OK, so the slogan “Shoot J.R. in Dallas” is growing on me (like a fungus, but whatever). Still, the city’s effort to lure 20th Century Fox here, to shoot the movie Dallas, is likely to come up short; even Janis Burklund, the Dallas Film Commission director, puts the likelihood at…
No doubt the Dallas Mavericks’ defense is tougher this season. So are their fans. During a particularly violent third quarter in last night’s gritty home win over the Portland Trail Blazers, three fans were involved in nasty collisions with propelled players. The first was the worst: Mavs guard Devin Harris…
In about two hours, Mayor Laura Miller, Dallas Film Commission director Janis Burkland and Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau president and CEO Phillip Jones will gather at City Hall to debut their latest pitch to lure the big-screen version of Dallas. From what I hear, their latest “initiative” prominently features…
The lengthy story on T.D. Jakes in the March issue of The Atlantic Monthly is the best story that’s appeared on the bishop to date, though that isn’t saying much. (The Dallas Observer published the first major article on Jakes in 1996, but he and his ministry have changed a…
I’m not just saying this because he gave me oral favors on last Thursday’s WFAA-Channel 8 sportscast…OK, yeah, actually I am. But it doesn’t change the fact that Dale Hansen has a keen eye for talent. Who else in this town, besides Mike Modano, could lose Gina Miller and immediately…
Last month, I reported on Jayson Bales’ efforts to help musicians in need of health care and legal counsel. At that point, the plan was nothing more than an idea; luckily, ideas are quickly turning into action. Today, Bales sent out a press release announcing an event at the Granada…
A representative of GoldenPalace.com is currently en route to Dallas to announce the online casino will buy the infamous Virgin Mary Tree in Oak Cliff for $5,000. A press conference is scheduled at 7 tonight in front of the tree. The GoldenPalace.com rep, Case Melton, is carrying with him a…
Gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman has spent this entire Election Day doing interviews, during which the Texas Jewboy is repeating a single theme: Do not vote. “Well, I haven’t stridently been telling them that, but people have been saying that to me,” Friedman says from his Austin campaign headquarters, where TV…
Ed Cognoski, a local media watchdog with his own blog (natch), offers this thoughtful response to Observer editor Julie Lyons’ post yesterday about the Dallas Zoo. –Robert Wilonsky…
We’re now in the sentencing phase of Andrew Wamsley’s capital murder trial. (Friday afternoon, Wamsley was found guilty in the shooting and stabbing murders of both his parents.) Yesterday’s testimony was particularly compelling for those interested in finding out more about who Wamsley actually is. Testimony from former teachers, bosses…
When is the new Norah Jones CD not the new Norah Jones CD? When it’s credited to The Little Willies, a band consisting of Jones on vocals and piano (duh), Richard Julian offering remarkably Lyle Lovett-like vocals and guitar, Lee Alexander on bass, Jim Campilongo on electric guitar and Dan…
As the sign at right indicates, longtime Lower Greenville Avenue survivor Greenville Bar & Grill was shut down last month. The space will reopen sometime in April, but not with the old GB&G moniker. That tag is gone for good. Greg Merkow, owner of Hurricane Grill next door, has acquired…
Music fans from around North Texas turned out for the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth’s Friday night screening of Be Here to Love Me, a new documentary about songwriting legend Townes Van Zandt. (Van Zandt, who was born in Cowtown, would have been 62 today.) The 8 p.m. screening…
After months of negotiations with almost every station on the dial, your Dallas Cowboys have announced this afternoon they’ve found a new radio home on KDBN-FM (93.3), better known as The Bone, and KTCK-AM (1310), or The Ticket, both of which currently fall under the Susquehanna Radio umbrella. The partnership,…
Dallas County has a great public records search page on its Web site that’s fantastic for getting information on anything to do with the court system–or should I say, “used to have”? The court search function has been disabled because, according to an employee in the county’s IT department, “a…
When an athlete screws up, we cover it like World War III. So when an asshole finally apologizes, shouldn’t we cover it like a peace treaty? I think so and wrote as much in my Observer column last week, detailing the secret settlement between Kenny Rogers and Larry Rodriguez, the…
One thing that emerged loud and clear from two of the recent neighborhood town hall meetings is this: Dallas residents want a first-class zoo, and they’re willing to pay for it. Dick Geiger, for one, is sick of the Dallas Zoo’s reputation as the ugly stepsister to the slick, kid-friendly…
In my experience–helping get a church built in South Dallas last year and not having anyone in city government to grease the wheels for us, for reasons I won’t detail here (and they don’t reflect well on the city)–it is extremely difficult to work with the city of Dallas in…
Before D Magazine publisher Wick Allison writes his monthly publisher’s column, he might want to, oh, I don’t know, read his own magazine. In the March issue, Allison goes through his weary routine of comforting the comfortable by lamenting that City Hall has an anti-business attitude: “City Hall has thrown…
After unloading his tapas bar Rouge on Lovers Lane, it appears Joseph Gutierriz–brought here by exotic motor head Scott Ginsburg to revive the ill-fated Voltaire (and later the big boo-boo Bamboo Bamboo)–has moved back to Phoenix, but not before unloading Tutto on McKinney Avenue for $250K. Gutierriz sold Tutto to…
Hoop it up: Former Mavs coach Don Nelson, far left, at the Oscars, where, presumably, the beer is free …Don Nelson, former head coach of the Dallas Mavericks, who sat two rows behind his pal and boss (?) George Clooney at the Academy Awards last night. Mark Cuban was there,…
Tonight, Austin’s lounge-loving Small Stars open for super-quiet French folksters Mi and L’au, and that recommendation wins out solely based on how lame tonight’s concert calendar is (no, I’m not going to say a damn nice thing about Electric Six or Reggie and the Full Effect). Tomorrow, however, is a…
