Recessions and Depressions

The Number of Poor People in Dallas Suburbs Keeps Going Up

The suburbs stir up a lot of associations in the popular imagination. It covers territory as diverse as Leave It to Beaver and Blue Velvet. What the 'burbs don't usually evoke is poverty. For decades the war on poverty has been fought mostly in urban centers, but according to a new study out today f ... More >>

The Top Five Musical Resurrections of 2012

Top Five Musical Resurrections of 2012

2012 saw some big-name comebacks, emotional reunions, and just plain weird occurrences, proving that America's thirst for nostalgia has still not been quenched. Have recent years been the worst for this, or have I just forgotten about the last decade already? Could something as joyous as the resurre ... More >>

Mark Cuban: Of Course We're Better Off Than Four Years Ago, So Stop Asking

The Democrats are gathered in Charlotte for the quadrennial circle jerk in which they deliver bombastic speeches and anoint their presidential nominee. Last week, the Republicans did the same in Tampa. These respective echo chambers inevitably lead to an increase in the type of one-sided political b ... More >>

The Inland Port Can Still Win the Race for Jobs If We Don't Let Fixers Screw Us

The Dallas Police and Fire Pension's Big Real Estate Gamble

Museum Tower isn't the only troubled real-estate deal that the pension fund has gone all in on. But so far, only its investment advisers are winning big.

The Art of Prohibition

This Year's Drought Forced Record Cattle Decline Not Seen in Texas Since the 1930s

Photo by Brandon Thibodeaux​Texas cattle country lost some 600,000 head this year -- a 12-percent reduction in the herd -- driven by a drought that withered grasses and baked river beds and stock ponds. It's the kind of en masse decline the likes of which this state hasn't seen since drought r ... More >>

Neiman Marcus Debuts Its 2011 Christmas Book With Another Showcase of Absurd Stuff

Photos by Anna Merlan​This morning the Dallas Contemporary was closed to the public, but a bunch of reporters were inside taking first looks at the most exorbitantly priced, publicity-getting items, otherwise known as the Fantasy Gifts from Neiman Marcus's 2011 Christmas Book. Eight of t ... More >>

Dallas Fed Head Attempts to "Separate Fact from Fiction" When It Comes to Texas Jobs

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas​Several Friends of Unfair Park, including a grumpy one below, have asked if we'll make mention of Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President and Chief Executive Officer Richard Fisher's speech given in Midland yesterday. Sure, absolutely, happy to. Because, first, I'm ... More >>

Paul Krugman Is Very Worried About Texas

​Speaking of the great state o' Texas's $25-billion budget shortfall ...Clearly, there are many Get Him to the Greek fans amongst the Friends of Unfair Park who've spent the better part of the morning filling the in-box with a copy of actor and Nobel Prize-winner Paul Krugman's piece in today's Ne ... More >>

The Daily Fail: Bono

Bono is sad. And no, it's not because he hasn't found a new cause to get behind. He's sad because people aren't giving money to one of his favorite causes.

New Book About Impact of The Great Recession Lands in Leslie Halleck's Urban Chicken Coop

Courtesy Leslie Halleck​Friend of the show Leslie Halleck's adventures in urban chickening have not gone unnoticed, here or elsewhere. But till today I had no idea she's actually featured in a well-received, just-published, just-landed-on-the-WSJ-best-seller-list tome on how the Great Recession's ... More >>

DIY In The Fort

Happy Fifth, Suckers!

Bolsa's Half-Price Wine And $5 Cocktails Make Us Very Happy

Merritt MartinThe Recession, one of Bolsa's specialty cocktails.​Each week City of Ate will give you the lowdown on a local happy hour in Quittin' Time, with the details on why you should or shouldn't take up the featured bar or restaurant on its drink specials.Where: Bolsa, 614 W. Davis St., 214- ... More >>

This Week In Dallas Music History: Club Clearview Launches Cyberium

​It's hard to believe how "cutting edge" Club Clearview (R.I.P.) was striving to be in the early 1990s. Because plopping down $80,000 for a virtual reality machine and a re-model in the middle of a recession? That sure seems like a bold move on the part of then-Clearview owners Jeff Swaney and Je ... More >>

This Week in Dallas Music History: This Recession's Killing the Music Scene.

​Perhaps this is a bit presumptuous of me, but we could be on the rebound from the recession that started on 2008. If nothing else, though, we're a great deal away from the 1992 recession, which, turns out, kinda dogged the DFW live music scene pretty hard.The April 2, 1992 edition of the Observer ... More >>

Q&A: Dave Wakeling of The English Beat On Punks, Mixing Races and the Circular Nature of Music.

Dave Wakeling​Even three decades after the fact, the music of The English Beat still retains the fresh edge that distinguished it back in 1978. Beginning with the "Mirror in the Bathroom" and "Save it For Later" singles, The Beat (as it was then called and is still referred to in its native Englan ... More >>

Champagne Wishes, Cupcake Dreams

Hutchison on Meet the Press: If Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's Gotta Go, Then Congress "Shouldn't Keep Our Jobs Either"

NBCHutchison and Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) during the introductions. Could Kay look any more uncomfortable if she tried?​Kay Bailey Hutchison's appearance Sunday on Meet the Press could have been an opportunity to show potential voters why she kept her gig in Washington instead of resign ... More >>

Recession Blues Got You Down? The Folks at Get Motivated! Have a Solution: Think Happy Thoughts.

Turn Your Pad into a Haunted House With These Small-Screen Scares

Last Night: The Dandy Warhols at The Granada Theater

The Dandy WarholsGranada TheaterSeptember 8, 2009 Better than: the recession, for one. If the lights behind The Dandy Warhols on stage weren't alone enough of a reminder that the slick psych-rock outfit came prepared to offer its fans a show worth the price of admission, frontman Courtney Taylo ... More >>

Locals Didn't Pony Up the Dough at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie This Season

​It would appear Norm Hitzges alone cannot keep Lone Star Park's numbers from suffering a dramatic decline in the midst of a recession. The 65-day spring meet wrapped in Grand Prairie yesterday, and track officials noted with great disappointment the drop in both attendance and wagering, on-site a ... More >>

Wine Storage For The Huddled Millionaire Masses

Top Cellars Connie Lewis has the job you didn't know you wanted. The pretty 30-year-old blonde spends her days in fine restaurants, hotels and custom homes, helping wine lovers and experts design tony treasure chests for their precious bottles. And despite what you might think, her upscale niche ... More >>

Today In Music News: Vibe Shutters Its Doors, Jackson's Body Goes Public and Kanye Debuts A Stage

Your daily dose of national music news for Wednesday, July 1, 2009... Vibe is the latest victim of the recession. Michael Jackson's body will be on public display at Neverland Ranch. Kanye debuted the only thing bigger than his ego: His new stage for his tour--now with gold plating! 

Vino Cookout

Dallas Hearts Etsy

Theater With Storage!

Girl Drink Drunk: Bolsa

Bolsa's pomegranate sangria feels "closest to healthy" according to Kim. It's because of the fruit.I'd like to take a moment and raise a glass to Jeremy and Jorge (my movers), Tracy and Pam (sister and mom) for making what could have been an excruciating transfer-of-homestead exceptionally bearable. ... More >>

Chewing the Fat: Breaking The Chains?

Driving around DFW, you have to take notice of the seemingly endless strips of six-lane traffic and the stores and restaurants on either side. Yeah, local dining hasn't suffered as much as in other parts of the U.S. But with Bloomberg reporting today that restaurants have a greater chance of failing ... More >>

Food For Thought 4.6.09

"We're in a recession, hard times. We shouldn't be hurting business. I'm not saying, 'Let's take away this issue.' We're just saying, 'Let's give these businesses some time.'" (Tennell Atkins, member of the Dallas City Council, on an effort to delay the city's smoking ordinance, which bans lighting ... More >>

Chewing the Fat: Carbonated Beverage Sales Going Flat

Carbonated beverages sales are fizzing out, with reports showing 2008 as the fourth consecutive year of decline. Amidst a recession, fears of childhood obesity and the recent findings of BPA in soda cans, a 2009 comeback doesn't look like a very safe bet, either. With sodas long thought to be rec ... More >>

Food For Thought: 3.18.09

"Our average check is lower, but transactions are up 10 to 15 percent." (John Hurley, owner of Garibaldi's Restaurant in Oakland, CA, on the value of a prix-fixe menu. According to Nation's Restaurant News, fine dining restaurants are increasingly turning to multi-course, set price dinners to comba ... More >>

Food For Thought 3.12.09

"The good news for the restaurant industry is that consumers typically get hungry about every four to five hours, generally three times a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year." (Bob Derrington, securities analyst with Morgan Keegan & Co., on the ability of restaurants to weather nasty little ... More >>

Burning Question: Are People Tipping Less?

Some wag in some diner some years ago posted a clever reminder for guests: "Tipping is not a city in China"--which may have seemed funny, oh, about once.Nowadays China owns a good chunk of American debt, as well as the power to let us topple into the economic dunking pool...if we weren't doing such ... More >>

A Tough Year for Local Restaurants Sputters to an End

This Just In: Arena Football and Your Dallas Desperados Need a Timeout

When even football can't survive, we're officially in a recession. The Arena Football League - home to your Dallas Desperados - announced this morning that it has canceled its 2009 season because - you guessed it - shitty financial times. Actually, I believe the official wording is "suspending the ... More >>

Calm Down, Dallas' Real Estate Market is Just Fine. Only, Till It's Not.

What's the Deal?

FDR clowns around at Stone Street

Portrait of a Lady

Best Lunch Deal

Frito pie at Sonny Bryan's Smokehouse

Death Visits the Kimbell

The Quest keeps the cash registers ringing

Public Disinterest

So is media consolidation a bad thing?

Best Weekend Getaway

Austin

'Tisn't the Season

Bars, restaurants take divergent paths through dismal fall

New York, New York

You sure you wanna be a part of it?

Best Sign That We're a Big City Now

The Opening of DART's CityPlace Light Rail Stop

Thai one on

Two strip-mall restaurants offer decent, basic Southeast Asian fare