Denton Won’t Fix Its Music Scene With Panel Discussions

Conspiracy theories are everywhere in Denton. Perceived threats are coming from all directions on the college town’s proud music scene, and suspects include Jason Lee, Buc-ees, LSA Burger, city officials and even Scientologists (OK, that’s just Jason Lee again).    These fears don’t come from nowhere. With venues like Hailey’s Club, Rubber…

Dallas Digs in on Doing a New Downtown Rail Line Right

We talk here about things that go wrong, do we not? Bad things, frustrating things, things gone haywire. So if something looks as if it might be headed in a right direction for a change, we could mention it just for grins, right? OK, this is something that’s headed in…

Bucks Burnett’s Namedropper: How I Met Tiny Tim

Bucks Burnett isn’t a journalist. He’s a namedropper. He may not have met every one of his music idols, but he’s met 90 percent of them. And he’s here to tell you all about it, however he sees fit, is his monthly music column, Namedropper. There is no way to…

Ticketmaster’s Dallas Concert Voucher Offer is Completely Befuddling

What the hell is going on with Ticketmaster right now? Earlier this month, the ticket vending behemoth announced an offer for free concert ticket vouchers, which sounded pretty great. Free shows, right? The motivation for the vouchers was less great, as it stemmed from a 2015 settlement over a class…

Can Small Clubs Ever Be as Safe as Stadiums?

When it comes to working venue security, there isn’t much Bryan Meckelborg hasn’t done. He’s coordinated crowd safety at Super Bowls, the Grammys, the Oscars and some of the country’s largest music festivals.  But as the devastating shooting that took place in Orlando over the weekend demonstrated — when a…

Vintage Schutze: Go Away, Dixieland

Editor’s note: Jim Schutze will be back in action next week. In the meantime, we’re reaching into the archives for some columns of his that deserve another look. Today’s was originally in July 1999, which given this week’s news out of South Carolina, isn’t as long ago as it sounds…

Vintage Schutze: Nativism Always Loses

Editor’s note: Jim Schutze is taking some well-earned time off, so we’re digging into the archives to bring you some of his hits. This one, from August 2013 is about Farmers Branch’s ultimately failed effort to outlaw undocumented immigrants and seems particularly ripe for a revisit. Schutze writes: “In the…

Don’t Fire the City Manager. Set City Hall on Fire.

What am I supposed to feel here? Grief? Wrath? A strong desire to go fishing? I wish I could remember my Greek mythology better. What was that guy’s name? Sissy Fuss? Last week the Dallas City auditor gave a committee of the City Council a deeply depressing analysis of how…

5 Things We Learned From Post Malone’s August 26 Mixtape

Post Malone’s first mixtape has been a long-time coming. It’s hard to believe, but after everything the Grapevine native has accomplished since his song, “White Iverson”, went viral early in 2015 — working with Kanye West, touring with Fetty Wap and Justin Bieber, and making stops at festivals like Coachella —…