grab-bag art of the game

from 2010 November Lakewood

Yes, vacancies

Baseball has so many detractors. They say baseball is pointless. It’s a bunch of grown men playing a kids’ game. Mostly, they say it’s boring. So it’s a treat to walk into Grant Smith’s Prairie-style home in Old East Dallas, where the grand old game is central. Smith is an artist whose paintings have places in the homes of baseball bold names like Johnny Damon and Keith Olbermann. Sure, Smith loves baseball he was born a Cubs fan on the North Side of Chicago. And he grew up in Arlington, so he’s a Rangers fan, too. But it goes way deeper than your average fandom. Baseball is this artist’s muse. “All the men in my family are into baseball,” he says. “Baseball is kind of our language.” Smith’s paintings typically portray the lives of baseball’s greatest players, but they’re not necessarily about the game. They often touch on moral dilemmas and the myth of hero. A favorite subject is “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, who was accused of throwing the World Series in 1919 for a promised $20,000 from gamblers. Another is Ty Cobb, who was tortured to the end by perfectionism and his father’s disapproval. One painting is a 6-foot by 7-foot portrait of Babe Ruth’s face, titled “The White Josh Gibson”. A catcher and power hitter in the Negro Leagues from 1930-46, Gibson often was pegged as “the black Babe Ruth”. “A lot of them had really tragic lives — drugs, alcohol, racism, greed, abuse of power,” Smith says. “I try to put myself in the players’ shoes. I’m not judging them. You wonder, ‘Would I make the same mistake in that situation?’” While some baseball nerds memorize stats and clip box scores, Smith pores over biographies. He’s an encyclopedia of baseball scandals, characters and anomalies. He painted Ruth Ann Steinhagen, the woman who stalked and shot Phillies first-baseman Eddie Waitkus in 1949, the basis for “The Natural”. He painted Roy Campanella, the Brooklyn Dodgers allstar who was paralyzed in a car accident at age 36. Recently, he made a portrait of Sandy Koufax for the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in New York. The painting is based on a photo of a smiling Koufax icing his elbow — he had severe arthritis. “It has a frailty theme,” Smith says. Baseball isn’t boring. It’s romantic. It’s dramatic and tragic, warm and fuzzy. For Grant Smith, baseball is a language, and with it, he can express anything in life. —RACHEL STONE

To Learn More

See pictures of Smith’s artwork at grant9smith.com.

Zinger

Central Christian Church, Dallas

Olicon, Inc.

Blast

OnSiteRx

University Christian Church, Austin

First Christian Church, ElPaso

Milestone Electric

Carrington, Coleman, Sloman & Blumenthal, LLP

First Christian Church, Tyler

Advocate Magazines

Doctor’s Hospital

Worm Burner

Millet The Printer

Joe Kidwell - Brown McCarroll

Frost Bank

Randol Mill Pharmacy

Hole

RGB Interactive

Holt Capital Partners

Hightech Signs DFW

Pritchard Associates

Billingsley Longhorns

Tom Billingsley

Moore Bros. Construction

Professional Bank

Harry Aston

Select Rehabilitation

First Christian Church, Lufkin

Benton Enterprises, Inc.

U.S. Foods

Christian Church Foundation

The Rev. Dr. Don McKenzie

Cardiovascular Support Svcs Inc.

Timeless Charms

Martha & Jim Salmon

John Cater Hackley

Luther King Capital Management

Presbyterian Children’s Home & Svcs

Hollywood/Santa Monica

Neighborhood Association

Savory Sounds

The second-annual Dallas Festival of Modern Music is in Lakewood this month. Miss the first one? That’s OK.It was a quiet affair. But this year’s festival, “Taste the Music”, aims to find ears in Lakewood and at schools all over the Dallas area. The 10-day festival, whose main stage is Lakewood United Methodist Church, is the brainchild of J.L. Long Middle School band director Jordan Smith and his college buddy, musician Ryan Ross. They started the festival to showcase contemporary classical music and other modern genres, such as experimental rock, jazz and pop. This year, the festival is drawing musicians from all over the country and Texas. It is free and includes daily performances at the church, Steinway Hall, Good Records and Legal Grounds. They want the performances to feel intimate, inviting and personal. “It’s centered around the audience experience,” Ross says. “It’s more casual. It’s come as you are, bring the kids.” Smith and Ross this year teamed up with Chris Walls, the new band director at Woodrow Wilson High School, who was with them the conducting master’s degree program at Texas Tech University. Walls is leading the festival’s education initiative.

All of the artists at this year’s festival also will perform for students at Woodrow, Long and several other schools in the Dallas area. “A $30 symphony ticket is a stretch for some people, let alone trying to bring the whole family,” Ross says. “But here you have artists who are at the top of their fields spending a day in the schools. That’s a really important part of what we’re doing.” They expect the festival to grow every year, and they’re already getting emails from musicians all over the world who want to perform at next year’s festival. They think Lakewood is the perfect place for it because it’s a walkable neighborhood with lots of good restaurants. So people can hear a concert and then go have dinner in the ‘hood.“Music really fosters community. It’s amazing,” Smith says. “This community deserves a festival like this.” the Dallas Festival of Modern Music is nov. 5-14, and it’s free. Find a full schedule of concerts online at dallasmodernmusic.org.

972-323-7557

972-323-7546

“DavidWeekleyGreenHome”isatrademarkofWeekleyHomes,L.P.,whichdescribescertainfeaturesandcriteriadesignatedtomake homesmoreeconomicallysustainableoverthelongtermandreduceenergyconsumptionandtheresultingenvironmentalimpactin participatingcommunities.Itdoesnotinfersponsorship,approval,oraffiliationwithanyotherprogramorgreenbuildingcertification otherthanthosespecificallystatedintheproductfeatures,warrantyorcontract. Environments For Living® isaregisteredtrademark ofMASCOHomeServices,Inc.TheGreenBuiltTexas(GBT)logoisaRegisteredTrademarkoftheHomeBuildersAssociationof GreaterDallas.Prices,plans,dimensions,features,specifications,materialsoravailabilityofhomesorcommunitiesaresubject tochangewithoutnoticeorobligation.Illustrationsareartist’sdepictionsonlyandmaydifferfromcompletedimprovements.

On a cold, crisp Thanksgiving Day in 1968, Ulysses “Uly” Vlamides arrived at White Rock Lake for the inaugural, 8-mile Turkey Trot. Outfitted in a turtleneck, slacks and sport coat along with tennis shoes, gloves and a toboggan, the overweight 42-yearold looked at the young, fit runners at the starting line. He felt humiliated then, but eventually left a legacy all his own. Vlamides died in July at age 83, having completed 62 marathons and all 42 Turkey Trots. “Since he died, so many people have called and said, ‘If it wasn’t for Uly, I wouldn’t be running,’ ” says his wife, Mary Vlamides of Bent Tree. The Vlamides family will run in his honor at the 43rd annual Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot downtown, benefiting neighborhood YMCAs. Uly owned three Majestic Steak Houses, but spent the last 30 years with Ebby Halliday Realtors. Before he started running, Uly Vlamides weighed 250 pounds, smoked, and drank heavily. After reading “Aerobics” by Kenneth Cooper, founder of Cooper Aerobics Center, Vlamides decided to transform his life. So, he ran. “He started stationary running because he was too embarrassed to go outside,” Mary Vlamides says. When he showed up at the first Turkey Trot, he could only run four miles. Mary waited for him at the finish line. All of the runners had passed, but no Uly. She got in her car, drove to him, and rolled down the window. “He said, ‘Tell them not to leave, I’m going to finish.’ He finished dead last. It seemed from then on, that meant more to him than anything.” He lived in the White Rock area, and ran the 9-mile lake loop regularly, sometimes looping twice when he started training for marathons. There’s even a plaque at the lake with his name on it labeled “The Old Boys Club”, which features 70-plus-year-old runners. Eventually, the whole Vlamides family began participating in the run each year, and they made a pact: No one could eat turkey dinner if they didn’t do the Turkey Trot. “Whatever he did, he was obsessive about doing more,” she says. “He traded the bad habits for the good habits. He was quite a guy. I attribute everything to that first Turkey Trot. Nothing could have stopped him. I never stopped running, either.”

—EMILY TOMAN

THE DALLAS YMCA TURKEY TROT begins at 9 a.m. Nov. 25 at City Hall, 1500 Marilla. To register, visit thetrot.org.