June 1997

Riverfest, retain famiIy climate Date: 05/26/97 Category: NEWS Page: 1A OLIVIER UYTTEBROUCK, ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE Caption: Photo by Stephen B. Thornton, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Riverfest patrons atop a wall take in a fireworks display making Sunday night's climax of the 20th annual festival on the banks of the Arkansas River in Little Rock. Despite a rainy Saturday, massive crowds enjoyed concerts, food and family activities. Photo by Benjamin Krain, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette A member of the Jessie White Tumbling Team from Chicago leaps over a human tower Sunday at Riverfest. Riverfest proved its staying power again this year, drawing big crowds despite rain and humidity. But as the festival enters its third decade, Little Rock faces a dilemma: how to help it grow without damaging its family atmosphere. "The way it is now is perfect," said Bob Tanner of Conway, strolling Sunday with his wife, Debbie, and 51/2-month old daughter, Kelsey. The Tanners said they have made a ritual of attending Riverfest for seven years. "If it got any more crowded, we'd leave," Tanner said. But others see no conflict between Riverfest as a music venue for adults and as a family oriented event. "Last night was concert night," said Evelyn Slater, who came with her sister Saturday night to see The Bar-Kays and The Pointer Sisters at the amphitheater. Sunday, Slater came with her husband, Vincent Slater, and their two children, ages 14 and 12. Executive Director Van Tilbury said he wants more people to adopt the Slaters' attitude and think of Riverfest as two events: one for families, another for music-festival lovers. "We've got to start drawing people from 100 miles out," Tilbury said. "I think it can become more of a regional attraction, drawing people from Shreveport and Tulsa. The question is, how big will Little Rock allow Riverfest to grow?" Organizers predicted a heavy turnout Sunday they hoped would more than make up for a smaller-than-expected crowd Saturday, when an afternoon rainstorm limited attendance to 42,000 -- about 20 percent off last year. About 20,000 attended Friday evening when country singer Mary Chapin Carpenter performed on the amphitheater stage. "We've got a very large crowd right now, and it will build into the evening," Van Tilbury, executive director of Riverfest, said Sunday afternoon. Crowds lined Riverfront Park by 9:30 p.m. Sunday when fireworks specialists unleashed an intense 20-minute display of firepower. The Jennings Osborne family sponsored the $25,000 show. In his first year in the job, Tilbury said he wants to market the festival outside the state and improve the quality of the acts. The 28-year-old Heber Springs native previously worked for a Birmingham, Ala., group that organized music festivals across the South. The trick will be making the festival more attractive to a roving community of music festival lovers without hurting those qualities that have made Riverfest the baby-carriage capital of Arkansas three days each May. "You would never see this at Memphis in May," Tilbury said, gesturing to the Country Cloggin' Double Tappers, a troop of young women and girls in spangled tights who attracted an audience of several hundred Sunday afternoon at the First Commercial Movement Stage. The well-attended Memphis in May is an annual music festival that does little to attract families. Riverfest increased its entertainment budget from $1 15,000 in 1996 to $180,000 this year, Tilbury said Sunday. For the first time, local performers were paid. "We were able to do that because of the good stewardship of past events," he said. Tilbury hopes the private, nonprofit corporation that runs the event can continue increasing the budget, attracting better quality acts each year. Riverfest added a fifth stage this year that featured rock bands such as Bela Fleck & The Flecktones, Brave Combo and Little Rock-based Ho-Hum. Tilbury wants to include a ja~~ and classical music venue next year. "Riverfest is at a crossroads," he said.

Dollars and scents Date: 06/11/97 Category: SPORTS Page: 1F LISA MARTIN, SPECIAL TO THE DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE Caption: Men's colognes, in their readily identifiable bottles, are a booming business at the counters of M.M. Cohn. "What do you want for Father's Day?" I ask Chuck, my husband. "Oh, I don't know," he says. "Some cologne might be nice." "COLOGNE!" I am aghast. "Our vanity is already so choked with bottles I can't set down my toothbrush!" "Well," he replies, sounding slightly wounded. "There are still a couple I wouldn't mind having." I sigh, blaming myself in part for his addiction. I have served as his cologne accomplice. On our honeymoon, I talked him into a bottle of Faconnable. His Christmas stocking always includes a supply of Cool Water or Tuscany. And when his Herrera for Men drops below the quarter mark, I'm slapping down my department store charge card, demanding the 3.4 ounce "jug." Chuck and I apparently have ample company. According to the Men's Grooming Market, one-third of American men wear some fragrance daily while 75 percent own three or more colognes or after shaves. Local stores report male consumers have never before bought as many scents or enjoyed such selection. "It's an incredible time for men's fragrances," says Bob Jackson, the fragrance buyer at M.M. Cohn. "They fit everybody." "The men's market has definitely been on the rise the last couple of years," says Mindy Stewart, owner of Powder and Smoke in Pavilion in the Park. She, like Jackson and Peggy Bolls of Dillard's, expects cash registers to hum a little louder this week, preceding Father's Day on Sunday. At the department stores, tommyby Tommy Hilfiger is topping sales. "It's very popular," Bolls reports. "It's light but clean, fresh and masculine." Jackson says the designer originally created tommy as a unisex fragrance. But the introduction of tommy girlsaw legions of female defectors to the less spicy scent. "I would guess that today probably 90 percent of our tommy business is men," he says. "All the excitement over Tommy Hilfiger is the best single thing to happen in fragrance in some time." HIGH SCORER Also described as a slam dunk is Bijan's new Michael Jordan cologne. "It's a light but masculine fragrance that came out at Christmastime," Bolls says. "It has broad appeal, from 1 8-year-olds to men in their mid-40s." Liz Claiborne's Curve, a new unisex scent, sells well at M.M. Cohn. "They've done a lot of TV and magazine advertising," Jackson says. Calvin Klein might claim some of the credit for rival Curve's success. It was he who introduced the first fragrance targeting men and women, cK One. "It was and still is a very big hit," Bolls says. "We sell more cK One to men than women," Jackson says, "but it is a wonderful business, as are Calvin Klein's other fragrances for men." Those include Obsession, Eternity and Escape for Men and cK Be, another unisex. Stewart of Powder and Smoke calls the typically citrus-based unisex fragrances "clean and great for summer." She stocks several, including Gieffeffe by Gianfranco Ferre and Annick Goutal's new fragrance, Eau de Sud, which literally translated means "water of the south." More men than women have already bought that pricey spray, which starts at $60 for 1.7 ounces. By contrast, 3 1/3 ounces of Gieffeffe sell for $38. Most of those designer scents at department stores cost between $28 and $45. To protect your investment, manufacturers advise keeping your fragrance away from extreme heat or cold. Also consider hiding the precious bottles in their boxes, a drawer or cabinet; direct light aids decomposition and can snuff out or sour the scent. POLO PLAYED OUT? Sweet was the success of Polo and Ralph Lauren's other colognes in the 1 980s and early 1 990s. But not a single one of Ralph's scents received a mention in the accompanying survey of colognes preferred by prominent Arkansans. Have they peaked and are now passe? Jackson confirms what those polled clearly perceived -- the fervor for Polo, Polo Sport, Safari and Polo Crest has cooled considerably. "It doesn't really come to mind anymore," he says. "Polo is worn by the fathers of today's fragrance wearers." That doesn't mean extinction threatens the line. "It's still a wonderful business," he adds. Just not blistering. Bolls simply dubs the Ralph Lauren colognes "classics" while assigning them to the same category as the venerable Aramis. That longtime fragrance warrants more mentions than any other from our survey respondents. Jackson attributes its appeal to a comfortable, spicy scent. The Aramis Lab Series, a men's skin-care line, also does well at M.M. Cohn and Dillard's. "Women have always used treatments and now the men are catching up," says Bolls. "The Aramis products are really neat and have a lot of high-technology behind them." The market for men's bath products has bubbled as of late, says Stewart. "I just returned from the Extract Show in New York, which is nothing but fragrances. A lot of attention was paid to the men." She carries a French line of fig bubble bath and fig soap for men. Twelve ounces of bubble bath, which comes in a corked, wine-shaped bottle, costs $32. A bar of fig soap, at a manly 9 1/2 ounces, sells for $18.50. For a meeker price, consider Aromatique's new men's line, which Powder and Smoke also stocks. It's called 25 North, in honor of the company's Heber Springs address. Four ounces of the cologne costs $35 while the 8.4-ounce shaving gel is only $12.50. Oh the array of odorous options! With Father's Day approaching so swiftly, maybe you should take a deep breath. Or go look at some ties. Scent of an Arkansan Sniffing around in the scent world makes you wonder what most men really spray, splash and slap on each morning. Such curiosity compelled us turn to an assortment of A-list Arkansans. Some seemed chagrined at our informal survey, but most offered answers. The results are scattered; admittedly, our study exposes few trends to help you select a scent for Dad before Father's Day arrives on Sunday. Perhaps that's the essence of today's man: an individual forgoing fashion's fancy while fixating on finding the right fragrance for him. The Politicians U.S. Sen. Dale Bumpers: Old Spice U.S. Sen. Tim Hutchinson: Eternity for Men Gov. Mike Huckabee: Drakkar Rex Nelson, the governor's director of policy and communications: Joop and Faconnable, a cologne exclusive to Nordstrom. On weekends, Nelson wears Aramis. Lt. Gov. Winthrop Paul Rockefeller: Vetiver by Guerlain Little Rock Mayor Jim Dailey and North Little Rock Mayor Patrick Hays: Nothing The Lawmen Colonel John Bailey, Arkansas State Police: Tuscany Louie Caudell, Little Rock Chief of Police: Imperialeby Guerlain Maurice Mitchell, Lawyer, of Mitchell, Williams, Selig, Gates and Woodyard: Aramis (on occasion) Bobby McDaniel, Susan McDougal's lawyer: tommy Lawyer John Walker:Nothing The Entertainers Scott Crowder, KARN-AM, 920: cK One Craig O'Neill, KURB-FM, 98.5: Michael Jordan. "I'm a big Michael Jordan fan." KARN's Pat Lynch (used to wear Stetson); writer Gene Lyons, David Itkin, maestro of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra; Townsend Wolfe, director of the Arkansas Arts Center: Nothing The Broadcasters Larry Audus, anchorman, KTHV, Channel 11: Masculin Absolu Steve Barnes, anchorman, KARK, Channel 4: Agua Lavanda (on occasion) Ed Buckner, weatherman, KTHV, Channel 11: tommy Paul Eells, sportscaster, KATV, Channel 7: Old Spice Doug Krile, anchorman, KARK, Channel 4: Cool Water and Grey Flannel Chris May, anchorman, KATV, Channel 7: Chanel for Men, Issey Miyake, Boucheron Ned Perme, weatherman, KATV, Channel 7: Nothing The Businessmen Tom Chandler, interior decorator: Bulgari for Men; Versace for Men Frank Cox, CEO and president, Cranford Johnson Robinson Woods: cK One Hank Kelley, CEO and president, Flake and Kelley Management, Inc.: Tiffany for Men, Aramis Bruce McEntire of Bruce McEntire Fine Furniture and Interiors: Cartier, which he buys at Saks Fifth Avenue in Dallas Sidney Moncrief, Sidney Moncrief Pontiac Buick GMC: Belami Jennings Osborne, medical testing laboratory owner: tommy Skip Rutherford, vice president, Cranford Johnson Robinson Woods and famed Friend of Bill: Aramis Charles Stewart, senior vice president, First Commercial Bank: Anucci The Others Wimp Sanderson, head basketball coach, University of Arkansas at Little Rock: Mennen after shave Dr. B. Alan Sugg, president, University of Arkansas: Aramis Bill Valentine, general manager, Arkansas Travelers: Eau de Hermes, which he finds in Italy and New York. "It has a light lemony scent," he says. Whitewater songbird James McDougal, who says, "Gentlemen don't use cologne." -- Lisa Martin

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