The first time I was exposed to this was when Centraltrak, the UTD artist residency in Dallas, first opened. At the time it was nothing more than a scale model, some drawings and some really great printed currency. This past year at Burning Man artist Daniel Rozenberg realized his vision, and Checkpoint Dreamyourtopia began processing its first visitors.

As put by Centraltrak, Checkpoint is, “a borderland project based on an ersatz state of collective dreaming.”

Check out this link to a trailer posted on You Tube to get a better feel for the project. There is some great footage of the process in this video.

You can can also visit the site for the project at dadara.nl

More importantly, the artist will be giving a talk at the Dallas Museum of Art Thursday, January 8
at 7:30. You can experience the installation and performance at the museum next Saturday, January 10 from 5-10PM. Don’t forget to download your immigration forms.

The DMA is located at 1717 N. Harwood St. in Dallas. Visit them online dallasmuseumofart.org

While your there be sure to check out the Olafur Eliasson exhibition, it is really amazing.

The last time I checked, there were 9 bloggers on dallas.metblogs.com. Why have there been no posts from some of them in such a long time?

Possible answers:
1) bored with the site
2) nothing is happening in dallas
3) forgot all about it
4) are forever putting off posting something till tomorrow
5) got hungry
6) went on vacation
7) forgot their login
8) writers block
9) computer crashed
10) fallen and can’t get up

Thank you, Dallas Police Gang Unit.

I was at a house show on Saturday night. For those of you who don’t know what a house show is, it’s what happens when a couple bands wanna play a show and there’s no venue available, so someone says “Hey! Play at my house!” The local bands on the bill were Trifle Tower and The Undoing of David Wright, as well as an out of town band called Ari Ari.

The shows usually work pretty much the same as a BYOB house party with a live band playing and are usually a lot of fun. Despite BYOB policies, there is also usually pretty rampant underage drinking.

I was sitting in the back yard at this particular show, half-drunk, talking to some guy whose name escapes me, when I looked up and someone was shining a flashlight in my face. Dallas Police Gang Unit!

Typically, if and when the cops show up, it’s a noise complaint. But here, part of town and the fact that there were a BUNCH of kids hanging around equals GANG VIOLENCE!! At first, it was a serious party-killer, but the police seemed to pick up pretty quickly on the fact that we weren’t doing anything wrong as everyone was cooperating and were all still pretty chatty as they “raided” the party. Not to bash these guys – they were just doing their job. And they left us alone when they discovered that the only thing going on was loud music and underage drinking.

Well, it’s been to Deep Ellum, then Fort Worth, now it comes to Addison (one of the best parts of Dallas.) ARTFEST in Addison Circle will be held this Memorial Day weekend.

The details are at dallasartfest.com

More and more people seem to be staying home on these long weekends when I-35 is packed, the lakes are jammed with unsober boaters and we begin to hunker down for another long hot scorcher.

Someone in Addison needs to be canonized for the park that was built up there. It’s now the host venue to everything from Taste of Addison to Pepsi KidAround. It’s wonderful.

If you go, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is there are air conditioned indoor potties. The bad news is that all three cash machines in Addison Circle are permanently out of money. Hit the 7-Eleven before you get there.

Has anyone ever actually purchased a ticket to the Byron Nelson golf tournament? Or is every single person who goes attending on the largesse of some vendor, pharmaceutical rep, or business associate? A quick survey of my friends revealed that no one has actually paid for a ticket.

In a related question, do people watch golf at the Byron? Or is everyone just enjoying the libations in the hospitality tents?

It’s been a stage hit in Canada for years and even made into a somewhat weak film in 2003. The Uptown Players current rendition is a wonderful production of this great peek into Italian-Canadian (or is it Canadian-Italian?) culture with great performances, many laughs and more than a few moments of introspection.

What’s it like to grow up gay and Italian, with a hard-nosed, loud-mouthed Mama along with a father who thinks if he had pushed his son to play hockey as a child, he might have turned out straight? That’s just the beginning of this plot after we see that the son in question, Angelo, is living with his hunky Italian childhood friend Nino, and they’re more than roommates. Wait until Nino’s Mama finds out! That’s just the start of the fireworks cooked up by these dysfunctional families, along with a bimbo named Pina and Angelo’s sister who’s very close to being an alcoholic and pill-popper.

The acting performances were superb and the lighting and overall production were magnifico!

Mambo Italiano is playing through May 22nd at the Trinity River Arts Center, located at Stemmons Freeway and Motor.

Hurry! Tickets are going fast.

Here’s your chance to Rock for Choice! NARAL Pro-Choice Texas and the Texas Equal Access Fund are having a benefit concert at Dan Silverleaf in Denton on Saturday, May 7th. There’s a great musical lineup with KRISTY KRUEGER, BAGG, and THINKING ROOM, plus cool merchandise and a pro-choice crowd! Enjoy a great evening of entertainment while supporting Texas women’s reproductive rights. Cover charge $5. All proceeds benefit NARAL Pro-Choice Texas and the Texas Equal Access Fund.

PLEASE forward this announcement to your friends and acquaintainces. We want this to be a ROCKING event — let’s make it loud and clear that Texas is full of people who are pro-choice!!

Directions from Dallas to Dan Silverleaf, 103 Industrial St., Denton: Head north to Denton on I-35. Exit Ft. Worth Dr./Carroll Dr./Hwy 377 and take a right. Head north into the center of town to Hickory St. and take a right. Proceed through the square. Once you have passed the square take a right on Industrial and you are there. There’s a map on the website at www.danssilverleaf.com

Didn’t get tickets for the race but still want to be part of the NASCAR race weekend? There some sort of NASCAR festival going on outside of my office in Sundance Square.

We all know that I only care about the festival foods, especially the nitrates on a stick. On 4th, between Main and Houston there are a bunch of food stands – Steak on a Steak, Sausage on a Stick, Corn Dogs and Funnel Cakes are all representin’. (Sorry, there was no roasted corn, turkey legs or chicken on a stick that I saw.)

Here’s the musical portion of the program:
Friday, April 15
Quiet Riot at 9:00 p.m (Spiral Perms. Ah, the memories.)

Saturday, April 16:
Keith Anderson at 3:00 p.m.
Craig Morgan at 4:30 p.m.
Brian McComas at 6:00 p.m.
Billy Dean at 7:30 p.m. (I’m nearly positive he is the son of Jimmy Dean the King of Sausage.)
Mark Chesnutt at 9:00 p.m.

This really should be posted on one of the west coast blogs, or better still, the Austin site. But has anyone seen new Tide

May I be the first to wish you the happiest Texas Independence Day ever. The gifts are wrapped, the tree is up, and at noon we’ll have our traditional brisket dinner at MeMommie’s and PaPa’s house.

Just kidding.

If you’re a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin, there are however a number of festivities over the next several days. Not exactly Eeyore’s Birthday, or lunch at Mad Dog & Beans, but good nonetheless.

Wednesday night is a happy hour at the Manhattan Bar. Thursday morning a breakfast at the Park City Club. Thursday night another happy hour and appetizers at Central Market, Lovers Lane location. And Saturday night a dinner, casino, silent and live auction at Gilley’s on the South Side.

For full details, visit www.DallasTexasExes.org