I was filing some CDs the other day and came across 2001′s Tunin Up & Cosignin, the second record by local soul singer (and former Erykah Badu backup singer) N’dambi. Hadn’t really thought about her too much lately, but I seemed to recall she had signed with the reborn Stax Records, the legendary Memphis R&B label. And then, today — just now, in fact — I get an e-mail saying that N’dambi’s next album, Pink Elephant, hits stores on October 6, on Stax. So add that to your shopping list. Release after the jump.
Fundraising guru Bill Lively has some words of warning for DFW nonprofit groups. Just resting on your laurels as do-gooders, the message goes, ain’t gonna cut it anymore. Organizations that depend on a spirit of entitlement–’We are noble, we deserve, they should give’–”will fail, and probably should fail,” Lively says. “It’s a new world, and if you don’t have accountability and efficiency, you can’t defend your position.” Lively, who’s raised big bucks for everything from the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts to Super Bowl XLV, makes the comments in a frank Q&A in the new issue of D CEO magazine.
WFAA’s Brett Shipp asked that question in this February report.
The headline of this Associated Press piece seems to answer that: “New Dallas Cowboys stadium 95 percent sold out.”
A former-co-working FBvian sends along this:
Not only is he extremely generous, he is by far the best professor I had at UTA. He’s insightful, intelligent, unbiased, interesting and hilarious….all the qualities you could ask for in a professor. He just made class a pleasure to go to. I was lucky enough to have him twice and my husband took him for a class at TCC at my insistence!
I laugh every time I see his name on something because his generosity knows no bounds. He even sponsored the opening of the Ross store in Lincoln Square (Arlington) of all things! There is a little plaque at the check out stand in his honor. He really deserves the accolades!
And the legend continues. Related: is anyone else getting just a little bit tired of this man’s grandstanding?
At least that’s Greenpeace’s take on the end of its apparently successful Kleercut campaign against Irving-based Kimberly-Clark, which produces Kleenex, Huggies, Cottonelle, and Depend, among other brands.
The company announced last week that it’s going to increase the amount of “tissue fiber” it uses that’s recycled or Forest Stewardship Council-certified by 40 percent by 2011. And it won’t continue to use fiber from the Canadian Boreal Forest that isn’t FSC-certified.
This is great news for Wick. It should cut down on visual pollution along 183.
Allan Saxe, 70, is a professor at UT-Arlington and Tarrant County College. But you could say — and I would, after reading this Star-Telegram profile — his real occupation is giving. He inherited $500,000 from his mother. He gave it all away. Same with his Social Security checks. And last year, another $84,450 — more than half his salary.
In return, his name appears on…
Allan Saxe Park, the Allan Saxe Parkway, the Allan Saxe Dental Clinic, and, at the University of Texas at Arlington, Allan Saxe (softball) Field, not to mention the Allan Saxe pencil sharpeners in University Hall.
But, of course, that’s not why he does it:
“I enjoy it. I really enjoy it. All of this is philosophically driven. There’s no tax motivation,” Saxe says, referring to statutes that allow people to deduct donations from their income taxes. “If the tax law changed tomorrow … I would still do the same thing.”
This isn’t a post about a new trend being chronicled on the front page of a major newspaper – at least I hope it’s not a trend – but my personal cautionary tale about looking for a new vehicle using the “cash for clunkers” government rebate and dealing with a sleazy car dealership. (more…)
Joel Kotkin is one of my favorite urbanists, and here he does a take-down on the usual “best cities” lists such as those recently published by The Economist [sub. req], Monocle, and Mercer. He notes a problem with the criteria: in each, the survey tilts heavily toward compact places in prosperous areas with good mass transit, cultural institutions, with few children and fewer poor people. In other words, the criteria tilt toward the sort of quiet, beautiful places in which the editors would like to retire. He then offers a contrary view:
It seems to me what makes for great cities in history are not measurements of safety, sanitation or homogeneity but economic growth, cultural diversity and social dynamism. A great city, as Rene Descartes wrote of 17th century Amsterdam, should be “an inventory of the possible,” a place of imagination that attracts ambitious migrants, families and entrepreneurs. Such places are aspirational — they draw people not for a restful visit or elegant repast but to achieve some sort of upward mobility.
He then goes on to give as examples Los Angeles, Shanghai, Mumbai, and… Houston.
Joel, we’ve got to talk.
About two months ago, I called Shauna Glenn my new favorite writer. I’m a sucker for funny stories about marital aids. What can I say? (And to set the record straight, as I had to with Shauna at a recent Dallas Press Club happy hour, she is not my favorite writer, period. Even though she let me have one of her cheese fries. No, she was my new favorite writer back in May. I’m fickle and have moved on. Shauna and I are working through this difficult period in our relationship.) In any case, if you are similarly entertained by people who write saucy things, you ought to stop by Legacy Books tomorrow at 7 p.m., when Shauna will read from her book Heaping Spoonful.
Most local legislative races don’t receive much attention, but House District 108, now represented by Dan Branch, encompasses the power centers of University Park, Highland Park, and downtown Dallas. By power center, I mean money center, because in politics one equals the other. Dan Branch is preparing to run for AG when Greg Abbott steps up to run for Lt. Gov. when David Dewhurst runs for Senate. (Got that?) John Reynolds at the Quorum Report [sub. req.] reported yesterday that former County Judge Keliher is seriously considering a run for the seat in the GOP primary, as is local activist doctor John Gill. Keliher has most recently taken on the leadership of Texas Business for Clean Air, which has been one of her driving passions (warning: as far as I can tell, none of the links on the site work, but maybe that’s just for me). Dr. Gill was a strong campaigner for tort reform.
1. Rick Perry has claimed the state has a $9 billion surplus — without properly thanking the federal government for making that possible. Now he’s getting ready to take some more money from the feds, this time a $1.5 billion loan to cover unemployment claims. The fun part: “[I]t’s unclear when Texas employers will have to pay a much higher tax to repay the loan and rebuild a required $863 million cushion in the unemployment compensation trust fund. A second Texas Workforce Commission official and an outside expert said the brunt of expected higher taxes might not sock employers until 2011, after the worst of the recession passes and well past the March primary for Gov. Rick Perry.” Genius.
2. From now on, I’m borrowing a page out of plan commissioner D’Angelo Lee’s playbook (according to what Bill Fisher testified yesterday in the City Hall corruption trial). Let’s say I’m interviewing a subject for a story, and let’s say the subject happens to be wearing some really nice pants. I’ll say, “Your pants are tight. I’m a 34 waist.” (Do people still use “tight” to mean “sweet”? Follow-up question: am I deluding myself into thinking I’m a 34 waist?)
3. Fifty-year-old Harvey Ray Moss is the new worst person on the planet. Because he locked his 21-year-old mentally disabled girlfriend in the back of a hot truck, where she was nearly overcome by heat exhaustion. Unbelievable.