Some scientific fossil genius over in England has figured out the Earth’s most fearsome predator. It’s called the pliosaur, which has just forced me to imagine a velociraptor named Mila Kunis doing a pas de deux with Natalie Portman. Anyway, this creature is very, very dead. And even though it lived in the ocean and didn’t breathe fire, I think prehistoric North America needs to step things up.
Friday
Speaking of dancing (without dinos), The Wiz starts tonight with a pay-what-you-can performance at the Wyly Theatre. Not only is this Dallas Theatre Center show a collaboration with the Dallas Black Dance Theatre, but if you remember from web intern Courtney Egelston’s preview, they’re using the theater’s funky design to do something a little different with the audience. Here’s how it works: of the 450 seat house, there are 12 moveable “pods” with 15 seats each. If you’re lucky enough to sit in one of these pods (spaceship style), you’ll find yourself rearranged at various points during the production. There’s no track, so there’ll be at least two crew members manning each section. Never, in all the shows I’ve seen, have I been physically transported to a different location. So this will be new for me, too.
And just before the performance, the DTC is hosting a free block party along Flora St. to celebrate. You should go, if only to grab your penny tickets at the box office since you can’t buy them online. But there will be food trucks, disco music in case you feel like breaking a full on waterfall instead of just a sweat, and free parking in the Lexus lots.
I wasn’t watching the Rangers game last night. I was watching my Chicago Cubs fall behind 8-0 in the sixth inning against the Washington Nationals. The Cubs had never, in their 135-year history, rallied from such a large deficit so late in a game on the road to win. That’s a record of 0-576, ESPN says. The team is having a lousy season, and I very nearly flipped over to something else rather than once again face disappointment. But some inner voice compelled me to stay with them, and my faith was rewarded. Six runs in the sixth, another two in the seventh, and a final victorious score of 10-9. I was so pumped by the win that I took to Twitter to honor the rookie second baseman who’d delivered the winning RBI.
After informing the Twitterverse that I would now name my firstborn either Darwin Barney, or Barney Darwin, I glanced over at my feed. That’s how I learned about the tragic accident in Arlington last night. My joy evaporated and suddenly seemed very small. As ridiculous as it is, I even felt a measure of guilt for my own celebrating.
We can go back to cheering our team soon enough (I’m actually headed to Rangers Ballpark tonight), but it seems appropriate to spend time with the grief we all should be feeling for Shannon Stone’s family this morning, especially for his 4-year-old 6-year-old son who was with him at the game. Lone Star Ball put it nicely:
The New York Post says that the richest man in Dallas, Andy Beal, has lost $50 million in recent months playing high-stakes poker. Apparently Tobey Maguire was in on the action, too. A spokesman for Beal told the Post that the figure wasn’t accurate but didn’t get more specific than that. Loyal readers will remember when our Dan Michalski played cards with Beal at the Lodge for slightly lower stakes.
Brownwood Firefighter Falls to Death at Rangers Game. I cannot even wrap my head how the family of the Brownwood firefighter who fell to his death trying to catch a ball during last night’s Ranger’s game must feel - especially since the whole tragic accident happened in front of his son. It was a year and a day after another fan fell from the stands during a game. Team president Nolan Ryan says the team is “distraught,” especially Josh Hamilton, who tossed the ball to the fan.
At Last Our Long National Nightmare is Over. Roy Williams got his ring back. But to review, kiddies: If you don’t have time to propose in person, you should just wait. Some things are not for the mail.
John Wiley Price Search Warrant Wants Everything. WFAA mentions the search warrants executed last week were looking for dealings with Walmart, AT&T and Hillwood Inc. Fox 4 adds the FBI was also interested in an online retail business called Male Man, registered to Price’s assistant, Daphne Fain. This explains why it was unavailable for um, a project I was working on.
Golly Gee. Yeah. I maneuvered my way around a paywall for this.
The Stars At Night, Are Big and Bright … Apparently the new rumor is that erstwhile former Rangers co-owner Chuck Greenberg is interested in buying the Dallas Stars. Of course, everyone is quick to say it’s pure conjecture, too. So you know, let the spitballing continue.
If you follow me on Twitter — @zaccrain, where most of the tweets follow my continuing investigation into the sordid history of root beer and the scions of the Barq’s empire — you already know this. Anyway, I just got back from a much-need vacation from coming up with stupid hypotheticals and making Tim sad about his hair. My last evening in New York — which is where I was and I guess I could have mentioned that in the previous sentence, but I thought the headline implied it — I was just kind of wandering around, looking for a place to read and watch people. I stopped in a little park off of 7th Avenue. Across from me, spread over two park benches, were three homeless (I would guess; I didn’t actually ask) guys.
For a few minutes, they were talking about whatever. Then, talk turned to basketball.
An alert FBvian points us to Deadspin, whereat you’ll find some funny pictures from back in the day when Mark Cuban played rugby at Indiana. Cuban’s response to Deadspin when they asked if they could post the pics is pretty entertaining, too.
Because my car predates the mandatory iPod/iPhone/iAwesome adapter, I listen to the radio. In consequence, I’m embarrassingly caught up on what’s popular with the kids these days, and I would just like to take this opportunity to thank Justin Timberlake for dropping the better part of $35 million on MySpace last week. His songs have been on almost constant rotation for the past few days, reminding us (well, okay, me) that even “Sexy Back” is better than whatever lyrically egregious thing baby Taylor Mars Dërulo-Bieber has spit up this month. Conclusion: JT should buy more defunct social media websites. Xanga is probably up for grabs.
Tonight, I am taking you out of town. I was originally going to send you to Denton, for the Sarah Jaffe/Centro-Matic show at Dan’s Silverleaf, but it sold out two hours ago. Apologies, people who like to do things last minute.
Over in Fort Worth, Stage West’s production of David Mamet’s political comedy November is mid-run, and you can still get tickets for this evening. It’s Thursday, which means a 7:30 PM show and a little less of a late night should you decide to trek out there. I reviewed it for FrontRow, and deemed it worth a shot with the caveat that if you’re new to Mamet or you’ve never seen this particular play performed, it’s more of a “go see it.” Aside from a steady stream of expletives, much of the humor relies on the entrance and exit of various characters who look more than a little out of place in the dignified Oval Office setting.
One thing, though. Make sure you’re sitting in the center row, not the far right. The stage is pretty long, and uses only a section of it to build out the set. I kept getting distracted by the big black hole. Dinner? The theater has a cafe, but tonight I feel like tacos. I would follow up the show by dropping by the Tacoheads truck on 7th St., which I’ve been meaning to check out since our resident food truck expert on SideDish mentioned it a couple months ago.
For more to do with your Thursday evening, go here.
All those bums at Main Street Garden had best watch out, because Dallas isn’t going to have any room for them soon enough. An alert FrontBurnervian points us to a Forbes study that ranks the nation’s next boom towns. Four of the top 10 cities are in Texas, with Dallas coming in at No. 7. Joel Kotkin writes:
Of course, Texas metropolitan areas feature prominently on our list of future boom towns, including No. 4 San Antonio, No. 5 Houston and No. 7 Dallas, which over the past years boasted the biggest jump in new jobs, over 83,000. Aided by relatively low housing prices and buoyant economies, these Lone Star cities have become major hubs for jobs and families. And there’s more growth to come. With its strategically located airport, Dallas is emerging as the ideal place for corporate relocations.
A longtime FrontBurnervian on the board of the AIDS Interfaith Network would like everyone to know that the organization is a finalist in a contest of sorts wherein it can win a free car from Toyota. AIN could us the car to drive people to their medical appointments and so forth. AIN needs your votes to make it happen.
I love the spraygrounds that are available free of charge at several Dallas parks. They afford children a chance to cool off without the danger of drowning, as there’s no standing water. But those spraygrounds have nothing on the Quarry Splash Pad in Williamson County, which my tykes and I enjoyed over the holiday weekend while visiting family in suburban Austin. I could list all the ways this month-old attraction is awesome, but the folks at Little Austinite have already done it for me.
DeSoto’s Superintendent Under Fire Before She Begins Job. Dr. Kathy Augustine has been accused by state officials in Georgia of misrepresenting test scores and giving false information. She was the assistant superintendent of the Atlanta Public Schools. She’s now the superintendent in DeSoto. Her first day is supposed to be Monday. Who wants the over/under?
Prayers Offered for John Wiley Price. It’s been a couple days since we’ve mentioned John Wiley Price, so I thought it was time to bring him up. Last night, supporters gathered at an Oak Cliff church to pray for him. Price didn’t show up. But he’ll have two more chances as the African American Pastors Coalition plans to have two more rallies for him.
Presidential Roundup, Tweets and Birthday Wishes. An Irving man, who works in the mortgage services industry, had his tweet answered by President Obama during his Twitter town hall yesterday. @Shnaps wants to remain anonymous, but he said he didn’t even see Obama’s answer to his question about whether or not a free-market is an option.
In other president news, Bush’s birthday was yesterday. According to this story, he had more than 12,500 people wish him happy birthday. So. There are about 311,708,488 people in America. Of that, 12,500 wished him a happy birthday. That gives him a birthday-approval rating of .004 percent. Not bad.
Aren’t public spaces fun? Finally, Dallas builds a worthwhile one, one that actually gets the people of this city to use it and spend time in it, and what happens? Our prissy side comes out. The side of Dallas that says, “Sweep it up, and keep it clean.” The side of Dallas that buries pedestrian ways and tries to segregate foot and vehicular traffic. The side of Dallas that reminds us that, at heart, Dallas is a valet town.
Let’s put it this way. Remember when you were about 7 or 8 years old, and your mom or dad’s old friend from college – let’s call him Burt – well, Burt came to visit? And your mom or dad said, “Hey, this is ‘Uncle Burt.’” And you thought, “Burt is not my uncle.” And Burt smelled, and Burt had real weird teeth, and he drank too much, and he laughed from his diaphragm and kept asking you to sit on his lap? Remember how afraid you were of Burt? Then what happened?
Well, for one. Burt went away because he was only visiting. And then, what happened when he came the next time? Well, Burt wasn’t as scary because you remembered him. Burt still wasn’t fun to be around, but you could handle him a little better. You went to your room after dinner. You knew how to half smile and how to take a step away from him so he wouldn’t get too friendly. You pretended you were a little more shy than you actually were. And then Burt, who really just wanted to drink with your dad and talk about the good old days, left you alone. And you, well, you just walked away. And then, when you grew up, you found out Burt had studied all sorts of crazy things – like mirco-ecologies of algae in the Great Barrier Reef – and you found out that Burt was kind of cool in his own odd way.
Well, you see, the homeless guys at Main Street Garden – they’re Burt. Your big papa, Dallas, has been friends with them for a long, long time. I know, it’s the first time you’ve had to actually spend some time in the living room with all these Burts, but don’t worry, you’ll figure it out. You’ll learn how to brush him off, or engage in brief, polite chatter. Maybe he’ll make you laugh because, you know, he’s actually kind of funny. Maybe someday you’ll find out what Burt likes to eat or dreams about while sleeping on that park bench. Or maybe you’ll just get by by figuring out how to give Burt the polite cold shoulder. Either way, it’s going to be okay. You’ll get it. I know. It takes time.
Now jump to watch the first 10 minutes of the documentary Dark Dayz, which you all must now rent. Don’t worry, Premiere Video has it. That’s in a strip center. There’s usually ample parking.
The strangest thing about this story isn’t that Cowboys wide receive Roy Williams has filed suit to get back the engagement ring he gave to his former live-in, Brooke Daniels. It’s that he sent the ring and his marriage proposal to her in the mail. I thought proposing on the Jumbotron at a game was bad. Who proposes via mail? I mean, like, besides lovestruck G.I. fighting overseas in World War II?
Maybe it was the scorching, high-90s heat. Or the four bicycle cops jawboning on the sidewalk outside the Lily Pad Cafe. But, for whatever reason, the homeless people at downtown’s Main Street Garden at noon today were in no mood to discuss Angela Hunt’s “anti-bums-in-the-park” tweets.
One of them, a middle-aged woman on a shaded bench, said she’d already talked to a reporter, yesterday. Another, a young guy sitting under a tree, said as long as there are no walls or fences around Main Street Garden, it wouldn’t be fair–or legal–to keep anyone out. “Who is the owner of the park?” he asked indignantly, adding that he didn’t want to give his name. “If it’s the city or the United States of America, everyone has the right.”
Actually, the city does own the $17.5 million park. Businessman Mark Noble, who co-chaired Main Street’s founding committee, said problems like the one Hunt referenced should ease over time as the park–the first of several planned by the city–matures and attracts more activity. Main Street Garden is “really the first rattle out of the bag,” said Noble, who’s no longer associated with the park.
This week, thanks to Hunt, the rattle was making a pretty loud racket.
It was the book that thrust Larry McMurtry, the dean of Texas literature, into the American mainstream. And it was the movie that, in 1971, garnered eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. And now McMurtry says it was a “spiteful” book that took just three weeks to write and was intended to “lance some of the poisons of small-town life,” and that Cybill Shepherd, the young (in 1971) chest-bearing star of the film, “couldn’t act a lick.” He did note, however, that she was “real pretty.” More, including video of McMurtry talking before a recent screening of the film in Archer City, here.