Volume 30, Number 49
ON THE COVER:
features
The Highs, the Lows, the Lists
news
As it nears completion of an extended 'Great Streets' rehab project, has Austin learned any lessons?
BY RICHARD WHITTAKER
Proposed plastic bag ban will be popular – and under assault
BY MICHAEL KING
Council splits on WTP4 audit, possible shutdown
BY WELLS DUNBAR
Downtown parking pulls in at City Council, and more
BY WELLS DUNBAR
Citizens' calendar, Aug. 4-11
Naked City
Tax assessor-collector leaving office a year early
BY MICHAEL KING AND AMY SMITH
Empower Texans violates cyber rules, then claims conspiracy
BY RICHARD WHITTAKER
Two high schools and six middle schools miss state targets
BY RICHARD WHITTAKER
Decision hog-ties commission's role in Willingham case
BY JORDAN SMITH
Back to the Great Recession; and Subsidizing Plutocrats
BY JIM HIGHTOWER
food
Jeni Britton Bauer brings her upscale creations to Austin and your bookshelf
BY VIRGINIA B. WOOD
Rumors of a Burnet Road building boom, Kickstarting cookie cutters, new croissants at Quack's, and other food news
BY VIRGINIA B. WOOD
Belly up to the bar for the Texas Rollergirls
BY VIRGINIA B. WOOD
Food Reviews
Bartlett's adds a dash of Austin to the chain-restaurant model and comes out on top
The Eastside gets another superlative house of meat
music
Streaming Spotify all the way back to the reel-to-reel
BY MARGARET MOSER
Fun Fun Fun Fest spins at Turntable.fm, Zorch goes viral, and other digital delights from Bali Yaaah and the Meat Puppets
BY AUSTIN POWELL
Texas Platters
Planets
Travels With Charlie
Never Get Out of This Funk Alive
Tipsy Topsy Turvy
The Rock Garage Texas Live Concert Series Volume 1
Live at the Fish Fry
Dickins
Celery City
Never Early Always Fate, Equals, Eskimo, Songs of Forgiveness, If We Don't Get Better
screens
Meet the Austin Facial Hair Club, reality TV's unlikeliest new stars
BY KIMBERLEY JONES
Piecing through Nicholas Ray's archive at the HRC
BY MARJORIE BAUMGARTEN
Screens Reviews
Film scholar Patrick McGilligan explores an auteur's troubled life and career
Film Reviews
Shaky science fiction shacks up with a corny redemption tale in this Sundance Film Festival double award-winner.
In this body-switcheroo movie, Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman star as pals each a little envious of the other's life.
Two parallel stories from different eras intertwine and inform each other in this film based on Tatiana de Rosnay’s best-selling novel.
Errol Morris finds a real character for his documentary subject this time – scandal magnet Joyce McKinney, who allegedly abducted and raped a Mormon missionary.
arts & culture
Reading between the features in the Blanton's 'About Face'
BY ROBERT FAIRES
The UT program offers a marathon run of the Bard's early trilogy
BY ROBERT FAIRES
Do you know your audience?
BY ROBERT FAIRES
Arts Reviews
Students sing and dance this satire at such a high level, it's astounding
This concert of new music was driven by experiments with rhythm and sound
Bill Kennedy's photos and Bob Schneider's prints immerse you in watery goodness
columns
Moving backward and forward, toward the future
BY LOUIS BLACK
Sometimes you have to go back to the very beginning to understand where you can begin again
BY STEPHEN MACMILLAN MOSER
Get your tickets now for this year's refreshingly goofy Pride lineup
BY KATE X MESSER
The Hotel El Capitan offers weary travelers a comfortable night's stay in Van Horn
BY GERALD E. MCLEOD
Sponges instead of toilet paper, Elvis' diet, and more
BY MR. SMARTY PANTS
My Security Deposit Is Never Returned
BY LUKE ELLIS
Bullock Texas State History Museum, Saturday, August 6, 2011
BY THE LUV DOC
Letters to the editor, published daily
sports
Both of Austin's Roller Derby leagues are in action this weekend
BY RICHARD WHITTAKER
U.S. Men's team replace Bob Bradley, and more
BY NICK BARBARO