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a&E news ing will repeat itself as crews from Wichita, Houston, Dallas, Memphis, Oklahoma City, Northwest and Central Arkansas and — and St. Louis, it’s hoped — compete in the club’s inaugural Labor Day races. The U.S. Rowing Federation-sanctioned event will include 5K head races in four categories — youth, collegiate, open and masters — that will start upriver near the Burns Park bluffs, where buoys and anchored pontoon boats will designate the starting line, and conclude at the Junction Bridge. (Boats will launch from the Boathouse dock between the Main Street and Junction bridges and row upriver to the starting point.) The club expects there will be five or six hours of racing, starting at 8:30 a.m., with 75 competitors from eight to 10 different clubs in about 30 different boats, including crew boats with a coxswain and sculling boats. The races are time trials (“much like the Tour de France,” Finn explained) in which the boats race against the clock, not each other. For those on land, there will be food trucks, hot-air balloon rides and a beer and wine garden under the Junction Bridge in North Little Rock, as well as the sight of boats headed down the Arkansas. “It’s such an amazing resource for rowing,” Finn said. “Whenever we bring outside coaches they are amazed at the resource that we have and we recognized how underutilized it is.” Finn, who is competing in a scull with ABC member Ellen Sullivan, said a great way to watch the race would be from a bike, on the North Little Rock portion of the River Trail. “Just nip in at the Burns Park cliff and follow the boats.” The Broadway, Main Street and Junction bridges will offer good views as well. Formed in 2006, the Arkansas Boathouse Club has 25 active members and maybe twice that
many nonrowing members. Club members launch from the clubhouse on Riverfront Drive — a former North Little Rock maintenance building — and also row on Lake Maumelle. Though there is “a level of fitness that’s required” to row, Finn said it’s the ability to be mindful of balance, stroke counting and the movements of others in the boat that are crucial. “It’s incredibly technical, akin to skiing on water or snow. When you’re fighting the mountain or the water, you’re expelling energy but losing the gracefulness that is the hard and soul of the sports. When you become comfortable with the technique … it’s not an arm-pulling workout. … The choreography is exhilarating,” Finn said. His partner, Sullivan, he said is a “much stronger” rower than he. The last race of the day is hoped to restore what was a tradition of the old Boathouse: a sprint race between a Little Rock crew and a St. Louis crew. St. Louis whopped Little Rock in its first competition here, in sixoar barges, in 1923. Finn said an invitation from Gov. Mike Beebe to Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon to send a crew to compete for the Governor’s Cup hasn’t been answered; but then, Nixon has been busy lately. Though the Arkansas River’s reputation is that it can be dangerous, Finn said, “I haven’t seen the Loch Ness monster yet.” Use of the river — which Finn reminded a reporter is free — can “animate and change perspective” on the resource. The regatta has gotten support from Little Rock, North Little Rock, state Parks and Tourism and individuals like Mike Coulson of Coulson Oil, who with his wife, Beth, is a member. So far, no slot machine is required to keep the lights on, unlike its predecessor in the 1930s. Finn said the boat club is already signing up teams for next year.
A documentary about country music legend Glen Campbell will kick off the 23rd annual Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival at the Arlington Hotel and Spa, running Oct. 10-19. “Glen Campbell … I’ll Be Me,” produced by James Keach and Trevor Albert, showcases Campbell’s life and Goodbye Tour, his last after his 2011 Alzheimer’s diagnosis. The film features interviews with Bruce Springsteen, Bill Clinton, The Edge, Paul McCartney, Jay Leno, Vince Gill, Steve Martin and Taylor Swift, according to a press release. The release also says Keach and Albert, along with members of Campbell’s family — his wife, Kim, and children Ashley, Cal and Shannon — will answer questions after the screening. The bands Billstown and the Drew Henderson Band, both of which include Campbell family members, will play the after-party. The film schedule will be released later in the fall. Reserve a pass at hsdfi.org. The Oxford American will turn to the crowd-funding platform Kickstarter this September to help fund its 16th annual music issue, slated for release Dec. 1. Music from the Lone Star State headlines this year’s magazine, titled “The Music of Texas,” and funds from the campaign will help pay for the issue’s associated compact-disc mixtape. South on Main will provide a space for the OA’s “Kick-start the Kickstarter” party at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 2, which will feature singer-songwriter and native Texan Mark Currey.
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Cool Chris, of Little Rock’s Young Gods of America collective, recently released a mixtape, “Leftover Gram$,” the follow-up to his April release, “Trap Conversations.” Local beat-makers BLACK PARTY, Mach Soul and iamNAWF all show up, and Chris mostly takes a mellow, vibe-over-substance approach, letting the production take the front seat. Download it at arktimes.com/ leftover.
www.arktimes.com
August 28, 2014
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