BuzzBissinger.com

Buzz Bissinger: He doesn't hate Dallas, after all.

So, Dallas, Buzz Bissnger regrets what he said about you, and your schools, and your freeways, and your collective IQ, and more or less everything else that defines you as a city. Not what he said about that lousy book review. No take-backs on that. But everything else? Yeah, he's sorry. It's a problem, this Twitter thing. Something he should maybe quit.

Bissinger told me this late on Friday, a couple days after the Friday Night Lights author penned one of his signature Twitter meltdowns, eviscerating Dallas one 140-character sonnet at a time. The tirade was ostensibly his response to a harsh review of his new book in the Dallas Morning News, but it also was part of an ongoing series of theatrical Twitter performances that star Bissinger as an angry, blustering, unyielding asshole.

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There were some cries yesterday to ignore the sweaty, out of breath one-man show performed by Friday Night Lights author Buzz Bissinger. Yeah, ignoring him would be cool. Nothing more fun than denying someone the attention they so badly crave. But this was a train wreck you couldn't look away from. And when I awoke this morning to sift through the rubble, I quickly discovered that the destruction was still in progress.

In case you missed it: Bissinger was apparently upset after receiving a bad review in the Morning News and then scant local attention for his new book. He took to Twitter to dust off every stereotype ever uttered about Dallas, and to cram them into a series of 140-character seizures

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Friday Night Lights author and noted Twitter imploder Buzz Bissinger has a new book out called Father's Day, about a road trip he took with his developmentally disabled son. The Morning News trashed it, and apparently Bissinger's book-tour stop in Dallas left him less than impressed.

Together, those two facts have triggered Bissinger's latest Twantrum, which is happening ... now.

Here's a selection of the vitriol:

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If you appreciate the signs of life that have sprouted downtown in recent years -- and anyone who loves this city does -- Jeff West is at least partly to thank.

The 54-year-old, who died Monday, was a tireless advocate for downtown and the city. He headed the Sixth Floor Museum for 11 years, the Dallas Theater Center for 5, and was a managing partner in Matthews Southwest, the firm that developed the Omni Dallas Convention Center Hotel.

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A James Carpenter project in New York. Could this be the Cotton Bowl's future?

Much has been written about the now-certain $25 million renovation and expansion of the Cotton Bowl and the subsequent announcement that the stadium will host the annual cross-border skirmish between  the University of Texas and the University of Oklahoma (and their football teams) through at least 2020.

But who cares about football? The real reason tens of thousands of maroon- and burnt orange-clad partisans flock to the Cotton Bowl each year is to soak in the art deco architecture and satisfy their aesthetic longings. It's a good thing then that the City Council decided to include funding to turn the stadium's facade into a piece of public art in the pot of money it's showering on the stadium, with additional funds coming from the 2006 bond program.

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The Nasher Sculpture Center and the developers of the Museum Tower project are continuing to hammer out their white light, white heat debacle behind closed doors. They recently hired a mediator in lawyer Tom Luce, who promptly asked both sides to quit talking to the media already.

Above, however, you will see a video from George Tomasovic, a First Battalion Chief with the fire department, a licensed CPA and, most importantly, the chairman of the Dallas Police and Fire Pension Fund's trustee board. In the video, Tomasovic, without making reference to any particular huge public relations disaster, insists that the pension fund's "alternative investments" are sound and represent an overall commitment to this great country of ours. Anyone who disagrees, he adds, is guilty of "old-fashioned, out-of-date thinking."

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Before we decamp for Le Bar: If you haven't been following the spat between the Nasher Sculpture Center and the owner of the Museum Tower project -- which happens to be the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System -- Schutze had a thoughtful, balanced take on the matter last week. The gist, basically, is this:

The opulent tower of million-dollar condos is reflecting quite the ray of sunshine on the Nasher and other spaces in the Arts District, and no one's quite sure what to do about it. A mediator has been hired to broker an agreement. That mediator, lawyer Tom Luce, has asked both sides to go quiet.

But first, the chairman of the pension board wants its members to know: Hey! It's OK! We totally didn't invest your future in a speculative real-estate deal based entirely on its position in the Arts District, only to accidentally turn the project into the sworn enemy of everyone who's ever accidentally glanced at a Rothko and thought, "Hmm, it doesn't suck, I guess."

The video, uploaded today, is above. Enjoy, and have a great weekend. Schutze is back next week, either with a kayaking travelogue or a measured response to this. I'm rooting for the travelogue thing.

Megan Margolies, from her Facebook page

Megan Margolies, a local burlesque performer, hairdresser at Halo Salon, and beloved member of the Deep Ellum music and art scene, died on Tuesday in a traffic collision, when a scooter she was test-driving on Abrams Road collided with a tractor trailer. She was 23.

The Margolies family was unavailable for comment, but Megan's friends spoke about her warmth, generosity and humor. Yesterday afternoon, her friend Stephanie Hastings, a local photographer, sat outside Tigger's tattoo shop on Main Street in Deep Ellum, waiting as an artist there drew up a memorial design.

"I chose a cowgirl boot with a filigree design because she loved Pasty Cline," Hastings said. Margolies performed under the name "Patsy Grind," had a portrait tattoo of the country singer, and often wore ornate cowboy boots during performances.

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Photos by Leslie Minora

Artist, Cori Berg, styles the hair of Hattie Rankin.

The huge green warehouse that sits a short walk down Singleton Boulevard from the base of the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge has been home to unusual occupants for the past few weeks. It's become something of a doll hospital to a cast of 15 massive puppets, representing people who have shaped the history of West Dallas.

When Unfair Park stopped by yesterday afternoon, artists associated with La Reunion Texas were bringing their creations to life for tomorrow's 2 p.m. Parade of Giants across the bridge, one of the signature Bridge-o-Rama events to hype the Calatrava's opening that's happening not quite yet, but soon.

Yesterday, some figures had detached heads that were receiving finishing touches, such as fabric hair and painted highlights. Others appeared to be relaxing, completed and lying down, and a few, like the giant Andrea Flores Cervantes, with red lipstick perfectly applied, appeared ready for the big day.

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Photo by Anna Merlan

Bandele Tyehimba, who, with his wife Akwete, owned Pan African Connection, a 23-year-old South Dallas art gallery and meeting space, died in his sleep Wednesday night. He was 58 years old.

We wrote about Tyehimba and Pan African just a month ago; at that time, the Tyehimbas were recovering from a recent brush with eviction. When we spoke, he said they were determined to stay open and continue serving the South Dallas community. "I'm at war with bad ideas," he told us. "Like Malcolm X said, the enemy took the chains off our feet and placed them on our minds. We have to free people through their ideas. We have to use economics and politics to try to move humanity forward."

Tyehimba was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He followed his two sisters to Dallas some 32 years ago. With Akwete, he built Pan African, which became a meeting place for a variety of progressive organizations in the city, as well as a renowned home for African art. Bandele went to Africa several times a year on buying trips.

One of the many organizations the Tyehimbas lent their support to was Pastors For Peace, specifically a program that helped to send students from underprivileged backgrounds to medical school in Cuba. He told us proudly about students from South Dallas (and one "white boy from McKinney," as he put it) who were training to become doctors, with the goal of serving the poorest communities in Latin America and the U.S.

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