We're not sure exactly what is going on, but Texas Monthly is teasing a 1pm announcement regarding their BBQ App and Festival on Twitter. The message? "Free @franklinBBQ? Today! #tmbbqhunt". We'd suggest heading to the iTunes App Store to download the app, as any chance for free Franklin BBQ around lunchtime sounds like a ticket to eternal bragging rights. Good luck! Texas Monthly's 2nd Annual BBQ Fest will be held on 10/30 at The Long Center, and VIP tickets are on sale now - regular tickets will be available 8/10. more ›

Last September, Texas Monthly dipped a toe in the food festival waters with their first-ever BBQ Festival. The results were unsurprisingly delicious - 20 of the state's best 'cue spots turned up with mobile smokers and cutters to deliver the goods to the sold-out crowd, who basked in a multi-hour meat coma on the Long Center Terrace. The only problem? The organizers erred so far on the side of caution that the 1,000 tickets available sold out in days (they were trying to prevent long lines) - and pitmasters actually had more food than people to serve it to! For this year's second edition, the magazine has learned that they can accomodate far more BBQ enthusiasts, and is making everything bigger the second time around: more food, more sides, and more guests. more ›

Texas Monthly is moving its offices back downtown, to a 21,610-foot space at 816 Congress Avenue. They are currently at the University Park Development, which was recently given back to lenders and sold. Their new space is a class-A spot, recently renovated and only steps from the Capitol. Approximately 80 Austin employees will make the move this summer. The new space has 20 stories, and features 24-hour securitie, covered parking, conference rooms, fitness center, plaza, mail room, deli and a full-service bank. more ›

It would be fair to say that Texas Monthly's Pat Sharpe is one of the arbiters of taste for Texas cuisine. Sharpe is not only a native Austinite, but has been writing for the magazine since 1974 - the year before we were born. Never shy, Ms. Sharpe's "Where To Eat Now" article annually frames the discussion about the state's best new restaurants, and the magazine's features on best burgers, Top 50 BBQ restaurants, and best small-town cafes are saved by subscribers as a veritable roadmap for what to try in the coming months and years. We recently spoke with Sharpe about her latest project, a feature issue on Texan cooking and iconic foods. more ›

Chef Larry McGuire, of Lamberts Downtown Barbecue shows Texas Monthly how they make their ribeye (and why it's 25% of their sales). more ›

Although this year's Texas Book Festival doesn't commence until October, organizers have hardly been resting on their laurels. Instead, they've been busy joining forces with Texas Monthly to launch a new author series which promises to help keep Austin literate this spring and summer. more ›

I think you're asking all the questions that we really wrestled with in this process. Our editor Jake Silverstein deserves all of the credit for this issue, and it must've been in the summer of last year that we first talked about this idea. We had our first serious conversations about it in September in terms of soliciting ideas from the staff. So we've been working on it for at least that long. With the imagery I think we came to the conclusion that many places that have real historical value to Texans have been torn down, or papered over, or lost to anonymity. And yet they still resonate, and they still have meaning. more ›

Texas Monthly is celebrating our state’s one-hundred and seventy-fifth anniversary - or terquasquicentennial, in unpopular parlance - with an issue highlighting the same number of historic events that helped define what Texas means today. And by historic, we mean historic. Starting at dinosaurs and ending with Rick Perry, the staff at Texas Monthly labored to find the most emblematic moments in Texas history, some which took place way before there was even a Texas. Deputy Editor Brian Sweany shifted through myths, legends, cowboys and corn chips to get to the heart of the matter, and in this two-part interview he was kind enough to take us through some of the magazine’s selections and the stories behind them. more ›

Texas Monthly's longstanding tradition of the twice-a-decade BBQ issue has led to arguments, road trips, debates, and all sorts of cacophony. Their food editors travel the state in search of new, obscure, and classic joints serving the holy trinity of brisket, ribs, and sausage. When all is said and done, they pick their favorite 50 spots, and explain why. In the past, such stalwarts as The Salt Lick have sometimes missed the cut. Texans take BBQ personally, and when Texas Monthly mentions, say, Snow's BBQ as the #1 spot in the state for 'cue, Snow's immediately gets hour-long lines (in Lexington, TX) and starts running out of food at 10am on a weekly basis.

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Over beers at TRIO last Tuesday, we had a chat with former Texas Monthly president and editor-in-chief Evan Smith about his new nonprofit media project, the Texas Tribune. more ›

Evan Smith, president and editor in chief of Texas Monthly, is leaving the magazine to join the Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan public media organization aimed at politics, government, and other matters of statewide interest. Smith will become CEO of the new venture, which also claims Austin Ventures general partner John Thornton as the chairman and former Austin Technology Council president Alisha Ring as general manager. Smith spent nearly 18 years at Texas Monthly, serving as editor for eight years before becoming president and editor in chief last year. In his farewell letter to the staff, Smith said that Texas Monthly "without question, gave me my life, gave me the most wonderful and unbelievable and exciting career that anyone could ask for." [NYT] more ›

How will George W. Bush's presidency be treated by history? Sunday morning at 11am, KUT's "Best of Public Radio" will air a co-production of the radio station and ' Frank Rich, LBJ's daughter Luci Baines Johnson, and former Bush staffer Daniel Bartlett, among many others. [KUT] more ›

After Thursday's taping with former Texas Comptroller John Sharp, KLRU will continue its Texas Monthly Talks series by interviewing Joe Straus, the new Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives. Straus, who replaced ousted Midland representative and fellow Republican Tom Craddick after a protracted and very public power struggle, serves Bexar county and is generally regarded as being more moderate than his predecessor. The taping will take place at 10 a.m. on Friday morning in KLRU's Studio 6A. It's free with RSVP, but you must register online. more ›

Earlier this week, current Texas Monthly President and editor-in-chief Evan Smith announced on his blog that he has selected Jake Silverstein, currently a senior editor at the magazine as well as a contributing editor at Harper’s, to assume his lead editorial position when he eventually steps down. Silverstein, a 33-year-old Michener Center grad, started his journalism career in Marfa, Texas, eventually joining the ranks of the Texas Monthly staff two years ago. Smith also appointed articles editor Brian Sweany to the new role of "Special Projects editor," which he describes as exploring various "21st century"-style growth areas of the business, i.e. the internets. "Most businesses are lucky to have one guy qualified and eager to lead," wrote Smith. "We had — and have — two. Get to know them. They’re the future of Texas Monthly." [State of Mine] more ›

Image of the winning plate from TxDOT
• We're hoping for Soledad O'Brien as moderator: Obama and Hillary to appear next Thursday the 21st in CNN/Univision-sponsored debate in Austin.
• Bloggers can moderate debates, too: Eileen Smith from In the Pink Texas (and Texas Monthly) and Karen Brooks from the DMN will moderate the Democratic Senate debate between candidates Noriega and McMurrey in Austin this Wednesday, Feb. 13.
• 4 men arrested for the kidnapping last week of Adrian Jaimes; one of them is his father's cousin.

Higgins, who apparently didn’t get the memo that nobody puts Lance in the corner, scoffed at the irate Armstrong, who then left to a series of under-breath cat calls and one patron labeling Armstrong as overrated (the cleanest of the insults softly launched his way.) more ›

Andy Langer is Austin's nearly ubiquitous multimedia music journalist. In the past, he's worked for both The Austin Chronicle and KUT. He now hosts music news segments on News 8 Austin, writes a column for Esquire magazine, and appears on both KSGR and KROX radio on Thursday mornings. Now, after twelve years of (also) hosting 101X's Sunday new music program The Next Big Thing, Langer is migrating to a prime weekday evening spot at KGSR. His show will air Monday-Friday from 6 to 10pm, immediately following Jody Denberg's drive-time broadcast. Though KSGR's format is pretty flexible for AAA, it's a big change for the guy who's been playing lots of loud indie, Britrock, electronica, and lo-fi material at KROX. We spoke with Langer yesterday about the changes to his radio job, and he had a lot to tell us more ›

Rebecca Robinson won't sit still. In addition to her day job, Robinson is also an award-winning actor, garnering recognition as the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama for the 2006-2007 B. Iden Payne Awards. Austinist asked Robinson some questions about The Wine and Food Foundation of Texas and her role as Executive Director of the Austin-based organization whose membership reads like a a who's who of heavy-hitters in the growing Texas culinary scene. How did... more ›

#19 Texas (5-2) vs. Baylor (3-4) Time: 11:30 am, Saturday, Oct. 20 Location: Floyd Casey Stadium, Waco TV: Versus Radio: KVET (98.1 FM, 1300 AM) Baylor head coach Guy Morriss has had better weeks. First, one of his assistant coaches was caught pissing on the bar at a Waco saloon. Then Texas Monthly's Paul Burka began spreading the rumor that Morriss was on his way out. To top it off, Baylor takes on Texas... more ›

The University of Texas raised $26 million in athletic donations in 2006, putting it 16th among all U.S. universities. A study by The Chronicle of Higher Education found that money for athletics accounts for more than one-quarter of all contributions to some universities. The Chronicle survey reported that the country's largest athletic departments and booster clubs raised more than $1.2 billion in 2006 and 2007. The University of Texas wasn't the top athletic fund-raiser in... more ›

When it comes to U.S. Presidents, few people know more than Michael Beschloss, NBC News' official Presidential Historian. His best-selling books have covered all things executive and his latest, Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and How They Changed America, 1789-1989, examines several moments within 200 years of American history when Presidents had to seriously represent, keeping it realer than real for the sake of the nation and the world. On Monday, June 11th, the LBJ Future... more ›

THURSDAY [19] benefit/music • Do512 and Direct Events co-host a benefit for Groundwork Music with Tammany Hall, The Boxing Lesson at La Zona Rosa (RSVP for Free Entry, $5 Cover Otherwise) books • "The Art of Travel and Travel Writing" with Lonely Planet writer Alex Hershey and Stephanie Elizondo Griest at Intellectual Property (5:00pm) books • The Texas Monthly Author Series presents Ian Rankin at BookPeople (7:00pm) film • Movies in the Park: "Talladega... more ›

It was announced today that Austin-based scribe Lawrence Wright was awarded the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for general non-fiction. This is not the only award his book, The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11, has won, but it is one of the more illustrious honors it has received. Wright is currently a staff writer for the New York Times New Yorker, has written for Texas Monthly, and helped pen the screenplay for the Denzel... more ›

What is this SXSW business? Don't y'all know there's a presidential campaign in full swing? And not at all excessively early, either. Edwards' only semi-public appearance in town was for a taping of Texas Monthly Talks. The interview airs next Thursday. Check your local schedule. more ›

Following the precedent set by Barack Obama's well-received rally at Auditorium Shores two weeks ago, the two remaining contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination, Senator Hillary Clinton and former Senator John Edwards, will be making brief appearances in Austin over the next two weeks. Unlike Mr. Obama, however, neither are easily accessible to the public. Edwards will be in town on Thursday to film an episode of Texas Monthly Talks, set to air next Thursday,... more ›

Last month Austinites got a hefty dose of filmmaker David Lynch as he rolled through town promoting his new film Inland Empire and his new book Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity. Lynch had a helluva busy schedule, appearing at the Paramount Theatre where he introduced a sold out screening of Inland Empire and participated in a Q&A session, then appearing at Barnes & Noble where he signed copies of his new book,... more ›

Spark, KLRU's annual Engaging Speaker Series, brings to Austin some of our nation's foremost authorities in politics, science, literature, and more for lively discussions at the Paramount Theatre. All events, running from January to May, feature a 45-minute presentation given by the visiting speakers followed by a 30-minute Q&A session with the audience. For 2007, Spark turns its eye to issues with a "global impact, social significance and community relevance." Hence, they're kicking off... more ›

Paul Burka, Senior Executive Editor of Texas Monthly, reports on his latest blog that plans for a George W. Bush Presidential Library on the SMU campus are meeting some serious resistance. Burka writes, “A letter, dated December 16, from ‘Faculty, Administrators, & Staff’ of the Perkins School of Theology to R. Gerald Turner, president of the Board of Trustees, is now circulating not only on the SMU campus but also among a wider academic community,... more ›

THURSDAY [14] art • Ethan Azarian's Art Show 2006: Alien Abduction series, Fruit in the City, Eight Foot Cows (First Night 05), and more at In House Gallery (2514 East 17th Street, 5-10pm) music • Shapes & Sizes, Weird Weeds, Lovely Sparrows, Benko at Emo's music • OHN, Lila's Medicine at Flamingo Cantina music • Ruthie Foster at Cactus Café music • Balmorhea, Low Line Caller, Sthil at The Mohawk music • White Ghost... more ›

FRIDAY [17] music • Frida Hyvonen, Tacks the Boy Disaster, Jonathan Meiburg (Shearwater) at Emo's Lounge music • She Wants Revenge & Pretty Girls Make Graves at Stubb's music • Deftones, Deadsy at Austin Music Hall music • Steve Carter at Waterloo Records music • Grupo Fantasma at Antone's music • Golden Bear, The Lemurs, Glass Family at Continental Club (9:30pm) music • Joe Ely at Cactus Café music • Chin Up Chin Up,... more ›