Cover Story
The Downtown Dominoes
The headlines are about Block 21 and Seaholm, but the long-term questions are about what the city of Austin should be
Kal Ho Naa Ho
Kal Ho Naa Ho 2003, NR, 186 min. Directed by Nikhil Advani, Starring Shahrukh Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Preity Zinta. A Bollywood musical extravaganza set in New York City, and partly filmed there.
The Line King: Al Hirschfeld
The Line King: Al Hirschfeld 1996, NR, 126 min. Directed by Susan Warms Dryfoos. Award-winning documentary on the life of famed theatre and film portraitist Al Hirschfeld.
The Battle of Algiers
One of the first films to successfully employ a pseudo-documentary approach, The Battle of Algiers presents the Algerian conflicts with their French colonial rulers during the years 1954-62.
After a Fashion
From whose necks are local faves Anthony Nak dripping this week – or Fashion Week for that matter? Does it matter? Sure. So much bold type, so little time!
Playing the Downtown Game
The score so far, and moves still to be made
Suffer the Little Children
The Lege cutbacks to CHIP and social services have little to do with fiscal conservatism
Texas Platters
Mexico and Mariachis(Milan) With Once Upon a Time in Mexico body-bagging his El Mariachi trilogy, maverick Austin filmmaker Robert Rodriguez conceived Mexico and Mariachis as a way of “tying up some loose ends.” What the guitar-wielding creative dynamo has delivered is a proper follow-up to the bar-stomping Desperado soundtrack (1995), which spawned the badass From…
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Dainty duds for dudes, driving deaths, and delectable dough
Bee Cave Mall Back on Fast Track?
Developers try – quickly – to get reapproval for a controversial big-box project
The Hightower Report
The new boom is still a bust for many; and the White House gets favorable press – from itself
Texas Platters
“I rep my city like an elected official,” pronounces Tee Double, re-emerging from Austin’s hip-hop underground with his most accomplished work yet. His 10th album over the course of a decade, The Lone Star L.P. (Mumbo Jumbo) steers clear of stereotypical expectations with the declaration, “This isn’t that same old Southern image. I got my…
Soccer Watch
Giant killers in Europe; the Posse comes to town
AISD Casts a Wider Blueprint
The Austin ISD announced its expansion of the Blueprint Initiative to LBJ and Reagan high schools
Out of Print and Onto Film
The Austin Film Society Texas Documentary Tour: Mark Moskowitz’s ‘Stone Reader’
The Common Law
Cars � the Texas Lemon Law (part 2)
Election 2004
The GOP chair wages war against his own party�s right- wing fringe; Business as usual in the Williamson County Attorney�s office
Modern Art
AFS’s Contemporary Iranian Cinema
The Prince & Me
Who says you can’t be a princess and go to medical school too?
To Your Health
Clues to your health may be found in your fingernails
April 13 Primary Run-off Election
Another month, another election here in the County That Never Stops Voting. Early voting runs through Friday, April 9, at the following locations, 7am-7pm, except as noted. Visit www.co.travis.tx.us/elections for additional mobile-voting locations. If you live in Williamson Co., learn about your early-voting options at www.wilco.org/electinfo6.htm. Early Voting LocationsNorthAlbertsons North Lamar 11311 N. Lamar (at…
The Inaugural Austin Asian Film Festival
You want animé? Go to Ushicon. You want the best new unadulterated Asian cinema? Hit up CinemaAsia.
Osama
The first feature to come out of post-Taliban Afghanistan, Osama tells the story of a girl who masquerades as a boy.
Second Helpings
Bombay Grill 3249 Bee Caves Rd., 329-0234 Lunch: Daily, 11am-2:30pm; Dinner: Daily, 5:30-9:30pm Owned and operated by the same family that runs Star of India, this comfortable West Lake eatery offers a selection of traditional Indian dishes at very reasonable prices. The popular weekday lunch buffet is a great way to sample a variety of…
About AIDS
Perhaps 2,000 people in Travis County are HIV-infected but unaware of their positive status. Why don’t people get tested for HIV? In order to answer that question, Wright House Wellness Center is organizing a Community Health Education Day and HIV Testing Drive to increase awareness about HIV and risk behavior and to determine why people…
Another Texan for President?
A Texan is running for president, and get this – he supports environmental protection, workers’ rights, and an end to imperialism. He even speaks the English language quite articulately. David Cobb grew up in San Leon on the Gulf Coast, received a law degree from the University of Houston, and managed Ralph Nader’s Green Party…
Short Cuts
Fridays with Forrie
Ella Enchanted
All-singing, all-dancing fairy tale is all-but-unbearable.
TCB
The Return of Baldemar Huerta, succumbing to the Darkness, and I swear that I don’t have a gun
Day Trips
Enjoy a cold Star Bock Beer at the Old Quarter Acoustic Cafe
Naked City
HeadlinesQuote of the Week: “I don’t have a problem with cross-dressing. People think J. Edgar Hoover was one of the greatest Americans that ever lived. He was a cross-dresser.” – Johnson Co. GOP leader Roy Giddens Jr. defending Texas House candidate Sam Walls to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Walls had been the favorite in Tuesday’s…
TV Eye
Brini Maxwell is the most refreshing, fun, and delightfully self-assured woman on television. So, catch her while you can.
The Alamo
In this round of historical revisionism there’s not much to remember except, maybe, Davy Crockett becoming a fiddler on the roof.
A Revolution in Acting
The SITI Company’s J. Ed Araiza is transforming the way Austin actors view their art
Market Watch
Are the big five of Austin’s busy farmers’ markets competing or cooperating?
Wal-Mart Ready for Round 2?
City approves another big-box site plan for the MoPac-and-Slaughter site
Texas Platters
Les Messieurs du RockL’estase (Sixgunlover) Who doesn’t love a little schtick with their rock & roll? Les Messieurs du Rock bill themselves as recent Austinites via Paris – where they say they were very successful. High-energy shows swell with skinny mustaches, long, flowing scarves, and of course an accordion. They’ve been known to give the…
Johnson Family Vacation
Half-baked comedy is on the road to nowhere.
Ceramics You Will Not Want to Eat Off
‘The Fine Art of Ceramics’ is a straightforward title for a tight show, with five artists creating intimate textures and sculptures out of clay, porcelain, and plaster
New Year’s in April
Celebrating the Thai Songkran in Austin
Locals Talk Cash in D.C.
Rail, roads, and BCP lead the Austin delegation’s list of talking points
Texas Platters
HeKill ThreeOne With a Bullet (Cardinal Zen) Metal is forged in the battering erosion of full-force roar, wave after wave, wherein the seconds of silence between songs are oceans of respite against the fierce sandstorms of assault. On their full-length debut, One With a Bullet, Austin’s flagship metal act follows up last year’s hand grenade…
Secret Things
Violent French erotica about female empowerment is a turbocharged gender bender that’s equal parts soft-core porn and overwrought symbolism.
The Joke’s on Bush
Newspaper cartoonist Dan Piraro launches a national stand-up tour, Bizarro’s PolitiComedy-A-Go-Go, starring a “quartet of liberal wisenheimers” cracking wise about election-year issues, this week in Austin
Food-o-File
Accomplishments and accolades, bocaditos and hot bites
Gary Bradley, Homeless Man
The IRS prepares to seize the developer’s (mold-ridden) Lake Austin pad
Texas Platters
ST 37The Insect Hospital (Black Widow)ST 37The Secret Society (Blue Circle) A busy winter of elvish manufacturing brings us multiple releases from Austin space-rock deities ST 37, who age like a mystical ancient mead. The Insect Hospital is a brand-new hybrid of studio work and a live recording of the band’s original score to Fritz…
Good Bye, Lenin!
Popular German comedy generates nostalgia for the pre-unification years.
Articulations
Choreographer Deborah Hay is welcomed home from New York, Doyle Bramhall rocks the house at Zach, and new plans for the Long Center are being unveiled
$liding Home
Austin slide guitar sovereign Cindy Cashdollar steps out from the side
The Mala Sangre Calendar
What’s the difference between confusion and possible perjury? A couple of weeks.
Texas Platters
Kirk Van PraagThe Wrest (Super Secret) Kirk Van Praag is a lyricist, employing a Dylanesque song-speak throughout his 2-CD debut. That The Wrest is on Austin punk rock imprint Super Secret doesn’t mean Van Praag is punk. He’s an amalgamation of workingman blues, broken-hearted balladry, and manic anthems trapped in the constraints of a four-four…
The Whole Ten Yards
This Bruce Willis, Matthew Perry, and Amanda Peet sequel falls several yards short of its mark.
Exhibitionism
A chick and a dude productions pays tribute to love in their original production Did You Say Love?, but unfortunately, the show creates little stir and minimal interest
Cindy Cashdollar Reviewed
Cindy CashdollarSlide Show (Silver Shot) After her decadelong stint in Asleep at the Wheel, Slide Show puts Austin steel mistress Cindy Cashdollar center stage. Since hers is by nature a collaborative instrument, she’s drafted a whole side of A-listers to trade licks: Cajun virtuoso Sonny Landreth, Texas Playboys immortal Herb Remington, Hot Tuna’s Jorma Kaukonen,…
How to Weave a Hanging Jury
Juror selection may explain the glaring racial bias in capital convictions
Texas Platters
James McMurtry and the Heartless BastardsLive in Aught-Three (Compadre) Nearly every Wednesday, the Continental Club has been featuring the unbeatable double bill of Jon Dee Graham and James McMurtry. With two iconoclastic singer-songwriters whose love of guitars is set on stun, it’s a blow-your-face-out kinda night that, if you’re not careful, will wreak havoc on…
Intermission
Irish ensemble interweaves a dozen characters and their affairs of the heart.
Exhibitionism
Michael Frayn’s Noises Off is funny stuff, and while this Naughty Austin production sometimes works, it has only one basic level: big, fast, and loud
Texas Platters
Grupo FantasmaMovimiento Popular (Aire Sol) Geographically, culturally, and linguistically, the Latin hemisphere is enormous. Acts like Austin’s Grupo Fantasma should be enormous too, if for no other reason than to incorporate the myriad flavors of Latin music: rumba, son, salsa, Tejano, cumbia, ranchero, etc. Proficient in these styles, this local 12-piece also bulks up with…
5th Circuit v. Fourth Amendment
The federal appeals court gives law enforcement broad leeway for searches
Texas Platters
Cross Canadian RagweedSoul Gravy (Universal South) Sorry, Wayne: The most popular band from Oklahoma isn’t the Flaming Lips. It may just be these four Stillwater natives who’ve caused such a stir south of the Red River that they’re one of the cornerstones of so-called Texas Music. It takes a lot for Texans to adopt Okies…
Exhibitionism
What makes this production of The Foreigner such a joy is seeing those familiar faces from the Greater Tuna franchise working together so sharply for such an appreciative audience
Texas Platters
Ben KwellerOn My Way (ATO) Since last we met young Ben Kweller, he’s toured the world behind his 2002 solo debut, Sha Sha, and collaborated with both Ben Folds and Ben Lee in the Bens. Following his appearance at 2003’s Austin City Limits Festival, Kweller recorded On My Way. Much like its predecessor, On My…
The Tomstown Tom-Toms
The DA snaps back at “harassment” by GOP attack dogs
Texas Platters
Floramay Holliday Trouble and a Truer Sound (Roseneath) Floramay Holliday has come a long way in the six years she’s been in Austin. The South Carolina native shows a lot of growth as a singer and a songwriter on Trouble and a Truer Sound, her second disc. Still, her talents aren’t quite as polished as…
News/Print
Tom Doyal vs. Rasputin would be a damn good dogfight draw, don’t you think?
Texas Platters
Local bands playing Smiths tunes packed the Carousel Lounge body to body last month. Belle & Sebastian filled the Backyard twice in recent years. The future is promising indeed for Voxtrot, Austin’s answer to precious, literate pop. Their debut EP falls somewhere between “name that Smiths song” and toe-tapping, Anglophiliac twee-pop perfection. Lead singer and…
The State’s Schoolyard Spats
Perry, Dewhurst, and Gallego all have their own plans
Texas Platters
Sara HickmanBig Kid (Sleeveless) Taking a giant step from Newborn and Toddler, Austin’s Sara Hickman offers Big Kid to an older audience, those aged 3 to 7. With her series of kids discs, Hickman gets the message, but she also gets the medium: Children’s music need not be puerile or meaningless. In the span of…
Page Two
If myopic concerns could be traded as legitimate, revenue-based options, Austin would be looking at one of the great bull markets of our time
Austin @ Large: Switching Tracks
The Union Pacific offer to move east symbolizes a new era in regional transportation politics
Texas Platters
Del Castillo Live(Smilin’ Castle) Perhaps you never swam through a sweaty sea of bodies in the short-but-good old days of Del Castillo playing Steamboat on Riverside Drive. On the strength of those shows, Del Castillo became Austin’s Band of the Year in 2003. At the same time, Austin filmmaker Robert Rodriguez, infatuated with their nuevo…
Luv Doc Recommends: Central Texas Parrot Head Club’s Pirate’s Ball
Now matter how you spin it, Texas is not a pastel state. Leave the muted watercolor renderings to environments less extreme … somewhere in the mellow Midwest … or maybe on the East Coast where they drape a sweater over their shoulders for a walk on the beach … or perhaps Santa Barbara, a place…
