Monthly Archives: March 2014

Third group of Riverfest acts announced today

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Each Tuesday in the third month of the year, Riverfest is announcing three music acts for the upcoming Memorial Day Weekend music festival.

Announcing hit-makers The Fray — best known for “How to Save a Life” and “Over My Head” — now touring in support of their new album; straightforward rockers The Wallflowers, with front man Jakob Dylan; and young country hit-maker Easton Corbin.

Previously, Riverfest has announced Chicago, Hank Williams Jr., Three Days Grace, Buckcherry, Lee Brice and Salt-n-Pepa

Architecture critic Mark Lamster featured tonight at Architecture & Design Network

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Smark-lamster-presented-dallas-archit-66IZING UP ARCHITECTURE: A Critic’s View

Mark Lamster
Architecture Critic | Dallas Morning News 
Assistant Professor and Dillon Center Fellow | School of Architecture University of Texas Arlington

DATE: Tuesday, March 18, 2014
TIME: 6:00 pm, preceded by a reception at 5:30
PLACE: Arkansas Arts Center lecture hall

Architecture critics are a rare breed in this part of the country. Mark Lamster, a recent arrival at the Dallas Morning News, offers a perspective on the built environment that enables others to see and talk about their surroundings in new and different ways. Lamster, who also teaches a graduate seminar on criticism and critical writing at the University, has, according to the newspaper’s editor, Bob Mong, a “range of interests that rivals those of any architecture critic in the country.” His background in art as well as architecture informs his writing. A contributing editor to Architectural Review and Design Observer, his work has appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal and many other national publications. Lamster is currently at work on a definitive new biography of the late architect Philip Johnson who, among his many accomplishments, established the architecture department at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. The book is to be published by Little Brown.

For more than a decade, Lamster served as editor of the Princeton Architecture Press. He is the author of several books including Master of Shadows (2009) a political biography of the painter Peter Paul Rubens. Baseball fans may be familiar with his first book, Spalding’s World Tour, the story of a group of all-star baseball players who circled the globe in the 19th Century. That work was a New York Times Editor’s selection. Lamster, a native of New York City, has a B.A. from Johns Hopkins University and an M.A. from Tufts.

Supporters of the Architecture and Design Network lecture series include the Arkansas Arts Center, the Central Arkansas Chapter of the American Institute of Architecture and the University of Arkansas Fay Jones School of Architecture. All Network lectures are free and open to the public. For further information, contact ardenetwork@icloud.com.

Gardner and historian Todd Longstaffe-Gowan at Clinton School today at noon

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todd-portrait-52b41521e74e7Todd Longstaffe-Gowan is an author, historian, gardener, geographer, and landscape architect will be speaking at the Clinton School today at noon.

Since entering into private practice, Longstaffe-Gowan has advised on a number of public and private historic landscapes. He has developed and implemented long-term landscape management plans for the National Trust, English Heritage and consulted on historic landscapes including the Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, and the Crown Estate. Longstaffe-Gowan will discuss his re-presentation of the pleasure grounds at Kensington Palace to mark the Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty The Queen. The Kensington Palace Gardens has been a favorite place of residence for various members of the royal family including Queen Victoria, Prince Charles and Princess Diana, and will soon be the London home of Prince William and Princess Catherine.

Longstaffe-Gowan takes on a range of projects in Britain and abroad, many with a conservation slant. ‘My work reflects my interest in the dramatic and sculptural potential of landscape, and is imbued with whimsical, historical eclecticism’, he says. ‘I like to think that my gardens are intelligent as well as beautiful, as they are informed by my training as an architect, landscape architect, geographer and historian.’

Longstaffe-Gowan appears at the Clinton School in partnership with P. Allen Smith.

Arkansas Literary Festival preview – Kevin Brockmeier

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Kevin Brockmeier

Today (March 17) is the 109th birthday of Missouri State University – the alma mater of the Little Rock Culture Vulture.  It is also the alma mater for one of Arkansas’ most popular young writers, Kevin Brockmeier.

A graduate of Little Rock Parkview Arts & Science Magnet High School, Kevin will be one of the featured writers at the 2014 Arkansas Literary Festival. He has been a participant in every previous Arkansas Literary Festival as well.

His newest book is A Few Seconds of Radiant Filmstrip: A Memoir of Seventh Grade.  It is already receiving praise from writers, editors and literary professionals throughout the country – “Can’t put it down,” “sweet & brutal,” “excellent” are just some of the descriptions being used for this new book.

Kevin is the author of the novels The Illumination, The Brief History of the Dead, and The Truth About Celia; the children’s novels City of Names and Grooves: A Kind of Mystery; and the story collections Things That Fall from the Sky and The View from the Seventh Layer. His work has been translated into seventeen languages. He lives in Little Rock, where he was raised.

The schedule for the 2014 Arkansas Literary Festival has not yet been released, but more information on this year’s festival is available at the ALF website.

McMath Library Closed for Renovation/Expansion as CALS seeks to better meet patrons needs

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calsThe Central Arkansas Library System’s (CALS) Sidney S. McMath Library, 2100 John Barrow Road, is having a makeover and will be closed from Monday, March 17, through early June 2014. A new children’s programming room will be added and the existing children’s area will be expanded. Additional computers and parking space, new carpet, furniture, and paint will complete the remodel.

In early 2013, CALS completed a satisfaction survey to determine the way library services were accessed and used by library patrons, and why non-users did not take advantage of library services. Modern libraries are community centers to provide a broad range of services beyond lending books. The remodel of the McMath Library will better reflect the way libraries are being used by becoming more patron-centered, more prominently featuring items that are used most heavily, and allowing better access to the services used by most patrons.

Any patron with a library card may request a specific book be sent to a branch for them to check out. Patrons may use any of CALS’s other thirteen other branches while the McMath Library is closed. The closest branches are the Fletcher Library, 823 N. Buchanan, and the Terry Library, 2015 Napa Valley Drive.

In March 2012, Little Rock voters voted to refinance capital improvement bonds. Funds from the refinance will be used to cover the $325,000 cost of the remodel and update.

The McMath Library was opened in 2004 to serve the central Little Rock community. The library sits on a ten-acre lot and includes a pond and a walking trail.  The library was named for Sidney Sanders McMath, the thirty-fourth governor of Arkansas.

CALS libraries in Little Rock include: Main Library, 100 Rock Street; Hillary Rodham Clinton Children’s Library and Learning Center, 4800 W. 10th Street, Dee Brown Library, 6325 Baseline Road; Fletcher Library, 823 North Buchanan Street; McMath Library, 2100 John Barrow Road,Oley E. Rooker Library, 11 Otter Creek Court; Terry Library, 2015 Napa Valley Drive; Thompson Library, 38 Rahling Circle; and Williams Library, 1800 Chester Street. CALS libraries in surrounding communities include: Max Milam Library, 609 Aplin Avenue, Perryville; Maumelle Library, 10 Lake Pointe Drive, Maumelle; Esther D. Nixon Library, 703 W. Main Street, Jacksonville; Amy Sanders Library, 31 Shelby Drive, Sherwood; and Millie M. Brooks Library, 13024 Hwy. 365 S., Wrightsville. 

 

Little Rock Look Back: Pat L. Robinson

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IMG_4517On this date in 1900, future Little Rock Mayor Pat L. Robinson was born.  While I cannot verify that he was indeed named after St. Patrick, it would be fairly reasonable to assume there might be a connection, especially given the fact that he was Catholic.

Robinson was a rising star of Little Rock Democratic politics.  In April 1929, just weeks after his 29th birthday, he was elected Mayor.  He had twice been elected as City Attorney (1926 and 1928) and was one of the youngest to serve in that position.

During Mayor Robinson’s tenure, he announced plans to construct a new airport.  That project led to the creation of what is now the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport.  Mayor Robinson was also involved in helping Philander Smith College secure the property where it is now located.  In addition, during his tenure, what is now the Museum of Discovery was folded into the City of Little Rock.

Single at the time he was in office and generally considered good looking, Mayor Robinson was sometimes referred to as the “Jimmy Walker of the Southwest.” Walker was the handsome and charming Mayor of New York City at the time.

Mayor Robinson ran afoul of some of the Democratic party leaders. Records don’t seem to indicate exactly what actions he took or did not take.  One thing that is brought up is that the City went into financial distress during his tenure.  Considering the Wall Street crash happened shortly after he took office, that financial state was not unique to Little Rock.

IMG_4532During this era in Little Rock, it was customary for an incumbent mayor to be given a second term. But City Clerk Horace Knowlton challenged Robinson in the primary.  It was a bitter campaign with Robinson linking Knowlton to disreputable denizens and Knowlton charging Robinson with “an orgy of spending.”  Robinson initially came out 17 votes ahead. But after a review and a lawsuit, it was found that Knowlton ended up with 10 more votes and became the nominee.  At the time, being the Democratic nominee was tantamount to election.

After he left office, Robinson practiced law for a few years in Little Rock and then left the city.  Records do not indicate where he went but he no longer appeared in the City of Little Rock directory by the early 1940s.

ASO Masterworks for 2014-2015 announced

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ASO_revThough there are several concerts remaining in each of their series, the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra has announced three of their 2014-2015 series.

Next year is the first of their two-year hiatus from Robinson Center Music Hall (as it gets transformed into a true music hall instead of a civic gathering room).

The Stella Boyle Smith Masterworks Series will be performed at the Maumelle Performing Arts Center. To entice audiences who have been used to attending Robinson for ASO concerts for 40 years, Music Director Philip Mann has programmed a line up with many familiar composers. In addition, an Oscar winning musical genius will be presented.

The series will kick off on September 27 & 28 with Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 featuring Andrew Staupe on piano.  Also on the program will be John Corigliano’s Promenade Overture and Brahms’ Symphony No. 2 in D Major.  Corigliano is the Oscar winner, having won for composing the score of The Red Violin.

On October 18 & 19, the ASO will heat things up with Blazing Brass featuring trumpeter Richard Jorgensen.  The program will consist of Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto in E-flat Major and Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7 in E Major.

The now annual Beethoven and Blue Jeans concert will be November 8 & 9. Sharon Isbin’s guitar work will be featured as the ASO plays Corigliano’s Three Hallucinations from Altered States as well as his Troubadours-Variations for Guitar and Chamber Orchestra.  The Beethoven portion of the evening will be his Symphony No. 5 in C minor.

The Masterworks series will ring in 2015 on January 31 & February 1 with a Tchaikovsky & Mozart Festival.  Vladimir Verbitsky will be guest conductor. The evening will feature violin soloist Randall Goosby.  The program consists of Tchaikovsky’s Polonaise from Eugene Onegin, Mozart’s Concerto for Violin No. 5 in A Major, and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 in F minor.

On February 28 and March 1, the ASO will present Schubert’s “Unfinished.”  In addition to that masterpiece, the musicians will play Wagner’s Prelude to Die Meistersinger and Brahms’ Concerto for Violin in D. Major.

The Masterworks Series for 2014-2015 will conclude with an evening of Mozart, Prokofiev & Strauss.  Pianist Yeol Eum Son will be the featured guest artist.  The program will consist of Mozart’s Symphony No. 41 in C Major – Jupiter, Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 and Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier, Op. 59 Suite.

All Masterworks concerts will be performed at 7:30pm on Saturday evenings and 3pm on Sunday evenings.

The other ASO series will be previewed by the Culture Vulture in the coming days.