Arkansas Times | November 1, 2018 by Arkansas Times

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THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939) 11/8

EDITOR Lindsey Millar

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VOLUME 45, NUMBER 8

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WEEK THAT WAS

Attack on the LRSD

State Education Commissioner Johnny Key, who has acted as the school board for the Little Rock School District since 2015, when it was taken over by the state because six of its 48 schools were deemed in “academic distress,” announced last week that he would not agree to a new contract for LRSD teachers unless they agreed to endorse the waiver of the Teacher Fair Dismissal Act. That law, enacted in 1979, affords teachers statewide basic due-process rights in employment, including a requirement that an administrator document a teacher’s failings before firing him or her. Key wants LRSD teachers to agree to waive the fair dismissal law at the 22 LRSD schools that received a “D” or “F” under the state’s new accountability rubric. He told reporters, “The district needs greater flexibility to address staffing changes in the struggling schools than what the negotiated agreement currently allows.” But when pressed, Key could only point to one example when the fair dismissal law had stood in the way of the LRSD’s firing of a teacher — and that teacher was eventually terminated. Neither Key, nor his boss, Governor Hutchinson, have had an answer for how it’s fair to waive the fair dismissal law at Little Rock schools when there — made up of the governor, secretary of are 180 additional “D” and “F” schools state and attorney general — draws around the state. state legislative districts after each The contract move is clearly designed U.S. Census. The legislature draws to try to gravely wound the Little congressional districts. In 2011, that Rock Education Association, which put Democrats in control. In 2021, negotiates on behalf of Little Rock Republicans would be in control based teachers with the district. The LREA on current representation is the strongest affiliate of the statewide David Couch’s proposal, which Arkansas Education Association, and is similar to bipartisan approaches Key, Hutchinson and their political adopted in other states, would place backers, including the ultrarich Walton a new seven-member commission family and Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in charge of both congressional and publisher Walter Hussman, are staunch legislative districts. Majority and opponents of unions. minority leaders of the House and The current teacher contract was Senate would appoint four members to set to expire Oct. 31, but Key granted the commission, and those four would the union and LRSD Superintendent then name the other three, none of Michael Poore a two-week extension whom could have a party affiliation to continue negotiating. in voter registration. Recent elected officials and lobbyists couldn’t serve.

Independent redistricting proposal OK’d

A proposed constit utiona l amendment that would establish a n independent com m ission to draw the boundaries of state legislative and congressional districts — seen as a move to end gerrymandering — w a s a ppr o ve d l a s t we ek b y Attorney General Leslie Rutledge. The Arkansas Board of Apportionment 6

NOVEMBER 1, 2018

ARKANSAS TIMES

Twerked off

An email released under a Freedom of Information request seeking to document complaints about Bryant Mayor Jill Dabbs revealed that she directed the parks department to never rent to an African-American group because a video of an event at Bishop Park Pool reveals participants twerking in bikinis.

Pa rks Director Chris Treat ’s complaint covers a lot of ground, but indicates the serious problems began in July over the rental of the city’s pool. Treat believed he was renting to a Little Rock Central High School reunion, but later learned he’d been misled and that the event was a private party, with tickets sold by an entertainment outfit to an event that included a DJ. Most believe that the fact that the booty-shakers were African American contributed to Dabbs’ heartburn. Bryant has been a white-flight suburban haven for years, though it has grown to include many black residents. No laws were broken by the dance party. No violence was committed. The party people paid the rent and even helped clean up afterward. But the mayor called Treat into a meeting with Bryant Police Chief Mark Kizer after seeing the video and insisted that he issue no statements in defense of the event. Dabbs sa id t he da ncing wa s pornographic and she demanded that the facility not be rented to this group again. She emailed Treat, “There is debate whether this crude and nude dancing was actually in our park or just made to look like it was. But nonetheless I am demanding we do not rent to these individuals again.”

Treat recounted in his complaint a b out m a ny a sp e c t s of Da bbs ’ supervision to the city human resources office, but the dance party was a key issue: “The Mayor refused to allow me to make any positive statement about the event. She would not allow me to comment on the fact that no policies were violated, no incidents occurred, and that overall it was under control. I felt coerced into making a statement that met the Mayor, Police Chief, and Staff Attorneys version of the events, not my own. In my opinion, they over-responded to the event because the event was attended by African Americans. The Mayor is working on adding Parks Department Policies to keep these kinds of events from happening again. I’m concerned that her new policies will be discriminatory in nature.” Danny Steele, a former alderman, f iled a lawsuit in Saline Count y Circuit Court last week alleging that the city failed to fully comply with his Freedom of Information request for complaints about Dabbs. Steele requested on Sept. 19 “all complaints” filed by city employees. The city resisted, but finally produced a single email Oct. 17. The lawsuit contends multiple other complaints have not been turned over.

For the teachers and for Kurrus

vents in the Little Rock School District prompt me to say more about the Little Rock mayor’s race in favor of Baker Kurrus. Governor Hutchinson and his education commissioner, Johnny Key, want to break the Little Rock teachers union to satisfy the Billionaire Boys Club seeking to upend public education in the state. The first, failed idea was to disqualify the union for lack of sufficient members in the district. Now the ploy is to demand a waiver of the law that requires documenting shortcomings of teachers and making efforts to improve them before firing. Key, the Little Rock School Board for four years in takeover, proposes to waive this rule only for teachers in the Terrible 22, schools in Little Rock with D and F grades on a scale driven by standardized test scores. Key and Hutchinson have given the Little Rock Education Association a

OPINION

MAX BRANTLEY maxbrantley@arktimes.com

two-week extension on the contract that expired this week to negotiate further, but they’ve given no indication of any willingness to compromise. The union can accept loss of a hard-won state law for teachers in certain schools or it can give up entirely its role as a representative for teachers. Moving the union out will better facilitate the billionaires’ long-desired privatization of the Little Rock School District. It’s already underway with proliferating charters that are leaching better students, promoting segregation and draining LRSD resources. Which brings up the mayor’s race. One man in the field of five stood up and was counted during the school district takeover engineered by a Little Rock business community wanting to shed the majority-black school board. That was Baker Kurrus. He spent a year of heroic duty as school superintendent, fired when he spoke the

A new year for Arkansas Times

he Arkansas Times will transition from a print weekly to a glossy monthly magazine and relaunch its popular website in February 2019. This marks a return to the publication’s roots. Founded in 1974, the Times published for nearly two decades as a magazine. The Times transitioned to a weekly in 1992 to try to fill the sizable gap left when the Arkansas Gazette closed. “When the Times went weekly in 1992, the internet didn’t exist. At the time, the increase in frequency enabled us to better report news as well as cover upcoming cultural events,” Alan Leveritt, publisher and founder, said. “Since then, arktimes. com has become where readers go to for immediacy.” In February 2019, look for a new, dynamic, blazingly fast arktimes.com. Expect more daily reporting and analysis on news, politics, culture and food

to augment the work of Max Brantley on the popular Arkansas Blog. The custom-built new site will include features of the sort you’ve been accustomed to seeing in the weekly newspaper, along with a dynamic, easy-to-navigate To-Do List web app that serves as a curated calendar and a greatly expanded offering of videos, including regular “shows.” The site will continue to run on a metered paywall, where readers can see only a limited number of articles without subscribing. In October, the Times had 1,600 subscribers who pay $9.99 per month or $110 per year. Arktimes.com regularly draws more than 350,000 unique visitors and 1 million page views per month. The new Arkansas Times monthly magazine will debut Jan. 31. It will be glossy, oversized and unlike anything in the market. “We also see an opportunity to fill a gap that’s existed since the Arkansas

truth to Johnny Key about the damaging impact of unchecked charter school growth. Key couldn’t stand the truth and fired Kurrus. The mayor can’t do much directly for Little Rock schools, but a well-informed, courageous advocate can hold the state to account and must if the city is to be saved. Past city leadership has failed. Kurrus will exhaust himself trying. He stood out last week in the statement he issued after news broke of Key’s decision to open teachers to mass firings. (These summary firings would happen only in 22 Little Rock schools — not coincidentally all with poor, minority student bodies — though 180 other schools statewide have similar grades.) Kurrus responded methodically. He noted Key’s trust-destroying 11th-hour decision to reject an agreement that was the product of months of negotiation and was supported by the nominal district leader, Michael Poore. He commented: “The state has been in control of LRSD for almost four years. During this period Little Rock has lost students to new schools in our community which have either been started or expanded with the state’s permission. If the students who left were higher performing, the average scores of the remaining students were

driven down by this state action, at the time when the state itself was in control. It would also be helpful to know the academic achievement levels of students who left LRSD, but then transferred back to LRSD because the competing schools were not accommodating the special needs of these students. “This basic conflict of interest needs to be addressed, or at least accounted for. It would be helpful now to know these facts, which are available to the state. “I would urge the commissioner to step back from his demand and provide more information which would allow the community to understand the reasoning and purposes behind his action. I would also urge that the deadline of Oct. 31 be extended so that the teachers in all of Little Rock’s schools are not forced to defend the basic rights which have been afforded to all teachers in traditional public schools in our state for many years. If a major change in state law is needed, it would appear that the legislature should take up the matter, so that any change would apply equally to all schools which are similarly situated, rather than just to schools in LRSD.” That’s a leader. I wish he was still superintendent of Little Rock schools. But his talents are well-suited for city hall, too.

Times went weekly — the absence of a monthly general interest magazine about Arkansas that’s smart, lively, opinionated and willing to take risks,” Leveritt said. “There are a lot of magazines in the market, but they approach our state with a soft focus and are

will still have a strong point of view, and we won’t shy away from ruffling feathers.” The magazine will make quick points of entry a priority. According to Millar, “Our opening section, The Front, will be like a mini magazine unto itself: Heavy on satire. Delightfully designed. The sort of little tidbits you read on an initial skim of a magazine. Our departmental content, including sections on travel, history, culture and food and drink, will be meatier, but still digestible: Think, for those accustomed to reading the Times over lunch, a one-sandwich read. The features will be provocative stories to savor, full of striking photography and the best writing in the state. Taken together, this will be a magazine that readers return to time and again, the sort of thing they can’t bear to discard.” The new Arkansas Times magazine will be distributed for free to over 500 locations in Central Arkansas and Hot Springs. The Arkansas Times will continue to publish a weekly edition through the end of 2018. Questions? Concerns? We’d love to hear from you. Write to us at arktimes@arktimes.com.

“We also see an opportunity to fill a gap that’s existed since the Arkansas Times went weekly — the absence of a monthly general interest magazine about Arkansas that’s smart, lively, opinionated and willing to take risks.” unwilling to risk a dime to take a stand on important issues that affect the health and prosperity of Arkansans.” Arkansas Times editor Lindsey Millar said, “Having a sense of humor will be a chief value of the magazine. We’ll be pretty, but with a bit of grit. News and politics will remain our primary focus online, but in print those will get equal footing with culture, food, travel and world-class feature writing. Of course, the magazine

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arktimes.com NOVEMBER 1, 2018

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Go Sox

uring a grim and sorrowful time in was born last Febthe United States, I’ve found my ruary with a defecspirits lifted by the Boston Red Sox. tive heart requiring Not simply because my team — I watched several rounds of GENE large parts of every game this season — won surgery, his teamLYONS the World Series. They’ve done that before. mates stayed in Nor even because the 2018 Red Sox were close touch after he left the team. As did simply the best baseball team I’ve ever his manager. seen during my lifetime as a passionate fan. “He’s been a friend, he’s been a manager, It was more because of the way the Red and he’s put my feelings and emotions in Sox did it, embracing a kind of fraternal front of a lot of things,” Kimbrel told Speier. spirit increasingly rare in today’s USA — “You talk about family, my family at home, an athletic brotherhood, transcending race, we went through a lot, but I was able to nationality, language and religion. cling to the family I had around me here all Watching the familiar ritual of the win- year long, the guys I spend most of my time ners hugging, high-fiving and carrying lit- with. Those guys were big for me all year.” tle children around the Dodger Stadium Yes, the Red Sox have baseball’s highest infield after winning Game 5 felt like a payroll. But paychecks don’t win ballgames. throwback to a better time. From the start, Cora encouraged his playIn the wake of the atrocity in Pittsburgh, ers, individually and in groups, to believe in I felt exactly like The Washington Post’s themselves and each other. Given Boston’s Alyssa Rosenberg: “For a few hours Sunday notoriously bitchy and negative sporting night … the final game of the World Series press, this could be a hard job. felt like America as it could be. … When our I live far from the city’s infamous talk most basic rules are regularly trampled, radio stations, but Dan Drezner reports even a tiny, temporary restoration of the that he “used to listen to WEEI at times moral order provides some warmth against just to laugh at the new and innovative the encroaching cold.” ways some of the hosts would find to rag on Of course, every MLB club’s team this team.” The team that won a franchise picture these days looks like the United record 108 regular-season games. Nations: black and white, Dominican, MexOne Boston Globe sports columnist ican and Venezuelan, and, in Boston’s case, appeared to take sadistic pleasure in preTaiwanese and Aruban. But the Red Sox dicting disaster. After the Red Sox lost the were also among the happiest teams I’ve marathon Game 3 in the 18th inning, it was ever seen. If there were any malcontents clear to him that Cora had burned his bullon the bench or in the bullpen — as there pen and blown the World Series. In the nearly always are among highly compet- locker room, Cora asked losing pitcher itive professional athletes — they were Nathan Eovaldi to stand, and the team gave impossible to identify. him an ovation for his gritty performance. Under the leadership of rookie manager He always had their backs, and the playAlex Cora, the Red Sox came to embody ers had each other’s. Local media mobbed much of what’s best about America: a pas- left-handed pitcher David Price, a proud sion for excellence, a personal and com- and aloof individual to begin with, like a munal determination to succeed, and an flock of crows. Disappointing playoff perunwillingness to be divided. formances had made him a target. It was According to the Boston Globe’s terrific alleged that he hated Boston and wanted baseball writer, Alex Speier, the team’s to leave. “remarkable cohesion” owes itself largely to Then Price and his best friends went Cora. Red Sox players unanimously praise out and beat the Yankees, and the Dodghis (bilingual) communication skills and ers, twice. his regard for them as individuals with But his players give most of the credit lives off the baseball diamond. The new to Cora, a leader with small-d democratic Red Sox manager didn’t ask for a signing instincts and a strong will to compete for bonus before coming over from the Hous- turning the Boston Red Sox into a closeton Astros; he asked for a planeload of hur- knit band of brothers. ricane relief supplies for his hometown of OK, so Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge Caguas, Puerto Rico. maybe gave him a boost, walking out of It’s no exaggeration to say that the Red Fenway Park after hitting a home run to Sox and the Houston Astros organizations defeat the Red Sox Game 2 of the AL diviprovided more effective Hurricane Maria sional playoffs with a boom-box playing relief than the White House. Less bureau- “New York, New York.” cracy, superior leadership. That was the Yankees’ last win After closer Craig Kimbrel’s first child of 2018.

Big spending

arlier this week, smack dab on improvements to AUTUMN the front page of the Arkansas the Governor’s TOLBERT Democrat-Gazette, was Susan Mansion. GovHutchinson, the first lady of Arkan- ernor Hutchinson supported legislasas, showing off the recent $817,000 tion to end that public control and to renovation of the Governor’s Man- give it to himself, and by extension, his sion. In an article by Jeannie Roberts, wife. Prior reporting by Leslie PeaHutchinson describes a list of improve- cock in the Arkansas Times describes ments made to the mansion, including Susan Hutchinson’s choices of handthose that sounded urgent and those painted silk wallpaper, a $1,000 toilet that sounded downright unnecessary. and thousands of dollars in Christmas Making the grounds accessible, fix- decorations. ing damage from a rat infestation in This opulent spending brings to an outbuilding, and replacing a slip- mind Arkansas State Treasurer Denpery floor all seem like reasonable ex- nis Milligan’s fancy, $400 personpenses. No one wants the house to fall alized desk set that was part of his into a state of disrepair. However, the high-dollar shopping spree a couple costly renovations included a $7,000 of years ago courtesy of Arkansas taxconversion of a janitor’s closet into payers. Like Susan Hutchinson, he also a “powder room,” the demolition of a went to town on the Christmas decbuilt-in bookcase, the installation of a orations. And here I was this whole donated mantle and time thinking Repubhearth in the library The list of worthy licans were for less that cost the taxpay- recipients of these spending and smaller ers nearly $36,000, government. and the removal grants goes on and on. Some of our poliand replacement of I think the bathroom ticians run for office what Hutchinson solely out of a lust for at the Arkansas referred to as “thirdpower and glory, but grade quality granite” Governor’s Mansion is it is more common countertops that did not one of them. that they, at least in not match the beige the beginning, truly in the room as part of the $71,000 possess a servant’s heart. But too often, kitchen renovation. after getting a taste of the trappings of The money for the renovations the office or after they come to believe comes from Arkansas tax dollars, they are untouchable at election time, specifically from real estate transfer they stop caring about the people they taxes, that go to the Arkansas Natu- represent and do whatever their hearts’ ral and Cultural Resources Council desire, appearances be damned. I do to preserve state-owned historic sites not know if Governor Hutchinson has and acquire land to conserve historic a servant’s heart. He seems to talk the properties and promote recreation. talk when necessary. But this expenThe council then doles out this tax sive renovation and his request nearly money as grants. On the whole, this a decade ago for a more than $70,000 is a worthy organization and a worthy payday from the people of Benton cause that helps retain our important County for defending the county judge tourism and recreation dollars here in one misdemeanor case tell me he in Arkansas. The grants have kept the isn’t too proud to try to get his share, state Capitol looking spiffy, preserved appearances be damned. I’m not sure and digitized important state archives, if he and his wife are so confident in improved state parks, and helped pre- his re-election bid that they agreed to serve Arkansas treasures such as the a high-profile tour to show off these historic Dyess Colony. The list of wor- renovations during early voting or they thy recipients of these grants goes on were clueless to how disgusting all of and on. I think the bathroom at the this looks to the struggling people of Arkansas Governor’s Mansion is not Arkansas. I don’t know which is worse. one of them. Either way, I guess we can find comfort Before the Hutchinsons came along, knowing the First Family of Arkansas a public commission controlled and no longer has to eat on low-quality made decisions on renovations and granite countertops.

Baseball and the American Flag In 1976, Batesville native Rick Monday, a Major League Baseball player and U.S. Marine Corps Reservist stopped two would-be protesters from setting an American flag on fire during a game at Dodger Stadium. Meet Mr. Monday at the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History to show your support of the museum, and bid on a flag painting by noted artist Pat Matthews. Mr. Monday will then speak at the Arkansas Arts Center at a free public event.

November 12 5-6:30 p.m. Reception: MacArthur Museum $125/person. Proceeds benefit the museum’s educational programs 7-8:30 p.m. Arts Center Children’s Theater “Baseball and the American Flag” presented by Rick Monday FREE ADMISSION

503 E. Ninth St., Little Rock 501-376-4602 ArkMilitaryHeritage.com

Presenting Sponsor: Lisenne Rockefeller and Family arktimes.com NOVEMBER 1, 2018

PEARLS ABOUT SWINE

Another dud

THE BIG DIG HELP THE ARKANSAS NONPROFIT NEWS NETWORK ROOT OUT PUBLIC CORRUPTION! ANNN benefit featuring Isaac Alexander and Stephanie Smittle White Water Tavern 6 p.m. Sun., Nov. 11 (all ages; kids welcome) Donations at the door. Whatever you give with a swipe of your debit or credit card will be doubled!

NOVEMBER 1, 2018

ARKANSAS TIMES

f Arkansas wanted to show a nasty streak and get itself off the scrap heap that is the Southeastern Conference cellar, it had a shiny and literally golden (and black) opportunity on another beautiful Saturday morning in Fayetteville: Just go out there against customary league also-ran Vanderbilt, also winless in league play, if arguably more competitive and experienced on the whole, and prove it. The opening drive of the game revealed a team seemingly desirous to do just that. The Hogs took nine plays after the opening kickoff to consume 75 yards, and as has been typical when the erratic offense is at a rare state of equilibrium, Rakeem Boyd was the catalyst. The sophomore tailback, sadly, is having the same kind of season that South Carolina graduate transfer David Williams had last year for the Hogs: transferring in with expectations of being more of a sparkplug than a true bellcow, but demonstrating that he’s capable of running with authority and purpose, catching the ball out of the backfield, and doing all the little things necessary to win … on a team that simply doesn’t know how to do that vs. Power 5 competition. Boyd ripped off a 27-yard run on his first carry of the day and capped off the drive with a 5-yard plunge into the end zone. These downtrodden Hogs were up 7-0, the crowd abuzz with a bit of measured optimism, and all looked promising enough because, after all, Vanderbilt hasn’t exactly been an offensive machine in embattled coach Derek Mason’s fifth season. Boyd had been dinged up in each of the last two games, short-circuiting a potential career night against Ole Miss and his and Ty Storey’s absence for most of the second half of that game likely cost Arkansas a victory. This time, both stayed healthy, but so did Vandy tailback Ke’Shawn Vaughn, a guy who mirrors Boyd’s dimensions and burst, but also had been limited of late due to injury. Vaughn scampered 63 yards for a tying touchdown on Vanderbilt’s opening possession, which quickly hushed those hopeful murmurs in the stands and, of course, set the tone for the Commodores’ offense. Vaughn eventually scored two more TDs and senior quarterback Kyle Shurmur one-upped Storey by playing turnover-free football and making great use of his tight end, Jared Pinkney, who had two first-half scoring grabs. The game turned into a bit of a shootout

late, and as proven in prior games of that sort, Arkansas’s deficiencies at most positions really bear them- BEAU WILCOX selves out in fourth quarters. This one was 31-24 in Vandy’s favor after Storey connected with Tyson Morris for a TD early in the final period, but John Chavis’ defense was far too gassed to keep that margin where it was, and this one slipped away in much the same manner as previous games against Colorado State and Ole Miss did, ending up 45-31 for the visitors, and only that close because Storey found Cheyenne O’Grady for a meaningless score in the waning seconds to set the final margin. Chavis’ legacy as a preeminent defensive mind was moderately damaged by a decidedly unremarkable three-year run in College Station under Kevin Sumlin, where it was clear that the Aggies had shortcomings in the secondary and ill-timed breakdowns in the ever-damning “fundamentals.” Right now, “Chief” would really welcome the highly rated defensive line recruits that have vaulted the Hogs’ overall class ranking for 2019 into the national Top 15. Armon Watts, McTelvin Agim, Randy Ramsey and Briston Guidry are resilient players, but savvy playcallers are seeing Arkansas’s alignments and presnap shuffling like it’s a grade-school reader. The Hogs elect to bring significant pressure up front, and seasoned quarterbacks like Ole Miss’ Jordan Ta’amu and Shurmur are simply too good at spotting the rush and scrambling loose or dumping the ball off for a well-blocked screen. It’s agonizing enough for a fan to watch it, but I would imagine it galls Chavis to no end, because he spent the better part of three decades being universally renowned for his creativity and timing as a defensive playcaller. Thus, much as it was the case last season under an entirely different staff, the Hogs don’t have the offensive chops to keep pace with a defense that simply cannot be relied upon for critical stops. Storey’s been gutsy, but his ball security hasn’t been up to snuff, and his receiving corps has let him down with imprecise routes or lax effort at times. Regrettably, these are not problems that will likely be fixed after the forthcoming bye week or the battle against Top 5 LSU that looms thereafter.

THE OBSERVER NOTES ON THE PASSING SCENE

I saw the light

or Halloween a few years ago, we ’fessed up in this space to a secret that would seem to run afoul of our aversion to flim-flam: Once upon a time, reeling from the untimely death of our father, The Observer and his brother spent five full years searching for evidence of the paranormal all over the state. In that pursuit, we blew thousands of bucks on equipment and float-a-pistol truck-stop coffee, logging at least two weekends a month Out There. As we’ve said before, we mostly found the 10,000 ways the human mind can turn a squirrel in the attic into proof-positive of the afterlife. But we also experienced some things that still haunt us. After a few years, we decided it was time to go check out the famous Gurdon Light: a ghost light that supposedly haunts an old, crooked railroad track spur in Clark County, near where state Highway 53 crosses the tracks. The light is supposedly the ghost of a railroad foreman named William McClain. He was a real person, beaten to death with a spike maul along that same stretch of tracks. His alleged killer, Louis McBride, went to the electric chair at Little Rock’s “The Walls’ penitentiary in 1932. McClain is buried in the back corner of a little cemetery down in Bryant. The night was cloudy, cold and moonless; so dark with the lights off that it was like having a black velvet bag thrown over your head. We’d heard that the way to see the light was to park at a little circular turnout off the highway, near the tumbledown cemetery of Sandy Creek, a vanished community that once straddled the tracks. We parked there, gathered our stuff, then walked miles down the tracks, crossing trestles that looked like they were built by Christ himself. Once we reached the spot the interwebs said you could see the light, we saw … semi-trucks from Interstate 30, which crosses the tracks some miles further on. You could hear the whoosh of tires on pavement just before seeing the flicker of headlights through the trees. Convinced we’d figured it out, and midnight long past, we started trudging back to the truck. After a while, we saw lights up ahead in the distance. It

turned out to be a gaggle of drunk-asskunks frat boys from nearby Arkadelphia, two dim flashlights between them. We pointed them on toward their goal and kept trudging. When we got back to the truck, we found that the frat boys had us soundly blocked in, unable to leave the turnout until they returned. Bro had the cockamamie idea that we could just quickly drive down the railroad tracks to Highway 53 in the Ford 4x4 The Observer drove back then. A rough ride, but at least we wouldn’t have to wait for the frat to stumble back. The Observer agreed to walk up the tracks to make sure they were sound enough to pull it off. We walked up to the highway, said we’d give it a try, and turned back. And there, in the middle of the tracks near the Sandy Creek cemetery, on pretty much the exact spot where McClain had his head caved in, there was a light. It was orange-yellow, flickering like fire, casting a glow up the shiny rails toward us. After a while, it appeared to be getting bigger, as if approaching, to the point we stepped off the tracks to avoid being run over if it happened to be the world’s quietest locomotive. But then it receded. Possibly the returning frat boys? Only if one of them had taken off his pants, wrapped them around a stick, and set them on fire, The Observer mused there in the dark. The Ghost Brothers stood there a long while, shoulder-to-shoulder, curious and awed, watching the light grow and shrink, weave, change from bright orange to bright yellow to a final blue before disappearing all together. Eventually, the frat boys did come stumbling back, their dim lights visible in the distance. Whatever it was, however it works, The Observer is sure to this day that what we saw was the Gurdon Light. We’ve grown cloudier on other things we witnessed over the years, sure they must have been caused by sleep deprivation, light and shadow, or our noggin playing tricks in a stressful situation. But there are still some things, like the Gurdon Light, that we can’t really explain, no matter how hard we try. Those are the things that often come to mind, especially on dark nights in late October.

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NOVEMBER 1, 2018

ARKANSAS TIMES

n the side of my work as editor for the Arkansas Times, I run the Arkansas Nonprofit News Network, a nonpartisan investigative and public interest journalism project that I founded in late 2016. With funding from grants and donations, ANNN hires writers, editors, fact-checkers and photographers on a contract basis to cover a story or topic. Their reporting is then distributed for free among some 20 statewide media outlets, including radio, TV, newspapers and websites. When an ANNN story runs online on the websites of just three news outlets — KARK-TV Channel 4; KLRT-FOX 16; and the Arkansas Times — that combined audience exceeds that of any state media. I started ANNN because I know that, aside from the largest news operations in the country, like The New York Times and NPR, most newsrooms lack the resources to do sustained reporting on complicated topics. It’s been great to see how our work has been received across the state. “[ANNN] gives our readers a deeper understanding of issues that affect their lives and their pocketbooks,” says Chris Wessel, editor of the Jonesboro Sun. “We need to make sure this kind of journalism continues because no one else is watching or holding our statewide elected officials accountable. With the newspaper economy suffering, it’s also important because it doesn’t cost our newspaper anything to use the service.” “So many decisions affecting our state’s residents come out of Little Rock, and we want to be able to get that information to our readers,” says Mardi Taylor, executive editor of the Southwest Times Record in Fort Smith. “The ANNN has provided timely and informative articles about health care, Medicaid, the prison system and more. The stories are well researched, well written and well received by our readers.” Help us continue digging into important stories. From Nov. 1 through the end of 2018, all donations to ANNN up to $1,000 will be matched dollar for dollar, thanks to the NewsMatch fundraising program. Additionally, the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation is matching the first $5,800 ANNN raises during the last two months of the year ANNN contributors include David Ramsey, named by The Washington Post to its 2015 list of best state political reporters, and Benjamin Hardy, a 2018 Association of Health Care Journalists fellow. Politico wrote that Ramsey’s “report-

ing for the Arkansas Times on his state’s unique approach to Medicaid expansion set the tone of a LINDSEY national converMILLAR sation”; Rachel lindseymillar@arktimes.com Maddow said that Hardy’s reporting for the Times on the rehoming scandal involving former state Rep. Justin Harris deserved a Pulitzer Prize. From its inception, ANNN has provided the most detailed analysis of health care policy in Arkansas. Our deep-dive investigations have probed how the state’s changes to the Medicaid program have impacted the working poor. We’ve offered the best on-the-ground coverage in the state, including policy explainers that shine a light on realworld impact beyond the political talking points, reporting that tells the stories of the people whose ability to receive medical care is at stake and investigations to uncover the results of the policy. ANNN reporters have also been hard at work on the public corruption beat. As the result of a federal investigation, more than half a dozen former state lawmakers and lobbyists have been criminally charged, with numerous others implicated in various criminal schemes — including outright bribery — to enrich themselves with public money. This is precisely the sort of story that ANNN was designed to tackle, investing over the long term resources to uncovering the truth in this incredibly complex series of scandals. One of our early centerpiece stories was an in-depth profile of Rusty Cranford, the former lobbyist at the center of the scandals. This magazine-style narrative, based upon more than 30 interviews and hundreds of pages of public documents, was the most ambitious and sweeping story that has been published on corruption in the state this year. Presented as a true crime chronicle, the piece highlighted our commitment to storytelling that engages the public on complex issues. Help us do more like this. Contribute to ANNN at arknews. org or by sending a check to P.O. Box 250746, Little Rock, 72225-0746. Donations are tax-deductible. And come to our fundraiser at 6 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 11, at the White Water Tavern. Stephanie Smittle and Isaac Alexander will provide the music.

All in for the LRSD

was born in Little Rock and have ily’s health care lived here for my entire 42 years. as a public serSTACY I attended Baseline Elementary, vant than I did MCADOO Cloverdale Elementary, Henderson as an employee Junior High and Hall High School. I of a private business. graduated with a B.A. in professionThis fight — this journey — has al and technical writing at UA Little been exhausting, especially lately. I Rock and an M.A. in teaching from the am tired. I am skeptical. I am scared. University of Arkansas at Monticello. But make no mistake about it, I am 100 I’ve worked in Little Rock and paid percent invested in the success and taxes since I was 14 years old. Twenty future of public education, including years ago, I married a longtime public and specifically what happens to the school educator in the Little Rock students and educators in the LRSD. School District. My 19- and 17-year-old In an ideal school setting there children have attended public schools are not adversarial relationships, in this city from pre-K until secondary but instead authentic and trusting lives. Sixteen years ago, I took a pay bonds between all parties involved, cut to become a career educator with wrap-around services for all students one goal in mind — to love, impact who need them, professional living and make a difference in the lives of wages for the educators that match the children in my the educational and community, in my Sixteen years ago, I took a experience level Little Rock. of their peers in Despite the com- pay cut to become a career other fields (and mon misconcep- educator with one goal in at the very least tion that I have it mind — to love, impact and in other districts easy because I am and other states), only contractually make a difference in the a community that obligated to work a lives of the children in my views teaching as a certain number of serious profession, community, in my Little Rock. hours a day or days teachers allowed in a year, in the words of my Son- to simply teach, parents involved in shine (my nickname for my son, who their children’s education, an elected is just as important to me as the sun) school board that understands and and often echoed by my JEM (my truly represents its constituents, a daugther, whose intials are meant safety net for students who find it reminder that she’s a precious as a hard to navigate through the sysgem), I’m “neva not working.” Every tem, lessons that prepare students day, regardless of the political climate, for the real world, less emphasis on level of support or negative and inac- standardized testing, and a whole curate press, I get up and fight for plethora of other things that I don’t everyone else’s children — sometimes have room to list. at the expense and detriment of my But in reality, as a parent and eduown. After I have completely given cator, I can only control what I do in of myself intellectually, emotionally my house and, to some limited extent, and physically, I leave work to fulfill what I do in my classroom. In order to my family and community obligations. make systemic changes in the school I’m not sharing this to paint myself system that will get us closer to the as a martyr, because I’m not. But I am euphoric picture I just painted, we — a taxed resident who financially pays the entire community — have to have into an educational system that cur- a seat at the table. And more than that, rently has no local control. I am a pro- our voices have to be heard, bridges fessional who has not had a pay raise have to be mended and we have to in four years. I am an employee whose all put in the work. workload has increased while her benefits and paycheck have decreased. I Stacey McAdoo is the 2019 Arkanam a spouse in a household where sas Teacher of the Year. She teaches our entire livelihood is directly con- communication and Advancement Via nected to public education. I am a Individual Determination at Little mother who pays more for her fam- Rock Central High School.

UPCOMING EVENTS NOV

1-4 NOV

The Studio Theatre Blackbird Argenta Main & Maple 4th St. Block Party Headquarters Arkansas Times Craft Beer Festival

NOV

The Weekend Theater Playwright’s Week

NOV

Old Chicago - Conway OC Burn Barre & Yoga Brunch

NOV

Hodge Orthodontics HarvestFest Dog Show

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Hibernia Irish Tavern roundTHREE Featuring Isaac Helgestad

NOV

Graffiti’s Italian Restaurant Rock Town Holiday Cocktail Dinner

NOV 9&

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NOV 9&

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NOV

Four Quarter Bar Aaron Kamm and the One Drops

NOV

Four Quarter Bar Paul Collins’ BEAT!!!

2 3 3 3 7

10 11

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Arkansas Reporter

THE

A blow to assisted living

Operators say Medicaid cuts will harm care, send more people to nursing homes. BY BENJAMIN HARDY ARKANSAS NONPROFIT NEWS NETWORK

planned 21.7 percent cut in the findings of the actuary and say the daily Medicaid reim- the study didn’t properly consider bursement rates to assisted overhead. The $62.89 per day figure living providers will lead to “is an arbitrary number,” said Michelle layoffs, reduced quality of care and Joyner of Village Park, a facility in the closure of facilities around the Conway. Joyner spoke Monday at a state, providers told officials from the public hearing on the rates. Arkansas Department of Human SerAssisted living providers are being vices on Monday. The rate cut will go asked to sell their services “at cost,” into effect in January if approved by she said. “The only explanation is that a legislative committee later this year. Medicaid and [the DHS] are considAssisted living facilities are a step ering driving assisted living-waiver below nursing homes in terms of the businesses out of business.” level of care they provide. The DHS The assisted living rate is just one pays between $70.89 and $85.35 per of several proposed rule changes comday for a Medicaid beneficiary in ing to Arkansas’s Medicaid programs MORE MEDICAID CUTS: Lenora Riedel said the rule change threatens the survival of her assisted living. That would decrease that the DHS says provide “long-term assisted living facility in Huntsville. to a flat $62.89 next year if the rule services and supports” to the elderly change were approved. Mark White, and people with physical disabilities. deputy director for the DHS Division The DHS also plans to adopt a new of Aging, Adult and Behavioral Health, method of allocating attendant and said in a recent interview that the personal care hours for ARChoices, a these services were heading. Most “We have struggled, really struggled current rates aren’t backed up by any Medicaid waiver program that allows said they were concerned the new over the past two years,” Riffle said. actuarial study, as required by federal beneficiaries to receive services at rules and rate cuts would cost disDemand for assisted living appears Medicaid authorities. home. (The current allocation method abled and elderly people their options to be high: White said there’s a waitThe rates, White said, “were negoti- is the subject of a lawsuit brought for independent living. ing list for the state’s waiver proated several years ago with the indus- against the state by ARChoices ben“DHS says they want to avoid peo- gram that allows Medicaid to pay try. [The federal Center for Medicare eficiaries who said the DHS unjustly ple having to go in nursing homes. for assisted living for qualified benand Medicaid Services] has made it cut their care hours.) It’s switching It seems in these programs they’re eficiaries. There are only 1,300 slots clear they want an actuarial study to to a new assessment tool to be used doing everything they can to force available. support these rates, to show they’re across all such programs. people into [them],” Bobbie Riffle of In addition to Medicaid beneficiaappropriate. … So we had our contractThe providers and family mem- Sherwood said. Riffle’s daughter is ries, many facilities also serve “private ing actuary do a study. They looked at bers who spoke at Monday’s hearing now in an assisted living facility; a pay” residents — individuals who pay provider costs, and this is the recom- were affected by different compo- decrease in her care hours under the costs out of pocket. Lenora Riedel runs mendation they came back with.” nents of the proposed changes, but all ARChoices program made it too dif- Countryside Assisted Living, a facility Assisted living providers dispute expressed anxiety about the direction ficult for her to be cared for at home. in Huntsville that serves 92 residents,

NOVEMBER 1, 2018

ARKANSAS TIMES

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

56 of them on Medicaid. She said at the Monday hearing that the reduced rate would force her to cut back her 48-person workforce by 25 percent. That means nursing staff would be required to pick up housekeeping, laundry and other duties, she said, while also handling a significantly larger patient load. Riedel said the actuarial study indicates a facility should have 19 staff for 50 residents. She said that’s not enough to deliver “the quality of service that we want to provide.” But, she added, “if we do not cut staffing by 10 to 14 people — which is what the standards say that we should do to survive the 21.7 percent cut — we would close down. That will force 92 people into a facility — or into a home where they cannot take care of themselves.” When asked whether the DHS was concerned about assisted living facilities closing, White acknowledged that some providers are struggling, but he said the cause was less clear. “There have been a number of facilities that have been built in recent years … as private-pay facilities,” White said. Some of those struggled to find enough private pay business to make ends meet, he said, and therefore have tried to attract Medicaid patients, only to find that the cap on the waiver limits the number of potential residents. “We don’t know how much that’s a Medicaid issue and how much that’s an issue on their private pay side,” he said. White said in an email that the proposed fiscal impact of the rule-change package as a whole would save the state $9.27 million in the 2019 fiscal year and $13.92 million in the 2020 fiscal year. The Monday hearing was the fourth in a series of five hearings on the proposed long-term services and supports rule changes. The final hearing is in Jonesboro on Nov. 7. This reporting is made possible in part by a yearlong fellowship sponsored by the Association of Health Care Journalists and supported by The Commonwealth Fund. It is published here courtesy of the Arkansas Nonprofit News Network, an independent, nonpartisan project dedicated to producing journalism that matters to Arkansans. Find out more at arknews.org.

THE

Inconsequential News Quiz:

BIG 100 Percent Edition PICTURE

Play at home, while working on your weird-ass shrine to Guy Fieri.

1) A company recently announced it will build a 28,000-square-foot structure in Hot Springs, which, if completed, will be home to the first major tourist attraction built in the Spa City in quite some time. What’s the attraction? A) A display of the surgically removed warts, moles and bunions of the rich and famous. B) The Museum of Modern Fart. C) A “reptile garden” displaying alligators, crocodiles and venomous and nonvenomous snakes, with the complex including a gift shop, research library, bar and “Gator Lounge.”

D) The Chewseum of Chaw, Dip and Snuff, sponsored by Red Man Chewing Tobacco (BYOS: Bring Your Own Spittoon). 2) A popular reality TV show has been airing episodes derived from footage filmed in Little Rock in late August. What’s the show? A) “America’s Next Top Waddle.” B) “Disregarding Consent with the Stars.” C) “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives,” hosted by Guy Fieri. D) “The Real Housewives of Rolling Acres Mobile Home Park.”

3) A Little Rock man was recently arrested for attacking a 2-year-old child, leaving the boy battered and bruised. According to the boy’s mother, why did Jeremy Richards, 32, of Little Rock allegedly say he hit the child? A) The boy was “wasting Kool-Aid.” B) No, seriously. Allegedly attacked a toddler over a 15-cent packet of flavored dust, two cups of sugar and a gallon of tap water.

C) According to a police report in the case, Richards also told the boy’s mother he would break the child’s arm if he ever wasted Kool-Aid again.

D) All of the above, with Richards going to the hoosegow on charges of second-degree domestic battery. 4) After calling police to a home he was working on along Little Rock’s Abigail Street, a man later called police again with an important addendum to his earlier report. What issue required calling 911 x 2? A) While working in the attic, he found plane tickets to Mexico, $100,000 in pesos, and an ID and passport for someone named Donaldo Juan Trumpo Jr. in an envelope marked “Open only in case of indictment.”

B) He forgot to give back the cop’s pen. C) After telling responding officers that he’d heard gunfire in the area, the man called them back to say he noticed a bullet lodged in his lower leg.

D) He reported that his home hadn’t been burglarized in three whole months — a new citywide record! 5) A scientific study recently published in a prestigious national journal predicts that global warming will cause something to be much more frequent in Arkansas over the next 100 years. What is it? A) Cats with double-barrel buttholes. B) Hipster Beard Fungus. C) Tornadoes, with the study predicting that Arkansas will be among several Southern states to see an uptick in stronger and more frequent twisters.

D) Brodudes who say “100 percent!” when they mean “of course!” or “absolutely!”

Answers: C, C, C, D, C

LISTEN UP

arktimes.com NOVEMBER 1, 2018

Quit fiddling around, traveler, and pack your bags already. Take along your Road Trip issue for suggestions on places to find sustenance and entertainment while you’re on the road.

NOVEMBER 1, 2018

ARKANSAS TIMES

KAT WILSON

Arkansas travelers, the Arkansas Times once more offers up some info on where to go to put the 9-to-5 in the rearview mirror. Our annual Road Trip issue this year features the funky, the natural, the rugged and the creative: Read here about a motel where you can stay in a themed camper and play Baggo and shoot BB guns. Find out the many places where you can spend an educational weekend perfecting your yoga practice with the help of a goat or learning beginning blacksmithing or how to paddle your canoe. We’ll send you to a place where you can climb rocks or fish or ride horses during the day and snooze in an Ozarks cabin at night. The state’s ever-growing mountain bike daredevils will get the good dirt on the new Northwoods Trail system to be dedicated this month in Hot Springs, and nature lovers will be guided through the last of the Mississippi River Valley’s great bottomland woods.

KAT WILSON

CENTRAL PERK, PLUS: At Flamingo Springs, plenty of “Friends”-themed easter eggs await the show’s ardent fans.

THE ONE WITH THE TRAILERS Flamingo Springs Trailer Resort is next-level kitsch. By Stephanie Smittle

If you’ve ever

said your good- lined swimming pool, a fire pit, outdoor nights from inside a concrete teepee at grills, picnic tables and metal palm trees, Wigwam Village in Cave City, Ky., or if all buttressed by a giant Quonset hut paryour feet have ever graced the bottom of titioned into a hotel lobby and a game the Texas-shaped swimming pool at The room. Think: John Waters and Lisa Frank Big Texan Steak Ranch in Amarillo, you co-design a movie set with the ghost of know good and well it’s true: Themed Janis Joplin, deciding after filming wraps accommodations are a real gas. that they’ll rent the thing out by the night. There’s a new such getaway in the Laura and Zack Kraus, owners/operaheart of Washington County: the Fla- tors of Flamingo Springs, opened the busimingo Springs Trailer Resort. It’s a ness in June 2018, aptly timed in conjunckitschy anomaly to the chicken farms tion with a surge of interest in teardrop and rolling hills that surround it in Prai- trailers, tiny houses and all things Midrie Grove; a winding driveway lined with century Modern. Though the Krauses pink flamingos leads up a hill to a ring of have a young child themselves, the vibe six immaculately themed travel trailers at Flamingo Springs is distinctly 21-plus, tucked into 50 wooded acres. Those, in a policy the owners explain with casual turn, are situated around an Astroturf- candor: “Don’t get us wrong, we love

kids. In fact, we made one,” the booking wall, a Sega Genesis and an Atari, plus a website states. “But if you and your sig- “Take One Leave One” bookshelf library nificant other wanna get out of the house, with a Pee Wee Herman doll enforcrelax, maybe blow off a little steam and ing the honor code. A mini-kitchen is there are a bunch of kids running circles there to elevate your camping/grilling around the pool, screaming, splashing game, a vintage cooler begs to be filled you, that may impede your ability to do with Northwest Arkansas’s new influx so. See what I’m sayin’?” of craft beers (or Busch Light, whatevs). We do. What’s more, we especially The board game shelf overflows: Battleappreciate the resort’s “play is for grown- ship, Othello, Yahtzee, an “I Love Lucy” ups, too” ethos. Flamingo Springs’ game game, something called “Hedbandz.” room is nostalgic eye candy — a clear Outside, there’s ladder ball (new to us!), testament to the Krauses’ eye for collect- a horseshoe pit, Baggo, bocce ball and, ing. There’s giant Jenga, a pool table, an our personal favorite, a BB gun range, unlimited-play jukebox with selections where you can practice plinking empty from Sam Cooke, ABBA and The Troggs, beer cans. Overhead, a clear night means a ping pong table, a swath of “paint-by- serious stargazing opportunities. Prairie numbers” projects that cover most of one Grove is far enough southwest of Fayettearktimes.com NOVEMBER 1, 2018

KAT WILSON KAT WILSON

FOLLOW THE FLAMINGO: Pink flamingo yard decor points visitors up a driveway and onto the grounds, which are tucked away on 50 wooded acres.

ville that your view of the night sky ple, the minutia contained within of (empty) video cases with mock won’t be hampered by light pollution. “The One With the Trailer,” the shiny jacket covers of the porn films PhoeThere is, by design, no Wi-Fi. Guest metallic torpedo devoted entirely to be’s twin sister, Ursula, made using trailers are spaced apart at a neigh- references to the sitcom “Friends.” Phoebe’s name: “Buffay The Vamborly interval and all guests share In it, the Krauses’ keen penchant pire Layer,” “Lawrence of A Labia,” the game room, as well as an outdoor for detail rises to a fever pitch. The “Sex Toy Story 2.” There’s also a bathhouse with toilets and showers. bed pillow is embossed with the Hugsy penguin and a loveseat just The Krauses wanted to create a situ- word “P-I-V-O-T” in the “Friends” below a sign for Central Perk. ation in which communal living and font, no less — a reference to a clasBecause the trailers are dry — real-life human interaction are, if not sic episode where Rachel helps Ross no sinks, bathrooms, tanks, etc. — forced, at least strongly suggested. move into his apartment and hilar- there’s room for the theme to sprawl Honestly, though, it could be a ity ensues in the course of moving a out to every nook and cranny. A while before you get around to doing couch. There’s a troll doll, lovingly Christmas-themed trailer, “Candy any socializing outside of your own nailed to a two-by-four in the fash- Cane Lane,” boasts design inspiratrailer, because you’re liable to ion of Monica and Ross’ Geller Cup, tion from Clark W. Griswold and spend a while just poking around also a “Friends” reference. In the is billed thusly: “Your black sheep that tiny world. Behold, for exam- DVD/VCR cabinet, there’s a quartet uncle drank too much ‘special egg18

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ARKANSAS TIMES

THE FLIGHT TO FLAMINGO SPRINGS Let’s start with the basics; namely, achieving escape velocity from the Central Arkansas area. The Big Piney Rest Area between Knoxville (Johnson County) and London (Pope County) has emerged from a 2016-17 renovation as an (unmanned) Welcome Center, with high ceilings, glass entrances and nicer bathrooms. And, if you’re feeling peckish, try venturing beyond the fast food options alongside Interstate 40. Rivertowne BBQ in Ozark serves up rib meat “possum balls” and charro beans to die for, and just around the corner, there’s Southern Grill, a charming little diner/steakhouse that serves consistently delicious breakfast until 2 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday and until 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. If you’re closer to Clarksville, try the mile-high meringue pies at South Park Restaurant or the delectable poutine at Fox & Fork, part of a French-inspired Southern menu that’s easily the culinary star of Johnson County. On I-40 near Alma, signs start pointing you to the Roland Cherokee Casino and Sallisaw, Okla. Maybe they do that just as John Moreland’s “Sallisaw Blues” comes on the radio, beckoning you to bend your plans toward the apparent kismet. You’re headed northward, though, and there are a number of ways to go. You could catch up on all the fantastic grub you might have overlooked — or pined for — in the Fort Smith/ Van Buren area: charbroiled chicken with lemongrass and pickled vegetables at Green Papaya, a legendary French dip sandwich at Ed Walker’s Drive-In, or a big bowl of Paradise Soup at Pho Vietnam. Or, if you’ve got your eyes wisely set on arriving at Flamingo Springs before magic hour, consider skirting around the FS/VB metropolitan area altogether and making an early stop for dinner at Thai Curry in Van Buren (518 N. Plaza Court), a warmly lit spot that serves delicately crisped tofu, chicken wings muddled with slices of jalapeno, an array of potstickers and soups and noodle dishes, sweetened by syrupy iced accompaniments — Thai coffees and Thai teas, served in highball glasses. Paths cut northward to Prairie Grove via Interstate 49 or U.S. Highway 71 are lush ones indeed, but if you’ve never taken state Highway 59 toward the town of Figure Five, you’ll be rewarded with new sights and pitstops for doing so. There’s the Crawford County Speedway, with stock car races at 7 p.m. every Saturday. And, if you turn off on state Highway 45 at the town of Dutch Mills, you’ll drive through the pastoral, pristine town of Cane Hill in Washington County, home to one of the oldest institutions for higher learning in the state. Cane Hill College, as it’s called, sits imposingly atop a rolling green hill just next to a free-standing belfry, surrounded by an open field with historical markers and plaques detailing its complicated history. It’s both a good spot to stretch your legs and a chance to find out about a weird little Arkansas town you’d never met.

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TURN UP YOUR WEEKEND

Horseshoe Canyon Ranch YOUR NEXT WEEKEND ADVENTURE IS CLOSER THAN YOU THINK. SEE WHATâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S HAPPENING NEAR YOU AT ARKANSAS.COM. Arkansas.com

arktimes.com NOVEMBER 1, 2018

STEPHANIE SMITTLE

KAT WILSON

EAT, DRINK AND BE PRAIRIE (GROVE)

TAKE ONE, LEAVE ONE: A Pee-wee Herman figure enforces the honor code in the game room library.

nog’ and threw up vintage Christmas decorations all over this trailer.” An “Old West chic” trailer, The Horn, does its best Laurel Canyon impersonation from behind saloon doors. The pale pink, winged “Pour Some Shasta On Me” channels Cinderella, Winger and White Lion. “The Pink Fuzzy Unicorn” is just as teenage dream as it sounds — all neon cheetahs, “BFF” pillows and board games with names like “Dream Phone.” The Haight-Ashbury is a mint green and Creamsicle-orange-colored nook, announced outside its doorstep by a stop sign with the word “WAR” spray painted across the bottom third. And, while the fierce level of commitment to theme is endlessly adorable, it does occupy some tabletop real estate; pack light and remember that anything you’ve got stored in your car is 20

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ARKANSAS TIMES

only a few steps away, anyway. When we stayed, the nights had just turned from cool to “Dang!”, and Zack Kraus dug out a space heater for us from the attic, which worked like a charm. We waved to their cute, sleepy kid and marvelled at the effort all over again. And why shouldn’t we? It’s an endeavor clearly born of countless hours on eBay and at thrift shops, and certainly it’s a ripe alternative to a growing network of premium — but nevertheless cookie-cutter — hotels being built in Northwest Arkansas. Besides, doesn’t every sometimescamper dig the idea of doing camping-without-the-heavy-lifting? The Krauses’ full weekends during its opening summer months bear that forth, and even into the upcoming winter months, groups have booked

the whole place for a weekend at a time, securing a discounted rate. I envision the Krauses in 20 years, with the wooden fence covered in a cross-decade mosaic of metal signs, an Instagram archive from a visitor that time-stamps additions and remodels — and maybe an extensive collection of flamingo-themed objects from all over the world, mailed to the couple by friends and family until the joint’s a veritable pink museum in the mountains. Flamingo Springs Trailer Resort is at 15475 Greasy Valley Road in Prairie Grove. See flamingospringstrailerresort.com for details. Bring: food to grill, firewood, beer (the Crazy Horse Saloon at the turnoff to Greasy Valley Road has a drive-through!), the makings for s’mores.

In a town where the biggest building is the Baptist church, a good Tex-Mex place can become a veritable social hub, as it was when we visited Gabriela’s in Prairie Grove on a cool Thursday night. With a sensible preface from the locals, we wrapped our minds around the idea of Mexican-American dishes that leaned more toward the latter’s influences, and dove into the poolof-cheese-and-refried beans fray. A decadently battered Chile Relleno with Chicken ($8.99) came atop the aforementioned pool and an onion enchilada, and a Mexican Sampler ($10.25) showed off the best of Gaby’s appetizers — breaded shrimp poppers stuffed with cream cheese, quesadillas and flautas suspended over a mound of layered nachos. We didn’t spot a bar on the menu or in the wings, but the sampler was bar food to beat the band, and enormous enough to have gone mostly into the cooler to be revived for dinner the next night. Sophisticated cuisine Gabriela’s is not, but hey, it’s Prairie Grove, y’all; the cover page of the Gaby’s menu states that the restaurant will “provide you with the best Meal Around,” and a quick glance at the Prairie Grove skyline will tell you there’s not exactly a throng of competitors for that title. Not to be missed, though, according to our hosts at the Flamingo Springs Trailer Resort, are the cinnamon rolls at Fat Rolls — a charming little bakery on Mock Street in the town’s historic district — and, no joke, the greasy spoon breakfasts at a gas station called Frederick’s One Stop.

Just opposite the entrance to Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park, at 505 E. Douglas St., there’s a real deal telephone booth, with a dial tone and those cool bifold doors and everything! Sure, the option to use your credit card to fund the call takes a little of the romance away, but you can still put that Superman cape to good use in the family photo shoot.

STEPHANIE SMITTLE

PRAIRIE GROVE AIRLIGHT OUTDOOR TELEPHONE BOOTH

HEY, KIDS: Lemme tell you about the old days!

BRIAR ROSE BAKERY & DELI “Did you go in the little door?” That’s the verbal handshake that can take place between devotees of Briar Rose Bakery & Deli, the storybook cottage-inspired bakery at 28 E. Main St. in Farmington, which brushes up against Fayetteville on the larger city’s southwest side. A specialty cakeshop inside churns out Boston cream pies and loads of cupcakes, and Briar Rose’s cinnamon rolls get their very own oven. There’s a little tea room for dainty diners and a wood fired-oven chars handmade pizzas on Saturdays. Here, the croissant dough is a close competitor of Serenity Farm Bread’s for Best in the State, and Briar Rose uses that brilliant buttery dough in a variety of ways. Even the decadent orange roll — probably the best orange roll we’ve ever had, period — was built of that same flaky magic, rolled into a spiral and infused heavily with orange zest. You can get a gluten-free fruit crumble, biscuits and gravy, a tiny croissant with its ends dipped in chocolate Magic Shell-style, or go plop a dollop of the bakery’s flavored, house-made whipped cream into your coffee. And if you leave holding a white box filled with half a dozen of the aforementioned Briar Rose pastries, you will find that you are well-received anywhere you go until the box is empty.

arktimes.com NOVEMBER 1, 2018

BENJAMIN HARDY

THE WILDEST WOODS Exploring the White River Refuge with biologist Matt Moran. By Benjamin Hardy

Deep in the Delta, just a few

the lower Mississippi River Valley and miles north of where the White and the one of the last remaining pieces of a world Arkansas rivers merge and pour into the almost entirely lost to agriculture. Mississippi, you’ll find the largest tree Hunters and fishermen know the refin the state. Arkansas’s champion bald uge is one of the great natural jewels of cypress stands 120 feet high with a cir- the state, as do birdwatchers. But somecumference of 514 inches, big enough for how, it’s been neglected by most of the seven tree huggers to wrap themselves thousands of hikers and casual nature around it. That’s not accounting for the lovers who flock to the Ozarks and the retinue of “knees” that crowd the cypress’ Ouachita Mountains. Dr. Matt Moran, a base, some of them taller than a person. biology professor at Hendrix College in Mighty though it is, the cypress is Conway, has written a field guide that just the most prominent citizen in a vast aims to change that. woodland community hugging the lower Moran’s “Exploring the Big Woods: White as it winds a course between Mon- A Guide to the Last Great Forest of the roe, Arkansas and Phillips counties. This Arkansas Delta” (University of Arkansas is the Dale Bumpers White River National Press) is an invaluable, first-of-its-kind Wildlife Refuge, a sinuous island of bot- resource for those seeking to explore tomland hardwood forest rising from a the White River refuge and its smaller sea of cotton, soybeans, rice and other sister to the north, the Cache River row crops. At 160,000 acres, it’s the larg- National Wildlife Refuge. He carefully est such forest to be found anywhere in documents 27 hiking and canoe trails 22

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ARKANSAS TIMES

in this Big Woods region and provides extensive context on its ecology, hydrology and natural history. Gleaned from countless hours of firsthand exploration and research over a decade, the book conveys a scientist’s eye for detail and a conservationist’s passion for the land in clear, accessible prose. One gray morning in late September, Moran, 49, took me to visit a few spots in the refuge. The 1.2-mile path to the champion cypress tree begins at a trailhead near the tiny unincorporated community of Ethel, about an hour’s drive from Stuttgart. “For natural areas, mountains get all the press,” Moran said as we hustled into the forest. “The Buffalo River is beautiful — everyone knows that. This is a place to go for the biology, because there’s so much going on down here. There’s such abundance of life, such rapid growth.

In terms of the number of animals, it’s incredible. I think it’s been overlooked by a lot of people.” Photography doesn’t do this landscape justice; everything tends to blur together in a monochromatic jumble of chlorophyll. In person, the bottomlands just feel fundamentally different than other forests in Arkansas. I had expected a swampy tangle of brambles and brush spreading in all directions, but there’s only sparse undergrowth beneath the overarching canopy of mature trees. That’s because the White floods the land most years, Moran explained. “If the water level rises above saplings’ height, it’ll kill them, because they can’t respire,” he said. “So, trees only get to reproduce during a series of dry years in a row. They have to grow tall enough to escape the flooding.” That means the refuge is more traversable than one might

BENJAMIN HARDY

FOREST PRIMEVAL: With a 43-foot circumference, the state champion bald cypress near Ethel (above) is the largest tree in the state and a rare survivor of the timber boom that leveled the Delta’s once-vast forests. Also: the view overlooking the White River near St. Charles (above right) and Moran shows of a baby American toad.

expect. “I’ve walked cross-country across Mississippi River Valley yielded the rich miles of this, and it’s pretty easy.” soil that makes the Delta such valuable Another perk of flooding: Ticks and farmland — but that natural pattern has chiggers are “almost nonexistent” in the been suppressed by means of locks, dams, bottomlands of the refuge because the levees and various other man-made interannual deluge suppresses their popula- ventions. Most rivers have been tamed, at tions. “If the mosquitoes aren’t out, you’re least most of the time. This lower section almost free of pest species,” Moran said. of the White, though, still runs free and That’s a big “if,” though — depending on undomesticated, going where it wishes. the day and the month, mosquitos can be (The closest dam on the White is the one a severe hassle, so bring along bug spray. that creates Bull Shoals Lake, in North Be warned also that snakes are com- Arkansas.) mon in the refuge, including water moc“Obviously, all rivers flood at some casins and sometimes timber rattlesnakes. point in time, but to have yearly flooding (Wear boots. Even if you never see a that’s roughly what it was before humans snake, you will most definitely encoun- came along? That’s pretty unusual,” ter mud.) So are cold-blooded creatures Moran said. of all kinds: innumerable small frogs and Not every tree likes being regularly toads, legions of turtles, the occasional drowned, so the bottomlands are home alligator. Bass, crappie, catfish, gar and to a distinctive set of species: overcup other fish crowd the hundreds of small oak and Nutall oak, sweetgum, water lakes, ponds and rivers that speckle the hickory, sweet pecan. In the swamps, region. water tupelo and bald cypress dominate. The flood cycle is one of the things I could have been convinced this forest that make the White River refuge an had stood here undisturbed for millennia, exceptional place. Once upon a time, but Moran said that’s not the case. This most major rivers regularly overflowed land, like almost every other acre in the their banks during heavy rainy seasons Arkansas Delta, was harvested for timber — century after century of floods in the within the century.

“None of this is old growth forest. … Most of it was cut in the ’20s. Most of it was clear cut, and some of it was cut two or three times,” he said. “What’s remarkable is how big these trees are already. Because the soil here is rich, and because it’s wet here all the time, they grow extraordinarily fast. Probably all these trees are 50 to 80 years old.” There are a few exceptions. The champion cypress at the end of the trail is one such survivor of pre-European times, though Moran said it couldn’t be dated with any certainty because it’s hollow inside and the growth rings can’t be examined. The tree could be anywhere from 600 to 800 years old. Bald cypress — which is in the same family as sequoias and redwoods — can live up to 1,500 years, Moran said. (None in Arkansas are quite that ancient, though University of Arkansas researchers have found some individuals in an old-growth stand at Bayou De View, in the Cache River refuge, that are around 1,200 years old.) The fact the champion tree is hollow may have saved its life. “Cypress was really valuable wood because it doesn’t

rot,” Moran explained. “Before we had chemicals for termite protection and that kind of thing, it was really valued for building material. So, most of the big cypress trees in Arkansas were cut for their timber.” Loggers likely didn’t spare the champion tree out of pity; they probably just thought it wasn’t worth their time, because it’s a little malformed. “I think this tree may have been damaged when it was young — it resprouted and the trunks fused together. Maybe that’s why it has this weird shape to it and maybe that’s why the loggers decided to leave it.” The hollow interior of the tree serves another purpose: a maternity ward for mother bears. Bears, Moran said, have an “interesting problem” in the Big Woods. “In the wintertime, female bears give birth, and they do it in hibernation. … But there’s no obvious place to den. You can’t den here in the ground. Why is that? Because it’s going to flood, most likely. So, they find a large tree that’s hollow, they climb inside of it, and that’s where they give birth. And when it floods, they’ll be safely up the tree, above the flood zone.” (Claw marks on the big cypress indicate it’s almost cerarktimes.com NOVEMBER 1, 2018

BENJAMIN HARDY

COURTESY OF UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS

COUNT BIRDS

OUT WITH THE AUTHOR: Hendrix Professor Matt Moran’s book “Exploring the Big Woods” is an invaluable guide to exploring the White River refuge.

tainly wintertime bear territory: “I’m not going to put my head in there and find out, but I’m sure they use it,” Moran said.) Bears were once so numerous in Arkansas that it was known as the Bear State, but overhunting almost eliminated the animals. “By the middle of the 20th century, there were only about 50 bears in the entire state — right here, in the Big Woods. [This is the] last place they survived,” Moran said. Then, in the ’60s, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission made the decision to repopulate the Ozarks and the Ouachitas with black bears brought from Minnesota. “There’s roughly three or four or five thousand bears today in the state total, most of them in the mountains. And those are all Minnesota bears. They had to adapt to the climate, but they seem to do all right. Down here [in the Big Woods], these are native Arkansas bears.” Both populations are members of the same species, he explained, but “the ones here are much more closely related to the Louisiana subspecies of black bear. They’re smaller and they’re adapted to these really swampy habitats.” It’s unlikely they’ve interbred with the Minnesota transplants, because the Big Woods is cut off from Arkansas’s mountains by miles and miles of farmland. Today, there are thought to be roughly 500 black bears roaming the Big Woods, Moran said — a fairly large number for a relatively small 24

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ARKANSAS TIMES

area. But don’t worry about running emphasize how rare this is,” Moran across one on a casual visit. Though said. “I’d say there are maybe 2,000 Moran has often seen scat or scratch acres in the entire Delta that were marks on trees in the refuge, they’re not harvested.” About 1,500 acres so skittish that he’s never encoun- of that is swamp forest, leaving just tered a bear. 500 acres of bottomland old growth. Other animals are more likely The largest such patch is found in to be seen. White-tailed deer are the wildest southern reaches of the abundant throughout the woods refuge, in a spot called the Sugarand attract hunters every fall (there berry Natural Area. (It’s accessible are tight quotas on the number of by canoe or kayak; Moran’s field permits distributed). Beavers, squir- guide tells you how to get there.) rels and other rodents are common, The ancient trees aren’t the only as are small carnivores like rac- casualties. Several species that were coons, foxes, coyotes, river otters once cornerstones of the bottomand mink. land ecosystem have long since been And, of course, the bird life of exterminated locally, including elk, the region is legendary. Millions bison and red wolves. Others, like of migrating waterfowl overwinter the Carolina parakeet and the paseach year in farmlands adjacent to senger pigeon, are extinct. the forest, and raptors such as hawks, Still, the efforts of the local coneagles and owls crowd the woods, servationists and government agenalong with smaller birds. Woodpeck- cies that created the White River ers fill the refuge in “extraordinary refuge have yielded monumental densities,” Moran said. results. The forest has reclaimed Before heading home, we tens of thousands of acres of clearstopped at the visitor center near St. cut land, a testament to its resilience. Charles. Though the day had turned Many species once facing annihilasunny and bright, the parking lot tion have rebounded as well, from was almost empty — a reminder bears to bald eagles. of the remoteness and relative Work continues to expand the obscurity of this place. A 1.5-mile refuge. The U.S. Fish and Wildtrail behind the visitor center led life Service hopes to buy another us on an easy loop that includes a 125,000 acres from private landownboardwalk traversing a swamp and ers. But whether the refuge grows or a beautiful overlook of the White whether its successes are one day River itself, running broad and wild retrenched depends in large part on and muddy. whether Arkansans are invested in The loop also bisects a small stand the survival of this remarkable landof old-growth bottomland forest — a scape. To that end: Grab a copy of few trees that somehow escaped the “Exploring the Big Woods” and go loggers a century ago. “It’s hard to do what the title tells you. .

The Dale Bumpers White River National Wildlife Refuge hosts a Christmas Bird Count, an event in which experienced and amateur birders spend a day recording the birds they see and their number. Twelve-thousand ring-necked ducks? You betcha. This is a great way to really explore the bird life on the refuge, which in winter includes all manner of waterfowl, hawks and perching birds. It’s set for Dec. 20 this year. You don’t have to wait until Christmas, however. Birders flock to the Cache River and Lower White year-round to see species that conservation efforts on the refuges are helping survive the Anthropocene onslaught. These include the swallow-tailed kite — a large black and white raptor with a distinct forked tail from the coast — that visits in spring and which biologists hope will begin to nest there. Spring also brings migrating warblers in their jewel-toned feathers, like the egg-yellow prothonotary and the increasingly rare cerulean, to raise their young. Owls, woodpeckers, flycatchers, swallows — there are all sorts of birds you’ve got to leave the house to enjoy in the rivers, swamps and sloughs of East Arkansas. The bird life is so significant that Audubon has declared the Cache and White River refuges as Global Important Bird Areas.

BUY WADERS

Mack’s Prairie Wings at 2335 U.S. Highway 63 in Stuttgart — close to the flyway that brings ducks to Arkansas — is famous statewide for its hunting gear, from decoys, blinds and duck calls for the hunters to camo vests for their best friends to wear as they brave the cold waters to retrieve mallards. Nonhunters — like the birders headed over to the refuges — will find things they like, too, like rugged shirts, pants and fleecy sweaters suitable for the outdoors. Neither hunter nor birder but along for the ride? Lingerie and UGG moccasins are to be had at Mack’s, right there in Stuttgart.

EAT MEXICAN AT A FOOD TRUCK

The Los Locos food truck at 106 E. 17th St. in Stuttgart comes recommended for its Americanstyle desserts by pie maven author Kat Robinson (in “Another Slice of Arkansas Pie”), but the fajita plates, stuffed avocados, nachos and grilled shrimp will feed you up good. Have dessert, too; you’ll work it off stomping in the swamp. It’s open 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m. weekdays.

APRÈS SLOUGH BURGER, BEER AND LIVE MUSIC

Kelly’s On Main Street, 313 S. Main in Stuttgart, serves ample pub grub — burgers, po’ boys, meatball soup, toasted ravioli — at lunch and dinner, hosts live music on some Friday nights and serves cold beer and alcohol.

PHOTO COURTESY ARKANSAS STATE PARKS

Jackfork Trail at Pinnacle Mountain State Park

If you saddle up in downtown Little Rock, you can be in MTB heaven or roadbike nirvana in a matter of minutes. And after your sesh, pedal over to one of our 11 local craft breweries to take on some carbs and hops. Grab a tasty burger or take in a show at some of our live music venues. This is why you ride. So you can enjoy all these things guilt-free.

LittleRock.com

arktimes.com NOVEMBER 1, 2018

Do yoga with a goat, or sharpen your knives, or learn to kayak. By Leslie Newell Peacock

A weekend away can be a time to nap and read, but it can also be a value-added vacation, one where you aren’t at home, someone else is doing the cooking, and you’re doing something you always wanted to do. Like downward dog with a baby goat on your back. Or kayaking. Beginning stone carving, anyone? Or being able to answer the question “Is that Penstemon cobea I see before me?” Weekend workshops, where you can work in some learning with your off time, can be found all over Arkansas. Some include lodging, like Heifer Ranch. Others are for campers or day-trippers or just-marrieds who want to add a certain je ne sais quoi to their escape to their honeymoon in Eureka Springs. Let’s start there.

Some instructors, like metal artist Sarah Doremus for the impulsive vacationer; class size varies according of Deer Isle, Maine; cowboy boot-maker Lisa Sorrell to medium and instructor. Prices also vary according of Guthrie, Okla.; and steel sculptor Victoria Patti of to medium, from (for example, from previous offerEureka Springs Arvada, Colo., travel to ESSA to teach. Others, of course, ings) $75 for a Saturday tool sharpening class to $130 come from Eureka, such as woodworker Doug Stowe, for a Saturday-Sunday watercolor class to $370 for a For two decades, the Eureka Springs School of the who was a co-founder of ESSA and was named the Friday-Sunday class in stone carving. You can sign up Arts, now located on 55 acres northwest of Eureka off 2009 Arkansas Living Treasure by the Arkansas Arts for classes online at www.essa-art.org; a 2019 course U.S. Highway 62, has been an arm of the arts scene that Council, and weaver and beader Eleanor Lux, another catalog is due out at the end of November. defines the quirky mountain town. It offers dozens of co-founder and Arkansas Living Treasure. different workshops that run from one to five days yearThe myriad metalworking workshops — includ- ARKANSAS CRAFT round, including many weekend classes. ing beginning blacksmithing, welding and bladesmith SCHOOL A taste of what you can get during an ESSA week- classes — fill quickly. ESSA’s woodshop, which includes Mountain View end: In October alone, two-day workshops in felting three rooms, recently hosted a “rendezvous” for 48 fibers, silver ring-making, tool sharpening, beginning woodworkers from across the nation, Faith Cleveland Everyone knows Mountain View is where you go blacksmithing and plein air watercolor painting were of ESSA said. to hear music, clog and buy little native plants, but it’s offered (plus a four-day workshop in enamel and foldCleveland said classes appeal to both career artists also a good place to learn to throw pots, make beads, forming copper). In November and December, there and people who just want to try their hand at basket- paint big and take advantage of other art classes at the will be classes in watercolor technique, watercolor making or calligraphy or stained glass or paper mache. Arkansas Craft School. The school’s in a historic building greeting cards, beginning stone carving, ceramics and She suggested that interested folks sign up early, though right on the square, within walking distance of lodging digital photography. it’s sometimes possible to get a seat on a day’s notice (discounted for students), lunching and antiquing and

EUREKA SPRINGS SCHOOL OF THE ARTS

NOVEMBER 1, 2018

ARKANSAS TIMES

ARKANSAS CRAFT SCHOOL

DAVE LOWE

VACATIONING? DON’T JUST NAP

HIT THE ROAD TO LEARN: Including how one does yoga with goats.

is open year-round. Marketing Manager Aly Dearborn says the staff works with prospective students on customizing workshops as well as making its own schedule of offerings. “How we differentiate ourselves from the Folk Center is that our instructors are geared toward opening people’s creative ideas, to make traditional art forms into contemporary pieces of art,” Dearborn said. Weekend classes this fall have included an introductory course in glass bead-making with Sage and Tom Holland; digital photography; “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain” for people who think they can’t draw; bladesmithing; basket-weaving; and a dip into the culinary arts, with Dutch oven cooking with Phyllis “Cooking on the Wild Side” Speer. Dearborn, who came to Mountain View from California, said all sorts of things attract people to Mountain View — the beauty of the Ozarks, fishing in the White River, etc. For her it was the feeling of going backward in time. When she arrived, she said, “I wondered if people were in costume or actually dressed that way. It’s a very, very interesting place.” Come as you are; classes run $150 to $350 depending on the course and the materials. Learn more at arkansascraftschool.org.

ARKANSAS CANOE CLUB Two weekends out of the year the Arkansas Canoe Club rents out riverside campgrounds and offers classes in kayaking and canoeing, taught by volunteers who love to paddle and want to show others how to be safe on the water. The School of Whitewater Paddling, which was called Canoe School in the days before kayaking became king, is the first class of the year; it’s held over a weekend in May. The campground at Turner Bend on the Mulberry River (off the Pig Trail, aka state Highway 23) is reserved for students and instructors. Luke Coop, Canoe Club president, said this is a class for folks to learn “the basic skills you need to run a river safely” — strokes, how to read a river, how to catch an eddy in and peel out of it again, how to paddle upstream without fighting the current. Instruction starts Friday night with a talk from the instructor, then it’s on to the tamer Little Mulberry or a flat section of the Mulberry on Saturday to start. Students should bring their kayaks, solo canoes or tandem canoes, though the Canoe Club can provide them; Coop said there is also a standup paddleboard class. Coop said new technologies that have made solo canoes “shorter and more playful” have led to a resurgence in canoe popularity. Though the school is in May, Coop said the weekends can be cold. He remembers one with snow and sleet. Unlikely, but be prepared. Saturday wraps up with a fish fry and live music. The School of River Paddling is the second week in June on the Spring River. Students camp at the Riverside Resort 11 miles north of Hardy, off U.S. Highway 63. Like the paddling school, lessons are on basic skills;

they begin on a lake at Mammoth Spring State Park. way — you’ve got to learn how to breathe underwater. The Spring River is not as challenging as the Mulberry, You can do just that over a weekend with the instrucwith Class 1 and Class 2 runs, and participants may bring tors of Rick’s Dive Shop. recreational boats not made for white water, such as You’ll start out, however, on weekdays in Rick’s sit-on-top kayaks. pool at 2323 N. Poplar St. in North Little Rock (though Registration for schools begins in early March. To there are special, accelerated classes for out-of-towntake a class, you must be a Canoe Club member ($25 for ers one Friday and one Saturday in the year). The a family of four). Schools are $80, and include camp- weekend fun comes in at Lake Ouachita State Park, ing fees. Fees go to the Canoe Club’s conservation fund where Rick’s teaches two-day open-water dives on and to the purchase of river gauges. Saturdays and Sundays. Folks stay at Mountain Pine or Registration links, detailed class information and Hot Springs Village or even camp, and kids as young requirements and river levels can be found at arkan- as 10 can participate with parents; certification is to 60 sascanoeclub.com. feet. Advanced weekend courses include night dives, search and recovery, and some underwater navigation. ARKANSAS NATIVE Weekend classes are limited to 16 divers; two instrucPLANT SOCIETY tors handle eight divers each, but only four are in the water at a time for safety’s sake. Rick’s provides reguYou may have checked off all 415 bird species on lators and tanks, but recommends would-be-waterthe Arkansas State Bird List. Or the 102 (or so) on the world explorers bring their own mask, snorkel and dragonfly list. But, unless your name is Theo Witsell*, fins. Then, once you’ve earned your flippers, you can it’s unlikely you’ll ever be able to claim you’ve seen all accompany Rick’s divers to places like Cozumel and the native plants. Little Cayman Island in the Caribbean. Classes cost The Arkansas Native Plant Society, however, can $475, which includes classes, pool and open water make sure you see lots of them, thank to its field trips dives; a fall special reduces the price to $400. Find out organized throughout the year and at its annual meeting. about other offerings at ricksdivecenter.com. To familiarize yourself with the Native Plant Society, go to anps.org and click on the link to its newslet- DAVE’S RETREATS ter, Claytonia. First question: What is Claytonia when Perryville it’s not a newsletter? Why, it’s those little white flowers that are the first to spring up in your lawn in spring, and When Dave Lowe retired to Perryville, he decided which you might call spring beauties. Already you have to volunteer at the Heifer Ranch of Heifer International. learned the name of a plant, which means when you see One way he helps Heifer is to offer weekend retreats so the little flower you will really see it (because the eyes that the lodge at the ranch can produce income even can’t see what the mind doesn’t know). when Heifer doesn’t have events scheduled. Here’s What better way to see something rare in June than to what he’s learned attracts people to Heifer: quilting and accompany the society on a jaunt to learn about glades? yoga with goats. Hence the thrice-yearly quilter retreats, That’s what the society did earlier this year, when folks where quilt-makers gather to work on their creations at joined Ozark glade expert Joan Reynolds on a trip to personal workstations in a roomy workplace with cutting Devil’s Eyebrow Natural Area in Benton County and the tables. The quilting retreats include two nights lodging, North Dam Site Park near the dam on Beaver Lake in seven meals in the lodge’s dining hall and 24-hour access Carroll County. Glades are special places, thanks to their to the quilting area for folks who like to stitch all night. geology, and the day-trippers learned about endemic Coming up: The “Winter’s Eve” retreat Nov. 30-Dec. 2, Arkansas bedstraw, daisy fleabane, hairy wild petunias, “Lambs-a-poppin’ ” April 5-7, 2019, which coincides with purple-flowering Ozark calamint, Arkansas beardtongue, the birthing of lambs at the ranch; and “Spring Fling,” Ashe junipers and such. Even the names are intriguing, which is also a scrapbooking retreat, May 17-19, 2019. so imagine the appeal of seeing these special Arkansas The retreats cost $195 (or come Thursday for an extra plants growing happily in the wild. The online Claytonia $60). The yoga retreats, taught by yoga instructors from newsletter outlines upcoming trips, such as the Nov. 2-4 Arkansas and Missouri, aren’t all asanas: They include fall meeting at the Harmony Mountain Retreat on Smith classes in meditation, cheesemaking, essential oils, masMountain in Newton County, which includes hiking in sage and more. The “Goatalicious” session, April 26-28, Arkansas’s wildest county; and Saturday winter tree ID 2019, will include two slow vinyasa sessions with the trips — you’ve always wanted to be able to ID a tree when baby goats, who’ll nibble your hair while you’re in child’s it doesn’t have its leaves on, you know you have — Dec. pose, along with other yoga classes. “Goatastic,” May 8 on Kessler Mountain in Fayetteville and Feb. 16 at 3-5, 2019, comes with baby goats and gamboling lambs; Smith Creek Preserve in Newton County. as does “Goat-A-Rama,” May 31-June 2. Yoga retreats are $275 and include two nights in the lodge and six *Theo Witsell is an ecologist with the Arkansas Natural meals (vegetarian and gluten-free are always available Heritage Commission and has an encyclopedic knowl- in the dining hall, which Lowe promises serves delicious edge of the state’s native plants. food). There are extras — massages for $40, green tea meditation, goat walking, animal admiring and shopRICK’S DIVE ’N’ TRAVEL ping in the Heifer International Shop. Some folks just CENTER come for the weekend to be at the Ouachita Mountain Little Rock, Hot Springs, foothills Ranch with the goats, lambs and shoats. Beddestinations abroad rooms may be shared or private. To find out more, go Before you can swim with the fishes — in a good to davesretreats.com. . arktimes.com NOVEMBER 1, 2018

NOVEMBER 1, 2018

ARKANSASâ&#x20AC;&#x2C6;TIMES

REBEKAH HALL

SHOWDOWN AT HORSESHOE CANYON RANCH Ride horses, climb rocks, relax at Jasper dude ranch. By Rebekah Hall

Horseshoe Canyon Ranch sits nestled in a green, sprawling valley in the Ozark Mountains. It’s seven-and-a half miles west of Jasper, and the ride there on Arkansas Scenic Byway 7 offers grand, sweeping views — but keep your hands on the wheel on this twisty, winding road. Surrounded by large sandstone bluffs, the dude ranch offers Western adventure with Southern charm, a getaway for seasoned rock climbers and families alike. Riding trails, Buffalo River floats, disc golf, skeet shooting and Goat Cave spelunking are on the menu at the ranch, which is open to guests from March

to November. There’s also tomahawk throwing and a 2,300-foot-long zip-line — the “Iron Horse” — that spans the width of the canyon, at one point more than 300 feet above the valley floor. (For the more timid, there’s the “Pony Express” zip-line.) The ranch’s 352 acres are divided into the West Side, which features the primitive campground where most climbers stay, and the East Side, where HCR’s famed yearly “24 Hours of Horseshoe Hell” 24-hour climbing event is held, and the North Forty, which HCR said is the most popular area because of its classic climbing spots. The “forty” refers to the

original 40 climbing routes set up along to find themselves on the side of a rock the rock faces. wall, with over 500 sport routes — routes Adventure Guide Kris Evans, who with preplaced protection such as bolts is coming to the end of his first season for climbers to clip into — spread about working at the ranch, but who has been the land’s bluffs and boulders. One of rock climbing there for six years, said those routes, titled the Green Goblin, guests often depart with a new sense was named one of Climbing Magazine’s of accomplishment. “When our guests 100 best sport climbing routes in 2015. leave, they leave very happy about their The ranch also offers the Via Ferrata, a experience,” he said. “A lot of the time, if route with iron rungs bolted into the rock. you look at our website, we don’t exactly Using a fixed cable, climbers can ascend advertise just how adventurous it is. … A a small distance and then traverse the lot of people just come thinking they’re wall horizontally instead of vertically. riding horses. The next thing you know, “It gives those intimidated by vertical we’ve got them on the side of a rock wall.” rock climbing the same thrill, without The ranch offers many ways for guests the physicality,” the ranch website says.

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LIFE ON THE RANCH: A suspension bridge spans a gully and one of Horseshoe Canyon’s horses chomps happily on grass.

ON THE WAY THERE

REBEKAH HALL

While you’re on the way, be sure to stop at the Rotary Ann Overlook on Arkansas Scenic Byway 7, a rest area with a panoramic view of the Boston Mountain highlands. Take in Pilot Rock Mountain, Umphers Knob, Hess Knob, Meadows Knob, Bald Knob, McMinn Knob, Coleman Knob and Sally’s Knob from the vantage point of Gunter Branch Hollow at the overlook. The rest stop includes several picnic tables along the ridge, interpretive panels about the wildlife, plants and terrain of the area, and bathrooms.

BEFORE YOU LEAVE

The Horseshoe Canyon Ranch Trad- my projects,” he said. “It doesn’t ing Co. is a climbing pro shop, where matter how hard you climb, it just both experienced climbers or those matters that you’re doing it,” he said. new to the sport can buy gear. On the afternoon we visited, The ranch’s horseback riding young women at the base of the trails are on a separate 352 acres. Green Goblin shouted words of Fifty horses roam the acreage, and encouragement to two other women there are goats dotting the landscape, during their careful ascent. Further too. The ranch also features a pet- down along the same stretch of rock, ting zoo, home to a fat pig and a large, one young man worked as a belayer grain-fed goat named “Mental.” — the person on the ground who manFor Evans, who along with his ages the rope to catch a climber climbing partner Ardian Prishtina in case of a fall or slip — while he recently participated in the “Horse- watched his friend climb up the rock shoe Hell” climb, the thrill of teach- above him. He noticed Evans and ing rock climbing comes from the shouted, “Hey man! I know you! You student’s satisfaction. gave me a breakfast burrito the last “I get just as much excitement out time I was here!” Such is the effect of watching somebody climb their that the ranch, and employees like first climb as I do ascending one of Evans, have on guests. The place 30

NOVEMBER 1, 2018

ARKANSAS TIMES

and its people are memorable, and they’re passionate about the languid, steady pace of life in the lush valley. Guests can bring their own camping gear and camp at the ranch for pretty cheap — $5 per person to camp, and $10 per person for a day pass to climb — but the rates to stay in the cabins are pricier and depend on the season. For the fall season, Oct. 1-28, each adult pays $215 per day or $1,159 per week. The prices are all-inclusive of ranch activities and three meals a day. To learn more about Horseshoe Canyon Ranch or book reservations, call 800-480-9635, email info@gohcr. com, or visit its website, horseshoecanyonduderanch.com.

When you’re back at the turn-off to Horseshoe Canyon Ranch, take a left and head down the hill just a couple of miles. You’ll soon see the sign for the Low Gap Cafe, where chef Nick Bottini, who studied at the Culinary Institute of America in New York, presides. The gap may be low but the cuisine is haute: The menu includes such dishes as pan-seared duck ($28.95) and scallops with bell pepper curry ($34.95). A reporter stopped by for a late lunch after a couple of hours exploring at Horseshoe Canyon Ranch and ordered the Low Gap Burger, starting at a cool $8.50 before adding bacon and cheese. The menu offers similarly affordable sandwiches and salads. If it’s a nice day, go for a seat on the large patio, which is decorated with old canoe paddles, strings of Christmas lights and signs with quips like “Never kick a fresh turd on a hot day.” The service was great, the atmosphere friendly and inviting, and the food delicious. It was worth the stop, offering respite in one of the most beautiful areas of Arkansas.

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NOVEMBER 1, 2018

ARKANSASâ&#x20AC;&#x2C6;TIMES

BRIAN CHILSON

BIKE TOWN Hot Springs contemplates a future where cyclists drive tourism. By LINDSEY MILLAR

The hippest new place to stay in Hot

siasts to flock to the new park. But Arrison and Springs leans heavily on the past while peering other Hot Springs officials are positively giddy into the near future. The Best Court Motel, 638 about what sets Northwoods apart: Because Ouachita Ave., is a fully renovated motor court, mountain biking happens in the wilderness, it’s that bygone brand of motel designed with the rarely as accessible to other tourist attractions early car traveler in mind. It’s a U-shaped col- as Northwoods will be. “Mountain bike, get a lection of connected brick cottages, each with beer at a place like Superior Bathhouse Brewery a small front porch and an attached garage. and soak in a bath — what a vacation!” Bill SollBut the garages aren’t for cars anymore, co- eder, marketing director for Visit Hot Springs, owner Jimi Brazil says. He’s expecting visitors offered as a quick pitch during an October tour to soon stow their muddy (and often expensive) of trail construction. mountain bikes there. A drive from downtown to Northwoods’ Like Brazil, Steve Arrison, the longtime CEO Waterworks Trailhead takes under 5 minutes. of Visit Hot Springs, the Hot Springs Advertis- Sometime next year, Arrison hopes to see a new ing and Promotion Commission, envisions a not- connection at Pullman Avenue, which would too-distant future for Hot Springs where cyclists allow mountain bike tourists to easily pedal contribute as much to the tourism economy as from wherever they’re staying downtown to folks coming to take in the natural baths, boat Northwoods. Because the Pullman Avenue Trail on Lake Ouachita or Lake Hamilton or to play Connection crosses about an eighth of a mile of the ponies and the “electronic games of skill” National Park Service land, it will require an at Oaklawn (which would become an actual environmental assessment in accordance with casino, with real cards and table games, if vot- the National Environmental Policy Act. The ers approve Issue 4 on Nov. 6). process is proceeding smoothly, Arrison said. The excitement surrounds the Nov. 17 openThe other key differentiator for Northwoods: ing of phase one of the Northwoods Trail project, Most of its trails, though officially multiuse, 14 miles of multiuse trails designed especially won’t be mistaken for hiking trails. They’re for mountain bikes just minutes from down- being built like racetracks, with huge angled town. The trails are the centerpiece of the newly berms, hairpin turns, rocky obstacles and masopened Northwoods Urban Forest Park, 2,000 sive dirt ramps. One black section — like ski acres of pristine woodlands north and west of runs, mountain bike routes are designated green downtown’s Park Avenue. The park includes for beginner, blue for intermediate riders and three lakes that were built as drinking-water black for advanced — features a jump that sends reservoirs: 13-acre Lake Bethel, 24-acre Lake a rider more than 20 feet across a man-made gap Dillon and 28-acre Lake Sanderson. The lakes, some 6 feet deep. along with much of the park, have been closed Hot Springs was in 2015 designated a bronzeto the public since Sept. 11, 2001, for security level ride center by the International Mountain reasons. Bicycling Association, thanks to its proximity The park’s craggy hills and dense groves of to three trails IMBA has designated as “Epic oaks would be reason enough for outdoor enthu- — iconic, adventurous, backcountry trails”: the

FLYING HIGH: Josh Olson, a trail building contractor with IMBA Trail Solutions, demonstrates one of the jumps he predicts will draw throngs of mountain bikers to the Northwoods Trail.

arktimes.com NOVEMBER 1, 2018

NOVEMBER 1, 2018

ARKANSASâ&#x20AC;&#x2C6;TIMES

BRIAN CHILSON

LIKE A ROLLERCOASTER: Northwoods Trail includes steep chutes and wide berms.

“WE’RE GOING FOR AN AESTHETIC THAT’S CONNECTED TO NATURE — WITH JUMPS.” — TRAIL BUILDER JOSH OLSON

33-mile Womble Trail, the 108-mile Ouachita National Recreational Trail and the 45-mile Lake Ouachita Vista Trail (LOViT). Those routes fit in the cross-country category. Although Northwoods will offer a diverse range of trails for all skill levels, it’s likely to especially be a draw for dirt jumpers, advanced mountain bikers who are looking for trails that ride like rollercoasters, but with cars flying off the track. IMBA’s Trail Solutions, an international leader in mountain bike trail development, designed and constructed phase one of Northwoods. The $1.3 million project was funded by Visit Hot Springs and a matching grant from the Walton Family Foundation, which has put $74 million into cycling infrastructure in Northwest Arkansas. Josh Olson, a contractor for Trail Solutions, has been working on the trails since February and living with his crew in an Airbnb just above the Lucky 13, a black diamond trail designed by Randy Spangler, a famed mountain bike pro and designer. Olson has traveled abroad and around the U.S. — to Austria, Utah, Idaho, West Virginia, Colorado, Alabama — building trails. Another Trail Solutions specialist designed all the trails, considering topography and hydrology, and input them with GPS coordinates, so Olson and his team could access the layout. Olson and Co. are using miniexcavators and chainsaws to clear and build up trails. A “hand crew” follows behind to do fine detail work to try to make the trails look like they’ve been around for a while. “At first it looks like a construction zone, that it’s disturbed,” Olson said. “But at the end we want to naturalize it. We’re going for an aesthetic that’s connected to nature — with jumps.” For a demo, Olson rockets his fully

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NOVEMBER 1, 2018

ARKANSAS TIMES

AN AERIAL VIEW: The Northwoods Urban Park extends even beyond what’s show on the map.

BRIAN CHILSON

tricked-out Specialized bike — carbon frame, car- could be another attraction. Funding has not bon wheels, disc brakes, rear shocks (somewhere yet been promised for the second phase, though in the range of $7,000) — down a hill, swinging the Walton Family Foundation would seem to around a tree and gaining speed before climbing be a likely prospect. a short incline and launching off a rocky perch Arrison said he’s watched closely at how down into a short valley. He’s a Colorado native, bike projects have stimulated the economy in but peripatetic. “Jumping really makes me want Northwest Arkansas. A study commissioned by to travel,” he said. the Walton Family Foundation found that it proLocal riders may be wary to take some of the vided $137 million for the region in economic big jumps initially, Olson said. An alternative impact in 2017. “We’ve worked very closely and route accompanies each jump feature. Because watched the blueprint of what Tom and Steuart most of the mountain biking around Hot Springs Walton and the Walton Family Foundation has been geared to cross-country riding, that’s have done in conjunction with Visit Bentonwhat local cyclists favor. Hot Springs’ Cayden ville,” Arrison said. “If you think about it like Parker, 14, is the USA Cycling Mountain Bike ‘Star Wars,’ they’re the masters and we’re the national champion in cross-country, but he Jedi in-training.” hasn’t been interested in taking the big jumps The first phase of Northwoods will connect in Northwoods during demo sessions, Solleder to Garland County’s 10 miles of Cedarglades said. But, as pro-level riders come to town for mountain bike trail. With the Hot Springs Creek dirt jumping, locals will take notice and start Greenway Trail, a 4-mile trail from downtown developing the skill, Olson predicted. Hot Springs to Lake Hamilton, nearing compleVisit Hot Springs and IMBA have already tion and the Southwest Trail, which would link planned phase two of the project, which would Little Rock Central High National Historic expand the total number of miles in the park Park with Hot Springs National Park, looming to about 44 and include loops around each of somewhere on the horizon, Hot Springs may the lakes. A trail over the Lake Bethel dam is be known first and foremost as a biking town also envisioned. Nonmotorized water sports before too long.

DRINK!

After you’ve pedaled hard and spent through all the adrenaline in the Northwoods, of course you’re going to want a beer. SQZBX (236 Ouachita Ave.) is the city’s top new spot. Spouses Cheryl Roorda and Zac Smith, known widely as the polka duo Itinerant Locals, coown the pizzeria and microbrewery (Smith handles all the brewing) and share space with KUHS-LP, 97.9, the solar-powered radio station they helped found. The structure used to house a piano repair shop; Roorda and Smith won a preservation award for their work restoring the beautiful building, which they’ve creatively decorated with retired accordions and old piano parts. The couple also just bought Starlite Club (232 Ouachita Ave.), the dive bar next door and, naturally, it’s become the place to be after dark, too. Another beautifully renovated space: Superior Bathhouse Brewery (329 Central Ave.), in the old Superior Bathhouse along Bathhouse Row, is the ideal spot for unwinding and peoplewatching downtown. Its beers, perhaps unique worldwide, are brewed using thermal water.

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If it’s been a minute since you ventured to Hot Springs and left scratching your head wondering why there weren’t any nice places to stay in such a tourist mecca, take note! The boutique Waters Hotel opened in 2017 in the 1913 George R. Mann-designed Thompson Building, 340 Central Ave., and raised the bar on downtown accommodations. In its lobby, The Avenue does fine dining with a Southern flair. At 658 Ouachita Ave., Best Court Motel reopened in July after an extensive renovation. The large rooms have been updated with a modern but understated touch and include vintage-looking mini fridges and Adirondack chairs in the garage for sheltered, open-air lounging. Co-owner Jimi Brazil called one of the larger units the Marilyn Monroe suite. According to local lore, a baseball teammate of Joe DiMaggio’s owned the motor court next door to the Best Court, but its rooms were too small for Monroe, who insisted they stay next door in the Best Court suite.

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COTTON PLANT, ON THE BIG SCREEN: The Hot Springs Documentary Film festival awarded its Reel South Best Short Documentary Award to Matthew Michaud’s short film “Cotton Plant,” which looks at how the town hopes to revitalize its economy through medical marijuana cultivation.

Matthew Michaud’s short captures a changing Cotton Plant on film. BY CHRISTIAN LEUS

n Oct. 27, the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival presented its Reel South Best Short Documentary Award to “Cotton Plant.” The film, which clocks in at just over six minutes, takes an atmospheric look at the small town where one of Arkansas’s five medical marijuana cultivation facilities will locate. Director Matthew Michaud moves his camera slowly and deliberately, using aerial shots from drone-mounted cameras to capture the town and the sprawling Delta farmland and woods that surround it. As the images unfold, Willard Ryland, Cotton Plant’s mayor since 2014, narrates the hardships of the town’s

past and his hopes for its future. Ryland and his wife, Angela, moved back to town in 2010 with a mission to help remedy the decades of economic blight that have closed the city’s schools, driven out its businesses and decimated its population. Out of the many initiatives the Rylands have spearheaded to try to bring new industry to Cotton Plant, Bold Team LLC’s investment in the growing facility has been one of the few to pan out. Now, as construction of the plant picks up speed and draws attention from media and investors alike, Mayor Ryland is leading the city through the fraught waters of its newfound notoriety. Sitting down after the

film’s HSDFF premiere for a Q&A with this writer and Michaud, Ryland remembered that he was initially wary of Michaud’s request to film in Cotton Plant. Ryland: I have a niece who’s an attorney, and the first thing she told me was to be cautious. Because not everybody that calls you or emails you will have a good intent. Some people will have the intent of taking advantage of you, so I kind of erred on the side of caution to make sure that I didn’t just accept everything that came at me. Michaud: Of course, you have to. Probably most people are well intentioned, but especially with an issue like this there will be CONTINUED ON PAGE 48

NOVEMBER 1, 2018

ARKANSAS TIMES

ROCK CANDY Check out the Times’ A&E blog

Charlie Hunter Trio Friday • Nov. 9 7 p.m. • $10

arktimes.com

The Last Waltz: 40th Anniversary Edition Friday • Nov. 16 7 p.m. • $5

A&E NEWS

Both events are in the Ron Robinson Theater Library Square, 100 Rock St.

CALS.org

HSDFF WINNER: Norah Shapiro’s portrait of political candidate Ilhan Omar took home the prize for Best U.S. Documentary Feature.

The 27th annual Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, held earlier this month, has announced its winners for 2018: Cited by the jury for its “dramatic structure and cinematography, for its timeliness and message of diversity on all levels, and for its emotional center at the heart of a dramatic election,” Norah Shapiro’s “Time for Ilhan” was awarded Best U.S. Documentary Feature; Bernadett Tuza-Ritter’s “A Woman Captured” was awarded Best International Feature; Suzannah Herbert’s “Wrestle” was awarded both Best Sports Feature and the Audience Award for its “story of how sports can transcend mere competition and play an active role in coping with the world’s ills”; Donal Mosher and Michael Palmieri’s “Gospel of Eureka” won Best Southern Feature “for celebrating the tolerance and love among the glorious eccentrics of Eureka Springs, Arkansas, a very special town where the gay and Christian communities live in evident harmony”; and Liam SaintPierre’s “The Last Storm” took home the award for Best Short Film. “This year’s winners represented a range of world views, including female empowerment, overcoming insurmountable obstacles and finding the strength of love, compassion and understanding within humanity,” HSDFF Executive Director Jennifer Gerber said in a press release. “These films showed us that there is still work to be done, but that we can continue to have faith in one another and build a better tomorrow.” For more information, see hsdfi.org.

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THE

TO-DO

LIST

BY STEPHANIE SMITTLE AND LESLIE LESLIE NEWELL PEACOCK BY DAVID KOON, LINDSEY MILLAR, NEWELLL PEACOCK, JACOB

VINCENT SOYEZ

THURSDAY 11/1 THURSDAY 11/1

FABIAN ALMAZAN TRIO

8 p.m. South on Main. $30-$44.

A GRAND BURST OF LIGHT: The Fabian Almazan Trio takes the stage at South on Main as part of Oxford American’s Jazz Series.

FRIDAY 11/2-FRIDAY 11/30

‘MY SELVES IN CONSTANT DISSONANCE/ MY SELVES IN PERFECTED HARMONY’ 6:30 p.m. Thea Foundation. $15.

Thea Foundation’s next installation of The Art Department features the work of Joshua Asante, photographer/poet/frontman for Amasa Hines and Velvet Kente. “The African in America soon found there to be a twoness in which she/he was to exist,” Asante muses in a press release about the exhibit. “To be both bondsperson and boundless, to be property yet priceless, to yearn for love and home and to possess neither, save for the confines of her/his master’s debased will. From that duplicity, a vast splintering of human identity was spawned and finds its way into the now.” I recognized the individuals in the exhibition’s two harbinger images at The Art Department’s website, and perhaps others will, too: Dazzmin Murry and Timothy Howard both tend to exude a warmth particular to their personalities. I don’t know if recognizing the people in the photos is necessary, or even desirable to the viewer, though; Asante’s premise shines through in the layered portraits, even if the subjects in the photo are being observed for the first time: “We are all layering and shapeshifting in a constant flux of longing; for a safe space to simply exist without fear of deprivation, or violence against our minds and bodies. We shape selves atop selves within other selves, birthing even more in pursuit of the full right of citizenship and the liberties/ protections hereof. It is exhausting. It is maddening. It is as necessary as the hope that somehow weaves into our cultural DNA also.” Friday’s reception opens the exhibition. Admission, $15, covers heavy hors d’oeuvres by Heritage Catering, an open beer and wine bar, and the chance to win one of Asante’s pieces. The exhibition runs through Friday, Nov. 30. Gallery hours are 9 a.m.-noon and 1 p.m.-5 p.m. weekdays. SS

Pianist Fabian Almazan, bassist Linda May Han Oh and drummer Henry Cole have set up musical shop in a hybrid territory, somewhere in the periphery between improvisation’s buzzy energy and composition’s structured mathematics. See “Pet Step Sitters Theme Song,” which Almazan wrote as a member of trumpeter Terence Blanchard’s band. In it, the listener is bound to mistake liveliness and buoyancy for making-it-up-as-we-go-along, except that in those moments when the whole center of chordal gravity suddenly shifts, all three voices take the corner at the exact same time. Not to be missed before the trio’s performance this Thursday is Almazan’s stunning latest work, “Alcanza,” a nine-movement suite with Spanish-language lyrics that opens with the grandest of directives: “Tear apart your prelude/Tell me how it is that I — I, came to be from such a grand burst of light.’ ” Those lyrics are sung playfully by Camila Meza in a recording at the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, encircled by the swirl and dense interplay of an unbelievable octet, Cole and Oh among them — a sort of string quartet-jazz combo hybrid. (As if to represent the music itself in its packaging, “Alcanza” arrives to album purchasers as a “BioPholio,” a two-sided origami-inspired foldout with artwork, liner notes and a download code.) Almazan appears at South on Main as part of the Oxford American Jazz Series. Tickets are available through metrotix.com. SS

A TWONESS: “My Selves In Constant Dissonance/My Selves In Perfected Harmony (Timothy)” is part of Joshua Asante’s photography exhibit, next up in the Thea Foundation’s Art Department series. 40

NOVEMBER 1, 2018

ARKANSAS TIMES

ROSENBERG, STEPHANIE SMITTLE

ST. PETERSBURG PIANO QUARTET

7:30 p.m. St. Mark’s Episcopal Church. $25.

In the hands of chamber music masters in the revered St. Petersburg String Quartet (est. 1985), parts of Shostakovich’s “String Quartet No. 8” in C minor are bone-chilling. A unison phrase near its beginning drips with dread, and the ensuing frenzy later on in the piece is the stuff of Ted Bundy’s mental soundtrack. (No wonder Hitchock composer Bernard Hermann ripped Shostakovich off so beautifully.) Violinist Alla Aranovskaya, violist Boris Vayner and cellist Thomas Mesa — who form the backbone of the String Quartet’s current roster — transfer that same personality and intensity to their newer project with pianist Tao Lin, the St. Petersburg Piano Quartet. Here, at this concert from the Chamber Music Society of Little Rock, Lin and the string players perform Jeremiah Bornfield’s glassy six-minute wonder, “As it Happened,” a 2016 piece composed especially for this ensemble to commemorate the 15th anniversary of 9/11. Go to hear that dazzler in person, stay to hear Robert Schumann’s “Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 47, iii. Andante cantabile,” Beethoven’s “Piano Quartet in C Major, No. 3” and Brahms’ “Piano Quartet in A Major, Op. 26.” Wine and refreshments follow the concert, and admission is free for children and students of all ages. See chambermusiclr. com/tickets for tickets. SS

FRIDAY 11/2

ARKANSAS TIMES CRAFT BEER FESTIVAL

6-9 p.m. Fourth Street between Main and Maple streets, downtown North Little Rock. $25 advance, $35 at the door.

Pay close attention, beer lovers: The party of the year is just around the corner. The Arkansas Times Craft Beer Festival, presented by the Arkansas Rice Council, returns to the Argenta neighborhood for the seventh year Friday. DJ extraordinaire Mike Poe will get the party started so folks can dance off their sipping at tents from Blue Canoe, Flyway, Karbach, Clown Shoes, New Province, Squatters, Lagunitas, Mothers, Shock Top, Stone’s Throw, Superior Bathhouse, Tin Roof and many other craft brewers. There will also be eats, for purchase, from the Riceland Mobile Cafe, Reggae Flavas, Say Cheese, Wok ’n Roll, K&T Hot Dogs, Loblolly Creamery, Black Hound BBQ and more. The Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau will also promote its Locally Labeled Passport Program, and the Fayetteville Ale Trail will be on hand, too. Because of the construction of the Arkansas Plaza, the festival — which sells out fast, so get tickets now at centralarkansastickets.com — is in a new location on Fourth Street. LNP

IN BRIEF, CONT.

THURSDAY 11/1

KEITH URBAN

7:30 p.m. Verizon Arena. $20-$97.

Even if you went out of your way to ignore Keith Urban, you probably know a handful of things about his life: Australian country star, married to Nicole Kidman, shook a substance-abuse habit, sports a boy band-ready shag, represents his own signature brands of guitars and cologne. What I didn’t know about him until SXSW 2018 is that, like so many of his musical peers from across the pond, he was hip to the musical traditions of the American South at an earlier age than most American Southerners typically are. His first concert was at age 5, when his dad took him to see Johnny Cash — an experience Urban credits with lighting his fire for country music. He got fired from a metal band called Fractured Mirror for playing a Ricky Skaggs-inspired bluegrass solo through a Marshall amp during a set. He’ll take his 2018 release “Graffiti U” and its bass-thumping elixir of stadium anthem “Never Comin’ Down” to the stage at Verizon Arena this weekend with an opening set from pop-country confrere Kelsea Ballerini. SS

SATURDAY 11/3

HARVESTFEST

11 a.m. Beechwood and Kavanaugh streets, Hillcrest neighborhood.

Hillcrest’s favorite festival is cramming all of the following into the neighborhood this Saturday: performances from Shake Ray Turbine musician-turned-silver screen superstar Ben Dickey, Big Piph, Dazz & Brie, Little Joe & The BKs, The Frontier Circus, and Hemmed In Hollow; food from Adobo To Go, Banana Leaf, Bragg’s Big Bites, Kona-Ice, Haygood BBQ Concession & Catering, Hot Rod Wieners, Katmandu Momo, Loblolly Creamery, Luncheria Mexicana Alicia, Pappy Jack’s Street Pies, Salsa Wagon, Slader’s Alaskan Dumpling Co.; a dog show, a gumbo cook-off, baby goat ambassadors from Heifer International; over 150 vendors; and local beer from Blue Canoe Brewing Co., Damgoode Brews, Diamond Bear Brewing Co., Flyway Brewing, Lost Forty Brewing, Rebel Kettle Brewing Co., Stone’s Throw Brewing, Vino’s Pizza-PubBrewery and The Water Buffalo. A pancake breakfast and Farmer’s Market precede the festival; see harvestfest.us for a full schedule. SS

David Harrower’s drama “Blackbird” goes up at The Studio Theatre, 7:30 p.m. Thu.-Sat., 2:30 p.m. Sun., $10. Comedian Mike Merryfield takes the stage at The Loony Bin, 7:30 p.m. Thu.Sat., 10 p.m. Fri.-Sat., $8-$10. Singer, guitarist and handsaw player Angela Perley brings her band The Howlin’ Moons to Stickyz Rock ’n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 8:30 p.m., $10. Dustin Vance, Jared Lowry and Michael Brown take the stage at The Joint for the comedy faceoff “The Game,” 8 p.m., pay what you can. Sinclare, A1 Nino and AR Swish perform at the White Water Tavern for “New T.R.A.P. City Live,” 9 p.m. The Billy Jones Band takes its blues set to Cajun’s Wharf, 9 p.m., $5, or come early and catch Raising Grey, 5:30 p.m., free. Dr. Carl Drexler leads a noontime “Brown Bag Lunch Lecture” titled “Life and Death on Lost Prairie: The 1819-1820 Cherokee Settlement on the Little Red River,” Old State House Museum, free. Big Piph & Tomorrow Maybe takes its show to El Dorado’s Murphy Arts District, 8 p.m., The Griffin Restaurant.

HOLIDAY THEMED COCKTAIL DINNER $50 GET TICKETS AT CENTRALARKANSASTICKETS.COM

FRIDAY 11/2 Baritone Emery Stephens and pianist Linda Holzer perform at the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center for a noontime “Lunch and Learn” session on Arkansans William Grant Still and Florence Price, free. Honky tonk badass/classical composer Bonnie Montgomery returns to White Water, 9 p.m. Meanwhile, trumpeter/bandleader Rodney Block performs ’90s girl group hits at Cajun’s with Bijoux, G-Force and the Rodney Block Collective, 9 p.m., $15. Playwright’s Week kicks off at The Weekend Theater with four short plays: Johnny Jones’ “Consensual,” Jeffrey Lewellen’s “Arms of the Wicked,” Anthony Mariani’s “The Hole in the Wall” and Matthew White’s “Hashbrowns at Midnight,” 7 p.m. Fri.-Sat., $10. Rodney Carrington mashes up country music and standup comedy at the Robinson Center, 7 p.m., $45. The True Lit literary festival continues in Fayetteville with a reading from Jamaican novelist Marlon James, 7 p.m., Fayetteville Public Library, see truelitfest. com for full schedule. Mountain Sprout takes its rowdy string band tunes to Four Quarter Bar, with Big Still River, 10 p.m., $8. Wildwood Academy of Music & the Arts hosts “Vine & Dine,” a wine fundraiser, 6:30 p.m., Chenal Country Club, see wildwoodpark.org to reserve tickets, $200. The Zac Dunlap Band takes the stage at Rev Room, 9 p.m., $10. Lypstick Hand Grenade performs at Stickyz, 9 p.m., $5. Volk, Fort Defiance and Something Better share a bill at Maxine’s in Hot Springs, 9 p.m. Elsewhere in Hot Springs, DeFrance takes its Southern rock to The Big Chill, 9 p.m., and Hwy 124 fires up a set at Oaklawn CONTINUED ON PAGE 25

Support for OAC is provided, in part, by the Arkansas Arts Council, an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage, and the National Endowment for the Arts Follow Rock Candy on Twitter: @RockCandies

arktimes.com NOVEMBER 1, 2018

THE

TO-DO

LIST

BY STEPHANIE SMITTLE AND LESLIE LESLIE NEWELL PEACOCK BY DAVID KOON, LINDSEY MILLAR, NEWELLL PEACOCK, JACOB

ROSENBERG, STEPHANIE SMITTLE

FRIDAY 11/2

MELISSA CARPER & REBECCA PATEK

8 p.m. The Undercroft. $10.

With a reverence for old-time music and an appetite for keeping it playful, bassist/banjo player Melissa Carper and fiddle player Rebecca Patek put together “Brand New Old-Time Songs,” a collection of originals the duo wrote, plus a formidable take on Shawn Camp/Guy Clark’s “Death of Sis Draper.” The duo’s a cappella “Thought I Heard You Singing” is absolute evidence that Almeda Riddle’s flame has living ambassadors, and the waltzing “Put On Your Shoes” is nothing short of celestial; it’s the song of the winter, as far as my playlists go. This show’s for fans of The Creek Rocks, Iris Dement, Erin McKeown — or, of course, fans of Patek and Carper’s other band, Sad Daddy. But, even if you’ve never heard a lick from any of those ensembles, I doubt you’ll leave this BRAND NEW OLD-TIME SONGS: Fiddler Rebecca Patek and bassist Melissa Carper basement concert without falling head over heels for this duo. SS duet at The Undercroft Friday night.

SATURDAY 11/3-SUNDAY 11/4

KESSLER MOUNTAIN JAM

SATURDAY 11/3

8:30 a.m. Sat., 8 a.m. Sun. Kessler Mountain Regional Park, Fayetteville. $15-$40.

After nine years in Bentonville, the annual mountain biking festival formerly known as Slaughter Pen Jam is moving to Kessler Mountain Regional Park in Fayetteville, and adopting a new name. “As the largest cross-country mountain-biking race in the state, Slaughter Pen Jam has been a wildly successful tourism draw for our region for the past nine years,” Experience Fayetteville Executive Director Molly Rawn said in a press release. “Along with Fayetteville Parks and Recreation and AMBCS, we look forward to bringing an exceptional single-track experience to the City of Fayetteville.” The Kessler Jam centerpiece is a single-track race that’s part of the Arkansas Mountain Bike Championship Series (AMBCS), a series of mountain bike races across The Natural State, but there’s plenty to do for the not-so-hardcore cyclists; see bikereg.com/kesslerjam to see where your level of experience and bike savvy slots you. For the daredevils who aren’t competing in the crosscountry race, a “Funduro Race” is on for Saturday, with shuttles taking riders to the top of two different runs: Chinkapin Oak and Crazy Mary. Both mornings’ rides are followed by an awards party between 2:30-5 p.m. Saturday and 11:30 a.m-1 p.m. Sunday, with beer and live music. SS

BOOKS, BOURBON & BOOGIE: ARLO GUTHRIE

7 p.m. CALS Ron Robinson Theater. $150-$200.

You can get almost anything you want from the Oxford American magazine, including Arlo Guthrie and his daughter, Sarah Lee Guthrie, who will make a tour stop in Little Rock in a benefit for the magazine. The tour celebrates the 50th anniversary of Arlo Guthrie’s famed “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree,” his comic, embellished talking account about his post-Thanksgiving Day arrest for littering (“Yes sir, Officer Obie, I cannot tell a lie. I put that envelope under that garbage”) that segues into the Vietnam draft and his spot on the “Group W” bench with “mother-rapers, father-stabbers, father rapers” who move away from him when they hear he was arrested for littering. The spoken song was 18 minutes-plus long on the LP this writer heard it on when it was brand-new, a length equal to one of the gaps in Richard Nixon’s White House tapes, or so Guthrie said. If Guthrie’s weird political shift from the folk-singing left to the Republican Party bothers you, relax: He’s renounced the party. Third-generation Guthrie musician Sarah Lee Guthrie (granddaughter of Woody Guthrie) and her husband, Johnny Irion, have performed as a folk-rock-blues duo for nearly two decades. Tickets are available at metrotix.com or by calling 800-293-5949; only a few were available by press time. LNP ALICE’S RESTAURANT, 50 YEARS LATER: Arlo Guthrie and his daughter appears at CALS Ron Robinson for Oxford American’s annual gala, “Books, Bourbon & Boogie.”

NOVEMBER 1, 2018

ARKANSAS TIMES

I’m still surprised at the sound that comes out of Ray Lamontagne’s mouth when he approaches the microphone, and at the death-defying stunt he manages to pull off, airlifting a delicate Christopher Cross-Barry Gibb lilt of a tenor out of its 1979 yacht rock context and pairing it with folky guitar strums, bare-bones arrangements and undeniable clarity. His latest, “Part of the Light,” boasts an intimate heartbreaker Lamontagne acolytes probably already know by heart — “Such a Simple Thing” — that puts his voice front and center, making the Secret Sisters’ Everly Brothers-incarnate harmonies a perfect match. This show will be gorgeous; if you’re a lover of only one act on this bill, bet that you’ll leave a fan of the other. SS

DENNIS ANDERSEN

WEDNESDAY 11/7

RAY LAMONTAGNE, SECRET SISTERS

8 p.m. Robinson Performance Hall. $35-$85.

IN BRIEF, CONT.

FRIDAY 11/2

LITTLE ROCK NIGHT MARKET

Racing & Gaming’s Silks Bar & Grill, 10 p.m. Fri.-Sat. Cadillac Jackson plays a set at Kings Live Music in Conway, with an opening set from Tyler Sellers, 8:30 p.m., $5. The Josh Parks Band plays a free show at Markham Street Grill and Pub, 8:30 p.m.

5-9 p.m. Bernice Garden, 1401 Main St. Free.

Shopping and eating in the dark — that sounds like special fun, especially when it’s the Night Market in SoMa. Thirty local merchants will sell handmade goods, including such holidays-are-around-thecorner gifty items as soaps, candles, sculpture made from horseshoes, jewelry and so forth. You will also find yourself in the Night Kitchen, as chefs from Venezuelan Food Truck, Kontiki African Restaurant, The House of Mental, Antojitos Colombianos, South on Main and others show off their cooking chops. DJ Charles Ray will provide the music and refreshments will be available. The motto of the Night Market, which is in its second year, reflects its goal of community building: “One City. One Love.” Africa Day Festival organizer Benito Lubazibwa of Tanzania is the founder of Night Market, Remix Ideas is organizer and sponsors are ARORA, Central High School National Historic Site and the Bernice Garden. LNP

WEDNESDAY 11/7-FRIDAY 11/9

‘THE AFTER’

11 a.m. and 7 p.m. Wed.-Thu., 7 p.m. Fri. UA Pulaski Tech Center for the Humanities and Arts. $5-$7.

A play that resonates with the horror of school shootings and their aftermath premieres at CHARTS with an all-school cast. Playwright and Porter Prize winner Werner Trieschmann, who teaches theater, film and scriptwriting at UA-PTC, opens “The After” in a high school, where students have created a barrier of desks, chairs and music stands to block the flying bullets. Later they must face the pressures of grief, fear and focus by the media. The play’s violent theme means leave the children at home, even if they know what’s happening in American schools — and places of worship, concerts, restaurants and wherever hate comes to town. The play runs about 60 minutes, and doors open 30 minutes before showtime. Reserve a seat at uaptc.edu/charts or buy a ticket at the door. LNP

SATURDAY 11/3 Judy Goss’s “Life Science” goes on stage at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre as part of its “Plays in Progress” series, 7 p.m., $10. The Akeem Kemp Band holds blues court at Kings Live Music in Conway, with an opening set from Rikki D, 8:30 p.m., $5. Roundthree gives a concert at Hibernia Irish Tavern, featuring Isaac Helgestad, 7:30 p.m. DeFrance and Stephen Neeper & the Wild Hearts double up on the rock’n’roll at Stickyz, 9 p.m., $6. Freeverse returns to Four Quarter Bar, 10 p.m., $7. Riley Green takes “In a Truck Right Now” and other country anthems to the Rev Room stage, 8:30 p.m., $12-$15. 360 Fight Club returns to the Clear Channel Metroplex, 7 p.m., $25-$80. Rapper/songwriter NF takes a Christian hip hop show to Verizon Arena, 8 p.m., $25-$45. Jeremy Lynn Woodall & The Grinders take the stage at White Water, 9 p.m. The Brian Nahlen Band returns to Cajun’s, 9 p.m., $5. Sleepy LaBeef bassist Jimmy “Cadillac Crumb” takes the stage at El Dorado’s Griffin Restaurant, 11:30 a.m., free.

JOIN YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS FOR A DAY OF CELEBRATION IN HISTORIC HILLCREST ENJOY A FULL DAY OF EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES FOR ADULTS AND KIDS OF ALL AGES PANCAKE BREAKFAST • DOG SHOW KID’S ACTIVITIES • FOOD TRUCKS GUMBO COOK-OFF • LIVE MUSIC 150+ VENDORS THE PARTY BEGINS AT 11 A.M. ON KAVANAUGH BLVD. BETWEEN WALNUT AND SPRUCE

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SUNDAY 11/4 Beer & Hymns holds its “Snacksgiving Edition” with an hour-long singalong in the back room at Vino’s back room and a concurrent food drive (bring pre-packaged snacks) for Canvas Community, 7 p.m., free. Works by Arkansas native Randall Standridge and W. Francis McBeth, the first Composer Laureate of Arkansas, are on the program for the North Little Rock Community Band’s “As Time Goes By,” 3 p.m., Patrick Henry Hays Center, North Little Rock, free.

APL AYBYDAVI DHARROWER

TUESDAY 11/6 Tokyo rockers Otonana Trio land at E.J.’s Eats & Drinks, with Billy Ruben & The Elevated Enzymes and Belvis, 11 p.m. The Diamond Empire Band twists up inventive covers at the Rev Room, 8 p.m., free.

WEDNESDAY 11/7 Australian skate punks C.O.F.F.I.N. and Dress Up share a bill at White Water, 8 p.m.

T I XAVAI L ABL E@

NOVEMBER14 #T S T Bl ackbi r d @s t udi ot heat r el rs t udi ot heat r el r . com 320W.7T HS T REET -DOWNT OWNL I T T L EROCK

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Dining WHAT’S COOKIN’

Ira’s, a Main Street restaurant that opened in July after a year of delays, is now Allsopp & Chapple Restaurant + Bar and under new management. New Executive Chef Bonner Cameron and Crystal Dear, who previously operated Bistro Catering and Take Away in Bryant, announced their relocation to the restaurant at 311 Main St. on Facebook and said their “new endeavor” would include a “New American” menu. It’s unknown what happened to chef/ owner Ira Mittleman, who once operated Ira’s Park Hill Grill in North Little Rock. Cameron, who moved to Little Rock in 2011 and first worked at YaYa’s Eurobistro, has been a finalist in UA Pulaski Technical College’s Diamond Chef competition. The new name is taken from the Allsopp & Chapple bookstore that was located in the Rose Building, which houses the restaurant, from the turn of the century to the 1950s. Hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. weekdays and 4-10 p.m. Saturday. Each week seems to bring evidence that businesspeople are counting on Arkansans to have a taste for craft booze: We reported in October on new distilleries in the works in Helena-West Helena (Delta Dirt Distillery) and Hot Springs (Crystal Ridge). Now, Keith Atkinson, a professor of accounting at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, and his son, Scott, plan to open a second distillery in the Spa City, which they’ll name Hot Springs Distillery. Keith Atkinson said the duo will “probably” make vodka, gin and white whiskey, which distinguishes itself from moonshine by having no sugar in it. The Atkinsons have been taking classes in distilling after an inspirational trip to Scotland some years back, where they tasted a small distiller’s spirits “and it was awesome,” Keith Atkinson said. “We just started thinking this might be an interesting thing to do, and started investigating and kicking the idea around.” The distillery, to be situated at the corner of Ross and Seneca streets, will not include a restaurant, but will have both a bar and tasting area. The Atkinsons have just started the licensing process and can’t predict an opening date. Something special Hot Springs Distillery might produce: a brandy made of Arkansas Black apples. A reminder: Chili Fights in the Heights returns to several blocks on Kavanaugh Boulevard for its eighth year on Saturday. Forty teams will compete, thousands will eat. There will be adult beverages and live music during the competition; all proceeds go to Arkansas Foodbank. Chili Fights is competing with another event on Kavanaugh: HarvestFest in the Hillcrest neighborhood. 44

NOVEMBER 1, 2018

ARKANSAS TIMES

WINGING IT: When the chef walked out, Proof owner Gene Lee made the dry-rub wings, and they were delicious.

Simple, consistent, good

Proof gets it right.

“P

eople say this location is buddies looking for pick-up server batches so all the servers have to do is cursed, but it isn’t,” says shifts when he talked to Ugur Tasar, plop ice in a glass and pour it over. It’s Gene Lee, the owner, who owned Next (Proof’s predeces- well executed and tastes just as if it had operator, and “janitor” at sor). Tasar said he didn’t have any work been mixed by the glass. For $5 during Proof. “If you do a good job, people will because he was trying to sell the place happy hour, it’s a steal. keep coming back.” Lee opened Proof in and told Lee to be on the lookout for The Vagabond ($10) is a darn tasty March, hoping to establish the place as interested parties. concoction and guaranteed to lighten a neighborhood bar for Hillcrest. And “He gave me a price, and I took it,” the mood of even the dourest of patrons. it’s worked. Lee says. It’s tequila-forward, but the pear brandy, “We’ve got a really diverse crowd,” he His goal was to establish a neighbor- lemon and honey come through. By the says. “You’ll see business people here hood haunt: unpretentious, simple and time you’re halfway done with it, you in suits sipping on martinis and then consistent. He’s pulled it off nicely. On won’t really care what’s in it. Those of somebody in shorts and flip-flops hav- a recent Sunday night visit, we found us who ordered one became more chatty ing a beer.” ourselves out on the patio with a coterie and attractive. Lee cut his teeth making cocktails of locals, two golden retrievers, kickball We ran into an issue ordering food. and running the bar at The Pantry for players, some Saints fans and a baby. The cook was a no-show and wouldn’t about eight years, made a brief stop The cocktail menu is short, and that’s by be coming back ever. Lee left a busy bar in New Orleans, and then decided to design. Lee doesn’t want servers spend- to drop some french fries and wings, come back to Little Rock. He was calling tons of time making overly crafty though, for which we were thankful. ing around some of his old restaurant drinks. The Old Fashioned is made in The wings come six for $7, and you have

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BELLY UP

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

your pick between the Buffalo, barbecue or dry-rub variety. We were certain we wanted Buffalo. Lee was adamant that we really wanted dry-rub. He was right. The rub of paprika, cumin and some other spices he wouldn’t mention was enticing. The wings themselves were hefty, juicy and delicious. “I probably get more excited about food these days than I do the drinks,” Lee says. “I think the key with our menu is I don’t ever want it to be long. I want to do things that are really good and easy to execute.” Stay tuned. Lee says the Proof Burger is coming soon. He starts by adding a small amount of blue cheese crumbles, honey and truffle oil to the ground meat. The patties are covered in a blackening seasoning that’s made of white pepper, cumin, salt and a few other spices. Once it gets a nice sear, he’s careful not to cook it too much past medium. It’ll be topped with bacon, caramelized onions and arugula. The bun is slightly smeared with mayo and then grilled. “We’ll start there,” Lee says. “My goal is to just be consistent. I learned a lot about consistency from Tomas [Bohm] at The Pantry. So that’s what I want to do, just be simple and consistent and have a good neighborhood bar.”

Proof

2611 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-246-4138

Quick bite

Since the cook quit, the pimento cheese ($6) was about our only other option and it was a good one. It’s got a bit of a kick to it and is served with celery, carrots and pretzel chips. It’s a good, dense nibble, and satisfying. Wash it down with a Moscow Mule ($7.50) for a kick of a different kind.

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Used Book Sale

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Main Library Basement, Library Square

Thursday • Nov 8 • 5-7 p.m.

Friends of CALS members only

Friday • Nov 9 • 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Friends of CALS may enter at 9 a.m. SHORT AND SWEET: The limited cocktail menu includes Old Fashioneds, a knockout Vagabond and other

Saturday • Nov 10 • 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Friends of CALS may enter at 9 a.m.

Non-members may buy a $5 wristband for entry on Thursday evening and at 9 a.m. on Friday & Saturday. Memberships and wristbands are available at the door.

Library Square is located at 100 Rock St.

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arktimes.com NOVEMBER 1, 2018

MOVIE REVIEW

LANDING THE TRICK: Hill gets a lot of “Mid90s” skate culture right, even if the skate shots themselves don’t quite thrill.

Wipeout “Mid90s” is more indie drama than skater film. BY JACOB ROSENBERG

y older brother was a skater, and I was born in 1994. Which makes me not the exact target audience of “Mid90s,” Jonah Hill’s skater-drama bildungsroman, but close. I was the one who watched David — more reckless, more likely to ask “why not?” — crash down stairs and fall off roofs and then, finally, land the trick, throwing his hands in the air with pride. It was fun. You’d witness danger combine with art and skill. Skating never let David play it safe. Unfortunately, that thrill is the thing missing in “Mid90s.” Hill made a good indie movie, but he also didn’t seem to try anything that could’ve caused a broken bone. Technically, yes, Hill does many things right. He uses a square frame, evocative of another era. The leads —

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ARKANSAS TIMES

played by Sunny Suljic, Na-kel Smith Ryder McLaughlin and Olan Prenatt — act well, especially for kids. The plot is thin but streamlined, a welcome change from sagging, two-hour dramas. Yet, none of it soared, none of it showed off, none of it had that style or personal touch — the thing that makes you whisper “Oh, shit!” while you’re in your room watching a video of a man flipping a board around a parking lot. The shots of the actual skating are sub-par. The music never reaches the nirvana it can in many skate videos. By the end, you realize you’ve been tricked into a somewhat typical film.“Mid90s” does get pretty much everything “right” about the culture: the all-consuming nature of skating, and how it forms a community. In the movie, 13-year-old Stevie

(Suljic) goes from his older brother (Ian, played by Lucas Hedges) beating him up to pushing a board with a Colt 45 in hand pretty quick. Kids have sex/try drugs for the first time. Boys gather in a circle making bad (read: offensive) jokes. Moms yell at their children for hanging with the burnout kids. Friendships are a matter of life or death. Cigarettes are smoked for no reason. And Hill depicts each kid milestone earnestly; at times, you can feel him thinking, “OK, what are the big moments of childhood?” A scene teased out in the trailer, kids yelling at a rent-a-cop (Jerrod Carmichael), is particularly sublime. But Hill seems to have missed the lessons on speed and joy from skating. Maybe more technique, like montage, used in actual skateboard videos would’ve added potency to the

film. Good skate videos splice together tricks and music and madness (mostly young people spitting and cursing and vandalizing). It’s frenzied, unlike watching any other sport. I wish Hill had incorporated more of that outside of one clip at the end. Instead, he adopts a slower and less experimental style than your typical skate video. It’s not bad. In fact, all the skateboarding, and ’90s-ness, is meticulously accurate. Yet, it’s too clean and frictionless; monologues, heartfelt resolutions, familial drama. I found that disappointing. But mileage may vary. A moment I found overchoreographed got my friend crying. There is one moment in the film where Stevie kind of lands an ollie (the easiest trick, just jumping with the board). He screams with felicity. I remember that feeling. I think anyone can relate it. And it’s a beautiful thing to watch. But for anyone going into “Mid90s” in hopes of seeing greatness, or whatever the hell skating means to American childhood boiled down, the fabulous Bing Liu documentary “Minding the Gap” on Hulu might be the move. “Mid90s” is, unfortunately, a bit average.

presents

Arkansas Times Craft Beer Festival benefitting Argenta Arts District

Friday, Nov. 2nd 6-9pm $25 Adv • $35 Door

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A&E CONT. people who have their own interests. But, yeah, I knew someone was going to shoot this film, and I just wanted to be the one to do it. Matthew, you’re based in LA. How did you stumble onto this story from Arkansas? Michaud: I direct commercials. I do mostly documentary-type commercials and am very comfortable working in the doc world. But it’s usually, you know, branded stuff for companies. I love it very much, but I do look for more fulfilling opportunities to express myself as a filmmaker. So, for a while I had been thinking, “I have to do something that I really care about, not just something selling soap or whatever.” I had a lengthy list of stories that I thought I could be interested in, and I just kept going through them and trying to think of the angle. And then I saw [Richard Fausset’s] article in The New York Times and it just clicked. I can’t say exactly what drew me to it so much, but I really credit the journalist and photographer with painting a great portrait of the town. It really drew me into that world.

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ARKANSAS TIMES

The only other thing was wanting to hear the mayor’s voice because there was no video or audio component to the article. I think I found a video of you [Mayor Ryland] speaking on Facebook somewhere, and I said, “Oh, my God, he’s got a great movie voice!” Ryland: I had never recognized that! I think the film is really successful at capturing a downtrodden place in a way that still feels respectful and hopeful. How did you navigate that? Michaud: Well, I felt it had to be a big story, and it’s a very small canvas. We’ve got very few people in the film, there’s only one voice in the film, and it’s a small town by nature. That’s what the story’s about, it’s very localized. But I felt that there were also enormous, universal themes to this film that we had to communicate through the filmmaking. So that led to things like using wider camera angles and drone shots, which give a more environmental effect. When we have a shot of Mayor Ryland in the school, and it’s not just a closeup of him with a shallow background.

You feel the whole school. You feel the whole town. In the film, you mention some of the background causes behind the town’s economic hardships today — namely, integration and white flight. If you were to build a bigger project, what kind of angles would you approach that form to piece together a bigger picture of Cotton Plant? Michaud: There was so much. Race is a big one. That was the thing, as I was editing, that I wished we had more time or another angle to delve into a little bit. We weren’t there for very long, but I was there long enough to get a sense of the town’s history of school integration and the way that the white population left almost immediately afterward. Ryland: Yeah. You know, before integration, the community was racially polarized, of course, because everything was separate. And here it is, 50 years later, and it’s almost still the same. However, there’s a little bit better mixing and communication with young people. It has progressed over the years, where we get along fine in the community,

but there are some subliminal things that still happen, even though here it is 2018. How do y’all foresee this partnership and project moving forward? Michaud: I don’t know. The story is still going on in the town, it’s barely started. Ryland: I think it has started. The spark has been lit. And once you light a spark, it can blossom into a raging forest fire, and I hope that that’s what will happen with this community. I’m already looking at a snapshot of Cotton Plant five years from now. Five years from now, people in Cotton Plant won’t have to drive to another community to go buy a pair of socks. Right now, you can’t buy a pair of socks in Cotton Plant. You can’t buy gas in Cotton Plant. You can’t exchange money in Cotton Plant. I suspect that, within five years, there’s going to be a tremendous story of progress, of a thriving community. I think what the New York Times indicated was that it was a dying community. I think in five years, that won’t be the story.

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2019

Arkansas Times will present the 38th edition of our Readers Choice Restaurants awards in our January 31, 2019 issue. February 5th is our awards celebration party for the statewide winners, presented by our hosts and sponsors UA Pulaski Tech Culinary Institute, Ben E. Keith Foods, Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits and Glazer’s Beer and Beverage. Food, drink, interesting people and Ted Ludwig Jazz Trio will provide the entertainment. For more information contact phyllis@arktimes.com

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