To bastardize something is not usually a good thing. Bastardization–or crossbreeding, as one might have it–signals the trivializing or making hackneyed of an idea or object once thought awesome, taken seriously or held in esteem. To bastardize is to make something impure–to contaminate or pollute that which is otherwise pristine…
Constructions & Architecture This show makes what might otherwise seem like the incongruent forces of art and architecture seamless and fluid. This gathering of things, sounds and interactive sculpture reinforces the turn toward media contamination and full-body sensuality in the art world over the last 30 years. John Frost’s walk-through…
Dallas Christmas Festival Everything about Prestonwood Baptist Church and its Dallas Christmas Festival is big and broad, from the cast (more than 1,000) and running time (three hours-plus) to the humor. Being all things to all people, as the Apostle Paul advised, Prestonwood divides the show into distinct parts: a…
As icons go, surrealist painter Frida Kahlo has become as recognizable as the Virgin Mother or Ché. Her face peers out from jewelry, bags, clothing and décor of various kinds–and not just in Mexico or the Southern states. Her uni-brow is beloved and universal; her gaze is all-knowing and piercing…
Thursday, December 9 The Dallas Symphony Orchestra has caught the Christmas fever. Screw peace on earth and good will to men. They want bigger; they want better. And they want it now. Just Christmas isn’t good enough; this year it’s Christmas–around the world. Of course, bigger can be better. This…
Skepticism suits Dr. Edmund P. Pillsbury. It informs his professional acumen; it sharpens his impressive intellect. It feeds his wry sense of humor; it counter-balances his lifelong love of art. Pillsbury runs Southern Methodist University’s Meadows Museum. Before that, he saved Gerald Peters Gallery from turmoil at the top, partnering…
12/12 Ballet gets a big boost this time of year–like when a scrawny male dancer determinedly hoists his flabby-tushed partner high up on his shoulder. The Nutcracker is an audience-builder and a money-maker, so area ballet companies gut up and produce the complicated ballet. Many dancers, many costumes, plus quarrelsome,…
12/11 Joggers can be some selfish sons of bitches. No, we’re serious. Pick up a copy of Runner’s World and read their opinion columns, where some self-absorbed jerk will surely spout off about the reasons jogging is so amazing. Good for the legs. Time for self-reflection. Plenty of fresh air…
12/11 Tired of hearing that same damn Christmas song come out of your worn 1988 Oliver & Company McDonald’s limited-time-only ornament? Does your Christmas spruce need a little artsy juice? On December 11 from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., the eighth annual Blue Yule at The McKinney Avenue Contemporary has…
12/9 Let’s say, for the moment, that you’re the Christ child. You are accustomed to being portrayed in solemn Nativity scenes, robust with ceremony. Then one December–this December–a group of actors in Dallas decides to tell your story in its own, slightly demented version of a “pastorela,” the story of…
Mike Nichols’ new film Closer is a boiling pot of lust, mistrust and double-dealing that might well be taken for outright soap opera–or, in quite a few places, soft-core porn–were it not for the sophisticated gleam of its well-heeled London desperadoes and the vicious dazzle of its dialogue. Adapted from…
Movies pushing the indomitableness of human nature tend to make me puke, mainly because they’re often created with a palpable self-congratulatory air by film-biz insiders whose real-life concept of “suffering” extends to being brought an incorrectly prepared frappuccino. This emetic response is doubled when the featured indomitable human happens to…
Zombies do not deliver Christmas cheer. A small squad of the eerie undead stomp onstage to represent the Spirits of Christmases Yet to Come in Act 2 of Dallas Theater Center’s A Christmas Carol. They step-drag, step-drag in front of Ebenezer Scrooge (James Carpenter). Rising from the misty graveyard in…
We have been dealt a blow–an insult to our collective intellect, psyche and social well-being. Yet so many feel nothing, numbed by a happy and willful oblivion. We gleefully assume our position in the herd, eyes glazed over and lips alternating between the upward turn of a smile, the slack…
Maya Schindler Maya Schindler paints a world in which plastic drips blood and bears flesh wounds. Hung from the walls of the front gallery, one finds eight large canvases depicting huge sirens captured and made still while twirling in frenzied motion. Each painting is slightly different from the other, some…
A Christmas Carol It came upon a midnight drear in writer-director Jonathan Moscone’s adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic. We get a Scrooge (James Carpenter) who’s more timid than Tiny Tim. His “Bah, humbugs” are bah-oring. The Spirits of Christmas Past and Present stroll onstage almost casually (the latter wearing…
Thursday, December 2 We know how to dismember a jaw to get a good dental imprint, retain DNA evidence, look for prints and check a wound for gunfire residue. Thank you, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. We have come to appreciate William Petersen’s entomological trivia and the dramatic pronouncement of any…
“Everyone knew Zack was gay. Admit it.” With those few words, Dustin Diamond screws with my head. What’s Screech from Saved by the Bell trying to pull? Back in the ’90s, I watched SBTB three times a day, memorized entire episodes and still never picked up on that possibility. But…
12/4 Few people who attend the Neiman Marcus Adolphus Children’s Parade can actually afford to shop at Neiman Marcus or stay at the Adolphus. Fewer still are those who do shop at the luxury department store who bother to attend the holiday charity event. In fact, any rich old ladies…
12/4 It’s time to dig deep into the recesses of your brain for inspiration. No, not the quarterly report you filed last month. Go further, past your first sexual experience, your first beer and even further beyond. There, you’ve reached it–your “360-degree arctic-blast” throw. You ruled fifth-grade gym with a…
12/2 Quick decision time: Clay Aiken or Johnny Thunders? Jerry Bruckheimer or Jim Jarmusch? Peter Max or Jean-Michel Basquiat? The latter of each pair operates on the artistic fringe; the former is known for his glossy vanilla output. One makes you feel; one makes you forget. Opening Thursday with a…
12/4 Bill Bellamy fits into the category “People About Whom I Have Nothing to Say Whatsoever,” alongside Gallagher II, Hulk Hogan, Sinbad, the father from Alf, Erika Elaniak, the bass player in Lionel Richie’s band and, oh, you. He’s as generic as a bar code, the kind of guy you…
