Monthly Archives: January 2015

“Well, That Was Embarrassing” is theme of tonight’s Tales from the South at Oyster Bar

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talesfromthesouthWe have all fallen flat on our face, either literally or figuratively.  Tonight, Tales from the South celebrates this shared experience with “Well That Was Embarrassing” at the Oyster Bar. The storytellers for this edition are John Wells, Martin Bauer, and Grant Rollins.

Music is by Mark Currey and blues guitarist Mark Simpson.

“Tales From the South” is a radio show created and produced by Paula Martin Morell, who is also the show’s host. The show is taped live on Tuesday. The night is a cross between a house concert and a reading/show, with incredible food and great company. Tickets must be purchased before the show, as shows are usually standing-room only.

“Tales from the South” is a showcase of writers reading their own true stories. While the show itself is unrehearsed, the literary memoirs have been worked on for weeks leading up to the readings. Stories range from funny to touching, from everyday occurrences to life-altering tragedies.

Dinner is served from 5pm to 6:30pm, the show starts at 7pm.  Admission is $15.  Dinner can be purchased separately.

You MUST purchase your ticket before the show.

Previous episodes of “Tales from the South” air on KUAR Public Radio on Thursdays at 7pm.  This program will air on January 22.

Arkansas Political History at Old State House

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OSH logoThe Arkansas General Assembly convenes today, while tomorrow is the inauguration day for the Governor and other Constitutional officers.

To learn more about Arkansas’ political past, visit the Old State House Museum.  Two of their permanent exhibits are especially of note this week.

First Families of Arkansas

The “First Families” of Arkansas varied in their background and experience. James Miller, the First Territorial Governor, spent little time in Arkansas, and his wife Ruth remained in Massachusetts. James Conway, the first governor of the state of Arkansas, came to Arkansas as a surveyor in 1820 and served in the Territorial Legislature. Conway was a founding member of an Arkansas dynasty known as “the Family,” a political alliance that dominated Arkansas until the Civil War. Conway’s wife, the former Mary Jane Bradley, came from a prominent Arkansas frontier family and was actively involved in furthering her husband’s political career.

Beginning in the 20th century, Anna Roark Brough served as her husband’s campaign manager. First Lady Brough, an active suffragette, posed on the steps of the capitol during a 1919 rally advocating voting rights for women.

 

On The Stump: Arkansas Politics, 1819 – 1919

In 1819 when the Arkansas Territory was created, the elimination of property requirements for voting combined with the raucous spirit of the frontier produced a new style of mass participation in American politics. The results were crude and often vulgar, but thoroughly democratic. This manifested itself in Arkansas politics less centered on political parties of Arkansas and the ideology of citizens than on the personalities of those involved. So personal were the politics of the times that political campaigns often culminated in duels. Carl Moneyhon, Professor of History at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, served as author and guest curator for On the Stump. Additional materials were provided by the museum’s staff.

 

In addition, the Old State House Museum website has features on the men who have served as Governor of Arkansas.

Little Rock Look Back: Basketball at Robinson Auditorium

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Former entrance to Robinson off Garland Street. Used to attend basketball games.

Former entrance to Robinson off Garland Street. Used to attend basketball games.

While Joseph Taylor Robinson Memorial Auditorium is known today as a performance and meeting venue, in its early days it was also the home to sports. Seventy-five years ago tonight the first basketball game was played at Robinson.

One of the first regular activities which took place in the lower level exhibition hall was a series of boxing and wrestling matches.  Building on the success of this, basketball came to the convention hall in January 1940.

A series of games featuring Little Rock High School and North Little Rock High School were announced by Coach Earl Quigley to take place from January 11 through February 16, the official opening day for the facility.

At that time, neither high school had a gymnasium; therefore both schools played their basketball games on their school auditorium stages with fans seated in the audience. The convention hall offered a regulation size floor (made of pecan block parquet) with seating for over 1,300 people along the sidelines and in the balcony.  The first men’s basketball game in Robinson Auditorium took place between the Little Rock High School Tigers and the North Little Rock High School Wildcats on January 11, 1940.

The Tigers lost the game before a crowd estimated to be 1,300.  Earlier in the evening there had been an exhibition between two women’s basketball teams.  The cost for admission to the games was 35 cents for the reserved seating and 25 cents for general admission.

Final ARKANSAS COOKS airs today on KUAR

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arkansas-cooks_1Like a delicious meal which cannot continue forever or a sparkling party, the KUAR program “Arkansas Cooks” airs its final episode today.  Tune in at 12 noon for this fond farewell.

Host Mary Twedt began the show in October 2002. Since then, she has produced more than 400 episodes as she has visited restaurants, hotels, food festivals, streetfairs, well – just about any where that good cooks are doing exciting things with food.  With her engaging style, she has enjoyed conversations with the well-trained and the self-taught.  She doesn’t interview her guests, she visits with them and invites the listeners to eavesdrop.

A cooking show on the radio? That is not an easy thing to imagine. And she will be the first to say she was inspired by a radio program she heard in another state. It took her some time to convince KUAR to buy-in to the project. But they eventually were won over – as was her audience.

She ends the radio show the way she started it, by chatting with Evette Brady.  In 2002, she was the owner and original chef at 1620. Now, she is retired, but still has an engaging personality and her finger on the pulse of the cooking scene.

While “Arkansas Cooks” may be ending as a radio show, Twedt will still continue to tweet (a Twedt tweet?) @arkansascooks, be on Facebook, and update the website.

Tonight at 7:30, Arkansas Sounds presents the Velvet Kente Arkestra

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velvet_kente2Arkansas Sounds presents the Velvet Kente Arkestra, an expanded version of the band Velvet Kente, on Friday, January 9, at 7:30 p.m. in the CALS Ron Robinson Theater, 100 River Market Ave. Theater doors open at 6:30 p.m.

General admission tickets are $10, and are available online and at the Butler Center Galleries, 401 Pres. Clinton Ave., Mon.-Sat. 9am-6pm. Tickets purchased online will not be mailed; they may be picked up in the theater’s lobby one hour before the show.

Velvet Kente Arkestra is a genre-dodging collective seeking to consistently make an aural connection with all that will listen with an open mind. Their most obvious influences include Afro-Caribbean music, indie rock, punk, blues mythos, and gospel. But otherwise there’s no transparent consistency in the sound outside of Joshua’s heart-wrenched vocals, which lie somewhere between a coarse scream and a sweat-stained Pentecostal baritone.
Natalie Elliot, Oxford American

Tonight END OF THE LINE at Old State House “2nd Friday Cinema”

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End of the lineJanuary’s installment of Second Friday Cinema features End of the Line, a 1987 movie directed by Arkansan Jay Russell and featuring Arkansans Mary Steenburgen and Levon Helm. The film is about two rail workers from Little Rock who hop aboard a train to Chicago in a last ditch effort to save their jobs and way of life.

Joining in the cast are Wilford Brimley, Barbara Barrie, Bob Balaban, Henderson Forsythe, Holly Hunter and Bruce McGill.  Perhaps, most importantly, Kevin Bacon is one of the stars making this a key component of “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” games everywhere.

The movie was filmed in Central Arkansas.  The Culture Vulture very clearly remembers working overnight to construct balloon arches for a scene to be filmed at the Missouri Pacific rail yards the next day. The Culture Vulture later donned his 1970s era band uniform (with fake satin tunic, dark pants, dark shoes and fuzzy black cowboy hat) and stood in the August heat for several hours while a “simple” scene was shot and re-shot countless times.

Ben Fry, general manager of KLRE/KUAR and coordinator of the film minor at UALR, will introduce the film and lead a discussion after the screening.

The screening starts tonight at 5pm at the Old State House Museum, an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage.

 

For 2nd Friday Art Night, Historic Arkansas Museum welcomes Kevin Kerby

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Kick off the next year of 2nd Friday Art Nights at Historic Arkansas Museum with a free performance by local favorite Kevin Kerby!
“His music is best described as muscle in a series of loosely-wound audio snapshots of Little Rock, wedged somewhere between Paul Westerberg’s know-it-all scowl and Jeff Tweedy’s ear for pop poeticism.”
In other words, you don’t want to miss this free performance by a treasured Arkansas songsmith.
While there, explore our galleries and two contemporary art exhibits featuring Arkansas artists.
UNDER PRESSURE: The Arkansas Society of Printmakers Exhibition
The Arkansas Society of Printmakers mark their third year with an impressive exhibition  showcasing both traditional printmaking and contemporary works that utilize new technologies and innovative methods. The exhibition continues in the Trinity Gallery for Arkansas Artists through February 8, 2015.
“this is the garden: colors come and go” Works by Rachel Trusty
Rachel Trusty’s solo exhibition takes its name from the classic poem by e.e. cummings. The exhibition includes paintings, sculpture and mixed media works which center around floral motifs.
Works by Rachel Trusty have appeared in galleries, shows and competitions across Arkansas as well as in Massachusetts and New York. Trusty was named one of “Five Arkansas Artists You Should Know” by Arkansas Times in 2014.
The exhibition continues in the 2nd Floor Gallery through February 9, 2015.