Articles for July, 2011
Plano In The News: Ranks No.12 In The U.S. For Life Expectancy
Our friends in Plano live longer, grabbing the No. 12 spot in the nation. According to the stats in The Daily Beast, the West Coast dominates. San Jose takes the No. 1 spot. Bridgeport, CT, not exactly paradise, ranks 4. If there is a lesson here, it eludes me.
The Strip Club Double Standard
Just got off the phone with Michael Precker, the former DMN writer-turned official writer-in-residence at The Lodge, who wanted to let me know that the car wash held at the club this weekend raised nearly $17,000 to benefit Best Friends Animal Society. Among those in attendance (or at least partaking in the Friday-night media dinner) were DMN columnist Gromer Jeffers, Dallas Observer writers Richie Witt and Brantley Hargrove, The Fan’s Sybil Summers, and radio personality and provocateur, Richard Hunter.
The event got some mentions (including on this blog), but Precker pointed out a bit of a double standard when it comes to coverage of strip clubs in Dallas. Whenever there’s trouble, or say, an athlete gets into a fight, the local TV stations are lining up at the door to interview anyone they can, and asking politely to come in and shoot B-roll. “It irks me,” Precker says. “If there’s something unsavory, my phone is lighting up. But if we’re doing something good, as Jon Stewart would say, it doesn’t fit the narrative.”
Things To Do In Dallas Tonight: July 18
In case you didn’t see this story over the weekend, I’d like to introduce Kenneth Robinson, opportunistic genius. He just moved into a nice subdivision in Flower Mound after acquiring his new residence for a $16 courthouse filing fee, some research into a little-known Texas law called “adverse possession,” and a perfect storm of confusion over the mortgage. Shockingly enough, the neighbors are less than thrilled, especially since the police can’t really kick him out. It’s a civil matter, not criminal. I think we can all learn something from this man.
First things first. If you are in any way interested in partaking in KRLD Restaurant Week next month, you can make reservations starting today. The popular places and weekend slots go fast, obviously.
Over at the Magnolia Theatre, the Asian Film Festival, which started over the weekend, continues with the fest’s first block of short films and I Am, a fairly personal documentary that examines coming out as lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender in India and the director’s inability to do so to her own mother. The late-night screening, Enemy at the Dead End, is described as “Oldboy set in a hospital room.” Uh, awesome. Sign me up for more 3 AM nightmares.
On a side note: the English-language remake of Oldboy is now a Spike Lee joint. Which just makes me feel totally strange on top of all the squicky feelings that movie already gives me. Anyway, the festival continues through Thursday with a variety of other films, and Art&Seek has a Q&A with SMU alum Alicia Chang, the new executive director. Try West Village’s newest dining addition, Malai Kitchen, for dinner and drinks. It’s excellent.
For more things to do this evening, go here.
Nolan Ryan is in Hospital for Heart Tests
Houston Chronicle is reporting that Nolan Ryan experienced chest discomfort at his home in Georgetown Sunday morning. He is hospitalized and set to undergo heart tests.
How Honest Are You?
Thanks to Sarah Blaskovich at Pegasus News for this little piece about Honest Tea. Tomorrow, the promoters behind the tea will be putting it out there for you to try. For a dollar. But no one will be there to take your dollar. So it’s up to you to pay. But there will be cameras tracking whether or not you pay. And there will be a live feed from these cameras. So we’ll know exactly who isn’t paying. Consider this a warning when you come across the tea tomorrow somewhere downtown. (Also, you can go here and vote for the city you think will be most honest. Last year, Bostonites won the title.)
UPDATE: Here’s a link to the live feed.
If You’re Still Wondering How the U.S. Women Lost Yesterday…
The answer may be here (behind the paywall). In short, not enough women from soccer-rich Dallas.
Big Rich Texas: Lost and Unreal
People Newspaper columnist Merritt Patterson has a full-blown review of Big Rich Texas (aka Texas Train Wreck of Bleach and Botox) that debuted last night on the Style Network. Someone needs to give a map to the show’s producers. The much-vaunted Woodhaven Country Club that is the “social place of Dallas” is actually in Fort Worth. The worn-out club was purchased last November by longtime member Louis Scoma Jr. At that point it had 433 members and hoped to reach a goal of 600 members and 150 social members.
Warning: We learned last night that club rules forbid profane tattoos to be visible. Heck, at this point they should take anybody who has air in their lungs.
Leading Off (7/18/11)
Hundreds Rally In Support of John Wiley Price: Some of the 800 supporters who turned out at St. Luke Community United Methodist Church to rally for County Commissioner John Wiley Price, currently being investigated by the FBI, waved signs calling for justice. Can’t argue with that.
Third Earthquake Hits Ellis Country Since June: Economic pundits say Texas is the new California, but I don’t think this is what they have in mind.
Locked-Out Football Players Continue to Find Creative Ways to Kill Time: Tony Romo came in second over the weekend at the American Century Celebrity Golf Championship near Lake Tahoe. Meanwhile, the Colts’ Jerry Hughes and former Cowboy Stephen Hodge, along with fellow TCU alum, Cory Grant, were arrested for public intoxication in downtown Dallas early Sunday morning.
It’s Hot: Which is great for algae growth, if not the taste of tap water. Shorelines are shrinking, and don’t expect anything changing anytime soon. We’re now trapped in a “heat dome.”
WFAA’s Gary Reaves To Sign Off Aug. 1
Uncle Barky is reporting that longtime WFAA-TV reporter Gary Reaves is cleaning out his desk. After 24 years at the Belo station, he’s decided to retire on Aug. 1.
Caraway In Another Key Presentation?
The setting for the event was The Lodge, the swanky strip joint off Northwest Highway owned by Dawn Rizos. But believe it or not, the No. 1 attraction at tonight’s cocktails-and-dinner bash there had four legs and answered to the name Mel. He’s one of about 50 pit bulls rescued a few years ago from Michael Vick’s notorious dog-fighting stable. Mel, who was used as “bait” to train the other dogs to attack, was later adopted out of Utah’s Best Friends Animal Society by Richard Hunter, a Dallas radio personality, and his wife Sunny. Sunny (shown here with Mel in photo by Jeanne Prejean) is the manager of VIP services at The Lodge.
The dinner was held to tout something called “Headlights & Hounds,” a bikini car and bike wash at the Lodge Saturday whose proceeds will benefit Best Friends. The noon to 6 p.m. event costs $20, and includes a good scrubbing by the Lodge dancers. (Of your vehicle.) Mel will be there, too, with Hunter, who addressed tonight’s gathering and noted one person who wasn’t in attendance: Dwaine Caraway, the then-Dallas mayor pro tem who famously presented Vick with a key to the city. “I invited [Caraway], but he couldn’t attend,” Hunter said drily. “He had a previous commitment … presenting a key to the city to Walker Railey.” Railey, of course, is the former Dallas minister who was acquitted of trying to strangle his wife in the 1990s.
What Irritating Item Should I Post To Irritate People?
Should I post a hypothetical? Those seem to bother people. Especially the hypotheticals where, almost from the beginning, there is a very clear answer, making it not so much a hypothetical as just a really dumb question. Or the hypotheticals where it’s obvious that I was just writing and writing and, at some point, either due to boredom or some small concession to my small audience, I simply gave up and awkwardly posed a question that had almost nothing to do with the previous 500 words.
Or …
This Item Will be of Interest to Richardson Residents Only
(But people who commute to UT-Dallas might be interested as well.)
I live in Richardson, where a new restaurant is being constructed on the West Campbell Road site where a KFC once stood. Since there are no signs indicating what kind of restaurant this will be, and there’s no information about it on the Morning News’ anemic Richardson blog, I decided to do some digging. A friendly lady at the Richardson Chamber of Commerce told me it’s going to be Carl’s Jr.
So there you go. Not as exciting as an In-N-Out Burger debut, but at least I can get on with my life.
Things To Do In Dallas This Weekend: July 15-17
Allow me to welcome you to a weekend that once held the promise of summer rain. Not real wet weather stuff. “Summer Rain,” the hit single from Matthew Morrison, gigantic talent. Sadly, he canceled his Grand Prairie concert. My original theory was a deep depression over the psychic knowledge that he wouldn’t get an Emmy nod for his amazing standout performance on the best show to ever make Middle American teenagers seem smart, clever, and three-dimensional. But no. He just joined the NKOTBSB tour. Mystery solved! You’re welcome.
Friday
Over in good music land, beloved local band Seryn is performing at AllGood Cafe tonight. Ten bucks. Not only is Seryn awesome, but it’ll be nice to pay less than $15 for a show after shelling out large amounts of cash for everything coming up in September, otherwise known as the month I subsist on Maruchan chicken ramen (Bon Iver, Chromeo/Mayer Hawthorne, Cults, and Twin Sister are all worth it). Anyhow, you won’t find a better deal than this tonight, and if you do, you can email me and I will consider some sort of prize. Which would probably be the advance review copy of “They Call Me Baba Booey” sitting on my desk.
A Bit of Light Reading Before the Friday Night Lights Finale
Something terrible is going to happen tonight: After five embattled seasons, Friday Night Lights is airing its series finale at 8 pm on NBC. The fact that the show finally garnered an Emmy nod for Outstanding Drama this week only makes it sting a little more, but I hold no grudges.
In honor of FNL’s final episode, we tracked down Brad Leland, who plays a meddling high school football booster named Buddy Garrity on the show. Leland is originally from Lubbock. He now lives in Allen. And you can read words that he said to me over on FrontRow.
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