Twenty-two years ago a Texas Ranger was shot and killed during a drug raid on the home of Greg Ott, a philosophy graduate student. Even today, no one really knows what happened on that tragic night.
Although Johnnie Swearingen was one of Texas' best self-taught artists, his riotous paintings of his native Washington County were anathema to some of the local gentry. Now, in a satisfying twist, the works are proudly displayed at the Chappell Hill Historical Museum. Call it artistic justice.
Susan Dell, the wife of Michael and the owner of a pricey couture salon that bears her name, is the perfect symbol of the new, mega-monied Austin. So what if its thunderstruck natives don't know quite what to make of her? Meet the Capital City's designing woman.
At 38, Roger Clemens, the greatest pitcher ever to emerge from Texas, is no longer carving up the American League like he used to. Is the Rocket about to flame out?
Who deserves credit for Lyndon Johnson's newly burnished reputation? Harry Middleton, the director of the LBJ presidential library, who made hours and hours of White House audiotapes public—and in doing so, remade history.
A nodding acquaintance with golf is sufficient to enjoy Royal and Ancient: Blood, Sweat, and Fear at the British Open (Villard), by Bristol’s Curt Sampson. The book retraces Jean Van De Velde’s inglorious loss at the 1999 Open, but its heart is the historical (and sometimes hysterical) evolution of the
It is, perhaps, damning with faint praise, but for a great summer read you can’t do much better than Austinite Darryl Wimberley’s Dead Man’s Bay: A Case for Barrett Raines (Thomas Dunne Books). When we find the detective wrapping himself around a cold beer at 7:45 of a workday morning,
Their voices ring with raw defiance. Recorded by John and Alan Lomax between 1933 and 1934, these work songs find beauty in the worst of horrors and preserve what is an all but forgotten musical heritage. The prison camps of the Brazos and Trinity river bottoms existed purely for exploitation,
Set largely during the reign of King Tutankhamen, this treasure-filled mystery will have other writers regretfully murmuring, “Tut, tut.” The third novel by Austin’s Carol Thurston, it brims with mummies, gods, and pharaohs, providing a mega-fix for Egyptophiles and a great read for everyone else. The Eye of Horus begins
Three albums in and Denton’s Slobberbone is firing on all cylinders. Brent Best and his band have tamed their “AC/DC of alt-country” comparisons, creating a twelve-song cycle of barn-burning beauty. Recorded at Ardent Studios in Memphis, Everything You Thought Was Right Was Wrong Today brims with the fervor of the
Johnny Horton was best known for his “saga songs,” historical narratives that were popular in country music in the early sixties, right around the time the urban folk movement was hitting the pop charts. The longtime Tyler resident’s best-known saga song was “Battle of New Orleans,” which was written by
What the burgeoning rock en español market lacks is the bilingual answer to a band as radio-ready as Aerosmith, Pearl Jam, or Bon Jovi. That’s the contention of Latin pop producer Emilio Estefan, Jr., who signed Austin’s Vallejo as the first rock act on his label. Vallejo has the requisite
In the early seventies Doug Sahm put out a 45 with a song called “Be Real” on the A-side. It was released under the pseudonym of Wayne Douglas (Sahm’s Sir Douglas Quintet was riding the psychedelic wave in San Francisco at the time), the thinking being that disc jockeys would
In the fifties and sixties James Ling built LTV into one of the country's powerhouse companies. But after three decades out of the spotlight, what's his plan today?
From Fort Worth's Amon Carter Museum to Houston's Pennzoil Place to Dallas' forthcoming Cathedral of Hope, architect Philip Johnson's grand vision for Texas is set in stone.
For a laid-back coastal paradise that's reminiscent of the Greek Islands in the seventies, pack a bathing suit and head to Montezuma, Costa Rica. But be forewarned: Half of the adventure is getting there.
Houston audiences get their fill of "Tamalalia 2000." Plus: High school baseball players carry the Mantle; a candid camera captures presidents and their families; Bill Cosby says the darndest things; and music fans pay the Price.
It’s funny because I was talking to Ralph Lauren once and he said, “Oh, this is a really painful business.” And I thought, “Well, if Ralph Lauren can say that, what’s it like for everybody else?” You need a lot of determination, and you need to stick to your goals.
She sensed that the line she’d just drawn was somehow wrong. What she didn’t know was how to make it feel right. Too much was missing. Might always be missing. Rationally she knew that, too, yet she still couldn’t accept that no one would ever know how Tashat came to
It was early morning but already a rusted Ford Escort gathered lazy johns across the street from a downtown bar. Spanish moss hung limp as a washrag from the magnificent live oaks which routinely buckled Tallahassee’s sidewalks into uneven surfaces, like ice floes jammed in a fjord. The trees here,
Ginger Crisps1/2 cup butter at room temperature 1 cup sifted powdered sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 3/4 cups sifted flour 1/2 cup milk, warmed to room temperature 1/4 cup very finely chopped candied gingerPreheat oven to 325 degrees. Cream butter. Sift sugar again and beat with butter until smooth.
