Maybe your make believe friend was two inches tall and wore a jaunty hat. Or maybe there wasn’t any one person. Perhaps you lived within many magical, imagined moments a day. Kids create amazing worlds for themselves – especially during strained times – in their heads. And sometimes, those kids…
Siblings of famous celebrities have a stigma of being less than great when compared with their more famous brothers and sisters. Granted, some of the evidence hasn’t helped fight that stereotype. Sly Stallone’s brother Frank recently resorted to selling a gig for himself on eBay. George Clinton was a deep…
After spending five years on tour in support of his platinum hit, “Collide,” Howie Day was looking for a much-needed break. Day has been largely off the radar since 2011, making the choice to focus on writing music instead of performing live. He also dealt with some high-profile run-ins with…
Playwrights seek inspiration everywhere. Dallas-based writer Jonathan Norton is no exception. The prolific dramatist is constantly on the hunt for a good story, particularly one that strikes him close to home. For his newest play Mississippi Goddamn, inspiration arrived on a trip to title state where he learned the history…
Two left turns may not make a right and forgiving may not be the same as forgetting. But imagine a world where we didn’t need to shroud truths in idioms, instead facing our wrongdoings with unblinking eyes. Perhaps in this world, we could right wrongs and admonish our sins. Israel…
They say once you learn the rules, you can break ‘em. They also say there are no rules in art. So whoever they are, they sound a bit conflicted. But Dallas-based artist Robert Jessup follows whichever rules he damn well pleases in his newest set of paintings, currently on view…
Summer is the season of parties: Graduation parties, pool parties, 4th of July parties, and the no-event-necessary cookout parties. But if you’re looking for another reason to celebrate, may we suggest tap dance? As one of the only truly American dance forms (besides Zumba, obviously), the Dance Council of North…
College campuses have grown quiet post graduation. Soon, the sound of over-achieving will be faintly heard during summer school classes, but really how much noise can those 4.0 seekers make? If Southern Methodist University’s campus has grown eerily silent, the Lev Aronson Cello Festival arrives this week to change that…
To break in their new space in Expo Park, Cohn Drennan Contemporary’s inaugural show, scrapbook, takes us on trip through Texas counterculture from 1982-2002. With a book release and photography exhibition by Dan Allen, the show pays homage to the neighborhood with its portraits of the people who frequented the…
Dollar Store Dropout Good People is a play written by Pulitzer Prize winner David Lindsay-Abaire and it’s loaded with more plot twists than a Maury Show. The story starts with our star and Boston Southie, Margie Walsh, losing her job at a Dollar Store. All time low point? Not so…
Ah, crush. Such a hard-working word, constantly doing double time conjuring up dreams of young love AND bringing to mind acts of gnarly violence, its meaning helplessly relying on that little possessive, or lack thereof. The Crush in Tim Best’s latest series of work happens to be the latter kind,…
Ann Williams has been getting her way for a long time. She was the first African-American to graduate with her MFA in dance from Texas Woman’s Univeristy; she started the city’s first resident dance company focused on creating opportunities for minorities; she spent 37 years teaching, producing and advocating for…
“It’s always been my dad’s dream to do something with the theater,” Katy McBride Reynolds says of her father, Glen McBride, part owner of Denton Fine Arts Theater. “I mean, obviously, he’s held onto it for this long. We’ve had offers from companies, individuals over the years that want to…
The Texas Pinball Festival’s attempt to take the Guinness world record for the most people playing pinball at the same time was not easy to pull off . Sure, it’s just a group of 200-plus guys and gals standing around new and vintage pinball machines playing as though they were…
Today is like Easter for would-be runners. Sure, church happens every week, but your bed is never more comfortable than it is on Sunday mornings. Similarly, sweating in the Texas heat will never sound as good as meeting your friends for happy hour. But if you want to extend the…
Mixmaster presents “100 Creatives,” in which we feature cultural entrepreneurs of Dallas in random order. Know an artistic mind who deserves a little bit of blog love? Email lauren.smart@dallasobserver.com with the whos and whys. Amanda Austin had the crazy idea to bring long-form improv comedy to Dallas at a time…
OK, Google Glass, show me how to play Liszt like André Watts. The staff at the AT&T Performing Arts Center snagged a pair of Google Glasses from their partners at the International Association of Venue Managers and tested them out yesterday with pianist André Watts during rehearsal for his Monday…
Music saved Lev Aronson’s life. He told his students this countless times. Recalling songs by memory not only allowed him to sustain hope while imprisoned in concentration camps, it also allowed him to keep track of time. One of his vivid memories was having to load and then unload a…
If you haven’t been to King Spa & Sauna, you’re missing out on one of the most unique cultural experiences in Dallas. Called jjimjilbangs in Korea, these sometimes gender-segregated, sometimes co-ed bath houses offer an opportunity to detoxify (whatever that means) in ornately decorated saunas, eat Korean food, have a…
When the weather gets hot and sticky, schools start to close, and we all mentally check out and start dreaming of beers and beaches and sleeping until noon. But dancers never stop. The beginning of June marks the end of many companies’ spring seasons and the start of professional training…
Can you imagine Dallas without creativity? What would this city be like without its artists, thinkers, poets, dreamers, creators? Let’s hope we never find out. These cultural entrepreneurs are making life in this city worth living, vivifying the scene with art, dance, music, events, and so much more. We thought…
Last year at Austin’s experimental theater festival, Fusebox, the Rude Mechs workshopped a little show about wealth, societal expectations, and greed. It was two parts Pygmalion, one part musical, a little bit tap show and a whole lot of theatrics. This troupe of theater provocateurs would go on to premiere…
