Dallas, it feels like you are having a moment. Creative groups in this town are getting organized, getting spaces and throwing parties. And thank you! It keeps me busy and overserved. With every invite to a new collective's first soiree, I am pleased to see that smaller communities are forming in order to buck the Dallas nightlife status quo.
Not everyone has to love this town like I do. However, I do like the moxie of shaking up the system rather than complaining about it. A guerrilla dance party, a temporary gallery or an unexpected concert can do wonders to connect people to new spaces with new stimuli. The benefits ripple throughout the cultural community, and we need people dreaming up new ways to do Dallas. Better ways.
But may I voice a single complaint, which might better all of our collective good times? There are too many events at your event.
Truly, sometimes I cannot get through the invitation without getting exhausted. By the time I have read the artistic bio of the fire-breather at your opening, I am having trouble remembering the initial reason I was putting this on my calendar to begin with. Just look at the schedule and think for a moment, "Do I really need a fire-breather and live graffiti artists? Is the live screen-printing compelling after 11 p.m.?"
This is difficult for me to tell you, party planners. Generally, I take a more-is-more approach. Minimalism looks great on paper, but can get a little boring. Excess looks good on this city, but even I remove one accessory before leaving the house.
I realize this could very easily get into cantankerous, "Get these kids get off my lawn" territory. I don't want you to edit for the sake of editing. I want your ideas to be better. For your music to be more curated. For your art to be haunting. For your late-night raging to be legendary. I want to remove the clutter, so I know what you are great at, so I can be so excited I speak of it incessantly. I want to live in this city and be turned on by your ideas.
So just reconsider all the clutter, the digital projections, the tangential events: They have a time and place, but it's not every time and place. Right?
