Articles for December, 2009
Bob’s Steak & Chop House Gets a New Lease on Life
Bob Sambol will continue to operate Bob’s Steak & Chop House. The judge just approved the new deal.
The Recent Odd Mix of Observer Cover Stories
Last Thursday, when I picked up a copy of the Dallas Observer, I was nonplussed by its cover story, which was about a guy in Scottsdale, Arizona, who buys art at estate sales and the like and resells it. The story itself was fine enough, but I kept waiting for it to have something — anything — to do with Dallas. It didn’t. The story reminded me of the cover story from a few weeks back about the financial collapse, which also had nothing to do with Dallas (well, not directly, at least). I asked the paper’s managing editor, Patrick Williams, what was going on. The paper is owned by Village Voice Media, formerly New Times, based in Phoenix. I know that in the past, the folks in Phoenix have dictated that certain stories run chain-wide. I asked Williams if that same sort of direction had resulted in these non-Dallas stories. Williams said:
Kay Granger Feeling the Heat
She should. As a loyal acolyte of Jerry Lewis (R., Ca.), the often-investigated-but-never-indicted former chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Granger never saw a spending bill or an earmark she didn’t like while the GOP ran Congress. Now, of course, she’s a reincarnated fiscal conservative. But ‘better late than never’ may not be the best slogan for next year’s Republican primary.
On Friday, engineer and energy-company owner Mike Brasovan filed against her. I talked with Brasovan a couple of weeks ago when I heard he was considering the race. Why is he running? “She’s a pork-barrel spender. Never in 13 years has she offered any leadership on the things that count.” Brasovan says he’s been considering the race for “4 or 5 years” as he watched Granger’s performance. He figures that his grass-roots support will mean he’ll only need a half million or so to win the race.
Is that realistic? Can a tea-partier with no political experience knock off an established incumbent? Today’s poll from Rasmussen seems to indicate it’s doable.
John Goodman: Doctors’ Comp Is Stupid
The head of the Dallas-based National Center for Policy Analysis compares how we pay doctors to how we pay lawyers.
Cue Cat, Part Deux: Rise of the Qyoo
NBC 5 saw fit to run an infomercial for a smart-phone application called “Qyoo” that’s being touted as the next big thing by an outfit in Uptown. It reads 2D barcodes off just about anything and can instantaneously link a smart phone to a website or a video to bring more information to the user. If Qyoo is reminding you of the CueCat, you’re not alone.
The blogger Alexander Muse makes a pretty convincing case that Qyoo isn’t likely to catch on, especially since there are others giving away the same technology for free. Here is a “QR code,” for an earlier Frontburner post, created in less than a minute :
By the by, the Channel 5 report says that Qyoo is being designed by a “Brit, a Brain, and Bohemian.” If you watch their video, can you explain to me what makes the Bohemian a Bohemian, besides the fact, maybe, that he’s a young guy with a beard wearing coffee-shop glasses?
Crystal Charity’s Bond Girl?
Who is this lovely thing and why did she stop traffic at Crystal Charity Ball’s “License to Thrill” on Saturday night? SweetCharity has the answer.
George Michael on Sex, Drugs … and Kenny Goss
Singer George Michael has put out some great music in his career. But these days he seems to be focusing on, well, alternative activities. In this remarkably candid interview, the ex-Wham!-ster talks about his freewheeling life with boy-pal Kenny Goss, of Dallas’ Goss-Michael Foundation. (Warning: Better not read if you’re offended by drug-taking and anonymous sex–and lots of both.)
Detroit Civic Fund Pays For Southlake House
North Texas resident, and disgraced former Detroit Mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, is in a courtroom back in Michigan this morning, answering questions about his finances in a hearing about restitution he may owe the city of Detroit.
The Detroit Free Press is live blogging the proceedings. It’s the first time I’ve heard a large house in Southlake described as “transitional housing.”
Kilpatrick just admitted that the nonprofit Kilpatrick Civic Fund — established for voter education and to improve Detroit’s neighborhoods — was used to pay for Kilpatrick’s home in Texas.
Referring to the fund’s board, Kilpatrick said: “They had a meeting and decided that because I was the lead fund-raiser for this organization and because I was out of a job, they agreed they would pay for some moving expenses … and for some transitional housing, short -term.”
Who Wants to Blow Up Texas Stadium?
A “major food company” is bidding for the right to blow up Texas Stadium. Saturday’s DMN article says the identity of the company is a closely guarded secret.
We know the bidder is represented by Hunter Public Relations. The DMN mentions that Hunter represents Kraft Foods and Kellogg’s, but the firm represents several other food companies as well, including Mrs. T’s Pierogies.
But what about Campbell’s Chunky Soup, another Hunter client, and “the official soup and chili sponsor of the NFL?”
Leading Off (12/7/09)
1. Need a break from work this week? Why not visit the county clinic? The county health department is offering free H1N1 vaccines to anybody and everybody all week at its three walk-in clinics. I like free.
2. Add this to the list of things that won’t shock you. Not every school offers the same amount of AP classes. If your kid goes to school in Plano or Highland Park, she’ll have maybe 30 subjects to choose from. If she goes somewhere in DISD, she might have a choice of only eight. Here’s something that is kind of surprising though: according to the Dallas Morning News, “54 percent of AP exams taken by Texas public high school students this year received failing scores–even higher than the national failure rate.”
3. WFAA Channel 8 aired a disturbing little story last night. Apparently, in addition to swiping your high-def television, thieves are also taking off with Fido. Seems like it would be difficult to pull off too many of these heists in one swoop unless the burglar doubles as a dog catcher or has a really big car with plenty of room for both the booty and the beagles (or Goldens or what have you). This story bothered me a whole bunch, and I’ve devoted far too much thought to debunking it because I don’t like the thought of petnapping one bit.
Property Giant Henry S. Miller Jr. Dies
Dallas real estate titan Henry S. Miller Jr., who mentored everyone in the property business from Roger Staubach and Virginia Cook to Herb Weitzman, died earlier today at the age of 95. Steve Brown and SweetCharity have the details.
At the DMN Sales Folk Rule the Roost, Ctd.
Jason, who used to work at Belo, brings good perspective. Meanwhile Jim Moroney III is doing damage control. I don’t think the brass saw how this reorganization would be perceived by the outside world. His memo to the staff from late this afternoon is after the jump. The crux of his note, as he puts it: “We are convinced that news and information delivered digitally needs to be disaggregated.” Oh, well. When you put it that way ….
At the DMN, Sales Folk Rule the Roost Ctd., Ctd.
The consensus around the InterWeb seems to be that the Dallas Morning News has breached a sacred institution with its reorganization. It’s extreme to say that the move is a sign that the paper will become a “glorified Greensheet,” as the Huffington Post claims. The most interesting commentary came from Jim Barnett at the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University, who writes, “as I thought about it a little more, it occurred to me that this is really just another case of the dead-tree news business trying to catch up to what’s going on in the online world.”
At some point in the management structure of all newspapers, an editor reports to someone whose primary concern is generating revenue. That’s usually the publisher, and the publisher more often than not is a former sales manager. All that’s different in what the Morning News is doing is that they’re pushing that publisher-editor relationship down to lower levels of the org chart. (more…)
Burning Man Begot Neiman’s Cupcakes
I love learning that the cupcake cars, which got top billing in most news stories about this year’s Neiman Marcus Christmas Book, were originally designed as a costume for Burning Man.
No one has yet purchased one of the gussied-up motorized wheelchairs, which are priced at $25,000. More from Forbes.com:
Home |
Masthead |
News from D |
About Us |
Contact Us |
Subscribe |
Advertise |
Privacy Policy |
Customer Service |
Awards | Archives | Reprints | d custom | Jobs | Advertiser's Index
Awards | Archives | Reprints | d custom | Jobs | Advertiser's Index