How a Bunch of “Hippies, Pickers, Slackers, and Geeks” Transformed Austin
In Austin, the funky slacker paradise turned buzzy big city, nothing is quite as certain as cedar fever, the line at Franklin Barbecue, a daily arrival of newbies—and relative old-timers who stand ready to reminisce about the city’s good old days. Joe Nick Patoski calls it the “You should have been here two years ago” effect. Read More »
How Beaumont Photographer Keith Carter Redefined the Artform
He’s one of the world’s great photographers, with a legendary sense for the mystery in the mundane. But right now he’s at home in Beaumont, and his longtime assistant, Cathy Spence, is calling for help from a side door. Read More »
Empress of Gulf Coast Soul Barbara Lynn Reflects on Her Decades-Long Career
Barbara Lynn was a left-handed young girl in Beaumont when she started sounding out notes and chords on a guitar made for right-handed musicians. She’s always done things her own way. The pioneering sound that grew out of those childhood guitar rhythms—fiery and percussive, complemented by her soulful singing voice and a poet’s command of songwriting—took Lynn around the world, from Beaumont to the Apollo Theater in Harlem, and to the top of the charts in 1962. Read More »
Michael Martin Murphey Saddles Up for Cowboy Christmas Tour
Michael Martin Murphey’s singing rings with the sincerity and authenticity that many find lacking in pop country these days. Nowhere is that more apparent than during Murphey’s annual Cowboy Christmas tour, a series of holiday shows throughout the Southwest that feature a mix of traditional Christmas songs, a few Murphey classics, and cowboy poetry and storytelling. Read More »
Austin Hotelier Liz Lambert Talks Texas—from Midland to Marfa to South Congress
Penny the Chihuahua greets visitors with an inspection sniff outside the elevator leading to Bunkhouse, the ... Read More »
Festival of Texas Fiddling to Highlight Diverse Fiddle Styles in Blanco
Need a spark to shake off the post-Thanksgiving, start-of-the-holiday-marathon malaise? Fiddle music could be just the ticket. This Saturday, Dec. 1, The Festival of Texas Fiddling will bring together fiddlers from across the state for a day of performances, dancing, and workshops at the historic Twin Sisters Dancehall in Blanco. Read More »
Former First Lady Laura Bush Takes Us on a Tour of Her Prairie Chapel Flower Garden
On a warm summer morning, former First Lady Laura Bush walked among the butterflies in the garden behind her dogtrot-style vacation house on Prairie Chapel Ranch in Crawford. The likes of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and U2 singer Bono have ventured on these grounds before, but on this July day viceroys and queens were the VIPs. They flitted about as Bush interpreted the landscape. There’s antelope horns milkweed, she said. There’s gaillardia. There’s basket-flower, and there’s a gourd. “This one’s called purple mist, or blue mist,” she said. “If you want butterflies, then plant this.” Read More »
No Longer in Utopia, Utopiafest to Host Its Intimate Festival with Big Lineup in Burnet
Utopiafest is leaving behind the land of perfection for what it hopes are greener pastures. For its 10th iteration, taking place Nov. 1-3, the family-friendly, camping music festival is moving from a private ranch in Utopia, in the vicinity of Uvalde, to an outdoor event space in Burnet, near lakes Buchanan and Inks. This comes with several advantages organizers believe are integral to the long-term preservation of the festival, chief among them it will cut down the drive time by two-thirds for fest-goers from Austin, where 75 percent of past attendees have hailed. Read More »
Fort Worth Cultural District
Critics and art-lovers tend to admire Fort Worth’s three major art museums as much for their architecture, all by high-profile architects, as for the artworks they house. Philip Johnson designed the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, calling it the building of his career; Tadao Ando, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (one of his few designs in the United States); and Louis Kahn, the Kimbell Art Museum (generally considered to have the finest light of any museum anywhere for viewing art). Read More »
Beaumont R&B Legend Barbara Lynn Named a National Heritage Fellow
The National Heritage Fellowships are the United States’ highest honor in the folk and traditional arts. Lynn earned the recognition for her pioneering rhythm and blues career, which has garnered acclaim with her distinctive guitar play, soulful singing, and songwriting. From nightclubs in her native Beaumont—where her mother chaperoned her gigs when she was a teenager—Lynn’s career has taken her to the Apollo Theater in Harlem, American Bandstand, and other venues around the world. Read More »
Austin Piano Great Marcia Ball is Still Tickling Them Ivories
When Marcia Ball gets to rocking—her long fingers pounding out barrelhouse keyboard rhythms, knees bouncing to the beat, the band locked into the groove—it can be downright difficult to sit still. The Austin piano player has been getting people to their feet for decades with her joyful take on rhythm and blues and a voice steeped in Gulf Coast soul. Read More »
National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature
The National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature opened in 2000 to showcase the work of storybook artists in a fine-art setting. The light and airy gallery curates about three shows per year, including a summer exhibition of the artist featured during the annual Children's Art and Literacy Festival. “Our mission is to instill the love of art as young as we possibly can, because if you think about it, the first art that children see is in the books they’re reading,” Director Trish Dressen says. “If we can instill that in them young, then we can preserve the love of art for the ages.” Entry is always free. Read More »
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