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| Christian symbols at LR park perturb state ACLU chief Sklar may sue if city reruns display; 'She needs a life,' scene's donor says Date: 9/4/98 Category: News Page: B4 SETH BLOMELEY ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE Rita Sklar says that when she walks through Little Rock's Riverfront Park at Christmas, she shouldn't have to explain Christian symbols to her 6-year-old son. "Everything in that park said, 'This park doesn't belong to you,"' Sklar, a non-Christian, said. Sklar, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Arkansas chapter, is threatening legal action against Little Rock to remove the park's religious symbols. She argues that the lights and figures are not constitutional and endorse Christianity. City officials said they see nothing wrong with the display, provided by local philanthropist Jennings Osborne. Mayor Jim Dailey said the ACLU shouldn't worry about Christmas lights. "The ACLU has historically done a lot of good for our country, but things like this are things that cause people to think unfavorably about the ACLU," Dailey said. Sklar said she wants to avoid a court battle but Little Rock lawyer Philip Kaplan may file suit unless a resolution comes by Christmas. She has no problems with Santa Claus, but manger scenes, crosses and angels bother her, she said. She called it "absolutely inappropriate for the city to enforce the Christian religion that way." Osborne said, "I think she needs a life." City Attorney Tom Carpenter said he sees no reason to remove the manger scene, but other accommodations remain possible. "I'll do whatever the city tells me," Osborne said. "We'll just go somewhere else. We're planning I hope to put 300 more figures down there. We're planning to really expand." Carpenter and Sklar point to the same 1989 U.S. Supreme Court case, Allegheny County vs. Greater Pittsburgh ACLU. Sklar said the case indicates that governments can't appear to endorse a particular religion in such displays. Carpenter said the case allows for religious symbols on public property if they make up part of a secular display. In the case the ACLU sued to remove a Nativity scene from the Allegheny County courthouse and a Jewish menorah, a traditional candelabrum during Hanukkah, from the citycounty building. The high court ruled in a divided opinion that the Nativity scene, sponsored by a Roman Catholic group, had to go. A banner proclaiming "Glory to God" posed a major constitutional obstacle, the court said. But the menorah could stay because it was placed with a Christmas tree and a sign saluting liberty. They symbolize ideas celebrated during the winter-holiday season, the court found. Carpenter and Dailey argue that the city isn't pushing one religion. "One of the reasons [for the display] was to promote shopping during the season," Carpenter said. Dailey said he'd let those from other religions place displays in the park. Sklar said that's not the point. "There's no need," she said. "Every church, synagogue or mosque in the city can put up whatever they want." Osborne, ordered by the Arkansas Supreme Court three years ago to reduce the 3 millionbulb Christmas display at his Cantrell Road home, also sponsors displays in about 20 cities, including Mena, Pine Bluff and Fort Smith. Each rests on public property, he said. He said he'll have a new display this year at Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock. |
| David Bazzel's one-ego show He says 'Biceps' is more than that Date: 9/5/98 Category: Editorial Page: B9 JOHN BRUMMETT For some odd reason, I remember the first time I heard of David Bazzel lo, so many years ago. Alas, it would hardly be the last. Some intense party boys from Memphis of my acquaintance were in Little Rock for the season's opening football game between the Razorbacks and Ole Miss, the latter being the institution of higher learning where one of these Memphians had matriculated unspectacularly. These were newspapermen, which ought to be explanation enough. This was, oh, '83, I guess, or '84. I could look it up, but heck, this isn't a big deal. I think it was Ken Hatfield's first game as coach. These mad Memphians wanted me to accompany them out to War Memorial Stadium for the big Hog-Reb tussle. But I was going through a period in which I eschewed such bourgeois activities, a period that continues to this day, fueled over the years by the likes of Jack Crowe and Danny Ford and their consistent production of miserable football teams. Well, I did go to Dallas once in the Hatfield era for a Cotton Bowl game, but only because the paper sent me. I told these ne'er-do-wells that I'd meet them at a bar in the Excelsior Hotel after the game. This was 15 or 16 years ago. I was young and foolish. I believe the game ended in a 14-14 tie. I remember Lance Alworth sat at the next table and that I decided to impress my Memphis acquaintances, who didn't really think it was Alworth in the flesh, by asking, "Hey, Lance, what're you now, about 42?" He smiled and said yeah, something like that, and the mad Memphians were not so much impressed as relieved that I hadn't started a row with an All-Pro. Anyway, one of these Memphians expounded on the thorough mediocrity of both the collegiate football teams he'd just observed, but said that Arkansas surely featured one hellacious linebacker, at least. He said that every time an Ole Miss player got tackled, the PA fellow was saying that this player named David Bazzel either had made the tackle or been in on it. I said I'd never heard of the chap, at which time the Memphian produced the printed game program and showed me the name, David Bazzel, and the relevant personal information, one element of which was that he hailed from Panama City, Fla. Maybe that's why I remember it. You tend to get a lot of Arkies going to Panama City for summer vacation. But you don't see a lot of Hog linebackers out of the Redneck Riviera. What brought Bazzel to the state, other than Lou Holtz's recruiting, I cannot say. What lured him permanently, I know not. How he became a self-promotional juggernaut, ubiquitous whether starting some kind of award in Frank Broyles' honor or concocting some kind of boot as a trophy for the annual LSU-Arkansas game or gracing our local television screens with his reputed gorgeousness or flexing his sculpted frame to advocate sound fitness or getting calls on the "Tommy Smith Show" from women wanting to date him, I'm not sure. But if I want to hear this story, I suppose I can buy a ticket for Bazzel's "one-man show" on the evenings of Sept. 10, 1 1 and 12 at the Arkansas Repertory Theater, a local company of regional prominence--at least until Sept. 10, 1 1 and 12. In the category of things you couldn't make up because no one would believe them, we now have "Football, Biceps, Biscuits and Gravy: Confessions of a Razorback," the one-man stage show of this same finely sculpted Florida refugee who made all those tackles against Ole Miss. Twelve bucks will get you in for this 70-minute show. I called David and asked what in tarnation this was all about: self-promotion born in ego of gargantuan and breath-taking proportion or a brave and adventurous spirit? "I hope it's the latter," he said. "You know, this time last year I was wrestling around in the woods outside Greenbrier with a wild Russian boar. By comparison this seems tame." Yes, that's another thing he did: He helped catch some razorback-type hog because he didn't think that a regular pig was a fitting mascot for the Hogs. Here's his spiel: He's given more than 1,300 speeches in his 17 glorious years in his beloved adopted state, to church groups and schools and civic clubs, and it occurred to him that if he combined a humorous presentation of his personal story and blended it with some spiritually uplifting underpinning, "it might be fun." And, yeah, make him some money. He quit Channel 4, you know. This is not a show for charity, except the kind that begins at home. Bazzel went to Cliff Baker at the Rep, who professed to be intrigued by the idea of appealing to people not normally drawn to the theater and who told David that he could have the nights if he could meet the price and handle his own production, perhaps through sponsorships. Lo and behold, Jennings Osborne and this very newspaper have signed up to sponsor Biceps and Whatnot. The promotions people at this newspaper say they're repaying David for all the nice, unsung favors he's done them over the years. I wondered: Would there be song and dance? "Oh, no. Comedy will be the main entertainment," Bazzel said. There'll be some celebrity voices on tape, but there, I've said too much. Bazzel asked me not to give it away. This is not, he assured me, a kind of a solo Chippendale performance. We can be glad of that, I guess, especially after "Angels in America" gave us Chippendaleplus. Bazzel asked if he could send me a ticket. I appreciated it. But there was that thing I mentioned earlier about eschewing bourgeois pursuits. Maybe if Biceps and Whatnot makes it to Broadway. John Brummett's column appears every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. |
| Entertainment notes Organist, soprano to open season; pianist begins 5-city tour of state Date: 9/6/98 Category: Features Page: E5 DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE STAFF New York organist Lorenz Maycher will perform on the new 30-rank Ima Graves Peace Memorial Organ on Wednesday in Hendrix College's Greene Chapel to open the season for the Central Arkansas Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. Soprano Christine Donahue will join Maycher for Songs of Faith and Penitence by Leo Sowerby and Les Angelus by Louis Vierne in the concert, at 7:30 p.m. at Hendrix, 1600 Washington Ave., Conway. The program will also include works by Alexandre Guilmant, Lacques Lemmens, J.S. Bach, Charles Callahan and Charles-Marie Widor. Maycher is organist at the First Church of Christ, Scientist, assistant organist at the Church of St. Francis of Assisi and director of music at Our Lady of Pompeii Roman Catholic Church, all in New York. Donahue, a prize-winning, Juilliard-trained singer, has performed with opera companies across the United States and has appeared frequently with the Opera Theatre of Wildwood. . . . Pianist Marina Lomazov, winner of the keyboard division in the 1997 National Federation of Music Clubs Young Artist Competition, starts a five-city Arkansas tour this week. The pianist will play at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday before the Little Rock Musical Coterie at Trinity United Methodist Church, 1101 N. Mississippi St. Admission is free. Admission is also free to these performances: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Fine Arts Recital Hall, University of Arkansas at Monticello 7:30 p.m. Sept. 14, Mabee Fine Arts Recital Hall, Ouachita Baptist University, Arkadelphia 7:30 p.m. Sept. 15, Fine Arts Recital Hall, Southern Arkansas University, Magnolia Lomazov will also perform at 2:30 p.m. Sept. 13 at the First Baptist Church, 348 Washington NW, Camden. Tickets are $5. For information on any ofthe perforrnances, call 663-1739. Lomazov will play the Sonata No. 3 in f minor, op.5, by Johannes Brahms; Grande Polonaise Brilliante and Andante Spinato by Frederic Chopin; and works by Gluck and Casadesus. Lomazov, a native of Kiev, Ukraine, began studying at age 5 and completed two years of study at the Moscow Conservatory of Music before emigrating to the United States with her parents when she was 18. She subsequently studied at the Manhattan School of Music and the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, where she is working on a doctoral degree in piano performance. Doyle Dykes, who for two years played lead guitar for Grandpa Jones on the Grand Ole Opry radio show, will present a free acoustic guitar workshop/concert at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Jack's Music, 603 Oak St., Conway. Admission is free, but reservations are recommended. Call (501) 327-8129. The workshop is for intermediate to advanced players and will cover finger picking, alternate tunings and "chiming" techniques. . . . David Bazzel, TV commentator and former Arkansas Razorback football player, will tell tales of life before, during and after his years at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville in Football, Biceps, Biscuits & Gravy: Confessions of a Razorback at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre, 601 Main St. Bazzel has put on his one-man show more than 1,300 times across Arkansas since 1981. Reserved-seat tickets are $12.50. Call the Rep at 378-0405. The Arkansas DemocratGazette and the Jennings Osborne Family are sponsoring the show. . . . Two nights of imported music will mark the first anniversary of Guido's Blue Moon & Purple Onion, 801 W. Markham St., this week. Harper, an all-Australian band led by Peter Harper, will perform at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday for the club's birthday party and Andrew "Jr. Boy" Jones will perform at 8:30 p.m. Thursday. Cover charge each night is $5. Call 372-0108. Lead singer/harmonica player Peter Harper has been compared with John Popper of Blues Traveler and he has been called "the Jimi Hendrix of harmonica." He performed on the soundtrack of the movie Lightning Jack. Based in Melbourne, the four-piece band received an International Touring Grant from Arts Victoria (Australia) to tour the United States in 1997 to promote Australian blues music. "Jr. Boy" Jones, who has collaborated with Charlie Musselwhite, Freddie King and Katie Webster, recently released his second album, Watch What You Say (Bullseye Blues & Jazz). To mark Labor Day, and to honor the founding of the Philharmonic Society of New York in 1853, KLRE-FM, 90.5, will present music by American orchestras from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday. Program director Taylor Lewis says he will feature performances by the Los Angeles and New York philharmonics, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Detroit, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Houston, San Francisco, Seattle, Dallas, Chicago, Boston and St. Louis symphonies, among others. |
| Second Thoughts: The Bears got sick from all that corn Date: 9/16/98 Category: Sports Page: C2 Compiled by David Holzman Columnist Neil Hayes of the C'ontra Cos~a Times in Walnut Creek, Calif., got to sit down with some Nebraska fans when the Cornhuskers visited California on Saturday to play the Golden Bears in Berkeley. They weren't hard to spot, accounting for more than half the crowd of 67,397, by Hayes' estimation. "We first noticed it when we got off BART [Bay Area Rapid Transit]," said Cal fan Mike Blodgett, a salesman from San Jose. "There was red everywhere. From the BART stop all the way up to the stadium all you saw was red. I thought we were the only Cal people here. It looked like a Nebraska home game." The Bears had four false-start penalties, attributable in large part to Huskers fans noise. "Lincoln, Neb., residents Jim and Carolyn Micek resisted the temptation to buy a hemp ankle bracelet for the neighbor girl or water pipes for the grandkids," Hayes wrote. " 'We have street people in Lincoln, and kids party, but not like this,' Carolyn said. " 'We were here during the 1970s,' said her husband Jim, 69, a retired school superintendent. 'It hasn't changed a bit."' Call Jennings Osborne The Detroit Tigers gave up eight home runs in two days against the Chicago White Sox, who celebrate with an exploding scoreboard. Said Tigers Manager Larry Parrish said, "They're on the phone right now to see if they can get some more fireworks." Hair-razing, average-lowering Next time you see Philadelphia Phillies center fielder Doug Glanville, expect him to be at least slightly hairy. Glanville shaved his mustache and went hitless in his next 18 at-bats. It's not appreciating Jon Heyman of Newsday reports: "Florida fans gave [Mark] McGwire home-run balls No. 56 through 59 without much fuss and St. Louis folks forked over Nos. 60, 61 and 62. Yet Mike Scelsi, a lawyer from Yonkers and catcher of the far less valuable 50th home run ball at Shea Stadium, started looking for higher bidders when a $10,000 offer failed to move him." McGwirepalooza More news from the Mark McGwire stadium tour when it hit Cincinnati last Wednesday, the night after he hit his 62nd home run in St. Louis: The Reds drew 51,969, their largest crowd other than Opening Day since Cinergy Field opened as Riverfront Stadium in 1970, and 50,971 on Thursday. During a Wednesday news conference, Cincinnati rookie first baseman Sean Casey hid behind a curtain and photographed McGwire. Seattle outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. paid to fly a banner over Cinergy Field. It was a salute to McGwire. |
| Razorbacks report Coach finds Hogs' lapse bit unsettling Date: 9/17/98 Category: Sports Page: C9 Bob Holt Arkansas Coach Houston Nutt said Wednesday's practice wasn't as good as it could have been because of a lack of concentration at times by the players. "There was a little bit of a lull," he said. "We can't have that." It couldn't be the Razorbacks won't be focused for Saturday night's game against SMU, could it? SMU has beaten Arkansas three consecutive years. Overconfidence and/or a lack of focus by the Razorbacks has been considered a problem during the SMU series. "I hear about that, but I don't understand it," said Nutt, an Arkansas assistant in 1992 when SMU upset the Razorbacks. "I don't know why they'd be overconfident. I mean, the last four times out of six, [SMU is] on top." Nutt just hopes the Mustangs don't make it five out of seven. "We're got a soldout stadium, we're going to our next home," he said, referring to Little Rock's War Memorial Stadium. "There's no reason not to be ready to play." Fans can pig out at the Trough The Jennings Osborne family and Alltel are providing a $50 family meal for fans attending at War Memorial Stadium this season. The Osborne family plans to cook and donate all the food to be served at the Alltel Trough. The meal, which includes chicken, turkey, pork and beef ribs, smoked sausage and salads, is valued at $50 but requires a minimum donation of $5. All proceeds will go to the War Memorial Stadium Fund. The Trough is scheduled to open for serving at 3 p.m. Saturday before the Arkansas-SMU game. Sidelines Senior defensive tackle Melvin Bradley is planning to take a test this morning in a correspondence course, world literature I. If he passes, he will be academically eligible to play against SMU on Saturday.... Senior guard Russ Brown, who has started 36 consecutive games, is battling an ankle injury but was able to go through some of the team work in Wednesday's practice. Offensive line coach Mike Markuson said he expects Brown to start against SMU.... If junior fullback Nathan Norman, who has been limited in practice this week because of an ankle injury, isn't able to play Saturday, running backs coach Danny Nutt said sophomore Eric Branch and junior Marvin Caston are ready to fill in. Branch has played tailback and fullback since coming to Arkansas, and Caston is a converted linebacker who moved to fullback in the spring. "Marvin is so ready to play," Nutt said. "He's got the plays down." ... Senior defensive end C.J. McLain dressed out but didn't do much in Wednesday's practice. Coach Houston Nutt said McLain reinjured a quadricep on the last play of Tuesday's practice. Wednesday's injury report Razorbacks report Coach finds Hogs' lapse bit unsettling Page 2 of 2 PLAYER POS. INJURY STATUS Andre Ackee TB Knee hyperextension Did not practice -~ Russ Brown G Ankle sprain Limited practice Nathan Norman FB Ankle sprain Limited practice C.J. McLain DE Bruised quadricep Limited practice Isolating on -~ Bobby Williams POSITION Offensive tackle HT-WT 6-4, 325 CLASS Junior HOMETOWN Jefferson, Texas -~ BETWEEN THE HASH MARKS Williams, the only non-senior starter on the offensive line, came into this season in the best shape of his career after dropping 25 pounds. He is more mobile, which is a key to facing the SEC's great pass-rushing defensive ends and outside linebackers. Williams, who started 10 games last year, briefly was demoted in preseason practice after being late for a team meeting and was locked in a battle with Marcus . Clavelle for a starting spot when Clavelle went down with a spinal injury that has caused him to decide to give up football. Williams, who said he understood why the coaches demoted him, likely would have won back the job regardless of Clavelle's injury based on his experience and talent. Williams said his favorite sport other than football is basketball, adding, "I don't think I can do that golf thing." Williams will celebrate his 22nd birthday Sept. . 25, the day before Arkansas plays Alabama in Little Rock. He lettered in football, basketball and track at Jefferson High School. -~ MAJOR Industrial and technical education SCHEDULE . Date Opponent Site Kickoff/Result Sept. 5 Southwestern Louisiana Fayetteville W 38-17 -~ Sept. 19 SMU Little Rock 6 p.m. Sept. 26 Alabama Fayetteville 6 p.m. Oct. 3 Kentucky Little Rock 6 p.m. Oct. 10 Memphis Memphis 2:30 p.m. Oct. 17 South Carolina Columbia, S.C. Noon -~ Oct. 31 Auburn Auburn, Ala. I :30 p.m. Nov. 7 Ole Miss Fayetteville I p.m. Nov. 14 Tennessee Knoxville, Tenn. Noon Nov. 21 Mississippi State Starkville, Miss. 1:30 p.m. Nov. 27 LSU Little Rock I :30 p.m Photo: - Bobby Williams |
| Nutt hopes to part a Red sea at War Memorial Date: 9/18/98 Category: Sports Page: C1 Wally Hall Like it is Between now and Saturday night's kickoff between the Arkansas Razorbacks and SMU, the Rock is going to be one jumping place. All week people have been planning and talking about tailgate parties. Invitations have been mailed inviting friends to drop by the bumper and sample some supper. It should be pointed out that of all the planned events, nothing will be more obvious than the folks who start arriving about 3 Saturday afternoon. Not the tailgaters. The folks who are walking around flashing the peace sign, or maybe half a peace sign, or maybe a peace sign plus one or two. That's all about tickets. That's what they want. By Wednesday afternoon, when the last of the 200 end zone tickets had been gobbled up, it became evident numerous people had made a mistake. The place to be Saturday night in Arkansas will be War Memorial Stadium. Once again, it is the cover of High Profile on a Saturday night. Where you go to be seen and perhaps even play a role in the rude awakening to the Houston Nutt era. Rude in the sense the fans are so loud for so long that the Ponies will think a punt was a successful idea. To this day, Nutt remembers the awesome noise the first time he ran through that A and onto the field. "There was no doubt the fans were going to give you all the support you needed," he said. Which is the same experience he wants every member of this team to have Saturday. That's one reason the folks out at War Memorial organized the pep rally at 7 this evening. For almost an hour, it will be one long, loud toast to the host team, the Razorbacks. It is the same reason Marty Schaufele and the alumni cheerleaders will be there and why they are encouraging everyone to make this Red Friday. "To put everyone in the right frame of mind," she said. That's why Jennings Osborne is willing to feed families for $5, with all proceeds going to the War Memorial Stadium Fund. Which, by the way, is the surest route of making certain the Razorbacks continue to play in Little Rock. If the stadium isn't completely renovated and expanded, it would only make cents to play every game in Fayetteville because Razorback Stadium is going to be enlarged. Some of the ways to help will be presented at the game. Such as purchasing a brick with your name on it that will be permanently placed in the Walk of Fame around the concourse. Or purchasing specially canceled and stamped envelopes. With this recruiting rule that doesn't allow recruits to come to but one of the Little Rock games, the temptation of moving out of the Rock is going to be stronger than ever. Maybe giving up a game would be a decent compromise, but one thing is certain. If the crowds here reclaim their national reputation for support, Frank Broyles will be inclined to continue to play here. Sometimes the louder the fans, though, the more the debate over being allowed to stand up. One man called and said he and his sons were escorted out of the stadium after fans around them in the end zone complained about their standing. That doesn't sound like the police. They work long and hard to make it a great environment -- and a safe one -- for everyone. The thing is, fans are supposed to be united. The way they contribute is by being loud. Very loud. It helps the players and the coaches, especially when it impresses recruits. There are no NCAA rules against being vocally supportive. Nor is there a rule against wearing red. "I'd love to see a sea of red out there Saturday night," Nutt said. People don't have to be supportive by wearing red, and they don't have to stand during critical times. They should just have to be as loud as those who are standing. It is the one way to help that is perfectly legal. And needed. |
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