October means many different things to many different cultures. For most of America, it’s about celebrating the window of opportunity that Satan has to enslave our children by giving them candy. For Germany, it’s all about Oktoberfest, that glorious celebration featuring fatty meats, lively polka music and endless amount of…
I’m a fan of just about anything in a bar. Want me to humiliate myself by singing off-key in someone’s living room? Noooo. In a bar? Sign me up. Trivia night at the museum? Nope. In the forgiving atmosphere of a bar? Yessir. And putting The Bard in a bar?…
In their continued effort to bring world-class music-makers to DFW, The Cliburn presents pianist Beatrice Rana in recital at Bass Performance Hall. Named “One to Watch” by International Piano magazine, Rana is currently one of the most in-demand performers in the world. Famed for her rich feats of emotional expression…
There’s a perfect film for anyone who’s ever wandered into this state and wondered why the hell people get so hyped up about Truck Month: Hands on a Hard Body: The Documentary. The 1997 S.R. Bindler doc chronicles an endurance challenge between 24 contestants in Longview. The goal? To be…
One of the 21st century’s greatest playwrights, Tarell Alvin McCraney earned a reputation for his well-spun characters and an overwhelming sense of urgency in his plays. Perhaps there is no better example of his work than the Brother/Sister Plays, a trilogy that takes a sharp look at family life. This…
No stranger to celebrity, his own or that of Hollywood actresses, Mario Testino steps away from the glamour of supermodels and royalty to photograph something a little bit more personal in his new exhibition at the Dallas Contemporary. Presented in the United States for the first time in Dallas, Alta…
Math is making a comeback at the Perot Museum this fall. 2theXtreme: Math Alive! is a new interactive exhibit that strives to make math interesting, tangible, and fun for children. Spanning 5,000 square feet, this exhibit brings math to life with hands-on activities relating to sports, video games, fashion and…
Some weeks in this business feel like shouting upwind. This was not one of those weeks. In the cover story of last week’s Dallas Observer, I posed the question, “Other cities have big, iconic bookshops, why don’t we?” Apparently, you all have a lot of opinions about that. It wasn’t…
Our Best of Dallas 2014 issue rolls out this week. While we can modestly say it’s the greatest, most comprehensive city guide ever created, Dallas is a pretty big place that’s filled to the brim with best-ness. To cover all the good stuff we might have left out, Mixmaster will…
There’s someone crying, another…whimpering? But that’s it. The Meyerson is a vacuum. There’s an odd mood coursing through the rows of seats, a breathless silence, total and creaky. It hangs in the air like an iron blanket. The audience is motionless, wholly engaged, in awe. Here we have this grand…
When you think about it, wrestling isn’t a sport where athletic prowess wins the day. It’s all about presentation, style and keeping the crowd at a certain level of enthusiastic insanity. It’s like ribbon dancing but with more machismo, less clothes and a better storyline. It’s also a sport of…
Every year, the Dallas VideoFest gives an award of special achievement to a pioneer of television and film in honor of the late TV comedian Ernie Kovacs. This year, that supreme honor will go to comedian, writer, musician and Richard Nixon impersonator Harry Shearer. The Dallas VideoFest announced that the…
From the foyer, you can hear the squeals of delight echoing from the garden of the Nasher Sculpture Center where visitors have climbed into the spool-like creations known as spun chairs. They are on display as part of Provocations: The Architecture and Design of Heatherwick Studio, an exhibition that surveys…
I’m not for dessert after dinner. Honestly, I’m not much for sugar. I don’t put it in my coffee; I don’t crave pumpkin pie in the fall; and icing gives me a headache. But when it comes to art, my personal taste would manifest as an 11-year-old girl – all…
By Justin Hunt On Sunday, 500X Gallery concluded its first show of the season, Ripe Produce: 500X Members Exhibition. An annual tradition of displaying member works, this year’s show introduced twelve new members into the sixteen-person collective. The newness of the 500X team was immediately present: upon entrance in to…
The walls of the Dallas Contemporary’s main gallery wear unfamiliarly dark shades of black and maroon. When it’s empty, the space seems more reverent, more immersive. All you hear is the click of your heel meeting the floor, and all you see are the rich, vibrant colors of Peruvian costumes…
Last Friday’s Oddball Curiosity and Comedy Festival at the Gexa Energy Pavilion wasn’t as memorable as the first time Funny or Die brought a comedy showcase to our town. That’s not to say it wasn’t good. For a lot of comedy nerds in attendance, it will be one of the…
The Dallas video making its way around the Internet lately is the local rendition of “50 People One Question,” which is exactly what it sounds like. Awkward Brunch Production stopped people on Lower Greenville on August 1 to ask them what would make the perfect day? It’s one of those…
Kayli House Cusick met Shannon Driscoll at a volunteer meeting for the very first Better Block Street Festival in Oak Cliff. They immediately clicked. And for that year’s fest, they wanted to fuse Shannon’s background as an art conservator and leader of adult craft workshops and Kayli’s work as a…
For it to be an event, every fan convention has to have a guest of honor. The San Diego Comic-Con employs Peter Jackson, who spends his time persuading attendees that they want a 15th movie based on a J.R.R. Tolkein novel. The E3 convention brings in every Nintendo executive, who…
About once a year, the city of Dallas is treated to the offbeat, immersive theater of the Dead White Zombies. Seeing one of the troupe’s shows is unlike any play you’ve seen before. You don’t settle into a plush, comfortable seat. There’s nothing comfortable about the shows at all -…
It’s no secret that QueerBomb Dallas has been highly critical of the Alan Ross Freedom Parade that is set to kick off this Sunday afternoon. Earlier this year, QueerBomb hosted their own alternative pride parade that was free of corporate sponsorship and placed a larger focus on highlighting gender and…
