The Texas Big Freeze of 2021 made history with some of the coldest consecutive days the state has ever experienced. In addition to massive power outages and deaths resulting from below-freezing temperatures, the snowstorm also came close to erasing an important piece of local history. Most people visit Dallas’ Fair Park…
News from the pandemic front is getting brighter lately. The average number of new infections of COVID-19 has fallen below 100,000 in the U.S. for the first time since November, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of deaths is decreasing sharply, too. In fits and starts, the national vaccine…
The Dallas Observer is looking for a music and culture intern. Now, before you think about how internships mean you have to fetch coffee and face the icy cold bitchery of editors when you get the order wrong — and do all of this for free — know this: We are sunny-warm…
Sen. Ted Cruz enraged constituents yet again this week when he was caught catching a flight to Cancún with his wife, Heidi, and their daughters. Texans continued to suffer below-freezing temperatures and massive power outages while Cruz was seemingly off to vacation under the Mexican sun. Cruz returned the next…
Actress Gina Carano was fired from her role in Disney’s The Mandalorian this week, after she tweeted anti-Semitic, anti-mask wearing, Jeffrey Epstein and election fraud conspiracies — among a slew of other opinions that were decidedly non-Disney. Carano has also posted anti-trans remarks in the past, but the last straw…
On Dec. 23, Dallas police found 65-year-old Timothy Paul Allen dead in the passenger seat of his car. The medical examiner ruled Allen’s death was caused by “homicidal violence.” On Monday, Dallas police announced they’d arrested Tristin Devon Howard, 17, and Qaulin Dajuan Curlin, 18, in connection to Allen’s death. The…
Some people tend to look back longingly at the “good old days,” back when America was, they say, “great,” with a romantic, revisionist, and white gaze. It hasn’t been great for everyone, and clearly still isn’t, as made evident by months of protests in 2020 declaring that Black lives matter…
Some men have trouble committing. Jason Collier is not one of them. In fact, he loves commitment so much that he has a wife, two fiancées, and one alleged girlfriend. At this point, it seems, the whole world has heard of three-timing (maybe four-timing) police chief Jason Collier from a…
Jenna Ellis, former President Donald Trump’s lawyer who spearheaded the efforts to disprove the results of the 2020 presidential election, is campaigning to become the most obnoxious public figure on Twitter, going head to head with Ted Cruz. Only six months ago, she purposely misgendered Pennsylvania secretary of health and…
In some households, every day is Selena day. But thanks to a bill reintroduced Thursday by state Rep. Ana-Maria Ramos, April 16 might officially be designated as “Selena Day,” honoring the late Texan music star Selena Quintanilla. Quintanilla was killed by her employee Yolanda Saldívar on March 31, 1995. Even…
Turns out, Garth Brooks doesn’t have many friends in low places. During a press conference on Monday, the country star announced that he would be performing at Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration on Wednesday, Jan. 20. The lineup of talent performing at the inauguration includes Lady Gaga, John Legend, Bruce Springsteen…
Some people will show up to the opening of an envelope. Such is the case, it appears, with Mark Sahady and Brandon Navom from Massachusetts, who were recently called out on social media for answering President Donald Trump’s call to the Capitol on Jan. 6. Navom and Sahady have a…
A new case of cultural appropriation is making headlines, and for once it has nothing to do with the Kardashian/Jenners. A Dallas company called The Mahjong Line has recently come under fire for releasing a line of mahjong sets that critics say “whitewash” Chinese culture. Mahjong is a traditional Chinese…
2020 is over at last, and we have more than one thing to celebrate with the end of the yearr: The time has come to announce the winners of the 2020 Dallas Observer Music Awards. Traditionally, we celebrate our awards with a music showcase and a balls-out ceremony, but, our…
On Dec. 23, Dallas police responded to a welfare check for Timothy Paul Allen and found the 65-year-old dead in the passenger seat of his car. Dallas police announced Allen’s cause of death, per the medical examiner, as “homicidal violence.” Allen was a pianist, a longtime fixture in the cabaret…
Every parent goes through one common, obligatory milestone: sitting through a school play. These are invariably universal experiences — you can count on being equally impressed and irritated by the preparing-for-showbiz lead actor, dreading the bad acting while ignoring your own child’s limitations as a thespian. If you’re local (or…
We’re not going to sugarcoat it: There wasn’t a whole lot going on in music news this year that wasn’t actually bad, sad and sadder news. Music coverage in 2020 consisted largely of pandemic trends, venue updates and obituaries. Some prepandemic stories, however, were reader favorites throughout the year —…
Every article this year seemed to contain the dreaded c-word, but there was more to 2020 than COVID-19, the presidential election and protests. We reveled in the tacky reign of Tiger King, celebrated holidays or gained online fame by making asses of ourselves in public. And the coverage for those…
Dallas police said Wednesday they have made an arrest in the fatal shooting of Dallas rapper Mo3, who died on Nov. 11. The artist, whose real name was Melvin Noble, was shot by a man who had chased him on Interstate 35 near Marsalis Avenue in Oak Cliff. When Noble…
This year has taken far too much from us: lives, livelihoods and the ability to hug our loved ones, not to mention the shouted conversations with friends over the soothing noise of music at our favorite bar s. The last thing we need is to cede our chance to honor…
Dallas’ skyline is fun. Between the light works at the Omni and the Reunion Tower, we are consistently reminded of the glorious heights achieved by mankind’s erections. Pun intended. But, let us be honest, architecturally speaking, it’s not the most elegant of cities, and downtown is about to get even…
Politics are serious: Our votes affect livelihoods, freedoms and the pursuit of happiness. But sometimes, politics are unequivocally hilarious. Dallas photographer Ron Shipp ventured to downtown Dallas on Nov. 14 to document the pro-President Donald J. Trump rally that took the streets to demand a recount of votes — or,…
