Whitney Lawson George Steel Dallas Opera’s announcement yesterday that, after a yearlong search, it has decided to go with George Steel as its general director has them mighty disappointed in New York City, where, for the past 11 years, Steel has been executive director of the Miller Theater at Columbia…
Mark Graham Last week’s cover story on abuse at state-run institutions for the mentally retarded generated both positive and negative feedback. Cecilia Fedorov, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services (the agency that oversees state schools) called me last week to tell me she was “disappointed”…
Just a note here on the community bulletin board, but if anyone needs a copy of the 1929 Forester for any reason, I picked one up at Half-Price Books over the weekend — set me back a whole 15 bucks. Not gonna part with it — found a relative, Lillie…
The September issue of Esquire — due on stands shortly with, I believe, that flashing “E Ink” cover — profiles a “Woman We Love” with distinctly local ties: Euless-born, SMU-educated Sarah Shahi. And from the sound of the piece, which isn’t yet online, Joel Stein’s very, very much smitten with…
John Antioco’s had plenty of good jobs around town: He was chairman and CEO of Blockbuster Inc., where he did quite well for hisself, and senior VP of store operations at 7-Eleven, which is where his Blockbuster replacement, Jim Keyes, came from. Now he’s one of the operating partners at…
From DeGolyer Library Collection, SMU Billie Marcus, left, and Stanley Marcus with Coco Chanel before the first Neiman Marcus Fortnight in 1957 Swear, I will not turn Unfair Park into a 24-7 Marcus House drive-thru; in fact, this will likely be our last posting on the subject as it moves…
The Dallas Police Department, riding high off the arrests made from this YouTubed video, has posted two more — including this freshly baked footage of four men burglarizing a residence in broad daylight. (It appears to have been shot by a neighbor, who, one would hope, was dialing 911 with…
View Larger Map Interesting note in my morning in-box, courtesy Avi Adelman’s Daily Crime Report service. Turns out, at around 11 p.m. Sunday night, cops arrested someone for masturbating in public in good ol’ Northwest Dallas. Weird. Only, weirder still, it occurred in the rather busy 3600 block of Forest…
“A loud, shambling cross between Pavement’s deconstructed indie-rock (without the cynicism) and The Grateful Dead’s communal jam (without the extended solos)” is how Dave Sims described Dallas Observer Music Award-nominated Matthew and the Arrogant Sea’s live show way, way back in June — man, how times flies. And while the…
Mark Stepnoski About six years back, Our Boss Man wrote about former Dallas Cowboys offensive lineman Mark Stepnoski’s efforts to play on grass as the then-newly installed president of Texas NORML — you know, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. Which, turns out, was only the tip…
Roger Caldwell Vincent Paul Abbott, who I believe you also know as Hellyeah drummer Vinnie Paul Jesse Hughey’s Ozzfest wrap-up appears in the paper version of Unfair Park on Wednesday, but for those who can’t wait to relive the magic moments, Roger Caldwell shot us dozens of photographs we’ve since…
Marcus House I finally spoke this afternoon with Debbi Head, spokesperson for the Texas Historical Commission, who says the state’s historic preservation agency was stunned to receive at the end of July Mark and Patty Lovvorn’s request to demolish the 70-year-old Marcus House. “This came as a real surprise to…
Texas Department of Criminal Justice Leon David Dorsey IV Leon David Dorsey IV will likely be executed tomorrow for shooting to death on April 4, 1994, two East Dallas Blockbuster clerks for $392 in the cash register — a crime to which he admitted four years later, while serving 60…
Because Dallas’s residential electric power prices are much, much cheaper than Houston’s. So chronicled the Houston Chronicle yesterday in a feel-good story that notes: Houston’s residential electric power prices are consistently higher than in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, ranging in recent years from about a half-cent per kilowatt-hour higher to…
Mark Graham Fred Baron Moments ago, the Houston Chronicle reported that John Edwards has decided to, like, pass on delivering his speech to the Harris County Democratic Party during its September 20 fund-raising gala. Cannot imagine why. Also noted in the story: Harris County Republican Chairman Jared Woodfill’s demand that…
Among those scheduled to speak at the Dallas Security Traders Association wingding early next month at the Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas at Las Colinas is The Man Called Large, best known for penning the Web site Take a Report. Whilst there, you will find, oh, a photo of…
The Marcus House, as it looked during construction in 1938 Much of what you should know about Stanley Marcus’ former house on Nonesuch Road can be found on the Texas Historical Commission’s Web site, which notes that in the mid-1930s, the man who turned Neiman Marcus into a retail empire…
Right about the time I was posting this, I got an e-mail from a good Friend of Unfair Park, who noted, simply, “I’m starting to love Mondays.” Why come? Because if it’s Monday, that means Avi Adelman spent the weekend trolling the mean streets of Lower Greenville with his Handycam…
The latest issue of The New Republic wonders, quite simply, “What will happen when America can’t afford to fly?” And no, surprisingly, the answer isn’t, “Transporters.” It’s a little more doom-and-gloom-scented, as Bradford Plumer takes a look at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and portrays it as the center of an…
Hell of a weekend: Bernie Brillstein, Bernie Mac and now Isaac Hayes — all late greats now, all well before their time. Of Bernie Mac, I was a big fan (NSFW, incidentally, not at all); “15 roles to remember,” which is a legacy. Brillstein I got to know a few…
Dallas trial attorney Fred Baron, who’s a very, very good friend So, yes, Fred Baron, former finance chair for John Edwards presidential bids, is indeed the “super-rich pal” and “rich retiree in Dallas, Texas” who’s been giving money to Rielle Hunter, with whom John Edwards today admitted having an affair,…
From the Courthouse News Service, this bit of legal ephemera out of Denton County, where Jeff Soele Real Estate alleges that Lake Lewisville’s Xtreme Marine and salesman Mike Flowers are just a little too extreme for his tastes: DENTON, Texas (CN) — The “new 2006 demo boat” a customer bought…
