Arkansas Times - May 28, 2015

NEWS + POLITICS + ENTERTAINMENT + FOOD / MAY 28, 2015 / ARKTIMES.COM

NO CONSEQUENCES? Despite public outrage over the rehoming of two adopted girls, Justin Harris’ status as legislator remains unchanged

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MAY 28, 2015

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COMMENT

TPP: Corporate takeover I was very disappointed to see the Arkansas Times fail to step out of the acceptable liberal narrative with its neutral stance on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The excuse given was something like “Oh dear, it’s just so complicated ...” What a cop-out!

The fact that the TPP is being negotiated behind closed doors by corporate lawyers, that only a few are privy to its entire contents, and that unauthorized viewing of it by anyone else can lead to jail time, should be a red flag in and of itself. So much for government transparency or an impartial public judiciary.

This much is known about the TPP from leaks: of the 30 or so chapters in the agreement, only five deal with actual “trade.” The rest are devoted entirely to corporate protection.

According to a Huffington Post article by Joseph E. Stiglitz, professor at Columbia University and a Nobel Laureate in Economics: “The real intent of these provisions is to impede health, environmental, safety, and, yes, even financial regulations meant to protect America’s own economy and citizens. Companies can sue governments for full compensation for any reduction in their future ‘expected’ profits resulting from regulatory changes.”

In other words, corporations and multinationals — which hold no loyalty to any country — can sue a nation’s government for potential losses in revenue, as opposed to actual losses. Philip Morris is doing that right now to Uruguay and Australia because these countries put graphic warning labels on cigarette packages. Smoking went down, so Philip Morris is suing.

The corporations involved in the TPP are ones who are authoring it. They’re writing in special dispensations for themselves, and none for ordinary citizens, unions or civil-society groups.

I’ll not sit back while corporate lapdogs like John Boozman and Tom Cotton hand over the sovereignty of our nation to a three-person panel of corporate lawyers.

Do the right thing, Arkansas Times.

Tell the people what’s really going on. Or are you afraid to step out of the box of local news and really speak truth to power?

Brad Bailey Fayetteville

Questions on Duggar In cases of child molestation the 4

MAY 28, 2015

ARKANSAS TIMES

statue of limitations does not expire until 3 years after the child has reached the age of 18. Why then has a judge allowed for the destruction of evidence in the Josh Duggar case? The youngest victim of his repeated molestations was only 5 at the time and therefore the statue of limitations will not have expired. I am also troubled by the fact that the police in this case were not able to interview Josh because his parents did not think it was necessary. If Josh had committed arson or robbed a convenience store at gunpoint would police have just taken the refusal of

the parents as an answer or would they have hauled his butt to a station to answer some questions? Your prosecutors and police are looking really, really incompetent and I am wondering why the citizens of Arkansas are putting up with this. Are your police and prosecutors unaware of the statue of limitations and how it applies to minors? Do they just not think it’s a priority? The age difference between the perpetrator and his victims, the repeated nature and the large number of victims should have made this a case to pursue. Also, the parents knew that

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there were repeated molestations over quite a bit of time and chose to allow their daughters to be victimized. Is this not a case of child endangerment?

They have a young daughter in their home now. Will they protect her? Is anyone from the department of social services looking into this?

Caroline Carlson Seattle, Wash.

From the web In response to Arkansas Blog reporting on news that Josh Duggar molested five girls as a teenager, including four of his little sisters: Oh, could old Karma be visiting the Duggar family? Josh & Family goes ape-shit over equality in Fayetteville but now tell us squeezing your little sisters’ tits brings them all closer to God? And I used to buy that God stuff by the dump truck loads.

You know, back in the old days, the general population hid people like the Duggars and the Justin Harrises, kept them out of sight so they wouldn’t embarrass the whole town. Now money addicts give these embarrassing idiots their own TV shows and elect them to public office, which tells the world that arKansas is no place for their Lockeed plant or a Tech Park or for any decent thinking people to live or even visit.

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This whole lifestyle [of the Duggar family] is heavily focused on procreation. They build their lives around it.

Yet they expect teenagers to repress and stomp it all down. Yeah, the parents share in this, heavily. But ... Josh Duggar wasn’t exploring, he wasn’t “playing doctor,” he wasn’t playing around, he was assaulting. Period. No pass from me for that. Huckabuck Sugarbee can minimize and redirect all he wants, this isn’t normal and it isn’t acceptable.

And shame on Huckabee for trivializing what happened to those little girls.

Shame on all of them for focusing solely on poor sexually assaulting Josh Duggar’s repentance into goodness and not what he did. And shame on their whole system for trying to cover it up. dimplasm Huckabee has always had a warm place in his heart for sex offenders.

See Wayne DuMond.

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EYE ON ARKANSAS

WEEK THAT WAS

Quote of the Week:

Today, Janet and I want to show up and stand up for our friends. Let others run from them. We will run to them with our support.

—Mike Huckabee, in a Facebook post addressing the allegations that surfaced last week against Josh Duggar (see column, opposite page).

News emerged last week of questionable dealings by Bill Walker, a Democrat who headed the state Career Education Department during Gov. Mike Beebe’s administration. The agency evidently made grants to Walker’s sister and others close to the former state senator that were related to 5Linx, a multilevel marketing company that sells nutritional products.

A Department of Finance and Administration audit found that Walker himself also worked for the pyramid marketing company, and promoted that business to other employees. When asked by KATV’s Jason Pederson about the investigation, Walker denied any wrongdoing. “I don’t know what they mean by promoted it to other employees,” he said to Pederson.

“If you’re saying did I go up and say look, Jason, here’s an opportunity you may want to consider. ... I didn’t do that at work. I was very careful to do my 5Linx business on my own time.”

Prescription for trouble Federal and local law enforcement made some 140 arrests last Wednesday as part of a four-state operation to crack down on improper prescription and sale of drugs such as Hydrocodone and Xanax. Four doctors, four nurses and five pharmacists were among those charged in the unfortunately named “Operation Pilluted.” At least one pharmacy and one clinic in Little Rock were raided.

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MAY 28, 2015

ARKANSAS TIMES

BRIAN CHILSON

An opportunity you may want to consider

NEW TOYS: Gov. Asa Hutchinson joins Lockheed Martin executives in showing off a prototype of the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) parked at the Capitol on Tuesday. U.S. Sens. John Boozman and Tom Cotton were also in attendance.

The Lockheed Martin superproject, by the numbers This week, the legislature returns to the Capitol to consider giving an economic development incentive package to defense contractor Lockheed Martin, which is vying for a major contract to produce the next generation of light tactical vehicles for the U.S. military. If Lockheed wins the contract, it would expand its existing facilities in Camden.

$87 million

$6.3 million

The amount of public debt that would be issued to provide a direct grant to Lockheed. The total cost of those bonds to Arkansas taxpayers would be $118 million.

The annual cost to the state in debt service on those bonds, based on an estimated 3.3 percent interest rate.

600

20

The estimated number of jobs that would be directly created through the project, not counting jobs that may be retained as a result of the expansion.

The number of years it would take for the state budget to begin to see a net gain in revenue from Lockheed’s expansion, according to the state’s economic analysis.

$45 billion

Lockheed Martin’s annual revenue. Arkansas’s state general revenue is around $5 billion.

OPINION

Duggars meet their maker

T

he Jim Bob Duggar family experienced the downside of celebrity last week.

A Freedom of Information Act request

by In Touch Weekly, a celebrity gossip publication, turned up the news that Springdale police had been notified in 2006 about allegations of sexual molestation within the house of Jim Bob Duggar, who with his wife, Michelle, and 19 children, have become successful (and wellpaid) stars of TLC’s reality TV show, “19 Kids and Counting.”

The Duggars already knew that celebrity doesn’t guarantee adulation. Their fecundity — along with their deep involvement in conservative, particularly anti-gay, politics — brought them plenty of unkind comments. Indeed, the popularity of their show probably was built on a mix of genuine affection, curiosity and hope for a train wreck.

Last week, they got the train wreck.

Their eldest son, Josh, acknowledged youthful “mistakes,” said he’d apologized

molestation). The prosecutor also refused to release his closed file on the case, which ended without charges because of the statute of limitations issues.

Jim Bob Duggar didn’t notify authorities of the allegations of molestation of five children. Instead, he sent his son for to apparent child “treatment” by a religious-based outfit with victims of unwanted a center in Little Rock (financed by the touching and said Hobby Lobby owners) that was then run by his parents had set Duggar friend Bill Gothard, who’d eventuhim on a proper ally give up leadership of the agency after course after the his own sex scandal.

MAX indiscretions 13 Beyond the public’s reach, too, are BRANTLEY years ago. records of how the state Department of maxbrantley@arktimes.com Republican Human Services handled a referral of a fampolitical allies such as Sens. Jon Woods ily in need of services. Mike Huckabee was (R-Springdale) and Bart Hester (R-Cave governor then and was known to intervene Springs) declared the episode a closed directly in DHS matters, employees recall. family matter. Hester vowed a criminal Did the state take adequate steps in this case investigation of the Springdale police for or accede to the Duggars’ belief that family obeying the Freedom of Information Act. knows best? In Gothard’s world, the preJuvenile Court Judge Stacey Zimmer- scribed outline for cases like these begins man (who, it so happens, presided over with a warning about temptation that can some of the Justin Harris-related adop- encourage potential offenders, I guess even tion matters and who is a political friend by sleeping children preyed on as they slept. of Mike Huckabee, a firm Duggar ally) Josh Duggar, too, has been a plaintiff ordered the damaging report destroyed. in a lawsuit against DHS. Those records, She acted on dubious authority in response too, no longer exist. Could they have been to a motion from a purported victim (said about an appeal of placement on the child to be still a minor, which would make the maltreatment registry? Who was the judge? victim perhaps 5 years old at the time of the What was the outcome?

‘Freedom of conscience’: Just say you’re sorry

N

ow that the chorus of politicians invoking religious liberty against the president and local governments includes nearly every Republican presidential candidate, it is time to ask whether those who espouse religious liberty the most loudly believe in it least.

Put another way, WWJMD (What Would James Madison Do)?

It was Madison who insisted that both the laws of his native Virginia and the Constitution of the United States protect individuals from government alliance with any church, with religion in general or against any religion. People of many faiths had to be free to believe as they chose or not to believe at all, without state coercion.

But that is not what the sudden champions of religious liberty believe. They would not mind if the government stepped in and did a little proselytizing for Christianity or the predominant form of it in

their region, which Madison, himself a deeply religious man unlike some of the other founders, thought was a danERNEST gerous thing. He DUMAS wrote in his famous 1785 treatise against Virginia’s proposed tax to support Christian churches that Christianity flourished best before it became aligned with the state in European countries. The European religious wars, which flowed from the alliance, helped produce the French Revolution and the religiousliberty tenet of the U.S. Constitution.

What the current disciples of religious liberty, from the raging Mike Huckabee to the milder Jeb Bush, assert is that government cannot pass laws that impinge on anyone’s prejudices and superstitions if he can claim some basis in the literature

of his religion. If it passes such laws, they say, anyone is free to claim a First Amendment right to ignore them.

Thus the “freedom of conscience” laws such as Arkansas’s that leave people free to mistreat gays, lesbians and other sexual minorities or women or African Americans or Muslims — fire them or refuse to serve them — if the believer can cite the Bible, the Koran or another source of religious wisdom, or if they just say that the discrimination is an article of their faith.

I’m confident that Madison would say that was insane, that it was not what he, Jefferson, Mason and the rest had in mind.

The religious-freedom doctrine — what Jefferson called “separation of church and state” — came about during the Second Great Awakening, when Protestant clergymen mourned that the country was drifting away from Christianity and needed the help of government to get right with God. Madison was just as fervent about his faith but he thought it was a mistake to involve the state. So he fought the religious exactions and inserted a reference to religion in the First Amendment, after first writing a lengthier stand-alone assertion of religious liberty.

Let’s depart from the theme a moment to mention the other Great Awakenings — in the 1860s when clergymen persuaded

Huckabee says this is no story — only the “bloodthirsty” media attacking a good man. His lack of mention of victims was a factor noted by dozens of former Huckabee fans on his social media pages.

TLC has removed the Duggar show from the air, for now. Sponsors are disassociating themselves. It is hard to see how a fair-minded person could continue to view the Duggars benignly as moral exemplars.

Mother Duggar railed against the Fayetteville civil rights ordinance and a Bentonville School District equal employment policy for gay people. She suggests LGBT people are likely to molest children, the fiction offered after real harm in her own home.

Sympathy for victims ultimately forced this story out. The story has been told sporadically for years on social media. Somebody tipped off Oprah in 2006, a tip that led to cancellation of a scheduled Duggar appearance and a report to the state child abuse hotline. That, in turn, inspired the fateful Springdale police investigation.

I don’t believe In Touch just happened to suddenly look into this story. I’ve learned, too, that a major law firm was making inquiries before the In Touch story broke.

A family matter? Yes. But also much more. And, for that uncomfortable attention, the Duggars have only their own celebrity seeking to thank.

the Lincoln administration to put “In God We Trust” on Union currency in the belief that a drifting away from God was responsible for secession and the Civil War (Southerners were invoking God for their cause, citing His numerous Old Testament endorsements of slavery), and in the 1950s when Billy Graham and other clergymen persuaded the Eisenhower administration and Congress that the country was drifting toward secularism, leading among other things to the insertion of “Under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, written in 1892 by the socialist/Baptist Francis Bellamy and later officially adopted by the government.

The coinage and the flag are cited by conservatives as proof that the First Amendment never meant separation of church and state but state protection of religion.

The historical literature of every religion, especially Christianity and Islam, carries support for almost every form of intolerance, whether it has to do with salvation, or just clothing fashion, food preferences, feminine rights, sexual matters, farming practices, child rearing, or labor-management relations. You name it and you can probably find it in Mosaic Law. Almost any act of government potentially abrades someone’s belief that they can link to some CONTINUED ON PAGE 46 www.arktimes.com

MAY 28, 2015

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Same story

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ontrary to what Jeb Bush said, it wasn’t actually too hard to see through the propaganda barrage that led the United States to invade Iraq in 2003. Key aspects of the Bush administration’s case for war were transparently false, and would have been comically so if the consequences hadn’t been so terrible.

Ancient history: “The administration’s strategy of loudly proclaiming that Iraq poses a dire threat to U.S. security while making a public show of massing troops along its border as if it were scarcely capable of self-defense,” this column said in February 2003 “makes no sense.”

A single “mushroom cloud” of the kind Condoleezza Rice warned about and military catastrophe would have resulted.

To me, it followed that Rice was simply blowing smoke.

And so, he’s since basically admitted, was Secretary of State Colin Powell.

“War fever, catch it,” was my sardonic response to Powell’s ballyhooed 2003 speech to the United Nations on the dire threat supposedly posed by Saddam Hussein.

“To skeptics who remember ‘intelligence’ hoaxes of past decades,” the column continued, “it wasn’t clear that Powell’s presentation answered any of the objections his own surrogates like former Bush I national security advisor Brent Scowcroft have put forward.”

“Key parts of Powell’s presentation were dubious on their face.” The column listed several examples, including the disingenuous term “weapons of mass destruction,” which Americans were encouraged to believe included nuclear bombs, but mostly referred to leftover nerve gas weapons we’d sold Saddam in the first place.

(And which he’d used to attack the Kurds and Iran, for anybody seeking a clue about the contemporary Middle East.)

In reality, we’ve learned, Saddam had no WMDs of any description.

“The crucial thing about Powell’s speech wasn’t evidence or logic, but who gave it. The Secretary of State has surrendered to the hawks. War it is. President Junior’s ‘credibility’ demands it.”

Yes, I called George W. Bush a satirical name. Even before his comic opera “Mission Accomplished” aircraft carrier photo op, I thought the president was posturing like the hero of a Bruce Wil-

lis action/adventure film.

Many opinion writers reacted differently.

“The allegGENE edly ‘liberal’ LYONS Washington Post responded editorially with a one-word headline. ‘Irrefutable’… Joining the stampede was New York Times Editor Bill Keller, who noted that ‘The I-Can’tBelieve-I’m-a-Hawk Club includes op-ed regulars at this newspaper and The Washington Post, the editors of The New Yorker, The New Republic and Slate, columnists in Time and Newsweek.’”

There were honorable exceptions, such as Knight-Ridder reporters Jonathan Landay, Warren Strobel and Joe Galloway. But the professional skepticism that journalists boast of was rare.

Basically this was because the safest place in any stampede is the middle of the herd. In his book “Lapdogs: How the Press Rolled Over for Bush,” Eric Boehlert counted 26 pro-Iraq war columns in the Washington Post between September 2002 and February 2003.

Probably you’ve forgotten that Bush promised to put the matter to a vote in the U.N. Security Council, and then changed his mind as arms inspectors kept not finding Saddam’s imaginary weapons. Instead, he ordered the inspectors out of Iraq. “Alas,” I wrote, “there’s no sign Bush has the guts for peace.”

Meanwhile, fools were busy pouring Bordeaux wine into gutters, ordering “freedom fries” and destroying Dixie Chicks CDs because, like the French foreign minister, the singers expressed doubts about Bush’s big war. (I made a coarse joke about “Freedom Ticklers.”

Months later a friend emailed me a photo of a truck stop vending machine selling them.)

Journalistic skepticism abandoned, much of the “embedded” news media rode along as if invading Iraq were the world’s biggest Boy Scout Jamboree.

The short-term outcome of the fighting was never in doubt. And patriotic Americans can always be counted upon to rally behind the troops.

Longer term, I doubted that Americans had the appetite for the wars of empire Bush’s “neoconservative” advisors had in mind.

See, that’s the part Jeb Bush in particular wants everybody to forget. InvadCONTINUED ON PAGE 46

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NOTES ON THE PASSING SCENE

Fun stuff

T

he first fun thing The Observer did during this year’s Riverfest was try and extricate my car Friday afternoon from behind the layers upon layers of near-impenetrable barricades in the River Market district that looked perfectly appropriate for a war zone. I had made the mistake of parking downtown that morning and walking to work. It was the mistake of a tourist, or a masochist.

The Riverfest team had swooped in that morning and assembled a replica of the Baghdad Green Zone. I should have seen it coming, but I didn’t.

I walked past thick concrete barriers and white plastic railings and enormous, sickening lines of traffic. I entertained myself by imagining I was an extra in a Roland Emmerich film. A few small groups of festivalgoers were spread out on the sidewalks in semicircles to study their maps. It was strangely peaceful, the quiet before a hurricane. Riverfest personnel were stationed at each intersection with the primary goal, apparently, of accepting the verbal abuse of drivers outraged about their typical routes home being diverted. I squinted up at the 14-story First Security Bank building and noticed a woman rappelling down the side of it — this was a new activity this year. A Riverfest employee in an official blue festival T-shirt told me it cost “about a thousand dollars.” I asked if he’d help me get my car out. He looked confused and a little wounded, as if to say, “Why would you ever want to leave?”

The second really fun thing I did during this year’s Riverfest was buy some apples and breakfast cereal and a couple of those brand-new Lost Forty six-packs, one pilsner and one pale ale, and head home. I had heard, earlier that afternoon, about a Sheryl Crow sighting at Iriana’s Pizza, and I thought about it on the drive.

I remembered hearing Sheryl Crow songs about 700 times between 2001 and 2004.

The interesting thing about this is that it was entirely involuntary, every single time. I have never pressed “play” on a Sheryl Crow CD. I don’t say this to insult or complain, only to marvel at the lost, shared monoculture of my youth. I can’t remember the last time I heard whole

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songs I didn’t want to hear. It’s just too easy, these days, to check out. I don’t consider this a relief; I consider it alienating.

A vague sensation of loss, linked to fading memories of the VH1 music video countdown.

That night I watched something on Netflix and fed my cat and called it a night.

I turned out all the lights and stood at the window — I live downtown — and looked out at the sky for suggestions of fireworks or fun or any sign at all of mass activity.

I couldn’t see anything over the trees. I remembered the Sheryl Crow song “Soak Up the Sun,” which had been stuck in my head all day, bleakly.

“I’m stuck here watching TV,” she sings.

“I don’t have diddly squat.” I pulled up the song on YouTube and it all came back to me, like she was speaking to me directly: “It’s not having what you want, it’s wanting what you’ve got.”

The third really fun thing I did during this year’s Riverfest was buy a used armchair Saturday afternoon at the Savers in North Little Rock. It cost $17. I borrowed a friend’s jeep to get it home — I’ll spare you the details. I planned on heading over to the festival after that but got sidetracked by a sudden urge for tamales. You know how you sometimes get the most specific cravings and nothing else will do? It was one of those.

The band 311 was scheduled to play Riverfest that night, which inevitably reminded me of a summer camp I once attended on the North Carolina-Georgia border. There was a kid in my cabin — I think his name was Wayne — who worshipped 311. He was the only kid smart enough to pack his CD collection, so he was the DJ all week. We played Korn, the “Mission: Impossible II” soundtrack (featuring Limp Bizkit’s take on the iconic theme music) and, of course, 311. I remember one night it rained and we all took shelter in a boat-house on the dock.

Wayne brought his CDs and we all listened — all of us together — to whatever he played. We didn’t think about whether we enjoyed it or not. We just thought about the rain.

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www.arktimes.com

MAY 28, 2015

11

Arkansas Reporter

THE

IN S IDE R

It wouldn’t be a legislative session without a lobbyist whipping out a credit card. This may be a short special session but at least one credit card is at the ready.

Roberts GR Strategies (a consulting firm that just happened to have hired Asa Hutchinson III around the time his daddy took office as governor and also added a Searcy lawyer named Mike Beebe to its roster of associates) was to buy dinner at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 27, at Arthur’s Wine Cellar, the ritzy steakhouse in Chenal Valley, for the Criminal Justice Reform Task Force.

Question: Is this a governmental body? Because the so-called government ethics amendment that nominally prohibited lobbyist meal purchases for legislators exempted “food and drink available at a planned activity to which a specific governmental body is invited.”

The task force is an appointed body created by law to monitor changes in criminal justice laws. It has no power. Its members include Judiciary Committee chairs Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson (R-Little Rock) and Rep. Matthew Shepherd (R-El Dorado) and a variety of others.

Whatever. Throw some steaks on the grill.

What’s Roberts up to? Maybe the interest of their client, Corrections Corp. of America, operator of private prisons.

Kurrus channels Leon Russell Little Rock high schools held graduation ceremonies last week and new Superintendent Baker Kurrus delivered a surprise — unscripted a capella singing of a Leon Russell song after he decided his prepared speech wasn’t going over so well.

He had brief remarks ready for his first go-round in the superintendent’s customary speaking spot. It was about two minutes long, he said. I presume it was of the this-is-a-beginning-notan-ending variety. He elaborated: “The first graduation was McClellan. I gave the speech I had prepared, and laid an egg. I didn’t blame them for not listening. It was dull. Parkview was next, the same night. I was trying to figure out a way to get the attention of the grads. In the 30 minutes between the graduations I decided to

Testing the discrimination law

valid and enforceable even after Act 137 goes into effect, questions remain as to what the next step will be on both sides of the issue. Many believe a lawsuit and clarification by the courts as inevitable.

How the matter will wind up before a judge, however, is still up in the air.

Carroll County Justice of the Peace Where we go next on the state’s LGBT fairness Lamont Richie-Roberson, who authored ordinances.

Eureka’s Ordinance 2223 and helped spearhead the fight to see it retained, said that

BY DAVID KOON opponents of LGBT protection ordinances across the state were clearly ou have to imagine that considering their options for the legislative brains challenging the issue in court. behind SB 202 — which “People are going to do what they’re going to do,” will become Act 137 on July 21, 90 days after the official end Richie-Roberson said. “All I of the General Assembly — know is that there was never must feel some regret at wakany intent to do anything with ing the big, gay bear. The bill, this ordinance other than to sponsored by Sen. Bart Hester address human rights, and to (R-Cave Springs) to prevent include people who needed cities from following the lead to be included who weren’t of Fayetteville, which saw its included. That’s all that this pioneering LGBT protection was about.”

Richie-Roberson said that ordinance repealed by a narrow margin in December 2014, while people have been doomwas supposed to strip cities and shouting about litigation over towns of the ability to protect the Eureka Springs ordinance their LGBT residents against since it was proposed, it will discrimination by forbidding take an egregious act of dismunicipalities from extendcrimination to trigger a lawsuit. ing protections to any class “It’s not like somebody can go not already covered by state down to the mayor’s office and law. It hasn’t worked out that say, ‘Hey, I was discriminated way, however. against,’ and the discriminatThe day SB 202 passed, ing person will be hauled into there were no local governcourt,” Richie-Roberson said. ments in the state with pro“That’s not how it’s going to tections for LGBT employees work. There’s going to be an or citizens. As of this writing, investigation, the mayor is there are three and count- SAYS ACT 137 WILL NOT NULLIFY ORDINANCES: Law School Dean going to have to be satisfied Emeritus John DiPippa agrees with Little Rock’s city attorney on the ing: Eureka Springs, Conway issue. that it’s more true than not that and Little Rock. Other cities, the ordinance was violated, including Bentonville and Jonesboro, have based on their sexual orientation and genthe police will have to issue the citation, der identity and requires those who wish considered the issue, and the controversy and when they get to court, [the police to do business with the city to do the same. over anti-gay measures like SB 202 has are] going to have to prove to a judge that spurred well-attended marches and rallies On May 12, after a grueling and sometimes it happened. … I hope that nobody fabin support of LGBT rights all over the state. ugly fight, Eureka Springs voted by more ricates a complaint in order to get it into court to cause a stir.” than a 2-to-1 margin, 579 to 231, to preserve Pulaski County, following the lead of a successful vote by the Little Rock City Board its unique-in-the-state LGBT protection Holly Dickson, staff attorney for the on April 21, is set to vote on protections for ordinance, which imposes financial penArkansas ACLU, said that while she alties on anyone found to have discrimiLGBT county employees soon after we go believes municipalities were within their rights to pass LGBT protection measures, to press this week. nated against LGBT people in employment, The Little Rock and Conway ordihousing or public accommodations within there is enough disagreement over Act the city limits. nances, like the proposed ordinance for 137 and the ordinances that the courts are With July 21 looming and municipaliPulaski County, protect LGBT city workeventually going to have to weigh in. Howties insisting that their ordinances will be ers and job applicants from discrimination ever, it’s not as easy as an opponent simply

Y

BRIAN CHILSON

Swill season extended

CONTINUED ON PAGE 48 12

MAY 28, 2015

ARKANSAS TIMES

THE

BIG PICTURE

INCONSEQUENTIAL NEWS QUIZ: Quiet riot edition Play at home!

1) A veterinarian in Mountain Home had to work quickly recently to save the life of Benno, a 4-year-old Belgian Malinois, who had been rushed to his office after eating something that didn’t agree with his tummy. What did Benno eat?

A) Kim Kardashian.

B) Taco Bell Diablo Loco burrito, washed down with Bud Light Lime n’ Clamato.

C) Souls of the damned.

D) An entire box of live, high-caliber rifle ammunition.

2) According to a list supplied by Benno’s owner to the Baxter Bulletin, what else has Benno eaten?

A) A television remote control.

B) A travel-size bottle of hand lotion.

C) Broken glass.

D) All of the above, plus stuffed animals, coins, Styrofoam peanuts, cheese wrappers, rocks, wax paper, aluminum foil, shirts, socks, underwear, a brassiere, tennis shoes, a length of rope, nylon straps, plastic weed trimmer string, a gasoline-soaked lawnmower air filter, blankets, marbles, plastic bags, quilt batting, straight pins, plastic soda bottles, magnets, bottle lids, a loaf of bread with the wrapper still on, a hairbrush, Lego blocks, wooden baseboards and a section of drywall.

3) Administrators at Russellville High School were outraged recently when the school yearbooks came out. What was the issue?

A) Teacher photos replaced with team photos of the 1996 Utah Jazz.

B) The Chemistry Club posed with an 11-pound bag of the blue supermeth from “Breaking Bad.” C) The inspirational quotes under the photos of some seniors included a white student who said, “I was born a poor, black child,” and another paired with the advice: “When the Red River flows, take the dirt road home.”

D) The vice principal’s name is not, in fact, Dick Sasole.

4) The Little Rock Police Department recently got approval from the City Board to make a purchase it says will help keep the streets of Little Rock safer, but which has been criticized by some. What do the police want to buy?

A) 320-mm rail-mounted howitzer, in case Cabot gets cocky.

B) Enough riot gear to outfit 530-plus officers, even though there hasn’t been a full-fledged riot in Little Rock in living memory.

C) Robocop, 10 Ghostbusters proton packs and one of the Godzilla-fighting robots from “Pacific Rim.” D) 50 acres near the airport, where the plan is to break ground this summer on the LRPD’s new Ministry of Love Thinkpol Retraining Center for Non-Cooperatives.

5) A man in Jonesboro was recently charged with indecent exposure after, police say, he allegedly exposed his penis to two people, including a 9-year-old girl. What do police say was his explanation for why he allegedly had his junk out?

A) Needed to measure something and didn’t have access to a ruler.

B) Saw a dog peeing, which made him need to pee.

C) Testing to see which way the wind was blowing using the “lick it and stick it in the air” method.

D) He had misread a Craigslist ad seeking a talented pianist.

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INSIDER, CONT. sing something. “A Song for You” by Leon Russell popped into my head.

“I sang the first couple of lines and the students perked up.”

Kurrus continued singing on future rounds. Nancy Rousseau, principal at Central High, has promised a video when she can lay her hands on one.

But she said: “He was FABULOUS!!!

The kids and the adults loved his singing!”

Kurrus has some musical experience.

“I do play in a good band that is called APB, which is short for Asbury Prison Band or all points bulletin,” he explained in an email. “We just play prison gigs, with a few exceptions. It is a dedicated group of people who have a heart for prison ministry. We are not ‘churchy’ but we generally play things with a message. I play guitar and harmonica, and sing a little. We have some great musicians and a dedicated sound guy that is the most important member of the group.”

Leon Russell’s song opens: “I’ve been so many places In my life and time I’ve sung a lot of songs I’ve made some bad rhymes I’ve acted out my life in stages With ten thousand people watching But we’re ‘lone now and I’m singing this song to you.”

Denny Altes’ expensive taste Reasons that Gov. Asa Hutchinson shouldn’t have given the job of drug czar to former state Rep. Denny Altes are abundant: racist comments, a lackluster legislative record verging on bizarre, attempting to exert improper influence on the courts.

Add this: A bit of evidence that he has expensive tastes, not necessarily a good thing for somebody with a state expense account. (See: Mark Darr.)

A reader alerts us to a copy of a lobbyist expense report for March 2013, when Altes was still a member of the legislature. Kimberly Randle of Houston, then lobbying for Clean Line Energy Partners, reports that she took Altes out for a meal March 9, 2013. Cost: $390.75.

That’s a lot of french fries and who knows how many glasses of iced tea.

ANSWERS: D, D, C, B, B www.arktimes.com

MAY 28, 2015

13

Above reproach?

Months after the rehoming of their adopted daughters was made public, Justin and Marsha Harris have yet to face consequences.

BRIAN CHILSON

BY BENJAMIN HARDY

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS: Justin and Marsha Harris with their attorney, Jennifer Wells, at a March press conference.

14

MAY 28, 2015

ARKANSAS TIMES

O

n March 24, three weeks after the news first broke that state Rep. Justin Harris (R-West Fork) and his wife, Marsha, gave their two adopted daughters in 2013 to a family where one of them was later sexually assaulted, Rep. Harris returned to Twitter. Normally an active presence on social media, Harris had shuttered his feed the first week of March in response to an onslaught of unwanted attention as the Arkansas Times report revealing the “rehoming” of the girls, ages 3 and 5 at the time, was picked up by national and international media outlets. But by the last week of the month, the media spotlight was already beginning to dim, and Harris resumed tweeting, albeit with his account now visible only to his followers. He broadcast two verses from Psalms (37:12-13) that seemed intended to signal defiance rather than contrition: The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him But the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he sees that his day is coming Justin Harris’ unshaken sense of righteousness was striking given the revelations of the previous weeks: Three young sisters — the Times calls them “Annie”, “Mary” and “Jeanette,” from youngest to oldest — were taken into state Department of Human Services custody in Fayetteville in 2011 and placed in foster care. The Harrises sought to adopt all three children.

According to Cheryl and Craig Hart, a foster family who cared for Mary and Annie for over a year, local DHS workers and therapists advised against the adoption out of concern that the Harrises were poorly equipped to adopt the three sisters, who had suffered past abuse.

The Harts claim that Justin Harris then flexed his influence as a legislator: They say Cecile Blucker, the director of the DHS Division of Children and Family Services, pressured local caseworkers to recommend the adoption proceed.

After the girls entered the home in 2012, things quickly began to go wrong.

The Harrises returned Jeanette, then 6, to DHS custody before year’s end due to her behavioral problems, but the couple pressed ahead with Mary and Annie.

They became the two girls’ legal parents in March 2013. The Harrises have claimed that the 3-year-old and 5-yearold were dangerously violent and that they feared for the safety of their own sons, yet were unable to turn to DHS

for help out of fear that they would be threatened with child abandonment if they dissolved the now-completed adoption. But the Harts and the girls’ current adoptive parents (who have asked to remain anonymous) said Mary and Annie were not, and are not, violent.

According to a babysitter at the Harris home, Chelsey Goldsborough, Justin and Marsha Harris kept Mary locked in a barren bedroom out of a belief she could communicate telepathically with Annie. Goldsborough and others claim that the Harrises believed both girls were possessed by demons and had an “exorcism” performed, which the Harrises deny.

In October 2013, the Harrises gave away Mary and Annie to friends of theirs, Eric Cameron Francis and Stacey Francis of Bella Vista, a couple with three adoptive children of their own.

That same month, Eric was hired as a teacher at the West Fork preschool owned by the Harrises, Growing God’s Kingdom. He was asked to resign in January 2014, ostensibly due to poor work attendance, and the Harrises’ adopted daughters were soon thereafter moved to the care of a third family under circumstances that remain unclear, again without DHS or court supervision. (That third family has since adopted the two girls.) On March 28, 2014, a state police investigation found that Mary had been sexually abused

by Eric Francis, who is now serving a 40-year sentence for that crime and two separate incidents of second-degree sexual assault involving other children in the community. It took another year for news of the rehoming to be made public, in March of this year.

Almost three months later, Harris continues to serve as state representative from District 81 — a job that this year saw a boost in salary, from $15,869 to $39,400. Justin and Marsha Harris also continue to run Growing God’s Kingdom, which gets 90 percent of its funding through state and federal revenue streams. Despite widespread public outrage, no elected official from his own party has yet called for Rep. Harris’ resignation or offered a statement censuring his actions. Republican leaders such as Gov. Asa Hutchinson and House Speaker Jeremy Gillam (R-Judsonia) have said the focus instead should be on preventing future tragedies.

Though Harris wasn’t censured, his actions were. The General Assembly swiftly and unanimously passed bipar-

“They’ve been getting by with so much for so long. I’m so tired of ‘poor them,’ because it’s not ‘poor them.’ It’s ‘poor kids.’" ­—A worker at Growing God's Kingdom tisan legislation this session intended to prevent further instances of rehoming.

One bill, sponsored by Rep. Greg Leding (D-Fayetteville), prohibits adoptive parents from continuing to collect state subsidies if they rehome a child and tightens the requirement that DHS provide post-adoptive services to families struggling with difficult adoptions.

The second, sponsored by Rep. David Meeks (R-Greenbrier), makes rehoming a Class D felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000. When the governor signed the bills into law in April, Arkansas went from having no statutory prohibition against giving away adopted children to having one of the toughest such laws in the country. (The felony statute does not apply to biological children, recognizing the unhappy fact that adoptive children are especially vulnerable to abandonment.)

Yet it is difficult to ignore the fact that one of the votes cast in favor of both bills belongs to the man whose actions convinced the public and the General Assembly of the need to change the law in the first place. Those actions would have remained concealed — and the law presumably unchanged — had this newspaper not made them public in March. The new law is not retroactive, so Justin and Marsha Harris are in no danger of being charged with the crime of rehoming, but there is an undeniable irony to a legislator voting for a bill that would make something he did 18 months ago a felony.

House Minority Leader Eddie Armstrong (D-North Little Rock) put it bluntly: “Had he done now what he did [in 2013], he would definitely have been impeached, and he would have broken the law.

“We got it right with DHS in creating the rehoming law … but nothing is being said about the representative who is the culprit of this whole ordeal. I find it to be somewhat of a double standard.”

Armstrong is not alone in asking whether the Harrises will face consequences. In the past two months, the Arkansas Times has spoken with a number of current and former workers at Growing God’s Kingdom who feel the Harrises are not being held accountable for actions they say they witnessed at the daycare. A variety of other credible concerns remain unresolved: about tax benefits, about child maltreatment, about Justin Harris’ influence over DHS, about the improper use of a foster child in campaign materials.

“It unfortunately remains a distraction,” Armstrong said. “They’re asking me questions in the coffee shop. They’re asking me questions when I speak at Kiwanis about the legislative session, and the one question I can’t answer is the outcome of one of our own representatives.

“I’ve had the chance to travel across the country from Washington to California and I get the same exact question: ‘Whatever happened to that representative that gave that child away and she got raped?’ And the unfortunate reality is that I have nothing to tell them.”

The view from West Fork Growing God’s Kingdom sits on a stretch of U.S. Hwy. 71 on the outskirts of West Fork, about 10 minutes from Fayetteville’s southern edge. Considering the town is home to some 2,300 people, the preschool is a fairly large operation, serving 159 children from the surrounding area. In West Fork, a bedroom community with few jobs, Growing God’s Kingdom is one of the only employment options available for women with young kids of their own.

To date, the Arkansas Times has spoken to six former and three current workers at the preschool who had firsthand knowledge of Mary, Annie and/ www.arktimes.com

MAY 28, 2015

15

KAT WILSON

ALLEGATIONS AT THE DAYCARE: Several current and former workers at the Harrises’ Growing God’s Kingdom say the two adopted girls were absent more than they were present.

or Jeanette. Some worked directly for Growing God’s Kingdom, others for an on-site contractor. All spoke on the condition of anonymity, although most said they would share their stories if asked by an investigator.

Mary and Annie lived in the Harris home from approximately September 2012 to October 2013, during which time they were also enrolled in preschool at Growing God’s Kingdom. However, according to all nine workers, the two girls were absent more often than not.

All nine also said it was common knowledge that staff were expected to mark them as “present” on days when they were not there.

One woman, who worked for a company that contracted with the preschool, said, “Those little girls hadn’t been in the school for months when I left, but they were saying they were.” Though not a teacher, she had direct contact with Mary and Annie at the school. “They told me to sign them in when they weren’t there, and I refused. I said, ‘I’m not doing that.’ ” A former classroom aide, who said that she was sometimes assigned to work in the same classroom as Mary, said, “We were told to write her name down. I never did, but the lead teacher 16

MAY 28, 2015

ARKANSAS TIMES

[in the classroom] did … When I did a head count, I’d see 14 kids in the classroom and 15 kids on the roster. … They’d say, ‘Oh, that’s Marsha’s daughter.’ ” The former aide also said workers were expected to mark Mary as present for meals. “We’d make a plate for her and put it in the refrigerator … I know they weren’t taken home to the kids, because they’d be in there for the whole week. At the end of the week, they’d be thrown out.”

One of the current workers — the only one of the three who agreed to be quoted extensively for this article — said, “Many times [Mary and Annie] were counted for breakfast and lunch but not at the preschool at all. How many times exactly, I don’t know, but it was often.”

Justin and Marsha Harris denied telling workers to falsify sign-ins. Their attorney, Jennifer Wells, said, “The girls were always at the facility when marked present, either in the classroom, the office, or in therapy. The girls did not have to be in the classroom to be counted in the meal count. However, they must be on the premises to be counted for the meal count.”

Unlike with K-12 schools, Arkansas preschools don’t necessarily get taxpayer money for every student they

serve. In general, Arkansas families making under 200 percent of the federal poverty line are eligible for pre-K tuition subsidies through the Arkansas Better Chance program; out of the 159 kids at Growing God’s Kingdom, 110 currently have their tuition paid by ABC. A smaller number are paid for by an income-based federal voucher program, and some parents pay out of pocket.

It’s not entirely clear whether Mary and Annie were eligible for ABC support. The Harrises made over 200 percent of the poverty line in 2013, but Mary and Annie still may have been ABC-eligible because DHS rules explicitly exempt foster children from ABC’s income requirements. Nonetheless, DHS spokesperson Amy Webb has told the Times that “No ABC or voucher funding was paid to GGK in 2013 related to any of the Harris dependents.”

However, Webb continued, “if a dependent of the family was in attendance and ate meals or snacks, Growing God’s Kingdom would be reimbursed for that.” That’s because food for the school is paid for by the U.S. Department of Agriculture through a separate funding stream. “Because at least 75 percent of the facility’s enrolled children were eligible for free or reduced lunches, fed-

eral regulations deem all children in that program eligible,” Webb said. If what the nine workers say is true, then, the school received at least some federal payment for the girls on days when they weren’t there, albeit a small amount.

DHS has shown little interest in investigating the matter further.

“Because of the time that has elapsed, it would be difficult if not impossible for the Division to verify whether specific students were actually in attendance on certain days two or three years ago in which documents indicate they were there. Had the Division been made aware of the allegations at the time, we would have been able to investigate them,” Webb said.

Although DHS is the agency responsible for administering USDA funds for preschool feeding programs, those are still federal dollars — which raises the question of whether federal authorities could investigate. (Conner Eldridge, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, said he could neither confirm nor deny that his office had looked into the matter.)

The Times originally raised the question of the sign-ins at the end of March, and according to current employees at Growing God’s Kingdom, the Harrises

recently asked teachers at the preschool to sign a paper disavowing the allegations. The teachers refused to do so, the employees said.

Through an email from Wells, the Harrises denied they had asked teachers to actually sign anything — yet. “The Harris’s [sic] attorney instructed them to notify two teachers (teachers who had taught both girls) that she may ask them to sign an affidavit saying that they did not falsify attendance records after an Arkansas Times piece cited an unnamed source who claimed this was a practice at the preschool. To date, they have not been asked to sign any such affidavit.”

The attendance records are not the only matter in which the Harrises’ account of events concerning Mary and Annie deviates from their employees’.

The current worker who agreed to be quoted by the Times said she was upset that the Harrises had effectively denied they believed the girls were demonically possessed and could communicate with one another telepathically. She said that Marsha Harris made such statements to her firsthand back in 2013.

“Everyone is kind of fed up,” said the current worker. “If they had stood up and said, ‘Yes we did this,’ that would be one thing, but they openly lied about not believing” the girls were possessed.

In the only comment the Harrises have offered to date on the subject, their attorney stated in March: “Exorcisms and telepathy are not part of the Harrises’ religious practice.”

The current worker also said that she had seen Marsha Harris pray over other children enrolled at Growing God’s Kingdom, out of a belief that misbehaving kids may be grappling with demons.

“I watched her do it. Twice, it happened with a difficult child. He was a biter, a fit-thrower — regular 2-year-old behavior.” Although she only saw a few such instances firsthand, she said that kids were also sometimes taken to Marsha’s office to be prayed over. “I couldn’t tell you how many times that happened.”

The two other current employees corroborated those claims.

That raises the touchy subject of the expressly religious mission of Growing God’s Kingdom. In 2011, a national group called Americans United for the Separation of Church and State made a complaint to DHS about the constitutionality of a private, Christian preschool receiving public funds. In response, DHS promulgated a rule saying that private preschools that receive public money can provide religious instruction as long

as it takes place outside the seven-hour day required by the ABC program. Harris made it clear at the time that he felt the complaint was an assault on his faith, posting on the school’s Facebook page: “We will never be shamed for the ministry that God has allowed us to be a part of.”

When asked whether DHS has investigated accounts that Marsha Harris prayed over children to dispel evil spirits, Webb said, “During the times that our staff and contractors have been at that facility, which is several times a year, no one has reported seeing staff ‘praying demons’ out of children at the center. The center has been in compliance with ABC regulations.” She noted that in a recent review of Growing God’s Kingdom, “the reviewer did observe children singing a religious song during ABC time” but could not determine whether it was initiated by the teacher or the students. “A reminder about no religious instruction during ABC time was written on the review,” Webb said.

The former classroom aide recalled a specific incident in 2013 in which Marsha Harris voiced a conviction that her adopted girls’ behavior was fueled by demonic influences. “I remember [Annie] was in the classroom just crying and crying, and [the other teacher] couldn’t even talk to her. I sat on the floor and started saying, ‘I see a purple dinosaur,’ or whatever was around the room. She’d cry, and then stop and look, and cry again, and I kept talking and kind of brought her out of the little tizzy she was in.

“I finally asked her what’s wrong.

She said she wet her pants, and I said, ‘That’s OK, we all have accidents,’ and I went out, took her wet ones off, and was getting some other ones. About that time, Marsha came storming in and said, ‘What’s going on in here?’ I said [Annie] had an accident, and she said, ‘That was no accident.’

“And that’s when she told me that it was one of her demons that was making her do that. Then that afternoon or maybe later, she told me that they’d already driven out nine demons, but [Annie] still has one that’s making her do those kind of things.”

The current worker who agreed to be quoted also expressed dismay over the use of at least one of the sisters’ images in Justin Harris’ 2012 re-election campaign. A professional photograph used on Harris’ campaign website from that summer shows a small girl posed alongside Justin, Marsha and their three sons;

the Times has confirmed the child is Jeanette. The same picture appeared on flyers distributed by the campaign.

At that point, Jeanette was a foster child and would have been living in the Harris household for only a few months, if that. (By Thanksgiving, the Harrises had disrupted Jeanette’s planned adoption because, according to Justin Harris, “she disclosed her plan to kill every member of the family.”)

DHS expressly prohibits the public use of photos or any other media that would compromise a foster child’s anonymity. Asked whether DHS was aware Harris had used a foster child in campaign materials, Webb said she couldn’t comment specifically on Harris, but speaking generally, she said the agency would not allow such use.

“If we were made aware of a situation like you described, we would immediately call the foster or pre-adoptive parent and tell him to discontinue using the picture on any campaign material. We would not be comfortable with a foster child’s picture being used during a campaign,” Webb said.

But if DHS took any action to dissuade Harris from using photos of a foster child during pre-adoption, it was evidently unsuccessful: The photos were on Harris’ campaign website as late as September 2013, almost a year after Jeannette had left the Harris home. As with the allegations regarding the attendance records, the agency has shown little inclination to investigate the matter further.

The Times also asked the legislative leadership in the Arkansas House

whether the use of a foster child in campaign materials in defiance of DHS rules would warrant censure or discipline of Rep. Harris. Speaker Gillam and Majority Leader Ken Bragg (R-Sheridan) both said the question should be addressed by the Arkansas Ethics Commission, which primarily handles campaign finance matters. But Ethics Commission Director Graham Sloan said the matter would be outside the purview of his agency.

The seeming lack of consequences is frustrating to many observers, in West Fork and elsewhere. “They’ve been getting by with so much for so long,” said the current worker. “I’m so tired of ‘poor them,’ because it’s not ‘poor them.’ It’s ‘poor kids.’ ” The former classroom aide sighed.

“I just think they’re going to get away with all this, and it’s going to all blow over, and they’re going to do what they want to do.”

Two investigations The accounts by the workers paint an unsettling picture of the girls’ relationship with their erstwhile adoptive parents and corroborate some of the claims made by Chelsey Goldsborough, the babysitter for the Harrises. But the most significant elements of Goldsborough’s narrative probably cannot be confirmed by many other individuals outside of the Harris family itself. In March, the babysitter told the Times that Mary was kept locked alone in a spartan bedroom for hours at a time, her books and toys removed as punish-

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ARKANSAS TIMES

“When all this blew up, I felt so guilty. We’re supposed to be mandated reporters ... That’s why I decided to talk" ­—A second worker at Growing God's Kingdom ment. Goldsborough said she’d monitor Mary by video camera and would usually enter the room only to provide food or water. She repeated those claims in an on-camera interview with KNWA TV, Channel 24, on March 11.

When asked if the isolation detailed

by Goldsborough would potentially constitute child abuse, Webb, the DHS spokesperson, said, “Based on the description you provided, that situation would likely result in a call being placed to the child abuse hotline for possible investigation. It would then be up to the hotline to determine whether an investigation would be pursued. The outcome of such an investigation would be dependent on what the circumstances were surrounding that situation. Context is critical in child maltreatment investigations.”

Although official confirmation is impossible due to the confidentiality shielding child maltreatment investigations from public view, there is ample reason to believe the Crimes Against Children Division of the Arkansas State Police has looked into the babysitter’s story. The Times received confirmation from Goldsborough by text message on March 17 that she had been contacted

by State Police investigators. The chief of the West Fork Police Department acknowledged in a May 21 email that State Police had recently completed an investigation involving the Harrises.

Chief Bryan Watts said the West Fork PD did not participate in that investigation.

That time frame would be consistent with a child maltreatment investigation. Capt. Ron Stayton, the commander of CACD, told the Times that “the law requires us to close a maltreatment investigation primarily within 45 days. The law does permit us a 15-day extension, so we have a total of 60 days, if needed.”

To be clear, just because a child maltreatment investigation occurred does not mean any charges were sub-

stantiated as “true.” It merely signals that investigators found the accounts of Goldsborough (and perhaps others) worthy of checking out. It’s now been over 18 months since Mary and Annie lived in the Harris home, so physical evidence probably would be hard to come by. CACD investigators would likely have to rely on interviews with the alleged victims, as well as any witnesses and the Harrises themselves.

Wells, the attorney, said she could neither confirm nor deny that a maltreatment investigation was ongoing.

But she did provide the Times with a paper from a previous child maltreatment investigation into Justin and Marsha Harris from 2014 — a document that shows DHS (not CACD) investigated a call to the hotline that alleged the Harrises abandoned two children.

Those children are undoubtedly Mary and Annie. The form shows the charges against Justin and Marsha Harris were unsubstantiated.

As the Times reported in our original story on the rehoming, the existence of such an investigation and its outcome could be inferred through the timeline of events included in the criminal case against Eric C. Francis.

We know that an unknown individual placed a call to the child abuse hotline on March 28, 2014, alerting authorities that Mary and Annie were no longer living with the Harrises. That would have triggered a maltreatment investigation.

Based on what DHS told the Times, it seemed unlikely the alleged abandonment would have been substantiated.

Webb indicated at the time that if the Harrises had turned over their state adoption subsidies to the Francises for the care of the girls, they would have been providing “material support” and therefore no abandonment would have occurred. The Harrises have since produced a copy of personal checks that indicate they did indeed pass along the money after the girls were given away.

Had that call to the hotline never

been placed, the rape would never have come to light. Francis would likely still be free, and the rehoming would have gone unnoticed. A note scrawled on the maltreatment document seems to suggest that someone was trying to puzzle out who made that hotline call: In the margin, in blue marker, is written, “only DHS would have known.”

Money questions Then there is the question of whether Justin and Marsha Harris may have received a net financial benefit from the adoption itself. The couple would have been eligible for a one-time, nonrefundable federal adoption tax credit of $12,970 per child, or $25,940 for both girls, in 2013. Additionally, the couple’s overall taxable income for 2013 may have been lowered by as much as $7,800 if they claimed both girls as dependents on their taxes.

Under normal circumstances, an adoption tax credit would soon be outweighed by the everyday cost of raising the children. Philip D. Oliver, a professor of tax law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s William H. Bowen School of Law, said, “The federal benefit would be designed to do no more than offset the cost of the adoption. … The government’s not giving a bonanza to people to adopt kids — it’s more to offset the disincentive ... it’s very hard to make money on this, realistically.” The credit is one-time only — an adoptive family can claim the tax benefit only once per child, ever.

What if, however, the children lived in the adoptive household for only eight months after the finalized adoption before they were given away?

Oliver said that “there could be a short-term financial benefit of several thousand dollars in adopting a child … if the adoption were cheap to carry out.”

The Harris adoption was likely inexpensive, because it took place through DHS. Legal fees and agency costs associated with private adoptions can run into the tens of thousands of dollars, but those conducted through state social services agencies are usually done at little or no cost to adoptive parents.

In 2013, the federal adoption tax credit was available to taxpayers making up to $197,880 annually in modified adjusted gross income. While we don’t know the Harrises’ 2013 income, it’s probably a bit lower than that cutoff.

An ABC grant application for Growing God’s Kingdom from April 2013 indicates that Marsha Harris earned $47,500 annually in salary and fringe

benefits. While Justin Harris was not on the preschool’s payroll that year, an Arkansas Democrat-Gazette report found that the couple received about $85,000 in shareholder distributions from the business in 2013. And that same year, Harris took home about $45,000 in salary, per diem and other expenses as a state legislator. That adds up to about $177,500 in income for the couple.

Although the adoption tax credit isn’t refundable — that is, you can’t get back more money from the government than CONTINUED ON PAGE 49

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elebrate the Grape, an annual event now in its third year and sponsored by the Arkansas Times, is a great and inexpensive way to eat, drink and be merry all while helping the Argenta

Arts District. This year’s event returns to downtown North Little Rock on Friday, June 5, with more than 300 wines from the world over to taste; cheese, desserts and other food items from eight local restau-

The Calling cabernet sauvignon from this Rio Lago, Calif., vineyard.

rants; and jazz music provided by the Little Rock Central High School swing band Reunion.

Advance tickets for the event are $30 (it’s $40 at the door, still a steal considering that price would cover four or five glasses of wine at most restaurants these days). The festival runs from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Farmers Market lot at 419 Main St. in North Little Rock.

Dav id Cone, t he director of f ine wines at Glazer’s distributor in North Little Rock, has been involved with the event since its inception and says this year’s plans are “more of the same from what’s been done in the past.” Why fix a good thing, right?

“It’s been a good event over the years.” Cone said. “There is a lot of variety being offered not only by us, but by the other wholesale distributors.”

Along with Glazer’s, other participating distributors are Central, Moon, Custom Beverage, De Nux, Vino of Arkansas, Natural State and Glidewell out of Fort Smith.

One hot new item being added to the offerings is wine ice cream from New York’s Mercer’s, and it will be available at Glidewell’s tables at the event. Paula Glidewell began offering the brand to retailers last August.

“It’s very popular,” she said. “It doesn’t have enough wine in it to be regulated by the [Arkansas Beverage Control] but is regulated by the [federal Food and Drug Administration], and I like to keep it in an age-appropriate venue. I don’t think children should be having wine ice cream,” Glidewell said.

Don’t blame the adults, though, if they act like kids around the Glidewell tent trying the new offering.

“People are crazy about it,” she said. “We had New York transplants in Northwest Arkansas who wanted it so we brought it in for them, and it’s gone from there.” Mercer’s is available in Central Arkansas as well as northeast Oklahoma and southern Missouri and into the St. Louis area through Glidewell Distributors, Glidewell said. It can also

be found at Eleven, the restaurant at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville.

“Every event we have it, it’s a hit,” she said. “It steals away a lot of the attention from the wines.” The biggest expense in bringing Mercer’s wine ice cream to Fort Smith and then to retailers is the specialized refrigeration required, she said.

Eight f lavors are available here; five will be featured at the event.

As for its wines that will be available, Glidewell features more imports, because the major distributors such as Glazer’s, Central and Moon tend to have the bigger sellers out of California.

“My French wines are going very good right now,” Paula Glidewell said. “I find that the craft beer people really appreciate a good French wine because the best wines started in France. The malbecs in South America have gone well for us. Plus, the way the market has turned recently, what’s selling for me is upper-level French wine. Fort Smith may be a blue-collar region, but we’re still selling the better French wines. So we’ll have some French wines at the festival along with some Spanish wines that have grown in popularity and some fun California ones.”

Custom Beverage is another distributor that will present several wines that may not be as familiar to folks as everyday name brands.

“What each of these wines has in common is that their respective wineries are independently owned and most are sustainably farmed,” said Custom Beverage’s James Cripps.

Cone, of Glazer’s, which has four separate divisions of 45 wines each being showcased, said his company is beginning to see a little more interest at this time of the year in rose.

“I don’t think anything really strikes me as a new trend, if you will. You’re still seeing a lot of demand for cabernet, chardonnay, pinot noir,” he said.

Look for Haymaker and Mud House, a couple of new sauvignon blancs from New Zealand that Cone says he really likes. “Despite the names, I think they really deliver

great value,” he said. “I really, really love their style, that New Zealand style that has crisp acidity. Some people don’t like that style, but I do.”

Another popular festival entry in an affordable price range is the Meiomi pinot noir. Charlie Wagner, son of Caymus Vineyards founder Chuck Wagner, has developed and expanded the Meiomi line, Cone said, of which there will be three offerings, including a Beran Zinfandel.

Also on the must-have list are such wines as Duckhorn’s Decoy, a popula r-selling pinot noir in this market, as well as the Ferrari Carano Fume Blanc, “a great summer wine,” Cone added. Also, don’t miss the Flowers Chardonnay, which Cone said was an allocated high-end wine. And for a varietal that is rare in the market, keep an eye out for the St. Francis Claret.

“It’s a Bordeaux blend and has some petit verdo in it,” he said.

Such usual standby favorites in this area as the Santa Margherita pinot grigio and the No. 1 selling rioja, Marques Caceros, will be available, Cone said.

For t he le s s d r y t y p e s , St .

Michelle offers a few R ieslings that are perfect for summertime, he said.

Sports fans will recognize the name Jim Nantz, the sportscaster from CBS, who has a couple of wines that will be presented at the tasting under the brand The Calling, with a cabernet from Rio Lago, Calif., and a Dutton Ranch chardonnay, both higher-end wines.

“There are so many wines, you get to pick and choose and eat some good food and have a good time,” Cone said.

Whole Hog Cafe in North Little Rock will be ser ving pulled pork sliders w it h slaw a nd a ll six of Whole Hog ’s sauces. More food or cheeses to pair with the wines will come from Arkansas Ale House, Arkansas Fresh Bakery, Kent Walker Artisan Cheese, Cocoa Rouge Chocolates, Graffiti’s Italian Restaurant, SO RestaurantBar and Two Sisters Catering & Cafe.

To purchase advance tickets, go to arktimes.com/grape.

www.arktimes.com

MAY 28, 2015

21

Celebrate the Grape wine list

Silverado Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc, Napa Valley Toad Hollow Vineyards Chardonnay Francine’s Select Treana Liberty School Merlot, Central Coast Vineyard Brands Marques Caceres Red Rioja Vineyard Brands Le Vieille Ferme Luberon Blanc Wagner Family of Wine Mer Soleil Chardonnay

Some of the grapes to be celebrated.

GLAZER’S DISTRIBUTORS Domaine & Estates Division Accolade Wines Haymaker Sauvignon Blanc, New Zealand Accolade Wines Mud House Pinot Noir, Marlborough, NZ Accolade Wines Geyser Peak Sauvignon Blanc Copper Cane/Meiomi Wines Meiomi Pinot Noir Copper Cane/Meiomi Wines Meiomi Chardonnay, Santa Barbara Copper Cane/Meiomi Wines Beran Zinfandel Duckhorn Vineyards Decoy Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley Ferrari Carano Vineyard Fume Blanc, Sonoma County Fess Parker Winery Reisling Hahn Family Wines Pinot Noir, Monterey Hahn Family Wines Boneshaker Zinfandel, Lodi Huneeus Vintners Veramonte Red Blend Huneeus Vintners Flowers Chardonnay Sonoma

Coast Jean Claude Boisset Wines USA Deloach Chardonnay, Russian River Valley Cline Cellars Cashmere Red Table, California Firesteed Pinot Gris King Estate Acrobat Pinot Gris, Oregon King Estate Acrobat Pinot Noir, Oregon King Estate NSNW Cabernet Sauvignon, Columbia Valley Korbrand Corp. Caposaldo Prosecco Korbrand Corp. Bouvet Brut Rose Korbrand Corp. St. Francis Claret, Sonoma Korbrand Corp. Jadot Pouilly Fuisse Old Bridge Cellars Greywacke Sauvignon Blanc Palm Bay International-Esprit Trimbach Gewurz Paterno Imports Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio Paterno Imports Chap Cotes du Rhone Belleruche Blanc Paterno Imports The Federalist Cabernet Sauvignon Paterno Imports Hanna Sauvignon Blanc, Sonoma County Royal Wine Co. Bartenura Brachetto Swt Red

Hawk Division CHAMPAGNE TENT

La Marca Prosecco, Italy Mia Dolcea Moscato D’Asti, Italy Enza Prosecco, Australia

TABLE 1 Edna Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, California Edna Valley Chardonnay, California Edna Valley Pinot Noir, Washington Columbia Cabernet Sauvignon, Washington Columbia Chardonnay, Washington Frei Brothers Chardonnay, California Ghost Pines Cabernet Sauvignon, California Louis M. Martini Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon, California William Hill North Coast Chardonnay, California William Hill North Coast Cabernet Sauvignon, California William Hill Central Coast Merlot, California Table 2 Belcreme De Lys Chardonnay, California Belcreme De Lys Pinot Noir, California

Truvee Red Blend, California Truvee Chardonnay, California Sterling Vintners Rose, California Legend of the Vine Cabernet Sauvignon, California Great American Wine Cabernet Sauvignon, California Great American Wine Chardonnay, California Great American Wine Red Blend, California Chalone Gavilan Chardonnay, California Chalone Gavilan Pinot Noir, California

TABLE 3 Josh Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon, California Josh Cellars Chardonnay, California Josh Cellars Pinot Noir, California Joseph Carr Napa Cabernet Sauvignon, California Joseph Carr Napa Chardonnay, California The Calling Rio Lago Cabernet Sauvignon, California The Calling Dutton Ranch Chardonnay, California Ruta 22 Malbec Argentina The Crossings Sauvignon Blanc New Zealand Eppa Sangria Suprafruta Red, California Eppa Sangria Suprafruta White, California Newton Red Label Napa Chardonnay, California Newton Red Label Napa Cabernet Sauvignon, California Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc New Zealand

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ARKANSAS TIMES

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Falcon Division Unparalleled Cabernet Unparalleled Red Blend Bolla Prosecco Rainstorm Pinot Noir Rainstorm Pinot Gris Korbel Sweet Rose Divining Rod Cabernet Divining Rod Chardonnay Divining Rod Red Blend C krug Cabernet Napa C krug Sauvignon Blanc Five Rivers Cabernet Five Rivers Chardonnay Bonterra Chardonnay Bonterra Cabernet Sante Pinot Noir Coppola Diamond Claret F Coppola Sofia The White Doe Two Arrowheads Manteo Lost Colony La Crema Mont Pinot Noir La Crema Mont Chardonnay La Crema Willamette Pinot Noir Kendall-Jackson Pinot Gris Roscato Rosse Dolce Mezzacorona Rose Stemmari Rose Goosebump Red Blend Stemmari Nero D’avola Mezzacorona Pinot Grigio Cliffhanger Pinot Grigio Cliffhanger Red blend 19 Crimes Red Blend Matua Sauvignon Blanc Chateau St. Jean Cab Chateau St. Jean Bijou Chateau St. Jean Pinot Noir 19 Crimes Cabernet Stags Leap Investor Stags Leap Cabernet Stags Leap Petite Syrah Beringer Knights Valley Cabernet Girl & Dragon

Eagle Division

Diséno Malbec, Argentina Dreaming Tree Pinot Noir, California Nobilo Sauvignon Blanc, New Zealand Rosatello Rosso, Italy Saved Red Blend, California Mark West Pinot Noir, California Hidden Crush Chardonnay, California Wild Horse Chardonnay, California Franciscan Equilibrium, California Robert Mondavi Fume Blanc, Napa Valley, Calif.

Skinnygirl Pinot Grigio, California Skinnygirl Moscato, California A. Crisp Chardonnay, California Waterbrook Cabernet Sauvignon, Washington Windy Bay Pinot Noir, Oregon Canoe Ridge Merlot The Expedition, Washington McWilliams Cabernet Sauvignon, Hanwood Estates, Australia McWilliams Shiraz, Hanwood Estates, Australia Rodney Strong Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc, California Café De Paris Pear Sparkling, France Jacobs Creek Moscato, Australia Graffigna Malbec, Argentina Brancott Sauvignon Blanc, New Zealand Kenwood Vineyards Chardonnay, California 14 Hands Winery Sauvignon Blanc, Washington Saint M Riesling, Germany Antinori Santa Cristina Cipresseto Rose, Italy Chateau Ste. Michelle Riesling-Harvest Select, Washington Chateau Ste. Michelle Cabernet SauvignonIndian Wells, Washington Michelle Brut Washington Erath Pinot Noir Estate Selection Oregon Spring Valley Fredrick Corkrum Cabernet Sauvignon-Red Blend, Washington Torres Garnacha-Sangre de Toro, Spain Menage a Trois Prosecco, California Joel Gott Wines Cabernet Sauvignon-815, California Menage a Trois Midnight Red Blend, California

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Hot Springs The Savory Pantry

Fayetteville Ozark Natural Food

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23

WINE ICE CREAM: Mercer’s brand will be available at Celebrate the Grape.

Cockburn Ruby Port Cavicchioli Sparkling Voga Prosecco Stella Rosa Brachetto Stellina di Notte Prosecco Bell Sparkling Treveri Blanc de Noir Treveri Rose Ozeki Hana Awaka Sparkling Sake Choryo Sawa Sawa Sparkling Nigori

TABLE 2 — OLD WORLD

n the patio! o y t r a P

Chateau Minuty M by Minuty Rose The Saint Rioja O. LeFlaive “Les Setilles” Chardonnay Chateau Du Moulin Bordeaux Blanc Chateau Bibian Bordeaux Haut Medoc Cacchiata Toscana Red Zaccagnini Montepulciano Red Zaccagnini Pinot Grigio Zaccagnini Rose

Gnarly Head Black Chamisal Stainless Chardonnay

TABLE 5 — GRAPE BUYS! MYX Moscato MYX Moscato & Coconut MYX Moscato & Peach Lady Lola Pinot Grigio/Moscato Sarocco Moscato d’Asti Stella Rosa Peach Stella Rosa Berry St James Blackberry

CUSTOM BEVERAGE The Wines of Charles Smith, Washington Kungfu Girl Riesling Vino Pinot Grigio Eve Chardonnay Velvet Devil Merlot Boom Boom Syrah Chateau Smith, Cabernet Secco Bubbles

TABLE 3 — NEW WORLD New Harbor Sauvignon Blanc Marques de Casa Carmenere Lllama Old Vine Malbec Trivento Amado Sur Malbec Blend Trivento Gold Reserve Malbec Cigar Box Malbec Cigar Box Cabernet Cigar Box Chardonnay Penfolds Bin 8 Cabernet/Shiraz Penfolds Bin 9 Shiraz

Slices Sangria, Spain: Red White Rose Gerard Bertrand, South of France: Chardonnay Pinot Noir Cabernet Sauvignon Rose Thomas Jefferson Cuvee

TABLE 4 — CALIFORNIA

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MAY 28, 2015

ARKANSAS TIMES

Noble Vines 337 Cabernet Sauvignon Noble Vine 667 Pinot Noir Force Of Nature Cabernet Sauvignon Force Of Nature Tempranillo Force Of Nature Chardonnay MacPhail Gap’s Crown Pinot Noir Predator Cabernet Sauvignon Bogle Petite Syrah Row Eleven Vinas 3 Matchbook Tinto Rey Matchbook Chardonnay Black Stallion Pinot Noir Spann Chardonnay Viognier Swanson Pinot Grigio

Block 9 Pinot Noir, Calif.

Shannon Ridge Petite Syrah, Lake County Vigilance Chardonnay, Lake County Rosa do Rosa, Italy Rosa do Bianca, Italy Robertson Naturally Sweet Red, South Africa

DE NUX DISTRIBUTORS 2014 Zeitgeist Trousseau Gris, Russian River Valley, Calif.

2011 Henri Chardonnay, Burgundy, France 2014 Château de Berne Impatience Rosé,

Côtes-de-Provence, France 2012 Green & Red Tip Top Zinfandel, Chiles Valley, Calif.

2013 Tercos Malbec, Mendoza, Argentina 2012 Mas des Roches Côtes-du-Rhône Rouge, Rhone Valley, France Kopke 10-year-old Porto, Douro Valley, Portugal

VINO OF ARKANSAS DISTRIBUTING Nobelle Grenache/Syrah (50/50) Nobelle Cabernet Franc Portteus “Purple Haze” (50% Petite Sirah, 50%Sangiovese) Portteus “Rattlesnake Red” (66% Cab, 27% Zin, 7% Syrah) Portteus “Rouge 66” (40% Cab Sauv, 24% Merlot 19%, Cab Franc 6%, Malbec 3%, Petite Verdot) Two Mountain Riesling Two Mountian Hidden Horse Blend No. 12 Huntaway Sauvignon Blanc Reserve Domaine De La Colombette “Notorious Pink” Grenache Rose

GLIDEWELL DISTRIBUTORS Albert Bichot Cremant Brut Rose Domaine Du Pavillon Mersau 2011 Recklace Love, Napa/Sonoma Mercer’s Wine Ice Cream: Cherry Merlot Chocolate Cabernet Peach Zin Port Spice wine

MOON DISTRIBUTORS Sparkling Wine Table Martini Prosecco, Italy Allure Pink Moscato, California La Gioiosa Prosecco, Italy La Gioiosa Prosecco Valdobbiadene DOCG, Italy Toso Sparkling Brut, Argentina Piper Sonoma Brut, California Norton Demi-Sec, Argentina Luccio Moscato D’Asti, Italy Blanc De Bleu, California

TABLE 1 Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc, New Zealand Oyster Bay Chardonnay, New Zealand Robert Hall Cabernet Sauvignon Paso Robles, California Robert Hall Cuvee de Robles, California Domaine Serene Pinot Noir Yamhill, Oregon Elk Cove Pinot Gris, Oregon Gazela Vinho Verde, Portugal Sean Minor Pinot Noir Central Coast, California Sean Minor Sauvignon Blanc, California New Age White, Argentina Frank Family Chardonnay-Napa, California

St. Urbans-Hof Riesling Urban, Germany

TABLE 2 Shaya Verdejo, Spain Atteca-Garnacha, Spain Butternut Pinot Noir, California Butternut Chardonnay, California Broadbent Vinho Verde, Portugal Secateurs Chenin Blanc, South Africa Buoncristiani OPC Cabernet Blend, California Naughty Divas Moscato, California J. Bookwalter Notebook Red Blend, Washington Masi Pinot Grigio, Italy The Seeker Sauvignon Blanc, New Zealand Quady Electra White, California Rubino Red Moscato, California

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TABLE 3 Potocolo Red, Spain Volver-Temranillo, Spain Ladera Cabernet Sauvignon-Howell Mountain Napa, California Laetitia Chardonnay, California Moniker Chardonnay-Mendocino, California Moniker Pinot Noir-Mendocino, California Parducci Cabernet Sauvignon-True Grit, California Michael-David Sauvignon Blanc, California Presqu’ile Sauvignon Blanc, California Pascual Toso Malbec, Argentina Leese Fitch Pinot Noir, California Cupcake Sauvignon Blanc, California Stellar Organics Shiraz, South Africa

*6 piece *12 piece *24 piece and *custom orders for corporate gifts Contact JD Tucker (501) 557-7325 or jd@cocoarougechocolates.com Check us out on Facebook to find a complete list of Cocoa Rouge retailers in your area.

TABLE 4 Freakshow Cabernet Sauvignon, California Mollydooker Shiraz-Blue Eyed Boy, Australia Beach House Sauvignon Blanc, South Africa Beach House Chardonnay, California Los Vascos Cabernet Sauvignon, Chile Los Vascos Sauvignon Blanc, Chile Flore De Moscato, California Robert Craig Affinity Cabernet Sauvignon Napa, California Kaiken Malbec, Argentina Trapiche Cabernet Sauvignon Oak Cask, Argentina Chloe Pinot Noir, California Flip Flop Pinot Grigio, California

NATURAL STATE DISTRIBUTORS Vigneti del Sole Montepulciano d’ Abruzzo, Italy Vigneti del Sole Pinot Grigio, Italy Domaine Bousquet Malbec/Cabernet Sauvignon Rose, Argentina Domaine Bousquet Reserve Malbec, Argentina Domaine Bousquet Brut, Argentina Tariquet Classic, France Tintero Moscato d’ Asti, Italy Sivas Sonoma Pinot Noir, California Sivas Sonoma Cabernet, California Ranga. Ranga. Sauvignon Blanc, New Zealand

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PICK YOUR

POISON EITHER WAY, YOUR HEALTH TAKES A HIT

Why replace smoking with vaping? Either way, you’re inhaling harmful chemicals that damage your body. You can’t replace your health. Call 1-800-QUIT-NOW for resources to help you live tobacco and nicotine-free.

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MAY 28, 2015

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Arts Entertainment

SAMUEL L. MURPHY

SAMUEL L. MURPHY

AND

CHINESE GIRLS, REVISTED: Andrew Morgan (left) and Sam Murphy.

POP LIFE A double LP reissue highlights the cult classic Little Rock band Chinese Girls.

BY DAVID RAMSEY

T

hirteen years ago I moved to Little Rock for a job. I’d never been to Arkansas and knew no one. Maybe my fourth or fifth day in town I was walking down my street and passed a woman walking her pug.

“You’re new in town,” she informed me.

I agreed. She told me that Chinese Girls were playing the next night, and that I would need to come out and see them.

So I did. This was just how Little Rock was at that particular time.

Chinese Girls turned out to be a pair of tall, handsome men wearing skinny

ties. Guitar and drums. Peddles and reverb. Distortion and delay. They never stopped to talk, lurching from song to song in a groovy, noisy fuzz. The show was at Vino’s or at White Water Tavern or somewhere. The details escape me — this is one of those memories with a vivid center and blurry outlines, as slippery as a dream.

It was dark and musty and I imagine that from the perspective of the band on stage, we looked hypnotized. There was something immersive about their music, something that had us sway-

ing in a collective, boozy trance. These weren’t tunes that got stuck in your head, but rather an experience that lingered: songs that were somehow commanding and distant, vibrations that were hard to hold. If I sound mystical, let’s remember that a band with a cult following is necessarily a religious endeavor. When these two played together … something happened, let’s put it that way. And I was a convert.

I saw Chinese Girls — Andrew Morgan on guitar, vocals and keys and Sam Murphy on percussion — maybe five more times. Morgan, an ex-tennis phenom and electronic music maestro, stuck in town, and he has been in or around more than half a dozen of the best bands and music projects in the Little Rock

scene for the past 15 years. But Murphy moved to Philadelphia in 2003. Just like that, a few years after they formed, Chinese Girls were gone.

And so us converts were left to be disciples after the fact. Once upon a time, there was a beautiful band in Little Rock that could unleash spaces in noise and rhythm that felt like a comforting nightmare, that felt like echoes in an artificial cave, that felt like a dance party for ghosts, that felt inexhaustible. And what was left were mostly dubbed cassettes or watered-down CDR recordings that showed up on computers as “untitled track.” Remember, Chinese Girls’ heyday was back before everything was immediately available forever on the Internet. What was left were memoCONTINUED ON PAGE 39

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MAY 28, 2015

ARKANSAS TIMES

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

A&E NEWS NEXT UP FOR THE ARKANSAS TIMES Film Series is Alfred Hitchcock’s 1959 spy-thriller masterpiece “North by Northwest,” called “Hitchcock’s ultimate wrong-man comedy” by the Village Voice and “one of the most entertaining movies ever made” by the Chicago Reader. That screening will be at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 18, $5. Looking ahead, we’ll screen the cult favorite documentary “Hands on a Hard Body” on July 16.

THE LITTLE ROCK-BASED OXFORD American magazine has released the details of its 2015 Summer Fiction issue, guest-edited by the writer Jamie Quatro. The issue includes stories by David Means, Jill McCorkle, Antonya Nelson, Chris Drangle, Micah Stack, April Ayers Lawson, as well as nonfiction by Will Blythe, Wyatt Mason, Harrison Scott Key and Chris Offutt.

The issue will be on newsstands June 9 but can be preordered now at oxfordamerican.org.

THE PHASES OF THE MOON MUSIC & Arts Festival has announced its 2015 lineup, which includes The Disco Biscuits, STS9, moe, Yonder Mountain String Band, Lunar Landing Conspiracy, Beats Antique and more. The festival, which was launched last year, will be held Oct. 16-18 on Mulberry Mountain near Ozark. There will also be performance art, visual art and other attractions — such as “aerialists, fire spinners, hooers, jugglers, stilt walkers and more.”

THE WALMART ARKANSAS MUSIC Pavilion in Rogers has announced more concerts for its 2015 season. Lady Antebellum performs on June 14, Colbie Caillat on June 27, Widespread Panic on July 17, Kenny Chesney (with Jake Owen and Chase Rice) on July 30, Whitesnake on Aug. 15, Hank Williams Jr. (with 38 Special) on Aug. 22, Kid Rock on Sept.

25 and Jackson Browne on Oct. 17.

THE ARKANSAS TRAVELERS HAVE announced a number of special events for June at Dickey-Stephens Park, including Back to the Future Night (free entry if born in 1955, 1985 and 2015) on June 11, UCA Night on June 12, Father’s Day and Operation: Military Appreciation on June 21 and Olympic Day on June 23.

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29

THE TO-DO

LIST

BY BY DAVID KOON, LINDSEY MILLAR AND WILL STEPHENSON

FRIDAY 5/29

CHARLIE WILSON

8 p.m. Verizon Arena. $49.50-$87

There are about a thousand things to admire about the 2005 song “Charlie, Last Name Wilson.” Here are five.

ONE: The song served as the vehicle for an implausible and glorious comeback that Wilson, who had been the founding member and lead vocalist of ’70s funk legends The Gap Band, deserved but probably never expected. His gen-

eration had been left behind. He’d had a career already; what were the odds he’d merit another one? He’d been an addict, briefly homeless. He was finished and this song singlehandedly reasserted his relevance. TWO: The lyrics are so plainspoken and modest as to be oddly moving. “Being in love is good for your health,” he says more than once, as if he owes us a pragmatic explanation for his desire for companionship. The chorus is also great. It’s just one side of

the most typical conversation on Earth: “How you doin’?” he says to a woman he’s just met. “My name is Charlie, last name Wilson.” THREE: The subtle use of a sitar. FOUR: R. Kelly wrote the song for him after Wilson, in a career nadir, sought him out, hanging out at a gym Kelly was known to frequent and waiting for several hours until Kelly showed up. It was after midnight; he was desperate. “Kelly is pregnant with music,” Wilson later explained. The

scene is degrading to imagine — the older man, a former legend, begging the young star for scraps. But it worked.

FIVE: The song operates on two levels — it’s both a (re)introduction of Wilson as an artist and itself about Wilson introducing himself. “Don’t forget it,” he says on the chorus, and here he could be addressing one woman or the whole listening public. “Don’t forget my name’s Charlie,” he goes on. “The name is Charlie.” WS

ond-worst selling album in the label’s history, losing out the top spot to an instructional yoga record recorded by the Maharishi Mahesh. Out of its ashes rose a mysteriously sustainable career: Hampton followed the Grease Band with a succession of others, like the Aquarium Rescue Unit, The Codetalkers, The Quark Alliance, The Madrid Express and The Late Bronze Age. He began calling his guitar a chazoid. He appeared in

the film “Sling Blade.” He recorded a nearly unlistenable album called “Arkansas” (“I never had much control until I got to Arkansas,” goes the title track’s chorus). He became a kind of guru-godfather to the emergent jam band scene. He appeared on the TV show “Space Ghost.” Once, in the ’80s, he picked up my uncle hitchhiking. Last year, he popped up in a Run the Jewels music video.

What will he do next? WS

BASICALLY FRIGHTENED: The legendary Col. Bruce Hampton is at Stickyz on Friday.

FRIDAY 5/29

COL. BRUCE HAMPTON 9 p.m. Stickyz. $10.

Col. Bruce Hampton is a strange, polarizing and deeply memorable cult musician with a horseshoe moustache, a penchant for nonsense words and a deep appreciation for blues and free jazz. He was born Gustav Valentine Berglund III and began his career in the late ’60s Atlanta avant-garde scene, where he led a group called the Hampton 30

MAY 28, 2015

ARKANSAS TIMES

Grease Band — they were like a Deep South Mothers of Invention, tossing Bukka White and Ornette Coleman and Captain Beefheart into a blender and then burning it. They made a great, periodically irritating debut album called “Music to Eat,” which Columbia Records, in a post-Summer of Love mad-grab for hip novelty, saw fit to release commercially. The LP went on to earn the possibly apocryphal distinction of being the sec-

IN BRIEF

THURSDAY 5/28

SUNDAY 5/31

THE ZOLTARS

8 p.m. Stickyz. $6.

ROCK AIN’T GOLD: Adam Faucett returns to White Water Tavern on Friday.

FRIDAY 5/29

ADAM FAUCETT

9:30 p.m. White Water Tavern.

After longtime White Water Tavern owner Larry “Goose” Garrison died last year, his family and friends created a foundation in his name and begin to raise money for it to support local musicians. Garrison was a beloved figure in the Arkansas music community, who championed an eclectic mix of blues, rock ’n’ roll and country acts and, when he got older, stepped back and allowed others to broaden the booking into territory other 60somethings might have been wary of: punk, metal, noise rock and hip hop. “He treated musicians with respect,”

Amy Garland told the Arkansas Times last year in a feature story on Garrison. Garland, a singer-songwriter who began playing at White Water 21 years ago, remembered nights when crowds didn’t materialize, but Garrison still gave her a sizeable cut of the door. The foundation hopes it can preserve that spirit of generosity with an annual gift to one Arkansas act for a special project.

Adam Faucett, the gifted Little Rock singersongwriter who’s attracted national attention, is the first recipient. He’ll use $2,500 for the recording and production of his next album. He shares the bill Friday with Iron Tongue and Headcold. LM

The Zoltars are from Austin and, though they are by all accounts currently alive and even young, they make records that wouldn’t sound out of place on one of those collector compilations of forgotten, recently unearthed ’60s garage rock singles. Their songs are Zen-like: brief pop sketches distilled down into neutral declarative sentences (“I walk alone at night / it helps me feel all right”) over minimal psych arrangements.

If you like The Zombies you will very much like The Zoltars, unless you are averse to music that mostly aspires to replicate the sonic and emotional qualities of older music — which is fair. The Zoltars are sincere fans of that old music, though, and they’ve resolved to burrow into the particulars of a certain sound to mine it for new resonance, to reanimate it in the hope that something interesting might happen. Their band name, appropriately, comes from the eerie arcade fortunetelling machine from the Tom Hanks movie “Big,” the one whose eyes glow red when it grants the protagonist’s wish by transforming him to an adult. It’s a perfect image for the band, a young sensibility trapped in an old body. WS

The Ron Robinson Theater screens “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” at 7 p.m., $5.

The Arkansas Travelers play San Antonio at Dickey-Stephens Park, 7:10 p.m., $6$12. Ralphie May, the stand-up comedian raised in Clarksville and known for appearances on “Last Comic Standing,” “The Tonight Show” and several Comedy Central specials, performs at Revolution, 7:30 p.m., $20. Foul Play Cabaret presents its Burlesque Show at The Joint in Argenta, 9 p.m., $10. Shoog Radio presents Paul Sammons and Midwest Caravan at the Afterthought, 9 p.m., $5. Framing Hanley plays at Juanita’s, 9 p.m., $12. Mike and the Moonpies perform at White Water Tavern with Swampbird, 9 p.m., $7.

FRIDAY 5/29 The Wildflowers, a local super-group made up of country singer-songwriters Bonnie Montgomery, Mandy McBryde and Amy Garland, play at the Ron Robinson Theater as part of the Arkansas Sounds concert series, 7 p.m., $10. Tawanna Campbell performs at Next Bistro and Bar, 9 p.m., $10.

Mothwind plays at The Lightbulb Club in Fayetteville with Iron Iris, 10 p.m.

SATURDAY 5/30 The Easter Seals Rock Run 8K is at Murray Park starting at 7:30 a.m., $25.

The 2nd Annual Central Arkansas Vestido Rojo, featuring live mariachi music, free screenings, heart health information and a luncheon, is at the Clinton Presidential Center starting at 10 a.m., free. Country star Randy Houser plays at Magic Springs’ Timberwood Amphitheater to open the amusement park’s Summer 2015 concert season, 8 p.m., $59.99. Cody Canada and The Departed play at Stickyz, 8:30 p.m., $10 adv., $12 day of. Kevin Gordon and Isaac Alexander are at the White Water Tavern, 9:30 p.m. Local psychrock favorites Open Fields play at The Lightbulb Club in Fayetteville, 10 p.m.

SUNDAY 5/31 SATURDAY 5/30

CALS CON 2015

9 a.m. Main Library.

Conventions celebrating pop culture — a.k.a. “Cons” — are, in this reviewer’s opinion, a necessary evil. If there wasn’t a safe outlet for the world’s comic book hoarders, “Game of Thrones” fanatics, cosplay junkies, real-life Quidditchers, adult “Magic the Gathering” players, would-be Doctor Who companions, Legoites, Bronys, Steampunk raygun twirlers, duct tape Iron Men and guys who buy more than three sets of Spandex

tights per year, who knows what havoc they could visit upon the streets of our nation’s fair metropoli? Nothing good, probably, given many a con fan’s coding skillz, Mountain Dew consumption and access to soldering irons. That said, as an adult who has bought an action figure or three in the past few years (“It’s BATMAN, honey! Who doesn’t love Batman?”), I get where that devotion comes from. Who wants to grow up, after all? Being an adult is boring. If you or the kids are looking to get your Con on this weekend in Little Rock, head on

down to the Central Arkansas Library System’s Main Library (100 Rock St.) on Saturday for the second annual CALS Con, which also serves as the kickoff for the library’s superhero-themed summer reading club. It’s an all-day event that will feature a cosplay contest, Lego builds, a scavenger hunt, tabletop gaming (you remember those, right?), and panel discussions on “Star Wars,” “Doctor Who,” Lego, “Harry Potter,” “Game of Thrones” and the Disney hit “Frozen.”

Fun, prizes and good old-fashioned fun on tap all day. DK

The Hot Springs Music Festival, a not-for-profit educational festival featuring a series of concert and chamber music performances, begins at Hot Springs National Park, through June 13, $150.

Black Stone Cherry plays at Juanita’s with Shaman’s Harvest, 8 p.m., $15.

TUESDAY 6/2 Third Eye Blind plays at the Walmart AMP in Rogers with Dashboard Confessional, 7 p.m., $30. Americana group The Steel Wheels perform at South on Main, 7:30 p.m. Chicago indie rock band Ghastly Menace is at White Water Tavern, 9 p.m. www.arktimes.com

MAY 28, 2015

31

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MAY 28, 2015

ARKANSAS TIMES

PICK YOUR

POISON EITHER WAY, YOUR HEALTH TAKES A HIT

Why replace smoking with dip? Either way, you’re damaging your body with their harmful chemicals. You can’t replace your health. Call 1-800-QUIT-NOW for resources to help you live tobacco and nicotine-free.

www.arktimes.com

MAY 28, 2015

33

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

DANCE

“Salsa Night.” Begins with a one-hour salsa lesson. Juanita’s, 9 p.m., $8. 614 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-1228. www.littlerocksalsa.com.

EVENTS

THURSDAY, MAY 28

MUSIC

Arkansas River Blues Society Thursday Jam. Revolution, 7 p.m., free. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-823-0090. www.rumbarevolution.com/ new/.

Framing Hanley. Juanita’s, 9 p.m., $12. 614 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-1228. www. juanitas.com.

“Inferno.” DJs play pop, electro, house and more, plus drink specials and $1 cover before 11 p.m.

Sway, 9 p.m. 412 Louisiana. 501-907-2582.

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

Karaoke. Zack’s Place, 8 p.m., free. 1400 S. University Ave. 501-664-6444.

Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 President Clinton Ave. 501-3724782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com.

Mike and the Moonpies, Swampbird. White Water Tavern, 9 p.m., $7. 2500 W. 7th St. 501375-8400. www.whitewatertavern.com.

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

Open jam with The Port Arthur Band. Parrot Beach Cafe, 9 p.m. 9611 MacArthur Drive, NLR. 771-2994.

Papa Grande. Another Round Pub, 7 p.m. 12111 W. Markham. 501-313-2612. www.anotherroundpub.com.

RockUsaurus. Senor Tequila, 7-9 p.m. 10300 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501-224-5505.

Shoog Radio Presents: Paul Sammons and Midwest Caravan. Afterthought Bistro & Bar, 9 p.m., $5. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www.afterthoughtbistroandbar.com/.

Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 7:30 p.m., free. 111 Markham St. 501-370-7013. www.capitalbarandgrill.com/.

Tragikly White (headliner), Byron (happy hour).

Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 and 9 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. www.cajunswharf.com.

COMEDY

Frankie Morrell. The Loony Bin, 7:30 p.m., $7.

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

Ralphie May. Revolution, 7:30 p.m., $20. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-823-0090. www.rumbarevolution.com/new/.

EVENTS

Foul Play Cabaret Burlesque Show. The Joint, 9 p.m., $10. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501-3720205. thejointinlittlerock.com.

FILM

“Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” Ron Robinson Theater, 7 p.m., $5. 1 Pulaski Way. 501-320-5703. www.cals. lib.ar.us/ron-robinson-theater.aspx.

SPORTS

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

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MAY 28, 2015

ARKANSAS TIMES

HOW COUNTRY FEELS: Country star Randy Houser plays at Magic Springs’ Timberwood Amphitheater to open the amusement park’s Summer 2015 concert season, 8 p.m., $54.99. com.

FRIDAY, MAY 29

MUSIC

Adam Faucett. White Water Tavern, 9:30 p.m.

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

All In Fridays. Club Elevations. 7200 Colonel Glenn Road. 501-562-3317.

Charlie Wilson. Verizon Arena, 8 p.m., $49.50$87. 1 Alltel Arena Way, NLR. 501-975-9001. verizonarena.com.

Club Nights at 1620 Savoy. Dance night, with DJs, drink specials and bar menu, until 2 a.m.

1620 Savoy, 10 p.m. 1620 Market St. 501-2211620. www.1620savoy.com.

Col. Bruce Hampton. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 9 p.m., $10. 107 River Market Ave. 501-372-7707. www.stickyz.com.

Earl & Them. Cajun’s Wharf, 9 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. www.cajunswharf.com.

Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 President Clinton Ave. 501-3724782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com.

Lucious Spiller. Another Round Pub, 6 p.m. 12111 W. Markham. 501-313-2612. www.anotherround-

pub.com.

Mothwind, Iron Iris. The Lightbulb Club, 10 p.m.

21 N. Block Ave., Fayetteville. 479-444-6100.

Route 66. Agora Conference and Special Event Center, 6:30 p.m., $5. 705 E. Siebenmorgan, Conway.

Tawanna Campbell. Next Bistro and Bar, 9 p.m., $10. 2611 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-6398. www. facebook.com/LRnextbar/timeline.

Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 9 p.m., free. 111 Markham St. 501-370-7013. www.capitalbarandgrill.com/.

Upscale Friday. IV Corners, 7 p.m. 824 W Capitol Ave. The Wildflowers. Ron Robinson Theater, 7 p.m., $10. 1 Pulaski Way. 501-320-5703. www.cals.lib. ar.us/ron-robinson-theater.aspx.

COMEDY

Frankie Morrell. The Loony Bin 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m., $10. 10301 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501228-5555. www.loonybincomedy.com.

“I Love You But You’re Sitting On My Cat.” An original production by The Main Thing. The Joint, 8 p.m., $22. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501-372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com.

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Fantastic Friday. Literary and music event, refreshments included. For reservations, call 479-968-2452 or email artscenter@centurytel. net. River Valley Arts Center, Every third Friday, 7 p.m., $10 suggested donation. 1001 E. B St., Russellville. 479-968-2452. www.arvartscenter.org.

LGBTQ/SGL weekly meeting. Diverse Youth for Social Change is a group for LGBTQ/SGL and straight ally youth and young adults age 14 to 23. For more information, call 244-9690 or search “DYSC” on Facebook. LGBTQ/SGL Youth and Young Adult Group, 6:30 p.m. 800 Scott St. Mid-States Regional Astronomical League Conference. University of Arkansas at Little Rock, May 29-31, 5 p.m., $36. 2801 S. University. ualr.edu.

SPORTS

Arkansas Travelers vs. Corpus Christi. DickeyStephens Park, 7:10 p.m.; May 31, $6-$12. 400 W. Broadway St., NLR. 501-664-1555. www.travs. com.

SATURDAY, MAY 30

MUSIC

Canvas. Cajun’s Wharf, 9 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road.

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

Club Nights at 1620 Savoy. See May. 29.

Cody Canada and The Departed. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 8:30 p.m., $10 adv., $12 day of. 107 River Market Ave. 501-372-7707. www.stickyz.com.

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

Karaoke. Casa Mexicana, 7 p.m. 7111 JFK Blvd., NLR. 501-835-7876. Zack’s Place, 8 p.m., free.

1400 S. University Ave. 501-664-6444.

Karaoke with Kevin & Cara. All ages, on the restaurant side. Revolution, 9 p.m.-12:45 a.m., free. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-823-0090. www.rumbarevolution.com/new/.

Kevin Gordon and Isaac Alexander. White Water Tavern, 9:30 p.m. 2500 W. 7th St. 501-375-8400. www.whitewatertavern.com.

K.I.S.S. Saturdays. Featuring DJ Silky Slim. Dress code enforced. Sway, 10 p.m. 412 Louisiana.

501-492-9802.

Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 President Clinton Ave. 501-3724782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com.

Open Fields. The Lightbulb Club, 10 p.m. 21 N. Block Ave., Fayetteville. 479-444-6100.

Pickin’ Porch. Bring your instrument. All ages welcome. Faulkner County Library, 9:30 a.m. 1900 Tyler St., Conway. 501-327-7482. www.fcl.org.

Randy Houser. Magic Springs’ Timberwood Amphitheater, 8 p.m., $54.99. 1701 E. Grand Ave., Hot Springs.

Stevie Ray Vaughn Tribute. Another Round Pub, 9 p.m. 12111 W. Markham. 501-313-2612. www. anotherroundpub.com.

Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 9 p.m., free. 111 Markham St. 501-370-7013. www.capitalbarandgrill.com/.

COMEDY

Frankie Morrell. The Loony Bin, 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m., $7-$10. 10301 N. Rodney Parham Road.

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

“I Love You But You’re Sitting On My Cat.” An original production by The Main Thing. The Joint, 8 p.m., $22. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501-372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com.

EVENTS

2nd Annual Central Arkansas Vestido Rojo.

With live mariachi music, free screenings, heart health information and a luncheon. William J. Clinton Presidential Library, 10 a.m., free. 1200 Clinton Avenue. 501-374-4242. www.clintonlibrary.gov.

75th Diamond Anniversary Gala. Doubletree Hotel, 7 p.m., $25 adv., $35 day of. 424 W. Markham. 501-372-4371.

CALS Con 2015. Main Library, 9 a.m. 100 S. Rock St. www.cals.org/cals-con/.

Corgi-Fest. Two Rivers Park, 12 p.m. Rivercrest Dr. www.littlerock.org/ParksRecreation.

Easter Seals Rock Run 8K. Murray Park, 7:30 a.m., $25. Rebsamen Park Road.

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

Hillcrest Farmers Market. Pulaski Heights Baptist Church, 7 a.m.-2 p.m. 2200 Kavanaugh Blvd.

Historic Neighborhoods Tour. Bike tour of historic neighborhoods includes bike, guide, helmets and maps. Bobby’s Bike Hike, 9 a.m., $8-$28. 400 President Clinton Ave. 501-613-7001.

Little Rock Farmers’ Market. River Market Pavilions, through Oct. 31: 7 a.m. 400 President Clinton Ave. 375-2552. www.rivermarket.info.

Mid-States Regional Astronomical League Conference. University of Arkansas at Little Rock, through May 31, 5 p.m., $36. 2801 S. University. ualr.edu.

Pork & Bourbon Tour. Bike tour includes bicycle, guide, helmets and maps. Bobby’s Bike Hike, 11:30 a.m., $35-$45. 400 President Clinton Ave. 501-613-7001.

SPORTS

Arkansas Travelers vs. Corpus Christi. DickeyStephens Park, 7:10 p.m., $6-$12. 400 W. Broadway St., NLR. 501-664-1555. www.travs. com.

BENEFITS

Beyond Hunger: Feast in the Field. Heifer Village, 6 p.m., $150. 1 World Ave. 501-376-6836. heifer.org/heifervillage.

Take Steps for Crohn’s & Colitis. Clinton Presidential Center, 2 p.m. 1200 President Clinton Ave. 370-8000. www.clintonpresidentialcenter.org.

SUNDAY, MAY 31

MUSIC

Black Stone Cherry, Shaman’s Harvest. Juanita’s, 8 p.m., $15. 614 President Clinton Ave. 501-3721228. www.juanitas.com.

Hot Springs Music Festival. Hot Springs National Park Cultural Center, through June 13, $150. Ozark Bathhouse, Hot Springs. 501620-6715.

Irish Traditional Music Session. Hibernia Irish Tavern, 2:30 p.m. 9700 N. Rodney Parham Road.

501-246-4340. www.hiberniairishtavern.com.

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

malls.com.

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

501-982-1939 ‎.

Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 President Clinton Ave. 501-3724782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com.

The Zoltars, Open Fields. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 8 p.m., $6. 107 River Market Ave. 501-372-7707. www.stickyz.com.

EVENTS

Mid-States Regional Astronomical League Conference. University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 5 p.m., $36. 2801 S. University. ualr.edu.

All American Food & Great Place to Watch Your Favorite Event

SPORTS

Arkansas Travelers vs. Corpus Christi. DickeyStephens Park, 2:10 p.m., $6-$12. 400 W. Broadway St., NLR. 501-664-1555. www.travs. com.

MONDAY, JUNE 1

MUSIC

Hot Springs Music Festival. Hot Springs National Park Cultural Center, through June 13, $150. Ozark Bathhouse, Hot Springs. 501620-6715.

Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 President Clinton Ave. 501-3724782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com.

Monday Night Jazz. Afterthought Bistro & Bar, 8 p.m., $5. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www.afterthoughtbistroandbar.com/.

Open Mic. The Lobby Bar. Studio Theatre, 8 p.m. 320 W. 7th St. Richie Johnson. Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. www.cajunswharf. com.

TUESDAY, JUNE 2

MUSIC

Ghastly Menace. White Water Tavern, 9 p.m.

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

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

120 W. Pershing Blvd., NLR. Hot Springs Music Festival. Hot Springs National Park Cultural Center, through June 13, $150. Ozark Bathhouse, Hot Springs. 501620-6715.

Houndmouth, Clear Plastic Masks. Revolution, 8 p.m., $15. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-8230090. www.rumbarevolution.com/new/.

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

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

Karaoke Tuesday. Prost, 8 p.m., free. 322 President Clinton Blvd. 501-244-9550. willydspianobar.com/prost-2/.

Karaoke Tuesdays. On the patio. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 7:30 p.m., free. 107 River Market Ave. 501-372-7707. www.stickyz.com.

Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 President Clinton Ave. 501-3724782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com.

Music Jam. Hosted by Elliott Griffen and Joseph Fuller. The Joint, 8-11 p.m., free. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501-372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com.

The Steel Wheels. South on Main, 7:30 p.m.

Shop shop LOCAL ARKANSAS TIMES www.arktimes.com

MAY 28, 2015

35

AFTER DARK, CONT. 1304 Main St. 501-244-9660. southonmain.com.

Third Eye Blind, Dashboard Confessional.

Walmart AMP, 7 p.m., $30. 5079 W. Northgate Road, Rogers. 479-443-5600. www.arkansasmusicpavilion.com.

Tuesday Jam Session with Carl Mouton.

Afterthought Bistro & Bar, 8 p.m., free. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www.afterthoughtbistroandbar.com/.

COMEDY

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

DANCE

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

EVENTS

Trivia Bowl. Flying Saucer, 8:30 p.m. 323 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-8032. www.beerknurd. com/stores/littlerock.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3

MUSIC

Acoustic Open Mic. Afterthought Bistro & Bar, 8 p.m., free. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www.afterthoughtbistroandbar.com/.

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

Cutthroat Trout. Local Live. South on Main, 7:30 p.m., free. 1304 Main St. 501-244-9660. southonmain.com.

Drageoke with Chi Chi Valdez. Sway. 412

Louisiana. 501-907-2582.

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

120 W. Pershing Blvd., NLR. Hot Springs Music Festival. Hot Springs National Park Cultural Center, through June 13, $150.

Ozark Bathhouse, Hot Springs. 501-620-6715.

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. MUSE Ultra Lounge, 8:30 p.m., free.

2611 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-6398.

Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 President Clinton Ave. 501-3724782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com.

Open Mic Nite with Deuce. Thirst n’ Howl, 7:30 p.m., free. 14710 Cantrell Road. 501-379-8189. www.thirst-n-howl.com.

Shannon McClung. Another Round Pub, 6 p.m.

12111 W. Markham. 501-313-2612. www.anotherroundpub.com.

Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 7:30 p.m., free. 111 Markham St. 501-370-7013. www.capitalbarandgrill.com/.

COMEDY

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

DANCE

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

12th Annual

Conway Pride Parade & Festival Sunday, June 7 2:00 pm Entertainment Food Vendors Fun! Parade Line-up: 1:00 pm at The Pink House (1605 Robinson Ave) Festival: Simon Park (805 Front St) Join us for “Sordid Lives” by Del Shores at the Lantern Theater June 4-6, 11-13 36

MAY 28, 2015

ARKANSAS TIMES

Special Guest Emcee: Queen Anthony James Gerard

streets. 501-350-4712. www.littlerockbopclub.

FILM

Movies in the Park: “Divergent.” First Security Amphitheater, 8:25 p.m., free. 400 President Clinton Ave.

LECTURES

“August: Osage County” Pre-Show Talk.

Arkansas Repertory Theatre, 6:15 p.m., free.

601 Main St. 501-378-0405. www.therep.org.

POETRY

Wednesday Night Poetry. 21-and-older show.

Maxine’s, 7 p.m., free. 700 Central Ave., Hot Springs. 501-321-0909. maxineslive.com/shows. html.

ARTS

THEATER

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

Phyllis Yvonne Stickney. Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, Fri., May 29, 7 p.m., free. 501 W. 9th St. 501-683-3593. www.mosaictemplarscenter.com.

NEW GALLERY EXHIBITS, EVENTS New shows in bold-face ARGENTA GALLERY, 413 Main St., NLR: Arkansas League of Artists’ “Spring Members Show,” June 2-30, reception 6-8 p.m. June 5.

11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat. argentagallery.com.

GALLERY 221, 221 W. 2nd St.: “ZEITGEIST,” work by David Bailin, Guy Bell, Elizabeth Bogard, Taimur Cleary, Amy Edgington, Tracy Hamlin, Kimberly Kwee, Mathew Lopas, Brian Madden, Victorial Gomez Mayol, Kasten Searles, Kat Wilson and Craig Wynn, opens June 4 with reception 5-8 p.m., show through July 4. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 11 a.m.4 p.m. Sat. 801-0211.

HEARNE SOUTHERN AUCTION HOUSE, 1853 S. Ringo St.: Selected works from the M.J. Hewitt collection; Stella Jones Gallery, New Orleans; 70th Art Gallery, New York: online preview through May 29, onsite preview 10 a.m.-7 p.m. June 5, 8 a.m.-noon June 6, online auction May 30-June 6, reception 5:30-7:30 p.m.

June 4, live auction 1 p.m. June 6. 349-6797.

L&L BECK ART GALLERY, 5705 Kavanaugh Blvd.: “Backyard Birds,” through May; “Go West, Young Man,” June 1-30, free giclee drawing 7 p.m. June 18. 660-4006.

STEPHANO’S FINE ART: 1813 N. Grant St.: New work by Jennifer Wilson, Mike Gaines, Maryam Moeeni, Ken Davis, John Kushmaul and Gene Brack. 563-4218.

TRIO’S RESTAURANT, Pavilion Room, 8201 Cantrell Road: Stephano’s Fine Art’s “Spring Art Series,” works by sculptor Tony Dow and painter Maryam Moeeni, 5:30-9 p.m. May 28, with appetizers and cash bar. 563-4218.

Bentonville CRYSTAL BRIDGES MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART, One Museum Way: “American Encounters: The Simple Pleasures of Still Life,” 10 still life paintings from the 17th and 18th centuries from the High Museum, the Terra Foundation, the Louvre and the Crystal Bridges collec-

tion, through Sept. 14; “Art Talk: The Simple Pleasures of Still Life,” with curator Manuela Well-Off-Man, 1-2 p.m. May 20; “Fish Stories: Early Images of American Game Fish,” 20 color plates based on the original watercolors by sporting artist Samuel Kilbourne, through Sept. 21; “Van Gogh to Rothko,” masterworks from the Albright-Knox Gallery, through June 1; American masterworks spanning four centuries. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon., Thu.; 11 a.m.-9 p.m.

Wed., Fri.; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sat.-Sun., closed Tue. 479-418-5700.

CALL FOR ENTRIES The Arkansas Arts Council is accepting applications from performing, literary or visual artist who would like to join the Arts in Education Artist Roster. Call Cynthia Haas at 324-9769 or email Cynthia@arkansasheritage.org for more information. Deadline is July 10.

The Fort Smith Regional Art Museum is accepting entries for a show themed “Man versus Machine: The Art of Expression and the Wired World” to run July 31 to Nov. 1. Deadline is July 1. Submissions should be sent to FS RAM, 1601 Rogers Ave., Fort Smith 72901. Call 479784-2787.

CONTINUING GALLERY EXHIBITS ARKANSAS ARTS CENTER, MacArthur Park: “54th Young Artists Exhibition,” art by Arkansas students grades K-12, through July 26; “30 Americans,” works by African American artists from the Rubell Collection, through June 21; “Humble Hum: Rhythm of the Potter’s Wheel,” recent work by resident artist Ashley Morrison, Museum School Gallery, through June 21. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat., 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sun. 372-4000.

CANTRELL GALLERY, 8206 Cantrell Road: “The Quiet Hours,” paintings by John Wooldridge, through July 10. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat. 2241335.

GALLERY 26, 2601 Kavanaugh Blvd.: New work

by Robert Bean and Stephen Cefalo, through July 11. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tue.-Sat. 664-8996.

ARKANSAS CAPITAL CORP. GROUP, 200 River Market Ave., Suite 400: “Southern Curiosities,” work by Diane Harper, Dominique Simmons and Barbara Satterfield, through June 26. 374-9247.

BUTLER CENTER GALLERIES, Arkansas Studies Institute, 401 President Clinton Ave.: “Human Faces & Landscapes: Paintings by Sui Hoe Khoo,” “White River Memoirs,” artwork collected by canoist and photographer Chris Engholm along the White, through July 25; “A Different State of Mind,” exhibition by the Arkansas Society of Printmakers, loft gallery, through June 27; “Captured Images,” photographs from the permanent collection. 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Sat. 320-5790.

CHRIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 509 Scott St.: “Plein Air Painters of Arkansas,” work by Victoria Harvey, Clarence Cash, Tom Herrin, Greg Lahti, Sean LeCrone, John Wooldridge and Diana Shearon.

CHROMA GALLERY, 5707 Kavanaugh Blvd.: Work by Robert Reep and other Arkansas artists. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

Sat. 664-0880.

COX CREATIVE CENTER, 120 River Market Ave.: Arkansas Society of Printmakers exhibition. 918-3090.

PICK YOUR POISON EITHER WAY, YOUR HEALTH TAKES A HIT

Why replace cigarettes with little cigars? Either way, you’re inhaling harmful chemicals that damage your body.

You can’t replace your health. Call 1-800-QUIT-NOW for resources to help you live tobacco and nicotine-free. www.arktimes.com

MAY 28, 2015

37

AFTER DARK, CONT. ESSE PURSE MUSEUM & STORE, 1510 S. Main St.: “What’s Inside: A History of Women and Handbags, 1900-1999,” vintage purses and other women’s accessories.

11 a.m.-4 p.m. Tue.-Sat., $8-$10. 916-9022.

GALLERY 360, 900 S. Rodney Parham Road: “Flora and Fauna,” work by Rachel Trusty and Beth Whitlow, through May. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Mon.-Fri, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Sat. 663-222.

GINO HOLLANDER GALLERY, 2nd and Center: Paintings and works on paper by Gino Hollander. 801-0211.

GREG THOMPSON FINE ART, 429 Main St., NLR, and HEARNE FINE ART, 1001 Wright Ave.: National Silverpoint Invitational 2015 “Drawing with Silverpoint,” through June 27, works by Sherry Camhy, Jeannine Cook, Lori Field, Marietta Hoferer, Michael Kukla, Jeffrey Lewis, Tom Mazzullo, Susan Schwalb, Aj Smith and Marjorie Williams-Smith.

HEARNE FINE ART, 1001 Wright Ave: “Page Turners: Original Illustrations and Prints by Bryan Collier,” through June 13. 372-6822.

HISTORIC ARKANSAS MUSEUM GALLERIES, 200 E. 3rd St.: “(Everyday) Interpretations: Cindy Arsaga, Joe Morzuch and Adam Posnak”; “Suggin Territory: The Marvelous World of Folklorist Josephine Graham,” through Nov. 29; “Suyao Tian: Entangled Beauty,” through June 7; “Recent Acquisitions,” objects acquired between 2012 and 2014; “Arkansas Made,” ongoing. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. 324-9351.

LAMAN LIBRARY ARGENTA BRANCH, 420 Main St., NLR: “Dennis McCann: A History.”

10 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Fri. 758-1720.

LOCAL COLOUR, 5811 Kavanaugh Blvd.: Rotating work by 27 artists in collective. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat. 265-0422.

M2GALLERY, 11525 Cantrell Road (Pleasant Ridge Shopping Center): Watercolors by Lisa Krannichfeld, through June 12; also work by Bryan Frazier, Dan Holland and Sabine Danze, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat. 944-7155.

MUGS CAFE, 515 Main St., NLR: “From Stars to Sidewalks,” works by printmakers Jorey May and Regan Renfro. 442-7778.

RED DOOR GALLERY, 3715 JFK, NLR: Paula Jones, new paintings; Jim Goshorn, new sculpture; also sculpture by Joe Martin, paintings by Amy Hill-Imler, Theresa Cates and Patrick Cunningham, ornaments by D. Wharton, landscapes by James Ellis, raku by Kelly Edwards and other works. 753-5227. 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sat. THEA FOUNDATION, 401 Main St., NLR: “River, Buildings, Streets, Bridge,” paintings by John Kushmaul, part of The Art Department series, through May. 9 a.m.12 p.m. and 1-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri. 379-9512.

UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS AT LITTLE ROCK: “MA Thesis Exhibition,” photography by Brady Forrester, ceramics by Heather Beckwith, graphic design by Yihan Wang, through June 28. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri..

569-3182.

BENTON DIANNE ROBERTS ART STUDIO AND GALLERY, 110 N. Market St.: Work by Dianne Roberts, classes. 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Wed.-Fri., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat. 860-7467.

BENTONVILLE 21C MUSEUM HOTEL, 200 N.E. A St.: “Duke Riley: See You at the Finish Line,” sculpture; “Blue: Matter, Mood and Melancholy,” photographs and paintings. 479-286-6500.

THE PRESSROOM, 121 W. Central Ave.: TRUCK/ ART: “Structural Defiance: Ba’aler Abstraction,” new work by Louis Watts, in the parking lot behind the coffee shop.

CALICO ROCK CALICO ROCK ARTISAN COOPERATIVE, 105 Main St.: Paintings, photographs, jewelry, fiber art, wood, ceramics and other crafts. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Tue.-Thu., 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Fri.-Sat., noon-4 p.m. Sun. calicorocket.org/artists.

CONWAY ART ON THE GREEN, Littleton Park, 1100 Bob Courtway: Paintings by Kristen Abbott, Eldridge Bagley, Nina Ruth Baker, Elizabeth Bogard, Steve Griffith, William M. McClanahan, Mary Lynn Nelson, Sheila Parsons and others. 501-4993177.

EL DORADO SOUTH ARKANSAS ARTS CENTER, 110 E. 5th St.: “The Viewfinder,” photography, through June 1, Merkle and Price galleries; Steven E. Ochs juror. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri. 870-862-5747.

FORT SMITH REGIONAL ART MUSEUM, 1601 Rogers Ave.: “Dawn Holder: Several Collections of Commemorative Plates,” mixed media by Dawn Holder, through July 19. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tue.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. 479-784-2787.

HARRISON ARTISTS OF THE OZARKS, 124½ N. Willow St.: Work by Amelia Renkel, Ann Graffy, Christy Dillard, Helen McAllister, Sandy Williams and D. Savannah George. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Thu.-Sat., noon-4 p.m. Sun. 870-429-1683.

HEBER SPRINGS BOTTLE TREE GALLERY, 514 Main St.: New silver collection by Mary Allison; also work by George Wittenberg, Judy Shumann, Priscilla Humay, April Shurgar, Julie Caswell, Jan Cobb, Johnathan Harris, Antzee Magruder, Ann Aldinger, Sondra Seaton and Bill and Gloria Garrison. 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Tue.-Sat. 501-590-8840.

HOT SPRINGS HOT SPRINGS FINE ARTS CENTER, 626 Central Ave.: “The Fine Artworks of Hot Springs,” curated show of works inspired

by Hot Springs, through May. 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat. 501-624-0489.

HOT SPRINGS NATIONAL PARK CULTURAL CENTER, Ozark Bathhouse: “Arkansas Champion Trees: An Artist’s Journey,” colored pencil drawings by Linda Williams Palmer, through August. Noon-5 p.m. Fri.Sun. 501-620-6715.

GALLERY CENTRAL, 800 Central Ave.: New work by Janis Wiley, Sandy Newberg and Sherrie Shepherd, through May. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat. 501-318-4278.

JUSTUS FINE ART, 827 Central Ave.: Rebecca Thompson, paintings; Michael Ashley, through May. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wed.-Sat. 501772-3627.

Unmasking our 2015 season

Tickets on sale NOW! • 866-810-0012 • arkshakes.com

All Merry Wives Performances Are “Pay What You Can”

JUNE 4-11

The Village at Hendrix Conway

JUNE 25-28

Argenta Farmers’ Market North Little Rock

38

MAY 28, 2015

ARKANSAS TIMES

Book by Joseph Stein, Music by Jerry Bock, and Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick

JUNE 10-27

Reynolds Performance Hall UCA, Conway SPONSORED BY

JUNE 19-28

Reynolds Performance Hall UCA, Conway Can’t get to Conway or Little Rock?

Check out As You Like It on tour!

June 17 at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville June 19 at South Arkansas Arts Center, El Dorado June 20 at Winthrop Rockefeller Institute, Petit Jean Mountain

A One-Hour Family Shakespeare Adaptation

JUNE 23-27

Reynolds Performance Hall UCA, Conway

POP LIFE, CONT.

PLAYING IT LOUD: Morgan (left) and Murphy back in their Chinese Girls days.

HYPNOTIZED: Andrew Morgan has been in or around the local music scene for 15 years.

ries and stories. Scattered photographs and video snippets of performances.

They didn’t tour. Their band name is a “search-engine optimization” disaster (feel free to Google “Chinese Girls” but be warned: The results will be not safe for work). Some bands are stars, some bands are comets. Chinese Girls were a singular treasure from a particular place at a particular time.

So let us celebrate and give thanks for the double LP reissue this month from New York’s Drawing Room Records of Chinese Girls’ two albums (the set is available on vinyl in a limited-edition release, as well as an unlimited, downloadable digital version). Times arts and entertainment editor Will Stephenson called the release of “Pop Life” and “Of” — originally recorded between 2001 and 2003 — “virtually a public service to the state of Arkansas,” and that’s about

right. The reissues sound great. There it is again: that strange sonic atmosphere, wild things and whispers.

Chinese Girls’ particular version of post-punk noise rock wasn’t radically different from other like-minded bands.

I won’t bore you with the standard list of influences and echoes; it’s more fun if you make your own list. So why did Chinese Girls sound so fresh and so jarring? So explosively unique? And, sorry, this is the only word for it: so cool?

I once read a baseball writer ponder the curious brilliance of the dominant pitcher Pedro Martinez. No one pitch, he argued, was so different from other pitchers (other pitchers had fastballs that zipped with the same speed; other pitchers had curveballs with the same sharp break). There was just something subtle about the angles that made “geometric combinations” — tiny advantages

that interacted exponentially.

Perhaps something like that is afoot with Chinese Girls. Jangling oddity from familiar tools. A synchronicity of murmurs and rhythms. Call it something subtle about the angles.

“There are no new waves, there is only the ocean,” filmmaker JeanLuc Godard famously remarked. Let that be an epigraph for Chinese Girls, whose experimental art rock always felt organic and inevitable. Pulses that were meant to be. Sometimes it sounds like bubblegum pop run through a meat grinder. Sometimes like postapocalyptic lullabies. Chinese Girls were, well, a damn good band, and it brings me great joy that folks who missed their ephemeral run way back when will now be able to dig into these reissues.

As for me, I was expecting something like a nostalgia trip, but that’s not quite what happened as I spent the week gorging on songs I haven’t heard in years. The music was still fresh and moving and meaningful, but there’s something else that struck me. Chinese Girls are still hard to hold. Rock ’n’ roll is obsessed with immediacy. Chinese Girls were masters of distance. They were a very, very noisy band that whispered. They were pomp and bombast behind a veil.

So let me make an ancient point: Sometimes the things we hold in reverence are those we can only see through a glass darkly. It turns out that it wasn’t just the dust and distance of 13 years that leaves my recollections of Chinese Girls hazy. Part of what I loved back then was the haze, was a beauty that was irretrievable. Consider this the perfect soundtrack for fuzzy memories. Play it loud.

GIVE THANKS: For “Pop Life” and “Of” rerelease.

www.arktimes.com

MAY 28, 2015

39

Dining WHAT’S COOKIN’ Natchez owner and executive chef Alexis Jones has announced that, due to low sales, the restaurant has nixed its lunch and weekday dinner service and gone to weekend-only sales. Located in the Tower Building at 323 Center St. in Little Rock, the restaurant still will be open for Friday and Saturday dinner, and for Sunday brunch. In a May 19 note on Facebook, Jones thanked customers, staff, family, friends and the city of Little Rock, saying that she has no regrets or second-guesses about opening Natchez, which has been in operation since November 2012. She said weekend diners “can still expect to see our signatures” including braised meats, hand rolled pastas, fresh seafood, and local produce. “I have been very proud of the standard we have set and served,” she wrote, “and though it is difficult to write, our sales are good but not enough to service our lease or afford our quality for local, fresh, and sustainable products… I would much rather lose the services than compromise our quality. Restaurants must succeed, not be floated. Please support and celebrate with us in our limited opening and as always please support local businesses.”

In closing, Jones said she didn’t want to elaborate on the future of the restaurant, but noted their lease has come to an end. “This might be a step towards the end or a closed chapter,” she said. “If it is, we will pursue other endeavors, new ventures, devote more time to making a good life and not just a living. But once again, I sincerely appreciate the overwhelming support.”

DINING CAPSULES

AMERICAN

1515 C A FE T hi s b u s t ling, b u sin e s s suit filled break fas t and lunch spot, ju s t a c ro s s f ro m t h e s t a te C a pi to l, features old-fashioned, buf fet-st yle home cookin’ for a song. Inexpensive lunch entrées, too. 1515 W 7th St. No alcohol. $-$$. 501-376-1434. L Wed.-Fri., D Mon-Sat. 4 SQUARE CAFE AND GIFTS Vegetarian salads, soups, wraps and paninis and a b ro a d s e l e c t io n of s m o ot h i e s i n an Arkansas produc ts gif t shop. 405 President Clinton Ave. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-244-2622. BLD Mon.-Sat., L Sun. ANOTHER ROUND PUB Tasty pub grub.

12111 W. Markham. Full bar, CC. $-$$.

501-313-2612. D Mon.-Thu., LD Fri.-Sun. APPLE SPICE JUNCTION A chain sandwich and salad spot with sit-down lunch space and a vibrant box lunch catering 40

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ARKANSAS TIMES

Turkish delights Istanbul hits all the right notes.

W

e came to eat at Istanbul the first time by accident, choosing the restaurant almost at random from the list of available menus on the Chef Shuttle website. We were tired, which means delivery — and since we’re generally fans of Turkish food, we took a chance on the Pleasant Ridge Town Center restaurant. Little Rock has several Greek and Turkish restaurants we enjoy, and we hoped Istanbul would be another.

Sometimes, those random choices pay great dividends, and Istanbul proved to be a winner. The first time may have been a random choice, but our return trips have all been planned.

Istanbul hits that sweetest of spots: It’s inexpensive and delicious, with portion sizes that leave the sort of leftovers that are a pleasure to revisit.

To start, Istanbul has three excellent choices for appetizers: babaganouj ($4.49), a smoky, savory eggplant puree blended with spices; a creamy hummus ($3.99 plain, $4.99 for red pepper) topped with good olive oil; and cacik ($4.49), a traditional cucumber and yogurt dip that is not only good as a dip for pita, but also tastes good on pretty much everything Istanbul serves. Any of these starters is worth ordering, but it’s the red pepper hummus that keeps us coming back time and again — it’s smooth and mild, rich with lemon and tahini. It’s also quite filling, and stores well as leftovers, making it a dish we’ve ordered just to have on hand for a quick lunch the next day.

Falafel ($4.49) is another classic dish that Istanbul does well. In our experience, falafel can either be too dry to enjoy, or the chickpea fritters just fall apart. This version avoids both of those pitfalls with a moist, tender consistency that nevertheless holds up

SPICED JUST RIGHT: Istanbul’s Chicken Shish Kebab is a solid choice.

to vigorous dipping in cacik. Good simply as a side dish, the falafel can also be ordered in sandwich form ($6.50), adding tomatoes and grilled onions to the mix and wrapping the whole affair in a soft, warm pita.

Much of the menu at Istanbul takes traditional staples and serves them in different, delicious ways. The beef and lamb doner is one of our favorites, and we’ve had the spit-roasted meat concoction sliced and served just about every way Istanbul does it. As a simple sandwich ($6.50), the doner is a simple grilled masterpiece, while heartier appetites will be delighted with the doner platter ($11), which can easily serve two people.

Where the beef doner really blew us away, though, was in the form of a doner pizza ($10), which for our money might be one of the best pizzas in town. The crust is crisp and thin, yet somehow manages to stand up to a mighty pile of tangy sauce, cheese and copious amounts of the sliced doner meat. It’s so good that we’ve had to force ourselves to order something

else just so we can try more of the menu.

Less successful than the doner, but still tasty is Istanbul’s kofte. We found these little patties of ground beef to work best as part of a sandwich ($6.50), because while the kofte still had the wonderful grilled flavor that is Istanbul’s signature, we thought they were under spiced and in need of some help from the rest of our sandwich toppings.

Of course, given our love of the various doner dishes at Istanbul, we may have just biased our taste buds — this kofte is still quite good.

Beef and lamb not your thing?

Istanbul has a variety of vegetarian dishes that are worth ordering, including a fresh vegetable, mushroom and olive version of the pizza we loved so much. Fans of chicken should take a look at the Chicken a la Turca ($12.50), a spice-rubbed chicken thigh dish seared over an open flame to juicy perfection. Prefer white meat? Go for the Chicken Shish Kebab ($12) and enjoy chunks of tender breast meat made even bet-

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

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

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

DINING CAPSULES, CONT.

Istanbul Mediterranean Restaurant 11525 Cantrell Road, No. 914 istanbullr.com

Quick bite While Istanbul is excellent for a full lunch or dinner, it shouldn’t be overlooked as a fantastic place to grab a quick snack. The savory, cheesy cigar pastry ($4.49) is a great “quick eats” option, while the restaurant’s baklava and profiteroles make for a lovely option for anyone looking to treat their sweet tooth with a small bite.

Hours 11 a.m. until 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. Sunday.

Other info All major credit cards, no alcohol.

ter with a selection of fresh spices.

Istanbul provides more than just great food. We like its attention to detail. On the whole, our food was seasoned and spiced with care and possessed a depth of flavor that we did not expect given its relatively cheap price point. Even when ordered for delivery, the food arrived hot and fresh without a bad bite to be had. For example, side dishes like steamed rice were cooked to tender perfection — and rice is a dish we’re normally picky about.

There’s something for just about every appetite on the menu, making Istanbul a great place for large groups with varying tastes. The kid’s menu is full of good “starter” dishes like mini chicken shish kebabs and cheesy cigar pastries — and we admire a children’s menu that doesn’t pander to kids but rather seeks to expose them to wider tastes than they might be used to.

Having now tried Istanbul as a dinein, pick-up and delivery option, we can say firmly that the restaurant has gone beyond a mere random choice and into our regular rotation of restaurants. The menu states proudly that the restaurant “serves nothing but the finest imported Turkish spices, quality custom-cut local meats,” and after tasting a wide variety of its offerings, we believe it without a doubt. Even better, what Istanbul does with those fresh ingredients and a grill is simply delicious, making it the sort of place where a lot of good things can happen for not a lot of money.

business. With a wide range of options and quick ser vice. Order online via applespice.com. 2000 S. University Ave. No alcohol, All CC. $$. 501-663-7008. L Mon.-Fri. (10 a.m.-3 p.m.).

ARKANSAS BURGER CO. Good burgers, fries and shakes, plus salads and other e n t r e e s . Tr y t h e c h e e s e d i p. 7410 Cantrell Road. Beer and wine, CC. $-$$.

501-663-0600. LD Tue.-Sat. BELLWOOD DINER Traditional breakfasts and plate lunch specials are the norm at this lost-in-time hole in the wall.

3815 MacArthur Drive. NLR. No alcohol, No CC. $. 501-753-1012. BL Mon.-Fri. THE BLIND PIG Tasty bar food, including

Z w e i g l e ’ s b r a n d h o t d o g s . 6 0 15 Chenonceau Blvd. Full bar, CC. $-$$.

501-868-8194. D Wed-Fri., LD Sat. BONEFISH GRILL A half-dozen or more types of fresh fish filets are offered daily at this upscale chain. 11525 Cantrell Road. Full bar, All CC. $$$. 501-228 0356. D Mon.-Fri., LD Sat-Sun. BONEHEADS GRILLED FISH AND PIRI PIRI CHICKEN Fast-casual chain s pecializing in g rilled fish, roas ted chicken and an African pepper sauce.

17711 Chenal Parkway. Beer and wine, CC. $-$$. 501-821-1300. LD daily.

BRAVE NEW RESTAURANT Chef/owner Peter Brave was doing “farm to table”

ROCK < < SPANISH Q Apartments Q $199 MOVE-IN SPECIAL • NEW MANAGEMENT! UNDERGOING MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR RENOVATION • Close to Schools & Shopping • Swimming Pools Fitness Center • Tennis Court Washer/Dryer Connections 24 hour Emergency Maintenance • Bilingual Staff Feed the Kids After School Program OFFICE: 501-221-6080 11300 MESA DRIVE LITTLE ROCK, AR 72211

before most of us knew the term. His focus is on fresh, high-qualit y ingredients prepared elegantly but simply.

Ordering the fish special is never a bad choice. His chocolate crème brulee sets the pace. 230 0 Cottondale Lane. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-663-2677. LD Mon.-Sat. BRAY GOURMET DELI AND CATERING Turkey spreads in four flavors — original, jalapeno, Cajun and dill — and the homemade pimiento cheese are the signature items at Chris Bray’s delicatessen, which serves sandwiches, wraps, soups, stuf fed potatoes and salads, and sells the turkey spreads to go. 323 Center St. Suite 150. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-353-1045. BL Mon.-Fri. BUFFALO WILD WINGS A sports bar on steroids with numerous humongous TVs and a menu full of thirst-inducing items.

The wings, which can be slathered with one of 14 sauces, are the starring attraction and will undoubtedly have fans.

1480 0 Cantrell Road. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-868-5279. LD daily.

BY THE GLASS A broad but not ridiculously large wine list is studded with interes ting, diver se selec tions, and prices are uniformly reasonable. The food focus is on high-end items that pair well with wine — olives, hummus, cheese, bread, and some meats and sausages. Happy hour daily from 4- 6 p.m. 5713 Kavanaugh Blvd. Beer and w i n e, A ll CC . $ $ . 5 01- 6 6 3 -94 6 3 . D Mon.-Sat. C A FE B R U N E LLE C of fe e s h o p a n d cafe serving sweets, tasty sandwiches and Loblolly ice cream. 17819 Chenal Pa r k w ay. No alc o h o l, A ll CC . $ -$ $ .

501-448-2687. BLD daily.

CAFE@HEIFER Ser ving fresh pastries, omelets, soups, salads, sandwiches and pizzas. Located inside Heifer Village.

1 World Ave. No alcohol, All CC. $.

501-907-8801. BL Mon.-Fri. CAPITAL BAR AND GRILL Big hear ty sandwiches, daily lunch specials and fine evening dining all rolled up into one at this landing spot downtown.

Surprisingly inexpensive with a great bar staff and a good selection of unique desserts. 111 Markham St. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-370-7013. LD daily.

CAPITOL BISTRO Serving breakfast and lunch items, including quiche, sandwiches, cof fees and the like. 1401 W. Capitol Ave. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$.

501-371-9575. BL Mon.-Fri. CATCH BAR AND GRILL Fish, shrimp, chicken and burgers, live music, drinks, flat screens T Vs, pool tables and V.I.P room. 1407 John Barrow Road. Full bar.

501-224-1615.

C AT E R I N G T O YO U P a i n s t a k i n g l y prepared entrees and great appetizers in this gourmet-to-go location, attached to a gift shop. Caters everything from family dinners to weddings and large corporate events. 8121 Cantrell Road. www.arktimes.com

MAY 28, 2015

41

PICK YOUR POISON EITHER WAY, YOUR HEALTH TAKES A HIT

Why replace smoking with vaping? Either way, you’re inhaling harmful chemicals that damage your body.

You can’t replace your health. Call 1-800-QUIT-NOW for resources to help you live tobacco and nicotine-free.

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ARKANSAS TIMES

DINING CAPSULES, CONT. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-614-9030.

Serving meals to go: LD Mon.-Sat. CIAO BACI The focus is on fine dining in this casually elegant Hillcrest bungalow, though excellent tapas are out of this world. The tree-shaded, light-strung deck is a popular destination. 605 N. Beechwood St. Full bar, All CC. $$$.

501-603-0238. D Mon.-Sat. CRAZEE’S COOL CAFE Good burgers, daily plate specials and bar food amid pool tables and TVs. 7626 Cantrell Road.

Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-221-9696. LD Mon.-Sat. CUPCAKE FAC TORY A bout a dozen cupcake varieties daily, plus pies, whole or by-the-slice, cake balls, brownies and other dessert bars. 18104 Kanis Road.

No alcohol, All CC. 5 01- 821-9 913. L Mon.-Fri. CUPCAKES ON KAVANAUGH Gourmet cupcakes and cof fee, indoor seating.

5625 Kavanaugh Blvd. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-664-2253. LD Mon.-Sat. DEMPSEY BAKERY Bakery with sit down area, serving coffee and specializing in gluten-, nut- and soy-free baked goods.

323 Cross St. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$.

501-375-2257. Serving BL Tue.-Sat. D OE’S E AT PL ACE A sk id - row dive turned power brokers’ watering hole with huge steaks, great tamales and broiled shrimp, and killer burgers at lunch. 1023 W. Markham St. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-376-1195. LD Mon.-Fri., D Sat. DOUBLETREE PLAZA BAR & GRILL The lobby restaurant in the Doubletree is elegantly comfortable, but you’ll find no airs put on at heaping break fas t and lunch buffets. 424 West Markham St. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-372- 4371.

BLD daily.

EJ’S EATS AND DRINKS The friendly neighborhood hoagie shop downtown ser ves at a handful of tables and by delivery. The sandwiches are generous, the soup homemade and the salads cold. Vegetarians can craft any number of acceptable meals from the flexible menu. The housemade potato chips are da bomb. 523 Center St. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-666-370 0. LD Mon.-Fri., BR Sun. F I L I B US T E R ’ S B I S T R O & LO U N G E Sandwiches, salads in the Legacy Hotel.

625 W. Capitol Ave. Full bar, All CC. $$.

501-374-0100. D Mon.-Fri. FIVE GUYS BURGERS & FRIES Nationwide burger chain with emphasis on freshly made fries and patties. 2923 L a k e w o o d V i l l a g e D r i v e. N L R . N o alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-246-5295. LD daily. 13000 Chenal Parkway. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-225-1100. LD daily.

FLYING FISH The fried seafood is fresh and crunchy and there are plenty of raw, boiled and grilled offerings, too. The hamburgers are a hit, too. It’s counter service; wander on through the screen door and you’ll find a slick team of cooks and ser vers doing a creditable job of serving big crowds. 511 President Clinton Ave. Beer and wine, All CC. $$.

501-375-3474. LD daily.

GINO’S PIZZ A AND PHILLY STEAK 8000 Geyer Springs Road. 501-562-0152.

LD daily.

G O O D FO O D BY FE R N E AU L u n c h

offers a choice of ordering the glutenfree, sugar-free, healthy-yet-tasty-andnot-boring fare. On Friday and Saturday nights chef Ferneau stretches out a bit with about four entrees that still stay true to the “healthy” concept but do step outside the no-gluten, no-sugar box. 521 Main Street. NLR. Full bar, CC. $$ -$$$. 501-725 - 4219. L Mon.-Fri., D Fri.-Sat. THE GRAND CAFE Typical hotel restaurant fare. 925 South University Ave. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-664-5020. BD daily.

GREEN LEAF GRILL Cafeteria on the ground f loor of the Blue Cross-Blue Shield building has healthy entrees. 601 S. Gaines. No alcohol, CC. 501-378-2521.

GRUMPY’S TOO Music venue and spor ts bar with lots of T Vs, pub grub and regular drink specials. 1801 Green Mountain Drive. Full bar, All CC. $-$$.

501-225-3768. D Mon.-Sat. G U S’ S WO R L D FA M O U S F R I E D CHICKEN The best fried chicken in town. Go for chicken and waf fles on Sundays. 3 0 0 President Clinton Ave. Beer, CC. $-$$. 501-372-2211. LD daily.

40 0 N. Bowman. Beer. $-$$. 501- 40 0 8745. LD daily.

HERITAGE GRILLE STEAK AND FIN Upscale dining inside the Lit tle Rock Marriott. Excellent surf and turf options.

3 Statehouse Plaza. Full bar, All CC. $$$.

501-399-8000. LD daily.

HOMER’S Great vegetables, huge yeast rolls and killer cobblers. Follow the mobs. 2001 E. Roosevelt Road. No alcohol, All CC. $ -$$. 5 01-374 -14 0 0.

BL Mon.-Fri. 970 0 N Rodney Parham.

Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-224-6637. BLD Mon.-Sat., BL Sun. IRONHORSE SALOON Bar and grill offering juicy hamburgers and cheeseburgers. 9125 Mann Road. Full bar, All CC. $. 501-562-4464. LD daily.

J. GUM B O’S Fas t- c asual C ajun f are served, primarily, in a bowl. Better than expected. 12911 Cantrell Road. Beer, All CC. $-$$. 501-916-9635. LD daily.

JERKY’S SPICY CHICKEN AND MORE Jerk chicken, Southern fried chicken, Southern fried jerk chicken, along with burgers, sandwiches, salads. 2501 Arch St. No alcohol. 501-246-3096.

JIMMY’S SERIOUS SANDWICHES C on si s te nt l y f ine s a nd w ic he s, sid e orders and desser t s for 30 years.

Chic ken s alad ’s among t he be s t in town, and there are fun specialty sandwiches such as Thai One On and The Garden. Get there early for lunch. 5116 W. Markham St. No alcohol, CC. $-$$.

501-666-3354. LD Mon.-Fri., L Sat. JOUBERT’S TAVERN Local beer and wine haunt that serves Polish sausage and other bar foods. 7303 Kanis Road.

Full bar, CC. $ -$$. 5 01- 6 6 4 -9 953. D Mon.-Sat. K . HALL AND SONS Neighborhood g ro c e r y s to re w i t h exc e ll e nt lu n c h counter. The cheeseburger is hard to beat. 1900 Wright Avenue. No alcohol, CC . $. 5 01-372-1513. BL D Mon.-Sat. (closes at 6 p.m.), BL Sun. KILWINS Ice cream, candies, fudge and sweets galore made in-house and packaged for eat-it-now or eat-it-later. 415 President Clinton Ave. No alcohol, CC.

presents…

Tim and Myles Thompson Thursday June 18 7:30 p.m.

The Joint

301 Main Street North Little Rock

Tickets $20

A father/son duo serving up a combination of improvisational jazz, traditional folk, singer/songwriter, country, rock, and world music

Available at the door or online at www.argentaartsacousticmusic.com Sponsored by…

www.arktimes.com

MAY 28, 2015

43

DINING CAPSULES, CONT.

MONORAILS, SHINY TOWERS: But no imagination.

Like there’s no ‘Tomorrowland’ Looks cool, lacks substance.

BY SAM EIFLING

W

hen Disney sets out to retrofit a movie franchise against an existing, storyless section of its theme parks, you’d have to assume the worst — notwithstanding the vein of gold it struck with the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise. Now we get “Tomorrowland,” which, despite having such reliable hands on deck as George Clooney and Hugh Laurie starring and Brad Bird (“The Incredibles,” “The Iron Giant”) directing, has the hollowed-out feel of a corporatist future-pimping industry expo, without any of the handson delights. After trudging through two hours of aimless, preachy whiz-bang, I’m still not sure what any of it meant.

The future is upon us, and it is a mess.

The premise holds that in another dimension, sometime in the future, there’s a city that looks a bit like the Emerald City, except with monorails and reflection pools and spaceports and all the other trappings of a tech utopia. George Clooney’s character, Frank, manages to wangle his way there as a tyke, following the lead of a prim girl named Athena (Raffey Cassidy) via a portal in the Small World ride at Disneyland in the ’60s. Then the story jumps to the present day, as a teenager at Cape Canaveral keeps sneaking onto a launchpad to disable its demolition. This girl, Casey (Britt Robertson), sees this sabotage as optimism in action, helping her NASA engineer father keep his job and prolonging a dream of space travel — a vision of progress that fits nicely with the retro sensibilities.

The dim realities of the real world still creep into Casey’s life, as they do 44

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ARKANSAS TIMES

for anyone with basic cable. War, climate change and civil unrest all get cursory nods in “Tomorrowland,” regarded as a bass beat of pessimism that we can overcome perhaps through innovation and almost certainly with positive thinking. Casey gets a glimpse of Tomorrowland, gets to wander amid the gliding trams and the jetpacks and the helper robots, and spends the rest of the movie trying to claw her way back there — not explicitly to, like, accomplish anything, or to inform the present, but mainly to bask, as one does in the dregs of a dream while waking.

Soon Casey falls into a mess of killer robots giving chase, and the movie absolutely flies off the rails. We’ve become so accustomed to violence on-screen that we don’t often ask why it’s happening, why a particular dispute would require resolution via laser cannons that vaporize human beings. It’s not at all clear, though, why the powers that be in Tomorrowland would regard her, Frank and Athena as mortal threats — or, really, why they’re pursuing them at all. This is the sign of a movie that’s not doing its own thinking, which is bad enough in your typical Saturday matinee but downright confounding for Disney and Bird when the film is about the future, genius and innovation.

Good science fiction builds plausible societies from the bottom up: What are the ideas that drive these people, and how does that define them? Instead, we got the future, reverse-engineered.

“Tomorrowland” give us a future full of jetpacks and shiny towers, but demonstrates none of the real imagination that’s going to get us there.

$-$$. 501-379-9865. LD daily.

L A Z Y PETE’S FISH AND SHRIMP Souther n and C ajun pub g r ub. 2 0 0 N. Bow man Road. Full bar, CC . $ $.

501-680-2660. LD daily.

LE POPS Delicious, homemade iced lollie s (or po psicle s, for those w ho aren’t afraid of the trademark.) 5501 Kavanaugh Blvd. Ste. J. No alcohol, CC. $. 501-313-9558. LD daily.

LOB LOLLY CRE AMERY Small batc h ar tis an ice c ream and s weet t reat s company that operates a soda fountain inside The Green Corner Store. 1423 Main St. No alcohol, CC. $-$$. 501-3969609. LD Mon.-Sat., L Sun. LOCA LUNA Grilled meats, seafood and pasta dishes that never stray far from country roots, whether Italian, Spanish or Arkie. “Gourmet plate lunches” are good, as is Sunday brunch. 3519 Old Cantrell Road. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$.

501-663-4666. BR Sun., LD Mon.-Fri., D Sat. LOST FORT Y BREWING Brewer y and brew pub from the folk s behind Big Orange, Local Lime and ZAZA. 501 Byrd St. Beer and wine, All CC. $$. 501-3197335. LD Wed.-Sun. LOVE FISH MARKET Par t fish market, part restaurant. Offering fresh fish to prepare at home or fried catfish and a variety of sides. 1401 John Barrow Road.

No alcohol, CC. $-$$. 501-224-0202. LD Mon.-Sat. LULAV A MODERN EATERY Bistro-style menu of Americ an favorites broken down by expensive to affordable plates, and strong wine list, also group-priced to your liking. Great filet. Don’t miss the chicken and waffles. 220 W. 6th St. Full bar, CC. $$$. 501-374-5100. LD Mon.-Fri., D Sat. THE MAIN CHEESE A restaurant devoted to grilled cheese. 14524 Cantrell Road.

Beer and wine. $-$$. 501-367-8082. LD Mon.-Sat. MILFORD TR ACK Healthy and tas t y are the key words at this deli/grill that serves breakfast and lunch. Hot entrees change daily and there are soups, sandwiches, salads and killer desserts. Bread is baked in-house, and there are several veggie options. 10809 Executive Center Drive, Searcy Building. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-223-2257. BL Mon.-Fri., L Sat. MOORE 2 U Deli sandwiches, salads, fruit bowls, burgers, fish, chili dogs, and chicken and waf fles. 5405 Geyer Springs Road. No alcohol. 501-562-1200.

NATCHEZ RESTAURANT Smart, elegant takes on Southern classics. 323 Center St. Beer and wine, CC. $$-$$$. 501-3721167. L Tue.-Fri., D Wed.-Sat. NEXT BISTRO AND BAR Live music, on the outdoor patio in nice weather, bar with specialty drinks like cheesecake shots, strawberry fizz martinis. No cover.

2611 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-6398.

O N E E L E V E N AT T H E C A P I TA L Inventive fine dining restaurant helmed

by Jöel Attunes, a James Beard awardwinning c hef. 111 Mar k ham St. Full bar, All CC. $$$. 370 -7011. BD daily, L Mon.-Fri, BR Sun. THE OYSTER BAR Gumbo, red beans and rice (all you can eat on Mondays), peel-and-eat shrimp, oysters on the half shell, addictive po’ boys. Killer jukebox.

3003 W. Markham St. Beer and wine, All CC. $-$$. 501-666-7100. LD Mon.-Sat. OZ ARK COUNTRY RES TAUR ANT A long-standing favorite with many Little Rock residents, the eatery specializes in big country breakfasts and pancakes plus sandwiches and several meat-andtwo options for lunch and dinner. Try the pancakes and don’t leave without some sor t of smoked meat. 202 Keightley Drive. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-6637319. BL daily.

PA N E R A B R E A D T h i s b a k e r y/c a f e ser ves freshly-baked breads, bagels and pastries every morning as well as a full line of espresso beverages. Panera also offers a full menu of sandwiches, hand-tossed salads and hearty soups.

314 S. Universit y. 501- 664- 6878. BLD daily. 11525 Cantrell Road. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-227-0222. BLD daily.

1050 Ellis Ave. Conway. 501-764-1623 10701 Kanis Road. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-954-7773. BLD daily.

PL AY T I M E PI Z Z A To n s of f u n i s n’t rained out by lacklus ter eat s at the new Play time Piz za, the $11 million, 65,0 0 0 -square-foot kidtopia near the Rave theater. While the buffet is only so-so, features like indoor mini-golf, laser tag, go karts, arcade games and bumper cars make it a winner for both kid s and adult s. 6 0 0 Colonel Glenn Plaza Loop. All CC. $-$$. 501-227-7529.

D Mon.-Wed., LD Thu.-Sun. POTBELLY SANDWICH SHOP Tas t y, affordable sandwiches from fast-casual chain. 314 S University Ave. No alcohol, CC. $-$$. 501-660-4441. LD daily.

PU R PLE COW D I N E R 195 0 s f a re — cheeseburgers, chili dogs, thick milk shakes — in a ‘50s set ting at today’s prices. 8 026 Cantrell Road. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-221-3555. LD daily, BR Sat.-Sun. 11602 Chenal Pkw y. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-224-4433. LD daily, BR Sat.-Sun. 1419 Higden Ferry Road. Hot Springs. Beer, All CC. $$. 501-625-7999.

LD daily, B Sun. R ACK’UM SPORTS BAR AND GRILL 2817 Cantrell Road. 501-603-0066.

THE RELAY STATION This grill of fers a shor t menu, which includes chicken strips, french fries, hamburgers, jalapeno poppers and cheese sticks. 12225 Stagecoach Road. Full bar, All CC. $-$$.

501-455-9919. LD daily.

THE ROOT CAFE Homey, local foodsfocused cafe. With tasty burgers, homemade bratwurst, banh mi and a number of vegan and veggie options. Breakfast and Sunday brunch, too. 1500 S. Main St. Beer, All CC. $-$$. 501-414-0423. BL Tue.-Sat., BR Sun. SALUT BISTRO This bistro/late-night hangout does upscale tapas. 1501 N. Univer sit y. Full bar, All CC. $ $ -$ $ $.

501-660-4200. L Mon.-Fri., D Tue.-Sat. SANDY’S HOMEPL ACE CAFE Specializing in home-style buffet, with t wo meat s and seven vegetables to choose from. It’s all-you-can-eat. 1710 E 15th St. No alcohol, No CC. $. 501-3753216. L Mon.-Fri. SATCHEMO’S BAR AND GRILL Pulled por k egg rolls, c hic ken f r ie s and a “butter” burger star. 1900 W. Third St. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-725-4657. L Mon.-Wed., LD Thu.-Sun. SCALLIONS Reliably good food, great

desser ts, pleasant atmosphere, able s er ver s — a s olid lunc h s p ot. 5110 Kavanaugh Blvd. Beer and wine, All CC. $-$$. 501-666-6468. BL Mon.-Sat. SCOOP DOG 5508 John F. Kennedy Blvd.

NLR. No alcohol, No CC. 501-753-5407.

LD daily.

SHAKE’S FROZEN CUSTARD Frozen custards, concretes, sundaes. 12011 Westhaven Drive. No alcohol, All CC. $. 501-224-0150. LD daily.

SHIPLEY DO-NUTS With locations just about everywhere in Central Arkansas, it’s hard to miss Shipley’s. Their signature smooth glazed doughnut s and dozen or so varieties of fills are well known. 7514 Cantrell Rd. No alcohol, All CC. $. 501-664-5353. B daily.

SHORT Y SMALL’S Land of big, juic y burgers, massive cheese logs, smoky barbecue plat ters and the signature onion loaf. 1110 0 N. Rodney Parham Road. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-224-3344.

LD daily.

SLIM CHICKENS Chicken tenders and w ing s s e r ve d f a s t . Bet te r t ha n t he Colonel. 4500 W. Markham. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-907-0111. LD daily. 301 N. Shackleford Road. No alcohol, CC. $-$$. 954-9999. LD daily.

SO N N Y W ILLI A M S’ S TE A K RO O M Steak s, chicken and seafood in a wonderful setting in the River Market.

Steak get s pricey, though. Menu is seasonal, changes ever y few months.

500 President Clinton Ave. Full bar, All CC. $$$. 501-324-2999. D Mon.-Sat. SOUTH ON MAIN Fine, innovative takes on Southern fare in a casual, but wellappointed setting. 1304 Main St. Full bar, CC. $-$$. 501-244-9660. L Mon.-Fri., D Tue.-Sat. STAGECOACH GROCERY AND DELI Fine po’ boys and muffalettas — and cheap. 6024 Stagecoach Road. Beer and wine, All CC. $-$$. 501- 455-7676.

BLD Mon.-Fri., BL Sat.-Sun. TABLE 28 Excellent fine dining with lots of creative flourishes. Branch out and tr y the Crispy Squid Filet and Quail Bird Lollipops. 1501 Merrill Drive. Full

bar, CC. $$$ -$$$$. 5 01-224 -2828. D Mon.-Sat. T E R R I - LY N N ’ S B B Q A N D DELICATESSEN High-qualit y meat s served on large sandwiches and good tamales ser ved with chili or without (the better bargain). 10102 N. Rodney Parham Road. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$.

501-227-6371. L Tue.-Fri., LD Sat. (close at 5pm).

WEST END SMOKEHOUSE AND TAVERN Its primar y focus is a spor ts bar with 50 -plus T Vs, but the dinner entrees (grilled chicken, steaks and such) are plentiful and the bar food is upper quality. 215 N. Shackleford. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-224-7665. L Fri.-Sun., D daily.

WHICH WICH AT CHENAL Sandwiches in three sizes, plus cookies and milkshakes, online or faxed (501-312-9435) ordering available. Also at 2607 McCain Blvd., 501-771-9424, fax 501-771-4329.

128 0 0 Chenal Park way, Suite 10. No alcohol. 312-9424.

WING LOVERS The name says it all.

4411 W 12th St. $-$$. 501-663-3166. LD Mon.-Sat. WING SHACK 6323 Colonel Glenn Road.

No alcohol. 501-562-0010.

WINGSTOP It’s all about wings. The joint features 10 flavors of chicken flappers for almost any palate, including mild, hot, Cajun and atomic, as well as specialty flavors like lemon pepper, teriyaki, Garlic parmesan and Hawaiian.

11321 West Markham St. Beer, All CC. $-$$. 501-224-9464. LD daily.

ASIAN

A.W. LIN’S ASIAN CUISINE Excellent pan-Asian with wonderful service. 17717 Chenal Parkway H101. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-821-5398. LD daily.

BIG ON TOKYO Serviceable fried rice, teriyaki chicken and sushi. 400 President Clinton Ave. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$.

501-375-6200. BLD Mon.-Sat. CHINA PLUS BUFFET Large Chinese buffet. 6211 Colonel Glenn Road. Beer and wine, All CC. $-$$. 501-562-1688.

LD daily.

CHINESE KITCHEN Good Chinese takeout. Try the Cantonese press duck.

114 01 N. Rod ney Par ham Road. No alcohol, CC. $ -$$. 501-224 -210 0. LD Tue.-Sun. H A N A RO O SUSH I BA R O ne of t he few spots in downtown Little Rock to ser ve sushi. With an expansive menu, featuring largely Japanese fare. Try the popular Tuna Tatari bento box. 205 W. Capitol Ave. Beer and wine, All CC. $$.

501-301-7900. L Mon.-Fri., D Mon.-Sat. KBIRD Delicious, authentic Thai. 600 N. Tyler. No alcohol, CC. $$-$$$. 501-3523549. LD Mon.-Fri. MIKE’S C AFE VIETNAMESE Cheap Vietnamese that could use some more spice, typically. The pho is good. 5501 Asher Ave. Beer, CC. $-$$. 501-562-1515.

LD daily.

MR. CHEN’S ASIAN SUPERMARKET AND RESTAUR ANT A combination A s ia n re s t a u r a n t a n d g ro c e r y w i t h cheap, tasty and exotic offerings. 3901 S. University Ave. $. 501-562-7900. LD daily.

N E W C H I N A A b u rg e o n i n g l i n e o f massive buffets, with hibachi grill, sushi, mounds of Chinese food and soft serve ice cream. 4617 John F. Kennedy Blvd.

NLR. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-7538988. LD daily. 2104 Harkrider. Conway.

No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-764-1888.

LD Mon.-Sun. OISHI HIBACHI AND THAI CUISINE Tast y Thai and hibachi from the Chi family. 5501 Kavanaugh Blvd. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-603-0080. LD daily.

PHO THANH MY It says “Vietnamese noodle soup” on the sign out front, and that’s what you should order. The pho comes in outrageously large portions with bean s prou t s and f re sh her bs.

Traditional pork dishes, spring rolls and bubble tea also available. 302 N. Shackleford Road. No alcohol, All CC. $$. 501-312-7498. LD daily.

ROYAL BUFFET A big buffet of Chinese fare, with other Asian tastes as well. 109 E. Pershing. NLR. Beer, All CC. 501-753-

8885. LD daily.

SEKISUI Fresh-tasting sushi chain with fun hibachi grill and an overwhelming assortment of traditional entrees. Nice wine selec tion, also ser ves sake and specialt y drinks. 219 N. Shackleford Road. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-2217070. LD daily.

SHOGUN JAPANESE STEAKHOUSE The chefs will daz zle you, as will the variet y of tast y stir-fr y combinations and the sushi bar. Usually crowded at night. 2815 Cantrell Road. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-666-7070. D daily.

THREE FOLD NOODLES AND DUMPLING CO. Authentic Chinese noodles, buns and dumplings. With vegetarian options. 215 Center St. No alcohol, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-372-1739.

LD Mon.-Fri. TOK YO HOUSE Def ying stereot ypes, this Japanese buf fet ser ves up a broad range of fresh, slightly exotic fare — grilled calamari, octopus salad, dozens of varieties of fresh sushi — as well as more standard shrimp and steak options. 11 Shackleford Drive. Beer and wine, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-219-4286. LD daily.

WASABI Downtown sushi and Japanese cuisine. For lunch, there’s quick and hear t y sushi sampler s. 101 Main St. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-374- 0777. L Mon.-Fri., D Mon.-Sat.

BARBECUE

CHIP’S BARBECUE Tasty, if a little pricey, barbecue piled high on sandwiches generously doused with the original tangy sauce or one of five other sauces.

Better known for the incredible family recipe pies and cheesecakes, which come tall and wide. 9801 W. Markham St. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-2254346. LD Mon.-Sat.

CATFISH

SWEET SOUL Southern classics by the proprietors of the late, great Haystack Cafe in Ferndale: Chicken fried steak (just about per fec t), catfish, collards, CONTINUED ON PAGE 46

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hearsay ➥ Fight fans aren’t going to want to miss this – Xtreme Fight Night is coming to Choctaw Casino Hotel. See the MMA fights live June 20 at Choctaw Casino Hotel’s CenterStage Event Center in Pocola, Okla., starting at 7 p.m. Tickets start at $35 and can be purchased online at www.ticketmaster.com, by phone at (800) 745-3000 or by visiting the Branches Trading Co. gift shop, located inside the Choctaw Casino Hotel. For more information, visit www. choctawcasinos.com. ➥ Time to lace up those sneakers and hit the pavement: Fleet Feet Easy Runner’s full marathon training program, sponsored by Brooks Running, started May 23, but it’s not too late to sign up. The program is designed to prepare runners for their first endurance event or to help seasoned runners meet a new performance goal. The program includes a training plan designed by experienced coaches, group runs on Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. and 6:30 a.m. Saturday mornings, a technical t-shirt, fun runs and prizes throughout the season.

The cost of the program is $130.

As a bonus, if you attend 80 percent of the workouts, you’ll get a limo ride to and from the Soaring Wings marathon, courtesy of Brooks Running. The return trip also includes mimosas. Who can beat that? For more information, visit fleetfeeteasyrunner.com/ training/marathon-training. ➥ Celebrate the Grape, the Arkansas Times festival of wines, is scheduled for 6-9 p.m. June 5 at the Argenta Farmers Market Plaza. There will be more than 300 available for tasting, along with food from Arkansas Ale House, Arkansas Fresh Bakery, Kent Walker Artisan Cheese, Graffiti’s, SO, Two Sisters Catering and Whole Hog— plus some delectable chocolates from Cocoa Rouge. The Little Rock Central High School Wing Band Reunion will be on hand to add some jazz to the festivities. Tickets are $30 in advance or $40 at the gate. Buy tickets online at arktimes.com/grape.

Advertising Supplement 46

MAY 28, 2015

ARKANSAS TIMES

specific or imagined Biblical injunction.

Arthur, a waiter, refuses to serve a shrimp or catfish platter to customers because God will toss him into a sea of fire, according to Leviticus, where God fiercely disapproves any diet that includes shellfish and fish without scales. Arthur claims the First Amendment’s religiousfreedom guarantee keeps the boss from firing him. Mike Huckabee will surely come to his defense.

Ralph, a Primitive Baptist convert and a salesman in a haberdashery, refuses to sell a man a suit made of linen and wool because God forbids it in Leviticus 19:19. He says the boss can’t fire him because he’s exercising his freedom of conscience under the First Amendment and Arkansas statutes.

Hal is a pharmacist who refuses to dispense contraceptive pills to a woman because the Bible says often that women are subservient creatures to men and their job is to procreate and not to prevent new life.

OK, I made up those characters, but you don’t have to make them up, especially when it comes to using religious freedom against women. Take Huckabee: He says the Affordable Care Act is hostile to Christianity because the government included contraceptive care among the medical procedures and medicines insurers must have in policies to be accepted in state health care exchanges. Huckabee says the government included contraception to please women who just want to satisfy their libidos and have sex without

consequence.

Boys who want to have sex without consequence? That’s OK. When Josh Duggar of “19 Kids and Counting” television fame was finally exposed for molesting little girls when he was a teenager, Huckabee and other Republicans, including Arkansas lawmakers, came to his defense. No punishment was warranted, they said. Josh apologized for what he did to the little girls, so we should simply forgive him and let the show go on and Josh get on with his good material life.

But what would Huckabee have said if Josh had molested little boys and if Josh and his parents were not big Huckabee supporters.

You know the answer.

LYONS, CONT. ing Iraq had little or nothing to do with the 9/11 terror attacks. Instead, it was the brainchild of a close-knit group of foreign policy visionaries who styled themselves the “Project for a New American Century.”

Ideological delusion — the dream of a worldwide “Pax Americana” — gave birth to bad intelligence rather than vice versa.

Signatories to a 2000 PNAC position paper urging preventive war and “regime change” in Iraq included Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Vice President Cheney, Assistant Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and, yes, Jeb himself.

“This isn’t conservatism,” I wrote.

“It’s utopian folly and a prescription for endless war.”

The point isn’t to pat myself on the back. Contrarianism comes naturally to me. Also, having no ambitions involving Washington or New York, I felt no pressure to conform.

Rather, the point is that the same crowd has every intention of peddling a revised script on the same crackpot themes in 2016.

My question is, are you buying?

DINING CAPSULES, CONT. cornbread, black-eyed peas and fried chicken. 4 0 0 President Clinton Ave. No alcohol, All CC. 5 01-374 -76 85. L Mon.-Fri.

EUROPEAN / ETHNIC

ANATOLIA RESTAUR ANT Middle of the road Mediterranean fare. 315 N. Bowman Road. No alcohol, CC. $-$$.

501-219-9090. LD Mon.-Sat. CREGEEN’S IRISH PUB Irish-themed pub with a large selection of on-tap and bottled British beers and ales, an Irish inspired menu and lots of nooks and crannies to meet in. Specialties include fish ‘n’ chips and Guinness beef stew.

Live music on weekends and $5 cover on Saturdays, special brunch on Sunday.

301 Main St. NLR. Full bar, All CC. $$.

501-376-7468. LD daily.

I S TA N B U L M E D I T E R R A N E A N R E S TAU R A N T T h i s Tu r k i s h e a te r y offers decent kebabs and great starters.

The red pepper hummus is a winner. So are Cigar Pastries. Possibly the best Tur k i s h cof fe e in C e nt r al A r k an s a s.

11525 Cantrell Road. No alcohol, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-223-9332. LD daily.

KEBAB HOUSE Turkish st yle doner s and kebabs and a sampling of Tunisian cuisine. Only place in Lit tle Rock to ser ve Lahmijun ( Turkish pizza). 11321 W Markham St. No alcohol, CC. $-$$.

LD Mon.-Sat. L AY L A’ S G Y R O S A N D P I Z Z E R I A Delicious Mediterranean fare — gyros, falafel, shawarma, kabobs, hummus and babaganush — that has a devoted fo ll o w i n g . A ll m ea t i s s la u g h te re d according to Islamic dietary law. 9501

N Rodney Parham Road. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-227-7272. LD daily (close 5 p.m. on Sun.) 6100 Stones Road. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-868-8226. LD Mon.-Sat. L E O ’ S G R E E K C A S T L E Wo n d e r f u l M e d i te r r a n e a n fo o d — g y ro s a n d wiches or platters, falafel and tabouleh — plus dependable hamburgers, ham sandwiches, steak plat ters and BLTs. Break fast of ferings are expanded with gyro meat, pitas and triple berry pancakes. 2925 Kavanaugh Blvd. No alcohol, CC. $-$$. 501- 666 -7414. BLD Mon.-Sat., BL Sun. (close at 4 p.m.).

LITTLE GREEK Fast casual chain with excellent Greek food. 11525 Cantrell Road. Beer, All CC. $$. LD daily.

MUSE ULTRA LOUNGE Mediterranean f o o d a n d d r i n k s . 2 611 K a v a n a u g h Blvd. Full bar, All CC. 501-663-6398. D Mon.-Sat. MYLO COFFEE CO. Bakery with a vast as sor t ment of hand - mad e pas t r ie s, house roasted coffee and an ice cream counter. Soups and sandwiches, too.

2715 Kavanaugh Blvd. Beer, CC. $-$$.

501-747-1880. BLD Tue.-Sun. ROSALIA’S BAKERY Brazilian baker y owned by the folks over at Bossa Nova, nex t door. Sweet and savor y treat s, including yucca cheese balls, empanada s and mac aron s. Many glu ten free options. 2701 Kavanaugh Blvd. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-319-7035. BLD Mon.-Sat. (closes 6 p.m.), BL Sun. SILVEK’S EUROPEAN BAKERY Fine pastries, chocolate creations, breads and cakes done in the classical European st yle. Drop by for a whole

cake or a slice or any of the dozens of single ser ving treats in the big case.

190 0 Polk St. No alcohol, All CC. $$.

501-661-9699. BLD daily.

ITALIAN

CAFE PREGO Dependable entrees of pasta, pork, seafood, steak and the like, plus great sauces, fresh mixed greens and delicious dressings, crisp-crunchycold gazpacho and tempting desserts in a comf y bistro set ting. Lit tle Rock standard for 18 years. 5510 Kavanaugh Blvd. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-6635355. LD Mon.- Fri, D Sat. CIAO ITALIAN RES TAUR ANT Don’t forget about this casual yet elegant bistro tucked into a downtown storef ro n t . T h e f i n e p a s t a a n d s ea fo o d dishes, ambiance and overall charm combine to make it a relaxing, enjoyable, affordable choice. 405 W. Seventh St. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-372-0238. L Mon.-Fri., D Thu.-Sat. G R A DY ’ S P I Z Z A A N D S U B S Pi z z a features a pleasing blend of cheeses rather than straight moz zarella. The grinder is a classic, the chef ’s salad huge and tasty. 6801 W. 12th St., Suite C. Beer and wine, All CC. $-$$. 501-6631918. LD daily.

IRIANA’S PIZZA Unbelievably generous hand-tossed New York style pizza with unmatc hed ze s t. Good salad s, too; grinder s are great, par tic ularly the Italian sausage. 201 E. Markham St. Beer and wine, All CC. $-$$. 501-374-3656.

LD Mon.-Sat. MELLOW MUSHROOM Popular highend pizza chain. 16103 Chenal Pkwy.

PICK YOUR POISON EITHER WAY, YOUR HEALTH TAKES A HIT

Why replace smoking with dip? Either way, you’re damaging your body with their harmful chemicals.

You can’t replace your health. Call 1-800-QUIT-NOW for resources to help you live tobacco and nicotine-free. www.arktimes.com

MAY 28, 2015

47

TESTING THE DISCRIMINATION LAW, CONT. filing a lawsuit.

“You or I couldn’t say, ‘Your honor, we’re just really curious about what this means; whether the state law and the ordinance can live together harmoniously or if the state law is unconstitutional. Tell us.’ That’s not going to suffice,” Dickson said. “Absent an actual case, controversy or need to get some declaration from the court on what that law means, they’re not going to be able to stay in court. You have to have a hook. I don’t know what sort of action they might be bringing, but it has to have some substance to it and be ripe and in need of court decision before it’s a

48

MAY 28, 2015

ARKANSAS TIMES

valid case or controversy that a court has jurisdiction to hear.”

Deputy Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney Barbara Mariani, speaking as a member of the Arkansas Stonewall Democrats, said she agreed with an opinion by Little Rock City Attorney Tom Carpenter, who has argued that the LGBT protection ordinances across the state don’t actually violate Act 137. As written, the act has a specific clause that says no local government can create a protected class that’s not already protected in state law.

“If you look at our bullying law, it clearly covers sexual orientation and gender iden-

tity,” Mariani said. “It’s a state statute, and it clearly protects that group. They’re trying to claim, ‘Hey, you’re trying to create a new protected class.” No we’re not. That protected class already exists under Arkansas law. … If a judge doesn’t buy that argument or doesn’t find it persuasive, the next argument is, ‘[Act 137] is unconstitutional.’ ” Mariani said that because the Eureka Springs ordinance is broader than those found elsewhere, it will be easier for those who want to challenge Act 137 or the ordinance to find standing there for a court challenge.

“I see it as a bigger realm, because it’s

much more specific,” she said. “It’s broader.

It applies to more things. So yes, it would be easier for people who want to challenge these ordinances to get standing in Eureka Springs.

John DiPippa, dean emeritus of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s William H. Bowen School of Law, said that he believes the interpretation of Act 137

by Carpenter is valid, and that the LGBT protection ordinances throughout the state will not become null and void once Act 137 goes into effect in July.

“There is a reasonable interpretation of these laws that suggests that most, if not all, of them are valid after Act 137 goes into effect. … It is not self-evident that these laws violate 137, so there is no reasonable basis to assert that they are void,” DiPippa said.

Like Mariani and Dickson, DiPippa said that a court challenge would require a person to claim they’ve suffered a “legal injury” from one of the ordinances in order to claim standing. DiPippa said that the challenge could come from one of several directions.

First, DiPippa said, because the city ordinances in Little Rock and Conway include provisions that forbid companies that wish to contract with those cities from discriminating against their own employees, a business that doesn’t want to sign an LGBT nondiscrimination pledge could claim the law is illegal under Act 137.

Another avenue for a challenge, he said, could come from someone who believes he or she has suffered discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in Eureka Springs despite its ordinance. That person could then sue the city of Eureka Springs for failing to enforce the law.

“Finally,” DiPippa said, “Arkansas has a broader understanding of standing than the federal courts and sometimes will allow taxpayers to prevent cities from enforcing an illegal law. This is called ‘illegal exaction.’

This may only apply to spending laws, but I suppose someone could say that because the city must spend money to enforce its anti-discrimination ordinance and because those ordinances may violate 137, the taxpayer has injury.”

Asked if a successful challenge of the ordinance in Little Rock or Conway would render LGBT protection ordinances across the state invalid, DiPippa said that technically, it would not.

“A court order only binds the parties [involved in a particular suit], but we usually expect public officials to follow authoritative court orders on identical issues,” he said. “If this situation arises, I would expect the order to be stayed pending an appeal to the Arkansas Supreme Court, thus avoiding the situation.”

ABOVE REPROACH?, CONT. you paid in taxes that year — it can be carried forward to reduce a taxpayer’s liability in future years, said Joe Kroll, executive director of the North American Council on Adoptable Children, a nonprofit that educates adoptive parents about the tax credit.

“If the taxpayer cannot use it all in the first year, they have five more years to use [it], even if the child turns 18,” he said. Kroll said that in his experience the IRS generally does not track whether an adoption is dissolved after it awards the credit.

When asked if the Harrises claimed an adoption tax credit for tax years 2012, 2013 or 2014, as well as the number of dependents claimed on their federal income taxes for those years, Wells offered the following statement: “The Harrises have their taxes done by a licensed CPA who insures all federal tax laws are followed. The IRS has plenty of safeguards in place to insure that foster and adoptive parents are not abusing the tax code and the Harrises have complied with all federal tax laws.” The couple has not released their tax returns.

Silence in Little Rock Perhaps the question most pertinent to Justin Harris’ continued occupation of elected office, though, is whether he used his position of influence to affect DHS decisionmaking. In Harris’ telling, DHS has always been his antagonist, first opposing the adoption and then threatening him and Marsha with abandonment (a child maltreatment finding) after the fact. “We attempted to make the situation work … because we care deeply for the girls, but we were failed by DHS,” he said in his press conference in March.

But, according to Cheryl and Craig Hart, the family that fostered Mary and Annie, DCFS Director Cecile Blucker personally intervened to facilitate the adoption over the objection of a local team tasked with ensuring the best interests of the children. A former DHS worker corroborated this account, which was detailed in a previous Arkansas Times story.

Email exchanges between Harris and Blucker obtained under the FOIA indicate a complicated working relationship, but they give little indication that Harris felt threatened by DHS. If anything, the balance of power seems to flow the other way. In March 2013, for example, when the legisla-

ture was in session, Harris took to the floor of the House to hold up a routine DHS spending bill. In an email, Harris told Blucker that after he “spoke out against SB 737, an appropriation, it failed miserably. Only garnered 36 votes.” A Democrat-Gazette report found that Harris did indeed ask his colleagues to block that bill. Wells told the newspaper that Harris’ request for a meeting concerned a constituent, not the Harrises’ own adoption.

In addition to leverage over the DHS budget, Harris also held two committee positions with influence over the agency. In the 2015 session, he sat on Joint Performance Review, which executes periodic inquiries into state agencies and services, and served as vice-chair of the House Committee on Aging, Children and Youth, Legislative & Military Affairs, a panel likely to originate legislation pertaining to the DHS Division of Children and Family Services. In the wake of the rehoming controversy this spring, Harris stepped down from Joint Performance Review and relinquished his vice-chairmanship on Children and Youth, although he still remains a voting member of the latter committee.

In another exchange, Harris reprimanded Sandi Doherty, a DHS administrator who works under Blucker, copying both women on the email: “Sandi, after talking to Marsha, you were not very pleasant. [Blucker] is never to [sic] busy to deal with matters concerning foster care. … This is not the time to have a breakdown in our relationship.” The email was sent shortly after Mary and Annie were sent to live with the Francises, an event that Harris has said Blucker was aware of.

There is nothing improper in itself about a legislator holding up a budget item or emailing agency administrators — but the tone of these exchanges is a far cry from Harris’ narrative in which DHS bullied his family into a corner.

Though the exchanges show Harris clearly wielded influence with Blucker in general, however, they give no insight into the events surrounding the adoption of the three girls. Confidentiality rules prevent DHS from releasing any information related to specific children or specific adoptions, and the exchanges between Blucker and Harris have been heavily redacted. Webb, the DHS spokesperson, also said at least 30 emails were not released under the FOIA request because the entirety of the contents concerned specific adoptions. It’s impossible to know if those emails

concern the Harris adoption or different cases, unless an official investigation grants access to those records and others.

Will such an investigation ever occur? After the news broke of the rehoming, Gov. Hutchinson ordered a review of DCFS policies regarding adoption and post-adoptive services.

But Paul Vincent, the Alabama-based consultant performing the review, told the Times that he was not asked to investigate whether Harris improperly influenced DHS or administrators at DHS improperly acted on Harris’ behalf.

“I have looked broadly at the system. ... I haven’t reviewed the Harris case or interviewed anyone specifically about it,” Vincent wrote in an email.

When asked whether Rep. Harris needed to face additional consequences, Gov. Hutchinson said only, “I don’t want to comment on any investigation that may be ongoing.”

Speaker Gillam said in an email that there were “numerous inquiries ongoing into practices of DHS including [Joint Performance Review] and from the Governor’s office, [and] until I have all of that information before me it would be premature to speculate what should or should not be done.” As for concerns about how the adoption was handled, he said, “DHS has not come to me with any allegation that Rep. Harris misused his office. Should information like that about any member come to my attention, then I will certainly do what is within my power to correct it.” But since the Harts allege collusion between Harris and a top DHS administrator, it is questionable whether DHS itself would step forward with such allegations.

Rep. Bragg, the House Majority Leader, said by email, “I think the whole story must come out before this can be determined in full. We need to understand the extent of the relationship between Justin Harris and DHS. I think that is one of the key drivers in this situation. A resignation now would be premature until we know fully both sides of the story.”

That represents a significant evolution since the rehoming became public in March, when Bragg said of Harris, “I know him to be a dedicated Christian, a family man with the highest integrity who cares deeply for the welfare of children.” Recently, when asked about the need for an investigation, Bragg said, “I do think these questions need to be answered. … I am waiting on the results of both the ABC “20/20” investigation and Mr.

Vincent’s investigation.”

It’s now widely known that the network TV newsmagazine has been looking into the Harris story for at least the past month and has interviewed the Harrises and other individuals involved in the story. Workers at Growing God’s Kingdom have confirmed that “20/20” camera crews have been filming at the preschool in recent weeks, evidently with the blessing of the Harrises. To date, “20/20” has not contacted the Times, but sources have said that the program will likely air sometime this summer to a national audience. However, ABC is subject to the same limits as any other media outlet; no journalism can substitute for an officially sanctioned investigation with access to confidential files and subpoena power.

While Republican leaders still seem hesitant to criticize Harris, the workers at Growing God’s Kingdom who saw the events leading up to the rehoming firsthand have a different perspective. Two of the current workers said they decided to talk to the Times — despite the obvious risk to their jobs — out of a sense of partial responsibility that they didn’t speak up for Mary and Annie when the girls lived at the Harris home.

“This was way out of control,” said the worker quoted throughout this piece. “You know how you have an ‘aha moment’? I said the other day to [a co-worker], ‘Why didn’t any of us make a hotline call?’ She said, ‘I don’t know’ … I think because Justin is so religious, we sort of accepted it.”

A second worker echoed those sentiments. “When all this blew up, I felt so guilty. We’re supposed to be mandated reporters — but all these things happened, like, little bitty things at a time. You’re just thinking, ‘Well, it’s your boss, so … .’ It’s weird, being in that situation.

“That’s why I decided to talk. … I was just feeling so guilty for not saying anything,” she said.

The first worker also said she was disturbed by the allegations about DHS. “DHS needs to be completely cracked open … if you’re letting Justin have this much power, something is wrong,” she said. And she said she was tired of Harris portraying his troubles as the product of partisan politics or religious persecution. “You can’t hide behind being a Christian, being a Republican. … I’m both of those, and what do people think when you say, ‘Oh, I’m a Christian’ all the time?”

“It has to stop,” she said. www.arktimes.com

MAY 28, 2015

49

Hey, do this!

JUNE

Each Wednesday night, the Oxford American presents Local Live at South on Main. The free concert series welcomes top local and regional music to the South on Main stage. All shows start at 7:30 p.m.

JUNE 3: CUTTHROAT TROUT JUNE 10: MUSIC FROM GUYS AND DOLLS JUNE 17: STUART BAER WITH BUGTUSSLE SLIM JUNE 24: SAD DADDY JULY 1: ARKANSAS DIRT BOYS

Food, Music, Entertainment and everything else that’s MAY 29

SAD DADDY

As part of the Butler Center’s Arkansas Sounds Music Series, Arkansas’s own, THE WILDFLOWERS, perform live at the RON ROBINSON THEATER. The newly formed folk-country outfit features the lovely and talented Amy Garland, Bonnie Montgomery and Mandy McBryde. The concert starts at 7 p.m. and will include a brief solo set by each artist, followed by a full set by the trio with a backing band.

Admission is $10.

JUNE 5

Country superstar TIM MCGRAW returns to VERIZON ARENA on his Shotgun Rider Tour with special guests Billy Currington and Chase Bryant.

The show starts at 7 p.m.

Tickets are $43-$74.50 and available through Ticketmaster at www. ticketmaster.com or by phone at 800-745-3000.

JUNE 13

RISTORANTE CAPEO hosts a monthly wine dinner on the 2nd Monday of each month beginning at 6:30 p.m.

For $55 per person, the dinner includes three full courses and three wine pairings. Reserve your space now by calling 501-376-3463 or visit capeo.us.

WILDWOOD’S 17TH ANNUAL WINE & FOOD FESTIVAL May 29, 6:30, annual fundraiser featuring over a hundred wines from Glazer’s Distributors, an amazing selection of tasting portions from great local restaurants, wiine cork pull with bottles donated by O’Looneys Wine and Spirits, Wildwood’s Board of Directors and local liquor and wine stores, a silent auction with items from great local businesses such as Chenal Country Club, Copeland’s, Cupcake Factory, The Southern Gourmasian, Blue Cake Company, SO, Table 28, 1620 Savoy, Bravo!, and special Wildwood Park exclusives, and more. $75, DIY Art Studio, Cork Pull and Silent Auction. Live music all night by The Dizzy 7 featuring Craig Wilson. All proceeds benefit arts education and the botanical gardens

JUNE 5

CELEBRATE THE GRAPE: WINE AND JAZZ FESTIVAL BENEFITING THE ARGENTA ARTS DISTRICT. Friday, June 5 6-9 at the ARGENTA FARMERS MARKET PLAZA. Over 300 wines from all over the world. Eight local restaurants: Arkansas Ale House, Arkansas Fresh Bakery, Ken Walker Artisan Cheese, Cocoa Rouge Chocolates, Griffiti’s Italian Restaurant, SO Restaurant-Bar, Two Sisters Catering and Cafe and Whole Hog NLR. Early tickets $30 at the door $40 Go to Eventbrite and search Celebrate the Grape 2015. Print your tickets and bring to the event.

JUNE 9

SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION is this month’s CLASSIC MOVIE SERIES FEATURE FILM AT RIVERDALE 10. The movie begins at 7 p.m. Admission is $5. Riverdale is the only theater in the state serving beer and wine. For a list of current and coming attractions, visit www.riverdale10.com.

QUIET RIOT plays the CenterStage Event Center at CHOCTAW CASINO in Pocola, Okla., at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25 and available through Ticketmaster at 800-745-3000 or www.ticketmaster. com. For a complete musical lineup, visit www.choctawcasinos.com.

MAY 28, 2015

ARKANSAS TIMES

Head over to NORTH LITTLE ROCK for the family-friendly LEGENDS OF ARGENTA, presented by 107 Liquor. Enjoy music from Runaway Planet, The Beckham Bros. and FreeVerse.

ReCreation Studios will be on hand with stilt walkers plus hoop dance, aerial silks and fire performances. Paul Prater, awardwinning mind reader, performer and entertainer, will have a performance to blow your mind. The Waffle Wagon and Agrilla the Bun food trucks will take care of hunger needs. Diamond Bear Brewing Company and Moody Brews will have icy cold beverages.

This event is a fundraiser for the main Legends of Arkansas festival on September 19. Admission to the event is free and will be held in the historic Argenta Arts District at The Plaza, 520 Main St.

THE ARKANSAS REPERTORY THEATRE presents one of the most bracing and critically acclaimed plays in recent Broadway history, August: OSAGE COUNTY, a darkly comedic portrait of the dysfunctional American family at its finest— and absolute worst. Opening night is Friday, June 5 at 8 p.m. with a post-show reception afterwards. Complimentary champagne and light hors d’oeuvres will be served. For special events, show times and tickets, visit www.therep.org.

The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra announces a comprehensive five-day SUMMER STRINGS CAMP for violin, viola, cello and double bass players at the elementary, junior high and high school levels.

Students must have had one year of string study on their instruments. Activities include chamber music ensembles, music theory and listening classes, a guest artist presentation and sectionals focusing on the South Region audition materials. The camp will take place from 1:30-5 p.m. daily with concerts on Fridays at 4:30 p.m. For application information, visit www.arkansassymphony.org.

JUNE 26

PIANIST BOB BOYD is the featured guest for the ARKANSAS JAZZ EXPERIENCE hosted by the Hot Springs Jazz Society and the Quapaw Baths & Spa. You may remember Bob as the retired owner of Boyd Music Center, but did you know that he has been playing the piano in bands since 1955? Come enjoy Bob and other performers while you dance the night away to a great mix of swing, Cajun and popular jazz from all decades. The show begins at 6pm at Quapaw Bath & Spa’s historic bathhouse. Tickets are $10 for Hot Springs Jazz Society Members and $15 for non-members. Seating is first come first served and the doors open at 5:30.

Become a NEW member of the Hot Springs Jazz Society that evening and you’ll receive your entrance to the performance for free. For more information call (501) 627-2425, email HSJazzSociety@gmail.com or visit HSJazzSociety.org

JUNE 27

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MAY 30

JUNE 5-JUNE 21

JUNE 22-26

Celebrity Attractions is proud to bring GIMME ABBEY, inspired

by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones to the FIRST SECURITY AMPHITHEATER. Don’t miss two of the best tribute bands in the world on one stage for one night only. Tickets are $30-$52.50 and available through Ticketmaster at www.ticketmaster.com or by calling 800-982-ARTS or 501-244-8800.

JUNE 8

MAY 29

Thank you!

FUN!

JUNE 6

Join in the CHEETAH CHASE 5K AND 1K kids race to support the Little Rock Zoo. The event starts at 8 a.m. Participants receive free admission to the zoo that day and a free race tee shirt. Get into the spirit with fun animal-themed attire.

Prizes will be awarded for best costumes. For details, visit www.littlerockzoo.com.

JUNE 23-JULY 18

Celebrate Independence Day with THE STAR SPANGLED GIRL, a happy comedy written by one of America’s finest – Neil Simon – taking center stage at MURRY’S DINNER PLAYHOUSE. The show deals with two earnest young men struggling to put out a “protest” magazine, and the all-American girl who moves in next door and manages to send both of them into a romantic tailspin. For show times and tickets, visit www.murrysdp.com.

RETAIL REVAMP Lawrie Rash returns Pleasant Valley Plaza to its former glory

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ometimes setbacks present opportunities for new beginnings. This was the case for Lawrie Rash, owner of Ken Rash’s Outdoor Furniture, back in 2013. Cantrell Road was in the process of being widened, which meant all of the land to within five feet of the building that housed the store was taken by eminent domain.

It wasn’t a situation conducive to maintaining a retail business. It was time to move.

Rash looked at 25 buildings in Little Rock to find a replacement for the 20,000 square feet at the old location, but nothing was right.

“Trying to find an adequate space was difficult,” she said. Rash said she realized it would cost as much, if not less, to buy a shopping center than it would to buy a standalone building.

Eventually she approached the owners of Pleasant Valley Plaza, located at 11220 Rodney Parham Road, about purchasing the strip center.

Although the center wasn’t currently for sale, it had a 70 percent vacancy rate and was in need of improvements. The owners accepted her offer, and almost a year later, in March 2013, Ken Rash’s had a new, improved home.

Rash spent close to half a million dollars on renovations, including combining eight storefront units into one 14,000 square-foot space to house Ken Rash’s. She also had the exterior façade updated.

“I wanted to bring it back to the high-end shopping center it once was,” Rash said. “It used to have some of the oldest, most established

shops in town – it had a lot of old, fine places.”

One thing she refused to do, however, was get rid of the center’s distinctive red tile roof.

“I wanted to keep it because it made [the building] different from a regular strip center,” she said.

The renovations revitalized the center, and now it’s at full occupancy with Ken Rash’s,

“They’re delighted with the parking situation,” she said, adding that the store’s easy access to Interstate 430 makes the location more accessible for clients who live in outlying areas like Conway, Benton, Bryant and Hot Springs.

In addition, customers from the Heights and Hillcrest don’t have to go too far west, while those who live in far West Little Rock don’t have

“I wanted to bring it back to the high-end shopping center it once was. It used to have some of the oldest, most established shops in town – it had a lot of old, fine places.”

Delicious Temptations, Shag Salon, Culture Clothing Co., Sylvan Learning Center, Dorsey and Company CPAs, and Arkansas Real Estate School/Danali Real Estate. The newest tenant, Cabbage Rose Floral, is building out their space and should be open in June.

Rash said that although the major work is complete, she’ll continue to do improvements to the center, including upgrading the landscape and lighting.

Asked if it was difficult for her customers to make the transition to a new location, Rash said her clients have found that Pleasant Valley Plaza is a better, more convenient location.

to trek as far into town as they used to.

Moving into the new space was an opportunity to add new inventory to the casual/outdoor furniture and accessories store, Rash said.

One new line is Realfyre gas logs, which add ambiance to your home fireplace without the mess and hazards of real wood. Rash also has everything you need for your patio or outdoor kitchen, and the largest selection of kitchen barstools in the state.

After two years in its new home, Ken Rash’s is thriving, and it’s obvious that under the vision and ownership of Lawrie Rash that Pleasant Valley Plaza will continue to thrive as well.

ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT www.arktimes.com www.arktimes.com

MAY 28, 2015 MAY 28, 2015

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IGIBON

Same location, same management

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SYLVAN LEARNING

Providing enrichment, not just remediation

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ylvan Learning Center’s Little Rock location has been located in the Pleasant Valley Plaza shopping center for about six years, and is probably best known for the tutoring services it offers kids who are struggling with school, but there are also opportunities for kids of all abilities to expand their learning in science, technology, engineering and math (better known as STEM) areas.

Sylvan offers engineering and technology, and Robotics for Kids classes for grades 2-6. It’s a hands-on class where kids learn to build and program robots with Lego bricks and software. Coding for Kids is for students in grades 3-5 and offers them the ability to learn about video game design and computer programming. In addition to classes during the school year, robotics and coding camps are offered in the summer and during school breaks. These camps are a great way to keep kids actively engaged in learning while out of school.

Sylvan Learning has also kept pace with changes in technology, with students and tutors working together on iPads. Parents can also monitor their child’s progress through an online reporting system, and the Sylvan Play app has 31 grade- and ageappropriate, curriculum-based games for kids to play.

Along with the new classes, Sylvan Learning still offers the best reading, math, and writing tutoring and homework help, as well as ACT and SAT test preparation.

For more information about the services they offer, visit sylvanlearning.com.

hile a shopping center getting a total makeover is a good thing, sometimes the process can get a little bumpy for business owners. It can be difficult to manage things through the construction period, and customers can get confused about what’s going on during the transition.

Igibon, a sushi restaurant that’s occupied the same space in the Marketplace Shopping Center for almost 20 years, has faced some challenges while the shopping center has done extensive renovations throughout the center. Food bloggers wrote last year that Igibon would be forced to close last December due to increased rents and lower traffic because of the construction. Fortunately, Igibon’s faithful following of customers rallied around the restaurant, and owner Crystal Bataa said she was able to negotiate a favorable lease arrangement for 2015.

Bataa, who bought the restaurant six years ago, said that although the immediate crisis was resolved, there’s still been some lingering confusion. She said she wants her customers to know there’s been no change in ownership.

“It’s the same people, the same owner, the same crew,” she said.

The exterior construction on the Igibon space is now complete. Bataa said she’s in the process of buying new signage. The current lease is up at the end of the year, and Bataa said she’s hopeful that she and the new management company can agree on a workable lease for the future.

“I understand the rent will go up because they have costs because of the renovations,” she said. “As long as [the lease] is reasonable for us, then we will stay.”

She said she also wants to thank her customers for their support and loyalty.

“Thank you for allowing us to be part of the community,” she said.

CULTURE CLOTHING CO. Creating a destination at Pleasant Valley Plaza

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ne of Pleasant Valley Plaza’s newest tenants is Culture Clothing Co., which opened Sept. 1. The men’s clothing store’s philosophy is it’s a boutique store with mall prices for the everyday man, Cade Williams, Culture Clothing’s owner, said. He said stores like Rag and Bone, Urban Outfitters, and J. Crew have influenced the store’s concept of selling quality casual men’s clothes at an affordable price.

“We don’t do any markups,” he said.

Williams said he chose Pleasant Valley Plaza because it’s in an area that’s accessible to customers but doesn’t have the general foot traffic that other, larger centers have.

“I really wanted to use this location because it’s right off the beaten path,” he said, adding that he wants to create a destination shopping experience that draws people who want to buy, not browse.

“It’s all about creating a customer experience,” he said, adding that shoppers work with him directly when they enter the store.

“I’m their personal stylist, their personal shopper,” he

said. “I can work with them to put a whole outfit together or custom tailor their entire wardrobe.”

In addition to personal service from Williams, the store also offers free alteration, free shipping and custom orders.

Open Monday thru Saturday Lunch: 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Dinner: 5:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

121 North Rodney Parham Road, Little Rock 501.217.8888 52 52

MAY 28, 2015 MAY 28, 2015

ARKANSAS TIMES ARKANSAS TIMES

ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT

ALL THRU THE HOUSE

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ne of the benefits of longevity is that you have a historical perspective on events, and when it comes to the Marketplace Shopping Center, Janice Turnage, co-owner of the store All Thru the House, has been in the area since the beginning. All Thru the House is an offshoot of the Marketplace Pharmacy and Gifts, which opened in Marketplace back in 1980.

“We were one of the first [tenants] in the center,” Turnage said. The pharmacy later moved to their own building on neighboring Huron Lane. It’s also home to All Thru the House, which has been in business for 15 years.

Turnage said she’s excited about the renovations that are being done to Marketplace, which has kept the same exterior since it opened.

“I’m hoping the new businesses will bring more traffic to the area,” she said.

“I think Marketplace is so much more accessible than other places in West Little Rock – you can pull up in front of the store and run in. It’s a nice place where you can get in and out [of the stores without too much trouble].”

“I’m hoping the new businesses will bring more traffic to the area.”

Any new or returning shoppers to Marketplace should also acquaint themselves with Turnage’s store. All Thru the House has been a fixture in the neighborhood for more than a decade, and Turnage, who runs it with her daughter, said the store specializes in home décor, gifts and accessories that can’t be found anywhere else. In fact, All Thru the House is now the only store in Little Rock that carries the full line of the popular Department 56 figurines.

In addition to the home items, the store also stocks children’s clothes, with girls’ sizes up to 14. Turnage said there are lots of brands to choose from, and the store has made children’s clothing a priority. There’s also free gift wrap, and the owners will also help you decorate and accessorize your home.

But what makes All Thru the House really special is that they deliver the type of service that makes customers feel like they’re one of the family.

“We know 85 percent of our customers by first name,’ Turnage said.

NEW STEM PROGRAMS

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Pleasant Valley Plaza’s property manager gives the answers

Bring in this Ad and receive $25 off an EDGE class

T

hree decades ago, Rodney Parham Road was a popular shopping destination, home of boutiques and stores that would become Little Rock institutions.

But in the 90s and 2000s, residential growth moved further west and newer, shinier shopping centers were built, which drew big national chains and lured some of the local favorites away. With the renewal of Pleasant Valley Plaza and the Marketplace Shopping Center, Rodney Parham is receiving some much-needed attention.

“The Rodney Parham corridor has always been a very strong traffic generator for retailers and restaurants,” Jill Bryant of West Group Real Estate said.

Bryant took over management of Pleasant Valley Plaza this spring.

She gave three reasons why Rodney Parham’s an ideal location for retail: “one, because it is a main artery for many housing subdivisions of varying price ranges/income levels, not to mention businesses; two, it is a main corridor for accessing [Interstate430]andisanalternate route for many people avoiding higher traffic on Cantrell and Chenal; and most importantly, it is conveniently located at the eastern edge of the newer areas of town without having the higher rent rates the west end of town commands right now.”

If you want your business to be centrally located, then Rodney Parham is the place to be.

“I believe Rodney Parham has excellent potential for many types of office and retail properties and will continue to improve west of I-430,” Bryant said. “The renovations done by Pleasant Valley Plaza and Market Street Shopping Center and others on Rodney Parham have only increased the viability of this corridor. Rodney Parham was Chenal Parkway in its heyday.

And like most ‘oldies’, it’s still a good one.”

Call us Today for Information and Schedule Sylvan Learning of Little Rock EDGE

501-791-9200

11220 N. Rodney Parham Road, Suite 1

littlerock@midsouthsylvan.com www.SylvanLearning.com

We’ve Got Dad Covered!

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PROVISIONS FOR THE CULTURED GENTLEMAN 11220 N Rodney Parham Rd. Suite 3|501.246.5466|shopcultureclothing.com ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT www.arktimes.com www.arktimes.com

MAY 28, 2015 MAY 28, 2015

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stylesheet Here comes the

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Sun!

ith the Memorial Day holiday, it’s officially summer! While the Arkansas weather hasn’t quite

gotten the memo yet, we’re ready to completely shed our sweaters and closed-toe shoes for the fun fashion ideas for summer. Summer also means an opportunity to celebrate all the dads out there. Father’s Day is right around the corner so find some ideas for him too within the next pages.

by

JUNE EDITION

Sock it to me!

This Southern Fox has got the men in your life covered!

While you’re out shopping for your favorite southern finds, pick up a pair, or two, of these quirky original socks that the men in your life are sure to love. These socks can add that touch of fun to an otherwise dull office suit.

THE SOUTHERN FOX 304 Main St., NLR, Inside Galaxy Furniture 375.DESK (3375)

Ommmmm!

A blend of fashion-forward silhouettes and hand-dyed prints with functional, active, comfort-wear elements, Omgirl is designed to empower a woman’s multifaceted lifestyle, to express their individuality, and to look and feel their best!

They are proudly made in Los Angeles, CA from fabric to finishing. Find these tanks and other products by Omgirl at Ember.

EMBER 5709 Kavanaugh Blvd., 225.3220, shopemberfashion.com

Celebrate

5709 KAVANAUGH BOULEVARD LITTLE ROCK, AR 72207 WWW.SHOPEMBERFASHION.COM 501.225.3220

Dads & Grads!

501.225.5056

Gifts, Home Décor, Clothing & Accessories.

501.907.8999

• On-line Refills • Delivery Available • Vaccines • Nursing Home Services

11316 Huron Lane • West Little Rock 54 54

MAY 28, 2015 MAY 28, 2015

ARKANSAS TIMES ARKANSAS TIMES

ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT

June is the month for Dads and Grads and Culture has you covered for both. With their classic styling, they can make sure your guy is rocking the “dad bod” with style! You can’t go wrong with a great pair of shorts and lightweight polo.

Good grooming goes a long way. With the beard oils and washes available at Culture, it’s easy to make it a part of your normal routine. A canvas, zippered bag means never having to search for the products when you’re ready to use them. Find lots of great accessories for grads like this electric watch (now when he is late to class, he can’t blame his watch). Shop Culture for all of the best in summer clothing and accessories.

CULTURE CLOTHING 11220 N. Rodney Parham Rd., Ste. 3, 246.5466 shopcultureclothing.com

ARKANSAS TIMES MARKETPLACE

Drivers Please be aWare, it’s arkansas state laW: Use of bicycles or animals

Every person riding a bicycle or an animal, or driving any animal drawing a vehicle upon a highway, shall have all the rights and all of the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle, except those provisions of this act which by their nature can have no applicability.

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overtaking a bicycle

The driver of a motor vehicle overtaking a bicycle proceeding in the same direction on a roadway shall exercise due care and pass to the left at a safe distance of not less than three feet (3’) and shall not again drive to the right side of the roadway until safely clear of the overtaken bicycle.

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IN THE CIRCUIT OF PULASKI COUNTY, ARKANSAS TIMES 14TH DIVISION - PROBATE. IN THE MATTER OF THE ESTATE OF HATTIE JOE OTT, DECEASED CASE NO. 60PR-15-552 NOTICE The last know address of the decedent: Date of death: October 15, 2011. The undersigned, john D. Ott, II, was appointed Personal Representatives of the estates of the above named decedent by Order dated April 21, 2015.

All persons having claim against the estate must exhibit them, duly verified, to the undersigned with six (6) months from the date of the first publication of this notice, or they shall be forever barred and precluded from any benefit in the estate. Provided that claims for injury or death caused by the negligence of the decedent shall be filed within six (6) month from the date of the first publication of the notice or they shall be forever barred and precluded from any benefit in such estate. This notice first published 21 day of May, 2015. John D. Ott, 4635 Bear skin Lake Rd. Scott, Arkansas 72142. PREPARED BY: James R. Wallace, P.A. Wallace, Martin, Duke & Russell, PLLC. 212 Center Street, Suite 100. Little Rock, Arkansas 72201 Attorney for Estate.

sip LOCAL

Elite Programs of HALOS partnered with Rose City community Church of Christ and North Little Rock Academy are applying for a 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant. The program will be located in the Rose City Community of North Little Rock at 5601 Lynch Drive at the Rose City Church of Christ. For further information please contact Dorothy Derico at (501) 912-0886 or Chaka Ford at (501) 580-0879. This program does not discriminate against race, social background, gender, or disabilities.

anD cyclists, Please remember...

You’re vehicles on the road, just like cars and motorcycles and must obey all traffic laws— signal, ride on the right side of the road and yield to traffic normally. Make eye contact with motorists. Be visible. Be predictable. Heads up, think ahead.

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ARKANSAS TIMES

DOWNLOAD THE COMPLETELY NEW COCKTAIL COMPASS FOR IPHONE & ANDROID

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ARKANSAS TIMES www.arktimes.com

MAY 28, 2015

55

PICK YOUR POISON EITHER WAY, YOUR HEALTH TAKES A HIT

Why replace smoking with chew? Either way, you’re damaging your body with their harmful chemicals.

You can’t replace your health. Call 1-800-QUIT-NOW for resources to help you live tobacco and nicotine-free.

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MAY 28, 2015

ARKANSAS TIMES