TALKING IT OUT: After months of talks, there doesn’t seem to be any solution yet to the Nasher Sculpture Center/Museum Tower issue. Maybe the Dallas Architecture Forum can help? It’s hosting a panel discussion at the Dallas Museum of Art called “Aesthetics and The City” on Sept. 8, moderated by KERA’s Krys Boyd. According to the news release, the discussion will tackle questions like: At what point should the built environment be held to a higher standard? Should the City itself be the arbiter of such criteria and if so, by what mechanism? Is an Arts District, or any other site of cultural import, a sensitive context requiring special legal protections or tools such as an Environmental Impact Statement? Arts District executive director Veletta Lill and architect Vel Hawes will serve on the panel.

MUSIC BITS: Justin Kipker of Dallas band Justin Kipker Show talks about how his band taps into rock’s dark side. (dallasnews.com) … Fort Worth’s Rockin’ the River concert series ends this week on a high note. (dfw.com) … Fort Worth’s Year of the Bear took the scenic route in becoming a shoegazing rock trio. (fwweekly.com)

MORE ON MARVIN: Yesterday, the news of Marvin Hamlisch’s death dominated the arts world. Everyone knows about all the awards, but Stephen Holden wonders why Hamlisch isn’t held in higher regard. “One reason may be that he embodied a kind of ultimate professionalism. Personal self-expression wasn’t at the top of his agenda,” he writes on nytimes.com. “Solving problems and doing solid work were more important.”