Arkansas Times - May 21, 2015 by Arkansas Times

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MAY 21, 2015

ARKANSAS TIMES

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MAY 21, 2015

COMMENT

Happy birthday, Head Start Fifty years ago, President Lyndon B. Johnson stood in the White House Rose Garden to announce the creation of Head Start, a federal program that would ensure at-risk children across the nation received access to a quality early childhood education. I am among the 32 million Americans Head Start has served since its creation in 1965, and I can speak firsthand to the incredible difference it makes in the life of a young child facing poverty. The Newton County Head Start program’s comprehensive approach to early education ensured I entered Kindergarten healthy — cognitively, emotionally and physically — and ready to succeed. Its whole-family focus also made sure my single mother had the tools and resources she needed to be the best mother she could be to me and my three siblings. Head Start truly laid the foundation for my future success and lifelong commitment to early learning. I went on to graduate at the top of my high school class and was the first in my family to graduate college. Today, after a long career advocating for early childhood education, I serve as the Director of the Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education at the Arkansas Department of Human Services. So happy birthday, Head Start. As we plant rose bushes in celebration of 50 years of success, we renew our commitment to Head Start and plant the seeds for 50 more years of opportunity. Tonya Solomon-Williams Little Rock, Arkansas

From the web: In response to an Arkansas Blog post, “The bigoted past of new state drug director Denny Altes” (May 15): Does anyone vet these appointments beforehand? JCJ All the vetting Dimmy Altes needs is for you to be over the age of 40, have the ability to read a newspaper and this blog and a long term memory. I live in the same area that Secret Squirrel lives in and it’s very easy to come up with the nickname, Dimmy, even if you’re only paying half attention to this bizarre human. Not only being a racist and proving it many times over, he’s also fond of wearing a long black waistcoat or duster while slipping into meetings and functions like he’s a stealth CIA agent. Dimmy, son, WE CAN SEE YOU! Every time, we can 4

MAY 21, 2015

ARKANSAS TIMES

see you. Evidently there’s big money to be made by only, ONLY electing idiots out of Sebastian and Crawford County. I guess it’s better for the fat cats here that their elected representative be totally unable to represent anyone or to form an original thought or have a good grounding in right vs. wrong. We’ve been shipping idiots to Little Rock since forever and no wonder Fort Baptist is like an island in a stream, outcasts, never members of the Little Roc Club. We are regarded higher by our insaniac western neighbor, Okla-whoopty doo-homa. I’m sorry we helped send you Asa too! It is to cry. DeathbyInches In response to Andrea Zekis’ guest column, “Hall out of touch on Jenner”

(May 14): You are right on! I think it’s incredibly difficult to understand any transgender issues. The same way I find it impossible to understand what people feel like with “no conflict.” I do also understand why they cannot comprehend my position. I only seek a basic understanding that conflicts can exist and we have right to attempt to resolve them as best we can without being considered some type of disease that requires extermination. JimM My problem is why does it have to be a rich white woman before people care? Trans women of color have been dying in the streets and no one cares. But one white woman opens her mouth and suddenly everyone is an “ally?”

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Why is it always a rich white person before people care or listen? White supremacy is evil. Chelsea Solis In response to Gene Lyons’ column, “Bigots can speak, and so can their critics” (May 14): Compromise is a bitch when one side wants to be left alone, and the other side wants only genocide. It was no false dichotomy, but some, apparently, will use it as a guise to defend the terrorists in the most venal and cowardly way possible. It is provocative, and that is partly the point. If the KKK and Westboro have their right to protest and march, ugly people like Geller also have that right. The blinding truth, though, is that no other religion takes offense in such lethal manners. You can hold hook nose drawing contests, and Holocaust revisionists and the piss Christ, and nobody will shoot you. We are supposed to respect and regard such people as would think murder is a proper response to offense as equals? If we make allies, our true allies know there are parts of our nation that have a great time ridiculing and insulting each other, and the more mature groups laugh or come up with their own verbal retorts. As for the brave officer, well, he had a Glock, and it was in .45, which is a good man stopper in a gunfight. I have shot the gun, and it is very accurate, in the right hands, so head shots from a guy who trains a lot is not surprising. He wishes to remain anonymous, and that is good, as other Jihadis may mark him as a target for being so insolent as to defend Geller and her group. That is the thing to remember, when one goes after Kelly’s all-too-spot-on analysis, these are not rational people your dealing with. Geller may be a target because of how provocative she is, but now a cop in Garland is a target because of what he stopped. How are you going to fault him? Steven E. If Pam Geller or anyone else can be intimidated into not criticizing Islam, then they have won a huge psychological operations victory over America by preventing the Esprit de Corps that develops in a nation and its military at war against an enemy, which serves as a great source of motivation to prevail! And they wonder why we criticize their patriotism! Thomas Pope

TIME TO VOTE!

GOT AN OPINION? IT’S TIME TO CHOOSE THE BEST OF ARKANSAS.

➥ Since 1996 (that’s 19 years) when we first started the Best of Arkansas (frequently imitated). ➥ Voting is now 100% online ➥ Cast your votes online at arktimes.com/bestofarkansas2015 ➥ Vote for your favorite businesses in central Arkansas from May 14 until May 27 during our first round of voting. ➥ Then return on June 5 thru June 25 to cast your vote for the five finalists.

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MAY 21, 2015

EYE ON ARKANSAS

WEEK THAT WAS

“All politics are local and I am for sending the illegals back but we know that is impossible. We are where we were with the black folks after the revolutionary war. We can’t send them back and the more we piss them off the worse it will be in the future. So what do we do. I say the governor needs to try to enforce the law and sign the letter of understanding with the INS and at least we can send the troublemakers back. Sure we are being overrun but we are being out populated by the blacks also. What is the answer. Only time will tell.” — Former state legislator Denny Altes in a 2007 email reply a former Fort Smith mayor, who’d apparently written Altes to encourage him to keep fighting “illegal” immigration. Gov. Asa Hutchinson appointed Altes as state drug director last week. This despite Altes lacking any relevant experience and having a legislative record that included introducing a bill to establish a curriculum for teaching the Bible in public schools, one that required federal law enforcement officials to obtain permission from county sheriffs before making arrests in their counties and another that would have required officials to verify that anyone voting or taking advantage of any sort of public assistance was a U.S. citizen.

Fit for an army On Tuesday after the Arkansas Times went to press, the Little Rock Board of Directors was to consider whether to authorize the Little Rock Police Department to spend $340,000 on enough riot gear to outfit 500 officers. Forty-four officers already have similar gear. That means all but seven officers on the force would have access to batons, shields, gas masks and flat-black helmets. Police Chief Kenton Buckner has apparently forgotten the ideals of community policing, which he talked about often in his early days on the job last year. He said the request for more riot gear came in response to protests in Baltimore. 6

MAY 21, 2015

ARKANSAS TIMES

BRIAN CHILSON

Quote of the week

HEADED TO THE CAPITOL: Rhana Bazzini and Paul Spencer lead a march to a rally in support of a ballot initiative that would overturn the Citizens United ruling by which the U.S. Supreme Court gave corporations freedom to spend unlimited amounts on elections.

He called it a “proactive measure.” Here’s Arkansas NAACP president Dale Charles with some needed perspective for Buckner: “We’re not in Iraq. We’re not in Afghanistan. … It’s a waste of money. Some of that money could go back into training police officers how to better deal with diversity in the community.”

viously known as SB 202), the state law passed in the 2015 legislative session that will prevent city and county governments from adding protected classes to civil rights law. That law will go into effect on July 22. Meanwhile, the Central Arkansas Water Board of Commissioners approved a comprehensive nondiscrimination resolution that covers hiring, employee benefits and vendors.

The water utility also extended benefits to spouses of same-sex married couples. The Pulaski County Quorum Court also advanced a nondiscrimination ordinance that protects LGBT county employees from discrimination and requires businesses that contract with the city to do the same. The full Quorum Court could vote to approve the ordinance as early as the end of the month.

Arkansas baby names, by the numbers More good news for equality Seventy-one percent of voters who cast ballots in Eureka Springs last week voted to keep intact Ordinance 2223, the measure passed by the city earlier this spring banning discrimination of LGBT people in employment, housing and public accommodations. The final tally: 579 votes for, 231 against. That’s a total of 810 votes total — a higher turnout than the 792 votes cast in the 2014 midterms last November. In addition to its symbolic importance, the Eureka ordinance poses the clearest legal challenge to Act 137 (pre-

The Social Security Administration announced last week the most popular baby names in Arkansas in 2014. Here are the top 10 for each gender:

Boys 1. Mason 2. William 3. Noah 4. Elijah 5. James 6. Liam 7. John 8. Carter 9. Jacob 10. Logan

Girls 1. Emma 2. Olivia 3. Ava 4. Harper 5. Isabella 6. Abigail 7. Sophia 8. Madison 9. Avery 10. Emily

OPINION

While I was away…

’m just back from two weeks out of the country. A couple of catchups: LITTLE ROCK SCHOOL LEADERSHIP: State Education Board Chair Sam Ledbetter took the lead in working out a deal with Education Commissioner Johnny Key and Gov. Asa Hutchinson to install Little Rock lawyer and former Little Rock School Board member Baker Kurrus as superintendent of the district, now under state control. I remain sympathetic to those unhappy about the loss of democratic control of the school district. I believe that business establishment antipathy toward the majority black school board was a key factor and yet another indication of the state’s long history of racially motivated actions against the interests of Little Rock schools. But the state Board of Education is now firmly in the hands of a Republican administration without sympathy for big-D or littled democratic and racial politics in Pulaski County. This outcome is far better than their preferred alternative. Kurrus was in sympathetic attendance at the pivotal community meeting that helped a successful drive to defeat legislation supported by Key and Hutchinson to turn the

joining the Little Rock School District. It is now a district without a community, its boundaries frozen to a decaying core of a much larger city. Kurrus brings great intellect, great energy and a belief in a conventional school district. Nothing less than the city’s future depends on preserving a reliable, productive city school district, as opposed to Balkanized private fiefdoms with some lucky winners and many losers. He’s already demonstrated he can work with the teachers union, its own future on the line. Many people I consider friends won’t be persuaded by my encouraging words, but they shouldn’t lose sight of how bad the alternative would have been. They also can take heart that a direct result of their organized unhappiness was the removal of Dexter Suggs as superintendent. THE ARKANSAS SUPREME COURT: The Arkansas Supreme Court abruptly and, so far without explanation, fired Stephanie Harris as its communications counsel. She won’t be replaced. There’s little doubt that the poisonous division on the court was at least a factor in the change. A statement Harris issued on behalf of Chief Justice Jim Hannah was even cited in a recent court decision taking exception to what Hannah had said in that statement about which justices should

hear the same-sex marriage case appeal. Politics aside, the court needed this position, just as the U.S. Supreme Court has a press office. The clerk’s office isn’t a sufficient fallback. Sometimes a spokesman can help reporters with procedural questions that justices can’t or won’t answer. Harris was important in arranging media access to important judicial events, including the West Memphis Three case, which drew international attention. For whatever reason, the court doesn’t get its weekly decisions online in a timely fashion. Harris always distributed the list on release at 9 a.m. each Thursday and provided copies of important decisions when requested. For her good efforts, she got rough treatment. I fear there’s more — with much more at stake than one person’s job — where that came from. Four female justices — Courtney Goodson, Karen Baker, Jo Hart and Rhonda Wood — apparently have seized control of court leadership, including administrative matters once viewed as the purview of the chief justice. This seems to have produced the ouster of Harris. It so happens Harris founded Women Lead Arkansas, a nonpartisan group that encourages women to run for office.

unreliable information. But that is the crux of the question, or what ought to be the question. It is not a hypothetical one, which Jeb Bush says President Bush. it is unfair to ask. The question is not Fox’s Megyn “knowing what we know now” but what Kelly served would you have done in the situation that Bush the perfect existed in spring of 2003? The answers spike. “Knowing suggest how a candidate will deal with what we know the recurring pressures to go to war in the ERNEST now,” she asked Middle East, Eastern Europe, the China DUMAS helpfully, if he had Sea or wherever radical religionists, rebels been president in 2003 would he have or petty tyrants shake their fists at the ordered the invasion of Iraq? She obviously United States. No one in Washington in 2003 — not expected the ritual answer of all politicians now: no. But Jeb Bush said he certainly George W. Bush and not Sen. Hillary would have invaded “and so would have Clinton — thought we were going to Hillary Clinton, just to remind everybody.” war because Saddam Hussein might Clinton, a senator from New York at have WMDs. It was the pretext that was the time, voted for the invasion but later prepared by the CIA at the direction of the said she made a mistake in accepting the administration to provide political cover administration’s phony claims that it had for occupying Iraq, which was the chief clear evidence that Iraq stocked weapons foreign-policy goal of the United States of mass destruction and was getting ready outlined by the Bush team of Dick Cheney, to use them. Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and It took Bush four tries — he next muffed others in the Project for the New American an assist by Fox’s Sean Hannity to get him Century, the 1998 blueprint for the next out of the jam — to finally get squarely Republican administration. That was on the side of public opinion. No, he said, known in Congress and it has been the invasion was a big mistake, though he abundantly documented since then. Four days before Bush presented the said his brother was just poorly served by the intelligence agencies, which gave him case for invading Iraq in an address to

Congress on Jan. 24, 2003, the National Security Council put out a call for intelligence to bolster the claim that Iraq had nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs, and the confidential reports came back that the case was weak. The U.S. Army officer who led the dismantling of the WMD programs in the 1990s insisted that all the weapons had been destroyed. Saddam’s defecting sonin-law told American intelligence that all had been destroyed — before he accepted Saddam’s warm invitation to come home and was murdered. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who was charged with going to the United Nations and making the case for the invasion, was shocked, according to his chief of staff, Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, when the CIA gave him the “evidence.” “This is it?” Powell asked. Being the good soldier, he went ahead with the speech. Wilkerson, who wrote the speech, regretted it. “Was the intelligence politicized in addition to being wrong at its roots? Absolutely,” he said. The Washington Post’s veteran CIA reporter, Walter Pincus, wrote an article that countered all the intelligence baloney the rest of the media loyally put out. Inside the intelligence agencies, he wrote, there is little support for the weapons claims. When Gen. Eric K. Shinseki, the

Little Rock School District into a laboratory for private operation. He and I have talked for years about the MAX essential dishonBRANTLEY esty of much of maxbrantley@arktimes.com the charter school movement, which often “succeeds” by skimming better students from conventional public schools. He knows, for example, that any plan to “save” Baseline Elementary that merely entailed moving in new students was no salvation for the students moved out. He believes in strong principals held accountable for their teachers. He speaks knowledgeably about places where the district can save money. His own kids went to Little Rock schools. His wife is a PTA stalwart. He made enemies in pushing for new schools in growing West Little Rock, but those schools were needed. He speaks today of something that once was unspeakable by the power structure: The Little Rock district was screwed when city leaders let Chenal Valley annex into the city without

Truth on Iraq

eb Bush’s still prospective race for president took a little nosedive when he bungled questions from friendly agents at Fox television about his brother’s invasion of Iraq. If Fox News can foil a Republican so easily, people asked, could he be seriously considered for the party’s nomination? As everyone knows, the answer is yes. But the better and really consequential question is whether any candidate can pass the Iraq test, which is the first that every 2016 wannabe should be obliged to take and, we should hope, to pass. So far, only the far-out candidates of both parties, Bernie Sanders and Rand Paul, the socialist and the libertarian, have come close. The almost certain Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, should be given no better marks than Jeb Bush, because unlike him she is not obliged to show fraternal respect for George W. Bush, who waged war against both Afghanistan and Iraq and plunged both nations and indeed the region into endless chaos. I need not even mention the cost in blood and treasure that turned Americans, including most Republicans, against the wars and

CONTINUED ON PAGE 39 www.arktimes.com

MAY 21, 2015

‘Proactive’ policing

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ARKANSAS TIMES

n Monday, after six months of study, President Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing released its 100-plus page final report. The task force — consisting of representatives from law enforcement, civil rights organizations and academia — was formed in the aftermath of the crisis in Ferguson, Mo., (but before last month’s riot in Baltimore) and charged with “offering recommendations on how policing practices can promote effective crime reduction while building public trust.” Obama followed the report release with an announcement that he was employing an executive order to ban the transfer of a variety of military implements to local police departments because such armaments too often “alienate and intimidate local residents and send the wrong message.” In Little Rock, however, just that sort of “wrong message” was being sent by the headlines in the local newspaper on Monday highlighting the city’s move toward purchasing riot gear for 500 additional LRPD officers, meaning that such gear would be available for nearly every member of the force. The balanced federal task force report is grounded in six “pillars” of policing in the contemporary era. At the heart of the report is the notion that police officers must see themselves — and be seen — as “guardians” of their communities, rather than warriors with their communities. To achieve that goal, police departments should engage in community-oriented policing that builds real relationships between police and those whom they serve, particularly the young people of their communities. Along with recommendations that community members be involved as key policing policies are established and that communication is fundamental to ongoing successful policing (especially during crises, when social media can be particularly beneficial), the report states that better training of police must occur so that officers know how to build relationships across the diversity of their communities and are more prepared to make the right decisions under pressure. The phrase that repeats itself across the pages of the report is “public trust.” Little Rock is one of many cities where a public trust crisis shows itself in the relationship between citizens and police. It is especially pronounced among the city’s African-American and Latino citizenry. Two years ago, the

annual UALR survey of racial attitudes in Central Arkansas focused on views of the criminal JAY justice system. BARTH More than eight in 10 white Little Rock residents (83 percent) expressed a “good deal” or “quite a lot” of trust for the local police. Among African-Americans (at 47 percent) and Latinos (53 percent), sharply smaller percentages of persons of color in the city expressed those levels of support. While a trust gap between those on either side of I-630 shows itself in various ways, it is the gap in perceptions of the LRPD that are the starkest. Rather than responding with a fullscale focus on building bridges between the LRPD and the city’s residents, the LRPD moved forward last week with the proposal to purchase riot gear for all its officers (it must be green-lighted by the city’s Board of Directors). In defending the expenditure, Police Chief Kenton Buckner said, “We can’t protect life and property until we are able to protect ourselves. This is a proactive measure.” What would be truly “proactive” is an embrace of the community-oriented policing strategies specified in the task force report that provide hope for undoing the mistrust that many people of color have for their police and for avoiding unrest in the city. To be clear, the safety of law officers is essential. Indeed, one of the pillars of the report focuses on what can be done to enhance the safety of being on the streets; as such, everyone in a police force should be equipped with antiballistic vests. But, that is not what is at work in the LRPD purchase of riot gear that includes shields, gas masks and helmets. As quoted in the report, which embraces “soft look” uniforms as an alternative to the militaristic gear proposed for Little Rock: “When officers line up in a military formation while wearing full protective gear, their visual appearance may have a dramatic influence on how the crowd perceives them and how the event ends.” Little Rock has shown promise to live up to its potential as a city. However, until the hard work is done to build public trust between the LRPD police and the community, any progress is continually at risk of being undone by a single mistake that turns into urban unrest.

NFL blows it

he bombast and grandiosity of NFL football have always put me off. Fans too often treat ballgames as if they were wars between rival tribes or nation states; symbolic struggles between good and evil. As somebody who watches probably 150 major league baseball games a year, I find the hype alternately exhausting and ridiculous. So no, I don’t have even a fan’s stake in “Deflategate,” the highly publicized battle between the NFL front office and the New England Patriots over the allegation that the Patriots cheated their way to the Super Bowl by letting air out of game balls to make them easier to grip. Or something. It’s clear that pounds per square inch had little to do with the 45-7 beat down the Patriots put on the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC championship. In baseball, only umpires handle game balls. Doctoring them with pine tar, sandpaper or saliva is against the rules, but guys have pitched their way into the Hall of Fame doing it and fans mostly admire their gamesmanship. It’s clear that NFL rules pretty much encourage customizing footballs; also that slight differences in pressure mean nothing to anybody except the guy throwing them. Which brings us to Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and what really interests me about “Deflategate”: the way it exemplifies the great Dionysian Cult of Celebrity Worship that governs so much of American public life. Figuratively speaking, we turn people into demigods only to envy and destroy them. Writing in the Boston Globe, Neal Gabler thinks, “it speaks to a seachange in our perception of human nature. Whether it is Brady, or Hillary Clinton and her e-mails, or Bill and his Foundation, or Officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, we reflexively now always assume the worst about people. No one gets the benefit of the doubt.” I wouldn’t go that far, but Gabler’s examples are well chosen. It’s certainly true that once somebody like Brady (or Hillary Clinton) has been targeted, it’s almost impossible for them to get even-handed treatment in the scandalmongering media. “Deflategate,” has been driven by inaccurate, insider-driven reporting from the get go. As usual, Bob Somerby’s Daily Howler website has been all over it. “As with most of our consensus scandals,” he writes “the scandal our

press corps has dubbed “Deflategate” began with some false information. … At ESPN and GENE at NBC Sports, LYONS major journalists attributed this false information to unnamed ‘NFL sources.’ Apparently, the bad information was being dispensed by people within the league.” ESPN’s “investigative reporter” Chris Mortensen got the party started just before the Super Bowl: “The NFL has found that 11 of the New England Patriots’ 12 game balls were inflated significantly below the NFL’s requirements, league sources involved and familiar with the investigation of Sunday’s AFC Championship Game told ESPN … The investigation found the footballs were inflated 2 pounds per square inch below what’s required by NFL regulations.” A veritable chorus of televised outrage began that has basically never let up. NBC Sports correctly reported what we now learn via the league’s own Wells Report, that the real numbers were closer to one pound under the 12.5 psi standard — pretty much what the physics of gases would predict of a ball inflated in a 70 degree locker room and exposed to mid40s temperatures for a couple of hours. However, hardly anybody outside Boston noticed. According to the Patriots organization, the NFL forbade them from releasing these facts. The league also sent the team a misleading letter claiming that a ball intercepted by a Colts linebacker measured 10.1 pounds. Wrong again. The offending football was measured three times. Again via the Wells Report, the resulting numbers were 11.45 psi; 11.35 psi; 11.75 psi. So why are we still talking about this foolishness? Incredibly, because NFL investigator Ted Wells decided the referee must have been wrong about which of two gauges he’d used to measure the footballs. Seemingly because if the referee was right, there was zero evidence of tampering, and nothing to investigate. All the rest is a poorly written novel. Why would the NFL want to tear down one of its marquee stars? Beats me. Napoleon probably said it best: “Never ascribe to conspiracy that which can be adequately explained by incompetence.”

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MAY 21, 2015

ARKANSAS TIMES

Big on Benintendi

he spring has been, if nothing else, an unprecedented one for Arkansas Razorback individualism. Bobby Portis took his justly due hardware as SEC Player of the Year and now hopes to parlay that into a firstround selection by an NBA team that wants to develop his considerable skills for a couple of years. Portis’ leap from first-year phenom was considerable but, given all things, not utterly shocking. He came to Arkansas with a lean but buildable frame, an uncanny maturity and diverse offensive skills. He was tremendously productive as a freshman, and all signs pointed to the very noteworthy progress he ended up showing this past season. Portis and fellow early entry Michael Qualls did the yeoman work in leading Arkansas from NIT obscurity to a promising NCAA rebirth in a matter of months, so his exit for the lure of a guaranteed contract was probably a given even with so many draft-eligible talents taking the selfsame plunge. For Arkansas center fielder Andrew Benintendi, the script was a little different. Though he arrived on campus in 2013 fresh from receiving ACBA/Rawlings National High School Player of the Year honors, the Cincinnati-area product with all the requisite tools packed into a fireplug frame didn’t have that same degree of fanfare. His hometown Reds drafted him out of high school in the 31st round, clearly more of a wingand-a-prayer bid to secure his services than anything else. He forged onward to Fayetteville, of course. By the time his true freshman season ended, the primary numbers were utterly uninspiring. He batted .276 with a single home run, and plated 27 runs, not a bad figure given the dead bats he was swinging and his placement in the lineup. But there were other, less noticeable indicators of what was coming to fruition: Benintendi was durable, playing in 61 games, and smart at the plate (24 walks to only 20 strikeouts) and on the paths (17 steals in 21 tries). In other words, there was ample evidence that his poise would make him more productive in 2015. Substantially so, it turns out. Benintendi was granted the SEC Player of the Year honor this week, another no-brainer accolade given to the

best player on one of the better teams in the league. As Arkansas sloughed away a sub-.500 early season start BEAU and coasted into WILCOX the fifth slot of the 12-team league tournament, it had all manner of contributors along the way. Bobby Wernes made massive strides as a hitter and was bar none the best defensive third baseman in the conference. Rick Nomura showed some late-season pop and stabilized the middle infield. Clark Eagan and Joe Serrano got clutch hits constantly, and Tyler Spoon was back at run-producing level he flaunted early in his freshman campaign. But from the word go, this lineup was fueled and for many stretches flatout carried by Benintendi’s charged bat. With 17 homers and a .415 average, he took two of the three Triple Crown categories comfortably, and his 51 RBIs were just five short of the league’s highwater mark. His 21 steals made him the first 15 homer/20 stolen base player in program history, and he made only a single error in the outfield. It was as complete a season as a Hog hitter has had in the Dave Van Horn era, and arguably one of the finest overall seasons a player can have in a conference laden with supreme arms. He’s also the impetus behind the Hogs’ unthinkable resurgence, which has made a regional hosting bid a decent probability after postseason seemed like an utter longshot weeks ago. Arkansas won seven of eight series, and didn’t lose the other — splitting with Tennessee and giving up the rubber match to the weather gods — so there’s likely not a hotter team or hotter player around as this critical stretch awaits. And yet here I am, dousing the fires at the tail end: Benintendi’s unthinkable transformation to a true five-tool guy has stirred up the MLB Draft buzz and the scouts love his deft combo of plate discipline, speed, instincts and smarts. He’ll be a first-rounder after his true sophomore year, only draft-eligible by way of reaching the age of 21 this summer. So he’s assuredly headed off to the world of bus trips and wooden bats soon; but if that’s the case, like Portis, he leaves a quick but indelible legacy.

THE OBSERVER NOTES ON THE PASSING SCENE

Full stop

few fender benders in the distant past notwithstanding, The Observer (knock on the fake plastic wood of this desk) considers himself to be a fairly good driver. No speeding tickets in years, seat belt always buckled, tires checked for pressure, us usually putt-putting along at the posted limit and never driving angry except when the legislature is in session. A bit of a shock then, that The Observer and Spouse almost took a trip to the ER or the morgue on Saturday due to a vehicular brush with death. We were motoring north on Interstate 30 at the time, crossing the bridge into North Little Rock, road warriors zooming past us as we approached the tee where I-30 runs into the concrete and asphalt ribbon of Interstate 40, JFK Boulevard continuing on up and over Park Hill. Just before the I-30/I-40 split, there was a young man walking down the edge of the interstate, ambling along there in the sun. We glanced at him, and had time to think he would be having a chat with Johnny Law soon for walking along the interstate. When we glanced back at the road, all we saw were taillights: a silver Honda Pilot, big as a barn door, engines full stop, smack dab in the right lane, 35 feet off our front bumper, us still rolling 65 and closing fast. The Observer remembers hearing the bark of our own surprise. Spouse’s corresponding scream. White knuckles. Thousand-pound foot finding the pedal and trying to push it through the floor, and thank God for the modern miracle of anti-lock brakes. When we saw the distance between the ass end of the Pilot and sure death wasn’t enough for our brakes to grab a toehold, we hauled the wheel to the right, the car diving, nose heavy and rear light. For a blink, the rear end broke loose, got squirrely, tires howling, the retaining wall to our right looming. Spouse’s little SUV Black Phillip braced for impact with something, hard concrete or the silver Pilot, lady or tiger. But in the midst of it, we heard our father’s voice, telling 16-year-old us to come off the brakes when in a skid, son. To turn into it and let the car right itself.

We dropped our foot from the pedal, cranked the wheel the way we wanted to go, hit the gas and prayed, fingers gripping the wheel so tight that they still ache now, as we type this. We like to imagine that a look of calm, Mario Andretti-like determination came over our face at that moment, but we probably looked more like a man recently doused with a bucket of ice water. Somehow, though — good advice or dumb luck —we made it. The Observer flipped the wheel once, twice, and then Black Phillip flew straight, so that by some miracle we squirted through the needle eye between the wall and the stillperched Pilot. It was only as we blew past that we saw the reason for the near disaster, other than our own momentary and stupid inattention: a sedan stopped in the middle of the inside lane, the occupants inside visibly arguing over which way to go at the 40/30 tee: left or right, Atlantic or Pacific, North Carolina or Barstow, Calif. We’ve been there, friend, though not while parked in the middle of oncoming traffic. It is, if you can believe it, actually the second time in our Central Arkansas driving career that we’ve seen a driver pull that stunt at that particular interchange, full stop in the middle of the lane while trying to figger out their east from west. The last time, some years back, the driver in question flipped us the bird and sped off toward Fort Smith when we honked to let him know he was about to be the hood ornament of the big rig then growing in The Observer’s rearview mirror. You’re welcome, wherever you are. A near miss like that can really monkey with a person’s head. The Observer’s curse is that we can never stop thinking about the maybes. Spouse, too, to a lesser extent. That night, before bed, she jokingly said: “What if we’re in the hospital right now, and this is all a coma dream?” Not willing to add to our growing list of maybes and might-have-beens after a scare like that, we opined that if this is all a dream, you’d think there’d be more beer and better stuff on TV.

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MAY 21, 2015

Arkansas Reporter

THE

IN S IDE R

Dr. Maxwell Sniffingwell’s Pakistani connection

ARKTIMES.COM/OUTINARK

BRIAN CHILSON

Readers of some vintage may remember Arkansas Times’ favorite Arkansas Ph.D., Dr. Maxwell Sniffingwell, an English Bulldog from Clinton whose owner, a veterinarian there, secured for Dr. Sniffingwell a doctoral sheepskin in theriogenology (that’s the study of animal reproduction) from Belford University, an online diploma mill. It’s the same calligraphy factory that famously conferred a doctorate of business administration on Johnny Rhoda, the Arkansas Republican mover/shaker who resigned as the 2nd District Republican Party chair last year after telling a reporter that Hillary Clinton would “probably get shot at the state line” if she ran for president. Drs. Sniffingwell and Rhoda probably need to update their resumes to include this story from the New York Times on Axact. The Pakistan-based Axact is the parent company of Belford University, which turns out to be one of hundreds of smoke-and-mirrors universities and high schools owned by Axact. The Times investigation found that those “schools” are supported by at least 370 legit-looking websites, which allegedly rope in both the gullible and desperate looking for cheap education and the unscrupulous who want the pay and respect bump often associated with having alphabet soup behind your name. Revenues by the company are estimated at several million dollars per month. From the story: “As interest in online education is booming, the company is aggressively positioning its school and portal websites to appear prominently in online searches, luring in potential international customers. “At Axact’s headquarters, former employees say, telephone sales agents work in shifts around the clock. Sometimes they cater to customers who clearly understand that they are buying a shady instant degree for money. But often the agents manipulate those seeking a real education, pushing them to enroll for coursework that never materializes, or assuring them that their life experiences are enough to earn them a diploma. “To boost profits, the sales agents often follow up with elaborate ruses, including impersonating American government officials, to persuade customers to buy expensive certifications or authentication documents. “Revenues, estimated by former employees and fraud experts at several million dollars per month, are cycled through

NOT HIDING: Sailor Rae Nelson is now in the Navy’s Individual Ready Reserve.

The secret service A transgender Navy sailor comes out. BY DAVID KOON

ost civilians might assume that the 2011 repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” brought to an end the days of LGBT service members being unceremoniously bounced from the armed forces and often stripped of their uniform, hard-won ranks and benefits. While that’s true these days for gay, lesbian and bisexual service members, there is still the issue of the dangling T in LGBT. The repeal of DADT did nothing to protect transgender soldiers, sailors and airmen. Right now, in every branch of the service other than the Army (which takes each transgender service member’s case under individual review by high-level brass), any service member who comes out as or who is found to be transgender is usually soon shown the door, given a medical discharge for being mentally and physically unfit for service. It takes brave people to change policies like that. In Arkansas, one of those people is Rae Nelson. A Little Rock resident who serves as the deputy director of the Arkansas Transgender Equality

Coalition, Nelson was already a member of the Navy Reserve when she decided to start transitioning from male to female. “It really was a life-or-death thing for me,” she said. “Honestly. It was, ‘Let me do this, or let me be miserable.’ ” Nelson began taking female hormones in May 2014. She knew she would eventually have to come out to her superiors when she failed the male-standard physical fitness requirements after six months on estrogen. “Our bodies change so drastically on hormones,” she said. “When we would do these fitness tests, I could usually get up and run them without any type of preparation. I tried to do that after six months on hormones, and I failed. So I was like, ‘OK, something has to give. It got to a point where it was time for me to get out.’ ” Nelson took a six-month medical leave of absence and continued on hormones. By the time her leave of absence expired in April, her body had drastically changed. Knowing she was at a “slip or break moment,” she said she was scared

and nervous. She considered just trying to get out quietly. But then she said she talked to a friend, who encouraged her to be honest about who she is. “I’ve always been a person who has been a big activist in the community,” she said. “Everybody knows I’m the kickdown-the-door type. I come in fighting. So my friend was like, ‘You know you’re strong enough. You know you have the personality. Why not out yourself? You’re about to go anyway. What’s the worst that could happen?’ So I really started considering this. Why not out myself? If this can help somebody, if this could add more fuel to the fire, if this could push the agenda even more, why not?” Nelson called her commander and told him that during the leave of absence, she’d been taking hormones and had transitioned from male to female. “I told him, ‘I want to come back, but I cannot come back if I can’t be embraced as the woman that I am,’ “ Nelson said. “I am a transgender service member.” Nelson said she was surprised by the reaction she received from her commander. She said it was much more supportive than she had expected, with her commander saying that he didn’t think it was a good reason to lose a soldier and asking her if she would stay if he could arrange for her to run personal fitness tests at female standards. “I told him, of course I would stay,” she said. “I loved being a service member, and I loved being in the military. It’s actually something I wanted to keep doing, but I didn’t think it could be possible. … He looked into it, but unfortunately it couldn’t be done. He told me that when he talked to his big bosses, they told me to just go IRR — Individual Ready Reserve. I’m still a member, but I’m not doing anything until the end of my contract.” Evan Young, who lives in Pope County, is the national president of the Transgender American Veterans Association, and served in the Army for 14 years as a female, rising to the rank of major. Toward the end of his career, Young began taking male hormones and transitioned. Young said that while media appearances by transgender people are helping to raise awareness, most Americans don’t know that the repeal of DADT didn’t make it OK for transgender people to serve openly in most branches of the service. CONTINUED ON PAGE 28

MAY 21, 2015

ARKANSAS TIMES

THE

BIG PICTURE

Inquizator: Reggie Koch

Little Rock attorney Reggie Koch is one of the few who have seen the law both from the seat of a police cruiser and from the defense table. After 14 years as a cop, Koch went to law school, and has since become openly critical of police culture and tactics. Recently, he started a podcast called “Justice 101,” where he and guests talk about the complicated issues surrounding police and the law. You can find those podcasts at his website, justice101.net.

You’ve been a vocal critic of police militarization. What’s the issue you see with police militarization? When people talk about police militarization, they always talk about the government’s 1033 program, where police get military equipment. When I talk about police militarization, I’m not talking about the equipment. When I say we need to demilitarize the police, that doesn’t mean you can’t have a helmet. It doesn’t mean you can’t have a vest or shield. Those are good things. When I talk about police militarization, I’m talking about the training and the attitude: this “us against them” attitude. It doesn’t work and it can’t work in our society. People have had enough of that, I’m afraid.

military. I’m not saying that somebody who went and did their four years can’t be a cop, but you really need to retrain those people. Do you believe in the idea that the cops who get caught in questionable shootings, brutality or other misconduct are just the “bad apples”? When I talk about the people that I blame for where we are with policing in America today, I blame the courts, I blame the prosecutors, but mostly I blame the good police. You might say: Why don’t you blame the bad police? I guess I do, but that’s the only thing bad cops know to do. The people who deserve the blame are the good cops who don’t stand up and say, “That’s a

BEEN ON BOTH SIDES: Former police officer turned lawyer Reggie Koch has criticized police culture and tactics.

So how do we fix this? I suggested at one time that we get away from the “sergeant, lieutenant, captain” — those military names — and go with something else. Supervisor, shift leader, whatever. I think the military and police are so different that you almost can’t cross-train. A lot of departments prefer to hire ex-military, because these people are used to the chain of command. They’re used to wearing uniforms. There’s a lot of things they’re used to that make it easy to come in and fit. Ultimately, though, I think it’s a bad thing. The jobs are so different. It may seem like they’re similar, but they’re not. If I were a chief of police, I’d look hard at hiring exmilitary, especially if they’re long-term

bad cop. They’re writing false reports, they’re covering up.” They’re turning a blind eye. Guys that I went to law school with are circuit court judges right now. These are guys I drink beer with. And I don’t dare go to their courtroom and do something unethical. They’re not going to cover for me one iota. It’s going to be my ass, and I know it, and that’s part of the reason I don’t do it. But with bad police officers, that’s not the case. They expect anything they do to be covered up. Following questionable police shootings, someone always brings up the fact that police sometimes have only split seconds to act, and that hesitation could be the difference

between living and dying. Should we train officers to take that extra second to be sure, or will that just get cops killed? That’s a hard one. How do you do that? How do you tell someone, “Take an extra second?” All I can see that you can do is say, “You’ve got to be sure, and if you’re wrong, it’s going to be your ass.” I’d stop short of saying we need to tell officers to take an extra couple of seconds. There are a lot of bad sons of bitches out there. But it’s not about a couple of seconds. It’s about having a mentality of: “If I don’t do this right, I’m going to get in trouble.” Every profession — lawyers, doctors, everybody — they have to have some level of professional responsibility. We’ve seen the rage in places like Baltimore and Ferguson, Mo., over police shootings and brutality. A lot of that stems from the fact that cops often seem to get a pass when a suspect is injured or killed, except in the most egregious circumstances. Where are we headed if we don’t address this issue? I believe we’re going to very soon see a time when it will be hard to get anything other than a mistrial. You just won’t be able to get 12 people in the same room who will agree with the police. We’re not there yet, but it’s coming. I had two jury trials that happened last year that hung up solely because, in order to find my client guilty, they had to believe the police over my client. That was too much for some of the jurors. In both cases, five of the jurors just said no. If you’ve got a case where it’s 40 witnesses and one of them has a video of it, yeah, they’ll convict that person. But when the police say, “We don’t know what happened, but we took him down to the station and we sat him down and, even though we don’t have any recordings of it, he confessed to us,” the time is coming when at least one juror on every jury is going to say, “That cop’s a liar just like all the rest of them.”

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INSIDER, CONT. a network of offshore companies. All the while, Axact’s role as the owner of this fake education empire remains obscured by proxy Internet services, combative legal tactics and a chronic lack of regulation in Pakistan. “Customers think it’s a university, but it’s not,” a quality control official who left Axact last year told the Times. “It’s all about the money.”

More Supreme Court turmoil The latest blood on the floor in the ongoing civil war at the Arkansas Supreme Court is Supreme Court communications counsel Stephanie Harris, who was asked to clear out her office last week. Harris had handled press relations for the court for the past five years. Harris, who had been an attorney in private practice before joining the staff, said she was terminated by Administrative Office of the Courts Director J.D. Gingerich, with the firing effective immediately. Arkansas Supreme Court Clerk of Courts Stacey Pectol said that she couldn’t talk about the circumstances of Harris’ firing other than to say that the position of communications counsel has been eliminated. “As far as the elimination of the position,” Pectol said, “the court made a decision to return to its previous policy before that position was created.” Pectol said that any questions from the press or the public about the status of a case that can’t be answered by viewing the Supreme Court’s online docket would be referred to her office. She said general questions about the Arkansas Supreme Court or the state’s court structure would be directed to Gingerich. It’s tempting to speculate that Harris’ termination had something to do with infighting on the Court. That’s included ... • Justices squabbling over the hiring of the Supreme Court clerk. • At least two justices pushing for administering mass lie detector tests to Supreme Court employees in order to find the source of leaks to the press. • The recusal of Chief Justice Jim Hannah and Justice Paul Danielson from a case related to the state’s appeal of a lower court’s decision to strike down the ban on same-sex marriage. Hannah called the new case a delaying tactic; Danielson suggested the possibility of ethical misconduct. Inspired by the recusal, Tippi McCullough of Stonewall Democrats filed a complaint with the Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission over the handling of the case by other members of the Court. www.arktimes.com

MAY 21, 2015

2015 RIVERFEST

ILLEGAL ART: Girl Talk performs on the Bud Light Stage 9:45 p.m. Sunday.

RIVERFEST GOES TECHNO Ticketing only online before gates open; Girl Talk brings the EDM.

BY JIM HARRIS, LINDSEY MILLAR, JAMES MURRAY AND JAMES SZENHER

esides providing the usual full family fare of entertainment, food, fun and music, Riverfest’s 38th edition is embracing new technology in a couple of important ways. One, the advanced tickets that allow Riverfestgoers to enjoy everything at 14

MAY 21, 2015

ARKANSAS TIMES

nearly half the price of a gate admission are available only through the event’s website this year; and, two, the festival’s music offerings will now include a headlining EDM (electronic digital music) act for Sunday’s finale: Girl Talk. Ticket buyers who purchase the $25

all-inclusive admission before midnight Thursday, May 21, through the website (riverfestarkansas.com) can print their own tickets to exchange at the gates for their three-day Riverfest wristbands, or they can simply have their receipt scanned from their phone. Up until this year, advanced tickets were sold through a participating retail vendor’s locations. The key for festivalgoers is buying before the deadline, however; purchases at the gate for Riverfest weekend will be $40. DeAnna Korte, executive director of Riverfest, says it was time for changing its ticketing approach with the technology available through phones and the like. Also, by centralizing the ticket sales on the Riverfest website, it helps the organizers better understand their demographics. “It’s information we really need, to book what people really want to see,” Korte said. “For instance, we know we’ve already sold tickets in 28 states. It’s nice to capture that data.”

Pop singer Sheryl Crow — with such Riverfest-perfect hit songs as “All I Wanna Do (Is Have Some Fun)” and “Soak Up the Sun” — is without a doubt the one festival act that will have farreaching appeal among music lovers; but country, R&B, New Orleans funk and hip hop are prominent among the headliners as well. Riverfest has also offered some smaller EDM acts in past years, but Girl Talk will be the first time the festival has presented a major EDM headliner, and the performance will follow the annual fireworks display over the Arkansas River. As for the nonmusical draws, Korte says she’s thrilled that Riverfest is offering “Over the Edge,” allowing people to rappel off a side of the 14-story First Security building in the River Market district. “It will be an exciting thing for spectators to watch. That’s going to be kind of cool,” she said. “They do it all over the North; this is the first time it’s come to Little Rock and we have a license to

2015 RIVERFEST do it. We’re really excited about that.” The daring display will kick off with the local news media trying it out Friday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Festivalgoers get their chance all day Saturday. Riverfest for the third year will serve as the site for the National Baggo Championship, while the Super Retriever Series returns to the riverside under the Main Street Bridge. A Riverfest fun run is scheduled for Saturday morning, beginning and ending at the Heifer Village and crossing the Arkansas River. Kids of all ages will enjoy a Saturday “pooch parade” and a “short-legged wiener dog derby” that starts at the Heifer complex, Korte said. The Deltic Timber KidZone returns with assorted fun acts throughout the weekend, including a visit from the Little Rock Zoo’s penguins on Saturday. A Cirque du Soleilstyle group, Recreation Studios, will be roving the Riverfest area as well as performing on stage near the Clinton Presidential Library. The Riverfest footprint stretches from the Main Street Bridge on the west to Heifer International on the east side. Headlining music will again be featured on three stages: the Miller Lite/Arkansas Federal Credit Union Stage at the amphitheater in Riverfront Park; the Bud Light Stage in the Clinton Presidential Center Park and the Stickyz Stage just east of the I-30 bridge by the river. Meanwhile, the smaller Stickyz stage doesn’t lack for big sounds. Gaelic Storm, who rock a Irish style with some California-based Irish expats and began its rise to prominence after appearing in the 1997 Oscar-winning film “Titanic,” will get fans footstomping on Friday night; Mansions on the Moon headlines with The Whigs and Vinyl Thief on Saturday night; and George Porter Jr. and His Runnin’ Pardners (including members of New Orleans’ Meters) are the postfireworks Sunday act, with Hot Buttered Rum and Leopold & His Fiction opening. Every stage also has music or other fun acts both Saturday and Sunday afternoons, including Ghost Bones, the Arkansas Times Musicians Showcase winner, playing the Stickyz Stage at 4:15 p.m. Saturday. Shuttles will operate both from War Memorial Stadium and from North Little Rock’s Lakewood Middle School behind the Target store to ferry festivalgoers to and from the event. Bring a nonperishable food for donation to the shuttle locations for $1 off the regular $4 round-trip fare. Shuttles will run as late as 12:30-1 a.m. to get everyone home. JH

These are the headliners on the two biggest stages:

FRIDAY, MAY 22

The Pretty Reckless 8 p.m. Friday, Bud Light Stage (Clinton Presidential Center Park) Taylor Momsen isn’t one of those savvy young actresses trying to parlay her television success (“Gossip Girl”) into a music career. She had already formed the basis for The Pretty Reckless before the “Gossip Girl” pilot aired in 2007. Still, it’s startling to see vivacious blond-and-blue-eyed Jenny Humphrey all glammed up in heavy eye shadow and screaming heavy rock on songs like “Going to Hell” and “Fucked Up World.” Google the videos if you dare,

had a normal childhood, against three rough-looking New York dudes who provide the raucous sound. There is nothing sweet about the message she’s trying to convey with these songs. JH

Kris Allen

8 p.m., Friday, Miller Lite/Arkansas Federal Credit Union Stage (First Security Amphitheater) Has it really been six years since Jacksonville native and Conway resident Kris Allen edged out Adam Lambert for “American Idol”? White soul vs. Freddie Mercury wannabe? Boy, those were heady days. It seemed like all of Arkansas was tuning in to “Idol,” and Allen’s every appearance in any Central Arkansas restaurant or retail outlet was followed with delirious fans phoning their friends to tell them they “just saw Kris Allen.”

ALL SHE WANTS TO DO: Sheryl Crow performs at the Miller Light Stage 9:30 p.m. Friday.

for a preview. The “real” Taylor Momsen, as far as Momsen is concerned, is the one making music. “Music is where I can be me,” she told Parade magazine early on in the “Gossip Girl” run. “I really do it because I love it, honestly. It’s what I want to do with my life. I mean, it’s my only goal.” She tellingly added, “Acting is easy. I’ve been doing it for so long and I totally love it. But you’re playing a character instead of yourself. Music is more personal because you’re writing it and you’re involved in every step of it.” Oh, to be as blessed as Momsen, who has also modeled since she was 2 (she’s 21 now). The Pretty Reckless juxtaposes the beautiful Momsen, raised a Catholic, though she hardly

They can see him again opening for Sheryl Crow on the opening night of Riverfest and relive some of those memories from 2009, when Allen was THE American Idol — that may have been the last year the Fox network’s “American Idol” even really mattered, too, since ratings have taken a big tumble in subsequent years and next season will be the show’s last. Allen certainly didn’t sit idle since winning — as “American Idol” he enjoyed a couple of years landing everything from well-promoted tours to appearances singing patriotic songs at major events — but he also didn’t turn into some Hollywood-bound star either. He’s recorded three albums since his “Idol” victory, including last year’s “Horizons” that he cut in Nashville with veteran producer Charlie Peacock. He

wrote most of it in 2013 while hanging at his home around Conway with his wife and newborn. He was idled for most of 2013 anyway after a serious car accident that left him with a broken arm. While Allen was known for more soulful pop during his run to “Idol” fame, he said that the music on “Horizons” draws inspiration from a couple of his favorite artists, James Taylor and Paul Simon. He’ll still probably be best known nationally for his version of “Live Like We’re Dying,” which was included on his debut album and which sold 1.7 million copies. His second album, “Thank You, Camellia” produced the single “The Vision of Love.” JH

Sheryl Crow

9:30 p.m. Miller Lite/Arkansas Federal Credit Union Stage (First Security Amphitheater) If you think about it, most of the big country crossover artists like Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood or Kelly Clarkson can trace their roots back, not to the country queens of the past, but to someone like Sheryl Crow, who made a big splash in the ’90s by appealing to wide audiences with country-tinged tearjerkers like “If It Makes You Happy” right next to catchy danceable numbers like “All I Wanna Do.” She has more in common with country contemporaries like Shania Twain than she does with the other ’90s singer-songwriters like Jewel or Melissa Etheridge that she’s often lumped together with. Crow shows her country tendencies more than ever on her most recent album, “Feels Like Home,” recorded in Nashville. She also has the distinction of being probably the least controversial artist to ever have an album banned from Walmart (based on Crow’s criticism of the store’s gun sales in one of her songs). Her huge catalogue of free-spirited yet down-toearth songs are sure to make it worth your time and money down by the river this year. JS

Halestorm

9:45 p.m. Bud Light Stage (Clinton Presidential Center Park) Riverfest marks just one of dozens of stops this spring and summer for heavy alternative rock band Halestorm’s major U.S. tour (with The Pretty Reckless along as the opener). Halestorm is on the road in support of its third studio release, “Into the Wild,” which hit in April, and is best www.arktimes.com

MAY 21, 2015

2015 RIVERFEST known for its 2013 Grammy win in the Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance category with “Love Bites … (So Do I),” becoming the first female-fronted group to be nominated and win in the category. Lzzy Hale, the female face up front on guitar and vocals, was once named by Revolver magazine as “One of the Hottest Chicks in Metal.” She’s backed by brother Arejay Hale on drums, Joe Hottinger on lead guitar and Josh Smith on bass — Smith supplanted the Hale duo’s dad as bassist in 2004 for the Pennsylvania-based act. Halestorm followed up its Grammy win with the Billboard Hot Mainstream chart-topping “Freak Like Me” and was included on a Ronnie James Dio tribute album covering“Straight Through the Heart.” JH

and he put out a record, “Up All Night,” that sounded like Bob Seger, Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen run through the Nashville machine. Thanks to singles like Somethin’ ’Bout a Truck” and “Beer Money,” it was the best-selling album of 2012 and 2013 by a male country singer. His follow-up record, he told Billboard in January 2014, would be more “intense.” His new songs would be about blue-collar people “doing the daily grind, getting by, with big families — the construction workers, the factory workers, those kind of people.” The lead singles from that album didn’t catch on, so Moore worked on something different. Riverfest might serve as an early testing ground. LM

SATURDAY, MAY 23

9:45 p.m. Bud Light Stage (Clinton Presidential Center Park) It’s 1995 and you’re in the New Music aisle at Best Buy. You consider getting that Nirvana B-sides collection because you’re still sad about Kurt Cobain, but you know that alternative rock music is an unstoppable force that will grow and evolve into the next millennium. You want something new. Rap is awesome because your parents hate it, but you know they’ll never let you keep that Tupac album, so you keep looking. You come across a shiny blue case with three numbers on it and impulsively purchase it, discovering that 311, hailing from the multicultural Mecca of Omaha, Neb., and named after the police code for indecent exposure, have just realized your musical dreams of combining hip hop, reggae and alternative rock into a singular vision of the future of music. With hits like “Down,” “Come Original” and “Amber,” 311 promise to take you back to those sweet dreams of hazy, sun-drenched beaches, guitars and DJs, partying endlessly into the night. You won’t want to miss out, “cause when the lightning flashes sweet electricity/all the world then stands revealed with the clarity/of raw voltage, briefly we see, and the hope is/you’ll be able to tell just what dope is.” JS

Sister Hazel 6 p.m. Bud Light Stage (Clinton Presidential Center Park) Cruising along the ever-thinning border between alternative and adult contemporary, Sister Hazel rode its way to prominence alongside similar acts such as Spin Doctors, Hootie and the Blowfish and Matchbox 20. You will most likely remember the group by its platinum hit, “All For You,” with its merry-go-round chorus and jangly acoustic guitars. The band had a few more hits in the following years, such as “Champagne High,” (the one with the wedding cakes in the video) but never quite matched the success of its first single. Despite that, Sister Hazel has maintained a loyal following, touring the country pretty consistently for nearly two decades and winning over the hearts of many, including the late ESPN anchor Stuart Scott; the band played at his memorial service earlier this year. Sister Hazel’s success helped create the mold that would help many future crossover artists take their place among the alternative, adult contemporary and country charts. Come along and relive those glory days; you might forget who you’re listening to, but your ears will be content. JS

Robert Earl Keen

7:45 p.m. Miller Lite/Arkansas Federal Credit Union Stage (First Security Amphitheater) Robert Earl Keen’s status as a coun16

MAY 21, 2015

ARKANSAS TIMES

311

FROM CHAOS: 311 performs on the Bud Light Stage 9:45 p.m. Saturday.

try-folk master continues to grow as he cements his place alongside the sainted company of fellow Texas troubadours Guy Clark, Steve Earle and Townes Van Zandt. Keen’s found his place at the fringes of modern country music, disconnected from Nashville’s hit factories and slick production but equally rooted in folk storytelling traditions and honkytonk revelry. Listen to any number of bands that find themselves labeled altcountry today and you’ll hear Keen’s voice being emulated. His most recent album is a bit of a departure, a set of bluegrass covers that mixes traditional elements with contemporary songs and his own style. If you’re a fan of any kind of country/roots/Americana music that doesn’t sound like it’s been auto-tuned, you’ll probably find something that suits you with Keen. Check out his signature “The Road Goes On Forever.” Riverfest is lucky to have him this year, and it’ll be a real treat to see him on a big stage. Find a good spot not too far away from the beer stands and enjoy one of Texas’ finest musical exports. JS

Bone Thugs-NHarmony 8 p.m. Bud Light Stage (Clinton Presidential Center Park) When East Coast and West Coast rappers dominated the hip-hop scene

in the mid-’90s, it was a group of five from Cleveland that broke the mold of what rap music should sound like. With a rapid staccato delivery mixed with harmonizing cadences and the backing of N.W.A. founder Eazy-E, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony made fast impact on the world of hip hop in the mid-’90s. Collaborations with Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G. further solidified the group as a force to be reckoned with in the industry. With over 20 years in the game, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony will no doubt go down in history as one of the greatest rap group of all time (For more, see page 22). JM

Kip Moore

9:30 p.m. Miller Lite/Arkansas Federal Credit Union Stage (First Security Amphitheater) Kip Moore grew up in Tifton, Ga., a town of 16,000 in south Georgia where the poverty rate is 36 percent, more than double the U.S. percentage. His dad worked as a golf pro, but with six kids to feed, the family scraped by. On the weekends, he’d take Kip down to the coast to fish, and play Jackson Browne, Willie Nelson, Bob Seger, Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen on the radio on the ride down. Moore escaped Tifton on a golf scholarship to Valdosta State. Then he escaped Georgia altogether to live in a $50-per month hut in Hawaii. Then he got to Nashville,

SUNDAY, MAY 24

Galactic With Macy Gray 6:15 p.m., Bud Light Stage

2015 RIVERFEST to hip-hop/dance music. He has a real knack for good transitions. He certainly wasn’t the first to pioneer the mash-up genre, but he’s been among its most prominent and consistent artists and has pushed it both forward and into the mainstream. His live DJ sets are sort of like going to church to worship the Pantheon of Music Gods (Jackson 5, Elton John, Notorious B.I.G., Pixies, etc.) by dancing until everyone collapses from exhaustion. Bring an extra jug of water with you in case your fellow dancers look dehydrated. JS

CADILLACTICA: Big K.R.I.T. performs on the Bud Light Stage 8 p.m. Sunday.

(Clinton Presidential Center Park) At various stages in its history, the New Orleans all-genres jam band Galactic has brought aboard guest R&B singers; the band early on included Theryl “House Man” DeClouet as a member before he left the group, and in recent years Galactic partnered with Living Colour’s vocalist Corey Glover. Currently the band has Erica Falls adding vocals and will be with the band this weekend. But we’re not sure the band has ever had a guest singer with the cachet of Macy Gray, who has been performing spring with Galactic, including the group’s appearance at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and this weekend in Little Rock. A review from Nola.com even hinted that Galactic, which could headline anywhere it wants to, all but served for much of the Jazzfest set as Gray’s backup while she performed some of her better-known songs, concluding the show with her international smash hit “I Try.” Gray may have been off the radar in recent years, but the Jazzfest crowd found her raspy approach “as striking as ever,” according to Nola.com. However, something to keep in mind was this line: “Gray has a reputation of being something of a loose cannon. The content and tone of her between-song comments hinted that she could possibly go off the rails at any moment.”

Count us in! Galactic and its spacefunk-world jam, which has been rocking New Orleans and points beyond for two decades, will be worth it anyway, with longtime drummer Stanton Moore, sax man Ben Ellman, bassist Robert Mercurio, guitarist Jeff Raines and keyboardist Rich Vogel taking off on their own during the interludes in and around Gray. JH

Big K.R.I.T.

8 p.m. Bud Light Stage (Clinton Presidential Center Park) Recently proclaiming himself “King of the South,” Mississippi native, Big K.R.I.T. never fails at staying true to his Southern roots. He went so far as to remind us of that in “Cool 2 Be Southern” on his 2012 debut studio album, “Live from the Underground,” as he laced the track with crazy metaphors: “Collard green pockets but I southern fried the flow/Candied yam drop with some cornbread to throw.” K.R.I.T runs the gamut in his lyrical content. He can go from the laid-back, profanity-free joyriding track “Rotation” to a song of raunchy reflection in “Mind Fuck.” If you’re going to see Big K.R.I.T. at Riverfest, be prepared to sweat because the guy is dedicated to keeping his fans moving. No worries though; Big Sant, his frequent collaborator, will splash much needed water into the

crowd. JM

Jake Owen

9:30 p.m. Miller Lite/Arkansas Federal Credit Union Stage (First Security Amphitheater) Everything I know about country star Jake Owen I learned from US Weekly: He hates mayonnaise. He’s not a cat guy. He has a twin brother named Jarrod. He can draw Mickey Mouse “pretty darn good.” He loves jazz. He loves to surprise people but hates it when people surprise him. He’s a really fast runner; he’s never lost a footrace. He doesn’t really like wine. His mom was National Watermelon Queen. He lost part of his finger in a go-kart related accident. LM

Girl Talk

9:45 p.m. Bud Light Stage (Clinton Presidential Center Park) Every music lover has had those moments, when you’re listening to a great song and you hear that one riff, that one sequence that just sets you off, scratches an itch in a far corner of your brain that only this song can scratch, and you skip back and listen to it over and over again. Girl Talk is an artist who’s built his entire career on finding those perfect little pieces, layering them on top of one another, and jamming eight or more songs into a single piece that’s something close

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2015 RIVERFEST

RIVERFEST LIVE ENTERTAINMENT SCHEDULE HOMECOMING: Conway’s Kris Allen performs on the Miller Light Stage 8 p.m. Friday.

Miller Lite/Arkansas Federal Credit Union Stage (First Security Amphitheater) 6:30 p.m. Just Sayin’ 8 p.m. Kris Allen 9:30 p.m. Sheryl Crow

FRIDAY, MAY 22

SATURDAY, MAY 23 11:30 a.m. Little Rock School of Dance 12:15 p.m. I CAN! Dance 1 p.m. KidSmart 1:45 p.m. O’Donovans School of Irish Dance 18

MAY 21, 2015

ARKANSAS TIMES

2015 RIVERFEST

2:30 p.m. Kyla Horton 3:30 p.m. Stephen Neeper & The Wild Hearts 4:45 p.m. Adam Hambrick 6 p.m. Ben Rector 7:45 p.m. Robert Earl Keen 9:30 p.m. Kip Moore SUNDAY, MAY 24 1:15 p.m. First Baptist Church, Vessels of Praise 2 p.m. Life Skills for Youth 2:45 p.m. Arkansas All Star Cloggers 3:30 p.m. Charlotte Leigh 4:30 p.m. The Roosevelts 6 p.m. Backroad Anthem 7:30 p.m. Sam Hunt 9:30 p.m. Jake Owen

Bud Light Stage (Clinton Presidential Center Park) FRIDAY, MAY 22 6:30 p.m. STARSET 8 p.m. The Pretty Reckless 9:45 p.m. Halestorm SATURDAY, MAY 23 1 p.m. Brothers & Company 2:15 p.m. American Lions 3:30 p.m. Recess 4:30 p.m. 40 Oz. to Freedom 6 p.m. Sister Hazel 8 p.m. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony 9:45 p.m. 311 SUNDAY, MAY 24 1:45 p.m. Weakness for Blondes 3:15 p.m. The Irie Lions 4:45 p.m. House of Shem (International Reggae band from New Zealand) 6:15 p.m. Galactic with Macy Gray 8 p.m. Big K.R.I.T. 9:45 p.m. Girl Talk

Stickyz Music Stage (Clinton Presidential Center Park) FRIDAY, MAY 22 6:30 p.m. The Salty Dogs 8 p.m. Swampbird 9:30 p.m. Gaelic Storm SATURDAY, MAY 23 12:30 p.m. People’s Republic of Casio Tones 1:45 p.m. Open Fields 3 p.m. Move Orchestra 4:15 p.m. Ghost Bones (2015 Arkansas Times Showcase Winner) 5:30 p.m. Bobgoblin 6:45 p.m. The Whigs 8:15 p.m. Vinyl Thief 9:45 p.m. Mansions on the Moon

1:30 p.m. Big Still River 2:45 p.m. Dead Soldiers 4 p.m. John Paul Keith 5:15 p.m. Adam Faucett & The Tall Grass 6:30 p.m. Leopold & His Fiction 7:45 p.m. Hot Buttered Rum 9:30 p.m. George Porter Jr. & His Runnin’ Pardners

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MAY 21, 2015

2015 RIVERFEST

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Arts Entertainment AND

BONE, BONE, BONE, BONE

An interview with Bone Thugs-N-Harmony’s Krayzie Bone. BY JAMES MURRAY

ping. Actually, people that would listen to us rap, they actually heard it before we even heard it. They were telling us, “That shit sound different! Y’all sound like y’all singin’ but y’all rappin’!” Back when we first started doing it, rapping and singing, it wasn’t cool to mix the two just yet. Also, Flesh and Layzie are brothers. Wish Bone is their cousin and me and Bizzy have been knowing each other since junior high and elementary school. So, you know, that chemistry over the years just gradually kept maturing. You guys are from Cleveland, and what I’ve noticed about certain rappers from the Midwest, like Twista, Do or Die, or Da Brat, is that you’re all pretty fast rappers. Do you think there’s something about the culture of the Midwest that lends to that?

t’s been more than 20 years since Bone Thugs-N-Harmony broke into the mainstream with songs like “Thuggish Ruggish Bone” and “For tha Love of $.” The Cleveland quintet’s melodic, rapid-fire delivery sounded like nothing else in rap, and it kept the group high on the charts for two more albums. But infighting and an assault and firearm conviction that sent member Flesh-n-Bone to prison threatened to permanently derail Bone throughout much of the 2000s. Still, the group persists, recently performing all of its classic “E. 1999 Eternal” on tour and talking about yet another comeback album. In advance of Bone’s appearance at Riverfest, I chatted with arguably the most popular member of the group, Krayzie Bone, about the development of the group’s sound, working with Tupac and the Notorious B.I.G., fan appreciation in the South and potentially being inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the group’s hometown of Cleveland.

it’s like I said, we kind of had the best of both worlds, which was good in a sense because it shaped us to be who we are as Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, with a different sound, a different flow and everything that comes with it.

Growing up in Cleveland, for you and the rest and the guys, who were some of your musical influences? Well, you know, growing up Cleveland, which was neutral at the time, we had the East Coast and the West Coast hip-hop scene. We had the best of both worlds. We started out with all the old school greats like Run-DMC, The Fat Boys, LL Cool J, Salt-N-Pepa, Kool Moe Dee, KRSOne. You know, all those people who really paved the way, DJ Kool Herc and all that. It goes back and runs deep for us. And then when the West Coast burst on the scene with Ice T, King Tee, Tone Loc, Easy-E and N.W.A., we actually felt more drawn to them because of the way we were living and came up in our city. So,

THUGGISH RUGGISH BONE: Bone Thugs-N-Harmony perform at Riverfest on the Bud Light Stage 8 p.m. Saturday.

I remember being younger and hearing you all and thinking “I’ve never heard anything like this. These guys are rapping and singing at the same time!” How exactly did you guys develop your sound? What I tell everybody is that it basically came about gradually as we spent more time together and hung out with each other. That’s where the harmony comes from. We knew each other so well, then we would rap. You know, we would add to each other’s verses and we knew exactly where to come in at. And then it started sounding like we were harmonizing while one person was rap-

Honestly, I really couldn’t pinpoint it. When me and my dudes came up, we never looked at it like that. There was no such thing as a Midwest style. It wasn’t even a Cleveland style for us. It was a Bone Thugs style. We had never heard anybody do it the way we did it. Of course, we heard of people like Twista with the speed-rapping a little bit, but they never took it to the level we took it to. And then I started to hear things about Twista and started to do research and heard he was out for a while. To me, it was kind of a coincidence that he was doing it in Chicago and we were doing it in Cleveland around the same time. So, I guess it is

something that’s bred from the Midwest. I really can’t pinpoint what it is. It’s like a lot of Midwest artists that come out, their sound is universal. It’s not assigned to a specific coast, East Coast, West Coast. It basically gave hip hop a facelift when we came in and picked up the pace, and everybody has been doing it ever since then. I know at the beginning of your careers Easy-E was a mentor to you all. What was that like? Man, it was crazy. It took us a while to come to the reality that we’re riding around with Easy-E — a dude that we looked up to, a dude that we used to listen to. It’s really unexplainable. It’s crazy because that’s everyone’s dream come true. When it happened for us, we didn’t expect it. We knew once somebody heard us and had the power to put us on, they would love what we were doing. When Easy heard us he was like, “That was insane! Yo, where y’all from?” From there, he paid for us to come back to California and from that, the rest is history. I know you guys had collaborations with both Tupac and Biggie. In working with them, what were some key differences in how they approached their art that you all noticed? Well, Tupac was a workaholic. Tupac would come right in the studio, put on a beat, knock that one out, take it off and put the next one on. Tupac would probably knock out five or six songs a night. To whereas Biggie comes in, he’s more relaxed, he’s more laid back. He’s listening to the track, he’s vibing to it. He’s sitting around getting his mind right and goes in and perfects it. Pac was more like “Rush, rush, let’s get it” and Biggie was more like, “I’m gonna take my time with this one.” But it both worked out perfect because those were their styles, those were their personalities. There’s particularly one song, the song you guys did with Biggie, “Notorious Thugs,” that I really like. And that was the first time I’d ever heard Biggie rap like that. It’s almost like he changed his style up to match you guys. What’d you think about that when you all heard it? We didn’t look at it as being flattered that people tried to rap like us, so we used CONTINUED ON PAGE 28

MAY 21, 2015

ARKANSAS TIMES

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

A&E NEWS THIS WEEK WE’RE SCREENING “The Right Stuff” as part of the Arkansas Times Film Series at the Ron Robinson Theater (co-sponsored by the Little Rock Film Festival). The film, adapted from Tom Wolfe’s 1979 best-selling book, focuses on Project Mercury, America’s first attempt at manned spaceflight. It was directed by Philip Kaufman (“The Unbearable Lightness of Being,” “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”), stars Ed Harris and Sam Shepard, was nominated for eight Academy Awards and is narrated by the great Levon Helm, 7 p.m. Thursday, $5. Next up in the series: Alfred Hitchcock’s spy-thriller masterpiece “North by Northwest” on June 18 and cult favorite documentary “Hands on a Hard Body” on July 16.

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THE WINNERS OF LAST WEEK’S 2015 Little Rock Film Festival were announced at Saturday’s Arkansas Times Festival Gala. GOLDEN ROCK AWARD FOR BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE: “Applesauce” GOLDEN ROCK AWARD FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: “Crocodile Gennadiy” CINEMATIC NONFICTION GRAND JURY WINNER: “Of Men and War” CINEMATIC NONFICTION SPECIAL GRAND JURY MENTION: “Sweaty Betty” ARKANSAS TIMES BEST SOUTHERN FILM WINNER: “Uncertain” CHARLES B. PIERCE AWARD FOR THE BEST FILM MADE IN ARKANSAS: “The Whispers” DOCUMENTARY WORLD SHORT WINNER: “The Many Sad Fates of Mr. Toledano” NARRATIVE WORLD SHORT WINNER: “The Way Things Are” BEST DIRECTOR OF A MADE IN ARKANSAS FILM: Jarrod Paul Beck (“Perfect Machine”) BEST PERFORMANCE IN A MADE IN ARKANSAS FILM: Andrew Walker (“The Grace of Jake”) BEST YOUTH FILM WINNER: “Pyro”

www.arktimes.com

MAY 21, 2015

THE TO-DO

LIST

BY WILL STEPHENSON

THURSDAY 5/21

BUTLER CENTER BOOKS LAUNCH PARTY

6 p.m. Main Library.

Whether you’ve noticed it or not, Butler Center Books, the publishing division of the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, has for several years now been quietly releasing an impressively expansive series documenting from all angles the culture, habits and history of the Natural State, with serious volumes on Central High, the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, the Razorbacks, Delta folktales, Sonny Burgess, the Clintons, the Black River, Civil War diaries and much more (to say nothing of classics like Jay Jennings’ collection of Charles Portis’ miscellany). Like James Joyce — who famously claimed that if Dublin were somehow destroyed, it could be rebuilt “brick by brick” based on his work — publisher Rod Lorenzen seems to be aiming for a kind of all-encompassing record with the Little Rock-based imprint, an ongoing museum in fragments. If the books can occasionally seem slow or dry, this is because entertainment isn’t always their first objective; they are, in a way, time capsules. The publishing company will celebrate its new releases, which include a monograph on the USS Arkansas and an edited volume on “Arkansas and the Great War” (notable largely for historian Michael D. Polston’s fascinating original research), Thursday night at the Main Library with wine and cheese. 24

MAY 21, 2015

ARKANSAS TIMES

NEW ATLANTA: Slang plays at Stickyz with The Dangerous Idiots, The Federalis and The Hacking 8 p.m. Thursday, $5.

THURSDAY 5/21

SLANG

8 p.m. Stickyz. $5.

The novelist and critic Gore Vidal once wrote that Coca-Cola was “Georgia’s sole gift” to the rest of the country, and there are many who might agree with him. I never liked Coca-Cola much, though, and I especially never liked Gore Vidal. What about James Brown, Gore? What about Flannery O’Connor and Outkast and Little Richard and Harry Crews and the damn “Vampire Diaries”? I’m from the Southwest corner of the state, a fairly small town that nevertheless managed, over the

years, to produce Ray Charles and Luke “That’s My Kind of Night” Bryan. Fuck Gore Vidal, in other words. Incidentally, the man probably just didn’t care much for pop music. He wrote the line in question in 1980, the year before R.E.M. released “Radio Free Europe” and — along with Pylon, The Method Actors, The B-52’s, et al. — rendered Georgia the primary conduit for American post-punk, a fusion of pummeling art rock and post-soul syncopation that was also a rejection of punk’s crypto-fascist tendencies and an embrace of funk’s rhythmic innovations. Others did it first, but Georgia made it strange and

distinct, gave it a Southern accent and a second-hand blazer. Sometimes the present-day indie rock cultures of Atlanta and Athens can seem like drowsy aftershocks from that initial, long-ago displaced fault plane. But Slang, a new Atlanta band sharing a bill with The Dangerous Idiots, The Federalis and The Hacking this weekend, doesn’t care much for these types of quandaries, which are after all mostly not interesting. The band is sharp and literate and upbeat and funny. It combines, as Christopher Hitchens once wrote of Gore Vidal, “tough-mindedness with subversive wit.”

anyway as “insouciant explorers, tossing the paddles overboard and drifting on the currents of their lackadaisical curiosity across a rippling sonic ocean.” Nice! The band is good and increasingly well known for making easygoing, reverb-heavy pop songs. Rippling sonic ocean or not, the

group will be familiar to and appreciated by fans of The Strokes or The Kinks or, better yet, The Troggs. See Gringo Star live in historic Hot Springs, alongside Dreamers and The Federalis and the healing waters of the nearby Spa City bathhouses.

FRIDAY 5/22

GRINGO STAR

9 p.m., Maxine’s, Hot Springs.

Speaking of contemporary Atlanta bands, there is also Gringo Star, a straightforward-enough indie rock band whose PR materials go ahead and describe it

IN BRIEF

THURSDAY 5/21 FRIDAY 5/22-SATURDAY 5/30

‘THE MEMBER OF THE WEDDING’

7:30 p.m. Weekend Theater. $12-$16.

Carson McCullers is probably the second most famous writer of Southern Gothic fiction to hail from Georgia, the daughter of a watchmaker who became famous at the age of 23 with the publication of her first novel, “The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter.” That book was released a year after her divorce from a man named Reeves McCullers, who she

would remarry four years later (he committed suicide in 1953). In the interim, she lived in a Brooklyn commune that also hosted W.H. Auden, Gypsy Rose Lee and Paul and Jane Bowles. It was her time there that, according to a 2012 essay in The Guardian, inspired her third novel, “The Member of the Wedding.” She described the book in a letter to her husband as “one of those works that the least slip can ruin. It must be beautifully done. For like a poem there is not much excuse for it otherwise.” It

is about a sad, solitary 12-year-old girl (“an unjoined person who hung around in doorways,” McCullers writes) who dreams of accompanying her brother and his new wife on their honeymoon to Alaska. The Guardian deemed it a “female ‘Catcher in the Rye’ for the American South,” and its champions have included Sylvia Plath. The stage adaption, currently playing at the Weekend Theater, premiered on Broadway in 1950.

SATURDAY 5/23

‘COLORS OF RHYTHM’ PERCUSSION CONCERT 6 p.m. UALR Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall. $15.

CISSY STRUT: The Meters’ bassist George Porter Jr., appears at the Stickyz Stage 9:30 p.m. Sunday.

FRIDAY 5/22–SUNDAY 5/24

STICKYZ RIVERFEST STAGE

6:45 p.m. Friday, 12:30 p.m. Saturday, 1:30 p.m. Sunday.

Riverfest is the monolithic, nearunavoidable entertainment colossus of the weekend, and anyone looking for Sheryl Crow or 311 should have no problem feeling his or her way to the Miller Lite and Bud Light stages, respectively (just follow the smell of funnel cake and vape pens). But there is also an alternative Riverfest held each year in the heart of the chaos, highlighting local favorites and headliners too niche to be sponsored by beer manufactures: the Stickyz Stage. Friday night, you can

catch local country favorites The Salty Dogs, Swampbird and headliners Gaelic Storm, a traditional Celtic outfit who starred in “Titanic” and can be found most years hovering at the top of the Billboard World Music Charts. Saturday features Open Fields, Ghost Bones (the 2015 Arkansas Times Musicians Showcase winner), The Whigs, Nashville indie pop band Vinyl Thief and Diplo-and-Pharrell-collaborators Mansions on the Moon. On Sunday, finally, John Paul Keith and Adam Faucett open for Bay Area bluegrass group Hot Buttered Rum and George Porter Jr., former bass player for funk innovators The Meters.

The Indian tabla virtuoso Ustad Qureshi Alla Rakha Khan was born in 1919, went on to become a frequent accompanist of Ravi Shankar (and a stated influence on the Grateful Dead’s Mickey Hart) and eventually begat three sons, all of them also accomplished tabla performers: the Grammy Award winner Zakir Hussain, Fazal Querishi and Taufiq Querishi, who has since forsaken his father’s instrument to distinguish himself as a pioneer on the djembe. Taufiq has described his talent as a “feel for the world of sound with all its intricate nuances.” He is known for his ability to imitate, in concerts, the precise sound of human breath, or a bottle shattering, or a train arriving at a station. He performs at UALR this weekend in an Indian percussion trio called the “Colors of Rhythm,” along with Pandit Ramdas Palsule, on the tabla, and Pandit Milind Tulankar, who will play the harmonium and the jaltarang, one of the oldest instruments in the world — a semi-circle of ceramic bowls filled with varying amounts of water.

This month in the Arkansas Times Film Series we’re screening Philip Kaufman’s “The Right Stuff,” based on Tom Wolfe’s best-selling book and narrated by Levon Helm, Ron Robinson Theater, 7 p.m., $5. Comedian Drew Thomas is at the Loony Bin at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, $7 (and at 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, $10). Guitarist Vicki Genfan performs at The Joint as part of the Argenta Arts Acoustic Music Series, 7:30 p.m. Joe Buck, former member of Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers and sideman for Hank Williams III, performs at White Water Tavern with The Dirty Streets, 9 p.m., $7. Sway hosts “Blood and Rhinestones: A F!@#$%G Variety Show,” a benefit for Lucie’s Place, 9 p.m., $5.

FRIDAY 5/22 That Arkansas Weather return to the Afterthought, 9 p.m., $7-$12. Athens, Ga., garage rock band The Whigs play at George’s Majestic Lounge in Fayetteville, 9:30 p.m., $10. 2014 Arkansas Times Musicians Showcase winner Mad Nomad performs at White Water Tavern, 9:30 p.m. Comforter plays at The Lightbulb Club in Fayetteville with Forever Blowing Bubbles and Rival Monsters, 10 p.m.

SATURDAY 5/23 Charlotte Taylor and Gypsy Rain perform at the Afterthought, 9 p.m., $7-$12. Wick-It The Instigator, Mouth and Coyote Union are at Revolution, 9 p.m., $10 adv., $12 day of. Sublime tribute band 40 Oz To Freedom play at Stickyz, 9:30 p.m., $5-$10. Local favorites Sea Nanners and The Coasts are at White Water Tavern, 9:30 p.m. Helen Kelter Skelter and Bik Fliqqr play at The Lightbulb Club in Fayetteville, 10 p.m.

TUESDAY 5/26 Storytelling series “Tales from the South” is presented at Stickyz at 6:30 p.m. The Arkansas Travelers play the San Antonio Missions at DickeyStephens Park, 7:10 p.m. (through Thursday, May 28), $6-$12. Local punk band Trophy Boyfriends play a benefit for KABF-FM, 88.3. at White Water Tavern, 10 p.m.

WEDNESDAY 5/27 Nashville (by way of Fort Smith) songwriter Luke Pruitt performs at South on Main as part of its free Local Live concert series, 7:30 p.m. Like Moths To Flame plays at Juanita’s with Sylar, From Ashes to New and Descended From Wolves, 7:30 p.m., $12. www.arktimes.com

MAY 21, 2015

AFTER DARK Riverfest. Downtown Little Rock, May 22-24, $25. Downtown. Route 66. Agora Conference and Special Event Center, 6:30 p.m., $5. 705 E. Siebenmorgan, Conway. Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 9 p.m., free. 111 Markham St. 501-370-7013. www.capitalbarandgrill.com/. That Arkansas Weather. Afterthought Bistro and Bar, 9 p.m., $7-$12. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501663-1196. www.afterthoughtbistroandbar.com. Third Degree (headliner), Some Guy Named Robb (happy hour). Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 and 9 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. www. cajunswharf.com. Upscale Friday. IV Corners, 7 p.m. 824 W Capitol Ave. The Whigs. George’s Majestic Lounge, 9:30 p.m., $10. 519 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville. 479-4424226.

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

THURSDAY, MAY 21

MUSIC

Arkansas River Blues Society Thursday Jam. Revolution, 7 p.m., free. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-823-0090. www.rumbarevolution.com/ new/. Blood and Rhinestones: A F!@#$%G Variety Show. A benefit for Lucie’s Place. Sway, 9 p.m., $5. 412 Louisiana. 501-907-2582. Even Odds (headliner), Smokey (happy hour). Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 and 9 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. www.cajunswharf.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. Jim Dickerson. Sonny Williams’ Steak Room, 7 p.m. 500 President Clinton Ave. 501-324-2999. www.sonnywilliamssteakroom.com. Joe Buck Yourself, The Dirty Streets. White Water Tavern, 9 p.m., $7. 2500 W. 7th St. 501375-8400. www.whitewatertavern.com. Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 President Clinton Ave. 501-3724782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com. Open Jam. Thirst n’ Howl, 8 p.m. 14710 Cantrell Road. 501-379-8189. www.thirst-n-howl.com. Open jam with The Port Arthur Band. Parrot Beach Cafe, 9 p.m. 9611 MacArthur Drive, NLR. 771-2994. RockUsaurus. Senor Tequila, 7-9 p.m. 10300 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501-224-5505. Roderick. Another Round Pub, 7:30 p.m. 12111 W. Markham. 501-313-2612. www.anotherroundpub.com. Slang, The Dangerous Idiots, The Federalis, The Hacking. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 8 p.m., $5. 107 River Market Ave. 501-372-7707. www.stickyz.com. Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 7:30 p.m., free. 111 Markham St. 501-370-7013. www.capitalbarandgrill.com/. Vicki Genfan. Argenta Arts Acoustic Music Series. The Joint, 7:30 p.m. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501-372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com.

COMEDY

Drew Thomas. The Loony Bin, through May 23, 7:30 p.m., $7. 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 p.m., free. 100 Central Ave., Hot Springs.

POETRY

POETluck. Literary salon and potluck. The Writer’s Colony at Dairy Hollow, third Thursday of every month, 6 p.m. 515 Spring St., Eureka Springs. 479-253-7444.

BOOKS

Butler Center Books 2015 Launch Party. Main Library, 6 p.m. 100 S. Rock St. www.cals.lib.ar.us.

COMEDY

INFINITY AND BEYOND: This month we’re screening “The Right Stuff” as part of the Arkansas Times Film Series at the Ron Robinson Theater. The film, adapted from Tom Wolfe’s 1979 best-selling book, focuses on the lead-up to Project Mercury, America’s first attempt at manned spaceflight. It was directed by Philip Kaufman, stars Ed Harris and Sam Shepard, and is narrated by the great Levon Helm, 7 p.m. Thursday, $5

FRIDAY, MAY 22

MUSIC

All In Fridays. Club Elevations. 7200 Colonel Glenn Road. 501-562-3317. Almost Infamous. Pleasant Valley Country Club, 8 p.m. 1 Pleasant Valley Drive. 501-225-5622. www.pleasantvalleycountryclub.net. Club Nights at 1620 Savoy. Dance night, with DJs, drink specials and bar menu, until 2 a.m. 1620 Savoy, 10 p.m. 1620 Market St. 501-2211620. www.1620savoy.com. Comforter, Forever Blowing Bubbles, Rival Monsters. The Lightbulb Club, 10 p.m. 21 N. Block Ave., Fayetteville. 479-444-6100. The Harmaleighs. Vino’s. 923 W. 7th St. 501-3758466. www.vinosbrewpub.com. Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 President Clinton Ave. 501-3724782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com. Lucious Spiller Band. Revolution, 10 p.m., $5-$10. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-823-0090. www. rumbarevolution.com/new/. Mad Nomad. White Water Tavern, 9:30 p.m. 2500 W. 7th St. 501-375-8400. www.whitewatertavern.com.

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Drew Thomas. The Loony Bin, through May 23, 7:30 p.m., $7. 10301 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501-228-5555. www.loonybincomedy.com. “I Love You But You’re Sitting On My Cat.” An original production by The Main Thing. The Joint, 8 p.m., $22. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501-372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com.

DANCE

Ballroom Dancing. Free lessons begin at 7 p.m. Bess Chisum Stephens Community Center, 8-11 p.m., $7-$13. 12th & Cleveland streets. 501-2217568. www.blsdance.org. Contra Dance. Park Hill Presbyterian Church, first and third Friday of every month, 7:30 p.m.; Fourth Friday of every month, 7:30 p.m., $5. 3520 JFK Blvd., NLR. arkansascountrydance.org. “Salsa Night.” Begins with a one-hour salsa lesson. Juanita’s, 9 p.m., $8. 614 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-1228. www.littlerocksalsa.com.

EVENTS

MAY 21, 2015

ARKANSAS TIMES

COMEDY

LGBTQ/SGL weekly meeting. Diverse Youth for Social Change is a group for LGBTQ/SGL and straight ally youth and young adults age 14 to 23. For more information, call 244-9690 or search “DYSC” on Facebook. LGBTQ/SGL Youth and Young Adult Group, 6:30 p.m. 800 Scott St. Splash Zone 10 Year Anniversary. Splash Zone, 6 p.m., $5. 201 W. Martin St., Jacksonville. 9827946.

Drew Thomas. The Loony Bin, 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m., $7-$10. 10301 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501-228-5555. www.loonybincomedy.com. “I Love You But You’re Sitting On My Cat.” An original production by The Main Thing. The Joint, 8 p.m., $22. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501-372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com.

FILM

Falun Gong meditation. Allsopp Park, 9 a.m., free. Cantrell & Cedar Hill Roads. Hillcrest Farmers Market. Pulaski Heights Baptist Church, 7 a.m.-2 p.m. 2200 Kavanaugh Blvd. Historic Neighborhoods Tour. Bike tour of historic neighborhoods includes bike, guide, helmets and maps. Bobby’s Bike Hike, 9 a.m., $8-$28. 400 President Clinton Ave. 501-613-7001. Little Rock Farmers’ Market. River Market Pavilions, through Oct. 31: 7 a.m. 400 President Clinton Ave. 375-2552. www.rivermarket.info. Pork & Bourbon Tour. Bike tour includes bicycle, guide, helmets and maps. Bobby’s Bike Hike, 11:30 a.m., $35-$45. 400 President Clinton Ave. 501-613-7001.

Arkansas Historic Places Student Film Prize. Ron Robinson Theater, 6 p.m., free. 1 Pulaski Way. 501-320-5703. www.cals.lib.ar.us/ron-robinson-theater.aspx.

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MUSIC

40 Oz To Freedom. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 9:30 p.m., $5-$10. 107 River Market Ave. 501-372-7707. www.stickyz.com. Canvas. Another Round Pub. 12111 W. Markham. 501-313-2612. www.anotherroundpub.com. Charlotte Taylor and Gypsy Rain. Afterthought Bistro & Bar, 9 p.m., $7-$12. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www.afterthoughtbistroandbar.com/. Club Nights at 1620 Savoy. See May. 22. Helen Kelter Skelter, Bik Fliqqr. The Lightbulb Club, 10 p.m. 21 N. Block Ave., Fayetteville. 479-444-6100. Jet 420 (headliner), Ben Byers (happy hour). Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 and 9 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. www.cajunswharf.com. K.I.S.S. Saturdays. Featuring DJ Silky Slim. Dress code enforced. Sway, 10 p.m. 412 Louisiana. 501-492-9802. Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 President Clinton Ave. 501-3724782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com. Percussion Concert, “Colors of Rhythm.” UALR, Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall, 6 p.m., $15. 2801 S. University Ave. 501-569-8977. 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. Riverfest. Downtown Little Rock, through May 24, $25. Downtown. Sea Nanners, The Coasts. White Water Tavern, 9:30 p.m. 2500 W. 7th St. 501-375-8400. www. whitewatertavern.com. Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 9 p.m., free. 111 Markham St. 501-370-7013. www.capitalbarandgrill.com/. Wick-It The Instigator, Mouth, Coyote Union. Revolution, 9 p.m., $10 adv., $12 day of. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-823-0090. www.rumbarevolution.com/new/.

Wrightsville Optimist Club Fundraiser. Wrightsville City Hall, 10 a.m., $8. 13022 Hwy. 365, Wrightsville. 501-897-4547.

SUNDAY, MAY 24

MUSIC

Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 President Clinton Ave. 501-3724782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com. Riverfest. Downtown Little Rock, through, $25. Downtown. Rodney Block and The Real Music Lovers, Dell Smith, Corey Overton, DJ Hudson. Revolution, 9 p.m., $10. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-8230090. www.rumbarevolution.com/new/.

MONDAY, MAY 25

MUSIC

Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 President Clinton Ave. 501-3724782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com. Monday Night Jazz. Afterthought Bistro & Bar, 8 p.m., $5. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www.afterthoughtbistroandbar.com/. Open Mic. The Lobby Bar. Studio Theatre, 8 p.m. 320 W. 7th St. Richie Johnson. Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. www.cajunswharf. com.

TUESDAY, MAY 26

MUSIC

Irish Traditional Music Sessions. Hibernia Irish Tavern, second and Fourth Tuesday of every month, 7-9 p.m. 9700 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501-246-4340. www.hiberniairishtavern.com. Jeff Ling. Khalil’s Pub, 6 p.m. 110 S. Shackleford Road. 501-224-0224. www.khalilspub.com. Jim Dickerson. Sonny Williams’ Steak Room, 7 p.m. 500 President Clinton Ave. 501-324-2999. www.sonnywilliamssteakroom.com. Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 President Clinton Ave. 501-3724782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com. Music Jam. Hosted by Elliott Griffen and Joseph Fuller. The Joint, 8-11 p.m., free. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501-372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com. Trophy Boyfriends. A benefit for KABF 88.3FM. White Water Tavern, 10 p.m. 2500 W. 7th St. 501-375-8400. www.whitewatertavern.com. Tuesday Jam Session with Carl Mouton. Afterthought Bistro & Bar, 8 p.m., free. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www.afterthoughtbistroandbar.com/.

COMEDY

Stand-Up Tuesday. Hosted by Adam Hogg. The Joint, 8 p.m., $5. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com.

DANCE

“Latin Night.” Juanita’s, 7:30 p.m., $7. 614 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-1228. www.littlerocksalsa.com.

EVENTS

Tales from the South. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 6:30 p.m. 107 River Market Ave. 501-372-7707. www.stickyz.com. Trivia Bowl. Flying Saucer, 8:30 p.m. 323 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-8032. www.beerknurd. com/stores/littlerock.

SPORTS

Arkansas Travelers vs. San Antonio. DickeyStephens Park, May 26-28, 7:10 p.m., $6-$12. 400 W. Broadway St., NLR. 501-664-1555. www.

travs.com.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 27

MUSIC

Acoustic Open Mic. Afterthought Bistro & Bar, 8 p.m., free. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www.afterthoughtbistroandbar.com/. Brian and Nick. Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. www.cajunswharf. com. Drageoke with Chi Chi Valdez. Sway. 412 Louisiana. 501-907-2582. Jim Dickerson. Sonny Williams’ Steak Room, 7 p.m. 500 President Clinton Ave. 501-324-2999. www.sonnywilliamssteakroom.com. Like Moths To Flames, Sylar, Ahses to New, Descended From Wolves. Juanita’s, 7:30 p.m., $12. 614 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-1228. www.juanitas.com. Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 President Clinton Ave. 501-3724782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com. Luke Pruitt. South on Main, 7:30 p.m., free. 1304 Main St. 501-244-9660. southonmain.com. Open Mic Nite with Deuce. Thirst n’ Howl, 7:30 p.m., free. 14710 Cantrell Road. 501-379-8189. www.thirst-n-howl.com. Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 7:30 p.m., free. 111 Markham St. 501-370-7013. www.capitalbarandgrill.com/.

All American Food & Great Place to Watch Your Favorite Event

COMEDY

The Joint Venture. Improv comedy group. The Joint, 8 p.m., $7. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com.

DANCE

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

POETRY

Wednesday Night Poetry. 21-and-older show. Maxine’s, 7 p.m., free. 700 Central Ave., Hot Springs. 501-321-0909. maxineslive.com/shows. html.

SONNY DOES MORE THAN STEAK!

SPORTS

Arkansas Travelers vs. San Antonio. DickeyStephens Park, through May 28, 7:10 p.m., $6-$12. 400 W. Broadway St., NLR. 501-6641555. www.travs.com.

ARTS

THEATER

“The Member of the Wedding’. The Weekend Theater, through May 30: Fri., Sat., 7:30 p.m., $16. 1001 W. 7th St. 501-374-3761. www.weekendtheater.org.

O f W in e - 33 5 Se le ct io ns s - 35 By Th e Gl as ss ro m Ac - Fin e Sp ir its Fr o Th e Wo rl d o m Ev er y - Sc otc h Lis t Fr an d Re gi o n O f Sc otl Bo ur bo ns - 6 Sin gl e- Ba rr el

NEW GALLERY EXHIBITS, EVENTS New shows in bold-face MUGS CAFE, 515 Main St., NLR: “From Stars to Sidewalks,” works by printmakers Jorey May and Regan Renfro. 442-7778. BENTONVILLE

Free Valet Parking In The River Market District • 501.324.2999

s o n n y w i l l i a m s s t e a k ro o m . c o m www.arktimes.com

MAY 21, 2015

AFTER DARK, CONT. CRYSTAL BRIDGES MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART, One Museum Way: “American Encounters: The Simple Pleasures of Still Life,” 10 still life paintings from the 17th and 18th centuries from the High Museum, the Terra Foundation, the Louvre and the Crystal Bridges collection, through Sept. 14, meet and greet with sculptor Alice Aycock, 6:30-7 p.m. May 21, followed by Spotlight Conversation with Aycock 8-9 p.m.; “Fish Stories: Early Images of American Game Fish,” 20 color plates based on the original watercolors by sporting artist Samuel Kilbourne, through Sept. 21; “Van Gogh to Rothko,” masterworks from the Albright-Knox Gallery, through June 1; American masterworks spanning four centuries. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon., Thu.; 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Wed., Fri.; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sat.-Sun., closed Tue. 479-418-5700.

CALL FOR ENTRIES

The University of Arkansas at Fort Smith is accepting photographs taken with mobile devices for its second “Explore Arkansas” exhibition July 1-Aug. 31. Submissions will be accepted through May 22. Register through @ArkMoPhys on Instagram or Twitter or the ArkMoPhs Facebook page. Judges are Cindy Momchilov, Don Lee, Chad Cochran and Chuck Dovish. The Arkansas Arts Council is accepting applications from performing, literary or visual artist who would like to join the Arts in Education Artist Roster. Call Cynthia Haas at 324-9769 or email Cynthia@arkansasher-

itage.org for more information. Deadline is July 10. The Fort Smith Regional Art Museum is accepting entries for a show themed “Man versus Machine: The Art of Expression and the Wired World” to run July 31 to Nov. 1. Deadline is July 1. Submissions should be sent to FS RAM, 1601 Rogers Ave., Fort Smith 72901. Call 479-784-2787.

CONTINUING GALLERY EXHIBITS ARGENTA GALLERY, 413 Main St., NLR: “Lend Me Your Eyes: An adventure in collaborative curating between UALR and Art Connection,” work by graduating BFA students and students from the Art Connection program. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat. argentagallery.com. ARKANSAS ARTS CENTER, MacArthur Park: “54th Young Artists Exhibition,” art by Arkansas students grades K-12, through July 26; “30 Americans,” works by African American artists from the Rubell Collection, through June 21; “Humble Hum: Rhythm of the Potter’s Wheel,” recent work by resident artist Ashley Morrison, Museum School Gallery, through June 21. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat., 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sun. 372-4000. CANTRELL GALLERY, 8206 Cantrell Road: “The Quiet Hours,” paintings by John Wooldridge, through July 10. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat. 2241335. GALLERY 26, 2601 Kavanaugh Blvd.: New work by Robert Bean and Stephen Cefalo, through July 11. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tue.-Sat. 664-8996.

THE SECRET SERVICE, CONT. Young said that recent estimates are that there are at least 15,000 active duty transgender soldiers, sailors and airmen in the U.S. military, and upwards of 100,000 vets, though it’s a number that’s hard to pin down because so many are still in hiding. Young said that transgender people who are able to fly under the radar are often among the most capable soldiers. “You’ll find that we are highly functional and some of the best soldiers out there, mainly because we’re trying to not draw attention to ourselves,” he said. “It’s harder to be kicked out [of the Army for being trans], but it can still happen. As far as with the other services, there’s been no easing of the regulations. It’s considered a medical condition, and you can be disqualified and kicked out without any benefits, nothing. You can serve 19 years and 11 months and get kicked out and have nothing.” Young said that in the case of the Army, the decision was made to place the fate of transgender service members who are outed or who out themselves in the hands of high-level commanders, something Young would like to see in all branches of the service. “The authority has been taken away 28

MAY 21, 2015

ARKANSAS TIMES

from the mid-level officers,” Young said. “If somebody says they’re transgender, it now has to go all the way up the chain of command, and you have to have reason to discharge the person other than they’re just transgender.” Young said the ban on transgender people in the military is forcing high quality service people out of the armed forces. Young said the story with transgender people in the military is the same as it was with gay and lesbians in the military. “It would just make it easier for use to do our jobs and not have to worry about losing our career,” he said. “It would allow us to serve. We’re already serving. We’re already there. You just don’t know it.” Rae Nelson agrees. Having recently received her nursing degree, she said that if the ban on transgender service members is lifted, she would consider going back on active duty. While she said the reaction of her commander gives her hope that things are changing, she wishes it had changed fast enough to allow her to stay in uniform. “It’s just ignorance and misunderstanding of transpeople and who we are,” she said.

BONE, BONE, BONE, BONE, CONT. to take offense to it unless you paid homage. Now, when Tupac came and he did his thing we were like, “It’s dope that he came in and did his thing and didn’t try to sound like us.” He did his thing and still held his own. We liked that. But when Big came in, because he’s from New York, Brooklyn, we weren’t even expecting Big to even try to attempt to step in the arena with us. And the way he did was so cold and authentic, we were like “This nigga killed it!” So it worked out perfect. I know you’ve done some collaborations with Southern rappers like Gangsta Boo of Three 6 Mafia and Chamillionaire. Do you think the South has shown Bone Thugs-N-Harmony respect over the years? Most definitely, man. We’ve always had love in the South. You may not hear it as much as you hear it in the Midwest and the West Coast. I say the region we’re shown the least respect in is the East Coast. But they show us respect in the streets. To me, the radio and all that mainstream shit doesn’t even matter. As long as people are hearing us and vibing and respecting us in the streets, that’s all that counts. So, it’s like the South has been down with us from day one. And even to this day, I talk to Gangsta Boo. We’re still cool. From everything that Three 6 Mafia has done, the Geto Boys. Man, everybody from the South every time we see them they show us love. It’s definitely love in the South. Who are some artists you’re listening to nowadays? I’m always checking out what’s out there, to what the youngsters are listening to, to see if it’s worth listening to. A lot of it, I feel like it ain’t. Some of it is cool. I feel like there’s a lot of mixed-up concepts as to what hip hop really is, what it should be and what it was. I understand that times change, but people have to understand what hip hop has done for generations. Hip hop has brought people out of poverty. The culture has been adopted by so many people, not just in America, but other countries, too. We have done a lot in hip hop, and I think it should be respected as such. It should never be looked at as cheap or as just a quick way to make money. People gotta understand that we were given this blessing for a reason, and it’s not just to brag and talk about ourselves all day. What qualities do you think Bone Thugs-N-Harmony have that have allowed the group to withstand the test of time, especially in a genre like rap where careers dissolve so fast?

I would say being genuine, being who we are. A lot of artists come in today already trying to sound like somebody because that’s what their record labels want them to do. Record labels these days don’t push individuality, they don’t push being original. When that runs its course, you’re that same dude on the corner that was wanting for a deal before you had those two or three hits and now you’re looking serious because you see the record label misused you. So, we were always able to realize that and be like, y’all aren’t going to tell us what we’re going to rap about. Y’all aren’t going to tell us who we are because we already know that. We came in and connected emotionally with people because we were talking about real subject matters. We were talking stuff people were dealing with on a day-to-day basis, and we still do. That’s what artists don’t understand. They come out with these songs and follow the trends, but they don’t understand that the trend is exactly what it is, a fad, and fads die out. You all have been in the rap game for over 20 years now. What would it mean for Bone Thugs-N-Harmony to be inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in your hometown of Cleveland? That would be a wonderful goal to achieve. I’m not saying that I’m super excited and that my whole main goal and purpose is to make it into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. All those accolades that you receive for doing what you do is good, it’s great and some people like it. To me, I really don’t need trophies and my name in prominent places to understand what we have done for the world, our fans and the genre of hip hop because I understand fully what we’ve brought to the table even if people don’t give us our just dues. I’m going to the grave knowing what I’ve done and no one can ever take that away, and I’m happy in my own scheme. What can someone expect at a Bone Thugs-N-Harmony concert? They can expect nothing but pure energy, the hits that they grew up loving. They can expect to see a show and see us perform like we’re 21 or 19 years old. We feed off the energy from our fans and they feed off of us. We’re going to go hard. We come in and go ham, for real. Can we expect all five members at Riverfest? We’re scheduled to go like that, so hopefully everything works out and everybody is in the building.

MOVIE REVIEW

12th Annual

RETURN OF ‘MAD MAX’: Charlize Theron stars.

Hotrod heaven New “Mad Max” full of death defying stunts and sublimely tricked-out cars. BY SAM EIFLING

ill now, movies have simply been going through the motions — frame, shot, action, cut, edits, whatever. All movies have been exposed as the milquetoast hackwork they are, by the movie literally to end all movies, “Mad Max: Fury Road.” Cineplexes have yet to pull other films to make way for “Fury Road,” but we should consider it only a matter of time. All the rest of the movies have just been made. Hollywood can close up shop. There is nothing but parched orange desert stretching off into the future. The culture has been decided, and “Fury Road” has won it by knockout during two hours of how-did-anyonesurvive-this stunt work. The particulars of this exercise — in essence, a feature-length car chase set in the nearest thing the location scout could find to actual hell — should surprise you only if you’ve somehow missed the trailers for this blitz. Every vehicle in this post-nuclear apocalyptic wasteland is a mashup of seemingly two or three former cars or trucks or motorcycles, as conceived by the criminally insane guy at the back of your civics class, carving hot rods into his desk with a switchblade. George Miller — who directed the previous three “Mad Max” movies and, more recently, um, “Babe: Pig in the City” — insists that the nightmare machines in his movies need to be functional, which is why the disfigured dude in the red onesie suspended in front of a mobile mountain of speakers is playing double metal flamethrower guitar that really does work. The sheer quantity of machines is dizzying. Max (Tom Hardy, grunting as high art) explains early on that his world is only fire and blood. More to the point, it’s about munitions and fuel. He gets kidnapped from his lonely desert driving rounds and dragged back to a mountain fortress called the Citadel, ruled by a

bleached-out tyrant named Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne, a holdover from the first “Mad Max”) and staffed by a gaggle of goons who favor a Día de Los Muertos aesthetic: blackened eyes around skull-white skin and shaved heads. He’s being used as a human bloodbag when a lieutenant, Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron), kicks the action into gear by diverting a fuel run to points unknown with Immortan Joe’s several young wives stowed away. This sets off an epic womanhunt across the desert (shot in Australia and Namibia) that’s later joined by generals from nearby settlements bearing names like the Bullet Farmer and the People Eater. Other than that, there’s just not a whole lot of backstory to explain. Civilization has collapsed and now everyone is really, really thirsty. The original “Mad Max” cost director Miller something like a third of a million bucks to make, and raked in $100 million worldwide in return, the greatest return on a movie for the 20 years afterward. This is the fourth installment, offered up after a 30-year wait, long enough for the originals to have cooled sufficiently. You could call this a reboot if you were so inclined. More accurately it’s a jackboot to the teeth. The presentation skews operatic in its scale and dark grandeur, all explosions and attacks and sprays of rustcolored dust and chrome paint sprayed in faces like aerosol cocaine in a can. It lets you stop to take a breath only so there’s something in your lungs to expel when it punches you again a moment later. To offer a plausible critique to this spectacle: It offers only slightly more character development than your average Cirque du Soleil show. Max offers less of himself, has fewer full-sentence lines, than any title character in recent memory. Furiosa gives us a bit more; she has motivation, and is fighting against

Conway Pride Parade & Festival Sunday, June 7 2:00 pm Entertainment Food Vendors Fun! Parade Line-up: 1:00 pm at The Pink House (1605 Robinson Ave) Festival: Simon Park (805 Front St) Join us for “Sordid Lives” by Del Shores at the Lantern Theater June 4-6, 11-13

Special Guest Emcee: Queen Anthony James Gerard

CONTINUED ON PAGE 39 www.arktimes.com

MAY 21, 2015

Dining

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

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

WHAT’S COOKIN’ LEE EDWARDS, LONGTIME BEVERAGE director for Yellow Rocket Concepts, announced this week that he was leaving the Little Rock-based restaurant group to take a job with Haus Alpenz, a beverage importer. Edwards was instrumental in developing the bar programs at ZAZA, Big Orange, Local Lime and most recently Heights Taco & Tamale; he also worked previously at Capital Bar and Grill. Edwards’ move will take him to Kansas City. Said Edwards on Facebook, “Little Rock has been incredible to me, both personally and professionally. I leave [Little Rock] very proud of the beverage programs that I was fortunate to be able to help create.”

DINING CAPSULES

AMERICAN

B-SIDE The little breakfast place in the former party room of Lilly’s DimSum Then Some turns tradition on its ear, offering French toast wrapped in bacon on a stick, a must-have dish called “biscuit mountain” and beignets with lemon curd. 11121 Rodney Parham Road. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-716-2700. B-BR Sat.-Sun. BAR LOUIE Mammoth portions of very decent bar/bistro fare with an amazingly varied menu that should satisfy every taste. Some excellent drink deals abound, too. 11525 Cantrell Road, Suite 924. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-228-0444. LD daily, BR Sat.-Sun. CATFISH CITY AND BBQ GRILL Basic fried fish and sides, including green tomato pickles, and now with tasty ribs and sandwiches in beef, pork and sausage. 1817 S. University Ave. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-663-7224. LD Tue.-Sat. CHEERS IN THE HEIGHTS Good burgers and sandwiches, vegetarian offerings and salads at lunch, and fish specials 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. CHICKEN WANG & CAFE Regular, barbecue, spicy, lemon, garlic pepper, honey mustard and Buffalo wings. Open late. 8320 Colonel Glenn Road. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-562-1303. LD Mon.-Sat.

ASIAN

SUPER KING BUFFET Large buffet with sushi and a Mongolian grill. 4000 Springhill Plaza Court. NLR. Beer and wine, All CC. $-$$. 501-945-4802. LD daily. THE SOUTHERN GOURMASIAN Delicious Southern-Asian fusion. We crave the pork buns. Made the transition from food truck to brickand-mortar in 2015 to rave reviews. 219 West Capitol. Beer and wine, All CC. $-$$. 501-3135645. LD Mon.-Sat. VAN LANG CUISINE Terrific Vietnamese cuisine, particularly the way the pork dishes and the assortment of rolls are presented. Great prices, too. Massive menu, but it’s user-friendly 30

MAY 21, 2015

ARKANSAS TIMES

RIB-STICKING COMFORT FOOD: Sandy’s still filling after all these years.

Just like we remember Sandy’s Homeplace still turns out fine home cookin’.

n the early 1980s there was a cub reporter at the Arkansas Gazette. The ragingly successful rapid weightgaining program he had embarked on in college had continued unabated in the months following graduation. Gross excess was his culinary game, and never was that more in evidence than at the many all-you-can-eat buffets that were a local staple of the time: Shakey’s, Pat and Mike’s, the ubiquitous free-foodat-happy-hour spreads. And then there was Sandy’s Homeplace, which the Gazette backshop workers who introduced him to it called simply “The Yellow House.” It featured a smallish buffet of rib-sticking comfort food — all-he-could-eat except for the featured meat, to which Sandy’s customers were limited to one serving. It was over in the industrial area sort of on the way to the airport … but not exactly. That was about all he knew. Consistently buying new and larger

clothes was worse than tiresome for the broke young journalist, and he began to try to lose weight. That meant bye-bye to The Yellow House … for more than 30 years. The journalist isn’t a journalist anymore (except for penning periodic restaurant reviews), but Sandy Woods is still running the restaurant she bought and opened in 1978. And the food is still as good, and hearty, and infinitely plentiful as he remembered. If you like home cooking, you owe it to yourself to put Sandy’s spread up against whatever you consider the best in town. And see if you can find any other spot — good or bad — where you can eat all you want for $7.50, which includes rolls, cornbread, iced tea and tax. (It’s $8.25 if you use a credit card.) Sandy’s loyalists (we work with one) can recite the daily main course specials by heart (the second meat is the oneserving-only designee):

• Monday: Chicken pot pie and hamburger steak; • Tuesday: Fried chicken livers and chicken fried steak; • Wednesday: Chicken and dumplings and hamburger steak; • Thursday: Fried chicken livers and chicken fried steak; • Friday: Chicken and dressing and chicken fried steak. Sandy’s is open from 10 a.m. until 1:45 p.m., and it’s as fast a meal as you want it to be, custom-made for nearby workers who get only 30 minutes for lunch. And you’ll see the white-collar downtown office set there, too. At those prices, and with that volume, Sandy couldn’t be blamed if she leaned on lots of premade products. But she doesn’t, telling us she batters the livers and chicken fried steaks herself, and she forms the turtle-shell shaped, tender hamburger steaks by hand as well. Her mashed potatoes are instant, and she does use a gravy mix (the brown gravy on the hamburger steaks is rich and tasty) — but she also doses her country green beans and her Great Northern beans with nice hunks of tender ham, infuses her carrots with spices and creates a slightly sweet, creamy niblet corn. Her homemade pecan

THE EVERYDAY SOMMELIER

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

DINING CAPSULES, CONT. pie — the only kind she offers unless the mood to make something different strikes her — will set you back $1.50, tax included. She makes her own rolls and cornbread, too. The vegetables follow a daily pattern, too, but we won’t recount the whole list here. Know there are green beans, a dry bean or pea (pinto, Great Northern or black-eyed) and corn every day. Turnip greens, cabbage, English peas, white rice and baked beans are all in regular rotation. The combination of tender texture and the rich brown gravy elevated the hamburger steak well above the norm. And while we heard Sandy tell one diner not to bother fishing around for hunks of chicken in her chicken and dumplings “because I shredded it as fine as I could so nobody could find it,” we actually did find several shards. And we really liked the tender, biscuity dumplings. The green beans and Great Northerns are classic, cooked down Southern style — the ham kicking them up several notches. We were proud we had only a couple of dollops of second helpings, when thirds and fourths were our norm way back when. We saw an online review that called Sandy’s “the beige house.” Maybe the yellow has just faded, we’re not sure. And while we will never put all-youcan-eat buffets back into our regular lunch rotation — we have a sedentary job and not much willpower — we’ll still splurge at Sandy’s from time to time.

Sandy’s Homeplace Cafe 1710 E 15th St. Little Rock, AR 72202 375-3216

Quick bite Pay attention to the regular daily rotation of Sandy’s lunch entrees and pick your visit accordingly. We have a friend who swears by the chicken livers (all you can eat on Tuesday and Thursday), and everybody loves a hand-battered/fried homemade chicken fried steak (Tuesday, Thursday and Friday but one serving only). Hours 10 a.m. until 1:45 p.m. weekdays. Other info No alcohol, credit cards accepted (for 75-cent upcharge)

Your friendly neighborhood wine shop. #theeverydaysommelier

for locals with full English descriptions and numbers for easy ordering. 3600 S. University Ave. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-570-7700. LD daily.

2013 KOSTA BROWNE SONOMA COAST PINOT NOIR ELSEWHERE- $110+ • SPECIAL $83

BARBECUE

“93 Points” – Robert Parker ( Wine Advocate) “92 Points” – Wine Spectator “91 Points” – Antonio Galloni ( Vinous)

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. Skip the regular sauce and risk the hot variety, it’s far better. 14611 Arch Street. No alcohol, All CC. $$. 501-888-4998. L Mon.-Wed. and Fri.; L Thu. SIMS BAR-B-QUE Great spare ribs, sandwiches, beef, half and whole chicken and an addictive vinegar-mustard-brown sugar sauce unique for this part of the country. 2415 Broadway. Beer, CC. $-$$. 501-372-6868. LD Mon.-Sat. 1307 John Barrow Road. Beer, All CC. $-$$. 501-2242057. LD Mon.-Sat. 7601 Geyer Springs Road. Beer, All CC. $$. 501-562-8844. LD Mon.-Sat.

“This critically acclaimed wine is coveted by collectors and critics alike. Kosta Browne is rarely available at retail. It’s never on sale. But hey, we’re just #theeverydaysommelier - taking care of our clients is what we do. See you soon...” – O’Looney

Rahling Road @ Chenal Parkway 501.821.4669 • olooneys@aristotle.net • www.olooneys.com

EUROPEAN / ETHNIC

THE PANTRY Owner and self-proclaimed “food evangelist” Tomas Bohm does things the right way — buying local, making almost everything from scratch and focusing on simple preparations of classic dishes. The menu stays relatively true to his Czechoslovakian roots, but there’s plenty of choices to suit all tastes. There’s also a nice happy-hour vibe. 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 (spicy curried dishes, tandoori chicken, lamb and veal, vegetarian). 301 N. Shackleford. Beer and wine, All CC. $$. 501-227-9900. LD daily.

Eclectic, chef-driven seasonal menu featuring local ingredients. Phenomenal salads, appetizers and entrees like lamb shank, grilled duck, curry and more. Plus an extensive wine and drink menu including a full bar. Lunch: Tue - Fri, 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. Dinner: Tue - Sat , 5 p.m. - Until Bar opens at 5 p.m. Happy Hour 5 - 7 p.m.

ITALIAN

GUSANO’S They make the tomatoey Chicagostyle deep-dish pizza the way it’s done in the Windy City. It takes a little longer to come out of the oven, but it’s worth the wait. 313 President Clinton Ave. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-374-1441. LD daily. 2915 Dave Ward Drive. Conway. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-329-1100. LD daily. JAY’S PIZZA New York-style pizza by the slice. 400 President Clinton Ave. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-374-5297. L Mon.-Sat.

3812 JFK Blvd., NLR • 501-771-6900 • www.irasparkhillgrill.com

DED R FA OS R E S TA U R A N T E

LATINO

LAS DELICIAS Levy-area 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. BLD daily. LAS PALMAS Mexican chain with a massive menu of choices. 10402 Stagecoach Road. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-455-8500. LD daily 4154 E. McCain Blvd. NLR. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. LD daily. LONCHERIA MEXICANA ALICIA The best taco truck in West Little Rock. Located in the Walmart parking lot on Bowman. 620 S. Bowman. No alcohol, No CC. $. 501-612-1883. L Mon.-Sat. SUPERMERCADO SIN FRONTERAS Shiny, large Mexican grocery with a bakery and restaurant attached. 4918 Baseline Road. Beer, All CC. $$. 501-562-4206. BLD daily.

Also available for catering, reception dinners and private parties

the

real deal

 authentic new orleans cuisine

LITTLE ROCK’S MOST AWARD WINNING RESTAURANT 1619 Rebsamen Rd. 501-663-9734

BLACKENED REDFISH PONTCHARTRAIN www.arktimes.com

MAY 21, 2015

READY, SET, GRILL The annual ual grilling grilling g guide uide

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EDWARDS S FOOD F GIANT

he folks at Edwards Food Giant Gi are very serious when it comes to meat, so much so that their tagline is “The Meat People”. Their philosophy is to provide the best quality beef, chicken, pork and seafood to their customers at the best possible price. The stores (with locations in Tanglewood, downtown, Otter Creek and on Baseline) proudly offer certified Angus Choice beef, a rating that has more standards than prime beef. “Only 10 percent of cattle in the country qualify as certified Angus Choice beef,” Alex Rey, meat supervisor at Edwards, said. “It’s the best Angus program in the nation, if not the world.” But the dedication to quality doesn’t stop with beef: Edwards stocks Sanderson Farms chicken and Swift all-natural pork. There’s also a butcher available at every store from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., and all the meat is cut in-house, which means no salt solutions. You can also get any custom cut or grinds that you want, Rey said. “We want to give our customers the best shopping experience possible,” he said. The Tanglewood location might be best known for their sausages made in-house. Four or five varieties are offered every day, with selections varying. Options include bratwurst, Italian, chicken with cheese and peppers, jalapeno pork and Polish sausages. Rey said there’s a heavy demand for sausages on the weekends, but you can always call ahead and place an order to make sure you have enough to feed your party. The stores also sell specially prepared, stuffed meats like chicken breasts or pork chops stuffed with broccoli or spinach. Rey said his favorite cut to put on the grill is a New York strip steak. “Some people like ribeyes, but I love New York strips,” he said, adding that the best way to prepare an Edwards steak for the grill is to just season it with a medium-ground salt and freshly ground pepper. As for those famous sausages, Rey said that

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although some people like to boil bratwurst in beer and finish them on the grill, he advocates for just putting them on the heat without boiling. “All of the sausages are great on the grill,” he said. In addition to the in-person expertise of the butchers at Edwards Food Giant, the store maintains a great website with a wealth of recipes, weekly specials and coupons. To find out more, visit edwardsfoodgiant.com.

RECIPES

HOPPIN’ HABANERO AND HONEY PORK CHOPS

Ingredients 4 boneless pork chops, 1 inch thick 1 can (12 oz.) beer 3 Tbsp. honey 1 Tbsp. hot habanero pepper sauce 1 clove garlic, minced 1 bay leaf Directions 1. For the marinade: in a small saucepan combine beer, honey, pepper sauce, garlic and bay leaf. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove and discard bay leaf. Place chops in a 1 gallon self-sealing plastic bag; pour marinade over chops, seal bag and refrigerate for two hours. 2. Drain chops, discarding marinade. Place chops on a kettle-style grill directly over medium-hot coals, lower grill hood and grill chops for 4-5 minutes. Turn chops and grill for 4-5 minutes more or until internal temperature on a thermometer reads 145°F, the allow them to rest for three minutes. Recipe courtesy of National Pork Board and is available at www.edwardsfoodgiant.com.

TERIYAKI STEAK SKEWERS Ingredients 1 lb. boneless beef top sirloin steak, 1 inch thick 1 pkg. (5.2-6.8 oz.) fried rice blend, prepared according to pkg. directions (optional) 12 6-inch bamboo skewers Thinly sliced green onions

MARINADE 1/2 c. dry sherry 1/3 c. reduced-sodium or regular soy sauce 2 Tbsp. honey 1 Tbsp. minced garlic 1 Tbsp. minced fresh ginger

DIRECTIONS 1. Combine marinade ingredients in medium bowl. Cover and refrigerate 1/4 c. marinade. Cut beef steak crosswise into 1/4-inch thick strips. Add beef to remaining marinade in bowl; toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate 15 minutes to 2 hours turning occasionally. 2. Soak the bamboo skewers in water for 10 minutes; drain. Remove beef from marinade; discard marinade. Thread beef, weaving back and forth, onto each skewer. 3. Place skewers on grill over medium, ash-covered coals. Grill, covered, 5-7 minutes (over medium heat on preheated gas grill, 6-8 minutes), turning occasionally and brushing with reserved 1/4 c. marinade. 4. Serve skewers with rice, if desired. Garnish with onions.