Dance Halls, Dive Bars, and More: The Good-Time Gathering Places of Texas
Appreciations by current and former staffers who know them all too well.
Senior editor John Spong holds a B.A. and a J.D. from the University of Texas. In 1997, after working two years as a civil litigator, he joined Texas Monthly as a fact-checker, then moved into a staff writing position in 2002. He was nominated for a National Magazine Award in 2010 for his story on Texas dance halls, “Step Right Up,” and has twice won the Texas Institute of Letters’ O. Henry Award for Magazine Journalism—for “The Good Book and the Bad Book,” about a censorship battle at a private school in Austin, and for “Holding Garmsir,” about a month he spent with a platoon of U.S. Marines fighting in Afghanistan. He is the author of A Book on the Making of Lonesome Dove, and his stories have appeared in numerous collections, including Best Food Writing 2012 (Da Capo Press, 2012) and The Best American Sports Writing 2009 (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009). Inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters in 2013, Spong also sits on the advisory council of the Wittliff Collections, at Texas State University. He lives in Austin, his home since 1971, with his wife, Julie Blakeslee, and their two sons, Willie Mo and Leon.
Articles by John Spong
A Fanboy’s Notes
Spoon is my favorite band. Spoon has a new album out. It is my favorite Spoon album. That is all.
Why I Want Texas to Keep Charlie Strong
It’s about more than character, recruiting, or staffing; it’s about how doing things the right way sometimes takes time.
Scenes From George Strait’s Gruene Hall Homecoming
The King of Country returned to the dancehall—where he and Ace in the Hole once played monthly sets—to celebrate the release of a new box set.
Feature
The Shot Not Heard Round the World
Elmo Henderson’s entire life story can be summed up in a single moment: when he stepped into the ring in San Antonio one night in 1972 and knocked out Muhammad Ali. At least that’s the way he tells it. And tells it.
Bloom of the Century
Big Bend roared back to life last year after spring rains unleashed a bounty of ocotillos, bluebonnets, and yuccas. Thankfully, photographer James H. Evans was there to capture it in living color.
The Will of God
I always knew that the work my dad did as an Episcopal priest and grief counselor was important. But I didn’t understand how important until the birth of my son.
The Hit List
A playlist of late-seventies and early-eighties country pop made popular by Urban Cowboy.
