Dallas Life

In this week’s Dallas Observer we profile 20 of the metro area’s most interesting characters, with new portraits of each from local photographer Can Turkyilmaz. On a gloriously warm Saturday in the middle of February, Jonathan Braddick led another bicycle ride, and everyone on the Internet was invited. Around 500…

In this week’s Dallas Observer we profile 20 of the metro area’s most interesting characters, with new portraits of each from local photographer Can Turkyilmaz.  “At this point I’ve become about 97 percent authentic,” says Rawlins Gilliland, the master storyteller who turned 70 in April and is coming off what…

In this week’s Dallas Observer we profile 20 of the metro area’s most interesting characters, with new portraits of each from local photographer Can Turkyilmaz.  Kate Canales is a problem solver. The current problem she’s working out? Building a master’s in design and innovation, the first of its kind, at…

In this week’s Dallas Observer we profile 20 of the metro area’s most interesting characters, with new portraits of each from local photographer Can Turkyilmaz.  Erica Felicella’s office is the city, or at least the city’s coffee shops. Frequenters of Mudsmith, Bolsa Mercado or The Wild Detectives will likely recognize…

In this week’s Dallas Observer we profile 20 of the metro area’s most interesting characters, with new portraits of each from local photographer Can Turkyilmaz. She spells her names with lowercase letters, but actor-director-teacher vickie washington has enjoyed a capital career in theater. Born in Dallas, raised in Hamilton Park…

In this week’s Dallas Observer we profile 20 of the metro area’s most interesting characters, with new portraits of each from local photographer Can Turkyilmaz.  What does it feel like when dreams start to become reality and the big career you’ve been working toward for years takes off and gains…

In this week’s Dallas Observer we profile 20 of the metro area’s most interesting characters, with new portraits of each from local photographer Can Turkyilmaz.  ArtPrize transformed Grand Rapids, Michigan. That’s what proponents of the citywide, open-entry art competition will tell you. “But Dallas isn’t Grand Rapids,” was the canned…

In this week’s Dallas Observer we profile 20 of the metro area’s most interesting characters, with new portraits of each from local photographer Can Turkyilmaz.  Last spring, a new gallery announced it would open its doors on Dragon Street. Zhulong (pronounced Chew-long — think Me Love Chew Long Time) was…

Even if you’re not really into getting glam, makeup is a fact of life for many women. Having to begrudgingly slap on a coat of mascara and eyeliner before heading off to work isn’t a lot of fun, especially if you’re still using the crappy drugstore products that made you…

You may not have heard of Anne Waldman, though you’ve heard of her friends. She was the co-founder with Allen Ginsberg of the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado; she was the director of NYC’s St. Mark’s Poetry Project for more than a decade;…

The first, and far too obvious, question desperate to fall from my lips when Anne Waldman answers my phone call is, “What was it like to hang out with Allen Ginsberg?” It’s the unfulfilled dream of this poetry student to sit in the room with a creative force like Ginsberg,…

It’s Friday night at Station 4 and Jenna Skyy is dressed and ready to perform. She is drinking an Angry Orchard and “tribbling” — a term she uses to describe mingling. A young man gropes her ass, but she is polite…

Dear Web Readers, It’s been a minute since we wrapped up the 100 Creatives list, but this week the list of awesome Dallas people, with a few selected full interviews, runs in print. So, step away from your computer and grab one from the Dallas Observer boxes around the city…

America’s favorite poet Billy Collins and indie singer songwriter Aimee Mann shared the Winspear Opera stage Saturday night as part of the DMA’s Arts and Letters Live. An enthusiastic audience cheered as these two artists performed their most beloved works filling the Winspear with music, poetry, laughter and tears. Touring…

Last May I sat staring into my laptop and a blank document stared back. One hundred can seem like such a daunting number. But some of the Observer’s sister papers in cities like Phoenix and Miami had come up with 100 creative people to feature in an ongoing series, so…

Mixmaster presents “100 Creatives,” in which we feature cultural entrepreneurs of Dallas in random order. Shay Youngblood is an artist of several varieties. An author and playwright with numerous publications to her name, Youngblood began to write by reflecting on her tumultuous childhood and the women who raised her, or…

Mixmaster presents “100 Creatives,” in which we feature cultural entrepreneurs of Dallas in random order. It’s been said that nobody leaves a theater humming the scenery. But if you’ve ever seen a show designed by Dallas scenic artist Rodney Dobbs, you might leave singing its praises. Dobbs’ sets often help…

Mixmaster presents “100 Creatives,” in which we feature cultural entrepreneurs of Dallas in random order. Over the span of four months at the beginning of 2014, the Dallas Biennial hosted 12 exhibitions, showing 50 artists. The art of DB14 was all over the city’s map, and artists were both local…

Most of us wouldn’t think that there is a lot of art to working in the nonprofit world, and that’s probably a pretty fair assessment. Many agencies that work with struggling families are so focused on providing basic assistance like food and shelter that sometimes life’s finer details aren’t always…

Mixmaster presents “100 Creatives,” in which we feature cultural entrepreneurs of Dallas in random order. Kevin Rubén Jacobs isn’t your average Dallas curator. In a city that worships blue chip artists and lets money do most of the talking in the art world, Jacobs is far more interested in shaking…