
Ozarks At Large

Senator John McCain was in Little Rock late last week, and he called President Obama's reaction to tension in Syria a failure of American leadership. Speaker of the Arkansas House Davy Carter wanted more time to explain the federally backed Medicaid expansion to constituents, so the vote was postponed until today. And Governor Mike Beebe speaks in favor of changes that are coming for some child welfare programs in the state.

Here are our ten clips from our montage dedicated to April Showers. Well, dedicated to rain at least…
- B.J. Thomas sings "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
- Hugh Grant and Andie Macdowell admit their mutual love at the end of Four Weddings and a Funeral.
- Prince sings "Purple Rain."
- Bill Cosby with an early TV rendition of his famous Noah routine.
- Mahalia Jackson with the gospel great "Didn’t It Rain".
- Gene Kelly about to launch into the best three minutes ever recorded in a movie musical.
- Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst exchange a rainy kiss as Spider-Man and Mary Jane Watson.
- Tom Hanks (as Forrest Gump) describes the many kinds of rain.
- Sam Neil tries to save kids from a hungry T. Rex in Jurassic Park.
- Audrey Hepburn finds the cat…and George Peppard…at the end of Breakfast at Tiffany’s. The Mancini notes should have given this away.
Apologies to: The Weather Girls, Andy’s escape in Shawshank Redemption, the bubbling skeletons in Poltergeist, the Eurythmics, John Wayne in the Quiet Man and all those movies with Notebook in the title. Maybe next time.
In case you need a spot to duck into in between April showers, local and regional art galleries and exhibition spaces will have plenty for you to soak up throughout the month, including exhibits at the Arts Center of the Ozarks, the Fort Smith Regional Art Museum, the John Brown University art gallery, and elsewhere.

Christina Thomas visits Timothy Nutt, head of special collections for the University of Arkansas library. Nutt says that the library's collections are directly affected by the death of letter writing.



Forty years ago Jed Clampit left his day job to become a professional musician. Saturday night he performed live at KUAF for Mike Shirkey’s program, The Pickin’ Post. We hear one of the songs.
Latest Edition of Ozarks at Large
Friday, October 25, 2013
Ahead on this fundraising week edition of Ozarks, Michael Johnathon joins us in the studio, our weekly conversation with Michael Tilley of The City Wire and more.
We take a look at how theater in the region has changed as well as what plans some theater companies have for the future.
"Greendale is Where I Belong" by Ludwig Goransson
Yvette Ortiz, a native Spanish speaker, recently picked up her fourth language, Yiddish. The University of Arkansas graduate student has received a scholarship to attend an immersion program in New York this summer. We speak with her and one of her professors, Jennifer Hoyer.
"Magnificent Seven" by Amsterdam Klezmer Band
The Walton Arts Center has classical music, three days of wine and tickets for the most famous guitar trio from Texas.
Governor Mike Beebe announced his appointee to replace Martha Shoffner as State Treasurer after her resignation last week. The Bentonville city council approves thousands of dollars worth of repair work to a flood-damaged trail. A Rogers elementary school gets a new fitness course through a joint-use grant with the city. And Arkansas' only contestant in the Scripps National Spelling Bee moves forward to the second round of competition today.
"What a Wonderful World" by Massimo Faraó
The Walton Arts Center Council yesterday voted to move the Arkansas Music Pavilion to Rogers, near the Pinnacle Hills Promenade. WAC officials say that the move will open up more opportunities for the venue.