After Wall of Sound, before that last in-store at Good Records, blogs all over lit up with heated debates on the merits of Austin’s the Black Angels. Some argued that the new quasi-psychedelic sounds of the five-piece are overrated (many cited the keyboardist’s simplistic lines as the most irritating factor)…
I have the upper-arm strength of an infant. I can lift boxes of moderate weight, the occasional appliance and adjust myself on the couch when my legs have fallen asleep, but I can safely say I am in no shape to climb a mountain. Watching other people do it, however,…
In West Side Story, Maria felt pretty, witty and gay. Now, it’s the gay part we’re focusing on, as Q Cinema and the DFW LGBTQ Latino Alliance honor Hispanic Heritage Month by screening East Side Story—the story of a Latino neighborhood romance that’s, honestly, pretty and witty as well. Filmmaker…
In preparation for the upcoming Alice in Chains concert, we wandered back behind the spotlights and the expansive monitors of the stage at Nokia Theatre. And we found we weren’t alone. Though we saw no one, we heard voices in the dressing room: Layne Staley: I mean, I suppose I…
It’s cheesy. It’s got a geek rep. It’s completely self-absorbed. It’s karaoke…and it’s packing Dallas barrooms. This room-packing effect is nothing new really. What’s new is that kitschy karaoke has grown from the 12-ton cassette-playing machines of your father’s Christmas party, past conventioneer-chic and straight into out-and-out hipness. Weeknights have…
As a young baby-sitter, the Frog and Toad series by Arnold Lobel was an instrumental tool in our sitting supply case. No matter which ankle-biter I had to preside over for the evening and no matter how totally irritating they were spraying bathwater or how disgusting they were during dinnertime,…
O, promising blues boy, where did you go? You offered us Lie to Me and Wander This World and despite their still-green qualities, we wondered if something wonderful might still come of you. Then we heard Turn Around, and though your name is on the front we couldn’t find you…
I’ve often wondered the what-ifs of life—the ramifications of social smoking, how far I can push my hair color and still be taken seriously, my future as a cat lady. Here’s something I never really wondered about until author Laura Numeroff brought it up: If You Give a Pig a…
Seriously, I knew that JT was super-talented what with the singing, the hip-hop, the poppin’ ‘n’ lockin’ and what-not, but hell, I had no idea he was also into architecture. The Dallas Architecture Forum is opening its 11th season with some serious whistle-worthy styles as James Timberlake…oh, damn. I’m a…
Never one to drool over Meg White’s musical “talent,” I found Jack White’s switch to Brendan Benson a definite trade up. Go ahead, fillet me, but first, hear me out. With the White Stripes, Jack carries the duo, while Meg provides a writhing sexiness. But I ask–do her tribal gyrations…
Landlords of garage rock The Deadly Snakes may have given up the lease this past August, but thankfully we still have front man André Ethier. With the Snakes, Ethier was known for his swagger, his “I know you know I’m a bad ass” style that resonated in lyrics such as…
“Next, please!” For one whole week you get to read my take on Dallas’ music scene. Having lived here for all but a few ill-fated months after high school (no need to discuss those), I have strong beliefs that, like the popularity of skinny jeans, Dallas’ music scene is cyclical…
Let’s think of some made-in-heaven pairs: Siegfried and Roy. Willing and able. Bogey and Bacall. PB and J. Starsky and Hutch. Jake and, obviously, the Fatman. Bikers and Badges. Fruit ‘n’ Fibre. T and…Wait. Go back one. Not the cereal, the one before. Bikers and Badges? Where the hell did…
In the summer months, Mom turns to her “dark cult of Angel worship.” Funny, according to Amazon.com’s book description, that’s what the protagonist discovers in Melanie Wells’ The Soul Hunter. Wait. We can’t seem to find any references to right field, bull pens or batting statistics; we just see nods…
Every time I eat a doughnut, I think of Brian Regan. The comedian, so adept at turning simple everyday tales into side-splitting anecdotes, tackled doughnut shops, doughnut ladies and related doughnut issues in an act that challenged my ability to control urination. He didn’t address “holes” or “dough” or anything…
From the first notes of “Mental Cabaret” on the Polyphonic Spree’s just-born EP, WAIT, it’s clear the militia of happiness has darkened the corners. The legion’s expected brightness has been dampened by gloomier keyboards and electronic elements that swirl around a choir/band that is obviously traversing a new emotional landscape…
If the Friday night line-up on BBC America isn’t enough to keep that Anglophilic entertainment streak satisfied (and now that Hell’s Kitchen is over, the delectable Gordon Ramsay isn’t sloppin’ out British slang and cuss words on Monday nights), Theatre Britain offers a solution in the form of its third…
Familial dysfunction, unstable tykes, failing marriages and a parade. You could find those things in just about any Texas town—large or small. You just don’t have to look too hard to find them in Borland, a film named for the town in which it’s set. Directed by Quam Odusi, this…
A teacher living on a meager salary. Nothing new there, right? Terrible crimes happen every day. No shocker there either. Now combine the two. Hollywood would give you Michelle Pfeiffer in a leather jacket or perhaps even a bat-wielding James Belushi riding a motorcycle through a high school. You know,…
Zayra Alvarez was axed on national television Wednesday, August 16. At approximately 8:20 p.m. the Puerto Rican native and Dallas resident launched into a high-energy version of Blue October’s “Razorblade” on Rock Star: Supernova, but it couldn’t save her from a deftly wielded Tommy-hawk. Alvarez was tragically denied and Supernova…
What’s so wrong with bald? Bald (or a well-groomed balding, mind you) is sexy, cool, natural and, most important, tasteful. So why is it that the toupee is still in existence? I’ve seen lots of hair so bad it looks like a toupee, but never have I found a convincing…
When reading materials on Jeff Abbott’s new thriller Fear we couldn’t help but think of My Blue Heaven, the moderately unsuccessful Steve Martin and Rick Moranis comedy. Try out these parallels: the mob, witness protection program, post-traumatic stress disorder, drug scandals. OK, maybe not so much on those last two,…
