You can say a lot of things about LBJ, but for all his faults he at least did us all a favor by taping tons of his phone conversations.Popular historian Michael Beschloss has put out two books with transcripts and CDs from the calls, tracing everything from screaming about Vietnam to Johnson telling his Dallas tailor that his pants are too snug around his balls.Now the LBJ Library in Austin has released the last of the tapes it has on hand, and they're as fascinating as ever.
Houston failed to preserve much of its heritage. Now the fight is on to protect the priceless photographic images of that vanishing past from the same fate.
Photo courtesy NASAA salute to Mr. JablonskiHey, guess what!! Monday brings the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing!!Oh, you heard? Well, get ready to hear more -- this weekend and Monday will no doubt be a "One small step for man" marathon.Which is fine -- the moon mission was a crazy, awe-inspiring thing that could have gone wrong a million ways but didn't. Even though the Apollo program cost about a trillion dollars in today's money, it did give us Tang.And it also gave us our five
Walter Cronkite, the baby-boomer's Voice of Authority, died Friday. He's remembered fondly in Houston, where he worked at the paper at what was then Lanier Junior High, attended San Jacinto High and worked at the Houston Press. (No, not the current Houston Press; the afternoon daily that brought a little tabloid flavor to town.)Here's a brief tour of Cronkite's Houston:He lived, according to legendary Lanier teacher Jim Henley, in the 1800 block of Marshall after his family moved from Kansas Cit
So maybe, like Texas Traveler, you're exiled to Dallas for a business conference, or an extra-long layover at DFW airport, or relocated for work and have no idea how to pass the time. Well, Texas Traveler has a few ideas, some off the beaten path, and some right smack square in the middle of it.6. Deep Ellum
Deep Ellum is but a shadow of the often-interesting, sometimes frightening neighborhood it used to be, but it's still worth a visit if only to grab lunch and check out some of the histori
Many songs about Texas are written by residents wishing to celebrate some part of their beloved Lone Star State. Others come from non-Texans who are unable to resist the je ne sais quoi of the place that produced both Walter Cronkite and Karl Rove.
One thing that many of them have in common, however, is how much they get wrong. We at Rocks Off are committed to fighting ignorance wherever we find it, and will be examining the more egregious offenders in a new feature we're calling Lone St
