Lance, a Lot
Editor Evan Smith, who sat down with Lance Armstrong (above) for this month’s cover story, talks about the six-time Tour de France winner and the secret to getting a great interview.
Editor Evan Smith, who sat down with Lance Armstrong (above) for this month’s cover story, talks about the six-time Tour de France winner and the secret to getting a great interview.
“Old-timers’ Day” [May 2005] is the best thing that’s been in Texas Monthly in years. I’ve always enjoyed both Gary Cartwright and Dan Jenkins, but this was like sitting and listening to them argue and tell stories over a long lunch. Please persuade, cajole, bribe, or threaten both these
When the girls’ basketball coach at the only high school in Bloomburg moved in with another woman, it cost her a job and at least a few friends. But the tumult over a lesbian relationship in this tiny East Texas town wasn’t the end of the story.
Cool QuaffIf any drink is identified with the Fourth of July, it’s lemonade. And the best “lemonade” in Texas comes from famously quirky Houston Mexican restaurant Irma’s. This rustic pink refresher is made from fresh fruit— just about every variety in the universe—and while owner Irma N. Galvan’s exact recipe
It’s the Sistine Chapel wallpaper on the walls and ceiling of the entry that clues you in: “Hip” Riccardi’s is not. The Dallas establishment may be new, but its heart belongs to an earlier time—when restaurants looked like dining rooms, not stage sets; when waiters didn’t try to be
Here comes the sun.
It can be achieved—if you have a surprise wedding.
July—People, Places, Events, Attractions07.02.2005In the summer of 1955 a Hollywood imperial army invaded the small West Texas town of Marfa. For five weeks acclaimed filmmaker George Stevens and a huge Warner Bros. cast and crew labored on nearby drought-stricken ranchland to create Giant, the story of the lordly Benedicts—played by
She shares that curious fact with you for posterior’s— er, posterity’s sake. What you really need to know about the shopgirl turned shoplifter is that her rehabilitation is continuing apace atop Dallas’ social heap. And thanks to a new reality show about her life, there’s no end in sight.
If you were a Somali refugee arriving in San Antonio—and America—for the first time, with a family in tow and no modern life skills to speak of, what would you do? Eat chicken, shop at H-E-B, and figure out how to pay the rent.
A short, illustrated history of my childhood. And Wes’s too.
A few lawmakers in both parties distinguished themselves during one of the worst sessions anyone can remember. As for the rest? Well, in the words of Jon Stewart, that famous observer of Texas politics: not so much.
For starters, even though its self- image is big and brash, it’s the most politically wimpy city in Texas.
The Ben Franklin of McGregor.
From tamales and chile con carne to boiled fish and macaroni with mushroom sauce, the first-ever compendium of Mexican American cooking, Mexican Cooking: The Flavor of the 20th Century—That Real Mexican Tang, takes readers on an unusual culinary ride.
The Baylor University women’s basketball program has come a long way.
Six more watery adventures, from birding on the Trinity to tubing the Frio.
Helen Cho on Houston. For some good, cheap Chinese or Vietnamese food, go to Bellaire.
Review of Texas Ties: Recipes and Remembrances.
From a sock hop in Galveston to a basketball competition in Austin, Juneteenth celebrations across the state commemorate the emancipation of slaves.
Freelance writer and former Texas Monthly intern Stayton Bonner, assistant managing editor Stacy Hollister, editorial director Christopher Keyes, and new-media director Charlie Llewellin talk about exploring the state’s rivers for this month’s cover story.
Illustrator Christoph Niemann on inspiration and the creative process.
Photographer Sarah Wilson on basketball phenom Brooklyn Pope, whom she shot for this month’s issue.
Author John McManus on his book Bitter Milk and the writing process.
Executive editor S. C. Gwynne on the Devils River, white water, and tents.
Senior editor Pamela Colloff on state representative Hubert Vo’s winning campaign strategy and Houston’s Asian community.
La Barranca Grille, Laredo
Mark UlriksenAlthough San Francisco illustrator Mark Ulriksen has been to Texas several times (“I even got a traffic ticket from a no-nonsense cop in Amarillo, my first ever”), he had to do some catching up on state politics for “Carole Keeton Strayhorn Has Guts…”. “I’m pretty familiar with
“The record’s clean. I’m sure that I haven’t done everything that everyone would like me to do. But I’ve never hurt anybody.”
Cancer used to be something you died from. Now, thanks to clinical trials, it’s increasingly something you live with.
S. C. Gwynne’s “Safe at Home” is not really about the children [April 2005]. It is about the parents’ need to be “the best.” By having their children compete for regional, state, and national titles, parents can feel that they have done a superior job of parenting. The fact
The demographics of one legislative district in Houston have changed so dramatically that they allowed a novice Democrat to unseat an eleven-term Republican powerhouse. But the real story is what could happen elsewhere in the not-so-distant future.
Word of Mouth | Tales and tidbits from the pros.In April the 34-year-old chef and co-owner of Uchi, a Japanese restaurant and sushi bar in Austin, was named one of the ten best new chefs of the year by Food & Wine. Is it really that difficult to slice raw
Poor Laredo. Not even its most rabid civic boosters would call it a mecca for fine dining—or at least they wouldn’t have until last October. That’s when La Barranca opened, instantly creating a local venue for big nights out. In charge of the kitchen is 29-year-old native son Alberto Gutierrez,
The Tom DeLay ethics quiz.
A one-on-one with Brooklyn Pope reveals her to be—off the court, at least—a fairly typical fifteen-year-old girl. But when the game clock starts, she’s the future of women’s basketball. Maybe basketball, period.
In the state with the nation’s most celebrated concealed carry law, is it any wonder that the annual convention of pistol packers, peddlers, and promoters was number one with a bullet?
There was a major don’t-try-this-at-home aspect to my two-day ride on this primitive and unpredictable river. But as scary as it was, it was every bit as beautiful.
Fourteen of them, actually. From kayaking the Colorado and rock climbing along the Pecos to tubing the Pedernales and birding on the Rio Grande, here are the most enjoyable and exciting things to do on some of our favorite Texas waterways.
Is Juneteenth ours?
You’d love my collection of vintage Texas cookbooks. Just don’t ask me to cook from them.
Thanks to movies like The Rose and, okay, to JANIS JOPLIN herself, the Port Arthur native is remembered as a drug-addled mess. But as one of the great white blues singers of her generation, Joplin left significant work behind. What’s illuminating about PEARL: LEGACY EDITION (Columbia/Legacy) are the demos
Who? MIKE JONES. Who? Mike Jones. It’s a mantra repeated on almost every song of this aptly named Houston rapper’s major-label debut, WHO IS MIKE JONES? (SwishaHouse/Asylum/Warner Bros.) None too shy about self-promotion, Jones even works his cell phone number into his music. Such incessant hype has earned Jones
In the eighties KATHY MCCARTY was co-leader of Glass Eye, a peerless Austin band that attracted a cultish national following. Her songs were awash in mysterious imagery and old-world melodies, and no one expected her music to stop along with her band. Yet McCarty delivered her acclaimed 1994 Daniel Johnston
But not without some difficulty—even though I’m a third-generation Mexican American.
Dewhurst versus Craddick: This time, it’s personal.
In the wake of America’s obsession with Texas Hold ’Em comes the tale of Andy Beal, the Dallas banker and amateur numbers-theory whiz whose poker-playing exploits are chronicled by MICHAEL CRAIG in THE PROFESSOR, THE BANKER, AND THE SUICIDE KING: INSIDE THE RICHEST POKER GAME OF ALL TIME (Warner). In
BITTER MILK (Picador) doesn’t lack for offbeat and entertaining citizens to populate Chilhowee Mountain, the backwoods East Tennessee setting of Austinite JOHN MCMANUS’s first novel. There’s Avery Garland, who suffers from gender dysphoria. And her overweight nine-year-old son, Loren, and his prattling alter ego, Luther. And patriarch Papaw, who’s
Former Austinite OLEN STEINHAUER (currently of Budapest) invents a fictional Soviet bloc nation circa 1967 as the setting for 36 YALTA BOULEVARD (St. Martin’s Minotaur), the third in a series of brainy espionage novels featuring commie spy Brano Sev. Sev has fallen out of favor with the comrade lieutenant
When did I stop being cool?