REMEMBERING MICHAEL JACKSON: As you’ve no doubt heard, the King of Pop is dead. And the news has been on everyone’s lips since Thursday afternoon. Fans gathered locally in churches and bars last night, reliving their memories of his music. The Dallas Morning News was kind enough to repost its reviews of his 1984 performance at Texas Stadium and his ’88 show at Reunion Arena. I was at both of those shows, and I mostly remember just the spectacle of it all. If you’ve got memories of those North Texas appearances, feel free to post a comment here.

BRINGING THE MURAL BACK: Count me among those who still miss the tunnel full of murals in Deep Ellum that was demolished to make room for the DART line coming to the area. But also count me among those who are happy to hear about the Deep Ellum Mural Project, which will bring some of that visual flair back to the neighborhood. Unfair Park has details about the project, including a 20-page .pdf that explains how it will all come together. In an unrelated note, props to Robert Wilonsky for being the only one of our local media sources that I could find who made note of Farrah Fawcett’s North Texas tie. She starred in the (otherwise forgettable) Robert Altman film Dr. T and the Women, in which she pranced around in the all together in the fountain outside the Dillards at NorthPark.

AN EYE-OPENING EXPERIENCE: The first couple of parts an actor auditions for and gets are huge moments in a young career. But its after rehersals get going that the real learning begins. SMU student Katharine Gentsch writes on theaterjones.com about her experience of performing in the chorus of Lyric Stage‘s lavish production of The King and I. From acting in the show, she says she’s learned that, “I would rather be a flower pot (or in this instance Dog #3) in a well-done production than repeatedly star in various mediocre ones.”