Arkansas Times

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AUGUST 15, 2012

3

COMMENT

The future of Arkansas Democrats It’s one thing to duke it out and lose. It’s quite another to not even put up a fight when it comes to these important congressional races.

First, Arkansas progressives found themselves wondering what the heck happened to our Forrest Gump candidate in AR-03; now we’re supposed to come to the defense of ol’ sud-sippin’ Grandpa Herb in AR-02. We sent up a school bus driver against an impressive bunch of D.C. insiders in AR-04.

Thank goodness for Scott Ellington in AR-01, who at least gives us a shot of not being shutout completely this fall. Seriously, is this the best Dems here can offer? Exactly what was it that the state party did to “regroup” following the historic GOP gains in 2010? No push to recruit top-notch candidates? Are we quietly just waiting it out until President Obama is off the top of the ticket before we even try again? If not, why does it feel that way right now? Don’t we have to hold the party chairman somewhat accountable here?

Sadly, Governor Beebe does not use his broad popularity to push anything bold or progressive, or even to really push for other Democrats down-ticket. Historically popular politicians generally try to leave their mark on history, but I just don’t see a reduction in the grocery tax or a landslide re-election as having a lot of staying power in the minds of future generations. If he were maintaining his spot above the fray in anticipation of a run for federal office, perhaps that approach would make sense. Otherwise, it is just a big ol’ disappointment. Perhaps the left’s biggest guns here, Bill Halter and Dustin McDaniel, are already setting the stage for a primary bloodbath in two years. And as we saw in the Halter v. Lincoln war, spending millions to tear down each other didn’t bode well in November with so many hard feelings still lingering. As much as I personally admire Halter and his ideas, this “secrecy” he maintains to what his next moves will be make it difficult on other progressives possibly considering runs of their own or wanting to build a movement behind his winning populist message.

It’s beyond time for progressives here to rebrand themselves (being champions of government ethics reform and protecting the environment in the era of fracking could be winning issues to start) and start developing a roster of young talent to run for office over the next decade.

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AUGUST 15, 2012

While there has been some movement on this front with progressive groups forming, it must go beyond occasional e-mail list updates or get-togethers downtown to drink and socialize.

Considering that seemingly everyone just looked around with shrugged shoulders when it came time to run against Congressman Griffin and his record — from the state’s most progressive and populated region in a seat long-held by someone like Congressman Snyder — just seems to prove that apathy has indeed settled in and that Democrats are subtly just allowing

the complete GOP-takeover to occur.

Jeff B. Woodmansee Sherwood

Done with Lancaster Thank you Bob Lancaster for continuing to beat a dead homo chicken into the ground. Here is my philosophy: If you don’t like the music, change channels. If you don’t like the opinion of an owner of a restaurant, don’t eat there. If you are tired of people writing about homo chickens, don’t read them ever again. Done!!!!

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Situational support Don’t you find it curious that the left supports gay marriage only when it is opposed by white Christians, but not when it is opposed by African Americans or Muslims? Where are the protests in South Central L.A. or at your nearest mosque?

Michael J. Emerson Little Rock

From the web: In response to Max Brantley’s column, “GOP extremism v. Beebe” (Aug. 8): Here is where someone usually responds with something like, “The Republicans won’t be satisfied until we have the same level of government as Somalia.” Those of us who see government simply as a tool of the people and not some evil entity in and of itself like to respond to the extremism of current Republicans with the same kind of hyperbole. It’s a fun exercise, but I’m coming to believe that the consequences of Republican extremism are just too scary to bother with that anymore.

I fully believe that Arkansas Republicans truly believe the Reagan screed that government is, in and of itself, evil.

If you believe that, then there all kinds of corollaries that follow, most of them leading to the belief that the only way to redeem government is to starve it, and damn the consequences.

I’m sorry, but the Democratic Party has let us all down, at least here in Arkansas. Certainly they had the deep racist tendencies of the Arkansas electorate working against them, having an African-American in the White House, but why in the world did they have to just throw in the towel? We didn’t end up with only one Mike Beebe overnight.

Party building is a constant activity. Was it the murder of Bill Gwatney that got us in the mess? Who was asleep at the wheel?

Or maybe it’s Beebe himself who bears some responsibility for all this.

Maybe he’s been as ineffective at party building for the Democrats as his predecessor was for the Republicans in the ’90s.

Either way, we’re in a hell of a mess now. We’re soon to have a government of the Taliban, by the Taliban, and for the Taliban.

Perplexed

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5

EDITORIAL

No quarter

f anything can convince hard-shell Republicans that the wavery Mitt Romney is a Republican, Romney’s choice of a running mate should do it. Nobody hews to the party line more devotedly than Paul Ryan, and no one is more resistant to cooperation with the other political party. He’s assuredly not one of those reachers-across-the-aisle that Washington commentators keep saying the country needs. (Though the pundits usually want Democrats to do the reaching, and it’s Democrats they urge to “move to the center.” Ryan is far from the center, but don’t expect commentators to tell him to move.) And since Ryan’s is the stronger personality, the Ryan-Romney campaign will reflect his beliefs. So far, Romney has spent much of his time repudiating the greatest achievement of his career in public service — the progressive Massachusetts health-care program that was the model for President Obama’s national health-care program. He won’t have to do that anymore. With Ryan at his side, people will believe that Romney is truly mean, Romneycare or no.

How mean is Ryan? He wants to end Medicare as we know it and replace it with a voucher plan that would increase old people’s costs. He wants to raise taxes on the middle class, and reduce taxes for millionaires. He wants to privatize Social Security, trusting senior citizens’ retirement benefits to the kind hearts and sound judgment of Wall Street manipulators. He wants reductions in public spending that would cost millions of Americans their jobs. He wants to eliminate federal Pell grants for more than a million college students. He wants legislation declaring a fertilized egg to have “all the legal and constitutional attributes and privileges of personhood,” which would outlaw abortion, some forms of contraception and in vitro fertilization.

Now Romney will want all these too.

S

Same type

ecretary of State Mark Martin is the same sort of slobbery partisan as Paul Ryan. One of Martin’s deputies was in El Dorado the other day proclaiming that only Republicans should be elected county clerks, because Democratic clerks allowed “illegal immigrants” (i.e., Latinos) to vote.

Pressed for proof that Democrats permit illegal voting, and Republicans don’t, Martin and his staff fell back into their Capitol office. The employee who made the original accusation, one Alex Reed, has taken a vow of silence, according to another Martin agent. The secretary of state and those of his staff still verbal eventually told irate county clerks, most of whom are Democrats, that Reed had been misquoted. A reporter for the El Dorado newspaper published a transcript showing he hadn’t.

There’s incompetence in this sorry incident, and dishonesty, yes, and most of all, excessive party loyalty.

If Latinos might vote Democratic, a Yellow Dog Republican official believes his duty is to keep Latinos from voting. This is not the way to run an office intended to serve all the people, whether it’s secretary of state or vice president.

6

AUGUST 15, 2012

ARKANSAS TIMES

BRIAN CHILSON

I

EYE ON ARKANSAS

NOT GOING ANYWHERE: Herb Rule, the Democratic 2nd Congressional District candidate who was arrested for DWI last Thursday in Fayetteville, speaks at a news conference where he reasserted his innocence and made it clear he intended to continue running. “I’ll be there,” he said. “I’m here for the duration.”

Little Rock’s golden rule

I

n less than four weeks — in an election city officials hope is noticed only by those identified as reliable supporters of city government — Little Rock voters will be asked to vote for a 3-mill property tax to finance street and drainage work.

There’s no better use of the property tax than support for infrastructure. Plus, if the city grows and property values grow, the tax grows. Well-managed, the revenue can avoid the need for catch-up tax increases.

So I start sympathetic. Though the tax goes away if not approved, in effect it is just continuation of an ongoing levy, actually a 9 percent reduction from the current 3.3-mill rate. That’s enough to hold most homeowners harmless against shocking increases in property valuation in the recent countywide reappraisal, given the 5 percent cap on tax increases.

Criticism has arisen to the tax plan. Arkansas Community Organizations, the grassroots group, and the Coalition of Greater Little Rock Neighborhoods, along with some individuals and City Director Ken Richardson, have objected to the city’s plan to spread the tax proceeds equally among the seven wards.

If the needs were equal, this would make sense.

They are not. The older parts of town have much greater needs. The more prosperous neighborhoods will be favored by equal distribution.

According to city figures, street needs total $723 million. Ward 1, the eastern portion of the city, accounts for 21.2 percent of the work. Ward 7, far southwest Little Rock, needs 24.3 percent. Ward 4, which includes Chenal Valley, needs only about 4 percent, but would get $21 million from new sales tax and property tax money just like the crumbling East End. The Coalition wants the City Board to alter the formula. Director Richardson said he liked an idea Director Dean Kumpuris once floated to give the poorest wards 10 percent of the money and then divide the rest equally.

It’s not likely to happen.

Gold rules in Little Rock, in everything from the at-large board seats that control the balance of power to the business-interest weighted regulaMAX tory boards to the Little Rock BRANTLEY maxbrantley@arktimes.com Regional Chamber of Commerce taxpayer subsidy and $21 million tech park handout.

The Little Rock Golden Rule worked against the city in the recent special sales tax election. Except for a handful of liberal and upper-class precincts, voters rejected the tax. But the margin was wide enough in the “good government” districts that the tax squeaked by. An unequal benefit for those same neighborhoods in the property tax election — along with their general propensity to support the infrastructure tax — might pass the property tax. If reappraisal sticker shock doesn’t diminish that support.

It was disappointing last week to see a generally progressive City Hall adopt a Mitt Romney-style view of the tax election. City Manager Bruce Moore, a reasonable guy and able administrator, told the Democrat-Gazette that he couldn’t understand opposition from poor neighborhoods.

According to the article, “Moore said because of the nature of the millage, which will be a larger burden on property owners with more valuable property, the opponents’ argument seems flawed to him.”

The property millage is a flat tax — the same rate on rich and poor alike. Yes, the mansions carry higher tax bills. But a flat tax hurts the working poor given how disproportionately it takes from their income. And it ignores the decades of unpaid stress the wealthy neighborhoods have placed on city infrastructure and services without impact fee or other tax revenue to offset it. An equal distribution of new tax revenue will widen the inequality gap and further erode neighborhoods from which people have already fled.

BRIAN CHILSON

OPINION

Smiting the weak

M

itt Romney’s bold selection of Paul Ryan, the author of the Ryan budget, as his running mate raises the question: Does that put Arkansas and its six electoral votes in play?

After all, if there is a full-bore debate on Ryan’s Roadmap for America, far more than half the people in the state could see that a Romney-Ryan-Republican government would change their lives for the worse by gutting programs that make their lives bearable.

But let’s not be absurd. Of course it will not put Arkansas in play. Nothing could do that — maybe if it were proved that a masked Barack Obama himself, disguised as a Navy Seal, had bounded up the stairs of Osama bin Laden’s compound that night in Abbottabad, ripped off his mask and shot the terrified old terrorist, or if the new running mates were caught in flagrante delicto in a bathroom scandal. Nothing else.

Still, to consider it is an interesting exercise. Arkansas will see none of the ad tonnage and the speechmaking that will be dumped on the dozen or so swing states, much of it, pro and con, explicating the Ryan plan, which Romney has decided to embrace unreservedly.

What if Arkansans were made privy to all that — forced to hear it, actually, if they turned on their TVs?

Democrats have been praying for Ryan as the vice presidential candidate, believing that most of the country ERNEST will be horrified, if DUMAS not at the current Ryan budget, at what it portends long range.

Ryan was turned on to politics by the Darwinian author Ayn Rand. Life is for the strong, and a fit society and its government owe nothing to the weak, the unlucky, the disabled or the misfits.

All those government programs opposed

by Republicans — Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, federal aid to education, college assistance, food and environmental safety (Republicans actually were complicit on environmental protection in the 1970s and ’90s), disaster relief, farm aid, banking and securities regulation — must be phased out to return to a strong America. Ryan says the country should keep its promises to people already in the programs, but everyone afterward will be free to make it on their own. Ryan said in a New Yorker article last month that, beyond the military, government’s role should pretty much be limited to national infrastructure — roads, bridges and the like. That is natural. Federal highway dollars are the source of his

First impressions of Ryan are everything

B

efore Saturday, when House Budget Committee chair Paul Ryan was announced as Mitt Romney’s running mate, fewer than half of American voters knew enough of him to have an opinion. Those then able to evaluate Ryan — they split fairly evenly — are mostly informed partisans whose votes are not up for grabs. However, the coming days will be crucial in efforts to define Ryan in the eyes of the voters who will determine the outcome of Election 2012 — undeclared voters in the handful of key battleground states. And these first impressions of Ryan will determine whether or not he has a consequential role in the election in either a beneficial or harmful manner for GOP efforts.

In the Ryan roll-out, Romney’s team has emphasized that Ryan is a “big thinker” who has shown character in his willingness to take on the most pressing fiscal problems of the present and future through his plans to get federal spending under control and to make the government’s major entitlement programs

solvent. This framing of Ryan also emphasizes the Wisconsinite’s personal character; he’s a “great JAY guy” who emphaBARTH sizes collegiality in his work. Indeed, Romney has noted Ryan’s ability in “working across the aisle” in the Congress. Finally, this framing of Ryan highlights his commitment to family, church, and community. In short, he’s the son any mother would love to have.

Moreover, this storyline emphasizes what the Ryan selection has to say about Mitt Romney; it shows that the GOP nominee is a risk-taker ready to create fundamental change in a troubled nation with this policy entrepreneur at his right hand.

On the other hand, Democrats are aggressively attempting to create a counter-narrative. As shown in the nonstop tweets issued by the Obama camp since Saturday, this narrative contends that Ryan has recklessly attacked the con-

family inheritance, which paid for his eightbathroom home.

Only billionaires and wannabe billionaires were demonstrating any enthusiasm for his candidacy, so Romney picked Ryan to put some juice in his moribund campaign.

Sure enough, Ryan instantly turned on the well-to-do element of the Tea Party movement, who love his plan to cut taxes on the well to do.

Back to the question of how Arkansans would react. Let’s take just Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, which together directly affect some 1.5 million beneficiaries in Arkansas, if you don’t count the families of all the children on government insurance or disability or the families of those in nursing homes and disability facilities. The Ryan-Romney plan would exempt the current beneficiaries from the cuts, for obvious political reasons, but they might vote just on the principle.

Ryan was the father of President Bush’s short-lived effort in 2005 to privatize Social Security by diverting people’s payroll taxes into private accounts run by stockbrokers.

Ryan would start by diverting only half the taxes. But Bush was a wuss and to Ryan’s dismay offered a weakened version, which soon went down in flames. Bush would say he regretted following Ryan’s advice at all; Ryan says he deeply regrets going along with all of Bush’s follies, from the wars to Medicare expansion. But Social Security, the linchpin of socialism, remains Ryan’s main target.

Medicare and Medicaid are next. About 550,000 Arkansans are enrolled in Medicare and 790,000 in Medicaid — in nursing homes, the children’s colonies or Easter Seals programs, mental health facilities, and the various categories of medical assistance, mainly children and the disabled.

The Ryan plan, which Republicans in the House of Representatives have repeatedly adopted, would end both programs, though Ryan keeps weakening his plan to pick up more votes. The idea is for now to just put the programs on their deathbeds.

Medicare would become essentially a voucher program except for current enrollees and those who will be enrolled in the next few years. People would get vouchers with which they could shop the insurance industry for medical and hospital coverage. The size of the voucher would be far short of medical inflation, so it would cover smaller and smaller parts of the premiums.

Oldsters would be on their own.

Medicaid would end and the states would be sent capped block grants, like President Nixon’s short-lived revenue sharing. States could choose what to do with the money. In Arkansas, it would set off a furious competition for the declining dollars among the nursing home population, which now gets the largest share of Medicaid, and all the other beneficiaries. Many would have to go back to their families, if any, to the streets or to the cemetery.

All those weaklings screaming and clawing. Ayn Rand would love it.

tract between the government and its unless some dramatic happens. That’s most vulnerable citizens through his bud- why the next few days are so important get plans. Most important, these plans in determining which of these potentially have promised to “destroy” Medicare compelling frames about Ryan dominates and even threaten Social Security. Ryan’s the campaign ahead. vision also slashes taxes for the wealthiest With only the rare exception, viceAmericans at the expense of the middle presidential candidates don’t shape the class. The Democratic critique also gets outcome of presidential elections. Because personal: Ryan may be a great family man, of the powerful nature of the competing but he is a son of wealth, much of it gained frames about Paul Ryan, he will matter in through government contracts, who has this election. If the Romney-Ryan ticket no understanding of those who must rely can propel the first frame to the forefront, on the social safety net that he would he can become a positive for the ticket shred. Citing hypocrisy, Democrats have across the swing states. On the other hand, noted Ryan’s comfort in voting for a series Democrats’ successfully defining Ryan of spending measures like Medicare Part would make him an albatross to Romney D and the Bush wars that helped run up (and, probably, Republicans down the the massive deficits now in his bull’s-eye. ticket). A third, and perhaps most likely For icing, Ryan is portrayed as an extrem- scenario, is that the “good Ryan” comes ist on social issues like the right to choose to fore in certain swing states like Iowa, and LGBT rights. Democrats also argue Wisconsin, and New Hampshire but the that the Ryan selection says much about Democrats are able to push forward the Romney: He’s a radical beholden to the “bad Ryan” scenario in other states, parTea Party and on a mission to create a ticularly the consummate swing state of tax structure beneficial to folks like him. Florida. In that state, fundamental to any We know that once voters begin to see GOP plans for a Romney electoral college a politician through a particular lens, that victory, Republicans are deeply worried perspective shapes all that follows. Once about the vision of Ryan as a radical and we have an opinion of that politician, we uncaring slasher of Medicare becoming discard information that contradicts and cemented. The clock is ticking — for both soak in information that supports the view parties. www.arktimes.com

AUGUST 15, 2012

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AUGUST 15, 2012

ARKANSAS TIMES

Football preview, part two

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PEARLS ABOUT SWINE

he ongoing month-by-month season preview for the 2012 Hogs reaches Stage Two, AKA October. It is a light month, on volume (three games and one bye that, for a change, is welltimed) and strength of opposition (one preseason Top 50 opponent). Therefore, Pearls declares the Hogs will head into November at 7-1, comfortably in the Top 10.

What matters during these games is how the Hogs manage to sustain focus through a period of flaccid competition.

Recall last year that the Razorbacks nearly frittered away a comeback win at Ole Miss and found great fortune in a three-point win at Vanderbilt the following week.

The October slate pits the Hogs against three programs under reconstruction.

Only the first game is out of state, the match-up with Auburn on Oct. 6, where the War Eagle Tiger Plainspeople have had a rocky offseason and the prognosis for Gene Chizik’s fourth team is sketchy: Gus Malzahn left for the resplendent rolling hills of Jonesboro, tailback Michael Dyer was summarily dismissed (then booted

by Malzahn from ASU as an encore) and a defense that’s never been particularly imposing under Chizik’s watch is even younger than it has been.

The Hogs have rolled up an impressive 125 points in three games against Chizik’s teams, always aerially proficient against a suspect secondary and balanced with power running. Jordan-Hare Stadium was the site of two coming-out parties in the Hogs’ 65-43 loss in 2010: Tyler Wilson relieved a concussed Ryan Mallett and logged 332 passing yards and four touchdowns, and Knile Davis broke loose from a committee of running backs with 113 yards from scrimmage. Auburn found no heir apparent to Cam Newton last season and will still be searching for an able successor, all without Malzahn’s playcalling acumen.

Davis romps for a career-best four touchdowns, one in each quarter. Razorbacks 38, Tigers 23.

The next week, Arkansas welcomes Kentucky to Fayetteville for the first time in five seasons, and the Wildcats are in nowhere near the same shape as they were under Rich Brooks. Kentucky has regressed under Joker Phillips in every tangible way, and last year represented low ebb for a program that finally had worked its way to respectability. Neither Maxwell Smith nor Morgan Newton showed apparent interest in seizing the quarterback job, and tailback CoShik Williams, while a nice player, has a history of nagging injuries. The Wildcats’ defense regu-

larly boasts a competent playmaker or two, but never enough depth to thwart a high-caliber offense for long.

BEAU As mercurial as WILCOX Kentucky has been over the years, the Wildcats have beaten the Hogs the last two times they’ve visited Reynolds Razorback Stadium (2002, 2007) and are a threat because they are simply an unknown. It’s this absence of familiarity that will make this game the most ragged one of the season. Kentucky will play inspired early and take a lead into halftime, but this one ends with the Hogs racking up 24 unanswered after halftime, and with Ronnie Wingo being the catalyst with receiving and rushing touchdowns in the second half. Razorbacks 34, Kentucky 21.

The Hogs will enjoy the coveted midseason off week, then end October with the second and final Little Rock game of the season against Ole Miss. We won’t rehash the merits of trading LSU for Mississippi as the designated conference opponent at War Memorial, but it is worth noting that the relocation of the Ole Miss game rekindles 1980s nostalgia for those of us who recall the Hogs and Rebels alternating between Little Rock and Jackson, Miss., throughout that decade. Expect a gorgeous autumn day on the golf course and a festive tailgating scene as usual (highlighted by the distinguished M.E.A.T., whose commitment to pre-game revelry is unparalleled), and a charged Razorbacks team bent on making a genuine entry into the national title conversation again.

For Ole Miss’ part, the ruination of the program the past two seasons penetrated too far for Hugh Freeze to foster hope this fall. He can’t revamp the offense as dramatically as he did in one season at Arkansas State, largely because his roster is bereft of capable skill players. The problem begins at quarterback, where one of two ill-fitting transfers (Barry Brunetti, who lost the starting job last year by halftime of the opener, or Bo Wallace) will have all sorts of difficulty against a relentless Razorback pass rush. Twenty-four years after Wayne Martin terrorized the Rebels with a school-record five sacks in a Hog win at War Memorial, Tenarius Wright will tie that mark, and Cobi Hamilton will lead the offense with a pair of long touchdown catches, continuing his trend of playing big in the capital city. Razorbacks 45, Rebels 14.

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www.arktimes.com

AUGUST 15, 2012

9

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The

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“A storm traveled through downtown Hot Springs earlier today and damaged the historic Malco Theater. The roof will need to be replaced, the marquis was damaged, and a large planter was blown into the brick wall of the theater.”

I told them to get the marquis off the roof, especially in bad weather, but they said all the fancy French theaters have one up there. I hope he wasn’t seriously injured. The planter was from St. Francis County, I understand, and was in Hot Springs to inquire about a pipeline from Lake Ouachita to irrigate his soybeans.

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OMG particle: “A half-century scientific quest culminated early Wednesday as physicists announced the discovery of a new subatomic particle – one theorized to be so fundamental that without it, nothing could exist. The Higgs boson, also called the God particle, is thought to create a sort of force field that perme-

ates the universe, imbuing everything that we can see and touch with the fundamental property DOUG known as mass.”

SMITH I like the dougsmith@arktimes.com sound of it. I didn’t like it when the scientists demoted Pluto to a dwarf planet, but the Higgs boson is OK by me. I’m studying ways to work it into a sentence.

“Mitt Romney wasn’t president when the Higgs boson was discovered,” is one I’m looking at. Another is, “If Romney had spent more time on the Higgs boson and less time on outsourcing, we wouldn’t have so many Americans out of work.” And another: “Republicans think only rich people should have Higgs bosons.”

According to the newspaper, Peter Higgs, a physicist at the University of Edinburgh, first theorized the existence of the exotic particle, in 1964.

Boson is a physics term that means “any particle that obeys Bose-Einstein statistics: bosons have integral spins.” Well, of course they do. I hate it when the so-called “experts” talk down to us.

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THE NORTH LITTLE ROCK CITY COUNCIL. It endorsed a resolution calling for a constitutional amendment to override the U.S. Supreme Court Citizens United decision that gave personhood to corporations.

LITTLE ROCK’S MAIN STREET. Portland, Ore., developer Scott Reed, whose K Lofts enterprise on 315 Main St. got off to a rocky start but seems to have smoothed out, made good on his promise to keep working downtown by buying the four buildings on the west side of Main between Capitol and Sixth Street. He said the buildings would be developed with a focus on the arts.

MEDICAL MARIJUANA. Arkansans for Compassionate Care turned in additional signatures for its medical marijuana initiative. A spokesman for the secretary of state said the group turned in 74,406 signatures, on 11,596 pages of petitions. At their previous success rate in gathering signatures of registered voters, that would put them over the top to get the 62,507 they need to be on the November ballot. The group turned in 65,413 signatures July 5 and 55.7 percent were declared valid, leaving a need for 26,012 more. After the validation process, they qualified for an additional 30 days to add signatures. They now must be reviewed by the secretary of state’s office.

It was a bad week for...

HERB RULE. The Democratic congressional candidate for the 2nd District was arrested for DWI in Fayetteville. Rule maintains his innocence.

He said he had one drink, wasn’t drunk and reportedly had drifted across the lane line on a four-lane road in the course of trying to find a turn.

ALEX REED. An aide to Secretary of State Mark Martin. Reed told a Republican group in Union County that Democratic county clerks were allowing illegal immigrants to register to vote. Thus, he said, it was important to elect Republicans as clerks. Reed and Martin initially maintained that Reed had been misquoted, but a reporter from the El Dorado News-Times posted a recording of Reed’s remarks. Pressed to respond further, the secretary of state’s office has refused to comment.

ALSO HELEN GURLEY BROWN. The Arkansas native and longtime editor of Cosmopolitan died at age 90. Born in Green Forest, Brown lived in Little Rock and attended Pulaski Heights Elementary, but her family moved to California after her father, a state legislator, was killed in an elevator accident at the Capitol. The philosophy she advanced in her 1962 bestseller “Sex and the Single Girl” helped build Cosmo into a dominant worldwide brand.

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Boobies and silence

Barbara Graves Intimate Fashions and the Little Rock Animal Village invite you to a special sale benefiting the Animal Village! Visit Barbara Graves and take advantage of this big sale day (details coming) and meet some of the furry animals that are ready for adoption. Mobil Adoption Truck will be on site.

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Like nearly every kid in America, he’s off for the summer, lazing away his days in front of the TV and computer. Or, we should say, his nights. Like his old man, Junior is some-

dog days of summer

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THE OBSERVER’S BOY JUNIOR is 12 now.

Coming Thursday augusT 30 for one day only!

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you get past “crispy” or “original” — was recently informed by our avid birdwatching deputy that a mysterious and neverbefore-seen visitor to these parts has birdwatchers flocking to Lake Norrell, way out near the end of Col. Glenn Road, a few miles over the line in Saline County.

The Brown Booby is a seabird, one of those web-footed fowl with long and narrow wings that normally calls tropical seas home. This specimen is clearly the Amelia Earhart of the species, given that it has somehow got turned around, stubbornly refused to ask for directions, and managed to wind up several hundred miles from the nearest puddle of salt water. It showed up at the lake a few weeks back, skimming the water to feed on perch, and has since caused quite a stir among the feathered faithful.

The novelty of seeing the Brown Booby — it’s apparently what birders call an “Arkansas First State Bird Record” — has made it something of a local celebrity among fowlfinders. Many of them have travelled hundreds of miles to crouch in the bushes around Lake Norrell, just to catch a glimpse. Folks gotta have a hobby, we guess.

While we get the Loch Ness Monsterspotting aspect of the interest in checking out rare birds, we must admit that photos forwarded to The Observer prove it to be — to our eye, at least — a singularly homely creature. As the name suggests: It’s brown. There’s also, we suppose, a certain “boobiness” about it: short legs, webbed feet, a white chestpatch and an ivory-colored bill.

That said, we’re all for the underdog — or in this case, underbird — getting his or her day in the sun (there seems to be some disagreement over whether the creature is a male or female). Shine on, Mr. or Miss Brown Booby. Wing your way eventually back home to the sea, and take some of Arkansas’s good will toward wayward visitors with you.

thing of a night owl, and would live the life of Count Dracula if he could, snoozing all day and skulking through the wee hours.

While Junior is able to pull that off due to his life of summer leisure, some of us still have to work. Problem is: Junior is pushing 6 feet tall, and moves with all the grace and silence of a frightened rhinoceros with an inner tube wedged around its head. He thumps through the house. He clanks dishes. He slams the microwave door, and when he goes to the faucet for a drink, he sounds like a French Legionnaire who has been lost in the desert for a month before happening upon a kitchen sink. Compounding this is the fact that The Old Man has become something of a light sleeper in old age. And once we’re up, we’re up. There’s no going back to Dreamland.

What with all that, The Observer decided to buy some earplugs the other day: those bright orange hunks of foam rubber that shooters use to keep themselves from going deaf. That night, we smushed up a pair, shoved them firmly into our ears, and lay back to sleep the sleep of the blissfully ignorant. Let our Lovely Bride, who normally snoozes like she’s been shot with a Bond villain’s tranquilizer dart, keep an ear on the smoke detectors — not that we had anything to worry about with our t’ween night watchman on patrol.

The next morning, with Junior shipwrecked in his bed, The Observer got up and went into the Great Hall, where Our Lovely Bride was enjoying her coffee, toast and newspaper. She smiled and spoke, but no sound came out. We thought for a long moment that she was messing around. But then she spoke again, like a heroine in a Chaplin flick, and a silent horror stole over us: This was it. Some microstroke in the middle of the night, maybe. The Other Shoe had finally dropped, and struck us down in our arrogant folly! Oh, sound!

Music! Beautiful noise! Why have you forsaken us?

The Observer reached up to touch our ear — to feel for fever, maybe. It was only then that we felt the smushy round end of the earplug. We yanked it out, and the silent house rushed in: the ticking clock, Junior snoring in the next room, the rattle of the newspaper, Spouse crunching her toast.

Never has normal sounded so beautiful.

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www.arktimes.com

AUGUST 15, 2012

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Arkansas Reporter

THE

IN S IDE R

Home-state shill Walmart is helping to promote a new ideological film, “Won’t Back Down,” aimed at supporting “trigger laws” that give parents of schoolchildren a vote to convert a conventional public school (preferably one with a union workforce) into a non-union charter school. The movie is misleading. It suggests a majority vote of teachers is also needed for school conversion. That’s not what the existing laws provide.

The legislation is being doled out at cookie-cutting sessions by the American Legislative Exchange Council, the go-to Koch lobby for Arkansas Republican legislators in need of corporate movement bills. Conservative billionaire Philip Anschutz is also promoting the movie.

Walmart, in Arkansas alone, finances wholly or in part an antiunion lobby group, a similarly inclined nonprofit, a nonprofit that provides advice to charter schools, a new “reform” lobby headed by a former Chamber of Commerce executive who doesn’t like the Little Rock School District, charter schools and most of the key members of legislative education committees. The year 2013, many think, will be when it moves to take over the direction of education in Arkansas. (Oh, and we forgot to mention the Waltonfinanced — with an assist from the equally conservative Windgate Foundation — Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas, which churns out a steady diet of corporate movement education tracts, and whose financial arrangements the UA refuses to fully reveal despite their definition as public under the state Freedom of Information Act.) Walmart’s hostility to unions and collective bargaining is well known, so its support for a message in favor of stripping teachers of that is not surprising. From Hollywood to a school district near you.

Office plan scrapped We’ve written previously about real estate dealings of the Arkansas Career Education Department, headed by former state Sen. Bill Walker. Eyebrows were raised by a move that was to consolidate several agency locations into the former Arkansas Baptist State Convention building at 525 W. Capitol Ave. owned by a group headed by Walker friend and prominent political player Little Rock lawyer Richard Mays.

We were recently alerted to a change in earlier announced plans.

Originally, the plan was for an addition CONTINUED ON PAGE 13 12

AUGUST 15, 2012

ARKANSAS TIMES

NO HABITAT: City-cleared lot.

Weed lot or natural area?

City says the former, mows down ‘Wildlife Habitat.’

BY ABIGAIL NIXON

T

his summer has been a trying time for anyone in Arkansas trying to keep his lawns and plants alive. With the stifling temperatures and lack of rain, it’s hard to find a green lawn anywhere (unless, of course, you find yourself in one of those gated oases that don’t spare the sprinklers).

For Little Rock sustainability designer David Anderson, however, this summer has presented him with a different challenge. For the past two years, Anderson has worked in a vacant lot owned by his landlord to cultivate a National Wildlife Federation “Certified Wildlife Habitat,” a term that signifies the site provides food, water, cover, and a place for wildlife to raise their young. Those seeking certification apply through the NWF’s website; the certificate costs $20. NWF signs reflecting certification cost extra.

At the end of July, Anderson and his roommate, Ryan Denham, awoke one morning to find a crew sent by

the City of Little Rock bush-hogging the lot where they had been growing some domestic plants (artichokes, tomatoes, squash, etc.) and wild edibles (such as dandelion, wild onion, sassafras, mimosa, gardenia and hibiscus) through composting and allowing the plants to come back on their own.

Upset, Denham posted a photo with a description of what had happened on his Facebook page, which was then reposted on Occupy Arkansas’s page.

Some readers were outraged; many questioned the legitimacy of the city’s actions.

The vacant lot is west of the convergence of Interstate 630 and I-30, near MacArthur Park. Anderson said he had been observing the “progress of a natural landscape and … how to grow domestic veggies in a wild way” and intended to partner with local groups to measure ozone quality near the lot and study natural wildlife habitats in urban spaces. He hoped his observa-

tions would prove that the lot was providing a clean air buffer between the high-traffic highways and neighborhoods.

The city had cited the landowner for code violations at the lot, which is zoned residential. “We’ve had trouble with that lot for the past couple of years,” Assistant City Manager Bryan Day said. “There was a complaint, but I’m not sure where it came from. We tried to work with him and give him some suggestions of how to bring it up to code. He refused to cooperate and so we cut it down.” The situation was not helped by this summer’s drought, as the tall and dry grass could instantly become kindling if a stray cigarette ember found its way into the field.

Anderson agreed that “it looks pretty rough sometimes.” He said he had been harvesting the grass as hay for the birds he keeps in his back yard, and “eventually would have cut it down, but cleaner … not as dirty as it was done.”

Mark Robertson, chair of the Little Rock Sustainability Commission, would like to see city lots promote biodiversity in a wide range of forms and shapes. “Vacant lots could certainly be that but so could a back yard — how it is managed has to be part of the equation.

There is a place for them, and as with most things the devil is in the details.”

The job of Little Rock’s Sustainability Commission is public education on “everything from electrical vehicles to stormwater management to energy code,” Robertson said.

Little Rock’s commission can look to Fayetteville as an example of how to introduce the idea of natural areas to neighborhoods. In June, Fayetteville became the first city in the state to become an NWF-certified “Community Wildlife Habitat.” Fayetteville has an Environmental Action Committee and the Fayetteville Natural Heritage Foundation to advocate for the wildlife habitat project. Anderson points to Fayetteville’s progressive landscaping ordinances and says that for him “[t]he big lesson is that everybody expects a yard or a lot to look like a manicured grass lawn, and I’m trying to get away from that.”

The mowing of Anderson’s lot is “water under the bridge, lesson learned,” Day said. “David can continue doing work but we’re going to have to have a better management plan.”

LISTEN UP

THE

BIG PICTURE

Tune in to the Times’ “Week In Review” podcast each Friday.

Available on iTunes & arktimes.com

RICE DEPOT CELEBRATES 30 YEARS

This year, the Arkansas Rice Depot honors its 30th anniversary of feeding Arkansas’s hungry. Since 1972, thanks to donations and volunteer support, the Depot has been able to serve 15 percent of the state’s population — approximately 441,000 people every year — focusing on kids, families, seniors and victims of natural disasters. Ninety-eight cents of every dollar given to the Depot goes directly to the purchasing and transporting of food, a sign that the Depot’s success relies heavily on its massive volunteer base and the planning of its small staff. According to a USDA 2011 study, 18.6 percent of Arkansas households are food insecure, which is more than the Depot can currently feed. Get more information or donate by visiting www.ricedepot.org or by calling 501-565-8855.

INSIDER, CONT. of a third floor on the building to accommodate offices that had been in a building on Brookwood in Riverdale and in Corporate Hill in West Little Rock. But the addition has been scrapped. Too expensive, says Anne Laidlaw of the Arkansas Building Authority, which oversees state building leasing.

Instead, the state has exercised an option to lease an outbuilding from the same owner across the street, at 601 W. Capitol. Together, said Laidlaw, the deal will save the state money. The new lease will cost the state $504,665 per year; the previous plan, including the third floor addition, would have cost $782,440. The combined rent of the agency’s previous locations was $745,615.

So, in the end — and after a fair amount of scrutiny — it would appear Walker is going to achieve his goal of unifying offices in one place for a lower cost.

A lot of road time:

The Arkansas Rice Depot delivers nearly 9 million pounds of food a year to hungry Arkansans, reaching all 75 counties in the state. An 18-wheeler delivers food monthly throughout Arkansas from Fort Smith, Fayetteville, Norfork, Jonesboro, Blytheville, HelenaWest Helena, McGehee, Fordyce, Magnolia, and El Dorado. Four large “Sprinter” vans deliver food five days a week to 620 schools in every county. Two of the vans have over 300,000 miles on them and the Depot desperately needs new vehicles to continue their food transportation.

Who’s on First?

A lot of helping hands:

Approximately 6,371 volunteers work 19,639 hours a year at the Arkansas Rice Depot, which equals almost 9.5 staff. They are church groups, retirees, professionals, youth groups, and they come from all over the state. Volunteers do everything from packing disaster relief bags to running food drives and getting up at the crack of dawn to help pack the food trucks.

One long-time volunteer, a retired engineer, recently created a traffic-flow map using AutoCAD software to calculate the most efficient road routes for the Depot’s delivery trucks.

Last year, more than 35,000 backpacks filled with food were shipped to 620 schools, through the Arkansas Rice Depot’s Food for Kids program, which provides nutritious meals for children whose only main meal of the day is school lunch. This year, there are more hungry mouths than the Arkansas Rice Depot can currently feed.

The Rice Depot said the best way to help is by donating money so that the Depot can purchase and fairly distribute meals to Arkansas’s hungry youth.

PHOTOS BY BRIAN CHILSON

A lot of food:

A Freedom of Information Act request sent Tuesday to Mary Good, chair of the Technology Park Authority board that is planning to spend $22 million in tax dollars to acquire and develop property for a biotech park, to see what proposals on alternative, non-neighborhood sites for the park have been submitted got a confusing response.

Good to the Times: The proposals were too “disorganized” to release, and the board would let the public know when “we are going to do any action.” The Times to Good: The state Freedom of Information Act offers no exemption for disorganized records, and the public is not required to wait on the board’s assessment of the proposals. Good to the Times: Board member Jay Chesshir has the proposals. The Times to Good: So the five Chesshir provided the Times last week are the only proposals received?

Good to the Times: A sixth, regarding the World Services for the Blind property downtown, has been submitted. Jay Chesshir to the Times: The proposal on the World Services for the Blind property hasn’t been received.

This is a board that needs a staff and a fuller understanding of the FOIA. The board has set an Aug. 31 deadline for submission of proposals alternative to the three neighborhoods it originally considered. The board decided to postpone acting on the three neighborhoods and consider alternatives at the request of the Little Rock Board of Directors, which was hearing from unhappy residents of the Forest Hills and Fair Park neighborhoods the Authority was targeting. www.arktimes.com

AUGUST 15, 2012

13

MR. Radio. TV. Books. A new partnership to produce content for YouTube. ‘Lifestyle’ guru P. Allen Smith on his media empire, the dreaded ‘black thumb,’ and why people are terrified to create.

G

BY DAVID KOON

iven that P. Allen Smith’s Moss Mountain Farm near Roland looks like something out of a Winslow Homer painting — a perfect Greek Revival farmhouse, situated on a hill in the middle of grassy fields, with a plank front porch, an ancient oak in the dooryard, and a near-horizon-to-horizon view of the Arkansas River from the back porch — the strangest thing about the place might be that Smith actually lives there.

Smith shoots a good bit of the content for his TV shows and YouTube episodes at Moss Mountain, a fact attested to by the careful flower beds in the back that bear little placards announcing they’re sponsored by some company or other.

But it’s not a soundstage or set. He really does live there, letting his work and private life not just overlap, but melt seamlessly together. Maybe it says all you need to know about Smith that this is how he lives: everything carefully arranged and planned and proportioned, uncompromisingly lovely at every turn, no books askew in the bookshelf, no dust on the face of a clock, the grounds full of postcard fences and gardens and chicken coops and heirloom livestock — a house and estate so picturesque that Smith’s team can set up a camera pretty much anywhere without the need for prime-time spiffifying.

Given that over the past 30 years, he’s built himself into one of America’s apostles of living a simple, elegant, detailfocused Good Life, it’s probably impossible for Smith to live any other way, even if he wanted to. After all, he’s not just selling books and TV episodes. Like any guru worth his salt, what he’s really selling is desire. And if it ever leaked out that P. Allen Smith went home every night to some beige condo instead of to the heavenly farmstead Lenny and George fantasized about in Steinbeck’s

14

AUGUST 15, 2012

ARKANSAS TIMES

“Of Mice and Men,” the spell of his influence might well be broken.

Smith is clearly a long way from where he started, as a boy who found an abiding love for the natural world tromping the woods of Tennessee’s Cumberland Plateau, and later a college kid who developed deep garden design concepts like “Mystery” and “Time” — along with his signature idea of the “Garden Room” — while touring grand English estates. Many of his writings, especially in his first book, “P. Allen Smith’s Garden Home,” will remind one quite a bit of the way some of the Romantic poets thought about nature and how it could reinvigorate the soul; of the thought of naturalist pioneers like Sierra Club founder John Muir, and visionary landscaper Fredrick Law Olmstead, who designed New York’s Central Park as an oasis in the concrete desert.

Smith, who said some of his early thinking about gardens can be traced back to a root of Jeffersonian democracy, is clearly not some empty-headed fluff-merchant, even if he’s spun his plainspoken charm and eye for detail into quite a bit of gold — most of it gleaned from suburbanites itching for simplicity and authenticity in a world that is often anything but.

While his gardens may evoke Mystery and Time, Smith doesn’t seem to have much of either in his own life, with nearly CONTINUED ON PAGE 16

BRIAN CHILSON

www.arktimes.com

AUGUST 15, 2012

15

BRIAN CHILSON

every moment of his week planned down to the second. He’s up at 5 a.m. sharp, to bed at 9:30 p.m., and he spends pretty much every waking moment “on,” rushing from one shoot to another. At 52, his schedule and prodigious output would probably cripple a less driven man: producing content for three nationally-syndicated TV shows (including PBS’s “P. Allen Smith’s Garden Home,” now in its 10th season), a weekly one-hour radio show, six books in his “Garden Home” series (including a cookbook), three decks of gardening “recipe cards,” his media company Hortus, Ltd., membership in the Royal Horticultural Society, a website (pallensmith.com) receives over 350,000 page views a month, a weekly e-newsletter with more than 100,000 subscribers, a raft of endorsement deals, frequent articles in publications ranging from Chickens! Magazine to the New York Times, and — maybe most important for the future of P. Allen Smith, multimedia colossus — a new partnership with New York’s Demand Media to produce episodes for the YouTube channels eHow Home and eHow Pets, featuring Smith explaining everything from how to raise ducks to how to make spider repellent out of mint oil and dishwashing liquid.

Somewhere in there, he writes and paints in a small, sunlit studio behind his home.

One might wonder where Smith finds a moment to live in the midst of all that if he didn’t say, with quite a bit of conviction, that none of it is a job for him — that he’s just living his life, teaching, thinking deeply about the natural world and art and expression, and getting paid handsomely to have it all preserved on paper, audio tape or digital video.

THE GENIUS OF THE PLACE: Smith (above) in his environmentally friendly house project, and (below) outside his outdoor kitchen.

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AUGUST 15, 2012

ARKANSAS TIMES

BRIAN CHILSON

A FERME ORNÉE Though several publications (including his Wikipedia page) have reported that Paul Allen Smith was born in Morrison, Tenn., Smith said he was actually born in Little Rock in March 1960, and moved to Tennessee as a young child. As related in the preface to his first book, “P. Allen Smith’s Garden Home,” in 1969 his family bought an 88-acre farm in Warren County, Tenn., near where Smith’s father had been raised. Smith writes luminously of his boyhood there, including one memorable spring when he stumbled upon an abandoned homeplace in the woods where a row of daffodils had quietly multiplied into hundreds of golden blooms. When he returned a few days later, the splash of yellow was gone.

“In the blink of an eye,” Smith writes, “this garden magically bloomed in the woods, only to quietly disappear under the emerging canopy of leaves. By the look of the decrepit farmstead, it had been quite

a while since the bright flowers had been gathered to grace the family’s table. The gardener had long since moved on.” In the book, Smith said the memory “glows” for him, and formed some of the early basis of his desire to be a garden designer. It’s not surprising that one of the first projects at Moss Mountain Farm was planting over 100,000 daffodil bulbs.

When Smith was 12, his family left Tennessee and moved to Little Rock, where his mother’s family lived and where Smith’s father had found a job. During the move, Smith’s father hurt his back, requiring a routine surgery. During his recovery, however, he developed complications and passed away suddenly, leaving Smith’s mother widowed with four children.

Though Smith grew up poor, he eventually went on to Hendrix College in Conway, where he focused on American history. He was particularly taken with the writings of Thomas Jefferson, who he soon discovered was an accomplished and thoughtful gardener. “He had, throughout his life, this fascination with things that were very useful and functional and practical, and at the same time beautiful,” Smith said. “He really saw Monticello as that — he saw it as what was described in the 18th century as a Ferme Ornée.” Ferme Ornée is French for “an ornamental farm.”

After college, Smith traveled to England, where he studied gardens and design at the University of Manchester. He spent his off-hours touring the old, grand gardens of English estates, making lifelong friends of more than a few lords and ladies, and began to develop the 12 principles of garden design that would later form the core of his first book: Enclosure, Shape and Form, Framing the View, Entry, Focal Point, Structures, Color, Texture and Rhythm, Abundance, Whimsy, Mystery and Time.

Smith writes lushly about all the concepts in the book, but none so much as the three most abstract: Abundance, Mystery and Time. Abundance, to Smith, is about the bounty of the earth, and drinking in the experience of being in a place where the richness of nature is on display. “It’s about framing how you think about some things,” Smith said. “I don’t want to boil it down to the glass is half-full or empty, but it’s about seeing the abundance and bounty in these places. It’s a bit like the moment — really seeing the moment.”

Mystery and Time, in Smith’s philosophy, seem to be dark sisters: the former about shadow — about gardens as haunted and maybe even magical places

that elicit romance and spark the imagination. “Time,” meanwhile, is really the view of the garden and growing things as a kind of living clock, to help us mark the passage of the seasons and our own lives.

“That came rushing into my head fairly early on while I was on those great estates,” he said. “You realize the importance of time when you see these massive specimen trees that were planted in the 18th century, and the ambiance they create today... I’ve always been cognizant of standing under the tree that someone else had planted.”

Walking among the high hedges of England, Smith also began to develop the idea of the “Garden Room” — the idea that enclosed areas of a garden could be specialized in the same way that rooms in a house are specialized, each with a specific purpose or to elicit specific emotions.

In his book, Smith writes of American homes that stood in “a sea of grass” which people only crossed when going to and from their cars on their way to and from work. Since the advent of air conditioning, Smith said, Americans have become more and more removed from the outdoors, and thus from the natural world.

“I think a lot of what my interest in nature is about is this idea of being in the moment,” he said. “When you’re in nature, somehow, it’s easier for you to connect to the moment. That’s a fundamental aspect of what we’ve lost. We’re always thinking of the past and what we should have done, or we’re thinking about the future and what we want to be doing or need to be doing. We’re not focused on present.”

After returning to Arkansas, Smith eventually began designing gardens, and started a Little Rock nursery with his brother called Birnam Wood (a reference to the prophesied moving forest in Shakespeare’s “Macbeth,” a reference Smith jok-

BRIAN CHILSON

ingly said went over the head of everyone except English teachers). A series of workshops he held at the nursery eventually led to a co-hosting gig on a radio show about gardening on KARN in the 1980s. He did that for several years, but to every thing there is a season.

“It got bumped off KARN when — as Al Franken described him — The Big Fat Idiot Rush Limbaugh came in and moved from one hour to two hours,” Smith said.

“The very same day, I got a call from KATV about coming over and doing some pieces with them.”

Smith describes himself as an introvert who has been forced by his job to get friendly with his inner extrovert, and said he never wanted to be on TV. While he admits he was “really horrible” in those early TV appearances, he soon came to see the spots he did for KATV as an extension of the workshops he’d been doing at the nursery. “I just thought that the more enlightened the populace is — I guess that’s a Jeffersonian idea — all ships rise,” he said.

“They make better choices. Certainly my hope was that more of them would garden, and that more of them would shop with me at our store, so there was a fusion of Capitalism there.”

At the same time, Smith was refining his ideas about garden design and putting them into practice. In 1988, he paid $1 for

a 1904 Colonial Revival cottage that was soon to be demolished, then had it moved to a large, empty lot in the Quapaw Quarter. By the time the house settled into place in January 1989, Smith had spent weeks dragging a huge, life-sized cutout of the floor plan of the cottage around the lot, imagining the house and gardens, looking for just the right angle. He still owns the restored house today, surrounded by his original series of “rooms,” arbors and gates. Outside the back door of the house, he laid a flagstone with a quote by the 18th century poet Alexander Pope etched into it: “Consult the genius of the place in all” — a quote that’s really about the idea that places have souls, and anything built or planted there must be in harmony with that soul.

Since those first appearances on TV, Smith’s simple delivery and Southern charm have turned his life into a rocket ride. With media beginning to take up more and more of his time, Smith and his brother eventually sold Birnam Wood. His friend Gloria Gibson helped Smith start a production company, and he soon landed a contract to provide short segments on gardening for The Weather Channel. Later, he starred in the syndicated show “P. Allen Smith’s Gardens.” In 2003, he published his first book, “P. Allen Smith’s Garden Home,” (which was dedicated to Gloria)

with the bestselling volume eventually providing the spark for his long-running PBS show of the same name.

These days, he never slows down.

While he jokes that he can’t complain too much, given that his life is truly of his own making, with so many irons in the fire and dozens of full-time employees backing his plays, he admits that he had to grow into the process and schedule that has since become second nature to him.

“All of this I have to do today, if it hit me suddenly, I couldn’t withstand it,” he said.

“But when you grow it organically, and you get used to the pace and the expectation, it kind of becomes who you are. But if I had stepped into this and never worked like this or managed people like this, I think it would have knocked me on my back.”

THE PARALYSIS OF PERFECTIONISM

O

n the scorching July day we visited Moss Mountain Farm, Smith never seemed to stop. One minute, he was in the kitchen of the main house, shooting a piece on how to bruise spearmint with a mortar and pestle to make the perfect pot of mint iced tea. An hour later, he was ferried down the hill in a dark SUV to the 1,600 square-foot environmentallyfriendly house they’ve been building since January, filming every step of the process

while finding innovative ways to build a custom, energy-efficient home on the relative cheap (around $95 a square foot) but have it look like a million bucks. Inside, Smith and his crews reused antique doors bought from salvage yards, hung barn-tin ceilings in the kitchen, nailed up surplus cabinet doors for wainscoting, and used dozens of 2x6 pine blocks, each cut on a facet, to recreate a foyer Smith absorbed during one of his trips to George Washington’s Mount Vernon. The floors are all No. 2 pine. It’s knotty, almost useless stuff in the raw, but Smith has transformed it by painting the wood a smoky, purplish-slate color called “black bean soup.”

“People thought I was crazy when I painted these floors,” he said. While a whole house with floors that color might sound nuts, like a lot of the things he does, it turned out fairly amazing — a sophisticated bedrock of color upon which the overwhelmingly white interior is anchored.

Out on the back deck of the house (in which Smith’s brother and his family will live after it’s completed), Smith was up to another one of his seemingly crazy ideas: a wall hanging, which he’s calling a cartouche or heraldic crest, to go above the fireplace of the house, made from castoff farm tools. With cameras rolling, Smith CONTINUED ON PAGE 19

www.arktimes.com

AUGUST 15, 2012

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214

August 17checkINoutTHE ARGENTA DISTRICT the neighborhood!

5-8pm the third friday of each month Due to extreme heat, all outside artist tents are postponed until September.

at

214

Argenta 214 ArtWalk presented by

at

SPONSORED BY

Walk on in at

Artwalk!

HHHHH

– Arkansas Times

Open Kitchen • Wine cellar Full Bar Dinner Mon-Sat 5 p.m. reservations not required.

425 Main St. • north little rock 5th & Main • argenta historic District

– Arkansas Times HHHHH (501) 376-3463

www.capeo.us Open Kitchen • Wine cellar

After the Artwalk, Experience Artistic Dining With Us! 411 Main St. • North Little Rock 501-372-7976 www.starvingartistcafe.net

pottery gallery/studio 417 main argenta 501-374-3515

Stop By And Meet Photographer Nancy Bounds Due to the heat, we’ll be at Starving Artist Cafe this month

San Francisco ‘79

Argenta Branch 506 Main Street North Little Rock (501) 687-1061

www.lamanlibrary.org

Full Bar Dinner Mon-Sat 5 p.m. reservations not required.

Pearl (501) 376-3463 Wristlet www.capeo.us $2

425 Main St. • north little rock ItalIan WInner 5thBest & Main • argenta– historic District

Most roMantIc – runner up – Arkansas Times HHHHH Open Kitchen • Wine cellar Full Bar Dinner Mon-Sat 5 p.m. reservations not required.

425 Main St. • north little rock 5thBest & Main • argenta– historic District ItalIan WInner

(501) 376-3463 www.capeo.us

Rated Four Stars By Arkansas Democrat Gazette And The Arkansas Times!

KATV “Rated #1 Steakhouse In Arkansas”

Most roMantIc – runner up

Best ItalIan – WInner 703 N. Main St. • North Little Rock Most roMantIc – runner up 501.537.0928

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Artist Meet & Greet Mixer Friday, August 17 • 5-8pm 442 Maple Street in Argenta Featured Artist

Tod Crites

2 Riverfront Place North Little Rock • 501.375.7825

Happy Hour 4-7 Come enjoy the patio!

Every Tuesday Any Bottle of wine $40 and under is just $20 All Night Every Wednesday $2 off all Tapas Every Thursday Happy Hour all night Tues thru Sat 4pm-7pm $5 House wine(2 wines off the list) $1 off Beer (Import and Domestic)

Crush Wine Bar Joseph St. Ana Owner/ Sommelier 318 North Main Street • Argenta • 501-374-9463 18 august 15, 2012

ARKANSAS TIMES

2 Riverfront Place North Little Rock 501.374.8081 • Benihana.com

went after a pile of rusted hand scythes, axes and sling blades that looked like nothing except a makeshift arsenal for the forthcoming zombie apocalypse. Soon, though, you could see it coming together, Smith fussing over the little details and tiny angles, eyes focused, his mind almost audibly tumbling concerns like balance and placement and proportion as he moved the tools around a sheet of plywood serving as a guide.

At heart, Smith said, he approaches everything he does — TV, books, radio, Internet — as an educator. He said the hardest thing in teaching anything creative is letting people know it’s okay to fail.

While it might be hard to believe, given that his home looks the way it does, he said he doesn’t believe in the idea of perfection. When it comes to anything creative or artistic, he said, most people are “paralyzed by perfectionism” — by the idea that if they can’t make something exactly right, they won’t do it.

“There’s a lot of fear in any creative act,” he said. “What I’ve tried to do is really take the fear out of self-expression. That’s really what I’m trying to do here... If you can do that, then you can get to the place where you can teach somebody something.

Push the fear out of the way, and then you have an environment where you can teach somebody something.”

These days, Smith says he still draws a lot of his ideas from nature, but even more important to him is the idea of nature as a place of solitude where creativity can be nurtured and begin to grow. “I find that I take inspiration from everything,” he said. “I find inspiration, frankly, in the ordinary. I’ve always been excited about taking the ordinary and creating something extraordinary out of it — sort of seeing the potential in something, moving it around, turning it this way and that way, and coming up with maybe a different way of expressing its use.”

Asked about the fabled “green thumb” (by way of a question about the reporter’s firm belief that he is the proud owner of the dreaded “black thumb”), Smith laughs it off, tying the idea back to his thoughts on the paralysis of perfectionism. “Green thumbs aren’t born, they’re made,” he said.

“It’s just trial and error. I don’t think you really know a plant until you’ve killed it at least three times. People need to lighten up and give themselves room to make some mistakes. In gardening, they need to kill a few plants. It’s okay.”

Though he could clearly build his media empire and continue what he sees as his teaching mission from anywhere in the United States, Smith says Arkansas is home, and where he plans on staying — something that the Internet and digital media have made increasingly more real-

istic in the past few years. Arkansans, he said, are a wonderful breed of people, and have supported him at every step of his career. He said his life would feel somehow “more fractured” if he tried and live and work somewhere like L.A. or New York.

“I think there is a lot to be said for living in a nurturing environment,” he said. “We have a community here that has always been supportive and helpful to me, and it’s inspiring. You’ve got to feel good about it.

It’s hard to be in this business for as long as I’ve been in this business and produce as much content as we produce if you can’t

enjoy it, and you can’t have people around you who you don’t enjoy being with, and without support that goes beyond the walls of your office building. It’s the community support. It’s the state support.”

For now, Smith seems to be really enjoying his life and his success. As for how much longer he can keep up the pace, he said it’s a question that never really occurs to him. What winds up on tape, he said, is simply what he’d be doing if the cameras weren’t around anyway.

“I was in a meeting once, and somebody asked me that question,” he said. “They

asked me how many more years I wanted to do it, like it’s some corporate job. This is before Julia [Child] died. I said, ‘You know, they’ve been propping Julia Child up into her late 80s, and she’s talking about paté.

They’ll be propping me up into my late 80s and I’ll be talking about petunias.’ ” Smith smiled. In his hand was a nearperfect iced tea, served in a near-perfect cut-crystal glass, while sitting in his nearperfect home on one of the prettiest mountaintops in all of Creation.

“It’s not a job,” he said. “It’s a life. With a life, there’s not an on and off switch.”

FREE Admission

Celebrate President Clinton’s Birthday

Aug. 18 – 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Aug. 19 – 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Free Birthday Festivities at the Center Saturday, August 18

While supplies last, FREE Hope watermelons from Hope Chamber of Commerce!

Enjoy complimentary cupcakes.

Head of the Class Bash

Saturday, August 18 • 9:30 a.m. – 2 p.m.

In honor of the new school year, the Clinton Center is hosting a FREE back-toschool celebration with fun activities, entertainment and giveaways! Schoolsupply stuffed backpacks, sponsored by 3M, will be given out to the first 1,200 students who enter the building.

Play Ball! The St. Louis Cardinals Closes September 16, 2012

On loan from St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame Museum

Dorothy Rodham Howell & Virginia Clinton Kelley Closes November 25, 2012

Remarkable Women, Extraordinary Lives.

1200 President Clinton Avenue • Little Rock, Arkansas 72201 • 501.374.4242 • clintonpresidentialcenter.org

www.arktimes.com

AUGUST 15, 2012

19

It’s back!

Ask For These Specials Throughout August Arkansas Burger Co 7410 Cantrell Road 501.663.0600 www.facebook.com/ ArkansasBurgerCompany $1 Off Any Lunch Or Dinner Platter

Cafe Bossa Nova 2701 Kavanaugh Blvd.

501.614.6682 www.cafebossanova.com $1 Off Fejoida on Saturdays 20% Off Bottles of Wine (Lunch and Dinner)

B-Side 11121 N. Rodney Parham 501.716.2700 A Full Order Of Beignets For The Price Of A Half Order

Cajun’s Wharf 2400 Cantrell Road 501.375.5351 www.cajunswharf.com $30 Prix Fixe 3 Course Dinner Menu

Big Orange 17809 Chenal Parkway 501.821.1515 www.facebook.com/bigorangeburger Meat and Potatoes burger: heirloom tomato, potato strings with house-made steak sauce with swiss cheese. $10

Camp David I-30 & 6th St 501.975.CAMP(2267) Inside Holiday Inn Presidential Conference Center $1 Off Dinner Entrée

Big Whiskey’s American Bar & Grill 225 East Markham Street 501.324.2449 www.bigwhiskeys.com Half Price Appetizer With The Purchase Of An Entrée Black Angus 10907 North Rodney Parham Road 501.228.7800 www.blackanguscafe.com Two hamburger steak dinners for $12.50.

Bray Gourmet Deli and Catering 323 Center Street 501.353.1045 www.braygourmet.com Bray’s Smoked Turkey Spread: Your choice of original, Cajun, jalapeno or dill spread. Served with lettuce and tomato on choice of sourdough, marble rye, white or wheat $5.29.

Bumpy’s Texmex Grill & Cantina 400 N Bowman Rd, Ste. A28 501.379.8327 www.bumpysmexican.com Free Appetizer With Purchase Of 2 Entrees Lunch And Dinner Butcher Shop 10825 Hermitage Road 501.312.2748 www.thebutchershoplittlerock.com Half Price Drinks And Appetizers In The Bar

Capers 14502 Cantrell Road 501.868.7600 www.capersrestaurant.com $30 Prix Fixe 3 Course Dinner Menu Casa Mañana Authentic Mexican Food 6820 Cantrell Road 501.280.9888 18321 Cantrell Road 501.868.8822 400 P. Clinton Ave. “D” 501.372-6637 www.casamananamexicanfood.com Get a free small Cheese Dip when you spend $15 or more at Casa Mañana Chip’s 9801 West Markham Street 501.225.4346 www.chips-barbecue.com Free piece of Pie with purchase of dinner or platter from 4:30-8 M-Sat Ciao Baci 605 Beechwood Street 501.603.0238 www.ciaobaci.org Complimentary $6 (and under) Tapas with the purchase of any two (2) entrees Community Bakery 1200 Main Street 501.375.6418 270 South Shackleford Road Espresso Milkshake Not Available

Your favorite Little Rock chefs have put together a variety of specials for the month of August that are great values on the city’s most delicious dining.

501.224.1656 www.communitybakery.com $1 Off Cool Drinks for Hot Days: Iced Coffee, Iced Latte, Espresso Frappe, Espresso Milkshake, Fruit Smoothie.

Forbidden Garden 14810 Cantrell Road 501.868.8149 www.facebook.com/ForbiddenGardenAR $1 Off glass of wine

Copper Grill 300 E 3rd St., Suite 101 501.375.3333 www.coppergrillandgrocery.com $12 Prix Fixe 2 Course Lunch Menu $30 Prix Fixe 3 Course Dinner Menu

Graffiti’s Italian Restaurant 7811 Cantrell Road #6 501.224.9079 www.littlerockgraffitis.net Summer salad special with feta and spiced pecans featuring citrus vinaigrette $11.50. With chicken, salmon, or shrimp for $18.50 or beef for $26.50.

Curry in a Hurry 11121 North Rodney Parham Road 501.224.4567 www.curryinahurryar.com Monday - Free Appetizer with purchase of two entrees Wednesday - 1/2 off bottles of Wine Thursday - $5 Off when you spend $25 or more.

Friday - Free dessert with purchase of anything.

Try our weekly Lunch Buffet at $7.95 or our Sunday Dinner Buffet at $10.95 $1 Pabst Blue Ribbon Dizzy’s Gypsy Bistro 200 River Market Avenue # 150 501.375.3500 www.dizzysgypsybistro.net Half Price Cheese Dip and All Other Appetizers $1 Off Adult Beverages, Tea and Soda Doe’s Eat Place 1023 West Markham Street 501.376.1195 www.doeseatplace.net Feed 2 on a 2 lb. T-Bone with all the trimmings, only $33 Dugan’s Pub 401 East 3rd Street 501.244.0542 www.duganspublr.com $8.95 Fish And Chips Far East Asian Cuisine & Bar Pleasant Ridge West Shopping Center 11610 Pleasant Ridge Road, Suite 100 501.219.9399 www.fareastasiancuisine.com Free Eggroll With Dinner Entrée

Gusano’s Chicago Style Pizzeria 313 President Clinton Ave. 501.374.1441 www.gusanospizza.com $7.49 Lunch Special - 8” One Topping Pizza, Side Salad and Soft Drink.

Happy Hour 4-7pm - Half off appetizers, $1 off all draft beers, $2 well drinks, $2 domestic bottles.

Hillcrest Artisan Meats 2807 Kavanaugh Blvd.

501.671.6328 (MEAT) www.facebook.com/HillcrestArtisanMeats “Olli-Day” Every Friday. Olli Salami Out Of Virginia, 20% Off. Also Featuring Daily Sandwich And Soup Specials.

The Hop 201 E. Markham 501.224.0975 $1 Off Cheeseburger Combo Meal Iriana’s Pizza 201 E. Markham 501.374.3656 www.irianaspizza.com 15% Off Any Whole Pizza Layla’s Gyros And Pizzeria 9501 N. Rodney Parham • 501.227.7272 8201 Ranch Blvd. • 501.868.8226 www.laylasgyro.com Gyro Sandwich, Fries & Drink $6.65 Lilly’s Dim Sum And Then Some 11121 N. Rodney Parham 501.716.2700 www.lillysdimsum.com All You Can Eat Dim Sum Made To Order And

Be sure to ask your server about Little Rock Restaurant Month Specials! $3 Microbrew Specials On Saturdays From 12-4. Sunday 50% Off Every Bottle Of Wine All Day. $5 Glass Of Wine On Tuesdays And Wednesdays.

Loblolly Creamery 1423 Main Street (Inside Green Corner Store) 501.396.9609 www.loblollycreamery.com Beat The August Heat With $1 Off Anything At The Soda Fountain Loca Luna 3519 Old Cantrell Rd. 501.663.4666 www.localuna.com Monday: Surf or Turf 7 oz. Angus Filet or Sea Bass Filet with Sides $16.95 Tuesday: Large Pizza $9 & $2 Draft Beer Wednesday: Lady’s Night Happy Hour $2 Domestic Bottle Beer, $4 House Wine, Margaritas & Cosmos Thursday: Guy’s Happy Hour $2 Domestic Bottle Beer, $4 House Wine, Margaritas & Cosmos Sundays: Kid’s 12 and under Eat Free From Kids menu with adult entrée order.

Loganberry Frozen Yogurt 6015 Chenonceau Blvd.

501.868.8194 www.facebook.com/ LoganberryFrozenYogurt 10% Off All Yogurt Sales Markham Street Grill & Pub 11321 W Markham St # 6 501.224.2010 www.markhamst.com Serving Brunch Saturday And Sunday 11-3.

Featuring A Bloody Mary Bar And $1.50 Mimosas.

Mexico Chiquito 13924 Cantrell Rd. 501.217.0700 www.mexicochiquito.net From $2 off to buy one get one free deals - Text 90210 For Daily Discounts & New Menu Items Mexico Chiquito Mex-To-Go 11406 W. Markham www.mexicochiquito.net Cheese Dip And Salsa With Chips, Entreé And Soft Drink $5.29 (Punch Extra)

NYPD Pizza 6015 Chenonceau Blvd.

501.868.3911 www.facebook.com/NYPDPizzaLittleRock Yonker Sticks – Free With Purchase Of Two Entrees. Our Yonker Sticks Are Made Fresh Daily With A Mixture Of Garlic, Herbs, And Mozzarella Cheese. Dipped In Homemade Marinara.

The Oyster Bar 3003 W. Markham 501.666.7100 www.LRoysterbar.com $2 Off Lb Of Shrimp $1 Off Half Lb Of Shrimp The Pantry 11401 Rodney Parham 501.353.1875 www.littlerockpantry.com Dinner Only - Spend $25 before tax and gratuity per person and receive a $10 gift certificate valid on the next visit.

Pizza Café 1517 Rebsamen Park 501.664.6133 www.pizzacafe.wetpaint.com $1 Off Pizzas Anytime Red Door 3701 Old Cantrell Rd. 501.666.8482 www.reddoorrestaurant.net Monday: All Bottles of Wine under $28 are Half OFF Tuesday: All appetizers are Half price Wednesday: Steak Night 7 oz. Angus Filet with Sides $16.95 Thursday: Ladies Happy Hour $2 Domestic Bottle Beer, $4 House Wine, Margaritas & Cosmos Redbones Downtown 300 President Clinton Ave. 501.372.2211 www.facebook.com/Redbones-Downtown $1 Off Hurricanes. $1 Off Po Boys Rocket Twenty One Restaurant 2601 Kavanaugh Blvd., Hillcrest (501) 603-9208 www.twentyonerestaurant.com “The Rocket Burger” Fresh beef patty with cheddar cheese, fried pickles, spicy mayo, and mustard on buttered & toasted “holla” bun $6.95 Add bacon: $2

Lunch M-F 11-2; Dinner M-Sat 5-10; Live Music Fri-Sat 10-1am The Root Café 1500 S. Main 501.414.0423 www.therootcafe.com Free Chocolate Chip Cookie With Lunch Purchase Rosalia’s Family Bakery 2701 Kavanaugh Blvd.

501.319.7035 www.facebook.com/RosaliasFamilyBakery 1/2 off on Specialty Coffee Drinks

Salut Bistro 1501 N. University Ave., Suite 160 501.660.4200 www.salut-bistro.com $39 Prix Fixe 3 Course Meal for 2 people from The Classic Italian Menu.

Sharing an Appetizer and Dessert Sky Modern Japanese 11525 Cantrell Rd. • Pleasant Ridge Town Center 501.224.4300 www.skylittlerock.com Happy Hour Sunday-Wednesday 5-7pm and Thursday-Saturday 9pm-Close.

Every Second Drink Is $1. Ladies Night On Thursday.

SO Restaurant-Bar 3610 Kavanaugh Blvd.

501.663.1464 www.sorestaurantbar.com 3 course prix fixe menu $40 Sonny Williams’ Steak Room 500 President Clinton Ave. 501.324.2999 www.sonnywilliamssteakroom.com 25% off all Premier Auction wines.

Star Of India 301 N. Shackleford Rd. 501.227.9900 www.lrstarofindia.com 15% Off Dinner Entree Sushi Café 5823 Kavanaugh Blvd.

501.663.9888 www.sushicaferocks.com Sunday-Thursday: Chef’s Special, 2 For $50

Terry’s Restaurant 5018 Kavanaugh Blvd.

501.663.4154 www.facebook.com/ Terrysfinerfoodstherestaurant Half Priced Lunch Tartines (Open Faced Sandwiches On Imported Poilane Bread With Small Green Salad) Trio’s 8201 Cantrell Rd. 501.221.3330 www.triosrestaurant.com Dog Days Of Summer - Bring your doggie to dine with you on our patio after 5:30 and receive a goody bag filled with canine treats from Hollywood Feeds.* Lunch Deal - Peck’s Special Salad or Trio’s Chicken Salad, beverage, dessert $15 plus tax.* Dinner Deal - Old School Favorites: your choice of appetizer, soup or salad, Chicken Enchiladas, Shrimp Enchiladas, Voodoo Pasta or Thai Shrimp Curry, beverage and dessert $26 plus tax ...celebrating our 26th anniversary this month!* *Specials good thru August 31. Dinein only, no carry out and the customer must ask for the Restaurant Month special.

Union Bistro 3421 Old Cantrell Rd. 501.353.0360 www.unionbistrolittlerock.com $35 Dinner For Two – includes choice of one small plate, two Entrees and a dessert.

West End Smokehouse & Tavern 215 North Shackleford Road 501.224.7665 www.westendsmokehouse.net Free hour of Billiards with lunch or dinner purchase.

WT Bubba’s 500 President Clinton Ave. 501.224.2277 www.wtbubbas.com Free Appetizer With Minimum $10 Purchase YaYas EuroBistro 17711 Chenal Parkway 501.821.1144 www.yayasar.com Select Appetizers: 2 For 1 From 3-5:30 PM

Arts Entertainment AND

Pre-pageant events

MARCUS RACHARD

In addition to Saturday’s event, there are several other MGAR-related celebrations on Friday night, starting with the Trax Annual Luau, 8 p.m. at Trax in North Little Rock; Renegades for a Cause drag show, which supports PFLAG, at Miss Kitty’s Saloon, 10 p.m., and the Miss Gay Arkansas America Review Show, featuring a cast of former Miss Gay Arkansas winners such as D’yor, Kelly Cruise, Debbye Taunts, Vicki Valentine, Shanel Herrington and Kamrin Mikaels, starting at 11 p.m. at Triniti Nightclub. On Saturday evening, things start off at 5 p.m. with a Farewell Mixer for Zia at Trax before the pageant at Argenta Community Theater.

THERE SHE IS: Zia D’Yor is crowned Miss Gay Arkansas America 2011 at last year’s pageant.

CROWNING ACHIEVEMENT

Miss Gay Arkansas America set to crown 2012 winner.

BY SANDY K. SARLO

W

hoever wins Miss Gay Arkansas America 2012 will have some pretty big high heels to fill.

The 41st annual pageant — sometimes called MGAR, for short — will see a new winner crowned on Aug. 18 at Argenta Community Theater.

Zia D’Yor, Miss Gay Arkansas America 2011, has spent almost every weekend this year performing at benefits for charity groups such as Arkansas AIDS Foundation, Renegades for a Cause (a local group that provides benefits for other LGBT charities), PFLAG, the Center for Artistic Revolution, Red Ribbon Pageant System of Arkansas (a local group that benefits other AIDS organizations), the Diamond State Rodeo Association, Helping People with AIDS, Northwest Arkansas Center for Equality and others.

D’Yor said that winning the pageant “has been one of the most rewarding and life changing experiences of my life. I am so grateful to have had this opportunity to promote an amazing pageantry system with so much history that allowed me to give back to my community. After all, it’s why we are here, to give back.”

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AUGUST 15, 2012

ARKANSAS TIMES

In 2008 and 2009, D’Yor was MGAR first alternate, essentially first runner-up, but couldn’t seem to push it to win the title. She took a year off in 2010 and spent the time preparing.

In August 2011, she won Miss Gay Arkansas America by 47 points. D’Yor’s grandparents were migrant workers from the blue collar town of Waukegan, Ill., so hard work and dedication seem to come to her naturally.

On Saturday, D’Yor will relinquish her crown to one of eight hopefuls: Jazmyn Turrelle, Chloe Jacobs, Veronica Duvall, Diamond Rose, Diamond Dior, Veronica Adams, Lisa Laws and Blaze Duvall.

“Winning the title will give me expanded opportunities to open eyes, and help out those in the LGBT community in need,” Laws said.

Rose said winning the pageant would be a “dream come true” that would “give me the chance to promote the system that I really believe in.”

Jacobs is a relative newcomer.

“Having only been in the art of female impersonation for

eight months, this has been the most incredible journey,” she said. “Winning Miss Gay Arkansas America would give me the opportunity to prove that Arkansas has a full family of equality supporters. I want to be able to show that no matter what, we are all human and are equal.”

The MGAR crown is decided on four categories. The male interview portion is the afternoon of the pageant and is not open to the public. The interview can net the contestant up to 150 points based on: general appearance, personality, ability to communicate and answer content.

Pre-judging in evening gown attire with an onstage question begins at 7 p.m. The evening gown portion is worth up to 150 points and contestants are judged on suitability of evening gown and hairstyle; presentation, including modeling techniques, poise and smile; and general appearance, including makeup, shoes, gown condition and accessories.

The pageant itself begins at 8 p.m. with each contestant performing a solo talent of no more than three minutes in length. This portion of the pageant is worth a possible 100 points, and includes the contestant only, with no back-up dancers or onstage props. It’s judged on choreography, appearance, quality and entertainment value. Probably the most anticipated part of the evening is the last event – the long talent. This portion of the contest can be no more than seven minutes and always features an amazing array of props, dancers and talent. The long talent is by far the most point-heavy single portion of the pageant, with a possible 300 points on the line. It’s judged on showmanship and set design, choreography, physical coordination and stage presence, quality and value of presentation as entertainment.

The first Miss Gay Arkansas America was Norman Jones, owner of Discovery and Triniti nightclubs, who, as Norma Kristie, entered and won the first Miss Gay America pageant in 1972 in Nashville. In 1975, Jones assumed control of the contest from the original owner, and eventually sold the pageant in 2005. Jones is writing “My Life, My Pageant, My Crown,” a book about the pageant that will be available soon via www.normakristie.com.

Tickets, $25 for general admission and $40 for premiere seating, are available at the door or online at www. missgayarkansas.com.

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

A&E NEWS ATTENTION ELECTRONIC MUSIC ARTISTS, PRODUCERS, DJS or whatever

you call yourselves: Do you wanna open for Pretty Lights at Riverfest Amphitheatre on Sept. 26? All you have to do is win Spin Off: Battle for the River. Five artists will square off for a panel of judges on Sept. 1 at Revolution, with each one playing a 20-minute set that’ll be assessed for originality, crowd response and presentation.

It’s open to pretty much any genre of electronic music, so if you’ve been itching to see what the crowd thinks of your dubstep-inflected grime-trance or your acid jungle/glitchstep/moombahton hybrid, here’s your chance.

Submission deadline is Aug. 23 and the five semifinalists will be announced the next day. Enter at www.arktimes2. com/showcase. You’ll need to upload at least three tracks. The Spin-Off starts at 9 p.m. and it’s free for those 21 and older, $5 for ages 18-20.

PINE BLUFF BLUESMAN CEDELL DAVIS

will record a live album at Stickyz Oct. 20 with R.E.M.’s Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey of The Minus 5 and The Young Fresh Fellows, Barrett Martin of Screaming Trees, Joe Cripps, former percussionist for Brave Combo, and probably others.

Buck, McCaughey and Martin all played on Davis’ 2002 album “Lightning Struck the Pine,” released on Fast Horse Recordings, the label started by Cripps, Martin and Buck.

HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU BEEN AT HOME WATCHING some bogus

reality show, thinking to yourself (or maybe someone else), “Man, I know way more interesting, crazy, photogenic people than these fools!”

Well here’s your chance to help local filmmaker Reed Thompson make reality TV better by bringing the crew from Rose City’s The Parlor tattoo shop to the tube. Thompson has a Kickstarter grant proposal going right now that’s seeking $5,000 to create a pilot to pitch to cable networks. “The Parlor Reality Show” will document the lives, times and work of Scott Diffee, Alina Bennett and Jeremiah Morris of “the biggest little tattoo shop in Arkansas.”

The campaign’s deadline is Aug. 22, and as of Tuesday afternoon, is at $1,156.

Here’s hoping this show gets funded and picked up, and the world will know that there’s more to Arkansas-based reality shows than “The Simple Life,” “19 Kids and Counting,” “Eden’s World,” “Last Shot with Judge Gunn,” “Cheer Perfection” and “American Stuffers” (although that last one actually looks kinda cool).

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March 3 – September 16, 2012 “Play Ball” features decades of memorabilia from one of our country’s most storied franchises, the St. Louis Cardinals. This exhibition has over 100 items such as the World Series trophies from 2006 and 2011, championship rings, and artifacts from Baseball Hall of Fame members and Arkansas Natives Dizzy Dean and Lou Brock.

For A Limited Time Only!

• July 4 - July 22 – 2011 World Series Trophy • July 4 - September 16 – 2011 World Series Ring • August 3 - September 16 – Stan Musials’ newlyrestored uniform Join us as we reflect on the joy, the heartache and the fun that comes with being a baseball fan.

On loan from St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame & Museum

1200 President Clinton Avenue • Little Rock, Arkansas 72201• 501-374-4242 • clintonpresidentialcenter.org www.arktimes.com

AUGUST 15, 2012

23

THE TO-DO

LIST

BY ROBERT BELL

WEDNESDAY 8/15

THURSDAY 8/16

IRON TONGUE, PALLBEARER, WINDHAND

10 p.m. White Water Tavern. $5.

In case you missed it, the Times last week published a feature about Iron Tongue and their forthcoming record, produced by metal maestro Billy Anderson for release on Neurot Recordings. The album won’t be out until February, but it’ll

be worth the wait. But until then, you can enjoy the Iron Tongue live show, which is killer. Pallbearer’s incredible “Sorrow and Extinction” is one of 2012’s best albums of any genre and is sure to top many critics’ year-end lists come December. It’s getting a vinyl release Aug. 28 on 20 Buck Spin. In a couple weeks, they’ll hit the road as the headliner for an 11-day tour sponsored

by Scion A/V, with Seattle’s Samothrace

and Atlanta’s Royal Thunder. This show is Pallbearer’s first with drummer Mark Lierly, who’s played in a number of bands, including Soophie Nun Squad, Sugar and the Raw and R.I.O.T.S. Windhand is a killer five-piece out of Richmond, Va. They conjure up smoked-out doomy atmosphere and bitchin’ riffs aplenty on their self-titled album, released back in March.

THURSDAY 8/16

ARGENTA FILM SERIES: ‘WARRIOR CHAMPIONS’ 7 p.m. Argenta Community Theater. Free.

The Little Rock Film Festival’s Argenta Film Series recently got a boost with a grant from the William F. Laman Public Library System, which means attendance will be free at the series. “The grant is $1,000 per showing so essentially that covers the cost of admission and the cost of the theater,” said Jeff Baskin, director of the library. The grant covers the entirety of the current season, he said, adding that the library wanted its “patrons to go there and not pay anything, because we think it’s an important series and we’re pleased to be a part of it.” This season kicks off with “Warrior Champions: From Baghdad to Beijing,” directed by LRFF founders Brent and Craig Renaud. The film follows several wounded American soldiers as they refocus their lives from the ravages of wartime to the rigors of training for the 2008 Paralympic Games (the 2012 games begin Aug. 29 in London).

The film won Best Documentary at the 2012 Naples International Film Festival and Best Political Feature at the 2011 Staten Island New York Film Festival. Its television debut was June 10 on the Documentary Channel.

Attending the screening will be wounded Iraq war veteran Anthony Smith, Mark Leonard from Arkansas Freedom Fund, producer Vincent Insalaco and director Craig Renaud.

24

AUGUST 15, 2012

ARKANSAS TIMES

KEEP THE GARDEN GROWING

9 p.m. White Water Tavern. $5.

Anyone who has stepped outside in recent weeks can tell you that 2012 has been a brutal year for farmers in Arkansas and across much of the South and Midwest, as the region suffers through one of the hottest prolonged periods and one of the worst droughts in decades. That goes double for anybody who’s attempted to raise a garden. Dunbar Community Garden Project Coordinator Damian Thompson said irrigation has been a constant concern, and that much of the fruit this year has come in weeks early and smaller than usual. This show is a fundraiser to help ensure that the “two-acre outdoor classroom” has the resources it needs to continue educating the community about where food comes from. This show includes performances from Peckerwolf, Tsar Bomba and Winston Family Orchestra, as well as a raffle for a basket filled with honey, a dozen eggs, a Dunbar Garden shirt and a package of threshed sunflower seeds. The White Water’s kitchen will be serving up food made with some of Dunbar’s produce, including pear ice cream from Loblolly Creamery (to be served, I’m told, atop a bread pudding from WWT chef Jonathan Wilkins) and eggplant fries.

FRIDAY 8/17 AND SATURDAY 8/18

OTIS

9 p.m. Cajun’s Wharf. $5.

‘WARRIOR CHAMPIONS’: The documentary will kick off this season’s Argenta Film Series, Thursday at Argenta Community Theater.

Chicago septet Otis traffics in the type of retro R&B and funk sounds pioneered by such revivalists as Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings and Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears. Otis’s sound, though, isn’t quite as consistently gritty as those outfits. You’ll hear jazzy flourishes and subtle, lounge-y sounding keys alongside the Stax-informed soul workouts. The band is fronted by Jessica Ott, a native of Little Rock whose singing is clear and strong when it needs to be, sultry and smoky when called for. The band is tight and should sound road-tested and ready. They’re playing a string of dates across Arkansas and Missouri over the next 10 days, including shows at Kingfish and Tanglewood Branch Beer Co. in Fayetteville on Aug. 16 and 20, respectively, at Webby D’s in Fort Smith on Aug. 19 and at Squid and Whale in Eureka Springs on Aug. 22.

IN BRIEF

THURSDAY 8/16

SATURDAY 8/18

SHONEN KNIFE

9 p.m. Stickyz. $10 adv., $12 day of.

Back in the early ’80s, a trio of young Japanese women living in Osaka found inspiration in the sugary melodies, buzz-saw guitars and 4/4 rhythms of The Ramones and formed a band called Shonen Knife. Their playing at that point had a charming, almost Shaggs-y wobbliness, but the tunes were hella catchy. Anybody who digs the shambling sounds of early Television Personalities or The Raincoats would be advised to seek out Shonen Knife’s “Burning Farm.” By 1989, the band became the object of cultish adoration among the rock cognoscenti of the era, earning a double-LP tribute titled “Every Band has a Shonen Knife Who Loves Them,” which featured Sonic Youth, Redd Kross, The Three O’Clock and L7, among many others. Like a good many folks my age, the first exposure I had to the band was on the brilliant interstitial

‘TWIST BARBIE’: Japanese cult pop-punkers Shonen Knife play at Stickyz on Saturday.

video commentaries of Messrs. Beavis and Butthead. By that point, Shonen Knife had already traveled the world and toured with Nirvana. “I was an emotional sap the whole time,” Kurt Cobain told MTV of watching Shonen Knife. “I cried every night.” The band just celebrated its 30th anniversary and while guitarist and singer Naoko Yamano is the only founding member left, the

Shonen Knife experience — relentless pop-punk songs about cute animals and candy — remains the same as ever, which is reassuring in this cynical modern-day world of Autotune and Twitter and stuff like that. Opening the 18-and-older show are the garage rockers par excellence The Bloodless Cooties and Ezra Lbs., whose self-titled album on Thick Syrup has gotten a lot of spins here at Times HQ.

Playing with Karma. According to the festival’s website, you can “enjoy a cool, tasty, free Rockstar Energy Drink then shift your focus across the festival to the Ernie Ball and Jagermeister stages!” So everybody will probably have at least one Rockstar energy drink in them.

The way they scheduled it seems like a good idea. Basically, all the headliners are playing consecutively so you won’t

have to choose between Godsmack and Staind or Papa Roach and Shinedown.

It sucks when you’re at a music festival and you have to make tough choices because two of your favorite bands are playing at the same time. Also: the rap rock band Deuce — scheduled to play the Ernie Ball Stage at 3:50 p.m. — has a song called “Till I Drop” and one called “Let’s Get it Crackin.’ ”

SATURDAY 8/18

UPROAR FESTIVAL

1 p.m. Arkansas State Fairgrounds. $45.

Here’s a list of the bands performing at this year’s Edgefest Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar Festival: Shinedown, Godsmack, Staind, Papa Roach, Adelita’s Way, P.O.D., Fozzy, In This Moment, Deuce, Redlight King, Mindset Revolution, Candlelight Red,

MONDAY 8/20

SOMEONE STILL LOVES YOU BORIS YELTSIN

9 p.m. Stickyz. $8 adv., $10 day of.

Springfield, Mo.’s, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin arrived back in the early ’00s and by mid-decade had become a familiar name on the blog circuit. In 2006, SSLYBY landed the song “Oregon Girl” on the MTV soap “The OC” and inked a deal with Polyvinyl Records that same year. The band’s independently released full-length “Broom,” was re-released to generally positive reviews.

The 2008 follow-up, “Pershing,” met with similar reception, as did 2010’s “Let it Sway.” That record’s sound — it was produced by Beau Sorenson and Death Cab For Cutie’s Chris Walla — isn’t

SHOW-ME ROCK: Springfield, Mo.’s, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin plays at Stickyz Monday.

glossy, really. At times, though, it feels a bit restrained, like the band really wants to rock out more but keeps it between the white lines instead of purposefully heading into the ditch every once in a while. “My Terrible Personality” and “All Hail Dracula!” raise a bit of a ruckus. The latter has some satisfyingly nervy dueling

guitars, for instance. But for the most part, the record is all handclaps and harmonies and jangly guitars. It’s fine guitar pop that hits many of the same pleasure centers as Canadian cult power-poppers Sloan, The Shins or Weezer when they decide to care about writing a song. The show is 18-and-older.

North Little Rock’s Audrey Dean Kelley brings her fine singing and understated, roots-informed singer/songwriter pop to Markham Street Grill And Pub, 8:30 p.m., free. Dread Clampitt rolls its blend of rock, blues and funk into Stickyz, for an 18-and-older show with The Forrest Williams Band, 9 p.m., $8.

Memphis songstress Grace Askew is recommended if you dig sultry, bluesy fare. She plays a free show at Maxine’s in Hot Springs, 8 p.m.

On Saturday, Askew and Adam Hood open up for southern rock/ country singer Chris Knight at Revolution, $12 adv., $15 day of.

Revolution hosts the final round of its battle of the bands, Last Band Standing, 8:30 p.m., $5 for 21 and older, $10 for ages 20 and younger.

FRIDAY 8/17

Roots-rock fans won’t want to miss out on seeing War Chief, which has a fantastic, brand-new record out and is back in town after a run of shows in Texas. The band plays with Fayetteville rocker Benjamin Del Shreve at an 18-and-older show at Stickyz, 9 p.m., $6. The always enjoyable Bonnie Montgomery plays at White Water Tavern with country/folk duo Carolina Story and the old-timey outfit Humming House, 9:30 p.m. Up in Fayetteville, the Arkansas Music Pavilion hosts the Taste of Country music festival, with Miranda Lambert, The Pistol Annies, Randy Houser, Chris Knight, Adam Hood and Amanda Cramer, 6 p.m., $47.

SATURDAY 8/18

White Water Tavern hosts Field Hands, a benefit show for the Field, which is an urban farm run by nonprofit The One Inc. The Field assists homeless people by providing food and the chance to earn a day’s wages by working on the farm. The show is $10, starts at 8 p.m. and features performances by The Salty Dogs, Monkhouse and Jody Evans. Ed Bowman & The Rock City Players keep the house rockin’ with classic blues, rock and soul covers, The Afterthought, 9 p.m., $7. Jason Campbell & Singletree bring rockin’ Red Dirt country to Denton’s Trotline, 9 p.m., $10.

SUNDAY 8/19

Up on The Hill, ’80s superstar Pat Benatar plays at The Walton Arts Center with her husband and longtime guitarist Neil Giraldo, 7:30 p.m., $27-$102. As part of its exhibition, “Tattoo Witness: Photographs by Mark Perrott,” the Arkansas Arts Center hosts a live demonstration from Dragon Works Tattoo Studio, 2 p.m., free.

www.arktimes.com

AUGUST 15, 2012

25

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

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15

MUSIC

Acoustic Open Mic. The Afterthought, 8 p.m., free. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www. afterthoughtbar.com.

Chris Henry. The Tavern Sports Grill, 7 p.m., free.

17815 Chenal Parkway. 501-830-2100. www. thetavernsportsgrill.com.

Grim Muzik presents Way Back Wednesdays.

Cornerstone Pub & Grill, 8:30 p.m. 314 Main St., NLR. 501-374-1782. cstonepub.com.

Handmade Moments. Cajun’s Wharf, 5 p.m., $5 cover after 8:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501375-5351. www.cajunswharf.com.

Iron Tongue, Pallbearer, Windhand. White Water Tavern, 10 p.m., $5. 2500 W. 7th. 501-3758400. www.whitewatertavern.com.

Karaoke at Khalil’s. Khalil’s Pub, 7 p.m. 110 S. Shackleford Road. 501-224-0224. www.khalilspub.com.

Karaoke. Maxine’s, 8 p.m., free. 700 Central Ave., Hot Springs. www.maxinespub.com.

Karaoke with Big John Miller. Denton’s Trotline, 8 p.m. 2150 Congo Road, Benton. 501-3151717.

Maggie Rose, Luke Williams Band, Victoria Taylor. Juanita’s, 8:30 p.m., free. 614 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-1228. www.juanitas.com.

Micawber, Ominous Conception, Deshoveled.

Downtown Music Hall, 7 p.m., $5. 211 W. Capitol. 501-376-1819. downtownmusichall. com.

Ricky David Tripp. Rocket Twenty One, 5:30 p.m. 2601 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-603-9208. www. ferneaurestaurant.com.

Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 5 p.m., free. 111 Markham St. 501-374-7474. www.capitalhotel.com/CBG.

COMEDY

The Joint Venture. Improv comedy group. The Joint, 8 p.m., $5. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501-372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com.

Paul Hooper. The Loony Bin, 8 p.m.; Aug. 17, 8 and 10:30 p.m.; Aug. 18, 7, 9 and 11 p.m., $7-$10. 10301 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501228-5555. www.loonybincomedy.com.

ARISTOCRUNK FOREVER: Lord T & Eloise, Memphis’s premier ‘aristocrunk’ practitioners, return to the Rock for an 18-and-older show Friday at 9:30 p.m. at Revolution. It’s $10 adv. or $12 day of. through Aug. 20: 8:30 a.m. and 12 p.m., free.

4301 W. 65th St. 501-565-8121. www.arkansasfoodbank.org.

DIVAS Inc. Girls Leadership and Empowerment Summit. Arkansas Studies Institute, through Aug. 17, 9 a.m., $50. 401 President Clinton Ave. 501-320-5700 ‎. www.butlercenter.org.

Flower Workshop with Tanarah Haynie.

Reservations are required. Thea Foundation, 9 a.m., $100. 401 Main St., NLR. 501-379-9512. www.theafoundation.org.

Get to Know Your Library: American Sentiment. Online reservations required.

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 11:30 a.m. and 6 p.m., free. 600 Museum Way, Bentonville. 479-418-5700. crystalbridges.org.

Members’ Event: WOW. 21-and-older. Preregistration and pre-payment required by 8 a.m.

Tuesday, August 14. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 6 p.m., $30. 600 Museum Way, Bentonville. 479-418-5700. crystalbridges.org.

SPORTS

Arkansas Travelers vs. Corpus Christi Hooks.

Dickey-Stephens Park, 7:10 p.m. 400 W. Broadway St., NLR. 501-664-1555. www.travs. com.

KIDS

Little Beginnings Toddler Program:

DANCE

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

EVENTS

Argenta Restaurant Week. Specials include $8 two-course lunch menus, and $25 threecourse, prix fixe dinner menus, along with regular menus at participating restaurants. Argenta, through Aug. 18. Main Street, NLR. Arkansas Foodbank Summer Feeding Sites.

Two meals a day served at the Billy Mitchell Boys and Girls Club, Thrasher Boys and Girls Club, Penick Boys and Girls Club and Dalton Whetstone Boys and Girls Club in Central Arkansas, and the Boys and Girls Club in Benton in Saline County. Arkansas Foodbank,

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26

AUGUST 15, 2012

ARKANSAS TIMES

Transportation. Old State House Museum, 10:30 a.m., free. 500 Clinton Ave. 501-324-9685. www.oldstatehouse.com.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 16

MUSIC

“After 7.” Includes open mic performances, live band, drink specials and more. Porter’s Jazz Cafe, 7 p.m. 315 Main St. 501-324-1900. www. portersjazzcafe.com.

Audrey Dean Kelley. Markham Street Grill And Pub, 8:30 p.m., free. 11321 W. Markham St. 501224-2010. www.markhamst.com.

Benefit Show for Taliyah. 21-and-older show.

Performances by Subdue, Tragikly White.

Denton’s Trotline, 7:30 p.m., $10. 2150 Congo Road, Benton. 501-315-1717.

Canvas. The Tavern Sports Grill, 7 p.m., free.

17815 Chenal Parkway. 501-830-2100. www. thetavernsportsgrill.com.

Crisis (headliner), Dean Agus (happy hour).

Cajun’s Wharf, 5 and 9 p.m., $5 cover after 8:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. www. cajunswharf.com.

Dogtown Thursday Open Mic Night.

Cornerstone Pub & Grill, 8:30 p.m. 314 Main St., NLR. 501-374-1782. cstonepub.com.

Dread Clampitt, Forrest Williams Band. 18-andolder. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 9

27th Annual Catfish Dinner & Bake Sale Saturday, auguSt 18, 2012 4 - 6:30pm Gardner Memorial United Methodist Church 1723 Schaer Street, North Little Rock 72114 Tickets: Adult $12 , Child (Age 4 - 12) $5.00, under age 4 free Advance purchase of tickets strongly encouraged.

A limited number of tickets will be sold at the door.

For more information or to buy tickets please call 501-374-9520.

Price includes fish, chicken, trimmings and beverage.

Huge variety of homemade baked goods for sale!

p.m., $8. 107 Commerce St. 501-372-7707. www. stickyz.com.

Dunbar Community Garden Benefit Show.

Featuring Tsar Bomba, Peckerwolf and Winston Family Orchestra. 21-and-older show. White Water Tavern, 9 p.m., $5. 2500 W. 7th. 501-3758400. facebook.com/dunbargarden.

ElectroniQ. Juanita’s, through Aug. 23: 9 p.m., $5. 614 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-1228. www.juanitas.com.

Fire & Brimstone Duo. Browning’s Mexican Grill, 6-9 p.m. 5805 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-9956. www.browningsmexicangrill.com.

Grace Askew. 21-and-older show. Maxine’s, 8 p.m., free. 700 Central Ave., Hot Springs. www. maxinespub.com.

“Inferno.” DJs play pop, electro, house and more, plus drink specials and $1 cover before 11 p.m. Sway, 9 p.m. 412 Louisiana. 501-907-2582.

Josh Green. Thirst n’ Howl. 14710 Cantrell Road.

501-379-8189. www.thirst-n-howl.com.

Karaoke. Zack’s Place, 8 p.m. 1400 S. University Ave. 501-664-6444.

Karaoke with Doc Bryce. Flying DD, through Aug. 30: 9 p.m. 4601 S. University. 501-773-9990. flyingdd.com.

Karaoke with Larry the Table Guy. The Afterthought, 8 p.m., free. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www.afterthoughtbar.com.

The Kopecky Family Band. George’s Majestic Lounge, 9 p.m., $8. 519 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville. 479-442-4226.

Last Band Standing Finals. Revolution, 8:30 p.m., $5 regular, $10 under 21. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-823-0090. revroom.com.

Port Arthur Band. Parrot Beach Cafe, 9 p.m.

9611 MacArthur Drive, NLR. 771-2994.

Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 5 p.m., free. 111 Markham St. 501-374-7474. www.capitalhotel.com/CBG.

COMEDY

Paul Hooper. The Loony Bin, through Aug. 16, 8 p.m.; Aug. 17, 8 and 10:30 p.m.; Aug. 18, 7, 9 and 11 p.m., $7-$10. 10301 N. Rodney Parham Road.

501-228-5555. www.loonybincomedy.com.

EVENTS

Antique/Boutique Walk. Shopping and live entertainment. Downtown Hot Springs, third Thursday of every month, 4-8 p.m., free. 100 Central Ave., Hot Springs.

Argenta Restaurant Week. See Aug. 15.

Arkansas Foodbank Summer Feeding Sites.

See Aug. 15.

DIVAS Inc. Girls Leadership and Empowerment Summit. Arkansas Studies Institute, through Aug. 17, 9 a.m., $50. 401 President Clinton Ave. 501-320-5700 ‎. www.butlercenter.org.

Keg and Eggs. Eggshells Kitchen Co., 5 p.m.

5501 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-664-6900. eggshellskitchencompany.com.

Wine Tasting. The Afterthought, 5:30 p.m., $10.

2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www. afterthoughtbar.com.

FILM

Argenta Film Series: “Warrior Champions” screening. Argenta Community Theater, 7 p.m., free. 405 Main St., NLR. 501-353-1443. www.littlerockfilmfestival.org.

POETRY

POETluck. The Writer’s Colony at Dairy Hollow, 6 p.m. 515 Spring St., Eureka Springs. 479-2537444. writerscolony.org/poetluck.

EVERY NIGHT HAS POTENTIAL.

Extreme Couponing. Laman Library, Argenta branch, 6 p.m. 506 Main St., NLR. 501-687-1061. www.lamanlibrary.org.

KIDS

Preschool Playdate. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. 600 Museum Way, Bentonville.

479-418-5700. crystalbridges.org.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 17

MUSIC

Ben Coulter. The Tavern Sports Grill, 7 p.m., free. 17815 Chenal Parkway. 501-830-2100. www.thetavernsportsgrill.com.

Benjamin Del Shreve, War Chief. 18-and-older show. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 9 p.m., $6. 107 Commerce St. 501-372-7707. www.stickyz.com.

Bluegrass Weekend. Basin Spring Park, Aug. 17-19. Downtown Eureka Springs, Eureka Springs.

Bonnie Montgomery, Carolina Story, Humming House. White Water Tavern, 9:30 p.m. 2500 W. 7th. 501-375-8400. www.bonniemontgomerymusic.com.

Booyah Dad, Tiger High, Teenagers. 21-andolder show. Maxine’s, 8 p.m., $5 adv., $7 at door. 700 Central Ave., Hot Springs. www.maxinespub.com.

Crash Meadows. West End Smokehouse and Tavern, 10 p.m., $5. 215 N. Shackleford. 501-2247665. www.westendsmokehouse.net.

David Starr, Ben Harris. George’s Majestic Lounge, 7 p.m. 519 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville.

479-442-4226.

DJ Monkey. Cornerstone Pub & Grill, 8 p.m. 314 Main St., NLR. 501-374-1782. cstonepub.com.

DJ Silky Slim. Top 40 and dance music. Sway, 9 p.m., $5. 412 Louisiana. 501-907-2582.

“The Flow Fridays.” Twelve Modern Lounge, 8 p.m. 1900 W. Third St. 501-301-1200.

Jimmy Buffet Tribute with Jerry Diaz, Hannahs Reef. George’s Majestic Lounge, 6 p.m. 519 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville. 479-442-4226.

Land of Mines. Downtown Music Hall, 8 p.m.

211 W. Capitol. 501-376-1819. downtownmusichall.com.

Lord T & Eloise. 18-and-older show. Revolution, 9:30 p.m., $10 adv., $12 at door. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-823-0090. revroom.com.

Mayday by Midnight. West End Smokehouse and Tavern, 10 p.m., $5. 215 N. Shackleford.

501-224-7665. www.westendsmokehouse.net.

Mourning View, Thread, 3D Arcade. Juanita’s, 9 p.m., $8 adv., $10 at door. 614 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-1228. www.juanitas.com.

OTIS (headliner), Ashley McBride (happy hour). Cajun’s Wharf, 5 and 9 p.m., $5 cover after 8:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-3755351. www.cajunswharf.com.

Pat Anderson. Flying Saucer, 9 p.m. 323 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-8032. www. beerknurd.com/stores/littlerock.

Radradriot, Vile Pack, Shoplift. Vino’s, 9 p.m.,

COMEDY

The Main Thing. Two-act comedy play called “Little Rock and a Hard Place.” The Joint, 8 p.m., $20. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501-3720205. thejointinlittlerock.com.

Paul Hooper. The Loony Bin, Aug. 17, 8 and 10:30 p.m.; Aug. 18, 7, 9 and 11 p.m., $7-$10.

10301 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501-228-5555. www.loonybincomedy.com.

EVENTS

Argenta Restaurant Week. See Aug. 15.

Arkansas Foodbank Summer Feeding Sites.

See Aug. 15.

Discover the Grounds! Preserving the Freshwater Ecosystem at Crystal Bridges.

Class Leaders: Irrigation Technician Brian Batchelor and Horticulturist Cody George.

Reserve tickets online. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 10 a.m., free. 600 Museum Way, Bentonville. 479-418-5700. crystalbridges.org.

DIVAS Inc. Girls Leadership and Empowerment Summit. Arkansas Studies Institute, 9 a.m., $50. 401 President Clinton Ave. 501-320-5700 . www.butlercenter.org.

LGBTQ/SGL Youth and Young Adult Group.

Diverse Youth for Social Change is a group for LGBTQ/SGL and straight ally youth and young adults age 14 to 23. For more information, call 244-9690 or search “DYSC” on Facebook. 800 Scott St., 6:30 p.m. 800 Scott St. Miss Gay Arkansas America Review Show.

Featuring a cast of former Miss Gay Arkansas winners, including Kelly Cruise, Debbye Taunts, Vicki Valentine, Shanel Herrington, Kamrin Mikaels and Miss Gay Arkansas 2011 Zia D’yor. Triniti Nightclub, 11 p.m. 1021 Jessie Rd. www.trinitilr.com.

Renegades for a Cause drag show. Supporting parents and friends of lesbians and gays. Miss Kitty’s Saloon, 10 p.m. 307 W. 7th St., Little Rock, AR 72201. 501-374-4699.

Trax Annual Luau. Trax, 8 p.m. 415 Main St., NLR. 501-244-0444. sidetracksnlr.com.

Zoo Story Time. Little Rock Zoo, through Aug. 31: 10 a.m. 1 Jonesboro Dr. 501-666-2406. www.littlerockzoo.com.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 18

MUSIC

The Arkansas River Blues Society, Claymores.

Cornerstone Pub & Grill, 8 p.m., $3-$5. 314 Main St., NLR. 501-374-1782. cstonepub.com.

Benefit Show for Paul Cooper. 21-and-older show. Performances by The White Glove Test, The Letdowns. Maxine’s, 8 p.m., $8. 700 Central Ave., Hot Springs. www.maxinespub.com.

Bluegrass and Barbecue. Museum of Contemporary Art, 5 p.m., $10-$20. 425 Central Ave., Hot Springs. 501-609-9906.

Bluegrass Weekend. Basin Spring Park, through Aug. 19. Downtown Eureka Springs, Eureka Springs.

Chasing Pictures, A Good Fight, Weaver at the Loom, Silent Waits the Archer, Revolution Butterfly. George’s Majestic Lounge, 9 p.m., $5.

519 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville. 479-442-4226.

Chris Knight, Adam Hood, Grace Askew.

18-and-older show. Revolution, 9 p.m., $12 adv., $15 D.O.S. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-823-0090. revroom.com.

Country Showdown. Pine Mountain Village, 2 p.m. 2075 E. Van Buren, Eureka Springs. https:// kthsradio.com/.

Ed Bowman & The Rock City Players. The Afterthought, 9 p.m., $7. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd.

501-663-1196. www.afterthoughtbar.com.

Eric from Philly. Flying Saucer, 9 p.m. 323 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-8032. www. beerknurd.com/stores/littlerock.

Jason Campbell, Singletree. Denton’s Trotline, 9 p.m., $10. 2150 Congo Road, Benton. 501315-1717.

Jess Hoggard. Markham Street Grill And Pub, 8:30 p.m., free. 11321 W. Markham St. 501-2242010. www.markhamst.com.

Karaoke at Khalil’s. Khalil’s Pub, 7 p.m. 110 S. Shackleford Road. 501-224-0224. www.khalilspub.com.

Karaoke. Casa Mexicana, 7 p.m. 6929 JFK Blvd., NLR. 501-835-7876.

“KISS Saturdays” with DJs Deja Blu, Greyhound and Silky Slim. Sway, 10 p.m.

412 Louisiana. 501-907-2582.

OTIS (headliner), Steve Bates (happy hour).

Cajun’s Wharf, 5 and 9 p.m., $5 cover after 8:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. www. cajunswharf.com.

Pickin’ Porch. Bring your instrument. All ages welcome. Faulkner County Library, 9:30 a.m.

1900 Tyler St., Conway. 501-327-7482. www. fcl.org.

The Salty Dogs, Monkhouse. White Water Tavern, 9 p.m., $5. 2500 W. 7th. 501-375-8400. www.thesaltydogs.net/.

Shonen Knife, Ezra Lbs, The Bloodless Cooties.

18-and-older show. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 9 p.m., $10 adv., $12 d.o.s. 107 Commerce St. 501-372-7707. www.stickyz.com.

Smokey. The Tavern Sports Grill, 7 p.m., free.

17815 Chenal Parkway. 501-830-2100. www. thetavernsportsgrill.com.

Songwriters Showcase. Parrot Beach Cafe, 2-7 p.m., free. 9611 MacArthur Drive, NLR. 771-2994.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 28

#MAKE IT PLATINUM

Trim:2.125x5.875 Bleed: none Live:1.875x5.625

CLASSES

Arkansas Travelers vs. Corpus Christi Hooks.

Dickey-Stephens Park, 7:10 p.m. 400 W. Broadway St., NLR. 501-664-1555. www.travs. com.

©2012 Anheuser-Busch, Bud Light® Platinum Lager (Ale in OR & TX), St. Louis, MO

WHEN’S

S I H T N? U F MUCH

ME YOU HAD THE LAST TI

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AUGUST 15, 2012

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Pub: Arkansas Times

Arkansas Travelers vs. Corpus Christi Hooks.

Dickey-Stephens Park, through Aug. 17, 7:10 p.m. 400 W. Broadway St., NLR. 501-664-1555. www.travs.com.

SPORTS

Order #:243326

SPORTS

$5. 923 W. 7th St. 501-375-8466. www.vinosbrewpub.com.

Shannon Boshears Band. Denton’s Trotline, 9 p.m., $6. 2150 Congo Road, Benton. 501315-1717.

Taste of Country music festival. Featuring Miranda Lambert, The Pistol Annies, Randy Houser and more. Arkansas Music Pavilion, 6 p.m., $47. 2536 N. McConnell Ave., Fayetteville. www.arkansasmusicpavilion.com.

Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 9 p.m., free. 111 Markham St. 501-374-7474. www. capitalhotel.com/CBG. Thread. Thirst n’ Howl. 14710 Cantrell Road. 501379-8189. www.thirst-n-howl.com.

Unseen Eye. Markham Street Grill And Pub, 8:30 p.m., free. 11321 W. Markham St. 501-224-2010. www.markhamst.com.

Vore, Hessian Crucible, Auric. George’s Majestic Lounge, 10 p.m., $3. 519 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville. 479-442-4226.

William Staggers Trio. The Afterthought, 9 p.m., $7. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www. afterthoughtbar.com.

“YOLO.” Featuring four DJs and beach volleyball, 18-and-older. Flying DD, $5. 4601 S. University. 501-773-9990. flyingdd.com.

Ad Name: Night Has Potential Closing Date: 8/7/12 QC: CS Item #:PBP20115427

Poetry Slam Spoken Word. 18-and-older. The Joint. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501-372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com.

AFTER DARK, CONT. Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 9 p.m., free. 111 Markham St. 501-374-7474. www. capitalhotel.com/CBG. Uproar Festival. Featuring Shinedown, Godsmack, Staind Papa Roach and Adelitas Way Arkansas State Fairgrounds. 2600 Howard St. 501-372-8341 ext. 8206. www.arkansasstatefair.com.

VJ G Force, Big Brown, Durden & Allenbaugh, Rodney Block & the Real Music Lovers, Dominique Sanchez & the Disco Drag Queens. Discovery Nightclub, $8 adv., $10 at door, free with college ID until 2 a.m. 1021 Jessie Road. 501-664-4784. www.latenightdisco.com.

COMEDY

The Main Thing. Two-act comedy play called “Little Rock and a Hard Place.” The Joint, 8 p.m., $20. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501-3720205. thejointinlittlerock.com.

Paul Hooper. The Loony Bin, 7, 9 and 11 p.m., $7-$10. 10301 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501228-5555. www.loonybincomedy.com.

The Second City: Second City for President.

Walton Arts Center, 6 p.m., $23-$33. 495 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville. 479-443-5600.

DANCE

Little Rock West Coast Dance Club. Dance lessons. Singles welcome. Ernie Biggs, 7 p.m., $2. 307 Clinton Ave. 501-247-5240. www. arstreetswing.com.

EVENTS

Argenta Farmers Market. Argenta, 7 a.m.-12 p.m. Main Street, NLR. Argenta Restaurant Week. See Aug. 15.

Catfish Fry. Gardner Memorial United Methodist Church, 4 p.m., $5-$12, free under age 4. 1723 Schaer Street, NLR. 501-374-9520. www.facebook.com.

Falun Gong meditation. Allsopp Park, 9 a.m., free. Cantrell & Cedar Hill Roads.

Hillcrest Farmers Market. Pulaski Heights Baptist Church, 7 a.m.-12 p.m. 2200 Kavanaugh Blvd.

Little Rock Farmers’ Market. River Market Pavilions, through Oct. 27: 7 a.m.-3 p.m. 400 President Clinton Ave. 501-375-2552. rivermarket.info.

Miss Gay Arkansas pageant. Argenta Community Theater, 7 p.m., $25-$40. 405 Main St., NLR. 501-353-1443. argentacommunitytheater.org.

Ozark Society 50th Anniversary Celebration.

Compton Gardens and Conference Center, 10 a.m., free. 312 N. Main Street, Bentonville.

479-254-3870.

Transition into Fall Fashion Show. Park Hill Christian Church, 11 a.m., $20. 4400 JFK Blvd, NLR. 501-753-1109. www.parkhillchristian.org/.

Wild River Country Back to School Bash. Bring

school supply item for $5 off admission ticket.

All school supplies collected are being distributed to locals schools. Wild River Country, 10 a.m., $30-$150. 6820 Crystal Hill Road, NLR. 753-8600. www.wildrivercountry.com.

SPORTS

Arkansas Travelers vs. San Antonio Missions.

Dickey-Stephens Park, Aug. 18, 7:10 p.m.; Aug. 19, 6 p.m.; Aug. 20, 7:10 p.m. 400 W. Broadway St., NLR. 501-664-1555. www.travs.com.

Soul Spirit Zumba with Ashan. Soul Spirit Zumba fuses Latin rhythms with soulful inspirational music. Canvas Community Art Gallery, 9:30-10:30 a.m., $5. 1111 W. 7th St. 501-414-0368.

BENEFITS

Cruisin For A Cause. Live music performed by Legoria Payton & Friends. Arkansas Queen, 6:30 p.m. 100 Riverfront Park Drive, NLR. 501372-5777. www.arkansasqueen.com.

KIDS

Cub Scout Patch Day. Mid-America Science Museum, 9 a.m., $5 with accompanying adult.

500 Mid-America Blvd., Hot Springs. 501-7673461. www.midamericamuseum.org.

Kids Cook Cooking Class, Cookies. Eggshells Kitchen Co., 2 p.m., $40. 5501 Kavanaugh Blvd.

501-664-6900. eggshellskitchencompany.com.

cuts for students of all ages. New Tyler Barber College, 2 p.m. 1221 Bishop Lindsey Ave., NLR. Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Fall Bridal Show.

Statehouse Convention Center, 12:30 p.m., $7-$10. 7 Statehouse Plaza.

The Arkansas Society of Freethinkers lecture.

Main Library, Aug. 19, 1:30 p.m.; Sept. 16, 1:30 p.m. 100 S. Rock St. www.cals.lib.ar.us.

Bernice Garden Farmers’ Market. The Bernice Garden, through Oct. 14: 10 a.m.-2 p.m. 1401 S. Main St. 501-617-2511. www.thebernicegarden.org.

“Live from the Back Room.” Vino’s, 7 p.m.

923 W. 7th St. 501-375-8466. www.vinosbrewpub.com.

Tattoo Artist Demonstration by Dragon Works Tattoo Studio. Arkansas Arts Center, 2 p.m., free.

501 E. 9th St. 501-372-4000. www.arkarts.com.

See Aug. 15.

Member Monday. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 10:30 a.m. 600 Museum Way, Bentonville. 479-418-5700. crystalbridges.org.

Preservation Conversations: MacArthur Park Master Plan. Curran Hall, 5 p.m., free. 615 E. Capitol. 501-370-3290. www.quapaw.com/.

SPORTS

TUESDAY, AUGUST 21

Arkansas Travelers vs. San Antonio Missions.

Dickey-Stephens Park, Aug. 19, 6 p.m.; Aug. 20, 7:10 p.m. 400 W. Broadway St., NLR. 501-6641555. www.travs.com.

MONDAY, AUGUST 20

MUSIC

Arkansas River Blues Society Blues Competition. Entry fees are $60 for a band, $20 for solo acts and $30 for duo acts. Entry packets must be postmarked by Aug. 15, 2012 and mailed to the Arkansas River Blues Society, P.O. Box 128, Alexander, AR 72002. Parrot Beach Cafe. 9611 MacArthur Drive, NLR. 771-2994.

Bluegrass Weekend. Basin Spring Park, through.

Downtown Eureka Springs, Eureka Springs.

Irish Traditional Music Session. Hibernia Irish Tavern, first and third Sunday of every month, 2:30 p.m. 9700 N Rodney Parham Road. 501246-4340. www.hiberniairishtavern.com.

Karaoke with DJ Sara. Hardrider Bar & Grill, 7 p.m., free. 6613 John Harden Drive, Cabot.

501-982-1939.

Pat Benatar, Neil Giraldo. Walton Arts Center, 7:30 p.m., $27-$102. 495 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville. 479-443-5600.

The Stardust Big Band. Arlington Hotel, 3 p.m., $8, free for high school students. 239 Central Ave., Hot Springs. 501-623-7771.

Sunday Jazz Brunch with Ted Ludwig and Joe Cripps. Vieux Carre, 11 a.m. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www.vieuxcarrecafe.com.

7th Street Peep Show. Featuring three or four bands per night. Bands sign up at 6:30 p.m. and play 35-minute sets (including setup) on a first come, first served basis. House band is The Sinners. Solo artists, DJs and all other performers welcome. Vino’s, 7 p.m., $1. 923 W. 7th St. 501-375-8466. www.vinosbrewpub.com.

Hot Springs Concert Band Summer Concert Series: “Whittington Park Through the Ages.”. Whittington Park, 6 p.m., free.

Whittington Ave., Hot Springs.

Jazz@Afterthought featuring Nathan Hood.

The Afterthought, free. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd.

501-663-1196. www.afterthoughtbar.com.

Karaoke. Thirst n’ Howl, 8:30 p.m. 14710 Cantrell Road. 501-379-8189. www.thirst-n-howl.com.

Reggae Nites. Featuring DJ Hy-C playing roots, reggae and dancehall. Pleazures Martini and Grill Lounge, 6 p.m., $7-$10. 1318 Main St. 501-376-7777. www.facebook.com/pleazures. bargrill.

Richie Johnson. Cajun’s Wharf, 5 p.m., $5 cover after 8:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-3755351. www.cajunswharf.com.

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin. 18-andolder show. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 9 p.m., $8 adv., $10 at door. 107 Commerce St. 501-372-7707. www.stickyz.com.

Touch, Grateful Dead Tribute. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 8 p.m., $5. 107 Commerce St. 501-372-7707. www.stickyz.com.

EVENTS

EVENTS

SUNDAY, AUGUST 19

MUSIC

10th Annual Cut-N-Back-2-Class. Free hair-

Arkansas Foodbank Summer Feeding Sites.

SPORTS

Arkansas Travelers vs. San Antonio Missions.

Dickey-Stephens Park, 7:10 p.m. 400 W. Broadway St., NLR. 501-664-1555. www.travs. com.

CLASSES

Sauces with Lee Richardson. Eggshells Kitchen Co., 6 p.m., $50. 5501 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-6646900. eggshellskitchencompany.com.

MUSIC

Brian & Nick. Cajun’s Wharf, 5 p.m., $5 cover after 8:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-3755351. www.cajunswharf.com.

Brian Martin. Maxine’s, 8 p.m., free. 700 Central Ave., Hot Springs. www.maxinespub.com.

Jeff Long. Khalil’s Pub, 6 p.m. 110 S. Shackleford Road. 501-224-0224. www.khalilspub.com.

Karaoke Night. Cornerstone Pub & Grill, 8 p.m. 314 Main St., NLR. 501-374-1782. cstonepub.com.

Karaoke Tuesday. Prost, 8 p.m., free. 322 President Clinton Blvd. 501-244-9550.

Karaoke with Big John Miller. Denton’s Trotline, 8 p.m. 2150 Congo Road, Benton.

501-315-1717.

Lucious Spiller Band. Copeland’s, 6-9 p.m.

2602 S. Shackleford Road. 501-312-1616. www. copelandsofneworleans.com.

Ricky David Tripp. Rocket Twenty One, 5:30 p.m. 2601 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-603-9208. www.ferneaurestaurant.com.

Rodge Arnold. The Joint, 8:30 p.m., $5. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501-372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com.

Top of the Rock Chorus rehearsal.

Cornerstone Bible Fellowship Church, 7-10 p.m. 7351 Warden Road, Sherwood. 501-2311119. www.topoftherockchorus.org.

Tuesday Jam Session with Carl Mouton. The Afterthought, 8 p.m., free. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www.afterthoughtbar. com.

Yellow Dubmarine. 18-and-older show. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 8:30 p.m., $10. 107 Commerce St. 501-372-7707. www.stickyz.com.

DANCE

“Latin Night.” Revolution, 7 p.m., $5 regular, $7 under 21. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-8230090. www.revroom.com.

Baptist Health Family Clinic-Hillcrest Where Healthcare is a Family Affair We offer: Discounted School Physicals • Sports injures • Pre-employment physicals • Drug Screens • Botox • Pediatric same day appointments • Accepting new Medicare • Walk-ins welcome • Asthma testing and treatment • Allergy testing

Walk-ins welcome. Now accepting new patients. Including pediatric and Medicare.

To schedule an appointment, call 501-663-4357.

2601 Kavanaugh Blvd., Suite 6, Little Rock, AR 72205 baptist-health.com/bhfc-hillcrest

Dr. Allan McKenzie 28

AUGUST 15, 2012

ARKANSAS TIMES

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AFTER DARK, CONT.

EVENTS

Little Rock Farmers’ Market. River Market Pavilions, through Oct. 27: 7 a.m.-3 p.m. 400 President Clinton Ave. 501-375-2552. rivermarket.info.

Tales from the South. Authors tell true stories; schedule available on website. Dinner served 5-6:30 p.m., show at 7 p.m. Call for reservations.

Starving Artist Cafe, 5 p.m. 411 N. Main St., NLR. 501-372-7976. www.starvingartistcafe.net.

Trivia Bowl. Flying Saucer, 8:30 p.m. 323 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-8032. www. beerknurd.com/stores/littlerock.

FILM

“Fit 2 Live.” Screening of the 4-part HBO documentary film, “The Weight of the Nation,” fol-

lowed by discussion with Fit 2 Live Coordinator Bernadette Gunn Rhodes. Laman Library, through Aug. 28: 6:30 p.m. 2801 Orange St., NLR. 501-758-1720. www.lamanlibrary.org.

Vino’s Picture Show: “A Face in the Crowd.”

Vino’s, 7 p.m., free. 923 W. 7th St. 501-375-8466. www.vinosbrewpub.com.

CLASSES

Canning and Food Preservation Class.

Eggshells Kitchen Co., 6 p.m., $50. 5501 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-664-6900. eggshellskitchencompany.com.

THIS WEEK IN THEATER

“All the King’s Women.” The story of Elvis Presley told through the eyes of 17 Women.

A fast paced series of five comedic plays and

three monologues based on the life of Elvis Presley. Pocket Community Theater, Aug. 16-18, 7:30 p.m.; Sun., Aug. 19, 2:30 p.m., $5-$10. 170 Ravine St., Hot Springs.

Dr. Sam Taggart’s musical “Nobody’s Business.” Royal Theatre, through Aug. 26: Aug. 16-18, 7:30 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.; Aug. 23-25, 7:30 p.m., $5-$12. 111 S. Market St., Benton. theroyalplayers.com.

“Little Rock and a Hard Place.” The Main Thing theater presents its play about a man who dies in a car accident and is sent to Little Rock by St. Peter to earn his wings by helping the city.

The Joint, through Aug. 31: Fri., Sat., 8 p.m., $20. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501-372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com.

“The Sound of Music.” Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical is the story of the Von

Trapp family and how their governess, Maria, brings music, hope and prayer into their lives in pre-World War II Austria. Murry’s Dinner Playhouse, through Aug. 26: Tue.-Sat., 6 p.m.; Sun., 11 a.m. and 6 p.m., $15-$33. 6323 Col. Glenn Road. 501-562-3131. murrysdinnerplayhouse.com.

“Southern Cross.” Jon Klein’s play spans many decades of Southern history, touching on crucial events with familiar names as well as the stories of figures who, though not as renowned, played important roles in the struggle for freedom and civil rights. Directed by Frank O. Butler. The Weekend Theater, through Aug. 18, 7:30 p.m.; through Aug. 25, 7:30 p.m., $12-$16. 1001 W. 7th St. 501-374-3761. www.weekendtheater.org.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 32

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MOVIE LISTINGS

AUG. 17-18

PRIME REAL ESTATE: “The Queen of Versailles” is a documentary that follows the rise and fall of timeshare mogul David Siegel and his wife, Jackie, as their 90,000 square-foot mansion turns into a millstone around their necks during the economic meltdown of 2008.

Market Street Cinema times at or after 9 p.m. are for Friday and Saturday only. Lakewood 8 and Riverdale showtimes were not available by press deadline. Rave showtimes are valid for Friday and Saturday only. Find up-to-date listings at arktimes.com.

NEW MOVIES The Expendables 2 (R) – Sequel to the film in which a bunch of current and former action movie stars get together for tea and cake and explosions and cheekily self-referential jokes.

Breckenridge: 12:15, 4:15, 7:30, 10:00. Chenal 9: 11:00 a.m., 1:30, 4:00, 7:15, 9:55. Rave: 10:15 a.m., 1:00, 4:00, 7:00, 10:00 (XTreme), 10:45 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1:45, 2:30, 4:45, 5:30, 7:45, 8:30, 10:45, 11:30.

The Odd Life of Timothy Green (PG) – Basically it’s Cabbage Patch Kids the Movie, but with just one Cabbage Patch Kid. Breckenridge: 12:40, 4:40, 7:40, 10:10. Chenal 9: 11:15 a.m., 1:40, 4:05, 7:00, 9:30. Rave: 10:25 a.m., 1:10, 3:45, 6:15, 8:35, 10:55.

ParaNorman (PG) – Stop-motion animated film about a kid who talks to ghosts, from the studio that made “Coraline.” Breckenridge: 4:45, 9:30 (2D), 12:30, 7:10 (3D). Chenal 9: 11:25 a.m., 1:50, 7:05 (2D), 4:25, 9:40 (3D). Rave: 1:30, 7:30 (2D), 11:05 a.m., 4:30, 10:25 (3D).

The Queen of Versailles (PG) – Documentary about the rise and real-estate-bubble fall of a billionaire. Market Street: 2:15, 4:30, 7:15, 9:00.

Ruby Sparks (R) – A novelist finds that his characters are more lifelike than he ever could have imagined. Rave: 10:05 a.m., 1:05, 3:55, 7:05, 10:10.

Sparkle (PG-13) – Three sisters follow their musical dreams. Starring Whitney Houston and Jordin Sparks. Breckenridge: noon, 4:00, 7:00, 9:50. Chenal 9: 11:10 a.m., 1:50, 4:30, 7:10, 9:50.

Rave: 10:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 12:30, 1:15, 2:00, 3:30, 4:15, 5:00, 6:30, 7:15, 8:00, 9:30, 10:15, 11:00, midnight.

RETURNING THIS WEEK Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (R) – Pretty much what it sounds like, from producer Tim Burton and director Timur Bekmambetov.

Movies 10: noon, 2:25, 4:50, 7:15, 9:40.

The Amazing Spider Man (PG-13) – Already? It’s like, jeez, Tobey MaGuire’s Spider Man’s body ain’t even cold yet. Starring Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone. Rave: 10:10 a.m.

30

AUGUST 15, 2012

ARKANSAS TIMES

Beasts of the Southern Wild (PG-13) – Critically acclaimed story of a southern Louisiana community and a plucky young heroine. Market Street: 1:45, 4:15, 6:45, 9:00.

Bernie (PG-13) – Based on a murder in smalltown Texas, starring Jack Black, Matthew McConaughey and Richard Linklater. Market Street: 2:00, 4:15, 7:00, 9:15. Movies 10: 12:15, 2:40, 5:05, 7:45, 10:15.

Bourne Legacy (PG-13) – Latest in the Bourne franchise, starring Jeremy Renner and not starring Matt Damon. Breckenridge: 12:05, 4:00, 7:00, 9:55. Chenal 9: 1:00, 4:00, 7:00, 10:00. Rave: 10:20 a.m., 11:40 a.m., 1:20, 2:40, 4:20, 5:40, 7:20, 8:40, 9:20, 10:320, 11:40.

Brave (PG) – Animated fantasy tale of a Celtictype girl who must save her kingdom from something or other. Breckenridge: 12:45, 4:10, 7:25, 9:55.

The Campaign (R) – In which Ricky Bobby goes to Washington with the weird-beard from the “Hangover” films. Breckenridge: 12:50, 4:50, 7:45, 10:05. Chenal 9: 11:05 a.m., 1:35, 4:20, 7:20, 9:45. Rave: 10:35 a.m., noon, 12:45, 2:15, 3:15, 4:55, 5:45, 7:10, 8:15, 9:35, 10:30, 11:50.

The Dark Knight Rises (PG-13) – Third gloomy Batman flick from director Christopher Nolan.

Breckenridge: 11:30 a.m., 3:00, 6:30, 9:55.

Chenal 9: 11:30 a.m., 3:00, 6:30, 10:00 (IMAX), noon, 4:00, 7:30. Rave: 10:30 a.m., 12:55, 4:25, 7:55, 11:20.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days (PG) – Based on the children’s book series. Breckenridge: 12:35, 4:05, 7:20, 9:40. Rave: 11:25 a.m., 1:50, 4:10, 6:35.

Hope Springs (PG-13) – Tommy Lee Jones and Meryl Streep try to reignite the spark of love with the help of Steve Carrell, in this lighthearted, 100-minute-long Cialis commercial.

Breckenridge: 12:20 (open-captioned), 4:15, 7:10, 9:35. Chenal 9: 11:20 a.m., 1:45, 4:10, 7:05, 9:45. Rave: 10:15 a.m., 12:50, 3:50, 6:40, 9:15.

The Hunger Games (PG-13) – Teen-lit version of “The Running Man,” starring Jennifer Lawrence.

Movies 10: 12:40, 3:40, 7:00, 10:00.

Ice Age: Continental Drift (PG) – Latest iteration in the series about a crew of wacky animated animals. Breckenridge: 12:25, 4:30, 7:05, 9:25.

Rave: 10:20 a.m., 12:35, 2:50, 5:20.

The Intouchables (R) – An improbable friendship blossoms between a rich disabled man and his ex-con caretaker. Market Street: 2:00, 4:20, 7:00, 9:15.

Katy Perry: Part of Me (PG) – Yeah, but which one? Movies 10: 12:10, 2:30, 4:45.

The Lorax (PG) – A 3D CGI adaptation of Dr. Seuss’ classic tale. Movies 10: 12:35, 2:45, 4:55, 7:20, 9:35.

Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (PG) – The Dreamworks franchise rolls on, with Chris Rock, Ben Stiller and other people who make stupid amounts of money as talking animals.

Movies 10: 12:30, 1:40, 2:50, 4:00, 6:20, 8:40 (2D), 5:10, 7:30, 9:45 (3D).

The Magic of Belle Isle (PG) – Kind of like “The Bucket List,” only this time Morgan Freeman is a recovering alcoholic novelist with writer’s block.

Market Street: 1:45, 4:00, 6:45, 9:00.

Men in Black 3 (PG-13) – This go-round, they’ve got to travel backwards in time or something.

Movies 10: 12:05, 2:35, 5:00, 7:25, 9:50.

Savages (R) – A hippie and a former Navy SEAL take on Mexican drug lords, from director Oliver Stone. Movies 10: 7:05, 10:05.

Snow White and the Huntsman (PG-13) – Dark and foreboding Snow White reboot No. 2 for the year, this time with Kristen Stewart and Charlize Theron. Movies 10: 1:10, 4:10, 7:10, 9:55.

Step Up Revolution (PG-13) – That’ll do, “Step Up” franchise, that’ll do. Rave: 7:35, 10:05.

Ted (R) – From the mind of the inescapable Seth MacFarlane, the story of a talking teddy bear named Ted. Breckenridge: 4:20, 10:05.

That’s My Boy (R) – Proof that Andy Samberg made a deal with the devil, who happens to be Adam Sandler. Movies 10: 1:00, 4:05, 7:35, 10:10.

Total Recall (PG-13) – This remake might be an elaborate excuse to show the three-breasted alien lady again. Starring Colin Farrell. Rave: 10:05 a.m., 1:55, 4:50, 7:50, 10:35.

Chenal 9 IMAX Theatre: 17825 Chenal Parkway, 821-2616, www.dtmovies.com.

Cinemark Movies 10: 4188 E. McCain Blvd., 945-7400, www.cinemark.com.

Cinematown Riverdale 10: Riverdale Shopping Center, 296-9955, www.riverdale10.com.

Lakewood 8: 2939 Lakewood Village Drive, 7585354, www.fandango.com.

Market Street Cinema: 1521 Merrill Drive, 312-8900, www.marketstreetcinema.net.

Rave Colonel Glenn 18: 18 Colonel Glenn Plaza, 687-0499, www.ravemotionpictures.com.

Regal Breckenridge Village 12: 1-430 and Rodney Parham, 224-0990, www.fandango.com.

MOVIE REVIEW

Born of ‘Bourne’

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aybe Bourne is the new Bond, if you can accept that now Jeremy Renner, instead of Matt Damon, is playing a non-Bourne lead character in a movie called “The Bourne Legacy.” The legacy of Bourne, apparently, is to get a bunch of his peers whacked. Turns out there was a whole spider’s nest of government programs that not only trained the most lethal, unstoppable undercover agents in the world, it built them with gene treatments and neuroenhancers and, uh, viruses and cognitive something and … anyway, science! The shenanigans Bourne pulled in the first three “Bourne” movies leads Edward Norton’s super-spook character in this film to declare that this other program, the one that created Renner’s agent Aaron Cross, must be “burned to the ground.”

Thus this movie with Bourne in the title is about the U.S. government trying to kill anyone who resembles Bourne.

Repeat: It’s a Bourne-less “Bourne” film about extirpating anything Bourne-like.

Trouble is, in the age of satellites and drone strikes, most of the real cat-andmouse action between Cross and the covert agencies takes place at such a physical remove that it’s almost as if two parallel movies are unfolding. In Cross’ world, he’s fending off Alaskan wolves and smuggling himself around the States. In covert-ops world, Machiavellian nerds are sifting through data in bunker-like computer hive, trying to pinpoint Cross. Neither side has any direct contact with the other.

Intellectually, it looks neat. Emotionally it’s hard to get deeply invested when the protagonist is racing like a human cannonball and the antagonist is hunkered in a Mars rover command room.

Cross does take a crucial detour to Maryland to save (just in the nick of time!) a scientist by name of Marta (Rachel Weisz). After an incident at her lab, where much of the medical voodoo for Cross and his super-agent ilk goes down, she’s clearly going to be a target. She and Cross flee and make a dash for the Far East. All kinds of escapes ensue: They have to escape from security guards, then from a factory, then from local cops, then from a silent assassin (Louis Ozawa Changchien), who’s as relentless as the liquid terminator in “T2.”

The endless chases and relentless surveillance give “The Bourne Legacy” the feel of a Tex Avery cartoon with a dash of “1984.” The pace is so frenetic that even inside 135 minutes the story feels short.

After an admittedly awesome if intermi-

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‘THE BOURNE LEGACY’: Jeremy Renner stars.

nable road chase, the movie doesn’t end so much as simply signal a pit stop before the inevitable sequel.

Tony Gilroy directs (and shares the screenwriting credit with brother Dan Gilroy) after writing the first three “Bourne” films. He watched enough of Paul Greengrass’ direction in the other “Bourne” installments to have picked up the tics: the duck-and-weave cinematography, the long overhead pans of rooftop running, the continual and amorphous action-movie score that heightens the drama even of such moments as boarding an airplane. He inflicts some truly terrible ideas onto Cross — watch him wrestle a live wolf! — and expects him to MacGyver his way out of other tight spots. It’s fun and all, but he never gives Cross much to decide in the way of moral or even tactical quandaries. The character seems to have only slightly more free will than a torpedo.

Renner, for his part, acquits himself well. He and Weisz manage to develop some foxhole chemistry as they run for their lives over and over and over again.

He’s generally likeable. He might even be around for another couple of movies, but then what? He drops off the grid, and some other agent is Bourne again, with the camera shaking, and with the audience barely stirred.

ARKANSAS TIMES

WED: 08/15 1/8 PG. (2.125”) X 5.875” ALL.QOV.0815.ATEMAIL

AM

$15

www.arktimes.com

AUGUST 15, 2012

31

THE TELEVISIONIST

AFTER DARK, CONT.

GALLERIES, MUSEUMS

NEW EXHIBITS, ART EVENTS

‘SMALL TOWN SECURITY’: Joan Koplan with Lambchop.

Redneck security

BY DAVID KOON

SMALL TOWN SECURITY

Sundays at 10 p.m.

AMC

Though the channel recently got the boot from Dish Network, we’re still in love with all things AMC. With a history of rolling the dice (and winning) on high-concept hits like “Mad Men,” “Breaking Bad” and Frank Darabont’s “The Walking Dead,” what had been the Old Fart Network (“Stay turned for 24 more hours of movies you never heard of starring Spencer Tracy!”) has positioned itself in recent years as the go-to place for great, smart television.

Their newest series, while a little trainwreck goofy, is a hell of a lot of fun, and has a placement — immediately after “Breaking Bad” — that could make it a big hit. “Small Town Security” is a new “unscripted series” (what the kids used to call “reality TV”) about JJR Security and Investigations, a small, family-owned security company based in Ringgold, Ga. Like a lot of small Southern companies, this one has a true cast of characters from the top down, starting with boss Joan Koplan, a 61-year-old who claims to have the sex drive of a high schooler and a deep and abiding love for a 14-year-old Chihuahua named Lambchop. That’s the tip of the redneck iceberg. Week to week, the show is just a comedy of errors, so crazy at times that you’ll think there’s no way that some comedic genius isn’t writing the script for this. That’s probably got a lot to do with skilful editing, but by all appearances, it’s not staged. Not only do the people involved seem too unsophisticated to pull off that level of acting, sometimes in the South, the truth is much, much, 32

AUGUST 15, 2012

ARKANSAS TIMES

much stranger than fiction.

REGULAR SHOW

Mondays at 7 p.m.

Cartoon Network

There’s nothing wrong with watching cartoons as an adult. Some of the best moments of my recent life have been working my way back through 30 years of original Looney Tunes and Tex Avery ‘toons on YouTube (and man, ain’t that Red Hot Riding Hood still foxy after all these years?). Now comes the new short series “Regular Show,” from Cartoon Network. Based on a series of short films made by J.G. Quintel while he was a student at the California Institute of the Arts, the show is a hell of a lot of fun. I recently got turned on to it by a cartoon-loving pal, who swears he heard the writers drop acid before they start writing.

Yeah, it’s officially that weird. “Regular Show” revolves around the adventures of two 23-year-olds who happen to be a blue jay named Mordecai and a raccoon named Rigby. The friends work as landscapers in a local park, but the show is mostly just about them goofing around, having “Dude, Where’s My Car”-style adventures, and trying to look busy any time their boss is around. As with many shows that air on Cartoon Network in prime time, “Regular Show” ain’t for everybody, and probably goes from “pretty cool” to “I’m laughing so hard I fear I may have ruptured something” with the help of a few recreational substances.

That said, if you are a fan of smart/ dumb cartoon series like “Spongebob Squarepants” and the rest of the “Adult Swim” stable, tune in.

CLAYTIME GALLERY, 417 Main St., NLR: Arkansas clay artists. Open 5-9 p.m. Aug. 17, Argenta ArtWAlk. 374-3515.

GREG THOMPSON FINE ART, 429 Main St., NLR: “Southern Women Artists,” work by Linda Burgess, Sheila Cantrell, Sheila Cotton, Claudia DeMonte, Robyn Horn, Valerie Jaudon, Ida Kohlmeyer, Laura Raborn, Denise Rose and Rebecca Thompson. Reception 5-8 p.m. Aug. 17, Argenta ArtWalk. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sat. 664-2787.

ReSTORE AND AFTER, 442 Maple St., City Grove Townhomes, NLR: Pre-party for future fund-raiser with featured artist Todd Crites, 5-8 p.m. Aug. 17, Argenta ArtWalk.

THEA FOUNDATION, 401 Main St., NLR: Metal art by Carolyn Hendrix and Amanda Wyman, Argenta ArtWalk reception 5:30-8 p.m. Aug. 17, show thorugh Aug. 31. 9 a.m.-noon, 1-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri. 379-9512.

MUSEUM OF DISCOVERY, 500 President Clinton Ave.: Dollar Day, Sept. 2. 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Tue.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. Free under 1. 396-7050.

UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS AT LITTLE ROCK: “Poetic Transformations,” work by Alice Briggs, Sylvie Rosenthal, Jacqueline Bishop, Holly Laws and Jennifer Anderson, Aug. 15-Oct. 3, Gallery I, reception 5-7 p.m.

Sept. 28; “Solitude,” prints and drawings by Win Bruhl, Aug. 15-Sept. 21, Gallery II. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri. 569-3182.

FAYETTEVILLE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS: “Home,” group exhibition featuring work by nine artists, Anne Kittrell Art Gallery, Aug. 15-21, closing reception 6 p.m. Aug. 21. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Fri. 479-575-5255.

HOT SPRINGS MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, 425 Central Ave.: “Bluegrass & BBQ” fundraiser and silent auction, 5-7 p.m. Aug. 18, $20 adults, $15 MOCA members, $10 ages 12 and under, music by Cook Mountain Bluegrass Band, barbecue by Randy Hill and Andy Allen. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Tue.-Sat., noon-3 p.m. Sun. 501-609-9966.

CALL FOR ARTISTS

The Fine Arts Center of Hot Springs is accepting entries for its “Self Portraits” exhibition set for Oct. 5-27 at the Arts Center, 626 Central Ave. No entry fee; deadline to enter is Sept.

10. For a prospectus and more information go to hsfac.com.

The Arkansas Arts Center is accepting entries for its 38th annual “Toys Designed by Artists” exhibition, which runs Nov. 21 through Jan. 6. Deadline to enter is Sept. 14. Artists may submit up to three entries; all must have been completed since 2010. Entry fees are $15 for first and $10 for each additional. For more information, go to www.arkarts.com or call 372-4000.

CONTINUING EXHIBITS

ARKANSAS ARTS CENTER, MacArthur Park: “Tattoo Witness: Photographs by Mark Perrott,” 25 large-scale black and white photographs of tattoed men and women, documenting tattoos over 25 years, with murals painted by Arkansas tattoo artists Robert Berry, Richard Moore, Caleb Pritchett, Chris Thomas, Brooke and Ryan Cook, Nancy Miller and Scott Diffee, through Sept. 9; “The Rockefeller Influence,” 57 works donated or loaned by the Rockefeller family, through Aug. 19; “11th

National Drawing Invitational: New York, Singular Drawings,” through Sept. 9, curated

by Charlotta Kotik. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat., 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sun. 372-4000.

BUTLER CENTER GALLERIES, Arkansas Studies Institute: “Hope and Despair: Farm Security Administration Photographs” by Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, Ed Locke, Carl Mydans and others, through Sept. 29, “Invasion or Liberation? The Civil War in Arkansas,” letters, diaries, photographs, and artifacts, Concordia Hall; “Pattern in Perspective: Recent Work by Carly Dahl and Dustyn Bork,” through Sept. 29; “Small Town: Portraits of a Disappearing America,” through Aug. 25. 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Sat. 320-5790.

LAMAN LIBRARY, 2801 Orange St.: “Outside the Pale: The Architecture of Fay Jones,” artifacts from the Old State House Museum and Special Collections at the University of Arkansas, through Aug. 25. 758-1720.

J.W. WIGGINS NATIVE AMERICAN ART GALLERY, University Plaza, Suite 500: “Medicine and Magic,” work by Robert Taylor, paintings, through Aug. 17, Sequoyah National Research Center. 569-8336.

ONGOING MUSEUM EXHIBITS

CLINTON PRESIDENTIAL CENTER, 1200 President Clinton Ave.: “Play Ball! The St. Louis Cardinals,” memorabilia, including World Series trophies, rings and Stan Musial’s restored uniform, through Sept. 16; “Dorothy Howell Rodham and Virginia Clinton Kelley,” through Nov. 25; permanent exhibits about policies and White House life during the Clinton administration. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. $7 adults; $5 college students, seniors, retired military; $3 ages 6-17.

370-8000.

HISTORIC ARKANSAS MUSEUM, 200 E. Third St.: “Arkansas Contemporary: Selected Fellows from the Arkansas Arts Council,” work by 17 artists, including work by David Bailin, Aj Smith, Kevin Kresse, Baxter Knowlton, Kristin Musgnug, Catherine Siri Nugent and others,through Nov. 4; “Barbie Doll: The 11 ½-inch American Icon,” from the Strojek Family collection, through Jan. 6, 2013; “A Collective Vision,” recent acquisitions, through March 2013. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. 324-9351.

MacARTHUR MUSEUM OF ARKANSAS MILITARY HISTORY, MacArthur Park: “Vietnam: America’s Conflict,” other military exhibits. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Sat., 1-4 p.m. Sun. 376-4602.

MOSAIC TEMPLARS CULTURAL CENTER, Ninth and Broadway: “A Voice through the Viewfinder: Images of Arkansas’ Black Community by Ralph Armstrong,” through Jan. 5, 2013; permanent exhibits on AfricanAmerican entrepreneurial history in Arkansas.

9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat. 683–3593.

MUSEUM OF DISCOVERY, 500 President Clinton Ave.: “Astronomy: It’s a Blast,” through Sept. 17; “Wiggle Worms,” science program for pre-K children 10 a.m.-10:30 a.m. every Tue., 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun., $10 ages 12 and older, $8 ages 1-11, free under 1. 396-7050.

OLD STATE HOUSE MUSEUM, 300 W. Markham: “Battle Colors of Arkansas,” 18 Civil War flags; “Things You Need to Hear: Memories of Growing up in Arkansas from 1890 to 1980,” oral histories about community, family, work, school and leisure. 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Mon.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. 324-9685.

More gallery and museum listings at www.arktimes.com.

Dining

Information in our restaurant capsules reflects the opinions of the newspaper staff

and its reviewers. The newspaper accepts no advertising or other considerations in exchange for reviews, which are conducted

anonymously. We invite the opinions of readers who think we are in error.

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

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

JESS MILLER

WHAT’S COOKIN’

MORE THAN CATFISH: Eat My Catfish’s crawfish po’ boy.

Eat their catfish Food truck moves to permanent location, maintains catfish supremacy.

I

t all started when Travis Hester got fed up with life inside a cubicle in Texas and decided to head back home to be near family and friends. He broke free from life as an office drone by opening up a little red trailer on Military Road in Benton with “EatMyCatfish.com” emblazoned on the side. Benton’s a small town, and word soon got out about the food that was coming out of that trailer: fresh fried fish, mud bugs, shrimp, and chicken strips — and all as good or better than anything that came from a sit-down restaurant. As the buzz around Eat My Catfish grew, so did their sales, and soon enough Hester was trading in the trailer for a more permanent brick-andmortar location in a shopping center across the street near Sutherland’s Hardware. While the new location isn’t nearly as visible as the bright red trailer right on the road was, the comfortable dining room does make a nice bit of air-conditioned difference when the temperature’s over 100 and a hankering for the fried stuff sets in.

Eat My Catfish makes no secret about what it does: things dipped in batter and fried crisp in the numerous deep-fryers lining the wall, and they know their business well. Ordering is

Eat My Catfish

1205 Military Road, Suite 7 Benton 501-909-2323 Hours 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. Sunday, 3 p.m.-9 p.m. Tuesday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m.

Wednesday through Saturday.

Quick Bite You’ll notice the words “handbattered” appearing a lot on the menu. This isn’t a lie, as your food will be made hot and fresh by hand right when you order it — there’s not a single heat lamp to be seen.

Other info Beer, credit cards accepted.

simple, just walk right up to the counter and take your pick from a menu that doesn’t offer anything grilled as a sop to the health nuts. On our recent trip, we started off with one of our favorite delicacies, a basket of fried pickles ($5). In our experience, fried pickles come in two varieties — limp soggy horrors that have been pulled from the depths of a bag in the freezer or freshly hand-battered and served screaming hot from the grease. The pickles here were of the latter kind, and the salty,

slightly spicy fish batter that Eat My Catfish uses transformed a healthysized portion of regular hamburger dill chips into an appetizer that was crunchy on the outside with a soft, tart middle. A cup of the South’s most popular condiment, ranch dressing, came on the side, and we greedily made our way through the entire basket without finding a single pickle that wasn’t crisp perfection.

Since every sign around us was demanding that we eat some catfish, we ordered a three-piece dinner ($8), and were rewarded with a basket of crisp breaded filets, hushpuppies, slaw and fries. The fish was excellent, with a firm coating that was fried well but still remained moist and tender. The flavor of the catfish was nice and fresh, too, without any of the muddy taste that can sometimes make this species a chore to eat. The homemade tartar sauce served to the side was quite good, with a tangy kick of hot sauce that really set it apart from the usual kind. The hushpuppies and slaw were good, if nothing special, but the fries were excellent. We’ve always wondered about places that seem able to fry up a decent piece of fish or chicken but serve limp, soggy fries. These fries were pretty close to our perfect idea of a French fry, though: crisp with a slightly spiced coating that gave way to a steamy, mealy middle. Garlic lovers can enjoy these fries with a heaping portion of minced and roasted garlic, and while the garlic fries ($5) weren’t as good to us as the fried pickles, they’re still a tasty way to start a meal.

There’s also a nice selection of po’ boy sandwiches on the menu, and since a good po’ boy is one of our favorite things in life, we decided on the crawfish po’ boy ($7), understanding that ordering crawfish in Arkansas can be an act of bravery. The tails on this po’ boy were like manna from a Cajun heaven, though — fat and plump with a good, sweet flavor that wasn’t overpowered by the light batter. The portion was quite generous as well. The sandwich was made just how we like our po’ boys, on a crusty piece of French bread with slaw and some of that spicy tartar sauce. We’ve tried a lot of po’ boys out here in Central Arkansas, and the Eat My Catfish version might be the best we’ve had.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 34

WANT GOOD FOOD, CHEAP? Ar-

genta Restaurant Week runs through August 18, with participating restaurants offering $8 two-course lunches and $25 three-course dinners, in addition to their regular menu. Participating restaurants include Cornerstone Pub & Grill, Cregeen’s, Reno’s Argenta Cafe, Ristorante Capeo (just dinner), Starving Artist Cafe, Riverfront Steakhouse, Benihana and Argenta Market.

STRIPPAGGIO IS THE MANNER

by which one tests the taste of olive oil. As Ron McDaniel, who with his wife, Lynda, will open a shop dedicated exclusively to oils and vinegars in the Promenade at Chenal, explains it, the tester fills his or her mouth with oil and then sucks air from the sides of the mouth and swishes “to get a mixture of air and oil over the tastebuds.”

Customers will be able to master this trick at Strippaggio when it opens in late fall; there will be a tasting bar for folks to try out the dozens of varieties of extra virgin olive oils and vinegars; the store will provide bottles to customers to fill from dispensers.

The oils offered will change with the seasons, following production in the source countries — Italy, Greece, Chile, etc. Ron McDaniel said the oils will be true virgin oils — unlike many products labeled virgin in the grocery stores — and he’ll feature flavored oils as well.

The McDaniels — he is the retired CFO of Technisource, got the idea on a trip to Santa Fe and started learning about the International Olive Oil Council, which has eight or nine tasters who describe the attributes of the oils. He’s tried a little strippaggio himself, though he said no one has asked him to rate any oils.

Strippaggio will be located next door to Perfume Max, near the theater, at the shopping center.

DINING CAPSULES

AMERICAN

ALLEY OOPS Plate lunches, burgers and homemade desserts. Remarkable Chess Pie. 11900 Kanis Road. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-221-9400. LD Mon.-Sat. BR Sun. B-SIDE The little breakfast place turns tradition on its ear, offering French toast wrapped in bacon on a stick, a musthave dish called “biscuit mountain” and beignets with lemon curd. 11121 Rodney Parham Road. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-7162700. BL Wed.-Sun. BAR LOUIE Features a something-foreverybody menu so broad and varied to be almost schizophrenic. 11525 Cantrell Road, Suite 924. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$.

501-228-0444. LD daily.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 34

www.arktimes.com

AUGUST 15, 2012

33

On a second visit, we found ourselves not exactly in the mood for fish and decided to try some of the chicken items on the menu. Of particular note was the Three Piece Chicken Strip Dinner ($5), which came with large white meat strips coated in a batter that was different from, but just as tasty as the fish batter. It’s a massive amount of food for the money, and like all of the sauces at Eat My Catfish, the honey-mustard we ordered with the strips was fantastic. For a tangier kick with your chicken, go for the six-piece boneless chicken wings ($5), which are bite-sized pieces of the same moist chicken that have been fried up and doused in tangy buffalo sauce. It’s almost too much flavor for one plate, but the spicy breading and sauce work well together both in terms

of flavor and texture.

After all that food, we were pretty full, but we had to sample a couple of the fried pies we saw at the bottom of the menu. Eat My Catfish uses pies from Fly Wheel’s Pies in Prescott, and the apple pie we ate had a light, flaky crust and a cinnamon apple filling that was really tasty, although we could have gone for a bit of a plumper pie. Fly Wheel’s has been doing pies for a lot of years in South Arkansas, so be sure to check out this local dessert when you go by. We’re always pleased when we find a place that has a simple menu that is executed with skill and passion, and Eat My Catfish certainly fits the bill. The staff is friendly, and since they’re available for dine-in, carry-out or catering, there’s no excuse to miss their fried-food masterpieces.

JESS MILLER

DINING REVIEW, CONT.

THREE-PIECE DINNER: Comes with catfish, fries, hush puppies and slaw.

DINING CAPSULES, CONT. BOBBY’S COUNTRY COOKIN’ One of the better plate lunch spots in the area. 301 N. Shackleford Road, Suite E1. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-224-9500. L Mon.-Fri. BOGIE’S BAR AND GRILL A menu filled with burgers, salads and giant desserts, plus a few steak, fish and chicken main courses. 120 W. Pershing Blvd. NLR. Full bar, All CC. $$.

501-812-0019. D daily.

BUFFALO GRILL A great crispy-off-the-griddle cheeseburger and hand-cut fries star. 1611 Rebsamen Park Road. Full bar, CC. $$. 501-2969535. LD daily. 400 N. Bowman Road. Full bar, Beer, All CC. $$. 501-224-0012. LD daily.

CHEERS Good burgers and sandwiches, vegetarian offerings and salads at lunch and good steaks in the evening. 2010 N. Van Buren. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-663-5937. LD Mon.-Sat. 1901 Club Manor Drive. Maumelle. Full bar, All CC. 501-851-6200. LD daily, BR Sun. CORNERSTONE PUB & GRILL A sandwich, pizza and beer joint. 314 Main St. NLR. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-374-1782. LD Mon.-Sat. DAVE AND RAY’S DOWNTOWN DINER Breakfast buffet daily featuring biscuits and gravy, home fries, sausage and made-to-order omelets. 824 W. Capitol Ave. No alcohol. $.

501-372-8816. BL Mon.-Fri. GREEN CUISINE Daily specials and a small, solid menu of vegetarian fare. 985 West Sixth St. No alcohol, CC. $-$$. Serving.

HILLCREST ARITSAN MEATS A fancy charcuterie and butcher shop with excellent daily soup and sandwich specials. Limited seating is available. 2807 Kavanaugh Blvd. No alcohol, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-671-6328. L Mon.-Sat. THE HOP DINER The downtown incarnation of the old dairy bar, with excellent burgers, onion rings, shakes and breakfast. Plus, daily specials and desserts. 201 E. Markham. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-244-0975.

KITCHEN EXPRESS Delicious “meat and three” restaurant offering big servings of homemade soul food. 4600 Asher Ave. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-666-3500. BLD Mon.-Sat., LD Sun. LYNN’S CHICAGO FOODS Outpost for Chicago specialties like Vienna hot dogs and Italian beef sandwiches. 6501 Geyer Springs.

No alcohol, All CC. $. 501-568-2646. LD Mon.-Sat. MADDIE’S If you like your catfish breaded Cajun-style, your grits rich with garlic and cream and your oysters fried up in perfect puffs, this is the place for you. 1615 Rebsamen Park

34

AUGUST 15, 2012

ARKANSAS TIMES

DINING CAPSULES, CONT.

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LD Tue.-Sat. PHIL’S HAM AND TURKEY PLACE Fine hams, turkeys and other specialty meats served whole, by the pound or in sandwich form. 11121 N. Rodney Parham Road. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$.

501-225-2136. LD Mon.-Fri. L Sat. RESTAURANT 1620 Steaks, chops, a broad choice of fresh seafood and meal-sized salads are just a few of the choices on a broad menu. 1620 Market St. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$.

501-221-1620. L Mon.-Fri., D Mon.-Sat., BR Sun. SLICK’S SANDWICH SHOP & DELI Meatand-two plate lunches in state office building.

101 E. Capitol Ave. 501-375-3420. L Mon.-Fri. STARVING ARTIST CAFE All kinds of crepes, served as entrees or as dessert. Dinner menu changes daily, good wine list. 411 N. Main St. NLR. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-372-7976. L Tue.-Sat., D Tue., Fri.-Sat. THE TAVERN SPORTS GRILL Burgers, barbecue and more. 17815 Chenal Parkway.

Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-830-2100. LD daily.

UNIVERSITY MARKET @ 4CORNERS A food truck court where local vendors park daily.

Check facebook.com/4cornersmarket to see what carts are scheduled to be parked. 6221 Colonel Glenn Road. CC. $-$$. 501-515-1661.

LD daily. 6221 Colonel Glenn Road. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-413-3672. LD. VICTORIAN GARDEN We’ve found the fare quite tasty and somewhat daring and different with its healthy, balanced entrees and crepes.

4801 North Hills Blvd. NLR. $-$$. 501-758-4299.

L Tue.-Sat.

ASIAN

BENIHANA JAPANESE STEAKHOUSE Enjoy the cooking show, make sure you get a little filet with your meal, and do plenty of dunking in that fabulous ginger sauce. 2 Riverfront Place.

NLR. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-374-8081.

BLD Sun.-Sat. CHI’S DIMSUM & BISTRO A huge menu spans the Chinese provinces and offers a few twists on the usual local offerings. 6 Shackleford Drive. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-221-7737.

LD daily. 17200 Chenal Parkway. No alcohol, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-821-8000.

FAR EAST ASIAN CUISINE Old favorites such as orange beef or chicken and Hunan green beans are still prepared with care.

11600 Pleasant Ridge Drive. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-219-9399. LD daily.

JESS MILLER

DINING CAPSULES, CONT. FORBIDDEN GARDEN Classic, American-ized Chinese food in a modern setting. 14810 Cantrell Road. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-868-8149. LD daily.

FU LIN Quality in the made-to-order entrees is high, as is the quantity. 200 N. Bowman Road. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-225-8989. LD daily.

IGIBON JAPANESE FOOD HOUSE It’s a complex place, where the food is almost always good and the ambiance and service never fail to please. 11121 N. Rodney Parham Road. Beer, Wine, All CC. $$. 501-2178888. LD Mon.-Sat. KOBE JAPANESE STEAKHOUSE & SUSHI Though answering the need for more hibachis in Little Rock, Kobe stands taller in its sushi offerings than at the grill. 11401 Financial Centre Parkway. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$.

501-225-5999. L Mon.-Sat. D daily.

VAN LANG CUISINE Terrific Vietnamese cuisine, particularly the way the pork dishes and the assortment of rolls are presented. 3600 S. University Ave. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-570-7700. LD daily.

BARBECUE

CAPITOL SMOKEHOUSE AND GRILL Beef, pork and chicken, all smoked to melting tenderness and doused with a choice of sauces.

915 W. Capitol Ave. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-372-4227. BL Mon.-Fri. FATBOY’S KILLER BAR-B-Q This Landmark neighborhood strip center restaurant in the far southern reaches of Pulaski County features tender ribs and pork by a contest pitmaster. 14611 Arch Street. No alcohol, All CC. $$. 501-888-4998. LD Mon.-Fri. HB’S BAR B.Q. Great slabs of meat with fiery barbecue sauce, but ribs are served on Tuesday only. 6010 Lancaster. No alcohol, No CC. $-$$.

501-565-1930. L Mon.-Fri. MICK’S BBQ, CATFISH AND GRILL Good burgers, picnic-worthy deviled eggs and heaping barbecue sandwiches topped with sweet sauce. 3609 MacArthur Dr. NLR. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-791-2773. LD Mon.-Sun.

EUROPEAN / ETHNIC

KHALIL’S PUB Widely varied menu with European, Mexican and American influences. 110 S. Shackleford Road. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-224-0224.

LD daily. BR Sun. THE PANTRY The menu stays relatively true to the owner’s Czechoslovakian roots, but there’s plenty of choices to suit all tastes. 11401 Rodney Parham Road. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-353-1875. LD Mon.-Fri., D Sat. STAR OF INDIA The best Indian restaurant in the region, with a unique buffet at lunch and some fabulous dishes at night. 301 N. Shackleford.

Beer, Wine, All CC. $$. 501-227-9900. LD daily.

TASTE OF ASIA Delicious Indian food in a pleasant atmosphere. Perhaps the best samosas in town. Buffet at lunch. 2629 Lakewood Village Dr. NLR. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-812-4665. LD daily.

TAZIKI’S Offers gyros, grilled meats and veggies, hummus and pimento cheese. 8200 Cantrell Rd. Beer, Wine, All CC. $$. 501-227-8291. LD daily 12800 Chenal Parkway. Beer, Wine, All CC. 501-225-1829. LD daily.

CROSSWORD EDITED BY WILL SHORTZ ACROSS 1 Body part first transplanted in 2010 5 Peeved mood 9 Band-Aid co.

14 Worshiped one 15 ___ the Tentmaker 16 Basketball’s Stoudemire 17 Joe Clark in “Lean on Me,” e.g.

20 Hockey’s Sid the Kid 21 Overly compliant 22 Singer ___ Rose 23 Innsbruck locale: Abbr.

24 The Hadean was the first one, ending about 4 billion years ago 26 Patio bug-killer sounds 28 Re-serve cause 29 Item on a superintendent’s chain

34 Davis who portrayed a president 35 Indolent 36 Rock’s Cream, e.g.

39 Genesis craft 41 “Hair” producer Joseph 42 Grand Canal site 45 Ranch units 48 Ripe territory for pirates, once 50 Watson’s creator 53 Bewildered look 54 Slugger’s stat 55 Depression-era agcy.

56 Try to win 59 Cheats 61 Brought in 63 Losing player in the first Super Bowl 66 Butler who didn’t give a damn 67 Post-marathon feeling 68 Automobile builder Ferrari

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE U M P S A B E T R A T A B I M A C N O T A N N R E S T S R T A E M W O R S A B S L E I L Y N E S C

S M T O U G X E S S I P P M Y E T O I N M Y E X

T R U S T

I C I L Y

N O L I E

M E O I X A O P T L Y C R A

O S R I C

A T E A T

G O L F

S F L I E N E D P A I E S P N N I G R E N O P E L E G M T A O O R Y D I B L D A E S R E

I R W I N

B R A V E

E D G E S

T O O N

E S R O A P

69 It may be checked in a checkup 70 Fight stoppers, for short 71 Ripening agent DOWN 1 Word before year or conservative 2 Build up 3 Fox News’s Gretchen Carlson or Steve Doocy 4 Slaughter in baseball 5 Mount ___ (Seven Sisters college) 6 Whisk broomwielding official, for short 7 Raise things 8 Architectural decoration 9 Lottery lure 10 Friend in Montréal 11 Big name in auto parts 12 “Moonraker” villain 13 Take shape 18 Needing a seat belt extender, say 19 “Peachy!”

25 “99 Luftballons” singer 27 Uses shears 30 Former West Coast N.F.L.’er 31 Org. for R.V. owners 32 Disputed ability 33 “Yer darn tootin’” 34 Part of an auctioneer’s cry

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Puzzle by Allan E. Parrish

36 Some Samsungs 37 Public regard, informally 38 “___ pig’s eye!”

40 ’80s Chrysler offering 43 The Plame affair, informally 44 Cable sports awards

46 Some steaks 47 “Giant Brain” of 1946 49 Jazz lover, in old slang 50 One of nine for nine 51 Piece of cake 52 Crazy about 56 Les Nessman’s station

57 Diamond Head’s isle 58 Scott Turow memoir

60 Green around the gills

62 Ostrich’s cousin 64 Some GPS lines: Abbr.

65 Albeit, briefly

For answers, call 1-900-285-5656, $1.49 a minute; or, with a credit card, 1-800-814-5554.

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Online subscriptions: Today’s puzzle and more than 2,000 past puzzles, nytimes.com/crosswords ($39.95 a year).

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THIS MODERN WORLD

ITALIAN

NYPD PIZZA Plenty of tasty choices. Even the personal pizzas come in impressive combinations, and baked ziti, salads are more also are available. 6015 Chenonceau Boulevard, Suite 1. Beer, Wine, All CC. $-$$.

501-868-3911. LD daily.

PALIO’S Not quite artisan-grade, but far better than the monster chains and at a similar price point. With an appealingly thin, crunchy crust. 3 Rahling Circle. Beer, Wine, All CC. $$. 501-821-0055. LD daily.

VESUVIO Arguably Little Rock’s best Italian restaurant is in one of the most unlikely places – tucked inside the Best Western Governor’s Inn. 1501 Merrill Drive. Full bar, All CC. $$$. 501-225-0500. D daily.

VILLA ITALIAN RESTAURANT Hearty, inexpensive, classic southern Italian dishes. 12111 W. Markham St. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-2192244. LD Mon.-Sat.

LATINO

CASA MANANA Great guacamole and garlic beans, superlative chips and salsa and a broad selection of fresh seafood. 6820 Cantrell Road.

Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-280-9888. BLD daily 18321 Cantrell Road. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-868-8822. BLD daily 400 President Clinton Ave. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. L Mon.-Sat. CASA MEXICANA Familiar Tex-Mex style items all shine, in ample portions, and the steak-centered dishes are uniformly excellent. 6929 JFK Blvd. NLR. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-835-7876. LD daily.

EL PORTON Good Mex for the price and a wide-ranging menu of dinner plates. 12111 W. Markham St. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-223-8588. LD daily.

5201 Warden Road. NLR. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-753-4630. LD daily. 5507 Ranch Drive. Full bar, All CC. $$. LD daily.

LA HACIENDA Creative, fresh-tasting entrees and traditional favorites.

3024 Cantrell Road. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-661-0600. LD daily. 200 Highway 65 N. Conway. All CC. $$. 501-327-6077. LD daily.

LAS DELICIAS Mercado with a taqueria and a handful of booths in the back of the store. 3401 Pike Ave. NLR. Beer, All CC. $. 501-812-4876.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 39

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AUGUST 15, 2012

35

hearsay ➥ Good news for all of you Hog fans with big appetites: NYPD PIZZA announces the Hogzilla pizza. It is an 18-inch pie of freshly made thin and crispy crust topped with canadian bacon, sausage, pepperoni, salami, smoked bacon, ham, fresh tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese and served with a side of their renowned homemade ranch. Priced at $24.99, it feeds four; smaller versions of the Hogzilla are also available. Enjoy a slice — and the game on their huge TV — at their location on Cantrell across from The Ranch. ➥ National retailer LULULEMON ATHLETICA has opened a store in the Heights at 5501 Kavanaugh Blvd., next to Eggshells Kitchen Co. Lululemon is the go-to store for yoga and other athletic gear. ➥ Exciting happenings at THE PROMENADE AT CHENAL: STRIPPAGGIO, a retail olive oil concept, is scheduled to begin construction in September with an expected opening date in late fall. STRIPPAGGIO is a family-owned business started by Ron and Lynda McDaniel. Located next door to Perfume Max, the store will provide customers the opportunity to experience award-winning 100 percent extra virgin olive oils, whole fruit- and herb-fused olive oils, and balsamic vinegars from select artisans around the world. Olive oils are imported seasonally based on specific crush dates, offering the freshest single varietal extra virgin olive oils from places like Italy, Greece, Spain, Chile, Morocco and California, to name a few.

The store will house a tasting bar where customers can taste and compare over 50 varieties of oils and vinegars. ➥ JAMES EYECARE & OPTICS GALLERY announced an expansion scheduled for completion in November 2012. The new 1,100 square foot space next door to the current office will double the size of the optical department as well as add new exam rooms, a specialty testing room and office. This new expansion is expected to double the retail space providing customers with even more options with best-selling brands like Oliver Peoples, Maui Jim, Oakley, Ray Ban, Gucci, Silhouette,Tag Heuer, and more. ➥ Local fans of Hot Springs’ LUXE BOUTIQUE won’t have to travel to get their fix: The store has launched an online store at luxehotsprings.com. The site offers free shipping. ➥ The exhibit “OUTSIDE THE PALE — THE ARCHITECTURE OF FAY JONES” will be at the Laman Library in North Little Rock through Aug. 25.

The exhibit is a retrospective of the life and work of Arkansas native and Frank Lloyd Wright disciple. For more information, visit www.lamanlibrary.org.

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Frack me running

I

was talking with Cold Dead Hand Hand said. down at the House of Dominoes the He felt obliged other morning about climate change, to elaborate, saying: Paul Ryan, and some of the other ponderable “I don’t have truck contemporary threats to human existence, with poetry after it and he mentioned fracking. gets up past the level BOB “That, too,” I agreed. of Here I set all broLANCASTER Everybody talks about fracking, he said, ken-hearted. You but nobody does anything about it. “Hell, know what I mean?” most of us don’t even know what it is,” he “Sholy,” I said, which is laconic all-pursaid. “But we don’t want to be left out of pose Snopes for “Yeah, I know where you’re the discussions about it. We have to get our coming from.” two cents in whether we know anything After a moment, he said: “The penitenabout it or not.” tiary named for him?”

“I think that might have been a different By way of concurring, I said, “That’s sort of the short definition of life in the Twenty- line of Cumminses.”

“How about Tucker?”

First Century — living in dread fear that we “I don’t know. Sophie. Forrest. Jim Guy.” won’t get our two cents in. Twentieth Century it was fear we’d get cheated out of our “Maybe the Cummins one was named 15 minutes of fame.” for Bud,” he said.

“That 15 minutes of fame,” Cold said. “Is it “I think it’s older than Bud.” “His Daddy then.” the Bible guarantees that or the Constitution?”

“Could be.”

“I think it was this artist that drew all Another moment passed as we watched the different colored pictures of Marilyn Monroe.” a fly buzzing around the snooker table. Then “I don’t guess he knows me,” Cold Dead I said, “Did you say you don’t even know Hand said. what fracking is?”

“As I understand it, it’s like coal-mining, “Knew,” I said. “He’s what e.e. cummings used to call defunct.” except they dig down to the bedrock and “He don’t know me either.” break it into chunks and wring the oil out “Didn’t,” I corrected him. “Poet.” of it like wringing water out of a dishrag.”

“That explains it then,” Cold Dead “That’s pretty much how I understand

it too.”

I asked the oldtimer in his nightshirt.

“Well, I got four boys and two girls so I “I’ve heard Pat Robertson uses it to squeeze the gold and diamonds out of his reckon I know a little bit about it,” he said. mines on the Dark Continent,” Cold said.

“Aw, we’re not talking ancient history “I don’t think you could frack diamonds,” here, Rojo,” Cold Dead Hand said.

I told him. “You’d break your fracker.”

“You can KMA, Cold,” Rojo said. ‘If you He said: “Most of these old boys will go on don’t know what that stands for, I’ll get my and on about fracking, all the time thinking grandboy over here to explain it to you.” it refers to a Toyota midsize or something to “Fracking is from a different line of do with tomatoes. Or they think it’s a style F-words than the one you’re thinking about,” of banjo playing. Or what the chiropractor I told Rojo. does to get your spine in astrological align“I’ve heard it frack, frick, freak, fugg, and ment. You can tell them the real poop on it the usual,” he said. “They’re all just ways to but they don’t really care. They just want to avoid saying the original when you think get their two cents in.”

Jesus might be eavesdropping.”

“Two things about fracking that they’re Corn Dodger had come in by this time interested in,” I said, putting in my two cents. and wanted to get his two cents in.

“It shouldn’t have any government regulation, “Hey, Hunch, what’s the topic of the day?” and the ones that get rich off of it shouldn’t “That’d be Mr. Hunch to you,” I said. have to pay any taxes on the proceeds. The “Fracking is the topic.”

“Frick and Frack is them two car guys on ones that do the actual fracking work, tax them all you want to.” the radio,” he said, pronouncing it reddio.

“They sure don’t want any government “They do too much laughing and not enough regulation,” he said. “Of anything. They about head gaskets.” might stand for just a little of it to keep the His brother Pone had come in behind biggest mouse droppings out of packaged him and had two cents of his own. “It’s like hot-dog weenies, but they’d probably be old Romney,” Pone contributed. “Don’t matsplit 50-50 even on that.” ter what the question is, he’ll frick down on As the other domino players drifted in one side of it today and frack down on the through the morning, some of them hung complete opposite side tomorrow.” over, one not even having bothered to “I think he means flip-flopping rather change out of his nightshirt and house shoes, than frick-fracking,” Cold Dead Hand I quizzed them briefly, as much as they’d explained to the rest of us.

Pone, on his way to the can in the back, stand for, about fracking.

“What do you know about fracking, Rojo?” said, “Whatever.”

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HELP WANTED: Farm LaborGrowers Labor Contractors.,DBA is seeking ft temp farm workers from August 4\super th\super0 , 12 to October 15\super th\ super0 ,12. Duties for the workers includes: Hand planter- Planting cane in remote field location. Work involves walking, stooping, reaching and kneeling repetitively for long periods. Includes regular lifting up to 50 lbs loads. Once worker is hired, worker may be required to take a random drug test at no cost to worker. Testing positively or failure to comply will result in immediate termination from employment. This position requires a minimum of 3 months experience in Sugar Cane. Pays $10.00 per hour, 48 hours per week. The company guarantees at least _ of the stated work hours for the contract period. All required tools supplies and equipment are supplied at no cost to worker.

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Legal Notices NOTICE OF FILING APPLICANT FOR RETAIL PERMIT OFF PREMISES Notice is hereby given that the undersigned has filed an application with the Alcoholic Beverage Control Division of the State of Arkansas for a permit to sell beer at retail form the premises as 6402 Butler Rd Suite A, Little Rock, AR Pulaski. Said application was siled on June 12, 2012. THe undersigned states that he/she is resident of Arkansas, of good moral character; that he/she has never been convicted of a felony or other crime involving moral turpitude; that no license to sell alcoholic beverages by the undersigned has been revoked within five (5) years last past; and, that the undersigned has never been convicted of violating the laws of this State, or any other State, relative to the sale of controlled beverages.

Saleh Ayyeh 65th Stop & Shop Sworn to before me this 26th day of July, 2012. Cynthia R. Townsend, Notary Public My Commussion Expires: July 25, 2016

DINING CAPSULES, CONT.

AROUND ARKANSAS

BENTON

BROWN’S COUNTRY STORE AND RESTAURANT The multitude of offerings on Brown’s 100-foot-long buffet range from better-than-adequate to pretty-dadgumgood. 18718 I-30 North. Benton. No alcohol, All CC. $$. 501-778-5033. BLD daily.

SMOKEY JOE’S BAR-B-QUE A steady supplier of smoked meat for many a moon.

824 Military Road. Benton. All CC. 501-3158333. LD Mon.-Sat. L Sun.

FLIPSIDE

STUDIO1 P H O T O G R A P H Y

501.650.1806

contact@studio-1-photo.com

CABOT

SOUTHFORK GRILL This establishment on Cabot’s south side serves up sandwiches, burgers and plate dinners. 2797 Southfork Dr. Cabot. All CC. $$. (501) 941-7500. LD Mon.-Sat. THE DINER Made-to-order breakfasts and lunch plates, hot coffee served in logo mugs and gentle chiding from the wait staff make this a must-stop. 3286 S Second St. Cabot. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. (501) 941-0904. BL Daily.

CONWAY

EL ACAPULCO Tex-Mex served in hefty portions in a colorful atmosphere. 201 Highway 65 N. Conway. No alcohol, All CC. $$. 501-327-8445. LD Mon.-Sun. FABY’S RESTAURANT Nuevo Mexican and Continental cuisine meet and shake hands at Faby’s. 2915 Dave Ward. Conway. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-329-5151. LD Mon.-Sun. MARKETPLACE GRILL Big servings of steak, seafood, chicken, pasta, pizza and other rich comfort-style foods. 600 Skyline Dr. Conway.

No alcohol, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-336-0011. LD Daily.

MIKE’S PLACE Delicious New Orleansinspired steaks and seafood, plus wood-fired pizzas. 808 Front St. Conway. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-269-6493. LD daily.

SLIM CHICKEN’S Chicken in all shapes and sizes with sauces. 550 Salem Road. Conway.

All CC. $$-$$$. 501-450-7546. LD Mon.-Sun. SOMETHING BREWING CAFE Coffee, pastries, sandwiches and such dot the menu of this longtime favorite. 1156 Front St. Conway. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-3275517. BLD Mon.-Sun.

Central arkansas resCue effort

Low Cost Spay & Neuter Clinic For low income families in Central Arkansas

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Freckles is a female Dalmatian/Jack Russell Mix. She is a year old and weighs 25 pounds. Freckles is part of the Arkansas Paws in Prison Program, made possible through the Arkansas Department of Correction’s partnerships with animal shelters and advocate groups in the state.

Inmates work with the dogs teaching them basic obedience skills and properly socializing the animals, making them more adoptable. Freckles has completed her training and is ready for a new home. If interested in adopting her, contact www.adc.arkansas.gov.

¡Authentic Mexican Seafood Restaurant!

Mariscos El Jarocho

9am-9pm • 7319 Baseline Rd. Little Rock AR 72209 501-565-3535

FAYETTEVILLE

A TASTE OF THAI Terrific Thai food, from the appetizers to the entrees to the desserts.

31 E. Center St. Fayetteville. All CC. $$-$$$.

479-251-1800. LD Mon.-Sat. HERMAN’S RIBHOUSE Filets, not ribs, are the big seller at this classic, friendly, dumpy spot.

The barbecue chicken is another winner. 2901 N. College Ave. Fayetteville. 479-442-9671.

7301 Baseline Rd Little Rock AR 72209 (501) 565-3009

HOT SPRINGS

BAMBINO’S Intimate breakfast and lunch place, featuring Italian/American entrees.

432 Ouachita Ave. Hot Springs. No alcohol, All CC. $$. 501-627-0541.

THE BLEU MONKEY GRILL High end, artfully prepared pastas, salads, sandwiches and appetizers. 4263 Central Ave. Hot Springs.

Full bar, All CC. 501-520-4800. LD daily.

CAJUN BOILERS Expertly prepared boiled shrimp, crawfish and such. 2806 Albert Pike.

Hot Springs. Beer, Wine, All CC. $-$$. 501-7675695. D Tue.-Sat. ROD’S PIZZA CELLAR Terrific handmade pizzas highlighted by the Godfather, a whopper. 3350 Central Ave. Hot Springs.

Beer, Wine, All CC. $-$$. 501-321-2313. LD Tue.-Sun.

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Monday-Saturday www.arktimes.com AUGUSTAugust 15, 2012 www.arktimes.com 15, 201239 39

Ri d e the

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FEATURING

Bonnie Raitt With the release of her nineteenth album, Slipstream, Bonnie Raitt is starting anew. The album marks her return to studio recording after seven years; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s coming out as the launch of her own label, Redwing Records; and it delivers some of the most surprising and rewarding music of her remarkable career, thanks in part to some experimental sessions with celebrated producer Joe Henry.

PLUS! Samantha Fish, Kenny Smith Band with Bob Margoolin & Ann Roabson, Reba Russell Band, The Cate Brothers, Randall Bramblett Band, Roy Rogers, James Cotton Band and more!

R ESERV E YOUR SEAT TODAY!

The Blues B us leaves at 10 a.m.

October 6 th from the pa rk in g garage at 2nd and Main in dow ntown Little Rock and re turns after th e concert same day.