Email Author Robert Wilonsky

2009 Stories by Robert Wilonsky

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  FEATURED STORY

  The Dallas Desperados Are Back!

  published Dec 21, 2009

  We just got the invite: Tomorrow at 4 p.m., there will be a press conference "to announce the return of the Dallas Depserados," which, as you may (or may not) recall, canceled its 2009 season exactly ... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Medina Again Demands Invite to "Race for Governor" Debate; KERA Says, "Hang On."

  published Dec 21, 2009

  On January 14, KERA will broadcast, statewide, a GOP gubernatorial debate beginning at 7 p.m.; it will take place at the Murchison Performing Arts Center on the campus of the University of North Texas... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Both Sides of the City of Dallas's "Billion-Dollar Lawsuit" State Their Case

  published Dec 21, 2009

  No doubt you'll hear plenty more about the city's billion-dollar lawsuit between now and the spring or summer of 2010, when the Supreme Court of Texas rules on whether the city is immune from rescue w... More >>

• Mattie Nash, Former City Council Member and Housing Activist, Died Sunday at 87

  published Dec 21, 2009

  Not long ago, I was re-reading Michael Phillips's White Metropolis: Race, Ethnicity, and Religion in Dallas 1841-2001 and came upon the section dealing with the demolition of 1,000 homes in the early ... More >>

• Welcome Home a Hero, in First Person

  published Dec 21, 2009

  For five years, Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport has operated its Welcome Home a Hero program, which has brought thousands out to the airport to welcome home soldiers on leave or just passing t... More >>

• Before an Unsilent Night Through Downtown Dallas Tomorrow, a Scramble for Boomboxes

  published Dec 21, 2009

  If you like a Santa Rampage or a Santa Ride, don't forgot: You'll love an Unsilent Night, which makes its downtown Dallas bow tomorrow night. The NYC and SF events, among others, took place over the w... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  News Finally Replaces Dave Levinthal

  published Dec 21, 2009

  When last we spoke with Dallas Morning News editor Bob Mong, about sales reps overseeing editors, he mentioned that A.H. Belo was hiring a handful of investigative reporters. At which point we wondere... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Not Unexpectedly, Citadel, Owner of WBAP and KSCS, Files for Chapter 11

  published Dec 20, 2009

  Citadel Broadcasting owns 224 radio stations across the U.S. -- three in Texas, all in Dallas-Fort Worth. They're not unfamiliar brand names: the historic WBAP-AM (News/Talk 820) and KSCS-FM (96.3), w... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Twenty-Third Time's a Charmr City Finds Yet Another Street to Name for Cesar Chavez.

  published Dec 19, 2009

  Clearly if at first you don't succeed, you try, and try, and try and try again.In its endless effort to find something to name for Cesar Chavez, the city has, as evidenced by the photo here, clearly s... More >>

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  A Programming Note: At Midnight-Thirty on The Ticket Tonight, a Christmas Spectacular

  published Dec 19, 2009

  Bumped into Ticket program director Jeff Catlin last night, and maybe it was the spiked eggnog and rolled mistletoe talking, but somehow I ended up hosting a post-Cowboys-post-game holiday musical spe... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Another Unfair Park Auction for the North Texas Food Bank: A Very Special Rockers vs Mods Hardcover Coffee-Table Book!

  published Dec 18, 2009

  Good Friend of Unfair Park Bill Holston just returned from a tour of the North Texas Food Bank's operations in advance of a KERA-FM (90.1) commentary he's writing for broadcast next week. He sends wor... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  City's Latest Cease the Grease Spot Is, More or Less, an Advertisement for the Green Spot

  published Dec 18, 2009

  My favorite cease-the-grease spot remains the North Texas Grease Abatement Council's 10-minute short film starring Chad, the poor sumbitch whose bath-time plans are foiled by clogged pipes. (Perry the... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  If Joe Barton's BCS Bill Is All About Making Lobbyists Some Dough, Then Good Work

  published Dec 18, 2009

  For more than a year, Smokey Joe Barton's been trying to kill the Bowl Championship Series -- most recently, of course, with H.R. 390: College Football Playoff Act of 2009, which would ...... prohibit... More >>

• Dead at 64, John Carlen "Was Born in a Dallas Whorehouse" His Great-Grandmother Ran

  published Dec 18, 2009

  John Carlen does not rank among Hollywood's best-known screenwriters; though he'd been working in the business since 1978, when he served as a technical adviser on Ulu Grosbard's Straight Time, his mo... More >>

• Are the Flaming Lips Playing NX35 in Marchr Sounds Like. But They Did Play Trees in '92.

  published Dec 18, 2009

  There was a time, a looong time ago, when the Flaming Lips played Dallas so often I thought Wayne Coyne was a local. But local Lips performances are hard to come by these days; hence, Pete's 3:20 in t... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Shane Carruth's Locally Made Primer Makes at Least One Critic's Best-of-the-Decade List

  published Dec 18, 2009

  Speaking of best-of film lists ...A Friend of Unfair Park forwards along this Irish Times piece, in which critic Donald Clarke lists his Top 20 Films of the Noughties. And right there, at No. 20, is S... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Mayor Leppert Feels South Dallas's Pain

  published Dec 18, 2009

  Last month, Unify South Dallas -- a relatively new coalition of community "grassroots organizations and nonprofits," in the words of The Rev. Gerald Britt Jr., vice president of public policy at Centr... More >>

• He Worked for the U.S. Military in Iraq. Now, He Suffers Alone in an Arlington Apartment.

  published Dec 18, 2009

  This morning's Los Angeles Times visits Arlington to the story of Malek Hadi, an Iraqi who lost all of his right leg, some of his left leg and several of his fingers in September 2006. At the time the... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Before the Supreme Court of Texas, a Question: What's a Dallas Referendum Really Worthr

  published Dec 18, 2009

  We kicked off yesterday by previewing Dallas's "billion-dollar" case before the Supreme Court of Texas: City of Dallas v . Kenneth Albert, a 13-year-old consolidated suit involving hundreds of firefig... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  The Unfair Park Auction: Brad and Brandon's Little Bird, and a Deep Ellum Illustrator's Original Comic Book Artwork

  published Dec 17, 2009

  A few days ago, Brad Oldham sent over a Traveling Man cuff bracelet -- based, of course, upon the sculpture series he and Brandon Oldenburg created for the Deep Ellum Green Line stops -- which he's se... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Craig Watkins's Trip to the White House

  published Dec 17, 2009

  As we noted Monday, Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins was invited to a White House Christmas party this week. I went over to his Facebook page to see if he'd posted any photos; sure enough... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  With Demo Permit in Hand, DISD's Closer to Razing Historic Oak Cliff Christian Church

  published Dec 17, 2009

  Dallas Independent School District spokesman Jon Dahlander says he can't talk about the district's intentions with the former Oak Cliff Christian Church on 10th Street, which, as we first mentioned Tu... More >>

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  Trade Ya: Top 10 Movie Lists for Free DVDs

  published Dec 17, 2009

  Forthcoming later today is this year's Unfair Park holiday-season auction benefiting North Texas Food Bank, which features not one by several one-of-a-kind, locally produced items. But while we wrap u... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Get a Haircut, You Danged 4-Year-Old Hippie!

  published Dec 17, 2009

  The story of Taylor Pugh, the 4-year-old preschooler suspended by the Mesquite Independent School District for his long locks, is making the cross-country rounds today. Thanks to this Associated Press... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  City Responds to "Relaxation Studios" Lawsuit; Judge Denies "Spas" Their Restraining Order

  published Dec 17, 2009

  On Monday, Tim Rogers posted a lawsuit that several, um, massage parlors -- among them, The Passion, Cleopatra Day Spa and 333 Body Works -- brought against the city of Dallas in which they claim they... More >>