Busy Austinites focused on their destinations amid I-35 traffic might tend to miss the unassuming brick building on the northbound access road between the Crazy Lady and Dreamers

music

Infinite Capacity

Kathy McCarty explains why it took her a decade between albums

BY KATHY MCCARTY

TCB

Arclight Records, an ailing Octopus, ACL leaks, and indie-rock hits the beach

BY CHRISTOPHER GRAY

MY EDUCATION

Texas Platters

South San Gabriel

The Carlton Chronicles:Not Until the Operation's Through

ATX Records, DJ Rapid Ric, MirageDJ Kunal MDJ Tats, DJ Chicken George, OHN

ATX Records Presents Volume 1, Whut It Dew 2, The Other Side of Texas Volume 1.5, The Swed.u.s.h. Connection (Swedish Brandy), In the End, All Things Begin

David Lee GarzaJoel Guzman and Sunny Sauceda

Polkas, Gritos y Acordeónes

Geezinslaws, Neil Kaiser & the Boxcar Angels, Mike Runnels, the Double Eagle String Band

The Eclectic Horsemen, Guess You Heard, One More Time, Who's Goin' Down to Town

the Casting Couch, the Shim Shams, the Cutaway

5 Songs, The Shim Shams, Ready for the Fall

Hit By a Car

Don't Poop in My Mouth and Tell Me It's Raining

Getting Ahead of Themselves

Enron's collapse caught on tape, sort of

BY SHAWN BADGLEY

Film News

Making 'Room' for Kyle Henry in Cannes; plus, 'August Evening,' 'Everything in Between,' and 'Dallas'

BY JOE O'CONNELL

TV Eye

Why 'Warm Springs' is one actually worth watching

BY BELINDA ACOSTA

Screens Reviews

Film Reviews

Dust to Glory

The Baja 1000, the longest off-road race in the world, is captured on film by Step Into Liquid's Dana Brown.

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room

Oscar winner documents the collapse of Enron in vivid detail and with cinematic flourish.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Fans of the novel can exhale, finally; panic is unwarranted. On the other hand, audiences unfamiliar with Douglas Adams’ bizarre world may wonder what all the fuss is about.

House of D

Here’s an interesting surprise: Dour, dry David Duchovny’s directorial debut is more weepy than creepy, a conventional coming-of-age story that flashes back to 1970s New York City.

King's Ransom

A mirthless comedy about venal people doing stupid things.

Oldboy

This 2003 revenger from Korean upstart Chan-wook Park is a multilayered, intensely performed, shockingly violent, and viscerally visual tour de force.

Winter Solstice

Neither a change of seasons nor truly wonderful performances can breathe life into the dismally enervated drama Winter Solstice.

XXX: State of the Union

A nonstop orgy of bullets, bombs, and booty that aims low and hits the bull’s-eye with enough firepower to sink the Bismarck.

arts & culture

Touching All Those Hands

Remembering Boyd Vance, his life and legacy

BY ROBERT FAIRES

Unsung Hero

Behind the music of 'The Marriage of Figaro' is a man named Lorenzo da Ponte

BY DAN DIETZ

Wise Up

For its staging of Sandy Asher's ironically titled children's comedy 'The Wise Men of Chelm,' Second Youth Family Theatre gets to bring the playwright to town

BY BARRY PINEO

Get Your Rees On

Comic artist David Rees and the theatre of 'War'

BY WAYNE ALAN BRENNER

Arts Reviews

Honk!

Mary Moody Northen Theatre's production of 'Honk!' reimagines the ugly duckling in a musical that's long and uneven but offers some excellent acting and moments of unquestionable magic

Red, White and Tuna

Even for a Tuna virgin, 'Red, White and Tuna' is a viciously funny excursion into small-town Texas politics, relationships, and heated gossip

Della's Gift and Holy Night

The two lovely new operas 'Della's Gift' and 'Holy Night' offer us intimate examinations of love of Christmastime

columns

Page Two

Notes on Daniel Johnston, 'Dead Dog's Eyeball,' and the soundtrack of our lives

BY LOUIS BLACK

Letters at 3AM

No country gets two centuries anymore. The 21st will be China's century. That's what $4-plus a gallon means, and nothing can stop it. We're heading for a modern Dust Bowl.

BY MICHAEL VENTURA

Who are the up-and-comers coming up from UT Fashion program? Plus, Your Style Avatar weighs in on the controversial subject of little stickers with kids' names, sport, team, and jersey number on the back of SUVs.

BY STEPHEN MACMILLAN MOSER

About AIDS

Denialists are often well-intentioned but willfully uninformed. We applaud the raising of difficult questions, but if denialism interferes with education and self-empowerment, it is merely destructive.