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The Return of Tao Ox

I’m back after a long vacation come check out my new daily blog. Learn about Chinese Philosophy, the world’s martial arts, and join me on my continuing Cheng Ming Experience. See where East meets West.

Damaged Good$ releases mix tape ‘$pread Love Not Germ$’

Damaged Good$ finally went and did it yesterday, releasing the $pread Love Not Germ$ mixtape its been teasing us with for a few months now

It’s worth the wait, too: Beyond the three songs the band has already given out for free to promote the release, the free-to-download mixtape (click the link to head to the download page) features a slew of other electro-hop bangers well worth your time. After the jump, check one of our new favorites, “I Remember.”

Presented by DJ Benzi (who has previously given his stamp of approval to tapes from the likes fo Kanye West, Clipse and Mike Posner), the 11-track release is likely just the first of two to come from DMG$ in 2010, Coool Dundee, the taller half of the duo, tells us this afternoon. But that second release, which will be a full proper album and again will find the duo working with London-based producer Xrabit, is  the last thing on the duo’s mind at the moment.

“We’re just gonna keep pushing this for a bit–until there’ve been like a bajillion downloads and everybody in the world has a copy,” says Dundee, born Chris Clark. “We’re gonna start doing more [show] dates, too.”

As for how the group got Benzi involved, it was simple.

“At first, we didn’t want to do a DJ thing,” Dundee says. “But then we thought about it and we just asked him and he said yes.”

Easy as falling asleep, huh? Not really, says Dundee, who admits to not having slept for the past two days.

“It’s hard to sleep!” he says, with a laugh. “We’re just always doing stuff–writing, whatever. And sleep’s not fun.”

He clearly doesn’t speak for me. Anyway, check out “I Remember”

credit: Dallas Observer

Neon Indian releases free track through Green Label

As promised, DFW’s own Neon Indian released a new single via Mountain Dew’s new Green label Sound entity today

The song, called “Sleep Paralysist,” is pretty token Neon Indian, filled with blips, bleeps and a repetitive, synth-based beat. It’s a little less backward-thinking than past Neon Indian songs, but, unsurprisingly, it’s still pretty darn rad.

Oh, and here’s a cool note: The song was co-produced between bandleader Alan Palomo and Grizzly Bear’s Chris Taylor.

My only reservation? With more and more Neon Indian songs being written, I worry that the band’s encores will no longer solely comprise of VEGA songs. Oh well.

credit: Dallas Observer

Earthquakes in Dallas suburbs related to drilling

Study: Connection between quakes, gas drilling

A study released Wednesday says there’s a plausible connection between a series of earthquakes in North Texas and natural gas drilling.

The dozen or so minor quakes were reported in a few Dallas suburbs from the fall of 2008 through last spring. The largest was a 3.3-magnitude quake, and no major injuries or damage were reported.

The Southern Methodist University and University of Texas study says 11 more quakes occurred that were too small for anyone to notice.

The first quakes occurred after natural gas drilling began near Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport — and none have been reported since that well stopped operating last fall.

The study doesn’t include information about last summer’s series of quakes in Cleburne, about 50 miles southwest of Dallas.

credit: WFAA

Greg Williams talks to the Dallas Observer

The Sad Saga of Greg Williams Gets … Even Sadder

On Monday I mentioned that I hadn’t heard from Greg Williams in a while. Well, lo and behold, Hammer rang yesterday afternoon in an attempt to tell his side of the story in the fizzled radio pairing with John Clay Wolfe.

What did I hear? Greggo was angry. Downtrodden on the verge of desperation. And, oh yeah, defiant.

“If you don’t think I’m clean here’s what I’ll do,” Williams offers. “I’ll take a drug test seven days a week, at my expense. And I’ll have the results emailed directly to you. You can publicize them anytime you want.”

Wolfe - the latest (see Big Dick Dunter and ESPN) to try and help Williams resurrect what once was one of Dallas radio’s brightest careers – didn’t demand daily tests. Just daily consistency.

A radio entrepreneur with a popular auto show heard Saturday mornings on 97.1 The Eagle, Wolfe approached Williams last winter with an idea to re-launch his career via an afternoon drive-time show on a small, syndicated cluster of stations. In the end, the experiment lasted exactly nine days.

In a he said/he said that resulted in The Show not going on the air as planned March 1, Wolfe says that during the first two weeks of a supposed 60-day trial period Williams missed one day of work, arrived late on another and ultimately quit after one segment of a Friday show to take a job building boat docks for $10 an hour. Williams counters that Wolfe wanted him to work for free, exploited his fame and ultimately didn’t deliver on a promise to attract station affiliates to the proposed show.

“Working with him is not an option,” says Williams. “This guy was just attaching himself to me, trying to get attention for his little specialty show. I’m angry, and I’m tired of it.”

Says Wolfe, “I’m done with this deal. I was patient. I tried. I was foolish and naive to think he was going to deliver consistency with my encouragement, when he had let so many others down before.”

The final disconnect: Wolfe offered to pay Williams $24,000 a year; Greggo demanded $104,000.

Along with the absence, almost absence and abrupt departure, Wolfe says that while driving from Granbury to Fort Worth during the two-week trial run in December Greggo wrecked one truck and ruined another by putting regular gas into the diesel tank.

“I gave him two cars, $1,000 running around money and asked him to be consistent for 60 days,” Wolfe says. “But almost immediately I started seeing the signs that he was going to flake out.”

Says Williams, “I did wreck a fender. But I didn’t put the wrong gas in there. I just didn’t do it.”

But even after the troubling trial, Wolfe didn’t give up on his experiment.

“It was high-risk poker with him,” Wolfe admits, “but the reward could be huge.”

Wolfe stubbornly set a March 1 launch date while building a permanent studio in Fort Worth, hatched an American Idol-type audition for Greggo’s permanent sidekick (says Williams, “I never wanted to be a part of tryout deal. That’s amateurish.”), and crafted a ridiculously stringent term sheet as the precursor to a contract.

more: Dallas Observer

Dallas ranks high in list of rising metropolitan economies

Good News for Dallas Real Estate: The Recession Is Easing in Texas

Forbes has three Texas cities on it’s list of the ten metropolitan areas where the recession is easing, and Dallas/Fort Worth is a rock solid number three.  And how did they come to this conclusion? These cities are the places where the housing markets are stabilizing, jobs are being created and economies are “relatively insulated from economic volatility.”  Of course, with all the government spending going on, state jobs sure keep the paychecks churning, which is why Austin/Round Rock, home of Dell, was tied for first place. While jobs have been lost nearly everywhere in the last three years, between December 2007 and December 2009 the number of jobs in Austin actually rose by 0.98%, and Austin jobs are expected to grow by 8.09% in the next three years. That’s the second-best job outlook on the entire list.

Dallas, says Forbes, is home to a thriving technology and energy sector, where jobs are projected to jump 7.19% in three years. The other Texas cities with hot future job prospects and growth: San Antonio and Houston. People need jobs to buy homes, and since our real estate market never bubbled, we are in pretty darn good shape according to these Forbes factors: unemployment rates from the Bureau of Labor statistics; Moody’s take on cities where economists expect jobs to keep growing;  from the NAR, areas with the highest positive change in median sale price for single-family homes between the third and fourth quarter of 2009; and Metropolitan Gross Domestic Product–the dollar amount of goods and services produced within a metro area.

credit: D Magazine

Dallas celebrities sing Faith Hill’s ‘This Kiss’

Dallas Celebs Embarrass Themselves to Promote Super Bowl

A commenter by the name of Matt (tip o’ the hat) pointed us to the below video of local celebs singing Faith Hill’s “This Kiss” by way of promoting Super Bowl XLV. Pretty funny stuff. A few observations and questions: 1) Dirk and Romo appear to have the most fun with it. Good on them. 2) If I wanted to see Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck make out with a woman who I assume is wife, I would put a surveillance camera in their breakfast nook. Please: no more. 3) Who is the white guy in the TCU hat? Neither Zac nor I could ID him. 4) Similarly, who is the black gentleman of generous proportions? 5) How much did Scott Murray pay to be included in this video? (Update: Apologies to TCU football coach Gary Patterson. But yours is not a face, apparently, that we can pick out of a lineup. Even when you’re wearing TCU gear. Apologies, too, to Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief, whose mustache I should have recognized with my eyes closed.)

credit: D Magazine

Cars of the Dallas Auto Show

view: NBC DFW

North Dallas high-rise shooting

Police said a business deal gone bad was the apparent reason behind the shooting of a father and son at a North Dallas office Monday morning.

A man opened fire, shooting the men, after walking into Suite 310 on the third floor of the Four Forest building at 12222 Merit Drive near Central Expressway and Coit Road, authorities said. An investment firm named Smith Financial Group, Inc. is listed inside that suite according to the Dallas Central Appraisal District.

A person who made an initial call from inside the building to 911 hung up before information could be exchanged. A second call was made from someone inside who said an active shooter was inside the Four Forest building. According to sources, that second call was made by one of the victims, who reportedly was shot in the neck.

When officer arrived on the scene, the shooter was still inside the building. Police said the man pointed his weapon at officers, and they fired back. However, he allegedly turned the gun on himself, shooting himself in the head.

All the offices inside the 19-story building remained in lockdown for more than an hour.

credit: WFAA