Deep Ellum Town Hall Meeting Set For Tomorrow Night, Frankie Campagna Set To Open

• Regards! You guys do a wonderful blog, and have some excellent contests. Preserve up the good do the job.

• They didn't mention the 800 lb gorilla in the room: Dallas investor in talks to buy big chunk of Deep Ellum - Dallas-based Beck Ventures � a firm with a track record of investing in real estate, finance and energy � has quietly contracted to acquire as much as 10 acres in the commercial and residential district just east of downtown Dallas. Many of the properties Beck Ventures has contracted to purchase are along Main and Elm streets in the heart of Deep Ellum. Real estate brokers say that the investment group has been quietly working for several months to tie up a large chunk of the district.

• OK, two things that weren't brought up today which should have been: 1) There was lots of positive talk about the new DART rail line that will be opening next year. From what I hear (but wasn't mentioned) the last train out of the neighborhood on weekend nights will be at midnight. If you have to leave a club at 11:30 to catch the last train, how does that benefit the neighborhood? Shouldn't it run until at least 2 AM so you won't have to leave before the end of a show? And wouldn't that help take drunk drivers off the street after last call? 2) The primary reason there is only one 800+ capacity live music venue left in the neighborhood is because House of Blues and the Palladium have exclusivity deals with the booking agents who represent the majority of the touring acts that come through town. The City is actually in business with the same corporation which operates House of Blues via their arrangement for the Starplex facility in Fair Park. (In fact, they're behind on their rent for the venue.) If this isn't a direct conflict of interest, then at the very least it isn't very good business. Most people I know don't like the HOB or Palladium for myriad reasons (way too expensive, too sterile and corporate, overbearing security, etc.) and they simply won't go to shows at either venue. The City has leverage here. They can start by booting AEG out of Starplex for non-payment of rent. Are they willing to do what it takes to help open up the marketplace in Deep Ellum so somebody might reopen Trees, the Deep Ellum Live building, or the Theatre Gallery/Galaxy Club building? Or are they just going to stand by and wait for a developer to knock these buildings down and replace them with condos or parking lots? It should also be noted that the Mayor breezed into this meeting twenty minutes late (missing the introductory presentations by all of the various neighborhood associations) and then spun that into self-congratulatory speech about AT&T moving their corporate headquarters from San Antonio to Dallas. I would love to have heard something concrete, something tangible that we could have taken away from this meeting that will translate to actual initiative. Instead, we got to hear the Mayor refer to the neighborhood as a "brand" on multiple occasions - business code for corporate accommodation - and very little about protecting and nurturing the creative community, many of whom are, obviously, freelancers and self-contained entities. Trying not to be a downer here, but if we're ever going to bring Deep Ellum back in the true spirit of art and creativity, we're obviously going to have to do it ourselves.

• Leppert's Town Hall Meetings deserve a 'Best Experimental Act' nomination.

• Frankie did a great job last week at the Art Conspiracy Seed Event. Frankie is such an energetic and fun performer. It was nice to see you at that event too, Pete. Thanks for coming out to support it. It was a fun night. We raised enough to put on a great event in December.

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