Arkansas Times

ARKANSAS’S WEEKLY NEWSPAPER OF POLITICS AND CULTURE ■ november 4, 2010

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A bruised first-time candidate reports from the ‘trail.’

By Patrick Kennedy page 10

The INsIder

New digs at lottery HQ

n The Arkansas Lottery spent $15,901 on a construction project in late August that included a new and expanded office for Ernestine Middleton, the lottery’s vice president of administration, and other renovations to the lottery’s space on the third and 14th floors of the Union Plaza building in downtown Little Rock.

Middleton switched offices with Public Affairs and Legislative Relations Director Julie Baldridge and an interior wall between the office and an adjoining conference room was removed to “create a larger office,” according to documents obtained from the lottery through a Freedom of Information Act request.

The project included removal of a wall in another office, installation of wood and glass doors, replacing sections of carpet and a couple new coats of paint.

The renovations, which were set to be completed in early September, came approximately one year after the lottery staff moved into the Union Plaza building in September of 2009.

Middleton could not be reached for comment at press time about the need for more space. Middleton makes $225,000 a year.

Silence!

n Another FOI request to the lottery revealed the commission spent $4,263 to install “Confidante Control Modules,” or white noise emitters, in the offices of Chief Legal Counsel Bishop Woosley, Security Director Lance Huey and Deputy Security Director Remmele Mazyck.

Woosley says the devices resemble small smoke detectors and speakers are placed near the door and along the walls that emit a “sound like static from a TV.” “The individuals that work in these three positions are often required to discuss employment issues or lottery security-related issues in their offices,” Woosley wrote in response to our request. “These areas involve legally protected employee privacy concerns or sensitive lottery security issues.

Based on the poor insulation and acoustics of the walls, conversations can be heard while standing in the halls outside of these three offices. In an effort to ensure that employment issues remain private and that lottery security issues are not divulged, the noise cancellation equipment was installed.”

The Confidante Control Modules and emitters were purchased from Today’s Office, Inc., of Little Rock, who also installed the products.

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Stay Clean, Stay Connected Have you checked your service lines lately?

Beneath your residence or business is a network of over 1,300 miles of sanitary sewer pipe (sewer mains) that connects nearly 65,000 customers to Little Rock’s wastewater (sewer) treatment facilities. On top of this extensive underground network is your residence or business, which is connected to this wastewater service by a sewer service line. Many homeowners and business owners don’t realize they are responsible for maintaining the sewer service line from the structure to the sanitary sewer mains. Help keep sewer where it belongs: in the pipes.

Have your sewer service line checked often for leaks or cracks and make any necessary repairs to help keep our environment safe.

Amendment work

n The Committee for Arkansas’s Future made a heavy ad buy in the final days of the election season to support Issues 2 and 3, both constitutional amendments referred Continued on page 9

www.lrwastewater.com • 501-376-2903 www.arktimes.com • november 4, 2010 3

Smart talk

Contents

brian chilson

Good guy; good cause

all shiny and new: The eStem charter school in Little Rock has an upgraded playground thanks to federal stimulus money.

Stimulating n Here’s some stimulus spending even Republicans like Arkansas Democrat-Gazette publisher Walter Hussman can love. The eStem charter school in Little Rock – heavily supported by Hussman, Walmart heir Jim Walton and a number of other financiers with Republican leanings — announced recently that it got almost $120,000 in federal stimulus money from the Obama administration to improve the playground behind the Hussman-owned school building at Third and Louisiana with artificial turf and a new jungle gym with padded surface below.

What do you bet this is a stimulus project that even stimulus critic Rep. John Boozman, the D-G-backed Republican senatorial candidate, could love?

Top of the class n The Hogs may have beaten Vanderbilt on the football field last Saturday, but the Razorbacks aren’t a match for them in the classroom. The NCAA last week released graduation success rate statistics that showed the rate over a rolling four-year period, the latest for the percentage of freshmen and transfers that entered from 2000 through 2003 who graduated within six years. Thank goodness for Tennessee. Otherwise, Arkansas would have been last in the SEC. The rates:

n It’s not too late to buy a $50 ticket to the first Arkansas Community Truth Teller Award ceremony. It’s at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 9 at the Darragh Center of the Central Arkansas Library System. The honoree will be Ernest Dumas, an Arkansas Times columnist with a distinguished history in journalism including as a Capitol reporter and then editorial writer for the Arkansas Gazette.

He’s also taught journalism at UCA, writes editorials for The Leader in Jacksonville, gardens, is a fair stone mason and once played a mean game of table tennis.

He’ll be introduced by Times editor Max Brantley and give a talk, truthful for sure, though likely embellished in spots. The event is a benefit for Arkansas Community Organizations, newly created to carry on ACORN’s grassroots work in the state.

You can RSVP by e-mailing aco@arkansascomm. org or by calling 376-7151, extension 2000. If you can’t attend, you’re welcome to send a check to Arkansas Community Organizations at 2101 S. Main St., Little Rock, AR 72201.

1. Vanderbilt: 89 percent; 2. Georgia: 68 percent; 3. Alabama: 67 percent; 3. Florida: 67 percent; 3. LSU: 67 percent; 6. Mississippi State: 64 percent; 7. Auburn: 63 percent; 7. Kentucky: 63 percent; 9. Ole Miss: 61 percent; 10. South Carolina: 57 percent; 11. Arkansas: 55 percent; 12. Tennessee: 53 percent Noted: the other schools in Arkansas with four-year reports for the biggest schools were Arkansas State, with a 70 percent GSR among football players, and UA-Pine Bluff, 43 percent.

Words n Those witless wretches of wildlife: Max Brantley has won this year’s William Safire Memorial Award for his description of the state Game and Fish commissioners who schemed to evade the Freedom of Information law. When the Gang of Three surrendered, after being confronted by Gov. Mike Beebe, Brantley wrote: “The issue is over and won’t be revived, press is told. Sounds like [Game and Fish] lawyers will be thrown under the bus on this one, not the pampered pashas of privilege who dreamed this up.” n “Rachael Leigh Cook’s good looks helped make her a breakout teen star in the ’90s, but she’s railing on the media for its unhealthy expectations when it comes to appearances.”

4 november 4, 2010 • ARKANSAS TIMES

8 Side deals at ASU

Arkansas State University faculty members have questions about former ASU President Les Wyatt’s relationship with a private education concern that does business with ASU, where he still draws $115,000 as a non-teaching faculty member. — By Doug Smith

10 Bruised and battered

Political novice Patrick Kennedy looks back wincingly at his race for the 2nd District congressional nomination.

— By Patrick Kennedy

16 Contract.

What contract?

Little Rock’s $200,000 contract with the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce says it will abide by freedom of information laws to the extent “applicable.” They release next to nothing. — By Max Brantley

Departments

3 The Insider

4 Smart Talk

5 The Observer

6 Letters

7 Orval 8-14 News

16 Opinion

19 Arts & Entertainment

31 Dining

37 Crossword/ Tom Tomorrow

38 Lancaster

VOLUME 37, NUMBER 9

Doug smith doug@arktimes.com

One rails at or against something, not on. A confused writer may have been thinking of wail on, an expression that is itself a product of confusion. The original, correct version is whale on. As a verb meaning “to strike or hit vigorously, to beat up,” whale can be found in standard dictionaries. Wail cannot. Instead, wail as a verb means “to lament, to complain, to make a mournful cry.” (“The Razorbacks whaled on the hapless Longhorns, sending the Texans home wailing.”)

Yet I’m told that many of the younger

set are using wail on. One contributor to an online usage forum says, “Both the Urban Dictionary and the Online Slang Dictionary list beating on someone as ‘wail on,’ and that’s how I’ve seen it written (the few times I’ve seen it written).” n “Her license to shoot scenes in Sarajevo and the central town of Zenica in November was cancelled when the Women Victims of War (WVW) association complained after media reports the film would depict a love story between a Muslim victim and her Serb rapist.”

There’s an inconsistency in identification here. The victim is designated by religion, the perpetrator by nationality. I suspect that’s because Western news media don’t like to refer to a “Christian rapist.”

ARKANSAS TIMES (ISSN 0164-6273) is published each week by Arkansas Times Limited Partnership, 201 East Markham Street, 200 Heritage Center West, P.O. Box 34010, Little Rock, Arkansas, 72203, phone (501) 375-2985. Periodical postage paid at Little Rock, Arkansas, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to ARKANSAS TIMES, P.O. Box 34010, Little Rock, AR, 72203. Subscription prices are $42 for one year, $78 for two years. Subscriptions outside Arkansas are $49 for one year, $88 for two years. Foreign (including Canadian) subscriptions are $168 a year. For subscriber service call (501) 375-2985.

Current single-copy price is 75¢, free in Pulaski County. Single issues are available by mail at $2.50 each, postage paid. Payment must accompany all single-copy orders. Reproduction or use in whole or in part of the contents without the written consent of the publishers is prohibited. Manuscripts and artwork will not be returned or acknowledged unless sufficient return postage and a self-addressed stamped envelope are included. All materials are handled with due care; however, the publisher assumes no responsibility for care and safe return of unsolicited materials. All letters sent to ARKANSAS TIMES will be treated as intended for publication and are subject to ARKANSAS TIMES’ unrestricted right to edit or to comment editorially.

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FOR INFORMATION OR SUBSCRIPTIONS CALL 501-375-2985

Those radical pinko ladies

that Tim Griffin is so afraid of — you know, those crazies who support such wild ideas as “peace” and “nuclear disarmament” —held their own Rally to Restore Sanity in MacArthur Park on Saturday, where they foisted their radical pinko ideas off on the public. After a band played the “Internationale” of the WAND ilk — “Teach Your Children Well” — member Anncha Briggs read a bit of a book aloud in Swedish. She suggested that we learn one another’s language — figuratively — for better understanding and more reasoned discourse. The folks there, whom Griffin would have you believe are terrorists thinly veiled as families and their dogs, smiled. A fiddler — whose earlier band did a rendition of that lefty goon tune “If I Had a Hammer” — also took the microphone to plead for the courteous communication of ideas. Freedom lovers, it was one scary event. It was also sparsely attended, to Griffin’s relief, one imagines. Here’s how it works: If you are mad as hell and you’re not going to take it anymore — “it” being the tax cut you just got under Obama and the health care your children need — you’re gonna be loud about it.

If Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young are your messengers, you’re not. Hence the problem the country faces now. Hotheads sell, and will rule.

The sustainable types are not doing much better than the peace

crowd. The Observer dropped into the Mayor’s Summit on Sustainability at the Robinson Center last week, where a “crowd” of about 35 people were scattered about a huge room set with big round tables (for rational discussion, probably), and roughly half were city employees or speakers. Four booths were set up — one by a newspaper, one an informative panel, one by Central Arkansas Water (touting biodegradable plastic glasses, a good thing but tenuously connected to the mission of CAW), and some folks selling insurance (?). The mayor soldiered on for half an hour, gamely addressing the tiny gathering as if it were hundreds strong, talking about new sidewalks and the idea for a new bike trail (through “Dillard’s Gap,” as he called it) and energy-saving light bulbs and such (defending cap and trade anti-

pollution strategy along the way; good for him). We left after his welcoming talk, and were assured by the folks at the registration table that things were going to heat up later in the day. The Observer certainly hopes they did, though Tim Griffin et al probably think it’s subversive to be green.

Desperate for a little pusholine,

The Observer wheeled into the EZ Mart near Stifft Station one morning this week on our way to work. After filling up the mobile observation platform, we sauntered inside. Convenience stores, with their aisles of the most useless junk imaginable, are our weakness. Browsing the racks, we saw it: the Dime Cake rack.

The Observer wasn’t always The Observer. Back ages ago, during the summers in high school and part-time through college, we worked as a roofer on a crew run by our father. He has been gone almost 10 years now. The Observer still dreams about him on a regular basis — we find ourselves chatting with him in some sunny place. At the moment we remember that he is dead and think to ask him about it, we always wake up.

The Dime Cake and pint of chocolate milk was Pa Observer’s every-morning ritual, whether he could afford it or not. He’d stop, buy everybody a milk and a dime cake, and then we would stand around the hood of his clapped out truck in the coolness of the dawn and eat before heading to work. Dime Cakes aren’t a dime anymore, of course, but that’s what he called them so that’s what we call them, even as the price of everything seems to creep ever upward to infinity.

What we wound up scoring at the EZ Mart that morning was his fave: a Suzy-Q — two slabs of chocolate cake, sandwiched over thick white filling — and a chocolate milk; the creamy, full-fat stuff that probably reduces your life by a few minutes.

Drinking and eating in our parked van on a side street, the flavor made the past come flooding back to us like the font of memories from Proust’s madeleine.

The Observer thinks: How beautiful it was there in the morning sunshine. How simple and beautiful — the day before us, enjoying something sweet, with the unknowable future still to come.

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Letters arktimes@arktimes.com

Clint McCance and gays As president of the board of the Northwest Arkansas Center for Equality I am writing to call for the resignation of School Board member Clint McCance of the Midland School District in Independence County. I find his recent comments regarding the bullying of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer students and related suicides appalling. As an elected official his statements are unacceptable and are a threat to the wellbeing of students not only in his district but around the state of Arkansas.

McCance’s cheering on of youth suicide and death from HIV/AIDS is an issue of public importance. In light of recent youth suicides that were influenced by bullying at schools, Mr. McCance’s comments go beyond being merely insensitive.

His comments are supporting bullying on the basis of sexual orientation. The Arkansas Department of Education Rules Governing the Code of Ethics for Arkansas Educators specifically identifies “engaging in harassing behavior on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, religion or disability” as unethical conduct. McCance is also perpetuating

the misconception that HIV/AIDS is just a “Gay Disease.” This type of ignorance puts everyone at risk particularly youth who are coming to terms with their sexual identity. The Arkansas Constitution calls for suitable public education for all the people of Arkansas. The state of Arkansas cannot possibly achieve this constitutional goal when an elected official tasked with managing education in Midland School District so cavalierly dismisses the lives of their students.

Raymond Sweet NWA Center for Equality Fayetteville

Arkansas due to the calloused, uncivilized and insensitive statements made by a school board member, amidst the reaction to the disturbing number of suicides across America due to bullying.

How does someone like that ever get accepted into the sphere of influence that is compelled to be supportive and protective of young people? I don’t think I need to tell you that this man’s actions not only marginalize the lives lost, but they also tarnish the reputation of your state.

H. (Bart) Vincelette Vancouver

What an unmitigated moron Clint McCance has turned out to be. I hope the people of the Midland School District are as embarrassed of being a native Arkansan as I am, because we are all now associated with him, like it or not. At least he put Midland on the map. Maybe the school district will get an award of some sort.

Imagine: “Midland, the land of Moron McCance!” Obviously you can do nothing about his elected position, therefore, he is yours and yours alone. Good luck, good buddies in Midland. You must be deeply proud.

Ken Kimberling Little Rock

My recent letter seems to have come as an almost providential forerunner to the foul, revolting comments of that outstanding Christian Arkansan, Clint McCance. This is the face of Arkansas.

Stupid, semi-literate, murderous, vile, nauseating. Congratulations on your natural state.

James A. Means Natchitoches, La.

Attention from throughout the western world is presently focused on the state of

The Quakers

In reply to your “Observer” column of Oct. 21: Either Observer’s Religion 101 was woefully inadequate or his memory is faulty when espousing his views on Quakers. The column was a rather snide dig at a religious group of which there are many in Northwest Arkansas, the large

majority of whom do not wear black hats, who often drink wine and beer in moderation, and could even have fun of the whoopin’ and hollerin’ kind that appears required by Observer to live here.

And yes, perhaps some have even been known to “sin”; although, since Quakers are an open-minded and forgiving movement there are fewer things for Quakers to “sin” about. But what Quakers would find unforgivable is to denigrate those of another religious group. We, as Quakers, respect all religious groups and treat other people’s religions with the respect that all deserve. It is a pity that your columnist did not feel moved to do the same.

Richard Phillips Prairie Grove

From China with love

Recently I was gifted with a couple of nice promotional items from the City of Little Rock, a reusable shopping bag and a fluorescent light bulb. Both were emblazoned with the proud Little Rock city logo and promoted recycling and energy conservation. Then I read the labels and discovered that not only were they made in China, they were paid for with stimulus funds! True, some importer made their cut on the sale, but how sad that these stimulus funds did not go to support American products and jobs.

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The WEEK THAT was O c t. 2 7 - N ov. 2 , 2 0 1 0

NOTE: This newspaper went to press before polls closed Tuesday for the Nov. 2 general election. Most commentary will have to wait until next week.

It was a good week for …

VOTING. Early voting was robust in Arkansas. If polls hold true, the excitement came from the Republican end of the political spectrum.

HOMOPHOBIA. Clint McCance of Pleasant Plains, a Midland School Board member, posted a screed about “fags” on Facebook, including remarks brutally insensitive to suicides by bullied kids. Nationwide exposure prompted a belated apology and his resignation from the school board. The act had the positive benefit of demonstrating the obstacles that face gay kids in school.

S TAT E E D U C AT I O N COMMISSIONER TOM KIMBRELL. He intervened in the McCance matter early in the controversy and suggested McCance’s resignation was called for if schools are to be seen as safe environments for children.

A BRIDGE FOR THE 21st CENTURY. Six years after the Clinton Presidential Library opened, work finally began on conversion of an abandoned rail bridge at the front door to a pedestrian/bike link to North Little Rock.

DR. CHARLES WELCH. Only hours after the Henderson State University president applied, he was announced as one of three contenders for the presidency of Arkansas State University.

Yet another college presidency where the political fix is in?

UTILITY BILLS. Gas bills should be down about 9 percent this winter because of lower cost of gas.

It was a bad week for …

ARKANSAS SCHOOLS. As pass scores rise, more schools’ test scores are failing to meet minimum achievement standards under the misbegotten No Child Left Behind legislation.

Unless you think the U.S. is like the mythical Lake Woebegone, where every child is average (or better), the number seems likely to keep increasing.

The LITTLE ROCK BOARD OF DIRECTORS. Turns out it routinely ignores a conflict of interest law that requires board approval of city business with members of city boards and commissions. And the board has dithered over a fix, which, at a minimum, must include stronger financial disclosure rules.

8 november 4, 2010 • ARKANSAS TIMES

The Arkansas Reporter

Phone: 501-375-2985­ Fax: 501-375-3623 Arkansas Times Online home page: http://www.arktimes.com E-mail: arktimes@arktimes.com ■

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Les Wyatt lies low No response to questions about former ASU president’s business dealings with ASU.

By Doug Smith

n Dr. J. Leslie Wyatt, former president of Arkansas State University, remained out of touch early this week, unresponsive to efforts by media and, presumably, ASU officials to speak with him about the revelation that Wyatt is president of an on-line educational company that lists ASU as one of its clients. Though no longer president of ASU, Wyatt is still on the university’s payroll as a professor of higher education and art at an annual salary of $115,600.

ASU professors have suggested that Wyatt has a conflict of interest, though he signed a statement for the university on July1 saying that he did not have “an actual or potential conflict.”

Although Wyatt is a high-paid employee of ASU, university officials at Jonesboro say they have no telephone number for him. Dr. Dan Howard, interim chancellor of ASU-Jonesboro, could provide only an e-mail address for Wyatt. Wyatt did not respond to Arkansas Times e-mails.

Howard said that Wyatt is a faculty member on compensated leave, what is known as “sabbatical” at some institu-

tions. “A faculty member on leave doesn’t need to remain in touch with the campus,” Howard said.

“He’s treated differently from a regular faculty member or an Wyatt: He’s not administrator.” talking.

Wyatt lived in Little Rock while he was president of the Arkansas State University System, and he apparently has a home in Dallas. He resigned the presidency June 30 and signed a faculty contract July 1. The ASU Board of Trustees is seeking a new president.

Howard said Wyatt would begin teaching at Jonesboro in the summer semester of 2011.

Howard himself was at the center of controversy recently when it was revealed that he was an unpaid member of the board of trustees of American College

The big picture Homeowner, CZDC spar over zoning.

by David Koon

n Jo Summar said that if she was writing this story, the title would be “What’s Wrong With This Picture?” Standing in front of her 120-odd-year-old home on Arch Street, you can see her point. Summar bought her house in 2002, and spent three years bringing it back. Inside and out — other than an unfinished privacy fence that was finally approved by the Capitol Zoning District Commission in late October after a months-long process — the house looks like something out of Architectural Digest.

It’s hard to disagree that the CZDC has bigger dish to fry than Summar’s fence project. Next door to her house is a Victorian home that has peeled in places to gray wood.

Just down the street, the home owned by the man who chairs the CZDC’s design review committee has crumbling eaves and a shipwreck of old wooden scaffolding along one side.

The CZDC says they’re just trying to keep the historic fabric of the neighborhood intact.

Summar, however, says the hassles involved in getting her fence approved are symptomatic of the CZDC’s obsession with permits and red tape, which is allowing previouslyrestored houses to crumble while keeping new, preservation-minded residents out.

The CZDC was established in 1975 by the state legislature, and was aimed at turning around neglect of historic homes near the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion and the Arkansas State Capitol. The Capitol Zone is a large triangle, bordered by the railroad tracks behind Union Station in the north, Cross Street in the East and I-630 in the south.

The Mansion Zone is bordered by Roosevelt Road in the south, 13th Street in the North, State Street in the west, and Cumberland Street in the east. The nine-member commission and its advisory committees oversee all design, zoning, new construction and renovation projects in the area. Residents in the area must obtain a permit before they can petition for a building permit from the city.

of Education, which is owned by Higher Education Holdings LLC, a Dallas-based firm that contracts with ASU to provide online courses and degrees. ASU faculty questioned the propriety of that arrangement also, and Howard resigned from the ACE board, saying he wanted to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest.

Last week, someone saw that the website of American University System of Washington listed Wyatt as president.

The news media were informed and began asking questions. Wyatt’s name quickly disappeared from the website.

Howard said that ASU had no formal arrangement with American University System, which also is involved in on-line education, and had never paid any money to AUS. Someone at AUS asked if Arkansas State’s name could be added to an AUS website as a client, Howard said, and Arkansas State agreed. “It’s a mere web listing for us,” he said. He said he hadn’t known that Wyatt was president of AUS. In the July 1 statement in which he Continued on page 9

Projects that fall within current rules can be approved at a staff level. Any project that falls outside those rules must be granted a variance by the commission.

Summar, a retired Army/VA nurse, knew her overgrown wire fence in the back yard had needed replacing for awhile, but she sped up the project when her golden retriever started escaping in the spring. In mid-May, Summar called the commission, inquiring about the permits needed to build a six-foot privacy fence with two feet of lattice at the top. At the time, she was told that because the proposed fence exceeded the six-foot maximum height allowance, they couldn’t recommend the project for approval, and she would need a variance from the commission.

That would take awhile. She was told that she wouldn’t be able to get a hearing for about six weeks. Then, in June, her dog escaped again and was almost carted off to the pound.

Soon after, Summar’s son began building the fence she’d wanted, with Summar believing she could get approval for it after the fact.

“Feeling a sense of urgency to protect my two dogs, and knowing that there had been fences approved after the fact just like the one I wanted, he proceeded,” she said.

“The Capitol Zoning staff had previously Continued on page 9

fence

recommended approval for two people [with similar fences] before me. One of those previous two was after the fact.”

By September, the fence was mostly finished, and her son began replacing the original six-foot privacy fence on the street side of the yard. On Sept. 21, Summar received a letter from the CZDC informing her that the lattice on top of the fence constituted a violation. In response, Summar got the permitting process started. Soon after, she was told that she had to give letters of notice to every neighbor within 200 feet.

Later, she was told she needed to submit a survey of the property, even though she said there was already one in her file from previous application. Finally, she was told that she would have to present her project to the design review committee. The soonest they could see her was November.

If her project was approved at that level, the soonest the full commission could see her was December. That’s when she called the Arkansas Times.

“Up until that point, I’m completing the paperwork,” Summar said. “I’m going through the process. I know there have been fences built and approved like this.”

Soon after the Times started making inquiries, Summar was told that she could appear before Mansion Review committee almost immediately and the full commission

wyatt

Continued from page 8 denied any conflict of interest, Wyatt said that he would be a consultant for Academic Partnerships during the 20102011 academic year. “As you [Howard] know, Academic Partnerships is an organization with which Arkansas State University has a contract which was negotiated during my term as president at ASU, before I became a consultant. In the future, I will not have authority for that contract during my time as consultant to Academic Partnerships or as an ASU employee, so I do not see a conflict arising … “ In the same statement, Wyatt said he would be “working with” the American University System, which he described as a not-for-profit association of U.S. institutions of higher learning that are affiliated with Academic Partnerships, corporations, divisions of government, and Latin American universities. “I will attempt to place the online degree and certificate programs developed by Arkansas State University campuses in both the corporate and the international partners’ locations of AUS,” Wyatt wrote.

(There are complicated connections between various groups here, and that makes faculty even more curious about what’s going on. Some faculty are skeptical of on-line education generally.)

A faculty member told the Times that

brian chilson

Continued from page 8

summar: Wanted a new fence. soon after. Her permit was approved by the commission just before Halloween.

While she’s free to finish her fence project, Summar is still upset with what she sees as the uneven enforcement and red tape of zoning laws in her neighborhood. “This is not about the fence to me. It’s about the inconsistency,” she said. “If the laws in this country are interpreted based on precedent, it seems reasonable that ordinances should be too.”

To prove her point, she walked the reporter down two blocks from her house to the historic home owned by the design review committee chairman. The brick facade is cracked, and the eaves are so rotten in places that they’ve fallen out.

Lisa Stice lives across the street from Jo Summar. Concerned about high utility bills in her historic home, Stice inquired

about getting more energy-efficient vinyl windows, only to be told that any replacements would have to be all wood, which meant they would have to be custom made.

When she got a quote from a manufacturer, she got sticker shock. “I could have bought a car,” she said. Stice said that if she had known about the zoning restrictions in the area, she might have looked elsewhere. “I think if we would have known what we had to do to do anything to our house, we wouldn’t have purchased here,” she said.

Boyd Maher is the executive director of the Capitol Zoning District Commission.

He said that the commission reviews things down to the level of fences and steps because it keeps the historic character of the homes intact. “If all we looked at were new construction and teardowns, the historic fabric gets nickeled and dimed over time,”

applications for compensated leave were supposed to go before a faculty committee, but that no application from Wyatt did so. A spokesman for Howard said that authorization for Wyatt’s compensated leave was given by the chancellor acting alone “because of Dr. Wyatt’s appointment to president emeritus status.” The employment contract signed by Wyatt and Howard does not specifically mention “compensated leave.” It says: “For the first six months of this contract, your duties shall be set by the Chancellor of Arkansas State University-Jonesboro and may include campus assignments in regular and/or extended day classes, off-campus assignments, other campus assignments, and/or a combination of any of these. For the second six months of this contract, you shall prepare to re-enter the classroom and to re-establish teaching materials … ” Records supplied by Howard include a June 18 policy statement concerning the benefits received by a president emeritus.

Those include “Two tickets at the available location of choice to all home intercollegiate football and basketball games,” and “Office space and secretarial assistance, including stationery, note cards, postage, telephone and computer usage, on both the Jonesboro campus and at the Little Rock office.”

Evidently Wyatt has chosen not to take advantage of all the benefits.

INSIDER

Continued from page 3 by the legislature. The former would raise the interest limit on consumer lending to 17 percent, lift the ceiling on interest on government bonds and provide a mechanism for government to finance energy efficiency projects. It is being challenged in court as a fraud for its multiple parts. Issue 3 would allow the legislature to issue state-backed bonds to give money to potential business prospects.

Randy Zook, head of the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce, leads the Committee for Arkansas’s Future. Through Oct. 26, it reported raising about $408,000 and spending $465,000. Contributors were led by car dealers seeking to be able to charge higher interest rates on vehicle financing – America’s Car Mart gave $100,000, a group headed by automobile dealer lobbyist Dennis Jungmeyer gave $70,000 and the Independent Auto Dealers gave $12,000. Stephens Investments and Crews and Associates, both of which deal in government bonds, gave $27,500 and $20,000 respectively. The taxpayer-subsidized Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce gave $35,000 and a number of other chambers and local economic development groups also contributed.

A TV ad for the amendments also urged voters to approve Issue 1, a constitutional amendment giving hunting and fishing constitutional protection. It is presumed to

Maher said. “The way our standards and rules are written now, they say [any fence] higher than six feet may detract from the historic surroundings.”

Asked about some of the deteriorating houses in the neighborhood, Maher said those are cases of “Demolition by Neglect,” and adds that the CZDC hasn’t had a procedure in place for dealing with neglected properties in a long time. “It’s something that we’re going to work on in the coming months,” he said, “and it’s a priority for me as the new director to see that we get a demolition by neglect procedure in place.” He called those cases “apples and oranges” with Summar’s fence issue, given that they’re a case of something a property owner didn’t do, while Summar was trying to actively change her home.

Maher said he doesn’t know why Summar was so upset with the permitting process, saying that it’s just a standard procedure that anyone looking to build outside rules and regulations must go through. He said that all the other above-six-foot fences in the historic district went through the same hearing process before approval.

“We don’t expect fences to be dainty little Victorian wrought iron, but we just want to make sure they’re not going to detract from the historic surroundings,” Maher said.

“Anybody who wants something taller than six feet has to come make their case before the commission, and that’s all we asked of her.”

be popular and has no organized campaign.

It raised the question of whether interests in favor of the amendment, such as the National RifleAssociation, might eventually contribute to the campaign for the other amendments.

Calls to Zook and the campaign’s ad firm were not returned at press time.

Walker files FOI

n John Walker, the civil rights lawyer and legislative candidate, dropped a huge Freedom of Information Act request recently on Little Rock City Hall. He wants the city to uncover all city business done by all appointed members of city boards and commissions.

The issue became controversial when city officials realized they’d awarded a demolition contract to a company led by two members of the city Planning Commission, Marcus Devine and Billy Rouse, without getting the deal approved in an ordinance by the City Board. The two resigned from the Planning Commission rather than risk a problem with a coming contract at Little Rock National Airport. Walker wonders why Devine was singled out. He noted that Airport Commissioner Virgil Miller’s employer, Metropolitan National Bank, has banking relationships with the city. Another planning commissioner, Bill Rector, is an investor in a company that has a contract to publish city legal notices. And there are others. The city is still working on compiling the information. www.arktimes.com • november 4, 2010 9



Where’s the

touch?

Bruised and battered by his first political race, a congressional candidate laments the loss of personal connection.

By Patrick Kennedy

I



f I had to describe what it’s like running for office for the first time, I’d explain it this way: Wait for a sunny day and seek out the tallest, thickest, nastiest tree you can find. Once there, strip naked and climb to the very top, wrap a blindfold

around your eyes and jump into the thicket below.

As you’re slapped in the face with every limb; knocked around like a pinball from branch to branch, you have to find ways to maintain a belief in a political system wired for resistance; belief in a people conditioned for cynicism; and belief in yourself, as you are challenged almost ceaselessly to compromise your principles in some way.

Something changes when you take that first plunge.

The lines of reality sharpen and then fade around the edges, and once you do reach bottom, you’re left wondering how your wounds will heal. Will they scar with bitterness and frustration, or will they regenerate into a tougher, wiser layer of skin? Will you hesitate before the next climb to the top? And once there, how will your memories shape your path forward?

It’s these questions that illustrate where leadership bleeds into politics. And several months after my first ever political campaign, in which I ran for U.S. Congress in Arkansas’s Second Congressional District as a Democrat, I am grappling with these questions in very real and difficult ways.

The phrase “campaign trail” has a special place in the psyche of American political discourse. You don’t have to travel far to be reminded about the glory days of 10 november 4, 2010 • ARKANSAS TIMES

politics, as candidates rode from town to town, speaking from a megaphone, leading parades — and, of course, shaking hands and kissing babies. The “trail” was a train of communities, interlinked and interwoven into the democratic process.

But that campaign trail no longer exists. Old courthouse rallies have been replaced with cocktail parties.

Backwoods stump speeches with VIP fundraisers.

Fireside chats with fund-raising calls. It seems everywhere I traveled throughout the district, voters and candidates alike longed for that personal touch that defines Arkansas politics.

In early May, two weeks before the May 18 primary, I accepted an invitation to speak at the 20th Annual Free State of Yell Fest in Dardanelle, Ark. What was once “the centerpiece” of the weekend’s festivities was now hauntingly barren.

While waiting to speak, I saw that one old-timer was visibly upset. As I inched toward him, he continued staring at an old, faded campaign poster of former U.S. Sen. David Pryor, which hung loosely on a plywood wall next to the stage.

“It ain’t what it used to be,” He suddenly muttered.

“It just ain’t.”

photo by brian chilson, makeup by les galusha

human

As I walked onto stage, staring at the empty bleachers, I decided it would be my last time to speak before the primary.  I was extremely excited about the opportunity to speak before the public. I guess I wanted my very own “Obama moment.” But it never came.

I quickly discovered speeches make little difference.

And if an event did generate a crowd, it was mostly candidates and their staffs. And perhaps a few potential voters would show.

As I listened to each candidate deliver their “stump” speeches, I worked extremely hard on my poker face.

After enduring the same tired rhetoric week after week, my internal conversations became increasingly hostile.

While candidates did change message occasionally, the one constant was primary opponent Robbie Wills’ “do nothing” campaign speech …

“You might know me as the speaker of the house from Conway. But, you see, that’s not exactly true. I come from a small town right outside called Pickles Gap, where my grandfather made these little things called a do-nothing. But he said, Robbie, you don’t want to be a do-nothing, but a do-something. And that’s exactly what I’m going to be when I go to Washington.”

On the car rides to events, my staff would have contests for who could deliver Robbie’s speech the best.

Up on stage during the last debate at Sticky Fingerz, I noticed people chuckling as one of my staffers sat mimicking him word-for-word, pose-for-pose, pause-forpause. As I gestured him to shut up, I couldn’t help but smile myself.

I grew to really like Robbie as a person, but to survive the monotony of a campaign, a sense of humor is a must. And he provided plenty of ammunition, as I’m

 Everything on the trail seems like the replica of a replica of a replica. The images, the words, the delivery, too often seem familiar. It’s as though a successful politician is first and foremost “replicable.”

When exploring whether to officially run, I took the advice of some friends and called some highly touted campaign “consultants” from Washington to provide their assessment of me as a candidate. At one awkward exchange, a young man just out of college was concerned that my being single was a liability.

“Well, I’m not in love,” I replied.

“But people want to see that you have similar values.”

Another strategist chimed in that I should “find a girlfriend in a wheelchair.”

It seems unbelievable … I know. But this industry standard of the “perfect” candidate, pieced together over time from polling and punditry, has obsessively warped the mindset of many of those in the business of politics.

But I’ve always believed that the undercurrent of politics today is our search for authenticity. And for many in Arkansas’s Second District, that will be Rep. Vic Snyder’s most lasting legacy after he retires this year.

Everywhere I turned I heard something similar, “I might not have agreed with Vic, but I respected him.”

Perhaps he was one of our last authentic leaders in Congress. But let’s hope not.  The most difficult dance in today’s political arts is the courting of a stranger to ask for their vote. It’s intimidating knocking on doors or approaching someone without knowing their views, moods, or life history. And, frankly, with only three months to campaign, it was an inefficient means to reach voters.

Beyond the small numbers you touch, a candidate also has to break through several emotional barriers to even have the opportunity to ask for their vote. And let me tell you, voter anger, mistrust, and disgust aren’t just media buzz words — they’re very real and very potent in today’s electoral climate.

My first time shaking hands was in downtown Little Rock at the River Market. And it was pretty much like speed-dating from hell.

“Hi ma’am’,” I’d say with my hand extended.

“You’re not a politician? … Are you?” a brightly clad woman snipped.

“Well, no ma’am. But I’m trying to become one.”

“You come one step closer, I’ll scream!”

Lesson one became: DENY! DENY! DENY! … that you’re a politician. And so I tried a different strategy.

“Sir, my name is Patrick Kennedy, and I’m NOT a politician.”

Without hesitation, a grandfatherly-like gentleman said, “Son, with a name like Patrick Kennedy, you sure as hell better be.”

He’s got a point, I thought to myself.

Despite its slow and unpredictable nature, I loved this type of campaigning. With every vote hard-earned, you realize that the most explosive change was catalyzed one conversation at a time.

And over time, I came to see the anger much differently. Behind the angry mask was a feeling of hurt; of people feeling invisible to the political process and those pulling the strings. And whatever Democrats say about the Tea Party movement and its followers, they should learn a lesson from them. Most people on both

photos courtesty patick kennedy

sure I did for others.

on the trail: Old NOT a politician campaigns. ideological spectrums are yearning for their voice to be heard once again, but the Tea Party just seems more willing to do something about it.

If I could have changed anything about the campaign, I would have robbed a bank. It would have been a lot more respectable than some of the things you have to do to raise money.

A candidate’s need to fund-raise abdicates his or her self-worth. Every dollar donated marginalizes a candidate’s ability to lead independently. But as I was constantly reminded, if I wanted to succeed I had to become a “shameless” fund-raiser.

Call it stubbornness, or just plain ol’ self respect, there’s something about shamelessly begging that’s difficult to accept. But the drain of campaigning on principle alone can test the willpower of the strongest person.

A candidate will usually spend four to eight hours each day making fund-raising calls. And not having any

previous experience, my first day was a disaster.

I remember the excitement of filing to become a candidate (which cost a whopping $8,000) quickly giving way to a hair-tearing anger. With a goal to raise $7,000 that first day, I found even my closest friends and family to be less than receptive.

My three favorite responses were also the most common: Bronze: “I believe in you more than anything. But I can’t give you money because it’s too risky.”

Silver: “Leave me. The. Fuck. Alone!”

And Gold: “You’re either stupid or crazy to run, and what makes you think I’d give money to either one.”

As awkward as it was for me to ask for money, it was more awkward for the person being asked. No one really wants to give money to a political candidate, no matter what they say.

And except for the few who donate because they genuinely care or believe, once a candidate accepts a donation, the donor essentially owns you. And It becomes just that more difficult to act in accord with your conscience.

At times, I was offered contributions with certain conditions. For example, at a small event a natural gas executive offered me a large donation if I promised to “take care of the industry.”

I didn’t feel confident enough about the issues to accept. But let me tell you, turning down a thousand dollar check when you’re as broke as I was, was damn hard.

Most fund-raising exchanges weren’t this direct, but all had an unspoken expectation, like in any transaction.

Just think of politics like NASCAR. The candidate is the car, and the more money someone sponsors (or donates), the more training and testing you can buy to help you win. In return, your sponsor gets to ride you to the finish. The only thing missing are the big, colorful patches on our suits.

ALL politicians hate fund-raising — don’t let them fool you. I remember hearing each of my primary opponents complain about the absurdity of fund-raising.

The reason being that it causes you to contantly lose perspective on what’s important in politics.

One night after speaking to a Little Rock neighborhood association, a young woman in hospital scrubs asked to speak with me in private.

She pressed her hands tightly around mine and excitedly said, “I’m going to give you $5, ’cause I know you need it.”

I must not have hid my disappointment very well, because she responded in kind, “Five dollars might not mean much to you, but it should.”

She continued, “My husband died two weeks ago.

I can barely afford feeding my baby girl, much less waste money on a politician. … So, DON’T LET ME DOWN!” I felt terrible; truly ashamed. I had lost perspective on why I had gotten into the race to begin with.

The pundits may trivialize political fund-raising as a numbers game. But it’s the human capital of a small donation, or a handshake, or a conversation which is really the highest form of political currency.

I believe most every politician has a genuine desire to serve honorably when first pursuing a political vocation. But one of the most serious and palpable effects of fund-raising is the growing disconnectedness between the “haves” and the “have nots.”

Continued on page 12 www.arktimes.com • november 4, 2010 11

bRIAN chIlSoN

I deeply respect many of the Democratic Party values. But I was surprised to see just how out of touch the party leadership is. Hardly ever did I see candidates or party leaders in the poorest sections of Arkansas. With the foundation of the party built on serving the “underserved,” we seemed too far removed to truly understand what we paid lip service to.

And let me be clear, this isn’t an attempt to place blame. If any one is to blame, it starts with me. But ultimately, it’s a matter of priority. And when candidates and their parties are forced to spend a majority of their time with the elite few to meet our fund-raising needs, then we become disconnected from the realities on the ground and the values we preach.

If I had to guess, the results of this election will ultimately reflect that.  Not having money was not always a bad thing. I might have been the poorest politician, but I was also the freest politician. But what largely allowed me to do so was the equalizing effect of social media.

On the night before the first-quarter financial reports were due, I was struggling with how to notify the media about my less-than-stellar fund-raising numbers. After several weeks of good media exposure and a Talk Business poll showing me in third place, just a few points behind Wills, I knew that once the numbers were released I’d return to being the black sheep of the candidates.

When I read online that another primary opponent David Boling and Robbie had both released their numbers early along with their new campaign ads, I had never been more disappointed in the media. Not policy, not

ideas, not substance, but money and, yes, campaign ads suddenly qualified as news.

I feel confident saying pretty much every normal person abhors campaign ads. I mean, I can’t imagine any of my friends saying, “Man, I’m so pumped about seeing that new Boozman commercial. It’s going to be sick.”

I called my campaign director around 2:30 the next morning. “We’ve got to flip this,” I said.

Half asleep, she responded, “Yeah, OK. We’ll flip it.”

“How?” “Don’t know. We’ll think of something.”

Ten minutes passed — I called her again … and then again. Until, finally, she answered “Shut up! And go to bed!”

“Well, I’m not going to bed and neither are you until we figure this out.”

After a long pause, she chirped, “Fine, you want an idea? Five-second ad.”

“What?”

“Make a 5-second ad poking fun that you can’t afford a real one.”

“That’s genius.”

“OK, great. I’m shutting my phone off.

Goodnight!”

The next morning, we recorded a 5-second video on an iPhone, taking us less than 30 minutes to produce.

Just a few clicks and it was on Facebook, YouTube, and throughout the blogosphere, becoming our most popular message of the campaign.  Other campaigns paid good money to coordinate their media efforts, and used social media as an arm of their public relations strategy. But I noticed as candidates assigned others to post their material for them, it often backfired.

For young people especially, there’s nothing more off-putting than canned, corny, cheesy political statements. In other words — if you’re new to the “Face” just be yourself, answer the questions, and don’t be afraid to make mistakes.

Continued on page 14

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Lord knows, I made some silly statements. But I found people appreciated a human, imperfect politician.

Social media also served as a testing ground for campaign messaging. Instead of paying for a pricey pollster, I’d leak policy statements or ask questions on Facebook or Twitter. It allowed me to gauge anecdotally the mood of certain groups of people, and most importantly the media.

And because of the hotly contested U.S. Senate primary between Blanche Lincoln and Bill Halter, earned media was very difficult to come by. But social media provided a more personalized window into the lives of candidates. Which is why, in our campaign, a small tweet was twice as effective as a press release.  While social media brought my campaign to new heights, it also became intrusive at times.

When you think of a political sex scandal, I’m assuming most would think of it involving an act occurring between two (or more) human beings (or animals if you live in South Carolina). But today, in the age of Facebook, the political sex scandal has gone virtually viral.

Not too long after announcing my candidacy, I started receiving e-mails and Facebook messages from random women who had supposedly met me at some time. What I thought to be your normal constituent e-mail exchange quickly turned into a young woman sharing nude photos.

And, yes, her wanting me to do the same.

After respectfully declining, I started noticing more and more of these e-mails and messages from different women, and then web chat requests, and if iPhone had

a sex scandal application, I’m pretty sure that would have popped up too. The evidence strongly suggested them to be politically coordinated, hoping I would do something stupid.

Now, I had a woman stalk me in the bathroom at an event; and I even caught someone videotaping me across from my apartment while changing. But political “sexting” on Facebook seemed almost surreal in a very post-modern way.

And so I was left wondering — really? I mean c’mon. Has the need for scandal really come to this?

Apparently it has.

Perhaps what I’ve said is abundantly clear and offers no new insight. I wouldn’t disagree, as it seems like every week a retired or recently-defeated politician comes forth to speak about the ills of politics.

But the real issue, I think, is the unspoken assumption in politics: that the voters are easy manipulated.

To speak frankly, the practice of politics today treats people like they are stupid.

People with the most speak on behalf of those with the least, whether through donations, or what is claimed to be representative party leadership. We in politics assume, whether through commercials and carefully calibrated messaging, that you’ll simply accept what we say.

And so the question becomes whether you are willing to do something about it.

Once described as the “art of the possible,” politics is merely the paintbrush that transforms ideas into reality.

And you are the one wielding that brush.

The root of the problem in politics is that we seem

to have a spiritual deficiency. I didn’t realize this until after the campaign ended, when I learned that my own frustration at the voters and the political system was actually directed toward myself.

And so I wrote this piece because I guess I’m just tired of the bullshit. We all know politicians lie and exaggerate. And as much as I tried to stay true to myself, I sometimes didn’t.

We all yearn for strong, independent leadership, and yet we somehow know that we’ll always be disappointed in the end. And as much as I resisted fund-raising, I accepted that check.

We all obsess over sound bites and scandal, accepting politics as reality television and spectacle as entertainment. And even in writing this piece, I could not escape the temptation to do so.

The best way, I believe, to shut up the political chatter that distracts you, discourages you, ignores you, is turn me and others off. Drop the papers, switch off the television set, close your cell phones and computers and start talking with each other again. And don’t just take it from me, because after all, I am — God help me — a “politician.” But instead, learn to think and feel for yourself once again.

And so when I’m asked whether I’m going to run for office again, I honestly think that I must first be selfish and focus on how I can become a better person before thinking of serving others. So that if and when I do consider running again, I can make the decision knowing that I’m prepared to once again climb to the top of that tree and jump with equal or more force the next time.

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Editorial n It’s the kind of election year when a state legislative candidate with a bribery conviction in his past says if that’s all his opponents can use against him, he’s pretty much of a model citizen.

Politically, he’s got a point (as well as a record) this year.

Fogies may think bribery is serious business, but a sizeable segment of the electorate apparently believes it’s small-potato sin compared to failure to make jokes about Nancy Pelosi’s appearance, or refusal to acknowledge that Barack Obama is a foreign-born Muslim, or disagreement with the Supreme Court ruling that corporations have more rights than people.

Teabaggers are stepping on the heads of offenders so great.

A nasty, scary election year in other words, and as we write, we don’t know how it came out. We’ve had nightmares, for sure: A treacherous twerp succeeding the estimable Vic Snyder in the Second Congressional District? A partisan hack claiming one of Arkansas’s Senate seats? And, nationally, Republicans gaining control of at least one house of Congress, maybe two, the Party of No made capable of blocking all efforts at improving the lives of common, non-corporate — that is, human — Americans?

Cocky Republican leaders have begun calling themselves the Party of No Compromise, proud of their extremism and vindictiveness, qualities that voters once found unappealing.

And will again, an optimist has to believe, and optimism is an American trait. But it may be a rough ride before we get there.

Arrogant n There’s a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot this year that would protect Arkansans’ right to hunt. There is no proposed amendment to protect Arkansans from the state Game and Fish Commission, but it’s not a bad idea. Maybe next time.

The commission has a certain independence from the rest of state government because of a previous amendment, Amendment 35, that has probably outlived whatever usefulness it may have once had. In any case, Amendment 35 never empowered the Game and Fish Commission to select which laws it would obey and which it would not. Certain commissioners apparently thought they had such authority, and prepared a regulation they said would supersede the Freedom of Information Act, allowing the commissioners to decide what the public could know about public business. Both Governor Beebe and Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, to their credit, told the commissioners that they were bound by the law, just like everyone else, and the commissioners backed down. But they’re a vain lot, and entirely capable of trying something like this again. Forewarned is forearmed.

201 East Markham Street, 200 Heritage Center West, P.O. Box 34010, Little Rock, Arkansas 72203 Home page: http://www.arktimes.com • E-mail: arktimes@arktimes.com Publisher Alan Leveritt editor

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brian chilson

Weird

ONE OF THEM: Edie Love, a Midland High School graduate, protests school board member Clint McCance, whose Facebook post about gay people garnered national attention. Love said she joined the protest because of her own experiences as a lesbian student. McCance resigned from the board.

Your tax dollars at work n Arkansas Community Organizations asked Little Rock City Board candidates how they felt about the city giving $200,000 each year to the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Director Ken Richardson and one challenger, Kevin Dedner, were willing to talk about the issue.

One challenger, Robert Webb, said he would rather divert the money to crime prevention and intervention. Mayor Mark Stodola, Directors B.J. Wyrick and Doris Wright and Lance Hines, the favorite to win a vacant board seat, like the subsidy. Director Stacy Hurst wasn’t interviewed, but in a message to me defended the expenditure.

The city once had a staff economic development officer. They could still employ one for far less than $200,000. City Hall is also full of employees with necessary information to respond to requests for information about business needs.

What’s wrong here is that the city’s $200,000 — and another $25,000 in public money from the Wastewater utility — is a direct subsidy of a private corporation, something that is specifically prohibited by the Arkansas Constitution.

Oh, sure, the city and chamber have taken steps to put a fig leaf over the taxpayer subsidy. The city’s contract with the chamber says the city gets “unique benefits,” though I’ve yet to see one enumerated.

It specifies that the chamber is an “independent contractor,” but the chamber delivers little more than the same quarterly updates it would give any dues-paying member. Its only accounting is a simplified financial statement. The city contract promises chamber compliance with “all laws” including “to the extent applicable, state or federal freedom of information laws.” Jay Chesshir, executive director of the chamber, by refusing to answer any of my questions, demonstrates that he believes no law applies.

Finally, yes, the contract states that the handout should not be taken as an endorsement of chamber political positions.

But, of course, the financial subsidy — including publicly financed retirement and group health for

Max brantley max@arktimes.com

unnamed employees — at least indirectly supports the chamber’s political activities. And the chamber is political. Its PAC just provided the single largest source of support for an anti-union Little Rock School Board member’s election. The chamber PAC also gave Mayor Stodola $1,000, $500 to Director Hurst and more to a number of city, county and state candidates.

The chamber is buying support for the pro-business agenda. That’s legal. What don’t make sense are taxpayer subsidies of this agenda. Working people might, for example, prefer less punitive workers comp laws. They might take a more open view to immigration. They might be willing to pay for cleaner air. They might not favor more corporate tax breaks. They might not want to tear down the Little Rock School District.

Meanwhile, the chamber spits on accountability.

They won’t name who gets our money. They won’t account for how their time is spent. They won’t disclose how some $62,000 is spent on “minority business” and what $70,000 purchased by way of “publications/research.”

The $200,000 is just a down payment by the way.

The chamber’s aim is enlisting political support for a dedicated source of tax revenue for economic development. In short, they want a tax to support more highly paid chamber employees, but oppose taxes that pay for public services. They also want the money under the same terms they get it now — no strings and for a shell game to support their corporate political agenda. Our clubby city board and rent-to-own mayor are all too amenable. And if you think $200,000 is chump change, tell it to the city workers laid off this year. Then ask yourself who’s the chump?

Message failure n The Democratic Party got along fine most of the time without a controlling message and much discipline, but it paid a dear price this week.

One lesson from its electoral failings is that the party may have to become more like the Republicans — not in its principles or policies, for heaven’s sake, but in having a unifying message that may or may not convey the truth. In the Democrats’ case, the truth might be an ally but, as they learned this week, it is hardly essential to electoral triumph.

Republicans made big gains across the country, nowhere more than in Arkansas, because with surrogate help they persuaded enough voters that Democrats and Republicans both were exactly the opposite of their actual records, particularly on the decisive questions of health care, deficits and taxes.

It is not what you do or stand for, but the quality of your public relations.

If Frank Luntz takes bids, the Democrats may want to make an offer for his services.

Dr. Luntz — no, he’s not an Arkansas Republican-style Ph.D. but a legitimate one — is the commercial wordsmith and Fox News commentator who has coached Republican public relations, with amazing success. Fifteen years ago, he came up

Ernest Dumas with the phrase “death tax” for the estate and inheritance tax, which Newt Gingrich adopted in the Contract with America. It turned around opinion on the popular tax because people thought it was a tax levied on everyone’s death. Luntz suggested that the Bush administration adopt the pleasing term “climate change” for “global warming,” although he personally believed global warming to be happening. Who doesn’t want climate change? The media adopted the phrase and public alarm over the heating planet vanished.

The 2010 election is Luntz’s greatest triumph because he crafted the message on health-insurance reform that turned one of the most popular issues in history into a disaster for Democrats. A 2007 poll showed that 80 percent of Arkansans favored government health insurance for everyone but the pale replica of old Republican health bills that Congress finally enacted last winter was hated by most Arkansans and contributed to the defeat of Democratic candidates.

Using the gleanings from focus groups

We’re sorry, world n Today’s column begins with a memorandum I presume to send to the world in behalf of Arkansas.

Dear World: You need to understand that we in Arkansas remain mostly a sparsely populated rural culture. While there are lifestyle advantages to that, we also confront certain stagnant pressures that are matters of politics and heritage. One result is that we maintain too many school districts of small size.

This situation dissipates our already limited talent pool of people to run for and get elected to all these little local school boards.

But be assured that we have a court ruling that says the education of our children is ultimately the state government’s responsibility.

So, speaking as the state, we are sorry about those ghastly and evil ravings of that person who tragically sat on the board of one of our small rural districts. But please understand three things: (1) He got duly elected by the local patrons, which means the rest of us in the state had nothing to do with that.

(2) He did not actually run anything and was but one vote on that little local board.

(3) But if you get right down to it, he

John brummett jbrummett@arkansasnews.com

was, and is, the entire state’s responsibility and problem, and we want you to know that, as a state, we do not hate homosexual children, nor do we want homosexual children dead, and we will do what it takes to make sure that these unspeakably ignorant and hate-filled pronouncements are forever condemned, isolated and discredited.

Sincerely in our regret, Arkansas Surely you have heard. The story went worldwide.

We have a problem in this country with the ugly bullying of schoolchildren who are gay or are suspected of gayness. Gay children recently have committed suicide.

Some people came up with the idea for school officials and children to wear purple to honor these young lives lost and show solidarity for those living with these pressures.

So there is this 31-year-old man named Clint McCance. He lives in Pleasant Plains and he sat on the school board of the

when Congress began work on health care in the spring of 2009, Luntz gave the insurance industry and the Republicans a memo entitled “The Language of Health Care” on how to turn the public against whatever the Democrats drafted. Call it a “government takeover of health care,” say that people will lose the ability to make their own choice of doctors and be denied the treatment they need, and raise alarms that it will raise everyone’s taxes and add enormously to the deficit. None of those were true, but they became the mantra of a blizzard of TV commercials by the insurance industry, chamber of commerce and surrogate groups.

Luntz found in his focus groups that while the phrase “government health care” alarmed even old folks, everyone loved Medicare, the ultimate government health insurance program, and they did not want Medicare benefits cut. So Luntz said on Fox News that the Democrats were going to cut Medicare benefits. The new law actually expands Medicare benefits, but the lie was the message in Rick Crawford’s and John Boozman’s final blizzard of ads against their Democratic opponents this week.

The Democrats lost the image war over taxes even more decisively. President Obama and Congress cut taxes for 95 percent of Americans but that $116 billion tax cut vanished into the PR ether. A New York Times-CBS poll last month showed that only one in 10 voters knew that Obama

had cut their taxes — up to $400 a year for single persons and $800 for couples. A reporter covering a political rally in North Carolina asked people what Obama and the Democrats had done with their taxes.

All thought their taxes had been increased, which has been the subtle Republican message.

The Democratic record the past 50 years has been to reduce the income taxes of working-class Americans, but they are inept at making the case.

Giant budget deficits are largely a Republican phenomenon, but the Democrats get the blame. Here are the average annual general-revenue deficits of recent presidents: Carter (D) $58 billion, Reagan (R) $192 billion, G.H.W. Bush (R) $310 billion, Clinton (D) $92 billion, G.W. Bush $610 billion.

That $1.4 trillion for fiscal 2009 was Bush’s. It was running at a $1.3 trillion level before Bush left office.

Both the Republicans and Obama will enlarge the deficit over the next decade by continuing the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts — Republicans by $366 billion a year and Obama by $299 billion. Obama would pare the deficit $67 billion a year by restoring some of the 2001-level taxes on 120,000 Americans with an average annual income of $8.4 million.

A political party and a president that can’t sell that record need help. See what Dr. Luntz charges.

Midland School District, which is made up of consolidated districts and spans the rural southern section of Independence County, not far from Batesville. It serves about 600 students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade.

McCance took to his Facebook page to declare, by his own identity and for all the world to see, that he would not be wearing any purple to honor “five queers” who killed “thereselves” unless all gay kids — “fags,” he also called them — committed suicide.

He amplified to say he was glad that gay people got AIDs. For good measure, he mentioned that he would disown his own children if they were homosexual.

Somebody saw this ghastly series of posts and distributed it. Then its dissemination became exponential.

The next thing you knew the state Education Department was getting calls or e-mails from Canada to Australia from people wanting to know how Arkansas could be such a dreadful place as to let a man like that be a “school official” overseeing the education and safety of children.

Dr. Tom Kimbrell, the state education commissioner, consulted with Gov. Mike Beebe’s office and put out a statement strongly condemning this hate and explaining that he could not easily see how McCance could possibly continue to serve effectively on the board. That was as close as the state could come to firing an elected local school board member.

With our courts declaring that education is state government’s responsibility, it is arguable that a locally elected school board member actually serves only by delegation of state authority.

If one behaves as subhumanly as did McCance — and we can hope and surely expect that it will never happen again — the state ought to be able to vacate the school board seat and let the governor put someone human in that seat until the next election.

As it happened, McCance went on CNN on Thursday evening to do what he practically had to do. That was tell Anderson Cooper that he would resign and that he was sorry for what he had said.

Maybe something better will come of this. It might turn out to be beneficial that an international spotlight came for 36 or so hours to this little place not quite big enough to keep its school board filled at all times with a full complement of thinking and nonmonstrous people.

It might be that the kids in the school will begin to see a disconnect between the way the world views them and the example one of their local role models set. It might be that some child who is different will be spared some pain.

John Brummett is a columnist and reporter for Stephens Media’s Arkansas News Bureau. You can read additional Brummett columns in The Times of North Little Rock. www.arktimes.com • november 4, 2010 17

Pawson the Runway 4th annual

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benefiting

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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5 5:30 - 9pm ARKANSAS GOVERNOR’S MANSION For more information or to make reservations, call 501-603-2273 or email care@careforanimals.org

READERS NIGHT OUT Dedicated To All Fashionistas, Shop-O-Holics and Die Hard Foodies

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november 4, 2010 • ArKAnSAS TImeS

LE ON SAROW R TOMO10AM AT

SATURDAY, JANUARY 8

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A PORTION OF THE PROCEEDS TO BENEFIT THE RODNEY CARRINGTON FOUNDATION

arts entertainment

This week in

Atkins enters Jazz Hall of Fame

and

Page 20

Ben Kweller to Juanita’s Page 21

to-do list

20

calendar

22

Movies

26

Dining

31

Witchy women ‘Wicked’ rides a buzz into Little Rock.

I

By Werner Trieschmann

t’s oh too easy — especially in this age of the time a show becomes a hit on Broadway and instant TMZ, Jackassery-type fame — to eventually tours to Central Arkansas, “Wicked” forget the first big celebrities in this country has taken a while to arrive. The musical opened came from the stage. And it was the stage on Broadway in 2003 and though it was immedoor not the security on the movie set that held diately panned by The New York Times, it’s still running in NewYork and in various tours around back the average folk from the performers.

All this comes to mind when Celebrity the world.

Based on the 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire, Attractions brings to Little Rock a theatrical event on the magnitude of “Wicked,” the musical “Wicked” tells the story of the unlikely friendthat offers a different slant on “The Wizard of ship between Glinda the Good Witch (played Oz.” There is no question that the show by Steven first on Broadway by Kristin Chenoweth) and Elphaba, the girl born with Schwartz (“Godspell”), and emerald green skin who evenWinnie Holzman (primarily a tually becomes the Wicked TV writer for shows such as Robinson Center Music Witch of the West. “thirtysomething” and “The Hall, $35-$140 Certainly the characters Wonder Years”) is the most Performances: 2 p.m. and 7:30 of Glinda and Elphaba have popular theatrical production p.m. Thu., Nov. 4; 8 p.m. Fri., garnered a lot of the attenin the United States.

Nov. 5; 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Sat., Nov. 6; 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. tion, but “Wicked” is a big Celebrity Attractions clearly Sun., Nov. 7; 7:30 p.m. Tue, Nov. spectacle of a musical with a anticipates a big demand for 9; 7:30 p.m. Wed., Nov. 10; 7:30 large cast and many special tickets. “Wicked” will be p.m. Thu., Nov. 11; 8 p.m. Fri., Nov. 12; 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Sat., effects. Production notes from docked in Little Rock for two Nov. 13; 2 p.m. Sun., Nov. 14.

“Wicked” state that there’s weeks for 16 performances; approximately 200 pounds of most Celebrity Attractions shows stay for two or three days. Performers dry ice used per show and enough electricity to in “Wicked” note the way fans aren’t shy about light up 18 houses.

Perhaps one shouldn’t be surprised at the demonstrating their affection for this sung tale popularity of this new spin on “The Wizard of focusing on the Wicked Witch of the West.

“All the time there are people showing up Oz.” Celebrity Attractions recently brought in at stage door that have come in from other a touring production of the beloved American cities,” says Chris Peluso, who takes on the role fantasy and the appetite for L. Frank Baum’s tale of Fiyero. “People fly from San Francisco and doesn’t seem to be slacking. other places and they are seeing it again. The “The closest [play as popular as ‘Wicked’] show has a very strong fan base. They really want I’ve been in is ‘Mama Mia,’ ” says Peluso. “Even to see every new person in the cast. They keep then, it’s not near the reaction. Fans loved ‘Mama track of it.”

Mia’ for the music, but they don’t really care for While you can always count on a lag between the story like they do in ‘Wicked.’ ”

“Wicked”

THE WOMEN OF ‘WICKED’: Natalie Daradich and Vicki Noon.

www.arktimes.com • november 4, 2010 19

his way around Little Rock’s barstools. And we can always use someone as flat-out fun to watch as the contagiously exuberant son of Junior Kimbrough, the eternal emperor of the Delta blues. What I’m getting at is this: Have you seen David Jr. yet? If not, it may be time to stop denying yourself the footstomping, butt-shaking good time he brings to town every time. This weekend sees a twonight stand in town, playing Parrot Beach Cafe on Friday night, supported by husband and wife duo Jawbone and Jolene, and his regular hang-out, White Water Tavern, at 10 p.m. Saturday, supported by singer/songwriter (and his blues co-conspirator) Stacey Mackey.

“DOG SEES GOD: CONFESSIONS OF A TEENAGE BLOCKHEAD” 7:30 p.m., The Weekend Theater. $10-$14.

n It’s a concept that has churned up a bit of controversy during its off- and off-offBroadway runs, not to mention one that’s guaranteed to strike you as either perverse, hilarious, or, if you’re like me, a bit of both. Okay, so the “Peanuts” gang has grown up, bypassing the “lovable misfit” stage and going straight into “borderline sociopath” territory. Or at least “notably troubled.” C.B.’s doing a little more than “good grief”-ing over Snoopy’s death by rabies, his sister Sally has gone goth and their old football friends have blossomed into potheads, homophobes, hoes and institutionalized ne’er-do-wells. I shudder to think what the authors would subject “The Family Circus” clan to. “Dog Sees God” continues for the next three weekends, closing its run on Nov. 20.

M ONDAY 1 1 /8

‘PEANUTS’ GONE NUTS: “Dog Sees God,” the unauthorized satire/tribute to Charles Schultz’s cantankerous kids, opens at The Weekend Theater.

■ to-dolist

By John Tarpley

TH U R S D AY 1 1 / 4

OZARK FOLK FESTIVAL Eureka Springs, various locations.

n The nation’s longest-running folk music festival is back for another threeday pick ’n’ grin, drawing in folkies the world over for its 63rd year. This time 20 november 4, 2010 • ARKANSAS TIMES

around, the organizers are keeping their tradition of bringing in top-tier singers with headliner Eliza Gilkyson, the Texan singer/songwriter whose 40-year career of airy, meditative albums has given her a permanent spot in the high tiers of Austin’s folk royalty. She plays Saturday night at The Auditorium, Eureka Springs’ historic theater, with Fayetteville bluegrass quintet 3 Penny Acre and Folk Fest veteran Wes Casto. Friday, the festival offers an afternoon of free music in Basin Spring Park from various local musicians before taking to the 1905 Basin Park Hotel for the Barefoot Ball, which offers music from the neo-hillbilly bluegrass shredders of

Big Smith and, for our money, one of the most reliably mind-blowing acts Arkansas offers in any genre, Cletus Got Shot. For schedules and more information, visit ozarkfolkfestival.com.

FRIDAY 11/5

DAVID KIMBROUGH JR.

JAZZMASTER: The late Jerry Atkins, jazz writer, performer and curator, will be inducted into the Arkansas Jazz Hall of Fame alongside pianist Amina Claudine Myers this Monday night at The Afterthought.

ARKANSAS JAZZ HALL OF FAME

9 p.m., Parrot Beach Cafe. $5.

8 p.m., The Afterthought. $20 adv., $25 d.o.s.

n Who should we talk to about making David Kimbrough Jr. an honorary Little Rockian? For years, he’s been no stranger to stages around town. No doubt, he knows

n Happening only once every two years, the Arkansas Jazz Hall of Fame’s induction ceremony remains a must-do for state

the talking, moving, acting figures projected onto the screen. Sure, you won’t miss out on the full “Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot” experience by watching it for the umpteenth time on your blown-out 14” Sanyo, but for sprawling, cinematic epics that define “classic” like “The Godfather,” you owe it to yourself to take it in with a proper theatrical viewing. Unfortunately, repertory theaters are nowhere to be found in Arkansas, leaving local cinephiles with precious few opportunities to see the greats the way they were meant to be seen. But with this, the latest installment of Market Street Cinema’s invaluable monthly “classics” series, our local art-house is offering up the chance to see (spoiler alert) Luca Brasi get strangled, Sonny get riddled with bullets and Kay get betrayed the way Coppola intended.

WE DNE SDAY 1 1 /9

‘INDEPENDENT FOR GOVERNOR: AN IDEALIST’S GRUELING RUN’

7 p.m., University of Central Arkansas’s Reynolds Performance Hall. Free.

KWELLER STILL KILLER: Perpetually underappreciated singer/songwriter Ben Kweller returns to Little Rock this Tuesday. jazz aficionados. This time, the organization honors two native Arkansans for their contributions to the genre. The late Jerry Atkins, saxophonist, jazz writer for Down Beat, Metronome, Coda, and host of the “Enjoyment of Jazz” radio show for 22 years, will be added to the ranks alongside Amina Claudine Myers, whose gospelinfused piano stylings have placed her beside jazz notables such as Bill Laswell, Zoot Sims and the Art Ensemble of Chicago. The night includes performances by 1998 Jazz Hall of Fame inductee Roseanne Vitro and Afterthought regulars Joe Vick, Tom Cox and Dave Rogers.

TU E S D AY 1 1 / 9

BEN KWELLER

roads, but to my ears, he’s remained one of the most endearing, biting songwriters of his generation. From his 2002 teen-pop debut, “Sha Sha,” which for eight years has had a permanent place in my “on the road essentials” CD binder, to last year’s “Changing Horses,” his matured, 10-track exercise in traditional country storytelling and saloon harmonies, Kweller has managed to keep me — and thousands of others in his dedicated fanbase — interested.

‘THE GODFATHER’

7 p.m., Market Street Cinema. $5

n Films, by the nature and definition of the word, should be seen on the big screen, with a roomful of people being drawn in to

n At my house, I still have one of the many, many spray paint-stenciled “Rod Bryan for Governor” cardboard signs that popped up around the state — especially in the Stifft Station/Capitol View neighborhoods — during the elections of 2006.

In fact, I’m pretty protective of it. I like to think that one day I can tell my grandkids about the year my buddy who hung out on my porch during house shows and let me loiter in his record store decided to up and run for governor. Thankfully, it’s a story I won’t have to stumble through now that Huixia Lu’s long-awaited documentary about Bryan’s unconventional, one-liner-packed summer of politics is finally being released. The (fantastic) trailer for “Independent for Governor: An Idealist’s Grueling Run” hit the Internet last week and, as of press time, Lu, the Cannes Festival-featured UCA professor, is still pruning her final cut of the film for next week’s world premiere. Expect a good bit of gadfly politics, a Ho-Hum heavy soundtrack and a flood of one-liners from Rod “Quips Ahoy!” Bryan.

9 p.m., Juanita’s. $15 adv., $17 d.o.s.

n Even before I was able to turn my opinions about music into a way to pay the light bill, I’ve been a big fan and proponent of Ben Kweller, the nebbish Texan powerpopper who, for reasons beyond me, has toiled away on the sidelines of fame since fronting teen-rock act Radish as a 14-yearold and finding himself semi-famous because of it. Sure, his earnest penmanship can steer him closer to “indie rock for your little cousin” territory instead of the critically-preferred Jerry Jeff Walker, et al.

LA COSA NOSTRA CLASSIC: Market Street Cinema screens one of the greatest films ever, by any definition, “The Godfather,” this Tuesday at 7 p.m.

■ inbrief

THURSDAY 11/4

n Brother Andy Warr leaves his big damn mouth behind for a solo show at White Water Tavern, 10 p.m. Conway invades when The Delta Breed brings its grunge blues to Vino’s alongside the alternative swagger of The Willowners, 8 p.m., $6. Sticky Fingerz hosts a “We Love Local Music” night with Southern indie-pop from Father Maple and heady indie rock from Don’t Stop Please, 9:30 p.m., $4. Singer/songwriter and Portland stalwart Rocky Votolato specializes in finger-picked acoustic pop; he’ll play Juanita’s with tourmates Ha Ha Tonka and former “Coin Laundry Loser” Nick Flora, 9 p.m., $10. Pulaski Technical College opens its doors for a night of culinary competition with Celebrity Chef Cookoff 2010, 6:30 p.m., $50. “Hamlet” returns to the Rep, 7 p.m., $25-$40.

FRIDAY 11/5

n Sticky Fingerz offers up honky-tonk/ mod fusion from Starroy and freaky bluegrass from the trio of Mountain Sprout, 9:30 p.m., $5. The State Symphony Capella of Russia Chorus brings its choral power to UCA’s Reynolds Performance Hall, 7:30 p.m., $10-$30.

Downtown Music does what it does best with this Friday night of whackedout metal from industrial rockers The Vail, local eccentrics Flameing Daeth Fearies, the always-heavy My Hands to War and West Memphis hardcore act An American Tragedy, 8 p.m., $6. CARE for Animals returns to the Governor’s Mansion for “Paws on the Runway,” the organization’s annual benefit featuring a canine fashion show and silent auctions, 5:30 p.m., $50 general admission, $75 runway seating. Revolution’s monthly Zodiac party is back with the “Scorpio Edition,” featuring music from DJs Raydar and Shaolin and rhymes from MC Messinian, 9 p.m., $10.

SATURDAY 11/6

n No strangers to Little Rock, American Aquarium, the alt-country act from Raleigh, N.C., takes the stage at Sticky Fingerz, 9:30 p.m., $7. Boom Kinetic, a party rock band familiar to Little Rock clubbers and nightlifers, plays Revolution, 9:30 p.m., $8. Vino’s brings a triple-bill of heavy pop-punk from The Weisenheimers, Outstanding Red Team and new name Turnrow, 8 p.m.

Khalil’s Pub hosts a night of karaoke, 7 p.m. The big-voiced Ramona Smith sings the rock, soul and R&B classics at The Afterthought, 9 p.m., $7. Grace Lutheran Church raises money for Baskets of Hope with its Fall Craft Show and Book Sale, 9 a.m. Local hard radiorockers Taylor Made play the Fox and Hound stage, 10 p.m. www.arktimes.com • november 4, 2010 21

www.arktimes.com

afterdark

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

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4 Music

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

Andy Warr solo. White Water Tavern, 10 p.m.

2500 W. 7th. 501-375-8400. www.myspace. com/whitewatertavern.

Delta Breed, The Willowners. Vino’s, 8 p.m., $6. 923 W. Seventh St. 501-375-8466. www.vinosbrewpub.com.

Destroy Nate Allen, Hot Cognition, The Last Cigarette. ACAC, 9 p.m., $5. 608 Main St. 501-244-2974.

DJ SilkySlim. Sway, 8 p.m., $3. 412 Louisiana.

501-907-2582.

Father Maple, Don’t Stop Please. Sticky Fingerz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 9:30 p.m., $4. 107 Commerce St. 501-372-7707. www. stickyfingerz.com.

J-One Presents: “In Too Deep.” Deep Ultra Lounge, 9 p.m. 322 President Clinton Ave. Jeff Coleman & Co.. The Afterthought, 8 p.m., free. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www. afterthoughtbar.com.

Jeni & Billy. Faulkner County Library, 7 p.m., free. 1900 Tyler St., Conway. 501-327-7482. www.fcl.org.

Jim Dickerson. Sonny Williams’ Steak Room, 7 p.m. 500 President Clinton Ave. 501-324-2999. www.sonnywilliamssteakroom.com.

John Durham. Town Pump, 10 p.m., $3. 1321 Rebsamen Park Road. 501-663-9802.

Ozark Folk Festival. Three nights of events and music from Cletus Got Shot, Wes Castro, 3 Penny Acre, Lyal Strickland, GBmojo and more.

For tickets or more information, call 888-8557823 or visit ozarkfolkfestival.com. Basin Spring Park. Downtown Eureka Springs, Eureka Springs.

“Posh.” Clear Channel Metroplex, 9 p.m., $5 early admission. 10800 Colonel Glenn Road.

Rocky Votolato, Ha Ha Tonka, Nick Flora.

Juanita’s, 9 p.m., $10. 1300 S. Main St. 501-3721228. www.juanitas.com.

Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 5 p.m., free. 111 W. President Clinton Ave. 501-3747474. www.capitalhotel.com/CBG. White Noise Theory (headliner), Josh Green (happy hour). Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 and 9 p.m., $5 after 8:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road.

501-375-5351. www.cajunswharf.com.

coMedy

Tim Statum. The Loony Bin, 8 p.m.; Nov. 5, 8 and 10:30 p.m.; Nov. 6, 7, 9 and 11 p.m., $6-$9.

10301 N. Rodney Parham Road. www.loonybincomedy.com.

events

20th Annual Holiday House. The Junior League of Little Rock’s annual private shopping event returns. For tickets or more information, visit jllr.org or call 375-5557. Statehouse 22 november 4, 2010 • ARKANSAS TIMES

ROAD WARRIORS: American Aquarium (above), the eternally touring Knoxville, Tenn., alt-country act that’s signed to Arkansas’s Last Chance Records, brings its Springsteeninfluenced, lovelorn brand of bar hymns to Sticky Fingerz this Saturday, Nov. 6, at 9:30 p.m., $6.

Convention Center, $7/day, $15 weekend pass.

7 Statehouse Plaza.

“Art for Arc’s Sake.” An art show and sale to benefit Arc Arkansas, an organization that provides services to individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities. For more information, call 375-7770. Next Level Events, 5 p.m., $25. 1400 W. Markham St. 501-376-9746. www.nextleveleventsinc.com.

Celebrity Chef Cookoff 2010. An evening of culinary competition, as prepared by well-known Arkansas chefs. For tickets or more information, call 244-9700. Pulaski Technical College, 6:30 p.m., $50. W. Scenic Dr, NLR. Hillcrest Shop & Sip. Shops and restaurants offer discounts, later hours, and live music.

Hillcrest, first Thursday of every month, 5 p.m.

P.O.Box 251522. 501-666-3600. www.hillcrestmerchants.com.

Lectures

Jennifer Buffett. The president and co-chair of the New York based NoVo Foundation, a philanthropic organization focused on the empowerment of women and girls, discusses her work with the charitable non-profit. For reservations, e-mail publicprograms@clintonschool.uasys.edu or call 683-5239. Clinton School of Public Service, 12 p.m., free. 1200 President Clinton Ave. 501-6835239. www.clintonschool.uasys.edu.

Jerry Mitchell. The celebrated investigative reporter and 2010 Harding University Distinguished Alumni discusses his role as a civil rights reporter for The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss. Harding University, 7:30 p.m. 900 E. Center Ave., Searcy.

Books

Pat Conroy. The author of “The Prince of Tides”

speaks as part of the “Stardust on Blytheville” series, which raises funds for adult literacy advocacy. Ritz Civic Center, 7 p.m., $10. 306 W. Main St., Blytheville.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5 Music

Ashley McBride. Reno’s Argenta Cafe, 9 p.m.

312 N. Main St., NLR. 501-376-2900. www. renosargentacafe.com.

Brent Stroud. Cornerstone Pub & Grill, 9 p.m.

314 Main St., NLR. 501-374-1782. cstonepub. com.

Brian & Nick. Flying Saucer, 9 p.m., $3. 323 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-7468. www.beerknurd.com/stores/littlerock.

Death on Two Wheels, Poison Control Center, Johnny Rocket. Maxine’s, 8 p.m., $5 adv., $7 d.o.s. 700 Central Ave., Hot Springs. maxinespub.com.

The Deep Fried, All You Can Eat Rock & Roll Buffet. A fundraiser for the Valley of the Vapors Festival with music from Grandchildren, Cold Mold, The Sound of the Mountain, The Walking Lawsuits, Mammoths, Holy Snakes, Ginsu Wives. Low Key Arts, 9 p.m., $7. 118 Arbor St., Hot Springs.

DJ Ja’Lee. Sway, 5 p.m., $5. 412 Louisiana.

501-907-2582.

Flaw, Finding Jimmy Hoffa, Saturate.

Juanita’s, 9 p.m., $10 adv., $12 d.o.s. 1300 S. Main St. 501-372-1228. www.juanitas.com.

David Kimbrough Jr., Jawbone & Jolene.

Parrot Beach Cafe, 9 p.m. 9611 MacArthur Drive, NLR. 771-2994.

Mountain Sprout, Pope County Bootleggers.

Midtown Billiards, Nov. 6, 12:30 a.m. 1316 Main St. 501-372-9990‚Äé. midtownar.com.

Nelo. George’s Majestic Lounge, 9 p.m., $12. 519 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville. 479-442-4226.

Ozark Folk Festival. See Nov. 4.

Purfek Daze (headliner), Richie Johnson (happy hour). Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 and 9 p.m., $5 after 8:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. www.cajunswharf.com.

Rehab, 7 Sharp. Fox And Hound, 10 p.m. 2800 Lakewood Village, NLR. 501-753-8300.

Rodney Block and Co.. The Afterthought, 9 p.m., $7. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www.afterthoughtbar.com.

Shannon McClung. Cregeen’s Irish Pub, Nov. 5-6, 9 p.m., free. 301 Main St., NLR. 501-376-7468. www.cregeens.com.

Starroy, Mountain Sprout. Sticky Fingerz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 9:30 p.m., $5. 107 Commerce St. 501-372-7707. www.stickyfingerz. com.

State Symphony Capella of Russia Chorus.

University of Central Arkansas - Reynolds Performance Hall, 7:30 p.m., $10-$40, students free. 201 Donaghey Ave., Conway.

The Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 9 p.m. 111 W. President Clinton Ave. 501-374-7474. www.capitalhotel.com/CBG. The Sarah Hughes Band. White Water Tavern, 10 p.m. 2500 W. 7th. 501-375-8400. www. myspace.com/whitewatertavern.

Thomas East. Sonny Williams’ Steak Room, Nov. 5-6, 7 p.m. 500 President Clinton Ave. 501-3242999. www.sonnywilliamssteakroom.com.

Tragikly White. Denton’s Trotline, Nov. 5-6, 9 p.m. 2150 Congo Road, Benton. 501-315-1717.

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

The Vail, Flaeming Daeth Fearies, My Hands to War, An American Tragedy.

Downtown Music Hall, 8 p.m., $6. 215 W. Capitol.

501-376-1819. downtownshows.homestead. com.

Zodiac: Scorpio Edition with DJs Raydar and Shaolin, MC Messinian. Revolution, 9 p.m., $10. 300 President Clinton Ave. 823-0090. revroom.com.

coMedy

Tim Statum. The Loony Bin, Nov. 5, 8 and 10:30 p.m.; Nov. 6, 7, 9 and 11 p.m., $6-$9. 10301 N. Rodney Parham Road. www.loonybincomedy. com.

dance

Trey McEntire Project. Walton Arts Center, 8

UpcOMiNg EVENTS Concert tickets through Ticketmaster by phone at 975-7575 or online at www.ticketmaster.com unless otherwise noted.

NOV. 19: Brad Paisley. 7:30 p.m., Verizon Arena. 800-745-3000, ticketmaster.com.

Nov. 20: Rev. Horton Heat with Split Lip Rayfield. 9 p.m., $25. Juanita’s, 1300 S. Main St. 372-1288, juanitas.com.

Nov. 20: Kurt Vile. White Water Tavern, 2500 W. 7th. 375-8400, myspace.com/whitewatertavern.

Nov. 22: Ken Stringfellow. White Water Tavern, 2500 W. 7th. 375-8400, myspace.com/ whitewatertavern.

Dec. 3: Old 97s. 9 p.m., $16 adv., $18 d.o.s.

Revolution, 300 President Clinton Ave. 823-0090, rumbarevolution.com.

Dec. 7: Michael Buble. 8 p.m., $51.50$91.50. Verizon Arena. 800-745-3000, ticketmaster.com.

Dec. 7: Sweet Eagle CD release show.

White Water Tavern, 2500 W. 7th. 375-8400, myspace.com/whitewatertavern.

Dec. 9: T-Model Ford. White Water Tavern, 2500 W. 7th. 375-8400, myspace.com/whitewatertavern.

Dec. 18: Trans-Siberian Orchestra. 3 p.m. and 8 p.m., $27-$63. Verizon Arena. 800-7453000, ticketmaster.com.

Dec. 23: The Big Cats. White Water Tavern, 2500 W. 7th. 375-8400, myspace.com/whitewatertavern. p.m., $10-$25. 495 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville.

479-443-5600.

EvEnts

20th Annual Holiday House. See Nov. 4.

4th Annual “Paws on the Runway.” The CARE for Animals benefit offers a canine fashion show, silent auction, heavy hors d’oeuvres and drinks. For more information or to make reservations, call 603-2273 or e-mail care@careforanimals.org. Governor’s Mansion, 5:30 p.m., $50 general admission, $75 runway seating. 1800 Center St. Arkansas AIDS Foundation “Wine and Cheese Kick Off.” This event kicks off Arkansas AIDS Foundation’s “Celebration of Life 2010” week. Visit araidsfoundation.org for more information. MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History, 7:30 p.m., $20. 503 E. 9th St. 376-4602. www.arkmilitaryheritage.com.

Arkansas Genealogical Society Fall Seminar. Themed “Tears, Settlers, Railroads & Steeples: Tracing Ancestral Tracks,” this year’s two-day conference offers resources to those interested in tracking their family history. For more information or to register, visit ags.genealogy.org. Holiday Inn - Airport, Nov. 5-6, $25/ day, $40/weekend. 3201 Bankhead Dr. 501-4901000.

Haunted Evening Tour. A two-hour tour of locations said to be the city’s most haunted and a visit with paranormal investigators. Visit hauntedtoursoflittlerock.com for more information. MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History, through Dec. 3 7 p.m., $25. 503 E. 9th St. 376-4602. www.arkmilitaryheritage.com.

LGBTQ/SGL Youth and Young Adult Group.

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

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 6 Music

American Aquarium. Sticky Fingerz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 9:30 p.m., $7. 107 Commerce St. 501-372-7707. www.stickyfingerz.com.

Blue 82 (headliner), Slimpikers (happy hour). Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 and 9 p.m., $5 after 8:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. www.cajunswharf.com.

Boom Kinetic. Revolution, 9:30 p.m., $8. 300 President Clinton Ave. 823-0090. revroom.com.

Brian & Nick. Markham Street Grill And Pub,

8:30 p.m., free. 11321 W. Markham St. 501-2242010. www.markhamst.com.

Brown Sole Shoes. Cornerstone Pub & Grill, 9 p.m. 314 Main St., NLR. 501-374-1782. cstonepub.com.

David Kimbrough Jr., Stacey Mackey. White Water Tavern, 10 p.m. 2500 W. 7th. 501-3758400. www.myspace.com/whitewatertavern.

DJ Ja’Lee. Sway, 5 p.m., $5. 412 Louisiana.

501-907-2582.

Elise Davis. Flying Saucer, 9 p.m. 323 President Clinton Ave. $3. www.beerknurd.com/stores/ littlerock.

Gorilla Productions showcase. Downtown Music Hall, 8 p.m. 215 W. Capitol. 501-376-1819. downtownshows.homestead.com.

Grayson Shelton. Reno’s Argenta Cafe, 9 p.m. 312 N. Main St., NLR. 501-376-2900. www. renosargentacafe.com.

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

Kramer (lobby); Michael Shane (techno); Brandon Peck (theater); Roxi Starlight, Catia Lee Love, Dominique Sanchez (theater). Discovery Nightclub, 10 p.m., $10.

1021 Jessie Road. 501-664-4784. www.latenightdisco.com.

Moonlight Serenade Big Band Dance.

University of Central Arkansas: Student Center Ballroom, 8 p.m., $12.50. 201 Donaghey Ave., Conway.

Mountain Sprout, Pope County Bootleggers. Midtown Billiards, 12:30 a.m.

1316 Main St. 501-372-9990‚Äé. midtownar. com.

Ozark Folk Festival. See Nov. 4.

Ramona Smith and Co. The Afterthought, 9 p.m., $7. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www.afterthoughtbar.com.

Shannon McClung. Cregeen’s Irish Pub, 9 p.m., free. 301 Main St., NLR. 501-376-7468. www.cregeens.com.

Strike Anywhere. Downtown Music Hall, 8 p.m., $6. 215 W. Capitol. 501-376-1819. downtownshows.homestead.com.

Taylormade. Fox And Hound, 10 p.m. 2800 Lakewood Village, NLR. 501-753-8300.

The Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 9 p.m. 111 W. President Clinton Ave. 501-3747474. www.capitalhotel.com/CBG. Thomas East. Sonny Williams’ Steak Room, 7 p.m. 500 President Clinton Ave. 501-324-2999. www.sonnywilliamssteakroom.com.

Tragikly White. Denton’s Trotline, 9 p.m. 2150 Congo Road, Benton. 501-315-1717.

The Weisenheimers, Outstanding Red Team, Turnrow. Vino’s, 8 p.m. 923 W. Seventh St. 501-375-8466. www.vinosbrewpub.com.

coMEdy

Tim Statum. The Loony Bin, 7, 9 and 11 p.m., $6-$9. 10301 N. Rodney Parham Road. www. loonybincomedy.com.

EvEnts

18th Annual “Reigning Cats and Dogs.”

The annual Humane Society of Pulaski County fundraiser features silent and live auctions, hors d’oeuvres, wine, beer and music by Blue State.

For tickets or more information, call 227-6166.

Doubletree Hotel, 7 p.m., $50 adv., $60 d.o.s. The annual Humane Society of Pulaski County benefit offers silent and live auctions, hors d’oeuvres, drinks and music by Blue State. For more information, call 227-6166 or visit warmhearts.org.

Doubletree Hotel, 7 p.m., $50. 424 W. Markham.

501-372-4371.

20th Annual Holiday House. See Nov. 4.

Annual “Mushroom Mania” Fungus Fair. A day-long celebration of everything mushroom, including hikes to observe wild mushrooms, a lunch, presentations and cooking classes.

Pinnacle Mountain State Park, 10 a.m. p.m., $10.

11901 Pinnacle Valley Road. 501-868-5806.

Arkansas AIDS Walk. A walk to benefit the Arkansas AIDS Foundation with live entertainment, silent auctions and more. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m., the walk commences at 10:30 a.m. River Market Pavilions, 8:30 a.m. 400 President Clinton Ave. 375-2552. www.rivermarket.info.

Arkansas Earth Institute Friendraiser. The fourth annual potluck, featuring live music and environmental information. Allsopp Park, 6 p.m.

Cantrell & Cedar Hill Roads.

Arkansas Genealogical Society Fall Seminar. See Nov. 5.

Certified Arkansas Farmers Market. A weekly outdoor market featuring produce, meats and other foods from Arkansas farmers. Argenta Market, 7 a.m.-12 p.m., free. 521 N. Main St., NLR. 501-379-9980. www.argentamarket.com.

Cinderella Ball 2010. This year’s gala offers cocktails, silent and live auctions, gourmet dining, ballroom dancing and live entertainment to benefit Safe Places. For more information, call 351-4673 or visit safeplaceslr.org. Embassy Suites, 6 p.m., $125. 11301 Financial Centre. 501-312-9000.

Crossmark for Kids “Casino Night.” A fundraiser for Arkansas Children’s Hospital with blackjack, craps, roulette and a poker tournament. For more information, visit crossmark4kids.com. Aloft Hotel, 7 p.m. 1103 S. 52nd St., Rogers.

Fall Craft Show and Used Book Sale.

Proceeds from the book sale benefits Basket of Hope. For more information, call 291-3751. Grace Lutheran Church, 9 a.m. p.m. 5124 Hillcrest Ave. 501-663-3631.

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

Farmers Market. River Market Pavilions, 7 a.m.

400 President Clinton Ave. 375-2552. www.rivermarket.info.

Grant County Museum Heritage Day. Grant County Museum, 10 a.m. p.m. 521 Shackleford Road, Sheridan.

Wounded Warrior Project: “Soldier Ride.”

A Veteran’s Day event with bike rides, barbecue and music from Luke Williams Band. Sign up to ride or donate at arkansasfreedomfund.org.

Clinton Presidential Center, free. 1200 President Clinton Avenue. 370-8000. www.clintonpresidentialcenter.org.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 7 Music

11th Annual “Walk for Community.” A onemile walk over the Main Street to celebrate the diversity in Arkansas. To register or for more information, visit arkansasjustcommunities.org. River Market Pavilions, 2 p.m. 400 President Clinton Ave. 375-2552. www.rivermarket.info.

“Climax” with Cruise Control, Mike Blaze, DJ Swagger. Ernie Biggs, 9 p.m. 307 Clinton Ave. 501-372-4782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com.

Dignan, The Rocketboys. Juanita’s, 8 p.m., $7. 1300 S. Main St. 501-372-1228. www.juanitas. com.

North Little Rock Community Concert Band. Lakewood Village Amphitheatre, 3 p.m., free. Lakewood Village, NLR. Philander Smith Collegiate Choir. First United Methodist Church, 2 p.m. 723 Center St. Sunday Jazz Brunch with Ted Ludwig and Joe Cripps. Vieux Carre, 11 a.m. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www.vieuxcarrecafe.com.

EvEnts

“Walk for CommUnity.” Just Communities of Arkansas hosts its 11th annual 1-mile walk to celebrate diversity throughout the state. Adult registration, $25; students (K-college), $10; families, $50.

River Market Pavilions, 3 p.m. 400 President Clinton Ave. 375-2552. www.rivermarket.info.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 8

Live Music THuRsDay, Nov 4 aNDy WaRR soLo sHoW FRiDay, Nov 5 THe saRaH HugHes BaND saTuRDay, Nov 6 DaviD KimBRougH JR. sTacey macKey TuesDay, Nov 9 cHoogLiN’ (miNNeapoLis, mN) JoNaTHaN WiLKiNs & THe RepaRaTioNs

myspace.com/whitewatertavern Little Rock’s Down-Home Neighborhood Bar

7th & Thayer • Little Rock • (501) 375-8400

LITTLE ROCK’S LIVE MUSIC VENUE www.thevillagelive.com

Neon Trees

wiTh New PoliTics Friday, November 19 • 7:30Pm doors oPeN 7:00Pm TickeTs $13 advaNce $15 Dos

hinder

wiTh My DarkesT Days, DefaulT Friday, November 26 • 8:30Pm doors oPeN 7:30Pm TickeTs $22.50 advaNce $25 Dos

s cajun’ wharf presents

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5

Purfek Daze

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 6

Blu 82

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11

Tragikly White

Music

Arkansas Jazz Hall of Fame Ceremony and Concert 2010 with Amina Claudine Myers, pianist, and Roseanna Vitro, vocalist. The Afterthought, 8 p.m., $20 adv., $25 d.o.s. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www.afterthoughtbar.com.

Traditional Irish Music Session. Khalil’s Pub, Fourth and second Monday of every month, 7 p.m.

110 S. Shackleford Road. 501-224-0224. www. khalilspub.com.

EvEnts

“Wickedly Generous Ways” Benefit. A cabaret and live auction featuring the touring cast of “Wicked.” For more information, visit araidsfoundation.org. Sway, 7 p.m., $40. 412 Louisiana.

501-907-2582.

Continued on page 27

live music every night Big Swingin’ Deck Parties on Thursdays

cajunswharf.com

mon-sat from 4:30 p.m.

2400 cantrell road • on the arkansas river

375-5351

www.arktimes.com • november 4, 2010 23

‘Hamlet’

Oct. 30, Arkansas Repertory Theater

Harris Berlinsky’s Polonius is not the prattling fool normally seen but a much more wrenching figure — an officious, softspoken man who seems to be stricken by his pronouncements as soon as he makes them. Coble’s Ophelia is particularly vulnerable and moving after she goes mad, skipping around on the stage passing out her wilted flowers. J. Center, as the Player King and especially as the Grave Digger, puts an eccentric, memorable stamp during his turns on stage.

Hupp’s focus is on the action, the forward motion of Shakespeare’s antirevenge revenge play. Mike Nichols’ set, a wood and steel-beamed place crosshatched with shadows, is a striking space.

Hupp has set this “Hamlet” in 1914 and it’s a good move if for no other reason than for the sumptuous costumes of Margaret

n Taking on the title role of William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” is practically a losing proposition. Whether you are fighting against the interpretations of the past (every big-name actor has tackled it) or trying to best the sky-high expectations of the audience, the actor poised to run Shakespeare’s difficult race hits the starting line loaded down with some heavy baggage.

The news coming out of the Arkansas Repertory Theatre’s production of “Hamlet” is that Avery Clark, the native Arkansan who plays the tormented Danish prince, is up to the task and then some. It’s hard to imagine another Hamlet generating as much humor — yes, genuine laughs — as Clark does. His performance sets the tone for this production, sharply directed by the Rep’s artistic director Bob Hupp with great assistance by a team of designers. Hupp and his actors, working on his two-and-a-half-hour trimmed-down version, get out of their own way and deliver a “Hamlet” that is, above all, exceedingly and excitingly clear.

Clark, dressed in allblack (naturally) but with leather motorcycle boots providing a nice rebel exclamation point, is a manic melancholy Dane.

He makes plain, from his opening moment on stage off by himself and fighting back tears, that this young prince is whiplashed by emotions. And this is before he sees the ghost of his dead father who will eventually send him on his roundabout WELL CAST: Nikki Coble and Avery Clark star in The quest for revenge.

Rep’s production of Hamlet.

All gangly arms and McKowen. Really, the Rep has made legs and darting eyes, Clark captures so incredible, underrecognized strides in perfectly the mood swings — one minute costuming in the last couple of years. The he’s jumping into the arms of Rosencrantz designers often change with each show but (Michael Markham) and Guildenstern (Joel the work is uniformly excellent.

Rainwater) and the next he’s pouncing In the end, what you want from on poor Ophelia (Nikki Coble). This is a “Hamlet” is an opportunity to hear those Hamlet just unhinged enough to be truly speeches and see and feel the young prince terrifying — it makes sense that Claudius’ wrestle with mortality. The Rep gives Clark court would be disturbed. Clark also bravely a great platform and, like an athlete in his carves jokes out of Shakespeare’s knotty prime, he seizes the moment. It’s a thrilling language that many other actors couldn’t thing to witness. find or would let pass (his last line to his Remaining performances are 7 p.m. mother as he’s dragging out Polonius’ body Nov. 4 and 10-11, 8 p.m. Nov. 5-6 and is worth the price of your ticket). Clark is 12-13, and 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Nov. 7 and so electric and vivid that every other actor 14. Tickets range from $25 to $60. The box improves in his presence. office is 378-0405; website is therep.org.

But then this “Hamlet” is well cast, — Werner Trieschmann every actor adept at finding a clear purpose.

24 november 4, 2010 • ARKANSAS TIMES

brian chilson

■ theaterreview

R.I.P.: Lisa Blount.

In Memory of Lisa Blount n Fall rattled up to my door last week.

I greeted him in sock-feet. Fall may be a process that we seldom see or don’t notice till his work is almost done but, in Arkansas, it often seems like a single moment, as if the world locks up all the warmth it possesses in an instant and puts it under the bed till spring.

There is one big tensing. Water drawn into stems and branches and trunks. The veins of leaves clinging by fingertips to their ledges and balconies. Tannins squeezing chlorophyll by its neck. Days losing sunlight like water from a leaky cup.

And, all the while, we are ... what?

We’re letting the cat in, we’re burning our hands on the kettle, we’re holding onto this resentment or that. We’re adding a sunroom, we’re subtracting the love we feel from the love we give, we’re turning around because we forgot the eggs, which were the reason we went in the first place.

Rather than fashioning tools, man’s greatest calling is to be absorbed in a single moment — without before or after — and remember that we are living. It’s a moment in which we cherish the world’s goodness, or love its beauty, or at the very least, know its truth on its own terms.

It’s a spark where we grasp the order of things, however cruel, or gorgeous, or harrowing.

That moment is scarce, and maybe more than that, it’s scary, because cherishing requires nothing down. But its interest rate is loss. We know that however much love we take in now will be drawn away from us someday, into the stems and branches and trunks, down into the roots, and to the next thing.

And so we’re left empty but for our feelings. We’re angry. We can’t figure out why it matters. We quit. We shake our fists at the sky. We make a big show as we walk away, but then turn around to see if anyone was looking. We ask for an answer, but all we find is a little man

Graham Gordy tripping down the lane away from us into the distance muttering “Esse qua esse bonum est” over and over again, and we throw a rock at him because we know he’s right.

We are like bad boyfriends to our lives.

We love them and we hate it that we love them so much. We give them a flower from the yard. We make them promises we don’t keep.

We treat our days as something to pass through to get somewhere else, and when we do that, we lose them. It’s the same way we lose a week, or a month, or a whole life.

Death can at least be a reminder of that. That is death’s only consolation.

I imagine a Lisa in her 70s, looking back at photos of herself and her loved ones from 30 years ago, or from her wedding day, or from now. I imagine her saying, “We were so beautiful. ... We were all so goddamned beautiful.”

The moment last week when fall came was one of those moments. I felt as if something had happened, but I didn’t know what. I knew that the world felt a little bit colder. I knew I was alive.

Fayetteville-born actress Lisa Blount was found dead in her Hillcrest home last Wednesday. She was 53. An Oscar winner as a producer for “The Accountant,” Blount was perhaps best known for her role in the film “An Officer and a Gentleman.” She also starred in the title role of “Chrystal,” directed by her husband Ray McKinnon.

Recently, she’d been inducted into the Arkansas Entertainers Hall of Fame and was working on “Outlaw Country,” a television pilot set in Nashville starring Mary Steenburgen.

■ booknotes

SIGNED COPIES

Sedaris, birding and all the month’s book events.

■ After appearing in October 2009 to benefit the Arkansas Literary Festival, David Sedaris is coming back to Little Rock, this time as the closing speaker at the festival on Wednesday, April 13, 2011, at Pulaski Academy’s Connor Performing Arts Center. Tickets, which range from $40-$50, go on sale on Dec. 1.

■ Heads up, birders. Half Acre Press recently published Joseph C. Neal’s “The Birdside Baptist and Other Ornithological Mysteries” ($16, paperback). A collection of short nature essays and bird field trip reports by the Fayetteville biologist and co-author of “Arkansas Birds: Their Distribution and Abundance,” the

The Confession

by JOhN GrISham

shop local

My Reading Life

by PaT CONrOy In person at the Ritz $10 • Nov. 4 • 7:00pm

Extraordinary, Ordinary People

by CONDOlEEzza rICE In person at the Ritz $20/$10 • Nov. 11 • 1:00pm

Have it your way at www.tbib.com eBooks now available

That Bookstore In Blytheville 1-800-844-8306 • fax 870-763-1125 tbib@tbib.com We welcome orders by phone, fax, e-mail or online.

sedaris: Returns to Little Rock for the Arkansas Literary Festival. book is dedicated to subscribers to the Birds of Arkansas Discussion List, where the entries first appeared.

support your community Small Town

Reigning Cats & Dogs 18tH aNNual bKd FouNdatioN

What’s happening in November.

Unless indicated, event is a reading and/or book signing. To list your event in the calendar, contact Lindsey Millar at “Books,” Arkansas Times, P.O. Box 34010, Little Rock, AR 72203, or by phone, 375-2985; fax, 375-3623, or e-mail, lindsey@arktimes.com.

4 Pat Conroy (“My Reading Life”), 7 p.m., The Ritz Civic Center, Blytheville, $10.

4 Jerry “Boo” Mitchell (“Race Against Time”), 7:30 p.m., Administration Auditorium, Harding University, Searcy.

9 C.D. Wright (“One with Others”), 7:30 p.m., Room 107, College of Business, UCA, Conway.

10 C.D. Wright (“One with Others”), 10 a.m., Room 331, Winfred Thompson Hall, UCA, Conway.

10 Jerry “Boo” Mitchell (“Race Against Time”), 6 p.m., CS. 11 Condoleezza Rice (“Extraordinary, Ordinary People: A Memoir of Family”), The Ritz Civic Center, Blytheville.

12-14 FOCAL book sale. Basement book sale, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Fri. and Sat.; 1 p.m.-5 p.m. Sun. ML. 13 Centennial Celebration, 6:30 p.m., fifth floor, ML, $25 adv., $40 d.o.e.

15 Bill Bryson (“At Home: A Short History of Private Life”), 7 p.m., Walton Arts Center’s Baum Walker Hall, Fayetteville. $34-$48.

17 Brock Thompson (“The Un-Natural State: Arkansas and the Queer South”), 6 p.m., East Room, ML. 18 Brock Thompson (“The Un-Natural State: Arkansas and the Queer South”), 7 p.m., NB. 19 Marine Capt. Thomas Daly (“Rage Company”), 12 p.m., CS. 20 Sissy Goff and Melissa Trevathan (“Modern Parents, Vintage Values: Instilling Character in Today’s Kids”), 3 p.m., WW. 20 Brock Thompson (“The Un-Natural State: Arkansas and the Queer South”), 2 p.m., Faulkner County Library.

20 Joseph C. Neal (“The Birdside Baptist”), 7 p.m., NB. 22 Mark and Matt Jacob (“What the Great Ate”), 12 p.m., CS. 30 Adam Richman (“America the Edible: Why We Eat, What We Eat, Where We Eat”), 6 p.m. CS.

Saturday November 6 7pm – 10pm doubletree Hotel ballroom • Silent & Live Auction • Live Music by Blue State • Appetizer Buffet • Beer & Wine til It’s Gone • Cash Bar Available $50 iN advaNce $60 at tHe door Proceeds Benefit Humane Society of Pulaski County Order tickets at www.warmhearts.org or call 227-6166

Bookstores and libraries: CS: Clinton School of Public Service, Sturgis Hall, 1200 President Clinton Ave., 683-5200.

ML: Main Library, 100 Rock St., 918-3000 NB: Nightbird Books, 205 W. Dickson, Fayetteville, 479-443-2080.

RMBG: River Market Books and Gifts, Cox Creative Center, 120 Commerce St., 918-3093 TBIB: That Bookstore in Blytheville, 316 W. Main St., Blytheville, 870-763-3333 WW: WordsWorth Books & Co., 5920 R St., 663-9198

Leslie Sanchez Political Analyst

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11 7:00 p.m.

M. L. Harris Auditorium

Philander Smith College · www.philander.edu All lectures are free and open to the public. For more information call 501-370-5279. No tickets or RSVPs required. www.arktimes.com • november 4, 2010 25

Friday, Nov 5 -Thursday, Nov 11

HELP WANTED ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS

CELEBRATING OUR 10th YEAR!

nowhere Boy – r 2:00 4:20 7:00 9:00

Aaron Johnson, Anne-Marie Duff, Kristin Scott Thomas The extraordinary untold story of John Lennon.

CertiFiaBly Jonathan – nr 2:15 4:15 7:15 9:15

Jonathan Winters, Robin Williams, Patricia Arquette

waiting For SuPerMan – Pg 2:00 4:20 7:00 9:15

From the director of An Inconvenient Truth

never let Me go – r 1:45 4:00 6:45 9:00 Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield

the girl who Played with Fire – r 1:45 4:15 6:45 9:15

Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Annika Hallin

The GodfaTher • Tues 11/9 • 7pm $5 9 PM ShowS Fri & Sat only NOW SERVING BEER & WINE EMAIL CINEMA8@CSWNET.COM FOR SPECIAL SHOWS, PRIVATE PARTIES & BUSINESS MEETINGS OR FILM FESTIVALS CALL (501) 223-3529 & LEAVE MESSAGE

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See reSultS!

A NUISANCE OF A TWOSOME: When high-strung businessman Peter (Robert Downey Jr.) is turned away from a flight home for the birth of his first child, he’s forced to hitch a ride from Atlanta to Los Angeles with weirdo aspiring actor Ethan (Zach Galifianakis) in “Due Date,” director Todd Phillips’ follow-up to “The Hangover.”

NOV. 5-7

movielistings All theater listings run Friday to Thursday unless otherwise noted.

Check www.arktimes.com for updates. Market Street Cinema showtimes at or after 9 p.m. are for Friday and Saturday only.

Northside WomeN’s Boot Camp is the QuiCkest, easiest Way to Jumpstart your FitNess program.

A specialized program of fitness instruction, nutritional counseling provided by Certified Class Instructor LoCAtIon: Lakewood nLR, classes at 5:15am and 9:15am M,W,F

NeW WomeNs class at 9:15am call Kaytee Wright 501-607-3100 For more information and the Women’s Boot camp calendar, visit www.northsidefitness.net

Northside A c h i ev e . B e l i ev e . S u cc e e d.

FitNess

Kids are BacK iN school! time to do somethiNg For yourselF!

JoiN W/ a FrieNd aNd get $25 oFF the JoiNiNg Fee 26 november 4, 2010 • ARKANSAS TIMES

NEW MOVIES Certifiably Jonathan (NR) — Comedian Jonathan Winters worries he lost his sense of humor, which keeps him from finishing his new paintings for an upcoming MOMA exhibit. Market Street: 2:15, 4:15, 7:15, 9:15.

Due Date (R) — A tightly-wound father-to-be is forced to carpool cross-country with a clueless slacker so he can make it to his child’s birth on time. With Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis.

Breckenridge: 1:05, 4:30, 7:45, 10:05. Chenal 9: 11:20, 1:25, 4:05, 7:30, 10:05. Rave: 11:00, 12:00, 12:30, 1:30, 2:00, 2:30, 3:00, 4:00, 4:30, 5:00, 5:30, 6:30, 7:00, 7:30, 8:00, 9:00, 9:30, 10:00, 10:30, 11:30 Riverdale: 11:25, 1:30, 3:35, 5:40, 7:45, 9:55.

For Colored Girls (R) — Tyler Perry adapts Ntozake Shange’s award-winning play about women of color for the big screen. With Janet Jackson. Breckenridge: 1:00, 1:30, 4:00, 4:35, 7:00, 7:30, 9:55, 10:20. Chenal 9: 11:15, 1:50, 4:35, 7:15, 9:50. Rave: 10:45, 11:15, 12:45, 1:15, 1:45, 2:15, 3:45, 4:15, 4:45, 5:15, 6:45, 7:15, 7:45, 8:15, 9:45, 10:15, 10:45, 11:15. Riverdale: 11:05, 1:50, 4:35, 7:15, 10:00.

Megamind (PG) — A blue, maniacal supervillain turns into a restless mess when his sworn superhero enemy is accidentally killed. Voiced by Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Brad Pitt. Breckenridge: 1:15, 1:45, 4:15, 4:45, 7:10, 7:35, 9:30, 10:00. Chenal 9: 11:25, 1:45, 4:30, 7:25, 9:40 (2D); 11:10, 1:30, 4:15, 7:10, 9:25 (3D) Rave: 11:20, 1:50, 4:20, 6:50, 9:20 (2D); 11:50, 12:20, 12:50, 2:20, 2:50, 3:20, 4:50, 5:20, 5:50, 7:20, 7:50, 9:50, 10:20 (3D). Riverdale: 11:10, 1:15, 3:20, 5:25, 7:30, 9:35.

Nowhere Boy (R) — A look into the troubled, early years of a teen-aged John Lennon in the decaying city of Liverpool. Market Street: 2:00, 4:20, 7:00, 9:00.

RETURNING THIS WEEK Alpha and Omega (PG) — Two wolves try to find their way back home after being kidnapped from their pack. But things go awry when the two opposites attract. Riverdale 10: 11:00, 1:50, 4:30, 7:10, 9:45.

Animalopolis (NR) — A half-hour film of goofy animals being goofy in enormous 3D. Aerospace IMAX: 11:00 Thu., 11:00 Fri. Case 39 (R) — Social worker Emily (Reese Witherspoon) tries to save a girl from her abusive parents, but soon finds out the 10-year-old is a demon. Movies 10: 1:10, 4:25, 7:25, 9:55.

Devil (PG-13) — Five people trapped in a stalled

elevator discover that one of them is (spoiler alert) the devil. Based on a story by M. Night Shyamalan.

Movies 10: 12:35, 2:35, 4:35, 7:15, 9:45.

The Girl who Played with Fire (R) — The second installment of the Millennium Trilogy sees Lisbeth Salander on the lam after being accused of three murders while investigating a sex-trafficking ring. Market Street: 1:45, 4:15, 6:45, 9:15.

Grown Ups (PG-13) — Five old basketball teammates act like kids again after their high school coach passes away. Movies 10: 7:40, 10:10.

Hereafter (PG-13) — Matt Damon sees dead people. Breckenridge: 4:25, 7:25, 10:15. Chenal 9: 11:00, 1:40, 4:20, 7:05, 9:45. Rave: 10:30, 1:35, 4:40, 7:40, 10:55. Riverdale 10: 11;10, 1:50, 4:25, 7:05, 10:00.

Inception (PG-13) — Leo DiCaprio hijacks dreams.

Movies 10: 12:20, 3:25, 7:00, 10:05.

Jackass 3D (R) — Johnny Knoxville and his daredevil pals are back, this time getting stupid and crude in the third dimension. Chenal 9: 11:20, 1:25, 4:05, 7:30, 10:05. Rave: 10:40, 1:25, 4:25, 7:25, 10:10.

The Last Exorcism (PG-13) — A disillusioned Baptist minister allows a documentary crew to film his final exorcism. Movies 10: 12:40, 2:50, 5:00, 7:10, 9:35.

Life as We Know It (PG-13) — Two singles have to learn to work together when they become caregivers to a baby, orphaned after their mutual best friends die in a car accident. Breckenridge: 1:40, 4:40, 7:20, 9:55. Rave: 11:10.

The Living Sea (NR) — An underwater tour of Palau, Hawaii, California, Oregon, Alaska, Nova Scotia and the Red Sea. Aerospace Imax: 10:00, 12:00, 2:00 Thu.: 10:00, 12:00, 2:00, 7:00, 9:00 Fri.: 12:00, 2:00, 4:00, 7:00 Sat. Lottery Ticket (PG-13) — A young man in the projects has to survive a three-day weekend after his neighbors find out he’s holding a lotto ticket worth millions. Movies 10: 12:00, 2:20, 4:40, 7:05, 9:30.

Never Let Me Go (R) — An adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s dystopian love story. Market Street: 1:45, 4:00, 6:45, 9:00.

The Other Guys (PG-13) — Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg star as hapless New York City cops.

Movies 10: 1:00, 4:15, 7:20, 9:50.

Paranormal Activity 2 (R) — After a series of break-ins, a couple puts up security cameras in their home, and what they see is sinister. Breckenridge: 1:50, 4:50, 7:40, 10:10. Chenal 9: 11:35, 2:00, 4:40, 7:40, 10:10. Rave: 12:40, 3:10, 5:35, 8:10, 10:40.

Riverdale 10: 11:45, 2:25, 5:05, 7:40, 10:10.

Red (PG-13) — Three of the CIA’s top agents are jolted out of their peaceful retirements when they’re framed by the agency for murder. With Bruce Willis,

Morgan Freeman and Helen Mirren. Breckenridge: 1:25, 4:10, 6:45, 9:40. Chenal 9: 11:20, 1:55, 4:25, 7:20, 9:55. Rave: 11:10, 2:00, 4:55, 7:40, 10:25.

Riverdale 10: 11:35, 2:05, 4:40, 7:15, 9:50.

Saw 3D (R) — People tortured for the amusement of creepy mouthbreathers and sociopaths-intraining. More of the same abhorrent, sadistic stuff.

Rave: 11:40, 2:10, 4:40, 7:20, 8:25, 9:55, 10:50.

Secretariat (PG) — The unlikely story of housewife Penny Chenery (Diane Lane), horse trainer Lucien Laurin (John Malkovich) and their legendary Triple Crown-winning racehorse. Breckenridge: 1:10, 4:20, 7:05, 9:50. Chenal 9: 11:05, 1:35, 4:10, 7:00, 9:35. Rave: 1:55, 5:05, 8:05, 11:00. Riverdale 10: 11:30, 2:10, 4:50, 7:25, 10:05.

The Social Network (PG-13) — David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin’s instant-classic dives into the drama behind Facebook’s controversial rise from a Harvard dorm room experiment to a world-wide ubiquity. Breckenridge: 1:15, 4:35, 7:15, 10:00.

Rave: 10:50. Riverdale 10: 11:40, 2:20, 4:55, 7:25, 10:05.

The Switch (PG-13) — Seven years after she’s given birth, a woman (Jennifer Aniston) discovers her best friend switched her intended sperm sample with his own. Movies 10: 12:05, 2:55, 5:25, 7:50, 10:20.

Takers (PG-13) — Five meticulous bank robbers elude a hard-boiled detective so they can pull off one last heist. Movies 10: 12:10, 2:40, 5:05, 7:30, 10:00.

Thrill Ride (NR) — This IMAX movie takes viewers on some of the fastest, scariest roller coaster rides on earth. Aerospace IMAX: 1:00 Thu., 1:00, 8:00 Fri., 1:00, 3:00, 5:00, 8:00 Sat. The Town (R) — Ben Affleck directs and stars in this heist thriller as a ruthless master bank robber stuck in a web of paranoia in urban Boston. With Jon Hamm. Breckenridge: 1:20, 4:05, 6:50, 9:45.

Riverdale 10: 11:20, 2:00, 4:35, 7:20, 9:50.

Toy Story 3 (G) — Donated to a daycare center after their owner leaves for college, the beloved gang of toys rallies together for one last escape.

Movies 10: 12:15, 1:30, 2:45, 4:00, 5:15, 7:45, 10:15.

Waiting for Superman (PG) — Davis Guggenheim’s alarming look at the state of education in America. Market Street: 2:00, 4:20, 7:00, 9:15.

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

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

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

IMAX Theater: Aerospace Education Center, 376-4629, www.aerospaced.org.

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

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

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

■ moviereview Dead men walking AMC launches a TV landmark. n Things are pretty slow at the theaters this weekend, what with the umpteenth version of the rusty “Saw” franchise taking over for Halloween. Given that, we thought we might take a look at something that has been every bit as anticipated as a summer blockbuster, at least in the world of comic book fanboys: director Frank Darabont’s television version of “The Walking Dead.”

Based on the groundbreaking comic book series by Robert Kirkman, the series follows the fortunes of a group of humans struggling to survive in the wake of a zombie apocalypse. One nip from the living dead, and you come back hungry for flesh and eager to spread the disease that spawned you. And so on, and so forth, until the end of the world.

The first episode of the six-part “Walking Dead” miniseries, titled “Days Gone By,” premiered on Halloween night, and will undoubtedly run every day leading up to next Sunday night’s part two. Check local listings to catch it. And whatever you do, if you’re a horror or zombie film fan, be sure to catch it. The first episode is pretty much destined to go down in history as a landmark of how far you can push the envelope on cable, and will hopefully spawn a whole new wave of high-concept horror on TV. Cut that in with more than this series’ fair share of fine acting, all delivered with the same deft touch Darabont brought to

calendar

Continued from page 23

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9 Music

Ben Kweller, Julia Nunes. Juanita’s, 9 p.m., $15 adv., $17 d.o.s. 1300 S. Main St. 501-372-1228. www.juanitas.com.

Chooglin’, Jonathan Wilkins and the Reparations. White Water Tavern, 10 p.m. 2500 W. 7th. 501-375-8400. www.myspace.com/whitewatertavern.

Jim Dickerson. Sonny Williams’ Steak Room, 7 p.m. 500 President Clinton Ave. 501-324-2999. www.sonnywilliamssteakroom.com.

Karaoke Night. Cornerstone Pub & Grill, 8 p.m.

314 Main St., NLR. 501-374-1782. cstonepub. com.

Karaoke Tuesday. Prost, 8 p.m., free. 120 Ottenheimer. 501-244-9550.

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

501-315-1717.

Tequila Tuesdays with DJ Hy-C. Bill St. Grill and Pub, 8:30 p.m. 614 President Clinton Ave. 501-353-1724.

Tuesday Jam Session with Carl Mouton.

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

Dance

“Latin Night.” Revolution, 7 p.m., $5 regular, $7 under 21. 300 President Clinton Ave. 823-0090. www.revroom.com.

films like “The Green Mile” and “The Shawshank Redemption,” and you’ve got something special.

Darabont said that he planned to take the violence as far as AMC would let him.

How far does he take it? In the first scene of “Days Gone By,” the lead character, Deputy Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) is out scavenging gasoline for his patrol car while headed to Atlanta to search for his wife and son. He enters a field where cars sit stacked together, abandoned by their drivers. Lying flat on his belly to check a gas tank, he sees the feet of a little girl, wearing bunny slippers no less, shuffle past. He stands, and calls after her. When the girl turns — all of seven years old, with flowing blond hair over a dirty white robe — she is a horror, one of the walking dead, with pale gray skin, milky eyes, and a hole in her cheek that looks like something chewed its way in. She puts out her arms and starts coming for him. When he realizes he has no other choice, he pulls out his pistol and shoots the little girl in the head.

It is a testament to Darabont’s commitment to going further that he doesn’t allow the camera to look away while the bullet does its awful work. The back of the girl’s head literally vaporizes in a spray of tooreal CGI, and she goes down like a sack of potatoes — bunnies over teakettle, as it were. Even for a seasoned horror fan, it is a terrible, brutal moment, and leaves

Events

Farmers Market. River Market Pavilions, 7 a.m.

400 President Clinton Ave. 375-2552. www.rivermarket.info.

March Of Dimes’ “Signature Chefs Auction.” The state’s leading chefs prepare their signature dishes and auction off special dinners for charity. For more information or to register, call 501-663-3100 or visit marchofdimes.com.

Statehouse Convention Center, 6 p.m., $150. 7 Statehouse Plaza.

Film

“The Godfather.” Market Street Cinema, 7 p.m., $5, kids free. 1521 Merrill Drive. 501-312-8900. www.marketstreetcinema.net.

Lectures

Dr. Kristin Dutcher Mann. The UALR historian and specialist in Mexican Colonial History discusses the public memory of the Mexican Independence Movement. For more information, visit arkansasmexico2010.com. Historic Arkansas Museum, 7 p.m., free. 200 E. Third St. 501-324-9351. www. historicarkansas.org.

Mike Ford. The founding director of the Center for the Study of the American Dream delivers his lecture, “The State of the American Dream.”

Reserve your seats by emailing publicprograms@ clintonschool.uasys.edu, or calling 683-5239.

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

Books

C.D. Wright. The experimental poet and Mountain Home native gives a public reading in the College of Business building. For more information, call 450-3293. University of Central Arkansas, 7:30 p.m.

‘WALKING DEAD’: AMC does zombies. you a little shocked. It’s hard to think of an R-rated feature film where a child (even a monstrous child) has been so openly killed, much less a television show. But Darabont makes us bear witness to the horror, the same way that his character must bear witness to it, and that is the moment when he writes the Bible of the series: hyper-realistic special effects, pull-no-punches plotting and a camera that never looks away just to spare our delicate sensibilities. It all adds up to a living dead film that raises the bar, and maybe even surpasses those of the acknowledged masters of the genre like George A. Romero. And Darabont is doing all this on TELEVISION. This is not to say that “Days Gone By” is just shock. There are some scenes of heartbreaking human anguish as well, such as when Duane (Adrian Kali Turner), the young son of Deputy Grimes’ new friend Morgan (Lennie Jones) runs sobbing from the window after he sees his recentlyzombified mother walking around with the flesh-hungry horde outside. Or when

Morgan himself climbs to the second floor of the house where they’ve sought shelter, puts the crosshairs of a high-powered rifle on his wife’s forehead, and, weeping, tries to will himself to put her out of her misery.

Darabont does scenes like this exceedingly well, infusing what could be melodrama in lesser hands with a brilliant, everyman sensibility that makes your heart absolutely shatter. Though it’s often difficult and depressing to watch, “The Walking Dead: Days Gone By” is threaded through with scenes of such tender and amazing emotion, and that makes it all bearable. It’s understandable, given that Darabont knows that country inside and out — how resilient the human spirit is, especially when our too-frail bodies and minds are pushed to the limit of what we can endure. It’s a brilliant beginning to what promises to be an amazing series.

The next episode, “Guts,” airs Sunday, Nov. 7, at 9 p.m. on AMC. —David Koon

201 Donaghey Ave., Conway. www.uca.edu.

$40.50-$80.50. 495 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville.

479-443-5600.

Nuclear Power Pants, Cold Mold. ACAC, 9 p.m., $5. 608 Main St. 501-244-2974.

School Boy Humor, outRAGEous, Score 24.

Revolution, 8 p.m., $8. 300 President Clinton Ave. 823-0090. revroom.com.

Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 5 p.m., free. 111 W. President Clinton Ave. 501-374-7474. www.capitalhotel.com/CBG.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10 Music

Acoustic Open Mic with Kat Hood. The Afterthought, 8 p.m. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd.

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

Bolly Open Mic Hype Night with Osyrus Bolly and DJ Messiah. All American Wings, 9 p.m. 215 W. Capitol Ave. 501-376-4000. allamericanwings.com/.

Brian & Nick. Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. www.cajunswharf. com.

Evans Blue, Rains. Juanita’s, 8:30 p.m., $5 adv., $8 d.o.s. 1300 S. Main St. 501-372-1228. www. juanitas.com.

The Holy Ghost Revival with Monkhouse.

White Water Tavern, 10 p.m. 2500 W. 7th. 501-3758400. www.myspace.com/whitewatertavern.

Jim Dickerson. Sonny Williams’ Steak Room, 7 p.m. 500 President Clinton Ave. 501-324-2999. www.sonnywilliamssteakroom.com.

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

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

501-315-1717.

Lucious Spiller Band. Sticky Fingerz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 9:30 p.m., $5. 107 Commerce St. 501-372-7707. www.stickyfingerz.com.

Mare Carmody and Courtney Sheppard.

Capi’s, 8:30 p.m., free. 11525 Cantrell Suite 917.

501-225-9600. www.capisrestaurant.com.

Merle Haggard. Walton Arts Center, 8 p.m.,

Events

“Brides Across America.” A Fitting Image participates in the nationwide program to donate designer bridal gowns to military brides. For more information, visit bridesacrossamerica.com. A Fitting Image, Nov. 10-11. 9816 N. Rodney Parham Rd., NLR. Riedel Wine Tasting. An evening wine tasting to benefit Arkansas’s Stonewall Democrats. For reservations and additional information, e-mail eggshellskitchencompany@gmail.com or call 664-6900. Eggshells Kitchen Co., 7 p.m., $100.

5501 Kavanaugh Blvd.

Film

“Independent for Governor: An Idealist’s Grueling Run.” A screening of Huixia Lu’s film about Rod Bryan’s 2006 campaign for governor.

University of Central Arkansas - Reynolds Performance Hall, 7 p.m., free. 201 Donaghey Ave., Conway.

“Los Albaniles.” A screening of the 1976 Jorge Fonz conspiracy thriller as part of the UALR Mexican Film Festival. For more information, visit arkansasmexico2010.com or call 372-4000. Arkansas Arts Center, 6:30 p.m. MacArthur Park. 501-372-4000.

Continued on page 28 www.arktimes.com • november 4, 2010 27

A boy named

Hogs winning at Vandy, losing at life

By Derek Jenkins

n The Hogs may have beaten Vandy on the field, but in the classroom there’s no competition. In a report issued the same day that Jeff Long announced the Athletic Department’s intentions for a huge facilities expansion, the NCAA ranked Arkansas second-to-last in the conference in Graduation Success Rate. Arkansas’ GSR (55 percent) trails Vandy by 34 percentage points. That’s the scholastic equivalent of about a bazillion touchdowns.

An astute Arkansas Blog reader pointed out last week that the student population at the University of Arkansas graduates at a 57 percent clip. That’s a startling but irrelevant number. This duty can’t be generalized away. We don’t forgive individual debtors because of a bad economy. We can’t forgive individual departments because of institutional failure.

I’m less inclined than most to view playing sports at a D-1 school as some sort of privilege. Athletes are promised a lot of things in exchange for services worth several millions of dollars to the institution in question. They’re promised playing time, access to state-of-the-art equipment, and a chance to weigh their talents against elite competition. But most importantly, they are promised an education. By sacrificing their bodies and their time, they earn every bit of the focused attention and extra assistance required to succeed in the classroom.

So I felt a little churlish heading into last weekend, and I may have taken it out a bit on the team. Black humor dominated my Twitter feed and my comments at ArkansasExpats.com. Poor performances of any kind, combined with back-to-back gimmees, will do that to a fan.

What a bounce-back for Mallett, though.

If he runs out of new records to set, he just goes back to set records for the second time.

And his 409 passing yards were racked up despite a hobbled receiving corp. Losing Childs hurts, but mostly because he’s such a beloved presence on the field. The other receivers are more than capable of picking up the slack, even if a little piece of their heart is wearing street clothes on the sidelines. At this point, folks must be wondering what you have to take away from Bobby Petrino’s offense to slow them down.

So far our worst enemy, well, he is us.

Jeff Long ought to find a way to incorporate yellow into our school colors if it’s gonna be such a mainstay on the field. The Hogs gave away 130 yards in penalties last week, 28 november 4, 2010 • ARKANSAS TIMES

and they continue to lead the conference in brain farts.

We were better on third down, converting 10 of 19. Directly related: We were good on the ground, with a fine, workman-like performance out of Knile Davis. The fact that most of the carries looked so routine belies what has been a crippling need for most of the season. His continued success is vital, but we have more than personnel to thank for the uptick. Petrino and his staff have come up with a fine new look for the rushing game, and the mid-season makeover is no small feat.

Just because a loss to Arkansas wouldn’t have any bearing on South Carolina’s SEC-East race doesn’t mean the Head Ball Coach won’t try to beat us. The Gamecocks represent the best and, counter-intuitively, the most beatable team left on the schedule.

Jerico Nelson and Rudell Crim got some practice catching the ball last week, and that should come in handy against Stephen Garcia. He may have one of the highest passer ratings in the conference, but he still likes to cough up the ball in all kinds of ways. Whether he’s throwing into coverage or putting it on the ground, Garcia finds a way to get Steve Spurrier’s headset and/or visor off.

Still, Marcus Lattimore could put on a show behind a grizzled offensive line stocked with upperclassmen. And Alshon Jeffrey is another in the SEC’s impossibly fierce stable of wide-outs. The defense will need to arrive at the stadium well before the coin-toss this week.

Mallett and company should feast. Ellis Johnson’s squad has been a major disappointment, and the loss of cornerback Chris Culliver weakens a secondary that’s already given up 79 plays of 10 plus yards. S.C.’s defense is considerably stiffer, statistically the best in the conference thanks to a row of pro-grade talent along the line. Our ability to make things happen on the ground will be a factor in the second half.

I don’t love our chances on the road, but the difference might be special teams.

Arkansas has been uneven, but the Gamecocks have been horrible. If Joe Adams is back to return punts, we all might better duck and cover. There’s gonna be some explosions.

Follow Derek Jenkins throughout the week and during games on Twitter @aboynamedsooie.

Calendar

Continued from page 27 www.arkarts.com.

“WEB.” Directors Michael Pertnoy and Michael Kleiman screen their new film “WEB,” which follows the work of One Laptop per Child, an organization which provides computers to children in developing nations. For reservations, e-mail publicprograms@ clintonschool.uasys.edu or call 683-5239. Clinton Presidential Center, 6 p.m., free. 1200 President Clinton Avenue. 370-8000. www.clintonpresidentialcenter.org.

Lectures

Jerry Mitchell. The civil rights reporter for The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss., discusses his role as a journalist during a number of notorious killings from the civil rights era. To reserve seats, e-mail publicprograms@clintonschool.uasys.edu, or call 501-683-5239. Clinton School of Public Service, 6 p.m., free. 1200 President Clinton Ave. 501-6835239. www.clintonschool.uasys.edu.

THIS WEEK IN THEATER “The Crucible.” The Community Theatre of Little Rock presents Arthur Miller’s classic about the Salem Witch Trials. For more information, visit communitytheatreoflittlerock.org. The Public Theatre, through Nov. 14: Fri, Sat, 7:30 p.m.; Sun, 2 p.m., $14. 616 Center St. 501-374-7529. www. thepublictheatre.com.

“Death by Fatal Murder.” Mayhem ensues when Inspector Pratt, Miss Maple and other Agatha Christie-like characters are called to solve a murder at Bagshot Mansion. Murry’s Dinner Playhouse, through Nov. 14: Tue-Sat, 6 p.m.; Sun, 11 a.m. 6323 Col. Glenn Road. murrysdinnerplayhouse.com.

“Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead.” When C.B.’s beloved beagle dies of rabies, he turns to Beethoven, a piano-loving outcast who proves more reliable than his other sex- and drugs-loving friends in this parody of (and tribute to) “Peanuts.” The Weekend Theater, Nov. 5-6; Nov. 12-13; Nov. 19-20, $10-$14. 1001 W. 7th St. 501-374-3761. www.weekendtheater.org.

“Hamlet.” Shakespeare’s tragic masterwork of power, lust, murder and vengeance in the royal courts of a war-torn Denmark. Arkansas Repertory Theatre, through Nov. 14: Fri, 8 p.m.; Sat, 8 p.m.; Sun, 2 and 7 p.m.; Thu, 7 p.m., $25-$40. 601 Main St. 501-378-0405. www.therep.org.

“Steel Magnolias.” The ladies of Truby’s Beauty Salon discuss life as a lady in Louisiana as their best friend struggles with her health. For tickets or more information, visit oltmena.com. Royal Theatre, Sat., Nov. 6, 7:30 p.m., $10. 111 S. Market St., Benton.

“Wicked.” The Tony-winning musical follows two girls in the Land of Oz: one, born with emerald green skin, is smart, fiery and misunderstood while the other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. For tickets, visit celebrityattractions.com.

Robinson Center Music Hall, through Nov. 14: Wed, 7:30 p.m.; Thu, 2 and 7:30 p.m.; Fri, 8 p.m.; Sat, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sun, 2 and 7:30 p.m.; Tue., Nov. 9, 7:30 p.m.; Wed., Nov. 10, 7:30 p.m.; Thu., Nov. 11, 7:30 p.m.; Fri., Nov. 12, 8 p.m.; Sat., Nov. 13, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sun., Nov. 14, 2 p.m., $35-$140.

Markham and Broadway. www.littlerockmeetings. com/conv-centers/robinson.

Galleries, Museums New exhibits, gallery events

CANTRELL GALLERY, 8206 Cantrell Road: “40th Anniversary Group Show,” work by 28 artists represented by the gallery, opens with reception 5-8 p.m. Nov. 5, through Dec. 24. 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Mon.-Sat. 224-1335.

HEIGHTS GALLERY, 5801 Kavanaugh: “Do You Believe …?” Seasonally themed works by Deborah Allen, Elizabeth Bogard, Thad Flenniken, Rene Hein, Jim Johnson, Betty Jones, William McClanahan, Beverly McLarty Burrows and others, preview 1-5 p.m. Nov. 7, through Dec. 24. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat. 664-2772.

OLD STATE HOUSE, 300 W. Markham St.: “Victorian Christmas Magic-Lantern Show,” 6:30 p.m. Nov. 9, free but call to reserve a seat; “Arkansas/Arkansaw: A State and Its Reputation,”

the evolution of the state’s hillbilly image; “Badges, Bandits & Bars: Arkansas Law & Justice,” state’s history of crime and punishment, through March 2011.

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

NEXT LEVEL EVENTS, 1400 W. Markham St.: “Art for Arc’s Sake,” art show and sale to benefit the Arc of Arkansas, 5-9 p.m. Nov. 4, $25. 375-7770.

UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS AT LITTLE ROCK: “Portraits of Women from the UALR Permanent Collection,” Gallery II, through Nov. 30; “Nosotras: Portraits of Latinas,” through Nov. 30, Gallery I; work by seniors Dana Malone and Josh Certain, Nov. 4-14, Gallery III. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Sat., 2-5 p.m. Sun. 569-8977. n Hot Springs BLUE MOON GALLERY, 718 Central Ave.: “Holiday Gifts of Original Art,” work priced under $300 by gallery artists, through December. Reception 5-9 p.m. Nov. 5.

GALLERY CENTRAL, 800 Central Ave.: “Form,” paintings by V.L. Cox, Gallery Walk reception 5-8 p.m. Nov. 5. 501-318-4278.

JUSTUS FINE ART, 827 A Central Ave.: JoAnne Oliver, Robin Hazard-Bishop, Steve Griffith, Dolores Justus, paintings; Kari Albright, pottery; Jay Justus, wood boxes, also work by Elizabeth Borne, Donnie Copeland, Mike Dunnahoe, Mike Elsass, Robert Frank, Tony Saladino and Rebecca Thompson, through November. Reception 5-9 p.m. Nov. 5. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wed.-Sat. 501-321-2335.

GALLERIES, ongoing exhibits

ARKANSAS ARTS CENTER, MacArthur Park: “A Century of Revolution: Mexican Art since 1910,” work from the collection of the University of Texas, through Nov. 21, Winthrop Rockefeller Gallery; “Bigger, Better, More: The Art of Viola Frey,” largescale ceramic figures, through Nov. 28, Jeannette Rockefeller and Townsend Wolfe galleries, $7 adults, $5 seniors, $4 youth. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat., 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sun. 372-4000.

ARKANSAS STUDIES INSTITUTE, 401 President Clinton Ave.: “Making Pictures: Three for a Dime,” photographs and text by Maxine Payne, through Dec. 10; Arkansas League of Artists juried show, through Nov. 27; “Raices,” new mixed media work by x3mex about Mexican independence, through Nov. 30. 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Sat. 320-5700.

GREG THOMPSON FINE ART, 429 Main St., NLR: “Barry Thomas: Arkansas Landscape”; “Stick Figures: New Work by George Dombek,” both through Nov. 13. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Sat. 664-2787.

MUSEUMS, ongoing exhibits

CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL MUSEUM VISITOR CENTER, Bates and Park: Exhibits on the 1957 desegregation of Central and the civil rights movement. 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. daily. 374-1957.

CLINTON PRESIDENTIAL CENTER, 1200 President Clinton Ave.: “Headed to the White House,” exhibit on the election process, through Nov. 21; Standing exhibits about policies and White House life during the Clinton administration.

9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. $7 adults; $5 college students, seniors, retired military; $3 ages 6-17. 370-8000.

HISTORIC ARKANSAS MUSEUM, 200 E. Third St.: “Model Trains of Bill Albright,” Eclectic Collector show, through March 14, 2011; “Natural Wonders: Paintings and Drawings by Laura Terry,” through Dec. 5. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-5 p.m.

Sun. $2.50 adults, $1.50, $1 children for tours of grounds. 324-9351.

MacARTHUR MUSEUM OF ARKANSAS MILITARY HISTORY, MacArthur Park: “In Search of Pancho Villa,” artifacts from soldiers of the period, medals and original sketches of the Mexican Punitive Expedition, the United States retaliatory action in 1916 against the Mexican general who attacked a small border town in New Mexico, through December; “Warrior: Vietnam Portraits by Two Guys from Hall,” photos by Jim Guy Tucker and Bruce Wesson, through November; exhibits on Arkansas’s military history.

9 a.m.-4 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sat., 1-4 p.m. Sun. 376-4602.

MOSAIC TEMPLARS CULTURAL CENTER, Ninth and Broadway: “The Fine Art of Jazz,” photographs of Kansas City jazz musicians by Dan White; exhibits on African-Americans in Arkansas.

9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat. 683–3593.

Celebrating the 6th Anniversary of the Clinton Presidential Center Sat., November 13 – 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

FREE Family Activities at the Center

-

VOTING 101 (10 a.m. – 2 p.m.) Team vanilla? Chocolate fanatic? Strawberry fan? In partnership with the Arkansas Secretary of State’s office, “Voting 101” teaches students, 17 and under, basic voting principles by using flavors of ice cream as an election model.

Super Center Saturday (10 a.m. – 2 p.m.) Future candidates will design and create their very own campaign buttons.

Materials and instruction provided.

FREE Acoustiguide audio tours narrated by President Clinton

LAST CHANCE!

See the latest exhibit, “Headed to the White House.” Chart YOUR OWN campaign path to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Make your own campaign video, buttons and practice public speaking with a virtual speech coach. Created by the National Constitution Center, this timely exhibit also examines the issues and candidates from some of our most historic presidential elections.

Produced by the National Constitution Center, this exhibit is made possible through the generosity of The Annenberg Foundation, The Pew Charitable Trusts, and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

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

Account ExEcutivE – ArkAnsAs timEs spEciAl publicAtions Arkansas Times, the states premier niche publishing firm is hiring account executives to sell advertising for El Latino Newspaper, our weekly publication.

Ideal candidates will have 3 to 5 years outside sales experience with proven track record of exceeding sales goals. Print advertising experience preferred. Bilingual English/Spanish is a plus, but not required.

Salaried position with competitive bonus plan, benefits and discretionary leave.

Interested candidates should submit resumes to luis@arktimes.com or fax to 501-375-3623.

EOE. No phone calls please.

30

november 4, 2010 • ArKAnSAS TImeS

nt Restaura lot!

Times 2011 ficial Bal Arkansas wards Of Choice A online at Readers’ issue and 11 ov. 4 and e2011 In the N erschoic imes/read www.arkt

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Attention Food Lovers BE SURE TO VOTE

FREE Admission

Restaurant capsules Every effort is made to keep this listing of some of the state’s more notable restaurants current, but we urge readers to call ahead to check on changes on days of operation, hours and special offerings. What follows, because of space limitations, is a partial listing of restaurants reviewed by our staff. Information herein 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.

Restaurants are listed in alphabetical order by city; Little Rock-area restaurants are divided by food category. Other review symbols are: B Breakfast

L Lunch

D Dinner

$ Inexpensive (under $8/person)

$$ Moderate ($8-$20/person)

$$$ Expensive (over $20/person)

CC Accepts credit cards

LITTLE ROCK/ N. LITTLE ROCK American

ADAMS CATFISH CATERING Catering company with carry-out restaurant in Little Rock and carry-out trailers in Russellville and Perryville. 215 N. Cross St. All CC. $-$$.

501-374-4265. LD Tue.-Sat. ALL AMERICAN WINGS Wings, catfish and soul food sides. 215 W. Capitol Ave. Beer. $-$$. 501-376-4000.

ALLEY OOPS The restaurant at Creekwood Plaza (near the Kanis-Bowman intersection) is a neighborhood feedbag for major medical institutions with the likes of plate lunches, burgers and homemade desserts. Remarkable Chess Pie. 11900 Kanis Rd. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-221-9400. LD Mon.-Sat. B-SIDE The little breakfast place in the former party room of Lilly’s DimSum Then Some turns tradition on its ear, offering French toast wrapped in bacon on a stick, a must-have dish called “biscuit mountain” and beignets with lemon curd. Top notch cheese grits, too. 11121 Rodney Parham Road. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-554-0914. B Wed.-Fri.; BR Sat.-Sun. BAR LOUIE This chain’s first Arkansas outlet features a something-for-everybody menu so broad and varied to be almost schizophrenic. All sampled was unexceptional but not offensive in a very generic sort of way. The way-above-average aspects: friendly, attentive servers/ bartenders and broad, creative beer/cocktail selection.

11525 Cantrell Road, Suite 924. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$.

501-228-0444. LD daily.

BEEF O’BRADY’S FAMILY SPORTS PUB The signature item is the wings, with a variety of sauces, plus burgers, specialty sandwiches, wraps, salads and fish dishes. 115 Audubon Drive. Maumelle. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-8033500. LD daily.

BILL ST. GRILL AND PUB Massive burgers, batter dipped French fries, inventive appetizers and other pub grub. 614 President Clinton Ave. Full bar, All CC. $$.

501-353-1724. LD Mon.-Sat.

Continued on page 32

Lift a pint to Dugan’s, a solid River Market option. n When you think of a traditional Irish pub, you probably think of a dingy, yet cozy, hole in the wall with old wooden rafters stained by years of cigarette smoke and creaky, Guinness-stained floors.

Dugan’s is not that pub.

Little Rock’s newest Irish pub, at the corner of 3rd and Rock streets in the River Market, is sleek and polished but inviting, with a fireplace and plush leather chairs. The atmosphere, at least on the night we decided to duck in, is lively. Customers filled barstools that line the big L-shaped, and well-equipped, bar in the front and a smattering of tables were filled with people genuinely happy to be sharing a pint at the end of a long work day.

There’s patio seating if the weather holds and if you want to watch the game — whichever one that might be — there are plenty of TVs hung throughout the dining room (but not so many as to be bothersome).

Dugan’s is more than just a place to go drown your sorrows or celebrate good fortune:You can also get some pretty decent grub. Practically starving, and not wanting to limit ourselves to just one appetizer, we chose the Dugan Sampler ($8.95), a combination of mozzarella sticks, chicken strips and fried mushrooms served with marinara, ranch and honey mustard. This was a solid decision. When they say cheese sticks, they mean logs. Two hulking masses of mozzarella, each about the size of a stick of butter, sat covered in a flaky, goldenbrown batter. They were oozy, crispy and great. The chicken strips, fried in a similar beer-batter, were some of the best we’ve had, rivaling other River Market locales like Sticky Fingerz and Underground.

Made from big pieces of white meat, you could tell these guys were battered in the back, not pre-fried and frozen. The mushrooms tasted about like fried mushrooms do. That is to say, pretty good but nothing spectacular. For the money, this is definitely a starter that will stick to your ribs.

Dugan’s dinner menu has some traditional Irish favorites, like corned beef and cabbage ($6.25), shepherd’s pie ($8.95) and beef stew ($6.25). We decided to go with the bangers and mash ($8.95), sausage and mashed potatoes covered with onions and brown gravy. We were impressed. It’s definitely a heavy dish, served up in a big

brian chilson

n Troy Deal, co-owner of Zin Urban Wine and Beer Bar, 300 River Market Ave., said he and his partner Michael Puckett plan to open next week after a soft opening this weekend. Deal describes Zin Urban as a modern take on the wine bar, with 25-30 wines by the glass and around 10 options for bottled beer. Deal said he anticipates being open from 3:30 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. on Sunday, 4 p.m. until 10 p.m. Monday through Wednesday and 4 p.m. to midnight on Friday and Saturday, with occasional earlier hours on Saturday for wine tastings. The bar’s phone number is 246-4876; the website is zinlr.com and you can find them on Facebook.

■ dining There’s a new pub in town

PUB GRUB: Dugan’s serves up traditional Irish favorites like the bangers and mash above. brown pile, but the sausage packs a lot of flavor and is complemented well by the gravy and taters. After our behemoth of an appetizer, we could only get through about one third of our entree, but the leftovers made a nice lunch the next day.

Our companion, whose time in the British Isles left him a bit of a fish and chips connoisseur, thought he would give Dugan’s version of the old stand-by (at $8.95) a try. The verdict? Good, but not the best. We stole a bite or two. Served in a basket with fries, the two Hot Pocket-sized cod filets are flaky and filling. We found the dish to be better than what you’ll find at Khalil’s but not quite as good as the filets from The House. The fries, a little smaller than potato wedges, were a real winner.

On a subsequent lunch trip we gave the burger ($6.95) a shot. It’s good and holds its own with others in the area.

Served on a homemade bun, the meat was cooked perfectly and well-seasoned.

Our companion tried the spicy chicken strips ($6.25). Hand-breaded just like the starter, they were liberally spiced but with a sweet undercurrent, almost reminiscent of General Tso’s sauce — more sweet-andsour than buffalo.

For dessert, we tried the lemon tart ($5.50). We’ll chalk this dessert’s failings up to a bad night. The lemon custard was good, tangy and just sweet enough. The crust, however, was too thin. A neigh-

brian chilson

what’scookin’

boring table, whose advice we ignored, had ordered up the bread pudding and found it very tasty. Next time, we’ll know better.

Dugan’s also offers up a daily special prepared by the Brown Sugar Bakeshop.

Where before Irish fare was only served up at a couple of Little Rock establishments, the past year has seen three new pubs come along in Khalil’s, Hibernia and Dugan’s. The latter, if only for the congenial atmosphere and great-tasting heft of its fried food, deserves consideration as one of the best in the lot.

Dugan’s Pub 403 East 3rd St. 501-244-0542 Quick bite

The mozzarella sticks are a must here. They’re huge and beautifully fried, as are the chicken strips. If you’re in a big party, go ahead and split a fish and chips for an appetizer, there’s plenty to go around.

Hours

Mon.-Sat. 11 a.m.-2 a.m. (kitchen open until 12 a.m.), Sunday 11 a.m.-10 p.m.

Other info

Credit cards accepted, full bar. www.arktimes.com • november 4, 2010 31

Restaurant capsules

Lift Your Spirits

Continued from page 31

PREMIUM LIqUORS & COCKTAILS

The

Faded Rose

support your community Small Town

®

LITTLE ROCK’S WORLD FAMOUS RESTAURANT 400 N. Bowman Road • 501-224-3377 1619 Rebsamen Road • 501-663-9734

D EATH BY FATAL MURDER Now - November 14

It’s non-stop laughter as the body count mounts!

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November 16 - December 31 The hilarious comedy!

Colonel Glenn & University • murrysdinnerplayhouse.com • 562-3131

ARKANSAS’ ORIGINAL BRICK OVEN PIZZA

For 14 years, Hand-Formed Rosemary Crust, Wood Fired, Old World Greatness ...

3519 Old Cantrell Road • (501) 663-4666 • www.localuna.com

FACT: Best Wine Prices in Town!!

32 november 4, 2010 • ArkAnsAs Times

(501) 663-8482

(501) 663-4666

BOBBY’S COUNTRY COOKIN’ One of the better plate lunch spots in the area, with maybe the best fried chicken and pot roast around, a changing daily casserole and wonderful homemade pies. 301 N. Shackleford Road, Suite E1. No alcohol, All CC. 501-224-9500. L Mon.-Fri. BOGIE’S BAR AND GRILL The former Bennigan’s retains a similar theme: a menu filled with burgers, salads and giant desserts, plus a few steak, fish and chicken main courses.

There are big screen TVs for sports fans and lots to drink, more reason to return than the food. 120 W. Pershing Blvd.

NLR. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-812-0019. BD daily.

CAFE 201 The hotel restaurant in the Crowne Plaza serves up a nice lunch buffet. 201 S. Shackleford Road. Beer, Wine, All CC. $$. 501-223-3000. BLD daily.

CATFISH CITY AND BBQ GRILL Basic fried fish and sides, including green tomato pickle, and now with tasty ribs and sandwiches in beef, pork and sausage. 1817 S. University Ave. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-663-7224.

LD Mon.-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. CORNERSTONE PUB & GRILL A sandwich, pizza and beer joint in the heart of North Little Rock’s Argenta district.

314 Main St. NLR. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-374-1782.

CRACKER BARREL Chain-style home-cooking with plenty of variety, consistency and portions. Multiple locations statewide. 3101 Springhill Drive. NLR. 945-9373.

BLD. DAVE AND RAY’S DOWNTOWN DINER Breakfast buffet daily featuring biscuits and gravy, home fries, sausage and made-to-order omelets. Lunch buffet with four choices of meats and eight veggies. All-you-can-eat catfish on weekend nights. 824 W. Capitol Ave. No alcohol. $. 501-372-8816. BL daily.

E’S BISTRO Despite the name, think tearoom rather than bistro – there’s no wine, for one thing, and there is tea. But there’s nothing tearoomy about the portions here. Try the heaping grilled salmon BLT on a buttery croissant. 3812 JFK Boulevard. NLR. No alcohol, All CC. $$. 501-771-6900.

THE HOP DINER The downtown incarnation of the old dairy bar, with excellent burgers, onion rings, shakes and breakfast. Plus, daily specials and desserts. 201 E. Markham. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-244-0975.

JASON’S DELI A huge selection of sandwiches (wraps, subs, po’ boys and pitas), salads and spuds, as well as red beans and rice and chicken pot pie. Plus a large selection of heart healthy and light dishes. 301 N. Shackleford Road.

Beer, Wine. $-$$. 501-954-8700. BLD daily.

JIMMY JOHN’S GOURMET SANDWICHES Illinoisbased sandwich chain that doesn’t skimp on what’s between the buns. 4120 E. McCain Blvd. NLR. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-945-9500. LD daily.

KITCHEN EXPRESS Delicious “meat and three” restaurant offering big servings of homemade soul food. Maybe Little Rock’s best fried chicken. 4600 Asher Ave. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-666-3500. BLD Mon.-Sat., LD Sun. LYNN’S CHICAGO FOODS Outpost for Chicago specialties like Vienna hot dogs and Italian beef sandwiches. Plus, other familiar fare -- burgers and fried catfish, chicken nuggets and wings. 6501 Geyer Springs. No alcohol, All CC. $. 501-568-2646. LD Mon.-Sat. MADDIE’S If you like your catfish breaded Cajun-style, your grits rich with garlic and cream and your oysters fried up in perfect puffs, this Cajun eatery on Rebsamen Park Road is the place for you. 1615 Rebsamen Park Road. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-660-4040. LD Tue.-Sat. MIMI’S CAFE Breakfast is our meal of choice here at this upscale West Coast chain. Portions are plenty to last you through the afternoon, especially if you get a muffin on the side. Middle-America comfort-style entrees make-up other meals, from pot roast to pasta dishes. 11725 Chenal Parkway. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-221-3883. BLD daily.

MORNINGSIDE BAGELS Tasty New York-style boiled bagels, made daily. 10848 Maumelle Blvd. NLR. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-753-6960. BL daily.

MR. BELL’S SOUL FOOD Rose City soul food spot owned by Leon and Loreta Bell serves typical meat-and-two options: smothered pork chops, pigs feet, yams, greens.

The desserts are delectable; the dinner menu includes an all-you-can eat choice (as long as advance payment is made and no doggy bags are expected). 4506 Lynch Drive.

NLR. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-945-9000. LD Sun.-Fri. (closes at 6 p.m. Sun. and 7 p.m. Mon.-Fri.).

PHIL’S HAM AND TURKEY PLACE Fine hams, turkeys and other specialty meats served whole, by the pound or in sandwich form. 11121 N. Rodney Parham Road. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-225-2136. LD Mon.-Fri. L Sat. RED MANGO National yogurt and smoothie chain that’s appeal lies in adjectives like “all-natural,” “non-fat,” “glutenfree” and “probiotic.” 5621 Kavanaugh Blvd. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-663-2500. LD daily.

RESTAURANT 1620 Steaks, chops, a broad choice of fresh seafood and meal-sized salads are just a few of the choices on a broad menu at this popular and upscale West

Little Rock bistro. It’s a romantic, candlelit room, elegant without being fussy or overly formal. 1620 Market St. Full bar. $$-$$$. 501-221-1620. D Mon.-Sat., BR Sun. SADDLE CREEK WOODFIRED GRILL Upscale chain dining in Lakewood, with a menu full of appetizers, burgers, chicken, fish and other fare. It’s the smoke-kissed steaks, however, that make it a winner — even in Little Rock’s beef-heavy restaurant market. 2703 Lakewood Village. Full bar. $$-$$$. 501-812-0883.

SAN FRANCISCO BREAD CO. Breakfast items, sandwiches, salads, soups and a hot cup of joe, or a iced glass of tea. Across from the Statehouse Convention Center.

101 Main St. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-372-7322.

BLD daily.

SAY MCINTOSH RESTAURANT Longtime political activist and restaurateur Robert “Say” McIntosh serves up big plates of soul food, plus burgers, barbecue and his famous sweet potato pie. 2801 W. 7th Street. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-664-6656. LD Mon.-Sat. L Sun. SLICK’S SANDWICH SHOP & DELI Meat-and-two plate lunches in state office building. 101 E. Capitol Ave. 501-375-3420. L Mon.-Fri. SPECTATOR’S GRILL AND PUB Burgers, soups, salads and other beer food, plus live music on weekends. 1012 W. 34th St. NLR. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-791-0990.

LD Mon.-Sat. SPORTS PAGE Perhaps the largest, juiciest, most flavorful burger in town. Grilled turkey and hot cheese on sourdough gets praise, too. Now with lunch specials. 414 Louisiana St. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-372-9316. L Mon.-Fri. SUFFICIENT GROUNDS Great coffee, good bagels and pastries, and a limited lunch menu. 1401 W. Capital. No alcohol, All CC. $. 501-372-1009. BL Mon.-Fri. TROPICAL SMOOTHIE Besides the 45 different smoothies on the menu, the cafe also serves wraps and sandwiches (many of them spicy), salads and “tortizzas.”

Good food, healthy drinks, long line at lunch but it moves fast. 10221 N. Rodney Parham Road. No alcohol, All CC. $$. 501-224-2233. BLD daily.

VICTORIAN GARDEN We’ve found the fare quite tasty and somewhat daring and different with its healthy, balanced entrees and crepes. 4801 North Hills Blvd. NLR. $-$$. 501-758-4299. L Tue.-Sat. WHITE WATER TAVERN Excellent, cheap pub food from Little Rock native Nick Castleberry, who’s spent the last 15 years in Seattle earning raves for his affordable, approachable food. With vegetarian options. 2500 W. 7th. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-375-8400. D Tue., Thu., Fri.

AsiAn BENIHANA — THE JAPANESE STEAKHOUSE Enjoy the cooking show, make sure you get a little filet with your meal, and do plenty of dunking in that fabulous ginger sauce. 2 Riverfront Place. NLR. Full bar, All CC. 501-3748081. L Sun.-Fri., D daily.

CHI’S CHINESE CUISINE A huge menu spans the Chinese provinces and offers a few twists on the usual local offerings, plus there’s authentic Hong Kong dim sum available daily until 3 p.m. Multiple LR locations, including 5110 W. Markham St., 501-604-7777, with delivery; a Chi’s Express at 17200 Chenal Parkway, 501-821-8000, and the original: 6 Shackleford Drive. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$.

501-221-7737. LD daily.

EASTERN FLAMES Maki rolls and half rolls, fresh nigiri and sashimi, katsu, lunch boxes and a nice variety of sake grace the menu at this sushi bar. 7710 Cantrell Road. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-227-7222. LD Mon.-Sat. FU LIN Quality in the made-to-order entrees is high, as is the quantity. 200 N. Bowman Road. Full bar, All CC. $$.

501-225-8989. LD daily.

HUNAN BALCONY The owner of New Fun Ree has combined forces with the Dragon China folks to create a formidable offering with buffet or menu items. 2817 Cantrell Road. 666-8889. LD. HUNAN ORIENTAL CUISINE Old favorites such as orange beef or chicken and Hunan green beans are still prepared with care in very nice surroundings out west.

11600 Pleasant Ridge Drive. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-2239966. LD daily.

IGIBON JAPANESE FOOD HOUSE It’s a complex place, where the food is almost always good and the ambiance and service never fail to please. The sushi is good, while the Bento box with tempura shrimp and California rolls and other delights stand out. 11121 N. Rodney Parham Road.

Beer, Wine, All CC. $$. 501-217-8888. LD Mon.-Sat. KOBE JAPANESE STEAKHOUSE AND SUSHI Though answering the need for more hibachis in Little Rock, Kobe stands taller in its sushi offerings than the grill. 11401 Financial Centre Parkway. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-2255999. L Mon.-Sat. D daily.

P.F. CHANG’S Nuevo Chinese from the Brinker chain that has people waiting in line for hours; make a reservation instead and get seated immediately at a table and enjoy some terrific flavors and presentations. 317 S. Shackleford.

Full bar. 501-225-4424.

PANDA GARDEN Large buffet including Chinese favorites, a full on-demand sushi bar, a cold seafood bar, pie case, salad bar and dessert bar. 2604 S. Shackleford Road. Beer, All CC. $-$$. 501-224-8100. LD daily.

PEI WEI Sort of a miniature P.F. Chang’s, but a lot of fun and plenty good with all the Chang favorites we like, such as the crisp honey shrimp, dan dan noodles and pad thai. You order from the cashier, get your own tea, silver ware and fortune cookies, and they bring you piping hot food to your cozy table. 205 N. University Ave. All CC. $$.

501-280-9423. LD daily.

SUPER KING BUFFET Large buffet with sushi and a Mongolian grill. 4000 Springhill Plaza Ct. NLR. All CC. $-$$.

LD daily.

VAN LANG CUISINE Terrific Vietnamese cuisine, the best in town, particularly the way the pork dishes and the assortment of rolls are presented. Great prices, too.

Massive menu, but it’s user-friendly for locals with full English descriptions and numbers for easy ordering. 3600 S. University Ave. $-$$. 501-570-7700. LD daily.

BarBecue CAPITOL SMOKEHOUSE AND GRILL Beef, pork, sausage and chicken, all smoked to melting tenderness and doused with a choice of sauces. The crusty but tender backribs star. Side dishes are top quality. 915 W. Capitol Ave. All CC. $-$$. 501-372-4227. BL Mon.-Fri. FATBOY’S KILLER BAR-B-Q This Landmark neighborhood strip center restaurant in the far southern reaches of Pulaski County features tender ribs and pork by a contest pitmaster. Skip the regular sauce and risk the hot variety, it’s far better. 3405 Atwood Road. No alcohol, All CC. $$.

501-888-4998. LD Tue.-Sat. HB’S BAR B.Q. Great slabs of meat with fiery barbecue sauce, but ribs are served on Tuesday only. Other days, try the tasty pork sandwich on an onion roll. 6010 Lancaster.

No alcohol, No CC. $-$$. 501-565-1930. L Mon.-Fri. SIMS BAR-B-QUE Great spare ribs, sandwiches, beef, half and whole chicken and an addictive vinegar-mustardbrown sugar sauce unique for this part of the country.

Also on John Barrow and Geyer Springs. 2415 Broadway.

Beer, All CC. $-$$. 501-372-6868. LD Mon.-Sat. 1307 John Barrow Road. Beer, All CC. $-$$. 501-224-2057.

LD Mon.-Sat. 7601 Geyer Springs Road. Beer, All CC. 501-562-8844. LD Mon.-Sat. SMOKE SHACK BAR-B-Q Another relative of the Shack, a legendary and long-gone Little Rock barbecue place. The beef and pork sandwiches are the best bet. Interstate 40 at Maumelle/Morgan exit (Exit 142). Maumelle. 501-8034935. LD Mon.-Sat. SMOKEY JOE’S BAR-B-QUE A steady supplier of smoked meat for many a moon. 824 Military Road. Benton.

501-315-8333. LD Mon.-Sat. L Sun. THREE SAM’S The Sams – a father-mother-son team all known as Sam – dish up impossibly huge piles of barbecue at this friendly joint in downtown Mabelvale. Everything here is homemade, including the skin-on potato salad and a stellar dessert lineup. 10508 Mann Road. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-407-0345. L Mon.-Fri., D Thu.-Fri.

european / ethnic KHALIL’S PUB Widely varied menu with European, Mexican and American influences. Go for the Bierocks, rolls filled with onions and beef. 110 S. Shackleford Road.

Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-224-0224. LD daily. BR Sun. THE PANTRY Owner and self-proclaimed “food evangelist” Tomas Bohm does things the right way – buying local, making almost everything from scratch and focusing on simple preparations of classic dishes. The menu stays relatively true to his Czechoslovakian roots, but there’s plenty of choices to suit all tastes. There’s also a nice happy-hour vibe. 11401 Rodney Parham Road. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$.

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

TAZIKI’S This sole Arkansas location of the chain offers gyros, grilled meats and veggies, hummus and pimento cheese. 8200 Cantrell Rd. All CC. $$. 501-227-8291. LD daily.

italian DAMGOODE PIES A somewhat different Italian/pizza place, largely because of a spicy garlic white sauce that’s offered as an alternative to the traditional red sauce. Good bread, too. 2701 Kavanaugh Blvd. Full bar, All CC. $$.

501-664-2239. LD daily.

GUSANO’S They make the tomatoey Chicago-style deepdish 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. Beer, All CC. $$.

501-329-1100. LD daily.

LA BELLA LUNA Authentic Italian cuisine. 915 Front St. Conway. No alcohol, All CC. 501-205-0888. LD Mon.-Sat. LARRY’S PIZZA The buffet is the way to go — fresh, hot pizza, fully loaded with ingredients, brought hot to your table, all for a low price. Many Central Arkansas locations.

10312 Chicot Road. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-5656006. LD daily. 12911 Cantrell Road. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-224-8804. LD daily.

LUIGI’S PIZZARIA Excellent thin-crust pizza; whopping, well-spiced calzones; ample hoagies; and pasta with tomatoey, sweet marinara sauce. 8310 Chicot Rd. Beer, Wine, All CC. $$. 501-562-9863. LD Mon.-Sat. PRESS 1’S PIZZA Massive pies, tasty appetizers and cold beer at this homey, oft-overlooked Sherwood pizza shack. 8403 Highway 107. Sherwood. Beer, Wine, All CC. $-$$. 501-835-5673. D Mon.-Sat. VESUVIO Arguably Little Rock’s best Italian restaurant is in one of the most unlikely places – tucked inside the Best Western Governor’s Inn within a non-descript section of

west Little Rock. 1501 Merrill Drive. Full bar, All CC. $$$.

501-225-0500. D daily.

VILLA ITALIAN RESTAURANT Hearty, inexpensive, classic southern Italian dishes. 12111 W. Markham St. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-219-2244. LD Mon.-Sat.

Mexican BLUE COAST BURRITO You will become a lover of fish tacos here, but there are plenty of other fresh coastal Mex choices served up fast-food cafeteria style in cool surroundings. Don’t miss the Baja fruit tea. 4613 E. McCain Blvd.

Beer, All CC. $-$$. 501-945-8033. LD Mon.-Sat. 14810 Cantrell Road. Beer, All CC. $-$$. 501-868-3770. LD Mon.-Sat, L Sun. CACTUS JACK’S This inoffensive Mexican-esque effort on McCain has everything you’ve come to expect from the average Mexican restaurant. Ample portions, if not ample seasoning. 4120 East McCain Blvd. NLR. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-945-5888. LD daily. 11414 West Markham. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-227-7556. LD daily.

CASA MANANA Great guacamole and garlic beans, superlative chips and salsa (red and green) and a broad selection of fresh seafood, plus a deck out back. 6820 Cantrell Road. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-280-9888. B Sat.-Sun., LD daily. 18321 Cantrell Road. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-868-8822. B Sat.-Sun, LD daily. 400 President Clinton Ave. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-327-6637. L Mon.-Sat. CASA MEXICANA Familiar Tex-Mex style items all shine, in ample portions, and the steak-centered dishes are uniformly excellent. 6929 JFK Blvd. NLR. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-835-7876. LD daily.

COZYMEL’S A trendy Dallas-chain cantina with flaming cheese dip, cilantro pesto, mole, lamb and more. 10 Shackleford Drive. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-954-7100.

LD daily.

EL CHICO Hearty, standard Mex served in huge portions.

1315 Breckenridge Drive. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-2242550. LD daily. 201 Skyline Drive. Conway. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. (501) 327-6553. LD daily.

EL NOPAL Mexican American fare. 700 W. Capitol Ave. 501-372-9999. BL Mon.-Fri. EL PORTON Very good Mex for the price and a wideranging menu of dinner plates, some tasty cheese dip, and great service as well. 12111 W. Markham St. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-223-8588. LD daily.

LA VAQUERA The tacos at this truck are more expensive than most, but they’re still cheap eats. One of the few trucks where you can order a combination plate that comes with rice, beans and lettuce. 4720 Baseline Road. No alcohol, No CC. $. 501-565-3108. LD Mon.-Sat. LUNCHERIA MEXICANA ALICIA The best taco truck West Little Rock. Located in the Walmart parking lot on Bowman. 620 S. Bowman. No alcohol, No CC. $. 501-6121883. L Mon.-Sat. MERCADO SAN JOSE From the outside, it appears to just be another Mexican grocery store. Inside, you’ll find one of Little Rock’s best Mexican bakeries and a restaurant in back serving tortas and tacos for lunch. 7411 Geyer Springs Road. No alcohol, All CC. $. (501) 565-4246. BL daily.

MI RANCHITO This growing Arkansas-owned chain offers great variety and super-sized meals with solid Tex-Mex, with the typical white cheese dip, only spicier, and more flavor to the regular entree fare. 1520 Market St. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. LD daily.

RIVIERA MAYA Typical Mexican fare for the area, though the portions are on the large side. 801 Fair Park Blvd. Beer, Wine, All CC. $$. 501-663-4800. LD daily.

SAN JOSE GROCERY STORE AND BAKERY This mercado-plus-restaurant smells and tastes like Mexico, and for good reason: Fresh flour tortillas, overstuffed burritos, sopes (moist corncakes made with masa harina), chili poblano are the real thing. 7411 Geyer Springs Road.

Beer. $-$$. 501-565-4246. LD daily.

SUPER 7 This Mexican grocery/video store/taqueria has great a daily buffet featuring a changing assortment of real Mexican cooking. Fresh tortillas pressed by hand and grilled, homemade salsas, beans as good as beans get.

Plus soup every day. 1415 Barrow Road. No alcohol. $.

501-219-2373. LD daily.

TAQUERIA JALISCO SAN JUAN The taco truck for the not-so-adventurous crowd. They claim to serve “original Mexico City tacos,” but it’s their chicken tamales that make it worth a visit. They also have tortas, quesadillas and fajitas.

11200 Markham St. No alcohol, No CC. $. 501-541-5533.

LD daily.

TAQUERIA LOURDES This Chevy Step Van serves tacos, tortas, quesadillas and nachos. Colonel Glenn and 36th Street. No alcohol, No CC. $. 501-612-2120. LD Mon.-Sat. TAQUERIA SAMANTHA On Friday and Saturday nights, this mobile taqueria parks outside of Jose’s Club Latino in a parking lot on the corner of Third and Broadway. 300 Broadway Ave. No alcohol, No CC. $. D Fri.-Sat. (sporadic hours beyond that).

Around ArkAnsAs

Skyline Drive. Conway. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. (501) 327-6553. LD daily.

THE GREAT AMERICAN GRILL Hotel restaurant.

805 Amity Road. Conway. No alcohol, All CC. $$-$$$.

501-329-1444. BLD Mon.-Sun. HUTCH’S COUNTRY KITCHEN Country style lunch and dinner offerings. 605 Salem Road #10. Conway.

No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-205-0829. L Sun.-Fri., D Wed.-Fri. LA HUERTA MEXICAN RESTAURANT Standard Mexican fare with an emphasis on family favorites.

1052 Harrison Street. Conway. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$.

501-762-0202. LD Mon.-Fri. LOS AMIGOS Authentic Mexican food where everything is as fresh and tasty as it is filling. At lunch, go for the $4.99 all-you-can-eat special. 2850 Prince St. Conway.

No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-329-7919. LD daily.

MARKETPLACE GRILL CONWAY Big servings of steak, seafood, chicken, pasta, pizza and other rich comfort-style foods. 600 Skyline Dr. Conway. No alcohol, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-336-0011. LD Daily.

MIKE’S PLACE Delicious New Orleans-inspired steaks and seafood, plus wood-fired pizzas, served in a soaring, beautifully restored building in downtown Conway. 808 Front St. Conway. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-269-6493.

LD daily.

50% OFF 2ND ENTREE *

WITH PURCHASE OF FULL ENTRÉe Half off least expensive entrée

Breakfast • Lunch • Dinner Dine in • Take Out • Patio • full Bar Mon. -Fri. 10-10 • Sat. 9-10 Sun. 9-9

400 President Clinton Ave. (In the River Market)

Hours: 8 am 5:30 pm Mon - Sat 501-280-9888 372-6637 6820 Cantrell • 9am -10 pm The BesT AuThenTic MexicAn seAfood in Town Full Bar • Take out • Dine in For Gourmet Seafood lovers 501-868-8822 Monday • Friday: 10-10 • 18321 Cantrell Rd. • Hwy. 10 Saturday: 9-10 • Sunday: 9-9

*Must present coupon. One per party.

Not valid with any other offers. Offer Expires 11/23/10.

hot SpringS ARLINGTON HOTEL Massive seafood buffet on Friday nights, breakfast buffet daily, served in the splendor of a grand old hotel. 239 Central Ave. Hot Springs. 501-6237771. BLD. THE BLEU MONKEY GRILL High end, artfully prepared pastas, salads, sandwiches and appetizers are one of the hallmarks of this classy/casual newcomer to the Hot Springs dining scene. Stay for the interesting dessert menu. 4263 Central Ave. Hot Springs. Full bar, All CC. 501-520-4800. LD daily.

CAJUN BOILERS Expertly prepared boiled shrimp, crawfish and such, served in a fun atmosphere. 2806 Albert Pike. Hot Springs. Beer, Wine, All CC. $-$$. 501-7675695. D Tue.-Sat. HOT SPRINGS BRAU HAUS All the usual schnitzels are available, an inviting bar awaits as you enter, and the brick-walled place has a lot of history and coziness. 801 Central Ave. Hot Springs. 501-624-7866. LD. JASON’S BURGERS AND MORE Locals love it for filets, fried shrimp, ribs, catfish, burgers and the like at good prices. 148 Amity Road. Hot Springs. 501-5250919. LD. LA HACIENDA Authentic Mexican food; array of entrees.

3836 Central Ave. Hot Springs. 501-525-8203. LD. ON THE BORDER Tasty Tex-Mex at reasonable prices; great margaritas too. 190 Pakis St. Hot Springs. Full bar, All CC. 501-520-5045. LD daily.

eureka SpringS

■ update BuBBa’S You can get beef – you can even get a salad, if you want – but pork is king here. We particularly recommend the pork shoulder, on a bun or on a plate with beans and slaw. Two kinds of sauce are available, one sweetish, one hottish, and there’s a nice beer list. As is appropriate for a barbecue place, it’s enjoyably atmospheric, with its pink paint and its pig paraphernalia all around, including a poster that proclaims “PorK! The other Pulled meat.” A good eating place in a town that has more than its share. very popular with the locals. 166 W. van buren beer CC 479-253-7706 LD mon.-Sat. CAFE SOLEIL American/International Fusion restaurant focusing on innovative and tasty dishes. A great place for vegetarian fare in Eureka Springs. 3094 E. Van Buren.

Eureka Springs. No alcohol, All CC. $$. 479-253-2345.

LD Tue.-Sun. DEVITO’S You absolutely cannot go wrong with the trout here -- whether it’s the decadent Trout Italiano, the smoky Chargrilled Trout or the cornmeal encrusted Trout Fingers.

DeVito’s housemade marinara is also a winner. 5 Center St. Eureka Springs. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 479-2536807. D. ERMILIO’S Great mix-and-match pasta and sauces, all done with fresh ingredients and creativity. Warm service in a classy atmosphere. 26 White St. Eureka Springs.

479-253-8806. LD. GASKINS’ CABIN Solid American food highlighted by the fish specials and prime rib. Highway 23 North. Eureka Springs. 479-253-5466. D. MYRTIE MAE’S Hearty country breakfasts, sandwiches and Arkansas-style dinner plates. May be the second best fried chicken in the state. 207 W. Van Buren. Eureka Springs. No alcohol, All CC. $$. 479-253-9768. BLD.

conway

greenBrier

EL ACAPULCO Tex-Mex served in hefty portions in a colorful atmosphere. 201 Highway 65 N. Conway. No alcohol, All CC. $$. 501-327-8445. LD Mon.-Sun. EL CHICO Tex-Mex and Ark-Mex favorites, a Central Arkansas tradition. Multiple locations statewide. 201

WAGON WHEEL RESTAURANT Hometown favorite specializing in plate lunches, a bevy of burgers and decadent pies, plus a considerable breakfast menu.

166 S. Broadview Rd. Greenbrier. No alcohol, CC. $-$$.

501-679-5009. www.arktimes.com • november 4, 2010 33

Food for Thought

a paid advertisement

To place your restaurant in Food For Thought, call the advertising department at 501-375-2985

AMERICAN

SEAFOOD Cajun’s Wharf 2400 Cantrell Road 501-375-5351

Food and fun for everyone when you pair Cajun’s Wharf’s succulent seafood and steak with the ever-evolving live entertainment. Enjoy the fabulous fresh seafood or aged Angus beef while listening to the rolling Arkansas River on the famously fantastic deck! They also boast an award-winning wine list.

Black Angus

Homemade Comfort Food Daily Specials • Monday: Spicy Shrimp Stir-fry. Tuesday: Pot Roast.

Wednesday: Meatloaf. Thursday: BBQ Plate or Shepherd’s Pie. Friday & Saturday: Fried Catfish.

Capers Restaurant

Indulge in the culinary creations and intimate environment that define Capers Restaurant. Food and wine enthusiasts agree Capers’ sophisticated approach to dining is key to it’s many accolades including receiving the Wine Spectator Award of Excellence for six years running.

Copper Grill & Grocery

An endless array of delicious dishes available in the Grill or grab your Gourmet-to-Go from the Grocery. Offering products by French Farm, Bella Cucina & Bittersweet Herb that promise to turn any recipe into a memorable masterpiece Copper Grill & Grocery is a wonderland for the gourmand.

SO

Contemporary metropolitan bistro meets Southern smalltown hospitality in a neighborhood bar. SO offers the best in fresh seafood and hand-cut rustic meats, complimented by an extensive and diverse wine list, honored with Wine Spectator’s Award of Excellence. Whether casual dinners, special occasions, meetings with clients, or private parties, our service will impress. Reservations six and more. Private Lounge.

Butcher Shop

Tremendous steaks, excellent service, fair prices and a comfortable atmosphere make The Butcher Shop the prime choice for your evening out. In addition to tender and juicy steaks, The Butcher Shop offers fresh fish, pork chop, 24 hour slow roasted Prime Rib, char grilled marinated chicken and fresh pasta. Ideal for private parties, business meetings, and rehearsal dinners. Rooms accommodate up to 50-60 people.

Capi’s

Lunch offers creative and fresh entree-sized salads; a daily special and homemade soup; plus superb sandwiches sure to satisfy. Serving continuously all-day, global appetizers, then Chef Capi’s fabulous After 5 Menu. Advanced acoustics in place for focused business lunches. Happy Hour all day Tue, late afternoon daily, and late night weekends. Cozy patio atmosphere under the canopy. www.capisrestaurant. com. Now serving new Saturday & Sunday brunch menu, and Sunday dinner.

Flying Saucer

“A great place to hangout, experience great beer and authentic German specialties”. The Flying Saucer definitely offers a unique range of domestic and international draft and bottled beers, carrying over 80 beers on draft and 120+ different bottled beers, many which are seasonal.

Accompanying their unique beer line-up is a menu packed with flare. Bratwurst is the house specialty served with German coleslaw, or you can try Brat Con Queso or Beer Brat Nachos. Be sure to leave room for dessert: Young’s Double Chocolate Stout Ice Cream Float offers the best of both worlds.

Buffalo Grill

The crispy off the griddle cheeseburger and hand-cut fries star at this family friendly stop and will keep you coming back. The casual atmosphere will have everyone feeling right at home. The options are endless for whatever dining mood you are in. Grilled Tuna Steak sandwhich to a loaded foot long hotdog to the crispy chicken tender salad. Buffalo Grill does not disappoint. Fast and friendly staff. Very affordable prices!

Morningside Bagels

Morningside Bagels café is a full service bagel bakery.

We serve breakfast, lox and deli sandwiches on a bagel.

Our fresh cream cheese schmears and Guillermo’s coffee compliments our bagels. We serve espresso drinks hot and iced. Our soups and bagel chips have developed their own following. Come visit with Roxane and David Tackett and enjoy.

10907 N. Rodney Parham Mon-Sat 10:30am-9pm Breakfast 6-10:30am 501-228-7800

BISTRO Lulav

220 West 6th St. 501-374-5100 Breakfast Mon-Fri 6:30 am -10:30 am Lunch Mon-Fri 11am-2pm Dinner Tues-Sat 5-10pm V Lounge til 1am, Thurs-Sat

Dizzy’s Gypsy Bistro 200 S. Commerce, Suite 150 (501) 375-3500 Tues-Thurs 11am-9pm Fri & Sat 11am-10pm

Fresh seafood specials every week. Prime aged beef and scrumptious dishes. Wine Spectator Award of Excellence, over 30 wines by the glass and largest vodka selection downtown. Regular and late night happy hour, Wednesday wine flights and Thursday is Ladies Night. Be sure to check out the Bistro Burger during lunch. Jump start your day with bistro breakfast from Lulav featuring scrumptious omlettes, pancakes and more.

For the salad lover, Dizzy’s is an absolute paradise. Its list of eleven “Ridiculously Large Entrée Salads” runs the gamut of what you can do with greens and dressing. For example Zilpphia’s Persian Lime Salad, featuring grilled turkey breast, tomato, cucumber, onion, lime and buffalo mozzarella over romaine. For another: Mary Ann’s Dream, with grilled chicken breast, baby spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, cranberries, mandarin oranges, bourbon pecans and bleu cheese. Don’t that sound good?

chinese Fantastic China 1900 N Grant St Heights 501-663-8999

Sharing good things with good friends is the motto at Fantastic China. A Central Arkansas favorite offering the Freshest Chinese Food in town. It’s made to order with 100% Vegetable Oil. The presentation is beautiful, the menu distinctive, and the service perfect. Fantastic China is one of the heights most reliable and satisfying restaurants and a local favorite. Full bar.

mexican Casa Manana Taqueria

400 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-6637 6820 Cantrell Road • 501-280-9888 18321 Cantrell Road • 501-868-8822

Canon Grill

2811 Kavanaugh Blvd 501-664-2068

Voted Best Mexican 2007. Featuring authentic fare from the Puebla region of Mexico, the selections seem endless at your choice of 3 locations in the Little Rock area. You will find an array of dishes ranging from the salient Shrimp Veracruzana at La Palapa out west to great Guacamole in the River Market Taqueria. Or try tasty Tostadas that share the name of the original Cantrell location, Casa Manana.

Stop in for Our ALL DAY LONG HAPPY HOUR SATURDAYS! Order up some homemade salsa & cheesedip with your happy hour beverage and stay for dinner! Tasty Quesadilla’s and Mexican chicken Pizza. There are menu items to accommodate those not in the Mexican food mood too.

And of course, The Margarita cannot be missed!

Mediterranean Layla’s

Enjoy regional specialties such as Lentil soup, a huge serving of yummy Hummus, Baba Ghannnouj or Tabbouleh.

And don’t forget about the Gyros, they’re sure to be heroes in your book!

9501 N. Rodney Parham 501-227-7272

Brazilian Café Bossa Nova 2701 Kavanaugh Blvd 501-614-6682 Tues-Sat 11am-9pm Sunday Brunch 10:30-2pm

Try something different! Café Bossa Nova serves up cozy atmosphere and unique Brazilian dishes guaranteed to satisfy and served with that special Latin flare. Don’t deny yourself one of the delectable desserts prepared fresh daily or for an A+ apertif, drink in the authentic flavor of the country in the Caipirinha~a perfect blend of lime, sugar and Brazilian sugar cane rum. Dine with them tonight!

14502 Cantrell Road 501-868-7600

300 West 3rd Street 501-375-3333

Brunch Sunday 11 am to 4 pm Lunch Mon-Sat 11 am to 4 pm Dinner Mon-Sat 4 pm to close 3610 Kavanaugh Blvd.

501-663-1464

Shackleford & Hermitage Rd. (501) 312-2748

11525 Cantrell Rd, Suite 917 Pleasant Ridge Town Center 501.225.9600

323 President Clinton Ave 501-372-8032

400 N. Bowman Rd 501-224-0012 1611 Rebsamen Park Rd 501-296-9535 11am-9pm 11am-10pm Friday & Saturday

10848 Maumelle Blvd North Little Rock 501-753-6960 Mon-Fri: 6am-2pm Sat & Sun: 7am-2pm www.morningsidebagels.com

steak

brew pub Vino’s Pizza•Pub•Brewery 923 West 7th Street 501/375-VINO (8466)

Beer, pizza and more! Drop in to Vino’s, Little Rock’s Original Brewpub! and enjoy great New York-style pizza (whole or by-the-slice) washed down with your choice of award-winning ales or lagers brewed right on site. Or try a huge calzone, our new Muffaletta sandwich or just a salad and a slice with our homemade root beer. The deck’s always open, you don’t have to dress up and the kids are always welcome (or not).

Vino’s is open 7 days, lunch and dinner. You can call ahead for carry-out and even take a gal. growler of beer to-go. And guess what?? The bathrooms have just been re-done!

asian panda Garden

2604 S. Shackleford Road, Suite G 501-224-8100.

Fresh, flavorful, all-you-can-eat sushi. With fresh and authentic Chinese dishes, nice decor, great dessert choices and excellent sushi, Panda Garden raises the bar.

34 november 4, 2010 • ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO THE ARKANSAS TIMES

Sonny Williams

If you have not been to Sonny Williams lately, get there immediately and check out the martini/wine bar. Now you can enjoy 35 wines by the glass, 335 selections of wine, 6 single barrel bourbons and all different kinds of Scotch from the many regions of Scotland. Of course, don’t miss out on the nightly entertainment by Jeff at the piano. Sonny’s is a River Market mainstay and perfect for intimate private parties; free valet parking! As always, Sonny Williams has the best steaks in town along with fresh seafood and game. No Skinny Steaks… Call ahead for reservations (501) 324-2999

Faded Rose

Featuring the Best Steaks in town with a New Orleans flair from a New Orleans native. Also featuring Seafood and Creole Specialties. As Rachel Ray says “This place is one of my best finds ever.” Back by popular demand…Soft Shell Crab and New Orleans Roast Beef Po-Boys.

500 President Clinton Avenue Suite 100 (In the River Market District) 501-324-2999 DINNER MON - SAT 5:00 - 11:00 pm PIANO BAR TUES - THU 7:00 - 11:00 pm FRI & SAT 7:00 - Late

400 N. Bowman 501-224-3377 1619 Rebsamen 501-663-9734 Open Sunday

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Enjoy country living minutes from the city

Would you like to live in a country atmosphere that’s also within a 15-minute drive from downtown Little Rock? Well, this home at 21854 William Brandon Drive is for you. It is located in the wonderful country setting of Hensley on nearly five level acres of cleared, partially-cleared and mildly-wooded land with beautiful trees and lots of wildlife. At 1,500 square feet, this home is perfect for a young or retiring couple. There’s plenty of room to expand, city water and the home is zoned for Sheridan schools.

Built in 2006, this beauty still looks brand new with an open floor plan, four bedrooms and two bathrooms. There is a natural flow with plenty of room for everyone and all the rooms open naturally into the others. The foyer opens to a great room with a wood-burning fireplace and the great room opens to the dining area. The kitchen is spacious with slab granite counters, custom maple cabinets and

Get back to nature living here.

The home has an open floor plan.

stainless steel appliances. There’s beautiful crown molding throughout the living areas and lots of windows to provide plenty of natural lighting. All the bedrooms are large. The master suite is separate from the others and offers recessed lighting, a walk-in closet and wood floors. The master bath has a jetted tub, a walk-in shower and double sinks.

Enjoy nature from every corner of this property. Watch the squirrels play from the patio in the fenced backyard or set up deer feeders to watch the deer roam your acreage. Horses are also permitted. If you want a little elbow room and love the country, but want easy access to the city, this is the property for you. It is offered for $168,500 and is eligible for low interest rates, no money down USDA Rural Development financing. It is listed with Clyde Butler of Coldwell Banker RPM. Call him for a private tour or for more information at 501-240-4300.

The eat-in area of the kitchen is large.

The kitchen has slab granite counters www.arktimes.com • november 4, 2010 35

REAL ESTATE by neighborhood TO ADVERTISE, CALL TIFFANY HOLLAND AT 375-2985 Downtown City Center

1480 W. LAWSON ROAD - $189,900 All brick 3BR/2BA home on 3.5 acres in Alexander! 1850 SF with hardwoods in the great room and formal dining room. Bryant Schools!

Arkansas Times 2 x 4 Ad

400 MAXINE AVE - $119,000 3BR/2BA, 1452 SF brick home on corner lot in Sherwood! Fully fenced yard, a heated & cooled craft room/ workshop. New roof in 2010!

300 THIRD CONDO - Competitively priced 2BR/2BA condo with French balcony, black-out shades, limestone counters and stainless appliances.

Enjoy spectacular views of the sunset.

Call Eric Wilkerson of the Charlotte John Company for a private tour at 501-804-2633.

Capitol View/ Stiffts Station

Absolute Land Auction Mansfield, Arkansas

13 Tracts ~ 750 + Acres Plus one tract 120 + Acres Private Land in the Ouachita National Forest

November 9th ~ 2:00pm Registration starts 1:00 pm Fort Smith Event Center 12 N. 11th St. y Fort Smith

CLYDE A. BUTLER, ABR, GRI

Associate Broker 501-240-4300 cbutler@cbrpm.com www.clydebutler.com

400 S. VALENTINE - $109,750. 2BR/1BA updated in 2008 with HVAC, roof, kitchen, bath, flooring, paint, lighting, etc. Large fenced yard w/great deck. Walking distance to UAMS & Hillcrest. Call JoJo Carter 773-9949 or www.pulaskiheightsrealty.com for more info.

Hillcrest

Recreational Land & Homesite Lots Some Tracts with Mansfield Lake Frontage Informational Meetings Tuesday October 26th & Monday November 8th 5:00 pm—7:00 pm um 5%

Publisher’s Notice

All real estate advertising in this newspaper is subject to the Federal Fair Housing Act which makes it illegal to advertise any preference, limitation or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin, or an intention, to make any such preference, limitation or discrimination. Familial status includes children under the age of 18 living with parents or legal custodians, pregnant women and people securing custody of children under 18. This newspaper will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate which is in violation of the law. Our readers are hereby informed that all dwellings advertised in this newspaper are available on an equal opportunity basis. To complain of discrimination call HUD toll-free 1-800-669-9077. The toll-free number for the hearing impaired is 1-800-927-9275.

Bu

yer

Pre

mi

800-299-LAND

John Malone—AR Auctioneer Lic # AALB 1440 413 W Court St. Paragould, AR 72450 (870) 236-6117

www.AllianceLandAuction.com

AR Broker Lic PB00068039

4101 C ST - $224,900. 3BR/2BA, 1836SF. Recently renovated!

Enter MLS# 10255320 on www.

PulaskiHeightsRealty.com for more photos. John Selva, Pulaski Heights Realty, 993-5442

Arkansas times presents PULASKI COUNTY Real Estate sales over $100,000 Monica Coleman, Darriyell C o l e m a n t o Fe d e r a l H o m e Loan Mortgage Corp., 114 Mountain Valley Dr., Maumelle, $223,674.

Jeffrey W. Leece, Sherry Leece to Edward M. Leece Living Trust, Edward M. Leece, Joyce A. Leece Living Trust, Joyce A. Leece, L1, Cedar Lane, $215,000.

Landnpulaski LLC to Kathryn L. Cash, Walter K. Cash, 1224 Claycut Cir., NLR, $195,000.

Bill Mitchell, Mary Mitchell to Cassandra L. Taylor, 2 Lorna Dr., $193,000.

Jona than Ross, Madelynn Ross to Claire McClellan, 2924 Circlewood Dr., $192,000.

Secretary Of Veterans Affairs to Michael K. Manion, Amy E. Manion, 7 Hogan Dr., Maumelle, $192,000.

Matthew B. McCoy, Summer McCoy to Carter D. Walker, Leigh A. Walker, 324 Dooley Rd., NLR, $191,000.

Michelle K. Smith, Lonnie C. Smith to Federal National Mortgage Association, 1923 S. Gaines St., $176,865.

Carol Bowden to Darvis E. Rasberr y, 35 Azalea Co ve, Maumelle, $169,000.

Welcome Home Enterprises Inc. to Christy L. Thomas, 39 Chateaus Ln., $160,000.

SDW Enterprises LLC to Sandra K. Jones, Mallory M. Guest, 15

Libby Ln., $155,000.

Sandra J.Oberle, William J.Oberle, Bruce Lessley, Marilyn Lessley to Lateresa L. Smith, 502 Indian Bay Dr., Sherwood, $152,000.

Willice F. Laman, Mildred J.Laman to Mary Mitchell, Billy H. Mitchell, 331 Cambridge Place Dr., $150,000.

James S. Mixon, Catherine A. Mixon to James A. Dail, Donna R. Dail, 51 Zircon Dr., Maumelle, $150,000.

Jack Lankford, Margaret Lankford to Eugene H. Carter, 14 Fairway Woods Cir., Maumelle, $150,000.

Glenn E. Davidson, Patsy A. Davidson to Federal National Mortgage Association, 2702 Gray Fox Ln., Jacksonville, $147,757.

Eric T. Smith, Dana M. Smith to Steven Oswald, L6, Meadow Oaks, $147,000.

PTC Properties LLC to Mark B. Henry, Tanya L. Henry, Seaborn J.Bell, Jr., 2100 Maple Ridge Rd., $142,000.

Rausch Coleman Mid Ark LLC to Emily B. Cox, Ryan G. Cox, 1416 Chervic Cir., NLR, $140,000.

N an cy J . B u r r i s t o R ob er t C. Birdsong, Margaret A. Birdsong, 6620 Hawthorne Rd., $137,000.

Phyllis T. Billingsley to Arvest Bank, L6 B6, Cox, $133,000.

Tri B. Realty Inc. to Arvest Bank, L5 B6, Cox, $132,000.

Sedrick M. Robinson, Tamera S. Robinson to Kendrick A. Halford, 6006 Timberside Rd., $130,000.

Deena M. Fuller to Gloria Purifoy, 28 Prospect Trail, NLR, $129,000.

Rebecca Sandeen to Charles Nelson, Sandra Nelson, L40, Edgepark, $128,000.

Gar y W. Vaught, Susan C. Va u g h t t o M o r g a n S t a n l e y Mortgage Capital Holdings, LLC, 206 Kodiak Ct., Jacksonville, $122,361.

Frank A. Johnson, Roberta J. Johnson to Andrew H. Graham, L14 B1, Pulaski Heights, $120,000.

Willie C. Heath, Marilyn M. Heath to Ebony S. Rodgers, 808 Buttercup Cir., NLR, $115,000.

Donna Andrews to Homesales Inc., 6 Dove Cir., $105,829.

R. L. Stephens, Brenda Stephens to Andrew B. Stephens, II, 409 N. Pierce St., $102,000.

Timothy M. Snider, Leann Snider to Nancy D. Stone, L4 B2, Park Hill West, $100,000.

Roy Martin Inc. to Hepner Homes Inc., Ls34, 37, 40-41 & 44, Base Meadows Phase 1B, $100,000.

Andrew I. Nwanne, Grace C. Nwanne to Pixel Properties LLC, 47 Flag Rd., $100,000.

REAL ESTATE

36 November 4, 2010 • ARKANSAS TIMES

to Jane G. Starling, L5, Ranch Valley, L10, Pleasant Hill Replat, $298,000.

Troy W. Baker, Kimberly D. Baker, Kimberly D. Buckner to Winston P. Foster, Jr., Mary N. Foster, L35, Madison Valley, $290,000.

Scott R. Smith, Carey L. Smith to Taypac Homes LLC, 46 Bouresse Cir., $285,000.

Thomas H. Turner to Jonathan Ross, Madelynn Ross, 15 Riding Rd., $278,000.

Donald E. Gehrlein, Patricia A. Gehrlein to Reto Zollinger, Gabrielle E. Zollinger, L15 B23, Chenal Valley, $277,000.

John Wright Construction Co Inc. to Eric S. Green, Serena T. Green, 310 Corondelet Ln., Maumelle, $273,000.

David G. Mitchell, Maria E. Mitchell to Thomas E. Pittman, 4404 Oaks Bluff Dr., $256,000.

KCA Development LLC to Yufei Wang, Min H. Weng, 8 Kanis Creek Pl., $256,000.

Carl R. Glass, Kennetta Glass to Federal National Mortgage Association, 4404 Stone Creek Cove, $254,483.

Ben A. Coleman, Susan M. Coleman to Sharad Singh, 319 Parliament St., $254,000.

Fi r st C om mu n it y B an k t o James L. Floyd, Sabrina Floyd, 17316 Crooked Oak Dr., NLR, $245,000.

It's cheap, Call 375-2985 It's simple, for more by neighborhood It's effective. information.

W VM , L L C t o B e n t o n D .

Brandon, II, L61 B83, Chenal Valley, $925,000.

Kevin & Theresa Gar l a n d Revocable Family Trust, Kevin Garland, Theresa Garland to Charles H. Schaffner, Virginia D. Schaffner, E/2 SW 28-2N-14W, $759,000.

50 Edgehill LLC to Brian Teeter, Samantha McKelvey, 50 Edgehill Rd., $490,000.

River Market Tower LLC to Douglas R. Frank, Mary L. Frank, 315 Rock St., Suite 1609, $480,000.

Scott H. Smith, Anita C. Smith to Christina S. Drale, Cheryl A. Hellmann, 18 Longlea Dr., $379,000.

Scott Rosenthal, Shelley Rosenthal to Darrin L. Curtis, Angela D. Curtis, 23500 Mills Mountain Rd., $348,000.

Green Built Arkansas LLC to Walt Stallings, 14007 Fox Field Ln., $343,000.

James D. Spurgers, Judy C. Spurgers to Srikanth Pidugu, Sailaja Pidugu, 27 Woodstream Cove, $318,000.

Keathley Construction Company Inc. to Sammy Buffin, 9609 Wild Mountain Dr., Sherwood, $315,000.

Taypac Homes LLC to Scott R. Smith, Carey L. Smith, 23 Forest Valley Ln., $309,000.

Timothy D. Hicks, Brook Hicks

Neighboring Communities 1480 W. LAWSON RD - $189,900. All brick on 3.5 acres in Alexander! 1850 SF, 3BR/2BA, hardwoods in great room and formal DR. Bryant schools. Clyde Butler, CBRPM, 501-240-4300.

4924 HILLCREST AVE - $459,900.

3BR/3BA plus 3-car garage. 2600 SF. Recently renovated home on large corner lot. Call John Selva at Pulaski Heights Realty at 501-993-5442.

No. 1007

Hillcrest

21854 WILLIAM BRANDON DRIVE - $168,500. Enjoy country living on five level acres only 15 minutes from downtown Little Rock! Like-new home with 4BR/2BA, wood-burning fireplace, granite counters, stainless appliances & more! Call Clyde Butler of CBRPM at 501-240-4300.

West Little Rock

20 VISTA DRIVE - $169,000. Lake living in WLR! Great home in coveted Spring Valley Manor, just minutes from Chenal. Boating, swimming and fishing are within walking distance on private, stocked lake. Completely remodeled.

Erin Tripcony, Keller Williams Realty, 766-7700

Conway 1110 TRILLIUM - $152,000. Newly refreshed 3BR/2BA split plan w/new countertops, kitchen faucet and paint throughout. Gas log FP, wood floors and fenced yard. Close to schools!

MLS# 10266757 Linda Roster White Real Estate, 501-730-1100 or 501679-1103 31 BERNARD - $149,000. Sparkles and shines like new! 3BR/2BA, huge living room with cathedral ceiling, oversized breakfast area, wood-burning fireplace, large bedrooms, 2” blinds thru-out. Fenced yard. MLS# 10253781 Linda Roster White Real Estate, 501730-1100 or 501-679-1103 5125 GALLERIA COVE - $209,000.

Stunning 3BR/2BA open split plan w/ extraordinary lighting throughout, breakfast bar, walk-in pantry, gas log FP, jetted tub, screen porch & fenced yard. MLS# 10268505 Linda Roster White Real Estate, 501-730-1100 or 501-679-1103

Greenbrier 9204 CYNTHIA - $122,500. 4BR/2BA, 1426 SF. Great two-story home centrally located. New paint, new lighting fixtures & other updates throughout.

Large fenced backyard. John Selva, Pulaski Heights Realty, 993-5442

■ CROSSWORD

712 N. WALNUT - $159,900. 2BR/1BA in the heart of Hillcrest. Just 1/2 block of Kavanaugh. Renovated kitchen w/ custom maple cabinets, tile floors, solid surface counters. Enter MLS 10257444 at www.PulaskiHeightsRealty.com

edited by Will Shortz

GREERS FERRY LAKE - Spectacular view! 5 acres. Utilities, covenants, seller financing. Owner/agent. 501825-6200

Across 1 It began commercial service in ’76 4 Chinese dynasty at the time of Christ 7 Cartoon featured in 23 best-selling books 14 1983 Randy Newman song 16 Brazier 17 Thingamajigs 18 Partly paid back 19 – 21 Fair-hiring inits.

22 Silverstein who wrote “The Giving Tree” 23 Backbreaking 27 Mattress brand 30 In America 34 Splinter group 37 Quaker product 38 “Star Wars” surname 39 Like “be”: Abbr.

ANSWER M S D A FI E B A C R O B D

R O E T W I S E L A E R AI

S N C A O R R C E P U A R D N

E S T C R Y A T D H E

L T H A O S R A N X

B A UI S G T U R S O T

P A O R U E T A S S M I NI L A A T N R A E E L

40 Figure that shares a property with this puzzle 42 Mercury or Saturn 43 Harmonic singing style 45 Member of the Be Sharps on “The Simpsons” 46 Equestrian’s grip, maybe 47 – 48 Page of music 50 Michelin Man makeup 52 “___ Anything” (“Oliver!” song) 55 Reggae relative 58 Where marmots and chamois live 62 Hearten 66 Composer Antonio 67 Nixon policy 68 Came out 69 –

70 ___ Peres (St. Louis suburb) 71 Work of Alexander Pope

Down 1 Outdoor retail promotion 2 Oodles 3 Feldshuh of “Brewster’s Millions” 4 Disturb a standup routine 5 Malt beverages 6 Nimbus launcher of 1964 7 Number that looks like the letter yogh 8 Step on it 9 Withdraw 10 Carrier overseer, for short 11 “Roméo et Juliette” section 12 Stat starter 13 – 15 Most repellent 20 Type of terrier TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE 24 Express O S T U A C Y R C K A T S E A S O romantic interest RI O D U U S M M E P A Y C R T A R in L N D D N R T A UI N T U O R N S 25 Powerful kind of A V A E D L Y S O T N B L A G T O R P A engine F W I W U 26 “___ Can Cook” CI O T EI R P E P YI O N G (former cooking B T A R L U C E R E R L O A O T E show) E R B E S W E R A EI N A R 28 Critic who s a D E A A U C K F E F E R E T BI Q E O T T real thumbE GI G A M A K N M D S T T O S N O O body?

I C O H W O L W E S N S U E M E 29 Quick expression of K H A G M I N A C L A DI N Y gratitude A C OI R O N N H V E S S OI D R N D OI N G T B D O O P E N E LI T L 31 Caesar dressing?

M E U A S U U S L B M T E R A S E 32 Like ink, A I T Z Y T A S L T L R E A S W T R poetically

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Puzzle by Patrick Blindauer

33 – 34 Graze, in a way 35 Olympic archer 36 Be exultant 40 Uto-Aztecan language 41 Valedictorian’s pride: Abbr.

44 Punster 46 Above the ground

49 Lord and lady 51 Foreign dignitary 53 Muralist Rivera 54 One way to turn right 55 Southwestern rattler 56 Had down 57 Palio di ___ (Italian horse race)

59 Like some clothing 60 “The ___ Game” (1965 Shirley Ellis hit) 61 – 63 Put down, in a way 64 Colts, on a scoreboard 65 Rural env. abbr.

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

Annual subscriptions are available for the best of Sunday crosswords from the last 50 years: 1-888-7-ACROSS. AT&T users: Text NYTX to 386 to download puzzles, or visit nytimes.com/mobilexword for more information.

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

Share tips: nytimes.com/wordplay.

Crosswords for young solvers: nytimes.com/learning/xwords.

37 INDIAN SPRINGS - $152,000.

New construction! Charming 3BR/2BA home w/gas fireplace, breakfast bar, tile backsplash, smooth top cooking surface. Jet tub, stained & scored concrete floors. Deck with view. MLS# 10253103 Linda Roster White Real Estate, 501-730-1100 or 501-6791103

14615 BROWN BEAR DR - $299,900.

Great 4BR/2.5BA, approx. 3015 SF home in the new Don Roberts School District. Plenty of space for the entire family. Formal dining room, office, family room & eat-in kitchen all downstairs.

All bedrooms have large walk-in closets and master bath & closet are huge.

Side-loading garage & fully fenced yard. Call Bob Bushmiaer of Pulaski Heights Realty @ 501-352-0156 for more info or a private showing.

53 WIN MEADOW - $239,900. A little bit of country with all the modern amenities! 4BR/3BA with large kitchen w/oak cabinetry, double pantry, cook’s dream island, breakfast nook with large windows. Across from 55-acre lake. MLS# 10257940 Linda Roster White Real Estate, 501-730-1100 or 501-679-1103

9 LISA COURT - $174,900. This 3BR/2BA approx. 1770 SF, 1-level home in Marlow Manor is super clean & move-in ready! Updates include new HVAC, hardwoods & carpet in bedrooms. Large eat-in kitchen, open family room & fully fenced yard make this a perfect starter home or great for someone looking to downsize. Call Bob Busmiaer of Pulaski Heights Realty @ 501-352-0156 for more info or a private showing.

400 MAXINE - $119,000. 3BR/2BA, 1452 SF all brick home on corner lot w/a fully fenced yard! Heated and cooled craft room/workshop, new roof in 2010. Clyde Butler, CBRPM, 2404300

Maumelle

REAL ESTATE

Sherwood

Sell your homes in by neighborhood

156 SUMMIT VALLEY CIRCLE $279,900. Best floor plan in Maumelle Valley Estates! Master and guest bedroom down. Two additional bedrooms and bonus room up. Kitchen with granite and new appliances. Erin Tripcony, Keller Williams Realty, 766-7700

Great rates for Realtors & FSBO! Call Tiffany at 375-2985 for pricing and availability. www.arktimes.com • november www.arktimes.com • november4,4,2010 2010 37 37

Guess what n If you did the right thing in the election this week, I hope you’ve made a will and got your affairs in order. It’s not lead pipe they’ll be coming for you but I’m just saying.

And it might be short of the actual adios mothereffer. You might just be rounded up and sent to one of these re-education camps, where you’ll learn to think different and better, unlearn all your stubborn wrong opinions, and then they might do the Big Pussy on you anyway, or a mackerel could happen causing them to have mercy and only confiscate everything you’ve got and deport you to God knows where. Rumania probably.

But probably just whack you. It’s easier.

Then they won’t have to think about you further. Won’t have to worry about you coming back and doing unto them. All traces gone that you were ever here, and all your squawking. Once Winston Smithed, you can’t have been ethnically cleansed or final solutioned or gulaged or rescued from error by way of the gibbet because you weren’t ever here for them to git-r-done.

The way this works, people get impatient with the corruption and ineptitude of the other factions, so they let the goons take over, thinking they’ll be easily got rid of soon as they clean house. But the goons don’t know it’s a farce. They don’t know

C

Bob L ancaster they’re being used, played. They’ve got a certified agenda and mean to see it imposed.

And you can’t make an omelette without breaking some eggs. What that means under goon rule is that pretty soon heads have to roll. Only a few exemplary ones at first but more and more of them. Yours included, e pluribus unum. Mine too I reckon. Those of our ilk. More and more ilk heads rolling.

Just because you used a contraceptive one time or listened to NPR. Or knew somebody who did. Something your grandpa did. Something in Exodus.

This happened in more countries than not in the 20th Century. In large countries and small ones, primitive and advanced ones, on four of the seven continents. It went by different names, most of them euphemistic gerunds. (In our case surely it’ll be called refutiating. Our lame attempt to put a jocular face on the beast.) It operated under different slogans, mostly variants of Gen. Sheridan’s “The only good (whatever you are) is a dead (whatever you are).”

Whatever you call it, whatever it calls

S

LASSIFIED LASSIFIED

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Legal Notices UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA SUMMONS IN A CIVIL CASE DON ROSE V. SAMUEL ABRAHAM, ET AL.Case No.: 1:08-CV-00606-AWI-SMS To: Roger Fontaine, Lance Slayton, Alicia Duce, Landmark, Ltd. YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED and required to serve on Leonard Charles Herr, Dooley, Herr and Peltzer & Richardson, Attorneys at Law, LLP, 100 Willow Plaza, Suite 300, Visalia, CA 93291-1351, an answer to the complaint which is served on you with this summons, within 20 days after service of this summons on you, exclusive of the day of service. If you fail to do so, judgment by default will be taken against you for the relief demanded in the complaint. Any answer that you serve on the parties to this action must be filed with the Clerk of this Court within a reasonable period of time after service. Victoria C. Minor, Clerk

Real Estate (AA) Singlewide for sale by owner!

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Won’t Last call 501-407-9526 4, 2010 • ARKANSAS TIMES 38 november 4, 2010 • ArKAnSAS TImeS 38November

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Board Vacancy Board of Commissioners

Central Arkansas Water The Board of Commissioners, Central Arkansas Water (CAW), is seeking letters of interest and resumés from Little Rock residents interested in serving on the Board. CAW is the largest public water supplier in the state of Arkansas and serves the Greater Little Rock-North Little Rock area. The water commissioners have full and complete authority to manage, operate, improve, extend and maintain the water works and distribution system and have full and complete charge of the water plan. The governing board consists of seven members who serve seven-year terms. The Board appointee for the existing vacancy will fulfill the remainder of a seven year term ending June 30, 2015. In accordance with Ark. Code Ann. § 25-20-301, the Board must consist of four residents of Little Rock and three residents of North Little Rock. The current vacancy is for a Little Rock representative.

CAW is committed to diversity and inclusiveness in all areas of our operations and on the CAW Board of Commissioners.

All interested Little Rock residents are encouraged to apply and should submit a letter of interest and resumé no later than 12:00 p.m. (noon) Friday, November 19, 2010 to: Board of Commissioners Central Arkansas Water C/O Becky Wahlgreen, Director of Human Resources P. O. Box 1789 Little Rock, AR 72203 501-377-1357

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Might take them a while to get around to you if you keep it zipped and lie low. They can’t kill everybody. Takes time to get one of these here auto-defays up and running.

And somebody’ll be needed to gloat at, somebody to use in the Two-Minute Hate clips. Some Colmeses to Hannity.

Somebody to wear the fuschia armbands and yaller stars.

But most likely it’ll be promptly and without ceremony that you get refutiated.

Orion might still be walking, your final glimpse after the wee hour knock and ceremonial.

Just remember when they come it’s not personal. Just politics. It’s probably they just got around to your particular elite.

Other eliter elites ahead of you. Or they might be thinking that you’re thinking that you’ve got some kind of entitlement left — maybe that you’re entitled to go on taking up space — and they’re a’gin all entitlements, even for sick old people and hungry children and disabled vets, and that life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness business, and such thinking has to be discouraged.

Has to be refutiated, Meaning heads had to roll. Your ilk’s. Your elite’s. Your turn in the barrel.

One bad thing about being refutiated is you’ll not get to see how the impeachment works out. John Roberts in racing stripes.

If you want to look at the bright side, no chance that post-refutiation you’ll have to pay any death tax.

itself, the same brutish stupidity takes over and here we go.

Remember people saying, OK, it happened there and there but it couldn’t here? Well, guess what. I’s left to cross and T’s to dot but it’s the same old stupid rearing of the same old ugly head — and stopping it, staying it, before it’s wreaked the same old wreakage, you might as well stand with your hand up against an oncoming train.

Prepare to meet thy refutiation.

If you think that’s hyperbole, you don’t know a lot of the people I do. Ask them who they’d kill if they had druthers. They don’t mind telling you. They’re proud to tell you. Ask them who they’d like to see killed. Same deal, just a longer list. And you betcha, your name’s on it. Wrack your brain trying to figure out why. Niceseeming people, too, for the most part. Put their britches on one leg at a time. Can tell a good whopper. Help you fix a flat. But then somebody mentions homos or Rastus in the Saddle or Adam and Eve as baboons and the heads go to rolling again. If only figuratively for the time being.

(That’s why all this cold dead hand claptrap for 50 years, btw. Not afraid they’d be Wacoed or Ruby Ridged, screwed out of their deer just cause of the schoolbus in the firing line yonder, but wanting assurance they’d be able to draw a bead on you-know-who when payback time came.

Last Tuesday.)

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   

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Services will be held Nov. 8th , 2010 at 3 p.m.

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ARKANSAS TIMES IS SEEKING TO FILL THE POSITION OF

ADVERTISING COORDINATOR The perfect person for this position is self-motivated, able to multi-task, has great communication and organizational skills, and enjoys working www.arktimes.com with clients to produce effective WILD print advertising.

ARKANSAS’S WEEKLY NEWSPAPER OF POLITICS AND CULTURE ■ OCTObER 21, 2010

EXPECT THIS SEASON

2010

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FA L L / W I N

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OCTO

WATERFOWL WHAT TO

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Style-s O Matic-

Scenic 7 Survive

Email resume to sheryl@arktimes.com

ements

A search for wha t’s brought the stretch of high way back to life

Clea nn look ew for fa s ll

OIL SPILL THE RED AffecTIDE ts T

INTr Od Br UCINg hAy ITNey “BIg Nes O f BrO Ther ” Everybody’s running against Obama. Even some Dems. But will it work? Ag AINsT

BY GERARD MATTHEWS PAGE 10 The gr Inno AIN: vativ furnitu e designre hALL O AT h weeN Ome AN

PUB LICA TION PrO dUC Ark ed By ANs Adv As TImeThe erT s IsIN deP g ArT meN T

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Things

The Arkansas Times is accepting resumes for a full-time graphic designer.

Must be proficient with Macs and all Adobe software, deadlineoriented and highly organized, with at least four years experience in publication layout, ad design and web design/maintenance.

BA or BFA in Design preferred.

Salary is negotiable depending on skill and experience. Benefits include health, dental, and 401-K. Email resumes in PDF format to sheryl@arktimes.com.

No phone calls please.

Arkansas Times • november 4, 2010 39

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Arkansas Times • 11/4 • 10.5x13.25