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Volume 28, Number 45
ON THE COVER:
news
For one McCallum High student, every day is a sick day
BY NORA ANKRUM
Players in proposed music department singing off different pages
BY WELLS DUNBAR
Dancing in the streets, singing odes to streetscapes
BY KATHERINE GREGOR
ON THE LEGE
Lawmakers passed two key bills – then they went home
BY RICHARD WHITTAKER
Martinez queries Cornyn on Sotomayor
BY RICHARD WHITTAKER
BY RICHARD WHITTAKER
Doggett worries that the climate bill may be worse than doing nothing
BY LEE NICHOLS
Austin ISD goes on computer-buying spree
BY RICHARD WHITTAKER
With Lake Travis and Barton Springs hit hard by the drought, the call for more conservation funding grows louder
BY KATHERINE GREGOR
Transit agency says budget crunch prompted changes
BY LEE NICHOLS
New online venture seeks to create a 'conversational democracy'
BY KEVIN BRASS
Citizens calendar, July 9-15
Lessons of the 'Booze Indicators'; and Perking Up CEO Pay
BY JIM HIGHTOWER
food
The third installment of our fried-chicken adventures
BY CLAUDIA ALARCÓN
New stoves and local nonprofits garner support despite difficult economic times
BY VIRGINIA B. WOOD
An overview of local foodie events for July 10-14
BY VIRGINIA B. WOOD
Food Reviews
This South Austin Indian oasis does not disappoint
Attention to detail makes this North Campus hangout a success
music
Tuning in to the future of Austin's music scene today
BY MARGARET MOSER
Better Than the Van finds a place to crash in Austin, as does Ola Podrida's David Wingo, while Leeann Atherton goes big in Japan and Martín Perna stays up late with the Roots
BY AUSTIN POWELL
Live Shots
screens
Dispatches from Wii's Virtual Console
BY JAMES RENOVITCH
Pondering the existential self in writer/director Duncan Jones' Moon
BY MARJORIE BAUMGARTEN
Legendary stuntman Gary Kent to read at BookPeople
BY MARC SAVLOV
Austin Film Festival to honor Arrested Development's Mitchell Hurwitz
BY KIMBERLEY JONES
Remembering the televised Michael Jackson: intimate and iconic
BY BELINDA ACOSTA
Film Reviews
Sacha Baron Cohen's Brüno is less specific and less interesting than Borat – and therefore less funny.
This French film is equal parts sex farce, Mai-Decembre romance, middle-aged white male fantasy, and wannabe Hitchockian intrigue.
An elite bomb-dismantling squad in Iraq tread the fine line between keeping themselves alive and coming back for another adrenaline rush.
So a mammoth, a sloth, and a saber-toothed tiger walk into a Mesozoic Age ….
A man (Sam Rockwell) and his computer (voiced pitch-perfectly by Kevin Spacey) – alone on a moon-based work station of the future – plumb the depths of identity and inner space.
In this Bollywood comedy, two con artists connive their way up the movie-industry ladder.
arts & culture
Club manager Margie Coyle has kept the laughter going for 20 years
BY WAYNE ALAN BRENNER
The political satirist weighs in on Republican sex scandals and Texas secession
BY STEVE BIRMINGHAM
The creator of the hit country music satire reveals its Grand Ole Opry roots
BY ROBERT FAIRES
Arts Reviews
Tutto Theatre and Bulgakov's satire are a wonderful marriage of zany energy and deep meaning
This double-sided tribute to Janis Joplin works as engaging story and rocking concert
A subtle nod to the longevity and cultural relevance of the Mardi Gras Indian tradition
columns
The best democracy is a messy one
BY LOUIS BLACK
Where will Stephen make over Carole Keeton Etc. Etc. now that Pink is closing?
BY STEPHEN MACMILLAN MOSER
Gay Place bids Ash Bell Godspeed, adieu, and a fond farewell
BY ASH BELL AND KATE X MESSER
Is football a sport only for men? The women who play for the Austin Outlaws think not.
BY THOMAS HACKETT
Approximately 300,000 bats live year-round underneath the Waugh Drive bridge in Houston
BY GERALD E. MCLEOD
My Neighbor Wastes Water, and It's Driving Me Crazy
BY LUKE ELLIS
Eating feces, rubbing humps, and much more
BY MR. SMARTY PANTS
French Legation Museum, Saturday, July 11, 2009
BY THE LUV DOC
Letters to the editor, published daily