Keeping the Peace

Amid protest signs and peace songs and the animated anti-war crowd that had gathered Saturday in Crawford stood Robyn Curtz, a teenager who was worried about her mother. In less than an hour, Trish Major, Dallas mother and former church secretary, would be standing trial with four other defendants for…

Wing Nut

In the distance, an elderly woman is cheering wildly. She is perched on the back of a restaurant booth while smoking a cigarette with one hand; she’s shaking the other–back and forth, hard, really getting into it. Her name is Rose. She’s fun. So are her friends–Joe, Marsha and Ellis…

There Goes the Neighborhood

OK, now we’re confused. What else is new? Buzz essentially has only three states–confused, pissed off and asleep. Right now, we’re vacillating between the first two, thanks to Deep Ellum and The Dallas Morning News. First, a little background. Last summer, the Dallas Observer’s own Zac Crain wrote a story…

Letters

Thanks for the Mammary Send more love offerings: Patrick, you are a god! (Buzz, by Patrick Williams, February 5.) Give ’em hell, bud. Damn, are you as sick of the hypocrites and zombies in this country as I am? Write on, brutha! Frank Fardatta Dallas No Puppy Love Abusers: Thank…

Thanks for the Mammary

Technically, Buzz is supposed to limit our insightful, thought-provoking commentary–OK, lame jokes… whatever–to local issues. Which is why we want to give a shout out and say gracias to the fine people at the Plano-based Free Market Foundation, a conservative pro-family group. Thanks to them, Buzz has the local hook…

Shiny Happy People

The power has been off for five minutes, maybe more. It feels like it’s been off forever, like it’s never coming back. At least not during this show. The amps sit useless at the back of the stage, little more than furniture. The crowd is getting restless. So is the…

Watchdog

Van Zandt County Constable Pat Jordan knew what he was facing when the call came from prospective puppy owners upset about conditions at Moore’s Precious Puppies near Canton. Last May, Jordan had warned operators Renée and Randall Moore to clean up their facility and make certain their dogs had enough…

Snow Show

Where I’m from, snowboarding and skiing weren’t chief pursuits. Growing up, my boys and I played football in the streets or pickup basketball wherever we could find a hoop–neither of which required an exorbitant lift-ticket fee. But now and again, when money was good, we’d skip school, leave Philly and…

The Spitfire Girl

The Spitfire Girl When Mesquite High School drama teacher Jennifer Green, 24, showed up at her first professional theater audition in October, her goal was simply a “call-back” for WaterTower Theatre’s production of the musical The Spitfire Grill (onstage through February 15). Instead, she landed the starring role of troubled…

Letters

Throw the Bums Out Fix the sidewalks or else: Jim Schutze’s recent article (“Jilted,” January 29) on the allocation of funds in the Owenwood neighborhood gives us an excellent example of how we can put democracy in action here in our very own city. The residents of this neighborhood were…

Good as Cash

There’s no foie gras at El Primero, or manicured lawns. No Arab oil sheiks or international playboys loiter at the rail sipping vintage champagne. The glamorous world of European horse racing couldn’t seem farther away from this Thoroughbred training track and stables at the edge of Laredo. Here the lunchroom…

Going, Going, Gone

By Sunday afternoon, the merchandise remaining at NorthPark’s Lord & Taylor included the following: one red mink coat, smooth as sunshine; three Hi-Ho Santa cookie jars; one lonely silver chain, missing a pendant; a children’s floral swimsuit bottom; a dozen decorative pink balls emblazoned with “Christmas 2001” in silver glitter…

Gettin’ Screwed

This is all Antawn Jamison ever wanted. He’s trying to explain that to me. Again. The look on his face is friendly, but it also conveys another message. Something along the lines of: This must be the 10th time we’ve had this talk. He’s happy here, even if I don’t…

Sweet Tees

Sweet Tees The world Erik Herskind is interested in doesn’t exist anymore. Actually, it never really did. B.A. Hobo Co. Makers, the clothing company he founded a few years ago, sells T-shirts and sweatshirts emblazoned with logos from long-dead supper clubs, bars, lounges and businesses, among other things. But they…

What a Pill

A while ago, Buzz came across a T-shirt stenciled with the words “Jesus loves you. Everybody else thinks you’re an asshole.” We didn’t buy it, but now we wish we had, because then we could wrap it up and send it off to the fine, morally upstanding pharmacists at the…

Letters

Sinister Minister The chickens shall roost: I read this article with rapt attention mainly because of its attention to Sandra Bridewell’s “change” and her ministry of late (“Return of the Black Widow,” by Glenna Whitley, January 22). It is with great disdain that people use the word of God and…

Ring Them Up

It was quiet on the practice court. Almost eerily so–like a wake without the dead men. But give it time on that score–by the end of the season, there will be plenty of corpses around here. Only a few of the scrubs remained when they let the media into practice–all…

Nervous Nellie

Nervous Nellie Last week, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban accused coach Don Nelson of being a “drama queen.” We weren’t sure we believed him until we found this note in the Mavs locker room, apparently meant for assistant coach Del Harris. One-Way Street To address the city’s homeless problem, Mayor…

Drink Cop

It takes a real lifer to belly up to the bar at just past 9 on a foggy Wednesday morning, the kind of professional alcoholic who considers bourbon the breakfast of champions, a drinker who needs to head off his hangover at the pass. Brent Lewis certainly doesn’t fit the…

Return of the Black Widow

Curiosity–and not a little paranoia–pulled Jaie Benson to her condo’s spare bedroom. In the last two months her guest had lived with her, things weren’t adding up. Instead of answering questions about her past, the woman quoted scripture. Though she claimed to have three children, they never called. And instead…

Dining Out

First, the Dallas Observer’s own Zac Crain breaks the news that crime is a growing problem in Deep Ellum (“Cruising for a Bruising,” August 14). There is much wringing of hands. Next police use pepper spray to break up an unpermitted but otherwise nonviolent street party on New Year’s Eve…

Letters

Zeroes to Heroes Couldn’t stop: Thanks for an excellent article (“What’s Wrong With This Picture?” by Zac Crain, January 15). I intended to read the first couple of paragraphs to see if the article might be interesting, and I found I couldn’t stop reading. I was moved by Hal’s story…