Articles for December, 2009
Programming Note: Magazine People to Cough on KERA
Today at 1, Zac, Jason, and I will get to spend some quality time with Krys Boyd in the studio, for the second hour of Think. We’ll be chatting about the January issue, aka our 35th anniversary issue. But we’ll also be coughing. From what I can tell, Jason appears healthy. But Zac and I are both getting over a respiratory bug that Krista infected us with. I think in medical terms, we have what’s termed a “productive cough.” There’s a joke here to make about being phlegmatic. I’ll try to have it worked out by the time we go on the air. (P.S. We were a last-minute replacement for a guest that canceled. We’ll try not to let that affect our interview.)
Texas Bars Atheists From Public Office
The Lubbock Avalanche Journal reminds us that the Texas Constitution bars atheists from holding public office. It’s never really been used to keep someone out of office, nor is it likely that any court would uphold it.
But the reason that the law professors give for why it’s still on the books — that the legislature doesn’t want to waste any time on it — doesn’t seem much of an excuse. We’re not talking about the U.S. Constitution, which has been amended only 27 times in 220 years. The Texas Constitution has been amended more than 450 times in just 133 years. It’s not some sacred text that we only rarely change.
Which, come to think it, again raises the question, if our constitution is so narrowly written that it requires our government to constantly make amendments, maybe we need a wholesale rewrite?
It’s An Old-Fashioned Christmas in Highland Park
Growing up on a Panhandle farm during the Depression, my mom used to say, she and her siblings would be ecstatic to find an orange in their stockings Christmas morning. It’s not exactly fruit time yet in Highland Park, but,according to Harry Yianitsas of Deno’s shoe repair there, inconspicuous consumption is the watchword this season.
Harry tells about a guy who took a $60,000 necklace from a local jeweler home to his wife, who promptly told him to return it because, even though they could afford it, hanging 60 grand around her neck wouldn’t be appropriate given the still-struggling economy. Harry’s also seeing men bring in expensive shoes–including one suede pair costing $800–that have been intentionally roughed up to make them look old.
Three years ago, I gave my better half a $2,000 pair of boots from Neiman’s for Christmas; this year, we’ve agreed to give each other next to nothing. Sure hope she likes oranges.
North Texas: Not as Bloodthirsty as We Were
Nite Davis, owner of the now-defunct X-treme Championship Wrestling, waxes poetic about the close of his Denton County show:
“Wrestling is not what it was. The heart is missing, and the atmosphere has changed,” Davis said. “There are not enough bloodthirsty fans or bloodthirsty guys [wrestlers]. … The bland factor is disheartening.”
Rod Dreher’s Dallas Digs Look Kind of Crunchy
Yesterday the Dallas Morning News/Beliefnet blogger published his last Dallas column. But when I first heard Rod was leaving Big D, here’s all I wanted to know: who’s listing it, and how much?
Leading Off (12/21/2009)
1. Do you like golf? How about alcohol? Are you a good manager? Do you appreciate rubbing shoulders with city officials? Would you like to own stuff with them? If you’ve answered yes to any of those questions, you should talk to Ronny Glanton about how to become him. He’s one of the owners of Sherrill Park Municipal Golf Club, friend to many City Council folks, golf pro, and president of Ronny Glanton Inc., which is responsible for alcohol sales at the club. Critics say there’s a lot of funny business going on at that place. I say, there’s nothing funny about earning $300K. Or maybe there is. Ask Glanton.
2. Who knew Rockwall County was such a hotbed for political discourse? Okay, maybe a lot of people know that. The DMN says it has some of the “most ardent Tea Party patriots” in the area. (What does that mean, exactly? They listen the hardest to Glenn Beck? But I digress.) Local businessman Ken Sterling has his own way of furthering the conversation about what’s going on in Washington–he’s now offering a Nobel Peace Prize free with any oil change. Auto center manager Cliff Payne has the best quote of the day: “People over 35 notice it more than younger people. I think they understand it better.”
3. Sometimes you’re at a moral crossroads. You don’t know if you should open a golf club with some of your pals from City Council and fudge the rules on selling booze. Maybe you want to get an oil change at a certain place–the price is really, really good–but you’re not old enough to really appreciate the political satire happening in the establishment. Life is hard. You know who can help? WFAA Channel 8’s John McCaa. It makes me happy.
MystiQal Is Cancelled. Christmas Still On.
Remember MystiQal, the Mardi Gras celebration held in Victory Park and the West End? Word has come down that the 2010 installment will not happen. Tracy Martin Taylor, the publisher of Quick and FD Luxe, and the GM over arts and entertainment for the DMN, sent word to her staff yesterday that the plug was being pulled:
We have decided not to execute MystiQal in 2010 and resume the event in 2011. There are many factors that lead to this decision but ultimately I believe going dark in 2010 supports our long term event strategy more than executing it in a way that I feel hurts the brand that has been built over the past two years.
Currently there is no plan to make a public announcement as that would likely only draw negative attention and again, my goal is to preserve the reputation that has been built. However, we do need to address any clients pending. Below are the reasons that support the decision and feel free to share them with your pending clients.
MystiQal 2010 is competing with
1. The NBA All-Stars in the market during the same time frame thus causing us to move our date
2. The Super Bowl is the day following our event (If the Saints are in it, that will be a huge draw from our market/event)
3. Event sponsorship dollars are being stretched across all of these high profile events
4. Our promotional window has been tightened thus giving us less time to drive the crowd we are used to hosting
Tightening promotional windows can be a real bear. But No. 3, seems to me, comes closest to telling the story. They don’t do MystiQal out of the goodness of their hearts. They do it to make money. If there aren’t enough sponsorships to support it, then the bon temps won’t rouler. Here’s hoping 2011 is fatter.
Dreher Asks Divine Help to ‘Stomp’ Cowboys
Beliefnet’s Rod Dreher is out with a piece today urging readers to “ask the Blessed Mother to help the Saints stomp a mudhole in the Cowboys this weekend.” Ouch. I mean, is nothing sacred?
Destruction of the HP Village Theater
The Park Cities People blog, Overheard, has photos of the demolition of the insides of the Village Theater in progress at Highland Park Village.
Landmark, which runs the Magnolia and the Inwood, is taking over the theater. They’re going to add a cafe that will have seating right up on top of the marquee.
They did a great job with the redo of the Inwood, so I’m looking forward to the new look, which will open in May. I say that even though I once opined that HP Village could have made better use of the space when Regent Entertainment left.
Jaap Sidelined for New Year’s Concert
First it was DeMarcus Ware. Now another Dallas hero has had a run in with the meds. Dallas Symphony Orchestra Music Director Jaap Van Zweden will miss this year’s New Year’s Concert Celebration due to a shoulder injury. British-born conductor James Judd has been called off the bench to step in for the Dutch conductor. A full release is after the jump.
Hank Stuever on the Late Late Show
If you heard Hank Stuever, the author of Tinsel, on Think last month, or have read his book about Christmas in Frisco, there isn’t much new in this interview. It aired last night on the Late Late Show. Craig Ferguson gets in a good dig at Twitter, though, or as he calls it “the tweety birds.”
Dallas Reads the New York Times
An alert FrontBurnervian points us to the below video, created by the smart folks at the NYT. It shows the source of traffic to their website on the day Michael Jackson died. Notice the red hotspot in North Texas.
Starbucks Baristas Strike in Fort Worth
Hey Glenn, so those Starbucks baristas from Hilton Head? Looks like they might need the tips after all. They were on strike this morning (sort of) at one location in Fort Worth:
“We’ve had enough. Baristas should not be forced to expose customers to H1N1 or other contagions and stay sick longer, just in order to be able to make the money they need to support their families and pay astronomical health care costs. We’re making $7.30/hr., that’s a nickel above minimum wage,” said IWW Barista Michelle Cahill.
But all they did was shut down the drive-thru?
Main Street Garden is Better Than a B12 Shot
Sure it’s not all it will be yet. Still, not a bad view while you’re eating a sandwich on a sunny day. The Statler Hilton isn’t as ugly as I remembered.
But. (more…)
Meet Peter Simek, the FNG
You’ve now seen a couple posts from him, so it’s time to formally introduce Peter Simek to the FrontBurner Nation. Peter is a boomerang baby. He used to work at People Newspapers, where he helped launch Oak Cliff People. Then he left us to work someplace where I imagine they made him wear a tie. In his spare time, he launched something called Renegade Bus. What happened was, Wick came to work one day in a foul mood. He wanted to kill something. So I said, “Hire Peter Simek. That’ll be like when they blew up Alderaan with the Death Star. Debris everywhere.” So that’s what Wick did. Peter started work here on Monday. On his first day, he kicked our copy editor out of her desk, using the same philosophy he learned in jail. You know, find the biggest guy and punch him in the mouth. Let everyone know right away that you’re a badass. Ostensibly, Peter will be covering the arts for us, but really he’ll be keeping an eye on my cellphone, which I tend to leave in the bathroom when I’ve been playing poker on it. Peter did not get a B12 shot today. Loser.
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