Back Talk Lakewood/East Dallas

This Weekend: what's on around East Dallas

Terribly terrorizing (and terrific) tales
Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, 7 p.m. All our neighborhood’s most glorious ghouls and ghosts are sure to make an appearance at this spook-studded event — The Bath House Cultural Center at White Rock Lake plays host to this annual reading of eerie holiday tales in honor of Halloween and Day of the Dead. This year the folks from the Dallas Storytelling Guild share their stories, which hail from many cultures and include traditional folktales, family and personal stories, cowboy poetry, tall tales, and outright lies so intriguing the Lady of the Lake might just emerge from her pond for a listen. Bath House is located at 521 E. Lawther.

BOO Who? Don’t cry! Halloween’s not over yet.
Oct. 31, 8 p.m.-1 a.m. Last week they had a party for the kids. Now it’s time for the all-adult Halloween Party at the East Dallas Fraternal Order of Eagles #3108. It’s just $10 at the door and proceeds benefit the Cancer Fund in support of the Lance Armstrong Cancer Foundation. FOE is located at 8500 Arturo. For more info, send the hosts an e-mail.

Shoes In
Nov. 1-end of month. It's always a good time to shoe shop, right? This time, pick up a pair for a child in need (you really should get yourself a pair while you're at it, in the name of convenience, of course). This month marks Chacon Auto's first annual shoe-drive benefiting Shoes for Orphan Souls. Help Chacon make a difference in the lives of at-risk and orphan children throughout the world by dropping off a pair of new shoes at any of their eight locations. In our neighborhood, there is a drop off point at 11800 E. Northwest Highway.

Nov. 2 The Dallas Running Club Half and 5K starts at 8 a.m. 

DON'T FORGET DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME: Fall back Sunday morning!

For more weekend events, or to post your own, check out our calendar.

Kathleen Kent book signing at Talulah Belle Tuesday

Neighbor Kathleen Kent will be signing books between 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 28, at Talulah Belle boutique in the Lakewood Shopping Center. 

There has been a lot of buzz lately about Kent and her eerie and insightful novel, "The Heretic’s Daughter", has gained national accolades and attention.

Writes New York Times critic Chelsea Cain in a September review, “Like ‘The Crucible,’ ‘The Heretic’s Daughter’ uses the Salem witch hunt to explore larger themes — most notably, the loss of civil liberties in times of terror — but at its core, it’s a story about a family.” (Kent's novel was the Times' Editor's Choice, 9/14.)

Kent's story is based on a distant relative who was hanged following the 17th century trials — you can read a bit more about her in the September East Dallas/ Lakewood Advocate.

This book signing is a recommended event for getting you in the Halloween spirit with a good spooky tale and a fascinating woman, all at the coolest shop around. 

Plays at Bath House Cultural Center

The last thing Larry Randolph wants people to think is that the drama series his company is putting on this month and next is only for old people.

“There’s nothing half baked about these,” says Randolph, one-third of the group behind One Thirty Productions, which is staging Wedding Belles Oct. 29-Nov. 15 at the Bath House Cultural Center. “These are professional looking productions, and we know how to put on a good piece of work.”

One Thirty bills itself as “Dallas' One and Only Matinee Series,” and its reason for being is to offer plays in the middle of the day for people who can’t –- or don’t want –- to go in the evening. It’s supported by the city’s office of cultural affairs for just that reason, and hence the idea that it would only be of interest to the elderly.

But the first season’s plays received pretty good reviews -– no less than the Observer’s Elaine Liner said of Opal’s Husband, which ran last spring: “This is fun stuff, performed lovingly by professional actors, and directed by Marty van Kleeck who has real respect for the target audience.”

This Weekend: what's on in East Dallas

BOO! Halloween isn’t here yet, but the freaky festivities get underway this weekend:

Sat. Oct. 25, 11 a.m. Dallas Fraternal Order of Eagles #3108 is hosting a FREE Children's Halloween Carnival for members and guests featuring games, fun and prizes.  Dress up and win a groovy award if your costume really rocks. FOE is on 8500 Arturo Rd. Questions? Send 'em here.

Sat. Oct. 25, 6 p.m.-9 p.m. St. Bernard of Clairvaux school hosts its famously frightening annual Halloween Carnival complete with candy, games, BINGO and a totally terrifying haunted house. Location: 1420 Old Gate Lane.

FREE art at the Bath House

I don't know if other cities have fabulous FREE art galleries, but here in the White Rock Lake area we have the Bath House Cultural Center and it always has something fascinating to offer. The stuff around this time of year gets kind-a spooky too, which I like.

Right now, through Nov. 8, catch Twang and Friends, an exhibit by local artist Jose Vargas. Who is Twang, you ask ... Twang is a cigarette smokin', guitar strummin', wailin' colorful bag of bones. You just have to see him to appreciate him. Makes me ponder what Johnny Cash might be doing in the afterlife.  And while Vargas' work is fun in a lot of ways, there is also obviously a deeper level to it that seems to represent the dark underbelly that is so often part of the artist/ musician's life.

This Weekend: what's on in East Dallas

THIS WEEKEND:
The Party Must Go On
Sat. Oct. 18 from 1-5 — Stonewall Jackson, like the rest of DISD, has felt some pain of late, but that doesn’t mean they can’t celebrate … which they WILL, this weekend, at the Beyond the Stars Carnival.
Rock Climbing, bounce house, fortune telling, food, games, more, more and more. Admission is FREE and a $30 wristband buys unlimited games. ($25 if you drop by the school and get it early.

Artists studio tours Saturday, Oct. 18

Hopefully, you read in your October Advocate about the White Rock Lake Artist Studio Tour to take place this Saturday, Oct. 18, at studios all around the White Rock area. Now in it's 16th year, the tour is chock-full of funky and fabulous participants — 45 of them. Here is the official list along with a bit about the studio tour tradition, details on this weekend's event and a lot about local art, in general.

Speaking of neighborhood artists, many of the same artists involved in the studio tour are also part of an awesome art garden at the State Fair this year — the organizer of the State Fair show, Lottie Minick, maintains an informative and spirited blog that follows the art/gardening/etc. scene around the 'hood.

By the way, don't forget that the State Fair ends Sunday, Oct. 19. If you haven't seen Big Tex yet, you'd better get there in a hurry!

Day of the Dead show opens this weekend

Night is falling earlier, the air is cooling and Halloweeny-season is nigh, and it is that time of year for the Day of the Dead exhibit at the Bath House Cultural Center. The exhibit opens this Sunday with a reception from 5-7 p.m., and it will run through Nov. 8. Every year, the Day of the Dead Exhibit at the Bath House seems to get better. The gallery walls are increasingly colorful and rich with skeletons and specters, sometimes smiling or dancing and sometimes just spooky. It’s a celebration of the dead and death and what happens afterward — a tough concept for me to grasp, honestly, as I tend to be very saddened by death (weird, I know). But that’s what I love about Day of the Dead and the festivities surrounding it — it challenges what we think we know about the unknown.

Lots of local artists participating in this show, see the list here.

Woodrow Fall Play set Oct. 10, 11 & 13

Radiance of a Thousand Suns, Woodrow Wilson High School's fall play, will be performed Oct. 10, 11 & 13 in the auditorium, 100 S. Glasgow. The play is set in Hiroshima in 1945 and tells three "compelling" stories about the time. Performances start at 7:30 p.m. (the Oct. 13 performance could start closer to 7:45 p.m., due to parent-teacher conferences that day). Tickets are $10 for adults, $6 for students, and will be sold at the door. The director notes that "this play is intended for audiences of high school age or older." To see a picture of the cast, click here (publicity photo was taken by neighborhood photographer Bill Ellison).

How to shoo birds on a wire

With a cymbal and a stick of course.

We've all seen these massive flocks of birds that gather on the wires — they seem especially fond of the Casa Linda Plaza area. Usually I am more fascinated than bothered by them. But last night, when I was leaving my son off for guitar lessons at Zoo Music on Garland, the birds demolished my car with poo. Eww. "I'll take care of 'em," mumbles one of the Zoo staffers.