Cage Match

An “All Pet” Expo, huh? As in, an expo for all pets? Well, this could get dangerous. Some people think mountain lions make good pets. We knew plenty of people in college who considered iguanas and marmosets to be acceptable house pets. What happens when the people with pet pythons…

Brewing Babes

Kettle Art Gallery is going to have to expand its available wall space. Maybe it can take over some of the recently vacated buildings in Deep Ellum. While City Hall cultural fascists battle to remove the personality from our fair city, the Anne (and Deiter) Franks of the local contemporary…

Casual Saturday

Ties! Who needs ’em? This is 2007, ladies and gentlemen, and nobody’s got time to fiddle with those cumbersome neck ornaments anymore. We’ve got much bigger things to care about, like maybe caring for our fellow man. So ditch the tie this Saturday night. Nonprofit organization AIDS Services of Dallas,…

What You Say?!

I guess “Totally Not That Un-Unpredictable” was harder to put on a poster. I’m not saying you won’t enjoy Jamie Foxx’s performance at Nokia Theatre this Saturday. The charismatic Terrell native promises a mixture of comedy and music, and I’m sure he’ll bring a lively and energetic performance. What I…

Fava Figure

I was at the veggie aisle in a local grocery store the other day and came across some fava beans. The first thing I thought of was Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs. The second thing I thought was, “I wonder if anyone actually eats these?” I was…

Hot Burrito No. 2

Like many of us, Chris Hillman was introduced to music by his older sister. Unlike most of us, his songs have been recorded by Beck, Emmylou Harris and Tom Petty. He’s had songs on the pop charts and country charts and is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall…

Shhh!

Once Oprah gets a hold on something, it’s not a secret. But that doesn’t seem to be a problem for the folks behind the Center for Spiritual Living, who host The Secret Workshop, about changing your life through gratitude, positive thoughts and the concept of unlimited power for good. They…

The Emerald Mid-City

I love The Wizard of Oz. I love sparkly shoes and friendly lions and houses that fall on people you don’t like. There is one scene I despise, however: I hate the part where Dorothy’s neighbor tries to take Toto away. I mean, I’ve had bad neighbors before, with screaming…

Two Steps

My whole relationship with the art of dance has been a tempestuous one. I was good at square dancing in second grade but not so good at the moonwalk in seventh. Likewise, I could never pick up the cotton-eyed Joe but voguing came naturally. Tap-dancing lessons without tap shoes had…

Eight Is Enough

You might think Leahy is a tie-dyed jam band fronted by beloved Vermont Senator (and noted Deadhead) Patrick Leahy, touring the land in a biodiesel VW bus and rocking out against the evils of illegal government wire-tapping. But you’d be wrong, since Leahy is actually a Celtic pop band comprised…

The Prestige

He made the Statue of Liberty vanish. He levitated over the freakin’ Grand Canyon. He was knighted by the French government. Four nations pay tribute to him on their postage. He owns an island in the southern Bahamas where he says he’s discovered a fountain of youth that brings dead…

Lady Madonnas

It’s never done. But the work of many women in places such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya is beyond endless. They scratch the ground with sticks to plant vegetables. They carry heavy loads on their heads and jerrycans of water on their backs. All while caring for…

Shiny Dancer

It would be easy to dismiss Winger as just another late ’80s hair metal band trying to jump on the sequin-and-spandex bandwagon driven by Poison and Ratt. They had all the ingredients for a glam cocktail: tight pants, power ballads, etc. But what most people don’t realize is lead singer…

There’s Nothing Like a Musical

Don’t lie. You’re sitting there daydreaming, hoping. You’re envisioning some enchanted evening when you’ll see a stranger across a crowded room…or something. And he’ll be some really settled Frenchman, and there’ll be a palm tree or two. And music. Specifically Rodgers and Hammerstein—which is totally random, but whatever, it’s your…

Fancy Pants

Remember, like, two days ago when NorthPark Center was a dull, dreary beige-bricked enclave desperately clinging to its Neiman’s and Burberry? No matter what kind of high-end finery was available at the posh places, the Charlotte Russe and that creepy hamburger place by the pet clothing store made you feel…

Dyed Green

With Posh and Becks moving stateside, people in this country may start caring about soccer, er, football, a bit more. We’ll go to the games, we’ll join Hoops Nation, we’ll proudly wear our red and white and we’ll be hooligans. OK, maybe not that last part, because that’d be a…

Southern Discomfort

From Minnie Pearl to Dolly Parton to Amy Sedaris, Southern chicks have always played an important role in the comedy world. And judging by the promotional video on their Web site, it’s possible the women of the Southern Fried Chicks Comedy Tour—Leanne Morgan, Karen Mills and Etta May—might ruin the…

Analog Quality

For their one-year anniversary, the Road Agent folks are serving gallery-goers a revolving, mashed-up smorgasbord featuring work from some of their favorite artists, among them the bold canine portraits of Raychael Stine and James Christopher Case’s intricate ink and charcoal reflections on modern disaster. Road Agent: The Audience Is Listening…

Dining Divine

My all-time favorite chef/food-realted personality is Anthony Bourdain. The guy’s full of ‘tude, he knows the ins and outs of running a kitchen, he’ll eat anything and he’s written the books to prove all of it. But while I enjoy his being a bit of an asshole, others might not…

Holy Mother Lode

In the month when Hollywood director James Cameron makes a splash (or belly flop) with The Lost Tomb of Jesus, a unique exhibit arrives at Fair Park with 350 rare artifacts from the Holy Land. Created in conjunction with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Institute of Archaeology, the interactive exhibit…

Hot Chicks

I saw Shut Up and Sing and loved it before the Dixie Chicks won five Grammys, but the stubborn remarks by country DJs—whose hatred of the Chicks was only deepened by their recent success—made me love the film even more. The documentary chronicles the aftermath of the Chicks’ Natalie Maines’…

Hussy ‘N’ Flow

It may be hard out there for a pimp, but it ain’t too hard for a writer-director to make a movie whose marketing hinges on the lurid spectacle of Samuel L. Jackson pulling a half-naked Christina Ricci around on a chain. This sort of cheap trick is what they used…