2017 December Oak Cliff

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F I GHT CAN CER

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TEXAS ONCOLOGY PHYSICIANS:

Ashwani K. Agarwal, M.D. • Mammo Amare, M.D. • Darshan Gandhi, M.D.

Arve Gillette, M.D. • Kesha Harris-Henderson, M.D. • Cheryl Harth, M.D.

Lakshmi Priya Kannan, M.D. • Atisha P. Manhas, M.D.

Srinivasu Moparty, M.D. • Inna Shmerlin, M.D. • Dilip Solanki, M.D.

TEXAS BREAST SPECIALISTS PHYSICIANS:

Allison A. DiPasquale, M.D. • Katrina P. Emmett, M.D. • Martin L. Koonsman, M.D.

To schedule an appointment, call Texas Oncology at 972-709-2580 or Texas Breast Specialists at 214-943-8605.

PHOTO BY DANNY FULGENCIO

OPENING REMARKS

By RICK WAMRE

A fool’s Christmas

Finding forgiveness this season, whether it’s deserved or not

I’m guessing Louis C.K. won’t be having a particularly joyous holiday season. Harvey Weinstein probably won’t be spending much time near any mistletoe. Kevin Spacey will likely have an uncomfortable amount of “me” time between now and the end of the year, too.

It’s shocking how quickly a life can change.

These guys are getting what they deserve, you could say, but the rapidity with which they were marooned by the rest of us is still breathtaking.

I know some of you aren’t particularly “holiday” people — you don’t care much for the Christmas story, perhaps, or you don’t get along with your family, or you don’t enjoy champagne and fireworks at midnight.

But there’s a certain sense of community created by the holidays, whether you love them or loathe them, and it’s a sad thing when someone has lived a life so fraught with idiocy or abuse that he or she is forced to stand apart during a time of the year when good cheer is practically mandated.

The specter of watching someone’s life collapse is hard to turn from when it’s broadcast so conveniently on every form of media in our paths. The ubiquitousness of the stories doesn’t forgive the time we spend tuning them in, but it’s easier to forgive ourselves for being spectators than it is to forgive them for being fools.

There are plenty of people out there with desperate illnesses or strikingly sad personal lives who see the holidays as a chance — a final chance, in some cases

to right past wrongs, to say a word of forgiveness long overdue, or just to hug someone who longs to hug back.

I’ve spent a good deal of my life a thousand miles from most of my family. For

a long time, I made it back for holidays, regardless of how long it took or how hard it was to get there. That sense of family and community wiped the slate clean each year, whether I deserved it or not, and helped me prepare to tackle what was ahead.

Perhaps I don’t have that much to atone for each season, in a relative sense, but any sin is one too many, according to a book I’ve partially read, and no effort to seek forgiveness is unwelcome.

So here’s hoping our holidays are spent with people who love and forgive us, no matter what we’ve done; and that we

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Will Maddox

find some time and space in our lives to forgive some people who may not deserve our mercy but could certainly use it.

I’ve read that “the loneliest moment in someone’s life is when they are watching their whole world fall apart, and all they can do is stare blankly.”

I suspect most of us have been to that precipice a couple of times, figuratively speaking, and we were lucky enough to be pulled back by someone in our lives who refused to let go. Here’s hoping we don’t find ourselves there staring blankly again someday, too.

Maybe we won’t be anyone’s savior this holiday season, but that doesn’t mean we can’t extend a hand or a hug or a dollar.

There are some real dirtbags out there, for sure. But the line separating us can be awfully thin sometimes, too.

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It’s shocking how quickly a life can change.

Readers react to ...

Sylvan

Now

CRISTINA DOSS

BRIAN HEWITT

Architecture

ANDREW WALLACE

Oh,

I think this looks great. I love the preservation of the existing buildings and the fact that they’re just two story — from that angle, the view of Downtown should be unimpeded.

KENT BOYER

L A UNC H

DEC. 23

TEXMEX HOLIDAY FIESTA

Grammy award winning band Los Texmaniacs will perform Christmas classics with a Tex-Mex twist at the Kessler Theater. The show is at 8 p.m.

The Kessler Theater, 1230 W. Davis, 214.272.8346, thekessler.org, $32-$48

Out & About

DEC. 1-17

BLACK NATIVITY

Poet Langston Hughes’ adaptation of the Christmas story is brought to life through gospel music, dance and poetry. The family friendly production is a TeCo Theatrical Productions tradition. Bishop Arts Theatre Center, 215 S. Tyler, 214.948.0716, bishopartstheatre. org, $12-$18

DEC. 2-24

JINGLE BELLS ON BISHOP

Every weekend of December is Jingle Bells on Bishop. Shop local, take pictures with Santa and enjoy neighborhood specials.

Bishop Arts District, Bishop at Seventh, bishopartsdistrict.com

DEC. 3

POLAR CHRISTMAS

The South Pole at Chicken Scratch, from noon-4 p.m., includes an appearance from Santa, a petting zoo, music and more.

Photos with Santa cost $35 for a 4x6 print and download access to multiple shots. Chicken Scratch, 2303 Pittman, 214.749.1112, cs-tf.com

DEC. 8

MYSTERIOUS

The podcast “Up and Vanished,” which investigated the 2005 disappearance of Tara Grinstead, a former beauty queen and high school teacher, will host its live tour at the Texas Theatre. Unseen video and a live question and answer with the hosts are part of the 8 p.m. show. The Texas Theatre, 231 W. Jefferson, 214.948.1546, thetexastheatre.com, $29.50

DEC. 9

HOLIDAY HOMES

The Winnetka Heights Holiday Home Tour features six Prairiestyle and craftsman bungalows throughout the historic district. This year, the tour celebrates its 31st anniversary. Various locations, Winnetka Heights, whhometour.org, $15-$30

DEC.

23

‘90S TRIBUTE

The 1990s tribute band Lithium will bring back the old favorites at the Foundry. Grab a drink and chicken biscuit to enjoy this 8 p.m. show. The Foundry, 2303 Pittman, 214.749.1112, cs-tf.com, free

KEEP GOING, OAK CLIFF

Neighborhood festivals live on even as their queen departs

By RACHEL STONE

Photos by DANNY FULGENCIO

Amy Cowan wanted a Mardi Gras parade in Oak Cliff, so she threw one in 2009.

That first one, which traveled down Bishop Avenue, had some festive floats and drew a bigger crowd than expected. Now Mardi Gras Oak Cliff is one of the biggest annual events in our neighborhood.

Cowan, who co-founded Go Oak Cliff to put on festivals including Mardi Gras, Bastille on Bishop and Blues, Bandits & BBQ, moved her family to New Orleans

a few months ago, after 10 years in Oak Cliff. She’s not alone. Everyone else involved in the organization’s early days has moved on to other ventures or has moved away, too.

“It was time to go,” Cowan says. “New Orleans already has all the same things that we were trying to create here. To be somewhere where all that exists, and I don’t have to do any work, is kind of amazing.”

There’s no new Amy Cowan, but Oak Cliff neighbors have stepped in to take

Christmas Day (Monday, December 25th)

• Monday garbage and recycling collections will take place on Tuesday the 26th.

• Tuesday garbage and recycling collections will take place on Wednesday the 27th.

• CLOSED: McCommas Bluff Landfill, City transfer stations, Administration office

New Year's Day (Monday, January 1st)

• Monday garbage and recycling collections will take place on Tuesday the 2nd.

• Tuesday garbage and recycling collections will take place on Wednesday the 3rd.

• CLOSED: McCommas Bluff Landfill, City transfer stations, Administration office

Andrew Snow, left, is turning Go Oak Cliff into a neighborhood-wide effort as the group’s co-founder Amy Wallace Cowan, right, departs.

We Get North Oak Cliff.

Lausanne Ave. $799,000 Bart Thrasher 469.583.4819

S. Brighton Ave. $374,000 Bart Thrasher

Windomere

Sherman

N. Waverly Dr. $399,900 Courtney Tauriac 214.384.9338

Elmwood Blvd. $277,500 Vinnie Sherman

Deep Hill Cir. SOLD Crystal Gonzalez

Kiest Knoll Dr. $210,000 Crystal Gonzalez

over Go Oak Cliff. Their new mission is to turn the organization into an all-volunteer nonprofit.

Andrew Snow, who moved to Oak Cliff around 2013, is the new Go Oak Cliff’s point person.

“These events need to be by the neighborhood, for the neighborhood,” Snow says. “My job is to get this into a sustainable order so that it can be handed off to leader after leader.”

They set up a board of directors and appointed neighbors to chair each of Go Oak Cliff’s events. And they’re “reverse engineering a playbook” by gleaning the information that’s in Cowan’s head.

Cowan originally set up the organization as a for-profit corporation, although she says she never made much money from it, because it was the easiest way to get things done.

As a nonprofit, the events will be run entirely by volunteers, and any money earned will go back into future events or donated to neighborhood schools.

The idea is that people who love neighborhood events can become involved as volunteers and then possibly join the board or chair an event.

Go Oak Cliff festivals will not be exactly the same as they have in the past. But they’re not going away.

With thousands of new apartments under construction in our neighborhood, we are primed for a little population

boom. Snow thinks Go Oak Cliff festivals will help preserve the neighborhood identity while adding economic value.

“With these events being homegrown and owned by the neighborhood itself, it’s the neighborhood saying, ‘We want a parade. We want a barbecue festival,’ ” he says. “We have a special identity that we’re proud of. I’m not here to define that identity. But it’s special. And it will help us preserve the identity that we love.”

Get involved with Go Oak Cliff at gooakcliff.org.

“My job is to get this into a sustainable order so that it can be handed off to leader after leader.”

Tokens from Go Oak Cliff’s Bastille Day celebration, Bastille on Bishop. Now that the group’s leader has moved away, the party planners are all of us.

1123 Kensington Ln. $2,450,000 1510 Eastus Dr. $1,595,000

Lausanne Ave. $1,225,000

WHEN THE ONLY OPTION IS THE IDEAL CHOICE

This family reached the end of their rope, and Felix G. Botello Elementary threw them a lifeline

By KERI MITCHELL

Photo By DANNY FULGENCIO

Rachael Lieck Bryce sat on her front porch in Wynnewood North, sobbing. She had just learned that her soonto-be first-grade son, whom she describes as both brilliant and difficult, would not be able to return to his elementary school.

Behavior issues had led to his departure from two schools — first from preschool at The Kessler School, and now from Dallas ISD’s Rosemont Elementary, to which Bryce’s son had transferred for kindergarten.

It was the end of June. The new school year would begin in mid-August. The deadlines for private school applications and DISD transfer forms had long since passed. Bryce didn’t know how in the world she would find a school that quickly, let alone a school that could both challenge and manage her son.

As luck would have it, her neighborhood association president, Brian Davis, walked by and saw Bryce in her despair. He stopped to find out what was wrong, and then gave her news that would change her life.

“Have you even called Botello?” Davis asked her, reminding her the neighborhood recently had been rezoned to the distinguished elementary. “Their report

Clark Bryce is a second-grader at Felix G. Botello Elementary on Marsalis Avenue at Jefferson Boulevard. The school wasn’t the first choice of his parents, Rachael Lieck and Russell Bryce, or even the second choice, but the Bryces now believe they found “the diamond in the rough.”

card blows Rosemont out of the water. Stop worrying about it and call Botello because I’m telling you, it’s a better school anyway.”

Phone calls to the school connected Bryce with principal Reyna Sotelo and vice-principal Maria Puente, who calmed her fears and reassured her that her son would be in great hands at Botello. Bryce and her son first visited a month and a half later for meet the teacher night. Other expectant parents crowded into the auditorium, nearly all of them Hispanic. Bryce, whose father is bilingual, didn’t let herself be fazed. But when the presentation was given entirely in Spanish, and she couldn’t understand anything, she lost her composure.

Sotelo approached Bryce afterward, and “I was trying so hard to hold myself together,” Bryce recalls. “I look at her and say, ‘I don’t speak Spanish,’ and at that point, I just start sobbing. And Dr. Sotelo puts her hand on my shoulder and says, ‘You’re gonna be fine. Let me walk you to your classroom.’ ”

Botello’s counselor, who was with Sotelo, noticed Clark’s Star Wars shirt and engaged him in a Kylo Ren vs. Luke Skywalker conversation, further comforting Bryce.

“They care enough to figure out who we are as people and speak our language, whatever language that may be — physical, mental, actual language,” Bryce says.

A year and a half into his time at Botello, Clark is thriving. There have been some behavioral hiccups along the way, but Puente, now the principal after Sotelo was promoted to executive director of the Sunset High School feeder pattern, continues to reassure Bryce that Botello is committed to their family.

Davis is determined to convince more Wynnewood North families to give Botello serious consideration. With so many families moving into the neighborhood, the association recently created a new position, parent liaison, to connect families and give them more resources. Becca Leonard took on this role and is eyeing Botello for her 3-year-old son.

“In the last couple of years, Botello has received awards and opportunities through the district that will really, I think, make it a viable option for parents in our community,” Leonard says.

Visit Botello Elementary with Becca Leonard, and listen to a conversation with the Wynnewood North parent liaison as well as to Rachael Lieck Bryce tell her moving story in our new podcast, “The Uninformed Parent,” available at oakcliff. advocatemag.com/podcast

CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

“They care enough to figure out who we are as people and speak our language, whatever language that may be — physical, mental, actual language.”

Diane Sherman is Dallas’ resident expert on our city’s historic homes. And now her son Vinnie, a former U.S. Army Ranger, has joined the family business. If you’d like to move to a different place in time, call Diane or Vinnie Sherman. No one gets Dallas’ period houses — and the people who love them — quite like they do. Want to learn more?

What are parents looking for? What are and aren’t — they finding in their neighborhood schools? How do parents choose a school for their children?

This is the focus of our school-year-long series that attempts to help Oak Cliff parents take a better and deeper look at their neighborhood schools. Each month, our magazine will highlight a different family who is considering or attending a Dallas ISD school. We’ll probe all of the questions, hesitations and soul-searching that revolve around school decisions. We’ll help our partner families figure out answers to their questions and concerns, and we’ll publish their stories in our magazine, on our website and in a new podcast, all available at oakcliff. advocatemag.com/podcast.

We’re still looking for other partner families. If you’re considering your neighborhood school but have questions and doubts you want to explore, please reach out to editor Keri Mitchell at 214.292.0487 or kmitchell@advocatemag.com.

BOTELLO ELEMENTARY by the numbers

522

Current enrollment at Botello Elementary

206

Number of students zoned to Botello whose families opted for private or home school last year

299

Seats at Botello that remain open, according to its campus capacity of 821

92.7

Percentage of Botello’s students who live in poverty

5

Number of Texas Education Agency distinctions awarded for the 2016-17 school year, in reading, mathematics, science, closing performance gaps and post-secondary readiness

80+

Percentage of Botello fifth-graders whose grades and test scores qualified them to attend Dallas ISD magnet schools this year

Sources: Dallas ISD My Data Portal, DISD Demographics Department, Botello administration

Diane Sherman Realtor Advanced Historic House Specialist 469.767.1823 dsherman@davidgriffin.com

Vinnie Sherman Realtor Advanced Historic House Specialist 214.562.6388 vsherman@davidgriffin.com

DELICIOUS

Beers here

Eno’s is going on 10 years of serving suds to Oak Cliffers

Story by RACHEL STONE

Photos by KATHY TRAN

Eno’s followed the success of longtime Bishop Arts District restaurants Hattie’s and Tillman’s Roadhouse, buying a two-story building and bringing something they thought neighbors would want: Pizza and beer.

That was nine years ago.

“We happened to arrive at the right time and place,” says owner Shane Spillers. “We didn’t pioneer the area, but we built on what was here.”

Eno’s still offers a menu of ultra-thincrust pizzas, plus pasta, sandwiches and

ENO’S PIZZA TAVERN

Ambiance: Neighborhood pub

Price range: $10-$19

Hours: 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m. TuesdayThursday and Sunday, 11:30 a.m.midnight Friday-Saturday, closed Monday 407 N. Bishop Ave. 214.943.9200

enospizza.com

salads as well as a diverse selection of craft beers.

They assess the menu about every six months to make sure they’re still offering the best menu items and ingredients possible, Spillers says.

Earlier this year, Eno’s opened a beer and wine store called Side Dough next door, so they now offer pizza delivery as well as beer and wine delivery. Side Dough prices on beer and wine are closer to retail than restaurant prices, and beer is available by the six-pack or onesie. It’s also possible to build-your-own six pack with a variety of

brews

offered.

the

that are

Clockwise from left: The perfect picnic with Lockhart Smokehouse brisket, a flight of craft beers and the pineapple fresca pizza.

DID YOU KNOW: Eno’s is opening a second location in downtown Forney.

OakWhenCliff Rocked

By Rachel Stone

Photo by Danny Fulgencio

Garage bands of the 1960s and 70s led to greatness for a few neighborhood kids

hen Jimmie Vaughan joined The Chessmen in the mid1960s, his Kimball High School buddy Danny Sanches took over as guitar player in Vaughan’s previous band, The Pendulums.

“Jimmy and I used to practice at his parents’ house,” Sanches recalls. “He got me up to speed on some of the songs they were playing, and we’d put records on the turntable and pick parts out of it.”

The first one he learned that way was The Yardbirds’ “The Nazz are Blue,” Sanches says.

They had tiny amplifiers, about half-a-foot wide. To get their desired tone and still be able to hear the record, they would turn their amps all the way up and then muffle them with pillows and blankets.

That was one way that Oak Cliff kids taught themselves how to play guitar following the British invasion, when rock ‘n’ roll took hold of teenagers’ hearts and minds nationwide.

Oak Cliff produced a large crop of talented and successful musicians during that era, guitar players especially.

“Back then, it was happening over here. We had our own little scene,” says Robert Ware, whose two albums, “The Cliffhanger Project” volumes one and two, celebrate some of the best guitar playing to come out of Oak Cliff.

Everyone wanted Beatle boots, long hair and a guitar, he says.

But even before that, Michael Martin Murphey was the local influencer, Ware says.

Murphey, an Adamson High School alumnus, is a singer/songwriter with a decades-long career spanning several genres, although he’s best known for his 1975 hit “Wildfire.”

“He was the first person who came out in an assembly and said, ‘Here’s a song I wrote,’ ” singer/songwriter Ray Wylie Hubbard, also an Adamson alumnus,

told the Advocate in 2012. “And I was like, ‘Whoa, he’s a songwriter!’ ”

A few Oak Cliffers of that era went on to fame, including Murphey, Hubbard, the Vaughans and the late B.W. Stevenson. There’s also Rocky Athas, the guitar virtuoso who toured for many years with John Mayall. Jimmy Wallace, a Carter High School alumnus and musician, founded the Dallas International Guitar Festival.

And there are a few who became worka-day musicians like Sanches.

He began touring with rock bands at age 19, and he did that almost constantly for a decade. After that, he studied music at Eastfield College before spending another 10 years playing five nights a week with The Coachmen, the country-and-western house band at the

Stagecoach Ballroom in Fort Worth. He’s now retired from a gas company, and he still plays as many as four gigs a week.

Tom Burns, who was born and raised in Oak Cliff, also started touring as a teenager in rock bands.

Burns is a second-generation musician whose mother, Sammye Lou Burns, was a jazz singer. His father, Forrest Glenn Burns Jr., was a classical pianist and a professor at the University of North Texas. Tom Burns’ son, Taylor Burns, is a professional musician with the Nashville-based band The Wild Feathers.

“The quality of guitar players that

Clockwise from top left: An Oak Cliff band performs at a school dance, Stevie Ray Vaughan, right, with John Michael Soria, the Sounds in Motion performing at Carter High School, Dust perfoming in a high school gym, another pic of Dust, Five of a Kind pose for a photo at Kiest Park.

Descending from left: Richard Davies on drums, Rollie Anderson on bass, John Ford Coley warming up at Candy’s Flare, a publicity shot for Southwest F.O.B., which played frequently in Oak Cliff and had a hit with “Smell of Incense.”

came out of Oak Cliff, it was surreal,” Burns says. “It was like a little London. It was just incredible.”

He learned to play keyboards as a child and took up guitar at about age 13. The singer in Burns’ first band was Jerry Don Branch, who is from Oak Cliff and is still a fulltime musician in Dallas.

“Mainly what we did was rehearse in garages,” Burns says. “We would practice at people’s houses, or in a storage unit off Ledbetter. We hung old carpet on the walls to keep the sound from vibrating. We’d have space heaters in there. It was a trip.”

They played anywhere they could — churches, Lions Club luncheons, school dances.

But the two main venues for teenage rock bands in 1960s and ’70s Oak Cliff were the Rocket Skating Palace on Cockrell Hill Road and Candy’s Flare, which was inside the National Guard Armory on Red Bird Lane.

Candy’s Flare was an enormous venue, Oak Cliff native Rollie Anderson recalls.

There was no alcohol and no snack bar. It cost just a few bucks to get in and hear the bands. The venue was invaluable for young musicians, Anderson says, because they had to figure out how to play for a big room and how to manifest stage presence. Plus, it gave them a venue to collaborate, compete and learn from one another.

Anderson remembers seeing a 12-year-old Stevie Ray Vaughan at Candy’s Flare. When the musicians would take a break, he’d ask the guitar player if he could play their guitar. Then he’d sit there for as long as possible and fool around with it, Anderson says.

“I think that’s so remarkable about him,” he says. “That he was such a student of the guitar even at that age.”

Some Oak Cliff garage band kids hit their musical heights as teenagers.

Dean Brown played the organ in a band called The Guardians. They had a friend named Gary Rawlings, nickname Kempy, who was a good singer.

“ It was like a little London . It was just incredible ”

“He asked if he could sing with us, and we said ‘Sure!’ ” Rawlings recalls. “We didn’t let him go after that.”

They became Kempy and the Guardians, and they won a battle of the bands competition at the Casa Linda Shopping Center in 1966.

Their prize was a recording contract, and they pressed an original single called “Love for a Price.” The b-side was a song called “Never.”

It got some radio play, and it won them notice from local DJ Ron Chapman, who had them perform on the teen dance show “Sump’n Else” on WFAA.

Brown joined the Navy at 17, and they didn’t get the band back together until a reunion about five years ago. But he’s been playing the pedal steel guitar in local country bands since the 1970s.

That single, “Love for a Price,” is on Youtube. If you ever find an original copy of it, hold it tight. It could be worth some money.

Tim Justice, a California architect formerly of the Oak Cliff garage band The Gentlemen, sold a copy of that band’s super-rare single “It’s a Cryin’ Shame” to a guy in Italy about five years ago for around $2,000.

He used that cash to get the band back together and re-record the song, which he included on a CD compilation of lesser-known American garage-band hits.

No one can point to any one element that created so many talented musicians in our neighborhood in the 1960s and ’70s.

But Danny Sanches notes that the British rockers — Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, The Beatles — had many of the same influences as the kids here. Think B.B. King and Buddy Holley.

The rock ‘n’ roll days lasted until disco crashed the party.

“It was cheaper to hire a DJ than a band,” Burns says. “They would take out the stages in these clubs and put in dance floors, and that’s when you knew it was over.”

Descending from top left: Flyers from Candy’s Flare, a publicity shot of The Mystics, The Chessmen and The Mystics performing live.

A SEAT IN BLEACHERS

Meet the Oak Cliff native who’s a part of pop superstardom

Interview by RACHEL STONE

MUSICIAN EVAN SMITH grew up in Kessler Park, on Eastus Drive and then Canterbury Court.

He’s a Rosemont Bison who graduated from the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in 2001.

Now he’s touring the country as a member of the band Bleachers, fronted by indie pop superstar Jack Antonoff. Smith plays saxophone, woodwinds and keyboards, and he sings. He now lives in southern Maine with his wife, Megan, and he spoke to us recently from Tulsa while on tour.

I know a little bit about you, but there’s not that much online. Could you tell us about your career?

After arts magnet, I went to Montreal and went to a university called McGill. UNT was an option. Berklee [College of Music] was an option. The New School in New York was an option. But I wasn’t a very talented young musician. I was interested in doing it, and I was trying, I guess. But nobody was like “Oh, we’re going to give you a free ride.”

And after college, you moved to Brooklyn?

Yeah, it was pretty great because so many friends of mine were already in New York and were established. I was playing a lot of jazz music. I would go out and play kind of avant-garde stuff. But then I started a rock band called The Prigs with a friend of mine named Mack Price; he’s also an arts grad. He’s a guitar player and singer/songwriter.

What was that like?

That was the start of a new path because there were way more people at this show that’s a rock how, and people are happy and like, singing. To see that effect on the people you’re playing for. That’s crazy. Because in jazz, you’re playing for 20 of your closest musical acquaintances. So to see strangers who are jumping up and down and getting sweaty, that

kind of show. It was amazing. That led to playing with [Dallas native] St. Vincent. That was the first big touring band that I worked with. I was introduced to Annie [Clark] and wound up touring for the album “Actor.”

How long were you with St. Vincent?

That was, I think, 2009 to 2011. And I was doing a lot more recording at that time. I did Annie’s next record as a sax player. She and David Byrne were working on a record, and I did woodwinds for that.

How did you get involved with Bleachers?

Jack had been touring a lot with Fun, and he was working on his own stuff. None of us knew each other. I didn’t know Jack really at all. Well, we had met for an hour at his apartment and talked about music.

Kind of like a job interview?

Yes! It was like that. I drove down from Maine, and my hands were clammy, and I had dry mouth. That’s exactly how it felt. But we hung out and had bagels and orange juice. He showed me some of the stuff he was working on. It was pretty nuts now that I think back on it. Part of that never goes away. It’s way different now. We’ve been together in all these very close quarters. So it’s like we’re friends. But it’s pretty crazy.

What is he like, Jack Antonoff?

Obviously, he’s an amazing engineer and songwriter and producer. He’s a super hard worker. He’s really talented and he has a vision for pop music at large. To be around someone like that who’s connected to why they’re doing what they’re doing. And someone who’s in action making it happen. It’s like an education to be near somebody like that. He is a powerhouse, but he’s also like a buddy. It’s been great to be working with Jack so much this year. He’s an amazing dude. He’s a great guy.

PHOTOS BY SHANE TIMM

What else are you working on besides Bleachers?

As a sax player, I played some stuff on Lorde’s record [“Melodrama”] this year. I was on the new St. Vincent record [“Masseducation”]. I was on the new Pink record [“Beautiful Trauma”].

Oh, wow. I love Pink. What’s not to love about Pink?

Yeah, she’s great. She’s very approachable. Actually Bleachers is opening for Pink on some of her arena dates this spring. I’ve never done repeated nights in an arena

before. For me, I’m excited to feel what that’s like as a performer. You get some feedback from the room when you’re playing a big place. You’re getting something back from the house. But being in an arena, you don’t get anything back because it’s so big. I’m interested to see what kind of energy it draws out of you.

What is your touring situation like? Do you have a bus?

Yes, we have two buses, and the band is on one bus, and the crew is in another. When I was on tour with St. Vincent, we

were driving ourselves in a Sprinter. And it’s a whole different animal. It is nice to play a show and put all my energy into that, get off stage, take a shower and go to sleep, and somebody drives you to your next show. You don’t have to wake up at 6 a.m. and get behind the wheel. It’s totally different. You can feel it in your energy level. But I miss the Sprinter days sometimes too. It was kind of romantic.

I saw you on “Ellen.” Did you get to meet Ellen Degeneres?

Yes, I did. We’ve been on twice, actually.

Evan Smith at work in Bleachers.

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Ellen watches the sound check, and she sits out there with this huge mixing bowl of salad, munching on it. She’s just there hanging out. She’s very nice. Super cool. And I love her show as well.

What was it like being on “MTV Unplugged?” Oh, man. It was awesome. It looked and felt like I remember the ’90s “MTV Unplugged.” Those were such a huge part of my landscape when I was a kid listening to alternative rock. It was really fun. It was a bucket list, life goals kind of thing. We recorded it so far ahead of the album release that nobody had heard those songs yet. We already knew how we were going to perform them [on tour]. And then it was like, “OK,

let’s completely redo these tunes.” It was stressful at the time to put it together, but when we actually did it, it was really special. And we’re still tapping into some of that now. The show is really, really big. When we bring it down and do these more intimate things, we

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“That people from East Dallas and Highland Park are interested in Oak Cliff or would consider living there is amazing.”

Evan Smith, left, and Jack Antonoff perform in Bleachers at Fenway Park.

JACK F. LEWIS JR., CPA

do really stripped down versions of these songs, and I think that came from the “Unplugged” stuff.

What was it like growing up in Oak Cliff?

I would wish that type of childhood for anybody. I’ve moved around a lot now, and I’ve met people from all kinds of socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds. It turns out that it was invaluable to have that stuff around you all the time. You got to see and meet people who were into all kinds of stuff. We used to hang out at Chango Botanica, and it’s still there. I loved that place, and it was right in our backyard, pretty much. Bishop Arts has changed the perception of Oak Cliff really dramatically. And sometimes when that happens, some of the subtleties are lost. That people from East Dallas and Highland Park are interested in Oak Cliff or would consider living there is amazing. I miss the old Gloria’s, where there would be a security guard standing on the roof to watch the parking lot. I lived

BISHOP DUNNE CATHOLIC SCHOOL

Contact: Charleen Doan at 214.339.6561 ext. 4020 or admission@bdcs.org

A co-educational, college preparatory school serving students in grades 6-12. We provide a strong faith and valuebased education with high academic standards, encouraging all students to achieve their full potential. Our curriculum emphasizes individualized attention, and is constantly at the forefront of technology integration through the use of laptops, ebooks, and our Online Education Program. Additionally, we provide a full range of extracurricular activities ranging from athletics, to the arts, to clubs and service organizations.

in a neighborhood in Brooklyn [Midwood] that was one of the most ethnically diverse neighborhoods in America, and I was like, “This is kind of familiar.”

Are your parents from Oak Cliff?

My mom is from Oak Cliff, and my dad was born in the Midwest and went to SMU. They now live out in the country in a town called Hunt. It’s in the Hill Country near Kerrville.

What did your parents do?

My dad [David] is a lawyer. My mom [LouAnne] is a music teacher. She’s teaching vocal performance at a college in Kerrville called Schreiner University. She was a volunteer coordinator for years at the Dallas Zoo, then at a hospital in East Dallas and then in Fort Worth. She was always a music teacher, and she had vocal and piano students in the house all the time. That was a big reason why I’m doing what I’m doing.

Do you have siblings?

I have two younger brothers. Emory is in Phoenix, and Elliott is in Austin.

Have you been back to Oak Cliff lately? Yeah, we still have friends who are there. We don’t really have family there anymore, but I was just there visiting some friends on Edgefield. So I get to go back a little bit.

By BRENT MCDOUGAL

Room at the inn

Awoman named Mercy showed up at the church where I served one Christmas. She was 17 and had just given birth a few weeks before. Mercy traveled with a community of modern nomads who wandered America from campground to campground.

She entered the church one Sunday just after worship and asked for help. She needed a bath. No money for diapers, no money for food and a baby who needed a roof over her head. I asked the pastor at the time if we should help her, and he said, “Brent, there’s no way that we’re going to turn away an unwed mother with no place to stay at Christmas.”

So the church paid for an apartment. My wife and I let her borrow our microwave and gave her some food. We made sure that the baby got to her doctor’s visits. We let her know that she wasn’t alone and that God was a God of mercy and blessing. She attended worship a few times. Then Mercy moved on. She took our microwave.

We romanticize the Christmas story. It was probably a little better and a little worse than we think it was. Joseph and Mary were likely not alone as they traveled from Nazareth to Bethlehem for the census. They had family. Rather than an “inn,” the word for where the couple was turned away is oikos, which simply means house, probably Joseph’s ancestral home. They had people to greet them when they arrived.

But there was no room. Everyone was in town. Some slept on the couch; some made a pallet on the floor. Joseph and Mary were offered the only place available, the cave where the animals were kept.

Maybe there’s a hint of scandal there. Could they have been relegated to the

animal stalls because of the questions surrounding Mary’s pregnancy? As far as we know, she never wavered from claiming the baby was from the Holy Spirit. Joseph stayed by her side because he had a dream where God said to love her and not to run away.

The Christmas story is untidy. Perhaps that’s why a certain glow surrounds it. It’s real life, but somehow blessed and holy and filled with a message for us. The message is: Someone is with you.

WORSHIP

BAPTIST

CLIFF TEMPLE BAPTIST CHURCH / 125 Sunset Ave. / 214.942.8601

Serving Oak Cliff since 1898 / CliffTemple.org / English and Spanish

9 am Contemporary Worship / 10 am Sunday School / 11 am Traditional

ROYAL LANE BAPTIST CHURCH / 6707 Royal Lane / 214.361.2809

Christian Education 9:45 a.m. / Worship Service 10:55 a.m.

Pastor - Rev. Dr. Michael L. Gregg / www.royallane.org

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST

EAST DALLAS CHRISTIAN CHURCH / 629 N. Peak Street / 214.824.8185

Sunday School 9:30 am / Worship 8:30 am - Chapel

10:50 am - Sanctuary / Rev. Deborah Morgan-Stokes / edcc.org

EPISCOPAL

ST. AUGUSTINE’S /1302 W. Kiest Blvd / staugustinesoakcliff.org

A diverse, liturgical church with deep roots in Oak Cliff and in the ancient faith / Holy Eucharist with Hymns Sunday 10:15 am

METHODIST

You’ve got family. God sees you in the hardness of life. You can stop trying to be perfect. You can find a peaceful place in this world.

In the busyness of Christmas, make some room for mercy. Just about everyone is wandering a hard road. Give what you have. It’s more blessed to give than to receive. Visit someone who is lonely. Make some room in your home for the one who needs family. Say a prayer for the little ones whose lives carry the smell of scandal. Bless the animals. They’re part of the story, too. Be gentle with yourself. You have a place in this weary world.

Brent McDougal is pastor of Cliff Temple Baptist Church. The Worship section is a regular feature underwritten by Advocate Publishing and by the neighborhood business people and churches listed on these pages. For information about helping support the Worship section, call 214.560.4202.

GRACE UMC / Diverse, Inclusive, Missional Sunday School for all ages, 9:30 am / Worship, 10:50 am 4105 Junius St. / 214.824.2533 / graceumcdallas.org

NON-DENOMINATIONAL

KESSLER COMMUNITY CHURCH / 2100 Leander Dr. at Hampton Rd.

“Your Hometown Church Near the Heart of the City.”

10:30 am Contemporary Service / kesslercommunitychurch.com

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In the busyness of Christmas, make some room for mercy. Just about everyone is wandering a hard road.

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BRICK, BLOCK, Stone, Concrete, Stucco. Gonzalez Masonry. 214-395-1319

BRICK, STONEWORK, FLAGSTONE PATIOS Mortar Repair. Straighten Brick Mailboxes & Columns. Call Cirilo 214-298-7174

CONCRETE, Driveway Specialist Repairs, Replacement, Removal, References. Reasonable. Chris 214-770-5001

FLAGSTONE PATIOS, Retaining Walls, BBQ’s, Veneer, Flower Bed Edging, All Stone work. Chris 214-770-5001

ELECTRICAL SERVICES

ANNA’S ELECTRIC Your Oak Cliff Electrician Since 1978. tecl25513. 214-943-4890

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G&G DEMOLITION Tear downs, Haul. Interior/Exterior. 214-808-8925

FENCING & DECKS

4 QUALITY FENCING • 214-507-9322 Specializing in Wood, New or Repair.

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HANNAWOODWORKS.COM

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FLOORING & CARPETING

FENN CONSTRUCTION Manufactored hardwoods. Stone and Tile. Back-splash Specials. 214-343-4645

WILLEFORD HARDWOOD FLOORS

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GARAGE SERVICES

IDEAL GARAGE DOORS • 972-757-5016

Install & Repair. 10% off to military/1st responders.

UNITED GARAGE DOORS AND GATES Res/Com. Locally Owned. 214-826-8096

GLASS, WINDOWS & DOORS

PRO WINDOW CLEANING prompt, dependable. Matt 214-766-2183

ROCK GLASS CO Replace, repair: windows, mirrors, showers, screens. 214-837-7829

HANDYMAN SERVICES

HANDY DAN The Handyman. ToDo’s Done Right. handy-dan.com 214-252-1628

HANDYMAN SPECIALIST Residential/ Commercial. Large, small jobs, repair list, renovations. Refs. 214-489-0635

HOME REPAIR HANDYMAN Small/Big Jobs + Construction. 30 Yrs. Exp. Steve. 214-875-1127

HOMETOWN construction.

HONEST, SKILLED General Repairs/

Your Home Repair Specialists

HOUSE PAINTING

RAMON’S INT/EXT PAINT Sheetrock, Repairs. 214-679-4513

KITCHEN/BATH/TILE/GROUT

BLAKE CONSTRUCTION CONCEPTS LLC

Complete Kitchen And Bath Remodels. Tile, Granite, Marble, Travertine, Slate. Insured. 214-563-5035 www.blake-construction.com

FENN CONSTRUCTION Full Service Contractor. dallastileman.com 214-343-4645

STONE AGE COUNTER TOPS

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TK REMODELING 972-533-2872

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LAWNS, GARDENS & TREES

A BETTER TREE MAN Trims, Removals, Insd. 12 Yrs Exp. Roberts Tree Service. 214-808-8925

CALL A TREE EXPERT - 469-939-3344 Prune. Stump grind. Plant. Burris Tree Service

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HOLMAN IRRIGATION

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LEGAL SERVICES

A WILL? THERE IS A WAY! Estate/Probate matters.maryglennattorney.com 214-802-6768

MORTGAGE SERVICES

NEED A PURCHASE, REFIANCE Or Renovation Home Loan? Call Pat Nagler, PrimeLending Sr. Loan Officer (NMLS: 184376) 214-402-4019 for all your mortgage needs.

MOVING

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AC PLUMBING Repairs, Fixtures, Senior Discounts. Gary Campbell. 214-321-5943

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1. Get grounded — Reduce the rushing. Draw your energy inward.

2. Feed your soul — See what foods are in season. This season is all about hearty, nutritious and warm foods.

3. Find your rhythm — Sticking to meal and bedtimes help create balance and will ground you.

4. Don’t lose your glow — Dry skin is all too common, so break out the moisturizer.

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ADVOCATE PUBLISHING does not pre-screen, recommend or investigate the advertisements and/or Advertisers published in our magazines. As a result, Advocate Publishing is not responsible for your dealings with

That nip in the air means winter has made its arrival. Here are some easy ways to keep in good spirits during the dark months:

Monkeys around

Volk’s was a pioneer in the American department store business

By RACHEL STONE

When Volk’s department store opened an outpost at Wynnewood Village Shopping Center in 1951, it carried “tot-to-teen” girls clothing, as well as jewelry, shoes, furniture and more.

There was a huge tropical aquarium in the children’s section, but the main attraction was a glass cage with three woolly monkeys.

The tiled cage had a drinking fountain, a revolving seesaw, a trapeze and a tree so that the monkeys could exercise.

While it’s hard to imagine nowadays that a department store would keep wild animals in a cage, just about anyone who grew up in Oak Cliff during that era will remember those monkeys.

The popularity of a huge cage for tropical birds in their Lakewood store gave

Volk’s the idea for the monkeys.

Volk’s lasted almost a century in Dallas. The Volk brothers, Leonard and George, moved from Baltimore to Dallas in 1889. They were shoemakers, the sons of a shoemaker who claimed to be the son of a shoemaker who crafted footwear for Bavarian royalty.

The Volks initially lived in Oak Cliff, although they would later buy homes in Highland Park.

The brothers started their shoe store, Volk Brothers, on Elm Street in 1890. It would go on to become one of the largest shoe retailers in the United States.

Volk’s occupied a couple of locations on Elm Street before moving into a six-story building they constructed on Elm at St. Paul. Built in 1930, it was reported to be the first air-conditioned

department store in the United States. The building was designed by Herbert M. Greene, LaRoche & Dahl architects. The first-floor façade was covered in black and gold marble. The five upper stories were built of limestone, with windows cased in cast iron and bronze, all topped by a copper roof.

By that time, the 40-year-old Volk’s company had expanded to include everything — furniture, toys, fur coats, hats, dresses and on and on.

Leonard Volk died in 1935, and his brother had passed away years earlier. But Leonard’s son, Oak Cliff-born Harold F. Volk, already had taken over the business.

Under the younger Volk’s leadership, the store expanded into the “suburb” of Highland Park. Volk’s was one of the first department stores to expand out of the central business district — Sears wouldn’t begin making a push for suburban stores until the 1950s.

Volk’s opened a third store, on Live Oak at Skillman/La Vista in Lakewood in 1949.

Between 1959 and 1965, they opened stores at Big Town Mall in Mesquite, Plymouth Park Shopping Center in Irving and Preston Royal Shopping Center in Dallas.

Harold F. Volk also developed the 1950 Statler Hotel in Downtown. He was president of the Dallas Community Chest Trust Fund for many years and sat on the Board of Development for Southern Methodist University. Besides that, he’d had a career as a spy during World War II.

Educated at East coast boarding schools, Yale University and The Sorbonne, Harold Volk was fluent in French and German and had served as an officer in World War I.

He was asked to join the Office of Strategic Services, a wartime intelligence agency that was a predecessor to the Central Intelligence Agency.

According to the Dallas Historical Society, Volk headed up a team of 500 people who worked on “psychological warfare operations.” Their feats included spreading disinformation among German troops and taking over radio transmissions for the French underground.

He also interviewed French civilians after the war and collected stories of Nazi atrocities that were used during the Nuremberg War Crime Trials.

After the war, he grew Volk’s to include half a dozen stores. And in 1970, Volk’s was sold to Colbert’s Inc. The Downtown Volk’s store closed in 1973.

In 1980, a wrecking crew tore down the magnificent Downtown Volk’s building in the middle of the night. We don’t know whatever happened to those monkeys.

Opposite page: The Volk Brothers’ original 25-foot storefront on Elm Street, which opened in 1890.

Below: Harold F. Volk

In 1980, a wrecking crew tore down the magnificent Downtown Volk’s building in the middle of the night.

For digestive health, trust Methodist.

The holidays promise fun with family and friends, but can also mean heartburn. If your favorite foods cause bloating or acid reflux, ask a doctor at Methodist Digestive Institute about your options. We offer new minimally invasive and nonsurgical techniques so you can enjoy the feast. Trust. Methodist.

For a physician referral, call 214-890-4182.