Texas Monthly articles from April 2006

Texas Monthly archives from April 2006

TexasMonthly.com.
April 1, 2006... This month's code to access stories online: TEXANS Into the Fire Senior editor Katy Vine, who wrote this month's story about the blaze that destroyed the North Texas town of Ringgold talks about fire analysis and devastation. Plus...

Maybe not: two years ago, I confessed in these pages to being ambivalent about voting to reelect George W. Bush. After the past six months, I'm even more so.(Behind the Lines)
April 1, 2006... What in the world is going on in the White House? The past six months have been punctuated by a series of blunders, which is the last thing George W. Bush needs. Harriet Miers. Katrina Scooter Libby. Jack Abramoff. Dick Cheney and the Armstrong...

Game on.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2006... I read your Bud Shrake/Gary Cartwright article while on a plane from Austin to Los Angeles (poignant in itself), and it literally brought tears to my eyes ["Perfect 10," February 2006]. It not only took me back to that stellar night of January...

Keeping up with the Jones.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2006... Since when did being a first-class jerk make someone so Texan ["Tommy Lee Jones Is Not Acting," February 2006]? Somewhere along the line, Tommy Lee Jones lost his common courtesy and class. A Texan looks you in the eye when he speaks and stands...

Reel simple.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2006... Just finished reading "Home Movies" [February 2006] and cannot believe Places in the Heart and The Trip to Bountiful did not make the list. Linda Collins GROESBECK How could anyone leave off John Sayles's Lone Star? Mike...

Nature calls.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2006... It was enlightening to read about John Poindexter's efforts to restore West Texas habitat [TEXAS MONTHLY Reporter, "The Man in the White Hat," February 2006]. While I understand his desire to expand his land holdings, thus his restoration...

Austin power.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2006... Criminy! After reading Gary Cartwright's article ["My Blue Heaven," February 2006], I'm about ready to lay money that one can find the Ark of the Covenant in Austin as well I always thought just being from Texas was enough to make me special,...

Design of the times.(Editor's Letter)
April 1, 2006... Once upon a time, magazines redesigned every few years, in response to changing tastes and the possibilities presented by evolving technology. These days, if you want to ensure that the sell-by date on your most creative impulses doesn't pass,...

Topic A: none of the above: forget Vince and Reggie. The best answer for the Houston Texans is multiple choice.(Reporter)
April 1, 2006... The Houston Texans are on the clock: On April 29 the worst team in pro football will have the first pick in the NFL draft. The choice, as everyone knows, is between Vince Young, the best college quarterback ever, and Reggie Bush, the Heisman...

Pitching in The Majors.(The Horse's Mouth: EVERYTHING I COULD EVER TELL YOU ABOUT ...)(Interview)
April 1, 2006... NAME: Huston Street AGE: 22 HOMETOWN: Austin QUALIFICATION: Relief pitcher for the Oakland A's, with a 1.72 ERA / 2005 American League rookie of the year / Played in three College World Series while at the University of Texas at Austin *...

It's alive: how the redistricting battle was brought back from the dead.(FAQ)
April 1, 2006... Didn't the redistricting controversy end three years ago? Yes. And wasn't Leatherface killed in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III? Redistricting battles, like great Hollywood slasher villains, have a habit of coming back to life. A recap of...

The day started like any other.(A Soldier's Story: Part VI)
April 1, 2006... I had just made it into the office (a makeshift trailer) to check my e-mail before getting to work. I had stayed up most of the night watching the Rose Bowl with some of the guys, and I was still on a high from the Longhorns' crazy win. It was...

Cornerstone Church: San Antonio / January 15, 2006.(Faith Bases)(Regional, state, or local organization overview)
April 1, 2006... Located near the intersection of U.S. 281 and Anderson Loop in the north part of San Antonio, the 17,000-member nondenominational Cornerstone Church includes the standard features of the contemporary megachurch: a large (5,400-seat) sanctuary,...

Bleeding edge.(Minister of Health)
April 1, 2006... Lately I've begun to wonder if it's worth it to go to the doctor at all. Don't get me wrong. I love my doc. He's one of the finest internists in Dallas. But over the years, I've learned that the annual round of poking and sticking he puts me...

The Snooze Brothers: how the Wilsons became legally bland.(Hollywood, TX)(Luke Wilson)(Owen Wilson)(Occupation overview)
April 1, 2006... Ah, to think back upon those glorious salad days, long before Meet the Fockers and Legally Blonde 2, back when Owen and Luke Wilson held such vast promise. They made their debut in the 1996 indie Bottle Rocket, a comic caper co-written by Owen...

You Don't Know Me: The Songs of Cindy Walker.(Sound recording review)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... I know what you're thinking. You need a new WILLIE NELSON CD like Mack Brown needs a $400,000 raise. Well... maybe. Don't imagine another Red Headed Stranger, but YOU DON'T KNOW ME: THE SONGS OF CINDY WALKER (Lost Highway) does have a sound...

Red Garland Trio at the Prelude.(Sound recording review)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... For reluctant pianist RED GARLAND (he had really wanted to be a boxer), there was only one question: Was there life after Miles Davis? Garland, who was also leading his own sessions, had just finished four years in the mercurial trumpeter's...

Margaret Brown.(interview with the movie director)(Interview)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Austin director Margaret Brown, 34, has just seen her acclaimed film about legendary songwriter Townes Van Zandt, Be Here to Love Me, released on DVD. Was there a specific moment that sold you on making this film? The music struck me...

Hurts to purr.(BREAKUP WATCH)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... After three years and the recent release of its eponymously titled full-length debut (self-released; available through cdbaby.com), this Austin band is calling it quits. It's a shame, as these relative newcomers have made an album so confident...

Come Together, Fall Apart.(Cristina Henriquez)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Dallas's CRISTINA HENRIQUEZ has assembled a heart-stopping collection of stories set in Panama in her first book, COME TOGETHER, FALL APART. She hints at the nation's poverty--overcrowded homes, ramshackle furniture--but doesn't dwell on it,...

Challenger Park.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 1, 2006... Everyday life is a complicated thing, and with his finely nuanced novel CHALLENGER PARK, Austinite (and TEXAS MONTHLY contributing editor) STEPHEN HARRIGAN makes it clear that the glamour boys and girls of NASA don't handle the slings and...

Demon Theory.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 1, 2006... DEMON THEORY, we're told at the outset, is STEPHEN GRAHAM JONES'S "three-part novelization" of a fictitious film trilogy, adapted from a best-seller "inspired by the case notes of Dr. Neider," as originally published in the journal P/Q, as......

Susan Wittig Albert.
April 1, 2006... As one of Texas's most prolific writers (thirty-plus works), the author of the best-selling China Bayles mystery books is still going strong: This month's Bleeding Hearts makes fourteen in the herbalist sleuth series. Does China Bayles...

Swing fever.(Buy This Now)
April 1, 2006... With plenty of legroom for the canoodling rituals of spring (seven feet, in fact), the VIKING can just as easily sway on a lazy veranda in King William as it can swoon in a contemporary Deep Ellum loft. Booster seats, La-Z-Boys, and rocking...

Uptown, Fredericksburg: where tourist herds have yet to tread.(Street Smarts: A QUICKIE GUIDE TO ...)
April 1, 2006... [1] Despite being a new kid on the block (its owners have been in the business o' pie for a wee sliver of one and a half years), the FREDERICKSBURG PIE COMPANY has quite the fan base. And it's no wonder. These made-fresh-daily treats are to die...

Pete Laney.(Texas Monthly Talks)(Texas House of Representatives )(Interview)
April 1, 2006... Are you leaving the Legislature, or has the Legislature left you? Well, everything changes. The Legislature changes with every leadership change. There's been a lot of change; it's different now. But there's always a time to do something...

North toward home: nothing will stop illegal immigrants from pouring into this country. So instead of pushing useless legislation, politicians in Washington should look at what Texas has done to turn the problem into a blessing.
April 1, 2006... The white-hot immigration debate may well become one of the most combustible issues in this year's midterm elections, but here in Texas, it's really, really old news. Thought you could invigorate the economy by letting in all those foreigners,...

The beat goes on; the threat of a massive heart attack always haunts me, as a recent trip to Paris proved. But with the help of my doctors--and a nurse named Lisa--I won't go down without a fight.
April 1, 2006... I know heart attacks, and this wasn't a heart attack, even though a doctor back home Austin later speculated that it was. It happened a few days before last Thanksgiving, as my wife, Phyllis, and I were walking from our hotel in Paris to the...

75 things we love about Texas: Bluebonnets? Check. Enchanted Rock? Yup. Barton Springs? Duh. You probably guessed those. But what about buckle bunnies? Or goat barbecue? Or Thong Island? From Texas trademarks to personal favorites to the just plain weird, you'll find everything here. And we do mean everything.(State overview)
April 1, 2006... 1. Bluebonnets Yes, they are a cliche. And no, they don't smell particularly good, and you aren't supposed to pick them on the highway, under penalty of something like death. You can get stung by bees or fire ants and God knows what else...

Gone in 15 minutes.
April 1, 2006... That's how long it took a massive wildfire to destroy the North Texas town of Ringgold on New Year's Day. But for the residents who lost everything--and the brave volunteers who risked their lives--putting the disaster behind them will take a...

Tree ring circus.
April 1, 2006... 1986 Houston businessman CHARLES HURWITZ buys a lumber company in California. 1989 The feds investigate Hurwitz for his role in the failure of a Texas savings and loan. 1990 Environmentalists organize Redwood Summer to...

Beldades of the Ball: for more than half a century, the most important event in the life of a teenage girl in Laredo has been the Society of Martha Washington Colonial Pageant and Ball, a curious display of Anglo culture in a decidedly Hispanic city. But as violence spreads across the border, can the old world survive the new?
April 1, 2006... BEFORE THE DAUGHTERS of Laredo's most prominent families are presented to society, they come to see dressmaker Linda Leyendecker Gutierrez. Her rambling white Victorian sits eight blocks north of the Rio Grande in the city's downtown historic...

Lift off! In this exclusive excerpt from Stephen Harrigan's new novel, Challenger Park, an astronaut prepares to blast into space for the first time. But her mind keeps drifting toward more worldly concerns.(Excerpt)
April 1, 2006... SHE SAT IN HER SEAT IN THE van, almost immobile under the weight of her orange pressure suit, staring out the window toward the Atlantic beach. There was a faint suggestion of dawn, but it was no competition for the xenon floodlights that...

Dolce Vita: Houston.(PAT'S PICK)(Dolce Vita )
April 1, 2006... IT WAS RIGHT about the time I was tearing into the second hunk of homemade Italian sausage, while simultaneously reaching for the pizza and passing the Gorgonzola, that it hit me: I love Dolce Vita because its a shut-up-and-eat kind of place....

New + noteworthy: from Brazilian nibbles in Austin to Thai curry in Houston.(The Filter: Dining: OUR FAVORITE RESTAURANTS, BISTROS, CAFES, AND JOINTS)(Restaurant review)
April 1, 2006... Austin BUENOS AIRES CAFE Seven tables, low-key decor, interesting mix of diners, excellent Argentinian food--this modest spot in South Austin right next to a pawn shop turned our expectations upside down. Flaky empanadas (we liked the...

The Blanton: Austin.(JORDAN'S PICK)
April 1, 2006... IT'S REALLY GOING to happen this time. On April 29 the Blanton Museum of Art at last unveils its new home, the Mari and James A. Michener Gallery, at the University of Texas. After nearly three decades of planning, a wealth of soap-opera...

What's in a name?(The Filter: Events: WHERE TO GO, WHAT TO DO, WHO TO SEE)
April 1, 2006... HOUSTON That's what Major League Soccer's newest club has been asking after the recent brouhaha over its moniker: After the San Jose Earthquakes up and moved to the Bayou City in December, a public poll rechristened the team Houston 1836,...

Mite control.(The Filter: Events: WHERE TO GO, WHAT TO DO, WHO TO SEE)
April 1, 2006... NEW BRAUNFELS Saran-wrapped toilets or a cultural excursion? Take a preemptive strike on April Fools' Day and take your scheming offspring to the opening of the McKenna Children's Museum. What with the walk-around aquarium, the hidden-treasure...

Bravo! Bravo!(The Filter: Events: WHERE TO GO, WHAT TO DO, WHO TO SEE)
April 1, 2006... COLLEGE STATION, AUSTIN, DALLAS Blame it on society's fondness for shoving cute young things up the music charts, but the classical world is making much ado about its latest star. The 23-years-in-the-making overnight sensation that is Chinese...

Opening day.(The Filter: Events: WHERE TO GO, WHAT TO DO, WHO TO SEE)
April 1, 2006... HOUSTON, ARLINGTON Whether your team was blanked in the big dance (ahem, Astros) or consistently inconsistent (yes you, Rangers), everyone now has 162 fresh chances to win. Look for new Astros power hitter Preston Wilson to get the bats going...

Savor this.(The Filter: Events: WHERE TO GO, WHAT TO DO, WHO TO SEE)
April 1, 2006... AUSTIN, GEORGETOWN, OTHER LOCATIONS Okay, so festivals with "wine" and "food" in the title are often nothing more than convention-center buffets. But you can't help but feel a bit buzzed over this year's Texas Hill Country Wine and Food...

And the Wiener is ...(The Filter: Events: WHERE TO GO, WHAT TO DO, WHO TO SEE)
April 1, 2006... HOUSTON, BUDA With not one but two hot-dog mad dashes, April might as well be the month of the dachshund. Cheer on 64 top dawgs--in eight dramatic rounds down a forty-yard stretch--at the GoldenPaw Wienerdog Nationals at Houston's Gulf...

So Close.(The Filter: Events: WHERE TO GO, WHAT TO DO, WHO TO SEE)
April 1, 2006... FORT WORTH Go see Chuck Close's retrospective at the Modern Art Museum, "Chuck Close Prints: Process and Collaboration," if for no other reason than to appreciate the man's patience. His iconic "heads," portraits realized with careful grids, a...

Maher to come.(The Filter: Events: WHERE TO GO, WHAT TO DO, WHO TO SEE)
April 1, 2006... HOUSTON, AUSTIN, DALLAS So you say your loyalties lie with fake-news-meister Jon Stewart. We'll admit that Bill Maher's celeb-paneled Politically Incorrect is so yesterday, but give the man credit for making the world safer for comics who fancy...

Spring mix.(The Filter: Events: WHERE TO GO, WHAT TO DO, WHO TO SEE)
April 1, 2006... HOUSTON Gear up for this year's Dance Salad, a three-night hodgepodge of performances classic to contemporary, by memorizing the eleven-company lineup and planning your potty breaks accordingly. Approximately sixty professional movers, shakers,...

Battle of the bards.(The Filter: Events: WHERE TO GO, WHAT TO DO, WHO TO SEE)
April 1, 2006... AUSTIN Poetry may seem polarizing--you either get it or you don't--but the Austin International Poetry Festival unites both the curious and committed this month. Folks from England, Australia, India, and Singapore have already signed up for the...

In the flesh.(The Filter: Events: WHERE TO GO, WHAT TO DO, WHO TO SEE)
April 1, 2006... HOUSTON For $22 you can test your gag reflex at the Houston Museum of Natural Science when you take in the more than two hundred parts--brains, slices of feet--and whole-body specimens in "Body Worlds 3: The Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human...

Buy, buy, birdie: my life as a binge-purge shopper.(Or, how I learned to stop worrying and love the seven-day return policy.)
April 1, 2006... Hello, my name is Sarah, and I'm a binge-purge shopper. Don't clap. I know that you, my fellow sufferers, are out there. I know because I'm behind you in line when you check out with that cart loaded as if you're fleeing the Cossacks. And I'm...