Cover Story
Infinite Capacity
Kathy McCarty explains why it took her a decade between albums
Page Two
Notes on Daniel Johnston, ‘Dead Dog’s Eyeball,’ and the soundtrack of our lives
Who Is David Monikker?
Glass Eye had a “joke” alter-ego band called Monikker, in which I let my hair down. The only time I let my hair down is when I’m “being” David Monikker! Monikker hasn’t played in 10 years, though we plan to do a show next spring. We always liked to have Glass Eye and Monikker on…
Phases and Stages
IgnitorTake to the Sky Hell yeah! Erika Swinnich out hellions Rob Halford any day of the week. This is D&D metal, fueled by dry ice and leather. From “Demonslayer” to “Lean Mean Leather Machine,” Ignitor rips into fantasy, lore, and, well, politics. “Execution” reflects George W.’s capital punishment agenda, while “Take to the Sky” attacks:…
Lege Notes
Odds and ends (mostly odds) from the 79th
Letters at 3AM
No country gets two centuries anymore. The 21st will be China’s century. That’s what $4-plus a gallon means, and nothing can stop it. We’re heading for a modern Dust Bowl.
Texas Platters
The Mars VoltaAustin Music Hall, April 25 Fuck prog. Fuck prog and all its illusions of wizardry and mythical battles. The Mars Volta get labeled “prog” a lot, but instead of backsliding into its heady heyday, the Seventies, they’re actually progressive, which is, ya know, what it should really mean. That said, their latest album,…
Phases and Stages
Craig MarshallBefore the Fadeaway (Big Ticket) A far cry from Marshall’s Lucky Strikes, Before the Fadeaway collects orchestrated guitar pop in the vein of Badly Drawn Boy and Sondre Lerche. Boasting collaborators like Trish and Darin Murphy, Kevin Lovejoy, and Erik Wofford, Marshall’s sophomore LP lacks only that certain something that makes an album stand…
Point Austin: Candidate Scramble
A human tragedy overshadows the campaign two-steps, but the dance goes on
After a Fashion
Who are the up-and-comers coming up from UT Fashion program? Plus, Your Style Avatar weighs in on the controversial subject of little stickers with kids’ names, sport, team, and jersey number on the back of SUVs.
Texas Platters
The Golem(Rubinchik) The Golem would be potter’s refuse without its soundtrack. Set in 16th-century Prague, this 1920 silent film was written by, directed by, and starring Paul Wegener, but the German Expressionist classic, here on DVD with English dialogue cards, is brought to life like its titular clay monster by local music-scene veteran Mark Rubin…
Phases and Stages
The UnbearablesGet Hit These local garage popsters put high sheen on Ramonesian romance. With song titles like “Porn,” “Baby,” and “Sad Boy in Love,” it’s hard to guess whom the band loves more: the Cramps or Weezer, though the cover art suggests the latter.
Point Austin: Beside the Point
What’s ahead on the City Council agenda
About AIDS
Denialists are often well-intentioned but willfully uninformed. We applaud the raising of difficult questions, but if denialism interferes with education and self-empowerment, it is merely destructive.
Texas Platters
Troy DillingerThe Dirty & Hairy Film Festival Winner of this year’s Austin Music Award for Best Video/DVD, Dirty & Hairy is impressive both as an undertaking – area merchants donated goods, locations, and/or services – and as a cockeyed journal of the everyday musical ne’er-do-well. Eleven short films commissioned by longtime local rocker Troy Dillinger…
Round One at Round Rock
Is the noisy suburban school battle an omen of things to come?
The Hightower Report
Uncle Sam says ‘tough break’ to regular taxpaying citizens, ‘anything for you, Lockheed’; and working stiffs sponge up the stress of globalization
Day Trips
Fairfield Lake State Park caters to a lot of different recreational activities, including fishing, mountain biking, birding, and hiking
Texas Platters
My EducationItalian (Thirty Ghosts) A primary tenet of screenwriting, and by extension, film, is starting scenes with the action already in full swing. “Snake in the Grass,” opening My Education’s long-awaited sophomore LP, does just that, the conversation between drums, piano, and viola taking on an immediate cinematic quality, as if excerpted from an Italian…
Round Rock ISD Board of Trustees
Eight candidates are running for three open seats on the Round Rock School Board; only Place 6 has an incumbent. While some candidates were public bond supporters and some were opponents in the last bond election, all agree that given the overwhelming opposition to the $349 million package, the bond the new board of trustees…
Getting Ahead of Themselves
Enron’s collapse caught on tape, sort of
TCB
Arclight Records, an ailing Octopus, ACL leaks, and indie-rock hits the beach
To Your Health
What’s the difference between a dietitian and a nutritionist?
Texas Platters
South San GabrielThe Carlton Chronicles: Not Until the Operation’s Through (Misra) There’s this black cat that’s taken up residence in our sporadically mowed back yard, pretending to be a lion in the more jungle-like parts, but mostly taking refuge from the pit bulls next door. It’s this fella that takes center stage in The Carlton…
Did Knee and Futrell Leak APD Warrants?
Whistle-blower testimony raises new questions concerning actions of city officials
Remembrance of Things Weird
Nancy Higgins’ ‘Viva Les Amis’
Screens String
The summer games preview
The Common Law
Preparing a will under Texas law
Texas Platters
Shedding retrospective light on “3am Freestyles” recorded at “2400 Oltorf,” ATX Records unleashes its first product since its cross-city relocation last spring. Mingling golden moments from out-of-town visitors Sadat X, Myka Nyne, Riddlore, and Shorty Mac of the S.U.C. with local heat delivered by Haps, Zeale 32, J-Fyzical, and Mr. Green, the apex of ATX…
Linebarger to County: Have We Got a Deal for You
Travis County officials spark a feud over the prospect of privatizing the county’s delinquent tax collection duties
Film News
Making ‘Room’ for Kyle Henry in Cannes; plus, ‘August Evening,’ ‘Everything in Between,’ and ‘Dallas’
Touching All Those Hands
Remembering Boyd Vance, his life and legacy
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
It’s raining men
Texas Platters
David Lee Garza, Joel Guzman and Sunny SaucedaPolkas, Gritos y Acordeónes (Guzman Fox) Every once in a while, an album appears that makes listeners hear old music in new ways. That’s the case with this stunning collection of conjunto favorites, created in collaboration by three of the most accomplished Tejano musicians working today: David Lee…
City’s Zero Energy Homes Prove Too Pricey for Montopolis
Energy efficient building project proves fiscally impractical for current neighborhood location
DVD Watch
BOB RAY ON ‘ROCK OPERA’ Let’s talk demographics. Bob Ray’s 1999 Austin-shot stoner opus, Rock Opera, has finally made it to DVD, courtesy of Go-Kart Films. That’s a six-year hiatus between the film’s original release and the resulting accolades – among other kudos, the film won a “Stoney Award” from countercultural bellwether High Times –…
The Man Who Laughed
More remembrances of Boyd Vance
Soccer Watch
Chelsea and AC Milan drop the ball
Texas Platters
Tish HinojosaA Heart Wide Open (Valley Entertainment) The summery reggae beat on A Heart Wide Open’s “Never Say Never Love Again” is good news for Tish Hinojosa fans. After all, they’ve waited five long years between releases, a length of time that often finds even hardcore fanatics drifting away. That’s not likely to happen given…
‘Statesman’ Gets Creative
‘Statesman’ explores new ways to spark circulation and revenue, often taking a pickax to traditional Ad-Editorial boundaries in the process
TV Eye
Why ‘Warm Springs’ is one actually worth watching
Unsung Hero
Behind the music of ‘The Marriage of Figaro’ is a man named Lorenzo da Ponte
Oops!
Due to an editing error in “The Wrong Prescription at State Affairs,” it is indirectly implied in the April 22 issue that RU-486 is a kind of emergency contraceptive. RU-486 is an abortifacient, not a contraceptive, as it does not prevent a woman from becoming pregnant. The Chronicle regrets the error. Political consultant Dave Butts…
Texas Platters
Marcia BallLive! Down the Road (Alligator) Since joining Alligator Records in 2001, Marcia Ball’s career has been on the upswing. The local pianist’s last two releases have won W.C. Handy Blues Awards and nearly unanimous critical acclaim. Even so, Ball’s best appreciated in a live setting, where she never fails to put on a butt-rockin’…
Naked City
Headlines and happenings from Austin and beyond
Leffingwell Still In
City Council candidate Lee Leffingwell will continue his Place 1 run despite recent personal tragedy
Wise Up
For its staging of Sandy Asher’s ironically titled children’s comedy ‘The Wise Men of Chelm,’ Second Youth Family Theatre gets to bring the playwright to town
Afternoon Class
The Driskill’s Royal Victorian Spring Tea
Texas Platters
God love the Geezinslaws. They’re corny and cranky as ever on The Eclectic Horsemen, and Sammy Allred navigating Robert Plant’s hedgerows (after Willie Nelson takes a turn, no less) on “Stairway to Heaven” is a whole new kind of funny. “I Gave Her My Ring” is paired with, of course, “she gave me the finger,”…
Naked City
From the seasoned to the novice, there is something for every pedaler over the next 30 days
Get Your Rees On
Comic artist David Rees and the theatre of ‘War’
Go Go Gourmet
Busy Austinites focused on their destinations amid I-35 traffic might tend to miss the unassuming brick building on the northbound access road between the Crazy Lady and Dreamers
Texas Platters
The introductory EP is a tried and true industry standard, the bridge between demo and LP. For three newborn Austin rock acts, it’s enough to whet listeners’ appetites for what are soon-to-be anticipated debut discs. There’s no better way to summarize the sonic steal that is 5 Songs from the Casting Couch. Patched together by…
Naked City
Strayhorn kisses up to anti-tollsters, but other pols hold at arm’s length
Arts Review
Mary Moody Northen Theatre’s production of ‘Honk!’ reimagines the ugly duckling in a musical that’s long and uneven but offers some excellent acting and moments of unquestionable magic
Food-o-File
The sustained explosion of South Congress; plus, Garden Parties, farmers’ markets, and Sunday Musical Mystery Series
Texas Platters
The Action IsForget the Alibi “Forget” being the key word, the Action Is’ latest LP is chock-full of sluggish riffs and forced songs. With opener “Bang Bang” proving to be the only rocker on the disc, Forget the Alibi doesn’t even benefit from the appearance of a Young Heart Attack or three.
Naked City
Students pull an all-nighter for tuition regulation
Arts Review
Even for a Tuna virgin, ‘Red, White and Tuna’ is a viciously funny excursion into small-town Texas politics, relationships, and heated gossip
2005 Kids Summer Camps
An annotated list of several places where kids could be going this summer to enjoy physically and mentally invigorating activities
Phases and Stages
BK & Mr. EUnder the Radar (Sound) These new laptop-pop-rockers borrow equally from OutKast, TV on the Radio, and Savage Garden. Not afraid to meld harmonies of falsetto and gut, BK & Mr. E are Brandon Hegar, Scott Kinnebrew, and Jason Blanchette, the three behind “Computer Man” – “I wanna touch your hard drive, I…
Naked City
Civic activist remembered after untimely passing
Arts Review
The two lovely new operas ‘Della’s Gift’ and ‘Holy Night’ offer us intimate examinations of love of Christmastime
Phases and Stages
DeejerGrief Can Kill an Elephant A perfect mix of Creed and Flickerstick, Deejer’s debut kills with arena-rock production, trite lyrics, and leather pants. “The Arrow” puts it perfectly: “If I wake up, will this still be real?” With generic radio rock running rampant on this disc, they’ll be on MTV in no time flat.
Naked City
UT campus group Stand Out organized a rally at the Capitol Friday in reaction to an amendment made to CPS reform bill SB 6. Introduced by Rep. Robert Talton, R-Pasadena, piggyback legislation Amendment 60 would not only prohibit gay, lesbian, and bisexual adults from being foster parents in the future, but would also actively seek…
Readings
Told in the cracks between bicoastal flashbacks and Nineties real time by Hayward Theiss, a twentysomething working in television, it’s the story of someone who can only move forward by retracing his steps and fulfilling – or conquering – his need to go back. Sam Brumbaugh will be at BookPeople on April 29.
Kathy McCarty Reviewed
Kathy McCartyDead Dog’s Eyeball: Songs of Daniel Johnston (Bar/None) This is the album that made it impossible for anyone to dismiss Daniel Johnston as just another outsider artist. Even as an ever-growing number of marquee artists cover his songs, Kathy McCarty’s Dead Dog’s Eyeball, originally released in 1994, remains the premier articulation of Johnston’s songwriting…
Phases and Stages
Hit by a CarDon’t Poop in My Mouth and Tell Me It’s Raining (El Diablo Dice Sí) Despite the silly album title, the scene veterans in Hit by a Car are punk as fuck. The Austin threepiece excels in hardcore instrumentals (“Screw the Neighbors”), with GWAR tendencies (“Shut Your Mouth”). With most tracks barely a…
Bashing Gays and Children
In a bill on child protection, the House votes to do its worst
Luv Doc Recommends: Pro Beach Volleyball
Though it’s not quite as sedentary as baseball or bass fishing, the sport of volleyball attracts more than its share of drunks, laggards, loafers, and stoners. Maybe it’s the attraction of guarding only a few square feet of real estate – seems manageable enough – or maybe it’s the comforting thought that there’s always someone…
