With the Internet came the online review, and with Amazon.com came the revenge of unsatisfied readers everywhere. Authors beware. In researching Linda Berdoll’s Darcy & Elizabeth (a self-published fan-fiction sequel to Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice) I discovered that “the book would have benefited from a good proof reading or…
With the Internet came the online review, and with Amazon.com came the revenge of unsatisfied readers everywhere. Authors beware. In researching Linda Berdoll’s Darcy & Elizabeth (a self-published fan-fiction sequel to Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice), I discovered that “the book would have benefited from a good proof reading or…
When I first read the words “Rick Springfield Eddie Money Loverboy Scandal” (with no punctuation, as if Christopher Walken had written it!) I thought I was about to discover the pinnacle in creepy rock-and-roll debauchery. What sort of “loverboy scandal” could Springfield and Money have been caught up in? I…
Are you tired of watching your Days of Thunder laserdisc, wondering when you’ll get your chance to drive recklessly fast and loose? When you fly, do you often feel the need, the need for speed? Have you been doing “The Hippy Hippy Shake” when you make your Cocktails? Has your…
It must suck to be Justin Guarini these days. It’s one thing to have Kelly Clarkson’s shadow looming over you in all directions. But even William Hung has experienced a level of notoriety Guarini’s best publicist couldn’t pay for (Hung’s first album reached number 3 on Amazon.com’s sales rankings and…
It’s been called “The Greatest Show on Earth,” and while there are some peep-show dancers in Times Square that might disagree, the circus certainly has a long history of providing family entertainment. P.T. Barnum’s first traveling show began in the late 1800s and rivaled that of James Bailey. Rather than…
There are plenty of reasons to see CATS. It’s a well-known and loved musical, composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on poems by T. S. Eliot. It holds the record as the longest-running Broadway show in history, has toured the world, been translated into 20 languages and enjoyed timeless popularity,…
As far as I know, FDR: A Comedy New Deal has nothing at all to do with Franklin Delano Roosevelt. So don’t go expecting jokes about polio and the Great Depression (although, seriously, that is some funny stuff). Instead, FDR stands for Fickert, Davis and Rainone—a trio of entertainers who…
As kids, we’d imitate adults, dressing up in our mother’s clothes or playing doctor with the neighbor kid. We’d build forts out of couch cushions and comforters–a sovereign nation within the living room. If we were lucky, we had access to a few tools, some discarded wood and a perfect…
A few decades ago, the cat dragged in a bunch of long-haired, outrageously dressed, glam-rock leftovers and coughed them up onto the carpet. Twenty years later, “Talk Dirty to Me” is still as fun as it ever was, and Poison is going on tour to make sure you remember that…
Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band isn’t hip. But it’s a show that’s totally worth seeing. I saw them in Atlantic City in 2001, when Howard Jones was part of the lineup and an impatient Ringo had to bully the casino audience into giving Jones the requisite sing-along “whoa”s. It…
Once a year, we’re allowed to celebrate our country’s history by eating hot dogs and exploding things. On July Fourth, get the lakeside view, watching the fireworks display at Lake Grapevine, (grapevinetexasusa.com). Or choose the Lakewood view; the Lakewood Theater (1825 Abrams Parkway) claims to have the best seat in…
Once a year, we’re allowed to celebrate our country’s history by eating hot dogs and exploding things. On July Fourth, get the lakeside view, watching the fireworks display at Lake Grapevine, (grapevinetexasusa.com). Or choose the Lakewood view; the Lakewood Theater (1825 Abrams Parkway) claims to have the best seat in…
Hey, nerds! Put on your capes and charge up your light sabers—it’s book-signing time. Aaron Allston will be on hand at area Borders stores to discuss and sign the first of a new nine-book series in the ever-continuing Star Wars saga, Star Wars Legacy of the Force: Betrayal. For fans…
Hey, nerds! Put on your capes and charge up your light sabers—it’s book-signing time. Aaron Allston will be on hand at area Borders stores to discuss and sign the first of a new nine-book series in the ever-continuing Star Wars saga, Star Wars Legacy of the Force: Betrayal. For fans…
When Ralphie May was asked to lose weight for the role of “fat guy” at an audition, it had to be a rude awakening. But I would think coming in second to Dat “I’ve proven it’s possible to take Margaret Cho’s act and make it less funny” Phan on NBC’s…
Tommy Chong will be forever remembered for many things: selling bongs, his role on That ’70s Show and his short stint as C. Thomas Howell’s father-in-law. Mostly, he’ll be known as one half of the legendary 1970s comedy duo Cheech and Chong. Thirty years later, Chong has eighty-sixed Cheech in…
Kidnapping, assault and an avalanche make for one hell of a bachelor party, no doubt, as evidenced in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. The musical, based on the short story The Sobbin’ Women, by Stephen Vincent Benét, centers around a group of biblically named mountain men who set out to…
Flip Orley certainly boasts some good reviews for his stand-up comedy. But as a comedy hypnotist, it’s difficult to gauge just how funny he really is; it could just be that his hypnosis skills are so powerful that you’ll just think you’ve had a good time. I suppose there’s no…
It seems that Al Gore may have been underestimated. After defeat in 2000, Gore refocused his energy on saving the planet from what looks to be imminent catastrophe due to global warming. His crusade is captured on film in An Inconvenient Truth, a movie that follows Gore as he brings…
As another creative and cultural outlet leaves Denton for greener pastures, it’s hard to herald the coming of the “new Fry Street,” poised to effectively gentrify any lingering ounce of counterculture the town once provided. Art Prostitute is only the most recent in a long line of artists and musicians…
In the winter of 1949, B.B. King was playing guitar at a dance hall in Arkansas when a fight broke out. Two men were battling over a woman named Lucille and during the commotion knocked over a barrel half-full of kerosene that had been heating the room. Flames ignited, the…
