Josh Alan Friedman, who penned an amazing piece about the Texas Tenor for the paper version of Unfair Park long ago, brings sad news today: Corsicana-born, Dallas-raised sax great David “Fathead” Newman died yesterday. There’s only been one obituary, but a call to David’s wife and manager Karen offers further…
All that land you see at right marked “SITE” was supposed to be the location of Irving-based JPI’s Trinity River development — about 60.5 acres’ worth of residential, retail, offices, restaurants and everything else you could stuff into a billion-dollar mixed-use development. The city was counting on the project to…
Earlier today, Unfair Park learned that chef Kent Rathbun would be opening a new restaurant in Preston Center, next door to Shannon Wynne’s Flying Fish in the space formerly occupied by Carrabba’s, among others. I called Rathbun’s publicist Ariana Hajibashi-Martin to confirm, and she was very noncommittal: “Nothing’s been completely…
Long-time Norm Hitzges sidekick and 1310 AM The Ticket assistant program director Mark Friedman confirms this afternoon that he has left the station to take a similar role with rival sports-talk station 103.3 FM ESPN Radio. Friedman will next week begin his new role as ESPN’s APD and producer for The…
Give the Rangers credit. They are trying. With the Cowboys imploding and the Mavs and Stars wallowing in mediocrity, our local baseball team has a prime opportunity to earn some much-needed love this winter. Texas hasn’t done diddly-poo as far as free agency, bringing in only reliever Derek Turnbow, pitching…
A Friend of Unfair Park directs our attention to the Dallas Cowboys’ official Web site, which published a Q&A with owner and general manager Jerry Jones last night. It’s not exactly the most illuminating interview — lots of assessing and evaluating going on, which is only, what, six months too…
Last week, while working on this week’s cover story in the paper version of Unfair Park, I discovered that the owners of 508 Park Ave. have filed with the city a permit to tear down the former Warner Brothers Film Exchange, built in the late 1920s. Long story, available soonish…
Got a product for Mike Modano to endorse? Because, clearly, he’s on the market. Last week, he was spotted looking bored to death in a new N9NE Steakhouse ad. And today comes word that the Dallas Star is shilling for a Grapevine-based “super-nutritious health drink” called VaNu, which, he says…
Justin Cozart’s been busy updating the Dallas Urban History page on Flickr, and among his recent finds is this 1945 map created for the Dallas City Plan Commission (speaking, as we were earlier, of city planning). Writes Justin, it shows “areas of urbanization in the city and certain obstacles to…
Dallas City Council candidate Ann Margolin, who’s already raised something like $328 trillion as she looks to replace Mitchell Rasansky as George W. Bush’s council member, has created the niftiest little game: “Rank the Top Five Issues Facing Dallas.” Problem is, she’s already chosen the issues for you: traffic, crime,…
This morning’s Dallas City Council briefing should be more interesting than most — thing’s almost like a meeting of a book club where the topic is urban design and development, which is perhaps why the council’s moving out of City Hall and across the street to the J. Erik Jonsson…
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Zach Thomas. Unlike Brad Pitt in the movie, Zach didn’t exactly grow younger as he got older. But boy did he grow sick and tired in a hurry. This is how it was supposed to work: After a successful, yet ultimately unfulfilling career in Miami,…
A man of his word, Clear Channel’s Dallas market manager J.D. Freeman did in fact call back with some news concerning programming changes at the San Antonio-based conglomerate’s Dallas properties. As mentioned earlier, two KDMX-FM (Mix 102.9) on-air personalities were part of the mass layoffs today: midday host Lisa Thomas…
First, on this Inauguration Day afternoon, a mention of drink specials in honor not only of our new president, but the former one who will make Dallas his home, oh, any day now. A few days back, Simon McDonald at The Libertine Bar forwarded us a handful of welcome-home signs,…
Since some of Office Space was filmed in Las Colinas, and since writer-director Mike Judge once called Garland home, and since the movie still gets me to make the occasional “O” face, this good news courtesy the fine folks from Fantastic Fest down Austin way: There’s gonna be an Office…
From the monolithic high-definition screens at Victory Park this morning, Rick Warren prayed; Aretha Franklin belted out “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” from beneath a killer hat; and Joe Biden became VP. The crowd of locals — a few hundred gathered in the sunshine at one end of the square,…
We’ve tried all morning to get Dallas Clear Channel execs on the phone all morning to discuss layoffs there, which began at 7:30 this morning as expected (and our condolences to the departed, who include someone near and dear to Unfair Park). No luck so far — and I don’t…
As mentioned last week, Dallas’s T.D. Jakes did indeed deliver the pre-inaugural sermon from the St. John’s Episcopal Church pulpit. The pool report contains the entirety of his sermon, delivered in front of 200 invited guests. Jakes, captured here by Patrick Michels at the Dallas premiere of Seven Pounds, quoted…
I would not recommend reading SMU’s Daily Mustang for your inauguration coverage. The university sent “a group of SMU communications and journalism students” to D.C. to cover the inauguration. Said last week’s media release, “They will have an up-close view of the Presidential Inauguration.” Um. Um. This is the most…
The Dallas City Council’s Economic Development Committee opted to skip this morning’s inauguration and actually hold a meeting, maybe because the committee has plenty on its plate — including, after months of debate and discussion, the installation of streaming-video signs in downtown. There’s another biggie on the table too: using…
Yesterday was the deadline for “interested parties” to send to the Office of the Attorney General of Texas briefs concerning the Dallas Independent School District board of trustee’s vote to extend their term limits from three to four years. Carla Ranger, of course, is the only trustee against the extension,…
Last night from the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in D.C., site of the Texas State Society’s 2009 Black Tie & Boots Inaugural Ball, a good Friend of Unfair Park sent the following message: “The Texas ball is not only a celebration of a new president, but a display…
