News

Taking the bait: Buzz just knows we’re going to regret this. Arguing with captious demagogues is always a losing proposition, but goddamn, The Dallas Morning News really outdid itself this week with its story answering the not-burning question: What did we think we were voting about in the 1998 Trinity…

You likes? It’s part of Nike’s Team Jordan collection, and it can be all yours in October. For $150, says here. We will need to rework our wardrobe accordingly, but we think it’ll look nice with this. –Robert Wilonsky…

Good Records’ C.J. Davis has sung the praises of Denton duo Mom for some time now (they’re on his label, Pancakes for Mattie, after all). And when we finally caught them a couple months back, we were impressed, to say the least. By running acoustic instruments into a variety of…

No one could do it better: Picnic of PPT, performing with Shibboleth at last night’s Dallas Observer Music Awards ceremony As the fog lifts and the pounding dissipates, a few more things from last night’s Dallas Observer Music Awards … First off, yes, after the jump is a complete list…

God damn that was fast. Not 30 minutes after Mr. Jim posted his item about the Trinity toll road referendum, Becky Mayad shot out a media release concerning the leadership of the “Vote No! Save the Trinity” committee — which includes Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway, who I coulda…

Local attorney Susan Mead, featured in today’s New York Times Dallas lawyer Susan Mead’s addiction to rehabbing old houses gets the feature treatment in The New York Times’ Great Homes section today, but not for houses she’s redone in Dallas. Before attending SMU Law School, Mead caught the renovation bug…

A beautiful duet: multi-Dallas Observer Music Award winner Sarah Jaffe and photographer Hal Samples A few more notes from last night’s Dallas Observer Music Awards … Throughout the day Hal Samples will be uploading to his store all the photos he snapped at last night’s shindig. The proceeds from the…

Well, I never meant to get the attorney general involved. Just a few weeks ago, I made a rather innocuous request of Dallas County Judge Jim Foster. I wanted a copy of his appointments, schedules, public appearances and out-of-town trips for a story I was working on about what efforts,…

Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Bobby … Patterson! It will be slow going around Unfair Park HQ for a while, as we try to get the ringing out of our ears from last night’s Dallas Observer Music Awards ceremony at the Granada. Christ, what a special night — and one for…

He’s originally from Waco, but that’s close enough. Today, playwright, author, actor, screenwriter, essayist, comic and generally brilliant man Steve Martin celebrates another year. Therefore, we take this opportunity to spend seven minutes watching the classic short film, 1977’s The Absent-Minded Waiter. –Merritt Martin…

We of the rather casual bent here at Unfair Park have some hoity-toity contacts in the world of seeing and being seen. And don’t even try, because these sources will remain nameless so as to protect their scandalously aloof (yet observing) roll in the scene … for our sake, naturally…

Hellooooo out there in the suburbs! Can you hear me above the din of SUVs, superstore chains and casual dining establishments? Good. Gather the kids ’round, because any miniature aspiring chefs among them now have the opportunity to make it big in the restaurant business. Or, at least in the…

Look who has time to write into Time’s letters section this week: As you pointed out in your cover story on the Democrats and religion [July 23], God has become pivotal in presidential campaigns — something I could not be more heartened to see. We are a country composed of…

Nolan Bushnell: making it easier and easier for people not to move to have fun Nolan Bushnell is known for having created two things that made America very, very fat: the video game (more or less — he’s the papa of Atari, after all) and Irving-based Chuck E. Cheese’s, maker…

In April 1975, Steve Miller Band, Chicago and Santana played a three-night stint at the Beacon Theater in New York City — and, yes, while that’s very clearly what hell must sound like now, well, I’d be remiss in not at least sharing with you a link to a newly…

Is you fancy? If so, Elle brings word of precisely how Neiman Marcus is celebrating its centennial, beginning today: When Neiman Marcus set up shop in downtown Dallas in 1907, they got women hooked on a new luxury shopping experience — and now, the venerable retailer is rewarding their customers’…

A former Mr. America, Dallas’ Mike Scarcella died of GHB addiction four years ago this month. Mike Scarcella was a local bodybuilder who earned the titles of Mr. America and Mr. USA. He died on August 25, 2003, during gamma hydroxybutyrate (or GHB) withdrawal — while he was hospitalized for…

Merritt Martin The Valentines broke plenty o’ hearts — oooof — at the Greenville Avenue Public House Saturday night. Saturday night’s Dallas Observer Music Awards showcase was a humdinger — top-notch performances in packed-to-the-rafters venues full of sweaty drunks, and, really, what more could you want? But remember, don’t ditch…

Yesterday, The Washington Post published a Reuters story about how Texas is about to “hit the grim total of 400 executions this month,” which puts it far, far ahead of other states that reinstituted the death penalty after the Supreme Court lifted the ban on capital punishment 31 years ago…

Must we really wait almost a year for The Facts of Life: The Lost Episode? ’Fraid so, theater lovers. But mark your calendar now for June 13, 2008, when Uptown Players present the local premiere (at the Rose Room at Station 4) of Jamie Morris’ all-drag and totally unauthorized parody…