Shania Twain and Kendrick Lamar among headliners at Texas' hottest music fest of 2023

ACL 2023

Photo courtesy of Shania Twain

The 22nd annual Austin City Limits festival lineup is here, and it's got some gems that could make even the most anti-festv Texans want to go.

Headlining this year's festival are Kendrick Lamar, Foo Fighters, Mumford & Sons, The Lumineers, Shania Twain (Weekend One only, as she has dates with Fort Worth and Dallas the following weekend), Odesza, Alanis Morissette, and Hozier. Also performing are The 1975 (Weekend Two only), Kali Uchis, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Maggie Rogers, Labrinth, Niall Horan, Tove Lo, Thirty Seconds to Mars, and many, many more.

The two weekends of revelry will take place October 6-8 and October 13-15, 2023, at Austin's Zilker Park. Three-day tickets go on sale Tuesday, May 9, at 12 noon via www.aclfestival.com. There are even layaway plans available, starting at $25 down. Plus as a new feature for 2023, all fees and shipping costs are included upfront, so there are no surprises when you go to the checkout.

The nine-stage event will also feature several Texas artists, including Cigarettes After Sex, Tanya Tucker, d4dv, Randall King, and more. Some of the Austin-area artists include Asleep At The Wheel (one of the only constants at Austin City Limits from year to year), Ben Kweller, and Die Spitz, a gritty femme punk band making their ACL debut. A few more Texas artists play just one weekend: The Mars Volta and Jane Leo will play only for Weekend One, while Jimmy Vaughn and Tilt-A-Whirl Band and Penny & Sparrow play for Weekend Two only.

Also expected during the 2023 festival is its "Bonus Tracks" programming, which brings talks and interviews to a small stage, with past appearances including San Antonio-born public speaker and researcher Brené Brown, Austin yoga teacher Kate Waitzkin, KUTX hip-hop podcasters The Breaks, and more. Stay tuned for that announcement later this summer. Austin Kiddie Limits has also booked music for fans ages 8 and under, with a full lineup and programming to be announced soon.

In addition to general admission tickets, 3-Day GA+ Tickets, 3-Day VIP, and Platinum Tickets, hotel packages are also available. VIP ticket holders will enjoy two private lounges with viewing decks for the two main stages, while Platinum guests have the best seats in the house with exclusive viewing at six stages.

GA ticket holders are also getting a new amenity for 2023. Instead of finding premium cocktails on the menu in select areas only, you'll now be able to order them on bar menus all throughout the festival.

Tickets for the 2023 ACL Festival can be found at aclfestival.com.

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'Yellowstone' stars to greet fans at Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo

Yellowstone news

Yellowstone fans, get your comfy shoes ready - there'll be a long line for this one. Cole Hauser a.k.a. "Rip Wheeler" on Yellowstone, and Taylor Sheridan, the show's co-creator, executive producer, and director of the series, will meet fans and sign autographs at the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo.

The event will take place from 4:30-6:30 pm only on Friday, February 3. Location is the 6666 Ranch booth near the south end of Aisle 700 in the Amon G. Carter, Jr. Exhibits Hall.

According to a February 2 announcement from FWSSR, "fans will have the opportunity to snag an autograph as well as purchase some distinctive Yellowstone and 6666 Ranch merchandise while also enjoying all the features the Stock Show offers."

The event is free to attend (with paid Stock Show admission) and open to the public.

It's the second year in a row for Hauser to appear at FWSSR; in 2022, he and fellow cast mates drew huge crowds.

Sheridan, a Paschal High School graduate, is no stranger to Fort Worth; he lives in a ranch near Weatherford and filmed 1883, the prequel to Yellowstone, in and around Fort Worth. Currently, another spinoff, 1883: The Bass Reeves Story, is filming in North Texas.

The Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo is winding up its 2023 run on Saturday, February 4.

9 DFW companies clock in among Forbes' best employers in Texas for 2023

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Dallas-Fort Worth continues to prove it's home to some of the best businesses in the state. Two local employers in fact - Texas Oncology and Fidelity Investments - have moved into highly coveted top-10 spots on Forbes' 2023 list of "America’s Best Employers By State".

The prestigious list is a collaboration between Forbes and Statista to survey the satisfaction levels of tens of thousands of workers employed by national companies.

Dallas-based Texas Oncology - the largest cancer treatment and research providers in the state - earned a rank of No. 6. Forbes says there are more than 4,700 workers employed by the oncology network.

On its career website, nurse leader Nicole Forkner, BSN, RN, OCN said Texas Oncology has been her "home away from home" for nearly two decades.

"So many of our patients have left a lasting memory with me. Not only are we healing their heart, mind, and soul, but they are healing ours too," Forkner said. "The guidance we have received from our amazing Texas Oncology leadership team has led us through hurricanes, ice storms, new initiatives, software changes, and the COVID-19 pandemic."

Fidelity Investments made major gains in 2023. Though the company might be based in Boston, Massachusetts, its big presence in Westlake (coupled with a great work environment and advancement opportunities) propels it to the top year after year. The financial services corporation climbed to No. 9 in Texas this year, after ranking No. 22 in Forbes' 2022 list. There are about 61,000 people employed by Fidelity, according to the report.

Forbes explains that those on the list "aren’t the best large or midsize employers nationally, but a deeper look at which companies are closer-to-home options for every American worker."

Forbes and Statista determined their rankings by surveying 70,000 Americans working at employers in the U.S. with at least 500 employees each. The final list features 1,392 highly recommended employers in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Nearly 270 employers ranked highly in multiple states.

Here are the 30 best large employers in Texas, as determined by Forbes and Statista:

Dallas-Fort Worth:

No. 6 – Texas Oncology, based in Dallas
No. 9 – Fidelity Investments (based in Boston; major corporate hub in Westlake)
No. 14 – Capital One (based in Richmond, Virginia; major corporate hub in Plano)
No. 17 – University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas
No. 22 – Southwest Airlines, based in Dallas
No. 24 – Texas Health Resources, based in Arlington
No. 25 – General Motors (based in Detroit, Michigan; major assembly hub in Arlington)
No. 27 – City of Plano
No. 28 – Toyota North America, based in Plano

Austin:

No. 3 – Google (based in Mountain View, California; major corporate hub in Austin)
No. 13 – Apple (based in Cupertino, California; major corporate hub in Austin)

San Antonio:

No. 2 – H-E-B (based in San Antonio; more than 300 stores in Texas)
No. 26 – University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

Houston area:

No. 1 – NASA (based in Washington, D.C.; Johnson Space Center in Clear Lake)
No. 4 – Houston Community College
No. 5 – Houston Methodist
No. 6 – Texas Children's Hospital
No. 18 – National Oilwell Varco
No. 19 – Bechtel (based in Reston, Virginia; major corporate hub in Houston)

Throughout Texas:

No. 8 – Salesforce (based in San Francisco, California; offices in Austin and Dallas)
No. 10 – IKEA (based in Sweden; five stores in Texas)
No. 11 – Costco (based in Issaquah, Washington; 38 stores in Texas)
No. 15 – Cardinal Health (based in Dublin, Ohio; 23 locations in Texas)
No. 16 – Microsoft (based in Redmond, Washington; offices in Austin, Dallas, Friendswood, Frisco, Houston, San Antonio, and The Woodlands)
No. 20 – Leidos (based in Reston, Virginia; locations in San Antonio, Houston, and Webster)
No. 21 – Cisco Systems (based in San Jose, California; offices in Austin, Dallas, Irving, Richardson, Houston, Laredo, and San Antonio)
No. 23 – IBM (based in Armonk, New York; offices in Austin, Houston, Dallas, and Frisco)
No. 29 – Nike (based in Beaverton, Oregon; 26 locations in Texas)
No. 30 – Charles Schwab (based in San Francisco, California; 25 locations in Texas)

Award-winning Mexican restaurant hits the jackpot at new Denton location

Vegan News

A DFW restaurant that's earned national acclaim has opened in Denton: El Rincón del Maiz, previously of Garland, is now located at 1431 E. McKinney St. in Denton where it's winning over locals with its Tex-Mex classics and vegan dishes.

Now in a small center east of Denton Square, the family-owned restaurant from husband-and-wife Carlos Guillez and Michell Torres, and their son Gerardo Guillen, first opened in a former Sonic Drive-In November 2021.

They quickly drew praise including making a 2022 list by Bon Appétit of the Best New Restaurants in America (which strangely identified them as "the Saporito family"), as well as winning the 2023 CultureMap Tastemaker Award for Best Neighborhood Restaurant.

"We were so encouraged," Carlos says. "We'd decided to open because my wife was such a good chef that everybody would tell her, 'You need to open a restaurant.'"

But they discovered that the majority of their clientele were coming from outside Garland.

"Pretty much all of our customers were from areas north of Dallas, and some were driving 30 to 45 minutes," Gerardo says. "People kept saying, 'You need to move north.'"

They almost ended up in McKinney but negotiations were taking too long, and then the Denton spot opened. It's only a half mile from the Square, and has enviable proximity to TWU, UNT, the Denton County courthouse, and the Denton sheriff's office, all representing a built-in audience for their award-winning food.

Their recipes come from south Mexico including dishes like panucho — refried tortillas topped with black beans, choice of protein, coleslaw, and red onion; and enomoladas — corn tortillas with chicken, mole, red onion, and sesame seed.

A longtime home cook, Torres is also vegan. When she crafted the standard Mexican menu, she created an entire vegan menu, as well, using plant-based items like jackfruit and cauliflower to substitute for meat items, served on eye-catching tinted tortillas in flavors such as cilantro, beet, chipotle, and chocolate.

Since moving to Denton, they've added new dishes such as vegan pozole; vegan menudo made with mushroom; and vegan huevos con chorizo, featuring scrambled tofu, a vegan version of chorizo, and black beans, with choice of fried plantains or spicy potatoes.

These days, they're reveling in packed crowds on weekends, and they still haven't even gotten their liquor license yet (it's pending).

And here's one sweet irony: "We've seen customers from Garland coming to Denton," Gerardo says.

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