Things To Do In Dallas Tonight: Sep. 15

As a short-lived, ill-advised experiment, I tried to stop drinking coffee. My resolve lasted 24 hours, until this morning when the dull withdrawal headache gave way to some sort of hallucinatory cloud that melted my brain and made my eyeballs feel like cotton balls. I am sitting here clutching a doppio. Still fuzzy. But alive to regret the worst idea I’ve had in quite awhile.

But there’s an antidote for my pain (because everything is about me, obviously). Grapefest kicks off today, and continues all weekend long. Of course, the event is in direct competition with Addison Oktoberfest, which I will probably type about tomorrow. Since I’d rather leave the Big Gulp-sized beer steins to the weekend proper, Thursday evening just strikes me as the perfect time to check out the vino fest. The weather is finally cool enough for me to order Malbec and not sound like a total ignoramus.

You could just hang out in the international wine pavilion dreaming of a visit to the place where your bottle originated, but those feeling especially judgmental may want to snag a ticket to the People’s Choice Wine Tasting Classic. Grapefest is also, as I mentioned in the SideDish edition of this blog post on Monday, the only acceptable reason to get a little sloshed in Grapevine that doesn’t involve someone’s house or a boat.

And if there was ever a day to give to a charitable or not-for-profit institution of your choice, this is it. DonorBridge has organized a North Texas “Get Up and Give Day” in which donations over $25 will be matched from a fund of $1 million. Tim Rogers tells you everything I was going to say about this, and more, right here. You can donate to the Dallas Opera (Glenn Hunter reiterated on Tuesday how much they could really use the help), KERA, the Dallas Center for Architecture, the Salvation Army, and a ton of other worthy groups.

For more to do tonight, go here.