SHERMAN SHENANIGANS

A memory-having FrontBurnervian writes:

Remember that judge in Grayson County that caused the big stink by telling a girl that if she had sex whilst on probation, she’d be violating the terms of her probation, and that she had to live with her parents the entire time, not get any tattoos, etc?
She’s in the news again.

Sure enough, Judge Lauri Blake is. The long story has something to do with a missing file, a locked door, and a ladder. Not quite as sexy as that other one.

RE: GRAFFITI

In case you’re not tired of the topic, a Maven-riffic FrontBurnervian points to this article in a recent issue of the magazine. It’s about the famous tagger SEKT. Warning: deciphering the comments that follow the article will hurt your head.

MAYBE THEIR STAY ISN’T SO TEMPORARY

Remember all those Katrina evacuees who found shelter in Dallas? Looks like they aren’t leaving any time soon. And that’s if they want to, which apparently they don’t.

YOU, TOO, COULD BE ELECTED PRESIDENT OF THE DALLAS BAR ASSOCIATION…

At least, that’s the sentiment of this piece.

RE: CELEBRITIES SPOTTED

If you’re curious about the film they’re filming, it’s called Invincible, a Disney movie about a regular guy who gets to play for his favorite football team, the Philadelphia Eagles. Think The Rookie on the gridiron (same producers, after all). Walhberg plays the regular guy. Kinnear will be the coach. They no longer need extras, by the way.

CELEBRITIES SPOTTED

It’s been awhile, hasn’t it? Thanks to a friendly FrontBurnervian for the tip:

Rumor on the street is that Mark Wahlberg and Greg Kinnear were in the Corner Bar last Wednesday night. Apparently they are in Dallas filming a movie.

No, they were not filming at the Corner Bar. And, even though Wednesday is karaoke night at the Corner, they weren’t singing either. Just drinking.

QUICK AIN’T WHAT IT’S CRACKED UP TO BE

A new study out on free daily papers like Quick has found that the gambit isn’t working for publishers like they hoped it would. They’d hoped to reach new, younger readers. But that’s not necessarily what’s happening:

The main effect has been that heavy newspaper readers simply read more, picking up the freebies in addition to their regular paid dailies.

The report questions whether the investment in these freebies has been worth it. You can bet the folks at Belo are asking themselves that same question. And somewhere, Jeremy Halbreich is still pissed.

SUPERSTRING TO ROCK THE CPL

Dallas band Superstring have just announced that they’ll be performing at the CPL® World Tour Finals in New York November 20-22. That’s the Cyberathlete Professional League, you squares. According to lead singer Julie Lange,

“Music is just as important to gaming as music is to the movies and to life! What a great place to be at this time in entertainment history and to share our music with the CPL.”

Full release after the jump.
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RE: FINALLY, PARKING DOWNTOWN

Dammit.

RE: THE WRIGHT STUFF

A pugilism-enthusiastic FrontBurnervian wants to see a real showdown:

Kelleher is going up against Arpey? Is that the best that AA can do for this hearing? I’m sure he’s a fine guy, even a good public speaker. But against Kelleher? Herb will use the guy like a toothpick. This is like Tyson/McNeely. Unless Kelleher is thrown off by the No Smoking rule. That could keep his testimony short.

Now get Bob Crandall back for this hearing and you’d have yourself a real heavyweight matchup. That would be worth the time on C-SPAN.

RE: FINALLY, PARKING DOWNTOWN

What’s this about downtown parking, Tim? I had no idea.

FINALLY, PARKING DOWNTOWN

One of the problems with popping downtown to have lunch or do some shopping is that parking is tough to find. Today (yesterday, actually) comes news that the Central Dallas Association has come up with a plan. Now if they can just come up with an easy way to get from one garage to the next, and from a garage to a point of interest. The full release follows:
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ASHLEIGH BANFIELD IS NOT A ROCKY PLACE WHERE SEED CANNOT FIND PURCHASE

Though they spelled her name wrong, Page Six is reporting that Ashleigh Banfield had herself a kid on Saturday (scroll down). Mine’s cuter.

THE WRIGHT STUFF

An interested FrontBurnervian points to this story and has a few questions:

I think it’s interesting that either no one from Dallas Love Field airport was invited to testify at the Senate Commerce Committee aviation subcommittee hearing, or that there was no mention of it in today’s story if they were. Does anybody know if they were invited to testify, and whether or not they accepted?

Love Field’s and the City of Dallas’ relative silence on this subject (in comparison to the outspokenness of DFW Airport and the City of Fort Worth) should be explained– especially considering Dallas’ 5th largest taxpayer has threatened to relocate if the Wright Amendment stays in place. Several years ago, The Dallas Morning News ran an article showing where each Dallas City Council person stood on the Wright Amendment. Some of those people (including the Mayor) are still on the Council today. I wonder if their views have changed? If so, why and how? As I recall then-Councilmember Miller supported lifting the Wright Amendment.

I can’t answer those first questions, but I did some research into the latter ones. In December of 1998, Councilmember Laura Miller praised an opinion by the Transportation Department that said flight restrictions could not override federal law. So, basically, yeah, she supported the repeal of the Wright Amendment. At least that’s my interpretation of it.

YET ANOTHER WILDLY ENTERTAINING AND/OR INFORMATIVE REPORT FROM A D MAGAZINE INTERN

Some of you will, no doubt, recall Michael Darling’s report on the world’s largest pizza. It was good. So we dispatched the capable intern to cover a media preview of the Gaylord Texan’s new winter thingy that features 2 million pounds of ice. See for yourself:

IN MEMORIAM

Michael Spears, a fixture in Dallas radio for years, has died. His nephew sent the following:

Dallas radio executive Michael Spears, 58, passed away yesterday after a long and courageous battle with cancer. His more than 40-year tenure in broadcasting began locally with the legendary KLIF in the 1960’s, where he worked with Ron Chapman and Ken Dowe. After tenure in San Francisco and Los Angeles (with Kevin McCarthy) he returned to Dallas in the 1970’s to direct programming for KNUS, the first FM radio station to draw more young listeners than KLIF. In the 1980’s Michael led KKDA/K104 to #1 in local ratings, and from the mid-1990’s through 2002 he was operations manager for KRLD and the Texas State Network. For the last few years he and Dallas radio guru George Gimarc have been working together on radio programming projects. Past president of the Press Club of Dallas, honored by Billboard magazine three times as Program Director of the Year, passionately devoted to his industry, his friends, and his family. Michael had more ideas than an encyclopedia, more energy than a pro athlete, and was as honorable and helpful as a Boy Scout. He will be dearly missed.

A service honoring Michael’s life to be held Sunday, November 6th, 4:00 pm at East Dallas Christian Church.

RE: DAYBREAK

An alert FBvian passes along the following funny item about those Daybreak cereal boxes:

Did you guys see Fox 4 this morning? The anchors were talking about the Lone Star Emmy they won for Best Morning Show. They had a closeup shot of the statue on one camera and it was kind of high, so Tim got the Daybreak cereal box and placed the Emmy on top of it. You couldn’t really see the Channel 8 anchors on it, but you could tell it was the yellow Daybreak box.

RE: SPOTTED AT THE MANSION

Last literary-event-related post, I promise. A men’s-room-using FrontBurnervian has this report:

After the readings, there was seated dinner in the Meyerson lobby. I came upstairs after stopping by the basement bathrooms underneath Stage Left. Unknowingly, I stepped into the hallway right behind Barbara and George’s table. There were two very intense Secret Service men in the hallway holding soft vinyl attaché cases. As you know, the sitting president is always accompanied by an aide carrying an attaché case with that day’s nuclear launch codes. In White House parlance, the bag is known as “the football.” I looked at the two bags and said, “OK, I know you guys don’t carry the football for him anymore.”

“No, we don’t,” one answered sternly. As I walked off, I felt like an idiot as I realized what was in the oblong-shaped bags. Machine guns. The men were about 10 feet from Poppy Bush, but concealed in a hallway.

RE: SPOTTED AT THE MANSION

A literary-event-attending FrontBurnervian has a different take on the evening:

I was at the Barbara Bush thing….Not to argue with your blogger’s view, but Jan Karon drew a lot of laughs, too — for more wholesomely presented reasons than Tom Wolfe, but still they were good laughs from the crowd. Bar and George, however, were better than George and Gracie…..