The Turley Law Center -- Yet Another Fugly Building, or Is It?

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All photos by Jane R. LeBlanc
Turley Law Center
So far in our quest to find the fugliest building in Dallas, we've attacked the AT&T corporate office in East Dallas and the Dallas World Trade Center building. Two strong contenders for sure. But is the next one fugly enough to take top standing?

I'm talking about the ever-popular Turley Law Center off Central Expressway and East University Blvd. Eleven stories of wonder standing proudly in University Park, it's home to the Turley Law Firm, a few private law practices, a salon and more. There are even four spaces for rent, if you need to set up shop in Big D. The building certainly stands out among the sea of steel and beige surrounding it, so it's got that going for it. From the blue windows to the blood red stripe around the top and down the corners, there's no way to miss it, even going 75 mph down the highway. But yesterday, I decided to actually pull off the highway and pay Turley a visit.

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Theatre Britain's Beauty & the Beast Purrs

Categories: Theater

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Steve Freedman
Matthew Stepanek as Beast, Kate Dressler as Belle.
Theatre Britain's annual British "panto" fairytale at the Cox Playhouse in Plano is always a holiday treat. This year Beauty & the Beast, not the talking furniture Disney musical, but a campier comedy by Jackie Mellor-Guin, uses all the traditional gimmicks we now know to expect. Kiddies will latch onto lonely Belle (Kate Dressler) and the fuzzy-faced Beast (Matthew Stepanek) who wins her heart. But "Mrs. T Time" (Ivan Jones in a glam-drag sparkly dress dangling with teabags) and "Mr. Nob" (Michael Speck) are there to make sly, slightly bawdy jokes grown-ups can grin at. Caitlin Duree plays Felan, a name that cues plenty of puns throughout for the girl-in-boy's-britches part.

Company founder and director Sue Birch goes all out with her pantos. The scenery by Darryl Clement spans the stage with faux stone castle walls. Costumes by Tory Padden clad the mean stepsisters (Octavia Y. Thomas and Devon Rose) in candy-box pastels.

The rules of panto call for the audience to stand for a singalong and to warn characters aloud whenever the ghost (Rose) appears. Audience interaction is a big part of panto fun. Go ahead and hiss the Beast, then "aww" when he turns back into the prince.

Beauty & the Beast
continues through December 28 at Theatre Britain, Cox Building Playhouse, 1517 H. Avenue, Plano. Tickets, $11-$21, online at theatre-britain.com or 972-490-4202.


Dave Chappelle Sneak Attacked Dallas with a Show Announcement Yesterday

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LiveNation
Surprising his fans is kind of Dave Chappelle's thing. I'm not sure I fully understand the marketing strategy of announcing things out of nowhere, but it must be working for him. In 2012, he announced it day of, which meant swiftly canceling plans with anyone who didn't want to move their dinner party to the House of Blues. This year, he did us the favor of announcing more than a week in advance so we know which holiday party we'll be skipping. Chappelle will be in town for two shows at the House of Blues at 6 and 9:30 p.m. Monday, December 15.

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Serial's Real Life Murder Mystery Is Entertaining, but Is That a Good Thing?

Categories: Dallas Stories

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This sign on the rooftop of a bar asks people not to speak.
I was running late last night, as 8 p.m. approached swiftly and I was still not on Greenville Avenue. I wasn't meeting people for dinner or drinks, and it was unlikely my night would last past 9 p.m. I was headed to a podcast listening party. Because exactly two weeks before, I'd become obsessed -- like thousands of others -- with a little podcast called Serial.

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The Roller Derby World Cup Skates into Dallas This Weekend

Categories: Dallas Stories

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Roller Derby World Cup

By Anita Riot
If you aren't familiar with the decade-long rise of modern roller derby, you may not know that teams, officials, and fans from 30 different countries have already taken over the concrete floors of the Dallas Convention Center.

The Roller Derby World Cup, hosted by Blood & Thunder Magazine, will span December 4 to this Sunday, December 7. It is the second all-female international derby tournament of its' kind. The first took place in Toronto in 2011, where USA nabbed the gold in an overwhelming sweep. This came as no surprise, as the US had a leg-up on most countries--the first modern leagues cropped up in North America over ten years ago, beginning with Austin, Texas and spreading like wildfire to major metropolitan areas across the country. Big contenders this year include England, Canada, and Australia--which have leagues that have risen to Division 1 in the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) competitive rankings.

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24 Awesome Things to Do In Dallas This Weekend, December 4-7

Categories: Dallas Stories


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Serial
If you're not listening to the hit podcast Serial, chances are you know someone who is and won't shut up about it. If you're a friend of mine, I'm probably the fanatic in your life who monologues about what exactly happened in Woodlawn, Maryland -- the sleepy suburb of Baltimore. It's likely you've asked me to please stop telling you whether or not I think Adnan killed his high school girlfriend 15 years ago. Or if -- as it's occasionally implied in the show -- his friend Jay set him up. Whether speculating on the guilt of these people is fair (one was acquitted and the other sent to prison for life) is a question I've recently begun to wrestle with, but that doesn't squelch my addiction. I need to know where the series will go. And I need to find more people as obsessed with Serial as I am. Which is why I'll be on the rooftop of Sundown at the Granada (3520 Greenville Ave.) for the free Serial Listening Party at 7 p.m. Thursday. They'll switch on the heaters, and serve up some warm drinks. More information at granadatheater.com.


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Wave the White Flag for T3's Civil War Christmas

Categories: Theater

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Jeffrey Schmidt
Qynetta Caston, Brandi Andrade (standing), Stormi Demerson (seated), Stan Graner (standing), Vontress Mitchell.
Settle in for a long winter's nap at A Civil War Christmas at Theatre Three. It's a mournful 150-minute drama with music, all public domain stuff ("Silent Night," "There Is a Balm in Gilead," and even "The Yellow Rose of Texas").

Author Paula Vogel won a Pulitzer Prize for How I Learned to Drive. With this play she seems to be aiming at an end-of-year burst of royalty payments from theaters avoiding shows about Tiny Tim and red-nosed reindeer. A Civil War Christmas comes off as a hacky patchwork of Wikipedia entries about Civil War figures, with stories told in awkwardly paced, alternating vignettes interrupted by enervating singing.

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HBO's Getting On Is the Brainiest (and Fartiest) Comedy You're Not Watching

Categories: Film and TV

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facebook.com/gettingonhbo
BY INKOO KANG

Hospitals are depressing. Until recently, medical shows glossed over this basic fact of life by focusing on the most glamorous clique within them: doctors. For the past two decades, the upwardly mobile audience identification integral to most TV shows taught us to look away from the bedpans and sheaves of insurance paperwork and focus instead on the halos (ER), the lip gloss (Grey's Anatomy), the chicken soup for the soul (Scrubs), or the preening intellect (House) of every hospital's upper crust.

Grey's Anatomy is still going strong in its 11th season, but since House's departure from the airwaves in 2012, we've been living in the twilight of the docs. Last year, Shonda Rhimes' cornerstone series was the only medical show to crack the top half of the broadcast ratings. This week brought news that Fox has canceled its pediatric-ward-set Red Band Society. Already a kind of backlash to its treacly cousins, House ushered in a wavelet of even more self-aware or cynical medical shows including Showtime's Nurse Jackie, Cartoon Network's Children's Hospital and HBO's Getting On that channel viewer disinterest in the goodliness of doctors and, arguably, the nation's growing suspicion of medical professionals.

Of those three programs, Getting On is the least known but the most daring, insightful and poignant. Now in its six-episode second season (after its Nov. 9 premiere), the superb workplace comedy continues to explore themes of power, gender, class, corporatization, mortality, and the mysteries of the stuff that comes out of our butts. (Believe me, you don't know as much as you think you know.) For the show's impressive sophomore year, showrunners Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer have embraced greater serialization to make one of pop culture's most incisive commentaries on the failures of the American health-care system.

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DTC's Christmas Carol Comes Wrapped in Surprises

Categories: Theater

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Karen Almond
Morgan Laure and Seth Magill waltz in A Christmas Carol at DTC.
The latest production of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol by Dallas Theater Center at the Wyly Theatre will make you forget ghosts of Carols past. DTC artistic director Kevin Moriarty has adapted the familiar story his way, with pointed political commentary about the plight of the poor and a noticeable emphasis on the message that "the world is becoming a hard and cruel place," where people are used like machines and the rich begrudge the working poor the smallest perks and privileges. Like getting holidays off.

Directed by DTC company member Lee Trull, the show is large-scale spectacular, scattering actors (who also play instruments) all over the Wyly's balconies and catwalks and even into the air. Jacob Marley's ghost (played with great vocal texture by Cameron Cobb) and the Ghost of Christmas Present (confident 9-year-old Salma Salinas at the preview reviewed) leave the ground assisted by Flying by Foy, the technicians who've created theatrical flying effects going back to Mary Martin in Peter Pan. Watching a sparkly little ghost tumbling overhead definitely adds zing to the visuals. Lighting by Jeff Croiter is dramatic and precise.

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100 Dallas Creatives: No. 37 the Godfather of Dallas Art Frank Campagna

Categories: 100 Creatives

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Michelle Marie
Mixmaster presents "100 Creatives," in which we feature cultural entrepreneurs of Dallas in random order.
I met Frank Campagna for the first time earlier this year, when I suggested we put him in the People Issue. We spent time together leading up to to our interview, and if I'm being honest, I wasn't sure what I thought of him at first. For decades, he's made a living painting murals in and around Dallas, particularly Deep Ellum. He's a soft-spoken man with a gruff exterior, and -- I've learned -- a heart of gold. Since then, we've become friends. I've joined the hundreds, if not thousands, in the Dallas art community who have a special place in their hearts for Campagna and his Deep Ellum staple, Kettle Art Gallery.

Unlike other art galleries in town, Kettle's mission is one of inclusion, visible in the size of its artist roster, and in its price point -- which varies from two to four digits. Surface-level stuff. But it's Campagna, and his partner Paula Harris, who keep people coming back. They've made Kettle homey, and everyone who walks through the door is just one conversation away from feeling like family. So, Campagna makes the list not just for being an artist and a gallery owner, but for creating an art community that welcomes every new member with open arms.


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