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If Austin Had Rail …

Here’s how the city envisions an Austin light rail system – which voters will decide on in 2012 – with the rail running through and making stops in densely populated areas, crossing the river, and shuttling passengers to and from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. • Current assumptions are that the proposed system would be built in…

by Chronicle Staff

Quote of the Week

“I worry … the [Lower Colorado River Authority] board of directors has become one of the more political boards in this state. And that’s saying something.” – Austin Sen. Kirk Watson, as quoted in the Statesman

by Chronicle Staff

Mayor’s List: 30 Crucial Questions

1) What will be the exact route, including the river crossing, of phase one of the urban rail system? 2) What about phase two? 3) What is the anticipated route of subsequent expansions? 4) How much will construction of phase one cost? 5) Of phase two? 6) How much are subsequent expansions expected to cost…

by Chronicle Staff

Headlines

� City Council meets today (Thursday, April 7), and while selecting a contractor to handle the city’s recycling stream has been postponed to April 21, an item to archive council members’ emails should pick up the slack, attentionwise. See “The Personal Is Political.” � Changes to city property tax abatements for historically zoned houses –…

by Chronicle Staff

Off the Record

AMPlified Heat Any question as to the collective clout of Austin Music People was answered last Thursday night, March 31, onstage at ACL Live at the Moody Theater. The sold-out benefit gala for the local nonprofit featured three marquee headliners – Ghostland Observatory, Blue October, and Dixie Chicks offshoot Court Yard Hounds – worthy of…

by Austin Powell

Texas Platters

Bill Callahan Apocalypse (Drag City) With 2009’s Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle, Bill Callahan tackled God and country in equal measure, with idyllic ruminations and soft-focus instrumentation that made for the most immediate and inviting work of his career. Following his debut novel, Letters to Emma Bowlcut, an epistolary account of a long-distance…

by Austin Powell

Hanna

Hanna is a through-the-looking-glass, arthouse action minimasterpiece.

by Marc Savlov

Texas Platters

With her glowing showing at South by Southwest last month, the proper release of Sarah Jaffe’s 2008 EP, Even Born Again, gives her sound and vision better perspective. Last year’s Suburban Nature LP saw the Denton songstress carving out her own space within the overcrowded “folk” scene. Even Born Again, also released on Dallas’ Kirtland…

by Audra Schroeder

Texas Platters

Michael Fracasso Saint Monday (Little Fuji) He’s certainly not prolific. Saint Monday is only Michael Fracasso’s third studio effort since 1998, but the payoff plays as passionately and convincingly as he does. Offering a change of pace for the local songcrafter, novelist Jim Lewis as co-producer, auxiliary guitarist, and assistant songwriter makes for a harder-hitting…

by Jim Caligiuri

Soul Surfer

It’s the true story of surfing sensation Bethany Hamilton, who lost an arm to a shark at the age of 13.

by Marc Savlov

Texas Platters

Shapes Have Fangs Dinner in the Dark (Reverberation Appreciation Society) When interviewed about his favorite album several years ago, Shapes Have Fangs singer/guitarist Dustin Coffey choosing 1965’s Kinda Kinks spoke volumes about the group’s garage rock. The local quartet’s debut vinyl full-length still has some traces of that scent, but they’ve stretched out comfortably under…

by Audra Schroeder

Texas Platters

Eisley The Valley (Equal Vision) When the DuPree siblings of Tyler scooched onto the national scene in 2003, their richly drawn narratives of fantastical critters rendered in broad, dramatic strokes approached some musical version of Lewis Carroll. The drama and first-class musicianship remain on The Valley, but its ethos is more Twilight than Pan’s Labyrinth.…

by Melanie Haupt

Texas Platters

Austin Leonard Jones Superstitions Debuts rarely come more lo-fi than the cassette release of Superstitions. Neither do they often come with such promise. Remnants of Harry Nilsson and Daniel Johnston ripple from the A-side with “Burning Canoe” and “Many Gods,” while the flip side boasts expansive experimentalism between glitchy instrumental “Nearly Silent Birds” and country…

by Doug Freeman

Win Win

Paul Giamatti stars in this dark comedy from the director of The Station Agent and The Visitor.

by Kimberley Jones

Texas Platters

Twilight Hotel When the Wolves Go Blind Recently transplanted from Winnipeg, Canada, Brandy Zdan and Dave Quanbury have no trouble embracing their Southern clime by unraveling narratives of the weary and the road with an ethereal Americana pull on their third LP. Zdan’s vocal vulnerability pairs powerfully and seductively with Quanbury’s easier drawl, especially on…

by Doug Freeman

Thank You

In this Bollywood romantic comedy, cheating husbands try to keep their secrets from a private detective and their wives.

by Marjorie Baumgarten

The Hightower Report

Help Warren Fight the Madness It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad world. That was the title of a kooky 1960s movie, but an even kookier sequel could be made today starring the mad, mad, mad, mad Republican leaders of the U.S. House. They are mad in both senses of the word – insane and angry.…

by Jim Hightower

Texas Platters

Spit & Tears Spit & Tears’ eponymous debut crawls among raw and elemental crevices, fissures riven in the parched, harsh vocals of guitarist Wayne Sutton. The accents of Sean Orr’s fiddle and Steve Bernal’s cello add a quenching shade to Wayne Duncan’s doumbek-driven percussion, while Sutton growls tunes like “Blood on the Floor,” “Dostoyevsky and…

by Doug Freeman

Come and Take It

Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears’ lightning strike sophomore disc, Scandalous, stops in for a G&T at the Mustang Ranch

by Margaret Moser

Why Rail?

The city is pushing for a 2012 vote to build urban rail. The critics are asking, ‘Who needs it?’

by Lee Nichols

Arts Review

Two hours of sublime singing and dynamic dancing at the service of Fats Waller’s music

by Barry Pineo

Luv Doc Recommends: Sixth Annual Urban Music Festival

Holy shit! Close down Highland Mall! It’s Texas Relays weekend! Wait a minute … that was two years ago. Austin has totally changed since then. This year we’re welcoming Texas Relays fans with open arms – no, not the Journey song (that would be so Austin), but more of a figurative embrace of the black…

by The Luv Doc

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