
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.
American farmers are aging, the average is around 60.
But a new crop of young farmers is emerging across the American landscape. We travel to the foothills of the Ozarks in eastern Oklahoma to Three Springs Farm operated by Emily Oakley and Mike Appel.
“Midnight at Yoshi’s” by Pharoah Sanders
Democrat Darrin Williams was elected as the Speaker of the House in Arkansas last week. Representative Williams is the first African-American to be elected to the post. He spoke with Roby Brock from our content partner www.talkbusiness.net after his election.
Becca Bacon Martin from Northwest Arkansas Newspapers tells us about a book talk and a drawing class at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.
“Forty Four” by Howlin’ Wolf
The non-profit Youth Bridge closes in on its $1.2 million goal for a new facility to serve area youth; the Arkansas women’s basketball team to open play in the NCAA Tournament Saturday in College Station, Texas; and more – on this edition of Ozarks at Large Half-Time.
Our history expert Dr. Bill Smith says there is a word that connects a Republican president from the early 20th century to the current president, a Democrat.
“Smokey” by Red House Painters