Stop me if I told you this already. Oh, hah-hah, it’s print, isn’t it? You can’t stop me. Well then just bear with me. In American schools, kids learn to read from kindergarten through the third grade. From fourth grade on, they read to learn. Kids who can’t read by…
A factor in the decline of decent art was recently dragged onto center stage by the New York Times in an article called “Brooklyn Communal Cool: The Brand.” The piece, authored by a person who spells “mic” like “mike,” focuses on a communal-living quarters in Brooklyn called the Clubhouse and…
The poster. It covered our walls as teenagers. It commemorates some of our favorite live performances. High-end artists have elevated that powerful rectangle, but behind every poster is a creative somewhere in the shadows…
Sure, there has been some local news coverage of the fact that a Fort Worth gas drilling company called Trinity East is suing the city of Dallas over some kind of drilling/fracking deal that went south. But man, let me tell you. When you drill down into that lawsuit, it…
Dear Mexican: My dad says when he was a kid growing up in Downey, California, they used to open the local plunge (pool) to mexicanos and negritos on Thursdays only because the pool was cleaned once a week, on Friday mornings. Is this an accurate account of racism in the…
Dying Valley View Mall might not have Gadzooks, Thirsty’s or dignity anymore, but what it does have is the perfect movie theater. I love it, because you’re too scared to take your pretty girlfriend there, so it’s always empty. I wait in zero line to see Frozen on opening weekend…
Normally I’m not here to say the left hand at City Hall does not know what the right hand is doing. Whenever I can, I hope to be able to say much worse stuff than that. But this here is a left-hand/right-hand missing-each-other type deal, I do believe. Mid-morning last…
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 help you stop doing it wrong. Send your problems to her –…
Reporter Scott Parks had an excellent “get” Friday in The Dallas Morning News revealing that Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings has been running a secret task force to come up with ideas for the future of Fair Park. Fair Park — the 277-acre 1930s Art Deco exposition park in the heart…
By Andrew W.K. Editor’s note: Every week Andrew W.K. takes your life questions, and sets you safely down the right path to a solution, a purpose or — no surprise here — a party. Need his help? Just ask: AskAWK@villagevoice.com] Dear Andrew, I have serious trouble letting things go. For…
Drill down into the Trinity East lawsuit against the City of Dallas, and it tells one hell of a story about how Dallas City Hall really operates. The question is whether or not to believe it. That story started in 2007 when the city was facing a $90 million budget…
Not too long ago, we at DC9 took a look at the value of supporting music with the local tag. It’s tempting to apply the tag to anyone with any ties to North Texas, but how often is it accurate? Two notable releases will be widely, and perhaps wrongly, deemed…
Yesterday morning after I read the story in The Dallas Morning News about the so-called Trinity lakes the city is going to build, I went straight to the kitchen and put my face under the cold water tap, then gave myself a couple of sharp slaps and said loudly, “No,…
“I will be coming from the gym. I hope it’s okay if I am a little grubby.” The message appears on my phone with a ting. “Oh, same,” I reply. “Now we can both be a little grubby.” That shared agreement is important. Two gym outfits cancel each other out…
Dear Mexican: Why is there in every Mexican family a jealous cousin driven by insecurity? Must Excuse Vulgar-Ass Lingual Expression Dear ME VALE: Take your pick. It’s because a) your dad unwittingly insulted their dad back in the rancho when they were boys, and your cousin was taught to hate…
“Grow South” is Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings’ initiative to erase or at least soften the hard economic border dividing white North Dallas from black and Hispanic southern Dallas. When Rawlings ad libs about it from a chair out front of his desk in his City Hall office, he can reel…
Yesterday I came in and found a fat suspicious-looking Fedex package waiting for me not on my desk with other mail but propped alone on my chair. Normally with potentially harmful mail, I leave it unopened and dispose of it safely in the trash can in the advertising department But…
Yes, I, too, love the Shakespeare T-shirt about first kill all the lawyers, and I bet I’ve got five good lawyer jokes to your one, but then again, I do dearly love it when good lawyers get elected to the City Council. In Dallas, as a result of having had…
Very interesting press conference Friday in the Flag Room at Dallas City Hall … wait … wait. Oh, no. Did I just tell you there was an interesting press conference in the Flag Room at City Hall? Tell me I did not just say that. No, what I meant to…
Wait. The State Fair of Texas spent $30 million to start up a new summertime amusement park at Fair Park. It ran one season — two months plus a week — last summer. Now they’re giving up already? No second season? What is this, Broadway? You put in $30 million,…
Matt Hooker”David Lee Pan” combines the best of Van Halen and Big Trouble in Little China.One of the most painful feelings in the world is when you encounter someone who desperately wants you to see their art. If you’re not overcome with waves of panic and dread, you’re already plotting…
You know, I’m beginning to think a million bucks, maybe a couple million, just flat does not matter in today’s world, at least if it’s “public” money (that would be yours and mine sorta). Maybe whenever people say “a million bucks” on a public document or in a public hearing…
