I last spoke with Jerry Haynes a few weeks ago. He wasn’t feeling well — he’d been diagnosed with Parkinson’s a while back and had moved to Longview — but said he was in good spirits. We didn’t talk long; he said he’d call back later, but never did. Now…
10. As of this morning, the Dallas Observer is out of the sports business, at least on a full-time basis. Though I’m not technically being fired (“laid off” is supposedly less damning), the paper and its owner, Village Voice Media, have decided to eliminate its full-time sportswriting position. It’s called downsizing. And yes,…
Ran into Chris Penn of Good Records yesterday, at which point he told me about the sign planted in the middle of Greenville Avenue yesterday by the city’s Public Works department — the one that says southbound Greenville between Bell and Alta will be closed from September 26 till November…
For those Friends of Unfair Park who don’t have Jewish mothers, I will tell you: They get stuff done. That would probably be their motto, if they ever organized themselves into some kind of union. (Possible sub-motto: “But, Really, Would It Kill You To Call More Often?”)This morning, in front…
Bud Buschardt has spent the last several years writing a book I’ve always wanted to read: a history of the Sump’n Else show, the Ron Chapman-hosted rock-and-roll dance party shot at NorthPark Center that aired on WFAA from September 1965 till January 1968 and featured performances from the likes of…
For Jubilee Park residents, it was a party atmosphere in the Flag Room outside council chambers Thursday afternoon, when the City Plan Commission denied Dallas Independent School District’s application to replat two tracts of land near the site of the former O.M. Roberts Elementary School near Fair Park. But this…
Even Rick Perry doesn’t hate science all the time. His uneasy relationship with evolution and global warming notwithstanding, the Man Beneath the Hair understands that sometimes all that brainy shit with the white coats and clipboards can actually benefit him. And that’s exactly what happened in his 2006 bid for…
We began the broadcast day by discussing Sylvan Thirty’s funding; we end it by looking back at last night’s town hall meeting concerning its layout and, more broadly, the future of street and development design in Dallas. And based on the build-up, it was shaping up to be a pretty…
No doubt you recall where you were at the exact moment Leon Lett cost the Dallas Cowboys a Thanksgiving Day victory over the Miami Dolphins in 1993. Me? I was icebound in Farmersville, cooped up with out-of-town family convinced it would be just fine to drive up to Collin County…
I dunno, last Sunday night’s finale to HBO’s Entourage was a little too tidy for me. Vince finally got the girl. Eric was back with Sloan. Ari was reconciling with Mrs. Ari. Drama’s show was a go and even Turtle was a trim, fit millionaire. What the what?! I guess I…
Longtime Friends of Unfair Park are by now well aware of my lifetime obsession with the Texas International Pop Festival, held during Labor Day weekend in 1969 in a Lewisville field. The roster, put together by, among others, Angus Wynne, was legendary: Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, B.B. King, Ten Years…
At the end of last week we spoke with council member Linda Koop about the North Dallas Chamber of Commerce’s involvement in doing something, anything with Valley View Center, some or most of which may not be standing by the time LBJ construction’s wrapped in five or so years. As…
Seems like only seven months ago, give or take, that we were told of developer Shawn Todd’s plans to restore the built-in-’30 U.S. Post Office and Courthouse at 400 N. Ervay, easily one of downtown’s brightest jewels. Said the announcement, which was hailed by politicians and preservationists, Todd would convert…
Among the 38 let go from the Dallas Morning News yesterday was Lee Hancock, who said her goodbyes on the DMNCuts website: “I am grateful for the fun it’s mostly been. I hope for better, happier days for all who remain.” It wasn’t so long ago that the newspaper ran…
As many Friends of Unfair Park have reminded me in recent days, it’s been well past six weeks since I posted this. Which is why every day I get at least one reminder that reads something like the one that arrived this morning: “Call Rasansky!” All right, settle down.I left…
All day long the emails have come in, each wondering when we’ll note the layoffs currently taking place at The Dallas Morning News. Says here that 38 employees have been given their pink slips and this severance agreement intended to fend off age discrimination lawsuits like the one filed following…
Those words come from Clark Hunt, who, on the soccer club’s website, pays homage to the 35-year-old Dallas Burn first-round draft pick who would become as synonymous as soccer in Dallas as Kyle Rote Jr. and Kenny Cooper, junior and senior. Bobby Rhine played for the Burn, then FC Dallas,…
We always suspected that former Dallas Morning News columnist Rod Dreher and Jim Schutze were the same person. For proof, we look no further than the Crunchy Con’s freshly minted post on The American Conservative’s website, in which he explains his pending move to the country (he’s still at the…
At this late date there should be no need to explain why Texas Rangers broadcaster Eric Nadel is a local treasure; he’s as much a part of summer ’round these parts as 85-degree lows. I just went back and listened to his final-out call from October 12 — it still…
Got home from the airport last night just in time to see Channel 8’s piece on how Dallas PD and the FBI are prepping for the 10th anniversary of September 11. Would have been home a little sooner, but, ya know, I stopped by a Northwest Highway construction site. Oh…
The Zoo Tapes: An interactive serial by John Rody | Episode 1 from John Rody on Vimeo.I just discovered, via the wonders of Vimeo, the “trailer” you see above for something called The Zoo Tapes posted by none other than The Great John Rody — one half of LaBella and…
Early this morning, a Friend of Unfair Park tipped us to this Dangerous Minds interview with Freya Bardell, one of the principals in Los Angeles-based eco-art collective Greenmeme. For the past six years, Bardell and Brian Howe have been dropping into the Los Angeles River art installations known as River…
