After Mosley Murder, Tough Questions About AISD Campus Violence
The stabbing of a Reagan High student is a symptom of a much larger problem, say community leaders
Stone Cold Genius
MP4.com highlights the work of Bob Ray.
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Between 20-25% of the South African police service is HIV positive.According to one New York Times report, the proper Arabic pronunciation of “Iraq” is difficult because it actually begins with a consonant, the ayn, which doesn’t exist in English.A recent Victoria University (New Zealand) study proved that the feeling of being drunk is partly in…
Phases and Stages
SpacetruckNight Rider (Brachiator) Spacetruck is the perfect moniker for this Austin fourpiece. Like a truck, it’s a workhorse, hauling loads of original tunes and chunky rock & roll. And like the ubiquitous Texas pickup, Spacetruck has a slightly country-fried flavor, more Marfa and less Lubbock. The space component is easy, created by the group’s use…
Candidates, Money Both Talk
Now that it’s finally sunk in that these are the only candidates from which to choose, the City Council election has come into a little clearer focus on the public’s screen. The aspiring politicos honed their stances and sound bites as they hit some major stops on the forum circuit — including Austin Interfaith’s “accountability…
New on DVD
Sam Peckinpah attracted controversy as reliably as a dog attracts fleas. Upon their release, each of his films would stimulate new debate about the uses of onscreen violence and his manhandling of women, as was the case with 1971’s Straw Dogs.
Day Trips
The Comal Power Plant in New Braunfels still stands vacant on the southern edge of Landa Park. It has been 20 years since the power plant’s big turbines generated a kilowatt of electricity. Three years ago it looked like the seven-story, brick building might be converted into a boutique hotel, but those hopes soon died.…
Phases and Stages
We Talked About MurderExpecting the Explosion (Has Anyone Ever Told You?) Sad to say, but maybe it’s time to look back to the Nineties for guidance. Sure, it was a pretty faceless 10-year span, but like every decade, it had its share of sound musical trends. One of the better ones was the skewed guitar…
‘Showdown in Texas’ Takes on Bush in His Old Back Yard
The American Friends Service Committee’s May 3 rally aims to be a global multi-issue challenge to the Bush agenda.
Short Cuts
Film on, as resistance.
After a Fashion
THE TOMER SHOW I have chosen to take Tomer Gendler, designing under the label Tomer, as seriously as he takes himself. At his most recent show, on a glorious day at the très chic Hotel San José, one viewer said, “If his last collection looked like that of a first-year design student, then this, his…
Phases and Stages
Glover GillSolo Tango Vol. 1 (Nois) A former member of Austin’s best gypsy swing band 8 1/2 Souvenirs and the prime mover of the much-feted Tosca Tango Orchestra, Glover Gill is justifiably one of the best-known pianists in town, gracefully melting jazz, Western, classical, ragtime, and tango. Converging his gifts and concentration into Argentina’s most…
Get Your War On(line)
Places to get Iraq War news that the mainstream media might allow to fall into Orwell’s Memory Hole: www.thememoryhole.org — Natch. The site preserves documents and other information that has been deleted from news media and government Web sites and archives. The stuff that the powers that be might prefer you forget. www.iraqbodycount.net — If…
Video Reviews
Erich von Stroheim’s 10-hour masterpiece-cum-folly, 1925’s Greed, is the Holy Grail of Silent Film, a film which exists only in dusty script fragments, fading publicity stills, and the imaginations of dreamers.
About AIDS
HIV Treatment Works for Seniors — Get Tested! “Older people don’t need to worry about HIV infection.” Whoa, Nellie! This is one of the greatest myths about HIV/AIDS. The good news is that older patients respond just as well to the treatments as younger people. The U.S. HIV/AIDS Update Conference last week in Miami confirmed…
Phases and Stages
The Beat DivasLive at Reed’sMaryann PriceLone-Star State o’ Grace (Catfish Jazz) If there was ever a time to drink in the healing power of music, two new albums from Austin divas provide the elixir to sooth whatever ails you. The lustrous voices of local jazz artists Dianne Donovan, Mady Kaye, and Beth Ullman, known collectively…
Naked City
Quote of the Week: “Texas is not like Wimpy, a bloated slob always munching on hamburgers. Texas is more like Popeye’s skinny girlfriend, Olive Oyl, whose 19-19-19 figure indicated a diet that barely kept her going day to day.” — Dick Lavine of the Center for Public Policy Priorities, after Gov. Rick Perry made a…
TV Eye
What on TV is bugging “TV Eye”? Pretty much everything.
An Appetizer Adventure
Virginia B. Wood interviews Chronicle contributor Mick Vann and Arthur Meyer, authors of The Appetizer Atlas.
Phases and Stages
Eliza WrenPeradventure (Phoney)Hallicrafters Pony (Triangle Mallet Apron) Two new discs from Austin’s multitalented Eliza Wren skip into the office like a pair of giggling Goth girls more interested in Lee Harvey Oswald than any fictional vampire and all too happy with the coming of spring’s cruelest month to care much about either. Peradventure is a…
Second Helpings: Indian, Part I
Bollyfood, in this week’s “Second Helpings.”
Naked City
The City Council last week voted to raise the fees for Downtown parking meters from 75 cents to $1 an hour. This matches the price for street parking in the Capitol Complex; staff estimates this will bring in an additional $526,000 a year, 30% of which will go to fund Great Streets improvements Downtown. Mayor…
Talking the Talk
Angela Kariotis knows that everyone has their own stories, and in Reminiscence of the Ghetto & Other Things That raiZed Me, her one-woman show about growing up poor in New Jersey, premiering at UT’s David Mark Cohen New Works Festival, Kariotis tells hers in her very own way.
Marinated Sea Bass in Lime Juice and Coconut Milk (from Appetizer Atlas)
Serves 8 Kokoda Fiji: This is the Fijian version of ceviche, where the fish is cooked chemically by the acidic lime juice. Variations of this dish are popular all over the South Pacific. Some scholars feel that the ancient Polynesians carried this recipe to South America, while others feel the opposite is true. Fish: 11/2…
Phases and Stages
Willie NelsonThe Essential Willie Nelson (Columbia/Legacy) April 30 marks Willie Nelson’s 70th birthday and marking that milestone is this 2-CD compilation, with expanded editions of his Columbia albums and an unreleased live disc to follow throughout the year. Containing 41 tracks spanning 41 years from nine different labels, it’s as wide ranging as the Austin…
TCB
Austin soldiers on beyond SXSW with hot rods, SPAM, and puking
Naked City
If the Dixie Chicks suffer a loss in revenue from Natalie Maines’ anti-Bush comments at a London concert, it hasn’t registered yet. Although the Chicks disappeared from airplay charts after country stations around the nation began boycotting them, their latest album, Home, is still No. 1 on the Billboard country sales charts three weeks after…
Piece of Work
Consisting of a vintage dental cabinet, two scrolls of paper, and a tree-painted background, Celia Alvarez Muñoz’s installation “Stories Your Mother Never Told You” is an interactive tour de force that touches on those very issues central to Muñoz’s artmaking practice: memory, personal identity, and community.
Book Review
Sandy Szwarc reviews Chronicle contributor Mick Vann and Arthur Meyer’s The Appetizer Atlas.
Phases and Stages
Rusty Wier”Under My Hat” (Harlequin) It’s not altogether correct to tag Austin’s Rusty Wier as a “one-hit wonder,” though nothing he’s written since matches 1975’s “Don’t It Make You Wanna Dance” for longevity or appeal. “Under My Hat” collects 14 tracks from Wier’s quartet of mid-Seventies Cosmic Cowboy-era albums: Fly Away, Don’t It Make You…
Health Care Equity in Travis County
Travis County delegation attempts to plan a health care district.
Naked City
Journey for Justice, a traveling tour led by opponents of the U.S. government’s “race to incarcerate,” will arrive today (Thursday) at Trinity United Methodist Church, 600 E. 50th. From 6:30-8:30pm, organizers will show a short video about U.S. drug laws and their effects on families and communities, principally those of color. A subsequent discussion will…
Articulations
A painful week for friends of the theatre with the passing of educator and director Gil Sharp and producer, director, and actor Don Phillips, Jr.
Now Singing Her Praises
The Chronicle’s Virginia B. Wood receives the Saveur Texas Hill Country Wine & Food Festival’s award for Unsung Hero, and other award-winners.
Phases and Stages
Townes Van ZandtIn the Beginning… (Compadre) If you’re a fan of Townes Van Zandt, the man that many consider the finest songwriter Texas has ever produced, there’s no doubt you’re going to want a copy of In the Beginning. Its 10 songs were recorded as demos in Houston, 1966, and only one of them was…
Transportation and Land Use: Immobilized
Pouring concrete at the Lege is not as easy as it looks.
Please Don’t Eat the Hemp
With a stay still in force from the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, the Drug Enforcement Administration on March 21 did an end-run around the federal court and the nation’s hemp industries , announcing a “final” rule banning the sale of foods containing hemp seed or oil. “In some cases … [a] controlled substance…
Exhibitionism
With The Traveling Lady, Different Stages has mounted a pleasant, innocuous little drama by Texas playwright Horton Foote, but while the actors are honest and heartfelt in portraying its awkward, kind-hearted small-town souls, the scenes sometimes play out in ways that betray the intimacy of small-town life.
2003 Award Winners, ‘Saveur’ Texas Hill Country Wine & Food Festival
2003 Who’s Who Awards Presented by the Saveur Texas Hill Country Wine & Food Festival, Texas Monthly magazine, and the Texas Department of Agriculture. Who’s Who in Wine and Food in Texas award: John Campbell, vice-president, founder, and general manager of the original Central Market Dine With Texas Wine award: Michael Vilim, co-owner and general…
Phases and Stages
Fast, cheap, and out of control — local bands are minting EPs at a pace that would leave even Robin Williams gasping for breath. So before we turn into Patch Adams, let’s see what’s in the chamber: …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead must be tuckered out from all that touring…
The 78th Legislature: Dates to Watch
Monday, May 12 (119th day): Last day for House committees to report House bills and joint resolutions Friday, May 16 (123rd day): Last day for the House to consider nonlocal House bills and joint resolutions on third reading Friday, May 23 (130th day): Last day for the House to consider local House bills Saturday, May…
Wal-Mart on the Aquifer?
Wal-Mart wants to conquer the Edwards Aquifer with one of its famously huge supercenters on nearly 30 acres of land in the sensitive recharge zone. The property, at the northeast corner of MoPac and Slaughter Lane, comes with the benefit of zoning already in place, and it’s exempt from the Save Our Springs Ordinance because…
Exhibitionism
On a night in the spring of 2003, the Texas Early Music Project took an Austin audience back to medieval Germany with songs of the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries that sounded as authentic and as full of life as the time when the music was born.
Food-o-File
Just Austin being Austin
A Lege Too Far
With Six Weeks to Go, the Legislative Future Looks Dark and Darker
78th Legislature: Work Accomplished as of April 9*
Number of Bills: 6 +SB 15: Spends $15 million from the Smart Jobs Fund for “business location incentives” for Toyota plant in San Antonio +SB 310: Requires homeowners insurance companies to tell the Dept. of Insurance how they calculate their premium rates SB 330: Revises state law governing privacy of medical information to accord with…
Capitol Chronicle: Patriotic Gore
The Texas House wants to cut health care, human services, and education, but it’s really enthusiastic about war.
Exhibitionism
In the iron belly muses production of Pains of Youth, a group of young, wealthy medical students in 1920s Austria have, well, a lot of sex with each other, and while the actors work it for all they’re worth, the quick tempo and constant physical movement lead to a lack of clarity in the story…
The Latin Flare
2002-03 AMA Band of the Year winners Del Castillo ride a wave of Latinization.
Campaign Finance: Take the Money and Hide
Of the few campaign finance reforms under consideration, none have bright prospects.
The Reason Why
From the April 21, 2003 issue of The Nation (www.thenation.com) Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die. — Alfred, Lord Tennyson “The Charge of the Light Brigade” (in the Crimean War) Thanks to the most crudely partisan decision in the history of the Supreme Court, the nation has been given a…
H.C.R. No. 75
By: Eissler, Branch, Bonnen, Griggs, Stick, et al. House Concurrent Resolution WHEREAS, In the wake of the events of September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush affirmed that the acts committed that day against America “will not stand” and since that time has prosecuted steadfastly a war on terrorism in all its forms, across many…
Book Review: Dark Star Safari
Journey through Africa and the life of author Paul Theroux in his novel Dark Star Safari.
Cultural Connections
The rich cultural heritage of Mexico and Latin America are kept in two important ways in Austin. Under the auspices of the Austin Latino Music Association, the Sonidos del Barrio series is creating a top-shelf video archive of Latino musicians living and working in Central Texas. Filmed before a live audience, each concert is aired…
Biennial Gay-Bashing
Right-wing legislators pursue anti-gay agenda once again.
Endorsements
The Chronicle endorsements
Austin @ Large: Austin at Large: Smoke and Mirrors
The new Austin smoking ordinance is a solution in search of a problem.
Book Review: Pieces of Payne
Pieces of Payneby Albert Goldbarth Graywolf, 221 pp., $15 (paper) Albert Goldbarth, author of more than 25 books of poetry and essays, twice winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, has written his first novel. Pieces of Payne concerns itself with news from the life of a young astronomer wannabe named Eliza Phillips. Pieces…
Phases and Stages
The SwellsThe Waymarked Ways (Calgary) 2003 hasn’t started out so well for the Swells. The Austin quintet’s first live performance in a year was a Privilege-sponsored fiasco, and for some unknown reason, they didn’t get accepted into SXSW while many lesser local nontalents did. With the release of their third album, The Waymarked Ways, the…
Criminal Justice: Innocence Is No Defense
There are several dozen criminal justice reforms under consideration, and a handful might actually be enacted.
T.A.B., Mussolini: Earle Can’t Tell the Difference
The DA lays into the Texas Association of Business as he tries to keep his criminal campaign finance probe alive.
The Hightower Report
Richard Perle uses our government to line his pockets; and Congress wraps tax cuts for the rich in the flag.
News/Print
Baby, please don’t go …
Phases and Stages
Matt the ElectricianMade for Working � (Nice Guy) Folks may chortle at someone named Matt the Electrician releasing an album of largely acoustic material, but the local singer-songwriter does so with more than enough skill to earn a union card. Matt Sever’s songs are just as likely to document his interior landscape as his immediate…
Women’s Health: Our Bodies, Their Laws
State Affairs’ nine “wise men” decide what’s good for Texas women.
Dell Promises to Take It Back
The campaign to get Round Rock-based Dell Computer to create a transparent computer-recycling program has taken “a major leap forward,” according to an activist shareholder group. Calvert Group, Ltd., a “socially conscious” investment firm, and As You Sow, a nonprofit promoting corporate social responsibility, announced on Tuesday that Dell has agreed to not only recycle…
Do Aibos Dream of Electric Corner Kicks?
Gearing up for RoboCup VII
In Person
During his appearance at UT’s Union Ballroom, New Yorker staff writer Malcolm Gladwell wanted to talk about “social power,” a subject at the heart of his bestselling Tipping Point. Sarah Hepola reports.
Phases and Stages
Ray Wylie Hubbard Growl (Rounder) Ray Wylie Hubbard has some kind of winning streak going. Since his “return” in the early Nineties, the Wimberley-based outlaw singer-songwriter has released one exceptional collection of songs after another. With his new album, Growl, Hubbard makes it clear he’s not done yet. Guitarist, songwriter, and ear Gurf Morlix handled…
Anger Management
Anger Management 2003, PG-13, 103 min. Directed by Peter Segal, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Adam Sandler, Jack Nicholson, Marisa Tomei, Luis Guzmán, John Turturro, Kevin Nealon, Allen Covert, Lynne Thigpen, Kurt Fuller, Krista Allen, John C. Reilly, Woody Harrelson, Heather Graham, Harry Dean Stanton. It’s probably a good thing that Jack Nicholson…
Horsepower Now, Health Care … Whenever
As of Wednesday, two bills from the 78th Legislature had been signed into law by Gov. Rick Perry: SB 310, requiring rate information of homeowners’ insurance companies, and SB 15, spending $15 million from the state’s Smart Jobs Fund for “business location incentives” — money to underwrite construction of a railroad spur for a new…
Stan Brakhage
Remembering Stan Brakhage, a giant of experimental film.
Page Two
If we want to make sure this country remembers its commitment to Iraq and does not get into other military misadventures, a new kind of political activism must evolve.
Phases and Stages
Violet CrownThese Are the Days (Herkermer)Standing WavesA Short History of Standing Waves Part 1 (Classified) Reviews of Larry Seaman’s recordings often reference his Raul’s-era endeavor the Standing Waves, so it’s serendipitous that his current band Violet Crown released These Are the Days at the same time as new retrospective A Short History of Standing Waves.…
Laurel Canyon
Laurel Canyon 2003, R, 103 min. Directed by Lisa Cholodenko, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Frances McDormand, Christian Bale, Kate Beckinsale, Natscha McElhone, Alessandro Nivola, Louis Knox Barlow, Russell Pollard, Imaad Wasif, Mickey Petrala, Melissa De Sousa. In the promotional push for Laurel Canyon a couple of months ago, it seemed like Frances…
