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The Best Celebrity Cowboy Looks of 2024

Bubble Life — Sun, 22 Dec 2024 22:00:00 Z

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When Beyoncé decided to hint at her forthcoming country album drop, she did so with fashion: a black, studded jacket from Pharrell Williams’s fall–winter 2024 Western spin on Louis Vuitton, worn to the 2024 Grammy Awards. Celebrity Western-wear designers once outfitted country royalty—Buck Owens, Porter Wagoner, Hank Williams—for the stage, helping craft an image of the American cowboy (the singing kind, at least) as a collaboration between musician and designer. The fringed and swaggering rhinestone cowboy of the American imagination emerged in part from that collaboration. This February, Beyoncé in her studded jacket called to mind the old cowboy mythmaking machine.That was just the start: Everyone wanted cowboy boots this year. Leather fringe. Denim on denim. With Cowboy Carter leading the charge, Western wear became…

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Buda Isnt the Bland Suburb You Think It Is

Bubble Life — Sun, 22 Dec 2024 21:51:39 Z

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I live in Buda, and I’ll be the first to admit that my city doesn’t always make the best first impression. As Interstate 35 wends its congested path southwest of Austin, passersby may experience this fast-growing suburb as merely rows of fast-food joints, industrial warehouses, and gas stations that dot the highway. But if you take a little time to explore, you may be surprised to learn that Buda has a historic downtown so picturesque, there’s now an entire weekend dedicated to painting scenes of it every year.Buda sits on the eastern edge of the Texas Hill Country, rich in history and culture, yet it still has the unfair reputation as a commuter town for wannabe Austinites. In fact, it’s been a thriving community for…

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Landman Episode Seven Recap: Can We Get a Therapist to Visit the Oil Patch?

Bubble Life — Sun, 22 Dec 2024 09:00:00 Z

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Find our ongoing coverage of the first season of Landman here. Son Cooper is out of the hospital. Company owner Monty is making risky business deals. And teenage daughter Ainsley can’t stop talking about her sex life. Our land man has a lot to deal with in just one short day, so let’s dive right in. (Our regular disclosure: The show is based on the Texas Monthly and Imperative Entertainment podcast Boomtown, and TM is an executive producer.)Let’s start with Cooper, who is about as cheery as an Aggie in Austin during homecoming week. I’d say his concussion is to blame, but that would be giving the beatdown he got two episodes ago too much credit. He’s been discharged from the hospital, and his dad is there…

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Liz Lamberts Six Essential Christmas Gifts

Bubble Life — Fri, 20 Dec 2024 08:33:17 Z

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In our series Stuff Texans Love, our state’s most stylish celebrities share their shopping lists. Hotelier Liz Lambert, the creative wunderkind behind projects such as Austin’s Hotel Saint Cecilia and Marfa’s hotel-campground hybrid El Cosmico has a tried-and-true method of gift giving.“If I like something, I go and tell everybody,” she says. She only sets a present under the tree when she’s passionate enough to “do an informercial for the thing.”More than two decades ago, the former attorney pivoted her career trajectory, turning her detail-oriented eye to Texas hospitality. Her Midas-like touch has transformed run-down properties into artistic getaways, and Lambert’s sense of style and taste naturally extend to her selection of these six go-to holiday gifts.Flamingo Estate Roma Heirloom Tomato Dish Soap ($30)Lambert asks readers…

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Two Familiar Names Join Texas Monthlys Staff

Bubble Life — Fri, 20 Dec 2024 07:24:56 Z

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Texas Monthly is pleased to announce that Paula Forbes, a longtime Texas Monthly contributor and expert cookbook critic, will be our new senior food and drink writer. She’ll be taking the baton from legendary restaurant critic Patricia Sharpe, who is retiring at the end of this year after fifty years with the magazine.“I could not be more pleased to have Paula Forbes take over my role at the magazine and make it her own. She has all the right credentials and excellent writing chops,” Pat says.Having been a contributor to Texas Monthly since 2019, Paula comes to this role possessing a deep knowledge of what the magazine does. Her passion for Texas’s food scene has been on display in such articles as a cowritten feature…

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Who Gets to Use the Abbreviation UT?

Bubble Life — Fri, 20 Dec 2024 06:03:14 Z

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When the College Football Playoff begins this weekend, UT will take on Clemson in the first round. Four hours later, on another TV network, UT will take on Ohio State. Good thing Steve Sarkisian has two quarterbacks!Of course, the Longhorns aren’t playing twice—rather, this twelve-team iteration of the College Football Playoff features two schools that abbreviate their names the same way: the University of Texas (which will face Clemson) and the University of Tennessee (Ohio State).This would not ordinarily be a big deal. The two UTs have coexisted since the nineteenth century without rancor or confusion, save for the occasional search engine mix-up. You'd think that with the massive amount of data that Google has on me that they would be able to see me…

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The Monarch May Soon Be Listed as ThreatenedWith Big Implications for Texas Butterfly Breeders

Bubble Life — Thu, 19 Dec 2024 21:18:13 Z

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After Kathy Marshburn lost a child, she didn’t know how she’d move on. Violet was only two months old when she died unexpectedly, of a heart condition, in 2002. Marshburn, who lived in the Houston suburb of Humble, was unmoored by grief. Finding a way forward felt impossible, especially around the anniversaries of Violet’s birth and death. Then Kathy saw a butterfly release at the funeral of a friend.Something about the natural spectacle made her decide that raising the colorful insects would be her way to both honor her daughter and help others with their grief. “I just had an epiphany,” says Marshburn, who today is the executive director of the International Butterfly Breeders Association. “I was like, ‘That is amazing, that’s beautiful, and it’s hopeful…

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TM Audio Exclusive: Paula Mejía on the Enduring Influence of Johnny Canales

Bubble Life — Wed, 18 Dec 2024 23:23:22 Z

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TM Audio subscribers have access to this episode one week early. Visit our FAQ page to learn how to link your subscription to your podcast app. This bonus episode of Viva Tejano features a conversation with Paula Mejía about Mejía’s feature in the December issue of Texas Monthly, which covers Johnny Canales, the golden age of nineties tejano, and—most of all—why the boom in regional Mexican music today owes so much to Canales and his work in the eighties and nineties.(Read a transcript of this episode below.)Viva Tejano is produced by Ella Kopeikin and Patrick Michels and produced and engineered by Brian Standefer. Our executive producer is Megan Creydt. Additional production is by Aisling Ayers. Consulting producer is Adrian Arredondo. Graphic design is by Jenn Hair Tompkins and Victoria…

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Federal Regulators Were Trying to Rein in Texas Polluters. Then They Lost Documents Crucial to Their Efforts.

Bubble Life — Wed, 18 Dec 2024 22:29:53 Z

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Most days, when she leaves her house in Fort Bend County, south of Houston, she does so wearing a mask. Donna Thomas, a 63-year-old environmentalist, doesn’t take the precautionary measure because of COVID-19 concerns. Instead, she aims to protect herself from the gray plume of smoke—a “menacing storm cloud,” as she puts it—that sometimes wafts from a coal-fired power plant about fifteen miles southwest of the neighborhood where she’s lived since elementary school. Thomas, who has asthma, says she feels an intense weight on her chest when she spends too much time outside, and she sometimes has to retreat indoors because the air reeks of “trash and sewage.” As president of the small air-monitoring neighborhood council Fort Bend County Environmental, Thomas has worked for more than…

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Smoked Meats Are a Major Part of This Midland Restaurants Menu, but Dont Expect a Typical BBQ Joint

Bubble Life — Wed, 18 Dec 2024 22:01:23 Z

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The paintings on the walls of Johnny’s Barbecue in Midland left a bigger impression than the barbecue when I visited over a decade ago. Anthropomorphic swine showed off outfits, including those of a nurse, a construction worker, and a Dallas Cowboy. Another wore a cowboy hat and boots while happily munching on a rack of ribs. When the restaurant closed in 2022, after seventy years in business, new owner Ruben Carrasco Jr. had a photographer document the images. (He’s planning to create a coloring book.) Now there’s new artwork, inspired by Carrasco’s native El Paso and his family, including his late brother, Jeffrey. Carrasco’s serving barbecue out of the old building with his restaurant, Pachuco’s, which opened two years ago, but the menu is like…

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The Wild Story Behind the Last Texas Football State Championship to End in a Tie

Bubble Life — Wed, 18 Dec 2024 22:00:00 Z

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The state of Texas will crown a new slate of high school football champions this week, as the finalists, from the six-man classification all the way up to class 6A, meet in a series of title games at AT&T Stadium, in Arlington. But forty years ago, the only winners in the state championship tilt between Odessa Permian and Beaumont French were chaos and confusion.More than 13,000 fans showed up in Irving that day in December 1984 to watch the class 5A—the University Athletic League’s largest enrollment classification at the time—finale at Texas Stadium. Odessa Permian was a perennial contender for district and state championships in those days, while Beaumont French eked out the football team’s first playoff berth in nine years with a 6–4 regular-season…

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They Protect Rich and Famous Texans. They Say Theyve Never Been More in Demand.

Bubble Life — Wed, 18 Dec 2024 06:36:03 Z

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At six foot six and nearly three hundred pounds, with shoulders that barely fit inside an XXL suit jacket, Travis Miller is a hulking wall of a man. He claims to be a “big teddy bear” with a knack for putting even small children at ease, but there is no doubt that he more often exudes intimidation. This came in handy on the football field: Miller nearly made the NFL and then played in the Arena Football League and overseas. But giving off an air of menace, it just so happens, is an even greater asset in his current line of work. Most would identify Miller as a bodyguard, but within the small fraternity of high-priced chaperones who shepherd the rich and famous around the country,…

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Roar of the Crowd: January 2025

Bubble Life — Wed, 18 Dec 2024 04:00:00 Z

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Borderline BiasI have been a subscriber for many years and love the magazine. What I do not appreciate is the political bias that is obvious when reading some of your articles. “The Border Crisis Won’t Be Solved at the Border” [November 2024] is one of them. There is ridicule of the governor’s trying to protect the border, but there is insufficient explanation of why there was suddenly a need for doing so. I believe that if the previous presidential administration’s policies had been kept, there would not have been a huge increase in the number of immigrants crossing the border illegally. The governor tried to protect Texas and Texans against this, as the federal government apparently had other priorities.There is mention of the costs to…

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Where to Eat, Shop, and Explore in Historic Victoria

Bubble Life — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 22:00:00 Z

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If you weren’t already aware that Victoria turns two hundred years old this year, rest assured that the locals will remind you as soon as you set your suitcase down. They’re proud of their history, and understandably so. Located about thirty miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico and just about a two-hour drive from many Texas cities (Austin, Houston, San Antonio, and Corpus Christi), the town is one of the oldest in the state and is the seat of the only county (also named Victoria) that flew all six flags of Texas.Today, that history is evident in a new display at De León Plaza, a public square in the heart of the city. There, you’ll find new statues of the town’s founder, Martin De…

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Gen Z Brought Back the Espresso Martini. We Texified It.

Bubble Life — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 22:00:00 Z

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The younger generations—and possibly singer Sabrina Carpenter—have brought back the espresso martini. There’s no fighting it—stemmed glasses of rich, brown, caffeinated liquid dotted with three coffee beans are everywhere. Instead, we’re innovating it. Our espresso martini—a Texspresso Martini, if you will—has a Southern drawl, with mezcal adding a bit of smoke and pecans contributing richness. With three ingredients, there’s only so much you can change up in this dessert (or brunch) cocktail, but this combination is pretty spectacular. Mezcal has always been an excellent pairing for coffee. As the old saying goes, what grows together goes together, and coffee is harvested in many areas of Mexico that also produce mezcal, including Oaxaca and Guerrero. And when we’re talking Texas, my mind always goes to pecans, one…

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The Year in Texas, in Photos

Bubble Life — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 22:00:00 Z

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2024 was the first full year of Texas Monthly’s makeover. Over the past twelve months, our art team has settled into the redesign that introduced (or reintroduced) new story sections to our readers. With the renovation came the revival of our Working Life column, which highlights Texans with captivating careers (think Casandra Sowards, who sculpts animatronic dinosaurs). We brought back TM Talks, conversations between Texas Monthly staffers and prominent Texans, such as country music star Ronnie Dunn. We revamped Letter From, a series of dispatches from various corners of the state, which took readers along on a Volkswagen road trip through West Texas this March. Our Excursions, Weekender, and Detours columns offer readers the best of the best advice on where to go and what…

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Robert Earl Keens Mom Never Loved Merry Christmas From the Family

Bubble Life — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 22:00:00 Z

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Since its release on the 1994 album Gringo Honeymoon, Robert Earl Keen’s “Merry Christmas From the Family” has become the “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” for those of us whose family get-togethers are less Hallmark and more National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.It’s not just humor, though, that has made the song a holiday—and honky-tonk—tradition. Like Willie Nelson’s “Pretty Paper” or Merle Haggard’s “If We Make It Through December,” the tune has a touch of melancholy that resonates this time of year and a relatability that relieves some of the pressure that comes with picture-perfect holiday expectations. With a cracker-barrel cast of characters who are hilarious but also tenderhearted, the song achieves a wistful nostalgia that feels like flipping through an album of old photos. “People tell me year after…

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What Is a Taqueria, Really? This Dallas Chain Has the Answer.

Bubble Life — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 05:24:02 Z

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Nancy Reza smiles a lot, even when talking about the family rift that created Taqueria El Arquito. Her large family is best known for owning 23 locations of Taqueria Taxco (established 2009) across Dallas–Fort Worth. In 2020, though, Reza, several siblings, their parents, and other relatives broke from the family’s chain to open their own operation. “Working with family is complicated,” Reza told me during a conversation at the newest Taqueria El Arquito—one of nine locations—in tony University Park. She didn’t clarify the reason for the split, only hinting at some kind of friction. What Reza did share was pride in her family and her love of her hometown of Taxco, famous for the arches of its aqueduct, built under order of conquistador Hernán Cortes, in…

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A Toast to Patricia Sharpe

Bubble Life — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 04:57:18 Z

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At the end of this year, after fifty years with Texas Monthly, dining critic Patricia Sharpe will be closing her tab and retiring. Pat bid her readers farewell and answered a few final questions about her gustatory adventures in an essay in Texas Monthly‘s December issue, but here, colleagues past and present share their anecdotes about and praise for Pat’s five decades with the magazine.A few weeks ago, Pat and I were waiting to be seated at the host stand of a restaurant in San Antonio, and the young woman asked for the phone number on the reservation. If you’ve read Pat’s wonderful December feature, you know she always makes a reservation under a fake name, but, of course, technology blew her cover long ago.…

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Selenas Legacy, Fort Worth Rodeo Make It a Great Month in Texas Culture

Bubble Life — Mon, 16 Dec 2024 22:00:00 Z

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CONCERTSelena Vive: The Music of SelenaMajestic Theatre, San Antonio, January 3–5 The San Antonio Philharmonic will pay tribute to the late Queen of Tejano with a three-night stand featuring a young star of the genre, 21-year-old Isabel Marie Sanchez. A fixture of the tejano scene for more than a decade, Sanchez is no stranger to Selena’s music: She was “discovered” by the icon’s father; covered “Dreaming of You” on her 2017 album, Sígueme; has performed at Fiesta de la Flor, an annual festival for Selena fans; and has been a part of other musical tributes to the singer.EVENTFort Worth Stock Show & RodeoWill Rogers Memorial Center, January 17 to February 8The oldest continuously running event of its type returns for a 129th year with something…

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