R.I.P.

If you’ve spent more than five or ten minutes in a Dallas gallery, you’re likely to have met June Mattingly.

Amidst the many obituaries and tributes that are surely to come pouring out over the coming days and weeks, I thought I'd pass along 90 minutes of bootleg Bowie recorded at the Las Colinas Studios on April 27, 1983.

There was one line that stuck out to me in the DMN report that made me think that regardless of whether or not Boso pushes through the backlash and reopens the bar, Ships -- the Ships Dallas has known for 62 years -- is dead.

You're going to have to bear with me. I need some space here to collect my thoughts and grieve. I learned yesterday that one of my favorite bars will shut its doors forever at the end of this month. I'm referring to the White Rock Sports Bar, which we regulars still refer to by its original name, Shady Side. Actually, its full name when it opened in 1998 was the Shady Side Cafe, but "cafe" fits the place like a wedding dress would fit my dog. A man named JD, a neighbor of mine, owns the place. He changed the name a number of years ago in a misguided effort (in this drinker's humble opinion) to deal with the arcane rules governing dry areas and private clubs and the food-to-beverage ratio of sales numbers. JD tells me that his lease is up October 31. His liquor license expires even sooner, this Sunday.

There was a time in Dallas when you couldn't just hobble up McKinney Ave. with your drunken sorority sisters and stumble into the latest hot night spot . You had to impress someone who went to Studio 54 for the first time with Andy Warhol on her arm.