Articles for June, 2011
Tales From the Dallas Mavericks’ Locker Room
A press release that just landed in my inbox:
We all know that the Dallas Mavericks are one of the most exciting teams in the NBA, but this year, they have taken the sports world by storm! In Tales from the Dallas Mavericks Locker Room, which will be released this month by Sports Publishing, readers and fans will finally get the chance to hear the stories and witness the action that defines the powerhouse that captured the 2011 NBA Title!
Author Jamie Aron brings together stories of some of the best Mavs players to grace the court to create a volume that is an absolute must-have for any die-hard Texas fan! I have pasted a section from the book below for your review. If you’d like to schedule an interview with Aron or feature the book in the near future, please let me know!
I have but one question: what’s up with that penultimate sentence? Why doesn’t “I have pasted a section from the book below for your review” deserve an exclamation point? (I guess that’s actually two questions.)
Things To Do In Dallas Tonight: June 21
Are you ready for a giant geek out over last night’s theater roundtable? Oh, good. FrontRow will have a recap for you shortly, but here’s my takeaway: SMU’s Stan Wojewodski, Jr. was entirely correct when he declared that it’s “just like this, all the time.” The questions Dallas faces about audience and support are not unique to us, and producing anything that’s not commercial is always going to be the kind of bloody uphill battle that results in plenty of casualties and no clear-cut winner. In the most simplistic of terms, a good theater company, one that survives, is two parts consistency and one part mad gambling genius. Developing a loyal, educated audience is key, but there’s a difference between pleasing and pandering. On a side note: the job of the critic is not to champion (or denigrate) any one particular play or group or artist. That being said, too much consensus amongst these pleasure-seeking individuals breeds contempt.
And now I present a very foodie Tuesday. If you have a hankering for artery-clogging goodness, make sure to find your way to Norma’s. SideDish’s Sarah Reiss has the details on the restaurant’s 55th anniversary celebration. Spoiler alert: your meal will only cost you $1.79. Which means you can definitely afford dessert.
West Village has the big to-do, however, with their annual tasting event benefiting the North Texas Food Bank. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you how important the food bank is to our community. Instead, I’ll just tell you that each tasting station is a dollar, which is the equivalent of providing four meals to people who’d otherwise go hungry. Grab a drink at Malai Kitchen and park yourself on their patio. Live music is pretty much a given, but this also sounds like an ideal opportunity to check out local photographer Scogin Mayo’s exhibit in the Magnolia’s upstairs gallery.
Finally, lovers of the non-Glee style mash-up should enter this FrontRow giveaway. We’ve got tickets to Thursday’s sold-out-in-seconds Girl Talk concert at the Granada.
For many more things to do in Dallas tonight, go here.
Leading Off (6/21/11)
Parkland Looks Scared. A team of federal inspectors will soon descend on Parkland to conduct a very thorough review of the hospital’s operations. The Morning News got its hands on an internal memo (sub. req.) that reveals how the hospital is preparing. “Never leave the surveyor alone,” the memo said. “Do not linger or stray from the selected area and avoid known problems.” And: “Tell the truth … [but] do not offer more information than what the surveyor asks!!!” The hospital has made an enemy of the newspaper by attempting to conceal information from it. Now it is making that same mistake with federal investigators. Not good.
DART Sticks to Its Guns. Speaking of blundering public agencies, DART could use a little crisis communications advice (sub. req.). You’ll recall that on the day of the Mavs parade, a train got stuck under Central Expressway, and about 200 passengers, without communication from the conductor, decided to hike out of the tunnel. A board member earlier said the passengers had broken the law and endangered themselves and others. Given an opportunity to recast the agency’s stance on the ordeal, DART president Gary Thomas again criticized the actions of the riders — and refused to apologize for the mishap. The paper prints a stinging editorial on the matter (free!).
Dirk’s Birthday Party Was Better Than Yours. Marc Stein has the details, if you missed them yesterday. I love the detail about the Nobel laureates.
Dallas Woman Gives Birth to Sextuplets. It’s unclear to me why it happened in Alabama, but here are some cool pics of the births.
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.
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