Articles for February 1st, 2012
Dallas’ Pavestone Is Sold to Atlanta Company
Thirty-two years after its founding, Dallas-based Pavestone Co. LLC has quietly been sold by businessman Robert Schlegel to the Quikrete companies, a big, family-owned manufacturer of packaged concrete out of Atlanta. Under the deal, which closed last month for an undisclosed sum, Quikrete gets Pavestone’s 22 U.S. manufacturing plants and about 1,100 employees. The corporate headquarters including finance functions will move from here to Atlanta, though Pavestone’s other local operations will remain. At its height around 2007, Pavestone had revenue topping $360 million.
Pavestone and the Canadian-born Schlegel took a roundabout route to the Quikrete buy. In 2008 the Federal Trade Commission blocked Pavestone’s proposed sale to another Atlanta company called Oldcastle Architectural, on antitrust grounds. Two years later Schlegel sold half of Pavestone to Oklahoma Publishing Co., which in turn was snapped up last year by an outfit controlled by Colorado billionaire Philip Anschutz. When the Anschutz deal happened Schlegel says he exercised his “right of first refusal” and bought back Oklahoma Publishing’s half of Pavestone, giving him 100 percent ownership again. Asked what he’ll do now, Schlegel says he retained one $20 million division of the company — something called Bedrock Logistics — and will concentrate on growing that.
Open Letter to Navajo Slim
Dear Navajo Slim:
I was flipping through the latest issue of LIT Monthly. I saw you listed on the masthead as a staff writer. I am forming a gang with the idea that the members of said gang would have the right mix of skills to pull off a bank job. I need a wheelman. Please let me know if you’re interested.
Sincerely,
Tim
PS: Ask your colleague Blind Scientist, in the graphic design department, if he’s interested, too.
Nancy Brinker’s Divided Loyalties
As several readers have pointed out in the comments to our Leading Off item this morning, Nancy Brinker finds herself in an odd position with today’s news. Brinker is the CEO of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, which has pulled its funding from Planned Parenthood because — purportedly — Komen has a new policy that prevents it from supporting organizations that are under investigation. Which Planned Parenthood is. Read about the Congressional investigation here. Maybe it will turn up something. But many say it’s just a politically motivated ploy orchestrated by anti-abortion forces.
No matter your beliefs about the abortion debate, you’ve got to wonder how Brinker is handling the ordeal. Because not only is she the CEO of Komen, she also supports Planned Parenthood. As recently as last year, she sat on the advisory council for Planned Parenthood of North Texas (warning: link opens PDF). And, as KomenWatch has noted, in 1996 Planned Parenthood gave Brinker its Gertrude Shelburne Humanitarian Award, an honor that KomenWatch says is often omitted from Brinker’s CV.
What Brinker has here, I believe, is a sticky wicket.
DMA’s New Director Straight Out of Central Casting
Peter may have a complete report on FrontRow about Tuesday’s media luncheon with Maxwell Anderson, the new director of the Dallas Museum of Art. But at first blush Anderson’s a big-time arts guy straight out of central casting: polished, corporate, carefully spoken. Tailor-made for Dallas, in other words. Asked about lessons he’d learned after sometimes rocky stints at the Whitney in New York and the Indianapolis art museum — institutions where he reportedly clashed with board members and big donors — Anderson replied the problem was that too many of those people were not art collectors themselves, in contrast to the situation here.
The new director is married, by the way, to the beautiful, Houston-reared actress/entrepreneur Jacqueline Buckingham Anderson, who’s likely to give Anna-Sophia a run for her money as a head-turner on the social circuit. Just now Jacqueline — who literally does hail from central casting — is said to be overseeing the building of a new home for the Andersons in Preston Hollow. (She’s had practice at such things, having “redecorated” the couple’s 12,000-square-foot, museum-provided residence in Indy with buying trips to California and Europe, according to the NYT). According to John Eagle, president of the DMA board, she may eventually start her own business here putting art into public or corporate spaces like hospitals.
Dallas is the 33rd Fittest Large City in U.S.
According to this fitness site floating around Facebook, Dallas ranks 33 out of the 58 cities with more than 300,000 people. That’s behind Minneapolis (1), Pittsburgh (4), Seattle (5), Washington, D.C. (7), Austin (9), New Orleans (25), Oakland (28), and San Antonio (32). Behind San Antonio? At least we’re ahead of Tulsa (36), New York (40), Fort Worth (43), Houston (44), Arlington (47), Oklahoma City (49), L.A. (52), Corpus Christi (55), and El Paso (57). Take that, Tulsa.
Things To Do In Dallas Tonight: Feb. 1
Whenever I’m suckered into seeing a “found footage” movies, I think about the documentary Man on Wire. No aliens, no ghosts, no shaky camera, just an extraordinary feat of derring-do and the emotion it inspires.
What I’m trying to say is, I’d pick an actual documentary over this film any day. Happily, Bicycle Dreams, a chronicle of Race Across America, screens at the Studio Movie Grill tonight. Frankly, biking across country sounds bonkers. I’ve seen a cyclist get doored by a cab, and another get other clipped by a speeding car. I have almost zero interest in anything with two wheels. But. That is not to say that the people who choose to do this crazy thing aren’t fascinating. The course is 30 percent longer than the Tour de France, and the team riders are only given nine days to eat up 3,000 miles. It does get treacherous.
Other options include Craig Finn, frontman of the Hold Steady, at Club Dada. I paid a stupid amount of money to see the Hold Steady a couple years ago at notoriously terrible venue Terminal 5, and it was worth it. At less than $20, this concert is practically a steal. Finn came down to Austin not too long ago, and apparently ended up watching a lot of Friday Night Lights. The resulting solo album, Clear Hearts Full Eyes, was recorded with the help of members of White Denim, Centro-matic, and Heartless Bastards. Mount Moriah and Beau Jennings and the Tigers open for Finn. And of course, a trip to Deep Ellum is hardly complete without a drink at Black Swan Saloon. You tell the man behind the bar (Gabe, usually) what you like, and the drink you’ll get in return will far out-class the plastic cup it’s served in. Seriously, though, I love those plastic cups, though. If I never see a $10 cocktail that is not a martini served in a martini glass again, it’ll be too soon.
For more to do with your Wednesday evening, go here.
Robert Wilonsky, Award-Winning Travel Writer
If you think Robert “Fingers of Fury” Wilonsky does nothing but scour PACER filings and search eBay and YouTube for Dallas-related items all day, then you’re wrong. According to the North American Travel Journalists Association, his “Hidden Charms” dispatch from Helsinki in American Way was the best special focus travel article on a local lifestyle in all of 2011. Mazel tov!
Log Cabin Republicans Return to Dallas
Last night marked the first meeting of the new Dallas chapter of the Log Cabin Republicans. The Dallas Voice has the story of how the National Log Cabin Republicans de-chartered the group and ousted the former chapter president for engaging “in a consistent pattern of behavior that detracts from the mission of our organization.” That behavior? Inviting members of a competing gay Republican group (GOProud) to speak at the LCR annual dinner and writing an “unsanctioned” column endorsing Rick Perry for president (before he was officially running). The national LCRs started a new chapter despite the fact that former chapter president, Rob Schlein, has since started a third group: Metroplex Republicans of Dallas. (That name should at least make these people happy.)
Due Date Finds Elusive Mountains Near Dallas
An alert FrontBurnervian sends along this screen shot from the movie Due Date.
Texas Monthly Editor Jake Silverstein Defends “Metroplex”
I’ve gotten into what a friend of mine calls a “dork fight” on Twitter with Jake Silverstein, the editor of Indianapolis-based Texas Monthly. (By employing the latter appellation, I have satisfied a reader’s request (scroll down).) I noticed that Silverstein used the word “Metroplex” in his most recent editor’s note. After the jump, you can read the exchange that ensued on Twitter. TexMo senior staff writer Jason Cohen jumped in, too. Is it just me? Am I the only one who doesn’t dig “Metroplex”?
Me: Dear @jakesilverstein, please stop using the word “Metroplex.” Here is why: http://d-m.ag/wosPvm Thank you.
Silverstein: @timmytyper if the word is so odious, it shd be easier to kill. 33 yrs is a long time. Shd at least get “worthy opponent” status by now
Me: @jakesilverstein Kudzu is odious and hard to kill. So, too, the zebra mussel. Still, we owe it to our children to fight them.
Cohen: @timmytyper @jakesilverstein so is Denton in Metroplex? anyway, N Texas simply doesn’t work as urban area signifier when W, C, E & S aren’t
Me: @Jason___Cohen @jakesilverstein North TX Super Bowl Host Committee. North TX Council of Gov’ts. Not Metroplex, dents [sic]. Join our party.
Silverstein: @timmytyper @jason___cohen metroplexmayorsassoc.org
Me: @jakesilverstein @jason___cohen Founded by two Jacks (Evans of Dallas and Harvard of Plano). Ancient history.
Silverstein: @timmytyper I can’t stand up for a marketing word, but @jason___cohen is right: NT, as urban place name, lacks style, precision.
Me: @jakesilverstein @jason___cohen “Metroplex” connotes style, precision? Metroplex is the name of a Transformer. See: d-m.ag/Aojj4r
Reviewing the New Mavericks, So Far
As everyone knows, there was quite a bit of turnover from last year’s NBA Champions to this year’s still-doing-pretty-swell Mavericks. How are the new fellas doing? Let’s see.
Behind the Scenes at TEDxSMU
The above video looks at how the 2011 edition of TEDxSMU came together. I’m in it briefly, because I helped judge the auditions for two (well, it turned out being three) speaker slots. Somehow I manage to do all my standard bits in the thankfully short amount of screen time I have: mumbling, drinking, staring at my phone, etc.
UPDATE: Oh and I should mention that video came from the folks at WrightIMC.
Leading Off (2/1/12)
Susan G. Komen for the Cure Cuts Ties with Planned Parenthood. Dallas-based Komen has told its affiliates that it will no longer give grants to the Planned Parenthood. The reason, as stated by Komen, is that Planned Parenthood is under investigation. But Komen is being accused of falling to pressure from anti-abortion groups. Now, Planned Parenthood is trying to recoup the loss. As stated in the Morning News/AP article, “Already, the family foundation of Dallas oilman/philanthropist Lee Fikes and his wife, Amy, has donated $250,000 for this purpose, Planned Parenthood said.”
Teacher Reinstated After Four Days of Paid Leave. You remember the story about Joseph Drake, the fourth grade teacher who sent an angry email to DISD Board Trustee Edwin Flores after the board decided to extend teachers’ days by 45 minutes. Well. Four days later, he’s been reinstated. I’m sure Flores’ comments about the entire situation will come up a few times before the May elections.
Brave Boys Turn in Burglars, Return Money. Two Fort Worth boys were playing outside when their neighbors’ house was broken into. One of the burglars gave the boys $100 each to not say anything. “So that’s why I knew right away we were going to have to tell police anyways,” said one of the boys, LaDarias. And that’s what he and LaDarian did. A week after the incident, one of the suspects punched LaDarias in the nose. But he’s not fazed. I like the cut of this kid’s jib.
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