National Public Radio

Two Dallas Teachers Needed Money for a College Tour, so the Internet Hooked Them Up

Sometimes the Internet is excessively dumb, like yesterday when half of Twitter was announcing #NowThatchersDead and the other half was heartbroken because they thought it was #NowThatChersDead. And other times the Internet can be pretty heartwarming. A good example of the heartwarming Internet is ... More >>

The 20 Most Overused Terms In SXSW Band Bios

Before I take any trip to Austin and SXSW, I always take more than a few days to peruse the schedule and check out a few of the hundreds of names on the roster and read their bios. Some years there are more bands with "wolf" and "space" in their monikers than usual, and some years there are random ... More >>

A North Texas Man Has Joined the Important Crusade Against Watered-Down Budweiser

On Tuesday, beer drinkers in three states filed federal lawsuits against Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world's largest brewer and the purveyor of Budweiser, Bud Light Lime, Michelob Ultra and other innovative beer and beer-like products. A Dallas-area drinker has now joined their ranks. Michael Seidens ... More >>

Dallas' City Plan Commission Just Got a Very Special Workshop on How Safe Gas Drilling Is

When we last left the beleaguered members of the City Plan Commission, they were opting to once again delay a vote on energy company Trinity East's application to drill for natural gas in the floodplain along the Trinity River. This morning, the CPC was subjected to a four-hour workshop on gas drill ... More >>

Golf Course Plan Needs a Strong Long Game

Here's hoping golfers take their eyes off the ball and see southern Dallas' desperation.

Why Does John Wiley Price Keep Calling Guys Who Hire Prostitutes "Sponsors"?

In 2007, Dallas County began a prostitution diversion plan in which people caught selling sex are often funneled into treatment programs rather than simply locked up. The idea -- a fairly progressive one -- is that prostitutes are most often victims who become trapped in a vicious circle rather than ... More >>

The Five Best Concerts In DFW This Week

Norah Jones Monday, October 22, at McFarlin Auditorium, $60.55-$71.32 Norah Jones is making her way back to her old stomping grounds tonight at McFarlin Auditorium, after kicking off her fifth world tour this past May. After pairing up with Danger Mouse for her fifth release, Little Broken Hearts, J ... More >>

DeFord Calls The Shots

Playing Fugazi's Repeater For My Kids: "I Like When They Shout Things"

See also: Why every album you love should be ripped apart by a 19-year-old I've tried to walk the line between imposing my tastes in music on my kids and letting them discover music they enjoy on their own. My tastes are all over the map, so they've gotten a little of everything. My 14-year-old da ... More >>

Dining with Diane

Revisionist Historian David Barton's Book Yanked For Inaccuracies. Will He Still Choose Texas' Social Studies Textbooks?

NPR ran a story on Wednesday about David Barton, the Aledo-based pseudo-historian who has built a career arguing that America was established on Christian principles. It found that his claims aren't particularly hard to debunk. For one, Barton has only a bachelor's in Christian education from Oral R ... More >>

A Road Trip Through Texas, And The State of Dallas Radio

In the last few months, research for a project has taken me across the state and, more recently, into Mexico. It may be something sentimental in me, or this weird notion that road trips are meant to be soundtracked by where you are and not by a list you cultivated online, but I noticed what was popu ... More >>

SOPA is Dead, but the Copyright Debate Rages On

And it's happening where it belongs: online.

Chris Masterson: "I Don't Think People View Ripping Songs As Theft"

New York by way of Texas husband-wife duo The Mastersons are too perfect of an idea to never happen. Chris Masterson has performed and produced for many others (Jack Ingram, Son Volt, Bobby Bare Jr.) while also releasing a bit of his own material in the past. Same for his wife, Eleanor Whitmore, who ... More >>

Dallas Book Dealer Foils Theft of $100K Book of Mormon

On Memorial Day, two Mormon missionaries stopped by Rare and Out of Print Books and Art in Mesa, Arizona, to have their picture taken with a first edition of the Book of Mormon that was kept there. But when store owner Helen Schlie looked in the fireproof box where she had stored it three days earli ... More >>

John Bradley's Loss as Williamson County D.A. Was a Win for Craig Watkins and Innocence

If Dallas District Attorney Craig Watkins has a direct foil in the state of Texas, it's soon-to-be-former Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley. Watkins, actively pursuing innocence claims and making Dallas the leading county for exonerations in Texas, is an outlier, albeit one who is ga ... More >>

SXSW: Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band Rock ACL Live

Bruce Springsteen's Thursday started with a keynote speech in one of the big ballrooms at the Austin Convention Center, and ended with a mythic three-hour set at ACL Live across town, in front of a few thousand people cooing "Bruce". The keynote and the show went hand in hand. If you weren't there ... More >>

Dallas PD Loses Assistant Chief Floyd Simpson to Corpus Christi, Where He'll Be Top Cop

​A couple of years back Scott Goldstein wrote quite the flattering profile of Dallas Police Assistant Chief Floyd Simpson -- as in, "In a profession that demands toughness, Simpson embodies compassion." Simpson was former Chief David Kunkle's right-hand man -- the man Kunkle put in charge of the P ... More >>

Local Theater Company Raising Money for Loop Festival Entry

WaterTower Theatre puts on a splendidly versatile showcase for the performing arts each year called Out of the Loop Fringe Festival. It was given Best Theater Festival in Dallas for a reason, namely because its organizers have curated a menu of talent that is so delightfully experimental that you, t ... More >>

An Interview with Matt Spillers, Chef of Eno's, Oddfellows and the Soon-to-Open Union Bear

Matt Spillers' parents, Allen and Donna Spillers, have had long careers in the local restaurant business. While raising their three boys in Dallas, dinner out was more than just a family meal together, but also an on-going education on how to run a restaurant. Always drawn to the kitchen, after hi ... More >>

Wiping the Sheen off Conservative Rich Guys' Morality

​Today, a commenter on a previous blog item of mine about GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain suggested it was mighty mysterious that President Obama doesn't have any sexual peccadilloes in his closet when so many Republican presidential contenders seem to. "Joshua," the commenter, suggest ... More >>

Four Punk Rock Heroines Band Together to Raise a Wild Flag

Offering Something for Everyone, The Dallas Video Festival Returns For Its 24th Year

Bart Weiss​Tonight at the Texas Theatre, the Dallas Video Festival kicks off its five-day run at the Texas and Angelika with screenings of Jean-Luc Godard's Film Socialisme ("filled with sensuous pleasures," insists our J. Hoberman) and Slacker 2011, wherein 24 Austin-based filmmakers pay homage t ... More >>

Stream The New St. Vincent and Get Nostalgic With Her About a Closed Dallas Record Store

Tina TyrellRest up, Annie. Shit's about to get real.​Some pertinent St. Vincent news to pass along to end the day today, exactly one week before Dallas product Annie Clark releases her this solo record, Strange Mercy, the most pressing of which is this: In case you haven't yet noticed, the new, ma ... More >>

Neon Indian Teases New Single, Mini-Synth Available With Deluxe Album Purchases

​Alan Palomo is nothing if not creative. The mastermind behind Neon Indian (and VEGA and Ghosthustler before it) always seems up to something to push boundaries, be it in Neon Indian's helping blaze the chillwave genre trail or in the visual aspect of its live shows and music videos.Today, Palomo' ... More >>

Down in Cedar Hill, Breaking a Sweat, and Bread, With the Future Leaders of Iraq

Photos by Brantley HargroveMohammed and his mulch​Mohammed squatted atop a five-foot pile of mulch, his shovel jabbed into the chaff somewhere out in the snake-infested, cedar-scrubbed hill country southwest of Dallas. Sweat darkened his black Reebok shirt and soaked his ankle socks and his co ... More >>

St. Vincent Sets Sept. 13 Release For Third LP, The John Congleton-Produced Strange Mercy

St. Vincent​Two years after the release of her sophomore (and breakout) album, Actor, the Dallas-born guitar heroine Annie Clark, who performs hauntingly gorgeous music under the name of St. Vincent, has just announced that her third full-length album, Strange Mercy, will be released via the 4AD ... More >>

You Wanna Tear Down Central Expressway?

Texas FreewayOn N. Central Expressway in the 1950s, lookng north toward the Loop 12 overpass​Speaking of transportation and the suburbs ...Been meaning to mention this for weeks, but Patrick Kennedy's post on the subject reminds: There's a Facebook page called Save Downtown Dallas: Tear Down Centr ... More >>

Bill Holston's Take On Last Night's Adam Carter Memorial at La Grange

Allison V. SmithRest in peace, Adam.​I made it to the concert memorializing the life of Adam Carter at The Bone last night, but other obligations kept me from making the earlier event held at La Grange, where friends and family gathered to share stories, listen to recorded songs, and watch video m ... More >>

National Review: Tom Leppert's "Mayoral Past May Hurt Him Still" During Senate Run

Via.Rand Paul and Tom Leppert in February​Since he quit being nonpartisan mayor to run as a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, Tom Leppert has certainly made his politics very clear: He's for drilling in the Arctic Wildlife National Refuge and a balanced-budget amendment, and against National P ... More >>

Bro Fest Offers Its Strongest Bill To Date

Circle Theatre flies first-class with Boeing-Boeing comedy; time to get loopy again at WaterTower festival.

Tonight, Tonight: Hayes Carll at Double Wide and Gipsy Kings at The Meyerson

After last night's hectic schedule, things get quite a bit calmer tonight. But there are still a couple of shows worth mentioning -- good ones, too.

What You're Hearing On KXT Isn't Matchbox Twenty. Says Station VP: It's "Natural Growth."

Our author's reaction to KXT's playlist of late.​Yesterday morning, on the way in to work, I flipped the dial, as usual, to KKXT-91.7 FM, otherwise known around town as KXT, the just-over-a-year-old music-only NPR affiliate. What happened next was deeply unsettling: I was mentally transported back ... More >>

Good Friday: Moondoggies, Ume, The O's, Sarah Jaffe, The Cool Kids, New Science Projects, Chris Johnson, The Virgin Wolves, Menkena, Bob Schneider, 30 Seconds To Mars & More!

Moondoggies​Despite having a terrible name, Moondoggies' brand of Americana and alt-country is surprisingly good -- so good that, last month, the Seattle quartet's song "What Took So Long" was featured as NPR's song of the day. While drawing some comparisons to Fleet Foxes, their four-part har ... More >>

Q&A: Before Her Denton Show, Charlotte Kemp Muhl Talks Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger, Film Influences and Sean Lennon

Sean Lennon with Charlotte​Charlotte Kemp Muhl hasn't always been a musician. She's pretty new to it, in fact. For most of her career she's modeled, appearing on the cover of Harper's, and worked for Tommy Hilfiger, D&G, Maybelline and others. Until recently, the extent of her musical endeavo ... More >>

The Best Songs in Dallas Music, 2010: Sarah Jaffe Reaches Her Potential, and "Clementine" Is The Best Song of the Year.

[Over these last few weeks of 2010, we've presented our favorite local songs of the year, counting down from No. 25 to No. 1, one track a day. Today, we end our countdown by revealing the top song of the year. Click after the jump to watch the song's official video. There, y ... More >>

Slaughterhouse Ban Could Hurt
Small-Scale Producers

Just your typical suburbanites, enjoying the "country" life of Collin County.​Small-scale meat producers say a proposal to limit slaughterhouse construction could harm farm-to-table eating statewide. According to a front-page story in today's Dallas Morning News, State Representative Jodie La ... More >>

The Best Songs in Dallas Music, 2010: The Orbans' Music Rings True at No. 6

[Over these last few days of 2010, we'll be presenting our favorite local songs of the year, counting down from No. 25 to No. 1, one track a day. Today, we take an in-depth look at song No. 6 on the list -- and, please, feel free to click after the jump to watch its accompanying music video. Also a ... More >>

The Biggest Local Music Stories of 2010

Christmas in Prison: For Locals Only, Wyatt Cenac Tells World's Longest In-Joke Ever

This American Life/WBEZWyatt Cenac tells his story of spending one Christmas in a Texas prison.​'Bout two and a half years ago we first introduced you to Wyatt Cenac -- "introduced," because he was only a few weeks into his new gig as correspondent for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. As you no do ... More >>

John Wiley Price Profiled on NPR's Morning Edition. He Musta Loved Schutze's Cameo.

​Several Friends of Unfair Park wanted to make sure we directed your attention to National Public Radio's piece on Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price, which aired on Morning Edition as a way of showcasing the blue city in a red state. A couple of minutes in, a certain Observer columnist m ... More >>

Christmas Fare on Dallas Stages Fares Well Despite the Been There, Done That.

Tonight, Tonight: Dimmu Borgir at House of Blues, Vulgar Fashion at Hailey's, The New Collection at The Kessler and The Local Hang at The Libertine

An interesting collection of shows highlights this first Monday evening in December. Wear a coat and check out one of these offerings.

A Couple More Adds For Denton's 35 Conferette: Jessica Lea Mayfield, A Place to Bury Stranges, Reading Rainbow and Others...

​The Denton-hosted, pre-South by Southwest festival formerly known as NX35 went and released another round of performers slated to play its festivities in March today -- and, as with the last round of additions, it features a couple of interesting names.Among today's several adds: Ohio-based singe ... More >>

All Hail Caesar, With or Without Anchovies

Oops, wrong Caesar.​Arguments over the most contentious ingredient in Caesar salad have lately centered on which type of anchovies chefs ought to use. "If it was my preference, it would be white anchovies," says Jackie Glauberman, who's chairing this weekend's 19th annual Caesar Salad Competi ... More >>

Visiting Brazile

Club Dada Re-Joins A Suddenly Crowded Deep Ellum

Coming Attraction

Downwinders at Risk Hails SMU Engineering Prof's Appointment as EPA Administrator

Al Armendariz​Al Armendariz, a research associate professor in SMU's Department of Environmental and Civil Engineering, was on National Public Radio earlier this week discussing health issues suffered by folks living near the Barnett Shale; said Armendariz of airborne toxins discovered by res ... More >>

Stream Norah Jones' Ryan Adams-Penned Song Over at NPR.org

​Over on NPR.com today, a real treat: The National Public Radio folks have posted a stream of the new Norah Jones track "Light As A Feather" for all to listen in on.It's a track of note because, for one, Jones didn't write it; rather, mercurial and prolific alt-country icon Ryan Adams did. And, li ... More >>