Hollywood in Cowtown

First-ever Reality Fest brings stars and secrets of reality TV to Fort Worth

Two of these former Real Housewives of Dallas stars will be speakers.

Facebook Real Housewives of Dallas

UPDATE 7-22-2022: Reality Fest has been postponed. In an e-mailed statement, organizers said, "We have decided to postpone the event as it is currently scheduled in September while we run the traps for the future. We apologize for the short-term inconvenience; however, we believe that the moves we’re making now will serve to launch our inaugural Reality Fest event to a much higher orbit in the future. That means better exposure for Reality Fest, which translates to a bigger impact for the kids for whom we’re all working in the first place." Those who have already purchased a ticket or sponsorship level for the September dates have been refunded in full. For more information, visit the website.

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There's never been a Real Housewives of Fort Worth or a Survivor: Fort Worth, but the city will be the center of the unscripted TV universe during the inaugural Reality Fest this fall.

Taking place September 17-18 at Arts Fort Worth (formerly the Fort Worth Community Arts Center), Reality Fest promises two days of events dedicated to all things unscripted. "Meet some of your favorite stars, get casting tips, learn what goes on behind the scenes of your beloved series, and have a chance to party with some of your favorite cast members," the organizers say on the website.

Proceeds will benefit the Lone Star Film Society's educational film camps for aspiring filmmakers.

Reality Fest is the creation of Tricia Jenkins — a Texas Christian University film and TV professor, Fort Worth Film Commission executive board chair, and Lone Star Film Society board member — and reality TV star Clint Robertson.

"Reality Fest is a new event that we are launching this year, and if it’s successful, we hope to run it every year in Fort Worth," Jenkins says.

The idea came last year, she says, when she taught a class on unscripted series and brought in Robertson as a guest speaker. Robertson, a TCU grad and DFW native, was a runner-up on NBC's The Apprentice and is the current host of HGTV’s Boise Boys and Outgrown.

"Over dinner, he mentioned how much he had wanted to start a 'reality con' where people could come meet their favorite unscripted personalities and learn what goes on from the production side, as well," she says. "Since I had experience programming events and knew a lot of local people who had been in unscripted series, we started brainstorming how to launch this."

The Fort Worth Film Commission hopped on board as co-producer of the event.

Although tickets have not yet gone on sale, the festival has a robust lineup of speakers and near-full schedule published on its website. Panelists will include popular stars of reality franchises like The Real Housewives of Dallas and Survivor, as well as hosts of HGTV shows and even an award-winning Fort Worth chef who's competed on Food Network.

Robertson will deliver the keynote and welcome to open the festival on September 17.

Panels and their participants so far include:

"The Reality of Home Improvement Shows" — Clint Robertson, host of Outgrown and Boise Boys (HGTV); Grace Mitchell, host of One of a Kind (HGTV); Andy Williams, host ofFlip or Flop Fort Worth (HGTV)
"Producing Unscripted Series" — Carolyn Bailey, CEO of Script & Screen, producer AMS Productions; Alan Farris, co-founder of Script & Screen
"Casting" — Jodi Wincheski, former casting director for Survivor and The Amazing Race; Riley Wincheski, psychological background checks for Survivor
"The Inner Circle" — Terilisha, Season 2, The Circle (Netflix); Lee Swift, Season 2, The Circle (Netflix)
"All Things Survivor" — Michaela Bradshaw, contestant on Survivor; Libby Vincek, contestant on Survivor; Danny McCray, contestant on Survivor
"Working with Your Celebrity" — D'Andra Simmons, cast of Real Housewives of Dallas; Elena Davies, contestant on Big Brother; Ashton Theiss, contestant on The Amazing Race
"The Real Housewives Franchise" — LeeAnne Locken, cast of RHOD; Kary Brittingham, cast of RHOD; Jeremy Nguyen, associate producer, RHOD and RHOSLC
"Up Close and Personal with Reality Chefs" — Fort Worth chef Juan Rodriguez, Iron Chef and Chopped

More speakers and seminars are being announced as the event nears. There will also be a cast member after party (ticketed separately), where attendees can mingle with cast and production professionals.

Two-day passes have just gone on sale; a $95 "early bird" deal is on until June 15, then the price goes up to $125. For more information, visit the event's website.

Two of these former Real Housewives of Dallas stars will be speakers.

Facebook/Real Housewives of Dallas

Two of these former Real Housewives of Dallas stars will be speakers.

real-housewives festivals

Way out West

Texas' Big Bend named one of the world's must-see destinations for 2023

Photo by Adan Guerrero on Unsplash

Big Bend made National Geographic's Best of the World 2023 list.

The pandemic took a toll on pretty much every industry, including travel. But some destinations suffered less than others: Big Bend National Park out in far west Texas became a hot spot for road trippers from Texas and beyond. To that end, National Geographic Travel included the vast natural wonder in its recent Best of the World 2023 list.

The annual list rounds up 25 global destinations "under the radar, ahead of the curve, and ready for you to start exploring," according to the article. National Geographic editors frame the list within five categories: Community, Nature, Culture, Family, and Adventure.

Big Bend landed in the Nature category, "5 wildly underrated natural escapes for 2023," and it's in good company: The list also includes the Azores, Botswana, Slovenia, and the Scottish Highlands.

According to a release, the list is themed around "travel destinations and experiences that leverage the benefits of tourism to strengthen their local communities, natural and built environments, and sense of place." Big Bend fits right into that criteria, attracting tourism to small-town communities near the park such as Marfa, Alpine, Presidio, Marathon, and Fort Davis, which all benefit from the influx of people passing through to Big Bend.

The park itself welcomed over 394,000 visitors in 2020, about 15 percent fewer than 2019. 2021 more than made up for that deficit, though: Big Bend welcomed a record 581,000 visitors as travelers continued to seek open spaces and natural wonders.

Apart from contributing to the local economy, the National Geographic article touts the park's locale in a "remote and arid part of west Texas," which "nurtures more cactus species than any other national park, as well as birds such as roadrunners and bright yellow Scott’s orioles, and mammals such as javelina."

So pack the car and plan your next trip out west, and don't forget some of our top tips for off-the-grid adventures in the area.

rankings vacation

Concert news

Billy Joel and Stevie Nicks join forces for iconic concert at AT&T Stadium

Billy Joel Facebook

Billy Joel comes to Arlington for the first time since 2019.

Music legends Billy Joel and Stevie Nicks will co-headline a special concert at AT&T Stadium on April 8, 2023, the first time the two have ever performed on the same stage in Texas.

Two of the most loved and universally respected entertainers of all time, Joel and Nicks are responsible for some of the most iconic music of the 20th century.

Joel had a run from the late '70s to the early '90s that is rivaled by few, with all eight of his albums during that time going multi-platinum. Songs like "Piano Man," "Just the Way You Are," "My Life," "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me," and "We Didn't Start the Fire" remain a big part of the American music lexicon.

Nicks accomplished something even more difficult, becoming a legend both as part of band and a solo singer. Her time with Fleetwood Mac yielded one of the best-selling albums of all time, Rumours, and classic songs like "Go Your Own Way," "Landslide," and more. She is the first woman to have been inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Joel last played in Dallas-Fort Worth in 2019, while this Nicks' first appearance in the area since 2016.

AT&T Stadium is on a roll with the big concerts, as it was just announced that Taylor Swift will play back-to-back concerts there a week prior to this concert. Additionally, they have big shows from Luke Combs and Ed Sheeran on their schedule in the coming months.

Tickets for the concert, announced November 2, will go on sale to the general public beginning on Friday, November 11, at 10 am at LiveNation.com or SeatGeek.com.

Billy Joel Facebook

Billy Joel comes to Arlington for the first time since 2019.

concerts music

String fever

Fort Worth music group promises rock 'n' roll experience with weeklong Beethoven extravaganza

Courtesy photo

Miro Quartet will play the Beethoven quartets.

In a first for Dallas-Fort Worth, the Chamber Music Society of Fort Worth will present all 16 of Ludwig van Beethoven's string quartets in a series called the Quartet Cycle.

The Miró Quartet, a classical string quartet based in Austin, will perform the Quartet Cycle with five concerts over seven days, November 7-13, at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. (The Miró knows the pieces well, as they've released a recording of them; listen here.)

Gary Levinson, CMSFW artistic director, says the Quartet Cycle will resemble a resume of Beethoven’s life’s work as a musician, composer, and pianist. Throughout the concert series, the quartets will be divided into three distinct areas of Beethoven’s career: his early work, the middle of his career, and his late work up until he died.

All 16 quartets are rarely performed together as part of one event, Levinson says. Although the Quartet Cycle has been performed internationally, it has never been performed in its entirety in the DFW area, he adds. Performing all 16 quartets is an “enormous emotional commitment” for the performing musicians, which makes it hard to produce often.

“The actual physics of performing it is not such a big deal, but to perform and connect with audiences at such a high level of music, which requires so much emotionally, is a huge deal,” says Levinson, the Dallas Symphony senior principal associate concertmaster and a renowned violinist who has played chamber music all his life.

The Beethoven super-event was originally planned for 2020, in celebration of Beethoven’s 250th anniversary. But due to the COVID-19 pandemic, CMSFW has had to postpone the event three times.

Levinson says it’s hard to say whether the delays will have significantly impacted the performances. A year or two’s worth of delays won’t make the Miró Quartet’s performance better or worse — it’ll just be different because they will have evolved and grown as people and musicians since 2020, he explains.

“It’s just going to be a different interpretation than if the event had happened in 2020,” Levinson says.

Levinson says part of what makes the Quartet Cycle so special for listeners is the ability to connect with the music and the musicians on an emotional journey each night. That’s what sets the series apart from even the greatest concerts, he says.

“In many ways, this is much less like a concert and much more like a journey — much more like almost an evolution for the group and for the listener,” Levinson says. “You won’t be the same afterwards.”

Although audiences should attend every concert if they can, those who can only come to one or two will still experience great music and a great time, he says.

The concert series will be almost like a mini music festival within the society’s fall schedule, Levinson says. In addition to the concerts, Bill McGlaughlin, host of the public radio program Exploring Music, will give a 45-minute lecture about all the quartets before performances. Levinson says all are welcome to attend the lectures but especially encourages those who are not familiar with chamber music to consider attending.

The Quartet Cycle promises to excite and entertain chamber music fans, and those who are not classical or chamber music aficionados can expect a “rock 'n' roll” experience, Levinson says, adding that those who have not attended this kind of event before may be “blown away” by the power and energy that a four-person classical music group can produce.

“If I was inviting someone who has never been to a chamber music concert, I would say, ‘Get ready for a really exciting experience,’” Levinson says. “And the kind of energy that you feel from your fellow audience members is second to none. It’s really like being at a sporting event.”

The performance schedule includes concerts at 7 pm on November 7, 9, 10, and 11 and at 2 pm on November 13. The evening concerts will be preceded by a pre-concert lecture at 6 pm, and the afternoon concert’s lecture will be held at 1 pm. Tickets are $35 per person.

More information is available at the Chamber Music Society of Fort Worth’s website.

music symphony concerts

Hollywood in Cowtown

First-ever Reality Fest brings stars and secrets of reality TV to Fort Worth

Two of these former Real Housewives of Dallas stars will be speakers.

These are the 12 best things to do in Fort Worth this weekend

These are the 7 best food and drink events in Fort Worth this week

Charming Hill Country destination named among most dynamic 'micropolitan' areas in U.S.

Way out West

Texas' Big Bend named one of the world's must-see destinations for 2023

These are the 12 best things to do in Fort Worth this weekend

These are the 7 best food and drink events in Fort Worth this week

Charming Hill Country destination named among most dynamic 'micropolitan' areas in U.S.

Concert news

Billy Joel and Stevie Nicks join forces for iconic concert at AT&T Stadium

These are the 12 best things to do in Fort Worth this weekend

These are the 7 best food and drink events in Fort Worth this week

Charming Hill Country destination named among most dynamic 'micropolitan' areas in U.S.

String fever

Fort Worth music group promises rock 'n' roll experience with weeklong Beethoven extravaganza

These are the 12 best things to do in Fort Worth this weekend

These are the 7 best food and drink events in Fort Worth this week

Charming Hill Country destination named among most dynamic 'micropolitan' areas in U.S.

Hollywood in Cowtown

Two of these former Real Housewives of Dallas stars will be speakers.

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Way out West

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Concert news

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String fever

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Get Fort Worth intel delivered daily.

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