FILM FESTIVALS REVEALED: If the AFI Dallas International Film Festival looks a bit different when it debuts on Thursday, it’s not the only one going through changes. Really, not too much is different over at AFI – NorthPark Center has taken over presenting sponosor duties, the run is a few days shorter. But change is [...]

Now that the South by Southwest Music and Media Conference is done and gone for another year down Austin way, the usual mid-March stream of North Texas gigs by SXSW-bound musicians has slowed to a dribble. Frankly, we didn’t score all that many must-see shows up here - that’s probably a function of the economy as well as SXSW Music [...]

The Chicago Tribune reviews DSO conductor Jaap van Zweden’s last-minute-substitute performance: One of these days the Chicago Symphony Orchestra will actually invite Jaap van Zweden into Symphony Center through the front door. The last time we heard the remarkable Dutchman conduct the orchestra was in October when he was brought in to replace Riccardo Chailly. [...]

… are more apt to lie about the books they’ve read. A British study of the reading habits of 2,000 people found that women read more books. Surprise. Novelist Ian McEwan concluded much the same thing just by trying to hand out novels one day in a London park and finding not a single taker [...]

Remember George Steel? Sure you do. He was the managing director of the Dallas Opera for two minutes or so before he ran back to Manhattan to save that financial cliffhanger, New York City Opera. New York magazine now asks whether he’s the superhero for the job. (Unsurprising conclusion: Promising but too soon to tell.) [...]

WRAPPING UP SXSW: South by Southwest has come and gone for another year, and our local media outlets blanketed the music portion over the weekend. Among the more interesting reports are: DFW.com caught up with Crowley drummer Jordan Richardson, who is manning the kit for Ben Harper’s new band, Relentless7. Harper and the band taped [...]

Texas writer Joe Nick Patoski joined Think host Krys Boyd during the Scene segment of this week’s show to chat about his biography, Willie Nelson: An Epic Life. The book was recently awarded the 2009 TCU Texas Book Award.

Today in the Art&Seek spotlight, we feature a pair of Fort Worth arts festivals. For details on each: FIND: For complete details on Fort Worth Art Afaire, visit its event page. For details on TexasAACTFest ’09, visit its event page. REACT: TexasAACTFest ’09 is a collection of 10 theater companies competing to represent Texas at [...]

Guest blogger Bart Weiss is the founder and president of the Video Association of Dallas. He recently sent along this post about his recent trip to Austin for South by Southwest: We have AFI coming up really soon, but last week I headed south to Austin for my annual fix of film and fun at [...]

Get the Flash Player to see this content. How is theater changing with the times and the new century? Playwright Itamar Moses, whose play Back, Back, Back runs at the Dallas Theater Center through April 5th, joined Think for a recent conversation. For a review of the play and a feature on Moses, see the [...]