Let’s do what’s done at the beginning of any good negotiation. Let’s see what we can agree on before we begin to bicker. Fair Park, the 277-acre exposition park in South Dallas where the State Fair of Texas takes place every fall, occupies a warm place in our hearts; it…
Don’t know about you, but I got goose-bumps when former President Clinton, in the middle of his convention speech Tuesday night, gave Dallas a shout-out. He said, “We saw in Dallas how great our police officers can be. Help us build a future where nobody is afraid to walk outside,…
You know the song, right, “You’ve Been Talkin’ ’Bout Me, Baby.” Well, I’ve been talkin’ ’bout you, baby. All over town. Thought I should tell you what I’ve been saying. When there’s a week like this with big national news going on in the city, I get calls from out-of-town reporters…
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…
Wow. The dog thing is deep. And I knew that. Before I wrote a single word about the May 2 fatal dog mauling of Antoinette Brown, I already knew that our feelings about dogs – about pets in general – run deep in our hearts, because I know my own…
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…
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…
Detroit is the birthplace of techno, and each Memorial Day weekend fans from around the world flock to Detroit’s Movement Festival, or Detroit Electronic Music Festival. This year, Dallas music was on display. Crowds of well over 100,000 congregated in Hart Plaza in downtown Detroit for six stages of music…
Dear Texas Kid: I was going to address my letter, “Dear Transgender Texas Kid,” but then I thought about it. You don’t think of yourself as a transgender kid. You just think of yourself as a kid. And you’re right. That’s my main message to you. I’m sure you don’t…
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. I love it when people say I have good stories about…
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…
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…
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…
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 —…
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. I met my first rock star — Neal Smith, drummer for…
According to repeated public statements from Dallas oilman Ray Hunt and his son Hunter, the main benefit to me of letting them take over Oncor, the big state-regulated electrical transmission utility, will be, “…to keep control of Oncor here in Texas where it belongs.” Is that where it belongs? I…
This has been a busy week on the Fair Park/State Fair of Texas news front, as the City Council approaches a vote this summer on competing plans for the park. Steve Thompson in The Dallas Morning News told readers how the fair had refused to pony up any straightforward data…
The men of country music have always exuded a distinct brand of masculinity. From Bob Wills to George Strait, these are the Marlboro Men of the music world — rugged, tough and stoic. It’s so ingrained that no one ever questioned the rhinestones that were popular for so much of…
In the weeks since Sturgill Simpson gave his first glimpse of his new album, A Sailor’s Guide to Earth, much has been made about the country star’s change of direction. Ordained by many as the savior of country music after his 2014 breakout, Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, the Kentucky…
There are so many reasons to admire Merle Haggard and so few words to describe them. The country music legend, who passed away Wednesday on his 79th birthday, was the working man’s hero, a scrappy, rough and tumble boy done good. An unmatchable songwriter, Haggard released 71 singles and penned…
You could say that country fans are too damn picky. From George Strait’s arrival in the 1980s to the pop-heavy acts that pushed the genre past its breaking point in the early 2000s, fans have continually worried that, come the next dilution of the genre, it will disappear forever. So…
It’s been a good couple months for Dalton Rapattoni. The Sunnyvale native has rocketed to fame thanks to his breakout performances on the final season American Idol, helped in part by the extra attention that’s been paid to the long-running reality TV show’s swan song. But will the extra attention…
