IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE The holidays just wouldn’t seem right without perennial favorites like The Nutcracker, A Christmas Carol, and Miracle on 34th Street. Of course, you know how all those feel-good shows are going to end, so this year we encourage you to expand your repertoire. Check out these
A TIME TO REMEMBER When the heads of the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg planned the museum’s official mainland commemoration of the Pearl Harbor anniversary, they knew it was going to be important—this, after all, is the sixtieth year since the 1941 attack. More than three hundred
HOLD ON, MR. EX-RESIDENT ABC News veteran Sam Donaldson will be the grand marshal in the Las Palmas Del Sol Sun Bowl Parade in El Paso November 22. Have you been the grand marshal of an El Paso parade before? No, this is a high honor. Let me tell you
THE CHAMP The Cowboys’ stock may be down (okay, it’s Black Tuesday down), the Rangers may be struggling (okay, struggling like a beached whale), but at least we can brag on the Astros, who at press time were in the thick of the pennant race. Home team or not, though,
REMEMBER THE ALAMO CITY In San Antonio a prima ballerina takes the stage and beginner mariachis meet their masters November 16-18. But there’s more. Your weekend itinerary: Friday morning after ten o’clock, wander through the McNay Art Museum’s recently refurbished mansion and see “Corot to Picasso: European Masterworks From the
George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and me.
DEEP SINGING The Dallas Opera premieres popular composer Tobias Picker’s new English-language adaptation of Emile Zola’s Thérèse Raquin this month, and it will sizzle. Picker, who gained a Texas following with such haunting pieces as Old and Lost Rivers and The Encantadas while serving from 1985 to 1990 as composer-in-residence
GOOD FINDS It’s always a pleasant surprise to come across a fantastic outdoor sculpture in the middle of a downtown, to see a beautiful mural on the side of a building, or to hear a talented busker playing a tune on a city street. Lately, you can’t round a corner
THE SILENT TREATMENT Seventy-eight-year-old Marcel Marceau, who puts on more than two hundred pantomime shows a year around the world, will perform this month in Austin, Crockett, and Tyler. Are you generally a quiet person even when you’re not working, or do you cut loose and talk constantly? Generally, I
BRIGHT MINDS, SMALL CITIES Two small towns will honor two incredibly gifted native sons at special events this month. The first takes place October 4-6, when Larry McMurtry’s hometown of Archer City commemorates the thirtieth anniversary of the classic coming-of-age-in-a-small-town film, The Last Picture Show. The movie, based on McMurtry’s
“AND THAT SPELLS ‘DALLAS,’ MY DARLIN’, DARLIN’ DALLAS” In the minds of many folks, Dallas will forever be associated with a hit television show and braggadocio, but Big D is more than simply a place to spot big hair and pay homage to other stereotypes. It’s a wellspring of culture,
Belching the Lord's Prayer and other fine points of Texas etiquette.
Keeping time with the Texas Jewboys.
Houston gets cheap; the Art Guys suit up for an exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; John Leguizamo goes Live in Austin, Dallas, and Houston; and festivals fill the summer menu.
Mike Shea links Bud Shrake and Dan Jenkins.
Houston pitches a great weekend, museums across the state kid around, Jamie-Lynn Sigler slips into the role of a new soprano, and zoos go wild about their exhibits.
Lifesaving tips for new Texans.
Jeff McCord on Lucinda Williams
My dad at warand peace.
Dame Edna dresses up Houston; three new travel guides throw the book at Texas; a Flock of Seagulls (and other eighties acts you thought were lost at sea) return to Houston; and regional theater takes a bow in Austin, Fort Worth, and Waco.
Under the covers with five of my closest friends.
World-class photographers develop their work; Ann-Margret exposes herself; Ray Charles has the symphony on his mind; and horses ride herd on the state.
My assault on the body politic.
Jeff McCord on Charlie Robison
Jeff McCord on Alejandro Escovedo
Mike Shea on the new Terry Southern bio.
Austin circles its wagons at a new Star Canyon. Plus: The secret at Clark's Outpost in Tioga and two wine and food festivals that offer their fill.
With stars ranging from Willie Nelson to Tommy Lee Jones, an Austin awards show gets top billing. Plus: The North Texas Irish Festival harps on its success; Houston has a weekend perfect for the kids; El Paso packs the house for the Siglo de Oro; and Dallas' Meadows Museum has
What Texas should learn from the California energy mess.
. . . And the Earth Did Not Devour Him.
How the Texas Seven will change the state's prisons.
Valarie Rae Miller finds her better angels.
Alexis Bledel fits in as one of the girls.
How many people died in the New London school explosion of 1937?
Flash back to a grisly double-homicide—father and daughter slain aboard a yacht in California. Freeze the image of the teenage son who survived, only to be murdered in his hospital bed. Fast-forward ten years to detective Frank Harriman as he faces the awful possibility that the case might have wrongly
“I think with a name like Christopher Columbus Kraft, Jr., some of my life’s direction was settled from the start,” says NASA’s longtime flight director in this compelling autobiography. Like the discoverer of America, the Houston author also explored uncharted territory, and his last name suggests not only the aircraft
Like ZZ Top or AC/DC, the Toadies have become almost instantly identifiable. But it’s not because the Dallasites have flooded the market with similar-sounding albums. Instead their breakthrough single, 1995’s “Possum Kingdom,” has enjoyed a Spam-like shelf life. It has served as one of the top recurrent tracks on alternative,
With his sense of humor, his down-and-out songs, and his wordplay that turned country convention upside down, Leroy Preston gave Asleep at the Wheel dimensions it has lacked since the seventies. Kyle’s Jon Emery, a co-leader of Preston’s post-Wheel band, Whiskey Drinkin’ Music, reprises five of those songs here, and
What do you want the Old 97’s to be? When the Dallas band released their first CD, 1994’s Hitchhike to Rhome, they knocked down blazing alcohol-soaked love songs and a fine cover of Merle Haggard’s “Mama Tried,” firmly grabbing a spot in the alt-country canon. But on Satellite Rides, their
