1984 Bum Steer Awards

Presenting Carolyn Farb, worthy to Dolph Briscoe, Farrah Fawcett, J. R. Ewing, Mike Martin, and Jackie Sherrill as Bum Steer of the Year—and 107 other fascinating foibles.

All the Better to See You With, My Dear

Are eye surgeons miraculously changing the lives of folks with glasses as thick as Coke-bottle bottoms, or are they just making themselves rich?

by Harry Hurt III

Western Art: Urbanization

by Scott Reynolds

Love and Death in Silicon Prairie, Part I: Candy Montgomery's Affair

Urban refugees fleeing high-tech Dallas have created ersatz rural communities in the nearby countryside. This isolated, pastoral life sometimes erupts into adultery and murder.

by Jim Atkinson and John Bloom

Gambling on the Gamblers

Jerry Argovitz made himself unpopular with NFL management as an abrasive player's agent. Now that he owns Houston's new football team, he finds himself on the other side of the table—and the issues.

by Jan Reid

Texas Primer: The Collins Purse

In the sixties a small company in Medina produced a wooden box decorated with rhinestones. It became a Texas tradition.

by Mimi Swartz

Architecture

That's a Metal Building?

The greening (and redding, and yellowing, and blueing) of the prefabricated warehouse.

Lisa Germany

Behind the Lines

by Gregory Curtis

Theater

Caravan of Pipe Dreams

From the city that brought you the Stockyards and Billy Bob's Texas comes a bizarre nightclub run by the shock troops of the avant-garde.

by Peter Applebome

Jazz

Unabridged Webster

You may not have heard saxman Ben Webster when he was around, but his recordings with Duke Ellington, Benny Carter, and Gerry Mulligan are a treasure trove not to be missed.

by Doug Ramsey

Movies

The Godfather Goes Slumming

Al Pacino carries on the gangster tradition in Scarface; the mystery in Gorky Park is not whodunit but who'll survive the investigation; Tentl is a Barbra Streisand tour de force.

by James Wolcott

Reporter

Texas Monthly Reporter

Damming the Rio Grande; cruising the streets of Houston; building the nation's biggest organ; remembering the Alamo.

by Suzanne Winckler

Roar of the Crowd

A better Dallas, a wider conspiracy, a madder Wichita Falls.

Touts

Have these glamorous goblets come to the aid of your New Year's Eve Party.

by Patricia Sharpe

Puzzle

Box score.

State Secrets

Storm damage from Alicia may include the public's right to use the beach; Texas pecan growers go nuts over the feds; Mexico's ruling party turns up the heat on the opposition; why there may be an NCAA football play-off sooner than you think.

Edited by Paul Burka