With the 70th anniversary of the premier of Gone With the Wind fast approaching (December 15, 1939), here is your opportunity to help the ongoing preservation one of its “stars" -- The Old Mill in North Little Rock. The Old Mill  is one of three Arkansas properties up for a vote in the Hampton® Hotels’ Save-A-Landmark® program, 2010 edition.

 

The hotel chain’s Web site says “Since the program’s inception in 2000, Hampton® Hotels’ Save-A-Landmark® program has been dedicated to preserving America’s historical, fun and cultural landmarks that reside along our country’s treasured highways. In 2010, our efforts will continue to pay homage to the breadth of what it means to be American, while also celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Save-A-Landmark program. All-American Landmarks signify defining moments in our country’s past, present and future. The All-American Landmarks theme will help propel the Save-A-Landmark program closer to its goal of “saving” one landmark in all 50 U.S. states.”

 

According to Robin Powell, 2009-2010 president of the Friends of the Old Mill, “If chosen, the Old Mill will receive a refurbishing of our choice. The Old Mill will not be changed or updated, just have some much needed work done!”

 

The other two Arkansas landmarks, are the Riverside International Speedway in West Memphis and the Roundtop Filling Station in Sherwood.

 

 

Voting closes at 11:59 PM CST on November 30, 2009. And be sure to come back on December 7, 2009 to see which landmarks will be saved in 2010. Nebraska, Utah and Vermont also have nominations in the running. You can vote as many times as you like so please, get clicking!!! Show Your Arkansas Pride!

Direct from China, Cirque Shanghai: Bai Xi  is scheduled to land at Texarkana's Historic Perot Theatre on Nov. 23. The show has been described as “magical and mind-boggling, a visual feast of something that should be impossible, but isn't.”

The show will include a lineup that combines fast paced contemporary dance, martial arts, costumed choreography, tight wire walking, physical strength and balance, lavish sets, and exotic music into a theatrical evening.

The show is anchored by world-class athletes: men and women trained as gymnasts, acrobats and aerialists. Dating back more than 3000 years, Chinese acrobatic shows were first called “Bai Xi,” meaning “one hundred amazing acts” in reference to the performer’s seemingly limitless skills.  These daring feats were commanded by China's Imperial Court and were so beloved that they've been passed down through the centuries. And are now making their way to Arkansas. The show is presented by TRAHC, the Texarkana Regional Arts and Humanities Council with additional funding from Mid-America Arts Alliance which is underwritten by the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Arkansas Arts Council. For more information and for ticket prices visit: www.trahc.org

 

 

MusicFest this weekend in El Dorado

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Pratt Place Inn Receives Four Diamonds

I finally found one negative thing about living in Fayetteville. Because I have a home here, I have no need to stay the night at the city’s new Pratt Place Inn on Sassafras Hill. I was lucky enough to take a tour of the inn about a week ago, and I sure would love to spend one night soaking in the hand-carved replica of Cleopatra’s marble bathtub.

Pratt Place Inn has been in operation for less than a year, yet it just earned the coveted AAA Four Diamond designation. It is only the fourth property in the State of Arkansas to receive this distinction, and the only hotel in the Northwest Arkansas metropolitan area to attain this rating.

Julian Archer is the third generation owner of the 140 acres that comprise the Pratt Place property,

The Archers opened the inn October 2008. In addition to the its seven guest rooms and an adjoining two bedroom cottage retreat, Pratt Place Inn has over 8,000 square feet of meeting and event space . Pratt Place Barn, built in 2003, is space that has become Northwest Arkansas’s premiere wedding venue. I’ve been to at least one wedding there, and it served as a great venue for the wedding and then the reception as well.

A Revisit with Charlaine Harris-The Mind Behind True Blood

 

I just came across the news that all nine of Magnolia author Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse books (the inspiration for HBO's "True Blood") are on this week's New York Times bestseller list. Her next Sookie book is set to hit stores May 2010. In honor of this, I wanted to repost an interview we had with Harris a few months ago. If you haven’t been introduced to Harris or her work yet, enjoy the below interview!

Harris created The Southern Vampire Mysteries series, which revolves around Sookie Stackhouse, a barmaid living in Louisiana who can read people's minds. The series is set in a world where vampires can live out in the open, thanks to the development of synthetic blood. Alan Ball, of Six Feet Under fame, created an HBO series based on the novels called True Blood starring Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer. The second season began this summer. Along with the vampire series, Harris is the author of the Aurora Teagarden series, the Lily Bard Shakespeare series (set in rural Arkansas), and the Harper Connelly series.  Here are a few quick questions with the Arkansas writer.

CH: Magnolia is a very friendly town with a good four-year college and a new hospital. The people are extremely polite and helpful. It’s a great place to raise children.

What are some of your favorite spots to visit in Arkansas? 

CH: I like Little Rock because it has shopping plus a pleasant, rolling terrain. Hot Springs looks different from the rest of the state, and has a colorful history. I grew up in the Delta, over on the Mississippi side, and I have a deep attachment to perfectly flat and fertile!

CH: My writing style. Do I have one? I guess I do. Hmmm. I write very southern, very colloquially, and lately I’ve been writing humorously. The biggest misconceptions about writers? I’ve been one for so long that I can’t remember how it felt when I was on the outside. I think when I was a teenager I believed that all writers drank a lot and were extremely rude. Thankfully, I know now that that’s not true at all.

You broke genre boundaries with your current Sookie Stackhouse series.  W hat initiated the idea to write about the realm of Southern vampires?

Schedule for Hot Springs JazzFest Released

 

12:00 noon Hot Springs Village Dixieland Band

1:00 pm Sweet Mother

1:45 pm HSJS Jazz Camp Scholarship Winners with S'Wonderful’s rhythm section

2:00 pm Henderson State University’s NuFusion

2:50-3:20 pm Special guests Pete Brewer from Dallas on tenor sax, Deshannon Higa from Honolulu Hawaii on trumpet and Steve Suter from New Orleans on Trombone with the S’Wonderful Rhythm Section

3:20-4:00 pm S’wonderful with the ATM Horn Section and special guests Deshannon Higa, Pete Brewer and Steve Suter and featuring Shirley Chauvin Vocals

4:00-5:00 pm Air Force Shades Of Blue

5:00-5:30 pm Phillip Manuel special guest vocalist from New Orleans with the Hot Springs Jazz Project Quartet

5:30-6:30 pm Jazz Xtreme. Craig Grubbs leader with special guests Pete Brewer and DeShannon Higa and Phillip Manuel