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On the one hand, I hate hipster elitism and the mentality that the fewer people who know about a thing you like, the better. On the other hand, I am a hipster elitist, but in this case I am too late to stop you from finding out about the Belmont Hotel in Oak Cliff. Late to the party, I only found out about the place in the last few months, which means I'm part of the new herd of interlopers, anyway.

Besides, given that my true loyalties lie with this blog and making sure there are a few things about Dallas that don't absolutely suck on Unfair Park, I am at last telling you that the �ber-mod Belmont Hotel is an appropriate and awesome after-work drink destination. That's particularly true when there's some cool stuff on the walls to look at, which there currently is, thanks to the Mulcahy Modern.

The Bishop Arts gallery has extended itself into the lobby, bar and a suite at the Belmont with work from Tom Sime and Derrick Saunders, among others, until May 22. My favorite piece was a nude drawing in the bar area by Heyd Fontenot, which caused me to exclaim, "Hey, there's a penis on the wall!" as my date graciously handed me a Stella.

Later, a cane-weilding guy in Harry Potter glasses showed up, and we bumped into a man wearing--I kid you not--a sea captain's hat. When we ventured down to the pool to check out the panoramic views of downtown, I took comfort in knowing that while I stared at the Dallas Phallus, there was a phallus in Dallas on a wall just a few hundred yards away. What a city. --Andrea Grimes

At moments like this, one is tempted to offer only the facts, yet even those aren't enough to explain something as heartbreaking as this. Jennifer Dawson, wife of former Observer film critic Matt Zoller Seitz, died suddenly and unexpectedly on Thursday. She was 35 years old and in great health, and four days later doctors still do not know what caused her death. Jennifer and Matt have two children: 8-year-old Hannah, among the wisest and wittiest kids you are ever likely to met, and 2-year-old James. I learned of Jen's death on Friday and still can't process it, but Jennifer was far more pragmatic than most, and as Matt says, she likely would not stand for much burbling over her death, no matter the circumstances. So I would direct you to Matt's blog to read about Jennifer, to see pictures of her and Matt with their kids and to find out about a memorial service scheduled in New York later this week. There may also be another one later in her native Oklahoma or in Dallas, where Jen and Matt have family and many, many friends. --Robert Wilonsky

The Dallas Independent School District is getting a new top cop: John Blackburn, who's been the Houston Independent School District's police chief since 2000. In fact, HISD was the first and only accredited school district police force in the country, and it became that way during his tenure, which began 12 years ago, when Blackburn was assistant chief. He's getting good money to come to Dallas: $125,000, which he will start taking home some time in mid-May.

Dunno much about the guy, but I do know this much: During his tenure, the HISD came under serious fire for underreporting its crime statistics, leading to a story in The New York Times in November 2003 that featured this particularly troubling opener:

"It was one of the most unforgettable of schoolhouse crimes: a disabled 17-year-old student was shoved into a boys' bathroom in her wheelchair by a classmate at Yates High School [in Houston], dragged to the floor and raped. Her attacker was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Yet the Houston Independent School District did not include that rape, committed two years ago, when it came time to report the school year's campus crimes to the state as required by Texas law. And that is not the only school crime that appears to have been airbrushed from the official record."

So, even if Blackburn does a lousy job, at least things will look good at the DISD. And Lord knows, in a city like Dallas, appearances are everything. --Robert Wilonsky

A local real estate investment fund (or a REIT) is looking to move some premium places, among them hotels in Orlando near Walt Disney World and on the water in San Francisco (on Fisherman's Wharf) and San Diego (hotspot Harbor Island). Nearly 900 rooms are up for grabs in this lot, but you take one, you take 'em all; deal or no deal? I'm no real-estate expert, but I say this lot has to go for, like, $120,000. At least. --Robert Wilonsky

Tarrant County folks planning on filing 11th hour taxes tonight: the post office in downtown Fort Worth will be closed for construction. Instead, go to those at 3701 Altamesa Blvd. or 4600 Mark IV Parkway.

Sure, the Fort Worth Startle Gram relates this valuable info to you in a story today, but they don't get to the point (P.O.'s closed, go elsewhere) for about 143 words into the thing. I'm thinking that if you're desperately searching for a post office at 11:45 tonight, you probably won't have 143 words worth of time to read about where to find one, however appreciative you may be of the clever lead. --Andrea Grimes

Seven years ago I almost moved to Lower Greenville; hell, everyone else was doing it, and property values were only gonna go up. Starting to think I made the right decision to stay away. --Robert Wilonsky

So the Wall of Sound Festival is finally gonna happen; in roughly 18 hours, the doors to Fort Worth's Ridglea Theatre will open to throngs of people hungry for local music greatness. Dallas Observer staffers and contributors will be there in droves (no name tags, sorry, but you can find me hacking up my lungs with a terrible cough, at least), and we'll report on the results in next week's issue.

I began composing a recommended schedule, a list of groups you should definitely see, but this fest isn't like SXSW, where you have to plot out a schedule for the sake of walking--you can see at least 70 of the 88 bands if you hang out all day. So instead, I've come up with something a lot more useful--a list of recommended times to take breaks. I don't mean to single any bands out, but people can't sit inside of the Ridglea Theatre a full 13 hours--it's inhumane.

Saturday: If you need to sleep in or run errands, then take your time and arrive around 2:30 p.m., when Austin's Zookeeper plays a soft set of singer-songwritery goodness. The dinnertime break will be tough--from Chao's performance at 5:45 on, there's something great to see all the way until the night's end--so if you must, make a break for it around 4 p.m. after Pink Nasty (and the Danes, featuring Earlies singer Brandon Carr) are done and take an hour, hour-and-a-half long break. You'll miss the Southern Sea and Doug Burr if you do this, but sometimes sacrifices have to be made.

Sunday: Rise and shine, chump, because from noon to 2:30 p.m., stellar acts such as Man Factory, the Lemurs, Smile Smile and George Neal will deserve your attention. 2:30 to 3:30's your best bet for a lunchtime excursion, as long as you're back in time for Austin's super-catchy What Made Milwaukee Famous. If you have to run off for dinner, the half hour between [DARYL] and The Theater Fire is your best bet from 6-6:30. Oh, and Denver's Czars have been known for super-quiet performances, so mark 9 p.m. as a smoke break if you needs'ta. --Sam Machkovech

The foggy haze of nostalgia was in full effect at last night's Dinosaur Jr. reunion show--especially at the urinals. Seemingly everyone in line had seen the band except me (I was a little young the first time around), and they all had a story about Lollapalooza '93, that Edgefest where they played with Pop Poppins or Iowa City in '86 (I guess that dude wins). Luckily, the band proved worth the wait, with a gray-haired J. Mascis giving the nearly gray-haired crowd an ear-piercing lesson in how to play the shit out of an electric guitar while mumbling your lyrics—exactly what they came to see. The thirtysomethings that started the mosh pit are old enough to know better, though, and while music can certainly transcend time, some things (like crowd-surfing) are better left in the past. Hell, I haven't seen a mosh pit like that since that White Stripes show at Emo's back in '01... --Noah Bailey

According to this Associated Press story, coming out of Harlingen (got me), Dallas is among a handful of cities about to receive some $250,000 for a pilot program geared toward bringing the arts into the public school classroom. This money's coming from the New York-based Ford Foundation, which makes sense: A few months ago, the 70-year-old private non-profit foundation published a report titled "Deep in the Arts of Texas," which claimed:

"Since 1998 all but a few of the [Dallas'] 157 public elementary schools have been working with museums, theaters and other arts groups for the express purpose of boosting students' academic achievement. In that time the nation's 12th-largest school district has built a stronger teaching force, engaged students through new ways of learning and brought marked improvement in literacy, particularly writing. As a result, Dallas now serves as a model of curriculum reform for communities from Baltimore and Charlotte, N.C., to St. Louis and Jackson, Miss."

Really? The Dallas Independent School District serves as a positive role model? Had no idea. The press person at the Ford Foundation is trying to find out more info about the grant; the person in charge of it is getting on a plane right now, so details are hard to come by. At the moment, though, some kind of press conference is scheduled for tomorrow. (Unless DISD officials are too busy rounding up student protesters skipping class a third day.)

The foundation does have a nice track record of being generous with local organizations. In 2003, it gave $8,000 to the West Dallas Neighborhood Development Corporation to create a West Dallas Oral History Project, which would "record, preserve and archive the community's decades-long struggle for environmental justice." And last year, it gave a whoppng $270,000 grant to Big Thought (formerly Young Audiences of North Texas), with the intention of building "parental and community support for and engagement in Dallas ArtsPartners, a national model for integrating the arts across a large urban school system." --Robert Wilonsky

I've already bought my tickets to Wall of Sound. Have you? If you live in Dallas or Fort Worth, prolly not, according to Lance Yocom, owner and head of A&R at Spune Productions, the local force behind the two-day, 88-band festival scheduled for April 8 and 9 at Fort Worth's Ridglea Theater.

The sad fact is, indie-rock enthusiasts from Illinois, Kansas, California and Maine have bought more tickets than Dallas and Fort Worth folks combined, according to Yocom. Not that I'm surprised. Hell, I've been guilty of Dallas' lamentable it's-mostly-local-bands-so-I'll-just-pay-at-the-door mentality. But with 88 bands (including Low, Starlight Mints, The New Year, the Czars, Pedro the Lion's David Bazan and Okkervil River) on three stages, I'm not taking any chances this time.

Spune's not taking any chances either. "When I booked the bands, I asked them to give me a couple weeks of blackout before their performance," Yocom says. (That's why you didn't see Austin's The Arm playing their previously scheduled show at the Darkside Lounge last Friday.) Some bands obliged, some didn't. (That's why you'll see The Happy Bullets and The Theater Fire playing the Undeniable Records showcase this Saturday at Double Wide.) Yocom assures that the request wasn't to screw bands out of additional shows, but to avoid the ever-present DFW apathy that comes with seeing a band too often. I can see where Yocom's coming from, at least from a promotional standpoint, but it seems a shame that bands we rarely see lost out on creating some additional buzz for the festival, while other acts that play often may deter folks from buying tickets to one helluva festival.

Lesson hopefully learned: Buy WOS tickets now. And if you don't? Don't even think of bitching about not getting in. And no, I'm not slipping you my ticket stub, because your absence is no loss to me. Didn't I just see you last week? --Merritt Martin

So, Southern Methodist University and the University of Dallas are still in the running for the George W. Bush Presidential Library (and, look, I could probably fit that thing in the closet with all my comic books and old porn). Texas Tech University ain't. I didn't really think that would come as a surprise to anyone. Turns out, I was wrong:

"David Miller, chairman of the West Texas Coalition for the library, received the news from the selection committee last Thursday. 'I am sad and disappointed,' Miller said. 'I am not sad for me. I am sad for the students at Texas Tech and the citizens of Lubbock. But you have to move on and pick up the pieces.'"

Jeez, I would have hated to have been there when the guy found out Santa Claus isn't real, either. --Robert Wilonsky

Uh-oh. Our worst fears may soon be upon us. The Cowboys just released Keyshawn Johnson, minutes after the Eagles released Terrell Owens. Johnson was Dallas' leading receiver last season. Owens would fill that need, albeit with a ton of extra baggage. (See: psycho.) Put two and two together, and will the Apocalypse be here by sundown? --Richie Whitt

For those who haven't seen the ongoing discussion on Fark.com regarding last week's Observer cover story on Indigo kids, much of it is in response to a quote in the lead section from Dusk, the boy on the cover. The quote reads, "I'm an avatar. I can recognize the four elements of earth, wind, water and fire. The next avatar won't come for 100 years." As one Illinois reader pointed out:

"'Avatar' is a cartoon on Nickelodeon about a little bald monk boy who uses the power of the four elements of water, fire, earth and air to save the world. They come along every 100 years, the story of the show goes. Always nice to see little ADD kids jerking around cultist adults.'"

And another reader wrote:

"It is clear to me that this child was playing avatar and his words were not meant to be taken literally. For those who are unfamiliar with the tv show it might seem that this child possesses some sort of ancient wisdom, when in fact he was just acting out the story from a popular show."