News
 
Gravatar

Get in-depth coverage of news, reviews and conversations about Texas barbecue. It's basically Christmas every day for barbecue-lovers.

Gary Johnson was a seemingly mild-mannered part-time college professor. But outside of class, he would moonlight as a professional hit man—or so the clients thought. Because it was all an act. Originally published in the October 2001 issue of Texas Monthly, Skip Hollandsworth’s story about Johnson has been adapted into a film directed by Richard Linklater and starring Glen Powell, which hits theaters May 24. In this installment of the Story, Hollandsworth describes what initially drew him to Johnson’s tale and why it’s so resonant all these years later.

The post The Story: A Houston Man’s Double Life That Became the Film ‘Hit Man’ appeared first on Texas Monthly.

Thank you for reading!

Gravatar

Get in-depth coverage of news, reviews and conversations about Texas barbecue. It's basically Christmas every day for barbecue-lovers.

Profile on Jamie Turner, Texas-inspired jewelryRobert Turner’s journey into gem collecting began innocently enough. As an Austinite in the early 1980s, he hunted for the mica, quartz, and other sparkly rocks a kid might find in a museum gift shop. But the more he learned about their chemistry and geology, the more his fascination grew. By the early 2000s, he had moved on to the finer stuff—diamonds, rubies, sapphires—and eventually amassed a collection of 90,000 carats in gems and minerals that defied explanation.  Yet an explanation was exactly what his wife, Jill, wanted the day in 2017 when, in the midst of a spousal spat, she stormed into his studio in Austin. “She said, ‘What the f— are you going to do with all this s—?’ ” Turner recalls. Thinking on the…

The post The Diamond (and Sapphire and Tanzanite) of the Season appeared first on Texas Monthly.

Thank you for reading!

Gravatar

Get in-depth coverage of news, reviews and conversations about Texas barbecue. It's basically Christmas every day for barbecue-lovers.

Crystal Mason and her attorneys speak to the media on March 29, 2024, in Fort Worth.She was stuck in a drive-through line, of all places, when she got the call she had hoped would finally allow her to move forward with her life.It was late March and Crystal Mason had just placed her lunch order when her phone lit up. On the other end, her lawyer asked her to wait while he convened the legal team behind her appeal of a 2018 conviction. Mason recognized this meant there had been a significant development in the saga that’s run for nearly a decade. It had been six years since a Tarrant County judge had convicted her of voting illegally, handing down a five-year sentence for submitting a provisional ballot even though she wasn’t eligible to vote. Her ballot had never even…

The post Crystal Mason Became a Public Example When Convicted of Illegal Voting. Six Years Later, She’s Still Waiting for Relief. appeared first on Texas Monthly.

Thank you for reading!

Gravatar

Get in-depth coverage of news, reviews and conversations about Texas barbecue. It's basically Christmas every day for barbecue-lovers.

Clear Texas Boot by MelissaWestern wear has never been a style defined by nuance and subtlety. It may have been derived from necessity, but in the intervening years—from gilded boots custom-made by a master craftsman to decked-out hats donned by Dripping Springs bachelorettes—even its most authentic forms have acquired an air of ostentation. Consider the details of the genre: dyed leather, fringe, dyed leather, Nudie suit–type embroidery, rhinestones, tassels. No matter how much we love Western wear, it has the general aura of costume, even on the most genuine cowboy or -girl. The style’s centerpiece, the cowboy boot, is no exception to this rule. Even heritage brands often incorporate dyed leather, exaggerated toe shapes, and any number of exotic animals’ skins into their wares. As Western wear has increasingly entered…

The post “Western” Shoes Have Gone Too Far appeared first on Texas Monthly.

Thank you for reading!

Gravatar

Get in-depth coverage of news, reviews and conversations about Texas barbecue. It's basically Christmas every day for barbecue-lovers.

The Checklist: Willie NelsonmusicThe Border, Willie NelsonMay 31 By our count, this is the 91-year-old’s 152nd album. (You can see the full list, “Willie Nelson Albums, Ranked,” on our website.) But with Willie, age doesn’t mean a thing. The title track, sung from the perspective of a border patrol officer, is a Rodney Crowell song from the Houston native’s 2019 album, Texas. But Willie doesn’t stick around the Rio Grande; the album is much more interested in the borders of the heart. Willie walks, and sometimes straddles, the line between lust and love before arriving at “Nobody Knows Me Like You.” It was written by legendary Nashville songwriter Mike Reid, and Willie repurposes it as a tender tribute to his wife of 33 years, Annie D’Angelo. filmKinds of KindnessIn theaters…

The post Four Reasons June Is a Great Month in Texas Culture appeared first on Texas Monthly.

Thank you for reading!

Gravatar

Get in-depth coverage of news, reviews and conversations about Texas barbecue. It's basically Christmas every day for barbecue-lovers.

City-and-Regional-Magazine-Association-Annual-Award-WinsOn Monday, the winners of the National City and Regional Magazine Awards were announced at the annual conference in Cleveland, Ohio. Texas Monthly won a dominant nine awards—more than any other publication—including General Excellence. TM won in half the categories it was nominated in. This is the fourth year in a row that TM has won more National City and Regional Magazine Awards than any other publication.According to the press release announcing the winners, judges for the General Excellence award praised TM for its “delightful blend of top-notch writing, first-rate design, and actionable service packaged in engaging and innovative ways.” Texas Monthly also won Excellence in Design, for its October 2023 issue; judges said the submission delivered “only the highest quality photography, illustration, and typography…

The post Texas Monthly Brings Home Nine City and Regional Magazine Awards appeared first on Texas Monthly.

Thank you for reading!

Gravatar

Get in-depth coverage of news, reviews and conversations about Texas barbecue. It's basically Christmas every day for barbecue-lovers.

The cafeteria line.From a replica of a horse-and-buggy on the roof to the papier-mâché cowboy “customers” playing cards at a table inside, the quirky splendor of Country Kitchen is a lot to take in. “It is unique,” says 71-year-old owner Scott McLean, who took over the 61-year-old Lampasas restaurant when his late father, C. D. McLean, retired in 1992. “Sometimes I walk in in the morning and think, ‘Oh my gosh.’ ” C. D. was an avowed treasure hunter who bought the restaurant in 1976 and filled almost every inch of its wood-paneled walls with tchotchkes and oddities. Scott, who began working at the restaurant in 1983—in part to hold down the fort while C. D. was off antiquing—doesn’t share his father’s passion for picking but admits he can’t bring himself…

The post Line Up for Freshly Fried Chicken and Scratch-Made Pies at This Quirky Hill Country Cafeteria appeared first on Texas Monthly.

Thank you for reading!

Gravatar

Get in-depth coverage of news, reviews and conversations about Texas barbecue. It's basically Christmas every day for barbecue-lovers.

Roar of the Crowd: Ortho BrosRebukedAs a Texas Monthly fan and an Orthodox Christian, I was doubly disappointed by “Rise of the ‘Ortho Bros’ ” [April 2024]. The article portrays Reverend John Whiteford as some kind of protofascist, in part because he doesn’t agree that all Confederate statues should be ripped down and destroyed. To parlay this idea into part of the article’s subtitle, that his followers are “interested in the Confederacy,” is deeply misleading. The article also treats transplanted conservatives like incoming artillery rounds. There is nothing interesting about this type of journalism, which, rather than engaging political and religious issues on their merits, simply relies on Pavlovian responses from the readers. Christina Helms, Milan, ItalyLet’s make sure I have this straight. The Reverend John Whiteford, hiding behind an impressive cross…

The post Roar of the Crowd: June 2024 appeared first on Texas Monthly.

Thank you for reading!

Gravatar

Get in-depth coverage of news, reviews and conversations about Texas barbecue. It's basically Christmas every day for barbecue-lovers.

Lauren Larson at Atlasta Home Sanctuary, in Ennis, for her reporting on the May 2023 cover story.She was an avid reader from an early age, and though she grew up in Seattle and Baltimore, Lauren Larson especially loved the New Yorker magazine and all the fascinating subcultures its writers would explore, from orchid thieves in Florida to students at fancy prep schools along one stretch of Madison Avenue in Manhattan. When it came time to attend college, Lauren considered majoring in anthropology. But she learned that the discipline would require her to focus on one community for years at a time. She instead chose journalism. “This way I can immerse myself in a subject for maybe one fiscal quarter,” she says, “and then move on to the next thing that seizes my attention.”I first encountered Lauren’s writing about five years ago,…

The post Why You’re Seeing Lauren Larson’s Name So Much appeared first on Texas Monthly.

Thank you for reading!

Gravatar

Get in-depth coverage of news, reviews and conversations about Texas barbecue. It's basically Christmas every day for barbecue-lovers.

Taylor Hall Jr. at the Diamond L Ranch arena, outside Houston, in 1978.“I didn’t know there were Black cowboys.”I was standing in a darkroom, and my friend, the new lab monitor, was hovering over my shoulder. He had just caught sight of the faint tracings of a ghostly image of a bronc rider emerging from the print I was swishing through a bath of photo-developing solution.He could perhaps have been forgiven for his ignorance. This was 1978, back in the day when the general public believed that the job description for cowboys began with “Must wear big hat and boots” and ended with “Only whites need apply.”It was exhilarating to have the photographic proof that this impression was deeply mistaken. Unfortunately for me, an impoverished recent journalism graduate from the University of Texas at Austin, that proof…

The post The Lost World of 1970s Black Rodeo appeared first on Texas Monthly.

Thank you for reading!