Michael Martin Murphy doesn’t call himself a country artist, and with good reason. He’s a “singing cowboy poet,” and his are the sorts of songs one rarely, if ever, hears on country radio anymore. Of his six gold records, the most notable may be Cowboy Songs, the first collection of…
I protested for oh so long. For approximately two years I refused to see the movie Elf. It’s not the Will Ferrell thing—I quite like him actually. It’s not that it’s a holiday flick—I got the spirit in me. No, all of those things really should sell me on the…
Look, lemme be straight with you: Hanukkah’s a very, very minor holiday. It’s so minor there are, like, 24 spellings of the thing. It’s so minor the 3-year-old who lives in my house thinks the menorah’s for Christmas and Santa’s bringing him a dreidel. It’s so minor that to celebrate…
Olivia Newton-John is magic. I’m not talking about the David Copperfield/Doug Henning type of magic, but more of a general feeling of indescribable power that emanates from her like the glow from a wizard’s talisman. Her career has spanned decades. Starting off in the early ’70s with a soft rock…
One design student’s much-blogged-about tattoo sleeve, by artist Nick Baxter, features not pinup girls, but chairs. That’s right—photorealistic skin artworks such as Charles and Ray Eames’ Lounge Chair and Ottoman. But the Eameses were more than furniture-makers (and tattoo inspiration): They also made 100-plus short films addressing their theories of…
Some days it seems like all the good ideas have been taken. That great movie idea? Done, with both remakes and sequels. That amazing invention that no one will be able to live without? Tied up in patent and trademark limbo. But if you’re one of those optimistic types who…
The true crime buff on your gift list doesn’t have to take a holiday from her gruesome hobby when she unwraps The Christmas Day Murders, by Smith County Sheriff J.B. Smith and Dr. Dana Adams. Sheriff Smith signs copies of his book—about a Tyler teenager who killed her parents on…
The true crime buff on your gift list doesn’t have to take a holiday from her gruesome hobby when she unwraps The Christmas Day Murders, by Smith County Sheriff J.B. Smith and Dr. Dana Adams. Sheriff Smith signs copies of his book—about a Tyler teenager who killed her parents on…
The stage adaptation of David Sedaris’ contemporary Christmas comedy classic, The Santaland Diaries,/B>, returns for its spectacular sixth season, this time in the Studio Theatre of the Addison Theatre Centre. Ted Wold fills Crumpet’s tiny, bell-toed booties and relives the tales of Sedaris’ brief employ as a department store elf…
There are four things every human should do. Plant a tree, write a poem, be intimate with someone of the same sex and kill a person. At least, that’s the notion Senta has in the Hitchcockian French film, The Bridesmaid. Poor Philippe falls in love with Senta only to find…
Trimming Christmas trees is a fine art for some, so why not trim your tree with some real fine art this year? For the 10th Annual Blue Yule Artists’ Party and Ornament Sale, the McKinney Avenue Contemporary has teamed together with local and international artists, designers and architects to provide…
If you’re one of Howard Stern’s faithful followers who long ago migrated over to Sirius Satellite Radio, then you’re probably already familiar with the performers on his Killers of Comedy tour, and you’re most likely reading this with a ticket to the upcoming show clutched tightly in your meaty paw…
Plants have dictated the course of history. Toby and Will Musgrave discuss how trade led by the Western world became the catalyst for addiction, slavery and industrialization in their book An Empire of Plant: People and Plants That Changed the World. Celebrating the power and beauty of the garden, the…
Now that the weather has decided to turn colder, it’s time to think of some indoor activities. Then again, this is Dallas, so it might be just as necessary to go indoors to avoid the heat, no matter what the season. A cool (ha!) indoor activity is checking out new…
Holiday music for children doesn’t have to stop at “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.” This season the Elan Circle of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra League presents its 18th annual concert called Deck the Hall: A Celebration of Music for Children, featuring Rebecca Frezza and her eight-member Big Truck Band,…
When it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, Bobcat Goldthwait’s Stay, now rebranded as Sleeping Dogs Lie for some inexplicable reason, was the talk of Park City, Utah, before anyone had even seen the movie. Based on pre-screening buzz, most folks figured the movie—shot on digital video, though…
No, the Virgin Mary doesn’t get high on aerosol fumes, and Joseph doesn’t ride in on a skateboard, but in most other respects, The Nativity Story is less of a departure for Thirteen and Lords of Dogtown director Catherine Hardwicke than one would have imagined. From our first glimpse of…
We wear the chains we forge in life. Link by link their weight increases until at last the burden is so great it drags us down into the grave. As a Christmas message, this one is sort of “open vein, insert tinsel.” But it is the lesson taught in Charles…
Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut (Warner Bros.) At long last, Richard Donner’s much-whispered-about “original version” of Superman II sees the light of day, and it quickly joins the ranks of the reconstructed Touch of Evil, Apocalypse Now, and Blade Runner as films made superior in the recutting and retelling…
By now, you’ve probably heard about Bully. It’s the game that was supposed to finally ruin America’s youth. Crusading lawyer Jack Thompson, the self-appointed schoolmarm of the videogame industry, called it a “Columbine simulator” and tried to block stores from selling it. Lou Dobbs — who hasn’t seen a videogame…
It’s possible someone at the Addison Improv needs to update their comedian bios. According to their calendar of scheduled performances, “Actor/comedian Mark Curry…is now the host of the new funny game show Don’t Forget Your Toothbrush on Comedy Central.” That may have been true six years ago but not today…
The last time I was at the Conduit Gallery, I saw Wayne Coyne walking around in a giant plastic bubble. Now that’s what I call art. Granted, artists C. Meng, Matthew Bourbon and Linda Pace probably aren’t gonna show up at their Conduit opening with inflatables and a lady that…
