March 12, 2021

Zeke Barbaro / Getty Images (Abrams: Courtesy of Stacey Abrams; Nelson: Photo By Larry Philpot / CC BY 2.0)

Volume 40, Number 28

ON THE COVER:
WE HAVE AN ISSUE:

BY Kimberley Jones

features

SXSW 2021

How to “Attend” SXSW Online

The annual citywide insanity becomes Couch by Couchwest

BY KIMBERLEY JONES

SXSW Online: Recommended Programming

Must-catch panels, films, music showcases, and more at this year's all-virtual Fest

Want to Strike? Ask a Sex Worker for Advice.

Artist and activist Lena Chen explains how the sex workers' rights movement is lifting up all workers

BY JAMES SCOTT

Jemele Hill Can’t Be Contained

Across platforms, she's taking on sports, politics, and pop culture

BY ERIC GOODMAN

SXSW Online Keynote Speaker Charles Yu on Insecurity, Fatherhood, and Representation

The Interior Chinatown author reflects on how Asian American lives are characterized in popular entertainment

BY VIVIE BEHRENS

news

SXSW 2021

Al Harrington's Quest for Equity in Cannabis

The former NBA player and SXSW Online speaker bolsters cannabis entrepreneurs

BY BENTON GRAHAM

Baratunde Thurston on Staying Civically Engaged During a Pandemic

The activist-comedian comes to SXSW Online with some tips

BY TRACE SAUVEUR

Austin at Large: In Control, but Not In Charge

Amid the ruins of the Texas power grid, following two different paths to failure

BY MIKE CLARK-MADISON

Public Notice: Doing In Deed Restrictions?

Plus: More Hancock! And fewer teachers?

BY NICK BARBARO

Headlines / Quote of the Week

Civics 101

Council Recap: A Not-Just-Symbolic Promise to Lift Up Black Austin

Apologies and remedies for a long legacy of oppression

BY AUSTIN SANDERS

Frontline Immigrant Workers Hesitant to Receive COVID Vaccine

Missing their shots

BY BENTON GRAHAM

Austin Commits to Local Mask Requirement Amid State Rollback on COVID Restrictions

City will enforce masks, public health measures under local health authority emergency rules expiring in April

BY BETH SULLIVAN

House Makes Its First Post-Freeze Moves to Fix the Grid

Who's got the power?

BY MIKE CLARK-MADISON AND AUSTIN SANDERS

Future-Proofing the Fruits of Austin's Building Boom

ULI Greenprint sets a net-zero carbon emissions goal for 2050

BY LINA FISHER

food

Mixtape of Austin Bevs for a Virtual SXSW

Songs with suds

BY ERIC PUGA

17 Austin Patios for Your Al Fresco Dining & Drinking Enjoyment

Check out these al fresco spots, if you're comfortable

BY EVAN RODRIGUEZ

Texas Strong Relief, St. Patrick's Day, Persian New Year, Intero's New Pizza, and the Hospitality Howdy-Do of Marriott International

All the news that's fit to get your taste buds quivering

BY WAYNE ALAN BRENNER

Austin's Best Food and Drink Events This Week

Dinner parties, farmer's markets, beer, wine, and more for the week of March 11, 2021

BY WAYNE ALAN BRENNER

music

SXSW 2021

Three SXSW Documentaries Visualize SXSW Music

Somewhere you feel free

BY RACHEL RASCOE AND DOUG FREEMAN

A Speed Dating Sampler of All 69 Virtual SXSW Music Showcases

The sun always shines on TV

BY KEVIN CURTIN

Faster Than Sound: Triangulating SXSW Music Online

Artist, industry, and local representatives break down the fest

BY RACHEL RASCOE

New Austin Music Worth Your Bandwidth This Week

What we’re listening to

BY LAIKEN NEUMANN, KAHRON SPEARMAN, GREG STITT, RAOUL HERNANDEZ, DOUG FREEMAN, DEREK UDENSI AND MICHAEL TOLAND

Live Music / Livestream Listings

BY GREG STITT

screens

SXSW 2021

Dear Mr. Brody Documents an Eccentric, Forgotten American Story

Director Keith Maitland follows $25 million given away

BY TRACE SAUVEUR

Finding the Roots of Folk Horror in Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched

Kier-La Janisse searches for the origins of a genre

BY JENNY NULF

Clerk Follows Kevin Smith From Quick Stop Anonymity to Podcast Fame

Turns out he was supposed to be here today

BY DAN GENTILE

Horror-Drama Jakob's Wife Takes a Look Inside a Tortured Marriage

SXSW world premiere looks at life's second acts

BY RICHARD WHITTAKER

Sasquatch Asks: Did Bigfoot Murder Three Men in Northern California?

Hulu's short series premieres at SXSW Online

BY RICHARD WHITTAKER

New Documentary About WeWork Debunks the Messianic Streak in Startups

"Is this a cult?"

BY RICHARD WHITTAKER

Three SXSW Documentaries Visualize SXSW Music

Somewhere you feel free

BY RACHEL RASCOE AND DOUG FREEMAN

Wat'cha Watchin'?

Editorial intern Shane Pfender makes it through the cold

BY SHANE PFENDER

Film Reviews

Boogie

Love and basketball in Queens as a story of Asian-American integration

Cherry

The Russos pull the threads between addiction and PTSD

Come True

Nightmare horror is the wrong kind of creepy

Crisis

Opiate addiction drama is too obvious and scattershot

Dark Web: Cicada 3301

Online conspiracy theory gets a conspiracy movie makeover

Dutch

Street hustle and heroin

F.T.A

The suppressed anti-Vietnam war cabaret finally hits the spotlight

The Father

Anthony Hopkins gives a timely career highlight in this story of dementia

Frank Ferrante's Groucho

Groucho lives in this filming of Ferrante's one man show

Jathi Ratnalu

Telugu comedy finds laughs in prison

My Darling Supermarket

Brazilian documentary is marginally less fun than grocery shopping
arts & culture

SXSW 2021

With Postcards for Democracy, Mark Mothersbaugh and Beatie Wolfe Deliver Priority Mail Art

If you like it, then you better put a stamp on it

BY ROBERT FAIRES

Conspirare's Quarantine Madrigals Creates a Choir of One

This new song cycle gives isolated singers music to build a choir with – a choir of just themselves

BY ROBERT FAIRES

Arts Listings

Virtual galleries, streaming improv, and more

BY WAYNE ALAN BRENNER

Community Listings

Donation and volunteer opportunities, job openings, online fitness classes, and more

BY KATHERINE MCNEVINS

columns

We Have an Issue: Couch by Couchwest

Previewing SXSW’s all-virtual Conference and Festival, Austin FC’s spring training kickoff, and other stories on the web

BY KIMBERLEY JONES

Opinion: Electric School Buses Are a Win for Kids’ Health, the Environment, and Our Community

There's no safe level of exposure to diesel fumes for children, and yet our kids spend hours each week breathing fumes on diesel buses

BY MARY BETH BENNETT, MADELINE HANES AND SANJANA RAVI

Qmmunity: Cooking Up Qmmunity Love

Plus, allgo's community healing fair, Poo Poo Platter, and more queer events

BY BETH SULLIVAN

Day Trips: Johnson’s Backyard Garden, Garfield

Gardeners, start your planting

BY GERALD E. MCLEOD

The Luv Doc: Sleepless in Springdale

The problem with neighbors is that some of them are unneighborly

BY THE LUV DOC

Mr. Smarty Pants Knows

BY MR. SMARTY PANTS

Free Will Astrology

Your weekly horoscope, March 12-18

BY ROB BREZSNY

Feedback

Letters to the editor, published daily
sports

Soccer Watch: MLS, Austin FC Announce Schedule of Home Openers

BY NICK BARBARO

comics

Eyebeam

BY SAM HURT

This Modern World

BY TOM TOMORROW

Peppermint Tears

BY RYAN HENNESSEE

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