After Tom Leppert coasted into the mayors office in June, I decided he and I needed to take a little break. It wasnt an easy decision. In spring 2007, I learned so much about him, from how his single mother inspired his heartland values to how he never swore throughout…
It sounds like a bad Jeff Foxworthy joke. A drunk, middle-aged man unloads his handgun in his backyard, hitting a passing truck, and then tries to punch a cop in the balls after the law comes knocking. Only the suspect in this case isn’t your typical redneck. He’s Martin LeNoir,…
At her peak, before she had friends in low places, Trisha Yearwood had a string of agreeable hits including “She’s in Love With the Boy,” “Xxx’s and Ooo’s (An American Girl)” and “How Do I Live,” the latter of which completely overmatched LeAnn Rimes’ version. Unlike fellow ’90s stars Terri…
In the movie The Untouchables, Kevin Costner’s Eliot Ness quickly discovers just how difficult it will be to bring down the infamous Al Capone, whose bloody bootlegging operation terrorized a city and made a mockery of the law. Capone has bought off the cops, judges and the mayor and has…
My good friend and colleague Noah W. Bailey says that ever since he was a teenager, he’s fantasized about the Goo Goo Dolls’ “Iris” playing at his wedding reception. [Editor’s note: This is pure fantasy on the part of Mr. Pulle.] He says that it’s a very romantic and sweet…
Six months after Hurricane Katrina nearly destroyed New Orleans, photographer Elliot Snedden headed to the tortured city during its world-famous Mardi Gras celebration, intent on capturing the celebration amid the gloom and sorrow. This week he’ll be presenting photos from his visit, which also include shots of the surrounding cities…
God may have blessed Texas but he never blessed Little Texas, the forgotten ’90s country band that came out of Nashville at a time when Music Row started turning mainstream country into soft rock. In an odd way, the band should be remembered, not for its music, but for what…
On an April evening in 2006, two police officers were patrolling a crime-ridden neighborhood in Northwest Dallas, a few miles south of Love Field. One cop was a respected veteran, the other a rookie less than a month out of the academy, now learning on the job. The two saw…
Wasn’t wireless technology supposed to make it easier to organize information? Since we must move forward, not back, Hawk Electronics is offering a class on how to optimize your electronic information by converting files for all your portable devices. Plus, you can try out some of their new stuff—which is…
Last week, when news broke that a violent drug dealer out on bail allegedly killed a man in an Oak Cliff drug den, Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins largely blamed the murder on his office’s lack of resources. In fact, there’s a more accurate explanation of why Michael Wyatt,…
In the spring, as Dallas County Constable Mike Dupree was fighting to save his job, he looked at his longtime employee and deputy Les Willie. He pointed at Willie and drew a circle in the air with his finger. “Everyone close to you,” Willie says Dupree told him, “is going…
God told Moses to free the Hebrews from slavery. He wants Larry to free people from traffic. Larry Neal, a middle-aged man with a healthy crop of boyish red hair, says that by listening to the spirit of God, he’s on the verge of making history, giving us the flying…
John Oliver’s sculptures have been described as “whimsical,” “sophisticated” and “colorful.” They’ve also been called “blobby” and “bubble-gum-like.” You can find out what exactly this means (art that looks like Horatio Sanz with glasses?) at Introductions North, a dynamic collaboration between the Greater Denton Arts Council and the comtemporary art…
Tom Leppert likes to snack on bran muffins and Grape-Nuts. He listens to contemporary Christian music. Punctual and disciplined, he schedules breakfast meetings for 6 in the morning. He doesn’t swear and is irritated by those who do. “I’ve been with him since August,” says Willis Johnson, his campaign consultant…
Dave Mason is hardly a household name, but he’s had a rather impressive rock ‘n’ roll career. At the age of 18, he founded the seminal prog-rock band Traffic with Steve Winwood, penning the anthemic “Feeling Alright” a year later. Now in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame—admittedly a…
Wannabe kingmaker: Don Hill is still the most interesting thing about the mayor’s race, even though he’s no longer in it. One month after he finished one spot out of the runoff, Hill finds himself the subject of criticism and innuendo after he endorsed Tom Leppert over Ed Oakley, Hill’s…
Last March, at a mayoral forum at Hotel Palomar, the fire alarm began to blare as candidate Tom Leppert spoke. Instantly, as if he knew it would ring all along, his opponent Darrell Jordan quipped that Leppert must have set off a lie-detector test. The audience chuckled. Leppert smiled uncomfortably…
Elizabeth Albanese sat near the front of the massive ballroom, sipping champagne. The 43-year-old loved champagne. In social settings such as this one, it was all she drank. It was part of the image she sought to cultivate, that of a genteel Southern lady. The same could be said of…
People love to hate on the Eagles, but give them some credit: They created an entirely new music genre where rock peters out and where country doesn’t kick in. The Eagles mined this bland space between rock and country for a decade, selling millions of records and leading the way…
Tom Leppert is a tall, thin 52-year-old from North Dallas who talks as if he has five more minutes to live. If you don’t know by now—and judging by the dismal turnout in last Saturday’s election, you probably don’t—he and council member Ed Oakley are in the runoff to be…
Even though I’ve never watched the Dallas Desperados and don’t know a thing about arena football, here are some things I think they do better than the Dallas Mavericks: Defend Stephen Jackson, play perimeter defense, drive to the basket and show up. With the Mavericks having ignobly imploded and the…
A relatively unknown candidate for mayor just six months ago, Tom Leppert has garnered attention, endorsements and cash by relentlessly casting himself as a successful former chief executive officer whose stewardship of Turner Construction, one of the world’s largest construction companies, was an apt prelude to leading a city like…
