Texas Monthly articles from October 2007

Texas Monthly archives from October 2007

Requiem for a heavyweight: it was one thing for Karl Rove to get George W. Bush elected. It was another for a combative political consultant to have a hand in policy-making. Bad for the president, bad for the country.(Behind the Lines)
October 1, 2007... Many are rejoicing at Karl Rove's exit from the White House. I'm not, but neither am I sorry to see him go. The time had come, and the country and the president are better off for his leaving. He had been caught up in too many dark...

All the King's men.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the editor)
October 1, 2007... Your article "The Next Frontier" captured the essence of the King Ranch, its history, family, finance, and future [August 2007]. And the black and white photos by Kurt Marlins were perfect; color would have ruined them. I felt as though I were...

Paul Bearers.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the editor)
October 1, 2007... Finally someone has written an article that shows the human side of Dr. Ron Paul and his family and also the human side of his supporters ["The Elephant in the Room," August 2007]. We are not just techno-nerds and spammers (I'm 65-plus and...

Praise be to Yolanda Adams.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the editor)
October 1, 2007... Thank you for the article on Yolanda Adams [Reporter, The Horse's Mouth, August 2007]. As a native Houstonian living in Washington, hope is definitely what keeps me going. No matter where I am, Houston is in my heart and Yolanda's voice is in...

The ones that got away.(Editor's Letter)
October 1, 2007... One of the inevitable realities of being in business for nearly 35 years is that you have a lot of ex-employees (all of them gruntled, I'm sure). Even though a surprisingly high number of the names on our masthead--seven!-have been here for...

Topic a: loyalty oaf: the real problem with Alberto Gonzales.(Reporter)
October 1, 2007... The political demise of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is a unique example of death by a thousand cuts, because his wounds were mostly self-inflicted. The surprise is not that he resigned but that he held on for so long. Testifying about his...

Making wine.(The Horse's Mouth: EVERYTHING I COULD EVER TELL YOU ABOUT ...)(Interview)
October 1, 2007... NAME: Richard and Bunny Becker AGES: 66 HOME: San Antonio QUALIFICATIONS: Owners of Stonewall-based Becket Vineyards, which produces wines from fourteen different French vinifera grapes / Becket Vineyards consistently garners medals at the Long...

The natural: Craig Biggio brought dignity to baseball, gave his all every day, and was a hock of a player. If only there were more like him.(FAQ: PAUL BURKA ON THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Why all the fuss about Houston Astros second baseman Craig Biggio's retirement? It's not just his outstanding career--although that would be reason enough: He's just the twenty-seventh player in major league...

Laurens Fish III, 36 funeral director.(The Working Life: STORIES FROM THE 9 TO 5)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] I'm not the stereotypical pale, pasty, morbid funeral director portrayed in movies or on TV. I'm just as normal as the next guy. But people always have a big reaction when I say what I do. I hear the same bad...

Marathon Baptist Church: Marathon : July 15, 2007.(Faith Bases: WILLIAM MARTIN REVIEWS OUR PLACES OF WORSHIP)
October 1, 2007... On a visit this summer to Marathon, gate-way to Big Bend National Park and home of the historic Gage Hotel, I noticed that, in addition to several art galleries, antiques shops, and bookstores and Shirley's Burnt Biscuit Bakery, it has two...

Take heart.(Minister of Health: JIM ATKINSON CURES WHAT AILS US)(congestive heart failure)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Wally Wawro first noticed the symptoms in 1990, when he was 39. The Dallas television audio specialist was working a project in Palm Springs, California, when he came down with what felt like a nagging cold. Four...

Fatally hip: Wes Anderson is too cool for his own good--and ours.(Hollywood, TX: CHRISTOPHER KELLY ON OUR STATE OF ENTERTAINMENT)(American film writer, director and producer)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] At least on the surface of things, it would seem that Wes Anderson should be celebrated as a true homegrown hero. He was born and raised in Houston, where he attended St. John's School. He famously collaborated with...

Washington Square Serenade.
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Don't expect to pick right up on the acrid leftist dogma of 2004's The Revolution Starts... Now. The new STEVE EARLE album, WASHINGTON SQUARE SERENADE (New West), finds the singer's head in a completely different...

The Shepherd's Dog.(Sound recording review)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Onetime film professor Sam Beam, who makes his records under the nom de plume IRON AND WINE (and at his home in Dripping Springs), began his career tentatively, whispering confessional tales over meager...

Combinations.(Sound recording review)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] By now, the novelty of the small-town family band EISLEY has worn off; it's not enough that the five youngsters learned to play because they had little else to do or that they went from their parents' Tyler...

Billy Joe Shaver.(country singer and songwriter)(Interview)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... For his first all-gospel release, Everybody's Brother, the 68-year-old outlaw country legend assembled a cast that includes Tanya Tucker, Kris Kristofferson, and John Carter Cash. Why a gospel album now? It was time. It's strong-medicine...

Eureka.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Texas-raised news anchor JIM LEHRER is too much the gentleman to author a full-blown satire, but he's not above a genial send-up of middling America--the Midwest, the middle class, and the midlife crisis--in his...

The Tecate Journals: Seventy Days on the Rio Grande.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Expectations run low for a river-paddling diary named after a popular (though decidedly watery) Mexican cerveza, which accounts in part for the pleasure of discovering THE TECATE JOURNALS: SEVENTY DAYS ON THE RIO...

The Last Jew Standing.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Themes of family and loyalty provide a nice counterbalance to the gruesome violence (wood chipper, anyone?) in THE LAST JEW STANDING, the fourth excellent offering from lit noir master MICHAEL SIMON. The action...

Clayton Williams.(Republican gubernatorial nominee)(Interview)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... The colorful Midland oilman, profiled by journalist Mike Cochran in Claytie: The Roller-Coaster Life of a Texas Wildcatter, has made and lost fortunes, but he is best known for his unsuccessful 1990 gubernatorial campaign against Ann Richards....

Downtown bastrop: where old-timey charm is alive and well.(Street Smarts: A QUICKIE GUIDE TO ...)(Texas stores and restaurants)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 1 Sisters Elaine Solomon and Lois Bachmayer have filled the rooms of APOTHECARY'S HALL ANTIQUES with vintage hats and clothes, crystal bowls and vases, pattern glass from the 1800's, and--their specialty--antique...

Corny dogs: how to fry up a batch of your own.(The Manual: WHAT EVERY TEXAN SHOULD KNOW ABOUT ...)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The corn dog's birthplace maybe disputed among gastronomists, but there is no denying that the corny dog, as the fried delicacy is known in these parts, made its first appearance at the State Fair of Texas. Dallas...

Ray Benson.(Texas Monthly Talks: EVAN SMITH SITS DOWN WITH ...)(vocalist of Asleep at the Wheel)(Interview)
October 1, 2007... Let's do the most important question first: How tall are you, actually? I was six seven, but now I'm six six and a half. I shrunk. Who can tell? When I put on my cowboy hat and boots, I'm seven feet tall. That's what really...

Lions and tigers and bears! And cardinals and eagles and pirates! This summer, at mascot camps in Austin and College Station, good sports from schools across Texas got into character--literally--and promised to stay there all season.(State of the Art)(highschool and college sports mascots)(Photograph)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Logan Blanchard as Chips the Chaparral, Westlake High School, Austin; Sabrina Ortega as Troy the Trojan, Foy H. Moody High School, Corpus Christi; Shelby Frerich as Chloe the Tiger, Smithville Junior High School,...

The waiting game: working in a restaurant seemed like a good way to make some quick money--until I had to take the Pappasito's entrance exam.(Oscar Casares)(Short story)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] It's not like I didn't want to work. I had applications out all over town. I was just waiting for the right place to call me back. By this point I'd gone several years without holding down a regular job. I'd lived...

One hundred boxes: living with Donald Judd's austere sculptures for a month convinced me I'd misunderstood them all these years.(Letter From Marfa)(Essay)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] This is not an essay about Marfa. By now you've probably read an article or two about the place, breathless odes in a variety of publications--glossy monthlies, art journals, travel magazines, the New York Times....

Endless Summerall: the problem with the NFL today isn't thugs like Michael Vick. It's broadcast booth buffoons who can't quit yapping. Bring back Pat!(National Football League)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Lately, no longer willing to endure the blather of idiots, I've taken to watching NFL games with the sound turned off. I don't need some poorly informed ex-jock in a turtleneck and double-breasted blazer or some...

River deep, mountain high: there's more to Big Bend than the Window and the Mule Ears, just as there's more to the Big Bend region than the magnificent national park. Here are fifteen can't-miss things to do the next time you're in far West Texas, from scuba diving in the waters of Balmorhea and gliding in the clouds above Marfa to floating down the Lower Canyons and soaking in Chinati Hot Springs.
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 1. Dig the Past TEN BITS RANCH IF THE PAST TWO MILLION YEARS were condensed into a single day, Ten Bits Ranch would be buzzing with seaside dinosaur stampedes, tectonic uplifting, volcanic eruptions just...

The evolver: before he was the leader of the free world, the "liberator" of Iraq, and the most unpopular president since Richard Nixon, George W. Bush was just a guy with terrible clothes trying to win his first election. In an excerpt from Dead Certain, Robert Draper recalls the dilettante who would be governor--and the governor who decided he was ready for the big time.(Excerpt)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "George, you've got no base here. All you've got is a famous name." This time, George W. Bush listened when Texas political operatives like his longtime friend Jim Francis warned him about running for office. It was...

The unbankables: if you lend small amounts of money to the working poor--people with no assets, no credit, no savings--can their American dreams come true?
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] On Sunday, August 28, 2005, Harold Washington was living in New Orleans, supporting himself as a substance abuse counselor and repairing his friends' computers in his spare time. On Monday, Hurricane Katrina changed...

Horsemen, pass by: Bill Wittliff's Lonesome Dove photos take you back not just to a magic-hour river crossing but to someplace deeper: to a vanished time that is both wholly concocted and wholly real.
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] WHEN Lonesome Dove was published, in 1985, western movies were in one of their periodic eclipses. A decade or so of preachy revisionist movies like Doc and Soldier Blue had drained away their mythic vitality, and...

"Number one with a bullet": Miranda Lambert sings songs about shooting an abusive husband, burning down a lover's house, and beating up an ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend. Faith hill she ain't, and she's not exactly radio-friendly either. But the East Texas girl has topped the charts twice--and she might even save country music.
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] WHEN THE PREFAB GLITZ OF NASHVILLE'S COUNTRY MUSIC industry takes a four-day weekend in the surreal contrivances of Las Vegas, a genuine country girl like Miranda Lambert will have a hard time outshining all the big,...

Fearing's: Dallas.(PAT'S PICK)(restaurant)(Restaurant review)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] LIKE A SUMMER BLOCKBUSTER that's been anticipated for months, uberchef Dean Fearing's domain at the new Ritz-Carlton in Dallas finally opened for business in mid-August--and how. The seven dining rooms (yes, seven,...

Brasserie Max and Julie: Houston.(NEW + NOTEWORTHY)
October 1, 2007... The old house on Montrose that was once home to both Aries and Pic has been turned into a charming new French outpost, courtesy of the folks who own Cafe Rabelais. The servers dress brasserie-style, the wine list is serious (with plenty of...

Soleil Bistro and Wine Bar: San Antonio.(NEW + NOTEWORTHY)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Soleil--meaning "sun"--is casting some welcome light on the former quarters of Cafe Europa. The demeanor is comfortably laid-back and convincingly Provenial, certainly for San Antonio, and the service on our visit...

The filter: dining: policies and definitions.(Texas restaurants)
October 1, 2007... 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 that we list and are updated every three months. The...

Big State Festival: College Station.(JORDAN'S PICK)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] HERE COMES ANOTHER all-the-decibels-you-can-handle musical gathering. The Big State Festival, which spans a weekend this month (and has a moniker only a Texan could love), is aiming to do for country music what the...

Museum with a view.(The Filter: Events: WHERE TO GO, WHAT TO DO, WHO TO SEE)
October 1, 2007... CORPUS CHRISTI "The Sparkling City by the Sea might just deserve a big colored thumbtack on the state's cultural map after all." That was our assessment last October as the Art Museum of South Texas unveiled its new 28,000-square-foot wing. In...

Go west, young hipster.(The Filter: Events: WHERE TO GO, WHAT TO DO, WHO TO SEE)(West Texas)(Brief article)(Calendar)
October 1, 2007... MARFA Let's get one thing straight: The Chinati Open House is not new (it dates back to 1986). But we'd be remiss not to remind you that the festivities are striking up once again. This year's weekend of all things minimalist features two...

Talk to me.(The Filter: Events: WHERE TO GO, WHAT TO DO, WHO TO SEE)(Shirley MacLaine and James Earl Jones)(Brief article)(Calendar)
October 1, 2007... AUSTIN, GALVESTON Celebrity interviews are often nothing more than canned photo ops, but two of this generation's most prolific actors will be sitting down for some legit face time with Texas audiences this month. Shirley MacLaine, who has made...

If it's not Baroque, fix it.(The Filter: Events: WHERE TO GO, WHAT TO DO, WHO TO SEE)
October 1, 2007... HOUSTON Eight years ago Montreal transplant Antoine Plante founded Mercury Baroque with friends at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music, and the unassuming ensemble has been gaining momentum ever since. Though it is still striving to make...

Things that make you go hmm.(The Filter: Events: WHERE TO GO, WHAT TO DO, WHO TO SEE)(A Rose Has No Teeth: Bruce Nauman in the 1960's)
October 1, 2007... HOUSTON Among Bruce Nauman's best-known works is a curving neon sign that is titled (and reads) The True Artist Helps the World by Revealing Mystic Truths. Like nearly all of his highly conceptual sculptures, photographs, and performance...

The stars at night are big and bright.(The Filter: Events: WHERE TO GO, WHAT TO DO, WHO TO SEE)(star gazing)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... FORT DAVIS It's one thing to lie in your backyard, look up, and find the Big Dipper. It's quite another to look into a telescope and see galaxies that are millions of light-years away. And there's no better place to do the latter than at the...

See ya later ...(The Filter: Events: WHERE TO GO, WHAT TO DO, WHO TO SEE)(Gator Country alligator theme park )(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... BEAUMONT In August Gary Saurage drove fourteen straight hours from Orlando, Florida, with some precious cargo in the back of his minivan: a ten-foot-two, 400-pound Australian saltwater crocodile named Gwendolyn. But the trip didn't go as...

Twice as nice: what I learned about Texarkana--and my old pals--at my high school reunion.
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Shithouse Shortie, my sixth-grade boyfriend, didn't show up for our forty-fifth high school reunion in Texarkana, and I'm not forgiving him, because I had a column to write and I knew that his nickname and his...