Monthly Archives: September 2019

Parker Millsap returns to South on Main stage tonight

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“Witnessing Parker Millsap sing for the first time is a jarring experience, because the sights and sounds just don’t seem to match up: the slightly built [Oklahoman] has a bluesy, powerful rasp of a howl that sounds equally suited for juke joints or church tents.” —Rolling Stone

Parker MillsapTonight (September 18) at 7:30 PM the Oxford American welcomes Parker Millsap back to the South on Main stage!

Doors open at 5:30 PM, with dinner and drinks available for purchase at that time. This show is a special addition to their 2019-2020 Concert Series and is made possible in part by Downtown Little Rock Partnership.

Tickets are $25 (General Admission), $30 (Reserved), and $32 (Premium Reserved)—available via Metrotix.com or (800) 293-5949.

At 26 years of age, Oklahoma native Parker Millsap is quickly making a name for himself with his captivating live performances, soulful sound, and character-driven narratives. He’s had a string of highlights in recent years including his network television debut on CONAN, a performance with Elton John at the Apple Music Festival in London, an Austin City Limits taping and an Americana Music Association nomination for Album of the Year. He has also received praise from The New York Times, The Boston Globe, LA Times, Austin Chronicle, and Rolling Stone to name a few.

He first picked up an acoustic guitar at nine, then plugged in and went electric after getting into Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan, eventually starting a cover band with classmate, Michael Rose who still plays bass with him today. Over the years he recruited musicians Daniel Foulks (fiddle) and Andrew Bones (Drums) to join his band.

Parker’s first three full-length releases—2012’s Palisade, 2014’s self-titled LP, and 2016’s The Very Last Day—showcased a primal mastery of acoustic folk rock, with their flourish for revelation and fiery dynamics, all recorded with extreme precision, purpose and efficiency.

Parker’s newest album, Other Arrangements, (released via Thirty Tigers) finds him taking bold steps in new directions. Associated press says “Parker Millsap rocks harder than ever on his fourth album.” And Rolling Stone calls Other Arrangements Parker’s “tightest, sharpest and most infectious set of songs to date.”

Opening of War Memorial Stadium on Sept. 18, 1948

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On September 18, 1948, the Arkansas Razorbacks took on Abilene Christian and won the game by a score of 40 to 6.  It was the first game of the season, and the Razorbacks went into the game ranked #13. They maintained that ranking for four weeks before falling out of national standings.  The team ended up with a season record of five wins and five losses. Playing four of their games at War Memorial that season, they were two and two in Little Rock. They were one and two in Fayetteville and amassed a 2-1 record on the road.

Dedication ceremony in 1948. Photo courtesy of the War Memorial Stadium Commission.

Prior to the game, the stadium was dedicated to the veterans of World War I and World War II in a ceremony led by former Razorback standout and Medal of Honor recipient Maurice “Footsie” Britt.

Though Britt would later be known for entering politics and becoming Arkansas’ first Republican Lieutenant Governor, in his college days he was known statewide as an outstanding Razorback football and baseball athlete.  During World War II, his bravery and courage allowed him to become first person in American history to earn all the army’s top awards, including the Medal of Honor, while fighting in a single war.

Also participating in the opening ceremony were a mass of high school marching bands from across the state. Reports indicate up to forty bands were on the field to play the National Anthem as part of the event.

The construction of the stadium had been the brainchild of Razorback coach John Barnhill and Arkansas Secretary of State C. G. “Crip” Hall.  The duo shepherded it through the 1947 Arkansas General Assembly.   As a student at the University, Hall had been a team manager for the Razorbacks and had remained a longtime, active supporter.

In August of 1947, Little Rock was chosen as the location over Hot Springs and North Little Rock. West Memphis had abandoned its bid when it was unable to secure the necessary financial pledges.  Construction started in 1947 and continued up until opening day.  On the day of the game, newspaper photos showed heavy equipment grading the parking lot prior to paving.

The park in which the stadium sat would be renamed War Memorial Park in June 1949 and dedicated by President Harry S. Truman in a nationally-broadcast ceremony from War Memorial Stadium.

The Queen of Snapchat, Cyreneq, is featured at inaugural C. Earl and Kathy Ramsey lecture at UA Little Rock Downtown

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UA Little Rock alumna Cyrene Quiamco, better known as Cyreneq, is a Flipino-American social media artist, influencer, and published author. She is known for creating art on Snapchat.

She will present the inaugural C. Earl and Kathy Ramsey Distinguished Lecture. It will be tonight (September 18) at 6pm in the UA Little Rock Downtown space.

Cyreneq’s work has been featured in Forbes, Fast Company, Entrepreneur and Business Insider. Quiamco is considered one of the Top 100 New Establishments by Vanity Fair and Cosmopolitan’s Top 50 Most Fascinating People. She is the ambassador of the National Digest Arts Awards in the Philippines where she advocated the importance of art in education and career.

 

In conjunction with ACANSA, the Clinton School presents a discussion of A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE in context of #MeToo era

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Tennessee Williams was always disappointed that “I’ve always depended on the kindness of strangers” did not elicit the audience laughter he wanted in his Pulitzer Prize winning A Streetcar Named Desire.

In partnership with Argenta Community Theater, the ACANSA Arts Festival of the South is proud to present Tennessee Williams’ timeless masterpiece, A Streetcar Named Desire. Seeking solace from her crumbling world, Blanche arrives at her sister, Stella’s, apartment bringing her face to face with the menacing masculinity of Stanley Kowalski. Directed by Clinton School student Ben Grimes, the production is a raw exploration of family, sexuality, gender roles, and survival.

A Community Conversation will be led by Dr. Virginia O. Craighill, Professor of English from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn.

The production opened on September 17 and runs through September 22.  Performances are at 7:30pm through Saturday with a 2:00 matinee on Sunday.

All Clinton School Speaker Series events are free and open to the public. Reserve your seats by emailing publicprograms@clintonschool.uasys.edu or by calling (501) 683-5239.

Jennifer Bonner of Mall and Harvard University Graduate School of Design is first 2019-2020 Architecture & Design Network speaker

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Image result for jennifer bonnerIn partnership with the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, the June Freeman Lecture Series is excited to welcome Jennifer Bonner, Director of MALL and Associate Professor of Architecture and Director of the Master in Architecture II Program at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.

“Before and After Haus Gables” is the topic of the program.  It will take place at the Windgate Center of Art + Design on the UA Little Rock campus.

Born in Alabama, Jennifer Bonner founded MALL, a creative practice for art and architecture in 2009. MALL stands for Mass Architectural Loopty Loops or Maximum Arches with Limited Liability—an acronym with built-in flexibility. As a recipient of the Architectural League Prize for Young Architects + Designers, Emerging Voices Award (AIA/Young Architects Forum), and Progressive Architecture (P/A) Award, her creative work has been published in architectural trade journals including Architect, Metropolis, Architectural Review, Architectural Record, and Wallpaper, as well as a+t , DAMN, PLAT, Offramp, and MAS Context . She is founder and author of A Guide to the Dirty South: Atlanta, editor of Platform: Still Life, and a guest editor for ART PAPERS special issue on architecture and design of Los Angeles.

MALL’s recent work includes a single-family residence constructed out of cross-laminated timber, a mid-rise tower that resembles a sandwich, an urban development for a small lot located in Atlanta, Georgia and a temporary installation for Boston’s Rose Kennedy Greenway. The work can be described as pictorially graphic and out of place and playfully challenges the production of architecture through representation, materiality and color.

ADN lectures are free and open to the public. No reservations are required.   Supporters of ADN include the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, the University of Arkansas Little Rock Windgate Center of Art + Design, the Central Section of the Arkansas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, the Arkansas Art Center and friends in the community.  For additional information contact  ArchDesignNetwork@gmail.com.

Concert in memory of longtime ASO violinist Eric Hayward presented tonight

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Eric and Christopher Hayward

On Tuesday, September 17, in the first concert of Festival of the Senses’ 2019-20 performing arts season, a string ensemble will play Tchaikovsky’s celebrated Piano Trio in A Minor and a new piano quartet, “The Black Rose,” composed by Little Rock’s Dustin Yoder in memory of Eric Hayward of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra (ASO).

The free concert will be held at 7:00 p.m. at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 4106 JFK Boulevard in North Little Rock, and will feature ASO Concertmaster Kiril Laskarov on violin, Stephen Feldman on cello, May Tsao-Lim on piano, and Eric Hayward’s son, Christopher Hayward, on the viola. A reception will be held in the parish hall following the performance.

“Eric Hayward was our friend and colleague in the Arkansas Symphony and we miss him dearly,” says Kiril Laskarov. “Eric loved chamber music, so we thought the best way to honor his memory was to present this program. We combine one of the greatest chamber music pieces in the literature, Tchaikovsky’s Piano Trio, which was dedicated to another great musician, the pianist Nikolai Rubinstein, with the world premiere of a piano quartet entitled ‘The Black Rose,’ which was composed by Eric’s student Dustin Yoder and will feature Chris Hayward, Eric’s son, on the viola.”

Eric Hayward (1954-2018) was an associate concertmaster and principal second violinist with the ASO for 38 years and a founding member of Arkansas’ premier string quartet, the Quapaw String Quartet. Following his death in 2018, the ASO established a principal second violin chair in his memory. He held degrees from Oregon State and Northwestern Universities and studied at the University of Iowa, taught violin and viola privately and in a number of local schools, and played in various concerts at St. Luke’s since before the inception of Festival of the Senses.

Christopher Hayward began his musical education following in his father’s footsteps on violin but later changed to the viola. A 2006 graduate of Little Rock Central High School, he attended Evangel University in Springfield, Missouri, and is now married and lives and works in Maumelle. He has played in the Arkansas Youth Orchestra, All-Region Orchestra, All-State Orchestra, and the Missouri All-Collegiate Orchestra.

Dustin Yoder, currently resident composer for WAMA, the music and arts camp of Little Rock’s Wildwood Park for the Arts, is a local musician and former student of Eric Hayward. He was a 2015 violin finalist for the High School Honors Performance Series Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. He teaches private lessons locally, plays part-time in the ASO, has composed scores for a number of short films, and is a self-taught painter.

THE PROGRAM

Piano Trio in A Minor, Opus 50 – Pezzo Elegiaco
  Dedicated to Nikolai Rubinstein (1835−1881)
by Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky (1840−1893)

Piano Quartet in C Minor, “The Black Rose”
  Dedicated to Eric Hayward (1954−2018)
by Dustin Yoder (b. 1996)

Piano Trio in A Minor, Opus 50 – A. Tema con Variazioni; B. Finale e Coda
by Tchaikovsky