Fort Worth Weekly // November 30 - December 6, 2022

FEATURE

For livestreaming police misconduct, Manual Mata has been arrested for his troubles.

BY EDWARD BROWN

BUCK U

Biased mainstream media craves a Frogs loss to squeeze in OSU and Bama.

BY BUCK D. ELLIOTT

Sundance Square Lights Up

The tree is here in all its glory — what are you waiting for?

BY JENNIFER BOVEE

MUSIC

Folk-cum-techno songstress Sarah Jaffe plays Lola’s Saturday.

BY JESSICA WALLER

MUSIC

Remembering Curt Low and the genius of Complete.

BY ANTHONY MARIANI

Citizen Auditor

Hello, Hello, Birdie’s

The social club in the space formerly occupied by Lola’s features a small but mighty menu.

STAFF

Anthony Mariani, 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

By Edward Brown

By Laurie James

Off to Hoogie Boogie Land

Remembering Complete frontman Curt Low.

By Buck D. Elliott

By Anthony Mariani

Clintastic, Brand Ambassador

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, Cody Neathery, Wyatt Newquist, Linda Blackwell Simmons, Madison Simmons, Teri Webster, Ken WheatcroftPardue, Cole Williams

EDITORIAL BOARD

Anthony Mariani, Edward Brown, Emmy Smith Cover image by Wyatt Newquist

METROPOLIS

Judicial Senioritis

A slew of new findings into Texas’ system of visiting retired judges reveals the rot may start from the top.

BY STATIC

Lots of local judges, here and maybe across the state, have been shitting their black robes since April. That’s when we started looking into double dipping on the taxpay ers’ dime.

Here’s how it works. When judges re tire, they can still preside over cases as “vis iting retired judges,” but by taking a couple of oaths of office, these judges can no longer receive their retirement monies while on as signment. By ignoring these oaths, visiting retired judges can be paid while presiding over cases and earning their retirement, and it seems a lot of our supposed arbiters of jus tice are A-OK with pulling a fast one on us.

For the better part of this year, our mag azine has focused on judicial misconduct at the county level, and it was only through that work and the help of an anonymous whistleblower that the statewide issues with Texas’ Chief Justice Nathan Hecht recently came to our attention.

Hecht appears to have a fast and loose regard for the constitutional qualifications of retired judges like Sid Harle, whom Hecht regularly appoints to protect fellow powerful Republicans.

In mid-2017, Gov. Greg Abbott ap pointed retired judge Harle as presiding judge of the Fourth Administrative Judicial Region, which includes San Antonio. Soon after Abbott’s appointment, Hecht assigned Harle to a case in the Fifth Administrative Region, which includes southeast Texas.

“Pursuant to Section 74.049 and Sec tion 74.057 of Texas Government Code, I as sign you to the 28th Judicial District Court, Nueces County,” Hecht wrote on Nov. 3, 2017.

A review of the codes in question reveals that neither section allows the chief justice to assign a regional administrative judge to another region. Section 74.049 grants Hecht authority to assign visiting retired judges within an administrative region while the other cited government code allows Hecht

to assign visiting retired judges to courts in other parts of the state.

As administrative judge, Harle earns $114,550 per year, according to the Texas Tribune. Visiting retired judges are paid on par with the daily rate of the judges they fill in for. When an administrative judge like Harle is assigned to a preside over a court and takes the bench, he holds a second office of profit under Article XVI, Sections 40 and 33, of the Texas Constitution.

Even more damning: Harle’s assign ments by Hecht frequently led to the acquit tal of powerful Republican officials.

One recent case involved Republican Judge Guy Williams, who was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after pointing a gun at the occupants of an other vehicle a year earlier. Harle presided

over the March 2018 jury trial that acquitted Williams.

In mid-2018, again citing Sections 74.049 and Section 74.057, Hecht assigned Harle to the case of Republican Judge Dan Gattis in Williamson County. Gattis faced a Class A misdemeanor charge of official op pression for threatening a sheriff who was tweeting about internal county issues. With the consent of the sheriff, Harle later dis missed the charges.

Two years later, Hecht again assigned Harle to a criminal case tied to Williams. This time, Williams faced charges of mak ing a terroristic threat, a third-degree felony, and criminal trespass, a Class B misdemean or. The most recent reporting on the case in dicates that Williams is seeking an acquittal for both charges.

Hecht’s September 2020 assignment of Harle to oversee a recusal hearing in Gilles pie County, just west of Austin and a few hours’ drive from Harle’s San Antonio home court, shows how brazen judges act when protecting their own. That summer, some one named James McKinnon filed a lawsuit against Stephen Ables, presiding judge of the Sixth Administrative Judicial Region, alleging that Ables committed unspecified violations of the U.S. Constitution when performing public duties as a judge.

In response, Ables filed a successful motion to label McKinnon a vexatious lit igant, a move that bars McKinnon from representing himself in any Texas court. For reasons not disclosed on court documents, 216th District Court Judge Albert Pattillo was asked to recuse himself from the case but refused to do so. Hecht assigned Harle to decide whether Pattillo could ethically rule over the matter that involved his colleague, Ables.

The following month, Patillo moved forward with the vexatious litigant hearing, suggesting that Harle did not order the re cusal of Pattillo.

In his October ruling, Pattillo wrote that “courts cannot allow litigants to abuse the judicial system and harass their victims without consequences. This court orders James McKinnon to be a vexatious litigant.”

Pattillo’s use of the vexatious litigant law to silence dissent follows a pattern of Texas judges abusing the law to silence critics.

Austin-based attorney Mary Louise Ser afine recently co-filed a civil lawsuit against several state leaders with the goal of over turning the law that recently banned McK innon from ever filing suit in the Lone Star State. Judges often misuse the law to shut up defendants who allege judicial misconduct, Serafine told us. The civil suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in September, seeks to overturn the law on the grounds that vexatious litigant laws are an affront to norms of civil rights and due process under the U.S. Constitution.

“There is now a critical mass of people, myself included, who have now given up the idea that most of the courts — trial, ap pellate, and supreme court — operate fairly most of the time,” she said. “They don’t.” l

This column reflects the opinions of the ed itorial board and not the Fort Worth Week ly. To submit a column, please email Editor Anthony Mariani at Anthony@FWWeekly. com. He will gently edit it for factuality, con cision, and clarity.

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.

Tarrant County’s systemic issues related to fraudulent assignments of visiting retired judges may be condoned by Chief Justice Nathan Hecht.

Courtesy Supreme Court of Texas

Auditing

Citizens’ Rights

Supporters of Manuel Mata claim police wrongfully arrested him in retaliation for his popular livestream videos of government misconduct.

BY EDWARD BROWN

Lupe asked me to meet her early at Tarrant County Jail. Her incarcerated boyfriend is allowed only two visitors a day, she said, so arriving in the morning ensured we were allowed in. After we showed our IDs to a sheriff’s deputy, we took the elevator to the seventh floor and waited for the inmate to arrive. Lupe asked to conceal her last name to protect her privacy.

At the end of the hall sat four parti tioned booths. Bits of litter were scattered

along the decrepit floor, and a palpable smell of urine filled the air. Lupe said she has known her boyfriend for around 20 years. She met him when he was a “punk-ass kid,” she said with a laugh.

“He really was just a kid,” she contin ued. “He was just over 20 at the time.”

The two remained friends for most of those two decades, only dating the past few years. After Fort Worth police arrested him in early October, Manual Mata collect calls her up to three times a day, she said.

When the thin 42-year-old with closely cropped black hair found our booth, his face and ours separated by thick glass, he smiled.

Over the past two years and through his YouTube channel @ManuelMata, the self-described citizen journalist has broken stories on employees at the Tarrant Regional Water District calling 911 on visitors lives treaming board meetings, even though such practices are perfectly legal, and one year ago, he posted a video of receiving a trespass warning from a Fort Worth police officer while attempting to enter a police station to file a complaint. Though never trained as a journalist, Mata has a firm grasp on South side policing practices, and he has good in stincts and a strong work ethic.

The week after my jail visit, I received a call from Lupe’s number. It was Mata. Earli er that day, he had had his $18,500 bail paid by a fellow citizen journalist. Mata told me he planned to “lay low” for the near future and focus on having his several misdemean or charges dismissed.

Citizen journalist Manuel Mata is part of a nationwide movement that calls for livestreaming the actions of law enforcement as a means of protecting the rights of citizens.

Mata livestreamed the events that led to his October arrest. The police interaction has tallied more than 5,000 views on You Tube. In the video — titled “Fuck You Dirty Cop” — Mata walks along a sidewalk on the South Side as two Fort Worth police SUVs are visible in the distance. Officer Doug Bengal exits one of the vehicles and rushes toward Mata, ordering him to turn around walk away from the SUVs.

Mata replies that no law restricts civil ians to so-called reasonable spaces.

“I can walk down the sidewalks,” Mata shouts back at Bengal. “Is it true or not?”

Bengal walks away before abruptly turning around and telling Mata that he is resisting arrest. The police officer handcuffs him.

“What you’re doing is illegal,” Mata tells Bengal. “Official oppression. Untruth fulness. I know the law better than you do.”

Mata told me Fort Worth police are do ing everything they can to keep him in jail so he cannot livestream more police encoun ters.

“I was walking back to see my girl friend,” Mata said, referring to his unin tended run-in with Bengal.

In many ways, Mata is a surrogate for founded or unfounded outrage by left- and right-wing groups against the status quo. Figures who have voiced support for Mata include C.J. Grisham, a former Army ser geant who, when running for an open state rep position in 2018, said the FBI agents who fatally shot antigovernment militiaman Robert LaVoy Finicum should be “lined up and shot.” Mata’s courting of Grisham re cently led several progressive-minded locals to distance themselves from him.

Still, the citizen journalist’s vocal crit icism of county leadership has made him popular on social media with his followers of the broader citizen auditor movement that relies on volunteers who audit government business, usually through photographing or filming public spaces. The idea is to assert freedoms like the right to film police officers as a means of keeping government transpar ent and accountable.

relives frequently. The anger he feels toward his sister’s murderers drives his disdain for injustice in all its forms. For backers of the blue, tying law enforcement to criminal con duct might seem peculiar at best, but Mata told me that in many poor Hispanic neigh borhoods, the residents view the police as criminals.

“I’m Mexican,” Mata said during one of our early interviews. “I live in a poor neigh borhood. To police, I don’t fucking matter. We don’t have a BLM for Hispanics, Chica nos, and Latinos. The police throw it in my face. ‘You are not going to matter because of your race and where you live,’ they say. They tell me this shit, but they turn off their cameras.”

of his work began to broaden, thanks to his friendship with Thomas Torlincasi.

Torlincasi could be the subject of his own cover story, and he would deserve the recognition. The Fort Worthian who recent ly died of a heart attack at 62 pushed Mata to sleuth for corruption, not on the streets of the South Side but in government build ings where officials were used to conducting business largely outside the public eye.

I first connected with Mata in late 2021 via emails and phone calls. He wanted to alert me to police misconduct on the Near South side and around nearby Hemphill Street. On several occasions, Mata told me that the Fort Worth Weekly was the only publication in town to report on official corruption and law enforcement misconduct. Mata told me about his past. He was two years out of pris on at the time, following an eight-year stint for felony drug possession.

Throughout his incarceration, Mata said he avoided gang affiliations.

“I’m no gang member,” he told me. “I went through hell staying out of gangs. Gang members killed my little sister in 1999. I would never be in any gang.”

Her name was Mary, and she had just turned 16. Anyone who knows Mata under stands the drive-by shooting is something he

After seeing police allegedly mute or turn off their cameras when it suited them, Mata realized that he needed to livestream his encounters with law enforcement, for his own protection and as evidence of miscon duct. In mid-2021, Mata discovered the Dell Dehay Law Library. He spent six months visiting the downtown library to research the rules and laws that govern policing in Texas.

The cops “have a policy and procedure to follow,” he told me. “If they don’t, they lose their job. Their job isn’t to protect officers’ mistakes, and that’s what I’m going to teach them. They think I’m dumb because I’m a Mexican and where I live. I’m tired of it.”

Peruse Mata’s YouTube channel and his evolution as a self-described citizen journal ist is apparent.

Mata’s channel has several thousand followers. The bulk of his livestream vid eos in 2021 and early 2022 focused on Fort Worth police. Five months ago, the scope

Outwardly, the two couldn’t appear more different. Heavily tatted and usually sporting a baseball cap, Mata looked the part of a former felon to many outsiders. Torlin casi, middle-aged and white, was a polished public speaker. The two found a common interest in attending meetings of Tarrant County’s commissioners court and Fort Worth City Council, usually with Torlincasi speaking and Mata filming.

When security tried to prohibit either of them from speaking or filming, Mata would use the confrontations to further his case by quoting relevant laws or case law. He occasionally edited the videos to add commentary or literally superimpose clown faces over elected officials. In private conversations, local supporters of govern ment accountability told me they lauded the sometimes outlandish acts while others thought it was mere spectacle and possibly counterproductive to reform efforts.

Mata said he misses his friend Torlincasi.

“This would be a lot easier if he were still here,” Mata continued. “It’s like hav ing a good lawyer. That’s what Thomas was for me. No matter what I was doing, he re

YouTube footage of officer Doug Bengal’s arrest of Manuel Mata has further elevated Mata’s status as a prominent citizen auditor.

Courtesy

assured me that was what we needed to be done. They have been able to silence and threaten people forever here in Fort Worth.”

Torlincasi, he said, spoke on behalf of people who felt intimidated.

Mata and Torlincasi shared an affini ty for confrontation. The brazen games of brinksmanship with police and sheriff’s deputies occasionally landed Mata in jail. One of his remaining misdemeanor charges is for allegedly assaulting a peace officer at the northeast headquarters of the Tarrant Appraisal District (TAD) in mid-August. As Mata was preparing to livestream a TAD board meeting, several sheriff’s deputies who work security at TAD confronted Mata and Torlincasi.

The incident was livestreamed on Face book.

Based on the recording, Mata and Tor lincasi are waiting near an area that TAD had cordoned off for media. As Thomas steps outside the area to interview some board members, TAD communications offi cer Ricardo Aguilera approaches him. Agu ilera then tells Torlincasi that he had been warned not to leave the cordoned-off section before approaching sheriff’s deputy J.D. Thomas, who has a history of making false arrests (“Damage Control,” Aug. 31). Soon after, several sheriff’s deputies begin push ing Mata and Torlincasi out of the room.

“They wouldn’t let my arms go,” Mata recalled. “I told them that my arms hurt. They were trying to be friendly to me at first. I asked them to let me go, so I could walk out.”

After Mata’s arrest, Torlincasi took to Facebook to post about his brother-in-arms.

“Manuel Mata remains a political prisoner in Tarrant County Jail,” Torlinca si wrote. “Keep in mind, Manuel has been convicted of zero of the crimes they charged him with. Every single one is a charge based on his exerting his civil rights.”

Speaking to the commissioners court in late September, retired librarian LaVonne Cock erell described alleged police surveillance of Mata’s home in the Hemphill neighbor hood.

“After the death of Thomas Torlincasi, I and a large group of people have taken up his concerns, and his most pressing concern is the safety of Manuel Mata,” Cockerell said. “Mr. Mata lives six blocks away from my house.”

After dropping off Mata downtown on a parole-related visit, Cockerell recalled a truck coming around the corner of their street.

“Out of the sunroof, a woman with a tat ted hand and blonde hair took a cell phone picture, which was a little disconcerting. I got her tag number. That truck was seen lat er in the neighborhood with different tags. That worries me because [Torlincasi] felt like [Mata] was being targeted.”

Cockerell told the commissioners that she does not want a stress heart attack, a ref erence to one possible cause of Torlincasi’s death.

“I would like to talk to this woman,” Cockerell continued, referring to the blonde in the truck. “I would like to know if she is connected to the sheriff’s department or anyone with the police.”

Mata and his supporters maintain he lives under a constant state of police surveil lance. Cockerell told me that, at one recent meeting at Ol’ South Pancake House where several of Mata’s supporters gathered to discuss ways to address his misdemeanor charges, a large sheriff’s department trans port vehicle pulled up. Cockerell spoke to a restaurant employee who said the deputies chose the spot because they knew Mata’s friends were there.

While chatting with Mata in late Sep tember near his home, I noticed a constant stream of Fort Worth police cruisers pass his home. West Richmond Avenue, Mata said, is not a busy or important thoroughfare, yet police constantly patrol the neighborhood.

Shortly before Torlincasi died, he told me the police aren’t the only ones targeting Mata. Magistrate Judge Melinda Lehmann, he alleged, oversees magistration — a step that sets bond conditions — of cop watchers. If the powers-that-be wanted to keep citizen auditors detained indefinitely, that decision would come from a magistrate judge in pos sible consultation with the district attor ney’s office.

I requested copies of communications between Lehmann and assistant district attorney Ashton Moore, who is assigned to Mata’s case. The administrator for Tarrant County’s magistrate judges refused to give me copies of the communications, and judg es at the state Office of Court Administra tion ruled that Tarrant County magistrate judges could bar the release of the emails.

Tarrant County’s magistrate judges do step outside their job descriptions to se lectively target individuals as favors to the powerful and well-connected. A Tarrant County jury recently found me not guilty of harassing the maternal grandfather of my daughter five years ago. The offense was around 15 unanswered phone calls over the course of a few weeks to him to let me know if my child was alive and well.

During my June 2019 arrest tied to those charges, I found myself in a small Tar rant County jail cell with a dozen other de fendants awaiting magistration. Judge Mark Thielman arraigned me last after the room was empty, save for two sheriff’s deputies.

He told me he is “friends” with the al leged victim.

I took his actions as an overt act of ag gression and intimidation. I later learned via Rule 12 requests that Thielman was com municating with other magistrate judges, including Tamla Ray, to inform them that he knew the alleged victim. Thielman med dled in my child custody case by placing my daughter on a no-contact order. He also re quired that I install spyware on my phone and computer that allowed DA Sharen Wil son’s administration to monitor the activi ties of one of the most published reporters in Tarrant County.

It took intervention by my attorney Terri Moore to remove my daughter from Thielman’s no-contact list, which allowed

me to meet my 4-year-old daughter only two years ago.

Mata put it simply.

“They will come after your family,” he told me, referring to the criminal justice sys tem’s willingness to target perceived foes, whether citizen auditors or professional journalists.

“These people use three ways to fight people who are effective in exposing” public corruption, he continued. “They will come after you criminally, they will take your kids, or they will try to prove that you are crazy. They will have a cop take you to John Peter Smith Hospital or find another fami ly member to say [you are crazy]. They will criminalize parents for exposing a bad judge or lawyer. That’s how they will attack you.”

“Daily encounters [in poor commu nities] are far too often characterized by a command and control approach to policing that leads to avoidable uses of force and cre ates tension with residents who encounter police officers,” the report reads. “The fail ure to use effective de-escalation techniques continues to be a significant issue that has increased mistrust. Accountability for ag gressive police tactics is frequently anemic or ineffective, missing both individual and systemic problems. Compounding the issue, the panel heard reports from supervisors in the [police] department that middle manag ers were discouraged from raising issues un less there had been a complaint or a public outcry.”

US Department of the Treasury, has applied to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for an amendment to Air Quality Permit Number 17994, which would authorize modification to, and continued operation of Western Currency Facility located at 9000 Blue Mound Road, Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas 76131. Additional information concerning this application is contained in the public notice section of this newspaper.

“Did you read the 97-page report?” Mata asked me in October, referring to the com prehensive document that Fort Worth offi cials commissioned after police fatally shot Atatiana Jefferson in her home in 2019. A panel of police reform experts spent more than two years speaking to locals and exam ining policing practices in Fort Worth. The findings were damning.

Police interactions with people of color, the report found, are very different from po licing in whiter, wealthier neighborhoods.

In the report, the authors pinpoint sys temic problems like overreliance on SWAT teams and no-knock warrants, inadequate responses to individuals experiencing a mental health crisis, and a general lack of re lationship-building between police patrols and the communities they serve. Mata sees a direct line between his livestreamed interac tions with law enforcement and the report’s findings.

“These are the same things Thomas Torlincasi and I have been saying,” Mata continued. “When it comes from us, they dismiss what we are saying. When it comes from a police panel, they take it seriously.”

During the September presentation of the experts’ findings, Fort Worth City Council, city staffers, and Police Chief Neil Noakes discussed the findings in depth. Ex

Thomas Torlincasi and Manuel Mata worked closely together this past summer to livestream local government meetings.

pert panel lead Alex del Carmen concurred and said that data doesn’t lie.

Toward the end of the two-hour pre sentation, Noakes told city councilmembers that his officers have a duty to intervene if they witness police misconduct on the part of their peers.

“If they don’t intervene, is there a con sequence?” asked Councilmember Chris Nettles.

Yes, sir, the police chief responded.

In the report, the authors name sev eral areas where policing practices are im proving. The police department’s Crisis Intervention Team, which is tasked with addressing mental health-related calls, has expanded from six to 20 officers. Reliance on SWAT teams has dropped considerably over the past few years, and training meth ods for recruits are now less militaristic.

Efforts to add civilian oversight to Fort Worth’s police department recently stalled. The proposed nine-member board would have reviewed police practices and recommended changes, based on the ordi nance partly drafted by Fort Worth’s Police Here and across the country, law en nity] did ask was to be treated with respect,

continued. Misconduct on a local level hap pens “two, three times a day. That day turns into a week. That week turns into a month. Now that month has turned into a year. For a whole year, that officer was shown a shitty practice that does not coincide with [the de partment’s] policies and procedures.”

Judges, prosecutors, and district at torneys cannot be trusted to push back on police misconduct, he said. Doing so would slow the steady stream of locals caught up in the criminal justice system that leads to around 45,000 criminal cases per year in Tar rant County alone.

A handful of citizen auditors cannot be gin to diminish the damage corrupt leader ship at the DA’s office, commissioners court, and sheriff’s department can inflict on the civil rights of locals, Mata said. All leaders like county judge-elect Tim O’Hare and Sheriff Bill Waybourn have to do is target and arrest perceived threats.

“These problems are going to carry over to the middle class and the rich peo ple,” Mata said. “Eventually, [corrupt cops] will fuck with those people, too. If you are criminalizing one part of the community, you are creating a culture where cops know they are protected. They will carry on into these middle-class neighborhoods. I don’t want it to get to that point. I want the rich and middle-class people to understand that fluence] are the ones who give cops power by

Based on TAD’s security footage, Manuel Mata may be the victim of assault by law enforcement.

Courtesy YouTube

And We’re Rolling

Steven Spielberg mines his autobiography for this coming-of-age film.

BY KRISTIAN LIN

This pandemic has made filmmakers turn to their own life stories for material: Kenneth Branagh in Belfast, James Gray in Armaged don Time, Elegance Bratton in the upcoming The Inspection. Are we burned out on these? Is that why Steven Spielberg’s The Fabel mans drew so little of an audience this past weekend? I don’t know if his movie is the best of these four, but it is quite likable and deserves more people watching it.

Spielberg’s fictional alter ego is Sam my Fabelman (played by Mateo Zoryan as a young boy and Gabriel LaBelle as a teenager), who is captivated in 1952 in New Jersey when his parents (Paul Dano and Michelle Wil liams) take him to see future Best Picture Os car-winner The Greatest Show on Earth. Little Sammy requests a model train set as a Christ mas gift from his dad, while his mom gives him a handheld movie camera. Soon they dis cover that he’s using the presents to recreate and film the scene from Cecil B. DeMille’s movie when two characters in a car inten tionally derail a train. After Dad uproots the family to Phoenix, Sammy continues making films with a Boy Scout troop, using his fellow Scouts as actors and crew members.

The director and his writing partner Tony Kushner draw a complicated portrait of the former’s household. Burt Fabelman is a visionary engineer who sees the poten

tial of computers before most people do, and while he isn’t a bad father, he’s somewhat overwhelmed by the demands of domes tic life and takes quite a long time to see Sammy’s interest in film as anything more than a hobby. Mitzi, on the other hand, is the fun parent who encourages Sammy and his three older sisters to pursue creative endeavors. This comes at a cost — she’s a frustrated concert pianist and emotionally unstable, and when a tornado appears in the sky outside their Jersey home, she drives her children toward it so they can get a better look. Amid this, Sammy meets a great-un cle (Judd Hirsch) whom he’s never heard of before, and Hirsch grabs a showpiece scene as the old man tells Sammy about his own experiences in a traveling circus in Eastern Europe:

“Art will give you crowns in heaven and laurels on Earth, but it will tear you up inside and leave you lonely.” The film touches on the deep est questions of why people make art, as Mitzi divines

that Sammy is a fearful kid who controls his fear by capturing it in the frame. (Noah Ba umbach’s White Noise makes a similar point, but this is the better film.)

The structure here is loose and baggy, but it works to the film’s advantage by giv ing rise to a number of memorable scenes, including one when Sammy edits a film of his family’s camping trip, sees his mother with her arms around his dad’s best friend (Seth Rogen) in the background of the frame, then goes back through his footage and finds evidence of what he should have known. Spielberg grew up in Phoenix some years before I did and manages to catch the city at that precise point when it’s still some thing of a backwater but on its way to be coming the metropolis that it is now. (My desert home town can’t lay claim to many movies: Bad Santa is proba bly the best one.) Then, too, is a great comic set piece when Sammy is deflowered by a girl (Chloe East) who has pictures of Jesus on ev

ery flat surface in her bedroom but is hot for the one Jewish boy in school.

The film should have lost the epilogue sequence set in Los Angeles, even though it contains a hilarious bit when Sammy seeks out career advice from legendary Western di rector John Ford (David Lynch). That’s the only part of the movie where you can feel it dragging. After Burt moves his family again, this time to Northern California, Sammy be comes the target of anti-Semitic high-school bullies (Sam Rechner and Oakes Fegley). During the school’s designated “ditch day” when the seniors are allowed to go to the beach, Sam is assigned to make a film about them, a plum opportunity to make those bul lies look ridiculous. Instead, he does some thing more complicated with his movie, and one of the bullies has an unexpected response to it. Spielberg used to embody Hollywood’s reputation as a maker of crowd-pleasing en tertainment that glossed over inconvenient realities so that people would go home feel ing good, but this ambiguous and truthful episode of The Fabelmans is something that’s worth discussing at length as you leave. l

Gabriel LaBelle edits an early effort in a long filmmaking career in The Fabelmans

Photo by Merie Weismiller Wallace

TCU is one

Demonsgame from the College Football Playoff, but a tall hurdle remains.

BY BUCK D. ELLIOTT

The Frogs have one shot, one opportunity, to grab ev erything they’ve ever wanted in 60 minutes. Will they capture it, or just let it slip? Sonny Dykes has seeming ly done the impossible by leading these Frogs to their first undefeated regular season in the CFP era. No one expected this to happen. This roster — mostly recruited by former coach Gary Patterson — was picked to finish seventh in the conference and missed a bowl entirely last season. Fast-forward 12 games, and Max Duggan (#15) is an anticipated invitee to the Heisman Trophy ceremony, and his Frogs have exorcized all the demons and doubters, except for two.

Those loyal to the Frogs — for even a decade — ar en’t comfortable. We can’t be. There’s too much deja vu afoot for even a moment of peace heading into the Big 12 championship game against Kansas State on Saturday morning. Granted, watching Duggan and friends abso lutely curbstomp Iowa State Saturday afternoon was a welcome reprieve from the hypertensive season we’ve witnessed thus far, but the last Frog squad with a legit imate shot at the playoff beat the Cyclones even more handily (55-3) in the final game of their season. These squads have an essential difference between them — a continued on page 13

TCU’s Max Duggan is a finalist for several individual accolades this season, including the Davey O’Brien award (named after a Frog alum) for the nation’s top quarterback.

Courtesy TCU Athletics

loss against Baylor by the ’14 squad versus an unblemished record this year — but it’s important context for understanding why this Saturday’s game exists at all.

Back in 2014 — the inaugural transi tion to a playoff and away from the BCS title game — the Frogs fell to the fifthranked Bears in Waco during the second game of conference play. The Bears fol lowed their emotional victory by falling to unranked West Virginia in Morgantown the next week. Both teams would win their remaining games and sit, after Week 12, ranked third (TCU) and sixth (Baylor). Despite the head-to-head loss, the com mittee gave the Frogs credit for losing only a close game to a highly ranked team rath er than a multi-possession loss to an un ranked one. Between the Fort Worth and Waco squads in the rankings were Florida State and Ohio State at fourth and fifth, respectively. Both those teams went on to win their conference championship games while the Frogs and Bears split the con ference title as co-champions. Despite the ’14 squad’s dismantling of Iowa State, they dropped to sixth in the final rankings, and the Bears climbed a spot to fifth while the Seminoles (who were undefeated) and the Buckeyes (who lost to an unranked Virgin ia Tech squad in Columbus during Week 2) were selected to participate in the first playoff. Ohio State would advance by beat ing Alabama and eventually Oregon in the National Championship.

It was that confluence of events that caused the Big 12 to muse reintroduc ing the Big 12 championship game that was axed in 2010 after the great exodus of Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska, and Texas A&M, all of whom were apparently tired of their spouses telling them what to do and decided to go live in their single friend’s basement to experience their dreams of backpacking penniless through Europe or some other Instagram-era nonsense. Their desertion left the Big 12 with a 10-team round-robin divisionless league in which all teams would play one another every season (the only Power 5 conference struc tured this way). It is also therefore the only conference in which the championship matchup is, by design, always going to be against the two best teams and a rematch. It’s possible for this to happen among the other four conferences but not predicated by design. It was agreed back in 2014 that the lack of a 13th data point is what kept either the Frogs or Bears from reaching the playoffs, so in the interest of conference competitiveness — and, of course, money the league brought the game back in 2017. This greediness and reactivity are the last major roadblocks for TCU becom ing the first Texas-based team to reach true national relevance.

Maddeningly, the Funkytowners have impressed the national audience enough at this point with their unblemished season that they would probably be selected as fourth place should they be crowned Big 12 champions right now, which, in truth,

they already are by virtue of having already bested everyone else. The very structure of the conference and the shortsightedness of its administration could very well be what keeps the Frogs from representing all of the competitive goodness that the rest of the country has taken notice of this year.

Some pundits are speculating that Dykes’ boys have done enough to be in cluded win or lose on Saturday — t hey’re wrong. Our old nemesis Ohio State is lying in wait and will be ranked either fourth or fifth by the selection committee. Despite OSU’s 22-point home loss to Michigan, the cartel of blind men running things would like nothing more than for TCU — and, for that measure, USC — to lose so they can slip the Buckeyes in their place.

All the blue bloods will be clutching their voodoo dolls of Duggan and OU-turnedUSC quarterback Caleb Williams, hoping that they can justify inserting the obvious ly flawed Ohio State and Alabama squads (neither of which is playing for their con ference) so people living in flyover states can remain in their comfort zones.

I’m not trying to add pressure to a situation that is a powder keg already, but a victory over Kansas State on Saturday means everything: TCU’s first sole Big 12 conference title, Duggan’s invitation to New York, and elevated future recruiting. An undefeated regular season is a magnif icent accomplishment, and fans — and, y’know, the team — should relish every minute, but it’s perhaps a false summit

leading to this moment when TCU can es tablish itself as a preeminent college foot ball program nationally and all the spoils that come along with that. Curiously, col lege football seems to be the only sport where everyone hates an underdog. TCU is that, and Hypnotoad is an affront to the system that has been created and is trying to be further consolidated by introducing megaconferences.

TCU is a 2.5-point favorite over the Wildcats on Saturday in Arlington. So much has been accomplished in Dykes’ first year, but if they can’t keep the win ning alive, postmodern poet and philos opher Marshall Mathers III said it best: “Snap, back to reality.” l

Sundance Square is lit! I don’t just mean the Christmas tree but also the food and drink options. Here are eight places to check out during your holiday sightseeing adventure at Sundance.

1.) At Buffalo Bros (415 Throckmorton St, 817-887-9533), every day of the work week is special. Enjoy specials on pizza on Mondays, rigatoni on Tuesdays, wings on Wednesdays, Maria’s green chile chicken enchiladas on Thursdays, and a fish fry on Fridays.

2.) If you’re in Sundance Square on a Sun day or Monday, step into the Flying Saucer (11 E 3rd St, 817-336-7470) for a deal on beer. Texas drafts are $4 on Sundays, and all draft beers are $4 on Mondays. As for eats, the Saucer is known for its half-pound Angus burgers, honey-dipped chicken, and made-to-order pizza.

3.) On Sun, head to Holiday Afternoon Tea at Indulge inside 3rd Street Market (425 W 3rd St, IndulgeFW.com). This three-course afternoon tea service includes Kanchan jangha Noir from the Nepal Tea Collective and mulled wine spice paired with sweet and savory bites. Savory snacks include smoked salmon crostini, roasted beet with a goat cheese sandwich, and vegetarian sau sage rolls. Sweet treats include eggnog tart lets, shortbread cookies, and peppermint bark madeleine. Tickets are $65 at Indulge FW.com.

4.) How about a scoop of ice cream? While you can always get the usual (but delicious) vanilla, chocolate, and cookies-and-cream options, Melt Ice Creams (308 Houston St, 817-900-9355) has some special seasonal of

ferings, too. Fall menu flavors include apple butter, cinnamon roll, bananas foster, and pumpkin spice ice cream.

5.) Paco’s Mexican Cuisine (156 W 4th St, 817-386-2402) handled part of the VIP food experience at Main Street Arts Fest this year, and I was able to sample the delicious buffet offerings firsthand, so I was excited to learn that Paco’s now does a brunch buffet 10am3pm every Sunday at both the Sundance Square location and on the Near Southside.

6.) Known for cowboy cuisine served in a ca sually elegant environment, Reata Restaurant (310 Houston St, 817-336-1009) is seek ing a new home. In the meanwhile, you can still dine at the Sundance Square location and try signature items like the blackened buffalo ribeye or the tenderloin tamales at brunch, lunch, or dinner. For reservations, visit Reata.net.

7.) If you didn’t get enough turkey on Thanksgiving, try the Texas Gobbler Sand wich for $10.49 from the Basket menu at Riscky’s Barbecue (300 Main St, 817-8773306). Thinly sliced smoked turkey breast is served warm on a toasted bun with your choice of Swiss or cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise. All baskets are served with a slice of onion, Polish pick le, and jalapeno pepper, plus your choice

of coleslaw, house-made potato salad, red beans, or homestyle fries.

8.) Not a joiner? Too people-y out there for ya? For a taste of Sundance Square, test out some of delicacies from Waters (301 Main St, 817-984-1110) in your own kitchen. Chef Jon Bonnell never keeps any secrets. “Please feel free to contact us anytime if you would like a recipe or have questions about our menu!” Find recipes for Waters’ gumbo, barbecued oysters, and more at Waters.com/Recipes.

This is just a partial list, of course. For oth er great culinary stops on your adventure, including Cheesecake Factory, Razzoo’s, and more, visit SundanceSquare.com/Din ing-and-Cocktails.

By Jennifer Bovee

Before or after checking out the tree in Sundance Square, indulge in the brunch buffet at Paco’s Sundays.

Courtesy Facebook

Local artists have decorated the tree at Sundance Square with hand-painted ornaments.

Courtesy Facebook

Tweet Treats

Birdie’s Social Club

aims to raise the bar (pardon the pun) in West 7th.

Birdie’s Social Club, 2736 W 6th St, FW. 817-8888914. 11am-4pm Sun, 4pm-midnight Wed-Thu, 11am-midnight Fri, 11am-10pm Sat-Sun.

STORY AND PHOTOS

BY LAURIE JAMES

Lola’s recent closing was mourned as if one last soldier –– a stalwart against the general douchebaggery of the handful of racist, sex ist cookie-cutter meat markets across West 7th –– finally shrugged, packed up his stuff,

and left. But with indoor and outside spaces –– covered, uncovered, heated, paved, and plain old picnic tables on dirt — along with multiple bar counters, all originating with Lola’s, there’s a little space and place for everyone’s taste, interest, and comfort level at Lola’s replacement. At one point when Birdie’s Social Club opened in October, the menu offered a respectable amount of bar food. When my family arrived on the dreary, dripping evening before Thanksgiving, we

were a little disappointed to find the menu pared down to a couple of burgers, chicken wings cooked two different ways, queso, and fries.

But the cocktail menu is killer and was plainly developed by someone with a good sense of humor. The Last Greyhound to Amarillo was a citrusy pop of tart, woodsy, gin-soaked goodness, courtesy of a grape fruit beverage added to the herby juniper flavor. The menu pitches the Backyard

Mule as a “sweet, jammy Southern Ameri can blackberry twist” on the classic Moscow Mule served in the traditional copper cup, but there was more spicy ginger tang than sweet blackberry. If you like a ginger punch with a touch of berry sweetness, this is a great drink.

Other cocktail options that may be more appropriate to the season include the Baptized in Your Name (an Old Fashioned continued on page 17

What you see is definitely what you get — and good thing the classic buffalo wings didn’t need the accompanying dressing.

Birdie’s Last Greyhound to Amarillo (left) and the Backyard Mule were big hits.

with a description so delightful we consid ered it even though none of us likes whis key) and It’s a Dry Heat (a pineapple-spiked mule made with tequila).

The mistake we made while visit ing during happy hour was forgetting to ask what was on special. The fancy drinks menu is not discounted — just beer and well drinks. Fair enough. Tequila-from-the-well toasts (OK, “shots”) to a minimally disrup tive holiday family event marked a new tra dition with our adult child and cost only $3 apiece.

There was a little delay in getting the fryers started after the restaurant was open about an hour, and we were well into the first round of cocktails before the Birdie’s burger and parmesan fries arrived. Whether due to the holiday eve or the small crowd, we were the only customers who wanted food. Nobody’s going to ask you how you want

your burger cooked here — you’re gonna eat what the cook feels like serving you. It’s a testament to the quality of the beef here that our well-done patty came out tasting fine, and, frankly, a little cheese and a little grease help absorb the alcohol.

The parmesan garlic fries were most ly crinkle cut with a healthy dose of salty, Kraft-style parm product and little discern ible garlic.

Even though Thanksgiving loomed, we opted for a round of wings: boneless for my offspring, traditional for me. The boneless white meat variety were essentially chicken nuggets, which should keep any child of any age happy. The traditional bone-in wings had a breaded crust that soaked up whichev er sauce you chose. The classic buffalo sauce was the perfect collision of vinegary-tart and spicy without overwhelming anyone’s taste buds. It’s a good thing, because the blue cheese dressing was Ken’s brand in a little pull-top plastic tub.

Birdie’s is family-friendly until 10 p.m., when admission changes to age 21 and up. The spruced-up combo of indoor and out door space is going to be awesome in the spring or perhaps even later this week when the weather’s supposed to be nice. While the food menu doesn’t have the depth of other bar/patios, including Lola’s, which is doing just fine, thank you very much, off Berry Street near TCU, the beer menu is fairly broad. The place is freshly painted and therefore clean, with a floor that’s re freshingly unsticky. Weekend events have included college football-watching parties, and upcoming events include performanc es by local singer-songwriters Abraham Alexander, Summer Dean, and Jacob Furr. Alexander’s show is Friday (tickets at Bird iesSocialClub.com), while Dean’s and Furr’s shows are free with RSVP Saturday and next Friday, respectively. l

Given their Arlington roots, it was a sure bet that the controversial Pantera celebration/reunion show would eventually make its way to North Tex as. Without Abbott brothers Vinnie Paul on drums and guitarist Dimebag Darrell, the hypersensitive local super-fans close to the Abbott camp have been crying, “How dare they?!” and “They should call it a tribute because it’s not the real band!” Well, guys, you apparently won’t be there, so the rest of us can call it whatever we like. For me, it’s a chance to see two members of the band’s classic lineup, vocalist Phil Anselmo and bassist Rex Brown, playing the music that they/we love with two big names — guitarist Zakk Wylde and drummer Charlie Benante — filling in for the dearly departed brothers (R.I.P.). Dates for the North American tour were just announced, and Pantera will open for Metallica at Jerryworld (AT&T Stadium, 1 AT&T Way, Arlington, 817-892-4000) on Fri, Aug 18, 2023. Tickets go on sale to the general public this Friday, but if you join the Metallica fan club, you can buy presale tick ets today. Sign up at Metallica.com/MetClub.

As part of the 2022-2023 season of Broadway at the Bass, the touring company for the Lincoln Center pro duction of Lerner & Loewe’s My Fair Lady will perform at Bass Performance Hall (525 Commerce St, 817-212-4280) this week. En joy classic songs like “I Could Have Danced All Night” and “The Rain in Spain” as the story of young Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins, the linguistics professor set on changing her into a “proper lady,” unfolds. See each transform the other at 7:30pm nightly thru Sat and at 1:30pm Sat-Sun. Tickets start at $61 at Basshall. com/MyFairLady.

Ben Salez is a familiar face in the local music scene. You might know him from the old days at Joe’s Garage, where he was head of security, or more re cently at the door of The Rail. He even han

dled VIP check-in at our last El Fuerte Taco Fest. Due to recent health issues, Ben has been struggling to get by. To lend a hand, the metal community is doing what met al does: hosting a benefit show. Starting at 7pm, Blackhorse, who is back in the sad dle celebrating 50 years as a band, will play with openers Life of Scars, Headbanger, and Scum Scunge at The Rail Club DFW (3101 Joyce Dr, 817-386-4309) — now under new ownership. Again. Admission is $10, with proceeds benefiting the Salez family.

Anime Frontier hits the Fort with three days of co splay, screenings, special guest meet-and-greets, and panel discussions showcasing the latest in Japanese anime and manga entertainment at the Fort Worth Convention Center (1201 Houston St, 817-392-2588). Special screen ings include Yuki Kajiura’s live concert film Parade (5pm Sat) and a sneak preview of the action film Shin Ultraman (1pm Sun) ahead of its nationwide release in January Join the fun 10am-10pm Fri, 8am-10pm Sat, and

10am-4pm Sun. Daily badges are $43-$48, while three-day passes are $60 at Anime Frontier.com/Badges.

North Texas magician Will Baffle is bringing his Show of Wonders to Downtown Cowtown at the Isis The ater (2401 N Main St, 817-808-6390) at 1pm and 3pm. Baffle combines comedy, illusion, and other “amazing acts of skill” in a fami ly-friendly format that the whole gang can enjoy. Tickets are $25 at WillBaffle.com.

The 2021 film Free Renty: Lanier v. Harvard tells the story of Tamara Lanier, who is suing Harvard University over photographs of her great-great-grand father Renty, an enslaved African-American man. A Harvard professor commissioned the photos in 1850 to prove the superiority of the white race. “ The images remain em blematic of America’s failure to acknowl edge the cruelty of slavery, the racist science that supported it, and the white supremacy that continues to infect our society today.” At 6pm, see a free screening of the movie at the UNT University Union (1155 Union Cir, Denton, 940-565-3805) as part of its Art house Film Series.

With December upon us, we go full tilt on Wed, Dec 7, with our annual Holidays Edition. This glossy mag azine-styled bundle of holiday cheer will keep you warm right thru the New Year, especially if you use it for kindling. Just kidding. It’s beautiful and useful, so don’t do that. (You probably shouldn’t burn the glossy pages anyway, but I digress.) Should you have suggestions for listings, reach out by this Friday. As for advertising space, this bad boy goes to press on Tuesday evening, so email Marketing@FWWeekly.com with interest.

By Jennifer Bovee

Madeline Powell stars as Eliza Doolittle in the national tour of My Fair Lady thru Sun at Bass Hall.

Courtesy Bass Hall

and so utterly ear-drubbing that it actually comes off as sweet and endearing. “Hoogie Boogie Laaaand!” will forever live on in our memories the way Curt Low will forever live on in my iTunes. The Complete frontman recently suffered a fatal heart attack. He was 58.

R.I.P., Curt Low

—

BY ANTHONY MARIANI

Your first impression is probably your lon gest lasting: four white guys standing on a stage at some venue and with the utmost sincerity and guilelessness making a holy racket that’s so out of sync, so out of tune,

I don’t think I ever met him. Or maybe I did at South-by one time, because Complete played the annual Austin festival several times in a row back in the mid-aughts to my enragement — I once cursed out SXSW for continuing to invite Complete to perform at sanctioned showcases while all of Fort Worth’s “real” bands were sitting at home only dreaming of the exposure. I was such a dumbass, and my memories of The Scene back then or whenever I last actually cared about South-by and local music are hazy at best. Curt and I did exchange emails on occasion. Our messages consisted of him in viting me to Complete gigs at sports bars in Arlington or Haltom City or wherever and me coming up with nonsense excuses why I couldn’t make them. As with most folks whose first impression is of the notorious YouTube videos (nearly a million views and counting), I did not understand Complete until a little later in life, after I had stopped partying like an idiot, after I had realized that the local music scene that I loved so much did not love me back, and after I had moved on from writing about local music nearly every day for little to no thanks to penning longform essays about statewide and national politics and overseeing steady, fruitful investigations into public corrup tion, where I am now (happily).

I will miss him — if not Curtis Brum balow the person, who was well known as a sweet guy, then Curt Low as a towering figure in underground music. I’m not go ing to say I enjoyed Complete’s artistic ex cursions. Other than Curt, bassist Creecher (R.I.P.), and the rotating cast of characters who held down the rhythm section over the years, did anyone? “Enjoyment” was never the explicit point of a Complete song. The bandmembers, contrary to what they may

have said online or in person, were not put on this Earth to entertain us. They were here to challenge us, to make us question all of our dated, backward, downright vile assumptions about Art-with-a-capital-A. I don’t know if this is any sort of barometer, but I will forever remember “Hoogie Boo gie Land” — and “Dream-Ing” and “Into the Niiiight” — in ways I have forgotten 75% of all the other Fort Worth music I’ve

The Complete frontman recently suffered a heart attack but not before completely changing the local music landscape

for good.

Visionary Curt Low led the clang-rocking Complete into the Outsider Canon in our book.

Courtesy Facebook

listened to in the 20 years I’ve been writing about Fort Worth music on a weekly basis. I’ll also remember tearing my right biceps as I’ve forgotten every bench press and pullup I’ve ever done. That’s got to account for something, all this pain and strife. That’s how we grow. No pain, no gain, as they say. That surgery cost me 3 Large. I’ll never for get that, either.

For the moment, let’s do away with la bels. Let’s skip formulae. Let’s just say that the ethos of rock ’n’ roll is to shake listeners out of their daily drudgery (Little Richard, The Doors, The Clash) or wake them up from their soporific routines of sleep, work, consume, die (early Genesis, non-screechyGeddy Rush, Radiohead). Some bands get your butt shaking or head banging. That’s one way they rattle you nicely. Some other bands activate those parts of your brain that contextualize data, and as gritty and out of tune and out of rhythm and all-out … non traditional as Complete was, Curt and the boys got you thinking and maybe even — if you’re like me — questioning entire power structures and indeed perhaps reality itself. For that, I thank them dearly.

Now take the four most talented local rock musicians in any local scene and ask them to cover a single Complete song. They will fail. There is no accounting for the type of reckless, emotional, passionate abandon that defined Complete’s approach to musicmaking. None. If the average Complete song were a bit of film dialogue, it would be “One dog goes one way, the other dog goes the other way, and this guy’s sayin’, ‘Whadda ya want from me?’ ” You can’t practice playing four different songs at the same time together. It’s impossible. Un less you’re Curt Low and Complete.

The last time I wrote about the band was to say that they belonged in the Out sider Canon right alongside Wesley Willis, Daniel Johnston, Jandek, Sister Gertrude Morgan, and all of the other outré visionar ies revered as conduits to alien tongues in a world overflowing with us mere mortals, following rules, following systems, follow ing lies. In the words of Curt Low after ask ing a crowd if they were ready for a party song, “You say no, well, how about this?” Well, how about this? Complete is right up there with Burning Hotels, Flickerstick, Shea Seger, Tame … Tame & Quiet, Stella Rose, Goodwin, BULLS, Quaker City Night Hawks, and Squanto in my personal pan theon of Fort Worth rock. And that’s where they will forever stay.

I don’t listen to Complete for fun. Lis tening to Complete is like lying naked on a bed of ice-cold bottle caps (pointy parts up) with your arms and legs being pulled in different directions by cranky old ladies. For the same reasons I drag myself to the gym (still, age 51), read Proust, and practice scales on my high-action acoustic, I listen to Complete to die and be reborn stronger. I listen to Complete to expand my con sciousness. I listen to Complete to survive in a shitty, ugly, craptacular world, one far, far removed from the Hoogie Boogie Land that Curt Low wanted for all of us. Meet you there, brother. *huge bong rip* Cheers. l

MUSIC

A Singular Voice

Though she might no longer sing for a generation of North Texas girls, Sarah Jaffe still churns out the tunes.

BY JESSICA WALLER

In 2010, I was at a party in Red Oak when an old friend told me she knew this girl from our hometown in the armpit of North Texas that is Ellis County who was actually living out our rock stardom dreams, touring all over the country and getting airplay on KXT.

So I gave Sarah Jaffe a listen.

The first time I heard her debut album Suburban Nature, I was floored that some thing so beautiful could have come from the cesspool of repression we grew up in. And I wasn’t alone. Listeners across the nation seemed to sway in time with her acoustic pa thos and weather-beaten vocals. Jaffe’s voice is the perfect vehicle for that inexplicable feeling of gorgeous surrender. Soon after at the insistence of my roommate, I watched a video of Jaffe singing a cappella in the woods at a park in Denton. We were both hushed in drunken awe of her. The juxtaposition of hopeful forbearance steeped in gushing self-indulgence poured out like sunbeams through warm rain. And that voice. The one thing nobody can ever take from Jaffe is that voice. A star was born when that voice cut deep into the bluest regions of the heart.

I think Jaffe’s fans know what I mean when I say “vulnerable” is the word that springs to mind most readily when ruminat ing on her early work. Not just because her third most popular song, according to the number of plays on Spotify, is called “Vul nerable” but also because the next two most played, “Clementine” and “Swelling,” culti vate the same feeling, that sad girl longing, wallowing in the calm of finally letting go and giving in to the pain that creates some thing beautiful out of the ugly rejection and alienation of youth. Much like other in die-rock female artists and their labels, Jaffe has been loyal to Dallas-based Kirtland Re

cords throughout the span of her career, and like most of the Southerners (Chan Marshall, Katie Crutchfield), her accent lends itself easily to this pool of women writing from a knowing perspective of stakes and standards.

The first time I saw her in concert was in 2011 at The Kessler Theater, where Jaffe sported what became her new signature look, the bleached mohawk, and there was something different about her than her two album covers at the time indicated. On both, she portrayed the innocent, picturesque beauty of hometown folk-art martyr, clearly depressed due to unrequited love from the tortured poet-boy liars we loathed in harmo ny. This new Sarah was worldly, no longer Suburban-natured, and the clear-eyed look of purity had been replaced with a trium phant glare.

She had gotten out. She had shed the shackles of the world we knew. With a close listen to songs like “Black Hoax Lie” off 2008’s Even Born Again, we would have re alized that she was no longer speaking about the “50 boys with their 50 lies” from “Clem entine.” This new Sarah was playing that song only “for us,” those of us still stuck in the Bible Belt, as she told us concertgo ers that night with some boredom in her voice, staring out at the place she survived and “flies back to on holidays,” as she said to the Weekly back then. Truly, Jaffe had come into her own. With her next album, 2012’s The Body Wins, she was letting every listener know loud and clear that her body had won, and she was talking about girls this time.

Unfortunately, Jaffe’s warm, angelic vo cals have not translated very well to the tech no-pop soundscapes she drastically switched to in her newly liberated glory. Or maybe it was that her audience didn’t weather her 2013 collaboration with the notoriously ho mophobic and misogynistic Eminem too well. Either way, judging from her spins on Spotify and YouTube, Jaffe’s fanbase has largely fallen off as she has said she’s found more joy in daily life.

After the 2014 release of her even more synth-heavy album Don’t Disconnect, Jaffe said she was always more of a techno-pop musician and played folk-rock only due to financial restrictions. The album name begs listeners to accept this about her, although considering the number of plays on her last five albums, all techno-pop, it appears that many did not. However, given that the title track is the only song other than the three she’s known for off her debut to reach more than 1 million spins online, something tells me her audience is still somewhat trying to uphold the same brand of loyalty she’s shown to her label. Maybe she’ll see some of that loyalty in the flesh this weekend. l

Courtesy Facebook

Sarah Jaffe

7pm Sat at Lola’s Fort Worth, 2000 W Berry St, FW. $30. LolasFW.com.

CLASSIFIEDS

MIND / BODY / SPIRIT

Gateway Church Church time is the BEST time! Join us for online church each weekend.

Online services start at 4 pm on Saturdays and are available to watch any time after at https://gway. ch/GatewayPeople.

Hannah in Hurst 817.590.2257

EMPLOYMENT

Hysen’s Nizza Pizza is Now Hiring!

Nizza is seeking a counter person, delivery drivers, and wait staff. Apply in person at 401 University Drive, FWTX, 817-877-3900. (Open SunThu 11am-10pm and Fri-Sat 10:30am-11pm.)

HysensNizzaPizza.com

EMPLOYMENT NOTICES

Companies Offering

Travel Accommodations:

According to the New York Times, the following companies have said they would cover travel expenses for employees who need abortions: Airbnb, DoorDash, JP Morgan Chase, Levi Strauss & Co, Netflix, Patagonia, Reddit, Starbucks, Tesla, and Yelp. Additionally, NowThis has listed the following companies also offering the same assistance to employees: Amazon, Apple, BuzzFeed, Citigroup, Comcast, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Lyft, Mastercard, Meta, Microsoft, Paramount, Sony, Tesla, Walt Disney Co, Vox Media, and Zillow. (JMB, FWW)

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Cardiovascular Disease & Stroke

These are leading causes of death, according to the American Heart Association. Screenings can provide peace of mind or early detection!

Contact Life Line Screening to schedule your screening.

Special Offer: 5 Screenings for $149!

Call today! 1-833-636-1757

DENTAL INSURANCE

1-888-361-7095

Physicians Mutual Insurance Company covers 350 plus procedures. Real dental insurance - NOT just a discount plan. Do not wait! Call now! Get your FREE Dental Information Kit with all the details!

Call or visit Dental50plus.com/fortworth (#6258).

Planned Parenthood

Of Greater Texas

We’re not going anywhere. We know you may be feeling a lot of things right now, but we are here with you and we will not stop fighting for YOU. See 6 ways you can join the #BansOffOurBodies fight on FB @ PPGreaterTX. For more info, go to: PPGreaterTX.org

Massage Therapy for pain relief, deep relaxation, and better sleep. Professional office in Mid-Cities for over 25 years. “I am accepting new clients now and happy to return your call.” -Hannah, MT#4797. MasseuseToTheStars.com

MUSIC XCHANGE

Music Junkie Studios

1617 Park Place #106, FWTX www.MusicJunkieStudios.com

We offer lessons on voice, piano, guitar, bass, ukulele, violin, viola, drums, recording, and music for littles!

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

We’d Like To Hear From You! 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 Night & Day, Big Ticket, Ate Day8 A Week, or CrosstownSounds, email the details to Marketing@fwweekly.com

TOURISM

CALIFORNIA

From its celebrated coastline to its broad heartland and granite Sierra peaks, CA offers a lifetime of vacations in one Golden State. CaliforniaTouristGuide.com

CONNECTICUT

Great shopping, dining, casinos, Mystic maritime fun in CT, the southernmost New England state. More at: VisitConnecticut.com

DELAWARE

Explore the Great Outdoors with DE’s Scenic Drives, State Parks and More. Find Trip Ideas at: VisitDelaware.com

ILLINOIS

Places to go, things to do, the best places to eat and drink, must-see Chicago, trip ideas and inspiration for your travels at: EnjoyIllinois.com

OREGON

From Mt Hood to the Oregon Coast, Explore Oregon with the official tourism at: TravelOregon.com

MAINE

Take the Guesswork Out of Planning Your Getaway at: VisitMaine.com

MARYLAND

If you thought Maryland was just battlefields and Old Bay, think again! VisitMaryland.org

MASSACHUSETTS

Find countless fun things to do from Boston to The Berkshires at: VisitMA.com

MINNESOTA

MN is the place for extraordinary, eye-opening adventures likr camping under the stars in a Dark Sky Sanctuary. More at: ExploreMinnesota.com

NEW HAMPSHIRE

NH is the perfect outdoor playground. Roll the windows down and explore scenic routes, walk around vibrant small towns and make unforgettable memories. VisitNH.gov

NEW JERSEY

NJ wows with 130 miles of shorelines and cities that pulse with exciting entertainment and culinary pleasures. Discover the Garden State. VisitNJ.org

NEW MEXICO

Visit New Mexico for a unique family vacation filled with exciting activities like skiing, hiking, shopping and sight seeing. NewMexico.org

NEW YORK

Explore all the state of New York has to offer including fun things to do, year-round events, festivals, and more. ILoveNY.com

NEVADA

Outdoor recreation, exciting events, and stories for days. Plan your next trip to Nevada. TravelNevada.com

RHODE ISLAND

RI is 400 miles of New England coastline, with beaches and freshfrom-the-ocean seafood. It’s also public art, charming villages, and more. VisitRhodeIsland.com

VERMONT

Our cities and towns welcome visitors with their rich history, eclectic shops, farm-to-table dining establishments, and recreation areas. VermontVacation.com

WASHINGTON

Emerge yourself with things to do in Washington from fishing, tours, volcanoes and more. StateOfWATourism.com Find us online at FWWeekly.com/Classifieds

Texas Commission on environmenTal QualiTy

EXAMPLE A

NOTICE OF APPLICATION AND PRELIMINARY DECISION FOR AN AIR QUALITY PERMIT

PERMIT NUMBER: 17994

APPLICATION AND PRELIMINARY DECISION. US Department of the Treasury, 9000 Blue Mound Road, Fort Worth, TX 76131-3304, has applied to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for an amendment to Air Quality Permit Number 17994, which would authorize modification to, and continued operation of the Western Currency Facility located at 9000 Blue Mound Road, Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas 76131. AVISO DE IDIOMA ALTERNATIVO. El aviso de idioma alternativo en espanol está disponible en https://www.tceq.texas.gov/permitting/air/newsourcereview/airpermits-pendingpermit-apps. This application was submitted to the TCEQ on April 29, 2022. The existing facility will emit the following contaminants: acetone, carbon monoxide, hazardous air pollutants, nitrogen oxides, organic compounds, particulate matter including particulate matter with diameters of 10 microns or less and 2.5 microns or less, sulfur dioxide and sulfuric acid mist.

The executive director has completed the technical review of the application and prepared a draft permit which, if approved, would establish the conditions under which the facility must operate. The executive director has made a preliminary decision to issue the permit because it meets all rules and regulations. The permit application, executive director’s preliminary decision, and draft permit will be available for viewing and copying at the TCEQ central office, the TCEQ Dallas/Fort Worth regional office, and at John Ed Keeter Public Library, 355 West McLeroy Boulevard, Saginaw, Tarrant County, Texas, beginning the first day of publication of this notice. The facility’s compliance file, if any exists, is available for public review at the TCEQ Dallas/Fort Worth Regional Office, 2309 Gravel Drive, Fort Worth, Texas.

PUBLIC COMMENT/PUBLIC MEETING. You may submit public comments or request a public meeting about this application. The purpose of a public meeting is to provide the opportunity to submit comment or to ask questions about the application. The TCEQ will hold a public meeting if the executive director determines that there is a significant degree of public interest in the application or if requested by a local legislator. A public meeting is not a contested case hearing. You may submit additional written public comments within 30 days of the date of newspaper publication of this notice in the manner set forth in the AGENCY CONTACTS AND INFORMATION paragraph below.

RESPONSE TO COMMENTS AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ACTION. After the deadline for public comments, the executive director will consider the comments and prepare a response to all relevant and material or significant public comments. Because no timely hearing requests have been received, after preparing the response to comments, the executive director may then issue final approval of the application. The response to comments, along with the executive director’s decision on the application will be mailed to everyone who submitted public comments or is on a mailing list for this application, and will be posted electronically to the Commissioners’ Integrated Database (CID).

INFORMATION AVAILABLE ONLINE. When they become available, the executive director’s response to comments and the final decision on this application will be accessible through the Commission’s Web site at www.tceq.texas.gov/goto/cid. Once you have access to the CID using the above link, enter the permit number for this application which is provided at the top of this notice. This link to an electronic map of the site or facility’s general location is provided as a public courtesy and not part of the application or notice. For exact location, refer to application. http://www.tceq.texas.gov/assets/public/hb610/index.html?lat=32.899444&lng=97.345555&zoom=13&type=r.

MAILING LIST. You may ask to be placed on a mailing list to obtain additional information on this application by sending a request to the Office of the Chief Clerk at the address below.

AGENCY CONTACTS AND INFORMATION. Public comments and requests must be submitted either electronically at www14.tceq.texas.gov/epic/eComment/, or in writing to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Office of the Chief Clerk, MC-105, P.O. Box 13087, Austin, Texas 78711-3087. Please be aware that any contact information you provide, including your name, phone number, email address and physical address will become part of the agency’s public record. For more information about this permit application or the permitting process, please call the Public Education Program toll free at 18006874040. Si desea información en Español, puede llamar al 1-800-687-4040.

Further information may also be obtained from US Department of the Treasury at the address stated above or by calling Ms. Virginia Baldwin PE, Environmental Engineering Branch Manager at (817) 847-3715. Notice Issuance Date: November 7, 2022

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EMPLOYMENT

CDL Drivers needed, Hazmat tanker preferred, Laborers and Equipment Operators. Health Insurance and other benefits. Per Diem Paid. EOE 830-833-4547

EMPLOYMENT

Wabtec Railway Electronics, Inc. seeks Senior Test Engineer in Fort Worth, TX to develop and validate test methods, test cases, and protocols. Requires up to 20% domestic travel. Telecommuting permitted. Apply at www.jobpostingtoday.com Ref #25201.

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HISTORIC RIDGLEA THEATER

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Notice to Creditors

Notice is given that original Letters Testamentary for the Estate of David Lynn Green were issued on November 14, 2022, in cause number 2022-PR03366-2, in the Probate Court Number Two of Tarrant County, Texas, to Henry Aloysius Becker. All