Twenty years ago, the AIDS epidemic was just beginning to capture the attention of the American public, some five years after the first reported U.S. cases. It was around this time that playwright Larry Kramer premiered The Normal Heart, one of the first theatrical productions to tackle the issue. The…
An artist can find a lot of inspiration by crossing the Trinity River and heading south. First there’s Oak Cliff. Then there’s Carl’s Corner, the Czech Stop, the Brazos and Austin. Go further and you’ll find the cool, clear springs of New Braunfels and San Marcos, the Alamo and eventually,…
Sure, the title of the latest Magnolia at the Modern film may be The King, but that doesn’t mean you should show up in sunglasses and a rhinestone-studded polyester suit. (If you do I’ll give you some mad props, however.) See, The King isn’t an Elvis biopic but rather a…
Comic impressionist Frank Caliendo is best known for his tenure on Fox’s MADtv (I thought that show got canceled, like, five years ago. I was wrong.) and FOX NFL Sunday, where he gets paid the big bucks for making weekly picks and poking fun at Terry Bradshaw for being bald…
I’m so addicted to the Discovery Channel’s Deadliest Catch that I often dream of cashing my last Dallas Observer check and hitchhiking to the Pacific Northwest, where I’d roam the docks of Puget Sound looking for work on an Alaska-bound red crab boat. But alas, I have to don a…
The last time I checked, The Golden Girls’ Betty White wasn’t Italian. The same goes for Family Matters’ Jaleel White, as well as beloved Eagles defensive end Reggie White. Ditto for Jack, Meg, Barry, Vanna, E.B. and Snow. So it’s hard to say exactly which Whites of Italy will be…
Want to see a string quartet without having to sit through another boring wedding? Then head to TCU for the annual Mimir Chamber Music Festival, where world-renowned classical musicians such as pianist John Novacek and violinist Nathan Cole will spend their days teaching students the nuances of chamber music while…
San Antonio may be bigger than Dallas, but do they have Frisco? Hell, no. Alamo, Schmalamo, we’ve got IKEA. Had William B. Travis, Davy Crockett and Co. holed up in our Swedish home furnishings superstore instead, I seriously doubt any battle would have ever been fought. General Santa Ana and…
What better way to celebrate freedom than by gathering in a field with thousands of the very people that are helping to ruin it for the rest of us?! This Saturday, KLTY presents Celebrate Freedom 2006, billed as “the largest free outdoor concert in America” and featuring a slew of…
Nine Eyes Studio is a dangerous place. One minute you’re drinking with friends and enjoying an exhibit in the gallery, the next minute you’re sitting in a chair in the adjoining tattoo studio with a Chinese dragon on your arm. Sure, it may have seemed like a good idea when…
“Whatever, man. No problem.” Despite a publicist’s snafu concerning time zones that left him waiting hours for a phone call, Ben Bridwell is relaxed, true to his easygoing and affable reputation. The lead singer of Band of Horses is en route with the rest of his band to Ohio after…
J. Michelle Martin-Coyne must be the most frequently inspired photographer around. When you’re living with a guy like Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips, how could you not be? Let’s run down a short list of potential subjects at your average Flaming Lips show: Steven Drozd and Michael Ivins rocking…
The batboy is one of the most revered supporting characters in all of sport, easily besting other favorites like “kid who mops up Dirk’s sweat” and “kid who chases errant tennis serves.” After all, who could forget the batboy in The Natural, offering Robert Redford his handmade bat to knock…
Doug Stanhope is one dirty, dirty man. Most famous for his stints as host of the second generation of The Man Show—along with friend and fellow sell-out Joe Rogan—and that Girls Gone Wild video where he told a drunken young co-ed to show him “where babies feed” (both of which…
I’m pretty sure every single white chick in my freshman class had heard the soundtrack to Les Misérables at least 50 times by the time they got to high school choir class. I, on the other hand, mostly listened to Weezer. And while my teenage hormones made it abundantly clear…
George Jones may not have written most of his greatest songs, but he certainly sang the living hell out of them. “He Stopped Loving Her Today” isn’t really that great when anybody else sings it—even Johnny Cash’s Unearthed version is unimpressive—but Jones took the song and turned it into something…
Apparently, the students of the Miles Batt Workshop held in March produced some “wild and wonderful” art. Whether it’s wild because the attendees were eccentric geniuses or because the class was one letter away from being a “butt workshop” remains to be seen. Either way, it should be pretty interesting…
Since he came of age in the late 1950s, the man known as Chip Taylor has made his living as a golfer, a gambler (He once finished third in the World Black Jack Championship and was banned from the casinos of Atlantic City for being too awesome) and most famously,…
The last time I checked, Santa Fe was in New Mexico, but nevertheless you can still enjoy Santa Fe Days on the Square this weekend in Carrollton. The event features traveling representatives from a host of Native American tribes (including the Navajo, Comanche, Cherokee and Santa Domingo Pueblo) descending on…
When Gram Parsons died of an overdose in 1973, he left behind a staggering body of work for a man of only 26 years–four albums with the Byrds, the Flying Burrito Brothers and the International Submarine Band, as well as two classic solo records–and it’s a pretty safe bet that…
When I think of folk art, two distinctly different things come to mind: A) the dream-catchers, John Wayne portraits and assorted kitsch sold at Cracker Barrels nationwide and B) the strange but wonderful paintings of the David Wark character in the movie Junebug (prepared for the film by Brooklyn artist…
Like many of my generation, my first exposure to the Monkees was through Nick at Nite reruns of their television show, certainly the best program about a surprisingly talented Beatles rip-off band ever to hit the airwaves. Everyone has their favorite Monkee, and personally, mine have always been Michael Nesmith…
