Texas Monthly articles from February 2006

Texas Monthly archives from February 2006

First dew no harm: will the lieutenant governor mess with tradition to satisfy the demands of party hacks? Or will he save the Senate--and his own reputation?(Behind the LINES)(David Dewhurst)
February 1, 2006... At some point, you'd think the state's Republican leadership would be ashamed of the mess it's made of things. The laundry list includes the school finance debacle; Tom DeLay's fund-raising activities in the 2002 election; the midcycle...

Home base.(Roar of the CROWD)(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2006... Your article about being an Army brat could have been my biography, right down to the unair-conditioned Plymouth station wagon ["Army Brat," December 2005]! When we lived in Naples, Italy, my dad, who worked for base security, drove us in that...

Lost and found.(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2006... After reading Gary Cartwright's article on "The Lost City" I was flooded with the same fond memories of growing up in Arlington [December 2005]. In the sixties, I remember riding my bike down numerous roads, before Interstate 20 was paved, to...

Texans want him anyway.(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2006... I loved Evan Smith's article in the December 2005 issue [Behind the Lines, "Where I'm Of"]. I was born and reared (my momma told me you raise chickens, but you rear children) in Coleman, where my family owned one of the two local newspapers....

02.11.2006.(February: PEOPLE, PLACES, EVENTS, ATTRACTIONS)
February 1, 2006... "TWO WOMEN LOOK WEST: PHOTOGRAPHS OF KING RANCH BY HELEN C. KLEBERG AND TONI FRISSELL," a dual exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, takes us back this month to the glory years of the King Ranch, when it was the biggest, richest, and...

Around the state: wheelchair accessibility key.
February 1, 2006... (W) The place is accessible to wheelchairs: The main entrance is at least 32 inches wide and there are no steps; restrooms, however, are not accessible. (W+) The place and its restrooms are accessible. No symbol: This place is not...

Bob Woodward: according to a reliable source--we'll never tell--the veteran Washington Post reporter will visit the University of Texas-Pan American, in Edinburg, on February 13 as part of the university's distinguished speakers series.(A FEW WORDS WITH ...)(Interview)
February 1, 2006... What will be on your mind when you speak at UT-Pan American? I'm going to talk about Bush and the war and the books I've done on them [Bush at War and Plan of Attack]--and a little about Nixon and Watergate. And you're now working on a...

Wine, women, and song: and other things to love on a weekend in Big D.(48 HOURS / Dallas, February 17 through 19.)
February 1, 2006... FRI. 17 5:00: Check into the Magnolia Hotel, located in the historic Magnolia Building, which is famous for the neon red Pegasus that keeps watch atop the 28-story edifice (1401 Commerce, 214-915-6500 or 888-915-1110). 6:00: Dinner at...

The man in the white hat: John Poindexter insists that he can restore 46,000 acres of Big Bend Ranch State Park to its original splendor. If only he could persuade the state to sell--and the angry conservationists to trust him.(Texas Monthly Reporter)
February 1, 2006... There is simply no other place to begin. John Poindexter, Houston-born multimillionaire owner of exclusive Big Bend resort Cibolo Creek Ranch, is one stiff dude. For proof, consider his assessment of himself. After being interviewed for this...

The eyes of Texas.(MINISTER OF HEALTH)(presbyopia)
February 1, 2006... I was in my late forties when I realized that any man who can't read either baseball box scores or stock market quotes--or, for that matter, this magazine's type--doesn't have much of a life. So, reluctantly, I gave in: I bought a pair of...

ReSTOR: inside the newest technique.(MINISTER OF HEALTH)
February 1, 2006... If you do decide to fork over the cash (and since we're talking elective surgery, you'll certainly have to), you may wonder what exactly you're getting yourself into. The ReSTOR procedure is actually fairly short and sweet, which can't be said...

Calendar of events.(Calendar)
February 1, 2006... FEBRUARY February 17-26 Scottsdale: Annual Arabian Horse Show scottsdaleshow.com MARCH March 4-5 Phoenix: 48th Annual Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair and Market heard.org March 24-26 Tucson: Fourth Avenue Spring Street Fair...

It's a Game.(Brief Article)(Concert Review)
February 1, 2006... There's a seeping, winterlike melancholy to the slender songs of IT'S A GAME (Drag City), the first album in four years from San Antonio native EDITH FROST. Her music betrays a quiet sadness devoid of self-pity but full of heartache; she has...

The Night Journal.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
February 1, 2006... Austinite ELIZABETH CROOK builds a sumptuous, surprise-filled third novel, THE NIGHT JOURNAL (Viking), on six volumes of diaries by fictional New Mexico protofeminist Hannah Bass. The handwritten notebooks from the 1890's have become the quiet...

Different Strokes by Different Folks.(Brief Article)(Concert Review)
February 1, 2006... Most, though not all, remix albums fall flat. But DIFFERENT STROKES BY DIFFERENT FOLKS (Epic/Legacy) avoids this fate for two reasons: a reverence for the source material (the album is credited simply to SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE) and the...

The Secret Sisters.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
February 1, 2006... THE SECRET SISTERS (Harper Collins) opens with Pin Ramone's husband keeling over at one of Houston's glitzier black-tie-and-tails affairs--a cringe-inducing lapse into melodrama. But JONI RODGERS, best known for her memoir, Bald in the Land of...

Heavy Ornamentals.(Brief Article)(Concert Review)
February 1, 2006... Like other bands that have managed to hang around almost intact for more than a decade, THE GOURDS have seen a certain predictability set in. The same consistency we see in their lineup is even more apparent in their work. Often compared to the...

A Strong West Wind.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
February 1, 2006... Pulitzer Prize-winning book critic GAIL CALDWELL shines such a persistent light on her Texas family (especially colorful dad Wild Bill Caldwell) that she becomes nearly invisible in her own memoir, A STRONG WEST WIND (Random House). When she...

Blogging.(THE HORSE'S MOUTH / Everything I could tell you about ...)
February 1, 2006... NAME: Ana Marie Cox AGE: 33 HOME: Washington, D.C. QUALIFICATIONS: Founding editor of the two-year-old Washington political blog Wonkette (wonkette.com)/ Raised in Austin and Dallas, she started her first blog, the Antic Muse, in 2003/Author of...

Size matters: if small high schools graduate more and better-prepared students than big ones do, why aren't more high schools small? Good question.
February 1, 2006... I'm a sucker for that uniquely Texan spectacle of youthful beauty and energy: the Friday morning pep rally at a big public high school. Everything is choreographed to generate exhilaration: the drum line; the noisy, jostling kids; the...

My blue heaven: outsiders have always bashed Austin for its liberal politics, but my beloved city takes pride in being different from the rest of the state. Smarter too. And more arrogant.
February 1, 2006... Reading a newspaper account of former Austin mayor Bruce Todd's near-fatal bicycle crash reminded me why I wanted to come here in the first place. Austin is different from the rest of Texas. You may have noticed this in the November election,...

Laura Miller: the 47-year-old mayor of Dallas on the weakness of her office, saying no to the Cowboys and Ray Hunt, why African Americans don't like her, and what she'll do next.(Texas Monthly Talks)(Interview)
February 1, 2006... You don't look so divisive and unpopular to me. I'm wearing the same costume pearls I've always worn. Why are you in the crosshairs? There are two issues. One is "strong mayor." I ran on strong mayor. I totally believe in strong mayor. I...

Perfect 10: in the afterglow of UT's Rose Bowl shocker, we revel in Vince Young's mastery of the game, compare this year's national champs with their forebears, and channel the ghost of Harvey Penick.
February 1, 2006... >> January 5, 2:44 P.M. Bud, old amigo: I dreamed about Vince Young last night. At least I think it was a dream. I had five or six cups of coffee watching the Rose Bowl (yeah, I know--in the old days it would have been a quart and a...

Tommy Lee Jones is not acting: in both life and the roles. He's played, he's been described as difficult, ornery, curt, and contentious. And while meeting to discuss his latest--and some say greatest--movie, "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada", the Texas film legend more than lives up to his billing.(Interview)(Biography)
February 1, 2006... I WAS TOLD TO MEET HIM at Scholz Garten, in Austin, the popular restaurant and drinking spot near the University of Texas campus. When I walked in, he was sitting at the table closest to the front door, twiddling a Miller Lite. He was in his...

Home movies: the 25 Best Texas films on DVD.
February 1, 2006... ANY LIST OF THE 25 GREATEST Texas movies on DVD has to start with the question, What the hell is a Texas movie? Is it made in Texas? Actually, some of the greatest Texas stories were created in Arizona, Mexico, Canada, or the Mojave Desert. Is...

Good knight? Good luck! In this exclusive excerpt from their unauthorized biography of Bob Knight, Steve Delsohn and Mark Heisler argue that the volatile basketball guru who landed in Lubbock nearly five years ago hasn't lost his brilliant coaching ability. Or, for that matter, his incomparable temper.(Bob Knight)(Excerpt)
February 1, 2006... IN MARCH 2001, just before the start of the NCAA basketball tournament, Bob Knight received a call from an old friend, Texas Tech University athletic director Gerald Myers. It was hard to know who was more excited: the recently fired Knight,...

Where to eat now 2006: what's on the menu at the best new restaurants of the year? Everything from modern French fare to some of the best sushi anywhere--and, of course, great big hunks of meat.
February 1, 2006... EVERY YEAR I THINK TO MYSELF, "How could there possibly be room for more new restaurants in Texas?" And every year, a peloton of eager contenders comes hurtling down the road. Last year was no exception--boy, was it no exception. Knowing that...

Directory: all restaurants accept major credit cards.(Directory)
February 1, 2006... AUSTIN ENOTECA VESPAIO, 1610 S. Congress Ave., 512-441-7672. Open Mon-Sat 8 a.m.-10 p.m., Sun 10-2. FINO, 2905 San Gabriel, 512-474-2905. Open Mon-Thur 11-10, Fri 11-11, Sat 5-11. DALLAS CAFE SAN MIGUEL, 1907 N. Henderson Ave.,...

"Only the dead have seen the end of war".(postwar Iraq)
February 1, 2006... That's the sign you read as you leave Forward Operating Base Duke; it's painted on a concrete barrier as you pass the gate. I saw it on my first convoy, as our three Humvees headed out to the city of Najaf. I was full of anticipation that...

A kiss before dying: Betty Williams was a fast girl from the wrong side of the tracks. Mack Herring was a handsome football player with all the right friends. When he broke up with her during her senior year at Odessa High School, her world fell apart. But she asked him for one last favor: to kill her.(Biography)
February 1, 2006... WHEN FOOTBALL SEASON ENDED AND THERE WAS nothing much to do on Friday nights except drink beer and stare up at the wide-open sky, teenagers used to park their pickups across the street from Odessa High School and wait to see the ghost they...

Pat's pick: Capitol Brasserie.(February: RESTAURANTS, CAFES, BISTROS, JOINTS)
February 1, 2006... Oversized French art posters on the wall? Check. Burgundy-and-faded-saffron color scheme? Check. Servers in long aprons? Check. Austin's Capitol Brasserie has been around only two months, but it already has that unmistakable French brasserie...

The Dining Guide: policies and definitions.(Directory)
February 1, 2006... The Dining 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 list. The reviewers' identities are kept anonymous...

Earl Abel's.(LAST CALL / A fond farewell to ...)
February 1, 2006... Earl Abel's was never about the food. Some would argue that the San Antonio landmark's take-out fried chicken was among the best in the solar system or that its diabetes-inducing pies, seductively displayed on mirrored shelves behind the...

Writer is to amateur ... as Mom is to Teen Boy? Scenes from an SAT smackdown.(college entrance examination)
February 1, 2006... The first time I took the SAT was to get into college. The second time was to show off. [paragraph] That was the idea, anyway. I wanted to establish some street cred with my son, Teen Boy, who doesn't believe that publishing six novels...