Who knew? Sometime during the 8th century, between bouts of famine, scurvy and smallpox, dynastic conflict and bloody religious war, the Franks invented “jazz hands.” And when they weren’t hacking away with broadswords, or hacking up a lung, they took time to create bouncy, light pop. It’s amazing what one…
Speak up, son: So, Wick Allison, publisher of D Magazine, long ago dropped his support for the city’s controversial plan to build a toll road between the Trinity River levees. Who knew? We sure didn’t. Last we’d heard, D was still a member of the toll road’s cheerleading squad led…
Dear God: OK, Buzz is a little late with cracking wise about “The Response,” Governor Rick Perry’s national day of prayer and monster truck rally to take place next month in Houston. What? No monster trucks? Why, then, would anyone in his right mind travel to Houston in August for…
Aw, nuts: Exactly what information is mayoral candidate Mike Rawlings waiting to hear before he passes judgment on whether Dallas should continue its futile effort to build a toll road between the Trinity River levees near downtown? Give us a hint, Mike, about what it’s gonna take, ’cause between this…
Fishin’ in the Trinity: OK, now we’re really curious. We’re talking to you, Dallas City Hall, about those Trinity River project emails and memos you’re fighting to keep us from seeing. What, has someone been unduly candid in his or her assessment of the city’s plans to put a toll…
OK, now we’re really curious. We’re talking to you, Dallas City Hall, about those Trinity River project emails and memos you’re fighting to keep us from seeing. What, has someone been unduly candid in his or her assessment of the city’s plans to put a toll road between the levees?…
Hello, loser: So Republicans in control of the Texas House this week managed to shove through a bunch of bills without debate. This caused a lot of Sturm und Drang—that’s German for “really bitchy Tweets”—in the Legislature, chiefly among Democrats who believe the GOP’s House supermajority is behaving in a…
Do chickens really plot elaborate escapes from chicken farms, a la Chicken Run? What was on the other side of that road that inspired a clucker to risk death in a cloud of feathers? Why do so many things “taste just like chicken?” Sadly, answers to these questions won’t be…
Is that it? Another Mother’s Day, and you’re again taking your aging mom to lunch at Luby’s and handing her yet another bouquet of soon-to-be dead flowers? How nice. After all, she only carried you for nine months and passed your bulbous noggin through her birth canal. Luckily, if yours…
Paper chase: So, Raymond Paredes, Texas’ higher education commissioner, says Governor Rick Perry’s call for a $10,000 bachelor’s degree is “entirely feasible” and wants to see some proposals by 2013. Education experts scoff. Can’t be done, they say, unless you’re talking diploma mills. “I know Texas’ [Higher Education] Coordinating Board…
Oh God, yes: It’s been a double spit-take week here at Buzz HQ, thanks to The Dallas Morning News opinion pages —and frankly, we wish the paper would knock it off. Spraying mouthfuls of our “afternoonish” bourbon is a waste of perfectly good liquor. Speaking of wasted fluids, what first…
A bridge too far: Oh, now we get it. Silly Buzz. A couple of weeks ago we wrote about the city council’s plan to spend $10.7 million—$3.5 million of it in your money—to get Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava to design a cheaper fancy suspension bridge on Interstate 30 over the…
Cognitive dissonance: Remember when times were flush and Dallas’ city leaders had goals other than keeping the lights on at City Hall? It wasn’t that long ago when all the talk was “world class city” and we were assured that Dallas was a few fancy suspension bridges, a toll road…
Joe Tone, a Village Voice Media veteran and former editor of the Pitch Weekly in Kansas City, was named editor of the Observer today. His first day on the job is Monday. Tone brings a broad mix of reporting, editing and web experience to the post. He previously worked as…
Fewer than two million World War II veterans are still alive in the United States, and their number shrinks by about 900 a day. Soon, a living link to the past will pass. Even rarer are samples of some of the equipment these warriors used in battle. The Collings Foundation…
Mr. Right: Dear ex-Mayor Tom Leppert: Please don’t shoot a coyote. We know you’re running for the GOP 2012 Senate nomination, so you have to be Mr. Hardcore, anti-gummint pseudo-Tea Party guy. And we realize Governor Good Hair Perry got tons of publicity when he killed a coyote while out…
High road: Now, now, let’s be fair. Just because Msryrr…Mauor…(damn fingers won’t type all of a sudden)…MAYOR Dwaine Caraway doesn’t want anyone to hear what’s on the audio tapes from a police call to his home on January 2, that doesn’t necessarily mean the tapes contain anything bad. You know…
Forgive us a little bit of self-promotion here: The Kessler Theater and City of Ate have teamed up to offer the monthly “Supper Club at The Kessler,” a series of food and music events featuring a mix of some of the area’s most talented chefs and musical performers. The Kessler’s…
Forget Mardi Gras already. St. Patrick’s Day? Hah. A minor blip in the holiday calendar. If you’re really looking for a party, brace yourself for the Big Kahuna of festivals, that annual bacchanal known far and wide as National Cheese Fondue Day. Hey, why the blank look? You know…Fondue Day…
As a general rule, we tend to avoid movies made by foreigners, set in circuses and described as “surreal.” Toss in a dwarf, a mime, a bunch of sequins and some blood and you have the perfect storm of weirdness that makes our brain, softened by years of straightforward narrative…
The tired, lame joke used to pop about annually this time of year among the lapsed Catholics in my family. “I’m giving up watermelon for Lent,” assorted uncles would say with a grin. Har-har. Get it? Watermelon isn’t in season during Lent, so as sacrifices go… Yeah, those old boys…
Happiness is…: Two years ago, when the Texas Legislature took up the important question of whether college students who possess concealed handgun permits should be allowed to carry weapons on campus, Buzz carefully examined the issue for 20 seconds before weighing in with our usual carefully crafted argument. To wit:…
