May 2010 Cover

Photograph by Kenny Braun.

May 2010

Table of Contents

Features

Throw a canoe on the roof or a tube in the trunk and head for the Llano, the Brazos, the Pecos, the Trinity, the Guadalupe, or any of the other rivers on this list of the twenty best trips to take on Texas waterways this summer.

A slide show of images from some of our state’s most beautiful and enchanting rivers.

The conservation of the Neches, one of the last wild rivers of Texas.

As the peculiar case of a Fort Bend sheriff’s deputy and his bloodhounds makes clear, the techniques of crime-scene investigation are not as infallible as the TV shows would have us believe. How a misplaced faith in some forensic experts is putting innocent people behind bars.

Our quiz shouldn’t be hard, so long as you’ve been paying attention. You have been paying attention, right?

In an exclusive excerpt from his new book, Empire of the Summer Moon, special correspondent S. C. Gwynne re-creates in thrilling detail the bloody 1871 battle that marked the beginning of the end for the most fearsome tribe to ever ride the plains and its mysterious, magnificent chief, Quanah Parker.

He’s the greatest player in the world—maybe the greatest player ever— of a card game that fewer and fewer people know how to play. But Bob Hamman doesn’t care. He’s too busy probing my mind.

Columns

Behind the Lines

The debut of Enron, the play, on Broadway might be the perfect time to settle a question that’s been bothering Houston: Does Jeff Skilling need a new trial?

Letter From Corpus Christi

The strange case of Mauricio Celis, the Corpus Christi lawyer who was not a lawyer.

Letter from San Antonio

One year into his first term as mayor of San Antonio, Julián Castro is emerging as perhaps the most prominent young Hispanic politician in Texas. Get ready to get used to him.

The Texanist

Dance hall guilt, faded accents, SUVs with “Truck” plates, and the ancient initiation ceremony at which a young Texan male is presented with his first firearm.

Reporter

The Horse’s Mouth

José Hernández on flying the space shuttle.

The Working Life

Realtor

The Manual

How to smoke the perfect brisket.

The experts at Louie Mueller Barbecue, in Taylor, teach Andrea Valdez how to smoke the perfect brisket.

Street Smarts

Narrow your focus to these two blocks of the city’s famed shopping stretch.

Hollywood, TX

Three cheers for Woody Harrelson’s return to form.

Book Review

Book Review

Author Interview

Music Review

Music Review

Music Review

Artist Interview

The Filter

Pat’s Pick

Austin

The Filter: Dining

Tost BistroBar, San Antonio and Sushi Raku, Houston

Miscellany

Editor’s Letter

Kenny Braun, Jan Jarboe Russell, and Tyler Jacobson

Roar of the Crowd

Web Exclusives

Where people do crazy things in the jet stream.

Where does the Pecos River originate? How long is the Devils River? What river in Texas is used to cool nuclear reactors? Everything you wanted to know about some of our state's waterways.

Brent Coon’s back to take on BP.

The Performance Rights Act has rocked the music industry.

Forty years ago, the attention to space exploration was constant. And the faces of the exploration gave rise to a group of larger than life individuals—the astronauts.

What's missing from all the bureaucratic back and forth over permits and mining and dredging is a sense of the importance of the river itself.

Multimedia

The experts at Louie Mueller Barbecue, in Taylor, teach Andrea Valdez how to smoke the perfect brisket.

A slide show of images from some of our state’s most beautiful and enchanting rivers.

The conservation of the Neches, one of the last wild rivers of Texas.

Recipes

Recipe from El Arbol, Austin

Recipe from Chef Jason Dady, Restaurant Insignia, San Antonio / Featured Chef at the 2010 New World Wine & Food Festival

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