elements for any reasonable future, is an area deserving far greater concern
than such voodoo crap as the balanced budget and flat tax. A committment to
genuine education excellence and not some politically sensitized agenda is
crucial to improving our world. Yet everywhere we turn, from the religious
right to the politically correct left and from book-banning to sex education,
public education has become one of this country’s most intensely ideological
battlefields. What this state and this city decide about education will most
definitely affect all our futures. As part of our continuing coverage of
education, Roseanna Auten interviews the State’s Commissioner of Education
Mike Moses in this issue, on p.16.
The deadline for voting in
the Austin Chronicle Music Poll is this Friday, February 2. Ballotturn-out seems to be running ahead of last year with several days still to go
as I write this. Don’t complain; we have nothing to do with the results. (If we
did, would the Statesman‘s Don McLeese have won best music writer for
the last few years, rather than a Chronicle writer? Not that we aren’t
happy that McLeese won nor do we question his impressive talent, but if we were
going to jack with poll categories, we’d start by helping ourselves.) We decide
the line-up for the poll’s ceremony but you, the reader/voter, decide the
winners. Make sure to vote — there is no ballot in this issue, but there was
in each of the four previous ones.
That ceremony is, of course, the Chronicle‘s Austin Music Awards show,
at Palmer Auditorium, Wednesday, March 13. This show has become one of the
city’s premiere musical events and the entire music community turns out to hang
out, see and be seen, and, most importantly, listen. (The Chronicle produces this event, so we’re way over our heads in conflict-of-interest here,
but bear with us.) Headlining the diverse roster of performers on this year’s
show is the critically acclaimed Sixteen Deluxe and the ever-popular Asylum
Street Spankers, with many more guests to come. The Awards show is also the
official kick-off event for South by Southwest Music and Media Conference and
Festival, of which you will be reading much more in weeks to come.
Friends coming together
to help friends practically defines community, and many people have been servedby the Austin music community’s generosity. Chronicle associate editor
Julie Weaver and her fianc� Shelley Lucksinger were seriously injured
over the New Year’s holidays when a drunk driver crashed into them, sending
them both to the hospital. Julie is now out and in physical therapy but
Shelley, though recovering, is far from well.
The couple has been in a number of bands throughout the years, the most recent
being Hurtbox. On Saturday, February 17, at Liberty Lunch, Ed Hall, Sincola,
Moist Fist, Tallboy, and a special reunion of Swine King will honor and benefit
the two. This event speaks for itself; the bill alone should pack the house.
Over the years Julie has worked on the Chronicle‘s general listings and
club listings, making sure information about what our community was doing got
back to the community. Now, because of this accident, her life has taken a
dramatic turn; this show is an opportunity not simply to generate monetary
assistance but to offer emotional reinforcement.n
This article appears in February 2 • 1996 and February 2 • 1996 (Cover).