Cover by jason stout, photos by john anderson and jana birchum
Volume 32, Number 40
ON THE COVER:
news
A no-drama session ends – will a high-drama special follow?
BY RICHARD WHITTAKER
Family and friends tried to get Herbert "Denny" Babelay the help he needed before he died
BY JORDAN SMITH
If the 83rd Lege glazed your eyeballs, act two might wake the balcony
BY MICHAEL KING
Grading the Lege on women's health, drug policy, and criminal justice
BY JORDAN SMITH
Council appoints itself to a committee to study utility oversight
BY AMY SMITH
AISD hires a principal for a new boys' middle school as plans for a boys' academy appear to be on hold
BY RICHARD WHITTAKER
With all administrative remedies exhausted, Springsteen seeks compensation through federal court
BY JORDAN SMITH
Meet the new agenda, same as the old agenda
BY MICHAEL KING
A new home for poverty in America
BY JIM HIGHTOWER
food
New cookbooks and food culture tomes
BY VIRGINIA B. WOOD
Great expectations at Salt & Time
BY VIRGINIA B. WOOD
May 31-June 4
BY VIRGINIA B. WOOD
Problems at Austin's Pizza, Peached Tortilla primed for TV, and – what else? – barbecue news
BY VIRGINIA B. WOOD
music
Chaos in Tejas brings the bedlam
Chaos in Tejas courts hip-hop, and other tales from the underground punk / metal fest
BY KEVIN CURTIN
Chaotic Platters
Luxury Problems
New Moon
Light Up Gold
You're Nothing
Manifest Decimation
The Man Who Died in His Boat
Defeat of Civilization
Void
Live Forever
Species at War
Sister Faith
Chalk Tape
Walk On Heads EP
No Answer: Lower Floors
Mysterium
screens
'The Last Unicorn' takes a victory lap at the Alamo Drafthouse
BY AMY GENTRY
AFS Essential Cinema enchants with Marilyn Monroe
BY MARGARET MOSER
Film incentives see massive boost
BY RICHARD WHITTAKER
Film Reviews
Often gorgeous, sometimes fascinating, this Smith-family outing is ultimately unwieldy and unsurprising.
The plastic surgery performed in this horror film gives real meaning to going under the knife.
There's a tour de force performance by Greta Gerwig and no small amount of magic in this winning movie by Noah Baumbach about a generation in flux.
Real-life adventurer Thor Heyerdahl's 1947 trip across the Pacific on a raft is re-created in this beautifully lensed film.
Danish Oscar-winner Susanne Bier lightens her tone with this grown-up romantic comedy that stars Pierce Brosnan.
arts & culture
The 2013 class of the Austin Arts Hall of Fame
BY ROBERT FAIRES
On a tarp-covered wall in a studio on Burnet Road, there lurk tigers ...
BY ANDY CAMPBELL
Conductor Peter Bay spices up the symphonic menu with some new compositions
BY NATALIE ZELDIN
Arts Reviews
Two wounded friends walk a line between nostalgia and regret in Street Corner Arts' staging of Rajiv Joseph's play
With strong direction and a fine cast, City Theatre's revival of the jury-room drama of the 1950s feels very contemporary
Artists Joel Ross and Jason Creps craft sardonic messages that may push viewers out of their comfort zones
columns
Obama deftly weaves vagueness, misdirection, and a few outright lies
BY MICHAEL VENTURA
Bomb together or bomb separately: It's Queerbomb weekend
BY KATE X MESSER
BY GERALD E. MCLEOD
Don't tell Stephen who to expose
BY STEPHEN MACMILLAN MOSER
BY MR. SMARTY PANTS
Are you an emotional vomit bucket?
BY THE LUV DOC
Letters to the editor, published daily
sports
The Brewskee-ball National Championships Crown a King of the Lane
BY CHASE HOFFBERGER
BY NICK BARBARO
comics
BY SAM HURT
BY TONY MILLIONAIRE
BY JEN SORENSEN
BY TOM TOMORROW