LITTLE ROCK — January is time for resolutions, revolutions, attributions and contributions, or in short - solutions to all the world’s troubles and mysteries to get New Year 2010 off to a perfect start. That or lose five pounds, whichever comes first.
1New Year’s Day, Diet Resolution Week, and ode to this month’s 25-hour marathon reading of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick at the New Bedford (Mass.) Whaling Museum:
Ahab set upon a quest
To lose at least a pound;
But every time the captain weighed,
He’d grown some more around -
Until, with his harpoon,
He gaffed the monster with a wail,
And cried out to the wind and sea:
“Die! Die! - ye evil scales!” SHADOW OF A DOUBT2One month before Groundhog Day is Ground Chuck Day. If the Ground Chuck sees his shadow,it means six weeks of Hamburger Helper.
3How to celebrate J.R.R. Tolkien’s birthday, 1892: Blow out the Balrog and make a wish.
ALL THE MOOSE THAT’S FIT TO PRINT
Alaska admission day, 1959. Alaska admits to a change in the state slogan to make ready for National Cheese Day, Jan. 14. The old saying: Alaska: Beyond your dreams. New motto: Alaska: Goin’ Roquefort.
4Fairy-tale teller Jacob Grimm’s birthday, 1785, National Skating Month, and what do you callCinderella on ice? - a glass slipper.
HOME ON THE RANGE5Little House on the Prairie through Jan. 10 at Walton Arts Center, Fayetteville. Call (479) 443-5600.
6On the Twelfth day of Christmas, my true love sent me to:
Aisle 1: Valentine cards and chocolate.
Aisle 2: Easter bunnies and Peeps.
Aisle 3: Fully stocked for Christmas 2010.
7 National Thank Your Customers Week is no problem, but “no problem” is not the same as thank you.
AIN’T NOTHIN’ BUT A COON DOG8Elvis Presley’s birthday, 1935
Gillett Coon Supper, a ring-tailed Arkansas tradition at the Gillett School Gymnasium east of Pine Bluff. Call (870) 548-2211.
SOAR SUBJECTS
Eagle Awareness Weekend bird-watching tours through Jan. 9 at Bull Shoals-White River State Park near Mountain Home. Call (870) 445-3629.
9Eagle Watch Lake Tours, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. through Jan. 10 at Pinnacle Mountain State Park near LittleRock. Call (501) 868-5806.
DON’T BE GRUEL
National Oatmeal Month PRUNE STREWN10California Dried Plum Digestive Health Month - a happy reminder that January’s specialflower is not the dried plum but rather the: (A) chrysanthemum, (B) carnation or (C) crustacean.
Answer at Jan. 27.
11Get Organized Month12Get Organized Month ... sounds familiar. But why? Did this come up before? There wasa note on the desk. Where’s the note? Where’s the desk?
CANDLE IN THE WIND13Rush Limbaugh’s 59th birthday14How to celebrate National Clean Up Your Computer Month: Sweep off the cat hair.
HORSE WHISPERS15Live racing through April 10 at Oaklawn Park HotSprings. Details at oaklawn.
com. Call (501) 623-4411.
Sordid Lives - aren’t they all? - weekends through Jan.
30 at The Weekend Theater, downtown Little Rock. Call (501) 374-3761.
INTIMATE NOTES16Arkansas Symphony Orchestra concert Grieg’sRomantic Piano Concerto with Valentina Lisitsa, 8 p.m. at Robinson Center Music Hall, Little Rock; also 3 p.m. Jan. 17.
Call (501) 666-1761.
VEILED PROMISES17Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Bridal Show,12:30-5 p.m. at the Statehouse Convention Center, Little Rock.
Call (501) 918-4539.
WE HAVE A WINNIE18Pooh Day celebrates the silly old bear anothersoul whose diet resolutions have gone, well - pooh!
“A bear, however hard he tries, grows tubby without exercise.” - Winnie the Pooh DOUBLE DUTY
Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday, the federal and state holiday
Robert E. Lee’s Birthday, the state holiday19How to celebrate National Personal Self-DefenseAwareness Month: Give a flip.
20How to celebrate National Handwriting AnalysisWeek: Start from scratch.
NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOE BUSINESS
Thank You, Gregory: A Tribute to the Legends of Tap- Gregory Hines, especially - through Jan. 21 at Walton Arts Center, Fayetteville. Call (479) 443-5600.
SQUEEZE PLAY21National Hugging Day
SISTER ACT22Little Women through Feb 7 at the Arkansas ArtsCenter Children’s Theatre, Little Rock. Call (501) 372-4000.
Martina McBride and Trace Adkins, 7:30 p.m. at Verizon Arena, North Little Rock. Call (800) 745-3000.
Marine Expo through Jan.
24 at the Statehouse Convention Center, Little Rock. Call (501) 225-6177.
MAN FROM PLAID23Robert Burns Night with the Ozark Highlanders
Pipe Band, 6 p.m. at St. Paul
Episcopal Church, Fayetteville.
Details at ozarkhighlanders.org.
(479) 442-7373.
24How to celebrate National Compliment Day: Giveand take.
ALL THE MUSE THAT’S FIT TO PRINT25International Creativity MonthGENERAL ANNOUNCEMENT26Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s birthday 1880 inLittle Rock.
27January in bloom answer: A white sports coat and apink (B) Carnation.
BREW-HAHA28National Hot Tea Month, and steep choices:English Breakfast tea: Queen Victoria’s favorite - a rich and satisfying, elegant taste that some liken to warm toast.
American breakfast: the other drink that tastes like it came out of the oven - doubleshot gingerbread latte.
BIG WHEELS KEEP ON TURNIN’29Monster Jam truck show, 7:30 p.m. Jan. 29 and 30at Verizon Arena, North Little Rock. Call (800) 745-3000.
52nd annual Delta Exhibition through March 14 at the kansas Arts Center, Little Rock Call (501) 372-4000.
30Former Vice President Dick Cheney’s 69th birthday “Except for the occasional heart attack, I never felt better.” - Dick Cheney31The first month of the new year is like a new car.
You keep watching for the first scratch. Oh, no! And there’s just one comfort: Pretty soon, you can’t tell the first scratch from all the other dings.
Coming next month: February!
Call (501) 399-3633, write to Ron Wolfe, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 121 E. Capitol Ave., Little Rock, Ark. 72203, or e-mail [email protected] by Jan. 15 to suggest February calendar entries or what else the groundhog might see on Feb.
2 besides his shadow, such as: the shadow of Elvis Presley; the discreet veil over Wall Street’s bonus system, the specter of tax time. Each event requires a phone number that is answered during business hours or by an answering machine that identifies the event or its sponsor.
Style, Pages 31 on 12/29/2009