Dallas County commissioners are irritated with Sheriff Lupe Valdez after she submitted her recent overtime expenses for the first five and a half months of the 2006 fiscal year. Nearly 35 jailors, whose salaries are typically less than $40,000 a year, made more than $15,000 in overtime pay from October…
Next up, let’s have a big round of applause for The Lodge, the socially conscious strip club where the entertainers are will to put their…their…their whatever on the line to support Latino immigrants. No, seriously. On May 1, immigrant advocates are urging Latinos to skip work and school and boycott…
Sometimes this job’s so easy the stories write themselves. Or, in this case, they’re written by other people, like bluesman Willie Dixon. To wit: Would someone please inform automatic Slim, razor-toting Jim, butcher knife-toting Annie and the rest of the gang that Arts Fifth Avenue in Fort Worth intends to…
Let me tell you what a tasteless place the Dallas Observer is. See, some of the staff was talking about the American Baby Faire coming to Dallas Market Hall this Saturday and Sunday, and one sick, sick man, whom we won’t disgrace by naming (Noah Bailey), said, “Babies on a…
Scarlet letter: Whom do you trust to counsel you for personal problems, a minister or a licensed counselor? How about a pastor who is also a licensed counselor? Sorry, trick question. The right answer is don’t trust anyone. Too bad Peggy Lee Penley wasn’t a member of the Church of…
Praise God, the plight of the BOMA people is finally getting the recognition it deserves. Thanks to Mayor Laura Miller, the great and tragic BOMA diaspora of 1914 will be commemorated for the entire month of June, officially designated BOMA International Month in Dallas by the mayor. So break out…
I don’t fish but can spend a happy afternoon ogling tackle in a sporting goods store. Don’t do woodworking, but that tool section at Home Depot? I’m the kid in a candy store. Guns, auto parts, camping equipment, electronics—hell, sewing machines—it’s all the same. You may know someone similar. We…
Those of you who know downtown Dallas only during the work week probably think that a bike tour downtown is something less than a good idea. It’s about as smart, maybe, as sewing your own parachute or chucking a tiger under the chin and saying, “Him’s a big kitty, isn’t…
Return to sender: You may remember this term from All the President’s Men: “rat fucking.” It’s the practice of little dirty political tricks designed to harass your opponent, such as whisper campaigns, telephone harassment or sending out fake memos written on stolen campaign letterhead. It’s politics at its pettiest and…
Tarrant County folks planning on filing 11th hour taxes tonight: The post office in downtown Fort Worth will be closed for construction. Instead, go to those at 3701 Altamesa Blvd. or 4600 Mark IV Parkway. Sure, the Fort Worth Startle Gram relates this valuable info to you in a story…
Tarrant County folks planning on filing 11th hour taxes tonight: the post office in downtown Fort Worth will be closed for construction. Instead, go to those at 3701 Altamesa Blvd. or 4600 Mark IV Parkway. Sure, the Fort Worth Startle Gram relates this valuable info to you in a story…
A local company is investing $50 million in a new plant in southern Dallas. Let’s see, how can we make that seem like a bad thing? Hmm… See, the trouble is that the company is Belo Corp., which announced the groundbreaking for the plant on Langdon Road in a press…
Just got off the phone with Kim Finch, one of the three new co-owners of the Double Wide. The longtime DW staffer, along with fellow DW ladies Jill Saveh and Whitney King, have taken the lease over from Jim Sibert in an equal partnership effective immediately. The bar name remains…
Big mo’: So, now what? Say you helped organize Sunday’s humongous immigration rally, bringing a crowd roughly twice the size of Plano peacefully downtown. Amazing. Pat yourself on the back. What else ya got? Assume for a moment that Congress regains its sanity–big assumption–and doesn’t make criminals of illegal immigrants…
While the politicians were milling around waiting for the big immigration march to start last Sunday, one of the things they were all gossiping about, of course, was politicians: who was going to show up and who wasn’t. In particular, I thought I picked up some anxiety on the part…
Before moving to Dallas, I rarely flew on a major carrier. Southwest was much cheaper to fly home from Utah, as was JetBlue when I lived in New York. Now that I cannot fly on either (due to the Wright Amendment, I guess) I am forced to choose between United,…
Last night the Observer softball team convened for our weekly butt kicking. As in, we stand there, other teams do the kicking. But last night, it was personal. We played the Dallas Morning News team, a formidable crew outfitted with fancy-schmancy SportsDay shirts. One of them had on a knee…
Rumors are flying at Internet speed, so here’s what I know for sure–the Double Wide is closing down. Their doors will not be open tonight and will not be open in the immediate future. I spoke with DW booking agent Chelsea Callahan just a few minutes ago–she answered her phone…
Though 88 bands were advertised to play the Wall of Sound Festival, the total number of acts that actually played was only 86. Huge disappointment, right? The two drop-outs were relatively notable, though–Comet, who played one of their first 2005 reunion gigs at last year’s debut WoSF, had to bail…
Gentleman, if you wanted to hook up with Dr. Mona, CBS-11’s jet setting medical correspondent, you might have missed your chance. In case you didn’t see Channel 11’s nauseating promo, the station was openly pimping out Dr. M, making her dating life depressing fodder for its depressed viewers: “How in…
I don’t write a weekly music column, which has two advantages. One, I probably haven’t insulted your band. Two, I probably haven’t insulted your friend’s band. As such, you can approach this entry with little to no prejudice against my opinions and decide only after you’ve read this that I…
If only life were like a typical Neil Simon play. Anger would be expressed with quips and gags. So would pain, sadness, happiness, horniness, loneliness and any other -ness you could think of. Existence would play to a laugh track, and the never-ending punch lines would be broad and telegraphed…
