Currents July-Aug 2013

Making Grandma

Jealous

Monte Ne Inn Chicken knows how to do Southern-fried delicious

GasTanks

Revisited

Mark ‘Slim’ Nelson makes musical works of art

2 | Currents | July – August | 2013

July – August | 2013 | Currents | 3

Currents C

ontents

What’s Inside

6 10 13Currents’ SuperDadBerryville’s Michael Shawn Smith adopts his three nieces after a family tragedy.

Rankine ExploresEureka Springs artist John Rankine literally finds his expressions.

Gas Tanks RevisitedMark ‘Slim’ Nelson makes musical works of art

Cover Story Arts Scene The Entertainers

13 16 18Benton Place InnThis beautiful 1940s home has earned its place among Eureka Springs’ top inns

Easy Breezy BreadMary Ann Bell’s favorite cookbook recipes, starting with a great French loaf.

‘Queen City’of the OzarksSpringfield, Mo., makes for an easy, fun, diverse weekend getaway

Beautiful Buildings Cookbook Corner

20 24 29Better Than Grandma’s?The Monte Ne Inn gives home-cooked Southern food a run for its money.

Barley and Wheat GrassEveryone should take these good-for-you nutrient supplements.

The Night Lights Fireworks photography attracts oohs and aahs for your creative pictures.

Table for Two Here’s to Health Art of the Lens

On the Road Again


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Bob Moore

edItor In ChIefKristal Kuykendall

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advertIsIng rePresentatIvesJim Sexton

Karen ‘MaDank’ Horst

Diane Newcomb

ContrIbutIng WrIters David Bell

Jennifer JacksonJim Fain

Russell PinkstonMary Ann Bell

PhotograPhersDavid Bell

Charles Henry Ford IIKristal Kuykendall

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MaIlIng address:P.O. Box 232, Berryville AR 72616

Currents is published semi-monthly and distributed free in Berryville, Eureka Springs, Green Forest, Holiday Island and throughout Carroll and surrounding counties.

Currents is a joint publication of Carroll County News, Lovely County Citizen and Rust Communications.

Copyright 2013

CurrentsA magazine dedicated to Carroll Countians


Ed

itor’s Note

This month’s cover story reminded me of something I wrote previ-ously in the Carroll County News

about my father, Joe Kuykendall, who lives in Central Arkansas. I wanted to share a shortened version of that column with you in honor of him and all the Su-perDads out there reading this. :)

My first memories in life (other than the tornado that sucked the roof off our home when I was about 3) are of sitting around a campfire, or falling asleep in a tent near a campfire, listening to my father and his music buddies pick bluegrass on their guitars, banjos and mandolins.

Other early memories also revolve around my dad playing music at our home in North Little Rock, or at Shaky’s Pizza Parlor where his band played on occasion-al weekends. His bands played bluegrass and classic country and classic rock, and we kids had a blast running around while the grown-ups jammed for hours on end.

We camped for weeks every summer, traveling from bluegrass festival to festi-val all around the state, meeting up with his music cohorts and their families. He played his multiple instruments (he’s ri-diculously talented) and sang with all kinds of folks – his regular band as well as strangers he’d make friends with in nearby campsites, or bands who would invite him to sit in with them on stage – and made us proud, all the while including us, playing our favorite songs, waving to us, and even calling us up on stage now and again.

When I was old enough to enunciate and hold still for five minutes, he had me sing harmony in the campfire and house-hold jam sessions and sometimes with his bands on stage; I’d inherited the Kuyken-dall vocal chords and an ear for music, it seems.

Meanwhile, by the time I was about 5 or 6, I’d begun to request The Beatles’ “Blackbird” as my bedtime lullaby. Dad would play it on his guitar at my bedside at least several times a week it seems like now. This went on for years; he still plays it for me upon request when I visit him.

Around the same time, Dad began to encourage me to sing more. We would play and sing old hymns like “Victory In Jesus” and “Jesus Hold My Hand” as well as pop songs like “Bye, Bye Love” by the Everly Brothers and “Brown Eyed Girl” by Van Morrison.

With junior high school came distrac-tions like cheerleading and band and new friends. After my mom passed the sum-mer after seventh grade, Dad was our rock. He played the role of both parents like a champ as long as he could.

After I turned 14 and Dad remarried the following year, our music sessions to-gether took a back seat as we grew apart somewhat, as parents and pre-teens are prone to do. Not to mention the fact that I was pretty darn tired of the Everly Broth-ers by now. They just weren’t “cool” any-more, ha ha.

But Dad always had a sense of humor, even when he must have been upset with me.

Once, in high school, when I missed curfew and might have had smelled as though I’d bathed in liquor (I didn’t but may as well have), instead of screaming at me, or losing his temper, my father, with the straightest face ever, met me at the front door with guitar in his arms, and said, “Hey, let’s play music. It’s been awhile. Come on, sing with me! I’m se-rious!?” Then he began to play the last thing in the world I wanted to hear: those darned Everly Brothers.

I protested, but he wasn’t having it. We were having a family music session, right then and there – with me barely so-ber enough to stand or sit up straight. He suppressed giggle after giggle as he played and sang, and I pretended to be sober, grasping for lyrics and notes at every in-toxicated turn of the song.

It was hilarious, I can see now. His other trick was to call a family Bi-

ble devotional and prayer meeting when I would come home from an, uh, “outing.” If he suspected I’d been drinking (which I admit to dabbling in during my senior

year), he would wait up on me, keep the whole family awake, and they’d all be down on their knees praying when I walked in the door. And there was no get-ting out of participating, if I ever wanted to drive my 1968 Rambler or earn allow-ance again.

Regardless, my extremely protective fa-ther and his mad methods of keeping me in check were just what the family thera-pist ordered. I am so grateful for his deep, unending, unquestioning and unwavering love, and most of all, I’m grateful that my father didn’t just make me feel loved, he made me feel liked. He made me feel like he really enjoyed spending time with me, and he did so often. I KNEW I was valu-able to him, and the enormous, positive impact that has had on my life cannot be explained in words nor purchased with all the money in the world.

No doubt that Joe Douglas Kuykendall is indeed a SuperDad, as is our cover story subject this month. To all you awesome SuperDads out there, God bless you. You will never know the reach of the good you have done.

Letter from the editor


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Cover Story Story by Jennifer Jackson • Photos by D

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Berryville Couple Makes Room for Family

Less than a year later, the Berryville family grew to eight with the addition of Shawn’s three small nieces after their par-ents were killed in a car crash.

“We have the Brady Bunch,” Donna says.

Shawn took the additions in stride: when he was 19, he was the father of a baby girl, plus he and his first wife were foster parents to his four half-siblings, ages 12 to 8. For a year, they all lived in a three-bed-room house on Gibson Street, the three boys in one bedroom, their sister in anoth-er, and the baby and parents in the third.

“It’s nothing new,” Shawn says fitting a large family into a small house.

It was his oldest half-brother, Buddy Joe Smith, and spouse Tabitha Jean, who, com-ing home to Berryville from Kimberling City, rolled their van. The vehicle ended up upside down in a culvert. Both Buddy Joe and Tabitha were wearing seat belts but died at the scene. Shawn remembers get-

ting the phone call from his younger sister in the early hours of February 26, 2011.

“I couldn’t believe it,” he says. “They were 11 miles from home.”

With no designated guardians, the cou-ple’s three little girls: Janya, 6, Delilihea, 4, and Jessi, 3, were taken in by an in-law on Tabitha’s side of the family. In April of 2011, Shawn and Donna applied for cus-tody, and were granted temporary custody in May. The next September, they received permanent guardianship and moved into a four-bedroom house on Pleasant Street with enough room for three teenagers and three active children.

“I don’t mind being the one to get to help out,” Shawn says. “Maybe I just don’t trust anybody else to do it. At least I know they’re being taken care of.”

The two boys, Brady and Dustyn, now 15, share a bedroom, as do the two older girls, Shanika, 18, and Janya, 8, and the two younger girls, Delilihea and Jessi, 6 and

On Father’s Day of 2010, Michael Shawn Smith and Donna Clark were united in marriage at Green Forest Bethel Baptist Church. The cer-emony created a blended family of five: Shawn’s daughter Shanika, who was 15, and son Brady, 12, and Donna’s son Dustyn, also 12,

filling their two-bedroom country house to the rafters.


5, all on the first floor. The parents have a bedroom retreat upstairs. The family eats at two tables in the dining room. When they all go somewhere, they take two cars. They started out with three car seats, Donna said, and are now down to one car seat and two boosters.

“If we go on vacation, we’ll have to rent a bus,” she says.

Where they do go, on the girls’ parents’ birthdays, Memorial Day, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day: to the family cemetery in Urbanette, Mo.. A small oval photo-graph of Buddy Joe and Tabitha Jean, hold-ing hands, is embedded in their shared, heart-shaped marker. On the back, below a memorium, are the names of their daugh-ters. On Mother’s Day, the family takes flowers to put on the graves. Last year for Father’s Day, she and Shawn bought a step-ping-stone kit and made a stone with each of the girl’s handprints to put next to the marker. This year, they made a stone with each girl’s footprint to take it on Father’s Day. They also take the pictures or gifts that the girls make in school.

“On Sunday we do Father’s Day thing

for him,” Donna says, pointing to Shawn, “and then go there and do Father’s Day for him.”

As the two families saw each other sev-eral times a week before the accident, the transition was relatively easy, Shawn says. The girls call him “Uncle Shawn” or “Dad-dy Shawn.” Donna is “Aunt Donna” or “Mommy Donna.” Only Janya, now 8, has clear memories of her parents.

“She has her moments when she miss-es her mommy and daddy,” Donna says. “She starts thinking about them not being around.”

The girls have extended family in Ber-ryville – grandfather Howard Biles, Ta-batha’s father, who they call Poppa; grand-father Troy Smith and grandmother Beth Anglin, a.k.a. “Nanny Beth.” The grand-parents help out with child care, as does Shanika, who graduated this spring from Berryville High School. Donna and Shawn both work full-time, Donna at the Car-roll County Learning Center and Shawn as foreman at PM Machine, where he has worked since graduating from Berryville High School in 1995. The three little girls

attended in Headstart in Berryville. Jessi, now 5 years old, will start kindergarten next year.

“I was looking forward to being 39 when my two were out of high school, but that ain’t happening,” Shawn says.

Donna says she and Shawn, who are 33 and 36, have basically started all over again raising kids, and adjusted their lives to fit the circumstances. Asked to describe their home life, Donna uses the words “loud, hectic and joyful.”

Asked to describe Shawn’s parenting style, she says it is firm, and Shawn adds ‘but fair.’ He reminds the kids of the rea-son– that he will never allow them to do anything that would cause them harm. As a dad, Shawn is always right unless you can prove him wrong, Donna says but he’s never steered them in the wrong direction, no matter what life has brought. Including three new children.

“I’m glad we were here,” Shawn says. “They had somewhere to go.”

For the steadfast love of family that he lives out every day of life, Michael Shawn Smith is Carroll County’s 2013 SuperDad.

Shawn and Donna Smith’s combined six children – including three adopted nieces – makes the Berry family “The Brady Bunch.”

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Found Objects Bring Artist’s Life Together

John Rankine’s life story re-sembles a jigsaw puzzle. In the late ‘70s, he was an actor in Toronto. In the ‘80s, he was an artist in Key West, where he developed a whole-sale line of clothing. In Eu-reka Springs, he is a writer, photographer and co-owner a vintage store, Sweet Spring Antiques.

The antique store supports Rankine’s real passion, creating art installations of found objects. Like religious icons, the pieces come together to create an image that embodies his understanding of the world.

“These objects are symbols,” he said. “I arrange these objects to make meaning in

my life.”Of Scottish heritage, Rankine was born

and raised in a suburb of Toronto. He got involved in theater at Wexford Collegiate High School, then for six years was a strug-gling actor. The highlight of his stage career: starring in a musical that went on tour.

“I was Brad in ‘Rocky Horror,’” he said. “I do sing and dance.”

Realizing he wasn’t ever going to excel at acting, Rankine switched to the visual arts, a decision that was confirmed when he re-ceived a Canadian Council grant. In 1984, he moved to Key West, Florida, where he lived with three other writers and artists. The house had luxuriant grounds that are now a commercial garden, Nancy Forrest-er’s Secret Garden.

“Old Friends” photograph “The Separation” photograph “Peonies” photograph


“When you do found-object assembly, things start jumping out at you, literally. It’s almost eerie. I’ve learned not to be afraid of it, whenever these symbols manifest

themselves in concrete form.”

– John Rankine

“Then it was our back yard,” he said. “We had avocado, mangos, key limes, grapefruit and star fruit.”

Along with found fruit, he discovered found objects, starting with an old chair. At-taching empty paint tubes and used palettes to it, he called it “Death of a Medium.”

“It was the start of my giving up painting because I realized painting was not the me-dium for me,” Rankine said.

Rankine was also bleaching and dying fabric and making clothing that he sold on the Mallory Square dock at sunset. He start-ed selling his clothing in stores, then opened his own gallery space on Duvall Street, “Is It Art?” that featured his clothing. The chair became of series of 35 found-object pieces, the last of which was a pile of 40 chairs cov-ered with a black shroud titled, “Holocaust.”

“I had gone around Key West collecting chairs – on curbs, in the garbage, and peo-ple brought them to me,” he said. “It was my first installation before people were doing art installations.”

The gallery was successful, but was the last little bohemian place on Duvall Street, Rankine said, and eventually succumbed to development. He then started a wholesale hand-printed clothing line, “Is It Art? De-

signs.” He met his partner, Bill King, when King was doing pottery and ceramics in Key West. After visiting Eureka Springs, where King had lived in the ‘70s, they started forming a five-year plan to move here.

That got shortened to two years, and in 1996, they left Key West and moved to Eu-reka Springs, living in a yurt while they built

a straw-bale house on their property. When the alternative weekly newspaper started floundering, King cofounded “The Love-ly County Citizen.” A week later, Rankine was handed the camera, which opened up a new art form for him. He and King bought a two-story building on Spring Street nine years ago, which provided the space to stage

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“Peonies” photograph “Three Graces” photograph


John Rankine holding MUGS poster


large installations of found art and photog-raphy in the upstairs gallery, and have the antique store on the main floor, which they stock by going to estate sales and garage sales.

“When I’m shopping for the store, I’m shopping for myself,” Rankine said, “and finding objects that will become art some-day, or I think will become art someday.”

He also staged a successful found-ob-ject art installation in Toronto, “Beneath the Surface,” which included photographs as well as objects. His “Headlights” installa-tion was of found objects that lit up. “Grav-en Images,” a mix of religious and secular holiday objects, took more than a year to compile.

“When you do found-object assembly, things start jumping out at you, literally,” Rankine said. “It’s almost eerie. I’ve learned not to be afraid of it, whenever these sym-bols manifest themselves in concrete form.”

“A Community at Peace,” an installa-tion of 320 photographs of local residents, received the 2011 Arkansas Arts Council Individual Fellowship Award, the first time an installation had been chosen to receive the award, Rankine said. “Mugs,” photo-graphs of local artists, was part of this year’s Creative Energy Project during the May Festival of the Arts. He sells posters of the photography installations, and people buy individual pieces from the found object in-stallations.

“I still have the chair,” he said.

“Kristallnacht” Found Object Assemblage

Super Love” photograph

From Rankine’s 2013 “Graven Images” installation

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The Entertainers

If you see a reddish-brown, rough-looking 1979 Volk-swagen Rabbit sputtering around town with what ap-pears to be an extra gas tank strapped down to the roof, you’re not hallucinating. It’s likely Eureka resident, mu-sician and bass builder Mark “Slim” Nelson.

Nelson doesn’t have the gas tank on top of his car to carry extra fuel. It’s one of his gas-tank basses. “I call them Katrina Basses,” he said. “That’s be-cause [since Hurricane] Katrina I mostly use gas tanks salvaged from cars ruined by the storm.”

In the early 2000s Nelson lived ad-jacent to a New Orleans neighborhood known for its numerous chop shops. “When the chop shop neighborhood was flooded by Katrina the gas tanks all floated away [across the neighborhood],” Nelson says. He got one of the tanks, cleaned it up and made a bass out of it. Hence the name “Katrina Bass.”

But Nelson’s gas-tank bass building predates Katrina. “I made my first bass in 2003 as a commission for Banjo Grayson of Mountain Sprout,” Nelson says. That was before Katrina hit in 2005. “He knew I was handy [at fabricating] things and asked me to make him a two-string bass out of a gas tank. It was pretty primitive and I left it unpainted.” Nelson says it was very rough by his current standards. Af-ter finishing Grayson’s bass, though, Nel-son says, “that’s when the fever struck: the gas-tank bass fever.”

But Nelson built a bass before he learned to play one. It wasn’t until after that first bass that he started playing the

A Eureka Springs musician takes Katrina trash and makes musical treasures that are works of contemporary art

Story and Photos by David Bell


instrument, in 2004.It was in the aftermath of Katrina when

Nelson decided to recycle those otherwise useless tanks he saw floating around the neighborhood.

The basses made by Nelson out of arguably nasty pieces of automobiles are true works of art. In the 10 years since he built his first bass he has put together 12 instruments. “I’m currently working on number 13,” he says.

Nelson’s bass-building prowess was recognized in 2006. “I was given a free [vendor] booth at the Jazz Festival in New Orleans,” Nelson says. “It was one of only 33 spaces available.” His work was further recognized at the festival when he won the “Best New Artist” and “Most Unique Art-ist” awards.

The Little Rock native got his nick-name in 1991 while living in Chicago, playing harmonica. His band was called “Neck Bone Slim and the Grits” and the moniker “Slim” became permanently attached. Nelson graduated from high school in Chicago.

Besides New Orleans and Chicago, Nelson has lived in St. Louis, Seattle, and Florida. Before moving to Eureka Springs two-and-a-half years ago Nelson played

That’s not an extra tank of gas on top of Slim Nelson’s ‘79 Rabbit. It a working piece of art called a Katrina Bass.

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full-time with Seattle-based band Slim Pick-ins. Since moving to Eureka Springs, he has played with Jeff Lee, Sweet Water Gypsies, and Springbilly, with whom he performs each Monday evening at Chelsea’s.

About building a Katrina Bass, Nel-son says that “the hardest part is planning what you want to do. Each [tank] is differ-ent.” Basses 12 and the still-in-progress 13 are beautiful instruments. He names each bass after a car. “Number 12 is named ‘Ca-dillac’,” Nelson says. “And on these last two I want to acknowledge the assistance of Doug Powell, of New World Drums, who helped with the woodwork on the neck and bridge, and Eric Scheunemann, who helped me with the welding.”

Nelson’s Katrina Basses are total-ly functional instruments, each with a unique sound. But they are also unique, beautiful pieces in spite of their function-ality. So, are they instruments to be played or works of art to be hung on the wall and admired? The determination is for you to make. You can see several of his basses on display at Chelsea’s and other places across the U.S. And you can hear his instruments in several groups, including him playing music around Eureka Springs. You make the call.


Slim Nelson is pictured surrounded by six of his basses at his vendor booth at the New Orleans Jazz Festival in 2006.

The Entertainers Story and Photos by D

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When Rebecca Pope and her late husband moved to their house on Benton Street, it was not just their home but

also was used as a barbershop shop – not the luxury accommodations it is today. “The house was built in the 1940s by a man I only know as Hussey,” Pope said about the lineage of her inn. “He built all the stucco houses [around] Eureka Springs.”

The house was added on to in the 1960s, and in 1991 the upstairs rooms were added, and the Benton Place Inn was born. The Popes moved a block away and began oper-ating the entire house as an inn.

Rebecca’s husband passed away in 1999

and she continues to operate the business.Over the 24 years she has owned the

Benton Place Inn, Pope has seen a lot of changes in the tourism industry of Eureka Springs. But one thing continues to help her bottom line. “We have a lot of repeat busi-ness, and that’s an important part of our business,” she says.

Even though the inn does not date to the Victorian era the inside of Benton Place suites have been beautifully furnished with period furniture, appointments and antique prints. The focal points of each suite are the gorgeous pieces of stained glass artwork. The numerous works of art hanging in the rooms have been created by some of the best

stained glass artists in Eureka Springs.The inn sits nestled along a tree-shaded

rock ridge running up Benton Street. Each suite also has a dedicated outdoor seating area.

The main feature of the extensive outside landscaping is the goldfish pond and water-fall. “The entire water feature was designed and built by James William Taylor, which was finished in 2005,” Pope said. Shortly af-ter finishing the Benton Place, project Taylor retired and moved back to Texas.

This Carroll County beautiful building is a wonderful example of another era of Eure-ka Springs’ history, worth of the attention of Carroll Countians and visitors alike.

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More Southwestern than Eurekan, Benton Place Innis unique in a town that defines unique


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Enjoying food, cook-ing, and then eating has been a wonder-ful part of my life for

as far back as I can remember. Likewise, cookbooks have been special to me for the majority of my life.

My first cookbook was a 1957 edition of “Betty Crocker’s Cook Book for Boys and Girls.” It ar-rived for my birthday and I was enchanted with the color photo-graphs of all sorts of wonderful goodies. This was my first intro-duction to reading about foods and recipes and following direc-tions – and, of course, reaping the rewards.

My next association with that American icon of cooking, Bet-ty Crocker, was in high school. I thoroughly enjoyed a class that was then called “Home Econom-ics.” I participated in a competi-tion and was recognized as the “Betty Crocker Homemaker of Tomorrow” my senior year in high school.

Primarily I was interested in food and nutrition. Child de-velopment and family relations studies were also also part of those classes and were Every enjoyable, since they integrated food. In fact, many of the things that I learned in my Home Eco-nomics classes proved to be per-tinent to life, and I have found myself using this helpful infor-

mation throughout the years. I graduated from the University of Arkansas with a degree in Home Economics.

Since I have always been in-terested in food – initially eat-ing, of course, and then later on preparing and serving – I was a foodie before that term was popularized by the Food Net-work and the Food Channel. And in the past 20-plus years, I have been especially focused on American cookbooks.

Cookbooks are more than just a list of recipes. They offer a glimpse into the culture of the area that spawned them. His-torically speaking, they can be a wonderful link to our past. They offer a glimpse for us not only of by-gone days, but of the pres-ent also. As they say, what’s old is new again, so old recipes are

updated and reworked to today’s sensibilities.

When we travel or just get out of town for a day away, I enjoy indulging in a hobby: col-lecting cookbooks. I find them in flea markets, old bookstores, and yard sales. Most of my cook-books are older ones. Usually, I receive contemporary cookbooks as gifts. But over the years I have collected a large number of cook-books and try to make at least one recipe from each. Regardless, I thoroughly enjoy reading them, as much as my husband enjoys reading his photography or mo-torcycle books and magazines.

One of my favorite types of cookbooks are those from tea rooms. Often, in years past, de-partment stores in many cities had tea rooms. When we lived in Ft. Worth, Texas, I loved to go

FromAmerica’s CookbooksExploring Our Culture Through Our Favorite Recipes

Author and cook Mary Ann Bell


Book Review

to one called “The Potting Shed” in the Sanger Harris department store. They baked delectable pop-overs, served quiche before it was fashionable, and featured other fun and different foods.

Several years ago, there was a marvelous tea room in Eureka Springs called Katie’s Korner. It was a wonderful treat for lunch and or dessert. The Victorian house where it was located was lovely and the menu was su-perb. Katie’s Korner was not just a women’s-only place. There were hearty menu items that both women and men enjoyed, as well as typical light tea room fare. While Katie’s Korner has been gone for many years, Eure-ka Springs’ Simply Scrumptious Tea Room has filled the bill, serving delightful lunches and sumptuous desserts.

Two of the cookbooks that are most dear to my heart are collec-tions from Katie’s Korner. From “On the Corner: A Collection of Favorite Recipes from Katy’s Cor-ner Tea Room,” first published in 1979, is their French bread rec-ipe, a family favorite of ours for years. It’s has been a real comfort food for my husband and chil-dren, and I enjoy making as often as possible. I make small loaves hot out of the oven, and half of the recipe is consumed before the evening is over. It’s soft and light on the inside and the crust is firm but not hard and crusty, as are some European breads. This is a simple and easy to make recipe. I divide the recipe into eight small-er loaves, instead of suggested two.

It’s amazing that such a won-derful bread is so easy. Enjoy.

Katie’s KornerFrench Bread

Ingredients: 1 ½ cups warm water; 1 cake yeast (or 1 pkg. Dry); 2 tablespoons sugar; 2 tea-spoons salt; 4 ½ cups flour, sifted; corn meal.

Pour water into large bowl. Crumble yeast into water and dissolve. Stir in sugar and salt. Add flour and mix. Let rise about 1 hour. Cov-er greased cookie sheet with corn meal. Shape dough into two loaves and place on cookie sheet. Cut diagonal slices across top. Sprinkle with sesame seeds (note – I usually leave these off). Let rise about 1 hour. Bake in 350-375 de-gree oven about 30 minutes or until brown.


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Recently, Currents took a wonderful-but-too-short weekend road trip to Springfield, Mo., the state’s third-largest city with a population of about 160,000. Known as the Queen City of the Ozarks, it is also the birthplace of the infamous Route 66 and home to several universities including Missouri State.

The city is located 72 miles north of Berryville up Missouri Highway 13, on the Springfield Plateau of the Ozarks. It is mainly a flat city with rolling hills and cliffs surrounding the south, east, and north sections of the city. Springfield has many streams and tributaries within its

borders, as well as five nearby lakes.The city was incorporated in 1838.

That was the same year that Cherokee Native Americans were forcibly relocat-ed by the U.S. government from their homes in Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina and Georgia to the “Indian Ter-ritory”; their route, now known as the

Trail of Tears, passed through Spring-field on what is now called the Old Wire Road.

Called the birthplace of U.S. Route 66, it was in Springfield on April 30, 1926, that the government first named the new Chicago-to-Los Angeles highway.

The next year, the U.S. Highway 66 Association was organized in Tulsa, with a mission to get U.S. Highway 66 paved from end to end and to promote tour-ism on the highway. Eleven years later, in 1938, their efforts paid off as Route 66 became the first completely paved U.S. Numbered Highway in America

— dubbed the “Mother Road” — reach-ing from the Great Lakes to the Pacific Ocean.

Springfield is a city with plenty of green space. There are 92 parks includ-ing the Botanical Center at Nathanael Greene/Close Memorial Park, three golf courses, a zoo and other facilities run by the Springfield-Greene County Park Board. The department also oversees an extensive network of parks and bicycle/walking trails that travel near beautiful features unique to the Ozarks, such as creek beds, caves and springs. A 35-mile, crushed-gravel trail, the Frisco Highline Trail, connects Springfield to the town of Bolivar and is especially popular with mountain bikers. The nearby James and Finley rivers provide plenty of spots for fishing and canoeing, and hiking, horse-back riding, and wilderness camping are all readily available just 20 miles to the south at the 2,500-acre Busiek National Forest. And Branson entertainment is within 45 miles.

Everything’s Waiting For You DowntownLike many cities across the nation,

Springfield’s downtown area has enjoyed a rebirth in recent years. Many of the old-er buildings are seeing redevelopment into mixed-use buildings such as lofts, office space, restaurants, coffee shops, bars, boutiques, and music venues. And the area even features historic theaters, restored to their original state, including the Gillioz and Landers Theatres.

The city offers a wide variety of en-tertainment options, as it is home to the Springfield Regional Arts Council, Springfield Regional Opera, Springfield Ballet, and the Springfield Symphony

On the beaten pathSpringfield’s Central Location, Historic Routes

Diverse Attractions Make It A Perfect Weekend Getaway

Park Central Square

Courtesy of Springfield, Mo Convention & Visitors Bureau


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Orchestra.And how about the food? For a city its

size, Springfield has a plethora of restau-rant options — and it’s also known as the home of Cashew Chicken, ever since a New York Times article described the his-tory and ascendancy of the dish in Spring-field, where local variations of the popu-lar Chinese dish are ubiquitous. Leong’s Asian Diner is most famous for its rendi-tion of Cashew Chicken, and the original Leong’s Tea House (long closed) is said to have invented it nearly half a century ago. “When I moved here in the 1950s, people kept telling me about fried chicken,” Mr. Leong told The New York Times in 2009. “I did what they wanted. I gave them fried chicken with Chinese oyster sauce and ca-shews.”

Missouri’s Original Country Music Capital During the 1950s, Springfield had the

nation’s third-highest number of original, locally produced network television pro-grams — behind New York and Holly-wood. Four national TV series originated in the city between 1955 and 1961: “Ozark Jubilee” and its spin-off, “Five Star Jubi-lee”; “Talent Varieties”; and “The Eddy Arnold Show.” Many of the biggest names in country music either often visited or permanently lived in Springfield during this era, which mightily boosted the city’s tourism coffers.

Staged at the Jewell Theatre (demol-ished in 1961), “Ozark Jubilee” was the first national country music TV show to feature top stars and attract a significant viewership. “Five Star Jubilee,” produced from the Landers Theatre, was the first network TV series shown in color to originate outside of New York City or

The Gillioz and Landers Theatres Leong’s Cashew Chicken

Downtown Shoppers

Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield






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Hollywood. However, Springfield’s own residents never saw the show in color; the city’s NBC affiliate (which helped pro-duce the program) was not yet equipped for color TV and aired the show in black and white.

In addition to the TV programs, Springfield was well-known nationally as home to several nationally aired radio shows. ABC, NBC and Mutual radio net-works carried country music shows from Springfield during the decade, including KWTO’S “Korn’s-A-Krackin.’”

In 2008, America’s Promise Alliance ranked Springfield among its “100 Best Communities for Young People” for the third year in a row, and in 2009, Next Generation Consulting ranked Spring-field 17th on its “Next Cities” list. The Milken Institute has listed Springfield as a “Best Performing City” for creat-ing and sustaining jobs, and Expan-sion Management magazine has listed Springfield among “Top 20 Mid-Sized Metros for Recruitment and Attrac-tion.”

On our visit to Springfield, Currents stayed at the beautiful and well-apportioned Doubletree Hotel at 2431 N. Glenstone Ave. just off the interstate. With superior customer service, delicious dining and spacious quarters, the Doubletree is sure to make any visitor feel like a pampered celebrity. For more information about the Doubletree, call 417-831-3131 or visit www.Doubletree.Hilton.com/Springfield.

Route 66

Mama’s Pancake House

Jordan Valley Park Fountain

Springfield has a high number and wide variety of museums and attractions, as well as a Minor League Baseball team and tons of history. The list includes:

n Air & Military Museum of the Ozarksn American Civil War Library at Wilson’s

Creek National Battlefieldn Battle of Springfield Driving Tourn Commercial Street Historic Districtn The Creamery Arts Centern Dickerson Park Zoon Dr. Michael J. Clarke History Museum of

Ozarks Scoutingn Flower Pentecostal Heritage Centern Founders Park

n Gray-Campbell Farmsteadn History Museum on the Squaren Missouri Institute of Natural Science -

Riverbluff Caven Springfield Art Museumn St. John’s Episcopal Churchn Trail of Tears National Historic Trailn U.S. Route 66 markern Wild Bill Hickok–Davis Tutt shootout siten Wonders of Wildlife Museum & Aquar-

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On the R

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n Aug. 9-18

Bass Pro Shops Fall Hunting ClassicBass Pro Shops Outdoor World, 1935 S. Campbell Ave. 417-887-7334 http://www.basspro.com

This event is the largest nine-day hunting sale and seminar of the year. Celebrate with local hunting professionals, while also taking advantage of un-believable savings.

n Aug. 10

3rd Annual Birthplace of Route 66Festival & Car ShowPark Central Square http://www.facebook.com/birth-placeofroute66festival

Enjoy a classic car show, food vendors, a kids’ area, live entertainment and more. Enjoy the lively venues and businesses along Route 66 during this annual event celebrating the city where Route 66 was named.

n Aug. 10

Annual Anniversary Commemoration of the Battle of Wilson’s CreekWilson’s Creek National Battlefield, 6424 W. Farm Road 182, Republic, Mo. 417 732-6596, ext. 224 http://www.nps.gov/wicr

Soldiers who fought at the Battle of Wilson’s Creek, August 10, 1861, are remembered at this commem-oration of the second major battle of the Civil War.

n Aug. 10

McDonald’s $1 Day @ the Zoo Dickerson Park Zoo, 3043 North Fort Ave 417-883-1570 http://www.dickersonparkzoo.org

$1 admission all day for both children and adults.

n Aug. 15

Moon Over The Mother RoadSpringfield’s historic Park Central Square 417-832-1200 http://www.historymuseumonthesquare.org/

Join in the celebration as the History Museum on the Square “Flips the Switch” to light the restored neon torches on top of the historic Barth’s build-ing. The lighting ceremony is at 9 pm. Come ear-ly and enjoy period music from the Route 66 era. See you at the Square, the heart of Springfield, the birthplace of Route 66. It’s the historic event of the summer!

n Aug. 17

Allegiant “Dodge High Fares” Dodgeball TournamentFieldhouse Sportscenter, 2235 W. Kingsley 952-931-0404 http://dodgehighfares.com/events/spring-field-mo

The public is encouraged to form a team, sign up, and benefit United Way. A team consists of 6-10 players; all players must be at least 18 years old. All teams are co-ed (a minimum of two females or males per team). Teams can sign up by going to www.dodgehighfares.com. Allegiant and the National Dodgeball Association are the official sponsors.

n Aug. 22

Party in the Parking Lot w/ Billy CurringtonPFI Western Store - Springfield, MO 417 889-2668 http://www.pfiwestern.com/billy-currington

Billy Currington has garnered an impressive 10 Top Ten hits, with six of those hitting No. 1 – “Pretty Good At Drinkin’ Beer,” “That’s How Country Boys Roll,” “People Are Crazy,” ”Don’t,” “Must Be Doin’ Somethin’ Right” and “Good Directions.” He’s sold millions of albums and has been selected to tour with the likes of Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley and Sugarland.

n Aug. 23 - Sept. 7

“Is He dead?” Mark Twain ComedySpringfield Art Museum, 1111 East Brookside Drive 417-831-8001 http://www.springfieldcontem-porarytheatre.org

“Is He Dead?” is a newly discovered and until recently unproduced Mark Twain comedy written expressly for the stage. Mark Twain, the original master of Ameri-can humor, dishes out a sly critique of the art world with acerbic wit and social commentary well ahead of his time. Jean-François Millet, a young painter of genius, is in love with Marie Leroux but in debt to a vil-lainous picture-dealer, Bastien André. Andre forecloses on Millet, threatening debtor’s prison unless Marie marries him. Millet realizes the only way he can pay his debts and keep Marie from marrying André is to die, as it is only dead painters who achieve fame and fortune. Millet fakes his own death and prospers, all while passing himself off as his own sister, the Widow Tillou. As the riotous scheme unfolds, Twain poses dar-ing questions about fame, greed and the value of art, and pokes his signature, mischievous fun at everyone involved. A new comedy by Mark Twain, as adapted by David Ives, and directed by Richard Dines.

n Aug. 31

Wine Tasting and Live EntertainmentOOVVDA Winery, 5448 N. Berry Ln. 417-833-4896.

Bring a picnic lunch and sample a splendid as-sortment of handcrafted wines along with compli-mentary live entertainment. BBQ grills, picnic tables and chairs available.

n Sept. 2

The Third Annual Labor Day “Run for History”Frisco Highline Trail, 902 S. Quarry Rd., Willard 417-832-1200 http://www.springfieldhistorymuseum.org

Take a “Run for History” on the historic Frisco High-line Trail and help the History Museum raise funds for their new museum. 1/2 Marathon and 5k Races.

n Sept. 6-8

Fall Festival at the Mizumoto Japanese Stroll GardenMizumoto Japanese Stroll Garden, Nathanael Greene/Close Memorial Park, 2400 S. Scenic 417-891-1515 http://www.botanicalcenter.org

Celebrate our Sister City, Isesaki, Japan with artists, performers, martial art demonstrations, vendors

and more!

n Sept. 6-8

Greek FestivalSt. Thomas the Apostle Orthodox Church, 4200 S. Hol-iday Ave

Enjoy Greek entrees, beverages and desserts under the tents to the mesmerizing rhythms of traditional music from the mainland and the islands. Join in as church members demonstrate the native dances of Greece. The three-day event will also include brief overviews of the Orthodox faith by parish priest Fa-ther Andrew Moore in the church sanctuary.

n Sept. 6-22

Monty Python’s SpamalotThe Historic Landers Theatre, 311 E. Walnut Ave. 417-869-1334 http://www.Springfieldlittletheatre.org

Monty Python’s “Spamalot” is a musical comedy “lovingly ripped off from” the 1975 film “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.” Like the film, it is a highly irreverent parody of the Arthurian Legend. Book by Eric Idle. Grammy Award-winning score and lyrics by John Du Prez and Eric Idle. Winner of three Tony Awards including Best Musical.

n Sept. 6-7

Greater Ozarks Blues Festivalhttp://www.greaterozarksbluesfest.com

Enjoy two days of musical fun for your entire family. The festival, produced by the Blues Society of the Ozarks, is the area’s original blues festival since 1996. This all-volunteer annual event raises money for the Blues Society, a not-for-profit organization, so your support goes to a great cause, keeping the blues alive.

n Sept. 13-15

Professional Bull Riders PFIWestern.com Invitational Presented by Bass Pro ShopsJQH Arena, 685 S John Q. Hammons Parkway 417-836-5240 http://www.pfiwestern.com/pbr

Watch some of the country’s toughest cowboys take on the toughest bulls at this annual event that is part of the PBR Built Ford Tough Series.

n Sept. 14

Comedian Jim BreuerThe Gillioz Theatre, 325 Park Central East 417-863-7843 http://www.gillioz.org

With over 20 years of stand-up comedy experience, Jim Breuer remains one of today’s top entertainers and continues to win over audiences with his off-the-wall humor and lovable personality. Named one of Comedy Central’s “100 Greatest Stand-Ups of All Time,” Breuer is one of the most recognizable come-dians in the business, known for his charismatic stage antics, dead-on impressions, and family-friendly stand-up. In addition to keeping busy on his current comedy tour, “Something for Everyone,” Breuer can be heard on his weekly Sirius/XM Radio show “Fridays with Breuer,” featuring guests such as Jerry Seinfeld, Bill Cosby, Chris Rock, Dennis Leary, and Jeff Foxworthy.

For more information about events, attractions, lodging and more Springfield, visit www.SpringFieldMO,org or call toll-free 800-678-8767


That’s the way it is at the Mon-te Ne Inn. The only difference is that at grandma’s house you can recline on the couch or in the easy chair and take a nap after having your fill.

The menu at Monte Ne Inn is simple. There isn’t one. The friendly wait staff just starts bring-ing out bowls of food after taking your drink order. The only meat they serve is fried chicken, and it’s definitely the star of the show. The vegetables served are corn, green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, cole slaw, and home-baked bread with apple butter, and homemade desserts.

Did I mention there is also a soup course? The first thing your server brings out is a crock full of wonderful bean soup. “I can’t tell you the variety beans we use. That’s our secret ingredient,” says the Inn’s fourth owner, David My-ers, with a smile. They cook them for hours and hours until there there is nothing left of the bean that’s recognizable. The seasoning of the soup is truly remarkable. It’s peppery but not overly spicy or hot. Everyone I know who has tasted it has loved it.

The full name of the Mon-te Ne Inn includes “Chicken Restaurant” in it. And that says

Dinner at the Monte Ne Inn is like Sunday dinner at your grandmother’s house in a Norman Rockwell painting. You know the scenario. Friends and rel-

atives are setting around a table full of bowls and platters of home-cooked food. Diners are anxiously waiting to fill their plates with the delicious fare.

Monte Ne Inn Does Chicken The Right Way


the whole story. No hamburgers, steaks, chops or meat loaf. “We order our chicken from George’s [in Springdale],” Myers says. They order smaller chickens and take the breast and cut them down further. “We take the keels out of the whole breasts then cut the [remainder] into two pieces. We feel the smaller pieces cook better. Also, we take the skin off the breast pieces, and leave the skin on legs and thighs.” And it’s a preparation technique that works very well. The small piec-es cook evenly and remain juici-er, and without the skin it’s a bite of meat and batter in every bite. “We leave the skin on the dark meat,” Myers says.

The corn and beans at the Monte Ne Inn are canned. “We don’t grow our own corn and string beans,” Myers laughed. But it’s what they do with them after they open the can that brings it up to a level worthy of being on the same table as the

fantastic chicken. All the vegeta-ble were very tasty and compli-mented the chicken very well.

Desserts used to be limited at the Inn. “We used to serve only ice cream for dessert. But about nine years ago we began making our own cobblers and cheese-cake,” Myers says. But they kept the ice cream – to top off the cobblers. Did I mention the peach and black berry cobblers are also homemade?

The dining room is divided into three sections, two larg-er ones and a smaller one. The walls are decorated with items from the rural history of the area as well as remembrances of the heyday of Monte Ne the resort. The Monte Ne Inn was estab-lished in 1972 and gets its name from the community where it resides.

Monte Ne is an unincorpo-rated community with a con-venience store, a church, the restaurant, and several lake

Table for Tw

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homes and residences. And most locals know about the in-triguing history of the area.

In the early 19th century William Hope Harvey was fa-mous, as an astute political op-erative, and a financial wizard and proponent of the silver standard, for which he earned the nickname “Coin” Harvey. He was also a one-time pres-idential candidate, a publish-er, an entrepreneur and the developer of a popular resort with the a moniker that means “high water” – Monte Ne – in the language of the local Native Americans. Perhaps one might liken his fame to that of Donald Trump – but without as much money.

In 1902, Harvey bought a piece of property known as Silver Spring. And long before Beaver Lake was a gleam in anyone’s eye, he built a lagoon with an extensive complex of health spas, hotels, and recre-ational, entertainment and ed-ucational activities.

The remnants of his once very-popular resort – which drew guests from across Amer-ica – can be seen dotting the landscape. The resort’s center-piece is the magnificent an-cient-ruin-like poured concrete amphitheater covered most of the time by the waters of Bea-ver Lake. But like Brigadoon rising from the Scottish mists,

so the intriguing structure rises out of Beaver Lake when the its level creeps to about 1,110 feet or lower.

Another leftover from Monte Ne’s glory years is the three-story, poured-concrete corner rooms of the at-one-time splendid Oklahoma Row hotel. Today only the foun-dation and concrete corner remain. The rest of log-con-structed lodge was disassem-bled and moved before Beaver Lake finished filling.

A visit to the foundation ru-ins of Monte Ne is akin to visit-ing the fascinating locations in the ancient Europe and Greece, even though on a smaller scale. The concrete construction of Monte Ne’s structures lend a feeling of antiquity. If you’ve never visited either the Monte Ne Inn or the old concrete tow-er of Oklahoma Row, a visit to both will be a treat.

The Monte Ne Inn is open Tuesdays through Saturday from 5 to 8 p.m., with the last seating at 8 p.m., and Sundays from noon until 7 p.m., with the last seating at 7 p.m. It is closed the entire month of Jan-uary

The Monte Ne Inn is located on Monte Ne Road, 3 ½ miles east of Highway 71B. Reserva-tions are beneficial, call 479-636-5511. www.MonteneIn-nChicken.net

The resort hotel Oklahoma Row had a concrete tower anchoring a row of rooms, constructed from sawed logs. The log structure was moved approximately a half mile up Highway 94 and is used as a storage building.

A highly visible landmark in today’s Monte Ne is from heyday of the 1920s resort of Monte Ne,:the concrete tower of the Oklahoma Row hotel. It looms above the surface of Beaver Lake.


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suppose you just hate to eat veggies? Those green things that cook down to grey soft globs of goop that instantly take you back to your harried mother’s cooking. There she

is insisting that you eat at least one bite before leaving the dinner table and you become 6 years old again. The gag reflex kicks in as an old memory hazily rolls around in the back of your head and in the pit of your stomach. How do you get the health benefits of veggies if you’d rather eat hot dogs and cheese?

Take barley capsules daily. The barley family is very large but the family member goes by the Latin name hordeum vulgare that I’ll be describing. First, the plant has a folk history of a very broad range of health benefits including anti-tumor activity. Barley, is an original medical food going back to the earliest of time. History tells us that Barley water was used to nourish ba-bies and old folk back to health.

Modern research has shown that barley may be of aid in the treatment of hepatitis, while other trials have shown that it may help to control diabetes. Barley bran may have the effect of lowering blood choles-terol levels and preventing bowel cancer.

Barley provides more vitamin B1 and calcium than there is in cow’s milk, as much carotene and iron content of spin-ach, twice the vitamin C in oranges, four times the vitamin B1 in whole wheat flour and energy producing B12 in each serving. It is very high in the good for you organic

sodium, which dissolves calcium depos-ited on the joints and also replenishes the lining of the stomach. This aids digestion by improving the production of hydro-chloric acid. It has almost twice as much protein as an equivalent amount of wheat germ and about five times the minerals in animal protein, in addition the protein in barley doesn’t come burdened with fat. It is also low in gluten. While we can’t be entirely sure barley may have up to 1,000 different enzymes which are the necessary regulators of the body, without them our cells could not function and living well would be difficult. Barley has one of the highest natural levels of the enzyme SOD (super oxide dismutase), which is a pow-

erful antioxidant that protects the cells against toxic free radicals, thought to be a primary culprit in aging and cancer forma-tion. It contains one of the most amazing nutrients chlorophyll (liquid oxygenated sunshine), a natural diuretic and chelator.

Of course barley is used in brew-ing beverages like beer. Unfortunately, through the fermentation process the nu-tritional benefit of the barley is lost so you can’t count a bottle of beer as one of the 5 servings of veggies you should eat daily, unless you use it wash down the capsules. See there is always a silver lining which leads me into another old time strange sounding yet very good for you group of food supplements.

barley,blue green foods and lawnClippings

The disdain for veggies often begins at an early age... and for good reason. Many times cooks can turn wonderful, fresh vegetables into just so much unappetizing mush.


Here’s to H

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The first time I tried wheat grass juice I thought I was drinking lawn clippings. The scent rapidly reduced me to an awk-ward teenager struggling to push the Sarlo mower through grass that was growing at

least an inch an hour. Or so it seemed as the sweet smell of chlorophyll permeat-ed my nose. I hated cutting the lawn back then. I also hated vegetables, espe-cially the green ones in those days. How time changes.

It turns out that wheat grass was pretty good for health. Plants are like that espe-cially the green ones. There are many to be found in a vitamin store in the absence of fresh produce. Green Barley grass, Spi-rolina, Chlorella and Blue-Green algae are common monikers of healthful yet a lit-tle strange sounding supplements. These can be found in any form, from tablets to powder.

I think the most interesting is the pow-dered formula products that often have dozens of ingredients including the ones I’ve listed as well as herb blends, enzymes, vegetable blends, fruit blends, mushroom blends and probiotics. This is like a one stop supplement, that is so easy, it’ll re-mind you of a drive through restaurant.

Peo-ple, most

often add this powder to a drink

base like juice, water or drink mixed into a smoothie. A big benefit of doing it this way is that you don’t have to swallow even a single pill and you can flavor it with any-thing you like. A greens powder is a for sure way to get the benefit of those pes-ky green vegetables without gagging on a lima bean for instance.

All are very high in antioxidants, vi-tamins and minerals, many, from whole food sources. Some will contain wheat and soy. Some products are strictly vege-tarian while others may not be, so keep an eye on the label.

These are green or blue-green foods that can easily ensure you and your fam-ily get the daily benefit of a wide range of nature’s healers. When I add the greens powder to yogurt I don’t even remember cutting the lawn as a kid. I’m glad for that little bit of grace.

Natural supplements and alternative preparations are an easy way to give the body what it needs.


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the most overheard words at the typical fireworks show are “ooh” and “ah” and “wow!”

And pictures of fireworks are a great way to relive the experience and earn some “oohs” and “ahs” of your own. All it takes is a little un-derstanding of how photography, and your camera, works. Let’s ex-plore how to make great fireworks pictures.

Step one is to grasp how exposure is built up on a digital imaging chip.

When an SLR camera’s shutter button is pressed, a curtain opens, allowing light to stream in through the lens to reach the chip. The chip reacts to the light by building up exposure. For example, something white, let’s say a T-shirt, reflects light back to the chip, which converts the

image to a series of tonal values. The white areas can receive no additional exposure, nor can any be taken away.

Likewise, if there is a black object in the photograph, very little, or no, light is reflected back to the chip. That area remains in its normal state which is unexposed – black.

In short, white areas are maxed out exposure-wise. Black areas ar-en’t.

White areas can’t receive addi-tional visual information or expo-sure. Black areas can.

That’s an important concept to understand.

Here’s the next concept to un-derstand: Usually an exposure in a camera involves relatively fast shut-ter speeds, measured in fractions of a second. A shutter speed you would

use at your child’s little league game might be 1/500 second or even fast-er. Short shutter speeds can stop the motion of a youngster swinging a bat or sliding into home.

In very low light, though, the shutter speed may lengthen to over a second, sometimes way over a sec-ond. In a totally dark room or a cave you could leave the camera shutter open for hours and no exposure would be recorded on the chip.

During the time the shutter is open you could add a very tiny amount of light – from a cell phone, candle or even a faint glow stick. Those tiny amounts of light are enough exposure for correctly-ex-posed pictures, given enough time.

Now, let’s consider pictures of fireworks.

Understand FireworksUnderstand LightIf you understand fireworks and cumulative exposure, you have a good grasp of lighting essentials

White areas can’t receive

additional visual information or

exposure. Black areas can.

That’s an important concept to

understand.


Art of the Lens Story and photos by D

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Fireworks leave bright tracks in the sky. Our eyes see these bursts, which last several seconds as the fiery bits of the aerial bombs burn out like so many meteors streaking across the night.

Here’s a question: How do mete-orites know to only streak across the sky at night? Answer: They don’t.

They streak their paths to the earth all the time. We just can’t see them, or fireworks bursts for that matter, in the daylight.

To see fireworks properly, and thus photograph them properly, they must be against a very dark, if not totally black, sky.

With fireworks, you will need to use a shutter speed of multiple sec-onds. The only thing you need for the shutter to do is get out of the way

and stay out of the way. Better than using a timed shutter

speed – 10 or more seconds – set the camera on bulb then use a shutter cable and hold the shutter open for several busts of fire in front of the lens. Bulb is the setting where the shutter remains open as long as you keep the button depressed.

Since the shutter will not be part of the exposure equation, the film ISO and lens F-stop will determine the exposure. Too big of a lens open-ing or too fast of an ISO and the streaks of light will be overly bright. Too little and the streaks may be so thin and wispy as to be underex-posed and hard to see.

But use just the right ISO and lens opening and the star burst will be just right – bright and interesting.

Try starting with ISO 400 at F-8 or F-11 or F-16 and adjust as needed.

With fireworks, one burst is not enough. Let the shutter stay open for several bursts. If you’re lucky, you’ll have a wonderful image of several brightly colored starry streaks, each radiating out from a central core of light. And each shell is usually differ-ently colored from shot to shot.

Taken together, the visual effect can be fascinating and beautiful. If the centers of multiple bursts over-lap, the area may be overly bright. If two or three bursts are the same height, stop the exposure and start over.

Here are some hints for taking great fireworks pictures:

Select a location with a clear, un-obstructed view of the burst zone.

With fireworks, one burst is not enough. Let the shutter stay open for several bursts.


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Point the camera toward that area, using a zoom setting which will cover the zone. Set the lens focus to infinity, the symbol that looks like a sideways “8” and turn off the auto focus.

Foregrounds can add visual in-terest. A pond or lake reflecting the fire in the sky, or the silhouettes of trees or a bridge in the foreground, can add a feeling of depth.

Generally a tripod and cable/shutter release will really help, though under certain circumstanc-es you may hand-hold the camera and a flash. For example, kids wav-ing sparklers with fill flash can make great photographs.

I was out photographing one Fourth of Jully without a tripod and made pictures of folks setting off roman candles. The flashes and streaks of light, combined with my hand-holding a long shutter speed, produced abstract, impressionistic images that I love.

There is no right or wrong way to photograph fireworks, only success-ful or unsuccessful images. And the more you learn, and practice what you learn, the better your chances of getting those “wow” fireworks pic-tures.

There is no right or

wrong way to photograph

fireworks, only successful or unsuccessful

images.


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July 19n Red 2: Bruce Willis (Die Hard), John

Malkovich, Morgan Freeman (Now You See Me), and Helen Mirren (The Queen) return as the Retired and Extremely Dangerous CIA senior citizen retirees. Oscar winners Catherine

Zeta-Jones (Chicago) and Anthony Hopkins (The Silence of the Lambs) join this already stellar cast. The original movie, filled with action and laughs was one of the surprises of 2010 for me. I hope part 2 is just as good. I can’t wait.n R.I.P.d.: Ryan Reynolds stars as a

detective killed in action who after his death is teamed up with the veteran Jeff Bridges in the undead police division of the The Rest In Peace Department who’s job is to protect the

living from those evil forces that refuse to move on. This seems to be Renold’s year as he voiced a lead character in March’s The Croods and now he goes head to head with himself (Turbo). This movie might seem a little too simular to Men In Black for me to enjoy but hopefully it might surprise me.n The ConjuRIng: Yet another low

budget supernatural horror film. This one stars Vera Farmiga (A&E’s Bates Motel) and Patrick Wilson (Watchmen) as married paranormal investigators who help another couple

understand the strange occurances that

happen in their old farmhouse. The sole bright spot might be that this movie is directed by James Wan who knows a little something about filming horror movies (Saw, Dead Silence, Insidious) and who was just pick to direct the next Fast and Furious movie. I am hoping for a good story and a good scare.

July 26n The WolveRIne: Hugh Jackman

(Real Steel) returns for his 6th outing as the razor clawed mutant. This one takes him to Japan where he battles an old evil foe and his own immortality. James Mangold (Knight and Day,

Walk the Line) directs. Aside from The Last Stand I really liked the other X-Men movies and this one might be a more darker and more realistic, which seems to be something all the superhero movies are trying nowadays (The Dark Knight Rises, Iron Man 3). Love the character and I like most of the Marvel movies so I’ll be in the theater for this one.

July 31n The SmuRfS 2: Why Hollywood

why? Oh yeah...the 2011 film made half a billion dollars...that’s why. Papa Smurf (voiced by the late Jonathan Winters) and his band of little blue Smurfs and the blonde headed Smurfette

(Katy Perry) once again battle the evil giant wizard Gargamel (Hank Azaria). I am not looking forward to the 2 hours of my life that I will waste spending watching this sequel.

n 2 gunS: Mark Wahlberg (Pain and Gain) plays a DEA agent who battles Denzil Washington (Déjà Vu), a NCIS agent who are both set up by the CIA and must team up to survive. Looks like alot of action, explosions

and fun.

August 7n PeRCy jaCkSon: Sea of Monsters:

This is the sequel to 2010’s Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and is based on the second novel in the series written by Rick Riordan. Logan Lerman (The Perks

of Being a Wallflower) returns with his friends to search for the Golden Fleece in order to save the magical tree that protects their home. My kids are big fans of the books and the first movie so I know they’ll want to go with me to this movie.

August 9n elySIum: A futuristic science fiction

drama starring Matt Damon who is one of many people left on an overpopulated and destroyed earth who desparately trying to get to Elysium, a orbiting city where only the wealthy

are allowed. Jodie Foster (The Accused, Inside Man) and Sharlto Copley (District 9, A-Team) also stars. Neill Blomkamp (District 9) directs. I was a big fan of Blomkamp’s District 9 and as long as this is

So far this summer movie season has been really disappointing but I am hopeful because now it’s July...and things are heating up, both outside and at the movies. Thankfully the theater is cool and the popcorn is hot, buttery and delicious

Coming Attractions


Pass the P

opcorn By Russell Pinkston

Russell Pinkston has reviewed movies for his high school newspaper (The Golden Echo), on TV (Reelz Channel) as one-half of the team of CineManiacs that represented Berryville on the nationally broadcast show Movie Mob, and on YouTube (TheScreenTeam). His reviews can be heard live on thedirectorscutradio.com podcast every Saturday night from 6-8 p.m. CST. You can find him (TheReelRussell) on Twitter and Facebook. He also posts his movie reviews on his blog on thedirectorscutradio.com webpage. Russell works in Berryville and lives in Harrison.

as well written I should like this one too.n dISney’S PlaneS: A spin-off to

Pixar and Disney’s Cars. Origianally planned as a direct-to-dvd release Disney now hopes to cash in on the success of the other two Cars movies by releasing this in theaters. I loved

Cars (but not the sequel) but I am a little worried about this film. Both Jon Cryer (Two & Half Men) and Pixar dropped out of the production. The very non-Disney Dane Cook (Mr. Brooks, Good Luck Chuck) takes over the voice work but his voice is not as good as Cryer’s who did the original trailer. I sure hope this film doesn’t crash and burn.n We’Re The mIlleRS: In order to

disguise his plan to smuggle pot from Mexico to the United States a small-time dealer (Jason Sudeikis) hires himself a fake family. Jennifer Aniston (Horrible Bosses) and Emma

Roberts (Scream 4) co-star. I am not sure drugs are a laughing matter even though Hollywood might say differently (Pineapple Express, Your Highness) but I loved Sudeikis and Aniston in Horrible Bosses and the trailer is really funny so I will give this movie a try. August 16n kICk-aSS 2: Aaron Johnson

(Savages), Chloë Grace Moretz (Hugo, Dark Shadows) and Christopher Mintz-Plasse Superbad, Role Models) all return for this sequel to this 2010 movie. It’s based on the comic

books by Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr. Jim Carrey (Bruce Almighty, Dumb and Dumber) also stars. Hit Girl retires and Kick-Ass must join another group of vigilante crime fighters to fight the villian formerly known as Red Mist and his crew of supervillians. I am a big fan of the first

movie and these characters. I am so glad they decided to make a sequel even though the first film was barely profitable. August 23n The WoRld’S end: Simon Pegg

(Paul, Star Trek), Nick Frost (Attack the Block) and Martin Freeman (The Hobbit trilogy) star in a film directed by Edgar Wright (Shawn of the Dead, Hot Fuzz...also starring Pegg and

Frost). Best friends reunite in order to complete a pub crawl (basically a group of people going from bar to bar drinking and partying). While in the process of there attempt the group soon realise that their and everyone elses lives may depend on them and what they do on that night. I really like the very clever and funny Shawn of the Dead and Pegg and Frost make a great comedy team so I will definitely check it out.n The moRTal InSTRumenTS: CITy of BoneS: Lily Collins

(Abduction, Mirror Mirror) and Lena Heady (Dredd, The Purge) headline this movie based on The Mortal Instruments books series by Cassandra Clare. This is yet another attempt

by Hollywood to create another popular and successful teen movie franchise like Twilight. Earlier this year Warm Bodies did well but Beautiful Creatures and The Host both bombed financially. My daughter is a fan of the book but even she is a little leary of this film adaptation. We’ll see if this movie is written for adults as well

as for teens.n you’Re nexT: Another low budget

horror movie starring a bunch of relatively unknowns. This one features a group of mask wearing ax murderers who prey on the members of a family reunion. I am not a fan of this usually

poorly written genre but who knows this film just might entertain and scare me into liking it.

August 30n geTaWay: Ethan Hawke (Sinister,

The Purge) stars as a man who must drive and do whatever his wife’s kidnapper (Jon Voight) says in order to save his wife. He is helped along the way by the Kid, a computer wiz played

by Selena Gomez (Hotel Transylvania, Spring Breakers). I don’t know very much about this movie but it doesn’t sound very original. I am glad to see the Disney girl Gomez growing up and making something for everyone...not just for kids or teens.n one dIReCTIon: ThIS IS uS: Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber and Katy Perry all did it so British boy band One Direction figures it was their turn at making a 3D concert film. It’s no surprise all of those films made money. The only real mystery is why documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me, Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope) wanted to directed this movie. I am not a fan of One Direction’s music and thankfully neither is my daughter so I am not gonna run out to watch this movie.

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Transcript of Currents July-Aug 2013