Year in Review

On the first day of 2008, we're confident in predicting that the rising Dallas Center for the Performing Arts will cause some real excitement this year as the buildings grow skin on their bones and organizations start announcing new executive staff and programming for the official 2009 opening.

What else? We asked our writers for their forecasts for the new year in arts and entertainment.

Without a doubt, the big event in the Dallas arts and entertainment world in 2008 will be the October arrival of the boy king, Tut. Art connoisseurs are not universally enamored of such a splashy exhibit, with some calling it a blatantly commercial attempt to use art as a tourist attraction. Even so, there's no question that it should bring enormous crowds, even if the Super Bowl-like projections for economic impact may be overstated. It remains a question of wait and see. As for the boy king himself, he's staying mum.

Michael Granberry

TV watchers are feeling the sting of the writers' strike, but moviegoers have had it easy thus far. That's all about to change if a settlement doesn't come soon.

The movie production schedule is a long, labyrinthine beast. Studios saw a strike coming and snapped up a backlog of screenplays, but rewrites are part of the process, and that pile isn't bottomless. Word is that this month's Sundance Film Festival will be one of the busiest in years, with studios out to nail finished films to release later in the year. They know this strike could be a long one. We could be seeing a glut of documentaries, some good, some quick and cheap, if the strike continues. Either that or the first of many Amazing Race movies. Can't wait.

Chris Vognar

CD sales' free fall – down more than 20 percent in 2007 from '06 – will slow considerably if not stop altogether in '08. Several factors point to this happening, including the increased prominence and distribution power of independent labels, still-strong CD sales in popular genres such as country, Latin and R&B, increased competition between digital-music players (particularly Apple's iPod and Microsoft's Zune), a burbling coup against digital music's poor sound quality, and more.

Mike Daniel

He was scolded by Oprah, chased into hiding and saw his publisher sued by readers. But James Frey is back, and now he's telling the truth – about fiction. His debut novel, Bright Shiny Morning, a multicharacter tale set in Los Angeles, lands in June and will give the haters and the lovers a chance to hash out for once, or for a time, his worth as a storyteller.

Harpo Productions

James Frey with Oprah Winfrey

John Freeman

Call me an optimist, but hip-hop is just now approaching middle age. Just like a 30-ish man or woman fearing mortality and grasping at relevance, hip-hop's publicized missteps will cause the culture to re-examine and reapply its original intent, to "edutain" and to be a voice for the ignored and disenfranchised. Meanwhile, R&B's revolution is just around the corner; 2008 will see the last (underground) become first (more mainstream). Angie Stone's earned her long overdue first Grammy nod, and Erykah Badu found her mojo again to lead the resurgence of neo-soul. Being catchy might grab the spotlight, but what endures is the essence and the intent of the music.

Lorrie Irby Jackson

The immediate effect of the writers' strike has been to delete politics from pop culture – no Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert or Saturday Night Live skits spoofing debate disasters or campaign pratfalls. But as the November election draws nigh, politics will be pop culture. Just look at Oprah Winfrey swooping in as Barack Obama's fairy godmother. Mike Huckabee's short on YouTube featuring Chuck Norris may have been a glimpse of things to come. If late-night TV isn't there to serve as a staging ground, the presidential candidates will just spread their own viral videos.

Tom Maurstad

All eyes and ears will be on Jaap van Zweden as he takes over the Dallas Symphony Orchestra as music director. That doesn't happen until September, but in three programs already the Dutch conductor has dramatically tightened the ensemble and cranked up the electricity. This could turn into the most exciting conductor-orchestra partnership in the country.

Scott Cantrell

Yuridia, the 21-year-old Latin pop songstress who launched her music career in 2005 after placing second on Mexico's La Academia, a Spanish-language knockoff of American Idol, could become a major player in the genre this year. The recent release of her third CD, the lovely Entre Mariposas, may very well expand on the success of her other stateside discs, 2005's La Voz de Un Angel and 2006's Habla el Corazón.

Courtesy

Yuridia

There's something genuinely pretty and gentle about Yuridia Francisca Gaxiola Flores, who was born in Mexico but grew up in Mesa, Ariz. She's also managed to release commercial songs, such as Spanish covers of Anglo hits by Bon Jovi, Bonnie Tyler and Roxette, without any of them sounding calculated. Let's keep an eye on her.

Mario Tarradell

In the coming weeks, Dallas Theater Center will announce its 2008-09 season, the first planned by new artistic director Kevin Moriarty. It will be our first real sign of the direction he plans to take our most important theatrical institution. A popular musical and some Shakespeare, both among his specialties, are good bets, and possibly a world premiere or two. By autumn we should get our first look at a show directed by Mr. Moriarty.

Lawson Taitte

Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush, collectively known as country duo Sugarland, sit at the threshold of a mainstream breakthrough. The pair is already quite successful, with a handful of top 10 country hits and a pair of double-platinum albums, Twice the Speed of Life and Enjoy the Ride. But the current single "Stay" is the slingshot they need to scale the mountain.

Brandon Thibodeaux/Special to DMN

Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush at Nokia Theater on Nov. 10.

The raw, emotional ballad showcasing Ms. Nettles' powerful voice had the industry buzzing after Sugarland performed it on November's Country Music Association Awards show. Taking the CMA duo prize from perennial winners Brooks & Dunn was another milestone. Performing with Beyoncé at the recent American Music Awards also got them precious pop culture exposure. Expect bigger numbers for the third CD, which is sure to arrive this year.

Mario Tarradell

We're not exactly holding our breath, but this could very well be the year a slew of long-overdue albums finally come out. AC/DC claims it's finally putting out its first new disc since 2000. Eminem is reportedly busy at work on his first CD in four years; ditto for Courtney Love, whose drug and legal problems have kept her sidelined since 2004. Michael Jackson recently told Ebony he's writing songs for his first studio CD since 2001. And Axl Rose is supposedly putting the final touches on Guns N' Roses' Chinese Democracy. Then again, we've been hearing that same story since roughly 1998.

Thor Christensen

Expect the boom in bottle service to sputter. In the last few years, club owners have devoted more and more of their square footage to the $300-and-up VIP treatment, at the expense of foot traffic and turnover. But as in any hot real estate market, there's bound to be a correction. Nightspots such as Tribeca, IV and Thoth are already competing with price discounts. Others will follow.

Mr. Dallas

Although 2008 will also bring new books by John Updike, Toni Morrison, Dave Eggers, Peter Carey, Thomas Friedman, Annie Proulx, Geraldine Brooks and Salman Rushdie, the year should be notable for who emerges from obscurity. Keep an eye on Joseph O'Neil's Netherland (Pantheon, June), a dreamy portrait of expatriate life in Manhattan; Charles Bock's novel about Las Vegas, Beautiful Children (Random House, January); and Elias Khoury's Yalo (Archipelago, January), the story of a young man growing up in Beirut during civil war.

John Freeman

The boundaries between rock, pop, dance and electronica will continue to fade in 2008. Why? More young prodigies will be exploring music-making at home, where computer programs and various bits of aural gadgetry can best be fiddled with. Combine that with the emerging generation's open-minded attitude toward electronic instrumentation and an increasing predilection toward uncategorizable, danceable pop, and you have a burgeoning movement that's just now gaining serious steam.

Mike Daniel