Last week, Russian pianist Olga Kern barreled through some predictably showy repertoire on stage at the Winspear Opera House. In a hall designed for enormous opera productions, it takes a lot of charisma and sound from a lone pianist to fill such a big space. But with the help of…
In Ink Spot, Amy Price stops strangers in Dallas to shoot, and learn about, their body art. Chances are you’ve seen 31 year-old Jonathan Nicolini’s graffiti art around Dallas, but have you seen his body art? This Art Institute of Dallas student and part time low-key graffiti artist is addicted…
When Morning Comes from Brandon Thibodeaux on Vimeo.If we abstain from experiencing a sensory act long enough, we develop a sensitivity to it. And while instinctively I might not lump viewing photography in with the more obvious and visceral — food, sex, loud music and other luxurious indulgences of that…
tomàs saraceno: on space time foam from designboom on Vimeo. At first glance, this interactive sculpture by Argentinian artist Tomàs Saraceno, on display in Milan, resembles a giant, layered waterbed. In reality, it’s more like an air mattress, although a highly sophisticated one, whose design and construction is based on…
If you saw Louis CK’s concert in Dallas two weekends ago, his monologue on last night’s Saturday Night Live may have been a bit disappointing. He did about seven minutes of material from his current tour, basically word for word. But he more than made up for it two sketches…
The idea for Slideluck Potshow was cooked-up in the Seattle backyard of photographer Casey Kelbaugh. The concept was simple: have a bunch of fellow artists over for a potluck dinner and show off their recent work through a multimedia slideshow. Kelbaugh knew about the unifying power of food, but he…
If NASA wanted to beam one video into space that encapsulates our achievement in the cinematic arts, so that distant, intelligent lifeforms might pause before blowing us up, this should be the one video. It’s a quintessential edit of IMDB’s top 250 films, set to a raucous re-mix of “Jump…
Hilary Hahn is about to celebrate her 33rd birthday. She’s spent 30 of those years playing the violin. Her resume is as impressive as expected. This weekend, the Dallas Symphony is performing two works by Beethoven, including one of classical music’s most recognizable pieces, the composer’s 5th symphony (dum-dum-dum-duuuum). Sandwiched…
Bobby Fischer said that “chess is war over the board. The object is to crush the opponent’s mind.” If chess is a war, then the minds at UTD have just gone nuclear. See also: Five Ways to Use Klyde Warren Park In a joint effort between UTD’s electrical and mechanical…
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra announced on Thursday that soprano Reneé Fleming will join Jaap van Zweden and the orchestra for next year’s AT&T gala. This black tie event, which will be held on Saturday, September 28th, 2013, is the DSO’s largest single fundraising event and typically features a big name…
The Dallas Opera’s current production of Aida opens the company’s fourth season inside the still shiny and new Winspear Opera House. The company has had some financial woes during the transition from its previous home at Fair Park. In 2011, facing substantial deficits, TDO announced it would cut back the…
Parent Crap’s Alice Laussade is off this week, tending to her beloved Meat Fight. Joe Tone, who became a parent earlier this year, fills in. The house was dark. Most of the street was by then. Porch lights, living-room lights, kitchen lights — every watt visible from the sidewalk was…
If you’ve ever been on the receiving end of a profanity-spewing 14-year-old’s headset-enabled tirade, you probably know that some people take video games quite seriously. Seriously enough to start calling video game competitions eSports, and to jump from one continent to the next to face off in person and compete…
Grab that Visine and scrub out your eyeballs, because Dallas is ripe for ocular overload. We’ve got a photography slideshow and potluck dinner at The Power Station, the wonkiest burlesque in the US of A at Lakewood Theater, Richard Lewis looking concerned at the Addison Improv and yeah, the original…
When we see you on the street and think you put some thought into your style, we may take your picture and ask you things. See previous installations in the Street Style archive. Arinne’s bright purple and blue hair struck us while shopping at NorthPark Center for some last minute…
Every Thursday we highlight the best comedy of the coming weekend. Find more comedy events at dallasobserver.com/calendar. Richard Lewis at the Addison Improv When Richard Lewis gets on stage, you really have no idea what you’re in for. He prepares nothing, writes nothing down. And it can be great. But…
You’ve caught him chewing on your Design Within Reach catalogs, so you realize that your dog has an appreciation for contemplative construction. And still, he sleeps in a lousy cage like a Dickensian criminal. Change that during the SPCA of Dallas’ Designer Dog Home for the Holidays event at NorthPark…
Denzel Washington sulks, soars in Flight
The yammering about “Oscar gold” and Denzel Washington’s potential three-peat will soon reach a deafening pitch, but such noise can only embarrass a fine character study like Flight, whose prevailing tone is a heavy, elemental melancholy. The mood is there from the opening pan across the Orlando airport under gray,…
It’s hard out there for a video game villain: always being attacked, never given the benefit of the doubt and forever pigeonholed into a role no one wants to see you escape. Such is the fate of Wreck-It Ralph (John C. Reilly), the bad guy in an old-school arcade game…
Great idea by Lyric Stage producer Steven Jones to open his revival of the grand old musical 1776 during campaign season. If only more of those pesky “undecided voters” could see it. What they would witness first and foremost is another of Lyric’s spectacular productions of a rarely done piece…
What is the one thing you’d expect to see in a play about the world of professional televised wrestling? And what is missing from The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity, which just opened in a passive-aggressive production by Dallas Theater Center at the Wyly Theatre? That would be wrestling. There…
Attention, Eon Productions, Daniel Craig and Heineken: James Bond is not a beer drinker! Sure, I know. Getting all worked up about the new James Bond installment is like freaking out about a new Tim Burton movie — past glories don’t justify contemporary relevance. The year 2012 marks 50 years…
