Public Notice
Recent high-profile media stories have put breast cancer back in the news. Lady Linda McCartney, famed photographer, animal activist, member of the rock band Wings, and wife of Mr. Beatle hisself, Sir Paul McCartney, succumbed to breast cancer last week. This tragic news comes quick on the heels of the announcement at UK’s Brit Awards…
The Laws of the Land
Bill Couch, manager of Barton Springs/Edwards Aquifer Conservation District, is try to fend off efforts to abolish the District. photograph by Jana Birchum Shall the Barton Springs/Edwards Aquifer Conservation District [BS/EACD] be dissolved? The question, which voters in South Austin and southern Travis County will address on the May 2 ballot, appears to beg a…
Mister Smarty Pants Knows
According to the TV show Jeopardy, legislative drafters in Zaire write laws in both English and Swahili. Dr. William A. Cassidy of the University of Pittsburgh was asked by the National Transportation Safety Board to estimate the probability of a plane being hit by a meteorite. His conclusion: One such event happens every 59,000 to…
Running for the Board
In addition to deciding whether to dissolve the Barton Springs/Edwards Aquifer Conservation District, some voters will choose between candidates for the District board. Two of the board’s five seats are up for a vote: In District 2, attorney Charlie Nettles of Shady Hollow challenges incumbent Don Turner of Mystic Oaks. District 5 pits Austin attorney…
Food-O-File
The last Sunday in April finds local chefs, artists, and select small businesses coming together to raise money for hunger relief. The 1998 Share Our Strength (SOS) Taste of the Nation Gala Dinner and Silent Auction will be held Sunday, April 26, 6:30pm, at Bertram’s by Miguel (1601 Guadalupe, 476-2743). As always, 100% of the…
This Land Is Our Land
Tom Terkel of Cencor Realty photograph by Alan Pogue At the end of a very long night, Sabrina Burmeister looked, well, chagrined. “If everyone knew this was a sure thing,” she said, “why didn’t anyone tell me?” “This” was the Planning Commission’s rejection of the proposed Triangle Square shopping complex, a goal to which Burmeister…
Dancing About Architecture
Touch & Go Records reports they’re “sad to announce that all records by the band Butthole Surfers appearing on the label have been deleted.” That announcement is the latest news in a story that began in 1996 when, says the label, the Buttholes sued the Chicago-based indie to stop them from selling the band’s back…
Watson’s Way
illustration by Doug Potter The area of town that the Salvation Army is in has degenerated terribly since the Salvation Army has been there. That’s not a question, everybody will agree to that. Now you are going to finish off that part of town,” a frustrated Ms. Saxon Fox scolded council last Thursday when it…
Cum On Feel the Noize
George Devore photograph by John Carrico The Dessau Music Hall used to stand in the middle of nowhere. Now it stands in the middle of a cluster of $100,000 tract homes, ground-munching behemoths that stand in arrogant contrast to the more subdued rolling fields that are quickly fading reminders of the area’s rural past. Soaring…
Endorsements
Prop. 1 (Conv. Center/Waller Creek): Yes Prop. 2 (Barton Creek Land Purchase): Yes Prop. 3 (Walnut Creek Flood Control): Yes AISD Board of Trustees: President: Kathy Rider Vice Pres.: Doyle Valdez District 1: Loretta Edelen District 4: Ave Wahrmund District 6: Jeff Jack District 7: Olga Garza Barton Springs/Edwards Aquifer Conserv. District: Prop. 1 (Abolish…
Articulations
Our dear friend the Bard of Avon was onto something when he penned all that jazz about a rose by any other name still smellin’ sweet; the labels we hang on things don’t have squat to do with their essences. However, with all due respect to Bill S., sometimes names are meaningful, and the recent…
Naked City
Oh, Nurse!… RNs from around the state will converge on the Capitol Friday, May 1, to protest profit-maximizing patient care practices spawned by the emergence of competitive health care systems. The Florence Project’s May Day demonstration, sponsored by Texas United Registered Nurses, will focus on decreasing nurse-to-patient ratios, the replacement of registered nurses by unlicensed…
It Happened to Jane
JANE:An Abortion Service During the early Seventies when I was a college student living in a small rural community in the middle of Iowa, the region’s illusion of a simpler lifestyle was everything that an 18-year-old refugee from New Jersey might hope for. Most of the time, the pungent, black Iowa soil and the untrammeled…
The Quest for Aztlan
photograph by Kenny Braun “Just dance. Dance, dance, dance.” — El Maestro Andres Segura Granados Aztlan. The mythical Garden of Eden of los Aztecas where the heron lived. The promised land searched for by those guerreros of ancient Mexico. The place of origin of this once-great civilization continues to be as mysterious as the legend…
Don on Dessau
As a veteran of both the old Dessau and the new Dessau, we thought Don Walser might have an opinion on the recent changes. Sure enough, he does: “I think it’s a much better venue now,” he answers without a moment’s hesitation. “I think it’s a great venue now. I think it really is.” To…
Turn Me Off, Dead Man
The television sets in my home stay turned off more than on. This wasn’t always the case, but about three years ago that other, smaller screen on my desk began to occupy more and more of my time. At first, both would blaze in their gray, luminous glory at the same time, me pecking away…
Sculpture By Elisabet Ney:intimacy and Vitality
Elisabet Ney Museum, permanent display When Elisabet Ney emigrated to the United States from Germany in 1870, she left behind a promising career as a sculptress, having carved the likenesses of many European aristocrats, scientists, and philosophers. The perils of the Franco-Prussian war and a desire for a new life brought Ney and her husband…
The East First Garden Theatre
photographs by John Carrico It’s certainly pretty enough. While the ol’ Dessau Music Hall gets a face-lift just north of Austin, a new live music venue, the East First Garden Theatre, has recently been born into the heart of the capital’s downtown. And if it doesn’t make a name for itself as a place where…
Films Without Borders
by Belinda Acosta (l-r) Lara Gocer, Sandra Guardado, Ren� Renteria, Celeste Serna Williams photograph by Kenny Braun For many, Latin America is a schmear of people and things: Castro, Cantinflas, Carmen Miranda, and Evita. Bullfights, Carnival, Catholicism, and dictatorships. Mariachi, machismo, magical realism, Latin lovers, sultry se�oritas, pi�atas, and castanets. Spread all that on an…
In Person
Marion Winik at the Continental Club In 1968, Larry McMurtry wrote In a Narrow Grave, a collection of essays from Encino Press; in one of those essays he postulated that Austin had “surging mobs of the insecure, all rushing to confirm themselves by association.” He then hesitated, somewhat: “I am told that my view of…
Live Shots
Gregory Isaacs at Club Serendipity, Friday April 17 photograph by John Carrico MONSTERS OF FOLK Antone’s, April 13 Hightone Records billed it as the “Monsters of Folk” tour, and while the featured foursome certainly showed some teeth, in the end they proved more prophet than beast. The monsters in question were Dave Alvin, Chris Smither,…
Festival Screenings
AMOR VERTICAL (VERTICAL LOVE) Cuba, 1997 (100 min.) D: Arturo Sotto D�az; with Jorge Perugorr�a, Silvia Aguila, Susana P�rez, Manuel Porto. Set in the sultry Caribbean among the decaying vestiges of Havana’s once-impressive architecture, Vertical Love is a satirical comedy about two young lovers who defy all odds – spatial, parental, political, or otherwise -…
Glass of `93
photograph by John Anderson Has it been five years already?” Billy Forrester of Waterloo Brewing Company wonders aloud. “Summer of ’93… I guess it has.” Five years since the Texas Legislature finally passed House Bill 1425 and gave the green light to brewpubs in Texas. In this relatively short time, Austin’s on-premise breweries have established…
Recommended
Friday: Mojo Nixon, Morningwood, Continental Club; Tribe 8, Sugarsmack, Handful, Electric Lounge; Robert Earl Keen, Backyard Saturday: John Renbourn, Cactus Cafe; Wayne Hancock, Susanna Van Tassel, Stubb’s; Bobby Blue Bland, Antone’s Sunday: Dynamite Boy, Dropkick, The Commies, Emo’s Matinee Show Monday: Amberjack Rice, Allison Downey, Horse Wreck, Hole in the Wall Tuesday: Will Taylor w/…
Scanlines
(“Scanlines” wishes to thank Encore Movies & Music, I Luv Video, and Vulcan Video for their help in providing videos and laser discs.) Ida Lupino In l949, frustrated with acting, Ida Lupino went to the other side of the camera and, with her husband Collier Young, formed her own production company, The Filmakers, directing six…
Postscripts
In a scenario that sounds disturbingly like the setup of a mystery novel, longtime Texas Monthly contributing editor Jan Reid, TM associate editor and former Chronicle managing editor Michael Hall, and TM assistant editor and Chronicle contributor John Spong fell victim to a taxicab robbery in Mexico City, where they’d traveled to see the Jesus…
Roadkill
Bottle Rockets at Stubb’s, Thursday, April 30 When the Bottle Rockets played the Austin Music Hall last September, they opened for John Fogerty. Their second Atlantic release, 24 Hours a Day, had just been released to rave reviews and Fogerty was out telling Rolling Stone he was more than happy to be handing the boys…
Short Cuts
The next general meeting of the Film Alliance of Austin is scheduled for Saturday, April 25, 10am-noon, at the Austin History Center (810 Guadalupe). The guest speaker will be Raul Carrera, a line producer with extensive experience in big-budget and low-budget film productions. The Film Alliance also reminds everyone that the group hosts happy hours…
The Texas Accent
Above is this year’s Texas Writer’s Month poster: all previous posters appear throughout this article. Any day now, Peggy Hubble will find an elongated envelope with the Office of the Governor as a return address on her desk, which anchors the southwestern corner of public relations firm MEM/Hubble Communications’ downtown Austin office. As she has…
Road Shows
APRIL FRI 24 Tribe 8, Sugar Smack, Electric Lounge FRI 24 Yellowman, La Zona Rosa FRI 24 Gripweeds, Hole in the Wall FRI 24 Mojo Nixon & Toadliquors, Continental Club FRI 24 Shawn Phillips, Cactus Cafe SAT 25 Ray Condo Band, East First Garden Theater SAT 25 Jimmie’s Chicken Shack, Liberty Lunch SAT 25 June…
Baseball? You Bet.
illustration by Jason Stout When I was in high school, I wrote the names of my favorite baseball players across the toes of my socks. Each name graced two socks – a matching pair. It seemed to me a stroke of genius: Rather than submit to the drab indignity of sorting socks, I would check…
Texas Writers Month Events
For three of the past four years, Texas Writers Month organizers have orchestrated one large gathering of Texas authors at places like Scholz Garten and Central Market, with the public invited. This year, organizers preferred to “spread the wealth” of author events by planning the most diverse and extensive lineup of authors reading, discussing, and…
The Real Sound
photograph by John Carrico It’s the Tuesday night after South by Southwest ’98 and one would think that following the music industry’s premier music festival, Austin would be staying home and recovering. Not at Jovita’s on South First, they aren’t – the place is packed, folks enjoying the new outdoor patio stage, tasty Mexican food,…
A Team of Their Own
Sophmore shortstop Jodi Reeves fires up before a home game. photograph by Jana Birchum The crowd traded Aggie jokes like baseball cards as 12-year-old Leianna Pe�a searched the stands, program hoisted over her head and a grin pasted to her face. Selling the $1 programs insures her free admittance to watch her favorite player, Angie…
Benefits
SAT 25 Lago Vista Chili Cookoff & Funstival to benefit Lions Club charities, at Lago Vista Resort, 1918 American, 9am-10pm. 267-7952. Honors Banquet to benefit Ebenezer Child Development Center, at Ebenezer Family Life Center, 1014 E. 10th, 7pm. 478-6709. Eeyore’s Birthday Party to benefit University YMCA and other local charities, at Pease Park, 15th &…
Class Struggle
photograph by John Anderson Shed no tears for Tom Penders. Sure, he lost his job as the head basketball coach at the University of Texas. But he got a $643,000 going away present and, as an extra bonus, he gets to keep his membership at Barton Creek Country Club. Don’t cry for John Mackovic, either.…
Tourney Time
The Longhorns will play their final regular season home games this weekend: a double-header against Baylor Saturday, April 25, noon and another double-dip Sunday, April 26, noon against Texas Tech. Then it’s on to the Big 12 Tournament Friday-Sunday, May 1-3 in Oklahoma City. The winner of the tournament is guaranteed a bid to the…
Coach’s Corner
I’m pleased many cared. I’m flattered that some of you asked. It’s my fervent hope and wish that many, many more of you wondered. Wondered where, that is, the old Coach, absent from his usual space, was last week. Some e-mail was tinged with a hint of annoyance. Though I’m not at all above lying…
Big Spender: UT’S Perks Outweigh Those of Closest Rivals
University of Texas athletic officials say that country club memberships for coaches and staff help the school keep its competitive edge on the playing field. But a random survey of some large universities with major athletic programs indicates that such perks are not so common. Of the six schools contacted by the Chronicle, three -…
Don Walser
Down at the Sky-Vue Drive-In (Sire/Watermelon) Down at the Sky-Vue Drive-In may well herald Don Walser’s long-overdue move to the national stage, as local indie Watermelon Records has teamed with big kahuna Sire in an effort to bring the country crooner the wider audience he so clearly deserves. That audience will find Walser covering what…
Day Trips
On the San Marcos River, Pecan Park is 1.8 miles east of I-35 off US80 – turn south (right) on County Road 101 and then take a quick left on County Road 102 and follow it to the campground. photograph by Geral E. McLeod From his vantage point at Pecan Park Retreat on the San…
Wanna be a Member?
Overall, the University of Texas System and UT-Austin provide at least 143 private club memberships for their employees. Actually, the exact number is unclear, particularly as regards the UT Athletic Department. UT gave the Chronicle one set of figures in response to a request under the Texas Open Records Act, but recently gave a different…
