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COMMENT

Looking ahead Some final thoughts about the recent presidential primaries: I actually feel sorry for candidates like Mike Huckabee, John Kasich, Chris Christie and all the other experienced governors who knew how to run a state, but got bumped out of the presidential primaries by Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz. The entire state of Florida knew about Rubio’s 2012 credit card fraud. Why did the “drive-by media” virtually ignore Rubio’s character flaw? And most voters knew Cruz was born in Canada, causing doubt about his presidential eligibility. The governors should sue Cruz. What a waste! No wonder Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee. At least now House Speaker Paul Ryan can see his “Atlas Runs for President Ayn Rand” fantasy come true. Things look worse for the Democrats. FBI Director James Comey is just waiting for his “prompt” to release information about his investigation into the Hillary Clinton email controversy. This prompt will likely come from Sen. Chuck Grassley, chair of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, who

is probably waiting for Hillary to eliminate Bernie Sanders at the Democratic nominating convention in late July. With Sanders out of the way, Grassley and Comey can defame Hillary with FBI charges and practically guarantee a win for Trump. Even if Hillary wins the November election, Congress may disqualify her in 2017. Gene Mason Jacksonville

From the web In response to an article in the May 26 issue about the state’s criminalization of the painkilling herb Kratom: I suffer from syringomyelia, a progressively debilitating spinal cord disease; sciatica; scoliosis, and degenerative disc disease. Doctors had me on Fentanyl, a drug 100 times stronger than morphine, oxycodone, lyrica and more. I spent all my time in bed just hoping I would sleep and never wake up. After discovering Kratom, I was able to kick the Fentanyl and went from 12 prescrip-

tion meds to four and was able to get back a life that resembled mine. Now that I can no longer get Kratom I don’t know what to do. I do not want to go back to where I was because I’m certain I will lose my ability to function again. It’s simply terrifying. Cynthia Hemphill Moffett Unfortunately, for every story like those of “Lisa” and Susan Ash, there are hundreds that simply involve men from 18 to 55 taking Kratom on a daily basis for its euphoric effects. Some of them, if asked, would offer up some kind of flimsy pretext — usually something impossible for medical science to confirm, like chronic back pain — but the majority are just polysubstance abusers and do it for kicks (and to avoid the sometimes severe withdrawal effects). Browse the online Kratom forums (like r/kratom on Reddit) and you quickly see that this is the case. Having said that, I still think that an outright prohibition is an extraordinarily short-sighted move on the part of an ignorant, reactionary, and irresponsible state government. It is this

type of Neanderthal, out-of-touch ignorance that has plunged Arkansas into one of the worst opioid abuse crises in the U.S. Yes, it should be removed from head shops, and yes, irresponsible vendors should be punished, but there is a way, with proper state regulation that involves input and cooperation from the specialist medical community, that Kratom can be sold responsibly to adults that need it for pain, or to mitigate the disastrous health effects of opioid addiction. Mark my words: These ignorant and cowardly state legislators will be on the wrong side of history — just watch. RandolfChurchillMD In response to Max Brantley’s column on Gov. Hutchinson’s “free lunch” approach to funding highways: Leonard White, my economics professor at the U of A back in the ’80s qualified that maxim this way: “There is no such thing as a free lunch for society, but there can be a free lunch for certain individuals.” I believe he had that right. hugh mann In response to an item on the Arkansas Blog about Southern Baptist Convention President Ronnie Floyd of Rogers to join up with Donald Trump at a religious political gathering: So Ronnie Armani wants to rub hands with the greatest non-Christian in the country right now. Maybe he can tell him how to pronounce “2 Corinthians.” Floyd has a habit of skirting the IRS charitable regulations so he can keep his mansion and plane and $5,000 suits, but maybe it would be good if an IRS agent just happened to be in the audience. couldn’t be better In response to a report on the Arkansas Blog about John Goodson and other lawyers that a federal judge found colluded in “forum shopping”: These lawyers are a great example of how many of the 1 percent are leeches on society, adding no value, creating no jobs, developing no new technologies. I’d sentence them to a year working at a minimum-wage job with no benefits, not because it relates to their crime but simply because most of us are tired of these rich bastards skimming all the money out of the economy. Paying Top Dollar for Legislators

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EYE ON ARKANSAS

WEEK THAT WAS

“The idea of this redemptive process afterwards, we have certainly seen that powerfully … President Carter set a very high standard, which President Clinton clearly continues to follow. … His genuine empathy for human beings is absolutely clear.” — Former Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr, praising Bill Clinton’s post-presidential philanthropic work. Starr, whose dogged pursuit of Clinton in the ’90s took partisanship to toxic new heights, expressed regret for the “unpleasantness” of that era and added “there are certain tragic dimensions which we all lament.” Starr’s remarks came days before his removal as Baylor University president, which was prompted by a report condemning his administration’s response to sexual assault allegations directed at members of the school’s football team.

BRIAN CHILSON

Quote of the Week

ON THE MAT: The Dreamland Ballroom was the scene for an intensive two-day yoga class led by Kino MacGregor on May 21 and 22.

Quote of the Week 2 “I have been crying ever since I read the article … . Those words brought back memories of the Clinton years in the White House that were all a very dark period for me, not because of anything the Clintons did, but because of Mr. Starr’s witch hunt. … There was no acknowledgement by Mr. Starr of the countless numbers of us who were Starr’s collateral damage.” — Betsey Wright, former gubernatorial chief of staff to Bill Clinton, responding to the New York Times story that carried Starr’s statements.

Those damn emails Speaking of Clinton drama: The U.S. State Department’s inspector general issued a report last week that added fuel to the fire over Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while 6

JUNE 2, 2016

ARKANSAS TIMES

secretary of state. The report states Clinton should have sought permission from the department before conducting official business with her personal email account. The Clinton campaign brushed off the criticisms, with some Democrats saying the inspector general’s investigation was politically motivated. There’s no evidence Clinton committed any crime, but the report declares the secretary’s actions posed “significant security risks.”

Rate hikes on the horizon? State Insurance Commissioner Allen Kerr said last week that he expected to deny rate increase requests from some of the carriers on the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance marketplace in Arkansas. QualChoice requested a 24 percent rate hike, while Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield requested a 15 percent jump. Arkansas is not alone: Carriers in other states are also seeking steep increases. Might that mean the ACA is unraveling, as its foes have warned (and hoped for)? Not quite. For one thing, because of federal subsidies, consumers won’t bear the full brunt of any increase in the sticker prices; they can also switch to less costly

plans during open enrollment of each year. For another, rising premiums have been a fact of life for decades. The ACA’s implementation actually has slowed that growth in recent years — and more importantly, it’s provided coverage to millions who didn’t have it before.

Appomattox at Southside Maybe the Civil War is finally over in the Fort Smith School District. Last week, continuing controversy over the school board’s 2015 decision to retire the Rebel as the Southside High mascot (and “Dixie” as its fight song) prompted the resignation of the district’s longtime athletic director, Jim Rowland. Rowland supported the adoption of the new mascot — the “Maverick”— which made him the target of pro-Rebel zealots led by local attorney Joey McCutchen. “In all of my years as a coach and as an administrator, I’ve never seen such a poisonous atmosphere as there is in our school system at this time,” Rowland said. But the resignation turned the tide against McCutchen’s crusade: Later in the week, a school board member who was elected last fall in favor of reinstating the Rebel announced he’d tired of

the controversy and would no longer support the lost cause of Confederate-flavored symbolism at Southside. McCutchen announced on Friday he, too, was abandoning the fight.

The smell of bacon

Former legislator Mike Wilson last week filed a motion for summary judgment in his lawsuit seeking an end to pork barrel spending by state legislators. The Arkansas Supreme Court declared in 2007 that legislators can’t designate state surplus money for local pet projects in their home districts, as had been common practice before. But pork-hungry senators and representatives found a work-around: Money is appropriated in bulk to “regional planning and development districts” and then quietly divvied up locally. What Wilson has uncovered are troves of emails sent to employees of those planning districts by legislators specifying where “their” money should go. Sometimes the projects are probably worthy enough (parks, child welfare) and sometimes not (Chambers of Commerce, “crisis pregnancy centers”) but they’re all an unconstitutional use of state taxpayer dollars for local largesse.

OPINION

Slicing the pork

mentioned last week that Gov. Hutchinson’s historic legislation to transfer general revenue to highway construction had one side benefit. Stingy budgets for all other state agencies will artificially create a “surplus” — really a general revenue funding stream — for highway building. But, he acknowledges, this use of (cough) “surplus,” likely will make it harder for legislators to count on having leftover money to divvy up for their own pet local projects. This might put an end to years of unconstitutional spending of state money on purely local projects. For years, the legislature ignored the Constitution and passed dozens of spending bills directing state money to legislators’ local projects. In 2005, a lawsuit by former state Rep. Mike Wilson of Jacksonville ended that practice. But a new gimmick was developed in 2007. The legislature would divvy up the surplus among legislators — $70,000 for representatives and $285,000 for senators in 2015 — and send a corresponding amount for each legislator to a regional planning and development district. These districts,

governed by local elected officials, then spent the money as the legislators directed. It was and is simple MAX money launderBRANTLEY maxbrantley@arktimes.com ing. The effect is precisely the same as the practice struck down earlier, but through an intermediary. Wilson has again sued. Last week, Wilson filed powerful pleadings urging Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza to end the practice. One not-so-minor technicality is that the state laws establishing the planning districts prohibit them from making grants without local matching funds. None of the legislator-directed grants have matching funds. The law also requires budgets and audits that are not being done. The larger issue is the sham process governing $13 million in spending statewide. Wilson sued the Central Arkansas Planning and Development District

Beyond contempt

efore he implemented it last week, Donald Trump had let it be known that he would fulfill Karl Marx’s spooky proverb that history repeats itself, “the first as tragedy, then as farce,” but with the order of the outcomes reversed. He planned to spend the summer and fall reliving the “Clinton scandals” of the 1990s, this time with Hillary Clinton as the victim. But something weird happened just as Trump revisited Rush Limbaugh’s old libel that Hillary Clinton or her husband had Vince Foster, her former law partner and close friend, murdered in 1993 to prevent him from telling something awful about the Clintons. Trump wasn’t necessarily saying it was so but, you know, some people were still saying it, just like some people were saying Ted Cruz’s daddy was involved in President Kennedy’s assassination. Trump, the lewdest presidential candidate in history, had an unexpected collaborator, Kenneth W. Starr, the sanctimonious Republican politician and prosecutor who pursued the Clintons for seven years, starting with the Foster investigation, and got the president

impeached for trying to mislead grand jurors about oral sex in the Oval Office. But far from pilERNEST ing on, Starr, who DUMAS early last week was still the Bible-thumping president of Baylor University, told a forum on the presidency that Clinton actually was a great man of genuine compassion who strove to do good works for people in the United States and all over the world. He seemed to apologize for dragging out “the unpleasantness” of Whitewater, “which we all lament,” and for tarnishing the president. Something else became known the next day. The Baptist deacons on the Baylor board were firing Starr as president along with the football coach for tamping down complaints of rape and other assaults on women by the supermen the university recruited for its athletic teams. Starr was stripped of all his authority except raising money, at which he had been hugely successful by building Baylor’s reputation as an athletic super-

because it is the one in which he lives. His research has produced piles of email that illustrate how the regional agency merely serves as banker for legislators. Email from Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson (R-Little Rock) to CAPDD: “How much money do I have left?” Emails serve as a checking account. One from Rep. Joe Farrer (R-Austin): “Fund Austin Police Dept., $3,000. Options Pregnancy $2,000. Cabot chamber $2,000. Safe Haven $2,000. CASA $2,000.” The Chamber contribution is doubly dubious as an unconstitutional payment of tax money to a private corporation. The others, while perhaps worthy, are nonetheless strictly local projects and unauthorized by state law. Wilson’s lawsuit contains a trove of details of dubious spending. Rep. Mark Lowery (R-Maumelle), for example, bought a $5,000 big-screen TV for the city. He whines about how valuable this money is to fine local agencies that need support. If the city of Maumelle needs a TV, it can tax its citizens to pay for it. If a local food bank does good work, local people by all means should support it. But should state taxpayers favor Maumelle’s city council or food bank over others? Wilson’s long list is drawn from only one of eight agencies spending millions

on local projects. Sen. Hutchinson paid for a basketball tournament. Rep. Andy Mayberry (R-Hensley) sent money to local parks. Rep. Farrer put up a pole barn for a local FFA chapter in Rose Bud. Sen. Jane English (R-North Little Rock) paid $9,000 for food for a fancy Air Force “gala.” All these expenditures are routinely approved in speedy bundles by the regional commission. The only requirement is a legislator’s preapproval. Up in Northwest Arkansas, the money has gone to such diverse and dubious uses as a building for a Bible college and to pay a debt to a grocery wholesaler. If you have any doubt that this is a purely political exercise, Wilson’s lawsuit notes that the Planning District coordinates a check presentation ceremony with the legislator and recipient, including a blown-up check for benefit of the local newspaper photographer. To summarize: No accountability. No economic benefit. No required statement of purpose in the statute. No constitutional authority. That is your Arkansas legislature at work (now at a greatly increased pay grade). If Asa Hutchinson continues to starve the broader state government for highways, he at least may also be denying a serving of tainted pork to a voracious legislature.

school. Trump should have known he was on shaky ground. Five investigations found that Foster committed suicide. The first independent counsel, who was appointed to investigate Foster’s death and a 1978 Ozark land deal, concluded it was suicide. Two Republican judges supervising the prosecutor then fired him and named Starr. Starr probed and probed and, four years after Foster’s death, released a long report concluding that Foster indeed had killed himself and listing all the evidence for it and the lack of any hint of foul play. Then Starr told the FBI to go after the sex rumors. If Trump had remembered some of that, it might have prepared him for the devastating column that Foster’s older sister, Sheila Anthony, wrote for the Washington Post, which began, “It is beyond contempt that a politician would use a family tragedy to further his candidacy ... .” She said it was cynical, crass and reckless to insinuate that Hillary Clinton had her brother killed to hide something. Trump had said Foster’s death was “fishy” and the theories he was murdered were “very serious.” His sister, with whom Foster lived his first months in Washington, recounted her brother’s desperate phone calls about his depression and his fear that if he got

counseling he would lose his security clearance and his job. She gave him the names of three psychiatrists he might see privately. The Clintons and other friends told of similar efforts to console him. Then Anthony recounted the family’s redoubled grief as Clinton opponents spread stories about murder and secret scandals and the harassing telephone calls to her heartbroken mother and other family members. But Starr supplied the coup de grace, by sort of exonerating Clinton for the sex scandals on the eve of his own unmasking for covering up far worse sex scandals at Baylor. It reminded people of how the Clinton sex tragedy of the ’90s ended in farce, with tormentor after tormentor — House Speaker Newt Gingrich, his successor Bob Livingston, Clinton’s chief impeachment prosecutor, a Senate juror who was brother of the deputy prosecutor, and others — were revealed to be adulterers, sometimes with members of their own staffs. In North Dakota last Thursday, Trump decreed that Foster’s suicide must not be discussed in the campaign. But it’s on to the boys on the tracks, drugs at the Mena airport, Herschel Friday’s airplane crash, Hillary’s futures trading, the travel office firings. What else? www.arktimes.com

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Bash Bernie

ere’s my basic problem with Bernie Sanders: To put it bluntly, once a Trotskyite always a fool. Personal experience of ’60s-style left-wing posturing left me allergic to the word “revolution” and the kinds of humorless autodidacts who bandy it about. The Sanders types, I mean: morally superior, never mistaken and never in doubt. The Clinton campaign’s high-minded refusal to red-bait Sen. Sanders has been a big mistake, needlessly allowing this unelectable crank to pose as a serious candidate far too long — and enabling Bernie and his impassioned supporters to translate the GOP anti-Hillary playbook into left-wing jargon. In consequence, Clinton’s found herself in a one-sided fight against her own degraded image. Some of it’s her own damn fault. Accepting preposterous fees to speak to Wall Street bankers and then keeping the contents secret is no way to run for president. But realistically, Sanders lost any chance of prevailing after badly losing New York and Pennsylvania. Word has yet to reach him. Meanwhile, it’s become common to see Clinton described as “evil,” a “war-monger” and worse on social media, while the Sanders campaign whines that it was cheated. The damage to progressive chances in November from this kind of poisonous rhetoric is hard overstate. Mike Tomasky puts it this way: “The guy who’s going to end up with about 300 fewer pledged delegates and more than 3 million fewer votes doesn’t get to say ‘you beat me, but you must adopt my position.’ It’s preposterous and arrogant, which of course means he will do it.” Has leading the Children’s Crusade gone to Sanders’ head? No doubt. However, my larger point is that he’s always been this guy, and Democrats have been needlessly polite about it. Is it McCarthyite to point out, like Slate’s Michelle Goldberg, that in “1980, Sanders served as an elector for the Socialist Workers Party, which was founded on the principles of Leon Trotsky. According to the New York Times, that party called for abolishing the military budget. It also called for ‘solidarity’ with the revolutionary regimes in Iran, Nicaragua, Grenada and Cuba; this was in the middle of the Iranian hostage crisis.” Not objectionable because undeniably true. No doubt Sanders has an explanation for such heterodox, albeit politically poisonous, views. Fine. So why hasn’t he

been forced make it? In 1976, Bernie urged the University of Vermont student paper to GENE “Contrast what LYONS the young people in China and Cuba are doing for themselves and for their country as compared to the young people in America. … It’s quite obvious why kids are going to turn to drugs to get the hell out of a disgusting system or sit in front of a TV set for 60 hours a week.” He wrote stern letters to the FCC protesting “Gunsmoke” and “I Love Lucy.” Ancient history? Perhaps. But also 30 years after George Orwell’s epochal novel “Animal Farm,” and just as Chairman Mao’s “Cultural Revolution” was winding down after giving millions of Chinese youngsters a swell chance to serve their country in slave labor camps. As I say, show me an American Trotskyite, and I’ll show you a damned fool. But again, shouldn’t Bernie have had to explain it? Let’s pass over Sanders’ newspaper columns fantasizing about rape and suggesting that cervical cancer is caused by sexual frustration. “Basically,” writes Will Saletan, “if you were designing the perfect target for Republicans — a candidate who proudly links socialist economics to hippie culture, libertinism, left-wing foreign policy, new-age nonsense and contempt for bourgeois values — you’d create Bernie Sanders.” With so distinguished a record of crackpot opinions, maybe it shouldn’t surprise that Bernie has also misjudged the Democratic electorate. Salon’s Amanda Marcotte is correct: Sanders didn’t lose because establishment Democrats cheated. He lost because his Thomas Frank-influenced theory that strong majorities of white working-class voters would respond enthusiastically to left-wing economic populism turns out to be wrong. The “revolutionary” turnout Bernie kept predicting never materialized. He swept the white-bread college campuses and the cow states. End of story. The urban proletariat? Not so much. Who can be surprised? Campus radicals have been trashing “establishment” Democrats and fantasizing about a working class insurrection all Bernie’s life. The revolution remains imaginary.

Optimism gap

spent the second half of May immersed in two different Americas: one defined by pessimism about the future, and one decidedly optimistic. Those differences are at the heart of the dynamics that will determine the outcome of the 2016 elections. For a week, I was in the Upper Buffalo National River region, mostly in Newton County, where debate continues over the Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) near Mount Judea. But, what worked its way into every conversation with Newton County locals about the “hog farm” was the clear sense that the local economy, and with it a way of life, was dying and that there was no clear path for the creation of new economic opportunities in the area. While my fundamental concern about the CAFO’ environmental impact was reinforced, I began to understand why locals disproportionately favor the project, adding a layer of complexity to the hog farm debate. First, the operation— and its handful of jobs — brings with it the faintest glimmer of hope. Moreover, many feel that control of their futures was taken away by “outsiders” (both the National Park Service and environmental activists) when nationalization of the river first occurred; the current hog farm battle represents an opportunity for local “insiders” to send a message to those “outsiders.” Economic pessimism is at the core of locals’ desire to reassert some control about what happens in the county. I transitioned from the natural beauty of Newton County to an academic meeting in the Boston area, spending most of my time in the neighborhood around Fenway Park. Fenway traditionally has been a gray, underdeveloped area of the city, but its sky is now filled with cranes bringing mixeduse high-rise buildings to life. The current economic recovery coincides with a renaissance of American cities, and an area like Fenway, where that recovery is most tangible. American cities, including Boston, face real challenges (inequality, educational inadequacy and distrust of the criminal justice system). Still, a fundamental optimism permeates contemporary urban life in the United States. There is an optimism gap between rural and urban America. The American Communities Project breaks the country’s 3,000-plus counties into 15 categories. Like most of its neighboring Ozark counties, Newton County

falls in the “Working Class Country” category (others in that part of Arkansas fall in the “Evangelical JAY Hubs” category). BARTH Boston’s Suffolk County, of course, is categorized as one of the “Big Cities.” Gallup has employed the ACP categories to use its trove of opinion data to tell the story of attitudes in those different types of counties, including perceptions of how the U.S. economy is doing. Those counties with the greatest sense that the American economy is in full-scale recovery: the “Big Cities.” The two most pessimistic categories of counties (with nearly two-thirds of residents seeing the economy as still on the decline): the “Working Class Country” and “Evangelical Hubs.” Based on my last two weeks, both of these perceptions have grounding in reality. This comparative optimism and pessimism has major electoral implications. If one is feeling optimistic about her economic present and future, the strong tendency is to be risk-averse and to support a candidate promising to continue the policies that have led to those positive outcomes. If one is feeling deeply pessimistic, there is a great desire to try a different course, no matter the risk. (Donald Trump easily won the March primary in Newton County and Newton was also one of only two counties in the state won by Bernie Sanders against Hillary Clinton.) There is no candidate who personifies “throw the baby out with the bath water” like Trump. More Americans now live in urban centers than in rural America. But megacities do not make up a majority of the country’s population. Therefore, once again, it will be in the suburbs where the presidential election and control of the U.S. Senate will be decided. As the folks at the ACP point out, all suburbs are not alike. The residents of “Urban Suburbs”— those adjoining America’s megacities along with places like Pulaski County that mix urban and suburban areas — are quite optimistic, according to Gallup. Those in what the ACP terms “Middle Suburbs” and “Exurbs” (suburbs more disconnected from urban life) veer in a more pessimistic direction. It is those counties where Trump ran up margins during GOP primaries across the country and where he finds fertile turf for the fall.

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Could be worse

t’s easy to walk out of a surly War Memorial Stadium after Arkansas has inexplicably torpedoed hopes of a magical season with a loss to Toledo and think, “Damn this infernal program, teasing me year after year. I hate being a Hog fan.” Reflect on that, then consider, for primacy and recency’s sake, two models Arkansas has not elected to emulate. Baylor football was an outright laughingstock a decade ago, then turned on the aggressiveness in an effort to recapture mislaid success of the Grant Teaff era. The Bears hired Art Briles, who had just done an immaculate reclamation in Houston, to take over for a program that had floundered for over a decade in the Big 12. Briles overhauled the offense and the culture, snagged a keystone recruit named Robert Griffin III, and by the time he had reached his eighth season Briles had the Waco wackos completely over the moon with his fast-paced offense. Trouble is, as has often been the case in the power programs, character issues of players with marginal on-field impact landed the team in the maelstrom for the past few months. When the words “sexual assault” are bandied about, you’d think the program would heed the Penn State debacle and the coach would be front-and-center in deflecting any allegations that the football team was wagging the university, to turn a phrase. In this case, Briles was being asked about multiple offenses involving multiple players, and he never seemed to be authoritative enough in his declarations about whether the dreaded c-word — “culture” — was one breeding scofflaws. Briles paid for it last week, losing his A-list status and employment in one fell swoop, and Baylor President Ken Starr was given a rather unsatisfying demotion to mere chancellor status. Recruits started bailing immediately. Those fourwin teams of 2008-09 now look like the safe bet for 2016, rather than the 10- and 11-win anomalies the past three seasons. It’s a shocking turn of events only if you played the blissfully unaware card like Briles did over the past several months when he had to address the allegations publicly. Meanwhile, east of Waco in another conservative Southern college town, one of the Hogs’ chief rivals felt the sting of its own dearth of in-house discipline. Ole Miss did the whole “selfimposed penalties” thing in the hopes

of keeping the foundation of its house of cards intact, reducing athletic scholarships and trying BEAU its damnedest WILCOX to appease the NCAA in the process. The violations were ranging in severity, and it’s arguable whether excommunicated former Rev. Houston D. Nutt or present deacon Hugh Freeze did more overt damage to the program with his respective brand of gridiron piety. It’s also likely that erstwhile offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil, inhaling illicit smoke in a gas mask and then revealing he got cash handouts the past couple of years during a worldwide NFL Draft broadcast, didn’t help perceptions. The Rebels/Black Bears, very much like the Baptist Bears on the Brazos, got plumb sick and tired of losing and looking hideous in the process. They cut corners. They ignored red flags. They excelled at a level not seen in some time, and raked in cash and banner players along the way. For Ole Miss, there’s thankfully not some sordid charge about football players being allowed to victimize women, and Freeze got to deflect enough of this mess around to other programs and predecessors that he kept his job. But Oxford has never been a place where consistency of performance has been the archetype, so where do the Rebs go from here? The draft already depleted the centerpieces of their prior recruiting classes, namely Tunsil, Laquon Treadwell, and Robert Nkemdiche, and while quarterback Chad Kelly returns, the specter of these penalties — and the perception that the suspicion about Ole Miss’ recruiting was correct — is going to hang over the entire 2016 season and beyond. Arkansas went through hell when Bobby Petrino went off the highway and John L. Smith was brought in for a patchwork job. Baylor, incidentally, has called upon Wake Forest castoff Jim Grobe to try to stabilize things in an interim capacity. For the Hogs, the climb back to respectability wasn’t as awful as feared, and it only implicated one duplicitous coach for personal imbroglios. When things get sour in Waco and Oxford, remember that very fact, and rejoice in knowing that Arkansas is not, at present, a program in turmoil.

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THE OBSERVER NOTES ON THE PASSING SCENE

Some nights

he Observer and our lovely bride have been doing a lot of porch sitting on the wide veranda of The Observatory of late, watching life scroll by on leafy Maple Street. It’s a beautiful thing. We’ve got a ceiling fan out there that we keep spinning to blow the skeeters off, two pretty good sittin’ chairs, and a wobbly little table just big enough to hold an ashtray and two beers. Who could ask for anything more? If the streetlight on the corner across the way would go ahead and burn out (The Observer has been threating for years to creep into our sniper nest some night and take out the bulb with a pellet gun … which we would never do, of course, because it would be both against the law and WRONG!), our placid little corner of the world would be perfect, or as perfect as things get in summertime in Arkansas, which is pretty dang fine. Some nights, the older fella in the neat gray house cater-cornered across the street brings his sheepdog out into the road to give him a brushing, the birds later coming to fight over the wads of shed hair for their nests. Some nights, a kid cruises past on his unmuffled scooter — BWAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! — usually with a helmetless friend teetering at the knife edge of death on the back, the pilot swinging around the corner of Maple and Seventh streets then gunning it — BWAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! — so that the racket continues until he makes the corner at Oak. Some nights, the neighborhood cats, tired of yowling lovesick at our mail slot after the fickle Miss Minnie, stalk and prowl in the dusk, sometimes sitting, half sleeping, at the edge of the pavement across the way, other times off like a shot, on urgent feline business. The branches of the oaks out front of The Observatory dip low, almost touching the yard, leaving the porch dappled in shadow as the sun sinks behind the glass boxes of UAMS. We figure the hospital, stacked on top of itself, will eventually jump Pine and Cedar someday, swallowing up the west end of Stifft Station, maybe including our little house given enough time. We’ll be

long gone from Maple Street by then, and probably long gone from the earth. Either way, that’s not an Our Problem. That’s a Somebody Else Problem. Our Problem is finding the bottle opener, and recalling our favorite memory involving a David Bowie song, and telling the unapologetically wild, white-spotted alley cat who comes to sniff experimentally at the steps: “Well, come on up if you’re coming. Don’t be shy.” He never takes us up on our offer, but the tuna cans we leave outside are always licked sparkling clean by morning, so we know he at least trusts us enough not to poison him. It’s a start. Some nights, the kid next door gets into arguments with his girlfriend on the telephone. We assume it’s his girlfriend, because we’ve never known an argument of any other flavor but Young Love to start with sweet nothings, escalate to shouting, then return to sweet nothings over the course of 30 minutes. Spouse and I fear their love affair is doomed, and probably for the best. Some nights, after drinking honeyed whiskey — so sticky and sweet it could almost be poured on pancakes — from a Fiestaware teacup, Spouse reaches out and takes her Old Man’s hand, and holds it there silently as the whirling ceiling fan blasts away the Junebugs, and in those moments we remember and appreciate why our chairs are placed so close that our knees bump sometimes. Is there anything better than holding your girl’s hand in the dark on a summer evening? Not likely. Some nights, we talk about our day, the good and the bad, the troubles we’ve seen. She works holding the line against chaos down at the courthouse, and sees so much of the ugliness of the world. The Observer’s job also often takes us for a dip in the cesspool of humanity’s ugliness. So some nights, we talk about it. Some nights, we try to make sense. Some nights, we share the load so we can carry it together. But some nights, we are just content to sit in silence, and stare out at Maple Street. And even on those nights when we find that the jug of honeyed whiskey has run dry, that warm and comfortable quiet there between us turns out to be mighty fine.

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JUNE 2, 2016

Arkansas Reporter

BRIAN CHILSON

THE

THE GOVERNOR’S MANSION: Within, a $1,000 toilet, hand-painted silk wallpaper and a toothless Commission.

A house divided The Mansion Commission is neutered; the governor takes over. BY LESLIE NEWELL PEACOCK

he Arkansas Governor’s Mansion, serving both as private residence and “The People’s House,” has always held out the potential for conflict. “Better is a dry morsel and quietness within it / Than a house full of feasting with strife” goes the proverb, but a public house must have both feasting and quiet. Strife has arisen over matters of taste, expense and the Governor’s Mansion Commission’s say so over gifts, grants and donations. Until the Hutchinson administration, the conflicts were worked out, though not always amicably. For example, in 1997 Gov. Mike Huckabee, apparently chafing at objections by the commission to decorating changes made to the Georgian style of the public areas, got a

JUNE 2, 2016

ARKANSAS TIMES

bill passed to increase the membership of the commission from five to eight, thus allowing him to appoint three friendly members. At the time, state Rep. Myra Jones (D-Little Rock) rose to oppose the bill, saying the commission was nonpartisan and had been for 20 years. But Gov. Hutchinson has gone a step further, successfully pushing through legislation in the recent special session of the legislature that strips the commission of its former duties, including that of approving gifts, grants and donations. Now, the governor has final say; he need not run anything by the commission. The change was necessary because the commission was falling down on the job, Hutchinson spokesman J.R. Davis said. It had not promulgated rules and

regulations for review by the governor, as Hutchinson had ordered at the first of the year. It had violated the state Freedom of Information Act, and it had let the mansion fall into disrepair. There was a rodent infestation; a rat died under the governor’s office in the mansion. Minutes of commission meetings since the Hutchinsons took possession of the mansion reveal points of contention over expenditures, particularly the installation of a sculpture, and Grand Hall revenues. Mansion Administrator Don Bingham has not provided the Arkansas Times with an accounting of expenditures and gifts to the mansion, but the Mansion Restoration Project has received at least $1.1 million grant from the Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resources Council for improvements. The application for the grant states said that improvememts to the private areas of the mansion had been put on the “back burner” so that resources could be focused on public areas. “It is well past time to turn our focus to the comforts of the First Family.” At first lady Susan Hutchinson’s first Mansion Commission meeting, in Janu-

ary 2015, Mansion Association President Jan Zimmerman asked that the commission change its policy on pre-approval to let Hutchinson make purchases for “minor improvements to the mansion, including various repainting, replacing wallpaper and lighting in the private dining room and other improvements,” and the commission agreed. The Association is a nonprofit that raises money for the mansion. In succeeding months, minutes show, among the upgrades Susan Hutchinson commissioned were hand-painted silk wallpaper for the public areas, a $1,000 toilet for the public powder room, mirrors, a table and a secretary for the public rooms. The commission approved sconces for the dining room. The mansion, especially the Grand Hall, was lavishly decorated for Christmas after the first lady made a buying trip to Dallas, using a $12,000 credit at Legacy Antiques and purchases from another showroom. Tipton & Hurst decorated the formal living and dining rooms and the library “at a substantial discount,” Bingham reported to the commission. Tipton & Hurst is owned by Howard and state Department of Arkansas Heritage Director Stacy Hurst, an ex-officio member of the commission at the time. Under the new legislation, she will be a voting member, should there be anything to vote on. Besides Association purchases for the house, several gifts were made to the mansion or the Mansion Association, including a collection of Waterford crystal; mirrors for the Grand Hall, an $18,000 gift from the Arkansas Automobile Dealers’ Wives Club; and a donation of lawn mowers worth $80,000 from Bad Boy Mowers in Batesville, a company that later received state incentives for expansion in the form of cash rebates and tax cuts. Judging by the minutes, the bloom was definitely off the rose by September 2015, when Mrs. Hutchison complained that several items — including tables — had been purchased without her approval and told the Commission that she had returned them to Legacy Antiques in Dallas. (Hence the credit.) Also at the September 2015 meeting, the first lady announced that she wanted to suspend a sculpture donated to the mansion over a water feature “to help spotlight this sculpture in the gar-

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Festy BIG Bingo

Cocktail connoisseurs will remember Spencer Jansen, currently membership manager at the Arkansas Arts THE Center, as a star bartender (and multiple Arkansas Times Toast of the Town winner) at the Capital Bar and Grill a few years back. It was there, some five years ago, that he created Festy Bingo to celebrate the culture of Riverfest. PICTURE He and co-workers came up with the ideas, and Jansen drew dozens of squares that eventually ended up on 36 unique boards, which he passed out at the Capital Bar and, later, to other bars in the River Market. We remembered it fondly and asked Jansen to share a square. We’re betting it’ll still play today.

‘RAIN OF FAITH’: The expense of installing it was debated at a Mansion Commission meeting.

dens.” The shiny sculpture, “Rain of Faith” by former Arkansas artist Ryan Schmidt, had been placed in an area on the grounds where children played for their enjoyment, former first lady Ginger Beebe said. The sculpture should have had a pedestal of some sort; “Rain of Faith” was so shiny that on one sunny day it set fire to the mulch on which it rested. Mrs. Hutchinson told the commission she knew the changes would be expensive, but added that the sculpture was valued by the artist at $180,000. She said she hoped to raise funds for the project “through special sponsorships.” There was discord over the idea. Commissioner Kaki Hockersmith “expressed her concern to the First Lady on the idea of spending a large amount of money on a very permanent piece that will have a huge impact on the gardens. There were several minutes of exchange between Mrs. Hockersmith and First Lady,” the minutes read. The friction over the sculpture likely derives from the fact that “Rain of Fire” was purchased for $3,500 in a silent auction at the 2009 Tabriz fundraiser of the Arkansas Arts Center, according to Arts Center records. The artist had valued the piece at $40,000. On his website, Schmidt calls the sculpture an “attraction.” “Steel says classy,” the site says. “Give the neighbors something to talk about. … Fascinate your guests and

enrich your place with eSchmidt Artistic Attractions.” In 2010, another casting of the sculp-

ture was offered for $25,000 while it was on loan to a senior center in Colorado. Schmidt’s lawyer, former Munici-

pal Judge Bill Watt, told the commission that he has asked the artist to hire appraisers to “assess the true value of CONTINUED ON PAGE 38 www.arktimes.com

JUNE 2, 2016

RIVERFEST 2016

JUDAH & THE LION

JUICY J

COLE SWINDELL

JUNE 2, 2016

ARKANSASâ&#x20AC;&#x2C6;TIMES

RIVERFEST 2016

ven though Riverfest Executive Director DeAnna Korte and her team have been at work on Riverfest 2016 since last year’s vendor tents were packed up, the Riverfest office downtown still bears an air of impermanence, like a pop-up store or a political campaign. There’s a giant whiteboard counting down the days until the festival weekend, folding partitions to lend structure to auxiliary offices, Riverfest banners of all vintages hung from the rafters. The baseboards of a large conference room have disappeared behind row upon row of gift bags brimming with royal blue crepe paper, and behind that there’s Korte’s office, where Riverfest is reinventing itself. “When you’ve been doing the same thing for 38 years, you have to change to stay relevant, and change isn’t always easy for people,” Korte says, anticipating the resounding choruses of “But Riverfest is always in May!” or “It wasn’t like this last year!” from festival attendees. Changes are definitely afoot. Here are some of the big ones:

• RIVERFEST IS HAPPENING ON A NEW WEEKEND Long associated with the Memorial Day holiday weekend — a time that’s already ripe for family reunions, camping trips or time at the lake — Riverfest has moved to the first weekend in June, June 4-5. (Korte even cites a few “lake babies” among the Riverfest staff, noting how many people find themselves torn between Riverfest and the call of Arkansas’s waterways, particularly when the holiday aligns with optimum weather.)

• RIVERFEST IS NOW ALL ABOUT THE MUSIC In efforts to pack more punch for both the music-loving, late-night crowds and budget-conscious families looking for a bounce house or three, Riverfest has split into two separate festivals: Riverfest and Springfest. In April of 2016, Riverfest held its first one-day, free event specifically with families and children in mind: Springfest. Riverfest is its music-focused counterpart. This doesn’t mean that Riverfest is abandoning extramusical activity, though; in addition to the fireworks display on Sunday night, expect carnival rides, a “Play-

day’s “Flowing on the River” are $25 in advance, $35 at the door. (See riverfestarkansas.com for tickets and details.) Riverfest artists will perform on the First Security Amphitheater stage (“Arkansas Federal Credit Union/Lake Liquor Stage”) and the stage on the lawn of the Clinton Presidential Center (“Frio Light Stage”). Here are some of the fest’s musical highlights, in order of appearance, as illuminated by our contributors.

SATURDAY, JUNE 4 Bonnie Montgomery

GRACE POTTER

A NEW ERA In its 38th year, Riverfest reinvents itself.

BY TOM COULTER, GLEN HOOKS, STEPHEN KOCH, FLORA LARRABEE, JOE MEAZLE, STEPHANIE SMITTLE AND JT TARPLEY

station Truck” offering a virtual reality experience, jugglers and stilt walkers, a Baggo tournament, free admission each afternoon to the exhibits at the Witt Stephens Jr. Central Arkansas Nature Center, a craft beer and wine lounge, and, apparently, free bottles of Sweet Baby Ray’s barbecue sauce.

• RIVERFEST IS SATURDAY AND SUNDAY ONLY There is a Friday event — “Flowing on the River,” a performance by Rodney Block and craft beer and wine tastings from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. — but tickets are sold separately. Music starts Saturday at 1:15 p.m. with Matt Stell on one stage and Arkansas Times Musicians Showcase winners The Uh Huhs on another, and 1:15 p.m. Sunday with Arkansauce and KOA (1:30 p.m.) on the two stages. For those staying the duration, you can bet the craft beer vendors will have a low-ABV session beer on hand; here’s hoping you lose your wits only after George Clinton kicks off the Aquaboogie and not before.

• NO MORE RIVERFEST “BUTTONS” If, in the past, you’d hung around a Riverfest entrance long enough (and late enough in the day), you’d likely have seen folks passing off their Riverfest buttons to passers-by, effectively “recycling” both the button itself and the entry fee — it wasn’t exactly airtight. In a move to keep Riverfest’s security record clean (and likely, to secure revenue lost by attendees with a more, shall we say, communal approach to entry buttons), Riverfest is mirroring other festivals (like the Arkansas State Fair) in implementing a policy of no re-entry. This is a bit confusing, so let’s clarify: Riverfest attendees can come and go as they please ONLY before 5 p.m. Once you’ve entered the festival after 5 p.m., you’re there for the duration and may not exit/re-enter that day. Got it? General admission covers both Saturday and Sunday. Riverfest takes place in the Julius Breckling Riverfront Park and on the grounds of the Clinton Presidential Center. Tickets are $37.50 until midnight Friday, June 3. (After that, weekend admission is $50.) Tickets for Fri-

2 p.m. Saturday, Frio Light Stage (Clinton Presidential Center Park). If you don’t know who Bonnie Montgomery is, you have been completely oblivious to the music scene in Little Rock over the past several years. Montgomery grew up in a musical family in White County; she tells stories of singing Hank Williams songs while on family fishing trips as little girl. She went on to study opera in college, and then to compose the opera “Billy Blythe” about President Bill Clinton’s youth. She sings like a bird with a voice that could bring a tear to the most hard-hearted, elbowbending honky-tonker and has toured extensively across the U.S. She’s even crossed the pond, playing her music in the finest honky-tonks of Europe. Many of her songs are personal and Arkancentric, and all conjure up bygone days when the music coming out of Nashville was genuine and heartfelt. Lately she’s been splitting much of her time between Little Rock and Austin, where she was named the Ameripolitan Music Awards’ Outlaw Female of 2016. (I’m not saying that you should break any of the Riverfest rules, but Bonnie’s music goes best with a good stiff drink of brown liquor; I may or may not have a pint bottle hidden down in my boot.) JM

ZZ Ward 5 p.m. Saturday, Arkansas Federal Credit Union/Lake Liquor Stage (First Security Amphitheater) ZZ Ward is a multi-instrumentalist with a strong voice who promises to deliver brash and bluesy lyrics over a thumping drum track. Hailing from Roseburg, Ore., Ward grew up listening to her father’s blues LPs and her brother’s hip-hop CDs, and continues www.arktimes.com

JUNE 2, 2016

RIVERFEST 2016

to use these early influences as the foundation to her sound. For Record Store Day in 2013, she released a cover of Son House’s “Grinnin’ in Your Face” on a 7-inch, showing that her appreciation for music extends beyond the pop feel that inhabits most of her tracks. Rolling Stone described her vocals on her 2012 single “Save My Life” as “chillinducing,” and her new single “Love 3X” is reminiscent of Lily Allen. Based on the style of singles from her upcoming album “This Means War,” expect a show of driving dance pop with a soulful sheen to it. Oh, and she plays harmonica, too! FL

Brothers Osborne 6 p.m. Saturday, Frio Light Stage (Clinton Presidential Center Park). THE FLAMING LIPS

Brothers Osborne (a.k.a. “BROS”) are not to be confused with the Osborne Brothers. Truth be told, though, such confusion probably doesn’t happen often — although even the most casual country music, or SEC, fan knows the OG OB’s biggest hit, “Rocky Top.” The sweet sibling harmonies of these Osbornes (born in Deale, Md., pop. 4,945) are tempered by spicy rocking riffs and all-too-rare slide guitar supplied by brother John (the bearded BRO) and the nondescript lead vocalizing of brother T.J. (the generically goodlooking BRO). Their breakout debut single was “Let’s Go There” and the wordy yet simply titled drunken sin-

galong, “Rum.” Their single “Stay A Little Longer” (which, again, like the duo itself, is not to be confused with a similarly named country music classic) became the BROS’ biggest hit earlier this year, and while it treads more familiar modern country ground than some of their previous musical statements, the “Stay A Little Longer” video boldly and refreshingly shows gay and interracial romance in a nonjudgmental and casual fashion. Country fans, rock fans, music fans, keep an eye on these hot BROS, performing at 6 p.m. at the Clinton Center stage — they may surprise you, musically and otherwise. SK

Grace Potter

7:45 p.m. Saturday, Frio Light Stage (Clinton Presidential Center Park) The Cool Kid in me doesn’t want to like Grace Potter. Her music has been on episodes of “One Tree Hill,” “ER” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” for crying out loud. She helped soundtrack a couple of Disney vehicles and collaborates frequently with Kenny Chesney (including on the Grammy-nominated “You and Tequila”). Grace Potter should not be on my playlist. In all seriousness, though — how in the hell can I help it? Potter is just a straight-up musical

force, mixing solid elements of pop, rock, country, blues, roots and even some light funk on her debut solo album, “Midnight,” released last year after more than a decade heading up the consistently excellent Grace Potter & The Nocturnals. She is a product of Vermont and the jam band circuit of the early-mid 2000s, touring constantly and catching the ear of everyone from T. Bone Burnett to Dave Matthews to The Flaming Lips. To her credit, she is not merely a solid lead singer; she ably plays both electric and acoustic guitar, along with piano and organ. But then there’s the voice. Dear Lord. THE VOICE. The voice is what really seals the deal. Bluesy, rich, muscular and real, Potter’s voice makes you listen close and damn well believe what she’s telling you. Let your guard down a little bit, hipster kid, and I bet we’ll see even you (yes, YOU!) unironically waving your arms and having a good ol’ time. GH

George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic 8 p.m. Saturday, Arkansas Federal Credit Union/Lake Liquor Stage (First Security Amphitheater).

George Clinton has been layin’ out the funk to please, tease and then put-at-ease the masses since the late ’60s, but did you know he started out as a doo-wop guy? The Parliaments

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BONNIE MONTGOMERY

formed as a doo-wop group in the mid-’50s when Clinton was running a barber shop called the Silk Palace. They had cropped hair and tight vocals, but only a modest degree of success — that is, until they let their freak flag fly and remade the band as Parliament and, later, Funkadelic in the late ’60s. Funkadelic’s cast of heavily costumed super talents onstage included the likes of Bootsy Collins and Maceo Parker, and they toured the world in a fictional vehicle called The Holy Mothership, asking simply: “May I frighten you?” The hits of this era (“Flashlight,” “Mothership Connection (Star Child)” and “Atomic Dog”) are recognizable to anyone who has turned on the radio in the last 30 years. Clinton’s licks and refrains punctuate the hits of Snoop Dogg, Aaliyah, Dr. Dre, and now Kendrick Lamar, to name a few. In 2014, Clinton released his wellreceived autobiography “Brothas Be, Yo Like George, Ain’t That Funkin’ Kinda Hard On You?” and Funkadelic released a new record, “First Ya Gotta Shake the Gate.” Still touring, Clinton has stayed true to his mission to funk you up, but he’s also incorporating elements of hip-hop in his show, creating what David Accomazzo of Phoenix New Times described as “watching a live DJ set, but with a huge funk orchestra instead of turntables.” Free your mind and you know what is sure to follow. FL

Chris Stapleton 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Frio Light Stage (Clinton Presidential Center Park) Even if you’ve never heard his name, you’ve probably heard Chris Stapleton’s music. His songwriting credits read like a who’s who of modern country music: George Strait, Sheryl Crow, Luke Bryan, Kenny Chesney, Darius Rucker and Miranda Lambert, to name a few. Stapleton even co-wrote “If It Hadn’t Been for Love,” a bonus track from Adele’s Grammy-winning album “21.” His first solo album, “Traveller,” released in May 2015, offered a rebuttal to the rise of “pop country,” which dominates the radio and abandons traditional country instruments like the harmonica, steel guitar and fiddle. The melancholy of the album, which was inspired by a crosscountry trip on Interstate 40 after the death of his father, pervades through his bluesy instrumentation and lyrics. As Stapleton sings on the title track, “My heartbeat’s rhythm is a lonesome sound / Just like the rubber turning on the ground / Always lost and nowhere bound.” “Traveller,” which was a Grammy nominee for album of the year, pays tribute to the genre of old through covers of George Jones’ “Tennessee Whiskey” and the Charlie Daniels Band’s “Was It 26.” For purists, Stapleton isn’t doing anything revolutionary. He’s simply returning country to its proper form. TC

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JUNE 2, 2016

Arts Entertainment AND

Exploring the unexplained in Eureka A visit to the 29th Annual Ozark Mountain UFO Conference. BY SETH BARLOW

’m late and everyone is leaving. I pull into the parking lot of the Eureka Springs Conference and Event Center, a squat rectangle tucked away at the far end of a sprawling Best Western Inn, and I swim upstream of the hundreds of people walking out of the building. The event is nearly sold out, with almost 750 people packing

into the convention center’s ballrooms each hour. Technically, the conference has just ended for the night, but the convention’s schedule lists a cash bar that will be open for an additional two hours. All good stories start at cash bars. Right inside the doors is an alien. He’s short and bulbous, not unlike

what most Americans have become familiar with from television. He’s wearing an olive jumpsuit and his name tag reads “Uri Kah,” an otherworldly interpretation of Eureka. I’m at the 29th Annual Ozark Mountain UFO Conference in April, and I’ve come in secret hopes that I’ll be convinced. Of what, I’m not sure, but I want to believe. I watch as an elderly woman takes a seat next to Uri Kah and gingerly moves his hand so that it rests upon her knee. A girl in her early 20s, most likely the event’s youngest attendee, snaps their photo. Before I can make my way to the cash bar, I’m swallowed up by a group of people huddled into a corner. They surround a petite and vigorous woman, Linda Moulton Howe, the night’s keynote speaker. She’s just finished a presentation about the decoded messages alien visitors have left behind via symbols and binary code. (By all accounts, it was riveting.) As

the crowd leans closer with each word, she tells them in stark detail the perils she’s faced during her investigations. Men in black are involved. It’s at this point that someone asks Howe directly about the end goals of the aliens who’ve contacted our planet. Her answer is vague, most likely a warning, but against what? She can’t say. A man from further back in the huddle shouts out his own answer: “Interstellar wickedness!” Heads nod in ripples around the group. As I eventually make my way to the cash bar, I overhear various conversations, people recounting their own experiences. One woman has nightly visions of an “otherworldly” body standing at the foot of her bed. Another man sees patterned lights over his house with an alarming frequency. The atmosphere is eclectic, to be sure, the crowd largely skewing older. But is it also familiar, bordering on familial. Many of these people have been coming to the conference for years if not decades. A few have been to all 29. The air is that of a great cosmic family reunion, one that draws people from across the country. In the parking lot, cars are tagged from Florida, Michigan, Nebraska and Pennsylvania. The rest of the weekend’s speakers cover a wide spectrum. We’re told the story of a woman who found herself at the center of a great cosmic war, the cause of which is locked away somewhere in her memory, and then we’re treated to the struggle of a former United States Air Force member to declassify his own service records after he experienced an on-duty brush with a UFO. We’re told of the countless alien-human hybrids that now walk among us (apparently humans with unusual wrist dexterity are most likely descendants of a Mantis-like alien species) and we hear a two-hour history lesson of the role aliens played in the Bible. There’s a lot of buzz about Hillary Clinton, who had appeared on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” just days earlier, where she was asked about her intentions to declassify the military’s records regarding UFOs. Although she earns a bit of acclaim for clarifying that UFOs CONTINUED ON PAGE 39

JUNE 2, 2016

ARKANSAS TIMES

ROCK CANDY

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

A&E NEWS ARKANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY’S annual concert series benefiting Johnny Cash’s boyhood home in Dyess is to expand into a three-day festival in October of 2017, Talk Business reports. “For the first time, we will hold a festival in Dyess, in the cotton fields surrounding my dad’s childhood home and in the town center of the colony,” said Cash’s daughter, singer/songwriter Rosanne Cash. “We foresee an annual festival that will include both world-renowned artists on the main stage and local musicians on smaller stages, as well as educational panels, exhibits and local crafts.”

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CAMDEN-BORN R&B ARTIST Ne-Yo recently played a suave, city-savvy love interest of Mindy Kaling’s on Hulu’s “The Mindy Project.” In an episode titled “The Greatest Date in the World,” NeYo’s character “Marcus” takes Mindy on a greatest-hits-tour of hipster New York City joints, including a Transylvanian restaurant where the pair eat charred crow, an avant-garde performance art piece in which an actor cracks an egg on Mindy’s head, and a Chinese restaurant in which the chickens are killed before diners’ very eyes. FAYETTEVILLE STAND-UP COMIC Stef Bright joined Nashville StandUp for what it called “The Greatest Dumbest Thing We’ve Ever Done Twice” — that is, breaking Nashville StandUp’s own Guinness World Records title for the longest stand-up comedy show by multiple comedians. Starting Sunday, May 15, at Nashville’s East Room, the comedy marathon lasted 184 hours and 21 minutes; 5 minutes longer than the previous record. Bright, noting the strict Guinness World Record rules governing the time that must lapse before a comedian returns to the stage (4 hours), said, “Technically the show was nonstop for 227 hours and 1 minute,” but a comedian was accidentally scheduled 10 minutes too early and, devastatingly, the clock had to be restarted. A domino effect ensued, and the marathon bumped up against a band’s scheduled slot at the club, so the club built a small wooden stage outside and hooked up sound and floodlights, allowing the comedy show to continue seamlessly. “It seems like a silly goal to put that much time and effort into, but when you love your craft that much, it’s totally worth it,” Bright said — but only after she’d had ample opportunity to sleep the whole thing off.

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JUNE 2, 2016

THE TO-DO

LIST

BY LESLIE NEWELL PEACOCK & STEPHANIE SMITTLE

FRIDAY 6/3-SATURDAY 6/4

LUM AND ABNER FESTIVAL

10 a.m., Janssen Park, Mena. Free.

Before “The Beverly Hillbillies” and Abbott and Costello, there was “Lum and Abner,” the brainchildren of Chester Lauck and Findley Norris Goff, a couple of comedians in their early 20s living in Polk County. The pair had less affinity for learning their fathers’ trades (lumber, banking, retail) than they did for mimick-

ing the old-timers they hung out with at Goff’s father’s network of general stores, and their routines scored them an invitation to appear at a 1931 flood relief drive in Hot Springs, where they thought up the names “Lum Eddards” and “Abner Peabody” mere seconds before appearing on stage. The shtick stuck, and the “Lum and Abner” radio program ran until 1955, inspiring sponsorships from the

likes of Quaker Oats and Horlick’s Malted Milk, their own brand of sorghum, seven movies and even an official name change for their real-life community of Waters (Montgomery County); “Lum and Abner” fans asked so frequently about the location of “Pine Ridge” (the fictional town in which the radio program was set) that a ceremony was held at the state Capitol in 1936 to change the name from Waters

to Pine Ridge. Eighty years later, the program’s famed “Jot ’Em Down Store” still exists, and fans flock to Mena every year to celebrate Lauck and Goff’s legacy. The 2016 festival features the Ouachita Quilt Show, live music from Pamela K. Ward and The Last Call Orchestra, a classic car show, arts and crafts vendors and something called an “All-American Lumberjack Show.” SS

SATURDAY 6/4

AFRICAN AMERICAN ARTS IN ARKANSAS

10 a.m.-3 p.m., Mosaic Templars Cultural Center. Free.

Artists, an art dealer and a historian will take part in this daylong event about African-American visual, performing and literary arts at Mosaic Templars, the state museum that celebrates AfricanAmerican entrepreneurship and culture. Delita Martin, known for her large-scale mixed-media printmaking and whose work is in the collection of Mosaic Templars; Garbo Hearne, owner of Hearne Fine Art, which deals in work by African-American artists; Chicago sculptor and Mellon Fellow Garland Martin Taylor; and archivist Jeff Lewellen of the Arkansas History Commission will be speakers at the event. Topics include “Talking Palette, Hidden Artist: The Art of Arkansas’s Henry Lewis Jackson,” about the 19th century political cartoonist who lived in Pine Bluff; “The Soul of Arkansas: A History of Arkansas’s African American Musicians”; “In Search of Self: The Preservation of Culture through African American Art”; and a presentation on literary arts. To attend, register by May 30. Check-in begins at 9:15 a.m. Lunch will be provided. Teachers may earn up to four professional development hours by attending. The event is sponsored by the Black History Commission of Arkansas and the Arkansas History and supported by a grant from the Arkansas Arts Council. LNP 28

JUNE 2, 2016

ARKANSAS TIMES

TEACHING TOLERANCE: The late Robert Loyd (left) and husband John Schenck have organized every Conway Pride Parade since 2004, and this year’s celebration honors his memory.

SUNDAY 6/5

CONWAY PRIDE FEST

2 p.m. The Pink House, Conway. Free.

With the same breath we use to celebrate Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court decision that overturned bans on same-sex marriage, we also mourn the loss of a longtime Faulkner County champion of tolerance: Robert (Bobby) Loyd. Loyd, a Vietnam vet who died earlier this year, organized every Conway Pride Parade since 2004 along with his

husband, John Schenck, who was an employee at the Stonewall Inn during the riots of 1969. The couple, married for over 40 years, broadcast the mantra “Teach Tolerance” across the head jamb of their bright pink house, where the parade begins. The Pink House, as it’s called (and popularized in Hendrix grad Jonathan Crawford’s movie “Pink Houses”), has endured its fair share of the bigotry hurled at its owners: It was once the dumping site for a large load of

manure left in protest of the first Conway Pride Parade and, as Loyd told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in 2005, “One year we had a 9-foot Energizer bunny. It was decapitated Easter morning. I thought that was a little extreme.” Schenck has organized a college scholarship in Loyd’s name for an Arkansas LGBTQ person studying in-state, and The Lantern Theater is dedicating its run of “The Normal Heart” to Loyd’s memory. SS

IN BRIEF

THURSDAY 6/2

SUNDAY 6/5

SUNDAY SERENADES

3 p.m., St. Paul United Methodist Church, $8-$10.

The opening line of Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” is arguably the most recognizable phrase ever written for clarinet, and after hearing the fantastic colors that emerge in the piece through the interplay between the clarinet, the solo piano and the rest of the orchestra, it’s hard to fathom that such a palette could be as eloquently expressed by a smaller ensemble. But then, the clarinet is a many splendored thing. “Rhapsody in Blue” for clarinet quartet is among the pieces to be performed this Sunday afternoon by the Little Rock Wind Symphony, a nonprofit ensemble of about 50 musicians “dedicated to the perfor-

WEDNESDAY 6/8 mance of wind band music.” (Music Director and Conductor Israel Getzov will be in China during this performance, where he’s conducting the Tianjin Philharmonic, so these small-group pieces will be “conducted” from within the ensembles.) Unlike a full orchestra, a wind symphony relies less on strings — although there’s often a double bass involved — and more on brass and woodwind instruments. The program also includes a Poulenc sextet, “Miniatures for Flute, Oboe, and Piano” by Little Rock’s William Grant Still, and a one-movement trio called “Quiet City,” a distillation of Aaron Copland’s incidental music for a play by Irwin Shaw about a Jewish man haunted by his abandoned aspirations. SS

SAVING THE BUFFALO, AGAIN: Folk duo Still on the Hill present story songs about the Buffalo, and Dr. Van Brahana presents the findings of his study of water quality around the country’s first National River.

TUESDAY 6/7

SCIENCE AND SONGS OF THE BUFFALO RIVER

6 p.m., Unitarian Universalist Church, free.

The late conservationist Neil Compton would likely have been disheartened at news of an industrial hog facility spreading waste over the Little Buffalo River Watershed, but he’d be proud of the folks who are doing something about it. Thanks in part to a grant from the Patagonia Foundation to the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance (BRWA), Dr. Van Brahana has been studying the quality and flow of surface and groundwater through the karst topography of the Ozarks to the Buffalo National

River to detect chemicals commonly used at Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) like the nearby hog farm. Folk duo Still on the Hill offers the musical counterpart to Brahana’s presentation, performing songs from the upcoming album they’ve created in partnership with BRWA, “Still a River: Story Songs About the Buffalo River.” You may or may not be old enough to remember the first “Save the Buffalo” campaign preceding its establishment as the nation’s first national river, but if you’ve enjoyed the bluffs on a leisurely float around Tyler Bend or cut your teeth on the feisty spring rapids at Ponca, you’ve still got time to get informed and help “Save the Buffalo — Again.” SS

IAN MOORE AND THE LOSSY COILS

8 p.m., Stickyz, $10-$12.

At a certain point in time, maybe a time that is not entirely yet past, it was damned near impossible to play a blues-rock solo on the electric guitar without being likened unto Stevie Ray Vaughan. As Ian Moore told South by Southwest, “Charlie [Sexton], Doyle [Bramhall II] and I were all tossed into the next Stevie Ray mixer, and it blunted some unique voices that were developing. My band and I were trying to take the blues rock and soul that was part of our sound and mix it with psychedelic music, gothic imagery, power pop, ‘mind soul,’ and even psychedelic funk.” Moore shared stages with Joe Ely and Willie Nelson, and turned out a politically charged video in 1994 for “Harlem” (directed by Ice Cube), but still couldn’t seem to escape audience’s tendencies to homogenize bands coming out of Austin, Texas, at that time. So, he put down the electric guitar in favor of the acoustic for a while, and didn’t come back to it until after a stint in a hidden cave near Krause Springs and at least one suicide attempt. Emerging from the haze, Moore bonded with g uitarist Matt Harris over “Middle Eastern psych and Marcella Hazan,” as Moore states in his bio, and the duo evolved into The Lossy Coils. The fourpiece band plays Wednesday in Little Rock, fresh off a stint at Hipnic, a festival put on by harmonyheavy psych-rockers The Mother Hips. SS

The Rocketboys, whose “melodic rock” has been featured on television’s “One Tree Hill” and “Glee,” come to Stickyz, 8:30 p.m., $8-$10. DJ Lucio Pro, who makes “hip-hop about video games and having fun,” joins DJ Courier for a spin at Maxine’s in Hot Springs, 9 p.m., free.

FRIDAY 6/3 There’s a full-fledged castle in West Little Rock, and you can tour it for free: the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program hosts a tour of the Dr. Clarence W. Koch House as part of its “Sandwiching in History” series, 6601 Stagecoach Road, noon. Dance band Cosmocean releases its self-titled debut EP with jazz-folk strummer Amber Wilcox opening the show, 10 p.m., King’s Live Music, Conway. Irving Berlin’s “Annie Get Your Gun” opens at the Community Theater of Little Rock, 7:30 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 2 p.m. Sun., $8-$18. Vintage vendors from across the state sprawl across the Arkansas State Fairgrounds through June 5 for Vintage Market Days, 10 a.m., $5-$10. Big Still River releases its album “Ain’t Dead Yet” at Four Quarter Bar in Argenta, 9 p.m. Delta rockers The Federalis join Me Like Bees and Nothing for Breakfast, Maxine’s, Hot Springs, 9 p.m., $7.

SATURDAY 6/4 Butterfly and Irie Soul host an R&B and reggae “get down party” at Next Bistro and Bar, 8:30 p.m., $10-$15. Central Arkansas Roller Derby (CARD) and Girls Rollin’ in the South (GRITS) square off against Joplin’s Mo-Kan skaters in a roller derby doubleheader, 2 p.m., Conway Expo Center and Fairgrounds, $2-$15. Funk-driven zydeco band Dikki Du and the Zydeco Krewe tears it up at Maxine’s, 9 p.m., $7. Hot Springs’ Bathhouse Row holds the 11th annual Stueart Pennington Running of the Tubs, a parade in which teams outfitted in bathwear race bathtubs on wheels (judged at a party the night before) down Central Avenue, 9:30 a.m., free. The Ecumenical Buddhist Society of Little Rock hosts an overnight trip to Magnolia Grove Monastery in Batesville, Miss., for a “Day of Mindfulness,” $30-$50 suggested donation. Barroom country singer Jason James joins songstress Bonnie Montgomery at the White Water Tavern, 10 p.m., $7. The raucous Stephen Neeper and the Wild Hearts howl at Stickyz, 9 pm, $5. Retired biology teacher Shirley Pratt hosts an educational hike titled “Historical Uses of Edible and Medical Plants,” Faulkner County Library, Conway, 10 a.m., free.

TUESDAY 6/7 One-man band Paul Morphis sings, strums, taps and whistles at White Water, 9:30 p.m., donations accepted. www.arktimes.com

JUNE 2, 2016

AFTER DARK 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.

501-562-3317. Brian Mullen. Pop’s Lounge, 5 p.m., free. 2705 Central Ave., Hot Springs. 501-623-4411. oaklawn.com. Cyrille Aimee. 7 and 9 p.m., $15-$20. 479-4435600. arkansasmusicpavilion.com. Donnie Massey and the Blue-Eyed Soul. Cajun’s Wharf, 9 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. cajunswharf.com. Even Money Players. The Big Chill. 910 Higdon Ferry Road, Hot Springs. thebigchillhotsprings.com. The Federalis. With Me Like Bees and Nothing for Breakfast. Maxine’s, 9 p.m., $7. 700 Central Ave., Hot Springs. maxineslive.com. Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-4782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com. Mom’s Kitchen. Revolution, 8:30 p.m., $10$20. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-548-5811. revroom.com. Mulehead. With Woodson Lateral and Scott Diffee. White Water Tavern, 9 p.m. 2500 W. 7th St. 501-375-8400. whitewatertavern.com. Psychedelic Velocity. Markham Street Grill and Pub. 11321 W. Markham St. 501-2242010. markhamstreetpub.com. Richie Johnson. Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. cajunswharf.com. Rob Moore. Flying Saucer, 8 p.m. 323 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-8032. beerknurd.com. Route 66. Agora Conference and Special Event Center, 6:30 p.m., $5. 705 E. Siebenmorgan, Conway. Salsa Dancing. Clear Channel Metroplex, 9 p.m., $5-$10. 10800 Col. Glenn Road. 501217-5113. www.littlerocksalsa.com. Sensory. Silk’s Bar and Grill, June 3-4, 10 p.m. 2705 Central Ave., Hot Springs. 5016234411. oaklawn.com. Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 8 p.m., free. 111 W. Markham St. 501-370-7013. www. capitalbarandgrill.com/. Upscale Friday. IV Corners, 7 p.m. 824 W. Capitol Ave.

THURSDAY, JUNE 2

MUSIC

Almost Infamous. Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. cajunswharf.com. Dave Almond. The Big Chill. 910 Higdon Ferry Road, Hot Springs. thebigchillhotsprings. com. DJ Courier, DJ Lucio Pro. Maxine’s, 9 p.m., free. 700 Central Ave., Hot Springs. maxineslive.com. “Inferno.” DJs play pop, electro, house and more, plus drink specials and $1 cover before 11 p.m. Sway, 9 p.m. 412 Louisiana. Jim Dickerson. Sonny Williams’ Steak Room, 7 p.m. 500 President Clinton Ave. 501-3242999. 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. 501-372-4782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com. Mandolin Orange. With Micaela Anne. George’s Majestic Lounge, 8 p.m., $12. 519 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville. 479-442-4226. georgesmajesticlounge.com. Mayday by Midnight. Cajun’s Wharf, 9 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. cajunswharf.com. Mike Robinson. Markham Street Grill And Pub. 11321 W. Markham St. 501-224-2010. markhamstreetpub.com. Open Jam. Thirst n’ Howl, 8 p.m. 14710 Cantrell Road. 501-379-8189. www.thirst-nhowl.com. Open jam with The Port Arthur Band. Parrot Beach Cafe, 9 p.m. 9611 MacArthur Drive, NLR. 771-2994. The Rocketboys. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 8:30 p.m., $7-$10. 107 River Market Ave. 501-372-7707. stickyz.com. RockUsaurus. Casa Mexicana, 7:30 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

Jon Stringer. With Brian Stevens. 7:30 p.m., $8. 10301 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501-2285555. loonybincomedy.com.

EVENTS

COMEDY

Country musician/opera composer Bonnie Montgomery and Jason James perform at 9:30 p.m. Friday at the White Water Tavern.

KIDS

Garden Club. A project of the Faulkner County urban Farm Project. Ages 7 and up or with supervision. Faulkner County Library, through Aug. 31: 3:30 p.m., free. 1900 Tyler

St., Conway. 501-327-7482. www.fcl.org.

FRIDAY, JUNE 3

MUSIC

All In Fridays. Envy. 7200 Colonel Glenn Road.

#ArkiePubTrivia. Stone’s Throw Brewing, 6:30 p.m. 402 E. 9th St. 501-244-9154. Hillcrest Shop & Sip. Shops and restaurants offer discounts, later hours, and live music. Hillcrest, first Thursday of every month, 5 p.m. 501-666-3600. www.hillcrestmerchants.com.

SPORTS

Arkansas Travelers vs. Corpus Christi. Texas league baseball. Dickey-Stephens Park, $7-$13. 400 W. Broadway, NLR. 501-6641555. milb.com.

JUNE 2, 2016

ARKANSAS TIMES

Jon Stringer. With Brian Stevens. 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m., $12. 10301 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501-228-5555. loonybincomedy.com. “Rednecks in Spandex.” An original production by The Main Thing. The Joint, 8 p.m., $22. 301 Main St. NLR. 501-372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com.

DANCE

Ballroom dancing. Free lessons begin at 7 p.m. Bess Chisum Stephens Community Center, 8-11 p.m., $7-$13. 12th and Cleveland streets. 501-221-7568. www.blsdance.org. Contra Dance. Park Hill Presbyterian Church, 7:30 p.m., $5. 3520 JFK Blvd., NLR. arkansascountrydance.org.

EVENTS

Pinot Noir $19.99 Chardonnay $16.99

2516 Cantrell Road Riverdale Shopping Center

366-4406

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, 6:30 p.m. 800 Scott St. 501-244-9690. Lum & Abner Festival. Annual festival celebrating the Lum and Abner radio program. Downtown Mena, June 3-4, 10 a.m., free. visitmena.com.

Vintage Market Days. Arkansas State Fairgrounds, June 3-5, $5-$10. 2600 Howard St. 501-372-8341 ext. 8206. vintagemarketdays.com.

SATURDAY, JUNE 4

MUSIC

Arkansas Travelers vs. San Antonio. Texas league baseball. Dickey-Stephens Park, 7:10 p.m., $7-$13. 400 W. Broadway, NLR. 501664-1555. milb.com. Battlecross. The Lightbulb Club, 9 p.m., $8. 21 N. Block Ave., Fayetteville. 479-444-6100. Blues Boy Jag. The Big Chill. 910 Higdon Ferry Road, Hot Springs. thebigchillhotsprings. com. Bonnie Montgomery, Jason James. White Water Tavern, 9:30 p.m. 2500 W. 7th St. 501375-8400. whitewatertavern.com. Butterfly & Irie Soul. An evening of reggae and R&B. Next Bistro and Bar, 9 p.m., $10-$15. 2611 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-940-2169. www. facebook.com/LRnextbar/timeline. Charlotte Taylor. Cajun’s Wharf, 9 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. cajunswharf. com. Chris Henry. Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. cajunswharf. com. Dikki Du and the Zydeco Krewe. Maxine’s, 9 p.m., $7. 700 Central Ave., Hot Springs. maxineslive.com. Headcold. With I Was Afraid, Out of Bloom, Peachblush, The Latter Half. Vino’s, 8 p.m., $5. 923 W. 7th St. 501-375-8466. vinosbrewpub.com. Hunter Hayes. Magic Springs’ Timberwood Amphitheater, 8 p.m. 1701 E. Grand Ave., Hot Springs. magicsprings.com. John Calvin Brewer. Pop’s Lounge, 5 p.m., free. 2705 Central Ave., Hot Springs. 501623-4411. oaklawn.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. K.I.S.S. Saturdays. Featuring DJ Silky Slim. Dress code enforced. Sway, 10 p.m. 412 Louisiana. 501-492-9802. Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-4782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com. Mountain Sprout. With Mountain Gypsies. George’s Majestic Lounge, 8:30 p.m., $10. 519 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville. 479-4424226. georgesmajesticlounge.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. Sensory. Silk’s Bar and Grill, 10 p.m. 2705 Central Ave., Hot Springs. 5016234411. oaklawn.com. Stephen Neeper and the Wild Hearts. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 9 p.m., $5. 107 River Market Ave. 501-372-7707. www. stickyz.com. Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 8 p.m.,

free. 111 W. Markham St. 501-370-7013. www. capitalbarandgrill.com.

COMEDY

EVENTS

11th Annual Running of the Tubs. Downtown Hot Springs, 9:30 a.m., free. 100 Central Ave., 501-321-2027. Falun Gong meditation. Allsopp Park, 9 a.m., free. Cantrell and Cedar Hill Roads. 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. 501613-7001. Little Rock Farmers’ Market. River Market pavilions, 7 a.m. 400 President Clinton Ave. 375-2552. www.rivermarket.info. Lum & Abner Festival. Annual festival celebrating the Lum and Abner radio program. Downtown Mena, 10 a.m., free. Mena St., Mena. visitmena.com. 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. Vintage Market Days. Arkansas State Fairgrounds, through June 5, $5-$10. 2600 Howard St. 501-372-8341 ext. 8206. vintagemarketdays.com.

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. Conway Pride Parade. Simon Park, 2 p.m., free. Front and Main, Conway. conwaypride. com. Vintage Market Days. Arkansas State Fairgrounds, $5-$10. 2600 Howard St. 501372-8341 ext. 8206. vintagemarketdays.com.

SPORTS

Arkansas Travelers vs. San Antonio. DickeyStephens Park, 5:30 p.m., $7-$13. 400 W. Broadway, NLR. 501-664-1555. milb.com.

MONDAY, JUNE 6

MUSIC

Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-4782. 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. Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. cajunswharf.com.

TUESDAY, JUNE 7

MUSIC

Brian and Nick. Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. cajunswharf. com. Gil Franklin & Friends. Holiday Inn, North Little Rock, first Tuesday, Wednesday of every month. 120 W. Pershing Blvd., NLR.

Ian Moore. George’s Majestic Lounge, 8 p.m., $15. 519 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville. 479-4424226. georgesmajesticlounge.com. Jeff Hartzell. The Big Chill. 910 Higdon Ferry Road, Hot Springs. thebigchillhotsprings. 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. 501-3242999. 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. 501-372-4782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com. Music Jam. Hosted by Elliott Griffen and Joseph Fuller. The Joint, 8-11 p.m., free. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501-372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com. Paul Morphis. White Water Tavern, 9:30 p.m., $7. 2500 W. 7th St. 501-375-8400. whitewatertavern.com. Science and Songs of the Buffalo River. Folk duo Still on the Hill performs songs about the Buffalo National River, and Dr. Van Brahana presents his research on water quality around the Buffalo. Unitarian Universalist Church of Little Rock, 6 p.m., free. 1818 Reservoir Road. Tuesday Jam Session with Carl Mouton. Afterthought Bistro & Bar, 8 p.m., free. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www.afterthoughtbistroandbar.com.

COMEDY CONTINUED ON PAGE 32

SUNDAY, JUNE 5

MUSIC

Enfold Darkness. With guests Charnal, Barren and Serpentine. George’s Majestic Lounge, 8 p.m., $5. 519 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville. 479-442-4226. georgesmajesticlounge.com. Groovement. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 9 p.m., $5. 107 River Market Ave. 501372-7707. stickyz.com. Irish Traditional Music Session. Hibernia Irish Tavern, 2:30 p.m. 9700 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501-246-4340. www.hiberniairishtavern.com. Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-4782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com. Red Sun Rising. With SwitchbacH and Silver Tongue. Clear Channel Metroplex, 8 p.m., $5-$10. 10800 Col. Glenn Road. 501-6817552. metroplexlive.com. Sunday Serenades. Gershwin, Copeland, Poulenc, and Arkansas’s William Grant Still. Israel Getzov conducts. St. Paul United Methodist Church, 3 p.m., $8-$10. 2223 Durwood Road. lrwindsymphony.org.

COMEDY

Shana Bryant. The Loony Bin, 7 p.m., $12. 10301 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501-2285555. loonybincomedy.com.

EVENTS

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LITTLE ROCK: 10TH & MAIN • 501.374.0410 | NORTH LITTLE ROCK: 860 EAST BROADWAY • 501.374.2405 HOURS: LR • 8AM-10PM MON-THUR • 8AM-12PM FRI-SAT •NLR • MON-SAT 8AM-12PM www.arktimes.com

JUNE 2, 2016

MOVIE REVIEW

AFTER DARK, CONT. Stand-Up Tuesday. Hosted by Adam Hogg. The Joint, 8 p.m., $5. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501-372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com.

EVENTS

Little Rock Farmers’ Market. River Market pavilions, 7 a.m. 400 President Clinton Ave. 375-2552. www.rivermarket.info. Trivia Bowl. Flying Saucer, 8:30 p.m. 323 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-8032. www. beerknurd.com/stores/littlerock.

LECTURES

Bonnie Blair and Dan Jansen. Clinton School of Public Service, 6 p.m., free. 1200 President Clinton Ave. 501-683-5239. www. clintonschool.uasys.edu.

CLASSES

Garden Sketch Hour. Faulkner County Library, Continues through Aug. 31, free. 1900 Tyler St., Conway. 501-327-7482. fcurbanfarmproject.org.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8

MUSIC

‘X-MEN: APOCALYPSE’: (From left) Sophie Turner, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Tye Sheridan are among the stars.

‘X-Men,’ again Heroes are done well, but the villain is a slog. BY SAM EIFLING

he “X-Men” franchise, existing now in an ever-more-crowded space with the separate Marvel universe and now the resurgent/cacophonous DC flicks, has a stakes problem. Namely, it feels as if the world is going to end in each successive movie, and then, of course, the world doesn’t end. And to pull off yet another in a series of ever-more-nefarious schemes, it needs near-omnipotent villains. Who, broadly speaking, tend to be the dullest characters in comics. This is where “X-Men: Apocalypse,” the first of the nine titles in the series to carry the name of its villain, falls short. It’s a hell of a popcorn movie, actually, crammed full of heroes, emotionally resonant at points, more visually ambitious than any of its predecessors. And despite having cast the dashing and charismatic Oscar Isaac as the titular semi-immortal mutant (then buried him beneath a pile of blue paint and nose putty), it can’t out-dazzle the mirthless plod of a god gone wrong. Apocalypse the character is a decid32

JUNE 2, 2016

ARKANSAS TIMES

edly Old Testament-style jerk, an ancient mutant who figured out some weird sun-magic-tech in ancient Egypt to continually reincarnate himself into other mutants and absorb their powers. The movie opens with this spooky ritual in a gleeful-nonsense version of Egypt that sees a quick, ugly coup attempt in which an entire pyramid is knocked down on top of Apocalypse, who then settles in for a few millennia of cold slumber. Some cultists resurrect him in the early ’80s, a decade after the events of “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” and Apocalypse sets about recruiting mutants to become his four horsemen. He finds a young Storm (Alexandra Shipp) as a Cairo street urchin, a brooding Angel (Ben Hardy), snazzy dresser Psylocke (Olivia Munn), and, fresh from a failed turn as a chill civilian metalworker, usual archvillain Magneto, who’s actually interesting. The script, by director and old “X-Men” hand Bryan Singer and three others, at least gives him an emotional arc, after an ugly event involving his young family.

Their ringleader, though, isn’t much more than a power-hungry menace bent on stirring a catastrophe so enormous that only the strongest of mutants can survive it and build a new civilization atop it. Why does Apocalypse want to rip down the world? Social Darwinism seems the best answer. It’s never really clear. Anyway, he has hellacious powers and is quite good at amplifying other mutants’ abilities, so he gets mighty excited when the clairvoyant Professor Xavier (James McAvoy) breaks into his consciousness, allowing Apocalypse to taste a connection to every mind on the planet. This sets events in motion; what follows is a lot of fighting and chasing and cool mutant powers on display. Jennifer Lawrence as Raven gets to decide whether to be a bad guy or a good guy; everyone else, including newcomers to the series Sophie Turner as Jean Grey and Tye Sheridan (of “Mud” fame) as Cyclops, ostensibly are video game characters marching into the fray. This isn’t to say “X-Men: Apocalypse” isn’t good; at its core, it’s an eager crowd-pleaser. (Singer gets in an unsubtle jab at one of the “X-Men” flicks he didn’t direct, Sheridan nails a line about a character this movie knows only as Weapon X.) There’s just a heaviness it can’t shake. It’s disappointing when you have to power through a dull, all-powerful villain, but the heroes (and there bushels of them) take up the slack.

Ben Byers. Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. cajunswharf. com. Brian and Nick. Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. www. cajunswharf.com. Drageoke with Chi Chi Valdez. Sway. 412 Louisiana. Drageoke. The star of Sway’s Rocky Horror Picture Show hosts a karaoke night. Sway, 7 p.m. 412 Louisiana. clubsway.com. Gil Franklin & Friends. Holiday Inn, North Little Rock, first Tuesday, Wednesday of every month. 120 W. Pershing Blvd., NLR. Ian Moore and The Lossy Coils. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 8 p.m., $10$12. 107 River Market Ave. 501-372-7707. stickyz.com. Jim Dickerson. Sonny Williams’ Steak Room, 7 p.m. 500 President Clinton Ave. 501-3242999. 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. Lightnin Lee Langdon. The Big Chill. 910 Higdon Ferry Road, Hot Springs. thebigchillhotsprings.com. Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-4782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com. Open Mic Nite with Deuce. Thirst n’ Howl, 7:30 p.m., free. 14710 Cantrell Road. 501379-8189. www.thirst-n-howl.com. RockUsaurus. Senor Tequila, 7 p.m. 10300 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501-224-5505.

COMEDY

The Joint Venture. Improv comedy group. The Joint, 8 p.m., $7. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501-372-0205. 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.

POETRY

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

ARTS

THEATER

Blue Man Group. Fri., June 3, 8 p.m.; Sat., June 4, 11 a.m., 4 and 8 p.m., $40-$80. 479443-5600. arkansasmusicpavilion.com. The Last Potluck Supper. 6 p.m. Tue.-Sat.; 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. Sun. Murry’s Dinner Playhouse, through June 18: Tue.-Sun.., $23$36. 6323 Col. Glenn Road. 501-562-3131. murrysdinnerplayhouse.com. Windfall. Written by Scooter Pietsch, directed by Jason Alexander, Wed.-Thu., 7 p.m.; Sun. 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 8 p.m. Arkansas Repertory Theatre, June 8-12; June 15-May 19; June 22-26, $20-$40. 601 Main St. 501378-0405. www.therep.org.

NEW IN THE GALLERIES

HEARNE FINE ART, 1001 Wright Ave.: “Power of Art: Generational Wealth II, Exploring the Secondary Market,” works by Romare Bearden, Charles Sebree, Beauford Delany and others, through June 8. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sat. 372-6822. 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, reception 5-8 p.m. June 2. 725-8508. M2 GALLERY, 11525 Cantrell Road: “Unwrapped,” paintings by Robin Trevor Tucker; “Dressed,” new works by Lisa Krannichfeld; also new works by Bryan Frazier, John Sadowski and Charles James, opening reception 6-9 p.m. June 3. 225-6721. BENTONVILLE BOTTLE ROCK NORTH, 209 E. 2nd St.: “Redacted Marketplace,” an installation by Ben Edwards, reception 6 p.m. June 3, installation through June 4. CRYSTAL BRIDGES MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART, One Museum Way: “Spotlight Talk” with figurative painter Max Ferguson and Chad Alligood, 5-6 p.m. June 5; American masterworks spanning four centuries in the permanent collection. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon., Thu.; 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Wed., Fri.; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sat.-Sun., closed Tue. 479418-5700. HOT SPRINGS JUSTUS FINE ART, 827 A Central Ave.: “Family Exhibit,” paintings by Laura Raborn, Rebecca Thompson and Emily Wood, opens with reception 5-9 p.m. June 3, Gallery Walk, show through June 29. 501321-2335.

CALL FOR ENTRIES

The Arkansas Arts Council is 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. Applications are available at arkansasarts.org. For more information, call the Arts Council at 501-324-9769 or email cynthia@arkansasheritage.org.

ONGOING GALLERY EXHIBITS

ARGENTA GALLERY, 413 Main St., NLR: Paintings by Cindy J. Holmes. 11 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Tue.-Sat. 258-8991. ARKANSAS ARTS CENTER, MacArthur Park: Renoir’s “Madame Henriot,” loan from the Columbus Museum of Art, through Sept. 11; “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: “Naturals,” work by Virmarie DePoyster, Heidi Hogden, Logan Hunter and Anna Sheals. www.arcapital.com. BOSWELL MOUROT FINE ART, 5815 Kavanaugh Blvd.: 664-0030. BUTLER CENTER GALLERIES, Arkansas Studies Institute, 401 President Clinton Ave.: “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; “Jeanfo: We Belong to Nature,” sculpture, through June 25. 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Sat. 320-5790. CANTRELL GALLERY, 8206 Cantrell Road: “Black Box,” paintings by Kae Barron, through July 2. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat. 224-1335. CHRIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 509 Scott St.: “Interconnections,” paintings and drawings by Maria and Jorge Villegas, through June 30. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Thu., 9 a.m.-noon Fri. and Sun. 375-2342. CHROMA GALLERY, 5707 Kavanaugh Blvd.: Work by Robert Reep and other Arkansas artists. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Sat. 664-0880. CORE BREWING, 411 Main St., NLR: “Salud! A Group Exhibition,” through July 10. corebeer.com. DRAWL SOUTHERN CONTEMPORARY ART GALLERY, 5208 Kavanaugh Blvd.: “The Gun Show.” 680-1871. GALLERY 26, 2601 Kavanaugh Blvd.: Paintings by Michael Lierly, ceramics by Donna Uptigrove.10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tue.-Sat. 664-8996. GINO HOLLANDER GALLERY, 2nd and Center: Paintings and works on paper by Gino Hollander. 801-0211. GREG THOMPSON FINE ART, 429 Main St., NLR: “Magical Realism.” 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sat. 664-2787. HISTORIC ARKANSAS MUSEUM GALLERIES, 200 E. 3rd St.: “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. LAMAN LIBRARY, 2801 Orange St., NLR: “Inked Arkansas,” exhibition of work by Arkansas printmakers Melissa Gill, Catherine Kim, DebiLynn Fendley, Kristin DeGeorge, Warren Criswell, Daniel Adams, David Warren, Nancy Dunaway, Neal Harrington and Tammy Harrington, through July 1. 771-1995. CONTINUED ON PAGE 35

AT THE

FOLLOW YOUR ART

MUSEUM SCHOOL

CLASSES START JUNE 20 • • • • •

Jewelry Drawing Printmaking Woodworking Painting

• • • • •

Ceramics Photography Fused Glass Textile Arts And more!

REGISTER TODAY AT arkansasartscenter.org/art-classes 501-372-4000 • 501 East 9th Street • Little Rock, AR 72202 www.arktimes.com

JUNE 2, 2016

Social Media We can help you use it.

13th Annual

Conw onwa ay y Pride ride PARADE & FESTIVAL

Sunday, June 5

Small businesses across Arkansas use social media to connect with customers and sell their products and services. Do you want to connect with your customers on social media? Let’s get started.

2:00 2:00 pm pm

ENTERTAINMENT• FOOD • VENDORS • FUN PARADE LINE-UP: 1:00 pm at

The Pink House (1605 Robinson Ave) FESTIVAL: Simon Park (805 Front St)

Balloon release in

honor of the late

Conway Pride founder Robert Loyd.

Special Guest Emcee: Queen Anthony & Symone the Ebony Enchantress

www.conwaypride.com - Teaching Tolerance Since 2004 34

JUNE 2, 2016

ARKANSAS TIMES

To find out more, contact Lauren Bucher, Director of Arkansas Times Social Media

laurenbucher@arktimes.com

AFTER DARK, CONT. LAMAN LIBRARY ARGENTA BRANCH, 420 Main St., NLR: “Family Portrait,” paintings by Kesha Stovall, through June 10. 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Sat. 687-1061. L&L BECK ART GALLERY, 5705 Kavanaugh Blvd.: “Go West, Young Man,” paintings by Louis Beck, month of June, free giclee drawing 7 p.m. June 16. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tue.Sat. 660-4006. MUGS CAFE, 515 Main St., NLR: “Renee Williams, New Works.” 7 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.Sat. 379-9101. PULASKI TECHNICAL COLLEGE, 3000 W. Scenic Drive: “Merging Form and Surface,” sculpture by Robyn Horn and Sandra Sell, Windgate Gallery, Center for the Humanities and Arts. 812-2324. THEA FOUNDATION, 401 Main St., NLR: “Delta des Refuses,” artworks rejected from the Arkansas Arts Center’s “Delta Exhibition,” through June 22, opening reception 5-8 p.m. June 17. RED DOOR GALLERY, 3715 JFK, NLR: Work by new artist Jeff McKay; also work by C.J. Ellis, TWIN, Amy Hill-Imler, Ellen Hobgood; new glass by James Hayes and ceramics by Kelly Edwards. 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sat. 753-5227. STEPHANO AND GAINES FINE ART, 1916 N. Fillmore St. Work by Arkansas artists. 563-4218. BENTON DIANNE ROBERTS ART STUDIO AND GALLERY, 110 N. Market St.: Work by Dianne Roberts, classes. 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Wed.-Fri., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat. 860-7467. EL DORADO SOUTH ARKANSAS ARTS CENTER, 110 E. 5th St.: “Familiar Spark,” works by Heather Griffin and Abigail Syltie, through June 25, Price and Merkle galleries. 870-862-5474. FORT SMITH REGIONAL ART MUSEUM, 1601 Rogers Ave.: “The Life and Art of Mary Petty,” works by New Yorker cartoonist, through June 30; “Beverly Conley: Photographic Journeys,” through June 26, closing reception 5-7 p.m. June 10. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tue.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. 479-784-2787. UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS AT FORT SMITH, 510 Grand Ave.: 479-788-7530. JASPER NELMS GALLERY, 107 Church St.: Work by

Don Kitz, Don Nelms, Pamla Klenczar, Scott Baldassari and others. 870-446-5477. MORRILTON RIALTO GALLERY, 213 E. Broadway St.: “Art for the Birds 2016,” through June 19, reception 3-6 p.m. June 11 with music by violinist Bill Thurman. 501-288-9259. PERRYVILLE SUDS GALLERY, Courthouse Square: Paintings by Dottie Morrissey, Alma Gipson, Al Garrett Jr., Phyllis Loftin, Alene Otts, Mauretta Frantz, Raylene Finkbeiner, Kathy Williams and Evelyn Garrett. Noon-6 p.m. Wed.-Fri, noon-4 p.m. Sat. 501-766-7584.

HISTORY, SCIENCE MUSEUM EXHIBITS ARKANSAS INLAND MARITIME MUSEUM, North Little Rock: The USS Razorback submarine tours. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. 371-8320. ARKANSAS NATIONAL GUARD MUSEUM, Camp Robinson: Artifacts on military history, Camp Robinson and its predecessor, Camp Pike, also a gift shop. 8 a.m.-3 p.m. Mon.-Fri., audio tour available at no cost. 212-5215. ARKANSAS SPORTS HALL OF FAME MUSEUM, Verizon Arena, NLR: 10 a.m.4:30 p.m. Mon.-Sat. 663-4328. CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL MUSEUM VISITOR CENTER, Bates and Park: Exhibits on the 1957 desegregation of Central and the civil rights movement. 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. daily. 374-1957. CLINTON PRESIDENTIAL CENTER: “American Champions: The Quest for Olympic Glory,” photographs, film and memorabilia from athletes, through Sept. 11; permanent exhibits on the Clinton administration. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. $10 adults; $8 college students, seniors, retired military; $3 ages 6-17. 370-8000. ESSE PURSE MUSEUM & STORE, 1510 S. Main St.: “Changing Tides: 100 Years of Iconic Swimwear,” 20th century swimwear from the collection of the Fashion History Museum in Cambridge, Ontario, through Aug. 7; “What’s Inside: A Century of Women and Handbags,” permanent exhibit. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Tue.-Sat., 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Sun. $10, $8 for students, seniors and military. 916-9022. HISTORIC ARKANSAS MUSEUM, 200 E. 3rd

St.: Refurbished 19th century structures from original city and galleries, guided tours Monday and Tuesday on the hour, self-guided Wednesday through Sunday, $2.50 adults, $1 under 18, free to 65 and over. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. 324-9351. MacARTHUR MUSEUM OF ARKANSAS MILITARY HISTORY, 503 E. 9th St. (MacArthur Park): “Waging Modern Warfare”; “Gen. Wesley Clark”; “Vietnam, America’s Conflict”; “Undaunted Courage, Proven Loyalty: Japanese American Soldiers in World War II. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-4 p.m. Sun. 376-4602. MacARTHUR MUSEUM OF ARKANSAS MILITARY HISTORY, 503 E. 9th St. (MacArthur Park): “Waging Modern Warfare”; “Gen. Wesley Clark”; “Vietnam, America’s Conflict”; “Undaunted Courage, Proven Loyalty: Japanese American Soldiers in World War II. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-4 p.m. Sun. 376-4602. MOSAIC TEMPLARS CULTURAL CENTER, 9th and Broadway: “African American Treasures from the Kinsey Collection,” through July 2; permanent exhibits on African-American entrepreneurship in Arkansas. 683-3610. MUSEUM OF DISCOVERY, 500 President Clinton Ave.: “Wiggle Worms,” science program for pre-K children 10 -10:30 a.m. every Tue. Hours: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun., $10 ages 13 and older, $8 ages 1-12, free to members and children under 1. 396-7050. OLD STATE HOUSE MUSEUM, 300 W. Markham: “Cabinet of Curiosities: Treasures from the University of Arkansas Museum Collection,” through May 20, 2017; “Lost + Found: Saving Downtowns in Arkansas,” photographs of eight projects completed or renovated by Cromwell Architects Engineers. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. 324-9685. WITT STEPHENS JR. CENTRAL ARKANSAS NATURE CENTER, Riverfront Park: Exhibits on fishing and hunting and the state Game and Fish Commission. 907-0636. CALICO ROCK CALICO ROCK MUSEUM, Main Street: Displays on Native American cultures, steamboats, the railroad and local history. www. calicorockmuseum.com. ENGLAND TOLTEC MOUNDS STATE PARK, U.S. Hwy. 165: Major prehistoric Indian site with visitors’

Artists.

EXCEPTIONAL EXCEPTIONAL EXPERIENCES .

PRESENTS

2016 2017

center and museum. 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., noon-5 p.m. Sun., closed Mon. $3 for adults, $2 for ages 6-12. 961-9442. JACKSONVILLE JACKSONVILLE MUSEUM OF MILITARY HISTORY, 100 Veterans Circle: Exhibits on D-Day; F-105, Vietnam era plane (“The Thud”); the Civil War Battle of Reed’s Bridge, Arkansas Ordnance Plant (AOP) and other military history. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. $3 adults; $2 seniors, military; $1 students. 501-241-1943. MORRILTON MUSEUM OF AUTOMOBILES, Petit Jean Mountain: Permanent exhibit of more than 50 cars from 1904-1967 depicting the evolution of the automobile. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. 7 days. 501-727-5427. PINE BLUFF ARTS AND SCIENCE CENTER FOR SOUTHEAST ARKANSAS, 701 S. Main St.: “Exploring the Frontier: Arkansas 1540-1840,” Arkansas Discovery Network hands-on exhibition; “Heritage Detectives: Discovering Arkansas’ Hidden Heritage.” 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 1-4 p.m. Sat. 870-536-3375. POTTSVILLE POTTS INN, 25 E. Ash St.: Preserved 1850s stagecoach station on the Butterfield Overland Mail Route, with period furnishings, log structures, hat museum, doll museum, doctor’s office, antique farm equipment. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Wed.-Sat. $5 adults, $2 students, 5 and under free. 479-968-9369. ROGERS ROGERS HISTORICAL MUSEUM, 322 S. 2nd St.: “Historic Millscapes, Paintings of the Past: Selected Works by Artist Don Draper”; “Crazy Quilts,” through July 10. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. 479-6210-1154. SCOTT PLANTATION AGRICULTURE MUSEUM, U.S. Hwy. 165 and state Hwy. 161: Permanent exhibits on historic agriculture. 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. $4 adults, $3 children. 961-1409. SCOTT PLANTATION SETTLEMENT: 1840s log cabin, one-room school house, tenant houses, smokehouse and artifacts on plantation life. 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Thu.-Sat. 351-0300. www.scottconnections.org.

OXFORD AMERICAN

TICKET PACKAGES ON SALE MAY 19

CONCERT SERIES PRESENTS

AT SOUTH ON MAIN

C A L E N D A R ★ D O N AT E ★ S H O P ★ T I C K E T S

PRESENTS

All tickets are sold through Metrotix.com or by calling (800) 293-5949. Visit SouthOnMain.com/events to see the full lineup. South on Main | 1304 South Main Street | Little Rock, AR 72202 www.arktimes.com

JUNE 2, 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

WHAT’S COOKIN’

PALATE PALETTE: Fried tortilla chips with a variety of salsas and condiments are a good starter.

Aquarius checks all the boxes Eureka Springs taqueria soothes your tacoloving soul. THE 1836 CLUB, WHICH bills itself as “an exclusive club for business men and women to enjoy good company, food and drinks,” held a preview last week. Located in the Packet House, 1406 Cantrell Road, the club is owned by Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson (R-Little Rock) and investment bankers Mark Camp and Rod Damon. The club has said it will limit its membership to 300 people. There is a one-time $250 initiation fee and $250 monthly dues for individual members, and a $1,000 initiation and $1,000 monthly fee for corporations, which can designate up to six members. Writer Kat Robinson toured the new club, which was decorated by interior designer Kaki Hockersmith; sampled some of Executive Chef Donnie Ferneau’s food; and sent along pictures. 36

JUNE 2, 2016

ARKANSAS TIMES

magine walking around downtown Eureka Springs in the middle of a hot, early-summer day. There’s the heat rising off the concrete, the buzzing motorcycles, the tie-dye clad hordes milling about. You’re hungry — what’s worse, your spouse is hungry, bordering on cranky — and you have a dog in tow. You’d settle for an eating establishment that was merely accommodating, but you stumble upon a comforting oasis, and one that serves tacos! We settled on the patio at Aquarius Taqueria on Main Street. Right away, we were greeted by a friendly server who, unprompted, brought out a water dish for our canine companion. It was a sweet gesture and much appreciated. The patio was shaded and cool, open

and uncramped. A waterfall trickles off a rock bluff along the back edge. You feel like you’re in a hideaway, tucked off the beaten path, which hums just a few feet away. Now that the dog had something to sip on, we sought the same, but something with a nice little afternoon kick. We settled on The Burro ($7), a springy and refreshing concoction of ginger beer, lime and tequila. It’s perfect for a hot afternoon. Its had enough punch to remind us we we’re on vacation and enough other stuff to actually keep us hydrated. Icy-cold and tequila-tinged, it’s the perfect compliment to a salty and warm app, which we found in the Super Combo appetizer ($9). We have a short

list of restaurants in Arkansas at which an appetizer order is a must and this is now one of them. What you get is a batch of just-fried tortilla chip strips, surrounded by a dazzling array of homemade salsas and fixings. There’s a pineapple salsa that’s chunky with a hint of hot. There’s a warm chipotle variety; a salsa verde; a finely blended pico salsa; a pickled mixture of onions, carrots and jalapenos; a fine guacamole; and crema. We mixed, matched, piled upon, swirled around, dunked, dipped. We called in another drink for backup. An Aquarius Salad ($4) came out with dinner. It’s a good size, very fresh, and the flavors worked well together. It was light enough to leave our appetite unspoiled and satisfying all at once. We liked that they topped the salad with radishes and pumpkin seeds — something we’d like to see from more restaurants, please. The hint of lime in the creamy avocado dressing along with the pico de gallo made for a very flavorful salad. As always, queso fresco was a nice touch. And then it was taco time. We ordered two from the menu and trusted the special of the day for our third selec-

BELLY UP

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

RAGE OF AQUARIUS: Great tacos on homemade tortillas.

tion. The Pescado Taco ($3.75) was one of the best we’ve had in awhile, not to mention a pleasure to look at. Lumped on a homemade tortilla, the fish, slaw and radishes looked vibrant. It was a welcome relief that Aquarius used seasonal fish, in this case haddock, instead of the usual go-to tilapia. The generous portion of haddock was meaty and mild, almost sweet, with a perfectly crisp, crunchy rice batter that wasn’t greasy or soggy. More crunch came from the cabbage, and the pico de gallo and spicy crema added a bit of a kick. We ordered ours light on the crema, and it was just the right amount. Any more may have been too rich. The Camarones Taco ($4.25) was solid, too, though our helping of crema was a bit much for our taste. The grilled shrimp were delicious, seasoned with chipotle, flame-kissed and topped off with that nice, chunky pineapple salsa. Cabbage and a couple of radish slices provided a nice tart crunch. And a sprinkle of lime gives the whole thing a little lift. The special taco of the day ($3.50) was of the pork variety. We can’t pass up a good pork taco and we weren’t let

down. One bite takes you through the warm, soft taco shell, a dash of queso fresco, a tart piece of cabbage, thick and cold guacamole, and you finally arrive at the smoked pulled pork, which is tender and well-seasoned. At the end of the meal, we surveyed the damage, happy and full, and plotted to come back the next day.

Aquarius Taqueria 91 S. Main St. Eureka Springs 479-253-6888 QUICK BITE Aquarius is owned by the same folks who own Local Flavor, which has been serving up great cuisine in Eureka Springs for years. Knowing what we know about that establishment, and everything we’ve had at this one, it’s hard to go wrong. If it’s nibbles you’re after, splurge on the super combo appetizer. For a few dollars more you get a smattering of different tastes and textures. HOURS 11 a.m. until 8 p.m. Monday, Thursday and Sunday. 11 a.m. until 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday. OTHER INFO Credit cards accepted, full bar.

WORK OUT WITH AN EXPERT Kathleen Rea specializes in helping men and women realize their physical potential, especially when injuries or just the aches and pains of middle age and more discourage a good work out. With a PH.D. in Biomedical Engineering, Kathleen understands how your body works and how to apply the right exercise and weight training to keep you fit and injury free. Workout in the privacy of a small, well equipped gym conveniently located in Argenta with one of the state’s best private trainers. For more information call Kathleen at 501-324-1414.

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JUNE 2, 2016

JUNE 10

A HOUSE DIVIDED, CONT.

THE 2ND FRIDAY OF EACH MONTH 5-8 PM

Gourmet. Your Way. All Day.

300 Third Tower • 501-375-3333 coppergrillandgrocery.com

Opening reception for

Sally NixoN

Live music by Randall Shreve Arkansas-made beer from Rebel Kettle Brewing Co.

NATURALS

Arkansas’s 180th Birthday Celebration! Enjoy living history characters, music by The Creek Rocks, and great food on the lawn. 300 W. Markham St. • Little Rock, AR 72201 • www.oldstatehouse.com • 501-324-9685

AN EXHIBITION OF ARTWORKS BY VIRMARIE DEPOYSTER, HEIDI HOGDEN, LOGAN HUNTER, AND ANNA SHEALS 200 RIVER MARKET AVE. STE 400 501.374.9247 WWW.ARCAPITAL.COM ROBERT BEAN, CURATOR

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

These venues will be open late. There’s plenty of parking and a FREE TROLLEY to each of the locations. Don’t miss it – lots of fun! Free parking at 3rd & Cumberland Free street parking all over downtown and behind the River Market (Paid parking available for modest fee.)

JUNE 2, 2016

ARKANSAS TIMES

FREE TROLLEY RIDES!

‘Rain of Faith’.” As it turns out, the NCRC grant will pay for the installation: $128,133 for the sculpture base and support; $3,000 for the foundation, crane and installation; and $60,000 for landscape improvements. The mansion requested $1,489,442 from NCRC; the award was for $1,142,560. Among the other improvements to be made from the grant are upgrades to the family kitchen ($22,500), the laundry room ($11,500); upgrades to the family room, including new millwork for the wetbar, carpet, paint and electrical work ($37,924); upgrades to the basement bathroom, including finishes, accessories, electrical and plumbing ($11,900); remodeling of the library ($24,088); remodeling of the governor’s office ($62,620); remodeling of the guest house ($57,570 — the first lady said it was in such bad shape that she would rather guests stay in a hotel); remodeling of the Grand Hall, including a glass conservatory, new chandeliers and sconces ($230,730); and repairs to and remodel of the carriage house ($97,500). The minutes from the September 2015 meeting also provide the first inkling that the Mansion Commission was in hot water with the Hutchinson administration. Andrew “Vu” Richie from the governor’s office and Nga Mahfouz from the attorney general’s office attended to inform the commission that, like all commissions, it needed to adopt rules and regulations and file them with the secretary of state’s office. Mahfouz said the policies adopted by the commission did not take the place of rules. A special meeting of the commission followed, at which Susan Hutchinson discounted the sculpture committee and art committee policies, saying they could not be drawn up without rules and regulations in place, and complained that people who were not on the commission itself had participated in developing the policies. She was apparently referring to members named to the sculpture committee as advisers, including Arkansas Arts Center Director Todd Herman, then-Director of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art Don Bacigalupi and City Director Dean Kumpuris. The use of the Grand Hall has also apparently been a sore spot. In March 2015, Bingham requested that the commission not schedule public events on the weekends “to allow the family to have the house for private family use during that time.” He also said the family’s schedule should take precedence over weekday events. In May, Commission Chairman

Mike Mayton reminded the first lady “the Grand Hall must be rented out on an ongoing basis in order to generate revenue to cover the utility bills for the whole property.” In response, Hutchinson “commented on the pressure she feels as a result of that policy.” Another of the Hutchinsons’ complaints about the commission was that it kept no minutes in 2015, spokesman Davis told the Arkansas DemocratGazette a week ago Tuesday, and Bingham told the Times the same the next morning. Hours later, the 2015 minutes appeared and Bingham forwarded them to the Times. Davis also complained that the commission took an illegal vote by email, which is a violation of the state Freedom of Information Act (the commission later took the vote in public). Several of the people at the May 2015 meeting where the commission approved a motion to vote by email “for immediate needs” should have known it was a violation of state law — including Bingham and Hurst, who is also a member of the Airport Commision. (However, as late as January 2016, chairman Mayton asked Mahfouz “if the public should be made aware of all Commission meetings including committee meetings.” She said yes.) Asked what other commissions have not promulgated rules, Davis emailed that he did not know. “We don’t keep up with that information,” Davis said. “We only review the rules and regulations as they are promulgated. It is my understanding that the lack of rules and regulations promulgated by the Commission came to light when a disagreement arose among commissioners. When they went to check their rules for guidance they discovered none had ever been promulgated.” In an interview, Davis again decried the condition of the mansion, saying a beam had fallen through a ceiling. Yet, according to commission minutes, the Mansion Association believed the first lady and mansion administrator were in charge of inspections. Davis also said Gov. Hutchinson has asked that a careful inventory be kept of mansion items. He said he did not think removing the commission’s authority would adversely affect the mansion, and advised that the public take a wait-andsee-approach. Perhaps the careful inventory will guard against the situation that occurred at the end of the Huckabee administration. It fell to the commission to retrieve certain items, including a painting, that Gov. Mike Huckabee and his wife, Janet, had taken with them when they left.

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EXPLORING THE UNEXPLAINED IN EUREKA, CONT. are now called UAPs (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena), she was derided for saying that she’d only allow declassification if there were no threat to national security. In this room, it’s understood that the shadow government and its militaries will never let that happen. On the floor beneath the main ballroom is the vendors area. It’s filled with booths, each one selling various trinkets and treasures. There are, of course, tables of books written by the weekend’s speakers, along with magazines and other publications focusing on the unexplained. There are crystals, stained glass, tie-dye T-shirts that feature images of flying saucers and Aztec pyramids. One booth carries “The X-Files” on DVD and another has a collection of original “Star Wars” action figures. This is undoubtedly the aspect of the conference that is most in line with what the world might expect: lava lamps in neon green, crystal skulls and incense. The presence of the inverted raindrop alien face is everywhere: large, ovoid eyes; thin, slitted mouths. That face is, for better or (as most people here would assert) for worse, the symbol of UAP phenomena around the world. Even the lanyards worn by the convention’s attendees bear the face emblazoned in a bright, galactic green. It’s the face of a Grey, the most well known of our cosmic neighbors. The depiction is perhaps most associated with the 1947 incident in Roswell, N.M., where an alien spacecraft (weather balloon? top secret military jet?) crashed onto a farmer’s ranch. I ask what people think of the likeness and the responses are uniformly negative. “That’s not what

I’m here for,” a visitor from Oklahoma says. She’s come from Tulsa, and she sees the Grey’s visage as the world’s attempt to make light of the truth. Her

conviction, like that of so many people, is bolstered by the knowledge that outside the convention center walls is a world built upon the assumption that we are alone in the universe, and the attendees find a solidarity in their skepticism about that assumption. Their attitudes toward the nonbelievers aren’t antagonistic, nor do they view nonbelievers as oppressive — that opinion is reserved for the governments of the world. If anything, they might feel pity for those they view as sheltered, closed off from the truths of the universe. The conference, both the speakers and the attendees, seems to straddle an uneasy divide, each foot in a version of the truth, one that might hold weight outside the convention center and another, more fantastical truth in which they all live. Here in their collective safe space, people

commune in the knowledge that they are privy to a universal truth to which the majority of humanity is blind. As the conference winds down, the atmosphere is not too far from the post-service Sunday suppers that dot a church’s social calendar. People take photos, bid goodbye. Old friends agree to see each other at next year’s event. The Earthly portion of their family reunion is over. I went to Eureka looking to be convinced that aliens exist. I’m not sure if I was, but I was struck by the people who do believe. More than anything, the conference was a gathering of people looking for a connection. Each attendee, either having had their own unexplainable experiences or just being open to the possibilities of otherworldly encounters, was looking to place themselves and humanity as a whole into a greater galactic network of beings. The term “cosmic family” is apt, an interstellar network of species linked across the cosmos. The nature of this family? Unknown. Everyone seems to acknowledge that there are both risks and rewards to embracing that family, but for many here, there is an unerring positivity in the connection human beings might share with other species — that we are not alone, that there are others who have come before us who might guide us through our current adolescent issues. It’s faith — not religious, but of another kind: faith that no matter what problems we are facing on Earth, there is something greater than us out there in the universe. It lends our problems scale, and provides hope that the trials we currently face are only a minor stumbling block on humanity’s long journey home. www.arktimes.com

JUNE 2, 2016

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RG E

WEE K

ROCK

BURGER WEEK ROCK(S) JUNE 6 - 12

RESTAURANTS AROUND TOWN ARE PARTICIPATING! HERE’S WHO:

@ the Corner Arkansas Burger Co Big Orange, Midtown Big Orange, West Big Whiskey’s Boulevard Bistro The Box Doe’s Eat Place

Four Quarter Bar Rebel Kettle Brewing Company Homer’s West Revolution Taco & Lazy Pete’s Tequila Lounge The Main Cheese Skinny J’s Mason’s Deli & Grill Stickyz Rock ‘N’ Roll Chicken Shack Midtown Billiards Old Chicago NLR The Tavern Sports Gril Town Pump