Texas Monthly articles from November 2004

Texas Monthly archives from November 2004

Rescuing Rick: Governor Perry has little to show for four years in office except for a lot of posturing and the prospect of a tough GOP primary challenge in 2006. Here's how his new chief of staff, Deirdre Delisi, can get him--and Texas--back on track.(Republican party)(Rick Perry)
November 1, 2004... Dear Deirdre, I wanted to congratulate you in person on your appointment as Governor Rick Perry's new chief of staff, but I got behind on a deadline--not for the first time--and couldn't make it to lunch. So I hope you won't mind if I...

Cover girls.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... Finally, a decent cover! The September issue, featuring the pride of Kilgore College and Texas, was tremendous. What an improvement over July's offensive and censored cover. Keep focusing on the good that Texas has to offer. There is plenty!...

Talk of the town.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... For me, the best measure of a small town [September 2004] is the story of my mother's surgery to have two thirds of her lung removed. She grew up and graduated from high school (class of 1950) in Gladewater. After many years of following my dad...

In the club.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... As I read "Alive and Kicking" [September 2004], it was all too similar to the scenario that played out seven years ago in our life. I knew before I read the ending that the two girls would make the team. But there was not a happy ending to our...

Sympathy notes.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... Skip Hollandsworth overstepped his bounds as a journalist in one sentence ["Wrecked," September 2004]. How could a young man like David Reid hope to get a fair chance with Hollandsworth already the self-appointed judge and jury? Looking for...

Still in the game.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... After reading "Reversal of Fortune" [September 2004], I must say the writer, Pamela Colloff, did a great job. However, I feel much of the story was left out. Roby is still a working, busy small town. We have four well-attended churches, a...

Border crossing.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... My father was a professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. His father drove cattle from Piedras Negras to Tampico, along with his grandfather and paternal uncles. Together they were known as Los Coniles...

Boy talk.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... A fifteen-year-old boy who looks at a crawdad and says, "Gross," like a nine-year-old girl, needs more country education than he can get in a weekend in Cleveland ["Into the Woods," September 2004]. Ray Miller RIO FRIO

Getting kinky.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... Thanks to Mr. Friedman for "exposing" himself as a tender-hearted, caring human being ["Man About Town," September 2004]. What a touching and well-composed flow of feelings. It's nice to know someone appreciates small town life and its values....

Ornette Coleman.(People, Places, Events, Attractions)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Somewhere east of downtown Fort Worth lies the Bethlehem of free jazz. That's Where the innovative. avant-garde sax player ORNETTE COLEMAN grew up, in a modest little house near I. M. Terrell High School, which produced jazz greats Charles...

Around the state.(Calendar)
November 1, 2004... WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBILITY KEY (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...

Motherwell knows best.(Coming Attractions / The month in art.)(Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... If Robert Motherwell's father had had his way, his son would never have pursued a profession as financially unreliable as painting. But sometimes nothing not even a rather', will--can deter a child from what he wants to do. Motherwell, whose...

The bold and the beautiful.(Coming Attractions / The month in art.)(McNay Art Museum )(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The Spanish Colonial Revival-style mansion in San Antonio known as the McNay Art Museum is a real piece of work--literally. With its manicured lawns, Japanese-inspired fishpond, colorful tiles, and stenciled ceilings--many of which were...

Kingdom come.(Coming Attractions / The month in art.)(Dallas Museum of Art)
November 1, 2004... Back in the eighteenth century, when Emperor Qianlong reigned over a prosperous China, plebeians weren't allowed anywhere near the palatial quarters of the ruling body. The lavish buildings--9,999 in total--where the emperor lived and governed...

Goldie Hawn: the actress will be speaking at the Verizon Wireless Theater, in Houston, on November 11.(Hey, you! Look who's coming to Texas.)(Brief Article)(Interview)
November 1, 2004... When did you meet Kurt Russell? 1983. Why didn't you two get married? We had no need to get married. We just loved each other. It's a ceremony we've both done, and it didn't work the first time. It works better without being married....

Sects with strangers: an offshoot of the Mormon Church that's big on polygamy has set up shop in West Texas. Multiple partners we can handle. It's the possibility of another David Koresh freak show that worries us.(Texas Monthly Reporter)
November 1, 2004... It was the local pilots who first started noticing construction work. Whenever they took off in their single-engine airplanes from the dirt runway just outside Eldorado, the tiny West Texas town "about 45 miles south of San Angelo, they would...

Hell on wheels: don't let the pious name fool you. As Sister Mary Jane of the Lonestar Rollergirls league, I play for keeps.(Roller Derby competitions)
November 1, 2004... I tried out for the Lonestar Rollergirls in March of last year. I had been playing basketball with the City of Austin men's league, and most of my friends knew me as the tough girl. One weekend when I was out of town, my friends went and saw a...

Invasive! Who's gutting the laws that keep your medical records private? The feds are--and soon, Texas may too.
November 1, 2004... Since when are my medical records no longer private? Since April 14, 2003. Although the concept of a patient's right to privacy dates back more than two thousand years to the creation of the Hippocratic oath, the Bush administration recently...

In 1994 caustic stand-up comic Bill Hicks was knocking on stardom's door when he died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 32.(Previews + Reviews)(Brief Article)(Comedy Review)
November 1, 2004... 1 In 1994 caustic stand-up comic BILL HICKS was knocking on stardom's door when he died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 32. Ten years later, those who missed the Houston-bred Hicks on his first go round get fresh exposure to his...

Blood of the Ram.(Previews + Reviews)(Brief Article)(Sound Recording Review)
November 1, 2004... 2 Musicians often disparage board tapes, the live recordings made through a concert PA system. It's what they don't capture--stage--volume, energy, charisma--that somehow makes them less-than-perfect artifacts. So it goes with GOURDS...

The Captured (A True Story of Abduction by Indians on the Texas Frontier).(Previews + Reviews)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... 3 It was relatively easy for SCOTT ZESCH to find his great-great-greet uncle Adolph Korn's gravestone in their family's home town of Mason. It was considerably more difficult to uncover the facts of his ancestor's abduction as a child by...

Dents and Shells.(Previews + Reviews)(Brief Article)(Sound Recording Review)
November 1, 2004... 4 The Texas roots of hypnotic singer-songwriter RICHARD BUCKNER date back to 1994, when his acclaimed debut, Bloomed, was released by a San Marcos label. Eventually, Buckner, a restless wanderer, wound up in Austin, where he spent a good...

From a Basement on the Hill.(Previews + Reviews)(Brief Article)(Sound Recording Review)
November 1, 2004... 5 The tragedy of ELLIOTT SMITH'S 2003 suicide underscores every note of FROM A BASEMENT ON THE HILL (Anti). Smith made a trio of smart, overlooked indie releases prior to his Oscar-nominated song in the film Good Will Hunting, which...

Little did we know ...: that the outcome of the election for governor ten years ago between Ann Richards and George W. Bush would affect more than Texas. An oral history of the race that changed the world.
November 1, 2004... The 1994 Texas governor's race lived up to its billing as one of the most important in the state's history. The matchup between the nationally popular incumbent, Ann Richards, and the son of a former president, George W. Bush, produced total...

Mentionables: we women have long endured the indignities of "foundation garments," stuffing ourselves into corsets, merry widows, and bullet bras. It's almost more than a body can take.
November 1, 2004... Don't tell anyone, but I wear a thong--on each foot. To me, "thongs" are cheap rubber sandals, not strappy little anorexic panties. I don't need any more proof that I, a former hippie, am truly middle-aged. But I find it anyway in my reaction...

Colors of the season.(New Next)
November 1, 2004... Put your best face forward. Giorgio Armani Cosmetics premieres at Neiman Marcus in Houston. Visit their counter and indulge in the spirit and colors of the holiday season. From royal jewel-tone eye shadows to sparkling lip color, sheer layers...

Good times.(New Next)
November 1, 2004... Di MODOLO, Zadok Jewelers, and Architectural Digest present an afternoon of celebration and cheer in honor of Houston-based designer Bill Stubbs and his new book--I Hate Red, You're Fired. Visit Zadok Jewelers Saturday, November 6 from 1:00 to...

Accentuate the negative: it's time Patricia Highsmith got the respect she deserves in her native Texas. After all, it was the breeding ground of her trademark misanthropy.(Don Graham)(Biography)
November 1, 2004... Nearly a decade after her death, Patricia Highsmith is finally coming into her own in America. W. W. Norton is reissuing her entire body of work, and the dimensions of her oeuvre continue to impress. Highsmith can no longer be thought of as...

Kay Bailey Hutchison: the 61-year-old United States senator on whether she's after Rick Perry's job, where she really stands on abortion, and the difference between men and women in politics.(Talks)
November 1, 2004... ILLUSTRATION BY OWEN SMITH What everybody wants to know is, Are you going to run for governor in 2006? I haven't made a decision. I'm thinking about it. What thoughts are going through your mind? First, I've always been inclined to...

The good wife: don't misunderestimate Laura Bush. The least political of first ladies turns out to be a pretty good politician after all. But, asks Mimi Swartz, is she really happy in her new role? Or is she just biding her time until the partisan wars are over, playing ...
November 1, 2004... WITH JUST DAYS TO GO before the end of this, one of the bitterest electoral seasons in memory, I found myself wondering how Laura Bush, that famously reluctant political wife, was holding up. She seemed to be doing just fine: Resplendent in...

Stop beating around the Bush: the election is finally upon us, which means all you mythical undecided voters are going to have to get off the fence. Our own William Broyles and Paul Burka have known for months who they're supporting and why. Here's a little nudges so you'll ...
November 1, 2004... TO: Bill FROM: Paul SEPTEMBER 27, 9:19 p.m. I read your online essay about why you were joining with other Texas writers, artists, and musicians to oppose the reelection of George W. Bush (drivedemo cracy.org/blog/index.php?p=67),...

Life is sweet: pastry chef Rebecca Rather has whipped up a cookbook chock-full of sugary treats that are the perfect ending for your holiday meal, when you couldn't possibly eat another bite--but always do.
November 1, 2004... The first time I met Rebecca Rather, an alarm bell went off in my head: If you become friends with this woman, it warned, you could end up weighing five hundred pounds. * That was nine years ago, and it's a miracle that I'm not a sideshow...

And justice for some: over the past ten years, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has disregarded exculpatory DNA evidence, threats of torture, bad lawyering, and in some cases, all common sense to uphold convictions in keeping with its tough-on-crime philosophy. Why should toughness steamroll fairness?(Deoxyribonucleic Acid)
November 1, 2004... IT WAS, BY ALL ACCOUNTS, the high court's low point. A teenage girl named Deanna Ogg had been raped, bludgeoned, and stabbed to death on a late September afternoon in 1986 near the tiny town of New Cagey, north of Houston. Roy Criner, a...

Attack here: along the fifty-mile Houston ship channel, there are more explosive materials, toxic gases, and deadly petrochemicals than anywhere else in the country--which is why most security experts agree that it's one of America's top targets. So what's the worst that could happen if terrorists where to strike?
November 1, 2004... The attack begins in the Houston Ship Channel, in the cargo hold of the Belize-flagged, Singapore-owned container ship Ocean Princess. The vessel is eight hundred feet long. It is stacked from stem to stern with forty-foot-long steel boxes and...

They came. They Sawed. In 1973 a ragtag group of Texans scrounged up $60,000 and created a film so violent and visionary that it shocked the world. But if you thought The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was strange, then you haven't heard the story of how it got made.
November 1, 2004... MORE THAN THIRTY YEARS AGO the collective might of Columbia Pictures descended on Austin with one of that studio's blue-ribbon, A-team moviemaking armies: Blythe Danner, Anthony Perkins; Beau Bridges, a hot director named Sidney Lumet, an...

Pat's pick: Saffron.(new Moroccan restaurant in Houston)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... What should a Moroccan restaurant look like? Casablanca, of course--Rick's Cafe Americain or one of the movie's other exotic locales. And Saffron, newly opened in Houston, does not disappoint. Dim lights threw mysterious shadows on the wall as...

The dining guide.
November 1, 2004... The Dining Guide POLICIES AND DEFINITIONS 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...

Your pad or mine.(book review)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... Eat cactus? Most Texans would just as soon lick a fire ant bed. About the only cactus dish we're familiar with is Mexico's tart nopalito salad. But the much-maligned prickly pear offers lots of other yummy possibilities, as you will discover if...

Zero to sixty: I've lived hard and loved hard, and I was supposed to die young. Instead, a dreaded milestone birthday is fast approaching--and I'm wearing an oversized straw hat.
November 1, 2004... On November 1 I'll be sixty years old. Impossible, you say? How the hell do you think I feel? I don't know whether to have a birthday party or a suicide watch. I have received many misguided cards and a few inquiries from paleontologists, but...