Austin Confidential

S: Chris Gray
Chris Gray is my discovery. When I was editing, I used to read the Daily Texan to see who was writing and what they were saying, and I ran across Chris Gray's writing. So I called him up and basically I said, "If you're gonna write this kind of shit, why don't you come write it for me and get paid for it. We're having a party in a few weeks, why don't you come over?" It was a party we were having with Texas Monthly. This kid shows up at my office and everyone's looking like, "That's gonna be your new discovery?" He has exceeded all my expectations as a writer. The one thing I wish he would do is go back to school and finish and get his degree.

J: I had a class with him once. I'd go, "Let'd go study for the test," and he'd say, "Okay. When did you go to class last? What have we been talking about?"

S: Chris, I'll make you a bet that I'll graduate before you do.
Chris, I might graduate before you do.

S: What's up with that nickname?
What, Weezer? He's got asthma.

S: What about Raoul Hernandez.
When he first started writing for us, he wasn't using his name. He was using Val Masters. He had some reasons that meant a lot to him personally, but I said to him, "You have a really beautiful name. It's really evocative, and it's your name." This is one thing I've always stressed to the guys, that your name is really important to you. He was another one of my babies, one of my boys.

S: You know we're going to use your comments to decide who to interview for the next issue, because the Geek Weekly Jason Cohen and Michael Krugman interview apparently isn't gonna happen.
I love Jason and Michael. Jason was another one of my favorite boys. I came on just as he was working his way out of the Chronicle and we crossed over for like a year, year and a half.

S: This is really going to make up for all the shit that Rob talked.

J: We won't be such a trashy magazine anymore.

S: At least you talked about Michael, so he'll have to mention it in his column. Which should have been named Austin Confidential!
You can start a column called Austin Confidential.

S: I think that can be the name of this interview.

27