I was curious when I found that three of my friends had delved into the mysteries of psychic surgery. After three “bloody operations” of my own, I knew what it was all about. About $30 a minute.

We gave a bunch of smart Texans $50,000. (Okay, we didn’t really, we just said we did.) The money comes with these strings attached: it has to be invested in Texas now, and the investments have to pay off by 1996.

One school of though holds that when the economy is in a nosedive, that’s the time to go into business. At lease that’s what a farmer, an oilman, a developer, and a banker believe.

Empty business buildings…bankrupt developers…budget deficits. It’s Manhattan, 1975. Things sure have changed, and by learning from some Yankee real estate barons, maybe we can find a way out of our troubles.

They have done it all: saved New York City and Massachusetts, written economic classics, created new companies, and turned old ones around. Now, at our request, they’re fixing Texas.

At a time when Texas seems to have lost its gift for creating fortunes, there has emerged a group of entrepreneurs who are making money by catering to the needs of people who are going broke.

Texans are always looking for a new frontier, a place where business people can do business without worrying about a lot of bureaucrats. Want to make it in Texas today? Come to Belize.

For the first time since Sam Rayburn’s day, the Speaker of the House will be a Texan. And if Jim Wright of Fort Worth is to be successful, he’ll have to remember what Rayburn taught him.

In eight square blocks of Nuevo Laredo you can sample a cactus taco, hone your bargaining skills, and buy the best Christmas gifts on the border.

It doesn’t matter whether you want to two-step or tango. In this church-run town, one commandment rules supreme: Thou Shalt Not Boogie.

Festive Mexican pastries give a new perspective on snacking. Here’s where to find them.

From James Clay to John Park, Texas tenor sax masters prove their mettle on new LPs.

The Color of Money veers off into technique; Police goes flaccid; Menage succumbs to mystification; Round Midnight reduces jazz to a dirge; Something Wild has a lurid kick.

Screaming headlines and shameless photos make Laredo’s El Arma! the largest-selling Spanish weekly in the U.S.; Norbert Lyssy has mile to go before he sleeps (soundly); within our midst lies an alien and insurgent clan, the New England of Texas.

How Sheik Yamani’s departure will affect the price of oil; what the new immigration law will do to Texas; analyzing the election returns.

Keeping up with the Perots; pomp-adoring Charlie Sexton; sewing up the ses-quilt-centennial.