Articles for March, 2009
Get Your AFI Tweets
The AFI Dallas International Film Festival opens tonight with a screening of The Brothers Bloom at NorthPark. The evening begins around 6:30 with some red carpet hooha, and there’s a party after the movie. Sarah Eveans and Stephanie Quadri will be in attendance. So will yours truly and Eric Celeste, the latter no doubt clad in French cuffs. So what about you? Staying home because you’ve got March madness? Well, why not follow some Twittering about the event? Here are some feeds you might enjoy (Michael Cain and John Wildman, in particular). You can also follow me and Eric. I’m sure once we’ve plied each other with cocktails, the tweets will be of the high quality you’ve come to expect from us.
Leading Off (3/26/09)
1. DPD officer Robert Powell has been reassigned to dispatch, and he’ll probably be lucky to stay there. Why? On March 17, he pulled over Ryan Moats outside Baylor Regional Medical Center. Moats, a Bishop Lynch grad and running back for the Houston Texans, was hurrying to see his dying mother-in-law. Though hospital staff and security backed up Moats’ story, Powell spent 13 minutes writing a ticket — and saying things like “I can screw you over,” all of which was caught on his dashboard camera — during which time Jonetta Collinsworth passed away. This will not end well for Powell.
2. My favorite part of this look at the District 2 council race, in which challenger Billy MacLeod credits his alcohol-fueled criminal past for inspiring him to get into politics, is this section:
[Pauline] Medrano said she is running on her own record and doesn’t plan to make MacLeod’s criminal record a campaign issue.
But her record, Medrano noted, is one of fighting crime, not committing it.
In other words: “I don’t really want to talk about it, but since you asked…”
3. And finally, in case you missed it, the Cowboys will join the bandwagon and install the Wildcat offense, Coach Jerry Jones says.
Young Austinite Making A.H. Belo Play?
Brian Ferguson, who received his BBA from UT in 2002 and a law degree in 2006, is part of an investment group that just bought 6 percent of A.H. Belo common. Ferguson tried to buy and save the Rocky Mountain News last month. (H/t Pegasus via DMNCuts)
Angela Hunt Is Right On One Very Important Point. I Hereby Recant.
My apologies to those who have been waiting for the latest salvo in the Wick Allison vs. Angela Hunt debate. There will be no salvo, because on her central point, Angela Hunt is right. It has taken me a little time to post because I have a company to run, but I owe the councilwoman a retraction and an apology, which I am happy to issue.
In June, 2007, I wrote in opposition to Angela Hunt’s referendum on the Trinity Parkway:
“The entire Trinity project is premised on the federal money the parkway attracts.”
Anglea Hunt called me out on that statement then, and she’s calling me out on it again:
April Issue of D Magazine Has Already Antagonized Almost Everyone In It
Yesterday it was me vs. the DMN. Today, it’s Trey Garrison vs. Ryan Baldwin, whose Trigon Management is in charge of leasing at ilume, the development on Cedar Springs Trey wrote about. Jack E. Jett makes a cameo in the comments.
360 West: New Local Mag Launches
360 West, a new magazine targeting affluent people who live west of Highway 360, has just published its first issue. The folks behind it are Jerry Scott, a former executive at the Star-Telegram, and Meda Kessler, former editor of the Star-Telegram’s INDULGE. The full release is after the jump. And you can flip through the issue here. Kessler is a woman of considerable talent, and the magazine looks really good (though I’d like to hold a hard copy in my hands before I pass final judgment). If I were Fort Worth, Texas magazine, right about now is when I’d soil my knickers.
Ebby Halliday in Texas Monthly
Sweet Ebby Halliday sure gets around—shortly before her 98th birthday last month, she made it onto a marquee in Times Square; she graced the cover of D CEO for our March issue; and now she’s in the latest issue of Texas Monthly (sub. req.), with a Q&A by former D staffer Brian D. Sweany. (Has Evan Smith banned Sweany from mentioning D in his bio? Because the guy could use a little street cred.)
Come Saturday, It Will Be Lights Out For Dallas
Unfair Park’s got a list of some 20 local buildings that will turn off their lights for an hour this Saturday night, part of a “climate awareness event” called Earth Hour 2009 that Mayor Tom is pushing. Sincere question: Is this perhaps the most ridiculous scheme anyone has ever come up with?
Leading Off (3/25/09)
1. James Ragland, Zac’s new BFF (scroll down in comments), suggests, in light of the fact that Dallas is experiencing a baby boom, that we give ourselves the nickname The City That Can’t Sleep (No Matter How Hard We Might Try). My suggestion: The City That Copulates. It’s snappier.
2. In previous years at Grand Prairie High School, black students did poorly on the TAKS test and dragged down the school’s rating. So principal Joseph Showell called 60 black students into a meeting and challenged them to improve their scores. Everyone knows you can’t do that. If you’re gonna call a meeting, you’ve got to call everyone together, the good test-takers and the lousy ones, black, white, and Hispanic. Then you’ve got to talk around the issue, be vague about it, say how every student needs to improve his or her scores.
3. In case you missed it yesterday, the Financial Times of Germany reported that Hillwood might default on its Victory debt. Steve Brown reports today that Hillwood is negotiating with its German lenders to perhaps change the terms of its obligations. I’m just spitballing here, but if I were Ross Perot Jr., I’d get Pete Delkus in on those negotiations. That guy’s got moxie.
Sources: Hicks Seeking Investors For Sports Empire
It’s all right here.
Laura Bush Looks at Tut, Makes First Public Appearance in Dallas Tonight at Arts & Letters Live
Yesterday, former First Lady Laura Bush showed up at the Dallas Museum of Art to see the King Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of Pharaohs exhibit. Here she is, looking at the “golden diadem” that was still on Tut’s body when he was discovered 3,000 years ago. She toured with Ms. Bonnie Pitman, the Museum’s Eugene McDermott Director, and Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities.
This just in: Mrs. Bush is now scheduled to appear tonight (her first public appearance since arriving in Dallas, mind you) at the DMA’s Arts & Letters Live literary series at SMU’s McFarlin Auditorium. She will introduce Dr. Hawass, the evening’s featured speaker. For tickets, go here.
On a Lighter Note: The First Annual Oak Cliff Art Crawl
It’s coming on April 25, a joint venture between Photopol.us and Bike Friendly Oak Cliff, both products of the multi-talented Roberts family. (More on at least one of them coming in the May ish.) Mark your calendars. Info after the jump.
Free Jim Schutze!
The Angela Hunt v. Wick Allison Trinity debate has brought forth a startling revelation (scroll down in comments): Jim Schutze isn’t allowed to access his own blog. C’mon, Wilonsky! Jim has some Trinity stuff he wants to post! Give him the keys! (Jim, e-mail me for a username and password to FrontBurner, if you want.)
Jonas Brothers Kick Off World Tour at the New Cowboys Stadium
On June 20th. I can hear my nieces screaming. Deets below.
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