On the Road Again

Though most artists tend to start with the basics (pencil, paint, clay) before entering the world of au courant installations and found art, Texas native Kevin Renner seems to have taken an alternate journey. A former large installation man who worked with found art and natural materials to create his…

To Grandmother’s House He Goes

Meddling grandparents — what’s not to love? They ply you with food, then the questions come: When are you getting married? When are you having kids? If you’re happily single, well, they ignore that inconvenient fact. Those are the kind of grandparents that make Nick’s world go round in Over…

A Star-Sudded Meal

Everyone who has demanded a designated driver veer into the Taco Bell drive-through line at 2 a.m. knows that beer can enhance the flavor of food. But being drunk before you taste something isn’t the only way it works. Learn hands-on that using beer as an ingredient can turn a…

Getting Lots of Buzz

Gloria Steinem said a that “a woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle,” but we’re inclined to think that a woman without a vibrator is just bad policy any way you slice it. Sarah Ruhl’s Tony nominated 2009 play, In the Next Room, Or the Vibrator…

Prospero Prospers with the DTC

There are few things that make you feel more cultured than going to see some Shakespeare. I’m generally pretty happy just to get out of the house for a showing of Bridesmaids or to commandeer a jukebox with repeats of Joy Division, because those are things I can afford and…

Painting the Past

Today there are few living Holocaust survivors, but the emotional and personal impact of what they went through lives on in those loved ones that were closest to them. For DFW-based artists Julie Meetal and Veronique Jonas, their family’s history takes form in artwork that illustrates the impact that the…

See and Be Seen

Sculptor Tony Cragg has gained international notoriety through the course of his career by actively experimenting with his art, ranging from the simple, beautiful assemblages of found objects, to the increasingly complex large-scale plastic and metal constructions. His current exhibition, Tony Cragg: Seeing Things, now at the Nasher Sculpture Center,…

Take A Shot at Experimental Shooter

Welcome to another edition of Geek-Offs, where you’ll find the perfect distractions to help you muddle your way through hump day each week. When you see this week’s selection for Geek-Off, you’re probably going to think we called it in because we were too busy out enjoying the weather to…

Warm Fuzzies: A Footwear Favorite at Raves Sees the Light of Day

Two Sundays back, Identity Festival — an EDM (electric dance music) festival — stopped at Gexa Energy Pavilion in Fair Park. The all-day music festival brought in EDM acts from around the world, and additionally, kids from all over the metroplex. Inside, neon-bursting bodies scampered between the stages and merchant…

Which Book Do You Want to Read Next, Book Clubbers?

It’s time once again to vote! And we’ve got a fairly diverse selection of books here, folks. Will you succumb to the peer pressure from Anna and select Tina Fey’s well-received autobiography, Bossypants (the only title to hold over from the last poll)? Will you go with the adult fantasy…

Required Reading: From the Page to the Screen

Common wisdom holds that books are usually superior to their film versions. Satisfying the individual expectations of thousands, if not millions, of fans is a Herculean task. There are exceptions, like Francis Ford Coppola’s Oscar-winning The Godfather, penned by Mario Puzo. Or the monumental achievement by Peter Jackson, who delivered…

Most Eligible Dallas Episode 4: Wherein Fashion Meets Lashin’

We’re watching Bravo’s Most Eligible Dallas every week so you don’t have to. The fourth episode finds formerly minor characters becoming thunder thieves. Read on. Scene 1: Courtney and Tara meet for lunch at Toulouse. After a brief table-etiquette lesson from Court (FORK is on LEFT because both words have…

Christopher Bingham’s “Alamo” at the Belmont Hotel

Sure, we’re no Vegas, but Dallas is known for some iconic neon signs, perhaps more so for the ones that have gone dark, like the original Pegasus and the Alamo Plaza Hotel Courts signs. The Alamo closed in 2008, and last summer Unfair Park toured the vacant property days before…

DTC’s Chamblee Ferguson Acts Up A Storm In The Tempest

Over the past year he’s played Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol and a Nazi officer in Cabaret. Now, cast in the lead as Prospero in Shakespeare’s mighty drama The Tempest, actor Chamblee Ferguson steps into the biggest role of his long career at Dallas Theater Center. The Tempest, opening…

North Haven Gardens Offers Ground Advice for Fall Planting

No, it’s not exactly fall yet, but apparently, it’s time to start picking out plants for cool weather planting. Thing is, we here at Mixmaster HQ don’t know a damn thing about fall planting. Actually, come to think of it, we don’t know too much of anything about planting in…

Pocket’s Comedy Sylvia Is A Pleasing Puppy Upper

Theater Caps are bite-sized punch-packing capsule reviews by resident theater critic Elaine Liner. Use them as a reminder — or a teaser, if you procrastinate — of her full-length reviews in The Mixmaster’s weekly sister. Playwright A.R. Gurney has written more than 40 plays, but it’s a good bet Sylvia…

Top 100 Reasons Texas Is Twice as Awesome as Any Other State

By now most of you dear readers are well aware of the Gawker-produced list of the 50 Worst States In America. Gawker placed their home base at 50, and the Lone Star State at 13. Sure sure, our placement could be worse, but instead of celebrating that, we’d rather point…