Bet you money the Cowboy Junkies have an in-joke about the different drug references used to described singer Margo Timmins’ dreamy voice. The phrase “narcotic haze” inspired this train of thought, and I like to imagine writers pouring over the thesaurus after rejecting “opium vocals” and “aural heroin.” Nevermind the adjectives, here’s the Cowboy Junkies. Taking the recent trend of performing of classic albums one step further, the Canadian family band re-recorded their seminal 1988 album, The Trinity Session, as Trinity Revisited. It was a brilliant move from a band that never showboated, depended on volume for effect, or had a Top 10 hit. They are substance with style, proof that variations on a theme and a limited vocal range can still define a band with elegant clarity and never a dull moment. “Twenty years down the line, we’re more confident as a band, there’s more aggression to what we’re doing, more attitude,” offers guitarist Michael Timmins, speaking from a hotel room in Flagstaff, Ariz. “Here we are, this is what we do.”

Early voting for the June 14 city council run-off between Cid Galindo and Laura Morrison begins today and runs through June 10. Click here for a list of early voting locations. And please, please, please: GO VOTE! What happened to all that wild enthusiasm that jammed the polls for the Clinton/Obama primary? Granted, Morrison is not Clinton and Galindo is no Obama, but what happens in local politics arguably will have an even greater effect on your life than most decisions emanating from the White House. Are you sick of urban sprawl? Are you worried that yuppie newcomers are driving up your property taxes? Do you think rail is a boondoggle? How do you feel about Austin crime? Garbage collection? Traffic? Whatever your position, this is where you make your voice heard on those serious issues. Or not. While 227,493 Travis County voters showed up for that May primary, only 35,830 Austinites returned to select their city council last month. That's a pathetic 8.45% turnout. History indicates the run-off turnout will be even lower. In a city of about three-quarters of a million people, it's shameful that only 10,000 or 20,000 may decide who gets to lead us. Go study up on the candidates and participate in your democracy!

Bout four of the 2008 flat-track Roller Derby season is make-or-break time for the championship hopes of the Hell Marys at tonight's Texas Rollergirls doubleheader. If the Marys win tonight, they are still in contention for the championship: But if the Hustlers bring the game they showed in the last bout, then the Marys could have a testing time. If they can't get a convincing win, then the crowd may be seeing this matchup again in August's third-place playoff. For the intraleague bout, the Hotrod Honeys will be playing host to the Big Easy Rollergirls. The New Orleans team are coming out of a home defeat last week to the unranked OC Rollergirls from California, but that didn't really reflect the back-and-forth of the bout. OC's "win at all costs" approach may have put them ahead on points, but also put most of their roster in the penalty box at one point or another, and two of the team on the injury list. However, the Honeys remain the gold standard for a league team. The bout starts tonight at 7pm (doors 6.30pm) at Playland Skate Center (8822 McCann), tickets $15. And if you still have energy left, the traditional after-party will be at Beerland (711 Red River).

Want to clear out your cupboards and help keep the Texas Rollergirls on the road? This Sunday night at Playland Skate Center, the Hustlers will be hoping to put the brakes on the Hell Marys' championship ambitions, while the Hotrod Honeys will be hosting the Big Easy Rollergirls from New Orleans. But they'll also be holding their media blitz fundraiser. They'll be accepting donations of books, CDs, DVDs, and video and audio tapes which (as a nonprofit charity) they will be able to sell for cash. "Those fans that bring in at least 10 items will receive a small token of our appreciation," says the press release. This is a major touring year for the league teams and their powerhouse traveling superstars, the Texecutioners. With big trips to Houston, Philadelphia, Tallahassee, Kansas City and Canada lined up, and then the tantalizing hope for the national championships in Portland, there are a lot of traveling expenses. These donations will help keep those Texas wheels rolling. See below the jump for the full press release.

Like many who have lived through its incarnations and mutations, I have a complicated relationship with mid-century modernism. One on end is a spare purity that makes me feel as if I've wandered, terribly miscast, into some Antonioni film. On the other is what the visions of Frank Lloyd Wright, Eero Saarinen, and the Eameses had transformed (some might say devolved) into by the 1970s – tract caves darkened by endless paneling, stain-resistant shag, and mustard linoleum, with the occasional kitschy bright spot (lava lamps and rocket-shaped sugar bowls) – and led eventually, one supposes, to IKEA. In the middle is the bliss: the elision of the indoor/outdoor divide, the light and the beautiful wood, the clean lines and glass and cool, soothing terrazzo floors. How is it possible not to feel ambivalent? Add in the economic ironies – a style that at least in part was developed in response to the post-WWII housing boom and an attempt to produce pleasurable, affordable homes for the masses (see, most notably, the Case Study Houses) is by now primarily available only to upper-income brackets – and one can whip oneself into quite the Marxian dither. And yet: It's a style that makes one want to transcend pragmatic worldliness ... so airy ... so peaceful ... so very, very pretty ... The Heritage Society of Austin (motto: "This isn't your grandmother's heritage society") understands this roller coaster of excitement and anxiety, and on May 17, their Atomic Austin: Mid-Century Modern Heritage Homes Tour delved boldly into the contradictions and eccentricities, not to mention the considerable charms, of Austin mid-century. The supporting literature was substantive; the docents were decked as Fifties housewives (apron fetish alert); and the focus was highly local, with an emphasis on the "low-slung, mid-century blend of a machine-age aesthetic and Hill Country style," as Sydney Rubin (also one of the homeowners) put it in the crib notes, by such ATX architectural notables as Charles Granger, Arthur Fehr, and A.D. Stenger.

On May 29, Vermont became the second state to legalize industrial hemp farming when Republican Gov. Jim Douglas allowed H.267 to become law without his signature. The bill creates a regulatory scheme similar to that enacted in North Dakota, the first state to reauthorize agricultural production of the non-narcotic cousin of marijuana. Under the new law, farmers must be licensed by Vermont's Secretary of Agriculture, Food and Markets; hemp must be grown from seeds provided by the ag secretary, on land the secretary has approved for hemp production. And farmers must agree to submit to random inspection by the ag department and/or state police.

While the eyes of the politerati are set on next week's primary states for settling the Democratic presidential nomination, there's a statistical possibility (read "long-shot") that the whole shooting match could come down to the Texas Democratic Party Convention next weekend. Howso? Well, according to CNN's latest estimates, Obama still needs 42 delegates to clinch the nomination. Out of next Tuesday's primary states, Montana only has 16 pledged delegates and South Dakota 15, while non-state Puerto Rico (living in the political equivalent of 'good enough to date, not good enough to marry') which goes to the polls Sunday only has 55. Texas, however, has 67 pledged delegates (and four supers) yet to be locked down: they'll be apportioned on the day of the convention, following the preferences of delegates when they sign in. Depending on how the remaining primaries break, and whichever way the party's rules committee settles the whole Florida and Michigan (aka the "party rules are for other people" states), and which super-delegate wants to be the one that puts the candidate over the top, that could mean it gets settled next weekend at the Austin Convention Center. And in this campaign season, stranger things have happened.

The Round Rock Express welcome the New Orleans Zephyrs to Round Rock for four starting this weekend and they've got several promotions to take advantage of. The biggee is Saturday night. They'll be handing out 3,000 classic Colt .45s hats. This would be a favorite design of mine even if I weren't a die-hard Astros fan. The Colt .45s entered the National League in 1962 as Houston's expansion franchise and changed their name to the Astros in 1965 to coincide with the opening of the Astrodome. Gates open at 5:30pm. On Sunday it's HEB Kids Day where kids can get their faces painted, run the bases after the game (12 and under), and receive Express Batting Practice Jerseys as well (12 and under). First pitch is at 7:05pm and the game will be broadcast live on Fox Sports Net Southwest.

Fans of the Scoot Inn's Second Sunday Sock Hop take note. Event organizer Gabe Vaughn and partner-in-boogie Mike Hooker celebrate the grand opening of their new vinyl haven, Breakaway Records (1704 E. 5th St. #105), on Sunday beginning at 11am. The Eastside outlet, located directly beside Cafe Mundi, caters to fans of 1950s and 60s pop, girl groups, soul, and garage rock. The day-long extravaganza will feature both Vaughn and Hooker behind the wheels of steel, along with the Waxploitation! DJs and Heart & Soul Soundsystem. Plus, free beer while it lasts. Check out next week's Off the Record column for more.