Every year, the barren, icy tundra of wintertime Dallas sparks fear in the hearts of metroplexians. Soon enough, we will have to brace for the utmost terrors caused by the forces of brutal Father Frost. Yes, that’s right: Thermostats will get cranked an extra two degrees warmer. The horror! OK,…
Thursday, December 18 Any fan of black-and-white photography has seen Edward Weston’s bell pepper shot, “Pepper No. 30.” Its seductive lighting makes what is to some simply food into something sensual and alive with curves and hollows. His “Eggs and Slicer” and “Chambered Nautilus-Halved” also show his affinity for no-frills…
There are many symbols for this time of year. There’s the Nativity for religious Christmas, and Santa and Rudolph for secular Christmas. A menorah for Hanukkah, and–according to Friends–there’s the Hanukkah Armadillo who delights kids with tales of the Festival of Lights. Kwanzaa and Los Posados have candles and light,…
12/20 It has come to this: During last week’s poker game, my friend Shane and I found ourselves swapping recipes for, among other things, shrimp with grits, exotic chili and chocolate soufflés. We then donned our aprons, cinched our skirts and waited for the hubby to bring home the boss…
12/21 My man Beardog Wheeler–have you ever heard a better name for a biker?–says that rain or shine the December 21 Big Texas Toy Run, which benefits underprivileged and challenged metroplex children who need a little holiday-season help, is going to be a roaring success. So get your bike tuned…
Ongoing Sitting here trying to write another holiday feature, I discover that my kitten can’t stand the fact she’s not getting all of my attention. Instead, my computer–a square thingy without feathers, fur or bells (all things she can relate to because I spoil her in toys)–has suddenly become a…
12/23 Who’s afraid of the big bad ballet master? Certainly not Texas Ballet Theatre, formerly Fort Worth-Dallas Ballet, which recruited an internationally acclaimed Brit to run the creative side of its classical dance company. Word has it that Ben Stevenson is kindly yet tough on the dancers, and the box…
12/19 A choir and musicians in long white robes. A precocious kid too talented for her age. Tap dancers. Comedians. The lineup of the Polyphonic Spree’s Fourth Annual Holiday Extravaganza reminds us of many childhood holiday seasons spent in nursing homes, tap-dancing to “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” and…
To get the obvious out of the way first: Something’s Gotta Give is a film designed to appeal to older women, and it very likely will. Diane Keaton gives a good performance in it as a post-menopausal playwright who gets back in touch with her libido. The movie will probably…
Remember the Farrelly brothers? Makers of Dumb and Dumber and There’s Something About Mary? Known for crossing the line of good taste and making fun of the differently abled, but with a sufficiently sweet streak that they could be forgiven for such? Kinda popular until Trey Parker and Matt Stone…
Just when you thought it was safe to go back into Hungary and listen to a song that supposedly causes people to kill themselves, along comes Gloomy Sunday. This tragic romance is elegant, picturesque, sensuous and rather stilted, but three out of four makes for reasonable enough viewing. As long…
Sorrow sprouts wings and flies in Jim Sheridan’s radiant new film In America, which pits the pain and grief of unimaginable loss against the resilience of the human heart. In this semi-autobiographical tale from the writer-director of My Left Foot and In the Name of the Father, a working-class Irish…
This being the end of the year, and since none of the people I wanted to write about this week felt it necessary to return any of my calls, from the leftover heap comes this collection of random topics I considered tackling this year but lost interest in after 200…
Somewhere Lawrence Welk is smiling. This holiday season there’s ah-one and ah-two oldies musical revues on the boards, each offering Welkified close-harmony classics and G-rated tributes to jukebox eras gone by. Forever Plaid at Plano Repertory Theatre weaves pop hits from the ’50s and early ’60s into a threadbare story…
Raised Episcopalian, we had plenty of ceremony, sit-kneel-stands and real wine at communion. We went to church, crossing ourselves with holy water and attempting to quietly chew stale wafers. Highlights for our bookish, arty personality definitely came by way of finally memorizing the Nicene Creed and, of course, the stained…
Thursday, December 11 It’s a Wonderful Life’s famous quote, “Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings,” should give you a pretty good example of the kind of sound effects the Ameristage Players will be using during the group’s 1940s-style live radio performance of the holiday classic. We…
If you have someplace important to be on Sunday, take note: The 2003 White Rock Marathon is seriously going to screw up traffic patterns that morning, and the endless line of runners may not end until the early afternoon, depending on which part of town you happen to be stuck…
12/12 Candlelight at Old City Park reminds us of a very special episode of Gilmore Girls. It was the one where Lorelai planned the big dinner at the Independence Inn for the townsfolk of Stars Hollow because the original guests had gotten snowed in. There were carriage rides and music…
12/13 Welcome to your midlife crisis. Let’s take a quick tour: To your right, you can see gaggles of underage women you gawk at while taking your family out to dinner at Chuy’s. To your left is the Hawaiian-shirt aisle at Mervyn’s. Up ahead a little ways sits a medicine…
12/13 The only thing that gets us through the day-in, day-out, custodial, repetitive, mind-numbing horror of bringing up baby is the promise of giddy delight at Christmas. Apparently, the Dallas Children’s Museum feels our pain, having devised an entire afternoon of holiday baby-sitting, er, entertainment. On Saturday, the DCM’s storytellers,…
12/13 Thanks to The McKinney Avenue Contemporary’s seventh annual Blue Yule Artist’s Party and Ornament Sale, your Christmas tree will be as hip as you are. And since it’s also the season for giving and receiving, The MAC gives equal time to both holiday pleasures. Create your own ornament to…
12/12 Manolo Blahniks would be a terrible thing to waste on Christmas, poking their pointed toes or spiked heels out of the stockings of any of the members of the Barefoot Brigade. They eschew shoes, and they’ll celebrate the holidays in a robust if uniquely nontraditional way. This year the…
