While you probably haven’t heard of Lynn Goldsmith or Janet Macoska before, any rock fan worth their Bowie T-shirt has seen their photographs of the tribe of gifted misfit wanderers gracing the pages of Time, Life and Rolling Stone among others. Back when Tom Waits still looked like someone who…
People talking about the Russians are usually trying to make a Tolstoy reference, or warning us that after 60-odd years of pretending, the big old bear is finally invading our shining shores to turn us all communist. But be not afeared of these Russians, for in its opening weekend, the…
My granny used to carry her pug dog in her purse when the family went out to restaurants. Peeking a smushed nose and snout from the bag, Puggy would nibble bits of food, and the family was fully prepared to start coughing and barking if the dog got too excited…
At first glance, a spelling bee doesn’t seem like the sort of setting that inspires great musicals (or even good ones). But if you’ve ever teetered on that precipice of hope in that half second before the judge says your spelling of mendacity (m-e-n-d-a-c-e-t-y) is incorrect, you’ll know the possibilities…
national Lampoon’s Animal House–some people love it, some people hate it, but between Belushi-as-Bluto’s inspirational speech, (“Did you say ‘over’? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!”) and the moment when cream cheese spews from his mouth as…
Sinatra–like Texas–is a state of mind. Yes, there’s Frank Sinatra, that Italian guy from Yonkers who made it big in the ’40s and spent the rest of the century riding high and low waves of his career to become a renowned singer, movie star and, finally, an American institution. Sinatra…
Whenever my mom proposed a “staycation,” it meant a major trip to the video store and ordering pizza and Chinese for the next two days. The Gaylord has taken a slightly different approach, and after booking a night you can log some time at the spa, water ski, learn to…
Labor Day has always been focused on barbecue for me, but visiting the Shops at Legacy and getting autographs from famous athletes on Labor Day Eve is a good way to begin observing the holiday. Legacy is opening a new set of stores with definite flare. Along with the usual…
I saw Betty Buckley perform a couple years ago, and even though I couldn’t get her crazy lady cameo in The Happening out of my head, the show was still incredible, as Buckley performed standards and hits from her Broadway days like the weeper “Memory” from Cats. She blew me…
Woody Guthrie saw The Grapes of Wrath and said it was “the best cussed pitcher I ever seen.” A lot of people agree, and now we’ve got the chance to see it up on the big screen just like he did when it shows for free at the Nasher Sculpture…
In the original story, Little Red Riding Hood gets eaten by the wolf, and the fairy tale ends there. It’s really a pretty scary tale. The Dallas Puppet Theater version, Little Red Riding Hood: The Melodrama, has a slightly different storyline, as Red must stop the wolf’s antics from ruining…
The Spitfire Grill isn’t just a ’90s movie about a recent parolee from prison who moves into an idyllic town looking to start over, only to encounter suspicion and find that things aren’t what they seem–it’s also a musical. Percy arrives in town, starts working at the Spitfire Grill and…
The title character in Mame is a wild, liberal, rich, eccentric, irresponsible, artistic type who when her brother dies and she becomes guardian to her young nephew. The musical, based on the book by Patrick Dennis, goes from the end of the 1920s to the Great Depression and beyond, as…
Whenever I was bored and hungry during my undergraduate years, I looked for a student art show. These shows provided free entertainment with art and people-watching, and free food and drink, usually in the form of plastic cups of red wine and cheese and fruit plates. For a fun and…
It may be a hot time, this summer in the city, so a little Beethoven chamber music will be just the thing. Head down to Texas Discovery Gardens at Fair Park, stretch out on the grass and enjoy the music. If you’ve never tried Beethoven’s chamber music, there’s all the…
It’s fun to read about trophy wives getting dumped, being crushed and coming to realize that there’s more to life than planning parties and buying Prada. Well, it’s not always fun, but when reading Gigi Levangie Grazer you find yourself rooting for the heroine, hoping she will triumph against the…
Do you ever have those moments in church where the music is really bad and you’re so hungry that God can hear your stomach growling? Well, now you don’t have to be hungry or miss out on a religious experience; just head over to House of Blues to take in…
If your dad is one of those cook-in-his-soul-kitchen types–rhapsodizing about upright chicken roasting (the chicken looks as if it’s about to hop off its roasting seat and do “Puttin’ on the Ritz,” Young Frankenstein-style)–or if he’s an avid fan of Wolfgang Puck and Iron Chef, then Williams-Sonoma’s Tool Time for…
There are people who follow trails, and people who always get lost trying to follow the trails made by others. For those falling into the latter category, National Trails Day is just the thing for you. Instead of following other people’s trails, you can be a regular trailblazer by helping…
We’ve been trained to answer our cell phones when they ring, or die trying (ignoring them is rude). It’s not much of a leap to imagine yourself sitting in a cafe, listening to someone else’s ringing leash before you get up and answer it. That’s just what Jean, the main…
The Pro Plan Rally Across America “Rally to Rescue” campaign is traveling the country and making a stop at the Dog Days of Denton in Quakertown Park. The rally focuses on pet rescue and adoption, but there are also training shows and lectures on dog personalities that instruct how to…
The image of a potbellied man with a chainsaw doesn’t scream art. A department store, gleaming and empty at 11 a.m., and the warm glow of Walgreens on a December evening aren’t obvious moments of art either, but the works featured in the America Works exhibit at the Valley House…
