Ra-ta-TUT-TUT will be among the sounds at DSO’s upcoming Pops Showcase, in which selections inspired by the DMA’s acclaimed King Tut exhibit will be performed. In addition to the pharaoh fare, the concert showcases the best of Dallas Symphony’s own instrumentalists. The crowd-pleasing William Tell Overture preludes other classic masterpieces…
Oh, I feel really wrong right now. I am walking on eggshells, trying not to make a very un-P.C. joke about the Inwood Theatre’s latest Midnight Madness selection. The awesome part is that the film, Chocolate, is making its Dallas debut. If you love Ong Bak: The Thai Warrior, then…
As metalheads and indie rock kids alike can no doubt attest, a show’s opening act can make or break the whole affair. That first performer sets the mood and gets the fans pumped for what’s to come, and if they don’t mesh with the headliner, it can make for a…
It’s embarrassing–copping to the fact that the 1988 movie version of Crossing Delancey is something of a guilty pleasure for me. Amy Irving gives a wooden performance as Izzy, a thoroughly modern New York single who feels the pull of her Jewish roots as she navigates romantically between an egotistical…
It’s not even out yet, but the cover of E. Lynn Harris’ new book, Basketball Jones, already has me breaking promises to myself–I’m not gay, but I always vowed it’d be Tom Brady. But hey, the book is about a professional athlete who plays for the other team, so maybe…
Nothing takes me back to one-fourth of my roots like a little accordion-driven, Czech-inspired polka music. Mutter the word kolache, and I’m there. The 3rd Annual Czech Music Festival is a newbie compared to other cultural festivals in the metroplex (the North Texas Irish Fest, Addison’s Oktoberfest, etc.), but doesn’t…
Are you frightened by the thought of a Democrat in the White House? Do you miss the sweet, sweet days when the Cold War was raging and a kid’s only sanctuary could be found in hard-ass action figures that were ready to kill anytime, anywhere…for their country? Well, taxpayer, here…
If you think that today’s Hollywood is full of whippersnappers and hooligans, we have an event for you. Less exciting–but also less risky than–time travel, the Grapevine Heritage Jubilee recreates Old Hollywood, right down to replicas of landmarks like Grauman’s Chinese Theater, impersonators of stars like John Wayne, and the…
Do you ever get the urge to seek out a hypnotist comedian and ask him to transform you into a Riverdancer for all to see? No? OK, I guess that’s only me then. If you change your mind, then one of the great comic hypnotists, Flip Orley, will be happy…
According to Alexander La Riviere, proprietor of Faber’s Cyclery and a bicycle accident investigator, this country’s technological and social evolution parallels that of the bicycle, as these “land flyers” gave man the sensation of flight and liberation that led him to build an airplane and yearn for political freedom. His…
When you start talking about going to the fair in Dallas, what you generally mean is that you’re about to spend six hours walking around, drinking beer, eating fried bacon concoctions and risking your life on large metal contraptions supervised by ex-cons. And though this is charming in its own…
A night of tutus and pirouetting ballerinas may sound like the last way you’d want to spend your weekend. But those who think ballet is a drag don’t know what they’re missing. For Les Ballets Trockadero, drag is the main attraction. You won’t see the Trocks lip-syncing for dollar bills…
We imagine that Judith Lea Perkins is especially proud of Empire of Belief, her current show at Kettle Art. Since she was one of the gallery’s co-founders back in 2005, it probably feels like a homecoming. Perkins, who also showcased work in Kettle’s successful 2007 exhibit Skulls Babes and Sparkly…
Imagine you get a kick-ass gig in this great play. You’re not really clear on the plot, but it’s by this up-and-coming playwright and he’s so cool. Knowing him, it’s probably a drama. Plus, the other cast members seem to be great to work with. Might even be a little…
Art these days takes two forms: art for rich people who like standing around in quiet galleries contemplating the meaning behind some tortured, dead person’s efforts at making squiggly paint lines–it always helps if there’s some kind of exhibit or gallery opening wherein said rich folk get free booze–and the…
The last time a Dallas Observer writer criticized a jam band, the online story drew nearly 800 comments attacking him with sufficient hatred to prove the peaceful persona of the stereotypical noodle-dancer a patchouli-scented facade. More recently, one of my Night & Day blurbs provoked a barrage of similarly angry…
Nosferatu had Count Orlok chasing after another man’s wife, but there was no way he was going to score. Interview With the Vampire had definite potential, but there was that whole “two dudes sleeping next to each other in coffins” thing. Michael definitely gets it on with Star in The…
The last time your Dallas Mavericks faced the bottom-feeding Sacramento Kings on the road, only Jason Terry really showed up to play, scoring 33 points in the 102-95 loss. Since then, the team parted ways with DeSagana Diop in favor of Charlotte’s Matt Carroll and Ryan Hollins, and while Hollins…
New in Town She’s too thin. She’s a bobble-head. Her forehead doesn’t move. Where has that Jerry Maguire girl gone, the one we once knew and loved? It’s not easy being America’s Sweetheart. Nor any easier being Lucy Hill (Renée Zellweger), who’s unmarried, pushing 40, personal trainer-toned, living in a…
The crowds were thinner, the temperature warmer and Barack Obama’s name mentioned so many times that you might have thought he had assumed leadership not just of the free world, but the Sundance Institute too. Otherwise, it was business as relatively usual as the Sundance Film Festival turned 25. If…
Getting an invitation to sing at Tori Spelling’s wedding is no small feat. So when the ostensible star asked Steve Lippia, a handsome Sinatra-esque crooner from Vegas, he snapped and sugared all the way to Beverly Hills. He knows opportunity when he sees it. Lippia is a pop music vocalist…
Ari Folman’s broodingly original Waltz With Bashir is a documentary that seems only possible, not to mention bearable, as an animated feature. Folman has created a grim, deeply personal phantasmagoria around the 1982 invasion of Lebanon. Waltz With Bashir, named for Bashir Gemayel, the hero of the Christian militias that…
