DALLAS IDOL: You might have never heard of Erv Karwelis. But without him, you might also have never heard of Old 97’s, Black Tie Dynasty, Deathray Davies and a slew of other North Texas acts that call his Idol Records home. Karwelis runs the label out of his Lakewood home and the former Sony employ tells dallasnews.com, “I was already living music 24/7 with a company during some pretty exciting times. But for some reason it wasn’t enough. People couldn’t believe that I would take my free time and do more music-related stuff, especially spending my own personal money.”

A NEW ERA: The nomadic life of theater folks doesn’t usually lead to much moss gathering beneath their feet. So it’s pretty amazing that B.J. Cleveland has found a home with Theater Arlington for the last 26 years, the last 15 as artistic director. But with the elimination of that position, Cleveland finds himself a free agent again, a state he tells dfw.com is really an opportunity. But he’s not done with Theater Arlington just yet. Beginning Friday, he stars in the company’s staging of Harvey.

INSPIRATION POINT: The Fort Worth Star-Telegram recently asked its readers to pick the 10 most inspiring places to stand in North Texas. And it should come as no surprise the two of the top three spots were arts related. Coming in at No. 2 is the steps of the Amon Carter Museum. One spot below that is Richard Serra’s Vortex 2002 sculpture outside the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. The top spot on the list goes to the Japanese Garden at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden. We can argue about whether a botanical garden is an “arts spot,” but I can tell you it has inspired plenty of artists. Just look at our Flickr pool.