D

Recently Engaged? Then We’d Like To Announce It on BridalBuzz

D Weddings assistant editor Kristin Hull is starting something new on BridalBuzz: Dallas engagement announcements. Do you want to be the featured couple—or know someone who should? Get detailed instructions here.

Is The TABC Out of Control?

The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission is a powerful agency in the state of Texas. They regulate the sales, taxation, importation, manufacturing, transporting, and advertising of alcoholic beverages.

Over the years, I’ve heard some horror stories from bar and restaurant owners. Yesterday, I ran an interview with Rainmaker Restaurant Group owner Michael Costa. He manages Las Colinas Prime and claims that the TABC harasses them to the point of scaring away customers. During a recent raid, Costa claims an agent pulled a gun on one of the cooks in the kitchen because he had a knife in his hands.

Early Sunday morning, officers with the TABC and Fort Worth police raided the Rainbow Lounge, a gay nightclub in Fort Worth. It’s sounds like it was a nasty scene. One patron ended up in the hospital with a brain injury.  Last night witnesses to the ordeal met at Buzzbrews on Lemmon to share stories.

Yow. Zah. I’m having flashbacks to Lee Park in 1971. Where is Stoney Burns when we need him? (Much watch video.) Operators are standing by for your comments.

This is the Remix: AutoTune the Press Conference

In the recent tradition of “AutoTune the News,” comes this Steve Porter creation. And thanks to T.O. Owens for giving me the flimsiest of reasons to post it here.

(Via)

Friday Time Suck: Flip Flop Fly Ball

I can’t really describe this site any better than Craig Robinson, the man behind it does: “A love of baseball plus a love of infographics equals Flip Flop Fly Ball.” Therein, you can find clean, beautiful graphic representations of things such as the real world cost of stolen bases and the height of Fenway Park’s Green Monster as compared to other icons.

My favorite so far, and what gives me the most tangential of reasons to post this, is a fully realized box score of a fictitious tiebreaker game between the Wu-Tang Clan and the E Street Band to decide the Eastern Division pennant and determine who will face Earth, Wind & Fire in the Championship Series. (That’s not local, you might say. And you’re right. But along with that, Robinson also includes the final division standings. Look at the bottom of the Western Division. There, in last place with a record of 4-14, is Dallas’ own The Polyphonic Spree. Boom.)

Dallasnews.com Gets a D- on Design

An alert FBvian points us to this review of the top 25 newspaper sites in the country. The DMN gets a D-. The review begins:

Dallasnews.com looks like it was put together by The Mad Hatter.

And please, before you start your own blog and point out that we at D live in a glass house, etc., etc., understand that I’m just pointing to that review. Not saying I agree with it. You believe me. Right?

Friday Afternoon Random Poll

To help you make up your mind, go here and here.

You Should Follow Mark Cuban on Twitter

Or so says Advertising Age. He made the list of 25 media people worth following on Twitter. Perhaps Laura Kostelny will make the next one.

Rick Perry Entry Found On Dickipedia

Noted blogger, commenter (sigh), and wordsmith Bethany alerts us to the genius of Dickipedia, and the entry on our illustrious governor. Sample quote from the bio:

Leathery and blow-dried, Perry easily lays claim to the title of “Most Bouffant U.S. Governor,” especially now that Rod Blagojevich has officially been barred from holding the office ever again.

American Airlines’ Website Gets a Hostile Makeover

Not an official one. Dustin Curtis redesigned AA.com on his own after, he says, having “the horrific displeasure of booking a flight” on the site.

If I was running a company with the distinction and history of American Airlines, I would be embarrassed — no ashamed — to have a website with a customer experience as terrible as the one you have now. How does your CEO, Gerard J. Arpey, justify treating customers this way? Why does your board of directors approve of this? Your website is abusive to your customers, it is limiting your revenue possibilities, and it is permanently destroying the brand and image of your company in the mind of every visitor.

Here’s his updated take on AA.com. (Thanks to the sassy FBvian for the heads-up.)

Check Out BridalBuzz, Daily Advice for the Dallas Bride

Pardon the shameless plug, but I’m just pleased to announce that we’ve added a sixth blog to our lineup: BridalBuzz, the daily destination for Dallas wedding advice. Perhaps you’ve visited ShopTalk, where we used to post an item or two about the Dallas wedding scene. But now we’ve got a proper place to house our great advice for Dallas brides. Should you stop by, you’ll notice–as I’m sure you have today on FrontBurner–the new-and-improved top nav and snazzy blog logos. Hats off to Stephen Edmonson for that.

Dallas Firm Launches iPhone Reverse-Lookup App

If you’re a snooper — and who doesn’t like to snoop? — reverse-lookup technology is a handy tool to have. A Dallas firm called Accudata Technologies has just launched an iPhone app that makes reverse lookup simple. Just enter a mobile and land-based phone number, and it’ll tell you to whom it belongs (full release after the jump). Only downside is the cost: the iPrivus app costs $45.

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New Look to FrontBurner (And All D Magazine Sites)

As you can see, the great Stephen Edmondson has overhauled the look of our little corner of the web. Love to hear what you think of the change in comments.

WFAA Shuts Down Comments to Its Site

I still say this blog is diminished by not having comments. And I still say I understand Wick’s reasoning in making the move to shut down comments a few weeks back. But perhaps Wick is a trendsetter. Because now WFAA, too, has shut down its comments. Send us a letter and tell us what you think about this trend.

DallasNews.com Blogs, Ctd.

From my original DMN pen pal:

Just think of it as a two-track system:

Blogs with comments at our place, 52.

Blogs without comments, you guys.

Well played.

If You Don’t Have a Blog on DallasNews.com, You Are the Only One

In a post a couple of months back, I made an offhand joke about the DMN site having 50 blogs. Later in the day, I heard from a Morning News employee who initially thought my number was ridiculous — it was a joke, after all — but then counted and found I wasn’t far off; dallasnews.com had 38 blogs.

Well, Eric just counted again (they’ve incorporated some community blogs recently) and my once-slight joke is 100 percent true. They now have 52 blogs. We apparently have to step our game up.

New Dallas Blog for Your Eyes: RenegadeBus

I don’t know what it says about me as an editor and our crazy, topsy-turvy Internet-y world that I learned about the new arts and culture blog RenegadeBus, not from its operators, two of whom are contributors to D Magazine, but from Jerome Weeks on KERA’s Art&Seek blog. But it says something. I fear it says that RenegadeBussers Joan Arbery and Peter Simek, who are in-laws, probably say bad things about my professional capabilities at family gatherings. For this they will, of course, pay dearly.

Meantime, check out their new site (word of which has spread faster than they had intended). Zac, I suggest you check out Peter’s story about the night the smoking ban went into effect. Good stuff.

Mavs/Nuggets Live Blog Over at InsideCorner

Check in here if you want to read me, FreeDarko’s Bethlehem Shoals, and probably a few others discussing Game 2 of the Western Conference Semifinals. And click here if you don’t.

Leppert: Referendum Turnout A Challenge

This morning Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert stopped by Jones Lang LaSalle’s new Dallas headquarters in Preston Center, where he helped JLL’s Paul Whitman and Roger Staubach (from left in photo) snip the grand-opening ribbon. Then the mayor submitted to a quick interview about the May 9 convention-center hotel referendum, saying he’s “awful happy with the trend line,” but concerned about voter turnout. “What it comes down to is this: May elections don’t have the excitement of a November election with presidential implications,” Leppert said. “So the turnout is the challenge. That’s what makes polling and all that very difficult.” Jump for the Q&A.

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Kelly Clarkson Does Something

What? I’m not sure. I think it has to do with this. Maybe. Anyway, I figured Eric at least would want to see it.

Prop 2 Would Stymie Growth

Those opposed to Proposition 1, which would block city ownership of a convention-center hotel, contend the measure would hobble Dallas’ growth. For reasons Wick has explained, that’s ridiculous.

The real anti-growth measure on the May 9 ballot is Prop 2. Under its language, a citywide referendum would have to be held before developers of condos, hotels and malls got $1 million or more in city incentives, if 500 voters signed a petition.

Prop 2 proponents like Paul Osborn, of the local Libertarian Party, say it’s all about government “transparency,” and checks and balances. That’s hogwash.

Prop 2’s really about stopping growth. All these referenda–or the threat of them–would only cause delay and uncertainty, two things developers can’t abide. They’ll take their projects to surrounding, more hospitable cities so fast your head will spin.

Convention-hotel supporters have tried to conflate Props 1 and 2, urging no votes on each. But they’re being dishonest with the voters. The only link between the two is this: Prop 2 was devised strictly as a payback measure by union organizers who couldn’t get their foot in the door of the proposed convention hotel.

If you care about Dallas’ future, vote no on Prop 2.

News Online Readership Way, Way Up, Ctd.

Wick, indeed the DMN’s online readership is way up. But a more important number is online revenue. It is not growing for the company, unfortunately. The official press release on the fourth quarter 2008 results does not separate out the DMN’s financial numbers, but it does say the following:

AHC’s Internet revenues accounted for 6.9 percent of total revenues in the quarter. Internet revenues were $11.1 million, 16 percent below the same period last year.

FreeDarko’s Bethlehem Shoals Has Deep Thoughts About Tonight’s Mavs/Spurs Game

And he was good enough to share them with us right here.

Stanley Korshak Turns to eBay to Move Merch

An energetic FrontBurnervian points us to this Wall Street Journal story about Stanley Korshak’s electronic outpost on eBay. Korshak’s owner, Crawford Brock, says, “[W]e’re not so sure we want people to know necessarily that this is Stanley Korshak.” That’ll be tough to hide now that the WSJ has outed them. Here are the items up for sale on eBay now.

Certainly Not Another Post About Shutting Down Comments

Yeah, so, just wanted to point you to Gordon Keith’s take on our no-comments policy (for now). And notice what happened in HIS comments section. Some good stuff, absolutely. And some trash. His signal-to-noise ratio is actually pretty good. But all it takes — when your comments aren’t moderated — is a handful of bad actors to ruin the fun.

Martellus Bennett Sails the Seas of Racial Tension

On his DMN blog, Martellus Bennett decided to tackle the topic of why black people like fried chicken. I’ll tell you this: yesterday, before we turned off comments, I wouldn’t have linked to that Bennett post for fear of the comments that would be generated hereon. (Also, after several internal discussions today, I have high hopes about how soon we’ll have a workable comments-moderation system up and working here.)