Arkansas Times - November 30, 2017 by Arkansas Times

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NEWS + POLITICS + ENTERTAINMENT+ FOOD | NOVEMBER 30, 2017 | ARKTIMES.COM

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Voting Starts Nov. 25 | Ends Jan. 13 Next year, the Arkansas Times will put out the 37th edition of our Readers Choice restaurant awards. That makes us the oldest and most respected readers survey in Arkansas. Walk in many restaurants around the state and you’ll see our posters on the walls. Be a part of the tradition: Vote online for your favorite chefs and restaurants in dozens of different categories. Winners will be announced in the March 15 issue and an awards celebration sponsored by Ben E. Keith Foods and Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits will be held at the UA Pulaski Tech Culinary Arts and Hospitality Institute who will prepare all the food for the celebration March 13. Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management Institute

NOVEMBER 30, 2017

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COMMENT

An open letter to our congressmen Dear senators and congressmen: I am writing to say that this tax cut for the rich and screwing the middle class is immoral. The House and Senate bills would get rid of the medical expense tax credit, the student loan interest credit, and make student loans that are paid by employers taxable income. It would also get rid of the property tax deduction. These tax increases will devastate my family. First, by getting rid of the medical

tax credit, my daughter and her husband will have a larger burden paying back the medical bills my grandson has incurred. Roman has had three surgeries in the past month and he will be in surgery again in two weeks. He has been hospitalized more days than home since he was born nearly two years ago. Second, I have two children in college who are taking out student loans because we can’t afford to pay out-of-pocket. They will be hit hard by the student loan credit repeal when it’s time to pay them back. Also, my

wife has decided to go back to school to get a Ph.D. in psychology to help disabled veterans with PTSD, such as myself. The Veterans Administration has a program that pays off student loans for employees who go to work helping veterans. Making that student loan payoff taxable will deter her from being able to afford to work at the VA. Third, we are trying to buy a house, and depending on if we can get a VA loan, we might have to pay property taxes. By eliminating the property tax credit, the bill will place an undue burden on me as well as my children

HELP MAKE INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM POSSIBLE IN ARKANSAS The internet is great. But it’s upended the way news outlets make money, in Arkansas and everywhere else. The alarming consequence of this is that, with each passing year, there are fewer and fewer journalists reporting stories that make a difference. The Arkansas Nonprofit News Network is working to fill that gap in Arkansas. In 2017, ANNN has produced more than 75 public interest and investigative news stories — on topics including health care, education, child welfare and juvenile justice — that have been shared with news outlets across the state for free.

HELP ANNN CONTINUE TO PRODUCE POWERFUL INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM. YOUR DONATION WILL DIRECTLY FUND REPORTING THAT MATTERS.

arknews.org ANNN is a registered nonprofit in the state of Arkansas that operates under the fiscal sponsorship of the Fred Darragh Foundation. To make your tax deductible donation, visit arknews.org or make your check out to the Fred Darragh Foundation and mail to the Arkansas Nonprofit News Network, at PO Box 250746, LR, 72225-0746. ANNN partners include Arkansas Business, the Arkansas Leader, arkansasmatters.com (KARK, Channel 4’s website), Arkansas Times, the Ashley County News Observer, the Batesville Guard, the Baxter Bulletin, the Eureka Springs Independent, fox16.com (FOX, Channel 16’s website), the Harrison Daily Times, the Jonesboro Sun, the Log Cabin Democrat, the Russellville Courier, the Searcy Daily Citizen, the Sheridan Headlight, the Southwest Times Record and the Spring River Chronicle. 4

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ARKANSAS TIMES

when they are ready to purchase their own homes. These bills are immoral. And to cut corporate tax rates in half and reducing or eliminating the estate tax that helps Donald Trump is appalling. These bills are tax increases on me and my family and a giveaway to millionaires and billionaires like Trump and his family. Enough is enough. Kill these bills and start over by cutting taxes for me and my family, and raise taxes on the corporations who are stashing trillions of dollars in the Cayman Islands. Patrick Gray Lonoke On Sunday, Nov. 12, the DemocratGazette front page told Arkansans that the state spent more than $4 million with a company to develop “learning communities” in select schools. Max Brantley showed this week [on the Arkansas Blog] the actual cost is $12.5 million. Sen. Linda Chesterfield (D-Little Rock) spoke the truth when she said the expensive material was nothing more than team learning that has been a part of education for years. The process described in the article is typical of education decisions made at a high level and then foisted on teachers. The decision-makers mean well, and want to do something to move kids forward; their hearts are in the right place — but not their brains. There is a not her com mon occurrence that happens when salespersons ply leaders with “educational trips” and perhaps some new golf balls. That sales tactic brings packages to schools that often have no scholastic merit. In fact, this writer knew such useless, expensive programs were bought when he was called to the central office and saw packages of golf balls on the boss’ desk. Sadly, the new stuff more times than not replaced what worked well. In the case of Solution Tree, had the leaders taken the time to talk with teachers like Linda Chesterfield, they would have told them that the money could be better spent elsewhere. Assuming there is no way out of the Solution Tree contract, let this be the last instructional contract instigated for schools by legislators. Empower, encourage and support teacher efforts to establish good learning environments and help when asked. Our charter schools have shown how well empowering teachers works. Perhaps the Arkansas Times would

assign one of its gifted writers to do a crisis, avoiding a lawsuit with a I live in Fayetteville and work with do. Last year we opened Turning Point deep dive into the many commercial special election providing one-time the Lee Street Community Center in Park on Main Street. Our theme is programs and training sessions funding to equalize money for Mills Elaine. My first trip was in 1998. I “Recognizing the Past with Hope for bought by the Little Rock School and Robinson construction. Doing had been going there seven or eight the Future, 1919 to 2019 and Beyond.” District over the last 10 years. Report the Same Old, Same Old begets the years before I learned about [the The legal proceedings following the the cost, status, results reaped and, Same Old, Same Old results. Is this massacre] at a film festival at the massacre led to a Supreme Court most importantly, if a program was community satisfied with SO, SO? University of Arkansas. Our nonprofit decision that redefined the 14th abandoned, what happened to the R ichard Emmel chairman is George Andrew Gibson, Amendment to give due process expensive materials. This writer Little Rock who grew up in Elaine and wanted to ALL citizens. I have written a predicts the total cost will be several to do something for the children. children’s book to teach about this million dollars; most programs are Our building is located near the low- on an elementary level. We need to no longer in use; their use did not income apartments. When we park start teaching appropriate parts early bring about noteworthy change and In response to the Nov. 16 article in the grass at the center, children and build on it. There are so many the costly materials were trashed. about filmmakers documenting the start showing up. The school closed 10 significant details to this history. For sure, the Times should monitor Elaine massacre and its reverberations: years ago, and they need something to Elaine Volunteer “Pollution Tree.” Fancy commercial programs depend more on highpowered marketing departments rather than powerful educational results. To unite Little Rock, the education divide must end, and caring leadership will do just that. Over time, charter schools cause unintended financial distress that harms the school district because it has no choice but to give the charters money that is needed elsewhere. Charters are meant to be a temporary way to try innovative education ideas and then return to regular school status. They either develop a good idea or prove something not worth doing. For example, if a charter pulls 1,000 students from the public system, that system must maintain the schools vacated by the charter students, but without the state funds associated with those students. The charter students come from many schools in the district, and the district cannot close any one school to compensate for the loss of state money. In a few years, the impact of lost funds damages the public system. Worse, permanent charter schools help create the artificial tag of good and bad with well-run charters considered like desirable, expensive private schools. Concerned leaders will see to it that every Little Rock school is considered good, and no area is favored over another. Much could be done to unite us with little or no cost. Charters could voluntarily return as open public schools, and the school district could assure them that they could continue There are many brands of beef, but only one Angus brand exceeds to be independent. More independence expectations. The Certified Angus Beef brand is a cut above USDA could be granted to regular schools. Prime, Choice and Select. Ten quality standards set the brand apart. Baker Kurrus’ research showed It's abundantly flavorful, incredibly tender, naturally juicy. that keeping children together in good schools longer leads to better 10320 STAGE COACH RD 7507 CANTRELL RD 7525 BASELINE RD 2203 NORTH REYNOLDS RD, BRYANT students, so we could work toward 501-455-3475 501-614-3477 501-562-6629 501-847-9777 creating more pre-K-through-eighthgrade campuses. The community www.edwardsfoodgiant.com could solve the east-west high school

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arktimes.com NOVEMBER 30 2017

WEEK THAT WAS

EYE ON ARKANSAS BRIAN CORMACK

Quote of the week

“I’ll be working and running point on the coaching search. I’ve been fortunate over the last 20 years to build a network of people in the college athletics ranks and in football. I’ll lean on that network as well as others I’ve gotten to know in my time here at Arkansas who particularly are interested in finding a coach who fits with our state and fits within our region.” — Julia Cromer Peoples, interim University of Arkansas at Fayetteville athletic director, discussing the process for hiring a new Razorback football coach at a press conference Friday evening, shortly after she fired Coach Bret Bielema. Many criticized Peoples and the university for firing Bielema so quickly after a 48-45 loss to Missouri. Some male commentators, including Arkansas Democrat-Gazette columnist Wally Hall, seemed to suggest that a woman wasn’t up to the task of selecting the new coach.

HORSESHOE BEND: On the Buffalo National River, from Brian Cormack of the Arkansas Times’ Flickr group.

split decision that a circuit court could eliminate words that made the law unconstitutional, but not otherwise change or add words.

Deadline for the state Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox has threatened to shut down the state’s birth certificate system Jan. 5 unless the state and plaintiffs in a lawsuit work out an agreement to accommodate same-sex parents. Fox, whose rulings have riled The state has been dragging its feet, the Supreme Court before, said the preferring to defer to the legislature. Arkansas court ruling was wrong. He Deference to the legislature was more took the unusual route of apologizing or less the import of an Arkansas on behalf of the state for those denied Supreme Court decision that followed equal treatment under the law on the U.S. Supreme Court’s summary account of the state’s actions. He finding that Arkansas discriminated also urged Attorney General Leslie against same-sex couples. Parenthood Rutledge to personally take part in the is presumed in the issuance of birth ongoing talks. She had said she was certificates to opposite-sex married busy and assistants could handle it. copies but not to same-sex couples. All this could have been avoided The state Supreme Court said in a had the legislature fixed the law in the 6

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ARKANSAS TIMES

2017 legislative session. But resistance continues in the legislature and the attorney general’s office to extending equal treatment to LGBT people.

Brian Dunn, fire chief in San Angelo, Texas. Hubbard rose through the ranks, serving since 2016 as division chief. Along the way, his service included time as an emergency medical technician.

Springfest to continue Music show economics spelled the end to Riverfest after this year’s edition, but Springfest, a family event offshoot that channeled the early days of Riverfest, will continue. The Museum of Discover y announced this week that it will sponsor the third installment of the free event from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, April 7, at the River Market pavilions and the First Security Amphitheater. The museum, just down the street from the River Market on President Clinton Avenue, will add some of its hands-on activities and “Awesome Cit y Manager Bruce Moore Science” shows to the event. Other has chosen Delphone Hubbard, a elements include the Super Retriever 22-year veteran of the Memphis Fire Series, a dog parade, interaction with Department, to be Little Rock fire police, fire and other emergency chief, succeeding Gregory Summers, responders, play attractions such as who retired in August. a giant slide and bounce houses; a Moore, who interviewed two construction zone; and performances finalists, said Hubbard was dedicated by dance teams, cheerleaders and to f ire safet y and communit y bands. Count on food trucks and involvement. The other finalist was vendors, too.

New Little Rock fire chief

Man’s world

OPINION

he news of high-profile men outed no Me Too stories for sexual harassment and worse about gaping bathshows no sign of abating soon. robes, groping and It’s an overdue reckoning. physical assault by Meanwhile, some important points men. But I’ve yet are being overlooked. to find a working State Sen. Joyce Elliott (D-Little woman who hasn’t MAX BRANTLEY Rock) observed on Twitter Sunday: “Do felt demeaned or maxbrantley@arktimes.com be aware high profile sexual harassment patronized or disreports are just part of the problem. It’s criminated against in the workplace. just as sickeningly widespread in low The recent athletic turmoil at the Uniprofile settings.” versity of Arkansas illustrates, too. After Yes and abusers in low-profile set- Athletic Director Jeff Long was fired, a tings have less to fear. What newspaper search committee was appointed to help will undertake an investigation of the Chancellor Joseph Steinmetz choose unwanted touching of, say, a cashier by a successor. It is understood that UA an assistant supermarket manager? System President Donald Bobbitt and Then there’s the broader question of the 10-member University of Arkansas male privilege. Consider: Board of Trustees will have some input No member of Congress from Arkan- in the process. Together, you are talksas is a woman. Two of seven statewide ing 19 people — seven-member search elected officials are women. Slightly committee, chancellor, president and less than 20 percent of members of the 10 trustees. Two of the 19 are women. Arkansas General Assembly are women. Yes, Chancellor Steinmetz named a Women chief executives of Arkansas woman athletic department administracorporations are few and far between. tor, Julie Cromer Peoples, to be interim I’ve encountered a few, but only a few, athletic director. She’s nominally a canwomen in recent days who say they have didate for the full-time job. To her was

Not net neutral

he Washington swamp that Donald Trump was going to drain gets deeper and wider every

week. In a few weeks, if not days — as soon as the courts settle the squabble over who appoints the interim director of the agency — the president will redeem his promise to the financial industry to eliminate the consumer protections enacted by Congress after the 2008 banking collapse and recession. He will have someone in charge of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau who will have in mind the best interests not of consumers and clients, but of the financial industry, which he tweeted this week had been “devastated” by the bureau’s efforts to protect consumers. He promised to bring Wall Street — toobig-to-fail banks perhaps — “back to life.” But that’s not the deregulation that consumers — all of you — ought to be worried about this week. Trump’s choice to chair the Federal Communications Commission, Agit Pai, the former general counsel at Verizon Communications, announced that the FCC would vote next month to scrap net neutrality,

the Obama-era rule that prevents Verizon, AT&T, Comcast and other big internet providers from discriminating against certain online content and ERNEST services while DUMAS favoring their own. Pai’s rule also will block state and local governments from adopting their own rules requiring internet providers — commonly called ISPs — to be fair and nondiscriminatory. Does that sound like draining the swamp? The net neutrality debate, like every dispute these days, became a party argument, especially after Barack Obama campaigned on guaranteeing neutrality on the internet and then got it implemented in 2015. Perversely, it was Obama who first appointed Pai to the FCC, on the recommendation of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. It was a Republican slot. Trump reappointed him and made him chairman. The idea behind net neutrality was that neutrality encouraged entrepre-

left the task of finishing the mission set out by the Board of Trustees. That meant firing the football coach, Bret Bielema. She did so by pulling Bielema into an office immediately after a tough loss to Missouri and before he talked with players. The explanation was that she wanted him to be able to give the news to the players, assembled together one last time. At a news conference later, she also defended the lack of a formal search committee for a new coach and said the search need not wait for an athletic director because, after all, the UA has one. And she’ll draw on advice from others. The outcry to her self-assurance was furious. Bielema, who most wanted fired, suddenly was a heroic victim of thoughtless cruelty (and he IS a good guy who handled his expected termination gracefully). Also, said the critics, where did Cromer Peoples get off saying SHE was in charge and without need of a formal committee? I believe the reaction would have been different had a man fired Bielema in the same fashion and uttered the same words. We’ll never know. But we do know radio talk-show types made great sport of her use of two last names. Democrat-Gazette sports editor Wally Hall assured readers

his savaging of Cromer Peoples wasn’t about gender, but about her inexperience, lack of understanding of Arkansas ways and so forth. It is never good to start a diatribe by saying it isn’t about gender/ race/sexual orientation. Cromer Peoples isn’t favored to be the next UA athletic director. The world is full of women, perhaps including her, with the big business acumen necessary to run a $120 million department and the good judgment to hire people to lead its many divisions, including football. But I doubt the Arkansas world — including many of its women — is ready for a hardcharging woman in a business where the money sport is exclusively a male domain and the skyboxes are also controlled by men. From politics to the business world, a confident man is a leader. A confident, aggressive woman too often is viewed as an expletive. The numbers don’t lie about the impact of such attitudes. Women are underrepresented in leadership andpaid less than men. It would be a good thing if butt-grabbing stops because of the lessons of Harvey Weinstein and Charlie Rose and Roy Moore and Bill O’Reilly and all the rest. But it won’t solve the larger problem, of which sexual predation is but an ugly byproduct.

neurs and innovators, which everyone agreed was right. But Republicans thought the government should not have a hand in enforcing something that the free market would take care of. Your internet provider controls your gate to the internet and also the gate of all the content providers like Google, Netflix and Amazon to you. It can limit your choices and, of course, affect your costs. Everyone with a keen interest in the internet disputes everyone else’s characterization of Pai’s purposes in scrapping the neutrality rule and the effect it will have. Let’s let the financial magazine Fortune describe what happened: “The nation’s largest internet service providers, led by AT&T, Comcast and Verizon, stand to reap the greatest gains. They should easily be able to start favoring online content and services they own over others. In fact, the FCC under Obama-appointed chairman Tom Wheeler had already concluded that Verizon and AT&T were improperly favoring content they owned in likely violation of the 2015 net neutrality rules. “The prior favoritism took the form of allowing wireless customers to access carrier-owned video services without the usage counting against monthly

wireless limits. Accessing all other video services did count against the limits unless the content provider paid extra. Known as zero-rating, the practice was more carrot than stick for wireless customers. But with the rules removed, carriers would be free to adopt more punitive forms of favoritism, like tacking on extra fees for some content or indirectly raising the cost to customers on extra fees for some content or indirectly raising the cost to customers by charging the fees to the content providers.” Pai’s defenders said the government was not needed to guarantee neutrality. They say AT&T, Verizon and Comcast won’t shut out content services or discriminate against them because they would lose their customers. That’s how the free market always works. This is just a fight between the provider giants and other online behemoths and consumers out there need not worry. Services like Netflix that depend on fast connections oppose Pai’s rule because they say consumers will see their costs go up if they want access to streaming videos. But don’t worry. Like financial customers everywhere, you will be enveloped in the tender mercies of the market.

Follow Arkansas Blog on Twitter: @ArkansasBlog

arktimes.com NOVEMBER 30 2017

GOP contempt

Save the date for the first annual

CENTRAL

ARKANSAS MUSIC AWARDS 7 p.m. Jan. 23, Ron Robinson Theater Presented by the Arkansas Times and Arkansas Sounds (a project of the Butler

Center for Arkansas Studies, a department of the Central Arkansas Library System). Learn more and nominate your favorite musicians at arktimes.com/cama

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ARKANSAS TIMES

ometimes it’s hard to be cynical cotted a request enough about the current course for disaster fundof American politics. Astonishing, ing for their own yet not at all surprising. That was my im- state.” mediate reaction to the news — largely They haven’t ignored by national print and broadcast simply chosen GENE media — that the Trump administration party over country. LYONS refused to ask Congress for one thin They have chosen dime of disaster funding in the wake party over their own friends and neighof Northern California’s devastating bors. Because, like altogether too many wildfires. The state had requested $7.4 Trump supporters, they don’t consider billion, modest under the circumstances. fire victims as friends, neighbors or felThe drought- and wind-driven fires low Californians. Instead, they’re Dem— every bit as much a natural cataclysm ocrats, and, as such, avowed enemies. as a hurricane or a tornado — killed Partisanship is nothing new in Amer43 Californians and destroyed almost ican politics, of course, but GOP hostility 9,000 homes and commercial buildings. toward their Democratic rivals took a Vast stretches of the beautiful city of hard turn after the collapse of the Soviet Santa Rosa looked as if they been car- Union in 1989. Lacking a foreign enemy pet-bombed. Many thousands of your to demonize, the party’s evangelical fellow Americans were rendered home- right wing selected the Clintons as Publess and destitute. lic Enemies No. 1 and No. 2. Yet that evidently didn’t qualify as a And then came Fox News. disaster to Donald J. Trump, who couldn’t Silly me, I recall being flabbergasted even be bothered to show up on the West when delegates to the 2004 Republican Coast to throw paper towels around, as convention wore Band-Aids mocking he’d done in Puerto Rico. And why? Sen. John Kerry’s Vietnam War wounds. Mother Jones’ invaluable Kevin Drum Three Purple Hearts, a Silver Star and thinks he knows: California’s governor, a Bronze Star for heroism in combat Jerry Brown, and its two U.S. senators are weren’t enough to persuade these zealDemocrats, like 39 of its 53 congressmen. ots of the Democratic presidential canAnd Democrats need not apply. didate’s patriotism. “Occam’s Razor,” Drum writes, “sugSurely, I imagined, such mockery gests that the best guess is the most would backfire. obvious one: California is a Democratic It turned out that I had underesstate that didn’t vote for Donald Trump. timated how far around the bend the You don’t mess with the family.” Foxified GOP had gone. However, it’s Indeed, Californians voted against one thing to turn partisan zeal against Trump almost 2 to 1. Sonoma County, symbolic figures like presidential canwhose county seat is Santa Rosa, gave didates, quite another to punish one’s Trump a mere 22 percent of its vote. So fellow citizens. Short term, Trump will let them live in tents and shovel their seemingly pay no price. What remains own ashes. They’re dead to this White to be seen, however, is what price blue House — apparently unworthy of help state Republicans will pay. in Trump’s America. Less melodramatic, but perhaps Texas, Florida and even wave-tossed more politically consequential is the Puerto Rico, whose politicians basi- way the current GOP “tax cut” bill cally shamed Trump into a grudging, takes direct aim at taxpayers in antilukewarm response to its humanitar- Trump states. Just two of its provisions ian crisis, will share what local leaders — sharply limiting the home mortgage call an inadequate relief package in the interest deduction and eliminating the wake of hurricanes Harvey, Irma and federal deduction of state and local Maria. (Sen. Bernie Sanders [I-Vermont] income and property taxes — would has proposed a $146 billion aid bill for not only stick taxpayers in California Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, but and the urban Northeast with sharply absent GOP support its chances would higher income taxes, but could destaappear slim to none.) bilize real estate markets. Either way, Californians are on their Up go your income taxes, down goes own. the value of your home. All this to shovel Even more remarkable, Drum thinks, countless billions to corporations and is that with a single exception — Rep. tycoons like Donald J. Trump and his Ed Royce of Orange County — “Cal- hardworking family of grifters, who, ifornia’s Republican delegation boy- like, really need the cash.

SEPTEMBER 11-27, 2015 (501) 378-0405 | TheRep.org

Packed prisons

t seems like a recurring problem in With the recent Arkansas is that every time the state depressing news takes one step forward on some- that Arkansas thing, we take two steps back. leads the nation in In 2011, it appeared we’d learned our the percentage of lesson and realized the war on drugs children who have was, at least in part, a failure. That year, a parent or guardAUTUMN TOLBERT the legislature passed Act 570, which ian incarcerated, lessened some of the state’s tough drug the time is now to laws, including ending the presumption stop trying to piece together criminal that someone with a very small amount justice reform here and there, or else of cocaine or methamphetamine was we will end up with another generation a drug dealer and worthy of facing a of Arkansans locked up in overcrowded life sentence. The act also repealed the prisons. We need real, comprehensive ridiculous law that made it a felony to reform starting with an overhaul of the possess marijuana for the second time, bail bond system for pre-trial inmates. even an amount as small as a joint. (Gov- We need better services and opportuernor Hutchinson should issue a col- nities for parolees. We need pre-K for lective pardon for those with that sec- all who want it. We need beds for those ond offense marijuana felony on their needing drug rehab and mental health record, but I’m not holding my breath.) treatment. The new crisis stabilization During that same 2011 session, the centers are a good start in ending the legislature, true to form, took a step warehousing of mentally ill inmates back by changing the drug parapher- in our county jails, but we still have a nalia statute so that possessing a single long way to go. plastic bag of drugs could result in a As we learned from this last legislaharsher punishment for the bag than tive session, this isn’t just a progressive the actual drugs themselves. From my issue. Fiscal conservatives are natural experience as an attorney, I know that allies on reform if they can get past the some prosecutors refused to charge impulse to punish rather than rehabilithe higher offense for the bag. How- tate and abandon the tough-on-crime ever, too many didn’t think twice about posturing that is red meat for much it, despite how silly the law seemed to of their base. Voters seem to respond anyone with any sense. It wasn’t until just as well or better to talk of county the 2017 session that Rep. Jana Della government saving money on jail costs. Rosa (R-Rogers) sponsored a bill fix- Legislators will have to go beyond relying the wording of the law and setting ing on law enforcement and prosecutors things at least somewhat right. to determine how to handle the prison Meanwhile, the same old story held crisis. To find out how to help get more true during the rest of the 2017 session. people out of the criminal justice sysWhile a few legislators tried to enact tem, they must reach out and listen to some bipartisan reform, such as ending those in the trenches: public defendlife sentences for juveniles and attempt- ers, social workers, mental health speing to limit the driver’s license suspen- cialists and addiction counselors. And, sions that trap too many people in an instead of hiding from knowledge and endless cycle of jail and fines, others, statistics, they should support legislike Sen. Trent Garner (R-El Dorado) lation such as the racial impact study and Reps. Bob Ballinger (R-Berryville) bill championed by Sen. Joyce Elliott and Kim Hammer (R-Benton), tried to (D-Little Rock) to find out if proposed create new crimes in an effort to regu- laws will actually help as intended or, late free speech and assembly. Never rather, act to further the racial disparimind this was in direct contradiction ties that absolutely exist in our justice to the GOP’s principles of promoting system. smaller government and, you know, The bottom line is that we have to liberty and freedom. Sen. Bryan King radically change the way we think about (R-Green Forest) proposed a three- addiction, punishment and rehabilitastrikes-you’re-out parole bill that would tion. Small changes to existing laws and have been disastrous to any effort to policies won’t cut it. We can continue reduce our inmate population, one to lock people up because it makes us that’s too large because we can’t seem feel good to be tough, or we can impleto break the cycle of using prison in ment real criminal justice reform and place of effective drug rehab and men- finally discover how much better it feels tal health treatment. to be smart.

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NOVEMBER 30, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

Aftermath

he mercurial 2017 season and end felt very odd. Long wasn’t around, Bret Bielema’s five-year run at but an interim athletic director, Julie the top of the Hill are now over. Cromer Peoples, boldly asserted that At the outset, let’s declare Friday, Nov. she had been vested 24, to be a day for Arkansas athletics as with the task of hira whole to forget: The men’s basketball ing Bielema’s sucteam got plowed through by the North cessor. Bielema and Carolina Tar Heels and their friendly his staff, or at least officials in the PK80 extravaganza out presumably most of in Portland, and the football team played them, will be pack- BEAU WILCOX for, oh, about 19 hours with another ing away their things Missouri bunch that was largely inept, and searching for gainful employment but had the benefit of a front-loaded elsewhere. There’s no bowl game to disschedule to make the Tigers’ eventual cuss anymore, so a lot of the talk-radio six-game winning streak after a 1-5 start and message-board fodder circulated look downright magical. around the fever dream that Auburn The Hogs were on the way to burying head coach Gus Malzahn would rouMissouri early with a couple of huge fum- tinely cast aside a better job with better ble recoveries turned into touchdowns. resources just for the sake of coming But from there, you guessed it, Arkansas’s back to a state where the quarterback’s reconceived 3-4 defense was completely trucks get set on fire and where he was torched by Tiger quarterback Drew Lock. mockingly derided as “High School” by The Tigers also pounded away at the the Hogs’ then-defensive coordinator, Razorback front by way of two tailbacks, Vic Tayback or something like that. Ish Witter and Larry Rountree, and by It’s an aggravating time for a Hog the time it was all said and done, the fan, which is of course a chronic illness Hogs had never yielded quite like this, anyway, but it’s more frustrating when as Mizzou made a short field goal with 5 you consider that Long and Bielema seconds left. It left Missouri ahead 48-45, were both scuttled without an apparent and to the tune of nearly 700 yards of semblance of a plan to replace them. The offense allowed, Bret Bielema’s last walk optics, as they say, are terrible: As other off the Reynolds Razorback Stadium turf universities try to plug their coaching was a disheartening one to watch. vacancies with varying degrees of fallout, Never fear, though, Arkansas adminis- Arkansas is sort of meandering around trators drew unwanted attention for the like Grandpa Joe after Charlie Bucket artless and crass manner in which they coaxed him out of bed to go to the chocogave Bielema his walking papers. Bielema late factory. The whole thing looks aimclarified in his press conference that he less and slapdash, and while no one was advised of the decision off the field expected the Hogs to have a head coach in his office; some of the social media before November was finished, per se, banter indicated he knew he was toast the whole Malzahn fever dream seems two weeks ago. Regardless, on the heels to have colored the decision-makers’ of firing Jeff Long, who was quite effu- view of this process. sive of praise for his former employer in It was believed (concocted) by many the aftermath, it seemed like the manner that if Auburn would just lose this litof dispatching Bielema by press release tle game against Alabama in front of all circulated before the field had cleared those psychotic fans at Jordan-Hare on was a little on the unprofessional side. Saturday, the lame-duck AD status of Bielema was predictably emotional, Jay Jacobs and all the pressures of being but also as honest and direct as he second to the Tide in that state would could be. He acknowledged the lack naturally coax Malzahn back northwestof wins and the pervasive second-half erly. Trouble is, Malzahn has the hottest bugaboo was on him and his staff, said team in the country right now, and they that the spate of injuries to key players steamrolled Bama in a dominant fourth this fall was no excuse for the team’s quarter where the Tigers did everything atrocious performance, and duly and right and the Tide rarely even snapped appropriately credited his players for the ball correctly. Auburn has an eye on continuing to soldier through a season a national championship right now, and that started to lose its luster the minute coaches in that position do not simply TCU steamrolled the Hogs for the first snap the briefcase clasps, say farewell, of eight defeats way back in September. and turn over the reins to a coordinator The entire Thanksgiving week- when there’s hardware at stake.

THE OBSERVER NOTES ON THE PASSING SCENE

Lucky to be dumb

hen The Observer and a few at 10 a.m. and sets at 4 p.m., not leaving friends picked up the Ford enough time in the day). The Observer Escape with a tent on top after struggled to enjoy incredible things, landing in Iceland, the renter called our thinking only: “I’m cold, I’m cold, I’m plan “bold.” Jet lagged, driving away, The cold, I’m cold.” Observer’s friends laughed and said, “He And then, in the middle of the trip, means dumb. He’s saying this is dumb.” we learned a blizzard was set to hit most It seemed a bit dumb, yes, but poten- of the country. The focus point was tially logical, The Observer’s friends had where we planned to camp that night. convinced him. The Observer thought: “Here comes the After the 2008 economic crash there, reckoning for your stupidity, you idiot.” Iceland’s approximately 330,000 resiWe debated what to do and, after talkdents smartly cashed in on the coming with some locals, discovered that we pacted beauty of the country’s nature could make it through at least that first — mountains, lava field, caverns, craters, night camping there but should probglaciers, all within hours of each other ably leave the next day. So we parked the — as a massive tourist attraction. They camper (illegally; sorry!) near a glacial made flights cheap and everything else lagoon and hunkered down. expensive. Meals are decidedly pricey Around 11 p.m. we saw a light haze of ($20 to $50 bucks, usually) and lodg- green above the lagoon. The haze grew. ing steep (hotel prices there are similar Within a few hours, the Northern Lights to New York’s, though the hostels are appeared. The Observer, whose job is to $35 to $50). Tours trudge through the describe to you things observed, almost constantly iced roads to all the beauti- does not want to describe it: the unbeful sights for a hefty sum, often $200 lievable amount of green light dancing plus. Tourism is only secondary to fish everywhere, so much more subtle than exporting. People often talk about how pictures of the lights on postcards show. it saved the Icelandic economy. The way it fills the whole sky, the way it But, there are two ways to get around moves so tenderly across it and the way most costs: 1) flights are always cheap it is — simply — wonderful. If we had but especially cheap during the win- headed back that night to avoid the blizter months and 2) by renting a car with zard we would not have seen any of it. a tent, and camping, you cut out most It did not snow. We were fine. of the cost of housing and transportaAs a journalist all the time, you think tion, hording your money away from the about how dumb decisions, even just Icelandic people. If you go to grocery slightly dumb decisions, may have stores for deli meats instead of eating harmed people. You talk to people whose out, you’re not going to move the GDP. slightly misaligned choices caused pain The “bold” plan was to combine that lasted seemingly forever. You think the two for ultimate thrift. We picked about how the world punishes those around Thanksgiving to optimize days who don’t deserve punishment for their off work, and took the trip. What could slight transgressions. This has made The go wrong? Observer overly cautious. But, after makWithin the first few days, we learned: ing a slightly boneheaded decision to Tons of things can go wrong. From the camp in Iceland during the winter, The very moment we picked up the Ford, it Observer remembered that sometimes was too cold for the clothes The Observer things work out for no good reason. For packed (usually 25 to 15 degrees), windy people totally undeserving — for ran(often 10 to 20 miles per hour, whipping dom people — the world can just give. our tent), hard to get to the things we And you have to risk something to feel wanted to see (iced over hiking trails grateful that it worked. with horrible boots made things inacThe Northern Lights are, usually, only cessible), and frustrating (the sun rises visible in the winter.

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GUEST COLUMN

Good anger

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January 1st, 2018 Acts must be able to perform minimum of 30 minutes of original material with live instrumentation. To Enter: Send streaming Facebook, ReverbNation, Bandcamp or Soundcloud links to showcase@arktimes.com and include the following: 1. Band Name 2. Hometown 3. Date Band was Formed 4. Age Range of Members (All ages welcome) 5. Contact Person 6. Phone 7. Email All musical styles are welcome.

NOVEMBER 30, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

ecently, I attended a training session with the Little Rock Organizing Committee, an alliance of churches, schools, unions and other organizations concerned with social justice. The three-day workshop was essentially a crash course in community organizing. There were multiple lessons, but the biggest benefit to me was learning that anger is not always bad. For years I have said, “I don’t get mad.” I used the same logic as President Bill Clinton’s uncle, who Clinton once said told him, “If someone makes you angry, then they are trying to prevent you from thinking.” On those same logical lines, I believed that anger was a useless emotion. I was misinformed. The training session taught me that societal anger could be productive. It is productive when we understand that anger can motivate us to act to bring about sustained and systematic change in our community. After attending the workshop, I thought about the societal issues that anger me. Two immediately came to mind: public education and guns. I’m a proud Little Rock McClellan High School alum, and I will say it every chance I get. Recently, the suspension of an assistant principal has been reported in local news and social media. In addition, charter school advocates, particularly Arkansas Learns, continue to belittle McClellan with the hopes of adding steam to the charter school train. I’m not buying it; you shouldn’t either. McClellan was exactly what I needed to become who I am today. Despite challenges, McClellan is still providing educational and extracurricular opportunities for kids who look like me. McClellan is the only school in the Little Rock School District to host a college fair for historically black colleges and universities. McClellan is home to the only LRSD team to make it to the high school football playoffs and will play in the state championship game Dec. 2. In addition, there are a number of alumni who are invested in McClellan and the students it serves. In October, there was Lion Pride cleanup day. In 2018, the Friends and Alumni of McClellan will kick off its annual scholarship drive for graduates of McClellan (and the new high school when it opens). It should anger us when only the negative stories and statistics are shared and tweeted. Our anger is not necessarily bad, if we can use it to moti-

vate us to promote and support the good news about our public schools. A couple of weeks ago, GovANTWAN ernor Hutchinson PHILLIPS tweeted a picture Guest Columnist of himself holding a gun with the statement “As Arkansas’s Governor, I have and will protect EVERY part of the Second Amendment!” My immediate reaction: I do not understand the fascination with guns. Then I thought, is the Second Amendment unprotected? I also began to reflect on how I used to subscribe to and perpetuate the gun reality. Years ago, I started law school with the sole desire to obtain a degree to legitimize myself, so I could be the first black statewide elected official in the state of Arkansas. With that in mind, after I started my law practice, I wanted my partners to invite me to go hunting. I planned to become a serviceable hunter because I envisioned being pictured in a campaign ad in a camouflage jacket with a rifle similar to the one tweeted by Hutchinson. I truly felt that was an essential part of the political process. Despite knowing that my life experiences were vastly different than most Arkansas politicians, I still accepted this political reality. I thought that as a black man I needed to make myself “relatable” to white people who are gun advocates. Ten years later, I’m more concerned about our politicians toting guns and manufacturing a fabricated “assault” on gun rights in campaign ads. Apparently, Hutchinson’s tweet went unnoticed because it is just the way “we do things.” However, I’m no longer buying the standard narrative and you shouldn’t either. Our society should be angered by the singular focus on gun rights. We should use our anger to motivate us to inform Hutchinson to protect all of our rights and work to improve areas like education and health care. To paraphrase the famous philosopher Thomas Hume, “reason is a slave to passion.” Our passions influence what we believe is reasonable. I’m hopeful that our individual passions develop into societal anger that motivates all of us to change the conversation about public education and guns. Antwan Phillips is a lawyer with the Wright Lindsey Jennings firm.

CANNABIZ

Decision time ahead

he Arkansas Medical Marijuana dispensaries when they are up and runCommission will receive 95 ap- ning. An Expo badge (tickets $50) is plications from would be medical required for admission. cannabis growers Dec. 15 so they may begin scoring them, Department of FiRepublicans on the U.S. House nance and Administration spokesman Financial Services Committee last Scott Hardin said Monday. month blocked an amendment that The DFA legal team and Alcohol would have prohibited the federal Beverage Control staff members have government from punishing financial been “depersonalizing” the applications institutions that allow legal, marijuanafor release to the commission, and are related businesses to have bank accounts. “on track to meet” the mid-December The proposed amendment, by Rep. Ed deadline the commission set in October, Perlmutter (D-Colorado), would have Hardin said. The public may also see the been attached to a bill concerning the applications, which have been redacted “stress testing” of banks to determine of personal information, such as Social their financial soundness. Though Security numbers, once they’ve been several Democrats on the committee, provided to commissioners. including Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CaliThe application form was 25 pages fornia), spoke in favor of the amendment, long, but applicants tacked on hundreds a motion to table its consideration was of addendums; the shortest application upheld by the committee 29-14, on a ran 400 pages. The commission is only party-line vote. required to read the first 25 pages, however. Many financial institutions, both The commission may set target dates in Arkansas and nationwide, are relucfor announcing who has been awarded tant to deal with the cannabis induscultivator licenses when it meets at 3:30 try because the federal prohibition p.m. Friday in Room 503 of the 1515 on marijuana as a narcotic remains in Building at 1515 W. Seventh St., Hardin effect, as do federal statutes concerning said. Review of dispensary applications money laundering and drug traffickwill follow completion of the review of ing that could be applied if the Justice cultivation applications. Department — headed by notoriously Cultivators paid a fee of $15,000 to marijuana-unfriendly Attorney Genapply. Only five of the 95 applicants eral Jeff Sessions — decided to return will be licensed; the remainder will get to the days of Reefer Madness. In some half the fee back. The fee for dispensary states, the lack of banking options has applicants was $7,500; the commission led to dispensaries and cultivation cenreceived 227 applications. The com- ters sitting on hoardes of cash they are mission can award up to 32 dispensary unable to deposit, causing security conlicenses. The state treasury will receive cerns. In a cover story Arkansas Times a total of $1.6 million from the fees. published earlier this month, state Rep. Though some applications were dis- Doug House (R-North Little Rock) said qualified for insufficient information, he had been in discussion with at least they are still active until the board takes one bank in the state that was considaction formally to accept or reject, Har- ering extending accounts to cannabisdin said. related businesses, with House sayAs of Friday, Nov. 24, 2,697 Arkan- ing the bank — which he refused to sans had applied to the state Department name, at the bank’s request — would of Health for certificates that will allow require signed nondisclosure agreethem to purchase medical cannabis. ments before opening those accounts. Persons with tickets to attend the Ark-La-Tex Cannabis Business Expo Dec. 6-7 at the Statehouse Convention Center are invited to an after-party from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. Dec. 6 at Rebel Kettle Brewing Co. The party is sponsored by weedmaps.com, a website that links to doctors who will certify patients for qualifying conditions and will link to

Kentucy Secretary of State Allison Lundergan Grimes has convened a task force to study legalizing medical marijuana and work on legislation that would bring medical marijuana to that state. If Kentucky voters decided to legalize medical cannabis, it would be the third Southern state to do so, after Florida and Arkansas.

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Arkansas Reporter

THE

PART 2 OF 2

State’s jailed youth population declines

does not include medical care or educa- which committed only five youths to state tion. By way of comparison, the annual custody in 2017. In the 13th Judicial Discost of attendance at the University of trict, comprised of six counties in South Arkansas for a full-time, in-state student Arkansas, there were 60 commitments (including all tuition, fees, room, board during the same period — even though and other expenses) was $25,000 for the the area’s population is about half that 2017-18 school year. of Benton County’s. The other seven DYS facilities cost Rural counties face a resource gap. But progress lags that of neighbors. between $50,000 and $55,000 annually “There are going to be areas more responBY BENJAMIN HARDY per youth, while county JDCs cost an sive than others regarding community ARKANSAS NONPROFIT NEWS NETWORK average of around $27,000. capacity,” Scott Tanner, the state’s juveCommunity-based alternatives to nile ombudsman, said. Some counties wo decades ago, Arkansas had the nered closely with Arkansas DYS from confinement tend to be much less costly. simply have few options for delinquent lowest delinquent youth confine- 2007 to 2013 in an attempt to reduce the Studies of community programs in Ohio youths besides a DYS facility or the ment rate in the region and one state’s reliance on secure facilities. The and Florida found they usually cost below local juvenile detention center. “Judges of the lowest in the nation, according to experience left her frustrated with the than $10,000 per youth each year, while in Hempstead and Nevada counties are the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office system’s inertia. their participants boasted lower recidi- saying, ‘We got nothing. We got nothing of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Pre“The numbers [in Arkansas] went vism rates on average than those seen in our communities.’ … The state lacks vention. the wrong direction from what every- among similarly situated youths commit- the resources, so where does the comNow, the most recent OJJDP data body else in the country was doing and ted to secure facilities. Among juvenile munity turn to?” shows the rate at which Arkansas locks what’s been proven to have been success- justice stakeholders, there is a near-conup its youth is higher than all but one of ful for helping youth get back on track,” sensus regarding the need to shift away Transient reforms its neighbors, Louisiana. Arthur said recently. “For me, the critical from institutions and toward community In 2015, Arkansas confined 175 youths formula, and it’s not complicated, is to programs. Meanwhile, the DYS continues to for every 100,000 in the general popula- remove kids to out-of-home placements Yet reinvestment has proved elusive spend heavily on confinement. It budtion. The national rate that year was 152 — only if they present a substantial risk to in Arkansas. Some juvenile judges have geted $27.6 million for residential sera number illustrating the sea change that public safety. The low-to-moderate-risk sharply reduced the use of confinement vices in the 2017 fiscal year. has occurred in juvenile justice in the U.S. kids shouldn’t be removed from their by fostering local alternatives to the DYS, DYS Director Betty Guhman said it’s after confinement of youths peaked in the homes or incarcerated. … You don’t want from mentorship programs to targeted a long-term goal of the agency to “rebalmid-1990s. The country as a whole has to put kids in harmful situations — which, therapy. Other judges continue to lock ance our funding more toward commuseen a 57 percent decrease in youth con- undoubtedly, incarceration is — unless up kids at high rates — in part, a function nity-based [programs], because we know finement since 1997, when the national they really are public safety risks.” of the vast disparity in resources across that’s more effective in the long run.” rate was 356. The vast majority of youths committed different counties. However, she added, the DYS’ resources Since the ’90s, the use of confinement to the DYS are not high-risk, Arthur said. Reform efforts have been most suc- are tied up in its secure facilities and canhas dropped both in states that started “Study after study and experiences in cessful in places like booming Benton not be shifted overnight. Guhman was out with very high rates, such as Louisi- other states show that [confinement is] a County, the state’s second-largest county, appointed to lead the agency last year. ana, and those that started out as low as model that is not workArkansas, such as Oklahoma. Many states ing to provide the supSource: U.S. OJJDP Confinement rate per 100,000 youth, 1997-2015 have closed down youth lockup facilities ports and rehabilitation and shifted resources toward commu- that youth need who nity-based alternatives, such as family have gotten in trouble therapy and substance abuse treatment. with the law — to keep Arkansas, however, has bucked the them out of cycling trend. The state Division of Youth Ser- through both the juvevices continues to operate eight secure nile system and, later, facilities that today hold over 343 youths. the [adult] criminal jusAnother 49 youth committed to the DYS tice system,” she said. are held temporarily in local juvenile Lockups are also detention centers. In addition to accom- expensive. Arkansans modating the DYS’ overflow popula- pay over $87,000 per tion, the local JDCs also hold hundreds year to house a single more kids who are awaiting adjudication, youth at the state’s though there is little reliable data about largest secure facility, exactly how many. Forty-five percent of the Arkansas Juvenile DYS commitments in the 2017 fiscal year Assessment and Treatwere for non-felony offenses, according ment Center in Saline to the agency’s 2017 annual report. County, according to Pat Arthur, an attorney formerly with the 2017 DYS annual the National Center for Youth Law, part- report. The figure BEHIND THE CURVE: Arkansas has not achieved the clear downward trend in youth confinement that most

other states have seen in the past two decades.

NOVEMBER 30, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

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“We use [most of ] our money for residential treatment — kids that are committed to us and those that are going back [home], for aftercare,” Guhman said. “It doesn’t leave a lot of money for diversion and families in need of services and prevention, but we have to fund what’s there.” In August, the DYS announced $1.85 million in “Juvenile Justice Innovation Grants” aimed at reducing the use of confinement. The awards went to 12 nonprofit providers that contract with the DYS to implement programs and run facilities around the state. Guhman characterized the grants as “seed money”: If reductions in confinement cut costs, the savings could then be leveraged into further investment in alternatives, creating a virtuous cycle. But she also acknowledged that such infusions of funds have come and gone over the years without producing lasting change. In 2010, when Pat Arthur was partnering with the DYS, the agency used federal stimulus funds to create a “commitment-reduction contract” initiative. The contracts required the DYS’ nonprofit providers to work with local juvenile judges to reduce commitments to the DYS by at least 10 percent each year (excluding certain serious offenses). Providers became eligible for additional grants if they reached a 20 percent target. “The commitment-reduction contracts were a very innovative idea to provide an incentive to keep kids out of incarceration, and they were having a good impact,” Arthur recalled. A 2012 progress report by Arthur showed that judicial districts met their goals during the contract period. Tanner said the contracts created deeper collaborations between providers and courts to craft community-based alternatives. After the federal money ran out, however, reduced confinement rates did not translate into more ongoing funding from the DYS for community-based alternatives, as had been expected. “When the numbers were reduced, there was no reinvestment in the community,” Tanner said. “It created a real distaste and distrust among courts and the providers, [who felt] that DYS lied. ‘They told us that if we did this, we’d get money, and it didn’t happen.’ ” Guhman, who did not work at the DYS until 2016, acknowledged the bad blood. “The providers got very accustomed to it and so did the judges, and they were angry, and are still angry — they think we cut

THE

Inconsequential News Quiz:

BIG Kinda Funny, I Guess, PICTURE

Edition

Play at home, while not posting racist stuff to Facebook! 1) Little Rock Police Department Chief Kenton Buckner recently received a complaint from a group of his officers. What was the problem? A) Buckner’s constant bragging about the night he scored front-row tickets to a performance by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and the lead oboeist pointed him out in the crowd during a particularly hot solo. B) A demand to install slides on the portable watchtowers LRPD sets up on mall parking lots during the holidays. C) Concerns by the Black Police Officers Association about a Facebook post by a white LRPD recruit that featured a photo of a sleeping black man accompanied by the caption: “Go night night nigga. Go night night.” D) Cancellation of the department’s weekly, all-you-can-eat taco, burrito and tamale feasts after the department racked up $16,500 in bills from Roto Rooter. 2) Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee went on Facebook recently to solicit donations. What are the donations meant to pay for? A) Second round of secret gastric bypass surgery at El Clínica Gordo in Tijuana, Mexico. B) The “deprogramming” of his daughter Sarah Huckabee Sanders after her stint as a spokeswoman for Cult 45. C) A movie being made by his son John Mark Huckabee about the chaotic, on-and-off-again resignation of former Gov. Jim Guy Tucker after Tucker was indicted for activities related to the Whitewater investigation, a move that elevated Mike Huckabee to the governor’s office. D) $1 million for private lessons from Dave Chappelle and Steve Martin, in the hope he can move his comedy skills from “Was that supposed to be a joke?” to “Kinda funny, I guess.” 3) The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette recently published a report about an Arkansas couple and their soon-to-be-born daughter, who is due Dec. 6. What’s the big news? A) She’s already been hit on by Alabama U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore. B) They’re planning to name her Olivia, after their favorite restaurant, The Olive Garden. C) They plan to raise her on a strict diet of chocolate milk and Little Debbie brand snack cakes. D) Astrologers from India and Nepal have agreed that she is The One prophesied to bring an end to the cruel, 25-year reign of future North American Empress-for-Life Ivanka Trump. 4) An animal protection organization had some welcome news recently about Arkansas critters. What was it? A) Four turkeys the group rescued after the birds were tossed from an airplane and landed on the roofs of buildings during Yellville’s barbaric annual Turkey Drop event have been taken out of state, nursed back to health, and will spend the rest of their days on a picturesque farm. B) The critically endangered Arkansas Pug-Nosed Snipe has been successfully bred in captivity for the first time. C) A Northern white rhino at the Little Rock Zoo recently burst from his enclosure, stole a car, tracked down Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein in LA and screwed him to death. D) Little Rock Wastewater has confirmed another outbreak of toilet snakes in the Heights. 5) Northwest Arkansas news station 40/29 recently reported on an Arkansas State Police investigation into allegations that a Springdale driver’s license examiner had sent inappropriate texts to a 17-year-old girl in October 2016. What were the consequences? A) The examiner blamed a text to the girl reading “Come love with me” on autocorrect, saying he had meant it to read “Come drive with me.” B) The ASP investigation noted that the man had been previously “counseled” for inappropriate interactions with “primarily young, minor females who were at [the driver’s license testing office] to take the written or practical portion of the driving test” in May 2013, October 2014 and April and June 2015. C) The examiner received a whopping five-day suspension for the October 2016 incident and is now back on the job. D) All of the above. Answers: C, C, B, A, D

LISTEN UP

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arktimes.com NOVEMBER 30 2017

h t i w ‘I ’m ’ d N a The B Our 2017 music issue listens to the ladies. COVER ILLUSTRATION BY SALLY NIXON

ike Arkansas natives Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Charlotte Moorman and Patsy Montana before them, the women of Central Arkansas have been making some noise; consider this an open invitation to tune in. Expat innovators Kari Faux, Kristin Lewis and Beth Ditto have been making waves in hip-hop, opera and punk. Here on the home front, the last three years have been witness to a portfolio of sounds from women that alternately channels and challenges the idea of what “Arkansas music” sounds like: a punk rock drummer, Correne Spero, founded a songwriting camp for girls and young women. A Conway composer, Karen Griebling, recorded and released a full-length opera about Richard III. The third editor of the National Magazine Award-winning Oxford American, Eliza Borne, supervised some of the most thoughtful music writing in the South. Rachel Ammons electrified a cactus (and lived to tell the tale). The best part of all: The story that follows covers the work of 11 women making music in Central Arkansas, and it isn’t anywhere near exhaustive. It says nothing of Ramona Smith, A Rowdy Faith, Bijoux Pighee, QuarterPiece, Elise Davis, Satia Spencer, Heather Smith, Kelly Singer or Shannon Boshears or any of the other women informing the Central Arkansas sound these days, and the fact that we can sample but a smidge of that scene here is a pretty good problem to have.

NOVEMBER 30, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

Stay away, fools JOHN DAVID PITTMAN

Dazz & Brie dance on the grave of their past mistakes. BY STEPHANIE SMITTLE

band’s not-so-secret weapon (Exhibit A: we can get our minds there,” Murry “Reign Dance”), opened a show for the added, “we can get there.” larger group with a solo set in September. About this time last year, in a video If they’re worried about things get- leading up to the release of 2016’s “Can’t ting stale — and they are: “We never Afford California,” Murry and Boyce play the exact same set,” Murry said recall a nightmarish Dallas recording — it doesn’t show on stage. The vibe session with a self-obsessed, hypercritiis warm, collaborative and elevated, cal sound engineer, and they paint it as and by now there are enough patrons the point when they decided they’d selfthat wail along with “Indigo” that a record and distribute their first record. packed performance can feel euphoric. “After that session,” they said, “we were “I wanna dance on the grave of my past like, ‘OK, we’re gonna go and buy our mistakes,” they sing on “Reign Dance,” own equipment and nobody else is gonna and you get the feeling that catharsis make us feel bad about our art.’ ” Murry is happening, collectively, right then and Boyce aren’t likely snarky enough to and there. say it, but I will: I hope that sound engiThere’s some irony in the fact that neer finds himself in the teeming, blissful Dazz & Brie’s two albums begin with crowd at a Dazz & Brie show someday, the word “can’t,” an idea conspicuously and I hope he goes home kicking himself absent from the duo’s ethos. A lot of the for having told these women what they band’s sudden success was “just think- couldn’t do. ing this into existence,” Boyce said. “If JOSHUA ASANTE

REIGN DANCE: It’s been a whirlwind year for Arkansas Times Musicians Showcase winners Dazz & Brie.

bout a minute into the 1989 video like Tray Cowan and Samarra Samone for “Love Shack” by The B-52’s, have stepped up when a band member Fred Schneider bounds past a or two wasn’t available. sign that reads “SHAQUE D’AMOUR: I cornered the duo into naming a Stay Away Fools, Love Rules” and into few favorite venues and shows, and a shimmying, shaking dance party that they obliged: the White Water Tavinvolves pastel martinis, projectile wigs, ern, Low Key Arts’ Hot Water Hills red fringe and goats. It was that video Festival in Hot Springs and a show that sprung to mind when, at a house in the swank new Murphy Arts Disshow Dazz & Brie played this summer, trict in El Dorado. On stage, the band’s my eyes scanned briefly to the large anthems are clever and buoyant, and wooden dresser on my right. It was quite the diligence the ensemble applies to literally rocking back and forth, tilting in both songwriting and rehearsal shines sympathy with the 50 or so folks jump- through. Boyce’s vocal melismas soar ing up and down in a historic Stifft Sta- effortlessly, Murry and Darius Blanton tion house that was clearly not built to swap between drums and keyboard and withstand that degree of boogie. bassist Kamille Shaw shows off a sing“When people come to our shows ing voice that would easily make her and they wanna be uplifted,” vocalist lead vocalist in any other band. The Kabrelyn “Brie” Boyce said, “we put group’s got a well of vocal and instruall our energy into it.” And maybe it’s mental resources the bottom of which because some of that dresser-drawer- I’m not sure we’ve seen yet. Because of tilting energy has been bubbling up for that, musical possibilities that might be a while; Dazz & Brie played a grand off limits to other groups open up: the total of six shows in 2016. In 2017 thus SWV-esque chorus to “Old Tee Shirt,” far, they’ve played around 50. for example, or the layered counter“It’s a little bit of a blur,” multi-instru- melodies on the reggae-influenced mentalist Dazzmin Murry said. I asked “Can’tchasegirls.” Or the part where the whether it’s been logistically difficult to bass player whips out a flute. Overflow mobilize a sextet — Dazz & Brie’s out- is inevitable: Shaw has been showcassized band, The Emotionalz — for that ing her own set at a series called “Sushi marathon of performances. “There are & Chill,” guitarist Gavin Le’nard has six of us, six personalities,” Murry said, his own project (check out his steamy “but it’s been easier than I’d imagined single, “Three,” on Soundcloud), and the it would be. Everyone was just so will- immensely gifted “backup” (air quotes ing,” she said, and noted that ringers here) singer, Hope Dixon, essentially the

ACTOR, SINGER, INTERPRETER: Nisheeda Golden’s rich, velvety mezzo tone is a dream.

Golden voice Nisheedah Golden is a mezzo soprano and a mentor. BY ALEX FLANDERS

pera in the Rock, a local non- describes her first time singing with a profit arts organization, is full orchestra as a rush she’d never felt home to some of Little Rock’s before, one that clearly struck a chord leading theatrical and classically with her — an operatic one. trained voices. One voice that stands Golden, a native of North Carolina, out in particular is that of Nisheedah has been singing since age 5. She’s Golden, a vocal powerhouse who, by the traveled around plenty, but said in an way, isn’t shy when it comes to singing interview that Arkansas is somewhat a perfectly crisp, vibrating note while of a prime locale for budding singers to sitting down at a buzzing coffee shop thrive, especially the youngest songsters. on a Wednesday night. Golden has been teaching drama and She hadn’t planned on it, but she’s vocal lessons for several years, menbeen singing opera ever since her days toring blooming performers at Murrell at the University of Central Arkansas in Taylor Elementary School and Bearden Conway, when her vocal teacher — Dr. Productions Performing Arts Studio. Robert Holden, an opera singer him“I love teaching what I know to kids self — had an inkling and assigned her and seeing it come to life,” Golden said. Donizetti’s “O Mio Fernando.” Golden “I can see in them that they really like CONTINUED ON PAGE 18

arktimes.com NOVEMBER 30 2017

KELLY HICKS

being able to use their own ideas to even like a few Guns N’ Roses songs.” bring their character to life.” One of Golden said her musical tastes come her favorite parts of the job, she says, is from her parents, who had a vast vinyl seeing students come to the realization collection that she said spanned from that they can sing. country music to Journey. The gap between the live band scene If Golden could be said to have and the musical theater scene in Little another full-time job, it’s rehearsing. On Rock is becoming smaller. As an exam- any given week, she’s in rehearsal Monple, Golden mentioned the collabora- day through Saturday after her teachtion “Divas on Tap,” an offset of Opera ing day ends, with a few extra practices in the Rock that features opera singers sprinkled in depending on how the next vocalizing with well-known local musi- performance is shaping up. cians and playing contemporary pieces Catch Golden at Murry’s Dinner intermingled with opera hits. There’s Playhouse in the 50-year-old dinner never a shortage of bands to pull from theater’s production of “Menopause: for local musical theater productions, The Musical,” which runs May 29-July 7, Golden said. 2018, and at Pulaski Technical College’s If she were to start a band, Golden Center for the Humanities and Arts in said, she’d want a little bit of every genre Opera in the Rock’s production of Wilin the mix, as she draws her musical liam Grant Still’s “Troubled Island,” Friinspiration from a myriad of melodies. day, May 4, and Sunday, May 6, 2018. “I love gospel. I love R&B. I love pop. I BATON AND BOW: ASO violinist Katherine Williamson is putting classical repertoire into unconventional spaces, and inviting a new audience to hear it.

Bringing Bach home ASO’s Katherine Williamson is spreading appreciation for classical music. BY LARISSA GUDINO

he do-it-yourself music scene rarely incorporates classical music, but violinist Katherine Williamson, a member of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, is changing the way people experience recitals: She’s 18

NOVEMBER 30, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

bringing symphonic sounds into the living room, both hers and her friends’. She’s begun a series of “pop-up recitals” with the Rockefeller String Quartet as a way to educate audiences about classical music in a comfortable setting. The

performances also benefit charities. to form a connection with each other It started with a rehearsal at her as the composition is played. house. “We had a dress rehearsal for Comfortable settings, shared hisour recital at the Clinton [Presidential torical information and a focus on funCenter] and the violinist in my group draising works toward Williamson’s said, ‘Hey, maybe we should invite some broader goal: to promote inclusivity people to prepare ourselves for the con- in classical music. The classical music cert.’ ” Ten people were invited, but community is full of women, but as a the quartet ended up with an audience student, Williamson saw there weren’t of nearly 40. “They were crawling on as many women in such roles as music my spiral stairs and sitting on my bed director, concertmistress and composer. listening. It was great!” Williamson Growing up, Williamson never felt her said. In the informal setting, the quar- gender would limit her from being an tet could casually and informatively active member of a symphony, though introduce their pieces. After getting her older professors relayed tales of such a positive response, Williamson gender-specific struggles. Inspired and her friends decided to give more by family members and a concertmisliving room recitals. tress from Indiana University, WilWilliamson, who was born and liamson pursued ensemble positions raised in St. Paul, Minn., in a family of in the field, spurred by seeing images of musicians, began learning violin when women in public positions of leadership. she was a little more than 3 years old. “If young generations of girls and After graduating from Indiana Univer- underrepresented groups of women sity in Bloomington with a bachelor’s of see women in leadership, it’s a signal arts degree in violin performance, she to what’s possible,” she said. That can auditioned for the ASO, and relocated to be difficult when looking for composiArkansas five years ago. Her position at tions written by women for the concert the ASO allowed her to perform across repertoire; nearly all music written by the state, be a part of educational events women is contemporary. and teach private lessons. Williamson added that the classical Cleverly titled “Bach in the House,” world has much work to do to include Williamson’s living room concerts make women of color, something she was cona point of giving back to the community, scious of when developing the “Bach in the first of which benefited Arkansas the House” series. Women’s Outreach. Williamson said In addition to informal recitals, Wilshe hoped more people would find the liamson promotes Sharp, a group for music accessible and familiar by offer- young professionals open to anyone 21 ing casual lectures before the pieces. and up. For $6 a month, recipients may Members of the quartet encourage the attend all Arkansas Symphony events. audience to listen for the parts they More information on Sharp can be themselves found most interesting, and found at arkansassymphony.org/sharp/ both listener and the musician are able join-sharp.

Honky-tonk hybrid Bonnie Montgomery channels a legacy of formidable White County women. BY KATY HENRIKSEN

’m beginning to wonder if there’s sip when country legend Kitty Wells something in the water in White died, recalls driving bandmates crazy County. The county seems to have when she and Beth Ditto, also from a propensity for producing bona fide White County, belted “It Wasn’t God bad-ass women musicians. Mid-south’s Who Made Honky Tonk” over and over outlaw crooner and Searcy native Bon- into the wee hours, their first chance to nie Montgomery, who toured with Gos- share a few drinks and get loose. The

JASON MASTERS

There is a tavern Powerhouse vocalist Charlotte Taylor channels the Memphis blues. BY STEPHANIE SMITTLE

iven the tenure and pace of Charlotte Taylor’s performance schedule, it’s amazing that people are still discovering her, but that seemed to be exactly what was happening at Cajun’s Wharf on a cool Thursday evening by the Arkansas River earlier this month. Cajun’s, Google Maps says, is 138.4 miles away

sages of unison between the sax and Matt Stone’s guitar. A couple perched on barstools along the dance floor’s perimeter was dancing as much as they could from a seated position. The group of twentysomethings behind me, evidently in the throes of the riverside hangout’s signature rum punch, “Playde-do,” hooped and hollered after each

two eventually performed it as a duet, “It was sort of my way of going metal singing it together stateside at LA’s or punk, but instead I went classical,” Fonda Theater to close out the tour. she explained. “It was so rebellious in Montgomery acknowledged she a way, so different from what I was never gave a second thought to her raised by.” But somewhere along the fearless self-direction because, as it way the many choir directors and conturns out, all the women in her life ductors who called the shots — mostly were bosses. Her grandmother ran a male — really got to Montgomery. “I successful beauty shop, then opened a was really tired of men telling me how music store that sold pianos and organs. to use my voice,” she said. She was singShe eventually ran for mayor, and navi- ing a lot of medieval choral works then gated all those positions in the context and, although she loved it, she decided of 1960s small-town Arkansas. “She to go back to her roots. was larger than life, really beautiful and “It was so liberating because I could strong. She gave me a lot of life lessons just sing however the hell I wanted I use all the time,” Montgomery said. to sing,” she said of making the tran“I never thought twice about being sition. “I’ve discovered a lot about the boss lady in the band and writing myself in this exploration of going the songs and calling the artistic shots,” off the rails of the classical and going she said, laughing, “though I’ve defi- into a genre that has a lot fewer rules. nitely noticed a difference in my attitude It’s been a really interesting journey.” in dealing with business in the music At times, that journey’s been lonely. She industry. That includes clubs and club worried about the dichotomy of her owners and all of that, because that is classical training — about being both a mostly still men and I’m definitely up person who composed the opera “Billy against some challenges that my male Blythe,” about the young life of Bill Clincounterparts don’t have to face.” ton, and an outlaw country musician — For Montgomery, music was truly until she realized that it all came from foundational. Her mother eventually the same place. “It’s all the same thing. took over the music store and expanded Those two different parts of me are comits selection. Playing music at family ing from the same place, and it’s OK gatherings was a regular thing. Mont- to blend them and talk about them in gomery grew up sight-reading country each different atmosphere and just be classics from the likes of Hank Wil- myself,” she said. liams Sr. to play chords on the upright Expect “Forever,” the follow-up to piano, jamming along with her family, Montgomery’s self-titled 2014 debut, in as well as friends who just happened February. Montgomery said the album, to be session musicians — Memphis’ recorded at Dale Watson’s AmeripoliSun Records-caliber musicians, at that tan Studios in Austin, Texas, “captures — come holiday time. “We didn’t watch the mysticism of West Texas, life on TV or play recorded music,” she said. the road and love and loss.” The new “We’d just sing.” Eventually she chose album’s release will be announced on to study formal classical voice. bonniemontgomerymusic.com.

BRIAN CHILSON

‘FOREVER’: White County composer Bonnie Montgomery follows up her 2014 debut with a new album, “Forever.”

BETWEEN HERE AND BEALE STREET: Heber Springs native Charlotte Taylor is hooked on the blues.

from Beale Street, but you wouldn’t saxophone solo. One of them threathave known it that night. The riverside ened to quit his job and “just be a icehouse was lit up in red, Dave Wil- roadie for this band.” liams II was peeling out a blistering Taylor, a Heber Springs native, Litsaxophone solo and Taylor, dressed tle Rock resident and longtime staple of in black and sporting crimson lipstick, the Central Arkansas bar scene, tends was ringleading the entire affair from to sprinkle a little Beale Street whercenter stage. Or, as she’d put it in an ever she plays. Her take on the blues is interview earlier that week, directing decidedly Memphian, but informed by the ensemble “when to get lower, when all the rock, ragtime and electricity the to get higher, when to slow down, the genre’s picked up along its scattered endings. It’s sort of a language within history: jug band rhythms, heavy harthe blues,” she said. “Or like an orches- monica, explosive vocals. Her voice is tra. I’m not big on a super-rehearsed enormous and remarkably elastic: It’s band. I want them to know the songs, big and brash enough to do justice to but I want it to be organic enough that “Chain of Fools” and “Bobby McGee,” we can go somewhere that’s in the and sultry enough to turn on a dime for moment.” “Pretty, Pretty,” a song Taylor wrote The band ended a feelgood mashup after a Beale Street bystander tipped of KC & The Sunshine Band’s “That’s his hat to her as she passed. “I just the Way (I Like It)” and “Get Down always remembered the way he said Tonight” — and eased into a greasy it,” she told me. “Pretty, pretty, keep “Hound Dog” with sparkling pas- on walkin.’ ” CONTINUED ON PAGE 23

arktimes.com NOVEMBER 30 2017

Boys club bust-up Six musicians talk business, banjos, barriers. BY STEPHANIE SMITTLE

SCOTT PETERSON

THE BUSINESS: Cindy Woolf (above) and Jamie Lou Connolly (below) weigh in on double standards and life on the road.

What obstacles have you come across trying to make music and art in Central Arkansas? Jamie Lou Connolly: It seems like the obstacles I had when I started playing and booking have, luckily, changed in the last two years. I would usually have to have other men book for me or get me in the door to venues or lineups. I’m not sure if it’s because of our social climate changing and becoming more empowering for women or if it just took that long to prove myself. The biggest obstacle, though, is that I am a working mother. I constantly feel guilty for pursuing a professional music career, which involves a lot of time and touring to be successful. It’s not just Arkansas; it’s the whole music business that says it’s OK to be a father a nd on t he road, but not a mother.

AMBER LANE 20

NOVEMBER 30, 2017

e caught up with six Little Rock musicians to talk about their projects and to talk candidly about the barriers they’ve encountered as women making music in Central Arkansas. Below, you’ll read observations from Tracey Gregory, bass player for the heavy rock band Tempus Terra; Barbara Raney, longtime vocalist with The Greasy Greens and “Beaker Street” radio staple; velvet-voiced songwriter and guitarist Jamie Lou Connolly; Katrice “Butterfly” Newbill, a Hurricane Katrina transplant and a dynamite contralto reggae/soul performer; Cindy Woolf, vocalist and banjoist for The Creek Rocks and The Wildf lower Revue; and Tatiana Roitman, concert pianist and mastermind behind the New Deal Salon performance series.

ARKANSAS TIMES

Cindy Woolf: I can’t really think of any obstacles specific to making music in Central Arkansas. ... I’m pretty much in love with the place, and I feel very welcome here. I can, however, relate a few obstacles that I am often faced with in general, trying to make music as a woman. A lot of times when we play at a new venue my banjo will end up way low in the mix, as if it were not essential to the music. This can be a big problem for The Creek Rocks since lots of our songs are driven by the melodies that I play. I often have to prove that my banjo is more than a prop by pulling out a Doug Dillard tune or something at the top of the set, to send the message: “Yes, I am a musician and not just a piece of stage decoration.” We also run into men who are uncomfortable doing business with me, and choose to communicate with my husband instead, although I handle most of the booking and road managing. It creates a pretty comical scene when some old dude keeps addressing questions to Mark, even though I’m standing right there and am clearly the one on top of the details. Tatiana Roitman: I have been very fortunate to find like-minded collaborators in Lee [Weber] and John [Hardy], the owners of the New Deal Studios and Gallery. They respect my expertise and my unique cultural background and view these as an asset to their enterprise. In turn, I admire John’s and Lee’s vision for their endeavor and want to do everything I can to help them realize it. In today’s climate of divisiveness, in order for the arts and the artists to survive and hopefully thrive, I feel it’s absolutely necessary for the communities everywhere, including in Arkansas, not to be afraid of “the other” — of a different skin color, dress or an accent and tone of voice. As artists we are inherently different; we come from a great variety of backgrounds and see and hear the world in unique ways, which in turn make us stand out from the crowd and from the rest of the world.

It is easy to understand the tendencies of people in small, closeknit communities to stay together, to protect their ways and to reject everything that is foreign or different. I just hope that sometimes when we see a stranger, we can overcome our fears, and are reminded that at one point we were all “strangers in a strange land.” Perhaps maybe, just maybe, if we opened our doors and our eyes, we might see our commonality, someone simply looking to make a home, to make a difference and to share their gifts with us. Tracey Gregory: I would have to say the biggest obstacle I’ve had to face as a female musician would be finding the right people to collaborate with. Building a band isn’t just about one’s musical abilities, but also finding people you get along with. Everyone has to pull their own weight while contributing and having the same aspirations. It takes grit to write and perform music; I’m lucky I found some great guys to play with. Barbara Raney: At first I thought I didn’t have anything to contribute to this subject. Then, at The [Greasy] Greens Reunion concert, I was reminded of a time when we put together a small band with me as vocalist and auditioned to be the house band at a well-known country music club. It was good pay, and a steady gig, and a lot of bands were interested. We got the gig, but when our representative went out to seal the deal, he was informed that they thought we were great, but that the owner’s wife didn’t want a band with a girl singer playing there. I had completely forgotten about that. The truth is, the biggest obstacles I have encountered in my musical journey have been those of my own making; lack of confidence, lack of music business knowledge and lack of initiative. Katrice Newbill: Let’s bring music back to our parks, festivals

Tracey Gregory: Currently, our band Tempus Terra is working on finishing our [debut] album. We plan to record and have it out by early 2018.

past two years, and it has been a lot of fun. We have decided to continue with this theme for at least one more record, and are currently going through the Mary Celestia Parler Collection, which lives at the University of Arkansas. We hope to begin recording “Pretty Parler Songs” by the end of the year. We’ve been driving around in our truck with our two beagles, Paw Paw and Persimmon. Our radio doesn’t work, so we’ve been writing songs about our dogs while we travel. We have about 15 pretty good ones now, so we are just about ready to record our first kids’ album. Beagle songs for kids! I also play with The Wildflower Revue with fellow sister singer-songwriters Amy Garland Angel and Mandy McBryde. I’m honored to be a part of it and I absolutely love singing with them. There is a lot of love and respect among everyone involved, in no small part because they are really fantastic people making really fantastic music. The sky’s the limit for this group.

Barbara Raney: As far as my current projects go, I am seeking gigs with my ukulele and am rehearsing with the Arkansas Choral Society for our upcoming performance of Handel’s “Messiah.” The concert will be our 87th annual presentation, Friday, Dec. 1, 6:30 p.m. at Calvary Baptist Church, 5700 Cantrell Road. Tatiana Roitman: The New Deal Salon is a concert series that takes place at the New Deal Studios and Galleries, owned by Lee Weber and John Hardy, conceived as a “salon” — classical music performance in an intimate setting, combined with an art exhibit and accompanied by good wine and hors d’oeuvres. As its artistic director, I hope to increase the knowledge of the participants through conversation and “either to please or to educate.” The series has become a favorite with the SOMA residents and Little Rock music fans of all ages. Just this past season, our eclectic programming, featuring instrumentalists and singers, included work s by Witold Lutoslawski, Peter Schickele, Bela Bartok, John Williams, as well as Franz Schubert, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Johannes Brahms. Our long-term goal is for the New Deal Salon to become a nonprofit that can provide unique educational opportunities for those forgotten by the society.

ASHLEY BYMERS

Cindy Woolf: My main project is The Creek Rocks, a folk music band led by the duo of my husband, Mark Bilyeu, and myself. Our debut CD is called “Wolf Hunter.” The title is an amalgam of the names of the two folklorists whose collections provided the raw materials for the songs on the album: John Quincy Wolf of Batesville, where I spent my formative years, and Max Hunter of Springfield, Mo., Mark’s hometown. We’ve been running around playing these traditional Ozarks songs for the

MATT WHITE

What musical project are you working on right now? Katrice Newbill: I haven’t recorded since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, when I relocated to Little Rock to start my journey and life over, and it’s long overdue. I am currently writing, preparing to record and have some awesome artists I have worked with and looking forward to incorporating them on my project. I will also be working on a project that involves youth and the arts providing a platform, venues and really giving our young people not only culture, but something positive, creative with a favorable outcome and opportunity. … In the meantime, I’ll continue to spread love and if you’d like to see what I do, me and my band will be at Cajun’s Wharf at 9 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 30.

Jamie Lou Connolly: Our band released “Femi-Socialite” in April 2017 with Blue Chair Studio. We are still promoting that record and plan to release a music video for [title track] “Femi-Socialite” before the year ends, and we are writing material for a fulllength album to be released in the fall of 2018.

JOSHUA ASANTE

and also have budgets to pay artists what they’re worth. I’d like to send a shout out to [Sticky Fingerz co-owner] Chris King for giving me a regular platform. Singing is therapy for me, music is love and it’s a beautiful thing when it comes together, but the business must be handled correctly, with good business practices and ethics and done with a spirit of excellence. I grew up in New Orleans and the reason it’s such a vibrant place is because of the culture and the music. I believe Little Rock has the same potential to thrive.

RETHINKING THE SCENE: Katrina transplant Katrice “Butterfly” Newbill (top), pianist Tatiana Roitman (center) and Greasy Greens singer Barbara Raney talked to us about making music in Little Rock.

arktimes.com NOVEMBER 30 2017

Arts Entertainment The act of giving AND

The Rep stages a world premiere of ‘The Gift of the Magi.’ BY JAMES SZENHER

NOVEMBER 30, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

package. “It moves so fast, it’s accessible for people of all ages, and it’s such an elegantly constructed tale — simple but very potent,” York said. “Sometimes we tend to compound stuff with love,” Keyloun said. “It’s nice to be reminded of the real simplicity of relationships.” “It’s not about the object,” MillerStephany added, “but about the act of giving.” All those feeling less like Jim and Della and more like the Grinch can cross the street to find a more cynical and comical take on the holidays. The Rep will perform “The Santaland Diaries,” based on the essay by David Sedaris about being a 33-year-old elf employed in “Santaland” at a Macy’s department store, at its Black Box Theatre, 518 Main St. “I think it would be fun to see both productions in one night,” MillerStephany said. “They’re both exploring the pressure and stress that we go through brought on by tradition,” Coleman said. After airing many times on NPR and appearing in Sedaris’ best-selling essay collection “Holidays on Ice,” “Santaland Diaries” has become a well-loved addition to the alternative Christmas canon. The humorist’s wit and acerbic perspective shine through in his reallife comedy of errors, reminding us not to take the commercial side of A MUSICAL ‘MAGI’: Laura Sudduth (left) and Jesse Carrey-Beaver star in O. Henry’s Christmas tale as told by The Rep Artistic Director John Miller-Stephany, writer Jeffrey the holidays too seriously. The play, Hatcher, lyricist Maggie-Kate Coleman and composer Andrew Cooke. adapted for the stage by Joe Mantello, is directed by Benjamin McGovern and were looking not just at how people me a wonderful palette to work with,” stars Grant Prewitt. talked in 1905, but how they talked in Coleman said, “then Andrew comes in O. Henry’s 1905,” Coleman said. “His and everything lifts, so it really feels “The Gift of the Magi” runs Friday, language is rich, full of twists and turns, like a lush orchestra.” Unlike most Dec. 1, through Sunday, Dec. 24, at The and so funny, but we also wanted it to productions at The Rep, this musical Rep’s main stage, 601 Main Street. “The be clear enough to hear in the lyrics, so makes use of an open pit with a five- Santaland Diaries” runs Wednesday, Dec. that was a fun challenge.” piece musical ensemble, with composer 6, through Sunday, Dec. 24, at the Black In contrast to a Broadway-style Cooke on keyboard in front of the stage. Box Theatre, 518 Main St. Performances musical, “Magi” aims to do more with “Magi” is familiar territory, but are staggered to allow for patrons to see less, letting the music work its magic in its strength is in the way it distills a both plays on one visit. Find tickets and harmony with the story. “Jeffrey gives broad message into a nicely wrapped show times at therep.org. JOHN DAVID PITTMAN

ecember at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre is always a joyous time, thanks to its grand holiday shows. But this year the theater is veering away from spectacle, offering a more intimate take on a Christmas favorite, O. Henry’s “The Gift of the Magi.” The production will be a world premiere of a musical written by Artistic Director John Miller-Stephany, writer Jeffrey Hatcher, lyricist Maggie-Kate Coleman and composer Andrew Cooke. The musical “Magi” is an extended one-act that clocks in under 90 minutes and has a cast of only four, but it hints at a world outside the play’s immediate setting. The creative team wanted to keep the tightness of Henry’s story while using original characters and musical numbers to breathe life into that implied world. “It’s a delicate piece, and we didn’t want it to be overblown. It wouldn’t really work as a big holiday extravaganza,” Miller-Stephany said. Jesse Carrey-Beaver and Laura Sudduth play the leads Jim and Della, and Michael Keyloun and Sandy York play a multicharacter ensemble of everyone that Jim and Della encounter throughout their day, including a beggar met by Jim and an outrageously unsatisfied customer Della meets at a department store. “We serve as a narrative nudge for a short bit, observing or commenting on their predicament,” said Keyloun, who plays a staggering 13 different characters. York and Keyloun both have experience playing multiple roles in other plays, and enjoy the challenge of keeping track of all the accents and costume changes. “I specialize in running around backstage,” York joked. “I don’t really have a favorite role. The real treat is getting to play all the different characters,” she said. Several of the newly written roles were drawn with inspiration from people in other O. Henry stories. “We

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COVER STORY, CONT. Armed with the music she’d absorbed from her mother, also a singer, and her grandfather, who played the banjo, Taylor cut her teeth singing in clubs and resorts around Eden Isle on Greers Ferry Lake: the Red Apple Inn & Country Club, the old River Ranch Resort, the Thunderbird Country Club. “The long story,” she said, “is that when I was 3 years old, my sister taught me a song in Russian, to the tune of “There Is a Tavern in the Town,” and she sort of paraded me around with it. That’s when I realized singing would get you attention.” It turns out the Russian was a less necessary component of the mix, though, than the deep-seated, declamatory voice in the making. Taylor saw KoKo Taylor and Buddy Guy play, studied the canons of Aretha Franklin, Billie Holiday and Janis Joplin, and caught a blues festival in Little Rock in the 1980s where, she says, she got “hooked on the blues. … They blocked off the street, and there were just people of all cultures and ages dancing and having a great time together. I was so intrigued by that — how loving and fun it was, and how this music was bringing people together. So I decided that I was gonna start a blues band.” She did, and with guitarist George Martinez, Taylor scored a contract to record on Memphis’ esteemed Hi Records label. “They put studio musicians like The Memphis Horns and some great players in there. One track was even produced by Willie Mitchell at Royal Studios,” she said, referring to the man responsible for many of Al Green’s recordings and arrangements. A few iterations later, Taylor formed the band Gypsy Rain and became a familiar presence at festival and bar gigs in Central Arkansas, where she blends her original songs with dance covers. “It’s just a party thing,” she said. “I like to entertain the crowd, and I feel like if you throw in some songs that they know, they feel a connection to you, and then they’re gonna feel open to hearing your songs.” You can check those songs out at Taylor’s Bandcamp site, and keep an eye out for her in North Little Rock at Parrot Beach Cafe on Thursday, Dec. 14; at Cregeen’s Irish Pub Friday, Dec. 15; and at Core Public House Saturday, Dec. 23.

ARKANSAS TIMES

bike

LOCAL WORLD PREMIERE MUSICAL GEM ABOUT THE TRUE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS BASED ON thE BElOvED StOry By O. hENry

THE

GIFT

OF THE MAGI

a new musical by JEFFREY HATCHER, ANDREW COOKE and MAGGIE-KATE COLEMAN directed by JOHN MILLER-STEPHANY

ARKANSAS REPERTORY THEATRE NOV. 29 — DEC. 24 | ThErEp.Org | (501) 378-0405 Presented By

Sponsored By

Harriet & Warren Stephens, Stephens Inc.

For suitability suggestions, visit the content information section of our website or call the Box Office. Follow Rock Candy on Twitter: @RockCandies

arktimes.com NOVEMBER 30 2017

Jesse Carrey-Beaver (Jim) and Laura Sudduth (Della) in The Rep’s production of The Gift of the Magi. Photo by John David PIttman.

ROCK CANDY

THE

TO-DO

LIST

BY STEPHANIE SMITTLE, LESLIE NEWELL PEACOCK AND HEATHER STEADHAM

‘HARVEY’

7:30 p.m. Tue.-Sat., 12:45 p.m. and 6:45 p.m. Sun. Murry’s Dinner Playhouse. $15-$37.

Murry’s Dinner Playhouse has been in business for 50 years, and if that doesn’t convince you that dinner theater is still alive and kicking, perhaps a performance of Mary Chase’s 1944 one-hit-wonder “Harvey” will prove it. Chase, apparently introduced by an uncle to the idea of “pookas,” an early precursor to that proliferator of memes the “spirit animal,” penned the Pulitzer winner about a 6-foot, 3-and-one-half-inch tall invisible rabbit named Harvey who, at turns, assists, charms and bedevils our very real hero Elwood P. Dowd. Dowd, whose well-being and mental aptitude forms the core of the play’s conceit, is played here by Jeff Bailey,

an Arkansas actor who’s appeared in big-budget flicks like “Walk the Line,” “Biloxi Blues” and in Daniel Campbell and Graham Gordy’s forthcoming film “Antiquities. The play, and specifically Dowd’s eventual willingness to accept a medical injection that will “make him normal,” is bound to touch on issues weightier than those we expect to ponder at the dinner theater: the narrowness of social normativity, the danger in deeming someone “crazy” and the nature of reality itself. Curtain is 7:30 p.m., and dinner begins at 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Sunday curtain times are 12:45 p.m. and 6:45 p.m., with dinner at 11 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Murry’s also performs special matinees on the first few Wednesdays of each new production — in this case, Dec. 6 and 13 — with a curtain time of 12:45 p.m. and dinner at 11 a.m. SS

JOSHUA ASANTe

THROUGH 12/31

FRIDAY 12/1

‘BLACK CRAFTED’ FASHION AND TRUNK SHOW

6 p.m., Mosaic Templars Cultural Center. Ninth and Broadway. Free.

Artisans of Arkansas Made Black Crafted, whose work is available in the gift shop of the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, will join fashion designers Korto Momolu of Project Runway fame; Jerald Mitchell, founder of 1297 Kustoms; and

Desirene-Afrik for a fashion and craft show. Jewelry maker Phoenix will also have work at the show, and there will be clothing for purchase. Mitchell will be showing new formalwear. Light refreshments will be served; RSVP at 683-3593. Mosaic Templars is a museum of African-American history and entrepreneurship and is an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage. LNP

‘LIFE AND DEATH’: Guy Choate performs at this week’s “Potluck & Poison Ivy” storytelling event, with live music from Charlotte Taylor and Matt Stone.

THURSDAY 11/30

‘POTLUCK & POISON IVY: LIFE AND DEATH’ 7 p.m. The Joint Theatre & Coffeehouse. $35.

SATURDAY 12/2

BIG JINGLE JUBILEE HOLIDAY PARADE

3 p.m. Downtown Little Rock. Free.

Brought to you by the Little Rock Convention & Visitors Bureau, the 28th annual Big Jingle Jubilee Holiday Parade will kick off at Broadway and Second streets. This community tradition features more than 100 entries, including marching bands, floats, cars, animals and much more. Kids will be scrambling after

NOVEMBER 30, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

all the goodies thrown by participants, the best parade entry will receive a cash prize and the best high school marching band will be awarded $1,000. Be sure to follow the parade along its trek down Broadway onto Capitol Avenue, where the festivities culminate at 6 p.m. with the lighting of the state Capitol and launching of fireworks. You’ll find Santa, Mrs. Claus and Rudy the Reindeer leading the party, filled with music and children’s activities. HS

Brought to you by Paula Martin, creator and producer of the internationally syndicated “Tales from the South” radio show (which aired for 10 years on National Public Radio, the Public Radio Exchange, Stitcher and other stations, garnering multiple regional, national and international awards), “Potluck & Poison Ivy” is a new live dinner and storytelling event at The Joint, a cabaret theater and coffeehouse in North Little Rock’s Argenta. Inviting folks to bring their story to the table “by sharing a meal and some good ole Southern storytelling,” “Potluck and Poison Ivy” is staging its seventh show of the year: “Life and Death,” featuring performances by Vic Fleming, Bill Scott and Guy Choate and music by Charlotte Taylor and Matt Stone. For just $35, you’ll get the entertainment plus a dinner directed by Drue Patton, an Argenta luminary who has overseen the Argenta Friends of the Arts program and Argenta Art Walk and coordinated food and music for Arkansas Downtown Council and Argenta Arts Foundation events. Cash bar. HS

IN BRIEF

THURSDAY 11/30

HAYNES RILEY

Ian Moore takes tunes from his long career and standout new EP “Strange Days” to Four Quarter Bar, 9 p.m., $10-$12. Chicago-born comedian Alvin Williams goes for laughs at The Loony Bin, 7:30 p.m. Thu.-Sat., 10 p.m. Fri.-Sat., $8-$12. Ten Penny Gypsy plays tunes from its self-titled debut album at The Big Chill in Hot Springs, with Buddy Case, 8 p.m. Folk-grass quartet Turtle Rush performs at Maxine’s in Hot Springs, 9 p.m., free. Public radio listeners: Visit with station staff and board members at the annual meeting and holiday party for KUAR-FM, 89.1, and KLRE-FM, 90.5, 5:30 p.m., Curran Hall, free. Chris DeClerk plays a solo acoustic set at Stickyz Rock ’n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 7 p.m., free. “Butterfly” Katrice Newbill takes the stage at Cajun’s Wharf, 9 p.m., $5.

FRIDAY 12/1

LITTLE STONE, OPEN HOME: For Good Weather’s final solo show, muralist Mariel Capanna of Philadelphia will reveal the permanent fresco she’s created in the garage over the past month.

SATURDAY 12/2

‘LITTLE STONE, OPEN HOME’

Noon-6 p.m., Good Weather, 4400 Edgemere St., NLR, Afterparty 9 p.m.-2 a.m., South on Main.

For the past five years, Haynes Riley has been hosting art shows in an unconventional space: his brother’s garage in Lakewood. He’s brought in dozens of artists from across the country, thanks to his connections in the art world (he’s a graduate of the prestigious Cranbook Arts Academy in Bloomfield, Mich.), to the 8-foot-by-11-foot gallery; dinners with the Riley family have been part of the artists’ experience. For Good Weather’s final hurrah, muralist Mariel Capanna of Philadelphia will reveal

the permanent fresco she’s created in the garage over the past month. Capanna and Riley kicked off this last project Nov. 2 with a talk about the show, funded in part by a Foundation for Contemporary Art Emergency Grant, at the Clinton School of Public Policy. After Saturday’s gallery event, a New York bar, Beverly’s, is hosting a party celebrating Good Weather’s five-year run from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. at South on Main, 1304 Main St. An installation piece by Brooklyn artists Rose Nestler and Colin Tom and music by Judson Spillyards and the Funkanites are part of the festivities. Riley has plans to open another gallery, but nothing firm. LNP

SATURDAY 12/2

BIG SILVER

10 p.m. Four Quarter Bar. $7.

Of all the projects to which Isaac Alexander’s lent a touch — The Easys, Greers Ferry, The Boondogs, Screaming Mimes — I’ll admit to a bias toward his solo records, maybe only because the crystal clear intonations on “Like a Sinking Stone” are fresh in mind, as it’s the songsmith’s latest. Also, let’s be real: “Antivenin Suite” has a way of sticking to the aural neurotransmitters. Big Silver’s “The Afterlife,” though, is still locked away in memory, too, and that outfit — Alexander, Bart Angel, Brad Williams, Mike

Nelson and Shelby Smith — is a dream of an ensemble, channeling Elvis Costello’s raucous delivery (as on “Poison the Wishing Well”) and Paul McCartney’s mellifluous piano lines. Someone handed me the album on CD not long after I moved to Little Rock and, along with stumbling onto a set from Charlotte Taylor at the extant Easy Street piano bar (check out Charlotte’s work in this week’s cover story), it was a vital sign to me that the city had a spry, many-faceted music scene. It was unfathomable then that the guys who created and recorded melancholy diamonds like “Pass Away” and “Amazing Grace & I’ll Fly Away” lived in the same town. Actually, it still is. SS

Stephen Neeper & The Wild Hearts play a late-night set at Midtown Billiards to cap off the annual Holiday Hangout festival, 1 a.m. The Arkansas Choral Society will perform portions of George Frideric Handel’s oratorio “Messiah,” 7:30 p.m., Calvary Baptist Church, 5700 Cantrell Road, $20. If you’re in the Spa City, catch Cosmocean at Maxine’s, 8 p.m., $5. The Karla Case Band performs at Thirst N’ Howl Bar & Grill, 8:30 p.m., $5. The Studio Theatre takes on a staged version of the MGM classic “Meet Me in St. Louis,” through Dec. 17, 7:30 p.m., $20-$25, see centralarkansastickets. com for details. Psychedelic Velocity plays a free show at Markham Street Grill and Pub, 8:30 p.m. Some Guy Named Robb plays a happy hour set at Cajun’s, 5:30 p.m., free, and later, the Memphis Yahoos take the stage, 9 p.m., $5. Fret & Worry takes its harmonica-guitar duets to EJ’s Eats & Drinks for happy hour, 6 p.m. The Weekend Theater opens its production of John Cariani’s “Almost, Maine,” through Dec. 16, see centralarkansastickets.com for details. Greasy Tree plays a set in Conway at Kings Live Music, with opener Stuart Thomas, 8:30 p.m., $5. Elsewhere in Conway, Joey Fanstar takes the stage at TC’s Midtown Grill, 9 p.m. Black River Pearl puts garage rock onto the cozy stage at Four Quarter Bar, 10 p.m., $7.

SATURDAY 12/2 Doom Room Comedy Night features stand-up sets from Brandon Davidson, Tyler Edwards, Seth Dees and Mark Johnson, 8 p.m. Blues-rock guitar great Joe Bonamassa takes the stage at Verizon Arena, 8 p.m., $79-$149. Acclaimed Nashville songwriter David CONTINUED ON PAGE 27

Follow Rock Candy on Twitter: @RockCandies

arktimes.com NOVEMBER 30 2017

THE

TO-DO

LIST

BY STEPHANIE SMITTLE, LESLIE NEWELL PEACOCK AND HEATHER STEADHAM

SUNDAY 12/3

TUESDAY 12/5

HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE

Various times, museums and the Governor’s Mansion.

STURGIS FACULTY & FRIENDS CHAMBER CONCERT

7:30 p.m. New Deal Gallery, 2003 S. Louisiana St. Donations.

Some teach, and some do. Some do both. For this concert, the instructors at the Sturgis Academy — an education branch of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra — take on two favorite viola quintets:

ALYSSSE GAFKJEN

The Historic Arkansas Museum, the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, the Old State House Museum and the Governor’s Mansion usher in the holidays this weekend. From 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., HAM, 200 E. Third St., will have hot cider and ginger cake at its 50th annual Christmas Frolic, along with living history characters, blacksmith demonstrations, pioneer games and dancing. From 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., the Old State House

Museum will have caroling and hands-on activities for children. From 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., Mosaic Templars, 900 Broadway, will judge its sixth annual “Say It Ain’t Says” Sweet Potato Pie Baking Contest for professional and amateur cooks, and visitors can sample pie and listen to holiday music by the terrific Gloryland Pastor’s Choir and others; a donation of a toy for Say McIntosh’s Toy Drive is welcome. The Governor’s Mansion will be open from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. and has been decorated with a Nutcracker Ballet theme. LNP

Mozart’s “String Quintet No. 4 in G Minor” and Brahms’ “String Quintet No. 2 in G Major.” Geoffrey Robson and Charlotte Crosmer play violin, Sturgis Academy Director Tze-Ying Wu plays viola and Ethan Young plays cello, and they are joined by violist Yoni Gertner, an accomplished chamber player with the Israel Philharmonic. SS

BULLY: Lands at Stickyz Wednesday with Alicia Bognanno, the center of the band’s second full-length album “Losing.”

WEDNESDAY 12/6

BULLY

9 p.m. Stickyz Rock ’n’ Roll Chicken Shack. $10-$13.

A little more explosive than Veruca Salt and a little less deadpan than Courtney Barnett (but a perfect match for fans of either), Bully’s Alicia Bognanno is at the center of the

NOVEMBER 30, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

band’s second full-length album, “Losing,” in pretty much every way — psychologically, musically, mechanically. Bognanno recorded, sang, mixed and engineered the record at Chicago’s Electrical Audio where she once interned under owner Steve Albini, the guy who engineered the Pixies’ “Surfer Rosa” and Nirvana’s “In Utero.” Borrowing from that

era’s dead-eyed self-examination, the malaise on “Losing” gets a sonic treatment that sounds less like disenchantment and more like rage when funneled through Bognanno’s howl, and there’s a poetic sort of schizophrenia in play when her blistering lead vocal tracks are countered with her own, markedly sweeter, backup vocals. Smut opens the show. SS

Brand: Mich ULTRA Iconic Item #: PMU2017041

Olney performs at Hibernia Irish Tavern, 7:30 p.m., $8-$15. Orange Star High plays a set at TC’s Midtown Grill, 9 p.m. The Ghost Town Blues Band fires up a riverside performance at Cajun’s, 9 p.m. Strange Brue plays a set or two at Thirst N’ Howl, 8:30 p.m. Arkansas Chamber Singers host A Swingin’ Christmas Fundraiser at The Little Rock Club, 400 W. Capitol Ave., with music from The B-Flats, 5:30 p.m., $125. The Stolen Faces pay homage to The Grateful Dead at Stickyz, 9 p.m., $10. Vaudeville rocker Randall Shreve performs at Revolution, 9 p.m., $6. Guitarist Tim Easton, Joey Kneiser (of Glossary), Salty Dogs frontman Brad Williams and country siren Bonnie Montgomery perform an afternoon set as part of the annual Holiday Hangout festivities, Lost Forty Brewing, 2 p.m.-4 p.m. Adam Faucett & The Tall Grass take the stage at Maxine’s, with William Blackart and Brandon Luedtke, 9 p.m., $7. PM:

PO:

Job/Order #: 294999 Operator: cs

MUST INITIAL FOR APPROVAL

SARENA KAYE

IN BRIEF, CONT.

AE: AD: CD:

The Arkansas Repertory Theatre Annex, 518 Main St. Various times. $40.

I must say, I have always, always identified more with Ebenezer Scrooge than with Bob Cratchit. Sure, Bob’s got a lovely wife and six beautiful children who love him more than the sun and the moon and the stars, but does he have to be so dag-blamed happy all the time? Even when Tiny Tim is sick and there’s no food on the Christmas table? Take it from Scrooge, life isn’t all lollipops and rainbows. And Christmas, especially, is a most satisfying time of the year to let your inner curmudgeon loose on the world. You won’t believe how appalled all the shoppers at Walmart will be. Apparently, award-winning American author and humorist David Sedaris shares some of my nihilistic sentiments. He was first recognized in 1992 when National Public Radio broadcast him reading “Santaland Diaries,” a humorous account of his stint working as a Christmas elf at Macy’s “Santaland.” Four years later, the essay was adapted for the stage as a one-man, one-act play, featuring Crumpet, a foul-mouthed department store Christmas elf who chain smokes, drinks martinis and, well, denies the existence of Santa. Now The Rep brings this ingenious adaptation to its Black Box Theatre for your viewing pleasure. If you enjoy a bit of schadenfreude during the holidays, please give me a call, and we’ll go see this hilarious show. HS

Newsboys and Sidewalk Prophets are among the acts lined up for Big Church Night Out at Verizon Arena, 6 p.m., $28. Breakfast, Books & Booze opens at noon at the White Water Tavern, featuring independent literature from the Tree of Knowledge, free, and at 5 p.m., a $5 cover will get you into Holiday Hangout performances from Dazz & Brie, Brent Best (of Slobberbone), J.D. Wilkes (of The Legendary Shack Shakers) and more. British vocal ensemble Voces8 gives a performance at Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville, 7 p.m., $10. The North Little Rock Christmas Parade begins at Main Street and Pershing Blvd. at 2 p.m. and proceeds through Argenta, free.

‘SANTALAND DIARIES’

QC:

WEDNESDAY 12/6-SUNDAY 12/24

Live: 1.875" x 5.25"

The Red Octopus Theater Company, a group of volunteer writers and performers, has been regularly cranking out sketch comedy since 1991, making it one of the oldest continuously performing sketch comedy troupes in America. Its current home is the 49-seat black-box Public Theater in downtown Little Rock, where the company will perform — for the 26th year! — its noted holidaythemed sketch comedy show, “Pagans on Bobsleds.” It’s been around longer than some of the actors have been alive. This year’s theme is “Manger Things,” with publicity photos referencing the unbelievably popular Christmas-light-heavy Netflix series of similar name. With fan favorites like Santa-man, Fruitcake, Frosty, the Choirs and the Pagans on Bobsleds song, “Pagans on Bobsleds XXVI: Manger Things” will keep returning audience members rolling in the aisles while initiating new folks with fresh material from the Hip-Hop Greats, “Law & Order,” and your ’90s favorites. Fill a flask with some peppermint schnapps (it is BYOB, after all), and head to the Public for a night of bowl-full-of-jelly laughs. The show is recommended for adults, though, so leave the elves at home. HS

CW:

7:30 p.m. Wed.-Sat. Public Theater, 616 Center St. $8-$10.

Trim: 2.125" x 5.5" Bleed: none"

‘PAGANS ON BOBSLEDS XXVI: MANGER THINGS’

SUNDAY 12/3

Closing Date: 6/9/17

WEDNESDAY 12/6-SATURDAY 12/9

Publication: Arkansas Times

“MANGER THINGS”: Red Octopus Theater’s annual “Pagans on Bobsleds” comedy sketch show takes on all things “Upside Down” at The Public Theatre this weekend.

MONDAY 12/4 Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first woman to be elected a head of state in Africa, joins President Bill Clinton for a lecture and conversation, 5:30 p.m., Statehouse Convention Center, free, reserve seats by emailing kumpurislecture@ clintonschool.uasys.edu or calling 501-683-5239.

TUESDAY 12/5 Left Behind, Orthodox, Mercy Blow, A Fate Foretold and The Lucid Archetype play an early, heavy show at Vino’s, 7 p.m., $10-$12.

WEDNESDAY 12/6 South African alt-metal band Seether performs at the Clear Channel Metroplex, 8 p.m., $30-$295. The Rev Room kicks off the second round of its Best Christmas Song Karaoke Contest, 8 p.m.

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arktimes.com NOVEMBER 30 2017

Dining WHAT’S COOKIN’

THE WONDERHAUS, THE brick-andmortar home at 900 Locust St., Conway, of the creators of the WonderBus food truck, which opened two months ago in “soft-opening” mode, will have a grand opening Friday, Dec. 1. Owners Auguste Forrester, his sister Jacqueline Forrester Smith and their spouses Kacy Forrester and Jason Smith put a lot of sweat equity into their conversion of a former gas station into the restaurant, which serves “European comfort food,” Jacqueline Smith said. (“That way nobody gets bent out of shape if we don’t have schnitzel,” she said.) The menu also includes such fare as bratwurst, potato pancakes, sauerbraten, cabbage rolls and sandwiches; for dessert there are cakes, pies, bread pudding and cookies. The restaurant can seat 40. The Forrester-Smith families use locally sourced products as much as possible and compost their scraps for use in their garden, where they grow kale, herbs and tomatoes. The WonderHaus shuns microwave ovens, and owners contributes to environmental nonprofits. Hours are 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday; the phone number is 501-358-6806, and reservations are recommended. The WonderBus is still operating; find its schedule on Facebook. THE BIG BANNER is up, signifying that Ira’s in the Rose Building at 311 Main St. is really coming. Chef/owner Ira Mittleman says he’s shooting for a Jan. 20 opening of the restaurant, which will seat 90 and feature his recipes for diverse “New American” cuisine, with a strong emphasis on fresh fish. Ira’s will feature a bar and waiting area at the front and will be open for lunch and dinner. Mittleman said he’s also working on outdoor seating. He’s not sure how fancy he wants Ira’s to be: He thinks white tablecloths may be “too old school.” Mittleman formerly operated Ira’s Park Hill Grill. He also caters. GET YOUR VOCAL CORDS warmed up for the 5th annual Christmas Karaoke at Stickyz Rock ’n’ Roll Chicken Shack, because you want to show off your singing skills and benefit The Van. The benefit runs from 8 p.m. Dec. 9 to 12:30 a.m. Dec. 10. The Van serves the homeless community; Stickyz is donating all door proceeds to the outreach organization operated under the nonprofit The One. GRATEFUL HEAD Pizza Oven and Tap Room is slated to open Dec. 1 in its tucked-away location at 100 Exchange St. in Hot Springs, the store manager for the home restaurant in Oklahoma says. Grateful Head serves up pizza with names inspired by the band and craft beers. 28

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ARKANSAS TIMES

FRIED HOMINY WEDGES: Rumors of their deliciousness turned out to be true.

Loving lots at Leverett Lounge Thanks to the brains at Maxine’s Tap Room.

uccessfully changing a concept has Leverett Lounge straddles the line to be one of the more impressive between upscale restaurant and comfy feats in the already challenging neighborhood joint where you can drop restaurant business. If a recent visit in for a quality meal without dropping to the newly opened Leverett Lounge a $100 bill. The small plates, desserts in Fayetteville is any indication, then and appetizers range from $4-$14. Hannah Withers and Ben Gitchel — Head chef Gitchel, a native of Little also operators of the venerable Maxine’s Rock, trained at the French Culinary Tap Room — are doing just that. Earlier Institute in New York (now called the this year, they opened Sit & Spin, which International Culinary Center). The served donuts, sliders and fries, and menu reflects both highbrow classic was joined to a revamped laundromat French cuisine and down-home of the same name. We went there a Arkansas cooking. handful of times and thought the tiny Exhibit A of the latter would be Mel’s burgers, donuts and crispy fries were Diner ($7), one of the appetizers we tried. top-notch. But when it became clear While grits have moved beyond their that the concept wasn’t panning out as humble origins and are now featured planned, Withers and Gitchel decided on menus all over non-flyover country, to shift gears dramatically. we would be surprised if anyone has Follow Eat Arkansas on Twitter: @EatArkansas

elevated them beyond Gitchel’s take, based on a recipe his grandmother used for leftover grits. Two thick slices of garlic cheese grits are fried and served with a drizzle of remoulade. We’d heard raves about the dish and are happy to say it more than lived up to the hype. The fried hominy wedges were crispy on the outside, perfectly smooth and piping hot on the inside. If they served these up by the half-dozen in a paperlined basket, we would’ve ordered them and wolfed them down. The other appetizer we chose was the Bravissimo ($9), bacon-wrapped pork roulettes served in Shakshuka sauce, with feta and cilantro. The pork nuggets were tender and juicy, and the sauce — a tomato- and pepper-based concoction of North African origin — was a delicious, outside-the-box pairing. Shakshuka is typically served with eggs and vegetables and is a breakfast staple across the Middle East, but it worked well with the pork, adding a bright, fresh dimension to the dish. For entrees, we opted for the Tournedos au Poivre ($14) and seared

BELLY UP

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

RARE TREAT: The beef tenderloin medallions were complemented by a green peppercorn sauce.

Leverett Lounge 737 N. Leverett Ave. Fayetteville 479-249-6570 Quick bite

Leverett Lounge has a small-plate menu, but also one titled “Noshes,” great for a quick bite. This list features the Mel’s Diner grits mentioned in the review as well as several other dressed-up classic appetizers, including Fancy Hank (handmade jalapeno tater tots with creme fraiche, $8) and Richard’s Coconut Beer Battered Shrimp (hand-battered shrimp with orange marmalade sauce, $9).

Hours

5 to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

Other info

CC accepted. Beer and wine.

cod ($12). The former consists of beef tenderloin medallions in a green peppercorn sauce, with a side of grilled asparagus. The tenderloins were crusty on the outside and rare to medium-rare on the inside, though the kitchen will cook them longer if you ask. The peppercorn sauce was a nice complement to the beef. The seared cod was exceptional. It was served bathed in an intoxicating herbed butter (rich without overpowering the flavor of the fish) and sprinkled with fried crouton bits that soaked up the butter while retaining their crunch. If there was a complaint with this dish, it’s only that the piece of fish could have been a bit larger. Still, for the price, it was hard to beat. The ambience inside was cozy and intimate, but not cramped. Our service was impeccable. The food came out promptly and our glasses were never empty. The music was low-key and lovely (Charles Bradley’s soulful R&B was a perfect soundtrack). As part of the revamping, Withers and Gitchel added a patio area, which will be a draw in better weather. The neighborhood has changed in the last couple of years: Gone are the 800-square-foot, low-rent cottages and empty lots, replaced by (relatively) towering brand-new townhouses and condos. Foot traffic in the area should increase, and with another dining or drinking addition, this stretch of Leverett Avenue could become a destination, away from the bustle of Dickson Street and the roar of College Avenue. Here’s hoping that Leverett Lounge becomes one of the anchors for the area. We’ll be back for sure. arktimes.com NOVEMBER 30 2017

MOVIE REVIEW

SEE YOU AT THE CROSSROADS: Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf star in Greta Gerwig’s “Lady Bird.”

Escape, repeat

‘Lady Bird’ takes a frank look at money and freedom. BY SAM EIFLING

he early aughts were a fraught time, not least if you were also trying to lose your virginity, get into college and figure out how to get along with your parents. When Christine McPherson scans the walls of her Catholic high school in Sacramento during the pledge and sees a “9/11 never forget” sign on the bulletin board, you remember what it was to be careening through recession and terror threats and the drumbeat of war. And even for a high school senior like Christine (the thoroughly charming Saoirse Ronan), who insists everyone call her Lady Bird, there’s no real escape. Not even when you’re in a claustrophobic house with your stretched-thin parents, trying not to fight about money or freedom — when, in fact, the two seem inseparable — at every turn. In “Lady Bird,” the title character’s coming-ofage feels like an honest reckoning with the myriad banal indignities that come with being 18ish and on the cusp of nobody-knows-what. Lady Bird hopes to shoot for some sort of East Coast liberal arts college on grades that make her guidance counselor literally laugh in her face; her breadwinner mother

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ARKANSAS TIMES

(Laurie Metcalf, in possibly her strongest-ever film performance) is hoping Lady Bird stays closer to home, and continually discourages her from aiming elsewhere, ostensibly because of cost and practicality. It stokes a rivalry that Lady Bird turns to her gentle, unemployed father (Tracy Letts) to circumvent. His filling out financial aid forms on the sly becomes an act of quiet subterfuge, and a needed vote of confidence. But it’s not all so heavy. If anything, “Lady Bird” faithfully builds out the sort of high school universe in which absolutely nothing feels proportional, and even seemingly minor characters have their own internal physics. Directing her own screenplay in her first major feature, Greta Gerwig embroiders finely in every line, every exchange. You can feel the power dynamic in play when Lady Bird calls out her best friend (the vulnerable Beanie Feldstein) for writing her shortened name, Julie, into the same affected quotations that Lady Bird uses. You have flashbacks to your own none-of-this-shit-makesany-sense high school years when Lady Bird and her thespian boyfriend (Lucas Hedges), in full-themed

Western wear, slide in close and slow dance to the dulcet tones of Bone Thugs ’n’ Harmony’s “Crossroads” under the squinty watch of chaperone nuns. Catholic school, in fact, is the battlefield on which the rest of these dramas play out. Lady Bird’s there on scholarship, a fact that keeps her mother on knife’s edge when the daughter runs afoul of the rules. Others there worry little for money; on a visit to her boyfriend’s grandma’s stately home, Lady Bird chuckles at an old Ronald Reagan poster that he assures her is, in fact, hung in earnest. Already people are hailing “Lady Bird” as one of the most frank treatments of poverty in recent American movies, but if you’re watching it in Arkansas, you’re likely not to see the McPhersons’ lot as poverty, per se. Lower middle class, maybe. Working class, sure. They’re not under threat of eviction or of missing a meal. What they do feel, acutely, is the constant hard shove of low status, of American downward mobility. Discussing it in serious tones shorts “Lady Bird” as a ticklish comedy; leaning into the laughs overlooks its strength as a serious drama. The one complaint: Gerwig has to reach in the final act for an emotional climax befitting all that came before, and she crams too much into the mother-daughter relationship, like an overloaded dryer doomed to return your towels a bit damp. Give it that space, though. Endings are never pat. The goal of high school is to escape, and then to start really figuring things out.

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arktimes.com NOVEMBER 30 2017

their funding,” she said. While some judicial districts reduced their commitment rates significantly under the contracts, Guhman said, others did not. Statewide, “we didn’t have the savings that people seemed to think we would have.” Nonetheless, the overall commitment rate did decline after 2010. Asked why the DYS didn’t reinvest whatever savings it realized into community-based programs, Guhman cited inflation, aging facilities and a stagnant budget. Guhman said she is working to improve the agency’s relationship with

judges and providers by involving them in decisions about how funding for Arthur, who retired last year, said she community-based services is expended. is not familiar with recent developments She also hopes to reinvest more DYS at the DYS, but she expressed skeptiresources in alternatives to confinement. cism about the idea that a reduction in “We can say that when there is extra confinement must wait on improved funding that’s focused on community- alternatives. based alternatives to confinement, the “The disingenuous thing about saying, rates go down,” Guhman said. “And then ‘We can’t close down beds until we have when that money runs out, they kind of other options’ is that you’re not going stabilize back up again. The only way to have other options until you shift the to lower confinements is to have these resources away from the beds,” she said. services available.” “Until beds are taken offline, it’s going to be in the financial interests of people run‘Perverse incentives’ ning the [facilities] to keep them filled.”

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ARKANSAS TIMES

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The eight DYS lockups were run by nonprofit providers until January; since then, the DYS has run all but one of the facilities directly, though it plans to contract them out again in 2018. Arthur said the incentive to keep facilities open exists regardless of whether they’re privatized or not: “It’s going to be there with the state running it too, just in a different form.” “Unless you can really break away from the perverse incentive of either keeping beds open for people to keep their jobs or keeping beds open to bring in the profit, you’re not going to turn the ship around there,” she said. Asked whether the DYS should make downsizing facilities its first priority, Guhman said, “I understand that argument, and I agree with it to a certain point, but reality is reality. I’ve still got 400 kids sitting here that I’ve got to serve. “Our strategy is to reduce the number of secure beds [and] increase the number of group homes or transition homes … but like anything, when you’re trying to do significant reform, you still have to do what you’re doing while beginning to change.” Adam Baldwin, who is Guhman’s deputy for system reform, noted that the DYS is required to provide a residential placement if a judge commits a youth to its custody. “We have to meet our statutory obligations and provide services,” he said. Tanner said shutting down a DYS facility too hastily could create more problems than it solves. “It would certainly speed up the process and compel us to have to do something, but I would be more in favor of targeted reductions,” he said. When Tennessee shut down juvenile facilities in recent years, Tanner added, the state “then ended up overcrowding others and having issues with the remaining facilities. “The reality is that we have not invested in creating infrastructure, in creating alternatives to confinement. … That’s where I think we lag behind,” he said. Arthur agreed that “the continuum of community programs needs to be shored up” in Arkansas. But, she added, “It’s a cop-out to say there’s no reform until we have alternatives, because there are paths to reforms that others states have shown and options that we created there [in Arkansas] … that were just shut down.” This reporting is courtesy of the Arkansas Nonprofit News Network, an independent, nonpartisan news project dedicated to producing journalism that matters to Arkansans. Find out more at arknews.org.

THE

Neighborhood Dining Guide 2017

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Neighborhood Dining Guide VOTE ONLINE FOR 2018 READERS CHOICE RESTAURANT AWARDS:

One of the biggest

(and best!) reasons dining out is such a big part of our social life is the number of great restaurants in our area. Our annual Neighborhood Dining Guide is a great collection of dining establishments — some old, some new — to give ideas on places to choose from for a romantic dinner for two, a place to meet up with friends, festive family dinners, parties, etc. ■ Be sure to check out page 2 for the reminder to vote for the 2018 Arkansas Times Restaurant Readers Choice Awards. Voting started November 23 and runs thru January 13. Vote for your favorite restaurants online at ARKTIMES.COM/RESTAURANTS18. Winners will be announced in our March 15, 2018 issue!

Check out these outstanding restaurants NEW LOOK!

Just in time for party season, or a great lunch or dinner in a new setting! VESUVIO

This bistro has a new look, a new menu and new hours, all with an eye to family-friendly and casual service, letting folks enjoy a good meal out without having to put on the dog. Vesuvio is now open Monday-Saturday at 11a.m. for lunch with sandwiches and pizzas added to the menu. Sandwiches include crab cake, Caprese grilled cheese and more, while specialty pizzas include the Melanzane Vesuvio, made with thinly sliced and breaded eggplant and mozzarella, and several others. Meanwhile, regulars will be glad to see the menu has retained some old favorites like lasagna and manicotti. Open until 9 p.m.Vesuvio also caters and has private dining rooms. 1315 Breckenridge Drive, Little Rock. www. vesuviobistro.com.

About The Cover Artist

CAROLE KATCHEN Carole Katchen has been a professional artist for nearly 50 years. Her whimsical paintings of chefs, musicians, dancers and socialites have sold in 30 countries. She has also written 3 children’s books and 14 art instruction books, total sales over 1 million copies. Her art can be seen in Hot Springs at Legacy Gallery. Katchen teaches weekly classes at her Hot Springs studio. She recently won an International Artist competition and her painting will be featured in an upcoming issue of the magazine. For classes and commissions, contact the artist at ckatchen@earthlink.net. For more information visit her website carolekatchen.com or fineartamerica.com.

34 NOVEMBER 30, 2017 34

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Newly Renovated! 42 BAR AND TABLE

42 bar and table, the Clinton Presidential Center’s award-winning, inning newly-renovated ne l reno ated resta restaurant, rant is now open for dinner from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m., Thursday through Saturday, with bar service until midnight. 42 bar and table has a new look and a new menu, incorporating some of the unique items developed by Executive Chef Gilbert Alaquinez for the Around the World meals. Picture yourself with a late-night cocktail while relaxing on comfy furniture next to a cozy fire pit while the lights dance on the Clinton Presidential Park Bridge. Indoors features a brand new bar — with charging stations and handbag hangers — and expertly curated cocktail, wine, and beer menus. And don’t worry, during dinner service you won’t have to go through security to dine at 42 bar and table. A new staircase just left of the Clinton Center entrance will lead directly downstairs to the restaurant’s lobby. And valet service will be free, saving you a hike from the parking lot. The delicious lunch you’ve come to expect is still served from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday through Saturday.

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Neighborhood Dining Guide ■ 2017

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Full Bar 1920 N. Grant St. 501.663.5951 www.boulevardbread.com Located in the Heights, SOMA, UAMS and Baptist Hospital

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Thanks For Voting Us Among The Best! BEST OTHER ETHNIC LUNCH/BRUNCH 11AM-3PM • DINNER 5PM-CLOSE 3000 KAVANAUGH BLVD, LITTLE ROCK, AR • (501) 251-8261 36 NOVEMBER 30, 2017 36

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BEST OUTDOOR DINING MOST FUN

CACHE RESTAURANT — Cache Restaurant is the combined vision of Rush Harding and his son, Payne Harding. For Rush, a businessman and philanthropist, Cache is the opportunity to bring a stunning vision of the most urbane, contemporary dining experience to downtown Little Rock. For Payne, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, Cache is the canvas on which to create an extraordinary dining experience where no detail is left unattended. Chef Payne Harding’s vision for Cache is one that transcends food where every guest encounter receives as much care as what emerges from the kitchen. From the architecture of the building to the linens on the tables, Payne believes that every detail is significant and impacts the experience of Cache patrons. With the infrastructure now firmly in place, Payne is immersed in crafting what promises to be a constantly evolving and dynamic culinary story at Cache. 425 President Clinton Ave, Little Rock. www. cachelittlerock.com DOE’S EAT PLACE — What has become a Little Rock landmark of national renown — Doe’s Eat Place — has its origins in the unlikeliest of models, a no-frills diner deep in the delta. But then nothing about Doe’s is quite what one would expect from a worldclass steakhouse -- except fabulous steaks, that is. Another favorite — tamales, from their sister restaurant, The Tamale Factory are never a disappointment. 1023 West Markham St., Little Rock, (501) 376-1195. LARRY’S PIZZA — Larry’s Pizza is an award-winning restaurant, 25 years

in business, serving delicious pizzas, sandwiches, salads and wings (at select locations), plus incredible dessert pizzas. At the daily lunch buffet, the extensive selection of pizzas is served piping hot at your table. Besides great pizza, the buffet features a garden fresh salad bar with all of your favorite items. And make sure to save room for one of many dessert pizza options. 1122 S. Center, Little Rock. www. larryspizzaoflittlerock.com. REVOLUTION — Central Arkansas’s best kept restaurant secret, Revolution (located behind the Rev Room) specializes in tacos and good times! Its cozy eclectic space is perfect for gatherings of any size. During warm weather, enjoy their pet-friendly patio overlooking Riverfront Park. Open mic every Taco Tuesday at 730p.m. and Karaoke on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Check out the schedule of critically-acclaimed national touring acts next door at Rev Room (voted Arkansas’s Best Live Music Venue). 300 President Clinton Avenue, Little Rock. www. revroom.com. SOUTHERN TABLE — Southern Table is a boards and bites eatery specializing in a seasonal small plate and shared menu with world cuisine dining options for vegetarians and omnivores. They serve their branded Southern Table cheeses (artisan cheese made from local cow, goat and sheep milk), terrines, pâtés, and gourmet foods plus other imported and local foods. In addition to the Southern specialties, Southern Table serves local beer and wine, and provides catering, grab and go, and special events services as well. 323 S. Cross St., Little Rock, (501) 379-9111.

VOTE ONLINE FOR 2018 READERS CHOICE RESTAURANT AWARDS:

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Doe’s Eat Place STICKYZ — Stickyz Chicken Shack is the mainstay in the River Market area. Just stroll in any day or night and find great food, friendly staff including bartenders along with a setting that makes you take notice - just look around and soak it all in. Then take another look. You’ll know you’re in the best bar in Little Rock and when you have a bite to eat - lunch or dinner or late night - you’ve hit a goldmine. Fingers any way you can imagine, plus sandwiches, salads, nachos and burgers - what you’d expect but much better. Plus, the awardwinning music venue has proven to be a great place to catch up on national artists and popular local talent. The restaurant is perfect for private events, game watching, or just a night out on the town. If you want to people-watch, Stickyz boasts the River Market’s best streetside patio. 107 River Market Avenue, Little Rock. www.stickyz.com. VINO’S —“Vino’s, Arkansas’s oldest brewery, is located in downtown Little Rock serving award winning beers and food since 1990. Winners of the GABF Gold medal in 2008 and the Bronze medal in 2006. Open seven days a week and located on the corner of 7th and Chester, Little Rock. (501) 375-8466.

RIVERDALE

THE FADED ROSE — As Little Rock’s most award-winning restaurant, this 35 year-old jewel has an authentic New Orleans-inspired menu that never disappoints. Not only do they serve up Cajun and creole staples, but their steaks and soak salads are legendary. There is something for everyone! And be sure to check

out their Facebook page for regular contests. 1619 Rebsamen Park Rd. (501) 663-9734.

HILLCREST

KEMURI — Kemuri is the most creative restaurant to hit the Little Rock scene in decades. It’s not just a sushi lover’s paradise, but a full scale restaurant serving some of the most exciting and delicious dishes that Arkansas has ever seen and at a level guests would expect to find in New York, Tokyo, and LA. Kemuri has some of the freshest and tastiest seafood and Robata grilled meats found anywhere. Located at the top of Hillcrest, this restaurant specializes in providing guests the ultimate dining experience. From tantalizing ingredients, to unique grilling methods and sauces, they give guests a full spectrum of flavors. Kemuri is open for lunch M-F, dinner daily and brunch on Sunday’s, where they have a full Bloody Mary and Mimosa bar. Also be sure to check out the private dining room for holiday parties! 2601 Kavanaugh Blvd, Little Rock. (501) 660-4100. LA TERRAZA RUM & LOUNGE — A cultural experience nestled in Hillcrest, boasting a Venezuelan/Spanish fusion with influences of Italian and French cuisine. One of the best patios in town. The cocktail menu does not disappoint, with over 30 rum varieties and the best mojito in town! Monthly Ladies Night and seasonal Rum Dinners keep patrons entertained. Offering private dining, on-site event planning, catering, and more. Call today to inquire on their “experience packages” and follow their events on Facebook. 3000 Kavanaugh Blvd., Little Rock. (501) 251-8261.

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Neighborhood Dining Guide ■ 2017

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La Terraza Rum & Lounge THE OYSTER BAR — Open for business since 1975, The Oyster Bar continues to thrive in Little Rock’s historic Stifft Station/Hillcrest neighborhood. They serve shrimp, oysters, Cajun soups, po’boys, catfish, chef salads and non-seafood items in their family-friendly restaurant. Play a tune on the jukebox, order a mug of the coldest beer in town and find out why locals have been dining at The Oyster Bar for over 40 years. Private party room and catering is available. 3003 W. Markham St., (501) 666-7100, lroysterbar.com.

HEIGHTS

BOULEVARD BISTRO — Little Rock is a lucky city to have this gem of a restaurant and market in the heart of our city. The owners take a great deal of pride in serving the community by creating excellent handcrafted foods and baked items in a wonderfully welcoming environment with exceptional service. The expanded dining room offers a great bar where a lone diner can be comfortable or a group of girls can have a night out with cocktails before dinner. Boulevard serves locally sourced high-quality food items and ingredients which are only available because of the established relationships with local farmers, artisans and vendors. Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner with a relaxing atmosphere with environmentally conscious recycling and the use of “green” products sets Boulevard Bistro apart. Whenever dining at this local neighborhood bistro in the Heights, you’ll know the servers and the couple sitting beside you! The food, service and atmosphere combine to make a meal perfectly relaxing and enjoyable.1920 N Grant St., Little Rock. www.boulevardbread.com.

MIDTOWN

GRAFFITI’S ITALIAN RESTAURANT — A Little Rock institution. Serving Italian Food with American flair over 33 years. Graffiti’s menu items tantalize the taste buds with daily specials to complement a diverse pallet. Generations of patrons have called Graffiti’s home. Open Monday-Saturday from 5-9 and 9:30 on weekends. Offering on-site party planning, catering, and private dining. Call today to inquire for private dining “experience packages”. Graffiti’s Italian Restaurant, the perfect place to spend your holidays. 7811 Cantrell Rd., Little Rock, (501) 224-9079.

WEST LITTLE ROCK

BUFFALO WILD WINGS — The holidays can be stressful and Buffalo Wild Wings is here to help. They’ve created a party menu to help you make sure your guests don’t go hungr y. And if you’re just looking to skip the cooking, let them take care of the food and grab some takeout. Buffalo Wild Wings have 21 sauces and seasonings. With holiday gift cards, they’ve got you covered for Secret Santa. Buffalo Wild Wings. Wings. Beer. Sports.14800 Cantrell Road. www. buffalowildwings.com. LARRY’S PIZZA — 801 S. Bowman and 12911 Cantrell Rd., Suite 21, Little Rock. www.larryspizzaoflittlerock.com.

SOUTHWEST LITTLE ROCK

MURRY’S DINNER PLAYHOUSE — Murry’s Dinner Playhouse is celebrating 50 YEARS this season! How about dinner and a show? Chef Larry Shields has been in the industry for 30 years. As a former

VOTE ONLINE FOR 2018 READERS CHOICE RESTAURANT AWARDS:

arktimes.com/restaurants18 saucier, he uses his sauces to give many of his dishes an unexpected twist. Buffet food often lacks seasoning and can be bland, but Larry ensures that every dish is seasoned to perfection. Chef is also having a little fun by creating themed menus to go with the shows. Check out the latest shows and menu at murrysdp.com. 6323 Colonel Glenn Road. (501) 562-3131.

ARGENTA

FOUR QUARTER BAR — Four Quarter Bar is quickly becoming the late night staple in the Argenta Arts District. Recently voted best bar, best bar food, and Bloody Mary in the AR Times, they offer great BBQ food options like a Pulled Pork Hash or the “Porkaletta”, and also have one of the best burgers around. Brunch kicks off Sunday at noon, and the kitchen is open until 1:30am every night. A nice craft beer selection is on tap, with many rarities often available. (Ask about the secret tap!) Live music starts around 10pm on the weekends. Look for great upcoming shows like Aaron Kamm and the One Drops or the Mike Dillon Band. Open Mon-Sat 3p.m.-2a.m.; Sunday noon2a.m. 415 Main St., North Little Rock. www. fourquarterbar.com. SKINNY J’S — The first thing you should know about Skinny J’s is that they’re not the average steakhouse. It’s a burger joint, a meeting place, somewhere to celebrate or a favorite place to relax and enjoy the company. From their appetizers (we’re partial to the Reuben eggrolls!) to the desserts, your taste buds will delight in dining at Skinny J’s. While they’re known for their hand-cut steaks, their menu covers a full range of choices from chicken and beef, fish and oysters, wraps and salads and a full

range of sandwiches and burgers. Nightly drink specials make dining here the perfect choice. And don’t forget Sunday Brunch! Skinny J’s also has locations in Jonesboro and Paragould. 314 Main St., North Little Rock. www.skinnyjs.com.

NORTH LITTLE ROCK

HIDEAWAY PIZZA — Hideaway Pizza has been baking seriously great pizza since 1957, with new locations in North Little Rock and Conway. Choose from more than 20 specialty pies or build your own creation with more than 40 fresh ingredients. Try the Big Country, a meat lover’s dream recognized as one of the 50 best pizzas in America, the Sweet Southern Heat, a spicy/ sweet BBQ fried chicken pizza created by local Chef Donnie Ferneau, or the holiday favorite Prime Rib pizza with a bowl of famous fried mushrooms. Hideaway Pizza features a full bar with 20 craft beers on tap and its own radio station, Hideaway Pizza Radio, that includes tracks from local bands in Arkansas and Oklahoma alongside hits and B-sides from the 1960s through today. An award-winning gluten free crust is available, as well as traditional thin crust and hand-tossed options. 5103 Warden Rd, North Little Rock. www.hideawaypizza. com.

Christmas and Christmas Eve Meal TO-GO

Available for pickup December 23 or 24 by 2:00 pm

FEEDS 6-8, $99 Smoked Pit Ham Cornbread Dressing Sweet Potato Casserole Italian Green beans Mix Green Salad with Dressing House made Rolls Pecan Pie • Apple Pie

PLACE YOUR ORDER TODAY!

Call 501-225-0500 and select option 1 on phone or call 501-580-4189 or email vesuviobistro@gmail.com Orders must be received by December 19th

LARRY’S PIZZA — 5933 JFK Blvd., North Little Rock. www.larryspizzaoflittlerock. com.

CONWAY

HIDEAWAY PIZZA — 1170 South Amity Rd, Conway. www.hideawaypizza.com. LARRY’S PIZZA — 1068 Markham, Conway. www.larryspizzaoflittlerock.com.

GREAT AMERICAN BEER FESTIVAL G Gold medal winner.

TOAST TOWN OF THE

FINALIST

ARKANSAS TIMES

bike

Hideaway Pizza

LOCAL

ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT www.arktimes.com

NOVEMBER 30, 2017

arktimes.com NOVEMBER 30 2017

39 39

Holiday Gift Guide Holiday Season is Coming Up! Visit these local retailers to gear up for the holiday season of gift-giving.

perfect host gift

Colonial has the for the holidays: the Gift Pack of Scotch Whiskies. The pack includes 4- 100 ml bottles of the following: Glenmorangie Original 10 Year Old, Glenmorangie Lasanta Sherry Cask Finished 12 Year Old, Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban Port Cask Finished 12 Year Old, and Glenmorangie The Nectar D’Or Sauternes Cask Finished 12 Year Old, all for $27.99.

The Central Arkansas Library System Butler Center’s four art galleries feature the work of Arkansas artists including one-of-a-kind pieces that highlight Arkansas style and culture. View rotating exhibitions or browse the retail gallery to purchase

a unique gift or a priceless keepsake

Celebrate Christmas

in your ENO Hammock from Ozark Outdoor Supply. With the ENO Twilights LED Light String, there is never a cloudy night!

for your personal collection, like this Charlotte’s Web t-shirt or these cute Jane Austen-themed gifts.

KNIFE SALE!

BUY 1 GET 1 KNIFE SALE HALF OFF

New designs by local artist Julie Holt

BUY 1 GET 1

HALF OFF Sale begins on November 20th

NOW DEC. 24 & runsTHROUGH through December 23rd.

(501) 687-1331 4310 Landers Road, NLR M-F 8-5 Sat. 9-5 40

NOVEMBER 30, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT

M-F 10-6 • SAT 10-5 • SUN 12-5 2616 KAVANAUGH BLVD. LITTLE ROCK 501.661.1167 • WWW.SHOPBOXTURTLE.COM

BEST GIFT SHOP

2017 HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

Jingle All the Way !

Rhea Drug Store

A Traditional Pharmacy

with eclectic Gifts. Since 1922

2801 Kavanaugh Little Rock 501.663.4131

Rudolph really flies!

Check out high-tech and low-tech stocking stuffers of all kinds at Rhea Drug.

we’ve got MORE THAN JUST JEWELRY!

Visit the Arkansas Craft Guild Christmas Showcase Extravaganza, December 1, 2,

shop more gifts like these:

and 3 at the Statehouse Convention Center to a White Tail Deer Hunting Knife with a bone handle by artist Lewie Lloyd of Lewie’s Blades, Mountain View; locally produced honey and honey products from Desmond and Joyce Simmons of Lake in the Willows Apiary; one-of-a-kind hand felted hats by artist Leigh Abernathy; and Christmas cards produced using the old fashioned handset metal type and foot powered presses by artist Troy Odom, of Old Time Print Shop, Ozark Folk Center.

523 S. Louisiana (In the Lafayette building)

www.bellavitajewelry.net

‘TIS THE SEASON

FOR WINGS AND CHEER

‘TIS THE SEASON

FOR WINGS AND CHEER SPREAD THE CHEER WITH B-DUBS® TAKEOUT AND LEAVE THE COOKING TO US. Call or visit today and get your holiday party menu order placed.

675 Amity Rd Conway, AR 72032 501-205-1940

WITH A HOLIDAY PARTY AT B-DUBS OR SPREAD THE CHEER WITH TAKEOUT

14800 Cantrell Rd Little Rock, AR 72223 501-868-5279

4600 Silvercreek Dr. Sherwood, AR 72120 501-819-0192

ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT arktimes.com NOVEMBER 30, 2017

2017 HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

For all of you at-home mixologists just dying to show off

your skills over the holidays, check out the OGGI 6 Piece Stainless Steel Bartender Set with Copper Plating at Krebs Restaurant Store. Set includes: ice tongs, ice strainer, double jigger, 2 piece glass and stainless steel cocktail shaker & muddler.

If bourbon and whiskey are on your wish list,

head to Warehouse Liquor for these specials: Crown Rye Litre for $19.99 (regular price $33.99) and Maker’s Mark 46 750 ml for $29.99 (regular price $31.99).

It’s no secret that Bella Vita LOVES Little Rock! Their little shop in the Lafayette Building is stocked full of fun gift items like

“Little Rock is Dope”

Oh Starry Night!…

pick up a pair of these tiny opal starburst stud earrings set in gold vermeil or slip into these fluffy faux fur pink slippers with rubber soles that are too cute to hide at home! Find these items at Box Turtle.

NOVEMBER 30, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES ARKANSAS TIMES ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT

these stickers and they even have t-shirts to match. Visit Bella Vita Wednesdays - Friday 11 - 5:30 and/or Saturdays 10 - 3 or online at your convenience at www.bellavitajewelry.net.

DIY’ers Deserve the Finest Available!

Your favorite wines have arrived at your

General Finishes are recognized by the cabinet and millwork industry as the finest finishes available. Cantrell ACE Hardware offers conversion varnishes, dye stains, wood stains, paints, glazes, topcoats and sealers all designed for your specific applications, so that you can easily do-it-yourself this holiday season.

neighborhood grocer, Edwards Food Giant at Tanglewood! They have them all…Grab dinner and drinks this week at Edwards Food Giant.

@ Cantrell ACE Hardware 501.944.6008 • 501.280.0626 2516 Cantrell Road, Suite H CantrellHardware@gmail.com LRWoodworker@gmail.com

STIHL®

FOR ALL YOUR WOOODWORKING AND HARDWARE NEEDS SawStop Rikon Laguna Forrest blades Domestic & Exotic Hardwood Turning Tools & Supplies

STIHL®

GENERAL FINISHES • HAND TOOLS

Warning: if you give anyone Buffalo Wild Wings

holiday gift cards for Secret Santa, prepare for those people to become your new best friends. So if you’re okay with having swarms of best friends who love you more than their dogs, then go ahead, buy $25 dollars’ worth of select gift cards. Each will earn you a $5 bonus reward for all the best friends you now have. Buffalo Wild Wings. Wings. Beer. Sports. For a limited time, while supplies last. Restrictions apply. For terms and conditions, visit buffalowildwings.com.

Buy it! Find the featured items at the following locations: CANTRELL ACE HARDWARE 2516 Cantrell Rd, Suite H 280.0626 hardwarestorelittlerock.com

BUFFALO WILD WINGS Little Rock, 868.5279 Conway, 205.1940 Sherwood, 819.0192

ARKANSAS CRAFT GUILD CHRISTMAS SHOWCASE EXTRAVAGANZA December 1, 2, & 3 Statehouse Convention Center 101 E Markham St. 376.4781 facebook.com/ChristmasShowcase

CALS BUTLER CENTER FOR ARKANSAS STUDIES 401 President Clinton Ave. 320.5700 www.butlercenter.org/art

BELLA VITA JEWELRY 523 S Louisiana St., #175 396.9146 bellavitajewelry.net BOX TURTLE 2616 Kavanaugh Blvd. 661.1167 shopboxturtle.com

COLONIAL WINES & SPIRITS 11200 W Markham St. 223.3120 colonialwineshop.com EDWARDS FOOD GIANT 7507 Cantrell Rd. 614.3477 other locations statewide edwardsfoodgiant.com

KREBS BROTHERS RESTAURANT STORE 4310 Landers Rd. NLR 687.1331 krebsbrothers.com OZARK OUTDOOR SUPPLY 5514 Kavanaugh Blvd. 664.4832 ozarkoutdoor.com RHEA DRUG STORE 2801 Kavanaugh Blvd. 663.4131 WAREHOUSE LIQUOR MARKET 1007 Main St. 374.0410 & 860 E Broadway St, NLR 501.374.2405

ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT arktimes.com NOVEMBER 30, 2017

DEC 8

THE 2ND FRIDAY OF EACH MONTH 5-8 PM

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

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

Live music, refreshments, Museum Store shopping & the 13th Ever Nog-off!

USE OF BICYCLES OR ANIMALS

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

A museum of the Department of Arkansas Heritage

On exhibit: True Faith, True Light & live music by

SWAY 412 Louisiana Street Little Rock

dec 7/8 5-9pm 300 W. Markham St.

OVERTAKING A BICYCLE Guest Artists

www.oldstatehouse.com

A museum of the Department of Arkansas Heritage

FINE ART AND CREATIVE GIFTS! 108 W 6th St., Suite A (501) 725-8508 www.mattmcleod.com

Luxury Photography Experience

229 W. Capitol Suite A Little Rock, AR 72201

501-517-0962

mariposastudiophoto.com

2ND FRIDAY ART NIGHT is wrapping

up 2017 — please visit Old State House, Nexus Coffee, CALS, Cox Creative, Butler Center, Copper Grill, Historic Arkansas Museum, McLeod Gallery, Bella Vita Jewelry, Mariposa and Gallery 221 for holiday cheer and we’ll see you on January 12, 2018. From your friends at Arkansas times! Free trolley makes stops in the order listed above - roughly every 20 minutes.

NOVEMBER 30, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

A multi-disciplinary art event featuring works of Arkansas LGBTQ artists and allies.

antigalleryarts @gmail.com

gift items made from Arkansas beeswax 523 S. Louisiana St. www.bellavitajewelry.net

COFFEE. BEER. WINE. ART. COFFEE 301B PRESIDENT CLINTON AVE. nexuscoffeear.com

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

501-295-7515

FREE TROLLEY RIDES!

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

AND CYCLISTS, PLEASE REMEMBER...

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

ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO ARKANSAS TIMES

Hot Springs

Live Music Calendar SPONSORED BY OAKLAWN

For a complete calendar of events, visit hotsprings.org DECEMBER 1 (FRIDAY)

DECEMBER 8 (FRIDAY)

DECEMBER 21 (THURSDAY)

DECEMBER 31 (SUNDAY)

Cosmocean @ Maxine’s Aaron Owens @ Silks Bar & Grill, Oaklawn, 10-2

Wesley Pruitt Band @ Silks Bar & Grill, Oaklawn, 10-2

Clyde Pound, Shirley Chauvin, Earl Hesse, Fedett Johnson, Dona Pettey @ the Ohio Club

DECEMBER 2 (SATURDAY)

*Repeat Repeat, Landrest @ Maxine’s Susan Erwin Prowse @ Pop’s, Oaklawn, 6-10 Wesley Pruitt Band @ Silks Bar & Grill, Oaklawn, 10-2

All The Way Korean @ Maxine’s Jacob Flores @ Elite Event, 8-Midnight Susan Erwin Prowse @ Pop’s, Oaklawn, 6-10 Moxie @ Silks Bar & Grill, Oaklawn, 10-2 Walker Lukens Shirley Chauvin, Bill Halbrook @ Arlington Resort Hotel & Spa Mayday by Midnight @ Doc N’ Maggies

Adam Faucett & the Tall Grass, William Blackart, Brandon Luedtke @ Maxine’s Susan Erwin Prowse @ Pop’s, Oaklawn, 6-10 Aaron Owens @ Silks Bar & Grill, Oaklawn, 10-2

DECEMBER 9 (SATURDAY)

DECEMBER 22 (FRIDAY) Hartle Road @ Maxine’s Steve Hester Band @ Silks Bar & Grill, Oaklawn, 10-2

DECEMBER 23 (SATURDAY)

DECEMBER 10 (SUNDAY)

DECEMBER 7 (THURSDAY)

Shirley Chauvin, Bill Halbrook @ Arlington Resort Hotel & Spa

Susan Erwin Prowse @ Pop’s, Oaklawn, 6-10 Steve Hester Band @ Silks Bar & Grill, Oaklawn, 10-2

Clyde Pound @ the Ohio Club

DECEMBER 14 (THURSDAY)

DECEMBER 28 (THURSDAY)

Clyde Pound @ the Ohio Club C

Clyde Pound @ the Ohio Club

DECEMBER 15 (FRIDAY) D Jo Diffie, Bonnie Montgomery, Joe the Ned Perme Band, Ryan Couron, th Texarkana @ Horner Hall Te TThe Dangerous Idiots @ Maxine’s Mister Lucky @ Silks Bar & Grill, M Oaklawn, 10-2 O

DECEMBER 29 (FRIDAY) Moxie @ Silks Bar & Grill, Oaklawn, 10-2

DECEMBER 30 (SATURDAY)

DECEMBER 16 (SATURDAY) D Mayday By Midnight

HOTSPRINGS.ORG

Susan Erwin Prowse @ Pop’s, Oaklawn, 6-10 Moxie @ Silks Bar & Grill, Oaklawn, 10-2

S Susan Erwin Prowse @ Pop’s, Oaklawn, 6-10 la Mister Lucky @ Silks Bar & Grill, M Oaklawn, 10-2 O

Susan Erwin Prowse

Whether you are an activist, a cannabis industry professional, or a new or veteran cannabis patient, attending cannabis-centric events is one of the best ways you can help support the cannabis industry and learn more about the cannabis plant itself. Imperious Expo, LLC is the producer and host of a large family of B2B trade shows for the cannabis industry, such as the Ark-La-Tex Cannabis Business Expo. Along with the Arkansas Cannabis Industry Association (ACIA), Imperious Expo will be co-hosting this event in Little Rock at the Statehouse Convention Center on December 6th and 7th. The show will spotlight the medical and industrial cannabis industry and is open to the public as well as the business to business (B2B) world! We are thrilled to announce that Celeste Miranda of The Cannabis Marketing Lab has been named the Program Director of the Ark-La-Tex Expo. Additionally, expert speakers will give presentations on a range of topics including cultivation, extraction, insurance, legal issues, licensing, sustainability, water and more. “The Arkansas Cannabis Industry Association is excited to team up with Eric Norton at Imperious Expo to bring the first cannabis industry expo to the Arkansas area,” says Storm Nolan, President of the ACIA. “Imperious has a good track record of conducting successful industry events in other states, and we’re glad that he’s chosen Arkansas as the location of his next expo covering Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas – states that are just now forming their medical cannabis programs. We expect many great speakers and presenters to be on hand to help educate those entering the cannabis industry, and we think education is the best way to make sure that the cannabis industry in Arkansas is successful.” The show will promote the medical and industrial benefits of a legal cannabis industry with a strong emphasis on the business sector, connecting businesses in this up-and-coming market. The Ark-La-Tex Cannabis Business Expo is dedicated to creating and enhancing lifelong partnerships within the emerging cannabis industry. It is our objective to provide a professional venue for cannabis businesses, entrepreneurs, investors, and community partners to showcase industry products, people and innovations and to cultivate business values within the cannabis industry through education and responsible community involvement. As reported by Ganjapreneur: “The Imperious Expo is one of the nation’s leading business-to-business cannabis conferences with an emphasis on the medical and industrial cannabis industries. Each conference boasts a unique array of cannabis industry speakers. The event will offer top-flight speakers that will help attendees take home critical information they can put to work to build business and profits. This show tried to maintain a national focus and stays in constant contact with the pulse of the emerging medical and industrial cannabis trade with a special focus on 23 states now in the forefront of an emerging business category.”

VISIT IMPERIOUSEXPO.COM WITH CODE ACIA2017 TO PURCHASE YOUR TICKET AT 50% OFF, TODAY! -Eric Norton, Imperious Expo Founder/Partner

arktimes.com NOVEMBER 30 2017

VOTE

Hey, do this!

THIS MONTH MURPHY ARTS DISTRICT IN EL DORADO HOSTS: Chinese Acrobats Friday, Dec. 1 The Muses Wednesday, Dec. 6 Erica Campbell Friday, Dec. 8

DECEMBER Food, Music, Entertainment and everything else that’s

Phil Vassar & Kellie Pickler Saturday, Dec. 9 Christmas POPS Saturday, Dec. 16 Home Free: A Country Christmas Sunday, Dec. 17 MAD NEW YEARS Sunday, Dec. 31 Check out the Thursday Night LIVE! schedule and more upcoming events at www.eldomad.com.

DEC 3

IT’S BIG CHURCH NIGHT OUT at Verizon Arena. Tickets start at $28 with packages available for VIP experiences. For more info, visit www. verizonarena. com.

DEC 3

THE NORTH LITTLE ROCK CHRISTMAS PARADE is from 2-4 p.m. in the Argenta Arts District. It starts at Pershing and goes down Main Street to the North Little Rock City Services building.

TYLER KINCHEN & THE RIGHT PIECES bring their energetic Louisiana funk sound to the South on Main stage for a special holiday show at 9 p.m. There is a $15 cover at the door. Call ahead to reserve a table 501-244-9660. ■ Sticky Fingerz hosts THE VAN’S 5TH ANNUAL CHRISTMAS KARAOKE at 8 p.m. Trophy awarded for tackiest Christmas attire. 18 and up. $10 at the door. ■ ANIMAL VILLAGE FUNDRAISER at Trapnall Hall, 7 p.m.

DEC 19

UCA Public Appearances presents A CHRISTMAS CAROL, the adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic novel, at Reynolds Performance Hall at 7:30 p.m. For tickets, visit www.uca.edu/ publicappearances.

DEC 31

THROUGH DEC 24

The Arkansas Repertory Theatre presents a new adaptation of O. Henry’s beloved holiday story, THE GIFT OF THE MAGI. For tickets and show times, visit www.therep.org.

Ring in the New Year with THE MIKE DILLON BAND and DAZZ AND BREE at the Four Quarter Bar. Tickets are $25. Purchase them online at www.centralarkansastickets.com. ■ Midtown Billiards is the place to keep your NEW YEAR’S EVE PARTY going. Tickets are $15 per person or $20 per couple, and the party continues until 5 a.m.

NOVEMBER 23, 2017

NOV 30

IAN MOORE HOLIDAY ACOUSTIC TOUR makes a stop at Four Quarter Bar. Show starts at 9 p.m. and is $10 at the door.

DEC 1-3

There is still time to experience the Tony Awardwinning masterpiece, LES MISÉRABLES, at Robinson Center. The enthralling story includes songs “I Dreamed a Dream,” “On My Own” and “One More Day” that soar in the enhanced sound system at Little Rock’s fully renovated concert hall. Tickets are $26-$72 and online at www.ticketmaster.com.

Register now for RAID THE ROCK. This year’s adventure race will include an 8-hour intermediate course and a 24hour course. For rules and more info, visit www. raidtherock.com.

ARKANSAS TIMES ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT

The Statehouse Convention Center hosts the IMPERIOUS ARK-LA-TEX CANNABIS BUSINESS EXPO. For details, visit www. imperiousexpo. com.

Make plans to attend the 15th anniversary holiday concert by the RIVER CITY MEN’S CHORUS. Showtimes are 3 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 10, and 7 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 11 and Thursday, Dec. 14 at Second Presbyterian Church at 600 Pleasant Valley Drive. Performances are free.

CHRISTMAS HAS COME TO MAIN STREET with the installation of a 65-foot Christmas tree at 322 Main Street. It is one of the 10 tallest trees in America and decorated with LED glass lights and a topper by Arkansas glassblower James Hayes.

The Pulitzer Prize winning comedy HARVEY is now showing at Murry’s Dinner Playhouse. For tickets and show times, visit www.murrysdp. com.

DEC 6-7

DEC 10, 11 AND 14

THROUGH DEC 25

THROUGH DEC 31

DEC 2

THE 39TH ANNUAL ARKANSAS CRAFT GUILD CHRISTMAS SHOWCASE will take place at the Statehouse Convention Center. This is the place to find unique gifts and handmade works of art and crafts for everyone on your Christmas list. For more info, visit www.arkansascraftguild.org.

THROUGH DEC 3

DEC 9-10

DEC 9

NOW

Grammynominated blues rocker JOE BONAMASSA performs live at Verizon Arena at 8 p.m. Tickets are $79-$149 and available online at www.ticketmaster. com.

THE BIG JINGLE JUBILEE HOLIDAY PARADE strolls through downtown Little Rock from 3-5 p.m. The parade begins at 2nd and Broadway and ends at the State Capitol. ■ Stop by COLONIAL WINE & SPIRITS from 1-4 p.m. and get a bottle of Gentleman Jack engraved for that special someone this holiday season. If you can’t stop by the day of the event, call 501-223-3120 to purchase ahead of time and leave engraving instructions.

The Arkansas Repertory Theatre presents DAVID SEDARIS’ THE SANTALAND DIARIES as a hilarious, irreverent antidote to the traditional holiday festivities. Performances will be held in the Black Box Theatre, the Rep annex, at 518 Main Street. For tickets, show times and more info, visit www.therep.org.

Argenta Community Theatre presents A CHRISTMAS CAROL at the Sally Riggs Insalaco Theatre in North Little Rock. Tickets are $30. For show times, visit www. argentacommunitytheatre. org.

The Big Jingle Jubilee Holiday Parade

DEC 2

DEC 6-24

DEC 13-23

FUN!

2018 is the 37th edition of the ARKANSAS TIMES READERS CHOICE RESTAURANT AWARDS. Voting is now open at www.arktimes.com/restaurants18.

DEC 14

DEC 7

The Oxford American welcomes the LATIN JAZZ ALL STARS to South on Main as part of their jazz series. Doors open at 6 p.m. with dinner and drinks available, and the show starts at 8 p.m. For tickets, visit www. southonmain.com.

Let’s party with SESAME STREET LIVE at Verizon Arena at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. Tickets are on sale now at www. ticketmaster. com.

DEC 15

Midtown Billiards has its UGLY SWEATER CONTEST sponsored by Miller Lite from 7-8 p.m.

DEC 8-10

Ballet Arkansas brings the magic of sugar plum fairies to the stage with THE NUTCRACKER at Robinson Center. Tickets are available at www.balletarkansas.org. This year, the Land of the Sweets Nutcracker Tea will be held on Dec. 9 from 4-5 p.m. onstage at Robinson Center.

DEC 15-17

The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra presents HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS at Robinson Center. Performance times are 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 3 p.m. on Sunday. For tickets, visit www. arkansassymphony.org.

DEC 16

ARKANSAS RAZORBACKS BASKETBALL takes the court at Verizon Arena. Tip off at 7 p.m. Tickets are $25 and available at www.ticketmaster. com. ■ A LIVELY BREW KOMBUCHA SAMPLING will take place at noon at Green Corner Store on South Main Street in Little Rock. Come try this locally made product filled with health benefits.

DEC 26

America’s favorite holiday tradition is back. THE MANNHEIM STEAMROLLER CHRISTMAS by Chip Davis presents class Christmas songs performed with groundbreaking sound, lights and multimedia effects. Experience the magic at Robinson Center. For more information on tickets and showtimes, visit www. celebrityattractions.com.

THROUGH JAN 7

THE 49TH ANNUAL COLLECTORS SHOW AND SALE is now on display at the Arkansas Arts Center. It’s a tradition that brings the New York gallery scene to Little Rock. All works in the exhibition are for sale and range from under $500 to $85,000. Don’t miss this well curated event and a chance to take home something special. For more info, visit www.arkansasartscenter.org.

DON’T MISS HOT SPRINGS HAPPENINGS ON PAGE 45!

THROUGH DEC 31

“THE ART OF SEATING: 200 YEARS OF AMERICAN DESIGN” is on display at the Arkansas Arts Center and contains more than 40 exceptional examples of American designed chairs. For more information, visit www.arkarts.com.

UPCOMING EVENTS NOV

30 DEC

1&2 8-10 14-16 DEC

1-3 8-10 14-17 DEC

DEC

12 & 18

DEC

Four Quarter Bar

Ian Moore Holiday Acoustic Tour

PART-TIME ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, is seeking a part-time Administrative Assistant in its Little Rock office. 15-20 hours a week, flexible schedule. Requires general office skills and proficiency in Microsoft Office programs and database programs. 5+ years of experience required. Salary based on experience ($11 to $15/hr). Send cover letter, resume and references to jvazquez@aradvocates.org.

The Weekend Theater

Almost, Maine

AACF is an equal opportunity employer.

The Studio Theatre

Meet Me in St. Louis CALS Ron Robinson Theatre Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance

Latitude - An Evening of Stories and Songs Four Quarter Bar

Aaron Kamm and the One Drops Combo Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and Black Belt

4 days Classroom Training in Little Rock Four Quarter Bar NYE w/ The Mike Dillon Band + Dazz and Brie The Studio Theatre

Studio Theatre 2017-2018 Season Pass The Weekend Theater

MIZAR

PAINTING For all your interior - exterior painting needs Residential & Commercial Free Estimates 30 years experiance Will provide references

Mike Morris 501-541-6662

Mizarpainting1@gmail.com

PUBLIC NOTICE ARL06603F_R01 - CRAN_ROAR_DTLRS_004: Pico Cell LTE 1st Carrier (PAL2 Wave1) AT&T Mobility, LLC is proposing to collocate an antenna on an existing 26-foot wooden pole at 2202 W. 16th Street, Little Rock, Pulaski County, AR. Public comments regarding the potential effects from this site on historic properties may be submitted within 30-days from the date of this publication to: Britta Tonn – CBRE, 70 West Red Oak Lane, White Plains, NY 10604 whiteplainsculturalresources@cbre.com or (914) 694-9600.

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• Data Recovery & troubleshooting • Hardware & software installations • Organize and backup all your documents, photos, music, movies and email on all your devices with iCloud

2017-18 Season Flexpass

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arktimes.com NOVEMBER 30 2017

NOVEMBER 30, 2017

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