Robert Wilonsky
Editorial columnist at The Dallas Morning News. Writing about Dallas.
- Reupping for International Clash Day.
- "Everyone’s nervous. Everyone’s scared." The biggest ICE detention center in the country would be just 10 minutes from downtown Dallas. That's how long it took me on Wednesday to drive from the office to Hutchins, where that warehouse is the first thing you see. www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...
- Reposted by Robert WilonskyHighlighting the speaker who stood in front of the Surprise mayor and told him to consider what the Mayor of Ohrdruf must’ve thought before he died by suicide: “He might have thought ‘how is this my fault I had no jurisdiction over this’ maybe he said ‘this site was not subject to local zoning.’”
- Long column short: If Dallas City Hall will let a contributing, 110-year-old home in a landmark district in the heart of old East Dallas -- on Gaston Avenue, no less -- go to hell, what chance do those tucked-away districts in South Dallas and Oak Cliff stand? www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...
- For Your Weekend Listening Pleasure: Using several sources, including soundboard recording and FM broadcast, someone assembled The Cleanest, Loudest Possible Version of Metallica's Feb. 5, 1989, show at Reunion Arena. Perfect for (waves arms wildly) days like these. www.youtube.com/watch?v=UB1Y...
- Reposted by Robert WilonskyI'm just gonna leave this here. RIP to one of the greats. www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwLZ...
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- Because (waves arms wildly) everything else wasn’t already bad enough.
- Reposted by Robert WilonskyA truly unacceptable assault on the First Amendment.
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- "As a prosecutor and a lawyer it’s unacceptable that a branch of our government creates a different set of facts about what’s very obvious." Which is why this week John Creuzot signed on to the Fight Against Federal Overreach. Or, as the founders call it, FAFO. www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...
- Reposted by Robert WilonskyI wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Stay free
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- Yesterday I walked to Harry Hines to check in on folks living in the storm tunnels. On the way I saw 2 men sleeping on sidewalks in front of Walnut Hill storefronts. A Housing Forward crisis manager says those who need the most help are often the most visible. www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...
- Reposted by Robert WilonskyYou should read everything @adamserwer.bsky.social writes, but this one really stands out. He's given a gift link below.
- Last week in Minnesota, I watched ordinary people risk their lives to protect their neighbors. In the process, they not only won a significant—though not final—victory against authoritarianism, they proved virtually every MAGA social theory wrong. (gift link) www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
- Reposted by Robert WilonskyI wrote this yesterday about the hero city of Minneapolis www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKOW...
- Reposted by Robert WilonskyA video of Alex Pretti reading out the final salute of an unnamed veteran he cared for until the end of his life in the ICU, posted to Facebook by his son.
- Reposted by Robert WilonskyAlex from our time working together, while he was in nursing school. Later, he moved to ICU, working as a nurse to support critically ill Veterans. He had such a great attitude. We’d chat between patients about trying to get in a mountain bike ride together. Will never happen now
- For Your Frozen Weekend Listening Pleasure: Jan. 28, 1978: Elvis Costello & the Attractions made their Dallas bow on Cedar Springs w/ Nick Lowe in tow. Debuted 5 "This Year's Model" songs. The Dallas "Less Than Zero." Great show or greatest show? tinyurl.com/4yvf86h4 Setlist: tinyurl.com/2uatpn27
- Scenes from last night's homeless count, in the drainage canals beneath Harry Hines and behind a NW Dallas convenience store. We met a lot of people; here are some of their stories. Most were determined to stay in their tents despite the approaching ice storm. www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...
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- Yesterday I met a woman who lost her job and home and wound up at the Dallas Life shelter, 2 days before she was diagnosed with Stage 3 cervical cancer. She ended up at Austin Street, cared for by a nurse who had also been unsheltered and seldom shares her story www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...
- Well, gosh, maybe before FIRST proposing the shuttering of four branches, the city should have first outlined what a thoughtful regional model would look like? As ever, tho, Dallas does it The Dallas Way: reactionary rather than visionary, lopping before looking. Same with City Hall teardown talk.
- Buy ALL the bourbon.
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- Shocking, said no one.
- For Your Weekend Listening Pleasure: On May 19, 1991, Bob Weir and Rob Wasserman brought their act to the Bronco Bowl, where they played some Dead, Dylan, blues, Bobby and the Midnites. Edie Brickell joined in. Sounds as good now as it did then. tinyurl.com/yvv9nppp Setlist: tinyurl.com/367ydwzn
- Residents living behind the Harry Hines motel have LONG complained to Dallas City Hall about crime there. The city finally sued to clean it up last April. Just 11 days ago, a 39-year-old man was arrested for sexually assaulting a child under 15 at the Cole Manor. www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...
- Every smoker — past, present and (let’s be honest) future — feels this video, DEEP in their bones.
- Reposted by Robert WilonskyBreaking News: The FBI searched a Washington Post reporter’s home as part of an investigation into classified material, people familiar with the matter said. It is exceedingly rare for federal agents to search a journalist’s home.
- This is an actual photo of an actual house in the Tenth Street Historic District, not far from the deck park above Stemmons Freeway. There, property owners are seeking demolition permits, awaiting court dates and disappearing the story of Dallas' freedman's town. www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...
- For Your Weekend Listening Pleasure, II: On Dec. 26, 1969, the Grateful Dead played SMU's McFarlin Auditorium. The show, considered a classic, began with a Jerry Garcia-Bob Weir acoustic set + a preview of the "Workingman's Dead" sound and songs to come. RIP, Bob Weir. archive.org/details/gd69...
- For Your Weekend Listening Pleasure: On Jan. 14, 1989, Neil Young & the Restless played the Bronco Bowl. So extraordinary it merited mention in Jimmy McDonough's Neil bio "Shakey," excerpted here. Show: tinyurl.com/2ynwhpv5 Setlist: tinyurl.com/2xtca9xm Photo: DMN's J. Mark Kegans. Review: DTH.
- The week began with news of AT&T's long goodbye from downtown Dallas; it ends with the 52-story The National going into foreclosure. The latter also means that developer Shawn Todd is now out of downtown, 20 years and $1.5 billion in investment later. www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...
- I first met the Rev. Rachel Griffin-Allison when she spoke at my shul following the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting. She'd already spent years defying Dallas code that prohibited churches from sheltering the homeless on cold nights. Then came the painted steps. www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...
- For Your Weekend Listening Pleasure: "Let’s all have a drink, whadya say?” On Jan. 6, 1987, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson and Rick Danko pulled into the Fast & Cool on Greenville for The Band's last waltz thru Dallas. Raucous, rough-hewn and perfect. tinyurl.com/ej76s4f7 Setlist: tinyurl.com/2h7zdvmd
- I refuse to call that college football game in Arlington the "Cotton Bowl" because the Cotton Bowl is a stadium in Fair Park. And nobody ever talks about the fact it hasn't been used for a bowl game since 2019. Which, after a $140M makeover, is just embarrassing. www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...
- For Your Weekend Listening Pleasure: "Be very careful this coming year ... listen to polkas more": Brave Combo & New Bohemians shared a bill at the late, great Arcadia on Dec. 31, 1989. Both sets couldn't sound better. Brave Combo: archive.org/details/brac... New Bos: archive.org/details/newb...
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- In case you missed it, the Christmas music show, 2025 edition. omny.fm/shows/sports...
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- The show is less four hours away, with the annual Royal China dinner in between, and I am still adding, subtracting and shuffling songs.
- For Your Weekend Listening Pleasure: A few past Holiday Music Spectaculars before the 17th edition, which begins at 9 p.m. Christmas Eve on KTCK (96.7/1310). Courtesy The Unticket. 2014 show: tinyurl.com/4rezaubd 2016: tinyurl.com/4nwprv59 2017: tinyurl.com/4pyne23b 2018: tinyurl.com/2sp8ncm4
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- When I set out to write about Charlie Brown a few weeks ago, I thought it would be a feel-good column about the man Garrett Boone hired to clean the storm-drain tunnels in which Charlie lived for years. In the days since, I've learned enough to know I know nothing www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...
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- For Your Weekend Listening Pleasure: A few past Holiday Music Spectaculars before the 17th edition, which begins at 9 p.m. Christmas Eve on KTCK (96.7/1310). Courtesy The Unticket. 2014 show: tinyurl.com/4rezaubd 2016: tinyurl.com/4nwprv59 2017: tinyurl.com/4pyne23b 2018: tinyurl.com/2sp8ncm4
- AIA Guide to Dallas Architecture calls the former Hotel St. Germain, from 1897, "the best remaining example of Maple Avenue’s turn-of-the-century role as the city’s silk-stocking district." Not for long. Yours if you want it before Sfuzzi's founder builds a tower. www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...
- The 17th Annual Holiday Music Spectacular will indeed air, live, beginning at 9 pm Christmas Eve, with the wee-small-hours post-show show going until I get sleepy. On KTCK (1310 AM/96.7 FM), the SportsDay app, The Ticket’s website. Best setlist ever.
- A history lesson culled from the archives of The Dallas (Daily) Times Herald and The Dallas Morning News. Long story short: We've known for a long, long time that in Dallas, history doesn't rhyme. It repeats, down to the last damned syllable. Or son-in-law. www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...
- The Joe Ely tribute Big Bucks Burnett would have wanted: Joe playing a few songs -- including "Dallas" -- at Edstock, Big Bucks' first & last Mister Ed "national convention," held at the Bronco Bowl. Said Bucks years later, "I lost $25,000 in 1980s money." Worth it. www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqPy...
- For Your Weekend Listening Pleasure: On Dec. 11, 1978, on the "More Songs About Buildings and Food" tour, Talking Heads played Dallas for the 1st time. One of my all-time favorite local-show keepsakes. You ARE THERE. ia601302.us.archive.org/17/items/Tal... Setlist: www.setlist.fm/setlist/talk...
- The Cole Manor Motel is a Charles Dilbeck-designed motor court on Harry Hines that opened in 1946. According to city attorneys, it's also a dangerous place where the removal of the fantastic 1960s-era sign isn't the only crime to have taken place at the old motel. www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...
- The council approved the first H-E-B in Dallas by a vote of 14-1. The only no vote was Bill Roth, who voted against HIS OWN MOTION to support the project with H-E-B's proposed deed restrictions. And that was only after his initial motion to kill the project failed. Very serious people.
- It’s gonna be infuriating and embarrassing if the Dallas City Council votes to kill the (first-in-Dallas) proposed H-E-B at Hillcrest and LBJ Freeway. Watch if you can stomach this “discussion.” dallastx.new.swagit.com/views/113#co...
- It’s gonna be infuriating and embarrassing if the Dallas City Council votes to kill the (first-in-Dallas) proposed H-E-B at Hillcrest and LBJ Freeway. Watch if you can stomach this “discussion.” dallastx.new.swagit.com/views/113#co...
- Maybe sending a season's greeting to City Hall's future owners?
- Maybe I'm just turning into Jim Schutze -- it's possible, if not likely -- but what's the deal with all the Dallas city staffers today wearing Mavericks-color-schemed sweatshirts to "holiday sweater" day?
- Friday morning, I turned in a piece about how Charlie Brown has escaped the storm tunnels beneath Harry Hines, where he'd lived for 5 years. Then Garrett Boone, Container Store co-founder and one of Dallas' last true civic leaders, told me Charlie was missing. www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...
- For Your Weekend Listening Pleasure: The Who wasn't scheduled to play Dallas on the "Who's Next" tour. But on Nov. 28, 1971, this ad ran in the Times Herald. Only 54 minutes from that show survive, including "Won't Get Fooled Again." Play loud. tinyurl.com/4f78cc8p Setlist: tinyurl.com/4tpn22c6
