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Volume 29, Number 7
ON THE COVER:
news
Fire Chief Rhoda Mae Kerr leads a department flaming with labor, race, and gender politics
BY WELLS DUNBAR
BY THE CHRONICLE EDITORIAL BOARD
A peace prize, a peace rally, and more of the same
BY MICHAEL KING
Participation is an Austin thing ... except at Capital Metro
BY WELLS DUNBAR
Citizens' calendar, Oct. 15-22
New briefs from Austin, the region, and beyond
Transit agency's self-evaluation report reflects frustration over impediments
BY LEE NICHOLS
Norquist, Perry join anti-tax forces
BY RICHARD WHITTAKER
A New Day for the EPA?; and Rich Boors in Fancy Drawers
BY JIM HIGHTOWER
Website redesign process still in the works
BY WELLS DUNBAR
Justice's departure from court would tilt the political balance
BY JORDAN SMITH
Climate change, clean energy ... and bicycles
BY KATHERINE GREGOR
Refusing to throw in towel, prosecutors take another stab at death row inmate
BY JORDAN SMITH
food
Saint Elias Church shows Austin for the 77th year that it knows how to party
BY KATE THORNBERRY
Food Reviews
The beloved Gourmet magazine dies as cooking TV expands
BY VIRGINIA B. WOOD
Foodie events around town for the week of Oct. 16-21
BY VIRGINIA B. WOOD
Food Reviews
Alain Braux
Gumbo's Michael and Yoli Amr are back!
The student chefs at Ventana offer gourmet food at deli prices
music
Sometimes outlaws walk on water
BY MELINDA HASTING WHEATLEY
Slow, Stoned, Rugged: A tribute to Austin's original cosmic soulman Rusty Wier
BY AUSTIN POWELL
Texas Platters
Live in Europe
From Soldiers to Warriors, Straightjacket Hymns, Take It All In
Somedays the Song Writes You
Belly of the Lion
Bound to Love
Aguilas and Cobras
The Rose Hotel
screens
The lights are still on at ME TV, but is it a new dawn?
BY BELINDA ACOSTA
Adam Elliot on Mary and Max, his Claymation film about unlikely pen pals
BY KIMBERLEY JONES
Finding films for cheap on the Internet
BY KIMBERLEY JONES
A taste of the Austin Film Festival
BY KIMBERLEY JONES
A new six-part IFC documentary cracks the code on that wonderful crackpot Monty Python troupe
BY BELINDA ACOSTA
Film Reviews
In Afghanistan's version of American Idol, there's a lot more at stake than the glory.
In this Bollywood film, comic events unfold in an effort to cover up an initial lie.
This new Bollywood film is an underwater action thriller.
Before she became a world-renowned brand, Coco Chanel was a girl of few prospects but with lots of pluck.
An illegal migrant worker dreams of becoming a boxer but suffers setbacks in this film shot in San Antonio.
Vigilante justice may be just what the law requires in this film starring Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx.
The Coen brothers deliver one of their best and most personal movies, a kind of cockeyed Jewish fable that urges us to embrace life's mysteries.
This very special film is the rare children’s offering that isn’t coded for adults or made corny and flip for kids.
arts & culture
Bob 'Daddy-O' Wade's 40-year road trip through all that is Texas
BY ROBERT FAIRES
With choral conductor Ryan Heller, Austin's gain is not necessarily Portland's loss
BY ROBERT FAIRES
The once and future queen of Esther's Follies receives a special B. Iden Payne award
BY ROBERT FAIRES
Salvage Vanguard scores a prestigious R&D grant, and Jenny Hart goes Gallic
BY ROBERT FAIRES
Arts Reviews
If dancing zombies and blood by the gallon appeal to you, this may be your dream musical
A gorgeous and meaningful musical experience that again showed Conspirare's mastery
A show offering a wonderful variety of strong art, but grouped by an unnecessary theme
columns
Whether it's in or it's out, the right twists reality to suit its own views
BY LOUIS BLACK
Are eight arms enough to hold Stephen in fringed buckskin?
BY STEPHEN MACMILLAN MOSER
The Dabbs Railroad Hotel in Llano isn't a cookie-cutter chain hotel; it's an experience
BY GERALD E. MCLEOD
Honoring the passing of United Court's Mona littleMore
BY KATE X MESSER
Eminent Domain – Can the Government Condemn My Property?
BY LUKE ELLIS AND CHRIS JOHNS
Helen Keller, Guinness, and more
BY MR. SMARTY PANTS
Salvage Vanguard Theater, Thursday, October 15, 2009
BY THE LUV DOC
Letters to the editor, published daily
sports
The Aztex continue to build (and win) in the offseason, and more
BY NICK BARBARO