Arkansas Times - July 7, 2016 by Arkansas Times

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JOHN A. KIRK

Accidental desegregation Sixty years ago, Little Rock and other cities in Arkansas ended segregated buses because of a mistaken newspaper article

The Arkansas Times is launching its third annual Women Entrepreneurs issue in October, and we want to know who you think we should feature. Here is what to keep in mind: • Your nominee must be a woman who started her own business or took over a business and is still the owner/operator. • She must be an Arkansan. • She must be in business currently and have at least one year in business by the time of your nomination. • We welcome nominees who are LGBTQ.

• She must fit in one of these industry categories: food, professions (teachers, doctors, attorneys, financial advisors, etc.), nontraditional, retail and design, and two new categories - trailblazers (women who do not have their own business but have led their profession to success – pastors, teachers, CEOs, writers, etc.), and those women entrepreneurs outside of Pulaski County.

NOMINEES WILL BE ACCEPTED UNTIL SEPTEMBER 2, 2016. Submit your nominee and her contact info to Kelly Lyles, kelly@arktimes.com and we will announce those selected in September. A panel of judges will determine the finalists and they will be announced by industries in the following issues:

SEPTEMBER 29, OCTOBER 6, 13, 20 AND 27 WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR CLASS OF 2015 RESTAURATEURS

Suzanne Boscarolo, Carolyn Franke, Christine Basham Sonia Schaefer, Endia Veerman, Yolanda Hughes, Rosalia Monroe, Sally Mengel, Kelley Smith, Marie Amaya

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Kameelah Harris, Jamileh Kamran, Mary Bray Kelley, Kimberlyn Blann-Anderson, Rhea Lana Riner, Stacey Faught, Cassandra Benning, Maura Lozanoyancy

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JULY 7, 2016

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VOLUME 42, NUMBER 44 ARKANSAS TIMES (ISSN 0164-6273) is published each week by Arkansas Times Limited Partnership, 201 East Markham Street, Suite 200, Little Rock, Arkansas, 72201, phone (501) 375-2985. Periodical postage paid at Little Rock, Arkansas, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to ARKANSAS TIMES, 201 EAST MARKHAM STREET, SUITE 200, Little Rock, AR, 72201. Subscription prices are $42 for one year, $74 for two years. Subscriptions outside Arkansas are $49 for one year, $88 for two years. Foreign (including Canadian) subscriptions are $168 a year. For subscriber service call (501) 375-2985. Current single-copy price is 75¢, free in Pulaski County. Single issues are available by mail at $2.50 each, postage paid. Payment must accompany all single-copy orders. Reproduction or use in whole or in part of the contents without the written consent of the publishers is prohibited. Manuscripts and artwork will not be returned or acknowledged unless sufficient return postage and a self-addressed stamped envelope are included. All materials are handled with due care; however, the publisher assumes no responsibility for care and safe return of unsolicited materials. All letters sent to ARKANSAS TIMES will be treated as intended for publication and are subject to ARKANSAS TIMES’ unrestricted right to edit or to comment editorially.

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JULY 7, 2016

COMMENT

From the web In response to the June 30 cover story, “High School Confidential”: Tom Coulter is a superstar who has done a wonderful job at capturing voice and innuendo. His great ear and focus on how each person communicates and the language each uses brings in the details of their true plight and cloudy point of view. As an educator, I learned much about my helplessness and hope. Inspiring. SSS The rising senior from NLR High has inspired me to comment for the first time. He should apply to every Ivy League school that interests him. They all have huge endowments and sliding tuition scales. At Harvard, it’s a full ride up to a family income of $80-85K, and very reasonable after that. On top of that, they are all very concerned about the diversity, or lack thereof, among their student bodies. If you have the grades, they want you. I know this because I am a public high school teacher in Dallas and we have a program in our school that works with students to get through

the application processes for everything from schools to scholarships. I currently have two former students at Brown. mb In response to the July 5 Arkansas Blog item about the FBI’s decision not to charge Hillary Clinton over her use of a private email server: I can just see Trump and all the rightwing trolls’ heads exploding about now. No matter who investigated, they’ll still say she is guilty — look at how many Benghazi investigations took place and still they couldn’t pin anything on her. I believe that part of their hatred of Hillary Clinton is their misogynistic view of the world. Just like they can’t stand that a black man is president, they can’t stand that a woman might be capable of being president or have that much power. NeverVoteRepublican She has to be charged with something, or Congress will feel like such a failure after spending so many years PISSING AWAY TAXPAYER MONEY ON A POLITICAL VENDETTA. Paying Top Dollar for

Legislators Extremely careless, yes indeed, to the point of willful negligence. But bringing a successful prosecution, however warranted (doubtful), would be almost a guaranteed walk. Bernie’s only hope for a nomination just evaporated. Time to concede the race, but not the campaign for correcting the DNC platform and definitely not for pressuring Hill/Bill to change their neoliberal spots and embrace a New Deal for the 21st century (doubtful). Black Panthers for Open Carry “He said that the investigation showed that 110 emails in 52 email chains were determined to include classified information at the time they were received.” What this actually means is that the emails contained the same information as was contained in classified documents. It does not establish that this information was derived from classified documents. During my Army career, I would often read the same information in classified reports that I had seen earlier in Jane’s Defence Weekly or Avia-

tion Week and Space Technology. If I needed to give an unclassified briefing on a topic, I would cite the open source, not the classified report. If someone went back five years later and ignored my citation, then it would appear that my briefing contained classified information. Arkie In response to a July 4 Arkansas Blog post, “The high cost of college: It could be worse”: At one time or another I worked at a print shop, tended bar at Loyal Order of Moose, sacked groceries at Piggly Wiggly in Rogers — all to supplement my G.I. Bill. You CAN get through college without crippling loans to pay back. I don’t think we owe students a free ride in college. louie “I don’t think we owe students a free ride in college.” Balderdash! The smartest and future higher-earning of us deserve to have our educations subsidized forever. Glyippus Louie, when yearly college costs can be (at a minimum) in the $8,000 to $10,000 range if the student lives in a dorm, even a fulltime minimum wage job likely won’t fund the student without additional financial help. Further, to kick the student while he or she is down, it will leave no time to study. I’m not advocating a “free ride” as you put it, but I don’t think you are considering the enormous increase in costs of a college education since you and I attended. Not only has tuition gone sky high, but numerous additional fees for services that used to be rolled into tuition can easily add hundreds of dollars to the cost of college each semester. Doigotta Louie: Compare the cost ratio of one hour of college (keep in mind most classes are 3 hours of credit) to the minimum wage. When I was in college the minimum wage was $2.30 per hour. Cost per hour of college at the community college I started at was $5 per hour, and when I transferred to state university in 1977 the cost was $15 per hour. Tuition for a full load was under $200. Minimum wage is now $7.25. But credit hour cost is over $200. It does not include additional fees. Do the math. Vanessa

JULY 7, 2016

ARKANSAS TIMES

America’s beverage companies are giving you even more beverage choices — many with fewer calories and in smaller portion sizes. And our new signs are reminders to help you find the balance that’s right for you.

See what else we’re doing at BalanceLittleRock.org

www.arktimes.com

JULY 7, 2016

EYE ON ARKANSAS

WEEK THAT WAS

Walton Foundation doubles down Speaking of charters: The Walton Family Foundation announced it will contribute $250 million to help construct facilities for charter schools in 17 cities around the U.S. (Unlike traditional schools, charters can’t levy taxes to pay for new facilities.) That’s on top of the $1 billion the WFF said in January that it would be spending over the next five years to help new and existing charters. Little Rock is one of those 17 cities, though the WFF’s news release didn’t name which local schools will receive funds.

Twice as mean By an almost 4-to-1 margin, voters in Texarkana repealed a city nondiscrimination ordinance intended to protect LGBT people. The city Board of Directors unanimously passed the ordinance in January, which — like hundreds of similar local measures enacted around the nation — included sexual orientation 6

JULY 7, 2016

ARKANSAS TIMES

COLLECTION DAY: Rain bathes an old car and trash bin on West 24th Street. Both the car and the contents of the bin were to be disposed of.

JAMES ALLEN JR.

“I want the truth telling to start. There’s no opportunity in charters we don’t already have [in the Little Rock School District]. … If we’re going to have collaboration, we’ve missed our chance, frankly.” — Former Little Rock School District Superintendent Baker Kurrus, delivering a parting shot the day before his contract expired on June 30. Kurrus was speaking to a public education stakeholder group formed to consider opportunities for collaboration between charter schools and traditional public schools in the Little Rock area. It’s widely assumed Kurrus was fired by the state Education Commissioner Johnny Key because of Kurrus’ opposition to charter expansions. Kurrus’ replacement, Michael Poore, took over as superintendent July 1.

JAMES ALLEN JR.

Quote of the Week:

ON THE RUNWAY: “Pi-Zone,” a talented street artist, stoically poses for his portrait on West 24th Street. “My outfit is a result of being tired rather than a fashion statement,” he said.

and gender identity among protected classes for city employees and for those who contract with the city. But in what’s become a familiar refrain, religious conservatives mobilized around the myth that the ordinance would create dangers for women and children by allowing transgender people to use public restroom facilities that correspond with their identity. Fear and misinformation carried the day, at least for now.

… induced demand.” What will be the impact downstream when traffic volume increases heavily on one stretch of freeway? What new chokepoints will be created by the $630 million project, thus requiring ever more road-building? Here’s hoping the Metroplan board asks these and other tough questions from the AHTD.

The long and winding road

Arkansas’s aggregate scores on the college entrance exam were released, and the state “held steady,” in the words of the Education Department. Improvement is sorely needed, however, considering the fact that Arkansas lags behind the national average on ACT performance. In English, 49 percent of high school juniors met the benchmark score (which indicates a 75 percent chance of obtaining a C or higher in a corresponding college course); 25 percent met the math benchmark. Just 14 percent of juniors met the benchmark score in all four areas of the test

The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department is running into roadblocks with 30 Crossing, the project that aims to widen Interstate 30 in downtown Little Rock from six to 10-plus lanes. Constructing such a behemoth will require an exception from the board of Metroplan, the transportation planning agency for Central Arkansas, which has capped the number of general purpose traffic lanes on any given road in the region at six. The AHTD wants a quick thumbs-up, but Metroplan’s own design standards indicate that the highway department should make its case in detail, including “a thorough analysis of

Stagnant scores

— English, math, reading and science.

Trump’s man in Arkansas An email circulating from Bud Cummins, the state campaign chair for presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump, said former state Sen. Gilbert Baker will be one of the main liaisons between the Trump campaign and the Arkansas Republican delegation to the upcoming GOP convention in Cleveland. Interesting choice. Baker is under investigation by the FBI for his apparent role in the bribery of Mike Maggio, the former circuit judge who reduced a jury’s verdict against a negligent nursing home by several million dollars and was subsequently sentenced to 10 years in federal prison. Baker facilitated the delivery of tens of thousands of dollars in campaign donations to Maggio from the owner of the nursing home in question, Michael Morton (neither Baker nor Morton has been charged with a crime). Sounds like a perfect fit for the Trump train.

OPINION

A July 4 grab bag

he long holiday weekend (and a talk of “he said/ short time to produce a column she said” situafor this week), prompts a news tions invariably side with what roundup: • BuzzFeed News reports on HE said and bring the case of Taylor Moore, a student at no charges? Have MAX Southern Arkansas University, who’s they ever thought BRANTLEY maxbrantley@arktimes.com been pressing for months for action on that a jury’s prounwanted sexual groping by another pensity to find student last December. She was in excuses for assault — alcohol, provocaa dorm bed with a boyfriend when tive clothing, lack of sufficient physical another student walked up naked, with violation — could be rooted in the sexerect penis, and groped her vaginal area. ism on display by male officials here? She objected and he stopped. She says Enough hell has been raised that, seven her initial complaints to campus officials months later, the city attorney might fell on deaf ears. She says the campus try to file a misdemeanor charge. SAU police chief said no crime had occurred is redoing its obligations under Title because there’d been no penetration. IX and the male student has been susThe local prosecutor said it was, at best/ pended for a period. Taylor Moore has worst, a misdemeanor and not in his found another place to attend college. jurisdiction. Prosecutor David Butler • Speaking about sex: Federal dug his hole deeper by saying it was a Judge Carlton Reeves has struck down “he said/she said” deal and warning of Mississippi’s “religious freedom” law the difficulty of getting jury verdicts that allows people to use their religion for victims when “alcohol is involved.” as a pretext to discriminate against gay The young woman said no alcohol was people in employment, housing and involved. public services. Arkansas has a simiWhy is it that male officials who lar law. It should fall, too. The judge

Cleared, but still ...

he big question about Hillary Clinton is whether she is better off defending herself on the phony issues or the legitimate ones. She was on her way to clearing her skirts of the big phony ones, Benghazi and emails, before her husband’s witless dawdle with the attorney general on a Phoenix tarmac. Email frenzy will gradually play itself out, too, now that the FBI has concluded that her insisting on keeping her electronic communications on her family server rather than the government’s was “extremely careless” but that, like Colin Powell’s before her, no harm came of it. It dashed Republican hopes that the FBI would find criminal purpose in her handling a few classified documents on her server. For Donald Trump, of course, all of that won’t matter. He’ll continue the wild claims about emails, Benghazi and the rest of the tissueless controversies that have haunted Clinton since the months before and after she became the first lady — her futures-trading venture as a new bride in 1977, the suicide of her friend Vince Foster, her handling of her hus-

band’s extramarital flirtations, her privacy-obsessed West Wing blunders — and then the hugely successERNEST ful fundraising of DUMAS the Clinton Foundation and her lucrative speechmaking as a private citizen. All that publicity, originating mainly from the New York Times and the Washington Post, once libeled as the liberal press, have sunk her poll numbers since the high marks of her State Department departure, but they will have a diminishing impact on voting. Bald-faced lies and wild exaggerations characterize free-for-all primary campaigns, but, when the nation’s undivided attention is on two people, facts, real actions and real policy exposition do tend to take over. Trump may make it different, but we shall see. As the final congressional reports confirmed, Benghazi was the biggest snipe hunt since Whitewater. The millions spent on fruitless investigations of the

in Mississippi was guided by the legal tab, is trying to use a new Supreme Court advocacy of Roberta Kaplan, the lawyer ruling in the case of a Virginia goverwho established the case law that was nor to say the money he threw around the foundation for the end of state bans to public officials wasn’t bribery, but on same-sex marriage. just a means of gaining access, as with Religious freedom laws are meant campaign contributions. This access as freedom-to-discriminate laws. They lubrication included, the government establish unequal rights for favored reli- says, a no-work “consulting contract” gions. The Baptists, for example, might for Steven Jones, a state legislator and be unable to endure the presence of gay former Human Services official now people. But people of other faiths, sev- serving time for taking Suhl bribes. If eral of them plaintiffs in Mississippi, only our state’s inadequate financial feel differently. Wrote Reeves: “Per- disclosure law required more detail sons who hold contrary religious beliefs of legislators about their “consulting” are unprotected. The State has put its firms and about law practices that take thumb on the scale to favor some reli- “retainers” with businesses that have gious beliefs over others.” That is what interests in the legislature. I’m reasonArkansas does, time and again, both in ably certain Jones wasn’t the first or legal discrimination against gay peo- last legislative “consultant.” Rumors are ple and enforcing religious doctrine in rife that the ongoing public corruption attempting to de facto outlaw abortion. probe related to the bribery of a judge • A federal appeals court has in a nursing home case has spread into again affirmed that the Second Amend- unrelated legislative areas. We can hope. ment does not confer unlimited ability • And finally: I always thought to possess guns. It said possession of a Arkansas was the cheese dip craziest machine gun and other military weap- state in the country. But last weekend, ons is not a protected right. The gun Memphis cops reported, one Memnuts want to be armed to take on the phis woman stabbed another woman government as needed. As if. for “wasting” Ro-tel cheese dip. To add • Ted Suhl, who made millions insult to lost cheese dip, the car takrunning religion-flavored mental health ing the stabbing victim to the hospital services for youths on the government’s crashed.

mob attack on the U.S. embassy, which sought to blame Clinton, were especially bizarre coming on the heels of the investigations of 9/11, where 2,966 people died and 6,000 were injured. The 9/11 Commission, seeking not to rest so terrible a burden on the occupants of the White House, did not even demand or reveal the daily security briefings of the president that warned futilely of terrorist airplane attacks on U.S. targets. But the real issue was not whether anyone besides the ambassador, who insisted on going to Benghazi at the risk of death, could have prevented the tragedy, but whether U.S. policy contributed to the stateless chaos that Libya had become. Hillary Clinton was the architect of that policy. It was her insistence that the nation take strong military steps to protect insurgents from the mad autocrat Muammar Gaddafi that persuaded President Obama to abandon his own doubts and those of his other advisers and drive Gaddafi from power. It should be the overriding foreign policy issue of the campaign, the recurring issue of the past 75 years — the American mission of taking sides in the religious, sectarian and tribal rivalries of the Middle East to put people in power whom we think may have values closer

to ours and are thus better for the people there. It started with the overthrow of the democratically elected prime minister of Iran in 1953 and continued through the modern Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria and, to a subtler degree, other Arab principalities. There were some successes but there is a good argument that they loosed the more rabid religious elements and the chaos and terrorism that engulf the region and touch all of us who meddled. Hillary Clinton backed all those policies — well, she was only 6 at Mossadegh’s coup. So, of course, did all the presidential candidates of both parties, except the other Democratic candidates and Rand Paul. Trump claims long after the fact that he opposed them all, but contemporary records show he didn’t. Still, it is an issue he hopes to exploit without looking soft on Muslims. Although Republicans promote an image of Clinton as a pacifist or a weakling abroad but a radical on domestic issues, she is the opposite of both. She shares only with Jeb Bush among all the presidential candidates the sure footing of a centrist. She is the least ideological of all the candidates, with the possible exception of Trump, whose views on everything but immigrants and minorities are endlessly flexible. www.arktimes.com

JULY 7, 2016

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ARKANSAS TIMES

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ou read it here first: “Those impassioned Trump supporters holding ‘Hillary for Prison’ signs are sure to be disappointed,” I wrote in this column on April 6. “Again. Played for suckers by a scandal-mongering news media that declared open season on Clinton 25 years ago. And haven’t laid a glove on her yet.” If they wanted to prevent Hillary from taking the oath of office next January, I wrote, voters were “going to have to do it the old-fashioned way: Defeat her at the polls.” As of this writing, that’s not looking too likely, either. Minutes before the news broke that FBI Director James B. Comey had announced that “no reasonable prosecutor” would bring criminal charges against Clinton, I’d made an observation to a Republican friend on Facebook regarding his expressed wish to see her jailed. “As a personal matter,” I wrote, “you wouldn’t trust Trump to walk your dog.” After Comey’s announcement, he groused that Hillary had friends in high places, but didn’t dispute my characterization of Trump. Although we disagree politically, I’d trust my friend with anything requiring honesty and steadfastness — dog-walking, cow-feeding, anything at all. I see Trump, I keep my hand on my wallet. Read USA Today about the thousands of contractors — carpenters, plumbers, electricians — Trump’s stiffed on construction jobs. You do the work, he doesn’t pay. Even his own lawyers sometimes. The past two weeks saw the collapse of not one, but two ballyhooed Hillary Clinton investigations. Even after two years, $7 million and 800-odd pages, Rep. Trey Gowdy’s celebrated Benghazi committee — the eighth of its kind — failed to come up with hurtful new evidence against Secretary Clinton in the tragic events in Libya on Sept. 11, 2012. But then that wasn’t necessarily the point. “Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi special committee, a select committee,” GOP Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy boasted last September. “What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping. Why? Because she’s untrustable.” So the committee folds its cards, Bill Clinton does his happy Labrador retriever act on Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s airplane and the Washington Post says we’re nevertheless back

to square one: “Can Hillary Clinton Overcome Her Trust Problem,” reporter Anne Gearan asks. GENE Clinton herself LYONS acknowledges that voters don’t see her as Miss Congeniality. She says she’s working hard to overcome that impression, but acknowledges it’s an uphill struggle. “You know, you hear 25 years’ worth of wild accusations, anyone could start to wonder. … Political opponents and conspiracy theorists have accused me of every crime in the book. None of it’s true, never has been, but it also never goes away,” Clinton told the Post. “And it certainly is true that I’ve made mistakes. I don’t know anyone who hasn’t,” Clinton continued. “So I understand that people have questions.” Indeed many of those “questions” about Hillary’s dishonesty originated in acts of journalistic malpractice so crude that their authors would have been shamed out of the profession — if the profession had any shame at the Washington pundit level. Back in December 1995, ABC’s “Nightline” broadcast a doctored video clip that made Hillary appear to be lying about representing a Whitewater savings and loan. In reality, she’d explained her role as billing attorney on the account. No wonder “the White House was so worried about what was in Vince Foster’s office when he killed himself,” Jeff Greenfield observed, an insinuation as ugly as it was false. Her imminent indictment was widely predicted. A few months later, financial journalist James B. Stewart appeared on the same program, promoting his farcically inaccurate book “Blood Sport.” Stewart gravely produced a loan application he alleged that Hillary had falsified, a federal crime, he said. Joe Conason noticed something at the bottom of the page: (BOTH SIDES OF THIS DOCUMENT MUST BE COMPLETED.) Sure enough, Stewart had neglected to examine page two of a two-page application. Anyway, nothing’s really changed. Paradoxically, the collapse of one ballyhooed Clinton “scandal” after another appears to have hurt her. Few follow the details. But people suspect that she must be especially cunning and slippery to keep getting away with it, the bitch.

More is less

olling this week reiterates that Arkansans are ready for the medical use of marijuana to become public policy here. A Talk Business & Politics/Hendrix College survey shows a comfortable lead (58 percent to 34 percent) for such a measure. The problem for advocates for allowing patients’ use of marijuana to offset certain debilitating medical conditions is that two different proposals may well be headed to this year’s ballot. And, because ballot measures rely upon voters’ knowledge in casting votes, less is generally more. Support for a ballot measure on the subject reaches across demographics, politics and geography. Certain groups of voters — Democrats, those under 45, Central Arkansas voters and African-American voters — are especially supportive of the measure. Still, the concept leads among all groups of Arkansas voters with one exception. Among the state’s Republican voters, it is tied. In short, medical marijuana is not a polarizing issue that divides groups of Arkansans. Normally, that would ensure success at the polls. (It is noteworthy that a chunk of voters seems concerned about making laws at the ballot box at all; a survey last September showed an even larger portion of Arkansans — 84 percent — agree that adults should be allowed to use physician-prescribed marijuana.) This survey asked about the general notion of a medical marijuana ballot measure describing the creation of dispensaries to distribute the regulated marijuana. In reality, two different measures are moving toward the fall ballot. They differ in two key respects. First, one is a constitutional amendment and the other an initiated act. Second, the initiative looks very much like a 2012 measure that lost a very close vote and includes a “grow your own” provision (up to 10 plants) for those living over 20 miles from a “cannabis care center” while the constitutional amendment lacks that component. Two weeks ago, Melissa Fults of East End, the dairy goat farmer/legislative candidate who has overseen a mostly grassroots operation to gain the necessary signatures for the initiated act, turned in what she claims will be a sufficient number of signatures even after a portion, as always, is found to be invalid. The constitutional amendment, promoted by ballot measure entrepreneur David Couch of Little Rock and employing an approach focused on paid

signature collectors, appears on track to make the ballot when signatures are turned in later JAY this month. BARTH One thing is fairly clear: If both measures are on the ballot, the likelihood of either passing is reduced significantly. First, national marijuana groups hoping to make inroads on the issue in the South will have to make a choice: Do they support the measure that polls a bit better (the constitutional amendment) or do they support the initiative that is stronger in advancing access to marijuana across the state? Second, to differentiate themselves to voters, each promedical marijuana campaign would have to point out the flaws in the other proposal. Add this opposition to the campaigns of national and state groups, like the Arkansas Family Council, concerned about easier access to marijuana, and majority support on either measure begins to melt. Moreover, having two measures on the ballot would inherently create confusion as voters supportive of the concept have to calculate whether to vote for both measures or only one and, if so, which one. In addition, all this will take place in the context of a presidential election with large numbers of irregular voters showing up to vote in the race at the top of the ticket and suddenly asked to make a decision between two issues on the same topic. The safer choice is to say “no” to both. (By the way, things get legally wiggy if the initiative were to pass with a larger number of votes than the constitutional amendment. It is clear if two constitutional amendments or two initiatives on the same subject both pass the voters’ muster, the one with the larger number of votes is enacted. While logic would suggest that a constitutional amendment would be controlling, this is an unasked legal question and, because both measures would have passed at the same moment, it’s less clear than at first blush.) Advocates of medical marijuana in Arkansas have been at odds on the correct strategy moving forward since the close vote in 2012. Those divisions prevented a measure from getting to the ballot at all in 2014 and create renewed challenges in 2016. The winners may well be medical marijuana’s significantly outnumbered opponents.

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JULY 7, 2016

BOOKS FROM THE ARKANSAS TIMES

THE UNIQUE NEIGHBORHOODS OF CENTRAL ARKANSAS

AVA I L A B L E S O O N AT

Full of interesting voices and colorful portraits of 17 Little Rock and North Little Rock neighborhoods, this book gives an intimate, block-by-block, native’s view of the place more than 250,000 Arkansans call home. Created from interviews with residents and largely written by writers who actually live in the neighborhoods they’re writing about, the book features over 90 full color photos by Little Rock photographer Brian Chilson.

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Course syllabus LIFE HOURS: 24 hours a day, MTWTFSS INSTRUCTORS: Momma and Daddy, Grandma and Grandpa, your last cat, your first dog, that asshole you hate, the one you loved but who didn’t love you, the fella in line at the grocery store, Jesus Christ, Buddha, Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin, Prince, hangovers, cops, criminals, Orson Welles, Janis Joplin, Gandhi, heartbreak, loss, joy, children under 5, old folks over 90, Thomas Jefferson, Picasso, Loretta Lynn, Georgia O’Keeffe, Jack Daniel, Alfred Hitchcock, Sylvia Plath, yourself, etc. REQUIRED COURSE MATERIALS AND TEXTS: Neighborhood map, city map, state map, U.S. map, world map, moral compass, “Slaughterhouse 5,” “Beloved,” “Moby Dick,” “Infinite Jest,” “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” “The Riverside Shakespeare,” “A Brief History of Time,” menus from greasy spoon to fancy schmantzy, assorted pornography, a good notebook, a cheap pen, “Budgeting for Dummies,” the Torah, the Koran, the Bible, a toothbrush, decent taste in music, “The Origin of Species” and “Goodnight Moon.” Additional texts and materials may be added by the instructors or as necessary. COURSE GOAL: To graduate from this course with all your limbs, fingers and toes attached, having fixed more than you broke and having given more than you got. Being mourned by people other than your kin and/or having made things better for everyone is appreciated, but not a requirement. Making things worse, however, is exceptionally frowned upon by The University. ATTENDANCE: Attendance and participation are mandatory, and will contribute greatly to your enjoyment of this course. The highest participation grade will be reserved for those who eventually become so bored with rote memorization and day-to-day drills — the itch for distant things growing minute by minute — that they finally summon the courage to jump to their

feet in the middle of lecture, shout: “To hell with this! WAKE UP, PEOPLE!” then storm out the door in search of dark bars and secret places, tall trees and foreign towers, green hillsides and salt flats, leaving their assorted notetaking equipment behind along with their stunned and secretly envious classmates. Their studies will be done, because they will have proven to the instructors that they have learned the most important lesson: The only clock in the world that tells the correct time is the undertaker’s pocket watch, and it is always ticking. CLASS CANCELLATIONS: Shit happens. Roll with it. EXAMS: During this course, you will be required to complete a number of exams, some of them coming in the form of unannounced pop quizzes. Topics for these exams and quizzes may include: 12-hour labor, funerals, weddings, family reunions, pickups, put downs, knowing when to call it a day, saying goodbye, found wallets full of cash, miscarriages, coming out, forks in the road both metaphorical and literal, how to tie a tie, parenthood, grandparenthood, dying bravely, how to make a decent plate of scrambled eggs, what to say when he finally tells you the truth you suspected, hurricanes, addiction, saying “Where is the bathroom, please?” in Mandarin and Farsi, changing your own oil, proper administration of the Heimlich maneuver, losing weight, taking a lover, gaining ground against all odds, standing and fighting when all you want to do is run and/or making it all the way through “Ulysses” without saying to hell with it and just telling people you read it. PLAGIARISM: Don’t do it. Nobody likes a thief, and when you die you’ll be reincarnated as a sea slug. STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES: If you believe you have any disability that might prevent you from enjoying or learning from this course, you’re mistaken, my friend. Unless you’re dead, of course. In that case, you wouldn’t be reading this, now would you?

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Arkansas Reporter

THE

A PAC for women Entity formed to promote progressive candidates, laws. BY LESLIE NEWELL PEACOCK

elissa Fults, Susan Inman and Victoria Leigh, who are running for the state House of Representatives, and state Rep. Camille Bennett, who is running for re-election, will be the first politicians to benefit from Progressive Arkansas Women, a newly formed political action committee meant to encourage liberal-minded women to run for the legislature. The PAC was formed after Bettina Brownstein, a lawyer, mentioned to her friend Katherine West, an activist for women’s issues, that she wanted to raise money for women running for the legislature. West suggested creating a PAC. “Eww, no,” was how Brownstein described her reaction to the idea. A PAC to her was a dirty word. But West prevailed. It’s hard for progressive women to raise money to make a run for the General Assembly, West explained: The big money goes to men, especially conservative men (and women). Part of the idea of creating a PAC was to “show that women can raise money,” and that there is interest in fielding progressive candidates. There’s money for female congressional candidates, but the down ticket races “get lost,” West said, adding that it was terrible, but true, that “the only way to have influence is money.” The PAC was registered June 7 and has raised $20,000 since then. “We are getting positive feedback,” West said; “people are realizing there is a real need for this.” Contributions to the PAC are capped at $5,000; contributions from the PAC are limited to $2,700 per candidate and $2,700 to another PAC. With its inaugural fundraiser — Dame$, Dem$ and Drink$ — set for 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Aug. 11, the PAC will grow its dollars even more. Dame$ will feature signature 12

JULY 7, 2016

ARKANSAS TIMES

cocktail tastings, snacks and information about women candidates and legislators. Though the fundraiser has Dem$ in its name, Brownstein said the PAC would support a Republican woman, if she were progressive. That may be an oxymoron in today’s GOP, when Rockefeller Republicans have gone extinct. Progressive means unabashedly prochoice. It means standing up to budgets that will impair access to health care or hurt the public schools. It means a desire to stem incarceration and to regulate guns. The progressive, Brownstein said, is community-minded and “not opposed to paying taxes” for services that benefit the common good. “Men concentrate on building highways instead of feeding schoolchildren,” West said. “I’m really worried about what’s going on in Arkansas,” Brownstein said. It’s bad enough that Arkansas’s male legislators and the governor have enacted laws that hinder women’s access to abortion and contraception (with Gov. Hutchinson’s decision to refuse Medicaid reimbursement to Planned Parenthood, a decision being litigated). But most of the women in the legislature — who number only 28 out of a body of 135 — supported and sponsored such laws. Arkansas has a woman attorney general, too, but she is no progressive: Leslie Rutledge criticized the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling last week that Texas had placed an undue burden on women seeking an abortion with its law requiring abortions to be performed in surgical facilities, rules not even applied to other more dangerous medical procedures, such as colonoscopies. Virtually no one, including their sponsors, believes such laws were passed to “protect” women, as Rutledge said. (Arkansas has a law similar to Texas’ in that it requires doctors who perform abor-

THE VOTE IS NOT ENOUGH: Progressive Arkansas Women PAC members discuss upcoming fundraiser.

tions to have admitting privileges at a hospital; it is being contested in court.) Despite steady attempts by elected officials to chip away at women’s rights, Brownstein nevertheless believes that Arkansas has an “untapped reservoir” of progressive women and men who want to recruit and contribute to women candidates who’ll work against self-serving laws. Fults, a dairy goat farmer who lives in East End, will face former state Rep. Andy Mayberry for District 27, which includes parts of Pulaski and Saline counties. Fults is the campaign director for Arkansans for Compassionate Care, a group pushing for legalizing marijuana for medical use, and would like to expand pre-K education. Mayberry authored a bill that bans abortion after 20 weeks. Inman, the former chair of the Pulaski County Election Commission

who lost to Mark Martin in the 2014 race for secretary of state, faces state Rep. Jim Sorvillo for the District 32 seat. One of Inman’s chief concerns is the struggle of the elderly to pay for housing and medicine. Sorvillo wants to lower the state’s income tax and is for “school choice.” District 32 covers West Little Rock. Leigh, a lawyer, faces state Rep. Carlton Wing for the District 38 seat, which covers parts of North Little Rock and Sherwood. Leigh describes herself as being “pro-equality” and wants universal pre-K; Wing is a former sportscaster who wants to lower taxes. Bennett, an incumbent, is being challenged by Roger Lynch for the District 14 seat. Bennett is a lawyer who says her focus is on jobs for her district, which includes parts of Lonoke, Jefferson, Pulaski, Arkansas and Prairie counties. Lynch, who sits on the Lonoke County

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Inquizator: Wes Flanigan

WES FLANIGAN IS QUICK to remind you that he was born and raised in Little Rock. After playing basketball for Parkview Arts and Science Magnet High School and then Auburn University, Flanigan worked as an assistant for Mississippi State, the University of Nebraska, University of Alabama-Birmingham and Northwest Mississippi Community College. While he was an assistant coach for the Little Rock Trojans last year, the team set a program record for wins and upset Purdue in the NCAA Tournament. His pride in the capital city is one of the many reasons he was picked to replace Chris Beard as the Trojans’ head basketball coach in March, after Beard left for Texas Tech via UNLV.

PICTURE

What about last year’s team made it one of the most successful teams in Little Rock’s history? It all started with a great staff and a great administration that supported us. It all started with the rebranding, and it kinda carried over from there. It seemed like everything just fell into place. We had unbelievable leadership out of [Little Rock Athletic Director] Chasse Conque and Chris Beard. Everybody just fell in line from there. From a player’s standpoint, the thing we focused on each and every day was guys being unselfish, talking about being selfless, being a part of something bigger than themselves. For the most part, those guys bought into it. We had some big-time junior-college transfers who had reputations coming in. We had some veterans who had been in the program for two, three years under [former head coach] Steve Shields, who had already built us a solid foundation. We all came together with one goal in mind that was about winning. We’d talk about winning each and every day, what it was going to take to be winners. We had some things fall our way. We developed some confidence in each other, started believing in each other. The rest is history.

Quorum Court, describes himself as a “pro-life conservative” and a “supporter of gun rights.” In its infancy, the PAC will support women legislative candidates in Pulaski County only, but its officers — Brownstein, West, Debbie Goolsby, Murry Newbern, LeAnne Robertson and JoAnne Mills — hope women in other counties will follow suit. The Dame$ fundraiser date was chosen to mark the 96th anniversary of the 1920 passage of the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote. (White women, at least, “Arkansas Talks” host (KABF-FM, 88.1) and PAC supporter Pat Rogers pointed out to the group at its last meeting.). But, as the PAC’s logo notes and West said, “The vote was not enough.” For more information, go to the Facebook page for Progressive Arkansas Women PAC.

With baseball in full swing and football right around the corner, not many people in Arkansas have basketball on their minds right now. What’s your team currently doing to prepare for the season? We’re working out, just like everybody else in the country. The rules have changed to where you can spend two hours a week developing your guys. Our strength coach, John Barron, who does a heck of a job for us, has six hours with our guys. We’re just trying to keep them in rhythm, getting up a lot of shots, working on their skill levels. Coach Chris Beard left the team to be the head coach of Texas Tech in April. How do you plan to continue the success he had in his one year at UALR? The foundation has been laid. Thanks to Steve Shields and Chris Beard, I’m fortunate enough to be in a position where I actually have a better job than those guys had. Because of their hard work, their perseverance, some of the things that they believed in and set forward in our program, here we are today coming off a 30-win season. Now I’m living the dream each and every day, being here at home. A hometown kid being a college coach, that doesn’t happen very often. I was fortunate enough that Mr. Conque believed in me and gave me

this opportunity, and we’re just gonna try to take this torch and run with it. Anybody who went to a Trojans game last year probably heard Coach Beard screaming at his players, the refs, whoever. Do you yell as much as Coach Beard? How would you describe your coaching style? We had a staff where all of us were a little emotional. I can’t say that I’ll be as vocal as Coach Beard. I can’t say really, to be honest with you, how I will be, with this being my first opportunity as a college coach. I’ve had some experience coaching AAU ball and things like that, which is totally different. I think I’ll be a guy who has confidence in the things we’re doing. I won’t change a lot. A big reason why I came back to Little Rock was the ability to learn from Coach Beard more about motion offense, which I have a base in from playing in college for Cliff Ellis and working for Bubba Skelton at Northwest Mississippi. I’ve had some experience in motion offense and want to continue to do that. I would be crazy to come in here as a first-year coach with eight returning players and try to change a lot of things that we did. I do want to play a bit more pressure defense and pick the pace up a little bit, but not to an extent where it costs us wins. Let’s say I’m a talented recruit who’s considering your school. Give me your recruiting pitch. The first thing is why not us? There are a lot of things here in our community that are positive right now. We got a city that is really expanding, and it’s a good city. We have a university here that has the resources to be one of the top two or three teams in this league year in and year out. From an athletic standpoint, our facilities are unbelievable. I just think all the way around, the city, the support, the facilities. … We have a great thing going here in Little Rock, and I’m excited to be a part of it. There’s been a big campaign to make the Trojans “Little Rock’s Team.” Do you and your players actively talk and think about representing the city? Always. At the end of every huddle every day, we ask the guys, “Who are we?” and they repeat, “Little Rock.” We ask the guys, “Who do we play for?” and they repeat, “Little Rock.” That’s what we stand for. We want to make our community proud. As a Little Rock guy now being at the helm, obviously I have a vested interest in this city, this community and this state. Every time we put that uniform on, every time I put this shirt on, I wear it proudly, and I want to instill that in my team.

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JULY 7, 2016

A case of mistaken desegregation Sixty years ago, Arkansas cities ended segregation in public transportation even though they didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t legally have to. BY JOHN A. KIRK

ixty years ago, on April 25, 1956, segregation came to an end on Little Rock and North Little Rock buses not with a bang but with a whimper. A case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court two days earlier was widely reported in the national press as outlawing bus segregation. The Citizens Coach Co., which ran buses in the two cities, decided to desegregate in compliance with the law. It soon became apparent, however, that the court ruling had not in fact ordered the end of segregation on buses at all. But since no one seemed to mind and no problems arose, the bus company continued to allow black and white passengers to ride together anyway. The new policy reversed over half a century of enforced segregation in public transportation. The Streetcar Segregation Act of 1903 had first mandated separate sections for blacks and whites on streetcars in Arkansas. Blacks were required to sit in a section at the back of the streetcar and whites in a section at the front. This was a compromise version of a bill that had initially demanded entirely separate coaches for black and white passengers. The law echoed segregation laws being passed in other Southern states that targeted not only streetcars, but a wide range of other public facilities as well. Blacks across the South opposed Jim Crow laws. Even as the streetcar bill was being debated in the Arkansas General Assembly, blacks in Little Rock held a mass meeting at First Baptist Church in protest. When the bill became law, the black communities in Little Rock, Pine Bluff and Hot Springs all organized boycotts that resulted in up to 90 percent of black patrons refusing to ride segregated streetcars. Whites were not particularly enamored of the new arrangements either: They could not sit where they wanted, getting on and off took longer, and a new burden was placed on streetcar drivers and city policemen to enforce the law. Nevertheless, segregation quickly became the norm. Blacks lacked the political power to influence policy since disfranchisement measures accompanied Jim Crow laws. The federal government and much of the rest of white America were unconcerned about civil rights protections.

JULY 7, 2016

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WAITING FOR THE BUS: Outside Walgreens in downtown Little Rock in 1960.

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COURTESY UALR CENTER FOR HISTORY AND CULTURE

BUSES WERE ONE THING: Since many white Arkansans owned cars, allowing blacks to sit where they wanted on buses did not inflame the passions of bigots, like these at the state Capitol in 1957, the way school desegregation did.

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ARKANSASâ&#x20AC;&#x2C6;TIMES

too. The case finally made it to the U.S. Supreme Court on April 23, 1956. The Court remanded the case back to the lower courts on a technicality, but the wording of the decision was such that many believed it had actually ordered an end to segregation on buses. National newspapers widely reported this to be the case. A number of upper South cities took the initiative to desegregate soon after, Little Rock and North Little Rock among them. A couple of days after the court ruling, a secret meeting was held between city officials and Citizens Coach Co. representatives. Mayor Almon C. Perry and Police Chief Jack Pyle represented North Little Rock; Mayor Woodrow Mann, Aldermen J.W. Horner, Ray Winder, Arthur K. Spatz and City Attorney O. D. Longstreth Jr. represented Little Rock; and executive vice president David S. Durbin and attorney William Nash represented the bus company. Nash informed the group that he had spoken with the bus company’s president, Fred Worden, in Des Moines, Iowa, the previous day and that Worden expected the company “to comply with the law.” Efforts to get the mayors of the two cities to issue a statement saying they supported the change were unsuccessful, although both agreed

not to stand in the way. There were no city ordinances that demanded bus segregation. The 1903 state law that covered streetcars was presumed to also cover buses. That law placed responsibility for enforcement on the driver of the vehicle and threatened them with arrest for noncompliance. North Little Rock Mayor Perry simply stated, “This is a transit problem and not a problem for the city to work out. It isn’t the city’s place to take any official action now.” For the bus company, desegregation was straightforward enough. Their latest buses came from Detroit and had no segregation signs on them. The bus company had never told drivers to enforce segregation, so no new

policy was needed. That left it to city police to arrest drivers under state law. Both city mayors said that the city police would “pay no attention” to the change. The same day, a number of blacks asserted their new right to ride at the front of the bus, although through custom and force of habit most whites still sat at the front and most blacks still sat at the back. The bus company reported “no incident or any kind of disturbance.” Nor were any reported in subsequent days. Just like that, over 50 years of enforced segregation in public transportation came to an end. Daisy Bates, head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Arkansas State Con-

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WAITING FOR PASSENGERS: The look of local buses in 1959.

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White Southerners were persuaded that segregation was essential to maintaining white supremacy. A new wave of popular protest against segregation in public transportation emerged during World War II and after. The black press encouraged a fight for what the Pittsburgh Courier labeled the “Double V,” a victory abroad against fascism and a victory at home against racism. Jostling and shoving on city buses between blacks and whites became a direct physical contest for the ownership of public space. A more sympathetic federal government, led by northern Democrats that increasingly relied on burgeoning black votes in northern cities, began to roll back discriminatory laws. In 1946, the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Morgan v. Virginia outlawed segregation on interstate buses, using the federal power outlined in the Constitution’s Commerce Clause to override state segregation laws. The case that led to bus desegregation in Arkansas originated in June 1954 in Columbia, S.C., when Sarah Mae Flemming was ejected from a bus and assaulted by a bus driver for inadvertently sitting in the whites-only section. Coming just a month after the Brown v. Board of Education school desegregation decision, Flemming and her attorneys sought to end segregation on buses,

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JULY 7, 2016

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A MILESTONE TO ‘A GREATER COMMUNITY’: Daisy Bates (here with her husband, L.C. Bates, right) celebrated the desegregation of local buses two months after spearheading a lawsuit to hasten the desegregation of Little Rock schools.

already into its fifth month when Little Rock desegregated its buses, had an impact on events in Arkansas. The strife and upheaval of the boycott in Montgomery gave added impetus to other city bus lines to avoid a similar confrontation by taking the initiative to desegregate. By the time the decision came down in that case, Little Rock and North Little Rock buses were already in compliance with the law. Most other Arkansas towns and cities had also followed the state capital’s lead to desegregate. The ease with which Little Rock desegregated its buses in 1956 begs an obvious question: Why, then, did the

city become the epicenter of massive and violent resistance to school desegregation less than 18 months later? The answer tells us much about mid-20th century Southern segregation. As the ancient regime of Jim Crow crumbled, whites, especially in the upper South, were more inclined to preserve some areas of segregation than others. In this schema, bus segregation was relatively peripheral. Many whites owned private vehicles and could choose not to use public transportation. Schools were different. Few whites at the time had the option of seceding from public schools and school desegregation meant a greater degree of interra-

cial contact than a fleeting daily bus journey or two. Moreover, providing blacks with equal access to educational opportunities was a far more fundamental threat to white supremacy than a bus ride. Consequently, as whites acceded to change in some areas like buses, in other areas like schools they doubled down on their efforts to preserve and perpetuate white privilege. John A. Kirk is the George W. Donaghey Distinguished Professor of History and director of the Joel E. Anderson Institute on Race and Ethnicity at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

ARKANSAS HISTORY COMMISSION

ference of branches, expressed delight at the outcome, saying, “The people of Greater Little Rock will accept this step as another milestone in our march forward to a greater and friendlier community from which the ‘sins of the caste’ are being removed.” Two months earlier, Bates had spearheaded a lawsuit to speed the desegregation of Little Rock schools. In November 1956, the U.S. Supreme Court finally ordered an end to segregation on city buses in a case arising from the arrest of Rosa Parks in Montgomery, Ala., and a bus boycott that followed there. Undoubtedly, the Montgomery bus boycott,

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Arts Entertainment AND

Mozart and mosquitoes

He is merely 21 years old, was injured in a car accident just before rehearsals began, was also tasked with singing demanding roles in two other concurrent productions, “Pagliacci” and “Il Tabarro,” and was “walking” the part in rehearsals as a stand-in for one of his doubles (almost all roles at Opera in the Ozarks are double-cast), who had also been injured prior to arrival in Arkansas. And then there was Megan Gryga as Donna Anna. Gryga, who sang the

Sonnenberg) with Caroline Maier, who played Zerlina, which had the most marvelous effect on the ensemble pieces. Because the pair of sopranos’ vowel formation was so similar, Mozart’s beloved ensemble pieces were made cohesive and seamless. (No doubt the sonic unity was influenced by Music Opera in the Ozarks does ‘Don Giovanni’ in its Director Thomas Cockrell, who likely 65th season. believes there is a special place in hell for people who ignore Mozart recitaBY STEPHANIE SMITTLE tive and ensemble pieces to spend more time perfecting their arias.) very summer, or at least the last Maier as Zerlina was an 65 summers, just before the lightabsolute thrill to hear, and ning bugs start to make their desomewhat difficult to charbut at Inspiration Point on U.S. Highway acterize; Zerlina is often 62 near Eureka Springs, dozens of othcast as a soubrette role, for erwise sensible people trek from their light, flute-like voices, and milder, less-mosquito-ridden climes although Maier is physiacross the United States (or abroad) to cally soubrette-ish, her a neatly kept campus and amphitheater tone is much deeper and in Arkansas. The weather couldn’t serve richer, and that round, warm quality is present as a worse ambassador for Our Lady Arthroughout her whole kansas; guests come during the cruelest range. (Her Italian recmonths of the year. All have entered into a mutual agreeitative was on fleek, too; ment that none of them is going anyif there are paths worn in the ground leading to the where until four operas are fully staged, outfitted with sets and performed. With campus’ practice rooms, an orchestra. In the original language. she’s likely responsible.) And by the time the newcomers disIn “Giovanni,” the Commendatore gets all cover what chiggers are, it’s really too late to back out. the glory. It’s a small but Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” ushered in important role with a surMOZART’S DON JUAN: Don Giovanni (baritone Mason Jarboe) attempts to woo the betrothed Zerlina the season. It’s an utterly perfect fit for prise finish, and it must be (soprano Caroline Maier) in the classic duet “La ci darem la mano.” the goals the company espouses. Somesung by the same kind of how, Mozart managed to write a fastboe, a debonair youth with Jude Law role of Fiordiligi in “Cosi fan tutte” at booming bass voice that gives the appropaced, comedic crowd-pleaser that still cheekbones and sly eyebrows, danced Opera in the Ozarks in 2014, returned to priate gravitas to, say, “Old Man River.” his way through the performance as if depicts a murder and attempted rape in Eureka Springs on break from her work Artega Wright was authoritative, and it were a ballet, giving Giovanni all the the first 15 minutes. It’s an opera perat the Houston Grand Opera. Gryga is although the orchestra knew exactly formed so frequently that the singers suave affability he needed to triumph built for singing Mozart’s heroines: She what to do to allow that voice to fill every want to get its roles under their belt, in his sexual conquests, but also the moves across the stage regally, giving square inch of the amphitheater, he knowing that opportunities to perform the right sense of heft to characters of barely needed the help; Wright’s voice disgustingly inflated sense of entitlenobility, and has the rare combination them again will likely come knocking. is enormous, which lent great drama ment we needed to properly despise One such role, in this case, was the him. Mark my words: It won’t be Jarof an easy, fluid coloratura in the upper to the opera’s supernatural conclusion. title: Giovanni himself. Based on the boe’s last Giovanni. The baritone already part of her range, matched by a dark, legend of Don Juan, Giovanni is too sensuous middle register. Donna Anna possesses a strong command of how “Don Giovanni” will be performed again July 7 and July 15 in the Opera in the often described as “licentious” or “libto make an Italian line flow, and he can be a thanklessly difficult role — she’s Ozarks Theater at 16311 Highway 62 ertine,” apparently by people who are exhibited beauty at every volume level. all sobs and mourning — but there was West in Eureka Springs. Opera in the too polite to say he is a complete asshole no mistaking the audience’s gratitude Unlike some big-name Giovannis, JarOzarks’ 66th season also includes perwho wouldn’t understand the idea of boe resisted the temptation to over-sing after Gryga’s splendid “Non mi dir,” folformances of Britten’s “Albert Herconsent if its definition were tattooed the role; after all, so many of the Don’s lowed first by applause, then a wave ring,” as well as a double-bill pairing lines are sung in faux intimacy directly on his forearm. I met the young man of enthusiastic whispers. (You know a Leoncavallo’s “Pagliacci” with the who played Giovanni, Mason Jarboe, into a woman’s ear — they shouldn’t soprano’s done things right when folks rarely performed “Il Tabarro,” the first after the opera and can attest to his all be grand declarations! It was only are grabbing for their programs midin Puccini’s trilogy “Il Trittico.” The pleasant demeanor, but he acted the performance to cement her name in after I heard him sing the role that I season ends July 15. For tickets, visit part so adeptly I couldn’t help but hate discovered several facts that made his their minds.) opera.org or call 479-253-8595. him a little when he was on stage. Jarperformance all the more impressive: Gryga shares a mentor (Melanie DAVID BELL

JULY 7, 2016

ARKANSAS TIMES

ROCK CANDY

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

A&E NEWS FORT SMITH NATIVE Brad Neely, the animator-musician behind Adult Swim’s “China, IL,” has a new show called, no fooling, “Brad Neely’s Harg Nallin Sclopio Peepio.” The show is produced by Titmouse Inc., an animation studio with its own Arkansas connections (VP and Supervising Producer Ben Kalina is an alumnus of Bentonville High School), and debuts on Sunday, July 10, at 11:45 p.m., a programming block on the Cartoon Network known for surreal, absurdist humor that might prove risky elsewhere on television (“Robot Chicken,” “Aqua Teen Hunger Force”). Neely, who lives in Los Angeles, worked on “South Park” and also created “Wizard People, Dear Reader,” an alternate audio narration to the film “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” meant to be played while the film itself is on mute.

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ADD NORTH LITTLE ROCK’S Gloryland Pastor’s Choir to the list of Arkansas groups that have received accolades on one of the many reality television shows dedicated to discovering new vocal talent. Judges on “America’s Got Talent” voted unanimously to advance the choir, founded and directed by Rev. Cedric Hayes, to the next round of competition after hearing the group’s rousing version of “O Happy Day.” REGISTRATION FOR ENTRIES in the 48-Hour Film Festival ends Friday, July 8. The cost for entry is $175 per team. If you’re not ready to give it a go on your own, you can join an existing team. Entrants will create a film from scratch in 48 hours, using parameters assigned at the kickoff, 6 p.m. July 8, at the Ron Robinson Theater. Films must be received no later than 7:30 p.m. Sunday, July 10, when they will be judged and given the chance to win a screening at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival. USA NETWORK HAS ORDERED a pilot episode of “Damnation,” a drama set in 1930s Iowa written by Tony Tost, a University of Arkansas graduate who writes for A&E Network’s “Longmire.” The drama’s central character, Seth Davenport, masquerades as a preacher to stir up opposition to industrialist tycoons. Tost, who received a 2003 Walt Whitman Award (judged by the late Arkansas poet C.D. Wright), is the author of the 33 1/3 book series’ treatise “Johnny Cash’s American Recordings.”

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JULY 7, 2016

THE TO-DO

LIST

BY STEPHANIE SMITTLE

FRIDAY 7/8

2ND FRIDAY ART NIGHT

5 p.m. Historic Arkansas Museum, Old State House Museum, downtown galleries. Free.

MUST SEE: Richard Buckner’s live sets are haunting, introspective, lovely and a must-see at Stickyz.

THURSDAY 7/7

RICHARD BUCKNER

9 p.m. Stickyz Rock ’n’ Roll Chicken Shack. $8-$10.

When I heard Richard Buckner’s 1997 a capella tune “Fater,” I thought it must be a cover of a traditional Appalachian tune — Almeda Riddle, maybe. It’s his, though, solely, and was a telling harbinger of what was to come after, no matter how many organs and cowbells and Wurlitzers he may have surrounded himself with in the middle of his multidecade career. Despite 22

JULY 7, 2016

ARKANSAS TIMES

never really becoming a household name and having a long catalog of stubbornly unquotable lyrics, he’s built a career in that all-encompassing genre of alt-country, although he’s far more Blaze Foley than Cowboy Junkies. His small but fervent following grew in 2000, when he released “The Hill,” which takes the form of 18 epitaphs, inspired by the 212 postmortems in Edgar Lee Masters’ 1915 “Spoon River Anthology.” It was rereleased last year on the collection’s

100th anniversary. A collection of elegies might be a forthright expression of Buckner’s style on the whole; he sings quietly and from the rearview mirror, spinning veiled references to shady dealings and nights spent driving, excuses and dissolution. I’m told he tends to play solo now, looping guitar tracks in a tapestry in live performance that, if his sessions in the Boston Museum of Fine Art are any indication, should be haunting, introspective and lovely.

Typically, 2nd Friday Art Night allows you to peer at the featured works along the gallery walls, to observe it at eye level. This time, at the Historic Arkansas Museum, you’ll be walking upon the very art to be highlighted: the grounds themselves. HAM, nee the Arkansas Territorial Restoration, was born from preservationist Louise Loughborough’s one-woman lobbying of the legislature to save the buildings on the half-block near the corner of Cumberland and Third streets as the Arkansas Territorial Restoration 75 years ago. In celebration, HAM will be serving a signature brew from Stone’s Throw Brewing, the “George Brothers Historic Arkansas Ale.” The brew was created with the addition of wild Arkansas yeast harvested from the plums at Dunbar Garden, and is meant to pay tribute to the type of Belgian farmhouse ale that might have been brewed by Little Rock’s first brewers, Alexander and Henry George, natives of Germany who operated a biergarten on Rock Street in the mid1800s. The Pickoids will be picking, and the museum’s staff will be giving tours of the Woodruff Print Shop, Brownlee Kitchen and the oldest surviving structure in Little Rock, the Hinderliter Grog House. Explore Loughborough’s impact even further by heading down to the Old State House Museum (which she helped beautify) for free pizza, popcorn, soda, adult beverages and a screening of Jeff Nichols’ acclaimed film “Mud,” with an introduction by movie critic Philip Martin. Other 2nd Friday participants include the Arkansas Capital Corp. (200 River Market Ave.), exhibiting “All I Can See: Alternative Photography”; the Butler Center Galleries (401 President Clinton Ave.), where the new exhibition “From the Vault” opens; the Cox Creative Center (120 River Market Ave.), exhibiting mixed media by Laura Fanning; Matt McLeod Fine Art (108 W. Sixth St.); and Matthews Fine Art (909 North St.).

IN BRIEF

THURSDAY 7/7

FRIDAY 7/8

PALLBEARER, GHOST BONES, HEADCOLD, BAD MATCH 9 p.m. Rev Room. $10.

Any one of the four bands on this bill would be enough to draw folks out on a night when they felt more inclined to hermitry. Lucky for us, Revolution is putting them all in the same place on the same evening. Headlining the show is Little Rock’s Pallbearer, a doom metal quartet that put out some of the heaviest sludge this state has ever birthed when it released “Foundations of Burden” in 2014. “Foundations” has six tracks that clock in at just under an hour, all of them

richly textured with innumerable guitar tracks that observe the “low and slow” tempos germane to the genre while reinterpreting the mood associated with those tempos. Where Pallbearer’s debut album, “Sorrow and Extinction,” was dredged in mud, the guitars on “Foundations” are impeccably bright and clean, peppered with the occasional Thin Lizzy-esque guitar duet. The quartet is preceded by the spooky, concise beats of Hot Springs’ Ghost Bones (think “Rock Lobster,” but, you know, serious). Headcold makes the head spin, in the best way: It’s all Circle Jerks and screamo-style punk for eight measures,

then shifting another eight bars into the kind of spacey guitar grooves The Cocteau Twins rocked in their earlier years, driven by an aggressive drummer who steers the whole manic ship. Bad Match adds its mad batch to the mix, with Sarah Stricklin’s wry, deep-seated vocals and Ryan Hitt’s surgically precise bass at the epicenter. The group combines five of the most undeniably versatile musicians in town, and this configuration allows them to plunge into the kind of sincere, straight-ahead rock grooves you imagine they’d enjoy playing together even if they weren’t doing so for an audience.

SUNDAY 7/10, TUESDAY 7/12

INTERNET CAT VIDEO FESTIVAL

2 p.m. Sun., 2 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Tue. (reception at 6 p.m.) Arkansas Arts Center. $5.

DOUBLE THE FUN: Fans will get to take in two roller derby games in one day in Conway.

SATURDAY 7/9

CENTRAL ARKANSAS ROLLER DERBY: DOUBLEHEADER 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., Conway Expo Center. Free-$15.

The roller derby of yore looked more like WWE entertainment than like a legitimate sport: Beautiful women raced at breakneck speed along banked tracks in hot pants, elbowing each other in the gut, pulling hair, calling names; it was sort of a hybrid of early punk shows and pin-up art. The stylized aesthetic, derby aliases and elbow jabs are still alive and well, but modern roller derby players play primarily on flat tracks, practice rigorously (presumably, given a post on our local team’s Facebook page that reads “No practice tonight,

you need to do some work. … Lift those weights!”) and abide by a pretty strict set of rules governing which block maneuvers are legal and which ones will land you for a spell in the penalty box. This weekend marks the last of the home games this year, and it’s a double bill: At 2 p.m., the Central Arkansas Roller Derby (CARD) Queens of the Rink face off against Oklahoma’s Enid Roller Girls, followed by a 4 p.m. match between Cabot’s Breakneck Brawlers and St. Louis’ Fleur Delinquents, who’re in the Girls Rollin’ in the South (GRITS) league. The leagues profess aspirations to be role models for young women and, to that end, Girl Scouts in uniform with a paying adult get into the match free.

In a way, we should have all seen this coming. Even in 1989, the year that heralded in the Bob Saget-era of “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” folks were clustered in groups around a screen watching a carefully curated collection of videos meant to elicit responses ranging from the spit take to a reticent “Well, don’t that beat all.” In that grand tradition, Minneapolis’ Walker Art Center has put together a collage of cat videos, which they describe as “a collection of cat clips — from sixsecond Vine videos to short films and everything in between,” and it’s been taking that show on the road to sold-out crowds in St. Paul, San Francisco and abroad. The admission fee for any of the three screenings here in Little Rock will be waived for any attendees who come to the screening with any of the following items in hand for donation to the Humane Society of Pulaski County: Purina Brand Foods, Kong Toys, stuffed toys (no beads), chew toys (no rope toys), collars, zipper bags, bath towels, hand sanitizer or white copy paper. In conjunction with the festival, representatives from HSPC’s HEART (Humane Education, Adoption and Rescue Transport) will be at the Lower Lobby (the entrance to the Children’s Theatre) from 11:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. on July 10 with adoptable cats and dogs.

Austin’s Charlie Pierce brings his piano-driven boogie-woogie trio Choctaw Wildfire to the White Water Tavern, 9:30 p.m., $5. The Exchange in Hot Springs hosts Manus Mortis, The Weeping Gate, All Is At An End and Conviction, 6:30 p.m., $5.

FRIDAY 7/8 Sway hosts “Lady Boi’s Playpen, Ep. 1: Toybox,” a toy-themed dance party, $7-$9. The Clinton School of Public Service presents a lecture on Arkansas politics in the 1970s, “Legacies & Lunch: Happy Hours and High Times,” at the Ron Robinson Theater, noon, free. Good Foot plays funk-driven originals and covers at Four Quarter Bar, 9 p.m. Jeff Coleman and the Feeders take the stage at TC’s Midtowne Grill in Conway, 9 p.m., $8-$12. Vino’s hosts an all-local metal show with Sychosys, JudgeMental and Undercover Devil, 9 p.m., $6.

SATURDAY 7/9 Big Piph and Tomorrow Maybe debut the new living album “The Legacy Project” at Revolution, 10 p.m., $10. School of Rock, an immersive children’s rock workshop, stops at Stickyz, 8:30 p.m., $5. Hillbilly outfit Mountain Sprout plays at King’s Live Music in Conway with opener Cosmic Farmer, 8:30 p.m., $5. The River Market celebrates its 20th birthday, starting with the Farmers Market at 7 a.m., the “Garden Gourmet Chef” series at 9 a.m. and music from Rodney Block and Big Dam Horns at 5 p.m., River Market pavilions, free. Mark Currey plays a set at Kent Walker Artisan Cheese, 6 p.m., free. Canaan, Moonwalks and The Sweet Nothings share a show at Maxine’s in Hot Springs, 9 p.m., $5. Word Virus Book Club hosts a discussion about “Echo Ellis: Adventures of a Girl Reporter” with author Suzi Parker, Vino’s, 2 p.m., free. The Mid-America Science Museum in Hot Springs hosts Tesla Fest with free cupcakes and ice cream for the first 160 visitors, $8-$12. The Latter Half, Better on Paper, Smoke Signals and Good Monday play an early show at Vino’s, 7 p.m., $6.

SUNDAY 7/10 Hellzapoppin Circus Sideshow Revue goes for thrills at Revolution, 8 p.m., $8-$12.

TUESDAY 7/12 The Central Arkansas Boys and Girls Club celebrates its 100th anniversary at Cache Restaurant with music from Kevin Blake Goodwin, John Neal and Tyler Sellers, 6 p.m. Rockabilly quartet The Broken Hipsters honky-tonk it at White Water, 9 p.m., donations. www.arktimes.com

JULY 7, 2016

AFTER DARK Tommy Akers Band. Silk’s Bar and Grill, July 8, 10 p.m.; July 9, 10 p.m., free. 2705 Central Ave., Hot Springs. 5016234411. oaklawn.com. Upscale Friday. IV Corners, 7 p.m. 824 W. Capitol Ave.

All events are in the Greater Little Rock area unless otherwise noted. To place an event in the Arkansas Times calendar, please email the listing and all pertinent information, including date, time, location, price and contact information, to calendar@arktimes.com.

COMEDY

“Forever Hold Your Peace.” By comedy trio The Main Thing. The Joint, through Sept. 2: 8 p.m., $22. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501-372-0205. thejointargenta.com. The Swinger David Scott. The Loony Bin, 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m., $12. 10301 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501-228-5555. lr.loonybincomedy.com.

THURSDAY, JULY 7

MUSIC

Choctaw Wildfire. White Water Tavern, 9:30 p.m. 2500 W. 7th St. 501-375-8400. whitewatertavern.com. “Don Giovanni.” Part of Opera in the Ozarks’ 66th season. Inspiration Point, 7:30 p.m., $10$30. 16311 Hwy. 62 W., Eureka Springs. 479-2538595. opera.org. Drageoke. Hosted by Queen Anthony James Gerard: a drag show followed by karaoke. Sway, 8 p.m. 412 Louisiana. clubsway.com. James McMurtry. George’s Majestic Lounge, 9 p.m., $15. 519 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville. 479442-4226. georgesmajesticlounge.com. Jim Dickerson. Sonny Williams’ Steak Room, 7 p.m. 500 President Clinton Ave. 501-324-2999. www.sonnywilliamssteakroom.com. Karaoke. Zack’s Place, 8 p.m., free. 1400 S. University Ave. 501-664-6444. Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 President Clinton Ave. 501-3724782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com. Mayday by Midnight. Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 p.m., free. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. cajunswharf.com. Open Jam. Thirst n’ Howl, 8 p.m. 14710 Cantrell Road. 501-379-8189. www.thirst-n-howl.com. Open jam with The Port Arthur Band. Parrot Beach Cafe, 9 p.m. 9611 MacArthur Drive, NLR. 771-2994. Richard Buckner. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 9 p.m., $8-$10. 107 River Market Ave. 501-372-7707. stickyz.com. RockUsaurus. Casa Mexicana, 7 p.m. 7111 JFK Blvd., NLR. 501-835-7876. Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 8 p.m., free. 111 W. Markham St. 501-370-7013. www. capitalbarandgrill.com.

COMEDY

The Game. Modeled after the Comedy Central show “@midnight.” The Joint, 8 p.m., free. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501-372-0205. thejointargenta.com. The Swinger David Scott. The Loony Bin, 7:30 p.m., $8. 10301 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501228-5555. lr.loonybincomedy.com.

EVENTS

#ArkiePubTrivia. Stone’s Throw Brewing, 6:30 p.m. 402 E. 9th St. 501-244-9154. Fleur Delicious Weekend. A French-themed celebration featuring galleries, restaurants, boutiques and bars in downtown Eureka Springs, through July 10. www.fleurdeliciousweekend. com. Hillcrest Shop & Sip. Shops and restaurants offer discounts, later hours and live music, first Thursday of every month, 5 p.m. 501-666-3600. www.hillcrestmerchants.com.

FILM

“The Doors: Live at The Hollywood Bowl.” Vino’s, 7 p.m., free. 923 W. 7th St. 501-375-8466. vinosbrewpub.com. 24

JULY 7, 2016

ARKANSAS TIMES

DANCE

TRINITY MY DEAR: Mark Edgar Stuart, who played bass for Cory Branan, John Paul Keith, The Pawtuckets and Alvin Youngblood Hart before he traded the instrument in for a sixstring, sings tales of the “trinity” — life, love and disappointment — at South on Main Friday night, with guest Ben Harris, 9 p.m., $10. Movies at the Market: “Despicable Me 2.” 8 p.m., free. 501-321-2277.

BOOKS

Shakespeare First Folio Exhibit. University of Central Arkansas Baum Gallery. 201 Donaghey Ave., Conway. arkshakes.com.

CLASSES

Hot Springs National Park: “What’s With the Water?” A tour and discussion of the park’s hydrology. 1 p.m., free. Central Avenue, Hot Springs. 501-623-2824. The Rep Presents: Business of Show Workshop. Arkansas Repertory Theatre, 6 p.m., $35. 601 Main St. 501-378-0405. therep.org.

KIDS

Garden Club. A project of the Faulkner County Urban Farm Project. Ages 7 and up or with supervision. Faulkner County Library, 3:30 p.m., free. 1900 Tyler St., Conway. 501-327-7482. www. fcl.org.

FRIDAY, JULY 8

MUSIC

All In Fridays. Envy. 7200 Colonel Glenn Road. 501-562-3317. “A Blast from the Past.” A concert from the North Little Rock Community Band featuring medlies from “Brigadoon,” “A Highland Fling,” “Tara’s Theme” from “Gone With The Wind,” and marches from Henry Fillmore, K.L. King, F.E. Bigelow and John Philip Sousa. Lakewood

Village Amphitheatre, 7:30 p.m., free. Lakewood Village, NLR. 501-758-2576. nlrcommunityband. com. Dave & Sandy. Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 p.m., free. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. cajunswharf. com. “Il Tabarro” and “Pagliacci.” Part of Opera in the Ozarks’ 66th season. Inspiration Point, July 8, 7:30 p.m.; July 15, 7:30 p.m., $10-$30. 16311 Hwy. 62 W., Eureka Springs. 479-253-8595. opera.org. Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 President Clinton Ave. 501-3724782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com. Manateees, A. Sinclair, Schwervon. Maxine’s, 8 p.m., $5. 700 Central Ave., Hot Springs. maxineslive.com. Mark Edgar Stuart. With Ben Harris. South on Main, 9 p.m., $10. 1304 Main St. 501-244-9660. southonmain.com. Nerd Eye Blind. Cajun’s Wharf, 9 p.m., $5. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. cajunswharf.com. Pallbearer. Revolution, 9 p.m., $10. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-823-0090. revroom.com. Salsa Dancing. Clear Channel Metroplex, 9 p.m., $5-$10. 10800 Col. Glenn Road. 501-217-5113. www.littlerocksalsa.com. Susan Erwin. Pop’s Lounge, July 8, 5 p.m.; July 9, 5 p.m., free. 2705 Central Ave., Hot Springs. 501-623-4411. oaklawn.com. Sychosys, Judgmental, Undercover Devil. Vino’s, 9 p.m., $6. 923 W. 7th St. 501-375-8466. vinosbrewpub.com. Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 8 p.m., free. 111 W. Markham St. 501-370-7013. www. capitalbarandgrill.com.

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Ballroom dancing. Free lessons begin at 7 p.m. Bess Chisum Stephens Community Center, 8-11 p.m., $7-$13. 12th and Cleveland streets. 501221-7568. www.blsdance.org. Contra dance. Park Hill Presbyterian Church, 7:30 p.m., $5. 3520 JFK Blvd., NLR. arkansascountrydance.org.

EVENTS

Fleur Delicious Weekend. See July. 7. LGBTQ/SGL weekly meeting. Diverse Youth for Social Change is a group for LGBTQ/SGL and straight ally youth and young adults age 14 to 23. For more information, call 501-244-9690 or search “DYSC” on Facebook. First Presbyterian Church, 6:30 p.m. 800 Scott St.

LECTURES

Legacies and Lunch: Happy Hours and High Times. Journalist John Brummett moderates a conversation about Arkansas politics in the 1970s. Ron Robinson Theater, noon. 1 Pulaski Way. 501-683-5239. clintonschool.uasys.edu.

BOOKS

Shakespeare First Folio Exhibit. University of Central Arkansas Baum Gallery. 201 Donaghey Ave., Conway. arkshakes.com.

KIDS

Have Fun with Hamlet. University of Central Arkansas, 3 p.m. 201 Donaghey Ave., Conway. arkshakes.com.

SATURDAY, JULY 9

MUSIC

“Albert Herring.” At the Opera in the Ozarks Theater. Inspiration Point, July 9, 7:30 p.m.; July 14, 7:30 p.m., $10-$30. 16311 Hwy. 62 W., Eureka Springs. 479-253-8595. opera.org. Alex Summerlin. Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 p.m., free. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. cajunswharf. com. Almost Infamous. Cajun’s Wharf, 9 p.m., $5. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. cajunswharf.com. Amsterdam. With Endfall and Grind. George’s Majestic Lounge, 8:30 p.m., $5. 519 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville. 479-442-4226. georgesmajesticlounge.com. Big Piph & Tomorrow Maybe: “The Legacy Project” Concert. Revolution, 10 p.m., $10. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-823-0090. revroom.com. Brandy Clark. George’s Majestic Lounge, 9:30 p.m., $15. 519 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville. 479442-4226. georgesmajesticlounge.com. Canaan, Moonwalks, Sweet Nothing. Maxine’s, 8 p.m., $5. 700 Central Ave., Hot Springs. max-

ineslive.com. Karaoke at Khalil’s. Khalil’s Pub, 7 p.m. 110 S. Shackleford Road. 501-224-0224. www.khalilspub.com. Karaoke. Zack’s Place, 8 p.m., free. 1400 S. University Ave. 501-664-6444. Casa Mexicana, 7 p.m. 7111 JFK Blvd., NLR. 501-835-7876. Karaoke with Kevin & Cara. All ages, on the restaurant side. Revolution, 9 p.m.-12:45 a.m., free. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-823-0090. www.rumbarevolution.com/new. Kyle Owen. Cregeen’s Irish Pub, 8:30 p.m., free. 301 Main St., NLR. 501-376-7468. cregeens.com. The Latter Half, Better on Paper, Smoke Signals. Vino’s, $6. 923 W. 7th St. 501-375-8466. vinosbrewpub.com. Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 President Clinton Ave. 501-3724782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com. Pickin’ Porch. Bring your instrument. All ages welcome. Faulkner County Library, 9:30 a.m. 1900 Tyler St., Conway. 501-327-7482. www.fcl.org. Sabrina Carpenter. Magic Springs’ Timberwood Amphitheater, 8 p.m., $55-$65. 1701 E. Grand Ave., Hot Springs. magicsprings.com. School of Rock. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 8:30 p.m., $5. 107 River Market Ave. 501372-7707. stickyz.com. Susan Erwin. Pop’s Lounge, 5 p.m., free. 2705 Central Ave., Hot Springs. 501-623-4411. oaklawn.com. Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 8 p.m., free. 111 W. Markham St. 501-370-7013. www. capitalbarandgrill.com/. Tommy Akers Band. Silk’s Bar and Grill, 10 p.m., free. 2705 Central Ave., Hot Springs. 5016234411. oaklawn.com.

COMEDY

EVENTS

Falun Gong meditation. Allsopp Park, 9 a.m., free. Cantrell and Cedar Hill Roads. Fleur Delicious Weekend. See July 7. Hillcrest Farmers Market. Pulaski Heights Baptist Church, 7 a.m.-2 p.m. 2200 Kavanaugh Blvd. Historic Neighborhoods Tour. Bike tour of historic neighborhoods includes bike, guide, helmets and maps. Bobby’s Bike Hike, 9 a.m., $8-$28. 400 President Clinton Ave. 501-613-7001. Little Rock Farmers’ Market. River Market pavilions, 7 a.m. 400 President Clinton Ave. 375-2552. www.rivermarket.info. Pork & Bourbon Tour. Bike tour includes bicycle, guide, helmets and maps. Bobby’s Bike Hike, 11:30 a.m., $35-$45. 400 President Clinton Ave. 501-613-7001. South Main Vintage Market. Bernice Garden, 9 a.m., free. 1401 S. Main St. thebernicegarden.org.

BOOKS

“The Naming of Girl.” A book signing with author Rhonda Williams. WordsWorth Books & Co., 1 p.m., free. 5920 R St. 501-663-9198. wordsworthar.com. Shakespeare First Folio Exhibit. University of

Central Arkansas Baum Gallery. 201 Donaghey Ave., Conway. arkshakes.com.

CLASSES

The Rep Presents: Triple Threat Workshop. Arkansas Repertory Theatre, 10 a.m., $75. 601 Main St. 501-378-0405. therep.org.

KIDS

Super Summer Saturday. Sporting and Olympic-themed programming for kids. 10 a.m. Saturdays through June 25. William J. Clinton Presidential Library, free. 1200 Clinton Avenue. 501-374-4242. clintonfoundation.org.

SUNDAY, JULY 10

MUSIC

Hellzapoppin Circus Sideshow Revue. Revolution, 8 p.m., $8-$12. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-823-0090. revroom.com. “Il Tabarro” and “Pagliacci.” Opera in the Ozarks, Arend Arts Center, 3 p.m., $10-$25. 1901 S.E. J St., Bentonville. opera.org. Irish Traditional Music Session. Hibernia Irish Tavern, 2:30 p.m. 9700 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501-246-4340. www.hiberniairishtavern.com. Iron Born, Lessor Degree, Of Feather and Bone, Raw Head. Vino’s, 7 p.m., $7. 923 W. 7th St. 501-375-8466. vinosbrewpub.com. Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 President Clinton Ave. 501-3724782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com.

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ARKANSAS TIMES

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EVENTS

Artists for Recovery. A secular recovery group for people with addictions, open to the public, located in the church’s parlor. Quapaw Quarter United Methodist Church, 10 a.m. 1601 S. Louisiana. Bernice Garden Farmer’s Market. Bernice Garden, 10 a.m. 1401 S. Main St. www.thebernicegarden.org. Fleur Delicious Weekend. See July 7. Internet Cat Video Festival. Three screenings of a curated collection of cat clips, with a special reception on Tuesday evening. Arkansas Arts Center, 2 p.m., free with donation for Pulaski County Humane Society or $5. 501 E. 9th St. 501-372-4000. arkansasartscenter.org. Soul Food Sundays. Free buffet with $10 bar purchase, and live music from DJ Paul of KOKY. Se7en Social Lounge, 4 p.m. 824 W. Capitol Ave. 501-803-8519.

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MONDAY, JULY 11

MUSIC

Color My World. An outdoor performance from the Hot Springs Concert Band. Whittington Park, 6:30 p.m., free. Whittington Ave., Hot Springs. 501-984-1678. hotspringsband.org. Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 President Clinton Ave. 501-3724782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com. Open Mic. The Lobby Bar. Studio Theatre, 8 p.m. 320 W. 7th St. Richie Johnson. Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 p.m., free. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. cajunswharf. com.

CLASSES

Finding Family Facts. Rhonda Stewart’s genealogy research class for beginners. Arkansas Studies Institute, second Monday of every

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE PRESERVATION LIBATIONS MIX-OFF ON PAGE 30! www.arktimes.com

JULY 7, 2016

TV REVIEW

Social Media We can help you use it.

IMMACULADA: Gina Rodriguez and Andrea Navedo react to a pivotal discovery in CW’s satirical drama “Jane the Virgin,” the second season of which came to Netflix over the holiday weekend.

Telenovela 2.0 ‘Jane the Virgin’ winks at the soap opera genre.

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JULY 7, 2016

ARKANSAS TIMES

BY STEPHANIE SMITTLE

elenovelas and family planning have a long history together. NGOs and nonprofits in Mexico, Brazil and elsewhere in South America have worked for decades to increase public awareness of — and access to — reproductive health options, but, according to a research paper from Oxford University’s Stuart Basten, a primetime soap opera is responsible for catalyzing a major shift in public opinion in Mexico. “Acompañame,” a drama on Mexico’s Televisa during the late ’70s that advocated not so subtly for small family size, prompted a 23 percent increase in contraceptive sales and a skyrocketing number of women calling in to Mexico’s national family planning office. CW’s “Jane the Virgin,” though it’s much too postmodern to make such overt attempts at impacting social behavior, places itself squarely in the middle of an evolving conversation about what constitutes a contemporary Latin American family, and does so in a delightfully self-aware twist on the telenovela. Jane Villanueva (Gina Rodriguez), a hotel employee aspiring to become a teacher, lives in Miami with her mother, Xiomara (Andrea Navedo), a flashy singer who gave birth to Jane at age 16; and Jane’s abuela Alba (Ivonne Coll), who has toiled tirelessly to illuminate for Jane the litany of disasters that will

ensue should Jane opt to have sex before marriage. Thanks to the omniscient voice of Anthony Mendez — credited as “Latin Lover Narrator” — who guides us through the freeze frames, flashbacks and the absurd coincidences that are the lifeblood of soap opera plots, we know this within minutes. We also know how sincerely Jane and her cop boyfriend Michael (Brett Dier) love one another, and how much the multigenerational family of women in which she’s been raised shape Jane’s benevolent outlook. Enter the dizzying series of implausible plot twists: In a freak mix-up at a routine pap smear, Jane is artificially inseminated with the sperm of Rafael Solano (Justin Baldoni), the owner of the very hotel at which Jane works and the unhappy spouse of our villain, Petra Solano (Yael Grobglas), a blonde bombshell who had planned to inseminate herself with Rafael’s surreptitiously collected sperm sample before a doctor (who is also Rafael’s sister) screwed things up and facilitated the impregnation of the wrong woman. After a pregnancy test reveals Jane’s immaculate conception (cleverly tied in with “Mother Mary” symbolism), Jane meets with Rafael, with whom she shared a kiss Long Ago and Far Away, and agrees to carry the child to term and relinquish the newborn to Rafael and Petra, a plan that was bound

AFTER DARK, CONT. month, 3:30 p.m. 401 President Clinton Ave. 501-320-5700. www.butlercenter.org.

TUESDAY, JULY 12

MUSIC

to go wrong the moment Jane and Rafael locked lovestruck eyes. Lest that whirlwind give you the impression that it’s too late to catch up on “Jane,” the second season of which has just dropped on Netflix (season three debuts on The CW Oct. 17), narrator Mendez (and the notquite-Telemundo accent he’s embraced) will come to your rescue; each episode begins with punchy recap sequences that clue you in on exactly who has been kidnapped, who is secretly gathering blackmail material and who is the biological father of whom. We indulge all this without eye rolls, partially because the narrator’s dry humor and matter-of-fact approach allow us to do so, but also because we are swept along in the rapid pace of the form itself. “Jane the Virgin” might thrill fans of the traditional telenovela form, but for the rest of us, the show’s a lightning-fast introductory course without condescension; its hijinks are not something we must ignore or forgive in order to enjoy the show but what make the show so enjoyable. The success of “Jane the Virgin” lies in its ability to strike an elusive balance: It is simultaneously sincere and satiric. What’s more, in the aftermath of the “Oscars so white” boycott that’s left the mainstream entertainment industry scrambling to right some major cinematic wrongs, “Jane the Virgin” is not content to rest on the laurels of having a Hispanic-American woman as a protagonist, nor is Jane’s ethnicity inconsequential. The show’s characters are in and of Latin American culture, and the writers candidly acknowledge longtime tropes and stereotypes through the admittedly hyperbolic dynamics of a modern Hispanic-American family.

Boys and Girls Club Centennial. A benefit for Boys and Girls Clubs with live music by Kevin Blake Goodwin, Tyler Sellers, and John Neal Rock and Roll. Cache Restaurant, 5:30 p.m., $100. 425 President Clinton Ave. 501-666-8816. arclubs.org. Brian and Nick. Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 p.m., free. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. cajunswharf. com. The Broken Hipsters. White Water Tavern, 9 p.m., donations. 2500 W. 7th St. 501-375-8400. whitewatertavern.com. Jeff Ling. Khalil’s Pub, 6 p.m. 110 S. Shackleford Road. 501-224-0224. www.khalilspub.com. Jim Dickerson. Sonny Williams’ Steak Room, 7 p.m. 500 President Clinton Ave. 501-324-2999. www.sonnywilliamssteakroom.com. Karaoke Tuesday. Prost, 8 p.m., free. 322 President Clinton Blvd. 501-244-9550. willydspianobar.com/prost-2. Karaoke Tuesdays. On the patio. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 7:30 p.m., free. 107 River Market Ave. 501-372-7707. www.stickyz.com. Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 President Clinton Ave. 501-3724782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com.

COMEDY

Stand-Up Tuesday. Hosted by Brett Ihler. The Joint, 8 p.m., $5. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501-372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com.

EVENTS

Internet Cat Video Festival. 2 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., Arkansas Arts Center, donation to Pulaski County Humane Society or $5. 372-4000. Little Rock Farmers’ Market. River Market pavilions, 7 a.m. 400 President Clinton Ave. 375-2552. www.rivermarket.info. Little Rock Green Drinks. Informal networking session for people who work in the environmental field. Ciao Baci, 5:30-7 p.m. 605 N. Beechwood St. 501-603-0238. www.greendrinks. org. Trivia Bowl. Flying Saucer, 8:30 p.m. 323 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-8032. www.beerknurd. com/stores/littlerock.

BOOKS

Shakespeare First Folio Exhibit. University of Central Arkansas Baum Gallery. 201 Donaghey Ave., Conway. arkshakes.com.

CLASSES

Garden Sketch Hour. Through August. Faulkner County Library, free. 1900 Tyler St., Conway. 501327-7482. fcurbanfarmproject.org.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 13

MUSIC

“Don Giovanni.” Opera in the Ozarks, Inspiration Point, 7:30 p.m., $10-$30. 16311 Hwy. 62 W., Eureka Springs. 479-253-8595. opera.org. Jason Hale. Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 p.m., free. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. cajunswharf.com. Jim Dickerson. Sonny Williams’ Steak Room, 7 p.m. 500 President Clinton Ave. 501-324-2999. www.sonnywilliamssteakroom.com. Karaoke at Khalil’s. Khalil’s Pub, 7 p.m. 110 S. Shackleford Road. 501-224-0224. www.khalilspub.com. Karaoke. MUSE Ultra Lounge, 8:30 p.m., free. 2611 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-6398.

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JULY 7, 2016

Dining

Information in our restaurant capsules reflects the opinions of the newspaper staff and its reviewers. The newspaper accepts no advertising or other considerations in exchange for reviews, which are conducted anonymously. We invite the opinions of readers who think we are in error.

B Breakfast L Lunch D Dinner $ Inexpensive (under $8/person) $$ Moderate ($8-$20/person) $$$ Expensive (over $20/person) CC Accepts credit cards

Hits and misses at Hot Springs favorite Taco Mama satisfying, but uneven.

e like Taco Mama. After a long day of traipsing around Hot Springs antique shops, it’s a solid, laid-back, fun place to go. It’s not fussy and you’ll leave satisfied. It’s billed as authentic Mexican cuisine, but strikes us as a little more Tex-Mex, or whatever you’d call the Arkansas equivalent. It’s set slightly apart from your La Haciendas and your Senior Tequilas. Afternoon light floods into the restaurant through huge windows that face Malvern Avenue. The cinder block walls are painted with vibrant reds, yellows, oranges and greens. Lights are strung here and there. Whatever the Spanishlanguage version of “Cake Boss” is plays on a big TV above the bar. The smell of sizzling meat wafts in from the kitchen. Just being in the dining room makes you want some salty chips and a Dos Equis cold enough to leave sweat on the table. Some Mexican restaurants see chips and salsa as a side note, something customers will just eat, so who cares? Not so at Taco Mama. The chips and salsa are a meal unto themselves. The chips were hardy, thick and crunchy. When we visted, the salsa was chunky and fresh, smoky even. The roasted tomatoes, sweet onions and cilantro were finished off with a nice touch of heat from fresh jalapenos. They were a pleasure to consume, which is more than we can say about the house margarita ($6) we ordered to wash it all down. It tasted a bit watered down and mostly like sour mix, which was a shame. A place like this ought to have a great margarita. The Mexican Mule ($6) was a little 28

JULY 7, 2016

ARKANSAS TIMES

A PLEASANT SURPRISE: The Mexican cocktail comes stuffed with poached shrimp, avocado, cilantro and red onion.

GORDITAS: So-so. Taco Mama’s refried beans, however, are flavorful.

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WHAT’S COOKIN’ DECIDING TO TAKE advantage of the Taekwondo masses that came to town last week, Indian Feast decided to open in the River Market earlier than expected. Indian Feast, which serves curries and saag paneer and fresh baked naan and such, was opened by Yogi Asundani. Asundani also has plans to open an Indian restaurant on Chenal Parkway in a few months. Indian Feast in the space formerly occupied by The Veg. Next door to Indian Feast is Old Mill Bread’s

better. When they say it’s spicy, believe them. Tequila is shaken with fresh jalapeno, mint and topped with ginger beer. It was refreshing, but a sip leaves you with a lingering sting on the back of the throat. If you’re not ready for that, order something with a softer edge. A tad more tequila in the mix might have softened the blow. Don’t eat too many chips, because what’s coming up is heavy and you’ll need the room. We ordered the Grilled Corn Quesadilla appetizer ($11). It was a finger-food-lover’s dream. The corn tortillas were slightly puffy from having been fried and crispy at the edges. They were stuffed with oozy cheese and creamy guacamole and topped with a drizzle of spicy crema. Crunchy and smooth; warm and cool. Healthy? No. Good? Absolutely. In fact, if you’re hung over, go get some right now. For the main course, don’t miss out on a tamale, which we ordered as part of a combination platter ($10). In our opinion, Taco Mama serves some of the best tamales around. The tamale wasn’t served with sauce, and didn’t need any. The masa was well seasoned and the

Taco Mama

1209 Malvern Ave. Hot Springs 501-624-6262 QUICK BITE On a couple of previous trips we ordered the Chile Relleno ($8) and were not let down in the slightest. It’s a good dish and it looks different from those at other restaurants. It’s a huge poblano pepper, lightly battered and pan-fried, and oozing with cheese. You can add meat for a couple of bucks. Ordering a combination platter will allow you to get this along with a stellar enchilada. HOURS 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. every day but Sunday. OTHER INFO Credit cards accepted, full bar.

stall, also opened earlier than expected. Old Mill sells its homemade breads of all kinds; it will continue to participate in the Farmers Market in the pavilions outside Ottenheimer Hall as well. ARCHITECTS HAVE RECEIVED conditional approval for a plumbing permit for a new Starbucks coffee in the Little Rock Marriott (formerly the Peabody Hotel) at 3 Statehouse Plaza, adjacent to the Statehouse Convention Center.

portion of pork inside the tamale was generous, moist and tasty. We were not as thrilled about the sope, a masa bowl layered with beans, lettuce, pico de gallo, avocado and cotija cheese with the diner’s choice of meat. We opted for shredded beef. The masa was lacking flavor, and the shredded beef was very fatty. The refried beans, however, had a great flavor, and the side order of rice was perfection. It wasn’t the typical shade of orange you see at most Tex-Mex restaurants. It was fluffy, green and seasoned with cilantro. The Mexican Cocktail ($11) was a pleasant surprise. An oversized margarita glass came stuffed with perfectly poached and seasoned shrimp, avocado, cilantro and red onion. All were soaked in a spicy tomato sauce akin to Bloody Mary mix. It was cool and refreshing, with a pleasing kick. Our order of gorditas ($8) were so-so: solid enough but nothing to write home about. We got two hand-made masa shells, stuffed with our choice of meat (we went with steak and carnitas), refried beans, lettuce, pico, avocado and cotija cheese. The masa shells were hardy, but tasted little other than “fried.” The steak filling was scant and gristly. They were filling, but we probably won’t order them on return trips. Believe it or not, we still had room for an order of churros ($5). This staple dessert was served in small pieces with a side of chocolate sauce. Anything covered in this much cinnamon and sugar can hardly be bad, but these fell short of stellar. They will satisfy a sweet tooth, but next time we’ll go with the flan. Taco Mama is a fun place. This trip was a little uneven, but we left happy and we’ll be back. The atmosphere is welcoming, the staff is friendly and the food is satisfying. It may not knock your socks off, but you’re not going to leave hungry or mad, that’s for sure.

JULY 20th through JULY 30th, 2016 Director: Raphael Castanera Producer: Vincent Insalaco

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Local bartender Luiggi Uzcategui created this cocktail for the People’s Choice Award at last year’s Mix-Off. This is his rendition of an early 1600s rum punch that was popular in England. “The Bristol Fashion” Luiggi Uzcategui 1 oz. rum (preferrably El Dorado, 12-year-old rum) 1 oz. Batavia Arrack Van Oosten 1/2 oz. Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao 1/4 oz. Koch Mezcal 2 dashes Fee Brothers Aztec Chocolate Bitters 2 dashes Angostura Bitters 6 drops Orange Blossom Water 1/3 oz. Coconut sugar syrup (1:1 ratio of coconut sugar to water) 3/4 oz. Fresh squeezed Orange Juice 1/2 oz. Fresh Squeezed Lime Juice Zest of 1/4 of a lime Vigorously shake all ingredients and strain over ice into an old fashioned glass. Garnish with wheels of lime and orange.

Rachel Silva, JoJo SIms and Renee Shapiro

ith summer simmering Arkansas to a dull crisp, get a respite from the heat with Prohibition-era craft cocktails in one of the most enchanting architectural gems in downtown Little Rock. Preserve Arkansas will hold its 2nd annual Preservation Libations Master Mix-Off from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. July 22 at the Albert Pike Masonic Center, where some of Little Rock’s best bartenders will concoct their own renditions of 1920s cocktails. “This is a great way to support the cause for historic preservation, while having a good time,” said Jamie Brandon, president of Preserve Arkansas. “It’s also an exciting time for craft cocktails in Arkansas.” Unless you’re a member of the Scottish Rite, chances are you’ve never set foot inside the Temple (which engulfs an entire city block on Scott Street), which opened to the public for event rentals a few years ago. For nearly 100 years before, the building was open only to Masons and members of the Scottish Rite. When Little Rock archi30

JULY 7, 2016

ARKANSAS TIMES

tect George R. Mann and his partner Eugene John Stern completed the Temple with Charles E. Rosenbaum in 1924, the Arkansas Gazette proclaimed it to be one of the most “handsome [of its kind] in the United States.” Guests attending the Mix-Off will get to lay eyes on some of the building’s finest features, such as the lobby’s original canvas murals painted by nationally renowned artist Thomas Moses; the auditorium’s chandelier, composed of hundreds of pieces of prismatic glass; or the 1920s lighting system that replicated the one at the Metropolitan Opera in New York — and the only of its kind to exist today. Competing bartenders are expected to go out on a limb to impress. Among them are: Summer Blake with Boulevard Bistro, Dillon Garcia with The Pizzeria at Terry’s Finer Foods, Merrick Fagan with Trio’s, Sarrah Harrington with South on Main, Rob Armstrong with The Fold and Alejandro Fierro with Cache. Alejandro Fierro with Cache. “They are excited about

coming up with their own drink, and using special ingredients,” said Llahoma Jackson, the development director of Preserve Arkansas. Last year, Luiggi Uzcategui encapsulated his cocktail inside a bubble to win the judges’ Master Mixology title. This year’s bartenders are using ingredients like house-infused vodka, rhubarb tea and various bitters. Judging are Renee Shapiro (KATV), Jamie Brandon (Preserve Arkansas president), Kramer Darragh (Darragh Company), Phil Brandon (Rock Town Distillery), Spencer Jansen (a former award-winning bartender now with the Arkansas Arts Center), Blair Wallace (AMP and AY) and Steve Shuler (Rock City Eats). Bartenders will also mix for the masses in hopes of wining the People’s Choice Award. They will create a second cocktail for the judges, which they’ll present in their own serving ware. The cocktails will be judged on criteria like taste and texture, aroma, creativity and appearance. Award-winning Little Rock server

Joann Sims of Cache, known as “JoJo,” will emcee the event. General admission tickets are $50. VIP tickets for $75 will include an exclusive tour of the Albert Pike Masonic Temple. There is a $5 discount for Preserve Arkansas members and U.S. Bartending Guild members. Tickets include cocktail samples from all bartenders, heavy hors d’oeuvres, beer and wine. Two Votes are included with each ticket. Additional votes will be available for $2 each. Visit PreserveArkansas.org or call 501-372- 4757 for more information or to make reservations. Or visit us on Facebook.

Proceeds from Preservation Libation Master Mix-Off will benefit Preserve Arkansas, the only statewide nonprofit organization that works to build stronger communities in Arkansas by reconnecting Arkansans to our heritage and empowering people to save and rehabilitate historic places.

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Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 President Clinton Ave. 501-3724782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com. Montu. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 9 p.m., $5-$8. 107 River Market Ave. 501-3727707. stickyz.com. Nonpoint. George’s Majestic Lounge, 8:30 p.m., $15. 519 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville. 479-4424226. georgesmajesticlounge.com. Open Mic Nite with Deuce. Thirst n’ Howl, 7:30 p.m., free. 14710 Cantrell Road. 501-379-8189. www.thirst-n-howl.com. RockUsaurus. Senor Tequila, 7 p.m. 10300 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501-224-5505. Roomful of Blues. Revolution, 8 p.m., $15-$25. Revolution, 8 p.m., $15-$25. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-823-0090. revroom.com.

COMEDY

The Joint Venture. Improv comedy group. The Joint, 8 p.m., $8. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com.

DANCE

Little Rock Bop Club. Beginning dance lessons for ages 10 and older. Singles welcome. Bess Chisum Stephens Community Center, 7 p.m., $4 for members, $7 for guests. 12th and Cleveland streets. 501-350-4712. www.littlerockbopclub.

FILM

Movies in the Park: “Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.” River Market, 8:30 p.m., free. 400 President Clinton Ave.

POETRY

Wednesday Night Poetry. 21-and-older show. Kollective Coffee & Tea, 7 p.m., free. 110 Central Ave., Hot Springs. 501-321-0909. maxineslive.

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SPORTS

Arkansas Travelers vs. Tulsa Drillers. DickeyStephens Park, July 13-16, 7:10 p.m., $7-$13. 400 W. Broadway, NLR. 501-664-1555. milb.com.

ARTS

THEATER

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Reynolds Performance Hall, UCA, through July 9, 7:30 p.m., donations. 350 S. Donaghey, Conway. arkshakes.com. “Rock of Ages.” Studio Theatre, July 7-9, 7:30 p.m.; Sun., July 10, 2:30 p.m.; July 14-16, 7:30 p.m.; Sun., July 17, 2:30 p.m.; July 21-23, 7:30 p.m.; Sun., July 24, 2:30 p.m., $20-$25. 320 W. 7th St. 501-374-2615. thestudiotheatre-lr.org. “Romeo and Juliet.” Reynolds Performance Hall, UCA, Thu., July 7, 2 and 7:30 p.m., $25-$32. 350 S. Donaghey, Conway. arkshakes.com. “Thoroughly Modern Millie Jr.” An adaptation of the musical. Royal Theatre, Thu., July 7, 7 p.m.; Fri., July 8, 7 p.m.; Sat., July 9, 2 p.m.; Sun., July 10, 2 p.m., $5-$12. 111 S. Market St., Benton. 501-315-5483. theroyalplayers.com.

NEW IN THE GALLERIES

ARKANSAS ARTS CENTER, MacArthur Park: 58th annual “Delta Exhibition,” through Aug. 28; “Feed Your Mind Friday,” talk by photographer and artist Joli Livaudais about the “Delta,” noon-1 p.m. July 8; Renoir’s “Madame Henriot,” loan from the Columbus Museum of Art, through Sept. 11; William-Adolphe Bouguereau’s “Admiration,” loan from the San Antonio Museum of Art; “55th Young Artists Exhibition,” work by Arkansas students K-12, through July 24. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat., 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sun. 372-4000. ARKANSAS CAPITAL CORP., 200 River Market Ave., Suite 400: “All I Can See: Alternative Photography,” reception 5-8 p.m. July 8, 2nd Friday Art Night. www.arcapital.com. BUTLER CENTER GALLERIES, Arkansas Studies Institute, 401 President Clinton Ave.: “Arkansas League of Artists,” juried show, July 8-Oct.

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Art Classes to Zip Lining & Everything in between. Baby will be our King or Queen Expenses paid. Karen & Patrick.

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22; “From the Vault,” work from the Central Arkansas Library’s permanent collection, including works by Win Bruhl, Evan Lindquist, Shep Miers, Gene Hatfield, Ray Khoo and Jerry Phillips, July 8-Oct. 22; “School’s Out: An Exhibition of Student Work,” organized by Arkansas Art Educators, through Aug. 27; “Culture Shock: Shine Your Rubies, Hide Your Diamonds,” work by women’s artist collective, including Melissa Cowper-Smith, Melissa Gill, Tammy Harrington, Dawn Holder, Jessie Hornbrook, Holly Laws, Sandra Luckett, Morgan Page and Rachel Trusty, through Aug. 27, Concordia Hall. 2nd Friday Art Night reception 5-8 p.m. July 8 with music by Jason Lee Hale. 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Sat. 320-5790. CANTRELL GALLERY, 8206 Cantrell Road: “Stop the Presses!” painting, photography, graphic work and ceramics by staff of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, including John Deering, Cary Jenkins, Benjamin Krain, John Sykes Jr., Celia Storey, Ron Wolfe, Nikki Dawes and Kirk Montgomery, opens with reception 6-8 p.m. July 8, show through Sept. 3. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat. (Gallery closed 2 p.m. July 15 to 10 a.m. July 18.) 224-1335. CHRIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 509 Scott St.: “Last Glimpses of Authentic Polaroid Art,” photography by Brandon Markin, Darrell Adams, Lynn Frost, Rachel Worthen and Rita Henry, through Sept. 30, reception 5:30-8 p.m. July 8. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Mon.-Thu., 9 a.m.-noon Fri., 8 a.m.-7 p.m. Sun. COX CREATIVE CENTER, 120 River Market Ave.: “The Medium is the Message,” mixed media by Laura Fanning, reception 5-8 p.m. July 8, 2nd Friday Art Night, show through July. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-4 p.m. Sun. 918-3093. GALLERY 221, 221 W. 2nd St.: “Drawing on the Edge,” work by advanced art students at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, July 8-Aug. 30. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 11 a.m.-4 p.m.Sat. 801-0211. HISTORIC ARKANSAS MUSEUM GALLERIES, 200 E. 3rd St.: Open grounds to celebrate museum’s 75th anniversary, with music by The Pickoids, George Bros. Historic Arkansas Ale by Stone’s Throw Brewing, living history, pioneer drinks, drawing for special prize for those

who visit each building, 5-8 p.m. July 8, 2nd Friday Art Night; illustrations by Sally Nixon; “Fucoid Arrangements” by Robert Lemming and abstract drawings by Louis Watts, through Aug. 7; “Hugo and Gayne Preller’s House of Light,” historic photographs, through October. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. 324-9351. MATT MCLEOD FINE ART GALLERY, 108 W. 6th St.: “Art • Craft • Art,” jewelry, tapestries, felt, ceramic, glass, paper, metal and mixed media sculpture by James Hayes, David Clemons, Sage Holland, Tom Holland, Lucas Strack, Beau Anderson, Louise Halsey, Barbara Cade, McLees Baldwin, David Scott Smith, Susan Campbell, Leandra Spangler and Carrie Crocker. Open 5-8 p.m. July 8, 2nd Friday Art Night. 725-8508. MATTHEWS FINE ART GALLERY, 909 North St.: Paintings by Pat and Tracee Matthews, glass by James Hayes, jewelry by Christie Young, knives by Tom Gwenn, kinetic sculpture by Mark White, open 5-8 p.m. July 8, 2nd Friday Art Night. Noon-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat. 831-6200. OLD STATE HOUSE MUSEUM, 300 W. Markham St.: Screening of “Mud,” 5:30 p.m. July 8, 2nd Friday Cinema; “Different Spokes: Bicycling in Arkansas,” through July; “First Families: Mingling of Politics and Culture” permanent exhibit including first ladies’ gowns. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. 324-9685. FORT SMITH REGIONAL ART MUSEUM, 1601 Rogers Ave.: “The Art of Transcendence,” RAM annual invitational, July 8-Oct. 16, reception 5-7 p.m. July 7, free for members, $5 nonmembers.11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tue.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. 479-784-2787.

CALL FOR ENTRIES

The Arkansas Arts Council is accepting nominations for the 2017 Governor’s Arts Awards recognizing artists, patrons and corporations. Deadline to nominate is Aug. 5. For more information, contact Cheri Leffew at 324-9767 or cheri@arkansasheritage.org. The Arts Council is also taking applications from teaching performing, literary or visual artists who would like to join the Arts in Education Roster. Deadline to apply is July 8. For more information, call the Arts Council at 501-324-9769 or email cynthia@arkansasheritage.org. The Arts Council is also seeking submissions for the 2017 “Small Works on Paper” exhibition. Artwork must be no larger than 18 by 24 inches and only members of the Arkansas Artists Registry may enter. (Membership to the registry is free and open to all Arkansas artists.) Deadline is July 22. For more information, contact Cheri Leffew at 324-9767 or cheri@arkansasheritage.org.

www.arktimes.com

JULY 7, 2016

One giveaway. Two classics.

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JULY 7, 2016

ARKANSAS TIMES