city Fort Smith, state Arkansas: Last News

Jovita Moore, a longtime and beloved TV news anchor in Atlanta died last night, seven months after disclosing that she had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer. She was 53.

An Arkansas concert venue, which was scheduled to play host to an “intimate solo acoustic performance” by country-rock star Travis McCready on Friday, just postponed the controversial concert after it had its alcohol license pulled by state regulators who have said the venue was in defiance of the state’s ban on large gatherings amid the coronavirus pandemic. TempleLive, in Fort Smith, Ark., announced its decision to shelve McCready's performance on Thursday, after it was hit with an alcohol sale ban by the head of the state’s Alcohol Beverage Control Division and the venue was ordered to comply with a cease-and-desist notice by the state’s health department to cancel or postpone the scheduled show before its license would be returned.

At a press conference on Thursday (May 14), TempleLive announced it was rescheduling its socially-distanced Travis McCready concert scheduled for Friday night in Fort Smith, Arkansas. The show was set to be one of the first shows hosted after mass gatherings were banned throughout the county due to the spread of the novel coronavirus.

By Jem Aswad

Last weekend, in a corner of Brooklyn’s Prospect Park called the Drummers Grove, a group of about nine djembe players, dancers, and flautists dug into a syncopated rhythm while an audience of revelers and police looked on. A “Respect Social Distance” sign fashioned out of a plastic lid hung lopsidedly nearby. Adherence to New York City’s pandemic guidelines was mixed: While the crowd observed in relative safety, only half the drummers wore masks, and none were six feet apart. Even outdoors with plenty of space to spread out, a casual jam session was rife with risk. So how are we to imagine formalized indoor shows with hundreds of people anytime soon?

A scheduled concert by Travis McCready -- which was not postponed or canceled amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and was set to take place Friday -- has seemingly met its match. Despite safety measures reportedly put into place for the show at TempleLive in Fort Smith, Ark., in which the venue space had plans for reducing its capacity from 1,100 down to 229 people, the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) is stepping in to put a stop to the event altogether, Gov.

By Bruce Haring

Since live events across the country started getting canceled or postponed in early March, the biggest questions occupying the live music industry have been when shows can resume and what they will look like when they do. Many government officials have stated that concerts, festivals and large gatherings will be among the last parts of pre-COVID-19 life that will return.But the virus has impacted communities at varying levels of severity, and now, Fort Smith, Arkansas has stepped forward to become the front runner in showing the rest of the U.S.

Venues around the country are closed until further notice, but TempleLive, a theater in Fort Smith, Ark., has experimented with what live entertainment can look like amidst a global pandemic.

On May 18, TempleLive in Fort Smith, Arkansas, hosted one of the nation’s first socially-distanced concerts with country rock artist Travis McCready of the band Bishop Gunn. In order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus promoters implemented extensive safety protocols: temperature checks at the door, masks on attendees and staff, limited bathroom occupancies and disinfecting fog sprayers, among them. The venue also had to keep each "fan pod" group of fans who arrived together at least six feet apart with one-way walkways and vigilant staff. It was a

On May 18, TempleLive in Fort Smith, Arkansas, hosted one of the nation’s first socially-distanced concerts with country rock artist Travis McCready of the band Bishop Gunn. In order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus promoters implemented extensive safety protocols: temperature checks at the door, masks on attendees and staff, limited bathroom occupancies and disinfecting fog sprayers, among them. The venue also had to keep each "fan pod" group of fans who arrived together at least six feet apart with one-way walkways and vigilant staff. It was a