
January 1999
Table of Contents
Features
1999 Bum Steer AwardsA year of asking-for-it Aggies, badass broccoli, contraband coffee, Death Row decor, extrapolating elephants, faux feet, god-awful gimmickry, humongous heavyweights, incomparable ironers, judicial jimjams, kaput kowtowers, lame-brained liberals, moping millionaires, NASA ninnies, off-putting officials, prize-winning pignappers, quasi-comic quipsters, red-handed rapscallions, scarfable sod, theoretical thongs, ungodly ungulates, vomiting vegetation, wild-eyed window-breakers, xenophobic Xanthippes, Yankee yahoos, and zapped zealots. Teenage WastelandWith its optimistically broad streets and oversized cantilevered homes, Plano is the suburban ideal taken to its extreme, and its exaggerated scale often gives rise to exaggerated problems. Heroin addiction is only the latest. Deep DishWhich Hollywood legend is “the bitch of all time”? Which comedienne’s daughter was a dope addict by age fourteen and came to Houston to get unhooked? Texas’ top gossips tell all. |
You Can’t Go Home AgainFolk singer Nanci Griffith thinks the Texas media have been mistreating her. The way she’s fighting back guarantees her trouble with the press isn’t going away. The Six-Billion-Dollar MenHow to spend a huge budget surplus will be the defining issue of the coming legislative session. It will also determine the political futures of George W. Bush, Rick Perry, and Pete Laney. |
Columns
BusinessPop ArtHow 7 UP is trying to win back its share of the soft drink market, one commercial at a time. TelevisionNews MakersComing January 1 to a small screen near you: A round-the-clock, Texas-specific, CNN-style cable channel. Its creators will be watching. Will you? |
TexanaWild KingdomTucked away near tiny Murchison, Black Beauty Ranch is a refuge for injured, abused, or abandoned animals—even after the death of its guiding spirit, Cleveland Amory. CitiesNot Black and WhiteFifteen years ago, in a PBS documentary, Bill Moyers declared that the East Texas town of Marshall was actually two towns divided by race. To some extent, it still is. |
Reporter
Hot BoxCD and Book Reviews |
The Ex FilesMichael Martin MurpheyFaceDianne Hardy-Garcia |
Miscellany
Roar of the CrowdCase Study |
Recipes
State FareFor fans of lamb and rabbit, this dish from Houston’s Tasca is a real meat and greet. |




