I was checking out the Gypsy Tea Room’s upcoming schedule, and I was kind of disappointed. They’ve always had the best indie and alternative acts there, but I didn’t see much to get excited about. I did see that the former lead singer of Toad the Wet Sprocket, Glen Phillips, is playing January 8th. And Keane, who I love, is playing the 24th. They sound like Coldplay, and ALOT like Travis, if you remember that whiny Scottish band. Keane’s album Hopes and Fears won “Album of the Year” at the Q Magazine awards in London.

Here’s their hit (and my current favorite)song, Somewhere Only We Know. Geez, I sound like Dick Clark or something.
Song

It is a tradition amongst families of Hispanic heritage to have tamales at Christmas. If you do a search on Google for tamales at Christmas you will find stories, poems and recipes all relating to this tradition.

After a rather bizarre Italian Christmas where I ate a lot of fried whitefish I realised there had to be something more ethnic and regional, and more importantly tasty, here in Tejas. That was the first year I tried Tamales from the Dallas Tortilla & Tamale Factory. Beef with jalapeno is my favourite. They also have pork & chicken. They have a number of locations, including Greenville Avenue near Ross & Marsalis Avenue at 8th St. down here in sunny Oak Cliff. Git you some.

Christmas Eve is the big tuba concert in Dallas. Only the concert is big; the tubas are all normal in size. Something like 200 tuba players show up every year and blow out some Christmas cheer. It just so silly and fun.

The concert is at noon in Thanks-Giving Square. If you have a tuba you can join in, but you need to be there at 9 am to register and rehearse. I have no idea how registration or rehearsal works. On the Tuba Christmas site there are some phone numbers you could call and get info. I’d do it for you but I don’t play the tuba and I have no idea what to ask.

Showing some love for the West side of the Metroplex - the Fort Worth Tuba Concert is on Thursday the 23rd.

Today, over 100 cities will remember those who’ve died homeless in the past year and recommit to ending homelessness for good. I don’t see Dallas on this list, although Houston is. If you’re interesting in ending homelessness and creating affordable housing in Dallas, you might check out these sites:

Dallas Habitat for Humanity
Central Dallas Ministries
United Way of Metropolitan Dallas

Facts about the Dallas housing crisis from Texas Housing:
61% of all low- to moderate-income households in Dallas spend more than 30% of their income on housing costs.

53% of very low-income households pay more than half of their income for housing expenses.
Source: 1995 Consolidated Plan. City of Dallas, Texas

The typical monthly rent for a two bedroom apartment in Dallas is $606.
Source: Out of Reach. National Low Income Housing Coalition. 1999.

A full-time Dallas wage earner would have to earn $11.65 per hour to afford a typical two bedroom apartment.
Source: Out of Reach. National Low Income Housing Coalition. 1999.

40% of Dallas renter households are unable to afford the rent for a modest two bedroom apartment.
Source: Out of Reach. National Low Income Housing Coalition. 1999

The number of homeless persons in the City of Dallas who are living in public places and in shelters has been estimated to be between 3,500 and 5,000.
Source: 1995 Consolidated Plan. City of Dallas, Texas

In the Dallas metro area there are 93,000 renters but only 31,000 low-cost rental units. There are 3 low-income renters for every low-cost unit.
Source: 1995 American Housing Survey.

18% of low-income Dallas households live in physically deficient housing. 14% live in overcrowded conditions.
Source: 1995 American Housing Survey.

Approximately 12% (55,000 units) of Dallas

For all of this city’s renown as a foodie’s mecca, I’m having a hard time with the simplest little request:

I want Mexican food.

When I say this aloud, the people around me in North Dallas say, “Oh, you should try Abuelo’s, it’s good. Or Posado’s. Or Uncle Julio’s.”

Yawn. Frankly, I’m not really interested in a place that has its own website. Most of what I’ve seen so far in D/FW are high-concept Tex-Mex restaurants with utterly forgettable fare. Even Joe T.’s, while admittedly tasty, is fancier than what I seek.
</blasphemy>

I want a small family-run taqueria. I want steak tampiquena with nopalitos and grilled green onions. I want migas (which someone told me are called chilaquiles con huevos up here?), my only perfect hangover food. I want Cokes in the can and chicle at the register for a quarter and Tecate posters on the wall and a jukebox.

Got any suggestions? Please, don’t think I’m looking for something up here in the ‘burbs — I’d be suspicious of a Mexican restaurant that could afford the rent anyway, because then the prices sure aren’t going to be the $1.50-for-a-chorizo-breakfast-taco-the-size-of-my-head for which I’m searching, and the menu is going to be all artsy-fartsy and theme-y. Ick.

And, since I’m making requests, I want elotes asados, scraped right off the cob into a styrofoam cup. In Austin I could get it at the cart in front of the Fiesta Mart by my house. Any ideas here?

¡gracias!

People in Dallas do the holiday decorating in a big way. A few years ago one neighborhood in Coppell painted all of the lawns white with fake snow - a level of excess I admire. This year, if you get a chance go on a carriage ride through Park Cities and see the lights. None of those Parkies hang their own lights, but the professional holiday decorators do an excellent (if impersonal) job.

This year the trend in holiday lighting is to outline the roofline of your house in white lights. I not only live in Dallas - I also fly over it frequently. (In an airplane, not under my own power.) Anyway, last week I flew in at about 10:30 pm. Flying across the prairie, house after house was outlined in sparkly white lights. It was wonderful. On behalf of all frequent flyers, I’d like to request that everyone keep their lights up this year.

Paperbacks Plus on La Vista is my all time favourite bookshop in Dallas. I take all my used books and trade them in for credit at the store which means books that are normally half-price without credit become 1/4 of cover price with! You can get cash if you want but it is not as much. They are always much more generous than HalfPrice Books.

From their website - Paperbacks Plus currently has two used bookstores in the Dallas, Texas area and has been in business for almost thirty years. We sell used books (both hardbacks and paperbacks), CDs, DVDs, LPs, cassettes and video tapes as well as comic books, magazines and 8-track tapes, whether in print or not.

If you are in the Dallas area and have items with which you are finished, you can pay us for up to half of our normal price with trade-ins which are in good condition and for which we have some use. The rates allowed for your materials will vary from 50% of our expected selling price down to a nominal value depending on our judgement of our supply and demand.

A local church, Unity Church of Dallas, has been getting press all over the US and Canada for their “Holy Huddle”. Mike even heard the story on NPR! I searched it on Google, and found 28 news items, including one in L.A.

For a long time, the Dallas Cowboys cost the Unity Church of Dallas people and money.

Then church members Ken Sutherland and Mike Connor approached the pastor with a suggestion: Why not show the Cowboys game on a big screen in the church fellowship hall?”

You can read the whole story at The Star Tribune.

Yeehaw! If we can just get 3+ snow flakes on Wednesday, we can all buy canned goods and sterno and stay home for 2 days!!!!