G.R.i.D. (Get Rich in Dallas)

GRiD will be taking it light for the next few days due to the holiday week. 

All the best!

R

Looks like the Dallas Graffiti Wipeout Team wiped out all rivals this year in Keep America Beautiful’s Graffiti Prevention Competition. The Big D team took top honors for the division of Communities Greater than 300K Population and with that came a cash award of $1000, a plaque, prized and “a FlashCAM-880 Wireless graffiti deterrent system manufactured by Q-Star Technology and valued at nearly $6,000.” I wonder what that is.

The following is the team’s ‘bio’ from the Graffiti Hurts website, which provides community resources and educational tools as well as promotes the best practices for graffiti prevention:

Keep Dallas Beautiful, Dallas, TX

From 2004 to 2005, Dallas received over 1,700 graffiti complaints and spent more than $220,000 to clean up defaced property. And yet the City had no comprehensive graffiti prevention program in place. A handful of residents, city employees, and an elected official got the ball rolling. From there, a coalition of neighborhood groups, city services, and Keep Dallas Beautiful was organized.

The coalition set out to achieve three goals: create a new city program targeting graffiti vandalism, seek $250,000 in funding to operate the program, and organize a citywide paint out called Graffiti Wipe Out 2006. They also designated a single contact in the city for graffiti, wrote a new anti-graffiti ordinance, and established a database to track vandalized sites and volunteers. Finally, better coordination between prosecutors, the district attorney’s office, and the City of Dallas was established.

The Graffiti Wipe Outs drew 1,500 volunteers to clean up over 200 graffiti sites and cover over 50,000 square feet of graffiti. These events were featured on the Dallas Morning news, ABC, NBC, Fox, and Telemundo. Graffiti education also made its way into nine schools. And today, the City Council is considering a $175,000 budget to operate the new program, graffiti has been reduced, and volunteers are continuing to wipe out graffiti.

Contact: Larry Lankford - 972 852-2789 - larry@ecophones.com
Cecile Carson - 940-230-6035 - cecilecarson@netscape.net

Congratulations team. You truly are committed to the betterment of this city and a shining star in my eyes.

This isn’t really news as it came out this past summer. I hadn’t even heard of it but stumbled upon through my tangled web of internet local research and nosiness. Regarding Dallas magazine, or rather Re:d as they so cleverly put it, listed the top ten social professionals for 2006/2007. They sound quite impressive but can’t say I’ve really seen them anywhere or heard their names until now. Probably just different social circles I’m sure.

Congrats to the ladies and gentlemen. I’m sure they will define the social scene and pecking order in the coming year. Either that or no one will really notice.

They are creative. They are smart. They are inspiring. And, they have already accomplished a lot early in their life. re:d is proud to announce the 10 Social Professionals of Dallas for 2006/2007. Thank you to all who wrote in with people to nominate for this honor. In the coming weeks, you, our reader, will help us select THE Social Professional to watch as we provide you the story on these great people.

Rees Bowen - Studio Design Partner BGO Architects, Glass Blowing Artist with Spiral Glass, Owner of Firehaus

Mary Goodrich - Founding Partner Vernon Goodrich, LLP

K. Ryan Baldwin - President and COO Trigon Management

Lynn McBee - President, The Junior League of Dallas; TACA, Board of Directors; The Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Dallas, Board of Directors; Chairman of the Board, The Visiting Nurse Association; The Salvation Army Advisory Board

Len Critcher - Dealer Principal eCarLink.com

Connie Chantillis - Owner Two Sisters Catering and CAC Mosaic Designs

Chris Martin - Artist and Gallery Owner, Christopher Martin Gallery 5

Aden Holt - Founder of BuzzOven.com (ok, I know who this guy is)

Brendan Higgins - Anchor, NBC 5 (and this guy)

Prashi Shah - Fashion designer and owner of Prashe

First, what is Munger Place? Second, this is my neighborhood. How come I wasn’t invited? Is this some East Dallas Microcosmic Clique that I’m not aware about open only to certain members of a certain tax bracket? Bah, humbug! Can I sign up next year? From the Dallas Morning News White Rock Blog:

Brandee Knox sent me photos of the long-standing tradition of Christmas Caroling in Munger Place neighborhood.

More than 30 residents turned out on the night of Dec. 17th to join into the festivities.

From the top:

-Bolton Beck, sister Sawyer and mom, Brandee, sing holiday favorites Dec. 17 at the Munger Place Christmas Caroling event.

-Christina Smith of Munger Place with her Reindeer ears prepares to carol.

With all due respect, I probably wouldn’t consider the Harder Beat, cutting edge music journalism. Despite it’s mini-alt-newspaper approach, it comes off more as a zine. Maybe it means to. Dunno. But it’s packed with concert reviews, cd reviews, band profiles and whatever else they decide. Although I don’t rely too much on their movie reviews. But now that Tower is gone, I’m not sure where I’ll get my latest copy though. I don’t head to CD Source all that much and that’s not my end o’ town. However, it comes in handy when posting my listings on my paper. Clubs that can’t commit to their website will list in here – something I’ll never understand but hey, whatever works.

Admittedly, none of their issues really stick with me after I’m done but the exception has come with their Dec/Jan issue which is their Best and Worst of 2006. They focus more on the metalheads but every so often they surprise me. But first, the non-surprises and sometimes the ‘huhs?’

• Album of the Year – Paul Stanley – Live to Win.

Yes, THE Paul Stanley from KISS as chosen by art director,Kevin White.

• Surprise of the Year – Skid Row – Revolutions Per Minute.

With the insightful review of “This does NOT suck!” Wow.

Editor Linda Hollar notes as one of her favorite local bands – Queen for a Day. OK, I’ve heard good stuff about them but a Queen cover band? Wait. A COVER band? I should just stop right here.

• Worst CD as noted by writer Ryan Jarcy – Magnum Carnage – Evil Never Dies.

With a title like that (heavy metal generic), I agree. And I’ve never heard the stuff. His review is classic. “Hawaiian metal just isn’t my bag…” There is such a thing?

But big time props to Writer Jason Janik. Only because he and I agree on some of this stuff. Of course. He cited Ghostland Observatory from Austin as best new band. I think they are fairly phenomenal and SO NOT HB material. Best re-released album went to Spoon’s Telephono/Soft Effects. Nice choice Plus, I dig that writer Shane Epting listed Devo and the Psychedelic Furs as one of his best live shows.

I also have to give props to writer Dale Lammers who somehow wrote an almost great article on old 80s hair band Europe and made them sound fascinating. You remember Europe? Right? The Final Countdown? (looking for mp3 now). I thought they had one album and went back to work in the factory. Turns out they made a bunch of albums, have had bunch of European success (go figure) and are about to tour in 2007. Yeah, I don’t care either, but somehow, Lammers made me care while I was reading it. All I can say is ‘bravo’.

Ahhh…even better than an mp3…how about a video?

Not really much to say. Just watch!

Those according to Wee Demon, Suck It, Trebek, Themepark, Pimplomat and The Dees anyways. My song picks for the year weren’t necessarily tops, just my favorite song off the cd. These guys above get all indie and hipster on yer butt. Me? I’m fairly vanilla. So this is what made my blog’s first mixtape / top song picks for the year:

            Song                                Artist                        Album

1. Napoleon Says                   Phoenix                   It’s Never Been Like That    
2. Cheated Hearts                  Yeah Yeah Yeahs    Show Your Bones        
3. Teahouse of the Spirits      The Panic Channel  (ONe)        
4. Witchcraft                           Wolfmother            Wolfmother
5. Crazy                                 Gnarls Barkley         St. Elsewhere
6. Losing My Way                   Justin Timberlake    FutureSex/LoveSounds
7. Lazybones                         Sorta                       Strange And Sad But True    
8. Not Ready To Make Nice     Dixie Chicks            Taking The Long Way
9. Unhinged                           The Drams               Jubilee Dive        
10. Closer                                The Hourly Radio     History Will Never Hold Me    
11. When You Were Young      The Killers               Sam’s Town        
12. Midnight Sun                      Black Tie Dynasty    Movements    
13. Deja Vu                              Beyoncé                  B’Day    
14. Bonus Track

The bonus track was sort of by accident thanks to a printing error. I’ll burn you the cd if yer so inclined to find out the mystery tune!

Feeling down this holiday season? Regretting all of that sweet caloric intake at your office and Christmas parties? Finding yourself clutching that pillow wishing it was that special someone to share this time with? Wondering where the heck all your money and gas are going while you trek around store to store searching for that perfect gift? And does all this have your head spinning?

Well you can turn that frown upside down with Shibboleth and their holiday gift to you. Trust me…it’s all the remedy you need!

I fell in love with Shibboleth a few weeks ago and this has charmed the heck outta me. Just wish I had had it in time for G.R.i.D’s first mixtape (available now by comment!). I hope you get the same pleasure. It truly is great.

Thanks for the free download, Shib!

First of all, how does ‘mistakenly’ come into it? And second, did the security worker notice the shape or the skeleton? (shudder)

10:22 AM CST on Thursday, December 21, 2006

A woman mistakenly put her 1-month-old grandson through an X-ray machine at Los Angeles International Airport. A startled security worker noticed the shape of a child on the carry-on baggage screening monitor and immediately pulled him out, the Los Angeles Times reported in yesterday’s editions. He was taken to a local hospital, where doctors determined he did not receive a dangerous dose of radiation.

Associated Press