Recently I have become enamored with a tv show that has been on the air for over 35 years. The Texas Country Reporter started in the early 70's and it features stories on people in Texas that are special in some way or just plain interesting and I have to admit that I haven't watched it in several years but now it has become an obsession. The host, Bob Phillips, does a fantastic job of interviewing the people featured on the show and it's just the combination of the production, the music, the whole process that grabs you and holds you until the very end.
One show that I recently saw featured a local Austin restaurateur, Lola Stephens of The Nubian Queen Restaurant. Now Lola has a very intersting story. She carries nearly as much food as she cooks for her patrons sitting on the inside of her restaurant out the back door to the homeless people that come by throughout the day, knowing that they can count on Lola for a little kindness and a hot meal. This is one of the hardest working people I have ever seen, arriving very early in the morning and continuing until late at night and it's a labor of love. I will be venturing down to Lola's myself next week to check things out because not only is this one of the most interesting people in this town but it appears that she is also one of the best cooks in this town as well. A great story indeed.
And on it goes, story after story about interesting Texans with none of the hype, overproduced editing or just plain lies of your normal reality tv. I love it. The show comes on several of the local cable channels or you can go to http://www.texascountryreporter.com/ for the schedules.
