Texas Monthly articles from April 2004

Texas Monthly archives from April 2004

To my ears: I've never had much to do with Texas music, but--thank goodness--Texas music has a lot to do with me.(The Music Issue (Behind The Lines))
April 1, 2004... "HILLBILLY MUSIC." THAT was my mother's judgment of one of the genres featured in this issue. I must have been an impressionable seven or eight, and she had caught me lingering on a country and western station on the radio in my room. She would...

Bushed!(Roar Of The Crowd)(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2004... I WISH PRESIDENT BUSH REALLY WAS the "conservative extremist" Patti Burka and others make him out to be ["The Man Who Isn't There," February 2004]. A genuinely principled conservative extremist would surely not have expanded Federal control...

April 2004: A selective guide to amusements and events.(Around The State)(Calendar)
April 1, 2004... April 2004: A selective guide to amusements and events. (Around the state) SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY 6 Something so ...

Austin.(Things to do and see.)(Calendar)
April 1, 2004... MUSIC/DANCE Austin Symphony UT campus, Bass Concert Hall, 23rd & Robert Dedman Dr (512-476-6064 or 888462-3787), Apr 16 & 17 at 8: Mendelssohn: Concerto in E Minor for Violin, Mahler: Symphony No 5 in C Sharp Minor. Ilya Gringolts, violin...

Monumental events.(History)
April 1, 2004... MONUMENTAL EVENTS You heard the buzz. You saw the trailers. The release date came... and went. Remember The Alamo? Before you form over $15 for a ticket and the requisite popcorn, take the opportunity this month to explore Texas's history...

Playtimes.(Sports)
April 1, 2004... It's awesome April, baby--or so the colorfully alliterative Dick Vitale might say if he were to sum Lip this month's sports lineup. Start in the Alamo City, which hosts this season's marvelously maddening men's NCAA Final Four. Sure, the...

Laugh Track.(Comedy)
April 1, 2004... Why is it that Lucille Ball is still hilarious and Andrew Dice Clay isn't? We're willing to take a big leap and say it has something to do with personal style, delivery, and content. This month you can see for yourself (if you're lucky enough...

Straight talk.(Around the state: elsewhere)(Jim Courier will host the GrandSlamJam tennis exhibition.)(Interview)(Biography)
April 1, 2004... COURIER SERVICES Thirty-three-year-old Jim Courier, who was ranked the number one tennis player in the world in 1992, will host the GrandSlamJam tennis exibition in Austin April 29 and 30. Proceeds from the event will be donated to the Hope...

Rednecks, Armadillos, and me: thirty years ago my book told the inside story of the Austin music scene--and received what you might call mixed reviews from some of its subjects. It's time to revisit those freewheeling years.
April 1, 2004... I WAS 29 WHEN THE IMPROBABLE RISE OF REDNECK ROCK was published. I had been anxious to write a book but had little idea of how to go about it. Apart from a few months of toil at small-town newspapers, my published output amounted to an...

Blame that tune: the insipid and forgettable "Texas, Our Texas" isn't worthy of a state "so wonderful, so great.".
April 1, 2004... BACK WHEN I WAS A KID THERE WERE five big state symbols. Everyone knew them; they didn't change. They were: the state flower (bluebonnet), tree (pecan), bird (mockingbird), motto ("Friendship"), and song ("Texas, Our Texas"). But nowadays,...

A few words with ... Susan Graham: the opera star on losing her Texas accent in New York, making the president weep at the White House--and getting the giggles in France.(The Music Issue (Texas Monthly Reporter))(Interview)(Biography)
April 1, 2004... Last year you debuted with Houston Grand Opera and this year with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Why did it take so long to get back to Texas? I wish I had the answer to that. Sometimes to be appreciated in your home village you have to go out...

No fuss: I don't want to know about my record sales or read any of my reviews. I just want to be left alone to do what I do.(The Music Issue (Lives + Times))(Norah Jones)(Interview)(Biography)
April 1, 2004... AS TOLD TO PAMELA COLLOFF HIGH SCHOOL WAS DEFINITELY when I realized that I could do this forever. In the tenth grade, I transferred from Grapevine High School to the arts magnet school in Dallas, Booker T. Washington. It's probably one of...

Pure country: I was always known for my drinking songs and my cheating songs, but after my carwreck, I cleaned up my act--and I've never been happier.(The Music Issue (Lives + Times))(Biography)
April 1, 2004... AS TOLD TO PAMELA COLLOFF GOT MY FIRST GUITAR WHEN I was nine. We lived way out in the sticks in a little town called Saratoga, in East Texas. Every Sunday we went to the Trinity Gospel Tabernacle. It was nondenominational, but it was akin...

City girl: in the seventies Austin was a kind of magical place. I would go down to the Drag, open up my guitar case, and play for tips. Back then you could make a living doing that.(The Music Issues (Lives + Times))(Lucinda Williams.)(Interview)(Biography)
April 1, 2004... MY FATHER IS A WRITER and a college professor, so when I was growing up I was exposed to a lot of things other kids weren't exposed to. Like having James Dickey over to the house. I was only four years old when I met Flannery O'Connor. My dad...

Road warrior: my touring philosophy was to make enough money for gas to get to the next town. If we had to buy a loaf of bread and a pack of bologna, that'd be fine. And some beer.(The Music Issue)(Alejandro Escovedo.)(Interview)(Biography)
April 1, 2004... IN 1982, AFTER I'D LEFT A BAND called Rank and File, I called my brother Javier and told him to come to Austin and start the True Believers with me. In those days, the first thing you dial when you formed a band was buy a van and bit the road,...

Teeny popper: my mom used to make me listen to all of her old music, like Carole King, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones. I hated them then, but now I love them.(The Music Issue (Lives + Times))(Hilary Duff.)(Interview)(Biography)
April 1, 2004... WHEN I PERFORMED at the American Music Awards last November, it was the first time I felt like I had hit the big time, because I had to sing in front of all my peers. I was, like, "I can't believe I'm doing this." I had never performed in...

Nice and easy: being a jazz pianist means I'm no big celebrity--and that's how I like it. My days are my own, and I never get pounced on by paparazzi.(The Music Issue (Lives + Times))(Jason Moran.)(Interview)(Biography)
April 1, 2004... I have a very comfortable lifestyle as a jazz musician. I spend Monday through Sunday doing pretty much what I want. Most people have to wait to go to the movies on Saturday at noon. But every day is a Saturday for me; I can go to the movies...

A lyrical life: the day after I arrived in Hollywood, Bing Crosby decided to record my song "Lone Star Trail." I thought, "Shucks, there ain't nothing to this.".(The Music Issue (Lives + Times))
April 1, 2004... AS TOLD TO KATY VINE I GREW UP IN WACO, WHERE PAPA WAS A COTton buyer. He traveled a lot, and one day, after I had graduated from high school, he said, "I'm going to Los Angeles to sell some cotton. Would you all like to go with me?"...

It's a family affair: in the past year beyonce has gone from being a well-known recording artist to quite possibly the biggest star on the planet. Which is exactly how her mother and father planned it.(The Music Issue)
April 1, 2004... "GOOD MORNING," SAID THE RECEPTIONIST, "Music World/Sanctuary." There was a pause. "No, ma'am, I don't." Pause. "I don't even know where that party is. Um-hmm. Good-bye." She gave me an exasperated look, and the phone rang again. * It was the...

The 100 best Texas songs.(The Music Issue)
April 1, 2004... LET'S BACK UP FOR A SECOND. Before you pore over our picks for the best Texas songs, you'll probably want to know about the methodology behind the list, starting with how we define a Texas song. No easy task, that. If you consider that...

Smells like teen spirit!(The Music Issue)
April 1, 2004... HOW THE FIVE KIDS IN EISLEY WENT FROM A COFFEE SHOP IN TYLER TO MADISON SQUARE GARDEN THE MEMBERS OF EISLEY--FOUR DUPREE SIBLINGS AND ONE FRIEND--TALKED TO PAMELA COLLOFF FROM LOS ANGELES, WHERE THEY SPENT LAST MARCH MAKING THEIR FIRST...

The voice of America: clear channel, the San Antonio-based radio behemoth, has been blamed for everything from politicizing the airwaves to destroying musical diversity. But has the company everybody loves to hate gotten a bum rap?(The Music Issue)
April 1, 2004... "HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY FRIDAY!" blares the voice from the radio. It's Big D and Bubba in the morning. It's rush hour, so to speak, in Abilene, on a dreary day in late January. Big D and Bubba are country music disc jockeys on KEAN-FM, 105.1 on...

At a: the first time the members of the Austin band Spoon were saddled with the label of next big thing, it almost destroyed them. This time they have a choice: get seduced by another big record company or reinvent what it means to be rock stars.(The Music Issue)
April 1, 2004... SO JUST WHAT IS A ROCK STAR, ANYWAY? The term is universally recognized--can there be a better night out than one that begins with rock star parking and ends with partying like a rock star?--but its meaning falls into the know-it-when-I-see-it...

King of the accordion: for forty years Ramon Ayala's music has captured the experience and the soul of the hard life in the Rio Grande borderlands.(The Music Issue)
April 1, 2004... His name is Ramon, Ramon Ayala, el senor Ramon Ayala. They call him the King of the Accordion. If you don't like the accordion sound or you're not from South Texas, or from Mexican Texas, you might never have heard his name, even though a radio...

Restaurant guide: a selective guide to food and drink.
April 1, 2004... APRIL 2004 Policies and Definitions The Restaurant Guide is a service to our readers. The magazine accepts no advertising or other consideration in exchange for a listing, Reviews are written by resident critics in the cities that we...

Wine, a woman, and song.(Pat's Pick)
April 1, 2004... WINE, A WOMAN, AND S0NG Sitting in T'afia's smart, quasi-industrial space watching the crowds of noshing, tippling patrons, it occurred to me that Monica Pope, the restaurant's owner and chef, has given herself a new lease on life. Dishes from...

Best fests.(Fort Worth)
April 1, 2004... WHAM, BAM, THANK YOU. SPAM Come April 3, Spam is taking over the capital of Texas. Austin's Spamarama--a festival as infamous as the potted pork product that it celebrates--started 26 years ago as a Joke and has grown over the years into a...

Primary flavors.(Restaurant guide)
April 1, 2004... SMELL OF SUCCESS Everybody knows about heirloom tomatoes and apples, the historic varieties that have endured for decides or even centuries in garden plots and back yards. But heirloom garlic? Some fifteen years ago, Hallettsville native Anton...

No show: only one performance in the thirty-year history of Austin City Limits was taped but never aired. Guess whose?
April 1, 2004... FOR ALMOST THIRTY years Austin City Limits and I have interacted much in the same manner of Joseph Heller's fabled covenant with God: We've left each other alone. There's a reason for this. In all its storied, glorified history as the...