Drawn Together
BY KRISTIAN LIN MUSIC With her debut EP, Housekeys provides an ambient soundtrack to living without regrets.
BY EDWARD BROWN
August 31 - September 6, 2022 FREE fwweekly.com
EATS & DRINKS
BY EDWARD BROWN STUFF Are you ready for some footbaaaall?! We patriots are.
Near TCU, Cidercade Fort Worth puts arcade games, scrumptious pizzas, and craft ciders all under one (very large) roof.
BY BUCK D. ELLIOTT SCREEN It’s taken 35 years, but Predator finally gets the sequel it deserves.
BY PATRICK HIGGINS
The upcoming Larry Allen retrospective will feature works by the stepfather and childhood mentor of painter Jay Wilkinson.
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By Edward Brown
INSIDE AnthonySTAFFMariani, Editor Lee Newquist, Publisher Bob Niehoff, General Manager Ryan Burger, Art Director Jim Erickson, Circulation Director Edward Brown, Staff Writer Emmy Smith, Proofreader Michael Newquist, Regional Sales Director Jennifer Bovee, Marketing Director Stacey Hammons, Senior Account Executive Julie Strehl, Account Executive Tony Diaz, Account Executive Wyatt Newquist, Digital Coordinator Clintastic, Brand Ambassador Volume 18 Nu mber 20 A ugust 31 - September 6, 2022 CONTRIBUTORS Megan Ables, Christina Berger, E.R. Bills, Jason Brimmer, Sue Chefington, Buck D. Elliott, Juan R. Govea, Patrick Higgins, Bo Jacksboro, Laurie James, Kristian Lin, Vishal Malhotra,McClungShawn 2210 194 Whether you’re playing a gig, going to a concert or just streaming songs on your headphones, saving time and money by ridesharing on Trinity Metro ZIPZONE is music to everybody’s ears! Get your first two rides free at RIDE TRINITYMETRO .or g/ ZIPZONE TALENTEDTRINITYMUSICIANSMETRO TEXRail | Bus | TREZIPZONE A TAD Off From allegedly “swatting” to doctoring documents and intimidating volunteers, the appraisal district appears to be in turmoil. By Edward Brown
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By Patrick Higgins
Swatting Away Problems?
BY EDWARD BROWN
TAD recently hired a PR firm to handle the media and improve the district’s bat tered public image. TAD’s critics maintain that the revamped communications effort does not make up for years of alleged mis deeds.
The responding officer detained the homeowner, Deputy Sheriff J.D. Thomas, who has worked security at TAD for more than two years during his 17 years for the county, and described the call as “a possible hoax.”Who called the police and why remain unclear, but several sources allege Thomas himself dialed 911 to frame two individuals — Manuel Mata and Thomas Torlincasi — who criticize TAD through YouTube videos and livestreams. To force YouTube to pull an unflattering video, Thomas, Torlincasi be
The weeks leading to the unprecedented reprimand were characterized by public up roar over the mistreatment of a local Realtor.
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Damage ControlDamage Control
The recent decision by Tarrant Appraisal District’s board to suspend its chief apprais er for two weeks without pay is the closest he has come to being outright fired in his 14 years in office. One board member mo tioned to terminate Jeff Law, but the action was never seconded.
Last fall, TAD director Randy Armstrong filed several complaints against Chandler Crouch, complaints that were later ruled baseless by the Texas Department of Licens ing and Regulation (TDLR). Armstrong’s allegations were largely seen as retaliation against Crouch’s volunteerism. The Realtor helped tens of thousands of locals protest their property valuations for no charge — an act that apparently irked Armstrong and possibly Law himself. Through public testimony and released documents from open records requests, it was revealed that Law knew about Arm strong’s complaints last fall but failed to notify the board, even though Armstrong wrote his complaints on TAD letterhead and mailed them using government resources.
Can a suspensiontwo-weekmake up for years of alleged misdeeds at TAD?
On Monday, June 10, a 911 dispatcher di rected a Haltom City police officer to a sus pected robbery in progress. “Resident heard glass break downstairs, looked over the banister, and observed a white male with a black mask and black hoodie,” the dispatcher said.
The police report read, “Upon arrival, the officer found no broken windows or any form of forced entry.”
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Homeowners have taken to voicing support for Realtor Chandler Crouch at TAD’s headquarters.
lieves, pulled a prank. It’s called “swatting,” and it’s when you call the police on someone, even yourself, to force law enforcement to question a target of yours, and for Thomas, in Torlincasi’s opinion, that target was him (Torlincasi) and his fellow watchdog, Mata. Thomas initiated the swatting “to get Manuel Mata’s video off YouTube,” Torlin casi said.The unflattering video, one Mata re corded several hours before the alleged swatting incident, showed Thomas having parked his black sedan in the fire lane out side the TAD building. Torlincasi’s theory is this: Thomas was miffed by the video that mocked him and his car, and that showed his license plate, so he created a situation — by allegedly calling the cops to his home — that made it appear that one of Mata’s viewers had made the bogus call after con necting Thomas’ license plate to Thomas’ home address. If that was Thomas’ plan, it worked. By the next morning, the video was pulled. You Tube allows users to flag content if it poses a risk to someone’s safety. Having a police
BrownEdward LIVE MUSIC CALENDAR 4651 WEST FREEWAY | I-30 @ HULEN | 817-989-4700 FRIDAY, SEPT. 2 • 6-9:00 PM NICHOLAS PATRICK BAND | SATURDAY,COUNTRYSEPT.3• 5:30-9 PM BRIAN SHUCK & THE LOCAL LEGENDS | ROCK FRESH FRUIT AND PECAN PIES 10% OFF continued on page 6 Feature continued from page 4
continued on page 7 Feature continued from page 5 “Transparency
WEEKLYWORTHFORT 20226,SEPTEMBER-31AUGUST fwweekly.com6 report as evidence allowed Thomas to have the video pulled quickly while portraying Mata as a threat to public safety, Torlincasi alleges.The county says it’s investigating Thomas for possibly calling 911 to report a false crime. The spokesperson did not pro vide further comment, and Thomas did not return multiple calls and text messages to his cellphone seeking a response. Based on the police report, Thomas did not follow up with a victim statement and did not respond to repeated follow-up calls from the Haltom City detective assigned to the case.An open records request reveals that Daniel “Joe” Bennett, a local government watchdog, recently texted Tarrant County District Attorney Sharen Wilson about the incident.“Iam providing to you an incident re port by Haltom City PD detailing a SWAT TING incident of JD Thomas, sheriff deputy, who acts as security at TAD,” the message reads. “The importance of the [po lice] report is that this allowed JD to have the video taken by Manuel Mata at the June 10th TAD [board] meeting removed from YouTube because he claimed his personal li cense plates were in the video, thus leading to theBennettswatting.”told me he expects the DA to ignore the alleged swatting incident just as the office dismissed a January 2018 crimi nal complaint he filed against Law. The al legation dates back to 2017, when Bennett requested copies of documents tied to the late-2015 election that brought Johnny Ben nett (no relation), John Molyneaux, Michael O’Donnell, Joe Potthoff, and Mark Wood onto TAD’s Bennettboard.began following TAD in 2016, when he was denied a hearing from the Tar rant Appraisal Review Board, the 70-mem ber appointed group that hears property owner protests and approves or denies them during meetings at TAD’s headquarters in northeast Fort Worth. He researched the voting cycle to un derstand it better, which turned into a hunt for voting irregularities. And he believes he found a substantial one. Bennett alleges that TAD’s own official records show that two past board members should not have been elected. His evidence is a late-December 2015 letter that Law sent to County Administrator G.K. Maenius that includes a tally of votes from the taxing en tities that elect TAD board members every two years. Law was required to send the let ter because state law says the chief appraiser of any appraisal district must notify certain elected officials of the final board vote tally following an election. In 2017, Bennett raised the issue of two possibly illegally elected board members at a commissioners court meeting, then alert ed the DA’s civil division. Bennett believes Law tried to correct the error by allegedly altering the letter. Bennett forwarded the original and allegedly altered versions of the letter to TAD and the county. He obtained both through separate open records requests. In his criminal complaint, which was accepted by the DA, Bennett alleges that Law violated state property code by failing to notify any taxing entities of the changes to the official results of a board election.
“The only logical conclusion is that this letter is fraudulent and sent with sole intent to appease and mislead,” Bennett writes, re ferring to the allegedly tampered December 2015 letter Law sent to Maenius. In an act widely seen as retaliation against Torlincasi and Mata for their efforts to hold Thomas accountable and to improve transparency at TAD, several sheriff’s depu ties, including Thomas, cornered Torlinca si and Mata during an August TAD board meeting. While pushing the two watchdogs out of TAD’s headquarters ahead of the meeting in which the chief appraiser was in government always works better.”
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suspended, law enforcement allege that Mata assaulted one of the deputies. Mata was charged with assaulting a public ser vant, interfering with public duties, crimi nal trespass, and resisting arrest. He remains in Tarrant County Jail awaiting a hearing. Torlincasi was banned from entering TAD’s headquarters, a likely unenforceable action given that the northeast Fort Worth office is a public building. If Thomas unlawfully arrested Mata that day, it wouldn’t be the deputy’s first time unlawfully arresting someone. A recent
TorlincasiThomasCourtesy
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In August, Sheriff Deputy J.D. Thomas and a handful of other law enforcement personnel pushed Manuel Mata out of TAD’s headquarters. Mata, who remains in Tarrant County Jail, was charged with assaulting a police officer.
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open records release of Thomas’ disciplinary history shows that he was suspended with out pay for one day in 2015 for “causing a false arrest.” Lakeside View of TAD Lakeside Mayor Patrick Jacob said his first interactions with TAD date to the early 2000s, when he protested his personal prop erty valuations. Even now, he recalls the looks of confusion on the faces of senior citi zens who came asking basic questions about their property valuations.
That August, TAD board members O’Donnell and Molyneaux requested to be recalled, a step that required the taxing enti ties that voted for the two board members to recall those votes. Jacob believes O’Donnell sought to escape blowback for the handling of Nelson’s letter. The reason Molyneaux requested to be recalled remains unclear, al though the two board members were seen as politicallyUnderaligned.statetax code, there is no pro vision for an appraisal district board mem ber to call to be recalled, even though both board members were recalled later that year.
“I’ve watched senior citizens walk out more confused than when they walked in,” he recalled. “I have raised my concerns be fore the board. The front desk needed more training.”Jacob’s background in corporate lead ership and more recent work as an elected official informed his views on TAD’s gover nance, and what he has seen in recent years has alarmed him, he said. In early 2000, af ter the election of two new board members, Rich DeOtte and Gary Losada, Jacob attend ed many board meetings and alleges that Law and the more senior board members were dismissive of DeOtte and Losada, who were widely seen as the lone reform-minded board members at the time. Jacob was alarmed to learn that TAD’s five-member board did not have indepen dent legal counsel, something that has been rectified only recently. Under common prac tice, governmental boards frequently retain independent legal counsel as a means of pro tecting themselves from potentially conflict ing and self-serving aims of paid staffers.
The Weekly has reported extensively on TAD’s longtime current attorney, Catherine Alder, who earns $32,370 per month for legal services at the appraisal district. Her annual salary of nearly $400,000 dwarfs that of Fort Worth’s former city attorney, who earned $271,000 per year before she recently retired. Last year, a TAD spokesperson confirmed that Alder has no annual retainer agreement and that TAD’s board has not approved her salary other than through general budget ap proval. TAD’s critics frequently allege that one of Alder’s jobs is protecting Law. In mid-2020, two TAD-related inci dents further alarmed Jacob. On Aug. 30, State Sen. Jane Nelson, whose District 12 includes much of Tarrant County, wrote a letter to TAD’s leadership and board which voiced concerns over the high number of property valuation protests.
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The Woman's Club of Fort Worth, 1316 Pennsylvania Ave, Fort Worth
“The governing body of a taxing unit may call for the recall of a member of the board of directors of an appraisal district,” the tax code reads, meaning the recall of O’Donnell and Molyneaux did not follow stateO’Donnelllaw. and Molyneaux were re placed by Tony Pompa and Joe Ralph Mar tinez, who both remain on TAD’s board. Board member Jungus Jordan replaced Losada in AroundJanuary.thetime Jacob was follow ing the alleged coverup of Nelson’s letter, a third-hand party provided the Lakeside mayor with written testimony from a female TAD employee who alleged she was being sexually harassed by senior male staffers with the appraisal district. Jacob did not provide the names of the parties involved
Former TAD board member Losada alleges that Law and former TAD board member Michael O’Donnell attempted to hide Nelson’s letter from the Losadaboard.shared copies of handwritten notes he took on June 4, 2020, six months af ter assuming office. He said he was on a con ference call with Law and O’Donnell when Law and O’Donnell, assuming Losada had left the call, began discussing Nelson’s let ter and what steps could be taken to hide it. Losada told the board about the letter, and Law released it.
September 8th – 10th, 2022
This art show and sale includes themes of preservation, conservation and insights about our city by local studio artists. HFW’s show and sale is held in the elegant and historic Woman’s Club building of Fort Worth. Enjoy this unique opportunity to see wonderful art in a space that is not generally open to the public. Anna Shelton Hall, which is the room that will house this exhibit was constructed by the architects Sanguinet, Staats and Hedrick in 1926. Both the Woman’s Club of Fort Worth and Historic Fort Worth, Inc. are charities with educational missions that benefit the community.
HEB school district trustee Fred Campos alleges that County Judge Glen Whitley (shown here) called him as part of a “fishing expedition” for votes in favor of TAD board chair Kathryn Wileman.
The targeting of Crouch by TAD lead ership prompted Jacob and several elected officials to co-author their own complaint with TDLR, this one alleging an occupation code violation by Armstrong and Law. “It is a violation for the TAD [board] to instruct Chief Appraiser Jeff Law to in vestigate” Armstrong because that creates a conflict of interest, part of the new com plaint reads, referring to Law’s longstanding personal and professional relationship with Armstrong. “TAD’s board should conduct an independent investigation.”
Numbers Game Unlike school boards, city councils, and oth er boards that oversee large governmental groups, TAD’s board is not elected by Tar rant County citizens but rather by officials representing taxing entities that are part ly funded by property tax revenue. Cities, school districts, Tarrant County College, and the commissioners court, among oth ers, are proportionately allotted votes from a pot of 5,000 points based on the size of those groups. It’s a system that disproportionately favors large governmental entities — Arling ton school district (465), Fort Worth school district (610), commissioners court (515), and TCC (290) — that can theoretically col lude to cherrypick TAD board members. In the 2021 TAD election that brought on Jordan and booted Losada, it appears that a handful of powerbrokers effective ly chose winners with little influence from smaller taxing entities. HEB school district trustee Fred Campos said he began tracking the numbers game a few years ago to mea sure how much influence larger groups have in the“Ielections.betthe commissioners court has been following these numbers for a decade or longer,” Campos said. The current voting system “probably made more sense 40 years ago, when entities mailed their votes and TAD would open the envelopes in Decem ber. There were no recordings of what HEB and Mansfield did. There wasn’t the inter net and smartphones. It was only a matter of time before someone realized they can track this online.”Largergroups like the Fort Worth city council and the commissioners court that have long-serving elected officials have an other advantage over smaller school boards and councils that have high turnover, Cam pos added.“Youhave publicly elected officials who roll on and off these smaller boards who don’t even know it is their civic duty to vote for TAD board members,” Campos said.
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Jacob offers advice for TAD’s current and future “Transparencyleaders. in government always works better,” he said. “It’s more work, but it’s more painful when you mess things up and hide it.”
WEEKLYWORTHFORT 20226,SEPTEMBER-31AUGUST fwweekly.com9 but described the letter.
Five years ago during a commission ers court meeting, County Administrator Maenius said that the commissioners’ votes should be delayed so the five commission ers could swing the final tally toward can didates of the court’s choosing. A new state bill authored by State Rep. Matt Krause now requires any group allotted 5% of the overall vote every two years to vote early for TAD’s board elections, meaning any reason ably large entity like the City of Fort Worth or the Fort Worth school district. The new law theoretically evens the playing field by forcing those large groups to commit to a candidate before they can fully assess voting trends.Although he believes the contact was made without malicious intent, Campos said that last year he received a personal call from County Judge Glen Whitley, who heads the commissioners court, that may have been intended to sway HEB votes toward TAD board chair Kathryn Wileman. Campos believes that large voting blocs will always do their best to leverage their votes to maximum effect. That’s just pol itics. Although it may pose logistical hur dles, Campos said there should be a Tarrant County system in which votes are cast in secret and tallied only in mid-December. l
This story is part of City in Crisis, an ongo ing series of reports on unethical behavior and worse by local public leaders, featuring original reporting.
“It was other male employees harass ing female employees to the point that the appraisal district made arrangements” to have her transferred to a business outside of TAD, Jacob said. “I talked to Jeff Law and [TAD Administrator] Jeff Craig about the accusations. Jeff Law told me to give him the files [describing the harassment]. I said, ‘You don’t seem to understand. The files need to go to an independent investigator, not you. You’re being accused of being part of the problem.’ ” Law’s alleged attempt to learn the iden tity of the female employee alarmed Jacob. “I have an extensive corporate back ground,” Law said. “It immediately put me on alert. I’ve seen too many people shove these things under the rug and not do any thing for the employees.”
You want to watch football because you’re a great American and that’s what great Americans do.
The NFL — despite working to host games globally and building a significant fan base outside our golden shores — has only around 5% foreign-born players. Most of these nonU.S. athletes are from Canada — they do have a league of their own, after all — and the next most represented country is Nigeria. Austra lia, primarily in the form of punters, is third in international representation inside the most profitable league of our land. Sometimes differentiating something’s greatness is dependent on niche rather than numbers. Football — the American kind — is regionally exclusive to the greatest corner of the globe. Futbol — the other kind, where ties are something that occur with regulari ty — is far and away the most popular global sport. I posit soccer’s popularity is because even poor countries can manage to necessi tate the bare-bones equipment required. If there’s anything we (Americans) hate more than tying in sports — which is just athletic socialism — it’s a sport you can play without spending truckloads of money on equipment.
A brief economics lesson: Capitalism, an economic theory spoken straight from God’s mouth to Adam Smith in the Garden of Eden, clearly states that whatever person or organizations are making the most money are inherently good and right and anything else is simply the first loser. The NFL is far and away the top revenue producer among sports organizations in the United States.
Even though it’s still important only in the good ol’ U.S. of A, the Super Bowl boasts the largest viewership of any single televised sports spectacle. Events like the Tour de France and the World Cup might possess su perior numbers, but the multi-day and -week events are hardly comparable to the five-hour extravaganza during which your average Tex an will puke after chasing 17 Bud Lights with a half-pound of queso. Like the functional alcoholism most adults deal with, the season will start as just a game or two on Saturday before the inevi table fantasy football drafts start, and, before you know it, Thursday through Monday are dominated by the greatest sport West of the Atlantic and East of the Pacific. You might even quench your withdrawal by crashing a local field on Tuesday night just to insult the vision of some college kid refereeing a mid dle-school game. Remember, this behavior doesn’t make you a monster. It makes you a patriot. So, strap up and send your regrets to all the wedding invites you receive for the months of September through November, because the last sport made in America, by Americans, and for Americans is ready for kickoff. l
Over and above money being the only necessary argument needed to crown pads and helmets as superior to anything else, football might be — nay, definitely is — the last bastion of great American exceptionalism that has since been drowned by a homoge nous global culture thanks to technology and Tik-Tok stars. We, as global citizens, largely consume similar media, eat similar food, and observe similar trends, but Americans guzzle football with an unquenchable zest in the greatest depth and quantity, and if we don’t, we’ll have surrendered one of the last things that truly marks us as better than every other nation on Earth. The gridiron game originated in North eastern colleges in the late 1800s in a proto typically American fashion: We stole already established ideas (soccer and rugby), made some tweaks, and claimed it as something en tirely new and vastly superior. Walter Camp, a Yale graduate and medical doctor, helped craft the rudimentary version into something that would be familiar to fans today. Since that time, football has grown and flourished and become America’s Game, despite baseball’s errored attempts to christen itself as such through various tired marketing campaigns. “Ameri ca’s Pastime,” as they like to tout themselves, employs a steady 28% of its players from other countries. The NBA is slightly fewer with 22% of their players classified as international. The NHL, which has gained significant popularity during my generation, employs only around 28% red, white, and blue professional players.
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Praise sweet baby touchdown Jesus, pigskin is back. We’re two weeks removed from the NFL, but college and all primary-school levels have kicked off. The real patriots can emerge from their oppressive summer of pretending to sort of care about baseball, or tennis, or all of the other sports we’re subjected to while pa tiently hibernating in anticipation of the one true American sport remaining: football, the American one, which is the only one. If you’re digesting my statements and feeling argumentative, go for it. Lean into your fury, then put on a helmet and ram into something or, better yet, someone. You’ll feel better. I’m not saying football is a better sport than others thanks to acceptable blind rage, but it doesn’t detract from the argument. It’s well-established through statistics and em pirical observation that Americans are just kind of pissed off for a litany of reasons that have nothing to do with how damn great our country is, and we need ways to express it outside of road rage and mass shootings.
BY BUCK D. ELLIOTT
That doesn’t account for the yuge money drawn in from the college gridiron that pro duces the funds for universities to support broad athletic departments, including reve nue-negative sports we might feign a cursory interest in when football season concludes.
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Finally, the Predator series produces a worthy successor.
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Amber Midthunder takes cover from the alien monster in Prey.
Prey Starring Amber Midthunder. Directed by Trachtenberg.DanWritten by Patrick Aison. Rated R.
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BY KRISTIAN LIN Hallelujah, praise the Lord! At long last, somebody did something creative with the Predator series! It took only 35 years after the release of the original science-fiction thriller, which well deserved a sequel but not the three that it got (and we’re not even counting those Alien vs. Predator crossover movies). Prey, which started streaming this month on Hulu, rediscovers the qualities that distinguished the original film by go ing back in time. Set in 1719, the story concerns Naru (Amber Midthunder), a Comanche girl on the Great Plains who is already an accom plished herbalist and tracker but yearns to become a full-fledged hunter, especially af ter she sees a spaceship in the sky trailing electricity and assumes it’s a thunderbird giving her its blessing. Alas, the ship has already deposited one of those invisible dreadlocked alien collectors with the sharp claws and laser-sighted weapons, and while her older brother (Dakota Beavers) and the other Comanche braves are searching for the mountain lion that mauled one of their own, the alien is hunting them. I wish this film had gone the Mel Gib son route — damn, I actually wrote those words — and had all the native actors per form in the Comanche language, though Hulu does offer a subtitled version of the film with the dialogue dubbed into Coman che. I appreciate that the English-language version translates neither its few snatches of Comanche nor the French dialogue when Naru falls into the hands of European trap pers who may do worse things to her than the Predator. While the Predator’s weapons aren’t as advanced as we see in the contem porary films, the Comanche are fighting the creature with bows and arrows, while the French have firearms that are slow and un reliable.Director Dan Trachtenberg previous ly took a different franchise to unattained heights with his filmmaking debut 10 Clo verfield Lane. If this movie doesn’t have the psychological depth of his Cloverfield spinoff, it is staged efficiently enough that you can overlook the director’s hammer ing of the theme of animals hunting their prey. There’s one cool se quence when a grizzly bear peels off from Naru to at tack the Predator, and her first clear view of the alien comes when it’s covered in the bear’s blood. Naru tells a group of hunters that she has seen a mupitsi, and I took the opportunity to learn about this monster from Comanche folklore, something I wouldn’t have had from a whit er and more conventional Predator sequel. I’m not so enamored of the contrived way that Naru finally prevails over the alien, but Prey does boast a star turn by Midthun der, the Sioux actor who caught my eye even when in the unrewarding roles of the token girl in Liam Neeson thrillers The Ice Road and The Marksman. She looks convincing throwing a tomahawk for accuracy, but, more impor tantly, she’s dynamic and alert as she deals with a threat that her tribe has nev er seen before. Some of the Native actors around her are not so sharp, which throws her performance into greater relief as a girl who is also bat tling her own hazardous levels of overcon fidence — Naru’s first encounter with the mountain lion is a comprehensive failure that comes close to making her dead. The Native American background enables all this movie’s salient achievements, including its brilliant star turn and the inspiring final shot of the heroine, to take a series that had been creatively dead and breathe new life into it. l
“I don’t know that I’m a mentor,” Lar ry replied. “If I am, I’m honored. When you see his portraits, I think they’re impressive. He is a great artist. I think he will be even greater as he goes on. I’m really proud of Jay.”Lisa said longtime friends and relatives of Larry’s are coming from all over to attend Saturday’s event. Many of his acquaintances had no idea he has advanced cancer. Larry is the kind of person who doesn’t want to bur den others with that kind of news, she said.
Larry, she added, had ambitious goals of opening a gallery or studio post-retire ment.“He did finish one piece of art this year,” she said. “His granddaughter scrib bled on the drawing of a pride of lions by adding grass. He fondly says it is their col laborativeWilkinsonpiece.”said organizing a show for his stepfather felt like one way to add a sem blance of control over a disease that modern medicine often fails to cure.
When Art ‘Works at Its Best’ Larry’s 2020 cancer diagnosis was followed by promising immunotherapy treatments that left him and his wife optimistic that he might be cured. By late 2021, the tumors began growing back and Larry began un dergoing chemotherapy. The procedures have drastically reduced his energy, but he sounded upbeat during a brief phone inter view under the pretext that Saturday’s show featured works by Wilkinson.
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Larry Allen spent his young adult years working as an illustrator to support three children from his first marriage before marrying Lisa Allen and adopting her three children.
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Larry Allen’s creative output spanned paintings, drawings, and, as shown here, colored pencil works.
Larry Allen, Retrospectivea 6-9pm Sat at Dang Good Candy, 404 Houston St, FW. Free. 817-235-2030.
The upcoming Larry Allen retrospective will feature works by the stepfather and childhood mentor of painter Jay Wilkinson.
The one-day exhibit at Dang Good Candy will feature around 20 artworks rang ing from prints to drawings and paintings that represent Allen’s decades-long career as an artist.“The show will represent a timeline of his life,” Wilkinson said. The photorealistic painter who co-founded the nonprofit Art Tooth, which may be best known for bien nial pArty bus tours, and now heads the downtown studio/ gallery credits his stepfather for showing him that a career in the arts could be viable.
“He was influential in my life because he gave me a foundational core of being a skillful artist,” Wilkinson said, referring to impromptu drawing les sons between stepdad and son. “I do think that has become an important tool of mine. Larry was supportive in his understanding of the art world. Knowing him made that world feel tangible. I don’t think I would be where I am without him.”
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BY EDWARD BROWN Saturday’s opening will be as much a sur prise party/family reunion as a retrospective.
“The thing he is suffering from is un controllable,” Wilkinson said. “This is a way for me to create a project that honors what he gave to me — that early encourage ment. Without that, I don’t think I’d be me. I’m happy to have had enough success to give this to him. This is when that world of art works at its best.”
Coming from a military family, Lar ry expected abrupt moves, but in Hurst, he found a close group of lifelong friends that included famed blues musician Buddy Whittington.Long-haired and athletically built, Lar ry could reliably be called upon to build stage props for school productions when needed. After graduating in 1975, he earned an associate’s degree before working at Gen eral Dynamics (now Lockheed Martin) as an illustrator of weapons and ejection seat systems. He continued work as an illustrator for the Army after enlisting in 1981.
Early Years Larry, his wife recalled, was always a good listener. Lisa said she met him shortly after he transferred to L.D. Bell High School in the mid-1970s.“Hewasthe one I could tell my secrets to,” Lisa recalled. “We were friends but nev er dated in high school.”
When asked if he sees himself as an ar tistic mentor to Wilkinson, Larry was hesi tant to take that title at first.
Under Gen. Bernard Rogers, Larry drew military plans that detailed troop movements in Eu rope during the Cold War. While serving overseas, he met his first wife, with whom he had three children. In 1986, Larry reset tled in Fort Worth and began working as an illustrator for the Kimbell Art Museum and Amon Carter Museum of American Art.
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The featured artist has not been told that his paintings, drawings, and prints will be on display. Two years ago, 65-year-old Day ton, Ohio, native Larry Allen was diagnosed with cancer that has since spread through out his body and raised the possibility that he may have a year at most to live. The pur pose of Larry Allen, a Retrospective is to boost his spirits while giving him his first — and relatives would say a long overdue — gallery exhibit.“It will be a very emotional evening,” said Lisa Allen, Larry’s wife of nearly 20 years and mother to artist Jay Wilkinson, the show’s organizer.
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“Jay started off as a natural, as far as his art goes,” Larry said. “He developed pretty quickly. His style is more grandiose.”
Larry and Lisa reconnected as friends just months after Lisa gave birth to Wilkinson. From 1989 to 1994, Larry worked for a local signage company before moving to Pensacola, Florida, with his family in the mid-1990s for a few years before divorcing his first wife and moving his children back to Fort Worth. Lisa, who had three children of her own, also divorced around that time. “Larry invited me to play darts and have margaritas,” Lisa remembered. “We would always get in the back door at Buddy Whittington concerts. We just hung out as friends.”Itwas Lisa who broke the news that she had romantic feelings for Larry, who re sponded that he had always had a crush on her but was afraid to tell her. The two waited six years before marrying in 2004. “We were like the Brady Bunch,” Lisa said with a laugh. “We tried to make them all work under one house. Larry had custody of his kids. Slowly, those kids moved on or decided to move with the other parent. Over time, we put four through college. The other two went to some college. We did our best to help them, so they wouldn’t have student debt.”From 1997 to 2000, Larry worked for AT&T. His time spent drawing and paint ing waned as he focused on supporting six children. During those years, Larry gave Wilkinson practical tips on painting and drawing.“He would show me different tech niques,” Wilkinson said. “There is a paint ing in the show of a girl laying on a beach towel. He explained how to create a fabric pattern and repeat it. Even if it is off, the pattern will create the softness of the tow el. I learned that you just had to mimic the texture.”
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The orchestral rock group Montopolis will perform the score to the Ukrainian documentary Man with a Movie Camera on Sunday in Fort Worth and Wednesday in Denton.
With dove season officially The Modern Art Museum mers on the planet — was born in 1972 right here in Fort Worth. When the Foo Fighter died in March, the world mourned with us. Today, we celebrate his life. At 10:30am, the with like-minded lake people, check out the Metroplex Ski Club (@MetroplexSkiClub) on the third Tuesday of each month at Shady Oak Barbeque & Grill (6364 Sandshell Dr, 817-306-7812). There are several specta tor-friendly events throughout the year — keep an eye on Facebook.com/Metroplex SkiClub/Events — including a free Labor Day weekend show at 11am at Marine Creek Lake (2700 NW Loop 820, 817-335-2491).
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The Taylor Hawkins Benefit Concert streams on various platforms Saturday. 21 Monday
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National Geographic’s trav eling exhibit Becoming Jane: The Evolution of Dr. Jane Goodall, a highly inter active journey through the life and career of a science and conservation champion, has been the featured attraction at the Perot Museum of Science & History (2201 N Field St, Dal las, 214-428-5555) since May. During the fi nal week, you can see it 10am-5pm Wed-Sat, 11am-5pm Sun, or 10am-5pm today. Tickets start at $21 at PerotMuseum.org.
FEATURING BRENTCOBB #POP22 PARTYPORCH ON THE ART | FOOD | MUSIC | FREE THE CARTER PRESENTS PARTY ON THE PORCH IS SPONSORED IN PART BY THE META ALICE KEITH BRATTEN FOUNDATION 6–1009.10.22p.m. PRESENTING SPONSOR AUG 18 - SEP 11
Austin-based orchestral rock group Montopolis is on tour, performing the score to the 1928 Ukrainian documentary Man with a Movie Camera, and the two North Texas stops are 3pm Sun in Fort Worth at Downtown Cowtown at the Isis (2401 N Main St, 817-808-6390) and 8pm Wed, Sep 7, in Denton at Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios (411 E Sycamore St, 940-594-2207). Tickets are $10 on Pre kindle.com. At each show — and at Monto polisMusic.com — the band will sell show posters for $20, with the proceeds going to UNICEF in support of children in the ongo ing conflict in Ukraine.
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Jane Goodall: Becoming Janes ends Monday at the Perot. By Jennifer Bovee
BY JENNIFER BOVEE
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When you have the opportunity to stay in a 3,000-square-foot Airbnb, you say yes, es pecially if a student of Frank Lloyd Wright designed it. Thus began the second half of my From C to Shining C: Cleburne to Co manche summer adventure.
WEEKLYWORTHFORT 20226,SEPTEMBER-31AUGUST 16fwweekly.com Looking for a Weekend Getaway? Consider Comanche.
Tranquility Hill in Comanche is a three-bedroom home on tons of acres. So, along with our usual couple friends/travel ing companions, my fiancé and I also invit ed my mother along. She became a widow earlier this year, so a getaway to the third bedroom of this fabulous house sounded great to her. (As an artist herself, the Frank Lloyd Wright connection was too much to pass Asup.)my mother lives a bit past Cleburne, we picked her up out of the kindness of our hearts but also with the intent of stopping at Woods & Cuds (5601 US 67, Alvarado, 817783-6328) for premium meats for grilling out. My mom makes a killer chili, and Fri day night’s menu was going to be chili dogs with Wagyu wieners. It did not disappoint. The dogs were $20 for 5 pounds and were well worth it. After arriving at Tranquility Hill (409 Indian Creek Dr, @AirBnB.com/H/SHCo manche) and taking in the scenery inside and out, we settled into the den to wait for our friends to arrive. We used the free Net flix to watch The Starling, a dramatic comedy about dealing with grief and a crazy bird. My mom loved it. My fiancé fell asleep. I can’t blame him. He had been driving all day. Before letting the house suck us in all Saturday afternoon, all Saturday night, and all day Sunday, we got up early on Saturday morning to check out the nearby downtown square. We ate breakfast at a cute little diner called the City Center Cafe (127 N Houston St, 325-356-1300), shopped for antiques at the Courthouse Square Mall (117 N Houston St, 325-356-5414), and visited a museum. Among the many finds at the Comanche County His torical Museum (402 Mooreman Rd, 325356-5115) was one extraordinary piece in par ticular: a Buffalo Soldier uniform. The mu seum’s collection also includes a diorama of a Comanche Native American family campsite, an exhibit about outlaw John Wesley Hardin, and a salute to area veterans from World War I thru the Vietnam era, including a survivor of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis. The museum is open 10am-4pm Wed-Sat. There is no entry fee, but a small monetary donation is appreciated.Tranquility Hill provides all the kitch en utilities, silverware, plates, and cookware you need for staying all weekend indoors, plus a nice grill out by the basketball hoop. With this in mind, we stopped at the local Brookshire’s (404 W Central Av, 325-3563248) after our morning outing. We nabbed a buy-one-get-one-free marinated pork loin that we used for a formal dinner Saturday evening in the dining room after eating most of our meals in the breakfast nook in the kitchen. Tranquility#fancylikeHillalso has a wonderful firepit and outdoor living area, but it was July, and it was way too hot out for that. My one complaint, and it’s a small one, is that there is no pool. I wonder what pool Frank Lloyd Wright’s former son-in-law/prote ge Charles Schiffner would have designed? Had it been anything like the bathroom in the primary suite with tile in his mother-inlaw’s favorite shade of pink, it would have been a sight to behold. continued on page 26If you’re mad about mid-century decor, Tranquility Hill is the perfect fall getaway for you. Deer Comanche, we love it here!
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The best part of this weekend is not hav ing to do any #adulting on Monday morn ing, so a Sunday evening show is in order.
Local David Bowie tribute band The Thin White Dukes (@TWDSDFW) is playing 8pm-10pm at Hotel Vin (215 E Dallas Rd, Grapevine, 817-796-9696). This “Labor ‘Dave’ Weekend” show is free to attend. If you arrive feeling hungry, check out the dinner menu or bar food items at the hotel’s restaurant/bar, Bacchus. For info on oth er September shows, check out Crosstown Sounds in the Calendar drop-down at FW Weekly.com.
From this King of the Grill package for $475 down to the TX Burger Box for $60, The Butcher Shop at B&B has several Summer Grilling Packages available for Labor Day weekend.
1.) If you’re planning a final summer blow out at home, The Butcher Shop at B&B (5212 Marathon Av, 817-737-5212) has some specials to check out 11am-4pm Wed-Sun. Purchase an Otto Wilde Griller for the sale price of $999 (originally $1,195). “In just three minutes, the grill heats up to 1,500°F to create a flavor and juice-locking crust in just a minute per side.” B&B’s Summer Grilling Packages include options for B&B’s popular TX Burger & Wagyu Hot Dog Box es, regular burgers and hot dogs, select cuts, and more. For more details or to order, visit
2.)BBButchers.com/Menus-Ft-Worth.AreyouheadedtoLakeGranbury this weekend? If so, stop by the Granbury Artisan Market (3800 Contrary Creek Rd, 682498-3431) 9am-2pm Sat-Sun for a special Labor Day Weekend Market. You’ll find all sorts of goodies for purchase from local ar tisans, farmers, makers, and fellow foodies. For an update on this weekend’s vendors, keep an eye on Facebook.com/GranburyAr 3.)tisanMarket.OnSunday, head to The Depot at Cle burne Station (1906 Brazzle Blvd, 817-9458705) for Lone Star Legacy Night 1pm-4pm as the Cleburne Railroaders play the Lake Country Dockhounds in the last home game before the playoffs. At 2pm, enjoy a Taste of Johnson County with local restaurants sell ing their best menu items. Tickets are $16 at ILoveTexasBaseball.com, and one child 12 or younger gets in free with each adult ticket purchase. If you’d like to make a weekend of it, stay at the Hampton Inn & Suites (1996 W Henderson St, 817-641-7770). The suites can easily accommodate the whole family, and the indoor pool will be refreshing after a day at the ballpark. Plus, the complimentary continental breakfast includes some yummy bacon and a self-serve waffle station. Do it!
5.)
Happy Labor Day!
By Jennifer Bovee
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Labor Day is pretty self-explanatory. On the first Monday in September, we celebrate the American worker by not working. How will you spend your federally mandated threeday weekend? Here are eight ways around North Texas.
4.) For those searching for a memorable brunch experience this Sunday, Texas Re public (945 Foch St, 817-887-9797) is host ing the Ciroc All White Labor Day Brunch Party noon-4pm. Enjoy one mimosa, a brunch buffet with 30 items, a photobooth, and DJs spinning hip-hop, old school, and Top 40 tunes all day for $20 per person. Up grade to bottomless mimosas for $12 more. Ciroc specialty cocktails and micheladas will also be available for purchase. For $20 tick ets or VIP experiences topping out at $360, visit Eventbrite.com.
Need a little “hair of the dog” after the weekend? Head to Mutt’s Canine Cantina Monday.
Try the giant salted pretzel served with pimento cheese dip at the Labor Day Mixer at Troy’s Wed, Sep 7.
6.) After participating in any of the festivities above, come Monday, you’ll need a bit of the old “hair of the dog.” Mutt’s Canine Cantina (5317 Clearfork Main St, 817-377-0151) has just the thing. Usually only available Sat-Sun, Mutt’s offers its Hair-of-the-Dog Brunch noon-3pm Mon, featuring Bloody Marys and mimosas for $3 and an all-day breakfast menu. For updates and specials, follow them at hurrah,7.)Facebook.com/MuttsCantinaFtWorth.Forafinalfamily-friendlysummerconsiderheadingto Josey Ranch Sports Complex (1440 Keller Springs Rd, Carrollton, 972-466-3080) 11am-7pm Mon for the second annual World-on-Wheels Food Truck Rally & BBQ Competition presented by ScheduleAFoodTruck.com. Food will be available for purchase from 30 food trucks, barbecue pop-ups, vendors, and more. Entertainment options include athletic competitions, face painting, games, karaoke, live music, a playground, a pooch parade, and a pet adoption event. Admission is 8.)free.But wait, there’s more. Troy’s (1650 E Randol Mill Rd, Ste 100, Arlington 817-7691551) — named after Troy Aikman and serv ing up gourmet food, signature cocktails, and live music inside Texas Live — hosts a Labor Day Mixer 5:30pm-9:30pm Wed, Sep 7, featuring live music by Sir Earl Toon of Kool & The Gang with Shelley Carrol, food and drink specials, and small business vendors, including ecofriendly jewelry/ac cessories by Arlington-based maker Tscha ner Sefas of 31:13 (@ThirtyOneand13). There is no cost to attend.
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Frogger Scrumptious pizzas, creative ciders, and endless gaming options await at newcomerTCU-areaCidercade.
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BY EDWARD BROWN
us translate the Japanese
It started in early 2021 with Smokestack 1948. The cocktail lounge and craft beer tap room that also doubles as a venue/beer gar den opened at 2836 Stanley Ave., in a part of the TCU area near Berry Street and 8th Avenue that wasn’t known for nightlife at the time. Then came Lola’s Fort Worth. The West 7th venue relocated to the building that formerly housed Berry Street Ice House and began offering gourmet hot dogs and more via Food at Lola’s. Both popular hangouts are with in walking distance of District 90. The 45,000-square-foot refurbished industrial building houses multiple businesses, includ ing Splinters Axes and Ales, where you can knock back a pint while throwing sharp ob jects at wooden targets and wooden targets only, and now Cidercade. Even on a Monday evening, the venture of Dallas’ Bishop Cider was hoppin’.Admission is $10 and includes all-day access to nearly 300 arcade games. The place is massive and bathed in neon lights. Just continued on page 21 Cidercade offers more than a dozen cider options on draught. of Cidercade’s more creative pizzas Prosciutto. Cidercade staffer was happy help instructions
Cidercade Fort Worth, 1813 W Bowie St, FW. 682707-5491. 10am-10pm Sun, 10am-12am Mon-Thu, 10am-1am Fri-Sat.
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to
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WEEKLYWORTHFORT 20226,SEPTEMBER-31AUGUST 21fwweekly.com past the admissions booth, my guest and I ordered draught ciders. The Texas Strawber ry was fizzy, fruity, and not too sweet, and the Ciderdaze was a boozy apple-kissed de light.Slightly buzzing, we dived into several rounds of The Simpsons, Killer Instinct, and Tekken. My gaming skills were as lacking as they were back in the mid ’90s, but it was fun to relive some of my favorite games as a youth.After passing through a brightly lit tun nel, we arrived at a cavernous room that eas ily housed 150 pinball machines, racing vid eo games, and other electronic amusements. Cidercade offers 10 pizzas, a small variety of pizza rolls, two salads, and a few desserts. The options are priced between $8 and $12. Our four personal pizzas came out pip ing hot and dressed in garlic-infused olive oil. The Mediterranean was accentuated by salty Kalamata olives and bits of feta but otherwise lacked robust flavors. The Pear + Prosciutto was a lively mix of richly reduced balsamic vinegar, pungent but not overpowering goat cheese, bits of diced basil, and slices of sweet pears melt ing in the mozzarella. My only wish was that the kitchen had used more prosciutto. The Italian-style pork was hardly discernible as I greedily devoured every slice. True to form, the Meat Lover’s option was laden with juicy proteins. Crumbles of bacon sat atop chunks of Italian sausage, diced Canadian bacon, and generous por tions of pepperoni. Every bite was a savory and smoky delight. The Pepperoni + Honey was basically a well-crafted pepperoni pizza. The honey was barely noticeable, which was a shame because sweet plus savory is delightful. The crust on each order was perfectly baked — lightly charred on the edges and slightly chewy Accompanyingthroughout.thesuperlative pies were two more beverages: a bold pineapple cider that was tart and fragrant and a selt zer, Blackberry Tea, with a kiss of blackberry and minimal sweetness. Next up were racing video games and an attempt at Darius Burst, a surprisingly com plex Japanese Space Invaders-type game that did not come with English instructions. A Cidercade staffer noticed our dumbfounded expressions and helped us pick the appropri ate color level. “Beginner” is blue. l Eats & Drinks continued from page 19 election of Craft and Local Beers & Har Hotdogs, Nachos, Popcorn, Cotton Candy made fresh, daily! Great selection of Craft and Local Beers & Hard Cider! 5620 Denton Hwy (On 377, Behind Braums) Haltom City 817-300-1404 | ElectricStarshipArcade.com Play Yo u r Favorite Classic Ar c ade Games! FWW Best Of WINNER2021 ITALIAN KITCHEN GIOVANNI’S 5733 crowley rd • fort worth tx 76134 817.551.3713 | GIOVANNISFW.COM Vote For Us in Best Of 2022 "Best Italian Food" Cidercade Fort Worth Ciderdaze ................................................... $7 Pepperoni pizza $10 Mediterranean pizza ................................. $12 Meat Lover’s pizza $12 Pear + Prosciutto ...................................... $12 Blackberry Tea $7 The protein-packed Meat Lover’s option was belt-bustlingly delicious. NewquistWyatt The sprawling building just east of Lola’s Fort Worth is certainly roomy. WorthFortCidercadeCourtesy
Before heading to record in Reykjavik, Iceland, Tiffany Costello’s project releases a new post-gaze EP just months after returning to Fort Worth.
Living without regret is a theme for Tif fany Costello. It’s a constant drive that’s inspired her to move to several different (and culturally exciting) cities across the country and to try and maintain a consis tent vehicle for her musical expression. That vehicle is Housekeys, ethereal and oceanic synth-driven ambience that’s ideal if you’re into Nils Frahm and Brian Eno.
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Costello, after just two months back living in her hometown of Fort Worth, has released Exploded Views , a four-song EP that found its way onto streaming plat forms earlier this month through Slow Echo, a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based ambient footprint Echoes Blue.
“I draw from emotion,” Costello said of her music creation. “I’m always trying continued on page 25 Mission control for Tiffany Costello is not “in the box.”
On Views , unlike many other ambient artists who create much of their music “in the box” meaning with software-based synth modelers and plug-ins on a com puter Costello opted to create most of her sounds the old-fashioned way: with actual physical instruments, namely her Nord Electro synthesizer, Rhodes piano, and electric guitars. The end product is the sonic equivalent of a sci-fi movie that uses real practical effects versus the flat, weightless look of CGI. The result is much more immersive and authentic-feeling, with thick and wooly synth waves that crash over you rather than trickle into your ear. The music makes for the perfect soundtrack to any therapeutic task, read ing, or folding laundry, or staring into the void while contemplating where it all went wrong. Housekeys’ sonics are wide and expansive but remain grounding and contemplative at the same time.
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BY PATRICK HIGGINS
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A turning point for her progress in overcoming her fear happened during her first handful of shows. She managed to score an opening slot for instrumental post-rock outfit Unwed Sailor, a favorite band of hers since high school. “That was really cool for me,” she re called. “It was a big boost for me in think ing maybe this thing is something I can continue doing.” She admits she’s come a long way. The specter of disappointment from not pursuing her goals is a constant source of motivation.“I’velearned to compartmentalize it,” she said of ignoring her fear. “I can just shut that entire room out of my head. I’ll always regret it if I don’t do something be cause I’m scared to do it.” That drive of avoiding remorse over not taking chances brought her to Seat tle from her time in Denver. Then a few years later, she moved to New York. Living there, she said, was a humbling experience. She found it difficult to break into the sat urated music scene and instead began fo cusing on theater, acting, and dance as her creative outlet. All the while, she contin ued to write music and tried to learn more home recording techniques. Then she got another break that steered her focus back to music. After years of applying, she was finally accepted by South by Southwest for a slot on a showcase with well-regard ed ambient acts Nico Rosenberg, Lucy Gooch, and others. “That kind of shifted everything into a whirlwind,” Costello said of the experi ence of SXSW. “It was really well-received. Getting to play that, I totally shifted gears, and I’m really excited about it. I ended up writing a bunch of new music for that set. Some of that music will go into the new record I’m doing in October.” As a project, Housekeys’ sound has evolved over the years Costello has been tending to it, beginning with a shoegaze vibe, then revving into mostly impro vised noise existing only in performance. During her time in Seattle, she began to try to smooth out some of the rougher edg es, to add some structure, and to try to find the form of “proper songs” hidden within the undefined blocks of sonic marble. From her years-long tour living in many of the country’s cultural hot spots to her newfound focus on recording and playing live and to her diving headfirst back into the local music scene recon necting with old musical allies and even starting a Facebook page devoted to ar chiving the rich musical history of Fort Worth — Costello is trying to do it all. However, her latest endeavor to avoid the I-wish-I-would-haves will push her further than anything yet. For that next album she’s planning on tracking next month, not only will Costello sing a task that her self-professed shyness to this point hasn’t allowed she will do that singing all the way in Reykjavik, Iceland. House keys will be recording in the rocky and rainy island’s famed Sundlaugin Studio, home of post-rock icons Sigur Rós . She ad mits she’s nervous about the prospect a foreign country, attempting to live up to a historied studio’s standards, uncharted musical territory — but that old drive is compelling her to once again take the in herent risks, both emotional and financial.
McClungShawn RIDGLEA ROOM RIDGLEA LOUNGE SAT 9/17 DR. SCOTTIE “MUDBONE” JONES PLUS TONI BRAXTON AND GLORIA ESTEFAN TRIBUTE SHOW FRI 10/7 CHRISTIAN SHIELDS, BEYOND DESTINY, KIMES, BROTHERS BECKHAM FRI 9/2 LOOMA, GLÜESTICK, BAD LIVES, JAYBIRDS FRI 9/2 RIDGLEA THEATER 9/16FRI HERETIC KLICK & GUESTS 9/11SUN THIRD STRING PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS: 9/10SAT COMEDIAN “Q” KEITH KEEF GLASON, SAT9/3 VICTOR ENTROPYWITHPOLYPHIAPRESENTSUNPROCESSED&DEATHTOURSAT 10/1 ATTILA WED 11/2 LORNA SHORE THE RIDGLEA REVUE UNITED WE FALL TOUR ANGELIA WALKER, AND MARK “SUPERSTAR” JONES W/SPECIAL GUESTS CATCH YOUR BREATH & TALLAH Music continued from page 22
Though Costello has been writing and performing under the Housekeys moniker since her time living in Denver about sev en years ago, Exploded Views is the proj ect’s first official release, a delay she said she owes to fear. “I’ve always been trying to do the music thing,” she said, “but I have stage fright, and [a desire for] perfection is al ways lingering, so I never really put any thing out.”
“The way I view this whole thing is that I’ve stopped trying to control it,” she said. “Instead, I’m now like, ‘OK, what would you like to create for me today?,’ letting it all exist how it wants.” l
WEEKLYWORTHFORT 20226,SEPTEMBER-31AUGUST 25fwweekly.com to pull out whatever I’m feeling and put it into the music. The translation of where the artist is at while they’re creating to how it’s perceived by the audience is al ways fascinating to me.”
The next step for Costello appears to be adding a rhythm section and expand ing Housekeys into a proper band, and she said she looks forward to the next stage of evolution for the project.
While we hated to leave on Sunday, we quickly realized we were all headed in the same direction for part of the way back home. Before parting ways, we stopped in Stephenville and ate at The Purple Goat (2025 E Washington St, 254-965-4628). Ser vice was slow, but the food was worth the wait. Order the Smokin’ Goat BBQ Sand wich with brisket as your meat. Trust us. l Shopping, dining, and history await you in Comanche. GoogleCourtesy
WEEKLYWORTHFORT 20226,SEPTEMBER-31AUGUST 26fwweekly.com
Tranquility Hill is immaculately dec orated with mid-century art and furniture, including custom pieces explicitly made for the house by the designer. The only thing that snaps you back into this centu ry is your own belongings and the Central Perk decor from Friends at the coffee sta tion. Everything else is pure mid-century delight.There is rooftop access for the dirty smokers in your group. Binoculars are also provided for scoping out the wildlife on the acreage. Remembering our viewing of The Starling and all the freely roaming deer and rabbits on the property made me think I should have written this for Creature Com forts last week. Instead, I saved this for our Labor Day issue. While summer might be over, a fall get away at Tranquility Hill would be perfect. The price of $312 per night is quite reason able, especially if you divide it among three couples or #YourMomandThem.
Big Ticket continued from page 16
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