4/15/2009

Unknown Instructors
Funland (Smog Veil Records)
By Ken Shimamoto

Sorry, kids. This isn’t the resurgence of unsung and never-properly-recorded Dallas outfit Funland. Rather, it’s the third installment of a poetry-rock project with punk rock-turned-experimental musos, helmed by Ohio versifier/spoken-word artist Dan McGuire, who’s made three “collaborative compilations” of his spiels over face-melting psych-rock sprawl on his own. This time around, McGuire cedes vocal honors on three out of the 12 tracks to Pere Ubu mastermind David Thomas, two to bassist Mike Watt, and one to graphic artist Raymond Pettibon. What makes this combination work is the interplay between Watt, his Minutemen/fIREHOSE... (read more...)

The Revolution, Televised
Death is never on holiday, according to Microaudiotellarevolution.
By Anthony Mariani

There’s not enough brainy art in Cowtown, art that doesn’t require a 10-page artist’s statement to really sing, that makes your heart think, art that seems familiar but is totally alien. Fort Worth isn’t lacking in conceptual art. But most of it is simply theatrical, referential, or overtly political. What we’re missing is art that creates its own aesthetic, that is a kind of poetry but one written entirely in hieroglyphics. Does "brainy" mean "high-tech"? Not at all. Jason Reynaga’s eye-popping tableaux, Matt Clark’s vibrant color fields, and John Holt Smith’s versions of Barnett Newman’s "zips" employ traditional materials and... (read more...)

A Glowing Gift from the NRC
By BETTY BRINK

For anyone interested in protesting (or supporting) the proposed addition of two new reactors at the Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant, the news is – time is already running out: A hearing has been scheduled for Jan. 6 in Glen Rose on the requested permit, and those who want to comment on it need to contact the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, by mail or e-mail, by Dec. 30. That would be Tuesday.
People who simply show up without prior notice may also be allowed to speak at the meeting at the Glen Rose Expo Center, but their time at the mic will be limited. And if you want to speak but need special accommodations because of... (read more...)

Funkalicious Gateway to the Cultural District
By Jeff Prince

A local blogger is just one of many misinformed folks who think ‘Fort Worth Weekly’ hates its namesake city. Wrong-O. We work hard to uncover dirt, corruption, graft, and general mayhem because we love our city and don’t like people trying to screw it up.

One thing in particular I adore is the city’s history of stepping to the beat of its own drummer (having been born here in 1959 and spent most of my life here, I can verify to the city’s longstanding funkiness). One of my favorite areas to mirror this ideal is the one-mile stretch of Montgomery Street between I-30 and Camp Bowie Boulevard: a high-profile entranceway to... (read more...)

Online Exclusive
Star-Telegram invites ’shell-shocked’ staff to hit door
By

Wow, the latest ultimatum to ‘Fort Worth Star-Telegram’ employees is mind-blowing. The company invited almost every fulltime employee to pick up their sorry asses and leave and don’t let the door hit ‘em on the way out.

Numbers crunchers call it a separation package -- sounds so much nicer than a get-the-hell-out package.

A recently laid off employee said the company gave employees until Sept.
4 to take a voluntary separation, and if enough don’t take the bait, then the involuntary layoffs begin.

“Everybody is like a... (read more...)

Texas Frightmare Weekend
The Immediate Past and Future of Texas Frightmare Weekend
By Cole Williams

The annual horror convention has come a long way since its inaugural event in 2005. Started by Grapeviner Loyd Cryer, Texas Frightmare Weekend has gone from the relatively humble environs of its first venue, the Grapevine Convention Center, to last year’s space, the Hilton DFW/Lakes Hotel, to next year’s site, the Sheraton Grand Hotel on -- of all places -- John Carpenter Freeway in Irving. (John Carpenter directed such wig-flippers as ‘Halloween,’ ‘The Fog,’ ‘The Thing,’ ‘Christine,’ the post-apocalyptic action flick ‘Escape From New York,’ the comedy ‘Big Trouble in Little China,’ and dozens of other cult faves. Of course, the... (read more...)

By DAN MCGRAW

For the past few months, North Texans have been listening to Oscar-winning actor Tommy Lee Jones spew about the wonders of the Barnett Shale natural gas drilling. Come fall, we might be hearing about similar wonders from beloved North Texas newsman Tracy Rowlett. Or, we might be hearing about the darker sides of the huge drilling boom.
And if all goes as Chesapeake Energy hopes, Rowlett and a crew of highly respected journalists could be spreading the word on the shale nationwide in the next few years.
Chesapeake Energy is launching a "unique online video channel" called Shale.TV. According to the company’s announcement... (read more...)

The MCB closes its season in high Bolshoi style.
By Leonard Eureka

Metropolitan Classical Ballet always manages a quality show despite its shoestring budget. Latest example: the season-closing program in Bass Performance Hall last weekend, with a bevy of guest dancers augmenting company regulars in a dancefest second to none seen this year. There were bumps and bruises along the way to be sure, but the overall effect was “Wow!”
The meat of the evening was a revival of co-artistic director Paul Mejia’s “Romeo and Juliet,” set to the Tchaikovsky Fantasy Overture and seamlessly danced by Olga Pavlova and Yevgeni Anfinogenov. Pavlova’s gentle lyricism and inner warmth are wonderfully suited to... (read more...)

It’s Not Nice to Fool the Taxpayers
By BETTY BRINK

It was apparently the best-kept secret in town. The Tarrant County College District announced yesterday that it has bought the RadioShack compound for $238 million for its downtown campus, suddenly abandoning more than half of its grandiose and controversial plans to build what one critic had called a "Taj Mahal on the Trinity" east of the Tarrant County courthouse, near the site where Fort Worth was founded. But college spokeswoman Donna Darovich said the RadioShack purchase has been under consideration since 2006 and actually in negotiations since October 2007. Still, during that same period, and amid roiling controversy, a... (read more...)

Little Mikey’s Big Adventure
By Eric Griffey and Jeff Prince

Ever since his election in 2003, Mayor Mike Moncrief rarely if ever speaks to Fort Worth Weekly writers. So when the Fort Worth Cats handed out Moncrief bobble-head dolls earlier this month, we took advantage of the opportunity and convinced Little Mikey to spend some quality time with us. Wanting to make it up to us for all the unreturned phone calls, he took us out for a night on the town. Scroll through the pictures and follow the captions of Little Mikey’s big... (read more...)

Cagigal’s magical gold-plated special
By Jeff Prince

Some guys are so predictable you can set your watch by them. For instance, go to Los Alamos Café most any afternoon around 2 and you’ll find Frank Cagigal sitting at the lunch counter, wearing jeans, T-shirt, and tennis shoes, watching Hawaii Five-0 reruns, and giving everyone a hard time -- the owners, the cooks, other customers, and especially the waitress, Norma. I’ve been a regular customer at Los Alamos for 20 years and have seen Cagigal’s butt planted at that lunch counter a million times. One of his typical verbal jousts with Norma goes something like this:
“Norma, quit talking on the phone so loud.”
“I’m taking an... (read more...)

A Willie nice house - Online Exclusive!
By JEFF PRINCE

Willie Nelson: An Epic Life covers the singer’s life from conception to now, and it especially resonates while discussing his years in Fort Worth, where he lived in the 1950s. The book mentions two of his former home addresses, and so, for a goof, I drove by the houses to see where Willie used to live when he was a struggling radio disk jockey, door-to-door salesman, musician, and Sunday School teacher.
Both houses are on the South Side of town, near Loop 820 and McCart Avenue. The first one I stopped at was on Sharondale Street, a small frame house with vinyl siding in a weary neighborhood that’s slowly crumbling under the... (read more...)

Mad Splatter
By JEFF PRINCE

Fort Worth artist Scott Gentling lived up to his reputation as the local art scene’s Mad Hatter during an April 5 reception at The Studio, his private art house on the city’s West Side.
Needing a photograph of the reclusive artist to accompany my story on his commission to paint a new portrait of Amon G. Carter, I wrangled an invitation to the reception, marking the unveiling of a new exhibit, “The Gentlings: A Retrospective” featuring a series of astounding watercolors of Texas birds, plus various portraits, and Aztec scenes painted by Scott and his late twin brother Stuart, who died two years ago.
Coincidentally, I had... (read more...)