Deep Ellum News

New bar in Deep Ellum is just the thing if you want to get crafty

Nothing more fun than a little arts & crafts project with a big glass of wine.

Photo courtesy of Upstairs Circus

A new bar where you can make crafts while you sip is coming to town. Called Upstairs Circus, it's a Denver-based bar-meets-shop-class concept opening its first outlet in Dallas, in Deep Ellum.

Upstairs Circus is a "maker" spot where you and your besties go to make jewelry, art, woodworking, and leather items, while simultaneously drinking cocktails, beer, or wine — like concepts already in Dallas such as Pinot's Palette and Painting With a Twist.

Upstairs takes it next level, stopping not just at paints, but adding crafts such as leather- and wood-working. Hip music, a nice sound system, and a full bar with cocktails, beer, and wine make it even more bar-like.

Matt and Kelly Johannsen founded the concept, opening their first location in Denver in 2013. They began their expansion outside Denver in 2017 when they opened a location in Minneapolis. A fourth location opened in Austin in 2018.

A representative from the company confirms that Dallas is their next location.

"We already have a location in Austin, and the founders have some ties to Texas," she says. "Dallas has always been on the list of top places to expand, and this will be a true owner location and not a franchise."

The couple has stated that they prefer urban and inner-city locations, and Dallas' location will fit the mold. It's at 2810 Main St., at the intersection of Crowdus Street, in a vintage storefront built in 1926 that was once a brakes supply store, but has been vacant since 2012.

Kelly says that they see the neighborhood as a perfect match for what they do.

"Deep Ellum has a spirit of creativity and individuality about it; it embraces art, music and culture and does it in a gritty way that you really have to experience to begin to understand," she says. "We like to think of Upstairs Circus in much the same way, we are an experience driven-company. Our mission is to inspire ingenuity and empower creative experimentation and we do it in a way that is a bit gritty, gets your hands get dirty and entertains you all at the same time."

She says they'll make the most of what the location has to offer. "Our Deep Ellum location will come back to the feel of our original store, which has a gritty feel and is built in a historic building," she says.

Upstairs Circus doesn't hold traditional-style classes, but instead hosts "socials" — events in which people can come in, socialize, and make projects.

"Patrons can create their masterpiece while mingling with their friends or other patrons, enjoying cocktails, and jamming out," Kelly says. "We are a great place to visit for anyone looking for entertainment or an activity: simply to have a night out, celebrate a birthday, to team build and more."

Projects you can make include jewelry, personal items, art objects, and items for the home.

That could be bracelets, leather koozies, pet collars, decorative coasters, wallets, keychains, magnetic shelves, butcher boards, serving trays, nail-and-string paintings, and stamped charms.

Crafters have to be 18 or over, or else have a waiver signed by a guardian.

As for food and beverage, their cocktail list includes a spicy margarita, skinny pina colada, cosmo, a mule made with Deep Eddy Grapefruit, a Campari spritz, and a Tanqueray gin drink with lavender, lemon, and bubbles.

There is also beer and wine by the bottle or glass.

Food options vary by location. Some allow patrons to bring in snacks, others offer grub on-site. Mixed nuts are $3.50 and there's truffle popcorn for free.

"This location will also feature Dallas-themed DIY projects and feature a bar menu curated specifically for the Deep Ellum location," Kelly says.

They're currently seeking a mixed beverage permit from the state and working through City Hall permits, with a goal to open by November.

families

Movie Review

New film I Want Your Sex somehow makes kinky activity boring

Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

Cooper Hoffman and Olivia Wilde in I Want Your Sex.

Writer/director Gregg Araki has been making provocative movies for nearly 40 years, releasing his debut - Three Bewildered People in the Night - in 1987. Most of them have had plotlines that revolved around sex in one way or another, and for his latest - his first film in 12 years - he’s putting it right there in the title, I Want Your Sex.

Elliot (Cooper Hoffman) is an aimless twenty-something who can’t even afford the rent for his apartment with best friend, Apple (Chase Sui Wonders). Thankfully, he finds a job at the gallery of artist Erika Tracy (Olivia Wilde), who is open with her sexuality both in her artwork and in her day-to-day life. That soon includes Elliot, whom she convinces to enter into a dominant-submissive relationship with her, with sessions taking place both at work and her home.

Elliot, who’s in a going-nowhere coupling with Minerva (Charli XCX), is more than willing to participate, both because it lets him feel something he doesn’t get normally and because Erika offers a perspective on sex that’s much different from people of his generation. But as he gets in deeper with her, he starts to lose a sense of himself, going down a path in which he finds himself talking to police detectives Zem (Johnny Knoxville) and Zola (Margaret Cho).

Araki does his level best to make I Want Your Sex into a broad comedy, and early on it seems as if he might succeed. The deadpan way that sexual objects appear in the film (a penis-shaped rug in Elliot and Apple’s apartment, a vagina artwork with chewed gum as the medium) make for amusing sight gags. He also makes Elliot the bewildered other in multiple twosomes, with Minerva being the funniest, as she’s way more interested in studying than his ham-fisted attempts at sex.

It’s clear that Araki wants the film to be a commentary on the generational differences about sex, but he fumbles his own idea. It starts with an on-the-nose conversation between Erika and Elliot, and continues with the various dalliances, which seem to be more about making Elliot look and feel ridiculous than giving true insight. Their encounters certainly open his mind about what sex can be, but their one-note nature makes them repetitive and frankly boring, odd considering the acts in which the two engage.

The uninspired storytelling makes the 90-minute film drag way more than it should. Araki includes a few other characters to try to vary the tone of the film, including gallery workers Zap (Mason Gooding) and Vikktor (Daveed Diggs), but their early promise yields little results. The framing device of Elliot’s interview with the detectives never works, especially because Araki completely neuters the personalities of Cho and Knoxville for seemingly no good reason.

The cast as a whole goes to waste. Hoffman is showing the promise of his late father (Philip Seymour Hoffman), and even though he’s appealing here, the material pulls him down. Wilde just made her own provocative movie about sex (The Invite), and this one pales in comparison despite her heightened performance. Wonders, Charli XCX, and Gooding are all young stars who deserve to be showcased much better than they are in this film.

A film called I Want Your Sex is announcing itself as daring and alluring, but this film contains almost none of those qualities. Instead, it’s a slog that only occasionally has something interesting to show or say, mostly relying on the power of its actors to hold viewers’ attention - and failing at even that.

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I Want Your Sex is now playing in select theaters.