<![CDATA[Dallas Observer | Complete Issue]]> http://dallasobserver.com en-us Sat, 11 Oct 2008 07:48:32 -0500 Sat, 11 Oct 2008 07:48:32 -0500 http://dallasobserver.com/syndication Village Voice Media XML Feed Generator editor@dallasobserver.com webmaster@dallasobserver.com <![CDATA[DISD In the Hole]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/news/blackboard-jungle A greeting, passed along in a coffee shop:

"Hey, I haven't seen you in a long time."

"How are you?"

"Just like you—waiting to see if I'll still have a job."

A long silence followed by a laugh that sticks in the throat and sounds like a last gasp.

...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/news/blackboard-jungle <![CDATA[Is there Natural Gas Beneath Dallas County?]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/news/shale-bound Dallas may have cultivated the image of an oil town in the popular imagination. In reality, fortunes here were built on oil extracted hundreds of miles away. Wildcatters just didn't expect there to be mineral riches under Dallas County, and until the last year, Dallas continued to look on envious...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/news/shale-bound <![CDATA[Never Forget|Strike Back|Focus on Plate, Not Walls]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/news/you-said-it "Collateral Damage," by Megan Feldman, October 2

Never Forget

Just something I feel I need to clear up. This is one person's view of me and my family's tragedy. Let'...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/news/you-said-it <![CDATA[Crises Management]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/news/buzz Crises management: The news breaks suddenly, spreading anger, fear and distrust. Massive miscalculations and shaky financial structures threaten imminent doom. Our leaders should have seen this coming but didn't. Now only massive, painful and unprecedented action will keep us from the abys...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/news/buzz <![CDATA[The Mavericks' Faith In Jason Kidd]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/news/bas-kidd-ball Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban says a half-dozen players came to him at the end of last season, expressing a desire to play elsewhere if Avery Johnson remained the head coach. Let's tiptoe out upon the limb and predict that Jason Kidd was included in the mutiny.

Why?

Because wh...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/news/bas-kidd-ball <![CDATA[What's a Wab, and Where's the Love for Guatemalans?]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/news/ask-a-mexican Dear Readers: I don't like to rerun columns 'cause it makes me look like a lazy Mexican, but I realize that as my column invades foreign terrain (Chattanooga! Columbia, South Carolina! Steamboat Springs, Colorado!) new readers might not understand some of my commandments. Following, then, are the...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/news/ask-a-mexican <![CDATA[The Magnetic Fields Turn Down the Volume]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/music/sound-barrier Concocting outré underground pop for more than a decade doesn't necessarily shield you from being unjustly mistaken for easily digestible by the mainstream press. Following the reception of the last Magnetic Fields album—2004's i, a non-electro, less sonically bizarre outing t...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/music/sound-barrier <![CDATA[Bucking the Trend, a Record Store Launches in Deep Ellum]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/music/spin-cycle There's no one here. Just Bill Wisener sitting in his normal spot behind the front counter of his South Lamar Street store, a DVD stuck on opening-screen repeat, a cigarette in his hand, and dozens of butts littering the floor he ashes upon.

Bill's Records might as well be closed right no...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/music/spin-cycle <![CDATA[Cat Power, Appaloosa]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/music/cat-power-appaloosa Cat Power kicks off her January-released CD, Jukebox, with a remake of John Kander and Fred Ebb's standard "Theme from New York, New York," but given the track's sultry, Stax-y R&B makeover and coolly rumbling keyboards, perhaps she should call her version "Memphis, Memphis."

<...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/music/cat-power-appaloosa <![CDATA[Pops Carter and the Funkmonsters]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/music/pops-carter-and-the-funkmonsters Pops Carter looks every bit the part of a funk god in his crushed velvet purple suit, dark sunglasses and wide fedora, but don't let the outfit fool you: Carter's a bluesman at heart, and when he takes the stage with his band the Funkmonsters, his searing vocals and overall sound immediately reca...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/music/pops-carter-and-the-funkmonsters <![CDATA[The Cardinals featuring Ryan Adams]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/music/the-cardinals-featuring-ryan-adams Various incarnations of The Cardinals have backed alt-country icon Ryan Adams since 2004, but the soon-to-be-released Cardinology marks the first time that the singer has refused top billing over his collaborators.

Don't take that move as any indication of what to expect at this pe...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/music/the-cardinals-featuring-ryan-adams <![CDATA[Nikka Costa]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/music/nikka-costa Nimble-tongued Nikka Costa's new Stax release, Pebble to a Pearl, due on October 14, elaborates on Costa's previous excursions, making promises—funky, soulful promises—about love and sex and music. But it's Costa's giant voice, all out of proportion to her diminutive stature, t...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/music/nikka-costa <![CDATA[Robert Pollard's Boston Spaceships, The High Strung]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/music/robert-pollard-s-boston-spaceships-the-high-strung If you expected Robert Pollard to ride quietly into the sunset after the dissolution of Guided By Voices in 2004, you were sorely mistaken.

After approximately 4,791 GBV albums and roughly half that amount in solo releases, Pollard, with his new band—which includes former GBVer Chri...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/music/robert-pollard-s-boston-spaceships-the-high-strung <![CDATA[Snarky Puppy]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/music/snarky-puppy Being named Best Jazz Act at this year's Dallas Observer Music Awards was just another addition to Snarky Puppy's already impressive résumé. Led by bassist/composer Michael League, this eclectic collective has successfully transcended the highbrow, elitist tag that dogs some jazz co...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/music/snarky-puppy <![CDATA[Raphael Saadiq]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/music/raphael-saadiq Late last year, Boyz II Men released a respectable Motown-remake album with a lousy title that only could've been worse if they'd added an exclamation point to it (Motown: A Journey Through Hitsville USA). This year, Raphael Saadiq sees that tribute and raises the game.

On The W...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/music/raphael-saadiq <![CDATA[Amanda Palmer]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/music/amanda-palmer In a match made in piano-rock heaven, Dresden Dolls vamp Amanda Palmer teamed with fellow ivory-tickler Ben Folds to produce this strings-and-spinet stunner.

Originally, the singer had planned a low-budget project, showcasing some songs she felt sounded better without Dolls collaborator B...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/music/amanda-palmer <![CDATA[Starfucker]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/music/starfucker The band's name is crass, and song titles like "Myke Ptyson" and "Iaadeedaa" hardly help bolster any early confidence in liking them. But Starfucker's self-titled debut is, indeed, a smart, multi-layered gem of indie-pop splendor.

The album's opener, "Florida," establishes the band's simp...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/music/starfucker <![CDATA[Roy Orbison]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/music/roy-orbison Of all of the major figures in rock 'n' roll (with the still unexplained exclusion of Van Morrison), Roy Orbison is one of the last to finally be anthologized via box set.

That omission has been thankfully rectified with The Soul of Rock and Roll, a four-disc collection that spells...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/music/roy-orbison <![CDATA[The Walkmen aren't as Dark as You Think They Are]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/music/walking-papers Somber, dark, sinister and gloomy are just a few of the adjectives most commonly used to describe the music of The Walkmen, one of New York City's most interesting indie rock bands.

Problem is, the group's frontman, Hamilton Leithauser, can't stand the gothic trappings that seem to pop up...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/music/walking-papers <![CDATA[Introducing Estelle, Britpop's Latest Crossover]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/music/heir-atlantic If there's one thing music journalists have learned over time, it's that whenever a breakthrough, buzz-laden artist from across the pond shows up in your town for a debut performance, you pay attention.

It's simple, really: We music journos tend to be impressed by music sung with an accen...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/music/heir-atlantic <![CDATA[Florene Thrives on its Members' Differences]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/music/north-of-the-dial Cupping his microphone in his hands, Aaron Mollet's hushed moans wash over the audience as the experimental lap-pop duo Florene starts its set at Dan's Silverleaf. The pair stands on either side of a folding table strewn with cables, sequencers, pedals and microphones.

<...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/music/north-of-the-dial <![CDATA[Flavor Pulls a Disappearing Act at the Second Floor]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/dining/disappearing-act What has yellow skin and writes? A ballpoint banana, of course.

Stole that one from the classic 1966 version of Batman, the one where Penguin purchases a surplus nuclear submarine under the alias P. N. Guin to fool Navy officials, and the Riddler fires skywriting surface-to-air mis...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/dining/disappearing-act <![CDATA[Texadelphia Cuts the Mustard]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/dining/cheap-bastard

SMUchebag count: 6-8

Really good lemonade count: 1

I was so in the mood for some cheap wings and waffle fries the other day; so I drove my car on over to the Pluckers on Greenville, parked among all of Mom and Dad's hand-me-downed BMWs with SMU bumper stickers, and what the...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/dining/cheap-bastard <![CDATA[<i>Body of Lies</i> follows the fight against terror into cyberspace]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/film/lies-we-can-believe-in A new kind of war movie for a new kind of war, Body of Lies is about the War on Terror as it is being waged on the ground, in the air, but most of all in cyberspace. Directed with terrific verve by Ridley Scott (coming after the listless American Gangster) from a smart...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/film/lies-we-can-believe-in <![CDATA[<i>Happy-Go-Lucky</i> gives you something to smile about]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/film/female-persuasion The protag of Mike Leigh's Happy-Go-Lucky is a modestly gaudy people's heroine industriously repairing the social world, one frayed interaction at a time.

After extended cameos in two previous Leigh films (as a resourceful pop tart in All or Nothing and the date-raped...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/film/female-persuasion <![CDATA[Whiskey Laugh]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/calendar/whiskey-laugh Rolling Stone named him the nation's No. 1 Party Animal in 1997. He turned the publicit...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/calendar/whiskey-laugh <![CDATA[The Last Waltz]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/calendar/the-last-waltz Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/calendar/the-last-waltz <![CDATA[Oh Brother]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/calendar/oh-brother A Time to Kill int...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/calendar/oh-brother <![CDATA[Oh Brother]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/calendar/oh-brother A Time to Kill int...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/calendar/oh-brother <![CDATA[Home With Laurie]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/calendar/home-with-laurie Laurie Anderson is the mastermind. For more than three decades, Anderson has provided fodder for head-cocks and deep thoughts through amazingly diverse performances, film and, hell, even a little dance....]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/calendar/home-with-laurie <![CDATA[All-Tell Attell]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/calendar/all-tell-attell Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/calendar/all-tell-attell <![CDATA[American Anthem]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/calendar/american-anthem Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/calendar/american-anthem <![CDATA[Bloodsuckin' Love]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/calendar/bloodsuckin-love Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/calendar/bloodsuckin-love <![CDATA[Leatherface]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/calendar/leatherface Joan Rivers--the comedienne, red carpet fashion maven, QVC guest star and plastic surgery aficionado--lives to make fun of herself and pretty much everyone else. Joan was an instant fan favorite after her first appearance on The Tonight Show in 1965, and she's been shoving irreverence ...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/calendar/leatherface <![CDATA[So Puckin' Cool]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/calendar/so-puckin-cool Your! Dallas! Stars! as they take on the Columbu...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/calendar/so-puckin-cool <![CDATA[Pee To Be]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/calendar/pee-to-be Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/calendar/pee-to-be <![CDATA[Dancin', Dancin']]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/calendar/dancin-dancin So You Think You Can Dance that gets great ratings to prove it. There's even a tour: the So You Think You Can Dance Tour 2008, where people can sit and watch salsa, ballroom, hip-hop, street dancing, contemporary, j...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/calendar/dancin-dancin <![CDATA[Runway Magic]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/calendar/runway-magic Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/calendar/runway-magic <![CDATA[Onstage Offense]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/calendar/onstage-offense Patrice Oneal wonders whether condoms work. "If you're going to fuck a bitch with a condom on, and she go, 'Ooh, I'm so glad you got that condom on, 'cause my pussy's a mess,' would you still fuck her?" So why is he an occasional Fox News commentator? Perhaps because he's so anti-PC that he'l...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/calendar/onstage-offense <![CDATA[Big Time]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/calendar/big-time Big Love, sets out to prove once and for all that bigger really is better. Forget Seven Brides for Seven Brothers; this has 50 brides for 50 grooms. True, the grooms aren't brothers, but who cares? There are 50 of them. It's like The Bachelor on...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/calendar/big-time <![CDATA[Rockin' Tut]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/calendar/rockin-tut Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs exhibit could not be better for the Dallas art scene as a whole. The internationally anticipated event will bring thousands of visitors from around the world to Dallas, each seeking a peek at artifacts from th...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/calendar/rockin-tut <![CDATA[Beauty Marks]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/calendar/beauty-marks Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/calendar/beauty-marks <![CDATA[Blue By Them]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/calendar/blue-by-them Saturday Night Live, musically inclined comedians Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi became Elwood and Jake Blues for one of the show's musical sketches. It was so fun that they decided to pull together some of the most respected musicians in the business and front an actual bl...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/calendar/blue-by-them <![CDATA[Country Boy]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/calendar/country-boy Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/calendar/country-boy <![CDATA[Speak, Doggy!]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/calendar/speak-doggy George Rodrigue painted a blue dog for a collection of Cajun ghost stories in 1984, and he's been painting different portraits of that ghostly loup-garou ever since. If the dog's blue fur coat and eerie yellow eyes weren't so captivating and mysterious, the dog probably would have been labele...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/calendar/speak-doggy <![CDATA[The Mind of Malkovich]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/calendar/the-mind-of-malkovich Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/calendar/the-mind-of-malkovich <![CDATA[Speaking Of Candidates]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/calendar/speaking-of-candidates The Presidents of the United States of America. And I remember thinking to...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/calendar/speaking-of-candidates <![CDATA[Lipstick on a Pig]]> http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/culture/lipstick-on-a-pig Nobody in the theater intentionally puts on a "steaming turd of a play," says Sylvia Glenn, one of two actress-characters in the showbiz-based comedy Legends. Well, actually, in the case of this script, they did.

Until Uptown Players, the Oak Lawn theater company, got...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-09/culture/lipstick-on-a-pig