Ignorance is Bliss

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…

Zoo-hoo

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…

Re: Allison, I Know This World Is Killing You

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…

Allison, I Know This World is Killing You

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…

Tutto Tootles

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…

And the Oscar for Best Seat Goes 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,…

Show Up, This Weekend

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…

Wamsley: Guilty

After two and a half hours of deliberations, jurors in Andrew Wamsley’s capital murder trial returned a guilty verdict this afternoon. With tears in their eyes, Wamsley’s family stared at him as the verdict was read. As he was throughout the trial, Wamsley was stoic when the guilty verdict was…

Selling Out

This ranks as one of the worst-kept media secrets in town: WFAA-Channel 8 is in the process of converting a portion of its revamped 9 a.m. show Good Morning Texas (or GMT, for the hip frau) into paid programming, or “advertainment,” as one concerned citizen puts it. According to many…

State to City: Yer in Trouble

The city of Dallas gets pretty well sliced and diced in a searing report released Friday by a Texas House of Representatives legislative investigative committee, which concludes that Dallas tries to duck its crime-fighting reponsibility by shoving it off on private businesses, engages in witness retaliation and uses official pressure…

Safety First

With all this huffing and puffing over the future of Deep Ellum–and, from what I saw in The Dallas Morning News this morning, all’s well, so what’s the fuss?–has anyone at City Hall or from the Deep Ellum Association given John Thayer a ring? Who he? Well, Thayer’s a 31-year…

Sweet Thighs and Another Surprise

Got an e-mail last week from a Canadian reader (who knew?) wondering whatever happened to that Nick Tosches-Homer Henderson CD due for release, oh, in 1998. Frankly, Willow (if that is your real name), I have no idea. But in the spirit of whatever Jewish holiday’s coming up, here’s “The…

Light Sleeper?

Andrew Wamsley’s defense rested about an hour ago at his murder trial in Fort Worth. (For those too busy to click the link, Wamsley’s accused of shooting and stabbing his parents shortly before Christmas in 2003, so he could collect their $1.65 million estate. Chelsea Richardon has been convicted of…

Go Down Moses

Looks like former Dallas Independent School District Superintendent Mike Moses has another new job. Nice to see someone got something out of his tenure. –Robert Wilonsky…

Good Night, and Good Pitluk.

Former Observer writer Adam Pitluk’s new book is due in May. Got a copy of the forthcoming book Standing Eight: The Inspiring Story of Jesus “El Matador” Chavez Who Became Lightweight Champion of the World, which bears a cumbersome title worthy of this criminally prolix blog. But more important, the…

Dirk Diggling

He’s an �ber-talented freak, a legit MVP candidate and the best player on one of the NBA’s best teams. But at the biggest times in the biggest game of the season, a 98-89 loss to the San Antonio Spurs Thursday night, Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki wasn’t good enough–or even good…

Ride Me

International Truck off: Who says we’re addicted to oil? Just spent some time at the International Truck manufacturing plant in Garland to check out the CXT (which stands for, er, commercial extreme truck?), a behemoth pick-up that’s built on a trash-hauler chassis. This seven-ton, $93,000 (est. base sticker) truck stands…

Show Up, March 2

I already hyped a show tonight at the end of this week’s Is This On? column–the Cavern’s 10th anniversary show, which is free, starts at 8 p.m. and includes free grub from Daddy Jack’s–but I ran out of space and neglected to mention another interesting gig across town. Tonight at…

Sweet Greggo

Lots of speculation on the mysterious absence of Greg Williams, one half of The Ticket’s “Hardline,” the most popular sports talk radio show in town. Seems ol’ Hammer has been absent since last Wednesday. His partner, Mike Rhyner, has been extremely vague about the void on the air, and the…

Fed Up from the Check Up

The U.S Department of Justice has concluded the first part of its investigation of the Dallas County jail system, which for years has been a veritable house of horrors for inmates with chronic medical conditions. Even after Dallas County commissioners voted to fund a more expensive budget for the sheriff’s…

It’s Getting Bloggy Up in This Piece

So, what are the rules here, anyway? Just blog blog blog? Is that the rule? Paul Kix wrote an item for the D Magazine blog about blog maven Sharon Boyd suing a dead guy. (He got it from us, but whatever.) But Paul, a great reporter, never called Sharon to…

Sex, Thighs and Videotape

It’s not the Paris Hilton sex tape, but if you’re sitting on a jury, you can’t exactly complain. On June 7, an otherwise mundane prostitution trial will be spiced up by the likely introduction of raw footage featuring a naked Dallas police officer receiving a rather expansive massage from a…