Some things were clearly meant to be played out in an opera, like the story of starcross’d lovers or anything involving Vikings. Less operatic, perhaps, would be the story of a woman locked in the same room for 19 years. Tragic, yes, but what of the glorious tradition of operatic…
If you time your vacation days correctly, you’ll probably be able to make your New Year’s Eve weekend into a four-day weekend. You’ve probably got a random personal day stocked up there somewhere, right? And besides, it’s not like your incompetent, unappreciative sloth of a boss would even know you…
At least it’s work: Exotic butterflies dance around in my stomach as I wait in the lobby of Hotel Zaza, where apparently someone has let Pier 1 puke its North African imports rack all over the place. At any moment, Kato Kaelin, professional houseguest, will appear from behind the elevator…
The sky outside is cloudy over the old Parkland Hospital building at Oak Lawn and Maple avenues. A chilly wind sends dry, dead leaves skittering across the pavement of the basketball court once used when the building was a low-security jail. The gray side door set into the building’s stately…
The government gets a lot of flak for the things it allegedly does wrong. The most recent flub, of course, is FEMAs response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. There are also the mistakes of years past, like botching the investigation of John F. Kennedys assassination and arresting just one killer,…
Shady, tree-lined Bonita Avenue feels tense, straddling the divide between the working and upper middle classes that both call it home. Just off the eclectic strip of shops, restaurants and bars on North Henderson Avenue, the street stretches along the outer edges of Dallas’ Vickery Place neighborhood, where it’s not…
I stood in the doorway of my closet, surveying the racks of clothes and accessories. Gold, glittery high-heeled pumps? Check. Muppet-red calf-length faux fur coat? Got it. Studded punk-rock belts in three colors? Yep. I bit my lip in frustration. It might have been the first time in my life…
Wing and a prayer: Honestly, the bar scene is getting monotonous for the hot babes of the Dallas Observer. Night after night, it’s the same old lines: “Please bear my children,” “I can’t imagine my life without you,” “Can I buy you a drink?” Sadly, they’re usually only good for…
The sun hung in the sky behind the 400-year-old oak trees that surround Thee Hubbell House. Tim Carmichael, round and bearded, paced the front lawn of the historic bed and breakfast in Winnsboro, mowing the grass. It had been six weeks since he’d seen Paul, and his hope hadn’t run…
“Wake up, Mr. West!” That command, shouted by Bernie Mac at the outset of Late Registration, is fitting–this album is an awakening. Rawer than College Dropout, Kanye West’s sophomore release puts his rhymes on center stage and further develops his identity as a socially aware rapper. Sure, he’s the still…
Like a lot of teenage girls in the ’90s, I spent years pining for Bush lead singer Gavin Rossdale, inscribing the words to “Comedown” on my zip-up Mead binder and dutifully chugging out the chords to “Machinehead” on my guitar. But my adolescence, like Bush, is over, so how excited…
When people hear about God at Six Flags Over Texas, it usually happens while plunging down the first hill of the Texas Titan. There’s just no better place to invoke the name of Jehovah at the top of your lungs than right before absorbing 4.5 G’s of sheer terror. This…
Telling Sublime fans to not buy Look at All the Love We Found is an exercise in futility. Doesn’t matter if the tribute album is a bottom-scraping jumble of cover songs; fans would certainly light up a joint in response and express their love for Bradley Nowell fo’ evah, brah…
There’s just nothing like a good old-fashioned virgin. It’s appalling that in this day and time, when in many ways we have come so far, we have abandoned the notion of sexual virtue. All anybody wants to do anymore is roll in the hay. Who likes hay, anyway? It gets…
Olivia Bennett’s angled brush slides effortlessly across the textured paper, trailing hot pink paint. A sliver of long blond hair falls in front of her eyes, and she pushes it behind her ear, keeping the brushstroke steady all the while. The 14-year-old sits back on her stool, eyeing the watercolor…
Tonight, at the Dreamworld Music Complex in Arlington, a dedicated subculture of inked-up, metal-in-your-face teenagers has one mission and one mission only: to bring you the love of Christ via the most ear-crunching, face-rocking, throat-scorching hardcore tunes this side of Hades. He who hath ears, let him hear: Jesus is…
The last time Patty Clarke talked to Suzanna Wamsley, the Christmas season was just beginning. Her neighbor was on her way to purchase some pretty towels for an elderly lady moving into an assisted living facility. Typical Suzanna. If a neighbor had a death in the family, sweet, upbeat Suzanna…
