Garbled

You don’t know him, but he’s your brother. More specifically, he’s your blue-eyed soul brother. And who are you kidding? You do know him. For more than 30 years Michael McDonald has been drizzling his distinctive baritone smoothness all over the music world like so much hot fudge; backing Steely…

Nice Cans

You know how sometimes you’re kinda hungry, but it can wait? Like, you know you could get some fast food now, but if you just hang on a minute, a table will open up at Abacus or Chili’s? That’s the kind of attitude that Tarrant County’s hungry folks are going…

Do The Walk Of Life

AIDS Arms serves 2,700 clients a month. A month. That’s about 90 people a day. It boggles the mind that a nonprofit organization provides medical care, testing and counseling, and medication assistance to that many people a day. Clearly, it’s a major operation, and one that needs all the help…

Free Bird Lives

Take a deep breath. That is the smell of Southern Rock. Around these parts, it wafts through the air like the odor of two-day-old chicken-fried steak. Few would debate that the flagship store of the Southern Rock chain is Jacksonville, Florida’s Lynyrd Skynyrd. They did it first, did it bigger…

Horns vs. Howl

The last time I attended a Brahmas hockey game, I witnessed a bench-clearing fight—it seemed there were more people duking it out on the ice than bodies in the stands. When all was said and done, the ice was dotted from goal to goal with gloves, sticks, mouthpieces, pads and…

Recovery Is A Must

We’ve mourned the loss of the Good-Latimer tunnels. We’ve been saddened by Gypsy’s demise and with that the loss of Frank Campagna’s “upcoming shows” murals on its walls. But all hope is not lost. Thanks to the Deep Ellum Foundation and Deep Ellum Association’s Re*Cov*Er Deep Ellum mural series (spearheaded…

Happy Deathday

The United States should be so glad we’re the “melting pot.” Without all the influences from other cultures, we’d be pretty damn boring. Just think of the hell we’d live in without occasional curry, oregano and cayenne pepper. That’s putting it too simply though, so here’s a better example: Dia…

Doggone Party

Weimaraners must emit some toxin that causes insanity in humans. Artist William Wegman thought he’d be safe owning a few of the seemingly lovable dogs. Next thing you know, he’s taking pictures and videos of the dogs dressed up in evening gowns and playing the banjo. The people organizing the…

Fast Food Fun Run

There’s a 5K this weekend, and I’ll give you no guesses who’s sponsoring it. 8 a.m. Saturday, the Whataburger Dash for Dignity (a 5K run or 1 mile run, walk or roll) starts at Winfrey Point on White Rock Lake (8300 Garland Road), and you should be there. You should…

Chin Up for Charity

I have found myself in a bit of a conundrum. I loathe Jay Leno. I don’t just dislike the man, I downright detest him. Him and that chin of his. But the thing is, he’s coming to town, swooping down on our beloved Majestic Theatre (1925 Elm St.) this Saturday…

Celebrating Survival

Boobs. Front and center of men’s eternal love-lust relationship. Women diagnosed with breast cancer fear more than a potentially deadly invasion of their bodies. They think they’re kissing femininity good-bye—an offensive our mammary-obsessed society should counter-attack with love and support. The Van Ditthavong Gallery is raising money for a Dallas…

Fist Things First

Caligula: Imperial Edition (Penthouse) (Spoiler alert: Fisting!) One day back in the swingin’ ’70s, somebody mentioned how “absolute power corrupts absolutely,” and then Bob Guccione, Gore Vidal, Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren and Peter O’Toole said, “Let’s make a big-budget movie about that, with come shots.” And Caligula was born. Actually,…

‘Assassination’ Anatomy

Calling all pundits. It’s a baffling caprice of the zeitgeist to have two studio Westerns released in the same month, 30-odd years after the genre basically gave up the ghost. James Mangold’s better-than-competent and highly crowd-pleasing 3:10 to Yuma has provided a harmonica fanfare for something more ambitious and polarizing…

The Fix Is In

It will no doubt be said time and again of Michael Clayton: best John Grisham adaptation ever. Only, of course, it did not spring from the billion-dollar mind of the attorney-turned-franchise, but from Tony Gilroy, who made his big-screen bow 15 years ago as the screenwriter of the ice-skating melodrama…

‘Lust, Caution’ Lacks Appeal

“Beautiful” and “cruel”: That’s how director Ang Lee describes Eileen Chang’s 1979 short story about obsessive love and effortless betrayal in Japanese-occupied Shanghai, a tale upon which Lee has based his epic-length Lust, Caution. Writing in the afterword to a recently republished version of the 54-page story, which took Chang…

Nitwit Lit

Need a smile? Say Jeeves. No butler ever butled better than the one British-born humorist P.G. Wodehouse created as deadpan comic foil for ditzy upper-crust bachelor Bertie Wooster. The characters, and several silly companions, come gloriously, hilariously to the fore in the farcical Right Ho, Jeeves, now playing as the…

Party Pooper

Billiards is one of the few sports that’s as taxing on a computer screen as it is in real life. It’s played in pubs, after all, and its legendary star was named “Fats.”Unfortunately, most virtual billiard games are behind the 8-ball in terms of quality, with poor physics and convoluted…

What Else is New?

The Audrey Hepburn DVD Collection (Paramount)Bram Stoker’s Dracula: Collector’s Edition (Sony)Christmas Television Favorites (Warner Bros.)The Comedians of Comedy: Live at the Troubadour (Image)Criminal Minds: The Second Season (Paramount)Day Night Day Night (IFC)Entourage: Season Three, Part 2 (HBO)Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (Fox)Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak on…

All That Jazz

We often wonder what it’s like for artists slugging it out on the tribute circuit, dragging out their best versions of songs by dead guys (or guys we wish were dead like, say, Steve Perry). Luckily for jazz musicians/tribute artists Patti Austin, Byron Stripling and Paul Mercer Ellington, the source…

Mid-Century Song

What do you get the 50-year-old that has everything? When it comes to the Dallas Opera, you don’t really get them anything, you go look at all the stuff it already has. Sounds strange, but trust us. The Central Library, 1515 Young St., is helping the ol’ Opsey celebrate the…

Honk If You Like Honk Jr.

At first we mistook Honk Jr. to be a French adaptation of the 1979 autobiography of Bocephus, Living Proof. However, though it would certainly be entertaining to see an actor sing “Family Tradition” in a slight French accent, this was not to be. Instead Honk Jr. adapts the time-honored tale…

Are We Blue?

If you’d asked me to talk about bluegrass 10 or 12 years ago, chances are I’d have told you a story about my Aunt Velma, sittin’ on the porch of her house trailer in Marianna, Arkansas, slapping her substantial knees in tune to Uncle Bobby’s banjo stylings. But I’d like…