Subject: Robert Johnson

• Dan Aykroyd Came to Town, Poured Some Concrete, Left. But He'll Be Back With...Jim Belushi.

  February 27, 2007

• Grail for Sale?

  July 26, 2006

• Cable Access Needs (Self-)Love Too

  May 1, 2006

• Clapton Calls it "Stormy Monday" in 1970

  July 26, 2007

• Re*Cov*Ering Deep Ellum

  October 15, 2007

• The Closest You'll Come To Seeing Robert Johnson On Video

  February 18, 2008

• At Least Deep Ellum'll Look Pretty

  March 31, 2008

• Bonus MP3: Blackbird Harmony -- "Caution & Dispatch"

  October 27, 2008

• The Last Of The Great Mississippi Delta Blues Men Took To Dallas

  November 10, 2008

• Out Here

  December 7, 1995

• The Tearing Down The Building Where Robert Johnson Recorded Blues

  508 Park Avenue, the building in which legendary blues man Robert Johnson recorded 13 tracks in June of 1937, could be on the verge of getting demolished. Glazer's Distributors, owners of the property, have filed a permit to tear the building down. At this very moment, though, preservationists, who say Glazer's has not yet filed proper paperwork to tear down a historical landmark-protected property, are fighting to stop any such move.Robert, of course, music fan and architect nerd that he is, h

  January 12, 2009

• Fire and fury

  May 9, 1996

• Preservation Dallas Launches Effort to Save 508 Park Avenue, Asks City to Back Off

  Last week, while working on this week's cover story in the paper version of Unfair Park, I discovered that the owners of 508 Park Ave. have filed with the city a permit to tear down the former Warner Brothers Film Exchange, built in the late 1920s. Long story, available soonish in a rack or on a computer screen near you, short: The city's cracking down on vacant downtown building's worst code violators, and it considers the building in which Robert Johnson recorded in June 1937 among the worst o

  January 21, 2009

• The good fight

  September 19, 1996

• From 1961, Don Law's Notes Concerning What Took Place at 508 Park Avenue in June 1937

  In 1961, while compiling the Robert Johnson collection King of the Delta Blues Singers, producer Frank Driggs sent Don Law a letter with a few questions concerning the bluesman and his sessions in San Antonio and in Dallas in November 1936 and June 1937, respectively. Law -- who worked for Brunswick Records in the '30s and who produced the sessions that resulted in such immortal songs as "Hellhound on My Trail" and "Cross Road Blues" -- provided his answers in the margins. And among his scribble

  January 22, 2009

• Robert Johnson's Grandson Has the Blues Over What to Do With 508 Park Avenue

  Dogwood Folk ArtSteven Johnson, grandson of Robert Johnson, contacted Unfair Park today after reading this week's cover story concerning the fate of 508 Park Ave. downtown, where the Mississippi bluesman recorded in June 1937. Says Johnson -- vice president of the Robert Johnson Blues Foundation in Crystal Springs, Mississippi -- this was the first he'd heard of the owners' desire to demolish the building. And he vows to do what he can to preserve the former site of the Warner Brothers Film Exch

  January 23, 2009

• Blues bothers

  February 26, 1998

• The 28th Annual USA Film Festival Film Clips

  April 9, 1998

• Dallas Homeless Network Says Stewpot's Not to Blame for Failure to Sell 508 Park Avenue

  View Larger MapIt comes up every single time the subject of 508 Park Avenue is mentioned (which, right, has been plenty in recent weeks both on Unfair Park and in the paper version of Unfair Park): The building in which Robert Johnson, Bob Wills and perhaps even Charlie Parker recorded has not sold because of its proximity to The Stewpot. So say the owners, Glazer's Distributors and Colby Properties. So says the Realtor, now charged with selling both 508 Park Avenue and the neighboring Masonic T

  February 11, 2009

• Not a Moment Too Soon, the Dallas Downtown Historic District Is Now a Little Bigger

  City of DallasFirst Presbyterian Church on S. Harwood StreetThe Texas Historical Commission sends word that the Dallas Downtown Historic District is now a little bit bigger than when first established in 2006 by the National Register of Historic Places. Says the THC, the district -- which encompasses 555 acres and 66 buildings in an area "roughly bounded" by Federal, N. St. Paul, Pacific, Harwood, S. Pearl, Commerce, S. Ervay, Akard, Commerce and Field -- now includes 22 additional buildings. A

  February 13, 2009

• Out Here

  May 20, 1999

• The White Stripes

  July 19, 2001

• On The Range: Tamales

  Pig's head tamales?Well, yes. Robb Walsh notes in his Tex-Mex cookbook that traditional emporiums use pig's heads as their base meat when making their husky creations. The head is boiled until the meat and lard cook away, then the broth is used to moisten the masa harina (corn meal infused with lime) before the pork and lard are whipped together until fluffy. Finally, mixture is wrapped into masa.Walsh goes on to note that some tamale-makers use the easier-to-handle pork butts. In any case, the

  March 11, 2009

• Looking Back

  June 13, 2002

• The Last Meow

  June 20, 2002

• R.O.C.K. in the DFW: Mellencamp's Looking to Record in Downtown Dallas This Summer

  I see on John Mellencamp's Web site that the ex Mr. Cougar is headed out on the road this summer, and during the tour he's looking to get his bud and Fort Worth's own T Bone Burnett to produce a new record "as American folk as I've ever been," as Mellencamp puts it. Which isn't the part that got me interested. Says the site, Mellencamp hopes to record in "old hotels including the famed former Statler Hilton Hotel in Downtown Dallas, where legendary bluesman Robert Johnson recorded 13 blues songs

  March 23, 2009

• Downtown Dallas at the Crossroads

  The city's effort to clean up downtown could cost us important parts of history.

  January 22, 2009

• 10 Artists We'd Resurrect for Easter

  Included: Freddie Mercury, Hank Williams and Patsy Cline

  March 20, 2008

• Dax Riggs

  September 13, 2007

• Khaki Blues

  February 22, 2007

• Summmertime Blues

  It's getting hot up in this piece

  June 14, 2007

• Double Trouble

  Eels still reel from one of history's best double albums, but history isn't so kind to others

  August 10, 2006

• Walking the Line

  More music biopics? Good. Bad musicians starring in them? Not so much.

  January 19, 2006

• This Week's Day-By-Day Picks

  April 22, 2004

• Them Demolition Ball Blues

  Robert Mugge looks for Last of the Mississippi Jukes

  February 13, 2003

• Best Place to See a Piece of Dallas' Musical History and/or Contribute to the Local Homeless Economy

  508 Park Ave.

  September 26, 2002

• Go the Distance

  Centro-matic's Will Johnson chases the ghosts of Mississippi

  August 9, 2001

• Soundtracks

  O Brother, Where Art Thou?(Mercury) & The Gift(Will/Lakeshore)

  February 22, 2001

• Dirty South

  For the North Mississippi Allstars, the blues ain't nothing but dance music

  February 22, 2001

• Out & About

  R.L. Burnside

  November 23, 2000

• With friends like that...

  Protesters dog UT Southwestern over canine vivisection

  March 30, 2000

• Of Dead Flowers, Midnight Ramblers, Honky Tonk Women and Street Fighting Men

  Fort Worth-born horn player Jim Price is usually a footnote in most Rolling Stones histories; his contributions to the canon -- he appears on Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main St. and Goats Head Soup -- seldom merit mention, save as a sideman to sideman Bobby Keys, the Slaton, Texas, native oft considered "the longest-standing member of the Rolling Stones' auxiliary musicians."But as we wind down the work week, let us take a moment to celebrate the trumpet playing of Jim Price, if only to point your

  May 15, 2009

• Lowest of the Low

  May 28, 2009

• Touring 508 Park Ave., But Is It Love in Vain?

  Photos by Dan FinnellThe third-floor recording studio at 508 Park Avenue in which Robert Johnson recordedAt this late date you're surely aware of the plight of 508 Park Avenue, the site of the makeshift studio in which Robert Johnson, Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys and perhaps even Charlie Parker recorded. The owners of the building are still fighting with the City Attorney's Office over bringing it up to code; meanwhile, it's still on the market, begging for a buyer.Count among the interested

  June 10, 2009

• Statler Hilton Has Cleaned Up Its Act, Says City, Which Will Sue Owners of 508 Park Ave.

  View Larger MapChris Heinbaugh, Mayor Tom Leppert's chief of staff, told us a few weeks back that the city was close to working out deals with a few of those vacant buildings the mayor was none too happy about last October, when he gathered city officials -- including City Attorney Tom Perkins, Assistant City Manager A.C. Gonzalez, Dallas Fire-Rescue Chief Eddie Burns and DowntownDallas president John Crawford -- and essentially told property owners to clean up or sell out. Heinbaugh has further

  July 1, 2009

• Big D Production

  July 16, 2009

• The Downtown Site Where Robert Johnson, Bob Wills Recorded Takes Its First Significant Step Down Path to Destruction

  Paula Bosse​Here we go again -- though, perhaps, for the final time.Unfair Park has learned that this week, Glazer's Distributors and Colby Properties, the owners of 508 Park Avenue downtown, filed with the city a certificate of demolition that would allow for the razing of the former Warner Bros. Pictures storage facility in which Robert Johnson, Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys and, possibly, Charlie Parker once recorded. When contacted this morning, Jack Westenborg, Glazer's vice president

  August 7, 2009

• More Blues For The Building Where Robert Johnson Recorded.

  ​Over on Unfair Park this morning, Robert has the details on what looks to be the final nail in the coffin for the building 508 Park Ave.Which would be no big deal, except that some dude named Robert Johnson apparently recorded some music there or something? Or so Robert's told us--on more than a few occasions--while (in our minds, at least) rightfully dictating the historical importance of the building and detailing the battle to keep it from gettin' wrecked. Sad news, indeed.

  August 7, 2009

• A Photo Tour: 508 Park Ave and Its Downtown Dallas Neighbors

  Justin Terveen​In the fight over the fate of 508 Park Ave., this week saw the opening salvos at City Hall between the Glazers, who own the old Warner Bros. Pictures storage building where Robert Johnson and Bob Wills once recorded, and preservationists who want to keep it standing.Along with worries about the 80-year-old building's structural soundness, the owners cite the building's popularity among the homeless folks who tend to hang around the building as another reason why the place ought

  August 14, 2009

• One More Try at Razing 508 Park Avenue, Even As Miss. Officials to Turn Robert Johnson's Birthplace Into Tourist Destination

  Justin Terveen​On Thursday, the owners of 508 Park Avenue will ask the City Plan Commission for permission to demolish the building in which Robert Johnson, Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, and Charlie Parker once recorded. Two months ago, the Landmark Commission denied the application, upholding the Central Business District Task Force's earlier no-how-no-way, but Colby Properties is determined to raze that building along with the adjacent 1900 Young Street -- despite its own engineer's dete

  November 13, 2009