September 1986 Issue

Wide Open Spaces

The Chihuahuan Desert is a place of extremes, where the visitor not only observes but participates in the struggle for life and death.

The Cowboys, the Indian, and the Computer That Fumbled

The most important new addition to the Dallas Cowboys is a veteran from the team’s early years —computer genius Salam Qureishi.

Requiem for a Roller Coaster

The state fair’s Comet: will it rust in peace?.

The Faulty Cure

Houston is famous for medical cures. But when British rock star Ronnie Lane came to town with a crippling disease and $1 million for research, all he got was crippling legal problems.

Texas Primer: Ma Ferguson

She unmasked the Klan and worried about the role of women, but she listened more to her husband than to the suffragettes.

My Kind of Town

An enticing portfolio of what makes Houston Houston.

Vote for Me, Por Favor. Now Let’s Eat

Mix election time, South Texas, and barbecue, and you get the pachanga circuit, where politics and barbecue are served with equal reverence.

Western Art

This story is from Texas Monthly’s archives. We have left the text as it was originally published to maintain a clear historical record. Read more here about our archive digitization project. From 1983 to 1986, Texas Monthly’s regular feature, “Western Art,” highlighted artists’ takes on the classic

Behind the Lines

I Think I’m Rich, Therefore I Am

A new class of self-styled experts called prosperity consultants say they have the solution to Texas’ economic bust: the bad times are all in our heads.

Midland’s Bebop Bash

What’s remarkable about this exclusive jazz party isn’t just that it’s in Midland. The biggest surprise comes when the music starts.

Getting Even Gets Old

Revenge has seldom been so incendiary, but Heartburn fails to ignite; Blue Velvet is for the brave; Club Paradise is for the jolly.

The Anglo-Tex Connection

A Dallasite enamored of British class gets her sesquicentennial wish—a Texas embassy in London.

Texas Monthly Reporter

Fashion shifts at Farah; Dave Pelz’s putter problems; will the Dallas establishment’s mayoral candidate please stand up?

On the Menu: Cabrito

For more than twenty years, the central Texas town of Brady has staged the World Championship Barbeque Goat Cook-off on Labor Day weekend. Cabrito is a delicacy that has its ardent admirers—and many detractors. To those who have failed to see the merit in a crunchy yet tender piece of

Barney McBee’s Texas Goat Sauce

1/2 cup vegetable oil 2 onions, chopped 1 clove garlic, mashed 1 32-ounce bottle ketchup 3 tablespoons yellow mustard 2 cups black coffee 1 cup distilled vinegar 1 lemon, cut in half 6 tablespoons chili powder 3 good taps Worcestershire sauce Salt and pepper to tasteHeat oil over medium-low in

Downtown

Bail bonding is one Texas business that’s recession proof.

Post-Modern Times

Two gleaming office towers are going up face to face in downtown Austin. Now their marketing managers have to rent the town asunder.

Puzzle

Roar of the Crowd

Shopping

From goggle that let you see in the dark to voice changers that you sound like Daffy Duck, the Counter Spy Store is stocked for the age of paranoia.

State Secrets

Are the Elissa’s sails trimmed for good? The Chronicle finds a possible buyer close to home—very close; mashing the mass transit tax.

The Quidnunc

Checking in with Corpus’ famous insurance writer; smelling celebrity flowers with Leonard Tharp; sharing some Jello-O with Dionne Warwick

Touts