The music of Madeleine Peyroux can best be described as a timeless exploration of history, herself, collaboration and the spiritual force of music. Last year, the release of her third album, Half the Perfect World, found her at ease among all these themes. "I think that was very clear, that...
The press conference starts in 45 seconds, and I am going to be late. Oh, I'm hurrying as fast as I can, jogging down a path lined with picket signs and a couple of motorcycles. I can see the platform up ahead where everyone will be gathering to hear about...
Uh, note to DISD Superintendent Michael Hinojosa: You'd best tell your spokesperson the definition of "legal" before this gets ugly. Oh, wait. Too late. Our bad. Breaking news: The Dallas Independent School District is investigating whether a crime was committed at Preston Hollow Elementary School in the wake of a...
"Electronica with mistakes," says Dosh, describing his own music. "I record everything and then take an accident and turn it into a song." His full name is Martin Dosh, but ever since his 2003 debut, he's favored simply his family name. On tour in support of his fine third effort,...
This moment shall not pass. Sorry, but I have to ring the timeout bell right here. The first major public political unraveling of the Trinity River expressway project took place last week in direct response to criticisms raised by Dallas City Council member Angela Hunt. Thanks to Hunt, the Trinity...
Access to behind-the-scenes band life has become increasingly banal. Between "reality" television and coverage of performers hoping to lower the bar on self-destruction (dudes, anything you'd dream of trashing, Led Zeppelin has already destroyed twice as monumentally), it's tough to even cock an eyebrow at backstage behavior anymore. The entertainment...
Bush Think Tank Twisted sense of morality: I agree that promoting rational debate over promulgating a warped ideology is paramount. So, I was disappointed to find Mr. Schutze comparing Bush to Idi Amin ("W. and Us," February 8). Equating a policy crafted in the wake of an unprovoked terrorist attack...
Following up: This week, National Public Radio's On the Media program broadcast a story about how the media's love of a narrative and themes can tilt our perception of reality. Early on, reporters fixed on the "big story" notion that President Bush is a doofus who leaves the tough decisions...
Still sounds like there's a lot of injustice taking place at the Lew Sterrett Justice Center. Sheriff Lupe Valdez recently told The Dallas Morning News that under her watch, the ever-beleagured jail has improved "400 percent." She should have told that to Jill and Conrad Galvin, the devoted parents of...
Bill Parcells is gone. And I know his replacement: Bill Jones. When Parcells went into hiding after the Dallas Cowboys' season-ending loss in Seattle, it was the long-time metroplex TV sports personality who jumped into the head coach's seat for the final two tapings of Channel 11's Cowboys Huddle. "I...
It's a new year, but the same ol' news stories still keep cropping up -- and this one isn't going away any time soon. For months, we've written here about the backdated stock-option scandal at Dallas-based Affiliated Computer Services, most recently about the firings -- pardon, the resignations -- of...
Pastor Sherman Allen of Shiloh Institutional Church of God in Christ offered advice on proper sex techniques, a source says. In what kind of church atmosphere would a woman submit to the unthinkable -- allowing her pastor to paddle her repeatedly in various states of undress, sometimes causing bruises and...
Once upon a time, there was a girl named Jennifer Potter. While she resided with her outwardly happy blond family in Los Angeles County, she lived mostly in her mind. When she grew up, she would remember things that other people said never happened. She would use different names, depending...
Elizabeth Albanese sat near the front of the massive ballroom, sipping champagne. The 43-year-old loved champagne. In social settings such as this one, it was all she drank. It was part of the image she sought to cultivate, that of a genteel Southern lady. The same could be said of...
Shooting a portrait is all about capturing subjects as they truly are. Well, fine, OK, not exactly capturing the subject, literally, but capturing the spirit of the subject. Their mood, expression, split-second emotion can all be captured in a well-shot photograph. That's part of the artistic aspect, though—the stuff for...
In November, I had some fun at the Sheriff Lupe Valdez's expense when I posted an e-mail she accidentally sent me. I had sent a public information request to her legal advisor Leslie Sweet and copied Valdez on the missivel. In a response that was clearly meant for Sweet, the...
We head into 2007 knowing this much: Bobby Knight still doesn't have the record, SMU still doesn't have legitimacy, the Texas Rangers still don't have a free-agent star and, most inexplicably, the Mavericks still don't have respect. Even after last year's glorious run to an almost-championship. Even after last night's...
Last year was a good one for Royce West. In May 2006, the large and imposing state senator from southern Dallas helped break a deadlocked state Legislature, playing a vital role in passing a landmark school finance law, a measure that had the surprising advantage of pleasing all sides in...
PARK CITY, Utah --On the first Saturday of the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, I rolled out of bed and hustled up Main Street for the 8:30 screening of Tamara Jenkins' The Savages, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney as adult siblings caring for an irascible elderly parent. Only I...
On June 26, 2005, on a Sunday morning after church, attorney John Barr called 80 of his firm's lawyers to a meeting at his office in Oak Cliff. Everyone was invited except Don Hill, who was unaware his colleagues were gathering to discuss his future. A few years earlier, Barr...
According to legend (and by "legend" we mean "Wikipedia"), the original model for the hootenanny was a result of Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie's inability to pay their bills. The folk-legends-to-be invited all their musically inclined friends and Greenwich Village neighbors to attend an open jam session that doubled as...
Three is supposed to be the magic number, and the third time's reportedly the charm, so when an asbestos-related wrongful-death lawsuit makes its third turn through the Dallas County courts this year, maybe the verdict will finally stick. The suit, which blames Atlanta-based building materials manufacturer Georgia-Pacific for the 2003...
