Sword Fight

If you’ve been sitting on your hands rather than getting yourself over to the Heritage Auction Galleries in Oak Lawn, you’ve already missed your chance to bid on General Ulysses S. Grant’s gold-silver-and-diamond encrusted sword, which sold yesterday for $1.6 million. And according to the Associated Press, Lt. Col. George…

Blasts From The Past … Er, Present … Um, Future?

Hmmm, whatever happened to ol’ whatzizname? Um, ya know, Ben Grieve? Seems the former Arlington Martin High School stud and 1998 American League Rookie of the Year is still swatting homers, but settling for winning the home run derby at charity events like this one on Saturday in Frisco. Hmmm,…

And Your New (Update: Deputy) Mayor Pro Tem Is …

Dwaine Caraway will be named Your New Deputy Mayor Pro Tem in about 90 minutes, but you heard it here first. Jim Schutze just left the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, where Tom Leppert and his eight-piece band were inaugurified, and he sends back these “two amazing discoveries.” (Editor’s note:…

A Bittersweet Homecoming for Kristy Kruger

In a red dress with white polka dots, Kristy Kruger walked on stage at Uncle Calvin’s on Friday night looking like a spelling bee contestant from the late 1950s emerging from a time capsule, as if her favorite singer is Buddy Holly and her favorite drink is a root beer…

Your Weekly Creepy Dirk Video

Did you know Dirk Nowitzki turned 29 last week — June 19, actually? And, thanks to The Ticket’s Bob Sturm (and everyone else), who discovered a very “lovely dirk” homage on the YouTubes, this is how we’ve been celebrating ever since. –Robert Wilonsky…

Who is That Mosqued Man?

Imam Yusuf Kavakci is still collecting Interwebs friends two months after delivering a prayer on the Texas Senate floor. Remember back in April, when state Sen. Florence Shapiro invited Imam Yusuf Kavakci of the Dallas Central Mosque to throw out the opening pitch on the floor of the Texas Senate?…

Grin and Bear It, Mr. Crain

That Zac Crain is one busy dude — running for mayor (well…), editing a magazine, writing a book. Wait .. you didn’t know the last part? Yeah — it’s a bio of the late “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott titled Black Tooth Grin: The High Life, Good Times, and Tragic End of…

The Case of the Purloined Playbill Page

A missing page in the Playbill for Spamalot, the Broadway tour currently playing at the Music Hall at Fair Park, has fueled a ferocious little fuss among the free magazine’s publisher, the Dallas Summer Musicals and Irving’s Lyric Stage. Lyric’s founder and artist director, Steven Jones, bought a full-page ad…

Free Kelly Clarkson!

She fired her manager. She canceled her tour due to slow ticket sales. She waged a very public battle with one of the most powerful men in the music business. Her released-in-May single’s all but gone by June. Now she’s on about her battle with bulimia, which is a sure…

Radio is a Sad Salvation

We’re all agreed that Glenn Beck, heard daily on KLIF-AM, is the opposite of “progressive,” right? Thanks to The Dallas Morning News’ Over the Top blog, I sucked down a Tio’s Tortas sandwich with my head buried in a just-issued 40-page study that says, among other things, Dallas radio audiences…

Brain Freeze

Today, hell officially freezes over. Is there a more scintillating event in sports than the National Hockey League Draft? OK, maybe hot-dog eating. Or Scrabble. Or lint-licking. Officially called The 2007 NHL Entry Draft, the waste of time tick, tick, ticks today and tomorrow from Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio…

Jumping Through Hoop

Jesca Hoop, touring with the Spree beginning tomorrow night, won’t be anyone’s opening act for long. If you’re heading to the Polyphonic Spree show tomorrow night at the Granada, be sure to get there early — between 7:30 p.m. and 8 would be about right. Normally we skip opening acts,…

For the Kids

State District Judge Bill Mazur brought 50 volunteers into the CASA yesterday. The largest class of volunteers for Dallas CASA — almost 50 — was sworn in as officers of the court yesterday by state District Judge Bill Mazur of the 304th Juvenile District Court. In a state system of…

Because That Star Trek Concert Wasn’t Nerdy Enough

Maybe this morning you read about yesterday’s concert at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, during which the Dallas Symphony Orchestra performed music from video games like, oh, Space Invaders, Final Fantasy and Pong. And maybe you thought, like, that doesn’t even sound real. Well, yeah. It was. –Robert Wilonsky…

A Ritzy Job Fair

Maybe you can’t live at the Ritz, but you or someone you know might be able to work there. A few days back we mentioned the swanky residential digs over at the Ritz-Carlton — wishful thinking or somesuch. But if you can’t afford the $700,000-min list price condos in the…

Digging Up Some Irony at the Mayor’s Last Groundbreaking Ceremony

Mayor Laura Miller — and her pal Councilman Leo Chaney, standing to her immediate right — attended her last groundbreaking today. Pastor Fredrick Eddington is third from the left. Mayor Laura Miller, Councilman Leo Chaney, my pastor — Elder Fredrick Eddington, Sr. — and several other city and neighborhood dignitaries…

Last Places or Famous Faces?

You could head out to Arlington this weekend to watch the dreadful Rangers take on the equally horrible Houston Astros in a laughable battle for something called the Silver Boot. Ya know, cheer our “hero” Sammy Sosa, who smacked all except 587 of his 600 homers in uniforms other than…

Tom Hicks is Always Willing to Bring Up Bad Memories Too

Juan Gonzalez was on steroids when he was in Texas in 2002? No! Say it ain’t so, Joe! Ahem. Eleven days ago, Texas Rangers owner Tom Hicks went on KTVT-Channel 11 and said Juan Gonzalez used steroids during his tenure with the team. Actually this is precisely what he said:…

Tim Ryan Puts On His Giggle Pants

How old are they over at KDFW-Channel 4’s Good Day show, anyway? Because when the word “butts” cracks you up, you’re clearly not old enough. Come to think of it, though, that is so our kind of apology. –Robert Wilonsky…

Dallasites Looking for Big Love

Maybe you can help out a local couple — if, ya know, you’re into polygamy or just dig Big Love and wanna give it a shot. In Canadian newsweekly Macleans this week there’s a piece on the pros and cons of the polygamous lifestyle, and way down in the story…