According to repeated public statements from Dallas oilman Ray Hunt and his son Hunter, the main benefit to me of letting them take over Oncor, the big state-regulated electrical transmission utility, will be, “…to keep control of Oncor here in Texas where it belongs.” Is that where it belongs? I…
When I saw people promoting the De La Terre dinner at CBD Provisions on Facebook, I thought, Awesome. Dinner that benefits a charity, plus tons of fancy chefs: Janice Provost, Misti Norris, Anastacia Quinones — this’ll be great. And then I read the headline of the flyer. “Twelve Dallas female…
This has been a busy week on the Fair Park/State Fair of Texas news front, as the City Council approaches a vote this summer on competing plans for the park. Steve Thompson in The Dallas Morning News told readers how the fair had refused to pony up any straightforward data…
The men of country music have always exuded a distinct brand of masculinity. From Bob Wills to George Strait, these are the Marlboro Men of the music world — rugged, tough and stoic. It’s so ingrained that no one ever questioned the rhinestones that were popular for so much of…
In the weeks since Sturgill Simpson gave his first glimpse of his new album, A Sailor’s Guide to Earth, much has been made about the country star’s change of direction. Ordained by many as the savior of country music after his 2014 breakout, Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, the Kentucky…
There are so many reasons to admire Merle Haggard and so few words to describe them. The country music legend, who passed away Wednesday on his 79th birthday, was the working man’s hero, a scrappy, rough and tumble boy done good. An unmatchable songwriter, Haggard released 71 singles and penned…
Every cool kid movement sells out in the end. Hippie protest icon Jerry Rubin became a Wall Street stockbroker. Dave Mustaine of Megadeth and Metallica supported Rick Santorum for president. And at the Dallas Grilled Cheese Co., hipsters are slinging $9 grilled cheese sandwiches. When I started the “How Hipster…
You could say that country fans are too damn picky. From George Strait’s arrival in the 1980s to the pop-heavy acts that pushed the genre past its breaking point in the early 2000s, fans have continually worried that, come the next dilution of the genre, it will disappear forever. So…
It’s been a good couple months for Dalton Rapattoni. The Sunnyvale native has rocketed to fame thanks to his breakout performances on the final season American Idol, helped in part by the extra attention that’s been paid to the long-running reality TV show’s swan song. But will the extra attention…
The highly-anticipated reunion of At the Drive-In hit a big snag last week. Via a Facebook post, the band announced co-founder, vocalist and guitarist Jim Ward is not in the band anymore. This news came only a few days before the band heads out on an extensive tour of the…
Erik Highter is a writer based in Dallas. He and musician Nevada Hill met in early 2013 at one of Nevada’s Bludded Head shows. While they worked together to craft press releases and marketing ideas for Nevada’s band, it was the hundreds and hundreds of hours of listening to music…
Another new music festival, another OK lineup with a mediocre concept. Welcome to DFW. Earlier this week, first-time Dallas festival Bulladora Music Experience announced its full lineup of bands, complemented by the rather bizarre theme of the “pugasus” — that is, a pug dressed up with a pair of wings. If…
If you’ve spent any time at all on Facebook in the last year, you’ve been subjected to an endless stream of recipe videos, the short, peppy little videos that break down recipes into a visual step-by-step. Bacon-guacamole “chicken bombs,” biscuit and gravy casserole, Nutella cream cheese turnovers — thanks to Buzzfeed’s…
I’m a genius. I thought of it just now — the whole solution. The Dallas Morning News has been making me feel like an incompetent guttersnipe for years, telling me about all the historic preservation that doesn’t get done in Dallas, and I could never think of one single thing…
Sturgill Simpson never said he was a country artist. In fact, he’s long insisted that he isn’t. Proclaimed the savior of country music ever since the release of 2014’s Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, Simpson’s always been a moving target, an artist whose mind moves in so many different directions that…
Waiters have always been multitaskers, but now a new chore is being added to their job descriptions: Food Explainer. It’s not just “here are today’s specials” and “our plates are meant for sharing” anymore — chefs and managers are asking waitstaff to deliver little speeches about almost every dish. Before…
Of all the generic pop-rock bands that dominated the airwaves in the 1990s, Sister Hazel was one of the most successful. In 1997, you couldn’t go more than about five minutes without hearing “All for You,” the year’s most popular song and Sister Hazel’s biggest hit. You’re probably unaware of…
They called him a “cry baby,” a “pussy,” “whiny” and a whole assortment of verbage using the word “fuck” as an adjective and a verb. Pantera fans’ response to LA Weekly’s recent article “It’s Time to Talk About How Terrible Pantera Are,” although not near the backlash the writer Nicholas…
I believe in Kanye West, but can he ever enjoy an album release without suffering some problem? Every album since The College Dropout met the butt of misfortune – familial loss, dissolution of relationships, perceived devil worship, attacks on his seeming arrogance. Remember the footage of Kanye throwing a tearful…
There are a number of stereotypes conjured by the mind when someone mentions “the South.” Whether it’s the comfort food, country music or casual racism, the Deep South in particular has proven to be an irresistible backdrop for artists of all kinds. One need only look to Nic Pizzolatto’s credits…
Perhaps more than anywhere else, the world of music loves a good comeback story, and after a surprise appearance last week, we are hopefully witnessing the beginning of another dramatic resurrection. Randy Travis, arguably the most distinctive voice of country music in the 1980s, was on hand February 3 for…
Kanye West is a creative genius. Nobody is doubting that. He is definitely a once-in-a-lifetime-caliber artist whose contributions to the music and fashion worlds are innovative. So it’s completely appropriate that people are excited about the releases of his seventh studio album titled Waves (as of now) and latest fashion…
