Tag Archives: Central Arkansas Library System

Middle East is the topic of the 2014 Rabbi Ira Sanders Distinguished Lecture Tonight

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DrKimballphotocalsDr. Charles Kimball, author of When Religion Becomes Lethal: The Explosive Mix of Politics and Religion in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, will present the Central Arkansas Library System’s (CALS) Rabbi Ira Sanders Distinguished Lecture on Thursday, September 4, at 6:30 p.m. in the CALS Ron Robinson Theater, 100 River Market Avenue. The lecture is free and open to the public, and will be followed by a reception and book signing.

Kimball is a graduate of Oklahoma State University and holds the M.Div. degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. An ordained Baptist minister, he received his Th.D. from Harvard University. Kimball is an expert analyst on Islam, Jewish-Christian-Muslim relations, the Middle East, and the intersection of religion and politics in the U.S.

Dr. Charles Kimball is Presidential Professor and Director of Religious Studies at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, OK. Between 1996 and 2008, he served as Chair of the Department of Religion and the Divinity School at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC. During the 2006 fall term, Dr. Kimball was the Rita and William Bell Visiting Professor at the University of Tulsa. He is a graduate of Oklahoma State University and holds the M.Div. degree from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Reservations are requested, but not required. RSVP to pedwards@cals.org or 918-3009. For more information contact 918-3086 or sgele@cals.org.

 

Jazz in the Park returns with Rodney Block and the Real Music Lovers tonight from 6pm to 8pm in Riverfront Park

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jazzinparkJazz in the Park is back in Little Rock for the second half of the second season! Jazz in the Park is a free, family-friendly event featuring jazz in downtown Little Rock.

Things get going tonight from 6pm to 8pm with Rodney Block & the Real Music Lovers.  Block is a Dumas native who has been thriving in the local music scene for the past couple of years. A trumpeter who has been featured and performed in various venues across the region ranging from corporate to social, he has built a niche in the genres of jazz and hip hop. Notable artists he has shared the stage with include Dwele, Jonathan Butler, Dave Hollister, Wynton Marsalis, and Eric Roberson. In 2007, Block’s televised jazz feature, AETN Presents: Front Row with Rodney Block, was nominated for a Regional Emmy.

The event is completely free, but no coolers are allowed. Beer, wine, soft drinks and water will be available for sale, with a portion of the proceeds going to benefit Sculpture at the River Market. Lawn chairs and blankets are welcome, and there is some seating in the natural stone amphitheater at the History Pavilion.

This event is sponsored by Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau and the River Market, with special thanks to Arkansas Sounds Music Festival and the Central Arkansas Library System.

Jazz in the Park takes place Wednesday nights in September from 6pm to 8pm. They will take place in the History Pavilion near the Junction Bridge and the River Market.

“We Wanna Boogie” at Legacies & Lunch Today

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we_wanna_boogieRockabilly great Sonny Burgess, of Newport, Arkansas, and his band the Legendary Pacers are the topic of We Wanna Boogie, a new release from Butler Center Books by Marvin Schwartz, who will speak at Legacies & Lunch, the Butler Center’s monthly lecture series, on Wednesday, September 3, at noon in the Main Library’s Darragh Center, 100 Rock Street. Books will be available for purchase; Schwartz, Burgess, and band members Jim Aldridge, Fred Douglas, Bobby Crafford, and Kern Kennedy will sign copies after the talk.

In We Wanna Boogie, Burgess and his band members tell of their original recordings for Sun Records in the 1950s and their shows with Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and others. Burgess, whose music evolved in the Silver Moon and other clubs around the Arkansas delta, has influenced rock and roll music internationally and has led the contemporary rockabilly revival in the U.S. and overseas. The book also tells the history of a once prominent and high spirited delta community of extensive agricultural wealth. Newport was home to numerous music clubs, which often housed both performances by national artists and illicit back-room gambling.

Legacies & Lunch is free, open to the public, and sponsored in part by the Arkansas Humanities Council. Attendees may bring a sack lunch; drinks and dessert are provided. For more information, contact 501-918-3033.

Ben Nichols in concert tonight at the CALS Ron Robinson Theater

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ben_nichols2Fans of gritty alt-country band Lucero may flock to the Central Arkansas Library System’s (CALS) Ron Robinson Theater, 100 River Market Ave., to see the band’s front man Ben Nichols perform for the Arkansas Sounds concert series on Friday, August 29, at 7 p.m. Tickets are $20, general admission, and available at www.arkansassounds.org and Butler Center Galleries, 401 President Clinton Ave. The Ron Robinson Theater’s entrance may be accessed from the Main Library’s parking lot, 100 Rock Street.

Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Ben Nichols has earned critical praise for his emotive, whiskey-soaked vocals. The Austinist has described him as “a blistering diesel train of a singer and a songwriter of rare versatility.” During breaks from Lucero, Nichols has recorded acoustic-based material, including an EP featuring Nichols on acoustic guitar, Rick Steff (of Cat Power) on accordion and piano, and Todd Been (of Glossary) on pedal steel and electric guitar. This EP, The Last Pale Light in the West, comprises songs based on characters and situations from Cormac McCarthy’s novel, Blood Meridian.
This concert is presented by Arkansas Sounds, a project of the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies focusing on Arkansas music and musicians both past and present. For more information, call 501-918-3033 or visit www.arkansassounds.org.

 

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.

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.”

Sundays in the Library with Hillary (Starting in September)

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READSunday can now be one more fun day with extended library hours at the Central Arkansas Library System’s (CALS) Hillary Rodham Clinton Children’s Library and Learning Center, 4800 West 10th Street.  Beginning September 7, the Children’s Library’s operating hours will include Sundays from 1-5 p.m.

The interior of the Children’s Library includes a computer lab with fourteen computers, teaching kitchen, large activity area, individual and group study rooms, theater, and community room in addition to a collection of more than 21,000 books, DVDs, and CDs.   The grounds are on a six-acre site which includes a greenhouse and teaching garden, walking paths, and an amphitheater. The surroundings reflect the topography of Arkansas’s ecosystems, from the native hardwood trees in the highlands to vegetation of the wetland areas, which are both planted and original to the site.

The Children’s Library hours are Monday – Thursday from 10 a.m. – 7 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m., and Sunday from 1-5 p.m. The Main Library, 100 Rock Street, is also open on Sundays from 1-5 p.m.

The Hillary Rodham Clinton Children’s Library & Learning Center is one of fourteen CALS branches serving Pulaski and Perry counties. For more information, call 978-3870 or visit www.cals.org.