Yes, I am one of those parents, the sort who takes his perfectly contented ten-year-old out of a relaxed neighborhood softball league and propels her into the hypercompetitive world of youth tournament sports. But you know what? It’s what Maisie wanted.
Everyone expected Clark Kent Ervin to parlay his loyal Bush Republicanism into big things in Washington. Which is why his sudden exit from the Department of Homeland Security was so surprising.
South from Alpine to Study Butte, west to Presidio, north to Marfa, and east to Alpine.
Panhandle Cope’s Coney Island, Canyon At Cope’s, the lunch counter with swivel stools will make you nostalgic for the fifties. All-American eats include chicken-fried steak, one-third-pound burgers, barbecue, grilled steaks, and, of course, hot dogs. On Saturdays, chow down on fried catfish and shrimp. 2201 Fourth Avenue, 806-655-1184. Lunch…
West from Dripping Springs to Johnson City, south to Blanco, southeast to Fischer, east to Wimberley, and north to Dripping Springs.
South from Amarillo to Tulia, east to Turkey, west to Silverton, and north, through Palo Duro Canyon, to Amarillo.
No one in McAllen saw Irene Garza leave Sacred Heart that night in 1960. The next morning, her car was still parked down the street from the church. She never came home.
North from Lufkin to Nacogdoches, east to San Augustine, southwest to Zavalla, west to Diboll, and north to Lufkin.
Texas-raised MITCH CULLIN has taken a lion-in-winter approach to the Sherlock Holmes myth, portraying the legendary sleuth as a beekeeping retiree drifting into the mists of forgetfulness on his Sussex Downs estate in A SLIGHT TRICK OF THE MIND (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday). And he’s done so in an elegantly entertaining…
The Panhandle DA known statewide for his zeal in busting drug dealers and abusers turns out to have been an addict. Prosecutor, heal thyself.
Subtitled Charles Bukowski and a Ballad for Gone America, HOTWALKER (HighTone), from El Paso singer-songwriter TOM RUSSELL, is not an album of songs but rather an ambitious, historical audio collage of music and spoken word that pines for the heady days of Jack Kerouac, Dave Van Ronk, Woody Guthrie, Lenny…
THE COMPLETE MERCURY RECORDINGS (Hip-O), from DOUG SAHM AND THE SIR DOUGLAS QUINTET, is a five-CD godsend that rescues many long-out-of-print albums and rarities from obscurity. Recorded just after Sahm’s initial Texas success, when he bolted for the more hospitable San Francisco, the six albums and one EP in this…
Two talented guys, Will Sheff and Jonathan Meiburg, meet in Austin when Meiburg joins Sheff’s band, OKKERVIL RIVER. To display Meiburg’s songwriting talents, they form a second group, Shearwater. Now both top the list of the city’s best young bands. But while Shearwater, with Meiburg’s crystalline vocals, sounds dynamic and…
“We ate our way through the Eisenhower recession, the Cuban missile crisis, Vietnam,” and a smorgasbord of other tragedies, says New York Post gossip maven LIZ SMITH of her ready-for-prime- rib social circle in DISHING (Simon & Schuster). This sassy memoir-with-occasional-recipe is the Fort Worth native’s lip-smacking tribute to her…
Thirteen-year-old Jasira’s sexual explorations are the truest gauge of her emotional state in ALICIA ERIAN’S brassy novel TOWELHEAD (Simon & Schuster). She is variously transported when she discovers the Big O, confused and hurt by a predatory neighbor, and finally satisfied by her first real boyfriend in this no-holds-barred fiction…
“I knew immediately that they’d be serving ice water in hell about the same time I’d be cast in [Sideways].”
April—People, Places, Events, Attractions 04.07.05 It has been ten years since my daughter SELENA was killed, and my family and I decided that we should organize a concert to remember her life and her music. Shortly after she died, I promised to keep her music alive as much as I…
If you ever plan to motor West, in West Texas that is, there’s only one highway that’s the best.
The Sipping News Give these splashy spring cocktails a spin. THE KISS Dragonfly, Hotel ZaZa, Dallas Layers are fashionable in cocktails too. 2 ounces Stolichnaya Razberi vodka 1 ounce fresh lemon juice 1 ounce simple syrup (2 parts sugar briefly boiled in 1 part…
The oldest drive in Texas didn’t have any tolls, passing lanes, or shoulders. In fact it wasn’t much of a road at all. The Chisholm and Goodnight-Loving trails were the superhighways of the legendary nineteenth century cattle industry—the pinnacle of a true Texas drive.
Former Texas Monthly senior editor Robert Draper on writing about his high school nemesis, Clark Kent Ervin, the former inspector general of homeland security.
After just one visit, I fell in love with Wimberley. No wonder—the Hill Country hamlet is full of antiques stores, good food, and art studios.
Jaden’s formula for success involves equal parts style and sustenance. Totally of the moment, this new Dallas restaurant sports the obligatory slick fifties motifs set off by exposed ductwork and oversized hanging lamp shades. Some nice original art—like the sinuous copper-wire-and-stainless-steel sculpture near the entrance—adds to the equation. As for…
Senior editor Pamela Colloff on the murder of McAllen beauty queen Irene Garza and confronting the longtime suspect, John Feit.
Writer-at-large Suzy Banks, executive editor S.C. Gwynne, senior editor Michael Hall, and new-media director Charlie Llewellin talk about hitting the road for this month’s cover story.
Why Texas could lose the biotech revolution—and end up, once again, an economic also-ran.
