Articles for April, 2010
Kevin Bumgarner Scoreboards Dallas Business Journal
You remember Kevin Bumgarner. He was the editor of the Dallas Business Journal until recently. He left under unhappy conditions. The publisher, Lisa Bormaster, didn’t have much to say about it at the time. Well, now comes news that Bumgarner has landed at the Pacific Business News. That’s a newspaper based in Honolulu. Don’t know if you’ve been to Honolulu. I haven’t. But I think it has better weather than Dallas does. Here’s what I find interesting about the move: the Pacific Business News is owned by American City Business Journals, the same outfit that owns the Dallas Business Journal. So why would a company fire a guy at one of its papers and then hire him at another where the weather is better? In any case, Bumgarner wins.
Dallas Auto Sales Up 30%
Is this pent-up demand? Were there big incentives? Or can we start pretending that the Great Recession is over?
Bill Simmons Picks Mavs To Go to Finals
Zac’s not in today, so I’ll have to be the one to tell you (if you haven’t heard already) that ESPN’s Bill Simmons has picked the Mavs to make the Finals. Zac would have some salient analysis for you, telling you why he either does or does not dig Simmons’ reasoning. All I can tell you is this: as a casual Mavs fan who has watched probably only 10 Mavs games this season in their entirety (and all of those on TV), my eyes and my basketball pants are now squarely focused on Dirk and his fellow dribblers.
Spurs suck.
Gene and Jerry Turn Out for Chapman
A number of familiar Dallas names showed up earlier this week when radio legend Ron Chapman was inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters’ Broadcasting Hall of Fame. Jody Dean, for instance; Suzie Humphreys; Jack Schell. But the two who “stunned” and “blew me away,” Chapman says, were Gene and Jerry Jones, who jetted in for the luncheon event at the 2010 NAB Show Tuesday in Las Vegas.
Chapman, who helped make KVIL-FM the flagship station for Jones’ Dallas Cowboys in the 1990s, took his place in the broadcasters’ hall alongside such names as Dick Clark, Casey Kasem, Wolfman Jack, Jack Benny, Arthur Godfrey … and Walter Cronkite. “With all due respect to the NAB, I think [putting me on the same list as Walter Cronkite] is just wrong,” the Dallas icon joked in his remarks to the big crowd. “That’s like putting Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn on the same list with Britney Spears. Though all three have spent time in front of the camera, some of that was for mug shots.”
Behind the Scenes at D Magazine: The Wall of Wick
I just returned from a pleasant visit up to the second floor of our offices to chat with a salesperson. They are good people up there. Give one of them a call. Buy an ad. You’ll see. Anyway, en route back to my desk, I noticed a new installation in the hallway. One entire wall has been covered with carefully placed velcro strips to which apparently will be affixed about 500 pictures of Wick. Feels a little North Korea-y. I like it.
DA Craig Watkins Goes Off the Rails, Hires Eric Celeste
Loyal FrontBurnervians know that Eric Celeste left D Magazine about a week ago to strike out on his own. Several of you have asked me to clarify what, exactly, “striking out on his own” meant. What was the cat going to do? “I’m not real sure,” I’d say. “He’ll shoot his finger guns. Put out fires. Get a lot of stuff on his plate. That kind of thing.”
Well, now I can be more specific — at least about Eric’s first client. In this very exclusive breaking-news post, I can tell you that District Attorney Craig Watkins has hired Eric as the communications director for his campaign. Right now, Jonathan Neerman is wiping tears of laughter from his eyes and trying to see the buttons on his phone so he can call Danny Clancy to pick a venue for the Republican victory party on election night.
If you want to send Watkins your sympathies, you can reach him through his communications director at eric.celeste@craigwatkins.org.
Dance Appreciation 101 on FrontRow
Indulge me in a little indulgence here: I am so proud of the writers we have on FrontRow. Case in point: Danna Reubin’s review of the Dallas Black Theater’s performance last night (repeats tonight at the W. E. Scott Theatre in Fort Worth). I’m the first to admit an embarrassingly limited knowledge about dance: how to look at it, think about it, appreciate it. Like opera, it is one of those magnificent art forms that to the vast majority of people sounds like an excruciating bore. But reading Reubin’s reviews is like attending a class on how to watch – how to perceive movement on stage.
The curtain opened to reveal a lean female figure seated on a simple brown folding chair, center stage in a pool of white light. The piano notes drift through the auditorium as the dancer imitates these notes with her fingers. She seems vulnerable, her legs and arms flailing about as if detached from her torso somehow; she is unaware she’s being watched. In the end, as if caught off guard, she looks out into the audience, waves, and smiles.
After reading the piece, I couldn’t think of a sexier, more invigorating way to spend a Friday night. There, indulgence satisfied. Thanks for your patience.
A.H. Belo Is Back From The Brink
It was a close call. A year and a half ago, I wondered aloud whether the company would survive: its cash condition was perilous. Since then, management has done everything right, as evidenced by the latest 10-K filing. Circulation is down, and circulation revenue is up. Lower circulation means substantionally lower printing and delivery costs. Net operating profit — derived by removing non-cash items like impairment costs, depreciation, and amortization – looks to be about $33 million on revenue of $518 million, for a net margin of 6.4%. From studying the figures, it appears to me Belo has nowhere to go but up. The only risk factor is higher newsprint costs, but even that would not be a big deal. If it starts to regain some of the 30% it has lost in advertising over the past two years, things could be rosy indeed. (I don’t expect it all to come back; lower circulation means lower ad rates.)
Here’s the thing: I think the News is a better paper than it was before the offal hit the fan. Judging from the signifcantly increased prices it is getting from subscribers, a lot of people in Dallas agree with me.
UPDATE: Once again, the DBJ gets the story completely wrong. Don’t they teach these business reporters how to read a financial statement? Wouldn’t the market’s reaction give them a hint?
“Alice From Dallas”
Unfortunately, the folks at Sideshow World don’t tell us which carnival or freak show she appeared in. However, she had to be a good attra
ction to get her own promotional banner. Or was Alice Of Dallas a competitor?
It shows how our perspective on “oversized” people has changed that people used to pay good money to see Alice. I think I sat next to one of her granddaughters on my last flight.
Bank in Mockingbird Kroger Robbed by Patient Guy with a Bag
So have you heard of Nixle? Because it’s kind of awesome. Instead of waiting around for someone like me to tell you there was a bank robbery at the First Convenience Bank located inside the Mockingbird Kroger, you get a text message and an e-mail from the Dallas Police Department telling you.
In this case, the guy waited in line, then opened a bag and asked for cash. And the teller gave it to him. But he also gave them a perfect photo of his face, so I’m thinking his time as a free man is limited.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Dallas Field Office of the FBI at (972) 559-5000 or the Dallas Police Department Special Investigations Unit at (214) 671-3661.
Also: Where is Avi Adelman when you need him?
Leading Off (4/16/10)
1. Bill Parcells is not in the least bit upset with Jerry Jones, even though Jones allegedly told some guys that he only hired Parcells so he could get a giant stagium, and those guys taped it and gave it away to Deadspin. He’s even told NorthJersey.com he’s still a 214 boy at heart.
2. Call me cheap, but when I finally did my taxes yesterday and found out I was getting a $12 refund, but it would cost me $23 to e-file, I opted to spend 44 cents instead. I didn’t go to the main post office, where everyone else apparently did, but instead went to the Northwest Highway location because the USPS Web site said its last collection was 5:30, much to the surprise of the postal workers there, who believe the last collection is 5 p.m. Tears and begging work, as does a mob of angry people standing behind you, by the way.
3. You know who you don’t get angry? Pregnant people. So Baylor’s decision to close its labor and delivery ward at its Waxahachie hospital to enlarge its ER? Well, let’s just say people are a little riled up.
4. The teaming up of the City of Dallas and The Hartford to take a day and fix Dallas’ most egregious potholes was deemed a success, and Mayor Tom Leppert said he’d like to see similar partnerships elsewhere. Who wants to find one for this?
5. Justice of the Peace Luis Sepulveda lost his bid for re-election in the primary, to Carlos Medrano, he of the Medrano family that has several members in politics, including Dallas City Council member Pauline Medrano. Sepulveda pretty much immediately began saying there was voter fraud, and now these WFAA reports look kinda damning.
Local Angler Weighs in on Felony Fish Weighting
To say there are a few things fishy about today’s DMN interview with convicted felony fish weighter and tournament bass fisherman Robby Rose is an understatement … and a pun.
I’m not referring to the fine reporting work done in the story. No, my “Really!?!” questions have more to do with Rose’s explanation for why he chose to place a 1-pound weight in a 9-pound fish when, according to my sources, a 10-pounder had been recorded within the first hour of the tournament.
Rose says that the fish was big enough for second place before he weighted it and that adding the illegal pound didn’t make it a winner.
“Second place was mine to do with as I pleased,” Rose said.
From everything I’ve read and heard, placing a weight that size in a fish is a sure fire way to get caught. So, what drives an angler to do something, so out of sink, to win a mid-level bass tournament and $55,000 bass boat?
Jump with me into the murky waters of bass tournament fishing as we look for answers with Jay Messersmith, tournament director for the Ray Hubbard Fishing Club.
(more…)
Where Exactly Did Food Poisoned Rangers Eat?
First came word that pitcher C.J. Wilson would be a scratch for today’s game against the Indians because of food poisoning. Then we find out that Taylor Teagarden, Darren O’Day, bullpen catcher Josh Frasier and conditioning coach Jose Vazquez also have food poisoning.
I had to look at about five different sources, though, to find out where they all ate. Something tells me the visitor’s clubhouse at Progressive Field won’t be getting a glowing recommendation on Yelp anytime soon.
Sabotage?
Mavericks vs. Spurs (Again): Who Ya Got?
So, here we are, again — Mavericks, Spurs, Dirk, Duncan, etc. It’s almost like it isn’t the playoffs without it. Things kick off Sunday night at the American Airlines Center. I’ll be there, in Section 319, with “MA” painted on my chest. (Eric Celeste — remember him? — is tentatively scheduled to provide the “VS.”) Comments have been helpfully turned on for your predictions. Mine? Mavs in three. (Impromptu rule change — long story.) Also, keep an eye on Rob Mahoney’s great The Two Man Game blog, where yrs truly will be participating in a little Mavs roundtable in the coming days.
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