British food is the butt of every food joke, told even by those who've never eaten British food. But Jenni Messina, formerly British, holds steadfastly to the British theme at Jennivine, and nobody's laughing. Inside, there's a London phone booth, pictures of the Royal family, British flags, and bottle-glass windows;...
I have a question about singers: How come they use a microphone when they're singin' in a place the size of a Salvation Army bathroom? I mean, you're sittin' about four feet from this chantoose and she starts wailing away into about 70 tons of sound equipment until the little...
Although ostensibly a film, Carrington, about painter Dora Carrington (Emma Thompson) and her decades-long platonic love affair with writer Lytton Strachey (Jonathan Pryce), is pregnant with literary conceits: the nature of true love as spiritual, not physical; the interdependence of strong creative personalities; the anti-Victorian ethic of early bohemianism. The...
Nick of Time begins with the type of set-up that should be the makings of high drama: The young daughter of drab businessman Gene Watson (Johnny Depp) is kidnaped, and will be killed unless he assassinates the governor (Marsha Mason). The difference from any other movie is that this one...
thursday november 30 Webb Gallery: For anyone who finds the New York-based visual art establishment something of a well-organized scam, the proliferation of institutions like Waxahachie's Webb Gallery is not only a relief, but a rescue from artificial, trend-driven ideas of creativity. This weekend, the Webb Gallery hosts a pair...
Potato chips are indisputable junk food. But the ones Two Sisters cooks up you could legitimately count as a vegetable--the thin gold curls, barely dusted with salt, actually taste like potatoes. There's only one sister at Two Sisters now; Connie Mansfield's sister has left the business, but Connie still caters...
Joey Vallone and his self-named Dallas restaurant have been the darling of the society columns ever since the restaurant, Joey's, was but a gleam in young Joey's eye. We've read all about the Signing of the Lease, the Pre-Opening Party (with accompanying Wet Concrete and Martini Incidents), the Convenience Store...
Barron Storey is searching for a painting, determined to find a specific piece of his work among the many stashed away in a hall closet. He bends down, flipping back one piece after another--beautiful and abstract paintings that make up his as-yet-unfinished "Dream Series," portraits he did for Time magazine...
A case of elephantitis Haven't things in Dallas gotten so much simpler since everyone became Republican? Besides ending those tiresome differences of opinion on how to deal with matters such as the homeless, welfare, and gays, there were all those little hassles. Like phone numbers. In the old days when...
When it comes to Dallas, some things never change. This fall, once again parts of the city seethed with discontent as council members struggled to mobilize their disenfranchized constituencies to win bigger pieces of the power pie. But this time there's a profound difference: the skin colors are reversed, and...
Whee! Spin City. Who's responsible for shutting down the federal government and quite possibly sending the financial markets into a hopeless tizzy? "You hit me first." "Did not." "Did too." "Did not." "Did so." We live in a great nation. Amen. Actually, taking the popular, fail-safe, appearin'-as-wise-as-a-treeful-of-owls, plague-on-both-their-houses position here...
A thankless job After spending years trying to motivate city employees to do their job, I think Mr. Burkleo ["Demolition man," November 2] should be commended for continuing to keep Dallas clean--it is such a thankless job. Code enforcement has been a political football for years. While city officials talk...
What did Mayes say? News won't tell Once again, The Dallas Morning News has patronizingly handled a sensitive story by telling readers far too little to let them make up their own minds. The story is the secret tape-recording of a phone conversation involving City Councilwoman Charlotte Mayes. The News...
Goethe is one of those heavyweight writers (mostly Russian or German) who everyone admires but who no one reads. In fact, in these post-literate times, you can now get into Mensa just by being able to pronounce Goethe's name correctly. You no longer have to study Cliffs Notes on Faust,...
Gang of snore On the face of it, which is about as deep as you can go with this band, there's nothing much to like about Elastica and everything to hate about them: They're such a rip-off of Gang of Four and Wire they've been taken to court on charges...
Mike Daane, the bass player for Ugly Mus-tard, welcomes his guest in his elaborate home studio with a hearty smile. You might know Daane's name or his face: For years, he has been known as the friendliest and busiest bassist in local music, a man who has loaned his talent...
A languid harmonica, the trumpet of the downtrodden, is the first sound you hear on Bruce Springsteen's new LP The Ghost of Tom Joad. Then comes the gentle tug of guitar strings and a voice too wise, too weary to worry about enunciating last syllables. "Men walkin' 'long the railroad...
Remember last year when Time and Newsweek both decided to put Marriage on the cover? Marriage Is Back! Marriage Is Groovy! People are Getting Married! And then you read through these articles to try to figure out what the heck they were talkin' about, and they said things like, "Lewis...
What can you say about James Bond that hasn't already been said about Ted Bundy? He's charming and reckless, well-traveled and intelligent, but half the women he sleeps with end up dead. Sure, Bundy doesn't have the same beach-boy good looks, but a fast car and $3,000 tux tend to...
In Milton's Paradise Lost, as God casts him out of paradise, Lucifer declares, "Better to reign in hell than serve in heav'n," a sentiment not unlike ones expressed by the vicious lowlifes that infest Martin Scorsese's brilliant new film, Casino. The idea of going legitimate--at least the way normal people...
thursday november 23 Save the Turkey: Stop complaining about all the fat calories in delicious food and do something about it, if you must--removing animal flesh from your diet will go a long way toward improving your health. This is true, based on all available medical data, but it's not...
Think about it: the crust is what really separates the men from the boys. Or the girls from the women, for that matter. Kids hate bread crust; they eat the whole squishy white middle of the sandwich and frustrate their moms by leaving a perfect frame of brown crusts. But...
