world on a string

Waltz (or fox trot or rumba) into the theater on a night when The Singapore Slingers are onstage, and you’ll feel transported back in time to a world where men sport bowties and heavily pomaded hair, and women wearing soft golden locks and deep red lipstick smoke long cigarettes with impunity. The 18-piece orchestra, wearing only black and khaki-colored clothing (they’re going for the look of a sepia-tinted photo, the leader explains), performs ditties on strings and horns that haven’t been mainstream since the First World War. Frontman Matt Tolentino might be on the tuba, sax, ukulele or, most likely, the accordion. “The accordion is my main squeeze,” he says. You might expect this purveyor of early 1900-1935 era tunes (or of that joke) to be an old guy maybe someone who remembers ragtime records from his childhood, for example. But Tolentino is just 25 — a 2003 graduate of Woodrow Wilson High School. “I know nothing about pop music,” he says. “But when I was a kid, a neighbor gave me a recording of the house band from A Prairie Home Companion, and I enjoyed that. I learned to play clarinet in elementary school the sax, tuba and accordion in high school. I’ve always listened to this type of music.” He came up with The Singapore Slingers’ name, he says, from a cocktail popular in the 1920s. “I thought it was pretty clever. Later I learned there was an amateur basketball team by the same name,” he says laughing. “If there’s anything I know less about than pop music, it’s sports.”

Nearly four months after their launch party, the folks who formed Live Local East Dallas have recruited more than 200 members to join their cause. That’s a number they consider a success. But now that the initial hoopla is over, the nonprofit’s goal is to continue explaining to both neighborhood businesses and residents the importance of becoming a member. When telling people about Live Local, a common response is “Oh yeah, I live there,” says founding board member MaryBeth Shapiro of

Republic Title. “I tell them, ‘I know, but how do you live there?’”

The organization’s purpose is education, encouraging neighbors to “think local first while recognizing the economic, social and community benefits of doing business locally.” In that sense, anyone can live local, member or not. But Shapiro points out that the group fosters networking and encourages loyalty to our neighborhood. “What they’re getting out of it is helping join forces,” says Elaine Starkey, also a founding board member with Republic Title. “I have honestly thought, ‘I have to put my money where my mouth is now,’” she says. Through the organization, neighborhood business owners have discovered each other and embarked on new enterprises. “It’s like a jigsaw puzzle that can come together, and learning what people are doing that you didn’t even know about,” says Holly Greef, Live Local publicist.

—KERI MITCHELL

JoiNiNg Live LocaL e ast DaLLas costs as little as $15 annually for a neighborhood resident and $50 for a business. Another networking get-together and membership drive will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 5-7 p.m. at Capitol Pub. Visit livelocaleastdallas.com for more details.

WHAT GIVES?

Small ways that you can make a big difference for neighborhood nonprofits

MAKE A PURCHASE at Northlake Beauty Salon, 10233 E. Northwest Highway, or Willow Creek Hair Designers, 5622 Dyer. Both of these businesses are selling 2010 calendars that benefit Golden Retriever of North Texas. The calendar features photos and stories of golden retrievers that have been helped by the volunteer organization, which is dedicated to the rescue, rehabilitation and adoption of these dogs. All proceeds from calendar sales are used to defray veterinary expenses of the golden retrievers entering the rescue program. Calendars can also be purchased at goldenretrievers.org.

OR SPENDA FEWHOURS assisting seniors in your neighborhood and helping the environment to boot. The Senior Source has launched a new “Boomer Green Teams” initiative to connect volunteers with projects that address environmental issues. Senior Source needs volunteers Jan. 9 and Jan. 18 to go out into the community and show Dallas seniors ways to both use less energy and save money by making the switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). For more information, contact Boomer Green Teams coordinator Susan Grundy at 214.525.6134 or grundy@theseniorsource.org.

KNOW OF WAYS that neighbors can spend time, attend an event, or purchase or donate something to benefit a neighborhood nonprofit? Email your suggestion to launch@advocatemag.com.

by the Lake

Get Your Hoops Up

Some people drink booze or pop antidepressants in order to stave off the blues , but East Dallas resident Jessica Bullock deals in another way. “I could never be in a bad mood while I’m hula hooping,” she says. Bullock is a fan of String Cheese Incident, a jam band widely credited with spawning a modern day hooping craze among its followers. “My husband and I used to go to their shows 10 years ago, and I loved to watch the people in the hula hoop pits, but I never took part myself back then,” she says. Eventually she came around, though. At one of the shows, her hubby bought her a brightly colored hoop, and she immediately craved more. She even learned to make them herself — sort of. “I was first taught using small connectors and pipe glue. I was told to let the hoop cure for 24 hours. I wasn’t real good at waiting, and used my hoops too soon. I ended up making teardrops instead of hoops.” A few years ago, Bullock located some hula-hooping soul mates, and the group began holding weekly hoop sessions at White Rock Lake. Today she is training to become a certified hula-hoop instructor through hoopnotica.com. Instantaneous good moods are nice, but the groovy exercise has had unexpected perks. Bullock, a self-proclaimed “big girl”, has toned up significantly by way of the corestrengthening hula movements. “I call it the accidental workout,” she says. “I’ve lost about 30 or so pounds without even paying attention.”

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6935 TOKALON/ JULIE AND CARL SQUIBB bought a split-level 4,781-square-foot home in 2005. Contemporary in 1966, the years were not kind to its styling or the tan-and-brown brick beginning to separate from the framing. “When you walked in, it looked like Sammy Davis Jr. and Frank Sinatra would be standing at the bar, smoking a cigarette, drinking a drink,” Julie says.

VISIT ADVOCATEMAG.COM to view a slideshow of more before and after photos of the Squibbs’ remodel project.

grab-bagLAUNCH

AFTER/ Julie Squibb and custom home builder Larry Havens initially didn’t intend to change the house into a villa; the Squibbs wanted a relaxing home, one that felt like a vacation spot. The final 5,130-square-foot design — complete with Tuscan-influenced rock-face masonry, Italianate eave details and decorative, grapevine ironwork — answers their call for a place to get away. Inside, the wine-country theme continues with knotty alder and metal straps covering original heavy steel beams that hold up the roof in the Squibbs’ family room, a vast space perfect for entertaining family and friends. Two sets of French doors, set into grand arched windows, mirror one another on each side — one set opens to the pool area, an expansive space with a field of stamped, colored concrete. The other set of doors opens to the front courtyard. The kitchen and master bathroom are of a showhome size and finish — the home was, in fact, featured in the 2007 Lakewood Tour of Homes. Carl Squibb now has a place to soak in a state-of-the-art tub with granite surround next to a gas fireplace under a flatscreen TV. “Some nights, I have to go in and make sure he has not drowned,” his wife says. The Squibbs’ furniture is formal with a soft side: wood with classic capitals and tall-backed chairs with tapestry fabrics. In the dining room stands a massive, custom granite-topped table that can comfortably seat 10.

—ALEX KNESNIK

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