Stories from the Hunter S. Thompson of Texas

The exploits and irreverence of Gary Cartwright's larger-than-life persona has led some to compare him to gonzo god Hunter S. Thompson. The comparison is apt, but Cartwright's fully-lived life seems less dogged by self-loathing. In his new memoir, The Best I Recall, the Texas journalist saunters through his wild years and arrives at a wisdom earned not just from befriending strippers, dope fiends, inmates, and politicians, but from harrowing heart surgery and losing his son, two wives, and a handful of friends to cancer.

There are laugh-out-loud moments, eloquent passages on

More info

friendship and grief, and the kind of you-can't-make-this-up stories your wild uncle might come up with if he had run-ins with the likes of Jack Ruby and Dennis Hopper. Here are a couple of the things you'll learn from reading The Best I Recall.

Come see Gary Cartwright himself this Saturday at Austin's historic Scholtz Garten on San Jacinto. Gary will be signing copies of his book from 3 to 5pm.

You Could Get Away With Some Stuff in 1970s Mexico

Some of Cartwright's exploits read like the plot of Argo but with much-mitigated consequences and more drug-fueled decision making. Cartwright and his "soul mate" writer Bud Shrake filmed a movie in Durango starring Dennis Hopper (Kid Blue, 1973). Before they got to the set, this happened:

We crossed into Mexico at Eagle Pass, where I convinced an overly diligent Mexican customs agent who was about to refuse Pete entrance because of his long hair that we were filming a movie about Jesus. Pete had been obliged to grow the facial hair, I explained to the confused customs agent, in order to convincingly portray the role of Our Savior.

On the same film shoot, the eccentric director made up his own rules for helming a feature film production. Cartwright recalls, "When his mostly British camera crew complained of fatigue and heat exhaustion, Marvin [Schwartz] laced their cocoa with amphetamines." Now that's problem-solving.

Publicity Round Up

It’s still hot here in Texas, and media coverage of our books doesn’t show any signs of cooling any time soon. This summer’s food books are still appetizing:

• The Splendid Table talked with Lucinda Hutson about ¡Viva Tequila!. Listen to the interview on splendidtable.org>>
• The Austin Chronicle’s ‘Drink, Drank, Drunk’ issue featured Lucinda's love for Mexico and reviewed the book: “Hutson and her publisher pull out all the stops to create a gorgeous and informative book which will be every bit as much at home on an upscale cocktail table as it will be in the bar area.” Read the article and the book review at Austinchronicle.com>> 
• While perusing your Sunday paper last week, you may have noticed that Barbecue Crossroads was mentioned in an article by John T. Edge on the golden age of barbecue. Read it on parade.com>>

Our spring photography books maintain our good image:

• Cathy Langer of Denver’s Tattered Cover bookstore talked to Photo District News about the quality of our photography books. In the August ‘Photo Book’ issue, Cathy says that she prefers to order from “university presses like Yale or the University of Texas Press, in part because she trusts the production quality of their books.” Pick up a copy of the magazine at your local independent bookstore>> 
• Photos from Bruce Jackson’s Inside the Wire were featured on the website for the Italian magazine Internazionale. View the slideshow on internazionale.it>> 
• The Boston Globe’s Ideas blog wrote about Bruce’s work in southern prisons. Read the post on boston.com>> 
• Photography critic Vince Aletti reviewed Michael Kamber’s Photojournalists on War: “The book—required reading for anyone interested in the way news is gathered and disseminated these days—collects Kamber’s interviews with 39 colleagues who covered the war…confidences shared among friends that we’re privileged to be listening in on.” Pick up a copy of Photograph magazine at your local independent bookstore>>

And finally, the buzz over our forthcoming fall titles has begun!

• James McWilliams, author of The Pecan: A History of America’s Native Nut, had an amusing essay in the July 7th issue of the New York Times Book Review. Read the essay on nytimes.com>> 
• Kirkus Reviews says of David Cantwell’s Merle Haggard: The Running Kind: “An incisive, critical analysis of one of the most complicated and misunderstood artists in country music...Both the Haggard fanatic and the casual country music fan will find their appreciation enriched.” Read the full review on kirkusreviews.com>> 
• Sam Shephard and Johnny Dark’s collection of letters (Two Prospectors) captivated Kirkus: “A bright pathway directly into the hearts and minds of two compelling men.” Read the review on kirkusreviews.com>> 
• Publishers Weekly listed Waltercio Caldas as one of the Top 10 books in Art, Architecture, and Photography for fall. See more fall art titles at publishersweekly.com>>

Austin Chronicle :: Let the People In

Let the People In: The Life and Times of Ann Richards

By Jan Reid

Buy it now

The Austin Chronicle interviews Jan Reid, author of Let the People In.
 
Austin Chronicle: You were writing about someone whom you knew fairly well and admired – did that present special problems?

Jan Reid: I had to be as hard on her as I could, because if I didn't, it just wouldn't be honest – if I did some kind of fluff piece. So I just tried to be as thorough as I could be, and just got into the character – and oh, what a character she was.

When she died, Evan Smith at Texas Monthly called me and said, I want you to write the memorial – with some ridiculously short deadline like four days or something like that – so I couldn't get lost. People that liked her liked that piece, and I was pretty gratified by that. ... [Later] I found out that Richards had given this incredible archive to what's now called the Briscoe Center for American History. ...

She had opened it up, she stipulated, a year and half after she died. She had opened it up, all of it; the only exceptions were a few death penalty cases and some personnel things; everything else was open. ... I couldn't look at all of it – you kind of learn the art of cherry-picking, checking the index and finding things. ...

I think some of the distance came because, I didn't know anything about her Dallas experiences, or her unpleasant experiences coming face-to-face with LBJ or Jimmy Carter, or being so close to the Kennedy assassination. When I found all that, and found myself writing, I had 200 pages and I hadn't even gotten her out of Dallas yet. ...

That was like writing about a fictional character. ... So I thought [it was] a great opportunity, and also a challenge to get to be able to write about the life of a woman like that. But it was also daunting.

Read the full interview on austinchronicle.com >>

Click here for a schedule of UT Press authors at the 2012 Texas Book Festival.

Austin Chronicle :: The Salt Lick Cookbook

Scott Roberts

The Austin Chronicle profiles The Salt Lick Cookbook: A Story of Land, Family, and Love:

"In the book's title, Salt Lick BBQ restau­rant owner and pitmaster Scott Roberts and noted wordsmith Jessica Dupuy didn't mention the focus that's held four generations of the Roberts clan together: great, simple food. Roberts' combination memoir/cookbook is a loving homage to a remarkable culinary heritage, a special rural environment, and the family that is the foundation of the story. From a pristine 600-acre spread on the banks of Onion Creek, settled by the great grandparents in 1867, to the farm of the grandparents, to the barbecue restaurant started by the parents, Roberts weaves a fascinating and compelling tale of the history of the family, the land, and the restaurant. What started as a simple country roadside shack has grown into a smoked meat culinary complex (complete with a 50-acre vineyard and its own wine label) that feeds over 600,000 devotees a year.

The 100 easy-to-follow and well-written recipes are loaded with descriptive headnotes and backstory. They begin with the cherished country dishes of the old days, like Hisako Roberts' delicious chicken and dumplings, aromatic green onion and cheese soufflé, and her sinfully rich but light lemon chiffon pie. The recipes include all of the restaurant's menu items (except the famous barbecue sauce; that's one you don't get), and for the barbecue neophyte, Roberts details the entire process in amazing detail, complete with step-by-step photos. The recipes finish with some of the dishes from the catering operation, including such treasures as quail with grapefruit glaze and a delectable pulled pork and mushroom stew.

Roberts and Dupuy have put together a compelling historical document that makes for fine reading; the recipes are the delicious bonus. Kenny Braun's lavish photographs run throughout, aptly illustrating the land and the food. This is a cookbook that you'll find invaluable on the cutting board or the coffee table, and one that would make the family's ancestors very proud."

---

Scott Roberts and Jessica Dupuy appear in the Cooking Tent from 3:30-4:30pm on Sunday, and at the Central Market Cooking School on Tuesday, Nov. 27, at 6:30pm.

See the Chronicle's full 'Culinary Dream Team' >>

 

Click here for a schedule of UT Press authors at the 2012 Texas Book Festival.

Austin Chronicle :: Ryan Adams: Losering, A Story of Whiskeytown

Ryan Adams: Losering, A Story of Whiskeytown

By David Menconi

Buy it now

The Austin Chronicle reviews David Menconi's Ryan Adams: Losering, A Story of Whiskeytown:

"There's no one more qualified to write the story of Ryan Adams than David Menconi. A music critic at the News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., he enjoyed a friendly relationship with the former Whiskeytown leader and "It Boy" that lasted until 2001. Drawing from interviews with the artist, as well as his former bandmates and infamous online postings, the author paints a portrait that can be insightful at times, mainly when discussing the attraction behind alt.country phenoms Whiskeytown. Mainly North Carolina-based, the band had an Austin component, one this writer got to witness firsthand, and Menconi captures it with precision. Yet the discussion of Adams' solo career, when Menconi lost direct contact with his subject, comes off less cogent. Meanwhile, his song-by-song analysis of certain works occasionally devolves into fan speak. Still the meat of the book, the story of Adams' beginnings, his uncontrolled songwriting gift, and the anarchy surrounding Whiskeytown is well told."

David Menconi takes part in TBF's Lit Crawl. His "And Rock & Roll" panel discussion weighs in Saturday, Oct. 27, 9-9:45pm, at Shangri-La, 1016 E. Sixth.

Read the review at austinchronicle.com >>

Click here for a schedule of UT Press authors at the 2012 Texas Book Festival.

Austin Chronicle :: The Austin Chronicle Music Anthology

Austin Chronicle Music Anthology
Edited by Austin Powell
and Doug Freeman
Buy It Now

The Year in Books
Thirty-one titles that got us talking this year
BY KIMBERLEY JONES, SARAH SMITH, JAMES RENOVITCH, CINDY WIDNER, MONICA RIESE, AND WAYNE ALAN BRENNER

It's no wonder so many food-related metaphors extend into our reading nooks: Good books are not mere entertainment; they sustain, nourish, and enrich. I gleefully devoured these books, the bread and butter of my bookshelf, which made serving up this recipe for reading success a piece of cake, no matter what your cup of literary tea. (I'll stop now.)

Feed your mind: My two favorite music writers, Austin Powell and Doug Freeman, unleashed The Austin Chronicle Music Anthology (University of Texas Press) this spring (see "Off the Record," Music, March 4, 2011). Despite having had this book for eight months and having lived in this fair town six-plus years now, I know there's always something else in those pages I can learn about our collective musical history. It's a beautiful volume, and the only one I know of in which Joan Jett and Jay-Z make appearances five pages apart.

Read the full list of books at austinchronicle.com »

Austin Chronicle :: Stirring It Up with Molly Ivins

Stirring It Up with Molly Ivins

By Ellen Sweets
Buy It Now

Chews Wisely
2011 Texas Book Festival cookbook reviews
By Barbara Chisholm

Stirring It Up With Molly Ivins: A Memoir With Recipes
by Ellen Sweets
University of Texas Press, 272 pp., $29.95

As an avid and loyal reader of Molly Ivins' work, I sought her column out when I opened the morning paper. There are some columns I remember distinctly for their pointed political commentary, laser-sharp observation, or wry take on some politico's buffoonery. And there are others I remember for their personal nature: the column where she disclosed the diagnosis of her breast cancer and urged readers to get mammograms, and the piece where she talked about her love of cooking and revealed that she was at that time cooking a lot from Simply French by Patricia Wells and Joel Robuchon. I took a ridiculous degree of glee from this column because I too had just procured this book and was cooking a lot from it, as well. I loved this personal glimpse into the private world of this public figure, and I flattered myself that it confirmed my suspicion: Ivins and I were so much alike! I knew we lived in the same neighborhood, and I imagined that she and I were happily puttering around our respective kitchens dicing and sautéing and preparing the same gougères, pommes des vendangeurs, or roast chicken. I fantasized about the two of us teaming up to prepare a feast for a group of funny and smart and sparkling mutual friends.

Read more at austinchronicle.com »

The Austin Chronicle :: Uchi: The Cookbook

Uchi: The Cookbook
by Tyson Cole
and Jessica Dupuy
Buy It Now

The Recipes Behind the Restaurants
Some favorite cookbooks from some favorite local eateries
By Claudia Alarcón, 5/20/2011

I fell in love with Tyson Cole's cuisine just months after Uchi opened. I've been a devoted customer since, and I have followed the making of this cookbook with great interest. Turns out it has exceeded every expectation. Thanks to Jessica Dupuy, who guided and polished the text while allowing Cole's voice to come through, reading the book is like talking to Cole in person. Dupuy truly brings the Uchi and Uchiko experience to life in these pages, and just like the food at both restaurants, the book is visually stunning, with impressive images by local photographer Rebecca Fondren.

Read more »