Live Blog From Victory Park (and Gordon Keith Show)

Jump like you mean it:
(more…)

Meet The New Boss

Grape news: the ink is still wet on the deal between Dallas chef Brian Luscher and The Grape owners Kathy McDaniel and Charlotte Parker. His first hire? His wife Courtney, former GM of Dakota’s. The transition will take place in October at which time the restaurant will turn 35. One wonders if young Luscher was alive when Alberto Lombardi was waiting tables when the restaurant opened. IJS.

Programming Note: Yrs Trly to Appear on Gordon Keith Show Tonight

Be sure to tune in to Channel 52 tonight for The Gordon Keith Show. I’ll be on to discuss the Southlake hubbub. Gordon has promised that he won’t savage me. We’ll see. (An alert FBvian informs me that on Time Warner, the show is on channel 25.)

Go Cougars!

A yawn Adam? Really? I’m wondering what god I pleased.

(Yawn) Another Reality Show in the Works

Jay Johnson, the trainer for the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, and his wife Lin star in a new reality TV show on CMT called I Want to Look Like a High School Cheerleader Again. Says here, “Contestants will be physically and emotionally challenged during a 10-week period as they compete for a $50,000 prize and the chance to perform again in front of a live audience.” I don’t know if they’re going to cheer for a real high school or a fictitious one. If it’s the latter, I have but one suggestion for the team mascot: Cougars.

Mark Cuban Just Being Mark Cuban

Cubes talks to (or, more likely, trades e-mails with) Dallas Blog’s Mike Fisher about a variety of topics. OK, just three, really: Kevin Garnett, his interest in buying the Chicago Cubs, and the Round 1 playoff exit that was treated in my house like a death in the family. The most interesting bit, and Fisher helpfully highlights it, is this:

Think about this: With Dirk, Josh, JET and Devin, and either ‘Gana or Dampier at center, we’ve got a starting five that has four of the five guys at All-Star or near-All-Star level. That’s a good team.

Now, I’m just about the biggest Mavs homer around, and even I would tap the brakes before going that far. A good team? Absolutely. But four of the five guys at or near All-Star level? Did he count Dirk twice? I don’t think I can endorse that sort of unbridled enthusiasm. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go stare at the glow-in-the-dark towel I picked up during the 2006 Finals for about three hours.

Those Southeast of Southlake: Duck!

Heely’s Hacked for, Um, Art Purposes

Heely’s: They aren’t just for kids in the mall. Apparently, they can also be used to harvest energy that powers a microcomputer that uses an LCD to give the wearer random directions meant to mimic the movements of a staggering drunk. And it’s all part of a big art project. At least, I think that’s what it is. Check it out. (Link via Boing Boing.)

About That Pony Up Campaign

An SMU/Knucklehead fan takes me to task for my inability to find the Pony Up song funny:

Get a sense of humor, dude. This has been sent around to a ridiculously large number of people: SMU fans, college football fans, SMU staff, teachers, students, players and coaches. And they are forwarding it. I have received it no fewer than seven times today. You are literally the first person I have heard that doesn’t care for it.

I am? That seems most shocking of all.

Wowsers, That’s a Big Spider Web

I missed this story in yesterday’s Star-Telegram about a 200-yard stretch of a nature trail out in Lake Tawakoni State Park that’s covered in a spider web. Some entomologists are calling it a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. Yeesh. Hate to see the spider. There’s a big picture of the big web here.

Get to Know a DMN Reporter

I got to know Dave Levinthal fairly well last year, since he covers City Hall for the Dallas Morning News and I was doing something involving City Hall that we’ve already discussed far too often. Good guy, good writer, loves soccer. But I didn’t know him as well as I thought. For instance, today I found out that Dave is a big Scrabble player and was once ranked (very briefly) as the No. 9 player in New Hampshire.

Also, Dave is a huge Buffalo Bills fan (he and 100 or so other Bills fans meet at a bar in Addison on Sundays during the season). He was in the stadium when the Bills famously came back from a 35-3 deficit to beat the Houston Oilers in a playoff game. So there is a chance Dave might have run across a few guys like this.

Tiger Woods ‘08 for the Wii Is the Bomb

You were misinformed, Eric. At around 3 this morning, Adam and I were playing the boxing game that comes with the Wii — Adam having already destroyed me in golf (but I killed him in baseball). And you’ll recall that I told you yesterday that I had an important meeting this morning at 8:30. It went well. Thanks for asking. But don’t come into my office for the next hour. I’ll be asleep on the couch.

Too Bad Paul Didn’t Write About This Carroll High School

Because nothing sells magazines like a good “hand gesture.” (Link props: The Big Lead.)

The “Pony Up” Campaign Gets Even Worse

A couple of concerned FrontBurnervians have sent along this YouTube video of a pair of knuckleheads, who call themselves The Knuckleheads, singing a song called “Pony Up.” I’m trying to figure out my least-favorite part about the video. It’s tough. I think first and foremost is the Knuckleheads’ weak attempts at trash talk directed at TCU, specifically the supposedly ugly cheerleaders there. Granted, I’m biased. My wife is a former TCU cheerleader, and she’s hot. Very hot. So there’s that. And also the song itself isn’t as funny, clever, or catchy as the Knuckleheads probably think it is. And I can’t shake the feeling that, although they are obviously fans of the Mustangs, they’re fans of self-promotion first. Plus, the fact that three more people have sent me the link while I’ve been typing this post proves that the video has gone viral. Emphasis on viral. Look, the Knuckleheads are probably good guys and fun to drink beer with and all of that. But this YouTube video… It’s perpetuating the Pony Up problem.

Go, Mustangs.

Let Us Prey

Trust me when I say this is painful to admit. But — [standing, clapping.]

Wednesday the new Saturday?

If you are in the loop in the Dallas fashion scene then you were no doubt at one of the many fashion events that took place last night. Forty Five Ten held an event to show off their new collections for fall (Marchesa, Miu Miu, Y3 women’s, Tim Hamilton, Yigal Azrouel men’s, Aristocrat Denim, and more) and the expanded menu at the T-Room (new signature cocktails, wine, and Palais du Thes tea). Unfortunately I missed this event, but I did make it to Victory Park for two fabulous fashion parties.
(more…)

Tim Was on the TV

If you were out celebrating your birthday and then got home late and played Wii until the wee hours of the morning (yeah, I said it), then you might have missed Jay Gormley’s report last night on Southlake Covergate. But that’s okay; you can watch it here. And I’m assuming you can watch WFAA’s take on it here, but their site is making me re-register for the 729th time to access it. I’m not gonna as a means of protest.

More (Qualified) Good Housing News

Another report this week shows DFW home prices rising. However, the effects of the current mortgage crisis probably won’t be reflected until the third quarter.

Where You Should Be Tonight

Beginning tonight, and continuing every Thursday until September 20, various permutations of Pleasant Grove will be at Double Wide — in the business, they call that a residency. Tonight’s shindig will be a solo performance by the group’s Marcus Striplin, and the following three are billed as the Pleasant Grove Preservation Society, which apparently means the band’s other singer-songwriter Bret Egner won’t be coming up from Austin and various special guests will be filling the void. I could probably walk down the street and ask drummer Jeff Ryan who will be joining in on the festivities, but I’d rather just wait and have someone e-mail me, then update the post later. That’s the kind of work ethic inspired by a newly Wii-obsessed boss.

Back to You, Tim

Where Are Tim And Adam?

Everyone is wondering where they are this morning. After a bit of undercover work, I’ve discovered their absence may be due to the fact that they have each obtained a Wii in the past week (Tim for his son, Adam for his birthday). According to reliable reports, a video golfing match went on past 3 a.m. I’m sure that didn’t play well in the room, as hockey players say.

I would say I’m disappointed, but it would be more accurate to say that I’m insanely jealous. How much are those machines again?

Fox 4 Saves My Marriage

My wife was on Good Day this morning, talking about “Celebrity Looks for Less.” At 8:30, Good Day teases Sonya’s segment. Now Sonya had told me she’d be on at 8:45, so I got ready for work and, while dressing, watched as my dog retched all over the place. And, okay, the pug might have retched because, two hours earlier, I’d acted as though she wasn’t eating that pizza crust on the grass outside our condo because it was early, the grass where she’d found the crust was wet, and wresting edible objects from my pug’s mouth is kind of disgusting. Besides, I like pizza crust, too. Anyway, cleaning up the mess and then throwing on a tie, I get downstairs at 8:46. Segment over. Some guitarist is on.

“How did I do?” Sonya asks at 9:05. Um, well…

Sonya is not pleased. But thanks to those Interwebs, Fox 4 posts the segment. Crisis averted.
Thank you, Megan Henderson.

And thanks, Tristan!
[FYI: The second model is D Weddings’ own Alexis Pond.]

Older Drivers Have New License Requirements, Left Blinker On

On Saturday, a new law goes into effect requiring drivers ages 79 and over to renew their licenses in person, and drivers ages 86 and up to renew every two years and take a vision test. It’s always good to see common sense prevail in the Lege, not so good that it takes a senseless death for it to do so.

I, for one, don’t think the law is strong enough. But then again, I think roughly 98 percent of everyone I encounter on the road should not be behind the wheel, and often daydream about forming a covert paramilitary unit to disappear said drivers into a “reconditioning” program. (Trey, you down?) Also, someone needs to get this law passed in Florida post haste. Driving down there, with the retirees in their giant Buicks and almost nothing to lose, is like playing Frogger.

Re: Leading Off — AA

In the spirit of American Airlines’ new flight times, I’m changing my official workday to 11 a.m.-4:30 p.m. That way, I’m never late and I never leave early.

Blatant Restaurant Gossip

Unsubstantiated rumbles from the cyber street. Brian Luscher is going to buy the grape from Kathy McDaniel and Charlotte Parker?  Two big-deal restaurants are in big-deal trouble—the “vendor slow pay”  game has begun. Rats are boarding life boats. No victory in the park. IJS. Back to you, Josh.

Leading Off - Arlington Mother

I smell a sequel.

Leading Off

1. CVS will invest $6 million in DFW to develop in-store clinics that offer affordable medical advice, which I think is a great idea. It’s expensive to get this thing looked at every time it changes color.

2.  American Airlines is trying to reduce delays by adding a few minutes to each flight time. I’m still trying to get my head around how this changes anything.

3.  An Arlington mother of three missed her kids’ first day of school. Why? Because the Texas native was wrongly jailed for being an illegal immigrant.