Arkansas Times

NEWS + POLITICS + ENTERTAINMENT / DECEMBER 7, 2011 / ARKTIMES.COM

ARTS LOOKING UP Waltons build a museum; Walkers send kids there.

By Leslie Newell Peacock PAGE 14

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ARKANSAS’S SOURCE FOR NEWS, POLITICS & ENTERTAINMENT 201 East Markham Street 200 Heritage Center West P.O. Box 34010, Little Rock, Arkansas 72203 www.arktimes.com arktimes@arktimes.com @ArkTimes www.facebook.com/arkansastimes PUBLISHER Alan Leveritt EDITOR Lindsey Millar SENIOR EDITOR Max Brantley MANAGING EDITOR Leslie Newell Peacock CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Mara Leveritt ASSOCIATE EDITORS Cheree Franco, David Koon, Bob Lancaster, Doug Smith

7

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EDITORIAL

EYE ON ARKANSAS

Banzai Boozman

6 DECEMBER 7, 2011 ARKANSAS TIMES

PAUL BARROWS

“C

lassicide” is not a word, yet, but we’ll need something like it (“economic cleansing”?) if Republicans win their war on the middle class. You can’t expect mercy from a party of John Boozmans.

A one-percent warrior with blood in his eye, Boozman is so opposed to any aid for average Americans that he not only voted against President Obama’s plan to extend a tax cut for them, he voted against a Republican alternative too.

Now understand that Arkansas’s junior senator is devoutly partisan. When he doesn’t do what Mitch McConnell says, it’s for sure he’s in a frenzy. He’ll be attacking middle-class people on the street before long.

Obama wants to help 160 million people by continuing and expanding his 2 percent reduction in the payroll tax that went into effect this year. A typical family’s taxes will go up more than $1,000 next year if the payroll tax reduction is not continued. (The White House has helpfully provided an online calculator so you can determine your own savings.) “Put money back in the pockets of working Americans,” the president says. Impervious to the Christmas spirit, the Senate last week rejected the Obama proposal. Are there not workhouses?

To replace the tax revenue lost by continuing the reduction in the payroll tax, Obama would impose a small additional tax on income of more than $1 million. Protecting millionaires is what Republican senators do. But the leadership fears political retribution if the payroll tax reduction is not extended, so they proposed to continue the reduction and replace the lost tax revenue by firing 10 percent of all federal employees and freezing the pay of the rest. Federal employees are middle-class. The strategy fits.

That plan was rejected by the Senate too. As we said, Boozman voted against both. He seems to have drawn a line in the sand. Nothing that would benefit the middle class gets past him.

Part of the reason the Senate defeated Obama’s plan — part of the reason the Senate can’t get much of anything done these days — is that the body doesn’t operate under the principle of majority rule anymore. Until recent years, most legislation required only a simple majority for approval.

The Republicans now insist on virtually universal application of a Senate rule that allows them to require an extraordinary majority of 60 votes by threatening a filibuster. This is the same rule — not a constitutional provision — that allowed Southern Democrats and conservative Republicans to block civil rights legislation for years. But it was little used otherwise, and most work got done.

Now, extremists like Boozman are at the wheel, and middle-class, middle-of-the-road Americans are at risk.

LET THERE BE LIGHT: The Christmas lighting ceremony at the state capitol was Saturday. Paul Barrows submitted this photo to our Eye On Arkansas Flickr group.

The lucky sperm club

T

he New York Times carried a glowing profile Sunday about Chelsea Clinton’s decision to step fully from the shadows and seek a public life.

She’s joined a corporate board, gotten a job as a correspondent for NBC and has her pick of gatherings of the mighty or simply important just about anywhere on the globe.

Reactions tended to fall along partisan lines. Fans of Bill and/or Hillary Clinton were happy for their 31-yearold daughter. Non-fans weren’t impressed. She’d done nothing to deserve her good fortune except choose good parents, they said. The really ugly ones criticized everything from her hairstyle to her speech.

I’m not impartial on the subject. I’ve known Chelsea since she was an infant, though most of my exposure came before her move to Washington in junior high.

She’s remained friendly with my daughter and has been good to her. That’s enough for me.

But Chelsea is smart and poised. She’s worked hard at demanding schools and jobs. Would she be precisely where she is today without her famous parents? Of course not. She hasn’t claimed otherwise. (I do like how often she credits her Grandmother Rodham for sage advice.)

But she now has made the important decision to accept inheritance of her parents’ considerable public franchise. If nothing else, her growth in the larger public world might position her to someday take leadership of the Clinton Foundation. If she’s lucky — if we’re all lucky — she will continue to amass the resources her father has raised for fighting significant global problems. If she should decide to try politics, she’s been homeschooled by the best and brightest.

Make no mistake. Chelsea Clinton is a one percenter, if not precisely in the net worth category, close enough.

She is also, if you prefer, a lucky sperm club member. But

she manages to send a signal that she understands how much of her stature is owed to her parents.

She signals a generosity of spirit about her good fortune that is more reminiscent of a Buffett MAX than a Koch.

BRANTLEY We will always have the maxbrantley@arktimes.com 1 percent. There’s nothing inherently evil about being in that small number. The question is how much the 1 percent is willing to allow the 99 percent to share. And how much they understand on their sometimes inherited perches that it takes more than a non-union school teacher or sweat of manual toil to overcome childhood deprivation.

You need not be wealthy to be a lucky sperm. I’ve been awfully lucky. Grandparents on both sides went to college or professional (nursing) schools, despite roots as descendants of pea patch farmers, mule skinners and German immigrants. My parents were both college graduates, one thanks to night-shift work in a Boeing factory, the other thanks to the G.I. bill.

My mother worked, but she also helped start a preschool program with a trained teacher for children of working parents. We had shelves full of books. College wasn’t a question of if, but which.

My dad, a salesman, got some pleasure out of measuring his success by the size of his commission checks. But he knew life held other satisfactions — family, travel, history, the life stories of any and all he encountered. He also shared my love for newspapers.

He had no complaint when I bypassed his business for a job in a field not known for its riches.

What a lucky sperm I was. Inheritances are measured by more than checking accounts.

OPINION

Fable becomes history

A

mericans are losing their grip on reality because it’s become too hard to distinguish between propaganda and fact and between fable and history.

That is true because one of the two great political parties has a single unified theory about what has happened to the country the past three decades and is happening now, and that story is propelled by every officeholder, candidate or party leader and amplified by the biggest media, headed by the Murdoch empire. That, as you know, is the Republican Party.

The Democratic message is weak and fractured, the lone audible voice being that of President Obama, who was deeply unpopular across a huge swath of the country because of his race and heritage and now has lost credibility with much of the rest of the country because he said he would get us out of the economic mess the Bush administration created and he hasn’t.

Here is the official Republican worldview, shared by a sizable part of the electorate: Ronald Reagan brought a revolution in U.S. politics and government.

He took a meat axe to government and cut it down to size, slashed taxes and spending and instantly created a robust economy. Democrats returned to power and reversed all those trends, and now they’re trying to undo it all again after the superb Republican hiatus of the last decade. They are engorging government, running up mammoth deficits, raising

taxes and driving the economy into the ground.

Little of that has much to do with reality, but ERNEST in times past there DUMAS was an occasional Republican truth-teller who shattered the propaganda and dispelled the myths. If he was strategically placed, he could make a big difference. Today, there’s not one.

If you’re middle-aged, you remember David Stockman. He was the cerebral conservative congressman and supplyside economist who became Reagan’s budget director and brain trust. He spearheaded the effort in 1981 that slightly reduced domestic budget growth and cut income taxes, mainly for the rich.

That winter he gave a series of interviews to William Greider, who published a mammoth article in The Atlantic Monthly, then headed by the legendary editor William Whitworth of Little Rock. The article, titled “The Education of David Stockman,” was a bombshell. Stockman said the big tax act, which cut nearly everyone’s taxes a little bit, was a Trojan horse to get what they really wanted, much lower taxes on the very rich. The popular theory, which they called “supply-side economics,” was that if you cut the taxes of job creators, the economy would take off and create millions of jobs, the government would

take in more money, not less, and the budget would be quickly balanced.

In The Atlantic interview, however, Stockman revealed that he, the president and his advisers had no clue about what they were doing.

“None of us really knows what’s going on with all these numbers,” he said famously. He had thought Reagan would really cut spending, but he actually increased it sizably with ballooning military expenditures. Far from eliminating deficits, the tax cuts instantly tripled them.

And, to Reagan’s credit, he set about to try to set things right. In the next six years he raised taxes far more than any president since Franklin D. Roosevelt in World War II and the deficits began to recede slightly in his final years.

As for shrinking government, that had to wait for Democrats, Bill Clinton and Al Gore, who actually reversed the trend of Reagan and Bush I by slimming the federal government by 365,000 employees, running four years of budget surpluses and creating 22 million jobs.

George W. Bush had his truth teller, too. His treasury secretary, Paul O’Neill, a conservative industrialist and chairman of the Rand Corp., was fired when he did not tell the president and vice president what they wanted to hear — that their tax cuts for the rich and corporations would keep the budget balanced and ignite the economy and that the invasion of Iraq was necessary and wise.

O’Neill predicted the budget surplus they inherited from the Democrats would turn into deficits exceeding $500 billion

a year (Bush’s last budget deficit actually exceeded $1.4 trillion). Worse, in his memoir with Ron Suskind, he painted a picture of a president who paid little attention to the policies of government, demonstrated little curiosity and took his guidance from Vice President Cheney.

When Cheney insisted in a cabinet meeting that rich people’s taxes needed to be cut even more than in the 2001 act, Bush said he thought they had taken care of their rich friends in 2001 and, besides, shouldn’t they be worried about the rising deficit? “Deficits don’t matter,” Cheney replied.

Amid all the propaganda, people did get a small dose of reality.

No more, unless you count the faint but still oracular voice of the aging boy wonder, David Stockman.

The Republican insistence that Congress extend the Bush tax cuts on high incomes and their declarations about abolishing the deficit by cutting government spending, he said recently, are “rank demagoguery.”

“If these people were all put into a room on penalty of death to come up with how much they could cut, they couldn’t come up with $50 billion, when the problem is $1.3 trillion. So, to stand before the public and rub raw this antitax sentiment, the Republican Party, as much as it pains me to say it, should be ashamed of themselves.”

It would be refreshing, and hopeful, if even one of the Republican presidential candidates, one member of Congress or one candidate for any office would be so honest. Just one.

MEDIA

Future feels fine

I

read a lot of news media prognostication. So I’m well versed in the doomsday scenarios that imagine print’s imminent death; that predict an ever-escalating contraction of whatever you call newspapers once print is dead; that tell me, in so many words, that I’ve made a bad career choice. Nonetheless, I’m hopeful.

Why? Because this is an old story with new details. The industry has faced existential crises every decade or so since the emergence of the radio. Technology, culture and business are always changing.

Those who’ve survived such changes abide by a maxim that’s arguably never had more relevance: innovate or die.

Lucky for people like me, it’s never been easier to report in new ways. The video camera in my phone shoots in full HD. A $50 microphone and the recording software that comes for free on my Mac are enough to record and edit audio. Free to

inexpensive tools now allow me to host, mine and visualize massive troves of data in ways that would LINDSEY have been cost and MILLAR time prohibitive lindseymillar@arktimes.com just a few years ago. And all those are relatively old tools.

To get a sense of the future, I love trolling through projects funded by or affiliated with the Knight Foundation, the most prominent source of funding for journalism innovation.

One of my favorite recent projects comes from Dan Schultz, a KnightMozilla New Technology Fellow and graduate student at the MIT Media Lab. It’s automatic fact-checking software he calls “truth goggles.” Say you’re reading a political blog and come across Newt Gingrich’s recent assertion that even

millionaires can qualify for food stamps.

Schultz’s truth goggles would highlight that claim, point out that it’s false and perhaps offer users an opportunity to learn about some of Gingrich’s other false statements. It works by using natural language processing (the method by which computing tools like Siri on the new iPhone interact with humans) in conjunction with the St. Petersburg Times’ Pulitzer Prizewinning fact-checker PolitiFact. As Nieman Journalism Labs suggested, the tool could also end up serving as a sort of spellcheck for facts for journalists.

Most of the recent winners of the annual Knight News Challenge, which provides start-up funding to technologyrelated media ideas, share the same motivation behind Schultz’s software — they aim to make newsgathering easier and the reader experience fuller. For instance, one of the 2011 Knight winners collects user-generated content from social media during significant news events and shares it in what it calls an

“easy-to-browse” interface. One provides a platform for journalists to reach rural communities without broadband through text messages. Another offers a platform for easily searching state code, court decisions and legislation.

Every couple of weeks, I hear senior editor Max Brantley, who’s worked at the Times for 20 years and in journalism for nearly 40, cursing with amazement at the speed and ease with which he’s able to, say, augment multimedia to a story and send it out on our website and through all our social network channels. Max has been around long enough to remember hot type. He’s seen an evolution in the industry that must feel like going from the Model A to the Prius (I kid, sort of). He’s managed to develop a following because he’s a dogged reporter who’s been willing to embrace new tools. That’s a good prescription for journalistic success in the future, I think, with maybe one addendum for young, enterprising would-be journalists — learn to code. www.arktimes.com DECEMBER 7, 2011 7

PEARLS ABOUT SWINE

Hogs’ best and worst

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ith the regular season now in the rear view for Arkansas, this week’s Pearls is about living in the recent past. Grant me this one chance to do the canned “season in retrospect” routine, and I shall reward thee with sporadically amusing observations and possibly one more potshot at the deposed Ole Miss coach!

BEST OFFENSIVE PLAYER: From year to year, so long as Bobby Petrino remains head coach, this will be an accolade flush with candidates. For this columnist, though, the selection of Jarius Wright comes without hesitation. Wright was absent from the Troy game due to injury, and the Hogs accordingly floundered in the second half of what should have been a rout. It was his record-setting effort against Texas A&M that rescued this team for good, his clutch scoring grab against Vandy that settled the Hogs by halftime and his long TD catch against South Carolina that turned that game permanently. The senior from Warren is a viable NFL talent for three reasons: blazing speed, precise routes, and a devil-may-care willingness to endanger his modest frame as a crossing receiver and run blocker.

BEST DEFENSIVE PLAYER: Harder call, to be sure, and this may draw a few barbs, but nobody was more quietly efficient than Eric Bennett. The sophomore from Oklahoma was the lone genuinely consistent element in the secondary, a reliable tackler who emerged as reliable in coverage as well as run support. His three interceptions were second on the team, two of them being decisive, moodaltering plays in unsteady wins against Ole Miss and Vanderbilt. Apologies to seniors Jerry Franklin and Jake Bequette, both of whom had princely moments throughout the year, but Bennett was an unexpected anchor in a particularly maligned backfield.

BEST SPECIAL TEAMER: Joe Adams muffed a couple of punts. I’m not holding that against him, nor do thousands of YouTube commenters, all of whom are erudite and eloquent, natch.

BEST MOMENT: It would accordingly be illogical to deny Adams’ instantly legendary return against Tennessee this nod, but when Broderick Green, thought to be lost for the year, came back against Texas A&M and punctuated a rousing comeback with a short TD run, it gave both the player and the team sweet redemption.

WORST MOMENT: Off the field, no question that Garrett Uekman’s passing applied harsh brakes to the Hogs’ November surge; on the field, Ole Miss’ late recovery of an onside kick, largely enabled by the hands team standing in admiration

of the fluttering oblong ball, had the conference’s historically inept bottom-feeders envisioning an BEAU upset until Bennett WILCOX snatched away Randall Mackey’s final heave.

BEST GAME: All facets clicked in the Razorbacks’ 44-17 dismantling of Mississippi State in the prelude to the ill-fated LSU contest. But for an early Tyler Wilson fumble and a throwaway score at the end, Arkansas so thoroughly embarrassed the Bulldogs that Dan Mullen called it the worst game his team has played in his three years as MSU’s leadvisor-overseeing-bad-quarterbacks.

WORST GAME: It is all too tempting to cite the Ole Miss debacle here, but a win is a win, even if achieved at the expense of the coaching fraternity’s version of Lewis Skolnick and the rest of the TriLambs. The worst game, rather, was the 38-14 loss to Alabama, which had all the earmarks of a common collapse, namely a rare mental lapse by Petrino when he failed to call timeout early on a fake field goal alignment and some woeful tackling on Marquis Maze’s long punt return. The entire game film should have been produced by Irwin Allen.

BEST NUMBERS: Dennis Johnson averaged an astonishing 9.6 yards per touch this year and over 130 all-purpose yards per contest; Wilson’s 22-6 touchdownto-interception ratio is a close second, and combined with Ryan Mallett’s final stats the prior two seasons, Arkansas starting quarterbacks have chucked 84 TDs while throwing only 25 picks since 2009.

WORST NUMBERS: The Hogs amassed only 64 yards rushing total in their two losses, and had only 49 minutes of aggregate possession time against LSU and Alabama. To tip this present balance of power in the SEC, Arkansas must exercise dominion over the clock. This will, in turn, cause helpless and frazzled wives of opposing coordinators to wax unhinged on weekly religious programs.

BEST-CASE SCENARIO: First 11-win season and year-end Top 5 ranking since 1977-78. Recruits come from far and wide to immerse themselves in the rebirth.

John Daly hangs out on the sideline more.

Concession stands at Reynolds Razorback Stadium begin offering beef tenderloin and lump crab cocktail. Jim Robken comes back to lead the band. Tusk will be allowed to run loose on the field and will make out with a female sideline reporter...

You know, I’m getting ahead of myself.

Robken ain’t coming back.

holiday Reception

Saturday, December 10, 2011 6-9pm musical guests slim christmas & yuletide carol

For additional information please contact the Division of Youth Services at 501-682-8654.

5815 Kavanaugh Blvd • little RocK, aR 72207 (501) 664.0030 www.BoswellmouRot.com Cearley We Like What We Do Ad 1/4page ArkTimes:Layout 1 10/17/11

2nd Annual Little Rock JingLe MingLe

December 23rd, 2011 Have you been looking for a reason and a season to get dressed and enjoy a night on the town? Look no more!

Friday, December 23rd is the night that you’ve been waiting for. The season is all about giving, so our gift to you is free admission all night to the 2nd Annual Jingle Mingle. All we require is that you bring at least four canned goods to donate to the Little Rock Compassion Center. By bringing canned goods, you’ll receive free admission and half off your first cocktail!

Lulav Modern Eatery 220 W 6th St • Little Rock Fri | 12.23.11 | 9pm – until

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Cocktail Attire (gentlemen must wear a blazer) DJ T-Flo will entertain the evening through the art of music.

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4:41 P

W O RDS

Blues in the Heights TTT

Nutcracker featuring the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra

Somebody wrote in the paper the other day about the blue-stocking neighborhoods of the Heights and Hillcrest. I think they meant silk-stocking. — Ann O’Nimity Ann is probably right. The adjective silk-stocking means “aristocratic or wealthy.” But maybe, just maybe, the writer had something else in mind. A bluestocking is “a woman with considerable scholarly, literary or intellectual ability or interest.”

Many bluestockings live in the Heights and Hillcrest; they’re particularly thick around Wordsworth book store. Several Arkansas Times staffers reside in these two neighborhoods and their stockings are vividly blue, as far up as one can see.

I’m sort of an honorary bluestocking myself. I somehow got on the mailing list for a book catalog called “Bas Bleu,” which is French for “Blue Stocking.” Somebody must have tipped them that I’m a Jane Austen fan. (Though not enough to buy any of those books where a fictional Jane Austen catches murderers.)

The Bas Bleu website says that “In about 1750, Mrs. Elizabeth Montagu (later called ‘the Queen of the Blues’) and her friends founded the first official bluestocking society in England.” I didn’t know that. I did know that in the 1920s

and ’30s, Bessie Smith was called “the Empress of the Blues.” She was the Jane Austen of her field.

DOUG SMITH

A reader who dougsmith@arktimes.com identifies himself as “a swamper at the Wye Mountain Branch of the Internationally Famous Rasputin Mule Farm” writes concerning our discussion of mule skinner: “The term ‘mule skinner’ was used by those who worked with the 20-mule teams that hauled borax out of Death Valley in the late 1800s. I do not know if the term originated with them. I do know that it’s figurative. Those who drove these 20-mule teams would crack a whip over the backs of the mules to get them going, and keep them going, but they never intentionally hit the mules with the whips. Despite tales to the contrary, a mule will not tolerate pain and mistreatment. A mule that is mistreated will invariably become a dangerous renegade. I have seen perfectly good, gentle mules turned into dangerous animals by mistreatment.”

Much the same happens with newspaper columnists.

WEEK THAT WAS

It was a good week for…

ICE CREAM FANS. Schulze and Burch Biscuit Co., out of Chicago, purchased all important Yarnell’s ice cream assets during an auction. The company said it hopes to bring Yarnell’s back into production.

RISING THE FOOTBALL COACH LADDER. After winning 10 games in his first year, head coach Hugh Freeze left Arkansas State for a $1.5 million guaranteed salary to serve in the same capacity at Ole Miss. Meanwhile, former University of Arkansas offensive coordinator Garrick McGee agreed to become head coach at the University of Alabama Birmingham, where he’s likely to make at least $425,000.

HIGH-TECH GAMBLING. Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs announced that when racing season begins Jan. 13 people with smart phones will be able to wager on their smart phones.

HOG CENSORSHIP. UA Athletic Director Jeff Long said he complained to the SEC because CBS replayed Bobby Petrino’s cursing of Les Miles during the LSU game.

10 DECEMBER 7, 2011 ARKANSAS TIMES

It was a bad week for…

STATE CONTROL. Because of opposition from Arkansas Republicans on anything having to do with the Affordable Care Act, the federal government will run Arkansas’s health insurance exchanges should the legislation not be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.

According to Insurance Commissioner Jay Bradford, the move could cost the state millions depending on how the program works.

FLEEING FROM THE COURTROOM. Pulaski County Circuit Judge Barry Sims came to the aid of a bailiff who was trying to subdue an inmate attempting escape by bopping the inmate on the head with his gavel.

WORKING ARKANSANS. Sen. John “Dr. No” Boozman not only voted against President Obama’s plan to extend the payroll tax cut, he voted against a Republican alternative as well.

THE OBSERVER NOTES ON THE PASSING SCENE

A different slant THE OBSERVER HAS ONLY FOND MEMORIES of Huttig, Ark., a tiny sawmill town near the Louisiana border in Union County. His beloved Aunt Luna lived there and The Observer visited frequently. She had a porch swing, a henhouse in which The Observer could gather eggs (careful not to grab the wooden decoys meant for snakes) and a stove that was always cooking something, most memorably Sunday fried chicken and sliced bread browned under the broiler to slather with mayhaw jelly made from berries gathered in the nearby Ouachita bottoms.

Others’ memories aren’t so pleasant. One night last week, The Observer joined a capacity crowd at UALR’s Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall for a showing of Sharon La Cruise’s “Daisy Bates: The First Lady of Little Rock,” a documentary on the NAACP leader who was the adult face of the 1957 desegregation of Central High School. It will air in February on PBS. Bates was born in Huttig. As the film detailed, her life was no vacation idyll.

Her mother was raped by white men and killed. No arrests were made. Her father immediately skipped town and never acknowledged his daughter. Her stepfather, the film recounted, tearfully said he could do nothing about racial hatred young Daisy had encountered at the meat counter of a local grocery (could it have been my Uncle Vasco’s?). A traveling salesman, L.C. Bates, offered a way out to the teen-aged school dropout and she took it.

The rest is a still-developing history, particularly as we learn more about tensions between Bates and the Little Rock Nine.

The same day the film was screened, readers of the Arkansas Times were delivered a reminder of the saying that the past is not only never dead, it is never even past.

“Trouble in Huttig,” read the headline on David Koon’s article. Since the election of the little town’s first black mayor, he’s received threatening letters and KKKthemed graffiti has been sprayed around town.

If only The Observer’s own private Huttig was more emblematic of the town.

History tells, and continues to build, another story.

THE OBSERVER DECIDED THIS YEAR to

do the majority of our Christmas gift-

giving either by buying local or making our own self, so we had no intentions of joining the harried crowds on Black Friday, fighting over My Little Ponies and HDTVs. Unfortunately, when breakfast rolled around the Friday after Thanksgiving, we realized we were out of eggs.

We reluctantly put on our good-enoughfor-Wal-Mart sweatpants and tossed the debit card in a bag. In and out, that was the plan. It was only 8:20 a.m., how bad could it possibly be? Oh, how naïve your Observer was. The parking lot looked like Shakedown Street at a Grateful Dead show. Cars were paying no attention to the designated parking spaces; we saw an Escalade perched on a grassy median like it’d been declared king of the hill. The parking lot was not an option, so we had to settle for being one of about a hundred who had just given up and parked in an adjacent business’ lot. Hoping to just run in and grab a carton of eggs, we were not prepared for the horrors that awaited us inside those cheerfully decorated automated doors. Almost everyone was in pajamas, for one, with hair uncombed and eyes glazed from list-making. We were not a pretty group. Children were running amok, as they are wont to do in the face of ten thousand shiny toys, and parents were screaming. Wishing we had a set of football pads and a helmet, The Observer weaved our way past one display after another of things that we’re just not sure that anybody needs, but apparently everybody wanted. Instead of the beeline we were hoping to make to the back of the store, where they cleverly stock the essentials like dairy, we were tossed into a shopping mosh pit. Sure, there was no crowd surfing, but bikes were being passed overhead from one consumer to the next. We had to stop a few times and sneak a few photos with the phone.

The site peopleofwalmart.com exists for a reason. While it was tempting to snag some deals for myself, we managed to stick to the plan for local and handmade holiday gifts this season. We may regret not getting $15 off that WiiFit, but in the long run, the warm fuzzies we’ll feel when we see the loved ones’ faces light up over something we made with a skein of yarn and a little metal hook will override any discount that was to be had that day.

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www.arktimes.com DECEMBER 7, 2011 11

Arkansas Reporter

THE

IN S IDE R

Attorney General Dustin McDaniel stirred a little excitement at last weekend’s Arkansas Democratic Party convention by promising that news would be coming soon about a candidate to challenge Republican U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin for the 2nd District seat.

Strongest bet continues to be Democratic Party Chair Will Bond, a former state representative from Jacksonville and lawyer. So far, though, he’s mum. Candidates must file by March. If there’s no contested primary, a candidate has plenty of time to prepare for a November election contest, but Griffin has long been at work raising money.

A strong challenge, preferably a defeat, of Griffin is desirable to Democrats because of the widespread belief that he’ll use reelection as a platform to challenge U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor in 2014.

And speaking of Senate: Some still hope retired Gen. Wesley Clark could be encouraged to run for the 2nd District seat. The long view is that he could serve two terms, then face Republican Sen. John Boozman in 2016.

New WM3 doc With the release of Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin last August, it’s pretty much a lock that the “Paradise Lost” trilogy of films — the documentaries about the West Memphis Three case by filmmakers Bruce Sinofsky and Joe Berlinger — are front and center any time anyone wants to talk about the real-world power of documentary film. Now Echols, his wife, Lorri Davis, and filmmakers Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh want to give their own take on the WM3 story, and possibly help clear the names of the accused, with a new doc called “West of Memphis.” The film, which was recently completed under the umbrella of Jackson’s Wingnut Films, is produced by Echols and Davis, with Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Amy Berg in the director’s chair.

A press release said “West of Memphis” has been in the works since 2008, and promises new interviews and information in the case, including evidence pointing to new suspects. Jackson and Walsh, creators of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, became involved with supporters of the WM3 in 2005, and have spent years quietly bankrolling the search for new CONTINUED ON PAGE 13 12 DECEMBER 7, 2011 ARKANSAS TIMES

CHEREE FRANCO

2nd district candidates

AVONDALE APARTMENTS: High-crime area.

Off-campus crime Another Arkansas Baptist student shot at apartments.

BY CHEREE FRANCO

O

n Nov. 11, Arkansas Baptist College student Shaderio Logan,19, was shot as two intruders tried to break into the housing the college provides for him at Avondale Apartments on Reservoir Road. Logan survived the shooting, but just days earlier, another student at Avondale, Kylaus Williams, 22, was fatally shot, his body dumped in a driveway in the North Little Rock neighborhood of Rixie. Williams was the student body’s second homicide victim in six months.

According to Little Rock police spokesman Lt. Terry Hastings, the shootings are not connected. “I suspect they’re drug or robbery related. Drugs are a big part of our problem at those apartments,” he said. The Logan case is still under investigation. Lt. Carl Minden with the Pulaski County sheriff’s office confirmed that the Williams case is drug related and that three men were arrested in Arizona in connection with the homicide.

According to Hastings, the LRPD filed 96 incident reports from the complex in 2010. Thus far in 2011, there have been 169 reports filed. Hastings acknowledged

that this is an extraordinary ratio for 206 units.

“I’ve lived here for a year,” said Marquette Govan, 20, an Arkansas Baptist sophomore studying criminal justice. “I don’t feel safe at all. There’s supposed to be security at night, but he just sits right there in his little truck and doesn’t move.” She indicated the area in front of her building. Actually, two guards patrol the complex at night. Avondale has its own courtesy officer, and Arkansas Baptist employs additional private security.

Govan is one of 73 Arkansas Baptist students occupying 30 apartments at Avondale. Arkansas Baptist students living at Avondale have been victims of break-ins, burglaries and automobile vandalism. But Govan’s friend LaPorsha Meanus, a 21-year-old education major at Arkansas Baptist, thinks the students are also perpetrators. “When I’ve been out here, I’ve seen fights started by students,” she said.

When Dr. Fitz Hill became president of Arkansas Baptist in 2007, his mission was to recruit more students — particularly those who “wouldn’t have

a chance at traditional schools,” according to director of communications, Terri Clark. Hill introduced a football program that helped enrollment jump from about 179 to its current 1,193.

With the 2010 addition of a men’s 192bed residence hall, the college can house 343 students on-campus. A new woman’s residence hall is expected to open in fall 2012. Arkansas Baptist’s goal is to house all students on campus, but for now, it’s had to explore other options.

In 2009 and 2010, Arkansas Baptist housed its overflow at Coleman Place, a 132-unit, gated complex near the University of Arkansas Little Rock. Coleman Place caters to students. It rents by the room, employs nightly security and invites both students and parents to on-site social mixers. Arkansas Baptist’s arrangement with Coleman was similar to its current deal with Avondale. Students paid the school, which leased the apartments under its name.

“I think they kicked us out of Coleman Place, which is why we’re here,” said Govan. A manager at Coleman Place refused to discuss why Arkansas Baptist students are no longer housed in the complex. Gourjoine Wade, director of housing for Arkansas Baptist, said the move was a mutual decision, based on both “maintenance and disciplinary issues.”

CONTINUED ON PAGE 19

LISTEN UP

THE

BIG PICTURE

FIND FINE ART

Y

ou might think from all the hullabaloo that Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, which opened Nov. 11 in Bentonville, is the only place to see fine art in Arkansas. Happily, that is not the case. You can soak up culture all over Arkansas; here’s a selection of what you’ll find in the collections of other art centers, both public and university.

J.W. Wiggins Native American Art Collection

Sequoyah Center University of Arkansas at Little Rock Former UALR professor J.W. Wiggins has spent decades collecting contemporary Native American art, including Mesoamerican, Canadian, Oklahoma and Northern Plains, Inuit and other works. The collection is significant both in the artists represented (its collection of works by Luke Anguhadluq is the largest outside Canada) and in size, with more than 2,300 pieces. The Sequoyah National Research Center also includes works from the Ronald Anderson collection, the Barry Lindley collection of Inuit works and the Mike and Jody Wahlig Collection of Plains Indian works.

Mateo Romero Cochiti Pueblo “Arrow Dancers” 2009 Acrylic on board

Arkansas State University

Arkansas Arts Center

The Arts Center permanent collection has focused on works in all media — pencil, paint, watercolor, pastel, charcoal — on paper.

Most of the work is American work by such masters as Georgia O’Keeffe, Robert Motherwell, Claes Oldenburg and Richard Diebenkorn (see picture); a Willem deKooning in the collection is on Richard Diebenkorn exhibit now at the “Untitled, The Ocean Park Museum of Modern Series” 1972 Art in New York. gouache on paper Its contemporary craft collection is unparalleled in Arkansas, as a recent gift of 22 pieces by Toshiko Takaezu attests to. The works on paper includes old masters as well, with the earliest drawing dating to the 16th century, and French impressionists. There are more than 20,000 objects in the Arts Center’s collection, including 2,800 glass negatives made by Disfarmer.

Arts and Science Center for Southeast Arkansas

Pine Bluff The Arts and Science Center’s permanent collection has an African American focus, featuring work by national artists such as Jacob Lawrence and Palmer C. Hayden in its John Miller Howard collection.

Jonesboro Printmaking is the focus of the collection of Arkansas State University, which includes the Stephens Collection (American masters including Rauschenberg, Marisol and Judd) and the Erwin Collection (largely French, including Cezanne, Dali, Henri Matisse Matisse, Rouald), along Grand Tetê de Katia, 1950 with purchases from the Lithograph on paper annual “Delta National Gift of Claude M. Erwin, Small Prints” exhibition.

Dallas, Texas One of the school’s recent acquisitions, work by photorealist Audrey Flack, will be exhibited in spring.

University of Arkansas at Little Rock

UALR collecting has focused on artists’ multiples, including the recent purchase of the 17-year portfolio of serigraphs produced as part of the Serie Project of Austin, Texas, founded by Sam Coronado.

The university hopes to restore its mural by social realist Joe Jones, created for Commonwealth College in 1935; a portion was restored by the St. Louis Museum.

Ester Hernandez San Francisco “Sun Raid” Screenprint

Central Arkansas Library System

Palmer C. Hayden Untitled (“Dancers”) Watercolor

While you may not think fine art when you think library, CALS has a permanent collection sampling work by a wide range of Arkansas’s premier artists, including Elsie and Louis Freund; Josephine Graham, Nicholas, Adrien and Edwin Brewer. It also holds works on paper by Japanese American internees at Rohwer.

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

Available on iTunes & arktimes.com

INSIDER, CONT. evidence to exonerate the three men, including hiring private detectives and renting out a house once occupied by the family of one of the three murdered boys so their investigators could dig up a filled-in swimming pool and sift the dirt for potential clues.

Berg hopes her film can have an impact in the case. “This film represents the trial these men didn’t have,” Berg said. “With the support of Damien and Lorri, along with unprecedented access to those closest to the case, we were able to make a film that shows the inner workings of the defense — the investigation, research, and appeals process, in a way that has never been shown before. This film began as a study about innocence; but I feel it goes beyond that now — it asks the question, what value do we, as a society, place on the truth?”

“West of Memphis” is currently seeking a distributor and has no firm release date, but you can bet it will play big in Arkansas.

Making cyber merchants pay Cyber Monday, online retailers’ response the Monday after Thanksgiving to Black Friday, is getting more attention, and local retailers and state and local governments don’t like it. Online retailers can charge lower prices, and because they don’t collect sales taxes, governments don’t get the same tax revenue from cyber sales that they do from local sales.

A change in federal law would be required to make all online sellers collect taxes uniformly in all the states. A bill to make such a change is before Congress, but there is strong opposition.

“Arkansas will lose an estimated $113 million in sales tax revenue this year on Internet purchases and lose more from untaxed catalog, phone and other ‘remote sales,’ ” the nonprofit group Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families said in a recent report. It can collect new revenues: • Tax digital downloads, such as music, videos, games and books, that are purchased from online services in the same way that comparable items, such as compact discs purchased at local stores, are taxed.

• Encourage individual taxpayers to self-remit the taxes they owe for on-line purchases by providing a line on the state income tax form.

• Provide that government contracts with the state can go only to companies that agree to charge sales taxes on all sales in the state. www.arktimes.com DECEMBER 7, 2011 13

art philanthropy The

of

Waltons’ mastery builds a museum.

BY LESLIE NEWELL PEACOCK

T

he year’s top philanthropic gesture was historic: The Walton Family Foundation gave $1.2 billion to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, founded by Alice Walton.

The gift, made in 2010 but announced just before the Nov. 11 opening of the museum, was exceptional both in amount and as a gift to the arts, an area of need more neglected than celebrated. The gift will pay for art acquisition, conservation and museum operations.

Spinning off from the museum gift was another $20 million by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Foundation to cover admission costs, to be paid over five years; $10 million by the Willard and Pat Walker Foundation to

14 DECEMBER 7, 2011 ARKANSAS TIMES

fund a school visit program, to be paid over 10 years; and $1 million from the Jack and Melba Shewmaker family for educational programs at the museum.

Perhaps as a reflection of an economy inching its way up from the recession of 2009, family foundation assets and giving were up slightly in 2010 over 2009. Grants made by Arkansas’s top 14 family foundations (those with assets of $30 million or more) alone, not counting the $1.2 billion Walton gift, totaled more than $111 million in 2010, according to tax documents. (The Foundation Center, reporting on all 290 foundations in Arkansas in 2009, including independent, corporate and community, arrived at a figure of $666 million.)

CONTINUED ON PAGE 16

ERIC GORDER

WALKER FOUNDATION DIRECTOR: Debbie Walker is working to continue the goals of the founders, Willard and Pat Walker.

Busing to Crystal Bridges Walker gift to send students to the museum.

BY LESLIE NEWELL PEACOCK

E

ver since Alice Walton first began talking about her plan to build Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, she has said that one of her primary objectives was to expose the children of Arkansas to art. When she was a girl, her mother, Helen Walton, had to take her to Tulsa to see art. A section of the new billion-dollar-plus museum is devoted to studio space for classes.

Education has long been a mission of the Willard and Pat Walker Charitable Foundation. So it seemed like a “perfect fit,” director and former daughterin-law Debbie Walker said, for the foundation to support the museum with a $10 million donation, over 10 years, to create the Willard and Pat Walker School Visit Program, which will eliminate financial barriers to student visits. The program will pay for

buses and bus drivers and materials and lunches and even the substitute teachers schools will need to hire to free up the teachers accompanying the students.

Sandy Edwards, deputy director at Crystal Bridges, said the museum had planned to launch the Walker School Visit Program in late spring, but there’s been such demand that it’s been moved up to March. Students — any public and private school may apply — will send out two tours of 60 students each at 9 a.m. and 10 a.m., before the museum opens to the public. They’ll spend time with the permanent collection, lunch and then head to the Experience Art studio. Some 7,200 students should be able to visit in 2012. When the program is fully endowed, it should serve 24,000 children a year.

“We realize the arts are getting the short end of the stick,” Debbie Walker said, and called the dona-

tion a wonderful opportunity for the foundation to support the Walton gift.

Willard Walker was the manager of Sam Walton’s first five and dime in Fayetteville and became a major stockholder in the company. The foundation the Walkers created with their holdings is now worth around $42 million.

In the early years of their giving, the Walkers didn’t talk much about their philanthropy. Before she became director, Debbie Walker sometimes learned about a gift for the first time from a newspaper article.

One of the couple’s early first gifts was $5 million to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences for the Arkansas Cancer Research Center, Debbie Walker said. Willard Walker wanted to give CONTINUED ON PAGE 17

www.arktimes.com DECEMBER 7, 2011 15

PHILANTHROPY

Smith Endowed Dean of Business and the Stephen Harrow Smith Seminar Room in the Donald W. Reynolds Center for Business and Economic Development.

The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation gave $806,100 to the Arkansas Economic Acceleration Foundation, in partial fulfillment of a $1.8 million grant authorized in 2009.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14

16 DECEMBER 7, 2011 ARKANSAS TIMES

FOUNDATION SUPPORT

The Winthrop Rockefeller Trust approved future funding of $4.5 million to the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation.

The Walton Family Foundation gave $1.7 million to the Foundation for the MidSouth and $837,681 to the Peel Compton Foundation (Bentonville).

The Murphy Foundation of El Dorado gave two gifts totaling $399,740 in Murphy Oil Corp. common stock to the George W. Bush Presidential Center.

The Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation gave $250,000 to the Arkansas Community Foundation.

The Care Foundation gave $225,195 to the Northwest Arkansas Community Foundation (Springdale).

BRIAN CHILSON

The Walton Family Foundation donations, other than the one to Crystal Bridges, to Arkansas non-profits totaled about $48 million.

The gift to Crystal Bridges was the bulk of the Walton foundation’s total giving of $1.49 billion, quadruple its grant-making the year previous. (Walton grants go to education reform, this year including $25 million to the KIPP Foundation, which operates public charter schools; freshwater and marine conservation projects and social programs.)

In addition to the Walton gift, the Windgate Foundation in Rogers noticeably increased its giving, doubling grant dollars from $10.1 million in 2009 to $20.9 million in 2010. (Windgate, which focuses on education, primarily John Brown University, and the arts, is “spending down” its assets, which means its board does not intend for it to exist in perpetuity.)

The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation of Las Vegas, which annually gives to Arkansas nonprofits, donated $40 million in 2010 to state charities.

Besides the Walton bounty for the arts, education was the recipient of the lion’s share of the dollars, followed by medicine and social needs.

Family foundations, their dollars coming from deep pockets, have been generous. But, said Melissa Stiles, president of Arkansas’s chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, generous people who give at lower levels — in the hundreds or thousands instead of the hundreds of thousands — are still “feeling the strain of the economy” and being more careful with their philanthropy. So while some organizations are celebrating an increase in giving, “I don’t know that the average charity necessarily feels that way,” Stiles said. Things may be particularly difficult for nonprofits like food pantries whose mission is duplicated by other charities and who often tap the same well.

“I would say probably 2011 was still a tough year for most nonprofits in Arkansas,” Tom Nisbett, who will succeed Stiles Jan. 1, said. Charities who don’t enjoy longstanding ties with rich foundations are finding it more difficult to raise money.

Private giving will surely be more important to Arkansas nonprofits as public dollars dry up in response to the federal debt; that situation “changes the shape of the pie” of donor sources, Hunter Goodman of the Arkansas Coalition for Excellence said. Yet, Nisbett added, local nonprofits are “in many ways too dependent on foundation and event giving”; they need to incorporate other strategies, like

ENDOWED WITH $1.2 BILLION: Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.

planned and online giving, to sustain their mission.

What follows is a list of some of the major grants made to Arkansas charities in 2010 (and 2011 whenever available), including announced gifts and those reported on foundation tax returns.

CULTURE

The Walton Family Foundation gave Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, founded by Alice Walton in Bentonville, $1.2 billion in 2010, including $800 million to endow operations, art acquisitions and future capital improvement needs and $403 million for artwork, general operating expenses and construction; and $1.2 million to the Walton Arts Center (Fayetteville) in 2011.

The Willard and Pat Walker Charitable Foundation of Fayetteville this year made its first $1 million installment on a pledge of $10 million over 10 years to endow the Willard and Pat Walker School Visit Program for students and teachers to travel to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in 2011 and $1 million to the Walton Arts Center (Fayetteville) for project support in 2010 and 2011.

The Windgate Foundation of Rogers gave a total of $1.1 million to the Fort Smith Art Center (now the Fort Smith Regional Art Museum) for renovation in 2010 and 2011; a total of $367,500 to the Arkansas Arts Center for educational and professional development programs, ceramic

department equipment, FY 2011 operations and wood art, and $259,750 to the Thea Foundation for Thea’s Art Closet Programs.

The Jack and Melba Shewmaker family of Bentonvillle will give $1 million to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art to benefit the museum’s educational programs.

The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation gave a total of $1.5 million to the Museum of Discovery, in partial fulfillment of grants authorized in 2006 and 2008.

J.W. and Emily McAllister of Memphis, University of Arkansas alumni, gave $1 million to the UA music program: Half for the purchase and maintenance of Steinway pianos, the rest as a challenge grant to encourage others to give to the program.

The couple previously gave more than $500,000 to establish the McAllister Honors College Fellowships in Business and $500,000 to endow the Emily J. McAllister Professorship in Piano.

The Carol and Witt Stephens Foundation gave the Arkansas Symphony $250,000.

The Oliver Charitable Corporation gave the Arkansas Symphony $250,000.

BUSINESS

Trustees of the Stephen Harrow Smith Revocable Trust gave the University of Arkansas at Little Rock $1.15 million to establish the Stephen Harrow

GENERAL EDUCATION

The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation authorized a grant of $10 million to the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville to build the 34,320-square-foot Steven L. Anderson Design Center, named in honor of the foundation’s president, who is a university alumnus.

The Walton Family Foundation gave $7.5 million to Southern Bancorp Capital Partners (Arkadelphia) and $5.6 million to Southern Bancorp CDC Corporation to fund investments in education reform; $1.4 million to Teach for America-Delta; $680,283 to the UA Foundation for education reform; $533,682 to the Arkansas Single Parent Scholarship Fund; $413,334 to the Arkansas Advanced Initiative for Math and Science Inc. at UALR; $324,000 to e-Stem Public Charter Schools Inc.; $316,875 to Arkansas Tech (Russellville); $257,158 to the Northwest Evaluation Association, and $250,000 to the Association of American Educators Foundation.

The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation gave $5.8 million to the Baxter County Library Foundation in partial fulfillment of a $9.8 million pledge made in 2008.

The Winthrop Rockefeller Trust gave $4.9 million to the University of Arkansas’s Winthrop Rockefeller Institute (Morrilton) for operations and approved future funding at $14.5 million.

The Windgate Foundation of Rogers gave a total of $6.9 million in 2010 and 2011 to John Brown University to endow the Dr. Gary Oliver Endowed Chair, for its CONTINUED ON PAGE 18

The following institutions have won grants worth more than $1 million from the Walker Charitable Foundation since the foundation was established in 1986. (Amounts have been rounded off.)

University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences University of Arkansas Razorback Foundation University of the Ozarks Washington Regional Foundation Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art John Brown University The New School Harvey and Bernice Jones Center for Families Walton Arts Center Ozark Guidance Center Arkansas Children’s Hospital University of Arkansas at Little Rock Ouachita Baptist University Circle of Life Northwest Arkansas Community College Hendrix College Sheperd Productions Springdale public schools Seven Hills Homeless Center Total

WALKER

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15

anonymously to ACRC but Dr. Kent Westbrook, ACRC director from 1984 to 1998, encouraged him to go public. “I told him if he would let us use his name, it would stimulate others,” Westbrook said.

Walker found out he liked encouraging others to give — so much so that he started going with Westbrook to call on potential donors, such as Charles Baum, like Walker one of the first Wal-Mart managers. Charles and Nadine Baum previously had given money to UAMS for a garden; Walker and Westbrook decided to call on them to ask for a dollar gift.

On the way to the Baums’ house in Fayetteville, Walker asked Westbrook how the garden was doing. “I said, ‘Fine, except people go out there to smoke and throw their cigarette butts everywhere.’ ” Walker grew quiet.

Later, sitting at the Baums’ dinette table, Nadine Baum asked Westbrook the same question about the garden.

“And I said, ‘It’s beautiful, but …’ ” And then he saw Walker frown and tap one finger on the table three or four times. “…

But kids come through there and trash it up,” Westbrook finished.

Nadine Baum was a smoker. “Willard was so pleased that he tipped me off without speaking,” Westbrook said.

“We got our $1 million and we left; he was so proud he’d saved me.”

Westbrook and Walker also called on Jim Walton, son of Sam Walton, at Walmart headquarters. (Jim Walton is now CEO of Arvest Bank). “Willard told me Jim’s office was going to be a

$46.1 million $12.6 million $11.1 million $10.8 million $10.1 million $10 million $5.6 million $4.6 million $4.5 million $3.7 million $3.7 million $3.5 million $3.3 million $3 million $2.8 million $2.6 million $2.6 million $1.9 million $1.5 million $1.4 million $144 million

little plain. Jim Walton had two boxes and a door lain across them as a desk,” Westbrook said. Walton committed $2 million.

Some days later, at a meal at the Buffalo Grill, Westbrook told Walker that UAMS needed something signed from Walton to give to their accountants. Walker said no, you couldn’t ask the Waltons for that. “They’re good for it,” Walker told Westbrook. Then he promised to give the $2 million if Walton didn’t.

“He was a quiet man, with a funny little laugh. He’d grab your arm and hold it,” Westbrook said. “It was a real pleasure to them to give; their lives were enriched enormously by what they were able to give.” Knowing Walker, Westbrook said, “was one of the high points of my life.” He praised the job that Debbie Walker has done as director.

ACRC is not the only institution to benefit from the Walkers’ largesse. A foundation gift of $6 million created the Pat and Willard Walker Eye Research Center in the Jones Eye Institute. The center was dedicated shortly after Willard Walker’s death in 2003. Arkansas Children’s Hospital received a $2 million pledge this year toward the west wing addition to the hospital.

Pat Walker is still active in the foundation, reviewing grants with her son, Johnny Mike. She is a huge Razorbacks fan; if you watched the basketball game last week you saw her courtside in her red suit, a gift from Debbie Walker. The Razorbacks are a fan of Pat Walker as well; the foundation recently announced a pledge of $2.5 million toward the U of A’s new football operations center.

My Passion is Youth Development C.J. Duvall uses his Duvall Family Charitable Endowment Fund at Arkansas Community Foundation to support youth development and scholarships for young people like Alyshia Williams, a senior at UALR who plans to work in child psychology. He calls the Foundation an ideal mix of excellent investment performance and true stewardship, responsibility and accountability. A long-time mentor, he’s using his endowment to ensure that young people will continue to receive his support even beyond his lifetime.

What’s Yours?

Whatever your passion, Arkansas Community Foundation can help you achieve your charitable goals by creating a permanent legacy for the causes you care about.

1400 West Markham, Suite 206 Little Rock, AR 72201 501-372-1116 or 888-220-2723 • arcf.org

www.arktimes.com DECEMBER 7, 2011 17

PHILANTHROPY

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 17

Growing Healthy Relationships programs, challenge grants, leadership grants, an art faculty position and a planning grant for the renovation of the art department.

The Murphy Foundation of El Dorado gave $1.5 million in Murphy Oil Corp. common stock to Hendrix College (Conway) for operations.

The Tyson Foundation of Springdale reported $1.4 million to fund college and university scholarships.

In 2010 and 2011, the Willard and Pat Walker Charitable Foundation gave $1 million to Hendrix College in scholarship support; $1 million toward a $4 million pledge to the New School (Fayetteville); $592,000 to the University of the Ozarks (Clarksville) to complete a $2.9 million grant for endowment; $500,000 to Ouachita Baptist University (Arkadelphia) to endow scholarships; $1 million toward a $2 million pledge to the School of Nursing at UALR; made a challenge grant of $500,000 to Harding University (Searcy), and gave $500,000 toward a $1 million pledge to the UA Foundation for scholarship support.

The Care Foundation gave $450,000 to the UA Foundation and $349,170 to the Springdale School District.

The Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation approved a grant of $400,000 to the Mid-Delta Community Consortium (Helena/West Helena) to be paid over two years.

The Murphy Foundation of El Dorado gave $354,675 in educational grants to El Dorado students entering college.

LITERACY

The Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation approved a $400,000 grant to UALR to support the expansion of Reading Recovery, a K-3 program to improve reading proficiency. The grant was part of the foundation’s Arkansas Campaign for Grade-Level Reading.

MEDICINE

The Willard and Pat Walker Charitable Foundation in 2010 and 2011 gave $2 million to Arkansas Children’s Hospital to support construction of its south wing, scheduled for completion in 2012; $1 million to the Jones Eye Institute’s Leland and Betty Tollett Retinal and Ocular Genetics Center at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences; $1 million to the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging to support programs and research; $1.2 million to the Winthrop Rockefeller Cancer Institute for its capital campaign, part of a $3.7 million

18 DECEMBER 7, 2011 ARKANSAS TIMES

THE TOP 14 The following family foundations have assets of more than $30 million, and are ranked first in order of worth and second by sizing as reported on their 2010 tax returns. (The Arkansas Community Foundation is included as the holder of family foundations; the Jones Trust is included because it is a family-funded operating foundation.)

1. Walton Family Foundation 2. Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation 3. Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation 4. Care Foundation 5. Arkansas Community Foundation 6. Winthrop Rockefeller Trust (2009) 7. Charles A. Frueauff Foundation 8. Windgate Charitable Foundation Inc. 9. Ross Foundation 10. Murphy Foundation 11. Willard and Pat Walker Charitable Foundation Inc. 12. The Jesus Fund 13. Horace C. Cabe Foundation 14. Tyson Foundation Inc. The foundations ranked by giving in 2010: 1. Walton Family Foundation 2. Windgate Charitable Foundation Inc. 3. Arkansas Community Foundation 4. Winthrop Rockefeller Trust (2009) 5. Charles A. Frueauff Foundation 6. Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation 7. Care Foundation 8. Murphy Foundation 9. Willard and Pat Walker Charitable Foundation Inc. 10. The Jesus Fund 11. Tyson Foundation Inc. 12. Horace C. Cabe Foundation 13. The Ross Foundation 14. Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation

grant; $525,000 to Washington Regional Foundation; $1 million toward a $2 million pledge to Washington Regional Hospice (Fayetteville); and $250,000, the first installment in a $750,000 challenge grant, to the Circle of Life (Springdale), The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation gave the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences $3.9 million in grants to help fund the Schmeiding Home Caregiver Training Program (a $3 million grant authorized in 2009) and toward the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging (a $27.9 million award authorized in 2009).

Frank and Jane Thomas Lyon donated $1.5 million to the Reynolds Institute on Aging for program and research support in response to a challenge grant of $27.9 million from the Reynolds Foundation (announced in 2009) to expand the institute. The Lyons and their families previously gave $2.5 million to create the Thomas and Lyon Longevity Clinic.

The institute also received a $5.5 million grant from the National Institute on Aging to establish the Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center at UAMS, one of 12 in the United States.

Johnelle Hunt gave $1.1 million to support the expansion of UAMS’ hospital and the UAMS Northwest campus.

Jeff and Kathy Lewis Sanders of Texas gave $1 million to UAMS to endow

$1,282,168,113 $185,657,767 $134,561,780 $131,177,338 $119,902,205 $109,487,444 $106,191,369 $90,821,442 $90,038,717 $58,833,497 $41,989,225 $37,801,610 $35,680,869 $29,319,864 $1.49 billion $20,992,049 $8,802,336 $5,445,180 $4,119,500 $2,535,163 $2,574,664 $3,143,899 $5,552,980 $3,992,778 $1,838,700 $1,727,140 $608,825 $300,000

a chair in pediatric pharmacy. Kathy Sanders is a pharmacy school graduate.

The Charles Schmeiding Foundation Term (Springdale) gave a total of $840,000 to UAMS for various purposes.

The estate of Howard and Elsie Stebbins gave more than $738,000 to help fund a cardiovascular research chair at UAMS. The Windgate Foundation of Rogers gave a total of $691,900 to UAMS for the Institute on Aging, Cord Blood Bank, research and fellowships.

The Murphy Foundation of El Dorado gave $250,050 in Murphy Oil Corp. common stock to UAMS’ Institute on Aging.

The Tyson Foundation of Springdale gave $250,000 to UAMS for its Northwest Arkansas campus renovation fund.

The Windgate Foundation gave $250,000 to Arkansas Children’s Hospital to endow a chair in pediatric dentistry.

Bobby and Becky Petrino made a gift of $250,000 to Children’s Hospital to support construction of the hospital’s south wing and Petrino, the Razorbacks football coach, said he will lend his name to a golf tournament to benefit the hospital.

NATURE

The Walton Family Foundation gave $10.5 million to the Arkansas chapter of the Nature Conservancy Inc. and $3.9 mil-

lion to the Bentonville/Bella Vista Trailblazers Association Inc. The Windgate Foundation gave $435,000 to the Nature Conservancy for land acquisition.

The Winthrop Rockefeller Trust gave Arkansas Audubon $250,000 as a building grant.

SOCIAL NEEDS

The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation gave $9.4 million to Northwest Arkansas Children’s Shelter, part of a $13 million pledge made in 2008; $5.2 million to the Arkansas Foodbank Network Inc. in partial fulfillment of a $10 million pledge made in 2008; authorized a $3.5 million grant to the Committee Against Spouse Abuse Inc. for a new shelter (Pine Bluff); $1.4 million to Camp Aldersgate; $1.2 million to the Arkansas 4-H Foundation; $1 million to Positive Atmosphere Reaches Kids (P.A.R.K); $832,737 to Food Bank of Northeast Arkansas (Jonesboro), in partial fulfillment of a $7.9 million grant authorized in 2009; and $376,409 in two grants to the Crisis Intervention Center (Fort Smith).

The Walton Family Foundation gave $5.3 million to Camp War Eagle Inc. (Rogers), a Christian camp for children and teen-agers; $1.7 million to Southern Bancorp Capital Partners (Arkadelphia), and $618,988 to Bentonville Child Care and Development Center.

The Care Foundation of Springdale donated $500,000 to the Jones Center for Families (Springdale).

The Willard and Pat Walker Charitable Foundation paid $500,000 toward a $750,000 pledge for the EOA-Children’s House (Springdale), and $250,000 for program support at the Jones Center for Families (Springdale).

The Windgate Foundation of Rogers gave Our House $300,000 for its housing renovation.

The Ross Foundation of Arkadelphia gave $300,000 to Group Living Inc. (Arkadelphia) for its reconstruction campaign.

The Willard and Pat Walker Charitable Foundation made a challenge grant of $500,000 toward a $1 million grant to the Children’s House (Springdale).

OTHERS

The Walton Family Foundation gave $726,832 to the city of Rogers.

SPORTS

The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation gave a $10 million challenge grant and the Pat and Willard Walker Charitable Foundation gave $625,000 toward its $2.5 million pledge to raise money for a football operations center and practice fields at the UA.

Meanus lived at Coleman Place last year. “It wasn’t like here. You couldn’t have loud music, no one could hang around outside. Security is very strict,” she said.

But police records show that crime is increasing at Coleman Place as well. In 2010, when Arkansas Baptist students were still at the complex, police filed 57 incident reports. Thus far in 2011, they’ve filed 63 — one of which was a homicide.

Meanus doesn’t live at Avondale, but she frequently visits Govan.

“One night I almost got shot,” she said.

“There were some guys arguing [in the parking lot], and a guy walking around with a gun. I got mistaken for one of the guys.” Meanus runs her hand across her shorn hair. “This young lady said, ‘that’s him right there,’ and points to me. I took off my shirt, so he could see I was a girl, and just ran.”

Govan also had what she considers a close call. Initially the housing department made a mistake, placing her and another girl in the apartment where Logan was recently shot. “We got moved out about two weeks later, because boys and girls weren’t supposed to be together,” she said. “But when I stayed in that apartment, the locks were faulty. They didn’t lock at all, and we were trying to get them fixed by main-

tenance people. When I moved they still weren’t fixed. The people who broke in, they might have just known that the doors were like that.”

Gary Stubblefield, the on-site manager at Avondale for just a month, declined comment on the Logan shooting. Arkansas Times e-mails to regional manager Jera Harris were unreturned. But a week after the shooting, Logan’s door is deadbolted. There’s a gap in the door frame, which may be attributed to the intruders who, according to the police report, tried to forcibly open the door despite its latched chain. The intruder shot through the door, hitting Logan in the lower back.

As far as Govan knows, Avondale didn’t report the shooting to Arkansas Baptist. “I’m a community assistant, which means I report on things that happen out here.” When she learned of the shooting, she called Arkansas Baptist’s housing department. “No one knew anything about it,” she said.

Housing director Wade confirmed that he learned of the shooting from Govan. “We’re concerned about what’s going on at Avondale, and we’re currently looking into other housing options,” he said, although he didn’t feel at liberty to discuss those options. According to Wade, the college will relocate the students as soon as other arrangements are made.

CHEREE FRANCO

OFF-CAMPUS CRIME, CONT.

STUDENT SHOT: As intruders tried to break through this door.

A HEALTHIER COMMUNITY IS BUILT ON A STRONG FOUNDATION. Since 1888, St. Vincent has worked to provide quality health care for the families and communities we serve. The St. Vincent Foundation helps enable this mission by supporting the work of the Jack Stephens Heart Institute, Arkansas Neuroscience Institute, Visiting Nurse Association, and many other vital outreach programs and clinics.

Learn how the St. Vincent Foundation is helping build a healthier community, and how you can help, by visiting StVincentHealth.com/Foundation.

As we look to the future, we see the need for more convenient access to health care services throughout central Arkansas. Our newest facility, St. Vincent West, is an innovative health care destination designed specifically to provide west Little Rock families with urgent care, highquality, complete family medicine and much more.

CAT H O L I C H E A LT H I N I T I AT I V E S

St.Vincent Foundation

StVincentHealth.com/Foundation

www.arktimes.com DECEMBER 7, 2011 19

Arts Entertainment AND

BRIAN CHILSON

MAKING A LIVIN’: Tragikly White at Denton’s.

Working band’s bread You’ll need more than just chops to make a living as a musician.

BY ROBERT BELL

This is the first in an occasional series called Nightlifers, in which the Times chats with some of the hardworking souls who toil long into the wee hours to keep Central Arkansas entertained.

We’ll talk to DJs, bouncers, comedians, musicians, promoters, bartenders, actors, lighting and sound techs and others to find out what it’s like to burn the midnight oil night after night so that everyone around you can have a good time.

F

or the first installment of Nightlifers, we spoke to some of the folks from the bands Tragikly White, Ed Bowman & The Rock City Players and Mayday

by Midnight. If you’ve whiled away weekends at Cajun’s Wharf, The Afterthought, Denton’s, Revolution, Reno’s or any number of other venues, odds are good you’ve caught one of these acts. With a few exceptions, all three bands exclusively play cover material, including a lot of ’80s and ’90s hits, as well as classic rock, R&B, Top 40, hip-hop and more. These are only three of the dozens of bands that grind it out night after night at bars, restaurants, parties, weddings, corporate functions, class reunions and the like.

Though there is certainly no shortage 20 DECEMBER 7, 2011 ARKANSAS TIMES

of working bands, not all of the ones that start down that path manage to stick it out over the long haul and make it to the Promised Land: quitting your day job.

“We played for a long time to no one,” said Rick Martin of Tragikly White. “For probably three years, nobody even paid attention to us. And I realize how that is and how frustrating that can be for a band.”

Martin started the band about 18 years ago and now music is the sole means of supporting its four members, a manager and two stagehands.

“But it’s definitely a lot of work,” he said.

“At this point, I realize it’s like any other small business, you still have payroll and it’s just like anything else. But we’re real lucky. At the end of the day, we make a living playing rock ’n’ roll, so how can you beat that, right?”

And play rock ’n’ roll the band does, to the tune of about 150 shows a year in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas. That’s a good number of gigs, but it doesn’t mean that all Martin and his band mates have to do is get up on stage, play for a couple

NIGHTLIFERS

hours and call it a night. “We work on our craft during the day,” he said. “There’s all kinds of stuff to consider that people don’t realize. There’s tons of rehearsal, you’ve got to make sure the band stays booked, you’ve got little marketing things, like going out and making sure posters get put up. It’s just a ton of stuff that I think people who don’t do this don’t realize.

They think that you just get up and play and then you’re done, and that’s really not how it is.”

Smokey Emerson, of Mayday by Midnight, echoed that sentiment.

“There’s so much more to it than getting up there and playing. That’s the reward for what we do, but the work of it is what’s happening all week,” Emerson said, noting that he’d just finished sending out the weekly update to the band’s e-mail list. That’s just one small task, but put them all together and it adds up to a lot of work that’s probably not quite as much fun as playing a medley of Prince hits to a teeming throng of partygoers.

In addition to scores of gigs —Mayday

by Midnight is on track to play its 100th show of 2011 soon – most of the guys in the band have other jobs during the week, too. Emerson teaches classical guitar at UCA, and plays solo acoustic shows as well as the full-band dates.

Ed Bowman has a fulltime day job as well, as a manager at an insurance agency.

He plays every Friday and Saturday night, and hosts a blues jam every Sunday night.

After playing in another band for eight years, he put together his own outfit a little over a year ago. Three-night working

weekends can be a bit tiring for someone who’s also keeping banker’s hours Monday through Friday, but Bowman said he enjoys it. “I like it so much, depending on what type of opportunity I got, I would consider doing it fulltime,” he said.

So what are the qualities that lead to a long-running career playing music?

“The ones that are making it aren’t waiting for something to happen,” Emerson said. “They’re going out and getting it, and they have a plan and a goal. If you don’t have a plan and a goal for something that you want to achieve, then you’re only going to go so far.”

Organization is another quality that might not fit the stereotype of the working musician, but it’s key to making it.

“Our band is a business partnership and we do everything by the book,” Emerson said. If a band member wants out of the partnership “there’s not really any confusion, they know what that process will be,” he said. “It’s almost like a prenuptial agreement: you know what’s going to happen, you know what you’re going to get and what you’re not going to get and how all that works.”

Along with the late nights, there are other potential jobsite hazards that come with playing 100 or 150 shows a year. Hearing loss is always a concern, so investing in good earplugs is advisable, Emerson said. There are also the occasional revelers who’ve been over-served, Martin said. While he’s certainly dealt with his share of obnoxious drunks over the years, “the places we play, most of the time you don’t have a lot of real redneck stuff happening.”

That said, Martin did mention a show the band played in Paragould where someone rode a horse into the venue.

“Let me tell you brother, you don’t realize how big a horse is until it’s in the room,” Martin said.

But it’s mostly good times. Emerson said Mayday by Midnight often hosts a shake-weight competition during their set. “A lot of the cell phones usually come out during that,” he said.

Bowman mentioned a prank that turned real at one of his shows. A friend of the band thought it’d be funny to throw some panties onstage. Not her own, but still. “She brought a bag full of panties, I mean big, oversize panties and bras out of her bag,” Bowman said, laughing. “She did it later in the night, but as the night went on, there were actually people who took theirs off and brought them up on stage.”

Someone you know is planning her future.

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

A&E NEWS ADAM HAMBRICK OF CONWAY walked

away the grand prize winner of the Alchemy Songwriting Competition Saturday night after an evening of performances from 10 finalists, weeded from hundreds of contest entries. Hambrick’s song “I Will Never” was inspired by divorce and dedicated to his wife Merritt to “re-vow” his feelings for her and promise never to go down that road.

It was the first annual competition of Blackbird Academy of the Arts, a nonprofit arts education program based in Conway. Entries from around the world were scrutinized by judges Kris Allen, Conway native and 2009 American Idol winner; David Hodges, a Little Rock native who’s earned Grammys for his work with Evanescence and Kelly Clarkson, and Andy Davis, a former marketing exec who is involved with several musiccentered nonprofits.

Runners up were listed by age group category. Bettina and Philippa Cassar came all the way from Bidnija, Malta, and won in the youth category (13-17), while the New York alternative rock band Days of Old (members Joel Dibble, Alex Dibble, Jon Osterdahl, Justin Van Sickle) took the 18 and older prize.

Various genre winners were announced Saturday night between performances.

Hambrick’s prize was an expensespaid trip to Los Angeles to record the winning song in a studio with producers Ryan Peterson and Nolan Sipe. Proceeds from the competition, including entry fees, sponsorships and showcase tickets, will benefit Blackbird Academy, an agency that offers affordable music programs and scholarships to children who otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity.

HUBERT SUMLIN, the legendary blues guitarist who grew up in Hughes (St. Francis County) and provided spooky, scorching accompaniment to Howlin’ Wolf, died Sunday of heart failure. He was 80.

His last performance was at the King Biscuit Blues Festival in October.

According to a story in the Chicago Tribune, Sumlin lost his two front teeth in Little Rock in the 1950s, when an angry Wolf shoved him down a hill for missing a gig.

CONSISTENTLY EXCELLENT STUTTGART RAPPER ARKANSAS BO has

a new album out, “Natural State of Mind.” You can stream it and buy it at Bandcamp.

The first track is a remix of a song that Bo’s been floating around for a while, “The Dream,” where Bo impersonates just about every big-name Southern rapper around. We’ve called him the Rich Little of Southern rap.

There’s also “Another Dream,” where the rapper mimics East Coast, doing JayZ, Cam’ron, Jim Jones, Method Man, Beanie Siegel and DMX.

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www.arktimes.com DECEMBER 7, 2011 21

THE TO-DO

LIST

BY ROBERT BELL

WEDNESDAY 12/7

“KASSIM THE DREAM”

The latest in the Little Rock Film Festival’s ongoing Argenta Film Series is a documentary about a former child soldier from Uganda who escaped his brutal upbringing and moved to the United States. Kassim “The Dream” Ouma was drafted into the National Resistance Army at the age of 6. He began boxing a few years later and realized the sport could be his way out. Ouma came to the states on a trip with a Ugandan boxing team and decided to stay, a move that was not without its awful consequences. He was considered a deserter, and his father was beaten to death by soldiers, according to a 2007 profile in The Guardian. His boxing career included several high-profile victories, and allowed him to support his large family, with members both in the states and back in Uganda. This film follows Ouma as he trains for a bout with Jermain Taylor in North Little Rock. Director Kief Davidson (“The Devil’s Miner”) will attend the screening.

WEDNESDAY 12/7

TAB BENOIT

8 p.m. Stickyz. $15.

This is definitely one that the bona fide blues buffs out there won’t want to miss, but they’ve probably been hip to Tab Benoit for a minute and have been looking forward to this show for weeks. For those who aren’t, this South Louisiana axe-man has been wringing swampy white-boy blues out of his Telecaster for a couple of decades now, earning an induction into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame last year. The whole time, he’s eschewed welding any trendy alt-rock affectations onto his craft, instead faithfully continuing on the trail blazed by the likes of Albert King and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Across more than a dozen albums Benoit has collaborated with the likes of Jimmy Thackery, Charlie Musselwhite, various Nevilles and members of Beausoleil, Louisiana’s LeRoux and Vaughan’s band Double Trouble. In terms of subject matter, he’s tackled the trad blues themes: women, drinkin’, trouble, etc. But he’s also a vocal advocate for wetlands preservation, heading up the Voice of the Wetlands nonprofit. On “A Whole Lotta Soul,” from this year’s “Medicine,” Benoit asks “What you gonna tell the spirit / when the heart of the bayou bleeds.” Opening up the 18-andolder show is local blues quartet Brown Soul Shoes, which has been stirring up a potent mix of Delta-style blues and classic Memphis soul for a couple of years now.

22 DECEMBER 7, 2011 ARKANSAS TIMES

BYRON TAYLOR

7 p.m. Argenta Community Theater. $8.

NAZI TRIALS: Tom Crone, left, stars as Haywood, and Alan Douglas as Janning in The Weekend Theater’s production of “Judgment at Nuremberg.”

FRIDAY 12/9

‘JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG’

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

This play is based on the 1961 film of the same name, which was in turn based on the trials at the Nuremberg Military Tribunals of four German judges whose rulings during the Third Reich allowed for the Nazi murders of the Holocaust.

The work examines the ways that seemingly compassionate, reasonable individuals can become party to atrocities and

how they are held responsible for their actions within the framework of a larger societal crime. “The reason I wanted to produce and direct ‘Judgment at Nuremberg’ this year is because I believe that people forget about how abusive all humans can become if we do not get reminded over and over that it is so easy to slip into denial and rationalization,” said Ralph Hyman, director of the production. The show runs at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through Dec. 17.

FRIDAY 12/9

JONATHAN TYLER & THE NORTHERN LIGHTS

9:30 p.m. Stickyz. $10.

This right here is some Black Crowes-style bloozey Southern rock, complete with a touch of gospel, a back-pocket full of boogie and a hogleg packed with the goody-good stuck in the brim of a perfectly broken-in floppy Keith Richards hat. Jonathan Tyler & The Northern Lights got started a few years ago in a little hamlet called Dallas, Texas. Of course, no Crowes discipleship would be complete without a stint at the Rolling Stones Academy of Rock ’n’ Roll Decadence, and JT&TNL have done their time. According to the band’s bio, the early years were somewhat fraught with substances: “We played until we were about 20, and that’s when we discovered booze and drugs, and we quit.

Just basically started experimenting with everything. I’m not trying to glamorize any of it, but we went from pure as driven snow to really into some

HYBRID BLEND: With Stones-y swagger and a touch of Crowes-style soul, Jonathan Tyler & The Northern Lights will take you higher Friday night at Stickyz.

really crazy stuff. It was a real wakeup call when one of my closest friends was lost to an overdose.” Now, we’re all aware of how the youngsters in the PADIFW (that’d be the Plano-ArlingtonDallas-Irving-Fort Worth metro) have struggled over the years with “chiva” or “cheese” or whatever weird, lowprice permutation of heroin is currently

in vogue. But credit Tyler with living and learning: Drugs? Drugs are bad, m’kay? They can be useful in terms of songwriting material, but you gotta get off that ride at some point and the sooner that happens the likelier you are to live to sing about it. Zach Williams and The Reformation opens up this 18-and-older show.

BYRON TAYLOR

IN BRIEF

THURSDAY 12/8

FRIDAY 12/9

TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA 4 p.m., 8 p.m. Verizon Arena. $31$63.

How’s this for an unlikely music-biz success story: Some of the principal members of Savatage – a long-running metal turned hard-prog band that had found middling success throughout the ’80s and ’90s – formed a symphonic metal side-project inspired by the

Russian Revolution. They released a trio of Christmas-themed albums, in the process becoming one of the biggest concert draws in the country, thus earning glory, approbation and mountains of money beyond any of their wildest dreams. I think that deserves a cot-dang round of applause.

The Trans-Siberian Orchestra is the ultimate story of heavy metal geeks

done good. With its Christmasthemed concert and laser-light-showoverload extravaganza, the band has sold somewhere in the neighborhood of eleventy-gadzillion concert tickets since its inception and you just know that somewhere out there, the guys in Queensrÿche are kicking themselves for not coming up with something like this, right?

FRIDAY 12/9

UNKNOWN HINSON

10 p.m. Juanita’s. $15 adv., $18 door.

Sounding (and looking) like the weird love child of Porter Wagoner, Dracula and Cramps guitarist Poison Ivy, Unknown Hinson sprang forth from the hills ’n’ hollers of North Carolina via that most honest and unflinching of all media – public access television. He is the selfproclaimed “king of country-western troubadours” and has the custommade finery to prove it, though his songs also make a strong case for the designation. On listening to his tunes, Hinson’s singing might stir in you a memory: “Where have I heard that most distinctive Southern drawl before?” The answer: cartoons, that’s where. Hinson provides the voice of Early Cuyler on Adult Swim’s animated late-night program “Squidbillies,” which is the most spiritually resonant portrayal of rural Southern archetypes since “Absalom, Absalom!” even if it is just a cartoon about a bunch of

FRIDAY 12/9

KNOWN UNKNOWNS: Unknown Hinson, the country crooning Wildman (who also voices Early Cuyler on Adult Swim’s “Squidbillies”) brings his odd charms to Juanita’s Friday night.

redneck cephalopods. Anyways, if you’re not already familiar with Unknown Hinson, but you’re a fan of The Cramps, “Squidbillies,” Andy Kaufmann, Hasil Adkins, old-school

country music or just good oldfashioned campy good times, then I would recommend you get out to this show. Opening act is the always enjoyable Salty Dogs.

the unrelenting homosexual cabal that is threatening the very fabric of our nation (in all seriousness, check out some of the hate-filled, certifiably loony rants Boone has penned for wing-nut mainstay World Net Daily; he actually compared liberals to “black filthy” cancer cells). But here’s another thing: Boone is also an expert on economics.

That’s right, for the last few years he has been hawking for gold merchants Swiss America Trading Corp., letting us know about the secret, nefarious plot hatched

by Barack Obama (who, according

to Boone, is a Kenyan-born Muslim America-hater) and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke to devalue the dollar to the point of worthlessness, leaving (precious, precious) gold as “the only trustworthy currency on Earth.” Wow, thank goodness for guys like Boone and Glenn Beck who are doing everyone a solid by encouraging them to buy gold. I’m sure they just have everyone’s best interests at heart, right? It’s not like gold prices ever soared during a recession only to come crashing back to earth years later, right?

SUNDAY 12/11

PAT BOONE IN “A HOLIDAY CELEBRATION”

2 p.m. UCA. $23-$40.

Pat Boone, 77, got his start in the music business, singing innocuous, neutered approximations of R&B hits originally recorded by black artists.

He’s still singing, but in recent decades, he’s also taken up extreme right-wing punditry. Yes, Boone has served selflessly as an unwavering voice for the traditional values our nation was built upon, crying out against the lunacy of liberalism, the folly of feminism and

Ray Tarantino plays a smart modern take on singer-songwriting rock ’n’ roll – think Springsteen or maybe Tom Petty filtered through U2-esque arena bombast and you’re close to Tarantino’s sound.

He plays Maxine’s at 8 p.m. Reddirt troubadour Jason Boland comes to Revolution for an acoustic show with fellow traveler Evan Felker. Trey Stevens opens the 18-and-older show at 9 p.m., $12 adv., $15 d.o.s. Bernice Garden hosts a tree-lighting holiday party, with Christmas carols, crafts for sale and refreshments. Bring an ornament to hang on the tree, as well as your own plate, utensils and cup for this zero-waste event, which starts at 5:30 p.m. The folks at Electric Heart Tattoos host The Type Truck, a mobile letterpress that’s currently touring the country, starts at 6 p.m. and includes printing demonstrations and music from Bonnie Montgomery.

Rodney Block & The Real Music Lovers headline “A Soulful Christmas,” with singing from Jeron, Mia McNeal, Dee Davis and Bijoux, Twelve Modern Lounge, 9 p.m., $10-$20. The Arkansas Chamber Singers present a “Holiday Concert,” including performances of Respighi’s “Laud to the Nativity” and the premiere of a new work by Scottish composer Cecilia McDowell, Covenant Presbyterian Church, 7:30 p.m., $10$18. It’s 2nd Friday Art Night and at the Historic Arkansas Museum, there will be an eggnog competition, music from The Meshugga Klezmer Band and a new exhibit, “Found–Fired–Formed: Sarah May Leflar, Donna Uptigrove and Amber Uptigrove,” 5 p.m.

Over at Arkansas Studies Institute, they’re unveiling “Ark in the Dark: An Exhibition of Vintage Movie Posters,” which includes 35 posters that feature films from the years 1926 to 2009, as well as Arkansas- and movie-related memorabilia, such as programs, tickets, photos, lobby cards, books and other items, 5 p.m.

SATURDAY 12/10

The Elise Davis Band and Amy Garland play White Water Tavern, 9 p.m. Over at Shooter’s Sports Bar & Grill, Ed Bowman & The Rock City Players bring the blues, R&B and rock ’n’ roll, 9 p.m., $5.

Check out a double feature of productions from Independent Guerilla: “Tuckerman” and “The Devil Lives in Hot Springs” screen at Market Street Cinema, starting at 7 p.m., and including a Q&A with the filmmakers, $10. It’s time to start a dance party over at Revolution, with Tragikly White, 18 and older, 9:30 p.m., $7.

www.arktimes.com DECEMBER 7, 2011 23

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

COMEDY

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 7

DANCE

B.T., Mark Poolos. The Loony Bin, through Dec. 9, 8 p.m.; Dec. 9, 10:30 p.m.; Dec. 10, 7, 9 and 11 p.m., $7-$10. 10301 N. Rodney Parham Road.

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

The Arts in Art: Tango. This event is for those with no dance experience, the expert or those who just want to watch. No partner is needed.

Arkansas Arts Center, 7 p.m., free. 501 E. 9th St. 501-372-4000. www.arkarts.com.

MUSIC

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

Alternative Wednesdays. Features alternative bands from Central Arkansas and the surrounding areas. Mediums Art Lounge, 6:30 p.m., $5.

521 Center St. 501-374-4495.

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 and 9 p.m., $5 after 8:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-3755351. www.cajunswharf.com.

Gil Franklin & Friends. Holiday Inn, North Little Rock, first Tuesday, Wednesday of every month.

120 W. Pershing Blvd., NLR. Grim Muzik presents Way Back Wednesdays.

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

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

Kenny Rogers Christmas and Hits. Walton Arts Center, 8 p.m., $50-$90. 495 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville. 479-443-5600.

Sychosys, Crankbait, DDT. Ages 18 and older.

Revolution, 8:30 p.m., $7-$9. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-823-0090. revroom.com.

Tab Benoit, Brown Soul Shoes. Ages 18 and older. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 8 p.m., $15. 107 Commerce St. 501-372-7707. www.stickyfingerz.com.

Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 5 p.m., free. 111 Markham St. 501-374-7474. www.capitalhotel.com/CBG. Trapped Under Ice, Hundredth, Backtrack, Betrayal, Take Offense. Downtown Music Hall, 7 p.m., $10 adv., $12 door. 211 W. Capitol. 501376-1819. downtownshows.homestead.com.

COMEDY

B.T., Mark Poolos. The Loony Bin, 8 p.m.; Dec. 9, 10:30 p.m.; Dec. 10, 7, 9 and 11 p.m., $7-$10.

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

EVENTS

Arvest River Market on Ice. Ice skating rink.

Go to holidaysinlittlerock.com/river_market_ on_ice/ for schedule. River Market Pavilions, through Jan. 8, 2012, $9 an hour. 400 President Clinton Ave. 375-2552. www.rivermarket.info.

EVENTS TWISTS AND TURNS: East meets west in Cirque du Soleil’s Dralion, which takes inspiration from Chinese acrobatics and fuses elemental themes — fire, water, air and earth — onto human motion. The show runs Dec. 13-14 at 7:30 p.m., Verizon Arena, $32-$142.

Trennis Henderson discusses the history of Ouachita Baptist University. Bring a sack lunch; drinks and dessert are provided. Main Library, 12 p.m., free. 100 S. Rock St. www.cals.lib.ar.us.

THURSDAY, DEC. 8

MUSIC

Big Shane Thornton, Danny Cullum, Third Degree, Highway 124, Jason Greenlaw and the Groove. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 8 p.m. 107 Commerce St. 501-372-7707. www. stickyfingerz.com.

Blind Boy White. The Afterthought, 8 p.m., free.

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

The Buzz Karaoke Contest. The winner of this contest gets a spot in The Buzz Christmas Celebrity Karaoke Contest. Dugan’s Pub, 7 p.m., $5 or new unwrapped toy. 403 E. 3rd St. 501-244-0542. www.duganspublr.com.

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

Jason Boland & Evan Felker solo acoustic show, Trey Stevens. 18 and older. Revolution, 9 p.m., $12 adv., $15 d.o.s. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-823-0090. revroom.com.

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

www.sonnywilliamssteakroom.com.

Never Train (headliner), Chris DeClerk (happy hour). Cajun’s Wharf, 5 and 9 p.m., $5 after 8:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. www. cajunswharf.com.

Ol’ Puddin’haid. Thirst n’ Howl, 7:30 p.m., free.

14710 Cantrell Road. 501-379-8189. www.thirstn-howl.com.

Ozark Point Brass. Laman Library, 7 p.m., free.

2801 Orange St., NLR. 501-758-1720. www. lamanlibrary.org.

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

9611 MacArthur Drive, NLR. 771-2994.

Ray Tarantino. Maxine’s, 8 p.m. 700 Central Ave., Hot Springs. maxinespub.com.

River City Men’s Chorus: “Holiday 2011.”

Trinity United Methodist Church, 7 p.m. 1101 North Mississippi St. 501-666-2813. www.tumclr.org.

Sovereign Strength, As Hell Retreats, Achaia, Something to Stand For. Downtown Music Hall, 7 p.m., $8 adv., $10 d.o.s. 211 W. Capitol.

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

Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 5 p.m., free. 111 Markham St. 501-374-7474. www.capitalhotel.com/CBG. “Thirsty Thursdays.” Juanita’s, 9 p.m. 614 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-1228. www. juanitas.com.

Attention!!!

Book your holiday parties and New Years Eve dinner now!!!

FILM

Argenta Film Series: “Kassim the Dream.”

Documentary tells the story of boxer Kassim “The Dream” Ouma, a Ugandan who was kidnapped and forced to be a child soldier.

Argenta Community Theater, 7 p.m., $8. 405 Main St., NLR. 501-353-1443. argentacommunitytheater.org.

LECTURES

Legacies and Lunch: “Ouachita Baptist University: Making a Difference since 1886.”

24 DECEMBER 7, 2011 ARKANSAS TIMES

12 Days of Christmas Gala benefiting Muscular Dystophy Association. The Peabody Little Rock, 7 p.m., $100 per person. 3 Statehouse Plaza. 227-7098. www.peabodylittlerock.com.

Arvest River Market on Ice. See Dec. 7..

Bernice Garden tree-lighting party. Includes Christmas carols, crafts for sale and refreshments. Bring an ornament to hang on the tree, as well as your own plate, utensils and cup for this zero-waste event. The Bernice Garden, 5:30 p.m. 1401 S. Main St. www.thebernicegarden.org.

Type Truck. The owner of Power and Light Press brings her mobile letterpress Electric Heart Tattoos, 6 p.m. 623 Beechwood St. 501-3799366. electrichearttattoos.com/home.html.

LECTURES

Brown Bag Lecture: “Who Built the Lakeport Plantation?” Blake Wintory will present new research about who designed and built the Lakeport home, including discoveries in family papers and architectural similarities with other family homes in the Mississippi Delta. Bring a sack lunch. Old State House Museum, 12 p.m., free. 500 Clinton Ave. 501-324-9685. www.oldstatehouse.com.

BENEFITS

Great Escapes: Art by the Little Rock Zoo Animals. Includes silent auction of artwork by zoo animals, with proceeds benefiting the Little Rock Chapter of the American Association of Zoo Keepers. Boswell-Mourot Fine Art, 6 p.m.

5815 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-944-7028. www. boswellmourot.com.

BOOKS

“Dr. Suess and Philosophy: Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!” This discussion will cover the common ground between Socrates and the Sneetches. Faulkner County Library, 7 p.m. 1900 Tyler St., Conway. 501-327-7482. www.fcl.org.

CLASSES

Central Arkansas Genealogical and Historical Society. Meeting will focus on our CAGHS project, indexing the AR Confederate Pension Records for FamilySearch Indexing. Arkansas Studies Institute, 6 p.m. 401 President Clinton Ave. 501-320-5700 . www.butlercenter.org.

FRIDAY, DEC. 9

UnioN BISTRO

3421 Old Cantrell Rd. • 501-353-0360 (One block from Loca Luna) www.unionbistrolittlerock.com

MUSIC

Anat Cohen. Walton Arts Center, 8 and 10 p.m., $10-$35. 495 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville. 479443-5600.

Arkansas Chamber Singers: “Holiday Concert.”

Includess Respighi’s “Laud to the Nativity” and the premiere of a new work by Scottish com-

Live Music FRiDAy, DeCemBeR 9

poser Cecilia McDowell. Covenant Presbyterian Church, 7:30 p.m., $10-$18. 1 Covenant Drive.

Big Stack. Shooter’s Sports Bar & Grill, 9 p.m., $5. 9500 I-30. 501-565-4003. www.shooterslittlerock.com.

Crisis. West End Smokehouse and Tavern, 10 p.m., $5. 215 N. Shackleford. 501-224-7665. www.westendsmokehouse.net.

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

Ed Burks. Sonny Williams’ Steak Room, Dec. 9-10, 7 p.m. 500 President Clinton Ave. 501324-2999. www.sonnywilliamssteakroom.com.

“The Flow Fridays.” Twelve Modern Lounge, 8 p.m. 1900 W. Third St. G$ & The Rock Revolution (headliner), Richie Johnson (happy hour). Cajun’s Wharf, 5 and 9 p.m., $5 after 8:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road.

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

Jonathan Tyler and the Northern Lights. 18+ show. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 9:30 p.m., $10. 107 Commerce St. 501-372-7707. www.stickyfingerz.com.

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

The Mutton Bustin’ Boys, Duke Junior & The Smokey Boots. Maxine’s, 8 p.m., $5 adv., $7 door. 700 Central Ave., Hot Springs. maxinespub.com.

Rodney Block & TRML. “A Soulful Christmas” includes singing from Jeron, Mia McNeal, Dee Davis and Bijoux. Twelve Modern Lounge, 9 p.m., $10-$20. 1900 W. Third St. Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 9 p.m., free. 111 Markham St. 501-374-7474. www. capitalhotel.com/CBG. Thread. Fox And Hound, 10 p.m., $5-$10. 2800 Lakewood Village, NLR. 501-753-8300. www. foxandhound.com/locations/north-little-rock. aspx.

Top of the Rock Chorus: “Jingle Jam.” Sherwood Forest, 6:30 p.m., $30. 1111 W. Maryland Ave., Sherwood. 501-851-1477.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Verizon Arena, 4 and 8 p.m., $31-$63. 1 Alltel Arena Way, NLR. 501975-9001. verizonarena.com.

Unknown Hinson, The Salty Dogs. Juanita’s, 10 p.m., $15 adv., $18 door. 614 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-1228. www.juanitas.com.

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

COMEDY

B.T., Mark Poolos. The Loony Bin, through Dec. 9, 8 p.m.; Dec. 9, 10:30 p.m.; Dec. 10, 7, 9 and 11 p.m., $7-$10. 10301 N. Rodney Parham Road.

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

EVENTS

Arvest River Market on Ice. See Dec. 7.

LGBTQ/SGL Youth and Young Adult Group.

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

SATURDAY, DEC. 10

MUSIC

Afterglow. Fox And Hound, 10 p.m., $5-$10.

2800 Lakewood Village, NLR. 501-753-8300. www.foxandhound.com/locations/north-littlerock.aspx.

Bob Boyd Sounds. The Afterthought, 9 p.m., $7. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www. afterthoughtbar.com.

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

Down 2 Five (headliner), Jim Mills (happy hour). Cajun’s Wharf, 5 and 9 p.m., $5 after 8:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. www.cajunswharf.com.

Ed Bowman & The Rock City Players. Shooter’s Sports Bar & Grill, 9 p.m., $5. 9500 I-30. 501-5654003. www.shooterslittlerock.com.

Ed Burks. Sonny Williams’ Steak Room, 7 p.m.

500 President Clinton Ave. 501-324-2999. www. sonnywilliamssteakroom.com.

Elise Davis Band, Amy Garland. White Water Tavern, 9 p.m. 2500 W. 7th. 501-375-8400. www. whitewatertavern.com.

Joe Pitts Band. Cornerstone Pub & Grill, 9 p.m.

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

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

412 Louisiana. 501-907-2582.

Kreaper, Moment of Fierce Determination, Drive to Madness, Killing Souls, Fate’s Undertaking. Downtown Music Hall, 7 p.m., $8. 211 W. Capitol. 501-376-1819. downtownshows.homestead.com.

Mockingbird Hillbilly Band. ZaZa, 10 p.m., free.

1050 Ellis Ave., Conway. 501-336-9292. www. zazapizzaandsalad.com/.

Pine Bluff Symphony Orchestra: “A World of Holidays: Music of the Season.” Pine Bluff Convention Center, 7 p.m. 500 E. 8th Ave., Pine Bluff.

Seth Freeman. West End Smokehouse and Tavern, 10 p.m., $5. 215 N. Shackleford. 501224-7665. www.westendsmokehouse.net.

Sychosys, Knee Deep, Playing with Karma.

Maxine’s, 8 p.m., $5 adv., $7 door. 700 Central Ave., Hot Springs. maxinespub.com.

Symphony of Northwest Arkansas: Christmas Pops. Walton Arts Center, 7:30 p.m., $25-$45.

495 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville. 479-443-5600.

Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 9 p.m., free. 111 Markham St. 501-374-7474. www. capitalhotel.com/CBG. Tragikly White. 18 and older. Revolution, 9:30 p.m., $7. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-8230090. revroom.com.

Weakness For Blondes. 18 and older. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 9 p.m., $5. 107 Commerce St. 501-372-7707. www.stickyfingerz.com.

iSAAC ALexANDeR tHe Quiet LiFe (PORtLAND, ORegON)

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COMEDY

B.T., Mark Poolos. The Loony Bin, 7, 9 and 11 p.m., $7-$10. 10301 N. Rodney Parham Road.

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

DANCE

JAMfest Cheer & Dance fest. Hot Springs Convention Center, 9 a.m., free. 134 Convention Blvd., Hot Springs. 501-321-2027. www.hotsprings.org.

EVENTS

Arvest River Market on Ice. See Dec. 7.

Christmas in the Wild. Come meet Santa and enjoy cookies, hot cocoa, crispy treats, arts and crafts and join Santa as he presents gifts to the animals. Little Rock Zoo, Dec. 10, 9:30 a.m.; Dec. 17, 9:30 a.m., $10-$15. 1 Jonesboro Dr. 501-666-2406. www.littlerockzoo.com.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 28

www.arktimes.com DECEMBER 7, 2011 25

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THEATER REVIEW

‘A Christmas Carol, The Musical’ The Rep, Dec. 2

BY BERNARD REED

CINDY MOMCHILOV

I

will unreservedly state that “A Christmas Carol” is one of the most significant stories ever written in English. With it Charles Dickens forged our modern Christmas mythology, carving into the calendar a season that is important both economically and spiritually; he embedded into cultural consciousness what today we take for granted as the “reason for the season” and a month brimming with unmitigated good cheer.

“A Christmas Carol” has been rehashed just about every year since its publication in 1843, never going out of print and finding its way into every possible artistic medium. On the Rep’s holiday bill is “A Christmas Carol, The Musical,” gleeful and colorful and an apt celebration of the season’s warmth and childlike vitality.

For those of us who are no longer children but not yet raising our own, Christmas is often accompanied by a greater than usual ironic detachment, this being a time of year filled with ceaseless jingle bells and pathological consumerism. But Dickens’ story, classic as it is, transcends the pagan gaudiness of present-day Christmas.

The Rep’s lyrical production continues the tradition, and it reminded me with song and dance that “A Christmas Carol” is really one of the few artifacts of Christmas that I can stand.

It’s a full-out, stage-crowded show that breaks into song right away. From the get-go it’s an enormous experience, the ensemble swirling around with unstoppable choreography, lots of children prancing around and bright Victorian costumes. You know the story: It’s Christmas Eve in London for everybody except the money-loving Ebenezer Scrooge, who grudgingly gives his underpaid and overworked employee, Bob Cratchit, the next day off. At home Scrooge is visited by Marley, his dead business partner, who, wrapped in chains, tells him that he will be visited by three more ghosts throughout the night. Scrooge is told to heed their warnings or he’ll regret it in the afterlife. All he can say is “bah humbug,” but then the clock strikes one and Scrooge’s journey begins.

The show has the right balance of both the frightening and the fanciful.

Marley’s lecture at the beginning is grotesque and dramatic, with lots of chains being whipped around, but it’s quickly tempered by the young Scrooge rollicking at Fezziwig’s party with his old flame in another colorful dance num-

SCROOGED: Ryan G. Dunkin as the ghost of Jacob MarleY and David Benoit as Ebenezer Scrooge in The Rep’s “A Christmas Carol, The Musical.”

ber. Unspeaking and faceless, draped in black, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come unfurls eerily out of the smoke machine, dragging the already-penitent Scrooge into a distressing, funereal future. He learns his lesson, the whole cast comes out to dance and Tiny Tim lives to ride his father’s shoulder and depart the audience with his famous last line.

The scenes move very quickly, which lends to the excitement and the feeling that Scrooge is on an adventure. And of course, in a sense he is — after being paraded through time, he is stripped of his greed. In a dynamic and operatic climax, he faces the audience directly, wearing his iconic droopy nightcap, and belts it out, singing for forgiveness. This speed amps up the entertainment, no doubt, and its snappiness is very suited to any children in the audience. But it might be up to parents to remind them that Christmas is only the story’s second priority. Its primary target is Victorian England’s greedy 1-percenters, who dismissed debtors and street children to prisons and poorhouses — personified inside the Ghost of Christmas Present’s fur-trimmed coat as “Ignorance” and “Want.” Otherwise the play’s jollity is for the most part untouched by Dickens’ grim social message, which, as his most popular of stories reaches another year and another Christmas, becomes unknowingly indicted by our own contemporary brand of capitalistic irony.

The fact that it’s a Christmas story is incidental, but let’s leave the harangue to the English teachers. The Rep knows that the holiday season is fun, when we should all possessed by Tiny Tim’s relentless optimism. Scrooge’s transformation touches us, as it always does, without being too preachy or haunted.

It’s a good time, a Christmas memory worth reliving.

“A Christmas Carol, The Musical” continues through Dec. 25. All evening shows begin at 7 p.m.; matinee performances on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sundays begin at 2 p.m.

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

Holiday Hayride. Includes hayride, campfire, stories, hot chocolate and more. Pinnacle Mountain State Park, 3 p.m., $5-$10. 11901 Pinnacle Valley Road. 501-868-5806.

Light up the Night In Honor of Jennings Osborne. 5K and 1-mile walk. River Market, 5 p.m., $20-$25. 400 President Clinton Ave. 501-231-3720.

Rudolph and Friends. A holiday ice show featuring the Diamond Edge Figure Skating Club.

Arkansas Skatium, Dec. 10, 11:30 a.m.; Dec. 11, 5 p.m., $10, free for kids 5 and younger. 1311 S. Bowman Road. 501-227-4333.

FILM

“Tuckerman” and “The Devil Lives in Hot

Springs.” Double feature of productions from Independent Guerilla, including a Q&A with the filmmakers. Market Street Cinema, 7 p.m., $10. 1521 Merrill Drive. 501-312-8900. www.marketstreetcinema.net.

POETRY

POWER! Poetry Slam. Vino’s, 7 p.m., $5. 923 W. 7th St. 501-366-4130. www.vinosbrewpub.com.

SPORTS

UALR Men’s Trojans vs. Missouri State. Jack Stephens Center, UALR, 4:30 p.m., $4-$35.

2801 S. University Ave. UALR Women’s Trojans vs. Memphis. Jack Stephens Center, UALR, 2 p.m., $4-$35. 2801 S. University Ave.

BENEFITS

Arkansas MDA fundraiser. Includes auctions, prizes and music by RockUsaurus. The Peabody Little Rock, 6 p.m. 3 Statehouse Plaza. 501-9064000. www.peabodylittlerock.com.

K.I.D.S. Volunteer Day. Children will make personal care packages for Helping Hands of Greater Little Rock. Open to children ages 10 to 15, bring at least 2 canned goods to donate.

Refreshments will be served. Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, 2 p.m., free. 501 W. 9th St. 501683-3593. www.mosaictemplarscenter.com.

BOOKS

Ahsley Cooksey. Book signing from the author of “My Mom is a Super Hero.” That Bookstore in Blytheville, 1 p.m. 316 W. Main St.

Berniece Vann. The author will sign copies of her Christian novel, “Dream a Dream: a novel.” Hastings, 3 p.m. 1360 Old Morrilton Hwy., Conway.

SUNDAY, DEC. 11

MUSIC

Arkansas Chamber Singers: “Holiday Concert.” Respighi’s “Laud to the Nativity” and the premiere of a new work by the Scottish composer Cecilia McDowell. Cathedral of St. Andrew, 3 p.m., $10-$18. 617 Louisiana St. 501 374-2794. cathedralsaintandrew.org.

Gary Morris. Morris returns to ASU for a concert to benefit the Johnny Cash Boyhood Home project. Arkansas State University, 7 p.m., $30CONTINUED ON PAGE 30

drink local support your community

PURPOSELY INNOVATIVE. INCIDENTALLY BEAUTIFUL.

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2 FREEWAY DR. | LITTLE ROCK | 501.666.7226 www.pettusop.com 28 DECEMBER 7, 2011 ARKANSAS TIMES

It’s the return of the annual Arkansas Times Musicians Showcase as performers compete for an array of prizes. All acts who have at least four songs of original material are encouraged to enter. All styles are welcome.

2011 WINNER TYRANNOSAURUS CHICKEN

Semifinalists will compete throughout January and February at Stickyz and Revolution.

Weekly winners will then face off in the finals in March.

Check out arktimes.com/showcase12 for information on how to enter online and upload your files.

Door prizes will be given away to fans in attendance.

DEADLINE FOR ENTRY DEC. 31, 2011 FOR MORE INFO E-MAIL robertbell@arktimes.com

Arkansas Times Musicians Showcase Entry Form NAME OF BAND HOMETOWN DATE BAND WAS FORMED AGE RANGE OF MEMBERS (ALL AGES WELCOME) CONTACT PERSON ADDRESS CITY, STATE, ZIP PHONE E-MAIL SEND ENTRIES AND DEMO CD TO: Arkansas Times Musicians Showcase, PO BOX 34010, Little Rock, AR 72203

¡REVOLUTION!

AFTER DARK, CONT. $50. 2713 Pawnee St., Jonesboro. www.astate. edu.

Let’s Get It. Downtown Music Hall, 7 p.m. 211 W. Capitol. 501-376-1819. downtownshows. homestead.com.

Pat Boone in “A Holiday Celebration.”

Reynolds Performance Hall, University of Central Arkansas, 2 p.m., $23-$40. 201 Donaghey Ave., Conway.

Porter’s Sunday Jazz Brunch. Porter’s Jazz Cafe, 10 a.m. 315 Main St. 501-324-1900. www.portersjazzcafe.com.

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

Weakness For Blondes. 18+ show. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 9 p.m., $5. 107 Commerce St. 501-372-7707. www.stickyfingerz.com.

w

EVENTS

Arkansas Urology continues to bring proven medical technology and surgical skill to Arkansas. With locations throughout the state, we’re equipped to provide quality healthcare for our patients. For information or to schedule an appointment, call us toll-free at 877-321-8452.

SPORTS

Expert Skill for Arkansas.

Exceptional Care for Arkansans.

• Prostate Cancer

• Diseases of the Kidney

• Prostate Disease

• Kidney Stones

• Enlarged Prostate

• Impotence/Sexual Dysfunction

• Laparoscopic Surgery

• Vasectomy/Vasectomy Reversal

• Overactive Bladder

• No-needle/No-scalpel Vasectomy

Red Ball Nation Arena Kickball. Electric Cowboy, through April 29: 6 p.m. 9515 Interstate 30. 501562-6000. www.electriccowboy.com/littlerock.

MONDAY, DEC. 12

• Bladder Leakage (Male/Female) • Female Interstitial Cystitis • da Vinci® Robotic Prostatectomy

• Male Infertility

Arvest River Market on Ice. See Dec. 7.

Cookies & Cocoa with the Clauses. Cookies, hot cocoa and pictures with Santa. River Market Pavilions, 1 p.m., free. 400 President Clinton Ave. 501-375-2552. www.rivermarket.info.

North Little Rock Christmas Parade. The parade will begin at 2 p.m. at Pershing and Orange and will continue down Main Street to Washington Avenue. Bring nonperishable food donations for Arkansas Rice Depot. Santa will visit the Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum for photos for two hours. Downtown Argenta, 2 p.m. Main Street, NLR. 501-758-1424.

Rudolph and Friends. See Dec. 10.

MUSIC

Brandon Dorris. The Afterthought, 8 p.m., free.

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

Holiday in the Park Choral Concert. Includes choirs from National Park Community College and the Fun City Chorus of Hot Springs. Hot Springs Convention Center, 6:30 p.m., nonperishable food item. 134 Convention Blvd., Hot Springs. 501-321-2027. www.hotsprings.org.

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

Arvest River Market on Ice. See Dec. 7.

FILM Toll-free: 877-321-8452 • Business Office: 501-219-8998 ArkansasUrology.com 1300 Centerview Drive Little Rock 501-219-8900 Doctors Building, Suite 205 245 Quality Drive Clinton 800-255-1762

4200 Stockton Drive North Little Rock 501-945-2121 619 N. Newton Ave. El Dorado 870-862-5439

Southern Medical Group 211 E. Stadium St. Magnolia 800-334-9755

5 Medical Park Drive, Suite GL3 Benton 501-776-3288 BMC Outpatient Clinic 1800 Bypass Road Heber Springs 800-255-1762

2504 W. Main St., Suite A Russellville 479-968-2600

30 DECEMBER 7, 2011 ARKANSAS TIMES AUA 1111 003 Building_NewNLR_4.5x12_gs.indd 1

11/4/11 1:50 PM

“The Greatest Movie Ever Sold.” Laman Library, 6 p.m., free. 2801 Orange St., NLR. 501-7581720. www.lamanlibrary.org.

“Lioness.” The story of a group of female Army support soldiers who became the first women in American history to be sent into direct ground combat. Roosevelt Thompson Library, 6 p.m., free. 38 Rahling Circle. 501-821-3060.

SPORTS

UALR Men’s Trojans vs. Oral Roberts. Jack Stephens Center, UALR, 7 p.m., $4-$35. 2801 S. University Ave.

BENEFITS

Christmas Coffee at the Governor’s Mansion.

The Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary will be selling Christmas ornaments featuring engraved images of the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion and the Old Mill, available in six colors, for $10

each. Governor’s Mansion, 10:30 a.m. p.m.

1800 Center St.

CLASSES

Finding Family Facts. Rhonda Stewart teaches genealogy research class for beginners.

Arkansas Studies Institute, second Monday of every month, 3:30 p.m. 401 President Clinton Ave. 501-320-5700 . www.butlercenter.org.

TUESDAY, DEC. 13

MUSIC

Born of Osiris, Veil of Maya, Structures, Betraying the Martyrs, A Dark End Era, From Which We Came. Downtown Music Hall, $16.

211 W. Capitol. 501-376-1819. downtownshows. homestead.com.

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

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

Lucious Spiller Band. Copeland’s, 6-9 p.m. 2602 S. Shackleford Road. 501-312-1616. www.copelandsofneworleans.com.

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

Montgomery Trucking. White Water Tavern, 10 p.m. 2500 W. 7th. 501-375-8400. www.whitewatertavern.com.

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

Windsor Drive. 18-and-older. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 8 p.m., $8 adv., $10 d.o.s.

107 Commerce St. 501-372-7707. www.stickyfingerz.com.

DANCE

Cirque du Soleil’s “Dralion.” Verizon Arena, Dec. 13-14, 7:30 p.m., $32-$142. 1 Alltel Arena Way, NLR. 501-975-9001. verizonarena.com.

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

EVENTS

Arvest River Market on Ice. See Dec. 7.

Festivus for the Best of Us. Fundraiser for the Quapaw Quarter Association includes appetizers, open bar, silent auction, local artists, feats of strength, airings of grievances, Festivus miracles and more. Arkansas Studies Institute, 6 p.m., $35-$40. 401 President Clinton Ave. 501-3710075 ext. 3. www.butlercenter.org.

FILM

“One Magic Christmas.” 1985. dir. Philip Borsos.

Market Street Cinema, 7 p.m., $5. Market Street Cinema, 7 p.m., $5. 1521 Merrill Drive. 501-3128900. www.marketstreetcinema.net.

LECTURES

Simone Joyaux. The Arkansas chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals presents this program with Simone Joyaux, a consultant to nonprofits. Hilton Medical Center Hotel, 8 a.m.:30 p.m., $35-$80. 925 S. University Ave.

THIS WEEK IN THEATER

Arkansas Arts Center Children’s Theatre: “A Year with Frog and Toad.” Arkansas Arts Center, through Dec. 18: Fri., 7 p.m.; Sat., 1 and 3 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m., $11-$14. 501 E. 9th St. 501-372-4000. www.arkarts.com.

Ballet Arkansas: “The Nutcracker.” Features the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra. Robinson Center Music Hall, Sat., Dec. 10, 7 p.m.; Sun., Dec. 11, 3 p.m., $20-$45. Markham and Broadway. www. littlerockmeetings.com/conv-centers/robinson.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 35

THE TELEVISIONIST

On Pearl Jam and ‘Work of Art’

BY DAVID KOON

AMERICAN MASTERS: PEARL JAM 9 p.m. Friday, Dec. 9 AETN

It’s hard to put into words how much a band can mean to your life. I’m not just talking about just any band. I’m talking about that special band; the first band whose music really makes you think differently about the world and your place in it, whose songs serve as the soundtrack to a significant chunk of your life. For me, born in the mid-1970s so that I wound up situated squarely in the middle of Generation X, that band is Pearl Jam. Started in 1990 in Seattle, Wash., by veteran musicians Eddie Vedder (lead vocals, guitar), Jeff Ament (bass), and Mike McCready (lead guitar), Dave Krusen (drums), and Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), Pearl Jam — along with Nirvana — formed one of the binary stars of grunge during the heyday in the 1990s. Their music taught a whole generation of young people how to feel wanted in a world that often didn’t seem to want them. While the band has shuffled through a few drummers over the years, for the most part the members of Pearl Jam have managed to stay together and alive, making them something of a rock and roll oddity for bands of the grunge era. They’re an intensely private lot, forgoing a lot of the publicity that other bands have resorted to and relying mostly on the strength of their music to spread the word. In this two-hour special for PBS (directed by rock supergeek Cameron Crowe), however, Pearl Jam celebrates the 20th anniversary of their debut album “Ten” by opening the vault, with Vedder and company sharing snippets of video, private stories, and family photographs that go all the way back to their formation

DECEMBER BOOKS 7-11 Food for Fines, fines on overdue Central Arkansas Library System materials currently checked out can be canceled with the return of the material and a donation of at least one nonperishable food item.

8 “Dr. Seuss and Philosophy: Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!” a discussion of the common ground between Socrates and the Sneetches, 7 p.m., FCL. 10 Ashley Cooksey (“My Mom is a Super Hero”), 1 p.m. TBIB. 10 Berniece Vann (“Dream a Dream: a novel”), 3 p.m., HC. 15 Mary Sue Anton and John Gill (“Open House” and “New Madrid: The Mississippi River Town in History and Legend”), 6 p.m., TBIB.

and beyond. For music fans of a certain vintage, it’s sure to be a moving experience. I know it will be for me.

WORK OF ART

9 p.m. Wednesdays Bravo

While I’m not big on reality show competitions — especially those which get talented people in a room and ask them to perform unrealistic challenges against a clock for the promise of eventual money — I’m willing to give Bravo’s “Work of Art: The Search for the Next Great Artist” the benefit of the doubt. So much that is popular in the art world these days seems to be based not on talent but on hype (see the stunningly good and sometimes deliciously absurd documentary “Exit Through the Gift Shop,” available on Netflix Instant, for a crash course in this phenomenon), so why not pick the Next Big Thing in Art through a competition.

Too, I respect the idea that the competition itself, in fact, could qualify as a kind of performance art. Now in its second season, the show has had contestants performing all sorts of tasks this fall, including revamping thrift-store paintings and sculpture to make them more artistic, using school drawings for inspiration, giving a new spin to street art, and using a piece of a Fiat 500 car as the centerpiece to a work. The winner will receive $100,000 in cash and a solo exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum.

Yes, like a lot of reality competitions, it’s unnecessarily complicated and unnecessarily demeaning to the contestants. No, I don’t think any of these folks is going to wind up the next Banksy from their exposure on the show. That said, it’s quite a bit of fun, especially for those who love art and on-the-spot creativity. Definitely worth a look.

17 Tiffany Hays (“How I Got Over”), 1 p.m., TBIB. 28 Allyson Lewis (“The 7 Minute Solution”), 4 p.m., TBIB. Area bookstores, libraries and venues: CS: Clinton School of Public Service, Sturgis Hall, 1200 President Clinton Ave., 683-5200.

FCL: Faulkner County Library, 1900 Tyler St., Conway, 501-327-7482.

HC: Hastings of Conway, 1360 Old Morrilton Hwy., Conway, 501-329-1108.

LL: Laman Library, 2801 Orange St., North Little Rock, 501-758-1720.

ML: Main Library, 100 Rock St., 918-3000.

TBIB: That Bookstore in Blytheville, 316 W. Main St., Blytheville, 870-763-3333.

WW: WordsWorth Books & Co., 5920 R St., 663-9198.

Find Us On Facebook www.facebook.com/arkansastimes

FOR YOUR ARKANSAS COLLECTION Delta Empire: Lee Wilson and the Transformation of Southern Agriculture in the New South

By Jeannie Whayne, Professor of History, U of AR Order a copy today.

Meet Jeannie Whayne Jan. 8 at 3pm

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

Saturday, March 10 Verizon Arena TICKETS ON SALE THIS FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9 AT 10AM! • Ticketmaster.com • All Ticketmaster Locations • Charge By Phone 800.745.3000 : A BEAVER PRODUCTION :

www.arktimes.com DECEMBER 7, 2011 31

HELP WANTED ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS Friday, December 9 - Thursday, December 15

CELEBRATING OUR 11th YEAR! Melancholia R 1:45 4:30 7:00 9:30

Kristen Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland Cannes Film Fest

into the abyss PG13 2:00 4:15 7:15 9:15

Jason Burkett, werner herzog, Michael Perry Toronto & Telluride Film Fest

MOVIE LISTINGS

DEC. 9-10

MaRtha MaRcy May MaRlene R 2:00 4:20 7:00 9:15

Elizabeth Olsen, Sarah Paulson, John hawkes Sundance Film Festival

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

MaRGin call R 2:15 4:25 6:45 9:00

Kevin Spacey, Demi Moore, Zachary Quinto Berlin International Film Festival take shelteR R 1:45 6:45 Michael Shannon, Jessica Chastain, Shea whigham Sundance & Cannes Film Fest the Way PG13 4:00 9:15 Emilio Estevez, Martin Sheen, Deobrah Kara Linger

sCREEn yOuR FEatuRE, shORt, dOCuMEntaRy OR MusIC vIdEO! EMaIl CInEMa8@CsWnEt.COM FOR dEtaIls

One Magic Christmas Tues 12/13 • G • 7pm • $5

NOW SERVING BEER & WINE EMAIL CINEMA8@CSWNET.COM FOR SPECIAL SHOWS, PRIVATE PARTIES & BUSINESS MEETINGS OR FILM FESTIVALS CALL (501) 223-3529 & LEAVE MESSAGE

FREE WI-FI In thE lObby

9 PM ShOwS FRI & SAT ONLY

501-312-8900 marketstreetcinema.net 1521 MERRILL DR.

GET SMART AND GET ONLINE:

SOCIAL MEDIA?

WE CAN HELP YOU USE IT

Businesses in Arkansas, large and small, use social media to connect with customers and sell their products and services.

Running a successful social media campaign takes time and a unique combination of marketing, communication and customer service skills.

That’s where we come in. Arkansas Times Social Media is staffed by experienced professionals who know how to get maximum benefit from these new mediums. Our services are priced affordably for Arkansas small businesses.

To find out more, call Kelly Ferguson, director of Arkansas Times Social Media at 501-375-2985 or email her at kellyferguson@arktimes.com

social media 201 East Markham, Suite 200 Little Rock, AR 72201 32 DECEMBER 7, 2011 ARKANSAS TIMES

NEW MOVIES The Descendants (R) – Clooney inches ever closer to making his “About Schmidt” in this tale of furrowed-browed, middle-aged soulsearching set in scenic Hawaii. Rave: 10:30 a.m., 1:15, 4:00, 7:00, 9:45.

Into the Abyss (PG-13) – Master filmmaker Werner Herzog examines crime and punishment in America in this documentary about a triple murder in Texas. Market Street: 2:00, 4:15, 7:15, 9:15.

Melancholia (R) – The latest from Dutch director Lars von Trier has to do with celestial destruction as a metaphor for feeling bummed out.

Your goth girlfriend will love this film. Market Street: 1:45, 4:30, 7:00, 9:30.

New Year’s Eve (PG-13) – What could possibly go wrong with a holiday-themed rom-com starring Ashton Kutcher, Jon Bon Jovi, Ludacris, Ryan Seacrest, Zac Efron and everyone else in the world? Breckenridge: 1:25, 4:40, 7:20, 10:10.

Rave: 12:01 a.m., 10:35 a.m., 11:15 a.m., 12:00, 1:30, 2:15, 4:30, 5:15, 5:55, 7:30, 8:15, 10:30, 11:15. Riverdale: 11:25 a.m., 1:55, 4:30, 7:00, 9:35.

The Sitter (R) – Jonah Hill plays an Apatovian man-child who must decide whether he will be the babysitter or else become the babysat, from director David Gordon Green (“Pineapple Express”). Breckenridge: 1:50, 4:50, 7:45, 9:50.

Rave: 12:01 a.m., 10:45 a.m., 11:45 a.m., 1:00, 2:00, 3:15, 4:15, 5:30, 6:30, 8:00, 8:45, 10:15, 11:15.

RETURNING THIS WEEK Abduction (PG-13) – Hey, it’s that werewolf guy from the vampire movie, and he’s in a movie (this one) where bad guys are chasing him. Don’t hurt werewolf guy, ya’ll! Movies 10: 12:05, 2:30, 4:55, 7:20, 9:45.

Arthur Christmas (PG) – This 3D computeranimated film answers the question of how Santa manages to deliver all those gifts in one night. Breckenridge: 1:05, 7:05 (2D), 4:10, 9:30 (3D). Rave: 1:10, 6:45 (2D), 10:40 a.m., 3:55, 9:20 (3D). Riverdale: 11:35 a.m., 2:00, 4:20, 6:35, 8:55.

Contagion (R) – Matt Damon, Kate Winslett, Laurence Fishburn, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, John Hawkes and Marion Cotillard star in Steven Soderbergh’s movie about a virus that kills everybody. Well not everybody, but you get the idea. Movies 10: noon, 2:40, 5:10, 7:35, 10:00.

Cowboys & Aliens (PG-13) – Exactly what it sounds like, from director Jon Favreau. Movies 10: 12:45, 4:10, 7:05, 9:55.

Dolphin Tale (PG) – This story about an injured dolphin overcoming adversity and learning to use a prosthetic tale will jerk the tears out of your face so hard you’ll get whiplash. 1:30, 4:00, 6:30, 9:20 (2D), 12:15, 2:45, 5:15, 7:45, 10:20 (3D).

Happy Feet Two (PG) – In which computer-animated penguins with famous voices sing and dance and carry on in glorious, wholly necessary 3D. Breckenridge: 1:20, 4:20, 7:15, 9:40.

Rave: 1:25, 6:35 (2D), 10:50 a.m., 4:05, 9:05 (3D).

Riverdale: 11:30 a.m., 1:55, 3:20, 4:10, 6:30, 8:50.

The Help (PG-13) — Emma Stone and Viola Davis star in this adaptation of Kathryn Stockett’s novel about the African-American maids who work in white households in 1960s Mississippi.

MISADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING: In “The Sitter,” Jonah Hill plays an unlikely babysitter who is beset from all sides by his feisty charges as he navigates the seedy underbelly of New York City on a quest for love and to get his van back.

Movies 10: 12:30, 3:45, 7:00, 10:05.

Hugo (PG) – Martin Scorsese’s latest is a familyfriendly 3D epic based on the best-selling “The Invention of Hugo Cabret.” Breckenridge: 1:05, 7:05 (2D), 4:10, 9:30 (3D). Rave: 11:00 a.m. (2D), 10:30 a.m., 1:40, 4:45, 7:50, 10:55 (3D).

Immortals 3D (R) – The producers of “300” continue to blur the line between movies and over-long video game cut-scenes. This one has hordes of glistening dudes fighting with swords and whatnot. Breckenridge: 4:25, 10:00 (2D), 1:25, 7:40 (3D). Rave: 3:00, 8:50 (2D), 11:20 a.m., 2:05, 4:55, 7:35, 10:20 (3D). Riverdale: 11:40 a.m., 2:05, 4:30, 7:15, 9:50.

J. Edgar (R) – Word is this flick is enjoyable enough, but doesn’t get into to the nitty gritty of J. Edgar Hoover’s deepest, darkest secret, namely, his crippling addiction to crossword puzzles. With Leonardo DiCaprio.

Breckenridge: 1:35, 4:40, 7:50. Rave: 10:30 a.m., 1:45, 4:50, 7:55, 11:05.

Jack & Jill (R) – Dear sweet Lord, is there any way for us to all just pay Adam Sandler to not make movies? Breckenridge: 1:15, 4:15, 7:10, 9:50.

Rave: 12:05, 2:40, 5:10, 7:40, 10:05. Riverdale: 11:15 a.m., 1:15, 3:20, 5:30, 7:40, 9:45.

Like Crazy (PG-13) – An international love story about the perils of long-distance relationships.

Rave: 2:05, 4:30, 7:15, 9:35.

Margin Call (R) – This thriller, starring Kevin Spacey, Demi Moore and Jeremy Irons, depicts a day in the life of an investment firm back in the good old days, fall 2008. Market Street: 2:15, 4:25, 6:45, 9:00.

Martha Marcy May Marlene (R) – This taut psychological thriller follows a former cult member whose reality is crumbling all around her. Market Street: 2:00, 4:15, 7:15, 9:15.

Midnight in Paris (PG-13) — Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams hang out with literary heavyweights of the 1920s in Paris. Movies 10: 12:20, 2:50, 5:20, 7:40, 10:10.

Moneyball (PG-13) – Baseball can seem pretty boring, but this movie makes it look funny, but also people learn things about life and themselves. Breckenridge: (double-feature with The Ides of March). Riverdale: 11:20 a.m., 1:50, 4:40, 7:20, 10:00.

The Muppets (PG) – This Muppets reboot starring Jason Segel and Amy Adams has gotten nothing but glowing reviews. Breckenridge: 1:40 (open-captioned), 4:45, 7:35, 10:05. Rave: 10:55 a.m., 1:35, 4:25, 7:10, 9:50. Riverdale: 11:05 a.m., 1:30, 4:05, 6:40, 9:15.

Paranormal Activity 3 (R) – The franchise continues with more found footage of people who conveniently videotape their lives. This one takes us back to the genesis of the demon

from the first two. Movies 10: 12:40, 2:55, 5:05, 7:15, 9:40.

Puss in Boots (PG) – A Shrek spin-off following the adventures of Puss in Boots, voiced by Antonio Banderas. Breckenridge: 1:45, 7:25 (2D), 4:35, 9:35 (3D). Rave: 2:30, 7:40 (2D), 11:25 a.m., 5:05, 10:10 (3D). Riverdale: 11:10 a.m., 1:20, 3:30, 5:40, 7:50, 10:05.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes (PG-13) — The resurrected ’70s sci-fi franchise continues in this origin story of just how those primates got to be so smart. Movies 10: 12:35, 3:00, 5:25, 7:50, 10:15.

The Smurfs (PG) — The venerable Dr. Doogie Howser must aid a cadre of tiny blue communists as they flee from an evil plutocrat who seeks to control their means of production.

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

Take Shelter (R) – Critically acclaimed and directed by Little Rock native Jeff Nichols, in which a husband must protect his family from his apocalyptic nightmares. Market Street: 1:45, 6:45.

Tower Heist (PG-13) – A Bernie Madoff type steals millions from his clients as well as the retirement funds of the staffers at his luxury condo. Breckenridge: 1:10, 3:50, 6:50, 9:25.

Rave: 11:05 a.m., 1:55, 4:35, 7:20, 10:00.

Riverdale: 11:45 a.m., 2:15, 4:35, 7:10, 9:40.

Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 (PG-13) – Vampires and werewolves and young actresses and supernatural battles and sexual tension and dramatic things and other stuff all are factors in this movie. Breckenridge: 1:00, 4:00, 7:00, 9:45.

Rave: 11:00 a.m., 11:50 a.m., 1:50, 2:50, 4:40, 5:40, 7:25, 8:25, 10:25, 11:25. Riverdale: 11:00 a.m., 1:40, 4:25, 7:05, 9:55.

The Way (PG-13) – Martin Sheen plays a father who learns some unexpected lessons after traveling to France to pick up the remains of his adult son, who was killed while hiking in the Pyrenees. Written and directed by Emilio Estevez. Market Street: 4:00, 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.

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

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

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

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

MOVIE REVIEW

“A

GIANT ACHIEVEMENT. A WORK OF GENIUS. A MOVIE MASTERPIECE .

”

-LISA SCHWARZBAUM, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

“SURELY ONE OF THE MOST SPECTACULAR SCREEN ACHIEVEMENTS OF RECENT YEARS.” -ANDREW O’HEHIR, SALON

“AMAZING.” -RICHARD CORLISS, TIME

KIRSTEN

CHARLOTTE

A FILM BY

KEIFER

ALEXANDER

DUNST GAINSBOURG SKARSGÅRD

AND

SUTHERLAND

LARS VON TRIER

MELANCHOLIA I T W I L L C H A N G E E V E RY T H I N G .

‘MELANCHOLIA’: Kiefer Sutherland, Kirsten Dunst and Alexander Skarsgard star.

Marriage and impending doom But ‘Melancholia’ is sumptuous.

BY SAM EIFLING

T

he opening shots of “Melancholia” depict a tableau of surreal moments captured on and around the grounds of a grand estate and golf course — a mother clutching a child, a horse falling to rest, weather amok — while a blueand-white marbled ball several times the size of Earth creeps up on our planet. As the operatic score rises and soars, the planet wanders closer and initiates a collision that sends our beloved continental plates flaking away into space like the hide of a pulverized M&M. With that, “Melancholia” announces it’s ending the world with a finality rarely imagined in even the grimmest sciencefiction flicks. (Alternate, rejected title: “Bummer.”) In its ambition and scope, you have to grant that “Melancholia” is undertaking a broad portrait of something, with visual indulgences best suited to bigscreen viewing. By the end you have to grant that even if it fell shy, it admirably aimed to die trying.

As if the end of Earth weren’t bad enough, we soon open the narrative portion of the film to find that Justine (Kirsten Dunst) and Michael (Alexander Skarsgard) are dreadfully late for their wedding reception. Their limo driver can’t negotiate a tight curve, and as both bride and groom take turns trying to steer, they seem chipper, healthy. But upon arriving at the palatial home of their hostess and host — Justine’s sister Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and her husband John (Kiefer Sutherland) — Justine fades. She connects with neither her gadfly father (John Hurt, delightfully) nor her brittle, cynical mother (Charlotte Rampling) and she continues to slink away from the party and from her family. In a second act with Claire at its center, the sisters cope with Justine’s emotional state while the news of the planet Melancholia’s approach comes to dominate the thoughts of John

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and of his and Claire’s young son, Leo (Cameron Spurr).

Lars von Trier, the director and screenwriter, overshadowed the initial reception for “Melancholia” at Cannes when he invoked Hitler stupidly at a presser, but the film nonetheless was nominated for the Palme d’Or and Dunst was dubbed Best Actress. She has never been finer, scratching out Justine’s pained lurch through life with a dark, heavy savagery. Like the onrushing Melancholia, her sadness overtakes the screen and threatens to extirpate all it touches. Von Trier alternates between sniper and mugger in his framing, at turns sweeping over the grounds of the estate or drawing back for a sunrise starring Melancholia, but lingering longer in the drawn corners of Dunst’s mouth, the haunted looks in Gainsbourg’s eyes as the planet’s approach morphs from a novelty to a threat. Through them, von Trier can paint this infinite tragedy with tight, intimate strokes.

Anything looks absurdly small when set against the impending end of the planet; that von Trier sets “Melancholia” amid a wedding and celebration by the ostentatiously wealthy seems a jab at both. To that end, the film suggests that blood is thicker than marriage. As the end of the world looms, “Melancholia” shrinks its cast, just as many of us are prone to in bad times, drawing near to those already closest, those still at hand even after hard shoves. With such a heavy title and short view of the world’s survival, “Melancholia” is tempting to read as a depression allegory. In that it must be regarded as the most pessimistic film of all time, were it not for the fact that, amid the squooshing of the entire planet, family may yet clutch tight. For that, at least, we may as well be grateful and remain calm.

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AFTER DARK, CONT. “A Brown Bear, A Moon and A Caterpillar: Treasured Stories.” Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia presents this whimsical tale drawn from three tales by children’s book author and illustrator Eric Carle. Walton Arts Center, Sun., Dec. 11, 1 p.m., $8-$16. 495 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville. 479-443-5600.

“A Christmas Carol, The Musical!.” A musical retelling of Dickens’ classic, with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens. Arkansas Repertory Theatre, through Dec. 21: Fri.Sun., 2 p.m.; Wed.-Sun., 7 p.m.; Tue., Wed., 2 p.m., $30-$60. 601 Main St. 501-378-0405. www.therep.org.

“Christmas Potpourri.” A medley of Christmas entertainment. Fort Smith Little Theatre, Dec. 8-10, 8 p.m., $5. 401 N. 6th St., Fort Smith.

Festival of One Act Plays. Two to three different one acts will be performed each evening, directed by the 2011 Directing Class and involving over 50 actors and crew. University of Central Arkansas, Wed., Dec. 7, 7:30 p.m.; Thu., Dec. 8, 7:30 p.m., free. 201 Donaghey Ave., Conway. www.uca.edu.

“Hot ‘n’ Cole, a Cole Porter Celebration.”

Fast-paced revue includes many of Porter’s hit melodies, including “Anything Goes,” “I Get a Kick Out of You,” “In the Still of the Night” and “I’ve Got You Under My Skin.”

Lantern Theatre, Dec. 7-10, 7:30 p.m.; Sun., Dec. 11, 2:30 p.m.; Dec. 14-17, 7:30 p.m.; Sun., Dec. 18, 2:30 p.m., $15. 1021 Van Ronkle, Conway. 501-733-6220. www.conwayarts. org/index.html.

“It’s A Wonderful Life.” TheatreSquared presents this stage adaptation of the classic Frank Capra film about the true meaning of Christmas. Walton Arts Center’s Nadine Baum Studios, through Dec. 18: Thu.-Sat., 7:30 p.m.; Sat., Sun., 2 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m.; Wed., Dec. 21, 2 p.m., $10-$26. 505 W. Spring St., Fayetteville. 479-443-5600. theatre2.org/.

“Judgment at Nuremberg.” Abby Mann’s drama is based on the trial of Four German judges accused of supporting the Nazis and how the case was complicated by the developing relationship between West Germany and the United States. The Weekend Theater, through Dec. 10, 7:30 p.m.; through Dec. 17, 7:30 p.m., $12-$16. 1001 W. 7th St. 501-3743761. www.weekendtheater.org.

“Miracle on 34th Street.” Based on the 1947 film, this timeless tale explores the true meaning of the Christmas season. Perot Theatre, Fri., Dec. 9, 7:30 p.m. 321 W. Fourth St., Texarkana. www.trahc.org.

“Not Now, Darling.” British farce concerns the hilarious complications between a fur shop owner, mobsters and mistresses. Murry’s Dinner Playhouse, through Dec. 10, 6 p.m.; Sun., Dec. 11, 11 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.; through Dec. 17, 6 p.m.; Sun., Dec. 18, 11 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.; through Dec. 24, 6 p.m.; through Dec. 31, 6 p.m., $15-$33. 6323 Col. Glenn Road.

501-562-3131. murrysdinnerplayhouse.com.

“Oliver!” This musical by Lionel Bart is based on the classic Charles Dickens novel. Pocket Community Theater, through Dec. 10, 7:30 p.m.; Sun., Dec. 11, 2:30 p.m., $5-$15. 170 Ravine St., Hot Springs.

Red Octopus Theater: “Pagans on Bobsleds 20!” The Red Octopus Project’s annual holiday program skewers all your favorite holiday traditions and isn’t recommended for children or the easily offended. The Public Theatre, Dec. 7-10, 8 p.m., $8-$10. 616 Center St. 504-291-3896. www.thepublictheatre.com.

“Scrooge The Musical.” Based on Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” Royal Theatre, Thu., Dec. 8, 7 p.m.; Sun., Dec. 11, 2 p.m., $5-$12. 111 S. Market St., Benton.

GALLERIES, MUSEUMS

ARKANSAS ARTS CENTER: “Understanding Will Barnet,” free film and guided tours, 6:30 p.m. Dec. 13, in conjunction with exhibit “Will Barnet at the Arkansas Arts Center: A Centennial Exhibition,” through Jan. 15; “Cast, Cut, Forged and Crushed: Selections in Metal from the John and Robyn Horn Collection,” through Jan. 15; 43rd “Collectors Show and Sale,” drawings ranging from 18th century to contemporary and contemporary craft from 26 New York galleries, through December. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat. 372-4000.

BOSWELL MOUROT FINE ART, 5815 Kavanaugh: “Putting Christ Back in X-Mas,” annual holiday party, work by Jon Etienne Mourot, 6-9 p.m. Dec. 10. 664-0030.

BUTLER CENTER GALLERIES, Arkansas Studies Institute: “Ark in the Dark: An Exhibition of Vintage Movie Posters about Arkansas,” 35 posters for films dating between 1926 and 2009, from the collection of Ron Robinson, opens with reception 5-9 p.m. Dec. 9, 2nd Friday Art Night; “Thomas Harding, Pinhole Photography,” through December; “Reflections in Pastel,” Arkansas Pastel Society’s 4th national exhibition, through Jan. 14; “Leon Niehues: 21st Century Basketmaker,” through Jan. 28. 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Sat. 320-5790.

HEARNE FINE ART, 1001 Wright Ave.: “An Annie Lee Christmas,” paintings, prints, collectibles; meet and greet 5-7 p.m. Dec. 8, Second Friday Matinee 1-3 p.m. Dec. 9, 2nd Friday Art Night reception 5-8 p.m. Dec. 9, shopping 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Dec. 10. 372-6822.

HISTORIC ARKANSAS MUSEUM, 200 E. Third St.: “Found-Fired-Formed: Sarah May Leflar, Donna Uptigrove and Amber Uptigrove,” opens with reception 5-8 p.m. Dec. 9, 2nd Friday Art Night, with 7th Ever Nog-off eggnog contest and live music by Meshugga Klezmer Band; “Tesseract Dancing: Brett Anderson and Emily Galusha,” through Feb. 5; “Playing at War: Children’s Civil War Era Toys,” through Jan. 10; “Reel to Real: ‘Gone with the Wind’ and the Civil War in Arkansas,” artifacts from the Shaw-Tumblin collection, through April 30, 2012. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. 324-9351.

KETZ GALLERY, 705 Main St., NLR: “Hollyfest,” holiday art show and sale with 20 percent discount on work by Sulac, Sterling Cockrill, Coco Cohen and Rene Hein, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Dec. 8-10; “Birds of Arkansas,” recent paintings by Rene Hein; landscapes by Louise Carlisle and new work by Marty Smith and Diane Plunkett.

529-6330.

PULASKI HEIGHTS CHRISTIAN CHURCH, 4724 Hillcrest Ave.: “Holiday Art Show and Sale” of paintings by Matt McLeod, 5:30-9 p.m. Dec. 9.

ROCK PAPER SCISSORS BY MARSHALL CLEMENTS, Promenade at Chenal: Impressionist landscapes and still lifes by Trey McCarley, reception 4-7 p.m. Dec. 8. 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Mon.-Sat., noon-7 p.m. Sun. 821-3700.

UNIVERSITY PLAZA SUITE 300: UALR Applied Design Department’s “Fall 2011 Open Studio,” exhibition by faculty and students, silent auction, raffle, sale, 4-7 p.m. Dec. 14.

569-3182 or 683-7556.

BENTON SALINE COUNTY LIBRARY, Herzfeld Library: Artwork by Stephanie Cheatham through January, reception 2-3:30 p.m. Dec. 17. 501778-4766.

PINE BLUFF JAMES HAYES HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE, 2900 Ridgway Road: Glass blowing demonstrations and art by the glass artist for sale, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

Dec. 10. 870-540-9080.

www.arktimes.com DECEMBER 7, 2011 35

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Dining

Information in our restaurant capsules

reflects the opinions of the newspaper staff and its reviewers. The newspaper accepts no advertising or other considerations in

exchange for reviews, which are conducted anonymously. We invite the opinions of

readers who think we are in error.

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

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

WHAT’S COOKIN’ CURRY IN A HURRY, at 1800 Pike

Ave. in North Little Rock, had its grand opening on Nov. 11. The restaurant is a tiny, home-style Indian affair, owned by the same family that operates the adjoining convenience store. Sahil Hameerani runs the restaurant, and his father does the cooking.

All food is cooked fresh on-site, and Hameerani is currently working on a combo menu. A single meal ranges from $10 to $15. The phone number is 753-4400.

GRAV WELDON

HOLIDAY SPIRIT THRIVES at Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack where, till Jan. 1, 2012, adventurous chicken and music lovers can sample pumpkin battered fingers with Cranberry Voodoo Sauce. The Smashing Pumpkin Fingerz, an obvious reference to Stickyz’s other specialty, breaks an eight-year dearth of new Stickyz chicken finger flavors.

SATISFYING: Greenhouse Grille’s lamb and herb meatballs.

Go Greenhouse Fayetteville’s Greenhouse Grille impresses.

W

e have taken great interest in this Fayetteville operation, now set up next door to where the local farmers market meets. From outside, the building beckons with planters and beds of herbs, vegetables and shrubs — many of which are used in the dishes inside.

Greenhouse Grille has also partnered with dozens of local farmers and meat and dairy producers to create its menu.

We ordered the Sweden Creek Farms Organic Shiitake Mushroom Fries ($9) on both of our recent visits and have come to the conclusion that they are far superior to traditional potato fries. The thick planks of mushroom cap were dipped in a tempuratype batter and were served with a tarragon ranch dip and cumin-flavored “magic catsup.” The slices themselves were pliant and tasty. The tarragon dip was all right, but the drizzle of magic catsup on the side was fantastic. We’d purchase a bottle if it were available to take home.

We also tried the filling Parmesan and Herb Risotto Balls ($7). The cheese and rice were creamy smooth and a little salty. The Roasted Garlic Aioli came in a sour cream-textured smear on the plate. The risotto balls would have been excellent on their own, but the

Greenhouse Grille

481 South School Fayetteville 479-444-8909 www.greenhousegrille.com QUICK BITE With all these tasty offerings, one might decide to skip dessert. We urge you not to — the Chocolate Chunk Bourbon Pecan Pie is one of the absolute best pies we have found in the state. The rich and thick custard is cluttered with chocolate chunks and sits on a cookie crust under candied pecans and a nice scoop of vanilla ice cream. It’s served with an ample serving of berries for a very complete and gorgeous finish to a meal.

HOURS 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday.

OTHER INFO All credit cards accepted. Full bar.

aioli made them all that much better.

We also tried two entrees from the autumn menu (the menu changes seasonally). The Tuscan Vegetable Pasta ($16) was a large bowl of bowtie pasta, garbanzo beans, roasted red bell peppers and artichoke hearts topped with some fresh-made ricotta-like goat cheese. We appreciated the attention

to detail with the all-vegetarian plate and liked it, though it needed a touch of salt.

We were even more pleased with the Lamb & Herb Meatballs ($20), a trio of two-and-a-half-inch-thick eggshaped meatballs packed with sundried tomato, green onions and bits of herb and served atop a pile of fresh-made angel hair pasta and under a crown of sundried tomatoes, sauteed mushrooms and locally produced feta cheese. The bits of mushroom had the tenderness and flavor of finely cooked veal; the sundried tomatoes added the right amount of spark to brighten up the mild pasta and sauce. The meatballs were succulent but a little under-spiced, but the brightly sharp cheese made up for that in spades.

We also tried a side of the delectable Root Vegetable Fried Wild Rice ($3.50), almost creamy with bits of carrots and onions throughout. Our dining companion claimed he would order this alone in a double order and be happy with dinner.

On our other visit we tried items from the regular menu. We sampled the Greek Quesadilla ($10) with spinach, artichoke hearts, garbanzo beans, mozzarella, feta cheese, cumin cream sauce and roasted bell peppers and found it to be decent, though not extraordinary.

We also tried one of the burgers, the Goat Cheese Burger with Spinach and Roasted Garlic Aioli ($10). We found the garlic a little strong, though the oregano-infused tomato tapenade was excellent.

AFTER WITNESSING THE SUCCESS

of kitchen incubators in towns with similar demographics such as Florence, Ala., and Athens, Ohio, the city of West Memphis has developed plans to revitalize the depressed Arkansas Delta by building its own 6,000-square-foot kitchen incubator.

Kitchen incubators are licensed facilities that lease time to local entrepreneurs, such as caterers and packaged food manufacturers. Currently Arkansas producers of jams and jellies, dips and other local foodstuffs found in regional gift shops and tourist centers often travel to eastern Tennessee and northern Alabama to create their wares. Sometimes local food entrepreneurs use their personal kitchens, violating health codes and making them vulnerable to expensive fines. The kitchen incubator will offer an affordable, licensed facility to entrepreneurs who can’t afford to build a private facility. Delta Cuisine, the nonprofit behind the project, also plans to provide training in basic business finances and product marketing and promotion.

Construction will be fast-tracked, with a proposed opening date at the end of 2012. In addition to Arkansas, the incubator will serve southern Missouri and Memphis.

DINING CAPSULES

AMERICAN

4 SQUARE CAFE AND GIFTS Vegetarian salads, soups, wraps and paninis and a daily selection of desserts. 405 President Clinton Ave. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$.

501-244-2622. L daily. D Mon.-Sat. ARGENTA MARKET A deli featuring a daily selection of big sandwiches along CONTINUED ON PAGE 38

www.arktimes.com DECEMBER 7, 2011 37

CROSSWORD

DINING CAPSULES, CONT.

EDITED BY WILL SHORTZ Across 1 Astronomer Sagan 5 Final preceder 9 Like E.T.’s voice 14 Sounder of the tuning note at the start of an orchestra rehearsal 15 Gillette ___ II 16 Apple communication tool 17 See 37-Across 19 Palace employee 20 Appeal 21 “Aren’t you special!”

22 Caleb who wrote “The Alienist” 23 See 37-Across 28 Provider of a jawbone to Samson 29 G.I. address 30 Traffic caution

31 “Stat!”

34 Clingy wrap 36 London’s ___ Gardens 37 Grammatical infelicity … or what 17-, 23-, 48- or 60-Across is?

41 Part of R.S.V.P. 42 Runaways 43 Linear, briefly 44 “___ tu” (Verdi aria) 45 Foot soldiers: Abbr.

46 TV extraterrestrial 48 See 37-Across 54 Neck of the woods 55 Crones 56 A hand 58 Where the brain resides, slangily 60 See 37-Across 62 “Ask me anything”

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE A S S O C

G O T T A

H I L L

O N U S

A P A R

M I C A

A L O O P O C C U P A N C Y

P E O S P P E X T A I A F T H A O R R E E O A U M P N A C H I L A I E N

A D D I N V E R S E

D R O S S E C O

R O N G M E I T

Z E A E S S R N A P E A W D I M E A M S R A E T C H A S A T S H E Q U A R A F N I C K D E E A O N

G A N G S I G N S

A C N E

S K Y E

C A G E

I D E A

T I E R S

E L L I E

R E S E T

63 Part of Georgia is in it 64 Sound 65 “___ Doone,” 1869 historical romance 66 Alpine capital 67 Food safety org.

Down 1 Some prison furnishings 2 Circa 3 Official state sport of Wyoming 4 Wahine wear 5 Bar lineup 6 Weasley family owl, in Harry Potter books 7 ___ Picchu (Inca site) 8 Put away 9 Pasta variety 10 Honda division 11 Shiny suit fabric 12 Score to aim for 13 Stock page abbr.

18 Part of R.S.V.P. 22 Hearings channel 24 Big ___ (nickname of baseball’s David Ortiz) 25 “We’ll always have ___” (line from “Casablanca”) 26 Student in 25Down 27 Planted 31 It’s a plus 32 Vice president Agnew

1

2

3

4

17

18

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21 23

31

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8

9

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29

33

34 38

44

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40 43 46

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54 59

13

30

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45

48

12

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16

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58

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53 57

Puzzle by Barry Franklin and Sara Kaplan

33 Pricey belt material 34 Smokeless tobacco 35 At the back of a boat 38 Ambitious track bet 39 Ancient Aegean region 40 Elegantly dressed bloke

46 Crocheted item 47 Simpson girl 49 1970s-’90s film company 50 “Along ___ lines …”

51 P.L.O.’s Arafat 52 Goodbyes 53 Cede

57 Actress de Matteo of “The Sopranos” 58 Communication syst. for the hearing-impaired 59 However, for short 60 Bar bill 61 Fifth of seven: 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).

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Crosswords for young solvers: nytimes.com/learning/xwords.

THIS MODERN WORLD

38 DECEMBER 7, 2011 ARKANSAS TIMES

5

14

with fresh fish and meats and salads. 521 N. Main St. NLR. Beer, Wine, All CC. $-$$. 501-379-9980. BL daily, D Mon.-Sat. ARKANSAS BURGER CO. Good burgers, fries and shakes, plus salads and other entrees. 7410 Cantrell Road. Beer, Wine, All CC. $-$$. 501-6630600. LD Tue.-Sat. ASHLEY’S The premier fine dining restaurant in Little Rock marries Southern traditionalism and haute cuisine. 111 W. Markham St. Full bar, All CC. $$$. 501-374-7474. BLD Mon.-Sat. BR Sun. BELWOOD DINER Traditional breakfasts and plate lunch specials are the norm. 3815 MacArthur Drive. NLR. No alcohol, No CC. $. 501-753-1012.

BRAVE NEW RESTAURANT The food’s great, portions huge, prices reasonable. 2300 Cottondale Lane. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-663-2677.

LD Mon.-Fri. D Sat. BURGER MAMA’S Big burgers and oversized onion rings headline the menu. 10721 Kanis Rd. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-225-2495. LD daily.

BY THE GLASS A broad but not ridiculously large wine list is studded with interesting, diverse selections, and prices are uniformly reasonable.

5713 Kavanaugh Blvd. Beer, Wine, All CC. $$. 501-663-9463. D Mon.-Sat. CAPITAL BAR AND GRILL Big hearty sandwiches, daily lunch specials and fine evening dining all rolled up into one at this landing spot downtown.

111 Markham St. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-374-7474. LD daily.

CAPITOL BISTRO Breakfast and lunch items, including quiche, sandwiches, coffees and the like. 1401 W. Capitol Ave. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-371-9575. BL Mon.-Fri. CATERING TO YOU Painstakingly prepared entrees and great appetizers in this gourmet-to-go location, attached to a gift shop. 8121 Cantrell Road.

No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-664-0627. L Mon.-Sat. CATFISH HOLE Downhome place for well-cooked catfish and tasty hushpuppies. 603 E. Spriggs. NLR. Beer, All CC. $-$$. 501-758-3516. D Tue.-Sat. CHEEBURGER CHEEBURGER Premium black Angus cheeseburgers, with five different sizes, and nine cheese options. For sides, milkshakes and golden-fried onion rings are the way to go. 11525 Cantrell Rd. No alcohol, All CC. $$. 501-490-2433. LD daily.

CIAO BACI The focus is on fine dining in this casually elegant Hillcrest bungalow, though tapas are also available. 605 N. Beechwood St. Full bar, All CC. $$$. 501-603-0238. D Mon.-Sat. CRAZEE’S COOL CAFE Good burgers, daily plate specials and bar food.

7626 Cantrell Road. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-221-9696. LD Mon.-Sat. DIVERSION TAPAS RESTAURANT Hillcrest wine bar with diverse tapas menu. 2611 Kavanaugh Blvd., Suite 200. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-4140409. D Mon.-Sat. DOE’S EAT PLACE Huge steaks, great tamales and broiled shrimp, and killer burgers at lunch. 1023 W. Markham St. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$.

501-376-1195. LD Mon.-Fri., D Sat. DUB’S HAMBURGER HEAVEN A standout dairy bar. The hamburger, onion rings and strawberry milkshake make a meal fit for kings. 6230 Baucum Pike. NLR. No alcohol, No CC. $-$$. 501-955-2580. BLD daily.

EJ’S EATS AND DRINKS The friendly neighborhood hoagie shop downtown serves at a handful of tables and by delivery. The sandwiches are generous, the soup homemade and the salads cold. 523 Center St. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-666-3700. LD Mon.-Fri. FLYING FISH The fried seafood is fresh and crunchy and there are plenty of raw, boiled and grilled offerings, too. The hamburgers are a hit, too.

511 President Clinton Ave. Beer, Wine, All CC. $$. 501-375-3474. LD daily.

GRUMPY’S TOO Music venue and sports bar with lots of TVs, pub grub and regular drink specials. 1801 Green Mountain Drive. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-225-3768. LD Mon.-Sat. HOMER’S Great vegetables, huge yeast rolls and killer cobblers. 2001 E. Roosevelt Road. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-374-1400. BL Mon.-Fri. THE HOUSE Traditional fare like burgers and fish and chips alongside Thai green curry and gumbo. 722 N. Palm St. Beer, Wine, All CC. $$-$$$.

501-663-4501. D daily, BR and L Sat.-Sun. JIMMY’S SERIOUS SANDWICHES Consistently fine sandwiches, side orders and desserts for 30 years. Chicken salad’s among the best in town.

Get there early for lunch. 5116 W. Markham St. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$.

501-666-3354. L Mon.-Sat. KRAZY MIKE’S Po’Boys, catfish and shrimp and other fishes, fried chicken wings and all the expected sides served up fresh and hot to order on demand. 200 N. Bowman Road. Beer, All CC. $$. 501-907-6453. LD daily.

LOCA LUNA Grilled meats, seafood and pasta dishes that never stray far from country roots, whether Italian, Spanish or Arkie. 3519 Old Cantrell Rd. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-663-4666. L Sun.-Fri., D daily.

LULAV Comfortably chic downtown bistro with continental and Asian fare.

220 A W. 6th St. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-374-5100. BL Mon.-Fri., D daily.

MILFORD TRACK Hot entrees change daily and there are soups, sandwiches, salads and killer desserts. Bread is baked in-house. 10809 Executive Center Drive, Searcy Building. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-2232257. BL Mon.-Sat. OYSTER BAR Gumbo, red beans and rice, peel-and-eat shrimp, oysters on the half shell, addictive po’ boys. 3003 W. Markham St. Beer, Wine, All CC. $-$$. 501-666-7100. LD Mon.-Sat. OZARK COUNTRY RESTAURANT Specializes in big country breakfasts

DINING CAPSULES, CONT. and pancakes plus sandwiches and several meat-and-two options for lunch and dinner.

202 Keightley Drive. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$.

501-663-7319. B daily, L Mon.-Fri., D Thu.-Sat. PORTER’S JAZZ CAFE Nice takes on Southern cuisine are joined by chicken wings, a fabulous burger and a Sunday brunch that features an impressive array of breakfast and lunch foods at a reasonable price. 315 Main St. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-324-1900. LD Mon.-Sun. BR Sun. SALUT BISTRO This bistro/late-night hangout does upscale Italian for dinner and pub grub until the wee hours. 1501 N. University. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-660-4200. L Mon.-Fri., D Tue.-Sat. SBIP’S RESTAURANT Casual fine dining with sandwich and salads on its lunch menu.

Sunday brunch, too. 700 E. Ninth St. Full bar, All CC. 501-372-7247. LD Mon.-Sat. BR Sun. SCALLIONS Reliably good food, great desserts, pleasant atmosphere, able servers.

5110 Kavanaugh Blvd. Beer, Wine, All CC. $-$$.

501-666-6468. L Mon.-Sat. SONNY WILLIAMS’ STEAK ROOM Steaks, chicken and seafood in a wonderful setting in the River Market. 500 President Clinton Ave. Full bar, All CC. $$$. 501-324-2999. D Mon.-Sat. STAGECOACH GROCERY AND DELI Fine po’ boys and muffalettas — and cheap. 6024 Stagecoach Road. Beer, Wine, All CC. $-$$.

501-455-4157. BL daily. D Mon.-Fri. TERRI-LYNN’S BAR-B-Q AND DELI Highquality meats served on large sandwiches and good tamales served with chili or without.

10102 N. Rodney Parham Road. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-227-6371. LD Tue.-Sat. (10:30 a.m.-6 p.m.).

UNION BISTRO Casual upscale bistro and lounge with a new American menu of tapas and entrees. 3421 Old Cantrell Road. Full bar, All CC. $$$. 501-353-0360.

ASIAN

GINA’S A broad and strong sushi menu along with other Japanese standards. 14524 Cantrell Road. Beer, Wine, All CC. $$. 501-868-7775.

LD daily.

HANAROO SUSHI BAR One of the few spots in downtown Little Rock to serve sushi. With an expansive menu, featuring largely Japanese fare. 205 W. Capitol Ave. Beer, Wine, All CC. $$. 501-301-7900. L Mon.-Fri., D Mon.-Sat. LEMONGRASS ASIA BISTRO Thai bistro. 4629 E. McCain Blvd. NLR. 501-945-4638.

PHO THANH MY It says “Vietnamese noodle soup” on the sign out front, and that’s what you should order. 302 N. Shackleford Road.

No alcohol, All CC. $$. 501-312-7498.

SEKISUI Fresh-tasting sushi chain with fun hibachi grill and an overwhelming assortment of traditional entrees. 219 N. Shackleford Road.

Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-221-7070. LD daily.

SHOGUN JAPANESE STEAKHOUSE The chefs will dazzle you, as will the variety of tasty stir-fry combinations and the sushi bar. 2815 Cantrell Road. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-6667070. D daily.

WASABI Downtown sushi and Japanese cuisine. 101 Main St. Full bar, All CC. $-$$.

501-374-0777. L Mon.-Fri., D Mon.-Sat.

BARBECUE

CHIP’S BARBECUE Tasty barbecue piled high on sandwiches generously doused with the original tangy sauce or one of five other sauces. 9801 W. Markham St. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-225-4346. LD Mon.-Sat. DIXIE PIG Pig salad is tough to beat. The sandwiches are basic, and the sweet, thick sauce is fine. 900 West 35th St. NLR. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-753-9650. LD Mon.-Sat.

EUROPEAN / ETHNIC

ARABICA HOOKAH CAFE Kebabs and salads along with just about any sort of Middle Eastern fare you might want. Halal butcher on duty. 3400 S. University Ave. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-379-8011. LD daily.

CREGEEN’S IRISH PUB Irish-themed pub with a large selection of on-tap and bottled British beers and ales, an Irish inspired menu and lots of nooks and crannies to meet in. 301 Main St. NLR. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-376-7468. LD daily.

ISTANBUL MEDITERRANEAN CUISINE Decent kebabs and great starters. The red pepper hummus is a winner. 11525 Cantrell Road. No alcohol, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-2239332. LD daily.

LEO’S GREEK CASTLE Gyro sandwiches or platters, falafel and tabouleh — plus dependable hamburgers, ham sandwiches, steak platters and BLTs. 2925 Kavanaugh Blvd. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-666-7414. BLD daily.

SILVEK’S EUROPEAN BAKERY Fine pastries, chocolate creations, breads and cakes done in the classical European style. 1900 Polk St. No alcohol, All CC. $$. 501-661-9699. BLD daily.

ZOGI’S EURO ASIAN BISTRO Euro-Asian fusion with a lot of Mongolian items (buns, Mongolian beef). 11321 W. Markham St. $-$$.

501-246-4597.

Central arkansas’s

loCal Guides Natives Guide

to Pulaski County

s a m t s i r h C

ELEVEN FOR 2011

in the

A list of Little Rock must-dos. where to watch | where to PLaY | where to ShoP | where to PartY

Wild

where to LISteN | where to LearN | what to reaD | what to eat who to caLL | how to Get there

ITALIAN

CAFE PREGO Dependable entrees of pasta, pork, seafood, steak and the like. 5510 Kavanaugh Blvd. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$.

501-663-5355. LD Mon.-Fri., D Sat. CIAO The fine pasta and seafood dishes, ambiance and overall charm combine to make it a relaxing, enjoyable, affordable choice. 405 W. Seventh St. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-372-0238.

L Mon.-Fri., D Thu.-Sat. GRADY’S PIZZAS AND SUBS Pizza features a pleasing blend of cheeses rather than straight mozzarella. 6801 W. 12th St., Suite C. Beer, Wine, All CC. $-$$. 501-663-1918. LD daily.

IRIANA’S PIZZA Unbelievably generous handtossed New York style pizza with unmatched zest. 201 E. Markham St. Beer, Wine, All CC. $-$$. 501-374-3656. LD Mon.-Sat. PIERRE’S GOURMET PIZZA CO. EXPRESS KITCHEN The first RV entry into mobile food truck scene. With a broad menu of pizza, calzones, salads and subs. 760 C Edgewood Drive. No alcohol, No CC. $$. 501-410-0377.

L Mon.-Fri. ZAFFINO’S BY NORI A high-quality Italian dining experience. 2001 E. Kiehl Ave. NLR. Beer, Wine. 501-834-7530. D Tue.-Sat.

Visitor’s Guide To GreaTer LiTTLe rock

Dec 10 th and

Dec 17th at 9:30 am

Your

ultimate

Guide For Where To Go, Where To Shop, Where To STay, Where To eaT

the

Guins are her penSee e!

Them aT The zoo

VISITOR’S GUIDE TO GREATER LITTLE ROCK • 2012

1

2011 Neighborhood Dining Guide

THE

MEXICAN

BROWNING’S MEXICAN FOOD New rendition of a 65-year institution in Little Rock is a totally different experience. Large menu with some hits and some misses. 5805 Kavanaugh Blvd. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-663-9956. LD daily.

CANON GRILL Tex-Mex, pasta, sandwiches and salads. 2811 Kavanaugh Blvd. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-664-2068. LD daily.

COTIJA’S Massive menu of tasty lunch and dinner specials. 406 S. Louisiana St. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-244-0733. L Mon.-Sat. EL JALAPENO TEX-MEX GRILL Tex-Mex, with a lunch buffet 220 W 4th St. 501-244-0001.

LA REGIONAL The menu offers a whirlwind trip through Latin America. Bring your Spanish/ English dictionary. 7414 Baseline Road. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-565-4440. BLD daily.

TAQUERIA KARINA AND CAFE A real Mexican neighborhood cantina. 5309 W. 65th St. Beer, No CC. $. 501-562-3951. LD Tue.-Thu.

Come meet Santa and enjoy milk and cookies, arts & crafts, and watch Santa present gifts to the animals. bers

non-mem

$15 members

ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT

TO

ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO ARKANSAS TIMES

NOVEMBER 9, 2011 33

digital editions of arkansas times special issues are available online at www.arktimes.com

$10

Reservations required!

Tickets in the Gift Shop or call 661-7203

www.littlerockzoo.com #1 Zoo Drive • Little Rock, AR

www.arktimes.com DECEMBER 7, 2011 39

Holiday

Clinton Museum Store TOMS gives thrice!

1.To you or your lucky recipient.

2. A free pair to a child in need.

3. Our profits support the Clinton Foundation.

Catering To You Come find a great gift for your favorite child. We have unique and fun children’s gifts for all ages, ranging from infants to 10 year olds. Let us help you or Santa stock up this holiday season

N

ot to be pushy, but this is, after all, the final holiday push. This week, we’re not just concerning ourselves with gift giving, as generous as that would be. We’re also pondering holiday parties and the eternal question of what to wear.

Allow us to help you find the right outfit, shoes, hairstyle and overall look so you’re ready to sparkle. See below for ideas on gifts, seasonal attire and more.

If you can’t stand the heat, get out of your kitchen and head to KITCHEN CO. They offer a wide variety of weekly cooking classes including grilling techniques, hands on pasta making, sushi and kid’s classes. Their team of talented chefs includes a cookbook author, award-winning pie maker, local restaurateur and an instructor from Pulaski Technical College’s Culinary Arts School. You’ll leave each class inspired, sated and full of culinary confidence. December classes include: Stuffed Poblano Peppers with Karol Zoeller on the 16th, Dog Treats Kid’s Class with Jennifer Watts on the 17th, and Seafood with Donnie Ferneau on the 19th. Experience for yourself, or give to a friend.

And while thinking kitchen thoughts, consider KREBS and their M’cook collection. M’cook offers professionals and household cooks the highest culinary technology. Five layers of materials provide perfect conductivity for each product, thanks to fast and uniform heat distribution.

The handles are made from cast stainless steel or cast iron and reinforce the pure and modern design. Each piece is handcrafted in France by Mauviel, which has been manufacturing cookware since 1830. Très chic for all chefs.

CATERING TO YOU doesn’t just have tasty stuff for stocking the pantry. They also have a well-stocked

40 December 7, 2011 ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO THE ARKANSAS TIMES

gift shop that includes great toys for kids like fuzzy slippers, books, tea sets and pig poppers (you’ll have to see for yourself). They also carry super cute fleece car seat covers that will keep your little one safe and snug.

(And speaking of kids, there’s nothing the mother of a newborn appreciates more than a casserole from Catering to You!)

It all began when Alden Burge began smoking turkeys in his backyard smokehouse in Lewisville, Arkansas, for friends and family. Soon co-workers were asking him to smoke turkeys for them, too, and in1962, Burge opened the original BURGES in Lewisville, and The Little Rock location followed in 1977, and has since become a neighborhood institution, serving generations of families (sometimes all at once!). It’s quite common to see grandparents, parents and kids gathered around a table enjoying turkey salad sandwiches, tots and cherry limeades (with crushed ice). Burges is also a hopping spot during the holidays as people stop by to pick up their favorite turkeys and hams—and now families from all over can enjoy Burges, too. Owner Jeff Voyles says, “With our web site, www. smokedturkeys.com, our customer base has grown to include families and businesses in every state.” Burges has definitely moved well beyond the backyard.

Now that you’re well fed and have outfitted your kitchen, it’s time to outfit you and yours for the festivities . . . For swell shoes at primo prices, head to SHOE CONNECTION, where you can now enjoy 1/3 off fall shoes and boots. They carry all the cool brands and styles, from trendy to comfy to athletic, so this is a sale you won’t want to miss.

For fancy footwork, head to SOLEMATES. Owner Shelly SteedArnold of is getting a real kick out of Lane Boots, cowboy kicks for the fashion-forward. Check out the Lane Boot trunk show through December 14 at the store. SteedArnold says, “They’re all handmade in Mexico. We have samples and can do custom orders.” She also suggests wrapping up a scarf for the holidays, “Monogrammed, cashmere-like scarves are really hot sellers for us right now. They’re super soft and make great teacher gifts. They’re only $32, including monogramming!” So much better than a candle or coffee mug.

BARBARA GRAVES INTIMATE FASHIONS knows how to keep it cas.

Over the past couple of years, they’ve added casual clothing to their line-up, and this season, they say, is all about layers. Pair tights and leggings with stylish sweaters, pullover tops, jackets and vests for an easy, chic look. With an extensive selection of colors, sizes and prices, shopping is a snap. And, of course, Barbara Graves can always take care of your “underneath it all” needs. Bring your party dress to the store and have a private fitting to get just the right shapewear and matching stockings.

BARBARA JEAN has extended their hours for the holidays, Sunday 1-5, and is offering a fall merchandise sale that can’t be beat. Find haute holiday wear for every event on your social calendar. Thinking past the season, Heather Gray of B. Jean does

December 7, 2011 ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO THE ARKANSAS TIMES 40

Holiday

a bit of forecasting and predicts a bright future for the store, “For Spring we will have lots of color. Neon will be big.”

Hello, ‘80s, it’s been too long.

KENNETH EDWARDS is settling nicely into their new location at Promenade at Chenal. At both stores they carry top lines like Erica Courtney, Martin Flyer, Ritani, Charles Krypell, Cordova and Mariani along with watches by Philip Stein Teslar, Ball, Oris, Le Vian and Phosphor. We’re told that wintry bright silver and gold pieces from Gabriel & Co. are at the top of everyone’s wish list.

Now for some things to put under the tree and in stockings . . . BOX TURTLE is your stocking stuffer station. Owner Emese Boone suggests the following, all for under $20: Glitter Hair Ties $2, Mini Recipe Boxes $11, Hanky Panky Panties $18, Body Butter Sticks $10, Mini Emergency Kit for Her or Mom $14, Personalized Worry Dolls $2, Fortune Coin Bags $1.50, Love Birds Holding a Note $5, Haitian Hearts $5, Instant Underpants $4, Tiny Journals $3, Jonathan Adler Zodiac Pads $5.50, Tokyo Milk Travel Candle $13, Saint Bracelet $3.

In the words of REO Speedwagon, climb aboard the dream weaver train.

The DREAMWEAVERS 2nd Saturday sale is expanding for December and will be held December 9-17. Dreamweavers focuses on being green (and not just at Christmas). A lot of their products are made from upcylced materials, which means they’re comprised of scrap from other industries. From throws to pillows, all are soft and washable. Their outlet store on Spring St. downtown sells products at half of wholesale— unique items you won’t find in a big box store.

Just in time for the holidays, the CLINTON MUSEUM STORE offers A Sweet World of White House Desserts by Roland Mesnier, the recently retired pastry chef to five U.S. presidents. Just published by the White House Historical Association, this beautiful 144-page book features

over 135 full-color images of his oneof-a-kind creations, and Chef Mesnier’s stories about the people and places that inspired them. A truly sweet gift for family and friends.

THE ARKANSAS ART CENTER MUSEUM SHOP has long been a go-to for savvy shoppers in search of unique gifts. There’s truly something for everyone: umbrellas, art-inspired tees and those crazy creations from local artist Jane Hankins. As always, AAC members receive 10% off. Give yourself the gift of membership and save big for the holiday. (Free giftwrapping too!)

GALLERY 26 continues to celebrate the season with their wildly popular, 17th annual Holiday Show, which runs through January 14. Owner Renee Williams reports brisk sales and a great response. She says, “All the artists have thankfully brought in really affordable pieces this year, which, of course, people love.”

Now it’s time to get gorgeous and get fit . . .

Increase your batting average this season with Xtreme Lashes Eyelash Extensions, a revolutionary product that will give you longer, thicker, more luscious eyelashes. Tom Crone of INDULGENCES BY BODY BRONZE says that natural-looking Xtreme Lashes are not traditional false eyelashes. They are single synthetic strands of eyelashes applied one at a time directly to your individual eyelashes by a certified stylist. With routine touchups every 2 to 4 weeks, you can have amazing eyelashes through the holidays and well into the new year.

Dr. Anne Trussell’s SEI BELLA MED SPA is a small, private clinic located on the Baptist Health campus. Dr. Trussell is on site and offers free consultations, doing many of the procedures and treatments herself.

Sei Bella Med Spa offers a wide range of services including Lipo-Ex, medical grade chemical peels, DermaFrac, IPL for photofacials, hair removal and spider veins. Injectables include Botox,

41 December 7, 2011 ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO THE ARKANSAS TIMES

Indulgences by Body Bronze Warm Winter Dreams... $275 Value for $149 or $109 for Members One Hour Swedish Aromatherapy Massage with Beautiful Back Scrub, In Room Facial, Lip Exfoliation and Hand & Foot Treatment.

Become a Member for Zero Down in December, only $9.99/MO.

Sei Bella Med Spa First there was Botox, then Dysport, now Xeomin (incobotulinumtoxinA)! It works like the other two by freezing the muscles in the upper face that cause wrinkles. However, there are no additives in Xeomin, just botulinum toxin A. This will lessen a person’s chance of forming antibodies. When you form antibodies to botulinum toxin A you don’t get the desired result which is the disappearance of those aggravating frownlines, forehead lines and crow’s feet. Stop by to look and feel great this Holiday Season!

December 7, 2011 ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO THE ARKANSAS TIMES 41

Holiday

Xeomin,Juvederm and Radiesse. Full range of massage therapy. Skin care lines include Obagi, Young Pharmaceuticals and Bionet. Trussell says, “Our goal is to help the busy parent and professional look younger and more refreshed, delaying the time to invasive procedures.”

Check her monthly newsletter for special offers and/or discounts for those on the mailing list and visit her web site and blog, www.annetrussellmd.com and www.drannetrussell.blogspot.com.

Cycling means different things to different people. Some enjoy the escape

and adventure it affords, while others find it an effective tool for weight loss.

For others, it’s the preferred mode of exercise when recovering from injury.

Whatever the allure, CHAINWHEEL has the bike and gear for you—and this includes Treks for tikes. Many kids will

receive that all-important first bike this Christmas, and Chainwheel wants every one of them to have a great first-bike experience. Their Trek kids’ bikes are designed with super-smart features, like Trek’s exclusive Dialed Fit system that allows the bike to grow along with its young rider. And of course, Chainwheel’s bikes are assembled and serviced by professional elves.

Find a gift that speaks to you at SPOKES. Regina Seelinger says that their knowledgeable sales staff is at the ready to help with gift consultation.

“Whether you need a cyclist gift or something that an outdoor enthusiast would enjoy, we have you covered.

We also offer items such as Oakley sunglasses and the new GoPro Hero 2 camera,” says Seelinger. She adds that Spokes offers free gift-wrapping on gift certificates, clothing and accessories.

Spokes will be open on Sunday’s from 1-5PM from now until Christmas!

It’s a techy subject. This week, Erin Taylor of GO! RUNNING is jazzed about the store’s many offerings for the high-tech runner. Taylor says, “This holiday season, give the gift of technology! GPS watches allow runners to fine tune the intricacies of their training, with models ranging from more basic to highly technical. We have lots of models to choose from. And to keep you jamming, we have Yurbuds, which eliminate the dreaded popped out headphone that frustrates many a runner and walker.” Taylor also wants to remind you to join them every Thursday at 6:00 p.m. for their Thursday Night Go! Run. All paces welcome, 3-6 mile routes.

Far be it from us to instill a sense of urgency, but the clock is ticking. We hope this “note to elf,” or shopping strategy for the season, helps you on your merry way.

42 December 7, 2011 ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO THE ARKANSAS TIMES

December 7, 2011 ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO THE ARKANSAS TIMES 42

Holiday

Dreamweavers

Spokes

You know about the 2nd Saturday Sale each month but have you thought about the people on your gift list that love things for the home? Dreamweavers is the place to be for the best in home decor and gifts at incredible prices.

Made from the same material as teddy bears, this ripple shimmer pillow is made for cuddling up with or is just as perfect as an accent piece. So, get your home ready for the holidays and beyond with fabulous finds at their annual December sale which has been expanded from its usual two days to an entire week! Stop in between December 9-17 for all the great deals. Call 501.371.0447 for more details.

Krebs Brothers

The Collection M’cook offers professionals and household cooks the highest culinary technoogy. Five layers of materials provide perfect conductivity for each product, thanks to fast and uniform heat distribution. The handles are made from cast stainless steel or cast iron, and reinforce the pure and modern design of this range. Each piece handcrafted in France by Mauviel - manufacturing cookware since 1830.

Barbara/Jean LTD Shop Barbara/Jean, Central Arkansas’ Tory Burch Headquarters, for the perfect gift for any girl.

Not sure what to get?

Barbara/Jean gift card is sure to fit!!

Stop by Spokes this Holiday Season and check out the great collection of road, triathlon, mountain, comfort, and cruiser bikes that are available in brands such as Cervelo, Orbea, Felt, Niner, and Electra. The bikes are both men and women specific. Great selection of kids bikes also available.

Spokes will be open on Sunday’s from 1-5PM from now until Christmas!

Solemates The VIP Travel Accessory 9 piece travel set with removable pouches & hanging hook

by Purse N Travel $98

Gallery 26 You can find these and many more gift items at Gallery 26 in Hillcrest during The 17th Annual Holiday Art Show featuring over 70 Arkansas Artists, Jewelry makers, glass works, pottery and photography. The show is going on now thru January 14th.

Painting by Nancy Dunway “Some Messages Arrive at Sunset” $350.

Kitchen Co.

Go! Running

Cooking Classes Make Great Holidays Gifts.

Learn to Make Sauces, Cajun Food, Sushi, Mexican Food and so much more.

Get Techy! - Popular GPS training watches.

For a complete schedule of classes call or visit our website kitchenco.net Pleasant Ridge Town Center 501.663.3338 43 December 7, 2011 ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO THE ARKANSAS TIMES

A GPS sports watch is a popular gift for the active runner on your list. Always brings a smile, and usually a quick run. GPS watches offer the ability to focus on the intricacies of training, and Go! Running has plenty of models ranging in features and price.

Strap one on today. Happy to help in selecting and setting up the best model for yourself or for someone special. Go! Running’s Top Pick this Holiday.

December 7, 2011 ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO THE ARKANSAS TIMES 43

Holiday

Box Turtle “Whenever things don’t go so well And you want to hit the wall and yellHere’s a little dammit doll That you can’t do without.

Just grasp it firmly by the legs And find a place to slam it.

And as you whack the stuffing out, yell ‘DAMMIT! DAMMIT! DAMMIT!’’ - label and instructions on the Dammit Doll

Looking for unique gifts for that hard-to-shop-for person? Then head over to Box Turtle for an incredible selection of fun, whimsical, creative gifts that are easy on the pocketbook. Find items like these Dammit Dolls which are perfect as stocking stuffers, for the gang at work, friends, and of course, yourself! Available in various colors and patterns, people will definitely remember (and Thank!) you for them.

Arkansas Arts Center Museum Shop Santa’s helpers have visited the Arkansas Arts Center Museum Shop and now, so can you! Whether your youngster is a budding fashion designer, cartoonist or artist, the Museum Shop has the perfect gift! A wide array of games, toys, art kits, stuffed animals and more are sure to please the kids on your list. Visit the Museum Shop today and ignite your child’s imagination!

Burge’s Hickory Smoked Turkeys & Hams Today, that tradition continues at Burge’s®. From our original Lewisville, Arkansas location we continue to send out the finest selection in smoked meats to our loyal customers all over the United States, year round. Our hickory smoked turkeys and hams have become a long tradition in many family meals, and nothing says “thank you” or “happy holidays” like a gift package from Burge’s® to friends, business associates, and family, particularly during the holidays.

You can place your mail-order or Lewisville pickup order by calling toll-free 800.921.4292, by fax 870.921.4500, or on-line at smokedturkeys.com. For Little Rock pickup orders, call 501.666.1660.

44 December 7, 2011 ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO THE ARKANSAS TIMES

Chainwheel Remember your first bike? The excitement of seeing it? The feeling of freedom and adventure you got from riding it? Chainwheel wants every kid to have a great first-bike experience - and a great experience with every bike after that. We build our kids bikes to ride better, last longer, and carry kids safely to more adventures. Our Trek kid’s bikes are designed with super-smart features, like Trek’s exclusive Dialed Fit system that allows the bike to grow along with its young rider. And of course, Chainwheel’s bikes are assembled and serviced by professional elves.

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Holiday

RETAIL DIRECTORY Arkansas Arts Center Museum Shop:

Barbara Graves Casual sweaters are great gifts for keeping or giving. Featured sweaters are all $68 or under.

Open 10 am – 5 pm Tuesday – Saturday and 11 am – 5 pm Sunday 9th and Commerce 501.396.0356 arkarts.com Barbara/Jean Ltd. 7811 Cantrell Rd 501.227.0054 barbarajean.com

SINCE 1933

SINCE 1933

Kitchen Co. Monday-Saturday 10am-6pm, Sunday 12-5pm Pleasant Ridge Town Center 501.663.3338 kitchenco.net

Box Turtle 2616 Kavanaugh Hillcrest 501.661.1167 shopboxturtle.com

1/3 oFF

Burge’s Little Rock Store 5620 R Street • Heights M-F 10-6 • Sat 10-5 smokedturkeys.com

Sei Bella Med Spa 9501 Lile Drive, Suite 940 501.228.6237 annetrussellmd.com

Catering To You 8121 Cantrell Rd. 501.614.9030 cateringtoyouinlittlerock.com

Shoe Connection 2806 Lakewood Village Dr North Little Rock 501.753.8700

Chainwheel 10300 Rodney Parham Rd 501.224.7651 chainwheel.com

9100 North Rodney Parham Little Rock 501.225.6242 shoeconnectiononline.com

Clinton Clinton Museum Store 610 President Clinton Ave. Museum Store 501.748.0400 clintonmuseumstore.com

Spokes 1001 Kavanaugh 501.664.7765 spokeslittlerock. com

Dreamweavers 1201 S. Spring St. 501.374.5523

Huge Selection Sizes • Colors • Styles Real Prices • Real Savings www.shoeconnectiononline.com

9100 N RodNey PaRham, LR 501-225-6242 2806 Lakewood ViLLage dR., NLR 501-753-8700 45 December 7, 2011 ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO THE ARKANSAS TIMES

Kenneth Edwards Fine Jewelers 7811 Cantrell Rd. & 17717 Chenal Pkwy, Ste. 103 501.312.7477 & 501.821.4455 kennethedwards.net

KREBS BROTHERS Krebs Brothers THE RESTAURANT STORE 4310 Landers Rd. KREBS BROTHERS North Little Rock THE RESTAURANT STORE 501.687.1331 krebsbrothers.com

Barbara Graves 10301 N Rodney Parham Rd Breckenridge Village 501.227.5537 barbaragraves.com

Fall BootS & SHoe Sale

Indulgences by Body Bronze 14524 Cantrell Rd., Suite 130 501.868.8345 indulgencesbybodybronze.com

Gallery 26 2601 Kavanaugh, Suite #1, Hillcrest 501.664.8996 gallery26.com Go! Running 1819 N. Grant St. In the Heights 501.663.6800 Open Sun thru Christmas gorunning.com

Solemates 11525 Cantrell Rd. Pleasant Ridge Town Center 501.716.2960

Find the above retailers on Facebook.

December 7, 2011 ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO THE ARKANSAS TIMES 45

Evicting geese

I

t’s hard to reason with geese, and just about impossible to get them to take a hint. You try to make them feel unwelcome, and either they will or they won’t, depending on the dim algorithms that animate geese.

You can’t tell them to go do unto themselves what Veep Dick told Sen. Leahy to go and do unto himself — it will roll right off their backs because it is characteristic of their genus that they simply won’t be insulted. They hear disparaging comments by other species as appreciative of them, even flattering, and are likely to go into a preen. They think the world sees perfection in them as the duck-stamp painters do.

It’s simply beyond their capacity to think that a city councilman talking about a “nuisance species” might be talking about them.

Whether this self-deceit is the result of a conscious decision by some wise old goose of the past, a goose Confucius or goose Solomon, we don’t know. But there’s nothing in the ordinary goose weltanschauung, such as it is, to suggest as much. They simply seem to have found their Happy Place in the rather large zone beneath contempt, and see no reason to venture up out of it into the meaner realm where despair and self-consciousness and snapping turtles lurk.

Some of them like it wherever they happen to be so well that they’ve quit migrating — or forgot their obligaBOB tion to do it, now LANCASTER that the glaciers are in full yearlong retreat. They just hang where it suits them, dookeying up their whereabouts as only geese can, not even wondering about what might happen next. There’s even something endearing, or almost endearing but not quite, in their insouciance.

You’ll perceive that I’m making here an ontological appeal for a local resident gaggle. That’s a fact. A knot of them have homesteaded a small portion of Burns Park in North Little Rock, putting down roots there under some anserine statute that no human has ever seen or could make heads nor tails of if it were made manifest.

Even if there were a way for us to understand their lazy hazy crazy territorial claim, this flock of Canada geese would have no standing in our courts, and would find no jurisprudential sympathy or pity. And unless someone comes forward with a plan to humanely relocate the flock, the Polizei will be on them like

they’re Occupy Wall Street junebugs, batoning them senseless and bejugging them with pepper spray, whomping with particular animus the oldest old-timers of the bunch and the disabled combat vets — after which the whole lot of them will be lined up before a firing squat and shot.

A select group of fearless “hunters” will do those honors.

Our little gypsy goose troupe won’t be saved from this ad hoc trigger-happy nimroddery unless we somehow get it through their mostly empty skulls that the naked apes who run things now do things different, in ways that facilitate apeness but not necessarily gooseness.

For instance, they have strict rules against trespass that supplant the ageold notion of free range; you can only loiter where the anthropoids say you can. And you have to justify your presence practically anywhere by showing your papers — papers proving you have visible means of support — whenever they’re demanded of you. In short, lacking a sinecure, an inheritance, or a high-dollar lottery ticket that’s a certified winner, you have to get and hold a job. Even if you’re a goose.

Jobs are scarce these days. Nabbing a fulfilling one, one that you like, is just about out of the question. Just a gainful one — i.e., a crappy one — is a long shot.

Prospects are especially daunting for nonhuman job seekers. But not insuperable.

The Peabody ducks found steady work

as flophouse mascots soon to star in their own reality-TV show. Thoroughbred horses find semi-celebrity seasonal employ at Oaklawn Park, and it pays well even if it does entail occasional brisk cropping by little bitty clown-dressed men. We have about a hundred Arkansas seeing-eye dogs working long shifts for subsistence wages, and donkeys who’ll play exhibition basketball or lend calm background authenticity to manger scenes. We have maybe a million cats who’ll demouse your premises if you’ll act like you don’t want them to. And at least that many pea-brain turkeys who know that if a Mark Darr can nab himself a good job with ritzy benefits and no responsibilities, then it shouldn’t be too much of a challenge for a goose.

After some mulling I’ve come up with one possibility for our geese.

Draft them to fly as an honor guard for the Little Rock Airport Commission as those worthies leave for or return from one of their regularly scheduled luncheon meetings on the Rue de Haut Porc in Paris, France.

All bets are off, of course, if Newt Gingrich manages to slither into La Casa Blanca after next year. Then all the jobs will be filled by 10-year-old human children, whether the 10-year-old children want to fill them or not. Call them apprentices and they don’t have to be paid. Give them a whupping if they ask for seconds on the gruel.

ARKANSAS TIMES CLASSIFIEDS or visit

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GENERAL CRAFTSMAN

HIghly skilled mechanics to repair, install, adjust, & maintain industrial production & processing machinery, or refinery & pipeline distribution systems.

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A recognized leader and 129-bed acute care hospital, Arkansas Methodist Medical Center (AMMC), in Paragould, Arkansas is seeking a Director of The Foundation and Marketing. AMMC has consistently provided quality, compassionate healthcare to residents in Northeast Arkansas and Southeast Missouri for more than 60 years.

The Director of The Foundation and Marketing is responsible for: managing the direction of the philanthropic activities and has the responsibility to increase philanthropic revenue while effectively managing cost of funds raised and exploring new fund development opportunities and effectively developing donors. The position is also responsible for business and market development; market research and planning; strategic direction for promotion and advertising and strengthening our competitive advantage by effectively creating and sustaining a positive and professional image of the medical center while contributing to maximizing patient census and operating profits.

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent education in business, marketing or related discipline.

• At least three years Foundation/Marketing experience, preferably in a medical or health related field.

To apply, please send your resume to mailto:hrfm@arkansasmethodist.org.

46 December 7, 2011 ARKANSAS TIMES

46 DECEMBER 7, 2011 ARKANSAS TIMES

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www.arktimes.com December 7, 2011 47