It’s amazing what a little tequila can do for one’s creativity. And even more incredible what a lot of tequila can accomplish.

A couple months ago, we encouraged you to enter the Art of Patrón contest where tequila bottles are transformed into works of art and a possible $10,000 prize.

So in honor of this long holiday weekend, where much tequila will be consumed, we thought we’d share with you the 25 semi-finalists to give you inspiration for what to do with your empty bottles after all those pool parties you’ll be attending, throwing and/or crashing.

In the voting gallery, you’ll find Patrón bottles turned into everything from Menoras and bird feeders to camcorders and dancing robots.

And just so there’s something truly useful to get you through the weekend, we’ve included a recipe for a revamp of the classic Mojito that’ll make you wonder why we stopped drinking these seven years ago. Light, refreshing and delicious, it’s summer in a glass.

Happy Memorial Day!

www.patronsocialclub.com

Patrón Mojito

Ingredients

• Patrón Silver, 1 -1/2 oz
• 1 cut lime
• simple syrup, 1 oz
• club soda
• fresh mint leaves, 6-8
• lime wedge for garnish

Method

In a tall glass, muddle mint leaves, lime, and simple syrup. Add a cup of ice and Patrón Silver, and top with club soda. Stir gently. Garnish with a lime wedge.

Who’s ready for $3 three-ways in celebration of the three-day weekend? We know we are, and that’s why we’re headed to BJ’s NXS tonight to start things off with a bang (sadly, just a metaphorical one).

Tonight, happy hour from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. features three ways to get drinks for $3. Well drinks, domestic beers and Smirnoff Sorbet Light specialty cocktails made with the new line of reduced-calorie flavored vodkas are all on special. And all served in the shadows of male dancers galore.

Once happy hour ends, we’ll have a full hour to find ways to get dirty. Because at 9:00 p.m., the Squeaky Clean Foam Party lathers up on the patio and we’re not ones to waste the opportunity for a free public sudsing.

It’s been years since we’ve even seen a foam party, so we’re pretty excited to have the chance once again to dance and roll around in some thick, rich bubbles.

And hopefully meet a thick, rich man in the process.

BJ’s NXS Happy Hour & Foam Party
Tonight, 4:00-8:00 p.m. (happy hour); 9:00 p.m. Foam Party
www.bjsnxs.com

Gay List Daily Giveaways:

The generous folks at AT&T Performing Arts Center have given Gay List Daily tickets to giveaway to our loyal subscribers! Go to our giveaways page and enter in to win tickets to see Deepak Chopra, Cesar Millan and Ira Glass on three different nights!

There’s a new televised reality competition premiering today.

WAIT! Don’t stop reading. This one’s pretty cool. And very, very sweet.

Ditching the glitz, glamour and high production value of network TV’s biggest talent searches, Showville is purposefully thinking small. As in small town.

Each week, judges Alec Mapa and Lisette Bustamante (above) land in a tiny burg and audition local talent. From there, they choose four finalists and their roles transition into mentors for the acts, which are then voted upon by a live audience comprised of the town’s citizens.

For many of these tiny places, it could be their first brush with Hollywood, small fortune ($10,000) and a flamboyant gay man (yes, Mapa, we’re talkin’ to you).

In the premiere episode, set in Holland, Michigan, acts vary from sideshows and magic acts to puppeteers and Renaissance Faire singers. It’s got a definite Waiting for Guffman vibe of good old-fashioned Americana. The town folk definitely appear thrilled to have this opportunity thrust upon them.

Future episodes feature the citizens of Kingston, Rhode Island; Walla Walla, Washington; Athens, Ohio; San Marcos, Texas; Fairfield, Iowa; Hugo, Oklahoma and Mt. Airy, North Carolina. So it’s quite possible a long-lost cousin or long-distance booty caller might just pop up on your TV screen.

Singing the national anthem while unicycling through hoops of fire.

Showville
Premieres tonight on AMC
9:00/8:00 p.m. Central
www.amctv.com/shows/showville

This Sunday is one of the best brunch days of the year.

Because most of us have Monday off, that means we can ramp up our mimosa intake from our conservative six to somewhere in the neighborhood of 217. And even though TABC is ruining our buzz by cracking down on bottomless cocktails, DISH serves up a nice big 12-ounce mimosa for a mere $5, so that’s a nice value-size compromise.

But it’s the food we sampled on a recent visit that made us remember that DISH has one of the tastiest brunches in town. Truly, absolutely delicious.

Their signature scramble skillets are so killer, we’d almost recommend that you stop looking at the other sections of the menu. The Texas skillet with short ribs, eggs and chili hollandaise (above) is the perfect brunch entree, seamlessly incorporating a little bit of lunchy stuff with just the right amount of breakfast.

Of course, there are other huge hits, too. Chicken and waffles goes sophisticated with a boneless, bacon-fried chicken breast that makes it much easier to get a bit of sweet and savory in every bite without fiddling with bones. (And trust us, we’re some expert bone fiddlers.) Breakfast tacos are also excellent as is the sunny side up flatbread, both great for sharing.

Best of all, this Sunday (and every last Sunday of the month) is DISH’s famous drag brunch, where you’ve got the eggs and the ladies have the sausage. (Reservations strongly recommended.)

So discover DISH all over again in the daylight. You’re gonna like what you see.

Especially through your mimosa goggles.

DISH
4123 Cedar Springs Road, at ilume
www.dish-dallas.com

Microsoft’s Xbox One has everyone buzzing because it’s not just for gamers anymore, it’s for all of us! Check out how the Xbox One turns your entertainment room into a smart TV with voice commands, Skype Video Chat, live TV and more! Plus, a new Pew Research Poll tells us what teens are doing online. Details inside.

Xbox One Announcement – Makes TV Cool Again
As we accurately informed you in our last Moxie Mo Show #290 episode, the new Xbox has everybody talking and this new console is not only for gamers, but for anyone who loves entertainment: live TV, movies, music and revolutionary motion-control and voice command controls! Check out how the Xbox One plans to change your TV and how the future has finally arrived.

Pew Research Survey: What Teens Do Online
Pew Research has released a new survey today detailing what teenagers are doing online. No surprise, Facebook and Instagram come to mind, but you may be surprised on what teens think about Facebook and what information they share publicly. Details inside. Check out the entire Pew Research Poll here.

Unconventional marriages have gotten out of control. Just as the wacky ultra-conservatives have predicted, the slippery slope is upon us.

First it was mixed races walking down the aisle.

Then came the gays. Skipping.

But now, we’ve catapulted right past their predictions of man marrying animal and welcomed the ultimate abomination into our great American culture.

Introducing your new Public Enemy Number One: the cookie chip.

This is what happens when one innocent cookie is corrupted by the highly persuasive snack chip community. It all started when one vulnerable sugar cookie made the conscious choice to go against nature and become a chip. Then he converted all his friends, Sea Salted Peanut Butter, Chocolate Chip and Cinnamon Sugar (though we fear she was headed for a life of prostitution or pole dancing with a name like that, so this is probably better).

Of course, there’s an evil corporation behind all this brainwashing. It’s the folks over at HannahMax Baking who’ve taken these poor confectionary souls and lured them to the dark side where seriously addictive, stupendously delicious, frighteningly crunchy snack creations live on the fringes of society.

The only way to rid the planet of these is to buy them all. So paint your big “God Hates Cookie Chips” signs, head to your computer and order away. Then, after the crates of sweet, crisp, buttery morsels of tastiness arrive, pull the shades, lock the doors and devour them until this is no trace whatsoever.

That hint of cocoa on your hushed request for forgiveness? That is all that will remain.

And we can finally get back to a normal world where chips are made of potatoes.

Cookie Chips
$23.96/4-bag package
www.crunchycookiechips.com

Cookie Chips are also available at Whole Foods, Tom Thumb, Piggly Wiggly, Fairway, Gelson’s, Safeway, Vons, Pavilions, Dominick’s and New York City’s iconic Zabars.

Few works of musical artistry propel us to such heights of emotional enlightenment as Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana. (Except maybe Mackelmore’s Thrift Shop. We love 99¢ bargains!)

But back to Carmina Burana, the epic 1930s classical orchestration of a collection of poems and dramatic texts from the 11th to 13th centuries. There’s something about every note in this work that stirs something deep within us.

Perhaps it’s because of the dramatic chorus chants, those haunting strings and that heart-pounding crescendo of drums in the famous O Fortuna that makes our imagination run wild. It’s not only the perfect soundtrack to any demonic exorcism you might be planning, but also the tune that plays in our head any time we fall to our knees in slow motion, shaking our fists toward the sky because we spilled Bloody Mary on our white pants.

This weekend, the incredible Jaap van Zweden leads the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in this most sensational celebration of life, love, fortune and fate. Joined by the Dallas Symphony Chorus, this is one trip to the Meyerson guaranteed to give you goosebumps.

On your soul.

The Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Orff’s Carmina Burana, plus Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3
Thursday, May 23-Saturday, May 25
$21-$105
www.dallassymphony.com

Photo Credit: Dan Sellers
Note: The Saturday, May 25, 2:30 PM performance has no intermission and will feature Orff’s Carmina Burana only.

Even in death, few things on earth are gayer than Liberace.

Ghost hunters at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills have consistently recorded otherworldly shouts of “Boo!”

With a lisp. Which is hard to accomplish.

So in anticipation of Behind the Candelabra, the HBO original movie on the performer’s life and relationship with another man premiering on May 26, we proudly present the official soundtrack.

Filled with original recordings of the legendary pianist’s music, as well as new versions of signature songs as sung by Liberace’s modern-day portrayer, Michael Douglas, it’s a delightfully over-the-top album. “The Liberace Boogie,” for one, is hard to get out of our heads and we’re sure the visual will be even more enduring.

But most of all, this record represents the musical accomplishments of one epically talented man who just happened to be adored by women all over the world.

Story of our lives. Wear one fur-lined sequined cape and suddenly you’re a chick magnet.

Behind the Candelabra – Music from the HBO Original Film
Available today
$9.99 on iTunes
$9.49 at amazon.com

Everyone’s a critic. But only the lucky few get paid for their opinions.

And one of our all-time favorite restaurant critics and food writers is D Magazine’s Food Editor, Nancy Nichols. We interviewed her way back when for one of our first local celebrity Q&A’s, so we’ve always had a chubby for her tongue and the many tasty delights that slide across it on a daily basis.

Tomorrow night, you too can benefit from this woman’s vast experience and journalistic prowess as she celebrates June’s release of the 100 Best Restaurants in Dallas. During the event, you can sample sweet and savory selections from many of these top-of-their-game venues, which range from fine dining establishments to ignore-the-rat-traps-in-the-parking-lot holes in the wall.

There will be tons of food, cocktails from Brugal Rum, Trumer Pilsner beer and a See’s Candy buffet (butterscotch lollipops among the offerings, we hope!). It’s a rare chance to mix and mingle with the best chefs in the city. At 7:00 p.m, she’ll announce her picks for the Top 10 restaurants in the city, so get your mobile phones ready to make reservations immediately before the rest of Dallas discovers her selections.

And for anyone who’s ever disagreed with Nichols (perhaps one of her reviews shut down your family’s ambitious-yet-ill-conceived karaoke-fondue food truck), you can throw a pie at her for an extra 20 bucks. Best of all, proceeds from the pie toss benefit the North Texas Food Bank.

We can only assume the pastries being tossed didn’t make her list.

D Magazine Best Restaurants Event
Wednesday, May 22, 6:00-8:00 p.m.
3015 at Trinity Groves
3015 Gulden Lane, Dallas
Tickets $50; Pie throws $20 apiece

We love curling up with our dogs, squeezing them tight, then throwing them in a suitcase for a long overseas vacation.

That’s because we’ve immortalized our beloved pets in pillow form and now we can take them anywhere. Or accessorize any piece of furniture around the house.

The process is simple. Email Brooklyn-based artist Ronda J. Smith. an existing photograph of your pooch, pussy, parrot, panda or piranha. Can’t decide which image will work best? Send her several pics and she’ll let you know which ones are best suited for pillowfication. You’ll then receive a mockup, and within five to 10 days she’ll have a completed fabric version of Princess Pauletta ready to ship.

After all, nothing’s cuter than a box full of puppies. Especially ones you don’t have to feed.

Custom Pet Pillows
$145
www.intheseam.com