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Through a tumultuous year, Jeff Long kept hold of the reins. BY BEAU WILCOX PAGE 14
Argenta Restaurant Week January 21-26, 2013
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Walton money The Walton family heirs, Alice Walton in particular, have received several mentions during the past year for their philanthropy. Specifically, there was a lot of press about the Crystal Bridges art museum, which cost over $1 billion and is free to the public. Northwest Arkansas is certainly better for this donation. Just recently however, the business pages have made mention of the fabulous fortune accumulated by this family, somewhat north of $100 billion with about $13.5 billion more added to their net worth in 2012 alone. In other words, this museum cost roughly one tenth of last year's net gain or a whopping one percent of their net worth. With the Waltons raking it in at about $250 million per week, I can suggest a few other ways that they might spread a tiny fraction of their money. They could start by paying some of their lowest paid employees a bit more, say a dollar per hour raise. Since many of them work less than 40 hours per week, what with tax withholding, they would only be raking in around $25-30 more per week or less than $1,500 per year. I realize that this move might mean that their combined fortune would only increase $12 billion this year, but hey, you can't take it with you. Besides, like as not, many of their employees will spend some of it at Walmart. It's a win-win. Mark Arouh Little Rock
to expect that most right-wing legislators actually do know something about evolution even though they can't admit it to their constituents. What matters is how these TEA Party favorites legislate. Prospects aren't good. The state government of Kentucky has allocated taxpayer dollars to support what amounts to a fantasy museum that promotes creationism — it has dinosaurs walking among Adam and Eve. FoxRepublican-TEA Partiers control the U. S. House of Representatives' Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. All the majority members are anti-science,
creationists and climate-change deniers. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ranked U.S. students 25th in math and 17th in science out of 34 countries studied. Is there hope? With all the creationists in their party, how do the Koch brothers get away with David's Hall of Human Origins? The Kochs are essentially anonymous. There have been many efforts in the past four years to publicize their efforts to make the GOP into an exclusively radicalreactionary party, but it seems that many voters still know nothing about them. In October before the election, I spoke
Plutocrats plan There is an interesting irony in the Koch-funded exhibit in our nation's capital. The premise of the David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins, a permanent exhibit in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, is to show how great leaps forward in human evolution have come during times of great climate change. David and his brother Charles are major financiers of the Fox-RepublicanTea Party. They spent millions of their billions to elect right-wing extremists on state and national levels of government. They also held "secret" conferences with other plutocrats to raise money to defeat President Obama. FreedomWorks, Americans for Prosperity, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), Heritage Foundation, Cato Institute, and the-richare-Taxed-Enough-Already (TEA) Party are all Koch brothers operations. Where's the irony? Their party may mostly represent themselves and their fellow plutocrats, but it also represents creationists, who make up much more of the party's voting bloc. Marco Rubio — a rising star among conservatives — fell all over himself trying not to answer a question about how old the earth is. You have 4
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with a late-middle-aged woman from Kansas, who was proud that she always studied each presidential candidate very carefully before making a decision. She also admitted she had never heard of the Koch brothers, and their empire is based in Wichita, Kan.! I often refer to the Koch brothers and their ilk as the Wizards of Was. They include such people as Rupert Murdoch of Fox "News" and the man who is the GOP's de facto "President of the United States," Grover Norquist. Norquist is the anti-government/anti-tax fanatic to whom most of the GOP in Congress has sworn an oath of loyalty. These wizards work in anonymity, behind the curtain as in Oz, to return the nation to the way it was before the 20th century. That Gilded Age was a time in which their forerunners — the Rockefellers, Vanderbilts and Carnegies — paid no income tax. Social Darwinism is the other ironic factor in this story. Anonymous evolutionists like Mr. Koch and creationists coexist in the Fox-Republican-TEA Party also because they all accept the same variation of social Darwinism. Charles Darwin was not the first to use the term "survival of the fittest." It was coined by sociologist Herbert Spencer in England in 1864. Social Darwinism was later introduced in America in 1883 during the Gilded Age by William Graham Sumner. Essentially what he said was that the different social classes owed each other nothing. If you helped those in need, you encouraged others to be in need. And if you removed taxes and regulations from businessmen, you allowed the fittest to survive. We heard the same philosophy from Mitt Romney in the last presidential campaign. With the notorious Citizens United ruling in 2010, the plutocrats got their defenders on the U.S. Supreme Court (Alito, Kennedy, Roberts, Scalia, and Thomas) to give unlimited spending power to corporations and wealthy individuals in our election system. The primary beneficiary was the plutocrats' plutocrat — millionaire Mitt Romney, who promised them — and himself — everything they wanted. George W. Bush had a 30-33 percent approval rating when he left office. Romney promised to return to the policies that gave us the Great Recession and still got a whopping 47 percent of the vote! That's 4 percent less than they paid for but 14 percent more than they should have expected. So don't count out the social Darwinists yet. Next time, if they can get a less obnoxious presidential candidate and spend even more money, the plutocrats may yet be able to return us to those golden years of the late 19th century. David Offutt El Dorado
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n the familiar saying, only death and taxes are certain, but in Arkansas, it's equally sure that bills to reduce taxes will be introduced in the Arkansas legislature, no matter how inappropriate. Even as state officials ponder turning elderly poor out into the streets for lack of funds to assist them, we hear that some legislators hope to further lower taxes in the current legislative session. They're talking specifically about cutting the income tax — a progressive tax that, in Arkansas, already bears less than its fair share of the load — and the sales tax on energy. There's a Cater-to-the-rich Caucus in the General Assembly, and it's always industrious, if unofficial. To be fair, Arkansas isn't the only state where legislators pursue harmful tax cuts masquerading as "reform." Citizens for Tax Justice, which tries to look out for the little man in these matters, reports that in a dozen or more states, legislators are seeking tax reductions that would injure most of their constituents. "Cutting or eliminating the personal and corporate income tax (and replacing some of the lost revenue with other taxes such as the [regressive] sales tax) is one of the most prominent proposals," CTJ says. "Lawmakers claim these policies will boost revenues and support economic growth, but on closer inspection, they are little more than vehicles for ideological goals like shrinking the government or cutting taxes for the wealthy and corporations."
Good ideas
rkansas hasn't always lived up to its motto, Regnat Populus (The People Rule), but there's a group of reformers who'd like to. The group calls itself, deservedly enough, Regnat Populus, and its goals are not only noble but well thought-out, which is not always a strong point with reformers. Last week, Attorney General Dustin McDaniel certified RP's proposed initiative to raise the ethical bar in Arkansas politics and government. McDaniel's action allows the proposal's supporters to begin collecting signatures to put the measure on the ballot at the 2014 general election. The proposed initiated act would prohibit corporations and unions from donating directly to candidates. (But not to political action committees. The U.S. Supreme Court has already said that corporate and union contributions to PACs are kosher.) It also would prohibit lobbyists from making gifts to legislators and the state constitutional officers, and would require that legislators be out of office for two years before they can become lobbyists. The legislature, which convened this week, could take up these same issues and eliminate the need for the initiated act. It's possible that the legislators will in fact do something about lobbyists. But limits on corporate contributions are highly unlikely to get through. Corporations account for a big chunk of political contributions in this state, which is clear evidence that limits are needed.
NEW ERA: Davy Carter, speaker of the Arkansas House of Representatives, and Sen. Michael Lamoureux meet with the media last week to discuss the legislative session.
Big week for school choice
rkansas's public school system could be upended by events this week. Wednesday, the 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals hears oral arguments in the case in which a federal judge has ruled the state school choice law unconstitutional. The fractured U.S. Supreme Court ruling on desegregation cases in other states led Judge Robert Dawson to conclude the explicit racial component in Arkansas school assignment law was no longer permissible and invalidated the law. He said concern about segregation was a primary consideration in the law and couldn't be "severed," to allow free and unfettered interdistrict school transfers without consideration of race. The case specifically contested the law's bar of transfers by white students in Malvern to a neighboring district with a higher percentage of white students. The 8th Circuit could uphold the original law (unlikely, though arguable); uphold Dawson, which would end all school choice for the time being (likely), or uphold Dawson and sever the race component and open the door to a wild world of unfettered school choice (unlikely). Some 15,000 students already participating in school choice hang in the immediate balance. Meanwhile, the Arkansas legislature has begun a new session and it will consider a new school choice law that could make the court case moot. Sen. Johnny Key leads the Republican-controlled Education Committee. He favors a law that would allow unlimited transfers, except in school districts with pending desegregation cases (a relative handful). This, many school superintendents fear, would set off a racerelated exodus from many districts, particularly in places like Malvern and Camden and El Dorado. Wide-open choice would also encourage transfers for any number of other non-educational reasons — including athletics. Sports recruiting would become rampant. The Arkansas Activities Association would be powerless to stop it. There'd be larger complications. How to rationally plan enrollment every year? What would become of the intricately drawn Lakeview school funding case-inspired plan for equalizing school facili-
ties? It would be turned on its ear. School administrators have drafted an alternative piece of legislation, though many of them prefer no transfers from home districts at all. It would restate, in MAX a more general way, the interest BRANTLEY firstname.lastname@example.com in racial diversity that drove the legislation in the first place along with transfers for educational reasons. Arkansas, after all, is a southern state that had to be dragged — by federal troops in the most famous case — to obey the Constitution on equal educational opportunity. The proposal also injects national origin as a consideration in guaranteeing a constitutionally sound system of "quality desegregated education." Ethnic consideration could build some political support from Arkansas school districts that might fear an exodus of white students from growing Latino populations. Race and ethnicity aside, unfettered school choice imperils many school districts — economic engines of dozens of small communities. A richer neighbor with a shinier football practice facility could drain students, too, for example. An accumulation of these diverse reasons to oppose unlimited school transfers might be the only hope to stop momentum built by what I call the Billionaire Boys Club. Walton money primarily, but also contributions from the Hussman, Stephens and Murphy empires, has gone to create lobbying groups and elect legislators, primarily Republican, friendly to the cause of "choice." Unlimited school transfers, charter schools (largely unregulated and unanswerable to voters) and private school vouchers are all tenets of the billionaires' faith. But if a Republican legislator who customarily worships at the Cathedral of Cash believed his vote could wreck his local school district (think Springdale, with a large immigrant population and many neighboring school districts that white parents might find more compatible with their "culture" if transfers were granted on demand) faith in the billionaires might fall to a practical consideration — election. Think Catholics and contraception.
GOP trapped between far right, what's right
an we spare a moment to com- not to accept help miserate with the Republican for poor workers Party? Not so much the poor na- promised in the tional party, so in thrall to its extremist wing Affordable Care that it may sacrifice the nation's wellbeing Act, and that's by welshing on its debt to drive home the what the RepubERNEST point that the country has been going to lican lawmakers DUMAS hell for 77 years. are — at least were No, let's talk about the other one — the — bent on doing. Arkansas party, which is resurgent and Let's deal with that past first. Not so giddy over having won control of the state's much elsewhere, but in Arkansas Republawmaking for the first time in 135 years. As licans have been the biggest champions of its moment of glory arrives, it finds itself taking advantage of the promise of Medweirdly trapped — trapped by the party's icaid, the insurance plan for the medically national and Arkansas past, and trapped needy that was set up in 1965 to complebetween what is unquestionably the state's ment Medicare, which insured the elderly best interest on the one hand (and, I might and disabled. add, what Jesus commands it to do) and Yes, Arkansas's Wilbur Mills, a Demon the other hand its hatred of the dark- ocrat, fathered the whole thing. He and skinned president and his signal achieve- Sen. Robert S. Kerr of Oklahoma wrote the ment, health insurance reform. Kerr-Mills Act, signed in 1960 by President This is the dilemma over whether to Eisenhower, which was the first effort to allow the federal government to provide provide medical help for old people who medical insurance for some 215,000 poor were too poor to pay for it. States had to working adults in Arkansas who in one help, but only rich states like New York year will be about the only people in Arkan- and Massachusetts did much, although sas who can't pay for medical attention Arkansas (Gov. Orval Faubus) matched the when they are sick or injured. The U. S. 4-to-1 federal dollars to help about 4,000 Supreme Court said a state could choose people, mainly the poor in nursing homes.
What McDaniel should have said
ast Tuesday, three weeks after admitting "limited interaction" of an "inappropriate" nature during 2011 with Hot Springs attorney Andrea Davis, Attorney General Dustin McDaniel met the press to answer questions regarding the affair and what it means for his race for governor in 2014. Until the political earthquake created by these events, McDaniel had established himself as a clear frontrunner for governor through his impressive fundraising and his shoring up of key party establishment support. McDaniel began his remarks by apologizing publicly to his wife and to the voters of the state. He then emphasized that nothing professionally untoward had occurred because of his personal interactions with an attorney opposing the state in litigation and that no other inappropriate relationships would come to light. So far, so good. In the last paragraph of his opening remarks, however, McDaniel emphasized that his campaign for governor goes on uninterrupted; responding to a reporter's question, the AG went on to detail his cam-
paign fundraising has exceeded initial goals. The pivot from remorse and personal responsiJAY bility back to camBARTH paign necessities (i.e., fundraising) seemed abrupt. Instead of immediately returning to campaign mode, the AG should have announced that he was putting his campaign on the backburner — while not withdrawing entirely — to focus on getting his personal and professional life in order. That would have shown that his first priority truly was stabilizing his family, would have provided a dramatic counter to the perception that McDaniel is driven wholly by his desire for political advancement and would have provided important political advantages. First, such a statement would have reduced the pressure on McDaniel to continue his fundraising pace during an inevitably difficult period. Even a healthy candidacy will be challenged by the fact that the low-hanging fruit in the state has
Nearly everyone agreed it was a failure, so in 1965, with Mills as the mastermind and more than half of Republicans and most Dixie Democrats opposed, Congress passed Medicare and Medicaid, the first a federally financed program for the elderly and disabled and the second a joint statefederal program for the medically poor across all age groups. States could choose which categories of the medically needy they would help pay for. Rich states would pay half the costs, poor states like Arkansas as little as a fifth. Winthrop Rockefeller, the first Arkansas Republican governor since Reconstruction, took office soon after Medicaid became law and asked the legislature for taxes to address what he considered the state's gravest problems: Too many Arkansans were uneducated and unhealthy. The Democratic legislature said no. Then in 1996, a new Republican governor, Mike Huckabee, asked a children's advocate how he could help unhealthy children. Insure them, Amy Rossi said, and she explained that the state could insure children up to 200 percent of the poverty line and have the federal government pay 75 percent of it. Huckabee jumped on the idea and got a Democratic senator, Mike Beebe, to push it through the legislature for him. Thanks to Huckabee, some 325,000 children are insured through Medicaid. He claimed it as his greatest achievement. But here's the difference: He wasn't tak-
ing something that Barack Obama offered. If a Republican governor proposed it or if it weren't Barack Obama's program, a lot of the Republicans would be jumping to expand Medicaid to the last group of the needy — able-bodied working people whose earnings are below about 135 percent of the poverty line. Others just think it is immoral for the government, with our tax dollars, to be paying for poor people's medical care. Several Republicans have raised the lame argument that it will wreck the state budget when the state must pay 5 percent of the costs in 2017 and 10 percent after 2020, but Obamacare's shifting of other state expenses to Washington and the impact of billions of federal dollars on the health-care system, the economy and the state treasury will more than offset the higher matching. Oh, and for those who don't think Arkansas or Washington should be helping the poor sick, there's that commandment from Jesus. Then he looked up at his disciples and said: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. "But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just." — Luke 14
already been tapped. Now, comparatively low numbers in the first quarter of 2013 will be seen as one more sign of the damage that the affair has done to him politically. McDaniel has banked on his fundraising prowess to keep primary opponents out of the race; his significantly weakened candidacy (evidenced by this week's Public Policy Polling survey showing McDaniel falling behind Republican Asa Hutchinson in a hypothetical matchup) means that prospective Democratic primary foes will now be less deterred by McDaniel's campaign cash. (He has raised right at $1 million to date.) In addition, while the details of McDaniel's relationship with Davis would have continued to be covered closely by political bloggers, traditional media outlets — finding the story a supremely uncomfortable one to cover — would have likely embraced the opportunity to pay less attention to the story provided by McDaniel's retrenchment. The target on McDaniel's back would not have gone away but it would have shrunk through a suspension of the campaign. This would have been particularly helpful to McDaniel if any text messages between the AG and Davis come to light. We know little about the content of the text messages (Davis claims there are over 500 of them), but they are a source of considerable risk for the AG's candidacy. Finally, turning attention away from
campaigning and fundraising would have allowed McDaniel to spend time traveling the state in his official capacity making speeches like the one he made in Forrest City late last week. In this "noncandidate" mode, McDaniel could remind voters of the basic likeability that he had ridden to frontrunner status. The Public Policy Polling survey shows that McDaniel's unfavorable numbers now outpace his favorables by 15 points, driven by the recent negative media coverage. It is difficult for an active candidate to rehabilitate his or her public persona the way that McDaniel must now do. Of course, the down time from the campaign would also allow the AG to have low-key meetings with small groups of donors to convince them to stick with him through these tough times rather than seek out an alternative Democratic candidate. McDaniel is understandably shellshocked by what has happened to his promising political career in just a few weeks. It is likely just now sinking in that he has moved from gubernatorial frontrunner to a candidate who retains a path to the governorship but is decidedly less likely to get there. A more humble, less ambitious statement last week followed by a reboot of his campaign in the summer of 2013 would have been the likeliest ticket to political rehabilitation for the damaged attorney general. www.arktimes.com
Not looking good
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he first week of SEC basketball hearkened back to "40 Minutes of Hell" all right. Hell on the eyes, mind you, but let's not split hairs. Arkansas scored a combined 107 points in two full games to begin the conference slate, but fortunately extracted a split because Vanderbilt was apparently told Saturday night to play the role of patsy to the Hogs' Globetrotters. The Commodores, thoroughly depleted for the first time in years, coughed up 25 turnovers and scored 33 points, a gap so narrow that it jars the senses. Adopting a positive angle here: a lot of Vandy's gaffes were a function of Arkansas extending its press and preying upon Vandy's backcourt inexperience. It was nonetheless the least commanding 23-point win you'll likely ever see, principally because the transition game that is normally a staple of a Mike Anderson team is completely absent right now. As the Hogs muddled to a 21-11 halftime lead, there seemed to be no player other than Marshawn Powell who wanted to initiate any sort of offense. Smothering pressure would generate a turnover, then Arkansas would swing the ball around the perimeter, unintentionally bleeding the shot clock as a lethargic Bud Walton Arena crowd pined for somebody to attack. This is another chronically poor shooting team — 31% from three-point range through half the schedule — so when the Hogs are left with a contested 23-foot heave at the end of a possession it hardly bodes well. Regrettably, that means that Anderson's brand facially resembles that of Stan Heath or John Pelphrey at this early juncture of his Razorback tenure. Because there is no Ronnie Brewer-caliber swingman and no Rotnei Clarke-level gunner, the offense actually looks worse than it did under the prior regimes. B.J. Young has worldly gifts but his motivation ebbs and flows: after a muted first half Saturday he opened the second half with a run of 12 straight points on his own, and then essentially shelved it the rest of the night. Powell had a take-charge, 17-point showing in the win...three days after he was scoreless in the ugly 18-point defeat at Texas A&M. The game against the Aggies made the Vanderbilt performance appear artistic by comparison. Arkansas scuffled in the first half but was ostensibly in the game, then A&M sim-
ply crushed the Hogs in every conceivable manner over the last 20 minutes. By all objective BEAU and subjective WILCOX criteria, it was one of the worst Razorback performances in the last quarter-century, offered up against a team that had been beaten by Southern University just before Christmas. I observed recently that Arkansas's lack of a third option neuters the team, and for as obvious as that may have seemed, it also appears that Anderson is experiencing great frustration trying to find that aggressor. The crowd loves Kikko Haydar, and it is a justified appreciation. The junior guard is small but unquestionably fearless, has incredible confidence in his shot (and has drained 12 of 22 bombs thus far), and most importantly, takes care of the ball. With only two turnovers in 159 minutes, Haydar has been dependable with the ball in his hands or taking flight from them. Not to get too far ahead of myself here, but Haydar's got the sort of moxie and smarts that bring to mind former Drake University guard Adam Emmenecker, the 2007-08 Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year who rose from obscurity, earned a scholarship and coolly seized the reins of a Cinderella team his senior year. Emmenecker took all of 36 shots combined over his first three years, and was never a long-range threat, so Haydar actually brings a better array of skills. This isn't necessarily an advocacy piece for Haydar to start stealing minutes from others, though it is becoming increasingly difficult to justify extended minutes for some players who have been noted disappointments. But Anderson's increased appreciation for the way Haydar competes on the court is evident. And this basketball program has benefited from the contributions of non-scholarship players before, namely Eugene Nash and Ernie Murry, and when the guy near the end of the bench happens to provide an intangible jolt when he gets minutes, personnel adjustments may need to be made. The season has reached its midpoint and it is therefore time for Anderson and his staff to be more settled in their player rotations.
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January 21 through June 29
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Blue moot of Kentucky "Is Ashley Judd going from Hollywood to Capitol Hill? The media sure hope so. Otherwise Mitch McConnell's reelection race will be deadly dull. The well-known actress was mooted as a potential candidate for U.S. Senate from Kentucky last month in what merely seemed to be a lighthearted post-election story." Skip Kendel writes: "As a law school graduate, I'm familiar with the word moot, but I've never seen mooted before. Are you familiar with this word or its usage?" Vaguely. Moot is usually an adjective meaning "debatable, doubtful" or "not actual, theoretical." When the judge says a point is moot, he doesn't want to hear any more about it. But occasionally moot appears as a verb, meaning (as in this case) "to present or introduce for discussion," or "to reduce or remove the practical significance of." I recall Eddie Sutton mentioning a willingness to crawl from Arkansas to Kentucky to be the basketball coach at the University of Kentucky. I'd make that same crawl to see Ashley Judd run against McConnell. Beauty v. Beast, indeed. And appearance wouldn't be her only advantage. I've been asked a number of times about the origin of the phrase "the whole nine yards" and could never find a persuasive explanation. I'm not the only one,
according to the New York Times: "When people talk about 'the whole nine yards,' just what are they DOUG talking about? ... SMITH firstname.lastname@example.com Does the phrase derive from the length of ammunition belts in World War II aircraft? The contents of a standard concrete mixer? The amount of beer a British naval recruit was obligated to drink? Yardage in football? The length of fabric in a Scottish kilt (or sari, or kimono, or burial shroud)? Type the phrase into Google and you're likely to get any of these answers, usually backed by nothing more than vaguely remembered conversations with someone's Great-Uncle Ed. But now two researchers using high-powered database search tools have delivered a confident 'none of the above,' supported by a surprise twist." The surprise twist is that the phrase first appeared in print, the researchers say, as "the whole six yards" and sometime over the years, somebody raised the ante. But six or nine, nobody knows the significance of the number, and the researchers conclude that it has no particular significance, that it was chosen randomly, and that "the whole nine [or six] yards" is just another way of saying "the whole thing" or "the whole shebang."
It was a good week for… ASA! HUTCHINSON. Public Policy Polling, known as a Democratic organization but generally pretty reliable, has released a poll on a potential race for governor in 2014 between Republican Asa Hutchinson and Democratic Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, the only announced candidates so far. The poll puts Hutchinson way out in front, with 46 percent of respondents saying they'd support him versus 33 percent for McDaniel; 22 percent said they didn't know. BIPARTISANSHIP. There was much talk of working together as the 89th General Assembly began. House Speaker Davy Carter, who was named chair of the Revenue and Taxation Committee by Democratic House Speaker Robert Moore in the last session, took one step toward making that a reality, naming four Democrats and seven Republicans to committee chairmanships.
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WALMART. The Bentonville-based corporate giant pledged $670,000 to underwrite Arkansas's new healthcare Payment Improvement Initiative, a shift from the fee-for-service model to payment for "episodes" of care. Walmart, which self-insures its employees, also said it would join private insurers Blue Cross and QualChoice in
participating in the initiative. In other news, Walmart has pledged to hire every veteran who wants a job; it estimates it will provide 100,000 jobs in five years. STATE REP. DARRIN WILLIAMS. The Little Rock Democrat and attorney was named CEO of Southern Bancorp. CITIZEN LEGISLATION. The Attorney General certified a revised version of the Regnat Populus ethics proposal, which allows the proposal's backers to begin collecting signatures. Two new petitions will be submitted this week: one for a medical marijuana initiated act, attorney David Couch said, that would eliminate the "grow-your-own" provision, and the other a constitutional amendment to repeal the state ban on same-sex marriage.
It was a bad week for… REP. TOM COTTON. At this rate, he'll be a fixture in this column as long as he stays in Congress. After spending his first week as a U.S. representative voting against authorizing flood insurance payments to Hurricane Sandy victims, he attracted negative national attention again when he said, on Laura Ingraham's radio show, that women are not physically fit to serve in combat in the military.
Souvenir THE OBSERVER, AS YOU MAY HAVE HEARD BY NOW, will be
making the trip to Washington, this week for the presidential inauguration, accompanied by our ol' pal, Arkansas Times resident shutterstud extraordinaire, Brian Chilson. Keep your eye on the Arkansas Blog at our website, arktimes.com, because — the gods of technology willing — we'll be posting our adventures from the road, leading up to a cover story about the trip. We're going on the bus. Specifically, one of several buses chartered by the Arkansas Martin Luther King Jr. Commission and packed full of eager young folks. The Observer plans on chatting up as many of our fellow travelers as possible on the way there, in hopes of finding out why they're going in the first place, and what they hope for, and what they dream. It's a tall order, we know, but we're the nosy sort and can talk to just about anybody on any subject after doing this for so long. Once we've made a few friends, making a fun read out of this trip — so full of promise, pride and pomp — should be a cinch. One of the main reasons we decided to take a 20-hour-each-way bus trip, though — other than the fact that our Rich Uncle Lindsey was willing to pay for it — is personal. You see, one of the long-held dreams of The Observer's dear, departed father was to travel someday to Washington. Specifically, he wanted all his life to go to the Smithsonian Institution. He was born poor and lived most of his life that way, but he was always a great lover of the past, always a lover of museums — a haunter of the collections at MacArthur Park as a boy. When The Observer was a pup, he used to tell us stories of those displays: the birds and rocks, aged relics in glass cases, photos with tiny, careful placards. He was always a great storyteller, and made the place sound like Miss Havisham's attic.
Somewhere along the way, he'd found a copy of National Geographic Magazine dedicated to the collections of the Smithsonian, and soon became a voracious reader on the subject. Though he never made it any closer to Washington than walking guard duty at Fort Knox, Ky., while in the Army, he talked nearly every summer about gathering us all up in Ma's station wagon and heading out — seeing Abraham Lincoln's stovepipe hat and The Spirit of St. Louis and the Hope Diamond with his own two eyes. Time and duty, however, conspire. He was a roofer who always owned his own business, and the fact of owning your own business is often this: When you have the spare time to do what you want, you usually don't have the money, and when you have the money, you usually don't have the time. And so it was that by the time The Observer's father passed away in 2001, five days before his 52nd birthday, he had never walked through the doors of the Smithsonian. And so, his dream has become our dream. We know we could have realized it handily many times before now — our income and supply of vacation days and access to long-haul-operational cars are all much more steady and plentiful than his ever were. But then as now: time and duty conspire. That is not to mention the fact that a working trip will keep us from thinking too often about how much we wish he was there with us in more than spirit, seeing what we see. Yes, The Observer will be working. But at some point, Your Roving Reporter will close his notebook, doff his fedora and slip away down the Mall. And a few days after that, some trinket — a coffee mug, or postcard or pin — will appear on a grave in a little cemetery way out Chicot Road. It is, at this late date, the best we can do. And then that too will be history, friends, though not the kind you'd ever find in a museum, even one so vast as the Smithsonian.
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Arkansas Reporter
The Medicaid hole, revisited The Arkansas Times has written a number of times about the ugly situation that would occur if Medicaid expansion doesn't happen: People who make between 100 and 400 percent of the federal poverty level will be getting government subsidies to buy health insurance, but those who fall below 100 percent of FPL who don't qualify for Arkansas's stingy Medicaid program will be left out in the cold. When asked about the people in this hole of coverage recently, Senate President Pro Tem Michael Lamoureux (R-Russellville) caused a little bit of confusion among followers of the healthcare law when he responded, "We've heard presentations that say that that group could be eligible for a full federal subsidy … to buy health insurance for premiums as low as $29 a month." The Times followed up with Lamoureux and it turns out that he actually intended to refer to people that make between 100 and 138 percent of FPL. And on this, he's right — people in that narrow category will be heavily subsidized on the healthcare exchange if Medicaid is not available to them. If Arkansas decides to expand Medicaid, anyone making up to 138 percent of FPL will be covered (including, of course, the group between 100 and 138). If Arkansas decides not to expand Medicaid, the 100-138 group won't get Medicaid, but they will be eligible for subsidies, which will lead to relatively affordable premiums. For example, with no expansion, an individual making 138 percent of FPL (a little more than $15,000 a year) would pay $26 per month out of pocket for a subsidized health-insurance plan bought on the exchange. However, Lamoureux was under the impression that this was the core group under discussion, the oft-mentioned "250,000 people." When a Times reporter explained that in fact the majority of uninsured folks who would gain eligibility with expansion fell below 100 percent of FPL — that the group of people that would be stuck in a "hole" without coverage or subsidies amounted to more than 160,000 folks if the state doesn't expand Medicaid, Lamoureux agreed that that would leave us with an ethically problematic result. "If we're subsidizing people that are making more money and not people that are making less," he said, "I agree that's not a good situation." He added, "I was not aware that that was that sizable of a number in that category." The latest study from the Urban Institute projects that there are about CONTINUED ON PAGE 13 12
A first in medical care North Arkansas hospital signs up to SHARE. BY LESLIE NEWELL PEACOCK
recent article in the Washington Post cited an analysis of electronic medical records that found they had improved efficiency and patient care "only marginally," thanks to the fact that doctors didn't embrace the idea and that, rather like the snake pit of cell phone chargers we're all familiar with, the many brands of software didn't necessarily communicate with other brands. Arkansas's State Health Alliance for Records Exchange (SHARE), which will be able to translate data from any electronic record vendor, should take care of that inability to communicate and allow doctors across Arkansas to share, in a secure system, patient information with each other, hospitals and pharmacies. That means, for example, a clinic referring a patient to a hospital can immediately transfer his medical history — tests performed, results, prescriptions, diagnoses — thus reducing redundancy (and costs of treatment). It also means the North Arkansas Regional Medical Center in Harrison, the first medical system to go online, can use SHARE to convey information instantaneously to doctors within its own system, which is affiliated with clinics in Jasper, Marshall, Lead Hill and Harrison, as well as health care providers who are certified to access SHARE. There is no waiting on a fax at the end of the day to get lab results. NARM Chief Executive Officer Vince Leist said his hospital was working with a consultant on creating an electronic database for clinics to communicate with the hospital when he learned about SHARE from Ray Scott, Arkansas health information technology coordinator. There are costs associated with going from paper charts and fax machines to electronic records, Leist said. "Any time an industry evolves it costs in all aspects," he said, including labor and dollars. But it makes sense. The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Jefferson Regional Hospital in Pine Bluff will also join SHARE; UAMS will start sending data to SHARE in February and Jefferson within 45 to 60 days, said Christy Williams of the health information technology office. Hospitals
OUT FRONT: Harrison hospital is first online.
and doctors who don't yet have the technology to "onboard" information with SHARE may still "break the glass," as Clinical Informatics Director Matthew Sakalosky said, to obtain patient records held in SHARE's database as long as they have been approved by SHARE. For example, if a patient seen at a clinic affiliated with NARM appears in the UAMS emergency room and is unable to provide information, UAMS will be able to go to SHARE for the information. The process complies with Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) rules. "We are somewhere in the 1970s for how inefficient we were in gathering clinical information," Scott said. Scott used UAMS' obstetric department as an example of how SHARE will bring efficiency and, it's hoped, good patient outcomes: The "nationally recognized program with high risk pregnancies," Scott said, gets "literally thousands of faxes a month from ob-gyns all over the state, which is not a very efficient and effective way for crucial clinical information to get transferred." The push for health information technology sharing systems began in the last two years of the George W. Bush administration, Scott said, but was unfunded until the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was passed in 2009 under President Obama. That act provides for some reimbursement to participants in
the Medicare and Medicaid system that make their records electronic. Scott said the system will make it possible for specialists who formerly operated in what he called information "silos" to share information about a patient who sees several doctors for various conditions. He said that in his travels in the state to present information on SHARE he was "stunned at the number of people who just assume this is already happening … they don't understand their doctors are not talking to each other." Patients can opt out of the system, and taking part in SHARE is voluntary for health providers. But Scott noted how SHARE will help track doctor performance, part of Arkansas's Payment Improvement Initiative that will offer incentive payments to doctors who see patients under Medicare and Medicaid for efficient medical care. Scott said it's "very early in the game" for the SHARE system. NARM, for example, has only 174 hospital beds and employs only 60 physicians. Scott's goal is to connect to 20 hospital-affiliated and critical-access clinics — those in rural areas — this year. He's currently working with "at least eight" other provider systems. It should take five to seven years for the system to include most Arkansas health providers. "Our goal is to remove clipboards from every waiting room in every physician's office," he said.
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How to think about Medicaid expansion and the national debt
One argument we're hearing from Republicans against Medicaid expansion is that we can't afford to add to the federal debt. After all, even if it's a good deal for the fiscal bottom line in Arkansas to accept more than a billion dollars a year in federal spending, that money is coming from deficit spending on the national level. But if Arkansas turns down the expansion money, it won't make a dent in the national debt — not even close. It's so tiny that it would take up more pages than we have in this issue to make a bar graph that properly showed you the scale. See below for a picture of just how insignificant it would be to the national debt if we say no. If we say yes? Here at home, the money would give coverage to more than 200,000 of our neediest citizens, add jobs, generate tax revenues and help keep hospitals alive.
218,000 Arkansans who would be newly eligible for Medicaid if the state goes forward with expansion. Of those, 51,000 fall between 100 and 138 percent of FPL. If the state doesn't expand Medicaid, they will be eligible to buy heavily subsidized insurance on the exchange. The remaining 167,000 make less than 100 percent of the FPL. If Arkansas doesn't expand Medicaid, these people are out of luck, even as people making all the way up to 400 percent of FPL ($44,600 for an individual) get government help. And what about that 250,000 figure? That's the state Department of Human Services projection of the total number of people that would be added to the Medicaid rolls with expansion. They project 215,000 newly eligible, just a tad under the Urban Institute's estimate. They also project that 35,000 people that are already eligible (25,000 adults plus 10,000 kids) for Medicaid but haven't signed up would end up enrolling because of the publicity about the Medicaid program associated with expansion.
TRILLION Imagine that the current national debt (more than $16.4 trillion) is the 25-story Stephens building. A year of federal spending (about $1.2 billion in FY 2015) on Medicaid expansion in Arkansas amounts to the length of a ladybug.
If the national debt by 2021 (projected to be around $25 trillion) is the Stephens building, the total federal spending on Medicaid expansion in Arkansas between 2014 and 2021 (around $10 billion) would be a baby carrot.
Christmas again
DHS projects the federal government would spend $1.19 billion on Medicaid expansion in Arkansas in fiscal year 2015, the first full fiscal year of expansion. The federal debt is currently more than $16.4 trillion. The spending is 1/13,700th of the debt; to scale, that is approximately 0.3 inches (ladybug!) compared to height of Stephens Building (365 feet). The Congressional Budget Office projects the national debt to be approximately $25 trillion in 2021. DHS projects federal spending on Medicaid expansion between 2014 and 2021 to be approximately $10 billion, or 1/2500th of the debt in 2021. To scale, that is approximately 1.75 inches (baby carrot!) compared to height of Stephens Building.
Secretary of State Mark Martin has revived a tradition of sending the government's best wishes for a Merry Christmas to the legislature, Congress, Capitol employees and others. Former Secretary of State Sharon Priest broke with the custom when she began her term in 1994, sending a secular holiday greeting, as did Charlie Daniels, or so his spokesperson, Janet Harris, in the state auditor's office, recalls. Daniels did not send a card out at all in 2010, his last year in office, Harris said. (Priest successor Bill McCuen's practice could not be determined.) "It was our decision to put Merry Christmas on there, and we stand by it," Martin's spokesman, Alex Reed, said in an email to the Times, which had been asked about the religious message and the cost. The office spent $1,162.75 for the cards, which picture the state Capitol, and $394.65 for postage, Reed said.
CORRECTIONS A photograph of a house that ran in the Times' Natives Guide (Jan. 2, 2013) was incorrectly identified as a recently sold property at 4818 Country Club Blvd. The house pictured is at 2200 N. Spruce, and had no relation to the real estate article it accompanied. The Natives Guide also incorrectly listed Fred Allen as the state representative for District 29. The District 29 representative is in fact Fred Love.
LONG AT WORK: Applying salve.
University of Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long weathered the storm. BY BEAU WILCOX
eff Long spent much of 2012 on the fevered minds of Arkansans. His name was uttered often and in many contexts (and perhaps, as the search for a longterm fix dragged on, with some likely epithets in or around his name), and therefore it's difficult to fathom an occasion where any other agent of Razorback culture has been so frequently cussed or discussed. In April, Long took the bold but necessary step to dismiss Bobby Petrino when the celebrated coach's imbroglios put the athletic department
and university as a whole in the crosshairs. He followed shortly thereafter with the puzzling, but then-justifiable call to bring the Hogs' former special teams coach, John L. Smith, back to Fayetteville on a 10-month contract to be a Band-Aid for the 2012 season. Finally, he persuaded Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema to leave a cushy post to take over after Smith "guided" a team on the seeming cusp of greatness to its worst winning percentage in 22 years. For all those decisions and the attention they drew, Jeff Long is the Arkansas Times' 2012 Arkansan of the Year.
toward campus in May, then seemed to answer the same questions weekly afterward as the entire coaching staff stubbed its toes on Saturdays. The shortterm contract defied convention, but not necessarily logic: Long rationalized that Smith's three-year run as special teams coach made him intimately familiar with the coaches and players, and that Smith's head coaching experience (132 wins at Idaho, Utah State, Louisville and Michigan State) made him a preferable option when contrasted with elevating an unproven coordinator or position coach, even though Smith was also 63 years old, six full years removed from ending his forgettable run in East Lansing with three straight losing campaigns and saddled with his own personal tumult in the form of a swelling personal bankruptcy.
This was the second November of the six he has spent in the state of Arkansas where Long's shoulders were weighted with the irrationally scrutinized task of selecting a long-term head football coach for the Razorbacks. But the conditions under which the university's athletic director and vice chancellor worked in 2012 were markedly different than in 2007. The pressure cooker in the fall of 2007 was set a bit more toward "simmer" as Long was engaged in a months-long transition into the throne being vacated by Frank Broyles. He was charged with finding some kind of salve for passionate boosters and fans who had grown weary of the football program's in-house strife. Broyles was exiting after an accomplished but polarizing 23-year run as AD, and Long had been plucked away from the same position at the University of Pittsburgh with the idea that he could help shed the department's thrifty image. Though Long had not officially taken the reins when Houston Nutt stepped aside, the onus was squarely on him to aggressively locate a viable replacement for Nutt, whose final months of a 10-year tenure had been riddled with off-field controversy and maddening on-field inconsistency. That tenor, in retrospect, may have made Long's initial hire a little easier for the fan base to stomach. When the names of Jim Grobe and Tommy Bowden surfaced, no one was remotely inspired, but then again, Long probably wasn't expected to do much better. And then Petrino, desperate to flee the NFL that had become an albatross and beat a hasty path back to the college game, came calling, and Long became a regional rock star of sorts. Petrino's fast-track resuscitation of the program — Liberty Bowl win, Sugar Bowl berth, 11-win season in rapid-fire succession — validated the AD, even as some derisively observed that Petrino just descended from football heaven right into Long's lap. In 2012, natch, Hell soon followed. The jerky rollercoaster that was 2012 is over, and Long is no doubt hopeful that calmer seas lie ahead. Bielema's selection was so unexpected that it was actually fitting after months of sordid happenings on the hill. The 42-year-old has been indisputably successful at Wisconsin — his 68-24 mark over seven seasons included three straight Big 10 titles — but his selection by Long also appeared to represent a sharp philosophical shift for a team that had grown into the gun-slinging shoes Petrino brought with him. Nonetheless, pundits like CBS Sports' Dennis Dodd embraced the hire, even if they subtly condemned Long's methods: "Jeff Long did it again," Dodd wrote in December, when he ranked the Hogs' hire as the best of all 26 head coaching hires in the FBS. "Totally clandestine, Arkansas' AD lured Bielema ... [w]ho knew that Bielema was so annoyed by Wisconsin assistant coaches' salaries and wanted a shot at the SEC that bad? For Long, this hire makes up for John L. Smith and is probably better than Bobby Petrino. Bielema will win and get Arkansas back into BCS/playoff bowls quickly." Dodd's comment, of course, underscored the fact that Long did have to chalk up the Smith experiment as an abject personal defeat. Not even a full day after Arkansas's miserable 4-8 campaign ended with an upset bid against LSU falling just short, Long gave the embattled interim coach his walking papers in a manner that was both formal and a formality. Long absorbed heat for the decision to reel Smith back
SMITH: It didn't work out.
Another CBS Sports writer, the notoriously acerbic Gregg Doyel, proclaimed Long's decision to retain Smith as "one of the dumbest hires Arkansas could have made," and pointedly criticized the man who made the call: "Jeff Long, the Arkansas athletics director, might be the single worst judge of character I've ever seen." Even with Smith's failings, as both an investor and a coach, Long did not flinch when matters became irreparably bleak in early September. The Hogs suffered through a string of embarrassing defeats and wounded pride, but Long refused to author a cutthroat condemnation of his coach. Only as the specter of the final minutes of a lost season loomed did Long even remotely hint that change was coming. When the aforesaid Band-Aid was finally, mercifully,
removed, Long did it in his usual understated fashion. "I have great respect for Coach Smith, and I thank him for the sincere commitment he has shown our program," Long's Nov. 24 statement read. "He made a difficult decision in uncertain times to return from his alma mater to guide the young men in our football program, and I will always be grateful for his efforts." It was an exceedingly dignified way of addressing the inevitable, but as the Razorbacks' losses mounted, so-called "caller-driven" radio shows and message boards were overrun with skeptics. Fans grumbled as the end of November came and the vacancy remained unfilled, all while other jobs across the country were being opened and closed. Cynicism once more consumed a fan base that viewed the Smith enlistment as a more accurate determinant of Long's abilities than the Petrino hire. Names and dollar amounts were leaked or possibly fabricated, most memorably a still-suspect tale about LSU coach Les Miles purportedly toying with a massive five-year offer to bring his irreverence north. By the time Dec. 4, 2012, arrived, Long's silence had morphed from admirable to aggravating. His famously active Twitter account had been hushed since Nov. 25, only stoking the boiling public interest. As names like Mike Gundy and Butch Davis and Chris Petersen floated around without any semblance of an honest, legitimate source, Long remained shockingly mum. And then the news of Bielema's hiring came, shooting one last ripple through the state before the calendar turned. Arkansas's 32nd head football coach was, per Long, a guy that had been eyeballed all along, not only for his successes but for his integrity. That, of course, was a callback to April 10, when Long riveted the eyes and ears of sportswriters toward the Ozarks with an emotional press conference where Petrino's baggage was exposed and then placed neatly on the curb outside the Broyles Athletic Center. Long's voice cracked and paused often, his emotions waxing and waning as the coach's missteps were recited and duly appraised. But near the end of his prepared statement, Long gathered himself fully and said with conviction: "No single individual is bigger than the team, the Razorback football program or the University of Arkansas. I assure you we will seek a head coach that possesses the expertise, leadership skills and character to maintain Razorback football as one of the nation's elite programs." For an athletic program that has fiscally prospered under Long's direction, opting to cut ties with Petrino carried untold risk, as did the subsequent choice of Smith to shepherd the program. The rearview analysis of Long's self-authored 2012 trilogy is as follows: Firing Petrino was responsible and correct, hiring Smith was well intended but assuredly a gaffe, and the reach for Bielema is the one that will eventually tilt Long's legacy one way or the other. While the Razorback basketball and baseball teams excel, or at least show the markers thereof, it is the football team that lords over all. If Long did not know that before April 2012, he most definitely does now. Being Arkansan of the Year is, in many instances, equal parts blessing and curse. Long would probably just as soon hand this crown off forever if it means he'll have to experience another year like the one he just put behind him.
ARKANSANS OF THE YEAR Koch brothers' money helps Arkansas Republicans gain legislative majority. BY DAVID RAMSEY
the course of two years. Other conservative advocacy groups followed suit, spending unknown sums on mailings and advertisements, including the Faith and Freedom Coalition and 60 Plus (both also reportedly have gotten support from the Koch brothers). The materials produced by these groups generated controversy for factually dubious information, including presenting procedural votes as support for taxes that legislators had in fact opposed. Many focused on candidates supposedly voting to support or oppose "Obamacare," though of course local legislators had no vote to cast on passing the federal healthcare law. Some mailers also had racial overtones, one using an image of a black doctor as the face of Obamacare. One of the biggest buys was an AFP ad that made the surreal claim that people were leaving the state because of high taxes and government debt, which led Gov. Mike Beebe to accuse AFP of "trashing Arkansas." "AFP deliberately sent out pieces of mail that dis-
nce upon a time, the major players in Arkansas politics were from, well, Arkansas. But the vagaries of campaign-finance law have opened the floodgates for deeppocketed individuals, groups and corporations from far and wide to have their say, and then some. So it came to be that David and Charles Koch, billionaires from Kansas, didn't need to set foot in the state to have an outsized impact on historic elections that flipped the legislature from Democratic to Republican for the first time since Reconstruction. The Koch brothers fund Americans for Prosperity, a conservative advocacy group based in Virginia. If you're an Arkansan with a mailbox, there's a good chance you've heard from AFP — it sent out more than a million mailers in the state over the last two years pushing the conservative line on local issues and elections. What's the Koch agenda? As virulently anti-government libertarians (David Koch was the Libertarian party's vice-presidential candidate in 1980), the Koch brothers would like to see significant reductions in individual and corporate taxes and in the social safety net. The politicians and groups they fund are generally anti-union, anti-regulation and skeptical of global warming. Here in Arkansas, they would likely have an interest in stopping environmental regulation, slashing spending and taxes and stopping Medicaid expansion (they are strongly opposed to the Affordable Care Act). AFP is probably best known for national attacks on President Obama and his agenda, but the group made a splash in the 2012 election cycle with a focus on going small, targeting local races and issues in 35 states with a $100 million budget. Among those states was Arkansas, a prime target as the last state in the old Confederacy with a Democratic legislature, and with every seat up for election last year because of redistricting. In addition to the mailings, AFP led a bus tour through the state (featuring the actor who played Cliff the postman on "Cheers"!), blanketed the airwaves with television advertisements, made 60,000 phone calls and knocked on 15,000 doors. "Out-of-state interest groups saw this past election cycle as their opportunity … to turn another legislature," Arkansas Democratic Party spokesperson Candace Martin said. "So they took that opportunity." AFP's Arkansas chapter reportedly spent somewhere in the neighborhood of $1 million during the election cycle, though the exact figure is impossible to know since AFP is not legally required to disclose how much it spends. AFP Arkansas state director Teresa Oelke declined repeated requests for comment on this story. In an Associated Press article last October, she said that AFP spent $900,000 in the state over
torted the record," Dan Roth, spokesman for the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, said. "If you have organizations spending vast sums to distort elected officials' records, it creates a different environment." The DLCC responded by committing resources to the state for the first time in recent history, spending around $1 million. Even with DLCC support, Democratic candidates in targeted races were outspent 3-to-1 if outside money is included, according to Martin. All of this spending, unprecedented in legislative elections in Arkansas, has been a bit jarring, both to candidates and voters. The candidates themselves mostly still operate on shoestring budgets, and it's relatively easy for an unaffiliated group to outspend the actual campaigns. In local elections, a little bit of money goes a long way. "It's unknowable in terms of how many actual dol-
lars [AFP spent]," Democratic political consultant Michael Cook said. "Maybe it was a million, maybe it was [more], but it was a ton of money and I can just tell you … talking with candidates across the state … it was just a presence that was felt in these races." AFP's mission statement explains that it is "committed to educating citizens about economic policy and mobilizing those citizens as advocates in the public policy process." The language about "educating" is no accident — the group is classified as a 501(c)(4) non-profit under the U.S. tax code, which requires it to operate "exclusively for the promotion of social welfare." Here's where things get slippery. Groups like AFP can satisfy IRS rules as long as they are primarily engaged in promoting the common good and general welfare of the community. That means that the boundaries for allowable activity are exceedingly vague — advocating on the issues without explicitly endorsing or opposing a candidate counts as promoting social welfare (and they can make an explicit endorsement if they like, it simply can't be their primary activity and they have to report what they spent). If that sounds like a giant loophole, it is. Media from AFP and other 501(c)(4) groups often named specific candidates and expressed clear approval or disapproval ("Jon Hubbard stood with us" or "Butch Wilkins voted to support President Obama's healthcare plan"). It simply avoided language like "vote for." AFP's education efforts just so happened to take place in 32 House and Senate districts that had competitive races. When the AFP bus tour made a stop in Mountain View, where Republican Missy Irvin happened to be running for Senate, Missy Irvin happened to be on hand. This was one of many stops that featured a cheap-gas giveaway to potential voters that showed up. Yet because of the legal loophole for 501(c)(4)s, AFP does not have to disclose who its donors are, even as they engage in activity that appears obviously political. Oelke has presented AFP as a grassroots organization raising money within the state, but the public remains in the dark about who — and where — the group's funders are. As long as they remain nominally independent of the campaigns, there are no limits on how much they spend. "Even though they claim to be a non-partisan organization, this election clearly showed that they were a shell organization for the Republican Party," DLCC spokesman Roth said (DLCC is a 527 organization that, unlike 501(c)(4)s, must disclose its donors).
While Martin said that she believed that strong candidates and a superior ground game would keep Democrats competitive, she said that the mammoth spending advantage that outside groups granted Republicans was difficult to overcome, and helped give them the House and Senate. "It definitely swung things," she said. "Obviously the balance of power is different now. It would be foolish to say that didn't have any effect, because obviously it did." Of course, Arkansas went heavily for Republican Mitt Romney in the presidential election and Republicans had already made significant gains in the legislature in the wave election in 2010. So perhaps Arkansas was due to be a red state, and it's impossible to know whether it was the money that put Republicans over the top. Cook believes that AFP's money was ultimately not the difference maker. The day after the election, he called AFP the election's "biggest loser" and cited a whopping 20 races that AFP had targeted and lost. "At a certain point, when you have that much mail and that much television, it just becomes lost in all the noise," he said. "To a certain extent, people tune out." Still, even if Cook is right that AFP lost more races than it won, the broader goal was presumably to gain control of the legislature, and that much was accomplished, even if it was by a nose in the House. And $1 million, for all of the noise that made in Arkansas, is a drop in the bucket for AFP. Even a small tilt in the outcome is likely a happy return for an investment this (relatively) small. "In the grand scheme of things that's not a whole lot of money for billionaires," Cook admitted. "They have their agenda that they want to impose on various states so I would not be surprised to see them slapping down another million or two million dollars [in the next election cycle]." Martin also expects AFP to continue spending big bucks in Arkansas. "They have apparently unlimited resources," she said. "We definitely have to operate under a new set of circumstances." So we can expect all those mailers and phone calls and ads to be the new normal. Depending on your perspective, you might view this as either a happy increase in information and engagement with local elections, or the pernicious intrusion of big money over the public interest. Either way, the landscape of local races has dramatically changed, and there's no turning back.
The other question is how the new dynamic will impact policy. Elected officials will presumably be paying attention to AFP's always-vocal stands on the issues given the likely involvement of AFP when they're up for re-election. Medicaid expansion will present a serious test. In the past, pressure from powerful local interests might have persuaded budget-conscious conservatives to jump at the chance to gain hundreds of millions of federal dollars. But does that pressure register if a group like AFP is willing to outspend everyone? "Will the Republicans dance with them who brung them?" Roth asks. "They're going to have to decide whether they are going to uphold what's best for the constituents." Republicans in particular may be very reluctant to stray from conservative dogma, given the threat of a primary challenge from the right. AFP successfully got involved in several Republican primaries last year. One of them was the Senate race between former Rep. Rick Green and Sen. Bruce Holland. Green believes that a flood of AFP mailings attacking him — with what he says were false charges — were a deciding factor. "I have been labeled as a moderate Republican, whatever that means," he said. "I felt like I was pretty conservative. But if you didn't vote in lockstep with exactly the agenda some put out there, then you were thrown under the bus." Green expressed concern about how this would impact votes in the legislature. "You're agreeing to voice the opinion of some group in Virginia — are you really representing the people you aspire to represent?" "You see this on the national level," Cook said. "Republicans toe the line so much because they are fearful of a primary challenge funded by these thirdparty groups. If that trickles down … that could be bad for Arkansas and Arkansas policy." As for the Koch brothers, among the world's richest people as heads of the petrochemical conglomerate Koch Industries, no one doubts that they are true believers in a libertarian ideology that advocates for low taxes and less government regulation. But it's hard not to notice how nicely that dovetails with their financial interests. That includes interests in Arkansas, among them a massive paper plant in Crossett. Whether it's ideology or interest, the Koch brothers have never been shy about spending on politics. We'll likely keep hearing from them here in Arkansas, even if we never know it was them.
T. J. Holmes Award-winning journalist and host
of BET's talk show DON'T SLEEP!
Wed., Jan. 23 6:30 p.m.
M. L. Harris Auditorium Philander Smith College · www.philander.edu All lectures are free and open to the public. For more information call 501-370-5279. No tickets or RSVPs required. www.arktimes.com
They also stood out.
Chad Griffin The Hope native and strategist behind the successful lawsuit to overturn California's same-sex marriage ban was named president of the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBT advocacy group in the country. Under his leadership, HRC raised millions of dollars and won campaigns in Maine, Maryland and Washington to allow samesex marriage. Partne Daugherty The fierce defender of the Freedom of Information Act from Jacksonville used the law often in 2012 as a check on the police. Her knowledge of the FOI and computer skills uncovered a police video of Little Rock police actions that cast the disorderly conduct arrest of Arkansas Surgeon General Joe Thompson in an entirely different light — and one very sympathetic to Thompson — than the arrest report. Later, she obtained a video that seems to aid the case of attorney and former congressional candidate Herb Rule against a DWI arrest in Fayetteville. Daugherty also won an appeal with the Arkansas Supreme Court of a lower court ruling that rejected her complaint that Jacksonville officials had violated the Freedom of Information Act in response to her request for records related to her stop for speeding. The Three Stooges The extreme views of three Republican legislative candidates — Reps. Loy Mauch of Bismarck and Jon Hubbard of Jonesboro and former Rep. Charlie Fuqua of Batesville — gained international attention
after the Arkansas Times and other media exposed some of their published writings. Among other highly offensive positions, Mauch compared Abraham Lincoln to Joseph Stalin, Hubbard suggested slavery may have been a "blessing in disguise" for blacks and Fuqua argued that, per God's teachings, parents should be allowed to execute rebellious children. All three lost their races and, if we're lucky, will never be heard from again. The Arkansas Supreme Court Its contentiously divided 4-3 ruling that school districts can keep property tax dollars that exceed the state's per-student funding minimum revived the long legal and legislative debate over school funding. In his dissent, Chief Justice Jim Hannah wrote, "The state's carefully crafted constitutional system of statefunded public education is obliterated by the majority's decision." Gov. Beebe told reporters decorum prevented him from saying what he thought about the decision. Time — and possibly action by the General Assembly — will tell if this decision upsets the landmark Lakeview school funding case. Cody Belew The Beebe native made it to the top eight in NBC's "The Voice," outperforming some 45,000 who auditioned. He found a kindred spirit in CeeLo Green, the rapper-turnedcrooner who's never met a boa he
didn't like. With Green's co-sign, he did bizarre (but killer) renditions on songs as diverse as Dolly Parton's "Jolene," Queen's "Somebody to Love" and Tina Turner's "The Best." For his run on the show, he got 30,000 likes on Facebook, where he describes himself as "a dreaming, coupon redeeming, world takeover scheming, destiny driven artist with a mad mad mission to blow your mind." And promises: "Good things to come." Mike Ross We wouldn't go so far as to call it "not knowing we had a good thing until it's gone." Especially in recent years, former Rep. Mike Ross cast some terrible votes. For example, in a move that was solely political theater, he joined Republicans in voting to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Still, in just a couple of weeks, the extremist positions staked out by Rep. Tom Cotton, Ross's Fourth District successor, have us missing Ross mightily. Gov. Mike Beebe Like last year, he makes this list for nothing in particular. We know, regardless of his successor, we'll miss his always competent leadership. Bill Clinton He made the case for reelecting President Obama much better than anyone else — including Obama. His Democratic National Convention
speech was virtuosic. Maybe he can come explain "arithmetic" to the Arkansas General Assembly. Jeff Nichols The 33-year-old Little Rock native was the youngest filmmaker in competition at the prestigious Cannes film festival this year. He screened "Mud," an Arkansas-set coming-of-age drama starring Reese Witherspoon and Matthew McConaughey and drew strong critical praise. The film will debut nationally sometime this year. Jason Moore The Fayetteville native, who was nominated for a Tony in 2004 for directing the Broadway musical "Avenue Q," made his big screen directing debut with "Pitch Perfect," a comedy about a college a cappella group. It landed on a number of year-end best lists and drew well at the box office, earning $76 million on a budget of just $17 million. The low-wage workers of Arkansas As a reader suggested, "they do all the thankless work for us in bringing us low food costs, changing our elderly parents dirty diapers, cleaning up the messes we leave in hotel rooms, stocking the shelves at our stores, etc. They do this day-in, day-out for low wages, no medical insurance and no dental insurance. Then the powers that be dump on them as moochers and takers when they have to rely on ERs for medical treatment because the threshold for Medicaid is so low in this state." Bobby Petrino Let's chalk his motorcycle crash and all the dirty business that followed as a terrible April Fool's joke and vow to never speak of it again, OK? John L. Smith He led the Hogs in defeats against lowly Louisiana-Monroe (in Little Rock!) and Alabama (520!), confused the University of Arkansas with the University of Alabama and told us to "Smile!"
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Join us at The Embassy Suites Hotel in Little Rock to walk the red carpet and celebrate a night of great films and advocacy for a one-of-a-kind, once-ayear black tie event that helps support a very important place of hope. All proceeds benefit the Wolfe Street Foundation, Inc. Make Reservations Now! Please visit us online at www.wolfestreet.org or call us at 501.372.5662
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5:30 Sponsors & VIP Pre-party 6:00 Red Carpet Interviews Begin Silent Auction Begins 7:10 Live Auction 7:30 Broadcast of 85th Academy Awards Five Course Dinner Appetizer Inspired by Wolfgang Puck "The Wolfe Street Foundation saves lives; offering a solution to families suffering from the effects of alcoholism." Co-chairs: Kathy C. Swanson & Karen Holderfield
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a profile of
immigrants in arkansas 2013
A Study of Demographic characteristics & Economic Impact A special supplement from the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation
This special feature summarizes three
a profile of
immigrants in arkansas 2013
volumes commissioned by the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation to analyze and better understand the population of immigrants and Marshall Islanders in Arkansas. Volume 1, Changing Workforce and Family Demographics, provides a demographic and socioeconomic profile of immigrants and their children, including a description of immigrant workers in the Arkansas economy. Volume 2, A Profile of Immigrants in Arkansas: Economic and Fiscal Benefits and Costs, presents an analysis of immigrants' impact on the Arkansas economy and on state and local budgets. Volume 3, A Profile of the Marshallese Community in Arkansas, focuses on Marshall Islanders—a group that is important to Arkansas but inadequately described in national Census Bureau surveys. The report—produced by researchers from the Migration Policy Institute, the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the University of Arkansas—is a follow-up to a similar study in 2007. The updated data in this report supports the Foundation's mission to improve the lives of all Arkansans by closing the educational and economic gaps that leave many families behind. The study is part of the Foundation's continuing commitment to identify and support those factors that can help the state move the needle from poverty to prosperity. The methods and findings of the study were discussed at two meetings of an advisory group composed of experts from the public, nonprofit, and private sectors in Arkansas. The Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation would like to thank the advisory group who helped to design, shape, and review the report.
Advisory group members included:
Contents 3 Arkansas immigrants grow in diversity, numbers and influence 4 New Americans 4 Light bulbs come on at academy for nonprofit leaders 5 State's economy grows through immigrant work and spending 6 Marshallese support industry in Northwest Arkansas 6 Justice workers fight silent epidemic of wage theft 7 No dreams deferred 8 Communities united for change
infographic designs Joel Richardson layout Arkansas Times cover photo Jason Miczek
• Phyllis Poche, Director, Census State Data Center, University of Arkansas at Little Rock • Frank Head, Director, Catholic Charities Immigration Services– Springdale, Diocese of Little Rock • Diana Gonzales Worthen, Director, Project Teach Them All, University of Arkansas at Fayetteville • Andre Guerrero, Director of Programs for Language Minority Students, Arkansas Department of Education • Robert Martinez, Board of Visitors, University of Arkansas at DeQueen • Al Lopez, School/Community Liaison, Springdale School District • Rafael Arciga García, Arkansas League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and Office of Latino
• •
• •
Academic Advancement, University of Arkansas at Fayetteville Michel Leidermann, Director/Editor, El Latino Spanish Weekly Sandy Harris Joel, Marshallese Program Coordinator, Credit Counseling of Arkansas, Inc. Mireya Reith, Executive Director, Arkansas United Community Coalition Deanna Perez Williams, PhD, Coordinator, Arkansas Migrant Education Program, Boston Mountain Educational Cooperative Logan Hampton, Interim Associate Vice Chancellor, University of Arkansas at Little Rock Adjoa Aiyetoro, Director, Institute for Race and Ethnicity, University of Arkansas at Little Rock
To read the three volumes of A Profile of Immigrants in Arkansas that analyze the population of immigrants and Marshall Islanders in Arkansas, visit wrfoundation.org.
2 — A PROFILE OF IMMIGRANTS IN ARKANSAS - 2013 | a special supplement from the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation - wrfoundation.org
Arkansas immigrants Naomi Turner
grow in diversity, numbers and influence Over the last ten years, the immigrant population in Arkansas has almost doubled, but according to research commissioned by the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, immigrants still represent only 5% of the state's total population. "The Foundation's primary goal with this report," says Dr. Sherece West-Scantlebury, Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation President and CEO, "is to provide relevant data to help community, business, and policy leaders better understand the population of immigrants and Marshall Islanders in Arkansas." The three-volume report, A Profile of Immigrants in Arkansas 2013, describes the demographic characteristics of the state's immigrant population, their economic and fiscal impact, and the state's Marshallese community. The report – produced by researchers from the Migration Policy Institute, the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the University of Arkansas – is a follow-up to a similar study in 2007. Volume 1 of the report notes that Arkansas ranked fourth among states in immigrant population growth in the 10year period ending in 2010. The state's foreign‐born population rose by 82 percent during that decade. Approximately two-thirds of Arkansas's immigrants come from Latin America, and Latino immigrants and their children comprise the state's fastest-growing demographic group. Families from the Marshall Islands, from Asia, Africa and Europe are also among the state's increasing immigrant population. "The diversity of many communities in our state has increased exponentially over the past 10 years, "says West-Scantlebury. "That means we have to pay attention to all members of our community having access to the same opportunities to succeed." The percentage of children of immigrants in Arkansas doubled from 5 percent to 10 percent over the 10-year period ending in 2010. The number of
Latino children in the state grew by 38,000 while the number of white children fell by 23,000. The study noted that 82 percent of children with immigrant parents were US-born citizens. State Chamber of Commerce CEO Randy Zook says the immigrants represent more than just new residents. "They are an important part of the state's economic future," he says. The state's relatively strong economy and low cost of living attracts immigrants and eases their integration into Arkansas life. While 30 percent of Latino immigrants live below the poverty line, Arkansas immigrants are just as likely to own their own homes as immigrants are nationally. Half of the state's Latino immigrants and two-thirds of other immigrants own their own homes. "The economic benefit is only part of the story we want to tell," says WestScantlebury. "Immigrants are long-term residents of the state and are contributing to stronger neighborhoods and vibrant communities." Nearly half of Arkansas's immigrants—44 percent—reside in the three Northwest counties of Benton,
Jason Miczek
Marshallese girls pick fresh herbs during a special cooking week.
Arkansas's relatively strong economy and low cost of living attracts immigrants.
Washington and Sebastian. Many live in the cities of Rogers, Springdale, Fayetteville and Fort Smith. Another 17 percent live in Pulaski County, home to the state's capital city of Little Rock. Over half have been in the state more than 10 years. A handful of rural communities in Yell, Sevier and other western counties have also seen a significant influx of immigrants. Most counties in Arkansas's south and east have foreign-born resi-
dents that account for less than two percent of their overall populations. "We encourage our state's community leaders and policymakers to use the report to engage in data-driven conversation about the positive impact of immigrants on our state's communities and economy," says Dr. West-Scantlebury. "We need to invest in the future of immigrants if the state is to benefit from their culture, productivity and economic contributions."
wrfoundation.org - a special supplement from the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation | A PROFILE OF IMMIGRANTS IN ARKANSAS - 2013 — 3
Enlace Latino
online: centerforleadershipinnovation.org/programs/latino-academies/arkansas
Enlace Latino
online: dolr.org/offices/catholiccharities/immigration-springdale.php
Director Frank Head Jr. says CCIS helps immigrants travel the long, complicated road to U.S. citizenship.
The Latino nonprofit Leadership Academy gives new leaders a suite of new skills in nonprofit management.
New Americans
Light bulbs come on at academy for nonprofit leaders
The road to becoming a U.S. citizen is long, complicated and often difficult,
When two different Arkansas nonprofit groups learned each was planning
and the laws surrounding immigration can befuddle citizenship applicants.
separate training for new nonprofit leaders, they found a way to make one-
But immigrant families have a guide and advisor in Catholic Charities Immigration Services in Springdale, which helps immigrant families through the years-long citizenship process. "Last year we helped people from 32 different countries. But the majority come from Latin American countries – Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras," Frank Head Jr., the agency's director, said. Arkansas is home to the nation's fastest growing immigrant population, and many recent immigrants live in the state's northwest corner. CCIS is the only nonprofit provider of immigration services in the state accredited by the Federal Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services. The Springdale organization helps immigrants start the citizenship process, and it provides referrals for training on preparation to enter the workforce. The organization also refers immigrants to English as a Second Language (ESL) classes, and provides other critical supports. The immigration services organization receives support from the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation. By preparing immigrants to become economically successful members of American society, CCIS serves the Foundation's overarching goal of reducing the number of Arkansas families in poverty.
Frank Head said the Foundation assistance has had a dramatic effect. "The grant has helped us increase our intake by 20 percent," he said. Many people assisted by CCIS since receiving a 2011 Foundation grant are approaching the final steps toward naturalization – tests on U.S. history and the American political system, and finally the swearing-in ceremony, capping what for many has been a lifelong journey. Five staff members, including Head, are certified to act as immigrants' legal representatives before the federal Board of Immigration Appeals, the nation's highest administrative body for interpreting and applying immigration laws. Among other kinds of immigration cases, the appeals board considers petitions to classify the status of family members' relatives still abroad for preference immigrant visas. Often immigrants come to the United States alone, and seek citizenship to bring their families to the United States through an arduous years-long process. "Our primary mission — and the reason why the Catholic Diocese works on these issues — is family reunification," he said. "We help people through the paperwork and the process so they can bring their families here and reunite."
plus-one equal much more than just two. One Community Una Communidad! and Arkansas Communities of Excellence (ACE) came together with help from Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation President and CEO Dr. Sherece WestScantlebury, and together they crafted a plan for leadership training to have broad impact on Arkansas communities. The result was the annual Arkansas Latino Nonprofit Leadership Academy, which is now helping to develop new leaders in communities of color around the state and to find new partnerships committed to achieving racial and economic justice. In 2011, the Academy's first class included some 26 Latino and Marshallese leaders from 14 Arkansas groups such as LULAC 761 and New Latino Movement, both of Fayetteville; Hispanic Community Services of Jonesboro; the Association of Women of Arkansas in Little Rock and others. "This was a really diverse group of people to work with," said Al Lopez of Una Communidad! "We brought together people from all over the state, and it was really interesting to see what they were all doing in their communities." The Academy, partly funded by the Foundation, gives new leaders a suite of skills in fundraising, programming, nonprofit management and more
4 — A PROFILE OF IMMIGRANTS IN ARKANSAS - 2013 | a special supplement from the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation - wrfoundation.org
through workshops, coaching and interaction among the Arkansas nonprofit leaders. ACE and Una Communidad! were co-training partners and community advisors, and the Maryland-based Center for Leadership Innovation served as the training resource. Academy graduates and their organizations will continue to receive mentoring and technical assistance as needed. Lopez, a longtime community advocate in Northwest Arkansas, said the Academy was a life-changing experience for many, including himself. As the first class began the training, many participants weren't sure where it would take them. "In the beginning, we were all a little hesitant. We didn't know each other, and we were wondering what we'd gotten ourselves into," Lopez said, laughing. But as the participants began to find common ground, they also began to come up with a wealth of ideas for organizing and partnerships. "You could almost see the light bulbs coming on over our heads," Lopez said. "I think people really learned a lot from the experience because it was something we really needed."
Enlace Latino
State's economy grows Immigrant families are key contributors to Arkansas's future workforce and growth, in fact, according to a recent report they contribute nearly $4 billion annually to the state's economy. These facts are contained in the threevolume report, A Profile of Immigrants in Arkansas 2013, funded by the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation. The report describes the demographic characteristics of the state's immigrant population, their economic and fiscal impact, and the state's Marshallese community. The report – produced by researchers from the Migration Policy Institute, the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the University of Arkansas – is a follow-up to a similar study in 2007. "If we are going to be able to plan for the future in a productive way, we need good data," says Dr. Sherece West-Scantlebury, Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation President and CEO. "This report provides the basis for an informed conversation about how our state can and should support opportunities for all residents." While the first volume of the report delineates the growth in the state's immigrant population, the second volume shows that immigrants have a positive effect on Arkansas's economy. According to the report, the total economic impact of immigrant consumer spending in the state was $3.9 billion. This is an increase of $1 billion in just six years. "Immigrant families are working hard
and having a positive impact on the state" says, Steve Appold, economic researcher from the Kenan Institute. "In fact, for every dollar the state spends on an immigrant family, Arkansas nets $7 in business revenue and tax contributions." The research also shows that the Latino immigrant share of workers doubled from two to four percent between 2000 and 2010. "Eighty-eight percent of immigrant Latino men in Arkansas are employed. That's a higher rate than any other immigrant or native-born group," says West-Scantlebury. "And while the economic impact is concentrated in Northwest Arkansas and in Little Rock, six other counties also had immigrant populations with at least $65 million in consumer buying power." Although immigrants account for only five percent of the state's population, they comprise seven percent of the state's workers. While they contribute heavily to key industries such as manufacturing, construction, agriculture and foreignborn professionals, 17 percent are also physicians and surgeons in the state. "Immigrants' contribution in spending across Arkansas's economy likely will continue to grow as their share of the state's total population and workforce increases," says WestScantlebury. "The economic impact of this population is a major factor in the future growth of our state."
Jason Miczek
through immigrant work, spending
Immigrant families are key contributors to Arkansas's future workforce and growth.
wrfoundation.org - a special supplement from the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation | A PROFILE OF IMMIGRANTS IN ARKANSAS - 2013 — 5
Marshallese support industry
The Jones Center
in Northwest Arkansas Arkansas might seem an unlikely landing place for immigrants from the Pacific Islands. However, thousands of workers from the Marshall Islands now call the Natural State home. A new three-volume report, A Profile of Immigrants in Arkansas 2013, funded by the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, includes a volume that provides the first comprehensive look at the Marshallese population in Arkansas. The other two volumes of the report describe the demographic characteristics of the state's immigrant population and their economic and fiscal impact. The report – produced by researchers from the Migration Policy Institute, the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at the University of North Carolina at Cha-
pel Hill, and the University of Arkansas – is a follow-up to a similar study in 2007. "The Marshallese community in Northwest Arkansas is an important factor in a quickly diversifying population," says Dr. Sherece West-Scantlebury, President and CEO of the Foundation. "You can't get a complete picture of Arkansas' foreign born residents unless you spend some time looking at the circumstances and assets of this community." Arkansas has the largest population of Marshallese individuals on the U.S. Mainland and after Hawaii the second‐ largest Marshallese population outside the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Approximately 4,300 out of 22,400 Marshall Islanders in the United States lived in Arkansas in 2010. About 88 percent of the Marshallese in Arkansas live in Washing-
Meredith Mashburn
Arkansas has the largest population of Marshallese on the U.S. mainland.
Group educates workers on rights and other issues in the workplace.
online: nwawjc.org
Justice workers fight silent epidemic of wage theft Most American workers take for granted that they'll get a fair day's wage for a fair day's work, but for many others, theft of their wages by unscrupulous employers is an all-too-common occurrence. Jose-Luis Aguayo, director of the Northwest Arkansas Worker's Justice Center, says Latinos who come to work in Northwest Arkansas are often victims
of what his organization calls a "silent epidemic" of wage theft. Vulnerability and poor English language skills among newly arrived Latinos sometimes makes employers think they can get away without paying workers' wages. "There is a lot of exploitation," Aguayo said. "Victims of wage theft are individuals who have been partially paid, or not paid at all, for the work they've done. Sometimes people aren't paid the minimum wage or don't receive overtime pay." Statistics on wage theft are hard to come by because it often goes unreported by vulnerable workers. The Workers Justice Center, which receives support from the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, works to stop wage theft and to improve conditions for low-wage workers in Northwest Arkansas by educating, organizing and mobilizing workers to help themselves find workplaces that are safe and fair. "We want to make sure our members understand what is involved in making a legal claim and understand the process," Aguayo said. "And we want them to be aware of their rights, to educate them on
what they can do to tackle not only wage theft cases, but also any other issues that they have from a labor standpoint." The Northwest Arkansas center is one of 25 such organizations nationwide and part of the Global Workers Justice Alliance, which focuses on the same issues and on international problems such as human trafficking. "We are not a union," Aguayo said. "We are a nonprofit organization that concentrates on labor rights. We have a network of attorneys that assists us. But we try to assist people and find solutions before they go into the legal realm." Northwest Arkansas' poultry industry employs thousands of low-wage Latino workers, but the center's work goes beyond a single group in a single industry. "It's a mixed crowd," Aguayo said. "When we deal with wage theft, we get people from construction, cleaning services and restaurants. When we get issues of workers comp, discrimination and OSHA violations, they often come from the poultry industry." Although the majority of the center's members are Latino, the staff tries to
6 — A PROFILE OF IMMIGRANTS IN ARKANSAS - 2013 | a special supplement from the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation - wrfoundation.org
help everyone with a labor problem who comes in the door. "We have African-Americans, and we also have Marshallese who come in with issues of OSHA safety and health violations, injuries at work, workers compensation, unemployment assistance and any of the other issues as we see in the community," Aguayo said. The staff doesn't ask—and isn't required by law to ask—about a worker's immigration status. But regardless of legal status, undocumented workers who don't speak English are often the most vulnerable, he said. "Because of their poor English language skills, they are also most likely to be targets for retaliation by their employers. They come to us for advice, not for legal advice, but for referrals," he said. "We want people to step out of the shadows and go from being vulnerable workers to being more conscious ones who know they are entitled to the same rights as anyone else."
Marshall Islanders, like Latino immigrants, are largely a young, working population that will contribute to future population and workforce growth. "It's no surprise to me that they've come to the United States and Arkansas seeking opportunities for employment and a better life," said state Chamber of Commerce CEO Randy Zook. "That's something they have in common with all immigrant groups."
Dana Edmund
ton County, with the vast majority living in Springdale. "Technically, the Marshallese are not immigrants, but for all intents and purposes they may as well be," says Rafael Jimeno, the University of Arkansas researcher who conducted the study. "Under an agreement with the United States, Marshall Islanders can travel and work without visas but they must apply to become legal permanent residents on the same terms as other nationalities." Their special status is the result of a deal struck between the island nation and the United States in 1986 when the island achieved full sovereignty. Under that agreement, the Compact of Free Association, the United State provides defense, social services and other benefits to the Marshallese in exchange for the right to operate military bases on the islands. "Employment, educational opportunities and migration networks that started in the 1980s drew the Marshallese to Arkansas," says Jimeno. "The Springdale poultry industry is the largest employer of Marshallese, with Tyson Foods, George's and Butterball employing three-quarters of the islanders." The report shows that the Marshallese community faces similar employment prospects, neighborhood conditions, living standards, needs for health-care and other services as those experienced by the Latino immigrant population.
Employment, educational opportunities and migration networks drew the Marshallese to Arkansas.
to improve outcomes for students by improving their ability to: • Successfully complete the courses they take • Advance from remedial to creditbearing courses • Enroll in and successfully complete gatekeeper courses • Enroll from one semester to the next and earn degrees and certificates Faculty and administrators work together to help students Achieve the Dream of graduation.
online: achievingthedream.org
No dreams deferred Many community college students across Arkansas bring more than books to school. Often they also carry the weight of their upbringing in low-wealth, rural households and of general unfamiliarity with higher education processes. These barriers sometimes hamper the students' success and block their path to graduation. Four Arkansas community colleges, with the help of Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation in partnership with the Lumina Foundation, are working to bring down these barriers through an initiative called Achieving the Dream. The initiative's goal is to enable colleges
Two of the colleges, Phillips County Community College of the University of Arkansas and Pulaski Technical College in North Little Rock, have been honored as national leaders in efforts to provide more effective developmental education. The schools are officially designated "leader colleges" within the national Achieving the Dream initiative. They are among only 52 colleges nationally to be so recognized. Chancellor Steve Murray of the Phillips County Community College of the University of Arkansas (PCCUA) says the program has helped change the school's culture. Where once the college may have focused on boosting enrollment, it now focuses on student success, he said. "The purpose of this initiative is
to achieve success, especially with students of color and with economically disadvantaged students. Almost all of our students fit into that category," he said. The five rural Delta counties that PCCUA serves are among the nation's 100 poorest. And at PCCUA, the results have been dramatic. "We more than doubled our graduation rate since 2005," said Deborah King, PCCUA's vice chancellor for instruction. Both colleges have gone through a sea change—evaluating previous successes and failures, setting goals for improving rates of retention and graduation, establishing new standards, improving data collection, rethinking academic advising, revising curricula, and developing new student orientation procedures. Dan Baake, the Pulaski Tech president, echoed Murray's remarks. "We have really geared up all across the college for the Achieving the Dream initiative" Baake said. "It's helped us form an entirely new culture—how we think, how we do things, how we operate." Pulaski Tech, he said, concentrates on helping Achieve the Dream students get
past gatekeeper courses, on remedial math, English and writing. "Once you get them through those remedial courses, they can go on to get their associate degree or transfer to a university," he said." If you don't get them out of remediation, there's no way they can succeed." The other participating Arkansas colleges are the College of the Ouachitas in Malvern and National Park Community College in Hot Springs. PCCUA has three campuses in Helena-West Helena, Stuttgart and DeWitt. Murray said PCCUA's work requires administrative innovation and a reexamination of instruction methods. The effort requires active participation from administrators and faculty. It also requires a frank examination of race, class, gender, and poverty in relation to student performance. "We take ownership of the barriers to success and no longer just see them as nonacademic issues that aren't our responsibility, " said Murray. "It's changed the way we see ourselves."
wrfoundation.org - a special supplement from the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation | A PROFILE OF IMMIGRANTS IN ARKANSAS - 2013 — 7
Jason Miczek Brian Chilson AUCC director Mireya Reith says partnerships get results on immigration issues.
online: arkansascoalition.org
Communities united for change For the Arkansas United Community Coalition (AUCC,) partnership is powerful. "Everything we do, we do in partnership. We're really about bringing people together," said AUCC director Mireya Reith. AUCC is an immigrants' rights nonprofit organization founded in 2010 to bring together Arkansas-based organizations and people across sectors to empower immigrants in Arkansas through organizing, coalition building, and promotion of civic engagement. AUCC supports immigrants and other multicultural communities to be agents of positive change in Arkansas through grassroots programs that help immigrants
to integrate into the Arkansas community and the state economy. In its initial stages AUCC concentrated on organizing, making contact with immigrant communities across the state and identifying potential partners. By now, Reith said, AUCC has 24 partner organizations across Arkansas, about 75 volunteers, and another 18 organizers who are immigrants themselves. The coalition currently has a presence in areas with a high concentration of immigrants in Springdale, Rogers, Fort Smith, Little Rock, Jonesboro and DeQueen. "For us it's really about bringing different stakeholders together so they can identify principles and determine what path we'll take collectively," the director said. AUCC is affiliated with three national organizations, the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FAIR), Reform Immigration for America (RI4A), and the Southeast Immigrant Rights Network (SEIRN). The 18 immigrant organizers are part of AUCC's flagship program, known as Change Agents, which is supported by a grant from the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation. Through the Change Agents program, the coalition hopes to activate Arkansas immigrants to lead community-building efforts. The Change Agents themselves are people from low-income backgrounds
who haven't previously served in leadership positions, but whose neighbors and colleagues identify them as having strong leadership potential. The coalition offers three organizer training sessions a year for Change Agents — one in their own communities, one at the state level, and one where each organizer goes outside the state to see how others work to support immigrants. The Change Agents training is handson. "This isn't the kind of thing you learn in a classroom. You learn by doing it," Reith said. Program participants develop local grassroots groups and implement immigrant-driven community projects. Most of AUCC's partners are nonprofit organizations. But the coalition also has partnerships with some government agencies. One such partner is the office of Governor Mike Beebe, which works with AUCC in providing citizenship workshops. Other coalition partners are in law enforcement. They work together to identify needs in the immigrant communities and to assess the impact on immigrants of local and federally mandated law enforcement programs. By comparing notes, Reith said, partners learn about needs they didn't know about previously. "One of the needs we see is information
focusing on the impact of these law enforcement programs," Reith said. "For example we could establish a hot line for families that find themselves facing deportation or a family member facing deportation as a result of these programs." AUCC also works in voter registration, voter education and voter mobilization. And the coalition is gearing up to study and report on federal immigration policies, Reith said. Eighty percent of AUCC's work is with Latino immigrants, Reith said, but the coalition is constantly reaching out to other groups. "We've been in touch with the Marshallese community in Springdale, the Vietnamese community in Fort Smith. We've been involved with the people of the African diaspora around the state, and we've also made efforts to reach out to the Asian community and the Arab community in Little Rock," she said. Reith said the time is right for helping immigrant leaders to emerge. "The immigrant communities have been here long enough that it's perfect timing for this kind of work," the AUCC director said. "They've established homes here, are raising their kids here, and very much see themselves as residents of Arkansas. They want to see Arkansas reach its full potential, which is what all of us want to see."
a profile of
immigrants in arkansas
A Study of Demographic characteristics & Economic Impact A special supplement from the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation
8 — A PROFILE OF IMMIGRANTS IN ARKANSAS - 2013 | a special supplement from the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation - wrfoundation.org
Drivers Please be aWare, it's arkansas state laW: Use of bicycles or animals
Every person riding a bicycle or an animal, or driving any animal drawing a vehicle upon a highway, shall have all the rights and all of the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle, except those provisions of this act which by their nature can have no applicability.
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Arts Entertainment AND
'ARKANSAS SON-IN-LAW' Exploring Mississippi native Jimbo Mathus' Arkansas connections. BY JOE MEAZLE
background and connections to Arkansas. I started poking around and found stories and characters dating from the mid '70s to present. Eventually, I'd sit down to a meal with Mathus, 45, his wife, Jennifer Pierce Mathus (a Jonesboro native), and a dozen or so Kickstarter contributors who helped fund his new album. Fittingly, dinner was at Doe's Eat Place, the steakhouse/Southern tamale institution founded in Greenville, Miss., and with several Arkansas locations. Since then it's been a whirlwind of running down some of Mathus' Arkansas contacts, all of whom had a smile and a story (or several) about the wiry musician. ♦♦♦ Mathus' association with the Natural State started while he was still in grade school. His dad, a five-string banjo player and a big fan of bluegrass and folk music, would haul a crew of family and friends from Corinth, Miss., to Mountain View for the folk festival. Picking on the Stone County Courthouse Square, the Mathus family quickly became friends with the Griffey family of Morrilton, and they would camp together on subsequent visits. CONTINUED ON PAGE 36
or a while now, Mississippi musician Jimbo Mathus has referred to himself as "the Arkansas Son-in-Law." The moniker always seemed to imply more than just his Arkie bride, however. The idea of a proud and talented musician from Mississippi not only acknowledging but embracing Arkansas's music had me intrigued. After all, Mathus' own artistic pedigree is a crazy quilt of notable endeavors. As a teen, he and Jack Yarber (a.k.a. Jack Oblivian, of legendary Memphis garage rock demolishers The Oblivians) formed the punk band Johnny Vomit & the Dry Heaves. He founded the platinumselling swing/jazz/blues outfit Squirrel Nut Zippers (which performed at the second inauguration of President Bill Clinton). He lent his six-string skills to the masterful 2001 Buddy Guy album "Sweet Tea" and the blues great's Grammy-winning 2003 disc "Blues Singer." And since 2004, he's led the Tri-State Coalition, mining the rich musical history of his native Mississippi alongside players from Arkansas and Tennessee (hence the name). With a fantastic new album called "White Buffalo" that's due out Tuesday on Fat Possum Records, it seemed like a good time to explore Mathus'
ake LL iquor
ROCK CANDY Check out the Times' A&E blog arktimes.com
A&E NEWS ANOTHER YEAR, ANOTHER ROUND OF HAVING TO MAKE tough choices about which bands will play in the Arkansas Times Musicians Showcase. Much like last year, we had a veritable metric crap-ton of entries, with way more quality bands than we have room for. After much listening to of songs, biting of fingernails, running of hands through hair and generally hashing it all out, we've got it down to the 20 semifinalists who'll start squaring off Jan. 24 at Stickyz. As a refresher, here's how it works: each week, four bands or solo performers will play half-hour sets at Stickyz for a panel of judges, who'll assign scores based on originality, songwriting quality, musicianship and showmanship. The scores are added up, and the winner of each semifinal round will advance to the finals, March 1 at Revolution. We're still working out the details of the prize package, but it includes some really swell stuff and chances to perform all over the state, including slots at Riverfest (May 24-26), Valley of the Vapors (March 15-19), Arkansas Sounds and more that I hope to confirm soon. We'll be doing some killer giveaways as well, so be sure to come on out each week. Mainly, the whole thing is just a lot of fun. You'll hear some bands you already dig, for sure, but you'll probably also hear some performers you might not encounter otherwise. We'll announce the schedule soon. Semifinalists are: Annalisa Nutt, The Bad Years, Bartin Memberg, Collin Vs Adam, Damn Arkansan, Flint Eastwood, Freedom Bureau, Gwendlyn Kay, Knox Hamilton, Midnight Thrills, Miles Rattz, Mothwind, Peckerwolf, The Revolutioners, The Sound of the Mountain, Stephen Neeper Band, Terminus, This Holy House, Tom & Hebron and Trey Hawkins Band. LAST WEEK, WAKARUSA DROPPED THE SECOND OF ITS three-part lineup announcement. Topping the bill are proggy jam faves Umphrey's McGee, erstwhile jam/alt-rockers Dispatch and video game-soundtracking electronica giant Amon Tobin. Other intriguing additions to the festival's lineup that jumped out: Calexico, Karl Denson's Tiny Universe, AraabMuzik, The Coup (which means that dude, Boots Riley is going to be in Arkansas!), and Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs. THE LITTLE ROCK HORROR PICTURE SHOW (MARCH 22-24) announced its opening film Friday, a soon-to-be-re-titled horror comedy from director Spencer Parsons. Actually, the film did have a title — "Saturday Morning Massacre" — but they've opted to change it. It premiered at the 2012 Los Angeles Film Festival and has gotten positive reviews. Film School Rejects gave it a B+ and Austinist wrote that it's "quite entertaining and has plenty of chills to make it a fun, scary movie." Justin Nickels, director of the LRHPS, said the film was being renamed for distribution purposes.
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Celebrate the
Inauguration 44th President of
of the
United States
Join the Democratic Party of Arkansas for a Celebration & Brunch honoring:
Pr e side n t
Barack Obama & Vice President Joseph Biden
Monday, January 21, 2013 Revolution Food & Music 300 President Clinton Avenue In the River Market District Little Rock, Arkansas Doors open at 9:30 am Casual Attire
Buy Tickets Online Today!
www.ARinaugCelebration.eventbrite.com Limited Seating. Tickets first come, first serve.
Advance Tickets: $44 per person, $75 per couple or $50 per person at the door (includes brunch buffet) Program Only: (no buffet) $15
for tickets and group pricing call 501.374.2361 or firstname.lastname@example.com Paid for by the Democratic Party of Arkansas. www.arkdems.org Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. www.arktimes.com
6 p.m. Arkansas Arts Center. Free for members.
Arts Center members will get a preview of what a news release promises will be an "innovative and provocative"
Delta before the show's public opening Friday, Jan. 18, in the Winthrop Rockefeller Gallery. If the work is to be more provocative than last year's Delta offerings it will have to include something to best "Taste" by Steven Jones, a terrific photograph of a naked woman clutching a fork and knife at a table; if more
innovative, it will have to outdo Niles Wallace's huge knot of bundled carpet circles that art lovers and cats worldwide would appreciate. Juror Monica Bowman, owner of The Butcher's Daughter Gallery in Ferndale, Mich., selected from 800 entries 45 works by 34 artists from Arkansas and contiguous states; 20 of
the artists are Arkansans. In a departure from years past, winners of purchase awards and honorable mentions won't be announced until the members' reception; Bowman will make the announcement after she gives the talk "Risk, Failure and the Materialization of Place" at 6 p.m. It's all about getting you there. LNP
I just watched the trailer for the documentary "Marwencol" and … wow. Maybe it's just that I have a soft spot for damaged weirdoes who turn their backs on society to devote themselves 110 percent to their own bizarre interior worlds, but man, does this look intriguing. The gist: "Marwencol" explores Marwencol, the name of the 1/6-scale WW II-era town created by a man from Kingston, N.Y., named Mark Hogancamp. In April 2000, after disclosing that he was a cross-dresser, Hogancamp was beaten to death outside of a bar by five teen-age thugs. Though clinically dead, he was revived by paramedics, and after nine days in a coma, he awoke with no memory of his previous life. As a means of coping with such an unimaginably devastating loss of self, he created Marwencol, a painstakingly crafted and detailed fantasy world over which he exercises control. Think Henry Darger, but with dioramas and maybe two or three or
It's been a little more than four months since Little Rock musician Trevor Ware (bassist for Grand Serenade and Elise Davis) was hit by a drunk driver while riding his motorcycle. Ware suffered serious injuries and was in a coma for some time. He's recovering, according to posts on his Facebook page, but it will be a long road and obviously a costly one as well. This is the second fundraiser White Water Tavern has hosted for Ware, and again, it will be an opportunity for friends and family and others to get together not only to help Ware, but also to enjoy some music, art and fellowship. There's going to be an auction of artwork, apparel and more, including paintings from John Kushmaul and Katherine Rutter and T-shirts sporting one of Ware's drawings from Brooks Tipton's Electric Ghost Printing. The music lineup includes Andy Warr, Color Club, Isaac Alexander, Adam Faucett, Kyle Mays and others. The auction starts at 8 p.m. and the music later. RB
7 p.m. Argenta Community Theater. Free.
8 p.m. White Water Tavern. Donations.
MINIATURE WORLD: The critically acclaimed documentary "Marwencol" screens Thursday at Argenta Community Theater.
50 times less creepy. His photos of the sets he's created have been hailed by art world muckety mucks, but Hogancamp — who struggles mightily just to leave the house — mainly just wants to create new scenes in his tiny world. This is one of the best-reviewed documen-
taries in years, and I don't have space here to do justice to Hogancamp's story. Read the New York Times article from April 6, 2011, or check out some of the photos at Marwencol.com to get a better idea of the full, weird amazingness of this story. RB
7:30 p.m. Verizon Arena. $7-$37.
Most of the stuff I thought was cool when I was 10 seems pretty lame now. G.I. Joe, Thundercats, M.A.S.K., baseball cards, baseball … I don't know, they just don't hold any appeal for me anymore. I guess you just outgrow some stuff. But one thing holds me in thrall still, lo these many years later: monster trucks. That's right, Bigfoot, Black Stallion, Grave Digger and their colleagues are all still every bit as killer-rad now as they were in 1988. Mainly, I think this is because these drivers actually get to do what we all secretly want to do, which is use a gigantic truck to demolish stuff and do massive jumps and flips and wheelies and so forth. And it's their job. How cool is that? RB 32
MONSTER TIME: Grave Digger will be crushing it at Verizon Arena Friday and Saturday as part of Monster Jam.
1 p.m. Arkansas State Capitol.
To be certain, there are enormous challenges facing progressive folks in 2013 and beyond. But I really do believe that overall, things are better in the United States than they were in 1973. Still, though, it's extremely worrisome that, 40 years after the Supreme Court established that the right to privacy under the 14th Amendment includes a woman's right to have an abortion, there's such a con-
certed movement to keep women from exercising control over their own bodies. In recent years, state legislatures across the South and Midwest have passed draconian laws aimed at curtailing women's autonomy. Candidates for office last year uttered some of the most contemptible — not to mention scientifically specious — garbage about a host of reproductive issues. That's why it's so critical to stand up to the knuckle-draggers among us (and they are legion in Arkansas) who want women to be subservient, secondclass citizens. Ironic that so many of these
yahoos scream 'til they're blue in the face about keeping the government out of our lives, unless you're a woman, that is, and then no intrusion is too egregious. Enough soapboxing, though. Here's a chance for progressives to get together to let themselves be heard. Speakers at this rally include Jessica DeLoach Sabin, Dr. Joycelyn Elders, Sen. Joyce Elliott, Dr. Jay Barth and Rev. Marie Mainard O'Connell giving an invocation. Your attendance at this rally is important, as the anti-choice crowd will be gathering the next day. RB
by hugely popular DJ Pretty Lights, a.k.a. Derek Vincent Smith. In addition to having one of the best album covers I've seen in a while, the record showcases Lipp's smorgasbord approach. It's still largely sample-based fare steeped in hip-hop and techno, but all sorts of other influences — drum & bass, jazz fusion, '80s pop — bubble to the surface, seamlessly meshing with the other sounds. In October, Jay Z's Life + Times blog premiered Lipp's new single "Wonderland." Lipp's been
at it for a minute now and has a considerable following. But with this latest long-player, it seems like he's on the verge of breaking out in an even bigger way. Don't let this be one of those "should've-seen-him-back-then" shows you'll be kicking yourself for skipping after he's blown up. In addition to the Discovery show, he performs Thursday at George's Majestic Lounge in Fayetteville, with Wookie Disco, Tilly Time and Carson Smith, 9 p.m., $13. RB
9 p.m. Discovery Night Club. $10.
Eliot Lipp has spent the last decadeplus hopping around the country, honing his craft in some of the happeningest cities for electronic dance music. Over that time, Lipp has released seven albums and collaborated with a grip of other hot names in the EDM milieu. His most recent album, last year's "Shark Wolf Rabbit Snake," was released on Pretty Lights Music, which is, perhaps not surprisingly, operated
5 p.m. dinner, 7 p.m. performance. Starving Artist Cafe. $9.
OK, full disclosure upfront: I've known Shannon Wurst for many years now. Back when I met her, she was my friend Jessica's sassy, whip-smart little sister who liked to play acoustic guitar on the Fayetteville square. Her repertoire included several Jewel covers, if I recall correctly. She's still funny and sharp (and still Jessica's sister), but her songbook has grown considerably, and as an artist, so has she. Wurst has released four albums of originals and cover tunes, highlighted by deft playing and her crystal clear, sweet voice. She's played all over the country, including notable folk music stages such as Kerrville, where she was a New Folk Finalist in 2009; she was a semi-finalist on A Prairie Home Companion's People in Their Twenties Talent Show
The Political Animals Club features Gov. Mike Beebe's "Legislative Session Preview." Lunch will be served, Governor's Mansion, 11:30 a.m., $20. Austin, Texas, indie folk outfit The Eastern Sea plays an 18-and-older show at Stickyz, with a welcome return from Stickyz alums Kopecky Family Band, 9 p.m., $8. Little Rock's Stella Luss and Bentonville five-piece A Complicated Creature play Juanita's with South Carolina electro/indie act Signs of Iris, 9 p.m., $8 adv., $10 day of.
The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra kicks off its Intimate Neighborhood Concert Series with a chamber performance featuring organist Justin Bischof performing works by Rossini, Mozart and more, Pulaski Heights Methodist Church, 7 p.m., $10-$35, call 666-1761 for tickets. Jab Jab Suckerpunch has you covered for loud, raging rock, White Water Tavern, 9:30 p.m. Juanita's has a solid lineup of local singer/songwriter pop, with Treva Blomquist, Harlo Maxwell, Audrey Dean Kelley and Randy Harsey, 9 p.m., $8 adv., $10 day of.
At Revolution, there's a going away party for DJ Lawler, with Gigamesh, 18-and-older, 9 p.m., $10. The Weekend Theater's production of "The Metal Children" continues, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m., $12$16. Vino's has Texan indie pop trio Sick/Sea, Little Rock electro/experimental pop duo Binary Marketing Show and lo-fi rock dudes Ezra Lbs., 9 p.m., $5. The always entertaining Brown Soul Shoes bring the soul, rock and R&B originals and classic covers to Stickyz for an 18-and-older show, 9 p.m., $5. The always lovely ladies of the Foul Play Cabaret are at Maxine's, 8 p.m., $10 adv., $12 door. Slam poets take note: Foreign Tongues Poetry group hosts at the Southern Fried Poetry Slam qualifier at the Sports Page, 7 p.m., $5.
GOOD FOLK: Shannon Wurst performs at Tales of the South, Tuesday at Starving Artist Cafe.
in 2007; and she won a 2011 Arkansas Governor's Arts Award for folk music, among other accolades. This will be an excellent venue for her to show-
case her songs and storyteller's charm. Also performing will be Tales from the South vets The Salty Dogs and Mark Simpson.
Music of the Movement is a musical tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., with performances and a panel discussion with local artists Ramona Smith, Gerald Johnson, Butterfly, Quincy Watson and Warren Booker, Philander Smith, 2 p.m., free. Tyrannosaurus Chicken will hypnotize you with their swirling psychedelic blues, White Water Tavern, 10 p.m. Maxine's has San Antonio rockers Langton Drive, bouncy folk rock from Alabama's Delicate Cutters and one of Arkansas's finest songwriters, Adam Faucett, 8 p.m., $5 adv., $7 door. Moonshine Mafia plays the headliner slot at Cajun's Wharf, with Fayetteville favorite Sarah Hughes providing the happy hour tunes, 5 and 9 p.m., $5 after 8:30 p.m. Randall Shreve & The Sideshow bring their spectacle-filled rock circus back to Stickyz for an 18-and-older show, 9 p.m., $6. www.arktimes.com
AFTER DARK All events are in the Greater Little Rock area unless otherwise noted. To place an event in the Arkansas Times calendar, please e-mail the listing and all pertinent information, including date, time, location, price and contact information, to firstname.lastname@example.com.
Acoustic Open Mic. The Afterthought, 8 p.m., free. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www. afterthoughtbar.com. Brian & Nick. Cajun's Wharf, 5 and 9 p.m.; Jan. 23, 5 and 9 p.m.; Jan. 30, 5 and 9 p.m., $5 after 8:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. www.cajunswharf.com. The Eastern Sea, Kopecky Family Band. 18-and-older. Stickyz Rock 'n' Roll Chicken Shack, 9 p.m., $8. 107 Commerce St. 501-3727707. www.stickyz.com. Gospel and The Wolf. Vino's. 923 W. 7th St. 501375-8466. www.vinosbrewpub.com. Jim Dickerson. 7 p.m. Sonny Williams' Steak Room. 500 President Clinton Ave. 501-324-2999. www.sonnywilliamssteakroom.com. Karaoke at Khalil's. Khalil's Pub, 7 p.m. 110 S. Shackleford Road. 501-224-0224. www.khalilspub.com. Karaoke. Bear's Den Pizza, 8 p.m.; Jan. 18, 8 p.m.; Jan. 23, 8 p.m.; Jan. 25, 8 p.m. 235 Farris Road, Conway. 501-328-5556. www.bearsdenpizza.com. Karaoke Extravaganza. Includes drink and food specials and cash prizes. Montego Cafe, 9 p.m., $5. 315 Main St. 501-372-1555. www. montegocafe.com. Karaoke with Big John Miller. Denton's Trotline, 8 p.m. 2150 Congo Road, Benton. 501-315-1717. Live Karaoke and Dueling Pianos. Featuring Dell Smith and William Staggers. Montego Cafe, 9 p.m. 315 Main St. 501-372-1555. www. montegocafe.com. More than Sparrows, Iudicia. Downtown Music Hall, 8 p.m., $5. 211 W. Capitol. 501-376-1819. downtownmusichall.com. Ricky David Tripp. Rocket Twenty One, 5:30 p.m. 2601 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-603-9208. www. ferneaurestaurant.com. Stella Luss, Signs of Iris, A Complicated Creature. Juanita's, 9 p.m., $8 adv., $10 day of. 614 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-1228. www.juanitas.com. Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 5 p.m., free. 111 Markham St. 501-374-7474. www.capitalhotel.com/CBG.
The Joint Venture. Improv comedy group. The Joint, 8 p.m., $5. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com. Julie Scoggins, Ron Shively. The Loony Bin, 7:30 p.m.; Jan. 18, 7:30 and 10 p.m., $7-$10. 10301 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501-228-5555. www. loonybincomedy.com. Standup Open Mic Night. Hosted by local comedians of the comedy collective Comedi ans of NWA. UARK Bowl, 9 p.m., free. 644 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville. 479-301-2030. uarkbowl.com.
Little Rock Bop Club. Beginning dance lessons for ages 10 and older. Singles welcome. Bess Chisum Stephens Community Center, 7 p.m., $4 for members, $7 for guests. 12th & Cleveland
STAND-UP DUDE: Comedian (and Clarksville native) Ralphie May brings his stand-up stylings back to Arkansas, with shows at UARK Bowl in Fayetteville (Thursday, 8 p.m., $20) and Robinson Center Music Hall (Friday, 8 p.m., $37-$58). streets. 501-350-4712. www.littlerockbopclub.
Political Animals Club: Gov. Mike Beebe — A Legislative Session Preview. Lunch will be served. Governor's Mansion, 11:30 a.m., $20. 1800 Center St. 501-377-1121. Preschool Art Class: Lines & Shapes. For children ages 3 to 5 with a caregiver. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 1:15 p.m.; Jan. 23, 1:15 p.m.; Jan. 30, 1:15 p.m., $30 per session. 600 Museum Way, Bentonville. 479-418-5700. crystalbridges.org. Skeptics in the Pub. Science discussion and trivia night. The Joint, 6 p.m., free. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501-372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com. Studio Studies Series | Figure Drawing from a Thomas Eakins Perspective. Explore the figuredrawing style of the great American painter Thomas Eakins. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 6:30 p.m.; Jan. 23, 6:30 p.m.; Jan. 30, 6:30 p.m., $65. 600 Museum Way, Bentonville. 479-418-5700. crystalbridges.org.
WOW culinary event. Sample drinks and hors d'oeuvres from Eleven. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 6 p.m., $30. 600 Museum Way, Bentonville. 479-418-5700. crystalbridges.org.
Wednesday Night Poetry. 21-and-older show. Maxine's, 7 p.m., free. 700 Central Ave., Hot Springs. 501-321-0909. maxineslive.com/shows. html.
The Ascetic Junkies. Maxine's, 8 p.m., free. 700 Central Ave., Hot Springs. www.maxinespub. com. Ashley McBryde. The Tavern Sports Grill, 7 p.m., free. 17815 Chenal Parkway. 501-830-2100. www. thetavernsportsgrill.com. ASO's Intimate Neighborhood Concert Series. Arkansas Symphony Orchestra chamber performance featuring organist Justin Bischof, with
works by Rossini, Mozart and more. Call 501666-1761 for tickets. Pulaski Heights Methodist Church, 7 p.m., $10-$35. 4823 Woodlawn Drive. Downtown Battle of the Bands Round 1. Including Enchiridion, The Throbbing Testicles, Amore, Red Devil Lies, Between You & I. Downtown Music Hall, 7 p.m., $6. 211 W. Capitol. 501-376-1819. downtownmusichall.com. Eliot Lipp, Wookie Disco, Tilly Time, Carson Smith. George's Majestic Lounge, 9 p.m., $13. 519 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville. 479-442-4226. Funkanites. The Joint, 9 p.m., $7. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501-372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com. "Inferno." DJs play pop, electro, house and more, plus drink specials and $1 cover before 11 p.m. Sway, 9 p.m. 412 Louisiana. 501-907-2582. Jab Jab Suckerpunch. White Water Tavern, 9:30 p.m. 2500 W 7th St. 501-375-8400. www.whitewatertavern.com. Jim Dickerson. 7 p.m. Sonny Williams' Steak Room. 500 President Clinton Ave. 501-324-2999. www.sonnywilliamssteakroom.com. Karaoke. Zack's Place, 8 p.m. 1400 S. University Ave. 501-664-6444. Karaoke night. Cornerstone Pub & Grill, 8 p.m. 314 Main St., NLR. 501-374-1782. cstonepub. com. Karaoke with Kevin & Cara. MacDaddy's Bar and Grill, 9 p.m., free. 314 N. Maple St., NLR. Karaoke with Larry the Table Guy. The Afterthought, 8 p.m., free. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www.afterthoughtbar.com. Karaoke with Ron Powell. W.T. Bubba's Country Tavern, Jan. 17, 9 p.m.; Jan. 24, 9 p.m. 500 President Clinton Ave. 501-244-2528. Kirk Gone Acoustic. All-ages. Thirst n' Howl, 8 p.m., free. 14710 Cantrell Road. 501-379-8189. www.thirst-n-howl.com. Krush Thursdays with DJ Kavaleer. Club Climax, free before 11 p.m. 824 W. Capitol. 501-5543437. Mr. Lucky (headliner), Mark & Nathaniel (happy hour). Cajun's Wharf, 5 and 9 p.m., $5 after 8:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-3755351. www.cajunswharf.com. Open jam with The Port Arthur Band. Parrot Beach Cafe, 9 p.m. 9611 MacArthur Drive, NLR. 771-2994. Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 5 p.m., free. 111 Markham St. 501-374-7474. www.capitalhotel.com/CBG. Treva Blomquist, Harlo Maxwell, Audrey Dean Kelley, Randy Harsey. Juanita's, 9 p.m., $8 adv., $10 day of. 614 President Clinton Ave. 501-3721228. www.juanitas.com.
Julie Scoggins, Ron Shively. The Loony Bin, through Jan. 17, 7:30 p.m.; through Jan. 19, 7:30 and 10 p.m., $7-$10. 10301 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501-228-5555. www.loonybincomedy.com. Ralphie May. UARK Bowl, 8 p.m., $20. 644 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville. 479-301-2030. www. uarkballroom.com.
Antique/Boutique Walk. Shopping and live entertainment. Downtown Hot Springs, third Thursday of every month, 4-8 p.m., free. 100 Central Ave., Hot Springs. Arkansas HIMSS Career Expo and Workshop. Presented by the Arkansas Chapter of Health Information and Management Systems Society. Hilton Medical Center Hotel, 9 a.m. p.m., free. 925 S. University Ave. arkansashimss.org.
Brown Bag Lunch Lecture — Occupation, Guerrillas and Murder: Jan. 1863 in Madison County. Old State House Museum, noon, free. 500 Clinton Ave. 501-324-9685. www.oldstatehouse.com. Live horse racing. Thu.-Sun. every week until April 13, plus Martin Luther King Day and Memorial Day. Oaklawn, $2. 2705 Central Ave., Hot Springs. 501-623-4411. www.oaklawn.com. Wine Tasting. The Afterthought, 5:30 p.m., $10. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www.afterthoughtbar.com.
Argenta Film Series: "Marwencol." Argenta Community Theater, 7 p.m. 405 Main St., NLR. 501-353-1443. argentacommunitytheater.org.
POETluck. Literary salon and potluck. The Writer's Colony at Dairy Hollow, third Thursday of every month, 6-9 p.m. 515 Spring St., Eureka Springs. 479-253-7444.
101 Old School Night. Cornerstone Pub & Grill, 8 p.m. 314 Main St., NLR. 501-374-1782. cstonepub.com. 12 Sharp. West End Smokehouse and Tavern, Jan. 18-19, 10 p.m., $5. 215 N. Shackleford. 501-224-7665. www.westendsmokehouse.net. Arkansas Brothers. W.T. Bubba's Country Tavern, 9 p.m. 500 President Clinton Ave. 501-244-2528. Brian Mullen. Denton's Trotline, 9 p.m., $10. 2150 Congo Road, Benton. 501-315-1717. Brown Soul Shoes. 18-and-older. Stickyz Rock 'n' Roll Chicken Shack, 9 p.m., $5. 107 Commerce St. 501-372-7707. www.stickyz. com. Club Nights at 1620 Savoy. Dance night, with DJs, drink specials and bar menu, until 2 a.m. 1620 Savoy, 10 p.m. 1620 Market St. 501-2211620. www.1620savoy.com. The Color Morale. Our Last Night, Your Memorial, For All I Am, As Tall As Giants, Through The Looking Glass. Downtown Music Hall, 7 p.m., $10 adv., $12 day of. 211 W. Capitol. 501-376-1819. downtownmusichall.com. D. Harp Entertainment. Montego Cafe, 5 p.m. 315 Main St. 501-372-1555. www.montegocafe.com. Dan Wagner. Flying Saucer, 9 p.m., $3. 323 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-8032. www. beerknurd.com/stores/littlerock. David Briggs. Sponsored by Central Arkansas Chapter, American Guild of Organists. St. Mark's Episcopal Church, 8 p.m., free. 1000 N. Mississippi Ave. Friday night at Sway. Sway, 9 p.m. 412 Louisiana. 501-907-2582. Jim Mills (headliner), Richie Johnson (happy hour). Cajun's Wharf, 5 and 9 p.m., $5 after 8:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. www.cajunswharf.com. Karaoke. Bear's Den Pizza, Jan. 18, 8 p.m.; Jan. 23, 8 p.m.; Jan. 25, 8 p.m. 235 Farris Road, Conway. 501-328-5556. www.bearsdenpizza. com. Lawler's Going Away Party with Gigamesh. 18-and-older. Revolution, 9 p.m., $10. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-823-0090. revroom.com.
Pat Anderson. All-ages. Cregeen's Irish Pub, 9 p.m. 301 Main St., NLR. 501-376-7468. www. cregeens.com. Rodney Block & The Real Music Lovers with Jeron Marshal (album release). The Joint, 9 p.m. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501-372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com. Shannon Boshears Band. The Afterthought, 9 p.m., $7. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www.afterthoughtbar.com. Sick/Sea, Binary Marketing Show. Vino's, 9 p.m., $5. 923 W. 7th St. 501-375-8466. www. vinosbrewpub.com. Synergy, DJ Sleepy Genius. Montego Cafe, 8:30 p.m. 315 Main St. 501-372-1555. www. montegocafe.com. Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 9 p.m., free. 111 Markham St. 501-374-7474. www. capitalhotel.com/CBG. Thomas East. Sonny Williams' Steak Room, through Jan. 19, 7 p.m. 500 President Clinton Ave. 501-324-2999. www.sonnywilliamssteakroom.com. Trey Hawkins Band. The Tavern Sports Grill, 8:30 p.m., free. 17815 Chenal Parkway. 501830-2100. www.thetavernsportsgrill.com. White Chocolate. All-ages. Thirst n' Howl, 8:30 p.m., free. 14710 Cantrell Road. 501-379-8189. www.thirst-n-howl.com. Wreckless Endeavor, Livid, The Supporting Cast. Juanita's, 10 p.m., $8 adv., $10 day of. 614 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-1228. www. juanitas.com. "YOLO." Featuring four DJs and beach volleyball, 18-and-older. Flying DD, $5. 4601 S. University. 501-773-9990. flyingdd.com.
Julie Scoggins, Ron Shively. The Loony Bin, through Jan. 19, 7:30 and 10 p.m., $7-$10. 10301 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501-228-5555. www.loonybincomedy.com. Ralphie May. Robinson Center Music Hall, 8 p.m., $37-$58. Markham and Broadway. www.littlerockmeetings.com/conv-centers/ robinson.
Fantastic Friday. Literary and music event, refreshments included. For reservations, call 479-968-2452 or email email@example.com. River Valley Arts Center, Every third Friday, 7 p.m., $10 suggested donation. 1001 E. B St., Russellville. 479-968-2452. www.arvartscenter.org. Foul Play Cabaret. Maxine's, 8 p.m., $10 adv., $12 door. 700 Central Ave., Hot Springs. www. maxinespub.com. LGBTQ/SGL Youth and Young Adult Group. Diverse Youth for Social Change is a group for LGBTQ/SGL and straight ally youth and young adults age 14 to 23. For more information, call 244-9690 or search "DYSC" on Facebook. 800 Scott St., 6:30 p.m. 800 Scott St. Live horse racing. See Jan. 17. Monster Jam. Featuring Grave Digger, Monster Mutt, Incinerator, Fatal Attraction, Full Boar and Nitemare. Verizon Arena, Jan. 18-19, 7:30 p.m., $7-$37. 1 Alltel Arena Way, NLR. 501-975-9001. verizonarena.com.
Southern Fried Poetry Slam qualifier. Hosted by Foreign Tongues Poetry group. Sports Page, 7 p.m., $5. 414 Louisiana St. 501-372-9316. CONTINUED ON PAGE 37
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Becki Griffey, matriarch of the family, told me about what may well be one of Mathus' earliest public performances. She said Mathus had always loved music and that someone had given him an inexpensive mandolin that he'd been messing with for a little while. Finally one of the groups picking let him play, and that "skinny little kid stood up on a stump and played 'Fox on the Run.' " The group took turns playing three or four more songs and when his turn came back around, young Mathus played "Fox on the Run" again. It was the only song he knew but he wanted to keep on playing over and over again, Griffey said, adding that the next year, he returned with a lot more songs (and had taken up a couple more instruments to boot). Eventually the multi-family campsite near Sylamore turned into its own festival of sorts with people hardly going into town, if at all. At times the campsite would host nearly 250. It developed its own traditions, too, like Mathus' dad's annual blue recitation of "Piss Pot Pete and ol' Lil" and "grudge-picking," sort of a musical game of attrition and one-upmanship in which the only prizes were pride and the biggest of hangovers. I asked Mathus via email about his time spent in Mountain View and the surrounding area, and he wrote of "the idyllic days of youth, the clear water of the White River, the scrappy beautiful trout, caught in abundance, the strange and exotic mountain people and the music — old women playing bass wearing sun bonnets, buck dancing on the plywood stage in the sweet summer evenings by the courthouse, little love affairs flung up around the bushes and walls of the square, dulcimers, banjo and fiddles ringing all over the country side. Just a beautiful idyllic age of my youth with family all around." ♦♦♦ In the mid '90s, when Mathus was home during a break from his jazz/ragtime outfit Squirrel Nut Zippers, he met Arkansas-born Memphis music legend Jim Dickinson. He had been playing with Dickinson's son Luther and ended up at the Dickinson home. Dickinson held Mathus in high regard and is widely quoted as calling him "the singing voice of Huck Finn." Another musician Dickinson admired was Arkansas guitar heavyweight Greg Spradlin (for more about him, see the Arkansas Times' Dec. 12 36
YOUNG SPECIALIST: "Fox on the Run" was it.
cover story). Spradlin and Mathus would both spend time at the Dickinson house and both would eventually meet there and become friends. Sadly both would eventually attend Dickinson's funeral and play at his memorial folk festival. Spradlin and Mathus seem to have a mutual regard and admiration for each other as well. No wonder then that the parallels between them are many. Both are rooted firmly in Southern music heritage without being overly weighed down by its history. Both seek creative outlets beyond music. Both are damn hard workers and finally, both are incredibly personable. I caught up with Spradlin over a couple of whiskies at the Capital Hotel Bar to talk about his relationship with Mathus. Now, if you've ever spent any time at all with Spradlin, you know he's an entertaining and lively teller of stories, another thing he has in common with Mathus.
"When it comes to playing live, Jimbo is a true warrior," Spradlin said. "He has taken me to a lot of towns in Mississippi I had never been to and that is saying something." A few days later, out of the blue, I got a fairly colorful text message from Spradlin: "Jimbo Mathus is that last of the Mississippi troubadours. The bastard son of Jessie Mae Hemphill if her baby-daddy was Jimmie Rodgers." ♦♦♦ Mathus would have another brush with Arkansas musical lore in 2004 when he was contacted by Jonesboro guitarist Matt Pierce. Pierce had been playing with Arkansas rockabilly legend Sonny Burgess and thought it would be a good move for Burgess to go to Clarksdale, Miss., to record at Mathus' studio, using vintage equipment. Those recordings haven't yet seen the light of day, but hopefully
will soon. But Pierce had a dual purpose in contacting Mathus. His pitch? He thought Mathus should start a country band and that Pierce himself should be his "Telecaster man." What's more, Pierce said he sweetened the deal with the promise of securing genuine Nudie suits for him and Mathus, a promise he fulfilled through a financial backer in Jonesboro and connections to one of Nudie's successors. Who could turn that down? According to Mathus, Pierce's timing was spot on. Mathus had a well-respected blues trio going at the time but was ready to diversify his sound. "Have you ever heard a blues bassman trying to play a country bassline?" Mathus asked me. "It just don't work." Pierce's trip to Clarksdale would be the start of what would eventually become the Tri-State Coalition. By this point, in 2004-2005, things were starting to click with Pierce and Mathus. But the two musicians' lives became even more entwined after Pierce gave his sister Jennifer's number to Mathus. "I saw two people that looked like they needed someone," Pierce said. Jennifer was just back in Arkansas after having lived in Ireland, and she was more than a little reluctant to answer when Mathus called to ask her out. But she finally agreed to go on a date. "Well, he was willing to drive an hour and a half from his place in Mississippi to Jonesboro, Ark.," she said. "I didn't feel like I could say no." On a hot summer day they went fishing and caught a solitary sun perch. A month later they would be engaged. Another Arkansas/Mathus connection involves Conway native and fellow Fat Possum recording artist Jim Mize, who has been working on a new album of his own. In the past he has enlisted Tennessee guitar wizard John Paul Keith for studio work. Keith was not available for a session due to scheduling issues but Mathus was. The two had not worked together before, but Mize, familiar with Mathus' resume, was willing and eager to give it a go. He was impressed with the results. "We went into the studio as musical strangers and walked out as musical brothers," Mize said of the recording. Going in that studio was key, because it gave Mathus a chance to walk into Fat Possum at just the right time. Given the considerable overlap between what Mathus does and what
AFTER DARK, CONT. Fat Possum does, you have to ask: Why did it take so long for the two to come together? It's not for lack of trying. Mathus said he has pretty much sent the label everything he has done. This time he handed them "White Buffalo" and it was exactly what they'd been looking for from him. " 'White Buffalo' is named for and written for Takota, the pure white (not albino) buffalo that died at Tupelo Buffalo Park in Tupelo, Miss., two years ago. They are incredibly rare and considered omens, blessings and frequently fulfill prophecy. He represents to me a deeper level of our local culture and mythology here in the hilly country of North Mississippi," Mathus told me. There is much to like on the record, which may well be Mathus' best work to date. It's a mixed bag that conjures up everything from Hendrix to Hank Sr. without aping or simply mimicking anything along the way. Found within the album's 10 tracks are blistering Southern rock riffs, heartfelt reflective ballads, back-road pop tunes and eerie midnight highway dirges. The record really seems to show off Mathus' songwriting and the Tri-State Coalition's versatility while Eric "Roscoe" Amble's production keeps them reined in just enough. Amble's relationship with Mathus is a new one and I hope it continues. It's early in '13 but I am sure that "White Buffalo" will be one of my favorite albums of the year. Mathus isn't shy about expressing his pride in the album. "As far as the recording itself, I've made some good recordings, but none great like this. I've had some great bands but none like TriState Coalition. I've written some good songs but none like these. The Mayan calendar has rolled over. This seems like a new beginning to me." On Feb. 15, Jimbo Mathus & the Tri-State Coalition play an album release show at the White Water Tavern, a venue that has hosted Mathus and company many times. It's no surprise then that Matt White, one of the owner/operators of the White Water, is a longtime supporter and patron of Mathus and his music. So on the off chance that the record doesn't grab you, the live show certainly will. "Watch his eyes when he performs," White said. "There is an electrifying charisma and he believes in every damn word that he sings and note that he plays."
12 Sharp. West End Smokehouse and Tavern, 10 p.m., $5. 215 N. Shackleford. 501-224-7665. www.westendsmokehouse.net. Ben Coulter. W.T. Bubba's Country Tavern, 9 p.m. 500 President Clinton Ave. 501-244-2528. Big Shane Thornton. Cornerstone Pub & Grill, 9 p.m. 314 Main St., NLR. 501-374-1782. cstonepub.com. Byrd &Street. Includes refreshments. New Beginnings Church of Central Arkansas, 6 p.m., free, donations accepted. 4303 East Drive, NLR. 501-851-3355. www.newbeginningsofcar.org. Club Nights at 1620 Savoy. See Jan. 18. Eliot Lipp, Wookie Disco, Lawler, Big Brown, Crawley, g-force, DJ Joseph Huge. Plus, Dominique Sanchez & The Discovery Dolls. Discovery Nightclub, 9 p.m. 1021 Jessie Road. 501-664-4784. www.latenightdisco.com. Karaoke at Khalil's. Khalil's Pub, 7 p.m. 110 S. Shackleford Road. 501-224-0224. www.khalilspub.com. Karaoke. Casa Mexicana, 7 p.m. 6929 JFK Blvd., NLR. 501-835-7876. Karaoke with Kevin & Cara. All-ages, on the restaurant side. Revolution, 9 p.m.-12:45 a.m., free. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-823-0090. revroom.com. K.I.S.S. Saturdays. Featuring DJ Silky Slim. Dress code enforced. Sway, 10 p.m. 412 Louisiana. 501-492-9802. Langton Drive, Delicate Cutters, Adam Faucett. Maxine's, 8 p.m., $5 adv., $7 door. 700 Central Ave., Hot Springs. www.maxinespub.com. Lucious Spiller. All-ages. Cregeen's Irish Pub, 8 p.m., $5. 301 Main St., NLR. 501-376-7468. www. cregeens.com. Michael Eubanks. The Joint, 9 p.m. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501-372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com. Moonshine Mafia (headliner), Sarah Hughes (happy hour). Cajun's Wharf, 5 and 9 p.m., $5 after 8:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-3755351. www.cajunswharf.com. Nicky Parrish. The Afterthought, 9 p.m., $10. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www.afterthoughtbar.com. Pat Anderson. Flying Saucer, 9 p.m., $3. 323 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-8032. www. beerknurd.com/stores/littlerock. Pickin' Porch. Bring your instrument. All ages welcome. Faulkner County Library, 9:30 a.m. 1900 Tyler St., Conway. 501-327-7482. www. fcl.org. Randall Shreve & The Sideshow. 18-and-older. Stickyz Rock 'n' Roll Chicken Shack, 9 p.m., $6. 107 Commerce St. 501-372-7707. www.stickyz. com. Rip Van Shizzle. All-ages. Thirst n' Howl, 9 p.m., free. 14710 Cantrell Road. 501-379-8189. www. thirst-n-howl.com. Singer/Songwriters Showcase. Parrot Beach Cafe, 2-7 p.m., free. 9611 MacArthur Drive, NLR. 771-2994. Stephen Neeper Band. Bear's Den Pizza, 9 p.m. 235 Farris Road, Conway. 501-328-5556. www. bearsdenpizza.com. Steve Hester & DejaVooDoo, Joe Pitts Band, The Beckham Brothers Band. Juanita's, 10 p.m., $8. 614 President Clinton Ave. 501-3721228. www.juanitas.com. Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 9 p.m., free. 111 Markham St. 501-374-7474. www.capitalhotel.com/CBG. Thomas East. Sonny Williams' Steak Room, 7 p.m. 500 President Clinton Ave. 501-324-2999. www.sonnywilliamssteakroom.com. Tragikly White. Denton's Trotline, 9 p.m., $10. 2150 Congo Road, Benton. 501-315-1717.
The Triumphant Return of Madman Morgan, Jethro Skull, Black Pussy, The STDs. Downtown Music Hall, 9 p.m., $3. 211 W. Capitol. 501-3761819. downtownmusichall.com. Tyrannosaurus Chicken. White Water Tavern, 10 p.m. 2500 W 7th St. 501-375-8400. www.whitewatertavern.com.
Julie Scoggins, Ron Shively. The Loony Bin, 7:30 and 10 p.m., $7-$10. 10301 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501-228-5555. www.loonybincomedy.com.
Little Rock West Coast Dance Club. Dance lessons. Singles welcome. Ernie Biggs, 7 p.m., $2. 307 Clinton Ave. 501-247-5240. www. arstreetswing.com.
Argenta Farmers Market. Argenta, 7 a.m.-noon. Main Street, NLR. A Conversation with Andy Hein, of International Justice Mission. Followed by meal catered by Lulav, $13 donation First United Methodist Church, 6 p.m., free. 723 Center St. Did You Know? Monthly Series: Money Management for 2013. Pyramid Art Books and Custom Framing, 1:30 p.m. 1001 Wright Ave. 501-372-6822. hearnefineart.com. Falun Gong meditation. Allsopp Park, 9 a.m., free. Cantrell & Cedar Hill Roads. Hillcrest Farmers Market. Pulaski Heights Baptist Church, 7 a.m.-noon. 2200 Kavanaugh Blvd. Live horse racing. See Jan. 17. Monster Jam. See Jan. 18. Music of the Movement: A musical tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Includes performances and a panel discussion with local artists Ramona Smith, Gerald Johnson, Butterfly, Quincy Watson and Warren Booker. Philander Smith College, 2 p.m., free. 900 W. Daisy L. Gatson Bates Drive. 501-396-3020. Rally for Reproductive Justice. Includes emcee Jessica DeLoach Sabin, invocation by Rev. Marie Mainard O'Connell, as well as Dr. Jay Barth, Sen. Joyce Elliott and Dr. Joycelyn Elders. Arkansas State Capitol, 1 p.m. 5th and Woodlane.
Awkward Poetry Slam presents: New Year, New Poetry Slam. Andina Cafe And Coffee Roastery, 7 p.m., $5. 433 E. 3rd. St. 501-376-2326. andina-cafe.com.
Central Arkansas Roller Derby. The Quest for the Holy Quad: Central Arkansas Roller Derby's Rock n Renegades vs MOKAN Roller Girlz Skate World, 7 p.m., $10, free for kids 10 and younger. 6512 Mabelvale Cut Off.
Adele Williams. The author of "Psychic Sunrise: Life of Adele Williams, Psychic Medium" will sign copies of her book and answer questions. Hastings of Russellville, 1 p.m. 3051 E. Main St., Russellville. 479-968-7279. D.K. Caldwell. The author will be available to sign copies of his novel, "Days of the Dragon." Hastings of Searcy, 1 p.m. 105 N. Poplar St., Searcy. 501-268-4800. Richard Hurley. The author of "Alix's Amazing Weekend" will sign copies of his book. Hastings, 1 p.m. 915 W. Main St,, Jacksonville. 501-982-3027.
Irish Traditional Music Session. Hibernia Irish Tavern, first and third Sunday of every month,
2:30 p.m. 9700 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501246-4340. www.hiberniairishtavern.com. Karaoke with DJ Sara. Hardrider Bar & Grill, 7 p.m., free. 6613 John Harden Drive, Cabot. 501-982-1939 . Michael Eubanks. Lone Star Steakhouse and Saloon, 7 p.m. 10901 N Rodney Parham Road. 501-227-8898. www.lonestarsteakhouse.com. Successful Sunday. Featuring live music and DJs. Montego Cafe, 7 p.m. 315 Main St. 501372-1555. www.montegocafe.com. Sunday Jazz Brunch with Ted Ludwig and Joe Cripps. Vieux Carre, 11 a.m. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www.vieuxcarrecafe.com.
Silly Sundays. Juanita's, 7 p.m., $15-$25. 614 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-1228. www. juanitas.com.
360 Discussion: The Art and Science of Light. Featured speakers include GE light expert Steve Cunningham and Zed Adams, assistant professor of philosophy at the New School. Moderated by Director of Curatorial David Houston. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 3 p.m., $10, free for members. 600 Museum Way, Bentonville. 479-418-5700. crystalbridges. org. "Live from the Back Room." Spoken word event. Vino's, 7 p.m. 923 W. 7th St. 501-375-8466. www. vinosbrewpub.com. Live horse racing. See Jan. 17. March for Life. Anti-abortion march with Arkansas Democrat-Gazette editorialist Paul Greenberg and others. Arkansas State Capitol, 2 p.m. 5th and Woodlane.
7th Street Peep Show. Featuring three or four bands per night. Bands sign up at 6:30 p.m. and play 35-minute sets (including setup) on a first-come, first-served basis. House band is The Sinners. Solo artists, DJs and all other performers welcome. Vino's, 7 p.m., $1. 923 W. 7th St. 501-375-8466. www.vinosbrewpub.com. KABF Jazz. The Afterthought, Jan. 21, 8 p.m.; Jan. 28, 8 p.m., $5. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501663-1196. www.afterthoughtbar.com. Reggae Nites. Featuring DJ Hy-C playing roots, reggae and dancehall. Pleazures Martini and Grill Lounge, 6 p.m., $7-$10. 1318 Main St. 501376-7777. www.facebook.com/pleazures.bargrill.
Democratic Party of Arkansas Inauguration Celebration. Includes brunch buffet. Program only (no brunch) is $15. Revolution, 9:30 a.m., $44-$50. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-8230090. revroom.com. Drawing Explorations: A Close-up Study of Martin Johnson Heade. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Jan. 21, 1-2:30 p.m.; Jan. 28, 1-2:30 p.m., $45. 600 Museum Way, Bentonville. 479-418-5700. crystalbridges.org. Live horse racing. See Jan. 17. MLK Day Ma'Rainbow Strut. First Presbyterian Church, 8 a.m. 800 Scott St.
Big Silver, J.R. Top. White Water Tavern, 10 p.m. 2500 W 7th St. 501-375-8400. www.whitewatertavern.com. Headhum. Bear's Den Pizza, 9 p.m. 235 Farris Road, Conway. 501-328-5556. www.bearsdenpizza.com. CONTINUED ON PAGE 40
Market Street Cinema times at or after 9 p.m. are for Friday and Saturday only. McCain Mall showtimes were not available by press deadline. Find up-to-date listings at arktimes.com.
NEW MOVIES Broken City (R) — Marky Mark is an ex-cop PI hired by Gladiator to see if his wife is cheating on him. Breckenridge: 1:10, 4:00, 7:15, 9:45. Chenal 9: 11:15 a.m., 1:50, 4:25, 7:15, 10:15. Lakewood 8: 11:35 a.m., 2:00, 4:30, 7:30, 10:00. Rave: 11:40 a.m., 2:30, 5:15, 8:00, 10:45, midnight. Riverdale: 9:25 a.m., 11:40 a.m., 1:55, 4:10, 6:25, 8:40, 10:55. The Last Stand (R) — The Governator returns to the silver screen to blow up bad guys with Johnny Knoxville and Luis Guzman. Breckenridge: 12:20, 4:20, 7:10, 9:40. Chenal 9: 11:20 a.m., 1:55, 4:30, 7:20, 10:20. Rave: 10:40 a.m., 2:00, 4:45, 7:30, 10:15, 11:50. Riverdale: 9:30 a.m., 11:50 a.m., 2:05, 4:20, 6:35, 8:50, 11:05. Mama (PG-13) — From "Pan's Labyrinth" helmer, rising star Jessica Chastain confronts a bunch of terrifying something or other. Breckenridge: 1:15, 4:35, 7:35, 10:15. Chenal 9: 11:10 a.m., 1:40, 4:10, 7:10, 10:10. Lakewood 8: 11:55 a.m., 2:10, 4:25, 7:20, 9:40. Rave: 10:30 a.m., 1:40, 4:25, 7:00, 9:35 (XTreme), 12:45, 3:30, 6:30, 9:05. Rust & Bone (R) — Marion Cotillard is a recently disabled whale trainer who must find the will to live. Market Street: 2:00, 4:20, 7:00, 9:15. RETURNING THIS WEEK Alex Cross (PG-13) — Pretty much "Tyler Perry's 'Death Wish' meets 'Seven.' " Movies 10: 12:25, 2:50, 5:10, 7:30, 10:15. Argo (R) — A group of Americans in revolutionary Iran make an improbable escape, based on actual events, from director Ben Affleck. Lakewood 8: 2:05, 7:15. Django Unchained (R) — Another revenge flick from Quentin Tarantino, with Jamie Foxx and the guy from "Titanic." Breckenridge: 12:35, 4:40, 9:30. Rave: 11:45 a.m., 3:25, 7:05, 10:50. Riverdale: 9:10 a.m., 12:20, 3:30, 6:40, 9:50. Flight (R) — Denzel Washington is a pilot with a substance abuse problem, from director Robert Zemeckis. Movies 10: 12:10, 3:30, 6:45, 9:45. Frankenweenie (PG) — A young boy resurrects his departed pooch in Tim Burton's latest gothlite animated feature. Movies 10: 1:35, 3:40, 5:45, 7:50, 9:55 (2D), 12:15, 4:35, 8:50 (3D). Gangster Squad (R) — Hardboiled gangster drama set in 1940s Los Angeles, with Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling. Breckenridge: 1:00, 4:30, 7:30, 10:15. Chenal 9: 11:25 a.m., 2:05, 4:45, 7:25, 10:25. Rave: noon, 2:45, 5:30, 8:15, 11:05. Riverdale: 9:35 a.m., noon, 2:20, 4:45, 7:05, 9:25. The Guilt Trip (PG-13) — It's exactly like "The Road," except with Seth Rogen and Barbara Streisand and the world hasn't ended yet and it's supposedly a comedy. Lakewood 8: 11:30 a.m., 4:40, 9:50. A Haunted House (R) — All your favorite midto late-2012 pop-culture references, all conveniently stapled onto a single parody of the "Paranormal Activity" flicks. Breckenridge: 1:05, 4:45, 7:45, 10:10. Chenal 9: 11:05 a.m., 1:35, 4:05, 7:05, 10:05. Rave: 11:15 a.m., 1:45, 4:15, 4:45, 6:40, 7:20, 9:15, 9:45. Riverdale: 9:15 a.m., 11:10 a.m., 1:05, 3:00, 4:55, 6:50, 8:45, 10:40. Here Comes the Boom (PG) — "The Zookeeper" star Kevin James is a teacher in this one. Movies 10: noon, 1:15, 2:30, 3:45, 5:00, 6:15, 7:25, 8:45, 10:10.
RETURN OF THE GOVERNATOR: Ahnold is back baby, and he's going to cause some explosions in "The Last Stand." Hitchcock (PG-13) — Starring Sir Anthony Hopkins as Hitchcock, Dame Helen Mirren as the director's wife and Scarlett Johansson as Janet Leigh. Market Street: 2:00, 4:30, 7:00, 9:15. The Hobbit (PG-13) — Slate's headline: "Bored of the Rings – The Hobbit looks like Teletubbies and is way too long." Ooh … burn. Whatever, it'll probably gross bajillions. Breckenridge: 12:15, 8:00 (2D), 3:45 (3D). Chenal 9: 11:15 a.m., 3:00, 6:30, 10:00. Rave: 12:35, 4:20, 8:05. Hotel Transylvania 3D (PG) — Animated kids movie in which Dracula is an overprotective father who hosts a big monster mash, starring the voice of Adam Sandler, of course. Movies 10: 12:45, 3:25, 5:35, 7:45, 10:00 (2D), 2:25, 6:40 (3D). The Impossible (PG-13) — Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts star in this tale of a family that survives the 2004 Asian tsunami. Market Street: 2:15, 4:30, 7:15, 9:00. Rave: 10:45 a.m., 2:05, 4:50, 7:35, 10:30. Jack Reacher (PG-13) — Cliche-a-thon action thriller starring Tom Cruise and, for some reason, Werner Herzog. Breckenridge: 3:40, 10:00. Rave: 4:40, 7:50, 11:10. Les Miserables (PG-13) — Latest version of Victor Hugo's classic, starring Anne Hathaway, Gladiator, Wolverine and Borat. Breckenridge: 12:40, 4:05, 7:50. Chenal 9: 11:30 a.m., 3:00, 6:30, 10:00. Rave: 12:40, 4:10, 7:40, 11:20. Riverdale: 9:00 a.m., 12:05, 3:10, 6:15, 9:20. Life of Pi (PG) — Based on the smash-hit book of the same name, from director Ang Lee. Market Street: 1:45, 4:15, 6:45, 9:15. Rave: 11:50 a.m., 3:50 (3D). Lincoln (PG-13) — Steven Spielberg's biopic about Abraham Lincoln, with Daniel Day Lewis and Sally Field. Breckenridge: 12:45, 4:15, 7:40. Rave: 12:30, 4:25, 7:55, 11:30. Monsters Inc. 3D (G) — Pixar film about a group of monsters who find themselves contending with a precocious, fearless youngster. Lakewood 8: 11:45 a.m., 2:30, 4:45, 7:05, 9:20. Parental Guidance (PG) — Boomer grandparents Billy Crystal and Bette Midler are outmatched by their bratty post-millennial grandkids. Breckenridge: 12:05, 7:05. Lakewood 8: 11:40 a.m., 2:25, 4:45, 7:10, 9:55. Rave: 10:35 a.m., 1:55. Riverdale: 1:00, 3:05. Pitch Perfect (PG-13) — Competitive groups of singers have singing competitions and so forth. Movies 10: 12:05, 2:35, 5:05, 7:35, 10:05. Promised Land (R) — "Hi, Gus Van Sant and Matt Damon here, reminding you that fracking is bad, as if the people who'll go see this needed to be reminded of that fact." Market Street: 2:15, 4:15, 7:15, 9:00.
Red Dawn (PG-13) — Not so much a "remake" as an act of cinematic necrophilia — and an unnecessary one at that. Movies 10: 12:30, 2:40, 4:50, 7:00, 9:30. Silver Linings Playbook (R) — Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence star as two dysfunctional yet charming weirdoes who are just trying to make their way in this crazy world, OK? Jeez! Breckenridge: 12:10, 3:50, 7:25, 10:05. Chenal 9: 11:00 a.m., 1:45, 4:30, 7:15, 10:30. Rave: 11:30 a.m., 2:25, 5:25, 8:30, 11:25. Riverdale: 9:20 a.m., 11:45 a.m., 2:15, 4:40, 7:10, 9:40. Skyfall (PG-13) — An aging Bond still can't be beat. Riverdale: 1:20, 4:05, 6:55, 9:35. Taken 2 (PG-13) — Sequel to the kidnappingbased action film, with Liam Neeson. Movies 10: 12:20, 2:55, 5:20, 7:40, 9:50. Texas Chainsaw 3D (R) — Heartwarming tale of a misunderstood social outcast who makes friends with people by killing them with a chainsaw and it's in 3D. Lakewood 8: 11:50 a.m., 2:35, 4:55, 7:25, 9:35. Rave: 10:50 a.m., 1:25, 6:55, 9:20, 11:55. Riverdale: 5:15, 7:15, 9:15. This is 40 (R) — Remember how in "Knocked Up" there was that joyless yuppie couple played by Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann? Here is a movie all about them. Lakewood 8: noon, 3:05, 7:00, 9:50. Rave: 3:45, 7:25, 11:00. Wreck-It Ralph (PG) — Animated movie about a video game character. Rave: 11:00 a.m., 1:55. Zero Dark Thirty (R) — This is a Major Serious Film that raises Big Important Questions about the implications of … eh, whatever. Let's just give this the Best Picture Oscar now and call it a day. Breckenridge: noon, 3:30, 7:00, 10:20. Chenal 9: 11:00 a.m., 2:30, 6:00, 9:30. Lakewood 8: 11:40 a.m., 3:00, 6:20, 9:45. Rave: 11:55 a.m., 12:55, 3:40, 4:30, 7:10, 8:00, 10:40, 11:35. Riverdale: 9:05 a.m., 12:10, 3:15, 6:20, 9:30. Chenal 9 IMAX Theatre: 17825 Chenal Parkway, 821-2616, www.dtmovies.com. Cinemark Movies 10: 4188 E. McCain Blvd., 945-7400, www.cinemark.com. Cinematown Riverdale 10: Riverdale Shopping Center, 296-9955, www.riverdale10.com. Lakewood 8: 2939 Lakewood Village Drive, 7585354, www.fandango.com. Market Street Cinema: 1521 Merrill Drive, 312-8900, www.marketstreetcinema.net. Rave Colonel Glenn 18: 18 Colonel Glenn Plaza, 687-0499, www.ravemotionpictures.com. Regal Breckenridge Village 12: 1-430 and Rodney Parham, 224-0990, www.fandango.com. Regal McCain Mall 12: 3929 McCain Blvd., 7531380, www.regmovies.com.
The torture debate 'Zero Dark Thirty' presents it as dehumanizing, but necessary. BY SAM EIFLING
he early criticism of "Zero Dark Thirty," the gut-churning account of the CIA's hunt for Osama bin Laden, has focused rightly on some of its most memorable and vital scenes: Those early in the film of agents torturing informants. In the movie, the torture works. In real life, not nearly so much. Three senators who reviewed classified information while on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence sent a letter to Sony Pictures stating that, contrary to the film, none of the tips the CIA received that led to learning the name of bin Laden's courier, Ibrahim Saeed Ahmed (a.k.a. Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti), came through "coercive interrogation techniques." Because the film does show torture as a pragmatic if awful implement of those interrogations, people have tried to ask the filmmakers — director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal, collaborators previously on "The Hurt Locker" — why the hell they'd depict torture as being more productive than it was. When "Zero Dark Thirty" premiered in Washington, Bigelow and Boal slunk out early, behind a retaining wall of bodyguards, rather than answer reporters' questions. The implications of tacitly praising torture are profound. Exactly what the United States is willing to do to human beings in order to meet military objectives is a serious question, and the impact of "Zero Dark Thirty," which is up for Best Picture among its five Oscar nods, stands to cast a long shadow over that popular discussion. It doesn't help that the CIA has acknowledged destroying tapes of interrogations and that America generally is happy to be kept in the dark on such matters. As a Human Rights Watch counterterrorism advisor recently wrote in Foreign Policy: "We would not even be having this debate, and this film probably would not have even been made in the way it was, had the U.S. government not gone to such great lengths over the past 11 years to cover up the tracks of its crimes and bury the facts." What the movie gets right, at least for all appearances, is its depiction of torture as a nasty, brutish, dehumanizing slog for both the detainees and the interrogators. And once "Zero Dark Thirty" gets moving, it's just an overall ripping docudrama. Jessica Chastain has an Oscar nod for her turn as Maya, a CIA agent in Pakistan who for almost 10
'ZERO DARK THIRTY': Jessica Chastain stars.
years doggedly chases leads in pursuit of bin Laden, even as his influence wanes and he becomes a relative afterthought among the other intelligence brass. Jason Clarke plays a waterboarding field agent who moves up the ranks; Jennifer Ehle is another in-country CIA pal of Maya's. Among the few characters with publicly known names are Kyle Chandler as Joseph Bradley and James Gandolfini as Leon Panetta. Mostly, this is a tribute to nameless spooks. Spoiler alert: That courier of bin Laden's, once found, inadvertently led the CIA to the gates of the infamous compound that Navy SEALS stormed on May 2, 2011. The final series of events as they appear in the film are positively gripping; the siege of the compound, complete with the shooting of bin Laden and digital photos of his corpse, is meticulously rendered, playing in real time like the world's most infamous episode of "Cops." But then, the entire movie plays as an extended infomercial on why you don't want to mess with America. The power of "Zero Dark Thirty," despite its often dense dialogue and its tripodless nausea-cam cinematography, is that it yanks the audience through a chapter of recent history that we cannot help but find fascinating. The stakes are high, and we know them intimately. Anyone who sees "Zero Dark Thirty" will recall its depictions of events when trying to imagine what that compound raid was like, or what life in Pakistan for American operatives is like, or what life for suspected terrorists is like in the secret CIA prisons that were set up around the world after 9/11. The risk for history is that this film, for all its authenticity, leads us to believe it's showing events as they truly were. It may be close, but "Zero Dark Thirty" is still just a movie, a work of unsettling fiction that shouldn't make us any more comfortable with the choices that were made in our names.
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Filling a gap at Crystal Bridges Arts Center lends works on paper for show about 20th century abstraction. BY LESLIE NEWELL PEACOCK
he year-old Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, despite its awesome holdings, has not got any works by New York School abstractionists Helen Frankenthaler and Robert Motherwell, or minimalist Donald Judd, or post-minimalist Richard Tuttle. But the Arkansas Arts Center has, and has sent them to Bentonville for the exhibition "Abstractions on Paper: From Abstract Expressionism to Postminimalism," which opened Saturday at CBM. Crystal Bridges curators Manuela Well-Off-Man and Kevin Murphy traveled to Little Rock last year to inspect the Arts Center's stacks and select pieces that would "enhance our collection" of 20th century works and "fill in some gaps," Well-Off-Man said. She described the Arts Center's collection of works on paper as "amazing." The pieces in the exhibition date from the 1960s through the mid-'90s with the exception of a 1924 Cubist drawing by Blanche Lazzell. Frankenthaler is represented by a small painting on paper of black lines and yellow, red and green splotches on paper from her Emerson Series (1965), Motherwell by the larger screenprint in black and white "Africa 2 from Africa Suite"
(1970s), Judd by the etching "Untitled from Suite of Sixteen Etchings" (1978) and Tuttle by the drawing "Three Europes Drop Through" (1990). The exhibition also includes what Well-Off-Man described as "very important collage" by Conrad MarcaRelli ("Multiple A," 1969) that combines metal with paper; a smashing black, yellow and blue abstract by Theodore Stamos ("Untitled," 1949), and a pen and ink wash by Dorothy Dehner, an early modernist (and the wife of sculptor David Smith) whose work Well-OffMan described as underappreciated. A black and white screenprint by Adolph Gottlieb complements the Gottlieb in Crystal Bridges' collection, "Trinity," in which spheres of yellow, blue, red and black float over strokes of black paint. (For that matter, it also complements the Frankenthaler, with its similar palette and shapes.) Some of the work in the show is a finished product; others are sketches for larger work. Also in the show: Work by Ilya Bolotowsky, James Brooks, Dorothy Dehner, Michael Goldberg, Al Held, Ellsworth Kelly, Lee Krasner, Sol Lewitt, Elena del Rivero, Carole Seborovsky, Sara Sosnowy, Sean Scully, Mark Tobey, Jack Tworkov and Emerson Woelffer.
RICHARD TUTTLE: "Three Europes Drop Through, No. 1" from the Arts Center's collection is on exhibit at Crystal Bridges.
The show is in the narrow galleries that run outside the east wall of the 20th century gallery through April 29. So generous is the Arts Center that it's also sent works on paper to the Laman Library in North Little Rock, where "Images from the South" runs until Jan. 20. This show includes several gems, including a charming American School charcoal "On the Mississippi," a super Benny Andrews pen and ink ("Cools"), a richly-hued Romare Bearden lithograph ("Quilting Time"), a drawing on vellum by Carroll Cloar ("Sunday in LeFlore County"), nice pinhole camera shots by Thomas Harding, an abstract pastel and charcoal on paper by Pinkney Herbert, a paint-on-paper work by Arkansas outsider artist Eddie Kendrick, works by Louise and Elsie Freund, a tiny tempera painting "Cot-
ton Pickers, Study for Post Office Mural, Wynne, Arkansas" by Ethel Magafan, and more. And if that weren't enough, the Arts Center is also loaning portraits for future shows at Crystal Bridges and the new Fort Smith Regional Arts Museum, which opens Jan. 20 with the exhibition "The Secrets of the Mona Lisa," 40 super-magnified, high resolution images of the show created by French engineer Pascal Cotte, and a 360-degree exact replica of the DaVinci masterpiece. Cotte will give the keynote address at an opening gala 7-9 p.m. Jan. 19 (tickets $100). The 55th annual Delta Exhibition opens Jan. 18 in the Winthrop Rockefeller Gallery; 20 Arkansas artists are included in the regional juried exhibit. Read more in "To Do" on page 32.
AFTER DARK, CONT. The Jam Messengers, White Glove Test, Bloodless Cooties, Slate Dump. Maxine's, 8 p.m., $5 adv., $7 door. 700 Central Ave., Hot Springs. www.maxinespub.com. Jim Dickerson. 7 p.m. Sonny Williams' Steak Room. 500 President Clinton Ave. 501-3242999. www.sonnywilliamssteakroom.com. Karaoke Night. Cornerstone Pub & Grill, 8 p.m. 314 Main St., NLR. 501-374-1782. cstonepub.com. Karaoke Tuesday. Prost, 8 p.m., free. 322 President Clinton Blvd. 501-244-9550. Karaoke with Big John Miller. Denton's Trotline, 8 p.m. 2150 Congo Road, Benton. 501-315-1717. Lucious Spiller Band. Copeland's Restaurant of Little Rock, 6-9 p.m. 2602 S. Shackleford Road. 501-312-1616. www.copelandsrestaurantlittlerock.com. The Rex Bell Trio & Friends. The Joint, 8 p.m., free. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501-372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com. Ricky David Tripp. Rocket Twenty One, 5:30 p.m. 2601 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-603-9208. 40
www.ferneaurestaurant.com. Tuesday Jam Session with Carl Mouton. The Afterthought, 8 p.m., free. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www.afterthoughtbar.com.
"Latin Night." Revolution, 7 p.m., $5 regular, $7 under 21. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501823-0090. www.revroom.com.
Science Cafe: "Sink Your Teeth into Dental Science." The Afterthought, 7 p.m., free. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www. afterthoughtbar.com. Tales from the South with Shannon Wurst and The Salty Dogs. Dinner served 5-6:30 p.m., show at 7 p.m. Call for reservations. Starving Artist Cafe, 5 p.m. 411 N. Main St., NLR. 501-372-7976. www.starvingartistcafe. net. Trivia Bowl. Flying Saucer, 8:30 p.m. 323 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-8032. www. beerknurd.com/stores/littlerock.
Vino's Picture Show: "Touch of Evil." Vino's, 7 p.m., free. 923 W. 7th St. 501-375-8466. www. vinosbrewpub.com.
Tyrone Jaeger. The author will read from his book "The Runaway Note." Faulkner County Library, 7 p.m. 1900 Tyler St., Conway. 501-3277482. www.fcl.org.
"I Ought to Be In Pictures." Neil Simon's play about a screenwriter whose family past comes back to find him. Murry's Dinner Playhouse, through Jan. 19, 6 p.m.; Wed., Jan. 16, 11 a.m.; through Jan. 26, 6 p.m.; Wed., Jan. 23, 11 a.m.; Sun., Jan. 27, 11 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.; through Feb. 2, 6 p.m.; Sun., Feb. 3, 11 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.; through Feb. 9, 6 p.m., $15-$33. 6323 Col. Glenn Road. 501-562-3131. murrysdinnerplayhouse.com. "The Metal Children." A young-adult lit author
travels to a small town whose school board has banned his book, only to find that the work has inspired chaos among the populace. The Weekend Theater, through Jan. 19, 7:30 p.m.; through Jan. 26, 7:30 p.m., $12-$16. 1001 W. 7th St. 501-374-3761. www.weekendtheater.org.
More art listings can be found in the calendar at www.arktimes.com
ARKANSAS ARTS CENTER, MacArthur Park: 55th Annual "Delta Exhibition," Jan. 18-March 10; "Museum School Faculty Exhibition: Past and Present," through March 10. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat., 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sun. 372-4000. ART SHOW BENEFITING SAFE PLACES, 707 N. Main St., NLR: "Ovolution," show by women artists Tanya Hollifield, Chelsye Garrett, Amanda Heinbockel, Hannah May, Mitchell Crisp, Morgan Hill, Bethanie Newsom Steelman, Mia Hall, Deitra Blackwell, Emily
AFTER DARK, CONT. Galusha, Snow, Ally Short, Linda Hollaway, Julia Baugh, Heather Harmon Beckwith, Megan Douglas, Kelly Abernathy, Rachel Trusty, Heather Canterbury, Shannon Wallace, Diane Harper, Leslie Romine, Erin Holliday, Breanna Peterson, Christina Gordon and others, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Jan. 17-19. Thirty percent of profits go to Safe Places shelter. Reception 5-9 p.m. Jan. 18, Argenta Artwalk, with music by Audrey Kelly and Megan Choate. GALLERY 26, 2601 Kavanaugh Blvd.: Mindy Lacefield, Jeff Waddle, Emily Wood, recent works, opens with reception 7-10 p.m. Jan. 19, show through March 9. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tue.Sat. 664-8996. GREG THOMPSON FINE ART, 429 Main St., NLR: "18th Anniversary Exhibition," opens with reception 5-8 p.m. Jan. 18, Argenta ArtWalk. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sat. 664-2787. L&L BECK GALLERY, 5705 Kavanaugh Blvd.: "Landscapes," through January, giclee drawing 7 p.m. Jan. 17. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tue.-Sat. 660-4006. PAINT BOX GALLERY, 705 Main St.: "Flowers in Winter," floral art, reception 5-8 p.m. Jan. 18, Argenta ArtWalk. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Sat. 374-2848. THEA CENTER, 401 Main, NLR: John Sykes, photography, through Jan. 25, reception 5-8 p.m. Jan. 18, Argenta ArtWalk. 9 a.m.-noon, 1-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 1-5 p.m. Sat. 379-9512. UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS AT LITTLE ROCK: "Collecting Prints," works from the permanent collection, through March 11, Gallery I; "Surface Space (Sundial Face)," paintings by Artist- in- Residence Taimur Cleary, through Feb. 8, Gallery II; "Scholarship Exhibition," Jan. 21-Feb. 7. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Sat., 2-5 p.m. Sun. 569-8977. CONWAY UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL ARKANSAS: "Swishbone: New Paintings by Julie Evans," "Under the Influence: New Ceramic Work by Curt LaCross," "Alternating Currents: A Mixed Media Art Installation by Mario Marzan," "Before and After: An Exploration of the Art Conservation Process," Baum Gallery, Jan. 17-Feb. 24, reception 5-7 p.m. Jan. 17. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Wed., Fri.; 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Thu., 1-5 p.m. Sat. 501-450-5793. FAYETTEVILLE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS, Fine Arts Center Gallery: "Employing Voice, Embracing Agency: Contemporary African American Artists," works from the collection of Darrell Walker by Radcliffe Bailey, Chakaia Booker, Michael Ray Charles, Willie Cole, Wardell Milan, Demetrius Oliver, Xaviera Simmons, Hank Willis Thomas, Mickalene Thomas and Kara Walker, through Feb. 28, reception and talk by Charles 5 p.m. Feb. 18; "Amos Kennedy Prints!" letterpress broadsides, exhibition cases, through Feb. 28. 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 2-5 p.m. Sun. 479-575-7987. FAYETTEVILLE UNDERGROUND, 101 W. Mountain St.: "Old Men Telling Lies," talks about art by Hank Kaminsky, 11 a.m. Jan. 19; Jan Gosnell, 11 a.m. Jan. 26. 479-871-2722. WALTON ARTS CENTER, 495 W. Dickson St.: "Tectonics," sculpture by Scott Carroll, opens with reception 5-7 p.m. Jan. 22, show through April 14. 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Fri., noon-4 p.m. Sat. 479-443-5600. FORT SMITH FORT SMITH REGIONAL ART MUSEUM: Gala opening and reception for exhibition "The Secrets of the Mona Lisa," 7-11 p.m. Jan. 19, $100, gallery open to the public Jan. 20. 479784-2787.
JONESBORO ARKANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY: 18th annual "Delta National Small Prints," national juried exhibition, Bradbury Gallery, opens with reception honoring Don A. Tilton 5 p.m Jan. 17, show through Feb. 20. Noon-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat., 2-5 p.m. Sun. 870-972-2567. NEW YORK SACRED GALLERY, 424 Broadway: "Moving Forward; Looking Back," drawings, collages and crafts created on Death Row by Damien Echols, through Jan. 31. A portion of sales will be donated to Dharma Friends Prison Outreach Project. Noon-8 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 212-226-4286.
The Thea Foundation, 401 Main St., North Little Rock, is taking submissions for its 11th annual scholarship competitions for high school seniors. Competition and submission deadlines are Jan. 19 (visual arts), Feb. 1 (creative writing), Feb. 2 (performing arts), Feb. 23 (performance poetry) and April 5 (filmmaking). For more information, go to the theafoundation. org/scholarships or call 379-9512. Thea is also taking applications from artists who want to set up booths for the 2nd annual Thea Arts Festival to be held April 27 in Argenta. Deadline to apply is Feb. 1; there will be an anonymous jurying process and successful applicants will be notified Feb. 28. For more information, go to theafoundation.org/artistsignup.
BOSWELL-MOUROT, 5815 Kavanaugh Blvd.: "Annual Holiday Show," featuring "Glitter Jesus" by Jon Etienne Mourot, sculpture by Diana Ashley and paintings by Beverly McLarty, Robin Hazard-Bishop and others. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tue.Fri., 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Sat. 664-0030. BUTLER CENTER GALLERIES, Arkansas Studies Institute, 401 President Clinton Ave.: "Clinton for Arkansas 1974-1992," "From the Vault: Works from the Central Arkansas Library System's Permanent Collection," through March 23; "Arkansas League of Artists" exhibition, through Jan. 26; "Solastalgia," work by Susan Chambers and Louise Halsey, through Jan. 26. 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Sat. 320-5700. CANTRELL GALLERY, 8206 Cantrell Road: "ELEMENTAL Copper. Zinc. Clay. Wood. Bone. Stone. Oil. Watercolor," multimedia work by Bob Crane, through March 2. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat. 224-1335. CHRIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 509 Scott St.: "Beating Hooves," pen and ink drawings by Mary Shelton, through March 4. 375-2342. CHROMA GALLERY, 5707 Kavanaugh Blvd.: Work by Robert Reep and other Arkansas artists. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Sat. 664-0880. GALLERY 221, 2nd and Center Sts.: "Expressions of Light," work by Sean LeCrone, Jennifer Cox Coleman, Jennifer "Emile" Freeman and Peggy Roberson, also work by Michael Freeman, Mary Ann Stafford, Laurens Hare, Carolyn Hendrix and Amanda Wyman, through January. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Fri. 801-0211. GORRELL GALLERY OF FINE ART, 201 W. 4th St.: Work by established and emerging artists, including Doug Gorrell. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Fri., noon-4 p.m. Sat. 607-2225. HEARNE FINE ART, 1001 Wright Ave.: "Celebrating Cultures, Liberating Minds," 2013 V.I.T.A.L. artist collective exhibition, work by Arkansas artists Rex Deloney, Melverue Abraham, Ariston Jacks, LeRon McAdoo,
LaToya Hobbs and Michael Worsham, through Feb. 4, interactive talk and workshop with painting demonstrations, rap session, presentations, 1-3 p.m. Jan. 26. 372-6822. LAMAN LIBRARY, 2801 Orange St.: "Images from the South," works from the collection of the Arkansas Arts Center, through Jan. 20. 758-1720. M2GALLERY, 11525 Cantrell: "Holiday Show," work by Dan Holland, Suzanne Koett, Charles Henry James, Dan Thornhill and Jason Gammel. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tue.-Sat. 225-6257. PAINT BOX GALLERY AND FRAME SHOP, 705 Main St., NLR: Paintings by Karlyn Holloway. 374-2848. STUDIOMAIN, 1423 Main St.: The Pettaway Neighborhood plan. www.studio-main.org. BENTON DIANNE ROBERTS ART STUDIO AND GALLERY, 110 N. Market St.: Work by Chad Oppenhuizen, Dan McRaven, Gretchen Hendricks, Rachel Carroccio, Kenny Roberts, Taylor Bellott, Jim Cooper and Sue Moore. 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Wed.-Fri., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat. 8607467. BENTONVILLE CRYSTAL BRIDGES MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART, 600 Museum Way: "Abstractions on Paper: From Abstract Expressionism to Post Minimalism," through April 29, works from the collection of the Arkansas Arts Center by Lee Krasner, Helen Frankenthaler, Ellsworth Kelly and others; "See the Light: The Luminist Tradition in American Art," light in art from the 19th century through today, through Jan. 26, "Moshe Safdie: The Path to Crystal Bridges," through Jan. 28; permanent collection of American masterworks spanning four centuries. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon., Thu., Sat.-Sun.; 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Wed.-Fri. 479-418-5700. CALICO ROCK CALICO ROCK ARTISTS COOPERATIVE, Hwy. 5 at White River Bridge: Paintings, photographs, jewelry, fiber art, wood, ceramics and other crafts. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Tue.-Thu., 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Fri.-Sat., noon-4 p.m. Sun. calicorocket. org/artists. EL DORADO SOUTH ARKANSAS ARTS CENTER, 110 E. 5th St.: 2013 "Small Works on Paper," 37 works in juried Arkansas Arts Council touring show, through Jan. 29. 9 a.m.5 p.m. Mon.-Fri. 870862-5474. FAYETTEVILLE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS: "SOLO Show," plastic dinnerware reconfigured by Kelly Brenner Justice, Anne Kittrell Art Gallery, through January, Fine Arts Center gallery. 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 2-5 p.m. Sun. 479575-7987. HARRISON ARTISTS OF THE OZARKS, 124 ½ N. Willow St.: Work by Amelia Renkel, Ann Graffy, Christy Dillard, Helen McAllister, Sandy Williams and D. Savannah George. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Thu.-Sat., noon-4 p.m. Sun. 870-429-1683. HEBER SPRINGS BOTTLE TREE GALLERY, 514 W. Main St.: Work by Maeve Croghan, Jonathan Harris, George Wittenberg. 501-590-8840. HOT SPRINGS GALLERY CENTRAL, 800 Central Ave.: Paintings by Charles Harrington, featured artist; also paintings by Jacqueline Ellens, Janis
Wylie and Jennifer Wilson. 501-318-4278. JUSTUS FINE ART, 827 Central A: New work by Rebecca Thompson and Dolores Justus, along with jewelry and Christmas ornaments by Kari Albright and Jay Justus. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wed.-Fri. 501-321-2335. TAYLOR'S CONTEMPORANEA, 204 Exchange St.: Mixed media etchings by Kelly Moran, featured artist; also ceramics by Polly Cook, Nat Mitchell and John Wolfe; photographs by Thomas Petillo, Chuck Dodson and Marcus Menefee, and paintings by Warren Criswell, John Robinette, Darrell Loy Scott, Daniel Mark Cassity, James Wu and others. 501-624-0516. PERRYVILLE SUDS GALLERY, Courthouse Square: Paintings by Dottie Morrissey, Alma Gipson, Al Garrett Jr., Phyllis Loftin, Alene Otts, Mauretta Frantz, Raylene Finkbeiner, Kathy Williams and Evelyn Garrett. Noon-6 p.m. Wed.-Fri, noon-4 p.m. Sat. 501-766-7584. RUSSELLVILLE RIVER VALLEY ARTS CENTER, 1001 E. B St.: Hollis Shadden, photography. 479-968-2452.
ARKANSAS INLAND MARITIME MUSEUM, NLR: Tours of the USS Razorback submarine. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Wed.-Sat., 1-6 p.m. Sun. 3718320. ARKANSAS SPORTS HALL OF FAME MUSEUM, Verizon Arena, NLR: 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Mon.-Sat. 663-4328. CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL MUSEUM VISITOR CENTER, Bates and Park: Exhibits on the 1957 desegregation of Central and the civil rights movement. 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. daily. 374-1957. CLINTON PRESIDENTIAL CENTER, 1200 President Clinton Ave.: "In Pieces," multimedia exhibit of Nathan Sawaya sculpture and Dean West photography, through Feb. 1; "Tokens of Friendship: Foreign Heads of State Gifts," through Feb. 24; permanent exhibits on policies and White House life during the Clinton administration. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. $7 adults; $5 college students, seniors, retired military; $3 ages 6-17. 370-8000. HISTORIC ARKANSAS MUSEUM, 200 E. Third St.: "Perfect Balance," paintings by Marty Smith; "Beyond the Expected: Norwood Creech, Paulette Palmer and Edward Wade Jr.," through Feb. 3; "A Collective Vision," recent acquisitions, through March. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. 324-9351. MacARTHUR MUSEUM OF ARKANSAS MILITARY HISTORY, MacArthur Park: "Korea: The Forgotten War" and permanent exhibits. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sat., 1-4 p.m. Sun. 376-4602. MUSEUM OF DISCOVERY, 500 President Clinton Ave.: "Grossology: The Impolite Science of the Human Body," through May 26; "GPS Adventures," ages 6 to adult, through April 1; "Wiggle Worms," science program for pre-K children 10 a.m.-10:30 a.m. every Tue., 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun., $10 ages 13 and older, $8 ages 1-12, free to members and children under 1. 396-7050. OLD STATE HOUSE MUSEUM, 300 W. Markham: "Battle Colors of Arkansas," 18 Civil War flags; "Things You Need to Hear: Memories of Growing up in Arkansas from 1890 to 1980," oral histories about community, family, work, school and leisure. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. 324-9685. WITT STEPHENS JR. CENTRAL ARKANSAS NATURE CENTER, Riverfront Park: Exhibits on wildlife and the state Game and Fish Commission.
Dining WHAT'S COOKIN'
MATT LILE, THE OWNER OF LULAV RESTAURANT, on his way
Monday to pick up wine barrels in Texas for use in the restaurant's lounge, described for the Times the new name, menu and look that Lulav will assume Feb. 6: It will be the Italian Kitchen at Lulav, featuring a menu of both Southern and Northern Italian dishes at price points a bit lower than Lulav's Mediterranean menu. The wine barrels are empty — they'll be used as tables with butcher board blocks as tops — but the wine cellar will be full, featuring up to 25 Italian wines, Lile said. Diners will choose their wines at a large round wine table, which will layer the restaurant's offerings in three tiers: $15, $25 and $35 wines. That way, Lile said, customers can inspect the labels before ordering. Lulav has already remodeled its kitchen and dining room and has commissioned three 3-by-8-foot paintings by artists at the Art Loft. Edison Bulbs — long slender bulbs with glowing filaments — will add to the rustic look of the lounge. Appetizers and salads will run from $6 to $8 and entrees, which will include handmade pastas and "a fantastic lobster claw," Lile said, CONTINUED ON PAGE 44 42
7700 Baseline Road Suite 800 539-5355 QUICK BITE The restaurant is under new management. Ignacio Alvarez, owner of the La Hacienda chain, recently took control in a deal that could allow him to purchase the restaurant after a trial period. Although the menu is completely in Spanish, the friendly staff at Eliella is extremely patient with nonSpanish speakers, so don't be afraid to ask questions. HOURS 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 10:30 a.m. to10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. OTHER INFO All major CC. Beer.
in last week on our Eat Arkansas blog, but we can now confirm: Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken, a restaurant GQ once called one of the top five in the country, is opening an outlet in Little Rock. Wendy McCrory, franchise owner of the downtown Memphis location, has confirmed the plan to Eat Arkansas's Michael Roberts. She said she wasn't ready to confirm the location, though all signs point to space occupied by Redbone's Downtown in the River Market until it abruptly closed on Sunday. Gus's Fried Chicken of Little Rock, LLC was incorporated in September of last year. Officers include DGLR, an LLC that lists Daniel Bryant, the property owner of the building that currently houses Redbone's, as its only officer, and M&S Holdings of Arkansas, an LLC that includes Carter Malloy, a research analyst at Stephens, Inc. and Jennifer Malloy. Bryant couldn't be reached, and Malloy said he wasn't ready to confirm any details other than his involvement in trying to bring a Gus's to Little Rock. We'll update this story on our food blog, Eat Arkansas, as more information becomes available.
A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING: Eliella offers several meat choices for its tacos.
Cheap, authentic, good Eliella offers wide range of Mexican street food in Southwest Little Rock.
ike pizza and burgers before them, tacos have become trendy, the latest example of a low-end food item gone fancy. And while we're not against that sort of thing, it remains somewhat puzzling since the humble taco is pretty perfect in its most authentic form: protein, onions, and cilantro wrapped in a grilled corn tortilla and finished with a squeeze of lime. Lucky for us, Southwest Little Rock has become something of a taco wonderland, with multiple trucks, taquerias and tiendas serving up a variety of cheap, excellent tacos. One of the newest entrants into the territory is Eliella, a small but well-stocked taqueria on Baseline that by turns pleased and perplexed us with its food. Ordering tacos at Eliella is a cinch
— everything is a la carte and the list of meats is extensive. Familiar items like carne asada, pork, and chicken share space with more exotic items like lengua (beef tongue), cabeza (steamed beef head), and tripa (bits of beef intestine). At $1.50-$1.75 each, we decided to order up several different versions, and soon enough had a massive platter of tacos before us. A quick trip to the condiment bar netted us fresh chopped cilantro, diced onions, limes and several types of salsa. This condiment bar is a fantastic and unique feature to Eliella, made only better by the freshness of the ingredients and the excellent flavor of the salsas. Having doctored up our tacos just the way we like them, we began to feast. First up was a chicken taco, which
turned out to be the only taco that disappointed us with its dry meat and lack of spice. That disappointment was quickly squashed by our next taco, a tasty creation filled with the thinsliced beef brisket known as suadero. This beef was tender and slightly chewy, with a rich beef flavor that was accentuated by its time spent on the grill. From there, we moved on to the carne asada and were once again treated to well-cooked, flavorful, redmeat artistry. Coming through the dining room to our table, we peeked a bit into the Eliella kitchen and saw a massive skewer of pork turning slowly, gyro-style, on a vertical spit, and we knew we had to sample it. The skewer turned out to be the basis for the tacos al pastor, and this filling was a big hit all around our table. Grilled onions and citrus flavor colored the meat with a lightness that was deepened by spice and slow-cooking. If Eliella served nothing but these pork tacos, it could still stand alone as a great taqueria. We couldn't leave the place without sampling some of the more out-of-theordinary meats, ordering one taco de lengua and one filled with tripa. The tongue was as good as any we've tried, tender and chewy with just the slightest flavor of minerals. The tripa was a revelation, firm bits of small intestine that were fried to a delightful crunch outside with a chewy, flavorful center. Several at our table were squeamish about trying this filling, but all agreed it was better than expected with at least one of our party calling it the best taco
Information in our restaurant capsules reflects the opinions of the newspaper staff and its reviewers. The newspaper accepts no advertising or other considerations in exchange for reviews, which are conducted anonymously. We invite the opinions of readers who think we are in error.
B Breakfast L Lunch D Dinner $ Inexpensive (under $8/person) $$ Moderate ($8-$20/person) $$$ Expensive (over $20/person) CC Accepts credit cards
Check out the Times' food blog, Eat Arkansas arktimes.com
DINING CAPSULES of the day. Aside from the tacos, Eliella has several tortas and burritos on the menu. The tortas are huge affairs, full of meat and topped with lettuce and tomato. We sampled the Torta Hawaiian ($7.25), filled with more of that excellent pastor and topped with grilled pineapple. That one was good, but it was nothing compared to the Torta Cubano ($7.25), a massive pile of chorizo, pastor, and grilled hot dogs that throws a fried egg into the mix just to take things to a level of decadence that's almost overwhelming. It's a massive sandwich, and one that definitely benefits from the incredibly cheap ($1.95) bottles of beer available. While the grilled hot dogs on the Cubano were understandable, we were shocked to also discover them in our Burrito Especial, an item our waiter had told us only included chicken. Our lunch at Eliella will go down on history as the only luncheon we've ever attended where one member of the table looked around at everyone and said, "Is there a hot dog in my burrito?" Questioning some friends more familiar with the cuisine, we were told that this isn't uncommon in the cuisine of Northern Mexico, but while we found the wieners an acceptable addition to the Cubano, they just simply didn't work in the burrito. Still, given the rest of the excellent food, this was only a minor complaint. Taking into account the inexpensive and tasty nature of the food, the friendliness of the service, and the speed with which our food came out, Eliella has to rank as one of the best food values in town. It occupies a rather anonymous storefront next to the Baseline Kum N' Go, but the interior is clean and inviting. It's an authentic menu that allows Mexican food lovers to try great versions of their old favorites or branch out and get something a little out of the ordinary, from crunchy beef intestines to hot dog and chicken burrito. In a world where our everyday choices for Mexican are all too often relegated to Tex-Mex or high-end fusion, it's good to know that there are places like Eliella around where the food is authentic, the beer is cold and the folks making the food exhibit a pride in what they do that comes through in nearly every bite.
1620 SAVOY The food is high-quality and painstakingly prepared — a wide-ranging dinner menu that's sure to please almost everyone. 1620 Market St. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-221-1620. D Mon.-Sat., BR Sun. B-SIDE This little breakfast place turns tradition on its ear, offering French toast wrapped in bacon on a stick, a must-have dish called "biscuit mountain" and beignets with lemon curd. 11121 Rodney Parham Road. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-716-2700. BL Wed.-Sun. BOBBY'S COUNTRY COOKIN' One of the better plate lunch spots in the area, with a changing daily casserole and wonderful
homemade pies. 301 N. Shackleford Road, Suite E1. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-2249500. L Mon.-Fri. THE BOX Cheeseburgers and French fries are greasy and wonderful and not like their fastfood cousins. 1023 W. Seventh St. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-372-8735. L Mon.-Fri. CHEERS Good burgers and sandwiches, vegetarian offerings and salads at lunch and fish specials, and good steaks in the evening. 2010 N. Van Buren. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-6635937. LD Mon.-Sat. 1901 Club Manor Drive. Maumelle. Full bar, All CC. 501-851-6200. LD daily, BR Sun. CHICKEN KING Arguably Central Arkansas's best wings. 5213 W 65th St. No alcohol, All CC.
5501 KAVANAUGH BLVD. STE. G / IN THE HEIGHTS / 501.603.0080 Serving Lunch TueSday-Friday 11-2 • Sunday Brunch 11-2 dinner TueSday-SaTurday 5-cLoSe• KidS under 6 eaT Free dJ'S ThurSday-SaTurday • 10pm-LaTe nighT
GOOD FRIENDS • FINE SPIRITS • GREAT TASTE Martini / Wine Bar • Piano Bar 35 wines by the glass 335 Wine SeLeCtionS Fine SPiritS FroM around the WorLd (SCotCh LiSt FroM every region oF SCotLand) 6 SingLe-BarreL BourBonS Private CorPorate LunCheS
best steAk 2005-2012
Now BookiNg Holiday ReseRvatioNs 500 Pres. Clinton Avenue (river MArket DistriCt) reservAtions (501) 324-2999
$-$$. 501-562-5573. LD Mon.-Sat. CORNERSTONE PUB & GRILL A sandwich, pizza and beer joint in the heart of North Little Rock's Argenta district. 314 Main St. NLR. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-374-1782. LD Mon.-Sat. E'S BISTRO Despite the name, think tearoom rather than bistro. But there's nothing tearoomy about the portions here. Try the heaping grilled salmon BLT on a buttery croissant. 3812 JFK Boulevard. NLR. No alcohol, All CC. $$. 501-771-6900. THE HOP DINER The downtown incarnation of the old dairy bar, with excellent burgers, onion rings, shakes, daily specials and breakfast. 201 E. Markham. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-2440975. LASSIS INN One of the state's oldest restaurants still in the same location and one of the best for catfish and buffalo fish. 518 E 27th St. Beer, Wine, All CC. $$. 501-372-8714. LD Tue.-Sat. LYNN'S CHICAGO FOODS Outpost for Chicago specialties like Vienna hot dogs and Italian beef sandwiches. 6501 Geyer Springs. No alcohol, All CC. $. 501-568-2646. LD Mon.-Sat. NEWK'S EXPRESS CAFE Gourmet sandwiches, salads and pizzas. 4317 Warden Road. NLR. Beer, All CC. $-$$. 501-753-8826. LD daily. PHIL'S HAM AND TURKEY PLACE Fine hams, turkeys and other specialty meats served whole, by the pound or in sandwich form. 11121 N. Rodney Parham Road. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-225-2136. LD Mon.-Fri. L Sat. SLICK'S SANDWICH SHOP & DELI Meatand-two plate lunches. 101 E. Capitol Ave. No alcohol. 501-375-3420. BL Mon.-Fri. SPORTS PAGE One of the largest, juiciest, most flavorful burgers in town. Grilled turkey and hot cheese on sourdough gets praise, too. 414 Louisiana St. Beer, Wine, All CC. $-$$. 501-3729316. LD Mon.-Fri. SUGIE'S Catfish and all the trimmings. 4729 Baseline Road. No alcohol, All CC. $. 501-5700414. LD daily. VICTORIAN GARDEN We've found the fare quite tasty and somewhat daring and different with its healthy, balanced entrees and crepes. 4801 North Hills Blvd. NLR. $-$$. 501-758-4299. L Tue.-Sat. WHITE WATER TAVERN Excellent, locallysourced bar food. 2500 W 7th St. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-375-8400. D Tue.-Sat.
CHI DIMSUM & BISTRO A huge menu spans the Chinese provinces and offers a few twists on the usual local offerings, plus there's authentic Hong Kong dim sum available. 6 Shackleford Drive. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-221-7737. LD daily. 17200 Chenal Parkway. No alcohol, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-821-8000. LD Mon.-Sat., D Sun. FORBIDDEN GARDEN Classic, American-ized Chinese food in a modern setting. Try the Basil Chicken. 14810 Cantrell Road. Beer, Wine, All CC. $-$$. 501-868-8149. LD daily. IGIBON JAPANESE RESTAURANT It's a complex place, where the food is almost always good and the ambiance and service never fail to please. 11121 N. Rodney Parham Road. Beer, Wine, All CC. $$. 501-217-8888. LD Mon.-Sat. CONTINUED ON PAGE 44
Prefix with distant 5 Ticks off 11 Good deal 14 Be in a pet 15 Meriadoc the Magnificent, for one 16 Gardner of Hollywood 17 Star of 11-/40-Down 19 Ski application 20 "___ Lips Are Sealed" (1981 Go-Go's hit) 21 Last of a loaf 22 It helps hold glasses 24 Serta rival 26 Director of 11-/40-Down 31 Take on 33 Armand of "Private Benjamin" 34 Niña, Pinta and Santa Maria 37 Surgery souvenir 1
41 43 44 46 48 50 54 57 58 59 61 62
64 68 69
Pavement caution Gather, with difficulty Last bit LP player "The Hunger Games" participants Adolescents' support group It might be off the wall Setting of 11-/40-Down Woody Allen title character Louisville's Muhammad ___ Center Sicilian city Place to play the ponies, for short "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away" speaker Award for 11-/40-Down "32 Flavors" singer DiFranco Alter, in a way
Kind of fee ___ culpa Explodes Sample
70 71 72 73
Mexican partner 2 Tech support may have long ones 3 Extremists 4 Presidential nickname 5 It has a silent tongue 6 Carried 7 African virus 8 Blood-typing system 9 Bucks, on a scoreboard 10 Mounts 11 With 40-Down, film that opened on 12/16/1962 12 Lab eggs 13 Overburden 18 Near and dear, say 23 Pitiful interjection 25 Candy heart word 27 Garage employee 28 Dispensed 29 ___ all-time high 30 Square figure 32 Spurn 35 Hot spot 36 Sea eagle 38 Creator of Eliza Doolittle 39 "___ & Stitch" (Disney film) 40 See 11-Down 42 Antidepressant brand 1
22 26
32 34 39
37 42
46 50
55 58
59 64
43 47
33 35
57 60
Puzzle by PETER A. COLLINS
45 47 49 51 52 53
"___ be O.K." Drag into court Like some mushrooms It has buttons on the left Petrol measures Ninth-century Anglo-Saxon king
56 60 62 63
Apply another layer of asphalt to Suggestions Small complaints Flashy twopoint basket Derivative with respect to "x" in f(x) = x + 10
"Lo, How a Rose ___ Blooming" (old hymn)
Grimson of the N.H.L.
Boy king of antiquity
For answers, call 1-900-285-5656, $1.49 a minute; or, with a credit card, 1-800-814-5554. Annual subscriptions are available for the best of Sunday crosswords from the last 50 years: 1-888-7-ACROSS. AT&T users: Text NYTX to 386 to download puzzles, or visit nytimes.com/mobilexword for more information. Online subscriptions: Today's puzzle and more than 2,000 past puzzles, nytimes.com/crosswords ($39.95 a year). Share tips: nytimes.com/wordplay. Crosswords for young solvers: nytimes.com/learning/xwords.
CAPITOL SMOKEHOUSE AND GRILL Beef, pork and chicken, all smoked to melting tenderness and doused with a choice of sauces. The crusty but tender backribs star. Side dishes are top quality. A plate lunch special is now available. 915 W. Capitol Ave. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-372-4227. L Mon.-Fri. FAMOUS DAVE'S BBQ 225 North Shackleford Road. No alcohol. 501-2213283. LD daily. HB'S BBQ Great slabs of meat with fiery barbecue sauce, but ribs are served on Tuesday only. Other days, try the tasty pork sandwich on an onion roll. 6010 Lancaster. No alcohol, No CC. $-$$. 501-565-1930. LD Mon.-Fri. SIMS BAR-B-QUE Great spare ribs, sandwiches, beef, half and whole chicken and an addictive vinegar-mustard-brown sugar sauce unique for this part of the country. 2415 Broadway. Beer, CC. $-$$. 501-372-6868. LD Mon.-Sat. 1307 John Barrow Road. Beer, All CC. $-$$. 501-224-2057. LD Mon.-Sat. 7601 Geyer Springs Road. Beer, All CC. $$. 501-562-8844. LD Mon.-Sat.
ALI BABA A Middle Eastern restaurant and grocery. 3400 S University Ave. No alcohol, All CC. 501-570-0577. LD Mon.-Sat. THE PANTRY The menu stays relatively true to the owner's Czechoslovakian roots, but there's plenty of choices to suit all tastes. There's also a nice happy-hour vibe. 11401 Rodney Parham Road. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-353-1875. LD Mon.-Fri., D Sat. TASTE OF ASIA Delicious Indian food in a pleasant atmosphere. Perhaps the best samosas in town. Buffet at lunch. 2629 Lakewood Village Dr. NLR. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-812-4665. LD daily.
DAMGOODE PIES A somewhat different Italian/pizza place, largely because of a spicy garlic white sauce that's offered as an alternative to the traditional red sauce. Good bread, too. 2701 Kavanaugh Blvd. Beer, Wine, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-664-2239. LD daily. 6706 Cantrell Road. Beer, Wine, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-664-2239. LD daily. 10720 Rodney Parham Road. Beer, Wine, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-664-2239. LD daily. 37 East Center St. Fayetteville. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 479-444-7437. LD daily. NYPD PIZZA Even the personal pizzas come in impressive combinations, and baked ziti, salads are more also are available. 6015 Chenonceau Blvd., Suite 1. Beer, Wine, All CC. $-$$. 501-868-3911. LD Mon.-Sat., D Sun.
CASA MANANA Great guacamole and garlic beans, superlative chips and salsa and a broad selection of fresh seafood. 6820 Cantrell Road. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-280-9888. LD daily 18321 Cantrell Road. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-868-8822. LD daily 400 President Clinton Ave. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. BL Mon.-Sat. LA HACIENDA Creative, fresh-tasting entrees and traditional favorites, all painstakingly prepared in a festive atmosphere. 3024 Cantrell Road. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-661-0600. LD daily. 200 Highway 65 N. Conway. All CC. $$. 501-327-6077. LD daily. LAS DELICIAS Levy-area mercado with a taqueria and a handful of booths in the back of the store. 3401 Pike Ave. NLR. Beer, All CC. $. 501-812-4876. LONCHERIA MEXICANA ALICIA The best taco truck in West Little Rock. Located in the Walmart parking lot on Bowman. 620 S. Bowman. No alcohol, No CC. $. 501-612-1883. L Mon.-Sat. MERCADO SAN JOSE From the outside, it appears to just be another Mexican grocery store. Inside, you'll find one of Little Rock's best Mexican bakeries and a restaurant in back serving tortas and tacos for lunch. 7411 Geyer Springs Road. Beer, CC. $. 501-565-4246. BLD daily. MOE'S SOUTHWEST GRILL A "build-your-own-burrito" place, with several tacos and nachos to choose from as well. Wash it down with a beer from their large selection. 12312 Chenal Pkwy. Beer, All CC. $-$$. 501-223-3378. LD daily.
WHAT'S COOKIN', CONT. will run $12 to $16. More special features: Flavored balsamics, such as espresso, mission fig and blueberry, will be available to top off the garlic oil served with the focaccia bread and hand-mixed Italian sodas will be available, either spiked, with ice cream or virgin. "It's going to be a real simple, interesting menu that we think will allow a lot of diners to come enjoy Lulav," Lile said. Chef Matthew Cooper will remain in charge; he was trained in the art of making pasta at the Cordon Bleu in Portland, Ore., Lile said. The Loft Lounge will remain open on the second floor of the historic building at 220 W. Sixth St., which was Draughon's School of Business a half-century ago. 44
Stay motivated, get healthy
e're into the third week of the new year, and it's a crucial time for those who've made resolutions to get fit, get active and get healthy. You've got to keep up your motivation and follow through to make positive changes into lifelong habits. For those of us who haven't started on those changes, it's not too late. And several of our local businesses dedicated to health and wellness are here to help. GO! RUNNING is the place to head if you're starting a running or walking regimen. They can do a gait analysis to find the right shoe to give you the support and cushioning you need. They also have the clothing and gear to keep you warm, comfortable and hydrated during your workout. Best of all, they sponsor weekly community runs for all ability levels. Go! Running is located at 1819 N. Grant St; 501-663-6800. To help you stay with your running program, FLOATING LOTUS YOGA STUDIO is offering its third annual run-
ner's yoga workshop, which is designed to increase the flexibility in your quadriceps and hamstrings to give you a better range of motion in your stride and reduce the risk of injury. The six-week program is 3-4 p.m. every Sunday beginning Jan. 20 and ending Feb. 24. The cost of the class is $60 and preregistration is required. Call 501-664-0172 for more information. The Floating Lotus is located at 900 N. University Ave. If you prefer to get a workout on your bike, Justin Slarks at CHAINWHEEL says to keep it simple, easing into riding with easy miles and joining one of the weekly group rides in town. You can also take in a spin class if the weather's too cold or nasty, and the folks at Chainwheel can help you locate one that works for you. Chainwheel also has all the gear you need to be comfortable on your outdoor ride in any kind of weather. They can also give expert advice on the kind of bike and equipment you need. Chainwheel is located at 10300 N. Rodney Parham; 501-224-7651.
hearsay ➼ In the spirit of this week's CUE, be sure to take advantage of the Fit 2 Live programs at North Little Rock's LAMAN LIBRARY. The programs, which teach participants about nutrition, exercise options, healthy grocery choices, meal planning and more, are at 6:30 every third Tuesday of the month at the library. For more information, visit www.lamanlibrary.org. ➼ AEROPOSTALE, located in Park Plaza Mall, kicked off the sixth annual Teens for Jeans campaign Jan. 14. The store will accept donations of gently used jeans, which will in turn be donated to a local charity or shelter.
Customers will receive a coupon for 25 percent off a pair of new jeans for every pair donated. The donation drive ends Feb. 10. ➼ Speaking of jeans, CHICO'S is hosting a buy-one-get-one 50 percent off sale on jeans and pants. ➼ TIPTON HURST has all Christmas merchandise 75 percent off, and regular merchandise (excluding flowers and plants) is marked down 25 percent. ➼ Correction: In the recent Welcome Home guide, an incorrect address was given for the Jones Bros. Pool Tables website. The correct web address is jonesbrospooltables.com.
If you're more into logging time at the gym, then SNAP FITNESS has a sweet deal for you: now through the end of the month, you can join for just $20.13. You also get a free fitness assessment to help you develop an effective workout routine. They also have personal trainers to help you, and best of all, the gym's two locations – downtown and West Little Rock – are open 24 hours. Snap Fitness has locations at 400 N. Bowman Road (501-353-0224) and 1401 W. Capitol Ave. (501-246-8266). Want to burn up to 600 calories in just an hour? Then check out JAZZERCISE, the dance-based cardio and strength training class that also incorporates stretching. The Little Rock Jazzercise studio offers 26 classes a week and you can pay monthly or by the class. To find out about more information, including class schedules, or to sign up, visit www.jazzercise.com and enter Little Rock in the find a location search box. The Jazzercise Little Rock address is 9108 N. Rodney Parham, Suite 216; 501-225-8222.
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Go! Running offers personalized shoe fitting and gait analysis, outfitting and encouragement for runners and walkers at all levels of fitness. Move comfortably. Feel confident. Proudly supporting community races, local runners & healthy living in Arkansas! 1819 North Grant Street In the Heights M-F 10am-7pm • Sat 10am-5pm. (501) 663-6800 • gorunning.com
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Piling on the reps
ast week I promised in 2013 to give only serious consideration to serious topics in this space. OK, I've got the serious topic — contempt for Congress. Not contempt of Congress, which you can go to prison for. Contempt for, an American given, held steadily, resolutely, justifiably for more than 200 years. There was a poll taken last week by one of the major opinion gatherers — Public Policy Polling — to see just how bad the American people think Congress sucks. It turns out that they think it sucks big time. In great need than ever of some p.r. cpr. By a wide margin, the American people have a higher opinion of head lice than they have of Congress. It's hard to believe that there are that many cooties fans out there, or that few defenders of — or apologists for — Congress, but one or the other has to be the case, if you give this poll any credence. It's also hard to believe we've become so extreme in our cootie-loving and our Congress-hating that we think nothing of confiding such astonishing preferences to an electronic figment and willy-nilly grant it permission to compile and publish them. Hard to believe, but there you are. The PPP poll also found that the American people have a higher regard for cockroaches than for Congress. Not cockroaches that used to be people, like Gregor Samsa,
but regular old cockroaches that we associate with nastiness, that crunch when you step on them but don't die BOB then and there as LANCASTER befits a household pest but rather skitter away to some dark recess, casting you as the perp, making a raspy sound in fleeing not unlike that of hurt onionskin dragging itself across a columbarium. The American people see a nobility in the wounded roach that they don't see in the dorks of their Congress critters, as floppity as axed hens. They also think better of traffic jams, root canals, colonoscopies.. They think better of France, of used car salesmen, of TV news commentators, of football replacement refs, of Genghis Khan, of Donald Trump. All duly tabulated by the PPP. I think probably even televangelists would have come in ahead of Congress. Michael Vick. Casey Anthony. Pusilllanimous polecats. Arlo Guthrie's father-rapers. Zombies. Those with any charisma at all. Ah, yes, Congress did beat out gonorrhea in the PPP poll, but not by much.
And the godawful ebola virus: it and Congress were neck and neck, a statistical wash. You could almost pity the MCs. You almost could. But then in your mind's eye you see the floating-by faces of a few of the worst of them, and the temptation gives way to a vague retchiness, to a passing sigh of dismay. I don't have the resources of PPP, and my polling ventures have necessarily depended on much smaller and more provincial samples, but the astonishing PPP results inspired me to do a modest Ol' Moi Survey of Arkansas people — to see if Congress rates as abysmally with them as it does with the larger populace. The answer, according to the responses I've got back, is a resounding yes. Arkansas people are so dubious of Congress that they have carefully, methodically screened the applications to remove any potential candidate who has shown evidence of having, or ever having had, a lick of sense or a scrap of integrity or who has given the slightest indication that he or she might have a modicum of later-life rehabilitative potential. Arkansas people see Congress as an institution that can transform an otherwise pleasantly vacuous suckerbill into a bought weasel. Into a facade fanatic. A shameless hypocrite. A talking point. Into something orange. Arkansas people have a higher opinion of a hacking cough than they have of Congress. They have a higher opinion of starlings. They have a higher opinion of malware.
They are considerably more appreciative of longtime residents of Cabot. Even those who are residents of Cabot by choice. Rather than under Witness Protection. Who have not been confined there with no prospect of parole. Who could live in Bryant without having to pay for the upgrade. Arkansas people would much prefer having Paris Hilton back throwing cow pies at them to having a congressman leaving slime trails on their stomping platforms. They would much prefer a dirty ol' eggsucking dog over a Congress critter as their school mascot. They would rather the Lord smite them with emerods as he did the elders of Ashdod for harboring the purloined ark rather than obliging them to schmooze with a congressional caucus. They'd rather be assigned to bale and haul hay, to handle pit vipers a revival, to go three rounds against a bull gorilla or Janet Huckabee, to donate bile for transfusion to the Westboro ghoulies. I don't mean to pile on Congress here. I've known members of Congress who were not insane. Who had opposable thumbs. I've known some who were every bit as public spirited as parade marshals, crossing guards, and the little medaled waddler who calls bingo down at the Legion hut. Hard-working even on junket. Often looking to do the right thing. But I'm just saying. It is what it is. The polls are non-judgmental and merciless, wart no longer velveted as guff's throne.
ARKANSAS TIMES CLASSIFIEDS CITY OF NORTH LITTLE ROCK CAREER OPPORTUNITY www.northlittlerock.ar.gov
The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, AR is seeking a candidate who will be responsible to Develop and manage large, complex research databases for several different projects at a time. Provide technical assistance to faculty and research staff utilizing probability distributions, statistical inference, regression and correlation and contingency table analysis. Analyze longitudinal data and the reporting of findings in a clear and concise manner to provide statistical programming and interpretation of results on manuscripts. Perform univariate and multivariate analysis in areas of regression comma modeling and analysis of variance. Organize data and prepares reports using various computer graphic packages for slide presentation. Also performs other administrative duties as assigned. Candidate must have a Master Degree in Statistics/Biostatics and two years of experience
For further information please see below: Jill Mayes, MBA 4301 West Markham St., Slot #554 Little Rock, AR 72205 email@example.com UAMS is an inclusive Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer and is committed to excellence through diversity. 46 JANUARY 16, 2013 ARKANSAS TIMES 16, 2013 ARKANSAS TIMES 46 January
DIRECTOR OF FINANCE & BUDgET Open Until Filled DUTIES: Directs the City's financial planning and accounting practices as well as its relationship with lending institutions, the financial community, and taxpayers of the City. MIN. REQ: Bachelor's degree (BA/BS) in Accounting or a related field, Certified Public Accountant (CPA) status or license, and seven years directly related experience; or equivalent combination of education and experience. Basic knowledge and understanding of computerized accounting systems. SALARY: Negotiable EXCELLENT BENEFIT PACKAgE: Paid Health Insurance (100% employee, 75% family); Paid Employee Disability & Life Insurance, Pension Plan, Generous Leave Benefits, Credit Union, Optional Employee Contributed 457 Deferred Comp. Plan.
Applications obtained: Human Resources Dept. 3rd floor, 120 Main St., NLR, AR Jobline: 501-975-3724 Telephone: 501-975-8855 AS AN EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER, THE CITY OF NORTH LITTLE ROCK IS SEEKING QUALIFIED BLACK AND FEMALE APPLICANTS.
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Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist
The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, AR is seeking a candidate who will be responsible for initial psychiatric evaluations, follow-up medication management services, psychotherapy services, telepsychiatry services and supervising residents, fellows, and medical students. In addition they will conduct rounds with the residents, fellows and medical students at the ACH. As part of their duties they will give lectures to residents, fellows, medical students and other medical professionals at ACH, the UAMS College of Public Health and perhaps in the community. Candidate must be a physician with MD degree, Board certified /eligible in Psychiatry and must have three years of experience.
Send contact information to: Jill Mayes, MBA 4301 West Markham St., Slot #554 • Little Rock, AR 72205 email@example.com www.arktimes.com January 16, 2013 47
congratulations semi-finalists!
Annalisa Nutt The Bad Years Bartin Memberg Collin Vs Adam Damn Arkansan Flint Eastwood Freedom Bureau Gwendlyn Kay Knox Hamilton Midnight Thrills
Miles Rattz Mothwind Peckerwolf The Revolutioners The Sound of the Mountain Stephen Neeper Band Terminus This Holy House Tom & Hebron Trey Hawkins Band
ROUND 1: January 24th
CHECK BaCK for schedules & more, OR VISIT
arktimes.com/showcase Stickyz - 107 River Market Ave, Little Rock | 501-372-7707 | $5 for 21+ & $10 for 18-20