Business

No beer today at Porter's Jazz Cafe

The state Alcoholic Beverage Control Division has picked up the alcoholic beverage permit of Porter's Jazz Cafe, which opened in September, because the cafe had never obtained a sales tax permit, ABC Director Michael Langley confirms. The alcohol permit can be returned when the sales tax permit issue is resolved, an ABC spokesman said.

Add this to other woes reported here yesterday for the development, not to mention a report this morning in Democrat-Gazette over complaints from the neighboring Rose Law Firm about grease being spattered on their cars by a restaurant exhaust fan.

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Posted By Max Brantley | Permalink | Comments (2)

Little Rock Government

City Board names tax panel, approves Highway 10 changes

Some cleanup from last night's marathon Little Rock City Board meeting:

* VETS CENTER: City Attorney Tom Carpenter said he was studying, but as yet had no opinion, on whether the fact that the Veterans Affairs Department has applied for a building permit to convert a Main Street building for a day center for vets puts it beyond the reach of any future change in zoning ordinances. An ordinance that would have required a conditional use permit for the vets center was deferred last night. He believes the center will have to go through the Board of Adjustment process for review of significant building modifications, parking and landscaping. The use of the property is not an issue the board reviews.

I got additional info on two bits of interesting testimony at the lengthy hearing last night. 1) John McKay, a realtor representing buyers of the Main Street vacant building to rent to the VA, said the city planning department was told almost three months ago about the proposed purchase of the building for vet center use and he said he offered to take any questions. He said he was told the use was permitted by zoning ordinance and so his negotiations continued to close the sale 60 days later, in January. Dana Carney of the planning office said he and director Tony Bozynski don't recall such a conversation. 2) An advocate of the vets center said the VA had tried to get approval to use a commercial building near its existing center at 2nd and Ringo to expand, but was denied. Carney said he thought that request concerned a former auto parts store on land that falls under the jurisdiction of the Capitol Zoning District Commission and did not come through the city.

A VA spokesman said it is proceeding with plans for the Main Street work, though VA Secretary Eric Shinseki has been asked to intervene by U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin and hasn't made his thoughts known yet. VA officials will meet Monday with Griffin and Mayor Stodola about the location. The VA, too, isn't certain at what point its plans could be considered far enough advanced to be beyond the reach of a new zoning ordinance. The city hasn't approved its building permit yet and it may also, for example, withhold a certificate of occupancy if it wanted to be difficult. The spokesman said she doubted the renovations to the building would be sufficient — more than 50 percent of the building's replacement value — to trigger Board of Adjustment review, but no firm figures are in hand. She said the developers intended to do everything necessary to meet neighbors' concerns about security and landscaping improvements.

• PLEASANT RIDGE: Traffic changes coming.

* PLEASANT RIDGE TOWNE CENTER: The city board approved, 10-2, a proposal to realign entrances, add a new rear entrance and improve traffic signals at the Pleasant Ridge shopping center on Highway 10. The center developer will pay for the work. The staff opposed the measure because of the impact on the major arterial, Highway 10. It's a mess out there.

* TAX WATCHDOGS: The board approved members of the Little Rock Citizen Evaluation of New Tax Committee (CENT) which will oversee how the city spends its new sales tax income. Gary Smith and Sybil Jordan Hampton wer named co-chairs. Other members:

* Ward 1 — Chrystal Gray

* Ward 2 — Dr. Anika Whitfield

* Ward 3 — Steve Strickland

* Ward 4 — Kyle Demilt

* Ward 5 — Peter McKinney O'Conor

* Ward 6 — Masheerah Tharp

* Ward 7 — Don Shellabarger

At-large — Charles Blake, Khayyam Eddings, Troy Laha

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Posted By Max Brantley | Permalink | Comments (2)

Arkansas Politics

More evidence that ethics law must be fixed

Further evidence that the state Ethics Commission should have erred on the side of common sense and good ethics — and not syntactical sophistry — in reversing a staff finding and dismissing my complaint that the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce-backed campaign for a Little Rock sales tax violated state financial disclosure law by reporting campaign spending to its consultants, the Markham Group, and little else. The money washed through the Markham Group to advertising, mailings and other expenses unknown.

The Ethics Commission says it hopes to tighten up the law and make clear that issue campaigns should itemize spending just as political candidates must do. Meanwhile, transparency in campaign spending is non-existent.

Latest example that comes to hand — from a chamber of commerce, naturally. These boys —- and I do generally mean boys — simply don't believe in public disclosure. Just yesterday, the Little Rock Chamber refused to provide the Times documents circulating among Central Arkansas Technology Authority members about proposals to be the engineer to clear-cut a neighborhood for a new technology center. The chamber has them. The authority has them. The unwashed public? MYOB.

Today, we have the Springdale Business and School Alliance ethical filing. The primary backer is the Springdale Chamber of Commerce — a $62,000 contribution on the June report, for example. It was established to pass a school millage last May. A June 9 report, filed after the election, showed these expenditures for the election month:

* $72 in expenses to a law firm.

* $99,008.15 to the Cranford Johnson Robinson Woods office in Northwest Arkansas for "consulting services."

That's it.

That ain't transparency.

Fix the law.

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Posted By Max Brantley | Permalink | Comments (4)

Recaps

Geena Davis on gender in media

• Rebecca Wright
• Geena Davis at the Statehouse Convention Center

Because of overwhelming public interest, the Clinton Foundation moved Geena Davis's talk on gender stereotypes in media to a ballroom at the Statehouse Convention Center. Even so, every chair was full, with the overflow standing respectfully in the back. Davis is 56. She was most visible as an actor from the '80s to mid '90s, so the crowd was largely middle-aged and beyond. But university students and young professionals were well represented, and several folks had teenage daughters in tow.

The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media was spawned in 2004, although its roots are in the 1991 film "Thelma and Louise". Davis played Thelma. It was arguably her most popular role ever. "I didn't realize it would change my life. And really, the biggest standout about the film is that it had two good female parts," Davis said.

Afterward, women stopped her everywhere — in the grocery, rolling down windows at traffic lights — to tell her how much they enjoyed the film. Critics were polarized. Some loved the film, while others dismissed it as man-hating. It won both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for Best Screenplay. To Davis, the film's aftermath was "a lesson on the power of media images."

"Ever since, I've thought about women in the audience and what they'll think about the parts I'll play," she said. "But really great parts for women are few and far between ... that I'm able to be so picky means I haven't run out of money yet. If you ever hear that I've signed on to play the kidnapped wife of Sean O'Connery, you'll know I'm broke."

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Posted By Cheree Franco | Permalink | Comments (0)

What's going on / Music

Wednesday To-Do: The Polyphonic Spree

• The Polyphonic Spree plays at Revolution Wednesday.

THE POLYPHONIC SPREE
8:30 p.m. Revolution. $16 adv., $20 d.o.s.

It's been a few years since we heard from Dallas symphonic-pop outfit The Polyphonic Spree. Just in case you weren't paying attention to music at all between 2003 and 2007 or so, here's the Cliff's Notes version: Tripping Daisy frontman Tim DeLaughter was profoundly bummed by the death of that band's guitarist, Wes Berggren, in 1999. Partly as a reaction to his friend's death (according to an NPR story), DeLaughter began writing joyous-sounding pop songs and assembled this gigantic band, which has as many as two dozen members at any given time, all singing and playing a variety of stringed instruments and sometimes wearing robes.

If you dig lush, gorgeously arranged pop music in the vein of later Mercury Rev or "Soft Bulletin"/"Yoshimi"-era Flaming Lips (but are somehow unfamiliar with The Polyphonic Spree), well, this should be a no-brainer. Even if you're not way into that kind of stuff, this show will be entertaining and stands a very good chance of being one of those forever-talked-about concerts that you'll kick yourself for not going to, should you skip it. The opening act is New Fumes.

After the jump, a video from The Polyphonic Spree.

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Posted By Robert Bell | Permalink | Comments (0)

What's going on / Heavy Metal

Wednesday To-Do: Anvil

• Anvil plays Juanita's Wednesday night.

ANVIL
9 p.m. Juanita's. $15 adv., $19 d.o.s.

One of the great should-have-beens of the early '80s metal scene, Toronto's Anvil never saw the level of renown enjoyed by contemporaneous acts such as Slayer, Metallica, Exodus and others. Nonetheless, the band forged ahead in the ensuing decades, releasing albums on small indie labels and playing club shows while holding down decidedly non-metal day-jobs.

Anvil achieved probably its greatest level of fame via the 2009 documentary "Anvil: The Story of Anvil," which was made by a former roadie turned screenwriter. The film was a huge hit (Anvil was last in Little Rock performing after a screening at Market Street Cinema) largely due to the compelling friendship between unrelentingly positive vocalist/guitarist Steve "Lips" Kudlow and drummer Robb Reiner (no, not that one, though there is an undeniable air of "Spinal Tap"-esque ridiculousness to the documentary).

For being about a thrash metal band, it's an amazingly touching film. And even though there will probably be quite a few folks at the show purely for rubbernecking, Anvil's music is ragin' and stands on its own merits.

Opening acts are Little Rock wildmen The Wicked Good and veteran metal acts Vore and Scorned, both of Fayetteville.

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Posted By Robert Bell | Permalink | Comments (0)