A desperado for all times The folks about whom Warren Zevon has written for more than two decades are all the same--outlaws with guns blazing, madmen who point those guns at their own heads and pull the triggers. They're losers and loners, schizophrenics and sociopaths, outcasts and outsiders, deranged men...
It's a culinary Frank Capra script. Call it downright heartwarming. The lovely old house that used to be home to Routh Street Cafe has been through some changes since the famous restaurant closed, as has Russ Hodges, who worked in that stellar kitchen with the first talented team under Stephan...
When critics talk about the great actors of American cinema, their opinions are often based on not upsetting the critical status quo--De Niro is a chameleon, Pacino a sizzling stick of dynamite, yadda yadda yadda. Forget what you've been told--compared to Sean Penn, De Niro is an anemic bore who's...
For a few minutes at the beginning of Mr. Holland's Opus, it might occur to you that if George Bailey, the Joblike hero played by Jimmy Stewart in It's a Wonderful Life, were a teacher rather than an S&L owner, this film might have been moot. Glenn Holland (Richard Dreyfuss)...
thursday january 18 KNON Benefit: If you haven't checked out the western swing stylings of Cowboys and Indians, investigate the Dallas Observer Scene, Heard compilation of local artists (next time, we won't ask so nicely). You'll find a jaunty little ditty about a happy fat boy called "Roly Poly." It's...
It's Wednesday evening--still almost afternoon--and it's cold, but the line snakes out the door almost to the street anyway. It will still be there when you've finished eating. Inside, the place, though just remodeled, still has the bustling, noisy atmosphere, kitschy murals, and plastic plants of original Tex-Mex palaces. It's...
Daisy Duke dreams Is it some kind of colossal I.Q. test? Buzz learned last week that Texas Motor Speedway officials have been "overwhelmed" by interest in the condominiums they plan to build at the stock-car racetrack under construction north of Fort Worth. If the interest turns into deals, the condos,...
On January 5, KERA-FM music director and disc jockey Gabrielle West was not returning phone calls, nor would she for the next several days. Her voice-mail message at the public radio station explained why: "We're going through some serious changes that will involve everybody--including you, as well," she offered callers...
So long, 1995; what a year you were. Bob Packwood, the Republican "revolution," O.J. Simpson, Oklahoma City--ah, yes, we remember it well. Onward we march, through the accumulating history of human folly, greed, bad manners, and general goofiness, with the touching faith that next year will be better--a faith founded...
The first recorded theatrical performance, according to anthropologists studying Paleolithic cave paintings in Lascaux, France, was an audience-participation comedy. Several Cro Magnon hunters reenacted how Og, the tribal fool, was run through the kidney by a woolly rhinoceros during a particularly raucous foraging party. Meanwhile, the audience encouraged the players...
Am I the only person on the planet who's watched all four Body Chemistry movies, including the one where Morton Downey Jr. has sex while making animal noises? Naw, let's assume there's two of us--me, and a paraplegic channel surfer in Boise. You guys can call him if any of...
Final curtain As an old friend and admirer of Jo Ann Miller, I must congratulate Mark Donald on his outstanding article about the way this remarkable woman has been ousted from the Granbury Opera House by an ambitious actress and a shortsighted board of directors ["Suspense! Intrigue! Betrayal!" December 28,...
The Kimberly-Clark News Psssst. BeloWatch has a tip for local businesses that really want the kid-gloves treatment in The Dallas Morning News. Not the standard News kid-gloves treatment. The extra-special, deluxe, we-drool-at-the-mention-of-your-corporation's-name kid-gloves treatment. The tip: Put Belo CEO Robert Decherd on your board. Irving-based Kimberly-Clark did it late last...
Ron Kirk was being uncharacteristically subdued. He was standing up against a wall, a good distance from the political action, arms folded across his perfectly pressed denim workshirt, lizard boots planted firmly on the floor. This was last May, two weeks after he'd surprised the city of Dallas, not to...
There was a time not long ago when Mike Dillon was regarded as a buffoon--a talented musician who hid his prodigious gifts behind bongos, ridiculous antics, and a heroin habit that became the stuff of infamy around Deep Ellum. As frontman for the more-funk-than-metal Billy Goat, Dillon once wasted his...
History lessons The Sons of Hermann Hall in Deep Ellum is fast becoming a Texas-music museum, where the state's best (and the rest, God bless Tommy Alverson and Ed Burleson forever) are on a permanently rotating display that changes every weekend. The best live-music venue in town--a nearly century-old German...
It's just before New Year's Eve, and Roger Morgan is packing up his home, along with boxes of singles and CDs, moving his Unclean Records label from Austin to San Antonio. As career moves go, it's hardly an obvious one, but Morgan has no problem leaving the town that calls...
How many clues do you need? I'm not saying you can always judge a book by its cover or a restaurant by its appearance: I've said many times that the most unassuming little places in the world can turn out world-class cuisine, and the great food writers have turned out...
Tired of turkey? I bet. Jeans getting a little snug? I bet. That post-holiday stuff-and-puff syndrome means a tired palate and a tight wardrobe. To relieve both, I suggest Natura, especially, from its winter menu, the artichoke lasagna, packed with protein (29 grams), but not with fat (15 grams), full...
Jimmy Fowler In alphabetical order: Chicken Hawk. One of the much-lamented Major Theatre's last screenings was this controversial documentary about NAMBLA, the North American Man Boy Love Association. A must-see for anyone who believes he or she understands the boundaries of contemporary American morality. Dead Man Walking. Released selectively in...
I enjoy movies. You might be surprised how often I have to prove the truth of that simple declarative statement. "Critics are too...critical," people often gripe. "We go to the movies for escapism, not for art. You never like anything." Yet nothing could be further from the truth. Oh, most...
thursday january 11 Caroline Aiken: There are musical legends that you see on MTV and Grammy Awards broadcasts, and then there are musical legends you have to be turned on to by friends. Veteran singer-songwriter-instrumentalist Caroline Aiken falls into the latter category. She has performed her brand of smooth, supple,...
