Articles for June 20th, 2011
What To Do With Those Bush Library Charter Member Certificates
Actually, I don’t know. But a longtime FrontBurnervian tells me he has just received his fourth certificate, which comes in a mailed packet asking for a donation to the library. The library fundraisers, it seems, send a certificate identifying you as a charter member with the packet asking for your money, instead of sending the certificate after you actually donate. So he now has four, without ever sending a dime.
The first one he got, he chuckled, he said, and put it on his fridge. Same with the subsequent ones. Now his refrigerator presumably looks like Barbara Bush’s circa the 1950s. So he asks this question, “Wouldn’t it be smarter to send a letter to potential donors, and then the certificate?”
I have an entirely different question: What do you do with four (and counting) certificates that is both creative and respectful? Or at least creative.
Rosewood is Selling the Management Group of The Mansion to New World Hospitality
Rosewood Hotels & Resorts has signed a purchase and sales agreement to sell the management of The Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek and the rest of the properties to Hong Kong-based New World Hospitality. The deal closes on July 29.
The release follows the jump.
Electric Daisy Carnival
Intern Kelsy McCraw told me she was going to the Electric Daisy Carnival over the weekend. I have to be honest, before the news reports this weekend, I had no idea what that was. But I told her to take some pictures and send along her report, which is below.
Some of the costumes at the Electric Daisy Carnival.
Other media reports have described the Electric Daisy Carnival on Saturday as “chaos,” but my first-hand experience was nothing of the sort. The death of 19-year-old Andrew Graf is tragic and regrettable, as well as the 20 plus rave-goers who were hospitalized; I mean to take nothing away from that. However, deeming the event as a “failure” denies that 20,000 plus other patrons had a seemingly wonderful and safe night.
The only rave I’ve ever been to was my sophomore year at Washington & Lee University, and the only thing “rave” about it was the white Polo shirts the boys swapped for the usual pastels. My small-town manners were more than worried about what would happen when I entered the gates of Fair Park.
Much to my delight, I never felt like the crowds of people were out of control or dangerous. Even with the enormous gathering for headliner DJ Skrillex at 1 am, there was no pushing and shoving, mosh-pitting, or other similar-types of debauchery that I could see. Sure, people were smoking joints like they would cigarettes on the street, but if anything, that made them less likely to get aggressive. The only threat people posed was the one they posed to themselves.
The security did their due diligence with three security points at each entrance to scan IDs, search bags and pockets, and scan tickets. While I stuck to a legal combination Red Bull and vodka in minuscule $6 cups sold inside, I can imagine how easy it must have been to bring banned substances into the venue. However, short of airport-like full-body scans (and we all know how the public reacts to those), there was nothing more the security could have done to be more effective, efficient, or received without protest. Still, disorderly behavior was not an issue.
Everyone seemed happy to escape to this alternate reality, if only for a night.
Park Cities People: The Best Weekly Newspaper in Texas
Congrats to the guys and gals down the hall. The Texas Press Association thinks our friends at Park Cities People do some pretty good work. [standing, clapping]
Jim Schutze Just Can’t Help Himself, Ctd.
Over the weekend, Wick and Jim Schutze had interesting exhange on the blog, with Wick pointing out that Schutze intentionally quoted him out of context to make the point that this magazine has been “rah-rah’ing” for the Trinity toll road. Yes, in 2007, when the city voted on a referendum on the road, the magazine supported the toll road. But that support ended, far as I can tell, in 2009.
You’ll recall this famous late-night fight between Councilwoman Angela Hunt and Wick. It resulted in Wick’s recanting his support for the toll road.
Schutze is right when he says that the Observer has been the lead dog in the hunt to dig up the truth about flood safety and how it would be affected by a roll road built into the levee. He deserves to thump his chest and say, “I told ya so.” But the headline of that told-ya-so post is “It’s Been Truly Inspiring to Watch D Apologize for Rah-Rah’ing Trinity Toll Road. Oh, Wait.”
Here’s the opening of Wick’s recanting from 2009: “My apologies to those who have been waiting for the latest salvo in the Wick Allison vs. Angela Hunt debate. There will be no salvo, because on her central point, Angela Hunt is right.”
Things To Do In Dallas Tonight: June 20
I read two things this morning that interested me for more than 15 minutes. Numero uno was this NPR story about the Texas doctors who’ve pretty much figured out a way to replace a bum ticker with something that looks a lot like a hand grenade. This is legitimately cool. But the second thing was a chronicle of 50 Cent’s creepy, cringe-worthy Twitter flirtations. It’s actually a terrible waste of time, but I’d like to give the person who named this particular Tumblr props for resisting the urge to call it “F*** Yeah Half-Dollar Groupies” or something much, much worse. Obviously, I’m all over the place today.
But you shall not be. Our music man, Christopher Mosley, interviewed the folks behind Cool Out after the weekly event moved to Bar Céline, and I thought I’d take the opportunity to round it up as required reading in case you missed his It List posts. He talks first with Tony Schwa, the founder of the Monday night disco/funk/soul extravaganza, then follows up with Adam Pickrell and DJ Sober. After Nancy reported on SideDish that Park is closing its doors tomorrow, I got a little worried. But the bar is staying open (though it was sold, too) and Cool Out continues. Huzzah. Small favors. Dinner at Fadi’s? Don’t mind if I do. It’s been awhile since I’ve been there.
Before that, though, I’ll be sticking around our office for the state-of-the-theater roundtable we’re hosting. Considering my artistic bent, this probably surprises no one. Peter has all the details, but Dallas Arts District’s Veletta Lill is moderating, and Dallas Observer’s Elaine Liner, TheaterJones’ Mark Lowry, FrontRow’s Lance Lusk, KERA’s Jerome Weeks, and Southern Methodist University professor and director, Stan Wojewodski, Jr., will all be in attendance. With a line up like that, the conversation should be lively. Technically, you should have already RSVP’d, but I’d love to advocate on your behalf if you really, really want to come. If you can’t make it, keep an eye on FrontRow and we’ll keep you informed.
For more things to do tonight, go here.
Rick Perry: Tool of Bilderberger Global Elites?
Hold it right there, all you accusing Rick Perry of being a reactionary hack who only spouts misguided populist tea-party views. Not so, according to Austin-based Alex Jones’ web site. In reality, the site says, Perry is a willing tool of the super-secret Bilderberg Conspiracy who’s doing the dirty work of the global elites and the central banking moguls and in fact has become one of their anointed ones for president.
Monday Morning at DFW Airport: Shoot Me
I just got back from taking an Allisonette to catch a flight to Connecticut for summer camp. Her two bags made the flight; she did not. Now I’m completely responsible. Travelers are supposed to arrive two hours early; we were only an hour-and-a-half early. But having spent 83 minutes in various lines, I had ample time to assess the situation. I have two thoughts. One, never fly on Monday morning. The security line alone was start-to-finish 46 minutes long, and the TSA folks and American Air-LINES staff explained repeatedly that Monday mornings are “always like this.” (I’m new.) Two, something must be done about the carry-on hogs. Tons of people in front of us had carry-ons that would not fit into the little wire tester thing, and not for lack of trying. (Many slaps to foreheads when a lady got her bag stuck in the tester and it took two random people in line and three minutes to wrench it free.)
Carry-ons cause delays at every juncture: ticketing, security, and then the wretched process of squeezing them into overhead compartments and under seats. So here is my proposal: One carry-on bag goes free. The second bag is the problem, so charge for it. And make all of the two-bag folks go through a separate security line so those who travel light are not penalized. At security, one line can be for priority access; one line for regular ticket holders with one carry-on; and the final one for regular ticket-holders who want to carry on two items. As for my unhappy camper, she flies out tomorrow morning and we will leave at 5:10 am for her 7:50 am flight. It’s Tuesday, so we should be good, right? Wish us luck.
SMU Honors Eddie Bernice Johnson After All
A alert FrontBurnervian brings our attention to interesting news out of SMU, which surreptitiously handed out an award to Eddie Bernice Johnson, the worst grandmother in America.
Despite the scholarship scandal involving U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson that rocked the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation last year, SMU has deemed it politically safe to present the congresswoman with the Distinguished Alumni award after Johnson was conveniently unable to accept the award last year.
At a private reception in Washington, D.C., earlier this month, Johnson accepted the award while former Dallas mayor/U.S. Trade Rep. Ron Kirk and congressional colleagues Charlie Rangel, Sheila Jackson Lee, and others looked on. Here’s the press release about the award from Johnson’s office.
You’ll remember SMU originally had her listed as a recipient at the annual Distinguished Alumni Award shindig in Dallas in November. But around the time the scholarship scandal broke, Johnson conveniently said she could not attend because of a scheduling conflict and because she recently had surgery.
I’m not sure why SMU was so anxious to give her this award that they could not have waited to have EBJ attend the ceremony this fall in Dallas as planned. I suspect from a PR standpoint it made sense for both parties that this be done in private, and for it to be kept under wraps for the most part. SMU, which writes a press release for nearly everything, said nothing about this on its website.
A Visit With Al Lipscomb
Nine years ago, I spent a few hours with Al Lipscomb at his house. It was the first interview he’d given since being put under house arrest two years earlier. With the news of his passing, I thought I’d dig up the short piece I wrote for our July 2002 issue.
NYTimes on Clarence Thomas and Harlan Crow
When NYTimes reporter Mike McIntire emailed me a couple of weeks ago saying that he wanted to get my thoughts on the friendship between Harlan Crow and Clarence Thomas, I told him I didn’t know anything about it — and I don’t, except for what McIntire wrote yesterday. McIntire contacted me because of a post I put up during the convention hotel fight entitled “Who is Harlan Crow and Why Are People Saying All Those Mean Things About Him?”
McIntire did a good job, I think, and it was worth reporting on, because the friendship is unusual. He may have stretched his case a little in trying to find an ethical lapse by noting that Crow entities have had four cases before an appellate court and that AEI, of which Crow is a board member, gave Thomas an award worth $15,000. I call those a stretch because there’s not a business in America, including this one, that hasn’t been before one of the lower appellate courts, and because board members have as little to do with making awards at think tanks like AEI as summer interns. Still, it was a piece that needed to be written, and McIntire seems to have covered all the bases.
It’s the reaction that interests me.
Leading Off (6/20/11)
Rawlings Is Your New Mayor: Former Pizza Hut CEO and City of Dallas “homeless czar,” Mike Rawlings, defeated former police chief David Kunkle in a runoff election Saturday, winning 56 percent of the vote. If you want to see how the city voted by area, check out this nifty graphic (sub. req.). Also behind the paywall, a Q&A with Rawlings and an editorial that lists some priorities for the new mayor, including untangling the Trinity River Project. On KERA, B.J. Austin reminds us that Rawlings’ win was achieved with a campaign chest of more than two million dollars. His opponent spent a modest 250 thousand.
Teen Dies, Dozens Injured at Fair Park Rave: The Electric Daisy Carnival turned to chaos after fire alarm was pulled in a sweltering, overcrowded Centennial Building causing panic, mayhem, and multiple injuries. It’s unrelated, but somehow the idea of partying late into the night during 100 degree heat makes the thought of a summer amusement park at the State Fair grounds unappealing.
UPDATE: Here’s video of the EDC shut down.
F.B.I. Agent Who Investigated Lee Harvey Oswald Dies: James P. Hosty was assigned to keeping tabs on a young communist agitator and suspected spy, Lee Harvey Oswald, a job that landed the agent at the center of the assassination investigation.
Former Council Member, Local Civil Rights Leader Al Lipscomb Passes: Al Lipscomb was undoubtedly a character, and his impact on the history and politics of this city cannot be denied. An obituary.
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