Author Archives: Scott

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About Scott

A cultural thinker with a life long interest in the arts and humanities: theatre, music, architecture, photography, history, urban planning, etc.

Batter Up! – Science after Dark focuses on Baseball tonight at the Museum of Discovery

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science baseballTake me out to the ballgame and Science After Dark at the Museum of Discovery to learn the science of baseball!  We have an all-star lineup including:
Tonight at the Museum of Discovery, it is the monthly Science After Dark feature for adults.  This month explores the Science of Baseball.  Learn about the science of pitching, hitting and catching tonight.

Among the features are:

In addition, Damgoode Pies will sell pizza by the slice (to benefit the museum) and have a special ballpark pizza.  Stone’s Throw Brewing and Juanita’s Cantina will also be selling refreshments of the liquid variety.

The program runs from 6pm to 8pm at the Museum of Discovery. It costs $5, but is free to Museum Members.  If you attend several of these a year as well as visit the museum once or twice, you MORE than make up your membership fee.

Though school is back in session, don’t forget to take your kids to the museum.  If you don’t have kids, borrow some from a friend, neighbor or relative — you’ll be their hero.  Or just go by yourself – the Museum of Discovery offers activities and exhibits designed to engage literally all ages.

Learn COMMUNICATION SKILLS at Tonight’s Tales from the South tonight at Stickyz

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talesfromthesouth“What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate!” So goes the line from the Paul Newman classic film Cool Hand Luke.  Tonight’s Tales from the South looks at Communication Skills.

The featured storytellers are Amber Hood, Danny Powell, and Grant Rollins.  Live music is provided by Brad Williams and bluesman Mark Simpson.

“Tales from the South” originates tonight from Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack in the heart of the River Market district.

“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 7pm, the show starts at 7pm.  Admission is $10.  Dinner cost is additional and ordered off the menu.

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 September 11.

Arkansas Vietnam War Project launched by Butler Center for Arkansas Studies

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cals_int_sponsor_butlerDuring the Vietnam War over 58,000 Americans were killed, including 592 Arkansans. The Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, a department of the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS), has launched the Arkansas Vietnam War Project to gather and share personal stories of Arkansans from the war.

The project collects letters, photographs, and diaries from Arkansans who served during the conflict, from family members of veterans, and from civilians who want to share memories of the war. The Arkansas Vietnam War Project seeks to record oral histories, allowing veterans, family members, and civilians to voice their recollections of the war. More information may be found at www.butlercenter.org/arkansas-vietnam-war-project, where participants’ contributions will be highlighted in coming months.

Thursday, August 7 marked the 50th anniversary of a significant incident, the passing of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. This congressional resolution gave President Johnson the power to continue to escalate United States military involvement in Vietnam without a formal declaration of war.

The Arkansas Vietnam War Project follows the award-winning FORGOTTEN: The Arkansas Korean War Project, accessible at www.butlercenter.org/koreanwarproject, and demonstrates the Butler Center’s continued commitment to collecting Arkansans’ military history. For more information about the project, call 501-320-5700 or email Brian Robertson, project director, at brianr@cals.org.

Little Rock Look Back: Drawing the Quapaw Line

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quapawlineOn August 24, 1818, the Quapaw Line was drawn.  Starting at La Petite Roche and heading due south, this line formed the boundary between the Quapaw tribe lands and public lands available for settlement.  Though by 1824, the Quapaw were forced to give up all of their lands, the line continued serve as an important marker.  In the ensuing six years, the first permanent settlement of Little Rock took place and streets were planned.

It is interesting to note that the 1818 treaty referred to La Petite Roche as the Little Rock.  Some have speculated that this is the first official use of “Little Rock” to designate the outcropping.  When the Post Office was established in March 1820, it was given the name Little Rock.

There is a marker commemorating the beginning of the Quapaw Line located at La Petite Roche in Riverfront Park.  The first segment of the line is also noted in the park.  There are also sunken markers (such as the one to the left) place along the line at various points.  In MacArthur Park, at the corner of 9th and Commerce Streets, there is a marker noting that the line passed through at that location.

A good account of walking the Quapaw Line through downtown Little Rock can be found on this website.

Most of what is now called the Quapaw Quarter was located to the west of the Quapaw Line.  However, it did take its name from the fact that the tribe had once lived in that area and was later sequestered to lands near it.  The name for the area was chosen by a committee composed of David D. Terry, Peg Newton Smith, Mrs. Walter Riddick Sr., Dr. John L. Ferguson, and James Hatcher. They had been appointed to a Significant Structures Technical Advisory Committee to advocate for preservation of important structures as a component of the City of Little Rock’s urban renewal efforts.

Ballet Arkansas kicks off 2014-15 with VISIONS

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BA_VISIONS_600x300ad_25july2014Ballet Arkansas kicks off the season tonight with their first annual Visions Choreographic Competition.  It will take place in the CALS Ron Robinson Theater in the River Market at 7:00 pm.

Thirty-six emerging choreographers from around the country competed for five spots in this competition. The winner will receive a commission to create a complete new work on Ballet Arkansas’s company dancers for their 2015 spring show.

The five choreographers  selected for the competition are:

  • Sayoko Knode,  former principal dancer with Idaho Dance Theatre;
  • Jerry Opdenaker, former principal dancer for ballet companies such as Milwaukee Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Kansas City Ballet and Ballet Florida;
  • Brandon Ragland, dancer with the Louisville Ballet;
  • Christopher Stuart dancer with Nashville Ballet;
  • Hilary Fullmer Wolfley who graduated in 2013 from Brigham Young University with a bachelor’s degree in Ballet.

The five pieces will be judged by Adam Sklute, Artistic Director of Ballet West, Rhythm McCarthy with UALR’s Theatre and Dance Program, former Ballet Arkansas Principal Dancer Michael Tidwell with the Tidwell Project and the audience will be the fourth judge.

“I am very pleased with the talent level of our five guest choreographers” said Artistic Director, Michael Bearden “Their abilities in collaboration with our beautiful dancers will make for an evening you won’t want to miss.”

One Acts this weekend at Community Theatre of Little Rock

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ctlrWhen the Community Theatre of Little Rock was founded in the 1950s, it was common for groups such as it to perform evenings of One Act plays.

Returning to these roots, this weekend the CTLR presents an evening of four one act plays.

The lineup is

“The Actor’s Nightmare” by Christopher Durang.  In it George is mistaken for an actor’s understudy and forced to perform a show he doesn’t know. The cast is David Monteith as George Spelvin, Francesca Bee as Meg, Brooke Ballew as Sarah Siddons, Jessica Allis as Ellen Terry and Peyton Hooks as Henry Irving.

In “Private Wars” by James McLure, three recovering soldiers try to figure out where their lives go from here.  The cast is Jerry Woods, John Timaues and Courtney Williams.

Noel Coward’s “Ways and Means” examines what happens when an heiress and her gambling husband, plagued with debt and shame, are inadvertently saved by a disgraced chauffeur. The cast includes Susan Troillet, Harold Dean, Tracy Speed, Michael Harmon, Jessica Allis, Jerry Woods and Courtney Williams.

In “30 Minutes to Charlie” by Nick Zagone, Kline and Reid hit are forced to visit the Emergency Room while trying to get to the meeting of a lifetime. The cast features Jon Martin, Peyton Hooks, Tracy Speed and Skye Sebring.

Performances are at 7:30 tonight (August 22) and tomorrow (August 23) and at 2:30 on Sunday, August 24.  The CTLR now performs at the new Studio Theatre.

An Evening of Art – Extended Hours and a Lecture at the Arkansas Arts Center Tonight

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arkartsWatch and learn as artist Victor Ekpuk talks about creating a wall-sized, ephemeral drawing in paint markers, inspired by Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” from his Ninth Symphony. This is the first time that Ekpuk will draw from music. Like most wall drawings in museums, Ekpuk’s Ode to Joy will be destroyed at the end of the exhibition. The ephemeral nature of the work adds to the intensity of experience while it is on the wall. Ekpuk’s drawings, whether on paper or on walls, make their way around the world through photography and the internet. In this way, they are shared with audiences scattered in both space and time.

Location: Lecture Hall Fees: Free for members, $10 for non-members.

Reservations at Best Impressions available at 501-907-5946. –