GOING OUT

HOT TICKET

Brightly colored costumes, eloquent, fluid movements, and several resounding “Arribas” are what you’ll find at a performance of the Paco Pena Flamenco Company. The company performs a dazzling show of singing, dancing, and guitar playing with a serious Latin beat. Making their U.S. tour debut here, they’ll appear at the Majestic Theatre on Nov. 14 as part of the Dallas Classic Guitar Society Concert Series. Tickets $10-$25. 528-3733.TAYLOR MADE

music Craig Taylor is a Renaissance man of sorts. A sociology and philosophy major from Harvard, he hung around Cambridge for his MBA then hit Dallas with a vengeance, determined to own and run his own company. A false start and a brief venture into real estate later, Taylor is now out of the mainstream business world and into one without suits, starched shirts, or wing tips: music. As lead singer of the local bluegrass group Killbilly, Taylor has discovered something B-school didn’t teach him: personal satisfaction comes from truly liking what he does for a living. “I never want to work again. Killbilly is it. It’s my profession. It’s what I do-I know now it’s what I’m supposed to be doing. Besides, running a band is just like running a business.” -Anne Warren

Graffitique: Low Art or High Style?



STR EET ART

Dallas has never produced graffiti with the high style and panache of a New York City, or with the political or social firepower of a Berkeley or a Boston.

Dallas graffiti-what there is of it-has always seemed mild and polite: a shopworn slogan here and there, scrawled emblems of various rock groups, a bit of sex and drugs.

Only in the last few years have our walls started to flower with the visual extravagance one associates with big, cosmopolitan cities. Not all the walls. Some of the most inviting are curiously bare. But slowly and steadily, parts of Deep Ellum are being engulfed by tendrils and creepers of spray enamel.

This is most evident around the music clubs. Subjects range from huge skulls, faces, and strange animals to fish, lizards, hands, and, for some reason, chain saws. The style is smooth, fluid, almost a throwback to late Sixties-psychedelic.

There is also an island of graffiti over in Oak Cliff, on a concrete spillway on I-30 at about Beckley. Here, the imagery runs more to the occult-a huge eye and a melange of Egyptian symbols. Perhaps Oak Cliff is just a stranger place than Deep Ellum.

But Dallas graffiti lacks something, a certain bite that one expects of work done outside the law and after dark. It ought to be, well.. .nastier. Too much of it looks as though it was done by aspiring art directors.

Now that New York has scrubbed thegraffiti off its subway cars, and we seemto have entered a new era of law andorder, maybe graffiti just isn’t what itused to be. -Ken Barrow

The Best Wurstfest



Getaways A celebration that began in 1961 to publicize the sausage-making industry in the splendidly quaint hill country town of New Braunfels has escalated into one of the premier ethnic food and dance festivals in the United States.

This year’s New Braunfels Wurstfest is expected to attract 135,000 German food, beer, and oompah music enthusiasts to the community situated just off I-35 about 40 miles south of Austin.

The event is scattered over several acres of Landa Park, on the banks of the Comal River. Headline entertainer, as usual, is accordianist extraordinaire Myron Floren. And, of course, folks who make the trek for the food won’t be disappointed. The food is the best part, with dozens of varieties of exotic sausages as well as offbeat specialties like wurst tacos and sauerkraut pizzas available.

International polka king Frank Yankovic will make his first appearance at Wurstfest Nov. 10-12.

Focal point of the Wurstfest festivities is the vast Biergarten. Wurstfest organizers were pleased when the legal drinking age in Texas was raised from 18 to 21, making the crowd situation in the Biergarten more easily manageable.

Nov. 3-12. Tickets $4 adults, children under 12 free. 1-800-221-4369.

-Mike Shropshire

The Dallas Opera’s fall season opener takes us to France with a production of The Marry Widow. Joan Sutherland romps through 19th-century Paris as the wealthy widow. November 2,5,8, & 11.979-0123.

Day of the Dead: A Lively Feast for the Eyes



ART The Mexican Day of the Dead is to the Norte Americano holiday of Halloween what the jalapeno is to the green pepper-a dim and distant relative.

While Yankee kids are dressing up as Rambo, whole Mexican families are camped out on the graves of their ancestors, munching the tittle skull-shaped candies called calaveras and having a wonderful time. To them the Day of the Dead is a celebration of life in the presence of death.

In a kind of marriage of these two cultures, the Eugene Binder Gallery has invited Taos artist Roscoe West to transform the gallery’s back room into a Day of the Dead shrine. Based on Mexican folk themes-food, drink, and the dead-West’s paintings, woodcuts, and ceramic objects are humorous, colorful, and celebratory. And, this being an American art gallery, they are for sale.

West is formerly the studio assistant of Ken Price, who, during the Seventies, transformed clay from a handicraft material into a medium for fine art. Like Price’s jugs and cups, West’s own pots and jars are witty variations on traditional shapes and forms.

But you wouldn’t want to drink out of one of these stylish little vessels. Like the sugar skulls placed on Mexican graves, they are really pieces of sculpture, a feast for the eyes and food for the spirit.

Nov. 2-25 at the Eugene Binder Gallery, 840 Exposition. 821-5864.

-Ken Barrow

Old Stuff Sold Here



OFF THE BEATEN PATH One whiff of crisp autumn air and we’re off antiquing. Our favorite destinations? Read on:

DeRidder Antiques Corp. If Ralph Lauren were shopping in Texas, DeRidder Antiques in Forney is the place he’d spend money: an enormous vaulted warehouse literally crammed with European and American antiques and a glorious array of gently owned furnishings. From the rosewood library shelving units to the pine doll’s bed, there’s no musty muddle here. There is a forest of pine: tables and chests, sleigh beds, cupboards complete with motley collections of teddy bears, and highchairs. Plus, painted European kitchen chairs, decorative relief panels from a weathered carousel, and even painted-metal kiddie cars. Take Interstate 30 east to the County Road exit in Forney.

The Englishman’s Antiques is stuffed with treasures from England. Pine steamer and carpenter’s trunks rise perilously toward the ceiling along one wall. Pegged drop-leaf tables, burled partner’s desks, and upholstered bishop’s chairs form a maze toward the center of the largest room; Welsh pine dressers, chemist’s cabinets, and armoires line the perimeter. Open every day but Tuesday. Two blocks north of Belt Line at 15304 B Midway.

Dallasites Ted and Bonnie Swinney debut Anteks this fall: antiques, reproductions, and carefully edited furnishings temptingly displayed in a small jewel of a shop within walking distance of Travis Walk. The Swinneys like to mix desirable bits of England and primitive Americana with a smattering of Taos, a promising combination. 4445 Travis. -Rebecca O’Dell

IT’S A BIRD, IT’S A Plane

aviation museum, “Frontiers of Flight,” takes off this month with an assortment of flight including artifacts from the Hindenburg, more than 200 aircraft models, and thousands of other items. On display at Dallas Love Field. 350-3600.

The Play’s the Thing



Theater Mystery Cafe is dinner theater at its silliest. The audience sits down for dinner, and somewhere between the salad and the cheesecake, somebody gets, well, murdered.

Put your trench coat on, grab your magnifying glass, and, if you can find him, bring Dr. Watson because it’s up to you to solve the crime.

Some help is provided. Everyone in the audience has a set of clues, one to be opened after each act. The cast can be bribed for information with $10 in play money provided each audience member. The person who figures out who the murderer is and has the best explanation for motive is dubbed “Super Sleuth” and wins a prize.

Mystery Cafe is fun, and the action keeps the audience laughing. The acting, however silly, is professional, and the actors, who double as the wait staff, stay in character throughout the evening, even while serving dinner. Unfortunately, our dinner tasted like it was cooked in a box in a microwave. Food is one area where Mystery Cafe needs improvement.

Audience participation is a big part of the fun at Mystery Cafe. It’s likely that at some time during the show you will sing, dance, or maybe find someone sitting on your lap as the plot continues to develop around you. After the play, the cast joins the audience for a drink downstairs at the West End Pub.

Mystery Cafe performs Prom ’63 through December 2. Kringle’s Capers plays Dec. 7-23, and Prom ’63 picks up again on Dec. 28.

211 N. Record St. Thur. at 7:30 p.m., Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. Tickets $26.95. (214) 248-7044. -Ross Weiland

Dallas Black Dance Theatre Prevails

DANCE The Dallas Ballet came and went and a myriad of other start-up dance companies have fallen by the wayside, but the Dallas Black Dance Theatre has staying power-14 years of it. The predominantly black company has had to face the same economic problems that many other arts groups have faced, but it has survived. A contemporary dance company, the DBDT is a study in motion and movement. They bring fresh and exciting performances to the stage time and time again.

November is no exception. DBDT will perform a series of noontime performances called “Stepping Ahead in Dallas” at their studio at 2627 Flora in the Arts District, Nov. 20-22. They will also dance at UT Arlington on Nov. 8 and Collin Creek Community College in Piano, Nov. 17-19. Dec. 13-16 they will be at the South Dallas Cultural Center performing “A Celebration of Dance.”

This winter there are lots of opportunities to catch this established (in Dallas terms) and often overlooked group in action, and none should be passed up. An added plus: the performances in November are free. Call 871-2376 for more information. -Sherri Gulczynski

IN THE RUNNING

Power breakfasts, power lunches, now power running. When 200 corporate execs from around the country convene for a two-mile run, we’re talking serious muscle. The Tyler Cup, Nov. 4 at The Aerobics Center. 233-4832.

Videorama at the DMA



Festival When you think video, is it with MTV, family vacations, and baby’s first steps in mind? Then think again. Or better yet, visit the 1989 Dallas Video Festival. This year’s festival will focus on the current trends and future technologies of this booming visual medium and possible new art form.

The four-day festival includes highlights from Voyager’s 4.4 billion-mile flight through space, Gerald Casale of DEVO showing some of the band’s “wacky” videos (including “Whip It”), new, improved, and quirky uses for video, like a Chicago funeral home’s “drive-through” viewing facility, and “movie minute masterpieces,” thirty classic films condensed into one minute and narrated by speed talkers. On the more serious side, there will be hands-on workshops for kids and teachers and a Texas Show consisting of videos made by Texas folk. Nov. 9-12 at the Dallas Museum of Art. 922-1319. -Short Gulczynski



Holiday Countdown



Events Before indulging in that Thanksgiving food fest, direct your attention to the holiday’s spirit of giving. On Nov. 11, boys from the Circle Ten Council of Boy Scouts, in collaboration with the North Texas Food Bank, will leave a paper bag on as many doorsteps in Dallas as the}’ can. On Nov. 18, they’ll return to pick up the bags you’ve filled with canned meats, fish, veggies, mac and cheese, beans, rice, and other non-perishables. Tom Thumb will also have collection bins in the stores.

Another pre-turkey must is a little exercise. Join the rest of the gaggle for the Turkey Trot at 9:10 a.m. Thanksgiving morning at City Hall Plaza. There is an eight-mile “jaunt” or a three-mile fun run. Call 526-5318 for more information.

Now you can eat. But afterwards, don’t just lounge around. Thanksgiving’s over. It’s time to start gearing up for Christmas. So uncouch yourself and head over to Dallas’s official tree-lighting ceremony, which takes place Nov. 25 at 5 p.m. at City Hall Plaza and Bell Plaza. The kids can make ornaments for the tree, write letters to Santa (every one will be answered), and visit with him, too. Call 670-8885 for more information. -Sherri Gulczynski

Chanel on a Shoestring

Finds Fact: the cheapest sweater hanging on the racks in the Chanel Boutique at Highland Park Village is $800. Fact: from there the much-coveted wraps climb up, up, and away, stopping right on the $1,700 mark. Conclusion: the price of one Chanel sweater is equivalent to one month’s house payment.

If owning a Chanel sweater is your fashion priority this winter and you don’t want to move back in with the folks in order to afford it, we’ve discovered a way to beat the system. Since buttons are what truly distinguishes a Chanel cardigan from anybody else’s top-of-the-line, we went searching for a place to find those semiprecious gold fasteners. Our intent? Purchase these little jewels, sew them on a favorite sweater already in the closet, and voila. Instant Chanel.

(Editor’s note: at first we weren’t sure this was legal. Then we discovered it was perfectly fine-merely gauche. On with our search.)

Richard Brooks Couture Fabrics (6131 Luther Lane) carries two Chanel button types, and you can buy them by. the handful or one at a time. With the smaller version running $1.25 and the larger one priced at $2.50, you could conceivably convert your entire wardrobe for the price of a couple of cases of Woolite. -Lucie Nelka



BN-G-O Mania



TREND If it’s cool enough for Priscilla Davis, then it’s hot enough for us. Priscilla says that North Dallas Bingo on North Central Expressway at Caruth Haven is not just for little old ladies who turn up their hearing aids for “I-25.” Skeptics should try a Saturday night for the most eclectic crowd, though Sundays are popular with a certain oil company president we know. The big pulls here are beer and wine (this is the only area bingo establishment where players can partake) and a $5,000-a-day pot.

Whether two or 2,000 players show, North Dallas Bingo gives away $35,000 a week. For $10, you can play nine cards a game. At that rate, you can play all night for $24. The odds of winning aren’t bad, since the average crowd is about 200. Recently a woman and her daughter walked away with $1,250 for an evening’s play. If you really get hooked, not to worry. Bingo is played here every night at 8 and 9:30 p.m. Call 360-9393.

-Sally Guldens