GREEN ROOM NOT CLOSED

A tip-passing FrontBurnervian had suggested otherwise, but the tip … it is false. Green Room = open for business. Call 214-748-7666 if you don’t believe me. And make a reservation while you’re at it.

LULAC GOLF

Where can you talk about the Mega March and ride in a golf cart at the same time? Here.

®

Take that, you trademark-infringing bastards. FrontBurner now has the “R” thingy.

TARANTINO’S CLOSES

Just got off the phone with Peter Tarantino. It’s true: he’s shuttered the restaurant’s doors. A sad day for the fiance and me. Tarantino’s was our favorite restaurant. Peter says his place never had significant capital behind it. The summer’s heat has been brutal. So, too, the reputation about Deep Ellum, that it remains a violent, thug-heavy neighborhood. “It just isn’t true,” Tarantino says. “The cops have really cleaned it up. People need to know that.”

RE: LAWYERS TO ROCK HARD

From the (trademarked) FrontBurner Nation:

“Local Attorneys Drop Suits for Poverty”

“Local Lawyers Dodge Rap in Jam for Poor”

“Lawyers Drop Their Briefs to Rock”

NEW MAGAZINE COMING TO DALLAS

It’s been a couple months since someone launched a magazine in Dallas. So into the void leaps ENVY Magazine, from the same folks who brought you ENVY Houston Magazine. In an e-mail going around, an ENVY representative says:

If you don’t already know, ENVY Magazine is launching in Dallas Sept. 7th and we will be on street boxes all over the city….the first Thurs of every month. Think of a young, hip D Magazine…that’s free! Inside will be interviews with Beyonce, Kinky Friedman and parties galore!

Yes, well, good luck with all that. Beyonce, Kinky, and parties galore. That is quite an editorial mix. No question.

I will say this for ENVY. They got themselves a MySpace page with a video of some very hot chicks wearing hardly any clothes doing aerobics. Two thumbs up.

RE: LAWYERS TO ROCK HARD

It’s a tough one. Tempted to go with Tort You Like A Hurricane. Maybe Sue-Sue-Sussudio. I’ll cop out and go with the easy choice: Scales of Justice.

WHY I’M WRONG

Here’s why Alabama seniors beat the national average on the SAT exam: not very many seniors even took the test. Meanwhile, over in Georgia, they’re exultant. I’ll be quiet now.

FREE DRINKS FOR FORMER DMN EMPLOYEES

A friend of FrontBurner who feels for the folks at the paper has arranged a deal for you guys. Tomorrow at NOW, if you show your Morning News ID and mention FrontBurner, you’ll get half off your bar tab from 5 to 6:30. We’re on deadline, so, alas, we won’t be able to join you. But here’s what we’d do if we could be there: order the expensive stuff.

RE: HOTLINE

Bless its heart, I don’t believe Hotline’s numbers for a second. For example, look at the SAT figures for Alabama (37) and Mississippi (33) next to those of Georgia (6), Florida (4), and South Carolina (3) — whatever these numbers mean, which isn’t at all clear.

Alabama (and I don’t say this just because I’m from Georgia) does far better than any New England state? Fat chance. Something’s screwy.

LAWYERS TO ROCK HARD

Adam, I need a punny headline here. Twenty-five lawyers are putting on a rock show at the Granada September 16. You can get more info here. But first, we need a headline.

RE: COPYWRIGHT

Actually, it’s trademarked. We got our official paperwork on the FrontBurner mark from the govmint just last week. The little ® thing will show up on our site soon as our web people get their act together. Meantime, those interlopers will be hearing from our good, strong lawyers at Haynes and Boone.

SPEAKING OF COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT

Ahem. A web-surfing FrontBurnervian finds another FrontBurner out there. (Notice the capital B, too.) For shame. I like Ron Rosenbaum’s stuff, too. Hope he likes the letter from our lawyer.

TEXAS, POOR TEXAS

A FrontBurnervian alerted me to today’s Hotline recap of the latest census info. To quote:

Everyone loves rankings, and yesterday we learned which states were the fattest, dumbest and poorest. So we crunched the numbers, and put together this chart that lists each state’s ranks in mean SAT score, obesity rate, and poverty rate.

Texas ranks in the bottom ten in all three.

IN DEFENSE OF S&P

As has been pointed out in this space, other blogs, and a certain magazine, Standard & Poor’s has sued coffeehouse Standard & Pours, alleging the name confusion has hurt the former and helped the latter. The lawsuit is seemingly silly, but according to this guy, it’s totally necessary. Check it out.

OPEN UP, DALLAS COUNTY

Blogger Michael Davis says it’s long past time for Dallas County to truly open up its campaign finance records, following the lead of the City. You can request the stuff, but if it’s about an elected official, the request has to go do that official’s office. That “puts a bulls-eye on your back,” Davis correctly concludes. What he doesn’t know, nor do we, is what’s holding the county politicians back from opening up the information flow. Oh, that.

JESSICA SIMPSON NEEDS A LOZENGE

Jessica Simpson’s publicist says what we’ve all been thinking:

“She sounds a little off, but, you know, she can’t sing.”

Turns out, she’s got a bruise on her vocal cord. In other news, she’s allegedly dating John Mayer. They totally deserve each other.

WE READ OTHER BLOGS SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO

Fingers of Fury links to a DBJ story that says the new Wright Amendment deal will result in higher fares and reduced services for North Texas fliers. This take comes from nine anti-trust experts, one of them an SMU professor, who argue that opening up Love Field to more flights but reducing its gates will produce “significant anticompetitive effects.”

I’d like to read more about this in the Morning News. Any day now would be great.

CAR CHASES GALORE

What is going on? A motorcyclist led police on a chase last night in Garland. Two teens in Irving tried to run down an undercover officer. And then this morning a man led cops on an hour-long chase, starting in Grapevine.

All of these chases are highly dangerous–not to mention expensive, with gas prices being what they are these days.

HOSTAGE SITUATION AT LOVE FIELD HOTEL

Morning news watchers no doubt know already about the gunman who took a woman hostage, beat her, shot a cop, and then presumably took his own life early this morning. Scary stuff.

RE: CIGAR SMOKING

Thank you, kind FrontBurnervians for the suggestions. (Yes, I’d thought of Javier’s but it’s not open ’til 5.) Other contenders: Sambuca’s patio, Capital Grill, Riccardi’s, and Two Brothers Cigars in downtown … Plano.