I just happened to stumble across this article on the internet yesterday and it was so sweet that it made me cry. I had been acting a little whiney about having to go to work, but as soon as I read this I was blown away and inspired to get down there...Written by the intelligent and talented Eric Schneider, this piece was printed in the Hendrix Profile on April 13, 2007.
-matt
" I'm not going to bother dropping the names of the group of Conway and Hendrix party kids that recently took the reigns of a dying hotspot in Little Rock recently. This is simply about the bar and what they've done with it.
Whitewater Tavern was a bar in decline. I had personally been there multiple times my sophomore year and experienced the diminishing returns of the once-proud roots rock dig. It had reached critical mass by last summer when the the operation had seemed to grow so half-hearted and the bar-goers so sparse (culminating in no more famous casual appearances by the Whitewater cross-dresser) that it was much more fun to just get drunk at home or at school.
When I first heard about the old Faulkner and Western House crowd among a couple others taking over the almost deserted bar, I thought it was a cool idea that had some truly terrible potential. Worst-case scenario, I envisioned the new owners polishing off the kegs by 8:30 every night for the first few weeks and having to beg the customers for money to buy more beer so the customers could have some.
I went to opening night of the new ownership in early February to watch Ben Nichols and Cory Branan perform an acoustic set. When I arrived at the door the place was already packed. The bar was about five rows of people deep and I figured I'd just have to suck it up and watch the show sober. But as it turns out, these guys know how to run a bar. They know how to run it to the point where I can honestly say I haven't seen it done better - and I have been to a decent selection of bars ranging from gay clubs to pompous-ass martini bars.
It was pretty amazing. I looked around and noticed that they had managed to clean up the place without loosing the dingy watering hole look that makes Whitewater Whitewater. The crowd was casually spilled all over the stage and getting into the music, and for the first time in quite a while I kind of had a sense of maybe na've, stupid excitement that I was in an authentic community and there wasn't a place I would have rather been at that time. When I reflected on it the next day, I tried to knock it down and figured that the excitement of one night of new ownership would eventually transition from grace-period to apathy. Too many things that seem exhilarating when they are new become really bland really quickly. Could they keep it up?
Flash forward two months later and the résumé of the new ownership is impressive to say the least. The folks down at Whitewater have re-established the bars' longstanding tradition of Tuesday nights as the nights Little Rock folk can break up their torturous workweek with super cheap beer and a free show with good loud music. It is cool to see a big rowdy crowd on a night that normally sucks without exception. The good music has also remained a constant for the last couple of months and is way ahead of the curve of competing venues by offering up better, more diverse music ranging from surf rock to punk to country at about a fourth of the price - except when it's totally free and you have to order two or three pitchers to equal the price of entry at Juanita's.
I've heard a few people write off the "new" Whitewater as being either too Hendrix-centric or overly hip. I haven't really seen where this comes from. I consider myself unhip to a fault in almost every way, shape, and form and I haven't felt anything but comfortable there. In fact, Whitewater is the only hangout in Little Rock that seems devoid of any implied dress code. As for the argument that too many Hendrix students and alums go there, there is and always was a solid Hendrix crowd, but I'd say look around the bar a little more instead of just talking to your Hendrix friends who you came with. There are always plenty of sweet old fogies and Harley-Davidson grandmas, random 25-30 year olds, and off-kilter townies to satisfy your conversational bar persona whether you want to just screw around or have an actual conversation.
Perhaps the very best thing about the new Whitewater is that is has a genuine feeling of community and spontaneity. Just the other Tuesday I went with a few people on a whim and not really expecting much and, lo and behold, a prominent Little Rock talent decided to get up on stage and play just because he happened to be getting drunk there that night. The lack of structure at the revamped bar that allows for little surprises like this are welcome at a time when nothing seems to ever live up to the hype. As a general skeptic and pessimist, it's so refreshing to see something happening that I believe in. These new guys have resurrected a much-needed third place in Little Rock that I see really fostering a music and social community. My only worry is that it will fall victim to the fickle bar scene even though it has so much to offer. They are enjoying success right now, but when I talked to one of the new owners last week, it was explained to me that all the money they have made during the customer spike has gone right back into the bar. They pay their bills and put the rest into better sound equipment and quality touring bands. They pretty much live there. Their hard work has turned Whitewater into one of the few businesses that you can feel fine giving your money to because you always get a solid night out of it and the money goes to good people with an unselfish cause. What they are doing is a community service to the Little Rock area considering that in late December it looked like the bar, rich with a history that Bill Clinton himself could attest to, would probably close forever.
If you are 21 and you feel Hendrix nightlife has taken a turn for the lame (and you know it has), make the trip over to Little Rock down by the train tracks at 2500 West 7th Street. It might not look like much but there is something definitely going on in there. If you're looking for a good time to make your first trip, Roger Hoover and The Whiskeyhounds will be playing and I'm willing to bet that if you go that night you will leave Whitewater covered in beer and bodily fluids of all kinds. If I haven't made a convincing argument, then I'll conclude with the indisputable fact that the bartenders are particularly attractive whether you're gay or straight. Tip them well. "