The Kowbell hardly fits its billing as “the rodeo capitol of the world.” On a recent Saturday, when the amateur, small-stakes rodeos are held, about 200 spectators are sprinkled among the 1,500 tattered red seats–or the empty spaces where the seats used to be. Outside, the bulb lighting the hand-lettered…
Round 2 Think Albertson’s effort to build a humongous grocery store in Old East Dallas died when the City Plan Commission voted unanimously to reject its rezoning request last month? Think again. The grocery store chain has already sewed up one influential ally in its bid to have the city…
The Freedman’s Cemetery Memorial, just south of Lemmon Avenue on the southbound Central Expressway service road, is already three-quarters complete. The memorial, whose front façade rises oddly from the rubble of the unfinished expressway like a wall left standing after war, will be an enclosed “pocket” park when completed. The…
The nerve I had to laugh when I read your article about the supposed decline of Texas Monthly [“Texas Monthly’s midlife crisis,” February 4]. First of all, I thought it highly presumptuous that a publication like the Dallas Observer would take potshots at what has been and continues to be…
Info: The Case of the Headless, Handless Corpse A reporter’s tip helped detectives identify a mutilated body dumped along the Trinity, but finding the man’s name led to a deeper mystery — the disappearance of atheist gadfly Madalyn Murray O’Hair By John MacCormack An old man prospecting for aluminum among…
In a tiny recording studio on the eastern edge of Deep Ellum, a pair of young Texas filmmakers are combining the movie resources of two very different cities, Austin and Dallas. Gathered in the control room of The Listening Chair, Austin filmmakers Lance Larsen and Jas Shelton are screening their…
On the afternoon of February 7, Elizabeth Moier waited for her two daughters to return home from school, then thetheir daily ritual–walking the half block to y embarked on Curtis Park, a beloved neighborhood sanctuary. Just south of Lovers Lane near Turtle Creek Boulevard in the heart of University Park,…
Dallas’ most wanted Buzz is resting a lot easier tonight, knowing that men like Brad Lapsley can’t escape the reach of Dallas law. At 71, Lapsley, a former missionary in Ethiopia who once served on the Dallas school board, may not look like a hard case–except for that school board…
If plans by the African American Pastors Coalition succeed, some 250 to 300 new middle-class homes will pop up soon in the heart of South Oak Cliff, a neighborhood that conventional residential real estate developers typically consider akin to the moon because of its poverty. “We are trying to take…
Unstoppable churches Terrific piece on the St. Ann’s landmark case [“On holy ground,” February 4] and the larger issue of George W. Bush’s so-called religious freedom bill (by the way, Steve Wolens is a co-sponsor). Almost without exception, the courts have thrown out landowners’ suits claiming property damage–including diminution in…
For much of the first half of the decade, psychiatrist Robert Hadley Gross felt like a hunted man. Federal agents let the young doctor know he was in their crosshairs, and they were hell-bent on pulling the trigger. Perhaps no one was more relentless in his pursuit of Gross than…
When Steven Holt’s dream came true, no one else was there to see it. There he was, living the musician’s fantasy, signed to a big-time record label–what every boy longs for from the moment he straps on his first guitar and plays his first clumsy chords. There he was, a…
Last week city council member Laura Miller barely had resumed her chair at the briefing table when the mayor seized the floor, followed quickly by several of her fellow council members, all eager to apologize for the attack she had just made on Dallas 2012 Olympics promoter Tom Luce. She…
Phil Thomas is undeniably obnoxious and, to be blunt, weird. He speaks–loudly–of being a “commando” for truth, democracy, and open government. That much was evident during a February 8 court hearing, at which Thomas repeatedly refused to lower his voice and extra sheriff’s deputies were summoned to state District Judge…
Assumption of risk Here’s a health tip for all you youngsters out there: If you don’t want to risk a raging case of herpes, never have unprotected intercourse with anyone in the NBA. OK, so that one’s a bit obvious. Apparently, however, some people are clueless, and one of them…
A lost soul Thank you so much for the incredibly sad story on Terry Southern [“Odd man out,” January 28]. I just had to dig out my copies of Texas Summer and Red Dirt Marijuana and reread. Hopefully, this article will open up a new audience and get him the…
Dallas Plan Commissioner Rick Leggio doesn’t have any doubts about the purpose of a letter he received last month from a member of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas days before commissioners were to vote on a plan to designate St. Ann’s building a historic landmark over the church’s objections…
Passengers sit placidly at the gate, waiting to board a plane at Houston’s Hobby Airport. Most of them are reading silently when a sudden gust sweeps through: Loud bluster from a boastful man. Texas Monthly publisher Mike Levy is on their flight. They lift their eyes above book and magazine…
The much-investigated Dallas County Community Action Committee has a new bunch looking into its free-spending ways: the feds. Ann Gerner, a lawyer for the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, and Brian Montgomery, its department spokesman, say the FBI has been investigating the Dallas anti-poverty agency, which the state…
Was it something we said? Buzz really hates it when our targets turn the tables on us. We were ready to scorch state Rep. Jerry Madden after someone from the Richardson Republican’s office called the Dallas Observer last week and asked us to please stop sending a complimentary copy of…
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison will introduce later this week–as soon as the president’s trial stops long enough for some legislating to take place–a bill to bar the federal government from horning in on Texas’ $17 billion tobacco settlement. The Texas senator is co-sponsoring the bill with her Democratic colleague Bob…
Famed bad-boy chef Avner Samuel is back in signature form. That’s assuming, of course, there was ever a departure. Notorious for incessant kitchen-hopping, questionable business practices, and colorful people skills marked by demeaning, profanity-soaked outbursts fired at employees and patrons alike, Samuel was thought to have undergone a dramatic personal…
