Ozarks At Large

Latest Edition of Ozarks at Large

Monday, September 2, 2013
On this special Labor Day edition of Ozarks at Large, we hear selections from the rest of our live events from the Fayetteville Roots Festival weekend, including performances by Joe Crookston and Mary Gautier, a discussion with David Johnson of the Fayetteville Public Library about the library's plans for the future, and we talk with Hank Kaminsky about his new project on Kickstarter. And, we have a special "Labor Insecurity Day" montage, containing film and musical references to people who will likely soon be looking for work. Those allusions are: Jerry Reed singing "Guitar Man," a tune made famous by Elvis Presley Jerry McGuire trying to keep his cool after being canned from his management agency Johnny Paycheck and his hit "Take This Job and Shove It" Olive Stanton (played by the venerable Emily Watson) trying to determine if she's in the right line at the employment office in Cradle Will Rock Woody Guthrie singing his song "Blowin' Down The Road," decades before Andy Griffith or the Grateful Dead made the song their own. Future Marty gets the ax in Back to the Future Part II Jim Croce rapping on the difficulties of finding a decent-paying job in "Working at the Car Wash Blues" The Dude gets lectured by "The Big Lebowski" on the merits of gainful employment in the movie of the same name Bob Dylan singing about rambling around the country in an alternate of his tune "Tangled Up in Blue
One Arkansas senator is pressing election officials to resolve issues with the state's voter ID law. Other legislators are pushing to prevent the state lottery commission from implementing video gambling games throughout the state. The FASTER Arkansas committee continues its push for changes in state law to allow public schools to connect to an existing, state-funded fiber optic network. And one Eureka Springs alderman is trying to move forward a decades-long debate on what to do about parking in that city's downtown area.
More than twenty Northwest Arkansas specialty shops sell electronic cigarettes, both disposable and rechargeable. The popular devices deliver a smooth warm nicotine-laced white vapor in variety strengths and flavors. We visit the Velvet Vapor in Rogers and also talk to an Arkansas Department of Health tobacco specialist about pending regulations and potential risks associated with “vaping.”
Our history doctor, Bill Smith, explains the relationship between politics and money is an American tradition.
Becca Martin Brown, from Northwest Arkansas Newspapers, directs us to performance art and fireworks this weekend.
Jonathan Story sits down at the Mary Baker Rumsey Steinway.