Articles for July, 2009

My Intern Makes Me Feel Old: One In An Occasional Series


Nancy has Bonathan, I have Laken. She is going to be a junior at UT-Austin this year. One of the things I’ve asked her to do is to be on the lookout for blog items. She sent along her first suggestion today. It succeeded in making me want to bash my head against a wall. The e-mail follows:

Not sure if this is blog-worthy or not, but I know that Earth, Wind and Fire/Chicago are coming to Dallas and will be in concert tomorrow night at Nokia. Obviously, I wasn’t alive when these bands were big, but I do like their music because my parents have always played oldies in our house. My parents always say that they’d love to see some of their old favorites in concert, but because it’s not the original group, it loses appeal. So, the idea is, when groups go on concert tours without the original members, is it worth going/will it be as good? I don’t think so.

Oldies. Not alive. Good grief. I’m sorry, I forgot the question.

posted by Eric Celeste | July 10th, 2009 1:45pm | filed under Local News |

Radio Host Russ Martin Pleads No Contest, Gets Two Years Probation

Martha Deller has the deets at the Star-T site. Martin, the popular former Live 105.3 host, will have his record cleared if he completes the terms of his probation. This all stems from an alleged assault by Martin of his 27-year-old fiancee, who had been living with him in his Southlake home for three months. Now that this is behind him, I just hope he gets back on the air soon. Me miss me some Russ.

(H/T: @rphilpot)

posted by Eric Celeste | July 10th, 2009 1:16pm | filed under radio |

Trey Garrison Says Toy Guns Aren’t The Problem

Trey, who wrote about the wussification of Dallas in our January issue, says that the Dallas Morning News story today about officers getting fooled by toy guns doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have toy guns. It also doesn’t mean, he says, that toy guns look more real today than they used to (true … follow his links to see). It means we’re too conditioned to be freaked out by guns. I have to admit: guilty as charged. But that’s only because guns kill people.

Update: Trey points out: “Guns don’t kill people, hydrostatic shock from the bullet kills people.” Fair enough.

Update to the update: Chris Rock also believes in bullet control over gun control.

posted by Eric Celeste | July 10th, 2009 1:04pm | filed under Education, Law, Local News |

Susan Combs: Bad News On The Dallas Retail Front

The Texas State Comptroller is reporting disastrous sales-tax results for Dallas in June — down 21.52%. I can’t explain it, especially with Houston being down only 4.71%. The news is worse in Plano: down 40.14%. While the rest of the state is apparently having a mild recession, Dallas seems to have hit depression-level numbers.

The news nationwide ain’t that good, either. As Glenn notes, Smith & Hawken is out of business. Abercrombie & Fitch is down 32%. Gap is down 10%. Neiman Marcus is down 20.8%. Even Target is down 6.2%.

posted by Wick Allison | July 10th, 2009 12:15pm | filed under Hold On To Your Effin Hat |

A Samurai Sword Attack in Haltom City

Alternate Headline: “Off-Brand Version of Kill Bill Breaks Out in Haltom City”

You know who you don’t get into any sort of dispute with — be it over women, power, or, in this case, money? A guy with a samurai sword. Especially a guy with a samurai sword in Haltom City. Especially if his name is Bay Ho. That adds up to a man who does not mess around. Seriously.

posted by Zac Crain | July 10th, 2009 12:01pm | filed under Crime |

A Version Of The Trinity River Project Most Of Us Can Agree On — Because It Contains Alcohol

Apologies in advance if I’m late to this, and apologies for not migrating this post over to SideDish. (I have no access since no one trusts me talking about food, etc., because I’m boring — i.e., I don’t eat meat and only drink bourbon.)

Now that is out of the way, I present the Trinity River Project, a drink concocted by Dallas’ own Justin Beam of the Rattlesnake Bar on behalf of Texas Monthly. Since gin is the predominant spirit — and, as I’ve already mentioned, I pretty much drink bourbon and that’s it — you’ll have to tell me how it is. Preferably not from an uncomfortably close distance. I don’t need gin in my ear, friend-o.

posted by Zac Crain | July 10th, 2009 11:29am | filed under Drinking |

Smith & Hawken Going Belly Up

img_1560Smith & Hawken, the garden/outdoor furniture store, is having a big sale before going out of business. The chain with 56 locations–including this one in Dallas’ Knox-Henderson area, site of the first-ever On The Border store, by the way–for years has been the place for green-minded yuppies to buy chic upscale gardening stuff.

posted by Glenn Hunter | July 10th, 2009 11:11am | filed under Business, Local News, Nature |

Cleburne Lightly Shaken By Seventh Earthquake In Just Over A Month

This one happened just before 6 AM, and apparently hit 2.0 on the Richter scale — not powerful enough to knock a picture off the wall, according to SMU’s Brian Stump. (Less powerful than, say, my father-in-law, or one of my dogs.) Anyone down there got your ears on this morning? Shoot Tim an e-mail and tell him what’s going on.

posted by Zac Crain | July 10th, 2009 10:41am | filed under natural disasters |

Sorta’s Danny Balis To Release Debut Solo Record

You may know Danny Balis as the (now former) bassist for Sorta, or more recently as a member of the honky-tonk-approved group the King Bucks. Or, offstage, as the longtime producer of The Hardline on Sportsradio 1310 The Ticket. My favorite incarnation is the most recent, as a solo performer of rainy-day country music. Not alt-country or any other hybrid of the genre: just no-frills, cowboy hat C&W, the kind of stuff he — and I — grew up on. (One of my mom’s favorite albums? A greatest-hits disc from Don Williams, one of the spiritual godfathers of Balis’ solo material.)

Balis releases his solo debut, Too Much Living, on September 1. You can get it early if you go to the Granada Theater on August 21, when Balis opens for local legends Slobberbone. Full press release apres-jump.

(more…)

posted by Zac Crain | July 10th, 2009 10:24am | filed under Music |

Tracking Polls: Rick Perry Vs. Kay Bailey Hutchison

Philip Martin over at Burnt Organge Report has put together this chart of the published polls since February 24. Note the percentage of undecideds.

TX-Gov Poll Tracking: Rick Perry vs. Kay Bailey Hutchison
 Poll (Date)
 Perry  %
  Hutchison  %
 Undecided/Other %  Spread/Advantage
 2/24/09 – PPP 31 56 13 Hutchison, +25
3/16/09 – UT Austin 30 36
 34 Hutchison, +6
4/22/09 – DailyKos No head-to-head, but KBH’s favorables lead Perry’s, 64-51.
5/4/09 – Baselice* 43 42 16 Perry, +1
5/6/09 – Rasmussen 42 38 20 Perry, +4
6/3/09 – TCUL No head-to-head; looks at job approval among GOP primary voters.
6/11-22/09 – UT Austin 38
 26
 34 Perry, +12
 6/24/09 – Texas Lyceum  33 21 46 Perry, +12
posted by Wick Allison | July 10th, 2009 9:53am | filed under Politics |

Rafael Anchia ID’ed By Politico.com As “One To Watch” Outside The Beltway

As the site notes, Anchia has already gotten a lot of attention statewide. “Anchia already has been referred to as ‘El Gobernador‘ by Texas Monthly. Dallas’s D Magazine went further, asking: ‘Is Rafael Anchia the Hispanic Obama?‘ ”

The site asks the same question we did, basically, which is, “When will Anchia make the leap to the national stage?” (They talk less about his dancing ability, though. BO-ring!) He again says that’s a flattering question, and then declines to answer it. Former Rep. Martin Frost (D-Texas), among others, isn’t so shy:

“He considered running for mayor of Dallas, and I discouraged him from doing that. …Mayor of Dallas has been a dead-end job for many politicians,” said Frost, who described the legislator as a person of “virtually unlimited potential. He could be governor of the state of Texas someday. He could be a member of Congress. Certainly, he could be a United States senator.”

posted by Eric Celeste | July 10th, 2009 9:48am | filed under Media, Politics |

Leading Off (7/10/09)

1. Get ready for a string of these stories: Because of the Dallas budget crunch, a number of city services are on the chopping block. For example, Dallas may dramatically scale back the number of immunizations and health-care screenings it provides this year.

2. Barbara Hilliard is 82, but if you bring a sword at her, she will whip your tail. Doubt that? I believe a little something called the National Fencing Championships (being held in Grapevine) prove me right.

3. As Wick noted, Rick Perry has an early lead in the polls against Kay Bailey Hutchison. That could be a referendum on them as personalities, but it also could be an outcome of their strategy: Hutchison is running against the powers that be in Austin; Perry is running against bureaucrats in D.C. Guess which one gets voters more fired up?

posted by Eric Celeste | July 10th, 2009 7:45am | filed under Hold On To Your Effin Hat, Local News, Politics |

American Airlines And Southwest Stymie Dallas High-Speed Rail?, Ctd.

Some think yes. Most say no.  After the jump, three informative comments:

(more…)

posted by Wick Allison | July 9th, 2009 5:45pm | filed under Transportation |

Wick Thinks Twitter Will Be Dead in Two Years. Does Oprah Agree?

I’m so confused. The D staffers continue to build our personal brands in the new social medium (follow me! @EricCeleste), even though Wick says every tweet costs him 2 cents in wasted salary. That’s because social media sites like Twitter are huge, and getting bigger, right? You can’t write about the new-media world without experiencing it, right? But now that Oprah has stopped tweeting … I dunno. Maybe Wick’s right. I’ll ask my tweeps what they think.

posted by Eric Celeste | July 9th, 2009 4:54pm | filed under Celebrity, Science&Technology |

Possum Murder at Mesquite Summer Camp Being Investigated

No one is exactly sure what happened at Mesquite’s Camp Rorie Galloway, except that a possum and its young were killed by a 15-year-old camp counselor in front of a passel of young campers. A few stories are floating around, and a few different reasons — self defense, ignorance of how to handle a wild animal situation, terror — but no one is too concerned. At least about the possum: apparently, they’re considered “nuisance animals,” and castle doctrine applies; they can be killed if they’re on your property pretty much no matter what. Kind of a bizarre story.

posted by Zac Crain | July 9th, 2009 4:31pm | filed under Animals |
« Recent Entries
Past Entries »