Picks of 2007: A roundup of the year's top entertainment news
Posted on Friday, December 28, 2007
There was the old. There was the new. And there were those that merely evolved, and that was noteworthy as well.
For example, a historic nightclub reached a milestone, while a historic tavern overcame an obstacle. Giant flowers sprouted up along the Interstate 540, greeting an onslaught of bikers that rode through for an annual motorcycle rally that keeps growing each year. Music lovers were treated to several Grammy-nominated recording artists, while movie lovers got to watch blockbusters on a new, state-of-the art theater. There was also art, theater and a beauty pageant. Here was the What's Up! staff listed as the top entertainment newsmakers for 2007, in no particular order.
Walton Arts Center debuts public art exhibit
If someone hasn't seen Lee Littlefield's flower sculptures, it's because they aren't trying very hard. Littlefield, a Houston-based sculptor, is the man behind the 15-foot-tall neon flowers found on the Interstate 540 corridor throughout Northwest Arkansas.
The Walton Arts Center funded the project, known as "I-540: Cultivating the Northwest Arkansas Neighborhood."The outdoor, public art exhibit debuted in April when Littlefield completed the installation of the 30 flowers.
Littlefield created the bright fluorescent pink, yellow, blue and other-colored flowers over the course of a two-year period with the help of five assistants. The creations, Littlefield said, are inspired by the swamps near his Texas home and are made from wood, bark and twigs discovered there.
The sculptures were originally intended for placement in the road median, but the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department rejected the proposal. Instead, private landowners on I-540 in Bella Vista, Lowell, Johnson and more were recruited for the project. The flowers can still be seen along the interstate.
A companion exhibit of smaller sculptures titled "Out of the Bayou"opened April 27 inside the Walton Arts Center's Joy Pratt Markham Gallery, where it stayed through August.
A few of the outdoor flowers didn't even last that long. Two of the sculptures were damaged by vandals in late May, prompting the Walton Arts Center to remove them from their location near the intersection of Dickson Street and West Avenue for safekeeping.
Miss Arkansas USA pageants move north to Bentonville
After being staged in Conway for years, the Miss Arkansas USA and Miss Arkansas Teen USA pageants moved to the Arend Arts Center in Bentonville. After taking over ownership of the pageant, the production company Vanbros and Associates decided to look for another site to host the pageants -- and Bentonville had the winning number.
"We put a lot of feelers across the state and Bentonville responded and we went from there. The city had the all the amenities to make the pageant happen,"Jennifer Vannatta-Fisher, one of the event's co-executive directors, told the Times in November.
Factors they considered were the amount of hotels in the area and the area population base. It probably did not hurt that Bentonville is only about three hours away from the Overland Park, Kan., the headquarters of the company, compared to the six-hour drive to Conway.
Alma native Rachel Howells, who is a senior at the University of Arkansas, became the first Miss Arkansas USA crowned in Bentonville on Nov. 25 following two days of competition. She replaced Kelly George, who now works as a morning anchor at KNWA in Fayetteville.
Stevi Perry of Hamburg won the Miss Arkansas Teen USA event.
The winners will compete for the Miss USA title in the spring and Miss Teen USA in the summer. The Miss USA event will be televised on NBC.
Sixty girls participated in the two pageants, which was a significant increase from the Conway events.
The pageants are not affiliated with the Miss Arkansas and Miss Arkansas Outstanding Teen pageants held in July in Hot Springs.
Track center becomes bigger factor at Bikes, Blues and BBQ
In October, those in charge of the eighth Bikes, Blues and BBQ motorcycle rally in Fayetteville took a good idea and ran with it some more.
The rally began featuring events at the Randal Tyson Track Center in 2006, but the facility became more of an epicenter this past year in effort to alleviate traffic from Dickson Street and surrounding neighborhoods. Somewhere between 300,000-400,000 people attended the event as well as at least 50,000 motorcycles.
The highlight of the events at the track center included a concert by famed rockers ZZ Top, an event which drew in estimated crowd of 9,000. In addition, West Coast Choppers founder Jesse James, one of the most famous bikers in the country thanks to his "Motorcycle Mania"and "Monster Garage"shows on the Discovery Channel, made an appearance at a local Wal-Mart and later outside the track center. The list of nearly 200 vendors sprawled out on the track center's parking lot included two tractor-trailers each full of products from Harley-Davidson and Kawasaki.
Although the track center was full of activity, the rally still managed to take over downtown Fayetteville on all four days of the event with a large stage in the Walton Center parking lot that featured a wide range of local and national bands.
"We had both venues packed to the gill. It was a good rally,"rally coordinator Nelson Driver told the Times shortly after the event in October.
More than $100,000 was donated to local charities from this year's rally.
Major concerts pass through Fayetteville
For many performers, it seems like passing through Northwest Arkansas was a good way to get nominated for a Grammy Award. Of the many acts who came through the area, several were among those were on the list of hopefuls for the 50th Grammy Awards ceremony in February.
Of those nominated, John Mayer (nominated for Best Male Vocal Pop Performance) kicked things off with a Feb. 1 performance in Barnhill Arena. His performance was sponsored by the University of Arkansas Headliner Concerts Committee. Shiny Toy Guns (Best Electronic/Dance Album) followed on Feb. 3 with a concert at The Gypsy in Fayetteville.
Rising country star Taylor Swift, (Best New Artist) performed a Friday night gig April 20 on Mount Sequoyah in Fayetteville. The 17-year-old songwriter chose the hilltop venue because she is too young to perform at most bars.
Fellow country act Dierks Bentley (Best Male Country Vocal Performance, Best Country Song, Best Country Album, Best Long Form Music Video) came next. He was joined by Jason Aldean and Miranda Lambert for his April 27 show at the Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville.
Kenny Wayne Shepherd (Best Music Long Form Video, Best Traditional Blues Album) was the headlining act at the annual Riverfront Blues Festival in Fort Smith. His performance took place June 23.
Also performing in the area this summer were Brave Combo (Best Polka Album), who appeared July 5 at George's Majestic Lounge in Fayetteville.
Local favorite Lucinda Williams (Best Rock Song, Best Solo Vocal Rock Performance) came back to Fayetteville after the release of her acclaimed album "West."Williams' Sept. 20 show at the Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville served as a fundraiser for the Miller Williams Poetry Prize, offered by the University of Arkansas Press.
Rounding out the award-nominated musicians who showed up in the area was Willie Nelson (Best Country Collaboration with Vocals) who played Oct. 26 at The Auditorium in Eureka Springs.
While there is no telling what next year will hold, the future looks promising. The Foo Fighters (nominated for five awards) take the Barnhill Arena stage Jan. 28.
Botanical Garden of the Ozarks takes bloom
For the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks, late September's grand opening was just a seedling.
Still the 7 acres filled with a variety of Ozark native plants provided quite a sight for the first visitors to the garden, located north of the intersection of Crossover and Zion roads in Fayetteville.
There is still plenty of work to be done on the other 83 acres that are part of a 25-year lease that can be renewed three times provided there is a garden on-site.
The venue features eight gardens: Sensory Garden, Herb Vegetable Garden, Shade Garden, Four Season Garden, Ozark Native Garden, Children's Garden, Rose & Perennial Garden and Rock & Water. A ninth venue, the Japanese Garden, should be completed by March 15 along with several other smaller ongoing projects.
The garden recently announced an addition to the Children's Garden called the Reading Railroad, which will feature a cement train sculpture where children can sit and read. The project is funded by the Fayetteville Noon Kiwanis Club. Other plans for the garden include story time programs for children as well as extending its outreach programs to area schools.
Sarah King, the garden's director of community program, said garden organizers will revisit the master plan in 2008 to "have a really clear vision as to what the steps are as far as moving forward."
Part of that vision could include a visitors center, King said.
King added that since the garden started, the full-time staff has increased from two to five. In addition, the garden has more than 750 members, 246 of whom joined following the garden's grand opening.
TheatreSquared launches first full season
It's a learning process and TheatreSquared is still busy taking notes.
In May, the Fayetteville-based professional theater company, which formed in spring of 2004, released the lineup of its first full season of five shows after producing three shows in 2006.
During those first three productions, the company exceeded its goal by getting more than 1,000 patrons a show. During the first three shows of the 2007-08 season, the troupe has hit those marks as well. In addition, the company has sold about 100 season tickets.
"There's this learning curve when you take new steps forward,"managing director Morgan Hicks said. "We are learning about our ticket holders and audience members and what they get excited about."
The troupe began its first full slate on June 30 with its debut presentation of the "Jungalbook,"a non-Disney version of the classic tale by Rudyard Kipling.
In preparation for Halloween, TheatreSquared presented "The Mystery of Irma Vep"in September. The comedy stretched the limits of two actors, Jason Grimm and Jason Engstrom, who each played four characters.
More laughs were in store for "Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol,"which opened on Nov. 23. The holiday play showed how Marley tried to redeem the insufferable Ebenezer Scrooge so he himself can experience some sort of redemption.
The season will resume in 2008 with "Noodle Doodle Box,"a children's show that will run from Feb. 29 to March 9. The highlight of the series may arrive on May 2 with the world debut of "My Father's War."Written by local playwright Bob Ford, the story will tell the experiences of Arthur Herzberg as a 19-year old Jew from Chicago positioned on the beaches of Normandy during World War II. Amy Herzberg, Ford's wife, will portray her father in the play, which is being eyed by theater companies in New York City and Chicago.
Maxine's Tap Room reopens its doors
Bar owner Andrea Foren promised to Northwest Arkansas Times reporters on July 25, 2006, that a fire the previous day at Maxine's Tap Room would not permanently close the decades-old Fayetteville venue.
She was right, but she didn't have any idea how much effort the process would take. A fire under the bar that summer evening ruptured a CO2 tank, blowing a hole in the bar and ruining much of the furniture.
Foren became owner of the bar in May 2006 when its namesake, Maxine Miller, passed away. Because Miller would have rebuilt, Foren said, she decided she would, too.
The process was complicated by the fact that Miller didn't carry insurance on the building. Foren used her own resources to rebuild, and she estimated she spent nearly $70,000 in the process.
The renovated bar mimics its former ambiance, although the ceiling tiles, much of the bar and pub tables are new.
The business officially reopened Aug. 31. It is a smoker-friendly venue open Mondays through Saturdays. Weekends at Maxine's also feature live music.
George's turns 80
For something so old, George's Majestic Lounge sure knows how to have a party. In September, to celebrate its 80th birthday, the venue located on Fayetteville's West Dickson Street had a four-day celebration featuring acts from across the country.
Performing during the Sept. 6-9 event were Oklahoma rockers Cross Canadian Ragweed, local favorites The Cate Brothers Band, psychedelic rock guitarist Steve Kimock, a group of former Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia Band members and dozens of other musicians.
The building at 519 W. Dickson St. has had several different lives and has in the past been a general store and pizza parlor. As early as the 1950s, social gatherings featuring live music took place within the building, which expanded many times to accommodate its visitors.
George's has been a full-time music venue since the early 1970s, said Brian Crowne, the man who has owned the site since 2004. Hundreds of musical acts perform at George's each year, and nearly a dozen performed during the four-night birthday music festival.
The event's first night featured Cross Canadian Ragweed, a band that has a history of selling out shows throughout the south. Joining the band onstage were local acts Charliehorse and Benjamin Del Shreve.
The second night of the experience contained an R&B and blues vibe. The highlight of the evening, Crowne said before the concert, would be the first performance by The Cate Brothers Band since its semi-retirement at the end of 2006.
The final two nights were a throwback to the psychedelic vibes of the Grateful Dead era. Steve Kimock, who Dead founder Jerry Garcia named as his favorite unknown guitarist, anchored two evenings of jam sessions that included such musicians as vocal Donna Jean Godchaux of the Grateful Dead, keyboardist Melvin Seals from the Jerry Garcia Band and Tulsa, Okla.-based guitarist Steve Pryor. Other musicians making appearances during the festival were Porter/Batiste/Stoltz, Mike Dillon's Go Go Jungle and Fred Tackett and Paul Barrere, who both play with the band Little Feat.
Malco Razorback Cinema opens
Last year, the big news was Malco Theatres Inc.'s announcement that it was building a state-of-the-art 12-screen theater complex, with stadium-style seating, at the corner of Steele and Joyce boulevards in Fayetteville.
The big news this year: it opened.
On Oct. 12, people came out in droves when the new Malco Razorback Cinema debuted. Movies featured included "Across the Universe," "Michael Clayton"and "Tyler Perry's Why Did I get Married."
With 46,060 square feet, the state-of-the-art equipment allows for 3-D movies and even began special limited screenings of Italy's La Scala Opera House with "Aida"earlier this month. Other amenities include a courtyard-themed lobby with fountain and skylight, a video arcade, a cafe with Internet access and expanded leg room in the seating with rocking chairs.
Also available at the new theater is a self-service ticket center where patrons can purchase tickets using a credit or debit card instead of standing in line.
On a side note, because of the new multi-theater, Fayetteville residents bade farewell to the Razorback Cinema 6, which started off as a twin movie theater in the 1970s, back in the day when the city had only three cinemas, all featuring two screens, and the 62 and 112 drive-ins. Of those, only the Mall Twin and 112 remain.
Crystal Bridges delayed, seeks Stieglitz collection
The planned Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, under construction in Bentonville, continued to make news in 2007.
First, there was a talked-about article in Newsweek's June 18 issue about Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton, who is building the museum, titled "Why Does Her Money Scare the Art World?"
Then, there was the wrangling over art acquisition.
The museum has already announced that it attained works by Norman Rockwell, Marsden Hartley, Thomas Hart Benton, Andrew Wyeth, Winslow Homer and Charles Willson Peale. This past year, Crystal Bridges has sought to share ownership with the Alfred Stieglitz Collection, which was donated in 1949 to Fisk University in Nashville, Tenn., by the late painter Georgia O'Keeffe, who was married to the photographer.
Crystal Bridges, now under construction in Bentonville, offered to split ownership of the collection with Fisk in August for $30 million. Because Fisk is trying to change the parameters of the gift, a court must approve the deal. A trial in Nashville is scheduled for next year.
Then, in late October, it was announced that Crystal Bridges would not open until sometime in 2010. When the museum was first announced in 2005, the targeted date was May 2009. Then it was changed to late 2009. When problems were encountered in the building's foundation work, that further delayed the museum's opening.
U.S. Marshals Museum coming to Fort Smith
Fort Smith, a city nicknamed "Hell on the Border"and known for its colorful history from outlaws to its "hanging judge,"will be the home to the new U.S. Marshals Service museum, it was announced in early January.
Fort Smith battled for four years with four other cities to get the museum. Ultimately, Fort Smith was chosen over Staunton, Va.
The museum will tell the history of the federal law enforcement agency. A site has been chosen by the Arkansas River, but the museum does not yet have architectural drawings or plans for exhibit space. Cost of the project is unknown, but earlier estimates have been in the neighborhood of $26 million.
Construction workers are expected to break ground by late 2008 with a target opening date of 2011.
Historical documents and artifacts were trucked in November from Cheyenne, Wyo., to Fort Smith and are being stored by the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism. The collection had been in Cheyenne since February 2002 when the U.S. Marshals Museum closed in Laramie, Wyo.
Museum officials have already started a national private fundraising campaign to finance construction and an endowment fund for ongoing operations. They also hope to secure government money.
On the bar scene
Although it technically opened on the last day of 2006, Speakeasy begins our look at the clubs and hangouts that came -- or passed -- in 2007.
The nightclub at 509 W. Spring St., Suite 250 in Fayetteville is, according to owners Sarah Baker and Greg Hodges, a Vegas-style club. Mood lighting and cocktails are the hallmarks of the bar, which fills two levels of a building that also houses the Pink Papaya and Flying Burrito Co. just off Dickson Street.
There was much change in the space located at 623 N. West Ave. in Fayetteville. It began the year as Tony C's Off Dickson, a fine-dining restaurant that doubled as a bar in the evening. In April, owner Tony Catroppa decided to alter the space's philosophy. He turned the venue into College Inn, keeping the bar atmosphere but replacing sit-down dining with fast fare such as hamburgers, tacos and chicken wings. Catroppa sold the bar in November, and by the middle of December, it was converted into Jerzees Sports Bar and Grill by new owners Chris Gray and Tyrone Leak. The new concept features a sports bar atmosphere and allows patrons to shoot hoops on a raised floor.
Not far up the street at 330 N. West Ave is Z330, which opened in March. The venue has a large, open floor space and a patio that wraps around the building. The venue also features occasional live music and specialty cocktails.
Also new this year is the Old Post Office, located in the basement of Urban Table Bar and Grill at 1 W. Center St. in Fayetteville. The venue, which opened in August, features live music on the weekends and has a full bar.
Other clubs in the area aren't new, but changed during the year. The Ice House of Bentonville, located at 406 S.E. Fifth St., for one, converted from a dance club-attitude to a sports bar in October. The newly decked out venue added 20 televisions and did away with the fine linens, the owners said.
Also seeing a remodeling were Common Grounds, 412 W. Dickson St., in Fayetteville and 4-14, 414 W. Dickson St. in Fayetteville, which is still currently closed.
Speaking of closings, at least one bar did just that. Blu Lounge, 339 N. West Ave., shut its doors for the final time in early December.
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