Saturday, May 31, 2008

King of Ragtime

Many people have heard the famous score "The Entertainer," but it may come as a surprise to many that its composer, Scott Joplin was both African-American and lived in Arkansas for a time. Billed as the "King of Ragtime," he was born in Texas and lived in Texarkana.

He also lived for a time in Sedalia, Mo., now the home of the Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival. Good music and fun will be going on there this coming week at the 28th annual festival from June 4-8.

Here's a great source for some information about Joplin: http://www.scottjoplin.org.

Friday, May 23, 2008

Stax Museum of American Soul Music


The Stax Museum of American Soul Music in Memphis is the only soul music museum in the world. I made a trip to the museum a couple of years ago with a group from East Arkansas Community College in Forrest City.


One of the many displays features Al Green, a native of Forrest City.


Read the resulting story that was published in the newspaper and be sure to read my personal account of the day —


Stax Museum of American Soul Music



Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Historical sites to see


The Arkansas State Capitol is one of the places on our list of historical sites to see this summer.


With summer quickly approaching, the kids and I are making a list of fun, free things to do in Little Rock/North Little Rock this summer. Several historical sites are on the list and I hope to add some more. We've visited some of them already but the kids enjoyed everything so much and have been asking to go back. A few of the historical sites already on our list are:

*Central High School Visitors' Center
*Old Mill
*Old State House Museum
*State Capitol

There is a nice listing of free attractions in the Little Rock area here: http://www.littlerock.com/media/free-things.asp.