Arkansas Times September 28, 2017 by Arkansas Times

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WHO’S AFRAID OF BARRY SEAL The ‘true lie’ behind Cruise’s new film BY MARA LEVERITT

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COMMENT

Minimizing rape I am writing in response to the opinion piece written by Gene Lyons titled “Sex on Campus,” published Sept. 21, on behalf of all sexual assault crisis centers in Arkansas and other advocates who work with victims of rape and/or sexual assault. We are compelled to set the record straight with facts about sexual assault, the brain and body’s response to traumatic events, and the usefulness of Title IX to address victimizations on campuses. Lyons included incomplete research and harmful inaccuracies in his opinion piece, as did Emily Yoffe in her recent articles in The Atlantic on the topic. Publishing incomplete and misinformation does a disservice to the public and limits our community’s ability to understand the scope and impact of sexual assault. Questioning the validity of science that seeks to understand the body’s response to trauma discredits victims of sexual violence and other traumatic events. While biological and emotional responses to sexual assault vary, it is widely agreed upon that when the brain perceives a threat, there are common brain-based responses. The science behind the neurobiology of trauma is real and has been ongoing for decades. Yoffe herself makes the argument when she asserts, “being assaulted is traumatic and no one should expect those who have been assaulted to have perfect recall or behave perfectly rationally.” We see the biologically-based reactions to trauma evidenced by the variety of survival reflexes, habits or defense responses after a traumatic event experienced by those who serve our country through the police force or soldiers in combat. Even victims of car accidents prove the experience of trauma can cause these same reactions because the brain has perceived a threat. Though he includes an obligatory clause saying, “[his article] is in no way to minimize rape,” Lyons’ opinion does, in fact, “minimize rape.” Rape is a serious and widespread problem. As noted by the National Sexual Violence Resource center, the reality is one in five women and one in 16 men are sexually assaulted while in college. Research from a variety of sources and methodologies confirm approximately 20 of college women are sexually violated. Studies dating back 30 years on the scope of rape amongst college students have validated these figures. Additionally, consent is necessary and ongoing in healthy, normal, legal interactions. If one of the participants is too intoxicated 4

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ARKANSAS TIMES

(or otherwise incapacitated) to participate or remain conscious (and thus consent) throughout the whole process, the law is clear that the sex act should end. No one is entitled to assume consent for any sex act they desire will be granted simply because other acts were agreed to. If a person enthusiastically orders a cup of tea, but falls asleep before the tea is delivered, it is widely understood that the once highly desired cup of hot tea should not be poured down the throat of the sleeping person. Similarly, sex acts must not be forced upon someone who is blacked out, asleep, ill from alcohol poi-

soning, incapacitated by drugs, restrained ing hostile environments provided by or otherwise overpowered. Title IX offer options to victims of sexual It seems Lyons does not care much for violence that allow them to continue their Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and her education while seeking remedies for attacks on public schools, which makes what was done to them. Once people who his opinion piece all the more perplexing have been sexually abused or raped feel as it seems to scoff at attacks on public safe and understand the reporting proschool students. The Title IX system has cess, more reports will be made. This is only begun working for victims of sexual to be expected. This is a sign the system assault. Yes, it has been a bumpy road. is beginning to work. No, we have not found it to be a perfect Lyons’ opinion that, “It’s not a crimisystem. Nor is the criminal court system, nal matter, you see. Merely one’s eduit is worth noting. Campus disciplinary cational and professional future that processes and the protections against can be at stake,” is as outrageous as it is gender-based discrimination and result- appalling. A victim of sexual violence is often left with emotional difficulties that impact the rest of their life; their education is disrupted, as are their relationships with friends, family and classmates. The very worst outcome for a person found guilty of violating a school’s code of conduct is that they are not allowed to finish their education at the institution where the rules of conduct were violated. No incarceration. No parole or supervision. No mandated counseling. No offender registry. They can continue their education elsewhere. A victim of sexual violence Our sister paper El Latino is Arkansas’s only may face barriers to completing their weekly – audited Spanish language newspaper. education anywhere. Arkansas has the second fastest growing Latino population in Finally, Lyons shows his true colors the country and smart businesses are targeting this market as when, in the same article, he attempts to they develop business relationships with these new consumers. debunk the science of trauma, yet writes “... both men and women lie all the time, D A U N ID I S CO M T and sex is one of the topics they lie about TR A m GR A S E E N U a n s a s .c o OZ D rk L A V .e ll a ti n o a most often. Ask any divorce lawyer.” Sex www is different from sexual assault. ConflatN7 ing the two perpetuates the problem. DICIÓ 7•E EN 1 M U Sexual assault is a widespread, serious VOL • 7 01 YO 2 E MA problem — on campuses and in com25 D munities in Arkansas and every other state in the nation. Cheering the demise of a federal law that encourages prevention education and offers protections to students who have been harmed so that they might continue to pursue their education in a safe environment makes no sense. It is bad policy, bad practice, bad politics and in this case, bad press.

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Sports vs. religion Has anyone else noticed that right wingers, including the president, want to keep politics out of sports, but have no problem injecting politics into religion? Interesting. RL Hutson Cabot

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WEEK THAT WAS

Quote of the week “We’re not stupid. We know what’s going on in this town.” Minnijean Brown Trickey, of the Little Rock Nine, at a ceremony celebrating the 60th anniversary of the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School, alluding to ongoing school divisions in Little Rock, including the state takeover of the Little Rock School District.

Quote of the week II “Proliferation of charter schools has given us cause for concern for the future of conventional public education.” Gabriel Wair, reading a statement from his grandmother, Thelma Mothershed Wair, of the Little Rock Nine, at the 60th ceremony. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the editorial page of which has been an outspoken advocate for the proliferation of charter schools in Little Rock, included quotes from all of the surviving eight members of the Nine in its coverage of the ceremony, except for Wair.

complementary city development. The design was produced by a partnership of TAGGART/Architects, a local design firm, and DLANstudio out of Brooklyn, N.Y.

Western District nominee

White supremacists gather in Conway

President Trump has nominated Duane “Dak” Kees, director of global ethics and compliance at Walmart Stores, to be U.S. attorney for the Western District of Arkansas. The position has been filled on an interim basis by a career lawyer in the office Sens. John Boozman and Tom Cotton announced the pick. Kees is a graduate of the University of Arkansas and the University Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville. Before joining Walmart, Kees was an Army lawyer for nine years. He rose to the rank of captain and deployed in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Prepared statements from Cotton and Boozman praised Kees’ investigative skills, courtroom experience and military service. The Western District U.S. attorney,

Anti-racist organizations posted on Facebook photographs and news about a meeting of a white supremacist organization led by the infamous Billy Roper that was held recently at the Mean Bean coffee shop in Conway. The Mean Bean Facebook page was inundated with unflattering comments and vows to take coffee business elsewhere. All that conversation has now been removed. In its place, Mean Bean owners posted an apology, saying a longtime employee had misled them about the gathering. The employee, who was not named, was subsequently fired. “We are appalled that the employee hijacked our business to provide a platform for hate and we absolutely denounce it and all forms of hate,” the Facebook post read.

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a political appointment last filled by destination. Conner Eldridge before he stepped down The project includes water features, to run for Senate, oversees prosecutions an audiovisual screen wall, and a “front and government lawsuits in 34 counties. porch” area with porch swings along It is home to the probe that has targeted Main Street between Fifth and Seventh two former Republican state legislators, streets, along with a performance stage a corruption investigation that lawyers and design influenced by the nearby have said promises more indictments. Arkansas River. The mayor says some $40 million in recent or promised private development is happening downtown, in part because North Little Rock Mayor Joe Smith of the allure of the as-yet-unnamed presented a plan to the city council this plaza. A cost isn’t given, but the mayor week for a downtown plaza meant to said the money would come from city augment planned private developments reserves, mostly from land sales made and further enhance downtown as a to private developers who expected

NLR unveils plaza concept

OPINION

LR Central at 70

The city of Little Rock has finished — deservedly — in its “Reflections on Progress” observance the heroic limelight of the 60th anniversary of the desegrega- in which they are tion of Central High School and the people now cast, but they most affected managed to put well-placed haven’t forgotten asterisks on the notion that this was a story the lonely, scary, MAX all about racial progress. violent 1957-58 BRANTLEY maxbrantley@arktimes.com “We’re not stupid,” the unsinkable Min- school year or that nijean Brown Trickey told me last Sunday their battle was night at the Clinton Presidential Center, meant to open doors for others. where she and others of the Little Rock Ernest Green, the first black Central Nine were in the audience for a Bill Clin- graduate, noted the “Progress?” headline ton talk opening an exhibit about his friend on the Arkansas Times cover story about Nelson Mandela. Trickey reads the Arkan- the coming observance. He said he’d make sas Times from afar. She’s well versed on it progress with an ellipsis. The story is the state takeover of the majority black still being written and those reviled in past school district and ouster of the majority years have counterparts today, he noted, black school board. She’s aware of lin- specifically mentioning Colin Kaepernick. gering problems and the persistence of The most moving moment was Gloinequality in education. For good measure, ria Ray Karlmark’s recollection of her she repeated the comment at Monday’s concern about whether anyone would official ceremony at Central High. sign her yearbook. “Becky,” with whom Other remarks — some oblique, some she’d exchanged notes, surreptitiously did. pointed — demonstrated the Nine weren’t Then a second female student did, writgoing to be anybody’s PR tool. They basked ing, “In a different age, we might have

Stifling dissent

henever Donald Trump in his serial bouts with failure decides he must re-energize his base of white nationalists by doing things like demonizing black athletes who protest discrimination, the mainstream press falls for it and gives him maximum space and time. We’re addicted. Who could pass up the president’s words at an Alabama political rally: “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, out, he’s fired’?” The president called on NFL owners to fire protesting athletes and on fans to boycott games when owners don’t fire them. The sentiment is not new. We have heard such mutterings for decades, at least since two Olympians raised their fists in the black-power salute during the national anthem at the 1968 Summer Games. But it is supposed to be a higher-order event when the president of the United States sets out to enforce conformity and suppress disobedience of patriotic customs. A few remember the Enabling Act of 1933, which gave German Chancellor Adolf Hitler and the Reichstag power to disregard the constitution in order to enforce conformity and stop dissent.

But Donald Trump is no Hitler or even Vladimir Putin, however much he might like to be and despite his being the first president to openly urge the suppression of dissent. Presidents James Madison and Woodrow Wilson warned of the dangers of trying to stifle dissent in times of national ERNEST DUMAS crisis. We have been through far more serious threats to the First Amendment than Trump’s ravings, even though he talked emptily last year about changing the laws to roll back freedom of the press and speech. Here in Arkansas, we have our own history of Trumpian suppression, and not merely two centuries of stifling protests of unequal access to justice and civil rights. It would not be Arkansas if it did not also involve religious freedom, in our own macabre ways of interpreting the establishment clause in matters involving the flag and the Pledge of Allegiance. Joe Johnson, a farmer who tried to scratch out a living for his eight kids on 39 hillside acres near St. Joe in Searcy County, went into town in 1941 to get commodities to feed his brood. The commissary clerk

been friends.” So, then, is the age different? Carlotta Walls LaNier hinted that President Trump, fresh off his racially influenced attack on protests against police brutality by professional athletes like Kaepernick, seemed to represent a return to the bad old days. Bill Clinton was careful, but he and Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates both referenced Republican incursions on the right to vote and other troubling current events. It might not be time to put on party shoes to celebrate, Clinton said, but the time to “put on marching boots.” Thelma Mothershed Wair, in words read by her grandson, expressed concern about the proliferation of charter schools here and their potential harm to conventional public schools. She echoed similar remarks by Judge Wiley Branton, son of a civil rights pioneer, at a panel on the crisis earlier in the week. The words were spoken in the presence of Governor Hutchinson, who extolled the Nine but made no specific reference to Little Rock schools today, with his education commissioner, Johnny Key, sitting nearby. The Hutchinson-controlled state board of

education has shown no interest in returning local autonomy to the majority black district. It has shown whole-hearted support for charter school proliferation, for both unproven and demonstrably secondrate private organizations. Mayor Mark Stodola also passed up a chance to stand up for the Little Rock School District. So why does my headline say “Central at 70”? Because I worry. I hope that many of the surviving eight live into their mid80s for another decennial honor. But given the present political climate — and the animus toward conventional public schools, particularly those in the city of Little Rock and particularly its local teachers union (another hero, unsung today, of the school crisis) — you have to wonder if there’ll be a Little Rock School District in 2027. Instead, it just might be an amalgamation of unaccountable, publicly inscrutable charter schools. Even today, the Walton billions backing the charter school explosion employ a lobbyist who’s long tried to wreck Central High School as a center of high-achieving high school graduates. It is a time for marching boots.

suspected he was taking the government foodstuff to the hated Jehovah’s Witnesses, who would not salute the U.S. flag. Johnson said he fed only his family. Prove it, she demanded, by saluting the flag. Pearl Harbor was at hand, but war fever was already strong. Johnson refused and recited Psalm 115 about paying homage to inanimate objects rather than God, the text that formed the basis of the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ belief that honoring inanimate objects violated holy writ. He stalked to the door, took off his hat and made a little speech about Psalm 115. While making gestures with his free hand, Johnson apparently brushed the flag. Not only was he denied food for his family, he was hustled to jail for desecrating the flag. A 1919 act of the legislature made it a crime to desecrate the flag. His appeal, based on grounds that he was denied the constitutional right to observe his religion, went to the Arkansas Supreme Court. It would have none of it. The majority said he got his just desserts because the demands of a political society, like honoring the flag, overrode his religious freedom. Everyone could benefit from reading the dissent by the chief justice, Griffin Smith, and his longtime colleague, Justice Tom Mehaffy. Smith said he personally found Johnson’s views about the Bible mawkish, “but while to me it appears vapid, to him it is real.”

While he strongly disagreed with the farmer, the judge wrote, “the fact remains that we are engaged not only in a war of men, machines, and materials, but in a contest wherein liberty may be lost if we succumb to the ideologies of those who enforce obedience through fear, and who would write loyalty with a bayonet. … Witch hunting is no longer sanctioned. The suspicions and hatreds of Salem have ceased. Neighbor no longer inveighs against neighbor through fear of the evil eye.” Arkansas didn’t much agree with Justice Smith. Jehovah’s Witnesses were mistreated, often violently, for their refusal to honor the flag. The Arkansas Selective Service called Witnesses “lower down than a snake” and ordered them drafted in spite of their conscientious-objector claims. A mob broke up a Witness gathering on Little Rock’s Asher Avenue and cheered when several Witnesses were shot and others were beaten with pipes. Police arrested the remaining Witnesses for disturbing the peace. School kids who refused to recite the pledge of allegiance were expelled. Kathleen Cannon met worse at Cane Hill. The principal beat her with a rubber hose and threw her down the school steps. The Cane Hill School Board praised the principal. The U.S. Supreme Court, which in 1940 had condoned punishing the Witnesses for disrespecting the flag, reversed itself in 1943 when things in Arkansas and elsewhere got out of hand.

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Trump & sports

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or normal people, sports often Reid, a Louisiserve as a refuge from politics. The ana State Univerpresident of the United States is not sity All-American, among them. Donald Trump’s idea of a wanted to make a spectator sport, it can’t be emphasized too statement about often, is WWE professional wrestling: a a police killing GENE phony, prescripted spectacle most often on of a black man in LYONS racial and ethnic themes, mainly featuring Baton Rouge. He steroid abusers insufficiently athletic for also pointed out that the much-criticized real pro competition. Kaepernick has donated and raised milNot for nothing was Trump voted into lions to feed the hungry in Somalia and the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame the U.S. He finds it puzzling that Presiyears before he was elected to anything dent Trump calls people like him “sons else. Swaggering, boasting, name-calling of bitches” while defending Charlottesand throwing laughably fake punches at ville, Va., neo-Nazis as “very fine people.” antagonists who topple like bowling pins I’m not always a big fan of his prose — those are Trump’s skills. style, but The Atlantic’s Ta-Nehisi Coates Along the way, he appears to have may have put it most succinctly: “His idelearned how gullible and easily manipu- ology is white supremacy, in all its truculated millions of Americans can be, how lent and sanctimonious power.” distracted by publicity stunts, how eager How things will shake out politically to boo cartoon villains and cheer make- remains to be seen. In the short run, few believe heroes such as himself. But who’d politicians have suffered from wrapping have thought that even Trump would themselves in the flag. But the reaction of attempt to govern the country that way? NFL owners and, frankly, white football “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these stars has not gone Trump’s way. Even NFL owners, when somebody disrespects New England Patriots quarterback Tom our flag,” Trump told an Alabama audi- Brady, his sometime golfing partner, has ence, “to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off defended players’ right to protest. the field right now. Out. He’s fired. He’s Interesting that Brady’s no-show at FIRED!’ ” the White House last year passed withListening to the crowd reaction, I sus- out comment, don’t you think? Meanpect they’d have cheered even louder if while Trump made a personal attack on he’d shouted, “Send those darkies back Golden State’s brilliant point guard Steph to Africa!” Curry for expressing his own reluctance Because that’s what it was all about. to go. The president may have failed to About precisely this, as seen in a Face- take into account that sports stars have book post: “Most NFL fans are white Patri- constituencies of their own. My view is ots that are not going to pay $300 to $1,000 that somebody who’s got a grudge against to go see a bunch of entitled blacks take a Curry has serious problems. Basketball’s a big [bleep] on the nation! One of the big- quintessentially American game, and few gest things that makes millionaires out of athletes compete with his kind of openpoor lower IQ blacks is football and they hearted joy. are too stupid not to kill the goose that laid On the other hand, far better that the golden egg for some dumbass reason Trump should pick fights with the likes like sitting through the national anthem.” of Curry and NFL Commissioner Roger Actually, they knelt. Colin Kaepernick’s Goodell than continue his angry-toddler former teammate Eric Reid wrote a New dispute with North Korean dictator Kim York Times column explaining why: “We Jong-un. You know, the one where two chose to kneel because it’s a respectful insecure braggarts threaten to extermigesture. I remember thinking our pos- nate millions with nuclear weapons. ture was like a flag flown at half-mast to Surrounded by bodyguards all his life, mark a tragedy.” Trump has no idea what can go wrong “It baffles me that our protest is still when one blowhard confronts somebody being misconstrued as disrespectful to even crazier. There’s no sign the Korean the country, flag and military personnel. demagogue has a clue, either. North Korea We chose it because it’s exactly the oppo- has been making absurd threats against site. It has always been my understand- the United States for three generations ing that the brave men and women who now, largely to keep its own population fought and died for our country did so to in thrall. ensure that we could live in a fair and free It’s in King Lear: “As flies to wanton society, which includes the right to speak boys are we to the gods. They kill us for out in protest.” their sport.”

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ex education in Arkansas is bonkers. teasing other kids Ginny Monk’s recent article in the about doing things Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, “85 to each other using percent of schools in Arkansas tell kids words I had never to say no to sex” reports the results of a heard and acts that, survey of all of the sex education being frankly, seemed taught at all school districts in the state. entirely impossible With the exception of a few bright spots, to me in my naivety. AUTUMN including the existence of local groups The bus was the TOLBERT lobbying for implementing comprehen- first place I saw a sive sex education statewide, too many condom. It was the first place I saw a schools are either ignoring the subject all pornographic magazine. It was the first together or pushing abstinence-based sex place I saw two people French kissing in education. Anyone who really remembers real life. I learned a lot on the bus. I’ll tell what those teenage years are like or who you where I didn’t learn much: sex eduspends real time around teenagers un- cation. I remember our science teacher derstands abstinence-only education is a talking about menstruation and childpitiful exercise in futility and the statistics birth, but if I had any real, substantial reflect that. Monk’s article points out that quality sex education, I cannot rememArkansas has one of the highest teen birth ber it. I’d imagine like many Arkansans, rates in the nation and that schools are a coach reluctantly taught sex-ed as part using curriculum that includes descrip- of health class. Whatever they taught me tions of boys being like waffles and girls at school was overshadowed by what I being like spaghetti, virginity being as learned on the bus. precious as a diamond ring and youths Now, I don’t know if the bus is such who are “uneducated bunnies.” an influential place anymore. Most kids The bunny part is spot on. Although, I have a phone with access to the internet wouldn’t call these youths “uneducated.” 24-7. Kids can watch movies and shows I’d call them, to borrow a term from Lau- on demand that used to only be on late ryn Hill, “miseducated,” especially if they at night. But, according to Monk’s article, get their sex education from other kids chances are the kids are still not learning on the school bus. Most of the naughty the science and facts at school or at home things I learned growing up, I learned on they need to make good, smart decisions the bus. Usually on the ride home from about their own bodies and health. school. Not sure if it was because everyAnd, by good, smart decisions, I’m not one was still half asleep in the mornings talking abstinence. Abstinence is fine if or if the kids somehow had an innate that is what is best for that person, but to understanding of the impropriety of blue somehow elevate abstinence above safe language early in the day. Either way, sex and science is a problem. Religion the ride home seemed to get pretty salty needs to be kept out of school-based sex sometimes. education. This is a health and science When I was in seventh grade, I issue. Not a moral one. No more talk of learned how to flip the bird on the bus. virginity being precious and special by I’d watched people doing it on televi- teachers. What does that say to the girl or sion and around town, and it seemed like boy in the class who was a victim of sexual the thing to master, but the few times I assault? That they are worthless? Can tried it alone in my room, I couldn’t get it we also skip the abstinence and purity too look right. The older kids on the bus pledges at school? They are ineffective, effortlessly flipped each other off con- creepy and didn’t work for the Jonas stantly, so I began to really pay attention Brothers and Bristol Palin. We don’t need to what they were doing with their fin- our kids making any promises or pledges gers and realized it was less about what to teachers and school counselors about the middle finger was doing and more what they plan to do with their vaginas about having the proper bend in the side and penises and other body parts. Just fingers. My seatmate, who also struggled, give the kids the facts, the tools for safe practiced with me until, a week later, we sex, and let them decide for themselves were middle finger flipping professionals. what they want to do. It is way past time Since language at my house was heavily for comprehensive sex education at every patrolled by my mom, especially when public school in Arkansas. We have to friends were visiting, mastering this silent teach our kids about the birds and bees insult was a game-changer. just as we teach them about science and In addition to obscene gestures, sex math, and I think we can all agree, the bus was a common topic on the bus. Kids is no place for that type of learning.

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SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

ou watched Austin Allen fire that irons itself out. third-down pass into a “window” That’s about where the joy ends. Arkanthat was more like a keyhole, and sas put up 43 points and lost, and paradoxiyou knew, didn’t you? cally, the defense No matter what optimism you sum- was not the culprit. moned during another wild second half Mind you, big plays against these damnable Aggies, you sensed again haunted the the inevitable, right? Hogs, and one of Arkansas cannot conquer Texas A&M. them in the first BEAU This time, it was a 50-43 gut-wrencher in half should’ve been WILCOX four quarters and a single, truncated extra an 89-yard scoring period. Allen chucked a third-and-7 bul- run by true freshman quarterback Kellet right into Aggie safety Armani Watts’ len Mond, but for an errant early whistle waiting arms to end the game after A&M by the official who thought a foot hit the scored first on the heels of a marginal pass chalk near the Arkansas 10. Paul Rhoads’ interference call against Hog freshman unit is flawed, but its effort is not. Kamren Curl. No, where the culpability lies, as it has If I were descended from Theodore every year since 2014, is on the sidelines, Geisel, I might put it this way: We cannot where game management just betrays the beat them when we’re ranked, we cannot affable head coach at the worst possible beat them when they’ve tanked. We have times. At the end of the first half, Bielema no chance in Quarter Four, we cannot stop chose to take his timeouts with him into them anymore. This game makes me lose the locker room, bleeding the remaining my mind, and for SIX YEARS running, a seconds off the clock with a four-point lead. win we cannot find. Allen had struggled to stay clean, granted, Bret Bielema’s entire day in Arlington, but he’s a senior and you clearly trust him, Texas, was a cavalcade of regrettable deci- so why go into a shell late in the half, espesions, from the apathetic wardrobe (Bill cially knowing the recent history of this Belichick earned sweatshirt rights by win- game has been unkind? ning, you know, five Super Bowl rings) to If Arkansas has any hope of rescuing kicking to Christian Kirk, the bedeviling this season, it really rests on this team’s one, once the Hogs finally seemed to wrest ability to take advantage of the sudden, jarmomentum and control late. He sobbed ring softness of the conference as a whole. in the postgame press conference again, The remainder of the schedule affords the and I know it’s an authentic expression Hogs with two likely nonconference wins of his and the staff’s collective angst, but and a slate that outside of the road trip to it’s also an emotional episode that is los- Alabama is suddenly not that imposing. ing steam and credibility after four years If the Texas A&M game is at least useful of tragicomic heartbreak in this Southwest in providing the Hogs with a fulcrum on “Classic.” It’s like a movie studio churning which to tilt the rest of the year, maybe out mindless sequels to “Old Yeller” at this the stinging defeat will be more or less point, and when the damn dog dies at the worth it in the same way the 2015 loss conclusion of the first movie, you’ve really was. But that team had more weapons on got no business trying to bilk the consumer the perimeter, a disciplined and massive for these sequels. offensive line and a pass rush that proLet’s talk positives for as long as it can gressively improved as the season wore be sustained: Austin Allen has found a on into November. dependable downfield threat in transfer The other Aggies from Las Cruces, wideout Jonathan Nance, whose two N.M., will be in state this weekend. Arkanfourth-quarter grabs nearly made him sas can’t do any better in September than a hero, and South Carolina grad trans- 2-2 now, but man, winning a game against fer Dave Williams continues to be an an FBS team for the first time since before unsung backfield hero. Backup quarter- Thanksgiving seems like it would be a back Cole Kelley and freshman running major healing moment for such a wounded back Chase Hayden were effective on team. And momentum cannot be underDan Enos’ new gadget plays, designed stated. Allen is visibly losing patience and to throw a defense off the scent of Allen, composure all too early in the season, so who again was hounded by a pass rush all he has to not only have a productive Satday. The defense is a work in progress but urday ahead, but one that reestablishes it’s undeniable that Dre Greenlaw, Santos confidence in his offensive line. It’s a unit Ramirez and Henré Toliver are provid- that will be shaky all season, yet again, so ing leadership as the transition to 3-4 still miracles cannot be anticipated.

THE OBSERVER NOTES ON THE PASSING SCENE

It’s September

early, it seems, The Observer has to write a breakup letter to summer, our lovely June groom gone threadbare and fetid in the heat, welcome outstayed, his crisp green button-up and sunflower yellow tie long since doffed in favor of a sweat stained undershirt, our loitering houseguest having cleaned out the fridge and talked us all into going on another beer run, twice. You hear the old-timers down at the corner say it, pinch faced and extra grouchy as they whittle a willow stick into a Neanderthal spearpoint: Something is wrong with the weather. Summer is hanging around longer these days, and that is a fact. Oh, we’ve always had hot spells in September and even October; hot Halloweens where the kiddies sweated plumb through their plastic Wonder Woman smocks and the jack-o-lanterns rotted on the doorstep. It is Arkansas, after all, where if you don’t like the weather, wait three hours and it’ll change. Arkansas, as always, is the midpoint between Everywhere and Nowhere, and that includes the weather, buffeted as we are by the low-speed collision of dry winds from the west and moist winds rising up from the Gulf so that in any given month we might get a tornado followed by snow followed by a rain of frogs scooped up and deposited here by a waterspout over Lake Pontchartrain. But this year seems to be different. Summer 2017 lingers on like a low-grade fever, going strong into the 90s during the day and July hot at night, the flies and mosquitos and toads none the wiser that the world just celebrated the autumnal equinox or that Hobby Lobby has already stocked all the Chinese-made plastic skeletons and turkey-festooned crapola. We’re beginning to wonder if the head of summer is eventually just going to swallow the tail, giving us 12 full months of July, like they get for long stretches in Westeros on “Game of Thrones.” Mother Nature’s wristwatch runs on the dimming of the light and the cooling of the air, not on days and months and years, like our own. But nature’s clock

seems to be sprung this year, and so summer ticks on, oblivious, the leaves unfell, the long grass still appointed by bees and grasshoppers and fat, glistening snakes that should have long since been denned up and still. Somewhere over Africa, a moth is lifting from a blackgreen leaf, churning a swirl of wind off her wingtip that will spin and grow, spin and grow before heading out over open water to become one of the string of arsenic pearls that bear down on homes and lives half a world away, churning the rubble of the previous monster hurricane’s passage into ever finer and less recognizable rubble. It’s been an Arkansas summer without a single 100-degree day — heat indexed and Real Feeled 100, sure — but no true temperatures over a hunnert. That’s welcome, but still troubling. Even when The Observer was a lad, Arkansas could be counted on for at least one triple-digit day, the weatherman using the word “scorcher” and showing the busted thermometer graphic, telling people to limit their time outdoors, as if some people have a choice in the matter. Could it really have gotten to 115 degrees in downtown Little Rock a few years back, the skyscrapers seeming to wilt toward the river in the crippling heat. It can and did, as The Observer can attest. But this year, not a single 100-degree day? That, in itself, is weird. “Everyone talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it,” one of the old farts down on the bench on the corner plagiarizes, using his Case knife to add a series of cruel barbs to his spearpoint, a drop of yellow sweat clinging to his nose like a crystal ball, already Sept. 26 and his light jacket and heavy coat still gathering dust back home on the back of the closet door. “Yep,” say the other old farts. They have seen a few summers and know how things used to be. None of them has to say it, because they’ve all said it before: Something is wrong with the weather. And what, The Observer wonders, will it be like by the time Yours Truly takes up his own jackknife and joins them?

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Arkansas Reporter

THE

LESLIE PEACOCK

AFTER THE COMMEMORATION: Thelma Mothershed-Wair autographs a painting by a student; seniors Kyla Peer, Tamia Price, Bridgette Bavon and Shakira Childers are happy to have met President Clinton; and Gloria Ray Karlmark smiles at the crush of people at the stage in the Roosevelt Thompson Auditorium seeking to shake hands with the Nine.

‘Too far to turn back now’ The Nine and Clinton condemn Trump, recall past. BY LESLIE NEWELL PEACOCK AND MAX BRANTLEY

t was four days of standing ovations, the Times last week, she knew the eight heartfelt cheers for the Little Rock survivors would make the trip to LitNine, applause and reminders that tle Rock. “We might not see each other there is still much to do in the way of again,” she said. race relations in America: Thursday’s At Monday morning’s commemorapress conference given by the Nine tion at Central High, exactly 60 years where they talked about such things as to the day the Little Rock Nine were the retribution their parents faced for escorted into school by the 101st Airletting them desegregate Central High borne, an empty chair on stage was in 1957. Saturday’s house brought down draped with a stole of Central’s gold by a feisty, funny, fabulous Mavis Staples and black, in remembrance of Jefferson urging the crowd at the Robinson Center Thomas, who died in 2010. “He was the Performance Hall to respect themselves. one with the sense of humor,” Carlotta Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church pas- Walls LaNier recalled when it came her tor’s rousing praise of the bravery of time to speak. In a 2007 interview with the Little Rock Nine at Sunday’s inter- Thomas, he quipped that he didn’t have faith service and his truth-telling about any problem with maintaining a nonAmerica’s original sin of slavery and its violent position in the face of violence. continuing harm. Monday morning’s “I was a good runner.”) commemoration, a call to arms to not let Dignitaries gathered Monday to what the Nine went through be for noth- honor the Nine included former Presiing. The names of the Nine — including dent Bill Clinton; Governor Hutchinson; that of the late Jefferson Thomas — were Mayor Mark Stodola; Dr. Sybil Hamprepeated and repeated and repeated, and ton, the first African-American to attend every time the people stood and clapped Central for all high school years and loud and long. They lauded the Nine, graduate; Rev. LaVerne Bell-Toliver; now eight, to make it last, because who and two past student body presidents knows what the number of these heroic of Central. figures will be at the 70th anniversary. Henry Louis Gates, the noted AfricanThat’s why, Melba Pattillo Beals told American scholar, writer and TV and 12

SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

radio host, added extra star power. He up and signed the book. Then another said he felt like he was visiting a “reli- girl signed and wrote, “In another age, gious shrine.” And if it is a shrine, he we could have been friends.” said, the Little Rock Nine are “the saints.” Carlotta Walls LaNier, who lives in Members of the Nine spoke. Beals, Denver, said City Manager Bruce Moore who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, had asked her more than a year ago for said it was a “joy” to return and to see, ideas about this week’s events. “I would for example, people of color as police like to have dinner in the White House officers. And she said not all those with with President Hillary Clinton,” she told whom she attended school with her him. The crowd applauded. were unfriendly. “But this is the second best, being here.” Elizabeth Eckford, who lives in Little She said the Nine were worried when Rock, talked of the silence the Nine kept finally admitted. They were behind. They for some 30 years. She began talking didn’t know what the year would hold or when she heard recollections “foreign how Gov. Orval Faubus would continue to my experience here.” True reconcili- to affect their experience. She recalled ation, she said, is possible only when all how Gov. Bill Clinton welcomed them acknowledge a painful and shared past. in 1987 and how Hillary Clinton, who’d Ernest Green, of Washington, D.C., been ill, came downstairs and talked said the Nine hadn’t aspired to make with the Nine until the early morning history. They wanted what the Constitu- along with City Director Lottie Shacktion afforded and what their parents had elford. The welcome 10 years later was paid taxes for. He said he dug in his heels “overwhelming and kind and gracious. It after being initially denied admittance. was well-meaning and heartfelt.” Green referenced the Arkansas Times At the 50th, the Little Rock Nine cover that posed the question about Cen- Foundation had begun to help students tral 60 years later: “Progress?” go to college. They were happy, she said. He said he’d put it, “Progress ellip- They had a place in the national civil sis.” He said, “Progress is not a single rights movement. action or moment. It is the small munAnd now, through “45,” or President dane everyday action.” A Muhammad Ali Trump and his Twitter account, she finds becomes a Colin Kaepernick, he said by something of a return to where people way of pointed example. were 60 years ago. But she cited the old Gloria Ray Karlmark, who lives in spiritual, “We have come too far to turn Amsterdam, said she never thought back now.” she’d be here today, but “it feels pretty Terrence Roberts, who lives in Caligood.” She recalled getting a yearbook on fornia, said he didn’t come to celebrate. the final day of school. She was 15. She “That time has not yet come.” From his knew others signed books. “Who would perspective, he’d first want that the crisis I dare go up to and ask to sign my book?” hadn’t happened. And he has a vision of As she stood there, Becky, a girl she’d a “war against the forces determined to secretly exchanged notes with, came maintain the status quo.” He said “will-

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ful ignorance” is one of the most deadly lamented. He referenced Trump’s recent charge of the state Department of Edu- that goes without saying — by shifting to sins we face. campaign rally in Alabama,” talking in cation, yearning for an exit to a friend- Gates’ program on PBS about ancestry, Minnijean Brown Trickey, a resident ways I hadn’t heard since the days of lier place. “Finding Your Roots.” Part of that ancesof Canada after a brief return to Little George Wallace.” That’s not to say Hutchinson didn’t try is Neanderthal — about 3 percent of Rock in the 2000s, said she sees the 60th After saying that Wallace had changed receive a warm welcome. He did. He our genome, Clinton said., and “that’s as a pilgrimage, or a search of moral in his final years, he said, “We don’t want noted that the Little Rock Central stu- the part that’s been rearing its ugly head” or spiritual significance. “The work is to go back there.” dent body of 2018 will look quite differ- lately, Clinton said. not complete until a beloved commu“We have to reject anger and resent- ent than that of 1958. He didn’t give the Clinton said the fact that a segment nity is achieved,” she said. She referred ment in favor of answers,” he said. number — 18 percent white today against of the population has been “fed a steady obliquely to the current president again, *** 99 percent white in 1958 (only Ernest diet of resentment” has torn apart the as she had earlier in the week, with a Hutchinson must have felt very lonely Green was a senior.) He urged people country. “Do we really want to go back reference to “profound intentional igno- on stage as the commemoration cere- to work toward a “more civil society.” to what it was like before World War II rance.” She told the audience, “We’re mony bore on, with speaker after speaker He praised the bravery of the Nine, or the ’20s or whatever?” Clinton asked, not stupid. We know what’s going on in lambasting the rise of the far right, anti- who as mere children faced hate, some- and the audience said, “No.” this town.” She keeps up with the ongo- immigrant fervor and the threat to voting times physical danger and a “defiant The Nine brought a measure of justice ing school divisions — the takeover and rights and health care that have marked governor” in the days before the fight for to the world, Clinton said. “So I ask you all the rest. the Republican Party’s administration civil rights became a national movement. to say to them, ‘We love you.’ ” Gabriel Wair spoke for his grand- of government. “I want to thank the Little Rock Nine for *** mother, Thelma Mothershed Wair. A It was “unimaginable” even as enduring the pain,” he said to the Nine, Love was the word for the 60th anniretired teacher, she said in words he recently as last year, Gates said, that and gave them a deep bow. versary of the Little Rock Nine’s escort read, “Proliferation of charter schools today “we find ourselves again in the After Hutchinson spoke, moderator into Central High. If you don’t love has given us cause for concern for the struggle for freedom.” Cheers and whis- Dr. Sybil Hampton quoted Abraham Lin- your brother, speakers at both Monday future of conventional public educa- tles and standing ovations met Gates’ coln’s Gettysburg address: “The world morning’s commemoration and Sunday tion. “ She said she didn’t want them to demands that people must “defend the will little note, nor long remember, what night’s interfaith service at Robinson become a place for those who fall below right of every American to cast their we say here, but can never forget what Performance Hall quoted 1 John 4:20 standards. It was another applause line. vote for the candidate of their choice” they did here.” as saying, you don’t love God. Central Principal Nancy Rousseau and “at all cost” defend the affirmative*** At Sunday’s service, Rev. Raphael introduced Bill Clinton, noting that action program “that launched so many After the event, the Nine and Presi- Gamaliel Warnock, pastor of Ebenezer most of her students were born after people of color — and women of every dent Clinton posed for pictures at the Baptist Church in Atlanta, where Dr. he left the White House (after which color — into positions of authority.” The front of the stage, within reaching dis- Martin Luther King Jr. was co-pastor, she mouthed “sorry” to Clinton). applause thundered when Gates insisted tance outstretched hands seeking a stirred the audience with his reminders Clinton reminisced. He was at Central, “we must fight for health care as a right … handshake or an autograph. Terrence of the persistence of racism in the United with Jesse Jackson, at the 20th anni- and to keep the pipeline of opportunity Roberts crouched on the edge of the States. He decried the role played by the versary, he noted. Then he talked about open for the next generation and the stage for an interview with a young so-called Christian seg academies in the genetics, as he had at a speech Sunday next generation after that.” woman who asked him if he believed South, saying he didn’t know what Bible night at his library, on the opening of That means standing against racial equality was in danger of losing they read but it wasn’t the one he read. an exhibit about Nelson Mandela. The homophobia and Islamaphobia and anti- ground. “We as a people need to be will- He bemoaned the actions of “Jefferson science shows that humankind arose black racism “and, ladies and gentlemen, ing to confront that reality,” Roberts said. Beauregard Sessions” to militarize the in Africa and that it’s a rare person, if against white supremacist ideology in all “Until we do there will be no progress American police by sending soldier gear any, without a mix of racial genetics. He its hateful forms.” that is significant. … their way. America has “unfinished busidelved, too, into insects — termites smart All eyes were on Hutchinson and “We are going forward very slowly ness of racism, poverty and militarism,” enough to air-condition their burrows, Little Rock School District Superinten- because the forces of opposition keep Warnock said. the clumps of fire ants that survived Hur- dent Michael Poore as Trickey and Wair pushing back. Power will concede nothWarnock said America was indifferricane Harvey, as examples of how their made reference to today’s problems in ing unless there is a force of equal mag- ent to drugs when they were seen a black cooperation has meant their survival. the LRSD. Wair’s more direct targeting nitude pushing back against it. If you are problem; now, he said, white leadership He was going to just give some bro- of the “proliferation of charter schools” a part of the ruling class, what incentive is vowing to do something about the epimides and sit down, Clinton said. But that are draining students from the pub- would there be to give up that status?” demic of “opioids” in their communities. then other things have happened. He lic schools brought cheering students Four members of the senior class, Warnock also wondered how it is that said the Nine could put on their danc- to their feet. who got to sit on the stage during the President Trump could criticize football ing shoes to celebrate the anniversary, When Clinton turned to the crowd to event — all African-American girls, all players who have taken a knee during the but tomorrow, “You have to put on your say everyone must put on our “marching college-bound — said afterward that they anthem to protest police brutality against marching boots and lead us again.” boots,” the standing O, cheers, applause didn’t get to meet the Nine, but were blacks, but say there were “good people” Echoing a theme heard many times — an expression of clear disdain for a excited to meet President Clinton. They among the Nazis in Charlottesville, Va. over the past few days, Clinton said deranged Republican president — found his speech a little wandering, but And imagine, Warnock said, if the that many people today who profess to must have left Hutchinson, who sup- interesting nevertheless. tiki-torch bearers in Charlottesville had be religious don’t remember the par- ports voter ID laws, the health care bill Clinton salvaged what might have been black instead of white. Would they able of the Good Samaritan. Each of the under debate in Congress that would been an embarrassing comment about have been allowed to disperse without world’s religions has a parallel teaching, hurt Arkansans, and who put a charter- how no African-Americans are all black police presence — or would they have he said. “What is the matter with us?” he school-funding Walton family lackey in and no whites are all white — something been met with tanks? arktimes.com SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

BRYAN MOATS

he poster for the movie “American Made,” to be released Friday, Sept. 29, shows a grin-

ning, cocky Tom Cruise as the drug smuggler Barry Seal, hauling a duffle bag bursting

with cash. “It’s not a felony if you’re doing

it for the good guys,” the poster teases. The film’s trailer has Seal casually boasting about his simultaneous work for “the

CIA, the DEA and Pablo Escobar.”

SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

One critic was led to ask: “So, was focusing on drugs in the 1980s, but I Seal a triple agent?” Perhaps. The pro- learned of Seal’s three-year presence at ducers say this swaggering story, based Mena only after the night in 1986 when mostly in Arkansas, is all “based on a Colombian assassins gunned him down true lie.” in Baton Rouge, La. “American Made” is Hollywood’s I became one of many reporters second film about Seal, the trafficker- who tried to untangle Seal’s story and, turned-government-informant who is though that task ultimately proved fast becoming America’s most intriguing impossible, I did learn a lot about him. outlaw. HBO released the first, “Dou- But now, the bits and pieces collected blecrossed,” starring Dennis Hopper about Seal have provided enough mateas Seal, in 1991, five years after Seal’s rial — enough “true lies” — for Hollycontroversial murder. wood to weave into films that enlarge When Cruise’s film was announced, his legend. its title was going to be “Mena,” after But his actual story is littered with the town in Arkansas where a local com- dead ends — secrets that are still being pany hid Seal’s aircraft and modified carefully kept — especially in Arkansas. them for drug drops. I was a reporter And here, I’m sorry to say, some police

The

Arkansas

smuggler Hollywood portrays Barry Seal, the notorious drug-trafficker-turned-federal-informant who operated out of Mena. BY MARA LEVERITT Cover photo courtesy The Advocate, Dave Stuber.

records that were open to the public of money laundering at Mena: “There 20 years ago are apparently no longer was a cover-up.” available. Nothing had changed with regard I wouldn’t know this if it weren’t for to Seal since those men spoke those Cruise’s film. When it was announced words, except that the savage war with a planned release in 2016, Rod on drugs had ground on, while Seal Lorenzen, the manager of Butler Cen- — whatever he was — remained a hidter Books, a division of the Butler Cen- den but important part of its history. ter for Arkansas Studies, asked me to Finally, I told Lorenzen I would write write a history of Seal’s time in Arkan- the book; I would document as much sas to correspond with the movie’s as I could of Seal’s secretive Arkanrelease. I was honored. The Butler sas years. Center is part of the highly respected We agreed that the book would be Arkansas Studies Institute, a creation called “The Mena File: Barry Seal’s of the Central Arkansas Library Sys- Ties to Drug Lords and U.S. Officials.” tem and the University of Arkansas at Lorenzen commissioned a cover while Little Rock. I began my research by contacting I’m a huge admirer of the ASI the Arkansas State Police. I knew the and consider its staff my friends. Yet agency had an extensive file on Seal I declined. I told Lorenzen that the because I’d read it decades earlier, book he proposed would be too hard shortly after Seal’s murder. In fact, I to write; that there were still too many still had a letter from the former direcpeople in power — in both political tor advising me, in case I’d planned to parties — who did not want Seal’s full make copies, that the file held some story told. 3,000 pages. But Lorenzen persisted. I began But now, three decades after Seal’s to waver, recalling the words of some murder, State Police spokesman Bill Arkansans who’d known Barry Seal. Sadler reported that he could locate “I can arrest an old hillbilly out no files on Seal. None. Arkansas’s Freehere with a pound of marijuana and a dom of Information Act requires the local judge and jury would send him release of public records, but Sadler to the penitentiary,” a former sheriff at said that, in Seal’s case, the agency Mena in 1988 had said, “but a guy like was unable to do that. I protested, and Seal flies in and out with hundreds of after weeks of back-and-forth, Sadler pounds of cocaine and he stays free.” reported that a file on Seal had been The prosecuting attorney there had discovered. He eventually provided a avowed: “I believe that the activities of packet of 409 pages. He said this was Mr. Seal came to be so valuable to the all the agency could release after dupliReagan White House and so sensitive cates and documents that are exempt that no information concerning Seal’s from public disclosure were removed. activities could be released to the pubEven allowing for duplicates and lic. The ultimate result was that not legal exemptions, I would find the only Seal but all of his confederates reduction of publicly available records, and all of those who worked with or from 3,000 pages 20 years ago to just assisted him in illicit drug traffic were over 400 now, disturbing. My conprotected by the government.” cern increases when the case is one And this, by the Internal Revenue of national interest that’s also replete Service agent who’d found evidence with political connections. As Sadler

suggested, the state police in the past may have made too much available. On the other hand, if the grip on information about Seal has been tightened, the reason for this extra control might be traced to his earliest days in Arkansas. By late 1982, when Seal moved his aircraft to Mena from his home base in Baton Rouge, federal agents had already identified him as “a major international narcotics trafficker.” Police watching Mena’s airport notified federal authorities that a fat man from Louisiana had begun frequenting an aircraft modification company there called Rich Mountain Aviation. That same year, President Ronald Reagan appointed Asa Hutchinson, already a tough, anti-drug crusader, as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Arkansas. Wanting to keep tabs on Seal, Hutchinson ordered William Duncan, an investigator for the IRS, to watch for signs of money laundering around Mena resulting from Seal’s presence. Another investigator, Russell Welch of the State Police, was assigned to look for evidence of cocaine arriving there. Duncan and Welch both told me that being assigned to Seal ended up ruining their careers. Welch said he began to suspect that something was amiss one night in December 1983, when he and several other law enforcement officers had staked out the airport, watching for Seal. He said they’d seen the smuggler and his co-pilot land and taxi to a hangar at Rich Mountain Aviation, where workers installed an illegal, extra fuel tank in the plane. Welch said that Seal had taken off into the wintry night, fast and without lights. But what he remembered most was how surprised he, the FBI agents and the Arkansas Game and Fish officer who’d joined them had been that,

although officers for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration had met them at a motel in Mena, none had gone with them to the stakeout. Seal had no criminal convictions at the time, but he did have a puzzling record. Ten years earlier, federal agents in Louisiana had caught him attempting to take off from an airport in Shreveport with a planeload of plastic explosives bound for Cuban ex-patriots in Mexico. Seal was charged with being part of a plot to overthrow Fidel Castro. But prosecutors abruptly dropped the case at the start of his trial. That event, relatively early in Seal’s career, would later prompt speculation — unquestioned in Cruise’s film — that he performed contract work for the Central Intelligence Agency. From later court records, we know that in April 1981, before Seal moved to Mena, DEA agents in Florida had caught him in a drug sting. We know that while his case there was pending, Seal agreed to become an informant for the DEA — but that the circumstances of that deal were also strange. In the summer of 1984, facing possible life in prison if convicted, he’d flown his Lear jet to Washington, D.C., where, in a meeting with top DEA officials, he’d established the terms that would allow him to remain free. Duncan and Welch were not informed of Seal’s change of status as they pursued their respective investigations. Throughout 1984, they had no idea that Seal was supposedly working for an agency of the U.S. Department of Justice. So far as they could tell, he was a drug-runner continuing to run drugs, while the DEA remained, as both officers put it, “conspicuously absent” from Mena. The Arkansas lawmen, along with their peers in Louisiana, could scarcely have imagined all arktimes.com SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

that Seal was up to that year. From a variety of surviving court records, we know that DEA officials in Florida cooked up a plan for him to help them round up the leaders of Colombia’s Medellín cartel in one dramatic sting. Suffice it to say that the plan turned into a catastrophic failure — one that exposed Seal’s status as an informant to his former associates in the cartel. With Seal’s usefulness in that regard ended, he was put to another use. This time it was a political one — on behalf of Reagan’s White House. Reagan wanted evidence that officials of Nicaragua’s Sandinista government, which he opposed, were shipping cocaine into the U.S. After allowing CIA technicians to install hidden cameras in his C-123, Seal flew to Nicaragua and returned with photographs that he said showed Sandinista leaders helping load cocaine

BARRY SEAL: He imported drugs and laundered money while working for the federal government.

BRYAN MOATS 16

onto the plane. But it’s clear that by late 1984, Seal poenas, in this case the U.S. attorney But again, Seal was compromised. was getting worried. A man who had subpoenaed only three. Later, when Someone who knew of the flight leaked lived by secrets suddenly made the Duncan was asked under oath in a depoword of it to a Washington newspaper. unthinkable move of agreeing to be sition whether he believed there was Seal’s status as an informant was con- interviewed by a reporter. Seal flew a cover-up, he replied, “It was covfirmed, placing his life at still greater Louisiana TV reporter Jack Camp to ered up.” risk. Mena, where he allowed Camp to film In August 1985, shortly after DunAfter that, the justice department him inside the C-123 as he talked about can’s request for subpoenas, U.S. Attorfound yet another use for Seal, as U.S. his work for the DEA, while pointing ney General Edwin Meese flew to Fort attorneys began calling him to testify out the places where the CIA techni- Smith to meet with Hutchinson. DEA about his experiences with major drug cians had hidden their cameras. Administrator John C. Lawn was with dealers whom they were prosecutIt was only after Camp’s interview him. While the nation’s two drug offiing. From Seal’s testimony at some of aired on Baton Rouge television in late cials were in town, they held a press conthose traffickers’ trials, we know that 1984 that law enforcement in Louisiana ference with Hutchinson to announce a he claimed to have grossed $750,000 — and, quickly enough, Arkansas — acci- series of raids dubbed “Operation Deltaper flight while he was smuggling for dentally learned of Seal’s dual roles. But 9,” which they said were meant to eradithe cartel; that he continued to fly in even now his status remained unclear, cate home-grown marijuana. Although drugs after becoming an informant; that and federal officials weren’t trying to Fort Smith sits just 70 miles north of he had smuggled about 6,000 pounds of help. Seal was still flying, apparently Mena, nobody mentioned Seal. No one cocaine into the U.S. during that period; free, in both states, while ground crews, even mentioned cocaine. and that for one of those flights alone including workers at Rich Mountain By then, though local investigators the DEA had allowed him to keep the Aviation, continued to work with him. still did not know it, Seal had become a $575,000 he’d been paid. Duncan and Welch focused their own darling of the Department of Justice. In investigations on October 1985, the President’s Commisthe period before sion on Organized Crime invited him to Seal became an be the featured speaker at a symposium informant. in the capital attended by several top In mid-1985, U.S. law enforcement officers. The folDuncan told lowing month Hutchinson announced Hutchinson that that, having decided to run for Congress, he had sworn he would be resigning as U.S. attorney. statements from At first, it looked like Hutchinson’s employees at successor, J. Michael Fitzhugh, was Rich Mountain ready to act on the cases related to Seal. Aviation and In December 1985, Fitzhugh announced Mena bankers that he had subpoenaed Seal to testify about illegal cash at a grand jury session to be held in Hot deposits being Springs. In preparation, he sent Duncan made into area to Baton Rouge to interview Seal, and banks. With what the State Police sent Welch. he called this When I interviewed the investi“direct evidence gators for my book, they told me that of money laun- Seal seemed weary. He and his attorney dering,” Duncan fretted that Seal’s deals from Florida asked Hutchin- would not protect him in Arkansas. But, son to subpoena after some dickering, Seal agreed to be 20 witnesses, all sworn in. “I don’t want to waste these of whom, he said, men’s time,” he told his attorney, Lewis were ready to tes- Unglesby. “They have come a long way tify before a fed- in bad weather and it’s Christmas.” eral grand jury. In the recorded interview that folBut Duncan said lowed, Seal acknowledged some, if not that Hutchinson all, of his business with Rich Mountain balked and, in Aviation. He told Duncan and Welch contrast to his that he had warned the company’s conduct in other owner that he stood “a good chance c a s e s w h e r e of going to jail” for the illegal modifiD u n c a n h a d cations Rich Mountain Aviation had requested sub- performed on his planes and that the

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ARKANSAS TIMES

owner had “better get himself a lawyer and be ready to look at pleading guilty.” But five days before the grand jury was set to convene, Fitzhugh suddenly canceled Seal’s appearance, due to what he termed Seal’s “lack of credibility.” Duncan and Welch were incredulous. By now they knew that Seal had been invited to the Washington symposium largely because of the respect he’d won from U.S. attorneys for his testimony at high-profile trials. Duncan and Welch could not understand — and Fitzhugh never explained — why, at the last minute, he’d suddenly deemed Seal’s “credibility” insufficient in Arkansas. Seal may not have intended to show up, anyway. The pressures on him had intensified since he’d agreed to testify against Jorge Ochoa, a cartel leader who was soon to be extradited to the U.S. To prevent that from happening, the cartel had placed a half-milliondollar contract on Seal’s head. And it worked. On Feb. 19, 1986, a group of Colombian gunmen murdered Seal in the parking lot of a halfway house in Baton Rouge, where a federal judge had ordered Seal to spend nights while on court-imposed probation. Barely four weeks later, Reagan appeared on national television to explain his opposition to Nicaragua’s Sandinista government. As part of that explanation, the president held up one of Seal’s photographs from inside the C-123. The image was grainy but Reagan said that it showed officials of Nicaragua’s Communist government loading cocaine onto a plane that was headed to the United States. Reagan never mentioned Seal, and the photo’s authenticity was soon challenged. Nevertheless, that televised moment captured the whirlwind into which Seal flew after his move to Arkansas: the intersection of drugs, Central American politics, the DEA, the CIA and the U.S. president. We might never have known about any of that except for what happened on Oct. 5, 1986, less than eight months after Seal’s murder. The C-123 cargo plane he’d kept at the airport at Mena was once again flying over Central America when a Nicaraguan soldier shot it down. Papers found with the downed aircraft linked it to members of Reagan’s White House staff and with that, the political upheaval known as the Iran-Contra scandal burst into world news. Questions about the plane led to questions about Seal, and, inevitably, some of the fallout reached Hutchinson. The former

TOM CRUISE AS BARRY SEAL: In “American Made,” opening Friday.

U.S. attorney had lost his initial race for Congress, and by 1996, when he was running again, many Arkansans were trying to sort out his connection to Seal. When someone at a campaign appearance asked the candidate if there’d been a cover-up at Mena, Hutchinson replied: “All I can tell you is I started the investigation. I pursued the investigation, and I was called to run for office. And after that I was out of the loop.” Hutchinson won his 1996 congressional race and two subsequent elections. He resigned from Congress in 2001 to accept an appointment by President George W. Bush as head of the DEA. After a subsequent appointment at the Department of Homeland Security, Hutchinson returned to Arkansas, where he became the state’s governor in 2015. Soon after taking office, Hutchinson installed veteran DEA agent Bill Bryant as head of the State Police. I came along a few months later, asking to see the agency’s file on Seal. When I learned how much less was available than reportedly had been in the past, I wrote to Hutchinson, hoping to ask about the difference, but he did not respond. Bill Clinton, who was governor throughout Seal’s time at Mena, has also had little to say about the smuggler’s presence. While governor, Clinton was drawn uncomfortably close

to questions relating to cocaine after Clinton both pleaded guilty to drug police arrested his half-brother, Roger charges and served time in prison. After Clinton, on charges of distributing Bill Clinton’s election as president, he cocaine, and Roger Clinton reported placed Thomasson in charge of the that he’d gotten the drug from his boss, White House Office of Administration. Dan Lasater, a Little Rock bond trader Though accusations abound, no link and financial supporter of Clinton. has ever been established between ClinSeal was dead by late 1986, when ton and Seal. Still, on the few occasions Lasater was indicted, but the FBI’s when the smuggler’s name has come investigation of Lasater produced up, Clinton has sounded as “out of the at least one intriguing connection loop” as Hutchinson. between the two. Billy Earle Jr. had At one point, while Clinton was govbeen in the co-pilot’s seat on that night ernor, the local prosecuting attorney for in December 1983 when Seal flew Mena had attempted to act where U.S. into Mena to have an extra fuel tank attorneys Hutchinson and Fitzhugh installed. The following year, when had not. Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Earle was arrested in Louisiana, Welch Charles E. Black wanted to impanel a went there to interview him. state grand jury to consider evidence Earle told Welch that immediately that people at Rich Mountain Aviation after “the new plumbing” was installed, had abetted Seal’s drug-trafficking Seal planned to fly “to a place in south- operation. Realizing that such a case ern Colombia, bordering Peru, and pick would cost more than his district could up 200 kilos of cocaine.” He said the afford, Black had asked the governor’s trip was for an “operation to be staged office for a grant of $25,000. But Black out of Carver Ranch in Belize.” But, said he never received a response. Earle said, that plan had fallen through. Bill Alexander, one of Arkansas’s In the fall of 1986, when FBI agents long-term Democratic congressmen, were investigating Dan Lasater, they supported Black’s idea. Alexander told questioned his personal pilot. That man me that he wrote to Clinton personally, reported that he had flown Lasater and repeating Black’s request and explainhis business partner, Patsy Thomas- ing that questions about Seal needed to son, “to Belize to look at a horse farm be “resolved and laid to rest.” But he, that was for sale by a Roy Carver.” He too, said that he did not recall receivsaid that flight had taken place on Feb. ing a response. 8, 1984, within weeks of the aborted Yet, later on, when a reporter asked trip Seal had reportedly planned to Clinton what he had known about Seal, the same location. Lasater and Roger the governor had a somewhat different

arktimes.com SEPTEMBER 14, 2017

ities at Mena Airport and the use of a private airstrip at a similarly remote location near Taos, New Mexico, at a ski resort called Angel Fire” — a resort owned by Lasater. Leach wrote: “Published reports indicate that DEA conducted at least two separate investigations of alleged money laundering and drug trafficking in or around Angel Fire, the first in approximately 1984, and the second in 1988-1989.” He said the second investigation was triggered by allegations from former Angel Fire employees “that the resort was the focal point for ‘a large controlled substance smuggling operation

this property in his narcotics trafficking operations and attempted to buy it in 1983.” Little more was heard of Leach’s investigation for the next three years. Finally, in 1999, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal inquired about its status. Leach’s spokesman responded that investigators were “putting the finishing touches” on their report. But that was the last the public heard. The House Banking Committee’s investigation into what Leach called the “improprieties” relating to Mena has never been released. A nd my book, “The Mena File?” It was not published,

BRYAN MOATS

recollection. He said that, although he had authorized payment of $25,000 to fund the grand jury Black had requested, “Nothing ever came of that.” On the subject of Seal, the usually astute governor had come across as unusually uninformed. A citizens’ group called the Arkansas Committee suspected that state and federal authorities had agreed to protect Seal in Arkansas. Disturbed by Clinton’s apparent disinterest, members of the group at one point unfurled a 10-footlong banner at the state Capitol that asked: WHY IS CLINTON PROTECTING BUSH? In 1992, when Clinton and George H.W. Bush opposed each other for president, neither candidate mentioned Seal. After Clinton’s election as president, when White House correspondent Sarah McClendon asked him what he knew about Mena, he remained adamant but vague as he mischaracterized Black’s investigation. “It was primarily a matter for federal jurisdiction,” he said. “The state really had next to nothing to do with it. “The local prosecutor did conduct an investigation based on what was in the jurisdiction of state law. The rest of it was under the jurisdiction of the United States attorneys who were appointed successively by previous administrations. We had nothing — zero — to do with

•••

THE FAT MAN AND THE FAT LADY: Seal and his C-123 airplane, both nicknamed for their girth.

a nd it, and everybody who’s ever looked l a r g e into it knows that.” scale money Almost a decade after Seal’s death, laundering activU.S. Rep. James A. Leach (R-Iowa) ity.’ ” took an interest in what one of the Leach added: “The alleged activity people he questioned, CIA Director at Angel Fire was roughly contempoJohn Deutch, later described as “alle- raneous with the money laundering gations of money laundering and other and narcotics trafficking alleged to activities” in Mena. As chairman of have taken place in or around Mena the House Banking Committee, Leach Airport during the period 1982-1986.” was well positioned to investigate such Leach sent congressional investiclaims. He told reporters: “We have gators to Arkansas. And he asked the more than sufficient documentation U.S. Customs Service what it knew that improprieties occurred at Mena. about “the disposition of potentially This isn’t a made-up issue. There are ill-gotten gains by Seal or his associgrounds to pursue it very seriously.” ates,” especially with regard to “a piece In a letter to the DEA, Leach asked of property in Belize known variously the agency to provide all documents as the Cotter, Cutter or Carver Ranch,” relating to “possible ties between activ- because, “Barry Seal allegedly used

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ARKANSAS TIMES

in part because I’d been careful, but also because the most serious allegations — those concerning Rich Mountain Aviation — had already been vetted years ago for a section about Seal in my book, “The Boys on the Tracks.” But I was in for a shock. Lorenzen told me that his boss, David Stricklin, the ASI’s director, had suddenly expressed some “concerns” about the book. Lorenzen further reported that, while these concerns were legal in nature, Stricklin had said the ASI could not afford to have the manuscript vetted. Neither the decision nor Lorenzen’s explanation that “we’re just a shoestring press” made sense. From the start, the book was intended to be a solid work of Arkansas history buoyed by a major Hollywood film. What’s more, Random House had already contracted to buy its audio rights and paid an advance. From a business point of view, the ASI’s position defied logic. I asked Lorenzen if the newly arisen concerns might be political rather than financial, but was told nothing more. Lorenzen proposed rescinding our contract. Seeing no reasonable way forward, I agreed. As I’d written the book without an advance, the deal’s undoing was simple.

either. I’d completed the manuscript, with hundreds of supporting notes, by this time last year. Lorenzen, who had prepared the index, was pleased. The book was listed in the University of Arkansas Press catalog and for presale on sites such as Amazon.com. It was time for an attorney to read the manuscript to make sure it contained nothing libelous. This vetting process is standard for books of contemporary nonfiction, especially those involving crimes. Having been through the process with publishers of my other books, I understood the need and was ready. I was also unconcerned,

y now I’ve had a year to reflect on my experiences in writing about Seal, as well as those of Duncan, Welch, Black, Alexander, members of the Arkansas Committee, and others who’ve tried to shed light on his time in Arkansas. None of us much succeeded. So I’m glad that at least Hollywood has found Seal’s “true lies” worth exploring. Too many secrets have been kept for too long; too much important history has been hidden, lost or destroyed. Let’s hope that Cruise’s high-powered version of Seal prompts an equally high-powered demand for disclosure of all government records on him, especially after his move to Mena. Mara Leveritt is author of “The Boys on the Tracks,” “Devil’s Knot” and “Dark Spell.”

BRIAN CHILSON

SCENES FROM WHOLE HOG ROASTS PAST: Pork for everyone.

Puttin’ on the hog The Times’ event offers all the whole pig meat you can eat.

you build your fire, what temperature you keep,” Kearns said. His preferred method is in a cinder block pit; many of the teams will have elaborate smoking rigs attached to trailers. The hogs the pros are roasting aren’t your run of the mill swine. These are Boston Mountain Hogs, a heritagestyle breed Katie Short of Farm Girl Meats developed with growers in North and West Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. They’re bred to be physically active, which means the fat PROFESSIONAL TEAMS is marbled throughout the meat, which gives it more flavor potential, Short @ the Corner said. Plus, Farm Girl’s 130-acre farm The ladies who own and run the

BRIAN CHILSON

t’s fall, y’all. How do we know, besides, you know, the passing of the autumnal equinox last week? Because it’s time again for the Arkansas Times’ meatiest event of the year, the fifth annual Whole Hog Roast. So clear your calendar and make plans to attend the pork smorgasbord from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 1, at the Argenta Plaza in North Little Rock. The recipe remains similar to last year: Eight teams made up of chefs and seasoned pitmasters will roast 100-pound hogs from Farm Girl Meats in Perry County; and four amateur teams will smoke their best pork butt. Attendees get to eat their way through the competition, along with sides provided by presenting sponsor Ben E. Keith, for just $15 in advance at centralarkansastickets. com, or $20 at the door. Event wrangler Brian Kearns, of Simply the Best Catering and the Canvas restaurant at the Arkansas Arts Center, encourages anyone who has ever wanted to smoke a pig to come watch the process. Teams will probably start setting up midday Saturday, get their fires going in the evening and put their hogs on to start cooking around midnight. Hog roasters can cook in any manner they like as long as it’s done on-site. “There’s a lot of different ways to do it, but the trickiest part is getting it to finish at the same time — how

provides plenty of room for the swine to run free, foraging on seeds, nuts, blackberry and greenbrier crowns and, if they’re still hungry, a locally milled, specially balanced grain. All that natural food adds to the flavor, Short says. The Argenta Plaza is at Sixth and Main streets in downtown North Little Rock. Doors open at 1 p.m. and food will be served at 2 p.m., rain or shine, and the party will continue on until 5 p.m. Flyway Brewing Co. will have its mega-popular Bluewing Berry Wheat, Early Bird IPA (especially good with spicy sauce, co-owner Jess McMullen says) and Free Range Brown Ale (the ultimate barbecue beer, McMullen says). It and wine will be for sale for $5. Local rockers Good Time Ramblers share a bill with the sweet-harmonizing Wildflower Revue.

downtown breakfast and lunch destination @ the Corner — sisters Helen Grace and Leila King and their sisterin-law, chef Kamiya Merrick — have stepped up their hog-roasting game since last year’s event. Leila King says they had such a good time at the event last year, @ the Corner commissioned a custom-built smoker on a trailer for catering and cook-offs. This year’s plan is to brine the hog for several days in Rock Town Distillery’s bourbon, Rebel Kettle’s Working Glass Hero beer and spices. Then they’ll rub it down with their house rub mix and smoke it as long as possible, using hickory and a Rock Town bourbon barrel to make their fire. “We wanted to include as much local stuff as possible,” Leila King said. The Argenta Buttrubbers Charlie Hart with the Argenta Buttrubbers team said he’s the “builder,” tasked with constructing and maintaining the cinderblock fire pit where the team will cook their hog for the event. Veterans of the amateur Boston buttonly class at previous Times hog roasts, the team — which is sponsored by the Memphis lunch spot Blink SCO — will be moving up to the whole pig this year, with most of the cooking handled by barbecue purists Ricky O’Rourke and Josh Wills. Cooking a whole hog requires a different technique, Hart said, including not allowing the hog to get so hot that it combusts, making sure it cooks evenly, and carefully tending the fire through the night. Hart said the team did a practice run earlier this year over pecan and cherry, cooking an “Asian fusion” style hog on a pit designed exactly like the one they plan CONTINUED ON PAGE 52 arktimes.com SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

NEGATIVE SPACE.CO

Under the Skin What happens in childhood affects our lives, brains and genetics.

here’s long been debate in the scientific community about nature versus nurture:

Is it our genes or our environment and experiences that make us who we are? In the last decade, researchers in the fields of medicine, biology, psychology and neurobiology have found that what happens to us in our childhoods can have a profound effect on our bodies and minds, down to the genetic level. Significant adversity in a child’s life – having an incarcerated parent, witnessing domestic violence, suffering abuse and neglect – can literally get under their skin and cause toxic stress, where the body and mind are in constant fight-or-flight mode. Under normal conditions, when our fight-or-flight response is activated, it helps prepare us to get out of danger, such as meeting a bear in the woods. The flood of stress hormones isn’t meant to stay in the body for long periods of time; when those hormones are always at high levels, it creates toxic stress. When there are no stable, supportive adult relationships in a child’s life to protect them, a child’s body will step in to do

SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

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the job, keeping them in a constant survival mode. “Toxic stress in the developing bodies and brains of children sets them up for a whole host of challenges,” Chad Rodgers, MD, FAAP, a Little Rock pediatrician and chief medical officer of the Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care, said. “Stressed brains can’t learn or focus on the future – they’re too absorbed with surviving the day.” Toxic stress changes the brain structure. The part of the brain that controls the fight-or-flight response gets bigger, while the area that controls emotions gets smaller. The result can be impulsivity, hypervigilance, an inability to focus – unconscious survival strategies that don’t do well in the classroom. Stress hormones can also change our epigenetics, or the chemical process of how genes are turned on and off, which can impact health well into adulthood. The connection between severe childhood adversity and health was discovered in the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study in the mid-1990s. More than 17,000 people – the majority of whom were white, middle-aged, and college educated – were surveyed about 10 types of childhood adversity: physical and emotional abuse and neglect, divorce, a parent who suffered from substance abuse or mental illness, witnessing domestic violence, and an incarcerated parent. A point was assigned for each “yes” answer; the total point number was the ACE score. The study results were staggering. Almost 64 percent of the study participants had at least one ACE, and 38 percent had more than one. When the study investigators matched ACE scores with health insurance claims data, they found the higher a person’s ACE score, the more likely that person would have a chronic disease, obesity, substance abuse, mental ill-

ness, heart disease and premature death. Other ACE studies have echoed the original findings and added a few more: People with high ACE scores had a higher risk for incarceration and for becoming victims of violence. Almost 60 percent of Arkansas children and adults have at least one ACE. But history is not destiny. Children who have support systems in place – a trusted adult in their lives, access to mental health treatment, schools that are trauma-informed – can build resilience and weather adversity without developing toxic stress. “Now is the time to come together to build resilient families and communities,” Rodgers said. “Every child deserves a champion. If we all make the commitment to be one for the children in our lives, we can transform our communities for the better.” Community Service Inc. has been helping with the mental health needs of the youth of Conway, Faulkner, Franklin, Johnson, Logan, Perry, Pope, Searcy, Scott, Van Buren and Yell counties since 1958. The numerous success stories about children the organization has served are a testament to the staff’s dedication as well as a beacon of hope for all children who come through their door. For example, Aaron grew up in Illinois with his mother and siblings. They were forced to live in an unsafe environment. Aaron’s mother used drugs, partied, drank, went to bars, and met up with random men. This meant that Aaron had to take care of his siblings. Aaron’s mother did not work, clean the house, or pay the bills, so they rarely had running water, food, or basic hygiene necessities. Aaron and his siblings lived off cheap bread and whatever else Aaron could come up with. Aaron was forced to go to school unbathed, in dirty clothes, and was bullied daily due to the way he looked and smelled. Aaron got in trouble multiple times in school for fighting back after being bullied and for defending his family’s situation. Aaron experienced situations in which he needed guidance from his mother, and never received it. Aaron attempted to teach his siblings life lessons and assist them with meeting their basic needs, all while his needs were not being met. Aaron was forced to raise his siblings until the age of 10, when his father went to Illinois and brought him back to Arkansas. Once he arrived in Arkansas, he had difficulty assimilating to having rules, expectations, and someone that actually cared. Aaron struggled with making friends because he was so used to being bullied, that he had put a wall up and

would get defensive with people. Aaron finally got into enough trouble that he was court-ordered to Community Service Inc. day treatment. Aaron began the program, and struggled initially with opening up. Aaron kept to himself, and would not allow anyone to help him. Eventually he began to trust the staff and realized that he needed to make changes for himself in order to have a better future. With help from the day treatment staff and his therapist at CSI, Aaron began opening up, and was able to work through the childhood trauma that he experienced. Aaron became a leader in the program and was helpful, dependable, respectful, and overall able to make huge progress in the program. Aaron successfully completed the program, and will be returning to regular school.

your teen may roll his or her eyes, but deep down, teens still need to know you love and care for them. Knowing that you love them for who they are in spite of their flaws can foster self-confidence and self-worth.

Behind offers services, training and advocacy to families and children separated by incarceration. More children from birth to 5 years are affected by incarceration in Arkansas than average nationally. A mother who is sent to prison when If your child or teen is experiencing feel- her baby is very young will be unable to ings of depression, grief, acting out or hav- breastfeed, and that may have an effect on ing other behavioral problems, CSI can help. attachment and bonding between her and Give them a call today at 1-800-379-0553. her child. Arkansas Voices advocates for more time for mothers in the hospital after ••• birth and for breast pumps to be provided to new mothers in prison so that they may Arkansas Voices for the Children Left continue to provide nutrition for their

CSI staff members know parenting is one of the most challenging – and simultaneously the most rewarding – job out there. Dr. Susan Okroglic, DSW, LCSW president/CEO, offers the following tips to help parents along the way: 1. Set firm, clear boundaries. Children crave structure. They need to know what the rules are, as well as the consequences for breaking them. It is difficult for a child to understand the expectations if the rules are inconsistent or if the consequences aren’t enforced. 2. Set age-appropriate, logical consequences. A consequence that would be appropriate for a 6-year-old is not likely to be appropriate for a 16-year-old. Another point to consider is that consequences need to be logically connected to the child or teen’s misbehavior. A consequence for making a mess might be to add additional chores. 3. Give choices. Sometimes letting a young child choose between the “red shirt” or the “blue shirt,” helps foster independence and decision-making skills. Asking a teen for input regarding which chore they would like to help you with also gives them an opportunity to actively participate in decision-making, and models respectful communication skills and teamwork. 4. Pick your battles. It’s difficult to know when to hold your ground or when to let things slide. If something is dangerous, or might be damaging to your child’s character, then of course one should act. However, sometimes letting minor stuff go can help decrease your stress level. This is worth noting as children often respond to the emotional states of their parents. 5. Never stop telling them you love them! Younger children depend on the bond with their parents to learn how to relate to others. Children reap the benefits of a positive, healthy attachment to you over the course of a lifetime. Of course,

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SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

holistic services to help children heal after the trauma of separation from their parents; mold kinship caregivers and the children in their care into strong, stable families; and intervene in the cycle of intergenerational family problems associated with parental incarceration. All services are tailored to the limitations, strengths and assets of grandparents, whose involvement in focus groups and participant evaluations have shaped our view of how best to help these vulnerable families and which services and service delivery produce the best outcomes. Arkansas Voices has a long history of

ARKANSAS VOICES FOR THE CHILDREN LEFT BEHIND SEEKING JUSTICE FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES SINCE 1994.

Our Mission: To advocate for children left behind by incarceration or loss of a parent for any reason and to provide mentoring, services and supports for the children, their caregivers, and incarcerated parents, with the goal of strengthening and empowering the family unit.

Vision a world with: • Justice, compassion and equal opportunities for children with incarcerated parents or returning parents

• Support for kinship caregivers and recognition of the sacrifices they make to raise the children of relatives

• Restorative Justice opportunities and community support for returning parents who want to build a new, productive life

• Equity for families of all races and cultural backgrounds impacted by incarceration, with equal access to health care, education, employment, housing, and public benefits.

For more information, call 501-366-3647, Dee Ann Newell www.arkansasvoices.org 22

SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

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collaborations with other groups, community stakeholders and networks. Many of the coalition members who were involved in forming the organization continue as collaborators and/or partners in the provision of services to Arkansas Voices clients. The organization’s faith-based partners are a source of both supportive volunteers and unique services. Arkansas Voices has received donations of child-care slots for the younger children with no tuition costs and elementary education for a child of a caregiver who needed a more structured academic setting following the turmoil that preceded placement with her grandmother. The role of the Catholic Diocese has been especially valuable. Beyond the Catholic Bishop’s Campaign for Human Development funding that the diocese has provided for community organizing of kinship caregivers, diocese staff consistently serve on our various advocacy coalitions. Other faith groups have served as a valuable resource for early childhood services for the caregivers. Arkansas Voices is an affiliate of the National Resource Center for Children and Families of the Incarcerated at Rutgers University and the National Policy Partnership for Children of Incarcerated Parents, providing information to other entities around the nation serving children of the incarcerated. Arkansas Voices staff provides technical assistance and presentations at national conferences and convening of experts to help in policy and practice reforms, along with services to groups seeking to serve the children and families, including grant-writing and trainings. Arkansas Voices is convening a study group on how best to create policies and practices for children 5 and under who are affected by parental incarceration. If you are interested in serving on the organization’s Good Start initiatives, call Dee Ann Newell at 501-366-3647. ••• For 30 years The BridgeWay has offered a continuum of services to help children, adolescents and adults with behavioral, emotional or addictive problems that can lead to fractured lives. Children, adolescents and young adults are as susceptible to mental health issues as any adult, and The BridgeWay tailors its services to each one who suffers. The organization’s programs are based on the concept that each person has an inherent capacity to learn and grow and are designed to meet the unique needs of each one, through evaluation services; medication management;,individual, family

PEXELS

babies. The organization also advocates for nurseries in prisons whenever that service is possible. Women in prisons are more likely to have high-risk pregnancies than women who are not incarcerated. Arkansas Voices staffers have led prenatal and postpartum classes for female inmates who are pregnant or who have recently given birth, in an effort to help women be healthy mentally and physically, and has advocated for a ban on the shackling or handcuffing women in labor. Over time, Arkansas Voices has developed evidence-based interventions and

or group therapy; recreational therapy; dietary services,; case management and discharge planning. In Arkansas, suicide is the third leading cause of death for all 15-24 year olds and the fifth leading cause of death for all 10-14 year olds in the state. It is the second leading cause of death for people between 10 and 34 years old. Jason Miller, chief executive officer of The BridgeWay, calls on everyone to watch for warning signs of suicide and provide immediate comfort to prevent tragedy. “Working in behavioral health, I understand the impact of suicide. I know that the thousands of patients we treat each year have contemplated or even attempted suicide. But even I was a bit shocked by that statistic when I first read it,” he wrote recently. “As expansive and inclusive as the mental health landscape is, few things touch our hearts more than the well-being of our children. Unfortunately, our children, adolescents, and young adults are as susceptible to emotional and behavioral health problems as any adult — maybe even more so.” The BridgeWay offers inpatient services for children ages 4-12 who are experiencing acute crisis, with a goal of stabilizing the child’s behavior while working with the family to ensure growth and reunion. Inpatient treatment may be necessary for children suffering from depression, schizophrenia, chemical dependency or other issues. Those services may include group and individual therapy, activity and recreational therapy, family therapy and parenting education, health and nutrition education, medication management and educational support as well as planning for care post-discharge. The organization recognizes that the problems today’s youth struggle with are unique to their generation, and that if those problems aren’t addressed, they may have lasting effects on the family and other relationships.

The Methodist Behavioral Hospital in The program provides mental health serMaumelle has 60 beds and specializes in vices for the women and children as well treating children and adolescents, ages 3 as offering early intervention and outpato 17, who pose immediate danger to them- tient drug and alcohol counseling. selves or others. The goal of the acute inpaThe Methodist Family Health Foundatient service at the hospital is to connect tion raises money for clothing, personal patients with community resources that hygiene products, school supplies and will bolster their success after their release. other necessities for patients and famiThe sub-acute, or long-term, unit is set up lies as well as therapy tools and resources, to help children struggling with chronic group home furnishes, facility improvemental, behavioral and emotional issues, ments, recreation items, summer camps, stabilizing their behaviors and making it scholarships, Bibles and other study possible for them to live in less-restrictive guides. To donate or volunteer, call 501environments. 661-0720 or e-mail info@methodistfamHelping children heal. Methodist Family Health has two resi- ily.org. To see ways you might help, visit dential treatment centers – one in Little Rock and one near Jonesboro – geared toward helping children ages 6 to 17 who Some of those issues may be success- are struggling with chronic mental health fully treated outside of the structured envi- issues in a less-restrictive environment. ronment of inpatient services. Some chilThe organization’s therapeutic group dren may experience emotions they can’t homes, in Fayetteville, Heber Springs, Litadequately express and may feel hopeless tle Rock, Helena-West Helena, Magnolia, and withdraw from their friends and loved Searcy and Springdale – provide emotional ones, but The Bridgeway staff wants them and behavioral treatment in a family-like to know there is hope and that with help setting for children 12-to-18 years old. The they can emerge from their depression homes are led by teaching-parents, who and recover. are foster parents as well as treatment Warning signs that may indicate a need professionals. for assessment or treatment at The BridgeThere are therapeutic day-treatment Way are sadness or anxiousness that are programs for kindergarten through 12th out of the ordinary, difficulty concentrat- graders in Benton and Little Rock schools ing or recalling simple things or making who are unable to perform in regular acadecisions, loss of interest in day-to-day demic settings. These treatment programs activities, increased agitation and con- offer additional educational, behavioral, flicts, self-harming or aggressive behavior emotional and social support with the and hearing or seeing things not present. help of a multidisciplinary team to help students be more successful in a school The BridgeWay , at 21 Bridgeway Road environment. in North Little Rock, may be reached at 501School-based counseling programs 771-1500 or 1-800-BRIDGEWAY. are available for outpatient mental health services for students in Harrisburg, Hot ••• Springs, Lincoln, Jonesboro, Nettleton and Vilonia and in Van Buren and White Methodist Family Health has pledged counties. for 118 years to help rebuild the lives of Methodist Family Health’s counselArkansas children and their families. ing clinics offer outpatient counseling as The nonprofit organization can trace well as psychological testing, psychiatric its roots back to 1899, with the founding assessments, medication management and of the United Methodist Children’s Home other therapies for children, groups and in Little Rock. The organization’s mission families in Alma, Heber Springs, Jonesis to give the best possible care to those boro, Magnolia, Batesville, Fayetteville, who need it and treat the whole person – Hot Springs and Little Rock. behaviorally, emotionally and spiritually. The Kaleidoscope Grief Center in the All programs use the Teaching-Family Methodist Counseling Clinic in Little Rock Model, an evidence-based model of care, is the only program in the state to offer extensively researched for effective ways to children and youth grief counseling, to emphasize the positive teaching of func- peer support groups, a camp and activitional skills and behaviors. ties for children and families who have Methodist Family Health began as an lost loved ones. orphanage and has grown and expanded Arkansas Center for Addictions, to more than 20 inpatient and outpatient Research, Education and Services (Arkancare locations in Arkansas to serve thou- sas CARES) is a residential substancesands of children and families with a wide- abuse treatment center designed to help range of comprehensive psychiatric and women mothering children from infancy behavioral health care services. to age 12 break the cycle of their addictions.

Be the

VOICE to

www.methodistfamily.org/ways-to-give/. For more information about Methodist Family Health, visit MethodistFamily.org or connect with us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/methodistfamilyhealth/), Twitter (@MethodistFamily) or Instagram (@ MethodistFamilyHealth). For emergency care, call 866-813-3388, available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. •••

PHUMC Hosts Community

#STOPSUICIDE

JOIN US AS WE WALK TO PREVENT SUICIDE. WHEN:

Sunday, November 5, 2017 Check-in at 12 noon Walk at 2:15 pm

WHERE:

Dickey-Stephens Park

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Screening of ‘Resilience’ Want to know more about adverse childhood experiences, their effects and how to build resilience? Join us for a free screening of the documentary “Resilience: The Biology of Stress and the Science of Hope” at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 12, at Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church, 4823 Woodlawn St. From the movie’s website: “As the new documentary ‘Resilience’ reveals, toxic stress can trigger hormones that wreak havoc on the brains and bodies of children, putting them at a greater risk for disease, homelessness, prison time, and early death. While the broader impacts of poverty worsen the risk, no segment of society is immune. ‘Resilience,’ however, also chronicles the dawn of a movement that is determined to fight back.” At the end of the movie, Dr. Christina Bethell, a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and director of the Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative, will talk about current research on adverse childhood experiences and resilience, and will also participate in a question and answer session.

Statewide Workgroup Tackles ACEs Almost 60 percent of Arkansas children and adults have at least one adverse childhood experience, which increases their likelihood of developing chronic disease, substance abuse problems or mental illness. A group of people representing 50 organizations and state agencies in fields such as medicine, public health, law enforcement, education, early childhood education, mental health and human services have come together to push for change. AFMC and the Arkansas Department of Health partnered this spring to form the Arkansas Adverse Childhood Experiences/Resilience Workgroup. The group quickly grew through word of mouth and is hosting its first summit from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, Oct. 13, at Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church in Little Rock. The workgroup’s aims include raising awareness about adverse childhood experiences and resilience, developing training for professionals working with children and families and other affected

populations, and developing policy recommendations. For more information about the workgroup, contact Janie Ginocchio, AFMC lead policy and program analyst, at jginocchio@ afmc.org or 501-212-8644. ••• St. Luke Children’s Learning Center, a mission of Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church, will be an innovative learning and parent support center designed to provide superior learning, development and therapeutic opportunities for children up to age 3. St. Luke Children’s Learning Center intends to offer parenting classes, home visits, family counseling and need-based referrals, all while incorporating Christian elements into an interactive curriculum that is continually realigned to meet the needs of children following the teachings of Jesus Christ and “The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church.” Teachers, staff and families at St. Luke Children’s Learning Center will be informed about adverse childhood experiences and the lifelong effects those have on babies ages 0-3. They will also be informed about building resilience in children so they can bounce back and overcome negative or adverse experiences. Partnerships that St. Luke Children’s Learning Center has formed with organizations with similar goals – the University District Project, Oak Forest United Methodist Church, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, Centers for Youth and Families, the Arkansas Department of Health and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock – make it possible to meet the needs of the whole family. Twenty-seven percent of Arkansas’s children live in poverty, so to ease the pressure and stress on families that are working and going to school in hopes of a stronger future, St. Luke Children’s Learning

Center offers long hours of care for children – 6 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. It also offers high-quality early learning for low-income families, which is scarce for families in our community that qualify for state vouchers or reduced tuition. St. Luke accepts state vouchers as tuition payment, and because the need is great – there are 2,800 children on the Arkansas Department of Human Services waiting list for state vouchers – it also offers an income-based sliding scale for tuition payments. St. Luke Children’s Learning Center is an Early Head Start partner. Families that qualify for Head Start are invited to apply for enrollment for their children. The center, licensed and accredited through the state, provides free or reduced-price meals and snacks for children. It’s difficult for children to learn when they don’t feel well. St. Luke Children’s Learning Center provides health and dental screenings and helps families that do not have a medical home find one that works for them so they can stay healthy. St. Luke will also conduct developmental assessments to ensure that children are where they need to be, and if the assessments show that they need help, St. Luke will work with them to create a plan to meet their goals. Because 75 percent of all the eighthgraders in Arkansas are behind in math and because 63 percent of the state’s thirdgraders are not reading at grade level, St. Luke has put in place a reading program to ensure that the children who attend have a high vocabulary list to give them a boost academically, thereby greatly enhancing their chances of graduating from high school and growing up to be happy, productive members of society. St. Luke Children’s Learning Center, 6401 W. 32nd St., is under renovation but is expected to open Jan. 2, if not before. For more information about the center, please contact Courtney CarlLee at ccarllee@phumc. com or 501978-0527.

REBUILDING THE LIVES OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES SINCE 1899 24

SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

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••• Arkansas State Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children (CASA) volunteers are among the few stable adults in the lives of the abused or neglected children they speak up for in the courtroom and elsewhere. In Arkansas alone there are approximately 58,000 investigations of child abuse and maltreatment each year. A total of about 9,500 cases are confirmed to be abuse: physical, sexual, or a combination of both. CASA advocates aren’t required to have special experience or legal skills. They are just expected to use common sense and to have a passion for helping the children who are victims in those cases. They aren’t foster parents or caregivers, and they don’t provide shelter or mentoring for these vulnerable children but they do ensure that children in foster care have voices and collaborate with other childservice agencies to best caring for those vulnerable children. They are there to listen, help and speak up to keep those children from getting lost in the system and to make sure those children’s needs are met. CASA volunteers establish stable relationships with foster children, getting to know their unique histories, which is crucial because those children are the most likely to be bounced from home to home and not everyone who cares for them in the foster system will have the time or opportunity to get to know them as intensely as a CASA volunteer assigned to them can. The familiarity and consistency will help a CASA volunteer make informed recommendations about their care to the courts. Understandably, children with advocates are more likely to get needed services and to end up in permanent, stable homes. Arkansas CASA is part of a national network of 955 programs that recruit, train and support volunteers to represent children’s interests. Since the inception of the state’s first CASA program in Pulaski County in 1987, the organization has grown exponentially, spreading to across the state and garnering hundreds of volunteers. Juvenile judges have talked to their colleagues about the value of trained CASA volunteers in their courtrooms. Planning teams and boards of

Rebuilding the Lives of Children and Families Since 1899

MethodistFamily.org

E VERY CHILD DESERVES A

Champion But it’s not always easy to find one. Not having enough food • Divorce • Parents who do drugs Domestic violence • A parent serving time in prison Events like these have a drastic effect on children and may lead them down a dark path. Adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, can set children up to fail later in life. They may face serious problems as adults such as depression, domestic violence, alcoholism and suicide attempts. Our children need help early in life.

Our children deserve champions.

Take the pledge today to stand up against ACEs. Go to afmc.org/ACEs to sign the pledge and learn how you can help. arktimes.com SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

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EVERY CHILD IN FOSTER CARE HAS A CHANCE – IT’S YOU!

Court Appointed Special Advocates FOR CHILDREN ARKANSAS

directors put countless hours into planning and direction. If you would like to be a CASA volunteer, visit the interactive map on the organization’s website, http://www.arkansascasa.net, to find the location nearest you. You will fill out an application, go through a background check and complete 30 hours of training. This training prepares you to be a strong advocate and covers legally mandated topics. You’ll learn about the dynamics of child abuse and juvenile law and court structure. You will also learn safety regulations and what to do in stressful situations. As the final step before becoming a volunteer and being assigned to help a child in need, you will take an oath before a judge.

and gross motor skills. Several therapists at Grow Learning Centre have specialized training for work with children who are on the autism spectrum. They are versed in Developmental, Individual-Difference, RelationshipBased model, or DIR/Floortime, and in the Hanen More Than Words method. The Hanen method helps address communication barriers experienced by many children with autism and social communication disorders. Floortime focuses on communication barriers as well as relationship abilities for children with special needs. In the center’s pre-kindergarten program, occupational therapists and classroom teachers use the Handwriting Without Tears program to enforce pre-writing skills. Bilingual therapists are available to do therapy sessions on-site in both EngFor more information, please call the lish and Spanish. Parent training is also Arkansas State CASA Association at 501- available, by a therapist trained in the 410-1952. Hanen program, to teach families to use the same methods used at school in their ••• own homes for consistency. This training is offered in both English and Spanish. Grow Learning Centre offers a comThe center strives to keep at least one prehensive, multidisciplinary program for Spanish-speaking classroom staff member children up to age 6, with on-site pediat- in every room to facilitate communication ric medical/nursing services as well as between staff, students and parents in speech, occupational and physical therapy both English and Spanish, as well. in a nurturing educational environment. The center’s staff manage classroom The center’s model moves children behavior through Conscious Discipline, diagnosed with developmental disabilities which uses brain research and developthrough individually designed interven- mentally appropriate practices. It also tion programs addressing normal devel- uses the Picture Exchange Communicaopmental milestones that have been chal- tion System to give non-verbal children lenged by their early identified disabilities. alternative ways to communicate needs Highly qualified teachers are on staff and desires. to help your child learn through the Children with many diagnoses are Whole Language Approach curriculum accepted for treatment at Grow Learning in classrooms. The curriculum covers Centre. Diagnoses may include but are not cognitive, self-help, social-emotional, fine limited to Developmental Delay, Autism,

Providing Speech, Occupational, Physical Therapy and Nursing Services in an Educational Day Treatment Environment Ages: 6 weeks to 6 years 501-850-8788 5 Remington Cove Little Rock, AR 72204

For more information: e-mail casa@arcourts.gov W W W. A R K A N S A S C A S A . N E T 26

SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

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www.growlearningcentre.com

arktimes.com SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

Pinnacle Pointe Behavioral

Failure to Thrive, Speech/Language Delays, icaid funding, including Tefra, ARKids Health Services Fine/Gross Motor Delays, Seizure Disor- A, and SSI as payment for day treatment Pinnacle Point Hospital offers acute ders, Prenatal Drug/Alcohol Exposures, services, and will contact your insurance inpatient and residential treatment for Cerebral Palsy, Spina Bifida, Down Syn- provider to determine your child’s eligi- children and adolescents ages 5 to 17. drome and other cognitive disorders. bility for the program. Acute inpatient treatment is advised Children are accepted at Grow Learnafter an assessment is completed and our ing Centre as young as 6 weeks old because Grow Learning Centre is at 5 Rem- psychiatrist concludes that the patient’s research has shown that the earlier inter- ington Cove. For more information about condition cannot be safely or effectively vention is made in children with speech Grow Learning Centre or to schedule a tour, treated on an outpatient basis. The proand motor delays, the better the child’s please call 501-850-8788 or visit its website, gram is a comprehensive therapeutic, intensive treatment led by a team of highly prognosis will be long-term. A kindergar- www.growlearningcentre.com. experienced mental health professionals, ten waiver can be obtained for your child including psychiatrists, case managers, if he or she attends the program through ••• clinical therapists, certified teachers, reg6 years of age. istered nurses and recreational therapists. Grow Learning Centre accepts MedResidential inpatient treatment may be indicated in our facility for children and adolescents ages 5-17 with longstanding emotional and behavioral health issues. Our physician-led residential treatment program addresses children’s entire wellbeing including medical, psychiatric, social and academic needs. The residential treatment program provides a variety of therapies and activities in a safe, comfortable environment. Pinnacle Pointe Behavioral Healthcare also includes statewide services provided by Pinnacle Pointe Outpatient Behavioral Health. The services provided include intensive outpatient, school-based, outpatient and an Alternative Learning Center. Outpatient services include individual, family and group therapy, medication management, case management and psychological testing. Families should talk openly about concerns or behavioral changes they observe. No one should be afraid to ask for help for their family when they feel uncertain how to handle an issue that arises. It takes strength and courage to reach out for help. At Pinnacle, we strive to meet families no matter where they are or what they are facing with a promise to provide a compassionate, hope-filled environment, and tools to equip them to handle the problems they are facing. Taking that first step and reaching out is the most vital step of all – we will help you with every one of the following steps on your journey. Outpatient and/or school-based services provided in the following communities: Batesville, Benton/Bryant, Cabot, Clinton, Conway, Fordyce, Forrest City, Harmony Grove, Greater Hot Springs, Little Rock, Pine Bluff, Searcy, Sheridan and Stuttgart.

Reaching New Horizons without barriers AGES 6 WEEKS – 5 YEARS Curriculum-based Learning FREE After School Care For Ages Up To 12 Years

FREE Speech, Physical & Occupational Therapy WE ACCEPT VOUCHERS

•••

1410 W Daisy Bates Little Rock, AR 72202

SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

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The integrated facility of the Evelyn D. Johnson Child Enrichment Center, which is owned by Arkansas Quality Therapy, accommodates families of the Greater Little Rock area with a positive, caring atmo-

sphere, providing children with enriching academic services, tender love and care, quality nutrition, and excellent therapy services at an affordable price. Studies show that children with disabilities benefit greatly from being with children of typical abilities, and children with typical abilities learn respect, acceptance and appropriate responses by being with their disabled peers. The structures and programs in EDJ Child Enrichment Center support both typical and delayed children. Children learn through play, so classroom routines are crafted to encourage active involvement, meaningful experimentation and reinforcement through repetition. Schedules are designed to balance structure and play, as well as active and quiet times. The staff at EDJ Child Enrichment Center treats each child as an individual, working from their initial development evaluation and moving forward one step at a time. Staffers teach a love of learning, allowing children to experience opportunities and recognize their successes. EDJ Child Enrichment Center offers behavioral intervention, speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy and assistive technology. Each day at EDJ Child Enrichment Center, highly qualified, well-trained teachers lead children through an advanced curriculum and exciting programs, including language, mathematics, science, creative arts, music, motor skills and social development. Children start their days with circle time, gathering together for the morning song, Pledge of Allegiance and the classroom pledge. Classroom helpers are assigned – there is a line leader, a weather watcher, a teacher’s helper, etc. Physical activity is also part of the children’s routine day, with children going outside to the playground daily. Music and movement, a stimulating program of singing and dancing, is offered weekly. Children also go on field trips periodically as well, to the zoo, the Children’s Theater, farmers markets and museums. The 25-hour annual training that teachers at EDJ Child Enrichment Center are required to take encompasses the most recent academic advancements, staying current on the revolving practices, thereby ensuring that your child receives the best care and education. Our staff members are all certified in CPR and first aid. Parents are encouraged to ask questions and express concerns so that they may gain insights and learn techniques from the staff and integrate the skills they pick up into their home life. EDJ Child Enrichment Center also

offers free after-school care. It also includes a business education program offering activities and curriculum designed to introduce kids of all ages to entrepreneurship; enterprise skills; business basics; a beginner’s course in the computer lab; providing Microsoft Office readiness; fundamentals of typing and computer etiquette; and music and movement. For more information about the Evelyn D. Johnson Child Enrichment Center, call 501-313-5339, or visit its website at www. edjchildenrichmentcenter.com.

temporary for some children; other times they will persist and grow more severe. In fact, without intervention, about 50% of children with early problems will continue to have serious difficulties in later childhood and adolescence. The good news is that best practices have been identified to promote healthy outcomes and support children and their families in overcoming early challenges. Research says that early interventions are much more cost effective and efficient than waiting until later in the child’s life. Most effective interventions focus on enhancing children’s relationships with

their caregivers (including parents, foster parents, teachers or other caregivers). Examples include home visitation programs, parenting education and mental health interventions for the parent and child. Participation in high-quality early care and education (ECE) programs also supports infant mental health. In fact, studies of children enrolled in high quality ECE settings reveal they are more likely to graduate from high school, become employed and earn more money, and less likely to have become incarcerated or receive welfare services.

Syndey and her mom are enrolled in a home visiting program. Mom shares her concerns with her home visitor, who helps her make a plan to talk to her doctor about how she is feeling. The home visitor also works with Mom to help her think about ways to support Sydney with a consistent schedule and nurturing routines. Gradually Mom starts to feel more confident that she knows how to meet Sydney’s needs. Join and/or visit us at AAIMH.org and facebook.com/AAIMH

••• Sydney is a toddler whose Mom has struggled with depression since before she was born. Mom finds it hard to get out of bed in the morning and sometimes feels overwhelmed by the demands of taking care of a busy toddler. Sydney is often clingy and has tantrums that seem to be getting more frequent and severe.

nfant mental health is the social and emotional well-being that results when infants and toddlers are supported by nurturing relationships. Social development involves learning skills like communicating needs, getting along with others and making friends. Emotional development involves skills like recognizing feelings and expressing them appropriately, and beginning to understand that others have feelings too. When children experience healthy social and emotional development, they are able to form satisfying relationships with others, play, communicate, learn and face challenges successfully. These are the skills children need to succeed in school and life. A dependable relationship with a nurturing, responsive caregiver is the key ingredient for healthy social and emotional development. Early experiences provided by caregivers lay the foundation for life-long physical and emotional health. Children’s well-being is at risk when they experience Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), for example, when their relationships are disrupted, their caregiver is overwhelmed by mental health or substance abuse problems or they experience other difficult events such as abuse, neglect, chronic poverty, witnessing domestic violence or other adverse events. Mental health concerns in young children are not rare. In fact, one in every five to ten young children experience significant difficulties with emotions or behavior. Mental health problems can be SPECIAL ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO THE ARKANSAS TIMES SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

HOT SPRINGS HAPPENINGS

October Hot Tickets in Hot Springs For a complete calendar of events, visit hotsprings.org OCT 1 CHONDA PIERCE“GETTING BACK

OCT 1 THE STARDUST BIG BAND

The Stardust Big Band will hold their October monthly performance at the Arlington Resort Hotel on Sunday, October 1. Music starts at 3pm with arrangements for your listening and dancing pleasure. Reservations not required. A cash bar in the lobby allows attendees to bring their beverage into the Crystal ballroom. When celebrating a special occasion the hotel allows you to bring a cake for your friends. The fun is contagious with everyone sharing in the merriment of the occasion. Admission is $10 and none for students K-12.

TO FUNNY” TOUR. 7 p.m. Emmy nominated and best-selling comedian “the queen of clean” Chonda Pierce has been making audiences laugh for more than two decades with her winning combination of fierce wit and southern charm. Tour also includes special guest Karyn Williams. Ticketing information at www.hotsprings. org/events.

OCT 6-15 26TH ANNUAL HOT SPRINGS

DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL The 26th Annual Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival will be held October 6th

through 15th at the Arlington Hotel and Spa in the Historic Downtown District of Hot Springs. See pages 33-40 in this issue for more information.

OCT 6-15 THE POCKET THEATRE PRES-

ENTS “LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS” A deviously delicious Broadway and Hollywood sci-fi smash musical, Little Shop of Horrors has devoured the hearts of theatre goers for over 30 years. Howard Ashman and Alan Menken (Disney’s The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin) are the creative geniuses behind what has become one of the most popular shows in the world.

HOT WATER HILLS TWO DAYS OF MUSIC & ART IN DOWNTOWN HOT SPRINGS OCTOBER 6-7 ppresented byy

HILL WHEATLEY PLAZA

hotwaterhills.com

DRIVERS PLEASE BE AWARE, IT’S ARKANSAS STATE LAW: USE OF BICYCLES OR ANIMALS

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

OVERTAKING A BICYCLE

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

AND CYCLISTS, PLEASE REMEMBER...

Your bike is a vehicle on the road just like any other vehicle and you must also obey traffic laws— use turning and slowing hand signals, ride on right and yield to traffic as if driving. Be sure to establish eye contact with drivers. Remain visible and predictable at all times. 30 30

SEPTEMBER 28, 2017 ARKANSAS TIMES SEPTEMBER 28, 2017 ARKANSAS TIMES

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OCT 6-7 SEVENTH ANNUAL HOT

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OCTOBER LINE-UP SILKS�BAR�&�GRILL

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Friday & Saturday | �� p.m.–� a.m.

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OCT 25 SCARY-OKE The wildest karaoke competition in Arkansas on Wednesday, October 25 in Silks Bar and Grill from 7-11 p.m. Oaklawn will host the $3,500 Scary-Oke Competition. Half price drinks will be offered in Silks Bar and Grill and Pop’s Lounge during this time. For more information visit www.oaklawn. com/events.

OCT 27-28 FIRST ANNUAL HOT SPRINGS

Friday 4-10 p.m. and Saturday 10-3 p.m. This will be the third year that the Hot Springs Oktoberfest has returned to Hill Wheatley Plaza in downtown Hot Springs! All proceeds for this year’s Oktoberfest benefit The Faces Foundation, a nonprofit organization. To learn more about the Faces Foundation, visit www.fixfaces. org. Oktoberfest is a family-oriented event open to the public. Enjoy a variety of authentic German beers, wines, and German cuisine vendors including brats, schnitzel, etc. For more information visit http://www. hotspringsoktoberfest.com/.

OLD TIME MUSIC WEEKEND Don’t miss out on the opportunity to attend this years’ 1st Annual Hot Springs Old Time Music Weekend featuring Love Holler and The Ozark Highballers. The Ozark Highballers strut a tradition of old-time music best described as “square valley” featuring fiddle, banjo, guitar, and French harp. Love Holler is an old time string band that hails from Mountain View, AR. Twin sisters and their dad play old time, gospel and traditional country music. For more information visit www.hotsprings. org/events.

OCT 13-14 HOT SPRINGS OKTOBERFEST

INU

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WATER HILLS MUSIC AND ARTS FESTIVAL Low Key Arts is hosting the Hot Water Hills Music & Arts Festival for its seventh year at HillWheatley Plaza in downtown Hot Springs October 6th and 7th. Hot Water Hills showcases a full range of excellent music in a variety of styles, quality handcrafted art, free workshops, delicious foods, craft beer and places for the kids to frolic always with an element of surprise and spectacle. Walker Lukens headlines Friday night showing off his latest release “Tell It to the Judge”. Billboard magazine recently gave big props to the Austin-based artist for his inventive blending of genres with his balance of soul and sass. This year’s musical offerings also include Dazz and Brie, Vodi, Claire Morales and Ryan Sauder, Nervous Curtains, Couch Jackets, May the Peace of the Sea Be with You, and a collection of Arkansas Songwriters. The ASMSA Folk Music Class also shares the stage on opening night. Itchy-O, a 32-piece masked marching band from Denver, brings it all to an exciting climax Saturday night. Touring on their new Alternative Tentacles release, From the Itchy-O Overflowing, Itchy-O blur the lines between audience and artists as the band coils through and immerses the crowd. When you’re not listening to the music, stroll through the booths of regional artisans showing off their handmade goods, learning something new in the free workshops, fill up at your choice of 3 food trucks, drink craft beers on tap, watch the kids romp around Cardboard City, and enjoy the day. For more information visit hotwaterhills.com.

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S ’ F AV O R I T E P L A C E T O

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OCT 28 HIGH SCHOOL FISHING ACADEMY

SEMINAR Beginning at 6 p.m, hosted by Visit Hot Springs with assistance from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. Three Arkansas fishing legends will present a free High School Fishing Academy seminar for high school fishing enthusiasts at the Hot Springs Convention Center. Professional fishermen

ITH TS W S! N U O G DISC ARD

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Oaklawn

October 1, Itinerant Locals. Karaoke with Chucky D, Wednesdays, 7 p.m. to midnight. Trivia, Thursdays, 7-9 p.m. Karaoke with Corey, Fridays, 7-10 p.m. Live music at Silks Bar and Grill, 10 p.m.-2 a.m., Fridays and Saturdays: Mister Lucky October 6th, Highway 124 October 13th, Steve Hester Band October 20th, and Moxie October 27th. More information at www.oaklawn.com/events.

5:12 p.m. Tuesday

HAPPY HOUR IS MORE FUN HERE. f ind t his place.

Steve Hester Band

Markk Rose, Stephen h Browning and d Markk Davis will offer tips and techniques the night before the first-ever Arkansas High School Bassmaster High School Series tournament set to begin October 29 on Lake Hamilton. The event will feature two hours of instructional seminars and illustrations, advice on mental preparation, fishing your strengths, ledge fishing and

approaching new water. Davis will h ll be b giving away a half-day fishing trip and the other two pros will give away autographed prizes and tackle awarded by a free drawing. The seminar is open to the public and refreshments will be on sale. For more information visit www. hotsprings.org/events or call Steve Arrison at 501-321-2027.

TO ADVERTISE IN THE ARKANSAS TIMES HOT SPRINGS SECTION, CONTACT LEEMAJOR@ARKTIMES.COM OR CALL 501-492-3972

Live Music Calendar WEDNESDAYS, WEEKLY

OCTOBER 21

Karaoke with Chucky D, Oaklawn

The Steve Hester Band, 10 p.m., Silks Bar and Grill, Oaklawn

FRIDAYS, WEEKLY

OCTOBER 27

Karaoke with Corey, Oaklawn

Moxie, 10 p.m., Silks Bar and Grill, Oaklawn

OCTOBER 6,

OCTOBER 28

Mister Lucky, 10 p.m., Silks Bar and Grill, Oaklawn

Moxie, 10 p.m., Silks Bar and Grill, Oaklawn

OCTOBER 7 Mister Lucky, 10 p.m., Silks Bar and Grill, Oaklawn

OCTOBER 13 Highway 124, 10 p.m., Silks Bar and Grill, Oaklawn

OCTOBER 14

HotSprings.org. 1-888-SPA-CITY.

Highway 124, 10 p.m., Silks Bar and Grill, Oaklawn

OCTOBER 20 The Steve Hester Band, 10 p.m., Silks Bar and Grill, Oaklawn

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SEPTEMBER 28, 2017 ARKANSAS TIMES SEPTEMBER 28, 2017 ARKANSASâ&#x20AC;&#x2C6;TIMES

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Moxie

PRESENTING SPONSOR

HOST SPONSOR

OPENING NIGHT SCREENING EVENT:

Arlington Resort Hotel and Spa 6:00 PM - Traditional Popcorn & Champagne Toast in the Arlington Hotel Lobby 6:30 PM - Doors open 7:00 PM - Welcome by Honorary Chair Kathleen Turner followed by screening of Laddie: The Man Behind the Movies Opening Night After-Party Historic Hamp Williams Building 510 Ouachita Ave, Hot Springs, AR 71901 HSDFF host sponsor, Mountain Valley Spring Water welcomes filmmakers, special guests, and festival attendees with Southern hospitality to the Historic Hamp Williams Building, for a night of legendary food and music. McClard’s B-B-Q, known for its world famous ribs (a declared favorite of President Bill Clinton), will provide an exclusive spread. The outlaw, southern girl-group, Wildflower Revue, will perform their mix of originals and folk classics, creating a sound listeners have called “hauntingly beautiful.” Sponsored by the ARKANSAS TIMES Transportation Host: RISER FORD Wine, Bubba Brew’s beer, signature cocktails, and heavy appetizers Open to All-Access Passholders, Filmmakers, Sponsors, and Opening Night Ticket holders, $40 (limited availability)

PRICING:

ALL-INCLUSIVE OPENING NIGHT TICKET: $40 (Includes: Popcorn & Champagne Toast, Screening to Opening Night Film, and Admission to Afterparty) SCREENING ONLY: $15 (Includes: Popcorn & Champagne Toast + Screening to Opening Night Film ONLY) PLEASE NOTE: IN ORDER TO GUARANTEE SEATING, ALL-ACCESS & SPONSOR PASSHOLDERS MUST MAKE RESERVATIONS FOR OPENING AND CLOSING NIGHT EVENTS by no later than 5:00PM Wednesday, Oct 4th for Opening Night and 5:00PM Friday, Oct 13th for Closing Night. Tickets will be for sale at the door only as available. To reserve, please email hsdfi@hsdfi.org by the deadlines.

O C T O B E R 6 - 15 | A R L I N G T O N H O T E L | H O T S P R I N G S

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OPENING NIGHT AFTER PARTY Historic Hamp Williams Building 510 Ouachita Ave, Hot Springs, AR 71901 Sponsored by The Arkansas Times & Transportation Host: Riser Ford Open to All-Access Passholders, Filmmakers, Sponsors, and $40 Opening Night Ticket Holders (limited availability)

| Eclectic | Award-Winning Fresh | Seasonal

OPENING NIGHT

The festival kicks off in style with film legend Kathleen Turner. LADDIE: The Man Behind the Movies is one daughter’s journey to discover her father, Alan Ladd, Jr, the quiet studio head and producer behind such iconic films as STAR WARS, ALIEN, BLADE RUNNER, BODY HEAT, CHARIOTS OF FIRE, POLICE ACADEMY AND YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN. Amanda Ladd-Jones’ quest leads her to understand her father as the man that he is and the impact he’s had on American Cinema. George Lucas, Ridley Scott, Ben Affleck, Morgan Freeman, Mel Brooks. Ron Howard, and Sigourney Weaver, are just a few of the famous friends who sit down with Amanda to share their stories of her father. Actress Kathleen Turner who was discovered by Alan in the film Body Heat joins us for a Q&A afterwards. Alan Ladd, Sr. (known for portraying “Shane” in the famous western movie) was born in Hot

Springs and Alan Ladd, Jr. spent his summers here. We are proud to welcome the Ladd Family back home! 6:00 PM - Traditional Popcorn & Champagne Toast in Arlington Hotel Lobby (Open to all ticket holders) 7:00 PM - Welcome by Honorary Chair Kathleen Turner + LADDIE: THE MAN BEHIND THE MOVIES 9:00PM - Opening Night After Party $15/ Movie Only + Popcorn & Champagne Toast (does NOT include After Party) $40/ Movie + Popcorn & Champagne Toast + After Party

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SEPTEMBER 28, 2017 ARKANSAS TIMES SEPTEMBER 28, 2017 ARKANSAS TIMES

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GIVEN (Free Screening)

A generational legacy comes full circle as legendary surfers Aamion and Daize Goodwin take their two children on a trip around the world from their home in Kauai to 6 continents, 15 diﬀerent countries, and 40 cities. Using almost every known mode of transportation from tuk tuks to choppers, the ﬁlm follows the Goodwins on a 14 month meander across the globe. Set in wave after wave of stunningly visual earthscapes, this cinematic experience is a story about the love and bonds of family, the quest for surf, and the power of a child’s imagination. Director: Jess Bianchi, 72 Minutes

A MODERN MAN

Tag along with high-society playboy Charlie Siem, fashion model by day and world-renowned violinist by night, as he jet-sets from Monaco to Singapore and beyond – all the while attempting to deﬁne himself apart from his mega-wealthy ﬁnancier father. Set to a thrilling classical score, A Modern Man is as cinematically stylish as the protagonist himself. - LW Director: Eva Mulvad, 84 Min

GRIZZLY MAN

+ Q&A with Werner Herzog Grizzly Man: The film’s titular subject, bear enthusiast Timothy Treadwell, was either an idealistic conservationist who died in the Alaskan wilderness doing what he loved, or a reckless madman who heedlessly placed both his too-trusting girlfriend and himself at death’s door – or all of the above and more in the hands of the New German Cinema’s legendary provocateur. A philosophical meditation on life, death, nature’s indifference to man, and getting eaten by a wild animal – that includes footage from 100 hours of video shot by Treadwell – Grizzly Man is the master filmmaker at his finest. Director: Werner Herzog, 1hr 44 mins Sponsored in Part by the University of Central Arkansas Artist in Residence Series

A SHOT IN THE DARK

(World Premiere) Despite being legally blind since he was born, Anthony Ferraro remained a top player on his high school wrestling team, winning two district titles and competing in the regional championships. Filmmaker Chris Suchorsky returns to Hot Springs after his previous music documentary Golden Days, with a gorgeous sports ﬁlm about passion and determination against the odds. As a former wrestler himself, Chris instinctively captures these wrestling matches in all their graceful and athletic glory, while giving us a ringside view of the action that will keep you on the edge of your seat rooting for Anthony to make it to the State Championships. Director: Chris Suchorsky, 102 Minutes

A GRAY STATE

In December 2014, Army veteran turned Alt-right ﬁlmmaker David Crowley is found dead in his home alongside his wife and daughter with the words “Allahu Akbar” scrawled in blood on the wall. This sets the stage for a complex murder mystery rife with conspiracy theories and suspects ranging from Muslim terrorists to impatient investors to government assassins concerned about Crowley’s critical

relic from Méliés. Audiences will love this quirky, inspirational tale about the joy of discovery. Director: Tommy Haines and Andrew Sherburne, 87 Minutes

depiction of America’s future in his dystopian horror film. But as the story unfolds through home videos, photographs, and actual footage from Crowley’s work-inprogress film, motives become murkier and the characters become more complex and the truth lies somewhere in between the black and white thinking of polarized politics. Werner Herzog served as executive producer on this film directed by Erik Nelson, the producer of Herzog’s film Grizzly Man, which proves that truth is stranger than fiction. Director: Erik Nelson, 93 Minutes

DEALT

A blind magician, not something you see everyday. Yet Richard Turner has been blind since he was a kid. One of his early teachers introduced him to card tricks and he became fascinated with them. As he continued to learn about cards, he challenged himself with many other things in life, including becoming a black belt in karate. Now, as one of the world’s greatest card magician’s, with the support of his wife, his sister and his son, Richard Turner has lived a life like no other, one that is inspirational to all. - BJ Director: Luke Korem with Richard Turner in attendance, 85 Minutes

STUMPED

42 GRAMS

A MASTER CLASS WITH WERNER HERZOG

Werner Herzog is one of the greatest filmmakers alive today and the Hot Springs Documentary Film festival is honored to have him join us this year for a one-of-akind masterclass. Herzog is a unique and brilliant mind who makes any topic he touches fascinating: from caves to grizzly bears to vampires - Herzog tells stories in a voice that becomes more iconic by the day. The great film director Francois Truffaut once called Herzog “the most important film director alive” and the renowned critic Roger Ebert said that “even his failures are spectacular”. In 2009 Time Magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world, and this year he will be sharing his influential knowledge with us. Sponsored in Part by the University of Central Arkansas Artist in Residence Series

Robin Berghaus returns to Hot Springs with the feature-length version of her beloved short ﬁlm Stumped, and there is even more to love this time around. The short version from three years ago introduced us to Will Lautzenheiser, a ﬁlm professor and stand-up comedian, who tragically lost his arms and legs to a bacterial infection but learned to adapt through the power of his indomitable spirit, self-deprecating sense of humor, and his supportive guardian “Angel.” This inspiring new feature version shows Will embarking on the next stage of his journey… a double arm transplant thanks to the miracles of modern medicine and a deceased donor, which will help him to reclaim his independence and once again be able to hug his friends and family. Director: Robin Berghaus, 72 Minutes

SAVING BRINTON

In an Iowa farmhouse, an unlikely folk hero discovers lost reels of film special effects godfather, George Méliés, and artifacts of William Franklin Brinton, inventive farmboy who became America’s greatest barnstorming movieman. Among the treasures are rare footage of President Teddy Roosevelt, and the first moving images from Burma, a lost

A fascinating portrait of chef Jake Bickelhaupt’s evolution from illegal restaurateur to culinary celebrity and the consequences the transformation has on his life and marriage. After working at some of the world’s best restaurants, Jake’s aggressive personality kept him from ﬁnding a kitchen to call home. A chef without a restaurant, Jake began cooking ﬁfteen-course menus out of his apartment. Alongside his dedicated wife Alexa, their “underground” restaurant becomes a foodie hot spot. A year later, they take out a lease on an abandoned chicken joint to open a real restaurant, 42 Grams. Director: Jack Newell, 82 Minutes

ALLTHEWILD HORSES

International riders from around the world compete in the Mongol Derby horse race in Mongolia, a multi-horse, multi-station race over a 1000 kilometers of Mongolian steppe, considered to be the longest and toughest horse race on the planet. This cinematic adventure follows along with the riders who are out on their own and navigate with GPS from horse station to horse station, where they change their horses every 40 kilometers, staying the nights out in the wild or with nomad families along the way. With twists and turns along the way, the race builds to an unexpected, nail-biting ﬁnish. Director: Ivo Marloh, 89 Minutes

VOLTE

Twelve-year-old Zuzia has been training as an equestrian vaulter for two years. She struggles to ﬁnd her place in a team aged eight to twenty when it turns out that she has outgrown her position. Directed by: Monika Kotecka and Karolina Poryzala

ALPHAGO

Even if you don’t know the rules of the ancient Chinese board game “GO,” you will still get caught up in the nailbiting suspense as human pro-players compete against the AlphaGo computer program that has been created by a team of A.I. experts at Google DeepMind. The players are

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surprised when the A.I. program starts to make creative moves that are a result of thinking and strategizing rather than just pre-programming. It all culminates in a week long tournament in Seoul in early 2016, when the world’s top “Go” champion Lee Sedol, usually representing South Korea, is representing the whole human race in mankind’s last stand against machine. - DH Director: Greg Kohs 90 minutes

BENINI

In his own words, Benini describes his life and artistic journey from childhood in Northern Italy to his years spent as the only artist on the island of Grand Bahama to his years in Florida where he met his wife Lorraine, who is one of the founders of the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival. Local ﬁlmmaker Michael Mueller interviewed Benini at his private gallery and he includes an abundant amount of Benini’s beautiful paintings to illustrate his technique. Directed by: Michael Mueller Preceded by Short Film: THE MALCO THEATER – A PERSONAL JOURNEY BY ERIC MANUEL The Malco Theatre in Hot Springs was built in 1946, however its rich history goes back much further. This documentary reveals the people, construction, entertainment, civil rights aspects and renovation of one of Arkansas’s most famous theaters.

DREAMLAND: LITTLE ROCK’S WEST 9TH STREET BY GABE MAYHAN

Little Rock, Arkansas’s, West 9th Street was once a vibrant, African-American business and entertainment district. Taborian Hall is the only remaining historic structure on West 9th Street and stands as a living witness of the street’s former glory days. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, Taborian Hall housed varied and important black businesses, including the Dreamland Ballroom which was ﬁrmly established as a stop on the “Chitlin Circuit,” showcasing regional and national African-American bands and stage shows. This documentary seeks to recognize and memorialize this history. Director: Gabe Mayhan, 57 Minutes Preceded by Short Film: THE ARKANSAS WILD MAN- DIRECTED BY: NATHAN WILLIS An 87-year-old rock and roll pioneer who lives a life of obscurity in his small Arkansas hometown travels overseas to England to play one ﬁnal concert for his passionate and loyal fanbase there. This screening is dedicated to Sonny Burgess who passed away on Aug. 18.

KIM SWIMS

After the doctors saved her leg from being amputated, Kimberley Chambers was given a 1% probability of walking unassisted…but after defying those odds through rehabilitative swimming, Kim aimed for an even smaller

percentage….as one of only 7 people in the world to ever complete the Ocean Seven Challenge, a series of longdistance, open-water marathon swims around the world. This incredible film follows along with Kim as she attempts to be the first woman to swim the 30-mile stretch of cold, rough, shark-inhabited waters off the San Francisco Coast. While the personal interviews give us a glimpse into Kim’s motivations to face her fears and continuously challenge herself, the spectacular cinematography allows us to accompany Kim on her breathtaking journey from the Farallon Islands to the Golden Gate Bridge and vicariously experience the thrilling risks and joyous triumph. Director: Kate Webber, 73 Minutes

YOURS SINCERELY, LOIS WEBER - DIRECTED BY: ATOMIC HOMEFRONT

While the first nuclear tests of the Manhattan Project took place in New Mexico, the actual birthplace of the Atomic Age was in St. Louis, Missouri, where the uranium was processed and then the radioactive waste was dumped in the suburbs, contaminating land and rivers, and leaving a deteriorating landfill and the threat of an encroaching underground fire. When the residents of these affected neighborhoods discover the dirty secret that real estate agents were not required to disclose, they decide to mobilize and with the guidance of “Love Canal” activist Lois Gibbs, they head to Washington DC to get answers and help from the EPA. Oscar-nominated director Rebecca Cammisa infuses this timely film with artistic flourishes that makes it a timeless classic study in grass-roots community activism and a haunting harbinger of hidden danger zones throughout our country. This is an HBO Documentary Film. Director: Rebecca Cammisa, 100 Minutes

THE FABULOUS ALLAN CARR

Jeﬀrey Schwartz has mastered the

art of creating entertaining and insightful documentaries about campy showbiz celebrities and gay icons from Tab Hunter to Jack Wrangler to William Castle to Divine. In his latest exposé, he shines a spotlight on Allan Carr, the ﬂamboyant talent manager turned producer of such famous hits and ﬂops as Grease, Grease 2, Can’t Stop The Music, the Broadway musical La Cage aux Folles, and the disastrous 61st Annual Academy Awards show in 1989 that resulted in a lawsuit from the Walt Disney Company and an open letter of complaint from Academy members. This cautionary tale about egomania and excess, charts the rise and fall of Allan’s career, from his meteoric success to his atronomical failures, which should be essential viewing for anyone who wants to learn how to launch a successful producing career in Hollywood and then what not to do if you want to avoid a huge crash and burn. Director: Jeffrey Schwarz, 90 Minutes

TELL THEM WE ARE RISING BOMBSHELL: THE HEDY LAMAR STORY

Known as “the Most Beautiful Woman in the World,” Hedy Lamarr’s dazzling looks have been immortalized in countless cinematic spectacles and glamorous photographs. Now Alexandra Dean’s elegant documentary pays a fitting tribute to her other beautiful features, most notably her brilliant mind. Hedy was ahead of her time in so many ways from her subtle acting style that was underappreciated in roles that focused on her beauty, to her survival instincts that led to her daring escape from Naziinfluenced Austria, and to her confidence in demanding a higher salary from Louis B. Mayer. She invented the concept of frequency-hopping as a secret communications system to help the Allies track Nazi torpedoes, but her theories led to what we now use in wireless communications like Wifi, Bluetooth, and GPS. Now if only she could have invented a time machine so we could go back in time and properly thank her. - DH Director: Alexandra Dean, 86 Minutes

Stanley Nelson’s inspirational new documentary charts the impact that HBCU’s (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) have had on American history, culture, and national identity. They have been a haven for Black intellectuals, artists and revolutionaries, they have educated the architects of freedom movements and cultivated leaders in every ﬁeld, and they have laid the path of promise toward the American dream. Stanley Nelson has received numerous honors over the course of his career, including ﬁve Primetime Emmy Awards and the 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts Sciences. In 2013, Nelson received the National Medal in the Humanities from President Barack Obama. Last year he was awarded an individual Peabody Award for his body of work. This year, HSDFF is proud to honor Stanley Nelson with the Career Achievement Award in Documentary Film. Director:StanleyNelson,85Minutes

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SPECIAL GUESTS Ian McDiarmid in BAKERSFIELD MIST in the West End and following that she went to Berkeley Rep to do the Molly Ivins play. Last year she was back at Arena Stage performing in Joan Didion’s THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING. In addition to her ﬁlm and stage credits, Turner wrote of her many accomplishments and life experiences in her 2008 autobiography titled Send Yourself Roses: Thoughts on my Life, Love, and Leading Roles, which secured a position on the New York Times Best-Seller List and which she recently recorded as an audio book.

WERNER HERZOG

Kathleen Turner

KATHLEEN TURNER

Opening Night Honorary Chair Friday, Oct 6th 6:00PM Popcorn and Champaign Toast 7:00PM Screening of Laddie: The Man Behind the Movies Screen icon Kathleen Turner has garnered critical acclaim for her performances in movies including Body Heat, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe; Romancing The Stone and Prizzi’s Honor, which earned her a Golden Globe Award for each; Peggy Sue Got Married, which brought Turner both an Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globe nomination; and War of the Roses, and yet another Golden Globe nomination. Turner’s extensive film credits also include The Man with Two Brains, with Steve Martin; Jewel of the Nile, with Michael Douglas; The Accidental Tourist; V.I. Warshawski; John Waters’ Serial Mom; Naked in New York; Moonlight and Valentino; The Real Blonde; and Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides. Ms. Turner has also starred on Broadway in Cat On a Hot Tin Roof, for which she received a Tony nomination for Best Actress; Indiscretions; The Graduate; and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, for which she received a second Tony nomination for Best Actress. More recently, Ms. Turner had a major recurring role playing the role of Sue Collini on Showtime’s hit series, Californication as well as the starring role in an independent film called The Perfect Family. More recently on stage, Ms Turner starred as Molly Ivins in Red Hot Patriot: The Kick Ass Wit of Molly Ivins at Philadelphia Theater Center, The Geffen in LA and Arena Stage in DC. She also starred on Broadway as a nun in HIGH and took the show on tour for some of 2011 and 2012. Her most recent film, Dumb & Dumber To with Jim Carey and Jeff Daniels was in theaters in 2014 and made nearly $200 million dollars worldwide. In 2015 she starred opposite

Sat, Oct 7th 12:00PM Screening: Grizzly Man 2:30 Master Class Werner Herzog is one of the greatest filmmakers alive today and the Hot Springs Documentary Film festival is honored to have him join us this year for a one-of-a-kind masterclass. Herzog is a unique and brilliant mind who makes any topic he touches fascinating: from caves to grizzly bears to vampires - Herzog tells stories in a voice that becomes more iconic by the day. The great film director Francois Truffaut once called Herzog “the most important film director alive” and the renowned critic Roger Ebert said that “even his failures are spectacular”. In 2009 Time Magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world, and this year he will be sharing his influential knowledge with us. Grizzly Man: The film’s titular subject, bear enthusiast Timothy Treadwell, was either an idealistic conservationist who died in the Alaskan wilderness doing what he loved, or a reckless madman who heedlessly placed both his too-trusting girlfriend and himself at death’s door – or all of the above and more in the hands of the New German Cinema’s legendary provocateur. A philosophical meditation on life, death, nature’s indifference to man, and getting eaten by a wild animal – that includes footage from 100 hours of video shot by Treadwell – Grizzly Man is the master filmmaker at his finest.

special 2014, CBS This Morning 2014, the topic on “Face the Nation” with Bob Schieffer 2012, the Harper Collins 2012 release of Fooling Houdini, he bamboozled Brad Pitt with his co-star Sean Pinn in the Oscar nominated film, “Tree of Life 2011,” the 2012 documentary, “The Magic Life,” “Ripley’s Believe It or Not,” “World Geniuses” in Japan, to “That’s Incredible,” way back in 1982. In the fall of 2017 IFC-Sundance Selects will release theatrically DEALT a film on the life of Richard Turner, which at SXSW and many other film festival screenings were sold out with standing ovations and has won the top “Audience Choice Award and the Juries’ Choice award for Best Feature Documentary Film.”. VARIETY called Turner “nothing short of dazzling” and Teller (of Penn & Teller) said, DEALT knocked me dead….A great Documentary!”

STANLEY NELSON

Screening: Tell Them We Are Rising Sat, Oct 14th 2:30PM Stanley Nelson has been acknowledged as one of the preeminent documentary ﬁlmmakers of our time. He has directed and produced over twelve documentary features, including: Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, Freedom Summer, Freedom Riders, Jonestown: The Life and Death of People’s Temple and The Murder of Emmett Till. Nelson’s latest ﬁlm, Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival to critical acclaim. Nelson has won every major award in broadcasting. In 2016, he was honored with a Lifetime Peabody Award, a Lifetime Emmy Award and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Documentary Association. He is a 2014 National Humanities Medalist, multiple Emmy Award winner, MacArthur “Genius” Fellow, and member of the

SCREENING OF DEALT

Sat, Oct 7th 7:30PM *Richard will perform Sat, Oct 7th at the Gangster Museum Party from 9:00PM-12:00AM (limited tickets available) Gaming experts and gamblers know and respect him as a master Card Mechanic—Manipulator, who could take down any old-west casino or wipe out any high-stakes gambler. His unparalleled skill with a deck of cards has stirred and staggered audiences throughout the world. Featured on dozens of worldwide TV specials, Oscar nominated ﬁlm, documentaries, magazine cover stories, proﬁled in hard cover publications, News Paper features, TV commercials, ranging from Penn & Teller Fool Us July 2017, VARIETY MAGAZINE 2017, BUZZFEED 2017, AMFM MAGAZINE 2017, SHOCK YA.COM 2017, National China TV

Stanley Nelson

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Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Nelson has appeared on numerous local and national television and radio programs, including PBS NewsHour, CBS Sunday Morning, NBC Nightly News, NPR’s Fresh Air, Melissa Harris-Perry, and many others. He holds a BFA from City College of New York, and Honorary Doctorates from Duke University and Haverford College. He has taught documentary film production at Howard University, Brooklyn College, and the University of California, Berkeley and guest lectured at universities and film schools around the world. Nelson is also co-founder of Firelight Media, a nonprofit production company dedicated to using historical film to advance contemporary social justice causes, and to mentoring, inspiring and training a new generation of diverse young filmmakers committed to advancing underrepresented stories.

2017 HSDFF PARTIES Friday, Oct. 6

SPONSOR, DONOR, AND SPECIAL GUEST KICKOFF COCKTAIL PARTY

Sponsored by Signature Events & Davis and Suellen Tillman Townhouse of Davis and Suellen Tillman (4:00 to 6:00 PM) HSDFF welcomes our donors and special guests to the private Townhouse of Davis and Suellen Tillman. Hot Springs favorite, Amjo Savannah, will be performing her unique take on southern soul. Greet our 2017 Honorary Chairwoman, Kathleen Turner, and other special guests, as we launch the 26th annual Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival in style! Call (501) 538-0452 for more information. Wine, beer, signature cocktails, and appetizers Only open to All-Access Passholders, Filmmakers, & Sponsors Monday, Oct. 9

SUCCULENT VOLCANO PARTY Robert Davi

ROBERT DAVI

Screening of Davi’s Way Sat, Oct 14th 6:30PM Character actor Robert Davi has appeared in over 130 feature ﬁlms including a Bond villain in License to Kill and an opera-singing criminal in The Goonies. Tired of always being type-cast as the bad guy, he decides to express his more romantic side and record a Frank Sinatra tribute album. Then to celebrate Sinatra’s 100th birthday, he plans to recreate the fabled “Main Event” concert in Madison Square Garden. With self-deprecating humor and vulnerability, Robert Davi invites a ﬁlm crew to document the year-long process, with comical results that sometimes seem more like a mockumentary.

ZAZIE BEETZ

Short Film Competition Jury Member (Anticipated attendance at HSDFF) Zazie is starring as Domino in the upcoming Deadpool 2, set to premiere summer 2018. She’s a lead in FX’s new Golden Globe & Emmy winning comedy series Atlanta, A24’s feature ﬁlm Slice and Netﬂix’s Easy. A New York & Berlin native, Zazie grew up traveling between her two homes. She attended LaGuardia Arts: a performance high school with its home in Manhattan’s upper west side, and completed an undergraduate degree in French at Skidmore College.

Grateful Head Pizza Oven & Tap Room (9:00 PM to 11:00 PM) Join us across the street from Historic Bathhouse Row at one of Hot Spring’s newest craft beer restaurants for an exclusive first taste at their unique menu. EC Haynes, a recent finalist in the Arkansas Times Music Review, will be playing by firelight. An outdoor s’more station will provide the perfect cap to this October evening. Sponsored by Grateful Head Pizza Oven & Tap Room Wine, Craft Beer, Signature Cocktails, & Appetizers Open to All Access Passholders, Filmmakers, & Sponsors - Limited Event Tickets available for purchase ($25) Tuesday, Oct. 10

MOUNTAINSIDE PATIO PARTY

Rolando’s Nuevo Latino Restaurante Patio (9:00 to 11:00 PM) Rolando’s rock patio, carved deep into the Ouachita Mountains, is the perfect setting for a midweek dance party. Visit with ﬁlmmakers and friends under Rolando’s treetop lighting, and feast on their award winning latin cuisine. Nationally acclaimed visual artist, G-Force, will spin his eclectic mix of jazz and funk music to festival inspired visuals projected atop Rolando’s limestone rock wall. Sponsored by Rolando’s Nuevo Latino Restaurante Wine, Craft Beer, Signature Cocktails, & Appetizers Open to All Access Passholders, Filmmakers, & Sponsors - Limited Event Tickets available for purchase ($25)

Wednesday, Oct. 11

SCIENCE AFTER DARK

Low Key Arts (9:00 to 11:00 PM) Feed your curious side at HSDFF Science After Dark, sponsored by Low Key Arts and Mid America Museum. Engage with thought-provoking, handson, science exhibits showcasing the science behind the art of ﬁlm. Sulac and The Listen Sisters will provide our soundtrack for the night - with their chemical mixture of punk rock and donkey tonk. Sponsored by Low Key Arts, Mid America Museum, & Signature Events Wine, Craft Beer, Signature Cocktails, & Appetizers Open to All Access Passholders, Filmmakers, & Sponsors - Limited Event Tickets available for purchase ($25) Thursday, Oct. 12

TRADITIONAL CAROLYN TAYLOR FILMMAKER PARTY

The Vintage Emporium (5:00 to 7:00 PM) For more than twenty years Carolyn Taylor has welcomed visiting ﬁlmmakers and special guests into the Vintage Emporium. Food and drinks are provided by the very best restaurants Hot Springs has to oﬀer. Local talents, Mark Ayers & Chuck Dodson will be at the piano. Join us at Vintage Emporium for this continuingly historic event! Sponsored by The Vintage Emporium and Carolyn Taylor Wine provided by The Wine Rack Open to All-Access Passholders, Filmmakers, & Sponsors ONLY

FILMMAKER’S AFTER PARTY

Bubba Brew’s Downtown Hot Springs Taproom (9:00 PM to 11:00 PM) Join us in Bubba Brew’s newly refurbished Englishtavern inspired taproom as we welcome or national and international ﬁlmmakers to the festival. Jamie Lou & The Hullabaloo will play their enchanting blend of rock and folk - drawing inﬂuences from bands like Iron and Wine, My Morning Jacket, and Radiohead. Sponsored by Bubba Brew’s Downtown Hot Springs Taproom Craft Beer, Signature Cocktails, & Appetizers Open to All Access Passholders, Filmmakers, & Sponsors - Limited Event Tickets available for purchase ($25)

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Saturday, Oct. 7

SPEAKEASY MOBSTER PARTY

The Gangster Museum of America (9:00 PM to 12:00 AM) Transport yourself back in time to circa 1930 when mineral water, gambling, bootlegging, and a very fragile ceaseﬁre brought gangsters from all across America to Hot Springs. Try your luck at blackjack, craps, and roulette alongside ﬁlmmakers and noted special guests. Richard Turner, renowned as the world’s greatest card mechanic (yet being completely blind) will demonstrate his seemingly impossible craft on stage. Penn & Teller were fooled, will you be? Sponsored by The Gangster Museum of America Wine, Bubba Brew’s craft beer, signature cocktails, and light appetizers Open to All-Access Passholders, Filmmakers, & Sponsors. Limited Event Tickets available for purchase ($25)

Saturday, Oct. 14

Friday, Oct. 13th

BATHTUB BREW PARTY

Superior Bathhouse & Brewery (9:00 PM to 12:00 AM) Located on Historic Bathhouse Row, Superior Bathhouse & Brewery is home to the nation’s only craft brewery headquartered inside a National Park. Long time festival supporter, and head brewer, Rose Schweikhart - welcomes visiting ﬁlmmakers and festival guests to the only brewery in America utilizing thermal spring water as a main ingredient for craft beer. Superior turns the National’s Park’s 4,000 year old (144 degree) water into a myriad of styles ranging from light to dark, mild to strong. Superior’s head chef will supply food grown by local farmers and curated by area artisans. DJ Poe Bot will be spinning classic vinyls. Not to be missed! Sponsored by Superior Bathhouse & Brewery Superior Craft Beer, Signature Cocktails, & Appetizers Open to All Access Passholders, Filmmakers, & Sponsors Limited Event Tickets available for purchase ($25)

CLOSING NIGHT AWARDS CEREMONY AND SCREENING EVENT

Arlington Resort Hotel and Spa 6:00 PM - Doors Open 6:30 PM - Closing Night Awards Ceremony 7:00 PM - Screening of DAVI’S WAY DAVI’S WAY. Director: Tom Donahue & Actor: Robert Davi in Attendance. Character actor Robert Davi has appeared in over 130 feature ﬁlms including a Bond villain in License to Kill and an opera-singing criminal in The Goonies. Tired of always being type-cast as the bad guy, he decides to express his more romantic side and record a Frank Sinatra tribute album. Then to celebrate Sinatra’s 100th birthday, he plans to recreate the fabled “Main Event” concert in Madison Square Garden. With self-deprecating humor and vulnerability, Robert Davi invites a ﬁlm crew to document the year-long process, with comical results that sometimes seem more like a mockumentary.

Sunday, Oct. 8

PIZZA ARCADE PARTY

Deluca’s Pizzeria Napoletana (9:00 to 11:00 PM) Located along historic Park Avenue, DeLuca’s Pizzeria Napoletana has become a region-wide destination for foodies. Each pie is handcrafted by owner Anthony Valinoti, with locally supplied organic ingredients. Experience Anthony’s authentic New York style pizza for yourself, alongside ﬁlmmakers and friends. Discover for yourself why the name Deluca’s is ﬁxed on everyone’s lips! Free-play arcade games will be provided by Z82 Retrocade. Vinyl enthusiast, DJ Courier Coleman, will be spinning. Sponsored by Deluca’s Pizzeria Napoletana Wine, Bubba Brew’s Craft Beer, Signature Cocktails, & Pizza Open to All-Access Passholders, Filmmakers, & Sponsors. Limited Event Tickets available for purchase ($25)

BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THESE GREAT PLACES WHILE IN HOT SPRINGS HOT SPRINGS VILLAGE If you’re looking for a place filled with arts, culture, dining and entertainment - where you can golf, boat, hike and play all day - look no further than Hot Springs Village; recognized among the Best Lake Views and Best Tennis & Pickleball Clubs by Ideal Living. This beautiful region is rich in history, scenic wonders and offers a countless assortment of natural resources, outdoor activities and amenities for the stylish and active country lifestyle. With 16 miles of DeSoto Boulevard connecting the west and east gates, choose from lake neighborhood properties to homesites with mountain or golf course views. THE QUAPAW BATHS AND SPA is providing free passes to the thermal pools for all filmmakers and movie subjects as well as spa services to special guests. THE WATERS is providing free lodging for special guests and discounted room rates for all festival attendees. THE AVENUE is hosting a cocktail/hors d’oeuvres reception for filmmakers and movie subjects. THE BLEU MONKEY GRILL is when it comes to world class family dining look no further! Located in beautiful Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas. Joey & Ozzy the founders of Bleu Monkey Grill have created a menu that brings many different flavors from around the world under one roof. CAFE 1217 Named for it’s street address, this bistro in Hot Springs is based on the concept that really fresh and tasty food will keep them coming back. Cafe 1217 has offered catering services in Hot Springs and the surrounding areas since its inception. LA HACIENDA in Hot Springs is a family operated mexican restaurant. If you are ever in Hot Springs and want the best seat in the house for great mexican food and tequila, you MUST visit La Hacienda. The most award-winning mexican restaurant in Arkansas. La Hacienda proudly caters to all of our customer’s demands.

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DAY BY DAY SCHEDULE FRIDAY, OCT. 6

7:00PM - Laddie: The Man Behind the Movies 9:00PM Opening Night After Party Sponsored by Arkansas Times

SATURDAY, OCT. 7

9:30AM - Given (Free Screening!) 9:30AM - Samanthaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Amazing Acro-Cats 11:30AM - A Modern Man 12:00PM - Grizzly Man 2:15PM - A Shot in the Dark 2:30PM- A Master Class with Werner Herzog 5:00PM - A Gray State 5:00PM -SHORTS PROGRAM 1: Political Fuse 7:00PM - What Lies Upstream 7:30PM - Dealt

SUNDAY, OCT. 8

9:30AM - Wasted! The Story of Food Waste 10:00AM - The Groove is Not Trivial 12:00PM - Stumped 12:00PM - Saving Brinton 2:30PM - Cradle of Champions 2:30PM - The Fabulous Allan Carr 5:00PM - Augie 5:00PM - 42 Grams 7:30PM - All The Wild Horses 7:30PM - AlphaGo

MONDAY, OCT. 9

9:30AM - Saving Brinton 9:30AM - SHORTS PROGRAM 2: Alternative Match

12:00PM - Resistance is Life 12:00PM - AETN Student Showcas (Free!) 2:00PM - Finding Home Trilogy 2:00PM - Samanthaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Amazing Acro-Cats 4:00PM - Acorn and the Firestorm 4:00PM - Benini â&#x20AC;&#x201C; The Artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Journey 7:30PM - Dream Land: Little Rockâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s West 9th Street 7:30PM -Kim Swims

TUESDAY, OCT. 10

9:30AM â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Out of State 9:30AM â&#x20AC;&#x201C;Stumped 12:00PM - The Favored Strawberry 12:30PM - Stranger in Paradise 2:00PM - All the Queenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Horses 2:30PM - SHORTS PROGRAM 3: Parental Guidance 4:00PM - Dixie Land 4:30PM - Kim Swims 7:00PM - Rebels on Pointe 7:00PM - Above the Drowning Sea

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 11

9:30AM- SHORTS PROGRAM 4: Circle of Life 9:30AM- AlphaGo 11:30AM - Shiners 12:30PM - The New Radical 1:00PM - SHORTS PROGRAM 1: Political Fuse 4:00PM - Bill Nye: Science Guy 4:00PM -Mighty Ground 7:00PM - Dare to Be DiďŹ&#x20AC;erent 7:00PM -True Conviction

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THURSDAY, OCT. 12

9:30AM - The Cinema Travelers 9:30AM - All the Queenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Horses 11:30AM - Waiting for the Sun 11:30AM - SHORTS PROGRAM 2: Alternative Match 1:30PM - Anatomy of a Male Ballet Dancer 1:30PM - SHORTS PROGRAM 3: Parental Guidance 4:00PM - Liyana 4:00PM - The Last Pig 7:00PM - Acorn and the Firestorm 7:00PM - Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story

FRIDAY, OCT. 13

SATURDAY, OCT. 14

9:30AM - Quest 9:30AM - SHORTS PROGRAM 6: FAMILY SHORTS â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Vision and Sound 12:00PM - Liyana 12:00PM - The Workers Cup 2:30PM - Tommy 2:30PM -Tell Them We Are Rising 4:00pM - SHORTS PROGRAM 7: Screening Committee Selects 6:30PM Daviâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Way (With Robert Davi in Attendance) 9:00PM Closing Night After Party Sponsored by AY Magazine and Arkansas Money & Politics

9:00AM - Score: A Film Music Documentary 9:30AM -City of Joy 11:30PM - SHORTS PROGRAM 4: Circle of Life 12:00PM - No Manâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Land 2:30PM - Frank Serpico 2:30PM - The Last Animals 5:00PM - SHORTS PROGRAM 5: Supply and Demand 5:00PM - 78/52 7:30PM - Atomic Homefront 7:30PM -Wait For Your Laugh: Rose Marie the Longest Career in Showbiz

PRICING:

ALL-INCLUSIVE CLOSING NIGHT TICKET: $40

(Includes: Screening to Closing Night Film and Admission to Afterparty)

SCREENING ONLY: $15

(Includes: Screening to Closing Night Film Only) PLEASE NOTE: IN ORDER TO GUARANTEE SEATING, ALL-ACCESS & SPONSOR PASSHOLDERS MUST MAKE RESERVATIONS FOR OPENING AND CLOSING NIGHT EVENTS by no later than 5:00PM Wednesday, Oct 4th for Opening Night and 5:00PM Friday, Oct 13th for Closing Night. Tickets will be for sale at the door only as available. To reserve, please email hsdďŹ @hsdďŹ .org by the deadlines.

CLOSING NIGHT AFTER PARTY

After Event sponsored by AY Magazine and Arkansas Money and Politics

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(9:00 PM to 12:00 AM) AY Magazine and Arkansas Money and Politics welcome ďŹ lmmakers, special guests and festival-goers to a Closing Night Celebration commemorating the festivalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 26th year. The magical ambiance of the Historic Hamp Williams Building, coupled with a mouthwatering feast from local restaurants and additional catering by festival supporter Signature Events, is the perfect way to wrap out the year. Local brass band, The Big Dam Horns, will be playing soulful covers from the 1960â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s through today. Dance the night away in salute of another landmark year! Party Sponsored by AY Magazine and Arkansas Money and Politics. The Quapaw Baths and Spa is providing free passes to the thermal pools for all ďŹ lmmakers and movie subjects as well as spa services to special guests.Â The Waters is providing free lodging for special guests and discounted room rates for all festival attendees.Â The Avenue is hosting a cocktail/hors dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;oeuvres reception for ďŹ lmmakers and movie subjects.

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Arts Entertainment Flair and ice AND

The ASO’s season openers aim for the epic.

The Sibelius is a demanding work that musicologist James M. Keller calls a towering “icy summit” of the violin repertoire. Frautschi said. “The orchestral writing is so symphonic that I do feel like I’m part of this incredibly large, large, large massive structure, you know, soundscape. … It’s such an epic piece, and it’s so powerful and paints

BY DANIEL FOLTZ-MORRISON

SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

LISA-MARIE MAZZUCCO

nternational violin virtuosa Jennifer Frautschi will join t he A rka nsa s Sy mphony Orchestra Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, in the ASO’s first performance of the 2017-18 Masterworks season, “Go Brahms,” at the Robinson Performance Hall in downtown Little Rock. The performance will open with Adam Schoenberg’s “Go,” for string quartet. ASO Conductor Philip Mann, who conducted “Go” in its world premiere last year with the New West Symphony in Los Angeles, said the work “has a sense of humor to it. The beginning of the piece starts off with the sound of revving engines in the strings — it’s unmistakable, almost like a perfect depiction of it from a 1980s video game.” A cheer erupted at the end of the piece, Mann said. “My sense was that I wanted to work with Adam again, I wanted to share his music with Arkansans, including other works of his. Most importantly, I thought that the piece was of a quality that it really needed to be heard by more people.” So, Schoenberg was selected as this year’s ASO composer-in-residence. “His music has this elan to it, it’s unabashedly joyous and cheerful,” Mann explained. Next, Frautschi will perform Jean Sibelius’ only “Violin Concerto” on her 1722 ex-Cadiz Stradivarius, which she’s had on loan from a private foundation for the past 15 years. “Actually getting the violin and getting to play on it has been one of the most gratifying aspects of my entire musical career,” she said. “I’m grateful on a daily basis that I get to play this

VIOLINIST: Jennifer Frautschi joins the ASO for its season opener, tackling a so-called “icy summit” of the violin repertoire on a 1722 Stradivarius.

particular instrument. Words can’t express the depth of my gratitude I feel for having such a warm and wonderful instrument, full of possibilities.”

such a coloristic scene. The music is so evocative that it never gets old.” Mann also expressed his enthusiasm for the performance. “When choosing

a collaborator for that piece, you want somebody that will be a kindred spirit musically, but also have this incredible range and virtuosity to tackle the specific demands of that piece.” Mann, a violinist himself, cited it as one of his favorite works. “It’s a work that we haven’t done together also,” he said, “so that will be a pleasure to do Sibelius for the first time.” Johannes Brahms’ “Symphony No. 1” closes the first Masterworks concert and completes the ASO’s recent cycle of the composer’s symphonies. “It’s a titanic work that carries enormous gravitas, and you can sense in the work the immense effort that went into the score over a protracted period,” Mann said of the work. He thought carefully about the order in which the ASO played the Brahms symphonies, naming this finale as “one of the most glorious, transcendent moments in Western symphonic literature. … There’s this deep struggle that seems to connect with us on a very visceral level.” Frautschi will also join members of the ASO in the opening concert for the River Rhapsodies Chamber Music series at the Clinton Presidential Center Tuesday, Oct. 3. That concert also opens with an Adam Schoenberg composition, “Winter Music.” Schoenberg has written that the piece is “my idea of life on a single planet in one of the 170 billion galaxies located millions of light-years away from the Earth. That is, a fantasy world somehow paralleling my first winter in Los Angeles: magically warm, fairy-tale like, whimsical, light, airy and full of love.” Valerie Coleman’s arrangement of the gospel song “Steal Away” is the second selection on the program. Oboist Beth Wheeler, who helped select the ensemble’s repertoire, said the work was inspired by the death of dancer Gregory Hines. In her notes on the composition, Coleman has written that “The groove between bassoon and horn gives the imagery of Mr. Hines casually walking off the stage in a reminiscent way.” Wheeler added that Coleman’s ensemble felt that “the gospel song form should not be limited

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A&E NEWS to vocal music.” Frautschi then takes the stage for the final movement of Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Partita in D minor” for solo violin. The chaconne is instantly recognizable, and widely considered one of the greatest compositions for violin. “No matter how many times I play it, each time I play it is like a religious experience. It is a very large scale structure: You can’t just walk out on stage and wing it, and just decide I’m going to play it how I feel it. It’s not that kind of a piece because it’s so intricately constructed that there is a lot of forethought that has to go into it,” Frautschi said. “I want the audience to experience this incredible harmonic journey.” Finally, five members of the ASO’s string section will join Frautschi on stage for the Tchaikovsky sextet, “Souvenir de Florence.” “It’s a big piece — big both in terms of its scope and also because it’s six players … the sonorities he’s able to create out of those six instruments [are] quite powerful,” Frautschi said. “The priorities are: one, having the fun of exchanging ideas on stage with five colleagues. Two, in that particular piece, the goal is always: ‘What do I want to communicate to the audience? What do I want them to hear, to feel?’ ” In that piece, Frautschi said, “it’s really bringing out the beauty of the melodies, and also really feeling the balletic aspects of it. It’s impossible to play without imagining a full Russian ballet on stage.” To g e t her, t he s e s e ven compositions deal with the themes of space and structure, bodies in movement and triumph over struggle, which sounds like a laudable start to the ASO’s first full season in a renovated Robinson Performance Hall. Tickets are available at arkansassymphony.org and by calling 666-1761.

MUSICOPHILIA, A BLOG created by an anonymous Little Rock native “mostly to share the box set of post-punk music from 1981” that its creator made in 2004 to great acclaim, has followed the much-shared (and technically, legally tenuous) 1981 mix with “1979: Post-Punk.” It’s an eight-hour tour through the musical climate responsible for “Fear of Music” and other seminal (and more forgotten) post-punk hits: Bauhaus’ “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” just after Killing Joke’s “Turn To Red”; Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart” next to The B-52’s underplayed “Dance This Mess Around”; The Cure’s “10:15 Saturday Night” pressed up against Pylon’s “Cool.” In the creator’s words, it’s a lengthy examination of the genre that broke down barriers “between ‘rock’ and non-white musics, always with the risk of appropriation,” but, much like this volume itself seems to be, “mostly created with a sincere attitude of learning and engagement, rather than theft.” Check it out at musicophilia. wordpress.com. JOHN ROMULUS BRINKLEY is one of Arkansas's greatest frauds, famed for his claim, fatal for some, that surgery to implant goat glands into testicles would restore virility. An early 20th century resident of Vilonia (briefly, with one of his two wives), Brinkley amassed a fortune at his clinic in Texas. He moved to Little Rock after he met with competition from a cheaper quack. Thanks to the upcoming movie "Charlatan," we might get to see Matt Damon handling goat gonads, birthmoviesdeath.com reports. The movie is based on Pope Brock's "Charlatan: America's Most Dangerous Huckster, the Man Who Pursued Him, and the Age of Flimflam," and the adaptation is being written from "Ocean's Thirteen" writers Brian Koppelman and David Levien. “THE PRAYER TOWER IS ON,” a four-minute, bass-bolstered track from Andrew Morgan — formerly of Chinese Girls and Ettiem and who now records as Country Florist — is the harbinger of a new album, “Waveland,” out Oct. 20 on Drawing Room Records. TWO ORIGINAL PRODUCTIONS from the AETN network scored regional Emmy Awards at the Mid-America Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS): “Bell Ringer: The Invisible Brain Injury” for Best Director in Post-Production and “Dream Land: Little Rock’s West 9th Street” for Best Editor of a Program. Both films can be viewed online at aetn.org.

Don’t Miss the Arkansas times Cash Bus!

Johnny Cash Heritage Festival October 21st Featuring: Buddy Jewell Joanne Cash & Tommy Cash Roseanne Cash Kris Kristofferson

$109

Ticket includes: Round-trip transportation General admission ticket Adult beverages & Box Lunch provided by Boulevard Along for the ride.... Jason Lee Hale provides tunes & fun! Bus departs at 9 a.m. Meet at Old Ray Winder Field/UAMS Parking lot

centralarkansastickets.com Follow Rock Candy on Twitter: @RockCandies

arktimes.com SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

TO-DO

LIST

BY STEPHANIE SMITTLE

DAVID RAMS

BRITTNEY KRAUS

THE

‘HAVE FUN’: St. Louis duo Bruiser Queen’s new album, “Heavy High,” is on the horizon, and the band plays a free show at Maxine’s Thursday night.

THURSDAY 9/28

BRUISER QUEEN

9 p.m. Maxine’s, Hot Springs. Free.

Morgan Nusbaum and Jason Potter, the two musicians who make up St. Louis garage rock band Bruiser Queen, are taking a break from the crowdfunding hustle (see their Pledgemusic campaign, where you can pay them to do your dishes, make you a custom vest or take you bowling) to play some music from their upcoming album, “Heavy High.” I fell in love with Nusbaum’s soaring vocals when they opened for Shonen Knife at Low Key Arts in mid-May, somewhere around the time they peeled out their single “Have Fun” in Bruiser Queen’s signature Bikini Kill-meets-the-Marvelettes style: “Have fun before you die/Anything else is a waste of time” — a fitting ethos for this Thursday and, for that matter, every Thursday forever and ever.

THURSDAY 9/28

SCIENCE AFTER DARK: I CAN’T EVEN

6 p.m. Museum of Discovery. $5.

Next to a photo of a pug that has melted into a puddle of exhaustion, the Museum of Discovery flyer states its business for this event: “all the adulting things you should know, but don’t [and science] [and beer].” Essentially, this chapter of Science After Dark aims to fill in your knowledge gaps on skills grown-ups should know if they’re gonna call themselves grown-ups. You know, stuff like balancing a checkbook, doing the Heimlich Maneuver, driving a stick shift and selecting ripe produce. (And if those aren’t compiled somewhere in an ad-bedraggled online quiz, I’ll eat my hat.) But, given the Museum’s affinity for more instant-gratification experiments, it’ll likely be less “how do I find out my bank’s routing number” and more along the lines of “here’s how you build a fire.” Entry fee gets you access to the whole museum, where there’s a full bar and pizza from Damgoode Pies and beer from Stone’s Throw Brewing for sale.

SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

MIGO LINGO: Lawrenceville, Ga., hip-hop artists Quavo, Offset and Takeoff, collectively known as Migos, join Brad Paisley, Smokey Robinson and others on the lineup celebrating the launch of El Dorado’s Murphy Arts District.

THURSDAY 9/28-SUNDAY 10/1

MURPHY ARTS DISTRICT GRAND OPENING

Various times. Murphy Arts District, downtown El Dorado. Free-$49.

In part because it’s home to three New York Stock Exchange-listed companies — Murphy USA, Murphy Oil Corp. and Deltic Timber Corp. — the South Arkansas town of El Dorado is undergoing a $100 million makeover that includes an outdoor amphitheater, a kids’ playscape, a 2,000-seat music hall, a farm-to-table restaurant and a future cinema house and art gallery. To launch the downtown revitalization and to acquaint arts patrons with the new facilities, MAD (Murphy Arts District) is hosting a four-day kickoff in the heart of the oil boomtown’s new digs. Thursday night, things kick off with a concert from San Francisco’s Train, the pop rockers responsible for earworms like “Hey, Soul

Sister” and “Drops of Jupiter,” and Natasha Bedingfield (Remember “Pocketful of Sunshine?” Yes, you do.), 8 p.m., $35. On Friday night, X Ambassadors and Robert Randolph & The Family Band open up for “Tejas” trio ZZ Top, 5 p.m., $35. Later that night, rapper Ludacris takes the stage in the Griffin Music Hall for a late-night show, 11:30 p.m., $25. Saturday night, a radio-certified country lineup takes front and center on the ampitheater stage with Brad Paisley, Hunter Hayes, Ashley McBryde and Chase Bryant, 5 p.m., $35. In the adjacent Griffin Music Hall, Atlanta hiphop collective Migos performs, 11:30 p.m., $25. Then, on Sunday afternoon, the oldest symphony in the state, the South Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, backs the legendary Motown musicmaker Smokey Robinson in a free public concert on the amphitheater lawn, 4 p.m. For tickets, visit eldomad.com.

IN BRIEF

THURSDAY 9/28

FRIDAY 9/29-SATURDAY 9/30

DEPOT DAYS MUSIC FESTIVAL

5:30 p.m.-11:30 p.m. Fri., 9:30 a.m.-10:15 p.m. Sat. Downtown Newport. Free.

This will be the first Depot Days Music Festival since the death of one of its staples, Sonny Burgess — Newport native, boogie pioneer and one of Sun Records’ first recording artists. Burgess died in August, and his band, The Legendary Pacers, is one of the highlights of this smalltown festival, dedicated this year to Burgess’ memory. They’re joined on the lineup by the North Mississippi Allstars, Larry McCray, The Deltatones with Little Rock’s own Charlotte Taylor, W.S. Holland, Travis Wammack and many more. The Rock and Roll Highway 67 Museum, at the corner of Hazel and Second streets downtown, will be open from noon to 4 p.m., offering attendees a chance to meet some of the musicians and get a historical look at some of the Arkansas venues in which Elvis and other rock icons cut their teeth.

FRIDAY 9/29

HOT CLUB OF COWTOWN

7 p.m. Ron Robinson Theater. $20.

‘CONTINENTAL STOMP’: Hot Club of Cowtown brings its “swingin’ stampede” to Ron Robinson Theater as part of the Arkansas Sounds concert series.

KISS

8 p.m. Walmart AMP, Rogers. $56.

Blending an amalgam of rock influences — Alice Cooper’s shock rockery and anthemic riffs lifted from Wolverhamptonian glam rock band Slade (of whose “Mama Weer All Crazee Now” Gene Simmons says “Rock & Roll All Nite” is a “bastard child”), KISS has, for its legions of fans, given permission to put a little Halloween into life outside of Oct. 31, to self-identify as theatrical, larger than life, comic-book-sized personalities among “straight looking folks with suits,” to borrow words from Tupac’s preamble to KISS’s performance at the 1996 Grammys. Or, as Paul Stanley said in an interview with Forbes last year: “I’ve always believed that perhaps you can’t look like KISS but you can feel like KISS. In other words, you can look at a picture of us and go, ‘I feel like that guy.’ So even if you can’t make yourself up, you see there’s a place for individuality to take a stand, that you can wear who you are on your sleeve and be proud of it.” The band’s members have been through disunions and reunions, elicited speechlessness from a usually talkative Terry Gross in Simmons’ misogyny-laden 2002 public radio interview, conducted a decades-long quality control study of facepaint and resisted any cries of “gilding the lily” in their performance aesthetic, piling literal explosions and fire on top of guitars that were fiery and explosive to begin with and effectively establishing stage pyrotechnics and ziplines as the new normal. (When my dad took the entire family to see KISS at Sandstone Ampitheater at the turn of the century, I watched opener Ted Nugent shoot a flaming arrow through the heart of a guitar suspended in mid-air, having no idea that the spectacle would, a mere half-hour later, seem like child’s play.) Despite revolving shelves of on-brand merchandise (Shoes! Computer games! A “Kiss Kasket!”), innumerable copycat acts and over 100 million albums sold, it wasn’t until 2014 that the band got into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and landed on the cover of Rolling Stone, and here they are, post-post-post-reunion, performing rain or shine for an ever-expanding KISS Army.

VALERIE FREMIN

Hot jazz and Western swing flirts with and evades popularity at turns, finding purchase most directly with groups like Postmodern Jukebox and Asleep at the Wheel, but also less overtly in sets heard at retro-hip Austin honky tonks like the Continental Club and The White Horse. For Elana James and Whit Smith, though, that popularity has been hard to gauge from inside the Hot Club of Cowtown bubble; they’ve been blending Django Reinhardt and Bob Wills since before it was cool. Excepting a break in the mid2000s, they’ve been peddling jazz-meets-hoedown music to enthusiastic audiences for nearly 20 years. I spoke with James last week ahead of the band’s Arkansas Sounds concert, and she had this to say about the staying power of the tradition in which they play: “For me, the whole nature of what we do, it’s a dance music. It’s a social kind of music. It’s not pretentious. It’s lively. And you can’t be in a bad mood and listen to it or play it. It’s got this kind of irrepressible joy, but also a completely down-home aspect. ... We try to keep that as the Rosetta stone of what the band is about.”

FRIDAY 9/29

Nashville rockers Benchmarks pair up with post-hardcore pedal lovers Colour Design at the White Water Tavern, 9 p.m. The Charlie Daniels Band is much more than “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” and it will fprove at the University of Central Arkansas’s Reynolds Performance Hall, 7:30 p.m., $27-$40. John Burnette lends his velvety voice and delicate guitar to the room for a show at South on Main, 8 p.m., $10. Clear Channel Metroplex turns into Terrorplex with a “haunted mansion” and “3D zombie apocalypse,” 7 p.m. Thu.-Sat through Oct. 31, $15-$20. Comedian Aaron Kleiber takes his stand-up routine to The Loony Bin, 7:30 p.m. Thu.-Sat., 10 p.m. Fri.-Sat., $8-$12.

FRIDAY 9/29 Washington, D.C., doom metal rockers The Obsessed land at White Water, with Iron Tongue, Seahag and Tempus Terra, 8 p.m., $15. The UA Little Rock Trojans women’s soccer team takes on the University of Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks at Coleman Sports & Recreation Complex, 7 p.m. Sixpiece boogie band Dirtfoot shares a bill with American Lions at Four Quarter Bar in Argenta, 10 p.m. Intruders bring their set to the stage at Thirst N’ Howl Bar & Grill, 8:30 p.m., $5. The Springs Hotel hosts “Arkansas Wine & Opera Experience” on its second-floor balcony to raise funds for the Downtown Association of Hot Springs, 6 p.m. Fri.-Sat., $80. Sad Daddy brings its jovial bluegrass-tinged blend to Kings Live Music in Conway, 8:30 p.m., $5. The 9th annual Shine a Light on Literacy gala celebrates its students and tutors at Next Level Events, Historic Union Train Station, 6 p.m., $60. Moxie performs at Oaklawn Racing & Gaming’s Silks Bar & Grill, 10 p.m. Fri.-Sat., free. Kansas City’s Chris Meck and the Guilty Birds bring fuzzy guitar rock to Smoke & Barrel Tavern in Fayetteville, 10 p.m., free. Katmandu kicks off the weekend with a happy hour set at Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 p.m., free, with a late-night set from Rock Candy, 9 p.m., $5.

SATURDAY 9/30 Joshua Asante, Taylor Made Rocks, the Gloryland Pastor’s Choir, the Ted Ludwig Trio and Brian Nahlen perform for Festival in the Park, noon to 7 p.m., Two Rivers Park, free. Arkansauce brings banjo jams to Four Quarter Bar, 10 p.m. Humphrey-McKeown bring an electrified folk rock set to Kings Live Music, 8:30 p.m., $5. The film CONTINUED ON PAGE 47 Follow Rock Candy on Twitter: @RockCandies

arktimes.com SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

TO-DO

LIST RAMBO

THE

BY STEPHANIE SMITTLE

SATURDAY 9/30

1000 POETS FOR CHANGE

Michael Rothberg and Terri Carrion set out to organize a global poetry event on Sept. 24, Now, I’m not saying that the whole “don’t 2011, in which people around the world would talk to strangers” thing isn’t good advice. read poetry to each other in the streets. “The Having grown up before the era of “To first order of change,” he said, “is for poets, Catch a Predator,” I’m pretty sure that time- writers, artists, to actually get together to honored bit of wisdom gave me a healthy create and perform, educate and demonstrate, wariness of windowless vans, and might have simultaneously, with other communities kept me from pocketing a hyper-evangelistic around the world. ... We hardly know our religious tract or two. For adults, though, neighbors down the street, let alone our “don’t talk to strangers” can be a pretty bogus creative allies who live and share our concerns mantra. Or, at least, insofar as it’s helpful, we in other countries.” It caught on. Seven take it way too far. This pop-up at the Little hundred poetry events took places across 95 Rock Farmers Market aims to facilitate one- countries, and Stanford University offered on-one exchanges, without a microphone or to archive the documented exchanges. This a stage — just people face to face gathered event, like the many others listed at 100tpc. in the name of fostering “inclusiveness, org — from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe — is the diversity, and positive change by reading and local version of that celebration, now annual listening to poetry, person to person.” They and worldwide. Organizers suggest dressing “won’t be selling anything or promoting any for the weather and, if you can, committing other event or a political agenda,” an FAQ to a timeslot at the event’s Facebook page on the event’s webpage reads. “Just positive or by sending an email to dogtown.poetry@ change.” The event got its start when poet outlook.com. 6 a.m.-3 p.m. Little Rock Farmers Market. Free.

‘GROOVITATE’: Ronnie Heart lays down post-disco grooves at Maxine’s Friday night.

RONNIE HEART

9 p.m. Maxine’s, Hot Springs. $5.

Prince is gone. And, with all due respect to biotechnological leaps in the study of reanimation, that’s not changing anytime soon. The Purple One’s aesthetic plays a heavy hand, though, in the work of Texas native Ronnie Gierhart (known to most as Ronnie Heart) — fitted, velvety, military jackets on a compact frame; perfectly coiffed hair; wavy, pulsating synthesizers; funky falsetto. Like his apparent muse, Heart can do it all: He’s a gifted dancer, vocalist and guitarist, and his earnestly administered lyrics leave no artistic distance between himself and his audience, no room to interpret any ounce of his postdisco routine as insincere or derivative. Even on what’s probably the most obtuse of tracks from 2016’s “you(r) mine,” called “Real Bad (Spider Monkey),” Heart doesn’t detach or play cool, managing to get downright silly with a seedy tattletale: “If I tell you the truth, you won’t listen to me, you see it’s useless, boo boo crappington … Your daddy’s sneakin,’ he’s sneakin’ around real bad!” Go to the show to be reminded of all the cool, boing-y effects you forgot your keyboard had, stay for the urgent Dionysian pleas of “Smoovie:” “Filling this place with hope right now/hoping this pace don’t slow right now/turning the sun completely into dark, completely/oxygen flowing through my veins … How can I move ya, baby?” SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

THE GLENN MILLER ORCHESTRA

5:30 p.m. Hot Springs Convention Center. $25$35.

FRIDAY 9/29

SATURDAY 9/30

ARKANSAS TIMES

This one’s for all of you (and there were many) who turned to their neighbors and whispered giddily at an Arkansas Symphony Orchestra pops concert six or seven years ago, just after it was announced that the next number would be Henry Mancini’s “Baby Elephant Walk.” (I was excited, too. It’s a fun tune.) The big band known as Glenn Miller and his Orchestra was founded in the late 1930s, and the tradition continues today with bandleader Nick Hilscher and a dapper ensemble of about 20 musicians. It’s arguably

the most famous big band touring these days, and they take care to stay true to the reedheavy sound, loading the band with clarinets and saxophones in lieu of a trumpet army to get the sound made famous by Miller himself. Although I’m sure it was the proximity of Hot Springs Village that made this stop a safe bet for the orchestra, tunes like “In the Mood” and “Tuxedo Junction” don’t die, and even those who would eschew Miller’s rigorous arranging habits for saucier, more loosely spun jazz landscapes owe something to the mysteriously disappeared trombonist and his era-defining swing music.

SUNDAY 10/1

BEER AND HYMNS

7 p.m. Diamond Bear Brewing Co. Free.

For some months now, a group of harmonizers have been congregating at Diamond Bear Brewery, making good on theologian John Wesley’s directive to “sing lustily and with good courage.” Liquid courage, should you need that kind, is available in many foamy forms to help with what’s arguably the

most difficult aspect of reading sheet music by sight: confidence and willingness to make an error. The brewery’s tap is tapping its usual suspects — Pale Ale, Paradise Porter and Dogtown Brown, to name a few, as well as a handful of seasonal ales: a malty Irish Red, a light Honey Weiss made with Arkansas honey and the just-tapped Rocktoberfest.

IN BRIEF, CONT.

QC: CW: CD: AD:

Trim: 2.125" x 5.5 Bleed: none"

TRIPLE ROW ACCORDION: An early, all-ages Sunday show at the White Water Tavern features music from zydeco royalty Dikki Du (Troy Carrier) and The Zydeco Krewe.

SUNDAY 10/1

DIKKI DU & THE ZYDECO KREWE

6 p.m. White Water Tavern. Free-$7.

This Krewe manages to turn any place it lands into revelry, St. Landry Parish-style, and this one sounds especially promising for a couple of reasons. First, it’s an early Sunday show, allowing for plenty of time to #sundayfunday and then get enough sleep to keep Monday morn-

ing from feeling like a slog. Second, it’s all-ages, so you can bring the kids, and there’s not much music in the world better suited to spark joy in tiny humans than some realdeal zydeco. Kids 10 and under get in free, and someday maybe they’ll be thrilled to know they heard Troy Carrier, a member of a celebrated musical family and an energetic interpreter of the Louisiana triple-row accordion sound.

The 90th Little Italy Italian Festival features a spaghetti dinner, Italian pastries and sausages, kid’s games, beer from Flyway Brewing and wines from Raimondo Winery and An Enchanted Evening Winery, 11 a.m., 33223 AR-300, Roland, free$12. Polka duo Itinerant Locals put an accordion twist on Talking Heads’ “Stay Up Late” and other tunes on Oaklawn’s game room floor, 6 p.m., free. Elsewhere in the the Spa City, comedian Chonda Pierce entertains at the Hot Springs Convention Center, 7 p.m., $27-$50. The Walmart AMP in Rogers celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month with “Celebrando del Musico,”a concert from Jesse & Joy and host of Univision’s “Despierta America” Maity Interiano, 1 p.m., free.

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SUNDAY 10/1

Brand: Bud Light Generic NFL Job/Order #: 298160 Operator: cs Item #: PBL2017169

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Publication: Arkansas Times

CHEER YOUR TEAM, AS A TEAM.

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Live: 1.875" x 5.25"

version of Laura Esquivel’s “Like Water For Chocolate” screens at PRINT the Ron Robinson Theater, 6:30 p.m., free. Self-described “aggressive worship” band Convictions brings Christian metalcore to Revolution, 8 p.m., $10-$12. Dikki Du & the Zydeco Krewe land at Maxine’s in Hot Springs, 9 p.m., $7. Sherwood Fest vendors, kids activities and live music at Sherwood Forest, 1111 W. Maryland Ave., 10 a.m.-6 p.m., free. Nerd Eye Blind brings covers of ’80s and ’90s hits to Thirst N’ Howl, 8:30 p.m., $5. Small Talks, Go For Gold and Idle Threat share a bill at Vino’s, 8 p.m., $7. Andy Tanas plays a free show at Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 p.m., followed by Woodpeckers, 9 p.m., $5. Sad Daddy brings the jug band vibes to the White Water, with an opening set from Nate Kennedy, 9:30 p.m. Shawn James and the Shapeshifters take the stage at George’s Majestic Lounge in Fayetteville, 9 p.m., $10.

TUESDAY 10/3 TUESDAY 10/4

BAND OF HORSES

7 p.m. Clear Channel Metroplex. $30.

Like many of the band’s devoted fans, Band of Horses frontman Ben Bridwell has aged into parenthood, and the newest record, “Why Are You OK,” shows it. “Awful conversation at the casual party,” the fourth track goes. “The job, the babble on, the recreational hobbies, oh/No it never stops/Kids and the dog, a freshly-mowed lawn/Retirement plans for a mountain home, oh.” With this record, the band’s got a toe dipped deeper than ever into multilayered Pink Floyd dystopia

but, perhaps owing to a sonic identity that favors friendlier melodies, they never quite dive into the abyss, opting instead to introduce themes of memory and malaise with a welldefined backbeat and a punchy slide guitar (“Throw My Mess”). Sans longtime members Tyler Ramsey and Bill Reynolds, who departed the band earlier this year, Band of Horses is making the rounds with dreamy guitars, Brian Wilson-inspired background vocals and retrospective lyrics about old photos and indifference (“In A Drawer,” “Hag”) in front of crowds of thousands.

The Central Arkansas Library System screens Richard Stringham’s 2017 horror flick “Close Calls” as part of its Boos & Booze series at Ron Robinson, 6 p.m., $2. Or, catch “Let’s Play Two: Pearl Jam Live at Wrigley Field” at Riverdale 10 Cinema, 7 p.m. Soldiers-turned-comedians The Veterans of Comedy go for laughs at The Loony Bin, 6:30 p.m., $15-$20. Couch Jackets and Brother Bera pair up for a “psychedelic pop” bill at Bear’s Den Pizza, 10 p.m., free.

WEDNESDAY 10/4 The Shannon Boshears Band takes its blues-rock set to the stage at South on Main, 8 p.m., $10. Pianist Jerry Redd entertains at the White Water Tavern, 9 p.m.

Shop shop LOCAL ARKANSAS TIMES

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arktimes.com SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

Dining WHAT’S COOKIN’

IT’S A TALL drink of water, the sevenstory building housing the Vault restaurant, to open later this fall in the 1909 Citizens Building, built for Citizens National Bank — with, of course, a vault — at the corner of Central Avenue and Bridge Street in Hot Springs. If the food is as yummy as the exterior — white Tiffany brick, a large arched entrance and blue back-lighting on the letters spelling out Vault and V over the wrought-iron doorway — it should be a Spa City hit. Austin, Texas, native Michael Easley, formerly of Cache, Maddie’s Place and 1620 restaurants in Little Rock, will bring an eclectic touch to a menu of fresh fish, shellfish, prime meats and more, general manager Randy Womack said. It’s been awhile in the making, since the building wasn’t plumbed for a kitchen. The main kitchen will be in the basement; the first floor will have a “show kitchen,” Womack said, and the six booths with a view will be able to order from a special menu and visit with the chef. The owners of the building — Jason Taylor and Dr. Daron Praetzel — hope to have the restaurant open by November. The Rhythm and Rocks Jazz Bistro is open on the second floor. The third floor is office space, and floors four through seven have been developed as apartments. ALSO COMING TO the Spa City: the Grateful Head Pizza Oven & Beer Garden. The menu of the Oklahomabased pizzeria lists such pies as Psychedelic Supremo, which definitely won’t make you small, and the Maui Waui, which once Rxpot kicks in should be popular. A photo on the Facebook page shows construction in progress. No information on opening. IT’S NOT TOO soon to buy tickets to the Thea Foundation’s annual arts-supporting feast, the Blue Plate Special, Oct. 16 at the Capital Hotel. Ten chefs and two mixologists have been lined up for the wining and dining part; artists, musicians and comedians will provide the evening’s cultural sustenance. The $75 tickets help Thea fund scholarships to college-bound high school seniors, provide art supplies for schools and promote its arts-infusion education model, A+ schools. The chef lineup includes Ben Blain of South on Main, Jeff Owen of Ciao Baci, Payne Harding of Cache, Gilbert Alaquinez of Forty-Two, Marc Guizol of the Capital Bar & Grill, Brian Kearns of Simply the Best Catering, Stephen Burrow of Skye’s Bistro at Stratton’s Market, Amanda Ivy of Old Mill Bread, Mark Abernathy of Red Door and Kelli Marks of Sweet Love. Ben Franks of Petit and Keet and Luiggi Uzcategui of Big Orange Midtown. The event runs 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. For tickets, go to theafoundation.org/blue-platespecial. 48

SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

‘MESSY, BUT IN A GOOD WAY’: The Shroom comes with musrhooms, caramelized onions and roasted garlic aioli.

Fun at Burger 21 Good burgers, great shakes.

urger 21’s slogan is “Burgers Reinvented,” which may be a bit of a stretch, but it is fair to say the restaurant’s onto something. The decor is modern and clean, the staff is helpful and nice, the menu has something for everyone, and, judging by what we’ve had, it’s pretty darn good. This is an order-at-the-counter operation and the menu is lengthy enough to create some indecision anxiety. There are 20 different kinds of “burgers,” including Angus beef, chicken, turkey, vegetarian and even seafood. There’s also a featured burger in rotation every three months. We went with the featured burger, the Southern Lucy ($6.99), and it was a stunner. If you like cheese, you’re going to love this one. The patty itself was substantial and stuffed with American and Swiss cheese. A couple of bites in, the cheese started to ooze forth. We thought this might be a bit

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much, but it wasn’t. It would have come off as gimmicky if it hadn’t been so tasty. There was a lot going on in this burger: The patty sat on a bed of tomato jam and was topped with fried onion strings and a bacon aioli. The bun was substantial enough to hold all of it together without falling apart or buckling. We really were surprised by this burger. There were a couple of things that made us think it would be intolerably rich: the oozy cheese bomb in the middle and the bacon aioli. Strangely, it all came together without being too rich to enjoy. Our buddy tried out the Shroom ($6.99) and was not disappointed. He found it to be “messy, but in a good way.” The caramelized onions were a nice touch and the roasted garlic aioli went well with the mushrooms. He also ordered a side of Onion Strings ($3.09), which were a favorite among the side dishes we ordered. They were

thin, crispy and stringy. We prefer these to the larger, more heavily battered variety, and Burger 21 does them well. The fries, especially their warmth or lack thereof, have been a point of contention in online reviews. We found complaints that they weren’t served warm to be true, unfortunately, but the fries were still tasty. They were of the McDonald’s variety: thin and skinless. We ordered a Half and Half Fries (half regular, half sweet potato for $3.09). We enjoyed the sweet potato fries. They were thin, crispy — and hot. There were lots of sauces to choose from, everything from the basics (ketchup and mustard) to more inventive condiments. The Ragin’ Cajun, which was a bit like a remoulade, was great with fries and onion strings. We didn’t get around to the Thai Ketchup or the Toasted Marshmallow. Burger 21 has a solid “Shakes and Sweets” section of the menu that features Coke floats, sundaes and all kinds of signature milkshakes, including Bananas Foster, espresso and strawberry shortcake. We tend to be milkshake purists, so we just went with the

BELLY UP

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

DIVINE: The chocolate milkshake. The Spicy Thai Shrimp Burger (below) had a nice kick.

JENNIFER LIND

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We just had to try the Spicy Thai Shrimp Burger ($7.79). Is it like a po-boy, we asked? No. The patty was made of shrimp (and probably some other stuff). The toppings — Sriracha aioli, sesame Thai slaw, lettuce and tomato — made the whole thing come together. It had a nice kick, too. A good lighter option is The Skinny Burger ($6.29). It’s a turkey burger topped with avocado, lettuce, tomato and a sun-dried tomato aioli. We’re not usually into turkey burgers, but this was a good one.

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basic chocolate ($3.29). We’re glad we did. It might sound a bit ridiculous to say, but it was divine. It was smooth, thick and frothy. The chocolate was incredible: Ghirardelli syrup (we had to ask). One of the best things about it is it’s served in a glass, which is better than a shake in a Styrofoam cup. We’d say Burger 21 is no-frills, but that’s not exactly true. There are a few.

But that’s OK if everything tastes good, and it does. It’s clean. It’s new. There is plenty to choose from, including salads, so everyone will find something they like. It’s a cut above fast food and one step behind some of the trendier burger places in town. We’ve been trying to put our finger on exactly what we liked about it and the best we can come up with is it’s just fun to eat there. arktimes.com SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

MOVIE REVIEW

CONFETTI HURRICANE: Taron Egerton, Colin Firth and Pedro Pascal star.

Spy spoof “Kingsman,” part deux, doubles down on the zany. BY SAM EIFLING

ompared superficially against the movies of James Bond and Jason Bourne, the burgeoning “Kingsman” series seems like a hip, young espionage franchise on the make. The spy at its center, Eggsy (Taron Egerton), is a lower-class Londoner turned debonaire international man of mystery, outfitted flawlessly by the tailor shop that gives his spy crew their out-in-the-open cover. The first installment saw him defeat evil tech mogul Samuel L. Jackson and his plot to kill everyone in the world via remote SIM cards that would drive millions of people into homicidal sprees. It was a comedy. The second installment, “Kingsman: The Golden Circle,” has Eggsy facing off against evil druglord Poppy Adams (Julianne Moore), who intends to hold the world hostage by poisoning her monopolistic supplies of every illicit substance on the planet. (Smoke a joint or shoot up heroin, you eventually are paralyzed, then your eyes burst.) It, too, is a comedy, though fullblown Bugs Bunny cartoon may be closer to the reality. You’ll rarely see such a zany, physics-is-for-the-weak

romp, certainly not at an Oscar-baity 141 minutes. It is impossible to describe sober. How to mark the utter lack of give-a-damn in this confetti hurricane? Maybe in the opening moments when Eggsy is attacked by a former spy school classmate (Edward Holcroft) who turns out to have a Terminator-like arm and who battles him in a high-speed car chase through London that’s eventually resolved by missile fire? How about when Moore’s Poppy makes one goon at her ’50s-themed diner secret volcano jungle lair feed another goon into a meat grinder, then fries up a burger from the meat? Or when they find presumed-dead-from-the-last-movie agent Colin Firth alive but amnesiac in a secret bunker under a Kentucky bourbon distillery? Or when Elton John, in full feather-gown regalia, saves the same agent from a rampaging robot dog? Director Matthew Vaughn clearly figured that when the original banks more than $400 million worldwide, just double down on the formula. Say yes to the gentlemen-vs.-ruffians bar fights shot by a free-swirling

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camera, as if a music video has just broken out. Yes to the insane and insanely under-explained gadgetry. Yes to the implausible but delightfully sinister villain trying to wipe out civilization. And sure, while we’re at it, let’s mix in some bold stealth arguments for legalizing hard drugs. And let Elton John deliver a slow-mo flying kick to a goon’s face — while wearing platform shoes. You’ll leave after two-plus-hours with a daft list of favorite moments. (One hard to forget: watching a waiter deliver a burger in Brooklyn’s Alamo Drafthouse, where I saw this circus, timed perfectly with a moment in which evil druglord Moore is serving up a human burger.) You’ll also leave, though, feeling like you’ve just been thrown into the dryer with a bunch of golf balls. Or maybe that you’ve just listened to a 6-year-old tell you about his dream last night. (“And then Halle Berry was there as a nerd who wanted to be an agent. And spy-cowboy Channing Tatum was in cryofreeze because he did some bad blow. And then …”) It’s either a smorgasbord for the senses (and it is that) or a movie that takes itself so unseriously as to make it criticism-proof (it is that, definitely) or a contraption of actors and sets and effects and music such that really, really looks like a movie, but is in fact two-and-a-half hours of shimmering culture vomit. Who can say? Maybe the inevitable sequel will sort it out for us.

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arktimes.com SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

BRIAN CHILSON

to use for the Arkansas Times Hog Roast. They went through a whole rick of wood, Hart said, which they preburn over a specially prepared barrel in order to harvest the hot coals for their pit, lined with firebrick for reflective heat. The result was, he said, perfect. Boudreaux’s Grill and Bar and Swinetology 101 After coming in second in the whole hog category of last year’s hog roast Matt Morris and his Swinecology team are planning to pull out a win this year with a secret mix of injections, rub, wood and heat. “We plan to basically do the same thing we did last year.” A veteran of whole hog cookoffs, Morris runs the catering wing of Boudreaux’s Grill and Bar in Maumelle. While simultaneously cooking hams, bacon, loins, chops and all the other cuts that make up a whole hog might sound daunting, Morris said he believes it’s actually easier than cooking a Boston butt. Morris said he’ll trim internal fat from his hog before coating it inside and out with a custom rub, then cook it around 15 hours over a custom blend of hickory and cherry. Hickory, he said, lends a smoke “bite” to the meat, and cherry mellows the flavor with sweetness. Flyway/Count Porkula Before Flyway Brewing Co. unveiled its tasty menu full of the likes of smoked duck and wild boar brats and baconwrapped quail, the brewery hosted “guest pitmasters” from time to time. That’s how co-owner Jess McMullen got to know Kelly Lovell of the local food trailer eatery and catering company Count Porkula. One of the best brewery kitchens in town teamed with the barbecue champs of the food truck scene? We’re expecting big things. Four Quarter Bar Conan Robinson may be best known for managing Midtown for many years and owning new North Little Rock favorite Four Quarter, just down Main Street from the event (after party!). But those in the know recognize Robinson as a longtime purveyor of delicious grub: burgers (natch), but also delicious pulled pork sandwiches, a Cuban and pulled pork nachos. A perennial hog roast participant, Robinson plans to brine his hog, slather on his signature Four Quarter rub and cook it in a cinder block pit. Grumpy’s Too While other teams will be using 52

SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

SWINE TIME: Don’t miss all-the-pig-you-can-eat from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 1, at the Argenta Plaza in North Little Rock.

and smoked potatoes, along with breaded, deep-fried eggplant strips. As fitting with pulled pork, both sides will be decidedly Southern, Carpenter said, but with a twist. Wilson’s A1 BBQ A veteran barbecue caterer, Alisha Pagan said that her secret weapon for the Arkansas Times Hog Roast will be her wood selection: a secret blend of carefully selected fruit and nut tree wood that allows for a strong smoke flavor while imparting a fruity sweetness to the meat. It’s the same wood blend she uses when cooking pulled pork for her popular catering company, Wilson’s A1 BBQ, which has been in business for two years. You can find them online at facebook.com/wilsonsA1barbecue. Also distinctive will be Wilson’s signature rub, a secret blend of spices that Pagan is keeping close to the vest, but which she hopes will help her pull off a win in the amateur category. Keeping things very downhome, Pagan said her team plans to dish up a side of greens with smoked meat along with her family recipe cornbread, and then lay on the sweetness with candied yams.

smoke, glazes and rubs to set their a new restaurant in the 1909 Citizens hog apart, Chris Finkbeiner with Building in Hot Springs, so it makes Grumpy’s Too plans to differentiate sense they’d want to keep it simple for theirs by the cooking method. After the hog roast. But Easley says that’s thoroughly injecting their hog with the also so their Farm Girl Meats hog can Grumpy’s house marinade, they’ll be speak for itself. They’ll brine the hog using what’s known as a “China Box,” with simple sugar and salt and use a aka a “Cajun Microwave,” an enclosed cinder block rig. Easley said the Farm roaster that cooks the hog top-down Girl owner Katie Short has done her AHH Townley by piling hot coals on the metal top part by raising the hogs in kindness; A former Navy pilot who came of the box. Finkbeiner said the tech- he’ll respect the pig by doing as little home to Arkansas a few years back nique will cook their hog in about half as possible to the meat. to run the family business, Townley the time of other teams, leading to a Easley has also worked with the Pools and Spas, David Townley will savory Cuban-style pork that’s roasted James Beard Restaurant Rioja in Den- be using the hog roast to show off the rather than smoked. Another secret ver and trained under Jennifer Jasin- versatility of an item he sells a lot of in weapon will be chef Josh Smith, who ski; he met Mayfield when he moved his store: the Big Green Egg ceramic Finkbeiner called his team’s culinary to Cache Restaurant in the River Mar- cooker. Townley Pools and Spas offers expert. Smith recently won the award ket District. the whole line of Big Green Egg prodfor student chef of the year at the UAucts, which burn wood charcoal and Pulaski Tech Culinary Arts and Hospi- AMATEURS can be used to cook everything from tality Management Institute, and will ribs to pies thanks to their unique, insuserve as a co-captain of the Grumpy’s Onebanc Roadsters also plan to par- lated design. Townley plans to cook his Too five-person team. ticipate, but weren’t available before team’s sides and pork butt entirely on press time. Mini Max Eggs, a tailgating-sized verRistorante Capeo sion that’s the smallest member of the Bryan Isaac of the Italian favorite Smokin’ Butz Big Green Egg family. Townley’s team Ristorante Capeo in Argenta was taciSmokin’ Butz team leader David will be utilizing rubs created by the turn in his description of plans on how Carpenter said his team’s strategy is Georgia-based Lane’s BBQ (another his team would prepare its whole hog. simple: Cook some great pulled pork. A product sold through his store) to “We’re just gonna cook a hog and have veteran restaurateur who helped open start, then will smoke over a mixture fun.” How might they cook the hog? several Central Arkansas institutions, of apple and peach wood to give the “Put it on some heat and then take it off including Sherwood’s longstanding pork a sweet flavor. For sides, Townley some heat.” But what about a touch of Zaffino’s and Little Rock’s new Main plans to make what he called “sortaCapeo in the preparation and season- Street anchor Samantha’s Tap Room white coleslaw,” a unique take on slaw ings? “We don’t serve whole hog at & Wood Grill, Carpenter said his team that utilizes Lane’s BBQ’s Sorta-White Capeo.” So your guess is as good as ours. plans to carefully select their Boston barbecue sauce, along with a classic butt for a particular ratio of meat to fat, cornbread. Vault coat it down with a secret, homemade Mike Easley (executive chef and pork rub that is “a little unique,” and visionary), formerly of Restaurant 1620 then smoke it low and slow until it’s and Cache, and Cody Mayfield (sous done to perfection. Sides will be a little chef) are busy putting together Vault, unique, too, including slow-roasted

Hey, do this!

OCTOBER PART ONE • OCT 15-31 COMING NEXT WEEK!

Food, Music, Entertainment and everything else that’s

The Oxford American is proud to present its 25th anniversary fundraising gala, Books, Bourbon & Boogie, featuring Lucinda Williams, Thurs., Nov. 2, at CHARTS Theatre on the campus of UA — Pulaski Tech. Tickets available at Metrotix.com or call 800-293-5949 beginning Aug. 3 at noon. Tickets include a pre-concert reception with appetizers and drinks at 6:00 PM in the CHARTS lobby. Doors opeb for seating at 7:30 PM. The concert will begin at 8:00 PM.

OCT 5

NOW-OCT 21

THE SAVANNAH SIPPING SOCIETY at Murry’s Dinner Playhouse. This is a story of four unique Southern women who are all stuck in a rut. Drawn together by fate, and an unplanned happy hour, the ladies decide now’s the time to reclaim that passion for life that’s faded over the years. Before long, they realize it’s never too late to make lasting friends.

SEPT 29

The 140th Anniversary Philander Smith College PRESIDENT’S SCHOLARSHIP GALA takes place from 7-11 p.m. at the Statehouse Convention Center. Tickets are available at www. centralarkasnastickets. com.

Movies at MacArthur presents DEBT OF HONOR: DISABLED VETERANS IN AMERICAN HISTORY at 6:30 p.m. as part of its free movie series each month.

A fall favorite every year, HARVESTFEST takes place in Hillcrest. The beloved block party along Kavanaugh is free and includes a pancake breakfast, bird walk, farmers’ market, food and art vendors, live music and a fashion show. For a complete schedule of events, visit harvestfest.us.

Coolio

The annual ARKANSAS TIMES WHOLE HOG ROAST takes place in North Little Rock’s Argenta Plaza at 6th and Main. Professional teams will prepare a whole hog and sides. Amateur teams are all cookin’ up pork butts from Edwards Food Giant and sides. Gates open at 1 p.m. Food is served at 2 p.m. Tickets are $15 in advance online at www.centralarkansastickets.com or $20 at the door.

SEPT 29-30

The Arkansas Times MAD bus will take you from Little Rock to El Dorado for the opening of the MURPHY ARTS DISTRICT. For $99, you get a seat on the party bus, live music and food and drinks en route to the festivities and a ticket to the show. Claim your spot at www.centralarkansastickets.com. ■ It’s DEPOT DAYS in Newport, the North Mississippi Allstars kick off this festival that pays tribute to the rich rock ’n roll history along the old Rock ’n Roll Highway 67 and supports the museum there. For more info, visit www.depotdays.org. IT’S FREE

OCT 14

THE SIX BRIDGES REGATTA takes place on the Arkansas River. Register your team at www. regattacentral. com or learn more about the event at www.6br.org.

OCT 6-15

THE 26TH ANNUAL HOT SPRINGS DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL kicks off in style on October 6 with film legend, Kathleen Turner, and the opening night film Laddie: The Man Behind the Movies, one daughter’s journey to discover her father, Alan Ladd, Jr. For tickets and a full festival lineup, visit www.hsdfi.org.

Presented by Low Key Arts, HOT WATER HILLS MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL takes place in Hot Springs. For a lineup and list of vendors, visit www.hotwaterhills. com.

OCT 10

Notorious riot and comedy icon KATT WILLIAMS performs live at Verizon Arena on his Great American Tour. Show starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are available online at www.ticketmaster.com. Other shows at Verizon this month include Air1Positive (Oct. 5), Jason Aldean (Oct. 13), Bruno Mars (Oct. 22) and Cirque du Soleil Crystal, a breakthrough ice experience (Oct. 26-29). For show times and tickets, visit www. verizonarena.com.

OCT 14

OCT 1

OCT 6-7

It’s King Biscuit time! THE KING BISCUIT BLUES FESTIVAL takes place in Helena-West Helena on historic Cherry Street. Join the party to the party when you reserve a seat on the Arkansas Times Blues Bus on Oct. 7. It’s $109 per person and includes transportation, a ticket to the see Gov’t Mule, lunch, plus live music and adult beverages en route to Helena-West Helena. For tickets and more info, visit www.centralarkansastickets.com.

OCT 7

Celebrity Attractions presents BROADWAY’S KINKY BOOTS with songs by iconic pop star Cyndi Lauper. Tickets are on sale now. The show takes place at Robinson Center. Visit www. celebrityattractions. com for more info.

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

OCT 4-7

The American Heart Association’s 2017 FESTIVAL OF WINES: COCKTAILS & CUISINE. The largest Wine Festival in Central Arkansas features foods from over seventeen of our local restaurants with samplings of hundreds of wines from around the world, plus silent and premier auctions. Dickey-Stephen’s Park, 400 W. Broadway St., North Little Rock. 6:00-8:30 p.m.

OCT 13-15

SEPT 29-DEC 31

FUN!

OCT 11-29

The Arkansas Repertory Theatre presents THE SCHOOL FOR LIES. Based on Molière’s classic 17th century comedy The Misanthrope, The School of Lies exposes the hypocrisies of high society with sharp wit and even sharper observations of human nature. Opening night is Oct. 13 with preview shows, special events and more. For tickets, visit www.therep.org.

OCT 12

Texas blues legend JIMMIE VAUGHAN performs live at Pulaski Technical College at the Center for Humanities and Arts. Tickets start at $39 with VIP passes at $125. For tickets, visit www.uaptc.edu/ charts.

OCT 13

2ND FRIDAY ART NIGHT takes place in downtown Little Rock. Hop on the trolley for free, and stop at participating locations, including galleries, boutiques and museums.

AROUND TOWN

South on Main’s OCTOBER SESSIONS are curated by Arkansas artist V. L. Cox this month. Shows include Shannon Boshears Band (Oct. 4), Out Loud Storytelling: Taking Pride (Oct. 11) and A+B (Oct. 18). For a complete schedule of events, visit www.southonmain.com

THE ARKANSAS STATE FAIR

OCT 13

Founded in 1982, WOLFE STREET FOUNDATION CELEBRATES 35 YEARS SOBER as Central Arkansas’ recovery center and support system. Tickets are $35 for the birthday celebration and include music, food trucks and birthday cake at the 1015 S. Louisiana location. For tickets, visit www. centralarkansastickets.com.

DON’T MISS HOT SPRINGS HAPPENINGS ON PAGE 30!

Vince Neil

OCT. 12-22 It’s that time of year again! The ARKANSAS STATE FAIR is upon us. The biggest event of the season includes a parade, vendors, rides, pageants, livestock, rodeo, free live music including performances by Next on Oct. 12, VINCE NEIL on Oct. 13, TRACY LAWRENCE on Oct. 18 and COOLIO on Oct. 22. For a full round-up of events and info, visit arkansasstatefair.com. arktimes.com SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

ALSO IN THE ARTS

UPCOMING EVENTS

‘Nine’ preview

Work-in-progress opera shines at UCA.

The Weekend Theater

SEP

15-30

Little Brother

SEP

Statehouse Convention Center

SEP

Four Quarter Bar

140th Anniversary President’s Scholarship Gala

Dirtfoot with American Lions

Argenta Farmers Market Grounds

OCT

Whole Hog Roast King Biscuit Blues Festival

OCT

Arkansas Times Bus Trips

OCT

Wolfe Street Campus

Arkansas Times Blues Bus to King Biscuit Blues Festival

Wolfe Street Foundation 35th Birthday Celebration Arkansas Times Bus Trips

Arkansas Times Cash Bus to the Johnny Cash Heritage Festival

OCT

Go to CentralArkansasTickets.com to purchase these tickets and more! Arkansas Times new local ticketing site! If you’re a non-profit, freestanding venue or business selling tickets thru eventbrite or another national seller – call us 501.492.3994 – we’re local, independent and offer a marketing package!

LOCAL TICKETS, ONE PLACE 54

SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

ARKANSAS TIMES

BY STEPHANIE SMITTLE

omposer Tania León and his- nessing history being turned into art, torian Henry Louis Gates Jr. and art is making history right here spoke last night to an enthusi- in Conway.” astic and plentiful crowd at University Then, as pianist Paul Dickinson took of Central Arkansas’s Reynolds Perfor- his seat at the piano bench, Opera in mance Hall last night, preceding the the Rock vocalists Nisheedah Dévré performance of four excerpts from Golden, Kendra Thomas, Candice HarLeón’s in-progress opera “Little Rock ris and Ron Jensen-McDaniel entered Nine,” with a libretto by scholar and the stage, pantomiming the excitement playwright Thulani Davis. The perfor- meant to be conveyed in “Little Rock mance and lectures were followed by a Nine,” the opera, Act I, Scene 3. One conversation with Gates and León, mod- by one, they took to the footlights, pererated by UCA’s Dr. Donna Stephens. forming short, introspective arias from After a brief and expository intro- León’s angular score, embodying Melba duction to the events of Central High Patillo (Thomas), Jefferson Thomas School’s desegregation in 1957 that form (Jensen-McDaniel), Minnijean Brown the plot of the opera, Gates took the (Harris) and Elizabeth Eckford (Golden). podium, describing the process of col- The arias, for all their sparseness and laboration between he and UCA Col- woven-in silence, required great vocal lege of Fine Arts and Communication feats, complete rhythmic precision Dean Rollin Potter when the idea first and death-defying interval leaps from emerged in 2011. (Notably, Gates won the singers, who handled them with over the crowd by admitting that for aplomb. Especially memorable were some portion of that years-long col- Jensen-McDaniel’s reverent and glorilaborative process, he’d assumed Potter ous treatment of the dissonant last note was black — and, alluding to his own of Jefferson Thomas’ aria “I raised my role as host of the genealogy-focused hand, I was a track star,” and Golden’s PBS’ “Finding Your Roots,” jokingly sugar-sweet slide on the line “My folks offered Potter a “free DNA kit.”) won’t play that,” meant to reflect EckGates quoted liberally from W.E.B. ford’s hesitation to tell her parents she’d Du Bois, an opera fan himself and a signed up to participate in the integrafierce admirer of Wagner’s operas, not- tion process: “I had to think, I wanted ing the impact that Du Bois and James to be sure.” Weldon Johnson had on the introducLeón’s score, to my ears, seemed tion of art reflecting the African-Amer- wildly difficult in this scene, but also ican experience into the wider Ameri- wholly appropriate as a soundtrack to can consciousness. “Music has been the reeling, apprehensive mindsets of the sound of our revolutions,” Gates four students about to launch themsaid, noting Johnson’s authorship of selves into an impossibly treacherous “Lift Every Voice And Sing,” first per- social situation — and about to etch their formed at a birthday celebration for own names into the history books. Abraham Lincoln in 1900 and now “These nine lives could be ours,” León often referred to as the “Black Ameri- said following the performance. “I could can National Anthem.” Then, Gates read be one of them.” And it wasn’t a stretch, an excerpt from his memoir, “Colored especially for León, whose entry into People,” about watching the 1957 events the United States from Havana, Cuba, on television, saying: 50 years ago has created its own set of “In 1957, when I was in second grade, obstacles to overcome. (For more on black children integrated Central High that, see our Q&A with the composer, School in Little Rock, Arkansas. We published in the September 21 issue of watched it on TV. All of us watched the Arkansas Times.) it. I don’t mean Mama and Daddy and “Planet Earth is an island in the uniRocky. I mean all the colored people in verse,” León said. “So, from that point America watched it, together, with one of view, realizing how minute we are set of eyes.” and how we sometimes feel like we are Gates went on to speak about the so big, that idea is what I would like to opera’s development, several years in bring about, and the ideas that Thulani the making, saying, “Nothing like this has given me to work with are: empathy has ever been tried before. We are wit- and compassion.”

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All participants must be in the Zoo by 8:15am

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Proceeds of the of the Walk go to help caregivers in Pulaski County who take care of Alzheimer’s Patients. To learn more, contact Barbara Jensen, Alzheimer’s Arkansas (501) 224-0021 | barbara.jensen@alzark.org

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