Cover Story
Deep Divisions in Texas’ Powerful Anti-Choice Movement
Battle reflects Lege’s growing extremism
Phara’s Mediterranean Cuisine Needs Help
Longtime North Loop restaurant starts GoFundMe campaign to stay open
Live Music Recommendations: April 13-19
Texas Independence Fest grinds, Ibeyi smooths it out, and more
Day Trips & Beyond: Old Warbirds
Former military aircraft offer once-in-a-lifetime rides
Brandi Carlile’s Cathartic Second Act
Austin City Limits taping prompts waterworks
Update: Fate of UT’s Fine Arts Library
Provost OKs recommendations to preserve, upgrade fifth floor
Does Austin Need an LGBTQ Center?
A look at the city’s lack of a queer community hub
King Krule Rules
UK singer-rapper slings predominantly bro catharsis
Big Bounce America Springs Into Austin
10,000-square-foot bounce house for kids and adults alike
Cocowhip Frozen Dessert Comes to Austin
Local women bring us Australia’s favorite healthy treat
Calling All Queso Enthusiasts: Quesoff and Hot Luck Fest
Celebrate melted cheese and compete to win Best Queso in Austin
Judge Finds Texas Violated National Voter Registration Act
Motor voter mayhem
“I Am Art” Turns Private Austin Estate into Creative Paradise
This Saturday’s Women & Their Work soirée is, ah, WOW …
“Where I Belong” Challenges Notions of Mixed-Race Identity
Exhibit explores race in a decreasingly black-and-white world
Mind Game
Mind Game 2004, 103 min. Directed by Kôji Morimoto, Masaaki Yuasa, Voices by Kôji Imada, Sayaka Maeda, Takashi Fujii, Seiko Takuma. Cult fave experimental anime.
Art City Austin Is More Fun Than Just Another Frame-Up
Annual extravaganza fills the Palmer and beyond with creativity
Rape Kit Backlog Reaches Zero
Kits have been sent out for testing, but the wait continues
It’s Adults Only at the Thinkery This Thursday Night
A little grownup tippling, a lot of sonic scientific exploranizing
Transformer: A Trans Woman’s Story
Award-winning documentary on powerlifter Janae Marie Kroczaleski
Get in the Spirit of Spring With These Classic Movies
Our critics poke their noses out after winter
Weekend Wine: The Sneaky Sauvignon Blanc
How much grapefruit juice aroma is too much?
Free Tax Prep Services in Austin
Don’t let the April 17 deadline sneak up on you
Rooster Teeth Tells All!
Teaser for Austin web geniuses’ doc Why We’re Here
Review: con flama
Salvage Vanguard puts us on the bus for an illuminating ride
Upcoming Pop Culture Trivia Nights to Test Your Knowledge
How much do you know about Gilmore Girls, Bob’s Burgers, Selena, & more?
Five Movies to See in Austin This Week
Your weekly film guide for April 5-12
Felony Charges Dropped in “Facebook Threat” Case
Justin Carter pleas out to class A misdemeanor
The Propagandists in Our Backyard
KEYE CBS partakes in Orwellian pro-Trump script
Please Don’t Stop, Marmalakes
“Slow Dance” previews Austin twosome’s first full-length
Five Recommended Arts Events in Austin This Weekend
In which your local cultural FOMO is subdued via this handy listicle
God’s Not Dead: A Light in Darkness
Evangelical film franchise rolls into volume three.
A Quiet Place
As monsters lurk, the world survives with a whisper
Gemini
Noir murder mystery for the selfie generation.
Beirut
John Hamm sweats stylishly in gritty, grim spy thriller.
Foxtrot
Israeli drama brings offbeat levity to anti-war narrative.
Back to Burgundy
French drama tries to find life lessons in the vineyard.
The Miracle Season
Friday Night Lights for the volleyball scene.
Blockers
Butt-chugging gags can’t hide Blockers‘ big heart.
Tyler Perry’s Acrimony
Tyler Perry takes on the “woman scorned” trope.
John Krasinski and Emily Blunt on Their New Horror A Quiet Place
The filmmaking power couple on fighting monsters and real intimacy
Feds Move Closer to Removing Vireo From Endangered Species List
A delisting for the birds
Texas Platters
Loma fills the air around you less like music and more like water, as if being submerged in an unfamiliar, cooling darkness. Haunting and peculiar, Loma stacks a homegrown supergroup of sorts by pairing Shearwater majordomo Jonathan Meiburg with Austin duo Cross Record: singer Emily Cross and audio engineer/multi-instrumentalist Dan Duszynski. The trio’s self-titled debut…
Texas Could Lose Big If Census Undercounts Immigrants
Citizenship question could eat into $43 billion state receives in federal funds
Texas Platters
Initially the bedroom recording project of Blair Howerton, local fourpiece Why Bonnie now pulls back the covers and squints into the outside world. In Water floats a sleek, dream-pop EP tinged by lingering melancholy, which quivers around the glaze of its bright, glittering sound. The honeyed “Made of Paper” opens by conjuring the pastel palette…
The Luv Doc: A Grossly Inaccurate Egyptology Lecture
We mere mortals are just feathers being blown about in the tempest of the gods
Changes Ahead for Austin Pride
New president, new weekend?
Texas Platters
Santiago Dietche’s warm, winsome voice still tops the shreddy power-pop of Growl, but under the moniker Daphne Tunes, the local singer debuts a smooth cascade of sunny compositions walking the path of simplistic, muffled folk rockers like Girls and Whitney. Assembled with seasoned crew Josh Halpern, Peter Shults, and Andrew Stevens, the six tracks of…
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Not all insects are bugs, properly speaking. Some insects chew their foods. A bug is an insect that uses its mouth to pierce and suck its foods. For a 2000 performance art piece, the artist Pope.L ate copies of The Wall Street Journal while sitting on a toilet atop a 10-foot tower. A 1925 article…
Campaign Notes
For those about to run-off
Texas Platters
Jared Leibowich, prolific solo artist and leader of the Zoltars and the Infinites, spent the last eight years working on his most ambitious project yet: a concept album for children. Leibowich, whose gentle, humble sincerity yields a musical Jonathan Richman/Mr. Rogers hybrid, proves the ideal candidate for the kindie genre. His debut under the Jarebear…
Sex Pistols Go Boom
Iconic punk final tour implosion in D.O.A.
The City’s (Interim) Plan for the Public Safety Chiefs
Police, Fire, and Police Monitor all addressed
Texas Platters
On the surface, the Sweethearts are the most upbeat, cheerful punk combo in Austin. Three LPs notched since forming in 1998 Brownsville, their outer layer’s still sugary enough to induce toothaches such that Traces of Time should have been released by Topps, with a trading card inside each record. Yet peel back the candy-coated sheen…
Oops!
In the March 30 report on mayoral candidate Laura Morrison’s kickoff event (“Laura Morrison Kicks Off Mayoral Campaign”), we wrote in error that she said there should be consideration of economic incentives for Amazon (for its potential second headquarters). In fact, Morrison said there should be “no consideration” of such incentives.
Special Prosecutor Assigned to Probe Old Sexual Assault Allegations Against Chantal Eldridge
Judicial nominee derides case as being based on “false allegation”
Texas Platters
Honing his chops on reggae, funk, and blues, Austin guitarist Mitch Chandler commits to jazz on debut EP Seasons. Joined by pianist Sean Giddings, bassist Chris Maresh, and drummer Wayne Salzmann, the Virginia native pays homage to the Sixties. Not its psychedelia, but the moody, melodic improv found behind monotone photos of jazz geniuses. “Autumn”…
Paper Chairs’ The Repentance of Saint Joan
Patrick Shaw’s new play is less a tale of Joan of Arc’s life than a divine meditation on love lost
Executive Oversight: Who’s Watching Over City Chiefs?
Public Safety Commission continues probe into harassing behavior
Texas Platters
On the first in a series of digital concert recordings from pianist Collin Shook’s jazz umbrella Monks, guitarist Jon Lundbom sidesteps his avant free-bop band Big Five Chord for a blowing session. Blazing through postmodern bop (“These Changes”), free improv (“Tick Dog”), and face melt (“People Be Talking”), Lundbom sticks to bassist Sam Pankey and…
Different Stages’ Yankee Tavern
This production of Steven Dietz’s play offers a deep dive into what we choose to believe and a stimulating evening of theatre
Uproar Over Judge’s Dismissal at SOAH
Calls to remove chief administrative law judge
Texas Platters
Aaron Russell recorded all seven songs on solo debut Red Guitar with the same instrument, amplifier, and tuning. Bearing a folklike fingerpicking style, the ex-Weird Weeds/current Moonsicles guitarist utilizes space, feel, and repetition to flesh out his minimalist compositions. It may seem like not much is happening in “Breathing, Head Turning,” but that’s the point.…
“Michelle Marchesseault” at Northern-Southern
The paintings filled with nesting S-curves comes from the artist’s meditative practice, but they’re joyful in their rumination
City Council: Budding Budgets
Anticipated FY 2018 General Fund surplus: right now, $750,000
Texas Platters
When Uncle Walt’s Band recorded for Warner Bros. in 1974, the sessions were scrapped by label personnel with no idea what to do with the popular Austin trio of Walter Hyatt, Champ Hood, and David Ball. The eclectic sweep of Anthology, the best collection of the group’s material yet assembled, demonstrates why. Originally formed in…
Courage Moves in Ballet Austin’s Exit Wounds
For his new dance, choreographer Stephen Mills turned to moments of inspiration in his own life
Day Trips: AquaBrew Brewery, San Marcos
Popular brewpub has the agility of a homebrewer and consistency of a craft brewer
Commissioners Hash Out CodeNEXT’s Mobility Details
Cars, parking, and more addressed at recent meeting
Playback: Spatula City Limits
Austin music journeys to the desert – and you’re not invited
An “Old Austin” Date Night at Phara’s Mediterranean Cuisine
Transport to a bygone Austin era of funky ambience and soulful hospitality
Soccer Watch
Major League Soccer drew first blood in their CONCACAF Champions League semifinal showdown against Mexico’s LigaMX, with Toronto thumping Club America, 3-1, on a blustery Tuesday night. New York Red Bulls are at Guadalajara’s Chivas as we go to press; the return legs are in New York and Mexico City on Tue., April 10, 7pm…
Rich DePalma Enters District 8 Council Race
Parks and Rec Board member joins crowded race
Erika Wennerstrom Record Review
Sweet Unknown (Partisan)
Austin Writer Explores the Contradictions of Ted Kennedy in Chappaquiddick
Telling the tale of the shattering of Camelot
Now Streaming in Austin: Gym Buddies
Web comedy Gym Buddies gets in shape
Gay Place
The Great Show brings modern cabaret to Austin
Headlines
No regular City Council meeting this week, but formal budget preparation began with Wednesday’s work session featuring the five-year regional forecast and the FY 2019 city budget forecast – morning at City Hall, afternoon at the Central Library. Next regularly scheduled meeting is April 12 – currently a light agenda with several council members expected…
Seen / Soon: April 6
On the bus in the City of Angels with Salvage Vanguard’s staging of con flama and in Mexico with John Gibley, author of I Couldn’t Even Imagine That They Would Kill Us
How Heartless Bastards Frontwoman Erika Wennerstrom Arrived at Her Solo Debut
Songwriting at the edge of her comfort zone on Sweet Unknown
Point Austin: Partly Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
City Hall begins budget prep with a fair-to-middling forecast
Snapshot: Balloons Over Horseshoe Bay Resort
Annual hot air balloon festival is an uplifting tradition
Soccer in Austin: The Road to Realness
What’ll happen at McKalla Place? Good question.
Public Notice: Doomed?
Looking forward to the November ballot
Another Look at the Underrated Tex-Mex of Vivo
Have a Mexican martini and then walk to AFS Cinema
Quote of the Week: Bob Nicks
Austin Firefighters Association president on the matter of self-policing
Review: ManinPasta Brings a Little Sicilian to South Lamar
Italian food crafted with love just down the road from the Broken Spoke
One Cop Fired, One’s Fate Sealed?
Mathis fired following Stallings October indictment
Pair of Deaths at the County Jail
TCSO believes both men died “of natural causes”
