Robin Hood
Robin Hood 1922, NR, 124 min. Directed by Alan Dwan, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Douglas Fairbanks Sr., Wallace Beery, Sam De Grasse, Enid Bennett, Paul Dickey, William Lowery, Roy Coulson, Billie Bennett, Willard Louis, Alan Hale, Maine Geary, Lloyd Talman. This fabulous silent spectacle provides the perfect backdrop for the gracefully athletic…
City Hunter: .357 Magnum
City Hunter: .357 Magnum 2000, NR. Directed by Various, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . ADV films, the Texas-based anime distributor, presents a video screening of one of their latest manga TV titles, for which the Austin office provides the voice talent.Ê.357 Magnum is a feature-length version of the animated series that inspired…
Little Secret
Little Secret 1999, NR, 37 min. Directed by Bobby Houston, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Anthony Hopkins. This hit from last year’s Austin Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival takes as its subject 10 teenagers with HIV who come together for a rafting trip down the Salmon River in Colorado. Many of them…
Flicker #one
Flicker #one NR. Directed by Various, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . Flicker #1 inaugurates this new bimonthly film festival that features short films by local filmmakers and all other enthusiasts who dare submit via mail. Flicker guarantees an array of projects and intriguing juxtapositions at every screening, with linear narratives butting up…
Gator Bait
Gator Bait 1976, R, 93 min. D: Ferd Sebastian and Beverly C. Sebastian; with Claudia Jennings. Exploitation queen and former Playboy Playmate Jennings is a Cajun hellcat who drives all the bayou boys wild while plotting her revenge.
Lou Reed: Rock & Roll Heart
Lou Reed: Rock & Roll Heart 1997, NR, 85 min. Directed by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . Produced as part of the American Masters series on PBS, this documentary about musician Lou Reed probes behind the iconography and myth to discover the seminal artist at the rock & roll heart…
Page Two
Years ago, when the Chronicle was still bi-weekly, it was easy to shut down over the holidays. Even when we first went weekly, it was possible to do a special double issue for the holiday period and close for a week. This is no longer possible. There is too much going on, too much to…
Gasoline Dreams
Rounding up 2000 LPs.
The Year That Wasn’t
Top 10 Dot-Com Disappointments 1. Living.com A few months ago, Living.com founder Andrew Busey was complaining about how difficult it was being nouveau riche. None of his friends could afford to hang out with the master of online furniture, Busey complained to Texas Monthly, because he was worth millions and they weren’t. On Dec. 13,…
Public Notice
Gather ’round the Yule log and the figgy pudding, get out a paper and pen, and jot down some of these items form our Annual Holiday Wish List 2000. Local organizations need you!
Identity Crisis
Looking back at the highlights of Austin’s music scene in 2000.
The Year That Wasn’t
Kirk Watson’s Top 10 Career Options After He Retires as Mayor 1. City Manager Now that the mayor has been close to power, he will persuade Jesús Garza to move on and take the real power position in city government. 2. Texas Supreme Court After reading Dallas Morning News reporter Mark Currinden’s investigative series that…
Letters at 3AM
They may not truthfully reflect the way we live, but sometimes the big and small screen present honest explorations of the way we dream. The year 2000 gave us some exceptionally fine works in this regard.
Critics Poll 2000
Best Local Show Greg Beets: Pocket FishRmen: The Final Blowjob, Red Eyed Fly Jim Caligiuri: The Derailers, Broken Spoke Michael Chamy: Doug Sahm Hoot, Hole in the Wall Christopher Gray: Orange Mothers Hoot Night, Hole in the Wall Raoul Hernandez: Orange Mothers, Adult Rodeo, Continental Club Christopher Hess: Texas Tribute to Woody Guthrie, Paramount Theatre…
The Hightower Lowdown
Major league baseball ticket gouging in New York, grassroots rebellion in Carmel, Ca., the oil industry’s assault on the Project on Government Oversight, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce attacks new OSHA protections for workers.
Mr. Smarty Pants
In 1999, U.S. children ages four to 12 spent $28 billion of their own money. Teenagers spend about $1 billion per week.It’s hard to find peanut butter in Germany.By his own admission, Al Lewis (Grandpa Munster) met Albert Einstein on two occasions. Once by accident at a Long Island deli and once planned where he…
Naked City
Zaffirini and the Senate vote for lieutenant governor, handicapping the recession, and the debate videotape mystery
After a Fashion
Okay, Mr. Style Avatar is really losing it. This week, he’s contemplating not only making slipcovers for his Yellow Pages, but the life of the family in the lawyer’s ad on the cover. Lord.
The Year That Wasn’t
Top 10 Political Moments 1. Thomas Henderson’s Run for Council Gets Short-Circuited. The former Cowboys star and East Austin gadfly was disqualified from running for Austin City Council because of a sexual offense he committed 17 years ago. Henderson wasn’t sore for long: He went on to win $28 million in the Texas Lottery, which…
Naked City
President Bush’s campaign mastered the use of the World Wide Web, and is expected to continue in office
Real Estate and Perfect Mates
The year 2000 in the Austin arts, with Top 10 lists by Chronicle Arts critics and their picks for stories and personalities of the year.
Day Trips
A list of Top 10 Day Trips out of the first 500 that I have written since April 12, 1991 is a pretty tall order. I once had the idea of doing a list of the top 100 sites in Texas. It was too daunting of a task, so I never completed the project. Fortunately,…
The Year That Wasn’t
Top 10 Reasons Light Rail Failed 1. It Rained on Election Day. 2. People Still Don’t Trust Capital Metro. Sure, the agency has been reformed, performance audits are good, and the buses are running practically on time. But that wasn’t enough to convince gun-shy Austinites to trust the agency they love to hate. 3. A…
Naked City
For nearly three years, the Texas Dept. of Housing and Community Affairs has hardly appeared in print unaccompanied by eyebrow-raising terms such as favoritism, suspicion, and lack of accountability, not to mention indictment and conviction. So is it time to bury the beleaguered agency and find another way to manage low-income housing programs? Probably not,…
Real Estate and Perfect Mates
Top 10 Theatrical Wonders of 2000 1. Curb Appeal (Frontera@Hyde Park Theatre) The gifted, funny, and wise Steven Tomlinson again proved how enriching it can be when a playwright writes about this city today. Taking on Austin’s blazing real estate market, Tomlinson made shrewd observations on neighborhood character and used his expert understanding of economics…
Tunnel Vision
People often ask: “What’s a Sooner?” Well, Longhorns, it’s not a colorful bird. In 1889, the U.S. government opened part of what had previously been designated “Indian Territory” to settlement, forsaking their pledge to the five civilized tribes (Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole — whom they had summarily displaced from the Southeast along the…
The Year That Wasn’t
Top 20 G.W. Bushisms (We couldn’t stop at just 10) 1. “If I’m the president, we’re going to have emergency-room care, we’re going to have gag orders.” 2. “It’s one thing about insurance, that’s a Washington term.” 3. “Well, I think if you say you’re going to do something and don’t do it, that’s trustworthiness.”…
Naked City
Jim Hightower plans to use “Rolling Thunder Chautauquas” to continue building the progressive movement
Real Estate and Perfect Mates
My Favorite 10 Shows of 2000 1. Lipstick Traces (Rude Mechanicals) This year’s remount of last year’s hit gave the Rude Mechanicals an opportunity to gild the lily, and they pulled it off in spades, especially thanks to enhanced production values, Lana Lesley’s frenzied reinterpretation of her role as the intrepid Dr. Narrator, and even…
About AIDS
Each year, HIV/STD prevention professionals hope to see continued improvement in disease rates, especially among youth. Nationally for the past decade, that has generally been the case. However, even with that backdrop, recent studies nearby are not encouraging. Researchers from the UT Health Science Center in San Antonio studied 100 adolescents, aged 12 to 17,…
Making Lists
Mike Shea 1. Purple Cane Road by James Lee Burke 2. A Tinker’s Damn by Darryl Wimberley 3. An American Outrage by G.K. Wuori 4. The Special Prisoner by Jim Lehrer 5. Boone’s Lick by Larry McMurtry 6. Darkest Fear by Harlan Coben 7. Pagan Babies by Elmore Leonard 8. Sick Puppy by Carl Hiaasen…
Short Cuts
Cutting-edge indie films and filmmaking aids can be sought out on the following Web sites.
Real Estate and Perfect Mates
Top 10 Performing Arts Triumphs 1. Cabaret (UT Performing Arts Center) There is glitz and glamour and “big production values” and throngs pouring out of theatres gaily humming snatches of songs, and then there is this. Stunning is perhaps too easy a word for this story of the seediest side of life in 1929 Berlin,…
Best Bites
The Cuisines staff recalls their favorite eats of 2000.
National Top 10s
Jim Caligiuri 1. Dave Alvin, Public Domain (Hightone) 2. Paul Burch & the WPA Ball Club, Blue Notes (Merge) 3. Kasey Chambers, The Captain (Asylum) 4. John Hiatt, Crossing Muddy Waters (Vanguard) 5. James Intveld, Somewhere Down the Road (Molenaart) 6. Jayhawks, Smile (Columbia) 7. Chuck Prophet, The Hurting Business (Hightone) 8. Jim Roll, Lunette…
TV Eye
The year on television — things we thought we’d never see, things we’d like to see more of, and reasons to keep watching.
Real Estate and Perfect Mates
Top 10 Most Memorable Bits of Theatre in Austin 2000 1. The moment when the clever wordplay of Hank Schwemmer’s The Oracle Game shifted into the murderously demonic. There was a mountain of good work at last year’s FronteraFest; this was its dark, shimmering pinnacle. 2. The point at which, during one of the frenzied…
Best Bites
The 10 Best Things I Tasted All Year Long 1. The feast prepared by friends for my 50th birthday party in July at Spicewood Vineyards: Far and away the best things I ate all year because each and every dish was prepared with love and great talent. Antipasti and appetizers, salads, fresh salsas, dips, fresh…
Top 10 Texas Platters
Raoul Hernandez 1. Doug Sahm, The Return of Wayne Douglas (Texas Tornado) 2. Beaver Nelson, Little Brother (Black Dog) 3. Friends of Dean Martinez, A Place in the Sun (Knitting Factory) 4. Brannen Temple, Blaze 5. Li’l Cap’n Travis, Li’l Cap’n Travis (SMB) 6. Adult Rodeo, Texxxas (Shimmy-Disc) 7. Jean Caffeine, Idée Fixe (Innerstate) 8.…
Traffic
Traffic 2000, R, 147 min. Directed by Steven Soderbergh, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Amy Irving, Albert Finney, Miguel Ferrer, Erika Christensen, James Brolin, Benjamin Bratt, Steven Bauer, Luis Guzman, Dennis Quaid, Tomas Milian, Jacob Vargas, Don Cheadle, Benicio Del Toro, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Michael Douglas. The news, earlier this year, that director Steven…
Real Estate and Perfect Mates
Top 10 Reasons for Coming to Austin From Overseas 1. The Most Beautiful Girls in the World — I love you, Sara. 2. Lunch in the Taqueria in La Hacienda supermarket beside the library on East Riverside — uno por cobro, gracias. 3. Theatre Companies, Artists, Writers, Film-makers, Poets, and Coffee-drinkers Matter, and even the…
Best Bites
Top 10 Children’s Dining Experiences That Are Not the Usual Suspects Dining with children is easy. Go to the likely haunts (hamburger joints, family restaurants, etc.) and the young set will have plenty of options to satisfy their cravings. But sometimes, the ubiquitous chicken fingers, cheese pizzas, and hot dogs become too familiar. And sometimes…
The Year in Film
The Best and Worst of the Movies of 2000
Real Estate and Perfect Mates
Critics Poll 2000 Arts Story of the Year Wayne Alan Brenner: Tie: The high-profile return of Lipstick Traces and the opening of The Hideout. The Rude Mechs’ show is one of the best and most culturally relevant works of theatre-with-an-edge ever to emerge from Austin. The Hideout’s debut finally brings an elegant and multiuse downtown…
Best Bites
Top 10 Comfort Foods, Mexican-Style 1. The Pancho Grande Platter at Los Comales: A juicy sirloin steak accompanied by a giant crispy chile relleno brimming with gooey white cheese, flavorful red rice, real refried beans, and all the housemade tortillas you can eat. 2. Campechana to Die for at Acapulco Video: A huge beer glass…
Critics Poll 2000
Kimberley Jones Near MissesState and Main, High Fidelity, The Virgin Suicides, Jesus’ Son, Erin Brockovich Most Overrated FilmsGladiator, Quills, Shadow of the Vampire Most Underrated FilmsRoad Trip, The Cell, American Psycho Acting Kudos — FemaleBjörk (Dancer in the Dark), Ziyi Zhang (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), Julia Roberts (Erin Brockovich) Acting Kudos — MaleBenicio Del Toro…
Articulations
For the new year, resolve to support the new in the local arts scene. Here are several new projects that would welcome support.
Best Bites
10 Great Places to Pick Up the Passion Let’s try an imaginary Rorschach test. Suppose you’ve just walked into a store or restaurant that has a large selection of wine. Do you: 1. Feel intimidated about your lack of knowledge? 2. Have an anxiety attack compounded by delusions of inadequacy? 3. Experience exhilaration over studying…
The Year That Wasn’t
Top 10 Media Events of 2000 1. Stop the Presses! Premature predictions of an election night win for George W. Bush took on Dewey-esque proportions as newspapers across the country scrambled to yank banner headlines declaring Bush the presidential victor. “Bush!” declared the Statesman’s early headline, in papers that went out early and were pulled,…
Local Bestsellers of 2000
Adventures in Crime and Space 609-A W. Sixth1. A Good Old-fashioned Future by Bruce Sterling 2. The Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchett 3. Forests of the Heart by Charles de Lint 4. Neuromancer by William Gibson 5. Perpetuity Blues and Other Stories by Neal Barrett Jr. 6. The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett 7.…
Best Bites
Top 10 Ethnic Foods (in no particular order) 1. The Growth Spurt in New, Good Indian Food in town recently, with all different regions, styles, and flavors represented, as it should be. Swad and Little Bombay provide top-notch southern-style vegetarian, Clay Pit handles the upscale, yuppified version with aplomb, Sarovar the southern end for carnivores,…
The Year That Wasn’t
Top 10 Executions of 2000 2000 was a very good year for Texas executions. Indeed, it was the best ever: 40 living souls bucked their last mile on the Huntsville Bronco, *easily surpassing the previous record of 37, set in 1997. Along the way this year we set some particular headstones: 1. Gary Graham, June…
Remembrance of Texas Past
We remember the Alamo. Agnostics in the Church of the Alamo had reason to be a little mystified by all the Alamo hoopla that took place last year. But Stephen Harrigan’s The Gates of the Alamo — which eventually made it to The New York Times bestseller list and other major lists — went a…
Food-o-File
Cuisines editor Virginia B. Wood on the year that was in Austin’s culinary life.
The Year That Wasn’t
Reasons Why Rick Perry Will Not Be Elected Governor 1. Kay Bailey Hutchison. It’s no secret that Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison is eager to come back to Texas and run for governor. Hutchison is smarter, a better fundraiser, and far more savvy about government than Perry. 2. To make room for Kay Bailey Hutchison,…
Postscripts
Book news, signings, and author appearances this week.
Affronts to Gracious Living
Your Style Avatar ticks through the 10 worst fashion and style trends of the Year 2000.
The Year That Wasn’t
Top 10 Reasons to Avoid the New Downtown 1. Code writers from Vignette playing Phish covers on Sixth Street. 2. City parking meters leased to valet services, making parking on a city street near the restaurant you are trying to get into impossible — and effectively privatizing the same meters at which you are so…
