Denton Live - Festivals/Events

Car Show & Tell

The Arts, Antiques & Autos Extravaganza Relives all Things Classic

By Ryne Gannoe
Denton Live July-Dec 2012

Brian Hughes rumbles through downtown Denton in the red-and-white 1969 Chevy pickup he bought when he was 26 and has lovingly restored over the past two decades. His hands, one resting now on the red-and-black custom leather interior, show the toll of his work: Calluses mark his fingers and grease lines the crevices of his fingernails. He restored everything on the truck – its vintage short bed, the factory paint color, the leather seats, even the hubcaps. The gauges and dashboard match once more. The only new touch is a Tommy Hilfiger logo hanging from the rear-view mirror, an addition made by his 10-year-old daughter.

Fiction or Reality?

Thin Line Film Fest 2012. Photo courtesy of Joshua Butler. Thin Line makes you think
By Amber Mullins
Denton Live Jan-June 2012

Joshua Butler navigates the red carpet ropes of a local coffeehouse with a swagger, then plops himself down to discuss a “hobby” that’s become his passion: documentary film. Choosing the venue with a movie theater twist seems conscious, or maybe not. With Joshua, nothing is ever as it seems, which is the concept behind his startup – the Thin Line Film Fest. The documentary film festival, now in its fifth year, invites its audience to explore the “thin line” between reality and fiction in film. His question: Can a documentary ever be real?

When Dogs Fly!

Dog Days of Denton
By Katharine Pettigrew
Denton Live Jan-June 2012

They’re at their mark. They’re breathing heavy. Their eyes are locked on the finish line. They’re ready to run as fast as they can. No, they’re not professional athletes lining up for an Olympic race. These are the dogs of the Texas Heat Flyball team. Ego, Gimmick, Quick, and Logo meet every Sunday, rain or shine, to compete and train for the Dog Days of Denton Celebration in Quakertown Park each June. The dogs bark with excitement as soon as their trainers start pulling out training mats, bright green hurdles and, finally, the long, colorful ropes called “tugs.” The dogs go crazy for the tugs. It’s their motivation to finish a practice race so they can get in a quick game of tug-of-rope with their owners.

O'Come See the Lights

Music, Wassail and Santa? Must be the Denton Holiday Lighting Festival!

By Alison Eldridge
Denton Live July-Dec 2012

A December breeze blows into the station, turning young cheeks a shade of pink. In the distance, the horn of a train sounds and the subtle clack clack of metal on metal teases the imaginations of parents waiting with their children. The horn bellows one final time and the brakes release with a hiss as the Wonderland Express rolls to a stop. No one needs to hear the expected “All aboard!” The passengers embark quickly, eager for the journey northward to the annual Denton Holiday Lighting Festival. Santa – the real one – and the annual tree lighting await them at their final stop near the historic Courthouse-on-the-Square downtown.

Skies of military might

Denton Airshow thrills with flights at 575mph and vintage planes
By: Stacy Powers
Denton Live Jan-June 2012

Looking down from the air traffic control tower, Brigadier General Tommy Williams sees a sea of people filling the grounds of Denton Airport. They’re looking down the runway, waiting for a first in Denton – the first U.S. Air Force F-16 Viper to take off from the airport. The general has the best seat in the house high up in the air-conditioned tower, but Tommy Williams knows there’s an even better seat. He wants to feel the F-16 engine rippling his skin as it zips across the sky at 575 miles per hour.

Classic Cowboy

North Texas State Fair and Rodeo Ropes in Contestants and Crowds

by Drew Gaines
Denton Live July-Dec 2012

Weldon Burgoon cinches his legs around the horse, his right hand thumbing the lasso tied to his saddle. He nods his hat slightly, signaling the start of his tie-down roping run. The rodeo arena is just stick and wire, a dirt venue for local farm boys and cattleman to show their stuff. A crowd of locals is leaning against the chest-high boards making a semi-circle around the cowboy. He has less than 20 seconds to catch a brown calf. It’ll take less if he wants a shot at the tiedown roping title and the $64 winner’s purse; but at age 16, with 36 hardened cowboys as competition, it’s not going to be an easy win.

Thin Line

The (Movie) Plot Thickens
By: Tiffany Sanders
Denton Live Jan-June 2013

Andy plants his foot and leans into the camera with one eye shut for focus, adjusting his lens to film the delicate hands of a player plucking the strings of a 6-foot-tall double bass. The low pitch of the instrument’s bom bom bom underscores the symphony orchestra. From behind the lens, Andy’s lip curls upward like rocker Billy Idol, a sure sign that he’s nailed the shot. He points, cuing his crew. “Roll film.”

Ready, Set, Celebrate

Denton's Quirky Take on the Fourth of July
By: Lauren Peek
Denton Live Jan-June 2013

At a Fourth of July parade, you expect to see American flags. You expect red, white and blue as far as the eye can see. Patriotic-themed top hats. Cut-off blue jeans. Girls riding in convertibles, girls on floats. Fireworks lighting up the night sky. But a marching band with an army of guitars, banjos, mandolins and ukuleles? Not so much. A band led by a guy playing a clarinet, dressed up like Uncle Sam and a medieval fool? A bandleader who faces mutiny from the rear guard, the string section, which tries to push past the brassy horns and explosive drums up front in formation.“Dress that line, Mister!” yells the bandleader, performing his best John Wayne imitation over the bullhorn. They’re loud. They’re proud. They’re out of tune and out of key. And they do not care. The only rule of the Denton Institute of Phrenology Half-Fast Marching Band is that there are no rules.

Arts & Jazz: a Brave Combo

Brave Combo By: J.K. Nickell
Denton Live Jan-June 2012

A baby mannequin swaddled in multicolored Mardi Gras beads peers out from behind the storefront window of Brave Combo’s office. The band’s headquarters and rehearsal studio just off Denton’s historic Downtown Square is shuttered. Where is the pink-top-hat-wearing mad scientist of a musician who’s famous for herding people onstage to perform the Chicken Dance? Just then, Carl Finch’s baby blue Mercedes convertible cruises into view and Brave Combo’s co-founder steps out dressed totally in black, his shoulder-length silver locks billowing in the wind.