Most Popular
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Pentecostal Preacher Sherman Allen Turns Out to Be Reverend Spanky
The Fort Worth preacher is accused of beating, threatening and assaulting women for more than 20 years
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Obama and Me
It was the year 2000, and I was a young, hungry reporter in Chicago with a young, hungry state legislator on my speed dial
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Texas' Peyote Hunters Struggle to Find a Vanishing, Holy Crop
Harvesting peyote is legal for only three people, and all of them live in Texas
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Why is Hillary Neglecting Delegate-Rich Dallas County?
While Obama has events going on throughout the city, Clinton is nowhere to be found
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Obama and Me (63)
It was the year 2000, and I was a young, hungry reporter in Chicago with a young, hungry state legislator on my speed dial
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Melodica Festival Self-Indulgent, But Still Positive for Dallas (51)
If a festival happens in Exposition Park and only the built-in crowd shows, does it make a sound?
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Ole Oops (58)
Popular prosperity preacher sues ABC and Trinity Foundation
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Pentecostal Preacher Sherman Allen Turns Out to Be Reverend Spanky (21)
The Fort Worth preacher is accused of beating, threatening and assaulting women for more than 20 years
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Why is Hillary Neglecting Delegate-Rich Dallas County? (18)
While Obama has events going on throughout the city, Clinton is nowhere to be found
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Melodica Festival Self-Indulgent, But Still Positive for Dallas
If a festival happens in Exposition Park and only the built-in crowd shows, does it make a sound?
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MySpace Stalking Dallas Music
There are things you can learn on MySpace, and there are things you can't
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Remembering DJ Frantic
The turntablist's friends and collaborators will remember him for his love of the craft
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Dallas Music Finally Getting National Attention
It may not be Austin-level love, but we'll take it
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Erykah Badu Has Returned
The songstress burst through her stuggles with writer's block and created a solid record
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Lynn Flint Shaw's "Inner Circle"
03:35PM 03/11/08 -
Tom Pauken Never Saw It Coming
02:50PM 03/11/08 -
Racists Wear the Darnedest Tees
02:13PM 03/11/08 -
Something's Afoot At The Old Tower Records Spot On Lemmon
04:42PM 03/11/08 -
To Vampire Weekend Or Not To Vampire Weekend?
11:54AM 03/11/08 -
Q&A: Quiet Life's Sean Spellman
08:29AM 03/11/08
What we are writing about
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Recent Articles By Shannon Sutlief
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Human Nature
Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge proves itself as a photographer's ideal subject
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This Week's Day-By-Day Picks
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Dead Like Them
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This Week's Day-By-Day Picks
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This Week's Day-By-Day Picks
National Features
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Houston Press
"It Was Like an Armageddon Movie"
For days after Hurricane Rita, a Texas prison was hell on earth.
By Chris Vogel -
SF Weekly
The Candidate
Our columnist knows Ralph Nader's running mate all too well.
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The Pitch
How Not To Be a Rap Star
First of all, lay off the Ecstasy.
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Village Voice
Project Runaway
What becomes a gossip columnist most?
By Michael Musto
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Thursday, October 27, at the Dallas Museum of Art
By Shannon Sutlief
Published: November 3, 2005Every few years, 90.1 At Night's Paul Slavens charms local music fans with a special movie-related concert that would make even Cameron Crowe blush. With the help of local rockers from bands like Baboon, Mission Giant and local American Idol favorite Daron Beck, Slavens puts on infrequent live performances of his self-composed score to The Hunchback of Notre Dame; this year's was perhaps the best--and not only because of its proximity to Halloween, either. Armed with guitars, pianos, clarinets, turntables and more, the players performed against the film's action in leitmotif form--characters were assigned theme songs based on their stereotypes, so the church's archdeacon was heralded by hymn-like piano music, and the young lovers, Esmeralda and Phoebus, were greeted with a sappy love melody whenever they were together.
But the best moments on Thursday came when Slavens' score critiqued the 1923 silent film, turning a sly, modern eye on the decaying classic. Esmeralda's town square dance was accompanied by thumping dance-club beats, but even funnier was when Esmeralda and Phoebus entered a tavern and a sample of swanky bachelor pad tunes revealed Phoebus' less than honorable intentions; as he pulled her blouse off her shoulder, a guitar string slide mocked his bravado. Throughout, singer Sarah Alexander added lovers' coos, kissy noises, crazy old-maid shrieks and one (literally) goose bump-raising scream. Who would expect that a classical music-based composition of an old silent film would have the audience doubling over in laughter?
Though I expected a more rock-based score from the local indie-rock greats in the ensemble, I certainly wasn't disappointed in the wildly diverse one provided. From dark and decadent ditties for the townsfolk's revelry to the dissident and building themes as Quasimodo and other parties fought and schemed for control of Esmeralda, Slavens' score gave The Hunchback a new life that the dingy black-and-white footage couldn't.
