They could all turn out to be wrong in the end, of course, or maybe just not right enough, but close observers around town are beginning to place bets on strong rumors that the Walt Humann Fair Park deal will fall apart soon. The ostensible reason – the one for…
When does City Hall do anything even vaguely related to your life? Can City Hall help you find you an apartment in a safe neighborhood at a rent you can afford? Can City Hall help you get to work? Can it leave enough money in your pocket at the end…
Settle down. Sit back. Face it. The mayor’s plan to give a private group virtual ownership of Fair Park, a 277-acre exposition park at the heart of the city, is a done deal. He’s got the votes. The count I heard yesterday was 10 in favor. That leaves five dissenters…
Maybe we need to read that loose dog report again. A little more closely this time. It could be read as a pretty good indictment of the entire system of government at City Hall. An outside consultant was brought in to tell us what to do about loose dogs. Our…
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, in his monthly music column, Namedropper. Never mind the bargain bins…
Sorry, Sturgill, but the Academy got this one right. Earlier this week, self-styled don’t-call-him-country outlaw Sturgill Simpson took to the stump (i.e. social media) to lambast the dreaded country music establishment. Usually, this might be music to the ears of any old-school country believer. But he didn’t figure on one…
The biggest news across my own desk in the last several months — maybe decades — was the recent endorsement of a subway for downtown by The Real Estate Council. And maybe you think that means I live in a world of very small news. Maybe I do. But, look,…
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…
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 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, in his monthly music column, Namedropper. Personally, this story might begin…
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…
