BACK IN THE DAY: While flipping through the December issue of Esquire, I came across an excerpt from Alex Lemon’s new memoir, Happy. Lemon is a professor in the English Department at TCU, and judging from the passage in the magazine, the book should be required reading for his rowdier students. Lemon was a legendary drinker and general carouser in his college days. It’s impossible to say if all that partying lead to the stroke he confused for a massive hangover. Either way, his recollection of the times is vivid: “The bedsprings shriek when I slide off the mattress, and planting my feet in a heap of clothes, I rise for a second and then go facedown. I gnarl the insides of my cheeks and bite my tongue. Rolling to my back, I gulp the blood down so I don’t choke.” Yikes. You can learn more about Lemon on his Web site.

SILLY FOR THE HOLIDAYS: For anglophiles who have seen A Christmas Carol a dozen times but still crave a holiday show, consider Theatre Britain’s Puss in Boots. The show is a traditional British panto, which involves all sorts of silliness, including men playing women and audience participation. The story of the show is too involved to break down here, but just know that it dates to the 17th century and involves cats trying to turn the fates of humans. “Executive producer Sue Roberts-Birch moves Jackie Mellor-Guin’s witty new script along brightly, weaving merrily from double entendres to puns, gags and Shrek jokes,” writes Nancy Churnin in her dallasnews.com review. “As a show geared for frivolity and laughs, Puss in Boots delivers both,” writes Mark Lowry on theaterjones.com.

MUSIC BITS: Local acts Dorrough, THe BAcksliders and A Bird A Sparrow have each released holiday songs. (DC 9 at Night) … Hunter Hauk has the intel on “Deep Ellum 25 Year Reunion,” a concert put on by local music mainstays Russell Hobbs and Jeff Liles. (quickdfw.com) … Pegasus News digs deeper into the dustup between the Dallas-Fort Worth Professional Musicians Association and the Texas Ballet Theater over the use of recorded music during The Nutcracker (pegasusnews.com).