Stephen McPherson, the high-tech massage parlor owner who humiliated Dallas vice officers after he caught them on tape disrobing and receiving X-rated massages from his employees, has been charged with first-degree murder after he allegedly shot and killed a man following a domestic dispute outside his Frisco home. Frisco police…
Zzzzz: Buzz was fascinated to read Gerry Fraley’s front-page story in The Dallas Morning News last Saturday about Major League Baseball’s announcement that it will now test for amphetamine use among players–bringing a halt (as if) to widespread use of little green uppers. According to the story, the ban on…
Playing Tag Memo to my “Homies”: The real crime, in my opinion, with the local graffiti scene (“SEKT and the City,” by Jim Schutze, March 2) is not so much that it is a violation of public and private property but simply that it is all so fucking lame and…
“Big Tex is a problem. He’s our Mickey Mouse.” And with those words, Nancy Wiley, a consultant to the State Fair of Texas, kindly requested that we remove Big Tex’s dorky visage from Unfair Park. Turns out Big Tex is a registered trademark–“both his name and his image,” Wiley said…
For this week, at least, Dallas is number one–in road rage. Automotive anger Web site Monkeymeter.com calculates a weekly road rage top 10 from its 1,000 or so user ratings per day, and at the moment Dallas can glare down its nose at such gridlock legends as Houston and D.C…
Last month, the League of United Latin American Citizens invited several folks running for political office to breakfast at El Ranchito in Oak Cliff, where a crowd of eager politicos seemed surprisingly awake for a Saturday morning. The featured performers of the event were the Democratic and Republican candidates for…
Ah, yes–“The Sweet Thighs of Mother Mary.” That infectious drum beat, that haunting female vocal. Now, you ask, just who is said female? Why, it’s Lulie Scott, owner of the 26-year-old beloved Dallas boutique Emeralds to Coconuts, which sits at the corner of, what else, Homer and Henderson. Yep, that…
OK, so the slogan “Shoot J.R. in Dallas” is growing on me (like a fungus, but whatever). Still, the city’s effort to lure 20th Century Fox here, to shoot the movie Dallas, is likely to come up short; even Janis Burklund, the Dallas Film Commission director, puts the likelihood at…
No doubt the Dallas Mavericks’ defense is tougher this season. So are their fans. During a particularly violent third quarter in last night’s gritty home win over the Portland Trail Blazers, three fans were involved in nasty collisions with propelled players. The first was the worst: Mavs guard Devin Harris…
In about two hours, Mayor Laura Miller, Dallas Film Commission director Janis Burkland and Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau president and CEO Phillip Jones will gather at City Hall to debut their latest pitch to lure the big-screen version of Dallas. From what I hear, their latest “initiative” prominently features…
The lengthy story on T.D. Jakes in the March issue of The Atlantic Monthly is the best story that’s appeared on the bishop to date, though that isn’t saying much. (The Dallas Observer published the first major article on Jakes in 1996, but he and his ministry have changed a…
I’m not just saying this because he gave me oral favors on last Thursday’s WFAA-Channel 8 sportscast…OK, yeah, actually I am. But it doesn’t change the fact that Dale Hansen has a keen eye for talent. Who else in this town, besides Mike Modano, could lose Gina Miller and immediately…
Last month, I reported on Jayson Bales’ efforts to help musicians in need of health care and legal counsel. At that point, the plan was nothing more than an idea; luckily, ideas are quickly turning into action. Today, Bales sent out a press release announcing an event at the Granada…
A representative of GoldenPalace.com is currently en route to Dallas to announce the online casino will buy the infamous Virgin Mary Tree in Oak Cliff for $5,000. A press conference is scheduled at 7 tonight in front of the tree. The GoldenPalace.com rep, Case Melton, is carrying with him a…
Gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman has spent this entire Election Day doing interviews, during which the Texas Jewboy is repeating a single theme: Do not vote. “Well, I haven’t stridently been telling them that, but people have been saying that to me,” Friedman says from his Austin campaign headquarters, where TV…
Ed Cognoski, a local media watchdog with his own blog (natch), offers this thoughtful response to Observer editor Julie Lyons’ post yesterday about the Dallas Zoo. –Robert Wilonsky…
We’re now in the sentencing phase of Andrew Wamsley’s capital murder trial. (Friday afternoon, Wamsley was found guilty in the shooting and stabbing murders of both his parents.) Yesterday’s testimony was particularly compelling for those interested in finding out more about who Wamsley actually is. Testimony from former teachers, bosses…
When is the new Norah Jones CD not the new Norah Jones CD? When it’s credited to The Little Willies, a band consisting of Jones on vocals and piano (duh), Richard Julian offering remarkably Lyle Lovett-like vocals and guitar, Lee Alexander on bass, Jim Campilongo on electric guitar and Dan…
As the sign at right indicates, longtime Lower Greenville Avenue survivor Greenville Bar & Grill was shut down last month. The space will reopen sometime in April, but not with the old GB&G moniker. That tag is gone for good. Greg Merkow, owner of Hurricane Grill next door, has acquired…
Music fans from around North Texas turned out for the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth’s Friday night screening of Be Here to Love Me, a new documentary about songwriting legend Townes Van Zandt. (Van Zandt, who was born in Cowtown, would have been 62 today.) The 8 p.m. screening…
After months of negotiations with almost every station on the dial, your Dallas Cowboys have announced this afternoon they’ve found a new radio home on KDBN-FM (93.3), better known as The Bone, and KTCK-AM (1310), or The Ticket, both of which currently fall under the Susquehanna Radio umbrella. The partnership,…
Dallas County has a great public records search page on its Web site that’s fantastic for getting information on anything to do with the court system–or should I say, “used to have”? The court search function has been disabled because, according to an employee in the county’s IT department, “a…
