South Dakota

Fly by Night, the Dallas Theater Center’s Dreamy New Musical, Sparkles at Kalita

Big Cities Have a Glut of Lawyers While Small Towns Suffer

Everybody knows the Shakespeare quote, "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." It's the stuff of T-shirts. But how many people know what it was about? In Henry VI, Dick the Butcher proposes killing all of England's lawyers as the first step toward accomplishing the treasonous plot of J ... More >>

Ty, the Tyrannosaurus Sold by Dallas-Based Heritage Auctions, Gets the New Yorker Treatment

The saga of Ty, the Tyrannosaurus bataar fossil smuggled out of Mongolia and into a May 2012 sale by Dallas-based Heritage Auctions, effectively came to a close last month when Eric Prokopi, the "commercial paleontologist" behind the sale, pleaded guilty to illegally smuggling the specimen into the ... More >>

Texas' Generous Tax Giveaways for Biz Look Less Magical When You Do the Math

Eric has already noticed The New York Times piece this morning focused on Dallas's own G. Brint Ryan as a sort of national go-to fixer for companies seeking generous tax breaks from state and local government. The Times piece reports the hard side of those tax breaks -- the screws put to public educ ... More >>

The Bizarre Tale of Sam Lone Wolf, the "Spiritual Elder" in the Case of the White Buffalo

Earlier this month, I wrote a cover story so bizarre, I had to periodically check official documents just to be sure I had not wandered into the realm of magical realism. Yes, in fact, a sacred white buffalo was born to a Greenville rancher named Arby Little Soldier during a lightning storm in 2011. ... More >>

Cattle Shipped Out of Texas in Record Numbers During Historic Drought

Texas breeding cattle chased the rain in 2011 to plains states such as Nebraska, South Dakota and Kansas -- even all the way to Florida -- tripling the amount shipped out of state the year before. That 150,000 head left this stricken country is only the latest metric by which to judge the huge toll ... More >>

It's Only Life Sends a Singing November Valentine

Theatre Too romances tunes of John Bucchino; KDT takes dull journey with 26 Miles.

Let It Bleed

Hard at work on his eighth novel, Deadwood author Pete Dexter still packs a punch.

Texas Is the "Big Fish," and the Anti-Abortion Movement Has Lots of Bait in the Water

Photo by Holly MorganNancy Northup, President, Center For Reproductive Rights​The First Unitarian Church of Dallas hosted a special guest last week: Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights. The CRR, if you recall, is the New York-based organization that recently won a prelim ... More >>

Walk for Choice Brings Women's Health Care and Abortion Rights Fight to Downtown

​Tomorrow at noon, pro-choicers from around Dallas will be meeting up at JFK Memorial Plaza and moseying through downtown for a "Walk for Choice" protest, against a run on bills around the country aimed at slashing funding for women's health providers and limiting access to abortions.The Dallas ev ... More >>

Attention incoming sports fans: If you're going to embrace our city during Super Bowl week, the first step is recognizing our Super Heroes.

You Like That Giant Scoreboard at the Cotton Bowl? Good. SMU's Getting One Now.

​Apparently, one successful season a rebirth makes, as SMU sends word today that Gerald J. Ford Stadium's about to get quite the upgrade with the installation of a new video scoreboard designed and manufactured by South Dakota-based Daktronics -- the very same company responsible for that towering ... More >>

Timeless Greaseballs and Frosty Brews Down At the Dairy-Ette

Photos by Patrick Michels​Dairy-ette 9785 Ferguson Road (214) 327-9983 Dude Factor: 9 (or Bodacious), on a scale of 1 (Ferdinand the Bull) to 10 (Bevo).After a long weekend soaking up culture down in Ennis, and sun out at the FOE pool, yesterday's return to traffic, cubicle walls and that car alar ... More >>

Mayor Tom Leppert Welcomes Windpower Expo to Dallas, A "Quiet" Green Energy Leader

Photos by Patrick MichelsMayor Tom Leppert welcomed wind power players to this week's convention, telling them Dallas has quietly become one of the country's leading green cities. Texas is already king of the hill when it comes to turning wind into electricity, and for folks who work in the industry ... More >>

If Dirk Nowitzki and Mike Modano Are Indeed Gone, Where's Their Place in Dallas Sports History?

Cinco de Mayo Gig Alerts: Gipsy Kings, Great American Taxi, The Spill Canvas

​Lordy, it's a busy plate of music happening this fifth day of May. Although Cinco De Mayo is not that big of a holiday in Mexico (where is it celebrated mainly in the state of Puebla), here, we've made it into just another reason to drink up and party. In that sense, the beaucoup of touring acts ... More >>

The Humane Society and big agriculture slug it out over animal rights

More About This Week's Dallas Observer Cover Story

Patrick Faricy​This week's feature story, Down on the Farm chronicles an increasingly heated national battle over "factory-farmed" food. On one side: a phalanx of corporation- and family-owned farms across the country. On the other: the Washington, D.C.-based Humane Society of the United States.C ... More >>

Dawes, Cory Chisel & The Wandering Sons, Jason Boesel

Thursday, March 4, at The Cavern

Detour Ahead

How 'Bout Them Knockers: Domino's Pizza

dominos.com/Patrick MichelsMy Domino's order: even hotter in real life. But online, the pizza was less like a greasy sponge.​Each week in 'Knockers' we order from a different delivery restaurant, assessing their efficiency and keeping a running score.Dominos.comdelivered from 4420 Gaston Ave.Promi ... More >>

Last Mail Call: Last Night at City Hall, a Town Hall Over Fate of Dallas Main Post Office

​Its been more than a month since word broke that the United States Postal Service was considering -- or, rather, planning on -- moving some operations out of the Dallas Main Post Office on I-30 to a facility in Coppell. Since then, Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson and Mayor Tom Leppert have ex ... More >>

Wanna Co-Star With The O's In A Travel Show Pilot? Be At The Libertine At 4 P.M. Today

The O's, rehearsing for a television scene to be shot at The Libertine today at 4 p.m.The O's are helping a friend shoot a pilot for a potential travel show in which bands show host Vydra around town, and will be filming and hanging out at The Libertine Bar (2101 Greenville Ave.) today at 4 p.m. And ... More >>

Military Deserters Once Again Flock to Canada

Looks like this time they picked the wrong country.

Mark Olson & Gary Louris

Ready for the Flood (New West)

How 'Bout Them Knockers: Nandina Asian Tapas & Sushi

Nandina 5631 Alta Ave. at Greenville Ave. 214-826-6300 Promised delivery time: 45 minutes to an hour Delivered in: 30 minutes The ScoreOnline menu: 0 Ease of phone communication: 10 Delivery speed: 15 Making 3 a.m. sushi delivery possible: 20 Complete and total Basil-o-Rama: 12 Non-traditional me ... More >>

Let's Be Careful Out There

Texas' Peyote Hunters Struggle to Find a Vanishing, Holy Crop

Harvesting peyote is legal for only three people, and all of them live in Texas

Wide-Open Spaces

Sean Penn delivers a soulful road movie and refuses to define his subject

When it Rains at the VA, It's Probably a Faulty Sprinkler System

But Look What Happened to Paris Vendome

Who Hoak?

MuStossel

The man, the book, the 'stache

NASCAR: A Yankee Pastime

Duchamping at the Bit

Two shows say Dada and take wobbly baby steps into absurdist comedy

Live to Ride

A motorcycle accident cost Bill Rucker his leg, but that won't stop him from building-and riding-bikes

Stuff It

Plus: Liberal Libations

Catch a Ride

The Artrain rolls into Fair Park

White Heat

As a white player on a black baseball team, C.C. Risenhoover saw both sides of the racial divide

Skins Deep

In his second feature, Native American filmmaker Chris Eyre goes further beneath the surface

Write and Wrong

When is a singer-songwriter not a singer-songwriter? When he's Josh Rouse.

The Doctor Is Out

A Dallas activist helps lead the charge against Dr. Laura

Granny get your gun

Dallas' pistol-packing 'Second Amendment Sister'--63-year-old grandma Mary Thompson--takes aim at a million moms

Jurassic bucks

Trade in dinosaur bones pits entrepreneurs against scientists

Out There

Divide and conquer

Robbie Robertson throws history into the bonfire

Beating of wings

Stage West's The Swan lacks the power to get aloft

Lost children

Television has replaced the family as the biggest influence in some kids' lives

Fax Commandos

Why the press is chasing after the wrong right-wing cranks

Blah, blah

Hypercritical politics deliver nowhere politicians