Hail to Thee, George E. Fischer

Most of the time you’re a nice, ordinary businessman. But for one brief, shining moment you were King Antonio, monarch of San Antonio’s Fiesta and semi-beloved ruler of the one Texas city that still loves a good king.

by Tom Walker

Hell on Wheels

In which John Howard, our toughest athlete, goes after a world bicycle record and hopes America will care.

by Harry Hurt III

The New Rustlers

Today’s desperadoes are in the bays of the Texas coast, roping redfish and cursing the Parks and Wildlife Department.

by Dick J. Reavis

Texas Primer: The Farm-to-Market Road

The last best way to see the real Texas.

by Paul Burka

Tricks

On the first say of April my true love gave to me...nineteen gifts that weren’t what they appeared to be.

by Susan Kennard

“What I Admire I Must Possess”

Dominique de Menil loves beautiful things and interesting people. In forty years of collecting them she has changed Houston.

by Dominique Browning

Behind the Lines

Run for the money.

by Gregory Curtis

Texana

Big Wheels and the Silver Spike

It wasn’t business that drew the state’s top politicians to a Trans-Pecos ranch. Their mission: to mark the centennial of the train that linked Texas to the West.

by Griffin Smith, Jr

Food

Have Ladle, Will Travel

Culinary one-upmanship has produced the designer chef, a food whiz who comes from afar to lend prestige and panache to Texas’ ritziest eateries.

by Alison Cook

Jazz

Down with Compromise

Freddie Hubbard’s attempts to play pop music have been disastrous. But when he tackles a pure mainstream sound, he shows what jazz trumpeting is all about.

by Doug Ramsey

Books

Oil Rigged

The Great Energy Scam purports to uncover the collusion of the feds and the oil companies, but the real scandal is what the author overlooks. Yet another book on killer Ted Bundy sheds no light on his crimes. Roughneck is a rousing look at America’s most radical labor union.

by Joseph Nocera

Movies

Scotch, Neat

Local Hero is undiluted pleasure. Lianna is a little watered-down.

by James Wolcott

Classical Music

Curtains!

Once touted, now routed, San Antonio’s opera takes its last bow.

by W. L. Taitte

Reporter

Texas Monthly Reporter

Times are tough in Laredo; specialty advertisers are unveiled in Dallas; some very old bones stir things up in Leander; a wild turkey comes back to West Texas; newspapers go wild in San Antonio.

by Peter Applebome

Roar of the Crowd

Taking lives and saving lives.

Touts

Miniature madness.

by Patricia Sharpe

Puzzle

Measure for measure.

State Secrets

Southwest Airlines’ California gamble pays off - and Texans do the paying: update from Gibgate; why Bellaire is not Park Place; a truly dumb idea from UT.

Edited by Paul Burka