Intern James Bright gives us a glimpse of a white buffalo. To find out why it’s so significant, read on. (Video shot by James Bright; editing by Blaine Mountain)
Most people hold no special reverence for buffalo. That’s not the case with Arby Little Soldier and the mystical white buffalo born on his ranch May 12.
Little Soldier, a descendant of Sitting Bull, says he always expected a white buffalo would be born to him, but now that it has actually happened, it’s like winning the lottery.
“ I should have been getting myself ready a long time ago.”
The white buffalo has special significance to Native American culture. According to a prophecy associated with the tale of the white buffalo calf woman, four white buffalo will be born prior to the woman’s return and the end of the world. There is a set of rules surrounding these animals. The buffalo’s coat must be natural. It cannot be due to a defect such as an albino animal. The calf must be male, and it must be born to a Native American as well. Several buffalo have been born white and free of defect over the years—in fact there is herd of them in the Northwest—but this is only the third animal to fit the bill born to a Native American.
Although Little Soldier’s herd is wild, he says people have actually been jumping his fence in an attempt to touch, or get a glimpse of the animal. This is trespassing and Little Soldier has started urging people to follow protocol for their safety and because of the spirituality surrounding the buffalo.
“It’s not a tourist attraction,” he says. “This is a spiritual awakening and a prophecy.”
Dear somewhat chubby, 50ish male bicyclist wobbling mightily up Hall Street just before McKinney around 8:50 am: thanks for making my morning. I love you for your white crash-dummy helmet, your Daisy Dukes, your otherwise entire lack of clothing, and the fact that, judging from the eight CVS bags looped over your handlebars, you seem to do all your shopping at a pharmacy. Is it too early to declare this guy the winner of my annual Sexy Summer Cyclist contest? I realize it’s still only June.
The Texas Theatre must be feeling the warm fuzzies for our English-speaking friends across the pond. I frequently do. But they’ve gone so far as to import the UK Film Council’s six-movie series, From Britain With Love, that will last through next Monday. It’s all indie flicks that normally wouldn’t make it stateside, and the Texas Theatre is the only place around you can see them. I hear good things. First up tonight is Toast, a coming of age tale adapted from London Observer food columnist Nigel Slater’s memoir of the same name (By the way, when is someone going to buy the rights to Born Round?). Should you desire to make it a veddy British double feature, they’ll also be showing the 1987 black comedy Withnail and I. There’s a character named Uncle Monty, so obviously I’m intrigued. It’s not part of the UK series, just a bonus.
Elsewhere in Oak Cliff, the Kessler hosts San Antonio singer/songwriter Vanessa Lively. My mom actually alerted me to Lively’s music because, as a bilingual person often mistaken for a native speaker, she really enjoys artists who sing in both English and Spanish. So do I, for that matter. Pretentious declaration alert: I only listen to Shakira’s Spanish language albums because she’s just that much better in her native tongue. Anyway, I’m down for this tonight because for once the Kessler’s ticket price is conducive to taking a risk on a performance by someone who’s still relatively unknown. If she’s great live, awesome. If not, I’m only out five bucks.
And if you haven’t already, nominate the hottest lady in your life for our 10 Most Beautiful contest. We promise she’ll be flattered— as long as you’re judicious in your photo choice.
For more things to do in Dallas this evening, go here.
If I were part of Margaret Hunt Hill’s family and saw this picture, I’d ask for some of my money back.
Alternate Headline: How to Get Around the Dallas Morning News’ Paywall If You Have a Lot of Time on Your Hands
This guy is Dallas attorney Levi McCathern. When he’s not being an eagle or a shark (depending on your opinion of the legal profession), he likes to hunt all manner of animals. Last week, he managed to kill an 880-pound alligator while hunting in Leon County. With a gun. While it would sound more badass if he had killed it with his bare hands, apparently shooting a moving target in the brain when the target’s brain is the size of a golf ball and is 100 yards away is also pretty hard. So there’s that.
But more interestingly is that the story is behind a paywall on the DMN site. However, I found the whole store, for free, here. If you’re interested, you should probably read fast, because something similar happened over the weekend when Evan Grant wrote a beautiful column about going to a baseball game with his dad. It was behind the paywall, but people soon found it for free on the Star-Telegram’s site, until news of its freeness made the Twitters, and then it was quickly yanked.
So there you go. Quick Google fingers and a giant chunk of time to kill will give you a peeksy behind the paywall.
It’s by Bryan Curtis, and it’s up today at ESPN’s new Grantland site. (And it even makes you like Skip Bayless, a little bit, somehow.) The lede:
When I was 11 years old, my dad died — killed himself, in fact, while sitting in a van in our driveway. Our home in Texas filled with sympathy gifts. Mom got flowers and a new microwave. A few months later, an uncle arrived from Albuquerque and built me a basketball hoop on the opposite end of the driveway. The hoop’s backboard was made of fiberglass. There was an NBA logo in the lower left-hand corner. Over the next five years, that fiberglass backboard and I became fabulous teammates, like Ro Blackman and Derek Harper, and partners in a fierce existential struggle. If I’m picking a sports hero from childhood who deserves a profile … Jim Jackson … Alvin Harper … nope, I’ll go with the backboard.
I point you to Unfair Park, whereon you will find a copy of the best legal filing in the history of legal filings. As you may know, Ross Perot Jr., a 5 percent owner of the Dallas Mavericks, sued Mark Cuban awhile back for allegedly mismanaging the team. Cuban’s latest response is about the best thing ever.
This weekend, to cap off the lake’s centennial, there will be a beach party at White Rock Lake. Thing is, volunteers are needed. Jump for details.
Cops Pee in Car. An apparent prank pulled by micturating police has led to a full-blown investigation, with DNA testing and everything. From the Morning News: “It’s just nasty,” said a police official with knowledge of the investigation. “That kind of stuff is just embarrassing. It’s so juvenile.”
Good News out of DISD. The district announced a 7-percent rise in graduation rate (sub. req.). Contacted at his new Atlanta-area home, former DISD superintendent Michael Hinojosa shot the double birds at everyone in Dallas (this blog included) who bitched about the way he resigned.
Dirk Dishes Deets. Ben and Skin had Dirk on their ESPN 103.3 show yesterday for about 30 minutes. It was a really good interview. Dirk revealed some details about crying in the shower and so forth that he hadn’t talked about till then. You can listen to the interview here and read excerpts here.
DART Apologizes. Finally.
Monday’s big announced deal to sell off Dallas-based Rosewood Hotels & Resorts to a Hong Kong outfit does not involve the underlying hotel properties themselves–only their management. What New World Hospitality is picking up for $229 million and change is the 70-person Dallas company–RH&R, a 50/50 joint venture between Rosewood Corp. and Maritz, Wolff & Co.–that operates or “oversees” 19 upscale properties in eight countries, including Dallas’ iconic Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek.
Each of those 19 properties–the real estate, the improvements, the “hard assets”–is owned by a separate entity or entities. The Mansion, for example, is owned by the family of oil heiress Caroline Rose Hunt and Maritz, Wolff; the Rosewood Mayakoba in Mexico is owned in part at least by a Spanish company called OHR Group. But RH&R does have long-term contracts to manage or operate the 19 properties–really long-term; we’re talking decades upon decades in some cases–which makes the little Dallas company with 70 employees worth the $229 mil. Insiders say they don’t expect any big changes in RH&R’s activities here for at least a year.
On his Facebook page, the former mayor writes: “Truly grateful for a wonderful birthday celebration with my daughter Catherine and many good friends. Cliff Harris and Roger Staubach joined the party, and Dr. Kenneth Cooper hosted us at his Cooper Aerobics Center.” Have a look at the pics before he takes them down. It’s like Girls Gone Wild meets Temptation Island. Insane.
Writer John Meilemann does the honors.
That Perry, if he runs, would immediately assume the mantle of the most colorful male non-lunatic in the race was evident the other night at the Grand Hyatt, where he addressed a ballroom packed with attendees of the New York County Republican Party’s annual Lincoln Day dinner. Critics in Texas like to call him Governor Good Hair, and indeed, his hair is good—maybe even, perish the thought, as good as Mitt Romney’s. His vocal inflections carry loud echoes of George W. Bush, but his delivery is more animated (and even antic) than Dubya’s ever was. Perry’s ability to chop and serve raw red meat is on a par with Pat La Frieda’s. Speaking of his home state, he allowed, “There’s a few unhappy people there.” A well-timed beat. “Generally, we refer to them as liberals.”
IF he runs?
David Blend is a weird dude. I met him maybe 15 years ago, when he somehow caught on at the now defunct Met. David had just finished law school but, before taking the bar exam, decided he wanted to become a writer. Like I say, weird dude. He wound up becoming the bars correspondent, writing a column created by Joe Capasso called simply “Cocktail Hour.” If I’m misremembering any of these details, David will correct me in the comments.
Anyway, thing is, David could write — can write. And now he’s the executive editor of Thrillist, in NYC. In fact, he was Thrillist’s first employee and is so beloved there that they made a carpet for him with his likeness on it, which, if you know David, sounds like par for the course.
All of which is an introduction to this, which I think you’ll enjoy. David is writing about the 50 things he misses about Dallas. Oh, like Randy White, a guy named Bob who used to hang out at the Amsterdam Bar, swimming pools, and Dickey’s gas station drive thru. His most recent entry is Haunted Lavin Manor, “the Texas State Fair’s Southern-plantation take on the Island of Dr. Moreau.” It’s no longer at the State Fair, so David tracked down the guy who used to run the thing and got the scoop, including this gem:
The fog machine was a Roscoe, refueled by bottles of fluid. One time J.W. [the former operator] picked up a bottle of what appeared to be the right stuff. Ten minutes after filling ‘er up, “it smelled like a boys’ locker room that hadn’t been mopped for a year.” What had happened was that the vampires in the next room hadn’t been given regular bathroom breaks, so they’d just started peeing in an empty Roscoe bottle. Say what you want about unions, but this is where they all start.
I strongly recommend a few minutes of perusal and perhaps even a revisit down the road, as David adds more entries.
Just a few minutes ago, I got a passel of documents from Dallas County Commissioner Maurine Dickey, who has already expressed her extreme displeasure regarding the redistricting maps the commissioner’s court voted on a few weeks ago. Seems Dickey will now seek a review of the map by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and the U.S. Justice Department.
“The new map was approved by the Dallas County Commissioners without the benefit of public review or comment as required. I ask that the Attorney General’s office and the Department of Justice rule the new district map invalid and restore the original redrawn district map that was presented to the public for comment,” Dickey says in a press release. “The court failed to give the public proper notice which has resulted in what is, at a minimum, a disenfranchisement of thousands of voters.”
You can read the full press release here, read the letter here, and see the old map and the new map here and here, respectively.
Last weekend, our intrepid perambulator Bill Holston did something. This week he goes in search of Hexalectris Warnockii.