Waking Ned Devine
Despite its blarney, Waking Ned Devine has some wonderful turns, and is directed with a sure hand that makes the most of the Isle of Man’s gorgeous geography.
A Civil Action
A Civil Action 1988, PG-13, 112 min. Directed by Steven Zaillian, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring John Travolta, William H. Macy, Tony Shalhoub, Zeljko Ivanek, James Gandolfini, Dan Hedaya, Bruce Norris, Robert Duvall, Kathleen Quinlan, John Lithgow, Sydney Pollack, Stephen Fry. Many a bleary-brained air traveler was blessed last year by Jonathan Harr’s…
Why I Read …
What have some local writers and literary folk been reading this year and how have their readings influenced their own work? You have some of the answers from our critics who are also writers, like Jesse Sublett, Marion Winik, and Tom Doyal. But casting the net a bit further among some Austin literati became a…
National Top Nines
MICHAEL BERTIN 1. Lucinda Williams, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road (Mercury) 2. Billy Bragg & Wilco, Mermaid Avenue (Elektra) 3. Richard Buckner, Since (MCA) 4. Buena Vista Social Club (Nonesuch) 5. Dolly Varden, The Thrill of Gravity (Evil Teen) 6. Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach, Painted From Memory (Mercury) 7. Zoobombs, Welcome Back, Zoobombs…
Postscripts
Events Book People hosts Jonathan Kellerman discussing and signing Billy Straight: A Novel on Monday, January 11 at 7pm. Billy’s mom is alcoholic, her boyfriend is a sadist, and Billy just happens upon a woman being stabbed to death. And he’s 12 years old. Well, that should be a fun event!… Meanwhile, Barnes & Noble…
Naked City
BFI Recyclery’s contract with the city ends Jan. 31, but the nettlesome issue of what to do with the BFI facility — long a thorn in the side of an East Austin neighborhood — has yet to be resolved. BFI and city officials haven’t reached an accord on a buyout of the Bolm Road site,…
The Year in Books
Stuart Wade: Kurt Vonnegut’s intentionally unfinished farewell Timequake. Nowhere close to his best work, Timequake is nevertheless brilliant, hysterical, and very wise. Vonnegut states upfront that he’s through writing; he will be sorely missed. Barbara Strickland:The Weight of Water, by Anita Shreve. Based on the historical account of a 19th-century murder in which the accused,…
Two Words, Maybe Four
1. Spoon, A Series of Sneaks (Elektra) 2. Bad Livers, Industry and Thrift (Sugar Hill) 3. Gourds, Stadium Blitzer (Munich) 4. Los Super Seven (BMG) 5. Dale Watson, The Truckin’ Sessions (Koch) 6. Michael Fracasso, World in a Drop of Water (Bohemia Beat) 7. Prescott Curlywolf, Funanimal World (Freedom) 8. Fastball, All the Pain Money…
About Aids
Ever tried bee pollen for allergies? St. John’s Wort for depression? Acupuncture for HIV-related pain in the feet and hands? In some form, 42% of Americans use “alternative medicine.” There is no clinical proof that they work, but testimony of believing consumers and practitioners abounds. Early on, regular “Western medicine” could offer little to those…
The More Things Change…
illustration by Doug Potter TOP NINE BUZZWORDS EVERY NEIGHBORHOOD SHOULD KNOW 1.Smart Growth. Duh. Include with this one all the sub-buzzwords like “destination parks” or “greenways,” and any acronym ending with “Z.” 2.Stakeholder. The mot de rigeur for a player, or potential player, in a neighborhood dispute, or potential dispute. Given the dozens of such…
Coach’s Corner
A day in the life: January 1 dawns foggy and cold. This is good. I have a long day ahead. I don’t want good weather to interfere — six football games spanning the entire breadth of the day. This year, I’m determined to get serious on New Year’s Day. I make these plans mostly in…
King Kirk
TOP NINE SIGNS THAT MAYOR KIRK WATSON IS THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING Yes, we elected him, and yes, his job approval rating is the envy of every politician (except maybe President Clinton). But sometimes it seems like Mayor Kirk Watson acts more as monarch than mayor. Here’s how: 1. Cedar Avenue Settlement. The…
Day Trips
Doris Clifton McLendon, godmother of Houston zydeco, passed away late last year at the age of 61. Her family ran the oldest zydeco house in Texas, the Continental Zydeco Ballroom, since 1947. photograph by Gerald McLeod Looking back at 1998, one can’t help but remember the extremes of the weather as the most important factor…
A Year in the Life
TOP NINE POLITICAL SPATS Bob Bullock Bill Aleshire photograph by John Anderson Gary Bradley 1. Garry Mauro vs. Bob Bullock. The soon-to-be-former lieutenant governor may be the godfather of one of the soon-to-be-former land commissioner’s children, but that didn’t stop Bullock from endorsing Mauro’s opponent, George W. Bush, in the race for governor. That led…
Page Two
1998/1999: In our family, this past New Year’s Eve was generally subdued. We went out to dinner with good friends, Chinese, of course, because we waited until the last minute before trying to decide where to go. Afterward, we went to a small party which we left just before midnight, knowing that if we stayed…
1998 Austin Theatrical Movie Openings
Authors are: Marjorie Baumgarten (M.B.), Hollis Chacona (H.C.), Steve Davis (S.D.), Robert Faires (R.F.), Marc Savlov (M.S.), Russell Smith (R.S.) Title Stars Author Reviewed AFTERGLOW 3.0 (M.B.) 2/13/98 AIR BUD: GOLDEN RECEIVER 1.5 (M.S.) 8/21/98 UN AIR DE FAMILLE 3.0 (M.S.) 11/27/98 THE ALARMIST 1.0 (S.D.) 11/27/98 ALMOST HEROES 0 (R.S.) 6/5/98 AMERICAN HISTORY X…
Public Notice
So we’re tripping along our usual Internet haunts over the holidays: catching up with some E-pals, surfing favorite Web sites, and lurking like cats on our frequented Usenet newsgroups. One Usenet group, austin.general, we occasionally check but often skip because the content is all too often dominated by vitriolic rants, flagrant flames, and predictably boorish…
What? 1998’s Over?
1. Phil Leeds (1916-1998). At the age of 82, Leeds was going strong playing Hank (Jeffrey Tambor) Kingsley’s acerbic agent Sid on HBO’s The Larry Sanders Show and a judge on FOX’s Ally McBeal. He got his best lines off on Larry but Ally gave Leeds the appropriate sendoff: the judge flatlined in court during…
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
The so-called “Wicked Bible,” published in 1805, accidentally left out the “not” in “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” Spare Tank Emergency Fuel has been launched in America for $40 a gallon and will soon be available worldwide. A petroleum derivative, it does not contain the volatile agents that make gasoline so dangerous to store. The…
Apollo Creed
Think back — all you former hippies — to what you were doing in ’69 when you heard that NASA had put a man on the moon: Walter Cronkite mediating Neil Armstrong’s “giant leap for mankind” — live! from the moon! — on your living room TV, Houston control center’s rows and rows of crew-cutted,…
When the Furies Sing
illustration by Jason Stout On December 17, 18, and 19, for the first time in my memory, The New York Times ran two- and three-tiered banner headlines three days in a row: impeachment proceedings and the bombing of Iraq. Perhaps my memory is faulty. Perhaps there were three such headlines in the days following John…
Scanlines
1. Starship Troopers D: Paul Verhoeven (1997) with Jake Busey, Patrick Harris, Clancy Brown, Caspar Van Dien Mauled by critics (even cited by some as one of the worst films of ’97), Starship Troopers missed the mark with many filmgoers. Nonetheless, this tongue-in-cheek adaptation of Robert Heinlein’s classic novel provided cheap thrills, disturbing imagery, and…
Food-O-File
Food Fun to Look Forward to in 1999 The first few months of 1999 look to be greatones for food lovers, with the openings of severalnew eateries and food emporiums around town, and a slew of culinary programs with top-notch local and visiting chefs filling the calendar. Here’s the way things are shaping up. While…
Short Cuts
QTIII: No, it’s not a reference to that world-famous ocean liner. But it does signify that other world-famous land cruiser: Quentin Tarantino. He’s back — or will be back, to be more exact. From February 19-27, Tarantino will return to Austin for his third annual festival during which he will show 30 movies from his…
Food Top Nines
High Rock Ranch Peaches 1. Unprecedented growth in the Austin restaurant market. All the new Austinites have to eat somewhere, and throughout the year new eateries opened at breakneck speed. 2. Severe drought damages crops at area farms and gardens. Months with no rain and a devastating string of 100+-degree days left many area crops…
Reeling in ’98
1. The Sweet Hereafter (39) 2. Hands on a Hard Body (28) 3. Happiness (25) 4. Shakespeare in Love (22) 5. A Simple Plan (19) 6. The Big Lebowski (17) 7. The Opposite of Sex (14) 8. Out of Sight (13) 9. Saving Private Ryan (11) Critics’ Picks MARJORIE BAUMGARTEN 1. The Sweet Hereafter 2.…
Meatier Media Moments
1. KOOP can’t cooperate: The infighting among the staff of KOOP, the community station which is (supposedly) operated on cooperative principles, was one of 1997’s big stories; this year, it wins the top slot for sheer political drama (and absurdity) if nothing else. To recap the many shenanigans: In July, the station’s board of trustees…
Your 15 Minutes Are Up, Mr. Gates
On February 4th, 1998, Bill Gates got hit by a cream pie in Brussels. The offender, a Belgian guy, got away. But Belgium’s TV1 got the shot 1998 was a watershed year for computing in general and for the Internet in particular. Computers were truly acknowledged as household fixtures alongside television and telephones. Research conducted…
Articulations
Black Mountain Boohoo Here we are but a week into 1999, and the year’s first cultural casualty is already upon us. The grand, mad outpost of creativity known as Black Mountain Art is being shut down this weekend, its resident sculptors and performers and musicians being booted out of the woodsy, two-acre compound. The eviction…
Music Critic’s Poll 1998
GREG BEETS MICHAEL BERTIN CHRIS GRAY JAY HARDWIG RAOUL HERNANDEZ CHRIS HESS ANDY LANGER DAVID LYNCH MARGARET MOSER JAY TRACHTENBERG Best Roadshow Ray Price, Stubb’s Luna, Liberty Lunch/ Lucinda Williams, Antone’s Afghan Whigs, Liberty Lunch (pre-fight) Cubanismo!, La Zona Rosa David Murray, Bates Recital Hall Rex, Those Bastard Souls, Paul Newman, Emo’s Corey Glover, Babe’s…
The Whole Nine Yards
First, 83,687 Texas fans witness history Nov. 27, as Ricky Williams breaks the Division I-A career records for rushing yards and all-purpose yards in a nailbiter of a game against villianized Texas A&M. UT goes on to beat the Aggies, and a few weeks later Williams goes on to win the Heisman Trophy. Ah, what…
Arts Critics Poll BIGGEST ARTS STORY OF 1998
Robert Faires – The two-to-one voter approval of the Palmer Auditorium renovation. How often does the city as a whole make such a dramatic statement in support of our cultural life? Sarah Hepola – Almost no one gets paid; theatre groups multiply. Sam Martin – The Blanton Museum’s acquisition of the $35 million Suida-Manning Collection.…
Dancing About Architecture
Nineteen ninety-nine sure seems to be off with a bang. First comes word that Clifford Antone, charged with trafficking some 3,000 pounds of marijuana and expected to begin standing trial next week, will announce his intention to plead guilty to at least one of the charges against him rather than demand his day in court.…
Growth Spurt
by Robert Faires Red, White and Tuna 1 Red, White, and Tuna (Charles S. Duggan Presents) Seen as simply another of Joe Sears and Jaston Williams’ comedies set in Texas’ third smallest town, this farce about a Fourth of July reunion gone literally sour was entertaining and superbly crafted enough to make a best-of-’98 list.…
Austin Top Nines
1. The Golden Arm Trio (Shamrock/Jinx) 2. Furry Things, Moments Away (Trance Syndicate) 3. Wannabes, “On the Business of Being Young” (Cut on CD included with Pop Culture Press #44) 4. Bedhead, Transaction de Novo (Trance Syndicate) 5. Junior Varsity, “Pep Rally Rock” 7-inch (Twist Like This) 6. Lucky Strikes, Song and Dance (Lazy S.O.B.)…
