So, I just spoke with Robert Edsel concerning those two paintings at the SMU Meadows Museum his Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art publicly identified as having been stolen from the the Rothschild family in Paris in 1941 by the Nazis. He did not have much time to…
As promised, in advance of Monday’s special called council meeting involving those pesky ethics reforms, Angela Hunt has sent Unfair Park her own laundry list of suggestions. Titled “Why We Need to Change the Proposed Lobbyist Registration Ordinance,” the six-page proposal also being sent to the City Attorney’s Office is…
A Friend of Unfair Park alerts us to the news that Robert Edsel — founder of the Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art, which scours the globe for the millions of pieces of art stolen by Hitler and the Nazis — found two such items on the campus…
Chris Heinbaugh, Mayor Tom Leppert’s chief of staff, tells Unfair Park this morning that the mayor still hopes to get those ethics reforms passed at Wednesday’s regular city council meeting. (Good luck with all that.) We should have a better idea of what they actually look like later this evening,…
Last November, Walt Disney’s nephew (Roy Disney) and the Disney family’s investment firm (Shamrock Holdings) bought a 5.5 percent stake in Mockingbird Lane-based concrete maker Texas Industries, Inc., which, till just recently, wanted to burn tires down in Midlothian in order to fuel its kilns. (Shamrock now owns slightly more…
Sir Anthony Daniels: The Unfair Park Interview from Dallas Observer on Vimeo.The 6-year-old who lives in my house has spoken: We will be attending Star Wars: In Concert tomorrow night at the Cowboys Stadium, where, one prays, The Force will be with the sound system for a change. So, then,…
At last. Mark Salling, the pride of Lake Highlands High School (Class of ’01), was finally more than just a bit player on last night’s episode of Glee. Having transitioned from brooding football bully to cougar-chasing horndog to song-and-dance man over seven brilliant episodes of the best high-school show since…
Reuters was right: Last week, the news service reported that the three parties interested in taking the Texas Rangers off Tom Hicks’s hands would be in Arlington this week to meet and greet with team bigwigs. And, so far, so good: According to Official Statements from the LeMaster Group, which…
Speaking of local music artifacts and eight-track tapes …Here’s the poster for James “Big Bucks” Burnett’s upcoming exhibit at the Barry Whistler Gallery. Because how else will you get people to look at 500 sealed Rutles eight-tracks “in their original shipping boxes”? Sigh. Dolly Python’s amazing, but I kinda miss…
As you can see, however, Dawn Rizos isn’t mentioned by name in the October 29 ish — and where’s the publicity value in that? You remember what happened, right? Right: Newt Gingrich’s Business Defense and Advisory Council solicited the owner of the topless joint for a donation in exchange for…
Speaking of Main Street Garden …DowntownDallas sends word that a new site’s just gone live touting the amenities and upcoming events on tap for the site of a former parking garage. Such as: Had no idea the outdoor cafe was called The Lily Pad, and that its menu was being…
On Monday I moderated a District 1 school board candidates debate, and long story short, all four contenders were thoughtful, well-reasoned and dead-level; even 79-year-old long-shot Melvin Cannon’s call for more vocational education was greeted with a few nods of approval. Most of the questions stuck to issues of policy…
I’ve spent the better part of 20 years trying to find my box of old Hot Klub fliers, which I’d swipe off telephone poles on my bus drive down Maple Ave. to junior high in the early 1980s. Turns out, all I had to do was look here: Twilite Room…
On Friday, 54-year-old Claude Alvin Simmons Jr. and 39-year-old Christopher Shun Scott will be free men for the first time since being wrongly sent to prison in October 1997 for the robbery and murder of Alfonso Aguilar. Two other men will take their places: Alonzo Hardy, who is already in…
Southwest Airlines had its Media Day today, so expect myriad deep-think pieces in coming hours about the Love Field-based carrier’s newfangled “Green Plane.” Um, which is …? Well, here’s the press release that inventories all the “environmentally friendly interior materials” being used, among them Flor carpet panels, a “Life Vest…
So, you don’t like the Dallas Police Department’s new black-and-whites, hunh? That comes as a shock to the DPD — especially Lt. Dale Barnard, the department’s fleet manager. I spoke with him this morning to find out a little more about the new ride, which rolls out in February. Specifically,…
Speaking of downtown parks …Maybe you’ve heard: Woodall Rodgers Freeway is about to be a mess from now till … oh .. lessee here … “late 2011.” That’s when the folks in charge of the Woodall Rodgers deck park expect to have the sucker done, with “amenities” following in ’12…
Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins’s office sends word this morning that two men convicted of murder in October 1997 — 54-year-old Claude Alvin Simmons Jr. and 39-year-old Christopher Shun Scott — have been exonerated. Says Watkins’s spokesperson, Jamille Bradfield, these are “the first two non-DNA exonerations since Mr. Watkins…
We’re, oh, ’bout three weeks away from the official dedication of Main Street Garden downtown, as November 13 is now the ribbon-cutting date. And, from the looks of the site last weekend, there’s still much to be done — it looked awful … squishy, given all the rain of late…
When Jim’s not designing Dallas Area Rapid Transit light-rail routes through downtown or lunching with John Wiley Price, he can be found most days fishing from the banks of the Trinity River; he’s easy to spot, as his tin-foil cap is quite reflective on a sunny day. Hence, his enthusiasm…
Maybe you’ve heard the radio ads: Rudy Giuliani (didgeridoo), Colin Powell (bass), Terry Bradshaw (lead vocals), Zig Ziglar (banjo), Robert Schuller (keytar), Rick Belluzo (hurdy gurdy) and Tamara Lowe (bagpipes) are getting the band back together for an all-star jam session at the Fort Worth Convention Center this Monday, Monday,…
Speaking of the local film business …Willa Ford’s an awful nice lady from my limited experience spent with Mr. and Mrs. Mike Modano, but I’ve seen little of her film work; this, for example, is all I’ve seen of her star turn as Anna Nicole Smith in 2007, and I…
