Cover Story
An Avocado Story
From the Aztecs to the Austin Aztex, everybody’s eating avocados
Gay Place
Check here each week for excerpts from our Gay Place blog and highlights from the week’s listings.
Chi Execution Still On
Chi’s fate is now in Perry’s hands.
Holden Gives U.S. Hope
The U.S. men’s Olympic soccer team has broken its goalless streak by defeating Japan 1-0 in their opening game. The Houston Dynamo’s Stuart Holden latched onto a pass from Marvell Wynne (after being deflected by a Japanese defender), and sent a low shot that Japanese goalkeeper, Shusaku Nishikawa, couldn’t handle. The ever-experienced Brian McBride got…
Dixon Defends Craddick. Ish.
LPT chair says Dems shouldn’t be so happy that Craddick looks miserable
Got Down, Stayed Down
Thao Nguyen is so excited
‘Hard Knocks’ Follows Cowboys’ Training Camp
HBO’s Hard Knocks series did something last year that I thought would never happen, it made me interested in the Kansas City Chiefs. While that feeling didn’t last long, this year’s installment follows media darlings the Dallas Cowboys as they prepare for their 2008-09 campaign and should entertain their fans and detractors equally. The first…
Kizza Comin’
Valdosta in tha house
Graham, Escovedo Updates
Don’t bother setting your Tivo. Alejandro Escovedo has canceled his appearance tonight on The Late Show with David Letterman, along with a handful of other dates, due to acute exhaustion. His next scheduled performance is at the Austin Child Guidance Center benefit at Antone’s, August 28, featuring the reunited Reivers and Ian McLagan & the…
Supremes Will Decide if Chi Dies Tonight
Unless Supremes intervene, Texas will kill another foreign national tonight
Trying to Stay Positive
The Hold Steady hold steady and that’s it
Encore, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Accept Brett Favre Is a Jet
I got back from the Hold Steady concert at the Parish on Sixth with my ears ringing and my back aching in pain. I’m not young anymore. I was confident I could make it through the band’s regular set, show some whippersnappers how we used to dance back in the day, and probably pop out…
Wranglers’ Amazing Run Comes to an End
In a season of ups and downs, the Austin Wranglers entertained the fans and gave the public something to cheer about during the down season for most other mainstream sports (certainly football). The Wranglers started the season with three straight losses, then went on an amazing run to reach first place in the division. Their…
The Chronicle’s Second ASL Win
Scoring three to Emo’s two during the ninth, the Chronicle wins, 19-18
Back in the Dais – The Hustle Gets Clipped
The newest, oldest Hustle
Noriega Presents Immigration Plan
Democratic Senate challenger breaches the border wall
Dingus Hits Craddick in Libertarian Weak Spot
Will the Libertarians be this election’s king-makers?
Olympic Soccer Starts, Laredo Plays for PDL Championship, and More
The Olympics opened Wednesday morning (well, Wednesday night in Beijing), with the U.S. women giving up two goals in the first four minutes to lose their first game of the year, 2-0 to Norway. The men open up Thursday against Japan; all games, women and men, will be live online (3am & 5:45am), at www.nbcolympics.com.…
On Your Mark! Get Set! Get Married! (Or… Goin’ Back to Cali)
Even if Prop 8 passes, current gay marriages will most likely be grandfathered in.
PETA Pokes Perry Over Jelly Bellies
Animal rights group encouraging Texans to lose weight
Singh Is Kinng
A Sikh named Happy Singh accidentally becomes king of the Australian underworld in this new Bollywood film.
Much Ado About Nothing
DC rapper Wale makes a splash
How the Hotrods Took the Gold
Hotrod Honeys dominate Hell Marys to take championship, Hustlers fall to Honky Tonk Heartbreakers
CotFG Volunteer Meeting Tomorrow
Church of the Friendly Ghost wants you. The local epicenter of the creative music community needs volunteers, or just people who want to be involved, to meet tomorrow at Sagra Italian Restaurant (1610 San Antonio) to discuss the upcoming month(s) and other exciting developments. RSVP to churchofthefriendlyghost@gmail.com if you’re interested, por favor.
Half-Naked and Panting?
He was NOT going “into the wild.” Honest.
Graham: It’s The Base, Stupid
South Carolina senator gets dirty over claims Obama is on the low road
I Now Pronounce You Weinerdog & Wife!
Awwwww, some sweet news!
Gulf Coast Soul
The Boogie Kings continue to boogie, Port A-style
Free ‘Ludes
Oh you know us. We can’t resist the free swag.
WHO Said What?
Previous assessments of the rate of AIDS, especially among gay men, were wrong.
And Your 2008 TXRG Champs Are …
Hotrod Honeys finally get the championship
Left-Handed Scissors With Green Handles
Scissor. Sister.
Texas Rollergirls Championship Tonight
3-0 Hotrod Honeys take on 2007 champion Hell Marys for flat track title
Rumors of the ABBA Sing Along’s Demise?Greatly Exaggerated
It’s on, Dancing Queens!
Dig Deep for Fire Victims
Benefit today for displaced survivors of last weekend’s three alarm fire.
Star of When Bears Attack Goes to the Big Clan in the Sky
Actor Cole Ryder died.
Sophie’s Choice: You Were Expecting Mamet Mia!?
The gayest portrayal of heterosexuality. EVER?
Latest Drug War Strategy: Cops Deliver the Drugs then Raid the House
SWAT team delivers drugs first, asks questions later
‘TopSpin 3’ for the Xbox 360
I enjoy tennis. I enjoy playing tennis. I enjoy watching tennis on TV. I even enjoy play tennis video games (VituaTennis anyone?). That said, 2K Sports’ TopSpin 3 is a whole ‘nother story. With a ridiculous learning curve and unexceptional graphics and presentation, it was impossible to stay interested in this game long enough to…
McCain Injects Race With Race – and Grumpiness
All the buzz today is that Barack Obama has “injected” race into the presidential campaign with his comments earlier this week to an audience in Missouri: “Nobody really thinks that Bush or McCain have a real answer for the challenges we face,” he said. “So what they’re going to try to do is make you…
Wal-Mart: One Stance on Dems, Get One Free
Wal-Mart gives money to Dems, warns employees about their pro-union policies
Peppers get Better(s)
FDA gives all-clear to domestic peppers, warns about jalapeño and serrano from Mexico.
Book Review
Translated from Swedish, this is a suspenseful murder mystery that explores sexuality in Weimar-era Berlin
United States Art Authority
A zoning glitch forces the UT campus-area arts space to close down temporarily
Texas Platters
Chris Van Loan Rebirth (CVL Music) “If this were jazz, it would be bebop; it would be Coltrane,” boasts Chris Van Loan on the title track of Rebirth. Not quite. The acoustic set overflows with humorless philosophical musings like a recital of Chicken Soup for the Soul set to guitar. “Life Is Fleeting” and “This…
Day Trips
Central Texas rodeos feature some of the finest live-action entertainment in the Lone Star State
Austin’s Clean Energy Future
In a presentation to City Council last Thursday, Austin Energy General Manager Roger Duncan laid out how the utility hopes to meet the city’s future energy needs. AE’s plan includes building a large-scale solar farm on city-owned land in Webberville and spending $2.3 billion to construct and source power from a wood-waste-fueled biomass plant in…
The Common Law
What’s the deal with my security deposit?
Don Howell: In Memoriam
Seven weeks after being honored for his meaningful contributions to and support of the arts in Austin, Don Howell has passed away. The former high school theatre teacher, patron, and new inductee into the Austin Arts Hall of Fame died peacefully in his home on Monday, July 21. He had been fighting throat cancer for…
Texas Platters
Young Nick Gone EP (Dirty Politics Entertainment) With the souled-out “Don’t Feel It” dropping ill communication on rappers “spitting that nonsense, all violence,” Young Nick’s Gone EP, his first, crosses over to the local’s eclectic tendencies. The Dirty Politic head honcho spits (throughout) and spins his way through seven of 11 bangers, fronted by the…
The Death Penalty in Practice
The needles are charged and ready. After a brief legal hiatus to determine whether the commonly used drug-injection cocktail can stand constitutional muster – and the courts having ruled that we shouldn’t pay too close attention to such things – the Texas death machine, headquartered in Austin and administered in Huntsville, is again building up…
Noriega on Energy … Looks Familiar
Rick Noriega announces his energy plan
The X-Files: I Want to Believe
Mulder and Scully, these once-keen buckers of bureaucratic BS and masters of the painfully engorged tease, have become deadly dull in this newest incarnation.
After a Fashion
Stephen was never one for backpedaling
The Mayor of Washington Boulevard
The first Beach Boys’ solo album, Dennis Wilson’s Pacific Ocean Blue, washes back ashore after more than three decades
Texas Platters
Denice Franke’s Gulf Coast Blue (Certain) comes by comparisons to Eliza Gilkyson and Nanci Griffith honestly. Mark Hallman, the man behind Gilkyson’s stellar recordings, produced this CD, and Franke sang backup for Griffith, as well as Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen. Her tenure as one-half of the folk duo Hudson & Franke polished her…
Those Who Are About to Die
Your Texas death machine gets rolling again
Nader Stumps for Prez
Remember Ralph Nader? He’s running for president again.
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
This third outing makes it abundantly clear that this once-fresh mummy franchise is dead in everything but name.
Letters at 3am
The “Situation” is upon us: China and Southern Asia can support their own growth and have no more use for us
More Reissues
The Complete Motown Singles Vol. 10: 1970 (Hip-O Select/Motown) Detroit’s Camelot ended Jan. 14, 1970, in Las Vegas, when Diana Ross deigned one last performance with the Supremes. Two years later, when Motown Records huckster Berry Gordy (Antony) relocated his Cleopatra (Ross) to Los Angeles for her close-up, so too went Motor City’s assembly line…
Texas Platters
Owl Morrison Playing With Matches Nothing’s too sacred or eclectic for Owl Morrison, a worldly gypsy traveling a silky-stringed plane and cleverly high-stepping John Phillip Sousa (“Washington Post March”), jigs around Sweden and Ireland, and rides on the magic carpet (“Love You To”), while matching violin and viola with a variety of instrumentalists. Exercise caution…
Names on a List
Scheduled Texas Executions, August to November
Breast-Feeding Campaign Kicks Off
Research shows that breast-feeding aids mental development, increases emotional bonds, reduces the risk of type 2 child diabetes, and is more cost efficient than formula – yet the majority of Texas mothers stop breast-feeding before the recommended 6 months. According to Gail Gresham, breast-feeding coordinator for Women, Infants, and Children, the problem is a lack…
Swing Vote
Kevin Costner’s new comedy may be timely, but that doesn’t make it funny or worthwhile.
Food-o-File
From campus to the convention center, new executive chefs are courting culinary connoisseurs
Off the Record
The Dedringers and James McMurtry visit VideoRanch, the Strange Boys land In the Red, the Decoder Ring crosses paths with the Hold Steady and Modest Mouse, and Full Service amps up in a parking lot near you
Texas Platters
Hans Frank & the Auslanders Glambilly! Strip-club rhythms to the Man in Black? Hans Frank’s take on Johnny Cash, “Folsom Prison Rhumba,” is as wicked cool as the Skynyrd sneer of “Regular.” Frank’s voice swaggers and menaces like Jim Lauderdale on a bender over the tough Telecaster of ex-Ernest Tubb guitarist Pete Mitchell. Pure rock-roots,…
Texas Death Row: Executions Begin Again
An audio essay
Report Details DPS Failures in Fire Case
Lack of training, staff shortages among DPS’ shortcomings
Ripple Effect
Like a pilgrim seeking salvation, Ripple Effect is awash in self-important questions, becoming an exercise in pop mysticism which stars Forest Whitaker.
Event Menu
Wine tastings and kitchen-tool demonstrations keep the weekend ahead well-informed
Texas Platters
Harlem Free Drugs (Female Fantasy) Former Tucsonites Harlem are sitting on a pretty crowded bench in Austin, “garage rock” having become the current nom de guerre for anything that sounds “lo-fi,” gritty, or as if it were recorded on “druuuugs, man.” The trio’s not breaking any new lyrical ground on its local debut: The band…
Texas Platters
Abi Tapia The Beauty in the Ruin (MoonHouse) Bittersweet is more than an undertone in Abi Tapia’s latest CD, but that’s not the prevailing emotion here. Beauty weaves strong Southern influences with an old-school 1970s country-folk sensibility, mastering the understatement in her songs and avoiding cutesy-rootsy overkill with intelligence and a fine tenor on this…
Additional Documents
Here are several documents associated with pending Texas executions: • Letter from U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, April 5, 2005, with Feb. 28 memorandum from President George W. Bush, that the U.S. will abide by its international treaty obligations. • Letter from state Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, to Gov.…
Hays County Turns Blue – and Green
New county leadership is keen on environmental stewardship
Kuselan
In this Indian remake of the Malayalam hit Kadha Parayumbol, a film star gives an assist to an old acquaintance.
In Print
Josh Wesson delights with his wine and food pairing expertise
Texas Platters
Mammoth Grinder Rage and Ruin (Depleted Resource) Changing metallic speeds with precision, from a Birmingham lumber to a lightning ride, Austin’s Mammoth Grinder battens down an exacting bellow. Snaking under the local trio’s rhythm pummel, guitarist Chris Ulsh’s moto-metal drag-stripping – classic and modern in the same fluid downstroke of Brian Boeckman’s demon-fast drum rolls…
Texas Platters
Izzy Cox Love Letters From the Electric Chair Austin’s got no shortage of bands with a taste for the macabre, so welcome murder balladeer Izzy Cox to the hot seat. She’s Texan and French-Canadian via California, a confluence that shapes Love Letters’ electrified voodoo-billy with a Crampsy twist of Southern cabaret and silent-movie panache. It’s…
Oops
Due to an editing error, the “Campaign $$” chart accompanying last week’s article “The November Election” indicated that congressional candidate Larry Joe Doherty loaned himself $100,000 in the April-June quarter. In fact, Doherty loaned himself that money last year, and the loan should have been noted in the “Cash on Hand” column instead. In “Point…
Phone Use Cut at Hutto
On July 22, the Williamson Co. Commissioners Court approved a modified contract with U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement that dramatically reduces detainee telephone privileges at the T. Don Hutto Family Residential Center. Detainees will no longer be able to make outgoing calls without a prepaid phone card, nor can they call 911 or receive incoming…
Brideshead Revisited
It’s a film, not a miniseries, but this rendition’s attention to the steep divides of class and religion in prewar England remains as sharply etched as ever.
Shirataki Noodles
Japanese diet noodles can be substituted in many dishes
Texas Platters
The Dirty Hearts Pigs (Socyermom) On this heavy, solid, grittily professional follow-up to their 2006 eponymous disc, Austinites the Dirty Hearts re-create the sound of the alt-rock salad days of the early 1990s with uncanny precision. With the music divorced from historical context, the appeal of the sort of shackled punk that dominated alternative radio…
The Hightower Report
DHS Border Fence Will Split Campus; and Dodging a Tax by Dissing Pringles
Playing Through
King of Kombat fighters know the therapeutic benefits of taking and receiving a spinning back fist
Austin May Join Effort to Buy Aquifer Property
Finally! A piece of environmentally sensitive property that won’t be developed.
Tell No One
The many pleasures of this riveting psychological thriller from France derive more from the perplexing questions it raises than the discovery of the answers.
Texas Platters
The Sales Bros. Hired Guns (Perseverance) Although best known for backing Iggy Pop and David Bowie, Austin-based drummer Hunt Sales (he of the “Lust for Life” intro) and his guitarist brother Tony pay tribute to the Stax/Volt renaissance on this previously unreleased 1979 demo. Recorded in a Beachwood Canyon, Calif., basement that had once been…
Of Strip Clubs and Hash Stashes
On location: Dance With the One
Austin Streetcar Proposal: A Play in Two Acts?
Plans unveiled for rail transit
Headlines
• The cargo-pants arsonist just became a Longhorn, as investigators of the Governor’s Mansion fire released video showing one or two people at the site, at least one wearing a gimme cap with a Longhorn logo. Meanwhile, the Department of Public Safety issued a scathing internal report on mansion security. Read all about it in…
Elsa & Fred
A septuagenarian love story from Spain, Elsa & Fred will likely warm the cockles of your heart, even though it’s hardly the stuff of great romance.
Ten Things You May Not Know About Avocados
1) An avocado tree can bloom four or five times a year. 2) Avocados grown in sunlight are sweeter; avocados from the shady interior of the tree have a higher oil content. 3) Avocados can be “stored” on the tree for as long as six months and picked as needed. The longer the fruit stays…
Texas Platters
Watching the Moon Perception Is Bent (Universal Warning) The competent debut by these Pennsylvania imports nicely splits the difference between the raw pop of Nirvana and Girls Against Boys and the slick, post-hardcore of Rival Schools and the Constantines. Vocalist Pete Brown does particularly well, recalling Trail of Dead’s Conrad Keely in his deft shifts…
Spandex Not Required
Comic-Con 2008
Developing Stories
Plans unveiled for rail transit
Naked City
News briefs from Austin, the region, and elsewhere
Grow Avocados in Texas? Yes, We Can.
Most people associate avocados with Mexico, California, and Florida, but there’s a small thriving avocado business right here in Texas. Along with its famous grapefruits and oranges, the Lower Rio Grande Valley is home not only to myriad backyard avocado trees but to a number of commercial enterprises, as well. Typically, Valley avocado growers maintain…
Texas Platters
Sunset The Glowing City (Autobus) Bill Baird treads on a slightly different plane, like Peter Sellers in Being There, yet always is aware of the ludicrous world around him. His music slips between frustrated flailing at our modern, media-blitzed existence and the comical embrace of it to both obscure and expose himself. The Glowing City…
Film News
Remakes and revisitings from Austin’s cine-making kings
Front-Runner Emerges for CAMPO Seat
Capital Metro board mounts search to fill vacancy
Quote of the Week
“This week, it seems that we are hosting an anger management class. Nothing is going to come out of this hearing with regard to impeachment of the president. I know it, the media knows it, and the speaker knows it.” – U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, on last week’s “nonimpeachment” hearings on the president’s executive…
Avocado Gelato
It is a fruit, after all
Texas Platters
Hug Live at Room 710 Yes, Hug at Room 710. The locals’ post-peyote musical spasms certainly sound offensive on album, but a live performance is much more entertaining, because Hug is, if anything, a visual beast (that includes Chronicle photographer John Anderson). This recording, from February 2007, looks like something cable access would air at…
Arts Review
Zach Theatre’s production is so good that you wish you were onstage with the characters
McCaul’s Islamic ‘Rescue’
Congressman jumps on wrong bandwagon in quest to show his anti-terrorist stripes
City Hall Hustle: Budget Time
The annual budget melodrama rounds up the usual suspects
Avocado Margaritas
Two ways to enjoy the Tex-Mex favorite
Texas Platters
Full Service isn’t ashamed to ride the coattails of 311 and Snoop Dogg. The local quartet is currently trailing the 4:20-enthusisiasts’ joint tour across the country, setting up impromptu shows in the parking lot beforehand. That same sort of mentality permeates the band’s fifth album, The Dig, with decidedly white reggae-rock grooves that wander into…
Arts Review
Forklift Danceworks’ latest was a big wet kiss to the communal joys of roller-skating
Permit Woes
South Austin art and music venue trying to reopen
Res Publica
Your good-citizen calendar for July 31-Aug. 7
Don’t Fear the Devil
Some glorious bastards, new to DVD
Early Guacamole: I Say Ahuaca-mulli, You Say Wakimoli
Ahuaca-mulli, Tenochtitlan, pre-1519 In America’s First Cuisines (UT Press, 1994) food historian Sophie Coe explains that the Aztec ahuaca-mulli (avocado sauce) is “the pre-Columbian dish most easily accessible to us.” She describes it as “the combination of mashed avocados, with or without a few chopped tomatoes and onions [seasoned] with New World coriander.” Aguacate Salad,…
Texas Platters
Micky & the Motorcars Naive (Smith Entertainment) With their fourth album, Micky & the Motorcars can hardly claim naivete, but they haven’t progressed much either. As long as the local quintet led by Micky and Gary Braun remains in the same town and works the same sound as fellow Braun brothers Willy and Cody of…
Arts Review
Though at times exciting, this program lacked American Repertory Ensemble’s usual spark of artistic fusion
Austin Not So Walkable
“Walkability” has been an avowed goal of Austin’s city leaders and planners for some time now. So how are we doing? Well, according to WalkScore.com, we could still use a lot of improvement. Using Google Maps technology, Walk Score calculates the “walkability score” of a location by taking into account nearby stores, restaurants, schools, parks,…
Point Austin: Impeaching the Empire
The House Judiciary Committee considers high crimes and misdemeanors
Striking Sparks
When strangers team up to create a play and a video game in 10 weeks, sparks fly – in a good way
‘El Aguacatero’ (The Avocado Grower)
We first heard “El Aguacatero” by Los Originales de San Juan on KFON 1490AM (“La Estación de la Raza”) in Austin and then found this version online. The lyrics here were transcribed and translated by Claudia Alarcón and Robert Mendoza. – MM Pack ‘El Aguacatero’ por Los Originales de San Juan Soy michoacano, señores, nacido…
Texas Platters
Crystal Flavola Automatic Monkey Up from the Austin theatre scene bounces Crystal Flavola, a sevenpiece fronted by award-winning actor turned singer-songwriter David Jones, and Automatic Monkey is the band’s first full-length disc. With its taut vocals and pristine harmonies, Crystal Flavola betrays its theatrical background, but the band also possesses a folk-rock tinge that lends…
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
A toilet-seat art museum, aliens exist, and more
Driver Sentenced in Bicycle Fatality
Family of victim, cyclist Vilhelm Hesness, agreed to plea deal
Impeachment Resolution
The House Judiciary Committee considers high crimes and misdemeanors
Book Review
A fun modern satire mired in white suburbia and art-school pretensions
‘Tiny Acts of Immeasurable Benefit’
Katie Pell’s new exhibit channels the artist’s positive energy and desire to celebrate everyone
Texas Platters
Dr. Zog Going to the Zydeco (Zog) Over the course of a decade or more, Dr. Zog’s bands have gone through several musical permutations, including blues, rockabilly, folk, and funk. A native of Port Arthur, a hotbed for the sounds of Louisiana just across the border, the good doctor’s most recently taken to the good-time…
TV Eye
AMC’s Mad Men is back, and boy, is TV Eye glad
PUC Gathering the Western Wind
A new source for electricity is on the wind
Luv Doc Recommends: Erotica 2008
There is so much porn on the Internet these days, really, why even bother with an erotica art show? Perhaps you have a beef with representationalism? Maybe you like your body parts all angled and askew and akimbo like a Picasso cubist nude? Or maybe you’re into Bambi-eyed hentai bimbos with huge, shiny, watermelon boobs…
