In case you were wondering, there are such things as haunting enthusiasts. They love haunted houses, haunting people and, of course, Halloween. Every year they gather together at HauntCon to check out the latest in haunting technology. Fake blood, chainless chain saws, the whole bit. They indulge in a hearse…
Few things in art are exactly as they sound, which can prove confusing, especially if you’re a little confused by art already. Saturday, that changes as the all-volunteer led program Slow Art Day creeps, ever so cautiously, through our local museums. Yes, on Slow Art Day you’ll inch along, staring…
As a landlocked city, Dallas is home to very few sailors. Without their oceanic seasmarts, our collective knowledge of knot tying is held captive in slow-buffering You Tube tutorials. That’s fine, unless you’re attempting to slipknot your lover to an antique headboard, in which case you’ll look like such a…
You only thought you knew about Charles Schulz’s world of cheerful, dancing cartoon characters. Then, you watch Bert V. Royal’s play Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead and see that offstage, everything turned to shit. Snoopy offed his good buddy Woodstock after a rabies situation. And in typical…
Did you dream a dream that you were belting out the Les Misérables songbook during last year’s big-screen blockbuster? Sorry champ, that was Anne Hathaway. But if you think that your vocal skills could give Anne and the rest of the Les Mis cast a run for their money, then…
People sometimes wonder why Terrence Malick is everyone’s favorite Texas boy done good. For a man who has only made six movies in a directing career that has lasted more than 40 years (this could have something to do with a 20-year hiatus), the Austin recluse has made his mark…
Often we view art from the business end, which puts a ticket window between ourselves and community. One day each year that balance flips as artists take performances into the most intimate spaces available: their own residences. Musician/performer/ultimate hostess Lily Taylor understands the open exchange that an address provides, which…
True story: Five middle-aged guys from Utah have managed to become a real live touring act after they covered One Direction with a piano and deconstructed cello. Thanks, YouTube! Known as The Piano Guys (though only one plays the piano), they offer a special brand of classically tweaked pop songs…
There are plenty of ways to balance your life and boost your health that don’t include athletics, like the ultimate in passive fitness: listening to classical music. Did you know that listening to requiems, symphonies and concertos can help you sleep better, reduce feelings of anger and frustration, lower blood…
You know what people never get tired of? Oz. I mean the Land of, not that show best known for its portrayals of prison rape. Case in point: This year we got a feature film chock-full of eye candy about L. Frank Baum’s mythical emerald land, and people still flocked…
In the time between her critically lauded 2011 play Tigers Be Still and her new musical Fly By Night, co-written with Michael Mitnick and Will Connolly, playwright Kim Rosenstock has sharpened her comedic knife considerably. Fly By Night, which debuts at the Kalita Humphreys Theater (3636 Turtle Creek Blvd.), revives…
We don’t know if it’s got something to do with the lack of promotion of Sons of Hermann Hall events, the public being distracted by all the twists and turns in the rebuilding Big Tex saga, or the overwhelming indifference of an uncaring world, but somewhat excellent stand-up and all-round…
Every week we highlight the best comedy of the coming weekend. Find more comedy events at dallasobserver.com/calendar. Bill Burr at the Majestic Theatre in Dallas The redheaded, red-tempered comedian from East Coast is back in Dallas Thursday night for an evening of high-pitched sarcasm, verbal inner dialogue and yelling into the…
This weekend brings the very first Bondage Expo Dallas. With classes like “Knots for Novices” and “Tying for Speed and Efficiency,” there’s something for still-not-quite-everyone, from the curious Fifty Shades of Grey reader to the experienced strap-tightener. BED goes for three days, and even features a “Play Party” on Saturday…
It’s birthday month for empress of adult media Jenna Jameson, who’s been celebrating publicly since early April. Of course, if you follow the industry giant on Twitter, you’d know that the club circuit isn’t all Jameson’s been hitting [allegedly]. She’ll be in Dallas on Friday, blowing out candles at little-more-Taurus,…
Late-April is horror’s off-season. A solid six months’ distance from Halloween, we’re killing time until Killing Time. It’s enough to make an spook enthusiast downright antsy. This weekend you can sate those evil desires and silence the chainless chain-saw brain buzz, because shit is going down, yo. The celebration of…
A Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA) is becoming a standard stop for celebs whenever they have something new to promote, or just some time to kill. Even Obama stopped by once. But the President didn’t say anything near as entertaining as the pros. Check out our favorite AMA answers from…
Early this month, the ongoing Scarborough Renaissance Festival, located in Waxahachie, opened its gates to the public. We went, drank mead, scoped out the fair’s musical acts, and captured some magical GIFs along the way. Go forth and be merry…
We indulge the word memory in a utilitarian way, as though it were a physical space, crammed full of ancient locker combinations and emotional residue, a kind of messy junk drawer full of neural sparks that you’ll sort through, someday. In Cassandra Emswiler’s new solo show Canticles of Praise, on…
Michael Shannon Reads the Insane Delta Gamma Sorority Letter from Michael Shannon If you didn’t read a Maryland sorority sister’s wholly insane letter to her chapter because reading makes you sleepy, this is for you…
The most visually stimulating thing at the new Love Field terminal is the Cinnabon sign. There’s been a lot of hoohah this week over seven new commissioned “public” artworks at the terminal. Dixie Friend Gay’s “North Texas Sunrise” (2013) is a wall of mosaic tile at the entrance. It’s a…
After last week’s hastily organized arts discussion with Mayor Mike, there was much to sift through: Do white men have the answers? Are artists, as the Mayor put it, really just “human capital”? How do we get artists to move here and stay here, and which ones do we thrown…
