D Magazine's EarBurner

Brian has been a freelance dining critic for the Dallas Observer and Dallas Morning News; now he's the fulltime food dude for D Magazine. Did you know there might be only 20 people in the country who have such a job? He tells us what goes into a formal dining review, what goes into his mouth when he's not on the clock, and where you can find a secret sushi place that's perfect for a date.

Barak is one of the folks behind the legendary Texas Theatre and a co-founder of the Oak Cliff Film Festival. He breaks down eight of his favorite flicks in this year's shindig, which runs June 23–26. Along the way, he talks about why he won't buy Central Track and what he did to anger the Catholic Church. Also, he and Tim nearly come to blows over "Ready Player One."

JZ is the newly chosen, first ever poet laureate of Dallas. We talk about why he loves the word "donkey," how he won the biggest poetry slam competition in the world, where Dallas sits in the literary firmament, why we should print poems on DART buses, and what the Mavericks need to do to beat Golden State. Oh, and he reads a new poem for us titled "Signs" that is partly about bird sh**.

Carpenter Park, at just under 6 acres, is now downtown Dallas' largest park. It also has downtown's first outdoor public basketball court. Tim and Matt hit the court on the morning of May 3, the park's debut, to play the first official game there. Zac recorded the play by play. WARNING: the sound is terrible, and Tim uses the word "avoirdupois" in the midst of an actual basketball game. You should NOT listen to this.

Nicole founded the Dallas fashion house KOCH under whose umbrella she and her son, Henry, have launched a new line of sneakers. So we talk about that. But we also talk about her wild upbringing traveling the country with her father, Bill, who was an NBA coach, and how she performed at halftime shows and was babysat by a guy named Boot who was a "Gong Show" contestant with an act that involved a possibly dead canary. Oh, and there is A LOT of swearing in this episode. So tie up your laces, and jump in.

The November issue of D Magazine got tossed out of a Dallas grocery store because its cover bears the word "Negroes." Jean, a Black woman and a journalism professor, describes how the cover came across to her and how she might have done things differently. Also, we talk about how often she gets to party with Bob Schieffer.

Alex is the guy behind D Magazine's new daily newsletter, LeadingOff. We had him on the podcast to promote that, a conversation that led us to his deep-seated animosity toward Axios and all who work for it. But then we started talking about what scares Alex, and things got — REAL. Who knew that Tim and Zac both have their own (very valid) reasons for fearing rats? And garbage disposals!

D Magazine's new sports editor explains what the heck a "sports vertical" is and why StrongSide is going to be the best version of such a thing that Dallas has ever seen. Also, he performs a Cowboys-related feat that will blow your mind. And collegiate meat judging. We get into some of that, too.

Rejoice, cinephiles! The Oak Cliff Film Festival makes its triumphant return June 24 – 27. Barak is one of the organizers. He stopped by to break down some of the 23 feature-length films on the program. We also discussed some exciting news about the Texas Theatre and why Barak's home theater setup is trash. If you would, hop into Apple's podcast app and write a short review of EarBurner. We'll be your best friend. Thank you.