Benefits
Fri 18 A Country Dance w/Little Joe y La Familia, Ruben Ramos & more to benefit Stacy Serrano (quadraplegic victim from car accident), at Dance Across Texas, 8pm. Cost is $8 advance, $10 at the door. Fri 25 An Exhibition & Sale of Textiles will be held through Sat, April 26 to benefit Chiapas Women’s…
Austin City Council Election Endorsements
“Getting beyond the simplistic polarization that dominates city politics.” Those are Kirk Watson’s words of promise. But how many times have we heard that, only to weep bitter tears of betrayal after the polls have long closed? The difference this time out is that, with Watson, we honestly believe there may be hope. Oh, he’s…
First Season on the Rink
photograph by Isabel Taylor The evening put a whole new spin on that old sports clich� “snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.” It’s April Fool’s Day at the Travis County Expo Center, but nobody feels much like joking. The El Paso Buzzards are taking it to the Ice Bats, drubbing a suddenly inferior –…
Coach’s Corner
From the dark depths of my calloused heart, I hope the Chicago Cubs finish the season 0-162. The Cubs were my first exposure to sports. I was carted in and out of 50 Cub games before I could walk. Poor Ernie, the Coach’s College, the Collapse of ’69, the Great Choke of ’84; anyone who…
Shifting the Burden
illustration by Doug Potter Retail electric deregulation legislation was nearly D.O.A. as early in the legislative session as February, but last week, the patient was shocked back to life when the proposed Senate bill on the issue was transferred from the Senate Committee on State Affairs to the Committee on Economic Development. SB 684 author…
Charlie Burton and the Texas Twelve Steppers
Rustic Fixer-Upper (Lazy SOB) No question about it, Charlie Burton has a way with words: There are few contemporary musicians who could sing either “non-Caucasian” or “chillun'” with such alacrity. Even more impressive, however, is the range and depth of Burton’s songs, the sum of which belies his reputation as something of a novelty act…
Day Trips
At Tyler State Park the raccoons are not only the park’s mascots, but are also the cause of more than one unwary camper’s consternation. Roaming the park after dark like tiny bandits, the raccoons scavenge campsites looking for any morsel left unprotected. They have grown so tame that campers sitting around a campfire don’t bother…
Radical Radio
The writing is on the (Ruta Maya bathroom) wall: Austin radio listeners deserve Jim Hightower. Can someone please explain to me why we can hear G. Gordon Liddy on Austin radio, but not Jim Hightower? Since Labor Day of last year, former Texas agriculture commissioner Hightower has been broadcasting one of the few voices for…
Chasing Amy
Chasing Amy 1997, R, 105 min. Directed by Kevin Smith, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams, Jason Lee, Dwight Ewell, Jason Mewes. This third film in Smith’s “New Jersey trilogy” is a departure: Not only is it hip, clever, and outrageous (Smith hallmarks), it’s also a decidedly adult take…
Public Notice
Way back when our lad was just a tot, we suffered a scare that changed our ideas on child-raising forever. One day, determined to get the hell out of the house and enjoy the sultry Florida afternoon, we packed a yummy picnic lunch, gathered some friends and playthings, and went to fetch the young laddie…
Naked City
Vote now and save yourself a headache. There’s still time — early voting ends April 29. Check out the Chronicle endorsements this issue on Page Two if you like. Follow our stories on the races for Place 5 and Place 6 this week, and the Mayor and Place 2 next week. This and more election…
Traveller
Traveller 1997, R, 100 min. Directed by Jack Green, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Bill Paxton, Julianna Margulies, Mark Wahlberg, James Gammon, Luke Askew, Nikki Deloach. Bill Paxton has been recently acting in big “effects” movies such as last summer’s Twister and this summer’s Titanic in which his performances are always destined to…
Mister Smarty Pants Knows
The Mary Kay cosmetics store in Moscow is in the old KGB barbershop. In 1880, The Empire Cheese Company of New York began producing Philadelphia Cream Cheese in Chester, NY. At that time, any product identified with the city of Philadelphia was deemed to be of the highest quality. Slugger Albert Belle’s contract with the…
Zeroing in on Zuniga
Manuel Zuniga photograph by Alan Pogue Last Tuesday at the Zilker Clubhouse, city council candidate Karen Hadden walked briskly to the center of the room, grabbed hold of a microphone and gushed and blushed amid the applause of supporters who had turned out for a fundraiser in her honor. By this time, a row of…
Murder at Sixteen Hundred
Murder at Sixteen Hundred 1997, R, 109 min. Directed by Dwight H. Little, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Wesley Snipes, Diane Lane, Alan Alda, Daniel Benzali, Dennis Miller. For about half its duration, Murder at 1600 hunkers in the canebrake, passing itself off as yet another feeble, Grishamesque government conspiracy groaner. But before…
Food-O-File
“Cupboard love is love pretended to the cook in the hopes that a meal or snack will result. This practice of feigning affection was also known in the 18th century by a less endearing name, lump-love, the idea again being that the true object of the pretender’s desire is a lump of food.” Herein lies…
Place 5 Endorsements
Bobbie Enriquez Austin Hispanic Firefighters Association Austin Women’s Political Caucus (shared with Spelman) Austin Lesbian/Gay Political Caucus Clean Water Action (shared with Spelman) South Austin Tejano Democrats (shared with Zuniga) Travis County Democratic Women Karen Hadden Save Our Springs (S.O.S.) (shared with Spelman) Save Austin’s Neighborhoods and Environment (SANE) (shared with Spelman) Students for Earth…
8 Heads in a Duffel Bag
8 Heads in a Duffel Bag 1997, R, 93 min. Directed by Tom Schulman, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Joe Pesci, Andy Comeau, Kristy Swanson, Todd Louiso, George Hamilton, Dyan Cannon, David Spade, Anthony Magano, Joe Basile. Screenwriter Tom Schulman (Dead Poets Society, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids) takes the directorial reins this…
Pizza Redux
Robb, First, let me establish my credentials. I was born in the Bronx in 1966 and lived there until 1983 when my family moved to Manhattan. I know pizza. I can even tell a Bronx pie from a Manhattan pie on a good day. (Of course, here I’m made fun of simply for using the…
Place 5 Contributions & Expenditure Reports
Total Contributions: $11,490 Total Expenditures: $6,940 Figures From Jan. 1 — March 24: Total Contributions: $11,490 Total Expenditures: $6,940 Contributions from PACs: Austin Firefighter Assoc. of Professional Firefighters PAC Fund. Contributions from Law Firms: None Contributions from Real Estate and Developer Interests: None Notable Contributions: Engineer Yvonne Gil, $500; police officer Hector Polanco, $500; business…
Boys Life 2
Boys Life 2 1997, NR, 80 min. Directed by Various, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . Boys Life 2, an outstanding collection of four short films about young gay men, picks up where its successful predecessor — 1994’s Boys Life — left off. Director Nickolas Perry’s “Must Be the Music” opens the program…
Thinking Man’s Mojo
photograph by Shannon McIntyre Charlie Burton exudes an eerie sort of Midwestern Zen. He just seems so … normal. He grew up in Nebraska, went to college in Michigan, inherited the family’s harpsichord-making business, and eventually left it behind to tilt the rock & roll windmills on the horizon. He’s erudite, self-effacing, and charming, a…
The Shark Bites Back
Kayte VanScoy Eric Mitchell photograph by Alan Pogue On election day for Austin’s 1994 city council races, James Harper and Carol Hadnot rose before dawn to stand outside of Windsor Methodist Church in East Austin. They waved “Eric Mitchell for Place 6” signs in the hopes of attracting last-minute votes for a candidate they believed…
Cadillac Ranch
Cadillac Ranch 1996, R, 103 min. Directed by Lisa Gottlieb, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Suzy Amis, Linden Ashby, Caroleen Feeney, Christopher Lloyd, Jim Metzler. Cadillac Ranch — The Pitch: Feisty, nubile chicks on the lam/Red convertible/Suitcase full of stolen boodle/Cross-country pursuit by psychotic villain/Hunky, sensitive male collaborator/Female empowerment generously seasoned with T&A……
Dancing About Architecture
All the mutant strains of cold and rainy weather have put Austinites in a mood to get out of the house, as evidenced by the crowds that attended last Sunday’s Bob Marley Fest, which raised a sizable stash of canned goods for the Capital Area Food Bank. (I should take this opportunity to correct last…
Place 6 Endorsements
Willie Lewis Sierra Club Save Austin’s Neighborhoods and Environment (SANE) Save Our Springs PAC (S.O.S.) Black Voters Action Project Austin Women’s Political Caucus South Austin Democrats Austin Lesbian/Gay Political Caucus West Austin Democrats Capital Area Progressive Democrats Travis County Democratic Women Clean Water Action Austin Progressive Coalition Eric Mitchell Austin-American Statesman Austin Board of Realtors…
Three Lives and Only One Death
Three Lives and Only One Death NR, 123 min. Directed by Raúl Ruíz, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Marcello Mastroianni, Anna Galiena, Marisa Paredes, Melvil Poupaud, Chiara Mastroianni. Not reviewed at press time. A longtime international arthouse and festival favorite, the often enigmatic director Raúl Ruíz (The Golden Boat, Three Sad Tigers) has…
Articulations
The cast of the Tongue and Groove Theatre production of A Saga of Billy the Kid got a tad more drama than they’d counted on during a sound check for the show last week. The company was outdoors at Club de Ville, where they’re staging the production, and gun specialist Bob Taylor was testing the…
Live Shots
OLD SETTLERS BLUEGRASS & ACOUSTIC MUSIC FESTIVAL Old Settlers Park, Round Rock, April 5 Danny Barnes conducts the banjo workshop. photograph by John Carrico Nary a cumulo nor nimbus spotted this bright blue morning. I know because I kept looking up in total disbelief. The torrent that screamed through Central Texas the night before had…
Place 6 Contributions & Expenditure Reports
Total Contributions: $61,053 Total Expenditures: $40,109 Figures from January 1 — March 24: Total Contributions: $27,595 Total Expenditures: $12,103 Contributions from PACs: BM&OH Electro PAC, $1,000; Vinson & Elkins Texas PAC, $500; Texas Bell Employees PAC, $1,500; Page Southerland Page PAC, $250; Graves Dougherty PAC, $500; Southern Union PAC, $500. Contributions from Law Firms: Strasburger…
Exhibitionism
B. Iden Payne Theatre, UT campus through April 19 Running time: 2 hrs, 45 min A long wall crosses the back of the stage, a wall of mustard yellow, covered with what looks to be bluish moss. Behind it rise up dozens of tall, spindly birch branches, their whiteness and thinness accentuated by a broad…
Music Recommended
Friday: Nathan & the Zydeco Cha-Chas, Antone’s Saturday: American Analog Set, Electric Lounge Sunday: Riddle Me This, Steamboat Monday: Bobgoblin, Mercury Lounge Tuesday: The Vandals, Voodoo Lounge Wednesday: Godheadsilo, Enduro, Emo’s Thursday: Lee Roy Parnell, Hang ’em High
Glow of the Tube
Television is a truly amazing medium. Its presence in our lives is remarkable, a kind of great equalizer uniting the largest number of people, giving them a common frame of reference, and reducing them into one category: television watchers. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? In the tumult of the civil rights movement in the mid-Sixties, LIFE…
Sing Globally,…
illustration by A.J. Garces Remember that Coke commercial in the Sixties, the one with all the shiny happy people standing on a hilltop harmonizing? “I’d like to teach the world to sing…” — that’s the one. It offered a warm and fuzzy vision of global unity: people of different races, different cultures, different looks, side…
Ben Folds Five
Liberty Lunch Friday, April 18 A small misunderstanding about this interview’s leitmotif and Ben Folds, the piano-playing popster frontman of the vainly named Ben Folds Five, gets all excited. “You’re doing a `Roadkill’ piece and you’re asking us? You don’t realize what you’ve come upon.” Before I can explain to Folds that “Roadkill” is just…
Scanlines
D: Nancy Savoca, Cher; with Demi Moore, Sissy Spacek, Cher, Catherine Keener, Anne Heche. VHS Home Video If These Walls Could Talk received more press for its controversial presentation of the abortion issue than it did for the merits of the work itself. In actuality, the film is about pregnancy and the options that three…
Postscripts
Austin has been selected as the host city for the 1998 National Poetry Slam. The event, tentatively scheduled for August 12-15, 1998, is expected to bring over 150 poets from at least 36 cities across North America. The Poetry Slam features team and individual competitions, and will be held in at least five local venues,…
Road Shows
APRIL FRI 18 Tarika, Cactus Cafe FRI 18 Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas, Antone’s FRI 18 Mary Cutrufello, La Zona Rosa FRI 18 Ben Folds Five, Kolmeda, Liberty Lunch FRI 18 Patty Griffin, Freedy Johnston, Backyard FRI 18 Los Del Sur, Bombos Argentinos, S�ngerrunde Halle SAT 19 The Bobs, Cactus Cafe SAT 19 Peter…
Short Cuts
by Marjorie Baumgarten Screenwriter Max Adams is a very hot talent, whose fees these days are said to be in the mid-six figures (or that’s what Universal is reputed to have paid for her new untitled romantic comedy just a few weeks ago). But back in 1994, Adams was an unknown writer who made a…
Big Land, Big Stories,& One-Eyed Jacks
illustration by Nathan Jensen Some American Indian tribes used to believe that, before humans were created, the world was inhabited by a race of giants. It’s not hard to imagine primitive peoples looking out on the vast, wild open spaces of the West and believing in such myths; Americans of European extraction have been known…
Archaic Relics of Music Biz Past
Pye Studios, Glen Cove, New York, November, 1996: Cheap Trick have almost broken a sweat as they attempt to claw their way from beneath 15 years of bad business decisions, errant managerial advice, and being backed into some uncomfortable corners by label executives. Judging by what’s emerging from the studio monitors, they’re succeeding: It’s the…
Immaculate Perception
Perhaps more than any other writer these days, Bruce Sterling takes the abstract ideas and arcane politics of the Internet, the World Wide Web, and other technological breakthroughs, and makes sense of them. Futurist, author, journalist, husband, father, and new home owner Bruce Sterling has been a Chronicle and Austin favorite for some time now…
About AIDS
What’s HIV Got to Do With It?: A New Understanding In 1984 what we now know as HIV was identified as a disease-causing organism. Since then more time has been devoted to the study of HIV than to any other virus in human history. However, there is still much about the human immune system that…
AISD Notebook
To borrow a pet phrase from AISD’s top dog, Jim Fox, the pains of a “learning, changing, growing organization” are certainly beginning to emerge. With new principals at the helm at over two-thirds of the district’s schools, employee/supervisor skirmishes were bound to flare up — and the sparks are a-flying. In March, teachers whose contracts…
Stoking the Holy Fire
Holy Fire by Bruce Sterling (Bantam Spectra $22.95 hard), his seventh novel, is a wondrously edgy construct, a glimpse into the late 21st century where a global gerontocracy has arisen to replace the old guard. It’s a prescient, emotionally turbo-charged glimpse at one entirely believable future, but like much of Sterling’s fiction, Holy Fire also…
Hearth & Soul
Disturbing the Air I worked in a restaurant many years ago that added on a pretentious wine tasting room, a huge cavern with lots of leaking skylights and cheap ceiling fans. The walls were lined with bottles of very expensive wines that never sold. Our customers were beer drinkers who clutched two-for-one coupons in their…
Medieval Madness
illustration by Doug Potter King Charles I and Sir Jonathon Blackhawk were on their way to the renaissance festival in Smithville last week when they stopped by council chambers for some pre-council meeting formalities. Wearing a gold-trimmed doublet and a bejeweled crown, the king knighted Mayor Bruce Todd with the royal rapier. “You are now…
Sterling In Print
Novels and works by Bruce Sterling: * Involution Ocean (1977) * The Artificial Kid (1980) * Schismatrix (1985) * Islands in the Net (1988) * Crystal Express (1989) * The Hacker Crackdown (1992) * Globalhead (1992) * Heavy Weather (1994) * Holy Fire (1996) * Schismatrix Plus (1996) * Distraction (forthcoming) Bruce Sterling with William…
