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Trine Dyrholm as Ida in ‘Love Is All You Need’

In the charming Danish import Love Is All You Need, a gay subplot complicates the life of Ida (Trine Dyrholm), a hairdresser suffering through a round of chemotherapy.

Cancer and closeted gay folks aren’t the only things weighing on Ida. Her husband is cheating on her with a bimbo, and her son is off to military service just before her daughter’s wedding. Worst of all, Ida meets Philip (Pierce Brosnan), the father of the groom to her mother of the bride, by running into him … literally. But Love Is All You Need — directed by acclaimed, Oscar-winning Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier — is not so much a tragedy as a romantic parable that recalls Moonstruck, Enchanted April and other relationship comedies with darker themes.

It also marks a 1-2-3 punch for Dyrholm, who last year made an impression as the vicious Queen Juliane Marie in the Oscar-nominated historical drama A Royal Affair and co-starred another acclaimed import in 2010, the Oscar winning foreign language film In a Better World. But Ida is a real change of pace for the actress.

“I’m known [in Denmark] for drama,” she says over sparkling water at the Crescent Court Hotel on a recent visit to Dallas. “That was the big challenge for me, to be in a lighter film.”

The ‘alternative’ Bond girl with her leading man

Anyone who seethed at her conniving in A Royal Affair and sees her in this, however, will understand why Alec Baldwin once called her the best actress ever.

Although Love Is All You Need is, technically, a foreign language film, subtitles are used with only about half of the dialogue; English is spoken almost as much, and nearly exclusively by Brosnan.

“Yes, Danish sounds like potatoes in your mouth,” Dyrholm laughs. While she (like many Danes) speaks fluent English, Dyrholm worked to make sure Ida didn’t sounds as skilled in communicating with Philip in his native language.

One of the refreshing aspects of Love Is All You Need is how the major (but somewhat unexpected) gay theme is treated so matter-of-factly, and with casual acceptance. It would be hard to imagine a mainstream American rom-com that contains such frank discussions of gay sex while still aspiring to be a box office hit (which Love was in Denmark, where it was known as The Bald Hairdresser.)

Gay subject matter in Danish films “is not controversial,” Dyrholm says of that subplot. “That’s one thing I like about the film — it’s very mainstream.” (LGBT themes are nothing new for Dyrholm, either: In 2006, she starred in the film A Soap, in which she played the romantic interest of a transgender character.) The romantic notion that really hit home for Dyrholm, though, was something entirely different: Playing scenes opposite the still-dashing Brosnan.

“I became most aware of it during a weekend when we had a few days off,” she recalls of her costar. “I found myself on a boat and thought, ‘I’m on a boat with James Bond! I’m like at alternative Bond girl!’”

And Love Is All You Need is an alternative to the predictable Hollywood summer comedy.

Four stars. Opens today at the Angelika Mockingbird Station.

Douglas, left, as Lee Liberace, and Matt Damon as Scott Thorson.

That fact has been largely forgotten in the 25 years since he died — still closeted! — of complications from AIDS. By the end (hell, decades before it), he had become a caricature, but the image of the facelifted, lisping Vegas showboy has obscured his humanity.

So its especially impressive that a bunch of straight guys — director Steven Soderbergh, screenwriter Richard LaGravanese, and actors Matt Damon and Michael Douglas — have done do an astonishing job of capturing the truth of gay men in the pre-AIDS, barely-post-Stonewall decade of the 1970s with Behind the Candelabra, the HBO biopic debuting Sunday at 9. They could have soft-pedaled the sex; they could have idealized and mystified the era; they could have taken any number of “safer” routes. Instead, they told a story with such a savvy understanding of gay culture, you might think you’re watching a documentary.

That’s especially true in the early scenes, when Soderbergh shows the coded messages (both subtle and overt) that gays used to communicate, from the houseboy who bends over a little too long to the pronoun-shifting in public. It’s easy to forget how back then — and we’re not talking that long ago — gay culture was both underground and so alien to hetero society that some gays they could hide in plain sight. To the mainstream, flaming queens like Liberace and Paul Lynde weren’t “gay,” they were “flamboyant” and “artsy.” That perception fuels a funny early line when Damon’s character, Scott Thorson, is gobsmacked to learn none of the straight families watching Liberace’s Vegas act realize he’s gay.

It’s during that scene where Scott first meets Liberace (Douglas), 40 years his senior, and becomes instantly his twink-du-jour. Liberace’s friends predict the relationship won’t last longer than any of his other infatuations, but Scott proves them wrong, and they stuck together for six years (hey, that’s long in gay-years). Many viewers might recall that Thorson sued “Lee” for palimony, suggesting a bitter end to the affair, but that’s only a fraction of the plot of the telefilm; even smaller is Lee’s illness and eventual death. This isn’t an AIDS movie, nor a courtroom drama; it’s a serious exploration of a gay romance fueled by fame, drugs and the oppressiveness of the closet.

Because Damon and Douglas are straight, it would be easy to criticize their performances as camp stereotypes, or even gay-for-pay acting “challenges” where they nevertheless play it cool. Neither assessment is fair. They throw themselves wholeheartedly into creating fully rounded characters. Sure, Liberace was effeminate and droll to a kitschy degree, and Douglas rolls in the furs and sequins like a pig in mud, but his authenticity is never in question. (The makeup is astonishing, especially with Douglas.)

And, frankly, you do have to admire what Douglas and Damon do, from fairly explicit sex scenes (more exact: scenes of sexual intimacy) to Damon roaming around in a rock-hard body dressed only in a studded thong to Douglas often shirtless and toupee-less, these are the kinds of roles awards ache to recognize.

They’re not the only ones. Rob Lowe as a serpentine plastic surgeon, Scott Bakula as a moustachioed leather daddy and Debbie Reynolds as Liberace’s mom are all nearly unrecognizable and in turn sort of brilliant.

The conceit of the plot — ingenue is lured into the ravishing world of an older Hollywood celeb, only to be corrupted and tossed aside — is a direct send up of classics like Sunset Boulevard, but despite the familiar tropes, it’s forever fresh. This Candelabra shines a light on gay culture in a fascinating way.

Dallas activists are having a Harvey Milk celebration again this year. The 2nd annual event planned by GetEQUAL TX and Hope for Peace and Justice will be 7 p.m. Sunday, May 26, at Cathedral of Hope’s Interfaith Peace Chapel.

The event will include speakers, music and a staged reading of Dear Harvey by Patricia Loughrey, which will be the first time the play has been staged in Dallas in any form.
GetEQUAL TX regional coordinator Daniel Cates, who is directing it, said he hopes to mount a full production later in the year.

“This is a beautiful piece and one that I am excited to bring to Dallas,” he said. “Harvey’s message of hope is one that all people, LGBT and not, should hear. This will be an inspiring evening.”

Dear Harvey is an ensemble piece created though interviews with people who actually knew Milk, his personal and political writings, newspaper stories and letters written to him from across the nation.

The cast includes the Rev. Carol West of Celebration Community Church in Fort Worth, Lynn Walters, executive director of Hope for Peace and Justice, Jeffrey Harper, Mark Calloway, Todd Whitley and Alan Dudley of the Cathedral of Hope Theatre Ministry, and local activist Natalie Johnson.

“It is important for us to celebrate and remember our history as LGBT people. No one is going to tell our story for us. We have to do it ourselves. We owe it to younger generations to let them know where they come from and how far they can go,” Cates said.

Tickets to the Dallas Harvey Milk Celebration are available for a suggested $15 donation. All proceeds benefit programs of Hope for Peace and Justice and GetEQUAL TX.

Cabaret Extravaganza raises funds for Cedar Springs improvements

The Cedar Springs Merchants Association presents Cabaret Extravaganza from 6 to 9 p.m. in the Rose Room on Thursday, May 30.

An evening of cabaret music, comedy, and food and drink, the event is a fundraiser for the Cedar Springs Merchants Association, featuring Vince Martinez, Paul J. Williams, Linda Petty, and hosted by Victoria Weston.

Silent auction items will be on preview starting at 5:30 p.m., when the doors open, and will close at 8:30 p.m..

All tickets are general admission at $40 per person. Seating with tables will be available on a first come, first-serve basis. There are additional chairs/stools along the general seating area.

The Cedar Springs Merchants Association is a nonprofit organization to promote business, beautify and help protect The Strip on Cedar Springs.
For more info, visit ShopCedarSprings.com. •

Mayor Julian Castro

Evangelical protesters and LGBT equality advocates clashed at San Antonio City Hall this week, and a proposal to add sexual orientation, gender identity and veteran status to the city’s nondiscrimination policy was delayed in committee.

According to a Human Rights Campaign field organizer who has been in the city since January working on the ordinance, the protesters thought the city was debating same-sex marriage.

Mayor Julian Castro said San Antonio is lagging behind Dallas, Fort Worth and Austin, which already have LGBT protections.

“I believe that we cannot have second-class citizens in this city,” Castro said. “If you are for this ordinance you are against discrimination. If you are against this ordinance you are for discrimination.”

“The question is, do we believe that people should reserve the legal right to discriminate against them for being who they are?” Councilmember Diego Bernal said. “And I think for the most part, we all agree that the answer is no.”

The committee voted unanimously to have the city attorney draft the changes to the city ordinance and send the proposal to the full council for discussion, QSanAntonio reported. The changes would cover public accommodations, fair housing, city employment, city contracts and appointments to city boards and commissions.

Councilman Dan Medina, who is an evangelical Christian and has voted against LGBT proposals in the past, wanted the proposal to remain in committee another month. He is in a runoff with a candidate who supports the proposal.

George William Amerson, right

George William Amerson was born June, 11, 1938, in Petersburg, Texas, and left the world a better place on May 19, 2013.

A Realtor since 1975, he was a member of the MetroTex and Henderson County Association of Realtors, serving twice as president of HCBR. George was a founding partner of Uptown Realtors.

George is survived by partner of 42 years, Mike Grossman;  children, Laura and Devon Cloud, and Barney and Stephanie Grossman; and grandchildren, Miles and Rachel Grossman, who will miss their Papa George.

George and Mike were married in Washington, D.C. on April 20, 2013, on the occasion of their 42nd anniversary.

George’s surviving siblings are Ruby Embry of Lubbock; Eva Loue and Mike Brula of San Antonio; Glenda and Bill Ware of Arlington; and Dwight Amerson of Dallas. He is also survived by many loving nieces, nephews, cousins and their children.

George was preceded in death by his parents, Eva and Raymond Amerson; and brother, John.
George was active in the LGBT community since the early 1980s. He and Mike were among the founders of Oak Lawn Community Services. He was a volunteer for the the Experience Weekend and helped bring the event to Dallas many times. He volunteered for the Human Rights Campaign and was among the founders of the Dallas Way: The GLBT History Project. George was a member of the choir at the Cathedral of Hope for many years, and more recently at First Methodist Church.

…………………….

Charles Anderson

Charles Terry Anderson Jr., a longtime resident of Dallas and member of the gay community, died on Friday, May 10, 2013, at 71.

Charles was born Oct. 27, 1941, in Tyler, the only child of Charles T. Anderson of Grand Saline and Vernelle Thedford Anderson of Tyler.

Charles had an outstanding academic career, graduating with honors from Tyler Junior College and later completing his studies at UT-Austin, where he was named to the Dean’s List of Outstanding Students, received a Distinguished Service Award from the University of Texas Press and was nominated for the Rhodes Scholarship. He received his bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude, and his master’s degree, cum laude, from that university.

After college, Charles worked in administrative positions for the hotel industry, earning awards for his contributions to that industry. In 1986, he became Library Assistant for the Dallas Morning News and in his 10 years there, provided research for five series of articles that earned the Pulitzer Prize.

He concluded his professional career with Southwest Airlines, where he received numerous awards from the company.

In 2009, Charles published In Illustrious Company, a collection of his essays on literature. Charles is survived by many beloved family members and numerous cherished friends.

This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition May 24, 2013.

Rep. Mary Gonzalez

ANNA WAUGH  |  News Editor

AUSTIN — LGBT advocates are calling the 83rd Texas Legislature a success after several anti-gay measures were defeated and a handful of pro-LGBT bills made it out of committee.

Lawmakers filed a record 30 pieces of pro-equality legislation, from bills to protect LGBT people from workplace discrimination to those that would repeal the state’s marriage amendment and pave the way for civil unions and marriage equality.

And despite no specifically pro-LGBT bills passing, some cleared committee for the first time in 12 years. Two non-specific bills endorsed by Equality Texas passed that will help LGBT youth and employees, and three anti-LGBT bills died.

Daniel Williams, Equality Texas field organizer, said the session was an “enormous success.”

“We have had a very, very good session,” Williams said. “I think this is probably the second-most successful session for LGBT issues in the history of Texas.”

The most successful would be 2001, which saw the passage of the state’s hate crimes law that includes “sexual preference.” But Williams said this session was by far the most productive since Republicans took over the state House in 2003.

“There were more conversations on our issues than we’ve ever seen before,” he said. “We proved this session that LGBT Texans are vocal, we are engaged, we are a force to be reckoned with, and we can’t be ignored.”

Openly LGBT state Rep. Mary Gonzalez, D-El Paso, said she was able to put a face on LGBT issues, helping spur dialogue among her colleagues. And while she was initially nervous about the session, but she was pleased to see so many pro-equality bills filed.

“I thought this could be a potentially harmful year for LGBT issues,” she said. “I think we had a pretty successful year. We were able to move legislation forward, which gives me a lot of hope for next session.”

Equality Texas Executive Director Chuck Smith said the record number of pro-equality bills filed was because of strong bipartisan support in both the House and Senate.

“That’s indicative of our allies positioning themselves to be on the right side of history,” Smith said. “They’re not afraid to file [pro-LGBT legislation] anymore.”

Republicans helped advance SB 538, authored by El Paso’s Jose Rodriguez, to remove the unenforceable “homosexual conduct law” from the Texas Penal Code. Dallas

Republican John Carona supported the bill. Carona also supported SB 1316 — which would provide legal protections for same-sex minors in intimate relationships under the “Romeo and Juliet” defense — to help it out of committee.

The House version of SB 1316 by Gonzalez also passed out of committee. Neither bill made into to the floor for a vote. But Smith said passing three bills out of committee reflects a shift in opinion among lawmakers and the public.

“The allies are there now,” he said. “The issues are out front now.”

State Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, has been a longtime LGBT advocate. He said lawmakers who haven’t taken a stance to be on right side of history have finally come to see that standing up for the LGBT community is the right thing to do.

“Those who didn’t get it before, they get it now,” he said.

Three anti-LGBT pieces of legislation and one anti-gay amendment all died. At press time, the fate of a fifth anti-LGBT measure was unclear.

Republican Fort Worth Rep. Matt Krause’s HB 360 originally stated that student groups at state-funded universities could discriminate based on gender, race and sexual orientation. A compromise bill later passed out of committee that would have allowed student groups to disregard a school’s nondiscrimination policy in determining membership. Krause then attached the bill as an amendment to another bill and it passed the House. It was unclear whether the amendment would be included in a final version of the bill.

Smith said the tactics to pass anti-gay measures this session were less direct, with Krause saying his amendment called for free speech at universities. But in the end, he said the discriminatory purposes didn’t resonate with constituents who helped defeat them.

“The majority of Texans are not supportive of gay-bashing or blatantly homophobic or transphobic fear-mongering,” he said.

The Senate passed Republican state Sen. Donna Campbell’s SB 1218, which would have prohibited anyone from obtaining a marriage license with a document that lacks a photo, including an affidavit of sex change. But advocates delayed the process for its advancement in the House and it never made it out of committee for a vote.

State Rep. Drew Springer, R-Muenster, passed a committee substitute of HB 1568 that would have given the Texas attorney general the ability to discredit and defund school districts in the state that offer employees domestic partner benefits. The bill never made it to the floor for a vote.

Arlington state Rep. Bill Zedler ended up withdrawing an amendment that would defund LGBT resource centers at state universities when it hit the House floor in April.

News of the amendment that stated LGBT and gender centers caused high-risk behavior and the spread of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases created an uproar among LGBT advocates. Petitions and letters opposing the amendment were sent to lawmakers before it was withdrawn.

Coleman said the anti-gay sentiment in the Legislature was less vocal this session but was still present.

“What I do believe is the open bigotry from a verbal point of view is tamped down because it’s seen by public as unfair,” he said. “The people that are anti-LGBT would rather say nothing rather than be called homophobic.”

Although none of the LGBT-specific legislation passed, two of Equality Texas’ endorsed bills passed both chambers and would help LGBT citizens. HB 2482 by Houston Democrat state Rep. Carol Alvarado will create a study to determine the reasons major companies have chosen to invest or relocate to other states after considering Texas.

Smith said the study would help drive support for statewide job nondiscrimination protections for LGBT employees. He brought up Gap Inc.’s decision to not move some offices to El Paso several years ago after citing a lack of LGBT protections.

Both the House and Senate versions of a bill to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the state’s list of protected classes in employment received committee hearings this session, but neither made it out of committee.

“If Texas wants to compete on a national and international scale, we can’t look like a backward place that’s biased against a segment of the workforce,” Smith said.

“Employers want to know that all of their employees will be treated equally.”

SB 831 by state Sen. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, and Coleman also passed. It expands mental health and suicide prevention programs in schools to include substance abuse.

When the session ends May 27, Smith said the work for the 84th Legislature will begin.

“We’re getting to the point where we’ve got enough bipartisan support to get bills out of committee but not enough to pass a vote,” Smith said.

Gonzalez said she’s looking forward to next session and having the “opportunity to have even more LGBT people on the House floor,” referring to lesbian activist Celia

Israel, who has announced her plans to run in Austin’s District 50.

“We only have forward movement in our future,” Gonzalez said.

This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition May 24, 2013,

Ousted lesbian den mother Jennifer Tyrrell hugs her son Cruz after learning the results of the Boy Scouts vote to allow gay youth. (Anna Waugh/Dallas Voice)

It was a touching scene in Grapevine Thursday when LGBT advocates who’ve worked for inclusion in the Boy Scouts were able to celebrate the victory of coming closer to their goal.

The BSA will begin allowing openly gay Scouts in January, but the ban on gay leaders will remain in place.

Those who’ve fought for full inclusion said they’re focus will remain on the Scouts until all gays are welcome in the organization.

Former den mother Jennifer Tyrrell said that in a year the American people were able to tell the BSA that they wanted the policy to change, so she has hope that the voices of allies will continue to be heard in the future.

Watch the video below.

TAKING LIVES, LIVELIHOODS  |  Mark Carson was fatally shot in Greenwich Village for being gay. Carla Hale was fired after 18 years by a Catholic school because her partner was mentioned in her mother’s obituary.

As if intending to justify the need for the International Day Against Homophobia, a vicious mob of more than 20,000 homophobes attacked 50 gay-rights advocates commemorating this event in Tbilisi, Georgia. According to the New York Times, the modern pogrom was “led by priests in black robes” who “surged through police cordons” and “swarmed the buses” where the gay activists ran so they could be evacuated.

“They wanted to kill all of us,” said Irakli Vacharadze, the head of Identoba, the Tbilisi-based gay-rights advocacy group that organized the event.

After the initial horror of the attack, I felt a powerful sense of relief. Finally, the world saw the unscrubbed underbelly of religious persecution against LGBT people in broad daylight. In Tbilisi, there are no sophisticated church public relations gurus to draft saccharine statements hiding the hideousness of depraved minds and wicked hearts. There were no insincere attempts to spin the spite by laughably claiming to “love the sinner” but “hate the sin.” What the world saw was a rare glimpse of would-be killers for Christ unplugged in their full glory.

We should be grateful for this peek at unfiltered prejudice, because most indoctrination and incitement takes place in the shadows. What people often fail to comprehend is that a colossal industry exists to demonize gay people, including numerous attempts to create conditions where homosexuals are imprisoned, assaulted and even murdered.

It is not just the fringes of Christianity where calls for violence occur, but from organizations that are considered mainstream. In January, for example, Campus Crusade For Christ (which recently rebranded itself with the hipper sounding “Cru”) sponsored an evangelism conference in Lagos, Nigeria. At the event, Dr. Seyoum Antonios, the head of United For Life Ethiopia, incited the crowd to frenzy, shouting multiple times that, “Africa will become a graveyard for homosexuality!”

Antonios can’t simply be dismissed as a renegade speaker, because two high-ranking vice presidents in the Campus Crusade international organization, Bekele Shanko and Dela Adedevoh, organized the conference. They invited Antonios to speak even though it was widely known that he led a movement to legislate the death penalty for LGBT people in Ethiopia.

The question is, why is an American organization that is currently on 1,600 college campuses, as well as extensive outreach within the U.S. military, giving a platform to an aspiring murderer? It seems that the policy for groups like Cru is to persecute homosexuals to the full extent that a country allows them to get away with. Which begs the question: What would they do to gays in America if given free rein?

If this is just a misunderstanding, Cru should send a powerful message by apologizing for hosting Antonios and immediately cut ties with Bekele Shanko and Dela Adedevoh. If advocating persecution and murder of LGBT people in Africa is, indeed, part of Cru’s mission, college administrators and the military officials should strongly re-evaluate if this organization belongs in their institutions.

Of course, unlike the barbarians who bared their teeth in Tbilisi, we fully expect Cru to disingenuously split hairs and say that the organization did not promote violence because it advocated a “graveyard for homosexuality” and not homosexuals.

That’s an interesting concept — much like claiming that a campaign to wipe out Judaism won’t harm Jews. I’d love to know the last time homosexuality was convicted of a crime and sent to jail, while the gay person walked out of the courthouse free. I’d love Cru to show me tombstones dedicated to homosexuality — that did not also have the rickety bones of a slain gay man or lesbian resting six feet below.

We can look at foreign anti-gay violence and discrimination and blithely conclude, “It could not happen here.” However, the dehumanization of LGBT people, on a smaller scale, happens every single day in America.

It occurred last week when a thug shot and killed Mark Carson in Greenwich Village for being gay.

It happened when Edie Windsor was slammed with a $363,053 inheritance tax bill after her partner of 42 years, Thea Clara Spyer, passed away. (A straight surviving spouse would not have had to pay.)

We witnessed injustice in Columbus, Ohio, recently after a lesbian gym teacher at a Catholic school, Carla Hale, was fired after 18 years of service. She was terminated because her partner was mentioned in her mother’s newspaper obituary. We can see the vindictiveness today, as senators threaten to derail immigration reform if it includes gay couples — essentially ruining lives and tearing families apart for sport.

People can only perpetrate such vile deeds when they consider homosexuals to be inferior. In most of these cases, there is a sadistic joy of inflicting pain and punishment on LGBT individuals when they are already suffering — such as a parent or partner’s death.

Until religious leaders stop portraying the LGBT population as subhuman — we can expect more atrocities, whether in Tbilisi, Lagos, or Greenwich Village.

Wayne Besen is founding executive director of Truth Wins Out, a Vermont-based nonprofit organization that fights anti-gay religious extremism. He can be reached at WBesen@TruthWinsOut.org.

This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition May 24, 2013.

MARK STOKES  | Illustrator
mark@markdrawsfunny.com

Name at age: Marcus Evans, 27

Occupation: Customer service rep/menswear designer

Spotted: Whole Foods in Highland Park

Marcus Evans is a perfect mix of exotic beauty and classic handsome features. Born in Albuquerque, Marcus is part African-American, part Native American, and, as he likes to say, maybe a “sprinkle” of Asian. Marcus moved to Dallas at age 7 with his parents and brother, a move that “changed my life.”

Fashionista from an early age: When Marcus was 9, his mother bought him his first copy of GQ … and the rest was history. “I remember flipping through the ads and thinking to myself how much I wanted to live the lives of these men.” That’s when his interest in men’s fashion began, and became his destiny.

Currently studying fashion marketing in Downtown Dallas, Marcus was in class with his favorite fashion teacher, Marilyn Sullivan, when she said, “Why not start your own brands or businesses?” The notion hit him like a ton of bricks: “I was like that’s it, that’s what I was meant to do.”

Marcus is starting his first menswear label, Shade, out in time for the holiday season. He says he’s always loved men’s outerwear and sport coats, and will start with blazers and sport coats and will grow into a separate label of edgy and innovative outerwear.

Out and about: Coming out for Marcus wasn’t too bad according to him. “All through my life, I always knew that people knew, but nobody ever asked me, maybe because I was a 6-foot-1 black guy!” He never hid it and always had friends so he feels “very grateful and lucky. I told my mother officially when we were driving on the freeway. She said I had never been with a woman, and I told her that was true but I wanted to date guys for now, and she said, ‘I guess.’ I was sooooo glad it was over.”

Marcus’ philosophies: “Create the life you want live” and “Don’t be afraid to fail.” His favorite phrase, which always stuck with him: “If you want to be somebody, and you want to go somewhere, you better wake up and pay attention.”

This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition May 24, 2013.