The Hutchison campaign’s Joe Pounder criticized Perry yesterday for getting his facts mixed up over how much Texas gets from the feds from the federal gasoline tax money it sends to Washington. Here’s what Pounder wrote: Rick Perry and his campaign are confused. They are so eager to launch negative
A commenter who calls himself/herself "Cow Droppings" posted this response to my discussion of "The Perry Agenda," in which I wrote about Perry's stated priorities for state government [a two-thirds vote to raise taxes; making permanent the tax cut for small businesses that pay the margins tax; criminal penalties for
This is the second Cousin’s location that I’ve tried, and it’s the better of the two by a slight edge. After coming from Bill’s in White Settlement, my mouth desperately needed some edible meat. Waiting in line, I could smell the smokiness, and my
It’s not hard to figure out why Governor Perry removed the chairman and two members of the Texas Forensic Science Commission just before its scheduled meeting: He was about to be embarrassed, and not just in Texas but nationally. The commission was going to hear a report from an arson
The child custody battle between the State of Texas and a fundamentalist Mormon sect prompted many people to wonder how 437 kids could have been ripped away from their parents. When the criminal trials of a dozen sect members got under way this month, the question became, Was it really
In his conversation with Texans who were able to connect with his video address, Governor Perry offered new proposals for his next campaign. Let’s say that you had been governor for the past nine years. What would your top priorities be? Here’s what I would identify: * Improve the quality
Recipe by Donna Xander.
Christian Sosa, the producer of a new horror flick called The Eves, talks about the film, the cast, and shooting in southeast Texas.
How mixed martial arts went from what one senator called “human cockfighting” to an event that draws record crowds and millions of pay-per-view buyers.
The Houston Chronicle’s loss is CultureMap’s gain—Shelby Hodge.
For some University of Texas football fans, getting together with friends to eat, drink, and rally before a game is a ritual that they wouldn’t miss for the world. Photographs by Kristin Ellertson
Texas City–native Opie Otterstad discusses painting sports figures, being a Texan, and signing bats.
Austin-based and independent filmmaker Andrew Bujalski talks about Beeswax, relationships, working with friends, and the allure of documentaries.
I’ve read more articles on overscheduled children than I care to count, and I like to think that I’m very in tune with trying to balance school, free play, and scheduled activities. But am I?
Even someone who supports the death penalty, as you do, can and should be up in arms over the Cameron Willingham case.
While traveling in Mount Arenal, I ponder the Costa Rican tourist slogan, “Pura vida.”
The Nicoya Peninsula has some of the best wildlife seeking, bird watching, and hiking in the hemisphere.
Recipe from Chef David Garrido, Garrido’s, Austin
It was an era when segregation and civil rights were still issues and liberals had a base from which to run. That Texas is gone.
The queen of the rodeo may not have been mother of the year but her pecan pralines were to die for.
Exactly one year ago in this space Evan Smith bid farewell to Mike Levy, founder of TEXAS MONTHLY and its publisher for 35 years. This month I find myself writing you about another profound departure: Last month was the final issue in which Evan’s name appeared at the top
1. ELLIS ISLAND AND A TRAGEDY IN TEXASThe men in the Schriever family were venturesome types who immigrated to America to better themselves or took to the sea. Schriever’s paternal grandfather, Bernhard, after whom he was named, had jumped ship as a young German sailor in the port of Norfolk,
Nine years as editor of this magazine taught me a few things, like failure is always an option, the writers are usually right, and whatever you do, stay far, far away from postcoital astronauts.
If you really want to scare your boots off this Halloween, take a look at these eight places, which our bloodcurdling, hair-raising, nerve-racking research has determined to be the state’s spookiest.
Raise a Pearl beer to our ten greatest college football plays. Ever.
The HISTORYIn 1876 salesman John W. Gates brought barbed wire to Texas when he wagered $1 million that he could build a fence that would capably contain cattle. Some incredulous gambler took the bet. Gates erected a fence in San Antonio’s Military Plaza and shocked a gathered crowd as a
Can I unfriend a Facebook friend?
Bryan A. Garner on being a grammarian.
Bryan A. Garner on being a grammarian.
Born in Los Angeles, the 56-year-old songwriter has lived everywhere from Austin and Brooklyn to Vancouver and war-torn Nigeria, but he now calls El Paso home. His ambitious, literary-minded writing has resulted in more than twenty albums; the latest, Blood and Candle Smoke (Shout Factory), was just released.You set
Like many contemporary Nashville recordings, Revolution (Columbia), the third album from Lindale fireball Miranda Lambert, is a country record in attitude only. Pedal steels are fleeting, and you’ve heard less electric guitar grunge on a Nirvana CD. The sound is edgy, compressed—and fatiguing. Which is a shame. Talent
It was the kind of thing that Austin nurtures so well: A chance assemblage of unknown songwriters began sharing the stage and then evolved into something larger than the sum of its parts. The Band of Heathens became a hometown favorite and released a couple live albums. Their lineup
The tragic 2007 shooting death of New Bohemians guitarist/keyboardist Carter Albrecht rocked the Dallas music scene. Albrecht was a well-liked and valued member of several bands, including the indie-pop outfit Sorta and the locally popular Sparrows. Playing alongside him in both groups was bassist Danny Balis, who recorded his
The Massachusetts-born journalist has never been afraid to rankle the establishment: In 1971 he obtained the infamous Pentagon Papers from Daniel Ellsberg, which uncovered the government’s secret history of the war in Vietnam, and his 1988 Vietnam exposé, A Bright Shining Lie, earned him a National Book Award and a
Jerome Coe, the narrator of Dallas native Bill Cotter’s dark and picaresque Fever Chart, accurately (if uncharitably) describes himself as a “needy, yellow, luckless, less-than-reliable mutilatee who comes with fallible shut-off valves.” Nevertheless, one is charmed by Jerome from the moment he appears, newly discharged from the Boll
Two-time Texas Institute of Letters Award winner Michael Mewshaw has delivered an impeccable eleventh novel, Lying with the Dead, which plumbs the depths of one dysfunctional Maryland family’s misery. Mitchell siblings Maury, Quinn, and Candy find their happiness to be directly proportional to the distance between them and
Downtown San Angelo.
Ables, who grew up in Brady, owns and runs Ables Top Hat Chimney Sweeps. He has been sweeping chimneys in Central Texas for almost thirty years.When I was 28, my wife and I moved into a house in Brady, and I started looking for someone who could sweep our chimney.
RDG + Bar Annie, Houston and Park, Dallas
San Antonio
Drew Barrymore keeps Austin weird.
How to take five dozen girls and turn them into eleven rock bands in one week.
The tragic case of Lloyd and Kim Yarbrough raises an old question: Why doesn’t the decision to die belong to the person who is dying?
Turns out being a test subject for a dermatology research lab is not the best thing that could ever happen to a girl.
Ever considered eating at this four-diamond restaurant – but daunted by the price tag? Ah, the beauty of the Go Texan Restaurant Round-Up. Now through Friday, October 2nd, enjoy the nearby bounty of Texas meat, fish and produce, all prepared by the innovative Executive Chef Jonathan Gelman
An unsigned editorial in today’s Midland Reporter-Telegram expresses concern that the $12 billion in stimulus funds that were used to balance the budget “might some day come back to haunt us.” The paper was alerted to the danger by “a recent report to Midlanders from Tom Craddick, our
Larry McGuire ought to be buffing his nails on the front of his chef’s jacket right about now. Esquire just named Perla’s, his baby, one of its best new restaurants of the year. The annual list is compiled by restaurant critic John Mariani. Perla’s, on S. Congress in
The resignation of Tina Benkiser from the Republican Party of Texas provides a great opportunity for Texas Republicans to begin to right the ship. While the proper purpose of a political party is to support its grassroots in making its platform a reality, grassroots activists in Texas have become acutely
This headline from a press release from the Perry campaign caught my attention: Kay Bailout Express delivers more earmarks, fails to protect landowners The first part of the release attacks Hutchison for voting for the Department of Interior's appropriations bill: Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison today continued her 16-year tradition of
Chris Cillizza, author of “The Fix,” the Washington Post’s politics blog, criticized Rick Perry last week for suggesting that Hutchison might not run: Perry, during a sit-down with a dozen or so Washington-based reporters late last week, said that although Hutchison has already announced her candidacy, he is
