Arkansas Times | February 2022

NEW STATE PARKS DIRECTOR | PRESIDENTS BEHAVING BADLY | OPERA’S FUTURE IN ARKANSAS

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FEBRUARY 2022

OF VINO’S THE STORY

SAVVYKIDS: MENTAL HEALTH

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FEBRUARY 2022 1

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FEBRUARY 2022 ‘I DON’T ACT LIKE I USED TO’: Joshua Asante’s latest release documents a decade of self-made sound.

FEATURES

25 EXCAVATING VINO’S

An oral history of the Little Rock institution, built on pizza and punk rock.

By Lindsey Millar and Rhett Brinkley

36 VIVA ALFREDO

MaryAnn Strange’s Cajun-inspired food is developing a devoted following in Conway.

By Stephanie Smittle

42 BUNS AND BRISKET

Wild Sweet William’s and Knightfire BBQ are turning out the goods in Searcy.

By Lindsey Millar

48 SURVEY SAYS

The results of our annual restaurant contest.

9 THE FRONT

Q&A: With Shea Lewis, new director of the Arkansas State Parks system.

The Big Pic: New pump track at Big Rock Quarry for cyclists of all skill levels.

13 THE TO-DO LIST

“Hamilton” at Robinson, “A Little Night Music” in Argenta, “School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play” at The Rep, an avant garde string quartet/flower pot performance and more.

19 NEWS & POLITICS

State laws on corporal punishment may be archaic, but they’re also commonplace.

By Austin Bailey

65 SAVVY KIDS

Children’s mental health during COVID-19.

By Katherine Wyrick

75 CULTURE

78 CULTURE

A Q&A with musician Joshua Asante (pictured above).

By Stephanie Smittle

82 NEWS & POLITICS

Trump’s place in the pantheon of presidents behaving badly.

By Ernest Dumas

86 CANNABIZ

Fred Owens, new CEO of Opera in the Rock, aims to upend Arkansans’ expectations about the art form.

On the movement to legalize recreational marijuana, and the upcoming Medical Marijuana and Wellness Expo.

By Werner Trieschmann

By Griffin Coop

90 THE OBSERVER ON THE COVER: Scott Cook at Vino’s, by Matthew Martin.

4 FEBRUARY 2022 4 FEBRUARY 2022

ARKANSAS TIMES ARKANSAS TIMES

Tips on thriving online during the plague era.

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PHARMACY • UNIQUE GIFTS ONE-STOP SHOP SERVING LITTLE ROCK SINCE 1922 • 2801 KAVANAUGH LITTLE ROCK 501.663.4131

PUBLISHER Alan Leveritt EDITOR Lindsey Millar CREATIVE DIRECTOR Mandy Keener SENIOR EDITOR Max Brantley MANAGING EDITOR Austin Bailey ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR Stephanie Smittle ASSOCIATE EDITOR Rhett Brinkley CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Mara Leveritt PHOTOGRAPHER Brian Chilson DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL STRATEGY Jordan Little ADVERTISING ART DIRECTOR Mike Spain GRAPHIC DESIGNER Katie Hassell

CANCER IS COMPLICATED That’s why I chose UAMS.

DIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING Phyllis A. Britton ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Brooke Wallace, Lee Major, Terrell Jacob and Kaitlyn Looney ADVERTISING TRAFFIC MANAGER Roland R. Gladden IT DIRECTOR Robert Curfman CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Jackson Gladden CONTROLLER Weldon Wilson BILLING/COLLECTIONS Charlotte Key PRODUCTION MANAGER Ira Hocut (1954-2009)

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ARKANSAS TIMES

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VOLUME 48, ISSUE 6 ARKANSAS TIMES (ISSN 0164-6273) is published each month by Arkansas Times Limited Partnership, 201 East Markham Street, Suite 200, Little Rock, Arkansas, 72201, phone (501) 375-2985. Periodical postage paid at Little Rock, Arkansas, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to ARKANSAS TIMES, 201 EAST MRKHAM STREET, SUITE 200, Little Rock, AR, 72201. Subscription prices are $60 for one year. For subscriber service call (501) 375-2985. Current single-copy price is $5, free in Pulaski County. Single issues are available by mail at $5.00 each, postage paid. Payment must accompany all orders. Reproduction or use in whole or in part of the contents without the written consent of the publishers is prohibited. Manuscripts and artwork will not be returned or acknowledged unless sufficient return postage and a self-addressed stamped envelope are included. All materials are handled with due care; however, the publisher assumes no responsibility for care and safe return of unsolicited materials. All letters sent to ARKANSAS TIMES will be treated as intended for publication and are subject to ARKANSAS TIMES’ unrestricted right to edit or to comment editorially. ©2022 ARKANSAS TIMES LIMITED PARTNERSHIP

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CELEBRATING BLACK HISTORY

Join Arkansas PBS this month as we celebrate Black history and all its facets.

Feb. 1

8 p.m.

IN THEIR WORDS

Feb. 4

8 p.m.

MUHAMMAD ALI

Feb. 8

8 p.m.

AMERICAN MASTERS

Feb. 7

8 p.m.

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE

9 p.m.

INDEPENDENT LENS

Feb. 11

8 p.m.

MUHAMMAD ALI

Feb. 13

10 p.m.

AMERICAN MASTERS

Feb. 14

8 p.m.

DREAM LAND: LITTLE ROCK’S WEST NINTH STREET

Feb. 15

8 p.m.

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE

Feb. 18

8 p.m.

MUHAMMAD ALI

Feb. 20

9:30 p.m.

10:30 p.m.

DREAM LAND: LITTLE ROCK’S WEST NINTH STREET THIS LITTLE LIGHT OF MINE: THE LEGACY OF FANNIE LOU HAMER

Feb. 22

8 p.m.

FANNIE LOU HAMER’S AMERICA: AN AMERICA REFRAMED SPECIAL

Feb. 25

8 p.m.

SLAVERY BY ANOTHER NAME

Chuck Berry

Round Two: What’s My Name?

Marian Anderson: The Whole World in Her Hands Riveted: The History of Jeans Owned: A Tale of Two Americas Round Three: The Rivalry Sammy Davis Jr.

The American Diplomat Round Four: The Spell Remains

See the complete schedule and all the ways to watch at myarpbs.org/watch.

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FEBRUARY 2022 7

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ARKANSAS TIMES

THE FRONT Q&A

THE PERKS OF PUBLIC PARKS A Q&A WITH ARKANSAS STATE PARKS DIRECTOR SHEA LEWIS.

While plenty of institutions suffer through this pandemic era, Arkansas State Parks thrives, offering clean, fresh air, plenty of space to social distance and no entry fees. Visitor numbers are way up, and the trend shows no signs of slowing. As the new director of the Arkansas State Parks system, Hot Springs resident Shea Lewis aims to keep the momentum going. A 24-year veteran of Arkansas State Parks, Lewis claimed his new post Jan. 1, taking the place of retiring longtime director Grady Spann.

AGE: 47 FAVORITE OUTDOOR ACTIVITY: Birding, hiking, mountain biking and trout fishing

Perhaps the biggest news in many years for Arkansas State Parks was the award of $20.5 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation, which, coupled with a matching grant from the Walton Family Foundation, will allow the state to finish the Delta Heritage Trail.

What’s the timeline on that and what will that trail mean for the state?

This investment in the Arkansas Delta and at Delta Heritage State Park is going to have an impact for years to come. This is the single largest investment since the building of Mount Magazine State Park. When you bring partners to the table, great things can happen. The goal is to have the trail complete early in 2025.

Maybe it’s like picking your favorite child, but what’s your favorite state park and why?

FAVORITE SEASON IN ARKANSAS: Of course picking favorites can get me in trouSpring and fall ble with our rangers … . I love the parks where the natural, cultural and historical resources collide into one story. Several places come to Another significant trend, aided by the Walton mind. Hobbs State Park-Conservation Area, Foundation via the Arkansas Parks and RecrePetit Jean State Park or Moro Bay State Park. ation Foundation, has been the creation of the If I had to choose one, due to the experience I Monument mountain bike trails at a number had working at Village Creek State Park, I hold of parks throughout the state. Are there new that place near and dear to my heart. The parks and natural areas on trails coming? How have those trails benefited State Parks? the unique geological feature of Crowley’s Ridge are like nowhere else.

The impact of the Monument Trails is still being realized. At the Plus, the birding in eastern Arkansas is great.

Monument Trail parks — Hobbs State Park-Conservation Area, Mount Nebo State Park, Devil’s Den State Park and Pinnacle Mountain State At least in the first year of the pandemic, Arkansas State Parks Park — the trails have opened the door to a new audience visiting broke all sorts of records for visitors. Has that trend kept up? those parks. We are seeing increases in overnight stays at those Yes, the trend continues. There’s no doubt that Arkansas State Parks parks, as well as out-of-state visitors we haven’t attracted before. For and other outdoor areas have been essential and important spaces example, it is not uncommon to see guests from Memphis at Pinnacle during the pandemic. It has been an honor to welcome new guests and Mountain and guests from Louisiana at Mount Nebo. As far as new visitors that have found us, as well as those that have been guests for trails, yes, we are in the planning and evaluation stage at several locamuch longer. In a record-setting year of 2021, we welcomed over 10 tions but no announcements have been made; more to come in 2022. million guests to our parks.

— Austin Bailey ARKANSASTIMES.COM

FEBRUARY 2022 9

THE FRONT BIG PIC

PUMP IT NEW BIKE TRACK OPENS

BRIAN CHILSON

IN NORTH LITTLE ROCK.

WHEN DAD’S IN CHARGE: Rob Martin takes laps during an outing with his daughter.

T

he year is young, but you’re probably already going stir crazy. Particularly if you’re a parent of a busy child or a busy child yourself. Get yourself out of the house and onto a bike and try out North Little Rock’s new pump track at Big Rock Quarry. A pump track is a loop of small hills or rollers and berms designed so cyclists can ride it with minimal or no pedaling. The “pump” part of the name refers to the motion that riders use with their handlebars to propel themselves around the track without pedaling.

BRIAN CHILSON

The city used around $400,000 of American Rescue Plan money to build the asphalt track, which is the first phase of a broader plan that includes everything an adventurous cyclist could want: downhill mountain bike trails, cross country mountain bike skills trails, asphalt flow trails and a bicycle playground. City leaders are actively pursuing grants and private support to move forward.

EARLY BLOOMER: Catherine Martin, 3, can already navigate a pump track on her own.

10 FEBRUARY 2022

ARKANSAS TIMES

Masks Required Award Winning Ales

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SARACEN RESTAURANTS At the Red Oak Steakhouse, enjoy prime-grade beef and bison from the Quapaw herd alongside a carefully curated menu in the property’s flagship restaurant. Red Oak’s signature cuisine is presented in a class of its own, with Saracen’s focus on offering the best steaks in the South carefully managed from pasture to plate.

SPECIALS Legends Sports Bar Daily Specials: Wednesday – Crab Boil $19.89 Thursday – Smoked Pork Chop Platter $14.99

BY STEPHANIE SMITTLE The omicron variant has thrust creatives and hospitality industry workers into yet another period of uncertainty.

If you’re staying in more, now’s a great time to buy a gift certificate from your favorite bar or order merch from your favorite local musician. If you’re going out, may we suggest that you booster up, mask up, have that vaccination card ready and tip well? Gathering safely for live performance is a work in progress; be on the lookout for cancellations, policy changes or date changes, and handle them with all the grace you can summon.

JOANNE SHAW TAYLOR

WEDNESDAY 2/23. REV ROOM. 8 P.M. $20-$25.

Blues guitarist and soul singer Joanne Shaw Taylor grew up in the UK’s Black Country region, so named for the smoke and coal dust its mining and ironworking industries emitted, and she’s based in Detroit these days, working with some of Motor City’s seasoned session musicians. Her latest, “The Blues Album,” was produced and recorded by guitarists Joe Bonamassa and Josh Smith at Ocean Way Studios in Nashville, and pays homage to Albert King, Little Village and Magic Sam, among others. Check out her fierce badassery on “Let Me Down Easy,” and grab tickets at revroom.com.

QUAPAW PLAYS BRAHMS

TUESDAY 2/1. CLINTON PRESIDENTIAL CENTER. 7 P.M. $31.

If this concert were titled “Quapaw Plays Flower Pots,” would you look twice? Because that’s what’s happening for this River Rhapsody Series performance of Caroline Shaw’s “‘Boris Kerner’ for Cello and Flower Pots,” situated cleverly alongside Brahms’ String Quartet in A Minor and avant-garde composer Gyorgi Ligeti’s “Quartet No. 1 (Metamorphoses nocturnes).” If you’re only catching the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra’s mainstage concerts at Robinson Center, you’re missing out on some compelling stuff at this regular Tuesday night series; get hip at arkansassymphony.org. While you’re there, check out the plans for the Stella Boyle Smith Music Center, the symphony’s new $9 million education and performance headquarters, at which future flower pot-violin collaborations could well be held.

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FEBRUARY 2022 13

REBA MCENTIRE

JOAN MARCUS

SATURDAY 2/5. SIMMONS BANK ARENA. 8 P.M. $50-$225.

‘HAMILTON’

TUESDAY 2/8-SUNDAY 2/20. ROBINSON CENTER. $49-$149.

When does two hours and 40 minutes feel like an instant? When it’s the runtime of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s 2015 musical “Hamilton” — the story of U.S. Founding Father Alexander Hamilton told through rapidfire song, rap and spoken word, which Miranda described as “America then, as told

by America now.” The record-breaking exercise in retrospection is on the move in 2022 as a touring production, with a much-anticipated stop in Little Rock. Get tickets at celebrityattractions.com, and check out our interview with Josh Tower, who plays Aaron Burr, at arktimes.com.

‘SCHOOL GIRLS; OR, THE AFRICAN MEAN GIRLS PLAY’ SATURDAY 2/26 (PREVIEW), TUESDAY 3/1-SUNDAY 3/20.

ARKANSAS REPERTORY THEATRE.

Before COVID-19 darkened theaters across the globe, Jocelyn Bioh’s comedy about teenage girldom in Ghana was eliciting big belly laughs from audiences in packed playhouses. Now, the tale of schoolgirls clamoring to define beauty and to seek acceptance is headed to the beloved stage at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre, which charmed audiences in pandemic times with creatively staged outdoor performances of “Marie and Rosetta” and “Primating,” and a holiday return to the Main Street playhouse with “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” Get tickets at therep.org. Though the show technically premieres in March, catch a pay-what-you-can preview performance, 9 a.m., Saturday, Feb. 26. Tickets for the pay-what-you-can performance must be purchased in person at The Rep’s box office (601 Main St.) between 9 a.m.-10:30 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 19.

14 FEBRUARY 2022

ARKANSAS TIMES

Fun facts about Reba McEntire include, but are not limited to, the following: Her ragsto-riches 1991 anthem “Fancy,” originally recorded by Bobbie Gentry, is mentioned in Stephen King’s novel “Duma Key” and has become bedrock repertoire at drag shows and karaoke bars across the country. She calls her boyfriend “Sugar Tot,” and they watched “Mare of Easttown” during the pandemic.

She has her own custom “Redhead” shade of brow tint, created by her longtime makeup artist Brett Freedman, with the accompanying tagline “Reba kicks some major arch.”

And she’s contributed over 100 singles to Billboard’s country charts, 25 of which hit No. 1. Now known mostly mononymously, Reba’s joined the company of Dolly Parton and Tanya Tucker as an enduring emblem of country queendom, iconized and adored by some of the same folks who rolled their eyes in 1991 at “Is There Life Out There?” Case in point (with a spoiler warning): Reba’s triumphant — and wholly fitting — cameo as a mythical sea spirit in “Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar.” Get tickets at simmonsbankarena.com.

TODD SNIDER

THURSDAY 2/17. THE HALL. 8 P.M. $30-$50.

Oregon songwriter Todd Snider has been pissing people off with extended monologues, biting humor and folk rock since the ’90s, collaborating with the likes of Loretta Lynn and John Prine and picking up where “Alice’s Restaurant” left off. His latest, “First Agnostic Church of Hope and Wonder,” poses its narrator as “a preacher who’s full of shit,” Snider told Rolling Stone, grasping for truth in a society “divided by infinity … racially, religiously, physically, financially.” Get tickets to that tent revival at littlerockhall.com.

ARKANSASTIMES.COM

FEBRUARY 2022 15

COURTESY OF SIMMONS BANK ARENA

HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS

FRIDAY 2/4. SIMMONS BANK ARENA. 7 P.M. $27-$113.

All sports are theater at heart, and that’s part of why exhibition basketball stars The Harlem Globetrotters have remained the undisputed ambassadors of stylized hoop shooting over the years.

Initially segregated from the all-white NBA, now intertwined with the behemoth basketball association, the Globetrotters were founded on Chicago’s South Side in 1926 as the Savoy Big Five, and the revolving team’s fancy footwork and razzle-dazzle athleticism have made them a touring attraction whose appeal extends well beyond the NBA fan demographic. Get tickets at simmonsbankarena.com.

‘A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC’

WEDNESDAY 2/2-SATURDAY 2/12. ARGENTA COMMUNITY THEATER. Taking an audience’s expectations and turning them on their head is damn-near mandatory for musicals these days, but the element of surprise was never so baked into the genre’s ethos as it is postSondheim. Maybe that’s why it’s so astounding that Sondheim — the very same Sondheim that shouted “Variety, variety, variety!” at LinManuel Miranda during the incubation of “Hamilton” — penned “A Little Night Music” almost entirely in waltz meter. As famous for its rapturous melodies as for its technical challenges, “A Little Night Music” was already in the works for Argenta Community Theater last November when Sondheim’s death sent ripples of loss and outpourings of appreciation through musical theater’s throngs of devotees, though its timing is bound to make “Send in the Clowns” ring a little more bittersweetly. The North Little Rock community theater company has developed a reputation for casting Little Rock’s best, and with polished performers like Kathryn Pryor, Karen Q. Clark and Judy Trice among the players, Sondheim’s lusty Swedish serenade is in good hands. Get tickets at argentacommunitytheater.org.

16 FEBRUARY 2022

ARKANSAS TIMES

SOMA MARDI GRAS PARADE

SATURDAY 2/26. SOUTH MAIN ST., BERNICE GARDEN. NOON. FREE. Let’s face it, this decade has yet to send us a Mardi Gras worthy of howling “laissez les bons temps rouler” at the moon on Fat Tuesday, but luckily, this daytime parade in SoMa is here to give us a little revelry in a decidedly un-merry time.

Immediately following the parade, head to The Bernice Garden for The Root Cafe’s annual Beard Competition, followed by a Second Line band competition featuring several student bands from the Little Rock School District. (Do they make tuba bell covers in purple, green and gold?) Zydeco merrymakers Gerard Delafose and the Zydeco Gators close out the celebration, whose theme “Pirates and Popstars” is bound to make for some great people-watching.

GIL SHAHAM: BARBER’S VIOLIN CONCERTO SATURDAY 2/26-SUNDAY 2/27.

ROBINSON CENTER. 7:30 P.M. SAT., 3 P.M. SUN.

“Ethiopia’s Shadow in America,” a 1932 composition by Little Rock’s own Florence Price, opens this program from the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, with Tchaikovsky’s cyclical “Symphony No. 5 in E Minor” and a guest appearance from violin superstar Gil Shaham on Samuel Barber’s romantic (and only) concerto for violin. Get tickets at arkansassymphony.org, where you’ll also find details on how to join ASO conductor Geoffrey Robson for a brown bag lunch talk at noon on Thursday, Feb. 24.

CURIOUS ABOUT CANNABIS ?

Whether you currently have a medical marijuana card or are considering one.

Arkansas Times & ACIA present an informative Medical Marijuana & CBD Wellness Expo that can help answer those questions for you.

Saturday February 19TH

9AM-5PM AT THE ALBERT PIKE MASONIC CENTER 712 Scott Street, Little Rock

Attendees will receive a voucher for 50% off new patient medical marijuana certifications with our participating doctors.

You will get panel discussions from your local dispensaries, as well as keynote speakers throughout the industry including, doctors, patient advocates, pharmacists and research & education specialists.

— SATURDAY CONSUMER DAY —

• Cooking With Cannabis (CBD/THC) • Medical Marijuana 101 • Women's Health • CBD and Our Animals • MMJ Products and their BEST uses • Mental Health and Cannabis • Panel Discussions with Industry Experts • Breakout Sessions on Qualifying Conditions • Benefits of the entourage effect: Using CBD with medical marijuana • Cannabis contraindications and your medications

The Arkansas & ACIA

present

The Medical Marijuana & CBD Wellness Expo

Responsible GRowth ARkAnsAs Sponsored by:

EARLY BIRD TICKETS $15

Tickets available at centralarkansastickets.com MUST BE 21 OR OVER TO ATTEND

Lunch on Saturday provided by Scott Johnson Catering Marijuana is for use by qualified patients only. Keep out of reach of children. Marijuana use during pregnancy or breastfeeding poses potential harms.

Marijuana is not approved by the FDA to treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Do not operate a vehicle or machinery under the influence of marijuana.

Six Bridges Presents: Chip Jones The Organ Thieves THU | FEB 17 | 6:30 PM

Described as The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks meets Get Out (Kirkus Reviews), The Organ Thieves: The Shocking Story of the First Heart Transplant in the Segregated South is an investigation of racial inequality at the core of the heart transplant race.

VIRTUAL AUTHOR SESSIONS

In addition to our event in October, the Six Bridges Book Festival brings you authors and book discussions throughout the year. Register for this session and see more at SixBridgesBookFestival.org.

18 FEBRUARY 2022

ARKANSAS TIMES

NEWS & POLITICS

NOBODY BEATS ARKANSAS (AT BEATING KIDS IN SCHOOL) THE SCIENTIFICALLY AWFUL PRACTICE OF CORPORAL PUNISHMENT TRAUMATIZES A NEW GENERATION.

BY AUSTIN BAILEY

A

rkansas educator Tate Aldrich cringes when he hears people throw around the statistic that 19 U.S. states still allow corporal punishment in schools. While technically accurate, the number is wildly misleading, he said. Most of those states stopped spanking schoolchildren long ago and simply never got around to codifying the shift. Even where it’s still legal and still done, the use of violence as punishment in schools declined steadily in most places over recent decades.

That’s not the case in Arkansas, where we continue to beat our students at chart-topping rates. In the 2018-19 school year, the Arkansas Department of Education reported 13,692 uses of corporal punishment in Arkansas public schools.

“Arkansas is one of the minority of states that allows any kind of corporal punishment,” Laura Kellams, director of Northwest Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, told state senators last year. But lawmakers pushed back on a bill shielding children with disabilities from suffering violence at the hands of their educators, suggesting that children with disabilities should be treated the same as other students as much as possible and therefore should remain subject to the same physical threats. What if parents want teachers to hit their kids, Sen. Charles Beckham

THE HITS KEEP COMING: Arkansas schools ignore the science on spanking.

(R-McNeil) asked, before suggesting an opt-in amendment for the pro-spanking set. The bill died in a House committee.

Scanning the data on who gets paddled and how often quickly becomes disheartening, and damning, too. Arkansas children have it rough. While 96% of school districts nationwide prohibit corporal punishment, in Arkansas, 67% of districts have policies specifically endorsing it, Aldrich said. An award-winning classroom teacher turned Ph.D. candidate at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, Aldrich pored through policy handbooks of the more than 250 public school districts in the state to get a handle on where Arkansas teachers and administrators are still pulling out the paddle. While the Little Rock School District prohibits corporal punishment and Fayetteville schools haven’t spanked a child in decades, corporal punishment is common in small and rural districts throughout the state.

Arkansas could hardly be in worse company here.

“We’re in a small minority,” Aldrich said.

“Texas, Arkansas, Alabama and Mississippi report more than 70% of all corporal punishment administered in America’s public schools.”

Widespread distaste for Arkansas’s heavy hand with corporal punishment became evident

in 2018. The national spotlight fell briefly on Greenbrier after three high school students joined in a nationwide walkout one month after 17 students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School died in a mass shooting. The Greenbrier students’ punishment for joining in the gun violence protest was a paddling.

In an age of research and in-depth studies, when educators look to scientifically proven best practices in hopes of gleaning the highest possible test scores and graduation rates, corporal punishment makes zero sense. Piles of studies reveal that hitting kids in school is linked to worsening academic performance, higher absenteeism and dropout rates and mental health problems. There’s no apparent upside, no evidence of any positive outcomes. Hitting as a disciplinary tool is the only issue on which schools turn a blind eye to science and research, Aldrich said.

“There’s a national push for sensitive, traumainformed instruction, for relationship building, for data-driven best practices. All of that contradicts the belief in corporal punishment. There’s absolutely no education research that shows any benefit to corporal punishment,” he said.

“That we are allowing grown adults to hit children is baffling to me,” said Tessa Davis, a ARKANSASTIMES.COM

FEBRUARY 2022 19

STOP THE VIOLENCE: After serving as the designated paddler at a campus where he taught, educator Jeffery Burton joined the push to end corporal punishment in Arkansas schools.

BRIAN CHILSON

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ARKANSAS TIMES

mom and occupational therapist in North Little Rock who serves with Aldrich on the board of the nascent group Arkansans Against School Paddling. Davis and her husband allowed a teacher to paddle their kindergartener son years ago, and the immediate regret launched Davis on a crusade to stop what she sees as a cycle of trauma inordinately visited on children of color and children with disabilities, both categories that fit her son.

Jeffery Burton, a school administrator and board member for Arkansans Against School Paddling, said a stint as what he called “the executioner” at a school where he worked opened his eyes to the racial disparities in how corporal punishment is doled out. As the one designated to do the paddling at a small, rural school, Burton said he quickly noticed that while Black students made up only a small part of the student body, they were

areas in the South that have legacies of racial violence, you can see the through-line to corporal punishment in schools. “It’s a residual part of racial violence in America’s past.”

Students with disabilities are also singled out disproportionately for physical punishment.

In Arkansas, Act 557 of 2019 moved the needle in the right direction, prohibiting the use of corporal punishment against children who are “intellectually disabled, non-ambulatory, nonverbal, or autistic” but failing to protect students with other disabilities that could affect their performance or behavior in the classroom. That’s where progress stalled out.

So why do we continue to hit kids in school?

Tradition is the most likely answer. We do it because we were hit in school and feel like we turned out OK. “It’s hard to admit that perhaps the schooling

BLACK BOYS ARE TWICE AS LIKELY TO RECEIVE CORPORAL PUNISHMENT AS WHITE BOYS, AND BLACK GIRLS ARE THREE TIMES AS LIKELY TO BE HIT AS WHITE GIRLS. being sent in for what seemed like more than their fair share of the swats. “I don’t think the disparities are intentional, but they are alarming,” he said.

Burton’s experience is borne out in the data.

While a 2018 study printed in the Journal of Education Research shows Black and white children misbehave at the same rate, Black students absorb more than their share of blows at the hands of educators. Black boys are twice as likely to receive corporal punishment as white boys, and Black girls are three times as likely to be hit as white girls.

Aldrich puts it bluntly. “It’s a racially discriminatory practice,” he said, an intregral component of the school-to-prison pipeline. In

I experienced wasn’t the best schooling, so we end up prioritizing tradition over prioritizing our children,” Aldrich said.

The issue of corporal punishment in schools is a minefield in the culture war, but Aldrich said it shouldn’t be. One of his goals is to help to pioneer ways to talk about this issue that aren’t personal or triggering, but that focus on facts. What people choose to do at home or in church is not at issue here, he said. “We’re not talking about family or heritage or religion. We’re talking about school, and right now Arkansas is ranked near the bottom.

We just want to help give kids in Arkansas a worldclass education, and there’s no place in worldclass education for corporal punishment.”

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Make Me Feel Mighty Real: Anthony Sonnenberg

Walker Evans James Hayes American Photographs James Hayes, Ring of Fire, 2020,

Anthony Sonnenberg, Still Stage, Set Life, 2018, mixed media room installation, Art Museum of Southeast Texas, Beaumont, Texas.

Walker Evans (American, 19031975), Alabama Cotton Tenant Farmer Wife, 1936, gelatin silver print from a scan of a negative in the Library of Congress, approximately 10 x 8 inches, courtesy of the Library of Congress. © 2021 Walker Evans Archive, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Based on an exhibition originally organized by the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Support provided by Art Bridges.

glass and steel, 37 x 36 x 36 inches, courtesy of the artist.

Delita Martin: Conjure Delita Martin, Among Shadows, 2020, relief printing, charcoal, acrylic, liquid gold leaf, decorative papers, and hand stitching on paper, 55 x 75 inches, courtesy of the artist.

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2022 READERS CHOICE PICKS REVEAL A HEALTHY RESTAURANT SCENE IN UNHEALTHY TIMES At least the pandemic pounds Arkansas collectively packed on are well earned.

This year’s Readers Choice picks reveal that while plans and routines went sideways during the COVID-19 era, we didn’t miss many meals.

You’ll find plenty of tried-and-trues among our annual survey of readers’ favorites, restaurants whose time-tested formulas keep diners returning year after year. As Vino’s owner Henry Lee knows very well, when you have something that works, you don’t need to mess with it. Rhett Brinkley and Lindsey Millar tell the story of that Little Rock institution through an oral history.

Newer restaurants and food trucks get plenty of love in this list, too.

YGFBFKitchen Restaurant & Catering in Conway launched on wheels four years ago and has already expanded twice, settling into a brick-and-mortar and attracting fans from far and wide. Owner MaryAnn Strange established her chef bonafides by cooking meals so good her girlfriend passed the dishes off as their own, Stephanie Smittle reports.

Searcy has been showing out lately, too, beckoning us, Lindsey Millar writes, with Knightfire BBQ and Wild Sweet William’s Bakery scones that dance like sugarplums in our dreams.

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FEBRUARY 2022 23

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ARKANSAS TIMES

. ’s o in V of y r to is h l a An or

BY RHETT BRINKLEY AND LINDSEY MILLAR

I

t’s easy to imagine the story of Vino’s ending before it ever got going: “Three finance guys with no restaurant experience start a pizza place in a dilapidated punk rock playhouse in a neglected part of town” does not sound like a winning recipe for success. But three decades later, Vino’s Brew Pub not only persists, it’s widely considered a Little Rock institution — one of the few true mixing places in town, where you’ll find people of all classes and backgrounds communing over a slice and a pint and live music.

Vino’s New York-style pizza and calzones belong in any conversation about the best in town. Filling up a growler of Firehouse Pale Ale or Pinnacle IPA on a Sunday remains a Little Rock tradition (thanks to years of lobbying by Vino’s founder and owner Henry Lee). And you can’t tell the story of Little Rock’s modern music scene — and bands it launched into the national spotlight, including Trusty, Living Sacrifice and Evanescence — without telling the story of Vino’s.

That’s what we attempted to do in what follows, an oral history featuring dozens of the people and patrons who helped shape the landmark at Seventh and Chester.

Henry Lee: (Vino’s co-founder, owner): I grew up in Morgan City, Louisiana. When I got out of college, I was working out in the oil fields, building offshore oil rigs. I did that for eight years or so. Then I moved to Florida to sell unregulated securities. We were basically funding the savings and loan crisis back then. Most of my customers

were in Little Rock because Little Rock had the highest number of investment firms off of Wall Street at the time, so I came to work here.

Alan Vennes (Vino’s co-founder): I’m from Atlanta and was in a band called The Roys. We were signed to Stiff Records and toured with U2 and R.E.M. and Black Uhuru and Steel Pulse and all sorts of other folks from that era.

I moved to Little Rock Jan. 1, 1981. I was going, “Goddamn, this place is so depressed. What have I done?” But I said, “I bet there’s some good punk rock.” Sure enough, Trusty.

Paul Bowling (Trusty, Il Libertina): Before the DMZ [a short-lived punk venue in what became Vino’s] and Vino’s there was no scene at all. It was completely vacant. All the bands that were in town were all cover bands.

James Brady (former employee, Trusty): Me and Bobby met Alan because we started going to see his band Ebo and the Tomcats.

Bobby Matthews (Trusty) They were a cover band, but they were doing cool old rockabilly stuff like Charlie Feathers and obscure stuff.

Andy Conrad (former employee, Numbskulz, 5-0): Alan made sense when it came to the punk thing because he was this rockabilly dude with a full pompadour.

Henry Lee: [Alan] was probably my biggest client. He and

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I probably talked on the phone 20 times a day. I probably knew him better, before I met him in person, than most of my close friends. I moved to Little Rock in 1989.

Alan Vennes: I was running the money market desk at First State Security Investments, but the bull market was petering out, and I didn’t like any pizza in Little Rock at the time.

Henry Lee: Everything here was based on Shakey’s Pizza, which had been here for years.

It’s kind of what U.S. Pizza, I think, was based on.

There wasn’t much in the realm of pizza like there is now.

Alan Vennes: I had really good friends in Atlanta that had Fellini’s Pizza, which is really successful.

I said, “Why don’t we open up a pizza place?”

Henry said, “All right, cool.” Henry’s a great food guy, a great cook. We got into it a little bit and realized we needed another partner with some money. Bill Parodi was leading producer at the brokerage firm I worked for. I asked Bill to come onboard and he said, “Sure.” We had our eyes set on the old DMZ building.

The 1910 building, owned then by Tom Chipman of Chip’s Barbecue fame, had previously been art gallery Urbi Et Orbi; punk venue DMZ; and several other short-lived clubs, including The Zone, Nemesis and Mandrake’s.

Henry Lee: I’d been to a show a few years there before on vacation. It came up and we felt really good about being there. We kept trying other places, but kept coming back to that building.

When we got it, the windows were boarded up and everything was painted black. There was nothing in the front room aside from a gigantic painting of the solar system on the side wall and bare bulbs hanging from string.

James Brady: I remember seeing Flock of Seagulls there one time.

Colin Brooks (former employee, Numbskulz, Substance, Red 40, The Big Cats): It was the first time kind of being in a room when we were kids sort of seeing other punks. And kind of that realization that there’s a lot more of these guys around than we ever thought.

Fletcher Clement (longtime Vino’s promoter who also did stints booking bands at The Antenna Club in Memphis and The Troubadour in West Hollywood, California): I remember seeing Alan, Bill and Henry walk through the room when I was at a show at Mandrake’s and remember thinking, “Three of these things don’t belong.” They were either suits or cops or something weird. They were definitely tourists.

Andy Conrad: Numbskulz went to play [Mandrake’s] and these three slightly older dudes showed up and were like, “Hey, we just bought the place, we’re gonna turn it into a pizza joint,” and everybody was like, “Who the fuck are these 26 FEBRUARY 2022

ARKANSAS TIMES

guys?” and kind of laughed at ’em.

Colin Brooks: I remember them saying, “We’re still going to do shows and we’d still love to have you guys play here,” and I remember feeling good, like I had kind of made some adult friends.

Bobby Matthews: I remember going, “Good luck, y’all.” I thought it was gonna flop.

James Brady: None of them knew anything about running a restaurant.

Alan Vennes: We contacted Clay Harper and Mike Nelson, the owners of Fellini’s. They hooked us up with a deal to give us their recipes and help us design the kitchen.

Henry Lee: The three of us got in there and started working ourselves, renovating the place. There was roofing tar paper on the floors. It took us three days to scrape up all that stuff off the floor. All those cool scalloped picture windows in the front of Vino’s were painted black. We had to use paint remover and toothbrushes to get all that off.

Alan Vennes: I took over making the place look good. What we wanted was a place that would be cool anywhere in the world. And it was. My future ex-wife was going to the National Shakespeare Conservatory in New York and was home in Little Rock for the summer and that’s how we met. She’d come over for lunch every day, and I’d sit and talk with her. She said, “This place, it’s like being in New York.”

Paul Bowling: So when it became Vino’s, one of the big facelifts that it got was they put in a real PA [public address system] back there and built a booth and all that kind of stuff, which really drastically improved everything as far as being able to be heard.

James Brady: Alan being a musician helped a lot.

Jason White (Numbskulz, The Big Cats, Green Day): People always complained about the sound and stuff, like, “Oh this is a horrible-sounding room,” but I never noticed. I always thought it sounded loud and glorious.

Paul Bowling: I suppose technically it was horrible. You were there for the experience as much as you were for the music, so we didn’t even really think about it. Also, if you had a good-sized crowd in there that was close to the stage, they’d kind of soak up a lot of that echo that could occur in that space and it could sound really fucking great in there.

Henry Lee: Before we took over the space, they were having all-ages live music shows. We debated whether we wanted to keep doing that. It was probably a big point of contention quite often among the owners. But because it was able to give us cash flow early on we decided to stick it out even though we had to fight through kids sitting at all the restaurant tables and eating cheese out

of cheese shakers, and throwing crap around and making a godawful mess every night they were in there, raising hell and cussing at us, saying we were stealing their building and how could we do that and we were going to ruin everything.

The adventuresome diners of Little Rock kind of helped pull us through all that because we were giving them good food at a good value.

James Brady: The restaurant itself was pretty immediately popular. There weren’t a lot of places to eat downtown. In the beginning it was just the one long, narrow room and then the back.

Henry Lee: We were the first place in the state to bring in Guinness and Bass on tap. The guys at Harbor Distributing really worked with us and backed us. They had to send trucks to Dallas to get the imported beers because I don’t think anyone was delivering here at that time. Whatever they brought that first week, we sold it out in six days.

Brandon Brewer (former employee, Sugar In The Raw): It was an all-ages place where you could chain-smoke and listen to music and get free refills.

Jason White: It used to be like a space where you didn’t see anybody but punk kids or people going to the show and then it became sort of this place where I would see my geography teacher in there drinking a beer.

John Pugh (former employee, Rat Fink a Boo Boo, Uptown Prophets, !!!): Looking back on it, kudos to Henry, he really wasn’t like the evil mustache-twisting villain we kind of wanted him to be because every punk needs some kind of authority figure you have to throw rocks at. That’s part of the sport. But it didn’t take long for him to start hiring a bunch of punks and giving us jobs and money, so we couldn’t be that mad at him.

Chris (C.T.) Terry (Vino’s music booker, Rwake, Iron Tongue): The way I was being taught up in our scene was that Vino’s was, like, the enemy.

The man. ’Cause we were just a rough bunch, so anyone whose ass we had to kiss to get a show, we thought was not cool. So when I got the job there my friends just kinda treated me like the mole, you know? I ended up loving it.

James Brady: The Little Rock scene has always been very supportive of itself. The owners and people that booked were willing to give a lot of unknowns a chance. And they paid fairly as opposed to DMZ. They actually paid you a substantial cut of the door. And at our shows that was pretty nice because they weren’t making a bunch of money on beer sales when the punk bands played.

Alan Vennes: I thought it was going to be a mid-20s and mid-30s hip place. Instead, it was teenagers playing Monopoly at my tables with squirt guns and shit. It was like, “Damn, where are the hot chicks I thought would be coming in?” (laughs) As time went on, next thing you know I was drinking with them at the bar.

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BRIAN CHILSON

THROUGH THE YEARS: (Clockwise from top) Owner Henry Lee, Tim Braslavsky with longtime general manager Brian Hirrel, Ginny Sims and David Jukes, a poster for the ultimate Vino’s bill, David Jukes, general manager Chris New and Vino’s today.

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ids or k k n u p t u body b y an re I ee s he t ’ w n e d i c d a l p ou y t of this where e or c s a e p s m White a a c on e e k b i as l J it e . r b n king a bee w and the It used to o in h r s d re the g to r in the he c ea t y people goin h eograp g y m ee s would

PANDEMONIUM: The Vino’s faithful went wild for Trusty, Little Rock’s most beloved punk act, in November 1991.

John Pugh: No one was in charge of setting the vibe. It was just kind of a natural, organic thing that would happen because you have all the elements: the relatively cheap eats, a location that was really central and also you have loud music, and people just like loud music and are attracted to it like moths to the flame.

Alan Vennes: We only thought we knew what hard work was until we started the restaurant business. After six months of that, my feet were like snowshoes. It wouldn’t have been so bad if we could shut down at 10 p.m. like most restaurants do, but having to be up super late with a nightclub, it was a grind.

28 28 FEBRUARY FEBRUARY 2022 2022

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Henry Lee: I ate a lot of pizza and slept on the couch upstairs many a night. We would take turns sleeping during the day. We were only open six days a week back then, which kind of gave us a break on Sundays to reoxygenate. I had my dog living upstairs and on the roof. We spent all our waking hours here.

When we started looking for employees, we said we’re going to pull them from the people who hang out here all the time.

We weren’t going to hire anyone out of the investment business, that was for sure.

Andy Conrad: I quit high school to work there. I was terrible in high school, and I was all about chasing music, and my dad was

caved in. When they dropped it, they became an institution.

Alan Vennes: The club was doing fantastic in the early days. We had the Arkansas Folk Club who would have a once-a-month show.

They brought in some legendary people.

Brian Hirrel (former general manager, Big Boss Line, Loch Ness Monster, Nessie): The folk club brought in Fairport Convention, one of the giants of English folk. They gave an iconic, unbelievable performance.

Fletcher Clement: There was a little bit of something for everyone whether it was the AIDS Brigade or Red Octopus Theater. It went from being a kind of secret clubhouse to the secret’s out.

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Sulac (former employee, Hector Faceplant, Winston Family Orchestra): It was so cool because they had a really eclectic mix of music and it wasn’t even just it’s all metal shows tonight or it’s all punk rock tonight, it would sometimes be all mixed up in one show.

like, “You’re going to have to get a job,” and I remember specifically going, “OK, I know exactly what I’m gonna do.”

And I went directly to Vino’s and James Brady, Bircho [of Trusty], everyone I knew from music was already working there.

Alan Vennes: A couple years into it, we were treading water. I said, “Dude, I’ll get out. I can get out and get back into the investment banking business.” I got a job on Wall Street. Then Bill did the same thing. We left Henry as the managing partner. He bought us out several years later.

Henry Lee: I booked bands for a little while. I was never very good at it. We were lucky enough to hire Fletcher Clement, who was booking at the Antenna Club in Memphis.

Fletcher Clement:I’mfromLittleRock,butwentoff to Memphis State [now the University of Memphis] in 1987. I had a fake ID, so I could go see shows.

My friend from Little Rock, Tim Lamb, who did

Lighten Up fanzine and was interviewing bands like Fugazi and Dag Nasty, would get bands asking him where to play in the area and he’d give them my number and I’d send them to the Antenna Club. So people there got familiar with me, but they knew me as another name because of my ID. So there was a little confusion up front, when I started sending bands their way, and they were like, “Who the hell is Fletcher?”

Once Vino’s opened up, I could piggyback a Little Rock date. A band would call the Antenna and say, “We need a $750 guarantee,” and I’d say, “I can get you a $400 guarantee and the next night I can get you a $350 guarantee and all the pizza you can eat and beer you can drink.” And they’d say, “OK.” I don’t remember if it was a girl or if I was tired of school or what, but I came back to Little Rock and Henry and I struck up an arrangement where I’d cook pizzas and book bands. But I told him, “You guys have got to back off the $2 extra charge for people under 21.” I flat out told him the names of bands that wouldn’t play there. We had a real hemming and hawing meeting and he finally

John Pugh: Vino’s was like that nexus point because you would get kids from Fort Smith and Hot Springs and Searcy. They knew at least one place they could go and get a slice for cheap and maybe run into someone who’s in a band or maybe the dishwasher and they’ll tell you where the punk house in town is where you can spend the night. It became what Little Rock needed at that time and what every town needs, really — kind of a folk, community gathering that’s not official. Vino’s was this crazy mix of family pizza place/dive bar/gutter punk hang space/honky tonk/college dorm/beatnik coffee house where all the cool kids would hang out in the back.

Fletcher Clement: Vino’s was so legit within the confines of punk rock and underground and indie music. It was the most legit version I’d ever come across. Not just in Memphis and Little Rock, but from my experience traveling around with bands on road trips around the country. The bathrooms worked. It was well lit. They had insurance. They had a first-aid kit. The PA wasn’t the greatest in the world, but it was enough. Bands got fed; they got beer. Vino’s didn’t take a cut of bands’ merchandise.

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Sunday afternoon at Vino’s and, no joke, there were less than 150 people there. Maybe even less than 100 people there. The very next time they came back, the place was packed, 400 people easily.

Matthew Thompson (publisher of the Fluke zine and longtime chronicler of punk history in Central Arkansas and beyond): We weren’t interested in the front room. It was just a hallway to get to the back room. All the action was in the back room.

That first Fugazi show — I was in high school, a senior — it was a transcendent moment. It was packed. It was in May, so it was really hot.

I can remember their guitars were actually dripping with sweat.

Fletcher Clement: When Green Day came through the first time, you can go on YouTube and find it: Aug. 17, 1991. You look at the set list, and they don’t play any of those songs anymore. They open with a song called “I Was There.” I think about that. The second time they played Vino’s [in 1993], they were kind of shell-shocked from being bombarded by major label people. The first time they came, they were touring in an old Bookmobile. The second time, they had a brand new 15-foot van and 15-foot trailer. Billie Joe [Armstrong] said Geffen Records took them out to dinner before the tour and just gave them that hoping they’d sign with them. Of course they ended up signing with Warner Reprise.

Fugazi is a legendary post-hardcore band from Washington, D.C., whose frontman, Ian McKaye, co-founded Dischord Records, which later signed Trusty.

COURTESY NATE POWELL

Fletcher Clement: There was no air conditioning in the back — that was the most punk rock thing about it. It was like, “Hey, if you want to see this show, you’re going to sweat through your clothes.” When Fugazi played the first time, water ran down the walls. It wasn’t raining outside; the roof wasn’t leaking. There was water running down the walls to the floor because we were all cramped in and stinky and hot.

Jason White: You could just look at steam coming off the walls.

Burt Taggart: (Chino Horde, The Big Cats, Max Recordings founder): My parents were Southern Baptists listening to Sandi Patty.

They didn’t go to Vino’s. They were hesitant to let me go down that road, but my friend David Burns was in Hatful Day and my parents knew David and liked him, so that was probably my segue to going every weekend.

As someone who was getting into music at the same time, it helped ignite that interest.

It was like, “Maybe my band could do this.”

If David and Hatful Day got a show there, maybe we could. Hatful Day opens up for a band on a national tour; maybe we could open up for Firehose or something. Before Vino’s I was listening to heavy metal with all the pyrotechnics and all, but it wasn’t close to you. It wasn’t on a 2-foot stage. It was a lot more exciting when it was visceral and up close. Being at the front of the stage and seeing Fugazi was mind-altering. I walked out afterward and felt like a new person.

Andy Conrad: I was working that night.

When Fugazi started, the restaurant was empty. I was working side-by-side with Henry Lee. The backroom is packed, people are standing trying to get near the door. Henry was like, “Hey, man. I got this kitchen, why don’t you go see the band.”

Colin Brooks: Green Day played their first show in Little Rock, as I recall, on maybe a 30 FEBRUARY 2022

ARKANSAS TIMES

Matthew Thompson: Every punk kid from all the different high schools in the Greater Little Rock area, that’s where we went on weekends. It seemed like Trusty and Numbskulz played every other weekend. The scene solidified around Trusty playing a lot of shows. The kids who would come see Trusty would start their own bands and then they would open up for Trusty.

PUNK PARADISE: Soophie Nun Squad and The Big Cats were huge in Little Rock. Vino’s concertgoers got to see Green Day before it got huge — and one of The Big Cats, Jason White, later joined the band.

Jason White: They were our common denominator in a way.

Bruce Fitzhugh (Living Sacrifice): We looked up to them because they were already putting out records and they seemed professional in a punk rock way.

James Brady: I think it was great to get to a point where you could see bills that were all local bands and the space would be full. That was exciting when that started to happen without Trusty on the bill.

COURTESY OF COLETTE TUCKER COLLECTION

Colin Brooks: Anybody that was in a band, in a younger band, was just as close as they could get to the stage to watch Fugazi.

Ben Nichols (Red 40, Lucero): Seeing Green Day there in 1991 or whatever it was, I remember [my Red 40 bandmate] Steve Kooms turned around and said something like, “Oh man, if everybody finds out about this band, when the frat kids get a hold of this, they’re gonna be huge.” And he was right.

Bruce Fitzhugh: I recall walking in with our demo and setting up a meeting with Bill Parodi and just handing him our tape and saying, “Hey we’re a band, we’re here in town, we’re a metal band.” I said I didn’t want to end up on a bill with a cover band. I was like, “We’ll play with hardcore bands, whatever.”

We were basically still in high school so we got a lot of our friends to come out and that looked really good for us.

Brandon Brewer: Living Sacrifice was the first one to sell it out so hard that the fire department was coming in there and having

Vino’s means a lot to a lot of people. W e’re almost to our third generation of people, definitely well into the second. Kids who started out hanging there and have worked for me over the years have gone on and are bringing their kids in. -Henry Lee to put a cap. They had people standing outside all the way out of the restaurant shoulder to shoulder.

Nate Powell (Soophie Nun Squad, founder of DIY label Harlan Records): My first real show I went to was January 1992. It was Living Sacrifice and this other Christian metal band, I assume they’re Christian, called Chalice. At that time Vino’s had recodified itself so it was all ages but it was $5 if you were over 18 and $7 if you were under 18. So the next night Metallica was playing [Barton] and my parents gave me an ultimatum that I could go see Metallica or I could go see Living Sacrifice but not both. It was “too much metal.”

I made a very important decision where I was like, “Man, I’ve wanted to see Metallica for my whole life this last year and a half, but going to see Living Sacrifice is only $7 and this is essentially an underground thing, this is secret, this involves a secret knock and I can get in the door because I know the secret knock,” so I chose Living Sacrifice.

I was able to get in my first pit, get my glasses knocked off for the first time. I was able to experience the pungent waft of unbridled cigarette smoke. It’s easy to forget just how dense that smoke was. By the time I left, the world was different for me, having seen people play loud, aggressive, incredible music and seeing all different kinds of misfits together for the purpose of music. That set me on a path. And even though I was leaning more in a punk direction than a metal direction at the time, it was kind of a perfect crossover, and that’s kind of the beauty of Little

Rock is that due to the size of the city, in order to have a music scene you can’t just limit yourself to one genre of music. There’s such a beautiful crossover in order to have a vibrant scene, and that’s what makes our scene creative and weird.

Samantha Allen (former promoter): My first time ever going to Vino’s, I was 12 and my sister took me to see Living Sacrifice, Crankbait and Sickshine. I was just a little one from Cabot who had never experienced anything like that. I was hooked from that moment. I was up there every weekend, no matter the genre of who was playing, always bugging the crap out of Fletcher and trying to get bands to let me roadie their drums.

Colin Brooks: Once we got out of high school, I remember the scene sort of changed, at least for me, and the Soophie kids, I call them kids, but the Soophie people kind of kept it going.

Jason White: [Soophie Nun Squad] took it to another level. They were almost like a cult or something. When I first heard about them I was like, “Oh, they’re these weird kids from Sherwood or something.” I didn’t know anything about them. And then once they kind of were like, “Oh, these guys are up to something,” seeing them was like, “Oh my God, who’s actually in the band, this is like a collective and they’re just going bananas and there’s this crazy energy.” They were just incredible.

Andy Conrad: Something like that will probably

©BARRIELYNNBRYANT

LOCAL LEGENDS: Substance performs in 1991.

never happen again, a band like that.

Nate Powell: Our first show at Vino’s was on a Wednesday night during the school year. It was with the Bloodless Cooties and a band called Stinkhorn, and it was April of 1995. It was right after our 7-inch came out — 9 p.m. on a school night. Some of us had to bring homework to Vino’s, and we did not get paid. I do remember hearing like, “Oh yeah, the way they do it is the first time you play you don’t get paid,” which is probably complete bullshit. They were probably just like, “These are 15-year-olds, fuck them; we’re just gonna give them pizza.” But they were like, “Hey, you guys want a pizza?” and we were like, “Holy shit, they’re giving us pizza!”

Jason White: [Vino’s] became kind of a hub for almost like further out in the state where people would be like, “I’ve got to get out of my shitty town and go to Little Rock and hang out at Vino’s.” If you were into any sort of counterculture or art or anything, you ended up there.

Maralie Armstrong-Rial (Soophie Nun Squad, Tem Eyos Ki, Humanbeast): It’s just your early touchpoint for meeting other weirdos and finding out there’s places outside of Vino’s.

John Pugh: Open mic was like the most exciting time because it’s like everyone gets their validation card punched. It’s like, “OK, you played Vino’s.

Now you’re valid. Go do some more stuff,” and sometimes that’s all you need as an artist.

ARKANSASTIMES.COM

FEBRUARY 2022 31

said, “If you ever need anything, come see me.”

He was a commercial lender for what later became Iberia Bank. He was willing to jump in with us and back us.

We started out leasing the building next door before eventually buying it. We put the brewery in the second building and made it our nonsmoking section and added 30 seats.

The initial beer was brewed by the guy who did the installation of the system. He brewed enough to fill up probably 21 kegs we’d bought to get started with. Our total sales tripled in about three months. I started to think, “Maybe this could work.”

Sulac: 7-Minute Max, you’d sign up and it was kind of an open mic thing, get up and do whatever you wanted for seven minutes.

Colin Brooks: They had Fresh Blood night where newer bands could play.

John Pugh: I remember Henry would be experimenting with all these different home brews upstairs in his office and shit would get overly fermented and explode and you would have this weird fermented beer juice leaking out of the ceiling into the dish pit in the middle of a dinner rush. That weird smell of yeasty beer exploding in a pizza place is very stuck in my brain.

DARREN JOHNSON

Jeff Matika (former employee, Ashtray Babyhead, Green Day): The Seventh Street Peep Show — they were doing it on Monday nights. So we decided, hey let’s just jump up there, Ashtray Babyhead, it’s kind of a goofy band that we’re not super serious about, let’s go play all these songs we wrote at the Peep Show. Went down there, played to a nearly packed room, had a blast.

Decided to go back and do it again a couple weeks later, same turnout, same reactions, same feeling.

So at that point Henry was like, “Let’s get you guys a show in here.” That just became home base for us.

Chris (C.T.) Terry: It was your dream to play Vino’s. God, when we finally got our shit together, we were like, “We gotta play Fresh Blood night at Vino’s. It’s a thing we have to do. It’s a step to conquer the world.” It was important back then.

Lee was instrumental in shaping Arkansas’s local brewery laws. He successfully lobbied the legislature to allow brew pubs to sell their product to-go — for Vino’s that’s always come in the form of growlers — and to allow them to sell the to-go beer on Sunday, which liquor and grocery stores in Arkansas still can’t do.

32 FEBRUARY 2022

ARKANSAS TIMES

JOHN KUSHMAUL

Henry Lee: We started brewing in 1993. A couple of local fellas who brewed at home approached us with the idea. It seemed like a good thing. You could look around the country and see all these brew pubs popping up. But in Arkansas, the idea of brewing on-site in a restaurant was really new back then.

We piecemealed a system together. Our first kettle, a steam kettle that we modified, came from Cummins Prison. We were mashing out with an ice chest with a copper screen bottom and fermenting in open 50-gallon trash cans upstairs. We didn’t have a lot of temperature control. The beer was either really good or really bad. The first weekend, we sold 14 kegs of beer, which was basically all we had. It kind of opened our eyes. People really want this.

It didn’t take us long to realize we either had to spend some money or move on and not do it anymore. We were washing kegs by hand in an old bathtub upstairs, laying the kegs in there, spraying them with a hose, putting cleaning solution in there and spinning them by hand in the bathtub. I built a two-by-12 folding slide down the stairs, so we didn’t have to carry them. It was a real pain in the ass.

After six months, we bought a real system, a 3½ barrel operation, at the time the smallest commercial system anyone made. Lucky enough, David Schindler was one of our big customers. He

COURTESY OF PAUL BOWLING

Fletcher Clement: Evanescence played their first shows at Vino’s. I was around for their first Fresh Blood show. I can’t ever forget Amy Lee hiding out behind the drums. She was kind of afraid of the crowd. She wanted to be a part of it. She knew she had it in her heart, but didn’t necessarily have it in her head that she could stand there and be looked at and be talked about. It took her a while to come out of that shell.

Henry Lee: When I got the law changed to allow sales out the door for growlers on Sundays, that was huge. It took me 12 years to get to that point. I would lobby the legislature every other year. We’d always put in the line that said microbrewery licensees could do everything they could seven days a week. It got thrown out the first 10 years we tried it.

Sunday went from being our second worst day to second best day of the week. We had people lining up outside at 11 in the morning to fill up their growlers.

Vic Snyder was probably the guy who helped me the most. When I moved here, I didn’t know anything about Little Rock. I was in the investment business and went straight to the restaurant.

Mostly, what I knew were the four walls of Vino’s.

I knew Vic from the restaurant. When he would come in, I just knew him as Vic. But one day, I heard someone say, “Hey, Senator, how you doing?” So I took advantage of that. He really helped me learn how to build coalitions and talk to people to get things done. [Former state Rep.] Sam Ledbetter helped and lobbyist Bob Edward spent a lot of time working for free helping me out.

David Raymond (former brewer, Mulehead): I went to brewmaster school and started chasing breweries after I graduated from Texas Tech.

Henry Lee: Dave Raymond was our first serious brewer.

REGULARS: (From top) Living Sacrifice, a poster from Trusty’s first show and Jeff Matika.

David Raymond: I moved to Little Rock with $300 in my pocket, a couple of dogs and a beatup truck. They had their standard beers already

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MARTIN MATTHEW

MATTHEW MARTIN

STALWARTS: (Clockwise from top) Mulehead with Amy Garland with former brewer David Raymond at far left; T. Drexel Baker throwing dough; a show poster that inspired Sen. Jason Rapert to unsuccessfully push for a Vino’s boycott; (from left to right) Josh Griffin, Jerri Wooten and Kevin Kerby; and The Big Cats.

It’s always been super cool to think that you could go in there, especially at a Friday happy hour, and there would be the table of suits, maybe some lawyers or politicians, and right next to them would be the stinkiest train-hopping punk rock kids. -Chris Ne w established. Henry didn’t allow a lot of room to manipulate those. I put my efforts into speciality ales. One Christmas, I made this huge Belgianstyle ale that was highly alcoholic. It was like 8 or 9% alcohol and people were drinking it as if it was the pale ale at 3% alcohol. The bathrooms were destroyed and fights broke out. It was mass chaos.

We had to establish a two-pint limit on that. All the customers lost their minds on it.

Henry Lee: Bill Riffle won two medals for Vino’s at the Great American Beer Festival for Rock Hopera.

Bill Riffle (brewer from 2001-2011): We grew quite a bit, just about doubled production from when I started to when I left. And we made some improvements to the brew system — added

another seven-barrel fermenter and added a cooling tank, and some other things. Yeah, I was pretty proud of what I did there.

I wanted to do a really good IPA so I started doing a different version of the Pinnacle — we kept the same name, but it was a totally different version. And that became our second-biggestselling beer over the years. I tweaked it for a few years to get just where I wanted. I started doing a lager rotation, and of course the Rock Hopera was the Imperial IPA that I developed a recipe for. It was a lot of work so I only did it every once in a while — I did a double mash, and I caskconditioned the whole batch and dry-hopped.

Brian Hirrel: For the longest time, there was a black-and-white photograph hanging up in Vino’s

of the five guys from the local metal band Fallen Empire and Vic Snyder in the middle. They all hung out in the same bar. That doesn’t happen anywhere else in town. You don’t see politicians hanging out with punk rockers. I remember some election times when you’re getting these real heavy-duty right wingers coming in and hanging out. They looked out of place and you go, “Why are you here?” These guys would go, “Well, there’s great beer and it’s right down the street from the state Capitol.”

Bill Paschall (political consultant): Campaign meetings seem to flow a little better when you have good beer and good pizza. We made it kind of a home away from home to gather and strategize.

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legislature, and a number of those guys would come over after the session to drink beer and talk about what was happening at the Capitol.

Sometimes I went four to five times a week.

Vic Snyder (former state senator and U.S. representative): I did a considerable number of campaign fundraisers at Vino’s when I was in the state senate, and I did a handful there for the congressional races, too. When Bill Clinton ran for president, his first headquarters for his campaign was two doors down. If Henry supported a candidate, he’d stick their sign in the window. A lot of businesses won’t do that, but he never shied away from it.

close Vino’s where’s it at and put it in West Little Rock in a brand-new building and keep it the same? No. You couldn’t even do that in the River Market. There’s character. Let’s be honest. Vino’s is a dive. Henry has never made it any more than that, and I don’t think people would enjoy it anyway else.

Chris New (longtime general manager): It’s always been super cool to think that you could go in there, especially at a Friday happy hour, and there would be the table of suits, maybe some lawyers or politicians, and right next to them would be the stinkiest train-hopping punk rock kids. You just give people the same service no matter what they look like.

Brian Hirrel: You get these kids who would work for a while and then hand in notice to go jump trains and go to California. They would do a great job and then come back six months later and say, “Can I get my job back?” and you’d say, “Yeah.” You never burnt your bridges or walked out in the middle of your shift. You got that loyalty with some kids. We had one dishwasher that came back three or four times. He was like a professional dishwasher. One time, he walked into the kitchen and said, “Wow, you put in one of the new Autoclear machines!” This kid knew every dishwasher under the sun. I told him he should be a rep for a dishwasher company. He said he just wanted to save up enough money to move to Dallas for a while.

Brian Hirrel: I remember some big political candidate coming in and saying, “We’ll be sitting in the nonsmoking section.” And one of the waiters saying, “Well, you can sit there all fucking day if you like, but you’ll have to order at the counter.”

Brandon Brewer: I was the youngest. I was literally 16 and 17 years old. I worked there till about the time I moved out. Everyone to me was family and I was like their little kid, you know, they’re like, “Man, I wish I was doing this when I was your age.”

Amber Uptigrove (former employee): The regulars were like prominent politicians, people you would consider high society in Little Rock.

This one customer comes to mind, we called him the noodler because he noodled fish during the day. He would come in and drink with the politicians and lawyers in the afternoon.

Amber Uptigrove: I started going there as a teenager in the ’90s. We’d come up to Little Rock to see shows, eat pizza at Vino’s. I guess it wasn’t until 2001 Jeff Matika got me a job.

Brandon Brewer: I was working weekends and nights while I was still in high school. I remember playing a show when I was on the clock. So I was actually cooking pizza, and it was an opening gig, and they allowed me to take 30 minutes off for the set and play music and then get back in there and start making calzones.

Amber Uptigrove: Nobody thought I would make it very long. Nobody thought I had the Vino’s grit.

They were like, “She’s gonna work here maybe two days,” and I ended up working there on and off probably 16 years.

Chris New: I’m always disappointed in shows on cable like “Top Chef.” Those aren’t real restaurant challenges. Give me a pantry of some items I don’t know beforehand? If you’re a halfway decent cook, you can throw something together. A real challenge is, let’s have a waiter show up drunk on a Friday at 4:30 and let’s back the toilet up in the men’s room at 7:30 during dinner service.

Ginny Sims (former employee, Magic Cropdusters): Plywood and cardboard is all that’s holding the place together. A part of the bathroom wall would rot and Henry would just add another piece of plywood over an existing piece of plywood. Every time I go back, it’s like the bathrooms are shrinking. I feel like I’m in “Alice in Wonderland.”

Chris New: This building is something like 110 years old. It’s definitely not air tight. Could you

Jeff Matika: I remember telling her, “I don’t know if you’re going to like this.”

Ginny Sims: If you worked the lunch shift, it was, “Y’all got sweet tea?” all day long. People would tell me the same things: “Why don’t you smile more?”

“You’re too pretty to smoke. Get that out of your mouth.”

Some guy called me “honey,” and I said, “Don’t call me that.” He said, “I’ve got a sister who’s a feminist.”

It was smoky and gross, but it was also the best years of my life.

Sulac: Once I started working there and realized, “OK, everybody that works here is either an artist or musician.” I don’t think I had realized that I had just landed in the most perfect place.

Justin Collins (former employee, Sugar In The Raw, Go Fast): It shaped so many musicians’ lives inadvertently, and as much as I used to make fun of Henry Lee, he put up with so much shit from just me alone, but from so many people.

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ARKANSAS TIMES

John Kushmaul (former employee, local artist): It always seemed like a real reasonable place to sort of center life. I always thought of it as a portal to the outside world. I modeled my life on some of the musicians who worked there who would go on tour for six months and then show up and work at Vino’s again.

John Kushmaul: In the 1990s, Kevin Kresse had a studio upstairs, and I thought that’s kind of what I’d like. I started renting in August 1998 and I’ve been there ever since. One time, I set up across the street and painted the building. I’d make copies of it and paint on top of the copies.

I did several dozen of those and would sell them for $50 or $75. Henry was always good at letting local artists sell work on the walls.

Sulac: One time somebody stole a piece of my art. Scottish Brian [Hirrel] was like, “That motherfucker just took your art.” I was like, “What!” He was like, “He’s already across the street.”

We ran out on the sidewalk and I was like, “Hey man, you gonna pay for that?” With his head hung low, he came walking back across the street and he was like, “Sorry, my friend dared me to do it.”

Amber Uptigrove: I don’t think it’s cool to say that your restaurant is your family anymore, but I feel like Vino’s really was because you only got hired there by word of mouth and it was like nobody from the outside was hiring and you had to know somebody. We really were all best friends and we rode to work together and rode home together.

Sulac: I stuffed myself inside the dishwasher once and they turned it on.

Amber Uptigrove: David Jukes [a longtime former employee and musician] was kind of the reason we all worked there. He was the best.

Jeff Matika: He quit Vino’s to go to the library, and I was like, “Why are you doing that? Let’s do this forever.” Now I work at the library.

Justin Collins: I can still make a fucking calzone.

Jason White: My wife and I had our wedding reception at Vino’s in 2005.

Andy Conrad: I’ve been to weddings there. I’ve slow danced to “Unchained Melody” in that room.

David Raymond: I still think about it. I wish I could have made a million dollars at it. It was a lot of fun. I used to summarize to people: I made

I remember some big political candidate coming in and saying, “We’ll be sitting in the nonsmoking section.”

And one of the waiters saying, “Well, you can sit there all fucking day if you like, but you’ll have to order at the counter.” -Brian Hirrel

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Where Little Rock Meets

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beer during the day and played in a rock band during the night. That was a pretty awesome way to live in my mid-20s.

Henry Lee: Vino’s means a lot to a lot of people.

We’re almost to our third generation of people, definitely well into the second. Kids who started out hanging there and have worked for me over the years have gone on and are bringing their kids in.

Bobby Matthews: The last time I went back there was before COVID, and there was a punk show where three different Little Rock punk bands played — not even on the stage — on the floor in front of the stage. But my daughter, who was like 15 at the time, she was like, “Oh, this is cool.” And she likes punk, dresses like a punk, has a Black Flag poster on her wall. So it was full circle for me. It’s that space, it’s kind of hallowed ground. When I go back there, I feel like it’s like 500 years ago and I’m in a pub in a town and my family’s been there forever. It’s that kind of feeling. Like I’ve been here forever, you know. It’s neat, because I haven’t.

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Matthew Thompson: I was just back in Little Rock over the holidays and drove my kids by Vino’s and explained the importance of it and what it was. When you’re gone for a long time and you see the building, just this old and dilapidated building, there’s so much magic and history in it.

Brian Hirrel: It’s not the cleverest restaurant in the world. It’s not the smartest restaurant in the world. It’s not the cleanest restaurant in the world. It’s a hole in the wall. But it’s got this legendary thing going on.

332 Main Street

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MARYANN STRANGE IS BUILDING A DEVOTED FOLLOWING IN CONWAY, ONE CAJUN EGG ROLL AT A TIME.

BY STEPHANIE SMITTLE 38 FEBRUARY 2022

ARKANSAS TIMES

BRIAN CHILSON

ACRONYMS AND ALFREDO

‘INTO THE DETAILS OF A DISH’: Just like the delights coming out of the YGFBF Kitchen, MaryAnn Strange built her culinary career from scratch.

W

hat do you do when love is in the air and you’re trying to impress your date with a home-cooked meal, but your kitchen skills are forgettable?

Call up MaryAnn Strange, apparently. So goes the story behind YGFBF Kitchen & Catering’s name, coined “Your Girlfriend Best Friend Kitchen” after Strange’s best friend passed off Strange’s cooking as her own. “We all have that one friend that can burn a house down if they were just boiling water,” Strange told me. The secret eventually got out on that romantic meal scheme and, four years of booming business later, it’s safe to say the secret’s out on YGFBF Kitchen, too.

Chalk up that success to two things. The first: Maryann herself. With sparkling eyes, a bubbly giggle and a tendency to pepper her Instagram feed with inspirational quotes, the Detroit native is a made-for-TV food personality, seemingly surprised by YGFBF’s continued success despite clear evidence that she’s engineered it with careful calculation and vigilant attention to detail. Reviews of YGFBF include phrases like “I pray this young woman can expand to the East Coast,” and Strange is so beloved by her fellow restaurateurs that when she began considering Little Rock in her 2021 search for an upgraded location, culinary cornerstones like Patti Stobaugh (Stoby’s Restaurant, PattiCakes Bakery) rallied to help keep YGFBF in Conway.

The second key to Strange’s gains? Dishes like YGFBF’s Cajun Alfredo Egg Rolls, a creamy, crunchy exercise in contrast — one that’s almost always sold out by week’s end. Strange has made a point of filling her catering and inhouse menus with the dishes she grew up loving — luxurious macaroni and cheese and collard

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greens simmered with smoked neckbones, for example, additions Strange credits to childhood summers spent in Arkansas with her father, a native of Seaton (Lonoke County). “I grew up in the North, eating Southern food,” Strange said. Less traditional offerings include clever mashups like Cajun Chicken Tacos and Rasta Pasta, corkscrew noodles with a Jamaicaninspired spicy cream sauce. The common denominator — besides that signature alfredo — is an emphasis on the visual. Strange’s greens stay a verdant jade even after being slow-cooked, and she’s careful never to hide a dish’s ingredients in a catering chafer under a blanket of melted cheese. Head to YGFBF’s website gallery to behold dozens of items that sound chaotic on paper but translate into photos as dinner plate gold. “I’m really big on presentation,” Strange said. “I eat with my eyes first. Most everybody does. People are really into the details of a dish.” Even with something like gumbo — rarely the prettiest dish on the table — Strange is big on visual detail. “They can see the sausage. They can see the chicken. They can see the okra. They can see the veggies. They can tell what’s in the dish, and can tell that it was made with quality stuff.”

Keeping up that quality in an era when supply chain bottlenecks are front-of-mind for restaurants has been a challenge, but Strange’s menu has stayed the course. When last year’s cream cheese shortage made headlines, for example, she supplemented her food supply vendor orders with trips to Sam’s Club and Kroger to get the brand she wanted. “Most people’s tastes are acquired,” she said. “If they’ve eaten that dish 700 times, they can tell when you use something different. And I don’t want to be on a review page where they say, ‘Well, it was good two weeks ago, but right now it’s not.’ If I couldn’t find it, I’d take it off the menu completely. I wouldn’t want to damage their view of that dish by using something else.”

That rigor for ingredient integrity might seem like the idealism born in a lab during the first year of an expensive culinary degree, but it’s not. Though Strange grew up around great food, she doesn’t have a restaurant background and didn’t start YGFBF Kitchen until the summer of

2019. It was a food truck then, and represented an intrepid leap of faith in Strange’s self-made passion for cooking.

Here’s why: Before “pivot” was the buzzword of our time, Strange was living it. In 2018, the telecommunications company that had employed Strange for a decade went through a series of employee layoffs, and Strange — then a single mother — was suddenly unemployed.

“I just remember crying,” she said, “and at that time, I was a single mother, but I was dating, recently divorced, trying to get on with my life, and dating the man who is now my husband — which is crazy! And I was thinking, ‘How am I gonna take care of my kids?’ ” Reeling from the uncertainty, she started to think about going into business for herself. “At least I know I won’t lay off myself,” she said. “I know that I am gonna work in order to take care of my responsibilities, and to meet our needs.”

Strange’s then-boyfriend, now-husband, encouraged her to think about cooking for a living. “I was like, ‘Well, you know, I just cook for family and friends. I don’t cook for everybody.’ You know, you’re dating somebody, so you think they might be just hyping you up, because you’re dating. But then I started shopping my food around to the barber shops around town, and with a few of my friends, and they were kinda like, ‘Yeah, that tastes really good!’ ” The rest of Conway’s residents agree, if Strange’s business trajectory is any indication.

YGFBF moved from that little food truck to a brick-and-mortar location at 812 Chestnut St. in downtown Conway in 2020, quickly outgrew it and moved to an even larger location at 800 Fouth Ave., formerly Oak Street Bistro. YGFBF employs a staff of 13 now and, Strange said, “We’ve been rockin’ and rollin.’ ” So much so, she said, that it’s hard for her to slow down when she gets home at the end of the day. “My husband has to remind me to sit down and stop cooking,” she said. As for the kids, “they pretty much eat everything I cook. I think they have a different palate. If I try to serve them something simple, they’re like, ‘Nah, Mom, we want collard greens. We want pastas. And I’m like, ‘Y’all! OK, I got ya.’ ”

! t s e B e Th s U g n i t o V r o F s k n a Th

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DESTINATION SEARCY

WILD SWEET WILLIAM’S AND KNIGHTFIRE BBQ PUT WHITE COUNTY ON THE MAP.

BRIAN CHILSON

BY LINDSEY MILLAR

M

y hometown of Searcy has never been a dining destination. There’ve long been sturdy meat-and-threes and serviceable barbecue spots and burger barns, but nothing worth driving any farther than across the county for. But that’s changing. I visit often to see family and friends, but — and keep this between us — sometimes that’s just an excuse to pick up pastries from Wild Sweet William’s Bakery and barbecue from KnightFire, two growing eateries that are rapidly accumulating evangelical devotees like me.

At Wild Sweet William’s (504 S. Main St.), you’ll find buttery scones, fruitfilled kolaches, classic cookies, massive muffins, fancy breakfast sandwiches and cinnamon rolls as big as your face, individual pound cakes covered with buttercream icing, and a vegan fruit-filled focaccia that’s impossibly rich. And it all looks artful, like it’s been styled for a photo shoot — a sprig of rosemary here, a just-right dusting of flour there. No other bakery in Central Arkansas offers anything comparable. I’ve nearly eaten my way through the menu and everything is superlative. Several items belong in my pantheon of all-time sweet treats:

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GOING FAST: Autumn Pellegrin serves up the day’s offerings at the already legendary Searcy bakery, where selling out before closing time is the norm.

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The salted caramel pecan twist, made with sweet yeast dough, diced pecans, sea salt and loads of butter, has caramelized layers so decadent they hold up even several days after everything else has gone stale (over-ordering is a constant battle in my family). The fruit bundle is a slightly sweet dinner roll filled with jam and covered in a lemony icing. Unfortunately, the babka, a.k.a. the greatest pastry to be found in many miles, hasn’t lately been available at Wild Sweet William’s since the bakery moved down Main Street to a bigger space in November. It takes considerably longer to make than other offerings, reports head baker Lisa Ford, who owns the bakery with her husband, Bill, and she hasn’t worked it back into what had been a Sunday-only rotation. But she promises it will return. Hers is a cousin to the croissant and kouign-amann, a many-layered buttery delight with a caramelized underside and powdered sugar sprinkled on top. It’s sweet, but subtly. I have no baking skills or knowledge to speak of, but every time I eat one, I find myself studying the pastry and thinking through each bite as if figuring out the secrets to such deliciousness would unlock life’s greater mysteries.

Ford grew up in Missouri helping her mother in the kitchen. She got an early lesson in the commercial potential of that labor when she paid for a high school trip to Europe by selling her baked goods in a bank lobby. Years later, looking for a project that would help teach her daughters about work and community, she started selling baked items they’d prepared together at the Searcy Farmers Market. They sold out of everything they baked, and a year later Ford opened up the brickand-mortar. Her scones, big, buttery and moist,

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MEAT ME IN SEARCY: Brisket king Matt Knight keeps it simple, and it works.

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were immediate hits, but it took customers a little longer to come around to the kolaches, a Czech pastry similar to a Danish. Like the fruit bundle, the base is a pillowy and semi-sweet roll; fruit and cream cheese icing — or savory ingredients like egg, cheese and sausage — spill over the edges of a divot on top. Today, they’re her best sellers. But everything sells. Selling out has been the norm.

Thus, the move. The bakery traded 700 square feet for 3,500. That jump allowed Wild Sweet William’s to double production and offer, for the first time, a seating area. Aside from there being more of the already widely loved baked goods, it remains to be seen what’s next for Wild Sweet William’s.

“We definitely want to have an extended and expanded menu and extended hours,” Ford said, but she hasn’t otherwise figured out how the new spot will evolve. She believes she’s found an otherwise unoccupied niche and isn’t eager to expand into territory another eatery already does well. Ford cited industry wisdom that indicates that most restaurants fail within the first five years, and those that make it past five years often close within the next five years because of owner burnout. She’s hoping the move to the new space will create a “healthy, sustainable work

environment” for her and her team.

PORK CANDY KnightFire BBQ, Matt Knight’s craft barbecue operation, is closing in on that five-year milestone.

He started the food truck in January 2018, settled into a stationary location for the truck early in the pandemic and was hoping to reopen in his new brick-and-mortar space (304 S. Main St.) in the former home of Wild Sweet William’s by mid-February. That can’t come soon enough for Knight’s growing customer base, who will attest to the restaurant’s website slogan: “The best BBQ in Central Arkansas.”

“We live in a pork state,” Knight told me. “But brisket is my thing. That’s what I do best. That’s what I pride myself on.” That’s not to say that Knight doesn’t do pulled pork. He does and it’s excellent. But brisket leads the way at KnightFire.

Knight grew up in McCrory thinking that a certain longstanding Delta barbecue spot was the end-all-be-all of ’cue — until some friends from Memphis came for a visit and hated it. That led him to branch out, exploring the smoked meat pleasures beyond Arkansas. He found that he enjoyed the Texas-style presentation of meat in its

unadorned smoked glory rather than the pulled pork slathered with sauce and slaw as you’ll typically find in Arkansas.

Earlier in adulthood, he farmed on his family’s land in Woodruff County and left that to work a job locating utility lines. He wanted a hobby. “I’m a big guy, so I decided I’d try barbecue out.” That’s about as far as his origin story goes. He watched a lot of YouTube and made a lot of bad barbecue. At some point, he figured it out. He says he has no secrets.

Here’s his brisket process: He buys prime brisket (the fancy stuff), trims it well, something that took practice. He coats it with salt and pepper the day before. He uses pecan wood if he can get it; hickory or oak if he can’t. The meat gets smoked until the bark — the salt and pepper coating — looks right. Then he wraps it in butcher paper and cooks it until it reaches an internal temperature of 200 or 205 degrees.

If anything separates him from a hobbyist, it’s that he’s willing to put in the time (the demands of being the sole pitmaster means that he’s a zombie for lack of sleep by the time Saturdays roll around, Knight admits) and that he has the Cadillac of smokers, a 1,000-gallon offset smoker from Primitive Pits in Georgia. “That alone made

my brisket 100 times better,” Knight said.

He’d love to get to the point where he’s mostly selling meat by the pound. Along with pork and brisket, he does chicken, ribs and turkey. My family got the turkey for Thanksgiving and, because it was so good — probably the best I’ve ever had — we got it again for Christmas. On Saturdays only, Knight also offers pork candy, surely the most decadent meat treat to be found in many miles: It’s smoked pork belly that he finishes in a pan with butter, brown sugar and barbecue sauce.

But for now the people of Searcy want sandwiches, and Knight delivers. His staples include The Boss, a pile of brisket and pickled red onions; the PBJ, a mammoth made of pulled pork, brisket and jalapeno cheese sausage; and Matt’s Burger, built around a patty made of prime brisket.

Look out for specials, too, including pastrami and patty melts and loaded sweet potatoes.

Whether you’re in Searcy or traveling for sweets and meats, I can tell you from experience that ordering ahead is the ticket, something Ford and Knight push. You can order online at wildsweetwilliams.com and eatknightfire.com, or find links on each website to download iOS or Android apps for pre-orders.

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Congratulations Readers Choice Awards Recipients! @ the Corner A Taste of Thai Ai Sushi Aji Ramen Bar All Aboard Restaurant & Grill Allsopp & Chapple Restaurant + Bar Ambrosia Bakery Andy’s Frozen Custard AQ Chicken House Argenta Nutrition Arsaga’s Arthur’s Prime Steakhouse Baja Grill Benton Baja Grill Little Rock Bark Bar Bawarchi Biryanis Benihana Best Cafe Big Orange Bike Rack Brewing Co. Blu Fish House Blue Cake Company Blue House Bakery & Cafe Farmer’s Table Bobby’s Country Cookin’ Bocca Italian Eatery & Pizzeria Bombadil’s Café Boulevard Bread Co. Brave New Restaurant Bray Gourmet Breitweiser’s Meat Market Brood & Barley Brown’s Catfish Bruno’s Little Italy Buenos Aires Grill and Café Burge’s Hickory Smoked Turkeys and Hams Butcher Boys Meat Market & Deli Cache Cafe 1217 Cafe 42 Cafe Bossa Nova Cajun Trouxth Camp Taco Campground Grill Carmelita Catering Co. Casa Mañana Catering to You Catfish Hole Ceci’s Chicken N Waffles Charlotte’s Eats & Sweets Cheesecake On Point!

Ciao Baci Cinnamon Creme Bakery Community Bakery Copper Mule Table & Tap Corky’s Ribs & BBQ Cotham’s in the City Count Porkula BBQ Crazy Hibachi Crush Wine Bar Curry Point Cypress Social Damgoode Pies David Family Kitchen Delta Biscuit Co. DeLuca’s Pizzeria

Dempsey Bakery Dizzy’s Gypsy Bistro Doe’s Eat Place Dondie’s White River Princess Dugan’s Pub Eat My Catfish Edwards Food Giant El Palenque El Sur Ermilio’s Italian Home Cooking Esters SOMA Faded Rose Fantastic China Fidel & Co. Flavors Indian Cuisine Flying Fish Flyway Brewing Co. Four Quarter Bar Fred’s Fish House Fu Lin Gandolfo’s New York Deli Gaskins Cabin Steakhouse Good Dog Cafe Graffiti’s Italian Restaurant Grateful Head Pizza Oven & Beer Garden Grinds Coffee Co. Grotto Wood Fired Grill and Wine Cave Grumpy Rabbit Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken HB’s Bar-B-Q Heights Corner Market Heights Taco & Tamale Co. Heritage Catering Hill Station Hillcrest Artisan Meats Hillcrest Little Bakery Hogg’s Meat Market Holly’s Country Cookin’ House of Mental Hugo’s Iriana’s Jaclyn’s Kitchen Jade China Restaurant Jim’s Meat Market JJ’s Grill Jones Bar-B-Q Diner Just Ice Cream Kemuri Khana Indian Grill Kilwins, Le Pops KnightFire BBQ La Casa De Mi Abuelita Maw Maw’s House La Hacienda La Terraza Rum & Lounge Lassis Inn Layla’s Layla’s Gyro Le Stick Nouveau Leon’s Catfish and Shrimp Lili’s Mexican Street Food Lin’s Garden Loblolly Creamery Local Flavor Local Lime Lost Forty Brewing Maddie’s Place

Mama Dean’s Down Home Cookin Mamma Z Tortilla and Tamale Factory Mamoo’s Paradice Cream Maryams Grill McClard’s Bar-B-Q Meiji Japanese Cuisine MELD kitchen+sandwich bar Mike’s Cafe Mike’s Place Mockingbird Bar & Tacos Mong Dynasty Monte Ne Inn Chicken Mountain Bird Coffee Company Mr. Chen’s Authentic Chinese Cooking Mr. Hui’s Mt. Fuji Japanese Restaurant Mud Street Cafe Mugs Argenta MuleKick @ MAD MuleKick Magnolia Mylo Natural State Smoothies Nexus Coffee and Creative Nomad’s Southtown Kitchen + Bar Ocean’s At Arthur’s Onyx Coffee Lab Osaka Japanese Steakhouse & Sushi Bar Ozark Café Ozark Mountain Bagel Co. Pandiya’s South Indian Cuisine Panther Nutrition of Cabot Pasta Grill PattiCakes Bakery Pea Farm Bistro Peggy Sue’s Place Petit & Keet Pizzeria Ruby Postmaster’s Grill Powerhouse Seafood & Grill Press Waffle Co. Raduno Brick Oven and Barroom Red Apple Inn Red Door Red Light Roastery Coffee House Red Oak Steakhouse at Saracen Casino Resort Richard’s Country Meat Market Ristorante Capeo River City Coffee Rock N’ Roll Hibachi (Hot Springs) Rock N’ Roll Sushi Rolando’s Restaurante Rosie Pot & Kettle RX Catering Saddlebock Brewery Saffron Indian Cuisine Samantha’s Tap Room & Wood Grill Sauced Bar and Oven Scoops Ice Cream Serenity Farm Bread Sims Bar-B-Que Sky Modern Japanese Smitty’s Garage Burgers & Beer Smokin’ Buns Snack Lab Sonny Williams’ Steak Room

Soul Fish Café SQZBX Brewery & Pizza Joint Star of India Stoby’s Restaurant Stone Mill Bread & Cafe Sushi House Sweet & Savory Cafe Table 28 Table Mesa Taco Mama Taj Mahal Indian Kitchen Tangiers Tavola Trattoria Taylor’s Steakhouse Taziki’s Mediterranean Café TCBY The Butcher Shop The Faded Rose The Farmer’s Table The Fold Botanas + Bar The Grumpy Rabbit The Healthy Spot The Hive The Indian Feast The Nutrition Place The Original ScoopDog The Pantry The Parsonage The Pho House The Pizzeria The Preacher’s Son The Purple Cow The Rail Yard The Root Café The Social Taco The Tower Bar at The Momentary The Vault The Wok Three Fold Noodles and Dumpling Co. Three Sams BBQ & Catering Tokyo House Sushi & Ramen Torchy’s Tacos Trash Creamery Trio’s Tropical Smoothie Cafe Tusk & Trotter Two Sisters Catering U.S. Pizza Umami Sushi Lounge & Grill Fusion Valhalla: Kitchen + Bar Verona Italian Restaurant Vetro 1925 Vino’s Brewpub Weldon’s Meat Market White Water Tavern Whole Hog Cafe Wild Sweet William’s Baking House Wright’s Barbecue WunderHaus Xuma Kitchens Yeyo’s El Alma De Mexico Yeyo’s Food Truck YGFBFKitchen Restaurant Ying Chang Hmong & Chinese Hot Food Zaza Fine Salad + Wood Oven Pizza

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BEST NEW RESTAURANT AROUND ARKANSAS The Grumpy Rabbit (Lonoke) Finalists: Best Cafe (Hot Springs), MuleKick @ MAD (El Dorado), Pizzeria Ruby (Johnson), Red Oak Steakhouse at Saracen Casino Resort (Pine Bluff)

BEST OVERALL RESTAURANT AROUND ARKANSAS The Grumpy Rabbit (Lonoke) Finalists: Copper Mule Table & Tap (Bryant), The Hive (Bentonville), MuleKick (Magnolia), Red Oak Steakhouse at Saracen Casino Resort (Pine Bluff)

BEST CHEF IN LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK Peter Brave (Brave New Restaurant) Finalists: Brayan McFadden (Brood & Barley, North Little Rock), Jeffrey Owen (Ciao Baci), Capi Peck (Trio’s Restaurant), Scott Rains (Table 28)

BEST NEW RESTAURANT IN LITTLE ROCK/NORTH LITTLE ROCK Camp Taco Finalists: Lili’s Mexican Street Food, Press Waffle Co., Rosie Pot & Kettle, White Water Tavern

BEST CHEF AROUND ARKANSAS James Hale (The Grumpy Rabbit) Finalists: Dianna Bratton (Taco Mama, Hot Springs), Joseph Coleman (Saracen Casino and Resort, Pine Bluff), Matthew McClure (The Hive, Bentonville), Rob Nelson (Tusk & Trotter)

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BEST SERVER IN LITTLE ROCK/NORTH LITTLE ROCK Mary Katherine Peek (Flying Saucer) Finalists: Katherine Coling (Red Oak Steakhouse, Pine Bluff), Libby Corinne (Pizza D’ Action), Naya Taylor (Brood & Barley), Yassine Tebba (Ciao Baci)

BEST PANDEMIC-INFLUENCED DINING TO-GO BEER FROM A RESTAURANT IN LITTLE ROCK/NORTH LITTLE ROCK Flyway Brewing (North Little Rock) Finalists: Brood & Barley (North Little Rock), Ciao Baci, Lost Forty Brewing, Mockingbird Bar & Tacos TO-GO BOTTLED WINE FROM A RESTAURANT IN LITTLE ROCK/NORTH LITTLE ROCK Petit & Keet Finalists: Ciao Baci, Crush Wine Bar, Trio’s Restaurant

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CURBSIDE IN LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK Star of India Finalists: @ the Corner, Mockingbird Bar & Taco, Three Fold Noodles and Dumpling Co., Trio’s Restaurant TO-GO COCKTAIL MIX FROM A RESTAURANT IN LITTLE ROCK/NORTH LITTLE ROCK The Pantry Finalists: Baja Grill, Brood & Barley, The Fold Botanas & Bar, Mockingbird Bar and Taco

BEST EARLY EATS BAKERY IN LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK Community Bakery Finalists: Boulevard Bread Co., Cinnamon Creme Bakery, Dempsey Bakery, Hillcrest Little Bakery BAKERY AROUND ARKANSAS Wild Sweet William’s Baking House (Searcy) Finalists: Ozark Mountain Bagel Co. (Bentonville), PattiCakes Bakery (Conway), Serenity Farm Bread (Leslie), Ambrosia Bakery (Hot Springs) BREAKFAST IN LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK @ the Corner Finalists: Hillcrest Little Bakery, Mugs Argenta, Red Door, The Root Cafe BREAKFAST AROUND ARKANSAS Blue House Bakery & Cafe (Bryant) Finalists: The Farmer’s Table Cafe (Fayetteville), Jaclyn’s Kitchen (Rogers), Ozark Cafe (Jasper) Sweet & Savory Cafe (Eureka Springs)

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BRUNCH IN LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK @ the Corner Finalists: Four Quarter Bar, Lost Forty Brewing, Red Door, The Root Cafe BRUNCH AROUND ARKANSAS The Grumpy Rabbit (Lonoke) Finalists: The Farmer’s Table Cafe (Fayetteville), Local Flavor (Eureka Springs), The Parsonage (Jonesboro), Tusk & Trotter (Bentonville) COFFEE IN LITTLE ROCK/NORTH LITTLE ROCK Fidel & Co. Finalists: Boulevard Bread Co., Nexus Coffee and Creative, Mylo Coffee Co., River City Coffee

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BEST BARBECUE! Visit wholehogcafe.com for other locations throughout Arkansas!

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Deluca’s ’s Arkansas

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BARBECUE IN LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK Whole Hog Cafe Finalists: Corky’s Ribs & BBQ, Count Porkula BBQ, HB’s Bar-B-Q, Sims Bar-B-Que BARBECUE AROUND ARKANSAS McClard’s Bar-B-Q (Hot Springs) Finalists: Jones Bar-B-Q Diner (Marianna), KnightFire BBQ (Searcy), Smokin’ Buns (Jacksonville), Wright’s Barbecue (Johnson) BURGER IN LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK Big Orange Finalists: Brood & Barley, Ciao Baci, Cypress Social, Petit & Keet BURGER AROUND ARKANSAS The Grumpy Rabbit (Lonoke) Finalists: Best Cafe (Hot Springs), Big Orange (Rogers), Copper Mule Table & Tap (Bryant), Hugo’s (Fayetteville) CATFISH IN LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK Eat My Catfish Finalists: Cypress Social (North Little Rock), Flying Fish, Lassis Inn, Soul Fish Cafe CATFISH AROUND ARKANSAS Dondie’s White River Princess (Des Arc) Finalists: Brown’s Catfish (Russellville), Catfish Hole (Fayetteville), Eat My Catfish (Benton), Flying Fish (Bentonville) CHEESE DIP IN LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK Heights Taco & Tamale Finalists: Baja Grill, Dizzy’s Gypsy Bistro, La Hacienda, Local Lime

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FEBRUARY 2022 53

DESSERTS IN LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK Cheesecake on Point!

Finalists: Cypress Social, Table 28, Trio’s Restaurant, Petit & Keet DESSERTS AROUND ARKANSAS Charlotte’s Eats & Sweets (Keo) Finalists: The Grumpy Rabbit (Lonoke), The Hive (Bentonville), Pea Farm Bistro (Cabot), Tusk & Trotter (Bentonville)

BRIAN CHILSON

FRENCH FRIES IN LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK Big Orange Finalists: Brood & Barley, Doe’s Eat Place, Esters SOMA, Faded Rose

The Root Cafe

READERS

CHOICE

A ARDS WINNER 2022

READERS

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A ARDS FINALIST 2022

54 FEBRUARY 2022

ARKANSAS TIMES

FRENCH FRIES AROUND ARKANSAS The Grumpy Rabbit (Lonoke) Finalists: Big Orange (Rogers), Hugo’s (Fayetteville), Smitty’s Garage Burgers & Beer (Rogers), Tusk & Trotter (Bentonville) FRIED CHICKEN IN LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken Finalists: Ceci’s Chicken N Waffles, Cotham’s in the City, Flyway Brewing, Samantha’s Tap Room & Wood Grill

FRIED CHICKEN AROUND ARKANSAS YGFBFKitchen Restaurant (Conway) Finalists: AQ Chicken House (Springdale), Campground Grill (Austin), Holly’s Country Cookin’ (Conway), Monte Ne Inn Chicken (Rogers) ICE CREAM/COOL TREATS IN LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK Loblolly Creamery Finalists: Kilwins, Le Pops, The Original ScoopDog (North Little Rock), The Purple Cow ICE CREAM/COOL TREATS AROUND ARKANSAS Andy’s Frozen Custard (Conway) Finalists: Just Ice Cream (Benton), Mamoo’s Paradice Cream (Hot Springs), Scoops Ice Cream (Hot Springs), Trash Creamery (Bentonville) PIE IN LITTLE ROCK/NORTH LITTLE ROCK Community Bakery Finalists: Blue Cake Company, Bobby’s Country Cookin’, Soul Fish Cafe, Trio’s Restaurant PIE AROUND ARKANSAS Charlotte’s Eats & Sweets (Keo) Finalists: Holly’s Country Cookin’ (Conway), Mud Street Cafe (Eureka Springs), Three Sams BBQ & Catering (Mabelvale), Tusk & Trotter (Bentonville)

PIZZA IN LITTLE ROCK/NORTH LITTLE ROCK Zaza Fine Salad + Wood Oven Pizza Finalists: Damgoode Pies, Iriana’s, The Pizzeria, Vino’s Brewpub PIZZA AROUND ARKANSAS DeLuca’s Pizzeria (Hot Springs) Finalists: MuleKick (Magnolia), Pizzeria Ruby (Johnson), SQZBX Brewery & Pizza Joint (Hot Springs), Valhalla Kitchen + Bar (Benton) SALAD IN LITTLE ROCK/NORTH LITTLE ROCK ZaZa Fine Salad + Wood Oven Pizza Finalists: Doe’s Eat Place, The Faded Rose, The Root Cafe, U.S. Pizza SALAD AROUND ARKANSAS ZaZa Fine Salad + Wood Oven Pizza (Conway) Finalists: Cafe 1217 (Hot Springs), Pea Farm Bistro (Cabot), MuleKick @ MAD (El Dorado), Valhalla: Kitchen + Bar (Benton) SANDWICH IN LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK The Root Cafe Finalists: Boulevard Bread Co., Cypress Social, Esters SOMA, Hillcrest Artisan Meats

Happy to be serving you in Arkansas!

BEST CATFISH IN LITTLE ROCK/NORTH LITTLE ROCK BEST PIE N LITTLE ROCK/NORTH LITTLE ROCK BEST HOME COOKIN’ IN LITTLE ROCK/NORTH LITTLE ROCK

SOUL FISH CAFE 306 Main St, Little Rock AR 72201 • 501-396-9175 • soulfishcafe.com Serving southern classics, po’ boys & tacos, plus beer & wine, in a casual setting.

THE PATIO IS OPEN! Additional online ordering at www.toasttab.com/soulfishcafelittlerock.

READERS

CHOICE

A ARDS WINNER 2022

READERS

CHOICE

A ARDS FINALIST 2022

ARKANSASTIMES.COM

FEBRUARY 2022 55

Think outside the city.

Come find out for yourself why it’s worth a trip to Des Arc!

Think outside the city.

find out the for yourself Think Come outside city.why it’s worth

a trip to Des Arc!to Des Arc! find out for yourself why it’s worth a trip

”Where Hospitality Meets Delicious” “White River Princess”

READERS

CHOICE

A ARDS WINNER 2022

BEST CATFISH AROUND ARKANSAS BEST SEAFOOD AROUND ARKANSAS

Open Fridays and Saturdays from 5-8 p.m.

Open for Private Parties by Appointment

”Where Hospitality Meets Delicious”

101 E. Curran Street,Open Des Arc, • 870-256-3311 forARPrivate Parties by Appointment

101 E. Curran Street, Des Arc, AR • 870-256-3311

“White River Princess”

Open for Private Parties by Appointment

THANKS FOR VOTING FOR US!

1 E. Curran Street, Des Arc, AR • 870-256-3311

The Grumpy Rabbit

SANDWICH AROUND ARKANSAS The Grumpy Rabbit (Lonoke) Finalists: MuleKick @ MAD (El Dorado), Pea Farm Bistro (Cabot), SQZBX Brewery & Pizza Joint (Hot Springs), Tusk & Trotter (Bentonville)

READERS

CHOICE

A ARDS FINALIST 2022

BEST SALAD IN LITTLE ROCK/NORTH LITTLE ROCK BEST FRENCH FRIES IN LITTLE ROCK/NORTH LITTLE ROCK BEST BUSINESS LUNCH IN LITTLE ROCK/NORTH LITTLE ROCK

LITTLE ROCK’S MOST AWARD-WINNING RESTAURANT 1619 Rebsamen Rd. 501.663.9734 • thefadedrose.com

SOUP IN LITTLE ROCK/NORTH LITTLE ROCK Boulevard Bread Co. Finalists: Baja Grill, Cafe Bossa Nova, Community Bakery, Mike’s Cafe SOUP AROUND ARKANSAS The Grumpy Rabbit (Lonoke) Finalists: Baja Grill (Benton), Gaskins Cabin Steakhouse (Eureka Springs), Pea Farm Bistro (Cabot), The Pho House (Hot Springs) STEAK IN LITTLE ROCK/NORTH LITTLE ROCK Arthur’s Prime Steakhouse Finalists: Cache, Doe’s Eat Place, Petit & Keet, Sonny Williams’ Steak Room STEAK AROUND ARKANSAS Mike’s Place (Conway) Finalists: The Hive (Bentonville), Red Oak Steakhouse at Saracen Casino Resort (Pine Bluff), Taylor’s Steakhouse (Dumas), The Vault (Hot Springs) SUSHI IN LITTLE ROCK Kemuri Finalists: Ocean’s at Arthur’s, Mt. Fuji Japanese Restaurant, Rock N Roll Sushi, Sky Modern Japanese

2415 Broadway St • Little Rock 501- 372-6868 1307 John Barrow Rd • Little Rock 501-224-2057 • simsbbqar.com

BEST BARBECUE IN LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK

Experience That Great Southern Flavor

56 FEBRUARY 2022

ARKANSAS TIMES

SUSHI AROUND ARKANSAS Osaka Japanese Steakhouse & Sushi Bar (Hot Springs) Finalists: Ai Sushi (Hot Springs), Blu Fish House (Bentonville), Meiji Japanese Cuisine (Fayetteville), Sushi House (Bentonville)

Thank You, Arkansas!

We are here for you and are ALWAYS 100% Gluten, Wheat, Soy, and Nut-Free.

CELEBRATING

BRIAN CHILSON

323 Cross St.

TACOS IN LITTLE ROCK/NORTH LITTLE ROCK Heights Taco & Tamale Finalists: Baja Grill, Camp Taco, The Fold Botanas & Bar, La Hacienda TACOS AROUND ARKANSAS Baja Grill (Benton) Finalists: Local Lime (Rogers), The Social Taco (Rogers), Torchy’s Tacos (Fayetteville), Taco Mama (Hot Springs) TORTILLA CHIPS IN LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK Heights Taco & Tamale Co. Finalists: Baja Grill, Camp Taco, Casa Mañana, La Hacienda

Little Rock

p 501.375.2257

10YEARS!

dempseybakery.com

The Flyway Way T

here is something unseen and indefinable within us that quietly, impatiently and incessantly, drives us forward. Call it instinct. Call it natural. We travel in pairs. We gather in gaggles.

With those most like us, we flock together as the moon and stars chart our course. The hearty grains that sprouted from fertile soils satisfy us in a way that nothing else does.

We open our wings, and our inspirations take flight.

TORTILLA CHIPS AROUND ARKANSAS Baja Grill (Benton) Finalists: Local Lime (Rogers), Mamma Z Tortilla and Tamale Factory (Bentonville), Taco Mama (Hot Springs), Xuma Kitchens (Fayetteville) YOGURT/SMOOTHIES IN LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK Tropical Smoothie Cafe Finalists: Argenta Nutrition, The Nutrition Place, TCBY YOGURT/SMOOTHIES AROUND ARKANSAS Natural State Smoothies (Fayetteville) Finalists: Grinds Coffee Co. (Cabot), The Healthy Spot (Greenbrier), Panther Nutrition of Cabot (Cabot)

BEST INTERNATIONAL CHINESE IN LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK Three Fold Noodles and Dumpling Co. Finalists: Mr. Chen’s Authentic Chinese Cooking, Fantastic China, Fu Lin, Mr. Hui’s

314 MAPLE ST., NORTH LITTLE ROCK • (501) 812-3192 WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/FLYWAYBREWING

@FLYWAYBREWING

@FLYWAYBREWING

THANKS FOR VOTING FOR US! READERS

CHOICE

A ARDS WINNER 2022

BEST BEER TO-GO FROM A RESTAURANT IN LITTLE ROCK/NORTH LITTLE ROCK

BEST FRIED CHICKEN IN LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK MOST DOG FRIENDLY IN LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK MOST FUN IN LITTLE ROCK/NORTH LITTLE ROCK BEST OUTDOOR DINING IN LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK ARKANSASTIMES.COM

READERS

CHOICE

A ARDS FINALIST 2022

FEBRUARY 2022 57

We Have The

#1

Customers In The State!

WINNER:

READERS

Best Other International Around Arkansas Best Outdoor Dining Around Arkansas

READERS

A ARDS

FINALIST:

A ARDS

CHOICE WINNER 2022

Best Overall Restaurant In Fayetteville/Springdale/Johnson Best Overall Restaurant In Hot Springs

CHOICE FINALIST 2022

Open Daily at 11am 7 Days A Week 210 Central Ave. Hot Springs 501.318.6054 rolandosrestaurante.com

SINCE 1981

WELDON’S

MEAT MARKET “QUALITY TELLS, QUALITY SELLS”

READERS

READERS

A ARDS

A ARDS

CHOICE

CHOICE

WINNER 2022

FINALIST 2022

BEST BUTCHER AROUND ARKANSAS

BEST DELI/GOURMET TO-GO AROUND ARKANSAS

EVERYTHING IS CUT TO YOUR SPECIFICATION, AND WE’RE BIG ON CUSTOMER SERVICE! 3911 CENTRAL AVE. • HOT SPRINGS (501) 525-2487 58 FEBRUARY 2022

ARKANSAS TIMES

Kemuri CHINESE AROUND THE STATE The Wok (Hot Springs) Finalists: Jade China Restaurant (Conway), Lin’s Garden (Bentonville), Mong Dynasty (Fayetteville), Ying Chang Hmong & Chinese Hot Food INDIAN IN LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK Star of India Finalists: Bawarchi Biryanis, The Indian Feast, Saffron Indian Cuisine, Taj Mahal Indian Kitchen INDIAN AROUND ARKANSAS Saffron Indian Cuisine (Rogers) Finalists: Curry Point (Bentonville), Flavors Indian Cuisine (Bentonville), Khana Indian Grill (Fayetteville), Pandiya’s South Indian Cuisine (Bentonville) ITALIAN IN LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK Bruno’s Little Italy Finalists: Graffiti’s Italian Restaurant, Raduno Brick Oven and Barroom, Ristorante Capeo (North Little Rock), Sauced Bar and Oven ITALIAN AROUND ARKANSAS Pasta Grill (Conway) Finalists: Bocca Italian Eatery & Pizzeria (Fayetteville), Ermilio’s Italian Home Cooking (Eureka Springs), Tavola Trattoria (Bentonville), Vetro 1925 (Fayetteville) JAPANESE IN LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK Kemuri Finalists: Aji Ramen Bar, Benihana (North Little Rock), Rock N Roll Sushi, Sky Modern Japanese

JAPANESE AROUND ARKANSAS Umami Sushi Lounge & Grill Fusion (Conway) Finalists: Sushi House (Bentonville), Meiji Japanese Cuisine (Fayetteville), Osaka Japanese Steakhouse and Bar (Hot Springs), Tokyo House Sushi & Ramen (Fayetteville) MEXICAN IN LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK Heights Taco & Tamale Finalists: Baja Grill, Camp Taco, El Palenque, La Hacienda MEXICAN AROUND ARKANSAS Baja Grill (Benton) Finalists: Local Lime (Rogers), Table Mesa (Bentonville), Taco Mama (Hot Springs), Yeyo’s El Alma De Mexico (Bentonville) OTHER INTERNATIONAL IN LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK Layla’s Gyro Finalists: Buenos Aires Grill and Cafe, Cafe Bossa Nova, La Terraza Rum & Lounge, Maryams Grill OTHER INTERNATIONAL AROUND ARKANSAS Rolando’s Restaurante (Hot Springs) Finalists: A Taste of Thai (Fayetteville), Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe (Bentonville), Tangiers (Fayetteville), WunderHaus (Conway)

BEST SPECIALTY DINING BUSINESS LUNCH IN LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK Samantha’s Tap Room & Wood Grill Finalists: Allsopp & Chapple, Doe’s Eat Place, The Faded Rose, Raduno Brick Oven and Barroom

Thanks for showing the love year after year...

CATFISH IN LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK

VOTED AMONG THE BEST SINCE 2014!

eatmycatfish.com

BEST OVERALL RESTAURANT IN BENTON/BRYANT BEST CATFISH AROUND ARKANSAS

411 Main St., North Little Rock | 501-400-8967

A Flyway specialty house serving beer, wine, cocktails, and tasty culinary creations!

Many Thanks For The Votes! We’re proud to serve!

READERS BEST SEAFOOD IN LITTLE ROCK/NORTH LITTLE ROCK

CHOICE

A ARDS FINALIST 2022

BEST VEGETARIAN/VEGAN IN LITTLE ROCK/NORTH LITTLE ROCK BEST CHEF IN LITTLE ROCK/NORTH LITTLE ROCK, BRAYAN MCFADDEN BEST SERVER IN LITTLE ROCK/NORTH LITTLE ROCK, NAYA TAYLOR

BEST BEER TO-GO FROM A RESTAURANT IN LITTLE ROCK/NORTH LITTLE ROCK BEST TO-GO COCKTAIL MIX FROM A RESTAURANT IN LITTLE ROCK/NORTH LITTLE ROCK BEST BURGER IN LITTLE ROCK/NORTH LITTLE ROCK BEST FRENCH FRIES IN LITTLE ROCK/NORTH LITTLE ROCK

ARKANSASTIMES.COM

FEBRUARY 2022 59

THANKS FOR VOTING US THE BEST!

READERS

CHOICE

A ARDS WINNER 2022

BEST JAPANESE AROUND ARKANSAS

BUSINESS LUNCH AROUND ARKANSAS Mike’s Place (Conway) Finalists: Cafe 1217 (Hot Springs), The Parsonage (Jonesboro), Pea Farm Bistro (Cabot), Tusk & Trotter (Bentonville)

HEALTHY IN LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK The Root Cafe Finalists: Cafe 42, Esters SOMA, Layla’s, ZaZa Fine Salad + Wood Oven Pizza

DOG FRIENDLY IN LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK The Rail Yard Finalists: Bark Bar, Dugan’s Pub, Flyway Brewing, The Root Cafe

HEALTHY AROUND ARKANSAS Pea Farm Bistro (Cabot) Finalists: Bombadil’s Cafe (Eureka Springs), MELD kitchen+sandwich bar (Bentonville), Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe, ZaZa Fine Salad + Wood Oven Pizza (Conway)

DOG FRIENDLY AROUND ARKANSAS Grateful Head Pizza Oven & Beer Garden (Hot Springs) Finalists: Good Dog Cafe (Fayetteville), Nomad’s Southtown Kitchen + Bar (Fayetteville), Saddlebock Brewery (Springdale), Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe (Bentonville) FINE DINING IN LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK Petit & Keet Finalists: Allsopp & Chapple, Brave New Restaurant, Cache, Table 28 FINE DINING AROUND ARKANSAS Red Apple Inn (Heber Springs) Finalists: The Hive (Bentonville), The Preacher’s Son (Bentonville), Red Oak Steakhouse at Saracen Casino Resort (Pine Bluff), Vetro 1925 (Fayetteville) FUN IN LITTLE ROCK/NORTH LITTLE ROCK Cypress Social Finalits: Camp Taco, Flyway Brewing Co., Hill Station, Rock N Roll Sushi FUN AROUND ARKANSAS JJ’s Grill (Fayetteville) Finalists: The Hive (Bentonville), MuleKick @ MAD (El Dorado), SQZBX Brewery & Pizza Joint (Hot Springs), The Tower Bar at The Momentary (Bentonville) GLUTEN FREE IN LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK The Root Cafe Finalists: Cafe Bossa Nova, Dempsey Bakery, La Terraza Rum & Lounge, Samantha’s Tap Room & Wood Grill

500 Amity Rd, Ste 1 • Conway (501) 358-3880 60 FEBRUARY 2022

ARKANSAS TIMES

GLUTEN FREE AROUND ARKANSAS Baja Grill (Benton) Finalists: Cafe 1217 (Hot Springs), SQZBX Brewery & Pizza Joint (Hot Springs), Snack Lab (Bentonville), Tavola Trattoria (Bentonville)

HOME COOKIN’ IN LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK Maddie’s Place Finalists: Bobby’s Country Cookin, David Family Kitchen, House of Mental, Soul Fish Cafe HOME COOKIN’ AROUND ARKANSAS YGFBFKitchen Restaurant & Catering (Conway) Finalists: Holly’s Country Cookin’ (Conway), Mama Dean’s Down Home Cookin (Jacksonville), Peggy Sue’s Place (Heber Springs), The Parsonage (Jonesboro) OUTDOOR DINING IN LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK CYPRESS SOCIAL Finalists: Baja Grill, Brave New Restaurant, Casa Mañana, Flyway Brewing OUTDOOR DINING AROUND ARKANSAS Rolando’s Restaurante (Hot Springs) Finalists: Bike Rack Brewing Co. (Bentonville), MuleKick (Magnolia), Postmaster’s Grill (Camden), WunderHaus (Conway) PLACE FOR KIDS IN LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK All Aboard Restaurant & Grill Finalists: Big Orange, Crazy Hibachi, The Rail Yard, The Root Cafe PLACE FOR KIDS AROUND ARKANSAS The Purple Cow (Hot Springs) Finalists: Big Orange (Rogers), MuleKick (Magnolia), Smitty’s Garage Burgers & Beer (Rogers), Stoby’s Restaurant (Conway) SEAFOOD IN LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK Kemuri Finalists: Brave New Restaurant, Brood & Barley, Lassis Inn, Petit & Keet

OUR BIG IDEA At the Grumpy Rabbit, we are dedicated to providing quality American-style fare that keeps you coming back for both excellent food, and also a unique dining experience. Additionally, we are passionate about contributing to and supporting historic downtown Lonoke.

Thanks For Voting For Us! READERS

CHOICE

A ARDS WINNER 2022

WINNER BEST BURGER AROUND ARKANSAS BEST FRENCH FRIES AROUND ARKANSAS BEST SANDWICH AROUND ARKANSAS BEST SOUP AROUND ARKANSAS BEST OVERALL RESTAURANT AROUND ARKANSAS BEST NEW RESTAURANT AROUND ARKANSAS BEST CHEF AROUND ARKANSAS, JAMES HALE BEST BRUNCH AROUND ARKANSAS FINALIST BEST DESSERTS AROUND ARKANSAS

READERS

CHOICE

A ARDS FINALIST 2022

105 West Front Street • Lonoke, AR 72086 501-438-8005 • grumpyrabbitlonoke.com ARKANSASTIMES.COM

FEBRUARY 2022 61

ESTABLISHED

2017

Brewery DINE-IN • TAKEOUT

PIZZA JOINT WE DELIVER

READERS

CHOICE

A ARDS FINALIST 2022

236 OUACHITA AVE. HOT SPRINGS, AR 71901

501-609-0609

SQZBX.COM

THANKS FOR VOTING US THE BEST! Come and try one of our award winning sandwiches.

READERS

CHOICE

A ARDS FINALIST 2022

BEST SANDWICH IN LITTLE ROCK/NORTH LITTLE ROCK BEST BUTCHER IN LITTLE ROCK/NORTH LITTLE ROCK BEST DELI/GOURMET TO-GO IN LITTLE ROCK/NORTH LITTLE ROCK

Open 10-5 Tues-Fri; 10-3 Sat • 2807 Kavanaugh Blvd, Ste B • Little Rock • (501) 671-6328

THANKS FOR VOTING FOR US!

READERS

CHOICE

A ARDS WINNER 2022

4000 AR-5 N, Suite 3 • Bryant (501) 943-7372 62 FEBRUARY 2022

ARKANSAS TIMES

BEST BREAKFAST AROUND ARKANSAS

SEAFOOD AROUND ARKANSAS Dondie’s White River Princess (Des Arc) Finalists: Blu Fish House (Bentonville), Fred’s Fish House (Mountain Home), Leon’s Catfish and Shrimp (Pine Bluff), Powerhouse Seafood & Grill (Fayetteville) VEGETARIAN/VEGAN IN LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK The Root Cafe Finalists: Brood & Barley, Esters SOMA, Maryams Grill, Star of India VEGETARIAN/VEGAN AROUND ARKANSAS Pea Farm Bistro (Cabot) Finalists: Baja Grill (Benton), Cafe 1217 (Hot Springs), Snack Lab (Bentonville), SQZBX Brewery & Pizza Joint (Hot Springs)

BEST TAKEAWAY/MOBILE DINING BUTCHER IN LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK Hogg’s Meat Market (North Little Rock) Finalists: The Butcher Shop, Edwards Food Giant (Cantrell), Hillcrest Artisan Meats, Heights Corner Market BUTCHER AROUND ARKANSAS Weldon’s Meat Market (Hot Springs) Finalists: Butcher Boys Meat Market & Deli (Van Buren), Jim’s Meat Market (Bentonville), Richard’s Country Meat Market (Fayetteville), Tusk & Trotter (Bentonville) CATERER IN LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK Trio’s Restaurant Finalist: Catering to You, Heritage Catering, The Root Cafe, RX Catering CATERER AROUND ARKANSAS Two Sisters Catering (Sherwood) Finalists: Carmelita Catering Co. (Bentonville), Pea Farm Bistro (Cabot), Wright’s Barbecue (Johnson), YGFBFKitchen Restaurant and Catering (Conway) DELI/GOURMET TO-GO IN LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK Burge’s Hickory Smoked Turkeys and Hams Finalists: Boulevard Bread Co., Bray Gourmet, Gandolfo’s New York Deli, Hillcrest Artisan Meats

Thank You To Our Loyal Fans For Voting Us The Best Around The State We’re Proud To Serve You! DELI/GOURMET TO-GO AROUND ARKANSAS Pea Farm Bistro (Cabot) Finalists: Breitweiser’s Meat Market (Benton), Weldon’s Meat Market (Hot Springs), Cafe 1217 (Hot Springs), Stone Mill Bread & Cafe (Springdale) FOOD TRUCK IN LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK Delta Biscuit Co. Finalists: Cajun Trouxth, Cheesecake On Point!, El Sur, Lili’s Mexican Street Food FOOD TRUCK AROUND ARKANSAS La Casa De Mi Abuelita Maw Maw’s House (Redfield) Finalists: Ozark Mountain Bagel (Fayetteville), Rock ’N’ Roll Hibachi (Hot Springs) LM, Yeyo’s Food Truck (Bentonville), Ying Chang Hmong & Chinese Hot Food (Fayetteville)

BEST BY REGION OVERALL RESTAURANT IN BENTON/BRYANT Baja Grill (Benton) Finalists: Copper Mule Table & Tap (Bryant), Eat My Catfish (Benton), Valhalla: Kitchen + Bar (Benton), Verona Italian Restaurant (Benton) OVERALL RESTAURANT IN ROGERS/ BENTONVILLE The Preacher’s Son (Bentonville) Finalists: The Hive (Bentonville), Local Lime (Rogers), Tusk & Trotter (Bentonville), Wright’s Barbecue (Bentonville)

READERS

CHOICE

A ARDS WINNER 2022

Thanks For Voting For Us!

BEST OVERALL RESTAURANT IN LITTLE ROCK/NORTH LITTLE ROCK BEST CHEF IN LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK, JEFFREY OWEN

BEST STEAK AROUND ARKANSAS BEST BUSINESS LUNCH AROUND ARKANSAS BEST OVERALL RESTAURANT IN CONWAY

BEST SERVER IN LITTLE ROCK/NORTH LITTLE ROCK, YASSINE TEBBA BEST BEER TO-GO FROM A RESTAURANT IN LITTLE ROCK/NORTH LITTLE ROCK

808 Front Street • Conway (501) 269-6453 mikesplaceconway.com A Loyal US Foods® Customer Proudly Sponsored by

BEST BOTTLED WINE TO-GO FROM A RESTAURANT IN LITTLE ROCK/NORTH LITTLE ROCK BEST BURGER IN LITTLE ROCK/NORTH LITTLE ROCK

605 N. Beechwood • Little Rock 501-603-0238 • ciaobacilr.com

THANKS FOR VOTING FOR US!

OVERALL RESTAURANT IN CONWAY Mike’s Place Finalists: Holly’s Country Cookin’, Pasta Grill, WunderHaus, YGFBFKitchen Restaurant OVERALL RESTAURANT IN EUREKA SPRINGS Ermilio’s Italian Home Cooking Finalists: Bombadil’s Cafe, Grotto Wood Fired Grill and Wine Cave, Le Stick Nouveau, Local Flavor OVERALL RESTAURANT IN FAYETTEVILLE/ SPRINGDALE/JOHNSON The Farmer’s Table Cafe (Fayetteville) Finalists: Bocca Italian Eatery & Pizzeria (Fayetteville), Hugo’s (Fayetteville), Rolando’s Restaurante (Fayetteville), Wright’s Barbecue (Johnson) OVERALL RESTAURANT IN HOT SPRINGS DeLuca’s Pizzeria Finalists: Cafe 1217, Rolando’s Restaurante, SQZBX Brewery & Pizza Joint, The Vault

Best Seafood

READERS

in Little Rock/North Little Rock

A ARDS

in Little Rock/North Little Rock

CHOICE 2601 Kavanaugh Blvd.

Little Rock, AR 72205 (501) 660-4100 KemuriRestaurant.com

WINNER 2022

Best Sushi Best Japanese in Little Rock/North Little Rock

ARKANSASTIMES.COM

FEBRUARY 2022 63

g n i t o v r o f s k n a Th d n u o r a t s e b e h t s u Arkansas!

MOST HEALTHY AROUND ARKANSAS BEST VEGAN/VEGETARIAN AROUND ARKANSAS BEST DELI/GOURMET TO-GO AROUND ARKANSAS BEST CATERER AROUND ARKANSAS BEST BUSINESS LUNCH AROUND ARKANSAS BEST SOUP AROUND ARKANSAS BEST SANDWICH AROUND ARKANSAS BEST DESSERTS AROUND ARKANSAS

Come see us!

1102 S PINE ST, CABOT, AR 72023 (501) 422-6360

64 FEBRUARY 2022

ARKANSAS TIMES

HELP WANTED CHILDREN’S MENTAL HEALTH DURING COVID-19.

ARKANSASTIMES.COM

FEBRUARY 2022 65

2022-2023 PRE-K REGISTRATION OPEN Students entering Pre-Kindergarten are now eligible to register at the Pulaski County Special School District.

The PCSSD Pre-K program is part of the Arkansas Better Chance program and supported by the Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education. It provides students with a strong foundation of knowledge and skills to build on through kindergarten and into elementary school.

PCSSD Pre-K program, students must meet age requirements: Pre-K 4 students must be four (4) on or before August 1, 2022. Pre-K 3 students must be three (3) on or before August 1, 2022.

AGE-ELIGIBLE CHILDREN MUST ALSO MEET ONE OF THE FOLLOWING: • Family with gross income not exceeding 200% of the Federal Poverty Level • Parents without a high school diploma or GED • Low birth weight (below 5 pounds, 9 ounces) • Parent under the age of 18 at the time of child’s birth • Immediate family member with documented history of substance abuse/addiction • Child has a developmental delay as identified through screening • Eligible for services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act • Limited English proficiency • Parent has a history of abuse or neglect or is a victim of abuse or neglect (documented)

An age-eligible child who falls into one of the following categories are exempt from the family income requirements: foster child, child in custody of/or living with a family member other than the mother or father, child with immediate family member arrested for or convicted of drug-related offense, child with parent activated for overseas military duties.

Another option available to PCSSD families is our DRIVEN Virtual Academy. This is a 100% online school for students K-12. Nearly 600 students were enrolled in DRIVEN for the first semester of this school year.

Students currently enrolled in PCSSD can fill out a letter of intent to return for the 2022-2023 school which can be found at PCSSD.org/register. Registration for students new to the district will open March 1.

ABOUT PCSSD Pulaski County Special School District spans more than 600 square miles in central Arkansas and requires highly skilled and passionate personnel to adapt educational policies and personalization to 25 schools. Every school is

REGISTER NOW

accredited by the Arkansas State Board of Education. PCSSD has served schools across Pulaski County since July 1927.

PCSSD is committed to creating a nationally recognized school district that assures that all students achieve at their maximum potential through collaborative, supportive and continuous efforts of all stakeholders.

pcssd.org/register 66 FEBRUARY 2022

ARKANSAS TIMES

FEBRUARY 2022 ACTIVITIES & FUN BLACK HISTORY MONTH Each year, Black History Month has a theme; for 2022, that theme is Black Health and Wellness.

It’s critical that Black history is studied not just in February, but throughout the entire year. That said, it’s a fine time to celebrate some Arkansas African American authors by picking up copies of these recent releases, sure to be enjoyed by young and old alike: “From Cotton to Silk: The Magic of Black Hair” by Crystal C. Mercer (Et Alia Press) and “Beasts of Prey” by Ayana Gray.

ARTS TAKE ACTION

Feb. 6, 2:30 p.m.

The third annual Arts Take Action at Wildwood Park for the Arts is a student-led fundraiser benefiting teenagers in crisis in Central Arkansas. The competitive event features a variety of mediums, including singing, acting, dance, instrumental and visual art. Run exclusively by high school students, Arts Take Action’s tagline is “Teens Helping Teens.”

Proceeds benefit Immerse Arkansas. Based in Little Rock, Immerse provides 18- to 24-month transitional living for teenagers aged out of foster care and helps teens in crisis.

Masks required. Tickets: $15. For more information, visit immersearkansas.org.

GROUNDHOG DAY

Feb. 2

Punxsutawney Phil can tell us if we’re in for six more weeks of winter; if only he could give us a pandemic forecast!

PULASKI HEIGHTS PICASSOS

March 12, 6:30–9 p.m.

A magical night of music, food, drinks and vibrant art, Picassos, the primary fundraiser for Pulaski Heights Elementary, returns Saturday, March 12, to the Museum of Discovery in downtown Little Rock.

The adults-only event includes opportunities to bid on art in both a silent and live auction. In its 19th year, Picassos has gained a reputation not only as a lively celebration of the arts, but as a reliable venue to purchase artwork created by local and nationally acclaimed artists and craftsmen.

In addition to providing needed equipment and supplies for PHE’s art classroom, the funds raised also ensure student participation in annual academic competitions and allow for the gifting of books to every child in the school.

Visit facebook.com/PHEPicassos

CRITTER TALES NATIONAL KITE FLYING DAY

Feb. 8

Feb. 6, 1-1:30 p.m.

Pinnacle Mountain State Park, 11901 Pinnacle Valley Road It’s story time with critter-loving Park Interpreter Miss Kellie! Gather ’round for a rollicking tale about the animals found at Pinnacle Mountain State Park. Puppets and/or live animal ambassadors may even make a special appearance.

For ages 4-7.

SALINE COUNTY LIBRARY PLANS IN-PERSON PROGRAMMING FOR SPRING 2022 Saline County Library has a large variety of recurring spring programs, as well as special programs throughout the season.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, most programs will require registration and will have a limited number of spots available. There’s something for all ages, from toddlers to teens, from story time to chess club. Programmers do reserve the right to cancel any programs or change them to virtual as they see fit. To register, visit SalineCountyLibrary.org.

THIS DAY IN BLACK HISTORY

Feb. 26, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.

This program at Mosaic Templars Cultural Center highlights figures in African American History through the lens of young people. Students are encouraged to dress up as historical figures and visit the museum to enjoy activities with their friends and families. The event will take place throughout the museum and is free and open to the public.

MARDI GRAS

Feb. 26, noon–3 p.m.

Downtown, SOMA Laissez les bons temps rouler! But will they? As of this writing, the parade will go on. Its theme is “Pirates and Popstars,” so be on the lookout for Madonna, Blackbeard and maybe even Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow.

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HELP WANTED

CHILDREN’S MENTAL HEALTH DURING COVID-19.

BY KATHERINE WYRICK

“E

veryone give a thumbs up if you’re glad to see your classmates!”

That’s the upbeat voice of my third-grader’s teacher that I overhear as my son joins Zoom on the first day back to virtual learning. This veteran teacher, beloved by parents and students alike, somehow manages to sustain an optimism and enthusiasm that eludes most of us. This despite another shift to online school, an increase in behavioral problems in the classroom and a general undercurrent of anxiety that comes with living during a pandemic.

My 9-year-old appears to be in good spirits, too; for the moment, the angst-filled months of virtual learning and social distancing are all but a distant memory. He animatedly waves to his classmates and adjusts his Chromebook to get our dogs in the frame. (Oh, bless the dogs, who have unknowingly become emotional support animals.) *Sigh.* But, here’s an idea. What would happen if we turned our collective sighing into mindful breathing? Because, ultimately, a sigh is just a deep breath without the intention. Breathwork is certainly one way to ease the ongoing stressors of the pandemic. We talked to professionals who shared other ways to help us and our kids navigate this brave new world.

A NATIONWIDE MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS

The American Psychological Association reports that, as the United States approaches two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, mental illness and the demand for psychological services are at all-time highs — especially among children and teens. In December 2021, the United States surgeon general confirmed this, announcing a mental health crisis for our nation’s youth.

Before COVID-19, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found one in five children had a mental disorder, with only 68 FEBRUARY 2022

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about 20% receiving care from a mental health provider. That number has jumped exponentially. NPR recently cited a survey showing that 88% of pediatricians in Virginia reported seeing a dramatic rise in mental health issues in their clinics. Whether kids are facing trauma because of loss of a family member or everyday anxiety about the virus and unpredictable routines, they need support now more than ever — amid a significant shortage of children’s mental health resources.

Children of racial and ethnic minority families and rural families fare even worse, which means Arkansas kids have been hit hard. Arkansas Children’s Hospital reported a 150% increase in mental health-related emergency room visits compared to prepandemic levels.

Many families have also lost jobs and vital support with interruptions in school, health care services and other community programs. Even with the protection of the COVID-19 vaccines, pandemic-related stress and traumas may have lasting effects on the developing minds of children and teens. We just don’t yet know to what degree.

Mental health experts and pediatricians urge parents and caregivers to be on the lookout for signs of distress and check in with their children often. Symptoms range from younger kids demonstrating aggression and oppositional defiance, to older kids developing eating disorders. Some kids are regressing; others are grappling with social anxiety. The good news is that the Biden administration has earmarked federal dollars for children’s mental health and that there’s a renewed focus on the issue.

TWO PATHS TOWARDS HEALING

Methodist Family Health has long been a trusted resource for Arkansas families. They offer a wide variety of services, including inpatient psychiatric hospitalization for children ages 3 - 17; outpatient counseling clinics; grief counseling services; psychiatric residential treatment centers; therapeutic group homes; and school-based counseling services.

We focus here on their therapeutic day treatment for kindergarten through 12th grades and Arkansas CARES (Centers for Addictions Research, Education and Services), a residential program for mothers struggling with both substance abuse and mental health issues.

We spoke to Kate Hardage, Methodist Children’s Home outpatient administrator, about these programs, which have been affected by the pandemic but continue to provide help to those in need.

At the time we spoke to Hardage, Arkansas CARES, an eight-bed facility, had five women and their children in residence. Though not at capacity, Hardage said she has noticed a higher relapse rate over the past two years and a higher referral rate in the last two months — confirmation that the pandemic has indeed exacerbated substanceabuse problems. Hardage has also become aware of a distressing trend: occasional drug users turning into full-blown addicts.

This 120-day program is notable for many reasons, not least of which is that it keeps children and mothers in recovery together.

Hardage said, “It reunifies those who didn’t think they had that opportunity ... it’s getting to be a mother again.”

The mothers and their kids receive a multitude of services: group and individual therapy, psychiatric care, relapse prevention, AA, life skills training, intervention within the schools, nursing services, child care, transportation, employment preparation, GED coordination, residential support and continuing care. “You name it, we have it,” Hardage said.

They also offer a Mommy and Me class, which teaches moms how to play and interact with their children. Hardage said that teaching parenting skills is essential because a lot of the moms were never parented themselves. “Many don’t know how to play a game with their child. And they were high a lot of the time so the child ... just sat there.

Skills that people think are innate, you can lose them. It’s amazing what trauma can do to your brain,” she said.

“Many families have also lost jobs and vital support with interruptions in school, health care services and other community programs.

Even with the protection of the COVID-19 vaccines, pandemic-related stress and traumas may have lasting effects on the developing minds of children and teens.”

A transitional home on campus, which can accommodate up to four mothers and their kids, houses graduates of the program (who must meet certain criteria to live there). While there, they receive more case management and home meetings, and there’s a house mother. After patients’ stay, case workers continue to follow their progress over a period of seven years. Few places offer this sort of continuity of care.

Hardage also heads up the Therapeutic Day Center, which serves Arkansas students in kindergarten through 12th grades who have problems functioning in a traditional school setting. Students work with a multidisciplinary team to address their educational, behavioral, emotional and social needs.

The program offers small classroom sizes and individualized instruction where teachers can focus on a particular issue or problem a student is facing.

Through the coordinated effort of therapists and the behavioral and educational staff — who are all under one roof — Hardage said ARKANSASTIMES.COM

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they are better able to serve students’ needs as a whole. That also means each student is able to work on her issues without feeling threatened, ostracized or bullied. Each client receives individual therapy and group therapy five days a week, as well as family therapy two times a month. All teachers are certified in special education with 10 or more years of experience. A psychiatrist and psychologist on staff address any medication needs. In mental health care, “no person is alike and no path is the same,” said Hardage, so they make an effort to tailor the program as best they can to each individual.

As the clinical director for five years, Hardage has a comprehensive understanding of what it takes to keep this important program running smoothly. And she’s proud of the way they managed the shift to online services two years ago. She and her staff worked hard to make a seamless transition, dropping off assignments and art supplies door-to-door and pivoting to teletherapy.

Typically the center serves up to 60 students at a time, pulled from different districts. They average 45 students, but have seen an uptick in numbers during the pandemic.

Asked how she balances her role as a parent — Hardage is the mother of a 9-year-old boy and 5-year-old girl — with her often taxing professional life, she said, “You have to learn to spin with the tornado and not against it.”

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Regarding burnout, Hardage reflected, “You just have to learn how to navigate, know when to set boundaries but know when enough is enough as well. We’re used to running on a cup that’s half empty, but we usually have a refill tank. Now our reserves are gone. We just give as much as we can.”

A SCHOOL COUNSELOR’S PERSPECTIVE

When we spoke to Kellie LaMonica, a school counselor at Oakbrooke Elementary in Sherwood, she had a bright, floral Zoom background that matched her sunny disposition — a good quality in a school counselor. She also had a pack of four dogs and an elementary schooler on a Nintendo Switch sequestered in the next room so she could talk to us with fewer distractions. LaMonica, however, is used to a little chaos. Before becoming a school counselor in the Pulaski County Special School District, she was a teacher in the Little Rock School District for almost a decade, which gives her a unique perspective on the day-today challenges teachers face in the classroom, especially today.

Like teachers and counselors everywhere, LaMonica has witnessed an increase in anxiety and behavior issues among kids. “There was a huge uptick in stress,” she said. “Stress comes from a variety of things, not least of all the

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uncertainty. Virtual learning is essential to keep our babies safe, but it also creates a speed bump in their learning and routines.

And we know kids thrive on routines. Our teachers have worked amazingly hard to keep routines in place, but some things are out of our hands.” She also pointed out that trauma three years ago looks different than trauma now; there’s just more of it, and it’s being experienced by a wider range of children.

“In elementary, they can’t always voice their grief, so it often comes out as misbehavior,” she said. “These kids have so much on their plates, and they just don’t know how to deal with it. So that’s our job as counselors, to give them a toolbox.”

In addition to seeing a lot more stressed out kids, LaMonica is also seeing kids who are grieving the loss of a loved one due to COVID-19.

According to NPR, more than 175,000 children in the United States have experienced the death of a parent or grandparent caregiver during the pandemic. “In elementary, they can’t always voice their grief, so it often comes out as misbehavior,” she said. “These kids have so much on their plates and they just don’t know how to deal with it. So that’s our job as counselors, to give them a toolbox.”

Those tools can range from learning how to regulate their emotions to relearning social skills lost during virtual school. Lamonica said, “Due to social distance, our kids missed out on some fundamental, basic social skills, so we work really hard on those.” She also encourages them to find a trusted adult to talk to; to draw and write about their feelings; and to use self-soothing strategies when they’re agitated.

“That can look like listening to music or asking the teacher for five minutes to cool off,” she explained. Even if they don’t always know how to articulate what’s going on internally, the kids LaMonica sees are typically open, forthcoming and receptive to help.

At the time of our interview, she was connecting with kids online, which she believes has its own benefits. For one, going virtual offers a window into a child’s homelife. LaMonica reflected, “As a counselor I get a deeper look into kids’ lives. Sometimes a student who’s reluctant to talk will speak up.” Or a child will want to show her a pet, which establishes common ground and can start a larger conversation.

When in-person, LaMonica visits classrooms and conducts small group sessions, but since she has more than 450 kids in her care, she can’t give all of them the attention they need. She can, however, refer them to the mental health professionals at the school.

LaMonica also pointed out the strain the increase in mental health issues is putting on teachers. “Our teachers are having to be counselors,” she said. That, on top of the many responsibilities they already have.

LaMonica acknowledged that though the pandemic has been rough, she has seen some growth in key areas like empathy, compassion and, more practically speaking, increased flexibility. “I don’t want them to grow this way, but I’ve really seen kids learn to put themselves in other people’s shoes. They’re watching out for each other.” She’s had students approach her concerned about a friend or classmate, asking if she can check on them. “There’s a real sense of community, of taking care of others — like kids wanting to raise money for someone’s sick family member.” They’ve also learned about bouncing back. “Our kids have been through so much, but they’re resilient.”

With so many kids affected, LaMonica said she hopes to see mental health become destigmatized. When a child needs counseling, some parents feel that it’s some sort of failure on their part. She’s quick to reassure them, “Well, if your kid needed glasses or braces, would you feel like you failed? There’s no shame in it. It just means your kid needs an extra layer of support.” And these days, more kids than ever need just that.

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CULTURE

NEW DIGS, BIG PLANS

OPERA HAS LONG BEEN THE REALM OF THE RICH AND THE WHITE. FRED OWENS WANTS TO CHANGE THAT IN ARKANSAS.

BY WERNER TRIESCHMANN

BRIAN CHILSON

N

ot yet 10 years old, Little Rock’s Opera in the Rock arts organization has flown largely under the radar. This is the case even as the company, founded in 2013, has pretty much cornered the market for opera in Central Arkansas, and boasts the title of Arkansas’s only professional company member of Opera America.

Maybe that’s because, though Opera in the Rock has staged major works every year, it’s never had an address of its own. Puccini’s “La Boheme” and other works went up at UA Pulaski Tech’s Center for the Humanities and Arts, one-acts have been staged at The Studio Theatre and gala events have been hosted at Wildwood Park for the Arts and the Junior League Ballroom.

Things are changing for the company, though. In December, Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott cut the ribbon for Opera in the Rock’s new downtown office space. The company won’t be staging full-blown operas there, but the group has purchased and installed a gleaming new Steinway piano that will aid with workshops and fundraisers. There have been changes to leadership, too, with the October hire of Fred Owens as president/CEO, who has outsized ambitions for the upstart opera company. “I want to make Opera in the Rock a key player in the arts community in Arkansas and in Little Rock,” Owens said.

Owens doesn’t look like most of his peers in the opera management world, where leadership is predominantly white. An African American native of Pine Bluff, Owens got a degree in theater from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. “I am passionate about all of the arts,” he said. “I come from a theater background. My super passion is theater because that is where I started. I have always been interested in arts management. Anytime you can create positive change is interesting. I see this as an organization that has a lot of potential.”

The attraction of Opera in the Rock for Owens was in what he calls the company’s “progressive” programming. The company hasn’t been afraid to wade into politically minded works, like Derrick Wang’s “Scalia/Ginsburg,” or to take on contemporary work, like Bonnie Montgomery’s “Billy Blythe.”

“They did ‘Troubled Island’ and the cast was African American,” Owens said. ‘They have done ‘La Traviata.’ They have done lesser-known pieces.

They have integrated other art forms and other forms of music into what they do.”

Glenn Sergeant Sr., who has been on the Opera in the Rock board for four years and president for a few months, compares Owens to “Star Trek’s” bold Captain Kirk. “He’s already moved us ahead,” Sergeant said. “He is going where no person has gone before. He is expanding our world. He is bringing in new kinds of people who haven’t been involved in opera or this world

AT THE HELM: Opera in the Rock CEO Fred Owens in the company’s new downtown headquarters.

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before.”

“Opera has traditionally been a rich and white person’s outlet,” Owens said. “We are wanting to change that and make [opera] more universally accepted. Opera can provide some amazing stories to people who haven’t experienced it before.”

Joking that he missed “seeing trees,” Owens is back in Arkansas after 20 years living and working in New York City. For six years, he served as a marketing and PR associate for Broadway’s Nederlander Organization. He watched New York’s theater landscape change due to a certain hit show.

“We want to do what ‘Hamilton’ has done for Broadway,” Owens said. “That is the model which we want to duplicate. When you have an NBA star like Steph Curry driving down the street with his daughters in the car singing songs from ‘Hamilton’? That is a huge transformation for Broadway. We want to create that kind of diversity.”

Before Opera in the Rock can have a breakout success like “Hamilton,” Owens understands the company has to develop a stronger identity. Opera in the Rock has offered fully staged operas year in and year out, and will stage Donizetti’s hefty “Anna Bolena” in May, but the group has been hampered by having to move to different stages for each production.

“Opera in the Rock has been floating around town and working at the mercy of those different venues,” Owens said. “We are in the process of

RIBBON CUTTING: Central Arkansas Water CEO Tad Bohannon addresses the dignitaries at Opera in the Rock’s ribbon cutting in December.

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announcing a permanent home [for Opera in the Rock]. This summer we will announce our season months in advance. We just moved into our new offices and we had a ribbon cutting. We are setting up roots to let the public know that we are here, and we are here to stay.”

As for funding those ambitious plans, he mentions the key element of partnerships.

“For Opera in the Rock to remain solvent and move forward, we are going to have to explore partnerships,” Owens said. “[We’ll] partner with the arts organizations of the city and beyond.

Partnerships are the key to the future and a more sustainable organization.”

Owens hopes for his company to use the power of hip-hop to teach school students about opera.

“It’s based on a theory out there on how to build new constituencies,” Owens said. “We want to create an arts education curriculum to implement in some schools. We will have teaching artists going into schools.”

And Owens sees the company doing more than the well-worn work of the opera canon.“We won’t be stuck doing big-name operas every year,” Owens said. The vision he has for Opera in the Rock is broad and even includes commissioning new work that reflects the diverse audience that he hopes will count on his company being a cultural home.

“There are a lot of stories in Arkansas and a lot of untold stories in opera. We want to be on the forefront of that.”

Join us for Picassos, a fine art auction benefitting Pulaski Heights Elementary!

MUSEUM OF DISCOVERY

Sat., Mar. 12th, 2022 6:30 to 9:00 p.m.

Tickets: $30

For more information about the event and to purchase tickets, please visit: www.facebook.com/PHEPicassos ARKANSASTIMES.COM

FEBRUARY 2022 77

CULTURE ‘I DON’T ACT LIKE I USED TO’: Joshua Asante’s latest blends archive, improvisation and lo-fi recording techniques.

THE SOUND OF EARTHA KITT, CACKLING A Q&A WITH JOSHUA ASANTE.

J

oshua Asante is a musician, photographer and writer based in Little Rock. Here, we talk with him about his Jan. 10 release, “I Don’t Act Like I Used To, A Retrospective of Rarities: 2010-2020,” a collection of solo recordings made in various spaces across the city over the last decade using a combination of sequencers, cell phone microphones and vocal effects filtered through guitar amplifier chains.

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Among the first things mentioned in the album credits is a sort of subtitle, “info for the children so they can tell it plain further down the line.”

Can you elaborate?

I try to live/create with the hope and expectation that my work will endure. If that manifests, I’d like for my children and the children of my culture/sound to know something about how I arrived at the soundscapes. There’s so much induced mystery in the recording process. I could speculate to no end as to why that is but I honestly don’t care anymore. For me, and particularly with the release of these songs, I’ve tried to do away with a lot of that. And in a way it’s also me saying, “Here’s how I did it, now can we talk about why?” I’m also lying and it’s a cryptic message to Fon The Archangel.

of tension and anxiety, and I’m trying to grab all these thoughts by their tails and tie them together. I love it. I’ve never found any of that to be hard when I’m alone; it’s blissful and I’m so very grateful that it’s true for me. It’s kept me.

And it’s also that intention and forethought away from the improvisational space that makes it accessible to begin with.

There are quite a few women whose names pop up in the collection — Aaliyah, Eartha Kitt, Octavia Butler’s Lauren Olamina. Do you consider ideas about masculinity/femininity, or gender in general, to be a cornerstone of your music?

Not an intentional cornerstone, no. It’s hard to put to words, but the spirits/energies in my songs have a universe they belong to. When I look up

THERE’S SO MUCH INDUCED MYSTERY IN THE RECORDING PROCESS. ... FOR ME, AND PARTICULARLY WITH THE RELEASE OF THESE SONGS I’VE TRIED TO DO AWAY WITH A LOT OF THAT. You’ve recorded around 300 songs using internal microphones from Samsung, filtering your vocals through guitar amps and the like. Why do you like these specific pieces of equipment, and what sound are they helping you get that you don’t get without them?

I think it’s rooted in my incessant and very insistent desire to document. When I first started using the Galaxy Series (yes, I just like saying galaxy) it was simply me trying to keep up with good ideas. Early on I liked the songs but the recordings were often blown out and hard to listen to. I learned to adjust my levels in the room and where to place my phone depending on the instrumentation. Eventually, the recordings went from listenable to enjoyable. They had a quality that I’d already appreciated in lofi, breathy music. I loved all the atmosphere and it became an instrument of its own, one that showed me how I want my music to feel regardless of how it sounds. I leaned into that way of doing things and found a new freedom of expression and recording.

Like most of your fans probably do, I consider you an artist who works with a lot of intention and care and forethought, and maybe that’s why it’s been so cool to hear these tracks where the lyrics were improvised. But improvising is hard.

What do you do to get into the mindset where you can conjure up words on the spot?

Fans. Teezo Touchdown has a song about being a fan that anyone reading this should get into.

You welcome. Video is strange and beautiful like improvisation. I can’t really explain it, I just know that in the moment there’s a great deal

into that space for a song or poem or a direction for a shoot, everybody along the full spectrum of gender is there. All kinds of beings of this waking world and also from my imagination. Sometimes they take a more concrete and familiar shape, and I can say this song feels like a good space for Eartha Kitt to throw her head back and cackle.

This one feels like Aaliyah is snaking through it. I know you weren’t just asking about these women specifically, but I also have to say that Octavia Butler is a moon in the aforementioned universe so she shows up everywhere in my work.

You have mentioned that there’s another album coming, one you completed last year. So this is both a retrospective and maybe a prelude to what’s coming soon. Anything you want to say about the new record?

Yeah, that record is so beautiful. As I said earlier, the songs in this retrospective taught me how I like my music to feel. The studio album taught me so much about how I want the music to sound. It’ll be released on time, I’ll just say that much. I really can’t wait to share it. This project isn’t a prelude to that release, though. I’m sharing them because I have them and I love them. If someone finds them as helpful as they’ve been to me, then it’s on time and we love that.

What’s one thing you try to do every single day, without fail?

I make something every day. A design or edit or song. Something. Does it count as trying if I can’t help myself?

— Stephanie Smittle

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ARKANSAS TIMES

I

f you were at last year’s Margarita Fest, you know the competition was stiff.

Though each station was equipped with the same smooth Milagro Tequila, the resulting cocktails were myriad — watermelon margaritas, vibrantly colored sugar rims instead of the classic salt ring, fiery jalapeño-infused blends and, of course, straight-ahead takes on a classic marg. Presented again by Milagro Tequila and benefitting the Little Rock Zoo, this bonus winter edition of the festival from 6-9 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 3, takes the competition to Little Rock’s newest event venue, The Hall, at 721 W. Ninth St. The event will be complete with live music, copious amounts of lime and catered food for purchase provided by Tacos Godoy and La Terraza Rum & Lounge. General admission tickets for $30 each include margarita samples from the following restaurants: Skinny J’s Toasts in Tow Mobile Bar Mockingbird Bar & Tacos Cypress Social Purple Onion Brick & Forge Conway Chepe’s Mexican Grill La Terraza Rum & Lounge Graffiti’s Italian Restaurant You could also sample high-end Milagro Tequila and specialty cocktails from Ciao Baci and enjoy food from Tacos Godoy and La Terraza in the exclusive upstairs mezzanine with VIP tickets for $100.

Why margaritas in February, you ask? Because time is a human invention and so is tequila, so mark your calendars and start making your plan for getting home responsibly. You must be 21 or older, no exceptions, and proof of vaccination with booster will be required. Buy tickets at centralarkansastickets.com.

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Skinny J’s, Toasts in Tow Mobile Bar, Mockingbird Bar and Tacos, Cypress Social, Purple Onion, Brick & Forge Conway, Chepe’s Mexican Grill, La Terraza Rum and Lounge, Grafittis Italian Restaurant.

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FEBRUARY 2022 81

NEWS & POLITICS WHITE HOUSE, BLACK MARKS: A shameful but predictable 50-year cycle.

A CYCLE OF PRESIDENTIAL MALFEASANCE TRUMP IS PART OF A TRADITION.

T

BY ERNEST DUMAS

hroughout our epoch as a state and nation, people rarely thought much about how history would launder what their chosen masters in this lingering democracy were doing and how they and their countrymen were reacting to that leadership. If we old pensioners and our forebears had mulled things over a little more thoughtfully in the old days, perhaps there would not be so much fear today that schoolteachers will suddenly start explaining to youngsters the role that race and superiority have played in our history as a nation and as a state — you know: slavery, disunion, civil war, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, segregation, the civil rights rebellion and congressional Reconstruction in the 1960s, and the recent return to the voter suppression of those forgotten years.

Can we contemplate such forethoughts for a few minutes?

What will history record about the momentous events of the last several years and our reaction to them? Donald Trump’s gaining the presidency after losing the 2016 popular vote by nearly 3 million over a moralizing Arkansas icon, the serial and often humiliating failures of his presidency, his two impeachments for documented crimes against the country and the failure to impeach him for even other documented crimes, his lopsided rejection by voters in 2020 (10 million more voters — well, 9,951,195 to be exact — voted against him than for him), his fomenting an armed mob to attack the Capitol from the White House grounds to force his vice president and Congress to toss out the deliberations of 158.4 million voters and make him, like Hitler, president for life, a mob that he promised to lead himself before sneaking back into the White House to watch his riot on TV, and how tens of millions of Americans and their leaders — notably, here in Arkansas — accepted all the lies and crimes with either cheers or silence.

How will our grandchildren, if they ever again read a history book or watch a documentary, discern how we are reacting to all these stupefying events? Does history give us a clue?

Every 50 years, give or take a few months, something like this happens. A Republican

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president or one that is part of a Republican administration (Andrew Johnson, 1868) gets into deep trouble over lawbreaking of some nature.

Richard Strout, the great old journalist who wrote the brilliant TRB column for The New Republic and the Christian Science Monitor for many years, called the 50-year theory “Strout’s Law.” Strout covered both the Teapot Dome scandal in the Warren G. Harding administration and the fall of Richard Nixon and compared them to Andy Johnson’s close call 50 years before Teapot Dome.

Harding died before he could be impeached, and Nixon resigned when his coverup unraveled and Republican friends in the Senate told him to quit before they were forced to impeach and kick him out of office.

How did all of that go down with people down here and our own elected leaders?

We didn’t yet have voting members in Congress again in 1868, but they all supported President Johnson, the Tennessee Democrat who wanted to go easy on the South and the Ku Klux Klan and not give the freed Blacks too many rights too quickly. It is safe to bet that my forebears down here, and likely yours if you’re white, felt the same way.

Neither can too much be deduced about Harding’s problems with his crooked interior secretary, Albert Fall, and Arkansas’s Democratic congressional leaders and their constituents in 1922. Like Nixon and Trump 50 and 100 years later, Harding tried to thwart the congressional investigation of Teapot Dome — executive privilege, you know — but it all unraveled after Harding died in San Francisco during a victory tour around the country. The congressional investigators discovered the interior secretary’s $400,000 bribe for giving oil leases on federal lands in Wyoming to his and Harding’s pals Harry Sinclair and Ed Doheny.

Arkansas’s junior senator, Joe T. Robinson, assailed Fall and Harding’s attorney general, who had helped Harding sidetrack the investigation into what happened inside the administration.

Robinson, a Lonoke boy, blamed the whole affair on the Republican Party, including members of Congress who tried to thwart the investigation and defend the crooks. Arkansans had no truck with good or bad Republicans in those days. Four years later, Robinson would be the Democratic vice presidential candidate and carried Arkansas and the South for the Catholic governor of New York. He reminded Southern voters of Teapot Dome.

Watergate, on the other hand, gives us a prism through which to view the reactions of Arkansas politicians and their constituents. Nixon had just carried Arkansas in the election of 1972 with

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69% of the vote, a much higher percentage than Trump’s in either 2016 or 2020. All of Arkansas’s Democratic delegation in Washington had voted often for Nixon’s initiatives, like environmental protections and general federal aid to states. When Nixon’s attempts to withhold evidence of the Watergate crimes began to unravel with testimony from administration members and orders from the Supreme Court, the spotlight fell on U.S. Rep. Ray Thornton of Sheridan, whose congressional district had just gone overwhelmingly for Nixon.

Thornton’s speech announcing his reluctant but necessary vote for impeachment charges of obstruction of justice had a dramatic effect on Judiciary Committee members and even the Senate. The telltale White House tapes, which Nixon had lied about and tried to keep hidden,

throw out the election and make him president again. Only one — Steve Womack — would actually acknowledge that Trump really did lose the election, not merely the popular vote, but the certification process as well, although he would not criticize Trump for trying to throw out the election with his silly claims of vote stealing in Republican-run states.

The certification process — the Electoral College — was James Madison’s single great misjudgment.

He preferred the direct election of the president, like every other officeholder public or private, but went along with the electoral college idea to get around the little problem that slaves made up a big share of the population of Southern colonies like his beloved Virginia but couldn’t vote, which gave an electoral advantage to the Northern

WHAT WILL HISTORY RECORD ABOUT THE MOMENTOUS EVENTS OF THE LAST SEVERAL YEARS AND OUR REACTION TO THEM? were out. Senators led by Barry Goldwater walked to the White House and told Nixon the jig was up.

He shouldn’t force them to vote him out of office.

There is none of that now, obviously, although Nixon’s crimes were niggling compared with any of a half-dozen of Trump’s malfeasances, and not nearly so well documented as Trump’s tweets and broadcast words. President Ford pardoned Nixon for his crimes. Before leaving office, Trump pardoned men who did his criminal work for him. But now there is no one to pardon him if this Supreme Court, like its predecessors, says the president cannot lawfully continue to hide evidence in any of the half-dozen investigations of his governmental and financial doings.

Arkansas is a perfect object for the current scrutiny I’m suggesting. Only seven states in 2016 and five in 2020 gave a greater share of their votes to Trump than did Arkansas. All six members of the Arkansas congressional delegation lent their support to everything that Trump did, although only one — eastern Arkansas’s Rick Crawford — followed Trump’s wishes that they actually

colonies where everyone could vote.

In 2020, vote counts for Joe Biden ensured the Electoral College couldn’t again tip the presidential victory to the less popular candidate, and we all saw what happened next. Since then, except for the occasional Democrat or maverick Republican, Arkansas officeholders stood steadfast — silently if not vocally — to brush under the rug everything that Trump and the violent mob he incited on Jan. 6 tried to do to end the democratic tradition of the peaceful transfer of power.

We will have to focus mostly on a single man, Governor Hutchinson, who, stubbornly on occasion, weakly at other times and virtually alone in his party, has found himself sometimes having to disavow the course of his beloved expresident and the cult that rapturously follows Trump’s every inclination (except getting a COVID-19 vaccine shot). The governor never criticizes Trump, but he did sort of acknowledge that the old adulterer and fake business wizard really had lost the election and fairly.

Like others who acknowledge occasionally

a slight disaffection with Trump, including the editors of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Hutchinson says Trump did a lot of good. No one has been able to identify any real success Trump achieved. They usually mention the economy, although he racked up the worst economic record of any president since Hoover by virtually any measure — jobs, growth, trade, budget deficits, debt — that you care to choose. The governor, all six members of Congress and the DemocratGazette regularly condemn Joe Biden for deficit spending and piling up debt. In four years, Trump added an unparalleled $8 trillion to the public debt. Part of the giant debt he added in the last days of his Congress fell over into the Biden record. Just the other day, the newspaper blamed Biden for the bad debt numbers.

Like all of the Arkansas delegation, Hutchinson opposed all the impeachment initiatives, starting with the crimes identified in the report of the Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election for Trump. They theorized that Trump maybe should not have done those things, like using appropriated military aid to bribe a foreign potentate into helping him defeat Biden, but they either didn’t rise to an impeachable offense or, hey, he’s leaving office anyway so what’s the point of pursuing the poor guy?

More than all the Republican stalwarts of today, Hutchinson has a poignant record on such matters. As a young congressman from North Arkansas in 1999, he led the way in the House of Representatives to impeach President Clinton for not being forthright about his dalliance with a pretty White House worker, Monica Lewinsky.

There was nothing treasonous, unconstitutional or even illegal about a married president fooling around with a woman on his staff, so they needed to get him under oath or to talk to the FBI and say something — anything — that could be shown to be not completely truthful so that he could be charged with perjury.

Hutchinson and his Republican colleagues succeeded. Handling the prosecution of his president in the Senate, with his brother, Sen. Tim Hutchinson, as a juror, Hutchinson insisted that Clinton’s lack of complete candor in his voluntary appearance before a grand jury merited his being removed from the presidency. His brother, like nearly every Republican in Congress, including many who sided with Trump 20 years later, voted to remove the president from office for being a little dodgy even after acknowledging his amours with Lewinsky.

I have waited vainly for the governor, in his near-weekly chats with CNN, to be asked how he ranks Clinton’s illicit dalliance and coyness as so much worse than Donald Trump’s crimes against the country.

That said, I must rank Hutchinson, who alone among the talked-about GOP candidates for president has a considerable record of adhering to the law, as our best hope, at least among Republicans, in 2024.

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CANNABIZ

BRIAN CHILSON

MARIJUANA EXPO RETURNS

AND INDUSTRY-BACKED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT MOVES AHEAD.

BY GRIFFIN COOP

86 FEBRUARY 2022

ARKANSAS TIMES

BRIAN CHILSON

A

rkansas medical marijuana patients kept cannabis in high demand over the past three years. This month, those patients will have a chance to interact with many of the dispensaries and cultivators behind the state’s cannabis supply.

The Medical Marijuana and Wellness Expo will bring together patients, cannabis businesses, regulators, lawyers and doctors to discuss a wide range of cannabis topics Feb. 18-19 at the Albert Pike Masonic Center at 712 Scott St. The event is presented by the Arkansas Times and the Arkansas Cannabis Industry Association.

Since 2019, Arkansas medical marijuana patients have fueled a growing industry that sold nearly 76,000 pounds of marijuana, with sales eclipsing $500 million in just 32 months. Last year, the state’s dispensaries sold 40,347 pounds of marijuana for a total of $264.9 million, according to the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration.

There are more than 79,810 active patient cards in the state, according to the Arkansas Department of Health.

The Medical Marijuana and Wellness Expo will feature former state Rep. Eddie Armstrong of Responsible Growth Arkansas, an organization that advocates for adult-use cannabis in Arkansas.

In addition to Armstrong, participants on the first day of the expo, called Industry Day, include Robert DeBin, president of the Arkansas Cannabis Industry Association; Doralee Chandler, director of the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Division; Storm Noland, owner of River Valley Relief Cultivation; Alan Leveritt, publisher of the Arkansas Times; and Dr. Joe Thompson, executive director of Arkansas Center for Health Improvement.

Attendees on the first day can expect to learn about the cannabis industry, with updates on regulations and legislation, compliance and advertising. Budtenders will receive free entry on the first day of the event.

SERIOUS BUSINESS: (Top) Elizabeth Michael and Martin Thoma spoke at last year’s Medical Marijuana and Wellness Expo. (Bottom) Patients and providers learn about new medical marijuana products and devices on the expo floor.

New to the medical cannabis world or need some help? Come in and speak with one of our patient consultants (aka budtenders) to talk through what’s best for you. We have a wide variety of products, from flower to edibles to concentrates. Come on in or order online and pick up in-store. NOW OFFERING DELIVERY!

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The second day of the event, called Patient Day, will feature DeBin; Armstrong; cannabis expert Dr. Brian Nichol; and a panel discussion that will address topics such as qualifying conditions for a medical marijuana card, the uses of cannabinoids, the state of medical cannabis and common questions generally associated with medical marijuana.

The second day of the event will also include breakout sessions on a wide range of topics, including: Cannabis 101 Cooking with Cannabis Medications and Cannabis Medical Marijuana products, devices and their best uses Terpenes? What are they?

Our animals and CBD Mental Health and Cannabis The expo will also have a breakout session and lectures on mental health and cannabis, sponsored by Face2Face Therapy. Angela Campagna, a veteran and licensed therapist at Face2Face in Conway, specializes in working with veterans, post traumatic stress disorder and mental health issues.

On Saturday, ticketed attendees can receive a voucher for half-off a new patient certification with one of the partner physicians at the new patient voucher registration booth.

For more information on the expo or to purchase tickets, go to centralarkansastickets.com.

MOVEMENT ON INDUSTRY-BACKED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT Responsible Growth Arkansas continues to pursue a constitutional amendment to legalize recreational marijuana.

In December, the organization filed a financial report with the state Ethics Commission that showed contributions of $350,000 each from five of the state’s cultivators. Those contributors, whose contributions total $1.75 million, are Bold

Team, LLC of Cotton Plant; Good Day Farms Arkansas, LLC of Rogers; Osage Creek Cultivation, LLC of Berryville; DMCC, LLC of Jonesboro and NSMC-OPCO, LLC of White Hall.

Responsible Growth Arkansas filed paperwork as a Ballot Question Committee in October, stating that the group “will advocate for the passage of an amendment to the Arkansas Constitution to allow the regulated sale of adult-use cannabis in the state.”

Chaired by Eddie Armstrong, the organization has not provided details of the forthcoming initiative. But Armstrong said he expects to announce the details on the petition drive and more in the coming weeks.

“We are proud to begin our campaign for a responsible, regulated approach to expanding adult-use cannabis in Arkansas,” Armstrong said via email. “Our efforts will not only create jobs and grow the Arkansas economy, but also support law enforcement, court system funding and provide resources to expand health care research; while bringing down costs for medical marijuana patients. Over the coming weeks, we will officially launch our signature gathering effort, roll out our campaign leadership team, and continue conversations in every corner of the state from Little Rock to Lake Village on the economic, public health and public safety benefits of this initiative.

We believe that Arkansans will overwhelmingly support an expanded, regulated marketplace that delivers real results for the people of Arkansas.”

Responsible Growth Arkansas isn’t the only group hoping to get a marijuana initiative on the November ballot. In May, Clair Danner filed the Arkansas Cannabis Industry Amendment and Arkansas True Grass filed the Arkansas Recreational Marijuana Amendment of 2022. In November, marijuana advocate Melissa Fults filed the Arkansas Marijuana Amendment of 2022.

An amendment needs at least 89,151 verified signatures to get on the ballot. The deadline to submit petitions is July 8, 2022.

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THE OBSERVER

2022 TOTALLY BYTES SO FAR

PRO TIPS FOR LIVING DIGITAL IN THE PLAGUE ERA.

“F

latten the curve”; were we ever so young? Two years later, both our pandemic and personal curves decidedly not flattened, winter-pale and world-weary from clawing our way through a Greek alphabet of virus variants, The Observer has learned a thing or two about thriving online during The End Times, and we’re happy to share the wealth.

First: Always, always use the camera preview.

Zoom, Skype, Google Meet — whatever the platform of your (or your employer’s) choice — take a good, long look at that background and reflect on what you see. Is that copy of “The Turner Diaries” from your AP History class still lingering in your library, threatening to paint you forever in screenshots as a secret white nationalist? Have you fallen prey to an overzealous use of the ring light, your face aglow on the screen as surely was Moses’ at the foot of the burning bush? Have you lingered too long on the “sort bookshelf by color” trend and need to make amends? Did you fail to edit your screen name after last night’s MMORPG sesh, in which you christened your level 27 Druid “Buttf***er 3000?” Get right before you hit that “Join Meeting” button, readers.

Staying connected to other human beings in some form or fashion helps stave off the anxiety that bubbles with every pandemic wave. But of course you don’t want to see anyone with your actual bare eyeballs, or talk to them in person, lest aerosolized viruses might be exchanged. One zerocontact option: Try Wordling your way through 2022. It’s the breadmaking fad of the omicron era, but better because you don’t have to hunt for yeast 90 FEBRUARY 2022

ARKANSAS TIMES

packets during supply chain shortages like we all did back in 2020. Wordle gives you six tries to guess a five-letter word, which is a fine way to burn through three minutes of your day. The best part is the share function, allowing you to post your results to Twitter, thereby virtue signaling to the internet that you are alive! You are a fun person who likes clever games! You are here to socialize in an extremely peripheral, low-stakes way!

Next up, get you a TikTok profile. Not at the expense of all else, mind you — you’re gonna need Instagram for NatGeo eye candy, and for when your bread turns out pretty. You’re gonna need Twitter for breaking news and to soak up hilarious hot takes from the worldwide web of bitter journalists. You’re gonna need to keep Facebook, obvs, because how the hell else will you keep up with your distant cousins and the dwindling pool of high school classmates who haven’t yet burned you with a solicitation for a multilevel marketing scheme? But TikTok, that algorithm yet unspoiled by an influx of monetizing corporations (not you, Duolingo, you’re cool), is somewhat successfully clinging to its identity as a creative wild west — a more intimate, vulnerable forum that doles out its video delights in easily digestible threeminute servings, and in which the content is arranged a little less like debate club and a little more like a card catalog. Granted, dance routines and high-speed kitchen tutorials do occupy a disproportionately large share of real estate, but there are all sorts of corners devoted to niche interests you never knew were interesting: Foraging! AirBnB hidden gems! A

new generation of Brooks & Dunn enthusiasts!

Suspicious and unidentified structures that show up on Google Earth! TikTok is vast and global, but there’s plenty on the local front to fall head over heels for, too. Fonda LaFemme, the reigning queen of the Miss Arkansas Continental drag pageant, is serving up Amazonian-scale angel wings, sexy Santa routines, piano vignettes and a face perpetually beat for the gods on her blossoming profile. And never will your worries melt away as quickly as they do while you watch Abbi’s Teas & Things froth up some energizing matcha with a bamboo whisk, or slow-motionpour a golden blend of spearmint and rosehips into a clear glass to a luxury-spa soundtrack. Even politics can be a bit more palatable there; follow Democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor Kelly Krout’s profile for bite-sized explainers on net neutrality, abortion, gun ownership and what a midterm election is (and why it’s so important).

Finally, and speaking of policy, we’re soberly reminded that the high-speed internet that fuels all manner of human connection lauded above — work, enrichment, frivolity, couture tea-pouring videos — still lies disproportionately in the hands of the well-off and the white. For all the dumb shit there is on the internet, and for all the perils of screentime addiction, access to it can also spark an intellectual and civic life worth pursuing — one that can help us imagine the way we want things to look outside the frame of the computer screen. It contains worlds. And knowing what we know now, having relied on it so heavily during pandemic times, don’t we want a bigger chunk of humanity to have a go at that?

AND OLD DOMINICK DISTILLERY PRESENT

Sunday April 10

Argenta Plaza in North Little Rock

11 am -2pm | TICKETS $30

Enjoy great brunch dishes from your favorite local restaurants, Bloody Marys, cocktails crafted by Old Dominick Distillery, and mimosas!

While you enjoy brunch and drinks, DJ Mike Poe will be spinning hits.

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Follow us @arktimes_events

Proof of COVID-19 vaccination must be presented before entering.

IN PRIZES THIS FEBRUARY