It’s not easy being a mail carrier this time of year, schlepping about with tons of holiday cards, sale fliers and tins of fruit cakes and summer sausage. Sometimes the poor guys get confused, as they did this week when several greeting cards were misdirected to our office. Sure, we…
Jeanie Laube wasn’t sure what her father was up to in India and Pakistan in the late 1960s. He was almost never home, and he wasn’t in the habit of calling, she says. That’s why she was stunned one morning in 1970. While listening to her car radio in Wisconsin…
James Barfoot is starting to get that feeling that comes shortly before a good relationship goes bad. As president of International Market Place Inc., a company comprising the independent vendors who hawk goods inside Shed Two at the Dallas Farmers Market, Barfoot suspects that he and his colleagues are about…
There are only two players in the gym. Practice ended an hour ago, and the others have long since left. These two, Walt Williams and Adrian Griffin, loiter beyond the three-point line arcing shot after shot toward the net. The sound of balls bouncing against the hardwood resonates off the…
The Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau came under fire after Channel 8’s Brett Shipp reported on suspect spending by the bureau’s president, David Whitney, including high-dollar golf trips, using limos for rides to the airport and expensive liquor tabs for DCVB members and clients at area topless clubs. Here’s a…
The technical revolution has brought about two things that make Buzz happy. One has to do with child rearing, as now kids practically raise themselves, what with the Internet and all. Two, reporters don’t have to “report.” They can simply wait for their inboxes to fill with tips from the…
Deadly SkiesThe first plane: There is a factual error in “Rough Skies” (November 21) that got past the writer and editor. Several female employees had not “just watched a plane fly into the North Tower of New York’s World Trade Center.” They might have been reacting to the start of…
When the tuxedo-clad announcer, in his best let’s-get-ready-to-rumble voice, bellows the name Valerie “The Wolfe” Mahfood, a chorus of boos fills the desert air outside the Stratosphere casino and hotel in Las Vegas. There’s no question which fighter this sold-out crowd is here to see: Laila “She Bee Stingin'” Ali–the…
It was almost midnight when the banged-up Dodge Neon began weaving from one lane to another along North Central Expressway, traveling so slowly that it was impeding the normal flow of traffic. As the car approached the Lovers Lane exit, it barely escaped a collision with a fast-moving 18-wheeler, then…
Bruce Coslet is a quick learner. Really, he is. But not for the reasons you might think. The lot of you are probably still high from Sunday–a meaningless two-point win over a Jacksonville team that’s been nothing but average this season in record (one game below .500) and defensive ranking…
The good news, according to the Texas Freedom Network, is that more people than ever paid attention to the debate over school social studies textbooks that recently concluded before the State Board of Education, thus dampening the influence of small numbers of religious zealots. That means that the book of…
Who he said he was: I am writing to congratulate you for publishing Thomas Korosec’s excellent piece “Crusaders” in the November 14 issue. I have no idea what I was expecting to find in this article when I picked up the Dallas Observer. As a “fifty-something” grandfather, I am not…
In a second-floor room of the Hotel Lawrence, which stands in the shadow of Dealey Plaza and the former Texas School Book Depository, they gathered last weekend to buy their books and espouse their theories. Poring over a table of books laid out by Andy Winiarczyk–whose Last Hurrah Bookshop in…
Cube Attitude O’Shea Jackson, better known as rapper/actor Ice Cube, is at it again. His latest movie, Friday After Next, is set to come out this Friday (God, that’s confusing). The movie wasn’t so good, but it gave me an excuse to interview Cube, so it could have been worse…
It began as a bright, promising September morning on the sixth floor of the Dallas-based American Airlines headquarters. Staff members were sipping coffee and mingling as they anticipated the morning’s operational meeting. Soon they would be discussing routine items such as flight schedules, maintenance updates and weather conditions at airports…
A crisp and dusty breeze sweeps off McCommas Bluff and into Dallas’ new “Citizen’s Convenience and Recycling Center” where about two dozen city workers and officials sit at cafeteria tables covered with red and white checkered cloths. At a podium set up in the open-air structure, officials proudly announce the…
Staff writer Mark Donald scored a Dallas Observer first in the recent Press Club of Dallas Foundation Katie Awards, winning three individual honors and earning finalist status in two other categories. The Katies recognize outstanding journalistic work in a five-state area. Donald’s performance capped a successful showing for the Observer,…
For those of you not from these parts, the preceding phrase–yippie etc.–is cowboy talk for “Hooray!” At least we think it is. It could very well mean something else, like, “Hey, honey, show me them there panties you’re wearin’.” Or it could be the sound a plaintiff’s lawyer makes when…
It was the day after Nick Van Exel went down with a knee injury. Avery Johnson–who became the team’s pro tem backup point guard when Van Exel bit it–stood by a set of black metal stairs that lead to the American Airlines Center practice-facility lockers. He talked about how his…
Vicious Circle of Crap Local-music black hole: I must admit–for once in my life, Zac–I agree with you. Your article “Mechanic Needed” (October 24) about the state of the Dallas music scene was right on the money. In my opinion, there are two things majorly wrong with the Dallas music…
It took a two-week trip to Lebanon last spring for Sarah Logan to understand what she was getting into. Among the bullet-ridden buildings in the northern city of Tripoli, the 46-year-old Dallas accountant heard her Baptist missionary hosts describe armed attacks on Christian churches by a faction of Islamic fundamentalists…
Digging through somebody’s trash is one of those reporting tactics that we at the Dallas Observer try to avoid, but this time the temptation was too great. The Tony Sanchez gubernatorial campaign brought its trash to us. The Observer’s offices are located in downtown Dallas, across the street from a…
