Thursday, October 27 From London in 1920 to later-in-life Vegas shows, Noel Coward was quite the life of the partyor at least his plays were often about the life of the party. The playwright, songwriter and performer and his often-upbeat works have been a huge influence on modern theater. Theatre…
Thursday, October 13 Ophidiophobes beware. Quad C Theatre is taking on Robert Schenkkan’s Handler. The stage will play host to the story of a man released from prison, accepted back into his home and desperate for some sort of change. So desperate, in fact, that he decides it would be…
What is so scary about horror movies? It’s not monsters–they’re all latex and makeup. It’s not the gore–so fake. It’s the startle. Dracula, Nightmare on Elm Street, The Ring and even The Exorcist scared the bejeezus out of most people. Today, the older films may seem campy, but each still…
Thursday, September 29 There’s no doubt that we fully support sexual health education, family planning and the organizations that promote such programs. However, we are the Dallas Observer, and boy, do we also love a good bit of irony. We couldn’t help but chortle just a bit as we sorted…
“OK, so my car’s making this thunking, scraping noise that sounds kinda like grunsssssk. Then when I hit a bump, it sounds like a squeaky bedspring on the right side. Oh, and can you change the oil, because I can’t really remember the last time that happened.” To an honest…
Thursday, September 15 It’s too bad Bill Owens wasn’t in our family. Our photo albums would have been far more impressive. After looking at the photographer’s book Leisure, it’s clear that Owens has an unusual talent for making the mundane seem like the most interesting stuff in the world. A…
No more antes, no more chips, no more green felt. Please. There’s little we wouldn’t at least consider giving up if it meant we never had to hear another word about poker again. This five-card frenzy has gone on long enough. Isn’t Dave Foley supposed to realize that he’s wasting…
Keith Sweat’s eponymous 1996 release pulled naïve radio listeners’ heads out of the sand and straight into new jack. Simple, sexy beats and Sweat’s trademark nasal whine slow-jammed all over his fifth album, making R&B fans wonder, “Bobby Brown who?” Urban terms like “shorty” dropped into common usage and cassette…
Thursday, September 1 Be honest, you’ve already been to Sam’s Club and purchased your weight in Little Smokies, tortilla chips and jars of queso. The television screen has been so thoroughly cleansed it sparkles between speakers equipped with surround sound. This year you even went all out and purchased a…
Those with secrets to keep should avoid this performance. Those with a penchant for private thought should not enter. Liars will be exposed. And spoons, well, spoons and other metal objects should just stay home or suffer the consequences. At least, this is what can be surmised from a description…
Thursday, August 18 Before they were famous, were they so irritating? Did people notice as much when they suffered a bad bout with bloat? Did they do their own laundry? Did they talk with one another about bad dates? Did anyone care how many girls named Jennifer either of them…
Waiting to Exhale and How Stella Got Her Groove Back were both page-turning bestsellers and entertaining box-office sweethearts. The Interruption of Everything, however–and don’t we know we’ll get some disagreement on this–should probably just head directly over to Lifetime for the movie option. The latest release from the otherwise strong,…
Thursday, August 4 Rick O’Hara would never tell you to get your head out of the clouds. He’d commend you on having stars in your eyes. Of course, he is the planetarium creator at the Emily Fowler Central Library in Denton. The library welcomes stargazers ages 7 and older to…
Ten years after leaving Thee Headcoatees behind for her first solo album, British garage-rock queen Holly Golightly seduces Dallas with songs that stretch beyond her roots in three-chord rock. Why, she’s a critic’s Wal-Mart, with country, jazz, a bit of folk and some acoustic blues numbers that stick your heart…
I’ve just heard Richard Lewis tell a story about walking through a terminal at LAX, hearing some little 4-year-old girl yell, “There’s the Jew!” and wanting to run terrified like the Marathon Man. I’m laughing my ass off because there’s no doubt in my mind that this really happened. We’re…
Thursday, July 21 It’s summer. It sucks. The sweat thing? No good. Just getting in the car is like passing through the gates of hell. The sweat forming along the scalp, along the waistband and, for the ladies, in that special crevice just under the bra. In the course of…
I may be a reality TV junkie, but even I have standards. I require my reality programs to have a life-improving goal (such as America’s Next Top Model’s modeling contract or Project Runway’s mentorship and clothing line), or they must involve celebrities–preferably engaged in a life-affirming challenge (Celebrity Fit Club)…
After releasing three forgettable albums in the past six years, Erin McKeown reintroduces herself, and this time, the music actually sticks. We Will Become Like Birds finally establishes the 27-year-old as a singer-songwriter who deserves attention. Her previous ventures showed plenty of potential, but her sultry torch-song alto and knowing…
Thursday, June 30 You remember them. They wore the beret but shunned the authority. They spoke perfect French but refused those insipid potluck fetes. They were the French Club Dropouts. The West End Comedy Theatre has its own French Club Dropouts, and while a few may have been the high…
Thursday, June 23 You have your Dick Heads, your Ben Dovers, your Willie Bangers, your Buster Hymens. But these days, it’s quite possible the most unfortunate name to have is none other than George Bush. We’re not sure if Martha Boone Mattia would necessarily agree, but she did interview George…
I could never be David Sedaris’ sister. It’s not because he would tell embarrassing anecdotes about me in his books–look in any of them and there is an abundance of familial tales. It’s not because having such a brother would incite getting phone numbers unpublished, and the telling last name…
Thursday, June 9 David Bowie hit it on the nose when he sang, “Oo-oo-ooh, call them the Diamond Dogs.” All right, so maybe he wasn’t exactly speaking of the canine species, but we couldn’t help the reference since deBoulle Diamond and Jewelry is hosting the second annual deBoulle Goes to…
