Arts & Culture

Desperados Mexican Restaurant is sponsoring Tacos for Kidds. But not just any kids. Starting Tuesday, and continuing the first Tuesday of each month throughout the year, Desperados will donate 20 percent of the day’s sales to Kidd’s Kids—106.1’s Kidd Kraddick’s charity supporting kids with special medical needs. The money from…

Considering the hazy, light-polluted night skies we get around the metromess area, it may take a little imagination to understand the awe the night sky used to inspire. Stargazing around these parts usually means getting into an exclusive club and having a B-list brush with greatness. Stars of the Pharaohs,…

A teacher living on a meager salary. Nothing new there, right? Terrible crimes happen every day. No shocker there either. Now combine the two. Hollywood would give you Michelle Pfeiffer in a leather jacket or perhaps even a bat-wielding James Belushi riding a motorcycle through a high school. You know,…

Growing up I was obsessed with geology. At first it was simply because dinosaur bones could be found in sedimentary rock, but later I also grew to appreciate the parts of the earth’s surface that weren’t the fossilized remains of living critters. Many afternoons I found myself sifting through drawers…

Candlebox? Wow, who’d have thought those guys were still around? Oh, it’s a reunion tour with all original members. Who were the original members? Weren’t they from Seattle? I thought they were leftover metal burnouts who latched onto the whole grunge thing. The only song I can remember off the…

Who would have thought that the few drops of precipitation we’d see this summer would be enough to rain out Addison’s Fourth of July fireworks festivities? Well, it was and it did. But this isn’t some lame collection of sparklers and flaming pinwheels. The Town of Addison’s Kaboom Town is…

Looking at me, you probably wouldn’t know that I throw it down on the dance floor. My fairly conservative attire, coupled with a less-than-petite build, hides the fact that I was made for Dance Club 21 and Soul Train. Usher who? That’s right. And now would be the time to…

Familial dysfunction, unstable tykes, failing marriages and a parade. You could find those things in just about any Texas town—large or small. You just don’t have to look too hard to find them in Borland, a film named for the town in which it’s set. Directed by Quam Odusi, this…

If the Friday night line-up on BBC America isn’t enough to keep that Anglophilic entertainment streak satisfied (and now that Hell’s Kitchen is over, the delectable Gordon Ramsay isn’t sloppin’ out British slang and cuss words on Monday nights), Theatre Britain offers a solution in the form of its third…

With titles such as The Wedding Diaries, Sinfully Sexy and The Wallflower, author Linda Francis Lee is a one-woman chick-lit factory. Now the former Dallas debutante and former Junior Leaguer tackles The Devil in the Junior League. The devil who wears Prada might meet her match in Fredericka Mercedes Hildebrand…

It’s very fitting that the Amon Carter Museum’s new photography exhibit, a collection of rare color photographs taken between 1939 and 1943, is called Bound for Glory. You see, that’s also the title of the autobiography of Woody Guthrie, the ramblin’ Dust Bowl singer who gave a voice to millions…

Sixty-one years ago, 35,000 Marines stormed the island of Iwo Jima in one of the most horrific battles of WWII. More than 6,800 men died in five weeks of combat, commemorated by photographer Joe Rosenthal, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his photo of six Marines raising the American flag…

Kenny Wetzel called the Dallas D.A.N.C.E. (Dancer’s Annual National Competition Extravaganza) the “best party in the nation.” Coming from Kenny Wetzel, that’s saying something. Wetzel, also known as the “King of Flying Lindy,” was the best swing dancer ever to come out of Illinois. This year’s extravaganza, which includes 16…

When I read that the Cara Mía Theatre Company was finally bringing Martín to the stage, I could hardly contain my excitement. Could it really be true? Would Martin Lawrence’s witty FOX sitcom finally be getting the theatrical treament? Would Shenehneh finally get her moment in the sun? Alas, it…

Jim Norton first gained publicity as a kid when he won the top score on an Asteroids arcade game in New Jersey. Now he pees his pants in front of millions of people on TV. His character on HBO’s Lucky Louie is a stereotype-smashing (and oft-hilarious) loser of a supporting…

Chances are you know way more about Johnny Mathis than I do. He always seems to be featured on those song collections you see commercials for in the middle of the night—just $14.99 plus shipping and handling and you can get your hands on some great tunes from the golden…

Death of a Salesman is Arthur Miller’s signature play and a staple of American theater; however, it hasn’t exactly aged like fine wine. Willy Loman’s floundering salesman seems more like a relic of a forgotten time than a tragic hero of a tragic economy. If Miller were writing it today,…

Like Jane Goodall, I once lived among animals. From the tiny hovel I’d eked out for myself in their natural habitat, I would observe their movements. The objects of my observation had bizarre, occasionally nonexistent, bathing habits. Others had unusual mating rituals, often draping themselves in cloth that barely covered…

Living the sheltered suburban life that we do, it’s sometimes hard to relate to “urban” music. Take, for example, the band WAR. One may think, “Well, actually, none of my friends know a low rider. All of my friends know the safety and economy of Japanese- and German-built vehicles with…

Blazing Saddles, written by Mel Brooks and Richard Pryor in 1974, is a spoof of the Western genre. It mocks prejudice. It mocks Hollywood. And when you walk away from this film, you’re left with a very clear message: Cowboys plus beans equals hilarious. Number six on the American Film…