Dallas to El Paso: Give Us All Y our Teachers

Maybe that’s not exactly true, but the El Paso Times is reporting this morning that Dallas Independent School District’s chief teacher recruiter, Hector Flore, has been in the West Texas town…well, recruiting teachers, what else? Says in the piece that some 125 El Paso teachers have been hired by Dallas…

One More Reason Why Houston Sucks

Says in the Houston Chronicle that Houston-based conservative radio “pundit” and District 7 candidate for the Texas Senate Dan Patrick is coming to Dallas by Labor Day. (No, not the ESPN dude. Or the race-car chick, either.) Patrick’s buying 25,000-watt KMGS-AM (1160), the “Smokin’ Oldies” station based with a Highland…

The Pyramid Crumbles

Last week we detailed the sketchy claims Irving-Based BioPerformance made about its “non-toxic, non-flammable” miracle fuel pill made out of toxic, flammable mothballs. We also examined the company’s shady marketing tactics that Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott decided violated the state’s weak anti-pyramid scheme statute. This afternoon, a judge upheld…

Ding!

Eremacausis: n. 1. A gradual oxidation from exposure to air and moisture, as in the decay of old trees or of dead animals. 2. The word that dropped Samir Patel in the seventh round of the 2006 Scripps National Spelling Bee. Things looked great for Patel this afternoon–in the sixth…

So That’s What it’s Like to Live in a Paper City

HBO You got Gold: Ladies and gentlemen, our role model Man, HBO throws one swellegant party: Last night at the Angelika Film Center in Mockingbird Station, the network screened the first episode of the upcoming season of Entourage, but not before lubricating the invite-only crowd with as much Grey Goose…

Groovy, Far Out and Monkee Business

Hey, hey, it’s Mike Nesmith–the Thomas Jefferson High School alum who was more than a mere Monkee. What’s that smell coming from today’s offerings? Incense, most likely–something, anything, to mask the musk engulfing the late 1960s punk-pop-a-roll coming outta Big D waaaay back when. It’s a crazy batch, this brew–the…

Haunted House?

In this week’s paper version of Unfair Park, we wrote about Preservation Dallas’ just-released list of Dallas 11 most-endangered properties. Well, at the top of the troubled list is the Thomas and Mary Shiels House at 4602 Reiger Ave.: It’s 100 years old, on the National Register of Historic Places…

The Son and the Suns

Tractor traded: Do you remember Robert Traylor? He’s the backbone of the Dallas Mavericks. No, seriously. Before holding onto our chairs and grabbing our throats during tonight’s Apocalyptic Game 5 of the Mavs-Suns NBA Western Conference Finals at the American Airlines Center, let’s take a second to give credit where…

W: Not Weally That Big a Wait

Yesterday, in previewing the W Hotel’s latest digs in Victory Park, I mentioned how the hotel’s construction was taking a little longer than expected, forcing Starwood to push back the June 15 opening. Turns out the wait won’t be that long: Last night, folks at the hotel confirmed that they’re…

For a Change, American Airlines is Against Itself

At least, that’s how The New York Times characterizes it, should the Mavericks wind up in the NBA Finals against the Miami Heat (and, man, that is looking too far ahead for my tastes). Miami plays at the American Airlines Arena, Dallas plays at the American Airlines Center, which means…

Why Houston Hates Dallas

Because city officials are “balking” at taking 40,000 hurricane evacuees, should it come to that. This story begets this letter, in which a Houston Chronicle reader compares the two towns’ reactions to handling folks who washed up post-Katrina. “Unlike Houston in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Dallas is selfishly looking…

Put to the Test

For Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez, the summer of 2006 could define the rest of her political career, as she’ll be forced to retake a licensing test, come up with a plan to quell her department’s rising overtime costs and mollify the subtle criticism of her qualifications for the job…

Proud Papa

Do it for Don. And I don’t mean Nelson. Since he practically invented smallball and had an appreciation of Steve Nash way before the MVPs, it wouldn’t be shocking if, deep down, part of former Dallas Mavericks coach Don Nelson is rooting for the Phoenix Suns in the NBA Western…

Save This City

Dallas is a city built upon bulldozed ruins, and no one knows this better than Dwayne Jones, who for five years has been the executive director of Preservation Dallas–an organization whose title seems utterly, unabashedly oxymoronic. “Look at that,” Jones says, motioning toward a pile of grubby blankets and sleeping…

Light the Corners

Light the corners: Remember the good ol’ days at the Dallas Independent School District? Crooked Yvonne Gonzalez riding a big bulldozer and writing mash notes to top administrators. Threats of blood in the streets. Guns. Shouting. If you were a parent or, God forbid, a student back in the ’90s,…

Masters of Cymbal Drive

Andre Ford stood there on the curb, a couple rocks of crack in his hand. It was September but still warm enough for a tank top and shorts, which was more or less his summer uniform. Come winter, he would pull on a pair of heavy blue coveralls, the kind…

Trapped in a Sea of Church Ladies

Last night many women who attended a huge church conference at the Dallas Convention Center found themselves in the midst of a nightmarish crowd control situation when thousands of people were forced to exit through only two sets of two doors. When they finally wrenched themselves out of the mass…

Bee. B…E… Uh, Can I Get the Language of Origin?

ESPN calls itself the leader in national sports coverage, but I didn’t see a minute of today’s first round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee on TV today. I had to catch up on the progress of our local contestants, Samir Patel and Amy Chyao, through their respective sponsoring papers…

Judge Not Lest Ye Be Screwed

Emily Dowdy’s fate has rested in the hands of an Oklahoma judge chastised for not playing fair. Evidence that Oklahoma County Judge Susan Caswell favors prosecutors is piling up. Yesterday, citing “significant and disturbing evidence of bias” on the part of Caswell, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals ordered a…

Rocket Landing

Sports Illustrated They don’t call him The Rocket for nothing. Those hoping the Texas Rangers’ World Series push would be led by Roger Clemens, get a clue. Baseball’s worst-kept secret became official this morning when the seven-time Cy Young Award-winner signed a one-year, $22 million contract with the hated Houston…

Of Lost Legends and Found Heroes

The Floyd Dakil Combo made Franny dance, and the rest of Dallas followed in 1964. The Golden Age of Dallas music rolls onward, with lesser-known legends dominating the spotlight as we creep from the ’40s and ’50s onward toward buzz-cut rockers and baby-step punks. –Robert Wilonsky Frankie Lee Sims, “Home…