WE CAN’T STOP TALKING ABOUT

DING-DONG DRIVERS made a spectacle of their ostentatious cars late last year by blocking one of the city’s busiest intersections to skid around and set off fireworks. Their shennanigans, on West Davis at Hampton, were caught on video and uploaded to social media. Neighbors said this was at least the second time the “Fast and Furious” wannabes had done it. The Dallas Police Department erected a sky tower in the CVS parking lot, with a live feed that allows officers to observe the intersection in real time. They also intercepted another takeover that was planned on social media at the Sylvan Avenue bridge and at Hampton/ Davis, making arrests and impounding cars.

n Oak Cliff native CHRIS SAPPHIRE stars in the new Netflix reality series “The Circle.” Contestants on the show live in the same building but never meet in real life. They get to know each other through a social media network that’s also called “The Circle.” Then they’re picked off one-byone based on their network popularity. Sapphire was a pop culture correspondent on the bygone CW show “Eye Opener,” and he had his own show on YouTube, “The Chris Sapphire Show.” He’s also on “The Gag” podcast.

n The Dallas Peace and Justice Center gave AKWETE TYEHIMBA its lifetime achievement award in December. The award reads, “Her ability to bring people together for the common good and identify how their cultural heritage can be used to make the world a better place, has inspired and motivated Akwete. For decades, she has hosted cultural and local events that encourage connection and cooperation, helping to create a more peaceful community.”

Tyehimba is the owner of Pan African Connection and was one of The Oak Cliff Advocate’s “Fierce Females” in 2019.

Restaurateurs A.J. Gilbert and Martha Madison expect to open their new restaurant at the Mayor’s House on Zang soon. Madison also is a soap star who played Belle Black on “Days of Our Lives.” But it was their daughter, Charley, who was the star of our photo shoot with the family. Find this photo by Danny Fulgencio on Instagram, @OakCliffAdvocate

A Piece Of The Past

Tillman’s Bishop Arts closed its doors at the end of last year. The restaurant had new owners starting in 2016, but it was founded by chef Ricky Tillman. Tillman started the restaurant with his wife, Sara, who is an Oak Cliff native, in 1992. Ricky Tillman was from Houston, and his younger brother was the musician Bill Tillman, who started playing for the Coasters, Chuck Berry, Roy Orbison and Gladys Knight in the 1960s. He joined Blood, Sweat and Tears as its lead singer, recording with the band and touring worldwide from 1973-1977. Later, Tillman moved to Dallas and started the 10-piece Bill Tillman Band. Here they are in a publicity photo on the Houston Street Viaduct sometime in the 1980s. “We watched Billy perform hundreds of times,” Sara Tillman says. “They were all over Dallas in the ’80’s.” Ricky Tillman died of cancer in 1997, and Bill Tillman died at age 65, after a fall in 2012. Watch a video of the Bill Tillman Band performing at oakcliff.advocatemag.com