Denton County Sheriff William B. Travis is losing endorsements faster than blood pouring from a bullet wound. A state representative, Denton county officials, mayors and mayors pro tem from several cities and a couple of Denton County constables have withdrawn their support, and the future of the sheriff’s campaign is…
Chrissy Perez wrestles with an American flag in the middle of a woods that borders a middle-class neighborhood in Denton. She’s been struggling with it for several minutes, trying to position it in front of her tent encampment, one that is not filled with trash like some of the other…
There’s a lot of people and turf in North Texas, and that means a lot of politicians. We watch closely and it’s hard to keep track of ’em all. Here’s a field guide to those elected officials who, ostensibly, work tirelessly for you. Or whatever agenda keeps them in office. …
Denton County Sheriff William B. Travis sits in his office, surrounded partially by confiscated weapons, clinging to a folder of old court documents. Inside are details of a case that has haunted him since the late ’90s and may well ruin his chances for re-election this March. He’s spent weeks…
Ya’acov “Rusty” Burns played his guitar until the very end. Sitting up in his hospital bed at a hospice in Denver, draped in a hospital gown, the 63-year-old Texas guitar slinger caressed the neck of his Martin one final time in a photo posted on Facebook. It was a love…
Richard Gladden might be considered a superhero among civil rights activists if he weren’t representing one of the most despised segments of the population: sex offenders. The 55-year-old attorney has been defending them in court for more than a decade, fighting for their rights in a society hell-bent on taking…
The dirty old man in the wrinkled raincoat lurks behind a tree with a bag of candy in a neighborhood just like any other neighborhood. Seconds, minutes, hours have passed on a day like any other school day and still he stands and waits, hungrily licking his lips when the…
They stand in front of voters at forums across North Texas, laying out their plans, their opponents’ faults and their reasons for seeking the Republican or Democratic nomination in the March 1 primaries. They come in various shapes and sizes, with variety of experience to offer voters. They dress in…
Detective Billy Burleson III stood outside the Collin College gymnasium, waiting for the man he was tailing to finish a friendly basketball game with a group of students. Burleson had been following his target all day, investigating a claim from the assistant manager at the campus bookstore that the man,…
Kevin Dunlap stands in the darkness of The Rail Club discussing the changes that he and co-owners Josh Campbell and Kyle Booker made to transform what was once known as Fort Worth’s premier metal venue into a full-blown music venue for all genres of music. Dunlap, a 26-year-old McKinney native,…
Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister — “a pirate of the rock business,” “the king of partying” and a “fucking monster” on a bass as the frontman for the English rock band Motörhead — died on December 28 at age 70. Dressed like a biker with black mutton chops, he spoke the language of a…
Linda Septien sits in her office, struggling to collect her thoughts. She just has too many things left to do. The final season of American Idol is around the corner, and she’s developing several artists who plan to compete for a spot. When she’s not spending time at her studio…
The Red Rocker looks out of place wielding a customized toy guitar at the Moon Tower, a small bar off Cherry Lane in southwest Fort Worth. Wearing a red and black striped Mad Hatter hat, a black metal band T-shirt and a red, black and green checkered kilt with a…
Terry Mayo’s tattoo gun slings only large-scale art pieces these days — bio-organic, blackwork, black and gray, or color tattoos. The 25-year ink veteran specializes in illustrative images but prefers to tattoo traditional Japanese art. He has tattooed masterpieces using both styles at Cat Tattoo in Addison. Mayo says he…
The first time Smokin’ Joe Kubek ever spoke to Bnois King, it was at Poor David’s Pub in the early ’90s. Kubek asked him to play guitar. King agreed, joined him onstage and later said it immediately felt like they’d been playing together all their lives. No notes clashing together,…
Yvette Gbalazeh performs street rap on a street corner in Deep Ellum. Two body piercers provide the beat, while a panhandler watches her performance, a protest in support of legalization of medicinal marijuana in Texas. The 33-year-old marijuana activist usually holds a cardboard sign that reads “Will Rap 4 Weed.”…
Princeton sits in an ocean of cookie-cutter suburbs about 40 miles northeast of Dallas, at the edge of a gold coast of development washing away horse country. To the west is McKinney; to the east, Farmersville. In between, there’s Princeton, where they love God, country and family and the divorce…
Every tattoo is different. This art form is permanent and personal, especially for the people who create it. On a mission to ink our own skin, we researched and tracked down some of the best tattoo artists in Dallas for an ongoing series. Clint Cummings doesn’t need the title of…
Bruce Corbitt isn’t ready to die. It’s not that he’s afraid of death; e says he just has too much to live for. A popular local metal singer for bands like Rigor Mortis and Warbeast for decades now, the 52-year-old Dallas native recently finished a display of Texas metal at…
Liz Cook is a tattoo artist. But not in the traditional sense. She doesn’t tattoo tribal designs or Old English lettering. A dagger driven through the heart or “Born to Ride” emblazoned on a banner is not the kind of ink she’s slinging at Rebel Muse, a small tattoo studio…
The members of KISS have done just about all there is to do in rock ‘n’ roll. After selling millions of records thanks to hit songs like “Detroit Rock City,” Rock ‘N’ Roll All Nite” and “I Was Made for Lovin’ You” over the past 40 years, the band was…
T.J. Arterberry sits on his front porch and watches his 2-year-old son, Trey. The boy had been searching for dead fish that washed up in the yard after rain flooded the creek near the house, and now he’s thirsty and trying to take a bottle of wine out of an…
