Nearly fifteen years after Richard Linklater and I started talking about turning a Texas Monthly story into a major motion picture, it’s finally hitting the big screen, with a little help from Jack Black, Matthew McConaughey, Shirley MacLaine—and a seventy-year-old retired hairdresser from Rusk named Kay Baby Epperson.
Over the past fifteen years, John Friend turned his Woodlands–based Anusara style of yoga into an internationally popular brand. Then, in the space of a few weeks, it became hopelessly twisted amid a wild series of accusations of sexual and financial improprieties.
The acclaimed author is publishing his first novel, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk. And some of his neighbors may not be happy.
The author of Private Empire: ExxonMobile and American Power answers the question: In terms of difficulty, how would you compare reporting on Exxon with the reporting you did for your previous book, The Bin Ladens?…
The fourth volume of an epic LBJ biography stirs more controversy.
Six interesting facts about the retired CBS news anchorman found in his new book, Rather Outspoken.
In 2004 Dan Rather tarnished his career forever with a much-criticized report on George W. Bush’s National Guard service. Eight years later, the story behind the story can finally be told: what CBS’s top-ranking newsman did, what the president of the United States didn’t do, and how some feuding Texas…
The author of Cronkite answers the question: What’s the most surprising thing you learned about Walter Cronkite?…
The latest Alamo chronicler offers a glimpse of his reference library.
Why doesn’t Texas’s greatest movie actress get the respect she deserves?…
Robert Caro on LBJ. Marcus Luttrell on war. Douglas Brinkley on Walter Cronkite. James Donovan on the Alamo. Steve Coll on ExxonMobil. Ben Fountain on a surreal Dallas Cowboys halftime show. Dan Rather and Sissy Spacek on themselves. For some reason, May has turned out to be a month like…
1. Grapevine Vintage Railroad Nestled among the shops and restaurants along Main Street are several landmarks, including an eight-by-ten-foot 1909 calaboose and the 1888 Cotton Belt Depot, which houses the Grapevine Historical Museum. From there you can board Victorian-style passenger cars pulled by a 1953 diesel named Vinny for a…
The figures in the Tejano Monument, a 275-ton granite-and-bronze statue unveiled on the Capitol grounds in late March, depict the forging of modern Texas. A Spanish explorer gazes over a new world, his clothing and sword placing him in the early 1500’s, when Alonso Álvarez de Pineda became the first…
Collings makes some of the best acoustic guitars in the world and counts Lyle Lovett, Pete Townshend, Keith Richards, and Joni Mitchell among his customers. His company, located outside Austin on U.S. 290, is famed not only for the high quality of its instruments but also for its refusal to…
Here is a partial list of the nice people Skip Hollandsworth has written about since he joined the magazine as a staff writer in 1989: Charles Albright, a serial killer in Dallas who removed his victims’ eyes; Marie Robards, a Fort Worth teenager who killed her father by…
“I commend Paul Burka for bravely identifying who is ultimately responsible for the sorry state of Texas public school financing: the Texas electorate.”…
The Chicken Fried Steak Festival, George Clooney, and a Tribute to Roy Rogers . . .
After years of exporting prized dinosaur fossils to some of the world’s best museums, the state will be getting two huge exhibit halls, in Dallas and Houston.
How a rare statue in an unassuming temple made the capital city a place to seriously study Buddhism.
The Round Dance Halls of Texas, Kristin Chenoweth, and the Bathing Beauties Contest . . .
This once-industrial enclave has been reborn as the city's trendiest new spot. Here's a guide to the area's acclaimed restaurants, chic stores, and daring art galleries.
Roasting an Entire Steer, Fiddlers' Frolics, and the Moontower Comedy and Oddity Fest . . .
Andy Langer talks with Willie Nelson and his youngest son, Lukas, about "The Family," Willie's new album (Heroes), and passing the torch.
The executive editor on what it was like to work with Richard Linklater on Bernie, the star-studded film based on an East Texas murder story.
Houston Chronicle blogger Jenny Lawson (aka The Bloggess) found herself at the center of a two-day auction among twelve publishing houses for the rights to her debut memoir, Let's Pretend This Never Happened. How did she rise from unpaid blogger to New York Times bestseller?…
The Lone Star Jam, meeting Phil Collins, and the Houston Art Car Parade . . .
FOOD GURU MICHAEL POLLAN would be a fan of Oxheart. Admittedly, I haven’t asked him, but his famous imperative—“Eat food, not too much, mostly plants”—squares with the philosophy behind the highly anticipated vegetable-centric restaurant from husband-and-wife chefs Justin Yu and Karen Man. (In case you find yourself a…
The German novel, penned in 1867 and set in the just-settled Hill Country hamlet, gets a modern translation.
Bizarre similes pour forth from debut novelist Jonathan Woods’s fingers like wine from a bottomless bottle that is also missing its cork.
In the forthcoming Ron Paul’s rEVOLution, journalist Brian Doherty takes an up-close look at the libertarian Texas congressman.
The New Yorker writer talks about his latest book, Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power.
The executive editor on witnessing the rise and fall of John Friend, creator of Anusara yoga.
My mother-in-law knew how to sew, keep an immaculate house, and dress stylishly. In short, she was nothing like the unpolished young woman who married her son. Perhaps that’s why we loved each other so much.
Boot-scooting in the right direction, leaving New York, wondering about the yardman, and trying out the cowgirl look when you’re no longer 25.
Dear Jim Crane, new owner of the Houston Astros: Please don’t screw things up as badly as the last guy did.
Long before Walter Cronkite was the voice of the news, he was just a kid from Houston at the University of Texas, chasing girls, acting in school plays, and drinking cheap beer. Yet Douglas Brinkley, whose new biography of Cronkite will be released this month, argues that it was in…
