PLUS: Austin Chronic & 4/20 Merch • Summer Camps

Top 10 Developing Stories

1) Boom and Bust The Downtown skyline was transformed by rising condo towers. Hotel, office, and multiuse projects boomed as well – until the bust. Also hard hit were Austin’s construction industry and retail and restaurants banking on all those condo yups. Will the Austonian – now rising toward 55 stories with more than 180…

by Katherine Gregor

Top 10 Public-Safety Stories

1) The Fire This Time It was a bad year for the Texas Department of Public Safety. On June 8, the night the Governor’s Mansion burned, the sole officer on duty and his semifunctional video-surveillance cameras didn’t see, and thus didn’t stop, the cargo-pants arsonist who did the damage. After much recrimination, longtime agency leader…

by Jordan Smith and Richard Whittaker

Prove It All Night

Alejandro Escovedo striding onstage for the first encore at Houston’s Toyota Center arena the night of April 14 still seems surreal. Bruce Springsteen talked up but didn’t immediately name a Lone Star singer-songwriter who could have been anyone from Billy Joe Shaver to Britt Daniel. The fix was in since Escovedo had recently signed on…

by Raoul Hernandez

Top 10 Quotes of the Week

1) “Three hundred fifty-seven days and counting …” – U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, reacting after President Bush’s State of the Union address (Feb. 1 issue) 2) “The district attorney is a woman – how cool is that?” – District attorney candidate Mindy Montford, after her resounding loss to new Travis Co. District Attorney Rosemary…

by Chronicle Staff

Top 10s

Top 10 National 1) Lucinda Williams, Little Honey (Lost Highway) 2) Metallica, Death Magnetic (Warner Bros.) 3) Bun B, II Trill (Rap-a-Lot) 4) Graveyard (Tee Pee) 5) Wovenhand, Ten Stones (Sounds Familyre) 6) Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! (Anti-) 7) Steve Cropper & Felix Cavaliere, Nudge It Up a Notch (Stax)…

by Raoul Hernandez

Headlines

• At press time, Israel continued a pummeling offensive against the Hamas government in Gaza. Retaliating for comparatively weak rocket fire into Israel, hundreds of air assaults have rocked the Gaza Strip, killing more than 300, including 51 civilians, according to the United Nations. • The I-wanna-be-speaker list hit a baker’s dozen, as Georgetown Republican…

by Chronicle Staff

Top 10s

TOP 10 NATIONAL 1) Beach House, Devotion (Carpark) 2) Tuxedomoon, Vapour Trails (Crammed Discs) 3) Portishead, Third (Mercury/Island) 4) Torche, Meanderthal (Hydra Head) 5) Frida Hyvönen, Silence Is Wild (Secretly Canadian) 6) Thee Oh Sees, The Master’s Bedroom Is Worth Spending a Night In (Tomlab/Castle Face) 7) Indian Jewelry, Free Gold (We Are Free) 8)…

by Audra Schroeder

Critics Poll

BEST LOCAL SHOW GREG BEETS Gretchen Phillips/Golden Arm Trio, Cactus Cafe JIM CALIGIURI Black Joe Lewis & the Honey Bears, Hole in the Wall THOMAS FAWCETT Grupo Fantasma with Larry Harlow, Antone’s DOUG FREEMAN Alejandro Escovedo/Leatherbag, Cactus Cafe MELANIE HAUPT Austin Taiko Drummers, Austin Family Music Festival, Pioneer Farms CHASE HOFFBERGER Bavu Blakes, Mohawk RAOUL…

by Chronicle Staff

National Top 10s

GREG BEETS 1) Los Campesinos!, Hold on Now, Youngster … (Arts & Crafts) 2) Randy Newman, Harps and Angels (Nonesuch) 3) High Places (Thrill Jockey) 4) The Love Me Nots, Detroit (Atomic a Go Go) 5) Al Green, Lay It Down (Blue Note) 6) The Hold Steady, Stay Positive (Vagrant) 7) Deerhunter, Microcastle/Weird Era Cont.…

by Chronicle Staff

Texas Top 10s

GREG BEETS 1) White Denim, Exposion (Transmission Entertainment) 2) Alejandro Escovedo, Real Animal (Back Porch/Manhattan/EMI) 3) Future Clouds & Radar, Peoria (The Star Apple Kingdom) 4) The Krayolas, La Conquistadora (Box) 5) Gretchen Phillips, I Was Just Comforting Her (Seasick Sailor) 6) Fluoxetine, Two Weeks & Holidays 7) Shootin’ Pains, Pray Like Crazy 8) Adam…

by Chronicle Staff

Top 10 State Stories

1) Obama-(Tex)Mania Technically, this started in Austin back around Feb. 23, 2007, with the massive Auditorium Shores rally. But through the Hillary Clinton/Barack Obama debate at UT, the rally at the Capitol, and the seemingly endless stream of volunteers around the nation – Austin decided, “Yes, we can.” 2) Your Gerrymander Looks Ill House Democratic…

by Lee Nichols and Richard Whittaker

Top 10 Election Gaffes

1) If You Can’t Legislate, Litigate State Sen. Kim Brimer, R-Fort Worth, decided it was easier to fight through the courts to keep Democrat Wendy Davis off the ballot than to face her on the stump. The result? Davis hung tight and took the seat with 50% of the vote. 2) Primary Madness As in…

by Lee Nichols and Richard Whittaker

Arts Review

Rob Nash’s solo show is funny, honest, and a welcome relief from saccharine holiday shows

by Avimaan Syam

Auld Lang ‘Chron’

On Wednesday, Dec. 31, we will close at 3pm and remain closed until Monday, Jan. 5, 2009, when we will resume regular business hours. Be careful out there.

by Chronicle Staff

Reefer Madness: Top 10 Joints

1) No Help for Hemp Our favorite North Dakota farmers were back in federal court, again trying to get the Drug Enforcement Administration to butt out of plans to cultivate non-narcotic industrial hemp on family farms. Farmers Dave Monson (a veteran Republican state lawmaker) and Wayne Hauge (a seed dealer and certified public accountant) argue…

by Jordan Smith

The Spirit

Graphic novelist Frank Miller delivers this film version of Will Eisner’s classic comic-book series.

by Marc Savlov

City Hall Hustle: Top 10 City Council Stories

1) As the Dais Turns The year’s most dramatic shift was the May council election, led by the symbolism of neighborhood champion Laura Morrison taking the Place 4 seat of stat-quo preserver Betty Dunker­ley. Place 3’s Jennifer Kim, defeated by newcomer Randi Shade, was consigned to the one-term dustbin, and the influence of Responsible Growth…

by Wells Dunbar

Media Watch: Top 10 Media Stories of 2008

1) Statesman Want Ad With newspapers currently considered stinking dog turds on Wall Street, in August family-owned Cox Enter­prises announced plans to sell dozens of its papers, including the Austin Ameri­can-Statesman. As they say in the financial biz: not great timing. The economy promptly crashed, along with interest in buying newspapers. Five months later, the…

by Kevin Brass

Top 10 Environmental Stories

1) Biomass: Got Wood? In August, Austin Energy sought to push through council a 20-year, $2.3 billion deal for a waste-wood-burning power plant. The Nacogdoches-area plant would provide about 75,000 homes with constant “carbon-neutral” energy. Critics filled City Hall to question the lack of public input and whether AE’s justifications – mainly fast-rising natural-gas prices…

by Daniel Mottola, Amy Smith, Richard Whittaker and Katherine Gregor

Letters at 3AM

People who might not want anything to do with me look at my car and know there’s something about America we agree on – something embodied in a ’69 Chevy Malibu

by Michael Ventura

Luv Doc Recommends: Riverboat Gamblers

Prediction: In ’09 free will be the new rich. It always has been, really, but this year while millions of Americans are trying desperately to dig their way out from a mountain of debt, just being able to break even and walk away will seem a huge luxury. It’s small consolation that the government is…

by The Luv Doc

Recent

See all

Gift this article