Hot Springs Hot Spots Magazine - VOV Special Edition - Feb/Mar 2016

hot springs

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2016

12 years OF GROWING ARTS & FOSTERING INNOVATION pg 20 KUHS IS ABOUT EXPRESSION PG 27 THIS YEAR’S DON’T MISS PG 5 MARK YOUR CALENDARS NOW! PG 34 HSHotSpots.com #VOV2016

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The Valley of the Vapors Independent Music Festival brings together artists from around the globe to Hot Springs. These innovative performers offer a diverse range of music that displays their skills, talents and passions. Their performances have surprised, delighted and inspired audiences for more than a decade.

In much the same way, students at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts travel from across Arkansas to Hot Springs, bringing their unique abilities, perspectives and pursuits to our community of learning. They are the emerging talent of the state who thrive on the opportunities available at ASMSA. Our students express themselves through artistic endeavors in visual, digitial and performing arts. The Folk Music and Acoustics class is a perfect example of students combining their artistic and academic abilities to produce an amazing result. Students in FMA explore the physics of sound and music, write and perform songs and handcraft their own instrument in an interdisciplinary environment.

ASMSA is excited to support both Valley of the Vapors and Low Key Arts. We applaud their efforts to expand the cultural resources not only for youth in the community but also all of Hot Springs.

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Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts

A Campus of the University of Arkansas System

200 Whittingon • Hot Springs, AR 71901 hshotspots.com • Ave.valleyofthevapors.com

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hot springs

BOBBY’S PICKS 2016

HOT SPRINGS HOT SPOTS

Juiceboxxx

CREATIVE/ART Marisa Rodgers WRITING CONTRIBUTORS James Katowich Shea Childs Jake Ledbetter Sally Culbreth Drew Martin Leslie Fisher Zac Smith Ashley Hill Josh Williams David Hill PHOTOGRAPHY CONTRIBUTORS Aaron Brewer Jeremy Rodgers Amanda Shelley Ledbetter For publication partnership opportunities: info@rendercreativegroup.com or call 501-620-4520 For editorial queries: Please write to: Hot Springs Hot Spots 801 Central Avenue, Suite 30, Hot Springs, AR 71901 or email info@hshotspots.com BE SOCIAL WITH US LIKE US ON FACEBOOK facebook.com/HSHotSpots

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Astronauts, Etc (Oakland, CA)

Before I started receiving email submissions for the 2016 VOV, this band was completely off of my radar.

Their agent was one of the first to send bands my way. So I turned to the web to check them out. My first listen was the song “Shake It Loose”. I was instantly attracted to their intelligent and spacious indie pop music. Definitely one of the bands I’m most looking forward to seeing this year.

Grandchildren

(Philadelphia, PA) Grandchilden is a VOV veteran. We keep inviting them back for a reason. I’d have to say they are one of my top 3 favorite bands touring the US right now. Their moving orchestral pop creation is a VOV must see.

ALBUM REVIEWS:

Guerilla Toss

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Story by Bobby Missile

About the Author: Looking at the vast collection of records, tapes, & CDs he has bought in a furious frenzy since his high school days, you could easily come to the conclusion that Drew Martin is a music addict. For Drew, music comes naturally. His parents have sung to him all of his life. There was often something playing to him on the stereo, and at times, if the song really made him happy, he would spin around a room with glee. Drew’s passion for music has only grown as time has passed, and it will continue growing for many years to come.

(Brooklyn, NY) When normal people say the word “weird” when referring to music, it usually isn’t a good thing.

To me it is probably the greatest compliment I could give a band, and trust me, Guerilla Toss is WEIRD! Experimental/post punk/no wave/ weirdness. A freak in your mind dance party that will no doubt get you moving.

(Milwaukee, WI) Juiceboxxx is Juiceboxxx.

There is no one else like him. He’s one of the purest self made artists out there today. Chuck D from Public Enemy says “Juiceboxxx is the Buddy Holly of Hip Hop”. In the past he’s performed as a one man act, but this year he’s traveling with a rock band to back him.

Seratones

(Shreveport, LA) I’m predicting that Seratones is going to be the band that makes the most waves this year at VOV. Their recent signing to the now legendary Fat Possum Records ensures that 2016 is going to be a monumental year for them. See them at VOV before you have to fly to New York to catch them at a sold out Madison Square Garden.

Moon Honey

(Los Angeles, CA) Moon Honey’s music is best described by their band name: smooth, mystical, and it manages to stick right to you. If I were in a space pod orbiting the earth, their music would be playing on the loud speakers. Please do yourself a favor and do not miss this VOV opening night performance.

Muuy Biien

(Athens, GA) Muuy Biien is another band that I wasn’t familiar with before we started the booking process. They’ve ramped their way up to being the band that I’m most excited to see. If I were a genre of music, these guys would be the band that people use to describe me.

Sound Of Ceres

(Fort Collins, CO) AGENT MESSAGE: “Hey Bobby, can you book a new collaboration with members of Candy Claws, Apples In Stereo, and The Drums called Sound Of Ceres?”. MY REPLY: Ummm... Yes, I can.

YES, I CAN!! . I know that sounds a bit like a cop out, but their “members of” is not the reason they’ve made my picks list. I’m absolutely hooked on their sound and can’t wait to see them.

Yonatan Gat

(Israel/Brazil) Drew Martin’s album review of the Yonatan Gat latest release said it best: “For those who like avant-garde jazz played through a derelict full stack cranked to 11.” It’s gonna get wild, y’all.

Nervous Curtains

(Dallas, TX) I love synthesizers. Nervous Curtains has many. I love Nervous Curtains. Dark, rhythmic, masterfully produced songs. Vocalist Sean Kirkpatrick’s mouth spout is a golden goose. Just like the city of Hot Springs, this band is one of America’s best kept secrets.

About the Author: Bobby Missile is the talent buyer for Low Key Arts and handles booking for the VOV. He has 1,000 years of experience in coordinating live performances, and organizing tours for bands. He also plays guitar in the Hot Springs based band Ghost Bones.

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INTRODUCTION

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ALBUM ON REVIEW

THEN & NOW

HEATERS HOLY WATER POOL Released September 25, 2015 on Beyond Beyond is Beyond Records

HOT SPRINGS RENAISSANCE Despite early fame and a colorful history, for the last half-century Hot Springs has managed to remain something of a well-kept secret. Camouflaged by the same pernicious stereotypes that blanket the whole south and equally inconvenient to approach from every direction by 2-lane highways whipsawing through the Ouachita Mountains, this regional tourist town of 35,000 hasn’t been on the radar for anybody more than two states away since the days of open gambling.

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the Spa City was a ground zero for robber barons, jazz royalty, and Chicago mobsters.

Since its founding, the town’s economic lifeblood had always been hot spring water and tourist money. But by the 1970’s, casino gambling had disappeared, taking the high-flying tourists with it. Spring water

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still bubbled from the ear th at a dependable 143 degrees, but folks weren’t coming for the baths anymore, having found other treatments for their rheumatism and venereal disease. Opulent bath houses and gambling rooms were boarded up and left to rot. Outside of horse racing fans, America largely forgot about the place.

Through boom and bust, there has remained one stabilizing presence in the city: the 5,000 acres of U.S. National Park Service land whose borders creep up to the very edge of downtown. There are plenty of towns with spring water; it is this inter twining of city and federal land that makes Hot Springs truly unique among American cities. Here, the division between urban and wild can be sudden: some roads simply stop at the woods. Beyond backyards, bank lobbies, and

Story by James Katowich

hotel balconies, dense forest reaches into urban space, altering it in ways you just don’t see anywhere else. If this were any other town, those trees would have long been harvested to make way for development. There would be a private estate atop West Mountain instead of hiking trails and vistas.

The National Park--along with the lakes and the racetrack--never stopped bringing regional tourists to the area, but without the steady supply of bathing and casino money, economic growth spilled out onto the cheaper land south of the racetrack, leaving downtown to decay, just like downtowns in a thousand American small towns large and small over the past 40 years.

There are signs, however, that downtown Hot Springs’ third act might have begun. Take historic Park

Avenue, where on a trip to the horse track in the mid90s I stayed at a motel so decrepit I had to touch two dangling wires together to power up the ceiling fan.

Today that motel is gone, in its lot, construction of a stylish park. Follow the freshly-painted bike lanes up and down the street and one finds a community garden, a New York-style pizzeria and a custom coffee roaster. And on the nor thern end of Park, in a little warehouse unremarkable except for the fact that it sits carved into the base of Hot Springs Mountain, is the ar ts nonprofit Low Key Ar ts, whose Valley of the Vapors Music Festival has, for more than a decade, somehow seduced performers of cutting-edge music from just about all over the world.

It turns out that sometimes the economic forces draining urban spaces of their vitality can create a vacuum of low-rent, funky space attractive to the young and adventurous. There are clues that exactly this scenario is beginning to play out here: downsizers moving to town and resurrecting long-empty studio apar tments, pop-up ar t shows appearing in

abandoned buildings, once-dark streets suddenly lit and lively at night.

In the 1988 film Funny Farm, Chevy Chase plays a man who pays his neighbors to pretend their village is a quaint, friendly paradise–just long enough for Chevy to unload his proper ty to unsuspecting buyers. If the people of Hot Springs want this mountain town to remain secret for much longer, they’ll need to perform the opposite trick: inser t the bubba teeth, thicken up the drawl, and star t working together to hide the town’s many charms.

About the Author: James Katowich is a Humanities Instructor at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Ar ts, a residential public school for gifted high school students. A 2000 graduate of the University of Arkansas MFA program in creative writing, he has published in The Louisville Review, River Styx, and elsewhere. He moved to Hot Springs with his wife in 2005.

For those who like casually floating down a stream with sunglasses on and a beer in hand.

Heaters’ new full-length, Holy Water Pool, is a psychrock dreamland. The listener slips into an old buddy’s college dorm room, fully decked out with tapestry and felt posters, a stick of nag champa perfuming the room with a pungent stream of smoke. Heaters is able to use a tasteful amount of reverb on both the guitars and vocals, overloading the listener’s mind just the right amount without becoming obnoxious.

The ebb and flow lend to a gentle journey through the furthest reaches of space and time. The atmosphere this album creates is seriously difficult not to groove to; and, as the album comes to an end, the listener suddenly snaps out of the trance, unaware of the time that has passed, but fully content in what has transpired.

See Heaters on Tuesday, March 22, 2016, at the Valley of the Vapors Independent Music Festival

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MUSIC

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ALBUM ON REVIEW

ADAM FAUCETT

clearly always has been. Definitely an open book, just don’t let the yuppies take over and wash out the grit.

Let’s see, in a decade? Me and Paul Cooper will probably have our experimental noise band up and going.

Q We have a pretty strong and active art community here, but there is still work to be done. What can we do as a community to expedite Hot Springs transformation into the next great art town?

A

TAKING A BATH Everyone is familiar with Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, right? Well, this is Hot Springs’ version, except the writer isn’t nearly as funny, and instead of going to a coffee shop after a cab ride, the subjects in Hot Springs are given the spa treatment at the historic Quapaw Bathhouse. Although the author may not have the comedic chops, the quality of interviewee is right up there with the likes of guests that appear on Seinfeld’s show. With the VOV rapidly approaching, the powers that be thought this piece would be a great way to show yet another reason, besides the score of musical acts descending on Hot Springs, why visitors should come spend some time in the revived art community.

Q

Thanks for succumbing to our twisted desires for content!

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A

Story by Josh Williams

Photography by Amanda Shelley Ledbetter

Of course!

Q

Why is VOV so popular, not only among the fans, but the musicians as well?

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Well for the fans it’s an outlet to see an incredibly eclectic line up, especially for such a small community.

Same goes for the performers. We like to see good bands too. Also as an artist the VOV is a bit of a rite of passage. Tried and true stamp of quality. Bill knows what the hell he’s doing.

Q What is different about your performances in Hot Springs as opposed to other places?

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In Hot Springs it all depends on how late we go on.

Not that we will be drunk on stage but some of our rowdy friends maybe feeling real rowdy towards the end

of the night, which always makes for a fun, potentially unexpected set. I’ve spent so much time and played so many shows in Hot Springs I can honestly say you guys have seen the best and worst of me. I’ve only felt unbridled acceptance from my peers in Hot Springs. It’s good to cut loose for those who probably love you the same on or off stage.

Q A

Is it true what they say about hairy guys like us?

What, that we are absolute master geniuses at shuffleboard? You bet your ass.

Q We’ve seen some neat things start to happen in Hot Springs in the last decade. What do you see happening in the next 10 years?

A

Hot Springs as a landmark is inspiring as is and

Keep doing what you’re doing. Again, as long as artists can afford to live there, then it will naturally continue to grow as an art town. Embrace and cultivate the young performers and artists scene. Hot Springs is a very inclusive town. I’ve never felt the snobbery that other towns proudly wear. This allows people to try new things and grow with less caution. This is key dude.

Q I hear the Spice Girls might be reuniting. Who is your favorite?

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I like the fat one! Spicy beef.

Q A

Who is your biggest musical inspiration?

Probably one of the many bosses who have fired me over the years. I really like the Melvins and their fearless , stick to their guns, up yours attitude. Attitude is key. Though I don’t believe my music is very wild, I typically look to the performers who are a bit unhinged.

BUT, I genuinely only respect an artist who is also honest about their debt to the audience who loves them. Chuck Ragan is really good at that.

Q A

Lavender or Chamomile?

Not terribly sure. Which one of these is closest to new tire smell? What is this, tea? Essential oils? I

have no idea. I like the smell of new tires. I’ll take my tea unsweet. I think it’s ridiculous that we call tea that doesn’t have sugar in it unsweet. The other day I saw a bottle of diet tea. Maybe I’m fucking bonkers, maybe I’ve spent too much time in gas stations, but this upsets me. It should be tea and then sweet tea (which I’ll have none of). It’s not like they had to desweeten the damn tea!

Q

If you were mayor of Hot Springs, what would be your first order of business?

A

First order of business, appoint Kevin Rogers as the new mayor and elect myself sheriff. Then things get a little dirty.

Q Thanks for your time dude, one more question: Are you feeling the Bern?

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Most definitely! It’s way out of character for me but I actually donated to his campaign.

Check out more of Adam Faucett and the Tall Grass at www. adamfaucett.com or on Facebook @ Adam Faucett Music.

About the Author: Josh is a native of Atlanta, Georgia and is a contributing editor for Ouachita High Country magazine. He is also a co-founder of Hot Springs’ local guerrilla production company Red Door Studios.

He’s a graduate of Henderson State University with a B.A. in Theatre Ar ts and Communication. He volunteers many hours with numerous non-profits in the community. He has a 12-year-old son and enjoys golf, hiking, gaming and mowing the lawn. He is an advocate for democratic socialism, marijuana legalization and micro-breweries.

JUICEBOXXX HEARTLAND 99 Released June 9, 2015 on Thunder Zone For those who miss the 90’s and slamming energy drinks behind the EZ Mart.

With praise from Chuck D (of Public Enemy fame) and an old school, “feel good and get things done” sensibility, Juiceboxxx is making waves with his newest release, Heartland 99. Pushing a unique brand of spazz rap rock, he has the captivating power of a thousand energy drinks coursing through his veins.

This motivation helps him maintain a strong lyrical flow and 20/20 vision for the future. In “Open Up Your Life,” he promotes being emotionally open with your friends in order to urge progress. He speaks of life in a stagnant society, the things that never change. In “The Ragers” he speaks of the sad social repetition of doing the same things with the same people every night due to a lack of options. There’s a void for the young and, sadly, in many towns across the country, “all the kids are wasted cuz they got nowhere to go.”

This album was created for kids in the small towns who feel helpless and stuck. Juiceboxxx is a party, but his honesty still bleeds through the fun for all of us to see.

See Juiceboxxx on Friday, March 19, 2016, at the Valley of the Vapors Independent Music Festival

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arts

hot springs

ALBUM ON REVIEW

IrresistAble Inks

LINDSEY KUHN

The iconoclastic nature of rock-n-roll has wielded massive influence on culture at large since the term was coined back in the 1950’s. It embraces more than just the music audience. Rock-n-roll extended an invitation for artists across the board to buck authority, resist the stale tenets of commercialism and blaze their own trails. Both fashion and visual art have a natural kinship with music culture. Just as photographers seize the opportunity to snap a compelling shot of a performer rapt with the intensity of the sound, rock poster artists see creating a striking image for bands they love as a perfect symbiotic relationship. Lindsey Kuhn, the artist behind the 2016 VOV poster from design to screen printing says, “I love music…it has always steered me through life…I was too busy skating to ever play…this is my way of contributing to the music industry without being a musician.”

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Kuhn’s trajectory to the collectible artist he is now shadows the history of the rock poster itself. Through the mid-sixties, rock posters mimicked the “boxing” style, with simple block letters spelling out details of events.

About the time Kuhn was born, the enterprising genius of famous San Francisco promoter, Bill Graham elevated the show flyer to a new art form between1966-1971.

The posters created for his Fillmore Auditorium featured the psychedelic style of the era, bright juxtapositions of color and the use of lettering that was completely absorbed into the imagery. These posters were the first to focus completely on the artist’s vision at the expense of the advertising content contained within.

Times changed. Stadium rock and disco took over the airwaves with its gloss and commercial push. The punk movement of the late 70’s and 80’s gave birth to what

Story by Shea Childs

is widely known now as the DIY ethic, making gritty cut and paste collaged flyers on Xerox machine’s to promote shows in basements.

In 1983, Lindsey Kuhn was a skateboarding, half-pipe building, young punk screen printing t-shirts in his garage to make a few bucks to buy skate gear and see punk shows. By 1991, he moved to Austin and landed a job flat screening for Frank Kozik, whose posters combined the familiar psychedelia with pop culture icons, dastardly cartoon characters, pin ups and spliced them with creepy images. In 1993, Kozik was featured in a 3 page spread in the pages of Rolling Stone who labeled him the “new-rock-poster-genius”.

Kozik saw the talent in Kuhn and encouraged him to use the press freely to create his own designs.

Like Kozik, Kuhn’s natural affection for the bright, fluorescent colors he remembered from his youth influenced his palette, but he diverged from Kozik’s style by incorporating the name of the band and venue information into the design itself rather than just a block of text bracketing an image. In fact, Kuhn forged new ground by creating a separate screen for the text and laying it over the ar twork, adding a dimension unseen before in the silk screen movement.

The allure of a bold, striking image announcing the coming of an awesome rock show has not diminished. For music aficionados, a signed, framed rock print commemorating the night is golden. The VOV has always appreciated the art form and commissioned artists to create limited editions each year of the festival’s history. Lindsey Kuhn’s design for the 12 anniversary of The VOV makes a nod to the traditional gift for a dozen years, silk, naturally with a twist. The image will definitely bring Mothra to mind.

The underground music scene of the nineties was a vibrant hotbed of touring acts. Kuhn was one of only a handful of rock poster artists pulling ink over screens, creating limited edition prints for bands like The Melvin’s, Jane’s Addiction, Tool, Social Distortion and The Cramps.

Collectors around the world took notice.

Kuhn will rightfully join the ranks of the impressive collection of artists enlisted by the VOV over the years whose work is hungrily collected the world over. In fact, the lucky few who had the vision to purchase the poster every year would now have a collection sure to make any serious poster fan envious featuring 2 images by Jay Ryan and individual works by Jim Mazza, Aesthetic Apparatus, Pat Moriarty, Nate Duvall, James Weinberg, Matt Phalhert, Craft & Concept and Solleder/Seidl. www.swampco.com

Enter the digital age, and a time intensive and financially steep process of working with outside print shops and hand cutting layers were unnecessary. The technology allowed for the number of ar tists creating posters to expand exponentially. In addition to his poster work, Kuhn’s entrepreneurial spirit had already steered him to open his own indie record label, No Lie, star t Conspiracy Skateboards, and begin SWAMP, his company that offers custom work as well as publishing for other ar tists internationally where Kuhn still presses all the work.

About the Author: Shea Childs is a Hot Springs native who’s been loving The VOV since it’s infancy. You will find her on the dance floor or making sure the recyclables are behaving themselves. If you want to have your baby at home, she is also a midwife. She spends a decent amount of time hiking or cuddled on the couch with her two stellar daughters and true love.

LOW ones and sixes Released September 11, 2015 on Sub Pop For those who like listening to atmospheric music while pensively sipping coffee on a screened in porch during the thick of winter.

As Ones and Sixes begins, it feels as if we are dropped into a forest covered in a wintry blanket. Low places a guiding hand on the listener’s shoulder and leads them through a reflective view of the past, of regret, of reluctance, of self-discovery, and of what could have been. The lyrics are that of deep introspection.

The honesty bleeds out like a paper cut, dripping into the newly laden snow, leaving bits and pieces of the band’s heart throughout a tangle of leafless trees. We are shown the process of working through these fears and these downfalls; and as the sun peeks through the clouds, we are shown that we may move on from whatever has caused us trouble. This narrative is surrounded by gentle, ethereal synths with guitars and drums specifically placed where they would only add to the environment, not distract from it. This is a carefully and masterfully crafted album, no less of which is to be expected from Low.

Download the album Ones and Sixes at lowtheband. bandcamp.com/album/ones-and-sixes #VOV2016

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INK

hot springs

ALBUM ON REVIEW and is returning for the 2016 VOV to perform.

Cassata first came to Hot Springs when his movie, “Songs for Alexis” screened at the documentary film festival. After coming to Hot Springs and seeing the town, he fell in love which inspired him to return for the VOV. Cassata also has a piece of VOV with him forever. I find it really interesting that someone from as far as San Francisco came to love our festival just as much as we do. I asked Cassata, “What was the deciding factor for you to get a piece of our town on you forever?” Cassata replied, “I love Hot Springs. I visit several times a year because I love it so much. I am absolutely in love with the ar t community and all the local ar tists.” Cassata’s VOV tattoo isn’t the usual two hands forming VOV symbol, its quite simple actually. One hear t with the letters VOV inside, “I wanted to get VOV inside a hear t to represent how much I love it. Ashley Wilkerson at

RYAN CASSATA

IN OUR HEARTS & ON OUR SKIN Some people stumble upon our quaint city of Hot Springs by accident. They’re just driving through to get to their next destination when the winding highway spits them out in our little nook in the Ouachitas. The trees clear and they find themselves surrounded by green mountains in our truly historic hot spot. It could be the energy perpetuated from the actual springs that pull them into our home. It could also be the energy we generate as a community, ar tistic entrepreneurs of all kinds banding together to better the town. Which is probably why most of us gladly claim Hot Springs as home. A strong community that works year round to create one big bang that can really bring people together. The big bang I’m talking about is, of course, is the Valley of the Vapors Music Festival that we all hold close to our hear ts.

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When the VOV first began it was small but mighty and it has only grown in size over the past twelve years. You want some enter taining Japanese punk?

Got it. Orchestral pop from Philadelphia? Got it.

Knitting workshop with Kelley Deal of The Breeders?

Done. Maybe you’re just looking to eat your weights wor th in taco truck treats. Either way, VOV has ar tists and musicians from all over the world who come together for one week to create something beautiful. Some of these moments are wild and crazy fun. Some of these moments are also tear jerking, hear t warming instances that can pass by very quickly. Each year VOV comes and goes, but the memories stay with us forever. For some, it stays in other ways too. Did you know some people have a VOV lifetime pass? Yes, it’s true. This can’t be found in paper form but it can be found through

Red Beards did it.” Our town has enough charm to keep on pulling people back to it, the VOV is just the icing on top. Cassata couldn’t stress it enough, “Hot Springs is my favorite place to visit, the VOV is my most favorite festival that I’ve ever played at.”

We can probably all vouch that VOV is our favorite festival too, those who keep it close in our hear ts and some on our skin. The 2016 VOV will lead to even more representing their festival through ink on their skin.

About the Author: Ashley Hill was born and raised in Hot Springs. She’s the shy, brunette bombshell vocalist for local post-punk group Ghost Bones. She has a deep-rooted love for music, performance, all things ar t, and she suppor ts anything to help her hometown grow and thrive.

MUUY BIIEN D.Y.I. Released April 29, 2014 on Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records For those who have the occasional productive freak-out.

Story by Ashley Hill

ink to skin dedication for the VOV. Many die hard VOV suppor ters show their love through tattoos.

Whether it’s the classic VOV hand emblem or their own twist to add a little more Arkansas, these pieces definitely stand out. Most people who’ve had their love for VOV inked in attend the trail shows, the secret shows, workshops, after par ties and main stage performances. They volunteer their time and abilities to make the festival a success each year.

Some of these tattoos have even deeper meaning to the individual than just first glance. Each person has their own connection to the festival and their own story depicting why they put VOV in their skin.

Oh but its not just Hot Springs natives who dedicate a spot on their skin to the VOV. Ryan Cassata, indie folk musician of San Francisco, CA, is a VOV alumni

The Arts Enrich Our Lives.

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Member SIPC

Even nearing the 2-year mark, Muuy Biien’s D.Y.I. is as relevant as ever with the current complacent state of our society. As I spoke with Bobby Missile of our love for this band, he stated this is, “a band that someone who would rob a bank with a spork would listen to,” and, while that statement seems outrageous, it embodies them frighteningly well. Muuy Biien is audacious, taking unimaginable risks where most would give favor to the tame. These are the kids who continued to slam-dance on the bed when their mother urged them to quell themselves.

The same kids who, later in life, ceaselessly spouted off in class as the teacher begged for order. Muuy Biien is a veritable force to be reckoned with, energy and rebellion flowing through every fiber of its being. This is the music you’ll burn all of your ex-partners’ prized belongings to and the music that will play when you finally get fed up and quit your dead-end job in a rage. Muuy Biien shows us that it’s acceptable to fight against the tide as long as there is an end goal in mind.

See Muuy Biien on Sunday, March 20, 2016, at the Valley of the Vapors Independent Music Festival

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FAMILY

hot springs

ALBUM ON REVIEW

neRVOUS CURTAINS CON Self-Released October 2, 2015

BEST LITTLE MUSIC FEST

COME ONE COME ALL

Tucked away in downtown Hot Springs, AR, nestled just at the cusp of our city and the par t of our nation’s National Park that we get to call ours, is a place many would say is an unassuming cinderblock building. On most typical days of the year, it sits and watches our lives go by as we pass it by during our daily tasks and duties that make up life. That building waits for the occasions when its doors are thrown open to give us activities, meetings, comedy shows, concer ts and all manner of community activities. But my family and I are waiting for one in par ticular.

Spring is almost upon Arkansas again. Just a breath around the corner sits nice comfor table days. The plants and flowers will be star ting to bloom, and the unlucky trials that await those with seasonal allergies will begin. But the change of the season brings

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something my family looks forward to more than the amazing colors that nature displays for us. More than the refreshing sounds and smells that assail us under the magnolia trees as we stroll downtown. It’s almost spring break. But we aren’t thinking of road trips or camping. We await the coming of the Valley of the Vapors Independent Music Festival. We have been attending and volunteering at one of the best festivals in the south for years. This year will be the 7th VOV that I have had the pleasure to be a par t of.

Everyone in my family has their reasons for enjoying all the fun that VOV bring.

We love so many things about the VOV. We have reveled in the wonder that is our national parks while enjoying an amazing acoustic set by a visiting singer as we enjoy nature and great music as a family. We have

For those who like to contemplate the inconsistencies of human relations while dancing the pain away.

Story by Jake Ledbetter

enriched our minds with outstanding free workshops.

And we have seen some amazing performances that we would have probably never had the pleasure to experience otherwise. I say experience, because until you’ve been through one of the amazing weeks that VOV brings, you can’t understand how great it is. We are inundated by talent, so many bands and so much good music. Friendship and goodwill abound. But most of all is the feeling of community you get. You can feel the love for our city and for our future. I know it has brought shared experiences into my family’s life that have enriched who we are individually, but even more so, it’s enriched us as a family.

Our sixth grade boy Cody has a band or two that he enjoys, Peelander-Z being the main attraction for him. They are a Japanese Action Comic Punk band

from NYC. Cody is ready to rock his little socks off when they burst onto stage in their amazing brightly colored outfits. But that is the only time he takes a break from nonstop play. On any given night, he can find at least ten or more kids his age. They have a blast playing and running (and checking in every lap or two around the crowds). He really enjoys the festival atmosphere and gets to have his horizon expanded. Ella and Cory are our older two, one in high school and one in college. The majority of the crowd is their age about half the time since we are lucky enough to have this happening during spring break. They find new bands, meet new people and have a fantastic time. I usually even try to save up a few extra days of vacation because there are too many things going on to waste these days at work. All five of us have volunteered through the years. This year, I suspect, will be no different.

So if you haven’t been to the VOV, what are you waiting for? There is something for everyone. We all love the food that the Taco Truck fills our bellies with every year. The genres of the bands that come to town run the gamut of music. You can find things to do that that include attending the workshops, secret shows, five nights of amazing music and many other great activities that will be offered. But most of all the people that put the festival on and all the amazing volunteers that work so hard to make it happen help make this an amazing time to be living or visiting Hot Springs.

About the Author: Jake Ledbetter works in the medical field. He is a native Arkansan that has called Hot Springs home since ‘86. Jake has seen enough concer ts that he can’t remember them all. He is a devoted husband and loving father.

As Con begins, the listener can’t help moving in syncopation with the beat. Suddenly, as the lyrics star t to sink in, it becomes apparent that all is not as it seems. The world is in shambles and, as Sean Kirkpatrick, lead singer, says in “PMA,” “I’m afraid of dying, man / I’m afraid to live.” This may be the darkest music you’ll ever play at a dance par ty.

It’s cleaning music, as in cleaning your life of the idiocy and drivel. Nervous Cur tains is not trying to hold back. Con is a social commentary on the current state of affairs, political and interpersonal.

We need to see more musicians become open with their aggravation per taining to the sluggishness of social progress. “They say a change is coming / it’s coming too slow,” Kirkpatrick states in “City of Hate.” I couldn’t agree more.

See Nervous Curtains on Friday, March 18, 2016, at the Valley of the Vapors Independent Music Festival

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BEHIND THE SCENES

hot springs

ALBUM ON REVIEW

ALL HANDS IN

YONATAN GAT DIRECTOR Released September 3, 2015 on Joyful Noise Records

IT TAKES A VILLAGE

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Story by Sally Culbreth

The first thing you notice at a VOV volunteer meeting is the wide age range of people who have assembled for one purpose: to put on a premier independent music festival and show off the incredibly enriching community of Hot Springs to festival guests and visiting bands. Kids as young as six and adults as old as, well, older than six or seven decades, all are part of the eclectic, welcoming group known as VOV Volunteers. The second thing you notice is that it feels like a family reunion as people who haven’t been together for a year reconnect for training and for a work day to get the Low Key Arts building spruced up and ready for its guests.

in minimal waste from a five day festival; a youth leadership mentoring program that began this year to give high school students the opportunity to be part of the core leadership, holding key positions of responsibility; and a bystander awareness program developed by STAARR – Sexual Trauma and Abuse Recovery Resources - that trains volunteers to be aware of and prevent interpersonal violence and predatory behavior. This training helps to assure that the festival remains a fun, safe environment for everyone involved. Both the sustainability program and the bystander awareness program are models unique to VOV.

VOV volunteers are not only passionate about this first class festival, but they’re trendsetters, too, setting the festival apart with innovative programs rarely seen in other local festivals. These volunteer-initiated programs include an aggressive sustainability recycling program that results

It takes an army of volunteers to make this five-day festival run seamlessly. Volunteers serve in many different capacities before, during, and after the festival. Day shows, workshops, secret shows, band hospitality, band liaisons, art direction, marketing, production, online

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communications, ticket sales, security, concessions, merchandise, clean up, and sustainability are all areas where enthusiastic VOV volunteers work to bring this crown jewel of a music festival to our community.

For more information about Low Key Arts and the volunteer opportunities offered, contact lowkeyarts@ lowkeyarts.org or visit www.lowkeyarts.org.

About the Author: Sallie Culbreth is the Volunteer Coordinator for VOV 2016. This is her second year serving as Volunteer Coordinator and her seventh year as a VOV volunteer. When she’s not helping with VOV, she writes and produces recovery resources for the organization she founded - STAARR - Sexual Trauma and Abuse Recovery Resources (www.STAARR.org)

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A whirlwind of sound, Yonatan Gat has never had the dishonor of being boring. Formerly of Monotonix, his live shows are known to be captivating and even a bit spastic. In his latest solo release, Director, Gat keeps the energy flowing. As your toe taps, you start to realize that some of what is going on only marginally makes sense, but it all still seems to click. He’ll tease you with some noise, then reel you back in with an incredibly catchy riff. Gat causes the listeners’ minds to spasm and, in that moment, they can do nothing but open their ears and stare in awe. These songs would not be out of context as the soundtrack to a Stan Brakhage film or even as a fill-in for the music in Bruce Conner’s “Looking for Mushrooms.” Simply said, this is music to accompany a whimsical, albeit uncanny, adventure.

See Yonatan Gat on Monday, March 21, 2016, at the Valley of the Vapors Independent Music Festival

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THINGS TO DO

hot springs

WHILE YOU RE AROUND 8

Story by Crystal Myers

Over 3 million visitors travel to Hot Springs, Arkansas to experience the Hot Springs bathing, or learn about the rich historic downtown. Within Hot Springs downtown and surrounding areas are many magnificent must see sites. The average visitor would not have any idea these gems existed, unless one was tipped off by a local. I highly encourage to plan on carving in an hour or two of off the beaten path adventures each day, before your VOV festivities begin.

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5 West Mountain Scenic Overlook

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30 miles West

Central

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Whittington Ave.

Ave.

Oaklawn Racing & Gaming

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Malvern Ave.

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Hollywood Park

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Mountain Tower Top of North Mountain Get an incredible view of the Ouachita Mountains, and of historic downtown Hot Springs. Pay $7 to take the 216 ft tall elevator to the top of the tower, or enjoy one of the free national park overlooks along Hot Springs Mountain Dr.

theatre. Possibly the only standing and intact historic African American theatre entrance in the state of Arkansas. The entrance has a large glass window and door. In 1929 it was renovated from silent film to the new and improved sound theatre. Check it out!

Historic Hot Springs Baseball Trail Visit the website for trail map to begin your tour! Babe Ruth made history here! hotspringsbaseballtrail.com/see-the-trail/

Tiny Town 374 Whittington Ave. A tiny town carved and crafted by a the Moshinkie family. Go see how the family recreated scenes from 22 states! It’s teeny tiny!

Ohio Club 336 Central Ave. The transformed Cigar store, The Ohio Club was the elite club after prohibition. The oldest bar in Arkansas was visited by frequenters such as Al Capone and Lucky Luciano who would hit the club for the gambling and drinking during prohibition. The Ohio Club quickly takes you on a time warp of yester years of the roaring twenties.

Quapaw Bathhouse 413 Central Ave. Soak your bones in the thermal baths at Quapaw. This bathhouse features large thermal pools with poolside loungers to take a break from the heat! Be warned, Quapaw forbids guests to swim in the thermal pools in one’s birthday suit, therefore don’t forget your “swim” suit and flippy floppies. Spa packages are available.

The Princess Entrance Malco Theatre 817 Central Ave. Behind the Malco theatre on Central Avenue downtown, you can get a glimpse of the segregation-era entrance to the

Oaklawn Jockey Club 2705 Central Ave. And they’re off! Since 1905, Jan-April is thoroughbred horse racing season here in Hot Springs. Gates open at

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Hot Springs National Park

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Hot Springs Greenway Trail

About the Author: Michigan transplant Crystal Myers has lived in Hot Springs for 6 years. Educator, foodie and adventurer she spends her free-time discovering, traveling and volunteering.

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Noble Fountain on Reserve Avenue, south entrance of the Grand Promenade Happy Hollow Spring 231 Fountain Street Whittington Park Whittington Avenue Central Flea Market 3310 Central Ave. What may be someone’s garbage is another one’s treasure. I frequent this place once or twice a month.

One of the best Flea Markets I have ever been to. As you walk through Central Flea Market be serenaded by classic country hits from George Jones while you finger through records, clothes, jewelry, books, knick knacks, trinkets, and whatever else you may find! This place is a treasure trove.

1 Park Ave.

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Hot Water Springs/Cokd Water Springs Fill your own bottles! There are four outdoor drinking springs I recommend visiting right downtown, free to the public.

Hill Wheatley Plaza on Central Avenue

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Farmers’ Market

11am on Saturday and Sunday. Bet a $2 dollar Exacta and cheer your horse to victory from the grandstands!

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OFF THE BEATEN PATH Bill Clinton’s Boyhood Home 1011 Park Avenue Sitting atop a hill, is a Queen Anne style house. There are no tours allowed and signs on the lawn strictly enforce this family rule. I suggest taking a selfie with your bestie, “say Cheese”.

Stonebridge Rd. Drive North on Park Ave. away from downtown, 6 min drive, and across from Gulpha Gorge.

There are a few must see’s here. Grab some lunch and drive North on Park to Stonebridge road. Pull off the side of the road, and park. The Water wheel, which generated electricity for the historic Fordyce house. Keep following the road and you will see the North side of the house, a man made waterfall, and a quaint pond, perfect for a picnic or chill moment.

Desoto Park Park Ave. Climb up to Indian Mountain to see where the alleged Jesse James hideout used to be. Must have good

3 shoes, no flip-flops. The incline is steep and the novaculite can be slippery. But I guarantee you will not be disappointed when you reach the top. Caves, views, and personal triumph galore!

YUMMY TO YOUR TUMMY Kollective Coffee + Tea 110 Central Ave. Star t your day off with a cup of organic coffee or tea at Kollective. This cozy little nook has a ver y inviting staff and seating. Get your mind straight at Kollective.

Superior Bathhouse Brewery 329 Central Ave. This bathhouse turned thermal water brewery is a fantastic place to get your very first thermal water brewed beer in the world. Superior’s interior is the original bathhouse tile. Come cool off and sip on a Superior Kolsch, and I highly suggest gnawing on a homemade bavarian pretzel full of gluten blitz!

Dairy Bars Want a tasty frosty treat, burger, onion rings, pickle pop? Visit one of these drive-up dairy bars.

Bailey’s 510 Park Ave. King Kone 1505 Malvern Ave. Fros-T-Treat 1020 E. Grand Ave. Burl’s Country Smokehouse 10176 Albert Pike 30 min drive - Go to Burls for some of the best smoked meat and cheese around. Buy it by the pound or order a handmade sandwich. Do yourself a favor and get yourself some locally made honey. If you have some time, I highly suggest a hike or drive up Hickory Nut Mountain. Here you will see unparalleled views of Lake Ouachita, the largest in Arkansas and breathtaking lookouts of the Ouachita National Forest.

Taste of India 1204 Central Ave. Don’t let the outward appearances deceive you, whether it’s paneer or curry you crave, this is your spot. Offering meat, vegetable and vegan dishes for all taste buds.

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A DECADE OF VOV

hot springs

Story by Leslie Fisher

Photography by Aaron Brewer

A decade of memories and music The Valley of the Vapors Independent Music Festival didn’t begin with a Big Bang so much as a slow, hypnotic reverberation. The audience sat cross legged on the floor, heads bobbing, eyes transfixed. Despite the large crowd, Bill Solleder, who’d organized the event, had opening-night jitters.

“I’d never seen that before,” he said of the audience planted on the floor. “I was really nervous because I had all these other bands coming... and I of course wanted them to have a great show.”

The opening act, Drove, was an instrumental, post-rock outfit comprising local musicians Chris Seidl (bass), Jesse Bridges (guitar), Chris Hallerberg (guitar), Ashley Loudermilk (keyboard) and Justin Hickman (drums).

“Those old songs we had, most of them are over 10 minutes long, and they would start out real quiet and

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build,” Seidl said. As the tempo picked up, the audience followed and by the time Soophie Nun Squad of North Little Rock took the stage, any lingering doubts Solleder might have had were squashed on the dance floor.

“It was packed and people were going crazy,” he said.

“It could’ve been anywhere. It was one of the best energies I’d ever seen and that proved to me that Hot Springs could host underground bands, for sure.”

The first VOV was held in March 2005 and Solleder had been living in Hot Springs for less than two years. A native of Chicago, he’d spent the better part of the ‘90s touring with his band, the Blue Meanies. It was at a Blue Meanies show in Fayetteville that he met his longtime partner Shea Childs. A graduate of Hot Springs High School, Childs left the small town to attend college at the University of Arkansas, where she quickly developed a passion for live music.

“I didn’t hear any original music until I went to college but as soon as I found it, I felt like I had found my niche,” she said. “I don’t even know how many hundreds of bands I’ve seen at this point but I don’t get tired of it because it’s so powerful and it’s so unifying and transcendent.”

Having spent time in California, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Louisiana, and several years in Chicago, Childs never thought she’d live in Hot Springs again, but the decision to return was an easy one.

The couple had been house hunting in Chicago for their growing family. They had a two-year-old daughter and a baby on the way and were living in East Garfield Park.

“We loved the neighborhood but there were a few occasions that I dodged bullets,” Solleder said.

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A DECADE OF VOV

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Hot Springs offered family, affordable living and a safe environment for their daughters.

“It was a pretty obvious choice,” Solleder said.

In March of 2005, their close friend, musician Nora O’Connor, was passing through Hot Springs on her way to play South By Southwest, an acclaimed music festival in Austin, Texas. She asked Solleder to book her a show while she was in town. After getting her a gig at Maxines, word quickly spread that Solleder was booking bands.

“The phone and the emails just went haywire,” he said.

“The next thing we knew, there were like 21 bands coming through in five days and we just opened up our house to them and Maxines opened up their doors to them. And I had no idea how it was going to go.”

Needless to say, it went well. Really well. The community gobbled it up and wanted more.

“We were starved for live music in Hot Springs,” Seidl said. “So when the VOV came around, all of us young

people who were interested in rock-n-roll, it was like we had a brand new toy and we all got super stoked and excited to have it and it was really, really great.”

In 2006, Solleder and Childs purchased the Low Key Ar ts building to host the VOV and other events.

They also secured a nonprofit status, creating Low Key Ar ts, a 501c3 community ar ts organization. The 2007 VOV was the first in the new location. When opening night rolled around, they were still handling last minute details.

“We didn’t even have a occupancy permit yet,” Childs said. “We had to race the clock.”

It all came together just in time to host a sold out performance by alt-country rockers Lucero of Memphis, Tenn.

“Opening up Low Key Arts with Lucero at VOV was huge,” Solleder said. “It’s a great memory.”

Since its inception, the VOV has hosted nearly 5,500 musicians and artists from all across the globe: Japan,

South Korea, China, Norway, England, Germany, France, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Brazil, Mexico, Canada and the United States. Headliners have included Kelley Deal, Oberhofer, Quintron, Water Liars, A Place To Bury Strangers, PeeLander Z, Sinkane, Brave Combo, and Pond.

Over the years the programming has expanded to include secret shows (with the locations announced on the morning of the show via social media), outdoor shows (on trails and in city parks) and free workshops

on everything from printmaking and illustration to knitting and breakdancing.

There are also multiple ar t projects. Each year, the VOV commissions an internationally-recognized silk screen designer to create a limited-edition event poster, which is signed and available for purchase.

The 2016 poster was created by Lindsey Kuhn of Colorado, who has designed posters for Jane’s Addiction, Fugazi, NIN, The Ramones, Social Distor tion and The Offspring, among others.

VOV EVENT POSTERS THROUGH THE YEARS Designed by Nate Duval

Designed by Craft and Concept/Print Factory

2008

Designed and printed

by James Weinberg

2015

2011

2016

2009 2007 Designed by Jay Ryan & The Bird Machine

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Designed by Aesthetic Apparatus Selected for the Communication Arts and Design Annual

2014 2010 Designed by Matt Pfahlert

2012 Designed by Jim Mazza

10th anniversary poster 2013 designed by Illustrated by Jay Ryan Pat Moriarity

Designed and printed by Lindsey Kuhn

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A DECADE OF VOV

hot springs

HEATHER POWELL Agent

4332 Central Avenue, Suite A

501-623-8878

The festival is also a showcase of local artists with the VOV Series Paintings and the VOV Mural Project. The series paintings, which are auctioned off each year, have featured thematic works from Michael Shaeffer, Alex Bridges (aka Limestone Molasses) and Bethannie Newsom Steelman. This year, Newsom Steelman has selected 12 different artists to create the series paintings, which will feature a silk moth since silk is the traditional gift for the 12th anniversary.

“I like to see the space decorated,” Newsom Steelman said. “So many wonderful things have happened there to all of us in our lives and I think it’s just a great way to celebrate it.”

The VOV’s visual coordinator, Newsom Steelman has been heavily involved in the festival’s art projects. She created the iconic logo which appears on the festival banners that fly downtown each year and has produced multiple VOV fan zines, featuring works of literary art and fine art by locals. She was also one of seven artists to participate in the Mural Project.

With the Mural Project, an artist is selected to paint a mural on an eight-by-eight foot wood sliding door inside Low Key

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Arts. The mural remains on display until the following year, when it’s painted over so a new mural can be created by a different artist selected by his or her predecessor. Mural artists have included Derek Grant (OR TAYLOR?), Michael Shaeffer, Scribble Hill (Paul Cooper and Sarah Sanders), Alex Oberste and Alex Bridges. This year, the mural will be painted by Hot Springs native Gary Tripp.

The local artists all volunteer their time and talent and belong to a community of volunteers who share a passion and enthusiasm for this quirky event. I’m among them. We take tickets and sell beer, empty the trashcans and clean the floors. We “adopt” the bands and make them cookies and care packages. The more tech-savy take pictures, manage the social media pages, and the website. And it’s all in an effort to make the VOV a great event for those who attend and for those who perform, to support Solleder and Childs in their efforts and to demonstrate just how grateful we are for them, for the music. We are an enthusiastic audience and the bands notice. So do Solleder and Childs.

“Both of us feel so proud to see people still coming out and taking ownership of it and wanting to participate, and not only just come but help pull it off through

volunteering,” Childs said. “It’s really heartwarming and it’s been really wonderful to now have become friends with all the people that we were just sharing music with.”

The 12th annual VOV will be held March 18-22 and will feature more bands than ever plus added venues. The lineup already includes several standouts with performances

by Juiceboxxx (Wisconsin), Grandchildren (Philadelphia), and a DJ set by British rocker Gus Unger-Hamilton, keyboardist for the critically-acclaimed band alt-J. Returning for the 2016 event is Kelley Deal of the Breeders with her band R. Ring (Ohio/Kentucky), a duo also featuring Mike Montgomery of Ampline. Local favorites Water Liars (Mississippi) and Dikki Du and the Zydeco Krewe (Louisiana) will also be back. For tickets and more information, please visit www. valleyofthevapors.com. I can’t wait to see you at the show.

About the Author: Leslie Fisher is a media professional with a passion for music. As a professional writer and photographer, she has covered Low Key Ar ts and its various endeavors for 9 years. She has served as an instructor for its Inception To Projection Filmmaking Program and is currently a volunteer DJ for the KUHS 97.9 Radio Project.

The Wine Rack & Spirits Shoppe We are a proud sponsor of The Spa City Sweet Hearts Valley of the Vapors Music Festival Hot Water Hills Music Festival Low Key Arts and red door studios Plus we’re a rad ass liquor , wine and beer shop

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KUHS RADIO

hot springs

KUHS is about expression. It is a zine of a radio station. We are rough around the edges. Songs stop.

There is a second or two of silence. Right when you’re sure the next song should star t, it doesn’t. Nothing, then the DJ breaks in, “Sorry about that…” chuckles, a song star ts.

Who cares about Low Power radio? Why is it impor tant, or really, even there? Shor t version: in the 80s FCC says consolidation is OK, and community points don’t count any more. In the 90s the radio scene became rather homogenized and stations star ted sounding the same. You could drive across country and pick up station after station with the same playlist, being programmed by the central office. New music, diversity, experiment, all out the window in the service of maximizing adver tising dollars through carefully curated demographic focus groups.

But a group of activists thought that the public spaces of the airwaves shouldn’t be meted out based solely

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on the ability to issue corporate debt and buy up stations. That the spectrum belonged to America, and Americans with both a capital and a small “a”, and that in the same way we don’t all look alike and don’t all sound alike, we don’t all listen alike. They thought that the little idea mattered too. They thought that a homogenized cultural landscape was not only boring, but anti-democratic. That the commons should be held by all.

KUHS needed a home. A community radio station is only as good as the community that suppor ts it. It isn’t rocket science to go through the FCC process and get a license. And it’s not really all that expensive to put together the minimum gear to get on air. And of course now with the webthing, there’s music for the replaying.

But even all together, it that’s just a signal chain. What you need for a community radio station to be good, is a community.

So they organized and star ted lobbying and in 2000 go the first LPFM bill passed. Basically the FCC slots in little stations around the big stations. There are rules, and math and stuff, but basically, they said that as long as there wasn’t interference, OK. They said you had to be educational in some way, and a non-profit.

It worked. In the first decade, hundreds of small community stations sprung up across America. Then the FCC decided to new filing window for new licenses in October of 2013, and we decided to star t a LPFM in Hot Springs.

Low Key Ar ts was already a community. They had been putting on music shows as the Valley of the Vapors for, like, ten years or something. A long time. They had other projects that had grown. Arkansas shor ts star ted as a community film fest that our kids’ movies could get into if they were funny enough but now it is the first, largest, and most prestigious Arkansas Shor t Film Festival in the world, with expanded categories and viewings. Valley of the Vapors has turned Hot Springs into a March van band destination. Oh Oh Oh and Hot Water Hills! And Bill and Shea!

So we put it out there. And people stood up. Bill had all these contacts, and we had meetings, and we hit the pavement, and we asked for money, and went online to fundraise, and had bands, and sponsored solar panels and bricks in the wall and all that. And we came up with it. We got the license, we got the gear, we got the panels and the Emergency Aler t box and the wireless uplink and the microphones and thick glass and insulated walls and a plan. We put it all together and built walls and drywalled and painted and hung doors and LED lighting. We erected the tower and we put the panels on the roof and we hauled up tons of ballast so they wouldn’t blow away and we made shir ts and we didn’t stop till it was all done. And they we waited to see who would show up.

KUHS is casual. We don’t want to own your listening pleasure. If you want to listen to us, then listen. When you are tired of the music, or a new show star ts and you don’t like it, turn it off or change channels. Thats what we do, we aren’t jealous. We are here to have fun,

and when its no longer fun, its OK to seek out a new experience. Because we know that we’re the funnest, and you’ll eventually be back. Probably next week at about the same time.

We needed a home for the transmitter. We wanted to be on the high ground, so that we could reach out more.

If you are low, you can put out more power, but you’re blocked by hills. We had see the old microwave tower on the top of West Mountain, and saw that it would be a perfect spot. So we went and asked to use it. Steve Gill of Wireless Etc. owned the proper ty. We met with him and his top engineer. We told him what we wanted, and he said yes on a handshake deal.

Steve said yes because he’s an old school radio guy.

He also has Mid-South Communications, which provides commercial radio repeater services throughout the region. He told us how his dad had put up the first repeater to stay in touch with his crews doing service calls. He told us about selling his pager network right at

the dawn of the cell age. He told us about the antenna on the corner of the platform, and how it was an old AT&T radio phone antenna from the days before that.

Steve loves radio and he has a service hear t. If we need to talk to Wireless Etc. about our internet service, we’ve got the engineer’s cell phone number. On our opening par ty, they had a brand new wireless network set up for streaming about two hours after taking my panicked call. Steve likes that we love radio, and we want to serve our community in Hot Springs. He also likes that we mow the grass and cut the trees back.

The power was off at the tower site, so we decided to go solar. We thought that it would be easier to raise the money upfront. Bob knew that community stations can be sunk by bills, and the keeping the monthly outlay low we would have a better chance a long term solvency. Duh. And everyone loves solar now. It really helped us get attention about our project. No one wanted to sponsor a lead acid battery, but everyone wanted to sponsor a solar panel.

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KUHS RADIO

hot springs

KUHS is emotional. Some song are thrill seekers, they are pushing themselves every week to find something exciting to them. Some songs are nostalgic, thinking back to those great times we had together, and the people and places we shared.

Some songs just feel good, and always will, no matter how many times we hear them. Some songs are like comfor t food. Even when they are bad for use we want to binge on them more and more. Some songs are like fine dining. The seem awkward and angular, like they were dreamed up in a lab by engineers who don’t speak a common language. But when you relax and let them sweep over your senses, you hear what was being conveyed, the many elements brought together just for your enjoyment.

It helps to have a bona fide genius on your team.

This is Bob’s four th broadcast station he’s built. He designed a power system to break the 24v solar power down into the different voltages all the different pieces need, and distribute them. He even added a control feature with an Arduino board so we can check on the status of the machines without driving up the hill.

DJs are our guides. Sometimes the guides are like the ones on the Ducks, they mock bicyclists and make up stories about famous people in Hot Springs. Some guides are like the carriage drivers in Charleston, they have passed a test in the history of a place and will spill out the details over the course of a two hour journey. Some DJs are like the guys who crowd the bottom steps of the airpor t shuttle in D.F. shouting about cheap rooms and good food and “what you looking for señor.” And some guides are like that woman you met in that hostel in Bucharest. She doesn’t really know any more than you do, but she’s fearless and she knows what she likes and you could listen to her talk all day long.

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KUHS IS COMMUNITY

It was a nightmare scenario: all the work, all the effor t everything we had done, and the only people who show up to DJ walk in with the playlist off a ClearChannel station. Cue sitting bolt upright in bed with the cold sweats. But that didn’t happen. Instead, we had all these people with all these DJ ideas show up. We had DJs who wanted to play electronica, and power pop, and van bands, and Serbian horns, and Brasilia, and coal mining songs. People who wanted to talk about non profits and cannabis and gaming and lady bits.

People who didn’t really know what they were gonna play, but knew what they were tired of hearing, and it damn well wasn’t going to be any more of that.

KUHS serves Hot Springs by playing the music people want to hear. Not people polled in demographic

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geographic breakouts, but people, one at a time, who sit down in the DJ booth and play music. People who think that music is impor tant. That music is some sor t of crucial thing that makes your brain work in a way we have trouble naming. Sometimes its happy, but it can be sad or funny or scary or mysterious or baffling and we still seek it out. We still want more of it, even if we don’t fully understand why.

The DJ booth is a confessional with glass walls. We listen to hear someone’s truth. We listen to hear someone tell their story through music and narration, and we know that even if their words aren’t true, that they are telling their story through the pretty lies they choose. We know what we would say, and we want to hear someone else’s truth. We want to hear someone

confess that they actually do dig “our” band, even when no one else does. We want to know we are not alone in picking the way we feel, that others are also lonely or sick or tired, or happy or in love or in the sack. The confessions of the DJs are the confessions of all of us as we look for another way to feel.

About the Author: Zachary Smith is the current Low Key Ar ts Volunteer of the Year, and will use his medal for VIP access at the VOV. A dedicated family man and tuba screamer, he enjoys nothing more than embarrassing his children. Station manager of KUHS-LP, his hobbies always seem to turn into jobs.

He has many unfinished projects, but doesn’t keep a list of them.

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GLANCE BACK

hot springs like Newpor t, Kentucky or Phenix City, Alabama, had fallen one by one under Rober t Kennedy and Herber t Hoover’s relentless drive to shut down illegal gambling in America. Hot Springs, however, was untouchable.

Kennedy called it the “largest illegal gambling operation in America,” yet he was powerless to stop it.

That had a lot to do with Dane Harris.

Dane Harris was the Boss Gambler of Hot Springs through much of the 1950’s and 1960’s. He made sure Hot Springs stayed one step ahead of law enforcement’s attempts to close down wide open gambling. When the Federal Government made it a crime to carry gambling equipment across state lines, he opened up Spa Amusements to build and repair the local slot machines. And he kept Harry Hastings as a par tner. Hastings was a rich and powerful liquor distributor from Little Rock who was also a close confidant of Governor Orval Faubus, a relationship that came in handy during election years.

ALMOST VEGAS

HOT SPRINGS

Today Hot Springs is known for its natural beauty, its waterways and misty mountains, its quaint downtown and bathhouse row. It wasn’t always. In 1851, when the residents of Hot Springs officially petitioned the state to incorporate their town, they did so largely because the smell of the raw sewage and human waste had grown unbearable. The buildings that existed around what is now downtown were in disrepair, the wooden sidewalks were rotting. And the saloons and gambling halls stayed open all week long, even on Sunday mornings, forcing the good God-fearing citizens to navigate streets filled with drunks and lowlifes on their way to Church.

Incorporating Hot Springs brought some order to the chaos in that it established a city government, a police and fire department, some rules and a system to enforce them. But even after the establishment of a mayor and

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Story by David Hill

police force, Hot Springs was still under the control of the man who controlled the partnership that controlled the biggest gambling houses in town: Frank Flynn.

Frank Flynn was a vindictive and violent operator. He and his men had ransacked the establishments that dared to compete with him. He had even murdered in broad daylight a newspaper editor who dared to criticize him.

The citizens of Hot Springs lived in fear of Flynn. When the creation of laws, courts and peace officers did nothing to curb Flynn’s power, his opponents sought help from outside the law. One group of gamblers enlisted a man named S.A. Doran, a rough customer who ran a gang in Malvern to come to town and put Flynn in his place.

The folks who brought Doran and his gang to Hot Springs got more than they bargained for. Doran and

Photography courtesy of the Garland County Historical Society

Flynn’s factions fought a long war against one another that, once it began, the people were powerless to stop.

Flynn would be injured and over ten men and would be killed in the war between the gamblers. It wasn’t long before customers grew weary of getting caught in the middle; business slowed at casinos around town.

Eventually in February of 1884, Flynn and Doran’s gangs had a dramatic shootout, with as many as ten men, in the middle of Central Avenue where the Cour t and Central intersection is today, where even innocent men would be caught in the crossfire.

Wide-open gambling would continue to rule Hot Springs for the next hundred years. Hot Springs in the twentieth century was ruled over by an increasingly efficient political machine that allowed open access to gambling,

prostitution and illicit booze in exchange for fines, taxes and payoffs. The money collected from Hot Springs’s various casinos would pay for roads, swimming pools, modern high rises, elegant hotels; even the convention center was largely funded by money gathered from illegal gambling.

This arrangement was no accident. The lesson that Frank Flynn’s reign as Boss Gambler taught future casino owners was that if you wanted to make a lot of money, you had to make sure that everyone in town shared in the wealth. And this generosity had to extend to more than just the political leaders, law enforcement officers and judges that could shut you down in the blink of an eye. It also had to extend to the citizens at large.

By 1963 Hot Springs was grossing over $200 million a year in gambling revenues. By comparison Las Vegas was grossing around $240 million a year. Hot Springs had seen a construction boom downtown, with millions invested in development projects ranging from hotels to airpor ts to accommodate the more than two million visitors that came to Hot Springs every year.

Hot Springs wasn’t the only wide open town in America to be sure. Other cities suppor ted by illegal gambling,

Harris’s club on Park Avenue, The Vapors, was the crown jewel of the Hot Springs gambling scene. It was as elegant as any club on the Las Vegas Strip, with a showroom that featured top-shelf enter tainers like Liberace and Tony Bennett, and a casino with gamblers lined up six or seven deep at every table. Dane Harris was a shrewd businessman who worked tirelessly to accomplish his vision of what Hot Springs could be. He had turned down offers to par tner in Vegas casinos so that he could stay and build Hot Springs, because he knew Hot Springs could be not just as big as Vegas, but bigger.

One of the consequences of not being able to carry gambling equipment across state lines meant that casinos couldn’t impor t dealers from Nevada and elsewhere to deal their games. Harris’s solution to this was to train local people to work at his tables. On January 5, 1963 The Vapors held a class for people interested in learning to deal craps. Halfway into the class an alarm clock rang and a bomb exploded, ripping a giant hole through the club and injuring dozens of people. When the photographers from the newspapers showed up to take photos of the bombed-out casino, the police officers told them to put their cameras away.

“We’ve had enough bad publicity already.”

The photos would run on the front page of the papers the next morning, not just in Arkansas but

across the country. The bombing was never solved, but its impact was immediate. The public that had once tolerated wide open gambling in Hot Springs as a nice diversion and source of needed revenue for the city star ted to rethink their position after the bombing. Gambling in Hot Springs became a major issue in the 1964 statewide election, forcing Governor Faubus to take a tougher approach towards enforcement of the state’s anti-gambling laws. Gambling would be officially shut down in Hot Springs in 1964, then operate off-and-on in various incarnations for the next three years.

It would take a New York Republican, Winthrop Rockefeller, getting elected governor and a Californian FBI agent, Lynn Davis, being appointed head of the State Police before gambling would be shut down for good. Rockefeller finally empowered the State Police to step in and enforce the state’s laws in Hot Springs.

Davis then took the one step that would ensure that casino gambling would halt in Hot Springs once and for all: he rounded up every slot machine, poker chip, and dice table in town, piled them up in the street and set them on fire.

Within two years of Hot Springs shutting down, Las Vegas’s yearly revenues topped a billion dollars.

Many of the construction projects in Hot Springs were abandoned before they were finished. Luxury hotels eventually became nursing homes. World famous gambling halls became wax museums. And The Vapors, which chugged along reinventing itself as a dinner theater, a disco, and even a honky tonk, eventually shut its doors and was conver ted into a church. Hot Springs tried to reinvent itself, too, as a family resor t destination, though it would never again come close to the number of visitors that travelled there from all over America when the town was run wide open. It took ninety years, but they finally ran the gamblers and the violence out of Hot Springs. What all else they ran out of town we may never know.

About the Author: David Hill is a native of Hot Springs who currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.

His writing has appeared in a number of publications including The New Yorker, Grantland, and GQ. He is currently working on a book, “The Vapors: A Casino in Southern Gothic,” due early 2017 from Flatiron Books.

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MARK YOUR CALENDAR

hot springs

What’s Going on...

THURSDAY, MARCH 17

th

• VIP Party Overlooking St Patties Parade VIP Pass holders only! 5 - 8pm Render Creative Group, 801 Central (above Subway) Drinks and light appetizers

FRIDAY, MARCH 18th • Low Key Arts, 118 Arbor - All ages, doors open at 7pm Open to VIP Pass holders, VOV Fest Pass holders $10 at the door • High Key VIP Lounge - VIP Pass holders only!

Drinks and light appetizers - 7 - 11pm

• Maxines, 700 Central - 21+, doors open at 3pm, show at 9:30pm Open to VIP Pass holders, VOV Fest Pass holders $5 at the door

• Fat Jacks, 101 Central - 21+ Open to VIP Pass holders, VOV Fest Pass holders $5 at the door • Ohio Club, 336 Central - 21+ Open to VIP Pass holders, VOV Fest Pass holders $2 at the door

SATURDAY, MARCH 19th • Secret Show - Location announced day of show! Free and open to the public - 6pm

• Open Air at Adair Adair Park, 358 Central Free and open to the public - Noon A free unplugged performance http://www.hotsprings.org/places/adair-park/

• KUHS 97.9FM - VOV On the AIr Interviews and live performances. 7pm

• Maxines, 700 Central - 21+, doors open at 3pm, show at 9:30pm Open to VIP Pass holders, VOV Fest Pass holders $5 at the door

• Low Key Arts, 118 Arbor - All ages, doors open at 7pm Open to VIP Pass holders, VOV Fest Pass holders $10 at the door

• Fat Jacks, 101 Central - 21+ Open to VIP Pass holders, VOV Fest Pass holders $5 at the door

• High Key VIP Lounge - VIP Pass holders only!

Drinks and light appetizers - 7 - 11pm

• Ohio Club, 336 Central - 21+ Open to VIP Pass holders, VOV Fest Pass holders $2 at the door

• Kollective Coffee, 110 Central Free and open to the public - 5pm

• Crawfish Boil, The Waypoint at DeSoto Marina, 120 Marina Drive, Hot Springs Village Open to VIP Pass holders, VOV Fest Pass holders VIP Seating & Drink Specials

• KUHS 97.9FM - VOV On the AIr interviews and live performances. 10am

• Secret Show - Location announced day of show! Free and open to the public - 6pm

• Open Air at Adair Adair Park, 358 Central Free and open to the public - Noon A free unplugged performance http://www.hotsprings.org/places/adair-park/

• KUHS 97.9FM - VOV On the AIr Interviews and live performances. 7pm

• Kollective Coffee, 110 Central Free and open to the public - 5pm

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• KUHS 97.9FM - VOV On the AIr interviews and live performances. 10am • Open Air at Adair Adair Park, 358 Central Free and open to the public - Noon A free unplugged performance http://www.hotsprings.org/places/adair-park/ • Workshop Emergent Arts, 341 Whittington Free and open the public - 4pm http://www.emergentar ts.org/ • Kollective Coffee, 110 Central Free and open to the public - 5pm

Where: The Waypoint at DeSoto Marina, 120 Marina Road, HSV

• Low Key Arts, 118 Arbor - All ages, doors open at 7pm Open to VIP Pass holders, VOV Fest Pass holders $10 at the door • High Key VIP Lounge - VIP Pass holders only!

Drinks and light appetizers - 7 - 11pm

• KUHS 97.9FM - VOV On the AIr Interviews and live performances. 7pm • Low Key Arts, 118 Arbor All ages, doors open at 7pm Open to VIP Pass holders, VOV Fest Pass holders $10 at the door • High Key VIP Lounge - VIP Pass holders only!

Drinks and light appetizers - 7 - 11pm • Fat Jacks, 101 Central - 21+ Open to VIP Pass holders, VOV Fest Pass holders $5 at the door

VIP reserved seating & drink specials with VOV VIP Pass!

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• Ohio Club, 336 Central - 21+ Open to VIP Pass holders, VOV Fest Pass holders $2 at the door

SUNDAY, MARCH 20th

• Workshop Emergent Arts, 341 Whittington Free and open the public - 4pm http://www.emergentar ts.org/

Monday, MARCH 21st / TUESDAY, MARCH 22nd

• Secret Show - Location announced day of show! Free and open to the public - 6pm

• KUHS 97.9FM - VOV On the AIr interviews and live performances. 10am

• Workshop Emergent Arts, 341 Whittington Free and open the public - 4pm http://www.emergentar ts.org/

Saturday

Beer Specials

• Maxines, 700 Central - 21+, doors open at 3pm, show at 9:30pm Open to VIP Pass holders, VOV Fest Pass holders $5 at the door • Fat Jacks, 101 Central - 21+ Open to VIP Pass holders, VOV Fest Pass holders $5 at the door

FOR FINAL FESTIVAL SCHEDULE, INCLUDING ALL BAND SHOWINGS, SCHEDULE AND ANNOUNCEMENTS:

• Ohio Club, 336 Central - 21+ Open to VIP Pass holders, VOV Fest Pass holders $2 at the door

VISIT VALLEYOFTHEVAPORS.COM or FOLLOW VALLEYOFTHEVAPORS ON FACEBOOK

call 501.922.4231 for more information #VOV2016

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Hot Springs That’s the kind of history made in Hot Springs every day.

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HotSprings.org • 1-888-SPA-CITY

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