On November 11, 1991, the late King of Pop Michael Jackson released the instant-hit song “Black or White.” It is one the most notable and important songs in his oeuvre because it addresses issues we will be fighting until the world implodes and cats take over: racial and gender issues…
Former G.I. Joe and WWF champion Sgt. Slaughter was in Dallas this weekend to promote Wrestlemania Fan Axxess (tickets on sale now) and was kind enough to answer a few questions about his career, Wrestlemania 32, and if he ever had a sip of snake liquor. Sgt. Slaughter is one…
An orchestral program of Mozart’s darkest piano concerto and Shostakovich’s most complex symphony would challenge a conductor under any circumstances. Thursday night at Myerson Symphony Center, the Dallas Symphony’s assistant conductor Karina Canellakis stepped in for music director Jaap van Zweden (who was called away on a family emergency) with…
Another NFL season is about to come to an end and if you’re a Dallas Cowboys fan, it’s probably not a good time for you. Not only did Jerry Jones’ storied franchise come to a dismal end with a 4-12 record but it also saw a list of season ending…
I didn’t witness the hermit crabs demise, just heard the gruesome rumors. Apparently one of the arrow crabs had been seen snacking on a an eyeball and not long afterwards, that soft-bodied little guy went missing. Pitted against each other by artist Pierre Huyghe, these cute crustaceans aren’t normally arch…
The biggest story at this year’s Sundance Film Festival was the record-breaking bidding war for The Birth of a Nation, a prestige biopic about rebellious slave Nat Turner. When Fox Searchlight snatched it for $17.5 million — $5 million more than any other flick in the festival’s history — their…
Do This! Nothing says Catholicism, like a bigass parade filled with plenty of costumed people riding on floats tossing multi-colored beads. The Oak Cliff Mardi Gras Parade is this weekend, and since it seems to grow every year it’s fair to say, this year will be bigger and better than…
It’s the classic story of mean divorce attorney meets her estranged love-addicted sister and they figure out life together. Or something. Listen, we don’t know. All we know is Meaghan Oppenheimer, who wrote “We Are Your Friends,” (You know “We Are Your Friends” because it starred Zac Efron and was…
You’re probably right if you think you might get a couple laughs out of a movie titled Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. You’re also right if you’ve guessed that this gung-ho but cruddy-looking mashup fails from A to Z: It’s neither good Austen nor good zombie flick. But in those…
A kick for those who’ve distractedly thumbed through Kenneth Anger’s Hollywood Babylon, Joel and Ethan Coen’s bustling comedy Hail, Caesar! looks back to the waning days of moviedom’s golden age: specifically, to 1951, when big-studio fixers were still tidying up the messes left by the talent (scrubbing now done by…
For the Love of Kettle If anyone ever tells you, “No one cares about art in Dallas,” send them straight to For the Love of Kettle. This annual event features the work of hundreds of artists from all over the city at various price points sold off in an energetic…
You may or may not be attempting to plan a Valentine’s Day that doesn’t suck. There is challenge built in: Valentine’s Day is one of the most absurdly intense holidays in existence, and it’s coming. It’s coming, and it’s like a creepily strong hug from a 6-foot teddy bear that…
Put down those flowers and drop the chocolates! I know it’s Valentine’s Day and all, but I think by 2016 we can all agree, this artificial holiday is in serious need of a face lift. Don’t do what she/he/they expect, step your game up and eschew the clichés. Love is…
Jane Got a Gun’s reputation precedes it, but it shouldn’t define it. After a tortured production that included the departure of original director Lynne Ramsay (Morvern Callar, We Need to Talk About Kevin) and a revolving door of leading men, the Western arrives in theaters long after popular opinion declared…
Patrick Warburton is that rare voice actor who looks like he sounds. His imposing, muscular physique complements his deep basso voice, but his warm tone gives a touch of soul to his many memorable performances as lunkheaded alpha males. Quite likely your ears perk up when you hear him. He…
The queasiest thing about American Crime Story’s (FX) retelling of the 1995 O.J. Simpson murder trial is how easily such a flagrant miscarriage of justice could happen all over again. The twin forces that most warped that case, after all, still plague us today: a tabloid culture that reduces flesh-and-blood…
Three years ago, Michael Moore wrapped up a TV interview about the Sandy Hook massacre and asked the producers to leave him alone. “You guys call me every time there’s a school shooting,” he sighed. He had, after all, made Bowling for Columbine, which blasted the NRA and the nightly…
Perhaps one of the most confusing American traditions is relying on a rodent to predict the end of winter. But that is precisely the holiday we are celebrating today. Groundhog Day arrives every February and like Phil Connors says in the namesake movie, “This is one time where television really…
The movie they’re selling isn’t the movie this is. Sony Pictures Classics is peddling Nicholas Hytner’s film of Alan Bennett’s play and memoir The Lady in the Van like it’s the usual twinkly Best Exotic time-with-our-elders holiday entertainment. There’s Maggie Smith, dressed up as what my grandmother used to call…
In the summer of 1973, Dallasites of all ages salivated at the thought of the opening of Valley View Center. In 2016, the only thing leaking at the 42-year-old mall is the roof. Soon the mall, along with everything else between Preston Road and the Galleria Dallas, will be replaced…
Texans love their 4x4s. In fact, nearly one in every four passenger vehicles registered in Texas is equipped with four-wheel drive, according to the state’s Department of Transportation. That doesn’t just mean pickup trucks — sport utility vehicles, crossovers, even environmentally friendly yet off-road capable hybrids are part of that…
One of the city’s great supporters of visual art, June Mattingly, died the afternoon of February 1 at Baylor Hospital in Dallas. She was 83 years old. For decades, Mattingly was at the heart of the Dallas art world. She was the owner and co-founder of the Mattingly Baker Gallery,…
