Deal or No Deal

Lone Star Funds’ founder John Grayken, at a press conference in Seoul last month to defend his Dallas-based companies in South Korea We’ve noted a few times in the past how downtown Dallas-based Lone Star Funds wound up in trouble with the South Korean government, which raided Lone Star’s offices…

Foreclosure? I Barely Even Knew Her.

RealtyTrac, which publishes a database of foreclosure properties across the country (I know, sounds very sexy), yesterday released its list of cities in which folks are most likely to quit paying their mortgages, and Dallas didn’t fare too well. Turns out when RealtyTrac’s peeps poured over the books for the…

Have You No Pride?

Sounds like a Dallas travel agency sure did screw a bunch of missionaries from Arkansas. Says here that Pride Travel “took more than $30,000 for airline tickets never purchased” from a group of kids who worked like hell to send some Cambodians to heaven. The kids, from Temple Baptist Church…

Join the Gun Club

It’s safe to assume that not a soul dining at the Metro Diner in Preston Center this morning knew they were scarfing down eggs and bacon with punk-rock royalty, nor did they have any idea that sitting in their midst was an indie-filmmaking heroine who also has on her filmography…

Don’t Fence Them In

Early this morning I was among the hundreds of fans waiting for the Dallas Mavericks’ team plane when it landed a few minutes before 1 at Love Field. KTCK-AM’s (1310, The Ticket) Ben and Skin post-game show issued the call for us to greet the team, and greet them we…

Be Like Mark. Or Mike. Or Both.

Apparently, there are two folks in this virtual world you don’t wanna cross: Mark Cuban and Austin American-Statesman columnist (and occasional Observer contributor) Michael Corcoran. On Sunday, the Statesman ran a lengthy profile on the Mavs owner written by film critic Chris Garcia. That very afternoon, Cuban sent Garcia a…

Re: Cotton Comes to Unfair Park

Lorlee Bartos, well-regarded local political consultant (she managed Harriet Miers’ sole political campaign, for a Dallas city council seat), sends this response to this morning’s post about Pat Cotton’s comments regarding Darrell Jordan’s mayoral bid. Bartos and Cotton worked with Jordan when he ran for mayor against Ron Kirk in…

Indiana…Johnson?

Oh, God, does this make me giggle. Avery Johnson stars in Raiders of the Lost Trophy, with guest star Charles Barkley. I. Cannot. Stop. Watching. –Robert Wilonsky…

Frequency Downed

Damn the man, UNT. Damn him. It seems The Man and his penchant for something called “decency” (I asked around the office what that means, and nobody seemed to know) have shut down one of the best local-indie radio shows in town: Sunday nights with Frequency Down, hosted by comic…

Cotton Comes to Unfair Park

Pat Cotton called yesterday to correct yesterday’s look back at Darrell Jordan and his mothballed plan from way back in ’98 to dome the Cotton Bowl. Turns out I was right to call him a former mayoral candidate…and also wrong: Cotton, among the city’s best and best-known political consultants, wanted…

Copping an Attitude

Avi Adelman, Lower Greenville’s party-pooper, shot us (and probably everybody else in town) an e-mail last night informing us (and you and you and you) that Dallas police Chief David Kunkle dismissed the ticket Adelman was given by a cop on Saturday night. Adelman got the ticket, oddly enough, when…

A 7-Footer Grows Up. Finally.

It was all slipping away. The seemingly insurmountable 3-1 series lead. The 20-point lead in Game 7. Both were gone. Happy was giving way to heartbreak. But on the brink of an embarrassing, debilitating loss to the San Antonio Spurs Monday night that would’ve stung for years, Dirk Nowitzki grew…

Ode to a Cotton-Pickin’ Good Idea

Darrell Jordan once wanted to dome the Cotton Bowl. Doesn’t seem so crazy anymore, really. Eight years ago, which is an eternity in a town where yesterday’s landmarks are tomorrow’s parking lots, attorney and one-time mayoral candidate Darrell Jordan had an idea. He wanted to dome the Cotton Bowl. People…

Sweep Legal? Oh, That’s Richie.

On Thursday, Jim Schutze broke the news that the Texas House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence and the General Investigating and Ethics Committee asked the State Bar of Texas to investigate Assistant Dallas City Attorney Jennifer Richie, who’s been going after, among others, car wash owner Dale Davenport in South Dallas…

Or Urchinism? Or Maybe Imp-Ressionism.

Can’t spell “smart-ass” without “sss.” Last Monday, we mentioned how the daughter of a well-known local attorney lost her pet chicken, prompting her to post a crude-but-cute sign at the corner of Walnut Hill and Strait lanes. Well, this weekend somebody posted another sign just beneath the original, this one…

Cops to Avi: You Piece of…

Seems Lower Greenville watchdog Avi Adelman had a run-in with the cops over the weekend: According to the story he tells, Adelman dialed 911 Saturday night to complain about loud noise coming from a nearby bar, but he was the one who got a ticket. In an e-mail Adelman sent…

Seventh Heaven

As a player, Avery Johnson spurred the Mavs to win their Game 7 semifinal against the Kings in 2003. Can he do it as the team’s head coach tonight? On May 17, 2003, the Dallas Mavericks were about to host the Sacramento Kings in Game 7 of the NBA’s Western…

Get Snippy

I like most animals more than I like most people. Animals, on the whole, are much kinder. Your cat will never leave you stranded at the bar after a night of drinking so she can go home with a hot guy from the band. Your dog will never take you…

The 800-Pound Gorilla

Mazel tov to our pal Chris Cantalini: The blogmaster of Gorilla vs. Bear, one of the few must-visit MP3 blogs going and certainly among the few to pimp local acts, is getting himself a radio gig. He’s joining Howard Stern, Mark Cuban and Richard Simmons as part of the Sirius…

To Heaven, Like Hell

In today’s New York Times, there’s a profile of the guy who helped kill The Dallas Times Herald: Dean Singleton, or, as the Times calls him, “a bantam figure with flinty blue eyes.” (That was the title of my first album, matter of fact.) The story, which is essentially a…

The Last Word on MADI. For Now.

For those who’ve been riveted by our serialized tales of federal lawsuits and busted-up friendships at the MADI Museum, here’s the last word on the subject–at least till Monday. And it comes from one of the central figures in the dispute over artist Volf Roitman’s installation outside the building, which…

Doyle on the Brain

Looks like Doyle Davidson read about himself in the Dallas Observer, according to the latest of his “Messages to Lisa,” which was posted yesterday. You might also note that he confuses God and himself in his quotation of Scripture–something that happens fairly frequently in his messages, at least in the…