When I think of a guitar competition I think of someone like Stevie Ray Vaughan shredding on his electric guitar. The Texas Guitar Competition at the University of Texas at Dallas, 2601 Floyd Road, will be nothing like that. Instead, it features guys like Thibault Cauvin, a Frenchman who started…
Mike Connor was a successful sales executive with Coca-Cola, pulling down a six-figure salary, when he realized something was missing from his life. So he quit his job and went on a spiritual quest. That was 11 years ago. Today, Connor calls himself a consciousness coach, and for $125 an…
The Unity Church of Dallas sits on a wooded street not far from downtown, nestled beneath the shade of several large trees. In its 32 years, the brown brick building has been a refuge for those dissatisfied with mainstream religion. Put simply, it is a place where people go for…
Even if you know little about dance, you will probably enjoy Ballets Russes, a documentary about a group of Russian refugees who toured the globe and in so doing gave birth to modern ballet. The celebrated documentary, which opened in October, tells the story of two pioneering Russian ballet companies,…
Wouldn’t it be cool if Montre Bible’s name was pronounced Moan-Tray Beeb-lay, and instead of signing copies of his debut novel Heaven Sent at Barnes & Noble on Thursday, he was singing the song “Heaven Sent” with his Christian heavy metal band at Barnes & Noble? That would be cool…
James Frey used to be such a badass, the kind who rolls with mobsters and crack addicts and celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio. Then everyone found out he made up key elements of his best-selling “memoir” A Million Little Pieces, and people started wondering how much of a badass Mr. Frey…
By now, the sad story of Walter Mann is well-known. The 69-year-old, schizophrenic and homeless, was held in a Dallas County jail for more than a year for not paying a $50 fine. During his 15 months behind bars, he never saw a lawyer or had a visitor. Each time…
When Europa Europa was released in Germany in 1990, the local media were less than complimentary. In fact, when it came time for the German Oscar selection committee to make its picks, the film was left off the list. Oh, the embarrassment that ensued when the film was nominated for…
On a recent Friday evening, a small group of artists gathered in the bowels of a hulking industrial building overlooking the Trinity River. Called Southside on Lamar, the nine-story brick building sits at the end of a row of rusting warehouses not far from downtown Dallas. Once a Sears distribution…
“Can you see her?” he whispered. We were standing about six feet away from the tree, which was surrounded by a chicken-wire fence. Pink plastic flowers and burnt-out candles circled the trunk. He introduced himself as Martin Espinoza of Oak Cliff. He wore gray sweats, leather sandals and a hat…
1. In the beginning, the devil created heavy metal. 2. And it made white men and women worship him, causing them to eat bats, kill cats and carve pentagrams into their flesh. And the devil saw that it was good but that it had no impact whatsoever on black folks…
