Volume 21, Number 14
features
... And a slew of other local businesses celebrating significant anniversaries
BY BRANT BINGAMON, ANNE HARRIS, SARAH HEPOLA AND KATE X MESSER
If a holiday gift trend is big here this year, chances are, it was already big over there
BY KATE X MESSER
news
AISD votes to move the Liberal Arts Academy from Johnston to LBJ, a move that magnet parents support but many others question.
BY MICHAEL MAY
Redistricting trims Texas Dems and progressives from the Lege ranks. Start worrying.
BY MICHAEL KING
Incumbent Kitchen and Republican opponent Todd Baxter spar for seat in reconfigured District 48.
BY AMY SMITH
A surprisingly small crowd turns out to demand safety guarantees from Longhorn Pipeline.
BY AMY SMITH
The Texas Supreme Court will decide whether medically necessary abortions for the poor will be state-funded.
BY LAURI APPLE
A profile of Austin's New Black Panther Party
BY LAURI APPLE
BY LAURI APPLE
After 10 years in the Texas House, Glen Maxey retires and reflects. A profile of Austin's New Black Panther PartyA surprisingly small crowd turns out to demand safety guarantees from Longhorn Pipeline.
BY MICHAEL KING
A commission to study commissions -- it's not a political parody, it's for real.
BY MIKE CLARK-MADISON
The Bushes suddenly discover women's rights in Afghanistan, tear up the Bill of Rights, and let pesticide companies test their poisons on human beings.
BY JIM HIGHTOWER
food
Giving the gift of food this Christmas
BY VIRGINIA B. WOOD
All the right ingredients came together at a benefit for Boggy Creek Farm.
BY VIRGINIA B. WOOD
Stumped on Christmas gift giving ideas? Food Editor Virginia B. Wood serves up the best ways to give the gift of Austin food purveyors.
music
That was the week that was in the Live Music Capital
BY KEN LIECK
Phases and Stages
Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia 1933-1944
Live Trane: European Tours
The Complete In a Silent Way Sessions
Self Portrait
Q: The Musical Biography Of Quincy Jones
Say It Loud! A Celebration of Black Music in America
The 70s Soul Experience
The Golden Road 1965-1973
Fourever
Roots Music: An American Journey
The Columbia Studio Recordings 1964-1970
Army Air Force Band
On the Road to Find Out
1981-1998
The Reggae Box: The Routes of Jamaican Music
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Electromagnetic Steamboat: The Reprise Recordings
Bootleg Series Volume 1: The Quine Tapes
screens
Shop online for maximum holiday video and DVD satisfaction.
BY MARC SAVLOV
Anti-American protestors in Pakistan set fire to a movie theatre that was, strangely, still showing Robert Rodriguez's Desperado.
BY MARJORIE BAUMGARTEN
Discus Maximus
We preview some of the best, brightest new DVDs and box sets.
BY MARJORIE BAUMGARTEN
The Box and Beyond
Games, hardware, and gadgets to make a techie's holiday dreams come true.
Film-Related Coffeetable Books
Kodak's light shines down on Flicker.
BY MARC SAVLOV
Keeping one eye on television and the other on pop culture.
BY BELINDA ACOSTA
Screens Reviews
Occasionally a bit preachy with its critique of advertising or the Eighties commodity mindset, How to Get Ahead in Advertising is a still-relevant satire about an ad man who sprouts a talking zit on his shoulder.
Film Reviews
arts & culture
On Monday, December 3, 53 members of the community came to the UT Performing Arts Center to create a giant American flag for display outside Bass Concert Hall.
BY ROBERT FAIRES
Danceworks director Cindy Goldberger leaves Austin as playwright Colin Swanson returns for a visit, and who are Ballet Austin's lucky mothers?
BY ROBERT FAIRES
Arts Reviews
In its production of The Sound of Music, Austin Musical Theatre delivers Rodgers & Hammerstein's familiar songs with an ear for not just their beguiling tunefulness but their dramatic impact, so that the redemptive power of music makes itself heard again and again and again.
Mexico: Bailes y Tradiciones, a "Kids Series" performance by Roy Lozano's Ballet Folklorico at the One World Theatre, was an immensely entertaining tribute to Mexican folklore that included traditional costumes, dance, and mariachi music in front of a painted Mexican town square backdrop.
columns
Our cover means what you want it to mean; term limits should be junked; decisions about light rail require the long view.
BY LOUIS BLACK
Our readers talk back.
BY MR. SMARTY PANTS
Fritsche's Farm near Giddings is one of several good area options for your Christmas tree shopping.
BY GERALD E. MCLEOD
State Democrats party, David Byrne gets shorn, and "After a Fashion" readers learn more about how to be a good customer and how not to be a fashion victim.
BY STEPHEN MACMILLAN MOSER
I have an aggressive form of breast cancer being treated by some powerful chemotherapy drugs. A friend is warning me that some vitamins should be avoided during chemo. Which vitamins are these?
BY JAMES HEFFLEY, PH.D.
The epidemic isn't over: Hospice needs volunteers.
BY SANDY BARTLETT
As much as he dislikes Longhorn football, Coach feels for Chris Simms.
BY ANDY "COACH" COTTON
Letters to the editor, published daily