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Marijuana dispensary scores could be ready by mid- to late November, commission told

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Public Consulting Group, the company hired by the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission to evaluate dispensary applications, said it will try to provide results to the commission within the 30 days agreed after receipt of the applications — by mid-November or late November at the latest.

First, however, PCG must train a team of scorers, who will grade independently, so that their evaluations of application components will be consistent, manager Thomas Aldridge told the commission. It will be up to the commission to review the aggregate scores for location — 32 dispensaries will be divided up in eight regions — and award bonus points based on the rubric.

Commission Chairwoman Dr. Ronda Henry-Tillman objected strongly to the lack of a physician on the scoring team that PCG has assembled: "industry experts" in government regulation, cannabis, a  pharmacist, law and a nurse. Henry-Tillman said dispensaries should be evaluated as to knowledge of how to dispense medical marijuana appropriate to the disease process. She said the rubric for applicants requires dispensaries to be educated on what to do when an applicant comes in with one of the qualifying diseases. She said a nurse evaluation would be "unacceptable."

"I get very nervous about patient care," Henry-Tillman said. "To see a lack of support on medical is mind-boggling to me. This could be dangerous. ... Someone could get hurt." Commissioner Travis Story suggested that PCG review minutes and recordings — of which there would be hours — of the commission's discussions on the educational component in dispensaries.

Aldridge said PCG would be "happy to revisit the idea and add that as a possibility. That would come with a few changes. That's not the way I originally established [the team]." Aldridge didn't say so, but hiring a physician might make its low bid for the job — under $100,00, a great deal less than other bids — unrealistic. He did say that hiring physicians for hours of work might be problematic, to which Henry-Tillman replied that she is a physician serving without compensation on the commission.

Commissioner James Miller, who participated in the meeting by conference call, asked Aldridge why the company's bid was so low. Aldridge responded that PCG, which largely works with health and human service organizations on Medicaid issues, believed working with Arkansas was an "opportunity to see how we can go in and be helpful. ... We also might use this as a jumping off point for other projects. We have no intention of making a lot of money on this contract." Instead, it is a project that would help PCG establish a "footprint" in the cannabis business.

What Aldridge seemed to be saying was that while evaluating qualifications for certain government services is something PCG does, the contract with Arkansas will require a learning curve and be a test to see, as Aldridge described it, if "skill set and talents match up."

The videotape secretly made by unsuccessful marijuana cultivator permit seeker Ken Shollmier of Commissioner Dr. Carlos Roman was not a subject of discussion. Roman did not attend the meeting.

The commission also engaged in a long discussion with its counsel on how to handle notification of disqualification to applicants, previously handled by ABC staff but required by law to go out under the commission's signature.

A request at the end of the meeting by two people in the audience who wanted to speak to the issue of the disqualified applications was amenable to Henry-Tillman, but Story objected and suggested a separate meeting be held to hear comments, perhaps in a bigger venue. The commission agreed not to sign any notices of disqualification until a public hearing could be held. The hearing was tentatively set for 4:30 p.m. Oct. 26 at either Bowen School of Law or the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Study: Minimum wage increase a boon to quality of life for 300,000

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Backers of the proposal to increase the state minimum wage from $8.50 an hour are touting a new study on the idea from the National Employment Law Project. It says it would improve the quality of life for 300,000 people from all 75 Arkansas counties.

One in every four workers would benefit, says the Law Project, a union-backed, New York-based nonprofit founded more than 40 years ago.

A higher minimum wage would allow workers across Arkansas to cope with the rising cost of basic necessities, such as housing, food, transportation, and healthcare. Even in Arkansas’ smallest county, Calhoun County,[2] a single adult needs to make $33,403 per year to afford a modest standard of living, [3] though the yearly income for a full-time worker (40 hours a week) at the current $8.50 minimum wage[4] is only $17,680.
The report says the increase would help small businesses, too.

Research shows that higher wages lead to increased spending, which, in turn, has the effect of boosting the demand for goods and services[6] and keeping money circulating in the economy—creating a virtuous cycle that benefits a broad constituency.
In 26 counties with large rural areas and smaller population, the percentage of workers helped would be more than 30 percent, the study says.

The report notes that, despite high employment, wages haven't grown in a commensurate fashion.

With job growth skewed towards low-paying occupations over the past decade, there has been growing national momentum for action to raise the minimum wage. Although the U.S. median household income is slowly climbing from the depths of the Great Recession,[9] hourly wages continue to stay flat or decline for most of the labor force, even amidst the economic recovery and a full employment economy. The worsening prospects and opportunities for low-wage workers have prompted a growing number of cities, counties, and states to enact higher minimum wage rates for their residents, often with overwhelming support from voters.
The proposal would raise the minimum to $11 an hour by 2021. The Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce, which represents the state's biggest businesses, is fighting to get the measure knocked off the ballot.

Here's the full report.

Alison Krauss and Jamey Johnson headline Johnny Cash Heritage Festival this weekend in Dyess

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Alison Krauss and Jamey Johnson headline the Johnny Cash Heritage Festival in the cotton fields surrounding Cash’s Dyess (Mississippi County) home this weekend. The three-day festival culminates in a concert noon-5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 20, that celebrates the 50th anniversary of the 1968 Johnny Cash Show tours. John Carter Cash will host and and Krauss, Johnson, Ana Cristina Cash, Suzanne Cox, Heather Berry Mabe, Ira Dean and others will perform. Tickets range from $35-$100 and are available at johnnycashheritagefestival.com.

The festival also includes “The Ties That Bind,” a symposium of film screenings and discussions from noon-4:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 18, and public presentations from 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 19, in the Dyess Colony Circle and visitor center. Those “ties,” the festival’s website reads, “embrace the Great Depression, New Deal and agricultural programs that brought colonists together; cultural touchstones that tied Dyess to other communities or to the 1930s-40s; influences such as the impact of earlier artists or contemporaries on Johnny Cash, or the influence of Johnny Cash on contemporaries or later artists.”

Little Rock's Chris Dumas weighs in on zombies on new AMC series

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Little Rock native Chris Dumas — author of “Un-American Psycho: Brian De Palma and the Political Invisible” and a musician who’s performed in Reagan’s Polyp, T.C. & the Eddies and The Astronaut Body Four (and son of Times columnist Ernest Dumas) — is among the zombie experts on a new series from AMC, “Eli Roth’s History of Horror,” which premiered Sunday, Oct. 14.

Cable subscribers: Sign in at amc.com to watch the full episode, and keep an eye out for future Dumas cameos.

Correction: A previous version of this article cited incorrectly that Dumas had performed with The Pine Box Boys and Bitter Fruit. Dumas was road manager for The Pine Box Boys and a producer/engineer for Bitter Fruit.

Report: Arkansas taxes unfair ..... to the poor

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Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families is highlighting
a new report relevant to ongoing legislative discussions of "tax reform." It does not suggest the problem is taxation on the rich.

A new study released today by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) ranks Arkansas as the 20th most unfair tax system in the nation and one of the worst when it comes to taxing the poor.

The lowest income Arkansans, those making below $18,000 a year, paid more than 11 cents in state and local taxes on every dollar they earn. The richest 1 percent of Arkansans, those making more than $422,000 a year, paid less than 7 cents in state and local taxes for each dollar they earned.

According to the report, Arkansas’s tax system is unfair, or regressive. That means the lower someone’s income, the more they pay in taxes for every dollar they earn. One key reason for this is that Arkansas relies heavily on sales taxes to raise revenue. Because those with low and modest wages spend a larger share of their income on consumer goods – like food, clothes, and other necessities – this tax hits them harder than the rich.
Tax "reform" talk in Arkansas of late has been led by Gov. Asa Hutchinson's insistence that enough has done for the poor and it's time for a whopping income tax cut for those on the high end of the scale. He wants almost a 15 percent reduction, from 6.9 percent to 5.9 percent, for the top income tax bracket. That bracket kicks in at $35,000. But the benefit of the tax cut would overwhelmingly go to the highest income — more than 75 percent to those making more than $80,000. Our previous analysis showed that those making more than $500,000, or a quarter of one percent of taxpayers, get about a fourth of the benefit, or $1 in every $4 tax cut dollars.

Coming next month, the Advocates will assess the recommendations of the legislative group that has been studying tax "relief." They've rejected help for the poor through an earned income tax credit. Giveaways to corporations and the wealthy predominate.

Here's the Arkansas breakout on the new report.

Asa complains about Democratic Party ad buy for his opponent UPDATE: Looks like he was right

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Gov. Asa Hutchinson called on the Arkansas Democratic Party today to pull down $15,000 in radio ads it bought in support of his Democratic opponent, Jared Henderson, because he said they violated campaign finance law. UPDATE: The Democratic Party issued a statement later indicating Hutchinson was right, though the statement stopped well short of explicitly admitting that.

In a letter to Democratic Chair Michael John Gray, Hutchinson said it was clear Henderson coordinated in the making of the ads, because recordings of Henderson are included.

The state Ethics Commission ruled on a somewhat similar improper coordination complaint made in 2014 against Republican Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, who appeared in an ad purchased by a political group, the Republican Attorneys General Association. The Ethics Commission found no foul in $400,000 worth of ads featuring Rutledge. But, in one key difference with the Democratic ad for Henderson, the ads didn't contain "express advocacy" for Rutledge's election, though that was clearly the point.

The central issue in Hutchinson's complaint is whether the Democratic Party can make an independent expenditure (on which there are no dollar limits) in support of its candidate. Independent expenditures may include express advocacy. Otherwise, it may contribute no more than $2,700 directly to Henderson's campaign.

Jamie Barker, a spokesman for Hutchinson, said even if the Democratic Party were to make that argument (and he's dismissive of it because of what he views as obvious coordination in production of the ad) there's no paperwork on file with the state under the name of the Democratic Party of Arkansas for an independent expenditure committee. He contends it had to have been formed before the money was committed.

Hutchinson noted he'd been criticized by Henderson for not doing more to ferret out unethical behavior and so he wanted to be sure to call attention to what he sees as unethical ads for Henderson.

Hutchinson said he didn't plan to make a formal ethics complaint.

I am writing this letter assuming that the violation was based upon a misunderstanding of the requirements of Arkansas law. Regardless, this constitutes a violation of law that justifies action by the Arkansas Ethics Commission. I trust the Commission's review will not be necessary since the law is clear on this violation.
UPDATE: At mid-afternoon, the Democratic Party responded. Here's the response in full:

LITTLE ROCK — Democratic Party of Arkansas Communications Director Reed Brewer released the following statement regarding the party’s recent radio advertisements:

“Upon further review of the radio advertisements in question, the Democratic Party of Arkansas has decided to suspend additional runs. As a party, we are committed to transparency and to following all ethical rules and standards.” 
I asked: "Does that mean the governor was right?"

I'll let you know if there's any elaboration.

Hutchinson provided transcripts of the ads, including this one:

Wednesday: The news and the open line

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Here's the blooper-filled daily video news roundup. Also the open line.

Valerie Tatum to be disqualified from LR Ward 2 race

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Valerie Tatum apparentlywill be disqualified from the race for Ward 2 Little Rock City Board because her residence is in a different ward.

The discrepancy apparently was discovered by one of the other candidates. City Attorney Tom Carpenter hasnotified city officials and will inform the Pulaski County Election Commission.

Tatum's name still will appear on the ballot, which has already been printed. But Carpenter will go to court this week to seek an order that any votes for her not be counted.

Her removal from the race will leave incumbent Ken Richardson in the race along with challengers Rohn Muse and Shalonda Riley.

Tatum listed her address as 3401 Fair Park Boulevard. At that point, Fair Park is the dividing line between Wards 1 and 2 and her address is on the east side of the line, in Ward One. The address was in Ward 2 until a district realignment following the 2010 Census.

Tatum, a former charter school administrator, had reported raising $1,300 for the race, of which $750 came from Claiborne Deming of El Dorado, a former Murphy Oil CEO who is a proponent of charter schools.

I was unable to reach her for comment.

The law requires residency in a ward to be a candidate, so at the time she filed, she was ineligible, Carpenter said.

UPDATE: I still haven't reached Tatum, but Carpenter says she disputes the city interpretation. Here's the letter he sent to her.

Kevin Kresse's bronze bust of Levon Helm to be centerpiece of Legacy Project in Marvell

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A bronze bust of Arkansas musician Levon Helm was unveiled on the Fayetteville Square on Friday, Oct. 11. Helm’s daughter, Amy Helm, attended the ceremony, at the David and Barbara Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, and performed later that night at George’s Majestic Lounge.

The bust, created by Little Rock sculptor and Arkansas native Kevin Kresse, will have a permanent home in Phillips County near Helm’s boyhood house in downtown Marvell, a structure that was relocated from nearby Turkey Scratch and added to the Arkansas Register of Historic Places in earlier this year. "Trying to do a realistic portrait that feels natural, expressive and not overworked," Kresse told us, "is a big challenge.  I'm very happy with the uniqueness and overall feel of this piece, and I'm extremely proud to have been chosen to do this sculpture of Levon Helm."

It's a stunning likeness of the "Midnight Ramble" patriarch and perpetual cutup, one that beckons you to imagine Helm's arms extended over his drum kit in an easy posture, head tilted to wail about Little Bessie back in Lake Charles: "A drunkard's dream if I ever did see one....."

For fans of Helm's work, Kresse's bust serves as a reminder of the musician's buoyancy, joy and remarkable ability to do several things at once in absolute physical harmony. Kresse consulted with a few of Helm's friends. "My drawings didn't capture him at all," Kresse told us. "It was all too stilted. At the second meeting I said I thought he should be smiling, because he was just too joyful to be looking stoic. [At] the third meeting, Levon's old friend Paul Berry came, and said he thought Levon should definitely be singing. I'd never seen a singing bust, and the way Levon puts all of himself into his singing, I was afraid it would look like someone in an awful lot of pain."

Once Kresse and co. decided to depict Helm in his 30s, and to incorporate the microphone into the piece, "then his expression had the context to make it all work," Kresse said.

"I watched countless hours of 'The Last Waltz,' freeze framing to grab a detail here and there. I was going after the most expressive forehead, the most expressive eyebrows, etc., to come up with a composite that worked for me. The one thing I remember moving around was the mouth position, trying to find one that didn't feel like "screaming," but felt like belting it out with emotion.

A University of Arkansas press release says the bust “will become the centerpiece for the Levon Helm Legacy Project in Marvell,” honoring the drummer and mandolin player whose seminal work with Bob Dylan, The Band and The Hawks put a place called Turkey Scratch on the map.

For more on the Legacy Project, visit levonhelmmemorial.org.

Rashod Ollison, writer and friend, dies in Virginia

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My heart breaks. Wendell Griffen, pastor and judge, brings the awful news that Rashod Ollison, an Arkansas native writer, died today of non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

Rashod was born in Hot Springs, a graduate of Sylvan Hills High School and one of the first Arkansas Times Academic All-Stars  before his career as a newspaper writer and book author.

We published an excerpt from his memoir, "Soul Serenade: Rhythm, Blues, & Coming of Age Through Vinyl," and visited with him when he came home for an appearance during the Arkansas Literary Festival. He wrote movingly of finding comfort in music as he grew up gay in a sometimes volatile family.

He wrote about music and pop culture, most recently for the Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk. He'd also written for major dailies in Dallas, Baltimore and Philadelphia. He served a stint as artist-in-residence at UCA last spring.

In addition to being gifted, he was a sweet and soulful man. He wrote kindly in his book about enduring Jimmy Buffett on the car CD player during a ride home with me from Board Camp, Ark. many years ago.

The  last piece I'd read by him was his tribute to Aretha Franklin after her death in August. He wrote of her:

At its best, Franklin’s music was as redemptive as a baptism. It saved lives, mine included, many times.
I wish the doctors could have saved Rashod.

Supreme Court to fight ethics finding; five argue it's untouchable

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The Arkansas Supreme Court issued a news release today indicating  five of the seven members are challenging a finding by the Judicial Discipline and Disability Commissionof an ethics violation by the court in removing Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen from cases related to the death penalty without affording him proper notice and due process. In short, the court says the commission has no jurisdiction over the court.

The news release in full:

Today the majority of the Arkansas Supreme Court, in order to protect the independence of the judiciary established by the Arkansas Constitution, filed a Petition for Writs of Prohibition,
Mandamus, and Certiorari in the Arkansas Supreme Court against the Arkansas Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission [JDDC], David Sachar, Executive Director of the JDDC, and, J. Brent Standridge, Special Counsel of the JDDC. The justices intend to recuse themselves from participation as members of the Court reviewing the petition.

Each justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court took an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the State of Arkansas. The five individual members of the Arkansas Supreme Court, by filing the Petition for Writs to protect the Arkansas Supreme Court’s authority and jurisdiction under the Arkansas Constitution, are fulfilling their sworn duty to defend the Arkansas Constitution.

The exercise of the Arkansas Supreme Court’s superintending control over all courts is established by the Arkansas Constitution. Orders of the Arkansas Supreme Court concerning matters of law and interpretation of the Arkansas Constitution are not subject
to review by the JDDC. The Petition states that the JDDC is without jurisdiction to hear complaints about a decision of law, that its charges fail to and cannot cite any provision of the
Code of Judicial Conduct that applies to the ruling that was the subject of the JDDC’s review, and that a federal appeals court has already determined that the justices did not violate anyone’s due process rights.
I
The news release didn't name the justices who joined the petition. The filing is reflected online, but so far without the actual document. It shows that the request for a writ of prohibition was filed by Chief Justice Dan Kemp and Justices Josephine Hart, Karen Baker, Rhonda Wood and Shawn Womack. That means Justices Courtney Goodson and Robin Wynne didn't join the filing. The filing indicates Timothy Dudley of Little Rock is representing the justices seeking the write. He'll be joined by Robert Peck of Washington, with the Center for Constitutional litigation.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson will have to appoint special justices to hear the case.

As yet, there's no filing indicating that Wynne and Goodson will ask to recuse themselves from the case involving fellow justices. If they do, the governor would appoint seven to hear the case.

UPDATE: Here's the petition the five filed today. It goes in detail into the arguments summarized in the news release.


EDITORIAL COMMENT: The law will play out slowly and finely. But the appearances were terrible when the Supreme Court rushed over a weekend to remove Griffen from all death penalty cases forever and seek his punishment because of a hot political reaction to Griffen's decision in a property law case over execution drugs (duplicated later by a separate judge) the same day he participated in an anti-death penalty demonstration. Griffen got no notice and no chance to be heard. He continues to sue over being referred for discipline by the court for exercising his constitutional right to speech about his religious beliefs.

The five who are suing will lose no favor in racist, Republican Arkansas for further attempting to put Griffen in his place. But they will continue to support the case to end election of judges.

And, also, again: Wendell Griffen would do the judiciary a favor by tempering his penchant for robust speech.

The ABCs of Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival

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27 years of the HSDFF! 26 letters in the alphabet! You get the gist! We don't have much space, so let's go.

A is for The Arlington. Since the festival's leaving the historic Malco Theater in 2013, the Arlington Hotel has served as ground zero for all things HSDFF.

B is for "Borders & Boundaries," one of this year's many shorts blocks. This one features the intriguing "Earthrise" by Emmanuel Vaughn-Lee, a half-hour film of Earth as photographed in 1968 from Apollo 8. (Noon Wed., Oct. 24, and 9:30 a.m. Fri., Oct. 26, Arlington Cinema 2.)

C is for "Conway Pride," the 22-minute short from Stephen Stanley, a Savannah College of Art and Design faculty member and former University of Central Arkansas documentary professor, about the fate of Conway Pride and the Pink House after the passing of its beloved founders, Robert Loyd and John Schneck. (Precedes 7 p.m. showing of "Gospel of Eureka" Thu., Oct. 25, Arlington Cinema 1.)

D is for the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, the subjects of this year's closing night film, "Daughters of the Sexual Revolution: The Untold Story of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders." (6:30 p.m. Sat., Oct. 27, Arlington 1.)

E is for "Eating Animals," the documentary adapted from Jonathan Safran Foer's book about factory farming, animal abuse and mindful consumption. Feeling veg-curious after the UN's climate report? This could be just the encouragement you need. (7 p.m. Mon., Oct. 22, Arlington 2.)

F is for Flat Earth, the totally awesome and completely credible scientific revolution exploding all around the globe. The movement's brain trust is the subject of the warm-hearted and wonderful "Behind the Curve." (7:30 p.m. Sat., Oct. 20, Arlington 2.)

G is for "The Gospel of Eureka," this year's centerpiece film and, for our money, the one to watch. It examines Eureka Springs' uneasy and colorful symbiosis of evangelical hardliners and loud-and-proud LGBTQ populations. (7 p.m. Thu., Oct. 25, Arlington 1.)

H is for "Hillbilly," the opening night film. Its political, philosophical and cultural deconstruction of the dissimilarities between the Appalachian stereotype and the complicated realities of the region is one of the best films of the year, period. (7 p.m. Fri., Oct. 19, Arlington 1.)

I is for Ingrid Gipson, the former fashion designer who lit out for a hermetic life as an artist in the Eastern Oklahoma woods. "Ingrid" is a delicate and impressionistic portrait of the iconoclast. (5 p.m. Tue., Oct. 23, Arlington 1.)

J is for Jen Gerber, the multi-hyphenate writer, director, professor and now executive director shepherding the stalwart Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival into its latest incarnation and expanding it into an institution that's both locally/regionally conscious and internationally formidable. She's crushing it, so if you see a Jen-colored blur darting through the fest, be sure to yelp a "thanks" toward its general trajectory.

K is for Kopple, as in Barbara Kopple, the two-time Academy Award-winning documentary royalty who began her career by, no biggie, making two of the greatest nonfiction films of all time in "Winter Soldier" and "Harlan County, USA." Her latest film, "A Murder in Mansfield," follows the son of a murderer as he finally confronts his father about his mother's murder 26 years earlier. (7 p.m. Wed., Oct. 24, Arlington 2.)

L is for Low Key Arts, the iron-willed art and music venue/nonprofit tucked off Park Avenue, which plays host to a couple of this year's most exciting after-parties. On Wednesday, Oct. 24, after the screening of "Studio 54," it becomes a disco with the "Studio 53 ½" dance party. On Sunday, Oct. 21, the venue hosts Screaming Females, the redoubtable New Jersey trio fronted by Marissa Paternoster, for years one of the single greatest road warrior rock guitarists in America.

M is for Mark Thiedeman, Arkansas's finest, most forward-thinking filmmaker. After years of creating exquisite fictions, "Kevin" marks his first foray into documentary. The 74-minute portrait of Paragould skateboarder Kevin Wands delights in boyhood, bodies and becoming and is presented as a free work-in-progress screening. (7 p.m. Tue., Oct. 23, Arlington 2.)

N is for "A Night at The Garden," the 7-minute short that made waves online last year. The Intercept called it "the most terrifying movie you can watch this Halloween." A year later and it still enters my mind weekly, at least. (Before the 5 p.m. screening of "The Silence of Others," Tue., Oct. 23, Arlington 2.)

O is for Oscar contention. Because of the HSDFF's timing at the end of the festival cycle, Hot Springs plays a potentially consequential role in amplifying the buzz around Best Documentary contenders. Look out for a little last-minute flame-stoking in featured films "RBG" and "Won't You Be My Neighbor?"

P is for pitching. This year's festival features workshop opportunities for storytellers of all types. A pitch workshop hones that most foundational of filmmaker skills. And a multiday, live storytelling workshop takes participants from paper to stage over three class sessions.

Q is for queer stories in all categories. One of the most intriguing is in the sports films section: "Transformer" follows a former football star, Marine, powerlifting champion and all around alpha-male as he transitions into a female body while continuing to competitively weightlift. (5 p.m. Sat., Oct. 20, Arlington 2.)

R is for (R)evolution, as in "The Heat: A Kitchen (R)evolution," which considers the world of female chefs changing the pervasive back-of-house culture of toxic masculinity one restaurant at a time. Celebrated culinary figures Chef Anita Lo and Chef Edward Lee will attend and create food for the after-party. (7:30 p.m. Sun., Oct. 21, Arlington 1.)

S is for "Southern Stories," HSDFF's block of films focused on the peculiarities and complications of the Southern experience, marks a new initiative by the Institute that further sets the festival above and apart from its coastal, metropolitan compeers.

T is for "This Changes Everything." The latest from last year's closing night filmmaker Tom Donahue is an investigative analysis of gender disparity in Hollywood. (4:30 p.m., Fri., Oct. 26, Arlington 1.)

U is for "United Skates." Following the rise and fall of skate culture, the meaning of community in America and its implications for the black experience in America, this documentary was singled out by Jen Gerber as one of her favorites of the year. (7 p.m. Fri., Oct. 26, Arlington 1.)

V is for Virtual Reality. The HSDFF VR lounge will offer participants an immersive, 360-degree documentary experience.

W is for "Wheels on Reels," the Friday night "United Skates" after-party at Skateland on Higdon Ferry. No alcohol allowed (you can thank them for that later), but free skate rentals for pass holders and ticket holders looking to bounce, rock, skate and roll the night away.

X is for exciting and extra-special guests: The ubiquitous comedienne Missi Pyle is the closing night honorary chair; Billy Redden, the Banjo Boy in "Deliverance," will attend the opening night screening of "Hillbilly"; Apatow Collective member Samm Levine supports "Freaks and Geeks: A Documentary"; and politician/attorney Bakari Sellers visits with "While I Breathe, I Hope."

Y is for the young documentarians who will be featured in the "AETN Student Selects" block, showcasing the best high school and college-created documentaries of the last year. (1 p.m. Tue., Oct. 23, Arlington 2.)

Z is for the Zimbalist Brothers, whose latest, "Momentum Generation," follows the iconic '90s surf collective (2:30 p.m. Sat., Oct. 27, Arlington 2), but it's also for zzzzs, which, in light of the packed eight-day festival, you're going to need to stay up on.

Vincent Tolliver: running a 'people's campaign

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The Little Rock mayoral candidate wants to move Little Rock's City Hall away from operating like a 'private club.'

When Vincent Tolliver was growing up in the Southeast Arkansas town of Lake Village in the 1970s, he learned by example from a caring but tough grandmother what it takes to stand up for yourself and for others.

He observed "verbal battles" in which his grandfather would make "thinly veiled threats," only to be put in his place by his grandmother.

"She advocated for herself and I saw it in action," Tolliver recalled. "My granddaddy would be chopping wood, and I'd take his ax and hide it. 'Did you move my ax, Scamp?' They called me 'Scamp.' He'd get frustrated, and I'd get my grandmother and hide behind her. My grandfather would get his switch, and she'd say, 'Leave that boy alone.' My granddaddy would stop and go back outside."

Such childhood lessons are "very important" and meaningful today, Tolliver said.

"I want to bring to this city a culture where people are treated with respect," Tolliver said. "People in the city of Little Rock have been disenfranchised by the current leadership. City hall operates more like a private club than the people's house. Hubris is commonplace in city hall. We need to reclaim city hall for the people."

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Tolliver, 51, a writer who lives in the Dunbar neighborhood, is one of five candidates seeking to replace retiring Mayor Mark Stodola in the Nov. 6 election.

He's branding his campaign "the people's campaign" because he was taught to "treat people the way you want to be treated and make sure city hall does the same thing." He's running an all-volunteer campaign, has no website and just recently initiated a social media presence. Before an interview, he provided a 20-point list of issues and topics focal to his campaign.

But one thing he doesn't want to talk about is crime.

"I'm not one to peddle fear," Tolliver said. "We continue to talk about crime, but crime is not as bad as we're purporting it to be. There are people who benefit financially from peddling fear. I don't want to get into [who benefits]."

Tolliver, who ran track and played football, graduated from Lakeside High School in Lake Village in 1985. He said he jumped around a few colleges, starting at Hendrix College in Conway. He transferred to the University of Southern California, then to Morehouse College in Atlanta, and finally to Langston University in Oklahoma City, where he said he is one biology credit short of a degree.

He worked at the Rose Law Firm in the early 1990s as a paralegal after he said he received a recommendation from firm partner Hillary Clinton. He said he met her during a March of Dimes event he was involved in during high school. He said he later worked for a time as executive director of the Korey Stringer Foundation in Atlanta, which works to prevent sudden deaths in football.

Last year, he was one of 11 candidates seeking the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee. The Hill reported the DNC ousted Tolliver as a candidate after he was critical of one of his opponents, U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn. Tolliver said that Ellison's "being a Muslim is precisely why DNC voters should not vote for him. Muslims discriminate against gays."

But Tolliver said recently that the real reason he got booted was because he said publicly that Clinton lost the presidency in 2016 because Tim Kaine was a poor chose for her vice presidential nominee. "That pissed off people," Tolliver said.

He said he makes his living as a writer, and has authored a book called "Childhood Eyes" about growing up in the Delta. He's most proud of his screenplay adaptation of "The Idiot" by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

If elected, he wants to develop a program called "ART/ists" where artists of all kinds — such as musicians, drummers, skateboarders and writers — in each ward could showcase their works to people from other wards. This would promote "pride and communications" among different areas of the city, he said.

He opposes the city's electing at-large directors in addition to directors elected from a specific ward. He says this system "marginalizes minority communities."

He wants the city to partner with the Little Rock School District to add more "birth to pre-K"centers for childcare.

He wants to start a program called "Black Boys r Brilliant" to increase community engagement among young people. Under this plan, the city would provide all parents and ministers copies of the 2018 street index to allow boys the opportunity to find their street and ward. They will then be told the names of their ward director and the police chief.

To promote childcare, a livable wage and downtown business, he wants the city to incentivize businesses to pay their employees at least $15 an hour or to subsidize childcare costs. He said this would encourage daycares to sprout up in downtown Little Rock and lead to a more positive and productive work environment. He said he would determine later what type of incentives the city would offer.

To promote health, he would expand the sidewalk network and connecting neighborhoods with walking trails that would include a city meeting place at War Memorial Park.

To empower neighborhood associations, he would give them input on pots of money he would allocate to each city director to be spent in specific wards.

He opposes the state takeover of the Little Rock School District and would work to see local control returned. He also said the city somehow needs to be helping the district raises teacher salaries.

He wants to "reimagine" Rock Region Metro because many buses are "half-empty." Instead, he wants a "fleet of shorter buses" for neighborhood use.

He also wants to lead a ballot campaign for a strong-mayor form of government. He said city department heads should report to the mayor, not the city manager.

"We got around the city, and we broke bread and talked to people in restaurants to find out what is important to you," Tolliver said. "[As a baby], I was kicking and looking around. I'm still kicking and looking around."

In the news. Or not.

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Some recent news, not all fit for immediate print in the state's largest newspaper.

Some recent news, not all fit for immediate print in the state's largest newspaper:

*REEFER MADNESS: Credit the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for publicizing a secret videotape made by Ken Shollmier, a Hutchinson administration insider and unhappy spurned applicant for a medical marijuana cultivation permit. He wangled a private meeting with Marijuana Commissioner Carlos Roman, who'd given Shollmier a high score, but not high enough to offset other low scores. It appears Shollmier thought he could catch Roman taking a bribe. It appears Roman thought that's what was afoot. No bribe changed hands. Roman notified the FBI. Where this leads as a police matter isn't certain. But we do know from the video that Roman helpfully met privately with an applicant and, by Shollmier's account, may have provided some proprietary information from other applications. At a minimum it was another black eye for the inept, politically corrupt start-up of medical marijuana regulation. The cultivation permit scoring should be redone by an independent outside judge.

*LEGISLATIVE ETHICS: No credit to the Democrat-Gazette for ignoring Democrat Jon Comstock's steady exposure of ethical failings by Sen. Cecile Bledsoe (R-Rogers), who Comstock is attempting to prevent from adding four more years to her 16 in the legislature. He's pointed out how Hutchinson connections have added up to almost $500,000 in taxpayer payments for the Bledsoe clan, including a $182,000 unadvertised job for Bledsoe's previously retired husband and a $173,000 payment to her son, Gregory, as surgeon general (an office without a real office), though he has another full-time job at a hospital. Comstock also reported that Bledsoe, one of the enablers of the Ecclesia College scandal, bought a house in Little Rock, where most of Bledsoe Inc. work is done. Does she really live in Rogers, as required to run for Senate?

*GOBBLE GOBBLE: Some good news was overlooked by the statewide newspaper. The Yellville Turkey Trot was held last weekend without the annual ritual of dropping terrified domestic turkeys from airplanes and buildings. Corporate sponsors finally fled last year after continued exposure by animal rights activists of the barbaric practice. The local Rotary Club took over, insisted on no turkey drops, and a good time was still had by all when rain didn't interfere. A big parade with high school bands and horses. A beauty pageant. A street dance. A beer garden. Smoked turkey legs and funnel cakes. The Turkey Trot passed Rotary's four-way test. The event was beneficial for all, particularly turkeys.

*ROGUE COPS: The D-G barely mentioned a huge piece of investigative reporting last weekend on tactics by the Little Rock police SWAT and undercover drug units. Radley Balko of The Washington Post documented dozens of unjustified no-knock raids, complete with explosive door breaches, mounted on the strength of an unreliable informant and questionable police testimony. It appears innocent people have been victimized, a disproportionate number of them black.

It was another black eye for a police force accused before of racially disparate policing. It's no wonder the force is viewed warily by minorities. The majority of the majority white force lives outside the city — often driving home in city-subsidized police cruisers. The suburban cops say they fear crime and putting their kids in the city's (majority black) schools.

Police and public safety should be THE issue for the candidates for mayor. A broadening of an existing lawsuit by one drug-raid victim who's persevered with his complaint against enormous institutional odds now seems likely to force more public discussion. The city's silence to date is deafening. I'd say it's worth a news article.

The Arkansas Republican Supreme Court


Fair to middlin'

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The Observer and Spouse got out to the Arkansas State Fair the other evening thanks to a couple of free tickets and a parking pass we'd scored, the latter helping us bypass the $10 parking fee they're now instituting just to get in the gate.

The Observer and Spouse got out to the Arkansas State Fair the other evening thanks to a couple of free tickets and a parking pass we'd scored, the latter helping us bypass the $10 parking fee they're now instituting just to get in the gate. Is sawbuck parking a new thing? The Observer's mind is getting a little squishy in our old age, and we may have skipped the fair entirely last year, so we can't quite remember.

October being our favorite month, our dance card is usually full up to the point we've skipped the State Fair entirely a time or three. This year, though, Junior is off to college and his old gray-headed Pa and still-fabulous Ma are empty-nesting it whenever he doesn't decide to come home and clean out the cabinets like a starving refugee. With all the good stuff on Netflix long since binged and the cats brushed and the laundry caught up, we decided to do the grand tour of the Midway.

The Observer has had a love affair with the fair since we can remember. Our Pa, a roofer who clung to the hem of respectability his whole life, used to let his wayward sons skip school sometimes to accompany him to the State Fair on a midweek afternoon, Pa chowing down on buttered popcorn and funnel cakes dunked in powdered sugar before stepping to the air-powered BB machine gun booth to cut out the red star from the paper card with surgical precision. While the guys stoked on Rambo movies would step to the line and loose an ear-splitting barrage, Pa trickled out a few shots at a time — ra-tat! ra-tat! ra-tat! — snipping out the star bit by bit, until not even the slippery carny who ran the place could talk himself into believing he saw a lingering speck of red. The Observer walked the midway with more than one big ol' bear thanks to Pa's skill with a shootin' iron.

The fair has changed and not changed in the intervening years, grown bigger but simultaneously smaller. To Yours Truly at 13, rushing through the Hall of Industry, collecting sacks of pencils, Rice Board stickers and pamphlets on the dangers of driving around railroad crossing gates, the fair seemed vast, colorful, beautiful, maybe even a little dangerous to a kid being reared way out in the sticks of Saline County. These days, it's only huge in The Observer's mind. We mused as much to Spouse over lemonade and a foot-long corn dog after walking the Hall of Industry, packed with quackery, candy apples, fancy knives, rebel flags and earnest politicians. In our memory, that room is Walmart size, so big it had a horizon, concealing wonders. Today, we realize we could throw a bottle cap from end to end without much trouble. Such is the human condition, which you'll find out soon enough if you don't know it already: The past is huge; the present is so very, very small. When the Trumpies cry "MAGA," that's the impossibility they're really asking for: Find a way to make my present as big as my past.

Still, the Incredible Shrinking Fairgrounds notwithstanding, the cheerful couple strolled the damp, neon-lit dark, eating our overpriced fair food on a stick. We listened for the ra-tat! of the BB machine gun booth. We ogled the rides both of us are too chicken or too wise to ride, and watched the hearty backwoods youngsters shampoo and blow dry their competition goats under the yellow light outside the show barn. It was a grand old time.

Once, as a boy, we told Spouse there in the dark, we paid a whole buck to see the World's Biggest Horse at the State Fair. The guy running the tent was a stringy, sunburnt cowboy. As we walked around the tarp barrier that kept the curious from stealing a look for free, we were greeted with an elephantine, dust-colored rump that towered far over our head.

"Turn around here so we can get a look at ya, Jimmy," the cowboy said. At the sound of his name, the vast horse shuffled around in the tiny space, turning a head as long as the bucket of a steam shovel, and looked at Yours Truly with snow globe eyes. We can still remember that moment pure and whole: the boy from nowhere and the horse as big as God, regarding each other. Or can we? Can a horse even BE as big as the one in our memory, there on the magical midway? We're not so sure anymore. But we're also kinda glad we'll never know for certain.

Good stories

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I frequently disagree with the extremes of your politics. I do usually enjoy your columnists' positions if for no other reason than simply to read another opinion on an issue. Further, I am often impressed with the width and breath of some of your investigative articles.

Good stories

I frequently disagree with the extremes of your politics. I do usually enjoy your columnists' positions if for no other reason than simply to read another opinion on an issue. Further, I am often impressed with the width and breath of some of your investigative articles.

However, two terrific stories contained in your Oct. 11 issue, to wit, "Fast Forward" by David Koon and "Goodbye to LR's Bushel Basket" by Rebekah Hall, deserve more than passing notice. Both were extremely interesting and offered unique perspectives on subjects not typically found in the Arkansas Times (or anywhere else).

Now, if we can find some middle ground on our politics ... .

Porter Brownlee Little Rock

The American Uncivil War

America's second Civil War started 155 years after the first. What started in Charleston Harbor at Fort Sumter, S.C., on April 12, 1861, was a battle that would become the American Civil War.  The South would win this first battle only to lose the larger war four years later. The abolishment of slavery was the overriding cause of Southern states seceding from the union and it ultimately led to the conflagration that followed. On Nov. 8, 2016, our second Civil War was launched. Its adversaries are not defined by states, but by something far more compelling: their core values. These include respect for and adherence to civility in human relations, discourse and governance. Ending slavery has been trumped by efforts of the new Uncivil War combatants to perpetuate racism, misogyny and xenophobia. To add insult to outrageous behavior, additional efforts to dissolve our democracy are underway and are supported by claims that our media is the enemy of the people and that governmental agencies should be dedicated to serving the needs of our chief executive, not the citizens of the United States. Our legislative branch has already capitulated its authority to the White House, and our judicial branch will soon surrender its constitutional authority of checks and balances and fall in line with Congress to become another instrument of autocratic rule, not democratic governance. Divisiveness is their goal and hate is their weapon. "Lock her up" is the anthem of hatred that unifies the uncivil minority and its practiced cadence reverberates throughout the arena at their rallies, aka events where love of hate and propaganda prevail. Pageants of power now trump traditional political campaign rallies. Marriages, families, friendships, business partnerships and more have ended or been severely estranged due to irreconcilable differences in their respective values: civility vs. incivility. Reason vs. outrage. Thoughtfulness vs. rashness. Truth vs. alternative facts. Love of hate vs. pristine love. Those who favor representative democracy vs. those who are bent on hate-filled, autocratic rule. Those willing to defend our Constitution vs. those who deliberately subvert it.  If you count yourself among America's civil majority, help stop the Uncivil War on Tuesday, Nov. 6. Vote.

Harry Herget Little Rock

Comments from the web

I guess the Republicans in our state are jumping for joy at this [Medicaid roll] news. Another 4,100 "lazy bums" thrown off the "public dole." Meanwhile, they continue to feed at the public trough themselves. Wake up, Arkansas voters, or prepare to live through another few years of being screwed over by these crooks.

Wannabee conservative

"In a report released Monday morning,the state Department of Human Services said it had terminated the health insurance of another 4,109 Medicaid recipients ... ."

So in just one month another 4,109 of our fellow Arkansans along with another 4,353 the previous month no longer have affordable health insurance. They will still have the same health issues, but instead of getting them treated, this will result:

1) No visit to the doctor means many medical issues will go untreated and get worse, resulting in far more expensive treatment somebody will have to pay.

2) When they HAVE to go to the doctor or an ER because their medical problem has reached a critical point, the bills will go unpaid. Hospitals will suffer the losses or raise prices for everyone else to cover their costs.

3) Rural hospitals living on the edge financially will be forced to close. That lwill impact everyone in the surrounding communities, and result in more deaths for those facing true medical emergencies.

4) If the medical issues involve communicable diseases, guess who will then get them? The rest of us.

5) It means the tens of millions of federal government dollars that pay 93 percent of the cost of expanded Medicaid (current federal fiscal year beginning 10/1/18) are no longer part of the state's economy. Way to shrink the state's economy and cost us jobs, Asa.

Sound Policy

In 'Dracula,' Ballet Arkansas shows its fangs

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A pirouette, with teeth.

If the perennial "Nutcracker" is designed to showcase Ballet Arkansas's glittery grace, "Dracula" is meant to show its fangs. To the soundtrack of classical music's greatest creepy hits — Liszt's "Totentanz" and Ciprian Porumbescu's "Ballade" among them — Ballet Arkansas put on a world premiere to ring in its 40th anniversary, with original choreography by new executive and artistic director Michael Fothergill. Even before the first toe was pointed in the debut performance (at Reynolds Performance Hall on the campus of the University of Central Arkansas in Conway), fog curled out from under the curtain, hinting at sinister tensions to come.

First things first: This premiere was a daring endeavor. Bram Stoker's 1897 gothic horror novel "Dracula" is a tangled web of transactions and betrayals, and making a ballet out of the thing was both a daunting task and a boss move. What plot points we didn't get from dancers — or from the pristine costumery from the closets of the Arkansas Repertory Theatre and Ballet Arkansas — we got from intermittent expository text, doled out to us courtesy of Ballet Arkansas-neighbors-and-collaborators Cranford Co., in that up-and-backward crawl the original "Star Wars" movie got us all accustomed to. (How else are you supposed to advance a plot that was originally told through ship logs and diary entries?) The rest was left to a few props and to Fothergill's image-painting, a blend of modern and classical styles that Ballet Arkansas's versatile dancers meshed seamlessly. Family-friendly as the ballet manages to be, those who know "Dracula" know it's all about sex and power, and Fothergill's choreography speaks in the lunging, lurching language of Stoker's narrative.

A quick glance through the list of dancers and their tenures suggested a cohesive company ethos, one that evidently inspires talented dancers like our protagonist Paul Tillman (playing Stoker's Jonathan Harker, though casting alternates each night) to stick around for as many as nine seasons — a substantial swath of time in a dancer's career. As Harker's fiancee, Mina, much was asked of Deanna Stanton; the leading lady must act as well as she dances. Stanton delivered, telegraphing both Mina's stately good nature and her tortured conscience as her loyalties waver. Stanton, too, always seemed keenly aware of the "picture" she was painting for the eye — draping her long body over a bench to weep, for example, creating an impossibly lovely still frame.

Stanton's frequent counterpart, the ethereal Zeek Wright, played the titular (and surprisingly emotionally multidimensional) vampire, alternately decked out in a Sun Ra-esque robe and a crimson red shroud. Wright was, as the curtain call proved, nothing short of a delight to watch, managing to eke (eek!) out audience empathy even as he reduced his nubile victims to blood banks. He's somehow simultaneously athletic and willowy, and his bombastic height was an asset unto itself. When Dracula curled a menacing finger your way, it felt as if his arm might reach all the way to Row M and around your throat, and when he found himself surrounded by his petite siren brides (Megan Hustel, Lynsie Jo Ogden and Amanda Sewell, seductively), the contrast in body scale as he scooped them up in his arms was Tolkien-level cartoonish. Not to be overlooked were the ensemble members who provided respite and texture — sixth-season dancer Lauren Bodenheimer Hill, for one, with her fantastically theatrical face and expressions that translated with clarity to the back of the hall.

All that said, I admit one misgiving. Cranford Co.'s role in the production, in part, was to be a series of rich backdrops against which the dancers' profiles could be seen. Those translated marvelously. The other part involved a handful of close-up shots of the costumed dancer's faces, put up on screen for ... effect? For visibility from the nosebleeds? Conceptually noble as the collaboration and image integration was in theory, the close-ups — and their timing — rarely served the production well in practice, often distracting the eye. I'd have been happy to take the 10 percent of my attention I spent on those images and hand it right back to Stanton, Tillman, Wright, et al., or to the more gorgeously symbolic video elements, like the distant moon or the wilting rose.

Catch Ballet Arkansas's "Dracula" at UA Pulaski Technical College's Center for the Humanities and Arts, 3000 W. Scenic Drive, North Little Rock, 7 p.m. Fri.-Sat., Oct. 19-20; 2 p.m. Sat.-Sun., Oct. 20-21, $15-$35. Get tickets at balletarkansas.org or by calling 501-812-2710.

First hop at frog legs

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Flying Fish has 'em, and they're good.

Every time this reviewer eats at Flying Fish (which happens to be fairly often, especially with Catholic friends during Lenten fish Fridays), she can't help but think about a missed opportunity: A member of her family who shall go unnamed was offered the chance to invest in the restaurant early on, and declined. Years later, we can appreciate just how deeply the family knack for poor investment decisions runs. People who live and work in downtown Little Rock are lucky that Flying Fish has solidified itself as a staple of the restaurant scene there. It's unpretentious and kitschy with its neon beer signs, red-checkered tablecloths and huge mounted Big Mouth Billy Bass collection, equally as appetizing as a lunch stop as it is a dinner destination. We will say that we miss the old painted wooden menu sign that used to hang over the fry kitchen. It's now digitized. We're always tempted to buy one of the T-shirts hanging on the wall: "We Catch and Release (into real hot grease)."

Reviewer and friend tried to cover the bases with our order: a basket of fried pickles (a classic), a grilled salmon dinner plate with grilled vegetables plus rice and beans (an attempt at a healthier option), and six pairs of fried frog legs (perhaps not so adventurous to some, but a first for this reviewer).

With the fried pickles, you can't go wrong: They were crisp, not disappointingly soggy. The generously sized salmon fillet was grilled perfectly by a team of cooks that seems to have its fast-paced behind-the-counter operation down to a science. The veggies, sliced zucchini and squash, were zesty and the rice and beans didn't disappoint, either.

The star of the show, the frog legs, came with the traditional and delicious lone hushpuppy nestled at the bottom of the basket. Unfortunately, this reviewer, having never eaten frog legs before, did not have a reliable frame of reference, but was pleasantly surprised. The legs tasted like chicken (it's true) and must have come off the back end of some pretty large frogs. An $11.99 order of six pairs was enough for four people to share happily as an appetizer. Our dining companion, whose grandfather was partial to a frog leg in his day, gave these her stamp of approval.

On a subsequent lunch visit, we checked in on Flying Fish's bread and butter: the fried shrimp and catfish combo basket, served with fries and a pair of hushpuppies. There are a variety of options available; we usually go for four shrimp and two catfish filets ($13.99).

There's an Arkansas Times columnist whose theory on catfish is that despite its prominence in Southern fare, it's a dish without mystery. You either get it hot and crunchy enough, or you don't. And he's right! Flying Fish is, too, when it comes to the bottom-feeder. The mainstay of the fried combination baskets is served in generously thick fillets, covered in a cornmeal blanket and fried at a temperature that renders it cleanly crispy every single time. The shrimp is fried in the same manner, but not before being butterflied and pounded thin, maximizing the surface area that can be covered in that glorious cornmeal. Baskets are served with a little ketchup for your fries and a little tartar sauce, but a few squeezes of lemon are condiment enough.

If you believe that everything is better with a little heat, make sure and tell them at the register you want everything "snappy." That prompts a chorus of "snappy!" from the kitchen staff and pepper-y seasoning mix in the breading.

At lunch, our dining companions went with a pair of items that you might overlook, but shouldn't: the grits and gumbo ($8.50) and ceviche ($9.99). The latter is a tureen of the Fish's dark-rouxed shrimp and sausage gumbo covering a fried block of creamy grits. It's the ideal comfort food. The ceviche is a lighter favorite. It's a mix of shrimp and tilapia cured in lemon and lime juice, with peppers, onions and a tomato-y sauce. It works like a dip and comes ringed by fresh, fried tortilla chips.

Other options range from rainbow trout to salmon, shrimp and snapper. If you're not in the mood for things that swim, you can get a hamburger, a cheeseburger or chicken strips. We didn't partake on this occasion, but 18-ounce frozen margaritas are available for $9.

Flying Fish
511 President Clinton Ave.
501-375-3474

Quick bite

Wednesdays are All U Can Eat Fried Catfish for $15.99.

Hours

11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Other info

Beer on tap and bottled, wine and margaritas. Credit cards accepted.

Brooke Miller comes to The Joint

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And more!

THURSDAY 10/18

BROOKE MILLER

7:30 p.m. The Joint Theater & Coffeehouse. $30.

The "Canadian blonde with guitar" descriptor alone is probably enough to understand why fingerstyle guitarist Brooke Miller reminds so many listeners of Joni Mitchell. A quick spin of Miller's "You Can See Everything," though, gives the comparison a little more musical substance. Like fellow Canadian songbird Mitchell, Miller picks with dexterity, chooses corner-turning chord changes and sings as someone who long ago abandoned the confines of a lyrical couplet, preferring instead to dance around the lines of text: "I've been singing about water/Without a second foot on dry ground/You make swimming so easy I'm gonna drown/In your capping blues and greens/I mean who gets to feel this way?" Then again, she's had plenty of time to have grown weary of predictable song structures; 36 years old, Miller's been honing her husky alto and playing guitar since age 12, when she fronted a punk trio that toured the Maritimes. She's since carved out a niche for herself with six studio releases, some of which have landed on television soundtracks ("You Can See Everything" was on Showtime's "The L Word," for one) and been adored by audiences in cozy theaters in Germany, where she toured last fall. She's at The Joint as a guest of the Argenta Acoustic Music Series, and is the series' penultimate performer this year. SS

THURSDAY 10/18

ROBERT FINLEY

8 p.m. South on Main. $28-$36.

Robert Finley lost his marriage, his house and his eyesight one right after another, and if that isn't fodder for some achingly beautiful soul, I don't know what is. Finley's career has been framed as a rediscovery: Though he'd been playing locally for decades at fish fries and in prisons, it was in 2015 that Timothy Duffy of the Music Maker Relief Foundation heard Finley busking on a street corner and whisked him off to make "Age Don't Mean a Thing," Finley's debut on the Big Legal Mess label. Since then, Finley's developed a partnership with The Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach, one that's meant Finley's sound — as we hear it on his latest, "Goin' Platinum"— is couched in the likes of Preservation Hall horns, drummer Gene Chrisman, guitarist Duane Eddy and some of the most revered session musicians Auerbach could gather. "I didn't ever have to play him any references, I just let him sing," Auerbach said of the sessions. "He naturally did what the song wanted to hear. He was capable of doing it in this huge bark, this soft whisper, a falsetto. ... I said, 'Can you sing falsetto?' He said, 'I don't know.''Why don't you give it a shot and see what happens.' And he sang 'Holy Wine,'" just like you hear it on the record. We were all sitting in the control room and my brain short-circuited." If, like me, you wandered around listening to the utterly A-list talent scheduled for the B-list performance spaces at King Biscuit Blues Festival earlier this month, maybe it's not so surprising voices like Finley's tend to get overlooked. Here's a chance to hear such a voice shining brightly, on a stage befitting of its range and beauty. SS

THURSDAY 10/18-SATURDAY 10/20

MUSICFEST 31

6:30 p.m. Thu., 6 p.m. Fri., 5:30 p.m. Sat. Murphy Arts District, El Dorado. $60-$220.

It was this time last year that anyone keeping tabs on Northwest Arkansas and Little Rock's respective cultural mecca points had to stop and ask, "Wait, what? El Dorado?" The oil boomtown's been rebuilding its historic downtown area as an arts district, and has been home to shows from Steve Earle, Jason Isbell, Migos, Train and Brad Paisley thus far. This year, the Murphy Arts District is following up its 2017 launch lineup with sets from Toby Keith, George Clinton, 2 Chainz, Justin Moore, Gucci Mane, Sammy Hagar and The Circle, Sheila E and Morris Day & The Time, not to mention locals Jamie Lou & The Hullabaloo, Dazz & Brie, Trey Johnson and Rodney Block. Main Street El Dorado adds all kinds of free family activities downtown: "Visitors can enjoy a zip line, a ferris wheel, the Flight Crew Jump Rope team that appeared on NBC-TV's 'America's Got Talent', a NASCAR simulator, free music on the square, a mechanical bull, a rock climbing wall, food vendors and much more," a press release notes. See eldomad.com/musicfest31 for a full schedule, a map and links to buy tickets. SS

THURSDAY 10/18-SATURDAY 11/3

THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW

8:30 p.m. Thu.-Sat. through Nov. 3, additional performance 8:30 p.m. Wed., Oct. 31. Club Sway. $20-$25.

Let's be honest. It's pretty difficult to make an alien-cannibal rock opera about a "sweet transvestite from Transexual Transylvania" boring, but time, repetition and community theater troupes full of straight people have unwittingly chipped away at the show's bite, taming the selfsame elements that made the 1975 Tim Curry film such a pivotal queer oasis for countless high schoolers in suburban America who longed to express themselves outside the prescribed gender binary. Leave it to the campy whimsy of the Club Sway family to set the record straight (or rather, right) this Halloween season, as it's done the last three years. Actor Brittany Sparkles is both director and Frank. N. Furter; the cast of Sway regulars, whose dead seriousness about dressing up/making pageantry, will be the heartbeat of these 10 performances. Get tickets at clubsway.com/tickets, and spring for the extra $5 for a prop bag to score your audience participation points. Parties follow the curtain calls for Friday and Saturday night performances. SS

FRIDAY 10/19

THIRD FRIDAY ARGENTA ARTWALK

5 p.m. Argenta galleries. Free.

If this rain, rain, rain will go away, the Arkansas Innovation Hub will fly you to the moon telescopically for "International Observe the Moon Night," starting at 7 p.m. The Central Arkansas Astronomy Society's Bruce McMath will give a talk on astronomy for attending moonatics and UA Little Rock astronomer Dr. Tony Hall will bring meteorite samples for folks to handle and admire. In case of rain, the event will be held at the same time Saturday. But no matter the weather, the Hub (201 E. Broadway) will have "Make it Spooky" activities for children in its arts studios starting at 5 p.m. Also up: The Thea Foundation (401 Main St.) will feature artworks by patients of Arkansas Children's Hospital at its after-hours event, with ACH artists-in-residence at the reception; Core Brewery (411 Main) hosts a show called "Into the Blue"; Argenta Gallery (413 Main) opens an exhibition of work on paper by Lisandra di Liberto and other Puerto Rico-born artists; gallery neighbor studioMAIN (413 Main) celebrates unsung civil engineers; the Argenta branch of the Laman Library (420 Main) opens an exhibition by members of the Arkansas Pastel Society; and Greg Thompson Fine Art (429 Main) continues its "Best of the South" exhibition of works by regional and Arkansas artists. Impressionist artist Barry Thomas will demonstrate painting at his studio at 711 Main St. A new venue joins the October Art Walk: Thrive Argenta, the apartments at 501 N. Magnolia, is hosting a show of artwork by residents and staff in its courtyard. LNP

SATURDAY 10/20

FESTIVAL OF DARKNESS 2018

4 p.m. Lost Forty Brewing. $15-$30.

Recipe for Nighty Night, Lost Forty Brewing's most-anticipated small-batch beer of the year: Age an American Imperial Stout in rye whiskey barrels, bourbon barrels and red wine barrels until it positively oozes darkness. Recipe for Lost Forty Brewing's Festival of Darkness: Release that dark concoction into the wild with a daydrinking party; invite a kajillion other Arkansas breweries, plus Loblolly Creamery, Slader's Alaskan Dumpling Co. and Count Porkula food trucks; book Little Rock scene triumvirate-of-musical-venerables Dazz & Brie and The Emotionalz, Adam Faucett and Big Piph; get everyone to dress up like lumberjack zombies, give away swag and prizes, give a boozy Saturday night boost to Little Rock's ridesharing economy. Pull out your walking dead-est lewks, call an Uber and see the Facebook event page for an Eventbrite ticket link, plus a full schedule by which to time your undead arrival. SS

SATURDAY 10/20

LITTLE ROCK PRIDE FESTIVAL

Noon-6 p.m. Riverfront Park. $5 suggested donation.

Central Arkansas's LGBTQ community's annual parade and celebration of diversity is this weekend, and rainbow or shine, Riverfront Park is going to glow. Cece Peniston, the woman who brought 1992 dance anthem "Finally" to the airwaves, is paying a visit, as is actor and trans activist Laith Ashley. The William F. Laman Library sponsors Drag Queen Story Time with Melanie Masters, Charnay Cassadine, Roxie Starrlite and Blaze Duvall, and a Kids Zone features face painting, a bounce house and an obstacle course. With state Rep.-elect Tippi McCullough (D-Little Rock) as grand marshal, the parade begins at 1 p.m. at Markham and Louisiana streets, and progresses down President Clinton Avenue. See lrpride.com for details or to grab a VIP ticket for brunch with none other than songstress/"Dreamgirls" goddess Jennifer Holliday. SS

SUNDAY 10/21

SCREAMING FEMALES

10 p.m. Low Key Arts, Hot Springs. $10-$15.

Marissa Paternoster devotees won't need this inroad, but if you've yet to witness the marriage of the Screaming Females frontwoman's virtuosic guitar prowess with her explosive voice — at turns a pulsating, soaring vibrato and a low, cavernous yowl — go cue up the Screaming Females' cover of T. Swift's "Shake It Off" for The A.V. Club Sessions. Then, follow the pathway backward to the New Jersey trio's 2018 release "All At Once," anchored by the claustrophobic "Glass House" and the deceptively bouncy "I'll Make You Sorry." Minneapolis trio Kitten Forever opens the show, and as the concert is an after-party for the concurrent Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, HSDFF passholders get in free. Everyone else, head to prekindle.com and search for "Screaming Females" for a link to tickets. SS

SATURDAY 10/20-SUNDAY 10/21

ARKANSAS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: 'THE MUSIC OF STAR WARS'

7:30 p.m. Sat., 3 p.m. Sun. Robinson Performance Hall. $16-$68.

It was inevitable. After playing signature riffs from all eight Harry Potter films and accompanying a screening of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" with live orchestration, your neighborhood symphony is turning its sights on a tried-and-true chapter of the John Williams repertoire. With four decades of cantina ditties, Imperial Marches and battle themes to draw from — over 18 hours of music across the franchise — the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra is performing "Star Wars" selections on the stage with trivia, a Star Wars-decorated Robinson Performance Hall and costumery. Audiences are invited to come dressed as their favorite Dewback/Rebel Alliance leader/galactic villain/spinoff character/Wookiee. Grab tickets at arkansassymphonyorg. SS

MONDAY 10/22

'TAKE ME TO THE RIVER: NEW ORLEANS LIVE'

Noon and 7:30 p.m. Center for the Humanities and Arts, UA Pulaski Technical College. $30-$110 concert admission, free film admission.

The term "musical gumbo" gets thrown around with abandon, usually when we can't find the words to talk about intermingled genres of sound properly, and especially when we want to emphasize that the intermingling doesn't necessarily diminish the individuality of the sound's individual components. Here, though, gumbo is probably as good an analogy as any. Like okra, shrimp and andouille, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Ivan and Ian Neville, George Porter Jr., the Lost Bayou Ramblers duo, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, 79ers Gang and Terence Higgins appear together, the distinct qualities of their sounds unquestionably intact. Put simply, musical vibrancy is synonymous with New Orleans itself, and it's artists like these that make it so. From the Lost Bayou Ramblers' half-punk, half-preservationist approach to Big Chief Monk's ambassadorship of the Mardi Gras tribal cultures to the funk torch-carrying of The Meters' Porter Jr. and Dumpstaphunk's Nevilles, the show is built to give the listener as much of a multi-generational sonic picture of New Orleans as she can ge in an hour or so. There is, admittedly, no substitute for being daydrunk, covered in glitter and surrounded by horns and mayhem at the corner of Canal and Rampart streets in the middle of February, but what the Pulaski Tech CHARTS show may lack in parade-adjacent chaos, it more than makes up for in scholarship. Catch a free noontime Monday screening of the concert film, "Take Me to the River — New Orleans!" followed by a Q&A with Higgins and members of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and Lost Ramblers Duo. No tickets are required for the noontime film; tickets for the evening concert range from $30 for standing room only ($10 for students), $65 and $85 for reserved seating and $110 for VIP seating and admission to the snacks and drinks in the Ben E. Keith VIP Room just outside the theater. SS

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