Articles for April 21st, 2010
Special BridalBuzz Crossover: Tim Rogers and Troy Aikman Announce Engagement
The happy couple is registered at ACME Brick, WingStop, and the Press Box Grill.
And By The Way, James Ragland
Dallas Morning News Metro columnist James Ragland has written both a blog post and a column about Angela Hunt’s new baby girl, Audrey Belle. However, both times he refers to her husband, Paul, as Paul Hunt. The baby, he says, is Audrey Belle Hunt.
Only problem? A quick Google search got me this post, and a DCAD perusal also showed the same thing: Paul’s last name is Sims. Even a quick search of the Baylor Babies page shows an Audrey S. was born to Angela H.
So how did the column make it past the copy desk?
Former Cowboys Kick It at the Crescent Club to Celebrate D Magazine’s Special Super Bowl Issue
My takeaway: Staubach is strikingly smaller than Aikman. It’s hard to believe they played the same position. Of course, Aikman was bigger than everyone else in the room. That guy really is a giant. Staubach, it should be noted, still believes he could play in the NFL. I may be exaggerating. But not much. He says he still has a strong arm. I know a Navy guy who played a game of touch football recently with Staubach. He confirms it: Staubach has a cannon. And Drew Pearson? Solid mustache. Friendly fellow. Did you know he’s got a son at Jesuit, and that he doesn’t play any sports? It’s true. Kid plays the violin instead.
You want some pics from the party? Here are a few courtesy of Matt Shelley. (Clockwise: Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief and wife Rosie, with Wick; Bob Lilly Jr., Mickey and Bill Lively; Ted Skokos, Roger Staubach, and Daryl Johnston.)
Steve Blow Now Reads the Internet
Have a look at this post by Steve Blow on the paper’s Metro blog. He has now read the posts on Unfair Park and here on FrontBurner about him. You know why? Because fellow columnist James Ragland alerted him to their existence. Blow says he’s a “hit-or-miss browser of the blogosphere” because he doesn’t have the time to keep up. Okay. I can see taking that stance. Fiddling around online isn’t how a real journalist ought to be spending his time. The stories happen out there, in the city. Get out from behind the screen. Spend some time with the people. Makes sense.
But it’s Wednesday. Jim Schutze made his predictions about Blow weeks ago. Then, when the prediction came true, Schutze roundly mocked Blow on Monday. I’ll buy that Blow missed all this because he was out scribbling in his notebook, away from his computer. But does Blow not have any friends or co-workers who have computers? No one sent him an e-mail saying, “Hey, dude, Schutze totally pwned you. Here’s the link”? It must be quite something to go through life that blissfully unconnected. I mean that.
You know how I came across that post by Blow on the Metro blog? A reader — someone I don’t know — sent it to me. Hours after it went up. Just because the post mentioned FrontBurner.
So does Steve Blow not have any readers? Or do none of his readers have computers? I’m still trying to wrap my head around this.
Dick Reavis’ New Book Gets Good Pub
A certain segment of our readers will know the name Dick Reavis. He’s a professor now at North Carolina State, but he used to live in Dallas. Great writer. I’m sure it doesn’t appear at the top of he résumé, but once upon a time, he even wrote a story for the dearly departed Met that detailed how he walked into a standoff between the Montana Freemen and the FBI, armed with nothing but the book he’d written about the Branch Davidians (literally holding that book in front of him as he walked toward their compound). For that assignment, Dick borrowed my then very state of the art PowerBook 160, which I feared would be a casualty of the enterprise. Also probably not on his résumé: dude rocks a serious mustache.
Anyway, he’s got a new book out called Catching Out: The Secret Lives of Day Laborers, about his experience in that line of work. It’s getting some good pub. You might want to give it a look. (Unless you’re former D Magazine contributing editor Craig Hanley, in which case maybe you should steer clear of the book lest you kick yourself so hard that you require medical attention, because you had the same idea two years ago and didn’t get a book deal out of it.)
Today Is National Administrative Professionals Day Even Here in Dallas
If your boss didn’t take you to lunch today, you might suggest s/he read this post. Then provide them with the phone number of your favorite florist, jeweler or temp service.
Rick Perry Makes List of Worsts
So, as FOF already pointed out, Rick Perry made certain list. To cover all possible opinions that will be expressed about this, I will write this:
Some fair and balanced organization with no ax to grind/pinko commie liberal bunch of Washington insiders/never heard of ‘em/Citizens for Reform and Ethics in Washington released its piece of shoddy partisan workmanship/yuck monkey diatribe ghostwritten by Nancy Pelosi/completely true/report on the Worst Governors.
Our esteemed/hated/so awesome/secede already governor, Rick Perry, made the list. I am sad/happy/incredulous/meh about that.
What To Do In Dallas Tonight: April 21, 2010
It’s a big deal that veteran actor Jeffrey DeMunn is acting as Willy Loman in the Dallas Theater Center’s production of Death of a Salesman. But after last fall’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, I’m more excited to see DTC resident members Cedric Neal and Liz Mikel. If you saw it too, you’ll remember Mikel’s mesmerizing and voluptuous Titania, and Neal’s energetic Puck. These two return to the stage for a performance that will trade neon spray paint and song-and-dance numbers for flashbacks and disappointment in loved ones, but should be memorable nonetheless.
After the show, it’s a short walk to Samar for their Under the Stars Night. From 8-11 pm they’ve got drink specials (try the $5 sangria), free meze (pimientos de padron, please) and half-price hookah. Last time we lunched at Samar, chef Pyles himself was hogging the hookah. Grab him if you see him for a demo.
Ebby Touts a Texas Republic
The Guv may have tamped down the Texas secession talk a little. But you know who hasn’t? Ebby Halliday. Says the 99-year-old mega-Realtor: “If things get worse in Washington, we can always secede. We have the legal right to … and we have the resources that we’d get along pretty well as a republic.” Ebby’s quoted in the latest issue of D CEO magazine, a snippet from a longer interview she gave David Johnson on KRLD-AM (1080).
Dallas Court the Scene for Precedent-setting Gay Divorce Case
Today at 2 p.m. the case involving two gay Texas men who married in Massachusetts, but now want a divorce will be heard at the George Allen Courthouse. Last fall, family court judge Tena Callahan ruled that the divorce should be granted under the federal constitution, which guarantees equal protection for all. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott is arguing that Texas doesn’t recognize the marriage, so it can’t recognize the divorce.
The solution to avoiding more of these cases is kind of clear, at least to me: Relegate marriage and the ceremony that goes with it to the purview of the church, and relegate the legal end of it to the government. Civil unions for everyone, which can be dissolved just like any other business arrangement. How you dissolve your religious marriage is up to the individual church.
Why is this so distasteful to people?
Eric Celeste Violates Campaign Fundraising Laws
(Quick aside: were you aware that Dallas Blog is still up and running? I know. I was surprised, too.) Over on Dallas Blog, Tom McGregor raises some tough questions about how Eric Celeste, DA Craig Watkins’ communication director, is conducting his business. McGregor implies that Celeste violated campaign fundraising laws by sending out an e-mail on behalf of Watkins that appears to carry the endorsements of Twitter and Facebook. I’m aghast. And I agree with McGregor. The FBI, Texas Attorney General, Texas Ethics Commission, Federal Election Commission, and the U.S. Justice Department need to look into Celeste’s activities immediately. (Full disclosure: Celeste ate spring rolls at my house Sunday night.)
Why Is Dallas About Half The Size of Chicago?
Welcome to Zipf’s Law, which I don’t pretend to understand:
The law claims that the number of people in a city is inversely proportional to the city’s rank among all cities. In other words, the biggest city is about twice the size of the second biggest city, three times the size of the third biggest city…
I leave it to our more statistically minded FrontBurnervians to explain.
Leading Off (4/21/10)
1. At the SMU Athletic Forum yesterday, Jerry Jones blamed Laura Miller for nixing the Cowboys Stadium in Dallas. And he said she got a little handsy in doing so, repeatedly patting him on the knee. The issue, we can all agree, is what happened in that small, less than 5-foot-wide, single-commode bathroom.
2. The city is considering a $54 million redo of Industrial — excuse me — Riverfront Boulevard. There are just a few hurdles: no one is sure where all the money will come from. The feds may yet tell us that Riverfront is where the toll road ought to go, meaning if we did find the $54 million to do the project, we might have to undo it. Oh, and this beautification effort doesn’t seem to account for the fact that there’s a big jail smack dab in the middle of what we’re trying to gussy up. Damn the torpedoes. Full speed ahead.
3. Of all the possible reasons one might object to the construction of the Bush library, the stupidest has to be that it will displace a colony of feral cats. I mean, seriously, people. If they were feral children, you might have a legitimate beef. But cats?
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