Texas Monthly articles from January 2007

Texas Monthly archives from January 2007

Minority report: argue all you want about the level of Hispanic turnout in the 2006 elections, but one thing is certain: demographic inevitability alone won't save the Democrats.(Behind the lines)
January 1, 2007... The day of reckoning is coming. It could occur as soon as 2010, more likely by 2014, or perhaps as late as 2022, but nothing can prevent the moment when demographics takes over and the sleeping giant of Texas politics--the Hispanic vote--awakes...

Saving accounts.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the editor)
January 1, 2007... Texas A&M and the Aggies do not need "saving" from anything ["Agent of Change," November 2006]. Clifford Fry COLLEGE STATION A&M should continue to improve itself, as any viable enterprise must. The question really becomes this:...

Let them eat fruitcake.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the editor)
January 1, 2007... I'm probably not the only born-and-bred Corsicanan to cry foul over Patricia Sharpe's omission of the Collin Street Bakery--our hometown's international success story--in her list of favorite mail-order foods from Texas ["The Chop Is in the...

Class acts.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the editor)
January 1, 2007... My wife and I were interviewed for your article "Acting Up" [November 2006]. Our daughter, Katy Nesbit (age sixteen), and a friend, Michael McEachern (age seventeen), were senselessly murdered on August 26,1995, by two teenage boys over a car...

Field and stream.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the editor)
January 1, 2007... Great photo essay ["Open Season," November 2006]. But as an avid fisherman and conservationist, I urge my deer-hunting brothers to follow the example set by fisherpersons: We "catch and release." Weaver Morrow KINGWOOD

Setting the record straight.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the editor)
January 1, 2007... I thoroughly enjoyed Oscar Casares's feature on Porter High School's winning the state championship in soccer ["Ready for Some Futbol?" November 2006]. As a former Valleyite, it is always heartening when David smites Goliath, so to speak....

Bad housekeeping.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the editor)
January 1, 2007... Sarah Bird writes well, but remembers less so ["Neck and Neck," November 2006]. The "Can This Marriage Be Saved?" articles that she remembers reading since her childhood have appeared as a regular feature in Ladies' Home Journal, not Good...

In good faith.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the editor)
January 1, 2007... Okay, I admit it. I was... wrong. When TEXAS MONTHLY began running "church reviews," I was less than enthusiastic. As one of the half-dozen (give or take) self-avowed atheists in Texas, my initial reaction was understandable: Et tu, Evan...

Seeing red.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the editor)
January 1, 2007... I am aware that I am a liberal in a conservative state, but I hadn't realized to what extent TEXAS MONTHLY had become a Republican magazine until I read Hollywood, TX in the November issue [Reporter, "Err America"]. I was thoroughly shocked and...

Our cover is blown.(Editor's Letter)(magazine's cover)(Editorial)
January 1, 2007... It will shock and disturb you--or maybe it won't--to learn that there are no original ideas in the magazine business; there are only good, worthwhile, creative riffs on original ideas. All of us who assign stories know what we like, and our job...

Topic A: passing grades: our quarterbacks make the honor roll.(Reporter 01.07)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Twenty years from now, football fans could well look back at the number of quality signal callers who emerged this season and call 2006 the Year of the Texas Quarterback. Emphasis on "could." In Austin, freshman Colt McCoy broke the school...

Getting fit.(The Horse's Mouth: EVERYTHING I COULD EVER TELL YOU ABOUT ...)
January 1, 2007... NAME: Kenneth Cooper AGE: 75 HOME: Dallas QUALIFICATIONS: Founder, president, and CEO of Dallas's Cooper Aerobics Center Coined the word "aerobics" in 1968/Currently developing Cooper Life at Craig Ranch, a master-planned "new urbanism"...

Ball Boy: can Andy Roddick's career be saved?(The Sports Authorities: STACY HOLLISTER CALLS IN THE EXPERTS)(Discussion)
January 1, 2007... PANELISTS: ZINA GARRISON Won 14 singles titles, 20 doubles titles, and 3 Grand Slam titles in mixed doubles during her twelve-year career; founded the Zina Garrison All Court Tennis Academy, in Houston, in 1993 JOHN NEWCOMBE ...

Giant chickens in South Texas?(Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch: Part VI: STORIES FROM SOUTH TEXAS BY TONNYRE THOMAS JOE)
January 1, 2007... A while back we heard about an illegal immigrant who, just north of Raymondville, went directly to the Border Patrol with a wild story of being attacked by "un pollo gigante"! Despite his fright and visible injuries, no one, not even the...

St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church: Austin / October 22, 2006.(Faith Bases)
January 1, 2007... After silencing a noisy congregation by striking a bowl gong three times, David Marks, a large middle-aged man with a long ponytail, welcomed us to St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church. He then turned to ask Pastor Jim Rigby, "We are still...

Encyclopedia Texanica: Anne Dingus solves the state's greatest mysteries.
January 1, 2007... Q: I heard that Neiman Marcus got its start because the founders blew a chance to invest in Coca-Cola, Is this an urban legend? A: It's the real thing. In 1906 Herbert Marcus, his sister Carrie Neiman, and her husband, Al Neiman, had each...

Fumble! No matter what the critics say, Friday Night Lights drops the ball.(Hollywood, TX)(Television program review)
January 1, 2007... To judge by the early reviews, you would think this was something much grander than just a simple television series. This was brave and transcendent art. This was a once-in-a-generation event. "Lord, is Friday Night Lights good," gushed...

Your Biggest Fan.(Sound recording review)
January 1, 2007... There may be a wait for Austin's next big thing. In what has to be one of the longest teases in rock history, VOXTROT has released its third consecutive EP. As in, just a measly three more songs. The group's previous two EPs met with the kind...

Snowbyrd.(Saustex)(Sound recording review)
January 1, 2007... Looking to feed your indie-rock jones? San Antonio's SNOWBYRD may be just what you're seeking. Hard-driving, chugging guitar rhythms, melodic songs with off-kilter Phish/Meat Puppets/Grateful Dead (pick your generation) harmonies, a flair for...

Cold, Cold World.(Sound recording review)
January 1, 2007... Much has been written about BLAZE FOLEY over the years--maybe too much. His outsized reputation has overshadowed his recordings, which by comparison seem enigmatic, unfocused, and devoid of ambition. But this could actually describe Foley, who...

Andrew Shapter & Joel Rasmussen.
January 1, 2007... The Austin filmmakers traveled the country to explore the state of today's popular music for their documentary Before the Music Dies, which features interviews with Doyle Bramhall, Elvis Costello, Branford Marsalis, and Eric Clapton, among...

Alternadad.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2007... Even the most cynical hipsters are terminally charmed by their own offspring, which explains how the birth of NEAL POLLACK'S first child, Elijah, sparked the satirist's transformation--with the publication Of ALTERNADAD and an online column of...

The Sunset Limited.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2007... Imagine a stage play with two characters in a ghetto tenement debating the value of life: White is a professor who jumped in front of a train, and Black is the ex-con who rescued him. This is the premise, weighted with all the pretensions of an...

Murder Among the Owls: A Sheriff Dan Rhodes Mystery.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2007... MURDER AMONG THE OWLS, the fourteenth offering in BILL CRIDER'S Sheriff Dan Rhodes Mystery series, has no literary conceits; it is nothing more--nor less--than a pleasant police procedural set in the sleepy burg of Clearview. This time out,...

Daniel Quinn.(If They Give You Lined Paper, Write Sideways)(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2007... The Houston-based author first reached a widespread audience with his innovative novel Ishmael. His new book, If They Give You Lined Paper, Write Sideways, attempts to explain how he derives his ideas. Your book is drawn from a transcribed...

Face value.(Buy This Now)(paintings Pat Campbell)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... January is the month of reflection, deciding what habits to ditch, what goals to go after. While reassessing, how about adding "Support the arts" to your list? The state is recognized nationally as a bona fide hotbed, so it's a good time to buy...

Turn, turn, turn: I was hypnotized by the wind turbines of West Texas.(Go)
January 1, 2007... Whenever I've seen wind turbines spinning in the hazy distance as I zip down the interstates in West Texas, I've tried to figure out if they're waving hello or good-bye. I finally realized they were waving me over and took them upon the...

Dick Armey.(Texas Monthly Talks)(reaction on United States political state)(Interview)
January 1, 2007... Did the Democrats win on Election Day, or did the Republicans lose? The Republicans lost. They had been losing this election for a long time, and it's because they have gotten so far away from the standards of behavior and conduct that...

The mighty Metroplex: dissed for decades as a colorless, conformist jumble of cities and suburbs, it has become a roaring engine of economic growth--and is reigniting Dallas's fading star.
January 1, 2007... There was a time when no sober-minded Dallasite could utter the word "Metroplex" without an ironic smirk. A catchall for Dallas, Fort Worth, and the dozens of lesser municipalities around and between them, the term was coined in the seventies...

The horror! The horror! What did I learn at a prestigious fiction-writing workshop? That the next time I pick up a pen, I might use it to stab myself.(Viewpoint essay)
January 1, 2007... I've wanted to write a novel ever since I started reading, but I wouldn't call it a lifelong dream so much as a demonic possession. My dreams, such as swimming with manatees or ballroom dancing with Brad Pitt, are pleasant, even if they remain...

The 2007 Bum Steer Awards.(ODDITIES & ABSURDITIES!)(George W. Bush on his native country Connecticut)(George w. Bush jokes on a sunglass wore by a blind jounalist)(Miranda Bolls's potty machine forgets dialogue)
January 1, 2007... YOU KNOW IT'S GOING TO BE A GOOD year for Bum Steers when 61 percent of the people vote against the governor's reelection and he wins anyway. When Kinky Friedman asks, "How hard could it be?"--and finds out. When Tom DeLay steps down as U.S....

Here comes trouble: if you think Dan Patrick has made a lot of noise as a radio talk show host. wait until he gets to the Texas senate--and starts his campaign for governor against his new boss, David Dewhurst.
January 1, 2007... I WANT TO BEGIN BY telling you a story that may make me look small, but which, I believe, is instructive. In 2003 I was asked to sit on a panel to interview the three men running for mayor of Houston: Bill White, Orlando Sanchez, and Sylvester...

Par excellence: we asked eighteen of the biggest names in golf--Hall of Famers, tournament champs, up-and-comers, and coaches-to name their favorite hole in Texas. Presenting the course of their dreams. And yours.
January 1, 2007... RICH BEEM HOLE 7 Resort Course, Westin La Cantera Resort, San Antonio Par 4, 316 yards "It's a short par 4, a goofy little hole with Six Flags Fiesta Texas in the background. If you are feeling good, you can drive it onto the green. If...

Coal hard facts: climate change, shrinking ice caps, rising seas, air pollution, asthma at epidemic levels: good thing Texas hasn't built any soot-belching coal plants in the past fifteen years. But with our population booming, and an energy crisis looming, the black rock is back. Let's take a deep breath--while we still can.(Company overview)
January 1, 2007... When you turn on your television set, air conditioner, or dishwasher, you are doing something that is at once mechanical and moral. The mechanical part stems from your rudimentary demand for electrons: You push a button, and somewhere in Texas...

The permanent campaign: in Chuck Bailey's trove of electoral collectibles--buttons and bumper stickers and matchbooks and the like--the history of Texas politics lives forever.(Cover story)
January 1, 2007... CHUCK BAILEY'S FASCINATION WITH CAMPAIGN MEMORABILIA BEGAN one evening in 1960 when his dad gave him a pile of "Kennedy-Johnson" buttons. This had a twofold effect: It started Bailey's lifelong hobby, and it gave the Fort Worth sixth-grader...

Home girl.(Erykah Badu)(Interview)
January 1, 2007... TM 01 07 STEREO 1. ERYKAH BADU Sings and Dances 2. Raises Her Children 3. Grows Herbs 4. Rides a Skateboard 5. Saves Her Old Hood in Dallas 6. And Works on Her New Album, Which Will Be Finished When It's Finished ...

Pat's pick: Cibo.(Restaurant review)
January 1, 2007... Austin NORMALLY I WOULDN'T DO this: mention tripe, tongue, and sweetbreads in the first sentence. No, no, no. The very thought of organ meats makes some people woozy. But here's my point. A chef who makes a cow's innards appealing--and...

New + noteworthy: star power in Austin; a small jewel in Dallas.(The Filter: Dining: OUR FAVORITE RESTAURANTS, BISTROS, CAFES AND JOINTS)
January 1, 2007... The Filter: Dining POLICIES AND DEFINITIONS The Filter: Dining 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...

NHL all-star celebration: Dallas.(National Hockey League)
January 1, 2007... HOCKEY WILL NEVER BE football. In Texas, at least, this truth is self-evident: No matter how many hockey fans rise up in defense of their sport (or write letters to a certain magazine's editor decrying yet another football cover, as the case...

What are friends for?(The Filter: Events: WHERE TO GO, WHAT TO DO, WHO TO SEE)(art exhibition)
January 1, 2007... SAN ANTONIO Noartist, whether he admits it to himself or not, can escape the influence of his fellow creatives. But for a resourceful mastermind like Andy Warhol, collaborating with his peers was an excellent way to enliven his muse and, in...

Rare read.(The Filter: Events: WHERE TO GO, WHAT TO DO, WHO TO SEE)(Joan Didion)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... HOUSTON To read Joan Didion's writing is to feel as if you know her, so direct are her thoughts. Her most recent work, 2005's The Year of Magical Thinking, an affecting memoir that chronicles the grief she felt following her husband's death, is...

Intimate ensembles.(The Filter: Events)(El Paso Pro-Musica)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... EL PASO, CORPUS CHRISTI Written for a small group of instruments--usually a violin, viola, cello, and piano--chamber music is performed sans conductor, and though it lacks the complexity of a full symphony orchestra, the payoff is a more...

Field days.(The Filter: Events)(All American Bowl Game )(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... SAN ANTONIO, HOUSTON Don't put those pom-poms away just yet. You've got a couple more chances to play armchair quarterback this month: First, the best high school players in the nation (no, they're not all from Texas) show off for drooling...

They're red hot.(The Filter: Events)(Red Hot Chili Peppers )(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... DALLAS Critics claim that the group has softened up and abandoned its once-high-charged punk-funk rambunctiousness for slower, more earnest (gasp!) ballads. Fans believe the band still has its mojo and has simply matured since its...

Fit for a King.(The Filter: Events)
January 1, 2007... DALLAS "It takes a real leader to look beyond the immediate emotional satisfaction--and even the academic justification--of throwing up a middle finger in the face of the oppressor, and see the bigger picture." If you've read Juan Williams's...

Minor master.(The Filter: Events)(Antonin Dvorak)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... HOUSTON When Antonin Dvorak wrote his great Cello Concerto in B Minor, opus 104, during a three-year stay in New York in the mid-1890's, it seems no one was more surprised than the composer himself. Apparently, the Czech master always thought...

Back to the vault.(The Filter: Events)(Harry Huntt Ransom Humanities Research Center)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... AUSTIN The Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, at the University of Texas at Austin, reaches the haft- century mark this year, and as the saying goes, fifty never looked so good. What started as a modest rare-books collection in 1957 is...

Paint or bust.(The Filter: Events)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... DALLAS Henri Matisse was so prolific a painter that it's easy to forget he was a sculptor of great talent too. This month the Dallas Museum of Art and the Nasher Sculpture Center will attempt to ratchet up excitement for his lesser-known works...

Go jump in the lake.(The Filter: Events)(Lake Texoma, West-End WinterFest)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... GORDONVILLE Midwinter may not seem like the ideal time to head for the lake, but trust us: Bundle up, pour yourself a thermos of hot cocoa, and drive up to Lake Texoma this month for the West-End WinterFest. Instead of hibernating in your den,...

Horn 'em, Hookers! The hellish heat. The cold beer. The cheerleaders bouncing around like howler monkeys on PCP. Was I really ready for some football?
January 1, 2007... Gosh, how I loved football games when I was a grad student at the University of Texas. I was the biggest football nut going. I lived for game day. I and the other supernerdettes residing in a co-op boarding house two blocks from campus counted...