Albert Maysles, with brother David, made two different films about two different rock-and-roll bands five years apart, but to this day he can’t think of one without immediately thinking of the other. The first he was shooting 40 years ago this very day, more or less: The Beatles were on…
Arthur Miller’s powerful drama All My Sons, now drawing gasps and tears from audiences riveted by Classical Acting Company’s production at Richland College, was written during wartime. It concerns a family wrestling with the postwar realization that the father’s success as a defense contractor during World War II was the…
Last weekend we popped out to the 24-hour convenience store on a midnight necessity run. The door was locked; desperation shook our soul. And we weren’t alone. Behind us approached a tuxedoed and boutonniered fellow, obviously dismayed by the locked-door situation and unmistakably a groomsman just released from his duties…
Thursday, February 19 We were nearly 10 when we saw Stand By Me the first time, and it scarred us for life. It wasn’t the body in the woods, or the leeches, or the scramble across the train trestle. Oh, no, it was the story about the pie-eating contest. Competitive…
We feel that we owe Russ Martin a pre-emptive apology because, well, we think he’s a nice guy. A strange gesture, perhaps, but there’s hardly a more damning compliment than that of “nice guy” for someone in talk radio. Martin is the afternoon drive-time host of KLLI-FM 105.3, Dallas’ alternative…
2/20 In the 1970s, funk met film with the introduction of a new cinematic genre. Especially designed for and marketed to African-Americans, blaxploitation flicks such as Shaft and Superfly were filled with action and sexuality and heroes who loved nothing more than kickin’ ass and takin’ names. Now, decades later,…
2/23 Who would’ve thought a car dealership could be sexy? But combine the elegance of the latest luxury cars, a casino run by strapping athletes and the ever-popular Italian eats of Maggiano’s, and you’re guaranteed one inviting evening. And when you add to that the fact that it’s all for…
2/19 We don’t get it. When a group of men dress up in crazy costumes, dance, play and sing songs in front of a live audience, it’s heartwarming. But when Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake do the same thing at the Super Bowl, it’s controversial. What’s with the double standard,…
2/21 Shift: high gear. Up ahead: major art thing called the Dallas Art Dealers Association’s Winter Gallery Walk. Not a verb to waste. Follow this map: highlights first, details last. Rev it up and read on. John Pomara’s “moving” prints and Scott Barber’s cast urethane-enhanced fluorescent lights at Barry Whistler…
2/24 Six years ago, my father met Tom Wopat at DFW International Airport. Meeting a C-list celebrity was nothing new for him. He’s hugged Tori Spelling and Dr. Ruth Westheimer. Informed Joe Pantoliano that he “really kicked it” on The Sopranos. Scared the holy bejeezus out of Sam Donaldson. He’s…
Thursday, February 12 As we tick off entries in our checkbook register, we cross-check them with the lovely invention that is the online statement. In trying to create a frugal budget, we researched our spending and found that an excessive amount was devoted to dining out. Makes sense if you…
So-called patrons of the arts might think they’re the bees’ knees, but we think kids know better. Sure, museums have their charm, but they aren’t half as fun as the things kids are patrons of, like cartoons, boogers and magic. Let’s face it: When kids get excited about something, they…
2/14 “Say, baby, can I interest you in a little cicada? It’s good for what ails you. Why yes, that is a long-horned beetle in my pocket, but I am glad to see you. Care to come up to my place to see my dried bug collection? It’s hot. Hey,…
2/17 We, the smarty-pants reporter for the oh-so-hip alternative weekly, will now attempt to write about a bowling event without any snideness or class snobbery. Promise. How hard could it be? Any sport featuring beer, rented shoes and guys with 60-inch waistbands can’t be all ba…OK, that didn’t even last…
2/13 O, Ponyboy, Ponyboy! Wherefore art thou Ponyboy? Deny thy Greasers and refuse thy Brylcreem! And I’ll no longer be a Soc, wearing my madras and mother’s argyle. ‘Tis but thy clothes that are mine enemy. Ponyboy, thou art a wronged poet on the run, like the towheaded Johnny Boy,…
2/12 Even the biggest exhibitionists we know tend to stash their sex books between the mattress and box springs. But there’s one that’s remained a mandatory bedside fixture in intelligent and well-educated homes. And, just in time for the Cupid season, we can learn even more about this history of…
2/13 You’re simply not trying, you guys of Dallas. Last February’s retail recap revealed the same old, same old for the top four Valentine’s Day gift categories. Chocolates, flowers, cards and naughty nighties are so uninspired. Think outside the heart-shaped box this year and get your gal pals all aquiver…
Some acts of courage command everyone’s respect–the firefighter’s return to a burning house to rescue a child, the infantryman’s sacrifice of self for a wounded comrade, the weary black woman’s refusal to yield her seat on a segregated bus. Sometimes, though, courage can seem clouded–especially when it’s a response to…
There have been copious books written about architect Louis I. Kahn, whose monumental creations were like ancient Roman buildings transplanted into some near-distant future. His structures, among them the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, and the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, made him among the…
Highwaymen is much like its villain, a former automobile insurance man who cruises the nation’s freeways in search of young women to run down in order to create his own brand-new crash photos. Behind the wheel of his ’72 El Dorado, Fargo (Colm Feore) is an amalgam of the hinges…
With 50 First Dates, it seems as though Adam Sandler is trying to compile a greatest-hits film, cobbling together the stuff that worked in his previous films in hopes that it’ll play even better all in one go. There’s the falsetto comedy-song bit from every episode of Saturday Night Live,…
It was only a few days ago that Shane Carruth, software engineer-turned-filmmaker, was ready to walk away from the money on the table and keep his movie–78 minutes’ worth of cheapo celluloid that had, in a Utah instant, become as valuable as strands of gold. He had stopped answering his…
