Survivors ‘Weather’ challenges
SURVIVING AND THRIVING:
If you caught a promo for The Weather Channel’s new series SOS: How to Survive, premiering Aug. 20, you might have recognized familiar Arkansas faces.
Cathy Frye and her husband, Rick McFarland, of North Little Rock, both former Democrat-Gazette colleagues, will share the agonizing tale about the five days they were lost while hiking in the desert of Big Bend Ranch State Park in Texas in 2013. Their story is expected to air Sept. 3.
Former reporter Frye is now director of communications at the Arkansas Public School Resource Center and former photographer McFarland now works part time for Les Steen Hardwoods and also sells his own work via McFarland Woodcrafts.
Even after their ordeal, the adventurous duo still makes this annual trip.
They’ll celebrate their April anniversary having another big time at Big Bend.
The video for an unlikely cover song by Grammy-nominated country crooner and Rogers native Joe Nichols is going viral: “Baby Got Back.”
His twangy remix of Sir Mix-a-Lot’s rap anthem to bodacious backsides has taken music fans aback. The video (tinyurl.com/ nicholsbabygotback), which stars Anthony Ray (Mix-a-Lot’s real name) himself has racked up nearly 5 million social media views.
Nichols’ “Baby Got Back” is kicking booty.
Katie “Sunshine” Wilson, 31, of Conway will hoop it up on Monday’s episode of ABC’s The Gong Show, performing her distinctive hula hoop act.
When she’s not teaching hoop fitness classes and selling handcrafted hoops, she manages the Arkansas Arts Center’s Museum Shop and works toward her master’s degree in art education at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
One of the celebrity judges for Wilson’s episode is Jennifer Aniston.
Perhaps the two will be Friends.
Keep an eye out around the state for colorful stones wearing the hashtag #870PRH. Such rocks are part of the 870 Painted Rock Hunt, which boasts a Facebook page (tinyurl.com/807PRH) with nearly 40,000 members.
The group, affiliated with The Kindness Rocks Project, encourages people to share creativity and goodwill by painting rocks — with everything from Razorbacks to scripture to Smurfs — and leaving them for others to find and share on social media.
I squealed when I spotted my first stone — a vibrant pyramid marked “Stamps, AR” — at the downtown Little Rock Sonic.
It totally rocked!
Last week, Cissy Rucker of Little Rock posted a photo of a sign outside Blake’s Furniture in North Little Rock that stated “BUY BED FREE 1 NIGHT STAND.” Her response: “We’re wondering if you get to pick with whom?”