You don’t just laugh at the punchline when Gilbert Gottfried tells a joke. You laugh at the setup. You laugh at his comments about the joke. You even laugh at the segues between his jokes. Gottfried has one of the most original formulas in the history of comedy, which he…
The first American centennial was the U.S. centennial of 1876 in Philadelphia for which 200 new buildings were constructed, none of which exist today. Centennials in several states followed, and the track record is much the same: Buildings go up, but none survive. Then there’s Dallas’ Fair Park, where the…
Friday At the center of the concrete landscape that is downtown Dallas sits a cozy little urban green space that regularly hosts food trucks, concerts, art installations and various other activities on the cheap. Klyde Warren Park, 2012 Woodall Rodgers Freeway, is no doubt a local favorite for lazing around…
Fire Chasers premieres Sept. 8 on Netflix The greatest surprise is the beauty. The gripping new Netflix documentary series Fire Chasers opens with visions of orange-and-black hell, of ash and apocalypse, of California homes and trees and horizons ablaze, of the sky itself now some jack-o’-lantern’s smile. The fire brightens…
The early days of comic books featured some ethnically diverse and multidimensional characters, but they were few and far between. Most nonwhite characters reinforced stereotypes and served as C- and D-tier backup to blond-haired, blue-eyed superheroes. “Growing up with superheroes like the Incredible Hulk, Captain America, Spider-Man, Batman and Superman,…
Clowns look scary. Even if their intention is to entertain children, their wide, painted smiles instantly become menacing with a droop of their makeup-coated brows. That’s why, in 1986, horror writer Stephen King chose a clown named Pennywise to be the child-eating villain of his classic novel IT. In 1990,…
Bobby Goldstein has been in Dallas since he attended college at Southern Methodist University. Afterward, he went to Waco to earn a law degree from Baylor. Still not positive what he wanted to do when he grew up, he had a vision for Cheaters, a Dallas-based show about catching, well,…
It floats in the darkness, unspooling onscreen with a sepulchral glow. It has waited for what seems like an eternity to meet the eyes of its audience, and it senses in them both anticipation and dread. Yes, there was that bizarre miniseries back in 1990 (God, remember Tim Curry in…
Today, the Dallas City Council will vote to determine whether Lee Park’s statue of its namesake, Gen. Robert E. Lee, will be removed. But in 1936, at least, the statue was such a source of pride that it drew President Franklin D. Roosevelt to town for its world debut. The…
Thursday Literature is coming. It’ll arrive this fall in all of its diverse forms: poetry, storytelling, readings from novels, performance art, and expressions of culture and diversity. And WordSpace Dallas, local literary gatekeeper that it is, will usher it in and dole it out with a full slate of events…
Elsewhere – Danny Rose and Haylee Ryan Jen Mauldin Gallery 408 N. Bishop Ave., Suite 103 6-9 p.m. Saturday Free It is both strange and inspiring how two entirely different styles of painting can reflect upon and speak to one another. Take, for instance, Elsewhere, the exhibition featuring the works…
Is there a more telling symptom of the sickness afflicting studio filmmaking right now than the fact that there aren’t more good Reese Witherspoon comedies out there? In eras past, a hit could be built more years than not around a star like her. Sunny yet tart, she’s a romantic…
Hector Rodriguez says he finally heard his calling to become a superhero comic artist and publish a superhero story that he created in college when a student came to him in tears. His father, the student said, had been deported. “He’s crying and that kind of hit me,” Rodriguez says. “What…
Hector Rodriguez didn’t want to just create a comic book starring a Latino superhero. The artist, who was born in Eagle Pass and grew up in El Paso, wanted a superhero who stood for something real and cared about the humanitarian issues facing people on the Texas-Mexico border. El Peso…
Labor Day at the ArboretumDallas Arboretum 8525 Garland Road 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday $10-$15 Labor Day is a sigh of relief. It’s a weekend celebration of the fact that the worst of the hot weather is (mostly) behind us, the kids are back in school, and there’s still enough heat…
It’s September and TV is back so praise the lord and pass the Postmates app, because I’m not trying to leave my apartment unless it’s to protest Donald Trump. It’s just TV, protest Trump and repeat. Happy fall! Sept. 5, FX, American Horror Story: Cult This season of Ryan Murphy’s…
We drive by them every day. Perhaps we even give others directions using them. But rarely do we pause to investigate their histories or why they’re there. Here are the stories behind nine of Dallas’ coolest and most unappreciated visual landmarks. Lucas B&B sign Venturing down Oak Lawn Avenue, you…
Friday The Distinguished Performer Concert Series at Southern Methodist University’s Meadows School of the Arts, which highlights notable faculty and guests, returns for its 2017-18 season. Esteemed concert pianist and Meadows professor Joaquín Achúcarro opens the season with an all-Chopin program. Achúcarro, who has produced some of the finest piano…
Fall in Texas means new seasons of theater have been announced. Dallas-Fort Worth audiences have tons of choices, from world premieres to classics by Edward Albee and Lynn Nottage, and the work of badass lady playwrights. Below are our top picks. A Lost Leonardo World PremiereBy David Davalos Oct. 13…
Dallas is preparing to welcome thousands of people displaced by Hurricane Harvey to its shelters. Now local arts and culture organizations want the grieving families to know that they have a place for them, too. The AT&T Performing Arts Center (ATTPAC), Perot Museum of Nature and Science and Dallas Comedy…
Thursday Deserts are having a moment. The neutral colors and sparse landscapes are burning up the interior-design scene right now, and Joshua Tree has become the hotspot destination for backpackers, glampers and supermodels. If ever there were a time for a desert-themed modern dance piece, this would be it. TITAS,…
Since it premiered at Cannes earlier this year, the Safdie brothers’ man-on-the-run, darkly comedic thriller Good Time has been hailed as something of a return to classic New York movies, i.e. from before the Giuliani cleanup, when Martin Scorsese was experimenting with cinema on the streets. In this film, Ben…
