Dining Review
Slide into Slim Chickens
Dining Search
A&E Feature
Stickyz Stage moves to the east side
To-Do List
Mary Gauthier at White Water Tavern
Movie Reviews
Little Rock Film Festival's downtown debut a success
Arkansas Blog
Arkansas Politics
Gov. Beebe says he'll appoint treasurer soon
A replacement for resigned Treasurer Martha Shoffner?
In the "next several days," Gov. Mike Beebe told reporters today. The appointee will serve out her term through 2014 and cannot run for the office. Though a sterling performance by the appointee could qualify that person for consideration for another office, Beebe has indicated he was leaning away from a politically oriented choice.
Will the Arkansas Chamber of Commerce press a 'tort reform' initiative?
I heard yesterday that the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce is expected to decide in June whether to mount a petition campaign to put a "tort reform" constitutional amendment on the ballot in 2014. The plan to get that done in the legislature was stymied by a counterattack in the form of a water-muddying competing proposal by Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson, who's a puppet for one of the state's most successful trial lawyers, John Goodson.
Talk Business has lots more background on the chamber's deliberations in an interview with chamber boss Randy Zook.
One factor they might consider: If the chamber moves ahead, plaintiffs' lawyers — rather than spend millions in simply attempting to defeat it — might resort to a competing amendment through petition that would be more protective of the rights of injured people. When proposed amendments have similar purposes, the one with the most votes wins. Pictures of grannies covered in bed sores — potentially limited by greedy businesses in seeking compensation for pain and suffering — are more compelling than the argument that big business needs more money to trickle down on the rest of us.
Law
Loca Luna loses court challenge of parking plan for The Fold
- Facebook/The Fold: Botanos and Bar
- AFFIRMED: The Fold has opened in this former service station, shown during construction. Loca Luna is just out of the picture to the right.
The Arkansas Court of Appeals today affirmed a circuit court ruling upholding a zoning variance given for The Fold, a new restaurant at 3501 Old Cantrell Road, just a few yards from Loca Luna.
Loca Luna and the Abernathy-Wilkes LLC contested the plan that let the restaurant meet the required 22 parking spaces for the site with 12 slots on the property and 10 others on nearby property. The circuit court ruling that was affirmed said there was a hardship unique to the property — it's a small lot that once housed a service station — and the variance was in keeping with the spirit of the ordinance.
The restaurant opened while the appeal was pending. Drake Mann, attorney for Loca Luna, said he had raised a question with the city, however, about whether the restaurant was actually providing only 10, rather than 12, slots on the site because of a change in building plans.
Rock Candy
What's going on
Thursday: 'Steel Magnolias' at Murry's Dinner Playhouse
Murry's Dinner Playhouse just opened its production of the touching yet funny "Steel Magnolias," which runs 6 p.m.Tue.-Sat., 11 a.m. Wed. and 11 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Sun., $15-$35.
Folk-rock singer/songwriter Ben Robbins plays a free show at Maxine's, 8 p.m.
What's going on
Thursday To-Do: Flowing on the River
FLOWING ON THE RIVER
5:30 p.m. River Market Pavilions. $35.
This looks to be a fine way to get yourself in the Riverfest spirit: A wine and craft beer tasting the night before things kick off. You can mill about the River Market Pavilions and sample from an array of beverages while experts, including Bruce Cochran of Custom Beverage, fill you in on all of the interesting tidbits and tasting notes of each beverage and their respective vintners and brewers.
And what would a booze tasting be without some delectable nosh to accompany it? Providing hors d'oeuvres will be Blue Coast Burrito, Your Mama's Good Food, Bray Gourmet, Brenda J. Majors Catering, Palette Catering, Newk's Express Cafe, Boscos, Cabot Cafe and Cake Corner, Sufficient Grounds Cafe, Cheers in the Heights and J&M Foods. FreeVerse Duo provides the live musical entertainment.
Also of note, this event is a fundraiser for Argenta Community Theater's upcoming ACTing Up Summer Camp, which will provide students in grades K-8 with the opportunity to learn about stagecraft, theater, film and filmmaking. There are a small number of scholarships available.
What's going on / Music
Thursday To-Do: Mary Gauthier
MARY GAUTHIER
9 p.m. White Water Tavern. $20.
I've listened to and loved plenty of sadly beautiful music in my time: Leonard Cohen, Cat Power, Nick Drake, Townes Van Zandt, Jackson C. Frank. All of those folks have made timeless records that have resonated on a deep emotional level. I have never been as emotionally wrecked as I was after listening to Mary Gauthier's 2007 album "Between Daylight and Dark."
I fired the album up on the ol' Spotify, thinking, "OK, what's up next? Acclaimed folk singer/songwriter I've never listened to before. I'll check out some of her tunes, play a few of them from throughout her catalog and write up a To-Do. No biggie." What I heard stopped me from doing anything else other than listening and trying to keep my eyes from welling up, which had become a very tall order by the time the final strains of the last song, "Thanksgiving," were ringing out. I listened to the entire album start-to-finish.
The playing is masterful, the instrumentation full and rich but never overshadowing Gauthier's extraordinary voice, which is smoky and smoldering one moment, clear and high the next. And of course, the songs are just devastating. I started to listen to Gauthier's 2010 album "The Foundling," which has to be her most personal work. But by the time I got to the second song, "Mama Here, Mama Gone," it was frankly just too much to take. It's not maudlin, it's neither self-pitying nor over-the-top nor anything else that might diminish its power and thus make it easier to withstand. It's a simple, beautiful, utterly devastating song that becomes truly wrenching if you know Gauthier's backstory, of her troubled upbringing and how she finally made contact with her birth mother later only to be denied a meeting.
But Gauthier never wallows in misery. She faces down some of the most painful feelings imaginable with honesty and grace. A lot of very good singer/songwriters have come through in the last few years. Very few have been close to the stature of Mary Gauthier. I believe she deserves to be counted among the ranks of the great. This show is not to be missed.
Winnipeg native Scott Nolan opens the all-ages show.
Event Calendar
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Re: Arkansas church makes national news for opposition to gay Scouts
BSA starts at age 11
Cub Scouts stops at 10. So these church goers…- on May 22, 2013
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Re: Will the Arkansas Chamber of Commerce press a 'tort reform' initiative?
Tort reform is the con man's way of saying screw you. And the con corporations…
- on May 22, 2013
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Re: Arkansas church makes national news for opposition to gay Scouts
Carol Gilley, said last week. “This has been weighing heavy on my mind for a…
- on May 22, 2013
Arkansas Reporter
Clinton School partners with school to heal Uganda's wounds
Editorials
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What's there, what's coming.
Fox16 Local News and Weather
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House Fire Shuts down Highway 365 in Wrightsville
May 22, 2013Two escape safely in Wednesday afternoon blaze. fox16.com /more/ -
Michigan Governor to Headline Democratic Party of Arkansas' Jefferson-Jackson Dinner
May 22, 2013Annual event featuring Gov. Jennifer Granholm is June 15 at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock. fox16.com /more/
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