Category Archives: Literature

Ark Rep’s PAL JOEY at Clinton School today

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PalJoeyThe Arkansas Repertory Theatre works in partnership with the Clinton School of Public Service to participate in the UACS’s Distinguished Speaker Series, hosting educational panel discussions on various Rep productions. The latest in these takes place today, Thursday, September 5 at 12 noon at Sturgis Hall in Clinton Presidential Park.

The panel will feature the cast of the Arkansas Repertory Theatre’s production of Pal Joey.  This reimagined production of the Rodgers and Hart classic musical was conceived and directed by Tony Award winner Peter Schneider.  It features a new book by Patrick Pacheco, based on the original “Pal Joey” stories by John O’Hara.  Tony nominee Dan Knechtges is the choreographer.

Pal Joey opens tomorrow night (with previews last night and tonight). It runs through Sunday, September 29. Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday evening performances are at 7 p.m., Friday, Saturday evening performances are at 8 p.m. Sunday Matinees performances are at 2 p.m.

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Tailgate Party to celebrate VOICES OF THE RAZORBACKS book on Sept 5

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bc-purvisFans aren’t the only ones who call the Hogs. Voices of the Razorbacks, which has just been released by Butler Center Books, traces the history of the Razorback broadcasters who many fans grew up hearing. Celebrate the launch of this book at a free book signing and tailgate party in the Main Library’s garden and Darragh Center, 100 Rock Street, at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 5. Author Hoyt Purvis will speak and sign books, which will be available for purchase at the event. This event is free and open to the public. RSVP to kchagnon@cals.org or 918-3033.

Established more than sixty years ago, the Razorback broadcasting network was a pioneering effort in collegiate sports. With announcers such as Bud Campbell and Paul Eells at the microphone, it has become an enduring feature of life in Arkansas. The Razorback network, from its modest beginning to its growth into a major force in sports broadcasting, is the basis of Voices of the Razorbacks.

The Razorback broadcasting network helped build interest in the Razorbacks and a loyal following for them as well as forged strong links among Razorback fans and the broadcasters who became “voices” of the Razorbacks. A sense of kinship developed within the audience, and the broadcasts of Razorback sports became an essential part of the state’s culture.

Although an announcer today may say, “This is the Razorback Sports Network from IMG College,” the Arkansas broadcast network is a direct descendant of the Razorback network Bob Cheyne assembled in the early 1950s at the direction of Athletic Director John Barnhill. There had been earlier broadcasts of Razorback sports, including games announced by Bob Fulton in the 1940s, but the Razorback network Cheyne developed help turn broadcasters into cultural icons.

Voices of the Razorbacks traces the history of the broadcasters and the memorable events and highlights over the decades, and it features interviews with many of the key figures in that history. It is hard to find anyone in Arkansas, or Razorback fans anywhere, without special memories of listening to or watching broadcasts of Razorback games. Voices of the Razorbacks brings all those memories back.

Co-author Hoyt Purvis has taught journalism, international relations, and political science at the University of Arkansas (UA) since 1982. He established the first sports journalism course at UA and taught it for twenty-five years. Co-author Stanley Sharp of Booneville, Arkansas, has followed Razorback sports all his life and has a master’s degree in journalism from UA.

Voices of the Razorbacks is available from River Market Books & Gifts, 120 River Market Ave., and from the University of Arkansas Press, Butler Center Books’ distributor. Butler Center Books is a division of the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, a department of the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS). The Butler Center’s research collections, art galleries, and offices are located in the Arkansas Studies Institute building at 401 President Clinton Ave. on the campus of the CALS Main Library. For more information, contact Rod Lorenzen at (501) 320-5716 or rlorenzen@cals.org.

Arkansas Sounds lineup announced

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arkansas_sounds_2013There’s something about the Arkansas River that makes free live music sound even better. DeQueen native Collin Raye and a tribute to Delight native Glen Campbell will headline the Arkansas Sounds Music Festival, a free annual event hosted by the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, a department of the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS). On Friday and Saturday, September 27-28, the festival will feature Arkansas music and musicians both past and present at programs for all age groups at the River Market Pavilions, First Security Amphitheatre, and the Main Library.

Music in a large variety of genres and styles will showcase Arkansans’ love of music.

Friday, September 27 at the River Market Pavilions

Time Band Musical Genre
6 p.m. The Smittle Band jazzy Americana
7:15 p.m. Tav Falco & Panther Burns southern gothic roots/rockabilly
8:30 p.m. Dan Hicks & the Hot Licks gypsy jazz

Saturday – First Security Amphitheatre

Noon The Sound of the Mountain instrumental progressive rock
1 p.m. The 1 oz. Jig funk
2:15 p.m. Messy Sparkles electro-pop one man DJ
3:30 p.m. Big Piph (Epiphany) progressive hip-hop
4:45 p.m. War Chief Americana rock and roll
6 p.m. Mountain Sprout hillbilly bluegrass
7:15 p.m. Bonnie Montgomery country honky tonk
8:30 p.m. Glen Campbell Tribute
9:30 p.m. Collin Raye modern country

Three programs for children and teens are scheduled at the Main Library beginning at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, September 28.

10:30 a.m. Ages Up to 6 years The Kinders Concert 3rd Floor Youth Services
1 p.m. Ages 7-12 Hip Hop Songwriting and Production workshop Level 4 Teen Center
2 p.m. Ages 13-19 Hip Hop Songwriting and Production workshop Level 4 Teen Center

Additional programs are scheduled during September at different venues in downtown Little Rock.

Friday, Sept. 13 – 5 p.m.
Second Friday Art Night performance by Michael Carenbauer
Butler Center Galleries, 401 President Clinton Avenue

Thursday Sept. 19 6 p.m.
Cocktail party to celebrate the release of Encyclopedia of Arkansas Music
Main Library’s Darragh Center, 100 Rock Street

Monday, Sept. 23  6 p.m.
Songwriters Showcase
Main Library’s Darragh Center, 100 Rock Street

Tuesday, Sept. 24  7 p.m.
Performance honoring Clark Terry
Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, 501 W. 9th Street

Thursday, Sept. 26 6 p.m.
Tav Falco book signing, with the Arkansas Literary Festival
Main Library’s Darragh Center, 100 Rock Street

The Arkansas Sounds Music Festival and all related events are free and open to the public. For a complete schedule, see www.arkansassounds.org. To volunteer for the Arkansas Sounds Music Festival, contact Angela Delaney at adelaney@cals.org or 918-3095. For more information, visit www.cals.org.

Philander Smith 2013-2014 “Bless the Mic” Series announced

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???????????Philander Smith College has announced the 2013-14 schedule for its BlessThe Mic Lecture Series, set to kick off at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 19 with award-winning actor, director and inspirational speaker Charles S. Dutton.

Bless The Mic is a contemporary spin on the traditional President’s Lecture Series. These events, held on hundreds of campuses across the country, have been a way to stimulate the intellectual discourse on the campus. Even today, these series seek to bring in noted scholars, authors, politicians and public intellectuals to expose not only the campus community to their ideas and concepts, but the broader community in which the institution resides.

pscduttonA graduate of the Yale School of Drama, Tony nominee Charles S. Dutton’s career spans theater, television and film. From 1991 to 1994 he starred in the title role and executive produced the critically-acclaimed Fox comedy/drama Roc, for which he received several NAACP Image Award nominations. Dutton has numerous other television credits, having won Emmy Awards for his guest starring roles in Without a Trace and The Practice. Most recently he can be seen in guest star roles on top shows Criminal Minds and American Horror Story.

The Baltimore native is also a veteran of numerous feature films, including Aliens 3; Cry, The Beloved Country; A Time to Kill; Get on the Bus; and Cookie’s Fortune. On Broadway he has starred in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and The Piano Lesson.

PSCjohnOn Thursday, Oct. 17 at 7 p.m., Daymond John, entrepreneur, investor, author and cast member of ABC’s Shark Tank will speak. John is perhaps best known for being one of the creators of the global fashion brand FUBU. As founder and CEO, FUBU has amassed over four billion dollars in worldwide retail sales. As a consultant and business/motivational speaker, John works with products and celebrities to create awareness of marketing and entrepreneurship opportunities, and brand extension projects. In 2009, he joined the cast of Shark Tank, a show in which he and other business executives listen to the business pitches of aspiring entrepreneurs to decide whether to invest in their projects.

pschuddlestonA native of Imboden, Ark., TV producer Bryant Huddleston, will appear at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 14.  Huddleston began his broadcast career in Fayetteville, Ark., at KHOG-TV. In 1998, he relocated to Los Angeles and began producing news, specials and live red carpet events for the E! Network. In 2004 he joined NBC’s Access Hollywood where he spent eight years. Huddleston recently helped launch the Bravo network’s new series Property Envy. The single father of a young son, Huddleston is also an ardent advocate for equality and adoption rights for LGBT citizens and speaks frequently on those issues.

pscsmithJudy Smith, the real-life inspiration behind ABC’s hit political thriller series Scandal, will lecture at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014.  The founder and president of Smith & Company, a strategic and crisis communications firm with offices in Los Angeles and Washington, DC, Smith has honed her skills through experiences guiding her clients through some of the most sensational events of our time, including the Iran Contra investigation, the Los Angeles riots, President Clinton’s involvement with Monica Lewinsky and the congressional inquiry of Enron, to name a few. Celebrities she has consulted in times of crisis include actor Wesley Snipes, NFL quarterback Michael Vick, and more recently, celebrity chef Paula Deen. She has also worked with Fortune 500 companies such as BellSouth and Wal-Mart.

In 1991, Smith joined the White House with her appointment as special assistant and deputy press secretary to President George H. W. Bush. During her tenure she provided the president and his cabinet with communications advice on a wide range of foreign and domestic issues.  Smith earned her B.S. in public relations from Boston University and graduated from the American University Washington College of Law where she was the first African American woman to serve as executive editor of the Law Review. The author of Good Self, Bad Self: Transforming Your Worse Qualities into Your Biggest Assets, Smith’s writing her been featured in numerous publications and she frequently appears on major TV networks offering commentary on topical issues of the day.

pscdelvalleThe series continues at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 13 with poet and spoken word artist Mayda del Valle.  Chosen by O Magazine as one of 20 women on the first “O Power List,” the Chicago native is the youngest poet and first Latino to win the 2001 National Poetry Slam Individual Championship. Soon after she was chosen to perform on the first season of the HBO’s Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry, followed by a stint as an original cast member and contributing writer of the critically acclaimed Tony award winning production of Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam on Broadway. Del Valle, who has been featured in numerous publications including Urban Latino, Latina magazine and the New York Time, holds a B.A. in Art from Williams College.

pscwhiteTeacher, pastor and international evangelist Paula White will visit Philander Smith College at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 20.  White is senior pastor of New Destiny Christian Center in Apopka, Fl., “a non-traditional church with a multicultural mission” whose membership ranges in the thousands. Through her Paula White Ministries, she works to support hundreds of local, international and global outreaches, and presently is focused on building orphanages, schools, churches, clean-water wells and feeding stations around the world; providing medical care and ministerial training internationally; and organizing crusades in areas such as Haiti, Africa and India.  Host of the nationally-syndicated television program Paula Today, White is the former senior pastor of Without Walls International Church of Tampa, Fl., a ministry she co-founded with her former husband, Randy White.

Free and open to the public, all lectures are held in the M.L. Harris Auditorium. Tickets are not required; seating is first-come, first-serve. For more information, call 370-5354.

Oxford American features Charles Portis film adaptation

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2e6b4_1320267846-oxa_logoToday, August 26, 2013, the Oxford American website features the world premiere of a film adapatation of Charles Portis’ “I Don’t Talk Service No More.”

In addition to the film, the website features an interview of the filmmaker Katrina Whalen.  Jay Jennings, who edited Escape Velocity: A Charles Portis Miscellany chats with Ms. Whalen about Portis and the process of making films.

Whalen worked in production for directors Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich; Adaptation; Synecdoche, New York) and Julie Taymor (Titus; Frida; Broadway’s The Lion King) after her undergrad education at Yale.  She then enrolled in graduate school at New York University.

Jennings is a freelance writer whose journalism, book reviews, and humor have appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, the Oxford American, and many other newspapers and magazines.

To see the film, which features Peter McRobbie and Richard Marshall, visit the OA website.

Tales from the South: Games Children Play

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talesfromsouthTonight’s edition of  ”Tales from the South” is Games Children Play. It will feature stories by Brooke Burger, Newton Jones and Bill Scott. Music is by Amy Garland Angel 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.

The program takes place at Starving Artist Café.  Dinner is served from 5pm to 6:30pm, the show starts at 7pm.  Admission is $7.50, not including dinner.

You MUST purchase your ticket before the show

Previous episodes of “Tales from the South” air on KUAR Public Radio on Thursdays at 7pm.  Tonight’s episode will air on September 19.

Tonight: “Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space Exploration,” Dr. Buzz Aldrin and Leonard David

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Buzz AldrinLegendary astronaut Dr. Buzz Aldrin and Leonard David, veteran space journalist and co-author of Dr. Aldrin’s new book, “Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space Exploration” will be in conversation this evening at 6:00pm at Robinson Center Music Hall.

Selected into the NASA in 1963, Dr. Aldrin developed docking and rendezvous techniques for spacecraft in Earth and lunar orbit, which was critical to the success of the Gemini and Apollo programs, and are still used today. He pioneered underwater training techniques, as a substitute for zero gravity flights, to simulate spacewalking and during the 1966 Gemini 12 mission, he preformed the first successful spacewalk. On July 20, 1969, Dr. Aldrin, along with Neil Armstrong made their historic Apollo 11 moonwalk, becoming the first two humans to set foot on another world.

Leonard David has been reporting on space exploration for nearly five decades. Mr. David is the 2010 winner of the prestigious National Space Club Press Award, presented this honor during the Club’s annual Robert H. Goddard Memorial Dinner in April 2011 that was held in Washington, D.C. Currently, Leonard is SPACE.com’s Space Insider Columnist, as well as a correspondent for Space News newspaper and a contributing writer for several magazines, specifically Aerospace America, the membership publication of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). This program is sponsored by the Clinton Foundation and Clinton School of Public Service.

*This lecture has limited seating available. Invitation is non-transferrable. Reservations are required. Reserve your seats by emailing publicprograms@clintonschool.uasys.edu or calling 501.683.5239.

Following the lecture, Dr. Aldrin and Leonard David will be available for a book signing of their new book, “Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space Exploration.” To reserve a copy, please contact Michelle Ross at the Clinton Museum Store at mross@clintonfoundation.org or 501-748-0401.