ON THE COVER: Cover illustration by Stephen Pietzsch
January 1987
Table of Contents
Features
1987 Bum Steer AwardsA year of anguished Arabs, bigshot bankrupts, crazy cookbooks, despoiled dinosaurs, exhibitionist editors, foiled fugitives, greens-eating graduates, half-cocked hashish, in flagrante inmates, jolly jailers, kinky kilocycles, late lobsters, moistened mayors, and northbound Nicaraguans. Between a Hard Rock and a PlaceThe world’s hottest restaurant chain turns into Texas’ hottest restaurant feud. Total HitOne morning last August, a San Antonio patrolman told his superior officer that his best friend was a killer cop. By that afternoon, the killer cop was dead, the patrolman was claiming self-defense, and a city infamous for strange killings was in the midst of one of the strangest of all. |
The Coronary BypassIn Texas, survivors of this life-and-death operation wear their scars like medals of honor. No PromisesI arrived in Houston at the height of the boom, and left just as the bust began. Along the way I learned what it means to grow up. The National Tour of TexasI’ve long dreamed of driving every highway in Texas. This year I’m doing it—all 32,000 miles worth. |
Columns
Behind the LinesThe law that changed nothing. FoodThe Left Side of the MenuAdmit it. The first courses always seem more interesting than the entrées. Why not make a meal of them? BooksScience Marches OnUT historian William Goetzmann traces America’s belief in endless possibilities to the boundless curiosity of its earliest explorers. ShoppingYou May Not Need It, But You Gotta Have ItArresta is a toy store for grown-ups, where every item is selected to seduce the slavishly stylish. |
ReligionWhat’s the Sound of One Texan Meditating?John Toler switched from advertising to Zen, Emerson to Buddha, and Lubbock to the Land of the Lotus. MoviesThe Three SistersCrimes of the Heart is a warm spill of sunshine, but Betty Blues is a mindless lump of misery and ¡Three Amigos! isn’t friendly at all. Classical MusicEnter, With TrumpetsA series of world premieres commissioned by the Houston Symphony Orchestra has brought a dash of fanfare to Jones Hall. ArtArt of the PeopleAn innovative folk art exhibition at the San Antonio Museum of Art affirms the irrepressible spirit of the Mexican people. |
Reporter
ReporterTexas Monthly ReporterThe citizens of Muleshoe lose their only hospital, thanks to a California chain; the citizens of Houston learn the value of caution, thanks to a local developer; the citizens of the world get a chance to improve their potency, thanks to the Aggies. |
Miscellany
Roar of the CrowdBattle of the Alamo, Part Two The QuidnuncCelebrating the Day of the Dead with David Byrne; digging for Texas dirt with snoop queen Kitty Kelley; playing nuclear war games in San Antonio. ToutsRanking the files. |
PuzzleTake a Seat State SecretsA gloomy prediction for Texas banks; the oil crisis becomes a steel crisis; how Lloyd Bentsen’s new chairmanship can help Texas. |
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