Texas Monthly articles from May 2009

Texas Monthly archives from May 2009

Smokin'.(TexasMonthly.com)
May 1, 2009... Wyatt McSpadden narrates a slide show of images of some of the state's best barbecue joints, pitmasters, and finger-lickin' meats from his new book, Texas BBQ.

What's the big idea?(TexasMonthly.com)
May 1, 2009... See fifteen Texans present their inspiring ideas about how to make the Lone Star State even better.

Blog on.(TexasMonthly.com)
May 1, 2009... Follow the Texas Legislature on Burkablog, politics with attitude on In the Pink, and fashion and style on Closet Case.

Social hour.(TexasMonthly.com)
May 1, 2009... Start a discussion on TexTalk, subscribe to TEXAS MONTHLY updates on Facebook, follow food and politics on Twitter, and watch Texas Monthly Talks episodes on YouTube.

Flashback.(TexasMonthly.com)
May 1, 2009... Topical stories from past issues: Anne Dingus on what to do if you're stung by a jellyfish in "A Texas Survival Kit" (October 2004), Suzy Banks on the state's love affair with peaches in "How Sweet It Is" (June 2003), Cecilia Balli on former...

Heads talking.(TexasMonthly.com)
May 1, 2009... Full episodes from the seventh season of Texas Monthly Talks are now available online. Evan Smith interviews newsmakers and celebrities, including Carl Hiaasen, Bryan Burrough, and Joe Straus.

The Texanist unleashed.(TexasMonthly.com)
May 1, 2009... Watch our brilliant advice columnist bring his wisdom to the street, getting your take on the tough questions, like how to treat a jellyfish sting.

On the road.(TexasMonthly.com)
May 1, 2009... Check out our new travel section. It's got videos, slide shows, feature stories, and quickie guides to cool streets.

Elephant dung: because the Republicans refuse to govern, refuse to lead, and refuse to put policy that's good for Texas ahead of politics that are good for them, this is shaping up to be a dismal legislative session.(Behind the Lines)
May 1, 2009... In January 2003 I wrote a column about the death of George Christian ("By George"), the former press secretary to President Lyndon Johnson, who was the gentle godfather and wise man of Texas politics. His career, I said then, "seemed to...

Fashion faux pas.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the editor)
May 1, 2009... Eva Longoria? Jerry Hall? Seriously? As a Texas native, I was sad not to see Barbara Jordan and Stevie Ray Vaughan on your list of the thirty most stylish Texans in place of these two ["Styles and Styles of Texas," March 2009]. Tom Doody...

Social disturbance.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the editor)
May 1, 2009... Houston socialite, philanthropist, and style maven Lynn Wyatt needs to hire a new PR firm to script her "interviews" so that she doesn't trip on her own words ["My Life," March 2009]. She claims that "we need to return to discretion... true...

Clothes call.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the editor)
May 1, 2009... "Puffed-up toad" was the phrase that came to mind when I saw Gary Cartwright's makeover picture ["Hostile Makeover," March 2009]. The expensive suit is too tight; the tie is tied too short, as if a twelve-year-old kid tied it; and Mr....

If the boot fits ...(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the editor)
May 1, 2009... To the Texanist [March 2009]: Mostly I have found that a person needs to try several manufacturers of boots, as each one puts its own twist on any given size and style. For those boots that you just can't live without but happen to have places...

Urban legend.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the editor)
May 1, 2009... Urban Cowboy did just as Christopher Kelly said: It helped Texans to say it was okay to be themselves [Hollywood, TX; March 2009]. For me, the movie was life-changing. See, when John Travolta's Saturday Night Fever came out, in 1977--I was only...

Dress code.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the editor)
May 1, 2009... As a sixth-generation native-Texan expat now living in Hong Kong, I am frequently asked what I miss about the States. I always answer, "Texas." I then am always asked, "Why?" Henceforth I will simply carry copies of Mimi Swartz's article "The...

Get smart.(Editor's Letter)
May 1, 2009... This month we're pleased to bring you the Texas Monthly Brainstorm--a massive collection of ideas large and small, serious and quirky from a diverse group of big-thinking Texans on the topic of how we might improve our state. The notion to...

Selling vodka.(The Horse's Mouth: EVERYTHING I COULD EVER TELL YOU ABOUT ...)
May 1, 2009... NAME: Tito Beveridge AGE: 47 HOME: Austin QUALIFICATIONS: Founder and owner of Tito's Handmade Vodka, the first legal distillery in Texas, which sells more than 230,000 cases a year in the United States and Canada * Yes, Beveridge is my...

Juan Munoz, 29, Sheriff's Deputy.(The Working Life: STORIES FROM THE 9 TO 5)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In the sheriff's department you start out working in the jail, and then you take a test to come out on patrol. I've been a patrol officer since 2004. Back in January of last year, when the drug wars started...

The Texanist: offering fine advice since 2007.
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Q: I'm heading down to the beach this Labor Day for the first time ever, and I have heard that the jellyfish can be really bad on the Texas coast. How do you avoid them, and what do you do if you are stung by one?...

Making peach preserves.(The Manual: WHAT EVERY TEXAN SHOULD KNOW ABOUT ...)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Before tossing a jar of name-brand preserves into your shopping cart, read its label. Made from fruit concentrate? High-fructose corn syrup a main ingredient? Canned in Alaska? "These days, people don't generally...

Dan Branch's bookcase.(Object Lesson: WHAT YOU'LL FIND IN ...)
May 1, 2009... Since 2003, 51-year-old House member Dan Branch has packed his bags every other January and headed to Austin to hunker down for the 140-day legislative session. The fourth-term representative for District 108 calls Dallas home, and the bookcase...

Tenth Street, McAllen: trek beyond the outlet mall and you'll find indie shops, hip bars, and a burgeoning arts district.(Street Smarts: A QUICKIE GUIDE TO ...)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 1. BARN WHITE It's white and it looks like a barn, so points for being clever. This gift store really scores, though, with the selection of glittery Christopher Radko seasonal...

Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle.(Previews+Reviews: Music)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Early on, when he was still calling himself Smog, indie rocker BILL CALLAHAN buried his baritone voice beneath chugging, repetitive beats. Since he began recording under his own name, his rock drive has dissipated...

Little White Lies.(Previews+Reviews: Music)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In the realm of harmony-rich pop, no one has ever come close to riding the Beetles' wave of success. For a moment, though, FASTBALL looked as if it might. In a matter of months, the band moved from Austin dives to...

Everything You Love Will Be Taken Away ...(Previews+Reviews: Music)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] He's not exactly upbeat, but SLAID CLEAVES is a natural talent who records all too infrequently. EVERYTHING YOU LOVE WILL BE TAKEN AWAY... (Music Road) is his first collection of new material since his acclaimed...

Ryan Bingham.(Previews+Reviews: Music)(Interview)
May 1, 2009... At first, it's difficult to take the 28-year-old Bingham's tales of traveling a long, hard road seriously. Yet the bull-rider-turned-country-rocker endured a tough West Texas upbringing and then spent many lean years on the rodeo circuit. His...

Nobody Move.(Previews+Reviews: Books)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Having won the National Book Award for 2007's fever-dreamed Tree of Smoke, former Texas State professor DENIS JOHNSON does a 180 with NOBODY MOVE, a slim but engaging caper novel. Where his previous effort was...

Woodsburner.(Previews+Reviews: Books)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] One year before moving into a small cabin near Walden Pond, 26-year-old Henry David Thoreau accidentally started a fire in Concord Woods that destroyed nearly three hundred acres. In his debut novel, WOODSBURNER,...

Jose P. Ramirez Jr.(Previews+Reviews: Books)(Interview)
May 1, 2009... After being diagnosed in 1968 with Hansen' s disease more commonly known as leprosy--at the age of twenty, Ramirez was taken from his hometown of Laredo to a leprosarium in Carville, Louisiana, then the only such facility in North America. In...

Unreality show: the artfully manufactured fame of the Jonas Brothers.(Hollywood, TX)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] They sound like teen angst cliches dreamed up by a Hollywood screenwriter toiling on an ABC after-school special. Kevin, 21, is the responsible and unostentatious one, biding his time until he can unleash his grander...

Tony Garza.(Texas Monthly Talks)(Interview)
May 1, 2009... EVAN SMITH SITS DOWN WITH... You were the U.S. ambassador to Mexico for more than six years-- Actually, only two ambassadors have ever stayed in the job longer. It was an extraordinary period of time. I found it very satisfying. ...

High plains snifter: after 118 years without a liquor store inside their city's limits, Lubbockites are on the verge of voting with their thirst.(Letter From Lubbock)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Victory Life Baptist Church, in Lubbock, is located on the southwestern edge of town, past the encroaching brick-home developments and box stores, out in an expanse of yellow, treeless fields so flat you can stand on...

GreenStar state: everything you--and our legislators up at the Capitol--need to know about how to make Texas an energy leader for the twenty-first century.
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The world opinion of Texas as a laggard on modern energy priorities is true, party. Our energy consumption and carbon emissions are off the charts, making us the country's leader in both dubious categories. While...

The Texas Monthly brainstorm: 82 various & visionary ideas for how to make Texas a better place. (Better than it is already is, of course, which is pretty darn good).(Cover story)
May 1, 2009... An economic downturn might not be a good time to have a mortgage or a car payment, but it's a fine time to have an idea. When things are going well, there's no incentive to experiment; hard times like these force us to consider creative...

Still life: thirty-five years ago Dallas--and the country--was gripped by the tragic story of John McClamrock, a high school football player paralyzed during a violent tackle. But after the newspapers moved on, another story was quietly unfolding, one of courage, perseverance, and a mother's fierce love.
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Compared with the glistening two-story mansions that surrounded it, the house looked like something from another time. It was only 2,180 square feet. Its redbrick exterior was crumbling, and its gutters were clogged...

Holy smoke: Wyatt McSpadden grew up in Amarillo around meat markets and butchers. Maybe that's why his new book of photographs shows such reverence for the sacred practice--and practitioners--of Texas barbecue.
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] I grew up in a grocery store in Amarillo. My dad and his brother took over...

The dark knight: at $8 billion, Sir Allen Stanford's alleqed fraud wouldn't even be the biggest Ponzi scheme uncovered in the past few months. But his wretched excess and jaw-dropping gumption have no equal.(Company overview)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Every scam is identical except for the details. That's what I told myself around lunchtime on February 17, as I rushed to the offices of the Stanford Financial Group after hearing that...

Five sixty.(PAT'S PICK)
May 1, 2009... Dallas [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] NOT SINCE ITS GLITZY DANDELION puff of lights led off each wildly anticipated episode of the eighties television drama Dallas has Reunion Tower radiated as much glamour. And how could it not? Over the past...

Cafe Byblos.(NEW + NOTEWORTHY)
May 1, 2009... Houston There's a whole lotta shakin' going on at Cafe Byblos, and a whole lotta shimmying too. Belly dancers--live, onstage!--entertain weekend diners, who fortify themselves with the cafe's excellent Mediterranean cuisine. The dining...

The Mighty Cone.(NEW + NOTEWORTHY)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Austin You no longer have to wait for a year and then queue up at the annual Austin City Limits Music Festival to score a crunchy chicken cone from Hudson's on the Bend. Now you can get the savory treat--fried...

The filter: dining: our favorite restaurants, bistros, cafes, and joints.(Interview)
May 1, 2009... Amarillo BLUE FRONT CAFE Tucked in the corner of a parking lot off Route 66 is a downtown diner where most customers are on a first name basis with the staff For early eaters, the French toast hot off the griddle--sprinkled with...

Gomer & me: I've been friends with TV's best-loved Marine for more than twenty years. Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!).(Gomer & me: I've been friends with TV's best-loved Marine for more than twenty years. Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Like a swallow to Capistrano, I return to Hawaii often: to Hilo, on the Big Island, where I trained for the Peace Corps in 1966, and to Honolulu, where I visit with old one of whom happens to be Jim Nabors, a.k.a....