Dallas / Fort Worth and Me

Denton Arts and Jazz Festival

Floyd — Sat, 17 May 2008 07:20:20 +0000

A few weeks back, on April 27, I had the privilege of attending the Denton Arts and Jazz Festival — one of about 200,000 people to do so this year. It was free, after all, even if they wouldn’t let you carry any coolers inside (didn’t want to stifle the beer concessions, y’know). The festival was a wide, sprawling event that took up the Denton Civic Center area and Quakertown Park in downtown Denton. The park itself is kind of a surprise — it’s a big, open space that seems out of place in the middle of a town as densely populated as Denton is. A historical plaque near the entrance of the park, however, tells the story. Apparently, back at the turn of the 20th century, Quakertown was a thriving African-American community. In 1922, Denton’s city fathers (who were all white, of course), decided they needed Quakertown’s 27-acre site for a park, so they held a bond election to raise the money for development, passed it, and booted the people of Quakertown out of their homes despite their opposition to the idea. Nothing unusual — it only happened a thousand times back in the old days.

But this entry is supposed to be about what’s going on these days, not in the past. In any case, it’s not the Festival organizers’ fault, and Denton has grown into a cosmopolitan city that hosts no less than two major universities (the University of North Texas, and Texas Woman’s University) and has a thriving music and art scene. The Festival itself is a lot of fun, though admittedly it was unseasonable cold this year. In fact, I imagine this guy didn’t make much money at all.

But no matter — there were a lot of very serious people attending, so much so that they were literally camping out. What some people won’t do for free music, eh?

The folks above were camped out by the big stage, where I suppose the headliners were going to perform later, those being Brave Combo on that day. This Dallas musical institution considers it its “duty” to close down the festival every year.

While of course there was a juried art show at the festival (which I will discuss in more detail later), I think the biggest draw was the music — which, despite the name, wasn’t all jazz. There were some pretty big names at the Festival this year, including Delbert McClinton, the aforementioned Brave Combo, and the Neville Brothers from New Orleans, none of whom are really jazz acts (though the Nevilles can be jazzy). There were an amazing 2,200 performers in total this year, performing on six stages scattered around the place, but I think they included a lot of acts that had dozens of people — like this Hispanic troupe over at the Festival Stage.

I started out over by the city complex, where the Budweiser Stages stands in front of City Hall. There was a beer garden next to it, but it was still early, so not very many people were imbibing. Besides, it cost $4.00 for a beer, which is a lot even for the one Landshark Lager that I enjoyed. Mmm, beer.

There was a good bit of the festival installed in and around the Civic Center, including a nice juried exhibit inside. A fellow named Michael P. Gray from Denton got Best of Show. Apparently, among other things, he carves figures (mostly Native American) out of tree trunks. Take a look at this picture, and tell me that one on the right’s not so much better than any mere cigar store Indian.

I hate to admit it, but I was so caught up in gawking and snapping pictures that I didn’t even notice the female figure and her, ahem, abundant assets on the right — not til later anyway. If I had, she would have been the central figure. Talk about having a heart made of knotty pine (or a head, anyway). Kawligaaaaa!

Most of the art, and most of the rest of the Festival, was located across this loverly bridge that arcs across a shallow waterway separating the park from the Civic Center area.

Most of the stages were over there, too, not to mention a lot of the food venders. And oh my, were they busy — and expensive. I bought a tiny little sausage on a stick for $3.00 to go with my four-dollar beer, and decided to hold off on any more food for the nonce. I was tempted to try something from the booth in the next picture down there, which would have been fine if I weren’t diabetic. But I could just imagine having a fried Twinkie or Key Lime pie (I kid you not) and then going into a month-long diabetic coma.

I have to tell you, most of the art for sell (and there were over 200 vendors) didn’t impress me that much — I was more interested in what was for sell at the Cottonwood Art Festival that I visited the following week, and about which I will blog very soon. The art at the Denton Festival was great, but it was generally more or less conventional. I did enjoy these nice twisty sculptures, none of which I could have afforded to save my soul, I’m sure.

Anyway, the kicker was that they also had a kid’s activity area, over near that giant ice cream cone I showed you earlier. Here, kids could hammer wooden planks together and make objets d’art out of clay, like these that were left out to dry in the sun (though the sun was hardly to be seen that Sunday, ironically).

Well, folks, the Denton Art and Jazz Festival is well and truly over this year, but they’re certainly already planning for the next one. To keep abreast of developments, keep an eye on their official website at http://www.dentonjazzfest.com/, won’t you?

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Cinco de Mayo in the West End, Dallas

Floyd — Tue, 13 May 2008 04:08:43 +0000

Forgive me for putting my discussion of Cinco de Mayo off for a full week after the event, folks; I meant no disrespect. As it happens, there was a family emergency, and I was called out of town last week after I’d begin writing this entry. But now I’m back, so let the party continue!

Given our significant Hispanic heritage here in DFW (after all, Texas was once a part of Mexico), there were numerous Cinco de Mayo celebrations in the Metroplex this past weekend, two of which (those in Grand Prairie and Denton) I listed on my 2008 Events Calendar. However, just to keep ya’ll on your toes, I decided to go to one that I didn’t actually put on the calendar, but only because I didn’t find out about it until the day before. This one took place on Saturday, May 3, in Dallas’ West End. This was cool, because it meant I could get there by the local spiffy DART train from downtown Garland. My only complaint? It now costs three dollars for a day pass. Ouch. But at least when they give you change, you get those way-cool new dollar coins they’ve been handing out lately. Got James Madison this time; last time it was George Washington and John Adams.

For those not in the know, Cinco de Mayo celebrates the victory of Mexican forces over French invaders at the pivotal Battle of Puebla back in 1862. That was back when some of Napoleon’s descendants decided they wanted a presence in the New World again — so they decided to take over Mexico and put some guy named Maximilian on the throne as Emperor. This did not sit well with the Mexicans, and who can blame them? Cinco de Mayo is not Mexican Independence Day, despite the popular American belief that it is; that’s September 16. Oddly enough, in Mexico the holiday is barely observed outside of Puebla. However, it’s been observed regularly in the United States by people of Mexican descent (and sundry others) since 1863.

I had a very nice time at the West End’s version of Cinco de Mayo, with its spirited combination of beer, dancing, food, fun, beer, and music. Oh, and did I mention the beer? There were several stages set up for the musical guests, including these fellows (who were more jazzy than Hispanic), not to mention a number of streets blocked off and set up for various other activities, such as wondering around, dancing, and drinking beer.

In fact, there were quite a few dancers, including this couple, who were joined by their own toddler groupie in the jivin’. You can’t tell it in this photo, but the little one’s dancing right along.

Earlier, several other groups took their turns, including this attractively-dressed bunch of young ‘uns.

Here’s a portrait of one young dancer. Isn’t she cute?

The celebration wasn’t huge — it only covered a part of the West End — but it was interesting, and there was plenty to do. Aside from all the bars and restaurants, there were jump houses and activities for the kids, samples of food to try, art to examine, and copious beer to drink. There was even this:

Remember how that Dean Kanin guy once tried to convince us that the Segway would change modern cities as we knew them, but somehow they haven’t yet? Yeah. I know they’re supposed to be super-stable and everything (even though the President managed to fall off one*), but come on. Have you ever ridden one? You don’t even get to sit down, and they don’t go all that fast, really. Boooorrrring. Plus, they’re too bloody expensive. I can count the number of times I’ve seen ‘em in use on one hand, and it’s been what, ten years since their introduction? And here they were, asking people to pay $5 to ride one for five minutes. Uh, yeah.

But moving right along… Here’s a cool alternative method of transportation, and it probably wasn’t all that expensive. I saw several horse-drawn carriages out and about, including one led by this attractive fellow.

At one of the seafood stands, where they offered samples of their wares, they were selling boiled crawfish (or crayfish, if you prefer) for a mere $2.99 a pound. That’s not all that bad. The thing about it is, you have to boil them fresh, and fresh means they have to go into the boiling water alive. They had a tub full of crawdaddies in ice sitting out on the street next to a lamp post, and they did not look charmed to see us. This was one of the larger ones.

This fellow had an evil stare, he did.

I didn’t prevail myself of the crawfish — they’re okay, but I like shrimp better — but I did chow down on some gator bits. They were delicious — if you’ve never had gator before, try it whenever you get a chance. It’s generally nice and lean, and no, it doesn’t taste like chicken. Let me tell you something: in keeping with the tradition of high-priced festival foods, this “sample” here cost me $4.00. As you can see, all I got were enough bits to cover the bottom of the container, plus some admittedly spicy dipping sauce.

But that’s not Cinco de Mayo’s fault. For the best in Hispanic culture, my recommendation is that you go to the West End’s celebration next year if you find yourself around the Metroplex; or failing that, any Cinco de Mayo celebration you can find. There are plenty, from backyard get-togethers to downtown shindigs. They have a great one in Grand Prairie, and another one in Denton, in Quakertown Park. You might even have a chance to see some well-dressed Mariachis, like these guys.

Unfortunately I only saw them in passing; I didn’t get to see them play. I must have been somewhere else during their set. In the classic words of Bart Simpson: ¡Ay caramba!

*But then, this was the same President that almost choked to death on a pork rind while watching TV. We love ya, Dubya!

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Upcoming Events in DFW, May 2008

Floyd — Wed, 07 May 2008 20:25:03 +0000

Before we return to our regularly scheduled program, folks, I wanted to point out that May is chockfull of exciting events to attend — so many, in fact, that I expect to be writing about them well into June (which is also an eventful month). While the various Cinco de Mayo celebrations and Richardson’s Cottonwood Arts Festival are over, there’s still lots to do.

On May 9-11, you should venture over to Addison (one of the “mid-cities” between Dallas and Fort Worth) to attend the Taste of Addison in Addison Circle Park, where you can enjoy music, fun, and food samples from many of the local restaurants. That same weekend, on May 10, is Grand Prairie’s Mayfest in Kirby Creek Park. You can enjoy more fun, more food, and educational activities there from 9 AM - 3 PM. And over at the famous Fort Worth Stockyards, also on May 10, they’re celebrating the Texas Frontier Forts Muster — a gathering of re-enactors from all over the USA, to demonstrate what life was like in early Texas.

The weekend of May 16-18 is also a busy one. In Grapevine, they’re having Main Street Days that weekend; when you attend, expect food, fun, music, adventure, and lots and lots of vendors selling everything from Whopper Choppers to pop-art. And later, don’t forget to head over to Richardson’s Wildflower Arts and Music Festival, over at U.S. Highway 75 and Galatyn Parkway. They’ll be shutting down a whole section of the city for the event. It’s a music-oriented festival, but you can expect to see a little bit of everything. I saw the Budweiser Clydesdales there one year, along with Huey Louis and the News. I believe Pat Benetar is playing this year, among other notables. And if that isn’t enough, they’re hosting the 11^th Annual Cajun Festival at Trader’s Village in Grand Prairie. Not only will there be great Louisiana music, but you can also enjoy exotic Cajun cuisine.

The whole week from May 19-25 will be taken up with the enormous 62nd Annual Crown Plaza Invitational at Colonial Golf Tournament at the Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, which offers a substantial purse of $6.1 million (!). Defending champion Rory Sabatini will be joined by many of the other stars of the golf world in this struggle for the championship.

If extreme golf doesn’t float your boat, there’s always the much-awaited ArtFest at Fair Park in Dallas, on May 23-25. It kicks off on Friday evening with the Wine Stroll Preview Party (a nice, civilized wine-tasting experience), and really gets into gear on Saturday. You’ll find a wide variety of artists from all over the country, along with food, entertainment, and a kid’s interactive area. If a different kind of art is more to your taste, then consider attending the 42^nd National Polka Festival in Ennis on that same weekend. This huge dance and music festival celebrates both Czech and Slovak heritage, largely because that’s where many of the early settlers of this area of Texas came from. Last but hardly least, there’s the Founder’s Day Festival in the little city of Rockwall on the shores of Lake Ray Hubbard. Musical guests this year include the Marshall Tucker Band.

So as you can see, there’s no reason to stay home on the weekends this month and watch videos. There’s lots to do, and plenty of time to rest in between!

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Scarborough Renaissance Festival, Waxahachie: Part III

Floyd — Mon, 05 May 2008 02:19:45 +0000

Once more into the breach, dear friends, and I’ll be done with my report on Ye Olde Scarborough Renaissance Festival. While the bulk of this particular entry will be devoted to photos (primarily from the Grande Parade), there are a few more things I’d like to point out.

One thing you’ll need to check out is the glassmaking exhibit, which (much to my irritation) I was unable to get any decent pictures of. This blurry image of the glassblower rolling a molten blob of glass is about the best I could do. The pictures of everything else — including the roaring furnaces — didn’t really come out.

Aside from that, there was this nice little foundry, where they work metal.

Nothing much was going on while I was there, except that a lady was pounding some kind of fine, red-brown powder into a set of square wooden forms with a mallet. I have no idea what she was doing, unless she was making bricks or something.

One thing you’ll need to know about Scarborough is that, like all such enterprises, it’s relentlessly mercantile. Expect to pay State Fair type prices for just about any item of food or drink; and since you’ll doubtless be at the festival for hours and hours, you’ll probably need to grab something. Aside from all this, though, most of the place is dedicated to selling items of all types, and the prices are just as modern as the items are medieval. For example, taken these pretty dresses. They’re as historically accurate as all get-out, probably take forever to make, and they cost hundreds of dollars, on average.

On the other hand, you could get just about anything else there, including a lot of stuff that you wouldn’t be able to find down at the local Wal-Mart. For example, Angel Sword, where you can get a razor-sharp functional blade (of just about any historical type from anywhere in the world) rather than one of those cheesy cheap swords they sell at Cutlery World in the mall. The difference is that the cheesy sword costs maybe $50; the real deal will set you back several thousand. That’s because they actually forge many of their swords, though some are machined. Or, if you prefer, try some leather armor. My sister’s friend is married to a fellow who produces items like this one.

Sure, it might not stop a bullet, but it might just turn a sword enough to keep it from killing you. Fear not, though, ring mail is also available, for a rather hefty price. Besides all that, there are other games, rides, attractions, souvenirs, and the like all around, costing a pretty penny. You can enter the Yorkshire Dungeons, visit an exhibition of medieval mythical creatures, beat the hell out of someone with a padded stick, try to climb a rope ladder without falling off, try your hand at archery with real bows and arrows…well, you get the idea.

Despite all the rampant mercantilism, the saving grace is that for the entry fee, you get a lot more than than just an opportunity to spend more money. The shows are great, whether you like the turtle racing or the antics of Dr. Kaboom (the well-named alchemist), or like to see birds of prey performing aerial acrobatics and amazing feats of skill. Then there are the bards, minstrels, comedic performers, knife throwers (!), caber tossers, bagpipers (I love bagpipes, for some unknown reason), singers, and yes, even Christophe, the professional insulter. All these shows, along with various demonstrations (as at the foundry and glassblowers) are free. And let’s not forget the fact that the festival is located on lovely wooded grounds with a stream winding around one end and then flowing through the center of the Faire. If nothing else, you’ll enjoy a happy, shaded walk through a lovely faux-English Renaissance village, as it might have been if located in Central Texas.

Previously, I told you about all the photos I had from the Grande Parade. All the important folks were there. In the ensuing presentation, I’m going to present the pictures in the approximate order in which they appeared, along with occasional commentary to tell you who’s who.

So let’s see…We’ll start off with one of the first groups, which shows several young people participating, to demonstrate that this was a multigenerational affair. After him will come the infamous Ralphie the Ragpicker (who clatters rather when he walks) and the beauteous Twig the Fairy, famous for her double flute.

Och, and then there were a bunch (and I mean a bunch) of Scots marching along, including a fellow who seemed to be important in the Church.

Then there were the Swiss Royal Guard (at least I think that’s who they were) and the French King’s Musketeers. Lovely!

Of course there were brave knights on horseback as well as a few knaves or jester types, not to mention the haughty queen herself.

Then there were the many belly dancers, who I think strained the bounds of verisimilitude a bit, though the funny fellow who followed them did not. This harlequin’s name is Marquis, and when we took the pic he cried “Mug shot!” and held up up his mug.

Allow me to point out that these are just a few shots culled from dozens; the fact was, it was hard to stop taking pictures, for verily, there were so many wonders to be seen. Needless to say, we had a blast at this year’s Scarborough Renaissance Festival, and if you have a chance, I’d recommend you take the opportunity to visit. Be aware that it will be expensive to get in and get refreshments, but the real cost is in all the craft items — so you may be able to escape without getting skinned too bad.

One last time: the Scarborough Renaissance Festival is located just outside of Waxahachie, to the south of the DFW metroplex. It’s open rain or shine for eight consecutive weekends from April 5-May 26, 2008, as well as Memorial Day (May 26). Regular admission costs a whopping $19.99 for adults, and $6.50 for kids 5-12 (kids under four are free). In some cases, you can qualify for discount tickets, and of course season tickets are available. For more information, check out their website at http://www.scarboroughrenfest.com/index.html.

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Scarborough Renaissance Festival, Waxahachie: Part II

Floyd — Thu, 01 May 2008 02:13:22 +0000

When I last left you, Gentle Reader, I hadn’t finished talking about the wonders of Scarborough Faire — the yearly Renaissance Festival currently underway outside of Waxahachie, which is about 25 miles south of DFW. This is a great festival to visit. It’s a lot cheaper, admittance-wise, than most amusement parks, and it’s at least as much fun. Especially if you like such things as turtle races and falconry demonstration shows.

Speaking of falconry, the Royal Falconer was giving quite the demonstration about the time we walked in, and I was most impressed.

We sat way in the back, so we couldn’t see everything, but that was okay — the falconer had a tendency to send his birds out over the audience to various spots, to let them go through their paces and show how he could get them to come back to him. Several times, they swooped over our heads or passed right by. Here’s how the stage looked from where we were.

The Royal Falconer is the white-haired fellow standing up there. If you look close, you can see the Queen sitting behind him with her lady-in-waiting. Queenie’s the one in the red cloak. I’ll have a better close-up picture of her (from the Grande Parade) to show you later.

The falconry show was incredible; my sister (who was my boon companion for the day) was as taken by it as I was, and that’s saying something for someone more interested in the Internet and writing stories than in just about anything else. The birds were jessed and hooded, of course, but a bird’s not much use to a falconer if it can’t fly free. After all, the whole point of falconry is to have the raptors take down game birds (like grouse, pheasant, and partridge) and small game animals like rabbits for milord’s dinner. Once it was time for the birds to hunt, the hoods were removed, the jesses released, and the birds sent into the air to hunt.

This falconer had these birds perfectly trained, and they would do everything from come when he called to clamber back to their lairs (behind the little doors in yon castle) when he said, “Go home.” He did show off several hawks and falcons, but he also had an owl or two, and even a black vulture — what we Southerners call a buzzard. Buzzards serve a vital role in the local ecosystem. In fact, you might say we Americans have a kind of symbiotic relationship with them: we provide copious roadkill, and they clean it up for us. So I’ve always respected buzzards — but I didn’t know they could be trained. This one was.

Of course, to me the avian star of the show was the bald eagle they brought out last. Look at this guy.

These guys used to be endangered (mostly because of the use of DDT, which caused egg development problems), but they’re now off the Endangered Species list. And thank goodness. Can you imagine what it would be like to lose these very symbols of our great nation? I’ve had the good luck to see two of these magnificent birds in the wild, once at Lake Livingston here in Texas (where they nest in the winter), and once at a lake in Kansas near the Republican River. The only reason this fellow was in captivity was because he was crippled; in fact, he wasn’t able to do many tricks because of it, and couldn’t really fly. You can’t tell it in the above picture, but most of his left wing is gone. It’s a little more obvious in the picture below, which I thought was rather humorous.

Look at the way he’s looking at the Falconer’s assistant. Incidentally, that’s the Queen there in the background.

After the show we moved on, and what should we find but people offering elephant and camel rides? No, really. I guess it could have happened in medieval England, but it seemed a bit anachronistic (though not as much so as the llama in the Grande Parade, which you can see clearly here). If I recall, llamas are from South America, which was barely known back then…

Llamas always look so poised and interested in things, unlike their cousins the camels, which usually just look pissed off. Now, my pictures of the camel weren’t so hot, but the elephant’s pictures came out very good. I like this one best.

It’s hard to tell, but in the background on the left you can see where the elephant has worn the ground down walking around in a circle. The whole way is strewn with hay, and as the elephant went along, she was constantly picking up hay and stuffing it in her mouth. She was straining her trunk in my direction because a lady was climbing on the fence beside me, trying to give her a peanut or something. She couldn’t quite reach, and the lady kept leaning further and further over the fence. The blond guy on the right finally had to tell her in no uncertain terms to stop it. Incidentally, do you see the pointy thing the guy in the blue is holding in his right hand? That’s called an ankus. It’s traditionally used by mahouts in Southeast Asia to control their elephants. The little point on the end doesn’t really hurt them — elephant hides are tough — but it’s more of a tool to enforce their verbal commands. These guys used them to get the elephants moving around their circle.

I believe the elephant above is an Indian elephant, given the size of the ears. The other one, who was in the back of the enclosure bobbing around like it was jiving (or more likely, scratching its butt on an unseen post somewhere) was an African, I think. Take a look-see yourself.

Well, folks, that’s all we have for today. I’ll wrap it up in Part III. Till then, onward through the fog!

The Scarborough Renaissance Festival is located just outside of Waxahachie, to the south of the DFW metroplex. It’s open rain or shine for eight consecutive weekends from April 5-May 26, 2008, as well as Memorial Day (May 26). Regular admission costs a whopping $19.99 for adults, and $6.50 for kids 5-12 (kids under four are free). In some cases, you can qualify for discount tickets, and of course season tickets are available. For more information, check out their lovely website at http://www.scarboroughrenfest.com/index.html.

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