Arts & Entertainment

With a three-sided bar on the ground level and a wrap-around upper viewing deck with a full bar that gives concertgoers a bird's-eye view of the stage, Trees is definitely the best bar to catch a rock show. The super tall stage elevates bands to rock god status, and the floor slopes gradually to the front, meaning there isn't a bad vantage point in the house. Rock legend Kurt Cobain famously got in a scuffle here in the early '90s during his show with Nirvana, and even as recently as March of this year, fights broke out on stage with the Orwells and security during Spillover Fest. This club doesn't just look cool and sling cold drinks, it has the rough-and-tumble pedigree that makes it the best.

Trees

It comes as no surprise that an exhibit of work by abstract expressionist luminary Jackson Pollock would be a draw for the Dallas Museum of Art. There's a reason his drip paintings are ubiquitous. They're good. Really good. But the exhibition Blind Spots, organized by DMA curator Gavin Delahunty, focused on Pollock's later work, a series of rarely seen black enamel paintings. Curated in low-ceilinged, carpeted rooms, the exhibition gave the viewer a mid-20th century experience. Yet, it felt new and exciting, and ultimately emotional. The turmoil, the chaos of Pollock's work was on full display, and with more than 70 works, the exhibition demanded numerous visits to the museum.

This has been Brandon Potter's year. In just a few months, the unknown MFA student at Southern Methodist University became one of the city's most promising acting talents. The dude's in his early 30s and he played a believable 55-year-old President Lyndon Baines Johnson in All the Way at Dallas Theater Center. In the same year, he played a killer King Richard first at Shakespeare in the Bar and then at Shakespeare Dallas' Shakespeare in the Park. Sure, they're both conniving powermongers, but Potter made them irresistible.

Mary Tyrone is one of the American theater's most iconic characters. The matriarch losing touch with reality in Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night is a role rife with complications. It's a challenge for even the most serious actress and one rarely available. So, it's a treat to see an actress as gifted as Joanna Schellenberg step into the character. An actress seen so rarely on Dallas stages it's criminal, Schellenberg gave a bone-rattling performance as the drug-addled, fading woman.

In a year in which theater companies struggled to hold onto — or even find — performance spaces, Ochre House Theater remains the little theater that could. Against all odds, playwright/director Matthew Posey's company continues to produce new works in a small storefront in Exposition Park. Attending a production is an investment in the unexpected. The only thing your ticket promises you is something you've never seen before. And the risk itself is worth the $15 price of admission. From a play about an egg salesman to a bawdy musical about a small town girl named Indigo Sue, there's no end to the creativity at this little company.

Readers' Pick:

Dallas Summer Musicals

There are a number of playwrights whose names you hope to see on an Undermain Theatre season announcement. The company has its go-to living playwrights, like Erik Ehn, Meg Miroshink and Len Jenkin. They work closely to commission or develop work by these writers, often to incredible results. Such was the case with Jenkin's Jonah, which Undermain's artistic director, Katherine Owens, developed alongside him at the Sundance Theatre Lab. Owens directed the world premiere of the work this year to critical acclaim. The frenzied take on the Biblical beach tale featured kaleidoscopic characters and heartwarming stories interwoven in a way that was meaningful, intellectual and fun — an Undermain hat trick. It was also one of the best uses of the basement theater space we've ever seen, thanks to John Arnone's theater-in the-round design, which put the audience inside a circus tent.

This year theater collective The Tribe workshopped and produced the first play written by Dallas actress Janielle Kastner. Ophelia Underwater revisited Shakespeare's Hamlet and told the story from the perspective of a modern-day Ophelia: a feminist statement on how her character in the play is trivialized and dismissed as crazy, as is so often the case with female characters in the literary canon. The one-woman show went up at Margo Jones Theater in Fair Park and actress Zoe Kerr handled the part beautifully, keeping the audience engaged throughout and highlighting Kastner's talent for juxtaposing timeless concerns, in this case how women are expected to behave, in the context of current trends and technology. While Kerr technically carried the show alone, Kastner's script allowed for Ophelia's boyfriend, Hamlet, to occasionally be present via Skype. This and various other ingenious techniques allowed the world of Ophelia Underwater to expand beyond the walls of the small theater for a rich and exciting first play. We look forward to seeing what Kastner does next.

Since opening in 2012, Circuit 12 Contemporary in the Design District has brought in exciting up-and-coming or mid-career artists working in new media, and no exhibit better showed the appeal of what owners Dustin and Gina Orlando are doing than Mathew Zefeldt's Marble Head From a Herm, which was on view May through July. California-based Zefeldt took inspiration from a Roman copy of a Greek statue that he'd seen at the Met in New York, which he replicated across various paintings, including one giant mural that cast a pixelated shadow on Circuit 12's floor. The exhibit juxtaposed clip art and emojis with famous classical images of ambiguous origin to show how the meaning of an image can be lost or altered when it becomes a commodity that is endlessly repeated; it was fun, evocative and just the kind of work we've come to love Circuit 12 for bringing to Dallas.

Readers' Pick:

Kettle Art Gallery

Since developers such as Westdale have bought up land in Deep Ellum, there have been jokes about the imminent arrival of Baby Gap stores and juice bars. Before we get all doom and gloom, let's take a moment to appreciate that it has been revitalized at all. The new Deep Ellum bears little resemblance to the old one, it's true. It has lost some of its cool, grunge factor. But it's also a lot safer than it was in the '90s and on weekends the streets are teeming with people, compared with just five years ago. And it's still home to the best music venues in the city such as The Bomb Factory, Club Dada, Three Links and Trees; galleries that support underdog artists such as Kettle Art; and upstart business like the thriving Dallas Comedy House. It still has its artist's soul, not to mention that the neighborhood has quickly gone from a restaurant desert to a mecca with some of the most interesting options in the city, representing a variety of cuisines, from barbecue at Pecan Lodge to dressed-up Southern at new Matt McCallister outpost Filament to falafel at D.C. import Amsterdam Falafel House. You rock, Deep Ellum, and it's OK to change.

Readers' Pick:

Deep Ellum

This summer, WaterTower Theatre in Addison underwent a major sea change when producing artist director Terry Martin vacated the position he's held for 17 years to head up the fine arts department at Greenhill School. Martin deserves to be commended for all he accomplished during his tenure at WaterTower. He turned a small theater in a Dallas suburb into one of the very best in the area, leaving it with an operating budget of $1.8 million, nearly five times the budget he started out with. His last year on the job was also one of the theater's strongest, culminating with the regional premiere of Tony-winning musical comedy One Man, Two Guvnors, directed by Martin himself. The superb and fun show served as an excellent note for Martin's departure. (That show was also special because it starred Dallas native Brian Gonzales in the lead, and Gonzales had been the lead understudy in the original Broadway production.) WaterTower is a gem that Martin polished, and it will be exciting to see how the new leadership carries what he built forward in WaterTower's 20th season, which begins Oct. 7 with the Johnny Cash musical Ring of Fire.

Readers' Pick:

Matthew Posey, Ochre House Theatre

Normally, it takes a very generous person to willingly watch high school students perform in a production of anything. If it's your child, sure. But nieces, cousins, children of friends? Unless you're a saint you're probably not going to sit through The Crucible for them. But you would if Jeff Swearingen were directing it. Along with Bren Rapp, he heads up Fun House Theatre and Film in Plano where young kids act in roles normally reserved for people much older. Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman came together beautifully in November, with Swearingen acting in the lead role and 14-year-old Kennedy Waterman giving a moving performance as his wife, Linda. The age disparities, though they sound awkward, are handled with grace, and the quality of the performances matches or exceeds that of many of the serious small theaters in town.

The Dallas Museum of Art has had a phenomenal year for special exhibits, the most impressive being the Jackson Pollock exhibit Blind Spots, only the third major exhibit in the U.S. to focus solely on the artist and the largest survey to date of Pollock's lesser-known black paintings. A retrospective of photographer Irving Penn's work, Beyond Beauty, was not far behind. While these exhibits required a fee to view, one of the most exciting moves the DMA has made in the last few years was the decision to return to free admission to the general collection by director Max Anderson, who recently left the position. This effort has seen a swell in attendance at the monthly Late Night events, and the crowds are proof that the museum has earned its designation as not just the largest, but also the city's most important museum.

Readers' Pick:

Perot Museum of Nature and Science

The pinball industry has been struggling since the '90s, but in the last couple of years it has made a comeback with new manufacturers producing colorful, cleverly designed games with LED lights and sometimes multiple levels of play. While Dallas is home to a yearly convention, the Texas Pinball Festival, that brings out tables new and old from all over the country for people to play, there are only a few arcades in Dallas that offer pinball fans a selection of tables. The best of these is Nickelrama. For admission of just $3.25 you can play 12 tables that accept nickels, including Game of Thrones, Star Trek, The Walking Dead and the newly released Ghostbusters. They seem to almost always be unoccupied, which can't be said for the rest of the Dave and Busters-type games. They are usually hogged by kids on the weekend. The real draw here is to play pinball in peace.

In October, Dallas' wackiest charity event went up for the fourth time, this time in Oak Cliff's Jefferson Tower Building to raise money for the maintenance of the nearby historic Texas Theatre building. The event invites people to submit dioramas, 3-D models that show a scene or moment in time in miniature, to be auctioned off to benefit the named charity. Everyone from veteran artists such as Bruce Lee Webb to curious amateurs pitched in for a total of 70 dioramas that raised over $12,000. Ten bucks got you in to the event and after-party at Texas Theatre, played by New Fumes, and drinks and tamales were available for purchase. Given the success of the October event, its founders, Jennifer Dunn, Shannon Driscoll, Holly Jefferson, Malina Pearson and Ariel Saldivar, have talked of making Diorama-O-Rama annual, but as of yet there's no word on this year's. We hope it becomes more frequent, because in a town that's known for its love of high-profile charity work, there isn't a single event that's as fun, low-key and positive as this one.

For the past few years, the Dallas Opera has been getting creative and producing works in more contemporary settings, but this year they made their most daring choice yet when they put on Show Boat, which, far from an opera, is a Broadway musical. Sure, the 1927 production about performers on a showboat on the Mississippi river, adapted by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II from a book by Edna Ferber, involves people spontaneously breaking into song, but that's about where the similarities end. Show Boat addresses subjects not often tackled in opera, such as racism, and the songs in English, even delivered by opera singers, were far from typical. But the result was refreshing. The costumes and set, originally built for the Chicago Lyric Opera, were as spectacular as anything seen in New York and Morris Robinson's delivery of "Ol' Man River" gave chills. If Dallas Opera's goal with Showboat was to prove opera's accessibility, they succeeded.

Readers' Pick:

Wicked, Dallas Summer Musicals

Dark Circles Contemporary Dance Company's founder and artistic director, Joshua L. Peugh, creates original works that challenge his audience by highlighting a range of societal issues. In addition to producing invigorating choreography and performances, DCCD Company has a goal of making concert dance accessible and inclusive to its community. His most recent work, GalFriday, was co-created by children from a nonprofit organization called Girls Inc. that works to empower young girls and women. The same work was then showcased in a public preview at NorthPark Center to gain feedback from the general public about the piece. DCCD continues to put out the highest quality work and contribute to a purpose that extends far beyond the studio and stage.

If you're meeting someone from OKCupid for the first time, a drive out to Ennis might not be the brightest idea. But once you have a pretty good sense that your potential partner isn't a serial killer or, worse, an excessive chatterbox, making the half-hour drive from Dallas to see a movie the old-fashioned way is a perfect date. For $7 you can see two brand-new features back-to-back — cheaper than any other theater in town. There are seven screens to choose from and the first movie starts playing at 8:45 p.m., or as soon as it's dark enough. As far we know it's the only drive-in movie theater still operating in the area. Bring some blankets, back your car in, open the trunk and have a movie-going experience that's more comfortable than the fanciest new movie theaters.

There are a dozen places to roller skate in Dallas, but one of the best is city owned and operated Southern Skates off Ledbetter Drive. On Sunday night, the pros come out to adult skate, which runs from 9:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. Gene Kelly has nothing on the dancers here — couples who dance together more gracefully than most can manage wearing regular shoes and entire packs performing choreographed routines. In the center of the rink, skaters breakdance or just catch their breath and observe the scene around them. Two DJs man the booth and for the first couple of hours hip-hop, rap and R&B dominate the music selection. But once the lights are dimmed around midnight, the mirrored ball starts spinning and disco tracks take hold. Amateurs are more than welcome, and you'll see a few, but if you're wobbly on skates you'd do best to stick to the center. The people on the outer limits of the rink move fast — as fast as you should move to check out this Dallas institution while it's still hot.

Assassination Derby, one of Dallas' best roller derby teams, gave their seal of approval to this more than 50-year-old skating rink located in Mesquite. While it looks like it was built in 1961, a roller skater can't beat the price at Dad's, where skate rentals are only a $1. The skating rink is large. The bathrooms smell like a bathroom should smell and the service is exceptionally friendly. Dad's also offers skating classes for children and hosts dance skating between 10:30 p.m. and 11 p.m. every Friday for the star-crossed junior lovers or older couples who wish to reminiscence.

Alamo Drafthouse brought movies back to Dallas urban core with a bang in 2016, debuting their newest multiplex in the Cedars. Like its siblings in the Alamo chain, Alamo Cedars brings a great beer selection and decent food right to your seat, which at the Dallas location happens to be a very comfy recliner. Add in specialty screenings, a staff who actually seem to care about the movies they show and a strict no-kids-under-6 policy, and the theater is well on its way to becoming a Dallas institution.

Readers' Pick:

Alamo Drafthouse, Cedars

In an ideal world, more people would have the patience and desire to sit through a full symphony, but the fact is a lot of people simply didn't get the introduction to or education in classical music that would allow them to enjoy that experience. That's why the Dallas Symphony was so smart to start the ReMix series at Dallas City Performance Hall, which combines a shorter program with a cocktail and hors d'oeuvres hour. Events like this spring's with Bryce Dessner of popular rock band the National, where they performed his composition Lachrimae for the Oscar-winning film The Revenant, drew people out with a celebrity connection and the promise of a s'mores bar. But the surprise stunner of the night was Wojciech Kilar's chamber string orchestra composition Orawa. ReMix may be a gimmick, but it's a gimmick that seems to be working to get more people excited about classical music, and that's a good thing.

We don't like to toss around the term world class, 'cause Mayor Mike Rawlings likes it too much, but unfortunately that's one of the best ways to describe the annual Soluna Festival. Right out of the gate, the interdisciplinary festival, which merges classical music with other artistic mediums such as dance and visual art, had the clout to foster huge collaborations. And for its second year it was able to maintain that momentum, following up the St. Vincent performance with "Rules of the Game," a world premiere collaboration between pop artist Pharrell Williams, choreographer Jonah Bokaer and New York-based visual artist Daniel Arsham. And that was only one element of the two-week long festival sponsored by Nancy Nasher and David Haemisegger and built around the Dallas Symphony Orchestra: The symphony's Jaap Van Zweden conducting Mahler and performances by Swiss artist Mai-Thu Perret set to music at the Nasher Sculpture Center and Dallas Contemporary were also highlights. Soluna has already proved the first year wasn't a fluke, and Dallas is lucky for it.

Readers' Pick:

Deep Ellum Arts Festival

Whether or not Dallas' Barrett Brown deserves to be serving 63 months in federal prison for linking to data obtained from Anonymous' hack of Stratfor, an intelligence contractor, is beside the point. In the time he's spent in prison, Brown has proved himself as one of the best magazine writers in the United States. He doesn't write for D anymore, but the work he churns out for The Intercept — featuring a perfect mix of humor, insight and melancholy — is as good as anything one could ever hope to read about prison life. Brown's literary criticism, as evidenced by his essay "Stop Sending Me Jonathan Franzen Novels," is pretty great, too.

In the midst of what would end up being a not-so-competitive battle for the Democratic nomination for a Dallas County Commissioner Court seat, the incumbent John Wiley Price and his challenger Dwaine Caraway got into a brawl at Dallas radio station KHVN. Caraway accused Price of sleeping with his ex-wife, one of Caraway's staffers sued the commissioner and a radio station employee was left to lament that KHVN was a "Christian station." It was a side-show that was better than the actual show, as Price beat Caraway handily in the March 1 primary.

The literary arts upswing in Dallas continues, but some of the best contributions to the scene retain that do-it-yourself spirit. Spiderweb Salon is a group out of Denton run by Connor Wallace and Courtney Marie. The collective casts a wide net for poets, authors, musicians and artists throughout North Texas. They host a variety of events throughout the year, they publish a zine, host a literary podcast and lead writing workshops. Find them on Facebook.

In the run-up to the 2015 Dallas City Council election, Tiffinni Young could easily have been mistaken for more of the same. She was endorsed by Carolyn Davis, District 7's outgoing council member, and didn't do anything to stir the imagination before taking office. Since doing so, however, Young has done exactly what any constituent would want from his or her representative. She's stuck up for her Fair Park and South Dallas neighborhood every time, whether it's been fighting southern Dallas' enormous loose dog problem or trying to get a full-service grocery store into Dallas' biggest food desert. Granted, she was sued recently, accused of illegally soliciting the daughter of dog-mauling victim Antoinette Brown on behalf of a lawyer. But that case hasn't been decided yet, and this is Dallas City Council we're talking about — a little legal trouble is to be expected.

Language is a skill. Language is a tool. Language is a weapon. DaVerse Lounge empowers young people to express themselves through language. With the goal of helping middle and high school students find their voices, DaVerse offers after school programs that build up to an open-mic night. The nights are rowdy, poetic adventures that will renew or strengthen your belief in the next generation.

If you are voting for Donald Trump, Mark Davis is for you. The longtime conservative firebrand has hit all the usual marks heading into the 2016 election. Hillary: bad. Trump: not perfect, but way better than Hillary. Benghazi: definitely a real important thing, just like Hillary's email scandal, which is worse than Watergate. If you aren't voting for the Donald, Davis is perfect for you, too. Listening to his weekday morning show is like staring directly into the coming abyss with your crazy but congenial uncle. It might be a little scary, but it's always entertaining.

Readers' Pick:

Kidd Kraddick in the Morning, 106.1 KISS-FM

Sometimes, the dulcet tones of KERA can be a little too much. When that happens, there is no better antidote than KSKY, 660 on your AM dial, which provides a daily smorgasbord of the purest, crystalline conservative talk imaginable. Trump apologist Hugh Hewitt in the early morning, then Dallas' best radio talk show host, Mark Davis, before lunch and Fox News' own Sean Hannity in the afternoon. It's a balm for whatever ails you, be it blood pressure that's too low or hope for the future that's a little too high.

Readers' Pick:

KERA 90.1

It says something about Dallas that the conscience of the city is a sportscaster. But in a city this obsessed with sports, who else could it be? At age 68, Dale Hansen still knocks it out of the park on a regular basis with his sports commentary, but there are nights when he veers far afield from sports and deep into the moral heart of matters. On those nights you could hear a pin drop in Dallas while Hansen speaks. In 2014 when NFL draft candidate Michael Sam came out as a gay man, some voices in the NFL whispered that his presence on a team might make other players uncomfortable in the locker room. Hansen delivered a scathing account of instances of criminality, including brutality to women, that NFL players and coaches had seemed to stomach easily. He reminded them all that white players and coaches once had said the same kinds of things about allowing black players into locker rooms. It was vintage Hansen of a sort he has continued to provide on an irregular basis as the city has needed it. And the city always needs it.

If you have lived in Dallas any time and if you watch the news, you have seen John Fullinwider, though you may not be fully aware of it. In the ongoing protests over police shootings, he is often the old white guy with the bird's nest beard, sometimes with a megaphone in his hand but more often in the background and off to one side a bit, as if he got swept up in it by accident stepping out of a Starbucks. Take a look at his resume, however, and you will see that nothing about Fullinwider is an accident. At age 64, he has been hunting down the same villains and pursuing the same social goals his entire life. A founder in 1978 of Lumin Education, one of the city's most successful operators of private and charter schools for inner city kids, he has been on the board of 13 important social agencies and commissions in Dallas and has a fine-print list of civic awards and honors longer than his beard, which is very long. He's a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Texas in Austin with a master's in library science from TWU who earns his living as a medical researcher. In his work these days with Mothers Against Police Brutality, Fullinwider is the same smart, tough, trouble-making hippie he was on the day he got out of college. Even his foes tend to admit that Fullinwider brings integrity, intelligence and basic fairness to the fight, and Dallas is a better city for that.

Doing something well once is easy. Doing it again — and again — is quite another. Clint and Whitney Barlow have made a habit of doing great things in Deep Ellum. First there was Trees. Then there was The Bomb Factory. Back for the first time in 20 years in March 2015, The Bomb Factory had an impressive, if sometimes a little patchy, first year, but that's to be expected when you're getting things off the ground. 2016, however, has seen the biggest room in Dallas' most important music neighborhood hit its stride. The big shows have been more regular — Ms. Lauryn Hill, Robert Plant, Erykah Badu's 45th birthday party — and so too have the big crowds. So it's only natural that the Barlows should be looking to do it yet again, with plans to reopen The Bomb Factory's old next door neighbor, Deep Ellum Live.

Readers' Pick:

The Bomb Factory

The venue formerly known as Red Blood Club has had a checkered history, to say the least. Stabbings, closures, infighting — RBC has had them all. But at the beginning of 2016 the old speakeasy got a new lease on life, first under the booking hand of Moody Fuqua and later Anton Schlesinger. Long known as a metal and punk bar, RBC embraced a new taste for hip-hop and dance music — thus the new name, Rhythm Beats Culture — and consequently the club enjoyed some of its most successful months in its history. The drama didn't entirely disappear. Fuqua abruptly left after only a few months on the job, but RBC's renaissance has been great news for owner Tammy Moss and for Deep Ellum, which has yet another essential music spot to check out.

This year has been transitional for Denton, and that may be putting it nicely. Since the start of the year, the college town/music hub to the north has lost two of its longest-running and storied music venues, Hailey's Club (which closed after one last New Year's Eve party) and J&J's Pizza, which lost access to the basement that had been home to free all-ages shows for two decades. But no loss hurt more than that of Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios, the rough-and-tumble embodiment of Denton's gritty DIY roots and the soul of the music scene since Fry Street went to Valhalla. It even doubled as a practice space for local bands. Denton can certainly recover, but clubs like Rubber Gloves can never truly be replaced.

Think all-ages venues, and a few stereotypes probably come to mind: X's on hands, dingy venues with bad sound systems, probably punk bands onstage. Point being, the places that cater to the kids aren't always the ones offering the blue-chip concert experience. Gotta earn your stripes, you know. But The Kessler bucks that trend, offering an entirely different type of show, one that entails seeing living legends — Mavis Staples, Nick Lowe, Robyn Hitchcock — in an intimate setting and with a great sound system to boot. Like those scrappy all-ages shows we all grew up on, however, the young 'uns are peers with their elders, especially with the frequent meet-and-greets where the stars themselves are there to say hello, give an autograph and even take a photo. These are the sorts of memories that will stay with any budding music fan for a lifetime.

On sight, the dog run at downtown's Main Street Garden park is nothing special. There's a lot of concrete, half an agility course and a water fountain that works about half the time. It's pretty small, too, but weekday afternoons, just after everyone gets off work, the concrete patch turns into dog happy hour central. It's packed with big dogs, small dogs and a group of owners who've all gotten to know each other. Everyone gets their play time in and everyone goes home happy.

One of the great things about living in Texas, when you can get past the crippling summertime heat, is the luxury of year-round patios. Own a bar in Dallas? You'd better have a patio. And with Deep Ellum's continued boom, you're never more than five steps away from a spot to sip a drink outdoors. One of the best is Twilite Lounge — and that's without even considering the live music that they host on the patio. Over the years, they've packed out the patio with the likes of Old 97's and Sam Outlaw, and most recently featured a rare live performance by Dividends, the electronic project of Sarah Jaffe and Grammy winning producer S1. Oh, and all Twilite's shows (patio or otherwise, in fact) cost zero dollars. The only drawback? You better show up early if you want to get in.

Truck Yard

From the minute that Guns N' Roses announced (most of) its classic lineup was getting back together, the joke was inevitable: "How long before they break up?" Which was followed quickly by, "They must need the money." In case you didn't know, Axl Rose and Slash don't like each other. Like, really don't like. They hadn't shared a stage in North Texas since 1992 before they landed at Jerryworld in August, and the tour had already started on the wrong foot when Rose broke his. But, in spite of a late start, there really wasn't much drama to be had with GNFNR — just a two-plus-hour romp through the band's biggest hits and occasional deeper cuts in all their sometimes-bloated and often fireworks-laced glory. Are Rose and Slash BFFs now? Probably not. But sometimes all you need is a little patience to make it work.

Least surprising fact of 2016: Erykah Badu knows how to throw a party. Ms. Fat Belly Bella herself has been celebrating her birthday in style for years now, but for her 45th birthday (yeah, hard for us to believe that too) the Queen Herself made sure to make it an extra special occasion. The Bomb Factory, which is starting to feel a bit like Badu's personal 4,000-people playground, was the obvious place to throw this gala, and Dave Chappelle was the perfect person to host it. Well, "host" was a bit of a loose term, as Chappelle came and went on his time, doing a brief bit of stand-up and a rendition of Radiohead's "Creep" that went viral when video surfaced months later. Pretty well everyone was there, too — even André 3000, who sadly never took the mic himself. The only real question is, how do you top that? The answer, of course, is only Badu knows.

ZZ Top fans had reason to be disappointed this summer: The Rock and Roll Hall of Famers were supposed to play North Texas with Jimmy Buffet, a piña colada-fueled party. But alas, health issues forced the Houston-by-way-of-Dallas trio to drop out. Billy Gibbons, however, wound up hanging around Dallas anyway, popping into The Foundry for a friend's private birthday party. Lo and behold, Mr. Dark Sunglasses hopped onstage, too, jamming out with the Relatives on a rendition of his band's classic "La Grange." The magic moment might've been lost to the wider public if it hadn't been caught on video. Gibbons seemed to enjoy himself, too, popping up later that night for an after party at the nearby Belmont Hotel —but you actually had to be there for that one.

Remember last winter, when some still held out hope for a cranky old senator from Vermont? Those were the days. But for one North Texan in particular, Bernie Sanders' unlikely presidential bid made for a truly "One in a Million" experience: Jessie Frye. That's because the Denton goth-pop singer wound up receiving an even more unlikely endorsement from Sanders' campaign, which picked her to perform at not one but two of his rallies. Sanders himself wasn't present for the first, but the second — held at Verizon Theatre in front of 7,000 people — was the real deal, a warm-up for Sanders' address to his DFW faithful. Frye, whose song "One in a Million" had appealed to Sanders' local campaign staff, got offered the gig on 36 hours notice and enlisted the help of the Vandoliers' Dustin Fleming to get Sanders' supporters riled up. Feel the Bern, indeed.

Less than two years into his life as a major-label artist, Leon Bridges is almost running out of milestones to hit. He's toured the world, played every major late-night TV show, been in commercials, was nominated for a Grammy award and even shared the stage with not one but two Beatles (which makes for all the living members of the Fab Four). So it's probably been getting harder and harder for the Fort Worth phenom to find things to check off his bucket list (and no, jumping on a track with Macklemore probably doesn't count). But out of all the dream-worthy moments Bridges has had, one made his mother proudest: meeting President Barack Obama. Obama's a fan, of course — he included "Smooth Sailin'" on his summer mixtape — and during a Ray Charles tribute at the White House, he told Bridges as much. "I see you," Bridges later remembered the president saying. "An upcoming Texas soul star."

The music industry can be a notorious boys club, and that may never have been truer than in the case of hip-hop, a most hyper-masculine, misogynistic of genres. What the rap game and greater music world in general needs more of is people like Sam Lao, but for a while there, about two and a half years or so, there was reason to worry that she wouldn't fully capitalize on her considerable talents. That's how long it took for the follow-up to her debut EP, West Pantego, to come together, but from that troubled conception sprang the best album to come out of Dallas this year: SPCTRM. Smart, sassy and dripping with charisma, SPCTRM is Lao incarnate as she switches with ease between siren singer and best-rapper-in-Dallas roles on cuts like the middle-finger-to-the-haters "Fool's Gold" or body empowerment manifesto "Pineapple." But she never needs to make a statement on SPCTRM; all you need to know is that this is Sam Lao, and the boys have to play by her rules.

It's the epitome of the American Dream: putting Justin Bieber in a chokehold. It's apt, then, that Post Malone would get to do just that this year — because, well, the Grapevine native has really been living the dream. Plucked out of obscurity in 2015 when a Soundcloud recording of "White Iverson" went viral and landed him a label deal with Republic Records, Malone, who's based out of L.A. these days, had been touring almost nonstop. First it was with Fetty Wap, but then he really hit the big time when Bieber invited him on the mega-sized Purpose Tour. No wonder he turned down a spot on XXL's Freshmen Class. Malone and Bieber are BFFs, which is why they insisted that an incident at a Houston club — when the Biebs put out his cigarette on Malone's arm, which prompted Malone to put him in a chokehold — was all in good fun. Still, wouldn't you have wanted to be in Posty's shoes?

Anthony Gonzalez, the Frenchman who fronts the '80s-tinged synth-pop powerhouse M83, was thoroughly won over by Denton singer Kaela Sinclair's audition tape. Gonzalez had put out a call on Twitter asking for female applicants to tour with M83 on this year's Junk Tour, after the band had parted ways with its former keyboardist and backup singer. Sinclair, fresh off winning the Best Keyboardist award at the Dallas Observer Music Awards, took a chance and submitted a video. A few weeks later, she got a call from Gonzalez himself offering her the gig, and she's been living in a dream world ever since. Tour stops around the world, including one headlining The Bomb Factory, TV appearances, the works; it's time to hurry up, because Sinclair ain't dreaming, even if she might have to pinch herself sometimes.

In the annals of North Texas post-rock, names and albums don't get more mythic than the Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads. For the past 15 years, that stellar double album, was all that Lift to Experience's fans had to hold onto, constituting the Denton band's entire body of recorded work before they broke up in 2002. So it was with considerable fanfare that news of LTE's reunion broke last spring, even if the initial word pertained only to a one-off show in London. It didn't take long, though, for Josh T. Pearson and the gang to get the feel for those heady, noise-fueled days, and they added some Texas dates to the agenda, including a stop at Rubber Gloves. For a band that knows how to spin epic tales, the timing couldn't have been more perfect; as pure coincidence it proved the last-ever show for the Denton club, where Pearson had once helped build the patio.

All things may well pass, but that didn't make it any easier to sit through the demise of A.Dd+ earlier this year. In truth, it was a long time coming. While the Dallas duo had recorded a new EP's worth of material since dropping 2014's Nawf, Slim Gravy and Paris Pershun had been increasingly inactive as a live pair, particularly as Gravy forged ahead with various solo projects throughout 2015. It was still hard, though, when relations fell to an ugly and very public feud after Gravy — apparently without his partner's knowledge — announced that A.Dd+ was over. For a half-decade, they'd been the bridge between Dallas hip-hop's ringtone rap past and its forward-thinking future, and easily the most popular rap group in the city. Perhaps times changed too much even for A.Dd+, but their cheeky, cocksure brand of fun remains sorely missed.

North Texas has had no shortage of music talent on national TV in the past 12 months. Leon Bridges, Post Malone and Kaela Sinclair have all made the rounds, with Bridges and Demi Lovato both making star turns on the stage widely acknowledged as the toughest of them all, Saturday Night Live's Studio 8H. But none of them had quite the sense of occasion and discovery of Selena Gomez's SNL appearance last January. The bedroom choreography of "Hands to Myself" got the headlines, Gomez's official doing away with her former Disney star baggage. But the real highlight was a sizzlingly assured, all-but-a-cappella rendition of "Good for You" and "Same Old Love," in which Gomez — then hot off her second-consecutive album debut at No. 1, Revival — dropped the flash to showcase a young pop star coming into her own.

Year after year, it's the same places that pop up on any short list of the best dive bars in DFW. That's how it should be: Years, decades, even generations are required for a bar to develop into a blue-ribbon dive. They get better with age, like a fine wine — well, OK, more like a not-so-fine well whiskey, but you get the point. So is it surprising for the Lakewood Landing to be the best dive bar in Dallas? Hell no. From its wood paneling to torn-up, sticky old leather booths to the air quality that's somehow still smoky even years after indoor smoking was banned, the Landing is a dive to make your grandfather proud, right down to a bar staff with a touchingly old-school mentality. Granted, Papa might not know what to make of the corn dogs, and he'd probably be just as well without the hipsters who frequent it, but even a true-blue dive has to keep up — a little — with the times.

Readers' Pick:

Lee Harvey's

If you're not quite sure what to make of the newly resuscitated Ships Lounge, that's OK. After almost exactly a year with the lights out, the oldest dive in Dallas came back seemingly from the dead last July, under new ownership and with more than a few changes. Wine was added to the bar, bring-your-own-liquor was abolished and they started accepting credit cards. A whole upstairs area was built out. But some other key things have remained, like beloved bartender Pam Shaddox, the Wednesday night weenies and, most important of all, the jukebox. No bar in Dallas is more inextricably linked with its jukebox, in all its old-school soul, R&B and country and western glory. Without it, Ships would never be the same bar, and you'd know once and for all that Lower Greenville had given way to creeping Uptownization. So grab your change and spin 'em while you got 'em, Dallas.

A dimly lit bar with retro fixtures that hearken back to the 1960s would be, not surprisingly, the best place to forget the daily struggles of 2016. Tucked in a strip center in Lakewood that's just far enough removed from the madness of Lower Greenville, Cosmo's is off the beaten path, which makes it less likely that you'll run into your boss or an ex that you're trying to avoid. (They'll probably be next door at the Landing.) Cosmo's serves up an array of strong signature martinis and pizzas that are half-off on Sundays. It's easy to lose yourself in the mesmerizing flames of the indoor fireplace or outdoor fire pit, especially in those cold weather months. All the more reason Cosmo's is the best place to hide away from the world.

Good Luck Karaoke, a creation of Oliver Peck, Josh Hammertimez and George Quartz, got its start six years ago at Double Wide, but for the last two and a half years it's made its home at Twilite Lounge on Thursday nights. The hosts pick a theme and stay in character the entire night, miming backup guitar for each singer with Guitar Hero props. During a recent night they had a "wig party" and Peck looked like he stepped right out of Wayne's World with a platinum mullet and black plastic framed glasses. Karaoke jams as tried and true as Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl" to newer hits like Sia's "Elastic Heart" help keep things interesting. An amiable crowd two-steps to country ballads and applauds graciously for each singer, making this perhaps the most interactive karaoke night in Dallas as well.

Readers' Pick:

Double Wide

It's not about the singing, OK? A good karaoke spot, like a good karaoke singer, needs only to have the right spirit to be a success. And Family Karaoke has spirit to spare. The large space means multiple rooms, with decent sound muffling to go as loud as you'd like. The rooms are comfortable, with cozy couches and solid speakers. It has a full stocked bar and food options that range from the typical bar food (chicken wings, mozzarella sticks) to delicious Japanese options (miso udon.) The location seems sketchy but adds to the allure of the place and welcome diversity of the patrons.

If historical significance alone were enough to rank local concerts, Kraftwerk's September visit to The Bomb Factory would easily be No. 1. The German quartet may not be a household name, but with songs like "Autobahn," "Trans-Europe Express" and "Tour de France," they've have had an impossibly huge influence on the past four decades of music, from rock 'n' roll to hip-hop to electronic dance music. They may or may not have ever even played here before this year: Bootlegs exist of a show supposedly recorded in Dallas in 1975, but there are strong indications that it was recorded elsewhere and little outside evidence to suggest the show even happened. But none of that is necessary to understand why Kraftwerk's stop in Deep Ellum was so remarkable. It was a show that played by an entirely different set of rules from other concerts, from the breathtaking use of 3-D imagery to the ingenious deployment of robots that took the place of the band members at one point. Kraftwerk's music still feels ahead of its time, but even as they revisited their past work they pushed it into the future, redefining what the concert format itself is capable of.

RBC is known for hosting shows with diverse lineups and showcasing up-and-coming artists, so it's no surprise that it's also the best place to discover new music. The much-talked-about Outward Bound Mixtape Sessions on Mondays have been a showcase for the experimental music scene in Dallas for two and half years. The weekly event is the brainchild of Stefan González, who configured something of an open mic (with performers vetted ahead of time), so no one gets on stage who didn't earn a spot. Outward Bound features mostly Dallas acts, but performers from around the nation and far-flung regions like Japan, France and Lebanon have graced the stage. It's been the incubator for genres like harsh noise, industrial, dance music, acoustic singer-songwriters and avant-garde jazz groups, so prepare for a grab-bag of acts, some of whom might become the next big thing.

A party needs several basic things to be successful: people, food, drinks and music. Double Wide has all of them in abundance. Two indoor bar areas connected by an outdoor patio put the "double" in Double Wide. With custom hand-crafted cocktails that claim to "hit harder than dad," like the Yoo-hoo Yeehaw and Hurritang, revelers can indulge their trashier sides. One of the indoor spaces has a stage that's hosted Dallas darlings like Sudie, Francine Thirteen, Moth Face and Ursa Minor during a recent all-female lineup. Two, count 'em two, spacious outdoor patios with decommissioned toilets for seats and picnic tables are popular congregating areas for a smoke or for people to set up shop during some of the festivals hosted here. And food trucks roll up just in the nick of time as if sent by some trailer park bat signal. Really, what more could one ask for to throw a kickass party?

No matter what brings people to the Foundry — whether it's the delicious crispy chicken and sautéed collard greens from the on-site restaurant, Chicken Scratch; the drink specials of $3 for any one of their premium drafts during select hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays; the friendly bartenders; or the enormous outdoor space — the Foundry gets our vote for the best place to catch free live music. A large stage anchors the outdoor yard, which has plenty of seating no matter how large the group. Some of Dallas' best musicians have played that stage for free. And there will inevitably be someone performing every Friday and Saturday night, so whether you're hanging out at the inside bar, playing pool or throwing down some wings at Chicken Scratch, you'll be within earshot of some incredible music on the house.

Yes, we know it's in Fort Worth, but some things are worth the drive. Located down the street from Fort Worth's Arts District, Ye Old Bull & Bush is about as close as you can get to a pub in the English countryside without a passport. It's dimly lit and you'll smell like an ashtray afterward, but the Guinness is poured correctly and the faces are friendly. Cozy and well-worn, it's a neighborhood favorite and regulars start to file in after five. Most customers have been coming for years and don't mind the lack of bar stools or the water that seeps under the doors when it rains. There's a healthy selection of bottled beers and 15 taps hang from the wall. Happy hour is a great opportunity to try a new beer but don't expect umbrellas in your drink or cushy seats. No-frills amenities include a single TV, a couple of dartboards and a jukebox. Between the Guinness and the good friends, what more do you need?

There are a number of great places to play Pokémon Go in Dallas, but while different locations have their perks, Addison Circle Park is a clear favorite. Crowds range from a couple dozen in the mornings to several hundred on weekends, and not even rain deters large groups of Pokémon trainers from descending on the park. Shady seating is abundant and parking is free; Pokémon are diverse and other players are friendly. The 10-acre public park is well lit and crowds stay late, while a neighboring police station offers a sense of security. Running low on Pokéballs? Take a lap around the park and stock up on everything you need at the Pokéstops that litter the area. Daring players can try and take over one of the nearby gyms. Neighborhood bars, restaurants and cafés offer refreshment and a reprieve to weary trainers trying to catch them all — as long as the servers don't crash, anyway.

A day drink is meant to be relished al fresco in the sunshine, and there's no better place to do that than Truck Yard. The spacious Lower Greenville spot is almost entirely outdoors and has ample seating for large and small groups, including dogs. There's also a much-needed partially covered patio when the beating sun is too intense for skin that's been bathed in fluorescent lights all week long. An assortment of food trucks on the perimeter of the yard and an indoor grill are the perfect weapons in a day drinker's arsenal; no one wants to be around someone who's "hangry" after a day of drinking. Truck Yard gets extra novelty points for their treehouse from which revelers can grab a beer and keep a bird's eye view on the goings-on below.

Sports bars are a dime a dozen in DFW, and it can be hard for one to stand out, which makes Frankie's every bit more impressive. The décor is what a modern speakeasy would look like if you affixed large flat-screen TV's to every vertical surface. Frankie's recently celebrated its first anniversary, and it's not hard to see why it has been a success: The food is delicious and the portions are generous enough to last an entire fight night, while prices are surprisingly affordable for a Main Street location. It's a challenge to find a seat without a clear line of sight to several screens and the service is timely and pleasant. Head down stairs and you'll find a more intimate area with another full-service bar and fewer TVs. The space used to be a bank and rumor has it that there is a vault hidden somewhere below. How many other sports bars can say they have buried treasure?

Henderson Tap House

Every movie is better with alcohol. It makes Michael Bay's plots more plausible and it can even make Adam Sandler funny for a couple of hours. OK, minutes. There's no better place to pregame a film than the Vetted Well at the Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar. The bar has a tasty selection of specialty drinks and every premiere promises a movie-related concoction. The fare is nice enough to merit its own visit and the theater is located just far enough from downtown to provide a scenic view from the second floor patios. Karaoke rooms are also available to rent if you need to warm up before one of the sing-along specials. Don't worry if you don't finish your beverage before show time, just close out your tab and take it with you. Halfway through a Sandler flick is no time to sober up, so you may as well order another round from your seat during the show.

Musician and local it-dude Charley Crockett has an undeniably retro, country-blues look that perfectly complements his music. The singer and Stetson model lives a life that plays out like the lyrics to Johnny Cash's "I've Been Everywhere." On his Instagram, you'll find a black-and-white Crockett in a field in California, or a brooding Crockett in the French Quarter, or anywhere in the South, looking like the Marlboro Man. Some of the area's best photographers have managed to capture his every smoldering expression, as well as documenting Crockett's era, though we're not sure which it is. The glimpses into his performances are rich in details, such as vintage marquees and endless snaps with musicians like his friend Leon Bridges. If you're not following him around every show like the rest of us, at least follow him on Instagram. Crockett plays DFW often, though, so you could just go swoon in person.

KXT is sponsored by the listeners, so you can avoid subjecting yourself to any more advertising than what's already informing your decisions. The station hand-picks a playlist made up of a variety of classics and the best local music, throwing in your guilty pleasure '90s songs, too. It's like going to a friend's house who listens to really good music and knows to follow up an obscure Bob Dylan track with Leon Bridges. On KXT, you can escape the same tired Rolling Stones tracks like "Satisfaction," which play on classic rock stations, but will hear instead that one other version of "Let It Bleed." In addition, there's The Paul Slavens Show on Sunday evenings, and he'll play whatever is requested on his blog, even if that is a cover of "I'm a Little Teapot" in French. The station is constantly sponsoring great local shows and putting on their own live music series, like Summer Cut and KXT Sun Sets (formerly Barefoot at the Belmont), kindly giving you a chance to see the bands they've made you obsess about.

106.1 KISS FM

January's release show for Jacob Metcalf's Fjord was just as ambitious as the album itself, which was his first as a solo artist. For starters, he had singer Kaela Sinclair open for him, shortly before she joined M83 and went on to play around the world. But the topper were the 20 musicians who filled the Kessler's stage that night, having more players than the venue's stage has ever hosted. The singer was in the company of a five-piece band, three alto singers and a 14-piece orchestra, which included violinists, unheard-of Asian instruments and a World War II-era reed organ. Metcalf's grandiose orchestra proved a tasteful accompaniment to his otherwise simple style, and they delivered melodic magic. As he played the entire album, the stage lit up with band members wearing string lights under a chandelier of colorful shredded paper. Metcalf not only had the best album release show, but easily one of the best shows Dallas hosted this year, period.

When the owners of Club Dada decided to turn the space formerly used as the venue's green room into a rustic little combination record store and bar called Off the Record, they miscalculated its potential popularity. In retrospect, they should've used up more of Dada's space, perhaps all of it. The space seemed plenty back when it was a mellow gathering spot for people who like to browse records while buzzed, but when they started putting on DJ nights like Blue, the Misfit's, it became the smallest dance club in America. Don't worry, there is still plenty of room on the sidewalk to wait at the door for a good 30 minutes, quietly judging the passersby and missing the days when Deep Ellum and Addison didn't have one and the same patronage. At this point, the bar may as well set up tents outside for the refugees seeking shelter inside. But once you're in, it's worth the wait. Off the Record is a cozy, friendly place to literally rub elbows with your fellow drunks.

Technically, Sue Ellen's is known as a lesbian bar, though inside you may find every shade in the LGBTQ rainbow. If you want to dance, see lots of glowsticks, half naked men and drag queens, go to S4. If you're a woman who wants to dance and get hit on by women, go to Sue Ellen's. The Oak Lawn bar has a legit dance floor, and whether you're looking for a new girlfriend or an "I kissed a girl" short fling, you're likely to find it. It's a loungey, semi-classy place with plenty of patio space, but, most important, they stamp your hand with the word "boob" at the door (we said semi-classy), and who doesn't want to show up hungover to work with that ink the next day?

Round-Up Saloon

We don't know what you look for in a bouncer, but some of us are comforted by a sense of protection. Dustin, aka Junior, is a Deep Ellum staple who's been throwing away our weed pipes at Trees and The Bomb Factory for the last five years. The guy is more thorough than airport security in North Korea. Simply nothing escapes him. He once thwarted a fan's attempt to gift a band with a sword, which he'd concealed in a flower box. Dustin guards the doors like they're the pearly gates and doesn't care who you think you are, even if you're on the list. He's worked doors in New York and New Jersey, so no, he's not letting you in with your "apple juice." It actually was apple juice, by the way, but he's not taking any chances. Luckily he wasn't there when Kurt Cobain got in a fight onstage at Trees, or that bit of music history would've never happened.

It'll Do Club takes the crown once again, mostly due to consistency. Every Saturday you know exactly what you are going to get from It'll Do: world-class house music (with occasional techno) bringing in some of the most respected touring DJs in the world. No VIP, no bottle service, and none of the other pretentious pitfalls far too many clubs fall into. It's all about the music, dance floor and the DJ. It's the crown jewel in Brooke Humphries' growing empire of bars, clubs and restaurants, and the vibe at It'll Do recalls '90s warehouse parties minus all the sketchiness. On the off nights that they don't have a touring show, resident DJ Red Eye holds it down bringing sets that often one-up a lot of the touring acts that come through.

Station 4

Scottie Canfield, better known to the nightclub regulars of Dallas as DJ Red Eye, has managed to be the only DJ in town holding down multiple residencies playing classic house and techno. That's no small feat in a town with an overabundance of Top 40 clubs. His two decades of experience have seen him controlling dance-floor vibes at some of Dallas' most reputable dance spots, from Club One back in the day to It'll Do and Beauty Bar today. Red Eye brings to the table a librarian-level knowledge of classic club tracks (many of which he owns on vinyl) and a firm grasp of the latest tracks with underground buzz. He can read a crowd like few others and uses his deep knowledge and extensive technical skill behind the decks to set dance floors off every weekend.

Lord Byron

When Erik Estornel left Dallas seven years ago, he was already on a rising tide internationally under his Maetrik alias. After relocating to Spain and reinventing himself as Maceo Plex, he quickly became one of the most-charted producers on dance industry tastemaker Resident Advisor's DJ charts. In the years since, he has consistently landed in the top five of Resident Advisor's top 100 DJ's of the year poll. This past summer has found Estornel holding a popular residency in Ibiza and headlining the biggest clubs and festivals across Europe. When Estornel left Dallas he was criminally overlooked and playing to a few friends at small parties. On the rare occasion when he comes home to play nowadays, he's guaranteed to pack any room. But Estornel also hasn't left his roots wholly behind, as he tipped his hat to Dallas by naming his record label Ellum Audio.

In only two years, Josey Records has established itself as a go-to stop for the crate digger on the hunt for vinyl gold. Ranging from the pricier collector stock to the hidden gems buried among the racks of vinyl, there is something special to be found in Josey's used and new stock. The warehouse-sized retail space is easy to get lost in with its ever-shifting inventory. Record players, vinyl cases, multiple vinyl listening stations and all kinds of assorted vinyl accessories contribute to a full-service vinyl shopping experience. Josey also serves as a great performance space with a stage and PA at one end of the store and one of the nicer DJ booths in town, which comes in handy on the Record Store Day celebration and other events throughout the year.

Good Records

Sometimes Tinder and OKCupid just don't suffice. Sometimes it's nice to meet a mate in the flesh before committing to drinks with them on a Saturday night. It takes effort, but it's worth it when you can finally fulfill that pesky "In a Relationship" status on Facebook. Meeting single people in Dallas is easy, so long as you go to Mutts Canine Cantina, the combination dog park, bar and restaurant in Uptown. Going to a bar alone and drinking can be hard and come off as creepy. Going to a dog park with only your dog and drinking can be cool and inviting. Simply head to Mutts with a dog — your dog, a stray dog, any dog — order a beer and watch the potential spouses come rolling in. Dogs are great icebreakers because they sniff your potential mate's butt before you ever have to.

Dammit, we're still thinking of that Kelly Clarkson performance of "Piece By Piece" on the final season of American Idol. A pregnant and beautiful Clarkson returned to the stage that made the Burleson native a household name and America's first-ever American Idol to perform a song about her struggling relationship with her father. About three-fourths of the way through, however, Clarkson began choking up while singing the lyrics. If that wasn't enough to get America teary-eyed, the camera then panned to judge Keith Urban completely weeping as he watched the performance. Judges Jennifer Lopez and Harry Connick Jr. and host Ryan Seacrest were misty-eyed as well, proving Clarkson's voice can evoke great emotions. Damn it, Clarkson. Stop it. (Except don't.)

We watched him grow as a guyliner-wearing musician singing Phantom of the Opera to a guyliner-wearing musician singing Blue October. Jennifer Lopez called him cute during his American Idol audition, and your grandmother thought he was weird. We're talking about Dalton Rapattoni, of course, and he made the best use of reality TV this year. Whether he was covering a song like "Hopelessly Devoted to You" or mixing up a classic *NSYNC song like "It's Gonna Be Me," the Sunnyvale native was wooing America enough to finish third during the last season of the singing competition show. And it wasn't just that. He extended the reality TV fame long enough to receive a homecoming parade in Sunnyvale and a chance to work on his album with Blue October's Matt Noveskey. His 15 minutes of fame may never end.

Is it even a contest for best country bar in Dallas when a place like Adair's exists? Your dad went to Adair's before Deep Ellum was cool and now, when you inevitably go there, you are forced to see his phone number written on the wall. It's the best country bar because there are good burgers and good music and some bar games in the back and that's everything you need to be considered the best of anything. But it really is the music that makes this place stand out. Every night, you can be treated to free live music from a variety of musicians singing covers of Hank Williams Jr. and the Rolling Stones. It's a real-life honky tonk just a hop, skip and a two-step from downtown Dallas.

Billy Bob's Texas

House bands: the anonymous heroes behind your favorite pop songs. From Stax to Motown to Muscle Shoals, session players have kept it tight in the pocket for decades and defined the sounds of studios, cities and even whole genres. Staying in the background is the point, though, which is why Modern Electric Sound Recorders' resident group picked the most unremarkable name they could think of: Texas Gentlemen. But this rotating cast of players and ringers is anything but unremarkable and by no means relegated to the studio. They pick up gigs around town, hold down a residency at the Belmont, and are liable to get joined onstage by old friend Leon Bridges whenever he's in town. But even Bridges can't compete with one of their latest gigs, backing up country legend Kris Kristofferson at the Newport Folk Festival, which Rolling Stone singled out as one of the highlights of the whole fest.

Nothing screams metal like fast cars, a television motorhead and, well, good ol' fashion metal. Located in the former Firewater Bar and Grill in northwest Dallas, Gas Monkey is the brainchild of Richard Rawlings of Fast N' Loud fame. On the TV show, Rawlings and his friend Aaron Kaufman found forgotten classics cars and restored them to life. Rawlings and Kaufman recreated this magic with Gas Monkey, offering not only a bar and grill offering drinks and food that ignite the senses like an old car but also kickass music usually reserved for late-night drives with the top down. Besides hosting Metal Mondays for local and tourist metalheads, some of the biggest names in metal also dominate the stage at Gas Monkey Live. Some of the upcoming metal acts include Cannibal Corpse, Slayer and the godfather of metal guitar, Ace Frehley.

Gas Monkey Bar N' Grill

Located in the heart of Deep Ellum, Dallas Comedy House offers not only comedy shows by some of the best talent in the Dallas and Fort Worth area at affordable prices but also comedy classes in improv, sketch and stand-up comedy. It also offers corporate workshops, shows and private events. Dallas Comedy House founder Amanda Austin with the help of her younger brother Kyle created more than just a comedy house but a family. "I was very skeptical, even as her brother who was someone with her from the very beginning, but she is a bulldog," he says. "She was able to do it. She essentially took the leap of faith, and we've been riding her coattails ever since."

Addison Improv

When you're almost done with the night and can't take any more excitement, a perfectly dim dive bar like Single Wide is probably the place to go. It's essentially your home away from home, if you live with your tacky aunt and uncle who haven't redecorated in 30 years. But this shotgun bar is about more than just the tacky décor. The good thing about Single Wide is that it seems to have hired the same cast of artsy regulars who just refuse to explore other bars, making it a great place to make friends, yet a terrible one to avoid your ex. You might not need the sweetness of the Yoohoo Yeehaw late at night (you'll still drink it), but the chip dip will be just the thing, and by that time all the nearby valet parking will be cleared out, so you can survey the land from the patio free of the pesky nouveau Lower Greenville clientele. Also, it's cheap, just like you are. We know, because if you're anything like their sample patron, you're a server or artist, and probably both.

Well. Maybe we didn't know what we had. We knew the Dallas Arboretum was gorgeous, offered spectacular seasonal shows and included a special wonderland for kids. But we have to admit, we might not have ranked it with the gardens of the Palace of Versailles, the Chicago Botanic Garden or the Claude Monet Foundation gardens in Giverny, France. But, yeah, it ranks right up there, at least according to an article in the July 2016 Architectural Digest called "15 Breathtaking Botanical Gardens to Visit This Season." As in, in the world! Wow. Knock us over with a fern frond.