News

On January 29, we mentioned how the South Dallas Cultural Center was but a construction-site shell of its former self, the result of the original contractor, Harrison Quality Construction, having abandoned the project in October despite being paid $600,000 for completing far less than half the work. Two days later,…

Yesterday evening, we finally talked to Bobby Hood, co-owner of Gezellig on Lower Greenville, where, last Friday, some folks were ticketed for smoking on the premises in violation of the city’s smoking ordinance. Hood and his partner in the restaurant-live-music-venue were actually among those popped, and despite the tenor and…

The mayor sends the following missive concerning the Tuesday-evening bus ride to Waco for the Texas Clean Air Cities Coalition’s anti-coal-plant presentation: I made an executive decision to waive the $10 bus fee to Waco this morning while I was talking about it on KVIL. Seems like we could get…

Kathleen Diane Manning, who died February 11 Because Unfair Park is committed to spotlighting the most eye-catching paid-for obituaries in the paper, this morning we bring you Kathleen Diane Manning, who died February 11. (Our condolences, of course.) What caught our eye this a.m. wasn’t necessarily the body of the…

Bush Think Tank Twisted sense of morality: I agree that promoting rational debate over promulgating a warped ideology is paramount. So, I was disappointed to find Mr. Schutze comparing Bush to Idi Amin (“W. and Us,” February 8). Equating a policy crafted in the wake of an unprovoked terrorist attack…

Here’s what Josh Howard got you for Valentine’s: Versatile talent and a vicious temperament, which have possessed your Dallas Mavericks to grab the NBA’s best record and shed their notorious “soft” label. A reserved role model, who forged his success squeezing positive lessons from a dicey environment. A star athlete…

Plans to replace the historic Dreyfuss Club at White Rock Lake, which burned to the ground last fall, are ongoing, but what caused the fire that destroyed the vintage city building remains “undetermined,” according to a Dallas Fire-Rescue report obtained by the Dallas Observer. Arson cannot be ruled out. “Everything…

Clear as glass?: Last week, Aubrey Mayhew, an 80-year-old former music producer in Nashville, received a call from one of his sons, who had some disturbing news. Mick Mayhew told his daddy that the so-called “sniper’s perch” from the old Texas School Book Depository, from which Lee Harvey Oswald killed…

Ram Charan has a Dallas office, but he’s too busy traveling the business world to actually step foot in it. Till I saw this Newsweek story, I’d didn’t know much about Ram Charan, which the mag refers to as “The CEO Whisperer” and the “Corporate Confidant.” Turns out, he’s only…

Rafael Anchi�a is trying to kick out immigration legislation, but not immigrants. Because nothing gets the Friend of Unfair Park more riled up than the words “immigration legislation” (or “Avi Adelman,” geez), we thought it’d be a good idea to mention the press release we just received from the office…

Last week, New York-based Environmental Defense launched in Dallas and Waco television ads aimed at combatting TXU’s proposal to build at least 11 new coal-fired power plants in the state, which you surely know all about at this point. ED has also launched a “Stop TXU” Web site, which contains…

We’ll be honest: We will never forgive our former publisher, who beat a Quick retreat, for moving us out of our longtime downtown Dallas digs for an Uptown address. We loved being downtown, in the old KLIF building at Commerce and Central. So what if that meant occasionally having to…

On Friday at 11:43 a.m. Central Standard Time, someone will be the new owner of the sniper’s perch from the Texas School Book Depository from which Lee Harvey Oswald (allegedly, whatever) shot and killed President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. At least, that is how a window and…

Matt Kadane, left, and Bubba Kadane have a very special connection with The O.C….Oh, what’s that you say? My bad. Me, not so much a fan of The O.C., which apparently has but two episodes left before it walks into the Pacific and drowns itself. So, turns out I missed…

The mayor e-mailed Unfair Park last night with an offer to spend Tuesday night with her. At last! Oh, and you are invited as well, when Mayor Laura Miller and the Texas Clean Air Cities Coalition drive down to Waco the evening before the TXU coal-plant permit hearings begin in…

Charlie Steffens Tony Romo goes to Metal Skool at the Key Club in Hollywood. Uh, we stopped believing, Tony, but we’re glad you’re having fun anyway. We’re going back to watch the video again…

Scrap Iron, featured here in a clip from Hal Samples’ doc-in-progress, performs tonight at the Granada. When’s the last time your only wish came true? Toward the end of November, we posted a clip from local photog Hal Samples’ doc-in-progress Dreamtown, about the homeless in Dallas. In that clip, Samples…

Charlie Steffens If this picture were at all legible, you’d be able to make out Mr. Belding, Metal Skool lead singer Michael Starr and Tony Romo. An e-mail just arrived in my inbox from the publicist at the Key Club in Los Angeles — which has no relation to the…

A couple of things. First, the House of Blues sent out a notice today that at the end of February, us press types are invited to come down to tour the joint, which will open in May in the White Swan Building in the West End…pardon, Victory Park, my bad…