Weekend Event Planner

Erykah Badu’s Dallas birthday party tops this weekend’s best events

This weekend in Dallas, there are events of all flavors to enjoy. Among the happenings are local celebs competing for charity, a theater festival showcasing multiple local companies and artists, a birthday party for one of Dallas' best singers, and an early glimpse of spring.

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 25

Reading Partners presents 4th annual Celebrity Spelling Bee
Many people fancy themselves as good spellers, but some local celebrities put their money where their mouths are at this event, all in the name of charity. People like former Texas Ranger Michael Young, former Dallas Star Marty Turco, Cafe Momentum's Chad Houser, and others square off at Dallas City Performance Hall. Proceeds support Reading Partners’ proven literacy intervention program.

2016 Out of the Loop Fringe Festival
The annual Out of the Loop Fringe Festival is an 11-day celebration of theater, dance, music, and art. Running through March 6 at Addison Conference Centre, the festival features performances by Rite of Passage Theatre Company, Dallas Neo-Classical Ballet, Diana Sheehan, Ebony Stewart, and many more.

Friday, February 26

Rachel Platten in concert with Eric Hutchinson and Christina Grimmie
Like many singers, Rachel Platten took the long road to success, grinding away for years in the music business before finally hitting it big in 2015 thanks to her hit, "Fight Song." She comes to the Granada Theater as part of her first headlining tour in support of her album, Wildfire, with Eric Hutchinson and Christina Grimmie as opening acts.

Improv Addison presents Deon Cole
Like Platten, comedian Deon Cole is finally getting his moment in the sun after many years on the stand-up circuit. He gained a bit of notoriety as a staff writer for Conan O'Brien, where he was regularly featured on-air, and he now co-stars on the TBS sitcom Angie Tribeca. He keeps his stand-up skills sharp with five performances over three days at Improv Addison.

Erykah Badu presents Still Booming: The Annual Birthday Bash
Every time Erykah Badu performs, it's an event, but you can double or triple your expectations when it's her birthday. Badu takes over the Bomb Factory to celebrate her 45th birthday, bringing in a few friends as special guests, including comedian Dave Chappelle as host. We have no idea what to expect, but we know it'll be memorable.

Saturday, February 27

Dallas Arboretum presents Dallas Blooms: The Artistry in Nature
The largest floral festival in the Southwest, Dallas Blooms, returns with the theme Artistry in Nature, showcasing an explosion of color with more than 100 kinds of spring bulbs totaling 500,000 blooms and dazzling layers of landscape at every turn. The festival, running through April 10 at the Dallas Arboretum, also features renowned sculptor Gary Lee Price's Great Contributors Bronze Statues exhibit.

PDNB Gallery presents the Next Chapter: 154 Glass Street
After 20 years in business, Photographs Do Not Bend Gallery is starting a new chapter by moving to a new location at 154 Glass St. in the Design District. To celebrate that move, a new exhibit with an appropriate title features a variety of the gallery's artists. The exhibit is on display through April 23.

Arts & Letters Live: Selected Shorts - Art & Artists
The annual Selected Shorts is a star-studded affair, as it features three Tony Award winners reading stories reflecting on the powerful role of art and artists. Denis O’Hare, Blythe Danner, and John Benjamin Hickey present an evening of artful storytelling, reflection, and laughter at the Dallas Museum of Art, featuring stories by Aimee Bender, Lorrie Moore, and J. Robert Lennon.

Dallas Summer Musicals presents Million Dollar Quartet
Million Dollar Quartet is set on December 4, 1956, when an auspicious twist of fate brought Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Elvis Presley together. The resulting evening became known as one of the greatest rock-and-roll jam sessions in history. The production, playing at Music Hall at Fair Park three times on Saturday and Sunday, brings that piece of history back to vivid life.

Sunday, February 28

Ace Frehley in concert
For people of a certain age, Ace Frehley will always and forever be Spaceman from the rock band Kiss. But the majority of his career has been as a solo artist, even though he released many more albums as a member of Kiss. Frehley plays at the Bomb Factory in support of his forthcoming sixth solo album, Origins, Vol. 1, a covers album that includes several songs Frehley wrote for Kiss but did not originally perform.

Erykah Badu celebrates her 45th birthday with a bash at the Bomb Factory on February 26.

Erykah Badu at Bomb Factory in Deep Ellum

Photo by Enrico Casino

Erykah Badu celebrates her 45th birthday with a bash at the Bomb Factory on February 26.

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Books News

Indie Bird's Bookstore to open store & cafe at Preston Royal Dallas

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Brick-and-mortar bookstores continue their thrilling comeback, with a new one coming to a prominent North Dallas corner: Called Bird’s Bookstore, it's an independently-owned store opening in the Preston Royal shopping center at 6025 Royal Ln. #207, in a former massage place next to Eatzi's, where it will debut in August.

Bird's Bookstore promises to be a unique retail destination incorporating elements of Scandinavian, Japanese, and mid-century modern design with books, magazines, and artisanal products.

Owners Drew and Emily Dawson are a young couple inspired by design, history, and travel. Drew previously worked in the nonprofit sector to private equity before pursuing this decade-long dream. Emily is a former graphic designer who founded Emily by Design, a wardrobe consultation company in 2022.

The couple first conceptualized the idea when they began dating 11 years ago while students at the University of Texas at Austin.

“Initially, it was an idea that we wanted to execute towards retirement age,” Drew says. "But as I saw Emily follow her passion and open her own vintage clothing styling business a year and a half ago, I said, 'It's time for me too. I want to follow my passion and open this bookstore.' There's really no time like the present."

Drew estimates that the shop will carry about 3500 adult fiction and nonfiction books at at time, along with 2500 kids and young adult books.

“I like everything,” Drew says. “I like incredibly thick history books, memoirs, biographies, horror — all of it. We’ll be selling everything, including self-help and kids' books, since the area has a ton of families, and Emily and I have our own little one on the way."

Emily and Drew DawsonCourtesy

While Drew handles the bulk of the book selection, Emily will oversee coffee table books, design books, and magazines.

“We're going to have a strong selection of about 20 magazines covering the design and creative fashion industries, like Neptune, The Gentlewoman, and L’Etiquette," Emily says. "I'm anticipating there will be a draw for that because — other than certain shops in New York — there's not a place where you can buy these titles in person."

Bird’s will also sell stationery and paper goods from European and Japanese vendors, as well as plates and bowls from Marcello Ortega of Marcello Andres Ceramics.

The store will also house a small cafe serving coffee from Oak Cliff Coffee Roasters and baked goods from acclaimed Bresnan Bread and Pastry in McKinney.

The couple keep their eyes on current reading trends, using sites like TikTok’s “BookTok” community, as well as literary social media outlets like Goodreads. Emily credits these platforms — as well as book clubs by celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, and Jenna Bush Hager — for keeping bookstores alive.

Dallas-Fort Worth is witnessing a small independent bookstore revival with Interabang Books nearby, plus Wild Detectives and Poets Bookshop, which just opened a second outpost in Deep Ellum.

With the opening of Bird’s Bookstore, they hope to not only cultivate a space for those passionate about books, but also eliminate the burnout that comes from being attached to screens all day.

“I think there's a fatigue of everything being online,” says Emily. “And I think there's a yearning for a community space that is beautiful, and feels like a second home — a place where you can get amazing customer service. We're excited to hopefully be that place for some people.”

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