Deep Ellum News

Noise task force recommends breaking Dallas' Deep Ellum into tiers

Shh, Traveling Man, keep it down.

Photo by Joseph Haubert

Following an incomprehensible crackdown on noise in Deep Ellum — Dallas' biggest entertainment district — a task force has come up with a list of recommendations that include breaking the neighborhood into tiers where different noise levels would be allowed.

Noise became an issue in April 2021 when residents and businesses in the district started filing noise complaints to Code Compliance. These were noise ordinances that already existed, but had not been enforced diligently.

Deep Ellum venues banded together to defend their right to be noisy, and in July, the Deep Ellum Noise Task Force was created, comprised of the Deep Ellum Foundation, Deep Ellum Community Association, Code Compliance, Dallas Police Department, and live music venue owners.

After five months surveying residents and businesses, taking and monitoring decibel readings, and assessing international best practices, they issued a report which is online.

Recommendations include:

creating an overlay district featuring several tiers of allowable noise
expanding band loading zones
clarifying and streamlining the Department of Code Compliance Services' practices
ramping up education on noise within the district

There are three tiers, as follows:

Tier 1 will be a core in Deep Ellum that allows noise levels up to 92 decibels until midnight on weekdays and 2 am on weekends.
Tier 2 will be a commercial and entertainment corridor that allows up to 78 decibels until 10 pm on weekdays and 12 am on weekends.
A third tier, the Deep Ellum Cultural District, will follow regular city of Dallas noise levels.

As a point of comparison: For "office, retail, and parking districts," 63 decibels is the maximum permissible daytime decibel limit allowed. In "light and heavy commercial districts," it's 65 decibels. In "industrial districts," it's 70 decibels.

Their report also recommends not pointing speakers towards the right of way.

The task force's surveys found that it wasn't just music venues and bars, but also restaurants.

And here's an interesting tidbit: "The majority of complaints were received in relation to venues operating on Good Latimer Expressway." Someone has it in for Bottled Blonde.

"This Noise Task Force worked diligently to really understand the needs of all stakeholders who come to be a part of this community, and we are proud to present a set of recommendations that will allow Deep Ellum businesses and residents to continue to grow and thrive together," said Stephanie Keller Hudiburg, Executive Director of The Deep Ellum Foundation.

The task force included resident and musician Trey Carmichael who says in a statement that, "after a few decades playing and/or living down here, I’m happy to see a more comprehensive ordinance developed. Noise is a problem in any busy neighborhood, but it’s a complex matter in our live/play areas. The standard ordinance was simply too broad for all stakeholders to be treated fairly. The task force worked hard to find solutions that work for everyone in Deep Ellum."

Business owner Allen Falkner says in a statement that it's important to preserve Deep Ellum's role as an entertainment district.

"It’s been a very difficult couple of years with COVID-19," Falkner says. "All the businesses in Deep Ellum have suffered greatly and are doing their best to recoup losses and return to some form of normalcy. "The one thing that has remained the same is that Deep Ellum has been known as an entertainment district for a century. For many, it’s the heart and soul of Dallas with music being the cornerstone to its success and survival. These recommendations on the noise ordinance support music, entertainment and small businesses. They will not only help Deep Ellum, but will keep Dallas the cultural icon of Texas that it deserves to be."

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Movie Review

Daniel Craig searches for elusive new bond in audacious film Queer

Photo courtesy of A24

Drew Starkey and Daniel Craig in Queer.

As recently as the late 2010s, if a movie was made about an LGBTQ+ character, it was more than likely about their coming out experience. Romance, if it existed, was typically chaste, and actual sex was almost completely out of the question. Things have changed dramatically in the 2020s, to the point that a major movie star has no issue starring in a film called Queer.

Based on the 1985 novella by William S. Burroughs, the film features William Lee (Daniel Craig), whom everyone calls just Lee, a writer living in 1950s-era Mexico City who spends most of his time haunting local bars with friends like fellow writer Joe Guidry (Jason Schwartzman) and hitting on younger men. His early interactions in the film seem to indicate that Lee has a bad reputation within the local gay community, as multiple people avoid him or give him odd looks.

Lee senses an opportunity when he encounters a newcomer, Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey). Despite some awkward interactions, the two of them start spending time together, although Lee has much more invested in the relationship than Eugene does. Their hit-and-miss bond continues until Lee, who’s starting to get into drugs in addition to the booze, convinces Eugene to accompany him on a trip to South America.

Directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Justin Kuritzkes (making their second straight film together after Challengers), early on the film seems to be mostly about the divide between an older person who’s grown comfortable in his ways and a younger person who’s living a relatively carefree life. The introduction of drugs into the plot changes things, though, with Lee searching out more ways to open his eyes to what the world has to offer.

Guadagnino and his team use some interesting visual storytelling techniques to introduce ideas that may not be present in the actual script. The most successful, demonstrated in multiple scenes, is the superimposition of movements by Lee over what’s actually taking place in the scene. The subtle overlay gives the audience insight into Lee’s true feelings, showing what he can’t or won’t say out loud.

Music also plays a big part in how the plot is perceived, with the use of anachronistic songs from Nirvana and Prince serving to heighten certain moments. The score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is not as in-your-face as the one they did for Challengers, but it complements the film well, especially when the plot starts to get trippy in its final half hour.

Craig, who appears sweaty and disheveled for much of the film, is about as far from the suaveness of James Bond as you can get in this role. He takes multiple risks with his performance and almost all of them pay off. Starkey’s character is subdued by comparison, but still comes off well. Schwartzman and Lesley Manville are given showy roles, with both using altered appearances that make them nearly unrecognizable to deliver memorable performances.

Queer is not as accessible as Challengers was storytelling-wise, but the fact that it tells a story about gay men living their lives as they see fit with no interference or questions shows how far the film world has come in a short period of time. It also continues Guadagnino’s streak of making audacious films in a way that few other filmmakers are willing or able to approach.

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Queer is now playing in theaters.

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