Switch Hitter

We're slouching around a wooden picnic table, killing time before our final game of the season, when my softball coach asks me the question I've been dreading for months: Are you in a relationship?

It sounds like a harmless inquiry. But it's one that will force me out of the closet with my lesbian softball team.

"I'm married..."

The coach swoops in with a follow-up before I can even finish the sentence. "To a man or a woman?"

"To a man."

Every pair of eyes at the table has turned my way. The air feels tense.

"Huh," our manager grunts. "So... full story >>

Our 20th Music Awards

Twenty years ago we launched this annual tradition called the Dallas Observer Music Awards—way back in April of 1988.

"Our stated goal with these awards is to narrow the odds a bit in favor of locally created sounds," then-music editor Clay McNear wrote at the time.

It still rings true. Today, Dallas, with some help from the surrounding cities of the region, boasts a bountiful collection of awe-inspiring talent. Sure, the names have changed, and so have the times—when our first music awards took place, this year's youngest winners were still in... full story >>

Homeland Security Won't Let a Former IRA Man Out of Prison

In six hours this past January, all the good that Pól Brennan had ever done came unraveled.

The 56-year-old Belfast-born carpenter and his American wife Joanna Volz were in their brand-new Sportsmobile camper van, heading from Volz's parents' home on South Padre Island to Austin to visit friends. From Austin, they would start the long drive back to their home in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Brennan decided to drive the ­Harlingen-Austin leg of the trip. He would never make it to Austin.

Volz napped as they whizzed up Highway 77 under the warm winter... full story >>

Power & Light vs. Westport

The plan was simple: Send two correspondents out on the same night to Westport and the Power & Light District.

Ever since the P&L opened this past spring, we've heard stories about how other local bars have suffered. We wanted to see whether the newest entertainment district in town has affected the city's oldest entertainment district. Plus, we wanted to examine for ourselves what both places are really like on a typical weekend.

So on a recent Saturday, we went out to gauge the temperature of nightlife in Kansas City. We tried to hit similar bars at the same time... full story >>

Day Strippers

The silver pole squeaks between her pale, toned thighs as she lifts her 110-pound frame high into the club's rafters. Her strawberry blond hair tumbles loosely over her blue tie-dyed string bikini to her thin waist. The pumping music goads, "Party like a rock star," and her eyes roam into the flashing red and blue lights. She doesn't look at the crowd.

From her perch, she flings off the bikini top, which lands in a limp heap onstage. Right ankle looping the pole, her body dangles upside down like a Raggedy Ann doll, to which she bears some resemblance. Sliding down, she closes... full story >>

Tim Pawlenty: Governor No

On a freezing day in mid-February, Gov. Tim Pawlenty took the podium at the St. Cloud Civic Center to deliver what everyone assembled knew could be his final State of the State address. Wearing his standard blue suit and tie, suburban-dad hockey haircut, and aw-shucks smile, the governor spent a few minutes talking up Minnesotans' strength, courage, and ingenuity. Then he got down to business.

A scowl replacing his smile, the governor reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a red pen, holding it out for all the audience to see.

"I call it the taxpayer protection pen,... full story >>

Blood, Sweat, and Tutus

In retrospect, the skirt was just too damn long.

"I was a little concerned. But they said, 'Can you please try it at this length?' And I said okay — like every dancer does. You try to be very accommodating," says Julianne Kepley with a ready laugh. At 5 1/2 feet tall with wavy blond hair and a compact, athletic build, Kepley looks less like a soloist dancer with the San Francisco Ballet — which she is — than the point guard for a small college basketball team. Her chuckle faded somewhat as her blue eyes settled momentarily on the crutches stacked in the... full story >>

League of Nations: Immigrant soccer players from across the globe go balls out at a tiny park in north St. Louis

On a recent Sunday in north St. Louis' DeSoto Park, several hundred onlookers are gathered around two rocky soccer fields. On this sun-kissed afternoon they've come to see a group of weekend warriors do battle in the city's most hard-core amateur soccer league: La Liga Latino Americana de Fútbol.

Brian Bourgschulte, a forward for Real Mardel, a squad mostly composed of Saint Louis University alumni and native St. Louisans, has just scored to put his team up 2-0 over Dinamo, a predominantly Hispanic team. After his goal, the brawny Bourgschulte fights for control of the... full story >>