Shocking

For this, you traveled to Africa? So what has ex-Observer music editor Sam Machkovech been up to since he and the paper parted ways? Rafting down the Nile River. Judging by that hand signal he’s throwing, I’d say that Sam may have left the Observer, but some of that Observer…

Yeah, OK. Whatever.

A guy named Rob is looking for a guy named Bugs, who may be in possession of a map, or may have firsthand knowledge, “as to the grave of two Bigfoot” here in Texas. We just got an e-mail from Rob, who says he hosts something called the X Zone…

Reel Debt

Now, I know you’re all thinking that I make the big bucks, but you’re wrong. Those all go to Wilonsky (“Fingers of Fury,” I believe some of you call him). But even if I did, student loans, aka credit card debt incurred when I was a college student, have now…

Upsides and Bottom Sides

In another life, DISD trustee Ron Price was probably a studio publicist in the 1930s with an extraordinary knack for garnering headlines for his Hollywood clients. Through luck or calculation, the school board member and possible city council candidate knows how to snag the spotlight. After Price spoke before the…

Gene or Jean?

Gene Street, chairman of Consolidated Restaurant Operations, is getting himself into fighting trim as he prepares to open a new Silver Fox Steakhouse in the Centrum’s Star Canyon space in January 2007. “I quit everything in May,” Street boasts. “Fried foods, potatoes, sugar, and I quit drinking red wine. I…

The Place To B Tonight

There was a time, seems like it was about five seconds ago, when I didn’t think it would ever get below 100 degrees in Dallas. My bike rides around White Rock were put on hiatus. Friday nights on the porch with a cold one were moved inside with six fans…

Skinned

Today’s D’Angelo Lee story has got me really upset about the state of things. If a former member of the Dallas Plan Commission can’t spend Sunday morning at the Knubian Fantaciez all-nude stripper club–which open-mindedly offers all-male shows after midnight–without fear of having his $15,000 alligator billfold temporarily stolen and…

Mess on Mockingbird

While former Dallas-area quarterbacks are leading ranked teams to record performances, SMU’s Justin Willis is suffering through life on the Hilltop. Willis, the former standout at Denton Ryan High School, threw for a paltry 112 yards and was benched during Saturday’s abysmal 24-6 loss to North Texas. Meanwhile, former Southlake…

Mind Your Own Beeswax

This is what Stephanie Morris, a Bible Girl contributor and Dallas Theological Seminary student, has to say about the spat between the Reverend W. Dwight McKissic and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary over the practice of speaking in tongues: Stephanie Morris: Dwight McKissic can talk to God any way he wants…

The Trial Of Van Midlake

In college, we had this MTV channel, mtvU, that actually played music videos. Weird, right? You could turn it on and expect to see a full-length, non-TRL shortened version of (at the time) some My Chemical Romance, Phoenix or Snow Patrol video. I know, how embarrassing, I’m showing my old…

Messages to Lisa–Or Else!

In the ongoing soap opera at Water of Life Church in Plano, preacher Doyle Davidson has posted another “message to Lisa” with a new tidbit of information–and what reads like a threat. For the first time, Davidson says that the church–and the Spirit of the Lord–bought Lisa and J.R. Staton…

Fat Ain’t Phat

Or Is It? Shella Sattler is hot. She is a former cheerleader for the Dallas Cowboys and Los Angeles Clippers. She could pretty much seduce any guy in Dallas. But you know what? Shella craves fat dudes. Weird I know, but there’s a twist. Isn’t there always? When she’s not…

The Chosen People

This sounds like just the thing to kick off your Sunday morning: having a nosh with Bill Blaydes, Gary Griffith, Darrell Jordan and Mitchell Rasansky. But all those announced and likely mayoral candidates will in fact be at Temple Emanu-El this very Sunday at 9 a.m. participating in a…what, round-table…

Chicken Little Suits Up

The Cowboys lost for a bunch of reasons Sunday. Chief among ’em? This guy. So much for 16-0. Your Dallas Cowboys have been playing football since 1960. After Sunday’s 24-17 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars , poof, another chance at an undefeated season wasted. Here in Dallas, of course, the…

Mourning News

We are not the only ones who get a little sick at the thought of a Dallas Morning News without Ed Bark in it. On Friday, all those who have taken The Dallas Morning News’ buyout offer will be ushered out the door. I have no doubt it’ll be the…

High Cost of Lower Prices

Gas prices in Dallas continue to fall, according to the Dallas Business Journal, which attributes it to “calmer weather.” “Dallas motorists are paying about $2.54 a gallon for regular, self-serve gasoline, about 12 cents less than last week,” the article says. And maybe that’s not such a good thing, according…

Something Rotten

So my story on truck stop whores got posted on some Web site called rotten.com, and in the comments section, in which people are bitching about how long the story is and how much it sucked, a guy named Johnny lifts the lid on a whole other world. Texas State…

Re: Little Ball of Huh?

I just got a call from ESPN 103.3 FM station manager Peter Dits, who tried to explain the station’s decision to choose Jennifer Engel over Steve Dennis. “We made the decision to build the show around Jennifer,” Dits says. “Steve has a lot of talent, and hopefully he’ll stay around…

Cooking in the Kettle

Tarantino’s and Green Room and Trees may be gone, but there’s still a lot of life down in Deep Ellum, thanks in no small part to Frank Campagna, owner of the Kettle Art Gallery on Elm Street. He’s got a show opening tomorrow night that I’ve been excited about for…

Little Ball of Huh?

Today’s sign of the apocalypse: Airing now on ESPN 103.3 FM, The new Little Ball of Hate Show. What earlier this week was a decent and maturing Dennis & Engel combo has abruptly deteriorated into a one-woman act with the surprise firing of Steve Dennis. The 9 a.m.-noon slot on…

We’re In The Soul Patrol

Hey, Taylor, want an Observer sandwich? It’s tasty. DALLAS–Last night, Merritt Martin and Andrea Grimes had a threesome with Taylor Hicks. In their minds. When the American Idol winner walked into Club Dada around midnight after finishing a performance at Nokia Theatre, Grimes frantically telephoned Martin, knowing that a possible…

Downright Un-neighborly

Nothing like a little morbid curiosity to boost a sale Big estate sale going on right now at 4949 Swiss Ave., subject of the recent series of stories in The Dallas Morning News, “Mary Ellen’s Will: the battle for 4949 Swiss,” by Lee Hancock, which I thought was really terrific…