Eddie Castro works on a mural outside the Belmont Hotel on Thursday. (Staff Photo: Chris McGathey)

The Belmont Hotel has left the light on for more local art.

On Thursday afternoon, Oak Cliff muralist Arturo Donjuan and his associates — known as Sour Grapes — completed a multi-block panorama with 140 animated characters outside the hotel, which took less than 24 hours.

The Dallas Contemporary approached the team of five artists and Sunset High School grads — which includes Arturo’s brothers Carlos and Miguel, as well as Eddie Castro, Ricardo Oviedo, and Isaiah Torres — to create the latest of three murals along the hotel’s wall, near I-30 and Sylvan Avenue.

“They gave the the freedom to do whatever we wanted to do,” Donjuan said. “We decided to freestyle the whole wall. We went out there with nothing planned.” Read More…

Michelle has already brought you some delightful things to do over Memorial Day weekend, but I have one more to add to the list. And guys, this is pretty cool.

You may already know that Texas Monthly recently hired a barbecue editor, and no, that wasn’t a pre-existing gig. The guy’s even scored a book deal with Anthony Bourdain. Anyway, if you want to meet this completely awesome-sounding human, this weekend is your chance. Daniel Vaughn, the man himself, will be at Four Corners Brewery from 5 to 6 p.m. on Saturday. Here’s the kicker: there are only 100 tickets available, and tickets are $100 a piece. Got that?

Let’s review: for $100, you get to taste barbecue and beer pairings from Four Corners, take home a special, pint-size glass as well as signed copies of Vaughn’s book and Texas Monthly‘s barbecue edition, and meet Daniel Vaughn along with “local prophets of smoked meat” Justin Fourton (Pecan Lodge), Will Fleischmann (Lockhart Smokehouse), and Travis Mayes (Meshacks BBQ).

The Eventbrite page calls it a “delicious celebration of Texas barbecue,” and I gotta say, that sounds like a pretty accurate description. Click to purchase your tickets.

Guy Forsyth at The Saxon Pub in Austin last November (Photo: Brian Drake)

Here’s a look at what’s going on in your ‘hood this weekend.

If you still haven’t seen Star Trek Into Darkness, the Texas Theatre is showing the film  at 6:15 and 8:45 p.m. tonight.

Johnathan Hess will take the stage at Bar Belmont at 8 p.m. tonight.

Also at 8 p.m., Guy Forsyth will take the stage at the Kessler Theater. Josh Halverson and Brandon Bolin open.

Keep reading for more weekend fun! Read More…

For those of you who need a refresher about the 2008 Bond Program and the 40 million dollars that have come of it, check out this week’s issue of Oak Cliff People, which hit stands today. Follow the jump for the transcript from the DISD School Board meeting last night, where the board voted to approve the Bond Advisory Committee’s suggestion to add a new academic wing to Greiner Middle School. This will get roughly 600 students out of portable classrooms and help relieve the 180% overcrowding at the school.

Read More…

This was my first school board meeting – and what an exciting one to attend! For those of you who weren’t following my play-by-play on Oak Cliff People’s twitter, I’ll have the full transcript for your shortly. In the mean time, below is Susan Nurre, a member of Friends of Greiner, three minute speech about why the board should approve the 16 million dollar addition to the campus.

“My name is Susan Nurre and I live on [edited out]. In case you couldn’t tell, I’m a friend of Greiner. I am the mother of a Greiner Arts Academy student. I am also a member of Friends of Greiner which is a nonprofit created to support the arts and academic of all Greiner students. And I am talking to you about an item pulled for a separate vote agenda, item 9 A 1 and I urge you to vote for the expansion of the Greiner campus. Greiner is a [inaudible] right now, but Greiner works. We have great teachers, great parents, we have community support, we have people who want Greiner to succeed and Greiner is succeeding. We do want the expansion for things such as – you mentioned Moore, Oklahoma, we want to make sure that the building our children go to school will keep them safe. We want to make sure that that takes place. But we want it to be large enough to keep the academy there, the Arts Academy is an integral part of Greiner and its success. When I was talking to my son, a seventh grader, he said ‘Greiner is my home. I’m an academy kid, there are neighborhood kids, we are all together and Greiner is our home.’ We want you to expand it, keep the Art Academy there, and I thank you for your time.”

Our newest reporter, Margaux Anbouba, is entrenched at the DISD Board of Trustees meeting, where Eric Cowan has just been been elected president. Cowan cruised to a re-election victory on May 10, despite drawing two challengers.

File photo: Marco Antonio Medina

The folks at Sylvan Thirty have announced the fate of the Alamo Plaza sign: It’s going to stay at the site where it’s always been, but it’s going to be broken up and repurposed into three sculptures.

The Sylvan Thirty blog has a Facebook-based commenting system, and the first two commenters are on opposite sides of the issue.

Eddie D. Stafford says, “You just destroyed the sign! This is how you listen to the community?” But Craig Parsons counters, “At the end of the day, it’s their property, this is a free country, and I’m putting my anger and energy toward more pressing social issues in the world. I suggest you all do the same.”

So, what’s your take?

Casper’s human family members are Steve and Wendy Reiner. (Photo: Alana Harrison)

Be they four legged, finned, feathery, or scaly, pets are part of the family. Pose with your pet or send us your favorite snapshot by tomorrow for the chance to be featured in our Pet People section, which premieres next Friday. This section will cover news and information for all pet lovers, including community pet-friendly establishments, local animal organizations and services, and your cutest pet pics. Email your pet family portraits to pets@peoplenewspapers.com with your contact info, your neighborhood, and a brief bio today!

Even if you can’t be there in person to wish your favorite DISD graduate well, you can technically still watch him or her walk the stage.

Commencements for Sunset and Adamson high schools will be at 7 p.m. on June 5 and June 7, respectively, at the Ellis Davis Field House. They’ll also be streamed on Time Warner Cable channel 492 and U-verse channel 99 (you’ll apparently select “Dallas” from the main menu, then “Dallas ISD-492″).

A full schedule of the school district’s commencement ceremonies can be found here.

Moments ago, the City Council approved PSW’s zoning request for single-family units at Kings Highway.

“This is a great development,” Councilman Scott Griggs said.

Look for more details in our May 31 issue.