Dallas / Fort Worth and Me

In my last exciting entry, I told you about my recent visit to the House of Blues in Dallas, which I rather enjoyed and heartily endorse to you all. When I left you, we were waiting for the band (Tokio Hotel) to come on stage. And waiting. And waiting.

That’s the Tokio Hotel symbol up there on the curtain, by the way.

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I spent the evening of August 27, 2008 (last night, as I write this missive) at the Dallas iteration of the House of Blues. HOB is a relatively new addition to the West End; it’s been there, at 2200 N. Lamar, only since 2007. I’ve never been inside before, much less to one of their many concerts, but I have to say this:  both are a kick. Especially when you’re rockin’ to a band as young and energetic as Tokio Hotel.

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Finally, finally, I’m back. As I mentioned in this entry, I’ve been moving my household, and oh what a pain it’s been. Not only was the move massive — I had to move a whole house full of stuff as well as the leftover stock of my defunct bookstore — the Internet company blundered and turned off my Internet on August 19, A WEEK EARLY. I got it back up a day or so later, but of course all that punched a big hole in my production schedule. I’m still catching up.

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While tooling around looking for the neighborhood of Lower Greenville recently, I somehow ended up at White Rock Lake and came across the Bath House Cultural Center. Now, anyone who knows Dallas would probably wonder how the hell I managed to end up there when I was supposedly heading for a whole other part of the city, and don’t ask me how it happened; my only excuse is that I was suffering from a combination of too much heat, irritation at a condescending store clerk, an upset stomach, and an annoying bout of moving house. Yes, I really have been living in Dallas for 15 years, and yes, I really did get completely turned around the other day. These things happen to me. Look, shut up.*

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To paraphrase an old Mark Chestnutt song, I’ll sure be glad when these ol’ dog days of summer are gone. There’s just not much brewing here in the middle of August, when it’s omigod hot and the days go on and on — what Southern novelist Babs Deal described as “acres of afternoon.”  You want to know what I’ve got planned for the rest of this month? Well, you’ve seen a lot of it already in my recent entries on July Jazz and Symphonic Saturdays, both of which we can thank the civic-minded Town of Addison for. So gracias, Addison, for doing your damnedest to keep culture alive as we slide slowly toward fall.

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It’s August in DFW, and you know what that means? Yep, dozens of days in a row with triple-digit temperatures, and not a hell of a lot going on around the metroplex — because hey, it’s too bloody hot. Thank goodness that there’s an oasis in the cultural drought we’ve got around here, and it’s called Addison.

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There was a time — up until last year, actually — that Garland was well known in the area for its extravagant, multi-day Star Spangled Fourth celebration. It used to be three days of festivities scattered over several venues, including the Old Downtown, and the city went all out to support it. As you may have gathered from my groans in several previous entries, however, those days are past. This year, the SSF was diminished to one location, one day: July 4 itself, at the sprawling shopping center called Firewheel on the north side of town, nearly in the neighboring city of Sachse. While I’ve made no bones about the fact that this annoys me — I used to own a business in that now-ignored Old Downtown — I guess I shouldn’t blame the city too much. They’re probably under a budgetary crunch in these days of $4 gas and mortgage meltdowns, and Firewheel has got to bring in substantially more tax money than the Old Downtown does. Heck, the Barnes and Noble alone probably does that.

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The Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex is a happening place, with dozens of events to attend across the course of the year in the various towns and cities that make up this bustling metropolis. I’ll use this page keep track of what’s scheduled every month. I’ll continue to add events as they appear and the dates are firmed up, and it’s my intention to attend and write about these events as they happen, insofar as that’s possible. At the moment, the list is weighted heavily toward large tourist-oriented events like festivals and celebrations, but I’ll soon add big-name concerts and other top draws to the list. I’ll also insert new events as they’re announced or as I find them, so please check back regularly. With rare exceptions (such as the first game of the season), expect local sport events to have their own special page.

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