The Beat Goes OnSteaming, cinnamony, sweet as your darling’s kiss, MEXICAN HOT CHOCOLATE might be the perfect twist on the traditional box of candy this Valentine’s. For each serving, heat a cup of water, milk, cream, or any combination thereof along with about a third of a tablet of Mexican
Innuendo is definitely on the menu at the Strip House, a New York import that is Houston’s latest purveyor of prime beef. The red flocked wallpaper evokes a classy bordello, languorous French burlesque dancers gaze from vintage photos, and at least once a night, the sound system can be counted
Who thinks tuition deregulation stinks? Middle-class kids—and me.
One riot, one Ranger, one much-maligned historian: rereading Walter Prescott Webb.
Even stray cats and dogs need a Gandhi-like figure.
He was, for a while, and look what happened: Today one of the great songwriters in the alternative-rock universe is a 44-year-old manic-depressive living with his parents in Waller. And the worst thing about it is that he’s about to be famous again.
The fairy tale is long over, but reality hasn’t necessarily set in.
• Matthew Dowd, 43, and Mark McKinnon, 49, Austin The two Bush campaign veterans have returned to Texas, consultant Dowd to set up his own firm and media guru McKinnon to return to Public Strategies, his old stomping ground. Their political talent and impeccable credentials will have an impact here.•
• Rick Perry, 54, Austin He’s one of the best campaigners Texas has ever seen, but that’s all that can be said. Beyond the inherent powers of the office, the assets that earn a governor extra clout are an uplifting vision for the future, broad-based popular support, and the respect
No, you can’t shoot your adulterous wife.
Blondness—natural or otherwise— is even more Texan than Big Hair.
Like the singer Gillian Welch, Austinite DAO STROM’s stark and lonesome music seems to hail from the Appalachians, though both she and Welch were raised in California. The similarities end there, however. Strom was born in Saigon (she fled the country in her mother’s arms) and is a graduate of
When word arrived that Dallas-reared Redneck Mother RAY WYLIE HUBBARD was releasing an album made up almost entirely of covers, anticipation set in. Hearing artists break from their modus operandi to creatively interpret the works of others can be an unexpected treat. But to paraphrase Groucho Marx: I had a
Texas lost a founding father of tejano when Bishop native ISIDRO LOPEZ passed away last August. López, whose half-Apache blood earned him the nickname El Indio, was a born star; his chiseled good looks, seductively warm sax sound, and impossibly mellifluous voice destined him for fame. Starting on the saxophone
An exit interview with Hockaday’s headmistress.
In THOMAS ZIGAL’s sophisticated thriller THE WHITE LEAGUE (Toby Press), New Orleans coffee magnate Paul Blanchard peeks beneath the Mardi Gras masks of his fellow captains of industry and discovers a secret society still fighting for segregation long after its antecedent—the real-life White League—was believed disbanded in 1877. Blanchard, cut
Secrets are hard to keep in a small town like Pinetta, Florida, and a devastating hurricane further lays bare the private lives of Pinetta’s families in AS HOT AS IT WAS YOU OUGHT TO THANK ME (Back Bay Books), a jewel of a novel by Austinite NANCI KINCAID. Blossoming
As a memoir, ONE RANGER (UT Press) is all over the map, but, oh, the places you’ll go in this collection of anecdotes from retired Texas Ranger H. JOAQUIN JACKSON, with DAVID MARION WILKINSON. Jackson serves as a folksy but savvy tour guide to a career that stretched from 1966
A brush with death in Afghanistan
How I’ll change life at the Capitol as governor. (Hint: Spaying is involved.)
Dallas-based Belo, now a national media powerhouse, started as a small paper in Galveston.
After a quick trip to Houston for a football game—and a visit to the Johnson Space Center—I’ve come up with a new mission.
Texans have the best hand when it comes to Texas Hold ’Em.
Associate editor Katy Vine on prostitution in Odessa and writing about sex.
Illustrator Tim Bower, who worked on this month’s cover story, talks about drawing, humor, and his favorite Bum Steer.
Senior editor Anne Dingus on the Bum Steers traditions and mocking those other Simpsons.
Celebrate San Antonio (Favorite Recipes Press 1986, first printing).
“There’s not anything that’s happened since Election Day that proves to me that Bush is going to be moderate at all.”
Minister of Health Jim Atkinson cures what ails us.
Why isn’t this man smiling? If you were the chairman of Belo, the suddenly stumbling media conglomerate, you wouldn’t be smiling either. Then again, Robert Decherd is sure there’s only good news ahead.
Do you suspect that your friends hit the “delete” key whenever they see that you’ve e-mailed them the usual lame, out-of-focus pictures from your vacation? You’re right—which is why you might want to sign up for the Travel and Food Photography Workshop in Mexico this March. Under the keen eyes
As nearly as I can tell, chef Robert Gadsby’s mind is moving at warp speed. His complex, multi-ingredient, Asian-inflected French cuisine took shape when he opened the first Noé restaurant, in the Omni Hotel in Los Angeles, in 2003, and his globe-trotting experiments continue at the second Noé, in
The election of a lesbian sheriff in Dallas County is a reminder of how far we’ve come, in a very short period, on the question of sexual orientation.
Meet the 22-year-old hooker who, with her fellow “massage therapists,” scandalized Odessa
How the Texans who organized the Swift Boat Vets capsized John Kerry’s presidential campaign.
A read on textbooks.
We Texans have long considered ourselves, in mythical terms, old cowhands. But we’re waking up to discover that we’re really city slickers.
No one’s more of a populist than JAMES MCMURTRY, whose tales put a human face on the downtrodden. The only thing surprising about his entry into protest music is that it took him so long. WE CAN’T MAKE IT HERE is a seven-minute state-of-the-union mantra that looks at the Bush
Michael Ramos used to be a coveted player in the Austin scene; now he’s sought out by the likes of Paul Simon and John Mellencamp. Ramos spent years as a member of the BoDeans, but it’s his current employer, Patty Griffin, who encouraged him to explore his own unique fusion
Like the blues, jazz is steeped in such tradition that players can spend decades finding their own voice. Many never do. Which makes what JASON MORAN has accomplished in just over five years of recording even more remarkable. Same Mother (Blue Note) is simply the latest in a series of—there’s
What 2005 has to do with 2006.
There is nothing subtle about THE LANGUAGE OF SYCAMORES (New American Library), the latest novel from LISA WINGATE, a Central Texas writer who moonlights as an inspirational speaker (or vice versa). Wingate delivers a relentlessly uplifting message in the voice of narrator Karen Sommerfield, who is struggling to weather a
Lyndon Johnson cited passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 as the proudest moment of his presidency, and in JUDGMENT DAYS (Houghton Mifflin), Pulitzer prize—winning journalist NICK KOTZ puzzles together the complex alliance between LBJ and Martin Luther King Jr. that resulted in the landmark civil rights accomplishments of
Houston native JAN BURKE has reprised salty-tongued reporter Irene Kelly for the first time since 1999 in BLOODLINES (Simon & Schuster), an ambitious thriller that spans decades to deliver a sprawling tale of murder, missing persons, and mistaken identity. The elaborate plot kicks off on one eventful night in 1958,
In 1932, when the Citrus Fiesta held its first PRODUCT COSTUME STYLE SHOW, Mission’s beauties slipped into outfits that were, shall we say, crude—just imagine the look, and smell, of models decked out in cabbage leaves. But technology and ambition over the years have led to a more sophisticated couture:
Fairs, fests, and other reasons to get together.The Royal Coronation, one of the most anticipated events of the festival, takes place on January 27. Among those honored will be the new King Citrus, whose identity is top secret until the night of the ceremony. Jud Flowers, 2004’s king, shares his
Part folk art, part pageantry, Mission’s Texas Citrus Fiesta (January 21—29) is one of America’s classic festivals, displaying native creativity while promoting the area’s main export: fruit. Locals spend hundreds of hours decorating costumes and floats with Valley produce for the Product Costume Style Show and the Parade of Oranges,
The Sam Rayburn Library and Museum, in Bonham, hosts an open house on January 6 to celebrate what would be the 123rd birthday of the former Speaker of the U.S. House. H. G. Dulaney went to work for Rayburn in 1951 and oversaw the library from 1957 to 2002. He
Political junkies who have felt adrift since the end of the presidential campaign should make their way to Dallas this month, where three exhibits will help fill the void. At Southern Methodist University’s Bridwell Library until January 20, “From George to George: Presidential Elections in the United States From 1789
The month in politics.Thousands of Texans descend on the capitol during a legislative session, ranging from lobbyists to tourists (you’ll have no trouble telling which is which). Visit during the 140 days from January 11 to May 30, and by all means take the thirty-minute guided tour. But if you
