Little Rock Look Back: The Eagle Returns to Little Rock

Posted on March 19, 2015 by Scott

On March 16, 1822, Captain Morris piloted the steamboat The Eagle to Little Rock, seventeen days after departing New Orleans. This became the first steamboat to reach Little Rock. The boat reached Little Rock at an early hour in the morning and Captain Morris, in order to arouse the town, fired a salute of several guns.

It did not stay in Little Rock, but headed upriver toward the community of Dwight Mission, founded by Presbyterians in what is now Pope County at the mouth of the Illinois Creek. Due to low waters, it was unable to make it to Dwight Mission. On March 19, 1822, it returned to Little Rock. It then headed back to New Orleans.

Though it would be the McClellan-Kerr navigation project before the Arkansas River would become a permanent home to commercial river traffic, boats up and down the Arkansas River helped establish Little Rock as an important trading post.

Dirty Dozen Brass Band jazzes up South on Main tonight

Posted on March 19, 2015 by Scott

The sounds of New Orleans come to South Main tonight at 8pm as the Oxford American magazine presents the legendary ensemble Dirty Dozen Brass Band at South on Main’

In 1977, The Dirty Dozen Social and Pleasure Club in New Orleans began showcasing a traditional Crescent City brass band. It was a joining of two proud, but antiquated, traditions at the time: Social and pleasure clubs dated back over a century to a time when black southerners could rarely afford life insurance, and the clubs would provide proper funeral arrangements.

Brass bands—the earliest predecessors of jazz as we know it—would often follow the funeral procession playing somber dirges and then, once the family of the deceased was out of earshot, burst into jubilant dance tunes as casual onlookers danced in the streets.

By the late ’70s, few of either existed. The Dirty Dozen Social and Pleasure Club decided to assemble this group as a house band and, over the course of these early gigs, the seven-member ensemble adopted the venue’s name: the Dirty Dozen Brass Band.

Thirty-five years later, Dirty Dozen Brass Band is a world-famous music machine, whose name is synonymous with genre-bending romps and high-octane performances. They have revitalized the brass band not only in New Orleans, but around the world, progressing from local parties, clubs, baseball games, and festivals in their early years to touring nearly constantly in the U.S. and in over thirty other countries on five continents.

The Dirty Dozen have been featured guests on albums by popular artists including David Bowie, Elvis Costello, Dr. John, Widespread Panic, Modest Mouse, Dave Matthews Band, and The Black Crowes.

Tickets to Dirty Dozen are at http://www.metrotix.com, or by calling (800) 293-5949. All patrons require a ticket for entry. Tickets are general admission and are $25 each. Seating at tables is limited and available on a first-come, first-seated basis when the doors open at 6:00 PM.

No reservations are being taken ahead of time. To ensure the best possible seat, plan to arrive when the doors open. The concert starts at 8:00 PM, with food and drinks available for purchase at that time.

Little Rock Look Back: Grover Cleveland

Posted on March 18, 2015 by Scott

Stephen Grover Cleveland, the 22nd and 24th President of the U.S. was born on March 18, 1837. He won the popular vote in 1884, 1888 and 1892, but lost the Electoral College vote in 1888.

Though he never visited Little Rock, Cleveland Street is named in his honor. Cleveland County in southeast Arkansas is also named for him. It originally was Dorsey County, named after a GOP Senator from Arkansas. It was renamed for Cleveland in hopes to curry favor for the state from the new Democratic president. Cleveland’s Attorney General was Augustus Garland from Arkansas. Garland Street in Little Rock and Garland County are both named for him.

Cleveland was the leader of the pro-business Bourbon Democrats who opposed high tariffs, Free Silver, inflation, imperialism, and subsidies to business, farmers, or veterans. His crusade for political reform and fiscal conservatism made him an icon for American conservatives of the era.

John Bush Group headlines Local Live tonight at South on Main

Posted on March 18, 2015 by Scott

Tonight at 7:30pm, join the Oxford American magazine for this week’s Local Live concert at South on Main, starring the John Bush Group! As always, Local Live is free and open to the public.

To guarantee a table/seat for this popular series, call ahead at (501) 244-9660. Local Live is made possible by the generous sponsorship of Cosmic Cowboy Music.Cosmic Cowboy Music logo

John Bush’s musical upbringing occurred here in Little Rock in the late 1950s and early 1960s, along with other lovers and students of the genre at that time, including John Stubblefield, James Leary, and Claudine Meyers. While Bush’s contemporaries committed themselves to and pursued professional careers playing jazz music, he took another direction in that he came back to music later in life. His aspiration is to uphold the original edict that drove all of the players he grew up with, as well as recognize the same Arkansas jazz traditions and honor the paths taken by musicians like The Original Yellow Jackets, Louis Jordan, Al Hibbler, and Pharaoh Sanders. Bush is dedicated to playing in the same true spirit of those who helped lay the foundations for this rich and beloved genre.

Joining Bush for this show is an exceptionally talented ensemble of players, including vocalist Kelley Hurt, Bill Huntington (bass), Chris Parker (keys), and Brian Withers (drum).

NATIONAL GALLERY film shown tonight through Clinton School/LR Film Festival partnership

Posted on March 18, 2015 by Scott

Frederick Wiseman’s “National Gallery” takes the audience behind the scenes of a London institution, on a journey to the heart of a museum inhabited by masterpieces of Western art from the Middle Ages to the 19th Century.

The documentary is the portrait of a place, its way of working and relations with the world, its staff and public, and its paintings. In a perpetual and dizzying game of mirrors, film watches painting watches film.

Fred Wiseman is one of today’s greatest living documentary filmmakers. For close to thirty years, he has created an exceptional body of work consisting of thirty full-length films devoted primarily to exploring American institutions.

The film will be shown tonight at the Ron Robinson Theater at 6pm. It is sponsored by the Clinton School for Public Service and the Little Rock Film Festival.

Civil War Archeology is Brown Bag topic today at Old State House

Posted on March 18, 2015 by Scott

The Old State House Museum will host a Brown Bag lecture today at 12 noon.

Dr. Carl Drexler will discuss recent Civil War archaeology in Arkansas, including the battlefield at Wallace’s Ferry, near Helena-West Helena, fortifications at Camden, and civilians along the Red River.

Dr. Drexler is a historical archaeologist with the Arkansas Archaeological Survey, specializing in the archaeology of the Civil War.