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The Quidnunc

Hunting down ZZ Top imposters; staying dry with party-giver Frances Billups; test-driving fine art in Beaumont.

Puzzle

The Hole Truth

Texas Primer: The Rose Window

The secrets of love seen through a glass, clearly.

You Can’t Get There From Here

From Houston’s Miss Molly to San Antonio’s Claude Morgan, Texas is full of local music heroes. Does their road to success have to pass through Austin?

The National Tour of Texas

The view from the Great Freeway: I-35 is two things, the speediest drive from Dallas to the Valley and the clearest division of Texas into West and East.

Burger Joint Venture

Want to eat fast and cheap? Fast-food kiosks are the answer. Here’s how these diminutive drive-throughs stake up.

Behind the Lines

The Real Estate Stomach

The Apple Version

Walt Disney, Howard Johnson, and Margery Post Merriweather have one thing in common: they’re all trapped inside Max Apple’s new novel.

The National Tour of Texas

I’ve long dreamed of driving every highway in Texas. This year I’m doing it—all 32,000 miles worth.

Total Hit

Nobody could stop San Antonio’s killer cop—except another cop.

Between a Hard Rock and a Place

The world’s hottest restaurant chain turns into Texas’ hottest restaurant feud.

Touts

Ranking the files.

State Secrets

A gloomy prediction for Texas banks; the oil crisis becomes a steel crisis; how Lloyd Bentsen’s new chairmanship can help Texas.

You May Not Need It, But You Gotta Have It

Arresta is a toy store for grown-ups, where every item is selected to seduce the slavishly stylish.

Roar of the Crowd

Battle of the Alamo, Part Two

Texas Monthly Reporter

The citizens of Muleshoe lose their only hospital, thanks to a California chain; the citizens of Houston learn the value of caution, thanks to a local developer; the citizens of the world get a chance to improve their potency, thanks to the Aggies.

What’s the Sound of One Texan Meditating?

John Toler switched from advertising to Zen, Emerson to Buddha, and Lubbock to the Land of the Lotus.

The Quidnunc

Celebrating the Day of the Dead with David Byrne; digging for Texas dirt with snoop queen Kitty Kelley; playing nuclear war games in San Antonio.

Puzzle

Take a Seat

The Coronary Bypass

In Texas, survivors of this life-and-death operation wear their scars like medals of honor.

The Three Sisters

Crimes of the Heart is a warm spill of sunshine, but Betty Blues is a mindless lump of misery and ¡Three Amigos! isn’t friendly at all.

The Left Side of the Menu

Admit it. The first courses always seem more interesting than the entrées. Why not make a meal of them?

No Promises

For eight years, I had a love affair with Houston. When the good times ended, we drifted apart. But while it lasted, we had the time of our lives.

1987 Bum Steer Awards

A year of anguished Arabs, bigshot bankrupts, crazy cookbooks, despoiled dinosaurs, exhibitionist editors, foiled fugitives, greens-eating graduates, half-cocked hashish, in flagrante inmates, jolly jailers, kinky kilocycles, late lobsters, moistened mayors, and northbound Nicaraguans.

Enter, With Trumpets

A series of world premieres commissioned by the Houston Symphony Orchestra has brought a dash of fanfare to Jones Hall.

Behind the Lines

The law that changed nothing.

Science Marches On

UT historian William Goetzmann traces America’s belief in endless possibilities to the boundless curiosity of its earliest explorers.

Art of the People

An innovative folk art exhibition at the San Antonio Museum of Art affirms the irrepressible spirit of the Mexican people.

And a Piñata in a Pear Tree

In eight square blocks of Nuevo Laredo you can sample a cactus taco, hone your bargaining skills, and buy the best Christmas gifts on the border.

The Wright House

For the first time since Sam Rayburn’s day, the Speaker of the House will be a Texan. And if Jim Wright of Fort Worth is to be successful, he’ll have to remember what Rayburn taught him.

The Last Resort

Texans are always looking for a new frontier, a place where business people can do business without worrying about a lot of bureaucrats. Want to make it in Texas today? Come to Belize.

Making It in the Bust

At a time when Texas seems to have lost its gift for creating fortunes, there has emerged a group of entrepreneurs who are making money by catering to the needs of people who are going broke.

Famous Fixers

They have done it all: saved New York City and Massachusetts, written economic classics, created new companies, and turned old ones around. Now, at our request, they’re fixing Texas.

Lessons From the Golden Apple

Empty office buildings . . . bankrupt developers . . . budget deficits. It’s Manhattan, 1975. Things sure have changed, and by learning from some Yankee real estate barons, maybe we can find a way out of our troubles.

Against the Grain

One school of thought holds that when the economy is in a nosedive, that’s the time to go into business. At least that’s what a farmer, an oilman, a developer, and a banker believe.

Advice From the Experts

We gave a bunch of smart Texans $50,000. (Okay, we didn’t really, we just said we did.) The money comes with these strings attached: it has to be invested in Texas now, and the investments have to pay off by 1996.

Southern Biscuit Muffins

Recipe from Castle Hill Cafe, Austin10 cups flour 1 cup sugar 6 tablespoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 1 1/4 pound margarine cubed 4 cups cold milkThese are bite-size muffins; use a small-muffin pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.In a bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Mix

On the Menu: Castle Hill Cafe

ONE OF THE FEW COMPLAINTS we have ever heard about Castle Hill Cafe is that it is too loud—which is true. But the acoustics in this former grocery store built in 1896 are only partly at fault. Blame instead the multitude of loyal customers who flock to this low-key and

Keeping up with the Perots; pomp-adoring Charlie Sexton; sewing up the ses-quilt-centennial.

How Sheik Yamani’s departure will affect the price of oil; what the new immigration law will do to Texas; analyzing the election returns.

Texas Monthly Reporter

Screaming headlines and shameless photos make Laredo’s El Arma! the largest-selling Spanish weekly in the U.S.; Norbert Lyssy has mile to go before he sleeps (soundly); within our midst lies an alien and insurgent clan, the New England of Texas.

Scratch Shot

The Color of Money veers off into technique; Police goes flaccid; Menage succumbs to mystification; Round Midnight reduces jazz to a dirge; Something Wild has a lurid kick.

Wide-open Blues

From James Clay to John Park, Texas tenor sax masters prove their mettle on new LPs.

Short and Sweet

Festive Mexican pastries give a new perspective on snacking. Here’s where to find them.

Touch Me, Feel Me, Heal Me!

I was curious when I found that three of my friends had delved into the mysteries of psychic surgery. After three “bloody operations” of my own, I knew what it was all about. About $30 a minute.

No Dancin’ In Anson

It doesn’t matter whether you want to two-step or tango. In this church-run town, one commandment rules supreme: Thou Shalt Not Boogie.

Moments of Glory

Texas Medal of Honor winners remember the day when they were invincible.

Why Inman Left

The departure of MCC’s chief signals a new beginning for the company—and an end to Austin’s high-tech boom.

On the Menu: Earl Abel’s

Earl Abel’s is closed.

On the Menu: Wildfire

It’s probably not fitting to call Georgetown a small town anymore. With incredible growth brought on by development in north Austin and Round Rock, a considerable university population and a burgeoning cultural scene, it’s hardly Mayberry, USA. But it does have a town square, a lunch counter, a historic