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Wasted Years
Five bone-rattling hours worth of the new Live After Death DVD encores with a 15-minute salutation titled “’ello Texas.” Shot at the Alamo, July 1983, during Iron Maiden’s Piece of Mind tour, the featurette cuts between band member interviews and a throttling performance at San Antonio’s hallowed HemisFair Arena, demolished in 1995. “The Trooper,” “Flight of Icarus, “22 Acacia Avenue,” and “Iron Maiden” all execute trademark tales of historical disembowelment with galloping gusto, but it was frontman Bruce Dickinson that caught my ear, saying that the then UK quintet survived outside traditional radio airplay and MTV. Not true. MTV’s skeleton in the closet belongs to Iron Maiden. Little more than six months separates the debut of MTV, summer 1981, and Maiden’s commercial breakthrough the following March, third LP Number of the Beast. Not only did the fledgling cable channel broadcast the group’s great Indian massacre “Run to the Hills” in regular rotation. I can personally attest that MTV’s summer nights 1982 dripped the sweat and blood of Iron Maiden. Once in bed, 9pm or so, my girlfriend’s parents never descended the stairs until morning. Late night, with a bad case of the munchies, me and my gal zoned out to the station’s overnight programming, which more often than not consisted of entire concerts whiling away the hours. Iron Maiden rammed it home round the clock.

9:57AM Mon. May 19, 2008, Raoul Hernandez Read More | Comment »

Ott Says Thanks to City Staff, Austin Energy
Austin Energy has announced that they completed repairs at 2:30am on Saturday morning. In the 48 hours after the storm, there were 100 Austin Energy field personnel making repairs at 500 locations, and that doesn't include the contract arborists clearing downed trees and limbs. Any customers who are still experiencing outages should call 322-9100 to get assistance. For anyone still facing yard clear-up, visit the city's Solid Waste Services info page. In a nice note amidst all the debris, late Friday afternoon city manager Marc Ott sent an email out to city and Austin Energy staff (and cc'ed the local press):
You are all doing an outstanding job. I'm proud of you. Thank you for all your efforts. Marc
It's the little things that count. Check out our update photo gallery of storm damage by clicking on the image above.

9:00AM Mon. May 19, 2008, Richard Whittaker Read More | Comment »

In Rainbows
Official estimates peg the Woodlands’ Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in Houston at a capacity of 16,500, and at the Radiohead show Saturday night, they were all there with friends. The steeply pitched grass outfield was a sea of fans, many of whom had traveled long distances to see Britain’s best at the sold-out show, and after a short opening set by Liars, we were treated to the best concert money can buy.

It was a monumental experience exasperated by the energy-efficient tubular LED light show put on from the stage. If ever there were doubt that Radiohead could pull off their studio masterpieces live, it was shattered. Thom Yorke trotted in place like a wind-up drummer boy, elbows flailing, knees held high. BBC composer-in-residence and guitarist Johnny Greenwood spent as much time with his back to the audience, hunched over mammoth machinery, as he did grinning. And Ed O’Brien stood lanky over Yorke in jacket and tie. Big brother Colin Greenwood (bass) and Phil Selway (drums) might not have played front and center, but they were the ones that put the magic in the night.

11:03PM Sun. May 18, 2008, Darcie Stevens Read More | Comment »

Aztex Go for League Lead Saturday Night
The Austin Aztex host the DFW Tornados tonight, with first place in the PDL Mid-South, and in U.S. Open qualifying, on the line. A win would move the Aztex into first, ahead of the defending national champion Laredo Heat, who beat DFW last night in Laredo, 1-0. A supporters' group will meet behind the home bench, about 20 minutes before game time, to organize some cheers, chants, and songs.

7:30pm at Round Rock High's Dragon Stadium, just off I-35 and FM 620. $8, $5 for kids 12 and under.

2:05PM Sat. May 17, 2008, Nick Barbaro Read More | Comment »

Some Real Losses at the Lege
There's been a smell of fresh sawdust and chainsaw fumes on the State Capitol grounds since Wednesday's storm. In the mercurial way of storms, trees that had survived the vicissitudes of Texas weather for decades, possibly over a century, were destroyed and had to be sliced up and taken away. "It was pretty awful," said Julia Fields, spokesperson for the State Preservation Board. Seven mature trees, mostly white oaks, were blown over or so severely damaged by the 60 to 75mph winds that they had to be cut down. "Obviously, the uprooted trees we will have to clear out, but we're consulting with the Forest Service to see what can be saved," added Fields. The process of clearing the larger slabs should take a couple of days. Smaller debris will be going in the chipper, and even though the gnarled boughs and uneven trunks of the capitol copse won't provide any long slices of lumber, that's a lot of timber going spare. So what does the board plan to do with it? Well, normally when they have to take a tree down from the grounds, it either goes for souvenirs in the Capitol Gift Shop or gavels for the next legislative session.

11:00AM Sat. May 17, 2008, Richard Whittaker Read More | Comment »

Solid Waste Services to the Rescue
For those of you who lost power and now have a fridge full of stinking, rotten food, some good news. City of Austin Solid Waste Services are doing a special pick-up in areas affected by the power outages. Just put the waste food into the trash by 7am on Saturday, May 17, and it will be taken away before it starts stinking your house out. That's on top of the curbside pick-up for downed trees and tree limbs, which will be recycled as Dillo Dirt. Visit the city's new storm clean-up page for details. Austin Energy's repairs are still ongoing, but seem to be going as expected. As of 9.29pm Friday, there were roughly 250 customers without power, with 12 repair crews working through the night to finish off the last 40 storm damage repairs on their books. The utility asks that anyone who still doesn't have power in the morning call them on 512-322-9100.

12:11AM Sat. May 17, 2008, Richard Whittaker Read More | Comment »

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From partying with Will Wynn to chillin' with Allen Demling, City Hall Hustle bum-rushes the election night parties in a politico-packed election special you (and our elected officials) won't soon forget.
 
Poppin' E: Election Reception Roundup
From partying with Will Wynn to chillin' with Allen Demling, City Hall Hustle bum-rushes the election night parties in a politico-packed election special you (and our elected officials) won't soon forget.

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10:08PM Fri. May 16, 2008, Wells Dunbar Read More | Comment »

Book Cart Can-Do
Remember when we told you last week about Austin Public Library's awesome and awesomely award-winning book cart drill team, the Bibliofiles? And remember how you felt when you watched the video and thought, "Well, this looks alright for grainy, faraway footage, but what I really want is to see that action live and in living color"? omigod it's your lucky day. Okay, actually Saturday is your lucky day. That's when the Bibliofiles do their book cart dance at the Monster Book Sale in the North Star Home Center (2209 West Anderson Lane). Added bonus – there's a monster book sale... videos, CDs, DVDs, too. All proceeds benefit APL. For more info, go here. UPDATE: We hear the Bibliofiles are set to perform at 2pm.

3:41PM Fri. May 16, 2008, Kimberley Jones Read More | Comment »

Goin' to the Chapel and We're Gonna Get ACTIVE
Slate features some interesting coverage of yesterday's landmark California Supreme Court decision regarding gay marriage. Tell you what… having survived the het version of the institution once, I sure wouldn't go and get gay married until I was sure that I could get gay divorced.

3:16PM Fri. May 16, 2008, Kate X Messer Read More | Comment »

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