Cover Story
How Texas Is Texas Wine?
What “Truth in Labeling” means for Texas winemakers and vineyards
Jay Z Added to ACL Fest
Late-breaking addition to the festival blueprint
On Hot Dr Pepper
It’s not as gross as it sounds
ACL Fest 2017 Lineup: Chance, Chilis, Gorillaz
Lineup sticks to the formula
If I Could Only Fly: Merle Haggard Covers Blaze Foley
Country legend was recording an LP of Foley songs when he died
Flying in Style With Five and Four
Austin designer Jennymarie Jemison goes terminal on the ABIA
Out of Silence in Austin
UT student group seeks to cool the abortion debate with a play
Tom Petty Soaks in 40
Heartbreaker’s biggest surprise was a show-stealing Gary Clark Jr.
No Headline
DANG. IT’S BEEN A TOUGH YEAR. Almost nothing seemed to go how I wanted it to go, from the geopolitical climate to the timing of this issue. Over the last week or so, I moved apartments, had to replace my phone, and found a family of brown recluse spiders living inside my truck’s tailpipe. Needless…
Get Ready for Russellmania II
Alamo mystery marathon celebrates Kurt Russell (again)
Socking the Newman
Fancy footwear becomes Austin’s talented star of stage and screen
Index Fest Announces Its Beer List
The fest formally known as Untapped drops it like it’s hops
Fatal Stabbing at UT-Austin
One dead, three injured, and a suspect in custody
Austin Food + Wine Festival: Saturday Recap
Tacos, toast, and Tyson (Cole)
Protesters Stage Sit-in at Governor’s Office to Oppose Sanctuary Cities Bill
Activists won’t move until Abbott vetoes “racist” bill
Sink Into Sirk This May
Alamo screens “Majestic Tears: The Melodramas of Douglas Sirk”
Essential Tips for an Austin Summer
Survival tips and tricks for summer.
Phoebe Hunt’s Spontaneous Video
“Just for Tonight,” unconditional love at the carnival
DVDanger: A Dark Song
Director Liam Gavin on magic and loss
PJ Harvey Troubles the Water
Stubb’s sell-out offers little hope yet God-like force
In Memoriam: Jason Tremblay
Playwright to be remembered at the Paramount on Sunday
Skye Strickler’s Pop Star Dreams
Skye’s the limit for the local artist
Phoenix Forgotten
Missing teens and mysterious lights in this found-footage sci-fi film
Born in China
The Disneyfication of nature continues
The Transfiguration
A coming-of-age tale with a blood-sucking twist
My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea
Visually arresting tale of a high school gone to sea
Graduation
A man goes to great lengths to secure a better life for his daughter
I Called Him Morgan
Doc on the late jazz great
Texas Platters
Matthew Logan Vasquez’s hiatus from Delta Spirit came to satisfying fruition on last year’s debut solo LP Solicitor Returns, pivoting subtly from his band’s indie rock Americana to an entirely self-actualized approximation of Neil Young – grungy, melodious, and piano-accented. Sophomore follow-up Does What He Wants fails to cohere by refusing to settle on any…
Oops!
Last week’s News feature “As Austin Grows, So Does the Risk of Flood” contained a computing error that resulted in a data point for the cost of draining systems being reported incorrectly by a few hundred million. The story originally said the cost of city draining systems would be just under $1 million (between $700,000…
Public Notice: Glowing, Like a Nuclear Reactor
Clearly I have to start off this week with an apology. An online commenter referred to my “glowing assessment of CodeNEXT” in last week’s column (“Ten Things,” April 21) – but if anything that I wrote gave anyone the impression that the CodeNEXT process deserves a glowing recommendation, then I obviously failed to express myself…
The Threat to NEA Funding and Austin
How would the proposed cuts to the National Endowment for the Arts hit Austin? Hard.
Texas Platters
Between her local 1995 debut Probably Lucy and its follow-up three years later, Something Happened, Seela Misra evolved from a standard ATX singer-songwriter to a sultry indie rock diva. Nearly 20 years later, on her fifth album Track You Down, the singer revisits that initial vulnerability with a collection venturing through gospel rollicks, folk-laden rolls,…
Council: No Sanctuary for the Weary
Adler tries to wrap his head around Austin’s sanctuary city status
Quote of the Week
Dallas state rep Rafael Anchia has been an outspoken voice against SB 4
Reviving Austin’s Cab Industry
ATX Co-op Taxi splits the difference between traditional taxis and ridesharing
Texas Platters
Legendary bluesman John Lee Hooker once stated, “The blues tells a story. Every line of the blues has a meaning.” That mantra epitomizes Gary Clark Jr. and his second live album, Live North America 2016. Following 2014 double album Live, the homegrown guitarist invests each note with maximum emotional impact, unfurling gunslinging triplets, fuzz squeals,…
Election Time Again
Voter turnaround has … not been good
Texas Platters
Since long-playing debut Man, Woman, Beast in 2014, the world’s seemingly crawled up Carley Wolf’s backside. As fronted by her, Austin’s feral garage-blues duo Ghost Wolves demonstrates a shitty disposition on opener “Attitude Problem,” combats mental hoodoo with “Strychnine in My Lemonade,” and vexes everyone in the ‘hood with fuzz-drenched bashing via “Noisy Neighbors (Yuppie…
Margo Frasier Under Review
The retired Police Monitor stands accused of handling secondary work on city time
The Black Angels Confront a Violent World
New LP Death Song soundtracks a society on the brink
Texas Platters
Taking its name from the Andean foothills outside of Medellín, Colombia, where Austin’s Kiko Villamizar grew up, Aguas Frías offers an urgent and modern take on Latin folklórico. Despite a label affiliation with the boundary-pushing Peligrosa DJ crew, Villamizar’s sophomore disc remains a traditional affair with occasional psychedelic flourishes. The Miami-born multi-instrumentalist explores myriad styles…
Steven Kling to Challenge Campbell
The former Army Reserve Captain will run for Donna Campbell’s SD 25 seat
Page Two: The Air He Breathed, the Baby Blue Sunglasses He Wore
Jonathan Demme, 1944-2017
FDA Thwarts TDCJ Death Drug Shipment
How will Texas carry out its state-sanctioned killings?
Exploring the Charm of the Hill Country Film Festival
Small town Texas, big movie experience
Lege Lines: Tough Balance
The Lege’s budget standoff stumbles forward
My Obsession: Match Game
AFS programmer exposes his [BLANK] for the classic game show
Lege Lines: Elsewhere Under the Dome
The 85th Lege rolls on
The Black Angels Record Review
Death Song (Partisan)
Bill of the Week: Click It, Kids
Who here wants to argue about the positive effects of seat belts?
State Board of Education Evolves
A rare bit of good news out of the SBOE
Playback – Now Hiring: Austin Music Office
Austin’s top governmental job in music is up for grabs
Climate Change: Still Not a Hoax
Reducing carbon emissions with Austin Energy, without the Fayette Power Project
Gay Place
Louisa Spaventa’s Night of Queer Performance fosters education, support, and celebration for the queer community
Renaissance Austin’s My Big Fat Bahookie
Lorella Loftus’ really funny new play preaches that everybody’s got back, and that’s just great
AISD Board: Next up for Saldaña’s Vacant Seat
Appointee imminent, the ballot for next year’s election is already overflowed
The First Austin Bookstore Crawl
This combo self-guided tour and scavenger hunt gives readers a new reason to seek out local lit sellers
The Phantom of the Opera at Bass Concert Hall
This new touring production makes a grandly restaged, compelling tale of thin source material, with a chandelier drop that still thrills
Travis County Crowdfunding: Still Stronger
The county has raised $135,000 to offset Gov. Abbott’s February stunt
The Luv Doc: Too F%#ing Flirty
People are born grifters, swindlers, and loafers and are therefore deserving of our contempt
“Maria Chávez: String Room”
With this interactive sound installation, it’s hard to tell whether it’s more about music or not-music
The Hightower Report
Why is George Orwell’s 1984 a bestseller again?
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
It is estimated that a two-second distraction while driving, such as one caused by using a phone, increases the risk of a collision by 20 times. According to some Chinese etymologists, there is no word for right-handedness in Mandarin since it’s normal and encouraged. However, there is a word or two for left-handedness, since it’s…
Soccer Watch
The Texas Longhorns finished their 2017 spring campaign in style last Friday, with a 4-0 blanking of St. Edward’s – a team that finished last year on a 16-game unbeaten streak and ranked 11th in the nation in NCAA Div. II. The Horns had shutout wins in all four of their spring games, by a…
Headlines
There’s no regular City Council meeting this week (next is May 4), but FY 2018 budget deliberations have begun in earnest, with last week’s five-year financial forecast and staff budget preview, and this week’s beginning of the departmental briefings. Interim City Manager Elaine Hart has directed “no new requests” departmental proposals and 1% reductions across…
Texas Platters
Incredibly, for a future outlaw whose first rodeo occurred in 1962 with song pitch …And Then I Wrote (“Hello Walls,” “Night Life,” “Crazy”), the closest Willie Nelson ever came to a fallow period over the course of between five and six dozen studio LPs is the Eighties. Bad decade for everyone save for dictators and…
Day Trips: International Waterlily Collection, San Angelo
Texas botanical garden of water plants saved the native flowers of Egypt’s Nile River
Point Austin: On the Backs of Immigrants
In the war over “sanctuary,” the victims are most vulnerable
