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Robert Wilonsky

@robertwilonsky.bsky.social
1.8K followers 133 following 538 posts

Editorial columnist at The Dallas Morning News. Writing about Dallas.

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Robert Wilonsky @robertwilonsky.bsky.social · 1h
For Your Weekend Listening Pleasure: Elvis Costello & the Attractions' second Dallas date: May 26, 1978, at the Convention Center Theater. Audience-made keepsake sounds like it was recorded in a back pocket, but solid. And they play "Dallas version" of "Less Than Zero." archive.org/details/elvi...
The (first page of) Dallas Times Herald's review of Elvis Costello and the Attractions at the Dallas Convention Center Theater on May 26, 1978, the band's second spin through town following their Dallas debut at Faces on Cedar Springs that January.The Dallas Morning News' review of Elvis Costello and the Attractions' May 26, 1978, Dallas show -- the early show, anyway. Elvis would later show up to play with Delbert McClinton at the Old Warehouse later that night, as evidenced by the photo included with the review.Dallas Times Herald ad for the Elvis, Nick Lowe, Mink DeVille show at the Dallas Convention Center
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The Organizing School @organizingschool.bsky.social · 14h
DMN piece on Kleberg featuring College of Constructive Hell-Raising grad and Neighborhood Association Co-Chair David Carranza.
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The Dallas Morning News @dallasnews.com · 20h
Columnist Robert Wilonsky writes: “This was my getaway, the country close enough to the city,” David Carranza, a 62-year-old former Oak Cliff resident said. “Peaceful. Quiet. The slow-paced life. I thought.” He laughed. bit.ly/4dRCy3H
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Nathaniel Barrett @ncoxbarrett.bsky.social · 23h
The problem with Kleberg (and all southeast Dallas) is there's conflicting visions for it: The neighborhood association types want it to be a country livin' reserve. Developers want to build homes. The numerous industrial users mostly want to be left alone. Nobody's happy.
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Robert Wilonsky @robertwilonsky.bsky.social · 21h
From Lawrence Wright's 2019 "God Bless Texas: A Journey Into the Soul of the Lone Star State":
An excerpt from Lawrence Wright's "God Bless Texas" about the significance of Stanley Marcus. Or, Mister Stanley, as we knew him.
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Robert Wilonsky @robertwilonsky.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Council member Lorie Blair says of Kleberg: It's not the middle of nowhere, but it is the end of the city. Annexed by Dallas in 1978 and wondering why ever since. I spent Wednesday in the southeasternmost section of the city, which might as well be the country. www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...
dallasnews.com
Wilonsky: Turns out you can’t escape Dallas’ problems in rural Kleberg
‘Why does it have to be so difficult?’ wonder residents wanting a quiet life but are still faced with crime and contamination.
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The Dallas Morning News @dallasnews.com · 30/09/2026
In recent weeks, I’ve watched the store slowly fill with the grieving lined up over the still-open casket, Robert Wilonsky writes. One employee I’ve come to know told me the sadness has become overwhelming. bit.ly/4xSSUQI
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Robert Wilonsky @robertwilonsky.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I'm in Neiman Marcus' downtown Dallas flagship three, maybe four times a week -- usually to grab a bowl of tortilla soup and a popover, sometimes just to walk. Hard to believe this place will be locked and dark beginning tomorrow. What's the word that means "sad and angry"? tinyurl.com/ytnjwdpy
tinyurl.com
Wilonsky: The sad shrug of a farewell for downtown Dallas’ Neiman Marcus
Scenes from a funeral as the future remains uncertain for the building long considered the soul of the city.
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Robert Wilonsky @robertwilonsky.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
For Your Weekend Listening Pleasure: A belated 40th anniversary to R.E.M.'s sixth Dallas date: Sept. 20, 1986, at the Fair Park Band Shell. Newcomers, old faves, covers and the debut appearance of "Harpers," which Michael Stipe had co-written with the band Hugo Largo. archive.org/details/1986...
The Dallas Times Herald's review of R.E.M.'s Sept. 20, 1986, performance at the Fair Park Band Shell in support of "Lifes Rich Pageant."The Dallas Morning News' review -- well, the first page of it, anyway -- of R.E.M.'s Sept. 20, 1986, performance at the Fair Park Band Shell in support of "Lifes Rich Pageant."
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Recrudescence of the Kakistocrats @reddtrain.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Dallas trying to balance the city budget $2000 at a time by bringing the pain down on places where people eat and drink after midnight.
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BevoOne @bevowon.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Dallas trying to out-Waco Waco
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Robert Wilonsky @robertwilonsky.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Dallas' city attorney is dispatching code to see if a restaurant’s really serving food to the late-night crowd. If they see anything suspicious — like, say, a DJ or more drinks than food on the table or two people dancing by a table — they’ll issue a citation. Dozens of venues have been hit of late.
dallasnews.com
Wilonsky: Dallas’ plate of late-night entertainment and shot of code enforcement
Dozens of venues claiming they’re really restaurants are being cited by Dallas City Hall for being bars.
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Robert Wilonsky @robertwilonsky.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Another weekend, another round of texts about another fire claiming another boarded-up structure in South Dallas. Except this one was an apartment complex tied up in litigation and a court-ordered sale. It was a bad place in bad shape where bad things happened. www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...
dallasnews.com
Wilonsky: In South Dallas, one of the city's worst crime hotspots burns
The South Cliff Apartments were in litigation, for sale and, now, in ruins along Botham Jean Boulevard.
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Robert Wilonsky @robertwilonsky.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
For Your Weekend Listening Pleasure: A keepsake turning 33 today: when Neil Young brought Booker T. & the M.G.'s to Starplex. A bang-up line-up that on paper shouldn't have worked but on stage (& setlist) added up to my 2nd-favorite NY show ever. tinyurl.com/242yjkuk Setlist: tinyurl.com/47vpvxzj
Dallas Morning News review of Neil Young with Booker T and the MG's at Starplex on Sept. 19, 1993Dallas Morning News photographer Randy Eli Grothe's photo of Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper and Neil Young at Starplex on Sept. 19, 1993. The singers are Astrid Young and Annie Stocking.
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Christopher Coffman 🌹 @coffmanesq.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
as someone who works in the brutalist ziggurat (laudatory), i was just thinking the other day as the budget was being debated, “gee, it seems like the city hall relo debate just up and evaporated”
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Matt L @mattl1.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
I work in this building. It's a comically ugly building with no real character. A perfect encapsulation of the era in which it was built. The only benefit to sharing it with the City would be the ability for me to not have to go off-site to express my contempt directly to City leadership.
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Nathaniel Barrett @ncoxbarrett.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
It's hard to express the disappointment I have in those pushing for the city hall relocation.
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Robert Wilonsky @robertwilonsky.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
The Dallas City Council told the Dallas City Manager they expected an update on potential City Hall relocation options by no later than Aug. 26. To which she responded, "Nah." But I did see her in the Comerica building on Aug. 31. It was awkward. www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...
dallasnews.com
Wilonsky: Did I run into the city manager at the future Dallas City Hall?
The City Council was expecting info about relocation options in August. It’s late September, just FYI.
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Robert Wilonsky @robertwilonsky.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
The texts began arriving shortly after 4:30 p.m. Saturday: A house is burning on South Boulevard. Another one. Two houses burned Saturday, two blocks apart. This, just three weeks after Texans legend Abner Haynes' house was destroyed. DFR is investigating. This isn't normal. Not in any neighborhood.
dallasnews.com
Wilonsky: Fear and fury as historic South Dallas homes continue to burn
Within 14 hours on Saturday, two more houses, two blocks apart, caught fire, and no one knows how.
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Robert Wilonsky @robertwilonsky.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
"Betz did not disclose his age. Public records suggest he is either 24 or 25 years old."
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Robert Wilonsky @robertwilonsky.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Some days, the car just steers itself toward Second Ave., which the city has long promised to address while buildings are torn down and boarded up. Never knew until this week that the longtime thrift store below was one of the original Tom Thumbs -- shame on me. www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...
dallasnews.com
Wilonsky: The shuttering of the Neiman Marcus of South Dallas’ and what it means
Meanwhile, City Hall keeps promising to remake Second Avenue, ‘a shell of its former self.’
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Robert Wilonsky @robertwilonsky.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Wednesday morning, I drove up Midway to an event space that normally hosts weddings, corporate events and bar and bat mitzvahs. And long column short, The Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Reading Room was far, far more overwhelming an experience than I ever could have imagined.
dallasnews.com
Wilonsky: A visceral visit to the Epstein files ‘reading room’ in North Dallas
Off Midway Road, a traveling exhibition reminds visitors that behind the endless headlines are 1,200 women still suffering.
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Robert Wilonsky @robertwilonsky.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
For Your Weekend Listening Pleasure: The New Who Revue live from the Cotton Bowl (via Westwod One) on Sept. 3, 1989. The 25th-anniversary reunion-slash-cash grab that resulted in a surprising setlist and a show far better than we ever expected. tinyurl.com/3eejmud9 Setlist: tinyurl.com/5ba99v3d
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Robert Wilonsky @robertwilonsky.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
On the way back downtown from Fair Park, I noticed they're already decorating Canton Street in advance of next week's GOP event at the American Airlines Center.
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Robert Wilonsky @robertwilonsky.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Long column short: The city of Dallas is very bad at following its own rules. And even worse about responding to questions why it can't, won't or doesn't care about doing the most basic things. www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...
dallasnews.com
Wilonsky: Dallas fumbled renaming Houston Street Viaduct for Pettis Norman
It doesn’t appear City Hall gave the public proper notice about a proposed name change for 115-year-old bridge over the Trinity River.
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Robert Wilonsky @robertwilonsky.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Last week, I walked past another historic home claimed by a suspicious fire. This was the South Blvd. home belonging to the Lincoln High School and North Texas State graduate who integrated college football in Texas and became Dallas' first pro football star. www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...
dallasnews.com
Wilonsky: A mysterious fire claims home of Dallas Texans legend Abner Haynes
Arson investigators are trying to determine what sparked the blaze that consumed the football great’s South Boulevard house last month.
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Robert Wilonsky @robertwilonsky.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
For Your Weekend Listening Pleasure: "Goodbye Cruel World"; hello, Fair Park Band Shell. My 1st Elvis Costello and the Attractions show: Sept. 4, 1984. This newly posted keepsake isn't perfect; sounds a little underwater at times. Still: 33+ "hits," deep cuts & covers. archive.org/details/elvi...
The Dallas Times Herald's review of Elvis Costello and the Attractions (and Nick Lowe) at the Fair Park Band Shell on Sept. 4, 1984The Dallas Morning News' review of Elvis Costello and the Attractions at the Fair Park Band Shell on Sept. 4, 1984
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Nathaniel Barrett @ncoxbarrett.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
I've reported my share of water line breaks and usually DWU fixes them with astonishing speed. Someone at DWU said internal goal was to respond to leaks in 1 hr. There was one just last week on my Old East Dallas street: repaired same day reported. Things work differently down south it seems.
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Robert Wilonsky @robertwilonsky.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
“They said, ‘We know there’s a problem, it doesn’t affect your water bill, quit calling,’” Charlotte Savage said Wednesday morning. “I’m so tired of it.” Since MAY. This city. This summer. I swear. www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...
dallasnews.com
Wilonsky: What a broken water line in South Dallas says about the broken city
Residents near Fair Park complained for months about water and trash in their streets. The fix finally came this week.
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Robert Wilonsky @robertwilonsky.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
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Robert Wilonsky @robertwilonsky.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
To this day, whenever I see Tim Curry, I think of those midnight screenings of "Rocky Horror Picture Show" at the Highland Park Village, where the movie ran longer than at any other movie theater in the country. Rest in peace, Frank-N-Furter. That was one hell of a good time.
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Robert Wilonsky @robertwilonsky.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Some preservationists saw workers poking around Pioneer Cemetery in front of the convention center and wondered: What up? This: a $15-million makeover for the cemetery and those steers Trammell Crow planted downtown to kill a competing convention center hotel. www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...
dallasnews.com
Wilonsky: Digging up the $15M redo for Dallas’ bronze steers, Pioneer Cemetery
The convention center redo will involve remaking, but not exhuming, the once-contentious intersection that became a tourist attraction.
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Joel @itsjoels.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
This is the letter kids got at the end of Dolly’s Imagination Library. I defy you to read this and not cry.
Sorry, I can’t type that.
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Robert Wilonsky @robertwilonsky.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
In 2013 I had the good fortune of spending a few minutes on the phone with Dolly Parton for @dallasnews.com. It was a brief chat. But she was more than up for a deep dive, for which I was always grateful, never more so than today. Godspeed. One of the all-time great singers, songwriters, humans.
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Robert Wilonsky @robertwilonsky.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
For Your Weekend Listening (and Viewing) Pleasure: Weezer just released its 20th record. I tend to stop at its second, "Pinkerton," which the band played in full at Deep Ellum Live Dec. 18, 1996, with most of the debut. Someone videotaped the whole wild-ass night. www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-cw...
youtube.com
Weezer - Live at Deep Ellum, Dallas (December 18, 1996)
YouTube video by gilmi
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Robert Wilonsky @robertwilonsky.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
One detail provided at the end of the piece: The judge who wound up with this case is Brantley Starr, nephew of Ken Starr and a Trump appointee and the subject of this piece: ballsandstrikes.org/fedsoc-twelv...
ballsandstrikes.org
The Worst Trump Judge In America Is Brantley Starr
A look at the career of Brantley Starr, an up-and-coming Trump judge whose last name is almost as offensive as his first name.
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Robert Wilonsky @robertwilonsky.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Dallas City Code is clear: Churches are allowed by right, but private schools require specific use permits. To which this small church with a big new property said: Nope. To the federal courthouse they went. Now a Park Cities developer could rewrite Dallas' rules. www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...
dallasnews.com
Wilonsky: Trinity Bible Church sues Dallas over its rules for private schools
City Hall requires private schools get permits. Trinity Bible Church’s new federal suit says that’s discriminatory.
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Robert Wilonsky @robertwilonsky.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
That hero's name is Waco-born Doris Miller, who, in 1939, came to Dallas to enlist in the Navy. web.archive.org/web/20170505...
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Nathaniel Barrett @ncoxbarrett.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Dallas has a long tradition of nearly destroying Deep Ellum but it just keeps bouncing back. Dallas in 1966: "This new freeway is going to cut out the heart of Deep Ellum". Dallas in 1971: "Nobody knows what happened to Deep Ellum"
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Brandon Friedman @brandonfriedman.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
What Dallas has done to its most famous neighborhood and entertainment district represents, at best, unconscionable ineptitude. At worst, deliberate sabotage. When a city destroys dozens of its own businesses, including many family-owned, there's a serious leadership problem.
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Robert Wilonsky @robertwilonsky.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Whilst walking the length of Deep Ellum on Monday, I ran into a group of 20-somethings visiting from Austin. One of the two women in the group used the same word, over and over, to describe a neighborhood wrapped in for-lease signs and chain link: underwhelming. www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...
dallasnews.com
Wilonsky: It really feels like Dallas is kicking Deep Ellum while it's down
How much longer can neighborhood businesses hang on with a ripped-up Commerce Street, empty buildings and, now, daytime parking meters?
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Robert Wilonsky @robertwilonsky.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
For Your Weekend Listening Pleasure: Found this newly posted gem this morning: Elvis Costello & the Attractions at the late Wintergarden on July 30, 1982. 33 songs, and that's without including the Spinners drop in "Alison" or the"Dallas" theme intro'ing "Green Shirt." archive.org/details/elvi...
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Robert Wilonsky @robertwilonsky.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
West Dallas lifer George Garcia has heard for years that Dallas was selling the pound and moving it to Hensley Field. “Money runs everything,” Garcia said of the expensive new builds surrounding him. “Nobody thought there would be apartments here. But now look." www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...
dallasnews.com
Wilonsky: Can Dallas still afford to keep prime real estate for its auto pound?
City Hall has talked about selling Vilbig Road property for decades. It’s going to be in the public safety bond anyway.
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Robert Wilonsky @robertwilonsky.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
I just got an email the chief of community prosecution sent to Bluffview residents confirming that the grading and tree removal were done without permits. But rather than "opening a case to escalate enforcement," the city had the proper owner submit new permits. So my questions below still stand.
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Robert Wilonsky @robertwilonsky.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Why does Dallas have a city attorney's office? Why do we have a tree preservation ordinance? Why do we have a plan commission? Why do we have code compliance? Why do we have a city spokesperson? How do we have a city? Things I contemplated while writing this. www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...
dallasnews.com
Wilonsky: In Dallas’ Bluffview neighborhood, frustration and fury over a bluff
In a part of town known for its rolling topography and plentiful trees, a property owner says he followed the city’s rules, while neighbors insist he’s “ruined” the land.
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Robert Wilonsky @robertwilonsky.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
For Your Weekend Listening Pleasure: A recording I didn't even know existed until, oh, about an hour ago: the Flaming Lips at Deep Ellum Live on August 8, 1999. A soundboard keepsake culled from the headphone (and Broadcast.com) broadcast. Quick, race for the prize: www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2vI...
Photo of The Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne at Deep Ellum Live on August 8, 1999, by Damon Winter for The Dallas Morning News.
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Nathaniel Barrett @ncoxbarrett.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
What a disaster.
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Robert Wilonsky @robertwilonsky.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Another institution waves farewell to Dallas. Damned shame. www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...
dallasnews.com
North Texas Irish Festival leaves Fair Park for Denton after 42 years
Historic fairgrounds “became untenable,” say event organizers, spurring a quick deal that leaves Dallas “disappointed.”
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Robert Wilonsky @robertwilonsky.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
I spent Saturday afternoon walking and photographing the clean-up along the McCommas Bluff. Because earlier last week, the Dallas man authorities say is responsible for that illegal dump was again arrested -- this time, for stealing the land with forged deeds. www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...
dallasnews.com
Wilonsky: Dallas cleared the illegal dump on the Trinity River. A mess remains
For a second time, the man authorities say was responsible for desecrating – and stealing – the McCommas Bluff has been arrested.
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Robert Wilonsky @robertwilonsky.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
For Your Weekend Listening Pleasure: This soundboard keepsake from Genesis' Aug. 13, 1982, visit to Reunion Arena surfaced a year ago. From "Foxtrot" to "Abacab." Or, as Phil Collins says, some of our new shit and some of our old shit. tinyurl.com/5n77ndx6 Super 8 footage! tinyurl.com/5bcb75kf
A screengrab from the Super 8 footage captured at Genesis' show Dallas' Reunion Arena on Aug. 13, 1982A preview of that week's shows from the Dallas Times Herald's "Weekend" magazine
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