Zeke Barbaro / Getty Images
Volume 43, Number 23
ON THE COVER:
features
BY KATHERINE MCNEVINS
news
Rides from hell, thanks to Texas’ immigration law
BY BENTON GRAHAM
Mayor Kirk Watson continues to bide his time
BY AUSTIN SANDERS
Claims state didn’t fully consider environmental, social fallout
BY LINA FISHER
Stressed shelter dogs becoming a public safety issue
BY LINA FISHER
And worries about slow progress in reading, math
BY BRANT BINGAMON
In 2024, we’ve got lower prices, higher monthly payments
BY MAGGIE QUINLAN
food
Sushi, scallops, and surprises from the newest Uchi offshoot in Downtown
BY JESSI CAPE
music
Essential Austin gigs in the coming week
BY RACHEL RASCOE, MIRANDA GARZA, RAOUL HERNANDEZ, DOUG FREEMAN, ELIZABETH BRAATEN, DEREK UDENSI, BRIDGET KINGSTON, LAIKEN NEUMANN AND MICHAEL TOLAND
Solstice-like stillness holds this bilingual meditation on mortality
BY RAOUL HERNANDEZ
Rootsy singer-songwriter’s 11th LP adds new pop shimmer
BY MICHAEL HALL
Nora Predey’s complex lyrical considerations extend to stratified sonics
BY LAIKEN NEUMANN
Seventh solo release ties the natural world to messier human passions
BY GENEVIEVE WOOD
BY DEREK UDENSI
Screens
Film Reviews
Bryce Dallas Howard and Sam Rockwell get into double-identity spy trouble
Un Certain Regard winner explores first sex and consent from the perspective of a British teenager on a holiday in Crete
The continuing adventures of Maurice, a penguin who thinks he's a tiger, based on an French animated television series.
Wildly ahistorical Danish epic adds an intriguing level of court intrigue and class aspiration to a familiar plot.
A thirtysomething contemplates freezing her eggs in this comedy.
Barbaric vision of how aging means eating your own youth.
A seven-year-old's world shifts at a family gathering in this rapturously received coming of age story from Mexican director Lila Avilés.
arts & culture
Austin Dyke March organizer opens first solo photography show
BY GENEVIEVE WOOD
A kickoff for Black History Month, Mean Girls trivia, a farewell to boobies, and more
BY JAMES SCOTT, JAMES RENOVITCH, WAYNE ALAN BRENNER, KATHERINE MCNEVINS, CARYS ANDERSON, RACHEL RASCOE, AUSTIN SANDERS, LINA FISHER AND BRANT BINGAMON
Brett Goldstein brings the laughs, Zach Theatre conjures a comet, and more arty events
BY KATHERINE MCNEVINS, JAMES SCOTT, KIMBERLEY JONES, BRANT BINGAMON, WAYNE ALAN BRENNER AND LINA FISHER
columns
Unlike real kids, Sour Patch Kids don’t disappoint.
BY THE LUV DOC
Updates and new creative opportunities in Austin’s queer scene
BY JAMES SCOTT
The Family (Smoke) Circle
BY KEVIN CURTIN
BY MR. SMARTY PANTS
Historic Gulf Coast hotel dodges the wrecking ball
BY GERALD E. MCLEOD
Legal lemonade: Do my kids need a permit for their lemonade stand?
BY LUKE ELLIS
Your weekly horoscope, February 2-8
BY ROB BREZSNY
Letters to the editor, published daily
comics
BY SAM HURT
BY TOM TOMORROW
BY JEN SORENSEN