What to do in Dallas This Weekend: July 16-18

The workweek is nearly done, and I’m confident we all could use a laugh by this point. To that end, might I suggest you start your weekend with Jon Lovitz at Addison Improv? Before you head to the club, though, stop by the DMS Happy Hour at the Londoner for a drink and some appetizers. As you’re leaving for the show, don’t forget to pat yourself on the back for contributing to Dallas Children’s Charities. You’ve worked hard all week for the man and done something for the greater good. Bravo, sirs and madams.

It’s time for Assassination City Roller Derby’s July Bout. So, on Saturday, after you’ve recovered from mowing your lawn or paying your bills, bring a friend, a chair, and your drink of choice to Dad’s Broadway Skateland in Mesquite. The team names and aliases alone are worth the price of admission, but we think it’s rather awesome to watch full-grown adults wearing skates and helmets knock the bejeezus out of each other, and so will you. Fish for the athletes’ real names at Lee Harvey’s after-party.

Sunday night, buy tickets to hear Michael Buble, the wildly popular Canadian with the velvet voice (think Harry Connick Jr.) and a repertoire that’s tame enough for a school night.

Find other great ways to spend your time here.

Wade Phillips To Be a Grandfather Any Minute

Dallas Cowboy’s coach Wade Phillips has a Twitter account (@sonofbum), but he tweets sporadically. But today, just a few seconds ago, he let everyone know that he’s about to be a grandfather.

Leading Off (7/16/10)

1. So remember how people were all het up about their smart meters and their electricity bills going up? Well, Oncor tested them, and found 24 were faulty – out of 1.1 million. All I know is that our robot overlords will be pleased.

2. Dallas-based AT&T gave all of us Mad Men fans who also have U-verse a reason to breathe easy: We will indeed get to continue to see the show, which is on AMC, since a deal was reached with Rainbow Media. Just in time, too, since a week from Sunday, the new season starts.

3. In addition to library hours and possibly 500 jobs, the latest possible casualty of the city’s budget shortfall is one of the Dallas Police Department’s helicopters – the larger one. The city is thinking of selling it, because it can’t afford the $200,000 a year maintenance.

4. The Dallas Cowboys picked a winner in the supplemental draft.

5. I will admit this to you people, because we’re friends: I just woke up about 10 minutes ago. I don’t have a number 5. So earworm, earworm, earworm, earworm. Happy Friday.

Thursday Afternoon Bright Idea: How’s About We Buy Us a Baseball Team?

So the Rangers go up for auction Aug. 4. There’s at least a million Frontburner readers, I’m sure*. So why don’t we all pool our money and buy us some Rangers? I have just emptied the change cup on my desk, and I have $1.78 and a loonie to contribute.

Who else is in?

*Actually, I’m not sure. I’m guessing, or engaging in hopeful estimation.

What to Do in Dallas Tonight: July 15

The British Open kicks off today. Current weather conditions on Scotland’s coast: 64 degrees and partly cloudy. Just saying.

We know you’ll spend today compulsively hitting F5 on Golf.com’s live blog of the event. Perhaps you’ll further embrace the game with 18 sweaty holes at your favorite public course after work (it’s a wee bit too miserable out there for my taste, but different strokes, etc.), followed by a pint of Belhaven St Andrews Ale at the Ginger Man. These would all be perfectly acceptable ways to spend your time today — really. But here’s a different idea to consider:

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Rating the Suburbs: Let’s Hear Your Thoughts

In our July issue, we undertook our biennial ranking of the Dallas suburbs. Earlier this week, we were paid a visit by the city manager of a burb that shall remain unnamed. He wanted to know how his city could have ranked as low as it did. (An intelligent guy, by the way. His city is fortunate to have him.) I explained that while we determined the formula that weights the various data points we gather on each city, the stats are the stats. Crime, education, house values — we don’t make that stuff up. But we do make up one piece of data that goes into the ranking: ambiance scores. As a staff, we give each burb a score that reflects how a place feels. Is the place beautiful? Does it welcome you? Does it offer a variety of experiences both spiritual and commercial? Assigning an ambiance score to a city is a very subjective undertaking, we admit. Highland Park got a 96, while Hutchins got a 50 (the lowest score possible).

As far as I know, we’ve never published the ambiance scores — I think, really, because we didn’t want to argue about them with city managers and residents. Which is cowardly. So today I’m sharing the ambiance scores for each city that we used in our most recent ranking, and I’m inviting you to give us your own scores. Yeah, it’s tough to give one score to a city as large as, say, Irving. But it has to be done. The magazine gods demand it. We gave Irving a 72. After the jump, you get your turn. (PS: You need not provide a score for every city; just those with which you are familiar.)

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Dallas PD Would Like To Show You “Operation Triangle”

Every lede I type to go along with this sounds like a third grade boy wrote it. So, presented without comment and after the jump, this press release from the Dallas Police Department. FYI, if you’re going to use all the key words you used in the last two graphs, you’re going to make it hard for me to write without giggles. Fact.

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