Hair Country

God may have blessed Texas but he never blessed Little Texas, the forgotten ’90s country band that came out of Nashville at a time when Music Row started turning mainstream country into soft rock. In an odd way, the band should be remembered, not for its music, but for what…

Cat and Dog

You’ll have two chances to see God or Satan in the next few days if you head to Denton. (And you thought it would be another lazy weekend waiting for sunshine around the pool.) As stars in their own back-to-back student-directed plays at University of North Texas, the Opposition Duo…

Cat and Dog

You’ll have two chances to see God or Satan in the next few days if you head to Denton. (And you thought it would be another lazy weekend waiting for sunshine around the pool.) As stars in their own back-to-back student-directed plays at University of North Texas, the Opposition Duo…

Big D Dunkin’

Sure, I’m a huge Mavericks fan, but even I can admit Dirk and Co. need to stop shooting the long ball sometimes and go in for the rim-rattling dunk. Josh Howard and Pop Mensah-Bonsu can throw down occasionally, and Diop can put it up there without even jumping, but come…

On Rush

I was loading up the snark gun, getting ready to wail on all the old folks who might be planning to head out to catch the Rush show this Saturday at Smirnoff Music Centre. (A sample: Who’s the tour sponsor, Ex-Lax?) Then I remembered something, namely, me at 14, huddled…

Big Red Target

Not to get all po-mo on you, but half the satisfaction of indulging in Dallas native Harry Hunsicker’s latest thriller, Crosshairs, is savoring the delicious weirdness of the fact that its protagonist is Lee Oswald, a former private dick and Gulf War I vet who, in aiding his femme fatale,…

The Good Dr.

Dr. Seuss stories are universal. What is a Christmas without the Grinch? What’s a milestone without Oh the Places You’ll Go? But after a lifetime of hearing these stories, we’re ready to shake them up a little. We know that Sam likes Green Eggs and Ham. We’re familiar with that…

The Age of Caring

Ah, the circle of life. No, we’re not talking about that lion-hearted Elton John song, we’re talking about the realization that you’re born a being in need of care and you ultimately end up that way too, should you live well into old age. Sure, you have a baby, fully…

The Big 15

The Quinceañera—a festive party to celebrate a girl turning 15–is a lovely custom not well understood by many people outside Hispanic culture. Though sometimes as complex (and expensive!) as a wedding, with limos, cakes, bands and a gorgeous white dress, the “quince” is much more than being princess for a…

Bitter Drink

Aww nuts. Here I was thinking Vodka and Kisses was going to be a sordid after party of endless booze and anonymous sex but no, it’s a play. Two chicks are total best friends forever until a man enters the picture and the inevitable kick to the curb comes to…

Drunk on Charity

Altruism is overrated, especially in light of that 15 minutes of PerezHilton.com surfing time you lost because you feel obligated to chat with Lonely Steve over in accounting. How ’bout something special for number one? Do it guilt-free: for the next three Thursdays (August 9, 16 and 23), all the…

Dirty Hippies

It’s tough to say anything new about the 1969 Woodstock music festival. We have so much perspective (after almost 40 years!) that everyone pretty much knows the story already. Whether it’s your scene or not it’s hard to deny the power of the film that documents the event, though. You…

Say Ahhhrt

As kids, we hated going to the dentist, because we loved candy and we always had cavities. We also hated flossing and loathed our hygienist, because we could never floss enough to satisfy her. Therefore, “open wide”is not a phrase that evokes a positive response in us. Open Wide, however–a…

Freedom Isn’t Free

The word “freedom” has been hijacked by jingoistic fascists, but something good comes from its misuse. Ever since “freedom fries” and operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom, you can substitute the word “bullshit” when you hear “freedom.” The Sean Hannity Freedom Concert, consisting of overpriced cornball country and conservative talk-show…

Sling Song

Hollywood is full of weirdos. When Billy Bob Thornton was married to Angelina Jolie, the unlikely pair wore each others’ blood around their necks and would publicly say things about their sex life that still make the mind reel and the skin crawl. Billy Bob Thornton is, of course, most…

The Keymaster

Puerto Rican-born American citizen William Rodriguez is believed to be the last person to escape from World Trade Center Tower #1 on the morning of September 11, 2001. As a custodian in the building for 19 years, he had the only access key to three fire stairwells, and made repeated…

Subtitled

High up on my wish list of indulgences I want but will never be able to afford on my meager salary would have to be last year’s Criterion release Essential Art House: 50 Years of Janus Films. With a hefty price tag of $850, the collection features 50 of the…

Back in Time

In elementary school, my teachers would run out the clock on the school year by watching movies in class every day for the last week or two. Back to the Future was always one of them. The teacher never bothered with the pretense that it was part of some science…

Big Top Brothers

The only place you can get cotton candy and really enjoy it (because it tastes so much better in its natural habitat) is at the circus. Cotton candy at the circus almost makes you forget that animals are being tortured and that clowns are the scariest invention ever. The moment…

The Hook

The words “jam band” have become as disturbing to most music fans as the words “George W. Bush” have become to everybody else. It is rare for a jam band to achieve much more than perpetual touring and a few thousand die-hard fans that follow them around doing questionable things…

Science, Gratis

It’s not often a building gets compared to a stuffed animal, but that’s the implied comparison the president of the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History makes when he talks about the 66-year-old building: “It has been loved to death.” For many native (and nerdy) North Texans–this writer included–the…

Critter Swap

If I had a friend that ever acted like my pets act, I’d give that friend a good talking to, followed swiftly by a good face slapping. I’ve never had a friend pee on my carpet just because he was stressed. No friend of mine has told me he liked…