West Texas

Take a Video Fracking Tour with Dallas Environmentalists. And the Beatles

At the end of January, city staff arranged to have the entire City Plan Commission bused to three city-owned sites where Trinity East Energy hopes to drill for natural gas on parkland. This was so commissioners could see for themselves just how drab, un-park-like and eminently frackable they all are ... More >>

As Legislature Mulls State Parks' Closure, Would-Be Sites Languish For Decades

The budget ax brought down by the state legislature in 2011 gouged a huge chunk from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, which lost more than a fifth of its funding. The result was layoffs and a reduction in staffing and hours of operation at a number of state parks. The initial spending propo ... More >>

ERCOT Says There May Not Be Enough Juice in the Power Grid To Prevent Rolling Blackouts This Summer

Just in case all this temperate whether has lulled you into the perception that the Texas power grid doesn't have the thinnest margin of safety between lights on and lights out anywhere in the country, here's a reminder: Summer is coming. ERCOT, the grid operator for most of Texas, says the odds th ... More >>

Bigger and Brighter and Fried-er

Grease is the good word at the State Fair of Texas.

While You Waited for Tanks to Flatten Lubbock, the UN Conquered Texas Through Sustainable Development

We all got a good chuckle when Lubbock County Judge Tom Head warned of that impending United Nations invasion of West Texas, but the laughter may have been premature. InfoWars, the website run by Austin Austin radio host/all-around crazy Alex Jones, published a low-budget, Onion-quality newscast tha ... More >>

Fiona Apple Arrested In West Texas For Hash Possession

by Craig Hlavaty Sierra Blanca, Texas -- that wonderful city in far West Texas that loves to pinch leaf-loving musicians like Willie Nelson and Snoop Dogg Lion -- has claimed another trophy, arresting singer Fiona Apple Wednesday night for hash possession. According to TMZ, the singer-songwriter ... More >>

FRIED BREAKING NEWS: Fried Jambalaya, Fried Bacon Cinnamon Roll Win Big at State Fair of Texas

See also: The Fried Food Finalists Coming to the State Fair of Texas 2012 Last Wednesday, the eight finalists of the Big Tex Choice Awards were announced. Today, they gathered for an epic fried battle. Three judges (1310 The Ticket's Donovan Lewis, Representative Eric Johnson from the Texas House o ... More >>

Sundown at Granada's Prickly Pear Margs are Mediocre, but the Beer'll Do

I can't imagine the headache that the Sundown at Granada must be on weekends, because with patios like that, its Thursday through Sunday crowd must be hanging over the rooftop's railings. But for a lazy and breezy Wednesday evening, the atmosphere can't be beat. Fact: scientific research has proven ... More >>

Worried About Aerial Spraying? Steve Blow Thinks You're on the "Lunatic Fringe."

Gone for a week. Vacation. Back. First thing, walked the dogs in the 'hood. Got a half dozen mosquito bites. So I thought the mayor bombed the mosquitos while I was gone. What is up with that? Are there still mosquitos where you live? Also just back from vacation, next thing, after the dogs, was St ... More >>

John Cornyn Seeks to Fend Off Latest Threat to Texas Economy: Salamanders

I suppose it was only a matter of time before Texas politicians, still on a high from their glorious victory over the evil, job-killing dunes sagebrush lizard, turned their attention to similarly insidious threats to our economic well-being. This time, the threat comes from four species of salamand ... More >>

Friday Night Lights and Road Trip Insights

Craig James "Interviewed" by His Daughter About Texas Tech, And It's Everything We Hoped

Wait. This is awesome. We just stumbled across Craig James' new U.S. Senate campaign ad. His campaign manager, who also moonlights as his daughter, is interviewing him, asking if people in West Texas will hate him for his role in the Texas Tech football fiasco that led to head coach Mike Leach's fi ... More >>

The Reuben at Coppell Deli: Taking You Back to the Glory Days

​Each week, Justin Bitner goes hunting for DFW's most interesting sandwiches. Have a sandwich suggestion? Leave it in the comments and he'll check it out. Venue: Coppell Deli The Sandwich: The Reuben ($6.29) Bread: Ever so delicately toasted Rye Toppings: Corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss ch ... More >>

Do You Prefer Your Service Warm and Cheeful or Dry and Aloof?

"Would you like apple from Washington, or my West Texas peach?"​Have you gotten to Alan Richman's scathing back and forth account of M.Wells? The article is making the rounds this week and describes an odd email exchange between critic and restauranteur, involving plenty of bad taste and alleg ... More >>

Miracle Guile: Rick Perry Has an Odd Way of Measuring Success

Take the Road Headed East

Experience Organic Visions

In Need of Another Rolling Blackout? Then Read This New Story of ERCOT.

​This morning we received the same report presented to all members of the Texas Legislature: The Story of ERCOT, prepared by the Texas Coalition for Affordable Power. It's a mammoth thing -- 110 pages based, says TCAP, on "months of research, including a review of journalistic accounts, regulatory ... More >>

High Turkey Prices Won't Keep North Texas Food Bank from Giving Away Birds

​The North Texas Food Bank won't face the same turkey shortages plaguing food pantries in West Texas. As KOSA-TV reported this morning, the West Texas Food Bank is scrapping turkey distribution for the first time in a decade, citing the high cost of turkey meat. Inflation and a poor harvest o ... More >>

Los Pinos Ranch Chardonnay: Less Oak,
More Turpentine

​Wine from Pittsburgh? Surely you jest. After all, Pittsburgh is Steel City, known for its dominating football teams, brawling blue-collar identity and Primanti's, a famous hangout where the cooks are known to stuff French fries inside their burgers. Of course you would want to wash down such ... More >>

Llano Estacado Vintner's Selection Signature Red Meritage

​Meritage or Claret? What's the difference? Typically, both terms refer to Bordeaux-style blends, heavy on the Cabernet Sauvignon and/or Merlot, with one or more of the regions classic blending grapes added for body, spice and completeness. Most fans of Argentinian reds would be surprised to l ... More >>

Kung Fu Slam Dunk: On Friday, Two Film Fests to Light Up Screens at Angelika, Magnolia

What you see above is the just-posted trailer for the Asian Film Festival of Dallas, which kicks off Friday at the Magnolia beginning with a 2 p.m. screening of Johnnie To's dramedy Sparrow. As evidenced by the sneak peek, and what I've managed to see so far, it's yet another bang-up year for the fe ... More >>

Because, Apparently, Oklahoma City Makes a Better Fort Worth Than Fort Worth

The Texas flag's waving in the Oklahoma breeze at this very moment: Noted The Oklahoman yesterday, director Michael Winterbottom's about 200 miles north of here shooting the second big-screen adaptation of Jim Thompson's 1952 novel The Killer Inside Me, about a deeply disturbed West Texas lawman who ... More >>

Space, the Shifting Frontier

CBS's Big D Pilot Just Got a Little Bigger -- Say Hello to Dr. Spaceman!

Chris Parnell as Dr. Leo Spaceman on NBC's 30 RockA month back we sneaked a peek at the CBS fall line-up and found Big D, a Warner Bros. Television production about "a New York couple who moves to the man's hometown of Dallas, where his Southern-belle mother makes life complicated for his East coast ... More >>

Polygamy and Me

Seven months have passed since the polygamist raid in Eldorado, but for one mainstream Mormon, the effects linger

Snake Eyes at the Mardi Gras Motel

Making Book

Tea for Texas

Burton's art is Good and Sweet

Dust Bowlin' Daddy

Terry Allen plays the Sons

Czech Your Head

Head to West-comma-Texas

For the Rest of Us

A field guide to the hippest music festivals of the summer

Mrs. "Strong Arm" Takes a Bow

Kudos

For once, we say something nice about the DMN

Joe Ely

Happy Songs From Rattlesnake Gulch (Rack 'Em)

The Doom Patrol

Lens Crafters

Smith and Stautberg shine in Whistler’s gallery

The Beast That's Feast

Inwood takes a bite out of horror

Dallas to El Paso: Give Us All Y our Teachers

Best Reason to Leave Humming the Scenery

Randel Wright, scenic artist

Hell of a Catch

Friday Night Lights goes deep, rare for a movie about football

Clone Ranger

The old roundup may never be the same, thanks to Zech Dameron’s herd of genetically duplicate longhorns

Oscar-Caliber Nosh

Angelika Café offers scrumptious screen bites

Up in the Air

Fort Worth's landmark Reata restaurant is back and waiting on a deal to save its home

Howard's End

Carlton Stowers goes in search of the dark muse that inspired pulp-fiction legend Robert E. Howard, the West Texas recluse who created Conan the Barbarian

Terry saves

Lubbock-born sculptor-songwriter finally finds a little Salivation

How to site a Nuclear- waste dump--for just $50 million

Noshing around the world

Barcelona Tapas Bar offers eclectic, if mediocre, grazing

Out There

Hank, junior

Wayne Hancock rides shotgun down the Lost Highway