Monthly Archives: July 2015

Award winning Sacred Hearts, Holy Souls being shown tonight

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sacred heartsThe award winning film Sacred Hearts, Holy Souls will be shown tonight at the Ron Robinson Theater tonight.
The screening starts at 7pm.
The Arkansas Times, Little Rock PFLAG, Central Arkansas Pridefest, the Central Arkansas Library System and the Ron Robinson Theater present a special screening of Little Rock director Mark Thiedeman’s “Sacred Hearts, Holy Souls” to benefit Out in Arkansas, the Times’ coming LGBT publication. Tickets are $25.

A coming-of-age story about a gay teenager at a Catholic boarding school, “Sacred Hearts” has been widely praised: It won the Charles B. Pierce Award for Best Film Made in Arkansas at the 2014 Little Rock Film Festival, and Philip Martin of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette called it one of last year’s best releases. Filmmaker magazine has called Thiedeman “a star,” and The Hollywood Reporter said he was a director to watch.

Following the screening, Hendrix College professor and Arkansas Times columnist Jay Barth will host a panel discussion with Thiedeman and local LGBT leaders about the fight for equality in Arkansas post-Obergefell. A reception in the lobby of the theater will follow with complimentary drinks and light appetizers.

Out in Arkansas will be a daily online publication focused on the LGBT community in Arkansas. To donate or for more information, visit arktimes.com/outinark.

To purchase advance tickets, call Kelly Lyles at the Arkansas Times at 501-492-3979.

Little Rock Look Back: Mrs. Ruth May Wassell Gibb

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Ruth-May-Wassell-GibbOn August 27, 1944, Ruth May Wassell shattered a bottle on the hull of a new ship and christened it the U.S.S. Little Rock.  Mrs. Wassell, whose husband was Little Rock alderman Sam Wassell, had been designated as the official sponsor for the City of Little Rock by Mayor Charles Moyer.

Details are vague as to why Mayor Moyer designated Mrs. Wassell for the honor.  Her husband was a first cousin of World War II hero Dr. Corydon Wassell, which might have had something to do with it.

Ruth May Wassell was more than the wife of a local political leader.  The daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Wiley Singleton May, she moved from Gurdon to Little Rock with her family and graduated from Little Rock High School. She later graduated from Henderson-Brown College and received a law degree from the University of Arkansas.  In 1932, she was admitted to the Arkansas Bar and later was admitted to practice before the Arkansas Supreme Court, one of the first women to receive this designation.

Mrs. Wassell was active in business, serving as president of the Arkansas Lumber Company  and owner of a citrus farm in Texas.  She was also active in civic affairs through involvement with the Arkansas Democratic Women, Boys Club and Second Presbyterian Church.  From 1947 until 1951 she was First Lady of Little Rock when Sam Wassell was elected as Mayor.

Following the December 1954 death of Mayor Wassell, she subsequently married E. W. “Bud” Gibb.  She died in 1964.

Local Live tonight features QNote at South on Main at 7:30pm

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llsom qnoteTonight at 7:30pm, join the Oxford American magazine for this week’s Local Live concert at South on Main, featuring QNote!

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 the Ben and Jane Hunt Meade.

Quincy “QNote” Watson is a Little Rock native with global awareness. He combines his Southern background and his many travels into songwriting, rapping, producing, engineering, and playing various musical instruments. He’s played nationally as well as locally, including at his Alma Mater Philander Smith College.

In addition to his technical aptitude for music, he is also a performer, a part of the rap duo Griff and QNote. Several of the songs from Soul South Age were performed on the historic steps of Little Rock Central High School to honor the Little Rock Nine and their sacrifices for social justice. He is also a member of TP and the Feel, fusing the genres of Jazz, Contemporary, Hip Hop, and R&B. As a solo artist and producer, QNote remains in that vein, using his craft for a purpose, employing music as a healing agent for truth and justice.

MAMMA MIA! tonight at Movies in the Park

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MITP070115 MammaThanks to tonight’s sponsor, the Doubletree Hotel, audiences can sing and dance to their favorite Abba songs while enjoying Mamma Mia!.

Little Rock’s own Movies in the Park, brought to you by the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau and the City of Little Rock, continues its 11th annual season tonight, Wednesday, July 15 at the First Security Amphitheatre.

Movies are shown every Wednesday during the season and begin at sundown.

Based on the hit Broadway musical, Mamma Mia! features Meryl Streep (with no accent!) and Amanda Seyfried as a mother and daughter on a Mediterranean isle.  Dominic Cooper plays Seyfried’s fiance while Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgård play former paramours of Streep’s.  Rounding out the central company are Christine Baranski and Julie Walters as longtime friends of Streep’s.  The plot, such as it is, concern’s Seyfried trying to find out which man is her father. The real purpose of the “story” is to set up scenarios for Abba songs.  While they may have varying degrees of singing ability, each of the actors are clearly having fun as they romp through the Abba catalog of hits.

Families, picnics and pets are invited to the park to enjoy movies under the stars, no glass containers please. A parent or adult guardian must accompany all children and youth under the age of 18 and an ID is required. The amphitheater will open an hour before film showings and movies will start at sundown each week. For more information please visit http://moviesintheparklr.net.

86 Percent say YES to CALS Bonds

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Cals ELectionAs noted last night, 86.10% of the voters approved the Central Arkansas Library System bond refinancing.  It really was a no-brainer, though a complicated explanation.  A “Yes” vote meant property taxes would be reduced (thanks to refinancing at a better interest rate).

The final numbers were 3,834 FOR, 619 AGAINST.  Two ballots were cast which were overvotes (voters filled in both bubbles) and five ballots were cast which were undervotes (they were blank). 4400 votes in a special election in July is a fairly decent turnout. It was 3.51% turnout.  When one considers how anemic voter turnout is for presidential elections, this should be viewed as fairly strong.

Looking at the precinct reports, it shows a deep level of support from all areas of the city.  It passed overwhelmingly in every precinct.  The most votes garnered against it in a precinct were 291 at one of the two Pulaski Heights Presbyterian precincts in Hillcrest.  But as that precinct had over 3,000 voters, it was still only 9% of the voters at that ballot box.

The Central Arkansas Library System is in the process of hiring a replacement for retiring director Dr. Bobby Roberts.  Certainly one of the things they must find is someone who knows how to run elections.  Library knowledge, creativity and a vision are not enough. Without the ability to build coalitions of voters, the other skills are all for naught.

In the meantime, the Central Arkansas Library System will move forward with plans to upgrade and expand physical plants and acquire more books and technology.  As is often the case, the planning for the campaign can be the easy part.  After the win comes the execution of the plan.

Now (as Pulitzer Prize and Tony winning playwright Tony Kushner writes in Angels in America, which is available to be checked out from CALS) – “The great work begins.”

CALS Election Results – FINAL – 86% approval

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Cals ELection

FINAL UNOFFICIAL NUMBERS

FOR – 3834 (86.10%)  AGAINST – 619 (13.90%)

Landslide doesn’t even begin to describe it.

 

UPDATE 9:08.  If this trend continues, it is another rousing success for retiring CALS Director Bobby Roberts.  He will give deserved credit to the CALS Board and to the campaign committee.  But his vision and his hard work over the years have as much to do with the CALS success at the ballot box as anything.

 

UPDATE 9:03  No new numbers.  With only 1/3 of the precincts remaining, it is difficult to see how the negative votes could overtake the positive ones.  However, not knowing which precincts have reported, there could still be some strong pockets of NO votes out there.

 

UPDATE 8:52  46 precincts

2319 FOR and 451 AGAINST.

That continues the over 80% approval.  Perhaps my previous post can be disregarded.

 

UPDATE 8:49  Given the huge jump in the favorability percentage, I suspect that includes the Heights and Hillcrest.  I expect as the other results come in, the numbers will move back toward the middle to lower 70s.

 

UPDATE: 8:44  30 precincts

1421 FOR; 296 Against.  Moved to over 80% favorable

 

UPDATE 8:42. 12 precincts reporting (including early and absentee)

FOR: 682 and AGAINST: 209

Maintaining the rough 3 to 1 favorable margin.

 

UPDATE: 8:40.  And still we wait…..   I firmly believe I probably could have driven to all 70 polling sites and looked at their posted numbers by now.  Well that is a slight exaggeration, but not much.

UPDATE: 8:12pm – still awaiting the pollworkers to return to HQ with results.  In the meantime, a look at the first numbers.  Four people went to the trouble to vote absentee, and turned in Blank Ballots.   One absentee voter filled in both options.

I am all for voting.  Heck, I even vote for the school district millage every year.  But I make sure my ballot counts.

Oh, well….

 

ORGINAL: With the early and absentee votes reported, 569 people cast votes FOR the library refinancing and 174 people cast votes AGAINST the bonds.

There were also 4 blank ballots cast, and one ballot cast with apparently the voter marking For and Against.

This will be updated as results come in.

Big Band in Little Rock tonight!

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som rosenLittle Rock musical mainstay, bandleader, and trumpter-extraordinaire David Rosen (of Rosen Music Company) will bring his 18-piece big band to the South on Main stage for a night of jazz. Enjoy an evening of timeless jazz classics from the 30s, 40s, 50s, and beyond.

This is a ticketed event with a $10 cover charge payable in cash only at the doors beginning at 5:00 PM when South on Main opens to the public.

Music will start a 7:00 PM.