Deep Ellum, pt. 2

Below is an excellent response about the state of affairs in Deep Ellum, which I wrote about in a recent post. It's from my bud Frank, posted here with his permission. Love ya, Frank.

"Yeah Dada may be closed and it is no suprise! But they may suprise us all and reopen! Trees is gone and that's been dragging on for too long as well. I hate to see it go but the spirit and energy are no longer there so why bother? What gets me is everyone saying Deep Ellum is dead. They've been harping on the negative for years now, like their bad experiences are a trendy social thing to discuss. This seems to be perpetuated even more so by the press and of course the ongoing coverage of the David Cunniff civil suit against the EC. The dude got in a bar fight for not minding his own business and got his ass whooped. It could've happened to anyone. Lyles story in the Observer is pretty much lifted from his blog and I expect will be included in his book somewhere on down the road. But his closing line of Deep Ellum as a creative force is history, is just more tired old man BS. You know, jaded folks who feel they have seen it all? There seem to be a lot of those weighing in on the subject. I guess it makes them feel important or superior. I've heard this kind of talk since 1989 about Deep Ellum not being as cool as it was from goofy fucks who can't accept evolution... Clubs which are doing well include Red Blood and The Darkside... Pepe & Mito's, All Good, Crustaceans and Tarantinos seem to be doing fine restaurant wise! There are other new ventures opening as well, such as two other new restaurants and another gallery, next door to Barry Whistler! Ironically (Frank's daughter) Amber and I, believe it or not, are going to see the Old 97's tonite at Gypsy! Overall I see it as evolution and the parking situation and the homeless are still the biggest drawback the area has in my opinion. The gallery is doing great, except I don't have the energy to keep 'normal' business hours. We had an opening a couple of weeks ago and we sold 15 out of 75 pieces! Broose played and sold two! So I don't know... I'm fighting one hell of a battle and I am not alone but sometimes it seems like I am. The DEA seems worthless and apathy is contagious! What more can I say? When the tunnel comes down in May, I'll host a tunnelvisions art show w/ every artist I can wrangle. I also plan to do another Walk on Walls probably in March to get people talking. It's the January / February dulldrums that I fear!Whatever eh? Everything will always be allright coz I've lived through worse!"

Frank