DANCE, DANCE, DANCE: It’s the season of The Nutcracker, and North Texas does not want for productions to pick from. One of the more high-profile efforts comes from Texas Ballet Theater, running through Christmas Eve at Bass Hall. And to read the review, it sounds as if it’s worth the price of admission. “The company dancers are exceptionally good performers and technicians,” Cheryl Callon writes in her theaterjones.com review. “And [Ben] Stevenson’s choreography provides humor in the right places and dazzles the audience throughout.” Leonard Eureka was also impressed. “The strength of any company is the quality of the dancers, and over the last 10 years, Stevenson and his staff have cultivated a corps of young talent that is first rate,” he writes on fwweekly.com. Both reviewers gave extra props to Carolyn Judson, who dances the Sugar Plum Fairy.

BILL ENDURES: If you grew up around here in the 80s, you knew that there was one place to go to find music by new and under-the-radar bands: Bill’s Records and Tapes in North Dallas. Almost five years ago, Bill moved his store down to S. Lamar, and he’s still open – just barely. CW 33 explains how the store manages to stay open thanks to the Web.

PUTTING A FACE TO A VOICE: Ever wonder what the faces behind some of those voices you hear on NPR look like? I certainly did before I started working here. Artist Gaelan Kelly wondered the same thing. But instead of doing a Google image search, he decided he would illustrate them based on how he thought they looked. He talks to Jim Romenesko about his first batch and a follow up group he did in September. The Terry Gross is pretty right on, but his take on the Click and Clack brothers is inspired.