Opinion & Commentary

Jeff Schattle has been working and/or watching live music in Dallas for a solid 27 years. From historic spots he worked like Dallas Music Complex, Bronco Bowl, Deep Ellum Live, The Basement, Bomb Factory, Lakewood Theater and more, Jeff Schattle has worked, and born witness to, the evolution of Dallas’…

Editor’s Note: Shea Serrano is an award-winning music writer and goofball whose recent exploits include Bun B’s Rapper Coloring and Activity Book. In his new column, he writes about his life and times. Right now, Pitbull’s “Timber,” featuring Ke$ha, is number two on Billboard and number one on my GTFOH chart…

If I’m blushing — just the slightest tint of rose upon my gray and whiskery cheeks — it’s because my I was back in federal court again yesterday. Sort of. There was mention of me. U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor handed down a ruling in the Lockey and MacKenzie (Dallas…

Are you a musician? Is your group having issues? Ask Fan Landers! Critic Jessica Hopper has played in and managed bands, toured internationally, booked shows, produced records, worked as a publicist and is the author of The Girls’ Guide to Rocking, a how-to for teen ladies. She is here to…

Lori Ann / FlickrWill music journalism always suck? Probably. MTV will always feature at least three Justin Bieber articles on its news page, and NME will continue their 1:4 ratio of articles about members of Oasis. And of course, people like me will still write articles about botching interviews and…

An editor around here once suggested I could probably blackmail people by threatening to lend them my support. I wonder if acting City Manager A.C. Gonzalez ever thinks about that. Last month I wrote a column saying the so-called search for a new Dallas city manager was a sham because…

Are you a musician? Is your group having issues? Ask Fan Landers! Critic Jessica Hopper has played in and managed bands, toured internationally, booked shows, produced records, worked as a publicist and is the author of The Girls’ Guide to Rocking, a how-to for teen ladies. She is here to…

A reader who is a better student of Mexican history than me (not hard to be, frankly) called with a caveat about plans for a community farm in Mexican-American West Dallas. The idea, cheerfully trumpeted yesterday in a Dallas Morning News editorial, is for some kind of communal farm to…

Brantley Hargrove did a fine job Monday recounting the career of Dallas billionaire Harold Simmons, who died last Saturday at 82. But before the ground hardens over him, I just want to make sure we take note of the one and only thing anybody may remember about Mr. Simmons 50…

Jantzen Ray, who we’ve checked in with before at his outpost of DeepEllumOnAir.com, is watching as his alumni radio show, The Jagger Mafia, is being put back together to return to KDGE. He hasn’t taken it personally that he’s not a part of their current lineup, but it was still…

Editor’s Note: Shea Serrano is an award-winning music writer and goofball whose recent exploits include Bun B’s Rapper Coloring and Activity Book. In his new column, he writes about his life and times. Dear 2013, Oh, man. So you’re officially over. That’s kind of sad. You were mostly a very…

Dear Mexican: One of my pet peeves is Latinos who pronounce their last names with Anglo accents. For example, Rod-driguez instead of Roh-driguez. Would love it if you address this. Personally, I believe we Latinos should educate Anglos on correct pronunciation. Gomez the Groper Dear Wab: Before you start correcting…

The arrival of a New Year always brings about in me a strange and unaccustomed desire to be un-depressing. And I don’t even drink. I don’t know what does it. This year I’m blaming it on Dallas City Council member Philip Kingston. He and I had an interesting chat about…

Hey, I think I have waited about long enough for The Dallas Morning News to weigh in on the racial segregation complaint lodged against Dallas by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban development in early December. A month. Even allowing for Santa Claus and all, a month seems a…

Apparently if you really want to get one of your neighbors to open up about herself, you need to send somebody over to interview her for The New York Times. I learned more about my neighbor Virginia Savage Talkington (lotta names) McAlester from the pages of the Times yesterday than…

Are you a musician? Is your group having issues? Ask Fan Landers! Critic Jessica Hopper has played in and managed bands, toured internationally, booked shows, produced records, worked as a publicist and is the author of The Girls’ Guide to Rocking, a how-to for teen ladies. She is here to…

Dallas loves an icon. Our football team can’t just be ours, it must the whole of America’s, whether that means the whole of America loves those boys or hates them. A new arts structure cannot just quietly appear in Dallas. It must complete the largest contiguous district of its kind…

Had an interesting chat a while back with Dallas City Council member Philip Kingston about downtown office vacancy rates. Hey! What? It’s what people like us talk about. Just be glad you didn’t get stuck between us on an airplane. It’s interesting. Really. According to the Dallas Business Journal, Dallas…

Dear Readers: Since it’s the end of the year and the Mexican is on his 18th tamale (made by the mujeres in his family, of course), behold some letters from angry readers (and one fan), along with my answers. May your 2014 involve more cousins smuggled into los Estados Unidos…

Not that you asked, but here’s what it’s like to be me. I’m walking my dogs, Penny and Dorothy, up and down alleys in East Dallas, and I’ve got my little cell phone ear-bug deal going so I can talk to people and keep my hands free for clean-ups. And…