We admit: The audio on this thing is truly awful. And we introduced the podcast with a song. It’s supposed to be funny, but we have a weird sense of humor. We had fun with the podcasts in those days, because we were pretty sure that none of you listened.

Read Rev. Monie’s thoughts about the Advent Conspiracy, which aims to make Christmas less commercial and frenzied, and listen to our podcast with him about why his church has joined the movement.

If the demands of the holiday season already are causing heart palpitations, take a few minutes this week to read the Rev. Blair Monie’s worship column in the December Advocate (which should be delivered to your doorstep starting this weekend). It focuses on the Advent Conspiracy movement, in which Monie’s congregation, Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church, is participating.

Coincidentally, the Rev. George Mason, who pastors Wilshire Baptist Church and writes a worship column for the Advocate in other neighborhoods, also chose Advent Conspiracy as his December column topic. For this week’s podcast, we brought the two pastors together to discuss why they decided to join the conspiracy, and what that looks like for their churches.

“If we could simply accomplish one thing, that is that loving each other at Christmas is not synonymous with spending,” Monie says during the podcast.

The Christian season of Advent begins this coming Sunday, Nov. 27. Preston Hollow Presbyterian will host an Advent Conspiracy adult study on Wednesday, Nov. 30, 6:30-8:30 p.m.

Listen to the 10-minute interview below.

If you flipped through the print version of November’s magazine, you probably noticed that it looks, well, different. The section designs and fonts are updated, with the goal of giving readers more information while simultaneously giving the stories more room to breathe. Also, we’re hoping you saw quite a few invitations to visit our website. (Perhaps that’s how you ended up here.)

The last time we changed the look of the magazine was four and a half years ago, and much has changed since then — namely that we now have this robust, dynamic website with new stories, photos and videos added daily. If you’re reading only the print version of Advocate, you’re getting only a small portion of our neighborhood’s news. So we hope the more obvious, more colorful and more frequent mentions of website content will remind you to add us to your blog feeder, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, subscribe to our weekly newsletter or even make us your home page.

With our new apps, You can also peruse our redesigned magazine on your mobile device, whether iPhone, iPad or Android. (For the best user experience, make sure to download the entire magazine before viewing.)

Is there still room for improvement? Definitely, and we hope you’ll give us feedback on what you see in the magazine and what else you’d like to see. Email us or comment below.

For those of you interested in things like font choices and specific section approaches, listen to this special podcast with art director Julianne Rice and Far North Dallas editor Emily Toman, who were the driving forces behind the Advocate print magazine redesign. After the jump, we’ve excerpted a few of the highlights and provided the full audio version, which lasts roughly six minutes: (more…)

In their first public debate Thursday night at Temple Shalom, District 12 city council candidates Sandy Greyson and Donna Starnes made their cases to residents but also took the opportunity to debunk some of the statements made against each other over the course of the campaign. Both accuse one another of misleading voters.

If you missed the debate, probably gearing up to cheer on the Mavs in Game 5, you can stream the full 50-minute debate here.

Moderator Ken Benson of the Dallas Breakfast Group kept the event on a strict time schedule to adjourn by 8 p.m., and I’ve never seen people file out of a room so quickly. Finding voters to interview was like trying to catch flies.

No doubt, there are staunch supporters on both sides. As the June 18 Election Day approaches, we’ll be hearing from some undecided voters about which issues are keeping them on the fence.

Here’s a breakdown of last night’s discussion, following the candidates’ opening statements. You can tune in at the minute markers if you don’t have time to listen to the full audio.

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With all the buzz about the Royal Wedding coming up this week, Advocate intern Emma Tiedemann brings us this claim-to-fame story about JJ Pearce English teacher Sarah Beaudrie who had a starstruck encounter with Prince William while studying abroad.

How many other local folks can say they got that close to royalty? To get the full scoop, listen to Tiedemann’s audio interview with Beaudrie.

• JJ Pearce teacher on touching Prince William

JJ Pearce senior Charlotte Ford wrote and directed an original play titled, “Six Degrees”, based on the idea that there are six degrees of separation between everyone on earth. It premieres at 7:30 tonight in the Black Box Theater at Pearce and shows again at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

Advocate intern Emma Tiedemann sat down with Ford to talk about the story behind the play and how she brought to the Pearce stage. Click on the link below to listen to the interview.

• Advocate interview with Charlotte Ford

You may have already seen crews out working on the first stages of the LBJ Express, a multi0-billion-dollar project that will transform 17 miles of congested roadway. Neighbors had some questions answered at a recent town-hall meeting, but many details remain to be seen.

Far North Dallas Advocate columnist Sandy Greyson and I sat down with two of the key players in the project, which will affect the daily commutes of Preston Hollow residents. Andy Rittler is with LBJ Infrastructure and Jack Antebi is the mobility coordinator for the Texas Transportation Institute. Greyson wrote about the project about one year ago when plans to finally break ground were announced.

In this podcast, you can learn about how we got to this stage – after 20-plus years of planning, how crews are dealing with the harsh winter weather and what neighbors and property owners can expect during the first couple of phases. And, yes, that includes cutting down some trees.

Rittler addressed some of those concerns, citing the many ways to stay informed about the project – through its website, through social media and a good old-fashioned hotline, 877.525.3979. There, you can find out exactly when your streets will be affected by construction.

You can listen to the podcast here.

Advocate columnist Sandy Greyson and I sat down with a few long-time neighborhood residents who are heavily involved in keeping our Preston Ridge Trail beautiful. Cori Pratt, president of the Friends of the Preston Ridge Trail, and Rod Scales, VP of Design, talked about the possibility of existing trees having to be removed by Oncor between Hillcrest and Meandering Way, pending new planting guidelines being negotiated between Oncor and the City of Dallas.

You can listen to the podcast here.

We also discussed the Friends’ new fundraising initiative to involve not just individual donors but surrounding HOAs, reaching out to the people who use the trail every day. Go here to learn more about how to get involved.

Keep checking the blog for updates on the tree planting guidelines, which the city and Oncor hope to finalize by the spring. Catherine Cuellar, who handles public relations for Oncor, said there are two issues involved in the putting together the new guidelines: 1) Setting standards for what can and can’t be planted and 2) addressing existing vegetation that could interfere with power lines. She said no final decision will be made without input from neighbors.

Bill Bragg gives Big Tex his voice

Our guest for this week’s Advocate Radio interview podcast is Bill Bragg. Never heard of him? Possibly. But if you live in Texas, you’ve undoubtedly heard his voice. His most famous character? The State Fair’s Big Tex!

Advocate editors are obviously in awe of Bragg's gigantic hat

Bragg shares inside info about his State Fair gig and his radio project Yesterday USA Radio. He talks about various ways one can put booming vocals to work, and shows off what is possibly the world’s largest belt buckle.

LISTEN HERE: Bill Bragg aka Big Tex Interview.

Bragg sports Texas' biggest belt buckle

This week’s Music Monday features Trey Johnson, the subject of an Advocate Q&A last year. Johnson’s new album “Where the East Ends” contains an eclectic musical mix featuring band members James Driscoll, Rich Martin and Don Cento, plus appearances from a number of their contemporaries. Two faves,  “Salt of the Earth and “Rain”, are on the podcast; you can hear the rest if the album here.

Celebrated chef Dean Fearing is known for his culinary art, but he’s got a little side project — it’s The Barbwires, known for their country-rock stylings. The Barbwires’ latest album is Bliss and Blisters, which has been called sophisticated … with echoes of Buffalo Springfield, Poco, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Beatles, and the Grateful Dead.

LISTEN HERE: 9.7 music monday

It’s Monday and that means local music on Advocate Radio. Today we have some good stuff:

I have a song off the new record from Jackopierce, whose Cary Pierce is the subject of the Advocate’s “Conversation Piece” in the East Dallas and Lake Highlands September editions. Pierce will be teaching choir this semester at St. John’s Episcopal.

During our interview, Pierce introduced us to a couple of students he met while teaching a songwriting class at Booker T. Washington High School. He’s producing an album for one of them, Tiger Darrow. You can listen to her single, “Only a Year”, on today’s podcast, and another former student Joshua Golberg’s first release, “Fly”.

Finally, I’ve got an cool country ditty from Chris Knight, not a local, but he’s playing at the Granada Aug. 28, so have a listen, and if you like, getcha tickets here.

If you have a song for Music Monday at the Advocate, send the track to chughes@advocatemag.com.

LISTEN HERE: 8.22 Music Monday