Arkansas Times

NEWS + POLITICS + ENTERTAINMENT / FEBRUARY 29, 2012 / ARKTIMES.COM

BY DOUG SMITH PAGE 14

Open a Metropolitan Value Checking account today and enjoy banking made easy. No debit card fees. No monthly service charges. No joke.

866-79METRO • MetBank.com

Member FDIC

VALUE CHECKING

MNB 1011 012 ValueCheckingCard_10x12.75_4C.indd 1

Free debit card • No minimum balance • $50 minimum opening deposit No monthly service charge • Unlimited checkwriting • Free online banking Up to 20 free online bill payments per month • Available overdraft protection

10/19/11 4:54 PM

HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:

Hand cast aluminum construction will never rust Made in the USA Oven detaches from carriage for easy cleaning, camping, or tailgating Functions as grill and smoker

Practice Child Safety Cordless Roman Shades & Blinds 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

KREBS BROTHERS SINCE 1933

ORDER ONLINE AT:

www.pkgrills.com 866-354-7575 • Little Rock, AR

THE RESTAURANT STORE

The best ZAK! cooking,

most Designs durable

PUBLISHER Alan Leveritt REKINDLE AN OLD FLAME

mood THE PORTABLE KITCHEN spoons

EDITOR Lindsey Millar SENIOR EDITOR Max Brantley MANAGING EDITOR Leslie Newell Peacock CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Mara Leveritt ASSOCIATE EDITORS Cheree Franco, David Koon,

4310 Landers Road • North Little Rock, AR 72117

Bob Lancaster, Doug Smith ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR Robert Bell EDITORIAL ART DIRECTOR Kai Caddy

cooker ever made...

2410 Glover Street (behind Barbara/Jean, Ltd) (501) 219-1500 www.windowworksdesign.com

(501) 687-1331

www.krebsbrothers.com • M-F 8-5 Sat. 9-5

PHOTOGRAPHER Brian Chilson ADVERTISING ART DIRECTOR Mike Spain ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR Patrick Jones GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Katie Cook, Rafael Méndez, Bryan Moats, Sandy Sarlo DIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING Phyllis A. Britton SPECIAL PROJECTS Michelle Miller, Manager SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Tiffany Holland ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Katherine Smith Daniels, Sarah DeClerk, Darielle D’Mello, Angie Wilson REAL ESTATE SALES EXECUTIVE Tiffany Holland CLASSIFIED SALES EXECUTIVE Challis Muniz AUTOMOTIVE ADVERTISING MANAGER Heather Baker ADVERTISING TRAFFIC MANAGER Roland R. Gladden ADVERTISING COORDINATOR Kelly Schlachter PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Tracy Whitaker SOCIAL MEDIA DIRECTOR Kelly Ferguson SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER Josh Bramlett IT DIRECTOR Robert Curfman CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Anitra Hickman CONTROLLER Weldon Wilson BILLING/COLLECTIONS Linda Phillips OFFICE MANAGER Angie Fambrough RECEPTIONIST Jennifer Ashmore PRODUCTION MANAGER Ira Hocut (1954-2009)

association of alternative newsweeklies

VOLUME 38, NUMBER 26 ARKANSAS TIMES (ISSN 0164-6273) is published each week by Arkansas Times Limited Partnership, 201 East Markham Street, 200 Heritage Center West, P.O. Box 34010, Little Rock, Arkansas, 72203, phone (501) 375-2985. Periodical postage paid at Little Rock, Arkansas, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to ARKANSAS TIMES, P.O. Box 34010, Little Rock, AR, 72203. Subscription prices are $42 for one year, $78 for two years. Subscriptions outside Arkansas are $49 for one year, $88 for two years. Foreign (including Canadian) subscriptions are $168 a year.

For subscriber service call (501) 375-2985. Current single-copy price is 75¢, free in Pulaski County. Single issues are available by mail at $2.50 each, postage paid. Payment must accompany all single-copy orders. Reproduction or use in whole or in part of the contents without the written consent of the publishers is prohibited. Manuscripts and artwork will not be returned or acknowledged unless sufficient return postage and a self-addressed stamped envelope are included. All materials are handled with due care; however, the publisher assumes no responsibility for care and safe return of unsolicited materials. All letters sent to ARKANSAS TIMES will be treated as intended for publication and are subject to ARKANSAS TIMES’ unrestricted right to edit or to comment editorially.

©2012 ARKANSAS TIMES LIMITED PARTNERSHIP FOR SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE CALL: (501) 375-2985 www.arktimes.com

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

3

COMMENT

Occupy Chamber of Commerce I read in the Democrat-Gazette that City Director Gene Fortson wants the city of Little Rock to evict the Occupy Little Rock people camping in the unused parking lot at Capitol and Ferry.

I think he’s right. The city should evict them. After all, the Occupy people don’t represent all of us. Only about 99 percent of us.

Yes, throw the rabble out of the city-owned parking lot. But first, before doing that, put an end to the city’s annual subsidy to the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce. That organization represents only a small minority of our fair city’s citizens.

Bill Shepherd Little Rock

Give Clarke the heave-ho Everybody in the state of Arkansas knows who Sam Walton was and why he is famous.

Many of us know something about Daisy Bates, J. William Fulbright, Johnny Cash and Winthrop Rockefeller, and we recognize their accomplishments. Other personalities from Arkansas history are likely to be known to those with similar interests or careers, such as Albert Pike and Hattie Caraway (politics); Edward Durrell Stone and E. Fay Jones (architecture); William Grant Still and Sarah Caldwell (music), and Isaac Parker and Uriah M. Rose (law).

Then there was James Paul Clarke.

James Paul Clarke?

In 1864 the U.S. Congress passed legislation that invited each state to send statues of two of its citizens to be placed in the newly created Statuary Hall. When a new House of Representatives wing was added to the Capitol, the space in which that body had previously sat became free, and the room became Statuary Hall. In 1917 Arkansas presented a statue of Uriah M. Rose, a partner in Little Rock’s Rose Law Firm and a founder and early president of the American Bar Association. In 1921, the state presented its second allotted statue, one of James Paul Clarke. Clarke had served without particular distinction both as governor and as U.S. senator. In 1933, Statuary Hall became so crowded with statues and so stressed with the weight of so much stone that Congress provided that some of the statues could be removed to other places in the Capitol. Rose’s statue remains in Statuary Hall, while that of Clarke has a new home in the Capitol Visitor Center.

In 2000, Congress provided a way for states to replace one or both of their statues.

4

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

ARKANSAS TIMES

The state’s legislature must pass and its governor must approve legislation calling for the replacement of a statue.

The request is reviewed by the Congressional Joint Committee on the Library.

After the library committee’s approval is secured, the state must agree to oversee the creation of the new statue and to cover all expenses. The statues must be gifts from the states, not from individuals or groups of individuals. Consequently, action by the state legislature is a necessity. The new statue must represent a deceased person. Thus far three states have replaced one of their statues.

Alabama replaced J. L.M. Curry with Helen Keller, California favored Ronald Reagan over Thomas S. King and Kansas now is represented by Dwight D. Eisenhower rather than George W. Glick.

Nine decades, a span more than half the total years of our state’s existence, have passed since the presentation of the Clarke statue. Many men and women have contributed to the state’s advancement in those decades since 1921, and the contributions of some Arkansans who lived before 1921 have been re-evaluated. The time has come

What’s being auctioned off: Over $100,000 in merchandice already consigned from many individuals We are accepting new and including a large inventory of custom made tack and used equipment for saddles from H bar Saddlery. Over 60 Western Saddles (Roping, Ranch, consignment. If you have Barrel, Silver Show, Pleasure, Youth, stuff that you haven’t used in years, this will be an Pony). Over 100 Bridles Headstalls opportunity to turn it into & Halters, etc. Plus Lots of Custom Made Tack and One Of A Kind Items. cash. If you bring it, we can sell it.

To be sold to the highest bidder, piece by piece! Consignments Being Accepted and Added Daily

Creating beautiful homes, one floor at a time WOOD • CARPET • TILE • RUGS • CORK • BAMBOO • MARBLE • GRANITE

to select a more illustrious Arkansan to replace James Paul Clark.

Richard A. Bland Rogers

Vote yes for library bond refinance I’ve taken some time to educate myself about the upcoming vote on March 13 concerning central Arkansas libraries, and I want to encourage Little Rock voters to vote yes for the bond refinance. A yes will allow our library system to add thousands of books and other materials to our libraries, expand and improve many of the branch libraries and the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, buy more computers, increase Internet services, build an auditorium for children’s and adults’ programs at the Main Library downtown and add new parking spaces there too.

How much is all of this improvement to our libraries going to raise our taxes? Not at all! In fact, a yes vote will lower our millage rate for years to come.

My children and I are frequent patrons of our libraries, and we know that we are fortunate to have a wonderful library system. I welcome the opportunity to make it even bigger and better with my vote. I hope Little Rock voters will join me and vote yes for our libraries on Tuesday, March 13.

Jill Curran Little Rock

The weird bunch Pity the poor old-line country club Republicans, sports-fans! Their choices this cycle are staggeringly weird, and more exposure to any of ’em in those debates must make the tweedy good ol’ boy brigadiers flinch in horror. Baby Pope Rickie and Moroni’s Buddy vie for belief systems combining superstition and Savanarola for a race into our bedrooms. Ayn Rand’s devotee, the nutcracker-jawed Doc Paul, almost looks normal these days. Since this is basically a family paper, let’s don’t get into Newt.

Please. So where’s a nice descendant of the old Eisenhower days gonna go this coming November? If my Uncle Ralph is any indication, they’re gonna go to Poland for the beauty pageant. I’m OK with that.

Elizabeth Harris Evening Shade

C&F Flooring and Rug Gallery

2206 CANTRELL ROAD (IN FRONT OF CAJUN’S WHARF) 501.399.9909 • WWW.CANDFCARPET.COM

Submit letters to the Editor, Arkansas Times, P.O. Box 34010, Little Rock, AR 72203. We also accept letters via e-mail.

The address is arktimes@arktimes.com.

We also accept faxes at 375-3623. Please include name and hometown.

ORVAL

SpecialS thru March 6, 2012 over 500good Items on sale over 300 iteMS on Sale throughout the Store throughout the store

SPIRITS

Grant’s Scotch Bulleit Bourbon Mako Vodka Gilbey’s Gin

EVERyDAy $23.79 $43.99 $29.99 $16.99

SALE $20.99 $37.99 $24.99 $14.49

WINE VALuE BuyS

EVERyDAy

SALE

$12.99 $19.99 $24.99 $21.49

$9.99 $14.99 $16.99 $16.99

BEST Buy uNDER $10 – 750 ML

EVERyDAy $13.99 $9.99 $12.99

SALE $9.99 $7.99 $9.99

BEERS Of THE WEEk

EVERyDAy $7.89 $15.99 $11.29

SALE $6.39 $12.99 $9.49

CK Mondavi Cabernet, Chard, Pinot Grigio, S. Blanc & Merlot 1.5 Liter Sokol Blosser Evolution White 750ml King Estate’s Acrobat Pinot Noir 750ml Rancho Zabaco Dry Creek Zinfandel 750ml

667 Pinot Noir Cupcake Sauvignon Blanc DaVinci Pinot Grigio & Chianti DOCG

Saison Dupont 750ml Bottle Ommegang Adoration 750ml Bottle Sierra Nevada Ovila Quad 750ml Bottle

WINES Of THE WEEk – 750 ML

Markham 2009 Napa Valley Chardonnay Everyday $19.99 This Week $15.99 Markham 2007 Napa Valley Merlot Everyday $25.99 This Week $18.99

Case of 12 $179.88 ($14.99) Case of 12 $215.88 ($17.99)

We honor competitors’ advertised prices. please bring the ad.

WE HONOR PRICES. PLEASE BRING THE AD. 11200COMPETITORS’ W. Markham ADVERTISED (West of Shackleford on Markham)

11200 Markham(West of Shackleford on Markham) LittleW. Rock 501-223-3120 • 866-988-vino Little Rock 501-223-3120 • 866-988-VINO • info@colonialwineshop.com

Buy art with heart.

A Fine Art Auction Event for Adults Benefiting Pulaski Heights Elementary

SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 6–10 P.M. AT RICK’S ARMORY, LITTLE ROCK

PHEpicassos.org www.arktimes.com

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

5

EDITORIAL

EYE ON ARKANSAS

Shut up and pray

6

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

ARKANSAS TIMES

PATTY WOOTEN/SEARK TODAY

A

s we write, the Republican presidential primary is so fiercely contested that one of the candidates has resorted to telling the truth, long considered the “third rail” of Republican politics.

Nobody ever caught George W. Bush being truthful, or Richard Nixon.

But Rick Santorum has now said openly that he doesn’t believe in the separation of church and state.

He doesn’t believe, in other words, that Americans should have the freedom to pick their own religion or to have no religion at all, and as president, he’ll try to put a stop to it, the hell with the First Amendment.

In Santorum’s America, people would be allowed to adopt Rick Santorum’s religion, and those who chose otherwise would be free to leave the country, or go to jail, or burn. Plenty of choices there.

There’s more good news for religious bigots: Newt Gingrich, another desperate politician, has been driven almost to the point of candor too. As of Tuesday, Gingrich was still only poor-mouthing freedom of religion, but drawing nearer to the open renunciation apparently becoming fashionable in his party. We’ll know it’s the thing when Mitt Romney gets on board.

Disposing of freedom of religion would doubtless be on the agenda of the constitutional convention that 47 members of the Arkansas legislature recently sought, hoping to spruce up the Constitution by trimming some of the dangling liberties on the old document. A couple of those legislators now operate private schools that use state money to promote their owners’ religion. This practice has lately encountered opposition, but the opponents would be disarmed once religious freedom was removed from the Constitution. That’s all they have on their side — the basic law of the land — other than decency and good sense.

Free speech is another troublesome First Amendment right that would surely be re-examined at a new constitutional convention. Who really wants to hear speech that they disagree with? Not Congressional Republicans, certainly. They’ve voted repeatedly for more restrictions on political speech, for constitutional suppression of words and actions that the majority or the majority’s representatives disapprove of, in the form of a proposed constitutional amendment. Don’t burn the flag, they say, burn freedom.

State Sen. Jason Rapert, R-Bigelow, was the chief sponsor of the resolution calling for a new constitutional convention to rewrite what George Washington and those other old guys did in the ignorance that comes from not knowing Jason Rapert. Let him at it. This was such a scary scenario that even Jeannie Burlsworth, the head of Arkansas’s anti-immigrant movement, warned against it. The resolution was withdrawn. You know you’re an extremist when Jeannie Burlsworth advises moderation.

The late Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller, born 100 years ago almost to the day, was a Republican who championed liberty and justice for all. He’d never get his party’s nomination today. Or want it.

ONE-HOLE PROTEST: District Judge Ken Harper, with a faux outhouse on the lawn of Monticello’s city hall, protests a “no public restrooms” policy enacted by Mayor Allen Maxwell. The outhouse was placed by the window of Maxwell’s office.

Sold! American government

W

ith the general election eight months away, it’s not too early to say that the electoral process has been purchased by the highest bidders.

In its Citizens United ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court opened the door to unlimited spending by corporations and the super rich in nominally independent causes. It took only a few weeks of the Republican presidential primary to prove the court’s naivete in believing that spending would be independent.

The race in the Republican primary seems ready to go to the richest Super PAC, the one created by friends of Mitt Romney and run in lockstep — coincidentally, of course — with the Romney campaign. President Obama has sacrificed his own principle and okayed Super PACs in his cause, too.

At the national level, evil may cancel out evil, to a degree.

It’s down the ballot where evil multiplies. A Democratic candidate for Congress in Arkansas was heavily damaged in 2010 by $60,000 in independent expenditures by a shadowy group. An outfit with a mail drop in Virginia beat up Bill Halter in his losing primary race against Sen. Blanche Lincoln. A stealth group put $30,000 into 2010 state legislative races that Republicans swept. I don’t think it’s a bit of exaggeration to say you could buy a majority of the Arkansas legislature with $1 million in targeted expenditures on swing districts.

The money game is played mostly by Republicans.

Few deep-pocketed Democrat have taken the long view down the ballot. It is a mistake. It takes only 40 votes in the U.S. Senate to block anything a president might propose. Given the increasing polarity of U.S. congressional districts, control of the U.S. House boils down to a few dozen swing districts, some in media-cheap states like Arkansas.

Then there are the state legislatures. The black face of the Democratic presidential nominee was the catalyst for a Republican surge in Arkansas in 2010. Republicans will spend even more this year to get a major-

ity. Expect lots of “independent” expenditures and shadowy front groups. Expect the money to be directed by campaign consultants who have been Republican Party of Arkansas officials. They MAX will identify frequent RepubliBRANTLEY maxbrantley@arktimes.com can voters and pound them with direct mail telling them the Democratic candidates hate God and guns and love gays and taxes. They’ll sprinkle the mailings liberally with photographs of Barack Obama, preferably in company of Muslims.

These campaign efforts are supported off-season by conservative lobbies such as the Koch brothersfunded Americans for Prosperity. It attacked a Democratic candidate for state House in Little Rock in 2010 because she refused to sign pledges before the fact, whether against anti-pollution laws or anything else.

Those who take the pledge are well treated. AFP put on a series of dinners during the legislative session for favored Republican legislators averaging $60 to $90 per person at the swank Capital Hotel, Bosco’s and other fine eat-and-drinkeries. It provides junkets, too.

Last fall, it sent a clutch of legislators, including House Minority Leader John Burris, to Washington for AFP indoctrination sessions.

Koch money helps drive those behind the kooky constitutional amendment to give the states control over the federal deficit. End result: Strangle the federal government. That will further reduce the Koch brothers’ taxes and regulatory pressures.

In short, win enough races in Bigelow and Bodcaw and the next thing you know you might control the whole shebang. In the interim, the 20 billionaires who’ve put $33 million into Super PACs so far this year can expect a high return from grateful politicians for their comparatively trivial investment. Think Bush tax cuts.

Sign those Regnant Populus Arkansas ethics reforms petitions primary election day. Time is short for the 99 percent.

OPINION

Anti-college rant could play well here

T

he Republican presidential race turns to the South next week and Rick Santorum has found an issue that ought to gain him some traction in Dixie.

Anti-intellectualism is the big word for it, and the strain goes far back through our political history, especially here in Arkansas. During the Depression, Arkansas had a governor from Northeast Arkansas, a very popular one, who wanted to halt all spending on high schools, which he considered to be a waste and the devil’s workshop to boot. Arkansas was not paying its teachers anyway in those days, except what the U.S. government sent down in bailout funds, but Governor Futrell still did not get around to abolishing high schools. Too many liberals in the legislature.

Unlike Futrell, Santorum is not against a high school education — only that provided by public schools — but he told ABC’s This Week that fewer people should go to college because college only turned them into liberals and snobs like President Obama. Just stick with high school, most of you, and it will get you a rewarding job was Santorum’s message. Santorum himself

has three college degrees, one more than Obama, but for some time he hasn’t held a job except a ERNEST little lobbying DUMAS for corporate interests.

The former Pennsylvania senator — he was defeated in a landslide in 2006 — has tried and more or less succeeded in turning the presidential election into a great culture war, but this is the most treacherous turf yet on which to fight.

Right now Santorum is only trying to get a majority of a fairly small part of the electorate, staunch conservatives, and it may stand him in good stead in Southern states like Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi and Virginia, where Republicans will vote in March.

What got Santorum started on colleges was President Obama’s speech to the nation’s governors, in which he followed a theme that is popular with most governors, including Mike Beebe, who thinks the salvation of the state is to make it possible for nearly everybody to go to college.

“We can’t allow higher education

Romney: Arkansas Dems’ Best Hope?

A

rkansas Republicans have banked on another wave of anti-Obama vitriol among Arkansas voters to ensure them control of both houses of the state legislature come 2013. Unfortunately for Arkansas’s traditional outsider party, their probable nominee for president may be about to put a kink on that plan.

President Obama has proven that he is out of step with Arkansas voters, especially white rural ones who still drive the outcomes of state elections and see Obama as “not one of them” culturally, religiously or racially. However, Mitt Romney would also be one of the worst candidates for president presented to Arkansas voters in the modern era. The same voters who see Obama as a cultural elitist are just as agitated by economic elites. Romney is not just rich (mostly from Bain Capital wealth gained often at the expense of the workers who were pawns in

Bain’s machinations), but lacks an ability to talk about issues of personal wealth or class without JAY tying himself in BARTH knots. Romney’s attempts to ape the lives of “real Americans,” as shown in his NASCAR outing last weekend, only sharpen his inauthenticity. Moreover, a similar bigotry that has driven white rural voters away from Obama drives Protestant animosity to Romney, a Mormon.

Make no mistake, in a RomneyObama match up, Romney would win Arkansas’s electoral votes comfortably. However, for most Arkansas voters it would be a “lesser of (literally) two evils” vote, rather than an enthusiastic vote for an alternative to the president with the ability to drive races down the ballot. In 2008, Obama

to be a luxury in this country,” the president said, and it should be a goal to have every youngster get some training or education after high school to equip them for a job.

Snobbery, Santorum called Obama’s plan. By making college seem important, he said, Obama is devaluing the work of people who didn’t go to college. He said Obama wanted everyone to get a degree from a liberal-arts college or university. “Oh, I understand why he wants you to go to college,” Santorum said. “He wants to remake you in his image.” Conservative students like him are ridiculed in college by liberal professors, Santorum said.

Actually, Obama never said everyone should get a university education. He has said repeatedly, since his address to Congress in 2009, in which he outlined his plans to bring the country out of the recession, that youngsters should get a year or more of vocational training or college after high school.

The evidence supports Obama and Beebe, not Santorum. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released its current population survey for 2010 the other day. Fifteen percent of people over the age of 25 who did not finish high school were unemployed, and those who had jobs had a median wage of $444 a week.

(Obviously, the figures for Arkansas are much worse.) Those who had only a high school diploma had a jobless rate of 10.3 percent and a weekly wage

of $626. The figures get better with more education. The jobless rate for those with a two-year certificate was 7 percent and the median earnings of the employed were $767 a week. For those with professional or doctoral degrees, the unemployment rate was around 2 percent and median earnings were $1,600 a week.

The bureau also reported that 2.7 million jobs were unfilled even during the recession because businesses couldn’t hire people with the skills to do them. Job training has been in decline the last decade and especially since the financial collapse in 2008.

But Santorum’s rants about elites and intellectual snobbery, which just about all of his GOP competitors have picked up in some degree, will resonate in some quarters, particularly in the South and surely in Arkansas.

Santorum is a polished George Wallace, who scared Democrats and Republicans with his snarls about “pointy-headed intellectuals who can’t park their bicycles straight” in his 1968 campaign for the presidency, in which he carried Arkansas.

Santorum needs to develop better imagery to reach the Snopeses. No one could conjure Wallace’s imagery (how, exactly, did intellectuals have pointed heads?) until the comedian George Carlin figured out that the little governor was referring to fellow Southerners, the Ku Klux Klan.

served as a demobilizer of traditional Democratic voters in the state’s rural areas; Romney would serve as a second Great Demobilizer, sinking Arkansas’s consistently low turnout rates to even lower levels.

The one candidate who might well be able to produce enthusiasm among Arkansas’s voters is former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum. While many of his economic policies don’t jibe with his rhetoric, stylistically Santorum is a classic conservative populist who merges sensitivity to working class interests with an emphatic defense of traditional social mores. Describing President Obama as a “snob” for wanting everyone to be “taught by some liberal college professor [trying] to indoctrinate them” and saying that President Kennedy’s explanation of the relationship between church and state made him want to “throw up” are ready made for the electorate in a state with the second lowest percentage of college graduates and the highest percentage of evangelical adherents.

While a Santorum nomination would likely doom his party’s chances nationally, it would just as likely produce

energy for a GOP ticket in Arkansas that would propel the party to control of the legislature.

The more probable nomination of Romney means the battle for legislative control will be fought district-bydistrict with the personal attributes of the candidates and their ability to connect with their communities driving the outcomes. Moreover, the absence of a visible presidential race in the state provides Democrats a chance to focus on the state-level governmental activism (on education and Medicaid), with which Arkansas voters are quite comfortable, particularly in the rural districts in the southwest and northeast quadrants of the state, where key legislative races are to be decided.

Those factors give Democrats a chance to maintain control of the legislature.

However, it all comes down to the two parties’ efforts before midday Thursday (when the filing period closes) to cajole prospective candidates to step up. While the final votes will be counted in the early morning hours of November, the battle for control of the Arkansas legislature was likely decided this week. www.arktimes.com

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

7

PEARLS ABOUT SWINE

Sponsored by

The road to recovery

Y

2011 2012

March 27 7:30 p.m. ™

501-450-3265

$10 Lunch SpeciaLS TueSday-Friday! $2.75 Bottles Micro Brew Of The Month

11121 N. RodNey PaRham Rd. • maRket Place little Rock • 501.716.2700 t-th 11-9, F-Sa 11-10, SuN 11:30-9 www.lillysdimsum.com EAT LOCALLY & INDEPENDANTLY!

8

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

ARKANSAS TIMES

ou can hardly characterize an unsteady six-point win over a .500 team as a season saver, but when Arkansas dutifully clawed its way out of a 17-point first-half hole against Auburn over the weekend, it was sufficiently cathartic nonetheless.

Almost a full year had elapsed since the Hogs last won a game outside of Washington County, after all. The Tigers may be the league’s resident doormat over the past few seasons, and Arkansas’s pedestrian accomplishment may have no bearing on whether this team nudges its way into the NIT, but a road win for this program is special and profoundly meaningful, and not simply because of the way this basketball campaign has unfolded.

Stan Heath was 82-71 in five seasons at Arkansas but his undoing was a 7-33 showing in conference road games. John Pelphrey’s four-year mark in such contests was 6-26. The Razorbacks have not had a winning conference road record since 1994-95, the season that culminated with the latter of the national championship game appearances and, quite frankly, represented the last genuine moment of Arkansas’s fleeting run as a national titan.

Mike Anderson will have a four- or five-season run, at most, if he cannot do better than one or two road victories per year. If you bother to sniff any of the sour grapes that jilted Missouri fans have stomped on the Internet the past year or so, you will notice a recurring theme: they complain ad nauseam about Anderson’s road failures there, too.

Arkansas fans would not complain, however, if Anderson’s career trajectory here mirrors that of his stint in Columbia, regardless of whether the road issues were prevalent. His predecessor at Missouri was Quin Snyder, who much like Pelphrey was beloved in his playing days for one of the nation’s blue bloods (Snyder at Duke, Pelphrey at Kentucky).

Both Snyder and Pelphrey effused passion for and knowledge of the game, and both prospered briefly on the rather big stages on which they had been placed.

Snyder took the Tigers to four straight NCAA tourneys at the start of his tenure, and Pelphrey’s first Hog team earned the program’s first NCAA tournament win in a decade when it defeated Indiana in 2008.

For Snyder, NCAA violations and rumors of personal indiscretions dogged his last couple of seasons and he was ultimately forced to resign toward the end of the 2005-06 season. Pelphrey’s teams became notorious for disciplinary issues and rampant suspensions, and by the time he was fired last March, the dis-

array rivaled what Snyder had abandoned five years prior.

Anderson’s first Mizzou team BEAU ended up 18-12; WILCOX at the time of this writing, his first Arkansas team is 18-11.

His third season in Columbia was, without dispute, the best the program had ever experienced, a 31-win year that ended on the doorstep of the Final Four.

He wrapped up his five-year term with back-to-back 23-win seasons, and both of those squads made the NCAA tourney field. The Missouri team he left behind is likely headed for a No. 2 or 3 seed in this year’s field, appearing poised for a deep run in the tournament behind senior leaders like Marcus Denmon and Kim English.

Would we fans tolerate that manner of success here? I should hope so. Embracing a hypothetical where Anderson follows this transitional year by averaging 23 wins per season and authoring a couple of respectable NCAA tournament showings would evoke memories of his mentor’s achievements here, but more importantly, would purge the fan base of years of accrued bile and disengagement. Even in this season of frustration and attrition, Anderson has managed unthinkable progress in the morale department.

And that was reflected on the court at Auburn. The Hogs fell in another large hole within minutes of tipoff, but when quarterback-cum-undersized-powerforward Brandon Mitchell entered, the team sparkled and refocused. Mitchell had a fine game in his own right with 10 points and six rebounds before fouling out, but it was his on-court demeanor, his coach-in-hightops mentality that shined more. Life was breathed into Rickey Scott and he responded with his best game ever, 22 points and six rebounds after amassing only 18 points in the previous five games combined. A team that had been worn down by its opponents and itself started to surge again, to chase down loose balls and demonstrate movement offensively.

This season isn’t likely to be remembered for much when it all wraps up at some undetermined point in March. But maybe it should be. When viewed in the context of recent history, and through the prism of Anderson’s career ledger to date, it has been an unqualified success. And that’s a rather daunting statement given the team’s struggles away from home and its unexceptional overall record.

JOIN US

Junior League of Little Rock

for the Second Annual Argenta Arts Foundation Award Reception

Junior League LittleMarch Rock2nd Happy Hour: of Friday,

Happy Hour: Friday, March 2nd $10 at the door 4:30pm - 7:30pm 4:30pm - 7:30pm $10 at the door

General Shopping: Saturday, March 3rd

General Shopping: Saturday, 3rd 7:30amMarch - 3:00pm 7:30am - 3:00pm

The Argenta Arts Foundation has selected Paul and Linda Leopoulos, founders of the Thea Foundation, as honorees of the Second Annual Argenta Arts Foundation Award for their contributions to the arts in Arkansas.

Award Honors and Reception March 14 ■ 6pm Tickets $150

JuniorLeague LeagueofofLittle Little Rock www.jllr.org Junior Rock www.jllr.org 401 S. S. Scott St. St. Downtown LittleLittle RockRock 401 Scott Downtown

Y

MMUNIT

O T OUR C SUPPOR

Contact Donna Hardcastle at 501.993.1234 or dhardcastle@argentaartsfoundation.org to purchase tickets. theafoundation.org • argentaartsfoundation.org

SHOP L. LOCA

We Little Rock.

Little Rock will us.

Limited Time Offer.

50 OFF DROID

$

Incredible 2 by HTC Coupon cannot be redeemed for cash or applied towards your wireless account. Not valid with any other offer. 2 yr. activation or upgrade required for $50 off any phone offer.

One coupon per activation. Must redeem at time of purchase.

Offer valid at participating locations. Offer expires 3/15/12.

ONLY $ 4999

with coupon

*With new 2 year activation or upgrade & data pak req’d. $149.99-$50 mail-in rebate debit card-$50 coupon=$49.99.

New Location Now Open 5001 JFK Blvd.

NORTH LITTLE ROCK Next to Subway (501) 753-1784 Activation fee/line: $35 IMPORTANT CONSUMER INFORMATION: Subject to Customer Agmt, Calling Plan, rebate form & credit approval. Up to $175 early termination fee ($350 for advanced devices) & other charges. Device capabilities: Add’l charges & conditions apply. Offers & coverage, varying by service, not available everywhere. Coverage maps at vzw.com. While supplies last. Shipping charges may apply. Limited time offer. Rebate debit card takes up to 6 wks and expires in 12 months. DROID is a trademark of Lucasfilm Ltd. and its related companies. © 2012 Verizon Wireless

visit us @ www.ecellularconnection.com www.arktimes.com

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

9

W O RDS

Lizzie Borden took an ax …

Our Feb. 15 discussion of out of whack prompted a note from Dr. Jim Robnolt of Sherwood: “I could not help but think about the basic meaning of whack — ‘to strike sharply.’ It seems to me that the meaning of ‘out of whack’ is self-evident. A carpenter, a mason, or an iron worker knows the feel of the hammer or sledge hitting the head of a nail or spike properly. There is a resonance in the head of the hammer. When, by chance, the peen hits the object at an angle, there is a notably different and dangerous feel.

The ‘out of whack’ is when the peen is hitting the surface of the pin incorrectly. When the hammer does that, the chance for a bent nail or even a shard from a spike are increased. What every heavy work artisan strives for, I think, is to make certain every strike is dead center and completely in whack. When your strike is centered and solid, there is a harmonic resonance; when the strike is off, there is dissonance and danger.”

We’ve mentioned Lake Superior State University’s annual list of over-

used and misused words. Matt Groening, creator of “The Simpsons,” also compiles a list of forbidden DOUG words, published SMITH dougsmith@arktimes.com annually in his other creation, the comic strip “Life in Hell.” For 2012, he forbids, among others, adorkable, bromance, game-changer, meme and OMG. I’d put webinar on there.

The liberal magazine The American Prospect published a list of old words given new meanings by conservatives.

That list includes “Free Speech: Money” and “Family Values: A hierarchial system based on patriarchy and property.”

“A friend of mine from Mississippi related to me a saying often used by an older friend of his, now deceased. She would say, ‘Nothing goes across the devil’s back that hasn’t gone under his belly first.’ He liked the saying (as do I) but never knew what it meant. Do you?” No, but I’d like to.

WEEK THAT WAS

It was a good week for…

TRUCKERS They should save around $4 million annually from a sales tax cut that the legislature passed last year as part of a quid pro quo arrangement with the truck industry. The legislature passed it to take effect July 1 only if voters approved a diesel tax increase. The truck lobby later refused to support a ballot item because polls said it wouldn’t pass and agreed that the tax break should be repealed. But the Arkansas Senate hasn’t voted to allow consideration of a measure to repeal in the current fiscal session and doesn’t seem likely to.

Said Senate President Pro Tem Paul Bookout to Stephens Media, “Let’s be realistic. This is an election year and members are filing for re-election.

Some people can interpret this issue as a tax cut, and so that gives some concern.” At press time, a day after legislative leaders declared the tax repeal dead, House Speaker Robert Moore said he was still working to see the resolution filed.

NEW JOBS Welspun announced that it will invest $100 million in its Little Rock pipe plan and add 200 jobs. You may recall that the delay in approval of the Keystone pipeline, which Welspun is slated to supply, is cited tirelessly by Republicans as costing jobs in Little

10

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

ARKANSAS TIMES

Rock. Apparently Welspun is doing OK. As we’ve reported before, 60 parttime workers were laid off temporarily from a short-term job loading pipe as a result of the Keystone decision, but a plant official said they’d eventually have the work to perform regardless.

It was a bad week for…

REP. JON HUBBARD The Republican state representative from Jonesboro sent an e-mail to Health Department director Paul Halverson (and copied all Republican legislators) demanding birth certificates be produced before the state supplies any non-emergency health care. Halverson responded calmly. This would be a burdensome rule many Arkansans would have a hard time fulfilling, he noted. Plus, better health means providing health care, not denying it.

MEDICAID PROJECTIONS The Arkansas Department of Human Services is now predicting a $350-$400 million budget shortfall for Medicaid in fiscal 2014. That’s on top of the additional $114 million that would be poured into the 2013 fiscal year beginning July 1. The state would have to come up with about a quarter of that to match federal money. Or cut Medicaid by making it harder to become eligible.

THE OBSERVER NOTES ON THE PASSING SCENE

In the moment LAST WEEK, YOUR OLD PAL had to hoof it down to Sixth and Louisiana for an interview. Just as momma taught us, we got there a bit early. It was the day that Mother Nature had chosen to finally peek out from behind her frosty skirts, beautiful, blue sky, the flowering trees just itching to burst forth in a spray of color. Even better, it was a Friday.

Waiting on our interview, we parked our old bones in front of a restaurant on Sixth Street. There’s a long black bench there — toasty warm from the sun — which felt finer than the fine Corinthian leather in those Dodges that Ricardo Montalban used to hawk back in the day. Hidden speakers on the awning overhead were playing R&B, and we sat first through “Stand By Me,” then Ray Charles singing “I Got a Woman.” Butt warmed, shades on, good music, sunshine, cool breeze, nothing to do for a few precious minutes in the midst of this city we love. Could there be a more perfect moment in the history of the universe? Maybe, but it would have to include either sex or cheese fries. Maybe both.

Just when we thought nothing could spoil our Zen, a big ol’ four-wheel-drive growled into the parking space before us.

Out jumped some fella, clearly agitated, followed by what appeared to be his wife.

“These gatdamn n****rs, I swear!” the guy near-shouted while pushing a coin into the meter. Then he stomped off down the sidewalk and around the corner, his wife wisely shushing him from two steps behind.

We have no idea what got the guy so mad, and something tells us it wouldn’t make a lick of sense even if we were interested in having him try to explain it after a display like that. The only thing we know for sure is: The saddest thing about any great moment is that it only takes one jackass to ruin it.

THE OBSERVER TOOK A BULLET right in

the kisser for you a few weeks back, Dear Reader, going to our favorite taqueria out in Southwest Little Rock and sampling all the things we swore to God and Buddha and Charles Darwin we’d never, ever eat: tripe, tongue, stewed beef head and pig esophagus tacos. While we hoped to

discover new culinary lands by setting sail for adventure, our voyage wound up less like “The Love Boat” and more like that keeled-over Italian cruise liner. We get a little queasy now just saying the word “esophagus” — so much so that we honestly hope we haven’t spoiled our fave joint for good, the same way we can’t so much as sip orange juice now after enduring a projectile hangover after too much vodka and O.J. some 20 years back. The mouth has a memory, friends — a memory longer than the head at times.

A few days after that issue hit the streets, one of our colleagues from the Arkansas Times’ sexy, Spanish-speaking sister paper, El Latino, came through the newsroom and proceeded to have a good chuckle at our expense. In an attempt at a defense, The Observer red-facedly told him what we knew: That Latinos tend to eat more bravely than us Norte Americanos. The American palate, we told him, is different. Our pal grinned.

“It’s not the palate,” our friend from way down South said. “It’s the pocket.”

That’s the single most elegant way we’d ever heard of saying: “Poor folks tend to eat everything but the squeal, cluck and moo.”

FLYING FISH Open Daily 11 - 10

CATFISH . SHRIMP . CRAB OYSTERS . SALMON . TILAPIA Also Serving:

GUMBO, HAMBURGERS & CHICKEN

(501) 375-FISH (3474) 511 President Clinton Ave. , Little Rock, AR (in the Rivermarket)

flyingfishinthe.net ARK TIMES 1/4 PAGE DISPLAY AD Katherine SmithWild? Classic? Fun?

What’s your

I KATpersonality?

UPDATE: Since last week’s guest Observer

on The Hospital Dog — a black and white mutt who dutifully lends comfort to those who sit in the rest area behind a hospital in a small Arkansas River Valley town — we’ve received a flood of e-mails and comments, most inquiring whether he’s a stray.

We’re happy to report that The Hospital Dog has a loving family, and does his side gig at the hospital purely on a volunteer basis. After reading the column in the Times, a woman who identified herself as The Hospital Dog’s “grandmother” sought out our Deputy Observer to confirm that he clocks out in the afternoons everyday and retires to home and hearth until it’s time to do it all again in the morning, just like the rest of us working stiffs.

On a sadder note, our correspondent has been sidelined this week by the death of her father. She plans a follow-up on The Hospital Dog as she is able. Until then, our thoughts are with her.

We have what you need to express your personal look.

1523 Rebsamen Park Rd | Riverdale Design District | Little Rock Phone 501-663-0460 | 10:00 - 5:30 Mon - Sat | cynthiaeastfabrics.com www.arktimes.com

Like Us

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

11

Arkansas Reporter

THE

IN S IDE R

An anonymous donor has offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction for those responsible for the 1993 murders of Stevie Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore.

This is the latest effort by Arkansas Take Action, the group that worked to free Jason Baldwin, Damien Echols and Jesse Misskelley, who were each convicted in the case and served 18 years in prison until they were released last year.

According to a news release, billboards and radio advertising will be used to promote the reward. Attorneys for Echols will review all tips and pass along credible evidence to Craighead County Prosecuting Attorney Scott Ellington.

“We know Damien, Jason and Jessie were not involved in this crime, and that those responsible are still in our community,” said Arkansas Take Action co-founder Capi Peck. “It may be difficult to provide information about a murder, but it is the right thing to do.

We are hopeful that this reward will motivate someone to help put an end to these tragic events.”

The confidential tip-line number is 501-256-1775. Or to provide a tip by mail, write to P.O. Box 183, 6834 Cantrell Road, Little Rock, AR 72207.

Legislative Auditor stands mostly mute Legislative Auditor Roger Norman may be fine with figures but he’s wary of words. Norman declined to discuss detailed complaints that were made against him in an anonymous letter to the Arkansas Times.

Norman did provide some records in response to a Freedom of Information request, after referring the request to Frank Arey, the lawyer for the state Legislative Audit Division.

Sen. Bill Pritchard, R-Elkins, and Rep. Tim Summers, R-Bentonville, the co-chairmen of the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee, for whom Norman works, said they’d received no letters of complaint about Norman.

The letter to the Times said, for example, that Norman had received a 10 percent pay increase each year for the last three years but did not give the same raise to his employees, although he was authorized to do so.

Some years, the other employees of the division got smaller percentage CONTINUED ON PAGE 13 12

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

ARKANSAS TIMES

BRIAN CHILSON

Big money reward in WM3 case

No pills for women at St. Vincent Hospital claims it’s exempt from state law.

BY LESLIE NEWELL PEACOCK

A

n Arkansas law enacted during the administration of former Gov. Mike Huckabee that requires health insurance deliverers to include contraceptive coverage among their benefits does not apply to St. Vincent Health System, hospital Chief Executive Officer Peter Banko says.

The law states that religious employers are exempt if their organization “has one of its primary purposes the inculcation of religious values,” which Banko said is the mission of the hospital, and “employs primarily persons who share its religious beliefs.” That, too, describes the employees of St. Vincent, he said.

Potential and current employees of the hospital must be familiar with the guiding documents of the Catholic Church and “regularly have to attest that they are in compliance with those directives,” Banko said.

The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s position is that companies with 15 or more employees must offer birth control coverage if they offer any prescription coverage.

They would be exempt only if they offered no prescription coverage at all.

The EEOC ruling said to do otherwise was to discriminate on the basis of sex,

a violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. DePaul University in Chicago, the largest Catholic university in the nation, offers birth control coverage thanks to an EEOC complaint. Georgetown University provides its students plans that cover both contraceptives and abortion, according to the Catholic newspaper Our Sunday Visitor.

The EEOC ruling is not a “legislative mandate,” Banko noted. “We feel we are in compliance with all federal and state laws.”

In the words of one Catholic clinic that boils down the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care statement, “… each and every marriage act (quilibet matrimonii usus) must remain open to the transmission of life … .” Banko said employees have “to sign a statement with respect to compliance annually.”

Arkansas’s law, the Equity in Prescription Insurance and Contraceptive Coverage Act, was introduced in 2005

by Democratic and Republican women in the state legislature. State Sen. Joyce Elliott recalled that previous attempts at similar legislation by State Rep. Jim Lendall had failed to get a second to get out of committee. “I was bowled over,”

Elliott said, at Lendall’s failure.

Elliott said the legislation was about parity, not politics, and to stress that fact one Republican and one Democratic lawmaker presented it to the House Insurance and Commerce Committee.

“It was a matter of parity,” Elliott said; if insurance companies were going to cover Viagra and Cialis for men, they could certainly cover contraceptives for women.

“I wonder if any hospital, no matter who they are, who has a religious objection, if they are exercising that objection with a sense of parity as well,” such as covering medicine for erectile dysfunction, Elliott said.

The Times was not able to verify that St. Vincent’s provides coverage of Viagra and Cialis for employees by press time.

Baptist Health spokesman Mark Lowman said the hospital does offer its employees insurance that covers contraceptives.

State Insurance Commissioner Jay Bradford said that to his knowledge there has never been a complaint about St. Vincent’s insurance policy. He said he believes the institution meets the purpose test (of religious inculcation).

If an employee were to complain based on the shared beliefs requirement, however, the commission would perhaps “open a file and see what the circumstances are.”

LISTEN UP

THE

BIG

BRIAN CHILSON

PICTURE

Arkansas Blog commenter radical centrist writes: “What was the first ‘alternative media’ in Arkansas? The oldest I’ve heard of was The X-Ray underground newspaper published in Fayetteville around 1910, but were there others before that? Do any copies of The X-Ray still exist?”

W

ell, it depends on what you mean by “alternative.”

Arkansas Times is the oldest surviving “alternative weekly” in the state, first hitting the streets as the Union Station Times on Sept. 5, 1974, with a cover story on churches fleeing downtown for West Little Rock. An even older example of the alt weekly format, though, was Fayetteville’s The Grapevine. Started as a free weekly in 1970, the paper survived until the early 1990s. The Grapevine covered local culture, music and events — including some of the first reporting on the near-hypnotic appeal of a young UA law professor named Bill Clinton.

If, however, we’re talking about an alternative to the established newspaper, then the first alternative media in the state has to be The Arkansas Advocate, which began publishing in March 1830 as a political counterpoint to the 11-year-old Arkansas Gazette. The Arkansas Advocate was founded by Robert Crittenden, who had been appointed

by President James Monroe in 1819 as secretary of the Arkansas Territory. A wheeler-dealer politician and attorney who almost singlehandedly convinced the territorial legislature to move the capital from Arkansas Post to Little Rock (where Crittenden owned quite a bit of land) in 1820, Crittenden created The Arkansas Advocate pretty much because he didn’t like the things Gazette publisher William Woodruff had to say about him and his political goals.

In terms of racial alternatives in the media, the oldest African-American newspaper in the state we’ve been able to uncover is The Helena Golden Epoch. Published by George H.W. Smith, the paper was founded as a fourpage, Saturday-only weekly all the way back in 1881, with a yearly subscription cost of $2. The paper moved to Fort Smith in 1888, but closed soon after the move.

The X-Ray might not have been the first alternative media in the state, but it is at the center of a fascinating bit of early free speech protest and civil disobedience. Published only briefly in 1912, it was a student-produced alternative to the University of Arkansas’s official student newspaper.

According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, The X-Ray “criticized a number of university and local conditions” in a manner that many deemed insulting to professors and UA administrators, angering school officials enough that 36 students involved in the writing, printing and circulation of the paper were summarily expelled from the university in February 1912. Only after widespread class attendance

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

Available on iTunes & arktimes.com

INSIDER, CONT. raises than Norman, the complainant said, and this year the other employees are receiving no raises while Norman gets his standard 10 percent. Payroll records provided by Norman make it difficult to determine the truth of these allegations.

As for Norman’s own pay, the records provided by his office show that he was making $154,899.89 on July 1, 2010, and $170,899.87 on July 1, 2011. (Although these may be the maximum amounts authorized by law, not the amounts actually paid.)

Records from the state auditor’s office, which issues all the paychecks for state employees, show that in 2012, Norman has been receiving two checks every two weeks, one for $2,853.51 and another for $1,000.

The auditor’s office doesn’t know what the separate checks are for.

The complainant said that the number of offices leased by the Joint Auditing Division around the state, for use by the division’s auditors, had increased greatly under Norman, and so had the amount of rent paid.

Norman’s records show that the division leased four offices as of Dec. 31, 2006, paying total monthly rent of $41,501.71. As of Feb. 23, 2012, the division was leasing 12 offices, and paying a total monthly rent of $54,085.47.

The anonymous correspondent also noted disapprovingly a statement by Norman published in the Legislative Audit Division’s latest newsletter: “It is my desire that the Division respond to necessary changes with a deliberate, reasoned and responsible approach, based on sound Biblical and business principles.”

‘Bad Intentions’ in Spa City? boycotts, mass protests involving over 700 students, and a deal brokered by the governor’s office were the expelled students allowed to return to class. On the upside, the XRay expulsions and protests (along with another crisis over a group expulsion in 1919) led directly to the creation of the student government system at UA. According to the interim head of special collections, Timothy Nutt, the special collections wing of the University of Arkansas library has two physical copies of The X-Ray among its collection, which are available to view on microfilm, as well as a student-created scrapbook that features pages from The X-Ray and newspaper clippings about the ensuing protests.

We recently revived the “Ask the Times” feature, in which we answer questions from readers about, well, anything. Digital media makes it a heck of a lot easier to ask your questions; if you have one, just e-mail lindseymillar@arktimes.com with the subject line “Ask the Times.”

Promoters are at work trying to arrange a Jermain Taylor prize fight for the Summit Arena in Hot Springs on Arkansas Derby day, April 14. That could create some additional buzz for an event tht always attracts 60,000 or so. The fight crowd could also keep the Oaklawn Park casino hopping after the horse racing is over. Taylor, the 33-year-old former middleweight champ, is on the comeback trail.

CORRECTION “DOGin’ the VA” (Media, Feb. 22) incorrectly said the VA gave notice to the Little Rock Homeless Commission in April. That commission, officially known as the Mayor’s Commission on Homeless Services, has not functioned in some time, but a variety of city officials have been aware of the VA’s search for a new location as far back as 2007.

www.arktimes.com

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

13

BOISE MOVES SOUTH

OR SO ASU FANS HOPE.

BY DOUG SMITH

14

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

ARKANSAS TIMES

JONESBORO — Strike up a conversation about Arkansas State University football these days, and you’ll hear the name of another university often.

It’s not the one you think.

ASU fans and officials like to cite Boise State University, the Idaho institution whose rapid rise from football obscurity to national prominence ASU hopes to match.

At a press conference announcing the hiring of the new ASU coach, Gus Malzahn, ASU athletic director Dean Lee says, “We can be the Boise State of college football … We want to be the Arkansas State of college football, which is going to be better than Boise State.”

In a later interview, Malzahn, whose hiring is the main reason for the new excitement here, says that scheduling is one aspect of ASU football that will change. ASU now plays two “money” games every year. These are games against big-time opponents like Alabama and Oklahoma, games that are always played on the big team’s home

field, games for which ASU is well compensated but has little chance of winning. It’s a common practice among lower-level college teams; they need the money. But Malzahn says ASU will cut back from two such games a year to one. That, he says, is what Boise did.

Be like Boise, by all means. But what about that other team whose name has always come up in any discussion of ASU football? The cross-state team, currently Arkansas’s only big-time football program, the team that has always overshadowed and ignored ASU? The team that ASU has dreamed of playing against? That’s the Arkansas Razorbacks, to end the suspense.

For years, ASU has fought to win a share of the love that goes to Fayetteville, and one way they hoped to do that was by playing UA, eventually developing an in-state rivalry like Auburn-Alabama, Oklahoma State-Oklahoma, Texas A&MTexas. UA has resolutely declined. ASU, which CONTINUED ON PAGE 16

DAVID STOUT

“I don’t think there was a soul in this state who wasn’t surprised by the Malzahn hiring. Or any sports fan in America, for crying out loud.”

www.arktimes.com

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

15

16

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

ARKANSAS TIMES

predecessor, Hugh Freeze, was the lowest-paid coach in major-college football, at somewhere around $200,000, and that Malzahn will make at least four times that much, around $850,000. ASU President Charles Welch has confirmed that figure is in the ballpark. Lee confirms that Malzahn will be the highestpaid coach in the Sun Belt Conference.

Whatever the exact number, ASU will strain to meet it. State law will prohibit more than about $160,000 of public money being spent on Malzahn’s salary. The state Division of Legisla-

NELSON CHENAULT

JUST KIDDING, WE THINK: An exuberant ASU fan.

tive Audit and the state Department of Higher Education check annually to see that state universities don’t exceed their statutory limits for transferring education funds to athletics. Unlike UA, ASU does not make a profit from football, so there’ll be no help from that source in the foreseeable future, especially if Malzahn carries through with his plan to play one less money game. The onus is on private donors.

Members of the Red Wolf Club, a private organization of ASU fans, are contributing more generously than ever

DAVID STOUT

is considered the “home” university for East Arkansas, took the fight to the state legislature on several occasions, but never quite persuaded the legislators to mandate an ASU-UA game. One of the ASU backers’ most promising campaigns ended when a legislator from Russellville amended their bill, adding a requirement that ASU play Arkansas Tech, then a championship team at the small-college level.

Those days are past, ASU people say. Ask athletic director Lee about an ASU-Arkansas game, and he says “Our philosophy here is to try to control the things we can control. We’ll play the people on our schedule. If that [UA] game happens, it happens. From the fan standpoint, there’s been interest on both sides. That doesn’t mean the game is going to be played.”

Virtually the same words come from Malzahn’s mouth. Does his attentiongetting hire at ASU bring a UA game closer? “I don’t know,” he says. “I’ve got immediate things to take care of.”

Jeff Hankins of Little Rock, an ASU alumnus and avid fan (and in his spare time publisher of Arkansas Business), says: “Someday, it’ll be a terrific game and I’ll be there. But I’m tired of pushing for it. I think there’s been too much talk about how the Malzahn hiring affects Arkansas [the Razorbacks]. I want to see UA, ASU, UCA [the University of Central Arkansas] all do well. But they’re at different levels, in different conferences.

The ‘Who you for, Arkansas or ASU’ debate does not have to be an eitheror decision for football fans in the state.

“I think Razorback fans were just as surprised that Gus Malzahn landed at ASU as ASU fans were. I don’t think there was a soul in this state who wasn’t surprised by the Malzahn hiring. Or any sports fan in America, for crying out loud.”

There was indeed a certain shock and awe connected with ASU’s getting Malzahn, an event that brought more media coverage than ASU football had ever known. This will be Malzahn’s first college head-coaching job, but he was probably the best-known assistant coach in the country, famed for running a wide-open, fan-pleasing offense. And he was earning far more as an assistant at Auburn, somewhere around $1.2 million, than any head coach at ASU had ever received.

Like UA, ASU won’t say how much the head football coach is paid, and it can get away with this secrecy because most of the salary comes from private supporters rather than public funds. It’s been widely reported that Malzahn’s

LEE: “I said, ‘Are you ready to come back to Arkansas?’ ”

before, Lee says. He’d first approached them for more money while Freeze was still on board, and they responded, Lee says. They dug even deeper when the identity of the new coach was revealed.

(A sizeable raise was being planned for Freeze, who was quite successful in his one season as head coach at ASU, winning the conference championship and sending ASU to a bowl game, a rare occurrence for the Red Wolves. But, as successful Sun Belt coaches do, Freeze moved on to a bigger football program, Ole Miss, that could pay more.)

Lee, now in his 10th year as AD at ASU, first met Gus Malzahn in 1989 at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, while Malzahn was a student and Lee, who has a Ph.D. in education, was teaching summer school. He’s followed Malzahn’s career since — “He’s been pretty legendary” — and encountered him occasionally. Before the 2010 football season, “I called Gus about getting a reference for Coach Freeze because they knew each other,” Lee said, “and I asked him if he’d be interested in coming back to Arkansas. He said no at that time, but he recommended Coach Freeze very highly. This time, when the search came on, he was on our wish list.

He was on everybody’s wish list. I was going to call and see if he was interested — you always have to ask — but he gave me a call first. He said ‘Hey Dean, this is Gus.’ I said ‘Are you ready to come back to Arkansas?’ He hesitated. When he did that, I started talking about who we are and what we do. We talked again on succeeding days. Then I drove to Auburn to meet him and his wife. And everything came through. The impact was immediate and unbelievable.”

Not only did the hiring bring national attention to ASU, “Our recruiting this year has been totally awesome, the best in the history of our school,” Lee said.

“Gus got into living rooms that we’ve never been able to get into before.”

No coach or AD ever admits to a bad recruiting year, but this one does look above average for ASU, especially in regard to competition against those teams at ASU’s level that it competes directly against — the Louisiana Techs, the Memphises, the Tulsas.

Malzahn’s reasons for coming to ASU, when he could have made more money staying at Auburn or going to another major-conference school, have been the subject of considerable speculation. Some have said the Auburn head coach, Gene Chizik, became less enchanted with, maybe jealous of, his famous assistant. Some note that Auburn’s offensive statistics weren’t as impressive in 2011 as they were in 2010,

NOT INTERESTED We wondered if the big doings at ASU might have caused the Arkansas Razorbacks to finally consider playing a football game against the Red Wolves. An inquiry brought this response from Kevin Trainor, sports information director at UA: “It has been a long-standing policy of the University of Arkansas Athletic Department to not schedule competitions in team sports against other institutions within the state. The practice began with former coach and athletic director John Barnhill and has been continued in the years following its introduction. The policy has enabled fans from all around the state to be united in their support of the University of Arkansas while also supporting the other intercollegiate athletic programs within Arkansas.”

Pressed on whether UA might re-examine the policy, Trainor conveyed this statement from UA athletic director Jeff Long: “Last season was arguably the most successful football season, collectively, for institutions in our state. The success of intercollegiate football programs throughout our state serves as a source of pride for all Arkansans.”

Beautiful Beginnings

Schedule your free consultation today!

Florist & Gift Shoppe

NOW – March 11 918 W. Main St • Jacksonville 501-982-3125 M-F 8-5 • Sat 9-2 While in town shop Oliver’s Antiques 101 Burman • Jacksonville, AR

March 13 – 14 (2 Shows on 14th)

Red Skeleton “A Tribute by Tom Mullica”

March 16 – 18 (2 Shows on 18th)

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

UALR Graduates @ Work • Wright, Lindsey & Jennings • American Chemistry • Nabholz Construction • Caterpillar • LM Windpower • Aristotle • Searcy Daily Citizen • Baptist Health • Entergy • FIS • Molex • Stephens Inc. • KARK • Acxiom • UAMS • AT&T • KTHV • Windstream • Verizon • BKD • Clinton Presidential Library • Welspun • Arkansas Supreme Court • VCC • Lockheed-Martin • Jones Productions • HewlettPackard • Delta Trust & Bank • Frost, PLLC • U.S. Bank • Mangan Holcomb Partners • eStem High School • Arkansas Governor’s Office • Mitchell Williams • Walmart • KATV • Historic Arkansas Museum • ESPN • Raytheon • U.S. Marshals Museum • U.S. Army • Arkansas Attorney General’s Office • Mosaic Templars Educational and Cultural Center • Arkansas Democrat-Gazette • Southwest Power Pool • The Communications Group • BAE Systems • Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield

when Auburn won a national championship and their Malzahn-coached quarterback, Cam Newton, won a Heisman Trophy. (The offense was not as good without Newton as with him?

Who would have guessed?) Alabama fans say Malzahn’s reason for leaving Auburn is obvious — he’s fleeing a sinking ship. A supplemental thesis is that Auburn will be short of talent next year,

by SEC standards, and ASU will be long, by Sun Belt standards, and that one impressive season at ASU would put Malzahn in line for the most desirable of head-coaching vacancies.

There’s also mention of an unusual interview — a little strange, but not scandalous — that was posted online that Malzahn’s wife gave among friends in Northwest Arkansas. The interview might have made Malzahn less attractive to employers, the story goes.

Malzahn himself says he left Auburn for ASU because “It was a chance to take over a program that’s on the rise and take it to the next level. That’s always interested me. Also, Arkansas CONTINUED ON PAGE 18

• Arkansas History Commission • Frazier, Hudson & Cisne • William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace National Historic Site • Central Arkansas Library System • Pulaski County Special School District • Arkansas State Police • Schueck Steel • TME • CLEAResult • Arkansas Department of Information Systems • St. Vincent Infirmary • Heifer International • Clinton School of Public Service • Arvest Bank • Friday, Eldredge and Clark • North Little Rock Police • Arkansas Children’s Hospital • Arkansas Business • AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals • North Little Rock School District • Arkansas Department of Human Services • Mainstream Technologies • Fox News • Arvest Mortgage • MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History • Central High School • Arkansas Department of Workforce Services • Williams and Anderson • Arkansas Times • Little Rock Central High National Historic Site • State of Arkansas • Old Statehouse Museum La Trecia Smith Bachelor’s - Middle Childhood Education Our graduates are at work across Arkansas — from small businesses and nonprofits to government agencies, healthcare providers, and large corporations.

Enroll now and discover UALR’s unique opportunities in the capital city’s hub for internships, career development, and job placement. ualr.edu

University of ArkAnsAs At LittLe rock www.arktimes.com

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

17

18

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

ARKANSAS TIMES

NELSON CHENAULT

MICHAEL DYER: Followed Malzahn to Jonesboro

running back and was on his way to setting Auburn records for rushing. But Dyer and the head coach had a fallingout and now he’s transferring to ASU, where, per NCAA rules, he’ll be forced

to remain on the sidelines for a year.

University presidents get almost as excited as coaches over the prospect of winning football teams, especially presidents of public universities in the

BRIAN CHILSON

is home. And I know I can recruit this area.” He was involved in ASU recruiting for the first time this year. “We felt we had a very good year. We beat some big schools on some kids.”

And the wife’s interview didn’t force a move? “I could have stayed at Auburn a long time. That has nothing to do with me leaving.” Yes, he says, he could have made more money by staying at Auburn or taking a big-time coaching job somewhere else. “But they pay me very well here.”

Malzahn, 46, grew up in Fort Smith.

He was a walk-on football player at UA under Coach Ken Hatfield, but graduated from Henderson. “Coaching was the only thing I ever wanted to do,” he says. He was an Arkansas high school coach, a successful one, for 15 years, first at Hughes, then at Shiloh Christian, then Springdale High, before he joined the UA staff under Coach Houston Nutt. This was a troubled period in Arkansas football history, and some of the controversy touched on Malzahn and players who’d followed him from Springdale to Fayetteville. He says he still hears from them. “I get very close to my players.”

The situation at Fayetteville was complex, he says, “but it allowed me to get into college football. I learned a lot in that time.” He went from Fayetteville to Tulsa University, then Auburn.

Malzahn wants to upgrade the facilities at ASU, even spice up the uniforms.

“We’re evaluating everything right now.” Malzahn’s high-powered offense should appeal to fans and donors, but, Malzahn says, “Winning is what ultimately brings fans into the stadium.”

Considering that ASU hasn’t done a lot of winning over the 20 years since it moved into the highest classification of college football, big crowds at ASU games would be a welcome and dramatic change. A powerful East Arkansas legislative delegation got the state to pay for construction of a 30,000-seat stadium in the ’70s, when ASU was winning games but in a lower classification.

ASU has seldom come close to filling it. The two times it was full were for games against Memphis, a nearby team from a conference that’s considered a cut above the Sun Belt.

Malzahn is, of course, optimistic about attendance, and everything else.

“It’s a really good time to be a Red Wolf fan. We’ll definitely play an exciting kind of football.” Somebody who’ll help make it exciting is Michael Dyer of Little Rock, once the most-recruited player in Arkansas high school football. Malzahn recruited him to Auburn, where he quickly became an all-conference

RYAN APLIN: ASU’s star quarterback returns next season.

South. ASU President Welch says the whole university had benefitted from the increased visibility in the state and nation that Malzahn’s hiring has brought. Enrollment at the Jonesboro campus was 14,000 last fall and Welch expects it to increase. (UA’s enrollment was 23,000.) “Our recruiters [for students, not just football players] say that interest has heightened.” Welch says.

“We’ve also seen an increase in donations by alumni for athletics and for other causes since Gus Malzahn was hired.” Jeff Hankins recalls a former ASU president, Eugene Smith, saying “Why does Harvard have an athletic program if there’s no value to it?”

When Freeze left, ASU fans were disappointed, Welch says, but some of the more affluent fans urged the administration to keep the winning momentum going, to try harder to move up in the football world. They said they’d help.

“When we brought in Guz Malzahn, his reputation exhilarated them,” Welch says. Before the hiring, Welch received a call from a man who was upset that ASU had been unable to keep Freeze. “Shortly after we named Malzahn, he e-mailed me. He said his contribution to the Red Wolf Club was going up from $2,500 a year to $10,000 a year.”

Fans are one thing, faculty is another.

Professors often question the value of college football, and object to the amount of money spent on it. That’s happened in the past at ASU. But Welch says he hasn’t heard much from the ASU faculty so far about Malzahn’s hiring, and what he has heard has been favorable, the faculty members cognizant that the increased funds for football are coming from private donors, and that “This is just one phase of taking the whole university to the next level.”

John Zibluk, a journalism professor and president of the faculty senate, generally backs up what Welch said. “Most of the faculty I’ve talked to are hopeful and supportive,” Zibluk said. “This has helped our visibility, and we’ve had a visibility problem. There’s a hope that if we’re committed to take this step up, there’ll be a willingness to take a step up in the classroom too.”

But Zibluk departs from the official line de-emphasizing the importance of a game between UA and ASU. “We hope this gives us justification to be on the field at Fayetteville,” he said.

“That’s been the number one thing on campus in the 18 years I’ve been here.

That’s the priority for the community and the students.”

These venues will be open late.

There’s plenty of parking and a free trolley to each of the locations.

Don’t miss it – lots of fun!

FREE PARKING at 3RD & CUMBERLAND

March 9

The 2nd Friday Of Each Month, 5-8 pm The Smittle Band: Listen to jazzy Americana by our local troubadours.

Wine Tasting: Sample a few varietals, hosted by Zin Wine Bar. Sponsored by the Historic Arkansas Museum Foundation

200 E. Third St. 501-324-9351 www.HistoricArkansas.org A museum of the Department of Arkansas Heritage

Drivers Legal Plan

New exhibit

Drivers Legal Plan

The Old State House Museum is a museum of the Department of Arkansas Heritage.

Preview Party!

FREE STREET PARKING ALL OVER DOWNTOWN AND BEHIND THE RIVER MARKET (Paid parking available for modest fee.)

Featuring:

• Summer Accessories from Jewelry Box 101.com • Home Accents • Workshop Displays • Ashley Ann’s Hand Painted Floors Wine & Hors d’oeuvres Will Be Served

Sponsored by

1419 Main St • Little Rock (Next to Blvd Bread Co.) www.AshleyAnnsEvents.com

Featuring Recycled Art Gourmet.

Your• Way. All Day. 300 Third Tower 501-375-3333 coppergrillandgrocery.com

come ride the free trolley!

1423 Main Street 501.374.1111 Check us out on Facebook!

Featuring works of art from ArtGroup Maumelle.

521 President Clinton Ave. River Market District (501) 975-9800

Gypsy Bistro

200 S. RIVER MARKET AVE, STE. 150 • 501.375.3500 DIZZYSGYPSYBISTRO.NET www.arktimes.com

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

19

Arts Entertainment AND

IT’S TIME FOR THE FINALS

Showcase finals schedule

9 p.m. Don’t Stop Please 10 p.m. Laundry for the Apocalypse 11 p.m. The Holy Shakes 12 a.m. War Chief 1 a.m. Joey Farr & The Fuggins Wheat Band

Laundry for the Apocalypse takes Round 5.

BY ROBERT BELL

A

nd then there were five. Laundry for the Apocalypse took the final round of the 2012 Arkansas Times Musicians Showcase semifinals last week, nailing down a spot at the ultimate showdown on Friday, March 2, alongside The Holy Shakes, Don’t Stop Please, War Chief and Joey Farr & The Fuggins Wheat Band.

Kicking off Round 5 was Fayetteville’s Trasspassers, an electro pop/psych/WTF? duo made up of Michael Jordan and Gregory Moore. The band recalls the pulsing, left-field pop of early MGMT or Animal Collective. Their energy level and squiggly, twisted songcraft seemed to go over well with the crowd, though one can’t help but feel they’d really shine at about 1:30 a.m. at a packed, sweaty house party.

Judge Clay Fitzpatrick noted “so many buttons and knobs, I don’t know how they do it. Their last song killed. Evil dance PARTAY!” Guest Judge Danny Grace — aka Frontier Dan, of crazed psych-garage/ country outfit The Frontier Circus — wrote, “Like the noise; unexpectedly Motown.” Judge Sammy Williams appreciated how Trasspassers “integrated hooks in a style of music in which it is hard to do so.”

Laundry for the Apocalypse took the stage second and roared right out of the gate with “Rob Zombie’s Halloween 2,” an upbeat ode to the shock rocker’s cinematic work. “Murdertarp for the Apocalypse,” took things in a darker direction, with crashing doubled drums, pulsing rhythm and frontman Aaron Sarlo’s unhinged wail. Impressively, the band sustained that energy level for its entire set.

Judge Epiphany thought the band’s “transitions were extra clean and the trumpet was a nice (not overused) addition.” Judge Cheyenne Matthews put her take succinctly: “Duh — ruled so hard.” Williams

LAUNDRY FOR THE APOCALYPSE

heard a “great quiet/loud dynamic, but 90 percent too much bongos,” he wrote. “Vocals were great, energy was killer.”

Up next were Ben Franks & The Bible Belt Boys, a bluegrass-infused five-piece that brought a lively, rollicking set of tunes to the proceedings. The Hot Springs band played heartfelt indie rock with folk instrumentation, including some fine fiddle playing from Chris Ryland Jr. that added a distinctive element to the band’s sound. The group “made you feel good (despite the dreadful life you may be leading),” wrote Epiphany.

Williams thought the band played “very well together, but seem to take too many musical cues from songs from the past. Pushing the envelope, but haven’t quite broken through.” Grace gave the band points for “strong storytelling with a deceptively driven hoedown

of fiddle and banjo. Well-rehearsed!”

Closing out Round 5 and the semifinals, Jab Jab Suckerpunch brought a 200-proof blast of pure, hedonistic rock ’n’ roll to the proceedings. The band’s sound could be described as The Jesus Lizard by way of Motorhead by way of an aural curbstomping. Brian Hirrell and Brett McKnight wrangled vicious riffs from their punishingly loud guitars, while the rhythm section of Brian Rodgers and Ryan Scott anchored the whole thing solidly.

Fitzpatrick was moved to the point of partially disrobing. “I took my shirt off,” he wrote. “That means something — rock ’n’ roll at its best.” Matthews again offered condensed commentary: “Jab Jab, yes, oh yes, oh my!” Grace, too, opted for concision: “Raw power!

The Detroit sound!” Epiphany heard “the type of good LOUD that’s appreciated.”

So now we’re down to the five finalists: The Holy Shakes, Don’t Stop Please, War Chief, Joey Farr & The Fuggins Wheat Band and Laundry for the Apocalypse.

Which band will become the 20th showcase winner and take home a bevy of excellent prizes and live on in infamy in the pantheon of great Arkansas bands?

You can find out Friday at Revolution. The show starts at 9 p.m. and it’s $5 for ages 21 and older, $8 for ages 18-20. Contrary to how we’ve done things for the semifinals, we’ll be tallying the score and announcing the winner that night. Also contrary to the semifinals, instead of being judged by four separate criteria, each band will receive a simple score of 0-50 from each judge.

We’ll also be giving away three pairs of passes to Bonnaroo, June 7-10 in Manchester, Tenn. The gigantic music and arts festival has a killer lineup this year, with Radiohead, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Phish, The Beach Boys, Bon Iver, The Shins, The Roots, Feist, Black Star, Ludacris, Tune-Yards, Flying Lotus, St. Vincent, Bad Brains, Mimosa, Ben Folds Five, Yelawolf, Mogwai, Kurt Vile and tons more.

THE JUDGES’ TAKE ON ROUND 5 WINNER LAUNDRY FOR THE APOCALYPSE

Guest judge Danny Grace: “An eclectic frenzy of percussion and guitar, bass and drums. A lot of fun!”

20

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

ARKANSAS TIMES

Epiphany: “Real nice package.

Transitions were extra clean and the trumpet was a nice (not overused) addition.”

Clay Fitzpatrick: “The frontman was amazing. The whole band was amazing. My only complaint was they really don’t need the congas. I just almost felt it contradicted their sound.”

Cheyenne Matthews: “Duh — ruled so hard.”

Sammy Williams: “Great quiet/loud dynamic, but 90 percent too much bongos. Vocal were great, energy was killer.”

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

A&E NEWS THE 12TH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE SHORT STORY

is coming to North Little Rock June 27-30. If you’ve got a short story or a paper you’d like to share, you might be able to be part of it all (if you hurry).

The biannual conference, the largest dedicated solely to short fiction, will bring a host of world-renowned authors to NLR, including Bret Anthony Johnston, Katherine Vaz, Robert Olen Butler, Bharati Mukherjee, Velma Pollard, Clark Blaise and more than a dozen other writers from around the globe. The conference will also feature performances, dance, art, films and writing workshops at several venues.

The registration fee for the conference, which includes admission to all readings, panels and receptions (but not the workshops), is $275 per person now, but will jump to $300 on May 1.

(Unless you’re a student. Valid student ID saves you $100).

A full list of writers is available at the conference webpage. The event is presented by the University of Central Arkansas, the Argenta Arts Foundation and the North Little Rock Visitors Bureau.

If you move lightning fast, you can still make the March 1 deadline to submit paper proposals. There is also a short story contest being held in conjunction with the conference, with cash prizes for win, place and show, and the winner allowed to read his or her story during the event. The deadline to submit a short story (along with a $30 reading fee) is March 31.

IF YOU HAVEN’T YET CAUGHT “PARADISE LOST 3: PURGATORY,” you

can catch the documentary at Argenta Community Theatre during the Arkansas Literary Festival. After the film, author and West Memphis Three expert Mara Leveritt will discuss the film and her upcoming book “Justice Knot,” the follow-up to her book “Devil’s Knot” (which is being made into a film).

The screening is free, but you’ll need a ticket, so go to paradiselost3. eventbrite.com to make reservations.

THE FAYETTEVILLE FLYER REPORTED LAST WEEK that the American band

Wilco is scheduled to play at the Arkansas Music Pavilion on May 10. The tickets are $44 and are available at the Walton Arts Center’s website. Other upcoming AMP shows for the 2012 season include Cake on April 19, Big Gigantic on April 21 and Five Finger Death Punch on May 8. The venue was previously located on the southwest parking lot of the Northwest Arkansas Mall, but recently relocated to the Washington County Fairgrounds after lease negotiations with the mall’s owners stalled.

Live Music weDNeSDAy, FeBRuARy 29

DRAg tHe RiveR w/ JOHN mOReLAND (tuLSA, Ok)

FRiDAy, mARCH 2

JOe BuCk w/ tHe HOOteN HOLLeRS (COLumBiA, mO) & tHe P-47S

SAtuRDAy, mARCH 3

miCHAeL PRySOCk (gLeNN ROSe, AR)

tueSDAy, mARCH 6

mANDy mCBRyDe & tHe uNHOLy gHOStS

CHeCk Out ADDitiONAL SHOwS At

wHitewAteRtAveRN.COm

Little Rock’s Down-Home Neighborhood Bar

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

! l l a B Play The St. Louis Cardinals

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

For A Limited Time Only!

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

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

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

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

21

THE TO-DO

LIST

BY ROBERT BELL

THURSDAY 3/1

JIMMY BUFFETT

8 p.m. Verizon Arena. Sold out.

Back in early January, Verizon Arena was touting a big concert announcement that was “12 Years in the Making.” Who might it be? The Facebook commentariat was a-froth with wild speculation. Would it be Van Halen? Bon Jovi?

Paul McCartney? U2? Coldplay? Lady GaGa? Elton John and Billy Joel? When the word came down that it was Jimmy Buffett, the Facebook complainaholics set to work, and they were pitiless: “Really??? That’s it? What a letdown!” wrote Chris Lejman Ryan, her keyboard no doubt smashed to pieces in a paroxysm of disappointed rage. Jason Henry offered a withering putdown riffing on the presumed elderliness of a Buffett crowd: “Dust off your walkers, put on your LifeAlert bracelet and get ready to sing your dentures out.” Perhaps Amberley Young offered the most eloquent and creatively spelled denunciation: “Ewwwwww shld have been sum 1 better.” Surely, with all of this online vitriol one could safely assume that the Buffett concert would be a failure of oceanic proportions, right? Nope. See, the Parrotheads are legion and they are loyal. The show sold out in 90 minutes. That’s right. In the time it took the haters to watch “Big Mama’s House 5,” 18,000 tickets had been sold. But the quick sellout shouldn’t surprise anyone. After all, do the sallow British noodles in Coldplay inspire margarita-fueled, daylong tailgating parties at their concerts? No. Has Billy Joel been responsible for millions upon millions of sick days? Probably not. Has Bon Jovi inspired an entire subculture spanning decades and demographics, with a lifestyle branding empire rivaled only by Oprah or KISS? No, but the Medicare-eligible Buffett has done all the above and more, so take that, haters.

CHEESEBURGER IN NORTH LITTLE ROCK: Jimmy Buffett and The Coral Reefer Band play a sold-out show at Verizon Arena Thursday.

THURSDAY 3/1

FRIDAY 3/2

‘DOUBT’

JOE BUCK

7:30 p.m. UCA’s Reynolds Performance Hall. $23-$40.

9 p.m. White Water Tavern. $7.

I’ve not seen a stage production of John Patrick Shanley’s Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Doubt: A Parable.” But I did see the 2008 film adaptation starring Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman, and I imagine that the original work is similarly powerful and probably all the more appropriately tense and cloistered-feeling in the intimate setting of a theater. Set in a New York Catholic Church in the 1960s, “Doubt” concerns Father Flynn, who runs afoul of the powerful and controlling church school principal Sister Aloysius, who begins to plot against him. I don’t want to give too much away about the ending, but the play’s central theme is made apparent by its title, and one of the most striking passages in the film is a parable about the pernicious and uncontrollable power of gossip, delivered by the besieged Father Flynn to his flock. The Montana Repertory Theatre’s version of “Doubt” was hailed in The Missoulian as a “darkly simmering production.”

Several years ago, a buddy of mine — he’s a good man, but was also a very thirsty one back then — bought himself a big bottle of economy brand gin and decided to get down to the bottom of it. Keep in mind this was in the era before your plastic liquor bottles that are so prevalent on the bottom shelf nowadays.

He went to a party and shared copiously, but somehow there was still a good amount of gin left over as the festivities began to run on fumes, so he skipped out and commenced to drinking with some hobos on the train tracks near White Water Tavern. Anyways, he woke up back in his bed the next afternoon and, when he started to get up he found that his pillow was adhered to the back of his head

22

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

ARKANSAS TIMES

with dried blood. He hadn’t a clue what had happened, but there was a good handful of broken glass enmeshed in the scabby carnage that was the back of his noggin. He still had his wallet and had sustained no lasting injuries, and he got the pillow unstuck without too much fuss. But he never did suss out what had transpired and was thus resolved: No more drinking with hobos. But if his night had had a soundtrack, I imagine it would have sounded like hellbilly wild-man Joe Buck: crazy, blurry, liquor-fueled, touched by mysterious violence and tinged with foreboding evil. Buck’s played with Hank Williams III and The Legendary Shack Shakers in previous years and has played WWT several times. The Hooten Hallers hail from Missouri and truck in similarly stripped down rockabilly racket. So go to this show, but stay off the tracks after it’s over.

IN BRIEF

THURSDAY 3/1 Austin-based progressive rockers The Boxing Lesson bring their synth-heavy, huge-sounding jams to Downtown Music Hall with Little Rock psych-prog instrumentalists Echo Canyon, 8 p.m., $5. Bringing the funky, rollicking Hammond-heavy soul from New Orleans is the Joe Krown Trio, featuring Krown, Walter “Wolfman” Washington and Russell Batiste Jr., Stickyz, 18-and-older, 9 p.m., $10. White Water Tavern hosts DJs Kyle Carpenter and Ike Plumlee, 9 p.m., free. For some soulful, Stonesy singer/songwriter rock, check out Joe Firstman with The Cordovas at Juanita’s, 8 p.m., $10. DrFameus is the pulsing, thumping electro-percussive musical project of Disco Biscuits drummer Allen Aucoin. DJ Paul Grass opens the 18-and-older show, Revolution, 9 p.m., $10 adv., $12 d.o.s.

SATURDAY 3/3

BIG SMITH

8:30 p.m. Revolution. $10.

Though the band hails from Springfield, Mo., Big Smith has always seemed to have a second home in Arkansas, gigging regularly in Fayetteville, Eureka Springs, Little Rock and other spots around the Natural State over the last 16 years.

Unfortunately for fans of the group’s bluegrass/country/gospel blend, Big Smith decided to call it a day, and this will be the last time the band plays Little Rock. On another, much more serious and sad note, bassist Bill Thomas suffered a hemorrhagic stroke on Jan. 19 at a venue in West Siloam Springs, Okla. Thomas was transferred to the intensive care unit at Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville, where he spent five days. He is recuperating,

FRIDAY 3/2 FAREWELL SHOW: The long-running and much loved hillbilly outfit Big Smith plays its last Little Rock show at Revolution Saturday.

but now faces significant medical bills.

The band is soldiering on through its farewell tour dates and they’re collecting donations for Thomas

and his family. The much-loved Mississippi folk/American act Blue Mountain opens the 18-and-older show.

SATURDAY 3/3

THIS HOLY HOUSE 9 p.m. Stickyz. $5.

This Holy House is a relatively new act, but the band — then a trio but now a quartet — impressed last year’s panel of judges at the Arkansas Times Musicians Showcase, winning the last semifinal round. This show is an album release party for “Love and Hope in the War Times,” the band’s debut fulllength, recorded last summer at Blue Chair Studios. Opening track “Love and War” starts off gently and builds to an emotional peak, with jabbing electric guitar, crashing drums and soaring vocals from singer and guitarist Elliott Cotten, while a banjo is plucked pastorally in the background. The group plays what could loosely be described as Americana, but they incorporate a lot more distortion and guitar fireworks than your average group of bearded young folkies.

They even indulge some welcome bluesy rock ’n’ roll swagger, as on “Three Pieces for the Devil’s Chess Game” or “Hold On to Me.” The countrified Conway hellraisers in Swampbird open the 18-and-older show.

For some sweeping, widescreen indie pop, check out Shreveport’s Super Water Sympathy at Maxine’s.

Brother Andy & His Big Damn Mouth and The Sideshow Tragedy open the show, 8 p.m., $5 adv., $7 door. Fayetteville jam-funk ensemble The 1 Oz. Jig carries the party into the wee hours at Midtown, 12:30 a.m., $5. The Smittle Band brings sophisticated, jazz-tinged pop to Dugan’s Pub, 9 p.m., free. It’s salsa night with Calle Soul, featuring live music and basic salsa lessons, Browning’s Mexican Food, 9:30 p.m., $5. Presented by the peace advocacy group Invisible Children, “KONY 2012” is a short film that documents the brutal Ugandan conflict being waged by war criminal Joseph Kony’s forces in the Lord’s Resistance Army, Faith Spring Church, 6:30 p.m., free. Paws on the Runway, the annual canine fashion show and benefit for CARE for Animals, kicks off at The Governor’s Mansion, 6 p.m., $50-$250. The Tricks play an acoustic set at Pizza D’Action, 10 p.m., $3.

SATURDAY 3/3

ROLL, ROLL, ROLL IN ZE HAY: The Broadway musical adaptation of “Young Frankenstein” comes to Robinson Center Music Hall, March 6-8.

TUESDAY 3/6

‘YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN’

7:30 p.m. Robinson Center Music Hall. $23-$61.

With the success of the Broadway musical adaptation of the Mel Brooks classic “The Producers” in 2001, it was only natural that “Young Frankenstein” would receive similar treatment. Back in 2010, Brooks announced that a musical version of “Blazing Saddles” would be forthcoming, a notion that had been hinted

at toward the end of the musical “Young Frankenstein.” So will we eventually see “Robin Hood: Men in Tights” or the unjustly maligned “Spaceballs” brought to Broadway? Also, will we see a film version of the musical version of “Young Frankenstein,” as we did with “The Producers?” Only time will tell.

This production runs through March 8, and concludes the 2011-2012 Celebrity Attractions Broadway Season.

The Conway Symphony Orchestra presents “The Best of Stage and Screen,” which includes music by John Williams, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Leroy Anderson, Rodgers and Hammerstein and more, Reynolds Performance Hall, UCA, 7:30 p.m., $6-$38. Memphis madman Jason D. Williams pounds the keys at Denton’s Trotline, 9 p.m. Rodney Block & The Real Music Lovers team up with Bethany Devine for a tribute to Sade and Miles Davis titled “Love Songs,” Big Whiskey’s American Bar and Grill, 9 p.m., $10-$15. Psych-blues-trance maestros Tyrannosaurus Chicken play Midtown, 12:30 a.m., $5. Down in Hot Springs, The Second Annual Culinary District Art of BBQ Invitational features professional barbecue teams cooking pork ribs, chicken, pork butt and beef brisket, The Culinary District, noon, free.

www.arktimes.com

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

23

AFTER DARK

THURSDAY, MARCH 1

DJs Kyle Carpenter and Ike Plumlee. White Water Tavern, 9 p.m. 2500 W. 7th. 501-375-8400. www.whitewatertavern.com.

Dr. Fameus, Paul Grass. 18-and-older show.

Revolution, 9 p.m., $10 adv., $12 d.o.s. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-823-0090. revroom. com.

In Defense, Potions. The Lightbulb Club, 9 p.m., $3. 21 N. Block Ave., Fayetteville. 479-444-6100.

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

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

Jimmy Buffett. Sold out. Verizon Arena, 8 p.m.

1 Alltel Arena Way, NLR. 501-975-9001. verizonarena.com.

Joe Krown Trio. 18-and-older show. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 9 p.m., $10. 107 Commerce St. 501-372-7707. www.stickyfingerz.com.

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

Mayday By Midnight (happy hour), Crisis (headliner). Cajun’s Wharf, 5 and 9 p.m., $5 after 8:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-3755351. www.cajunswharf.com.

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

9611 MacArthur Drive, NLR. 771-2994.

Rusty White. Thirst n’ Howl, 8 p.m., free. 14710 Cantrell Road. 501-379-8189. www.thirst-n-howl. com.

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

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

MUSIC

COMEDY

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

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 29

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.

Andy Davis, Adam Hambrick. 18-and-older show. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 9 p.m., $6. 107 Commerce St. 501-372-7707. www. stickyfingerz.com.

Bolly Open Mic Hype Night with Osyrus Bolly and DJ Messiah. All American Wings, 9 p.m.

215 W. Capitol Ave. 501-376-4000. allamericanwings.com.

Drag the River, John Moreland. White Water Tavern, 9:30 p.m., $5. 2500 W. 7th. 501-375-8400. www.whitewatertavern.com.

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.

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

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

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

Low Dough Wednesdays: Goodtime Ramblers, Mandy McBryde & The Unholy Ghost, Jeff Coleman & The Feeders. All-ages show. Revolution, 8:30 p.m., $5. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-823-0090. revroom.com.

Official Parrothead Welcome Party. Featuring Two Strangebirds. Cajun’s Wharf, 5 and 9 p.m., $5 after 8:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-3755351. www.cajunswharf.com.

Open mic jam with Kat and Chuck. Thirst n’ Howl, 8 p.m.; March 7, 8 p.m.; March 14, 8 p.m.; March 28, 8 p.m., free. 14710 Cantrell Road. 501379-8189. www.thirst-n-howl.com.

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

St. Lawrence String Quartet. Reynolds Performance Hall, UCA, 7:30 p.m., free. 350 S. Donaghey, Conway. 501-450-5754.

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

COMEDY

John Wesley Austin “The Singing Cowboy” and Henry Coleman. The Loony Bin, 8 p.m.; March 1, 8 p.m.; March 2, 10:30 p.m.; March 3, 7, 9 and 11 p.m., $7-$10. 10301 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501-228-5555. www.loonybincomedy.com.

EVENTS

Barcade Edition. Video game tournament fea-

24

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

ARKANSAS TIMES

RUNNER’S HIGH: The Little Rock Marathon kicks off Sunday morning at 8 a.m. (though there’s a 6 a.m. early start for slower runners and walkers). The course starts off downtown and weaves throughout the Quapaw Quarter, Central High area, Hillcrest, Riverdale and Argenta before wrapping back up downtown. The race ends at 2 p.m. The marathon attracts thousands of runners and supporters, so expect traffic to be congested until 2 p.m. or so. A post-race party starts at the Statehouse Convention Center at 4 p.m. with food from Whole Hog Cafe. turing Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition 2012, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Mortal Kombat 9, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Soul Caliber V. Downtown Music Hall, 6 p.m.

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

LECTURES

Brown Bag Lunch Lecture: “African-American Fraternal Headstones in Arkansas — Identification and History.” Old State House Museum, 12 p.m., free. 500 Clinton Ave. 501324-9685. www.oldstatehouse.com.

Determined to Change the World for the Better Pt. 3: Student Panel Discussion.

Philander Smith College, 11 a.m. 900 W. Daisy L. Gatson Bates Drive.

Tommy May. The chairman of the board and CEO of Simmons First National Corporation

presents “A Journey with Many Crossroads.”

Clinton School of Public Service, 12 p.m., free.

1200 President Clinton Ave. 501-683-5239. www. clintonschool.uasys.edu.

SPORTS

Horse racing. Oaklawn, through April 7: 1:30 p.m. 2705 Central Ave., Hot Springs. 501-6234411. www.oaklawn.com.

The Boxing Lesson, Echo Canyon. Downtown Music Hall, 8 p.m., $5. 211 W. Capitol. 501-3761819. downtownshows.homestead.com.

The Cordovas with Joe Firstman. Juanita’s, 8 p.m., $10. 614 President Clinton Ave. 501-3721228. www.juanitas.com.

John Wesley Austin “The Singing Cowboy” and Henry Coleman. The Loony Bin, March 1, 8 p.m.; March 2, 10:30 p.m.; March 3, 7, 9 and 11 p.m., $7-$10. 10301 N. Rodney Parham Road.

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

EVENTS

Hillcrest Shop & Sip. Shops and restaurants offer discounts, later hours, and live music.

Hillcrest, first Thursday of every month, 5-10 p.m. P.O.Box 251522. 501-666-3600. www.hillcrestmerchants.com.

“The Margaritaville” Business After Hours.

North Little Rock Chamber of Commerce, 3 p.m., $15 adv., $20 door. 100 Main St., NLR. 501-372-5959. www.nlrchamber.org.

Come join us for happy hour drink and appetizer speCials!

5:00-6:30 pm

LECTURES

Mitch Weiss. Presentation from the author of “Acquiring, Managing and Protecting Credit.”

Clinton School of Public Service, 6 p.m., free.

1200 President Clinton Ave. 501-683-5239. www. clintonschool.uasys.edu.

best steak 2005-2012 fr ee va let pa r k ing p ia no b a r t u es -s at 3 3 5 wine s eleCt io ns • fin e s p ir it s fr o m a r o u nd t h e wo r ld a s k a b o u t p r ivat e Co r po r at e lu nCh es

500 p re si de n t Cl i n t on ave n ue ( i n t he r i ve r m arke t d i st ri Ct ) Call f or r e se rvat i on s 501.324.2999 • w w w.son n yw i l l i am sst e akroo m. C o m

SPORTS

Horse racing. Oaklawn, through April 7: 1:30 p.m. 2705 Central Ave., Hot Springs. 501-6234411. www.oaklawn.com.

FRIDAY, MARCH 2

MUSIC

1 Oz. Jig. Midtown Billiards, 12:30 a.m., $5. 1316

COMEDY

John Wesley Austin “The Singing Cowboy” and Henry Coleman. The Loony Bin, March 2, 10:30 p.m.; March 3, 7, 9 and 11 p.m., $7-$10.

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

DANCE

Salsa night with Calle Soul. Featuring live music and basic salsa lessons. Browning’s Mexican Food, 9:30 p.m., $5. 5805 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501663-9956. www.browningsmexicangrill.com.

Horse racing. Oaklawn, through April 7: 1:30 p.m. 2705 Central Ave., Hot Springs. 501-6234411. www.oaklawn.com.

Little Rock Marathon Health & Fitness Expo.

In conjunction with the Expo, free seminars on a number of topics relating to running/ walking, health, beauty and fitness, and the course overview will be offered, as well as the Award Ceremony for the 5K Fun Run/Walk.

Statehouse Convention Center, March 2, 12 p.m.; March 3, 10 a.m., Free. 7 Statehouse Plaza.

$5. 2500 W. 7th. 501-375-8400. www.whitewatertavern.com.

Rehab Superstar, Dark From Day One, Sychosys, Land of Mines. Downtown Music Hall, 8 p.m., $8 adv., $10 d.o.s. 211 W. Capitol.

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

Rip Van Shizzle. Thirst n’ Howl, March 3, 9 p.m.; March 31, 9 p.m., free. 14710 Cantrell Road. 501-379-8189. www.thirst-n-howl.com.

Rock Theory. Flying DD, 9 p.m., $5. 4601 S. University. 501-773-9990. flyingdd.com.

Rodney Block & TRML with Bethany Devine.

Performing a tribute to Sade and Miles Davis titled “Love Songs.” Big Whiskey’s American Bar and Grill, 9 p.m., $10-$15. 225 E. Markham.

501-324-2449.

Seeing Red (headliner), Handmade Moments (happy hour). Cajun’s Wharf, 5 and 9 p.m., $5 after 8:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-3755351. www.cajunswharf.com.

Shannon Boshears. Dugan’s Pub, 9 p.m., free.

403 E. 3rd St. 501-244-0542. www.duganspublr. com.

Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 9 p.m., free. 111 Markham St. 501-374-7474. www. capitalhotel.com/CBG. This Holy House (album release), Swampbird.

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

Tyrannosaurus Chicken. Midtown Billiards, 12:30 a.m., $5. 1316 Main St. 501-372-9990. midtownar.com.

BENEFITS

COMEDY

SATURDAY, MARCH 3

EVENTS

Tucker Carrington. Carrington, director of the Mississippi Innocence Project, will discuss the group’s work overturning and seeking to end wrongful convictions. Clinton School of Public Service, 12 p.m., free. 1200 President Clinton Ave. 501-683-5239. www.clintonschool.uasys. edu.

SPORTS

Paws on the Runway. Annual canine fashion show and benefit for CARE for Animals.

Governor’s Mansion, 6 p.m., $50-$250. 1800 Center St. 500-603-2273. www.careforanimals.org.

MUSIC

Big Smith, Blue Mountain. 18-and-older show.

Revolution, 8:30 p.m., $10. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-823-0090. revroom.com.

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

Conway Symphony Orchestra: “The Best of Stage and Screen.” Includes the music of John Williams, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Leroy Anderson, Rodgers and Hammerstein and more. Reynolds Performance Hall, UCA, 7:30 p.m., $6-$38. 350 S. Donaghey, Conway.

501-450-5506. www.conwaysymphony.org.

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

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

Interstate Buffalo. The Afterthought, 9 p.m., $7. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www. afterthoughtbar.com.

Jason D. Williams. Denton’s Trotline, 9 p.m.

2150 Congo Road, Benton. 501-315-1717.

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

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

412 Louisiana. 501-907-2582.

Michael Prysock. White Water Tavern, 9 p.m.,

WHAT'S YOUR ULTRA LIFE?

TELL US AT FACEBOOK.COM/MICHELOBULTRA

John Wesley Austin “The Singing Cowboy” and Henry Coleman. The Loony Bin, 7, 9 and 11 p.m., $7-$10. 10301 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501-228-5555. www.loonybincomedy. com.

2nd annual Hot Springs Seed Swap. After the seed swap will be a screening of the documentary “The Natural State of America,” at Malco Theatre and an after party at Maxine’s with live music from Mountain Sprout. Artchurch Studio, 10 a.m. 301 Whittington Ave., Hot Springs. 501-282-8343. www.artchurch.org.

Dr. Seuss’ birthday celebration. Includes games, storytellers, singers, magician and treats for kids. Trinity United Methodist Church, 10 a.m., free. 1101 North Mississippi St. 501-666-2813. www.tumclr.org.

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

Saturday Programs at the Old State House Museum. Includes games, presentations and more family friendly events. Old State House Museum, through March 31: 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m., free. 500 Clinton Ave. 501-324-9685. www. oldstatehouse.com.

The Second Annual Culinary District Art of BBQ Invitational. Featuring professional barbecue teams cooking pork ribs, chicken, pork butt and beef brisket. The Culinary District, 12 p.m., free. 501 Ouachita Ave., Hot Springs.

501-624-2665. www.culinarydistrict.com.

Seth’s Big Fat Broadway Show. Presentation from Seth Rudetsky the Broadway host on Sirius XM Satellite Radio. Walton Arts Center, 8 p.m., $15-$25. 495 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville.

479-443-5600.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 26

Pub: Arkansas Times

LECTURES

For some the Ultra life is a friendly game of softball, a weekend bike group or searching for that perfect round of golf. In the end, it's all about having fun.

With 95 calories, 2.6 carbs and one exceptionally smooth taste, Michelob Ultra is the superior light beer perfectly balanced for your life.

Trim: 2.125x12 Bleed: None Live: 1.875x10.75

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. Sandwiching in History: Karl L. Stahl House.

Karl L. Stahl House, 12 p.m. 1504 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

Closing Date: 2.27.12 QC: SM

EVENTS

Ad Name: Michelob Ultra Bottle Item #:PMU201210100 Job/Order #: 237724

Main St. 501-372-9990. midtownar.com.

2012 Arkansas Times Musicians Showcase Finals. Featuring Don’t Stop Please, Laundry for the Apocalypse, The Holy Shakes, War Chief and Joey Farr & The Fuggins Wheat Band. Revolution, 8:30 p.m., $5 21 and older, $8 18-20. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-8230090. revroom.com.

Attack the Minds, Pulse, Playing with Kharma.

Vino’s, 8:30 p.m., $8. 923 W. 7th St. 501-3758466. www.vinosbrewpub.com.

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

Brenda and Ellis. Thirst n’ Howl, 9 p.m., free.

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

Chilly Rose Band. The Tavern Sports Grill, 8:30 p.m., free. 17815 Chenal Parkway. 501-830-2100. www.thetavernsportsgrill.com.

Craig Campbell. Shooter’s Sports Bar & Grill, 9 p.m., $10-$15. 9500 I-30. 501-565-4003. www. shooterslittlerock.com.

D-Mite and Tho-d Studios Showcase.

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

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

“The Flow Fridays.” Twelve Modern Lounge, 8 p.m. 1900 W. Third St. Hip Kitty. West End Smokehouse and Tavern, March 2-3, 10 p.m., $5. 215 N. Shackleford.

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

Joe Buck, The Hooten Hallers. White Water Tavern, 9 p.m., $7. 2500 W. 7th. 501-375-8400. www.whitewatertavern.com.

Kris Cook Birthday Extravaganza. Featuring DJs Sleepy Genius and Paul Grass. Flying DD, 9 p.m. 4601 S. University. 501-773-9990. flyingdd.com.

Lucious Spiller. The Afterthought, 9 p.m., $7.

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

Mayday By Midnight. Flying Saucer, 9 p.m., $3.

323 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-7468. www. beerknurd.com/stores/littlerock.

Raising Grey (headliner), Richie Johnson (happy hour). Cajun’s Wharf, 5 and 9 p.m., $5 after 8:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-3755351. www.cajunswharf.com.

The Smittle Band. Dugan’s Pub, 9 p.m., free. 403 E. 3rd St. 501-244-0542. www.duganspublr.com.

Super Water Sympathy, Brother Andy & His Big Damn Mouth, The Sideshow Tragedy.

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

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 show. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 9:30 p.m. 107 Commerce St. 501-372-7707. www.stickyfingerz.com.

The Tricks (acoustic set). Pizza D’Action, 10 p.m., $3. 2919 W. Markham St. 501-666-5403.

©2011 Anheuser-Busch, Inc., Michelob Ultra® Light Beer, St. Louis, MO 95 calories, 2.6g carbs, 0.6g protein and 0.0g fat, per 12 oz.

www.arktimes.com

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

25

The restoration of Johnny Cash’s boyhood home Dyess project underway.

O

n what would have been Johnny Cash’s 80th birthday, dozens of family members joined hundreds of fans and residents in the east Arkansas town of Dyess Sunday to formally mark the beginning of work to restore his boyhood home.

“This project has been in the making for several years and I never thought that it would actually come to fruition,” said daughter Rosanne Cash, who led the ceremony at the Dyess Community Center. “We never foresaw that it would take on this kind of life.”

Ray and Carrie Cash moved with their children to the community in 1935. It was created as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Depression-era New Deal program.

They labored over 40 acres of land, which provided the inspiration for many of Johnny Cash’s classic songs.

During a 1969 concert at New York’s Madison Square Garden, Cash told the crowd “after I got into the music field and started writing and recording and singing songs about the things I knew, I wrote a lot of songs about life as I knew it back when I was a little, bitty boy.”

He then sang “Five Feet High and Rising,” which tells the story of the Mississippi River flooding his community. Afterward Cash said, “I was four years old at the time and I can’t remember a lot about it, but daddy

said that we got back home the house was full of mud, chickens and pigs and dogs and nine bullfrogs. Mama cleaned the house out that winter and the next spring daddy and my older brother Roy cleared a lot more cotton land and the cotton grew tall in 1938.”

It’s that connection that has prompted so many to be interested in preserving the small, dilapidated home, which was lived in by various people outside of the Cash family until being bought recently by Arkansas State University.

In recent weeks the house has been lifted onto the back of a truck and moved to the back of the lot so that work can begin to lay a new foundation.

“Anybody who’s ever been in Dyess, Arkansas, knows that this is gumbo soil up here and it moves and it’s very difficult to keep a house level,” said Dr. Ruth Hawkins, director of ASU’s Arkansas Heritage Sites. “We’re going to be hauling out all of that gumbo soil and putting in good, solid packed soil and a new foundation, then we’ll set the house back on that.”

After taking part in Sunday’s ceremony, Johnny Cash’s brother, Tommy Cash, said, “My parents would really be proud that we’re being honored in this way. I couldn’t help but think about them all day today and how much they would enjoy being here. My

MICHAEL HIBBLEN

BY MICHAEL HIBBLEN

CASH CLAN: Tommy Cash, Joanne Cash Yates, Cindy Cash, John Carter Cash and Rosanne Cash.

sister Joanne and I are the last two of the siblings, and we’re just overjoyed about what’s going on. The restoration of our old home place is a very exciting thing for all of us.”

Organizers are working with the family to prepare to decorate the home as it looked in the 1930s.

In addition to the Cash home, ASU plans to restore the historic Dyess Administration building and a local theater. So far the university has raised $1 million for the overall project, which is budgeted at $3.4 million, with hopes the restoration of the house and administration building can be completed and opened to the public by the summer of 2013.

After Sunday’s event, many fans drove over to see the former Cash home, which is along a dirt road at 4791 W. County Road 924, just outside of town.

“I grew up in South Africa, I was born there, and my dad had an old Johnny Cash cassette tape and I listened to that all over Africa and all over the states,” said Matt Moler, who today lives near Springfield, Mo. “He’s always been a part of my life, his music has, ever since I was a kid, all the way to the other side of the world, so it’s just been a great opportunity being here today.”

The music legend died in 2003 and is considered by many to be the most influential musician to come from Arkansas.

AFTER DARK, CONT. Life after Trauma.” Hastings, 1 p.m. 915 W. Main St,, Jacksonville. 501-982-3027.

POETRY

Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest. The competition will be emceed

by Clayton Scott, former Poet Laureate of Fayetteville. Pulaski Technical College, 10 a.m., free. 3000 W. Scenic Drive, NLR. 501-324-9769.

SPORTS

Horse racing. Oaklawn, through April 7: 1:30 p.m. 2705 Central Ave., Hot Springs. 501-6234411. www.oaklawn.com.

Little Rock Kids Marathon. The Little Rockers Kids Marathon gives children ages 7-12 the opportunity to complete a modified marathon over an extended period of time. River Market, 12 p.m., $20. 400 President Clinton Ave. Little Rock Marathon Health & Fitness Expo.

See March 2.

Sun Belt Conference Basketball Tournament.

Summit Arena. 134 Convention Blvd., Hot Springs. 501-620-5001. www.summitarena. org.

BOOKS

Pamela White. The author will sign copies of her book, “This Woman’s Worth: Reclaiming

26

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

ARKANSAS TIMES

SUNDAY, MARCH 4

MUSIC

A-List Events. Juanita’s, 7 p.m. 614 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-1228. www.juanitas.com.

Benefit show for Cecil Parker. Cornerstone Pub & Grill, 2 p.m., $5. 314 Main St., NLR. 501-374-1782. cstonepub.com.

Karaoke. Shorty Small’s, 6-9 p.m. 1475 Hogan Lane, Conway. 501-764-0604. www.shortysmalls.com.

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

501-982-1939 .

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

Traditional Irish Music Session. Hibernia Irish Tavern, through March 4: third Sunday of every month, 2:30 p.m.; first Sunday of every month, 2:30 p.m. 9700 N Rodney Parham Road. 501246-4340. www.hiberniairishtavern.com.

COMEDY

Mike Smith. UARK Bowl, 7 p.m., $5-$7. 644 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville. 479-301-2030. www. uarkballroom.com.

SPORTS

Horse racing. Oaklawn, through April 7: 1:30 p.m. 2705 Central Ave., Hot Springs. 501-6234411. www.oaklawn.com.

Little Rock Marathon. 8 a.m.

MONDAY, MARCH 5

MUSIC

Handmade Moments. The Afterthought, 8 p.m., free. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-6631196. www.afterthoughtbar.com.

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

Martini Monday with B-Level. Juanita’s. 614 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-1228. www. juanitas.com.

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

Wind Ensemble Winter Concert. Hendrix College, 7:30 p.m. 1600 Washington Ave.,

Conway. www.hendrix.edu.

SPORTS

Horse racing. Oaklawn, through April 7: 1:30 p.m. 2705 Central Ave., Hot Springs. 501-6234411. www.oaklawn.com.

TUESDAY, MARCH 6

MUSIC

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

Gil Franklin & Friends. Holiday Inn, North Little Rock, first Tuesday, Wednesday of every month. 120 W. Pershing Blvd., NLR. 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 & The Unholy Ghost. White Water Tavern, 10 p.m. 2500 W. 7th. 501-3758400. www.whitewatertavern.com.

Rehab, Moonshine Bandits. Juanita’s, 8 p.m.,

MICHAEL HIBBLEN

AFTER DARK, CONT. $13 adv., $15 d.o.s. 614 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-1228. www.juanitas.com.

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

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

DANCE

“Latin Night.” Revolution, 7 p.m., $5 regular, $7 under 21. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501823-0090. www.revroom.com.

EVENTS

Tales from the South. Authors tell true stories; schedule available on website. Dinner served 5-6:30 p.m., show at 7 p.m. Call for reservations. Starving Artist Cafe, March 6, 5 p.m. 411 N. Main St., NLR. 501-372-7976. www.starvingartistcafe.net.

POETRY

Chris James, aka Scorpio. Pulaski Technical College, 6:30 p.m. 3000 W. Scenic Drive, NLR.

SPORTS

Horse racing. Oaklawn, through April 7: 1:30 p.m. 2705 Central Ave., Hot Springs. 501-6234411. www.oaklawn.com.

BOOKS

Joan Nathan. The author of “Quiches, Kugels and Couscous: My Search for Jewish Cooking in France” will discuss her award-winning work. Hendrix College, 7:30 p.m., free. 1600 Washington Ave., Conway. 501-450-4598. www.hendrix.edu.

KIDS

Wiggle Worms: “Senses.” Weekly program designed specifically for pre-K children.

Museum of Discovery, 10 a.m., $8-$10. 500 Clinton Ave. 396-7050. www.amod.org.

THIS WEEK IN THEATER

Clifford the Big Red Dog Family Musical.

Clifford embarks on new adventures that teach essential values: how to play together, respect one another, believe in yourself, how to work together and how to be a good friend.

Perot Theatre, Sat., March 3, 1:30 p.m. 321 W. Fourth St., Texarkana. www.trahc.org.

“Doubt.” Reynolds Performance Hall, UCA, Thu., March 1, 7:30 p.m., $23-$40. 350 S. Donaghey, Conway.

“Driving Miss Daisy.” This play about a 72-yearold Jewish widow and her African-American chauffeur was the basis for the Academy Award-winning film starring Morgan Freeman and Jessica Tandy. Lantern Theatre, through March 3, 7:30 p.m.; Sun., March 4, 2:30 p.m., $12. 1021 Van Ronkle, Conway. 501-733-6220. www.conwayarts.org/index.html.

“Kiss Me Kate.” The Tony-winning musical

by Cole Porter is a romantic comedy classic. Royal Theatre, through March 3, 7 p.m.; Sun., March 4, 2 p.m., $5-$12. 111 S. Market St., Benton.

“The Odd Couple.” An updated, female version of Neil Simon’s classic. All times are for dinner. Curtain is later. Murry’s Dinner Playhouse, through March 10: Tue.-Sun., 6 p.m., $15-$33. 6323 Col. Glenn Road. 501-5623131. murrysdinnerplayhouse.com.

“Secrets of a Soccer Mom” auditions. The play calls for three women, ages 20-50.

Auditions will consist of cold readings from the play. Lantern Theatre, March 5-6, 6:30 p.m.

1021 Van Ronkle, Conway. 501-450-6247. www. conwayarts.org/index.html.

“Tigers Be Still.” An unemployed recent grad returns to her hometown and tries to get a job as a substitute art teacher while an escaped tiger roams the area. Walton Arts Center’s Nadine Baum Studios, through March 4: Thu., Fri., 7:30 p.m.; Sat., 2 and 7:30 p.m.; Sun., 2 and 7 p.m., $10-$28. 505 W. Spring St., Fayetteville.

479-443-5600. theatre2.org.

“The Trial.” Student theatrical production of visiting director Kenneth Albers’ adaptation of Kafka’s classic novel of a perplexing, bureaucratically nightmarish judicial system. Hendrix College, Feb. 29-March 3, 7:30 p.m.; Sat., March 3, 2 p.m., free. 1600 Washington Ave., Conway. 501-450-1343. www.hendrix.edu.

“We All Hear Voices.” Jack is a talented cook who has a dark secret: he hears voices in his head. As word of his talent grows, so too does business at the small-town diner where he works. But will the owner’s gambling and womanizing threaten a good thing? Based on a book by Arkansas doctor and playwright Sam Taggart. The Public Theatre, through March 11: Fri., Sat., 7:30 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m., $12-$14. 616 Center St. 501-374-7529. www. thepublictheatre.com.

“Young Frankenstein.” Broadway musical adaptation of Mel Brooks classic 1974 comedy “Young Frankenstein.” Robinson Center Music Hall, March 6-8, 7:30 p.m., $23-$61.

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

GALLERIES, MUSEUMS

NEW EXHIBITIONS, EVENTS

CLINTON PRESIDENTIAL CENTER, 1200 President Clinton Ave.: “Play Ball! The St. Louis Cardinals,” memorabilia, including World Series trophies, rings and Stan Musial’s uniform, March 3-Sept. 16; permanent exhibits about policies and White House life during the Clinton administration. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. $7 adults; $5 college students, seniors, retired military; $3 ages 6-17. 370-8000.

RICK’S ARMORY, 4700 W. 8th: “Pulaski Heights Picassos,” live and silent auction of art in all media, benefit for visual and performing arts programs at Pulaski Heights Elementary School, 6-10 p.m. March 3, $15 in advance, $20 at door. 307-6860, 944-2838 or 519-1914. phepicassos.org.

NOT -TO-B E- MIS S ED E V E N T FO R LOV E R S O F F I L M !

For more information:

LIVETHELEgACy.ORg PANEL DISCUSSIONS $35 per person

FULL & DAy PACkAgES AVAILABLE from $250 (faculty/student) – $750

FRIDAy – SUNDAy

(includes hands-on workshops with faculty and panel discussions, plus meals.)

march 9-11

What do you get when you combine Back to the Future, Godfather Part II, Mary Tyler Moore, Happily Divorced, Grumpier Old Men, Pretty in Pink, You Don’t Know Jack, Six Million Dollar Man, and Enlightened? The Winthrop Rockefeller Institute Film Forum on Petit Jean Mountain!

Come spend a weekend with: actors Lea Thompson and Robert Walden, directors Howard Deutch and Joan Darling, Coppolla producer Fred Roos, renowned acting coach Sandra Seacat, and other Hollywood insiders as they illuminate all facets of American filmmaking with unforgettable stories.

Sponsored If you are a film professional, professor, student, or just a film enthusiast don’t miss a rare opportunity to learn, mix, and have fun with some extraordinary Hollywood talent in a magical setting!

Free Quarter Page Ad.indd 1

in part by:

2/24/12 4:23 PM

BENTONVILLE NORTHWEST ARKANSAS COMMUNITY COLLEGE, One College Drive: 2012 “Small Works on Paper,” juried show of 40 works

by Arkansas Artist Registry artists, March 1-29. 479-636-9222.

CONWAY UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL ARKANSAS, Baum Gallery: 2012 “Student Competitive Exhibition,” March 7-28, reception 5-7 p.m. March 9. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Wed. and Fri., 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Tue. 501-450-5793.

SPRINGDALE ARTS CENTER OF THE OZARKS, 214 S. Main St.: 29th annual “Northwest Arkansas Senior High Exhibition,” Feb. 29-March 28, open house 1-3 p.m. March 3. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

Sat. 479-751-5441.

VAN BUREN

CENTER FOR ART AND EDUCATION, 104 N. 13th St.: “The Nature of Things,” watercolors by Carol Cooper, opens March 4. 479-474-7767.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 30 www.arktimes.com

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

27

Thanks Arkansas For Voting For Us!

MOVIE LISTINGS

MARCH 2-3

BEST FRIED CHICKEN best home cooking

Bobby’s Country Cookin’ 501-224-9500 • 301 N.Shackleford Road West Chase Plaza at the corner of N. Shackleford & W.Markham bobbyscountrycookin.com

An inspiring worship service featuring the music of the rock band U2 that expresses the power of God by taking action and making a difference in the world around us.

Special offering benefiting Imagine No Malaria & Methodist Family Health

firstunited methodistchurch 723 Center Street, Little Rock 501-372-2256 • www.fumclr.org 28

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

ARKANSAS TIMES

ANIMATED AGENDA: Thankfully, before the propaganda of “The Lorax” could indoctrinate the nation’s toddlers, a wise and caring old man on TV named Lou Dobbs alerted us all of the insidious radical enviro-terrorist message tucked within this adaptation of the Dr. Seuss classic.

Market Street Cinema times at or after 9 p.m. are for Friday and Saturday only. Rave times are valid for Friday and Saturday only. Breckenridge, Lakewood 8 and Movies 10 showings were not available as of press deadline. Find up-to-date listings at arktimes.com.

NEW MOVIES The Divide (R) – It’s “Saw” meets “The Road,” in this violent post-apocalypse exploitation flick.

Market Street: 2:15, 4:25, 6:45, 9:00.

The Lorax (PG) – A 3D CGI adaptation of Dr. Seuss’ classic tale. Chenal 9: 10:30 a.m., 1:30, 4:30, 7:30, 10:15 (2D), 10:00 a.m., 1:00, 4:00, 7:00, 9:45. Rave: 11:00 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 2:00, 4:00, 4:30, 8:15, 9:15, 10:45 (2D), 10:15 a.m., noon, 12:45, 1:30, 2:30, 3:15, 5:00, 6:45, 7:30, 10:00, 11:45. Riverdale: 1:25 a.m., 1:30, 3:35, 5:40, 7:45, 9:50.

Project X (R) – Millennial brats throw a rager that gets out of hand, from producer Todd Phillips of “The Hangover” and “Hated: G.G. Allin and The Murder Junkies” renown. Chenal 9: 10:20 a.m., 1:20, 4:20, 7:20, 10:20. Rave: 10:30 a.m., 12:15, 1:00, 2:45, 3:45, 5:30, 6:30, 8:00, 9:00, 10:30, 11:30. Riverdale: 11:30 a.m., 1:30, 3:25, 5:30, 7:30, 9:30.

A Separation (PG-13) – Oscar-winning Iranian drama about the dissolution of a marriage of an upper middle class couple. Market Street: 1:45, 4:00, 7:00, 9:15.

RETURNING THIS WEEK Act of Valor (R) – This action thriller stars real-life U.S. Navy SEALs. Chenal 9: 10:15 a.m., 1:15, 4:15, 7:15, 10:15. Rave: 10:10 a.m., 1:10, 4:10, 5:45, 7:15, 8:30, 10:15, 11:15. Riverdale: 11:40 a.m., 2:05, 4:35, 7:10, 9:45.

Albert Nobbs (R) – Some capital-“A” Acting from Glenn Close, who portrays a woman who must live as a man in stifling 19th century Ireland. Market Street: 1:45, 4:15, 6:45, 9:15.

The Artist (PG-13) – This meta-homage to the black-and-white silent films of yore concerns a silent film star whose career is jeopardized

by the advent of talkies. With Jean Dujardin.

Market Street: 2:00, 4:20, 7:00, 9:15. Rave: 10:20 a.m., 1:20, 4:20, 7:20, 10:20. Riverdale: 11:00 a.m., 1:15, 3:30, 5:50, 8:05, 10:15.

Chronicle (PG-13) – A trio of teen-agers gain mysterious superpowers from a meteorite, but will they use their newfound abilities wisely?

Rave: 7:00, 9:30.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (PG-13) – Starring Nicolas Cage in a reprisal of his role as Marvel’s Ghost Rider. Also starring Idris “Stringer Bell” Elba. Rave: 11:45 a.m., 2:15, 5:15, 8:20, 11:10 (3D).

Gone (PG-13) – Scary psychological suspensethriller starring the always freaked-out looking Amanda Seyfried as she tracks a kidnapper.

Rave: 4:40, 7:10, 10:10.

The Iron Lady (PG-13) – Has Meryl Streep ever been bad in a movie? This movie about Margaret Thatcher hasn’t gotten very good reviews, but apparently Streep’s performance redeems it. Riverdale: 11:10 a.m., 1:55, 4:30, 7:05, 9:40.

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (PG) – When you were watching “Land of the Lost,” did you find yourself wishing they’d cast The Rock instead of Will Farrell? Well, here you go. Chenal 9: 10:00 a.m. (2D), 1:00, 4:00, 7:00, 9:55 (3D). Rave: 10:55 a.m., 1:40, 4:50, 7:50, 10:50 (3D). Riverdale: 11:00 a.m., 1:15, 3:30, 5:50, 8:05, 10:15.

My Week with Marilyn (R) – Starring Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe circa 1956. Market Street: 2:00, 4:15, 7:15, 9:15.

Red Tails (PG-13) – The story of the AfricanAmerican WWII pilots of the Tuskegee training program. With Cuba Gooding Jr. Riverdale: 11:15 a.m., 1:50, 4:25, 7:00, 9:35.

Safe House (R) – Aka, “Doesn’t Denzel Washington Make a Scary Bad Guy?” Chenal 9: 10:10 a.m., 1:10, 4:10, 7:10, 10:10. Rave: 10:50 a.m., 1:50, 5:05, 8:10, 11:00. Riverdale: 11:20 a.m., 1:45, 4:15, 6:55, 9:50.

The Secret World of Arrietty (G) – Animated tale about a family of tiny fairies who must sur-

vive the challenges and dangers of the suburban garden in which they dwell. Chenal 9: 10:05 a.m., 10:05, 7:05. Rave: 10:45 a.m., 1:35, 4:05.

Star Wars: Episode 1 (PG) – Again? Really? Sigh.

Chenal 9: 4:05, 10:05. Rave: 10:00 a.m., 1:15 (3D).

This Means War (PG-13) – Tension, and deadly pranks, escalate between two beefy CIA dudes who discover they’re both dating Reese Witherspoon. One of the dudes is somehow British. Chenal 9: 10:20 a.m., 1:20, 4:20, 7:20, 10:20. Rave: 11:15 a.m. 2:05, 4:45, 7:45, 10:35.

Riverdale: 11:35 a.m., 1:35, 3:40, 5:55, 8:00, 10:05.

Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds (PG-13) – Worlds collide for a successful businessman who meets a down-on-her-luck single mom who cleans the office building where he works. Chenal 9: 10:25 a.m., 1:25, 4:25, 7:25, 10:25. Rave: 10:25 a.m., 11:25 a.m., 1:25, 2:25, 4:25, 5:25, 7:25, 8:25, 10:25, 11:15, 11:45. Riverdale: 11:00 a.m., 1:40, 4:15, 6:40, 9:05.

The Vow (PG-13) – Something sad and beautiful and sadly beautiful happens to the sad, beautiful Rachel McAdams and the former male stripper Channing Tatum. Rave: 10:05 a.m., 12:55, 3:50, 7:05, 9:45.

Wanderlust (R) – Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston play a stressed-out yuppie couple who stumble upon a nudist colony. Rave: 12:20, 3:00, 5:35, 8:45, 11:20.

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

‘WANDERLUST’: Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston star.

A commune comedy ‘Wanderlust’ finds the comedy sweet spot.

BY NATALIE ELLIOTT

“W

anderlust” is the ultimate crowd-pleaser — a critically accepted broad comedy. The geniuses behind “Wanderlust” are the sketch comedians of MTV’s “The State,” from comedy’s salad days of 1993. The troupe of actors has been involved in so many side projects since that even if you don’t know what I’m talking about, you know what I’m talking about: “Reno 911,” “Stella,” most recently, Showtime’s brilliant-butcanceled “Party Down,” and last seen in full force in the perennial collegeparty hit, “Wet Hot American Summer.” “Wanderlust” was penned by Ken Marino (Ron Donald on “Party Down”) and David Wain (who also directs, as he did with “Wet Hot”), “State” cast members and vastly experienced comedians. Both also appear in the movie.

In a refreshing turn of events, diehard Manhattanites George (Paul Rudd) and Linda (Jennifer Aniston) go bust in the big city, after buying an overpriced “microloft” around the time George loses his job at a shady finance firm. They’re reduced to the humiliating fate of moving in with George’s obnoxious port-apotty entrepreneur brother, Rick (Marino at his meat-headed best), who lives in a McManse in suburban Atlanta. On the way down, however, the couple gets sidetracked at a hippie-owned B&B called Elysium, where charismatic Seth (Justin Theroux) helms a group of non-violent sexy and wacky didgeridoo-blowing vegans. George and Linda partake in a convivial, life-affirming night of partying that seriously hampers their desire to stay with Rick and his cocktail-medicated wife, Marissa (Groundlings member Michaela Watkins).

Utterly disgusted with Rick’s suburban

hell, George and Linda decide to return to Elysium on a whim. At George’s insistence, they agree to stay for two weeks and see how they might acclimate to the communal — er, “intentional community” — culture. The first few montages of organic farm life are blissful. Linda milks goats and does yoga in the woods with Seth, while George shovels cow manure and receives a group reprimand for swatting a fly. Sure, there are rampant new-agey lampoons — almost everyone is a space cadet or loony, they over-pronounce words borrowed from other languages (as in “Miami”) and do primal aggression exercises. Linda, feeling more confident than ever before, buys it wholesale as George grows further ostracized from the community. When it becomes clear that Seth has designs on Linda, George becomes fed up and leaves the farm all together.

In many ways, “Wanderlust” is kind of the flip side of the widely accepted newage enthusiasm found in stuff like “Eat Pray Love.” The sarcasm is there, but so is the inevitable truth that participating in those kinds of activities (essentially, throwing yourself completely out of your comfort zone) is good for self-discovery and development. What it also teaches, however, is that turds come in every color of the rainbow, even in supposedly benevolent wackadoo hippie communes.

In short, what shouldn’t work, in fact, does, and it’s entirely due to a strong, low-gimmick script, about likable latethirtysomethings (the new twentysomethings, after all) who have to find themselves again to be happy. And, naturally, it doesn’t hurt that every actor appears to be a gifted comedian working with some pretty apt material. The film owes production support to comedy A-lister Judd Apatow, too. www.arktimes.com

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

29

MUSIC REVIEW

Arkansas Symphony Orchestra’s ‘Ode to Joy’

Feb. 25, Robinson Center Music Hall

BY EDWARD WOOTEN

L

ITY

COMMUN R U O T SUPPOR

EAT L. LOCA

Bard Ball 2012:

Bard lovers and brew lovers unite!

Argenta Community Theatre will be transformed into a lantern-lit beer garden at this annual benefit for Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre. Join us as we share an evening of beer tasting, hearty appetizers from Starving Artist Cafe, and revelry. You’ll also be treated to Broadway Star Lawrence Hamilton’s exquisite vocal stylings as he sings from Big River, the infectious live folk/jazz/rock/pop tunes of Don’t Stop Please, and musings on Huck Finn from Porter Prize-Winning poet Greg Brownderville. Warwick Sabin, publisher of the Oxford American, will serve as Master of Ceremonies.

No one under 21 years old admitted. ID’s will be checked at the door.

HOT SPRINGS

Tickets www.arkshakes.com lizp@uca.edu • 501-450-3165 or PK’s in downtown Conway

Saturday, March 10 Argenta Community Theater 405 Main Street North Little Rock, Arkansas

Event Sponsors

Fermentables & Homegrown Hobbies FEBRUARY 29, 2012

on. Then Mann reappeared with the four soloists, prompting the audience to a disconcerting round of applause, before the third movement began. Now, I realize that in Beethoven’s day movements of symphonies were sometimes separated, even by other works, but that is not the 21st century way.

Mann’s rendition of the Beethoven was individualistic. At 64 minutes of music, it lacked the drive of many modern performances, but it offered interesting balances between the sections of the orchestra as well as nuances not found in most readings of the score. There was a special drama in the interplay between the singing strings and the somber winds in the first movement, and the adagio third movement was beautifully played, with special praise due the violas. The section of the fourth movement recalling the sounds of a German street band was delightful, but with not so much Umpapa as I would have liked.

The second movement was somewhat ponderous and the sections punctuated by the tympani jarring.

Of course, it is the fourth movement where Beethoven broke with all tradition, and that is what audiences sit for 40 minutes with bated breath to hear. The four soloists, Katherine Whyte, Christin-Marie Hill, Eric Barry and Robert Aaron Taylor, were all up to the task. Although the two women have lesser roles than the men, they had the stronger voices. The chorus was composed of collegiate choral groups that sang remarkably well, responding with exceptional unity to Mann’s baton.

When four hundred voices are singing in an unfamiliar language, you can hardly expect to hear the words clearly. Even so, especially in the section where the male voices begin “Brueder, uber’m Sterenzelt,” the German could be clearly distinguished.

Despite one slight intonation problem in the woodwinds in the first movement, the orchestra again showed that it is one of Arkansas’s priceless assets. It deserves to have a full house every time it plays, even when this critic is left “unsatisfied.”

AFTER DARK, CONT.

$75 each cocktail attire

30

ast weekend’s Arkansas Symphony concerts, featuring Beethoven’s monumental Ninth Symphony, was extraordinary in that the mandatory “other work” on the program was Schoenberg’s “A Survivor from Warsaw,” with actor George Takei narrating and the River City Men’s Chorus singing the Jewish Shema Israel. It’s more common to pair a Mozart divertimento or maybe even Beethoven’s First along with “the Ninth.”

I was left unsatisfied at the end of the evening, although the larger-than-normal audience gave the assembled forces a rousing ovation, and leaving the music hall, I heard nothing but accolades from attendees in earshot.

The Schoenberg, written in 1947 after the composer had heard reports from survivors of what had happened in the Warsaw Ghetto, was typically atonal. Given the subject matter, the dissonance seemed more than appropriate. “A Survivor from Warsaw,” however, is not one of Schoenberg’s better works.

Narrating a piece for symphony orchestra always presents a huge challenge. The speaker can either be overwhelmed by the sound rising behind him, or in challenging the decibel level of the orchestra, he can become overly oratorical. The symphony tried to overcome the first problem by miking Takei. Putting his voice on the hall’s loudspeaker system made his narration excessively dramatic, although his interpretation of the text was more than acceptable. The chorus was not miked, and so sounded weak in comparison.

Normally, after the “other work” is concluded, the stage is reset, the choral forces for next piece are assembled, and the symphony is performed without interruption. Music director Philip Mann, however, asked that the audience not applaud after the Schoenberg, and proceeded immediately to the first two movements of the Beethoven. He then fled the stage for an agonizing nine minutes, while the stage was reset and the four hundred members of the chorus trooped

ARKANSAS TIMES

Galleries will be open 5-9 p.m. March 2 for the monthly Gallery Walk.

BLUE MOON GALLERY, 718 Central Ave.: “Confidence and Harmony,” sumi e paintings by Ann Shedelbower, also new works by Suzi Dennis, Thad Flenniken and Tom Richard, through March. 501318-2787.

FINE ARTS CENTER, 626 Central Ave.: “Hot Springs Regional Competition,” through March, Gallery Walk opening fea-

tures Song Birds Session with Shannon Wurst, 9-10:30 p.m. March 2. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Wed.-Sat. 501-624-0489.

GALLERY CENTRAL, 800 Central Ave.: Marian Kline, equine paintings, through March. 501-318-4278.

JUSTUS FINE ART, 827 A Central Ave.: Work

by Donnie Copeland, Hugh Dunnahoe, Steve Griffith, Rene’ Hein, Dolores Justus, Robyn Horn, Rebecca Thompson and others, through March. 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Wed.-Sat. 501-321-2335.

Hey, do this!

M A R C H FU N!

Food, Music, Entertainment and everything else that’s MARCH 3

Trinity United Methodist Church celebrates Dr. Seuss’s birthday from 10-11:30 a.m. All are welcome to the free event, which will feature storytelling, games and a magic show. Trinity United Methodist is located at 1101 North Mississippi in Little Rock. For more info, call the church office at 501-666-2813.

MARCH 6-8

movie, is alive and it’s headed to Robinson Center Music Hall. This wickedly inspired re-imagining of the Frankenstein legend follows bright young Dr. Frankenstein as he attempts to create a monster. Tickets range from $17-$52 and are available by phone at 501-244-8800 or at the Celebrity Attractions ticket office at 300 S. Spring Street. For more info, visit www.celebrityattractions.com.

MARCH 9

The Wiz opens at the Arkansas Repertory

Theatre. Winner of seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, it’s a funky take of L. Frank Baum’s beloved “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” featuring a vibrant fusion of 70s rock and Motown melodies. Opening night is Friday, March 9 at 8 p.m. Enjoy a post show reception with the cast. Champagne and hors d’oeuvres will be served. The production runs through April 1. For tickets, visit www.therep.org or call 501-378-0405.

MARCH 10

➧ ➧➧

Young Frankenstein, the classic Mel Brooks

➧

The award-winning Zac Brown Band performs at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock. Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue open the 7 p.m. show. Tickets are $33.50$64.50 and are available through Ticketmaster online at www.ticketmaster.com or by phone at 800-745-3000.

MARCH 9-11

Ballet Arkansas presents “Beyond Category,” an exciting spring show combining various musical and dance genres. The opening night show and reception is on Friday, March 9 at 8 p.m. with additional performances on Saturday, March 10 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, March 11 at 2 p.m. All performances will be held at Wildwood Park for the Arts. Tickets are $20-$25 and available online at www.balletarkansas. org or by phone at 1-800-595-4849.

March 11

The UCA Student Activities Board is proud to present Comedian Craig Robinson from NBC’s “The Office.”

He’ll perform his stand-up at 8 p.m. on Sunday, March 11 at the Reynolds Performance Hall in Conway. Student tickets are $10 and $20 for the general public. Contact 501-450-3265 for more information or order tickets online at www.uca.edu/tickets

MARCH 25 The Sandi

Patty & Friends Tour rolls

➧

MARCH 18-24

A who’s who of indie rock, folk, punk, pop, ska, rockabilly, zydeco and dance bands descends upon Hot Springs for the annual Valley of the Vapors Independent Music Festival. In addition to the diversity of talent from across the country and around the world, the weeklong VOV experience features workshops, such as Build Your Own Guitar, Laughter Yoga, Comic Book Illustration (with Jeffrey Lewis) and Knitting (with Kelley Deal). Festival passes are $40 and include a T-shirt and entry into all shows and workshops (some workshops require additional cost for materials). For more information and a complete schedule of events, visit www.valleyofthevapors.com.

into Robinson Center Music Hall. The night of inspired Christian music begins at 6:30 and features Wayne Watson, Larnelle Harris, Clay Crosse and 4Him. Tickets are $29-$47 and are available through Ticketmaster online at www. ticketmaster.com or by phone at 800-745-3000.

MARCH 31

Market Street Cinema presents the first “Reel

Women: Celebrate Women in Film Festival.” Held in

conjunction with March’s National Women’s Month, the event will feature films by some of Arkansas’s finest filmmakers. The event will take place from 1-8 p.m. and will also include a behind-thescenes reel of The Bloodstone Diaries by Gerry Bruno and a screening of the documentary Miss Representation. Tickets to the festival are $10 in advance and will also be sold at the Market Street box office for $15. For more info, visit www. reelarkansas.com or www. marketstreetcinema.net.

MARCH 8-11

The Winthrop Rockefeller Institute on Petit Jean Mountain in Morrilton will host a Film Forum featuring a stellar lineup of award-winning directors, producers, actors and acting coaches, who will lead panel discussions and workshops on various elements of filmmaking. For pricing info, visit www.livethelegacy.org.

March 10

The Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre’s Bard Ball fundraiser is March 10th from 7-11 pm at the Argenta Community Theatre. Beer tastings from Diamond Bear and Vino’s, food from Starving Artist cafe, and live performances from Lawrence Hamilton and Don’t Stop Please, plus Greg Brownderville will speak about Huck Finn. Prices are $75 per ticket.

MARCH 17

The Promenade at Chenal is going green. The shopping center hosts

“Recycle. Educate. Donate,”

a free event from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Guests are invited to donate gently used clothing and shoes to Goodwill. With their donation, customers will receive discounts at participating Promenade shops and restaurants. For more info, visit www.chenalshopping.com.

     MARCH 17

Dugan's Pub

in Little Rock’s River Market district is the place to be on

St. Patrick's Day.

A festive parade will start outside the pub at 1 p.m. At 4 p.m., a block party, featuring traditional Irish food and libations as well as live music, dancing and bagpipers, will begin. Wristbands will be available for the 21-and-up crowd.

Patrons of the pub are welcome to take their drinks out on the street. www.arktimes.com

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

31

Dining

BELLY BELLYUP UP

Check Checkout outthe the Times’ Times’food foodblog, blog, Eat EatArkansas Arkansas arktimes.com arktimes.com

WHAT’S COOKIN’ THE CAPITAL HOTEL’S Lee Richard-

son has once again been nominated for a James Beard Award (the most prestigious in chefdom). Richardson’s up for Best Chef in the South. This is at least the fifth time he’s been nominated for the award.

IN ANTICIPATION OF JIMMY BUFFETT’S Thursday concert at Verizon

EFFORTS BY STUDENTS at the University of Arkansas to help their classmates and persons in the community who are struggling to buy food have been recognized by the White House. The U of A’s Full Circus Campus Food Pantry was named last Friday as one of 15 finalists in the White House’s “Campus Champions of Change Challenge.”

According to a university release, “In its first year the food pantry has filled more than 500 student requests and 300 staff requests for themselves and their families, providing emergency food assistance to more than 2,500 people.”The winner will be selected by popular vote; to cast yours go to the Campus Challenge website at campuschallenge.uservoice. com. Deadline is 10:59 p.m. March 3.

You can also support the UA program by sending a tweet with the name of the entry, “Full Circle Food Pantry,” to @jonCarson44, who is the director of public engagement at the White House, or by going to the Full Circle Pantry Event Facebook page.

The top five food banks will send representatives to an event at the White House, will be featured by mtvU and MTV Act, and one group will host an episode of mtvU’s “The Dean’s List.”

DINING CAPSULES

AMERICAN

ADAMS CATFISH CATERING Catering company with carry-out restaurant in Little Rock and carry-out trailers in Russellville and Perryville. 215 N. Cross St. All CC. $-$$. 501-374-4265. LD Tue.-Sat. ALLEY OOPS Plate lunches, burgers and homemade desserts. Remarkable Chess Pie. 11900 Kanis Road. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-221-9400. LD Mon.-Sat. B-SIDE French toast wrapped in bacon on a stick, a must-have dish called “biscuit mountain” and beignets with lemon curd.

11121 Rodney Parham Road. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-716-2700. BL Wed.-Sun. 32

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

ARKANSAS TIMES

BRIAN CHILSON

Arena, Lulav is offering a menu inspired by the musician’s lyrics. The menu includes Key West Gumbo, an Island Crab Cake and, of course, a Cheeseburger in Paradise. It will be available during lunch on Wednesday and Thursday for dinner. Lulav is at 220 W. Sixth St. The phone number is 374-5100.

UNO ENTREE: Grilled Tilapia topped with cilantro lime glaze and mango salsa from Cinco Entrees.

Cinco thumbs up for Cinco Entrees The new kid at the River Market is a keeper.

I

f you’re having lunch in downtown Little Rock, it’s hard to beat the River Market, with its wide variety of vendors, many dispensing food that’s surprisingly good. Middle Eastern Cuisine is one of the best and oldest.

Bangkok Thai seems to be developing — deservedly — the same sort of loyal following that keeps Middle Eastern going. Boulevard Bread Co. has nearpassionate fans.

We hope the new kid, Cinco Entrees, develops a similarly loyal clientele.

It’s certainly deserving. We’ve made a couple of pleasurable trips and will go again soon. But living off the downtown lunch trade of tourists and office workers is a tricky business, especially in a market-type setting in a neighborhood that’s crowded with conventional eating places. River Market restaurants come and go. One that came and went in fairly short order, for reasons we’re not entirely clear on, was Shugg’s, which was for one brief, shining moment about the only place in Greater Little Rock serving good dry ribs. We love them. Apparently, others don’t, at least not enough.

So Shugg’s is gone. The good news is that the old Shugg’s space is now occupied by Cinco Entrees, and when you

Cinco Entrees

400 President Clinton Avenue 217-8000 QUICK BITE Even if you’re not normally a dessert eater, this is a place to indulge.

Caribbean coconut pie, peach cobbler, banana pudding …

HOURS 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. roughly, Monday through Saturday. Credit cards accepted. No alcohol.

can’t get dry ribs, Cinco’s farfalle pasta with andouille sausage, shrimp, Portobello mushrooms, asparagus tips and fresh basil in a great Spanish cream sauce (adjective ours) … well, that eases the pain wonderfully.

As its name suggests, Cinco Entrees has five entrees. The others are (as listed on the small menu): Pan-seared pork tenderloin medallions atop a dab of mashed potatoes covered in an espagnole sauce.

Sliced Arkansas black cherry smoked beef BBQ brisket.

Southern fried bone-in airline cut chicken breast and wing.

Flat iron grilled Tilapia topped with

cilantro lime glaze and mango salsa.

There are five side orders: Cajun sausage baked beans; pan-fried sweet potatoes, turnips and purple onions with an agave glaze; Cuban black beans and rice; country mashed potatoes and brown gravy; steamed mixed vegetables. And five desserts (we’re beginning to see a pattern): peach cobbler, Derby pie, panfried honey bun, Caribbean coconut pie, banana pudding.

The pasta is simply delicious. When our order first arrived at the table, we looked and thought “There’s not a whole lot of sausage and shrimp here.” Didn’t matter.

Our companion praised highly both the tilapia and the pan-fried sweet potatoes she ordered with it. “The agave glaze did the trick,” she said. “It was almost like a dessert.” Speaking of dessert, you owe it to yourself, assuming you’re a nice person, to try the Caribbean coconut pie. We even liked the ameca corn muffin that accompanies every entree, though it too was a little bit sweetish and we generally don’t go for sugar in the cornbread.

Cinco Entrees opened Feb. 1. For now, it’s only open for lunch —roughly, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. — Monday through Saturday, but executive chef Travis Meyer hopes to eventually extend the hours, maybe to 6 p.m., which is when the Market closes. He’s also thinking about a lunch-box sort of offering for the school kids who come through the River Market in droves, possibly with something like macaroni and cheese as an entree.

CROSSWORD Information in our restaurant capsules

reflects the opinions of the newspaper

staff and its reviewers. The newspaper

accepts no advertising or other consid erations 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

BIG WHISKEY’S AMERICAN BAR AND GRILL A modern grill pub in the River Market with the usual burgers, steaks, soups and salads. 225 E. Markham. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-324-2449. LD daily.

BOBBY’S COUNTRY COOKIN’ One of the better plate lunch spots in the area. 301 N. Shackleford Road, Suite E1. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$.

501-224-9500. L Mon.-Fri. BOGIE’S BAR AND GRILL Menu filled with burgers, salads and giant desserts, plus a few steak, fish and chicken main courses. 120 W. Pershing Blvd. NLR. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-812-0019. D daily.

BUFFALO GRILL A great crispy-off-the-griddle cheeseburger and handcut fries star at this family-friendly stop. 1611 Rebsamen Park Road. Full bar, CC. $$. 501-296-9535. LD daily. 400 N. Bowman Road. Full bar, Beer, All CC. $$. 501-224-0012. LD daily.

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

501-663-7224. LD Tue.-Sat. CHEERS Good burgers and sandwiches, vegetarian offerings and salads at lunch and fish specials, and good steaks in the evening. 2010 N. Van Buren. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-663-5937. LD Mon.-Sat. 1901 Club Manor Drive. Maumelle. Full bar, All CC. 501-851-6200. LD daily, BR Sun. CORNERSTONE PUB & GRILL A sandwich, pizza and beer joint in the heart of North Little Rock’s Argenta district. 314 Main St. NLR. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-374-1782. LD Mon.-Sat. DAVE AND RAY’S DOWNTOWN DINER Breakfast buffet daily featuring biscuits and gravy, home fries, sausage and made-to-order omelets.

Lunch buffet with four choices of meats and eight veggies. 824 W. Capitol Ave. No alcohol. $. 501-372-8816. BL Mon.-Fri. DAVID’S BUTCHER BOY BURGERS Serious hamburgers, steak salads, homemade custard. 101 S. Bowman Road.

DOGTOWN COFFEE AND COOKERY Although the down-home name might suggest to some a down-home, meat-and-three kind of place, this is actually an up-to-date sandwich, salad and fancy coffee kind of place, well worth a visit. 6725 John F. Kennedy Blvd. NLR. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-833-3850. BL Mon.-Sun., BLD Fri.-Sat.,.

E’S BISTRO Try the heaping grilled salmon BLT on a buttery croissant. 3812 JFK Boulevard. NLR. No alcohol, All CC. $$. 501-771-6900.

FLIGHT DECK A not-your-typical daily lunch special highlights this spot, which also features inventive sandwiches, salads and a popular burger.

Central Flying Service at Adams Field. Beer, Wine, All CC. $-$$. 501-3753245. BL Mon.-Sat. GREEN CUISINE Daily specials and a small, solid menu of vegetarian fare. Try the crunchy quinoa salad. 985 West Sixth St. No alcohol, CC. $-$$. Serving.

HILLCREST ARITSAN MEATS A fancy charcuterie and butcher shop with excellent daily soup and sandwich specials. Limited seating is available. 2807 Kavanaugh Blvd. No alcohol, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-671-6328.

L Mon.-Sat. KITCHEN EXPRESS Delicious “meat and three” restaurant offering big servings of homemade soul food. 4600 Asher Ave. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-666-3500. BLD Mon.-Sat., LD Sun. LYNN’S CHICAGO FOODS Outpost for Chicago specialties like Vienna hot dogs and Italian beef sandwiches. 6501 Geyer Springs. No alcohol, All CC. $. 501-568-2646. LD Mon.-Sat. MADDIE’S If you like your catfish breaded Cajun-style, your grits rich with garlic and cream and your oysters fried up in perfect puffs, this Cajun eatery on Rebsamen Park Road is the place for you. 1615 Rebsamen Park Road. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-660-4040. LD Tue.-Sat. PHIL’S HAM AND TURKEY PLACE Fine hams, turkeys and other specialty meats served whole, by the pound or in sandwich form. 11121 N. Rodney Parham Road. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-225-2136. LD Mon.-Fri. L Sat. RESTAURANT 1620 Steaks, chops, a broad choice of fresh seafood and meal-sized salads are just a few of the choices on a broad menu.

1620 Market St. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-221-1620. L Mon.-Fri., D Mon.-Sat., BR Sun. SLICK’S SANDWICH SHOP & DELI Meat-and-two plate lunches in state office building. 101 E. Capitol Ave. 501-375-3420. L Mon.-Fri. UNIVERSITY MARKET @ 4CORNERS A food truck court where local vendors park daily. Check facebook.com/4cornersmarket to see what carts are scheduled to be parked. 6221 Colonel Glenn Road. CC. $-$$.

501-515-1661. LD daily.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 34

EDITED BY WILL SHORTZ Across 1 Gulp from a flask 5 Classic sci-fi terror, with “the” 9 Began a triathlon 13 College in New Rochelle, N.Y. 14 Running behind 15 Afghanistan’s Karzai 17 What the annual Dove Awards are awarded for 19 “The Hot Zone” virus 20 Source of Tbones 21 Like winter in Siberia 23 Game with Skip and Reverse cards 24 Baseball card fig.

26 Followers of lambdas 27 “The Crow” actress ___ Ling

28 Song title for both Fleetwood Mac and Starship 30 Kind of aerobics 32 Phyllis’s neverseen TV husband 33 Open to suggestion 36 Coming-clean words 38 Indicators of age … and a hint to this puzzle’s theme 40 Sweet filling, in commercial names 42 Inviting a blessing?

46 Sing a paean to 47 Pursuers of the Sopranos, for short 49 Drop ___ (start to disrobe) 50 “Newhart” setting 51 Tre + tre

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE P O N Z I

E N I A C

W I L C O

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

S O N L A S N A E L S T O E N A M E T R E O S U P

G E T P A R T O O A F T M P A T N O T I L E

T E R R I S H E A R R A S

S A E N U S T S E S T S S L T A I S W M E L A L L C U S H E O G O O

M O B S

T H E M E P A R K

I D O I D O S T P E J A S L

O I L E R

O T T E R

I R L D E A T A N Y A

S I S S Y

52 City of Kyrgyzstan 55 Tricky turn 56 One at a crime scene 59 Take illegally 61 Noir or comedy 62 Place for iodine 65 Perfumer’s compound 66 “Horrors!”

67 Accelerator particles 68 Drunken spree 69 Staph-caused irritation 70 Cherub at Notre Dame Down 1 Autograph: Abbr.

2 Ian who won the 1991 Masters 3 Yet to come 4 Act starstruck, say 5 Words on a jacket 6 Chorus syllables 7 Ear-related 8 Look good on 9 Gets rid of 10 Indiana river 11 Sights on slides 12 President Fillmore 16 “The Persistence of Memory” and others 18 Name for a bull 22 Wolfish 23 Team ___ 25 Trinidad or Tobago 29 Chipped in 31 Like telegrams, typically

1

2

3

4

5

13

6

7

8

9

14

17

18 21 24

28

25

29

33

30 34

26

27 32

35

36

41

37

42 47

58 62

65 68

44

45

49 52

57

61

43

48

51

56

16

39

46 50

12

22

31

38 40

11

19

20 23

10

15

53 59

54

55 60

63

64

66

67

69

70

Puzzle by Gareth Bain

32 “Hungarian Rhapsodies” composer

34 Part of a slot machine

35 Any of the “Stayin’ Alive” singers 37 Apparel abbr.

39 ___ uncertain terms

40 “Gold Digger” rapper 41 Chance upon 43 “Suppose so” 44 Having chips, say 45 NASA’s Grissom 46 Feudal subject 48 Rifle problems 51 Dog in the funnies

53 Classic Bogart role 54 ___ polloi 57 Palm smartphone 58 Army NCO 60 1998 Sarah McLachlan hit 63 Scotland’s Firth of ___ 64 Mao ___-tung

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

Annual subscriptions are available for the best of Sunday crosswords from the last 50 years: 1-888-7-ACROSS. AT&T users: Text NYTX to 386 to download puzzles, or visit nytimes.com/mobilexword for more information.

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

Share tips: nytimes.com/wordplay.

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

THIS MODERN WORLD

www.arktimes.com

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

33

DINING CAPSULES, CONT.

ASIAN

Special

Gyro Sandwich, FrieS & drink $6.65 oFFer expireS 3/28/12

gyros • hummus • tabbouleh • baba ghannouj pizza • calzone • mediterranean salad

fresh, delicious Mediterranean cuisine

LR • Rodney Parham • 227-7272 LR • Ranch Blvd. • 868-8226 Conway • Oak Street • 205-8224

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

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

FAR EAST ASIAN CUISINE Old favorites such as orange beef or chicken and Hunan green beans are still prepared with care. 11600 Pleasant Ridge Drive. Full bar, All CC. $$.

501-219-9399. LD daily.

FU LIN Quality in the made-to-order entrees is high, as is the quantity. 200 N. Bowman Road.

Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-225-8989. LD daily.

IGIBON JAPANESE FOOD HOUSE The Bento box with tempura shrimp and California

rolls and other delights stand out. 11121 N. Rodney Parham Road. Beer, Wine, All CC. $$.

501-217-8888. LD Mon.-Sat. VAN LANG CUISINE Terrific Vietnamese cuisine, particularly the way the pork dishes and the assortment of rolls are presented. 3600 S. University Ave. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$.

501-570-7700. LD daily.

BARBECUE

CAPITOL SMOKEHOUSE AND GRILL Beef, pork, sausage and chicken, all smoked to melting tenderness and doused with a choice of sauces. 915 W. Capitol Ave. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-372-4227. BL Mon.-Fri. CROSS EYED PIG BBQ COMPANY Traditional barbecue favorites smoked well such as pork ribs, beef brisket and smoked chicken. 1701

Love your website? No? Get a new home on the Web, full of technology and features that make it a breeze to keep your Web presence up-to-date. Your new website can include e-commerce, photo galleries for products, videos, easy drag-and-drop editing, maps, keyword copy written blogs and more. Social media such as Facebook and Twitter is baked into your site along with state of the art search engine optimization (SEO).

Our websites are priced for small business. There’s no big up-front fee — just a low monthly fee ranging from $149 for a basic site to $399 a month for our complete care package.

Call Kelly Ferguson at Arkansas Times Digital Media today for details and find out how you can get a versatile, e-commerce ready website for a very affordable monthly cost.

AS LOW AS

$149

A MONTH

Kelly Ferguson Social & Digital Media Director

" kellyferguson@arktimes.com ! 501-375-2985 ext. 357 Ask about our other social media services, too!

34

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

ARKANSAS TIMES

Rebsamen Park Road. Full bar, All CC. $-$$.

501-265-0000. L Mon.-Sat., D Tue.-Fri. 1701 Rebsamen Park Road. Beer, Wine, All CC. $-$$.

501-227-7427. LD daily.

SIMS BAR-B-QUE Great spare ribs, sandwiches, beef, half and whole chicken and an addictive vinegar-mustard-brown sugar sauce. 2415 Broadway. Beer, CC. $-$$. 501-372-6868. LD Mon.-Sat. 1307 John Barrow Road. Beer, All CC. $-$$. 501-224-2057. LD Mon.-Sat. 7601 Geyer Springs Road. Beer, All CC. $$. 501-5628844. LD Mon.-Sat.

EUROPEAN / ETHNIC

KHALIL’S PUB Widely varied menu with European, Mexican and American influences.

110 S. Shackleford Road. Full bar, All CC. $$.

501-224-0224. LD daily. BR Sun. THE PANTRY The menu stays relatively true to the owner’s Czechoslovakian roots, but there’s plenty of choices to suit all tastes. 11401 Rodney Parham Road. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$.

501-353-1875. LD Mon.-Fri., D Sat. STAR OF INDIA The best Indian restaurant in the region, with a unique buffet at lunch and some fabulous dishes at night. 301 N. Shackleford. Beer, Wine, All CC. $$. 501-2279900. LD daily.

TASTE OF ASIA Delicious Indian food in a pleasant atmosphere. 2629 Lakewood Village Dr. NLR. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-812-4665.

LD daily.

ITALIAN

GUSANO’S They make the tomatoey Chicagostyle deep-dish pizza the way it’s done in the Windy City. It takes a little longer to come out of the oven, but it’s worth the wait. 313 President Clinton Ave. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-374-1441.

LD daily. 2915 Dave Ward Drive. Conway. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-329-1100. LD daily.

NYPD PIZZA Plenty of tasty choices in the obvious New York police-like setting, but it’s fun. Only the pizza is cheesy. Even the personal pizzas come in impressive combinations, and baked ziti, salads are more also are available. Cheap slice specials at lunch. 6015 Chenonceau Boulevard, Suite 1. Beer, Wine, All CC. $-$$. 501-868-3911. LD daily.

VESUVIO Arguably Little Rock’s best Italian restaurant is in one of the most unlikely places – tucked inside the Best Western Governor’s Inn within a nondescript section of west Little Rock. 1501 Merrill Drive. Full bar, All CC. $$$.

501-225-0500. D daily.

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

501-219-2244. LD Mon.-Sat.

LATINO

CASA MANANA Great guacamole and garlic beans, superlative chips and salsa and a broad selection of fresh seafood, plus a deck out back. 6820 Cantrell Road. Full bar, All CC. $-$$.

501-280-9888. BLD daily 18321 Cantrell Road.

Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-868-8822. BLD daily 400 President Clinton Ave. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. L Mon.-Sat. LAS DELICIAS Levy-area mercado with a taqueria and a handful of booths in the back of the store. 3401 Pike Ave. NLR. Beer, All CC. $. 501-812-4876.

RIVIERA MAYA Typical Mexican fare for the area, though the portions are on the large side.

801 Fair Park Blvd. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-6634800. LD daily.

TAQUERIA Y CARNICERIA GUADALAJARA Cheap, delicious tacos, tamales and more.

Always bustling. 3811 Camp Robinson Road.

NLR. Beer, All CC. $-$$. 501-753-9991. BLD daily.

hearsay

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

Long overdue kitchen renovation made possible

by KITCHEN TUNE-UP, C & F FLOORING and THE COUNTERTOP STORE.

BY BLAIR TIDWELL PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRIAN CHILSON

O

ver the course of a lifetime in one house, things get rearranged, refurbished, recovered and replaced, but there are two spots in the home that are most often overlooked: the kitchen and the bathroom. Unlike throwing a slipcover over a tired couch or adding new shades to an old lamp, replacing bathroom flooring and updating kitchen cabinetry seems like a daunting task—and an expensive one.

That’s why the rooms are often the last thing to be remodeled, or the first when a homeowner decides to sell. But the process might be easier and more budget-friendly than it seems, especially with help from some local professionals.

One Little Rock homeowner invited CUE into their newly renovated kitchen, a task overseen with help from Kitchen Tune-Up, C & F Flooring and The Countertop

Store in Maumelle. The couple had looked at houses for years with the intention of downsizing from their Robinwood-area home they’ve owned since 1985. Based on the current market situation, they decided to stay in their nest for a few years longer, and settled on renovating the kitchen which hadn’t been updated in over 20 years.

Lorie Akinf, primary retail salesperson at C & F Flooring, worked with the homeowners to find a style of tile that suited their tastes. In the business for 25 years, Akinf notes that she sees many owners in a similar situation, “Commonly people are choosing to redo what they have and stay, as opposed to selling their home. Some people remodel and then sell the house, since from a retail standpoint the kitchen and bathroom are the most important rooms. I think you should really enjoy it for at least a Continued on page 36

➥ We’ve been infected by the spring shopping bug, so it’s a good thing the Junior League of Little Rock hosts its annual BARGAIN BOUTIQUE this Friday, March 2 and Saturday, March 3. Shoppers can hunt for great deals at the consignment sale which offers both new items from local retailers, as well as used goods. On Friday, early birds can scour the market during the Happy Hour sale from 4:30-7:30 p.m. before the general sale opens to the public on Saturday from 7:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Tickets for Happy Hour are $10; general admission sale is free. ➥ Fellas can update their wardrobe, too, at EVOLVE’s brand-new location at 6800 Cantrell Road, which opened on Monday, February 27. The trendy menswear shop moved from the Midtowne Shopping Plaza location and has turned its convenient new stand-alone building into a man-cave boutique. Drop in to survey the store’s updated look and duds—all merchandise is brand-new for spring. Hours are 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Saturday and noon-6 p.m. Sunday. ➥ Last call for cowpokes. Listen up for the rapid chant of the auctioneer at THE TACK & SADDLE FARM AUCTION on Friday, March 2. The old-timey bidding starts at 7 p.m. at the ARKANSAS STATE FAIR COMPLEX, where city and country folk alike will marvel at the craftsmanship of over 100 bridles and more than 50 custom-made saddles. ➥ We’re loving it. THE PROMENADE AT CHENAL broke ground on a new location of McDonald’s last week. Don’t expect the usual fast food joint, however. The location will be one of the first in Arkansas with the sleek, contemporary café décor that McDonald’s has introduced in metropolitan areas around the country, keeping in line with The Promenade’s chic shops and restaurants. ➥ Are cream-filled whoopie pies edging cupcakes off the baker’s rack in the contest for most trendy? EGGSHELLS KITCHEN CO. thinks so, and they just got in new whoopie pie pans ($16.95) so those of you with a sweet tooth can make the tasty treats at home. ➥ For those who prefer a smoke to sweets, recently-opened MADURO CIGAR BAR & LOUNGE at 109 Main Street is carrying new cigars, including several Perdomo and Rocky Patel blends, as well as the Camacho line. As for libations, the newest addition to the drink menu is a Latin/West Indies twist on a New Orleans classic, the Pyrat Sazerac. Hours are noon-11 p.m. on weekdays and noon-midnight on weekends.

ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO ARKANSAS TIMES

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

35

It’s OK to Fake it...

Oriental rugs from around the world to meet everyone’s budget Traditional, transitional, or contemporary...we have all the latest colors.

Karastan • Nourison • Oriental Weavers State Of the art SubmerSiOn hand WaSh Cleaning PrOCeSS (for area rugs with animal Stains & Odors)

Martinous

Oriental Rug Co., Inc.

Exclusively Offering:

Women & Men . Cuts, Colors & Updos Waxing & Facials . Feather Locks

1521 Macon Rd. • LittLe Rock 501-224-0313 WWW.martinOuS.COm

Monday 8am Wednesday 4pm

certain period of time before you go somewhere else.”

C & F Flooring, owned by Carol and Fred Auger, helped the homeowners replace their dated 8x8 tile by choosing an unusual, oversized rectangle style. She forecasts a new trend in rectangular tiles, something she is selling more and more of. The homeowners went with a 12x24 porcelain option from Florin called Afrika. The tile is manufactured using high-definition laser technology to give individual pieces a more realistic, natural look (like slate or other natural stones), more texture and color variation. The tiles are laid in a straight line pattern, which Akinf says is more of a contemporary look, and fits in perfectly with the rest of the home’s modern décor.

The homeowners chose their flooring last, after finding the perfect countertops and backsplash, but Akinf cautions against waiting last to think about the floors. “In new construction especially, floors are almost always the last thing people think about. Builders have gone over budget on every single thing and they come down to the floors and they’re like ‘Wow, I have no money left! What do we do now?’” she says.

“When remodeling, I tell people in the beginning stages to decide how far they’re going to go, because it truly is a domino effect. Updating one thing leads to changing something else. Few people have unlimited budgets, so I recommend that they decide, based on budget, how far they can go. And of course I think the floor is pretty important!”

Susan Johnson owns Kitchen Tune-Up with her husband Charlie, and also sees customers stuck in that

familiar “domino” situation. “Oftentimes, homeowners have already done their floors and their countertops and then they realize now that their cabinetry looks outdated,” Johnson says.

But gutting and replacing cabinetry is not only expensive; it can make it difficult to salvage that brand-new countertop.

That’s where Kitchen Tune-Up comes in. Instead of completely removing existing cabinets, Kitchen Tune-Up re-faces the exterior of cabinets and drawers with updated styles, colors and hardware. “Re-facing is an option that can give homeowners a real, quality look. It is cheaper than tearing out cabinetry, and it’s a quality product that will last as long as the cabinetry does,” Johnson says. “The typical call that I get is someone who says, ‘My cabinets are outdated and are stuck in the ’70s.’ In that era, these were nice cabinets, but the doors are no longer in style. So we work with a lot with existing structures trying to update and create a more sophisticated look that reflects the trends now.”

This home’s kitchen was a good candidate for cabinet re-facing since the structure of the existing work was sound, the layout of the room was functional. and the main goal was to give the space a more current look and reflect the tastes in the rest of the home. The former off-white doors and drawer fronts were replaced with a contemporary maple slab door with a light stain. The rest of the cabinetry was surfaced with a matching wood veneer, and all hardware was updated to a sleeker bar pull.

There are other styles to reflect different homeowners’ personalities, too, says Johnson. Cabinetry is trend-

IN AS LITTLE AS THREE DAYS, our exclusive reconditioning or refacing services will have you feeling like you’ve walked into a brand new kitchen. Call for a free in-home consultation.

WOOD RECONDITIONING • CABINET REFACING CABINET REDOORING • CUSTOM CABINETS

Backsplash statement piece made of capri limestone quartz with a glass and marble mosaic pattern.

36

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO ARKANSAS TIMES

MARCH MADNESS!

Kitchen Insider

Another local store we love? Kitchen Effects. The Little Rock purveyor of tile, countertops, plumbing fixtures, sinks, rugs, cabinets and more is run by father and son team Joe and Scott Knoedl. The duo’s 10,000 square-foot showroom is an inspiration playground for remodeling homeowners, with half of the space dedicated to showcasing stunning slabs of marble. The shop’s design team is also on hand to answer questions and consult with customers about choosing the perfect products for their home.

Recently, the company launched a blog on their website, insideeffects.com, to assist customers even when they’re not able to browse the showroom in person. The online component acts as an additional design consultant, offering tips on décor and trends, sharing gorgeous projects and installations, and highlighting upcoming home or design events in the community. You can also find Inside Effects on their Facebook page, where they run contests and post photos that are sure to spark creative ideas. Or, visit the showroom at 4205 S. Shackleford Road, Suite A. Hours are 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday, and by appointment after-hours and on Saturday. For more information, call (501) 954-8866.

10 Yoga cLaSSeS For $10 MARCH ONLY!

SEE OUR NEW WEB SITE FOR MORE INFO argentahealingarts.com

20% off Massage Visit us today!

(501) 244-0447 419 Main Street no. LittLe rock, ar 72114 Between Starving artiSt & riStorante capeo

ing towards dark stains and more wood stains (though “white cabinetry is always going to be in style”), which she says reflects the stainless steel appliances in vogue today. Another trend: mix and match. “Cabinetry is like furniture in that people are mixing and matching. What you have in your kitchen, you don’t have to have in your bathroom or laundry room,” Johnson suggests.

For the countertops and backsplash, the homeowners turned to The Countertop Store in Maumelle, owned by Donna Small and her husband/second-in-command Rodney.

They chose a two-centimeter thick Silestone Quartz in Rosa Gray. “For popularity, quartz is up there with granite,” Small reports. And unlike marble, “quartz countertops are zero maintenance, sealed for life and can take high temperatures straight from the oven without scorching or burning,” she says. “Wine will not stain it. And it’s very hard, so the only thing that’s going to scratch would be another quartz edge or a diamond blade knife.”

The backsplash, formerly a plain white wall between the countertops and cabinets, now mirrors the rectangular floor tiles with a horizontal capri limestone quartz. A mosaic

comprised of glass and a blend of marble tannery is interlaid in a linear pattern that runs the entirety of the backsplash—the understated kitchen’s one true statement piece.

As for time and budget, all of the options give dated kitchens a facelift for less money and less disruption to the household than completely renovating. Akinf says that most tile jobs don’t last more than three days and often start at $3 or $4 a foot, including installation. “And the installation is the most important part,” she says. “If it is not installed properly, you’ll have much more breakage.”

Johnson agrees that re-facing is another budget- and- time-friendly process. “Unlike when you gut your kitchen, you can still use your kitchen with re-facing. The appliances, the range, refrigerator, sink—all remain usable. For all intents and purposes, you can continue to use the main parts of your kitchen and not be displaced,” she says. Re-facing cabinetry starts at $3,900, and can be done in 3 to 4 days.

Johnson concludes, “It’s a nice way to give a kitchen a beautiful, quality look in a period of time that doesn’t disrupt the household. We come in for one week and totally transform the space.”

COME SEE THe new spring styles coming in daily!

2616 Kavanaugh Blvd. • Little Rock 501.661.1167 www.shopboxturtle.com

Specializing in granite countertops, vanities and more...

inside effects 4205 S. Shackleford, Suite A, Little Rock Monday-Friday: 8:30am - 5pm Saturday by appointment only 501.954.8866 • www.inside-effects.com Mention this ad and receive our special “Free Sink” promotion with purchase ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO ARKANSAS TIMES

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

37

Pastoral

T

he first of March I always start getting my sodbusting equipment together, rent me a mule, and prepare myself to put in another crop and see it through to fruition.

This defines my year and gives my life purpose and dignity. I feel like one of Jefferson’s yeoman farmers, the pride and hope of the Republic. It keeps me from worrying about having wasted my life, as human beings have devoted their lives to tilling the soil for at least 17,000 years, perhaps 40,000 years, and some of the authorities say 60,000 years, and have generally found fulfillment and peace of mind in so doing.

March gives you real dirt to work with instead of the Alice Stewart or Andrew Breitbart kind — real dirt, perhaps with a little barnyard enrichment, to clear the mind and the soul and the nose of a different demoralizing kind of sludge.

Farming must be in my blood. I can’t claim like Blanche Lincoln, the former senator, to be of the seventh or 17th generation of a single Arkansas farm family, but then again I didn’t ride that pony into political exhaustion and then turn around and sell myself as a lobbyist and advocate for the faceless monied interests that have just about extirpated family farming.

Take a drive today through the old agricultural district and find me a family farm. Tell me how many peoBOB ple you see on any LANCASTER of the apparently boundless corporate farms. Tell me how many farm animals you see. Make a note of every truck garden of any consequence, or home orchard, or residence that bears even the slightest resemblance to a farmhouse, or recognizable barn or suite of outbuildings, or plum thicket, or roadside briar patch where wild blackberries grow.

Now you’re more likely to hit a deer than see a sheep. The chicken coop you espy will be a kind of prison, a quarter-mile long, as nightmarish as any 19th Century asylum. You’ll see green desert fields running to the horizon — fields of corn that will never be eaten by man nor beast, fields of poisonous soybeans.

Yeah, you have to cook the poison out of soybeans, the way you do wild poke.

And then cook them down to a kind of goop or paste, which, if you add the right artificial flavors and other foodstuff imitators, you can turn into a passable simulacrum of ice cream or less-passable one of

a hamburger patty. Or you can turn it into one of the cheese-food analogues akin to the too-yellow name-brand versions that are popular with the Mike Huckabeetypes who use them as between-meals gullet stuffers, cramming whole loaves down distended esophagi in a manner that brings to mind the furious ramrodding of charge and wadding by the cannoneers of the Brothers’ War. I don’t know this as a fact, but I’ve heard there’s a grooming consultant at Fox News whose sole occupational responsibility is to spot-check loon hosts just before airtime to make sure there aren’t residual dribs of pimiento spread or soy-approximating-queso dip festooning an extremist necktie or squished into the dogmatic interstice between a crypto-fascist incisor and its next-door enemy canine.

True or not, this is the sort of unhappy imagery you get into when you begin discussing, or even contemplating, soybeans.

The Extension Service people can do it with more aplomb, without the grimacing, keeping their attention on facts and figures related to nutrition and acreage and so forth, but I can’t. And inasmuch as I’ve allowed this altogether unappetizing digression to squander by far the better portion of my allotted weekly space, I’d prefer at this point to move discreetly on.

I’ve got several more topics to treat and room to treat them is fast running out.

Prime among them is the sudden and

uncharacteristic desire to make a personal confession, probably unnecessary as you surely already knew that the happy farmer posture assumed way back yonder in the first graf is in fact an uncalled-for imposture, with no excuse for itself. I don’t bust sod every March, I don’t rent the mule, I have absolutely zero of nostalgia for the vanishing family farm, I wouldn’t know a cottonseed from a Junebug, my forbears weren’t husbandmen but rather sawmillers and jackleg lawyers and coarse Smoky Mountain do-nothing “aristocrats” of the Old Hickory stripe, and I don’t exhibit my home-canned produce at the annual county fair, anticipating ribbons, as I have often alleged in this space. It’s all been a masquerade, a no-account layabout’s pathetic way of trying to insinuate himself over time into your unearned semi-admiration and slightly more elevated esteem.

In truth I’ve disdained the georgic arts pretty much categorically since I was about 12, when I first heard Bo Diddley’s exasperated lyric, “I may look like a farmer but I’m a lover, ” and claimed it as my own.

I knew I wasn’t just another little country jake with oiled hair and wide-spreading toes, but I wanted all the hot babes and stud-ducks to know it, too, and to testify as to my evolving credentials as the up-andcoming Podunk Fonz. A tall order anyhow, and impossible if I were to be seen out harnessing Marvin or trudging along behind him pushing a stupid plow.

ARKANSAS TIMES CLASSIFIEDS Employment Arkansas Times Flipside Advertise your business or event here for as little as

$50!

Find out how!

Call now at 375-2985

JOB OPENING SAFETY DEPARTMENT

Artexoma Logistics. 3-5 yrs. experience in required. Searcy, Rock, Conway area email resume to: s.seagraves@artexoma.com

580-302-0492

Adopt

College Sweethearts, Creative Professionals yearn for 1st miracle baby to LOVE, cherish & devote our lives.

Expenses paid George & Lisa 1-800-989-6766

❤❤❤❤❤❤

ARKANSAS TIMES

Advertising sales the Arkansas Times/El Latino has one position open in Advertising Sales. If you have sales experience and enjoy the exciting and crazy world of advertising then we’d like to talk to you. In addition to our popular weekly issue, we also publish our “over the top” website and blogs.

Annually we have special focus issues that cover everything from education, careers and dining. What does all this translate to? A high income potential for a hard working advertising executive. We have fun, but we work hard. Bilingual English/Spanish is a plus but not necessary.

Please send your resume and cover letter to Luis Garciarossi luis@arktimes.com EOE 38

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

ARKANSAS TIMES

38 February 29, 2012 ARKANSAS TIMES

$$$HELP WANTED$$$ Extra Income! Assembling CD cases from Home! No Experience Necessary! Call our Live Operators Now! 1-800-405-7619 EXT 2450 w w w. e a s y w o r k j o b s . c o m (AAN CAN) Paid In Advance! Make $1,000 a Week mailing brochures from home!

Guaranteed Income! FREE Supplies!

No experience required. Start Immediately! www.homemailerprogram. net (AAN CAN)

DRIVERS - OTR WITH HOMETIME We are growing!

Need CDL A Drivers and O/ Os with 15 mos. experience Hometime, Health Benefits, Match 401K, All New 2011 Tractors Solo, Company Drivers & OTR Dedicated Team Lanes Available Call: 210-785-9300 or visit Our website http://www.jobnewslittlerock.com/

Business Opportunities EARN $400 WEEKLY! Assemble products from home.

For FREE information send SASE: Home Assembly-ARA, P.O. Box 450 New Britain, CT 06050-0450

Appliances Williams Appliances Washers/Dryers, and Stoves $100+. Refridgerators $200+ NLR area, call 501-753-6636

Miscellaneous MEET local SINGLES in YOUR area! Women receive a FREE lifetime membership!

Gentlemen receive FREE 30 min trial. Fall in love OR FLIRT NOW 800-295-0972 SWF Seeking Someone to Spoil Me - 25, blonde I’m a clean, young sexy girl seeking a generous older man for some adult fun. I can host in a safe, discreet place. Only contact me if you’ re serious. Check out my profile and photos at www.

EstMen.com/Ashlee4

Building Materials Must Sell (Ltd.) Will deal 24x36, 39x57, 60x100 40 yr paint (Steel Bldgs) Pro-Rated freight to site Erection Avail.

Source# 1OM tel:866-609-4321

p! a e Ch g tisin

ver d A

Adoption & Services PREGNANT? CONSIDERING ADOPTION? Talk with caring agency specializing in matching Birthmothers with Families nationwide. LIVING EXPENSES PAID. Call 24/7 Abby’s One True Gift Adoptions 866-413-6293 (Void in Illinois)

Automotive CASH FOR CARS: Any Car/ Truck. Running or Not! Top Dollar Paid. We Come To You! Call For Instant Offer: 1-888420-3808 www.cash4car.com

Roommates ALL AREAS ROOMMATES.COM. Browse hundreds of online listings with photos and maps. Find your roommate with a click of the mouse!

Visit: http://www.Roommates.com.

Advertise Your events, businesses or services

here

Call to find out how.

375-2985

Macximize

Learn to get more from your Mac at home or office.

• Aid in choosing the right Mac for you and your budget • iMac, MacBook, iPad, iPhone • Troubleshooting • Wireless internet & backup

• Data Recovery • Hardware Installs • Hard drive installation & memory expansion • Organize photos, music, movies & email

Call Cindy Greene - Satisfaction Always Guaranteed

MOVING TO MAC

www.movingtomac.com

cindy@movingtomac.com • 501-681-5855

FLIPSIDE

Newfoundland

He is a lost Black Newfoundland found a wk ago in N. Pulaski and was taken to the vet. The vet said he is around 4, weighed 85lbs and has been well taken care of. Loves other dogs and kids. Very playful and affectionate! Loves car rides and is a great indoor/outdoor dog. Needs a great loving home.

WIN!! $25 FREE!!

GAS CARDS

Call Kaytee at 501-607-3100

Food Allergy?

Traditional Chinese Medicine for the Treatment of Food Allergies

Are you allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, sesame, fish or shellfish?

Arkansas Children’s Hospital is currently enrolling volunteers 12-45 years of age for a nine month research study that will determine the effectiveness of Chinese herbs for the treatment of food allergy. All study related visits and laboratory test are provided at no cost. Compensation will be provided.

For more information, please call:

Lynn at (501)364-1726 Arkansas Children’s Hospital

1 Children’s Way. Little Rock, AR 72202 Stacie Jones, MD, Principal Investigator

HUG-MAN

tomorrow.

Play “GET THAT GAS”

THE LUV!! TRAIN ON KABF 88.3 FM! “Your Personal Cleaners” 501-765-LRDD(5733)

501-223-5700 • 7616 T St. at Cantrell

www.bumblebeetransportation.com

WIN!! $25 FREE!!

GAS CARDS

A family owned and operated Janitorial business focused on giving our clients the personalized attention they deserve.

We are available 24-hours a day to quote service for your business.

Farmers Graded Death Benefit Whole Life* - Plan today for your family's

LISTEN AT 7:10 AM....BE MY NUMBER 8 CALLER KNOW THE PHRASE THAT PAYS....

"I WANNA RIDE, BUT I NEED SOME GAS" ANSWER THE QUESTION OF THE DAY "BAM" YOU JUST WON!! A $25 GAS CARD

Very Clean LLC Building Care

1-800-578-4977 vclean@very-clean.com www.very-clean.com

Little Rock’s Premier Designated HUG-MAN JODY “GIMME AService HUG” LUV Driver Every Tuesday AM AND We Mornings drive6-9 you Starting January 10 thru March 2012 your car27, home!

HUG-MAN

HUG-MAN JODY “GIMME A HUG” LUV Every Tuesday Mornings 6-9 AM Starting January 10 thru March 27, 2012 Play “GET THAT GAS”

LISTEN AT 7:10 AM....BE MY NUMBER 8 CALLER KNOW THE PHRASE THAT PAYS....

"I WANNA RIDE, BUT I NEED SOME GAS" ANSWER THE QUESTION OF THE DAY "BAM" YOU JUST WON!! A $25 GAS CARD

THE LUV!! TRAIN ON KABF 88.3 FM!

Avoid becoming a burden on your loved ones.

All your life, you have looked to the future.

Farmers Graded Death Benefit Whole Life may help you prepare for whatever comes next, with benefits for your life and after your death.

Call me or stop by my office for a personalized quote.

Damarys Hubbart 1205 S. UNIVERSITY AVE STE A LITTLE ROCK, AR 72204-2615 501-353-2426 dcaban@farmersagent.com Arkansas Insurance Producer License #356705

*Policy form ICC-2011-123, 2011-123 series.

Limited Death Benefit during the first two policy years.

AB-AD-A1-B1-C1-D1

09/09/2011

It’s happening right now on Arkansas Blog www.arktimes.com

www.arktimes.com February 29, 2012 39

2012

Round 5 Winner Laundry for the Apocalypse

be at the rev room this friday for the finals! we’ll be giving away bonnaroo tickets that YOU signed up for!

20th

EDITION

IT’S NOT TOO LATE TO GRAB one of these 20th Edition commemorative t-shirts!

F INA L S !

FRIDAY, MArch 2nd

The Holy Shakes

Don’t Stop Please

War Chief

Joey Farr & the Fuggins Wheat Band

Laundry for the Apocalypse

Show starts at 8:30 The REV Room - 300 President Clinton Avenue Little Rock, AR — (501) 372-7707

$5 for 21+ and $8 for 18-20

¡REVOLUTION!