| Larry Powell: Y2K doesn't compare with a busy January '01 01/31/2001 By / The Dallas Morning News Good morning, calendar watchers. Are we not stunned to discover that we are at the end of January in Y2K-Plus One?
It seems like only yesterday that we were quaking in our computer boots over plain ol' Y2K. And now, we've breezed well into 2001 and exhausted the month of January.
When you consider all that went on in January (escapees, inauguration, etc.) "exhausted" might be the right word. Now, let's pursue other topics:
• TUNE UP – My former theater colleague Jimmy Dusenberry is involved in a musical project these days. (Aside: We once assayed roles in George Kaufman's You Can't Take It With You and now neither of us gets paid to act for a living so that'll give you a hint about our level of competency. I was a Russian ballet teacher and Jimmy played a xylophone. It was a comedy – intentionally. Honest. Ah, theater!)
Anyway, Jimmy has moved on to work with folk music and reports that the Gloria Dei Nights Coffee Haus will open Saturday night at the Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, 1333 Beltline Road in Garland. The sponsors of the family-oriented folk music show are the church and the Dallas Folk Music Society. A donation of $3 will get you into the 7 p.m. show. (Call 972-530-8555 or e-mail .)
Headlining the show are singer-songwriters Charlie King and Karen Brandow with Dallas legend Lu Mitchell.
Lu, of course, has penned many folk tunes, including "Central Expressway Lament." Jimmy cites "Mary Stuffed Her Boss Into the Paper Shredder," a title which, to me, sounds as if it could have been the theme song to Survivor.
• CHARITY BEGINS AT THE PHONE – This is rich. A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that Dallas Can! Academy social studies teacher Bennie Perry and a dozen students were raising money for a two-day trip to Washington.
The phones didn't ring off the wall. Why? Because, says Dallas Can! spokeswoman Kim Jenkins, the day the item appeared, the phones went out. I'm sure some of you good-hearted readers tried to call and help but just couldn't get an answer. Now, the phones are working, Kim says. (Call 214-943-2244, ext. 386.)
The plan, teacher Perry says, is to make sure the youngsters see the historic sites that they've been studying – the White House, the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963. The students have raised about $1,300 toward their $3,500 goal. Perhaps some corporate type with "soft money" left over from the recent political campaign can pony up some dough. Such a gift might not result in a presidential pardon down the line. But who knows how far it'll get you when "the roll is called up yonder?" Can I get an "amen"?
CHARITY BEGINS AT THE TOP – In November, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban vowed to match each of his NBA fines with a charitable donation. Assuming he didn't pick up any new paperwork in the past 24 hours, so far he has been fined around $395,000. That money, we're told, goes to NBA-backed charities. Mr. Cuban then gives his matching cash to such groups as the North Texas Food Bank ($20,000) and a prostate cancer research foundation ($250,000).
If you run a financially strapped nonprofit agency, maybe the thing to do is to send staffers to a Mavs game, bait Mr. Cuban into ticking off the NBA and, as he's escorted to the locker room, hand him some business cards. Everybody wins.
Larry Powell can be reached at 214-977-8487; P.O. Box 655237, Dallas, TX 75265, fax 214-977-8319 or at .
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