20110428_Pulse

the shorthorn entertainment & dining guidethursday, april 28, 2011 | www.theshorthorn.com

PULSE

Music venue Trees ushers new nightlife in Dallas’s Deep Ellum. Page 7B

New Mortal Kombat stays true to hyper-violent roots while improving gameplay

Page 8B.

Klassic Kombat

Break a leg

Deep Roots

Theatre Arts showcases five one-act plays on campus this weekend. Page 6B

Cowboys and girls compete twice a week at Cowtown Coliseum. Page 4B

Yippee ki-yay

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The Shorthorn: Daniel Molina

2B pulse | www.theshorthorn.com thursday, april 28, 2011

BY TORY BARRINGERThe Shorthorn staff

Every pub has its own stories to tell, but Fort Worth’s The Ginger Man may be the only one to have inspired a divine experience. Server Lisa Riker recalled her first time at The Ginger Man.

“I had a Stone IPA,” Riker said. “It was like the clouds part-ed; the angels sang. It was the best beer ever. I knew I had to work there.”

She now spends her nights behind the bar serving patrons with a smile. Despite the staff ’s easygoing attitude, they take their beer seriously. The Ginger Man’s hiring process includes a strenuous testing of their menu.

“Before we can start working, we have to pass a beer test called the ‘Test from Hell,’” Riker said. “We have to be able to identify a beer by taste and smell.”

It’s no easy feat, consider-ing the menu boasts more than 100 beers. For the pub’s regulars though, it’s the atmosphere that brings them back.

“It’s a good crowd,” said Fort Worth resident Lauren Reidm-ueller, who frequents The Ginger Man several times a week with her friends. “We come in here and study. I think it’s more re-laxed and homey.”

The Fort Worth location, es-tablished in 2007, is just one of a family of Ginger Man pubs. Other locations include New York, Dallas, Houston, Plano and Austin.

Fort Worth resident Eric Boudreaux has been to the New York Ginger Man and prefers the Texas locations. He said the Fort Worth bar has a more “cottagey” feel.

It’s easy to see what he means. The far end of the pub has a reading area stocked with news-papers and books for visitors who just want a quiet drink. Couches and lounge chairs are situated around a coffee table and next to a fireplace, lending a cozy feel.

The toned down spirit perme-ates every aspect of the bar, from the soft lights to the music on the jukebox.

Leah Wilson, a regular visitor, said she prefers The Ginger Man because of its quiet scenery.

“It’s unique,” Wilson said. “It’s lowkey. It’s not like being down-town, having a bunch of girls screaming. Nobody makes a fuss here.”

That doesn’t mean it’s all quiet. On the pub’s back patio, people enjoy lively conversation and drinks under the open sky. On Thursdays, the atmosphere is a little more animated as the pub does its weekly “Think and Drink Trivia,” which features questions about pop culture, his-tory and literature.

Lauren Carroll, server at The Ginger Man since 2008, said her favorite part about working there is the people. She esti-mated about 80 percent of the

pub’s nightly clientele are regu-lar customers.

“It’s kind of a family attitude around here,” Carroll said. “We know your name, we learn what

you like to drink.”She said her time studying

beer for The Ginger Man was well spent.

“I didn’t know anything about it beforehand,” she said. “I was very diligent about it. I feel like I picked up a cool new little hobby.”

Randy Crow, there for his first time, already planned for his next visit.

“I don’t really go to bars much because of the cost,” Crow said. “I can come here and not feel like I’m wasting a bunch of money, though. The place is cool enough that I can just come and sit back.”

TORY [email protected]

The Ginger Man spices up bar experienceThe Fort Worth pub has a laid-back attitude unmatched by other locations

Nightlife

The Shorthorn: Sandy Kurtzman

The Ginger Man bar in Fort Worth carries 69 beers on tap, with more in bottles, from numerous countries including some hard to find beers from Brazil and Thailand. Bartender and nursing junior Mike Vallandingham said it’s a neighborhood bar and he strives to know customers by name.

The Ginger Man Where: 3716 Camp Bowie Blvd Fort Worth 76107Hours: 2 p.m. to 2 a.m. Monday-Thursday1 p.m. to 2 a.m. Friday-Sunday Happy hour: 4-7 p.m. Monday-Friday $1 off pints and tall drinks $2 off pitchersAge: 21+

The Shorthorn: Lorraine Frajkor

Camp Bowie Boulevard

White Settlement Road

Seventh Street

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3Bwww.theshorthorn.com | pulsethursday, april 28, 2011

BY LEE ESCOBEDOThe Shorthorn scene editor

When the Apocalypse befalls us, the sky will rip open and send shrieks of rumbling crackles over the land. Coming over the hill, sur-vivors will notice a traveling band of Day-Glo transvestite musicians prancing like fools as they score the soundtrack to the end of days.

Those musicians will be Kevin Barnes and his merry pranksters known as Of Montreal. The gen-der-bending band hopefully has more kinky records to release be-fore the end, yet their newest EP, thecontrollersphere, would serve as the perfect number to accom-pany the end.

The record is a sprawling mix-

ture of nightmarish vaudeville, con-ceptual camp and the queer theo-ries of Jean Genet. Luckily, all of this goes down easier than a hand-ful of LSD, which the album sounds like it was made on at times.

The album contains five songs, each one stranger than the next. In “Holiday Call,” Barnes seems to play a flirty game with a domineer-ing lover whom he calls Lord. “Is that you, my lord?/ Hands on my knee, my lord/ Fingers running up my sleeve, my lord/ Asking me to leave with you, oh my lord.”

Whether he means a sado-masochistic master or the Lord himself, it’s the ambiguity behind Barnes’ lyrics that separate him from his peers as a modern-day

Ziggy Stardust.The eight-minute opus on opi-

ates is a danceable delight. It’s also an interesting complement to the unsettling ambient noise of the album opener, “Black Lion Mas-sacre.” Here, Barnes seems to be narrating the events that follow the day of reckoning by describing people as they “slaughtered each other out of joy, murdered their pets and pissed on each other.”

Whether he’s savant, sage or sacrilegious, Barnes is clearly here to make things interesting. On “L’Age D’Or,” named after a film by surrealist director Luis Bunuel, the singer delivers non sequitur love poems as a vehement violin blasts in the background.

On the finale, “Slave Transla-tor,” the freak parade is in full ef-fect. Shifting between moods and modus operandi, the band screws with the listener’s notions of pop. The album shifts back and forth through all three panels of Hiero-nymus Bosch’s triptych, “The Gar-den of Earthly Delights.”

Fantastical images, sexual devi-ations, warring devastation — the album, like the painting, tells the tale of our existence while warning us of things to come. We can only hope that Of Montreal will be the backing band when the final horn blows.

LEE [email protected]

BY TESIA KWARTENGThe Shorthorn staff

Traveling back in time isn’t com-pletely impossible. With an inven-tory spanning 100 years, Dallas’ Gratitude Vintage Apparel Collect-ibles and Nostalgia is a trendy blast into the past.

A small treasure trove of throw-back items from the past 19 years in a canaryyellow house in Oak Lawn, the store started off as a hobby for owners, Marion Weger and Don Dent. It eventually turned into a full-fledged business that recently relocated to accommodate its grow-ing amount of vintage goodies.

The new location, on Fairmount Street in Dallas, has been open for a week. Antique dealers Kyle Gray and Kent Presson bought the business after the original owners died earlier this year and are working to main-tain the store and its chic collectibles.

“I’ve been enjoying just reorga-nizing the store,” Gray said. “For me, with the antiques, it’s about finding the one thing out of thou-sands that’s just so cool.”

The store has endless possibili-ties of unique options, like creating a retro-chic look, finding a classic accessory or even an Elvis suit.

Vocal performance freshman Nick Garza said he likes the old

look of vintage clothing, and the vibe and homey feel at Gratitude.

“I appreciate the quality of the clothing, considering it has lasted for years. I shop a few times a month for little things to add to my look and style,” he said. “If you like true vintage clothing this is a place where you can find amazing clothes and style for very reasonable prices.”

The new location is like walking into a giant closet with 12 sepa-rate rooms. A variety of hats from various eras adorn the walls. It’s filled from floor to ceiling with one-of-a-kind clothing items for men and women, as well as house decor, books and music.

While most of the items are clothing, Presson said he hopes to bring in more vintage furniture and eventually have the rooms separated

by era to make finding things easier.“When I started this, I didn’t just

want to do clothes. There’s a lot to know about it, and we’re still learn-ing. It’s just so much fun,” he said. “We’re trying to go with the original plan and have the store how the

previous owners had it. They were just incredible.”

Despite the change in owner-ship and the rearranging, Gray said people are dedicated to the store.

“They know the store, and the regulars have been complimentary

on the changes that we’ve made,” he said. “We’re very honored to be the people that were chosen to carry on the history of the store.”

TESIA [email protected]

Gratitude Vintage’s new location keeps classic fashionAfter reopening this week,

the store maintains its unique style

Gratitude Vintage Apparel Collectibles and Nostalgia

Address: 3613 Fairmount St.Dallas 75219Contact: 214-522-2921Hours of Operation: Noon to 6 p.m. Tuesday-FridayNoon to 5 p.m. Saturday1-4 p.m. Sunday

The Shorthorn: Aisha Butt

Gratitude Vintage Apparel Collectibles and Nostalgia has items dating up to 100 years old from accessories like jewelry and shoes to collectibles like costumes and antique boxes. The store recently re-opened at a new location on Fairmont Street in Dal-las.

Concert Corner

Your Weekend

Scene It

Gas or Pass

Cover Story

Be Scene

Review

Food

Freakish lyrics from heaven Of Montreal’s album rocks the Apocalypse

thecontrollersphere

Artist: Of MontrealLabel: PolyvinylReleased: TuesdayRating: Five out of fi ve stars

A taste of the Wild West4B pulse | www.theshorthorn.com thursday, april 28, 2011

Concert Corner

Your Weekend

Scene It

Gas or Pass

Cover Story

Be Scene

Review

Food

BY TORY BARRINGERThe Shorthorn staff

We may not live in the Wild West anymore, but parts of Fort Worth still hold on to the old tra-ditions. That spirit is most evident at the Stockyards Championship Rodeo located at the Cowtown Coliseum, where cowboys and cowgirls show off their skills every week.

Twice a week, the arena holds rodeos featuring bull riding, calf roping and barrel racing for the cowgirls. As a break between events, young children are invited onto the rodeo grounds for a calf or sheep scramble.

Alumna Emily McGee, who grew up watching rodeos, de-scribed the appeal.

“A lot of blood, sweat and tears goes into it,” McGee said. “A lot of hard work goes into it. They love their craft.”

Cowtown Coliseum has a rich history in the rodeo world. It was the site of the world’s first indoor rodeo in 1918, and it saw the intro-duction of bull riding into rodeo in 1934.

In addition to being the site of rodeo history, Cowtown also has its share of historical celebrity ap-pearances. Elvis Presley, Bob Hope and Doris Day performed at the Coliseum, and Theodore Roosevelt and Jimmy Carter both stopped in to address crowds.

Hub Baker, executive director at Cowtown Coliseum and producer of the weekly shows, said the build-ing’s historical significance is part of the rodeo experience.

“We’re one of the most histori-cal rodeo buildings in the world,” Baker said. “We are trying to pro-mote authenticity. People get to see cows, bulls and pretty girls. If they don’t want to see that, they prob-ably need to just stay home.”

One of those girls is Duke Largo, who participates in the show’s bar-rel races. The event is a test of speed and precision as riders take their horses around barrels and to the finish line as quickly as possible. Every barrel knocked over adds five seconds to the rider’s time.

“It can be an adrenaline rush,” Largo said. “Seeing all the people, it’s a really good feeling.”

She said Cowtown Coliseum and its rodeos stand as a tribute to the old cowboy culture that isn’t as prevalent anymore.

“It’s a cool feeling,” she said. “This is a dying thing, the Western culture. Ever since I was little, I wanted to be a cowgirl. Today, it’s like living my dream through these events.”

Lorenzo Rios, a bull rider and Guanajuato, Mexico native, be-came interested in rodeo when he was 6 years old. He worked with small cows at his old home in Mexico and decided to pursue

the craft. Though each participant only needs to last for eight seconds on the bull, Rios said it can be a draining experience.

“When the bull starts bucking, it’s nerves combined with fear,” he said. “It’s the emotion and the adrenaline in a short time.”

Calf roper Bo Wells has been working at his craft for 20 years. The dexterity required to rope a moving target doesn’t come natu-rally. Wells puts in at least 12 hours of practice each week in prepara-tion for his performances at Cow-town.

“If you want to get anywhere, you gotta practice,” he said. “You can’t hold anything back. You gotta be at the top of your game.”

Although McGee appreciates the level of competition, her favor-ite thing about the Cowtown Coli-seum rodeos is the family-friendly atmosphere.

“One thing I love about it is that it’s family oriented,” she said. “I think it teaches a lot of good values. A lot of pride and confidence.”

TORY [email protected]

The Shorthorn: Daniel Molina

The Cowtown Coliseum features a rodeo at 8 p.m. every Friday and Saturday until the end of July. While bull riding is the main attraction, the rodeos also feature barrel rac-ing, calf roping and special sheep chases for young children.

Stockyards Championship Rodeo When: 8-10 p.m. every Friday and Saturday until the end of JulyWhere: 121 E. Exchange Ave., Fort WorthCost: Adult general admission $15Child general admission $10 (ages 3-12)

The Shorthorn: Lorraine Frajkor

Long Avenue

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“One thing I love about it is that it’s family oriented. I think it teaches a lot of good values. A lot of pride

and confidence”

Emily McGee,alumna

A taste of the Wild West5Bwww.theshorthorn.com | pulsethursday, april 28, 2011

Cowtown Coliseum ropes in fun for the whole family

The Shorthorn: Allyson Kaler

Cowboys begin the saddle bronco riding portion of the rodeo Saturday evening in the Cowtown Coliseum, located in the Fort Worth Stockyards. Bull riding, bareback riding and team roping are events also included in the rodeo.


A cowboy falls off of his horse during the saddle bronco riding event Saturday night in the Cowtown Coliseum. Riders try to stay on their horses for eight seconds.

MoviesFast FiveDirected by: Justin LinStarring: Dwayne Johnson, Paul Walker, Vin Diesel and Tyrese GibsonRated: PG-13When: FridayWhere: Wide ReleaseCost: Varies

Dylan Dog: Dead of NightDirected By: Kevin MunroeStarring: Brandon Routh, Anita Briem and Sam HuntingtonRated: PG-13When: FridayWhere: Wide ReleaseCost: Varies PromDirected by: Joe NussbaumStarring: Aimee TeegardenRated: PGWhen: FridayWhere: Wide ReleaseCost: Varies

Hoodwinked Too! Hood Vs. EvilDirected by: Mike DisaStarring: Hayden Panettiere, Glenn

Close and Patrick WarburtonRated: PGWhen: FridayWhere: Wide ReleaseCost: Varies

EventsThe Aluminum ShowWhen: 7:30 tonightWhere: Bass Performance Hall525 Commerce St.Fort Worth 76102Cost: $22 to $44Contact: 877-212-4280

Wild Child-Tribute to The DoorsWhen: 8 tonightWhere: House of Blues2200 N. Lamar St.Dallas 75202Cost: $12 day of showContact: 214-978-BLUE

“Quasi-Mobile” Ceramic works by David MorrisWhen: 6 p.m. FridayWhere: Fort Worth Community Arts Center1300 Gendy St.Fort Worth 76107Cost: FreeContact: [email protected]

An Evening With Alice WalkerWhen: 7 p.m. FridayWhere: Ed Landreth Auditorium2800 S. University DriveFort Worth 76129Cost: $15, Reservations requiredContact: 817-257-7440

YelawolfWhen: 7 p.m. SaturdayWhere: Trees2709 Elm St.Dallas 75226Cost: $15Contact: 214-741-1122

Arcade FireWhen: 7:30 p.m. SaturdayWhere: Gexa Energy Pavilion1818 First Ave.Dallas 75210Cost: $40Contact: www.Livenation.com

Craig FergusonWhen: 7:30 p.m. SundayWhere: Bass Performance Hall525 Commerce St.Fort Worth 76102Cost: $38.50 to $104.50Contact: 877-212-4280

Donald GloverWhen: 8:30 p.m. MondayWhere: South Side Music Lofts1135 S. Lamar St.Dallas 75215Cost: $18 to $20Contact: www.theloftdallas.com


BY ALLEN BALDWIN The Shorthorn staff

Interrogations, blind dates, au-ditions and more are the subjects of a series of plays directed by stu-dents for Spring TheatreFest.

The festival features five one-act plays and will run today through Sunday. The event only runs for one weekend, as opposed to the usual two for other shows, because it’s right before dead week, said, Natalie Gaupp, senior lecturer and academic adviser.

Gaupp said the Theatre Arts Department started TheatreFest about a decade ago. She said the event is used to let students direct plays. Four of the five plays are directed by students.

“They work on the play from the ground up,” she said. “We see things like this from graduate stu-dents, but to see it from under-graduate students is interesting for professors. We know they’re ready for professional work.”

Gaupp said the event always sells out, bringing in about 600 to 800 people.

Theatre arts senior Chris Gould directed the second play of the night, The Questioning of Nick by Arthur Kopit. The play is about a teenage basketball player who is questioned by police officers about a man that has been suspected of paying players to throw games.

Gould said the biggest chal-lenge of the play was not rehears-ing in the performance area until the final week before the show.

“I couldn’t really get a sense of how it was going to sound when we got into the larger space until we got in there last week,” he said.

Gould told his actors that they would have to speak louder and more clearly during their perfor-mance.

“The first night it didn’t hap-pen,” Gould said. “I went back and told them, ‘We need to do this, we need to keep our energy up,’ and they came back the next night and drove it home.”

The third play of the night, Lurker by Don Nigro, is the reason the department stressed that the

event is for an adult audience only. The play is about a man who sees a woman changing through her window and becomes obsessed.

“I’m known in the department for being dark and twisty,” theatre arts senior David Ray said. “That’s my genre.“

Ray, the director of the play, said he didn’t find working with other students difficult.

“My philosophy is to put the fear of God into them at the be-ginning of the process, and then we don’t have problems,” he said. “It’s crucial to set the boundary of, ‘In this room, I’m the director, not your friend.’ If you’re stern, they’ll respect you without anyone having to get upset.”

Ray said the biggest challenge with directing the play was the comfort level of the piece.

“I’m asking my actors to go to this dark hole within themselves every night, and we would have very intense rehearsals,” he said. “That’s been the biggest hurdle, is getting them comfortable with

going there. Because if they’re not comfortable, they can’t take the audience with them, and the whole ride is defeated.”

The plays are between 20 and 40 minutes long and the event as a whole is about two hours long.

Other plays include Blind Date, directed by theatre arts senior Nastasia Ingersoll, and The Role of Della, directed by theatre arts specialist Michelle Harvey,

The final play of the night, The Fat Lady Sings in Little Grimley by David Tristram, ends the event on a comedic note. This British farce, directed by theatre arts se-nior Kayla Foster, is about a the-ater troupe that has fallen on hard times and is trying to pull itself out of bankruptcy.

Foster said she had to do a lot of research for the play because it’s British.

“There’s a lot of verbage affiliat-ed with the U.K. that we might not know, and there are jokes and ref-erences to things that are funny to people in the U.K. that we might not normally get, so I had to do a lot of research on that,” she said. “I’ve learned a lot about the U.K.”

Production stage manager Laura Choate said managing five different shows was challenging.

“I’m saved by the grace of my assistant stage managers because, during the rehearsals, I can’t be in two places at once,” the theatre arts junior said. “For the past several weeks, I’ve only been dealing with two shows, but I’ve been getting reports from the other shows. It’s an organized mess. But it’s a learn-ing experience and it’s really fun.”

ALLEN [email protected]

Theatre Arts takes to the stage for TheatreFestFive plays ranging in topics will run until Sunday

TheatreFest Where: Studio Theatre, Fine Arts Building 137When: 8 p.m. Today through Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Sunday Cost: $7 for students, faculty and seniors, $10 for everyone else.


Theatre performance sophomore Robert Bell, right, rehearses his role as Nick with theatre performance sophomore Winston Daniels in the play The Questioning of Nick Tuesday evening in the Studio Theatre.

Pulse’s guide to arts and entertainment in the Metroplex

this weekend. If you know of a cool Arlington event, let us know at features-editor.

[email protected].

“We see things like this from graduate students, but to see it from undergraduate students is interesting for professors. We know they’re ready for professional work.”

Natalie Gaupp,senior lecturer and academic adviser

THURSDAY, APRIL 28FAST FIVE130 mins • PG13 w12:01AM | 12:02AM | 12:03AM

HANNA111 mins • PG13 11:15AM | 2:15 | 5:00 | 7:40

HOP (2011)95 mins • PG12:15 | 3:05 | 6:05

INSIDIOUS103 mins • PG13 10:30AM | 1:15 | 4:15 | 7:15

MADEA’S BIG HAPPY FAMILY105 mins • PG13w11:00AM | 1:40 | 4:30 | 7:30 | 10:00

PROM103 mins • PG w12:01AM

RIO99 mins Gw10:20AM | 1:00 | 3:45 | 6:30 | 9:15

SCREAM 4112 mins • Rw12:30 | 4:00 | 7:00 | 10:10

THE OUTSIDERS (1983)91 mins • PG 9:30

WATER FOR ELEPHANTS121 mins • PG13w12:00 | 3:20 | 6:40 | 10:00

7Bwww.theshorthorn.com | pulsethursday, april 28, 2011

Trees venue helps Deep Ellum growMusic venue Trees was reopened in 2009 after being shut down in 2005

By Lee escoBedoThe Shorthorn scene staff

Deep in the heart of downtown Dallas lies a neighborhood where the ghosts of blues legends Blind Lemon Jefferson, Huddie “Lead-belly” Ledbetter and Robert John-son haunt the streets. For Leadbel-ly, the Deep Ellum neighborhood influenced his lyrics as a struggling musician in need of a fix.

“Walked up Ellum an’ I come down Main/ Tryin’ to bum a nickel jes’ to buy cocaine/ Ho, ho, baby, take a whiff on me.”

Leadbelly’s lyrics still echo off the walls of the buildings and ven-ues that call the arts district home.

One of those historic build-ings is Trees, a music venue that launched the careers of Nirvana and Marilyn Manson in the ’90s.

Clint Barlow, drummer for Vanilla Ice, has played for bands in Deep Ellum since 1993. Along with his wife Whitney, he looked to open a lounge in Addison, but found the area too expensive.

When he found that Trees was available for leasing, he immedi-ately jumped on the opportunity to reopen the historic venue.

“The place was a dump when we first got here,” Barlow said. “The last few years it was open, it really went to shambles. I was also shocked that the name was still available, too. I wouldn’t have done it if I couldn’t have had the name.”

On New Year’s Day in 2005, during an Old 97’s concert at the old Gypsy Ballroom, a fight broke out that ended in broken noses, arrests and lawsuits. The compa-ny, Entertainment Collaborative, that owned Gypsy Ballroom was court ordered to shut down all of its properties, which included The Green Room and Trees. On New Year’s Day of 2005, the most his-toric music venue in Deep Ellum was shut down.

Thanks to Barlow’s efforts, Trees officially reopened in 2009, and if you stepped into the venue today, you would see no signs of the past decay. Determined to change the neighborhood and the club’s image, Barlow put $750,000 into the venue, renovating the bathrooms, installing a sprinkler system, moving the bar from the middle to the back and upgrading

his sound system to compete with the House of Blues.

Since Trees’ reopening, there are now 17 total venues includ-ing the New York Times-reviewed Black Swan and the reopening of The Bone.

Barry Annino, president of the Deep Ellum Foundation, has seen the ups and downs of the area since he moved there in the early ’90s.

“Deep Ellum is important to Dallas because it’s the only area that has real soul,” Annino said. “It has a distinct identity that sepa-rates it from the rest of D-FW.”

Annino said the beginning of the area’s recession happened after the dot-com failings in the late 1990s. He said after the collapse, building owners began leasing to adverse tenants.

He also recognized that the dy-namic of the area has changed since the ’90s.

“The scene is different now,” Annino added. “You can’t survive on just rock acts anymore like you

could in the ’90s. But as far as club owners go, Clint Barlow is a stand-up guy, he’s the kind of people that we want down here.”

Originally called Deep Elm, the neighborhood has seen many transitions since Robert S. Mung-er built his first cotton factory in the area in 1888. The ’80s and ’90s saw a burgeoning punk scene that brought the Dead Kennedys, Black Flag and the Meat Puppets to nearly 57 clubs at the time.

“The club itself is bigger than any one person,” said Barlow. “During the ’90s, Trees was one of the clubs that you earned your way into. If you change the club, or Deep Ellum, too much from what

makes it unique, people are going to call you on it.”

To clean up the area and return it to its former standing, the city council instituted the Special Use Permit in June of 2006. The per-mits made the process of opening a bar, club or lounge in Deep Ellum easier by creating a successful and like-minded neighborhood.

According to the proposal, to be approved, businesses must be “compatible with adjacent prop-erty and consistent with the char-acter of the neighborhood.”

Councilwoman Pauline Me-drano, whose District 2 includes Deep Ellum, said that the permits allow established business owners to have more authority on what business are opened.

“The SUPs are in place to keep the thugs and gangsters out of Deep Ellum,” she said. “You first have to get approved by the city planning commission, then us, and just as important, you have to have the faith of the pre-existing businesses that you will help and

not hurt the area.”Frank Campagna has run Ket-

tle Art gallery since 2005. He said he opened his gallery to serve as a place where local artists can show-case their creativity without the “snootiness of downtown.”

“I love Trees. It’s part of the history of this place, and I think they’ve made it better than it ever was,” Campagna said. “My favor-ite show was back in 1994 with Iggy Pop during the height of his career.”

Annino is leery of labeling Deep Ellum as “back” but sees the re-opening of Trees as a lifeline to the community at large.

“I wouldn’t say Deep Ellum is back yet,” he said. “We don’t have enough tenants right now because the money’s not here at the lower levels because it’s mostly the ser-vice industry.”

Annino feels the neighborhood is gaining upward mobility and is unabashed when telling the reason for it.

“Without Trees reopening, none of these places would have a chance,” he said. “And any of them would tell you that.”

Opened in 2009, La Grange won the coveted Dallas Observer “Best Bar” award last year. The bar’s owner, Stephanie Schumach-er, echoed Annino’s sentiments.

“Without the reopening of Trees, we wouldn’t be here,” Schumacher said. “The minute we heard they were back, we knew it was right to pull the trigger. While I give tons of credit to the bars and venues that stayed open through the years, I really think Trees was the catalyst for the growth on Elm Street.”

Today, Deep Ellum finds itself in a ripe position. It has outgrown the genre-centric vibe of the ’90s and now caters to both the high and low-end crowds alike. Barlow said it’s crucial to embrace the new era as another phase in the continuing legacy of Dallas’ most eclectic neighborhood.

“It’s more about the class of people,” Barlow said. “It’s great to have all different kinds of people coming together and enjoying music without going a-- wild.”

Lee [email protected]

The Shorthorn: Aisha Butt

Zach Anderson, The Bone manager and bartender, plays his guitar for a customer on Wednesday afternoon at The Bone lo-cated at 2724 Elm Street in Dallas. The Bones has Open Mic Night every Wednesday and Rockstar Karaoke every Thursday.

Trees Address: 2709 Elm StreetDallas 75226 Contact: 214-741-1122Hours of operation:Monday-Sunday: 7 p.m.-2 a.m.

By Tory BarringerThe Shorthorn staff

At first glance, the newest in-stallment in the Mortal Kombat series seems like a clumsy attempt to recapture the shock and vi-olence the series first delivered nearly 20 years ago. Players who dig a little deeper will find a sur-prisingly deep, satisfying fighter game.

The game’s story retells the history of the first three Mor-tal Kombat games, changing up some of the events and turning the series on its head. Each of the game’s characters is featured in small arcs of a larger adventure. The story doesn’t take itself too seriously, but it’s better developed than the standard fighting game fare.

The game also features a “Chal-lenge Tower,” a gauntlet of 300 fights and events designed to test the player’s skills in interesting ways. Completed challenges grant koins, which are used to unlock new costumes for fighters and other bonuses. It’s a neat way to add depth to an otherwise shallow

genre.Also new to the series is the

special meter that fills as damage is given or taken. Players can use sections of their meters to add damage to their special moves, or they can bide their time until it fills completely. Once that hap-pens, the player can do a special X-ray move that shatters bones and punctures organs in grue-some slow motion.

It can’t be emphasized enough that this game is incredibly violent. Wounds open and blood splatters all over the fighters as each bout goes on. Fans of the series will be glad to see the new Fatalities, the series’ infamous finishing moves intended to humiliate defeated opponents. Every Fatality involves extreme violence, from dismem-berment to decapitation. In a time when excessive violence in video games is par for the course, Mortal Kombat still manages to surprise.

The game’s controls are tight and responsive, a big plus for a fighting game. Each character’s special moves are easy to execute but difficult to master, making

it simple for new players to pick up and play while still retaining a level of strategy for experienced fighters. Button mashers will defi-nitely be punished by anyone with

even a little bit of skill. One of the game’s most enter-

taining features is the “Test Your Luck” mode, in which players spin reels to add random modifiers to

the fight, like falling meteors or health regeneration. Fighting an opponent without having the use of arms or a head is as strategic as it is hilarious.

Though Mortal Kombat doesn’t add anything especially new or ex-citing to the fighting game genre, it’s a fun revitalization of a series that was in a slump. Fighting-game fans looking for their next fix of violent competition should pick this one up.

Tory [email protected]


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‘Mortal Kombat’ punches boredom into a FatalityThe newest installment breaths new life into the violent series

Mortal KombatDeveloper: Netherrealm Studios Platform: Xbox 360, PS3Rated: M Release: April 19Rating: Four out of five stars

AP Photo/Warner Bros.

Mortal Kombat features new game modes like the Challenge Tower, where players complete specialized fights.

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