EYE OPENER: War exhibit here.

‘Eyes Wide Open’ honors Iraqi war dead
“Eyes Wide Open,” a multimedia exhibit that includes the display of more than a 1,000 pairs of combat boots to illustrate the human cost of the Iraq war, opens at noon Tuesday, Feb. 1, at the Statehouse Convention Center in Room 4.
The exhibit, sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee, opened a year ago and has traveled to more than 40 cities, including Washington, D.C., on Memorial Day and Philadelphia on the Fourth of July. Boots are added weekly as the number of war dead mounts. At each stop, visitors have left notes, photographs of lost soldiers, flowers and flags in the boots.
The exhibit includes panel displays, a video on the war with interviews with government officials and those opposed to the war, a display of 1,000 pairs of civilian shoes and a Wall of Remembrance to pay tribute to the Iraqi civilians killed in the war, walls of televisions with looping images of U.S. news coverage and the uniform of a soldier who committed suicide after active duty in Iraq.
The exhibit will run through Feb. 3. Volunteers are needed to help put the exhibit up Tuesday morning; send an e-mail to DrAlisonHall@aol.com if you can help. For more information, call Katy Elliott at 244-9845.
Warm with Travs
Wanna talk some baseball? The Arkansas Travelers will hold their 28th annual Hot Stove on Monday, Jan. 31, beginning at 7 p.m. at the Parish Hall of Our Lady of the Holy Souls Church, Harrison and H Streets in Hillcrest. Fans are invited for a free night of baseball talk along with hot dogs and cold beverages.
New Manager Tom Gamboa, general manager Bill Valentine and Angels’ farm director Tony Reagins will be on hand. There will also be drawings for prizes.
Call 664-1555.
New at MOD
Most cold-blooded creatures are in hiding these days, but some will be out at the Museum of Discovery from Thursday through Saturday, Jan. 27-29, for its “Cold Blooded Creatures” exhibit. Museum staff will answer questions about snakes, turtles, alligators and members of the reptile and amphibian kingdoms.
Admission prices are $6.35 for adults, $5.85 for children ages 3-12, $5.35 for seniors and free for kids under 3. For more information visit www.amod.org or call 396-7050.
Going boating?
More boats will be at the Statehouse Convention Center this weekend. Mid South Sports is sponsoring the Little Rock Boat Show for the seventh year Friday through Sunday, Jan. 28-30. Besides featuring the leading boats in the market, the show also include top ski shops and tournament boats, as well as fishing rigs, pontoon boats, cabin cruisers and more.
The boat show opens at 11 a.m. Friday. Hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for children ages 7-14 and free for kids 6 and under. For more information, call 901-647-3047 or check out the website at exposouth.com.
Masks at the ready
Mardi Gras comes early to Little Rock with the Arkansas Repertory Theatre’s annual fund-raiser, the Saints and Sinners Masked Ball at the Rep on Saturday, Jan. 29, from 7 p.m. to midnight. The fun includes cocktails, silent and live auctions, dinner and dancing. Singer Roberta Thomas, from the Rep’s “Dreamgirls” cast, and the Soulsations from Memphis will provide the entertainment.
Auction items include a weeklong trip to London for four, a weeklong trip to Costa Rica for 10, a three-night trip to Washington, D.C., with a VIP tour of the White House and its West Wing, a four-night casting trip to New York with the Rep’s producing artistic director, Bob Hupp, and a “Phantom of The Rep” murder-mystery dinner for 12 on the Rep’s MainStage with special costumes, lighting and sound.
Tickets are $200. Call 378-0445, ext. 204.
Roll ’em
Four short films by Arkansas filmmakers will be featured at the Natural State Film Tour on Friday, Jan. 28, sponsored by UALR Public Radio, in cooperation with UALR ’s School of Mass Communication and College of Professional Studies. The films start rolling at 7 p.m. at UALR’s Dickinson Hall Auditorium. Two of the filmmakers will discuss their work and take questions from the audience. Michael Bowman will discuss his film, “When I Was Younger: A Weekend with the Beatles” (2001), which examines the surprise visit by the Beatles to Walnut Ridge during a break in the Fab Four’s legendary 1964 tour of the U.S. Jefferson Fletcher will discuss the film he made with Shelton Jacobs, “Road to Nowhere: Journeys to Palestine” (2003), which recounts Fletcher’s journey through the occupied territories and living with Palestinian refugees.
The other films are Brandon Carter’s “Under the Occupation” (2003), about three Arkansas residents who lived in France during the German occupation of World War II; and Jim Lukens’ “Velda Brotherton: Living among the Shadows of Time” (2003), which profiles an Arkansas writer and storyteller.
Admission is $5. Call 569-8485. The Natural State Film Tour is a project of the Ozark Foothills FilmFest, with funding from the Arkansas Arts Council.
Billy Higgins, author and professor of history at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, will lead the next “Legacies and Lunch” program at the Main Library on Wednesday, Feb. 2. Higgins will present “A Stranger and a Sojourner: Peter Caulder, Free Black Frontiersman in Antebellum Arkansas” for the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies’ monthly program at noon in the Darragh Center. It’s free; bring a lunch, and the library will provide drinks. Higgins’ new book by the same title will also be available. Call 918-3049.
UALR welcomes back the Aulos Ensemble, one of the first American “original instrument” groups, for its fourth Artspree appearance at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 2, with a musical tribute to heads of state. The baroque ensemble, founded in 1973 by five graduates of the Julliard School, created the program specifically for its Artspree appearance in recognition of the opening of the Clinton Presidential Center. The show is at the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall on the UALR campus. Tickets are $20 for floor seating, $17 for balcony and $10 for non-UALR students (free for UALR students). Call 568-3288

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