Dark Ages

Open the airplane door, HAL. There’s a fascinating story about American Airlines and its innovative use of technology in Dallas’ Only Daily this weekend. It’s nothing short of a “revolution,” says writer Terry Maxon. Mechanics are using laptops and “a wireless network that can call up repair manuals, parts lists,…

Jersey Whirl

Apparently a few-years-old rape charge, a slew of 50-point games in a .500 season and a number change are worth more than an MVP title. But don’t take it from me. Just ask the millions of NBA fans worldwide who this season made Kobe Bryant’s No. 24 jersey the league’s…

Dallas, Together We Can Be Grande

Tom Leppert’s got a new spot appearing on yer local affiliates — and on his Web site too — and it turns out his vision for Dallas includes…a Starbucks on every corner. That is so The Onion, circa 1998. My vision for Dallas? It’s a Dallas that’s the safest city…

When Grief Turns to Fury

The parents of Jacob Stiles — an SMU student found dead in December at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house — are furious with the university, claiming it has done nothing to find out who provided their son with the drugs on which he overdoses. According to the Dallas County…

Gosh, Can’t They Both Be Mayor?

Um, is the answer “no,” or is this a trick question? Some random mayoral musings this a.m… In the Houston Chronicle this morning, our old pal and colleague Tom Korosec blames all those “Ed Oakley is gay” articles on TIme magazine. He also discovers that Texas Eagle Forum’s Cathie Adams…

Uncool

Victory Park in action. Is everything more plastic, planned and painful if it happens at Victory Park? Hardcore disclaimer: I don’t dig Victory Park. I don’t dig the faux planning, I don’t dig the faux Times Square, and I don’t dig the metal ‘n glass look-how-made-we-are façade of the whole…

A Little Love for Tom

Hey, this guy was a white, northern Republican too. Last week, Unfair Park defended Ed Oakley after he falsely claimed to have won the endorsement of the NAACP during a forum in front of a predominantly African-American audience. We really exerted ourselves on that one, particularly since Oakley has a…

Bringing Bars Online

Don’t you ever say the Internet never did anything for you. How else would you have scored that special Hello Kitty “shoulder massager” from Japan? Where else could you have bonded with that saucy little Star Trek fanfic minx from Portugal? Nowheres. For the Interweb knows no geographical boundaries. Which…

HBO KOs NBA

The NBA picked a bad time to be horrible. On the heels of the least-watched Game 1 in NBA Finals history, the San Antonio Spurs and Cleveland Cavaliers produced another snoozer in Game 2 Sunday night as the home team sashayed to a 25-point halftime lead and — yawn –…

Who’ll Buy Their Memories?

What I did buy at Half-Price Books’ Northwest Highway location yesterday, for three whole dollars: a nearly mint and completely intact copy of the December 9, 1991, issue of the Dallas Times Herald — the very last one, for you newcomers. What I did not buy, for $400: The above…

Old Zoo Revue, Coming Right at You

Perhaps you missed it on Friday, when XM went all KLIF circa late 1960s. So on this Monday, here’s your chance to check out local radio in 1974 — July 4, 1974, specifically, when Procol Harum appeared up on the late, great KZEW-FM during a trip to Dallas to play…

Expect a Marlboro Snus Infection

Says here Philip Morris USA will debut “a new, spitless, smokeless tobacco product” in a couple of months, to jumpstart its declining cigarette biz. And, lucky us, the DFW will be the petri dish in which Philip Morris tests its new product, which bears a most appetizing moniker: Marlboro Snus,…

Surprise: Leo Chaney Loves Him Some Leo Chaney

We already have this photo hanging above our fireplace. What more does Leo Chaney want? If you read one Dallas Morning News story all year, make it be this one. Because Leo Chaney’s far more important than Juanita Craft. Oh, and after you read that Dallas Morning News story, call…

And the Campaign Just Got Uglier…

OK, so you don’t believe Don Hill when he says he didn’t ask Tom Leppert for dough in exchange for his endorsement. But do you believe Leppert, when he says he has nothing to do with those hateful calls being placed by the the ultra-conservative Heritage Alliance Political Action Committee?…

Don Hill Responds

There appeared in the Dallas Voice yesterday a story in which attorney John Barr — who was, till recently, Don Hill’s campaign treasurer — backs up Ed Oakley’s claims that Hill offered his endorsement to Oakley in exchange for his hiring Hill’s campaign staff. Two of Hill’s chief campaign staffers…

226 Music Group Now Close to Zero

The death of Damageplan’s Dimebag Darrell also marked the beginning of the end for Dallas-based 226 Music Group. At the moment, it would appear Paul Bassman is out of the music business. Who’s Paul Bassman? He’s the man behind 226 Music Group, the management (and much more) company to which…

A Sneak Peek at the “New” Stoneleigh

A Friend of Unfair Park points out that the Stoneleigh Hotel’s blog — which is written by The Mysterious “Dave W” — posted yesterday a few “digital renderings” of some of the nearly completed renovations, like the one of the patio pictured above. Beats the shit out of the Ghostbar,…

Dispatch from Dorkus Malorkus

And, yes, this is where we remind you there’s also a Star Wars 30th anniversary shindig tomorrow night in Grand Prairie. In the spirit of my continuing crusade to never get laid again — you’ll note that I began this journey yesterday, with the publication of my most recent column…

Dallas, You’re an “Opportunity City”

Urban trends expert Joel Kotkin thinks Dallas has it going on. Houston too. And Atlanta. Charlotte also. But, still, Dallas, you’re awesome. You may have seen this story from the Dallas Business Journal on Wednesday, in which it says a new study shows that “Dallas, along with Houston, Phoenix, Atlanta…

An Iron Chef Moves to the Stoneleigh

The Stoneleigh Hotel — pardon, the The Stoneleigh Hotel & Spa — today announced that some fine new folks have come over to run the joint, which is currently in the midst of a $28-mil makeover, and if their names aren’t familiar, their former places of employ certainly are. New…

Mandi Perkins is No Mark Farner

All I know about Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Mandi Perkins I just learned from her MySpace page — and this video she shot Wednesday night, after she and her band played Club Dada. To wash that out of our minds, here’s a just-posted-to-YouTube clip of Grand Funk Railroad performing “Are You…