The former mayor of Dallas invited us into his backyard to talk about sheltering in place; the people he'd pick to marry, eff, and kill; how he worked with County Judge Clay Jenkins through the Ebola crisis and the lessons from that experience that our current mayor might want to heed; and which sports arena in the land is the most hostile to visiting teams. Plus there was gin. So much gin that even a dog drank some. Fourteen stars.

Episode 124: Mike Rawlings fights COVID in his backyard

EarBurner is a weekly conversation about North Texas issues (and a lot of other stuff). It is hosted by the editors of D Magazine, the city magazine of Dallas.

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James is the artistic director of the Dallas International Film Festival, which runs from April 25 through May 2. We talked about how many movies he had to watch to pick the 145 (so far) that will screen this year. We talked about how much he cries and why his back is giving him so much trouble and whether Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn get back together at the end of The Break-Up. But James also made us talk about this year's DIFF lineup, which features a bunch of world premieres, including a "30 for 30" documentary about—ugh—Dude Perfect. (Not to be confused with Dude, Sweet.) Get in here and get your ears all over it.  Right now: rate and review the podcast. Then  subscribe to D Magazine. Seriously.

179: James Faust loves movies more than you do

Megan spent four years researching and writing her new book,  City Limits: Infrastructure, Inequality, and the Future of America's Highways. Here's what Richard Florida said about it: "City Limits is a triumph. Megan Kimble echoes Robert Caro exposing how powerful groups like TxDOT are able to take away people’s homes, destroy their neighborhoods, and run roughshod over communities with virtually no accountability.” So yeah. We talked about highways and I-345. And about how Megan went on a fishing trip to the Eisenhower Library and discovered something amazing. Oh, also, we talked about her high school basketball career.  Consider  subscribing to D Magazine. Print makes the podcast possible. 

178: Megan Kimble on why highways kill cities

Mike used to work at D Magazine. Now he doesn't. But he's got a new podcast that dropped April 11 on Audible. It is titled  Hold Fast. Over nine episodes, Mike and two other journalists (Sam Eifling and Trevor Aaronson) chronicle the rise and fall of Backpage.com, the Dallas-born classified ad site that a federal prosecutor  called "the world’s largest sex trafficking operation." Mike spent three days interviewing Mike Lacey, the founder of the New Times chain of alt weeklies and the man the feds say ran a criminal operation with Backpage.com. In addition to all that, we talked about why Mike escaped Oak Cliff for the suburbs.  Consider  subscribing to D Magazine. Print makes the podcast work.

177: Mike Mooney's sex-trafficking podcast

Greg is an  SMU professor who hails from Pumpkin Bend, Arkansas. He's also the lead singer for Beekeeper Spaceman and the editor of the Southwest Review. It is under the auspices of the latter that he is launching a new literary festival. Frontera runs April 12 and 13 in three Oak Cliff venues (Wild Detectives, the Texas Theatre, and the Kessler Theater). So we talked with Greg about how you stage a lit fest that feels less like homework and more like a party. And we talked about one of the most amazing physical feats ever performed in the city of Arkadelphia (by him).  If you have a minute, throw us some stars and write a review of the podcast. Then  subscribe to D Magazine. Print makes the podcast possible. 

176: Greg Brownderville starts a literary festival

You probably know Joel from his appearances on the Ticket and his Fox Sports work on college football. Along with Curt Menefee, he'll be calling the first-ever United Football League game, at Choctaw Stadium in Arlington, March 30, at noon. We got the breakdown on the game, but we also talked with him about why specialization in youth sports is lousy and the fact that he's so cheap that he listens to Spotify with commercials.  You should  subscribe to D Magazine. At the very least, rate and review this podcast. Do it.

Episode 124: Mike Rawlings fights COVID in his backyard

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