2022 December Oak Cliff Advocate

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EDITORIAL

Publisher/Editor-in-Chief: Jehadu Abshiro jabshiro@advocatemag.com

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Editors: Alyssa High ahigh@advocatemag.com Emma Ruby eruby@advocatemag.com

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Intern: Andrea Hancock

Contributors: George Mason, Patti Vinson, Carol Toler, Sam Gillespie, Lucy Erspamer, Matthew Ruffner, Eric Folkerth, Betsy Swetenburg

Contributing photographers: Kathy Tran, Emil Lippe, Corrie Aune, Yuvie Styles, Shelby Tauber, Azul Sordo, Johnathan Johnson, Sylvia Elzafon

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Advocate (c) 2022 is published monthly in print and daily online by Advocate Media - Dallas Inc., a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation based in Dallas and first published in 1991. Contents of this print magazine may not be reproduced. Advertisers and advertising agencies assume liability for the content of all advertisements and sponsorships printed, and therefore assume responsibility for any and all claims against the Advocate. The Publisher reserves the right to accept or reject ay editorial, advertising or sponsorship material in print or online. Opinions set forth in Advocate publications are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the Publisher’s viewpoint. More than 180,000 people read Advocate publications in print each month; Advocate online publications receive more than 4 million pageviews monthly. Advertising rates and guidelines are available upon request. Advocate print and online publications are available free of charge throughout our neighborhoods, one print copy per reader. For information about supporting our non-profit mission of providing local news to neighborhood readers, please call 214-560-4212 or email rwamre@advocatemag.com.

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THE GIFT OF STORYTELLING

Titles from Oak Cliff bookstores

Story by ANDREA HANCOCK

When Claudia Vega de scribed the intent for her new bookstore, she always came back to one word: community.

Whose Books, which celebrated its first anniversary in November, is a space intended to cultivate a love of reading among Oak Cliff residents.

“We try to create a space that is welcoming, that is representative of the community that we serve,” Vega says. “So if you look on the shelves, (you’ll find) every shade imaginable, different voices and opinions and stories that are diverse.”

The lighting inside is bright and the bookstore’s walls are white, but it can in no way be described as austere. Any wall space not devoted to bookshelves features a decoration or art of some sort, including a large, neon blue sign reading “Oak Cliff Book Nerd.” The store is located in Tyler Station, so music and chatter from neighboring stores provides a constant soundtrack. In the center of the store, there’s a

loose circle of upholstered chairs, where Whose Books regularly hosts a book club and community storytimes.

The book club meets monthly, and Vega says over 20 people from around Dallas participate.

“Because they’ve joined this book club together, they’re not only cross ing paths, but they are engaging in meaningful conversation,” Vega says. “They’re connecting with literature, learning about each other and gaining new perspectives.”

The community storytimes at Whose Books feature engaging books geared toward children. The story times are intended to create positive reading experiences in order to foster a lifelong love of books, and Whose Books holds sessions both in English and Spanish.

For the holiday season, Vega has several titles that she thinks would make good gifts.

“We’ve started to see a lot from people, that what they’re looking for as they go into the winter months

(are) books that focus on renewal and growth,” Vega says. She recom mends two self-help books: Fierce Self-Compassion by Kristin Neff, a book which encourages women to be kinder to themselves, and The Way of Integrity by Martha Beck, a book about staying true to yourself that Vega describes as “life-changing.”

Vega spent over 20 years working in public education, but owning a bookstore had been a dream of hers for as long as she could remember. She credited other Oak Cliff book stores with helping Whose Books get off the ground. In fact, Vega and her husband, John, ironed out many of their plans to open the shop at The Wild Detectives, a bookstore just a couple miles away.

The Wild Detectives isn’t quite your ordinary bookstore, unless your ordinary bookstore serves beer and moonlights as a live music venue. Like Whose Books, The Wild Detectives also hosts a series of events intend ed to promote literacy and foster a

love of books, including a “difficult reads book club” — participants are currently grinding their way through Infinite Jest — and au thor visits.

Olivia Leigh, who has worked at The Wild Detectives for six of the eight years the store has been open, recommended checking out the store’s collection of local au thors. She also endorsed some of her favorite authors, including the American Gothic author Denis Johnson and Zadie Smith, a British essayist and novelist.

Leigh also recommended a book called Will My Cat Eat My Eye balls? The book is written by Cait lin Doughty, a mortician, and it answers children’s frank questions about death and decomposition. The book is appropriate for kids and adults alike.

If you’re planning to buy a book from The Wild Detectives, consider going in the afternoon. Every day from 3-6 p.m. is the store’s “book happy hour,” where every book purchase comes with a free beer.

A few blocks away from The Wild Detectives is Poets Bookshop, a small store on Bishop Avenue. The store was opened by Marco Cavazos, who is, as the shop’s name suggests, a poet. Cavazos released his debut poetry collection, Some Notes on Love, in the summer of 2021.

The store stocks books in all genres, not just poetry. Kayland Jordan, who has worked at Po ets for a little over a year, recom mended Clean , a book by James Hamblin, which investigates the way we conceptualize hygiene and challenges whether or not those conceptions are scientifically sound. Jordan also recommended books by Chloe Gong, an author who recently made her debut with These Violent Delights , a retelling of Romeo and Juliet set in 1920s Shanghai.

Reformer Pilates Studio in Bishop Arts. As proud Oak Cliff residents, we are committed to supporting our community. Our mission is to put our members first, take care of our team, spread goodwill and harness the power of our ‘hood.

We offer over 77 Reformer Pilates classes every week. Come try one of our 17 amazing instructors teaching 10 unique classes.

COLOR QUEEN

Entrepreneur Hilda Morales is transforming Oak Cliff heads and hearts

Interview by CHRISTINA HUGHES BABB

Hilda Morales’ studios are cocoons, of sorts; clients enter one way and emerge a transformed, glowing, gorgeous version of themselves.

“Of all things in the beauty in dustry, color is what makes the client feel a whole different way, with a whole new look,” the own er and CEO of Colour Kraze salons says. “Having a change that drastic always brings a happy face to the client, especially if they’re going through something. For us on the

Hair color specialist Alondra Saavedra

Colour Kraze owner and CEO Hilda Morales

Hair color specialist Reyna Muñoz

The Colour Kraze team did a Barbiethemed fashion shoot to celebrate the launch of Barbie Kraze extensions. Photos courtesy of Colour Kraze.

hair-care side, knowing we can make someone happy always changes our day, too. That feel ing drew me into wanting to do it more.”

Inspired by metamorphic en counters, the hair-color artist im mersed herself in her craft.

Twenty years ago, she says, she realized college studies didn’t ignite a fire in her belly like cos metology, so she attended beauty school and found a mentor in Car ole Lucio, a board-certified color ist with a salon and product line in Addison.

“I was very lucky to have the opportunity to apprentice for her because she was an educator who taught color and did hair shows, and she helped me have the type of life that I always wanted,” says Morales, who lost her father at a young age and who herself was a teenage mother.

“I was a Hispanic woman with no money going to beauty school,

and she helped me to picture do ing what she did in Addison for the Oak Cliff community.”

After a few years learning every thing possible from Lucio, Morales — an Oak Cliff resident who em igrated to the United States from Mexico as a child — opened a tiny salon, just enough space for herself and an assistant, where she contin ued fine-tuning her skills.

“I was not afraid to ask more experienced colorists for help,” she says. “‘How did you come up with this color?’ Or, ‘what would you do here?’”

She was practicing her craft so obsessively, she did not even con sider promoting herself. Once a friend encouraged her to showcase her work on Facebook, she says, she began getting 300 messages a day from clients wanting to book.

Today she has two Oak Cliff sa lons and a team of 15 younger art ists learning from her. But before that, she had to learn about run

ning a company.

“After I opened the second hair salon, things got a little rocky,” she says. “My passion for hair was so big, but I did not know how to work a business. And that’s some thing that I always see (in entre preneurs). We have the passion to do something because we’re so good at it, but we forget that be ing passionate for something and knowing how to do business is completely different.”

The first crop of stylists she hired did not last long before leav ing to do their own thing, she says.

She got more strategic, hiring someone to help in administrative roles and with marketing. She has a following in the Spanish-speak ing community but hopes to reach a broader audience, she says.

Now the stylists and colorists who work for her are also learning from her.

“This time, when I started hir ing, it was completely different,”

she says. Smoother opera tions freed up time for her to launch her line of Barbie Kraze hair extensions.

Hair extensions can make the color pop even more, which she digs, but the ones on the market were expen sive, and the quality was not always what she wanted for her clients, she says. So she cut out the middleman and started producing and sell ing her own soft, natural Russian hair, which she says is the best. (Most human hair for extensions comes from India or China and is dark, whereas Russia and Ukraine is the best market for naturally blonde hair, a New York Times article ex plains.)

Morales has come a long way technologically since those days when she did not even have a Facebook page.

Today hundreds of Insta gram and YouTube influenc ers promote her services and products, and she’s always looking to get the word out.

She has added a brush and eyelash extensions to the list of in-salon products, and she plans to expand her online sales and product line.

“When you master one thing, you’re supposed to move on to the next, right? That’s what is happening now,” she says.

She’s surrounded by peo ple who are passionate about the things she loves. The sa lons are running brilliantly and making money.

“So,” she says, “what’s next?”

W. Tenth St. and 4444 Jefferson Blvd.

MADE IN MEXICO

Xamán Café exudes comfort and warmth

Story by DANIEL ROCKEY Photography by KATHY TRAN

Chilaquiles are made with a crispy corn tortilla mix and a sunny side-up egg, with the option to add meat, vegetables or mole.

WHEN XAMÁN CAFÉ opened over two years ago, they were operating at half capacity in a world with an unfamiliar future.

Now, customers fill almost every seat in the warm, lively space, as the sounds of conversation, light music and hissing espresso machines give life to the room.

Guests entering the café, located off Jefferson Boulevard near S. Bishop Avenue, are greeted with a rich, organic environment, inspired and molded by the cultures and designs of prehispanic Mexico. From warm wood seating, adobe stucco accent walls and ivy that pours from hanging containers above the bar top, it’s an adventure that’s been shaped just as much from the heritage it seeks to recreate as the customers it houses.

Friends and founders Mauricio Gallegos and Gerardo Barrera delved into the culinary, craft cocktail and coffee worlds using Gallegos’ previous experience of owning Santo y Pecadores. They also found inspi ration and flavors in Mexican explo ration and heritage. Manager Erick Benitez says that their creation was not taken lightly.

“Mauricio told me that we were going to take a leap of faith,” Benitez says. “It was our first concept from running a restaurant completely from scratch. We had to work everything from the start — building recipes, clientele, the plates.”

When Benitez speaks of the plates, he doesn’t just mean the food items themselves; he is referring to the actual ceramic ware. Earthy and organic-colored, the plates, cups and bowls at Xamán Café all stand out, especially the coffee mugs.

“All the ceramics are made by the Martinez family in Oaxaca,” he says, pointing at one of the signa ture cups, adorned with a playful face carving. “The design is having the faces, everything is handmade, all different sizes and all different shapes. It takes about six or seven months for them to have an order ready, which is time-consuming, but

it’s more about exposing their artistic side — kind of like giving them props for doing all the work.”

Xamán Café’s appreciation of the art and craftsmanship doesn’t stop there. It blends and meshes with almost everything about the space, even down to the exact beans and coffee processing they use for their brews.

“We only use Mexican coffee,” Benitez says. “We work with micro lots from Guerrero, along with a natural and a washed process.”

Coffee beans, sourced from Mexico, are used in traditional and signature drinks, including cajeta macchiatos and café de olla.

The separation of these two types of coffee processing allows for an entirely different profile to be extracted from similar beans, giving guests a unique experience depending on their order. With a variety of selections on the coffee menu, customers can order the usual fare alongside cajeta macchiatos, horchatas with espresso and their signature café de olla — a brewed coffee spiced with cinnamon and star anise and sweetened with piloncillo.

Their food selection follows much the same trajectory.

“Mauricio and Gerardo travel a lot to Mexico,” Benitez says. “That’s where the ideas come from. When they want to introduce a certain dish, it just comes out of their mind. Once we have the idea, then we execute the recipe. We start playing around, getting involved with our chefs and cooks.”

The breakfast and brunch menu includes chilaquiles with mole, corn

pancakes served with honey, and torta de birria complete with a side of dipping consomé.

As cold weather approaches, the uptick in the desire to find someplace cozy to settle in with a hot drink will assuredly rise. With that in mind, there aren’t any places better suited than Xamán Café. Whether for a cocktail, a bite to eat or a luxurious cup of coffee, it stands as more than just a coffee shop, but as a culturally enriched environment to savor.

“Mexican food isn’t always typical,” Benitez says. “Like it or not, it’s been industrialized. When you go to Mexico, it’s a kind of shock. We make handmade tortillas, our homemade mole, and it does take some work, but the outcome is very positive. As a small business, we get a lot of repetitive customers, and that tells us that we’re doing something good.”

Café , 334 Jefferson Blvd., 469.687.0005

Xamán

Warm tones and wood accents help create a welcoming environment at Xamán Café.

self-care stocking stuffers

SHOP LOCAL THIS HOLIDAY SEASON WITH GIFTS FROM SMALL BUSINESSES

Story by RACHEL STONE | Photography by JESSICA TURNER

This family business moved from Lower Greenville to the Bishop Arts District in February, offering a mix of vintage handbags and jewelry, along with new stuff, such as costume jewelry, Jolly Rancher sunglasses and trendy outfits.

Candles are by far their biggest seller, says the boutique’s owner, Aimee Hughes. That’s because this isn’t just a Bath & Body Works candle. Each one is made of soy wax and essential oils sourced from a perfumer in New York City. They’re all organic and contain no chemicals.

Besides that, they come in unique, refillable vessels. Hughes and her two adult children spend their free time shopping for vintage things to put in the store, including candle vessels and matchstick holders.

Once your candle is burned down, return it to Bella & Brawn to be refilled for $1.95 per ounce.

Hughes works full time as a nurse practitioner, and the boutique is her planned retirement gig.

“We love the neighborhood. We love the business owners and the people who live in the neighborhood and the fact that we have such a large amount of out-of-town customers who come because of the neighborhood,” she says. “I feel like we fit in this neighborhood because my whole motto is that anyone can walk into my store and find something for themselves.”

Bella & Brawn, 413 N. Bishop Ave., bellaandbrawn.com

Candles, about $45

Visiting former Oak Cliff friends who now live in New Mexico or Colorado, or wherever everyone is off to now? Bring them

Oak Cliff Coffee Roasters’ Rosemont Crest signature blend. Yes, because it is so Oak Cliff, but also because its flavor profile of brown sugar, ripe cherry and herbs is appealing to just about anyone.

Not into coffee?

The company’s 5 Mile Chocolate hot chocolate makes cozy times luxurious, made only with cocoa beans and organic sugar.

Besides that, Davis Street Espresso has a fabulous selection of Oak Cliff T-shirts and housemade bread loaves and jams, which also make great gifts to grab on the fly.

819 W. Davis St.

oakcliffcoffee.com

Rosemont Crest Blend, $14

Oak Cliff Coffee Roasters

The aroma hits as soon as you walk into the train side of Tyler Station.

The sweet and savory smell of essential oils isn’t from the hair salon; it’s the one-woman manufacturing space of a locally owned skincare company, Studio Beige.

Oak Cliff resident Andrea Rogers started making bars of soap as a hobby while obtaining her Master of Fine Arts from the University of Dallas. The painter and printmaker gave the soap to friends and family, and sometimes, they later asked to buy more.

“Since I’m selftaught, I found a lot of stuff on forums where you can find formulas and troubleshooting,” she says. “A lot of those forums have skincare stuff too, so I just started trying that because I had some of the ingredients, and it grew from there.”

Although she had the opportunity to work with an art dealer to sell her paintings after her MFA, that didn’t feel right, she says. So she went all in on her skincare brand.

Besides bars of soap, Rogers makes smallbatch face oils, facial exfoliants, beauty balms, cuticle cream, salves, lip balms and hair oil at Tyler Station (which is not a retail location; order from Etsy and receive a package, usually in a couple of days).

The packages are works of art. Rogers cuts down her own handdrawn screen prints to make each label unique.

Etsy, where all her

supply is for sale, keeps track of inventory and customers’ past purchases. A lot of business has come from word-of-mouth or people who received products as gifts and are returning to buy more.

Working with essential oils, she’s found that a lot of it is tied to agriculture. During a bad season for plum seed oil, for example, she once had to change up a formula. Ukraine is the world’s No. 1 supplier of sunflower oil, a product Rogers uses a lot, and the war has driven the price up, she says.

Rogers has a few trusted suppliers, and she switches between them depending on her needs and their inventories.

Besides that, skincare can be a difficult niche, Rogers says. The market is highly saturated, and it’s hard to set yourself apart.

When she started in 2016, some of the products, like face oil, were not as mainstream, she says. Now L’Oréal makes one, and you can find 15 kinds at Sephora.

“You really have to have a reason why you’re different,” she says.

Rogers works part-time as a bartender at the Kessler Theater. She also makes stationery and sells vintage costume jewelry on Etsy. She says she’s ready to start something new, too. Earlier this year, she made dozens of realistic paper plants in psychedelic colors for her 40th birthday party, and she’s considering incorporating that craft into her business as well.

Studio Beige, etsy.com Lip balm or bar soap, $7

Husband-and-wife entrepreneurs Martha and Eddie Velez were among the first legal hemp farmers in Texas. They opened their first retail space at Tyler Station this year. All the products they stock are things they use themselves or have tested.

Their Sereni-Té is “not your abuelita’s tea,” containing a blend of organic chamomile, organic lavender and Oak Cliff Cultivators hemp.

For stocking stuffers, she also recommends a new product, the Tranquilo caramels ($20). Each one contains 14 milligrams of Delta 9 THC and 5 milligrams of CBD.

To keep it very Oak Cliff, try the mango tajin gumdrops ($45 for 10), which won Oak Cliff Cultivators their title for most-creative product at the Taste of Texas Hemp Cup.

Oak Cliff Cultivators 1300 S. Polk St. oakcliffcultivators.com

‘YOU’RE KILLING ME, SMALLS’

Former little leaguers return to the diamond for sandlot baseball

Story by RACHEL STONE | Photography by KATHY TRAN

Patty Evans started an amateur baseball team, the Oak Cliff Peli cans, in 2006.

The team is still around, but Evans doesn’t play on it anymore.

“It’s very, very competitive,” he says. “A lot of ex-minor leaguers and some major leaguers, older guys, go out there and play. I just kind of got burnt out on it.”

In 2017, he found “the field of dreams of sandlot,” he says. That’s The Long Time, an event venue in Austin that is home to the Texas Playboys Baseball Club.

Evans rounded up a few of his less-serious baseball buddies to play in a tournament there.

“And I was hooked,” he says. “It’s basically the fun part of baseball without all the work.”

The Oak Cliff 86ers formed this past May, playing home games at Lake Cliff Park and traveling as far as San Antonio and Tulsa.

Sandlot baseball was inspired by the 1993 film The Sandlot . It’s nostalgia and camaraderie in the form of a game they all played when they were kids.

Texas Playboys founder Jack Sanders published The Sandlot Manifesto last year. That team also inspired the Nashville Dollies, the Sandlot Sox of Tulsa and Los Slowpokes of San Antonio.

The Oak Cliff 86ers, named after the year John S. Armstrong and Thomas L. Marsalis bought 230 acres they would name Oak Cliff, host a pick-up game once a month on Saturdays. That gives guys a chance who can’t commit to playing every week and is a way for the curious to try it out.

The Oak Cliff sandlot league with teams from various neighborhoods with mascots from their history is his dream. The Wynnewood Boom ers is one idea. That idea comes from East Van Baseball, in Vancouver,

British Columbia, which has teams such as the Brewery Creek Mashers and the Mt. Pleasant Murder.

The Tulsa league also has a municipal field they care for and manage, and Evans also wants to find a situation like that, a home field where they can take ownership and field tournaments.

Many sandlot baseball players, now in their mid-30s, played little league but dropped out of the sport around ninth grade.

“That’s when it gets serious,” says 40-year-old James Harrington, who gave up baseball to focus on tennis in high school. “You either have to fully commit or get out.”

Most of the players found out about the team in an analog way, flyers that Evans put up around the Bishop Arts District. That’s also how a team started in The Colony. A guy from Little Elm was visiting Bishop Arts, saw the flyer, came out for a pick-up game and started the North Texas Barn Stormers.

“That’s what we want, more teams to play.” Evans says. “We’re playing them next month.”

The 86ers try to keep an over-21 age limit because sometimes they drink. But it’s open to anyone, regardless of skill or athletic ability.

“Not everybody can hit that well or throw that well or catch the ball that well. But you just get out there and run around and have a good time.”

Expectations are low. There’s no judgment. Guys are just having fun. But also, there’s an emphasis on swagger. It’s OK to play-act as Big Papi, even if you’re batting .100. The teams buy uniforms with their names printed on the back, and players get fully outfitted with cleats and catcher’s gear.

There are players who make diving catches and blast out-of-the park homeruns, and the very small crowd goes wild!

Anyone can have their moment.

“We’re just not very good in general,” says Jonathan Braddick, a former high-school football player and father of two who plays catcher for the 86ers.

Sometimes they hire umpires, and some times members of each team take turns calling balls and strikes.

“If you have a general understanding of how baseball works, you can pretty much play,” Evans says. “Not everybody can hit that well or throw that well or catch the ball that well. But you just get out there and run around and have a good time.”

WORSHIP

By GEORGE MASON

Everything seems existential

And then there’s reality

We’ve come out of an elec tion season again this year that purported to be most important elec tion of our lifetimes. Until the next one. Apocalyptic framing of the crises we face makes everything seem exis tential — a contest between good and evil with life-or-death consequences.

This is rarely true, regardless of how hot our political passions run. We always pick ourselves up and return to the work of persisting or resisting, depending on where we are in the power grid at the time.

December brings spiritual insights about light and darkness from two religions’ holidays: Hanukkah and Christmas. (I should also mention the Hindu, Sikh and Jain holy day, Diwali, which happened in October this year. Diwali is called the festival of lights. It celebrates the triumph of light over darkness, good over evil, freedom over oppression, and en lightenment over ignorance.)

Hanukkah recalls the victory of the Jewish Maccabees over the Seleu cid ruler, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who had humiliated the Israelites by desecrating the Temple in Jeru salem with the blood of a pig. When the sanctification of the Temple took place, only enough oil was found for the ceremonial lamps to burn for one day. Miraculously, the oil lasted eight days. Thus, the nine-candled menorahs (eight for the eight days, and one helper candle used to light the others).

Christmas lights — white and colored both — are everywhere, it seems: on Christmas trees, Advent wreaths, windowsills, front yard trees and bushes. Jesus is called “the Light of the world”. He came to chase away the darkness of sin. We light our little candles on Christmas Eve from the

Christ candle, reminding us that we too must share the light in a dark ened world.

Light and darkness always coexist. Yet every contrast isn’t as stark as noon and midnight or even sunrise and sunset. We have dawn and dusk, too. If you didn’t have your watch on, you might not know whether twilight hours bode more light to come or less. So, we might ask, “Is this moment,” as Valarie Kaur puts it, “the darkness of the tomb or the darkness of the womb?”

The modern Hebrew word mash ber means crisis. It comes from an original meaning of “birthing stool.” In other words, we should always be looking for hope in the midst of whatever despair we feel, new life in the shadow of death. Rabbi Delphine Horvilleur of Paris, France, says that mashber “is a time of anger and hope, death and life. It’s the birthing of something new, and no one knows what that’s going to be.”

Politics is something but not ev erything. Culture is the underlying driver of politics. And religion is an important component of culture. People of faith must remember that God is the true mystery of the world. Therefore, surprising judgments and unexpected breakthroughs are pos sible no matter how bright or bleak the affairs of state. We can and must shine our little light of hope and point the way to paths of peace.

Let’s walk that way together.

GEORGE MASON is pastor of Wilshire Bap tist Church, president of Faith Commons and host of the “Good God” podcast. The Worship section is underwritten by Advocate Publishing and the neighborhood businesses and churches listed here. For information about helping support the Worship section, call 214.560.4202.and listen to sermons.

WORSHIP

BAPTIST

GRACE TEMPLE BAPTIST Come to a Place of Grace!

Sunday Worship: English Service 9:30am / Spanish Service 11:00am 831 W. Tenth St. / 214.948.7587 / gracetempledallas.org

CATHOLIC

ST. CECILIA CATHOLIC PARISH / StCeciliaDallas.org / 1809 W Davis St. Saturday - Bilingual Mass 5PM; Sunday – English Masses 7:30AM & 11AM; Spanish Masses 9AM & 1PM

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 / Interim Senior Minister, Rev. Dr. Larry Ross. / edcc.org

EPISCOPAL

CHRIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH / ChristChurchDallas.org Sunday School: 11:15am /Mass: 9am & 10am English, 12:30pm Español Wednesday Mass: 6pm English, 8pm Español / 534 W. Tenth Street

METHODIST

TYLER STREET CHURCH / Join us @tylerstreet.church / 927 W.10th St. / 214-946-8106 / Study of God’s Word Contemporary / Anderson Hall Sat 5 pm / Traditional & Worship Sunday 10 am Tylerstreet.com

KESSLER PARK UMC / 1215 Turner Ave./ 214.942.0098 I kpumc.org 10:30am Sunday School/11:00 Worship /All are welcome regardless or race, creed, culture, gender or sexual identity.

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

TRINITY CHURCH OAK CLIFF / Love God. Love Others. Make Disciples. Sundays 10:00 am / Worship & children’s Sunday School 1139 Turner Ave. / trinitychurchoakcliff.org

PRESBYTERIAN

PARK CITIES PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH/ 4124 Oak Lawn Ave Sunday Worship 9:00 & 11:00 A.M. To all this church opens wide her doors - pcpc.org

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

AC & HEAT

ALEXANDER HOME REPAIR. AC/HEAT Repair & Install. LIC#28052 469-226-9642

EMPLOYMENT

WANTED: BOOKEEPER

Experienced in Quick books for general construction and home flipping. Send resume or call Ricky:(512) 554-6084 R.Moises.Garza@gmail.com

EXTERIOR CLEANING

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

FENCING & DECKS

HOUSE PAINTING

TOP COAT 30 Yrs. Exp. Reliable. Quality Repair/Remodel. Phil @ 214-770-2863

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

KITCHEN/BATH/TILE/GROUT

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

PEST CONTROL

MCDANIEL PEST CONTROL

Prices Start at $85 + Tax For General Treatment. Average Home-Interior/Exterior & Attached Garage. Quotes For Other Services. 214-328-2847. Lakewood Resident

NATURE KING PEST MANAGEMENT INC. Squirrels, Racoons, Skunks, Snakes, Possums, etc. Pest & Termite. Neighborhood Resident 30+ Yrs.exp. 214-827-0090

APPLIANCE REPAIR

JESSE’S A/C & APPLIANCE SERVICE

TACLB13304C All Makes/Models. 214-660-8898

BUY SELL TRADE

!!OLD GUITARS WANTED!! Gibson, Fender, Martin, Etc. 1930’s to 1980’s. Top Dollar Paid.1-866 -433-8277

CABINETRY & FURNITURE

JD’S TREE SERVICE Mantels, Headboards, Kitchen Islands, Dining tables. Made from Local Trees. www.jdtreeservice.com 214-946-7138

CLEANING SERVICES

CINDY’S HOUSE CLEANING 15 yrs exp. Resd/Com. Refs. Dependable. 214-490-0133

THE CLEANING GIRLS

Customized Cleaning to fit your needs Bonded. 972-462-4875

WINDOW MAN WINDOW CLEANING.COM Residential Specialists. BBB. 214-718-3134

COMPUTERS & ELECTRONICS

CONFUSED? FRUSTRATED? Let a seasoned pro be the interface between you & that pesky Windows computer. Hardware/Software Installation, Troubleshooting, Training. $100/hr. 1 hr min. Dan 972-639-6413 / stykidan@sbcglobal.net

CONCRETE/MASONRY/PAVING

ADVANCE STONE ART CREATIONS

Decorative Concrete Overlays. 214-705-5954

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

ELECTRICAL SERVICES

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

ANTHONY’S ELECTRIC Master Electrician. TECL24948 anthonyselectricdfw.com 50 Yrs. Electrical Exp. Insd. 214-328-1333

TH ELECTRIC Reasonable Rates. Licensed & Insured. Ted. E257 214-808-3658

4 QUALITY FENCING • 214-507-9322 Specializing in Wood. YourWoodmaster.com

AMBASSADOR FENCE CO. Automatic Gates, Fences/Decks, Pergolas, Patio Covers, Arbors. AmbassadorFenceCo.com 214-621-3217

FENCING, ARBORS, DECKS oldgatefence.com 214-766-6422

GARAGE SERVICES

UNITED GARAGE DOORS AND GATES Res/Com. Locally Owned. 214-251-5428

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

DANHANDY.NET Repairs Done Right For A Fair Price. References 214-991-5692

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

HANDYMAN WANTS your Painting,Repairs, To Do Lists. Bob. 214-288-4232. Free Est. 25+yrs exp.

HOME REPAIR Small/Big Jobs. Int/Ext. Sheetrock, Windows, Kitchen, Bathroom 33 yrs exp. 214-875-1127

HOMETOWN HANDYMAN All phases of construction. No job too small 214-327-4606 ONE

Contractor & Handyman. Remodels, Renovations . Paint, Plumbing, Drywall, Electrical.469-658-9163

TK REMODELING 972-533-2872 Complete Full Service Repairs, Remodeling, Restoration. Name It — We do it. Tommy. Insured. dallas.tkremodelingcontractors.com

"Keeping Children & Pets in Mind"

Termite Specialist - Mosquito Mister Systems Licensed · Insured · Residential · Commercial · Organic 214-350-3595 • Abetterearth.crw@gmail.com abetterearth.com

PLUMBING

LAWNS, GARDENS & TREES

HOLMAN IRRIGATION

Sprinkler & Valve Repair/ Rebuild Older Systems. Lic. #1742. 214-398-8061

MAYA TREE SERVICE Tree Trim/Remove. Lawn Maintenance. Resd/ Commcl.Insd. CC’s Accptd. mayatreeservice.com 214-924-7058 214-770-2435

MONSTER TREE SERVICE DALLAS Certified Arborists, Fully Insured 469.983.1060 Locally harvested wood!

JD’s Tree Service

RESPONSIBLE TREE CARE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT Firewood/Cooking Wood Full service trimming & planting of native trees. 214.946.7138

LEGAL SERVICES

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

POOLS

REAL ESTATE

ESTATE HOME NEEDS TO BE SOLD? Facing forclosure? IG Heron Homes Call Ricardo Garza @ 469-426-7839

NEAR WRLAKE 2/1 DUPLEX. Hdwds, Appl. Yard Serv. CHA, 1/carport. $1,400+Dep. 469-879-2977

OFFICE SUBLEASE In Bishop Arts. Cool, Quiet. 1,179 Sq ft. 4 rooms + kit / bath, parking. $2,950 + NNNs. 713.302-7722.

REMODELING

A2H GENERAL CONTRACTING,LLC Remodeling, Painting, Drywall/Texture, Plumbing, Electrical,Siding, Bathroom/Kitchen Remodels, Tilling, Flooring, Fencing. 469-658-9163. Free Estimates. A2HGeneralContractingLLC@gmail.com

FENN CONSTRUCTION Kitchens And Baths. Call Us For Your Remodeling Needs. 214-343-4645. dallastileman.com

O’BRIEN GROUP INC. Remodeling Dallas For Over 24 Years www.ObrienGroupInc.com 214-341-1448

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RENOVATE DALLAS renovatedallas.com 214-403-7247

REMODELING

TK REMODELING 972-533-2872 Complete Full Service Repairs, Kitchen & Bath/Remodeling, Restoration. Name It- We Do It. dallas.tkremodelingcontractors.com

ROOFING & GUTTERS

BERT ROOFING INC.

SERVICES FOR YOU

ALOE CARE HEALTH medical alert system. Most advanced medical alert product on the market. Voiceactivated! No wi-fi needed! Special offer w/code CARE20 for $20 off Mobile Companion. 1 -855-521-5138

AT&T INTERNET. Starting at $40/month w/12-mo agmt. 1 TB of data/mo. Ask how to bundle & SAVE! Geo & svc restrictions apply.1-888-796-8850

BATH & SHOWER UPDATES in as little as ONE DAY! Affordable prices - No payments for 18 months! Lifetime warranty & professional installs. Senior & Military Discounts available. Call: 855-761-1725

DENTAL INSURANCE-Physicians Mutual Insurance Company. Covers 350 procedures. Real insurance -not a discount plan. Get your free dental info kit! 1-888-623-3036 www.dental50plus.com/58 #6258

DISH TV $64.99 For 190 Channels + $14.95 High Speed Internet. Free Installation, Smart HD DVR Included, Free Voice Remote. Some restrictions apply.Promo Expires 7/21/21.1-833-872-2545

SERVICES FOR YOU

DONATE YOUR CARS TO VETERANS TODAY. Help and Support our Veterans. Fast - FREE pick up. 100% tax deductible. Call 1-800 -245-0398

ELIMINATE GUTTER CLEANING FOREVER! LeafFilter, the most advanced debris-blocking gutter protection. Schedule a FREE LeafFilter estimate today. 15% off Entire Purchase. 10% Senior & Military Discounts. Call 1-855-402-0373

GENERAC Prepare for power outages today with a GENERAC home standby generator $0 Down + Low Monthly Pmt. Request a free Quote. Call before the next power outage: 1-844-334 -8353

HUGHESNET Finally, super-fast internet no matter where you live.25 Mbps just $59.99/mo! Unlimited Data is Here. Stream Video. Bundle TV & Internet. Free Installation. Call 866-499 -0141

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SERVICES FOR YOU

SAFE STEP North America's #1 Walk-in tub. Comprehensive lifetime warranty. Top-of-the-line installation and service. Now featuring our free shower package & $1600 off - limited time! Financing available. 1-855-417-1306

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TUTORING/ LESSONS

GARTH ORR - TUTOR Math & Physics grade 8-12. Private Tutoring that works! garthorr.com

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Few people today know that Oak Cliff was once home to the leading publisher of an American roots music known as “shape-note southern gospel.” In its six decades at 209 S. Tyler St., the Stamps-Baxter Music and Publishing Co. printed and sold 20 million song books featuring 15,000 original songs.

When Jack Taylor died at his Oak Cliff home on Sept. 15, three days shy of his 94th birthday, he took with him mem ories of the company’s final 30 years, including locking the door as managing editor for the last time in 1987.

But before Jack was a music execu tive, he was a performer — the “greatest gospel pianist” that Bill Gaither said he ever heard.

In his hometown of Rockingham, North Carolina, Jack was first trained in classical piano but later was infected by southern gospel.

Pentecostals had invented southern gospel in the late 1800s to get the con gregation singing, not just listening to the choir. Problem was, many in the pews couldn’t read the newspaper, much less sheet music. So early publishers adopted the “technology” of shape notes: a simplified annotation that tells the singer which note to hit by its printed shape — square, rectangle, triangle, etc. Shape notes suited the traveling quartets that promoted southern gospel, as they

often had to perform songs fresh off the press at revivals and on radio shows with little or no rehearsal.

By his late teens, playing on the road and radio with the Blue Ridge Quartet out of Raleigh, North Carolina, Jack had mastered the southern-gospel style — dramatic arpeggios to introduce a song, ragtime flourishes to let the quartet catch their breath, and pounding the keyboard to be heard under a tent. At one such gig, Jack’s playing launched a startled covey of birds from their nest in the upright.

In 1928, the year Jack was born, Stamps-Baxter moved from East Tex as to Oak Cliff, and immediately came to dominate the industry with creative promotions such as children’s music schools, all-night “singings” that filled stadiums, broadcasting nationally from Mexican radio stations to dodge the FCC, and adding “Stamps” to the names of quartets already successful in local markets.

In 1949, Frank Stamps recruited 21-year-old Jack to Dallas to play with his Stamps All-Star Quartet. Most of the company’s 50-plus employees had dual roles — singing or playing gospel music while also setting type or keeping the books. Jack got off the road to mar ry Betty, an organist and high-school French teacher, and raise their daughter Cindy. A gifted arranger, Jack’s job was

By DAVID SPENCE

Music executive, artist manager, gospel pianist

Remembering an icon of shape-note southern gospel

to cajole a stable of composers across the South to produce songs at a furious pace, which he would then polish for publication.

On the same instrument he used to work out harmonies during business hours, Jack taught piano privately to young students. To have been trained by Jack Taylor is still a distinction among gospel and country keyboardists.

Jack would outlive brothers Frank and Virgil Stamps as well as “Pap” Baxter and his wife “Ma.” He remained friendly with both sides when a feud split the company and former co-workers were forbidden to meet for coffee. Not until the parties were long dead would he discuss with historians and filmmakers the excesses and frailties to be found in what was really, according to Jack, an entertainment business.

As an elder statesman, Jack loved to gather around a piano to sing shape notes with gospel traditionalists, but he took pride in others like Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson, who launched popular-music careers from their early training in church music.

With reason, Oak Cliff boasts of the roster of artists, actors, writers, sing ers and musicians who were born or found their nest here. By the measure of Psalm 96 — “Sing to the Lord a new song” — it’s hard to match the impact of Jack Taylor.

Jack Taylor accompanying a Stamps-Baxter quartet — Charles Collier, Wilford Roach, Clyde Roach and Bert Carroll — for a live radio broadcast in Dallas, April 1958. Photo courtesy of David Spence.