May 1980

Table of Contents

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Features

Three Gentlemen, One Ghost, and a Skyscraper

The intrigue behind the building of Houston’s Texas Commerce Tower was almost as monumental as the 75-story structure itself.

The Good Life

You can still find it in these great small towns.

Hot Enough for You?

Fire up! Put some spice back in your life with the amazing chile pepper.

Town Without Pity

Nuevo Laredo’s red-light district abounds with raw sex and broken dreams.

The Beat

Two average, middle-class men risk injury and death patrolling the roughest streets in Dallas. Why do they do it? Because they love the job.

Columns

Behind the Lines

Democracy in America

Stepping Out

The Women Who Came to Dinner

Bringing the world’s most controversial feminist sculpture to Texas turned out to be no picnic - but a rare feast for connoisseurs of the outrageous.

Politics

The Star-Crossed Palm of Billy Clayton

This is the question: is it a crime to be politically inept?

Cityview

The Late Reign of Francois Huybrechts

When the San Antonio Symphony fired its brilliant and popular young conductor, it produced a cacophony of artistic and political discord.

Church

Foreign Service

In France you can commune with the angels at Chartres or mingle with the home folks at the American Church in Paris.

Film

Southern Discomfort

John Huston makes the sinners and saviors of Flannery O’Connor’s fiction eerily real in Wise Blood; Little Miss Marker falls short; Nijinsky falls flat.

Theater

Striking the Set

The Alley mourns the passing of Nina Vance; outlanders rustle a Texas-trained playwright; in Houston, Stages spends a Night on Bare Mountain and Hank Williams appears at the Tower.

Classical Music

Chief of Staff

A Dallas composer is reviving medieval music in a modern context, while two new classical groups attempt a chamber music renaissance.

Books

Angle of Reflection

Wallace Stegner’s love of the West and respect for its history make his works as distinctive as the region that inspired them.

Art

Animal Magnetism

Horses of different colors leapt from the bright, bold palette of German abstractionist Franz Marc.

Reporter

Reporter

A Dog’s Life

Fighting over a black neighborhood in Austin; corralling the irascible Bull of the Brazos; fussing and feuding with the DAR; monkeying around with the San Antonio Zoo.

Miscellaneous

The Inside Story

Restless, rustless.

Roar of the Crowd

Barrio blues, cable cares, coddied eggs.

Touts

Comin’ in on a wing and a mare.

Puzzle

Playing post office.

State Secrets

Plaguing the Panhandle; rebuking the Washington Post; slaughtering the Beeferendum; lusting after the Speakership.

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