Travel & Outdoors
September 30, 2011
Bed, Breakfast, and Beyond
From tranquil lodging in the middle of bustling Houston to candle-lit breakfasts near the beach, these five B&Bs are guaranteed to please.
September 2011
Travel & Outdoors
September 30, 2011
Frisco
This sports-crazed Dallas suburb may be one of the fastest-growing places in the country, but you can still find signs of its cattle-driving past.
Music
September 30, 2011
Old Mad Joy
A new album by the Gourds.
Music
September 30, 2011
Rancho Alto
A new album by Jason Boland & the Stragglers.
Books
September 30, 2011
Sacred Mistrust
In Donna M. Johnson's memoir of a Pentecostal childhood, religious zeal and illicit love nearly tear a family apart.
Hollywood, TX
September 30, 2011
For Real, Y’all
What does a rash of new reality TV tell us about the Metroplex?
Food & Drink
September 30, 2011
BC Tavern
HOW PAINFUL MUST IT BE for a restaurant’s owners to admit that the place is kaput? That a once celebrated destination has come to the end of the road and needs to be—gasp—put down? But after cozy Austin restaurant Zoot departed the neighborhood where it had been for eighteen
Food & Drink
September 30, 2011
New + Noteworthy
Kushi Yama and El Alma.
Politics & Policy
September 30, 2011
Pioneer Up
The roots of Rick Perry’s frontier style.
Roar of the Crowd
September 30, 2011
Roar of the Crowd
Our Heroes Have Always Been CowgirlsWhat fun to find my great-great-aunt Ben in my favorite magazine [“Cowgirl Up,” August 2011]. That string of names listed for her was also a laugh. My grandmother Harbison always said her aunt had changed her name, as she did not like the one
Editor's Letter
September 30, 2011
City Girl
Some writers are journeymen, always on the road. Others work and rework the same ground, eventually becoming identified with the places they inhabit. In this second category you often find journalists and novelists who take their inspiration from huge and fascinating cities, urban ecosystems with enough tragedy, comedy, and
Contributors
September 30, 2011
Contributors
Prudence Mackintosh, Brian Johnson, and Justin Clemons.
Music
September 30, 2011
Kool & Together
The seventies band of brothers from Victoria on getting into music, staying away from drugs and liquor, and releasing their first album.
The Culture
September 30, 2011
The Drop Everything List
Fire Relief benefit concert, Poncho Sanchez, Lone Star Gourd Festival, and a screening of Some Girls Live in Texas 78 . . .
The Culture
September 30, 2011
The Drop Everything List
The World Series, ZZ Top, Costume Art Ball, and the Texas Mushroom Festival . . .
Music
September 30, 2011
Putting the Band Back Together
Thunder Soul, a documentary about the Kashmere High School Stage Band's return to the stage after 35 years, makes a powerful argument for the necessity of arts education.
The Culture
September 30, 2011
The Drop Everything List
Dolly Parton, 85 years at the Witte Museum, Red River Rivalry, and the Texas Rose Festival . . .
Sports
September 30, 2011
Peter Gent, 1942-2011
The author and former Cowboys wide receiver died in his hometown of Bangor, Michigan, on Friday at the age of 69. Our coverage of North Dallas Forty (both the novel and the movie) through the years.
Music
September 30, 2011
The Big Bend Theory
Tiny and remote Marfa is poised to be a rock-star magnet.
The Culture
September 30, 2011
The Drop Everything List
Roky Erickson, the Orchid Festival, Texas Literary Life with Sarah Bird and Stephen Harrigan, and SXSW Eco . . .
Sports
September 30, 2011
Winning Halftime
When the Rice MOB marches, stodginess scatters.
September 30, 2011
The Drop Everything List
A Lonesome Dove Weekend, the Trans-Pecos Festival of Music and Love, TEDxTheWoodlands, and the 44th Original Round Top Fall Antiques Fair . . .
Cover Credit
September 30, 2011
Cover Credit
Photograph by LeAnn Mueller. Hair by Terri Apanasewicz for Cloutier Remix. Makeup by Billy B. Styling by Tiffany Gifford.
The Culture
September 30, 2011
How to Water Dowse
This blistering summer has left Texas drier than a piece of gas station jerky. It was so hot that planes couldn’t take off from airports and train tracks were bent out of shape. And while Governor Rick Perry prayed for a downpour to end the drought, officials in Llano turned
Feature
September 30, 2011
Non-Prophet
When Warren Jeffs fired his attorneys and decided to represent himself in his sexual assault trial, many predicted, accurately, that he would fail miserably. Few realized just what a wild show he would put on.
The Culture
September 30, 2011
Neighborhood Association
Why would anybody take a charming place like Highland Park, tear down the nice old homes, build new fortresses, gradually drain the neighborly spirit, and call that progress? Don’t ask me. I don’t get it either.
Energy
September 30, 2011
Here’s the Drill
As hydraulic fracturing (a.k.a. fracking) has unlocked untold reserves of natural gas, it has also unleashed a wave of concerns about pollution and, for one family in the Barnett Shale, a long nightmare.
The Texanist
September 30, 2011
The Texanist: How Do I Explain Topless Sunbathing in Austin to My Children?
How do I explain topless sunbathing in Austin to my children? Illustration by Jack UnruhQ: I was in Austin visiting my brother recently, and he took me and my kids, a nine-year-old girl and a ten-year-old boy, to Barton Springs Pool to go swimming.
Business
September 30, 2011
Mina Thornton, Ropa Usada Dealer
Thornton opened Tres Hermanos Ropa Usada thirteen years ago in Hidalgo. As president of the 25-employee business, she buys ropa usada, or used clothing, from around the country and resells it in South Texas and throughout Mexico.People always ask, “Does this color look good on me?” I never ask. There’s
The Horse's Mouth
September 30, 2011
Anchoring the CBS Evening News
Scott Pelley on anchoring the CBS Evening News.
Web Exclusive
September 30, 2011
Incriminating Documents
A peek at the internal FLDS documents that the state used to convict Warren Jeffs.
Food & Drink
September 30, 2011
Andrew Weissman’s Office
The chef shows us a glimpse of his life outside the kitchen.
Eat My Words
September 29, 2011
Trailer Thursday: Gnocchi and Ravioli at Regal Ravioli in Austin
Through recent years of watching celebrity chefs like Mario Batali and Giada De Laurentiis magically unveil classic Italian dishes on television screens, many have been convinced the dish is as easy as 1, 2, 3 (eggs, flour, water). But the chefs and cooks who have mastered
Eat My Words
September 27, 2011
Texas Craft Brewers Festival Returns to Austin
<!----> The Texas Craft Brewers Festival is back! Well, it was back and now it's gone. Don't worry, you can always catch it next year. It happened this past Saturday, September 24th at Fiesta Gardens in Austin--the first time the festival had been put on since 2005. There
Politics & Policy
September 26, 2011
CNN: Perry 28, Romney 21
A lot of people are writing Perry off after his awful performance in the Florida debate, but this poll was taken AFTER the disastrous debate. Perry is not a good debater. He is no match for his rivals, who know federal issues better than he does, and are much
Politics & Policy
September 26, 2011
Washington Post raises health issues about Perry
After one of the early Republican debates, I raised the issue of whether Perry was having problems with his recovery from back surgery. Perry had looked so uncomfortable in that debate that I wondered if he were wearing a back brace. He kept twisting his torso a little, as if
Politics & Policy
September 26, 2011
Blood and irony
Does anybody else find it ironic that Perry is faltering because of the rare good deeds that he has done, such as the Dream Act and the HPV mandate? The guy spends ten years being a total hardline conservative with a couple of exceptions, and suddenly his own party is
Politics & Policy
September 26, 2011
Raising Cain
Could Rick Perry’s stunning loss of the Florida straw poll have been averted? Possibly. The question here is whether the Perry camp was so overconfident that it scheduled him to go to a similar straw poll in Michigan without addressing the delegates in Florida. At the times, Perry and
Politics & Policy
September 24, 2011
The bush leagues II
I wrote a post yesterday under the headline, “The bush leagues,” in which I said that one reason for Perry’s poor performance in the current campaign is that he has had it too easy in Texas during the last ten years–that he has gotten away with ducking debates and dodging
Politics & Policy
September 24, 2011
Sullivan blames lawmakers for Perry’s wasteful program
Self-appointed fiscal watchdog Michael Quinn Sullivan blasted legislators yesterday (9/23) for a spending program that allows the state to attract and subsidize Hollywood filmmakers who wish to make movies in Texas. I find myself in rare agreement with Mr. Sullivan on this point. When I wrote a story about cutting
Politics & Policy
September 23, 2011
The bush leagues
We like to think that Texas politics is as rough as it gets, but it really isn't. This has been a one-party state since W. defeated Ann in 1994. Perry has had a lot of money spent against him, but he has never been in danger of losing a race
Politics & Policy
September 22, 2011
Did Perry use the “s” word?
The matter of whether Rick Perry has advocated secession arose on Fox News last night. He insisted that he has never used the s-word, except to refer to signs at tea party rallies that say "SECEDE." As far as I know, he is right. Here is what Perry did
Politics & Policy
September 20, 2011
T(ea) is for trouble
The Texas tea party's revolt over Rick Perry's immigration stand is, well, revolting. I seldom agree with Perry, but he is right this time--right in a moral sense, but wrong politically. Building a wall will not make Texas a better state. Denying scholarships to the children of immigrants will not
Politics & Policy
September 20, 2011
DOJ’s unpreclearance
Critics of the Justice Department’s refusal to grant preclearance to the Texas House and congressional redistricting maps will no doubt attribute DOJ’s action to politics. And no doubt politics had something to do with it. But I never thought that DOJ would approve a map that ignored the demographic facts,
Politics & Policy
September 17, 2011
Recent polls
New York Times/CBS News (most recent poll) Perry 23 Romney 16 Connecticut GOP primary Quinnipiac U. Romney 37 Perry 19 California GOP Primary Field Poll Romney 28 Perry 20 Virginia General Election Obama 44 Perry 42 Virginia GOP Primary Perry 25 Undecided 20 R0mney 19 President Public Policy Polling Obama
Eat My Words
September 15, 2011
Trailer Thursday: Spicy Fried Chicken at Ms P’s Electric Cock in Austin
A bright red sign outlined in neon lights screams CHICKEN as you approach Ms P’s Electric Cock, a large silver trailer on a quieter part of South Congress Avenue. As you may have guessed from the attention-getting name, Ms P’s is not a place for subtlety. It is, however, a
Politics & Policy
September 15, 2011
Bloomberg poll: Perry 26%, Romney 22%
UPDATE: Note to readers: Below, I wrote, "I don't see any mystery in these results. Romney figured to gain after Perry's lackluster performance in the Tampa debate." In fact, the poll was taken during the period Sept. 9-12, BEFORE the debate. So Perry's performance in the Tampa debate had no
Eat My Words
September 14, 2011
Sweet and Spicy and Everything Nicey: Is it Beans and Cornbread Season Yet?
Inspired by the beginning of fall (or, at the very least, football season), and the ever-so-slightly cooler air that seems to be hinting that the end of summer is nigh, I turned on the oven for the first time in months this week. For good measure, I brought out
Politics & Policy
September 14, 2011
What is Palin up to?
I thought Perry and Palin were buddies. She came to Texas to endorse him against Bill White in December 09. But her “crony capitalism” attack on Perry was an indication that she sees an opening for her to be the nominee. If she can weaken Perry, and he falters, the
BBQ Joint Reviews
September 13, 2011
Franklin Barbecue
The music was blaring, and my regard for the speed limit was waning. I’d just finished a hearty breakfast of brisket and brisket at Snow’s in Lexington, and I was racing time to get a spot in line at Franklin Barbecue on a Saturday morning. I’d heard from the Twitterverse