Yearly Archives: 2012

Wildwood Azalea Walk

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Wildwood Park for the Arts invites people to celebrate Spring, take a stroll and sip on some bubbly today.

Wildwood is blooming! The colors and aromas of spring are upon us, and to celebrate, Wildwood’s Board of Trustees is hosting the Park’s premiere Champagne Azalea Walk on Saturday, April 7, from 1-4 pm.

With champagne in hand stroll the park, enjoy hors d’oeuvres, listen to live jazz and smell the sweet aroma of Wildwood’s famed azalea blossoms.

The cost of the Azalea Walk is $30 per person.

Enhance the experience and include a garden luncheon specially prepared for you and your friends, as well as an up close seat to the live jazz trio. Garden Luncheon: $60 per person

Architeaser – April 6

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The Thursday Architeaser was from  upper floor of the old Sterling’s building.  The green brick triangles appear on the Capital and Center Street facades.

Today’s features the beauty of shadows and metal that an exterior fire escape can create.

Piano Duo at UALR tomorrow evening

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On Saturday, April 7, piano duo Tatiana Roitman and Kristina Marinova, will present “Arete”. The program will include Lutoslawski’s “Paganini Variatrions,” Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker Suite,” and more.

Both pianists are members of the UALR Music Department faculty.

Tatiana Roitman has appeared as a soloist and recitalist across North America and Europe. The BBC hailed her performance of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue as “formidable…both accurate and with rarely seen joy.”

As a performer of contemporary works, she’s premiered works at the American Composer’s Forum and performed For Don by Milton Babbitt, with the composer in attendance in celebration of his 90th birthday at Tanglewood’s Contemporary Music Festival. She’s performed regularly with the San Diego Symphony, and has been featured as a soloist in Stravinsky’s Petrushka, and on SDSO’s innovative Symphony Exposed Series.

As the recipient of the Peggy Rockefeller Memorial Fellowship at Tanglewood, she worked with James Levine, Dawn Upshaw, Yo-Yo Ma, Charles Rosen and Claude Frank. Roitman holds a PGDip. in Performance and a Licentiate in Pedagogy from the Royal Academy of Music in London, an M.Mus. in Performance from Manhattan School of Music, and a DMA from the University of Minnesota, USA. Her principal teachers include Prof. Tatiana Sarkissova, Dr. Marc Silverman, and Prof. Alexander Braginsky.

Kristina Marinova, a native of Bulgaria, holds a BM in piano performance from UCA and a Masters in
piano performance from the University of Michigan.

She is winner of international piano competitions as well as a participant in several major festivals. Currently she is the accompanist for the UALR Concert Choir, Community Chorus and Opera Theater.

Architeaser – April 5

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Wednesday’s Architeaser was from the old Union Bank Building. Though better known for the black and white pinstripes of the upper stories, the columns supporting the building are features of the lower floors.

Today’s features brick and tile work. Often a dash of color stands out, but these colorful accents are often overlooked.

NEXT FALL this spring at Weekend Theater

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The next offering of the Weekend Theater opens this Friday evening.  Geoffrey Nauffts’ Next Fall is a charming, heart-warming, gut-wrenching look at relationships, religion, and the choices we all have to make in our lives. It and runs Fridays and Saturdays through April 21. Showtimes are at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets are $16 for general admission and $12 for seniors age 65 and older as well as students. Tickets can be purchased at www.weekendtheater.org or, based on availability, at the door. Reservations are no longer taken by phone; for more information only call (501) 374-3761.

“These are real people, but they’re also bigger than life,” says director Ralph Hyman about the play, which he describes as a “comical tragedy.” He saw it during its initial Broadway run and was captivated by the conflicts raised in the script – fundamentalism versus atheism, parents versus children, the family we make versus the one we’re born into.

The cast includes Harold Dean, Jackson Stewart, Hannah Blackburn-Parish, Ryan Whitfield, Allison Pace and Byron Taylor.

Architeaser April 4

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Yesterday’s Architeaser was from the Spanish revival building at 6th and Center Streets (which houses E.J.’s restaurant and several other businesses).

Today’s Architeaser features columns on a building. While many buildings in Little Rock have columns, this building is known more for other architectural features. Many people who pass this building probably don’t even pay attention to the columns on it.

Little Rock Zoo showers visitors with fun activities in April

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The Little Rock Zoo is making April special for visitors.

All kinds of activities are lined up promising some extra fun.

The zoo kicked off its special lineup today at an “egg toss” event where the zoo’s otters were given large egg shaped toys to play with.

The following events will be hosted by the zoo this month:

  • Saturday, April  7 – Breakfast or Lunch with the Easter Bunny
  • Saturday, April 14 – Party for the Planet:  An Earth Day Celebration
  • Saturday, April 21 – World Penguin Day Celebration
  • Saturday, April 28 – Woo at the Zoo adults-only event

April fun at the Zoo kicks-off this Saturday, April 7, with breakfast or lunch with the Easter Bunny. Guests will dine in Caf Africa, decorate Easter egg shaped cookies, an Easter basket, and get a chance to have their picture taken with the Easter Bunny.  At 11:00 a.m. the public is invited to watch as the Easter Bunny delivers large egg shaped toys to the big cats and otters. Advanced reservations for breakfast or lunch are required and can be made by calling (501) 661-7218. The cost is $9.95 for children and $14.95 for adults for members and $18.95 per person for non-members.

The fun continues on Saturday, April 14, as the Zoo celebrates Earth Day with Party for the Planet: An Earth Day Celebration sponsored by Central Arkansas Water. The day-long celebration features interactive educational booths set-up throughout the zoo where guests can learn all about conservation and our natural world. Other activities and programs will take place around the zoo and on the Civitan Amphitheater stage during the day and Radio Disney will be at the Over-the-Jumps Carousel with their Rock-n-Road show from 10:30 a.m. to noon. Guests can also vote on their favorite photograph from the Outdoor Photography Club’s annual Zoo photo contest sponsored by Bedford Camera.

Penguins take center stage at the zoo all day on Saturday, April 21, for the celebration of World Penguin Day. Special activities for kids will be available at stations set-up by the Laura P. Nichols Penguin Pointe exhibit as well as a special opportunity to purchase paintings done by some of the zoo’s penguins. There will also be three special penguin keeper chats at the exhibit and a special presentation with one of the zoo’s penguins at the Civitan Amphitheater stage.

Adults will enjoy learning all about the strange, curious, and downright hilarious world of animal mating at Woo at the Zoo, April 28, from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Guests to this adults-only event will get a special tour of the zoo to learn all about some of the mating habits of zoo animals. Did you know that a female rhino will ram a male rhino at more than 30 miles per hour to test his strength? After the tour, guests will congregate at the Civitan Amphitheater for food, beverages, and to jam to the tunes of the Shannon Boshears Band. Tickets are $35 per person and can be bought online at LittleRockZoo.com/woo or by calling (501) 661-7208. All proceeds benefit the Arkansas Zoological Foundation and the Little Rock Chapter of the American Association of Zoo Keepers.

Click here for more about all of the zoo’s April events.