Being Ray Liotta Ray Liotta’s list of characters has run the gamut, from tarnished baseball immortal Shoeless Joe Jackson to mobster-in-hiding Henry Hill to, well, whoever he was in Operation Dumbo Drop (didn’t see it, sorry). He was nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance in Jonathan Demme’s Something…
So is David Spence, who resigned this month from his seat on Dallas’ plan and zoning commission after being reprimanded by the city’s ethics panel, a bad guy or a good guy done wrong? Seeing how Dallas Observer staffer Rose Farley broke the story of his alleged ethical lapse, which…
The RapistWithering under denial: What an interesting contrast that Carlton Stowers painted between Gina Cotroneo and her rapist, Gary Faison (“Likely Suspect,” October 31). It seems a classic case study in how one’s actions exhibit one’s character, and how people choose the lives they lead based upon the circumstances they’ve…
The season hasn’t yet started, but I think Don Nelson is drunk. Donnie Nelson might be, too; who can tell? Half the Mavs fans in this room are loaded and twisted, and the other half are well on their way. It’s early, but I have no idea what time it…
The husband called first, in a tizzy. While cleaning out a waste bin full of dirty Q-Tips, his wife had come across a used condom. She freaked. Confronted with the desiccated, slightly bloody evidence, he told her he was certain it wasn’t his. And keep the condom, he said. I’m…
Inspired by a randomly received instructional package from the Women’s Institute of Learning (based in Fort Worth), two “random” staffers (we’ll call them Bella and Kittie) decided to embark on a striptease adventure. Bella and Kittie began by contacting Paulette Belmore, president of the Women’s Institute of Learning, who explained…
What are the Dallas Mavericks’ chances of making it to the NBA Finals this year? The following is the opinion of a Western Conference scout: On the Mavs: “I think [the Mavs] will be in the mix this year. They’ll be in that 3-to-5 category [for playoff position] if they…
Your regular Buzz correspondent is back from a week’s vacation, rested and ready to tackle weighty issues, provide pithy commen…OH, DEAR GOD, WILL SOMEONE PLEASE SHUT THAT KID UP! So sorry. It’s Election Day, four days after deadline–when Buzz usually starts writing–and half a block down the street, outside Ron…
Stepnoski’s StandGet your buzz on: So, according to Mark Stepnoski (“Steppin’ Out,” October 31), we should grab us a couple of joints and enjoy it in the comfort of our homes, and whether we have a family or are in a car full of kids, just light up. Maybe your…
He knows it won’t be easy–coming out of the “smoky closet,” as one marijuana advocate puts it. After all, he has been a professional football player for 13 years, a five-time Pro-Bowler, a two-time Super Bowl champ, a Dallas Cowboy. He can almost hear the voices of those who would…
Scott Savage, until recently the executive vice president and chief operating officer of Renaissance Radio, didn’t want to talk about it anymore. He didn’t want to rehash how the new talk-radio station he’d overseen, “The Cafe” KCAF-AM (990), went belly-up last week after three days. Didn’t want to tick off…
“The only time I want to talk to a woman when I’m naked is if I’m on top of her or she’s on top of me.” –Former Tigers pitcher Jack Morris, on female sportswriters A few weeks ago all this gender stuff started rattling around the empty space in my…
Nowhere to Go but UpNoose around our necks: If there is such a thing as grace and such things as blessings, I hope they are yours in reward for such a thing as caring to write this story (“The View From the Bottom,” October 24). Paging Dr. Keynes…our economy is…
What Makes Him Tick Brian Jacob Smith, 21, stars as 15-year-old Alex the Droog in the extravagantly violent but deeply affecting stage version of A Clockwork Orange, which moves from Plano’s Quad C Theatre to the University of Texas at Dallas for another two-week run starting October 31. Reviews for…
Buzz has never really wanted to look too deeply into the brain of Robert Decherd, boss-boy and out-front man for the ownership clan at Belo Corp. and The Dallas Morning News. Buzz has an irrational fear of bottomless gray. But sometimes Buzz does have to polish off the old mail-order…
They were, to those who knew them, young and bright and quickly gaining ground in their race toward the American Dream. Gary Faison, an on-the-fast-track disc jockey for radio station KKDA-AM (730), had long aspired to fame and had begun to receive it, at least locally. Gina Cotroneo was prospering…
One morning in July he starts to cry and can’t stop. There is no money left; he has sold or hocked nearly everything he owns and is still $30,000 in debt. Gone are his two cars, his two boats, his 401(k) savings, his dignity. One layoff followed the next–first at…
Seated on the front row of a crowded Philadelphia courtroom last week, John Maddux, uncomfortable in the slacks and sports coat he’d been wearing for the past two weeks, finally broke into a broad smile. For the reserved man who prefers the jeans and solitude of his rural Alvarado home,…
“I don’t believe in Bigfoot. I thought I’d let you know that I absolutely do not believe in Bigfoot,” begins Chester Moore Jr. The audience shuffles and murmurs uneasily, as if they have been tricked. “How many people here believe in Bigfoot?” Almost everyone warily raises a hand. Moore delivers…
Jerry Jones thinks you’re stupid. That’s the only possible explanation for the ugly way he handled the benching of Quincy Carter in favor of Chad Hutchinson. It’s the only explanation for the way he’s handled these situations since the Pokes started decaying in the mid-to-late ’90s. See, he speaks in…
Last week, Buzz asked if anyone out in reader-land really cared that much about the fake-drug scandal that has tainted the Dallas Police Department and district attorney’s office over the past year. Pretty nasty business, we suggested, what with police paying an informant thousands of dollars to make cases against…
One step beyond: I have been a Dallas police officer since 1989. I was one of the 600 or so officers that attended the city council meeting Mr. Schutze refers to in the “Officer Wacko” article (October 17). I believe that Mr. Schutze missed the point about why we attended…
