Come Sail Away… To Grand Prairie

Ok, I admit it. The first non-soundtrack record that I ever bought was Styx’s Paradise Theater–the one with the hologram on the vinyl. I already had the 45 of “Babe,” which was one of my roller rink favorites. So, yeah, I confess, I was a Styx fan. What of it?…

Spring Means Supporting Local Craft

More like a party than a sale, the Second Annual Spring Bash from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at South Side on Lamar, 1409 S. Lamar, is a free, family-friendly event that is sure to inspire your inner Martha Stewart. Shop Dallas’ premiere handmade arts and crafts experience presented…

Ay-yi-isha

This show has been canceled. Aisha Tyler is smart. She is also knockout-gorgeous and tall, and she even knows how to do all that makeup, hair and clothes stuff really well. And she is funny–really funny. The actress and comedian is also an activist, a feminist, a writer and an…

You’d Be Crazy To Miss This

The Repertory Company Theatre presents Always…Patsy Cline, a musical celebrating the beloved Cline as told through the eyes of her real-life number one fan, Louise Seger. Seger, a Houston native, befriended the singer in a Texas honky-tonk in 1957, and continued a correspondence with her until Cline’s untimely death at…

Whatever You Do, Dance

When in doubt, just dance. Or at least that’s Lady Gaga’s philosophy. This year’s Dance for the Planet Festival does just that. Whether you can shake it or have no rhythm at all, Dance for the Planet invites the community for a weekend full of pilates, flamenco, hip-hop, salsa and…

Ruff Play

The cult of the dog has taken over America, and DFW residents (most definitely including yours truly) are no exception. The fourth annual Dog Bowl hits Fair Park from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, transforming the Cotton Bowl into a “Texas-sized dog park.” Presented by Friends of Fair Park,…

Who Is He And Why?

The second chapter in South Korean director Chan-wook Park’s vengeance trilogy, Oldboy(2003) follows a man held captive for unknown reasons and then released after 15 years, only to be thrown into a labyrinth of violence and mystery. Equipped with money, a cell phone and expensive clothes, Ho Dae-su (Min-sik Choi)…

Noshing On Nutella

I went to junior high (yeah, back when they called it junior high) right next to a small grocery store that sold European stuff unavailable at the Safeway and included a deli and bakery. It was there that I learned what a divine thing a fresh croissant baked by French…

The Songs of Small Females

When I was 7, I got scarlet fever. This was in the 1970s, in pre-cable/pre-VCR-era Washington, DC, so my choices of what to watch on TV were pretty slim. Not to mention that we didn’t have a remote control, so my mom would fluff my pillows, refill my ginger ale…

Horsin’ Around

The real-life plot of The Horse Boy goes a little something like this–after learning their young son Rowan is autistic and subsequently plunging themselves into the complicated, seemingly hopeless and expensive world of conventional therapies, Austin couple Rupert and Kristin Isaacson discover Rowan’s deep and powerful connection with horses. This…

Up With Rollins

Henry Rollins isn’t for everyone. No, the former Black Flag frontman isn’t for the faint of heart, but neither is he for many of the cynical and jaded. A large contingent of those who may seem like they would be fans of Rollins–who may have been fans of his in…

Popcorn And Hitchcock

You know when someone is talking about a movie and you say, “Hmmm–I’ve never seen that,” and they shriek, “WHAT? YOU’VE NEVER SEEN THAT??!!? OH MY GOD, you HAVE TO see it!!”? And it’s really annoying? You know how sometimes you are the person on the other side of things?…

What About The MacGuffin?

Part performance art, part thriller, part slapstick comedy show, this is not your father’s Hitchcock. Using an old and well-loved platform to try an innovative and whacky idea that has been nothing but a splash on Broadway, Dallas Summer Musicals’ production of The 39 Steps features a cast of four…

Dancin’! Dancin’! Dancin’!

I’m a music person. No, not really a musician–a fan. A connoisseur, really. So, if I believed in the healing power of anything besides medicine, it would be music. Music teacher Joel Shickman believed in that power and, even after his death from leukemia, that belief lives on in his…

Cross-Stitch

The McKinney Avenue Contemporary (The MAC), 3120 McKinney Ave., presents its first 2010 exhibition: Mixed Media, featuring the works of Sedrick Huckaby and Anita Knox in the large galleries and Jack White in the New Works Space. All of the artists explore African and African-American textiles in the “New World”…

Kosher Kisses

Even though I was raised Jewish and was part of several community groups that reinforced my Jewish identity, I never dated a Jewish guy. Unless you call what happened at summer camp with Jason Kaplan in 1982 dating, and nobody in their right mind would. I am now happily married…

Tilt Fest

The winter solstice, which astronomically stands for the moment when the earth’s axial tilt is farthest from the sun, also stands as the most ancient midwinter celebration and the source of many holiday traditions now associated with Christmas. Unlike Christmas or Hanukkah or Kwanza, observance of the solstice does not…

Shop And Awe

Everybody has their own way of doing the holidays, and if your way includes handmade jewelry and burlesque, then you have a great one-stop shop at the Gifts and Garters event on Saturday. The early evening sale and show will include holiday shopping from local indie and vintage businesses, and…

Light Up At Bass

On the whole, The Doobie Brothers don’t really get what they deserve. In the average music-listening American’s mind, I would be willing to bet that when they think of the Doobies, they think of the Michael McDonald years. In reality, that was only a minor part of the Doobie history…

It’s A Gradual Graduation

I first saw The Graduate when I was about 17. I remember that I liked it, thought it was artistic and visually stunning, and I understood the general idea behind some of the symbolism. I saw it again a few years later, when I was the age of the main…

Look What They Found

It’s nice to know I’m not the only one fascinated by other peoples’ lost and discarded stuff. I was first made aware that I wasn’t alone when I discovered Found, a zine of things (mostly written and drawn things) that have been found and sent in. So, it turns out…

Bauhaus Party

The Bauhaus School, founded by Walter Gropius in 1919, was Germany’s most important design school. It became synonymous with an influential movement in aesthetics, visual art, architecture and industrial design committed to an art allied with technology. Its philosophy was unadorned functionalism and elegant simplicity. The Nazis closed down the…