MikeHallTexas
@mikehalltexas.bsky.social
Texas Monthly, Wild Seeds, Casa Marianella, Van Haulin’
A Texas woman spent 22 years of her life behind bars for a terrible crime she didn’t commit, finally was released & exonerated, but b/c the wrongful conviction destroyed her legal status, she’s now set to be deported. www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic... @texasmonthly.bsky.social
She Spent Nearly 23 Years in Prison for a Crime She Didn’t Commit. Now She May Be Deported.
On Monday, Carmen Mejia was officially exonerated in the 2003 scalding death of an infant.
texasmonthly.com
Happy 90th birthday to Esther Phillips: R&B shouter, disco queen, the first teen idol, favorite of the Beatles and Leonard Feather, the Sister from Texas, and singer of one of the best country albums of the 60s. www.texasmonthly.com/arts-enterta...
The R&B Singer Who Recorded the Greatest Country Album You’ve Never Heard
The First Lady of Black country is from Houston, but her name isn’t Beyoncé. It’s Esther Phillips.
texasmonthly.com
Joe Ely: country rocker, avant garde artist, AI pioneer. When he couldn’t play music anymore-when his illness slowed him down & quieted his voice-his wife Sharon made sure he could still listen to it-& remember-& make more. Here’s the story of his last months. www.texasmonthly.com/arts-enterta...
Esther Phillips was singing and recording country music long before Beyonce or Mickey Guyton were even born. Here’s the story of the greatest country album you’ve never heard. www.texasmonthly.com/arts-enterta... @texasmonthly.bsky.social
The R&B Singer Who Recorded the Greatest Country Album You’ve Never Heard
The First Lady of Black country is from Houston, but her name isn’t Beyoncé. It’s Esther Phillips.
texasmonthly.com
Here's a story about Mussa Traore, a dog trainer who for two years has been working at a south Austin dog park. Nobody was a bigger part of the community or was as beloved as Traore was--by both humans and their canines. That didn’t stop ICE from taking him away. www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...
He Was a Beloved Dog Trainer and an Asylum Seeker. Why Was He Detained?
The humans love him, and so do the canines. What happened when ICE took Seyre Mussa Traore away.
texasmonthly.com
“My new mantra is: I don’t want to die wishing I had done something. I want to die knowing I did do something for someone.” @texasmonthly.bsky.social www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...
I Wrote About an Innocent Man Who Spent 28 Years in Prison. A Stranger Wanted to Help.
When the Texas criminal justice system wouldn’t compensate Carlos Jaile for the time he spent behind bars, a retired insurance agent stepped in.
texasmonthly.com
Trump is trying to deport DACA kids, who have mostly been left alone by the gov't for the simple reason that they are fundamentally innocent-brought to the US as children. Still he’s trying to kick them out. And a couple of El Paso Dreamers just beat him. www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...
They Thought DACA Kept Them Safe From Arrest. They Were Wrong.
For over a decade, “Dreamers” have lived and worked in the U.S. without fear of detention. More than a dozen have been swept up in this year’s immigration crackdowns.
texasmonthly.com
What happens when you put six blind kids and one enthusiastic teacher in a room full of synthesizers? The Semi-Modulars, that’s what. @texasmonthly.bsky.social www.texasmonthly.com/arts-enterta...
How These Blind Students Formed Texas's Hottest Young Synthesizer Band
Inspired by a dedicated teacher, they come together to make inventive music at the state's school for the visually impaired.
texasmonthly.com
If you grew up in the 70s in the West Village with a writer mother & a businessman father & moved to SF & met a 7th gen Tx artist & married & moved to Austin, you too might have written 6 novels & made Fargo & Alien: Earth. But I doubt it. How did Noah Hawley? www.texasmonthly.com/arts-enterta...
Meet the Not-So-Mad Genius Behind ‘Alien: Earth’
‘Fargo’ writer-director Noah Hawley has taken on ‘Alien: Earth,’ the biggest challenge of his career. Can he pull it off while learning to be a Texan?
texasmonthly.com
"People, after all, are just people. We laugh. We cry. We order lunch meat at HEB. Most of all, we rock out to Ozzy Osbourne, & when his imperfect voice combines w mighty riffs & thumping drums, we feel something innately human." www.texasmonthly.com/arts-enterta... @texasmonthly.bsky.social
To Texans Like Me, Ozzy Osbourne Was More Than Just a Rock Star
The Black Sabbath front man, who died Tuesday, was an unlikely Texas icon.
texasmonthly.com
The most haunting story you will read about the flood. "If I or anyone else had been closer to them, we would have helped her. We would have grabbed one of the kids. But we didn’t know that we were about to be plunged into the water. We simply didn’t know." www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...
“The River House Broke. We Rushed in the River.”
The July 4 Texas flooding ripped our Kerr County home from its pillars, pulling us into the water and into the night. Then morning came.
texasmonthly.com
“Pastor, I just need to be reminded: Is God good?” @allegrahobbs.bsky.social goes to church in Kerrville after the flood. www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic... @texasmonthly.bsky.social
Prayer Is “All We Have”: Sunday Morning in Kerrville After the Flood
A grieving community looks to their pastor, and their God, for solace.
texasmonthly.com
11 years ago, Rev. Charles Moore set himself on fire in the parking lot of a Dollar General in Grand Saline, Tx. Why? “He wanted his death to count for something,” said a friend. “He wanted his life to count for something.” www.texasmonthly.com/true-crime/m... @texasmonthly.bsky.social
Happy Juneteenth! For generations, Lake Mexia hosted the finest Juneteenth celebration in the US, w African Americans flocking there from all over. In 1981 3 Black teens were arrested-& drowned. The celebration has never been the same. www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic... @texasmonthly.bsky.social
The Ghosts of Comanche Crossing
In 1981 three Black teenagers drowned while in law enforcement custody during a Juneteenth gathering at Lake Mexia. Four decades later, Texas’s proudest Emancipation Day celebration still hasn’t recov...
texasmonthly.com
Oh yeah, Margaret had great stories about that night. She appreciated the spectacle.
Grits for Breakfast@gritsforbreakfast.bsky.social · last yr.Here's Margaret Moser's account of a Sex Pistols show at Randy's Rodeo. @mikehalltexas.bsky.social, had you heard this story? www.randysrodeo.com/features/pis...
A crazed undertaking! A beautiful list! Of course it’s @dansolomon.com ranking all the songs named “Texas”-separating the garbage from the gold, including Chris Rea, BigXthaPlug, Stevie Ray, Trae tha Truth, Tanya Tucker, Merle, Willie-and of course Big Black. www.texasmonthly.com/arts-enterta...
Here’s a story about a kid-a legal immigrant to the US-who Trump deported to the worst prison in the world. The kid wasn’t in a gang & didn’t have tattoos. Your federal government in action: no due process, no common sense, no decency. www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic... @texasmonthly.bsky.social
The Austin-Area Teen Trump Disappeared to El Salvador
Eighteen-year-old Daniel Terán was taken from his home and shipped to a notorious prison on the charge that he is a gang member. The government hasn't produced evidence supporting the claim, says his ...
texasmonthly.com
Wanna see the human cost of DOGE’s reckless cuts of people who work for the federal govt? @sashavonawesome.bsky.social interviewed 2 of the 5 employees slashed from Big Bend Nat’l Park—people who made the park a safe place to visit. @texasmonthly.bsky.social www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...
"For better or for worse, the meat-packing industry relies on immigrants; changing that would likely require fundamentally changing how America feeds itself." Great story by @jherrerx.bsky.social revisiting the site of a 2006 mass deportation in Cactus, Tx. www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...
Gloria Smith, who lives in Fort Worth, didn’t expect to find her roots in rural Burleson County. Then she started looking. Now she’s saving the Dabney Hill freedom colony, one building at a time. www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...
Gloria Smith Goes Down Home
After stumbling upon her rich family history, the Fort Worth woman made it her mission to save a historic freedom colony in Texas.
texasmonthly.com
66 years ago tonight Buddy Holly played his last song, “Brown Eyed Handsome Man," an anagram of which is “rhyme man be dead on snow” www.texasmonthly.com/articles/the...
The Night the Music Died
Fifty years ago, a plane carrying Buddy Holly crashed in a remote Iowa cornfield. This month, hundreds of fans will gather at the ballroom where he played his final show to sing, dance, and mourn the ...
texasmonthly.com
Director Smriti Mundhra made the best death-penalty doc since The Thin Blue Line. Now “I Am Ready, Warden,” which she worked on with @keribla.bsky.social, just got nominated for an Oscar. Here’s my review: texasmonthly.com/news-politic... @texasmonthly.bsky.social
‘I Am Ready, Warden’ Is a Gripping Examination of Vengeance and Redemption on—and Off—Texas’s Death Row
The new documentary is the best film about the death penalty since ‘The Thin Blue Line.’
texasmonthly.com
