Weekend Event Planner

Kinky Boots and Meghan Trainor headline best weekend events in Dallas

It's all about that bass ... and theater and ideas this week in Dallas-Fort Worth, as an up-and-coming pop superstar, a Tony Award-winning musical and a festival for big thinkers come to town. Add in a music legend, a celebration of what will soon be spring and one seriously funny man, and you have what should be a great weekend.

Below are the best options for your precious free time Thursday through Sunday. Don't like what you see? Lucky for you, we have a much longer list of the city's best events.

Thursday, February 26

Dallas Summer Musicals presents Kinky Boots
The great thing about theater is that you never know what will resonate most with critics and audiences. That a musical about a shoe factory owner and a drag queen teaming up to making thigh-high stiletto boots could win the Tony Award for Best Musical and draw in huge crowds is proof of just that. The production, with music from Cyndi Lauper, is presented by Dallas Summer Musicals at Music Hall at Fair Park through March 8.

Diana Ross in concert
The name of Diana Ross brings up thoughts of greatness even if she hasn't put out any new music since 2006. That's because Ross, who performs at Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie, became a legend long ago thanks to her time with The Supremes and solo songs like "Touch Me in the Morning" and "Endless Love." She treats fans to songs from throughout her 55-year career.

Second Thought Theatre presents Bull
While Dallas Theater Center takes over Kalita Humphreys Center for a spell, Second Thought Theatre gets the run of Wyly Theatre as it presents Bull as part of AT&T Performing Arts Center's Elevator Project. The savagely funny play that probes the dark sides of office politics runs through March 14.

Friday, February 27

Meghan Trainor in concert with Sheppard
Love it or hate it, but Meghan Trainor and her hit song "All About That Bass" have been unavoidable over the past year. But with the release of her debut album, Title, in January 2015, music lovers finally got the chance to see that Trainor was much more than just a one-hit wonder. Enjoy this concert at the Granada Theater, as she's sure to be playing bigger venues soon.

For the City: The Dallas Festival of Ideas
There are many people dedicated to making Dallas a world-class city for decades to come, and this new event is full of such people. Speakers from here and around the country discuss what Dallas looks like as a physical city, cultural city, innovative city, political city and an educated city. The introductory event on Friday takes place at Dallas City Performance Hall, while the main event on Saturday is at Winspear Opera House.

Saturday, February 28

Dallas Arboretum presents Dallas Blooms: Deep in the Hearts of Texans
With an ice storm virtually shutting down Dallas-Fort Worth earlier this week, celebrating the forthcoming arrival of spring may not seem like the best timing. But it's never a bad time to check out the glorious gardens at the Dallas Arboretum, and with more than half a million bulbs blooming over the course of this 44-day event, you're guaranteed to see one of the best floral displays anywhere.

George Lopez in concert
Comedian George Lopez has had an enviable career, even if not all of his projects have been long-lasting. His biggest success came with the mid-2000s George Lopez show, but he's maintained a high profile thanks to a string of supporting roles and a solid work ethic as a stand-up comic. He demonstrates the latter when he appears at Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie.

Sunday, March 1

Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus Live!
The struggle between men and women to understand each other has raged since the beginning of time, a fact that was exploited by the early '90s book Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. More than 20 years later, the impact of the book is still being felt thank to a forthcoming movie adaptation and this one-man show that blends theater and stand-up. The show starts Friday at Eisemann Center for the Performing Arts in Richardson and ends with two performances on Sunday.

2015 South Asian Film Festival: Rough Book
The first-ever South Asian Film Festival, running Friday through Sunday at Angelika Film Center Plano, exposes filmgoers to a variety of issues facing those who live in one of most populated areas on Earth. This closing-night film takes a hard look at the education system in India, which faces a host of issues despite being acknowledged as one of the finest in the world.

Dallas Summer Musicals presents Kinky Boots at the Fair Park Music Hall through March 8.

Photo by Matthew Murphy

Dallas Summer Musicals presents Kinky Boots at the Fair Park Music Hall through March 8.

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Vinyl Record News

Dallas record store chain Josey Records spins new location in Garland

Josey Records

Vinyl at Josey Records

Dallas music maker Josey Records has extended its reach east: The record store chain, whose empire includes one of the largest single independent record stores in the U.S., has opened a location in Garland, at 1005 Northwest Hwy., at the intersection of Centerville Road, where it's selling its trademark assortment of vinyl records, CDs, cassettes, turntables, music posters, new releases, and music accessories.

This is the sixth location and the third in the Dallas area, joining the original in Farmers Branch which owners Waric Cameron and Luke Sardello opened in November 2014. They've since opened locations in Plano, Tulsa, Kansas City, and Vidalia, Missouri.

The original location is a giant place with 16,000 square feet devoted to vinyl, 45s, CDs, turntables, and T-shirts. They do a good job showcasing new releases and collector vinyl — they made CultureMap's list of 5 best places in Dallas to buy vinyl records — and are known to host album release and listening parties such as a recent blockbuster celebrating Linkin Park.

They made headlines in June 2020 when they acquired the vast musical inventory of Bill’s Records following the death of owner Bill Wisener; Cameron and Sardello both worked at Bill’s, and knew the sprawling collection first-hand.

"It has taken us years to even start going through it, but in last two years, we've made some headway," Cameron says. "Bill's has its own audience, so we created a specific Instagram account, just for Bill's Records merchandise called @billsrecordsvault."

For this new store, they chose Garland because they saw it as an area that was under-served.

"There are very few record stores in that area of northeast Dallas, Casa View, Garland, Rockwall, Mesquite," Cameron says. "We have customers who live over there, so it seemed like a good place for a store."

The storefront they're in was most recently The Music Store, which sold and rented musical instruments and accessories; but coincidentally, it's next to an address that was once RPM Records, a hip record store from the '90s.

The Garland store follows the same model as their others: selling new and used records and merchandise, and buying used goods, as well.

"One thing that's cool is that each location takes on its own identity," he says. "We buy used CDs, vinyl records, cassettes — we're a used resale business — and what we buy from our customers dictates what that store becomes. For example, our Plano store has a lot of classic rock. So we're looking forward to seeing what Garland gravitates to."

Garland does have one thing that the other locations do not.

"Right now, Garland has this incredible collection of jazz," Cameron says. "We bought a great collection of jazz records — someone called and wanted to sell it. We get that a lot, we buy major collections from all over the U.S., we even make house calls. So we saved it for the Garland store."