Money can’t buy you happiness, but it can buy you a really classy evening. For one night in October, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Diana Krall collaborate in the symphony’s Arts District digs, with a True Blue-themed backdrop by Todd Fiscus, decorator to the stars (the glitterati kind, not the…
The Donnas started in the late ’90s as the female Ramones, evolved (devolved?) into the female Mötley Crüe with 2001’s The Donnas Turn 21, and with their latest—Bitchin’—they’ve riff rocked themselves into the female Judas Priest. They still have the most trite, horny teenage girl lyrics you can imagine, but…
A friend of mine told me recently that Annie Lennox in the Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams” video with her man’s suit and bright red hair was a big turn-on for him. After vomiting in my mouth, I thought, well, OK, you’re gay, she was mannish, not cute, but whatever. Different strokes…
7 p.m. Friday, see Kathleen Madigan at the Lakewood Theater, 1825 Abrams Parkway. She’s not the funniest. This isn’t my opinion talking; this is a proven fact. She was on Last Comic Standing. She lost. She was not the funniest. America decided (and, with the popularity of the bastion of…
Dallas Children’s Theater has decided to put on another “live” performance of Night of the Living Dead. The teenagers loved it last year. And hey, why wouldn’t they? There’s something very life-affirming about the dead returning to devour the living. I mean we certainly can’t judge the zombies for their…
The play Flaming Guns of the Purple Sage tells the story of a “feisty rodeo competitor” called Big 8 and a “one-eyed Ukrainian biker named Black Dog,” spoofing the classic Western stylings of author Zane Grey along the way. And if Grey’s name doesn’t ring a bell, perhaps this will—one…
If you can’t beat ’em, laugh at ’em. That’s how the school bully thinks. Teachers around? Just resort to ridicule and cruel jokes. Which is exactly how the Laugh It Up comedy show benefitting the Children’s Cancer Fund at the Addison Improv is treating cancer. No chemo? Try gut laughs…
It’s one of those glib icebreaker questions you’ve heard or used. What would you take with you if you only had a few minutes to leave your home? It lets you get to know someone a little better by asking what he or she truly values. Would you grab family…
If you’re looking for a novel way to begin the Halloween season, check out the Dungeon of Doom, a haunted museum in Arlington (not to be confused with the nearby Rangers ballpark). The Dungeon of Doom features all sorts of freaky exhibits, including renderings of oversized eyeballs, skeletons, corpses, decaying…
If you’re not on the Dallas Cowboys Super Bowl bandwagon yet, that’s OK. It’s good to be cynical. Besides, by the time this goes to press, the ‘Boys could have gone to hell in a handbasket. I doubt it, but it could happen. Either way, the Cowboys/Patriots game is one…
The Kingston Trio influenced popular song far beyond the boundaries of traditional folk music. Aesthetically they may have been a template for boy bands, handsome young men mugging cutely on their album covers. While there is a fair share of love songs in their repertoire, the Trio’s more famous numbers…
Forget Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers and the Jigsaw Killer. (OK, don’t forget them—they could be behind you RIGHT NOW.) What truly chills us is the brutality of the animal world. While most humans use tools to maim and murder, many animals are faster and stronger than us and possess razor-like…
Some comedians like their own jokes so much they crack themselves up onstage. Then comes Academy Award winner Steven Wright, who not only seems to miss the humor of his own material but seems to be downright depressed and incapable of seeing any humor at all. Wright came to light…
The Ndere Troupe is called Africa’s Dancing Encyclopedia. (A U.S. troupe would do some Cotton-eyed Joe-polka-salsa-zydeco-hip-hop numbers that MC Hammer couldn’t touch. And we sure as hell won’t.) These young artists from Uganda have been trained by native Stephen Rwangyezi since 1986 to celebrate the dance, music and song from…
The Modern ’til Midnight rarely disappoints, and this week is no exception. In fact, glancing at the old calendar, there’s hardly a better lineup in town than this one. The final weekend of the Ron Mueck exhibit coincides with the evening, and if you haven’t yet checked that out, it’s…
We can barely keep track of where we spent the last few hours, much less have our thumb on the pulse of America’s Next Top Biggest Model Idol Chef. If memory serves, this dude Elliott Yamin was the prettiest bachelor who prepared the most succulent orange-glazed duck, produced the best…
Many people believe that hot, sexy, funny people such as those who perform stand-up comedy go home from the club every weekend with a hot new piece of groupie ass. As the saying goes, all rock stars really just want to be comedians, right? Wrong. Because as soon as they…
The fascination with death that exists in some Latino cultures intrigues people from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. For most of us, death is a morbid affair, met with extreme fear and a nearly maudlin ceremonial aspect involving trussing up dead loved ones as if to pretend that, if only…
One thing for sure, artist Sarah Maxwell English’s grandmother had way cooler taste than my grandma. For a joint exhibit with fellow Dallas artist Jennifer Gassiraro Nguyen at Magnolia Gallery, Maxwell says she is “layering fabric from my grandmothers home and my own home, thinking about how I define what…
Science has ruined my life. What happened to the good ol’ days when there were just 10 or 15 types of dinosaurs? Tyrannosaurus Rex, check, Triceratops, got it. Brontosaurus, for sure. I didn’t even know about the Velociraptor until Jurassic Park. So I guess Hollywood has ruined my life too,…
Despite the tantrums, the white man Afro and those headbands, you have to give John McEnroe his props. At 48, the seven-time grand-slam winner and Hall of Famer is still at it. He just plays the senior tennis circuit, which sounds like an extracurricular activity at the nursing home. But…
I was a few weeks from high school graduation on April 20, 1999, roughly the same age as Columbine killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. I vividly remember the news frenzy that day, as well as what it was like to be a high school student in the weeks afterward,…
