Weekend Event Planner

Theatrical and musical happenings top best weekend events in Dallas

The venues of Dallas will be alive with all kinds of music this weekend, from a classic musical to a renowned opera to concerts aplenty. Also on tap will be two events bringing an early start to the holiday season.

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.

Thursdays, November 5

Dallas Sample Sale
You don't have to wait until Black Friday to start your Christmas shopping; get a jump on things at the annual Dallas Sample Sale. Taking place through Saturday at Dallas Market Hall, the sale features overstock gifts, apparel, jewelry, toys, children’s clothing, home accessories, furniture and manufacturer samples, and more. A portion of ticket sales will be donated to The Salvation Army.

Dallas Summer Musicals presents The Sound of Music
Some musicals are timeless even when they're tied to a certain period of time. So it is for The Sound of Music, which overcomes its World War II-era timeline thanks to classic songs like "Edelweiss," "My Favorite Things," "Climb Ev'ry Mountain," "Do-Re-Mi," and the title song. Dallas Summer Musicals presents the tour through November 22.

Friday, November 6

Zac Brown Band in concert with Drake White and the Big Fire
It's not just any country act that wins the Grammy for Best New Artist, and ever since winning that award in 2009, the Zac Brown Band has only continued to go up. They've hit No. 1 with three straight albums, including 2015's Jekyll + Hyde. They'll bring a close to the 2015 Gexa Energy Pavilion season, with help from opening act Drake White and the Big Fire.

Dallas Opera presents Tosca
For the second time in two weeks, the Dallas Opera will open a new production, Tosca. But this time they'll combine the opening with their annual tradition of putting on a simulcast at Klyde Warren Park. The free event in the park will feature a pizza dough-tossing competition, Tosca trivia, and a screening of the classic cartoon, "One Froggy Evening." Tosca will have six performances at Winspear Opera House through November 22.

Saturday, November 7

2015 Festival at the Switchyard
Downtown Carrollton is becoming more and more of a destination, as it's now home to locations of Agave Azul and Cane Rosso. You can enjoy both of those restaurants, as well as rides, games, and music from bands like Fastball and 3 Doors Down at Carrollton's annual festival, taking place all day on Saturday.

2015 Untapped Festival Dallas
Untapped has quickly become the go-to craft beer/music festival in Texas, as it's staged versions in multiple cities around the state, featuring scads of great beer and bands each time. For its return to Dallas it's moved to Fair Park, bringing in 100 breweries serving samples of over 400 craft beers and bands like The Flaming Lips, Dr. Dog, and Dallas favorites Valise and Birds of Night.

Sunday, November 8

Holiday at the Arboretum 2015
The Dallas Arboretum is bringing back its popular 12 Days of Christmas exhibit for the second year in a row as part of the annual Holiday at the Arboretum. In addition to the exhibit, which features 25-foot-tall gazebos with characters from the traditional song, the Arboretum will display a 30-foot-tall tree and The Artistry of the Nativity exhibition in the DeGolyer House. All will be on view through January 3, 2016.

Dallas Summer Musicals will present The Sound of Music at Music Hall at Fair Park through November 22.

Dallas Summer Musicals presents The Sound of Music

Photo by Matthew Murphy

Dallas Summer Musicals will present The Sound of Music at Music Hall at Fair Park through November 22.

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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."

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."