in the glass from a wood plank before pouring. Our companions chose the refreshing and strong “Moscow Martini” ($9), concocted with Stoli vodka, ginger beer and maraschino, and an unremarkable “Rock Rickey Classic” ($9), Maker’s Mark, lime and soda. The beer menu features nine local selections from six Arkansas breweries along with a dozen bottled imports and domestics. The kitchen staff at Agasi 7 is clearly committed to putting its own stamp on familiar dishes. While deviled eggs have shown up as appetizers on many recent menus, Agasi’s eggs, “Thai CurrySpiced” ($4.75), gives a nice nip of heat that complements the creamy texture of the eggs. Playing a starring role at our table was a particularly good charcuterie plate ($11), featuring generous portions of prosciutto, capicola and salami paired with mozzarella, gouda and cheddar cheeses accompanying olives, onions and toasted mini-baguettes. The main course listing at Agasi 7 features only seven selections — three of which are salads — along with six types of pizza. The entrees section leads with a cedar plank salmon ($18) dish. Served oven-roasted with a rosemary-

BELLY UP

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

GROW grow LOCAL ARKANSAS TIMES

CASUAL ELEGANCE: Agasi 7 lacks pretension.

mustard-maple glaze, the fish seemed just slightly undercooked. The “Seoul Pizza” ($8) was a fortunate choice. Loaded with bulgogimarinated chicken, cheeses, peppers, onions and jalapenos, the pizza introduced an intriguing Korean flavor. One of our companions opted for the “Pizza Oven Salad” ($14), a fantastic option that, it turns out, has nothing whatsoever to do with pizza. Agasi 7 starts with arugula, prosciutto, olives, tomatoes, peppers, baguette chunks and onions in a house-made herb vinaigrette, then adds mozzarella and toasts the entire concoction in the oven until the cheese begins to melt. Desserts are another area in which Agasi 7 opts to serve a limited array: caramel apple cobbler ($6.50), fudge brownie melt ($5.75) and the most interesting of the lot, the “S’More Flatbread” ($5). Served pizza-style on flatbread, it is a twist on the classic camping dessert that ousts the Hershey bar in favor of Nutella, and toasts marshmallows atop graham cracker crumbs, pecans and caramel. Agasi 7 is the kind of place for a first date, drinks with a boss or to treat

Agasi 7 Rooftop Bar and Kitchen 322 Rock St. (atop the Hilton Garden Inn) 244-0044 facebook.com/Agasi7LittleRock

Experience this superb bowl all year 'round.

Quick bite

Enter through the Hilton Garden Inn lobby, where you’ll be greeted near the elevator and given access to the seventh floor. Restaurant and bar seating inside and also in two separate rooftop areas outdoors equipped with fire pits and portable heaters. If you’re a whiskey drinker, note that your drink will be “smoke infused” for a slightly different flavor than you’re likely used to.

Hours

4 p.m. until 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 4 p.m. until 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday and 4 p.m. until 10 p.m. Sunday.

your parents to when you’re trying to impress but don’t want it to be obvious. Understated and relaxed, with a menu to please the adventurous. We will definitely book a return visit. arktimes.com FEBRUARY 1, 2018

METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART

ART REVIEW

MARIN AT THE ARTS CENTER: Among the more than 100 drawings and watercolors are “Municipal Building” (above left), on loan from the Metropolitan Museum of Art; “Blue Shark,” a gift of Norma B. Marin to the Arts Center (top right); and “Walking Bear,” also a gift to the Arts Center.

Becoming aware of John Marin

The Windgate Foundation also made it possible for the Arts Center to hire curator of drawings Ann Prentice Wagner, whose scholarly research on George O’Keeffe and the Steiglitz group of artists made her a perfect person to put together “Becoming John Marin.” Wagner selected 79 works, including a newly acquired Marin, for this exhibit and managed to obtain the loans of 33 significant Marin drawings, paintings and etchings from the National Gallery of Art, the The Arts Center unveils its collection. Metropolitan Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art (which has the country’s largest collection BY LESLIE NEWELL PEACOCK of Marin etchings), Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and other major collections to add to ohn Marin’s watercolors are so atmospheric ethereal. the show. This is not a small, breeze-through show. that if you have only seen them online or even In 2008, Norma B. Marin, the artist’s daughter-in- It fills both the Jeannette Rockefeller and Townsend in a book, they might seem a bit insubstantial, law, promised a gift of 290 works on paper owned by Wolfe galleries with works created between 1888 and lacking in punch. But thanks to two years of work, the family to the Arts Center. (She approached the Arts 1952. Fortunately, it’s free, so one can return time and both in the conservation of the Arkansas Arts Center at the suggestion of curators at the National again to soak it all in. Center’s collection of works on paper by the artist Gallery, which received more than 900 prints and It is surprising to recall that modernism was and because of painstaking research into the artist, drawings.) The promise became reality in 2013, and a the metier of artists born in the 1800s. Marin was the exhibition “Becoming John Marin: Modernist at grant from the Henry Luce Foundation, the Windgate born in New Jersey in 1870; there are two little Work” that opened Friday at the Arts Center shows Charitable Foundation and private donors allowed the watercolors in the show that he made as an 18-yearthese modernist works to be as powerful as they are Arts Center to conserve the drawings and watercolors. old. And though these works clearly intimate the

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FEBRUARY 1, 2018

ARKANSAS TIMES

artist he would become, he was not “an early bloomer” on the American art scene, Wagner said. Marin spent his 20s and 30s drawing and studying architecture and art; he moved to Paris at age 35, selling etchings to tourists but still unsure of his career. It was there that photographer and painter Edward Steichen saw his work and decided to arrange a one-man show at the New York gallery 291, founded by photographer Alfred Stieglitz, in 1909. Four years later, Marin’s work was chosen for the famed Armory Show of 1913, credited with introducing European modernism to America with such works as cubist Marcel Duchamp’s “Nude Descending a Staircase” and impressionist Henri Matisse’s “Blue Nude.” Cubism began to insinuate itself into Marin’s (and everyone else’s) work, combining with the artist’s own passion for movement, rhythm and line. In “Becoming John Marin” we see finely rendered city buildings, such as St. Paul’s Chapel in lower Manhattan, devolve into sketchy, animated foregrounds; quirky pink nudes against a Cubist sea; gestural landscapes; lines drawn in the dark of the circus tent capturing the action of aerialists. Sketches of bears and lions at the Central Park Zoo, a painting of a dead bear. Portraits of his Maine neighbor. A roiling sea that recalls Japanese art; jittery images that recall the work of his contemporary, Charles Burchfield. Marin’s palettes are sometimes brilliant, sometimes subdued, his color applied both in washes and opaque, but untamed, oil. Marin became draftsman, painter, architect, abstractionist and modern master, and the proof is in this show. Marin’s modernist eye saw the abstract form of nature — trees, water, the shore of Maine, the Ramapo Mountains of New Jersey — and suggested solid forms with a stroke of color, pine needles with smudges, the New York skyline as a swath of purple haze, the churn of a boat’s wake with unpainted white space. Marin’s many drawings and paintings of buildings, both as background to the bustle of humanity and nature and as characters in and of themselves, surely was underpinned by his architectural understanding. The Metropolitan Museum’s “Municipal Building, New York,” one of his several iterations of the construction of the 40-story building at 1 Centre St., is one of the tremendous loans on exhibit. It’s accompanied by sketches of the building; Wagner said Marin made sketch after sketch until

he internalized the building, then returned to the studio to translate the image into watercolor. The standout etching — perhaps the star of the show to those who love printmaking — is the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s “Woolworth Building, No. 1.” The building sways heavenward in a sky of curving parallel lines; a wash of gray and dark smudges made by the artist’s fingerprints mark the foreground. In “Woolworth Building, No. 1,” Marin makes motion with deft line; in the ethereal “Middle Atlantic,” a painting made from onboard ship, watery brushstrokes and white space create the roll of the waves. More substantial are the marks in “Grain Elevator” (1910-15) from Marin’s Weekhawken series. The oil, on loan from Crystal Bridges, forges a landscape from triangles and dots of white, a swath of red ochre, orange rectangles in the background and teal shadowing: It’s a beauty, as is the more ephemeral “Cape Split in a Smokey Sou’-Wester” (1937), a storm off the Maine cost rendered in blue-gray streaks, black shapes and fine charcoal lines. Like “Middle Atlantic,” “Cape Split” is one of the stars of the Arts Center’s collection on exhibit, along with “Small Point, Maine” (1920), a watercolor of a cheery evergreen rising from an abstracted foreground in red; the landscape “Ramapo Mountains,” a composition of a distant meadow made with deft marks of green on green; the unfinished watercolor “Woolworth Building Under Construction” (1912); and the graphite “Untitled (Woolworth Building)” (1912-13), in which the faint outline of the building rises above a jazzy jumble of smaller buildings. Taking a technological leap, the Arts Center has installed “beacons” by certain of the works that viewers can access with the free smartphone app BeaconSage for greater depth of information. The beacon requires no searching; the app detects it when the viewer approaches the work. The Arts Center has also created a website, becomingjohmarin.org, that offers more information on the artist, including a timeline and a map of places where he painted. Wagner has edited a collection of essays about Marin in the book “Becoming John Marin: Modernist at Work,” published by the University of Arkansas Press. The book, which includes 300 illustrations in its 430 pages, has gone to press and will be available soon for $50. The exhibition runs through April 22.

ARKANSAS TIMES

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ALSO IN THE ARTS

THEATER “Grandpa Hasn’t Moved for Days.” The late winter/spring comedy show from The Main Thing. 8 p.m. Fri.-Sat., through March 24. $24. The Joint Theater & Coffeehouse. 301 Main St., NLR. 501-372-0205. “Greater Tuna.” Murry’s Dinner Playhouse puts up a comedy from Jaston Williams, Joe Sears and Ed Howard about “the third smallest town in Texas.” 7:30 p.m. Tue.-Sat., dinner at 6 p.m.; 12:45 p.m. and 6:45 p.m. Sun., dinner at 11 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., through Feb. 10. $15-$37. 6323 Colonel Glenn Road. 501-562-3131. “The Call.” The Rep tackles Tanya Barfield’s study on parenthood, adoption, privilege and race. 7 p.m. Sun., 7 p.m. Wed.-Thu., 8 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 2 p.m. Sun., through Feb. 11. $30-$65. 601 Main St. 501-378-0405. “The Humans.” TheatreSquared performs Stephen Karam’s drama, deemed the “Best Play of 2016” at the Tony Awards. 7:30 p.m. Wed.-Sat., 2 p.m. Sat.-Sun., through Feb. 18. $10$44. Walton Arts Center’s Studio Theater, 495 W. Dickson St. 479-443-5600.

FINE ART, HISTORY EXHIBITS

MAJOR VENUES

ARKANSAS ARTS CENTER, MacArthur Park: “Luminous Lines: Forty Years of Metalpoint Drawings,” 35 works surveying the career of Susan Schwalb, Feb. 2-April 29; “Becoming John Marin: Modernist at Work,” drawings and watercolors from the permanent collection, through April 22. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat., 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sun. 372-4000. ARKANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY, Jonesboro: “2018 Delta National Small

Prints Exhibition,” through Feb. 21, Bradbury Museum; “Sorting Out Race: Examining Racial Identity and Stereotypes in Thrift Store Donations,” objects on loan from the Kauffman Museum, ASU Museum, through March 10, panel discussion 5-7 p.m. Feb. 6. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, extended hours to 7 p.m. Tuesday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. 870-972-2074. ARTS & SCIENCE CENTER FOR SOUTHEAST ARKANSAS, 701 S. Main St.: “#GildTheDelta,” metallic pastels by Norwood Creech, through April 21. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sat. 870-536-3375.

college students, $6 youth 6-17, free to active military and children under 6, President Clinton’s birthday. 374-4242.

under 18, free to 65 and over. (Galleries free.) 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. 324-9351.

CRYSTAL BRIDGES MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART, One Museum Way, Bentonville: “All or Nothing,” works from the permanent collection in black and white, through May 28; “Not to Scale: Highlights from the Fly’s Eye Dome Archive,” drawings and models of Fuller’s geodesic dome, through March; American masterworks spanning four centuries in the permanent collection. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon., Thu.; 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Wed., Fri.; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sat.-Sun., closed Tue. 479-418-5700.

MacARTHUR MUSEUM OF ARKANSAS MILITARY HISTORY, 503 E. 9th St. (MacArthur Park): “Waging Modern Warfare”; “Gen. Wesley Clark”; “Vietnam, America’s Conflict”; “Undaunted Courage, Proven Loyalty: Japanese American Soldiers in World War II. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-4 p.m. Sun. 376-4602. MOSAIC TEMPLARS CULTURAL CENTER, 9th and Broadway: “Arkansas Divine 9: An Exhibit of Arkansas’s African-American Greek Letter Organizations,” opens Feb. 3, with screening of film “Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities,” at 4 p.m., panel discussion to follow with Sericia Cole, Dr. Howard Gibson, Dr. Jerome Green and Dr. Lawrence Alexander; permanent exhibits on African-American entrepreneurship and work by AfricanAmerican artists. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat. 683-3593.

BUTLER CENTER GALLERIES, Arkan- ESSE PURSE MUSEUM & STORE, 1510 sas Studies Institute, 401 President S. Main St.: “Exposed: Unmentionables Clinton Ave.: “Reflections in Pastel,” 1900-1960s,” dress forms, corsets, slips, the Arkansas Pastel Society’s national advertisements, accessories of womexhibition, through Feb. 24; “Educa- en’s undergarments, through April 29; tion in Exile: Student Experience at “What’s Inside: A Century of Women Rohwer.” 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Sat. 320- and Handbags,” permanent exhibit. 5790. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Tue.-Sat., 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Sun. $10, $8 for students, seniors and CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL MUSEUM military. 916-9022. VISITOR CENTER, Bates and Park: Exhibits on the 1957 desegregation of FORT SMITH REGIONAL ART MUCentral and the civil rights movement. SEUM, 1601 Rogers Ave.: “Fort Smith MUSEUM OF DISCOVERY, 500 Presi9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. daily. 374-1957. Legend John Bell,” paintings and dent Clinton Ave.: Interactive science sculpture, through April 22; “Bonfire,” exhibits and activities for children and CLINTON PRESIDENTIAL CENTER, 21 environmentally focused works by teenagers. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat., 1-5 1200 President Clinton Ave.: “The textile artist Barbara Cade, through p.m. Sun., $10 ages 13 and older, $8 Great Expedition: Exploring the Feb. 11. 18. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tue.-Sat., 1-5 ages 1-12, free to members and chilLouisiana Purchase and its Impact on p.m. Sun. 479-784-2787. dren under 1. 396-7050. Arkansas,” three original treaty documents, Feb. 2-March 4; “Mandela: The HISTORIC ARKANSAS MUSEUM, OLD STATE HOUSE MUSEUM, 300 W. Journey to Ubuntu,” photographs by 200 E. 3rd St.: “These Various Threads Markham St. “Cabinet of Curiosities: Matthew Willman and recreation of I Drew,” 19th century needlepoint sam- Treasures from the University of ArkanMandela’s cell, through Feb. 19; “Art of plers, through June; “Going Unnoticed: sas Museum Collection”; “True Faith, Africa: One Continent, Limitless Vision,” Dustyn Bork and Carly Dahl,” through True Light: The Devotional Art of Ed pieces from the Clinton Presidential April 8; “Gordon and Wenonah Fay Stilley,” musical instruments, through Center’s archives as well as from Presi- Holl: Collecting a Legacy,” through 2017; “First Families: Mingling of Polident Clinton’s own personal collection, Feb. 4. Ticketed tours of renovated and tics and Culture” permanent exhibit inthrough Feb. 12; permanent exhibits replicated 19th century structures from cluding first ladies’ gowns. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on the Clinton administration. 9 a.m.- original city, guided Monday and Tues- Mon.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. 324-9685. 5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun., $10 day on the hour, self-guided Wednesadults, $8 seniors, retired military and day through Sunday, $2.50 adults, $1 TOLTEC MOUNDS STATE PARK, U.S.

THE

ARKANSAS REPERTORY THEATRE

CALL by TANYA BARFIELD directed by GILBERT MCCAULEY