“April is the cruelest month,” TS Eliot penned to open his poetic triumph, The Wasteland. Poets have written at length about this month filled with spring showers and a sense of renewal. Odgen Nash exhorted readers to marry an April girl; Robert Frost described the days of April as blue…
The hooks slip in to your skin, like a fish caught on a line. Each hook aligned with a particular area of your body to keep a secure grasp on you without ripping out flesh. It takes years to get it right. It takes a practiced hand and a knowledgeable…
I am not an art collector. If I could afford it, I suppose I would be, but at this point in my life I cannot claim it as a hobby. But as an arts journalist, I find myself staring at the price tag of a piece at a gallery scheming…
This morning in the foyer of the Meyerson Symphony Center, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra revealed plans for a large-scale festival of the arts. In May 2015, Soluna brings together the city’s artistic institutions as the foundation for the festival that will include international artists and commissions of new work…
Two years after the private, rough cut screening of what was then called The Starck Project, which played to a packed theater at the Angelika during DIFF 2012, director Michael Cain is ready to unveil his finished product. The Starck Club debuts this Saturday at Texas Theatre, and although that…
Only in America can you tug the sleeve of your Lyft driver, clear your throat and politely ask him to drive-thru Whataburger for you at 2 a.m. Sure, other countries serve third meal at gyro stands or back alley cafes, but here you don’t even have to leave the car…
Comedian and actor Todd Barry will be in Dallas April 25 at the Sons of Hermann Hall to promote his Louis C.K.-produced “Todd Barry: The Crowd Work Tour.” It won’t be the typical guy-stands-before-crowd-and-tells-jokes show. Instead, it’s complete improv and his main source of material is you, the audience…
If you want to stuff any more into this weekend, you’re going to have to pack it to the point of bursting. There are so many art events, we’re struggling to zip it all together. There are gallery openings, farmer’s markets, festivals, dance show, theater productions, a huge film festival,…
We’re bending over backward and sweating through our yoga pants for you, Dallas. For this list of Dallas’ best karma palaces, Katie Womack and I combined our yogi knowledge and crawled out of child’s pose to try new studios. We downward dogged for days on end to present you with…
The most perfect works of art are those suspended between conception and realization, the ones that seize you up with how great they’re gonna be. (Well, those and Busby Berkeley numbers.) Alejandro Jodorowsky’s daft, daring, surrealist, possibly impossible adaptation of Dune, Frank Herbert’s spice-mining science-fiction novel that later proved unadaptable…
A grave has been freshly dug in the opening shot of director Gareth Evans’ ultra-violent Indonesian flick The Raid 2. It’s a start, but Evans is going to need 400 more. In the first few minutes, Evans dispenses with three-quarters of the survivors of 2012’s The Raid: Redemption, the writer-director’s…
Nocturne begins and ends with death and speaks of little else in between. Don’t let that put you off. The play by Adam Rapp, now running at Second Thought Theatre, announces its mordant theme in the first line uttered by the only character who speaks for nearly two hours. He…
A small show that deserves a bigger audience than it’s getting is Soul of Sam: The Sam Cooke Story, now on at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center. Written and directed by Sheran Keyton for her Fort Worth-based DVA Productions, it tells the life story of the 1950s-’60s singer/songwriter known…
The language of the body speaks in haunting tones. For the last 36 years, Dallas Black Dance Theatre has been speaking this language to audiences, pairing professional dancers with a mix of modern, jazz, ethnic and spiritual musical works by nationally and internationally known choreographers. DBDT II features the most…
You’ve probably heard the alarmist statistics about the swiftly approaching demise of the Earth. We’re treating the planet poorly and our lifestyles are evidence of our guilt. And no, driving a Prius does not exempt you. Once a year, groups of Earth’s inhabitants gather in remorse. On Earth Day, we…
They still call Detroit the Motor City. As if. And Philadelphia is the City of Brotherly Love? Whoever came up with that one obviously never met an Eagles fans. So let’s not take the whole City of Hate thing too much to heart. It’s not like anyone calls Dallas that…
Part of being a grown-up is realizing that the greatest show on earth is not necessarily the one brimming with inanity and smelling of burnt popcorn and elephant poop. Sometimes, it’s about the quieter moments, the subtle visuals and the artistry interwoven with entertainment. In other words, the beauty and…
As hard as is for some to dance on a flat surface, just imagine gliding, leaping and navigating the choreography of a performance on a curved stage with water being thrown at and poured all over you. That’s exactly what British company Motionhouse will do during their production, Scattered ……
Collecting art is like raising race horses: a real knack for it is rare and you need a ton of money to raise a good one. But unlike speedy thoroughbreds, it’s never to late to take up an interest in building your collection or window shop. This weekend the Dallas…
Every city is chock-full of artists who have a vision for artistry and arty things and just can’t wait to share their artitude with anyone within sight line. Fort Worth and the surrounding townships are no exception. That’s why Fort Worth has one of the largest art showcases in the…
Playwright Kevin Christensen unveils his work about an astronomy professor whose life begins to unravel around him, pending an alien invasion. Sat., April 5, 8 p.m.; Sun., April 6, 3 p.m.; Fri., April 11, 8 p.m.; Sat., April 12, 8 p.m.; Sun., April 13, 3 p.m., 2014…
On Monday, SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts presents a unique (and free) opportunity to hear Bang on a Can co-founder Michael Gordon’s mesmerizing concert length percussion masterpiece Timber. Mantra Percussion, the innovative classical group that co-commissioned the piece, will be on hand to perform Timber on a set of…
