Back Talk Lakewood/East Dallas

We know who you are, and we're coming for you in 2008

Electricity rate relief died in the Legislature over the weekend. This means prices aren't going down, despite the fact that TXU apparently manipulated the market to get them to these levels, and the TXU buyout will take place, as planned, without any review by the PUC.

Note to local legislators: If we're paying 20 cents a kilowatt hour in November 2008 -- and I honestly don't see why we won't, given how this "free" market works and how much money TXU's new owners spent to keep it that way -- I'd go look for another job. We're throwing you out.

Honest, fellows, I didn't write this

Regular visitors of this space know how terrified I am of the hard-hitting journalists at D magazine, so I post the following item with this disclaimer: Angela Hunt wrote it, not me. I'd never be able to get through the day if you thrusted your rapier-like wit in my direction.

Hunt has posted a letter to D publisher Wick Allison on the pro-referendum, TrinityVote website. Allison has decided, like Dallas' Only Daily Newspaper has, that the referendum is the end of the world. He then takes a pot shot at Hunt, which I find very revealing, given that he is the publisher of a magazine where plastic surgery is a reason for being: "Egocentrics make bad listeners and good populists. Because they won't listen to facts, the facts never get in their way."

The Morning News sings its Trinity toll road refrain

I need to find out how to add sound to the blog. That way, I can cue the funereal music whenever I find a reference in Dallas' Only Daily Newspaper to the awful, horrendous disasters that will befall us if we get the Trinity toll road referendum on the November ballot.

Note to The News editorial board: The world will not come to an end. The sky will not fall in. George Bush will still be president. The Park Cities will still exist as a refuge from those of us who make up the unwashed masses on this side of Central.

The New Big Wong: Visiting an old friend

Quick show of hands: How many of us have been to the New Big Wong after midnight? (And I won't ask how many people remember it on Fitzhugh, as opposed to the "new" location on lower Greenville.)

An old pal, since exiled to Nebraska (yes, there are places that are almost as dull as Frisco) used to look forward to the New Big Wong's orange beef with a special anticipation. Twenty-five years ago, that was a pretty damned exotic dish.

A lot has changed, of course. The big fish tank with various live swimming things is mostly gone, and I don't know that the food is as good as it used to be. Or that it was as good as I remember it being. And I don't eat there more than once or twice a year any more. But I stopped by for a carryout order over the weekend and was pleasantly surprised. Got the orange beef, of course, in honor of my friend, and the shrimp pan fried noodles and the crab meat corn soup (made, as always, with faux crab) and a couple of other items, and everyone had a good time passing the food around, talking about the old days, and trying to remember exactly where the old Big Wong was on Fitzhugh.

Didn't get the pu pu tray, though. Guess I'll save that for next time.

People, get ready for the music news.

"Don't you feel it growin', day by day
People gettin' ready for the news
Some are happy, some are sad
Oh, we got to let the music play!

What the people need
Is a way to make em smile
It ain't so hard to do if you know how.
Gotta get a message
Get it on through
Oh now mama, don't you ask me why.

Oh, oh, listen to the music
Oh, oh, listen to the music
Oh, oh, listen to the music
All the time"

Ah, the Doobie Brothers! Summer, relaxing, barbecues, great music on the radio... wait, wait, we live in Dallas... there isn't much great new music on the radio, is there? In fact, you can probably hear this song from the Doobies if you search a little while on the dial. I bet Jack FM has it in their rotation, right? Well, I've got some news. Good news! There is GREAT new music out there. Right here in Dallas, in Lake Highlands and Lakewood and Deep Ellum, even. And I'm gonna tell you how to find it. Every week. Yup. Welcome to Into Deep, your local music connection, with me, Kate Mackley! Who am I? I'm a photographer, a soccer mom, an interviewer, and a supporter of all things local in music around Dallas.  I go to a lot of shows at Club Dada, Opening Bell Coffee, The Cavern, the Granada, Lakewood Bar and Grill, Poor David's Pub, the Barley House, etc etc. I'm not often at The Palladium, Nokia Center, and the House of Blues. You know why? because you've heard of the musicians playing the bigger venues, and they don't need me to tell you how great they are. I want to find the sixteen-year-old who will be the next big thing (Maren Morris), the local band that hasn't broken out yet, but absolutely deserves to (Sorta), the singer-songwriter living RIGHT HERE who is putting on a great show (Dylan Sneed), and the amazing musician who is our neighbor but ought to be in NYC or LA or Nashville because they are brilliant (Chris Holt).

Whew. That was waaaaay too long of an introduction to me. Sorry. I'm done talking about me now. I want to tell you where to go this weekend in LH and Lakewood (and possibly, just a little farther when it will be an unusually great show) to hear good music.

The places I love and will probably write about, a lot:
In Lake Highlands and Lakewood:
Lakewood Bar and Grill
White Rock Coffee
Highlands Cafe*
*full disclosure: I book the music at Highlands Cafe, so of course I'm going to love everyone that plays there.

Not in LH or Lakewood, but so close!
The Cavern on Greenville
The Granada Theater
Good Records

and out of the neighborhood, but not too far to go:
Lee Harveys near South Side Lamar
Opening Bell Coffee at South Side Lamar
Club Dada in Deep Ellum
Bend Studio on McKinney
Sons of Hermann Hall on Elm at Exposition

Do you have a favorite place to hear local music? I'd love to hear about it. Are you a musician or artist living in LH or Lakewood? Tell me more about yourself.

All that reading just to get to this: Where to go this weekend...
It's Memorial Day Weekend, so you get an extra night of music. How great is that?

Friday 5/25
The Cavern 10pm Andy Rourke of the Smiths DJs.
He's not at all local, but he's Andy Rourke. Of the Smiths. Morrissey plays the Palladium, and after that set is done, Andy Rourke hoofs it over to the Cavern. Booking company Spune Productions finds amazing artists to play this tiny, smoky dive on Greenville. Have a long dinner at Daddy Jack's, then live your '80s dreams by meeting Andy Rourke, of the Smiths. wow.

Sons of Hermann Hall, 7p Zounds Sounds Summer Soul Revue.
You don't know it, but that neighbor kid who bugs you every afternoon with his drumset is being taught by a someday rock legend at Zounds Sounds School of Rock. This afternoon you can hear the kiddo onstage, actually playing real music. Good soul music. Go support your fav budding rock star.

Black Forest Theater 8p PPT
Hiphop darling Picnic of Pikahsso, Picnic, and Tahiti (PPT) is a LH resident and their record label, Idol Records, sets up shop in Lakewood. Go figure; hiphop right here in our 'hood. Go for literate, fun, irreverent, non-violent lyrics and a benefit for Eryka Badu's Black Forest Theater.

Saturday 5/26
Lee Harvey's 8p Zapruder Sequence and The Drams
Remember the Old 97s? Well, Zapruder Sequence is the NEW Old 97s. Jordan Munn is as dreamy as Rhett Miller, and the Binford boys who back their pretty-boy vocalist are great. Drummer Michael K (not to leave him out) is lots of fun; buy him a drink, I'm pretty sure all the guys are legal now. Just kidding. Plus, The Drams (formerly known as Slobberbone) with Brent Best follow. A great night to hit the patio at Lee Harveys.

Lakewood Bar and Grill 8p Codger
Past-their-prime (or so they think) dudes Codger put on a tongue-in-cheek rock show. Who says Dad can't rock?

*Opening Bell Coffee 8p Doug Burr and Sarah Jaffe
Sarah Jaffe will likely win (my prediction) the Dallas Observer Music Award for Best Female Vocalist this year. Even if she doesn't, she oughtta. Smoky, soulful Americana, worth the trip south of Downtown. Doug Burr is a past DOMA winner for Best Folk; his almost-Appalacian style is terrific, one of my absolute favorite artists. These two together will be fantastic.

*My pick for the weekend; don't miss this show.

Monday 5/28
Balcony Club 8p Colin Boyd
Fun, funky Americana-pop. One extra night of weekend because of Memorial Day, and tomorrow's not a school day (not that I'm suggesting taking the kids to the Balcony Club, but who says you can't celebrate summer, too?).

Rolling blackouts?

What happened last night? I was driving home, heading north on Skillman, and when I came to McCommas, the light was completely out. Not blinking red — COMPLETELY out. Drivers weren't realizing this until they came right up to the light, and the skidding and swerving in the heavy rain was pretty scary.

I called 311 around 6:10 p.m. to notify the city, and the operator told me it had already been noted, but he would notify the dispatcher again. When I drove back down Skillman at 6:45 p.m., it was still out, and people were still skidding and swerving. (I was thankful no one had wrecked yet.)

Then, coming back up Skillman at 8:25 p.m., the light at Live Oak was completely out. This time, I realized the entire block was out of power. I drove up Skillman in darkness all the way to Palo Pinto, with the lights at Oram, Richmond and Belmont completely out as well. I don't know how far the blackout stretched from east to west, but it was pretty good stretch from north to south. The weird part was that the blackouts seemed to happen after the heaviest part of the storm and rain had passed. That seemed odd to me, and it was also strange to see traffic lights not even blinking. Does this seem weird to anyone else?

Doesn't it hurt when the anti-Trinity referendum people keep shooting themselves in the foot?

A few thoughts after last night's Trinity tollroad debate:

• Craig Holcomb, speaking for the anti-referendum side, said we need the tollroad because traffic is so bad in the Mixmaster. He's kidding, right? The audience, 30 or 40 people who came out despite the rain, was very polite. No one laughed.

• Holcomb, who did good work for the neighborhood when he was on the City Council and is a long-time friend of the Advocate, must have done something pretty awful to be forced to shill for these people. He said we can't have a referendum because it will disenfranchise everyone who voted for the park in the original bond election. Note to anti-referendum group: It's not in very good taste for a group controlled by mostly Anglo southern men, who have long experience with real, Martin Luther King-style disenfranchising, to use that argument.

• The referendum isn't necessary, said Holcomb, because everyone who voted in the original bond election should have known this was going to be a high-speed toll road. This information, though not in the ballot proposal, was in the briefing packets available at City Hall, if we had gone down there and asked for them.  Again, the audience showed its class. No one keeled over from a laughter-induced heart attack.

• The audience, as would be expected of Advocate readers, asked intelligent, sensible questions and seemed almost as well informed on the issues as Holcomb and Angela Hunt, who argued the pro-referendum side. One question, for which no one had an answer: If we build the tollroad, which doesn't allow for access to the park, where will the money come from to build the roads that will allow access?

Hear the Lost and Nameless Orchestra at the Tipperary Inn Saturday

While keeping my ususal stool warm at the Tipp tonight, I learned that the Lost and Nameless Orchestra band out of Austin will be playing here on Saturday evening. They classify themselves as Acoustic/Folk Rock/Americana. I checked their website and determined that they do indeed have fiddles in the band, a requirement for me. Click their web site where you can sample their sound.

I love the Tipp for these kinds of venues because it really is a family kind of place on the weekends; intimate, smokeless, attentive staff. There are even a couple children to be seen on many nights. Good Celtic/Folk music. Much like real pubs in Ireland, very much not  your average bar.

A Steve Blow spotting!

Sunnyvale Steve has been seen in our neighborhood. And he even admits it. (I wonder: Has he ever used those pages in his Mapsco before?)

Turns out Blow was following up a reader's complaint about poor mail service in the area around Skillman and LaVista. He was just around the corner from the office and didn't stop by? He was also just blocks from the home of Dallas Observer columnist Jim Schutze. I'm sure Jim would have offered Steve a cup of coffee and a tour of the neighborhood.

By the way, Steve, our mail service has always been awful in East Dallas. This is not news (though I do appreciate you helping us out with the problem). I have had my mail stolen, had a carrier refuse to deliver to my house because a dog barked at her, and assume I still have a rather lengthy file with various postal and congressional officials. In fact, stop by the Lakewood branch on any morning, and you'll get an earful from customers. (Just go up LaVista and you'll find it.)

Next time you're around, Steve, let me know. I'll even take you to breakfast at the Gold Rush. You were right there, anyway.

Bring back the wrecking ball

I probably won't win many friends for this opinion, but it occurred to me a couple of days ago, as I was driving north on Abrams between Richmond and Belmont, that it now seems kind of silly to have forced Wachovia to use the old gas station-cum-Lakewood Furniture building as part of its development project on that block. Maybe it was that, in comparison to the absolutely hideous Cafe Brazil building, that little space looked kind of cute and seemed to have some character. But now that everything else has been demolished, it just looks bleak and, frankly, seems a sad excuse to base new development on.