Still ZZ After All These Years
So what if they’re not cranking out hits and selling out concerts the way they used to? After nearly three decades, no one makes better blues rock than ZZ Top.
December 1996 Issue
Features
The Race of His Life
When a world-class athlete like Austin’s Lance Armstrong gets cancer, it’s a shock—for him, and for every man who has ever considered himself invincible.
Paw Prints
Photographer Keith Carter’s latest pet project reminds me of big Texas dogs I’ve owned—some clownish, some serious, but every one of them great.
Border Bargains
We’ve found thirty shops just across the Rio Grande where you can buy everything from hand-carved furniture to whimsical walking sticks. The quality is high, the prices are right, and you don't have to pay in pesos.
And That’s the Way It Was
In excerpts from his upcoming memoir, legendary newsman Walter Cronkite remembers his days as a cub reporter in Houston and his introdcution to the realities of racism.
The Customs of the Country
While U.S. citizens can take an unlimited amount of money into Mexico—you will have to fill out an IRS form at U.S. Customs if it’s more than $10,000—you’re allowed to bring back only $400 worth of merchandise every thirty days duty free. (If there are four people in the car,
Lead Reckoning: The Dish on Talavera
In the sixteenth century, potters emigrated from Talavera de la Reina in Spain to the new colonial settlement of Puebla in Mexico and began crafting their majolica- inspired earthenware, known as Talavera. Although some factories in Puebla still produce high-quality pottery in the old style, most of the vibrantly decorated
Columns
The Church on the Hill
Why the big fight between a small town and a small church wound up in the Supreme Court.
Pace on Earth
If you’ve seen a Kiss concert, a truck and tractor pull, or Miss Saigon recently, you can thank Houston’s Pace Entertainment for the privilege—and for the price you paid.
Kaiser on a Roll
Nothing can stop Sheriff Frances Kaiser: not cancer, not grisly murder cases, and certainly not the good old boys of Kerr County.
He Writes the Songs
Though Jerry Lynn Williams is practically unheard of outside the industry, stars like Eric Clapton know him as one of the best tunesmiths anywhere.
Shooting Blanks
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department aims to please hunters and birders alike. So why is everyone gunning for it?
Reporter
King of Diamonds
Larry L. King is at work on a novel about minor league baseball in Texas in the fifties. Breaking Balls is a fictionalized account of his experiences covering the “miserable 144-game schedule” of the Midland Indians as a $55-a-week reporter for the Midland Reporter-Telegram in 1951. “I went to all
Sandy Duncan
Every Christmas, from the time I was three until I was ten, my family would drive in a stream of cars to Kilgore, where, during the Depression and a very big oil boom, oil wells had been drilled downtown. Hundreds of derricks on street corners and next to office buildings
Susan Graham
“I play a lot of boys,” reports Susan Graham, a svelte but buxom mezzo-soprano. Schooled for opera’s mischievous “trouser” roles by climbing trees and toilet-papering houses while she grew up in Midland, the 36-year-old earned a master’s degree in music at Texas Tech University in Lubbock and went on to
CD and Book Reviews
Hot CDsAlong with Nat “King” Cole, Texas City native Charles Brown became the father of late-night “cocktail blues” in Los Angeles in the forties. Half a century later, Honey Dripper (Verve/Gitanes) vividly conjures up Brown’s suave, stylish world. His voice is sweet and smoky like a rich cigar and as
Familia Feud
In Laredo, a conservative revolution is upending the city’s old patronage politics.
Burning Bush
Before the 1996 election, George W. Bush’s presidential chances were just talk. Now they’re hot. Jack Kemp blew his opportunity to be the undisputed standard-bearer with a mediocre—and, some say, disloyal—performance as Bob Dole’s running mate. The next GOP nominee will almost surely be someone who hasn’t run for president
Web
Braeburn Apple Sorbet With Walnut-Apple Flautas
Recipe from Pastry chef Doug Wilson, Mesteña’s, San Antonio.Sorbet1 cup water 1 1/2 cups sugar 8 Braeburn apples, peeled and coredBoil water and sugar for 5 minutes to make a simple syrup. Make fresh apple juice by puréeing apples thoroughly in a food processor and pushing through a fine strainer.
Miscellany
Around the State
Around the State Edited by Quita McMath, Josh Daniel, Erin Gromen, and Cheri Ballew summary: The Smithsonian Institution takes its show on the road (Houston). Plus: Yuletide celebrations that hold a candle (San Antonio); the Tokyo String Quartet gets caught in the fiddle (Fort Worth and Houston); where to meet
Running With the Big Dogs
From Fred Gipson’s fictional Old Yeller to A&M mascot Reveille and Lyndon Johnson’s beleaguered beagles, dogs have always reigned as Texans’ pets of choice. The long line of distinguished dog lovers includes John Graves of Glen Rose, Texas’ writer emeritus, and acclaimed Beaumont photographer Keith Carter, who joined forces
The Neiman Marcus Christmas Catalog
In Texas the ultimate arbiter of good taste has always been Neiman Marcus, the Dallas-based department store that marks its ninetieth birthday next year.
Land Values
THANKS TO PAUL BURKA AND photographer Andrew Yates for capturing the story of the Stoners [“Home on the Range,” by Paul Burka, October 1996] with compassion and respect. As a 57-year-old ranch wife trying to keep my ranch going with my son (the fifth generation farmer-rancher on our land)
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