Report: Carlisle, Mavs Agree on Deal

Marc Stein is reporting that the new coach of the Mavs, Rick “Smiles” Carlisle, has agreed to a four-year deal that will pay him at least $4 million annually. Stein says not to expect an announcement until next week. And my weekend begins with a whimper.

Re: Watch Out, Tim!

Dude, don’t worry about me, Zac. I’m tough. I can take it. The one who’d best watch out is James Ragland. Did you see the My Two Dads pic of Blow and Ragland at the top of Metro today? Next to the pic it says: “Coming Sunday. Race Relations. Newsroom neighbors Steve Blow and James Ragland move their cubicle conversations about race to a four-part series, Talking Race. Also, catch their daily video sparring on dallasnews.com.”

Here’s a sneak preview of Talking Race, leaked to me by their cubicle neighbor Esther Wu:

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Sunday Brunch: BizRadio at Al Biernat’s

Meant to post this last week, but the print version of FB got in the way. Anyhoo, Al Biernat has a new way to experience his sublime Sunday brunch: on the radio. Every Sunday from 1-2 p.m., BizRadio 1360 AM in Dallas broadcasts from a front-of-room booth. The show, hosted by Dan Cofall, is called “Pinnacle: Stories of Success,” and it features interviews with local bizcelebs and such. Al says the station likes the energy and chatter when broadcasting from a live venue, so be sure to fill up the dining room after church. Why am I so glad this is going on? Because Al installed WiFi to accommodate the show, and that means I can take my laptop over there right now to finish out the day. Giddy. Up. Weekend.  

Ron Washington Will Be Fired As Rangers Manager

Not a terribly bold statement, but one made by Tim Kurkjian in the latest ESPN magazine:

Ron Washington’s days as Rangers manager are numbered. Their lousy pitching isn’t his fault, but his old-school approach isn’t working with many players. Never mind that his rapport with players as a longtime A’s coach got him the Texas job.

So there. 

Watch Out, Tim! Steve Blow is Coming For You.

He got so fired up about this post he even dropped a “good grief” on you. That’s how they roll in Sunnyvale.

Chuck Norris Facts’ Factotum

(Nerd Alert) The ROFLCon took place a couple of weeks ago in Cambridge, MA. At said conference, Ian Spector was part of a panel discussion. Who is Ian Spector? Why, he’s only the genius behind the Chuck Norris Fact Generator. Here’s an interview with Ian, where he talks about the generator’s genesis (Vin Diesel was before Chuck), Chuck’s appreciation of it (lawyers were involved), and more. Also on the panel: Joe Mathlete, creator and operator of another Internet gem (though not Dallas-relevant), Marmaduke Explained. Enjoy.

Own a Piece of Presidential History!

Here is a must-have item for JFK conspiracy theorists and single-shooter strict constructionists alike. Probably too late for Mother’s Day, but Father’s Day is just a month away. [Via]

More Toadies News

Sam Machkovech has it: New Toadies album, No Deliverance, out August 19, and the band will play at this summer’s Lollapalooza. Sam got an anonymous email, but it seemed to check out. Sez there that Monday it’ll all be made official. Toadies fans rejoice.

Footballer Joe Montana Takes On Dallas Auction House

Oops. Dallas’ Heritage Auction Galleries is in legal hot water again, this time over some items from football great Joe Montana.

A Gentle Reminder

Just in case you forgot that we had a Nightlife section. With pictures. Of stuff.

John Freeman Leaving Dallas, But Not Going Where You Heard (Maybe)

John Freeman has been a member of at least a dozen bands during his on-again, off-again tenure in Dallas (Dooms U.K., the Dutch Treats, Telethon, the Golden Vipers, N.I.B. — and those are just the ones I had the fortune of seeing). He was also instrumental in the late, great Good/Bad Art Collective and, briefly, ran Sloppyworld, a venue-and-more in Expo Park. Among many other things. Now he’s moving again. He’s selling off Sloppyworld’s P.A. system to help pay off debts and fund his departure, ostensibly to move to NYC to write rock operas with his pal Corn Mo. But that might not necessarily be true. I think we’ve reached the point where we need to, oh, you know.

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Blockbuster’s Bid For Circuit City Ain’t Dead

Circuit City has allowed Blockbuster a look at its books. Finally. The former resisted the request of the latter, saying BBI didn’t have the financial wherewithal to be taken seriously. Major BBI investor Carl Icahn said, “I got it covered. Never you mind.” (Or something to that effect.)

Tax A Lot, DMN

A tax-minded FrontBurnervian points to the following paragraph in the news item about taxed purchases on Amazon.com:

The state’s tax-collecting agency didn’t know Amazon.com was operating a facility here until this week when The Dallas Morning News called to ask why the online powerhouse wasn’t charging Texas customers sales taxes, said Robin Corrigan, the comptroller’s team leader for sales tax policy.

The FrontBurnervian wonders: “So not only might we be stuck paying sales tax for Amazon purchases, we have the DMN to blame for it. Tattle tales. And isn’t this pretty much creating news instead of reporting it?” I see his point.

DMN’s Tom Maurstad is Pretty Much the Only Film Critic in America That Loves Speed Racer

I’m not saying Tom is wrong in giving the Wachowski brothers’ take on the super-overrated cartoon an A. Just noting that he–and by extension, the Dallas Morning News–is completely out of step with just about every other film critic in America. Like, way out of step.

Kirk: Dems Don’t Win Working-Class White Voters Anyway

Sen. Hillary Clinton has everyone’s knickers in a twist today after commenting that she alone–not Sen. Barack Obama–can win the presidential votes of all those “hardworking…white Americans”–i.e., Reagan Democrats. But in an interview here last week, Obama’s pal and adviser Ron Kirk, the former Dallas mayor, scoffed at Hillary’s perceived popularity with the white working class, saying, “We haven’t won their votes in years.” So, does that mean the Obama camp has written those folks off already?

Christina McLarty Gets Racy in Vegas

Thanks to the arm-flapping FrontBurnervian who sent along this video of the former Channel 11 entertainment reporter getting it done onstage in Sin City.

Storming The Barricades To Protest (DCAD) Injustice

Over on DallasDirt, a distraught homeowner asks Candy Evans for advice about protesting the county’s new residential valuations. The distraught one might want to check with “Rusty” and Deedie Rose, Bush pals and A-list local movers and shakers. They’ve already got a July hearing set in connection with their 4-bedroom, $8.1 million manse on Willowood in Highland Park.

Belo’s Conflict of Interest With the Convention Center Hotel

The DMN, as you know, is pushing for the convention center hotel. For the moment, I’m not arguing one way or the other. But if I were going to argue for the hotel, and if I owned, say, $44,620,350 worth of land (in taxable value, and we all know how that game works) near the proposed site of said hotel, don’t you think I’d be remiss if, in making my argument, I didn’t at some point mention all that land?

The image you see here was generated by the good people at Crow Holdings (click to expand). You know where Crow Holdings stands on the issue (I’m looking at you, Hilton Anatole), but that doesn’t diminish the point of this map. As I say, if you add up everything in red, it comes to about $44.6 million. That number, as we’ve learned, is probably low. But if the hotel gets built, you can bet that land will be worth even more.

A fact worth mentioning.

The Bachelorette endangers Dallas’ supply of single men

A new season of The Bachelorette starts May 19, and a little digging on ABC’s website revealed that four (!) out of the 25 bachelors live in Dallas-Fort Worth (they are Brian W., Chris, Jeremy, and Twilley). I guess it’s not a surprise that the show would mine single guys from our region’s apparent surplus. One of my friends who worked with Jeremy last summer says she thinks he gets into the final four (he just returned from the Bahamas—wink, wink).

Baseball Fight!

I think you can guess what I’m about to say: I didn’t see this live.

Re: Leading Off

You’re right, Tim. The tragedy and sadness of poor teenagers selling drugs is shocking news. As is the young lookout angle. Oh, wait. No, it’s not. [Dave Chappelle language alert.]

Re: Leading Off

Eric, surely you saw the story about the South Dallas 14-year-old accused of selling heroin — with his 8-year-old relative acting as lookout. That doesn’t top a Kingwood skull bong?

Friday Fun

Today’s Friday Fun is a simple, lo-fi affair. (I know. An Internet game can’t be “low fidelity.” Don’t worry about that. It’s not important right now.) The game is called Dino Run. You’re a dino. You run. You pick up eggs along the way and try to increase your DNA for higher functioning and to escape extinction. You jam to the music. You have fun.

Leading Off

1. So, I know proper human beings will be outraged by the three Texas youngsters who were busted for digging up and skull and using it as a bong. But I am a third-grader, and I giggled about it all morning. Plus, it’s not as though the idea itself is insane, as I hear you can buy skull-shaped novelty bongs at head shops. (You can apparently also use them as beer bongs. Props for the Ricky Bobby reference at the end of this video.)

2. State Sen. Florence Shapiro may run for U.S. Senate. Not sure how that will play when the rest of the state finds out about her Commie brother.

3. Regarding Game 1 of the NHL Western Conference Finals: And … THAT happened. [Helpful joke reference link here.]