The Advocate pets issue is here. We chose bulldog Benito for the cover, and it’s no wonder, as he modeled several hats for us. But Harley Cozewith’s horse Chevy is the star of Advocate photographer Benjamin Hager’s video, below.

Chevy is a gorgeous horse, and Hager got some terrific shots of him. But Cozewith, who is director of operations at the Museum of Nature and Science, is a real character. She’s full of one-liners: “Mama shops at Target. Baby wears Prada,” she told us, regarding the $150 shoes her horse requires every three months.

Owning a horse is very, very expensive, but it is a passion for Cozewith, who first decided she wanted a pony at age 6. Incidentally, we featured two other horse people for this month’s cover story. Susan Yost, whose dog Loki is featured, keeps a horse in Waxahachie. And Laura Bruner, whose adorable boxers, Jake and Bella, make an appearance, rode horses competitively  from the time she was a little girl until she went away to college.

White Rock area residents Colleen and Eric Nelson are what you might call overachievers — outstanding reporters, dang good runners. It was just following a fall Dallas Running Club half marathon in 2008 that their lives changed. That’s when the driver of a red sedan plowed into a group of runners at Flag Pole Hill.

Eric Nelson, an editor at the Dallas Morning News was hurt the worst. Sunday night, WFAA ran an inspiring piece about the couple’s comeback, which includes a Pulitzer Prize, for Colleen, who also works at the News, and a plan to run The Rock this year.

Read the DMN stories here. 

If you’re lucky enough to get to a Cowboys game this season, you’ll hear the voice of a neighbor.

Sports reporter Roger Emrich of 105.3 The Fan is the new stadium announcer.

The Observer gives us Emrich’s bio:

“Emrich, who turns 55 today, got his start in the newspaper business, writing for the New Orleans Times-Picayune and in the U.S. Armed Forces in Crete, Greece. He graduated from Loyola, New Orleans and worked at KDNT in Denton and the Texas State Network in Austin before joining KRLD 1080 AM in ’93.”

Emrich, who lives east of White Rock Lake with his wife, Chris, replaces Jody Dean as stadium announcer. The Cowboys also will employ an in-game emcee, Armen Williams, who is a drive-time host on The Fan.

Sol Villasana is a lawyer who lives in Lakewood, and he grew up in the Little Mexico neighborhood. He recently published a book, Images of America Dallas’s Little Mexico from Arcadia Publishing.

Krys Boyd of KERA’s “Think” interviewed Villasana about the book this week. It’s interesting stuff about the history of downtown and what is now Uptown and Victory Park from the perspective of Mexican Americans. KERA’s studios are in the former Little Mexico neighborhood, and it’s a neighborhood whose history has been somewhat neglected.

Listen to the interview here. The book is widely available, including on Amazon.

News Monday that Travel Channel host and best-selling author Anthony Bourdain will stop in Dallas this October made my heart beat a little faster. Bourdain, who is executive chef at Brasserie Les Halles in NYC, is the kind of no-nonsense guy that makes TV great.

I have to admit, I’ve thought about this. Like when there’s nothing to read in the doctor’s waiting room: Where would I take Tony Bourdain (I call him Tony in daydreams) if he was filming in the neighborhood?

First, he should hook up with someone very cool and very East Dallas, like Tim DeLaughter. But where should they eat in the ‘hood? Hmm. Louie’s is one of my favorite restaurants, but the guy lives in New York City. The best pizza in Dallas is unlikely to impress him. Maybe they should stick to taquerías. Start with Good 2 Go Taco and move to Taquería Pedritos No. 1. Should he also try the Stodg Burger at The Porch? Tei-Tei Robata Bar? Whataburger?

Unfortunately, Bourdain won’t be filming a segment of his show “No Reservations” in Dallas. The only show he’s done in Texas that I know of is the one about the Texas/Mexico border. He’s coming for a talk at the Majestic Theater Oct. 27. Tickets are $30-$165.

But who do you think Bourdain should meet, and where should he eat?

Not as pretty as a Picasso painting.

Earlier this week, the whole Advocatemag.com operation switched web hosts to accommodate higher traffic volume and improve website performance. While nobody is saying progress should be easy, we’ve experienced more problems than expected.

The worst is that some of your comments have disappeared, derailing online conversations on certain blog posts and July stories. Only a few minutes’ worth of content disturbance was expected. Instead we experienced almost 24 hours’ worth.

Besides comments disappearing, other problems you might have noticed this week include email issues (if you tried to email one of us here and didn’t get a reply, please try again!), the website going offline, and certain web pages jumbling themselves into bizarre Picasso-like arrangements.

We’re really sorry for these inconveniences. But we’re even more sorry about losing any of your comments, and not only because you took the time to share your thoughts. Engaging with you online is one the highlights of our workday.

We hope that this particular issue won’t be happening again, and we’re currently working with the hosting company to straighten out our other remaining problems.

Thank you for your patience! Please feel free to email me with any questions.

Soon after the FBI started searching Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price’s office, vehicles and Oak Cliff home Monday, the Dallas media started searching for the reason why.

Price’s district includes part of Old East Dallas. He is not just one of the most powerful men in Dallas, he is also perhaps the most polarizing. He’s loved, and he’s hated. No one in the know doesn’t have an opinion about him. Eventually, it will all come out, and we will have answers when the FBI is ready. But eventually is not soon enough for the curious. So here are the media’s best guesses as to why the FBI is investigating Price.

1. The cars: JWP procured several cars that had once belonged to inmates of the Dallas County Jail. And he got title to them through what some describe as “secret hearings”. This was the media’s first guess, which was based on a 2009 report from WFAA. And the FBI did search and photograph all of JWP’s many cars, including a $130,000 Bentley (Price’s salary as a county commissioner is $130,000).

2. The land: The Dallas Morning News today reported that JWP bought two parcels of land on Marsalis near Zang from a lawyer, Bill Knox, who is one of the city’s most prolific bail bondsmen. That’s fishy, according to a DMN source, because Price serves on a board that regulates the county’s bail bond industry. But Price paid Knox $80,000 for the two parcels, which are appraised for tax purposes at $22,500 and $23,700. Could be something, and it’s always interesting to know who owns what real estate, but the transaction doesn’t seem that smelly to me. It is intriguing that Price evidently did not take out a loan to buy the parcels.

3. The art store: The FBI also was snooping around Southside on Lamar Monday, looking for the woman who owns an art shop there, according to WFAA. According to campaign finance records, JWP spent almost $46,000 of his campaign donations at the store, which a friend of his owns. Reporter Brett Shipp also questions why Price’s campaign spend $28,000 on vehicle repairs in four years.

4. KwanzaaFest: Price puts on this popular nonprofit celebration every year. And a 2009 tax return for KwanzaaFest shows the event took in more than $1,047,000. It itemizes $33,829 as “advertising and promotion”, but there is no explanation for $930,000, which is listed as “other expenses”. NBC DFW reports that a federal grand jury requested KwanzaaFest’s financial records.

Whatever the feds are after, “It won’t be something stupid or corny like you’d see on a TV show,” says the Observer’s Jim Schutze, who I think has the best analysis of the whole thing so far.

When we interviewed Lakewood resident Daniel Vaughn, the blogger behind Fullcustomgospelbarbecue.com, last year, he told us Franklin Barbecue in Austin has the best brisket he’s ever tasted.

Since he first reviewed the place in January 2010, Vaughn has touted the greatness of Franklin far and wide. And it didn’t go unnoticed.

After Vaughn reviewed Franklin, the Dallas Morning News put the restaurant on its front page. A restaurant reviewer in San Francisco named it the best brisket he’d “ever encountered”.

And now Bon Appetit is calling Franklin the best barbecue in America.

Vaughn calls himself a “prophet of smoked meat”. Listen to him. The guy knows what he’s talking about. Vaughn makes his living as an architect, but he is passionate about food. He is not just a barbecue aficionado, he is an all-around foodie. For evidence, check out his most recent blog entry, about meat jams.

And next time you’re searching for good barbecue anywhere, check with the prophet first.

Jennie Kelley lives in Deep Ellum, and she runs a catering company called The Perfect Last Bite. She’s a chorus member of The Polyphonic Spree, and she’s one of 38 contestants on Gordon Ramsay’s Fox TV show, “MasterChef”.

Check out Kelley’s blog, The Perfect Last Bite. It contains lots of great-looking recipes and pictures.

Good Records is hosting a watching party tonight, Tuesday, June 14, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. There will be free beer and food from The Perfect Last Bite.

“MasterChef” is a competition between amateur chefs who will vie for the “life-changing grand prize”, which is $250,000. In this interview with the Dallas Observer, Kelley says she is a self-taught cook.

Scan this QR code for a mobile Google map of the eateries we list in our June cover story.

We sure got hungry putting together our June issue, which is all about scrumptious places to eat in the neighborhood. Check out our cover story, which includes lists of breakfast bets, Bryan Street eateries, posh tacos and tacos authenticos, patio dining, places that stay open late and Lakewood/East Dallas classics. In the story we also include a link to a Google map of the restaurants, diners and taco stands that we list.

Would you like to take the restaurant map out with you instead? 1. Download a QR code scanner application on your smartphone, 2. launch the app, then 3. aim your smartphone’s camera at the QR code on the right.

Want more? Click here for tons of other June stories from our neighborhood. Our video gallery includes four vids from this issue, too, about the organic diner Buzzbrews, home-brewing beer, the cocktails at Victor Tango’s and Munger Place’s Kate Miner singing her song “Hung the Moon”.