Graffiti
Clint Schism
Art Park
Deep Ellum, Dallas, Texas
Clint Schism
Deep Ellum, Dallas, Texas
Elm St Right Lane
Tag Archives: Deep Ellum
Flying Over the City
Graffiti, Deep Ellum, Dallas, Texas
“The Guide says there is an art to flying”, said Ford, “or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.”
― Douglas Adams, Life, the Universe and Everything
“When we started the show, ‘Dallas’ was known as the city where JFK was assassinated. By the end it was known as JR’s home town.”
—-Larry Hagman
“But there is so much more to do for the city we love… a Dallas with roads as strong as our businesses, parks as beautiful as our children, a downtown as tall as our imagination.”
—-Laura Miller
Ladybug in a Flower Pot
“Did I ever tell you my pet peeve?’
No,’ I said.
People who dress up their pets to look like Little Lord Fauntleroys or cowboys, clowns, ballerinas. As if it’s not enough just to be a dog or cat or turtle.”
― Jerry Spinelli, Love, Stargirl
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“i made myself a snowball
As perfect as can be.
I thought I’d keep it as a pet,
And let it sleep with me.
I made it some pajamas
And a pillow for it’s head.
Then last night it ran away,
But first – It wet the bed.”
― Shel Silverstein
Deep Ellum Arts Festival Pet Parade, Dallas, Texas
Deep Ellum, Dallas, Texas
“If you are a dog and your owner suggests that you wear a sweater, suggest that he wear a tail.”
― Fran Lebowitz
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“Dogs are the leaders of the planet. If you see two life forms, one of them’s making a poop, the other one’s carrying it for him, who would you assume is in charge.”
― Jerry Seinfeld
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“The strangest thing has happened. I really missed my dog. That’s never happened to me before. You know, on a long tour you do hear people saying they miss their pets. I never have. But last night I started really missing my dog.
It’s very odd, ’cause I don’t have a dog.”
― Bono
Ride That Spray Can
“I mean, they say you die twice. One time when you stop breathing and a second time, a bit later on, when somebody says your name for the last time.”
― Banksy
Graffiti, Deep Ellum, Dallas, Texas
“Imagine a city where graffiti wasn’t illegal, a city where everybody could draw whatever they liked. Where every street was awash with a million colours and little phrases. Where standing at a bus stop was never boring. A city that felt like a party where everyone was invited, not just the estate agents and barons of big business. Imagine a city like that and stop leaning against the wall – it’s wet.”
― Banksy
“Graffiti is one of the few tools you have if you have almost nothing. And even if you don’t come up with a picture to cure world poverty you can make someone smile while they’re having a piss.”
― Banksy
Creation of Chalk
“You will die. You will not live forever. Nor will any man nor any thing. Nothing is immortal. But only to us is it given to know that we must die. And that is a great gift: the gift of selfhood. For we have only what we know we must lose, what we are willing to lose… That selfhood which is our torment, and our treasure, and our humanity, does not endure. It changes; it is gone, a wave on the sea. Would you have the sea grow still and the tides cease, to save one wave, to save yourself?”
― Ursula K. Le Guin, The Farthest Shore
“He who is in harmony with the Tao
is like a newborn child.
Its bones are soft, its muscles are weak,
but its grip is powerful.
It doesn’t know about the union
of male and female,
yet its penis can stand erect,
so intense is its vital power.
It can scream its head off all day,
yet it never becomes hoarse,
so complete is its harmony.The Master’s power is like this.
He lets all things come and go
effortlessly, without desire.
He never expects results;
thus he is never disappointed.
He is never disappointed;
thus his spirit never grows old.”
― Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching
Photos of Home by Hovercraft
I was digging around some directories of old and not-so-old photos and came across some I liked.
These were taken of my newest favorite band, Home by Hovercraft. I had taken some pictures of them at the Setlist on the Green, but between my poor camera and poorer skills, it was tough to get decent shots at night. This set was in the daylight at the Deep Ellum Arts Festival – they played before Brave Combo.
I really like their theatrical and playful, yet musical style. Any band using an Irish Dancer on a piece of gym floor for rhythm has to be good.
Their album, Are We Chameleons? is firmly entrenched in my current listening selections – Amazon Link.
Home by Hovercraft in Deep Ellum
Irish dancer with Home by Hovercraft
Home by Hovercraft in Deep Ellum
Home by Hovercraft
Home by Hovercraft, Dallas
A Girl and her Chicken
Deep Ellum Brewing Company tour, Dallas, Texas
Taco Talk
This weekend we were at the North Texas Taco Festival in Deep Ellum. It’s a continuation of the events associated with the Deep Ellum Market (such as the Filipino Fest last year) and the most successful so far. There were a lot of people there. Unfortunately, more people than tacos and the lines were too long (I’ll talk more about that later).
But still, it was a beautiful day and a fun time. At the side of the street, next to the Curtain Club, I saw a sign that said, Taco Talk – 1 PM. Looking at my phone, it was about ten after, so we went in.
Inside was a lecture put on by three taco experts. It was sort of fun being a couple minutes late because we didn’t hear the introductions and had to figure out who they were by inference.
John Cuellar, Anastacia Quinones, and Alejandro Escalante – the panellists at the Taco Talk.
First was a man that kept referring to his “family restaurant.” He was the supporter of Tex-Mex among the three experts and knew a lot about the history of that branch of the Mexican food tree. He said, “When we needed to revamp a menu, we would go to California, Mexico City, or San Antonio. Each place has such a unique take on the history and style of Mexican Food, you could find something new to bring home and adapt.”
I realized that his was John Cuellar, of the El Chico founding family. His family sold their chain and now he is responsible for a restaurant in Oak Cliff, El Corazon de Tejas – a place we will have to check out. I’ll let you know about it.
Next to him was a woman that graduated from the CIA and was the representative of the expert culinary aspects of the humble taco – elevated to gourmet heights. She was Anastacia Quiñones, the chef at Komali. After the talk, we spoke to her for a few moments and she gave us a card and a free appetizer – so… well, another place to go and report.
She talked about the wonderful taste of fresh nixtamal. Most tortillas are made from commercial ground cornmeal or processed mix. She said her restaurant was the first in the city to make fresh nixtamal – whole kernel corn processed with lime (like hominy) and then ground fine on a metate each day. All three experts said that fresh nixtamal produces tortillas with a unique and wonderful taste and must not be missed.
Well, there you go then.
The third panelist was an expert on all things taco. He was Alejandro Escalante – the author of the book, Tacopedia. He talked passionately about the wide variety of tacos available throughout Mexico and all the variables in tortilla, meat, and salsa that can be used. The depth of his knowledge and the obvious love he had for the form made his contribution something to be enjoyed and savored.
One interesting point they made was when they were asked about Mexican Fast Food – about Taco Bell and Chipotle. These are Taco Experts and passionate about quality food and you would expect them to rant and complain about the bland and poor quality of fast food. They did not, however. Mr. Escalante pointed out that Mexican Food, tacos and nixtamal in particular, are an acquired taste and Taco Bell helps people become accustomed to the food style. Ms. Quiñones agreed and Mr. Cuellar used the phrase that occurred to me immediately – that Chipotle is the “Gateway Drug” to real Mexican Food. I thought their attitude to be refreshing and honest.
They all three spoke about their first memories of eating tacos and about their “Desert Island Tacos” – what they could not live without. In high school, in Nicaragua, there weren’t really any tacos, so my first real memories of great tacos were from Hutchinson, with flour tortillas filled with ground beef, sealed with toothpicks, and then fried crispy. You would crack them open and fill with lettuce, tomato, and salsa right before eating.
They talked about what makes a taco (who knows?) and the close relatives of enchiladas and tamales. I thought about the Nicaraguan Nacatamles – giant savory concoctions layered with masa and served in steaming packets of banana leaves – and how I can’t get them anywhere (although the Salvadoran tamal served in local pupuserias does come close).
They talked about the future, about lengua, cabeza, and authentic barbacoa, and about how far can the form be taken. I thought about the Ssahm Food Truck here in Dallas and their wonderful Korean style Kimchi tacos.
They even mentioned puff tacos – which were really popular when I first moved to Dallas in the 1980’s. That’s when you take a disk of masa and drop it in oil… and it puffs up crispy, so it can be cracked open and filled. John Cuellar said there was an art to getting everything, temperature, moisture, oil, just right and if you had a sixty percent success rate, you were doing good.
It was a very fun and interesting talk. We spoke to the folks for a minute afterward, but they had to get set up for the judging of a taco contest. We walked out the side door where a handful of local chefs were preparing their contest entries – they looked wonderful.
A long ways from Taco Bell – the gateway drug.
Professional competition Tacos
PHOTOS: Inaugural North Texas Taco Festival draws huge crowds
Yum! Chocolate fruit, zen pork tacos highlight North Texas Taco Festival in Deep Ellum
The First North Texas Taco Festival (Photos)
The Day Tacos Ruled Deep Ellum: Recapping the North Texas Taco Festival
Recap: How the North Texas Taco Festival Stole Deep Ellum’s Heart
Photos: Omar Flores of Driftwood won throwdown at DFW’s first taco festival
Happy Chefsgiving: Anastacia Quinones
El Corazon de Tejas in Oak Cliff opens softly, with seductive mole on menu
Amazon – La tacopedia. Enciclopedia del taco (Spanish Edition) [Paperback]
What I learned this week, April 19, 2013
As I’ve said before, I strongly support Amir Omar for the upcoming Mayoral election in Richardson.
Here’s an interesting article from D Magazine on the election:
An Outsider Takes on Richardson’s Old Guard
Amir Omar is a two-term city councilman, running for mayor, against the wishes of the city’s established powers.
The Dallas Morning Snooze made the statement: “It’s telling that every former mayor and every council member who now serves with the two candidates endorse Maczka, 48, over Omar, 41.” They say it as if that was a good thing.
The End of the University as We Know It
In fifty years, if not much sooner, half of the roughly 4,500 colleges and universities now operating in the United States will have ceased to exist. The technology driving this change is already at work, and nothing can stop it. The future looks like this: Access to college-level education will be free for everyone; the residential college campus will become largely obsolete; tens of thousands of professors will lose their jobs; the bachelor’s degree will become increasingly irrelevant; and ten years from now Harvard will enroll ten million students.
….
How do I know this will happen? Because recent history shows us that the internet is a great destroyer of any traditional business that relies on the sale of information.
Only if you’re crazy or crazy about your subject.
The average commute in the United States is 25 Miles each way.
Your Commute Is Making You Fat (and Killing You)
The average American spends 50.8 minutes travelling to and from work every day. That time could be better spent exercising, working, making and enjoying a healthy meal or—for the indulgent—sleeping in.
Five Unique Parks Around Dallas
Deep Ellum Brewing Company – Dallas Blonde
American Microbrews Catch on World-Wide
Elaborate Drive-By Photo Studio Takes Pedestrians by Surprise
I am fascinated by street photography but am frustrated by the poor quality of the images produced under the less-than-idea conditions that are always encountered. Johnny Tergo solved that problem – mount a portable high-quality photography studio, complete with lights, in a truck, pointing out the passenger side, and drive around shooting.
War On The Young: Social Security Edition
Most of our readers are aware that Social Security is a Ponzi scheme not a savings program, that the vaunted trust fund is an accounting mirage, and that nothing much is being done about it by anyone. But sometimes it takes some concrete numbers to properly get your head around what’s really going on.
Brush Strokes
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
― Abraham Lincoln
Up close, there are only brush strokes, you can’t see what you are looking at.
“What I need is perspective. The illusion of depth, created by a frame, the arrangement of shapes on a flat surface. Perspective is necessary. Otherwise there are only two dimensions. Otherwise you live with your face squashed up against a wall, everything a huge foreground, of details, close-ups, hairs, the weave of the bedsheet, the molecules of the face. Your own skin like a map, a diagram of futility, criscrossed with tiny roads that lead nowhere. Otherwise you live in the moment. Which is not where I want to be.”
― Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale
Only with distance, in space and time, comes clarity.
Graffiti, Deep Ellum, Dallas, Texas
“A portrait is not a likeness. The moment an emotion or fact is transformed into a photograph it is no longer a fact but an opinion. There is no such thing as inaccuracy in a photograph. All photographs are accurate. None of them is the truth. ”
― Richard Avedon
“The alchemist picked up a book that someone in the caravan had brought. Leafing through the pages, he found a story about Narcissus.
The alchemist knew the legend of Narcissus, a youth who knelt daily beside a lake to contemplate his own beauty. He was so fascinated by himself that, one morning, he fell into the lake and drowned. At the spot where he fell, a flower was born, which was called the narcissus.
But this was not how the author of the book ended the story.
He said that when Narcissus died, the goddesses of the forest appeared and found the lake, which had been fresh water, transformed into a lake of salty tears.
‘Why do you weep?’ the goddesses asked.
‘I weep for Narcissus,” the lake replied.
‘Ah, it is no surprise that you weep for Narcissus,’ they said, ‘for though we always pursued him in the forest, you alone could contemplate his beauty close at hand.’
‘But… was Narcissus beautiful?’ the lake asked.
‘Who better than you to know that?’ the goddesses asked in wonder. ‘After all, it was by your banks that he knelt each day to contemplate himself!’
The lake was silent for some time. Finally, it said:
‘I weep for Narcissus, but I never noticed that Narcissus was beautiful. I weep because, each time he knelt beside my banks, I could see, in the depths of his eyes, my own beauty reflected.’
‘What a lovely story,’ the alchemist thought.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
Bill Chance 