Quite possibly the best paparazzi Dallas has to offer, the Lek Brothers were profiled last month over at DallasDanceMusic.com. These guys are the nicest and sweetest and a heck of a lot of fun. Plus, they KNOW what’s really going down in the city. You need some underground scenesters? These are the go-to guys. Go check read it now.
I was glad to make their acquaintance along with Wee Demon and Kaitlin while the former was researching her Douchebags in the Mist (aka $30K millionaires) article. And I love the pics I’ve been in of theirs. I’d totally show you but I try to be all anonymous like stonedranger.
Wow. I just received word that extras are needed for a local film in which Gary Coleman is starring. So if you have a strong affection toward the Different Strokes star and 80s pop culture icon (really?), then I suggest you read on because it starts today:
Feature Film starring Gary Coleman with aMajor Theatrical Release will be shooting scenes this Tues/Wed in Dallas and needs extras. This is a crazy, outlandish Borat-style mockumentary film about an epic competition. Fun! Fun! Fun!
These are our extras needs for next week. Please look carefully at dates and specs. You should be available ALL DAY. Please send an email to info@cast-o-matic.com with the dates you are interested in working, photo and phone number.
TUESDAY JUNE 17 - LAKEWOOD THEATER
-$25 Each (Cash paid on set)
-PLUS $10 per person if you bring two or more. NO LIMIT.
-Raffle Prizes -
*I-Phone
*I-Pod
*2 Tickets to Wrap Party
*Gift Cards
*And much, much, more!!!!!
Theater Goer’s - Adult Men and Women. 17 and up. All Ethnicities.
CALL TIME: 10:00AM until ? (you should be available all day)
WARDROBE: Dressed up. Come to set camera ready. Bring options.
At least there looks like some incentives. Get paid. Win prizes. I guess if I had to convince you to help out in a Gary Coleman movie, I’d be offering something to ease the pain as well.
Quite possibly the most ill-conceived event in Dallas, today is the Cedar Springs Merchants Association’s First Wednesday on Cedar Springs. Actually, the idea behind it is nice. the CSMA apparently came up with the event to promote a community feeling along with supporting the shops on the strip. It’s the execution that’s bad.
After going through their website photos, I was more depressed than excited. It looked like barely anyone goes to this thing. The empty Hunky’s patio, the lack of people at the shopping stands, the forced smiles on the merchants saying “look how much fun we’re having”. Sheesh. By the looks of those shots - no thanks.
The problem with a lot of it though is the shops themselves. If you’re in the market for club clothes or tacky trinkets, then yes, this is your place but that’s about it as far as shopping goes. Hopefully, Tapelenders will one day realize that they need to clearance all their atrocious pride items for about a nickel because seriously, does anyone need a rainbow windsock or hot air balloon decoration? I swear that inventory has not changed in 10 years. But really, none of the shops seem overly accessible like say a Walgreen’s tent might be. They are in the association but not sure if they have a sidewalk sale going. I’d be all over it if they had this on sale.
As for eats, well, there’s Buli’s with way too expensive drinks and food, Crossroads which is pretty much a ghost town and Hunky’s which will always please. Oh and there’s Black Eyed Pea but they always give me the shiz so I never recommend them.
But looking at these photos, clearly they need to rethink this stuff. That photo of the guy singing under a balloon arch was oen of the saddest things I’ve ever seen since Schindler’s List. And of course, the gays gotta have their dance music so a DJ was on hand as well. Forget all that. The association should consider hiring a party planner for this or at least me because this is what they need to do.
Sure the stores want some extra business but for this, just put them all together. Skivvies, Condoms Plus, come down a bit and set up next to the other guys. And then all of them should rotate whether they be in front of main drag, over in the Alexandre’s lot or even in any of the parking lots (especially the paid one on Throckmorton). Just put it all together.
All the dining spots should make some room for live entertainment, mostly Buli and Crossroads. And by that, I mean not a DJ but a local musician with some good rep on a guitar. Something that simple. Get more booths by local organizations a la Youth First Texas or DIVA. And face it, is anyone going to buy several hundreds of dollars of art from a glorified garage sale? Probably not. Rethink the artists or have them paint pets or quickie portraits.
Caven should also do a Crusin’ the Crossroads as well so something will be going on both sides of the street. Have the sports teams do a car wash and please, whatever you do, don’t have another scavenger hunt. Those gift boxes are so not worth the trouble. And Union Jack/Skivvies, put out stuff that’s a little more desirable for the everyday man. Regular boxers, tees, socks - trust me, I don’t want to look at clothes I can’t fit in.
But that’s just me thinking out loud. After looking at those pics, I don’t feel particular compelled to make it down there tonight. Tell me what you think after watching this (warning - this video makes me cringe):
If I wasn’t suffering from these allergies/cold, I might head down there only to partake in the Round Up’s Wii bowling tournament. Now THAT’S a great idea.
First Wednesday starts at 6 p.m. and runs till 9 on Cedar Springs between Wycliff and Oak Lawn.
i have such mixed feelings about graffiti. Some of it can be really snazzy and artsy and reflects a slice of the culture. But then taggers get on my nerves. I don’t quite get the compulsion to go spray paint my name everywhere. My initial remedy is to go to the taggers spots and paint “sucks” or “has a small one” under it but that probably perpetuates the matter. I hope we get to keep some of the good stuff up but the rest can go! And City Hall is hoping you’re going to help.
2008 Trash Attack & Graffiti WipeOut
Date: Saturday, May 3, 2008
Time: Check-In 8:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. Time: Working at Locations 9:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. Time: Lunch at Reunion Arena 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
What is it?
The 2008 Trash Attack and Graffiti Wipeout is a City-wide community effort to remove litter and trash and abate graffiti in our City.
Who can participate?
Anybody can! This is a great event for families, Scout troops, schools, and private corporations. You can even earn community service hours for school for this! *Minors will need adult supervision and have a signed liability waiver from their parent or guardian for the day of the event.
Where do I register and check in?
Registration will open online April 1. You Check-in Locations are listed below for the area you choose.
Not that I mind it all too much. Some of the gritty dirty stuff could go or get a facelift. Just don’t make it into a haven for prefabricated and boring condos. Personally, I’m kind of excited about the new Office Depot on Gaston. The Starbucks is definitely a worthwhile investment (listen up, Deep Ellum) but if people are going to come in and build condos and make it look like Oak Lawn where there are a bunch of nice buildings but no one living there, then, I’d just as soon prefer them to stay out.
McShane Companies is coming in to make it a little more purty in my neck of the woods. Their buildings don’t look so bad but I just hope they know how to fit in. I just hope my superhero friend who lives there knows about this.
Yay Dallas. The city is counted as the “9th largest green-power purchaser in the U.S.” according to this. Apparently we get 40 per cent of our power from wind sources and that’s not even from this guy.
Houston ranked 12th and combined “the Dallas and Houston totals represent savings of carbon emissions from more than 84,000 passenger vehicles annually — the same amount of electricity needed to power an estimated 61,000 homes per year.”
I admit I don’t really fall for a lot of this energy efficiency hype but at the same time I do believe in it. I got my little coiled energy saving lightbulbs going. So if we’re doing good and other people are doing good as a result, then I say “sweeeeeet.”
The Urban Daily wrote up the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance and their census project of the homeless population of Dallas which is apparently crucial to their goal of ending “chronic homelessness in Dallas by 2014.” This is an annual census that’s conducted in the last week of January.
I’m fairly blown away by this. Sounds like an intense project. According to the site, the “information is compiled during the census is also used by several interested groups, including non-profit organizations, faith-based groups, media outlets and various departments in Federal, State & local government.”
The project needs volunteers and the volunteers need training. So if your feeling a bit useful, I bet the Alliance would appreciate the help.
DATE: Tuesday, January 22, 2008
TIME: 5:30 P.M. – 12:00 A.M. (subject to slight changes if needed, most volunteers are able to leave by 10:30 p.m.)
LOCATION: Dallas City Hall – 1500 Marilla, L1 F North Auditorium (park in City Hall underground parking off Young Street and enter through the GREEN door.)
HOW TO HELP: Volunteers are needed for both the indoor and outdoor census.
Indoor Volunteer Team Member: Conducts the homeless survey in an indoor location, such as an emergency shelter or transitional housing facility. Law enforcement professionals are not assigned to these teams, but a staff contact will be provided for teams who visit these locations and agency staff will be present.
Outdoor Volunteer Team Member: Conducts the survey outdoors in teams of 3. Law enforcement personnel are also assigned to each team for safety reasons.
Training
Training on how to conduct the census will be provided for volunteers on the night of the census. Volunteers will begin signing in from 5:30 – 6:00, and should arrive no later than 5:45 P.M. in order to receive all of the information presented.
Contact Information
Thank you for your interest! In order to volunteer for the Homeless census or to receive more information, please contact Kit Lowrance at Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance:
Ooops, my bad. North Texas Jobs with Justice. I don’t really know who they are either but they have a lot of stuff coming up and some of it sounds potentially useful.
Hot times for JwJ!
ANNUAL PLANNING
The January 9 regular meeting will be our main planning session of the year. Please send your comments, and try to come to the meeting at 7 PM on Wednesday, January 9, at Oak Cliff Methodist, 547 E Jefferson in Dallas. Parking and entrance are in the rear.
Last year, for the first time, we actually became an official JwJ Chapter. Each affiliated organization paid a small amount to make that happen. Since the budget is annual, it’s time to raise that money again. Please make checks to “North Texas Jobs with Justice” and send to me at PO Box 225822, Dallas TX 75222. To send money on-line, click here.
The biggest organizations pay $1000/year. Mid sized are $500/year, and the minimum for organizations is $100/year. In 2008, we need to go after a lot more organizations. Any progressive organization that agrees with our overall mission should join. Additionally, the Steering Committee includes one person elected by individual members who paid $25/year. We never collected that before, but most of you pay more than that by contributing when we pass the hat. This year, let’s try to get a lot of individual memberships.
With a little more money, there is no reason that we could not open a “Workers Center” in Dallas similar to what they have in Houston and Austin. JwJ is needed.
MLK MARCH
We stand a good chance of getting a turnout for our annual participation in the Dallas MLK march. We’ll make signs at our regular meeting on Jan 9. It starts at Dallas City Hall at 9 AM January 19. Once again, we’ll be the contingent actually standing up for MLK’s true message of peace, justice, and union solidarity!
GLOBAL MOBILIZATION DAY
On the weekend of January 26, activists will be mobilizing all over the world. National JwJ is part of this “World Social Forum” effort. Our event will be a “speak out” 7 PM Friday, January 25, at Oak Cliff Methodist, 547 E Jefferson in Dallas. for our “Global Day of Action.” So far, I have a tentative “yes” from State Representative Lon Burnam. We need more speakers such high-quality speakers.
I was all ready to bust out my Worst of Dallas last week when lo and behold, my computer decides to fritz on me with something about scripts not running and whatever. What ended up was a published posting with no words and months of hard detailed research down the drain.
I had the strangest feeling karma was looking over my shoulder. And then figured I was wrong and decided to go with it anyway in small parts.
This one came to mind after reading the current issue of the Dallas Voice. The Crossroads Market Bookstore is officially closed and it sucks being that it was the only gay bookstore and possibly the last independent store in the city. Sucks, big time. I loved the bookstore side. I used to love the coffeeshop. Here’s why:
Worst Coffeeshop - Crossroads Market
This is somewhat ironic since I gave them a Best of a couple of years ago which was before the changes since that time. The bookstore and coffeeshop split so a new owner was on hand at the shop and he’s simply the worst! Instead of offering a friendly demeanor, Don Sheets’ catty attitude, prissy pretension and eternal grimace does not bode well for the future of that place which has been a mess ever since he started. A remodeling that was less than inspired took way too long and ended with a result of uncomfortable benches that match his unwelcoming customer service. I’m glad he supports local artists with rotating exhibits but cramming walls with works make what could be a cozy atmosphere into a claustrophobic nightmare. It’s a shame because the employees are always nice. And it’s even more of a shame the former bookstore owner, Richard Longstaff (below right) is out of there. He is nothing but courteous and considerate as proven by a long conversation we had after an Ed Oakley campaign soiree. A total Mr. Hyde to Sheets’ Dr. Jeckyll. After being questioned about being a customer by Jeckyll Sheets, I’ve decided to stay away and support a real coffeeshop. Hello, Starbucks.
Photo from Dallas Voice.
This popped up a couple of weeks ago in the Voice but I haven’t seen it since:
Who knew about this? And then why didn’t anybody tell me?
Tonight and for about the next 25 minutes, I could have been picking up my Garland S.W.A.T. 2008 Calendar at the County Line Legendary B-B-Q getting some beefcake with my beef. Despite the suburban hotness, it kind of cracks me up. Garland has a S.W.A.T. team? And second, they are hot enough for a calendar. I had a friend in the GPD but I don’t imagine him welcoming me to the month of, oh say, April.
For $15 bucks you to can have sweet dreams and help out the po-po as proceeds go toward the team. The pics are almost really bad gay porn but hey, it’s to support Garland’s finest. If they had advertised this in the Voice, they SO would have been able to buy new guns and autos with the funds.
