5/15
With more than 60 restaurants and live entertainment, there's a lot going on at Taste Addison 2004. We'll just start with our karaoke choice, "Hanging on the Telephone." See, when karaoking, we always do Blondie, and we've always done Blondie. So when our little side gig, The Ronnie Dobbs Band, was given the opportunity to play Taste Addison 2004 with the golden-tressed stunner and her boys, we said, "Absolutely!," freaked out and listened to Parallel Lines, the vinyl version--thank you--repeatedly. Then the bass player quit, and we had to cancel. We cried and listened to Parallel Lines repeatedly. And now we're stuck: Do we stay home weeping to "Atomic," or do we go and bop to The B-52's and Blondie (among other diverse acts), stuff our faces with vittles and relax without having sound check? Why choose? We can go and weep tears of joy into our Chamberlain's fish tacos and Hooters wings whilst shimmying to Deborah Harry's rad rap. But we won't be that scary fan in the band's T-shirt. The taste fest begins at 11 a.m. Saturday and Sunday at Addison Circle Park. Admission is $5, and so is parking. (The special Friday Night Live! event is $35. Call 972-450-6232 for tickets.) Check out www.addisontexas.net or call 1-800-ADDISON. --Merritt Martin
Dear Ol' Dad
Two sisters find their place
5/16
The works of New Zealand-born author Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923) consistently show the harder aspects of being a woman. In her 19th-century short story "Daughters of the Late Colonel," sisters Josephine and Constantia are spinsters attempting to get their lives together after their father's death. They worry over everything from whether to give away their father's top hat to whether or not they should have buried him, something Constantia says her father would be furious about. It seems he had control over them even after his death. Echo Theatre will present its adaptation of this short story beginning at 2 p.m. May 16 in the Lillian Bradshaw Gallery on the fourth floor of the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library. The reading will be followed by a short discussion with director Ellen Locy and the cast. The library is located at 1515 Young St. Call 214-670-1640. --Jenice Johnson
Constant Craving
5/17
Her lyrics are at times campy, her dress androgynous and her music either country or rockabilly or pop or some combination thereof. k.d. lang cannot be labeled (and will not be capitalized). Over a career that's spanned three decades--and included numerous Grammys--she's remained the critics' favorite and, with some exceptions, the public's darling. Lang's latest tour began late last month. Fittingly, it's accompanied by a 38-piece orchestra--something she's never tried before. Her only stop in Dallas is May 18 at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, 2301 Flora St. But the night is more than a concert. It's an appreciation of Special Care & Career Services, a Dallas nonprofit helping disabled kids and adults lead independent lives. At 6 p.m., there's a cocktail reception, at 8 p.m. an award ceremony, and afterward, lang performs. Tickets are $40 to $150. Call 972-233-1890.
--Paul Kix
