Arkansas Times - March 1, 2018 by Arkansas Times

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Beth Ditto kicks off an unbridled Spring Arts calendar

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MARCH 1, 2018

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VOLUME 44, NUMBER 26

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

Some thoughts on school shootings Arm teachers and other school employees? Bad idea. They have more than enough to do as it is. Teachers with guns will not deter anybody set on shooting up a school. Those shooters are mentally ill to the point of being suicidal. Most of the ones who aren’t killed by police wind up taking their own lives in the end. Discouraging school shooters by arming teachers is a bit like embedding broken glass in sidewalks to stop disturbed people from jumping off of buildings. Also important to note, Philando Castile was a licensed gun owner and a school employee. Didn’t really work out that well for him. Chris “American Sniper” Kyle was, to say the least, trained in the use of firearms. Despite being armed at the time, he was killed by a guy with mental problems and a gun. Which raises the question, how well does Trump intend to train these gun-packing teachers? More armed guards in schools? My son’s high school has about 10 doors. The arts annex has three; four in the field house. Of course, you will need a sniper at each end of the athletic field as well. There are three high schools here in town and about a dozen lesser public schools. Should be able to cover our town’s whole school system with a force of about 200. We can easily equip, insure and pay these folks for a total of $10 million a year, $15 million tops. Problem solved. Of course, if they are like the law officers at Parkland and show reluctance to put themselves in the line of fire, the system might not work so well. How about we lock most of the schools’ doors from the inside? Been done. More of a challenge than a deterrent. Can be easily gotten around by a Columbine-type team. Spot-weld the secondary doors shut? You might have a hard time clearing that with the fire marshal. Bottom line, putting the onus of school shootings on the schools themselves is just wrong. Rather than giving the teachers guns, perhaps we should get the guns out of the hands of the mentally ill. For starters, I would put Wayne LaPierre high on the mentally impaired list. David Rose Hot Springs Since the Columbine shooting to the recent Florida shooting, there have been many defenseless victims 4

MARCH 1, 2018

ARKANSAS TIMES

who were unarmed and unprotected. As or stop the next one. Teachers should be you saw in the Parkland, Fla., shooting, allowed to have some kind of weapon every kid was defenseless. Parents that should be locked up at all times to forgetting to say “I love you” the last be only used in emergencies. A weapon time they saw their child that day and does not have to be a gun. It could be as kids getting shot to death for no reason simple as pepper spray or a Taser. is the result of some of these shootings. So why are we waiting? The numbers As the numbers keep growing, we need have just been growing, so let’s be the to stand up and make an efficient plan change we wish to see in the world. for what to do when we have an intruder. Because it’s not acceptable that our Kids are not supposed to go to school and society gets used to hearing the words get intruded on and killed. But we can “another school shooting.” stop this. If teachers can have some kind Grace Holley of way to protect themselves and their Alexander students, that might help save more lives

From the web

In response to Autumn Tolbert’s Feb. 22 column on the Parkland, Fla., school shooting: I think what disturbs me is the indifference a lot of politicians are showing toward all of the school shootings. Some are giving anemic, weak agreements that more needs to be done, and some are making ridiculous excuses about it not being the guns’ fault. All of that means nothing to the grieving families. A few politicians have actually been very vocal about passing better gun safety laws. After seeing teenagers on TV making speeches and organizing marches to get gun safety laws passed, I think the Florida school shooting is going to cause some casualties in state legislatures and in Congress. ShineOnLibby

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For the life of me, I cannot understand why the shooter was never mentioned in the above comment. This is where an adult should say, “It was a man with a legally purchased weapon that killed those people, NOT the NRA.” I 100 percent agree that the bump stocks should be outlawed, as well as the legal age to purchase be lowered, but to blame the NRA is simply teaching the kids that they should ALWAYS pass the buck. NEVER accept responsibility for your actions, if you can POSSIBLY blame someone, or something, else. THAT is the problem with America. Jim Taylor In response to “Righting Governor’s School,” an Arkansas Reporter on a conservative push to move Arkansas Governor’s School from Hendrix College: I am very grateful my daughter was able to attend Governor ’s School as something that was the only thing on campus. It gave her a feeling of honor and responsibility that she carries with her to this day. Conservatives like to accuse people who have positions and arguments they disagree with of playing a “race card” or a “woman card” or some other magical card. They don’t have a logical position and need magical thinking. Jerry Cox is playing the Christian card. He thinks it’s unfair that he doesn’t have the whole deck anymore. Governor’s School isn’t part of the deck. It never has been. Martin Luther decried reasoning as the enemy of faith. Governor’s School is not anti-Christian. It is pro-reasoning. And it is time to call out conservatives’ use of the religion/Christian card for what it is. Vanessa

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EYE ON ARKANSAS

BRIAN CHILSON

WEEK THAT WAS

Quote of the week

“The United States is not and never will be a sanctuary for those who do not honor our laws, who do not respect our individual rights and freedoms and who seek to destroy our way of life.” Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland last week. Rutledge also cited the story of Nehemiah being called by God to rebuild walls in Jerusalem in support of building a border wall between the United States and Mexico.

Rutledge also fighting Affordable Care Act

Twenty Republican state attorneys general, including Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, have gone to court to drive a stake Among those arrested were Bilal through the Affordable Care Act. Johns Muhammad (nicknamed Their argument, in a Texas federal “Feezio”), half-brother of former NFL court, is that since Congress has player Darren McFadden, and two removed the fee, or tax, portion of Muhammad’s sons — Bilal Sean of the mandate under the law that Muhammad (nicknamed “Lil Feezi” everyone purchase insurance, the or “Redd”) and Kain Jordan. mandate itself is no longer constitutional under the federal ruling that allowed the law to stand because it A group hoping to put a constiwas an exercise of taxing authority. tutional amendment on the ballot in 2018 to legalize more casinos in Arkansas and devote tax revenues to U.S. Attorney Cody Hiland and highways has submitted an altered other officials announced dozens proposal to the attorney general’s of drug and gun arrests in a crack- office. Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, down on gang crime. Hiland released who reviews the popular name and 13 indictments and two complaints BUSTER: U.S. Attorney Cody Hiland announced drug and gun charges against 49 people charging 49 people with drug traf- ballot title of referred laws and last week as Mayor Stodola, Police Chief Kenton Buckner and others stood with him. ficking and gun crimes. This was a amendments, rejected the first try. The first proposal called for casiproduct of an investigation targeting gangs, including some believed nos in Jefferson and Crittenden coun- those casinos. In other words, local by which Southland and Oaklawn involved in the mass shooting at ties and then one more from Miller, casino monopolies in Hot Springs added slot machines and electronic Power Ultra Lounge during a rap Mississippi, Pope, Union or White and West Memphis would be writ- forms of standard casino games show. Twenty-five people were County. ten into the Arkansas Constitution such as roulette and craps. No one The proposal now calls for one for the two racetracks, which could has challenged the proposition wounded July 1 and a couple of arrests have been made previously casino each in Jefferson and Pope have two casinos in each place. The that these were “games of skill” as Counties and then casinos “at or adja- casinos in Pope and Jefferson County opposed to unconstitutional lotteries. of those involved. Forty of the 49 people charged cent to” the existing racetrack casi- would have to be within two miles of The amendment also would allow sports books at the casinos, subject to were in custody last week, with 35 nos at Southland in West Memphis Russellville and Pine Bluff. arrests coming in two large raids and Oaklawn in Hot Springs, with The amendment would end, at a change in federal law. It also would that occurred last week involving the permits specifically allocated to least at the new casinos, the sham require successful applicants to have 250-plus law enforcement officers. the corporations currently operating “electronic games of skill” artifice casino operation experience.

New casino push

Drug, gun arrests

BRIAN CHILSON

MARCH 1, 2018

ARKANSAS TIMES

OPINION

Guns: Call the roll

he gun lobby is wrong in thinking law enforcement failures in the Florida massacre are arguments against gun control. They illustrate why we must look harder at the devices that do the mass killing and how they get in hands of people even law officers are reluctant to confront. There are concrete ideas to discuss, beginning with science. Public health research should consider guns. But the Dickey Amendment prevents research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Doctors are inhibited in asking about guns in homes. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms can’t distribute its data. All these limits are products of NRA lobbying against research. Research produced auto safety ideas with proven benefits. Fewer people might have guns in homes if they were required to have liability insurance for accidents or faced meaningful criminal penalties for negligence in storage. Would any member of Congress from Arkansas vote to open the door

to scientific research? The late Jay Dickey, a Republican from Pine Bluff who brought about the ban on CDC MAX BRANTLEY research, came to maxbrantley@arktimes.com regret it before he died. Florida legislators, including Republicans, are talking about raising the age on gun purchases to 21. The NRA has resisted this. It’s worth consideration, though I admit the contradiction in barring civilian purchase of firearms by people old enough to go to war with even more powerful weapons. Can’t we legislate an end to bump stocks, which effectively create automatic weapons of mass slaughter? Yesterday? Can’t we end the gun show loophole on background checks and move to a universal background check system? Yesterday? We make women wait days to obtain

Gun history

t all seems so urgent yet so pointless, general public for this umpteenth national catharsis many years has over gun slaughter: children and overwhelmingly ERNEST parents wailing for action by Congress favored banning DUMAS and legislatures, followed by hesitant civil purchases of and often laughable ideas from the rapid-fire military weapons that are president and others about how to stop used in most of the massacres and other it. From President Trump, it’s filling up regulatory steps to keep weapons out of more mental institutions but cutting the hands of dangerous people. But for funding for them, maybe or maybe not most lawmakers, at least in the South and raising the age for kids to buy weapons, Midwest, political safety lies not with and putting Glocks in the blouses of pacifying queasy mothers and children, schoolmarms. but the National Rifle Association and The great emotional purge after the other conservative groups that spend Florida school slaughter will end like tens of millions every election cycle to all the others, empty of real results. see that their stewards in Washington Foreigners know us best. Dan Hodges, and statehouses don’t quail at images a writer for the British paper The Mail, of slain and crying children. wrote last year that it had been evident See how many Arkansas politicians, since the Sandy Hook massacre in 2012 from Governor Hutchinson to our when Adam Lanza shot and killed 26 Washington delegation, say they will children and adults and then himself, support banning mass-killing weapons. that the country would do nothing None, I will wager. Hutchinson hired about it. out to the NRA before he was governor. “Once America decided killing Congressman French Hill of Little Rock children was bearable, it was over,” he leads Congress in gun money. wrote. The country’s love of guns was They say they are concerned about stronger than concern about the safety “Second Amendment issues.” There of kids. are no Second Amendment issues on He was right about the state of polity assault weapons. In the only Supreme but a little off about the reasons. The Court decision in history saying that

a legal medical procedure. Why not a killings in Australia. Sen. Marco Rubio waiting period for weapon purchases, (R-Fla.) — as easy to buy as an AR-15, particularly semi-automatic military- cracked a Florida massacre survivor style weapons of little practical use — has already enunciated the NRA’s except killing humans? slippery slope argument on this. With Even some conservatives support what weapon would it end? I say let’s red-flag laws that would allow a due debate it. process court procedure to take guns The old belief that voting the away from people who’ve demonstrated NRA line is the safest political course a threat to society. Let’s have that debate. may be due for rethinking, at least in Oregon has extended the law on some states, beginning with swingdomestic abuse to take convicted guns state Florida. Tell Mitch McConnell, away in cases of nonspousal abuse. It Paul Ryan, House Speaker Jeremy also prevents gun purchases by stalkers Gillam (R-Judsonia), Senate Pro and those under domestic abuse orders. Tem Jonathan Dismang (R-Searcy) Let’s do it. and anybody else who claims to be a Rep. Clarke Tucker (D-Little Rock) legislative leader to hold the debates. was rebuffed by the legislature in 2017 Then call the roll, as Arkansas legislators for his effort to take guns from those sometimes shout when exasperated by convicted of misdemeanor domestic talking. Make a record of those who battery. Tucker’s bill got 31 votes in the value guns more than people. And then 100-member House. Republican Rep. let the people, roll calls in hand, vote at “Bullet” Bob Ballinger (R-Berryville) the polls. The NRA wants to kill this idea actually said it would just be wrong to in the crib. They can read the pro-guntake away a Second Amendment right for control national public opinion polls as a “relatively minor encounter.” Beating well as I can. your girlfriend is a minor thing to the Let’s also get a vote from the gun defenders. country’s teachers on making them Then the biggie. A ban on assault security guards — on top of everything weapons. It brought an end to mass else they do. the Second Amendment entitled people to keep guns for home protection unconnected with militia service, the author, Antonin Scalia, went out of his way to make it clear that government could and perhaps should regulate gun ownership, including the kinds of guns people can own for self-protection. Scalia spent thousands of words in a twisting linguistic argument to suggest that while the Second Amendment’s clear purpose was to prevent Congress from outlawing citizen militias, it also protected people’s right to own some kind of firearm to protect the home, subject to government restrictions. Gun regulation has been our history, particularly in the South, until the past 35 years, when the NRA turned from supporting to opposing regulation after the munitions industry took over the organization and persuaded millions of paranoids there was a massive conspiracy to confiscate their guns. As late as the 1920s, during the brief ascendancy of the Ku Klux Klan, the Arkansas legislature passed and the governor signed an act requiring everyone to pay a dollar and get a permit every year from the county clerk for any firearm. The clerk was to determine who was worthy of a gun and, of course, he was not to issue permits to blacks. But the lawmakers underestimated the fury of people who had to pay a dollar

every year and beseech the clerk for a permit. The legislature later repealed the law. The NRA supported laws like Arkansas’s in those days. The NRA’s principal reforms were to require a police permit to carry a concealed weapon and for gun dealers to report all handgun sales to the government, which would keep a registry. When the Black Panthers began to tote rifles around the streets of big cities in the 1960s, conservative Republicans in Washington and the states passed guncontrol laws to stop it. The NRA testified for banning mail-order gun sales after President Kennedy’s assassination. Your congressmen will say guns are not the problem, but crazy people. A 2015 study estimated that only 4 percent of American gun deaths, which are the highest among countries not riven by war, are attributable to mental-health issues. Other advanced countries, including European countries at high risk of terrorist attacks, don’t experience regular civilian massacres. The U.S. has 4.4 percent of the world’s population but since 1966 it has had nearly 35 percent of the world’s mass shooters. But guns are not the problem? If Trump says arm schoolmarms, Rep. Charlie Collins (R-Fayetteville) will introduce the bill, the legislature will pass it and Hutchinson will sign it.

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arktimes.com MARCH 1, 2018

On the memos

SAVE THE DATE

MARCH 10

TO SEE ‘SOUL OF A NATION: ART IN THE AGE OF BLACK POWER’ AT CRYSTAL BRIDGES MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART

In the 1960s, America was consumed by the civil rights and black power movements, turbulent times that inspired African-America artists to speak out through their art forms. Now, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art brings from London’s Tate Modern this exhibition of paintings, murals, photographs, fabric art and sculpture by such artists as Romare Bearden, Betye Saar, Faith Ringgold, Sam Gilliam, Alma Thomas, Barkley L. Hendricks, Benny Andrews. In all, “Soul of a Nation” features work by 60 of America’s greatest AfricanAmerican artists.

Art expert Garbo Hearne of Hearne Fine Art, who’s exhibited works by many of these artists in her Little Rock gallery, will lead the tour.

Cost includes coffee, pastries, mimosas, wine, box lunches provided by Boulevard Bread and dinner in Bentonville. We will depart at 9am.

Round-trip bus transportation provided by Arkansas Destinations.

Admission to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is free. Round-trip bus transportation provided by Arkansas Destinations.

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Admission to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is free.

Like our Bus Trips page for details, updates and other perks! facebook.com/arktimesbustrips MARCH 1, 2018 ARKANSAS TIMES

rom the GOP perspective, maybe Evidence is evidence in a court of law. the worst thing about the dueling Because, see, that’s the second big Nunes/Schiff memos regarding problem with the Nunes memo that the FBI’s Russia investigation is what Sean Hannity predicted would lead to they revealed about the intelligence the imprisonment of Hillary Clinton of the combatants. Following the Fox and half of the “Deep State” operaNews-amplified thunder of the #Releas- tives of the FBI: its sheer, staggering eTheMemo campaign, the most striking dishonesty. thing about the Nunes effort was how Contrary to Nunes and his Fox News breathtakingly dumb it was. enablers, the FBI Call me an elitist if it makes you feel did not conceal better. But if you were being investi- the partisan origated by a prosecutor as experienced gins of the Steele and relentless as special counsel Robert d o s s i e r f r o m Mueller, you definitely wouldn’t want the FISA court. GENE Rep. Devin Nunes as your lawyer. Schiff ’s rebuttal LYONS By explicitly confirming that the directly quotes FBI probe of the Trump campaign’s the warrant applidalliance with Russia began in direct cation stating that the British invesresponse to staffer George Papadopou- tigator had been hired indirectly by a los’s drunken bragging to an Australian political opponent “looking for infordiplomat in June 2016, the Nunes memo mation that could be used to discredit unintentionally rebutted its own basic [Trump’s] campaign.” argument. By October 2016, when this hearing Papadopoulos’ guilty plea confirms took place, Trump had only one serious the investigators’ judgment. political opponent. Naming her was But no, the so-called “dodgy dossier” as unnecessary there as it is here, and compiled by British intelligence agent might even have been called prejudicial. Christopher Steele didn’t jump-start the Besides, FISA judges had the authority FBI — which never saw it until Septem- to demand more information had they ber. As Steele, a veteran operative with needed it. a sterling reputation in Great Britain, Once again, evidence is evidence in stated all along, some of it was “raw a court of law; the FBI had suspected intelligence” that might never be con- Carter Page of being a Russian agent firmed. Not that he’s been proven wrong. since 2013. Indeed, now that we have Rep. Adam Indeed, the Schiff memo perhaps Schiff’s memo rebutting Nunes’ hack- inadvertently reveals (it’s in a footwork, it’s clear that many of Steele’s note) that by September 2016 fully findings were exactly on target. Spe- FIVE Trump campaign officials were cifically, Steele reported that Inter- under FBI scrutiny. Three have already national Man of Mystery and former pled guilty. Carter Page hasn’t yet been Trump volunteer Carter Page was told charged with anything, which if I were during a Moscow trip in July 2016 that on Team Trump, might make me nerthe Kremlin had A) collected allegedly vous. Over the years, he’s probably compromising information on Hill- learned the folly of lying to the FBI. ary Clinton, and B) strongly favored Political stupidity is one thing. But Trump’s election. easily exposed dishonesty is dumber Although Page has publicly denied still. To anybody smart enough to meeting with Deputy Prime Minister take shelter from the rain, the Nunes Arkady Dvorkovich, he also sent the memo and the choreographed #ReleasTrump campaign a memo detailing his eTheMemo campaign lie in ruins. Of “private conversation” with the man. course, that excludes roughly one-third Leaks of stolen Democratic National of American voters, who believe anyCommittee emails via WikiLeaks thing Fox News says. But two-thirds (remember how Trump “loved” don’t, and their suspicions can only have WikiLeaks during the campaign?) began been further aroused. three days later. Meanwhile, the president tweets Given those facts, supplemented by “The Democrat memo response on govindependent FBI sources, why should it ernment surveillance abuses is a total matter who financed Steele’s investiga- political and legal BUST. ... Just contion? Nor what the four GOP-appointed firms all of the terrible things that were FISA judges who approved surveillance done. SO ILLEGAL!” of Page were told about it. Characteristically empty bluster.

Sexism everywhere

his past week I was a member of a panel of attorneys addressing discrimination in the practice of law. Just like any field, sexism exists in the legal industry, especially in certain practice areas. It’s something I’ve been used to and aware of since I was a law student 15 years ago when a professor advised us that some local attorneys serving as judges at our school moot court competition might hold it against female students if we wore pants instead of a skirt. That story didn’t make it in to my remarks to the students last week, but the warning hung around with me for a decade. It wasn’t until around three years ago that I wore pants for the first time in front of a jury. Previously, I had only worn skirt suits and always with nude pantyhose underneath in the fear that an older, conservative juror might hold it against my client because his or her attorney dared bare her legs in the courthouse. Because I’ve been deep in the legal world for the past 15 years, I never had much exposure to sexism in journalism until I started writing this column. But in recent weeks it has been hard to ignore the debate going on in Central Arkansas the “Babe Bracket,” a yearly tournament-style contest put on by KABZ-FM, 103.7 “The Buzz” that pits female television journalists against each other. As you can probably deduce from the name, the contest seems to be primarily based on looks. Austin Kellerman, news director at KARK, seemed to start the debate by writing a story calling for the end of the contest. Kellerman was swiftly attacked online for his views and accused of trying to use the contest for ratings. Odd criticism since the contest actually uses the female journalists for the radio station ratings. The debate over the bracket continued to swirl around Twitter and went nuclear when Governor Hutchinson appeared on the radio station during a charity event and yukked it up by celebrating the “good spirit” of the contest. Big mistake. Either the governor didn’t think it through or he just was unprepared, but I can’t imagine any public figure not anticipating being asked about the bracket, especially since the men behind the contest seem so proud it. My first words upon hearing his comments cannot be printed here, but if you follow me on Twitter, you’ll see that I had to immediately issue an apology to my mother for using such language. I always thought Hutchinson

had more sense than to support such a blatantly sexist contest. While he later tried to walk back his comments, his initial attitude toward the Babe Bracket was inexcusable. I was proud to see a few weeks later that several of the journalists started using the hashtag #morethanababe to push back against the idea that they were just pretty talking heads. Many of the contestants have won Associated Press Awards, Edward R. AUTUMN Murrow Awards TOLBERT and Emmys. The hashtag spread and women from all professions joined together to speak up against sexism and the idea that looks are paramount. It’s fair, as some supporters of the contest pointed out, to criticize the local TV stations for creating a culture that places such a high value on appearances. More diversity in age and size would be welcome, but this is not the fault of the female journalists. After tweeting my support of those who want to end the contest, I learned firsthand that criticizing the Babe Bracket was tough. Women who spoke up were accused of being jealous of the female journalists chosen for the contest, accused of being fat, and accused of being hypocritical if we had ever dared be in a beauty pageant (which is completely different because the women did not choose to be in the radio contest). Well, I was in a beauty pageant many years ago, and today, after two kids, I’m weighing in at my highest, and I’ll freely admit that I am jealous of these women. I’m jealous that they make what is a tough job look so easy. Most of them are involved in their communities, are up early or out late bringing us the news, and doing it all while also having to worry about their hair and makeup. They deserve to be celebrated for their accomplishments, not merely reduced to being “babes.” Even after the pushback, the disc jockeys at the station have decided to continue with the contest under a different name. It remains to be seen if it is a true change or a change in name alone. But I’m glad the women spoke up. I’m glad to see sexism and the objectification of women being called out. Let’s hope the next time something like this happens, we won’t have to hear our governor giving that kind of “boys will be boys” behavior a pass.

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ARKANSAS TIMES

All the Hogs

e’re still deeply engrossed cally overcome a bad mid-week perforin the Arkansas men’s bas- mance — in this case, the Hogs were ketball campaign, but first, utterly listless in the last 10 minutes of Pearls has a word on a couple of other an 87-72 loss at home to Kentucky on ongoing February sports on the hill. Tuesday night — if The women’s team helmed by first- you show out on year coach Mike Neighbors has, unques- Saturday. And the tionably, had its share of struggles, a fate Hogs keep doing which was to be expected after Jimmy that, claiming their Dykes did precious little to stock the sixth win in the last cupboard in three years of underwhelm- seven on the weekBEAU ing performance. Neighbors’ coaching end, going into Ala- WILCOX pedigree and affable nature weren’t ever bama and putting a going to be sufficient to overcome the fine little dent into the Crimson Tide’s personnel shortage he had on the court; tournament chances with a 76-73 escape but rather admirably the Razorbacks from Tuscaloosa. have pressed on to the conference tourHeading back home, Arkansas will nament in Nashville, Tenn., after suffer- engage in one last two-step, including through a six-game season-ending ing Senior Night at Bud Walton Arena losing streak that happened right on against the Auburn team that could very the heels of a nice road win against Ala- will win the SEC and be its flagship team bama that put them briefly back above in the NCAA Tournament, and then a .500 overall. road trip to Columbia, Mo., for a final Neighbors’ team isn’t likely to stay date with a Tiger team that keeps movin the Music City long, starting with ing inside and outside the proverbial a Tuesday game against the very Vander- bubble, and enters the final week of bilt team that hosts the tourney and beat the regular season riding a decidedly Arkansas in a Sunday finale. The Lady untimely three-game skid. The Hogs Commodores have suffered through an aren’t exactly surging, if you want to uncharacteristically miserable 7-23 sea- find a way to characterize things, but a son as well, so it’s not beyond the realm 5-1 record over their last six SEC games of reason that Arkansas could shake does mean something, considering that up the bracket a bit by winning Tues- their 20-9, 9-7 record is good enough to day and even play its way into a spoiler comfortably enter the tourney field now, position with a win Wednesday against and three or four more victories spread Texas A&M, which put a recent 44-point across the last two regular season games pasting on the Hogs but isn’t quite the and the SEC tournament would only national title-caliber team it has been enhance seeding. in recent years. Of course, a middling effort would Regardless of results and circum- likely beget a middling seed, yet again, stances, the rough ride that has been because analysts presently have this 2017-18 is soon over and Neighbors is team pegged in between the 7 and the fortunate to have generally all of his best 10 in the field. What that obviously players returning, with an eye toward means is that if the Razorbacks sursecuring some in- and out-of-state prep vive the opener as they did in 2015 and talent shortly. He’ll need every bit of it 2017, they’re headed for a second-game to take some appreciable steps toward date against one of the nation’s present improvement next season; with the elite programs. Barring, mind you, any league presently being dominated by immediate and severe sanctions for any Mississippi State and with programs like of the numerous teams facing FBI scruTennessee and LSU showing signs of a tiny at the moment. resurgence to prominence, Neighbors Where the fate of the team rests, of may have the hardest job of all of his course, is on Daryl Macon’s steady hand, contemporaries in Fayetteville. Yet he Jaylen Barford’s curiously disappearing may be the most competent and capable one, and the lean but sturdy frame of of taking that climb. freshman Daniel Gafford. We could beat While Mike Anderson’s Razorbacks this proverbial horse to death, granted, remain enigmatic, they’ve figured out but Gafford’s impact cannot be underhow to make an impact on the number- stated. Against Alabama, his 11 points and crunchers who will be placing them in a seven boards had the appearance of being likely remote location in two weeks for modest, but it seemed as if every basket he the NCAA Tournament. You can basi- made was a momentum-shifting one.

THE OBSERVER NOTES ON THE PASSING SCENE

These kids today

he Observer, that old rabble- we’re seeing right now in Florida, The rouser, is watching these kids Observer thinks, and we couldn’t be today, these American Daugh- prouder seeing these young folks in ters and American Sons who’ve the streets and on TV, being so brave clapped on their helmets and gone off for their friends who can no longer to battle for the people they love and fight, all the while getting called “crithe people they lost to greed and vio- sis actors” and worse by the ignorant lence and those who love guns more shills of suit-and-tie death merchants than they love a child, with something whose hands are so slippery with approaching a parental level of pride. blood they must have trouble twisting If you’ve watched this space, you’ll re- the doorknob to get out of the house member that Yours Truly made some every morning. What you are seeing predictions right after Dorito Mus- is yet another generation of Amerisolini was elected, and chief among cans that is ready to rage against the them was the idea that the genera- dying of the light, which is, come to tion now in high school or otherwise think of it, the only way to renew the on the cusp of adulthood would be fuel in the great lamp that lights the the ones The Observer’s been waiting way to a better America. While your for, a generation of patriots who are bitter, proudly ignorant uncle who going to drive out the darkness and watches a lot of Fox News and has a call bullshit on the stuff the rest of “Rush is Right!” bumper sticker on his us have been tolerating for 30 or 40 Dodge Dart may not like it one little years for fear of rocking the mortgage, bit, what you are seeing, dear countryeconomic, two-point-five-kids and a men, is the awakening of a generation picket fence boat. You tell a generation of people who grew up knowing that if there’s no hope for them — that their Barack Obama could be twice elected voices don’t matter, that the earth they president of a country that once sancgive to their kids is going to be a glob- tioned the ownership of people who ally warmed hellscape lit only by the look like him and his children, anyfires from oil refineries and burning thing on earth is possible. Lil’ Donnie landfills, that they are doomed to ei- Trump can use his tiny hands to sign ther sling fries at Burger King or cling all the executive orders he wants. He to lower-middle-class, white-collar can repeal all the Obama-era regulawage slavery while paying interest on tions he wants. He can rail on Twit$60,000, or $70,000 or $100,000 in ter about Obama all the livelong day, inescapable student loan debt — and as if he could ever beat Generation watch what they do. Germany and Tweet on their digital home turf. But Japan once threatened the hope of a he’s never going to kill the greatest whole generation of Americans, and legacy of his predecessor: the belief look what those brave young people that anything is possible in a coundid to fix Hitler’s little red Volkswa- try so bighearted as this. That legacy gen. lives now in these kids today, who What? You think that Greatest grew up witnessing a political reality Generation stuff petered out with the that many of their parents would have coming of rock ’n’ roll? It’s still there. assured them was impossible in their Squeeze a person hard enough, and lifetimes as few as a dozen years ago. that fight will surface quicker than So keep up the good work, Young you think. Folks. The Observer is with you, and In short, if The Machine doesn’t believes in you. As we’ve said a time work to better peoples’ lives, eventu- or three in this space: Our feet hurt ally some of those people will either and our hair is gray, but if you will rise up to break the machine or — bet- have somebody who still doesn’t have ter — take control of the levers that an Instagram account, we’re ready to run the damned thing. That’s what stand with you.

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ARKANSAS TIMES

Rebuilding power

f Arkansas joins the red state revolt to demonstrate some shred of bipartithis November, it will be because sanship — in the House, wave elections the slate of young, first-time Demo- are the best way to begin clawing back cratic candidates vastly outperformed the power they lost during Obama’s Hillary Clinton on the ballot. Using the time in office. Challenging a hair more same multilevel regression with post- than half of the seats on the ballot isn’t stratification (MRP) method we used going to do it. to calculate President Trump’s districtIn other states, full candidate slates level approval rating, John Ray, Jesse are being fielded Bacon and I estimate that Secretary for the first time Clinton carried a meager 17 state House t h i s c e n t u r y. districts — only one of which is cur- Ohio’s Democratic rently held by a Republican lawmaker Party is fielding (HD-49). Even President Obama won candidates in all BILLY more districts (31) in 2012. The utter, 99 state House FLEMING complete erosion of the state’s Demo- districts this year. Guest Columnist cratic base may have finally reached its Virginia’s Demonadir. All that’s left now is the task of cratic Party put 88 candidates on the balrebuilding. lot for 100 House seats last year, resultThere are some important caveats ing in an historic pickup of 15 seats and to our analysis. One is that Secretary brought Democrats within a coin flip of Clinton was never a popular figure in retaking the chamber. Arkansas DemoArkansas — not as first lady, senator, crats can and must find a way to replisecretary of state or presidential nom- cate their recruiting success. inee. Most important, the Democratic In this regard, the party can begin Party of Arkansas failed to recruit a full by taking a page from the group Run slate of candidates for the 2016 elec- for Something. Its theory of change in tion cycle. The party ran candidates in down-ballot, state legislative races is only 49 of 100 House districts, one of that everything we think we knew about four congressional districts, and, for its what districts are winnable, which canlone statewide candidate, raised roughly didates are viable, and which campaign one-fourth of what Sen. Mark Pryor and tactics are effective has to be thrown then-U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton each raised out. As their founder, Amanda Litman, in their 2014 campaigns. You don’t need tweets nearly every day, Run for Somea complicated model to know that it’s thing invests in talent, not geography. hard to win an election without a canThe same is true of Indivisible 435, didate. the movement’s political wing that, in As filing for the 2018 cycle comes to the first line of its description, rightly a close, the prospects for a Democratic asserts that “every year, campaigns make revival are as bright as they’ve ever been. the choice to write off whole swaths of Arkansas Democrats are already field- the country as unwinnable. We’re here ing candidates in 57 House Districts, to say that’s no longer acceptable.” Only 33 of whom are running for seats cur- in Northwest Arkansas, where a full rently held by Republicans. The party is slate of candidates has already filed, is it also fielding a full slate of congressional clear that these ideals are being realized. candidates and contesting four of seven Oftentimes, the greatest obstacle to state constitutional offices. They haven’t the kind of transformative change we challenged that many sitting Republi- need is the limit of our own imagination. cans since at least 2008. Few imagined a world in which Donald Still, whatever blue wave arrives in Trump could win a presidential elecArkansas this November, it won’t reach tion. Fewer still imagined that an errorits potential without more candidates. riddled Google Doc written in bars and In our analysis of the state’s 100 House living room floors would grow into the districts, we estimated the Democratic political force Indivisible has become. win probability for each seat and iden- Few, if any, can imagine a path back to tified a set of recruiting targets for the power for Democrats in Arkansas. But fall. But, of the 24 Republican-held dis- it’s there, ready to be realized, if only tricts we found most vulnerable, only we’d look beyond the limits of our cyni13 have an announced Democratic can- cal imaginations and, instead, bet everydidate. Though Democrats must net thing on the hope, power and aspiraonly two seats to break the Republican tions of its people to realize the change supermajority — and force Republicans the state so desperately needs.

Growers named

atural State Medicinals, Bold Team LLC, Natural State Wellness Enterprises, Osage Creek Cultivation and Delta Medical Cannabis Company Inc. were the five companies awarded permits to grow medical cannabis by the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission on Tuesday. (Natural State Wellness filed separate applications for two counties — both of which were awarded in the top five — and it will have to choose which county.) Within seven days, the top five must pay a fee of $100,000 and file a $500,000 performance bond. If not, the permit will go to applicants with the next highest scores. The application fee was $15,000. Industry insiders have estimated that applicants may have spent $100,000 to $150,000 in preparation. The applicant ranked sixth was River Valley Relief, associated with Storm Nolan, the head of the Arkansas

"We believe this is going to be the hero of Cotton Plant. We have no industry We have no Dollar General store. We have no service station, no grocery store, no bank … we need this.” Cannabis Industry Association. An image of the players involved in the industry is emerging. Natural State Wellness is led by Hank Wilkins V, son of Jefferson County Judge Hank Wilkins. Former Attorney General Dustin McDaniel says he’s a part owner, consultant and lawyer for the group, which was started by the Ross Group, headquartered in Tulsa. “We appreciate that it is a public trust that has been placed upon our company to produce quality, safe and legal medicine to Arkansas patients. We will make a location decision shortly and will promptly begin construction. For the last year, my partner Bart Calhoun and I have served as legal counsel and lobbyists for this effort, and we are both investors in the company, along with a number of fellow Arkansans,” McDaniel said in a statement. Na t u r a l S t a t e Me d i c i n a l s , incorporator Jason Courtright, will grow in Jefferson County. Osage,

incorporator Jay Trulove, will set up in Carroll County. Delta Medical Cannabis, incorporator Jason Willet, will operate in Jackson County. Bold Team LCC, Danny Brown incorporator, will grow in Cotton Plant (Woodruff County). Commissioners scored redacted applications individually and provided their scores to staff, which aggregated the scores. Bonus points were awarded to applicants that were affiliated with a doctor (2.5 points), demonstrated a plan to benefit the community (2.5 points), delivered economic impact (2.5 points) and included minority ownership (2.5 points). Four of the five successful applicants — Carroll County was the exception — were in counties designated as being in the lowest tier of prosperity by the Arkansas Economic Development Commission. The Arkansas Times talked with Angela Ryland, liaison for Bold Team and president of the Cotton Plant Chamber of Commerce, as she waited around 2 p.m. in a long line of more than 100 people hoping to attend the commission’s meeting. “We believe this is going to be the hero of Cotton Plant. We have no industry,” Ryland said. “We have no Dollar General store. We have no service station, no grocery store, no bank … we need this.” Of Bold Team, she said: “They found us. But I’m not at liberty to go further [about investors]. But they found us.” Ryland noted that musician Sister Rosetta Tharpe was from Cotton Plant, and “outside of [Tharpe], this is about the best we’ve got. … We have music and marijuana: M&M.” Ryland was too far back in line to make it into the meeting room. The commission will next consider 228 applications for medical marijuana dispensaries. Commissioners will award 32 licenses, four in eight geographic zones. There is no deadline, but commission staff said they expected the process to take several months. The amendment to the state Constitution allowing the growing of marijuana was passed in November 2016. The meeting room was packed. Those outside who couldn’t get in watched a live stream on their phones. As the 3:30 p.m. meeting time approached, “Well,” said one man, “seven more minutes until we learn who won the lottery.”

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BRIAN CHILSON

Loaded for bear Insurance Department spends thousands on guns, ammo, Tasers and other equipment to apprehend fraud suspects. BY DAVID KOON

ince hiring a new head for of Representatives. it s eight-person cr im ina l Documents obtained by Arkansas i nvest ig at ion d iv ision i n Times through the Arkansas Freedom of August 2016, the Arkansas Insurance Information Act show that since Keller Department has spent over $163,000 was hired, he has spent $45,422.74 on on shotguns, training, training-related firearms, training, travel and uniforms. travel, Taser stun guns, four cars, Additionally, the AID has spent a total bulk ammo, a vinyl automobile wrap, of $107,297.62 on automobiles during uniforms, body armor and other police- Keller’s tenure, with an additional READY TO ROLL: One of the state Insurance Department’s police cars. related equipment. $10,741.56 spent adding locking Deputy Commissioner Paul “Blue” shotgun mounts, radios, a Plexiglas Keller’s previous law enforcement divider and a colorful wrap to badge experience was two years as a deputy a car with “Arkansas Insurance Related Officer Safety Strategies,” manager for Kinross Gold, a mining with the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department Criminal Investigation “ Wa r r ior L eader sh ip for Law company headquartered in Toronto. Office, and three years as a part-time Division” down both sides. Enforcement,” training in shotgun James said that before Keller was reserve deputy. Nevertheless, Keller The four vehicles purchased by usage for eight employees, active hired, the Criminal Investigation received a pay bump of more than the AID since Keller’s hiring include shooter training, a course on using Div ision had been completely $37,000 per year over his immediate two 2018 Ford Taurus all-wheel- cell phones as an investigative tool, a reorganized, with three positions predecessor in the job. drive “police interceptor” sedans for course called “The Bullet Proof Mind” removed: an investigator, an attorney The Insura nce Depa rtment ’s $24,425 each; one 2017 Ford Taurus and Little Rock Police Department and an administrative position. James Criminal Investigation Division for $24,425 equipped with a $3,177.75 Firearms Instructor Training. said the reorganization and reduction handles allegations of criminal “police package,” and one 2017 Ford During Sink’s last full year of in staff saved the AID $165,491 per year. insurance fraud, building cases against Explorer for $26,705 equipped with employment with the investigations “The review highlighted the need those who would cheat insurance a $4,139.87 “police package.” AID division, just over $3,500 was spent on for tightened security measures prov iders or fa lsif y insura nce spokesman Ryan James said the new investigator training, employee travel, and tracking, improved procedures, documents. A list of successful cars replaced department cars with firearms, uniforms and automobile accountability and improved internal prosecutions on the AID website mechanical issues and high mileage. He modifications. Of that, $2,159.76 was management,” James wrote in an email. shows convictions for faked injuries, also said AID vehicles were sometimes spent on employee travel, $1,210 on “A reorganization and change in key misrepresented car damage, lying driven home by employees at the end training and $197.30 on firearms. personnel was necessary to tighten about auto theft, sales of fraudulent of the workday, as allowed by state No money was spent on uniforms or procedures and deploy personnel insurance documents and other crimes. regulations. automobile modifications in Sink’s last and resources in order to maximize As established by Act 984 of 2013, the In Keller’s roughly 18 months on year with the agency. Sink, who holds efficiency and proficiency.” CID is a law enforcement agency, and the job, documents show the Criminal a law license, is now with the Saline Asked via email if there are its investigators are required to be Investigation Division has spent $11,291 County Prosecuting Attorney’s office. significant changes between Sink’s certified law enforcement officers, to purchase eight shotguns, four Taser He declined a request to comment for duties and those required of Keller with jurisdiction all over the state. But brand stun guns and backup cartridges, this story. that would justify the $37,000-plus no CID staffer has ever used physical pepper spray, ammo and “individual Kerr said he had no relationship per year pay increase, James said there force in the course of their duties in tourniquets” for the department’s six — social, familial or professional — were. “It was determined that [CID] the history of the agency, according investigators, Keller and his assistant prior to Keller’s hiring. A career Army would be best served by an experienced to a department spokesman. director to carry. That’s in addition to veteran who spent over 25 years in the law enforcement director with a Keller received a starting salary investigators’ previously-issued Glock U.S. military, Keller holds master’s proven track record in the effective of $121,759.04 per year when hired, side arms. degrees in national security affairs management of government resources compared to his predecessor Greg An additional $10,185.00 has been and secondary education. Between and ability to coordinate all aspects Sink’s $84,005.09 yearly salar y spent during Keller’s time with the 2003 and 2012, he worked as a coach of investigations.” James said other when Sink left the agency. Keller’s agency on investigator training, plus and teacher of history, civics and social candidates were considered, though current salary is $122,976.67. AID $16,469.49 on employee travel to studies with the private Arkansas the position was not required to be Com missioner A llen Kerr wa s training and conferences. A list of Baptist School System. A resume advertised. appointed by Governor Hutchinson 30 training seminars attended by provided by James says that between Ker r sa id he b el ieve s t he in January 2015. Kerr had previously investigators during Keller’s tenure 2014 and Keller’s hiring at the AID, expenditures made by and for the CID served three terms in the state House includes “Glock School,” “Terrorism Keller worked in Africa as a security are “critical” to keeping the agency’s 14

MARCH 1, 2018

ARKANSAS TIMES

Tune in to our “Week In Review” podcast each Friday. Available on iTunes & arktimes.com

investigators safe. The purchases for CID, Kerr said, are paid for out of antifraud fees assessed to every insurance company doing business in the state. Once Act 984 designated the CID as a law enforcement agency and required CID investigators to be certified police officers, investigator training and equipment had to be brought up to that level, Kerr said. “Our State Police, cit y police, whatever training they have, whatever equipment they have, that means we need to be in parallel with them. This is a statewide agency. They go into some pretty dangerous situations.” Kerr said that Keller’s pay increase of more than $37,000 per year over his predecessor is justified, and paid for out of savings from a reorganization of the department. “When you’ve got someone as qualified as Mr. Keller, of course you want to make sure he gets compensated correctly. We had a lot of decreases in that division as well as some vacancies that we didn’t fill. The total savings when we were done with reorganizing the division was $165,000 and some change overall.” When the division was reorganized, the head of the CID was also made a deputy commissioner, James said. Kerr said that while the allegations the CID investigates are related to insurance fraud, the people they deal with are often involved in more serious criminal behavior. He and James both noted a June 2011 incident in Louisiana in which two insurance investigators were shot and killed while speaking with a car insurance fraud suspect, who later killed himself. The incident led to Louisiana arming that state’s insurance fraud investigators for the first time. Any situation can turn desperate, Kerr said, adding that he would rather be criticized for spending too much on training and equipment for CID investigators than send them out with too little. “I’ve been in the insurance business a long time, and I’ve found that if you’re insured for it, most likely it doesn’t happen,” he said. “The one thing that you’re not insured for, the one thing you’re not prepared for, is probably the thing that will happen. So I will not send my people into dangerous situations unless they have the training and the equipment.”

THE

Inconsequential News Quiz:

BIG When Historians PICTURE

Attack! edition

Play at home, while not giving your kid an adverse childhood experience! 1) Historian Tom Dillard, the retired head of special collections at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, took to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette editorial page recently to get some things off his chest. What did Dillard write? A) He challenged fellow Arkansas historian Dr. Melvin Pecker to a rap battle following Pecker’s most recent YouTube video: “Territorial Governor George Izard Was a Whack-Ass Bitch.” B) He addressed widespread revulsion over his new book, “Hump Like a Snowhill: An Erotic Biography of Gov. Mike Huckabee.” C) That Department of Arkansas Heritage Director Stacy Hurst — an appointee of Governor Hutchinson who Dillard noted “has absolutely no expertise or background in history” — has fostered a “toxic culture” at the DAH, as seen in a series of high-profile resignations at the agency. D) He’s angry about the repeated, possession-related murders caused by a cursed porcelain doll on display at the Historic Arkansas Museum. 2) The recent closure of a grocery store on 12th Street in Little Rock has left much of the low-income neighborhoods in the area without a single grocery store for miles, but the city recently announced a stopgap measure. What’s the proposed solution? A) Selling fresh produce from “Fresh2You Mobile Market” — a refitted city bus that serves as a rolling farmers market —from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. every Monday on a parking lot at 13th and Cedar. B) Soylent Green. C) A series of billboards encouraging people to eat “high fiber” cardboard. D) Distributing squishy, food-shaped stress balls for people to chew on when they’re hungry. 3) A judge in Ouachita County recently ordered the exhumation of the body of a man who died in a one-vehicle accident. Why did the judge order the body exhumed? A) The county hopes that by disturbing the grave, they’ll get a ghost to haunt the courthouse as a tourist attraction. B) The local funeral director accidentally left a cell phone in the man’s pocket and he just WILL NOT STOP calling! C) Since the man’s death, a Camden real estate agent has been convicted and sentenced to jail time for faking the man’s will in an attempt to get her hands on $1.7 million the man received as a survivor of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster, and investigators want to make sure his death was really an accident. D) Walmart bought the cemetery for a new store. 4) A raffle to benefit a graduation party for Batesville High School was recently scrapped. What was the raffle item? A) A pair of Trump-proof panties (The Drawers With a Stun Gun Built Right In!™). B) A 15-minute, all-you-can-grab shopping spree in the school’s chemistry lab supply closet. C) A bus ticket to anywhere but Batesville. D) An AR-15 rifle, much like the one used to murder 17 people at a high school in Florida less than a week before the cancellation. 5) A new study recently published in the journal Child Trends found that children in Arkansas rank first in the nation in a disturbing category. In what way are Arkansas kids No. 1 in America? A) Overall stickiness. B) “Crack-stepping-related female parent spine fractures.” C) Exposure to “adverse childhood experiences”: traumatic, life-altering events such as abuse, neglect, or a parent with mental disorder. D) Wanton Backsassery.

Answers: C, A, C, D, C

LISTEN UP

arktimes.com MARCH 1, 2018

SPRINGS ARTS 2018

Beth Ditto talks bodies, Waffle House and her new solo album, ‘Fake Sugar.’ BY STEPHANIE SMITTLE

MARY MCCARTNEY

Let that baby fly

loving at Sundance. Can you talk about it? Yeah! I was in LA working, and this casting director, Francine Maisler, called me and she was like, “Gus Van Sant wants you to come try out for this part. We think you’d be really good for it.” And I was up against Gwendolyn Christie for it; she’s in “Game of Thrones,” she’s the tall blonde. So I was like, “I’m not gonna get the part.” But the part was — she’s a “quote, unquote, redneck woman” who probably would be from the backwoods or something. Her character was just really warm. And country. Oh, her name is Reba, too. So I was in there reading and I didn’t have time to prepare for it, so I was just like, “This is what I think Reba sounds like. She has the mannerisms of my mom, but she talks like my aunt Linda Gayle.” And they were, like, “Perfect.” So I just pretended I was my aunt Linda Gayle, and I got it.

eth Ditto graced the stage with her dance-punk group Gossip at Vino’s Brewpub in 2009. Her booking agent had advised against the late October stop, no doubt because the crusty pizzeria’s tiny back room wasn’t exactly commensurate to the other venues on the band’s “Music For When you made the decision to Men” tour: San Francisco’s Regency do a solo record, “Fake Sugar,” you Ballroom, The Fonda Theatre on mentioned that this was a way to Hollywood Boulevard in LA, sprawling get out from under this notion that English lawns for the Leeds and somehow you didn’t have as much to Reading festivals in the U.K. The offer to Gossip as you did. I mean, so set list at Vino’s was frenetic, the much of that band was your identity. eyeliner was heavy and fans were Have your old bandmates heard it? sweaty. Waves of enthusiasm rippled Yeah! I know Nathan [Howdeshell] STANDING IN THE WAY OF CONTROL: White County siren Beth Ditto from the front of the room — packed is really proud of it. We support each makes a return to Little Rock in support of her new solo record, to the gills with cousins and aunts other still. We love each other. He’s my “Fake Sugar.” and uncles from Kensett and West brother from another mother and I’m Point and Georgetown and Judsonia, Judsonia and just drive around. If I’m swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated! his sister from another mister. We just White County kin who knew her when with someone who’s never been there, And I don’t think that’s the most aren’t always eye-to-eye. So there’s a she was called Mary Beth Patterson I like to tell them all the stories. You important thing — you know, lot of things where we’re like, “I wish and not yet self-describing as a “fat, know, Judsonia has such a cool, weird patriarchal male acceptance of you the best. Do your thing, but I can’t feminist lesbian from Arkansas.” history, and I really love history. Like, sexuality — but I think it was such a do that.” And our favorite karaoke Earlier that year, Ditto had launched at one time there was an all-women’s telling time about where we are in the songs were always “Don’t Go Breakin’ a collection of plus-size clothing college there, and it was a really bustlin’ timeline of women’s bodies, what’s My Heart” and “(I’ve Had) The Time for a British retailer called Evans, little town and then the tornado blew being accepted and how we’ve actually of My Life,” so the day the record came having been cast as an icon of body it away, and it just kinda was never changed something. … And we’re sort out, he just sent me a YouTube link for positivity after posing nude on the the same. It also has the only Union of just not taking “no” for an answer. “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life.” We covers of NME and Love magazines soldiers’ cemetery in Arkansas. So, I We’re just not gonna lay down and let speak to each other in jokes. Nathan’s a couple of years prior. Nearly nine like to drive around and look at those people decide what is beautiful for us. always been like that. When I told him years later, the Judsonia native returns things. … I don’t do anything fancy. I What’s next? I think we’re gonna that I wanted to do a record and that to Little Rock for a show at the Rev like to go to the Waffle House, because see this incredible evolution of people I was gonna quit Gossip, his words Room with SSION in support of her we don’t have those up here, and I accepting their bodies in all kinds of were “Let that baby fly.” My dad used full-length solo debut, “Fake Sugar.” I spent so much time there as a teenager. ways, and kind of saying “no” to the to say, “Let that baby eat.” So it was a talked with her ahead of that March 7 female body being limited for profit. play on that. concert, which, for anyone who knows So, you’ve been challenging It’s just capitalism. I always have to the words to “Dimestore Diamond,” sexuality and body norms for longer bring it back to capitalism. It makes a “Let that baby eat?” is a must-see gem on the calendar of than we’ve had internet memes and lot of money telling women that they My dad would get mad, like, if I music in Central Arkansas this spring. slogans to help us wrap our minds need to buy things. … But when you wanted to eat and my brother and around ideas of body positivity, have something like Instagram or sisters were making fun of me, he’d You’ve had this sort of coming- like getting used to the idea that Facebook, or people’s blogs, it’s taking say, “Let her eat. Let that baby eat!” to-terms with being from Arkansas. “fat” is just a descriptor and not a the power back into their hands. That resonates with me and, I think, derogatory word. What’s the next This interview has been edited and a lot of people our age who are from frontier? So you’re in this Gus Van Sant condensed. Check out the full interview here. What do you miss? I think it’s happened. You know, movie “Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get on our arts and entertainment blog, When I go home, I like to go back to Ashley Graham’s on the cover of the Far on Foot” that people are really Rock Candy. 16

MARCH 1, 2018

ARKANSAS TIMES

Music

Spring tunage 101 How to fill your ears with music (and cover your refrigerator in ticket stubs) this spring. BY STEPHANIE SMITTLE

that wisdom by getting to Stickyz on April of Little Rock native William Grant Still 12 for Thelma & The Sleaze. Follow on May 4 and 6 at UA Pulaski Technical that up with some Jamie Lou and The College’s Center for the Humanities and Hullabaloo at the Blue Canoe Brewing Arts (CHARTS). The following week, Warehouse, 1637 E. 15th St., April 20; or May 12-13, catch the Arkansas Symphony catch Jamie Lou Connolly earlier that Orchestra’s take on some lighter fare as month at Kings Live Music in Conway for it plays John Williams’ lively score for a fundraiser for Lucie’s Place, April 6. Hear “Raiders of the Lost Ark” at Robinson another Arkansas daughter, Iris Dement, Center Performance Hall, with the movie at South on Main on April 22, and don’t screened alongside. And, keep eyes miss the rest of the musical programming peeled May 25-27, when a resurrected surrounding the Oxford American’s Riverfest is to pull a major Lazarus in

andbells will ring under a 57-foot-high vaulted ceiling in Anthony Chapel. Grand Funk Railroad will wedge a set between Adam Faucett and Morris Day & The Time. Two sisters from Georgia will channel Son House with devilish lapsteel guitar — and that’s Hot Springs alone. This season, Central Arkansas is breaking out the good china when it comes to music, and here’s a sampling of those sounds to help you size up your options (and your pocketbook). Catch the final round of the Arkansas Times Musicians Showcase, where The Rios, Recognizer, Sabine Valley and Couch Jackets face off against each other — and their closest competitor, the semifinalist with the next-highest score — at the Rev Room March 9. On March 10, catch Low at Low Key Arts in Hot Springs, go hear Little Bandit with Elise Davis at South in Main or head to the dance floor at Cajun’s Wharf for a blues-rock show from the Shannon Boshears Band. Avguste Antonov, a fierce piano recitalist and champion of new music, gives a free concert at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in North Little Rock on March 13, after which you should veer left — hard — and check out Mlny Parsonz and her cohorts in heavy rock outfit Royal Thunder at the White Water Tavern. This one’s important: Forget everything you’ve learned to fear about the Ides of March and go write “Bhi Bhiman at South on Main” on your calendar for March 15 in black Sharpie; then go check out his video for “Moving to Brussels” with Keegan-Michael Key to congratulate yourself on that decision. Down South, in El Dorado, Steve Earle & The Dukes perform the album “Copperhead Road” in its entirety March 16 at Griffin Music Hall in El Dorado’s Murphy Arts District to celebrate a whopping 30 years since the record’s release. But if you find yourself in the Central Arkansas area on that day, you’d be well-advised to venue-hop the offerings slated for Low Key Arts’ Valley of the Vapors lineup: Juiceboxx, Fenster,

DESCENDANTS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE: Rebecca and Megan Lovell are Larkin Poe, on the lineup at Valley of the Vapors Independent Music Festival in Hot Springs.

Moaning and the aforementioned Larkin Poe, the sisters from Georgia. Also aforementioned: the free show from Grand Funk Railroad, Morris Day & The Time, Adam Faucett and Akeem Kemp are all part of the festivities surrounding the World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade elsewhere in the Spa City that weekend, March 17. The festival runs through March 20. Back in Little Rock that day, Bon Jovi melts hearts at Verizon Arena and on March 21, blues guitar hero Samantha Fish melts faces at the Rev Room. March 23 brings concerts from the Lyon College Pipe Band to CALS’ Ron Robinson Theater and Howard & Skye to Markham Street Grill and Pub. Mark your calendars for Four Quarter Bar’s All-Star Benefit for Puerto Rico on March 25, with sets from Dazz & Brie, The Salty Dogs and the Brian Nahlen Band. Then, round the month out at the Clear Channel Metroplex, where Young Dolph and Key Glock team up for a show March 30. Don your “Good Guy Shoes” and absorb the wisdom on Froggy Fresh at the Rev Room on April 7. Then, exercise

celebration of the 50th anniversary of Arkansas writer Charles Portis’ “True Grit.” Wanda Jackson proves her regal rockabilly mettle with a show at the Ron Robinson Theater April 26, and don’t miss a divine April 27 in the River Market district, with Hooray for the Riff Raff and Waxahatchee at the Rev Room and Japanese Breakfast just down the street at Stickyz. Northwest Arkansas denizens, prepare for a full-fledged piano assault at George’s Majestic Lounge for the J. Roddy Walston & The Business show on April 23. Your ears should stop ringing with the refrain to “Nineteen Ought Four” by around May 5, allowing you to take in the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas’s “Masterworks III: La Boheme” at the Walton Arts Center without any distraction. With that aural cleanse in full effect, observe how sweetly the goblin rock of Les Claypool and Primus blend with the brutal guitars on Mastodon’s “Steambreather” at the Walmart AMP in Rogers on May 12. Thanks to a production of “Troubled Island” from Opera in the Rock, Central Arkansans have a chance to hear the work

Riverfront Park. Nineties favorite the Dave Matthews Band comes to the Walmart AMP in Rogers on May 30. The White Water Tavern gets heavy for a full weekend for Mutants of the Monster on June 15-17, with sets from Pallbearer, Full of Hell, Gatecreeper and more. For something that doesn’t require industrial-grade earplugs, head up to Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge June 14-17 for Eureka Springs Blues Weekend. Martina McBride takes the stage at Timberwood Theater on the grounds of Magic Springs Theme and Water Park in Hot Springs on June 23 (or, if “Slow Ride” is more your jam than “Independence Day,” come on July 14 for Foghat and Blue Oyster Cult.) Chris Stapleton performs tunes from his acclaimed “From A Room, Volume 2” June 22 at the Walmart AMP on his All-American Road Show tour with Brent Cobb and bluegrass showman Marty Stuart. Catch Kesha and Macklemore at the AMP June 25, or pack up the sunscreen and hear Kenny Chesney there July 12 as part of his “Trip Around the Sun” tour. arktimes.com MARCH 1, 2018

Visual Art

Find the nation’s ‘Soul’ at Crystal Bridges

be installed in late April, and the artists will give a talk at a celebratory opening event starting at 9 a.m. Saturday, April 28, at WRI. Artists submitting winning designs are Monica Dickson of Kansas City, Mo.; Lee and Betty Johnson (Benson Sculpture LLC) of Jackson, Tenn.; And ‘Natural State’ on Petit Jean. Heather Joy Puskarich of Houston; Lee BY LESLIE NEWELL PEACOCK and Betty Benson of Jackson, Tenn.; Phoebe Lickwar of Fayetteville; Laura oul of a Nation: Art in the on the AfriCOBRA collective thanks to portrait of a race riot, “American People Terry of Fayetteville; Katrina Pais of Age of Black Power” is such two exhibitions, “Here.” at the Arts & Series No. 20: Die.” Miami; Edwin A. Penick of Miami; a significant exhibition that Science Center of Southeast Arkansas “Soul of a Nation” runs through April Sabine Schmidt of Fayetteville; Don writers from The New York Times and Art in Pine Bluff, a show that featured 23 and won’t be seen again until it opens Wilkison (m.o.i. aka The Minister of in America magazine traveled to London works from its permanent collection, at the Brooklyn Museum on Sept. 7. The Information) of Kansas City, Mo.; Russell to the Tate Modern’s inauguration of and “AfriCOBRA NOW” at Hearne Fine Arkansas Times is taking its Art Bus to the Lemond of Little Rock; Nathan Pierce the show last year to see and review it. Art in Little Rock, with art and talks museum on March 10; Hearne Fine Art’s of Cape Girardeau, Mo.; and Marshall Those critics, and others from Miller of Hot Springs. The The Guardian, Art Review, the artists — most of whom have Independent and more, have exhibited nationwide — were praised “Soul of a Nation” for asked to keep the natural its exploration of how Africanlandscape of Petit Jean in American artists confronted mind while creating their work. issues of politics of civil rights, They received $5,000 to cover identity and contemporary art material and costs related to technique. They’ve called the transporting and installing the work “sorrowful, shattering art” works. (The Guardian) and a “visual The day event will feature channeling of fist-shaking demonstrations, performances rage” (the Independent), and art activities provided telling a “tale of trauma and by numerous Arkansas arts revolution as well as strength organizations; there will also and hope …” (Art in America). It be food trucks. The event is is a show rich in content, about free; find registration links art, racism in America, the role at rockefellerinstitute.org/ of the artist in society and the institute-programs/naturaldemands on African-American state and eventbrite.com. artists to say something about A dinner and reception with the black condition in their art. the artists will feature music The exhibition made its by the Arkansas Symphony American debut at Crystal Quartet and singer/songwriter Bridges Museum of American Bonnie Montgomery starting Art — which The Washington at 5:30 p.m. Saturday evening. Post recently described as Tickets are $50. Tickets for the possibly the “most woke reception and lodging at WRI museum” in the nation — last ‘SOUL’ ART: Benny Johnson’s “Did the Bear Sit Under a Tree?” is one of the works in “Soul of a Nation: Art in for one is $150 and for two is month. It’s a good bet that art the Age of Black Power” at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. $200. lovers familiar with the periods Eight of the works will in which these artists worked are more by contemporary AfriCOBRA members. owner, Garbo Hearne, will lead the trip. be installed on institute property — familiar with their white contemporaries Among the 60 artists whose works For more information on the trip, go to the former ranch of Gov. Winthrop (Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, are featured in “Soul of a Nation” are centralarkansastickets.com/events/soul- Rockefeller — through March 2019 and Jasper Johns, Mark Rothko, Adolph AfriCOBRA members Barbara Jones- of-a-nation-bus-tour. two will be located in Petit Jean State Gottlieb et al.). “Soul of a Nation” Hogu, Wadsworth Jarrell and Gerald Park through July. They were chosen corrects that omission by starting with Williams. Crystal Bridges’ own Views of the Arkansas River by representatives from the Arkansas black artist collectives that formed in the Elizabeth Catlett sculpture, the “Black Valley from Petit Jean Mountain are Arts Council; the Arkansas Arts Center; tumultuous 1960s — the Spiral group in Unity” mahogany fist, is here, as well as spectacular; now, the views atop the the Arkansas Department of Parks and New York, with works by Norman Lewis, Melvin Edwards’ wall sculpture “Lynch mountain will be something to marvel Tourism; Crystal Bridges Museum of Romare Bearden and Hale Woodruff; the Fragments”; Benny Andrews’ flag-and- at as well with the Winthrop Rockefeller American Art; the University of Arkansas, Organization of Black American Culture fist painting “Did the Bear Sit Under a Institute and partners’ temporary Fayetteville; the University of Arkansas, and AfriCOBRA in Chicago — and going Tree?”; Sam Gilliam’s abstract memorial sculptural installation, “Art in Its Fort Smith; and UA Little Rock. Find on to cover two decades of works created to Martin Luther King Jr., “Curtain of Natural State.” sculpture sites at rockefellerinstitute.org/ during the civil rights struggles, both Sorrow … April 4”; OBAC member Jeff The 10 chosen site-specific sculptures art-in-its-natural-state, and find profiles figurative and abstract. Donald’s “study for the Wall of Respect by artists from Arkansas, Texas, of the artists at rockefellerinstitute.org/ Central Arkansas got a leg up last year (Miles Davis)”; and Faith Ringgold’s Missouri, Tennessee and Florida will institute-programs/natural-state.

“S

MARCH 1, 2018

ARKANSAS TIMES

Spring Arts Calendar GREATER LITTLE ROCK MUSIC

March 15: “Sounds in the Stacks.” A Celtic concert from Bill Thurman with vintage instruments. Central Arkansas Library System, Thompson Library, 6:30 p.m., free. March 15: Miroslav Ambros. Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, $25. March 15: Bhi Bhiman. South on Main, 8 p.m., $25-$34. March 15: Big K.R.I.T. Rev Room, 9 p.m., $30-$125. March 15: Frontier Circus. White Water Tavern, 9 p.m., $7. March 15: Birdcloud, Dylan Earl. Stickyz, 9 p.m., $10-$13. March 16-17: Fulcrum Festival: Stephen Marley, PJ Morton, Love & Theft and more. Davis Ranch, 35555 Hwy. 107. $30-$75, see thefulcrum.live. March 16: Arkansas Chamber Singers: Mozart’s Coronation Mass.” St. James United Methodist Church, 7:30 p.m., $15-$22. March 16: Green Jello, Queen Anne’s Revenge. Four Quarter Bar, 8 p.m., $10-$12. March 16: Brother Moses. Rev Room, 8:30 p.m., $10. March 17: Eyehategod, Cro-Mags, Terminal Nation, Colour Design. Vino’s, 7 p.m., $22-$25. March 17: Akeem Kemp. White Water Tavern, 9 p.m., $7. JENNIFER HEIMBAUGH

March 8: “Strings Attached.” Arkansas Symphony Orchestra Intimate Neighborhood Concerts. Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, 7 p.m., $10-$29. March 8: Dead Meadow, Adam Faucett & The Tall Grass, Canaan. White Water Tavern, 8 p.m., $12. March 8: Whiskey Myers. Rev Room, 8:30 p.m., $20. March 9: “Opera on the Rocks IX: To the Nines.” Opera in the Rock. Junior League Ballroom, 6:30 p.m., $75. March 9: Arkansas Times Musicians Showcase finals. Rev Room, 8 p.m., $6-$21. March 9: The Creek Rocks. The Undercroft, Christ Episcopal Church. 8 p.m., $10. March 9: Dana Louise & The Glorious Birds. White Water Tavern, 9 p.m., $7. March 9: Terror Pigeon, Ginsu Wives, Spirit Cuntz, Pissing Comets. E.J.’s Eats & Drinks, 9 p.m., $5. March 9: Polyester Robot. Four Quarter Bar, 10 p.m., $7. March 10: Miranda Lambert. Verizon Arena, 7 p.m., $43-$78.

March 10: Mark Currey. Core Public House, 7 p.m. March 10-11: Arkansas Symphony Orchestra: “A Tribute to Ella.” With Capathia Jenkins, Aisha de Haas and Nikki Renee Daniels. Robinson Center Performance Hall, 7:30 p.m. Sat., 3 p.m. Sun., $15-$65. March 10: Kevin Griffin (of Better Than Ezra). Rev Room, 8:30 p.m., $25. March 10: Andrew Bryant. White Water Tavern, 9 p.m. March 10: Little Bandit, Elise Davis. South on Main, 9 p.m., $10. March 10: Shannon Boshears Band. Cajun’s Wharf, 9 p.m., $5. March 10: The Irie Lions. Stickyz Rock ’n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 9:30 p.m., $6. March 10: The Salty Dogs. Four Quarter Bar, 10 p.m., $7. ADAM FAUCETT March 11: Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires. White Water Tavern, 7 p.m. March 11: Pop Evil. Rev Room, 7:30 p.m., $20-$25. March 13: Avguste Antonov. St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 7 p.m., free. March 13: Royal Thunder, Tranquillo, Hell Camino. White Water Tavern, 8 p.m. March 14: Sessions Songwriters Round: Nick Brumley, Mark Edgar Stuart, Jed Zimmerman. South on Main, 8 p.m., $10.

March 17: The Greasy Greens. Cajun’s Wharf, 9 p.m., $5. March 17: Boom Kinetic. Rev Room, 9:30 p.m., $10. March 17: Dikki Du & the Zydeco Krewe. Four Quarter Bar, 10 p.m., $8. March 20: Bon Jovi. Verizon Arena, 7:30 p.m., $23-$155. March 21: Samantha Fish. Rev Room, 8 p.m., $15. March 21: Sarah Shook & The Disarmers. South on Main, 8 p.m., $10. March 23: Lyon College Pipe Band. CALS Ron Robinson Theater, 7 p.m., $5. March 23: Howard & Skye. Markham Street Grill and Pub, 8:30 p.m., free. March 23: Chris Cash. South on Main, 9 p.m., $7. March 23: Brian Nahlen Band. Cajun’s Wharf, 9 p.m., $5. March 23: Red Oak Ruse. Four Quarter Bar, 10 p.m., $7. March 24: Rodney Block & The Real Music Lovers. White Water Tavern, 9 p.m., $10. March 24: Spoonfed Tribe. Stickyz, 9 p.m., $8-$10. March 24: Brian Nahlen Band. Four Quarter Bar, 10 p.m., $7. March 25: All Star-Benefit for Puerto Rico: Dazz & Brie, Brian Nahlen Band, The Salty Dogs. Four Quarter Bar, 6 p.m., $10 suggested donation. March 27: ASO: “Sound Textures.” River Rhapsodies Chamber Music Series. Great Hall, Clinton Presidential Center, 7 p.m., $10-$23. March 27: Matt Treadway Trio. An ALS Speakeasy Party. Four Quarter Bar, 7 CONTINUED ON PAGE 21

arktimes.com MARCH 1, 2018

Film

It’s spring: Roll ’em Film festivals flower all over in Arkansas. BY DAVID KOON

ARKANSAS FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT: Arkansas Cinema Society screens Mark Thiedeman’s short film “Alex in the Morning” with Gus Van Sant’s “Paranoid Park” (pictured).

pring is almost here, film fans, and Guffman,” the latest offering of the Then next up for the Arkansas Times including Walmart, Coca-Cola and while the blooming of daffodils popular Dogtown Film Series. If you Film Series, hosted along with Film L’Oreal. In recent years, that has signals that the Big, Dumb haven’t seen “Guffman,” this is a great Quotes Film at Riverdale, is Jean-Pierre translated into an equally star-studded Summer Blockbuster Season is not far time to catch this screwball comedy on Melville’s 1956 noir “Bob Le Flambeur” roster, with many A-list Hollywood away, it also serves as the unofficial the big screen. The plot follows a group on March 20 Go to riverdale10.com for stars on hand, including Bruce Dern, kickoff to what has become a few very of amateur performers, who — desperate showtimes and ticket information. Robert De Niro, William H. Macy, active months in the Arkansas film to help put their small Missouri town on The Arkansas Cinema Society, the Meg Ryan, singer/songwriter Jewel scene. There’s plenty to be had around the map with a good performance for gift that just keeps on giving for film and others. No word at this writing on the state for lovers of film. a visiting Big City critic — let a brassy lovers in Central Arkansas, will be who’ll be in attendance for 2018, but First out of the blocks for spring director named Corky St. Clair (the hosting a special “Arkansas Filmmaker it’s likely to be big. Visit the website at is the 17th Annual Ozark Foothills always hilarious Christopher Guest) lead Spotlight” night for Arkansas director bentonvillefilmfestival.com to stay up FilmFest, which will take place over them right into theater hell. Starring Mark Thiedeman on March 16 with a to date on the latest developments. two weekends: April 19-21 and April Guest, Catherine O’Hara, Eugene Levy, double screening of his short “Alex in There’s more in the summer: the 27-28. Submissions for this year’s festival Fred Willard, Parker Posey and others, the Morning” and Gun Van Sant’s 2007 Kaleidoscope Film Festival. This are being accepted on the FilmFreeway it’s the most side-splitting effort to feature “Paranoid Park.” Thiedeman, year’s installment will run from Friday, submission website. One of the older date by the troupe that fielded other a “no budget” indie filmmaker who Aug. 10, through Saturday, Aug. 18, in surviving film festivals in the state, mockumentary hits like “Best in Show” lives in Little Rock, has written and the Argenta Arts District. Now in its the OFFF in recent years has featured and “A Mighty Wind” that skewer niche directed several shorts, including “The fourth year, Kaleidoscope focuses on an outstanding slate of American efforts that take themselves waaayyy too Scoundrel,” “A Christian Boy” and a colorful but often neglected corner and international documentaries and seriously. Admission is only $5. “Sacred Hearts, Holy Souls,” along of cinema: films by and about LGBTQ narrative features and shorts, with Speaking of older movies with quite a with the feature “Last Summer.” The lives. Though other film festivals in many of the filmmakers in attendance bit of goodness in them, Riverdale’s little ACS event will be held at the Central the state often include LGBTQ films, for intimate screenings and panel arthouse theater that could, Riverdale 10, Arkansas Library System’s Ron Kaleidoscope is the only film festival discussions and a well-attended party is doing special, one-night screenings of Robinson Theater. Tickets are $12. For in the state dedicated to sharing those to wrap things up. In previous years, older and classic favorites every week more information and to keep up with stories and the stories of their creation, prizes were awarded in four categories. throughout the year. Next up for 2018 is upcoming events from the ACS, visit bringing in the actors, screenwriters, On March 20 at 7 p.m., those Stanley Kubrick’s “A Clockwork Orange” arkansascinemasociety.org. directors and cinematographers who fond of “This Is Spinal Tap”-style on March 3, followed by “Pulp Fiction,” The fourth annual Bentonville Film bring these important films to life. Visit mockumentaries should break a leg “Gone With the Wind,” “The Big Festival runs May 1-6. Created by Oscar kaleidoscopefilmfestival.com to stay up to make their way to the Argenta Lebowski,” “Blazing Saddles,” anarchist winner Geena Davis, the BFF spotlights to date on the latest announcements Community Theater in North Little manifesto “Fight Club,” Tarantino- female and minority filmmakers and about screenings and appearances at Rock for a screening of “Waiting for scripted “True Romance” and others. features a raft of big corporate sponsors, this year’s festival. 20

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ARKANSAS TIMES

Spring Arts Calendar, Cont. p.m., $10. April 22: “Musicians Rock for the March 28: The Black Mariah Theater. Buffalo River.” Buffalo River Alliance Heights Corner benefit. Rev Room, 2 Market, 7 p.m., $5. p.m., $10. March 29: Urban April 22: Iris Dement. Pioneers. White South on Main, 7 p.m. Water Tavern, 9 p.m. $30-$42. March 30: Red Sun April 26: “The Queen Rising. Rev Room, 8 of Rockabilly.” Wanda p.m., $15. Jackson. 7 p.m., CALS March 30: Sad Ron Robinson Theater, Daddy. White Water $20. Tavern, 9 p.m. April 27: Hooray for the March 30: Young Riff Raff, Waxahatchee. Dolph, Key Glock. Rev Room, 8:30 p.m., Clear Channel $20. BONE THUGS-N-HARMONY Metroplex, 9 p.m., April 27: Japanese $30-$200. March 30: Guitar Is Dead, The Federalis. Four Quarter Bar, 10 p.m., $7. March 31: An Evening with Jason Mraz. Robinson Center Performance Hall, 8 p.m., $38-$92. March 31: Ghost Town Blues Band. Cajun’s Wharf, 9 p.m., $5. March 31: Making Movies. South on Main, 9 p.m., $10. March 31: The Good Time Ramblers. Four Quarter Bar, 10 p.m., $7. April 1: Agent Orange. Four Quarter Bar, 10 p.m., $7. April 5: Nathan & The Zydeco ChaChas. White Water Tavern, 8 p.m., $20. April 5: Melissa Aldana Quartet. South on Main, 8 p.m., $30-$42. April 6: Tab Benoit. Rev Room, 8 p.m., $25. April 6: Koda Lee Collective. Four Quarter Bar, 10 p.m., $7. April 7: Froggy Fresh. Rev Room, 8 p.m., $15-$50. April 7: The Deer. Four Quarter Bar, 10 p.m., $7. April 10: REO Speedwagon, Styx. Verizon Arena, 7 p.m., $50-$140. April 10: Adelita’s Way. Rev Room, 7:30 p.m., $15-$17. April 12: Brad Paisley. Verizon Arena, 7:30 p.m., $20-$100. April 12: Birds of Chicago. South on Main, 8 p.m., $10. April 12: Thelma & The Sleaze. Stickyz, 9 p.m., $10. April 13: Deer Tick, John Moreland. Rev Room, 8 p.m., $25. April 14-15: ASO: “Beethoven & Blue Jeans.” With painter Barry Thomas. 7:30 p.m. Sat., 3 p.m. Sun., Robinson Center Performance Hall, $15-$65. April 15: Shooter Jennings. Stickyz, 7 p.m., $20-$25. April 17: ASO: “Beethoven Festival.” River Rhapsodies Chamber Music Series. Great Hall, Clinton Presidential Center, 7 p.m., $10-$23. April 18: Blue October. Clear Channel Metroplex, 8 p.m., $30. April 20: Jamie Lou & The Hullabaloo. Blue Canoe Brewing Warehouse, 7 p.m. April 20: Aaron Kamm & The One Drops: Lagunitas 420 Party. Four Quarter Bar, 9 p.m., $8. April 20: Family Dog. Markham Street Grill and Pub, 8:30 p.m., free. April 21: Corey Smith. Rev Room, 8:30 p.m., $20-$25. April 21: Apple Kahler Band. Markham Street Grill and Pub, 8:30 p.m., free. April 21: DeFrance. Four Quarter Bar, 10 p.m., $7.

Breakfast, Snail Mail. Stickyz, 9 p.m., Neighborhood Concerts. St. James $12-$14. United Methodist Church, 7 p.m., April 27: Andy Tanas. $10-$29. Markham Street Grill May 3: Bonnie Bishop. and Pub, 8:30 p.m., South on Main, 8 p.m., free. $30-$38. April 28: Arkansas May 4: Handmade Literary Festival: Moments. South on Tribute to Lou Reed. Main, 9 p.m., $12. Four Quarter Bar, 10 May 4, May 6: “Troup.m., $8. bled Island.” Opera in April 29: Bone the Rock. 7:30 p.m. Fri., Thugs-N-Harmony. 3 p.m. Sun., UA Pulaski Rev Room, 8 p.m., Technical College, $35-$49. Center for the HumaniMay 3: ASO: “Around ties and Arts (CHARTS), HOORAY FOR THE RIFF RAFF the Horn.” Intimate

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Education in Exile: Student Experience at Rohwer Relocation Center through June 30

This project was funded, in part, by a grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program.

DEEN VAN MEER

Butler Center Galleries

Theater

PRIDE ROCK IN LITTLE ROCK: The elaborate touring production of “The Lion King” roars at Robinson Center Performance Hall April 19-May 6.

Cue the footlights Spring theater’s got everything from Mufasa to ‘Mamma Mia.’ BY HEATHER STEADHAM

Arkansas and WWI through May 26

Delta Rediscovered: Photographs of Early Arkansas by Dayton Bowers through April 28

Butler Center Galleries 401 President Clinton Ave. • 320-5790

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ARKANSAS TIMES

t may not be, as Shakespeare said, that “All the world’s a stage,” but all of Central Arkansas certainly will be this spring. From Arkansas’s largest professional resident theater in the state capital to volunteer-based community shows in the suburbs, it seems like there really is something for all lovers of spectacle — both great and small — coming to the boards in spring. Here we go again at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre: Based on the infectious music of ’70s supergroup ABBA, “Mamma Mia” will be brought to life in brilliant Technicolor on The Rep’s stage March 14-April 8. A smash hit that’s been sold out for years on tour and the ninthlongest-running Broadway show of all time with 5,758 performances, “Mamma Mia” is irresistable. Extend those laughs with The Rep’s June 6-24 production of “God of Carnage,” a contemporary comedy of manners — without the manners. After two boys get into a playground fight,

their affluent parents meet to provide a positive example of conflict resolution. Unfortunately for them, the resolution isn’t so positive. Fortunately for us, the juvenile war of words and unexpected ferocity that result won this searingly dark comedy three Tony Awards. Check out ticket options at therep.org. God shows up in the lineup at The Studio Theater in downtown Little Rock as well … in a sense. “Hand to God,” a five-time Tony-nominated play about a puppet ministry in the devoutly religious town of Cypress, Texas, will be produced March 8-18. Fans of the Tony Awardwinning “Avenue Q” won’t be surprised to learn that this show — an irreverent comedy about a possessed Christianministry puppet — shares one of its creators. The Studio Theater then turns its attention to the reflective, showcasing the Newbery Medal-winning “Bridge to Terabithia” in April and the modern children’s classic “Tuck Everlasting” in

June 14-July 1. July will bring another raucous show for the cheeky viewer when “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” graces the stage, July 12-29. You’ll find tickets and showtimes at centralarkansastickets.com. Never short on crowd-pleasing, Broadway-based entertainment, Murry’s Dinner Playhouse has some wellknown and beloved productions slated for the next few months. From Feb. 20 to March 17, Murry’s presents “Never Too Late,” a Broadway play from 1962 about a middle-aged woman about to become a parent again. Spoofing that very same time period, “Little Shop of Horrors” is next, running March 21-April 21. With music by composer Alan Menken, who wrote the likes of “Beauty and the Beast” and “Sister Act,” you’ll be bopping right along. From April 24-May 26, Murry’s will stage “Southern Fried Nuptials,” the uproarious sequel to last season’s “Southern Fried Funeral,” followed May 29-July 7 by “Menopause the Musical” (a parody showcasing four women at a lingerie sale with nothing in common but a black lace bra and memory loss, hot flashes and night sweats). Book the season closer in advance: “Grease” runs July 11-Aug. 25. Check out showtimes at murrysdp.com. With so many important issues facing today’s educational system, it’s vital to remember our journey to this point, and The Weekend Theater’s production

Spring Arts Calendar, Cont. of “Inherit the Wind” running through March 20 can do just that. A fictionalized account of the 1925 Scopes “Monkey” trial, which resulted in John T. Scopes’ conviction for teaching Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution to a high school science class, the story is still relevant today. The Weekend Theater continues its socially significant programming April 6-22 with Stephen Sondheim’s “Assassins,” a dramatization of historic assassins created from the slim biographical information available. This musical prompts us to consider the killers’ motivations. The Weekend Theater concludes its 2017-18 season with “Stick Fly” on May 11-26. An AfricanAmerican story confronting the ideas of race and privilege, “Stick Fly” is a profound capper to a thoughtful lineup. You’ll find those showtimes at weekendtheater.org. For a lighthearted evening of laughs, try The Main Thing at The Joint Theater in North Little Rock. “Grandpa Hasn’t Moved in Days,” a family farce set at a funeral, will be playing through March 24. “Orange Is the New White,” a collection of original comic sketches centered around local issues and current events, will be performed March 30-June 16, and “Birthday From Hell,” a comedy about a woman unhappily turning 40, will be featured June 22-Aug. 31. Check out these shows and the venue’s other offerings at thejointargenta.com. At Robinson Center Performance Hall, Celebrity Attractions will be bringing in a tapestry of big-name shows: On March 1, “The Neighborhood Barbershop: When Love Fades Live” will make its Arkansas debut with notable actress

and comedian Mo’Nique. Don’t let anybody put you in a corner on March 17-18, when “Dirty Dancing” will be in town. Few will want to miss “The Lion King,” winner of six Tony Awards including Best Costume Design for its mind-blowing costume/puppetry hybrid, coming April 19-May 6. Feel the earth move at “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” May 29-June 3. Tickets and showtimes are at celebrityattractions.com. Metropolitan Little Rock doesn’t have dibs on all the great productions. In March, head to The Five Star Dinner Theatre in Hot Springs, where you can see “Always a Bridesmaid,” a show that explores the relationship between a handful of Southern belles who promise to always be each other’s bridesmaids (Saturdays, March 31-April 28). Then head to Wildwood Park for the Arts, where the Praeclara ensemble performs Sondheim’s “Into the Woods,” April 13-14. The rollicking gospel-inspired “Smoke on the Mountain” will be presented by the Red Curtain Theatre in Conway May 11-20. Load up the kiddos and head back to the Spa City for “James and the Giant Peach,” staged June 1-10 by Pocket Community Theatre. Cross the Arkansas for Argenta Community Theater’s “Big River” — the musical about America’s beloved Huck Finn — July 18-28. The Royal Players produce “Anything Goes” Aug. 9-19. Plan a monthly trip to the City of Colleges: The Lantern Theatre in Conway is showing “Steel Magnolias” Feb. 23-March 4, “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” April 20-29, and the Scottish play (“Macbeth”) July 20-29. This season, the play’s the thing.

$13-$60. May 11: Justin Moore. First Security Amphitheater, 7:30 p.m., $23-$50. May 12-13: ASO: “Raiders of the Lost Ark: In Concert.” Screening with live orchestration of John Williams’ score. 7:30 p.m. Sat., 3 p.m. Sun., Robinson Center Performance Hall, $15-$65. May 12: “Chris Tomlin Presents: Worship Night in America.” Verizon Arena, 7 p.m., $15-$130. May 13: Chicago. Verizon Arena, 7:30 p.m., $50-$90. May 24: Patio on Park Hill. Lakehill Shopping Center, parkhillbusiness.com. May 25-27: Riverfest. Riverfront Park, riverfestarkansas.com. June 1: Jason Boland & the Stragglers. Rev Room, 9 p.m., $15. June 12: Shania Twain. Verizon Arena, 7:30 p.m., $30-$150. June 15-17: Mutants of the Monster: Pallbearer, Full of Hell, Gatecreeper, YOB, Bellwitch and more. White Water Tavern, 7 p.m. Fri.-Sun. July 4: ASO: “Pops on the River.” First Security Amphitheater, 3 p.m., free. July 7: Journey, Def KEVIN HART Leppard. Verizon Arena, 7 p.m., $50-$180.

COMEDY March 14-17. Steve McGrew. The Loony Bin, 7:30 p.m. Wed.-Sat., 10 p.m. Fri.-Sat., $10-$15. March 21-24: Grant Lyon. The Loony Bin, 7:30 p.m. Wed.-Sat., 10 p.m. Fri.Sat., $8-$12. March 23: Platinum Comedy Tour. Mike Epps, Rickey Smiley and more. Verizon Arena, 8 p.m., $52-$128. March 28-31: Christine Stedman. The Loony Bin, 7:30 p.m. Wed.-Sat., 10 p.m. Fri.-Sat., $8-$12.

April 5: David Feherty. Robinson Center Performance Hall, 7:30 p.m., $43$172. April 28: Kevin Hart. Verizon Arena, 7 p.m., $36-$128.

DANCE March 17-18: “Dirty Dancing: The Classic Story on Stage.” A touring stage adaptation of the film classic. Robinson Center Performance Hall. 7:30 Sat.-Sun., 3 p.m. Sat., 2 p.m. Sun., $28-$77. March 23: Ballet Arkansas: “Art Movement.” Matt McLeod Fine Art Gallery, 5:30 p.m. April 28: Ballet Arkansas: “Danceworks.” 520 Main St., 7 p.m. May 4-6: Ballet Arkansas: “In Concert with Drew Mays.” Arkansas Repertory Theatre, see balletarkansas.org. $40. May 18-20: Arkansas Festival Ballet: “Beauty and the Beast.” Arkansas Arts Center Children’s Theatre, 7:30 p.m. Thu.-Fri., 2 p.m. Fri.Sat., $17-$32.

FILM March 16: “Alex in the Morning,” “Paranoid Park.” Arkansas Cinema Society’s Arkansas Filmmaker Spotlight on Mark Theideman. Ron Robinson Theater, 6:30 p.m., $12. March 20: “Command and Control.” MacArthur Museum of Military History, 6:30 p.m., free. March 20: “Bob Le Flambeur.” Arkansas Times Film Series. Riverdale 10 Cinema, 7 p.m., $9. March 20: “Waiting for Guffman.” Argenta Community Theater, 7 p.m., $5. April 28: An Evening with Sebastian Junger. Documentary filmmaker, with the Arkansas Literary Festival. 7 p.m., arkansasliteraryfestival.org.

arktimes.com MARCH 1, 2018

Spring Arts Calendar, Cont. May 10: “Raising Arizona.” Crush Wine Bar, 8 p.m., free. May 11: “Come Early Morning.” Argenta Community Theater, 8 p.m., $5. May 12: “Top Gun.” Argenta Community Theater, 8 p.m., $5. June 14: “Romancing the Stone.” Crush Wine Bar, 8 p.m., free. June 26: “True Romance.” Diamond Bear Brewing Film Series. Riverdale 10 Cinema, 7 p.m., $9. July 12: “Big Trouble in Little China.” Crush Wine Bar, 8 p.m., free. Aug. 9: “9 to 5.” Crush Wine Bar, 8 p.m., free. Aug. 14: “The Wizard of Oz.” Riverdale 10 Cinema, 7 p.m., $9. Aug. 28: “Kill Bill, Vol. 1.” Diamond Bear Brewing Film Series. Riverdale 10 Cinema, 7 p.m., $9.

‘True Grit’ in Arkansas.” A bus trip to Fort Smith with Joey Lauren Adams, Jay Jennings, Smokey and the Mirror. Ray Winder Field Parking Lot, 9 a.m., $99. April 18-22: “Disney on Ice: Reach for the Stars.” Verizon Arena, 7 p.m. Wed.Sat., 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Sat., 2 p.m. Sun., $16-$65. April 20-21: “50 Years of ‘True Grit.’ ” Various venues, see oxfordamerican.org. April 26-29: Arkansas Literary Festival. Authors, essayists, illustrators. CALS Main Library campus and other venues, arkansasliteraryfestival.org. April 28: “Into the Blue.” Thea Foundation. Center for Humanities and Arts, Pulaski Technical College, 6 p.m., $100$250. April 28: Lee Conell. Argenta Reading Series. Argenta United Methodist Church, 7 SPECIAL p.m., donations. EVENTS May 26: Africa Day Fest. South Main March 15: “A Street, 11 a.m., free. SHARON FARMER Conversation with June 18: Arkansas Former White House Jazz Hall of Fame Photographer Sharon Induction Ceremony. Farmer.” Pulaski Technical College, Capital Hotel Ballroom, 8 p.m., $20. CHARTS, 6 p.m., free. July 28: Stone’s Throw Brewing Block March 17: Woody Skinner. Argenta on Rock 5th Birthday Bash. Stone’s Reading Series. Argenta United MethodThrow Brewing, 4 p.m. ist Church, 7 p.m., donations. April 14: “Retracing Charles Portis’

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Through March 10: “Inherit the Wind.” Tue.-Sat.; 12:45 p.m. and 6:45 p.m. Sun., The Weekend Theater, 7:30 p.m. Thu.$15-$37. Sat.; 2:30 p.m. Sun., $12-$16. Through March 17: “Never Too Late.” VISUAL ARTS Murry’s Dinner Playhouse, 7:30 p.m. Tue.-Sat.; 12:45 p.m. and 6:45 p.m. Sun., Through March 10: Gary Cawood. La$15-$37. man Library Argenta Branch, 9 a.m.-6 Through March 24: “Grandpa Hasn’t p.m. Mon.-Fri., 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Sat. Moved In Days.” The Main Thing. The Through March 10: Roger Bowman, Joint, 8 p.m. Fri.-Sat. $24. Marcus McAllister. Gallery 26, 10 a.m.-6 March 8-18: “Hand to God.” The Stup.m. Tue.-Sat. dio Theatre, 7:30 p.m. Thu.-Sat.; 2 p.m. Through March 11: “Building a CollecSun., $15-$20. tion: Works Acquired with Gifts from March 9-17: “Follies.” Argenta Comthe Windgate Charitable Foundation.” munity Theater, 7 p.m. Tue.-Thu.; 8 p.m. Windgate Center for Art and Design. UA Fri.-Sat.; 2 p.m. Sun., $30-$40. Little Rock, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays, 10 March 14-April 8: “Mamma Mia!” Ara.m.-1 p.m. Sat., 2-5 p.m. Sun. 569-8977. kansas Repertory Theatre, 7 p.m. Wed.Thu., Sun.; 8 p.m. Fri.-Sat.; 2 p.m. Sun., Through March 11: “Discovering Kate $38-$68. Freeman Clark.” Windgate Center for March 21-April 21: “Little Shop of Art and Design. UA Little Rock, 9 a.m.-5 Horrors.” Murry’s Dinner Playhouse, 7:30 p.m. weekdays, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Sat., 2-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat.; 12:45 p.m. and 6:45 p.m. p.m. Sun. 569-8977. Sun., $15-$37. Through March: Louis Beck: “Old March 30-June 16: “Orange is the New Master’s Reproductions.” L & L Beck White.” The Main Thing. The Joint, 8 Art Gallery. Giclee giveaway drawing 5:30 p.m. Fri.-Sat., $24. p.m. March 29, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tue.-Sat. April 12-22: “Bridge to Terabithia.” Through April 8: “Going Unnoticed: The Studio Theatre, 7:30 p.m. Thu.-Sat.; 2 Dustyn Bork and Carly Dahl.” Historic p.m. Sun., $15-$20. Arkansas Museum, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.April 13-14: “Into the Woods.” Cabe Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. 324-9351. Theater, Wildwood Park for the Arts, 7:30 Through April 14: “Danny Lyon: p.m. Fri., 3 p.m. Sat., $30. Memories of the Southern Civil Rights April 19-May 6: “The Lion King.” Robinson Center Performance Hall, $33-$150. Movement.” Center for Humanities and the Arts, UA Pulaski Technical College, April 20-28: “To Kill a Mockingbird.” 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Thu., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Argenta Community Theater, 7 p.m. Fri., 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Sat. Tue.-Thu.; 8 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 2 p.m. Sun., Through April 14: Adger Cowans: $20-$30. April 24-May 26: “Southern Fried Nup- “Personal Vision: The Exhibition.” Hearne Fine Art, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays, tials.” Murry’s Dinner Playhouse, 7:30 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sat. p.m. Tue.-Sat.; 12:45 p.m. and 6:45 p.m. Sun., $15-$37. Through April 22: “Becoming John April 29: “Six Characters In Search of a Marin: Modernist at Work.” Arkansas Play.” The Weekend Theater, 3 p.m. and Arts Center, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 10 7 p.m., $30-$60. a.m.-5 p.m. Sat., 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sun. May 29-June 3: “Beautiful: The Carole Through April 28: Dayton Bowers: King Musical.” Rob“Delta: Rediscovered.” inson Center PerforButler Center Gallermance Hall, $28-$78. ies, Arkansas Studies May 29-July 7: Institute, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. “Menopause: The MuMon.-Sat. sical.” Murry’s Dinner Through April 29: Playhouse, 7:30 p.m. Susan Schwalb: “LuTue.-Sat.; 12:45 p.m. minous Lines: Forty and 6:45 p.m. Sun., Years of Metalpoint $15-$37. Drawings.” Arkansas June 6-24: “God of Arts Center, 9 a.m.-5 Carnage.” Arkansas p.m. Tue.-Fri., 10 a.m.Repertory Theatre, 7 5 p.m. Sat., 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Wed.-Thu. and p.m. Sun. Sun.; 8 p.m. Fri.-Sat.; 2 THE SALTY DOGS Through April 29: p.m. Sun., $38-$68. “Exposed: UnmentionJune 14-July 1: “Tuck ables 1900-1960s.” Everlasting.” The Esse Purse Museum & Store, 11 a.m.-4 Studio Theatre, 7:30 p.m. Thu.-Sat.; 2 p.m. Sun., $15-$20. p.m. Tue.-Sat., 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Sun. $10, June 22-Aug. 31: “Birthday From Hell!” $8 for students, seniors and military. The Main Thing. The Joint, 8 p.m. Fri.Through May 6: “Found in Nature: Sat., $24. Kate Nessler and Barbara Satterfield.” July 11-Aug. 25: “Grease.” Murry’s DinHistoric Arkansas Museum, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. ner Playhouse, 7:30 p.m. Tue.-Sat.; 12:45 Mon.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. p.m. and 6:45 p.m. Sun., $15-$37. Through May 30: “Arkansas Divine July 12-29: “The Best Little Whore9: An Exhibit of Arkansas’s Africanhouse in Texas.” The Studio Theatre, American Greek Letter Organizations.” 7:30 p.m. Thu.-Sat.; 2 p.m. Sun., $15-$20. Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, 9 a.m.July 20-28: “Big River.” Argenta Com5 p.m. Tue.-Sat. munity Theater, 7 p.m. Tue.-Thu.; 8 p.m. Through June 30: “Education in Exile: Fri.-Sat.; 2 p.m. Sun., $20-$30. Student Experience at Rohwer.” Butler Aug. 28-Sept. 22: “Social Security.” Center Galleries, Arkansas Studies InstiMurry’s Dinner Playhouse, 7:30 p.m.

Through March: “Not to Scale: Highlights from the Fly’s Eye Dome Archive.” Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 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. Through April 23: “Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power.” Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 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. Through May 28: “All or Nothing.” Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon., Thu.; 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Wed., Fri.; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sun., closed

Tue.

CONWAY MUSIC March 10: The Creek Rocks. Kings Live Music, 8:30 p.m., $5. March 13: Home Free. Reynolds Performance Hall, UCA, 7:30 p.m., $27-$40. March 16: Greasy Tree. Kings Live Music, 8:30 p.m., $5.

March 17: The Wandering Troubadours. Kings Live Music, 8:30 p.m., $5. March 31: Chinese Connection Dub Embassy. Kings Live Music, 8:30 p.m., $5. April 6: Jamie Lou & The Hullabaloo. Fundraiser for Lucie’s Place. Kings Live Music, 8:30 p.m., $5. April 7: The Squarshers. Kings Live Music, 8:30 p.m., $5. April 13: Randall Shreve. Kings Live JAPANESE BREAKFAST EBRU YILDIZ

tute, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Sat. 320-5790. Through June: “These Various Threads I Drew.” Historic Arkansas Museum, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. 3249351. Through 2017: “Cabinet of Curiosities: Treasures from the University of Arkansas Museum Collection.” Old State House Museum, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. Through 2017: “True Faith, True Light: The Devotional Art of Ed Stilley.” Old State House Museum, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. March 10-Aug. 5: “Louder than Words: Rock, Power & Politics.” Clinton Presidential Center, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. March 15: Sharon Farmer, photojournalist. 6 p.m. Center for Humanities and Arts, UA Pulaski Technical College. March 16-May 5: Laura Raborn: “Looking Closely.” Cantrell Gallery. Reception 6-8 p.m. March 16. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat. March 27: Alec Soth. 6 p.m. Windgate Center for Art and Design. UA Little Rock. March 29-April 27: Joshua Brinlee: “Masculine Projection.” Windgate Center for Art and Design. UA Little Rock. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Sat., 2-5 p.m. Sun. May 4: Katherine Rutter. Thea Foundation, NLR, reception 6:30-8 p.m. May 8-July 22: 57th “Young Arkansas Artists Exhibition.” Arkansas Arts Center, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sun. May 19: Catty Wampus Spring Bizarre Craft Show. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Blue Canoe Warehouse. May 25-Aug. 26: 60th “Delta Exhibition.” Arkansas Arts Center, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sun.

BATESVILLE April 19-21, 27-28: Ozark Foothills Film Fest. University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville.

BENTONVILLE FILM March 16: “Black Power Mix Tape 1967-1975.” Soul of a Nation Film Series. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 7 p.m., free. March 23: “For the Love of Ivy.” Soul of a Nation Film Series. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 7 p.m., free. March 30: “Mo Better Blues.” Soul of a Nation Film Series. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 7 p.m., free.

SPECIAL EVENTS April 5: “Malcolm Revisited.” Performance Lab Series. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 7 p.m., free.

VISUAL ARTS arktimes.com MARCH 1, 2018

Spring Arts Calendar, Cont. Music, 8:30 p.m., $5. April 28: Akeem Kemp Band. Kings Live Music, 8:30 p.m., $5. May 5: Opal Agafia & The Sweet Nothings. Kings Live Music, 8:30 p.m., $5. May 18: Sad Daddy. Kings Live Music, 8:30 p.m., $5. May 19: DeFrance. Kings Live Music, 8:30 p.m., $5. May 25: The Cons of Formant. Kings Live Music, 8:30 p.m., $5. May 26: Big Red Flag. Kings Live Music, 8:30 p.m., $5. June 9: Route 358. Kings Live Music, 8:30 p.m., $5.

THEATER April 18: “Cinderella.” Reynolds Performance Hall, UCA, 7:30 p.m., $27-$40. April 29: “A Gentlemen’s Guide to Love and Murder.” Reynolds Performance Hall, UCA, 7:30 p.m., $27-$35.

EL DORADO MUSIC March 10: I-49 Brass Quintet. Griffin Music Hall, Murphy Arts District, 7:30 p.m., $5-$25. March 15: Front Cover Band. Griffin Restaurant, Murphy Arts District, 8 p.m., free. March 16: Steve Earle & The Dukes. Griffin Music Hall, Murphy Arts District, 8 p.m., $25-$35. March 17: The Burners. Griffin Restaurant, “VIETGONE” Murphy Arts District, 8 p.m., free. March 22: Cordovas. Griffin Restaurant, Murphy Arts District, 8 p.m., free.

March 31: Phillip Phillips. Griffin Music Hall, Murphy Arts District, 7:30 p.m., $30$159. April 5: DeFrance. Griffin Restaurant, Murphy Arts District, 8 p.m., free. April 12: Electric 5. Griffin Restaurant, Murphy Arts District, 8 p.m., free. April 19: Sunny Sweeney. Griffin Restaurant, Murphy Arts District, 8 p.m., free. May 3: Charley Crockett. Griffin Restaurant, Murphy Arts District, 8 p.m., free. May 5: Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit, Richard Thompson. Griffin Music Hall, Murphy Arts District, 8 p.m., $33-$46. May 12: “Shades of America.” South Arkansas Symphony. Murphy Arts District, 8:30 p.m., $25-$35. May 24: The Legendary Pacers. Griffin Restaurant, Murphy Arts District, 8 p.m., free. May 26: “Symphony on the Square.” Murphy Arts District, 8:30 p.m., free.

EUREKA SPRINGS MUSIC, VISUAL ARTS, BOOKS May 2-28: Eureka Springs Festival of the Arts. Concerts, art exhibitions, wine tastings, literary festival, dancing, eurekaspringsfestival of the arts.com. June 14-17: Eureka Springs Blues Weekend. Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge, see eurekaspringsblues. com. June 22-July 20: 68th Annual Opera in the Ozarks. Inspiration Point, see opera.org.

FAYETTEVILLE MUSIC

March 9: Dublin Guitar Quartet. Baum Walker Hall, Walton Arts Center, 8 p.m., $10. March 12: Tristen. George’s Majestic Lounge, 8 p.m., $10$12. March 30: Jason Mraz. Baum Walker Hall, Walton Arts Center, 8 p.m., $99-$149. BIG K.R.I.T April 3: Dweezil Zappa. George’s Majestic Lounge, 8 p.m., $25-$80. April 6: Reverend Horton Heat, Unknown Hinson. George’s Majestic Lounge, 9:30 p.m., $22-$25. April 9: Dr. Dog. George’s Majestic Lounge, 8 p.m., $25-$27. April 17: I’m With Her. Baum Walker Hall, Walton Arts Center, 7 p.m., $33. April 23: J. Roddy Walston and the Business. George’s Majestic Lounge, 8:30 p.m., $18-$22. April 26: Josh Hoyer & The Soul Colossal. Smoke & Barrel Tavern, 10 p.m., $3. April 28: Conrad Herwig. Starr Theater, Walton Arts Center, 7:30 p.m., $30-$50. May 5: Masterworks III: “La Boheme.” Baum Walker Hall, Walton Arts Center, 7:30 p.m., $10-$52. May 10: Charlie Daniels Band. Baum Walker Hall, Walton Arts Center, 7 p.m., $39-$75.

COMEDY April 14: “WellRED Comedy Tour: From Dixie With Love.” Baum Walker Hall, Walton Arts Center, 7 p.m., $36.

THEATER March 14-April 8: “Vietgone.” Studio Theater, Walton Arts Center, 7:30 p.m. Wed.-Fri. and Sat.; 2 p.m. Sun., $17-$25. April 24-29: “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.” Baum Walker Hall, Walton Arts Center, 7 p.m. Tue.-Thu.; 8

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MARCH 1, 2018

ARKANSAS TIMES

p.m. Fri.-Sat.; 1:30 p.m. Thu.; 2 p.m. Sat.-Sun. May 15-20: “The Sound of Music.” Baum Walker Hall, Walton Arts Center, 7 p.m. Wed.-Thu.; 8 p.m. Fri.-Sat.; 1:30 p.m. Thu.; 2 p.m. Sat.-Sun., $36-$66.

VISUAL ARTS Through March 17: “The Grammar of Ornament.” Walton Arts Center. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. weekdays, noon-4 p.m. Sat. Through March: John Newman retrospective. Art Ventures. 10 a.m.-2 p.m. and 4 p.m.-8 p.m. Wed.-Sat., 1-3 p.m. Sun.

FORT SMITH VISUAL ARTS Through April 22: “Fort Smith Legend John Bell.” Fort Smith Regional Art Museum. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tue.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. Through June 3: “Will Barnet: Forms and Figures.” Fort Smith Regional Art Museum. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tue.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. April 27-July 29: “The Essence of Place: David Halpern Photographs from the Gilcrease Collection.” Fort Smith Regional Art Museum. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tue.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun.

GREENBRIER March 16-18: Cosmic Flux Festival. Cadron Creek Outfitters, noon, $67-$73. June 8-10: Solar Flux 5: A Flux Family Music & Arts Festival. Cadron Creek Outfitters.

HOT SPRINGS MUSIC

June 30: Kansas. Timberwood Theater, Magic Springs Theme and Water Park. July 7: TobyMac. Timberwood Theater, Magic Springs Theme and Water Park. July 14: Foghat, Blue Oyster Cult. Timberwood Theater, Magic Springs Theme and Water Park. July 21: Seether. Timberwood Theater, Magic Springs Theme and Water Park. Aug. 4: Lauren Alaina. Timberwood Theater, Magic Springs Theme and Water Park. Aug. 11: En Vogue. Timberwood Theater, Magic Springs Theme and Water Park.

AMBER LANE

March 10: Low. Low Key Arts, 8 p.m., $20. March 11: “Celtic Spring.” Muses Creative Artistry Project. Garvan Woodland Gardens, Anthony Chapel, 3 p.m., $35. March 16-20: Valley of the Vapors Independent Music Festival. Hot Springs National Park, various venues, see valleyofthevapors.com, $10-$40. March 17: Morris Day and The Time, Grand Funk Railroad, Adam Faucett, VISUAL ARTS Akeem Kemp. World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade, 5 p.m., free. Through March: May 13: Ringers of Robyn Horn: “ShiftHope Mother’s Day ing Gears.” Justus Handbells Concert. Garvan Woodland Fine Art, 10 a.m.-5 Gardens, Anthony p.m. Wed.-Sat. Chapel, 3 p.m., free. Through May May 20: “Little Red 13: “Daughters of Riding Hood,” “The Diaspora — Women Emperor’s New of Color Speak.” Clothes.” Platypus Landmark Building, Players, an ASO reception 6:30 p.m. String Ensemble. GarMay 3, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. van Woodland Garweekdays. dens, Anthony Chapel, April 27-May 6: 3 p.m., $25-$50. Arts in the Park JAMIE LOU CONNOLLY May 26: Vertical 2018. Various venues, Horizon, Sister Hazel. hotspringsarts.org. Timberwood Theater, Magic Springs Theme & Water Park. April 6, May 4, June 1, July 6, Aug. 3: June 2: Grainger Smith. Timberwood Gallery Walk. Central Avenue and other Theater, Magic Springs Theme and locations, 5-9 p.m. Water Park. June 4-17: Hot Springs Music Festival. Various venues, see hotmusic.org. June 9: Queensryche, Warrant, Great White. Timberwood Theater, Magic Springs Theme and Water Park. March 10: “A Night at the Victory.” June 16: Crowder. Timberwood Theater, Jacksonville Museum of Military History, Magic Springs Theme and Water Park. 5:30 p.m. $40. June 22: Big Papa Binns. Blues on Park. 910 Park Avenue Food Court, 6 p.m. June 23: Martina McBryde. Timberwood Theater, Magic Springs Theme and Water Park. CONTINUED ON PAGE 38

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BY LESLIE NEWELL PEACOCK, LINDSEY MILLAR AND STEPHANIE SMITTLE

FRIDAY 3/2-SUNDAY 3/4

ARKANSAS FLOWER & GARDEN SHOW

9 a.m.-5 p.m. Fri.-Sat.; 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sun. Arkansas State Fairgrounds. $10.

ARKANSAS DEPARTMENT OF PARKS & TOURISM

Things move slowly in the flower and garden world, and changes tend to reveal themselves incrementally: A watermelon swells at an imperceptible rate, a properly staked spray orchid will stretch into a predictable arch according to its first tiny flower, and a healthy tomato plant sends a slow, steady broadcast that it will eventually outgrow its cage. Imagine the excited murmurs, then, that have been floating around the cash registers at Hocott’s and The Good Earth garden centers, as word has gotten around that the annual Flower and Garden Show will be moving from the Statehouse Convention Center to the Arkansas State Fairgrounds this year. Consensus among the dirt-diggers

has been pretty clear: This was a stellar move. For one thing, parking is free. For another, you’ll be able to pull right up to a package holding and loading station to get your finds into your car as you’re leaving, instead of pitching them hastily into your ride as your companion sits in the driver’s seat on Markham Street with the flashers on, hoping someone with a badge doesn’t come and shoo off the whole affair. Classes in subjects like blackberries and drought tolerance will be held in the Farm & Ranch and Arts & Crafts Buildings; the Sunday program is tailored for kids; and the Hall of Industry will be home to all the nerdy vendor stuff we’re there for: terrifically porous irrigation hoses, fancy hand salves, seed packets with detailed botanical sketches in colored pencil, a live bee colony encased behind a glass screen. Check it out and get tickets at argardenshow.org. SS

FRIDAY 3/2

HOT SPRINGS GALLERY WALK

5-9 p.m., galleries on Central Avenue and elsewhere.

The monthly gallery stroll in Hot Springs will feature lots of racehorse art (which sells well during the season), especially Gallery Central (800 Central Ave.), which will not only show pony art, but will host live painting by local artist Bob Snider. Whittington Gallery (307 Whittington Ave.) will feature the work of 21 artists, some of it surely equine, and will have music by the Tone Chasers, too. Ten artists will show in a popup gallery next door, in The Yoga Place. Shifting gears, “Shifting Gears,” wood and metal pieces from Little Rock sculptor Robyn Horn’s “Industrial Series,” will be on exhibit at Dolores Justus Fine Art (827A

MARCH 1, 2018

ARKANSAS TIMES

Central) in a show curated by Rachel Golden. Horn and Golden will be on hand at 5 p.m. Saturday, March 3, for a gallery talk. Figurative works by Jan Briggs and abstract paintings by Bonnie Ricci are at Artists’ Workshop Gallery (610A Central). Ermie Bolieu will talk about design and stones at American Art Gallery and Gifts (724 Central). The Landmark Building (6 p.m.-8:30 p.m., 201 Market St.) is showing “Daughters of the Diaspora — Women of Color Speak,” works by established and emerging women artists. Other venues participating in the after-hours event are Emergent Arts (341A Whittington), The Avenue (240 Central), Crystal Springs Gallery (610 Central), Bubba Brew’s Brewing Co. Spa City Tap Room (528 Central) and Riley Art Glass (710 W. Grand St.) LNP

LUMINARY: Swan Lake lights up at Wildwood Park for the Arts for the Lanterns festival.

FRIDAY 3/2- SUNDAY 3/4

LANTERNS FESTIVAL

6 p.m. Wildwood Park for the Arts. $5-$10.

For the 10th year, Wildwood Park for the Arts will transform its grounds into a glowing, multicultural festival to celebrate the Chinese New Year and the first full moon of the lunar year. If you have little kids and need to get out of the house, this is an almost obligatory destination. The cultures of a number of foreign countries — China, Italy, Ireland, Cuba, Morocco and Egypt — along with that of New York City will be on display, with representative food and games. Arkansas Circus Arts will man a moon-themed area where there will be fire-breathing and karaoke and probably people on stilts. But the true magic — especially for the kiddos — comes in releasing luminaries (which cost a few bucks) into the park’s Swan Lake. Food and drinks, including booze, range from $2-$8, but you’ll have to buy WILDBucks to do your purchasing. LM

IN BRIEF

THURSDAY 3/1

DEVIN CASTLE

Saxophonist Marquis Hunt brings his ensemble Marquis & Mood to South on Main for “Blue Note Jazz,” 8 p.m., $15. ACANSA hosts the Ten-Minute Play Showcase at UA Pulaski Technical College’s Center for Humanities and Arts, 7 p.m., $10-$20. Maxine’s in Hot Springs hosts a burlesque and variety show, “The Raven’s Nest,” 9 p.m., $10. A new sketch comedy show, Tyrannosaurus Sketch, kicks off at The Joint Theater & Coffeehouse, 8 p.m., $5. Guitar virtuoso Raul Midón lands at the Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville, 7:30 p.m., $30. Shane Mauss goes for laughs at The Loony Bin, 7:30 p.m. Thu.-Sat., 10 p.m. Fri-Sat., $8-$12. Poet and novelist Genaro Ky Ly Smith gives a talk on “America and Vietnam: Countries of Dust and Dreams,” 7:30 p.m., Hendrix College, Reves Recital Hall, free. Seattle rock quartet The Classic Crime plays a show at Rev Room, with Matt and Toby and Motherfolk, 7:30 p.m., $17-$22. Chuck Pack entertains for happy hour at Cajun’s, 5:30 p.m., free; stay for an after-dinner show from Nerd Eye Blind, 9 p.m.

FRIDAY 3/2 ‘LIPSHIFTER’: Ghost Bones takes tunes from its latest to Maxine’s with Swear Tapes and Bonus.

FRIDAY, MARCH 2

GHOST BONES, SWEAR TAPES, BONUS

9 p.m. Maxine’s, Hot Springs. $7.

When Hot Springs punked-up rockers Ghost Bones won the 2015 Arkansas Times Musicians Showcase, this is how judge Mitchell Crisp described the quartet: “This band is for throwing TVs out of three-story windows, sleeping under dirty sheets in a room lit by Christmas lights, drunk on cheap wine with a boy you just met but have seen around for a

long time.” Who could resist that? Particularly when the band will be playing songs from its newish record, “Lipshifter,” including “Sticky Willow.” Sample lyric from lead singer Ashley Hill: “I’ve got a hot heat on the back of my kiss/I’ve got a slight spit coming out like a hiss.” A double bill from Oxford, Miss., joins the locals: delightful pop rockers Swear Tapes (the latest project of Jim Barrett, formerly of Fat Possum’s Young Buffalo) and indie rockers Bonus. LM

FRIDAY 3/2

SATURDAY 3/3

DYLAN EARL, LOST DOG STREET BAND, HANG ROUNDERS

‘THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA’

9 p.m. White Water Tavern.

This bill feels like two-tone embroidered Western shirts with pearl snap buttons and sounds like pedal steel under the crunch of an empty can of Coors heavy. It’s country and Western “before they ruined it”-style, with Denver’s Hang Rounders; Tennessee-based old-tyme musicians Lost Dog Street Band; and Fayetteville’s own Dylan Earl, a baritone whose easy swing and plaintive delivery summon the olfactory memory of stale cigarette smoke and Stetsons for men as clearly as did any of his apparent influences: Dwight Yoakam, George Jones and Billy the Kid. SS

6:30 p.m. Trinity Episcopal Cathedral. $15.

Look, if you’re going to screen a silent film with a scene that reportedly made theater patrons scream and/ or faint when they saw it in 1925, you may as well do it in a giant Gothic Revival Cathedral from the 1880s and slap some creepy pipe organ over that mess, right? The Arkansas Cinema Society has done just that for this screening — a fantastically imagined blend of holy venue and unholy programming — with Scott Foppiano at the organ. A Q&A session follows with host Jonathan Crawford, and food trucks will be outside the church beforehand. SS

Tulsa-based music collective Henna Roso takes its horn-forward arrangements to Four Quarter Bar, 10 p.m., $7. Songwriters Tiffany Lee and Brad Byrd play a set at South on Main for “Fight For Freedom,” a benefit concert to spread awareness of human sex trafficking, 9 p.m., $15. Missy Harris gives a concert at Hibernia Irish Tavern, 7:30 p.m. The Wye Mountain Daffodil Festival kicks off in Bigelow, 22300 state Hwy. 113, 10 a.m. daily through March 11, free. Rob & Tyndall play a free show at Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 p.m., and Mister Lucky takes the stage later, 9 p.m., $5. Professional Bull Riders descend on Verizon Arena for the “Bad Boy Mowdown,” 7:45 p.m. Fri., 6:45 p.m. Sat., $18$303. Venice Catherine De’Wilde hosts Open Stage Night at Club Sway, 9 p.m. Civil rights icons and rap progenitors The Last Poets perform in the Great Hall at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, 7 p.m., free. Brian Ramsey & Carey Griffin entertain at Markham Street Grill and Pub, 8:30 p.m., free. Rising country star Casey Donahew lands at the Rev Room, 9 p.m., $20$25. Benadrill, Dingus Khan, Yellow Ochre and Bat: 30 share an all-ages bill at The Sonic Temple, 8 p.m. Little Buffalo River Band plays at Kings Live Music in Conway with Daniel Grear, 8:30 p.m., $5. Deep Sequence joins The Mad Deadly for a bill at Blue Canoe Brewing Warehouse, 1637 E. 15th St., 7 p.m., $5. Hoodoo Blues Revue takes its set to JJ’s Grill Little Rock, 12111 W. Markham St., 8:30

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BY LESLIE NEWELL PEACOCK, LINDSEY MILLAR AND STEPHANIE SMITTLE

SATURDAY 3/3

MORTALUS

7 p.m. Vino’s Brewpub.

When Mortalus played the Arkansas Times Musicians Showcase last week, the band’s drummer had just been injured in a car accident and the bass player filled in for him in a reconfigured trio. Judges’ comments included the following remarks: “Helluva shredder,” “Very Dio/Maiden,” “melodic classic thrash metal,” and ‘“love the twin guitar leads.” That about sums up the style of Mortalus — led by that “helluva shredder” Michelle

Gann — and gives you an idea of what kind of talent it displayed even when a quarter of the band was out of commission. If all goes as planned, the full outfit is celebrating the release of its full-length album, “Heart So Black,” a 10-track guitar assault with classic influences (aforementioned, plus Judas Priest) and a lead-out single that takes its narrator from post-apocalypse refugee to bona fide undead zombie in fewer than six minutes. Celestials, Sylo and Josh the Devil and the Sinners share the bill. SS MATHEW STURTEVANT

JOSHUA ASANTE

THE SOUL AND THE HEAL: Guitarist, songwriter and producer Gurf Morlix comes to the White Water Tavern for an early Sunday show. IRIE VIBES: Katrice “Butterfly” Newbill performs with her 5-piece reggae outfit Irie Soul at The Griffin Restaurant in El Dorado this weekend.

SUNDAY 3/4

GURF MORLIX

SATURDAY 3/3

6 p.m. White Water Tavern.

BUTTERFLY & IRIE SOUL

9:30 p.m. The Griffin Restaurant, El Dorado. Free.

There’s a contingent of the Central Arkansas music community that would probably still be making their art in New Orleans had Hurricane Katrina not displaced them — Ted Ludwig, notably. Count Katrice “Butterfly” Newbill among those who landed here in that twist of fate, and she’s a dynamo contralto and bandleader whose all-women NOLA reggae band The Irie Dawtas have been reinvented here as Irie Soul. Newbill sings with her whole body and commands a call-and-response with audiences regardless of how familiar (or not) they are with gospel and reggae. She brings that dynamic to the Murphy Arts District’s farm-to-table restaurant this weekend. If your Saturday plans don’t include a jaunt to South Arkansas, catch her here in Little Rock when you can; she’ll be the one up front delivering brawny, syncopated incantations and bouncing around in incredible stilettos. SS

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ARKANSAS TIMES

In a 2009 interview with Texas Monthly, Gurf Morlix answered a question about his early career with “I was always the side guy.” And until his 2000 solo record “Toad of Titicaca” — named after a lake between Bolivia and Peru in which Jacques Cousteau discovered 2-foot-long underwater toads — he was. Morlix’s “side guy” contributions, though, were the kind that make or break an album (in his case, mostly the former), as his minimalist guitar work and clarity-obsessed production lent magic to recordings by Lucinda Williams, Warren Zevon, Ray Wylie Hubbard and Arkansas’s own Blaze Foley, the subject of a celebrated new film directed by Ethan

Hawke. (See Morlix’s 2011 record, “Blaze Foley’s 113th Wet Dream” for a tribute to same.) Morlix is the kind of name you hear painted in reverence as it leaves the lips of talented guitarists everywhere. This Sunday, he’s at the White Water Tavern for the first time with his newest, “The Soul and the Heal,” which, if you order a copy, will come to you by way of the oneman operation that is Morlix, as he states on his website: “I am the chief strategist, here at Rootball Records. I’m the only strategist. I’m the label. I’m the distributor. I’m the manager. I’m the one that sweeps up. I’m in charge. Of all of it. … That’s my DNA on the copies I mail out to anyone who orders them.” But then, you won’t need that, since he’ll be here in the flesh. Don’t miss this one. SS

IN BRIEF, CONT. p.m. M2 Gallery hosts a reception for its “11-Year Anniversary Show,” 6 p.m.

SATURDAY 3/3 SUNDAY 3/4

LITTLE ROCK MARATHON

7 a.m. LaHarpe Boulevard.

Consider this a multifaceted P.S.A.: If you somehow have been training relentlessly but were not disciplined enough to register for the full or half marathon early, you’re in luck: Late registration happens at the marathon Health & Fitness Expo at the Statehouse Convention Center from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. Saturday. If you have not been training relentlessly and have not registered early, but still think you’ve got what it takes to run (or walk briskly) 26.2 miles, don’t. Just watch this year. One piece of guidance for rooting racers on from littlerockmarathon.com: “Unless you’re right next to the finish line, don’t yell, ‘Almost there’ or ‘Not far to go.’ ” You can find the marathon route at the race website. For folks who don’t care anything about the race, expect to find roads blocked throughout Little Rock east of Van Buren Street (and also along Rebsamen Park Road). LM

WEDNESDAY 3/7

WILD MOCCASINS

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

In a brilliant feat of programming, the folks at Stickyz/Rev Room booked Houston’s winsome Wild Moccasins for a later slot on the same night as Beth Ditto’s return to Little Rock, and offered free admission to anyone with a Ditto ticket in hand. To see why this is such a natural fit — and a recipe for a dance party in the River Market district Wednesday night — observe Wild Moccasins’ Zahira Gutierrez in the drag-tastic video for “Eye Makeup.” There, an ounce of Morrissey’s pout and a “Lucky Star”-era Madonna beat are paired with lyrics immediately relatable to anyone who’s ever made an unexpectedly early morning run, sans full face, for some item at the Beechwood Kroger and subsequently run into every person they have ever known: “I took my makeup off/You said I looked tired/How could you?” Monsterboy opens the show. SS

Jamie Lou & The Hullabaloo take the stage at Four Quarter Bar, with the Syllamo Trio and fellow River Valley songwriter William Blackart, 10 p.m., $8. The deadly fire at the Boys Industrial School in Wrightsville on March 5, 1959, is remembered at the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center with “59 since ’59: Remembering the Tragedy at Wrightsville,” 1 p.m. Club Sway blends mystery and drag for “Club Camp: Whodunnit?” 9 p.m. Kim Pettus & Emmanuel “Tiko” Brooks join forces for a bill at Gigi’s Soul Cafe & Lounge, 9 p.m., $15-$20. Trillium Salon Series puts live orchestral accompaniment from the Shadow Ensemble with Carl Theodor Dreyer’s 1928 silent film “The Passion of Joan of Arc,” 7 p.m., Artist’s Laboratory Theatre, 1030 S. College Ave., Fayetteville, $10 suggested donation. Burns Park Soccer Complex is home to “Disc-Combobulated,” an ultimate frisbee tournament, 8 a.m., $20. Still Married and special guests take the stage at Hibernia Irish Tavern, 7:30 p.m. Recognizer joins Jack Donovan, Phil Davis and Travis Bowman, 8:30 p.m., $5. Protomartyr, Shame and The Phlegms share a show at Smoke & Barrel Tavern in Fayetteville, 10 p.m., $12-$15. Ben Byers performs a happy hour set at Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 p.m., free; come later and hear Just Sayin’, 9 p.m., $5. Ryan Viser with Pineapple Beatz takes the late-night crowd into the wee hours at Midtown Billiards, 11:45 p.m.

SUNDAY 3/4 CanvasCommunity hosts “Beer and Hymns” at Vino’s, 7 p.m., free. The Rev Room hosts a hip-hop showcase with Indie Night, 9 p.m., $10-$12. Riverdale 10 Cinema hosts an Oscar 2018 Watch Party, 5 p.m., free. DeFrance performs at The Big Chill in Hot Springs, 8 p.m. Heralded Japanese drum and dance ensemble Drum Tao comes to Reynolds Performance Hall, Conway, 7:30 p.m., $10-$40.

TUESDAY 3/6 Riverdale 10 Cinema screens “The Room,” 7 p.m., the 2003 film that sparked James Franco’s “The Disaster Artist,” $11-$13.

WEDNESDAY 3/7 David Olney’s a songwriter’s songwriter, so it’s little wonder Fret & Worry asked him to play a set for the March edition of “Sessions” at South on Main, 8 p.m., $10.

ARKANSAS FESTIVAL BALLET

Beauty and the Beast

REBECCA MILLER STALCUP, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

A story book ballet for all ages. At the Arkansas Children’s Theater May 18-20, 2018 Tickets on sale now! Visit arkansasdance.org or call 501-227-5320 for more information. GET TICKETS AT CENTRALARKANSASTICKETS.COM Follow Rock Candy on Twitter: @RockCandies

arktimes.com MARCH 1, 2018

Dining WHAT’S COOKIN’

THE MOVE FROM 1216 E. Sixth St. in the East Village to 1201 Main St. in SoMa will give Rocktown Distillery lots more room to bend an elbow in: About 10,000 more square feet than its 15,000 SF on Sixth. That means a larger tasting room and area to enjoy cocktails, a larger bottling room, more barrel storage to age more whiskey and more inventory, distiller and founder Phil Brandon said. Rocktown will start moving its equipment in April and serving up its prize-winning Feast in the Field gin by the end of April. (Feast in the Field is Rocktown’s most recent claim to fame, winning the Gold Medal for Contemporary Style Gin at the 2018 World Gin Awards in the U.K., where they know a thing or two about gin.) Or maybe you’ll have a Sex on the Peach (RT Vodka, Peach Lightning, orange juice and cranberry juice). Whatever, you’ll have more room to do it in. Brandon, who opened Rocktown in April 2010, is also pretty pleased with the 28 parking spots, which increases its Sixth Street parking by … 28. The new building is the one with the SoMa mural painted on the side; older folks will remember it as the penultimate location of Jungkind Photo-Graphic. DOWNHOME RESTAURANT & CATERING at 9219 Stagecoach Road, a breakfast-all-day, Southern-cooking restaurant, is bowing to customer demand and applying for a license to serve beer and wine. Owner Tori Morehart, who has been in business for two and a half years on Stagecoach (in the former Grampa’s Catfish House building) and 15 years altogether, hopes to have her license by mid-March, in time for St. Patrick’s Day. Morehart said she may open on a second evening when she gets the license: Downhome serves dinner only on Friday night now. Hours are 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Thursday and Saturday and 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday. Morehart is considering serving local beers (no draft) and a wine menu that “covers the bases.” Downhome was previously located “in the middle of nowhere,” at Lawson and Marsh roads, Morehart said. PLUMBED FROM PUBLIC records: A Benton plumbing company has applied for a permit for a future restaurant identified as “Taco Bar” at 1220 Main St. That’s the old Juanita’s Party Room. Stay tuned for more information — including whether the taco bar will get a more creative name. A NOTE FROM Northwest Arkansas: Rob Nelson, the owner and executive chef of Bentonville burger and pig palace Tusk and Trotter, has also taken over food production at restaurant/sports bar Butcher and Pint, he has announced. 32

MARCH 1, 2018

ARKANSAS TIMES

POLLO ASADO: The chicken is flattened, grilled and spicy, thanks to a homemade marinade.

La Tapatia brings the heat With authentic Mex.

a Tapatia, on Stagecoach Road, announces itself when you walk in the door. There’s a menu hanging above the counter that details the many varieties of meat one can stuff into a taco. The table covers are bright oranges, greens and reds. A cooler holds row upon row of chilled bottles of Jarritos, Coronas, Modelos and Miller Lites. The oohs and aahs that accompany a Spanishlanguage game show ring throughout. It’s a family restaurant. Son, daughter and mom work the front while dad mans the kitchen, arranging different combinations of beans, meat, cilantro, onions, lettuce, rice and tortillas on plastic plates and sending them out to be enjoyed. Efficiency is valued here: Service is prompt and food arrives quickly. Frills are not to be found. The guacamole ($4.49) is a good place to start. Consider carefully the question “Do you want jalapenos?” An answer

Follow Eat Arkansas on Twitter: @EatArkansas

in the affirmative will bring heat upon thy tongue, but in a good way. Avocados make a good complement to a hot jalapeno: The thick, dense texture helps to cool and soothe. The guac here is chunky; bits of onion and cilantro are heaped in. It’s some of the best we’ve had, and it made a healthy appetizer for our table of three. The chips at La Tapatia are worth a mention of their own. They’re warm, crispy and thick. They can handle a heavy payload of guacamole or a healthy scoop of salsa. There are lots of doubled-over chips, which are as good as gold in our opinion. There’s a sprinkling of salt, but not too much. The salsa they’re served with is fresh, cool and vibrant. It’s easy to eat more than you set out to, but give yourself a break. Tacos come with a good bit of cilantro and onion, and range from $1.49 to $1.89, depending on what type of meat you choose. There are plenty of choices, including the

BELLY UP

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

TOAST TOWN OF THE

GREAT AMERICAN BEER FESTIVAL Gold medal winner.

AUTHENTIC: La Tapatia is a family restaurant that serves everything from beef to beef intestines, pork to pork stomach. The sopes (above) get an extra kick from the red salsa.

safe options you’ll find at any food Taqueria La Tapatia truck: asada, pastor, carnitas, chorizo. 8912 Stagecoach Road And there are a few for the more 501-455-2423 adventurous, like beef intestines (tripita) and pork stomach (buche). QUICK BITE The sopes here are pretty great. They have borrego (lamb), too. We had one of the carnitas variety We tried three, including a ($2.99). The meat was slow-roasted campechano (a mixture of steak, pork and tender, the lettuce was crispy and Mexican sausage), a pastor and and refried beans added heartiness. a chorizo. They’re bigger than bite- All sat on top of a homemade masa sized but still small enough to throw shell. Try the sopes with some of La Tapatia’s homemade red salsa for an down a few in one sitting. We missed a extra kick. bit of pineapple in the pastor — which we’ve had from other taquerias — but that’s such a minor thing to pick at. HOURS 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Overall, the tacos are well seasoned Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. and flavorful, and became even more so with a good shot of red and green OTHER INFO salsa on top. If you’re particularly Beers by the bottle. Credit cards hungry, pick four or five. accepted. The Pollo Asado ($7.49), billed as grilled chicken served with rice, beans and salad, came highly the-middle masa-based shell that’s recommended by our server. The been browned on the griddle. Inside chicken is flattened, grilled and spicy you’ll find refried beans, cheese, (read: hot!). The heat comes from lettuce, tomato and a dose of sour a homemade marinade that kept us cream. They’re tasty, and the bready reaching for our water. Sandwiching pouch makes them easy to eat. For authentic Mexican dishes and the chicken in a homemade tortilla with rice and beans helped cool it great street tacos, La Tapatia is pretty down some, but ooh, boy. The flour tough to beat. The atmosphere is far tortillas here are good. They’re hearty from fancy, but that’s a virtue here. and warm. You have to give ’em a nice The service is great and the price is right. Our table of three had plenty to tug when you tear off a new bite. Also highly recommended were the eat and got out of there for under $40 gorditas ($2.99 per). Our friend tried (with tip, without alcohol). It’s a great chicken and steak and we heard no place for a quick, satisfying lunch or complaints about either. They come a low-key dinner when you just want in a crispy-on-the-outside, soft-in- some good tacos in your life.

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GET READY FOR SPRING!

Saint Patrick’s Day

Shop these local retailers for Easter and Spring gifts that will lighten up the season!

is coming up! Edwards Food Giant has everything you need, including O’Mara’s Irish Country Cream, an Irish cream liqueur that incorporates fine wine in the blending process. Delicious on the rocks or poured over ice cream!

Bella Vita teamed up with the talented art students from Mount St. Mary Academy to come

GRL PWR t-shirts

. up with these They hosted a design competition and this is the design that made it on their new t-shirts. Shirts are available in 2 styles, Crew Neck or Slouchy V-Neck, and all of the profits from sales of these shirts will be donated to the “Send a Girl to School” program with Heifer International! Grab yours and help out a great cause.

Cynthia East Fabrics!

They have some Spring has arrived at gorgeous table linens in cool spring colors and also this 100% Australian-made Heat pillow filled with locally sourced lavender and barley that can be used heated or cooled. So whether you are looking to spruce up your table décor, or relax from Spring Cleaning, Cynthia East has got you covered!

What’s better to serve at a Spring/Easter brunch than a

fabulous mimosa recipe made with dry

sparkling wine and orange juice? Here’s how to make the absolute best mimosa at home: combine half a gallon of orange juice and 750 ml of Korbel Extra Dry sparkling wine in a large pitcher. Add 2 shots of Grand Marnier Orange Liqueur and stir until well mixed! Get your ingredients today at Colonial Wines & Spirits.

BUY IT!

Find the featured items at the following locations: Bella Vita Jewelry

523 S Louisiana St., Suite 175 396.9146 bellavitajewelry.net 34

MARCH 1, 2018 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES ARKANSAS TIMES

ADVERTISING ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT SUPPLEMENT

Colonial Wines & Spirits

11200 W Markham St. 223.3120 colonialwineshop.com

Cynthia East Fabrics

1523 Rebsamen Park Rd. 490.9330 cynthiaeastfabrics.com

Edwards Food Giant

Stifft Station Gifts

7507 Cantrell Rd. 614.3477 other locations statewide edwardsfoodgiant.com

3009 W Markham St. 725.0209 stifftstationgifts.com

Rhea Drug Store

1007 Main St. 374.0410 860 E Broadway St, NLR 374-2405

2801 Kavanaugh Blvd. 663.4131

Warehouse Liquor Market

Shop Rhea Drug for home accessories

brightness of the season indoors! that will bring the

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Bring the wonder of the springtime forest into your

kitchen, with this new line of accessories from Stifft Station Gifts.

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Reward yourself after Spring Cleaning with a bottle of

Meiomi Pinot Noir, now $17.99 at Warehouse Liquor.

Rhea Drug Store

A Traditional Pharmacy with eclectic Gifts. Since 1922

2801 Kavanaugh, Little Rock • 501.663.4131 ADVERTISING ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT SUPPLEMENT arktimes.com MARCH 1, 2018

MOVIE REVIEW

fictionalized account of the 1925 Scopes “Monkey” trial, which resulted in John T. Scopes conviction for teaching Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution to a high school science class contrary to a Tennessee state law.

FEBRUARY 23, 24, MARCH 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 2018 $16 ADULTS • $12 STUDENTS & SENIORS THURSDAY, FRIDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHT CURTAIN TIME IS 7:30 PM. SUNDAY AFTERNOON CURTAIN TIME IS 2:30 PM.

Please arrive promptly. There will be no late admission. The House opens 30 minutes prior to curtain. Box office opens one hour before curtain time. For more information contact us at 501.374.3761 or www.weekendtheater.org OUR 25TH SEASON IS SPONSORED BY PIANO KRAFT CentralArkansasTickets.com to purchase tickets and flex passes.

1001 W. 7th St. • Little Rock, AR 72201 • 501-374-3761

SWAMP SHIMMER: Natalie Portman is a biologist studying the creatures within a freaky bubble.

Big chill ‘Annihilation’ is a trippy mindwalk. BY SAM EIFLING

here’s a scene midway through “Annihilation” that confirms it as a bona fide freaky-ass sci-fi. Five scientists outfitted with military gear — headlined, if not led, by Natalie Portman as an Army vet biologist named Lena — have entered a mysterious, seemingly malignant bubble known as the Shimmer and found the digs of the previous team of special-ops sorts who went in to investigate. Dudes left behind a memory card with a note to watch, and watch the newbies do. Without quite spoiling it, let’s just say the video is of some impromptu surgery with a big ol’ knife and a dude in a chair whose

MARCH 1, 2018

ARKANSAS TIMES

insides are not what you’d like your insides ever, ever to look like. It’s one of the most chilling bursts of body horror that has appeared on a big screen in forever. Director Alex Garland (“Ex Machina”), who also adapted the screenplay from the Jeff VanderMeer novel of the same name, must have known in part that he was playing against the expectations of the casting alone. All of the leads — the science expedition crew — are women, leaving the only male role of much note that of Oscar Isaac, playing Lena’s husband, who was on that ill-fated earlier mission into the Shimmer. In all, “Annihilation” tracks as a less action-driven, more

exploratory disaster sci-fi; despite some moments of intense fighting and horror, its tone tilts decidedly feminine. It’s a trippy mindwalk for anyone who geeks out on how life forms and evolves, and it’s a reminder of one of the strange truisms of being a person, which is that pretty much anything gets scarier when it’s alive. We find Lena as a professor at Johns Hopkins University talking about how cancer cells metastasize. It’s been 12 months since her husband, Kane, vanished on a mission he told her nothing about. Weirdly, though, Kane reappears at her house. Shellshocked, he explains that he can’t tell her anything about where he was or what happened to him. Then all his organs start failing, and on the way to the hospital, heavily armed dudes in black SUVs snatch them off to a secret military facility. There, a psychologist named Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh) explains: Kane was in this miles-wide bubble on a coastal swamp, you see, with translucent rainbow walls like a motor oil sheen. Somehow this mass has remained under wraps for three years (the only “wait, what, seriously?” moment in the film) since an asteroid struck a lighthouse at its center. Damn thing is growing, and no one ever walks back out of it. Lena’s freaked, but

MARCH8-18

decides to join the team gearing up: Anya Thorensen the geologist, Gina Rodriguez the paramedic and Tessa Thompson as a physicist. They go tromping through the wall together and weird stuff starts happening. A word about the effects: They are, in places, spectacular and devastating and haunting. At several points, they elevate the film’s thinking — which is, in parts, open-ended in a way that will leave some viewers asking a simple “why,” a “why” that ain’t going to be answered in any pat fashion. And another word about Natalie Portman: She’s her own effect here, at turns brittle and vulnerable and funny and physically adroit. “Annihilation” will draw at least superficial comparisons to another brainy, lady-scientistforward ostensible alien invasion pic — “Arrival” — from 2016. But the speed and thrum and sheer visceral pleasures of “Annihilation” may make it the longer fan favorite even as “Arrival” stands to live longer as prestige cinema. Put it this way: “Annihilation” is one of the only recent movies I can think of that may warrant a second viewing just on a sound effect alone, one that drops into the soundtrack during its freaky-ass conclusion. An immersive, beautiful, ambitious sci-fi with a dashing heroine and just a dash of nightmare fuel? Yes, please. More.

APRI L12-22

OPERA ON THE ROCKS IX Friday, March 9th, 6:30 p.m.

Junior League of Little Rock Ballroom FOOD & DRINK

Genral Admission $75 Table of 8 $525

SILENT AUCTION

Tickets & Info

www.oitr.org

OPERA FAVORITES

870-219-4635

www.centralarkansastickets.com Proceeds from the event benefit Opera In The Rock which is a 501(c)(3) organization whose goal is to produce main stage professional opera in Central Arkansas.

J UNE15-J UL Y1

J UL Y12-29 @s t udi ot heat r el r s t udi ot heat r el r . com

WAT CHSOCI ALMEDI AF ORMOREI NF O ONOUR 2018-2019SEASONANNOUNCEMENT !S5:05. 05. arktimes.com MARCH 1, 2018

MAR 9

Spring Arts Calendar, Cont.

THE 2ND FRIDAY OF EACH MONTH 5-8 PM

PINE BLUFF

Gourmet. Your Way. All Day.

VISUAL ARTS

Live music by Charlotte Taylor & Matt Stone, #ArkansasMade beer and open galleries.

A museum of the Department of Arkansas Heritage

200 E. Third St. • 501-324-9351 • HistoricArkansas.org

WORKING STUDIOS OF THE 2ND FLOOR ARTISTS

Jazz by the

3 0 0 W. M a rk h a m S t .

Pyramid Building — above Gallery 221 A m us e u m o f t he De p a r t m e n t o f A rk a ns as H e ri t a g e

www.oldstatehouse .co m

MICHAEL DARR

Featuring works by Mike Gaines, Michael Darr and Larry Crane

Join us for Second Friday Art Night in Downtown Little Rock! The FREE TROLLEY makes the rounds to all locations, so hop on and stay warm. Visit Gallery 221 and the Working Studios of the 2nd Floor Artists, featuring Larry Crane, Michael Darr and Mike Gaines all in the historic Pyramid Place Building! Then just down the street is the Old State House, Nexus, the Butler Center and CALS Cox Creative, Copper Grill Restaurant, Historic Arkansas Museum, McLeod Gallery and Bella Vita Jewelry. Free trolley makes stops in order listed above - roughly every 20 minutes. Thank you from your friends at Arkansas Times!

MARCH 1, 2018

ARKANSAS TIMES

OZARK April 21-22: Backwoods at Mulberry Mountain. A festival at Mulberry Mountain Lodging & Events, $35-$364.

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

— and last chance to see “True Faith, Michael True Light: The Carenbauer Devotional Art Trio of Ed Stilley”

Through March 10: “Sorting Out Race: Examining Racial Identity and Stereotypes in Thrift Store Donations.” Installation. Arkansas State University Museum, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, extended hours to 7 p.m. Tuesday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.

Pyramid Place • 2nd & Center St (501) 801-0211

COME IN AND SEE US! 108 W 6th St., Suite A (501) 725-8508 www.mattmcleod.com

COFFEE. BEER. WINE. ART. COFFEE • CREATIVE

We will be open

301B PRESIDENT CLINTON AVE. nexuscoffeear.com

523 S. Louisiana

501-295-7515

5 - 8 pm

bellavitajewelry.net

FREE TROLLEY RIDES!

Through April 21: “The Women are Stronger: An Installation by Margo Duvall.” Arts & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sat. Through April 21: Norwood Creech: “#GildTheDelta.” Arts & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sat. Through NOV. 3: “UAPB & ASC: Five Decades of Collaboration.” Arts & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sat. April 26-July 28: “Fire & Fiber: New Works by Sofia V. Gonzales and David Clemons.” Arts & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sat.

ROGERS MUSIC April 28: Brantley Gilbert. Walmart AMP, 7 p.m., $33-$63. May 12: Primus, Mastodon. Walmart AMP, 7 p.m., $43-$57. May 30: Dave Matthews Band. Walmart AMP, 8 p.m. June 22: Chris Stapleton, Marty Stuart, Brent Cobb. Walmart AMP, 7 p.m. June 25: Kesha and Macklemore. Walmart AMP, 7 p.m., $36-$227. June 26: Chicago, REO Speedwagon. Walmart AMP, 7:30 p.m., $37-$130. July 12: Kenny Chesney. Walmart AMP, 7:30 p.m., $50-$100. July 21: Niall Horan. Walmart AMP, 7 p.m., $30-$107. July 29: Weezer, Pixies. Walmart AMP, 7:30 p.m., $75-$302. Aug. 15: Keith Urban. Walmart AMP, 7 p.m., $40-$345.

COMEDY

SPRINGDALE VISUAL ARTS Through March 28: “Vox Femina II.” Arts Center of the Ozarks, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Sat.

ARKANSAS TIMES

MARKETPLACE

DRIVERS PLEASE BE AWARE, IT’S ARKANSAS STATE LAW:

Back by Popular Demand call today for vendor information!

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. 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.

CERTIFIED DISADVANTAGED BUSINESS ENTERPRISES (MBE/WBE/DBE), are welcomed and encouraged to submit their prices prior to the bid date and time listed. Please contact our bid team at 985-624-8569 for further information.

USE OF BICYCLES OR ANIMALS

OVERTAKING A BICYCLE

TO ADVERTISE IN THIS SECTION, CALL LUIS AT 501.375.2985

Max Foote Construction Co., LLC is an EEO.

PRESENTED BY

The “Arkansas Made, Arkansas Proud” People

SATURDAY, APRIL 14, 2018 AT WAR MEMORIAL STADIUM IN LITTLE ROCK • TICKETS: $5 ACCEPTING VENDOR APPLICATIONS NOW THROUGH MARCH 1, 2018 Brought to you by: Edwards Food Giant, War Memorial Stadium, the Arkansas Times, and Arkansas Made Magazine FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT RICK TILLEY AT 501.537.5224 OR RICKEY.TILLEY@ARKANSAS.GOV

Adams Field Water Reclamation Facility: Parallel Treatment Little Rock, AR LRWRA Project # 7130300 Bid Date: April 3, 2018 at 2PM

SCIENCE TEACHER

(Little Rock, AR): Teach Science to secondary school students. Bachelor’s in science Edu., or any subfield of science. +1 yr exp as Science Tchr. Mail res.: Lisa Academy, 21 Corporate Hill Dr. Little Rock, AR 72205, Attn: HR, Refer to Ad#YE

ArkansasMadeArkansasProudMarket

arktimes.com MARCH 1, 2018

Hey, do this!

CLUB 27 HAS SALSA DANCING EVERY FRIDAY NIGHT THIS MONTH!

MARCH

THROUGH MARCH 3

UCA Reynolds Performance Hall presents THREE DAYS OF RAIN. In the guise of a love story, we are offered an alternative reading of a sad, unexpectedly romantic family story. Tickets available at tickets.uca.edu/tickets.

THROUGH MARCH 10

Boswell Mourot Fine Art hosts “A FAMILY AFFAIR,” an exhibit of the works of Dennis McCann, Connie McCann and Jason McCann. More information at www.boswellmourot.com.

Food, Music, Entertainment and everything else that’s

THROUGH MARCH 17 Murry’s Dinner Playhouse presents NEVER TOO LATE, a Broadway hit about a married man in his fifties who suddenly learns he’s becoming a father again, and how it affects his wife, his daughter and his wacky son-in-law. For tickets, call 562.3131.

The Statehouse Convention Center hosts the EASTERSEALS FASHION EVENT, 6:00 p.m. Professional models and Easterseals children and adults will be showcasing spring fashion from Central Arkansas women’s, children’s and men’s boutiques. Tickets at www. centralarkansastickets.com.

Harmony Health Clinic along with the Greater Little Rock Indian Community will host the 10th Annual India for Harmony Fundraiser, BOLLYWOOD NIGHTS, at the iHeartMedia Metroplex in Little Rock! Starting at 5:30 p.m., participants will enjoy cocktails, appetizers, and camaraderie while perusing silent auction items. Bollywood Indian dances and a Fashion Show, then an Indian dinner will be served and dancing will start! Tickets and information available at www.centralarkansastickets.com.

MAR 14

Colonial Wines & Spirits is pairing GIRL SCOUT COOKIES & CUSTOMSELECTED WINES as part of Girl Scout Cookie Week. From 4 to 7 p.m., stop by the Colonial Tasting Bar to enjoy this free Cookie and Wine Pairing event!

MAR 21 – APRIL 21

Murry’s Dinner Playhouse presents LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, from the creators of hit Broadway Musicals Beauty and the Beast and the Little Mermaid! Seymour is a nerdy floral clerk with a knack for plants but not much else. However, one peculiar plant he’s tending might just be his ticket to fame, fortune, and the girl of his dreams! Call 569.3131 now for tickets. 40

MARCH 1, 2018

ARKANSAS TIMES

MAR 23

MAR 9

SECOND FRIDAY ART NIGHT! Hop on our trolley and visit Gallery 221, then step up to the Working Studios of the 2nd Floor Artists, followed by the Old State House, Nexus Coffee/Wine, CALS Cox Creative & The Butler Center, Copper Grill, the Historic Arkansas Museum, Matt McLeod Gallery and Bella Vita Jewelry!

The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra presents SOUND TEXTURES at the Clinton Presidential Library, including performances of Mendelssohn’s String Quartet No. 3 in D Major, Op. 44, No. 1 & Ewazen: Down a River of Time. Tickets at www.arkansassymphony.org.

THE GRIFFIN MUSIC HALL

3/3: Butterfly featuring Irie Soul 3/10: I-49 Brass Quintet 3/16: The Mastersons, Steve Earle & the Dukes 3/29: Casting Crowns 3/31: Phillip Phillips, The Ballroom Thieves

MAR 2-10

The 10TH ANNUAL LANTERNS! FESTIVAL will light up the night at Wildwood Park for the Arts and celebrate the first full moon of the lunar new year. Held over three evenings, guests enjoy live entertainment, food, drink, games and more. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for children age 6-12, and free for children 5 and younger. Get your tickets at www.wildwoodpark. org/events.

The Weekend Theater presents INHERIT THE WIND, a fictionalized account of the 1925 Scopes “Monkey” trial, which resulted in John T. Scopes conviction for teaching Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution to a high school science class. Tickets available at www. centralarkansastickets.com.

MAR 8-18

The Studio Theatre presents HAND TO GOD. In the devoutly religious town of Cypress, Texas, Margery is a widow whose husband has recently died. To keep her occupied, her minister, Pastor Greg, has asked her to run the puppet club. The characters become sexually attracted to each other. Jason’s hand puppet, Tyrone, takes on a life of his own and announces that he is Satan. Rated R for sexual content and adult language. Curtain is at 7:30 p.m., doors to the theater open at 7 p.m., and the Lobby Bar is open at 6 pm for all your beverage needs. Tickets at www.centralarkansastickets.com.

MAR 10

Join us on the SOUL OF A NATION BUS TOUR with guide and art expert Garbo Hearne. Crystal Bridges hosts ‘SOUL OF A NATION: ART IN THE AGE OF BLACK POWER,’ featuring African-American art influenced by the civil rights and black power movements. Ticket includes entrance to the exhibit, coffee & pastries, adult beverages, box lunches, dinner and round trip bus transportation. Get your tickets at www.centralarkansastickets.com. n The LITTLE ROCK HEART BALL will be held on Saturday, March 10. This elite black tie event features prominent members of the health, philanthropic and local business communities. Register online at with the American Heart Association.

MAR 16

The Arkansas Repertory Theatre presents the musical MAMMA MIA! Young bride-to-be Sophie wants her father to walk her down the aisle. But there’s a catch – she’s not sure which of her mother’s old flames is “the one.” So she invites all three, hoping she’ll learn the truth, which unleashes an out-of-control flood of memories – and irresistible pop music – into all of their lives. Opening night is March 16 with a few preview events, including Beer Night with Lost Forty and the Arkansas Times on March 15, which includes a complimentary pre-show beer tasting at 6 p.m. For a complete list of show times, events and ticket info, visit www.therep.org.

MAR 27

3/1: Adam Hood 3/8: Ernie Biggs Roadshow 3/15: Front Cover Band 3/17: The Burners 3/22: Cordovas 3/29: Dauzat St. Marie

MAR 2-4

Head to the Revolution Music Room to see Arkansas native BETH DITTO perform at 8:00 p.m.! Tickets are $17.50 to $20. Buy tickets at www. arkansaslivemusic.com.

MAR 14 – APRIL 8

Ron Robinson Theater presents the LYON COLLEGE PIPE BAND, 7:00 p.m. This concert with the awardwinning Lyon College Pipe Band will feature traditional Scottish bagpipes, dancers and a ceilidh band with guitars, accordions, uilleann pipes and singers. Reserve tickets at www. cals.org/ronrobinson.

FUN!

•MAR 7

UCA Reynolds Performance Hall presents TAO: DRUM HEART, the latest production from TAO, internationally acclaimed percussion artists. High-energy performances showcase the ancient art of Japanese drumming and combine highly physical, large-scale drumming with contemporary costumes, choreography, and innovative visuals. Tickets available at tickets.uca.edu/tickets. n Come to RED CARPET 2018 at the Robinson Hall Ballroom! Since 1999, this black tie Oscar tradition continues as the largest event to fund operations for Wolfe Street Center, which serves 100,000 alcoholics, addicts, and the families annually as they find solutions for a life free of addiction. There will be a red carpet photo op, a silent auction, and dinner. Get your tickets at www.centralarkansastickets.com.

Join us for the Arkansas Times MUSICIANS SHOWCASE FINALS at the Revolution Music Room, 8:00 p.m. Tickets are $6-$21. Event is open to all ages! n The Quapaw Quarter Association presents the 54TH ANNUAL QUAPAW QUARTER SPRING TOUR OF HOMES PREVIEW PARTY at Moxy Warehouse. Starting at 5:30, this preview party gives guests a sneak peak of this year’s group of outstanding historic homes, as well as food, libations, and live music by Whale Fire. Tickets available at www.centralarkansastickets.com. n Opera In The Rock is pleased to present their annual gala fundraiser, OPERA ON THE ROCKS IX: “TO THE NINES” at 6:30 p.m. in the Junior League Ballroom. Along with wine and hors d’oeuvres, the evening includes a silent auction and a music program featuring OITR singers performing selections from the Troubled Island by William Grant Still, along with selections from Carmen and Porgy and Bess. Tickets are available at www.centralarkansas.tickets.com.

UCA Reynolds Performance Hall presents HOME FREE! This members of this country acapella band from Minnesota were crowned Season 4 Champions of NBC’s The Sing-off. Tickets available at tickets.uca. edu/tickets.

Mark your calendars for the ARKANSAS FLOWER AND GARDEN SHOW, the largest three-day celebration of gardening in the state. Visitors will learn about gardening through presentations and seminars, and shop for their homes and gardens. Tickets available at www. argardenshow.org.

MAR 4

MAR 9

MAR 13

MAR 2-4

MAR 1

MAR 3

THURSDAY NIGHT LIVE @ THE GRIFFIN

Grammy-nominated comedy punk rockers with puppets GREEN JELLO return to Little Rock at Four Quarter Bar with support from Queen Anne’s Revenge and Tempus Terra. Doors open at 8:00 p.m., show starts at 9:00 p.m. Get tickets at www. centralarkansastickets.com.

MAR 28

The popular food and wine pairing event featuring recipes from the Junior League of Little Rock cookbook “BIG TASTE OF LITTLE ROCK” is set for March 28 at Colonial Wines & Spirits. Stop by any time between 4 & 7 to get ideas for Easter!

MAR 29

MAR 17-19

The Robinson Center presents DIRTY DANCING! Reserve your tickets at www. robinsoncenter secondact.com/ opening-events.

UCA Reynolds Performance Hall presents BUDDY: THE BUDDY HOLLY STORY. The “World’s Most Successful Rock ‘n’ Roll Musical” tells the story of Buddy Holly through his short yet spectacular career. Tickets available at tickets.uca.edu/tickets.

MAR 10-11

The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra presents A TRIBUTE TO ELLA at the Robinson Center. Three versatile singers join the ASO to honor ‘The First Lady of Song,’ Ella Fitzgerald in what would have been her 100th year. Tickets at www. arkansassymphony.org.

MAR 20

COMMAND AND CONTROL at MacArthur Museum of Military History examines the long-hidden story of a deadly accident at a Titan II missile complex in Damascus, Arkansas in 1980. The documentary reveals the unlikely chain of events that caused the accident and the efforts to prevent the explosion of a ballistic missile carrying the most powerful nuclear warhead ever built by the United States – a warhead 600 times more powerful than the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. This documentary is part of Macarthur Museum’s “Movies at MacArthur” series.