We’ve been following the progress on Instagram, watching the stair and ramp construction for Overground’s new street course. And yeah, we got nostalgic. We looked at our skate shoes that are never, ever used for skating and wondered if some secret talent would be unlocked if we threw a deck…
Catch Jimmy Cliff as antihero reggae god in The Harder They Come, which just got a 40th anniversary reissue. Puff, puff, pass your way to Texas Theatre tonight to see it, then stick around for a dub/reggae afterparty in the lobby. But wait, there’s more. Kick it off tonight with…
As Fort Worth celebrates its annual Fall Gallery Walk — a magical, lengthy day when art spaces filled with new work stay open from noon to dusk — Dallas is again left to fend for itself. The Design District shakes off its summer break with the standard three-hour art window…
As we direct our gaze to San Antonio’s Blue Star Contemporary Art Museum, where the bulk of 2013 Texas Biennial action shakes out, it’s easy to miss a local contribution occurring at CentralTrak (800 Exposition Ave.). Friskt kopplat, hälften brunnet (Quickly connected, half burned) is the newest mission launched by…
Isis Brantley fought a fight that few in Dallas even know existed. A leader in the underground hair-braiding movement, Brantley was arrested in ’95 for practicing her craft without a cosmetology license. Known throughout the international hair community as Naturally Isis, she refused to accept the charge, arguing that cosmetology…
One of our generation’s most fascinating artists opens a solo show at Kirk Hopper (3008 Commerce St.) Friday. James Magee has spent more than three decades communicating with a desolate swath of West Texas landscape to build his opus The Hill, which remains in perennial construction. Acting as engineer, designer,…
As collectors hop jets back to the city, abandoning their summer homes in cooler climates, Dallas braces itself for its first big run of seasonal shows. Sure, in Fort Worth that’s met with the Fall Gallery Night, a nine-hour long celebration of fresh art. In Dallas we’re left to fight…
Last weekend the Sheraton Hotel Dallas was home to AnimeFest 2013, a four-day celebration of gaming and animation culture. There were panels, parties, and more costumes than you could shake a four-foot laser sword at. We sent photographer Ed Steele out to find his favorite monsters, and well, he might…
The Texas Association of Magicians held their annual conference at the InterContinental Hotel last weekend in an event so grand it even included a visit by Observer staff favorite, Harry Anderson (Night Court). (On an unrelated note: Housekeeping staff of the InterContinental found 3,000 colorful, unclaimed scarves tucked into one…
Last Saturday Deep Ellum felt the friction of hundreds of wheels as pre-1964 hot rod and kustom car enthusiasts took their victory laps. We love Invasion because its a celebration of that grittier car era, before the body styles got too bubbly and cheerful. Plus, it’s a chance to break…
There’s a magicians conference this weekend. More importantly, there’s this video about the magicians conference. Watching it feels like eating drugs. You’re lookin’ at a long weekend, so grab your HOV lane manikin, prop ’em up in your office chair, Ferris Bueller the guy… then slowly press back to the…
Life isn’t going as predicted for Scotty Mankin (Kevin Grammer) in the Ochre House’s newest original play Best Seat in Town. The down-and-out car salesman really messed up when he sold lemons to the puppet mafia. As we meet him, Mankin’s on a desperate mission to track down the mafia’s…
When Andrew Bujalski’s Computer Chess premiered at the Oak Cliff Film Festival, Texas Theatre (231 W. Jefferson Blvd.) paired it with a lobby chess battle: a tiny war waged and fought by humans. For its theatrical release weekend, the theater will hit the return key with “Texas Theatre Speed Chess…
International Bacon Day is more important than Valentine’s, Groundhog and Arbor days combined. It’s a magical celebration when we unite in the shared love of salted, slow-cooked swine and sing anthems in the name of ribbon meat. Or we just order double bacon at brunch, whatevs. Dallas Bites! Food Tours…
It’s intermission at Book of Mormon and my face feels like I fed it psychedelic mushrooms instead of dinner. I’m explaining this to the lobby bartender who asked if the show is as good as everyone says. I point to my teary eye ducts and try to push down my…
Testing equally well with sample groups “Families” and “The Impossibly Stoned,” Super Buddies is Disney’s latest direct-to-video release. From what we gather, it mashes up Eastern philosophy, dogs dressed as humans and mohawed miniature horses to create some kind of lesson. We think it might be about string theory, so…
This is the first trailer released for Dallas Buyers Club, the new drama based on the life of Ron Woodroof, who smuggled and sold unlicensed medications when he was diagnosed with AIDS in the mid-’80s. Naturally, it’s set in Dallas and stars our favorite paper doll, Matthew McConaughey, who lost…
Lara Almarcegui attracted international buzz when she filled the Spanish Pavilion with construction materials at the 2013 Venice Biennale. The 1922 building became the casing for its own eventual decay, with mountains of smashed rubble, bricks and building tiles authentic to the pavilion’s composition piled within. It’s work like that…
We’re not sure what each was up to when they got the call, but when we heard that the original cast of Dukes of Hazzard agreed to reunite for an All-Dukes weekend at Galaxy Drive-In? Well, more than a few beer cans hit the ground here at the Observer. They’re…
Local burlesque babes the Lollie Bombs held their annual breast cancer benefit show at Pocket Sandwich Theatre on Friday night, simultaneously satisfying its audience’s desires for snacks, do-gooding and boobs errywhere. We sent photographer Ed Steele to capture the action in photos and he came back with a whole slideshow’s…
Those scamps at Oddball Comedy Festival still haven’t leaked the comedian line-up for tonight’s show, leaving many to wonder exactly how early they really must arrive at Gexa, where beers cost exactly one hundred million dollars. Well, we don’t know for sure, but we did find the schedule from Friday…
David Lowery’s newest, Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, opens in wide-release today, and naturally he’d like you to see it. As luck would have it, three of his filmmaking buddies also have big releases dropping. Since promoting just his own would be very Un-Lowery of him, he’s designed a challenge, complete…
