Law of Desire
Law of Desire 1987, NR, 100 min. Directed by Pedro Almodóvar, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Eusebio Poncela, Carmen Maura, Antonio Banderas, Miguel Molina, Bibi Andersson. The festival is showing this great film from Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar’s early career in honor of this week’s opening of his latest and highly acclaimed film,…
I’m From Hollywood
I’m From Hollywood NR, 56 min. Directed by Lynne Margulies, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Andy Kaufman, Jerry Lawler. The last two screenings went over so well that the Alamo has decided to show the Kaufman tribute program yet a third time – this time with the addition of I’m From Hollywood, which…
The Gold Rush
The Gold Rush 1925, NR, 82 min. D: Charlie Chaplin; with Charlie Chaplin, Georgia Hale. Those classic scenes of Chaplin eating his shoe and a storm-blown cabin teetering over the cliff belong to none other than The Gold Rush, one of Chaplin’s sweetest and most humble movies.
Wild in the Streets
Crazed screenwriter Robert Thom penned this AIP exploitation picture about what happens when the voting age is lowered to 14 and the new electorate votes in a fascist pop idol.
Positively Operatic
The best of Austin arts’ stage productions and artists from 1999 get another round of applause from the AustinChronicle Arts writers in their Top 10 lists for the year, along with an overview of the year in Austin culture, a look back at Austin theatre in the Nineties, and a musical for the millennium.
Bibliomania
Dick Holland Year 1. Lady Bird: A Biography of Mrs. Johnson by Jan Jarboe Russell 2. Life in Double Time: Confessions of an American Drummer by Mike Lankford 3. My Pilgrim’s Progress: Media Studies 1950-1998 by George W.S. Trow Decade 1. Anything by Martin Amis or Don Delillo Desert Island 1. Collected Shakespeare plays 2.…
Public Notice
Our weekly calendar of activist and volunteer events and fundraisers.
Edibles in Isolation
Rachel Feit 10 Things I’d Take to a Desert Island: 1. Anderson’s coffee. Any of their dark roasts start the morning out nicely. 2. Plain croissants from Sweetish Hill Bakery, to dunk in the coffee. 3. Fredericksburg peaches, for the very incarnation of summer. 4. Cochinita Pibil from Fonda San Miguel. What dish could be…
Top Local Stories of 1999
1. Bush runs for president. When Gov. George W. Bush finally announced in March that he was indeed running for president, no one was surprised. But the governor’s decision has made Austin a key stop for politicos and journalists. And his formidable campaign machine is spending a good part of the millions he has raised…
The Year of Being John Malkovich
Everywhere, pundits have been proclaiming 1999 as a good year for movies, citing the number of excellent films released during the past months and the ease of compiling Top 10 lists as evidence of the year’s bounty. Here, the Chronicle’s film reviewers add their voices to the national chorus. Unlike years past, when one or…
Positively Operatic
Last year, while most of the Y2K-wary world was steeling itself for big changes to come after December 31, Austin’s arts community was already in the thick of them. Big changes were everywhere on our cultural scene in 1999: in spaces, in organizations, in arts leadership, in financial support. Landmark arts spaces vanish! Longtime executive…
Bibliomania
Roger Gathman Year 1. Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson 2. Tie: Bad Jews and Other Stories by Gerald Shapiro; My Date with Satan: Stories by Stacey Richter 3. High Stakes, No Prisoners: A Winner’s Tale of Greed and Glory in the Internet Wars by Charles H. Ferguson 4. Farewell to an Idea: Episodes From a History…
Letters at 3AM
The paradox of possiblities exhibited by the 20th century — from Auschwitz to Ginger & Fred.
Feasts That Define the Millennium
The past millennium has witnessed profound changes in the ways people obtain access to food, cook food, and eat food. Whereas once the meal involved simply eating what was available from the household garden or local market, today it may incorporate hundreds of ingredients obtained from producers all over the world. Once, food preparation lasted…
A Century of Newsmakers
It’s a perverse task, picking such a list, guaranteed to start arguments; our apologies to those short-listed folks — from Frank McBee to Clifford Antone, Lloyd Doggett to Frank Erwin, Gonzalo Barrientos to Darrell Royal, Willie Kocurek to Sarah Weddington, not to mention those passed on, from Stevie Ray Vaughan to Madalyn Murray O’Hair to…
Top 10 Films of 1999
The Austin Chronicle Top 10 Films of 1999 1. Being John Malkovich (37) 2. Rushmore (34) 3. Three Kings (31) 4. Gods and Monsters (23) 5. American Beauty (21) 6. Election (19) 7. Affliction (16) 8. The Straight Story (13) 9. (tie) Boys Don’t Cry (11) (tie) Go (11) (tie) The Iron Giant (11) (tie)…
Positively Operatic
10 Shows From 1999 That Transported Me 1. Lipstick Traces (Rude Mechanicals) In getting their version of Greil Marcus’ massive social history to the stage, the Rude Mechs left out a lot, but director Shawn Sides, playwright Kirk Lynn, and the other lunatic theatre artists that attempted this mad project retained the book’s essence: the…
Bibliomania
David Garza Year 1. The Oval Hour: Poems by Kathleen Peirce 2. Hectic Ethics by Francisco Hinojosa 3. Encyclopaedia Anatomica Decade 1. The Iliad translated by Robert Fagles 2. The Odyssey translated by Robert Fagles 3. Sex by Madonna, photographs by Steven Meisel 4. Fernando Pessoa & Co. Selected Poems, edited and translated by Richard…
After a Fashion
The Style Avatar experiences great service at Central Market South and Christmas love in the form of Joan Crawford.
Food-o-File
In this week’s edition of Food-o-file, Austin Chronicle Cuisines editor Virginia B. Wood looks ahead to the looming local culinary possibilities in 2000.
Austin Newsmakers of the Nineties
1. Brigid Shea and Jackie Goodman: Again, duh. In 1990, Goodman and (especially) Shea were fairly anonymous activists. In 2000, both are household names who can take the lion’s share of the credit for the Austin news story of the 1990s — the progressive takeover of the reins of public policy. Shea and Goodman are…
1999 Austin Film Releases
A complete list of all films released for theatrical runs in Austin in the calendar year 1999 and eligible for consideration in the Top Ten.
Positively Operatic
Top 10 Theatrical Productions of 1999 1. Lipstick Traces (Rude Mechanicals) This was the show that I told people who never go to the theatre to see. Loud, funny, and irreverent, this adaptation of Greil Marcus’ famously un-adaptable tome was strangely, wonderfully comprehensible. It was the artistic chutzpah and pop culture savvy of the Rude…
Bibliomania
Tom Grimes Year 1. Out of the Woods: Stories by Chris Offutt 2. Sonny Liston Was a Friend of Mine: Stories by Thom Jones 3. For the Relief of Unbearable Urges: Stories by Nathan Englander 4. Borrowed Hearts: New and Selected Stories by Rick DeMarinis 5. The Ground Beneath Her Feet by Salman Rushdie Decade…
Mr. Smarty Pants
Mr. Smarty pants knows that he will not die poor and alone.
Where Were You When …
Sports lover Lisa Tozzi reflects on 1999, this “underdog” of a year.
Landmarks of the Nineties
1. Barton Springs. The Springs have always been, and always will be, an Austin landmark (“eternal,” you might say), but now that they they’ve been the focus of elections, legislation, angry rallies, tortured performance art, and the breeding of rare invertebrates, we sometimes long for the days, so very long ago, when they were just…
Best Films of the Decade
No consensus is a good consensus. Given the absurdity of narrowing down 10 years’ worth of films into a Top 10 list, we’re delighted to find there are few overwhelming favorites. Pulp Fiction appears on four out of five lists, and such titles as The Silence of the Lambs, GoodFellas, When We Were Kings, The…
Positively Operatic
Top 10 for 2K (in no particular order) 1. Is St. Edward’s University Austin’s Unsung Acting Program? Witness the amazing performance of Jeffery Mills as Alan Strang in the Mary Moody Northen Theatre production of Equus. Some roles you leap into, like you’d leap off a bridge; Mills not only leapt, he flew. Also noteworthy…
Bibliomania
Lissa Richardson Year 1. The Oval Hour: Poems by Kathleen Peirce 2. Wandering Time: Western Notebooks by Luis Alberto Urrea 3. Waiting: A Novel by Ha Jin 4. For the Relief of Unbearable Urges: Stories by Nathan Englander 5. On Beauty and Being Just by Elaine Scarry 6. Who’s Irish?: Stories by Gish Jen 7.…
Day Trips
Nineteen ninety-nine: hot, dry, and touristy.
Top 10 Y2K Top 10 Lists
Our favorite things about the change of the millennium
Quotes of the Nineties
1. “Compassionate conservatism.” This phrase, coined by Gov. George W. Bush and his handlers, has only been around for a few months, but it looks like it’s going to stay a while. 2. “Relax and enjoy it.” Clayton Williams should have relaxed and enjoyed the lead he held over Ann Richards during the 1990 gubernatorial…
Desert Island Films
These lists, I’m sure, were simply designed to drive the reviewers mad. For myself, I’m certain that on any given day I could create a completely different list. (Just ask, I’ve already scrapped numerous lists.) Given the unlikeliness of a desert island equipped with a screening room, it’s more probable that I would spend my…
Magnolia
Sprawling, meaning-laden spectacle from the director of Boogie Nights.
Positively Operatic
Top 10 Performance Things in 1999, Considering That I Didn’t Start Reviewing Until Fall 1. Desire 2. Cabaret of Broken Dreams 3. Beautiful Bodies (Propaganda Theatre) 4. The Collection/A Kind of Alaska (Subterranean Theatre Company) 5. Rubies, Roses, and Bolero (Ballet Austin) 6. All Things Delicious (Brentley Heilbron) 7. The Santaland Diaries (Zachary Scott Theatre…
Bibliomania
Mike Shea Year 1. A Star Called Henry: A Novel by Roddy Doyle 2. L.A. Requiem: A Novel by Robert Crais 3. Places Left Unfinished at the Time of Creation by John Phillip Santos 4. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling 5. Double Down: Reflections on Gambling and Loss by Frederick…
Coach’s Corner
In search of the deadly Longhorn virus.
The Death of Rock & Roll
Like this country’s forefathers, it came from England. Though it didn’t originate there, it took hold of and thrived in the taverns and music halls of London, then traversed the Atlantic Ocean and touched off another American revolution. Spreading like smallpox brought to the New World by European settlers, it soon became the preeminent form…
A Decade at the Lege
Some wit once said that when Texas’ founding fathers decided that the state legislature should meet for 140 days every two years, they made a mistake; what they meant to say was that the Lege should meet for two days every 140 years. Nonetheless, our elected representatives continue to provide fodder for political pundits and…
1999 Film Critics Poll
Marjorie Baumgarten Top Ten Films 1. Affliction 2. Three Kings 3. Being John Malkovich 4. The Blair Witch Project (pre-hype) 5. Boys Don’t Cry 6. American Movie 7. South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut 8. Besieged 9. Gods and Monsters 10. The Limey Near Misses (5)Dogma, Rushmore, Election, Cookie’s Fortune, Run Lola Run Most Overrated…
Positively Operatic
Top Ten Dance Events of 1999 1. DANCEfest (Chris Valentine) Austin’s first annual local dance festival featured the work of 18 diverse Austin dance groups, including ballet, modern, ethnic dance, and children’s groups, over three nights. The celebration provided incredible exposure for Austin’s best-kept secret: its large and varied dance community. 2. Nelken, by Pina…
Bibliomania
Clay Smith Year 1. Crossing Shattuck Bridge: Stories by Annette Sanford 2. Whompyjawed by Mitch Cullin 3. Plainsong by Kent Haruf 4. No Other Book by Randall Jarrell, edited by Brad Leithauser Decade 1. Possession: A Romance by A.S. Byatt 2. Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius by Ray Monk 3. Elementals: Stories of Fire…
About AIDS
In the new millennium, death from AIDS should be the exception, not the norm.
Top 10 1999/Local
Greg Beets 1. Brown Whörnet (Austin Music Mafia) 2. Kiss Offs, Goodbye Private Life (Peek-a-Boo) 3. … And They Will Know Us by Our Trail of Dead, Madonna (Merge) 4. Drums & Tuba, Flatheads and Spoonies (My Pal God) 5. Silver Scooter, Orleans Parish (Peek-a-Boo) 6. Stretford, Long Distance (Framed!) 7. Meg Hentges, Brompton’s Cocktail…
A-to-Z Guide to Education in 1999
A is for Accountability ratings and Audits. This was the first year the Texas Education Agency rated school districts “unacceptable” for submitting unreliable student data — and Austin Independent School District was among the first to get the paddle. State Comptroller Carole Rylander sent a team to investigate AISD’s porous accounting, but new superintendent Pat…
We’ve Come a Long Way, Baby
The year’s best in technology, gaming, and Web sites
Positively Operatic
The Longer View In honor of this milestone year, the Arts team has decided to look back further than just the past year and come up with some critical observations on the past decade, the century, and even the millennium. On the traditional end are my choices for the top theatrical productions in Austin during…
Bibliomania
Jesse Sublett Year 1. The Night Inspector: A Novel by Frederick Busch 2. Angels Flight by Michael Connelly 3. The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead 4. Borderlands by James Carlos Blake 5. Bad Men: Outlaws & Gunfighters of the Old West by Bob Boze Bell 6. Red Devil: To Hell and Back With Cancer by Katherine…
Edibles in Isolation
Chronicle food writers list their desert island must-haves.
Top 10 1999/National
Greg Beets 1. Beck, Midnite Vultures (DGC) 2. The Make Up, I Want Some (K) 3. Handsome Boy Modeling School, So– How’s Your Girl? (Tommy Boy) 4. The Flaming Lips, The Soft Bulletin (Warner Bros.) 5. Moby, Play (V2/BMG) 6. Kitty Craft, Beats and Breaks From the Flower Patch (Kindercore) 7. The Streetwalkin’ Cheetahs, Live…
And In Other Business…
In 1999 we read about the booming economy, the hot housing market, the lack of affordable housing, a record number of IPOs, the rebound of downtown, and Michael Dell, Michael Dell, Michael Dell. Other stuff happened, too. Here’s a Top 10 list of business bits worth noting. 1. Central Market goes south. Bubba is plum…
Top 10 Technology Stories of 1999
1. Electronic commerce is a hit! People started buying a lot of their stuff online this year. E-commerce looks more and more like a killer app, though there are obvious kinks in both the technology and the service. Then again, the Wright Brothers weren’t in the air all that long. 2. Apple’s worm-free comeback via…
Positively Operatic
THe Millennial Musical Scene I: Boy Meets Girl Written by: Tennessee Williams Songs by: Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II Girl: Mary Martin Boy: Laurence Olivier Brooding Boy sits on a roof overlooking Times Square on New Year’s Eve 2000. Lonely and depressed, he prepares to leap to his death, but his song of farewell…
Bibliomania
Martin Wilson Year 1. Amy and Isabelle: A Novel by Elizabeth Strout 2. Close Range: Wyoming Stories by Annie Proulx 3. The Wonders of the Invisible World: Stories by David Gates 4. Layover: A Novel by Lisa Zeidner 5. My Date With Satan: Stories by Stacey Richter Decade 1. Possession: A Romance by A. S.…
Edibles in Isolation
Virginia B. Wood Banished to a desert island, I’ll go quietly if I’m allowed to bring a cache of the foods that impressed me most this past year plus a library made up of the 10 best Texas cookbooks and my 10 favorite cookbooks of all time. Perhaps while I’m stranded on the island, I…
Top 10 Decade/Local
Greg Beets 1. Fuckemos, Fuckemos Can Kill You (Rise) 2. Don Walser, The Archive Series (Watermelon) 3. K. McCarty, Dead Dog’s Eyeball (Bar None) 4. Texas Tornados (Reprise) 5. Daniel Johnston, Artistic Vice (ShimmyDisc) 6. The Golden Arm Trio (Shamrock/Jinx) 7. Sons of Hercules, Hits for the Misses (Unclean) 8. Craig Ross, Dead Spy Report…
Naked City
It’s a new political season, and local Republicans are ready to rumble. But right now it’s not the Democrats who are causing the agitation, it’s — surprise! — their own leader, Becky Motal. Seems the chair of the Travis County Republican Party hasn’t lived up to her “proven leadership” platform she rode in on in…
Top 10 Games of 1999
1. Star Wars: Episode I — Racer (LucasArts).This beautifully executed, high-octane contribution set a whole new standard for the racing genre, creating a low-orbit buzz throughout the market not felt since the glory days of Wipeout. 2. Quake III: Arena(Activision/id Software).High on action and great for killing rainy days, this first-person shooter no doubt showed…
FronteraFest 2000
The Chronicle’s guide to Austin’s biggest performance event.
Positively Operatic
Arts Critics Poll ARTS STORY OF THE YEAR Ada Calhoun: Flatbed Press opening.Robert Faires: The Blanton Museum design war. A couple of tunnel-visioned regents derail a carefully plotted museum design process, leading to the design firm’s resignation, the dean of Architecture’s resignation, indignant campus rallies, and repercussions for universities and architectural projects around the world.…
Postscripts
What were the big literary news stories in the region for 1999?
Edibles in Isolation
Mick Vann Was that Dessert Island or Desert Island? If it’s the latter, and surrounded by ocean, then I would first want to stock up on fishing supplies at the Austin Angler. I’d grab a whole mess of leaders and tippets for my fly rod, and a healthy assortment of Clouser’s, Deceiver’s, Crazy Charlie’s, Gotcha’s,…
Top 10 Decade/National
Greg Beets 1. Ice Cube, AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted (Priority) 2. My Bloody Valentine, Loveless (Sire/Warner Bros.) 3. Beck, Midnite Vultures (DGC) 4. Rodd Keith, I Died Today (Tzadzik) 5. Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Orange (Matador) 6. The Hi-Fives, — And a Whole Lotta You! (Lookout!) 7. Buttsteak, Moroccan V.D. (Go-Kart) 8. Public Enemy, Fear of…
Naked City
A number of so-called “duplexes” — massive, brightly painted multifamily residences with two kitchens and up to six residents — have cropped up virtually overnight in the North University area, incensing area homeowners.
Top 10 Austin Web Sites
No one can ignore the strong presence of technology in our city. Drive north on I-35 to take a gander at Mr. Dell’s farm, and while you’re at it, you may notice the interstate you’re driving on is peppered with signs advertising its own Web site, http://www.I-35Austin.com. Our beloved Congress Avenue has become a hotbed…
Long Fringe @ the Hideout
FronteraFest, the oldest and largest performance festival in the Southwest, is adding a new long-form performance festival and two new venues to its already successful Short Fringe. The FronteraFest 2000 Long Fringe will include 21 feature-length performances over two weeks, January 25 – February 6.LONG FRINGE DETAILS Long Fringe performances will be held primarily at…
Articulations
A major change in direction for Teatro Humanidad.
Off the Bookshelf
Dark Waves and Light Matter: Essays by Albert Goldbarth University of Georgia Press, 176 pp., $21.95 Goldbarth’s essays quickly teach the reader how to read them: Be comfortable in a state of confusion and you will be thrilled with the clarity that follows. He boldly mixes incongruities, creating new connections between abstract ideas and concrete…
Edibles in Isolation
Wes Marshall What wine would I take to a desert island? There are so many problems. Desert islands will be hot and my wines will suffer from the temperature. I’ll have to bury them in the sand to keep them cool and out of the light. Can I take my screwpull or do I have…
Desert Island Discs
Greg Beets 1. Ramones, Rocket to Russia (Sire) 2. The Beatles, Revolver (Capitol) 3. James Brown, 20 All-Time Greatest Hits! (Polygram) 4. The B-52’s (Warner Bros.) 5. The Velvet Underground, The Velvet Underground & Nico (Verve/Polygram) 6. Glass Eye, Bent by Nature (Bar None) 7. The Beach Boys, Pet Sounds (Capitol) 8. X, Los Angeles…
Naked City
Sea turtle advocates say Gov. George W. Bush should do more to protect endangered species of turtles, many of which are indigenous to the Gulf Coast and are harmed by pollution and the shrimping industry.
Top 10 National Web Sites
They’re not necessarily the biggest. They’re not even necessarily the best. Instead, these are the Web sites that made headlines and kept us logging on again and again. 1. Amazon (http://www.amazon.com). I haven’t seen so many of my friends shopping in one place since I was in junior high. 2. Ask Jeeves (http://www.askjeeves.com). Cheaper than…
Bottom’s Dream: chokecherry
“Baby, you don’t get more Bottom’s Dream than this,” responds Mitchell Gossett when asked about the production of Erik Ehn’s chokecherry that this exceptional Los Angeles theatre company is bringing to town for FronteraFest 2000. “James Martin, the director, co-founded Bottom’s Dream with [me. I am] in the cast. Both founding artistic directors will be…
Off the Bookshelf
Tokyo: A Certain Style by Kyoichi Tsuzuki Chronicle Books, 248 pp., $12.95 (paper) In a deceptively small pocket-sized book, Tsuzuki packs the contents of millions of lives, from bent kitchen spoons and vinyl records to tattered mattresses, broken lamps, egg crates taped onto crumbling walls, community toilets, paint bottles, wrinkled clothes, and stains on every…
Words for a Desert Island
Okay, you should just as soon fire me as take away my e-mail. So when the staff brought up the idea of top 10s for a deserted island (and it’s a deserted island, people, not a desert island — but I missed that meeting), my mind began to percolate with the gadgets and gizmos I’d…
Music Critics Poll: 1999
GREG BEETS Local Show: The Kiss Offs @ Popfest, Emo’s Roadshows: Wayne Kramer, Streetwalkin’ Cheetahs, Bellrays, SXSW, Emo’s, New Local Act: Subset Veteran Local Act: Don Walser Notable Passing: Sir Doug Sahm Reissue: Flamin’ Groovies, Flamingo/Teenage Head Soundtrack: South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut CHRISTOPHER GRAY Local Show: Damnations TX, Stubb’s Roadshows: Ex-Husbands, Hole in…
Naked City
Hays County environmentalists and other area residents applaud a recent LCRA decision to delay building a water pipeline to Dripping Springs until an Environmental Impact Statement can be completed.
Top 10 Technology of the Decade
1. Ubiquitous portable telephony. i.e., those damn cellphones — they’re everywhere! Wait, I think mine’s ringing — 2. Palmtop computers. Wired little tools that help you keep your life together, palmtop computers didn’t quite catch on until a Windows operating system (CE) was developed for ’em. Now I know people who can’t remember how to…
Long Fringe @ the Off Center
FronteraFest, the oldest and largest performance festival in the Southwest, is adding a new long-form performance festival and two new venues to its already successful Short Fringe. The FronteraFest 2000 Long Fringe will include 21 feature-length performances over two weeks, January 25 – February 6.LONG FRINGE DETAILS Long Fringe performances will be held primarily at…
Bibliomania
Just so we understand one another, there’s cheating going on below. The idea is to get a diverse group of regular Chronicle book reviewers to list our favorite books of the year, the decade, and the books we would take to a desert island. You’ll find all of that below, plus a “wild card,” free-for-all…
Off the Bookshelf
The Boy on the Green Bicycle: A Memoir by Margaret Diehl Soho Press, 368 pp., $25 “Not another memoir,” I can hear you moan. But yes, this one is really worth it. Diehl tells the story of her family, the perfect, rich, cultured Diehls, a Southern bunch settled in the Northeast, and the two extraordinary…
Short Cuts
Upcoming events and workshops of interest to the Austin film community.
Music Critics Poll: The Decade
GREG BEETS Artist: Chuck D Band: Nirvana Texan: Willie Nelson/Selena Queen Bee: Kathleen Hanna Song: “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” Nirvana Comeback: Tony Bennett Flash-in-the-Pan: Vanilla Ice Trend: the rise and fall of Alternative Nation CHRISTOPHER GRAY Artist: Method Man Band: Girls Against Boys Texan: Rev. Horton Heat Queen Bee: PJ Harvey Song: “Common People,” Pulp…
Naked City
The City Council eases back into action this week after a one-week break for the holidays. The council will hold a 6pm public hearing on Thursday, Jan. 6, on their proposed settlement with Gary Bradley, under which the developer’s 3,000-plus acres in Southwest Austin would be developed in compliance with SOS impervious cover standards and…
Top 10 Games of the Decade
1.Doom (GT Interactive/id Software).Even the gaming illiterate have at least heard hushed whispers about the gun-toting, grenade-launching world created by Dallas-based id Software. This first-person shoot-’em-up changed the face of gaming — or blasted it off, rather — inspiring a whole flurry of spin-offs, not to mention general revulsion from parents anxious that their kids…
Long Fringe — Bring Your Own Venue!
FronteraFest, the oldest and largest performance festival in the Southwest, is adding a new long-form performance festival and two new venues to its already successful Short Fringe. The FronteraFest 2000 Long Fringe will include 21 feature-length performances over two weeks, January 25 – February 6.LONG FRINGE DETAILS Long Fringe performances will be held primarily at…
Bibliomania
Mark Busby Year 1. Duane’s Depressed: A Novel by Larry McMurtry 2. Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen: Reflections at Sixty and Beyond by Larry McMurtry 3. Larry L. King : A Writer’s Life in Letters, or, Reflections in a Bloodshot Eye edited by Richard Holland 4. Juneteenth by Ralph Ellison 5. Gardens in the…
Off the Bookshelf
When Zachary Beaver Came to Town by Kimberly Willis Holt Henry Holt & Co., 231 pp., $16.95 Following Austin resident Louis Sachar’s 1998 National Book Award victory for Holes in the young person’s literature category, Texas once again came away with a winner when Amarillo’s Kimberly Willis Holt claimed the prize in 1999 for this…
Video Reviews
Louis Black begins his ongoing list of “desert island” videos with his first pick: Francis Ford Coppola’s Godfather trilogy
Music Critics Poll: Desert Island
GREG BEETS Artist: Elvis Presley Band: The Beatles Composer: Igor Stravinsky/George Gershwin Album: Beach Boys, Pet Sounds Song: “This Land Is Your Land,” Woody Guthrie Live Show: James Brown, The Olympia, Paris, 1971 Musical Event: Woodstock, 1969/Live Aid, 1985 CHRISTOPHER GRAY Artist: Bono Band: Nirvana Composer: Cole Porter Album: Run-DMC, Raising Hell Song: “Baby Got…
Naked City
Environmental activist Paul Robbins will host a reception to showcase the release of the 2000 Austin Environmental Directory, a guide to environmental information, products, and services in the Austin area, at noon on Friday, Jan. 7, at the Austin History Center, 810 Guadalupe. Take two: An informational open house and public meeting (rescheduled last month…
Top Ten Technologies of the Century
The 20th century has hosted an incredible plethora of technological advances. Medical advances are such that the average Joe can extend his usefulness and outlive it. Science split the atom so that we could destroy a couple of cities in the name of peace, and we sent men to the moon so that they could…
Lisa D’Amour: Slabber
January 30, 1999, 11:21pm New Orleans, LA Just returned from the National Rent-a-Car to pick up the Chevy Cavalier which will bring me to Austin for two weeks to work on SLABBER with Katie Pearl. It is a shiny gray platinum and not nearly as fancy as the white Ford that Katie and I drove…
Bibliomania
Stacy Bush Year 1. Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette by Judith Thurman 2. Another World by Pat Barker 3. Freedom Song: Three Novels by Amit Chaudhuri 4. The Intuitionist: A Novel by Colson Whitehead 5. More Matter: Essays and Criticism by John Updike 6. The Walking Tour by Kathryn Davis 7. Headlong:…
Local Bestsellers
Local bestsellers are based on recent sales at Austin bookstores selected to reflect varied reading interests.
TV Eye
Gangsters, vampires, and conspiracy theories : the best television had to offer in 1999.
Dancing About Architecture
New Year’s New Clubs, New Arrangements for the Austin Music Network and, well, News.
Council Watch
Important Council actions in 1999 and what’s on the agenda for 2000.
Desert Island Games
1. Diablo (Blizzard Entertainment).It floored the critics. It flew off the shelves. It knocked the competition into the next century. With a monster game engine, a haunting score, and a storyline that’s kept a legion of worldwide fans thirsting for more, this RPG title boasts one of the most intuitive interfaces of its genre. It…
Short Fringe @ Hyde Park Theatre
Since 1993, Frontera has turned its stage over to Austinites for five solid weeks of unjuried, uncensored theatrical adventures of 25 minutes or less. That tradition continues this year as the newly renamed Short Fringe. As before, all Short Fringe performances are at Hyde Park Theatre, 511 W. 43rd, at 8pm. All tickets are $10.…
Bibliomania
Katherine Catmull Year 1. Homework by Suneeta Peres da Costa 2. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling 3. The Fires by René Steinke Decade 1. Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison 2. Time’s Arrow: Or the Nature of the Offense by Martin Amis 3. Possession: A Romance by A.…
Page Two
Smart Growth and other millennial hallucinations …
Edibles in Isolation
Barbara Chisholm My List of Must-haves: 1. Sisters’ Sass Garlic and Sesame Dressing. This dressing makes absolutely everything better from potatoes to pasta to veggies to chicken. On a desert island or in a new stone age, this will improve everything you could pull from the sea or from a trash heap. 2. Orville Redenbacker’s…
As Big as Texas
The year and the decade in review
Media Clips
The top 10 media events of 1999.
The Source
The Source 1999, NR, 89 min. Directed by Chuck Workman, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring John Turturro, Dennis Hopper, Johnny Depp. Even though you don’t know it, you’re probably already familiar with some of the work of director Chuck Workman. He’s the one who’s usually commissioned to put together those rapid-fire compilation montages…
