Pop Cultural District

What popular board game will become a TV pursuit?

The answer's here, as is information on where you can audition this weekend (hint: make sure you have a full tank if you live in Tarrant).

--Robert Philpot

PlayRadioPlay! is off the Island

Well, that was quick: Aledo's Daniel Hunter, who performs as PlayRadioPlay!, severed ties with Island Records and the Universal Music Group, according to a June 27 posting on his MySpace page. The label just released his full-length debut, Texas, in mid-March. The words "sluggish," "outdated" and "flawed" pop up in his lengthy explanation of the divorce, so suffice to say that Hunter isn't sad to be leaving the world of major labels. I'm speaking with Hunter tomorrow and I'm working to get comment from the label, but in that MySpace blog post, Hunter alludes to a slew of new projects popping up during the rest of 2008. "I'm going to be giving you so much new music, you're not going to know what hit you," writes Hunter.

--Preston Jones

'FNL' star gets a dope new gig

Dallas-born, Texas-raised Jesse Plemons -- one of the handful of true Texans on Friday Night Lights -- will play a pot dealer in an upcoming Kevin Spacey movie, TVGuide.com reports.

--Robert Philpot

So you think you can scream

The Los Angeles Times profiled overbearing So You Think You Can Dance judge Mary Murphy this weekend (first question I would have asked: "Mary, do you realize that microphones and sound equipment amplify your voice?"). Murphy makes a good case that she is not, as I sometimes suspect, clinically insane (to be fair, Murphy is a much tougher judge than American Idol's Paula Abdul). And she gives props to Fort Worth's Joshua Allen and his partner Katee Shean, who are currently looking they're going to be around for several weeks of this competition. (Photo: Kelsey McNeal/FOX )

--Robert Philpot

Tammy loves Sammi

Tammy Dombeck, Channel 5's "Gridlock Buster," saw Hip Pocket Theatre's production of Cootie Pancake, in which there is a character inspired by her, Sammi Zoomdeck. Read Tammy's blog here.

-- Mark Lowry

Emmy spying

I have mixed emotions about posting this, because it's early spoilers like these that have taken much of the fun out of awards shows (not that the Emmys were all that much fun to begin wtih), but here goes: Awards site extraordinaire The Envelope has some reports about how judging went this weekend for comedy and drama series. And while I won't spoil anything for people who don't click the links, I will say that the intro on the drama link illustrates a sad truth about the Emmy awards.

--Robert Philpot

Arrested Development movie may really be on

That's according to Jeffrey Tambor. Consider the source, though. His character, the Bluth patriarch, did commit "light treason." Read about it here.

-- Heather Svokos

Re: Mourning the Texas Twister

I've been listening to Platinum 96.7, which replaced the Texas Twister this morning, off and on since about 6:20 a.m. Still making my mind up about it (they just played Twisting the Night Away -- ironic, huh?). In a way, it does remind me of Memories 96.7, which preceded the Texas Twister -- and a lot of people were upset when Memories went away, especially because Memories, while low-rated, was fairly unique in this market as a soft-oldies station. Some of the stuff I'm hearing sounds a little bit more upbeat than I remember Memories, but that was a long time ago, so I can't recall if Memories actually played Stayin' Alive or Johnny Rivers' Mountain of Love.

If you go here and click around the time function, you'll get an idea of Platinum's mix, which combines some familiar stuff with things I haven't heard in a while (on the radio, anyway -- my iPod still has better oldies playlists). Curious about how well this will work with a transmitter location that has always had issues and with a playlist with both eyes on an older demographic the media is increasingly forgetting about.

KSCS, Platinum's sibling station, has been wrapping some Texas music into its playlist and giving it a lot of attention between 10 p.m. and midnight. But for Texas-music fans, the switch is a bit of a drag -- things were shaping up for a good Texas-music battle between the Twister and Fort Worth's the Ranch. Now it's not gonna happen.

--Robert Philpot

Mourning the Texas Twister

Today is a sad day for me. Robert's been blogging for weeks now about the coming demise of the Texas Twister, but I've been mostly pretending like it's not actually going to happen because I. Love. The Twister. (Not that I don't have love for KSCS, The Wolf and The Ranch, too. But they're not turning into oldies stations.)

The Twister has really hit it's stride in recent months, mixing together Texas favorites like Cross Canadian Ragweed, Jeremy McComb and Miranda Lambert with more mainstream acts that were, thank God, not Rascal Flatts or Keith Urban. And it kept the Carrie Underwood to a minimum. I often discovered new acts I really dug by listening to the Twister. That's not true of many radio stations.

I know there are great country stations in this town still. That's one of the things I love about it. But today, there's one less. I think I'll spin some Luke Bryan in the Twister's honor.

- Erin White

Tim McGraw to the rescue

During a recent rendition of his early hit Indian Outlaw, McGraw went into full-on protector mode when he saw an overzealous male fan engage in some inappropriate behavior with a female fan. It's not clear from the video exactly what the man did to grab McGraw eye's, but you can see McGraw visibly react to something. He then grabbed a the man, yanked him onto the stage and had security escort him out. McGraw and his wife Faith Hill, who saucily told off a women earlier this year for trying to fondle her man, are keeping YouTube in business.

It's hard to tell if McGraw is prepping to punch the man, or if he's trying to keep the guy from laying into one of the security guards. So much for velvet hands, eh?

Judge for yourself. Here's the video.

- Erin White