Articles for May, 2010
How Did Dallas TV Series Brand the City of Dallas?
This e-mail came across the information super-cliche to me this morning. I leave the question to you, FrontBurner Nation:
I am a Texan at London’s Central Saint Martins, MA Design Studies researching the topic “How did the television series Dallas brand a city?”.
As with all MA level research it is pertinent to gain professional feedback in hopes of pushing development depths towards less obvious methods beyond initial investigation. Whilst I am conducting market research test groups internationally based on Ipsos’ theory, internal views are an essential component to discovery.
I would be grateful if you would please share your thoughts regarding the series impact on the city, the current Dallas and reversing common misconceptions of the city.
What To Do in Dallas Tonight: May 17, 2010
Grammy winner Shelby Lynne is performing tonight at the Granada. Lynne is a country rocker and songwriter who is promoting her latest CD, Tears, Lies, and Alibis, and she’s a lot of fun to see in person. Tickets are still available (starting at $17).
If sitting on a patio tonight is more your thing, Toulouse Cafe and Bar has a three-course wine dinner once a month, and it’s happening tonight. It’s a casual thing, meaning you won’t be listening to a presentation or dining with strangers. All you do is make a reservation and get a good value. Three courses, paired with wine, will only set you back $45, and the patio at Toulouse is a great place for people watching (see if you can spot the famous Katy Trail jump roping guy). Dogs are also welcome–not always easy to find around here.
Dallas Mavericks Leading Online Battle to Bring LeBron James to Town
The site — lebrontothemavs.com — is not too complicated. A Twitter feed, a PhotoShopped image of LBJ in a Mavs jersey (looking good!), and a list of reasons why James should come to Dallas. But the best part — EASILY — is “Bron Bron Song,” the short, overly specific (shout-outs to Larry Bird rights and sign-and-trade deals) come-on to King James. It says “you’ll be singing this all day,” and that is truth in advertising, fella.
“No state income tax/So now you can relax/Graduate from the Cuban billionaire training class/Home of Jerry Jones and your favorite Cow Cows/With Dirk and J-Kidd, Bron Bron, you can win right now now.”
Leading Off (5/17/2010)
1. “TxDOT is not in the development business,” says a TxDOT traffic engineer in response to some South Dallas residents’ argument that a rebuilding of S.M. Wright Freeway should also include efforts to revitalize the neighborhood the highway destroyed in the first place. But the engineer is right – highways cutting their way through this city have helped destroy neighborhoods and stifle development for decades. So why would we want to bother our transportation department with having to think about the impact their roads have on the places they go to and cut through?
2. Last year the city struggled to cut $190 million from its budget. This year, even after those cuts, the budget gap is a whopping $130 million, which means those two oh-so-popular options are back on the table: cutting police and raising property taxes.
3. Dwaine Caraway continues to follow the mantra that it is good to be hard on small crimes (baggy pants, scrap metal yards) unless they are the kinds of small crimes Caraway doesn’t think you should be tough on (illegal poker games). But Caraway is getting some heat for the way he avoided normal chains of command and flexed his political might in order to retaliate against parking tickets given outside a house in his district known for hosting poker games.
Harold Simmons Lieutenant, Ctd.
Timothy Gannaway, secretary of a group called Promote Andrews, writes to disagree with Harold Simmons’ claim that most of those protesting Simmons’ West Texas radioactive-waste dump are out-of-staters:
The Lonestar Chapter of the Sierra Club and SEED Coalition (both based in Austin) have long been fighting this facility. Now Andrews’ residents are speaking out against the facility. The non-profit organization Promote Andrews (http://PromoteAndrews.com) has launched a campaign dubbed “Don’t Waste Texas” to help spread awareness about WCS facilities and the plans to import radioactive waste from most other states.
Last month the Andrews Chamber of Commerce and Andrews Economic Development Corporation (both of which receive funding by WCS) launched a campaign called “The Texas Solution” to promote WCS plans (http://TexasSolution.com). This campaign was launched to portray the town as being in-favor of WCS and plans to become the nation’s radioactive waste dump. The parties involved are trying to convince the TLLRWDCC (http://www.tllrwdcc.org) there is no opposition in the community.
FrontBurner After Dark: Conan O’Brien in Dallas at SMU’s McFarlin Auditorium
I’ve decided to speak for all FrontBurner contributors when I say that we’re with Coco. As such, we completely agree that it would have been a travesty had Conan O’Brien allowed NBC to move The Tonight Show back a half-hour. He earned his 10:35 p.m. (Central) show, and we’ve decided to honor his courageous stand by keeping him in that slot here on the blog.
And that’s my official reason for why I’m posting DMagazine.com contributor Ryan Jones’ recap of O’Brien’s May 13 show at SMU’s McFarlin Auditorium at 10:35 p.m. tonight. It’s what Conan would have wanted. Enjoy:
The last time most Conan O’Brien fans caught a glimpse of the once-and-future talk show host, he was dapperly dressed and clean-shaven, wrapping up his final episode of The Tonight Show on January 22. But O’Brien’s “Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour,” which landed at SMU’s McFarlin Auditorium Thursday night, opened with a recorded skit that showed a much different side of the red-headed comedian.
Decked in sweats, O’Brien lay amongst a mountain of pizza boxes and empty beer bottles in his living room. His trademark pompadour had become a tangled mess of orange hair, and his midsection had ballooned up about 40 pounds. The time off had taken its toll.
Let’s Call a Dallas Observer Sex Ad
So I noticed today that the Dallas Observer is 68 pages, 10 of which are sex ads. Henceforth on Fridays I’ll call one and post the audio. Today’s call was placed to New Fine Arts, whose ad proclaims the shop is “your masturbation headquarters” — even though they have three locations. Here’s how that shook out:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Harold Simmons Lieutenant: Andrews Opponents Out to “Shut Down” Nuclear Energy
Early last year, D CEO magazine told the story of businessman Harold Simmons’ years-long campaign to open a low-level radioactive-waste facility in Andrews, Texas. While the Dallas billionaire declined to speak with us for that article, he invited us into his offices at Lincoln Center Wednesday for the Q&A interview that follows on the jump.
Besides spending time defending the controversial project, Simmons–who turned 79 the following day—told us that his public companies have roared back from the recession, and that some now are setting all-time revenue records.
Simmons turned much of the talking Wednesday over to William Lindquist, CEO of Waste Control Specialists LLC, the Simmons company that’s trying to open and run the waste dump in far West Texas. (Both are pictured here, with Simmons at right.) As the Austin American-Statesman reported the other day, a commission run by Texas and Vermont could decide soon whether the WCS site can begin accepting radioactive waste—water filters from nuclear power plants and medical waste from laboratories and hospitals—generated in as many as 36 states.
Perry Campaign Just Got All Social Media Up in Here
So not only does Texans for Perry have a snazzy website and such, but they’ve created a relatively new Twitter account aimed at branding Democratic opponent Bill White as a Giant Liberal.
And then today, they got their Ozzy on, debuting this video set to the seminal Ozzy Osbourne song “Crazy Train” (True story: One time this guy called to ask me out, and got my answering machine and sang the chorus, in its entirety, as his invitation).
In contrast, you have Bill White on his Facebook account, interacting and talking to constituents, which seems rather milquetoast and quaint. He needs to return fire, with an even bigger head-of-a-bat-bitey-offy band. Anyone know any?
Katy Trail 5K Recap
Last night was perfect for a little run on Katy Trail, albeit a bit on the muggy side. Of course, I think only a few people were there for the 3.1 miles of running. (Logan Sherman, we are not friends. I can’t be a friend to anyone who runs a 15:15 5K.) The rest of us 4,470 people were there for the after party. The party included about 40 vendors who were giving away all sorts of free food and drinks. Ben E. Keith reported that it gave out 6,800 services of Michelob Ultra from 48 kegs. I think it’s safe to say a good time was had by all.
And for a random fun fact on this Friday: to sponsor a bench along Katy, it’ll cost you $10,000. It’ll cost you $125,000 to sponsor one of those little mile markers I so desperately search for when running.
Everyone in the 214: DUCK!
FYI, Delkus says for reals. Lots of rain.
Restaurateur Monica Greene is Returning to Dallas to Open a New Restaurant Called Distrito
She will open a new restaurant called Distrito. Deets are here.
Who Was Shooting What Uptown on Wednesday Night?
A Uptownian Frontburnervian writes to ask:
Anyone in the FB nation know what was being filmed last night (ed: Wednesday night) on Cole between Armstrong and Knox? Craft services and lighting trucks were blocking a ton of parking spots, and Taverna lost out on my business as a result (Fireside Pies was an excellent substitute). Looked like they had a coffee stand set up behind the building there, but I couldn’t get a good look. Didn’t see anything on FB, but maybe I missed it.
Monarch to MLB: If You Do It, We Will Sue
As FOF has already noted, Monarch Alternative Capital kinda laid out its cards and said what everyone pretty much assumed anyway – if the MLB declares the Rangers debts null and void, they’ll sue.
Thanks to the New York Times, we now have a look-see at the letter MAC wrote to the MLB, threatening, “It would be a bad result for the Texas Rangers, M.L.B. and the banks.”
At this point, I’m thinking the majority of Rangers’ fans just want a deal done. Sure most of them would prefer the Greenburg-Ryan deal, but seriously, this haggling is old. I know some fans that refuse to set foot in Rangers Ballpark until Hicks is no longer owner. I know some who are more of the wee-dollar-dogs-wait-is-that-a-very-tall-daquiri ilk, and could care less.
So, Frontburnervians, where do you fall in? Don’t care? Care a great deal? Hate Tom Hicks with the passion of a thousand white-hot suns?
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