Category Archives: Dallas South

2008 Top 10 Places to go in Dallas

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10. Bishop Arts Theatre Center

interior_of_a_empty_theater.jpgThe newly renovated Bishop Arts Theatre is a wonderful backdrop for Teco Theatrical Production founder Teresa Coleman Wash’s unique vision. In October, Leonard’s Car played to enthusiastic crowds and rave reviews. Southern Dallas now has it’s best performing arts venue since…since ever.

9. House of Blues

The House of Blues has been a welcome addition to the music scene, even though some local venues have suffered due to HOB’s strict policy on their acts playing at other spots. But you can’t beat the combination of good food and good music. Make sure to check out the Gospel Brunch that has two show times each Sunday Morning.

8. Deep Ellum

Deep Ellum continues to be at a tipping point. Elm Street seems to be ahead of Main, as I’ve been to Cafe Brazil and Daddy Jacks more in recent months than any other D.E. location. Will DART’s green line help the struggling district return to the days of blues glory? Only time will tell.

7. Cedar Crest Golf Course

cedarcrest.jpgCedar Crest is the best municipal course in Dallas an one of the finest in Texas. The home of the 1927 PGA Championship The new layout designed by D.A. Weibring’s has amazing views of downtown Dallas and is fun for golfers of any level. The recently renovated clubhouse is good for unwinding after a round, and also serves the community by hosting various events.

6. Bishop Arts District

The Bishop Arts District has it all, food, shopping, art, music, you name it. The wonder of Bishop Arts is no longer a secret, but because it doesn’t rest near a highway, people have to work a little to get there. That helps the area keep its quaint neighborhood feel, without ever becoming pretentious.

5. West Village

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If you’re looking for pretentious -as we all do from time to time- then West Village is your place. The prices for food and shopping are attainable, a trait that keeps West Village on this list and Victory Park off. Its proximity to the Dart Rail is also a plus, as well as the Magnolia Theatre.

4. Fair Park

I took a lot of heat for leaving Fair Park off the list last year. Besides the year long attractions -like the African-American museum, the State Fair has become a yearly event for our family. We’re counting the days until the light rail rolls through for next year’s fair. The renovated Cotton Bowl has added new life to the State Fair Classic and Red River Rivalry. And the food….enough said.

3. Southside on Lamar

When I’m looking for a place to get away to, I often seek out the Southside on Lamar. It’s eclectic mix of people and activity make it a perfect spot for hanging out and or people watching. Recently my wife and I caught a concert at the Palladium Ballrom and a couple of days later I was back for some Off the Bone Barbeque. In the old Sears building, there’s coffee at Opening Bell, and jerk chicken at Texas Caribbean Foods. Am I leaving anything out?????

2. Nasher Sculpture Center

garden.jpgI’m not sure if I go to the Nasher Sculpture Center for the art or for the building itself. I think I’d go to the Renzo Piano designed building even all the wonderful pieces were removed. The same holds true for the one and a half acre garden out back.

1 Brooklyn Jazz Cafe

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You can never go wrong when choosing Brooklyn for a night own on the town. Sunday morning brunch is also a treat . Brooklyn has expanded with Jazzy’s Sports Bar on the back side and private rooms for special occasions. The Brooklyn experience is created equally by the music, the food, and the people.

For the second year in a row, Lorna Tate’s jazzy place is Dallas South’s number one spot in town.

Palin exceeds, Biden achieves, McCain Campaign African-American coordinator joins Shawn P Williams Now

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Sarah Palin did better than we thought.  Of course we thought she might make a fool of herself as she did on CBS with Katie Couric.  Palin spoke in complete sentences and her thoughts were intelligible 95% of the time.  Is that what we’re looking for in a V.P.?  The ability to put two sentences together?

Biden was strong.  He was very strong on foreign policy though he didn’t do as well on economic issues as I would have liked.  Actually Obama was in the same boat last week.

But Biden, like Obama, seemed presidential and had a better understanding and vision for all of the issues.  Palin seemed to bring every question back to the next page on her paper.  Everything was came back to energy.  Check out the transcript of the live blog, it was pretty funny, especially when Palin used the word “tapped.” (a little after 9pm)

On Shawn P. Williams Now, Jazzy and I were joined by Renee Hartley in the first half of the show.  She is VP of the Young Democrats of America’s Dallas County Chapter.  Renee was just out of a YDA watch party that was attended by a number of spirited Obama supporters.  She did really well and talked about some of the ways YDA is adapting voter registration strategies of the campaign.

I’d like to thank the McCain/Palin campaign for providing C.J. Jordan as a guest for the second half hour.  C.J. is the National African-American Coalition coordinator for the McCain/Palin ticket.  There were obviously sharp differences between our positions and hers, but it was a spirited exchange.  Check the show out here.  We hope to bring you two great guests again next week.

By the way, Gwen Ifill did a great job as moderator.

Friendship-West and Dallas South to host Election Night Watch Party

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I’m proud to announce that Friendship-West and Dallas South will host an election night watch party at 2020 Wheatland Road on November 4th at 7 p.m. I’ll share more info about his exciting night as it becomes available.

Please leave comments or suggests of what you think would make for a great night of watching the election returns.  You can also email me at shawn@dallassouthblog.com

Dallas South on NPR News and Notes Today

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Today I will be on NPR News and Notes’ Bloggers Roundtable.   Tony Cox will be hosting the show today and the other bloggers include Danielle Belton from The Black Snob and Claudio Simpkins from Hip Hop Republican.

We are scheduled to discuss Racial attitudes towards blacks, O.J., and pay differences for those with differing views on gender roles.   News and Notes airs in Dallas on KERA 90.1 at 9:00 p.m.  All other areas check your local listings for times.

Launch of Shawn P. Williams Now on Blog Talk Radio set for Thursday at 10 pm Central

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I’m excited to announce that Dallas South is launching a Blog Talk Radio Program this Thursday night (Sept. 25) at 10:00 p.m CST.  The show called Shawn P. Williams Now, will focus on the same things that we talk about here at Dallas South – politics, media, sports, and current events.

Jazzy who blogs at Because I Said So, and contributes here at Dallas South is going to be our co-host.   We did a pilot (which is actually out there for public consumption) on Tuesday to work out some of the kinks.  I think it’s going to be fun.

Our first guest on Thursday will be Casey Thomas, president of the Dallas branch of the NAACP.  We will be discussion voter registration, turnout, and the potential for voter suppression.

You can find the show by clicking here, or going to blogtalkradio.com and searching for Shawn P. Williams.  See you on Thursday!

Dallas South Rewind: Choctaw/Chickasaw Freedman

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The traffic at Dallas South has turned over a bit so I wanted to repost my interview with Verdie Triplett regarding the Choctaw Chickasaw Freeman and their fight to be restored to their respective nations. 

Part One

Part Two

Part Three (vote for removal)

Shawn Williams appearances on KLIF (Jeff Bolton) and NBC 5

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Still trying catch up on some stuff from the DNC Convention, it will probably take me the rest of the month to get all of the content out.  The above is part of an interview I did with Jeff Bolton on KLIF 570.  Thanks to Jeff and Clint Granberry for asking me to be on, I look forward to my next segment.

Also click here to view a really nice report NBC 5′s Ken Kalthoff did on my preparation for the trip.  

Dallas South cracks Black Blog Rankings top 50

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For the first time, Dallas South is ranked in the top 50 of African-American blogs tracked by Electronic Village.  Dallas South come in ranked #42 with a Technorati authority of 172 (# of blogs that link here).

Here’s this month’s list of over 1,400 blogs.

This month’s top 10:

1. Pam’s House Blend* (1117 / 1,995)
2. Nah Right* (925 / 2,673)
3. Concrete Loop* (844 / 3,066)
4. Bossip.com* (832 / 3,131)
5. Oliver Willis (692 / 4,111)
6. Young, Black, and Fabulous* (670 / 4,321)
7. Jack and Jill Politics* (517 / 6,255)
8. The Angry Black Woman (451 / 14,008)
9. Crunk & Disorderly* (445 / 14,252)
10. How To Split An Atom (443 / 14,763)

Thanks as always to Villager and crew for taking the time to put this list together.

DALLAS MORNING NEWS: Partisan bloggers building up the buzz at political conventions

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I um want to share this um video interview I did with um the Dallas Morning News.  We were just inside the um perimeter set up um, around the convention hall so you can see the barriers over my shoulder.  Um, Karen Brooks conducted the interview off camera and um wrote the adjoining article. Check both out by clicking here.

Here are a few excerpts:

  • It was an unprecedented move by Democrats and Republicans this year when they invited hundreds of bloggers to cover their conventions with the same access as – and in some cases much better than – the mainstream media.
  • Shawn Williams, publisher of the blog Dallas South, was credentialed as part of the “General Blogger Pool,” a more diverse group of bloggers selected nationwide by the national convention committee. He, like the others, raised money from his family, friends and readers to come and is taking vacation days from his pharmaceutical sales job in Dallas.

  • At first skeptical of being left out of the state blogger pool – along with other minority bloggers who thought the predominantly white state blogger corps got a better shake – Mr. Williams says he now feels more freedom than he might if he were picked to sit with Texas delegates.

  • But as an avowed progressive and Obama supporter, does he think that could get in the way of his objectivity in covering the convention?  No, he said, adding he’s a progressive, but he doesn’t associate himself with a particular party.

TORONTO STAR: Bloggers bring black issues to forefront

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Andrew Chung of the Toronto Star writes another article specifically about African-American bloggers at the DNC Convention. Here are some of the highlights of Andrew’s article. I think he did a good job.

  • Slightly flustered, L. N. Rock and his colleague peer Adrianne George, both African-American bloggers, are rushing off to do an interview.As citizen observers and writers whose medium is the Internet, you’d expect they’d be interviewing some person of interest. Instead, in fact, the British Broadcasting Corporation is interviewing them.
  • Rock and George are just two of many black bloggers who have come to the convention. They’re here to watch, write and talk about politics and African-American issues. Their audiences, and their notoriety, are growing.
  • The importance of these blogs is that they are more about having an African-American perspective on things,” says Williams, whose blog title, Dallas South, signifies the kind of ethnic divide in his hometown, blacks and Latinos south of the river, whites to the north.
  • He and other African-American bloggers say that while the Obama presidential quest isn’t the sole raison d’etre for their blogs, as the Democratic candidate became more likely to win the nomination their blogs took on new importance for African-American readers. “It propelled it to another level,” Williams explains.
  • On Rock’s site, AfricanAmericanPoliticalPundit.com, he writes that he and his peers represent a “new breed of black media.” They are the “first group of black independent `credentialed-journalist’ bloggers to cover a major political party’s national convention,” he says.