World-class city? By removing some Sally Mann photos from the Modern, Fort Worth once again proves it’s not ready for the big time.
STORY AND PHOTOS
NIGHT & DAY
FWSO performing Indiana Jones, Django Fest, and more come alive this week. BY
JENNIFER BOVEE
EATS & DRINKS
Leave it to South Korea to whip up a novel approach to cooking competition shows.
BY KRISTIAN LIN
BY
ANTHONY MARIANI
STUFF
What makes us think the Cowboys’ next head coach will do what five others couldn’t?
BY PATRICK HIGGINS
MUSIC
Drawing from ’80s thrash and British metal, Iron Jaw’s new album is *devil horns* good. BY STEVE
STEWARD
1/22 RACE RICKETTS
1/23 BRANDON RHYDER
1/24 THE RICH GIRLS
1/25 JACK BLOCKER
1/27 NEON PROPHETS
1/28 THE TAYLOR PARTY FULL LIVE MUSIC LINEUP ON PAGE 21
Censored
With
By Anthony Mariani
Survival Instincts
As
By Ken Wheatcroft-Pardue
Calamari Game
Fine
By Kristian Lin
Anthony Mariani, Editor
Lee Newquist, Publisher
Bob Niehoff, General Manager
Michael Newquist, Regional Director
Ryan Burger, Art Director
Jennifer Bovee, Marketing Director
Clint “Ironman” Newquist, Brand Ambassador
Emmy Smith, Proofreader
Julie Strehl, Account Executive
Sarah Niehoff, Account Executive
Stacey Hammons, Senior Account Executive
Tony Diaz, District Manager
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CONTRIBUTORS
Christina Berger, E.R. Bills, Jason Brimmer, Buck D. Elliott, Juan R. Govea, Patrick Higgins, Laurie James, Kristian Lin, Cody Neathery, Wyatt Newquist, Steve Steward, Teri Webster, Ken Wheatcroft-Pardue, Elaine Wilder, Cole Williams
EDITORIAL BOARD
Laurie James, Anthony Mariani, Emmy Smith, Steve Steward
COPYRIGHT
Cover art by Ryan Burger
METROPOLIS
Nanny State on Patrol
World-class
city? By removing some Sally Mann photos from the Modern, Fort Worth once again proves it’s not ready for the big time.
BY ANTHONY MARIANI
The blank wall says a lot. Measuring just a few feet, this portion of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth seems conspicuously empty. It’s right when you walk into the upstairs gallery for the current group show Diaries of Home . It’s also right among Sally Mann’s pieces. Maybe it’s paranoia, but I couldn’t help but think, “This is where those photos hung.”
A few weeks ago, a police report was filed, and four Sally Mann pieces were removed. The likely reason is that they depict nude children. We must presume some Karen confused fine art with pornography. (Had this person mistaken Tadao Ando’s lovely building for a bar? Or the internet?)
Then, Tim O’Hare got involved. Our far-right Tarrant County Judge mentioned something about an investigation or something? I wouldn’t know because this was apparently reported in some far-right Dallas blog that’s not worth a single touch of my infinitely clicking fingers. Tim O’Hare is lots of things: right-wing blowhard, Jesus freak, bewildered and cranky old man. What he is not is someone who knows how to operate Google. Otherwise, he would have known that Sally Mann is an icon and that those four photos have been exhibited and viewed across the globe for decades. Thanks to Captain Clueless Tim O’Hare, the world is laughing at us. There’s the City of Big Shoulders, then there’s us: the City of Small Minds.
The Modern hasn’t said anything except to the Texas art blog Glasstire: “An inquiry has been made concerning four artworks in the temporary exhibition Diaries of Home . These have been widely
published and exhibited for more than 30 years in leading cultural institutions across the country and around the world.”
The police are also mum.
The big wigs love to claim Fort Worth is a world-class city. With anti-art, pro-censorship moves, it most certainly is not. With Diaries of Home , it most certainly is. Reconciling the two dichotomous things should be second nature to anyone who’s lived in Texas for any substantial amount of time. We profess our undying love and devotion to freedom but tell women what they can and can’t do with their bodies. We preach tolerance when we can’t stand the thought of sharing a bathroom or locker room or even a supermarket with someone who doesn’t prescribe to gender norms. We talk of lifting up the poor but do everything we can to make their lives harder and crueler. Two-facedness comes with the territory, and in Fort Worth, it’s still the same ol’ shit. Tim O’Hare and every other
conservative pol won’t stop until that international cachet we all strive for remains permanently out of reach. They may be able to fool the yokels into thinking that good barbecue and fancy hotels are all that’s needed to be a global hot spot, but the higher thinkers among us know better. This brouhaha takes away from a stellar collection of artful photography. A sprawling exhibit, the show co-curated by Chief Curator Andrea Karnes and Assistant Curator Clare Milliken features work by women and nonbinary artists which tackles the myriad permutations of “family,” “community,” and “home.” Mann’s contributions are some of the most artful in that they transcend documentary photography to achieve a sort of conceptual grandeur — many are indeed framed like moody paintings. A boy reels with a bloody nose, a woman in a parked car extends her naked legs for a lost pink shoe, two young girls strike sassy parental
poses — by magnifying the everyday, the mundane, Mann imbues it with celestial magic, the kind that eludes us as we race around like rats in our daily mazes of offices, schools, and living spaces. Just stop. And breathe. And don’t think. There’s magic there if you learn how to see it. Is art whatever an artist points her finger (or camera) at? No. And it never has been. Like most creative industries, art is about two things: your investment in the craft and who you know. Talent is a distant third. As 99% of my friends who are artists (and musicians and writers and actors) can attest, talent means nothing unless you spend the time producing your art while engaging the public and putting yourself in the right positions to meet the right people — even if that means packing up and moving to New York or L.A., and who in their un-inebriated mind wants to
Looking at this conspicuously empty spot, you can’t help but wonder: Was this where the “offensive” photos hung?
Anthony Mariani
do that knowing there’s no middle class in either place, just the super-rich and the super-poor. You’d have to be temporarily or permanently insane to take that leap — or maybe you’d be just the kind of person who would make just the kind of art that institutions should be taking risks on. And pissing off the far-right Nanny State in the process.
What I also know more than my love of my family and of terrible, frustrating sports teams is that art is certainly not what an elected official points their finger at. The argument that public spaces funded partially by public monies are beholden to public officials is stupid. Art institutions important enough to require support from taxpayers became that important through supporting novel ideas, and not all new, groundbreaking thoughts or products are PG or appealing to Mr. Teddy Whitedick, Esq. Some of the best aren’t.
This Modern ordeal isn’t the first time the nannies have scolded a local museum for not meeting their standards of primness. It’s more worrisome now than ever because of the fascist new administration. When elected officials are determining what’s art and what isn’t, even or especially at our world-renowned institutions, we are going backward. It starts with art, controlling it, confiscating it, burning it. It ends with people, controlling them,
jailing them, and would it be the height of drama to say “burning them,” too? Not when the new president’s bankroller is a fucking Nazi.
All our major newspapers, those erstwhile beacons of truth, justice, and equality, have already bent the knee to the orange stain. Major institutions and other
cultural power players can’t be far behind, leaving progressive artists with nowhere to show (or sell) their work, which will heavily neuter their livelihoods. A world of only Rothkos and Twomblys and Newmans and other toothless, edgeless, super-whitebread Baby Boomer bullshit is not one I want to live in. Guess we’d better buckle
No problems with a warning, especially in a town overrun with small-mindedness.
up. Or move. Anyone in Basel or Valencia hiring? Asking for half a city. l
This column reflects the opinions of the editorial board and not the Fort Worth Weekly . To submit a column, please email Editor Anthony Mariani at Anthony@ FWWeekly.com. He will gently edit it for clarity and concision.
Photographic artist Sally Mann depicts life at home in a new group show at the Modern, but several of her pics were yanked from the walls for alleged child nudity.
Anthony Mariani
METROPOLIS
Them Inaugural Blues
It’s only going to get worse, but keep the faith.
STORY AND PHOTO BY KEN WHEATCROFT-PARDUE
Two weeks ago, sleet drummed on the skylight above me as I tapped on my keyboard. The late Jimmy Carter, the first president I voted for, was being commemorated, just ahead of the First Felon being inexplicably inaugurated for the second time. Could such two different men be so rightly juxtaposed
at this moment — one who believed in service and the other who believes in serving only himself?
Much has been written since November 5 on how we came to this mess. Unsurprisingly, most of it’s been wack. The most risible have been those saying that Harris, who ran a centrist campaign, was too far left. Please keep those coming. After the Trumpocalypse, we all desperately need comic relief.
Our history has never been a linear progression. After Reconstruction came Jim Crow. After LBJ’s Great Society and the liberation movements of the 1960s and ’70s came the neo-conservatism of the Reagan Era. After W’s lying to get us into a totally unnecessary war and the Great Recession, it seemed Republican political domination might finally end.
Obama was our champion, but nothing motivates conservatives more than an intelligent Black man and ready money from the truly elitist 1%. Enter: Trump,
whose racist birther movement catapulted him into becoming a political champion of white racists, a huge voting bloc in the Republican Party.
A pattern emerges. When Blacks and other people of color are treated more equally, the forces of reaction will rise because some whites will never accept a truly multicultural, multiracial society. To quote the comedian Wanda Sykes, “Sometimes America is just gonna America.”
Look at our much-vaunted racial reckoning after George Floyd’s murder. There were speeches, murals, and marches galore. Politicians and even corporations pledged to do better, yet we could not even agree on reasonable rules to stop the unnecessary killing of Blacks by police. In no other country are police given such wide latitude to murder their fellow citizens. In the 21st century, this should not be a hard ask. Despite countless videos exposing what cannot be called anything else but police executions, we could not do it.
Forget those crazy conspiracies you catch on social media. What is really affecting American democracy is the slow-moving takeover of our politics by a conservative wealthy elite. They don’t want to pay their fair share of taxes. They hate government oversight because they want to cheat customers and despoil the planet without consequences, so they fueled the Federalist Society takeover of SCOTUS that has handed those greedheads big wins, including Citizens United and Shelby County.
As the late Jimmy Carter said, Citizens United gave “legal bribery the chance to prevail … [so] when candidates get in office, they do what rich people want.” Shelby County made it easier for conservative states to limit minority voting. And who benefits from those two rulings? Your friendly neighborhood Republicans. Add that to our sucky media environment. As award-winning journalist George continued on page 9
Packer wrote, “We’re living in a world where facts instantly perish upon contact with human minds … and a much-depleted national press can barely compete with the media platforms of billionaires who control users algorithmically, with an endless stream of conspiracy theories and deepfakes. The internet, which promised to give everyone information and a voice, has consolidated in just a few hands the power to destroy the very notion of objective truth.”
Trump’s bromance with Elon Musk should have come as no surprise. The South African neo-Nazi helped the orange stain to victory through hard cash and X, which he bought and turned into a toxic, racist, pro-Trump cesspool. And Meta is only a step behind.
So, is all lost? No, the ’80s and the beginning of the aughts were in some ways worse. But calling Trump an existential threat to democracy was never just political rhetoric. Count on things getting worse. Trump will go after the media, universities, civil servants, undocumented immigrants, a mile-long enemies list, and god only knows who else — all the while muttering about invasions of fill-in-the-blank. His ultimate goal is for us to surrender.
But for Trump, the “They’re eating the dogs, they’re eating the cats” clown, Part
D’oh will be his own worst enemy. Even his low-information MAGA voters will be reminded daily of his chaos, idiotic mutterings and an administration populated with thuggish grifters. It’s vitally important then to remind everyone that his only mandate is to lower grocery prices. He won by the very smallest of margins.
Our ace in the hole is his open and blatant corruption. In his first term, he made billions off his presidency. Now, there will be no limit to his avarice, and even a supine MSM will be forced by its desire for money and ratings to finally follow the money trails behind that story.
Here in Texas, we have the most compliant state government our corporate overlords can buy, and our local governments are run by the absolute worst, so we are in for a hard couple of years. But keep the faith. Do what you can, when you can. Take breaks as needed, but don’t surrender. Fight like hell because Brandeis’ famous quote still rings true. Democracy needs to trump wealth concentrated in the hands of the few every fucking time. l
This column reflects the opinions and fact-gathering of the author(s) and only the author(s) and not the Fort Worth Weekly To submit a column, please email Editor Anthony Mariani at Anthony@FWWeekly. com. He will gently edit it for clarity and concision.
Diaries of Home
To outlast the post-election blues, it’s most important to have fun with your friends.
Diaries of Home is made possible in part with support from Gagosian. Works by Letitia Huckaby, pictured left to right: Ms. Holmes, 2024, Mekhi, 2024, LaToria, 2024. Pigment print on fabric.
Courtesy of the Artist and Talley Dunn Gallery, Dallas
STUFF
Help Wanted
With the Cowboys and former head coach
Mike
McCarthy parting ways, the search is on for his replacement.
BY PATRICK HIGGINS
After one of the most maddening seasons in franchise history, frustrated fans, ravenous for their pound of flesh, are now happily feasting on it. With the pitchforks and torches having been brandished for more than a year, the mob has finally gotten its way. Last week, the Dallas Cowboys and head coach Mike McCarthy mutually parted ways. Big Mike is out in Big D.
As the season was drawing to a close, the odds money was leaning heavily toward a decisively indecisive Jerry Jones allowing the porcine Pittsburgher to take a mulligan on the injury-torpedoed 2024 and run it back again this fall. Negotiations quickly stalled, likely over the specific terms of a potential extension — specifically length and compensation, no doubt — and not unlike a long, loveless marriage, both sides eventually agreed to amicably depart, with one side keeping all the money and the other taking with them a conciliatory “Thank you for your services.” So, there you go, bloodlusters, you’ve gotten your wish.
There’s a certain adage about being careful when wishing that has certainly
crossed my mind lately. No one wants to be the dude who dumped his girl because they thought they could land someone better looking only to find out the dumpee was always the one who could have done better. Yet here we are.
Now what? Who’s the superhero out there who’s going to finally turn this thing in a positive direction? Over the last three decades, five skippers have tried, including a current Hall of Famer who came into the organization with two giant rings on his Jersey-roughened fingers already. With the limited options Jerry’s gaggle of good ol’ boys are likely to legitimately pursue, once the announcement is made, there’s more than a dollar scratch-off’s chance that you may end up preferring the devil you knew. I certainly don’t love McCarthy as an offensive mind in the modern NFL, and calling plays might have been a nonnegotiable on his part, but as the man on the sideline or in the locker room smashing watermelons, I’d venture you could do a lot worse. It’s the fear of the possibility that we just might discover the reality of that assumption that gives me pause. Especially when you consider the realistic (italicized, underlined, highlighted) options for replacement.
Jerry likes to humor himself that the glitz of The Star™ will be too bright for any right-minded coaching candidate to resist. I happen to agree with a certain former HOF Cowboy quarterback currently doing color work (and the best in the business at it) on Monday Night Football who opined last week that he “wasn’t so sure about that.”
Firstly, there’s the whole microscope of the Cowboys media circus and all the drama and outside noise that comes along with wearing a headset on Sunday for this team. Then, there’s Jerry’s constant meddling in not just which players are on the roster but which are on the field. Not to mention his inevitable contradictions to your message every time he has a microphone in front of him, which, let’s face it, is always. These things alone should scare away most prime candidates — though large sums of money can usually do a lot toward overcoming these initial aversions. Yeah, about that.
Outside of paying (too late) top-ofmarket contracts to (exclusively their own) free agents and, sure, for multibillion-dollar football facilities, the Cowboys are notoriously cheap as an organization. If it isn’t cap controlled, like player salaries, or directly
He
might not have the physical presence of Detroit head coach Dan Campbell, but he has the Detroit OC’s offensive mind. That might make Kellen Moore Dallas’ best option to replace Mike McCarthy.
related to building the Cowboys’ sports industry-leading brand a la sponsorship deals with cryptocurrency websites, they don’t like spending money on it. That includes coaches. For instance, despite boasting the fourth-best win percentage since he came to Dallas, McCarthy was only estimated to be in the range of the 11th- to 15th-highest paid.
So, you can, outright, at the jump, dismiss any illusions you may have (I have them, too) about that young hotshot boy-genius in Motor City who has suddenly found himself available for interviews again after he was upset by those upstart Washington Commanders on Sunday (whose own coach, former Dallas DC Dan Quinn, many would say, should already be the current Cowboys bench boss). Lions OC Ben Johnson will be the most coveted jewel in the head-coaching crown over these next few weeks, and the eventual winning suitor will likely make him the highest-paid coach in NFL history.
Thanks to his recent and surprisingly convincing acting turn in the new
Paramount+ property Landman, we know Jerry likes to keep it in the family. That’s why his coaching staffs always seemed to be filled with either people he already knows or their kids: Jason Garrett, Wade Phillips, Mike Zimmer, the list goes on. That’ll certainly be another strike against Johnson. However, it could be a plus for the last two Cowboys offensive coordinators in Brian Schottenheimer (who is expected to be interviewed) and Kellen Moore (who has already been interviewed). These two I would consider the leaders in the clubhouse if only for the offensive continuity it would provide quarterback Dak Prescott. In addition to Moore, Dallas has already interviewed former Jets HC Robert Saleh and an out-of-nowhere dark horse in Leslie Frazier, the current Seahawks assistant and former Vikings head coach.
Of the interviewees, Saleh managed to be fired midseason by a washed, hallucinogen-addled conspiracy theorist playing quarterback in one of the few organizations more dysfunctional than the Cowboys. That would be a “no” from me, dawg. Schotty didn’t call the plays, so it’s hard to know how much to pin the Cowboys’ offensive impotence this season on him, but there’s a reason McCarthy hired him, so I’m dubious. Conversely, Kellen Moore is a real-deal offensive dynamo, yet I once heard him described as looking like a school lunch lady. Unfair as it may be, I can’t think of anything else anytime I see him, and I’m not sure players would be able to either. Frazier? Hate to say it, but, Rooney Rule, right?
Other names tossed around have been: last season’s assistant head coach, at least in title, Al Harris; Detroit coordinator Aaron Glenn, who played in the Dallas secondary for a couple of years; Washington OC Kliff Kingsbury; Colorado’s Deion Sanders (shoot me in the leg — his approach with the media is enough for me); and even future Ring of Honor member Jason Witten. With either the lack of connections, experience, or humility, it’s hard to see these guys as legitimate options.
It’s obvious to anyone who has followed this team over time that McCarthy, while not necessarily the solution, certainly wasn’t the problem around here. I wouldn’t hold the oxygen in your lungs to think the next guy will be, either. Still, out of the options explored so far, at this moment, my hand forced, I’d have to go with Coach Lunch Lady. l
Artist Talks Cowboy
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1
1–3:30 P.M. | FREE
R. Alan Brooks
Emmanuel David
rafa esparza
Fabian Guerrero
Yumi Roth
SAVE YOUR SPOT
Presented by Sundance Square.
Bottom right: photo by Joe Rogers
NIGHT &
Jazz guitarist/composer
Jean Baptiste Reinhardt (1910-1953) is being celebrated once again at the 21st Annual Django Reinhardt Festival Fri-Sun at Arts Fifth Avenue (1628 5th Av, Fort Worth, 817-923-9500). Along with French food and film screenings, there’ll be live performances by Francie Meaux Jeaux with Jimmie Dreams and Drew Phelps on Friday, then Gypsy Moon and String Theory Manouche on Saturday. On the final evening of the festival, A5A is also celebrating the life of Brazil’s Antônio Carlos Jobim (1927-1994) with performances by Marcelo Berestovoy, Javier Guitierrez, Max Robertson, Jeff Plant, and Alfredo Gonzales. Sunday promises to be an “experimental evening to celebrate the music of two of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Django and Jobim,” with the music of the two icons mixed “in ways you’ve never heard before.” The film titles will be chosen later this week but will be documentaries about Django, his contemporaries, and the gypsy lifestyle and their music. For updates,
follow Arts 5th Avenue on social media.
Tickets ($35 per day; $90 for a weekend pass) include a taste of Country French cuisine. Coffee and tea are provided. Other concessions are available by donation. Doors open at 6:30pm Fri-Sat and 5:30pm Sun.
As part of the annual Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo, Horses & Horsemen of the World gallops into Will Rogers Memorial Center (3401 W Lancaster Av, Fort Worth, 817-392-7469) at 7pm. Experience the culture and heritages of four countries through performances by Ben Atkinson of England, Dan James of Australia, Tomas Garcilazo of Mexico, and Bobby Kerr of the United States. Tickets start at $15 at bit.ly/HorsesandHorsemenTickets.
Waco-based Red Dirt boys Ghosts of Hill County are celebrating the release of their new single “Home for a Hotel” at Madame Pearl’s Dancehall & Saloon (302 W Exchange Av, Fort Worth,
682-730-2499). There is no cost to attend. You can also catch them at Hoots Bar (5220 E FM 1187, Burleson, 817-563-5583) on Friday. Both gigs are at 9pm. Cover is $10, but ladies get in free 7pm-9pm.
.
, da-da-da-dada. Translation: Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra is doing Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark in concert! As the classic 1981 film screens at Bass Performance Hall (525 Commerce St, Fort Worth, 817-212-4280) at 7:30pm Friday or Saturday, the FWSO will perform the epic John Williams score live. Tickets start at $36.30 at FWSymphony.org.
Claire Hinkle, Cory Cross, LABELS, and some other surprise guests will perform at the Fort Worth Weekly Music Awards at Tulips FTW (112 St. Louis Av, Fort Worth, 817-367-9798). MC Ian Mac will help us announce and celebrate the winners of our 2024 Music Awards starting at 6pm. There is no cost to attend. Please RSVP at bit.ly/FWWMA_Ceremony_JAN26.
By Jennifer Bovee
Ghosts of Hill County will celebrate the release of their new single Saturday at Pearl’s.
Comedian Ian Mac is doing the MC honors at the Fort Worth Weekly Music Awards Sunday at Tulips FTW.
Unless you’re tied up this weekend, make plans to experience Raiders of the Lost Ark with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra at Bass Hall.
Australian Dan James will perform as part of Horses & Horsemen of the World at Will Rogers on Friday.
EATS & drinks
Spoon vs. Spoon
This Netflix Korean show reinvents the cooking contest format, with delicious results.
BY KRISTIAN LIN
Trust the Koreans to rethink the format of TV cooking competitions. We’ve had enough of the one where umpteen contestants are at their work stations mixing up their own interpretations of the same recipe or the one where the judges throw wacky combinations of ingredients at them and challenge them to make something edible. Netflix’s Culinary Class Wars is the new thing, and thanks to
the Korean dose of chaos that it injects into the format, it’s great fun.
The show borrows its format from a fitness reality show called Physical 100. On
one side are 20 “White Spoons,” Michelinstarred chefs and winners of the Korean versions of Iron Chef and MasterChef On the other side, 80 “Black Spoons,” a
motley collection that includes several YouTube cooking channel hosts, a lunch lady from a primary school in Yansang, a
continued on page 17
Kang Seung-won, a.k.a. Chef Triple Star, of the Black Spoons prepares to make beef jeon in the Room of Meat in Culinary Class Wars
Kim Sang-woo
comic bookstore owner who taught himself to cook from recipes in manga comics, and a guy whose flattop hairstyle adds at least 12 inches to his height. (“His head looks like a cutting board!” says one contestant.) They all compete on a set so massive that someone inevitably compares it to Squid Game. Alas, the cash prize for the winner is a relatively paltry 300 million won, which currently works out to a shade over $200,000.
Who can judge all these people? Just two men: Anh Sung-jae, the country’s only chef with three Michelin stars, and Paik Jong-won, the owner of a restaurant conglomerate with almost 1,300 locations across South Korea. This seems to set up an art vs. commerce discussion about food, but Paik is more knowledgeable about fine cuisine than he lets on and Anh meets even the humblest contestants at their level.
Even when that level is ridiculous. The first round has the Black Spoons compete among themselves, being told to make the dish they’re best at. This results in a bewildering array of dishes, and the clown factor is high. A guy named Chirpy wears a bird mask to make his Nashville hot chicken sandwich, while one cook’s identity is so bound up with his bibimbap that he has legally changed his name to King Bi-bim. Declaring himself the one true apostle of
They all compete on a set so massive that someone inevitably compares it to Squid Game.
bibimbap, King spells out his name in rice on the dish and has Judge Paik mix up the ingredients while he plays traditional Korean music on a drum (which forces all the other chefs to stop what they’re doing).
After all this, Judge Paik takes one bite of his bibimbap, immediately shakes his hand, bows, and says, “You’re eliminated.”
The Black Spoons who survive move on to the second round, where they’re allowed to pick which White Spoon chef they want to face in a head-to-head battle. Italian food specialist Napoli Matfia steps up and challenges Chef Fabrizio Ferrari with a speech
in Italian: “You are a great chef, but the best Italian food comes from Napoli!” An acclaimed master of Chinese cuisine, Chef Lu Chinglai finds two of his pupils matched up against each other, and he admits that he has never seen two women compete at cooking Chinese food. Some of the contestant pairs are tasked with making condiments such as perilla oil or the jang trio (gochujang, doenjang, and ganjang) into their main dishes, and the two contestants who get pumpkin are stumped by the gourd. See, in America, we know what to do with pumpkins.
The third round features something
called the Room of Meat and gives way to total chaos as the White Spoon and Black Spoon chefs have to break up into teams and work together. This actually winds up handicapping the White Spoons, since they’re all used to running their own kitchens. A bleached-blond Black Spoon chef who calls himself Cooking Maniac makes Pad Thai out of ramyeon noodles with a recipe that I’m itching to try.
The fourth round features chefs separating into different teams and making up menus, deciding how much to charge their judges for their dishes. Chef Choi Hyunseok sells out for the high-end customers with luxurious lobster and caviar plates that cost as much as 58,000 won. His strategy pays off when each of the 20 celebrity judges (who turn out to be social-media influencers, including former White House chef Andre Rush) is given 1 million won to spend on dishes.
The screen contains all manner of footnotes explaining Japanese, French, and American techniques to the Korean home cooks. The format of the show keeps changing in ways that surprise even the judges, and their submission to a blind taste-testing in Round 2 results in some famous chefs going home early. The distinctions between fine dining and street food collapse as contestants have to work outside their specialties, and the show will cure you of any notions that Korean food is all red and covered in chili flakes. All this makes Culinary Class Wars the most gripping reality-show competition on TV. l
WEEKLY LISTINGS
The List
Top resources for everything. Okay, almost everything.
By Fort Worth Weekly
Below are some resources for your consideration, including Free Will Astrology, home resources, and more. Welcome to Fort Worth Weekly Classifieds.
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
ARIES (Mar 21-Apr 19)
In 2025, you will have an extraordinary potential to use your mature faculties to beautifully express the wise innocence and lucid perceptions you were blessed with when you were young.
TAURUS (Apr 20-May 20)
In 2025, I suspect that you will cooperate rather harmoniously with adversaries. You and they will have stirring, provocative adventures together.
GEMINI (May 21-Jun 20)
You are primed to be an early adapter who launches trends. You will be the first to try novel approaches and experiment with variations in how things have always been done. Enjoy your special capacity. Be bold in generating innovations.
CANCERIAN (Jun 21-Jul 22)
The months ahead will be prime time for you to cultivate and attract peak experiences, those “rare, exciting, oceanic, deeply moving, exhilarating, elevating experiences that generate an advanced form of perceiving reality, and are even mystic and magical in their effect upon the experimenter.”
LEO (Jul 23-Aug 22)
You will have clearance to move and groove with daring expansiveness. Obligations and duties won’t disappear, but they’re more likely to be interesting than boring and arduous. Special dispensations and kind favors will flow more abundantly than they have in a long time.
VIRGO (Aug 23-Sep 22)
What habits of mind and feeling have you absorbed from the world that are not in sync with your highest ideals? The coming months will be a favorable time to work on liberating yourself from your cultural conditioning.
LIBRA (Sep 23-Oct 22)
You will reach the outer limits of your domain and then push on to explore beyond those limits. You will demolish at least one mental block, break at least one taboo, and dismantle an old wall that has interfered with your ability to give and receive love.
SCORPIO (Oct 23-Nov 21)
If an existing intimate bond is less than optimal, the coming months will bring inspiration and breakthroughs to improve it. You could be on the verge of all kinds of enhanced synergetic connections, not just in your love life but in business and artistic partnerships.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov 22-Dec 21)
Expand your understanding of the nature of muses. They may be intriguing people, and might also take the form of voices in your head, ancestral mentors, beloved animals, famous creators, or spirit guides.
CAPRICORN (Dec 22-Jan 19)
Discover the deeper meanings beneath your experiences. Look for revelations about how to successfully wrangle problems, perpetrate liberation, ameliorate suffering, and find redemption.Use your stature and clout to perform an array of good works that are of service to your world this year. Animal rights, environmentalism, and human rights are all areas for your consideration.
AQUARIUS (Jan 20- Feb 18)
Heighten your awareness of which of your thoughts are excellent and which are not, but don’t think too much. Monitor the flow of your thoughts and practice the art of knowing which ones should be questioned and which should not be taken seriously. Don’t overthink it!
PISCES (Feb19-Mar 20)
Cultivate more peace of mind than you have ever managed to arouse. I double-dare you to update traditions whose emotional potency has waned.
EXPANDED HOROSCOPES
For unabridged versions of the horoscopes above by Rob Brezsny, go to FreeWillAstrology.com.
continued on page 22
Aquarius, beware of overthinking this month.
MUSIC
Not Cursed
With their new album, scene vets Iron Jaw prove classic metal still thrives.
BY STEVE STEWARD
As the distorted guitars chug along with a galloping beat, apocalyptic images take shape and drift into one another like a disturbing dream. A faceless man rises out of sand. A fearsome knight on horseback charges into view, and a Roman legion marches across the frame. The army marches to the horizon, and an endless swarm of bats takes flight. The bats bleed into a shot of a vampire’s coffin, and the fierce visage of a man comes into view, snarling and grimacing as he spits the lyrics, “Purgatory, pain, pain or glory … / I alone decide my fate / Don’t you know you are … trapped in the sands of time?”
This is the video for “Sands of Time,” the latest from long-running, old-school metal band Iron Jaw, whose new album, Cursed, debuts Friday and will be celebrated with a concert at Haltom Theater on Sat, Feb 1. Iron Jaw vocalist Todd Pack produced, directed, and edited the video and co-produced the new record, the band’s first since 2020’s Chain of Command In addition to Pack, Iron Jaw is crewed by four local legends, and in terms of DFW metal lore, they’re some of the scene’s elder gods. Guitarist Rick Perry’s first major band, Warlock, got its start playing Judas Priest- and Black Sabbath-inspired proto-metal in the late ’70s, after which Perry gained some fame in the mid-to-late ’80s in a popular Arlington-based thrash band called Gammacide (as well as in Puncture, Warbeast, Cowtown Syndrome, and the Texas Metal Alliance). In Iron Jaw, he splits the shredding with Jeff Brown, who played guitar in ’80s thrashers Plague Allegiance, who cemented their legacy back then by turning their rehearsal space — known as the Tombstone Factory — into the epicenter of local heavy metal debauchery. One of Perry’s Warlock bandmates, Randy Cook, who was also in another pretty big thrash band called Rotting Corpse, is Iron Jaw’s drummer, and Clay McCarty, himself a former member of Warlock, plays bass. Pack, who also played drums in Dallasbased groove-metal band Creeper and sings in a band called Horror Cult, knew Iron Jaw’s other members from way back when, when he was a teenager making the scene.
After he finished high school, he moved to Los Angeles in 1986, where he “tried to be a rock star,” briefly playing drums in a thrash band called Hallows Eve and later forming a band called Jackal (“before the other Jackyl band came out,” he said). When those groups fizzled out, he returned to Texas, where he took on singing lead in Metallica tribute band Alcoholica.
Though it’s been a few decades since the five of them first hit area stages, the years between now and then have only sharpened their sonic steel. Iron Jaw channels the sounds of classic metal — a mix of Reaganera thrash and the New Wave of British heavy metal influences — into a sonic assault of breakneck percussion and sinister, high-speed riffage, over which Pack (whose delivery is satisfyingly Hetfield-ian) spits tales of war, doom, and the occult like fire
from the lake pipes of some hell-spawned, postapocalyptic hotrod.
Of the band’s writing dynamic, Pack said, “Rick writes some really great lyrics. … I won’t change much if he has a complete body of work for a song. … Usually, he does such a great job of writing that I don’t have to change much, just a word here or a phrase there, a line just so it improves the vocal flow, but there were some songs on the last record where he had ideas or had written some things, and he’d be like, ‘You know, I need you to finish it. … Let’s make this tougher.’ ”
Cursed’s seven tracks cover mythologized invaders (“Tonight We Raid, “Pyromancer”), war and fate (“Sands of Time”), religious infiltration into politics (“The Wolf King”), Alistair Crowley (“Order of the Golden Dawn”), and the underpinnings of a serial killer, rendered in the album’s title track — as well as a paean to getting laid called “Bury the Snake.” With riffs and lyrics that are still basically the gas and oil that powered this genre during the Me Decade, one might be tempted to dismiss Iron Jaw and their new record — pressed on red vinyl, no less — as a throwback act. But these guys are all metal lifers, doing what they do best. That they were in the thick of a pretty gnarly scene and lived to tell about it, let alone continue to put out killer albums, is a testament to the power of loud amps and blazing-fast lixxx.
“I mean, there’s still a handful of us [from the mid-’80s DFW thrash scene] that are still around,” Pack said, “all the oldschool guys who went through their crazy, wild ’80s phase and then kind of settled down and then maybe even took a step back and then came back around into it. … We just want the world to know that we’re still doing [classic metal], that it’s still popular, and that you can still put out quality music at any age.” l
1/22 RACE RICKETTS 1/23 BRANDON RHYDER 1/24 THE RICH GIRLS 1/25 JACK BLOCKER 1/27 NEON PROPHETS
1/28 THE TAYLOR PARTY
1/29 LOWDOWN DRIFTERS 1/30 DUSTIN MASSEY
1/31 CAROLINE WOODFILL
2/1 POO LIVE CREW
2/3 SCOOTER BROWN BAND
2/4 SQUEEZEBOX BANDITS
2/5 ROB LEINES
2/6 JOEY GREEN
2/7 GONE COUNTRY
2/8 WALKER MONTGOMERY
17 - Feb. 8
Iron Jaw: “You can still put out quality music at any age.”
Iron Jaw channels the sounds of classic metal — a mix of Reagan-era thrash and the New Wave of British heavy metal influences — into a sonic assault of breakneck percussion and sinister, high-speed riffage.
Art by John Fossum
CLASSIFIEDS
CLASSIFIEDS
MIND-BODY-SPIRIT
THE AURA CLINIC
Full-service wellness, holistic, metaphysical, and psychic sanctuary at 6233 Oakmont Blvd, FWTX (817-200-7662). MyAuraClinic.com
HIGHER PURPOSE EMPORIUM
Everyone has a higher purpose. Find yours. Visit us at 505 W Northside Dr, FWTX (HigherPurposeEmporium.com, 682-207-5351).
MASSAGE
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HAVE FAITH
CELEBRATION COMMUNITY CHURCH
Located at 908 Pennsylvania Av (817-335-3222), CCC has services on Sundays at 10am. Want to check out a nonjudgmental, inclusive church at home before attending in person? All services can also be viewed on YouTube (@CelebrationCommunityChurch130).
POTTER’S HOUSE
Join the Potter’s House of Fort Worth (1270 Woodhaven Blvd, 817446-1999) for Sunday Service at 8am and Wednesday Bible Study at 7pm. For more info, visit us online: www.TPHFW.org
HEALTH & WELLNESS
DENTAL INSURANCE
Physicians Mutual Insurance Company covers 350+ procedures. Get your FREE Dental
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LIFELINE SCREENINGS
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PLANNED PARENTHOOD
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HOME RESOURCES
BATHROOMS
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GENERATORS
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LEAF FILTER
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NEXTHOME
Open The Door
To Yours Today! SarahNiehoff PropertyLinkTX.com
Sarah Niehoff, Realtor 817-714-7956
PET SERVICES
DON’T FORGET TO FEED ME!
DF2FM is a 501c3 and the only pet food bank in North Texas. Feeding pets in difficult times. More info on FB @DFTFM.
FREE SPAY/NEUTER
Need a FREE Spay/ Neuter? Texas Coalition for Animal Protection has clinics near you. Schedule an appointment today.
TexasForThem.org Call 1-833-636-1757
PUBLIC NOTICES
TDLR Complaints
Any Texans who may be concerned that an unlicensed massage business may be in operation near them, or believe nail salon employees may be human trafficking victims, may now report those concerns directly to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) by emailing ReportHT@ TDLR.Texas.gov.
SUBMISSIONS
Do you have thoughts and feelings, or questions, comments, or concerns about something you read in the Weekly? Please email Question@ fwweekly.com. Do you have an upcoming event? For potential coverage in our listing sections, email the details to Marketing@fwweekly.com
I’m Dennis, a 73 year old man, on a heartfelt search for a lasting connection filled with trust, companionship, and love with a special woman. I hope to find a life partner and a best friend, someone with whom I can share the remainder of my years. Life is meant to be lived to the fullest, hand in hand with someone you truly care about. If you’re interested in embarking on this journey with me, take the courage to drop me a message to know about you at oceandeep158@gmail.com. I’m open to connecting with someone between the ages of 56 and 78, though I truly believe age is just a number.
BULLETIN BOARD
ADVERTISE HERE!
Email Stacey@fwweekly.com today!
CATTLE BARN FLEA MARKET
4445 River Oaks Blvd
Saturday & Sunday 9a-5p
All your favorite vendors will be there Welcome Stock Show Cowboys! Earl’s booth has tack and other rodeo goodies!
CONNECT TO THE BEST!
Connect to the best wireless home internet with EarthLink. Enjoy speeds from 5G and 4G LTE networks, no contracts, easy installation, and data plans up to 300 GB. Call 855-796-1750. (mb)
DENTAL INSURANCE
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DIRECTV OVER INTERNET
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DREAM BATHROOM
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EMPLOYMENT
180 Properties Co. LLC is Hiring
Sr. Property Financial Data Analyst needed for 180 Properties Co. LLC, a property investment company, located in Arlington, TX. Related degree and experience required. Email resume to michelle.v@180apt.com
EMPLOYMENT
General Manager in Fort Worth, TX, w/ Bach’s in Business Admin or rltd, to review & coord fin’l/budget activities; monitor suppliers to ensure quality of meats, veggies etc.; manage personnel incl training, eval & scheduling; coord catering orders & direct facility maintenance/repair activities. To apply, mail resume to 153 Fish Co., 9100 N Fwy Rd, Ste 120, Fort Worth, TX 76177.
EMPLOYMENT
Mouser Electronics, Inc. seeks a Cloud Network Engineer in Mansfield, TX. Ensure the optimal performance and reliability of Network Systems. Telecommuting Permitted. Apply at https://www.jobpostingtoday.com/ Ref # 28556.
HANNAH in HURST
Take a break from the rat race & feel better fast! 30+yrs Pro Massage (mt4797). No outcalls. 817-590-2257
HEATER HELP
American Residential Heating & Cooling. As temps outside start to drop, the season for savings is now. $49 heating system tune up. Save up to $2000 on a new system (restrictions apply.) FREE estimates. Many payment options available. Licensed and insured professionals. Call 1-877-447-0546 today! (mb)
HORROR FILM FUNDING
Fort Worth young adult seeks funding for an independent horror project. For more information or to donate, visit IndieGoGo.com/projects/ the-mastermind-the-movie#/
Is Your Ride Winter Weather Ready? CALL COWTOWN ROVER!
With our handy pick-up and drop-off services, having your car checked out could not be easier. www.CowtownRover.com 3958 Vickery | 817.731.3223
LIFE INSURANCE
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MAKE A POWER MOVE
Prepare for power outages today with a Generac Home Standby Generator. Act now to receive a FREE 5-year warranty with a qualifying purchase. Call 1-817-752-9457 today to schedule a free quote. It’s not just a generator. It’s a power move.
More books than, WOW!
The Published Page Bookstop (10 E Chambers St, Cleburne, 817-349-6366) is open 10am-6pm Wed-Sat and 1pm-6pm Sun. An authentic “Old School” bookstore on the courthouse square of Historic Downtown Cleburne, TX, just 20 minutes south of FW, it’s a true Texas treasure. For more info, visit PublishedPage.com or find us on Facebook (@BiblioTreasures).
Prepare for power outages with Briggs & Stratton® PowerProtect™ standby generators - the most powerful home standby generators available. Industry-leading comprehensive warranty - 7 years ($849 value.) Proudly made in the U.S.A. Call Briggs & Stratton 1-855-988-6789.
YOUR OLD CAR CAN HELP THE BLIND
Get a break on your taxes! Donate your car, truck, or SUV to assist the blind and visually impaired. Arrange a swift, no-cost vehicle pickup and secure a generous tax credit for 2025. Call Heritage for the Blind Today at 1-855-5031501 today! (mb)
WALK-IN TUBS…GET ONE!
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WHAT’S YOUR STORY?
We work with guest contributors to publish SEO articles and press releases. Email today! Marketing@fwweekly.com
THE WILD HARE HOLISTIC FAIR
Every 4th Saturday of the Month at 1959 Sandy Lane in Fort Worth. The next event is this Saturday, January 25th. ADMISSION IS FREE!
