Columns

Behind the Lines

On winning the National Magazine Award.

Teachers’ Threat

A professional educator flunks the test. He asks all the wrong questions and gives the wrong answers.

The Vienna Goods

Austrian artists entered the twentieth century a few years early.

Artichoke Season

The Alley turns Artichoke into candy. Whorehouse comes to Texas, where it belongs. The audience talks back to Women and Men.

Taking It to the Limits

Austin City Limits makes pop music on television worth watching-and listening to. Also, musings on the superiority of Metroplex radio.

The Firing Line

The first shot in Clements’ campaign to cut 25,000 state employees fells 68 casualties.

Lonesome Cowboys

When You Comin’ Back, Red Ryder? was already a bad play before it became a terrible movie.

If You Knew Sushi

Good-bye, tacos. Hello, sukiyaki. A few restaurants are showing Texans the art of Japanese cooking.

Pitched on Bach

J. S. Bach thrives in San Antonio and Fort Worth. Austin’s Dickran Atamian proves he’s a better pianist than entrepreneur.

Sold American

China wants to drill for oil—and guess who knows how.

Behind the Lines

The medical miasma.

The Dark at the End of the Tunnel

Houston’s Museum of Fine Art resurrects the genius of Mark Rothko. James Surls tries to answer the tricky question: what is Texas art? Amarillo hosts five pioneers of American photography.

A Tale of Two Coasts

The best thing about a trip to Florida is coming back to Padre Island.

See No Evil

Dallas Theater Center welcomes Nazis to its stage. Houston’s Theatre Under the Stars turns Dickens into a funky musical.

Climbing Rocky Hill

Houston guitarist Rocky Hill is a rising star; catch him if you can.

Ready, Aim…Click

You’ve Come a Long Way, Biscuits

The breads that won the West aren’t getting older, they’re getting better.

Who Needs Jones Hall?

Austin and Corpus Christi like their symphony orchestras just fine, thank you. Texas Opera Theater tries to break the language barrier.

The Ice Cometh, Man

Trees came crashing down, power lines writhed on the ground, the lights went out, and the heat went off. It was Dallas’ trial by ice.

Heavenly Hosts

Forget the church, forget the steeple, turn on the tube to see all the people.

Behind the Lines

A farewell to celebrities and to arms.

Barthelme the Scribbler

Barthelme is a humane writer, but in Great Days he erased al his humans. Also, a look at two novels of the Texas hinterlands.

Golden Oldies

Look, but don’t touch-three museums with glittering antiques from Pompeii, India, and Peru.

No Means for the End

Theatre Three in Dallas went out on a limb with their production of Happy End. Oops.

Gather Ye Records While Ye May

And T-shirts and photos and Elvis’ dinner jacket-all at the first Dallas-Fort Worth Records Collectors’ Convention.

Rebel with a Cause

Can a Texas revolutionary find happiness exiled in Europe? Not when his revolution is in Mexico.

The Seep of Death

Chemical waste disposal sits are environmental time bombs-if they don’t get you know, they’ll get you later.

The Long Brawl

Clint Eastwood stars in a movie about a macho man with a heart of gold and a sense of humor.

Ben’s Ballet

Artistic director Ben Stevenson keeps Houston Ballet on its toes.

Through All Kinds of Weather

The best thing about the weather is complaining about it.

Out with a Bang

‘Twas the season to see Dallas Civic Opera.

Behind the Lines

As New Ulm went, so goes New York.

Just Whistlin’ Dixie

Way down up on the Suwannee River and uptown Saturday night; tracking a few Southern women.

Power to the Little People

Why can’t grown-up theater be as good as children’s?

The Joy of Six

The difference between eleven-man and six-man football is a lot more than five men.

A Chance of Face

At last the truth about beauty salon make-overs: the new you may not be a change for the better.

Starring Rowles

Last year’s jazz records are this year’s best buys.

Coup de Foie Gras

French chefs are revolting against classical cuisine, and some of their new creations are definitely revolting.

Conductor Dating

San Antonio Symphony audiences are ready for another rendezvous with François Huybrechts.

Behind the Lines

Stone walls do not a prison make.

The Emperor’s Old Clothes

Old embroidery doesn’t die, it just becomes art.

Blind Alley

Alley Theater’s season opener, Scream, was about Jews and Nazis. It was also about how not to run a regional theater.

A Call to Farms

The Rockefellers are coming, and J.C. Lewis thinks they’re after the American farmer.

It’s a Small World

Don’t laugh at a model railroader or call his little train a toy.

Polk Salad Days

Music to live in Austin for.

Celluloid Circus

The New York Film Festival is a movie addict’s biggest fix.

The Graining of America

If Jesus had tried to feed the multitudes with today’s bread, he would have been drummed out of the miracle business.

Sacred Cows

Cows are dumb, they eat a lot, and they cost more to raise than they’re worth. Still, you can’t help loving ’em.

Bella Norma

Now you like it, now you don’t, now you like it again—Houston Grand Opera’s Norma.

Behind the Lines

A funny thing happened on the way to the governor’s office.