As Waylon Jennings once sang, Austin, Texas, is "the home of Willie Nelson, it's the home of Western swing..." And today, it's also home to the famed Franklin BBQ. This will not be your "off …
May 3, 2013
Texas
Down in Austin, Franklin is the king
El Paso from six feet under
I’ve never considered visiting graveyards a “must-see” travel experience, but I’ll have to admit that lately I am finding a wealth of history and a deep sense of place that develops necessarily when jaunting graveyard …
April 25, 2013
Far-flung Corners of Texas
Seventh time was the charm. Took me that many drive-throughs before I fell in love with a corner of Texas. Because aside from Padres Island National Seashore, I just couldn’t see much to like. To …
February 11, 2013
Sweet People
If I were asked to describe myself using ten adjectives, “tact” would not be among them. So it was that, upon being introduced to a young man at the opening reception for David’s latest photographic …
October 24, 2012
Marfa Moments
Author W.S. Di Piero stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Randy Quaid when the actor was on the lam. This was in Marfa, TX, where Di Piero stuck around to check out the work of Donald Judd.
May 16, 2012
Two Days in Austin, TX
Austin, Texas: Most of us know it as the self-proclaimed “Live Music Capital of the World,” home to SXSW, and a place that gets really, really hot in the summer. But for an active, social …
March 1, 2012
Raffle Fraud in SD, TX
Raffle Fraud. On Monday, August 29, when Armando Sepulveda of Houston went to pick up the title of a 2012 Ford Mustang he’d won at a raffle at the Jim Wells County Fairgrounds the previous …
September 28, 2011
Man smuggles cigarettes and marijuana into weekend jail sentence
Piggybank Heist. On Friday, July 1, Alice police officers arrested a man for stealing ten dollars from a child’s piggybank. Daniel Zurovec was part of a work crew installing screens at a residence. Two juveniles …
July 27, 2011
241 mariachi players missing
Crack Bust. A routine traffic stop on April 10 led to the arrest of a woman carrying 12 rocks of crack cocaine in her vaginal cavity. According to the report filed by officer Nicholas Juarez, …
June 1, 2011
Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas
The Amistad National Recreational Area on the Mexican border is beautiful waterway, surrounded with blooming prickly pear cactus and wildflowers. And, apparently, monster snakes. I was careful as I made my way down the rocky …
May 21, 2011
Padres Island National Seashore, Texas
The flag was at half-mast the Sunday morning last April when we pulled into Padres Island Visitors Center to purchase our backcountry camping permit to the largest undeveloped barrier island in the world. The National …
San Diego Classifieds
On March 7, 2011, San Diego’s Alice Echo-News Journal ran 248 classified ads. Two ads ran under the “Agriculture” subheading, one of which offered “85 good young crossbred cows. . .10 Brangus cows. . .[and] …
March 16, 2011
Austin or Bust
Several San Diego bands will make the 22-hour drive to Austin, Texas mid-March for the annual South by Southwest music festival and conference. Over 2000 performers seeking labels, booking agents, and recognition will pack 90-plus …
March 9, 2011
The groom wore orange
Ball and Chain. On a Wednesday in early December, convicted murderer Justin Lopez wore an orange jumpsuit to his wedding. Lopez married his girlfriend, Mariah Mierya Cavazos, in a jail lobby in Alice. Though he …
January 26, 2011
Bush International Airport, Houston, Texas
A United States customs worker in the Bush Houston International Airport points to a white-countered window where a middle-aged woman, appearing to be of Asian descent, sits patiently behind a counter. One of the uniformed …
November 30, 2010