Venue News

Mark Cuban venue in Dallas' Design District gears up for opening at last

Courtesy rendering

A Dallas performance venue is at last nearing its debut: Called The Echo Lounge & Music Hall, it's the Design District venue from Mark Cuban, located at 1323 N. Stemmons Fwy., and has an opening date and lineup of shows.

The venue was developed in partnership with Cuban and the Dallas Mavericks and is described as a 1,000-capacity club that will feature touring artists and local acts.

"The Echo Lounge & Music Hall is going to be a great new venue for artists to play in Dallas," says Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino in a statement. "There's lots of opportunity to bring more concerts to the city, and we really value having the hometown partnership with Mark Cuban and the Mavericks in creating this space."

"I'm super excited for the opening of the Echo Lounge & Music Hall," Cuban says. "This takes the Design District to the next level in its move towards being an entertainment destination. And, with the tunnel between the American Airlines Center side and Design District side of the highway being finished, it will be an exciting post game place to have fun and see live shows!"

Echo Lounge seems to be a new identity for what was originally to be called HiFi Dallas, which was first announced in January 2020. At that time, HiFi Dallas was a "small- to mid-sized venue with a capacity of 1,000" which is exactly how they are now describing Echo Lounge. Originally, Echo Lounge was going to be the name for a space on the second floor dedicated to VIPs, artist showcases, and DJs — a space that still seems to be in the works, but not with a separate name.

The name change seems to be fairly new. As recently as July 2021, it was still being called HiFi and was anticipated to open on August 29. On August 25, that date got pushed back "due to construction delays," and scheduled shows were moved to other venues such as the Southside Ballroom. The HiFi Dallas website and Facebook page are both gone. There's still a HiFi Twitter, but it links to a Live Nation page for the Echo Lounge. The plot thickens. Well, actually no, the plot thins out.

Live Nation did not respond to repeated inquiries regarding the name change. UPDATE 10-21-2021: A spokesperson confirmed that "the concept is now The Echo Lounge & Music Hall."

Acts slated to perform at Echo Lounge include:

11/1/2021 - KXT 91.7 Presents Mayer Hawthorne with India Shawn
11/3/2021 - Jeremy Zucker with Del Water Gap
11/6/2021 - Madison Beer with Maggie Lindemann and Audriix
11/10/2021 - Sleepy Hallow with Eli Fross
11/12/2021 - 100 gecs with Underscores (SOLD OUT)
11/13/2021 - An Evening With Goose (SOLD OUT)
11/19/2021 - Cory and the Wongnotes featuring Antwaun Stanley
11/28/2021 - CloZee with Of The Trees and Tripp St. (18+)
12/3/2021 - Boombox Cartel with Great Dane, Rossy and Suahn (18+)
12/16/2021 - Pink Sweat$ with Kirby and Bren Joy
12/17/2021 - The Glitch Mob + edIT
12/18/2021 - The Aces with The Beaches and Sawyer
1/9/2022 - Mother Mother (SOLD OUT)
2/18/2022 - Cheat Codes with Party Pupils and Zack Martino (18+)
3/9/2022 – Fletcher
3/11/2022 - Eric Nam
3/23/2022 - Tate McRae (SOLD OUT)
3/25/2022 - Enter Shikari with Wargasm
4/18/2022 - Ashe (SOLD OUT)

music concerts

Movie Review

The Magic Faraway Tree is a whimsical family lark that fails to take root

Photo courtesy of Vertical Entertainment

Andrew Garfield, Delilah Bennett-Cardy, Claire Foy, Phoenix Laroche, and Billie Gadson in The Magic Faraway Tree.

With kids and families always on the hunt for entertainment, it’s typically a safe bet for a movie studio to offer up something new, even if it is a film based on an old property. The Magic Faraway Tree, based on a series of books that started in the 1930s, is a very old property, one that its filmmakers have tried to liven up with a few stars, a lot of whimsy, and a boatload of CGI.

The Thompson family, led by stay-at-home dad Tim (Andrew Garfield) and breadwinner mom Polly (Claire Foy), are forced to move to a rundown country home when Polly gets laid off. The kids - Joe (Phoenix Laroche), Fran (Billie Gadson), and Beth (Delilah Bennett-Cardy) - are used to the perks of city life like wifi and electricity, and each of them rebels in their own way to their new lot in life.

Fran, enticed by a fairy named Silky (Nicola Coughlan), is the first to venture out of the house, making her way to a magic tree that transports her to a world full of strange characters like Moonface (Nonso Anozie), Saucepan Man (Dustin Demri-Burns), Dame Washalot (Jessica Gunning), and more. Her adventures there not only broaden the world she thought she knew, but may be the key to helping her ailing family.

Directed by Ben Gregor and written by Simon Farnaby (Paddington 2, Wonka), the film is a pleasant enough lark, but it fails to fully capture the imagination. The five-member family has a lot going on, from an initially-mute Fran to a domestic situation that raises more questions than it answers. The film tries to incorporate an anti-technology message through Tim’s hatred of a smart refrigerator (voiced by Judi Dench!) and the kids' addictions to devices, but it’s quickly shed in favor of other options.

Once Fran makes it to the Magic Faraway Tree, there’s a nice shift in the storytelling, but it’s unclear what the ultimate goal is. It’s a good idea to have Fran, the youngest of the children, convince her older, more cynical siblings about the virtues of the magic world, but the conflict in the real world doesn’t seem to rise to the level needed for the escape the tree provides.

There also seems to be a missing link in the storytelling for viewers to understand the importance of the fantastical characters. The visuals of seeing Moonface and his crescent moon-shaped hair, a man with a suit full of banging pots, and more are fun for a while, but not enough to carry the whole film. A last-minute revelation feels like it was something that should have been disclosed much earlier to help strengthen the emotions of the story.

A two-time Oscar nominee, Garfield is making his first foray into family movies (if you don’t count playing Spider-Man), and while he does a good job, he doesn’t make the best fit for the semi-goofy role. The same goes for the Emmy-winning Foy, who isn’t given much of anything to do. The movie puts the story on the shoulders of the three child actors, and while each of them acquit themselves well, none of them are so outstanding as to be noteworthy.

With nearly 90-year-old source material, The Magic Faraway Tree needed to be something truly special to stand out in the 21st century movie world. Unfortunately, it features a mostly forgettable story that features some fun visuals, a couple of cute kids, and not much else.

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The Magic Faraway Tree is now playing in theaters.

movies film