Page Two
Welcome to our Back-to-School issue. Well, actually, as far as I can tell, there’s no other mention of going back to school anywhere in these pages – and yes, it seems way too soon – but indeed, for some 100,000+ area students, faculty, and staff, summer is officially over. The exact dates for different schools…
That Better Place
“A dancer spends his life learning because he finds the process of dance to be like life itself, continually in process.” � Merce Cunningham photograph by Bret Brookshire Kate Warren is finallytelling her own story. For her first choreographic showcase, Crystal Eyes, opening this weekend at Cafe Dance, the longtime local choreographer has drawn inspirations…
The Budget Process
The Austin City Council has scheduled a series of public hearings and work sessions leading up to the final vote on the 1999 budget. Council must approve the budget by Sept. 16, with the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1. The budget itinerary is listed below, with all public hearings held at City Council chambers, 307…
Public Notice
Just in time for the beginning of school, we heard word that the Lab, or the Child & Family Laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin, as it is properly named, is Accepting Applications. The program is run by UT faculty and students in the university’s child development program and is well-known for its…
Gary Phillips at Adventures in Crime & Space
I dig crime fiction a lot. I especially dig L.A.-based crime fiction. Pioneered by Thirties and Forties masters Raymond (The Big Sleep) Chandler and Paul (A Fast One) Cain, it’s a tradition that thrives today through writers like James Ellroy and Michael Connelly, novelists who dumped the trench coat and fedora motifs in the Cuisinart…
After the Deluge: Awash in Legal Fees
Since 1992, the city of Austin has spent more than $2.4 million on litigation related to the Save Our Springs Ordinance and water quality-related bills passed by the Texas Legislature. Nearly all of that money was paid to 10 different law firms, which charged hourly billing rates ranging from $120 per hour to $350 per…
Mister Smarty Pants Knows
A venomous snake cannot be killed by its own strike. Richard Nixon had a copy of Arlo Guthrie’s album Alice’s Restaurant. The song is 18’20” long – the same length as the missing bit of Watergate tape. Chrysler muscle cars once came with special treaded tires that left flame designs on the pavement when burning…
Postscripts
El Paso’s Cinco Puntos Press has just published Farley’s Jewel: A Novel in Search of Being, by Jon Ferguson. The book has been picked up by Barnes & Noble’s Discover Great New Writers program, which four times a year discovers 18-20 Great New Writers. For a small press like Cinco Puntos, to have an author…
The DARE Debate
photograph by Doug Potter DARE, the world’s most popular drug prevention program, just lost another customer. The city of Austin is the latest in a series of large cities — including Seattle, Washington, and Oakland, California — to ditch the high-dollar program, which costs about $750 million annually to administer across the United States. Although…
Food-O-File
Early in June, Austin chef Harvey Harris called to tell me that he had enrolled in the Italian Culinary Institute for Foreigners (I.C.I.F.) in the Piedmont region of Italy. Though Harris has worked at some well-known Italian restaurants in both Houston (Damian’s and the original Carrabba’s) and Austin (Stelline and Mezzaluna), he was eager to…
Smells Like Team Spirit
(Clockwise from top left) Ernie Cline, Susan B. Anthony Somers-Willet, Karyna McGlynn, and Genevieve Van Cleve will slam their best for Austin. photograph by Todd V. Wolfson Mike Henry, 30-year-old co-owner of the Electric Lounge, is sitting in the darkened main room of his club, looking a little like Mr. Clean with his shaved head…
Naked City
In the continuing effort to create an alternative development plan for the controversial Triangle site, public workshops are planned for Sept. 3 and Sept. 17, at 7pm in the first-floor cafeteria of the Texas School for the Blind, 1100 W. 45th. The sessions will be led by California urban designer Peter Calthorpe … The City…
Belgian Sans Nonsense
Il Rifugio 621-A E. Sixth, 236-1617 Lunch: Mon-Fri, 11:30am-2pm; Dinner: Mon-Thu, 6-10pm; Fri-Sat, 6-11pm Il Rifugio photograph by John Anderson Although Austin has for years supported a fine-dining establishment proudly bearing the country’s name, the cuisine of Belgium remains unfamiliar ground, even to the city’s most affirmed epicures. Il Rifugio, a relatively recent arrival at…
Handicapper’s Guide
Albuquerque Albuquerque is a powerhouse. The veteran team is anchored by Danny Solis, the strategic mastermind who led Austin to the ’96 Slam finals (and the Asheville ’95 championship team, as well as the Boston ’92 championship team). As a team they can be politicky and are generally more serious in subject matter and delivery;…
Our Gal Joan
Thirties-era Joan Crawford, before the beetle brows and lethal lips. Joan Crawford. Her name alone strikes fear into, well, maybe her daughter Christina (who, incidentally, just updated her book Mommie Dearest). For the rest of us, Joan is one of the undisputed stars, a symbol of the golden age of filmmaking, and one of the…
Jim-Jim’s Waterice
615 E. Sixth, 708-8285 Sun-Tue, noon-9pm; Wed-Thu, noon-10pm; Fri-Sat, noon-midnight The grueling humidity of Philadelphia summers competes easily with Austin’s own swelter. So this time of year, I pine less for the mid-Atlantic climate than for Italian water ice, a treat that Philadelphians eat to thin their city’s dense, hot air. Recently in this column,…
Preliminary Bout Schedule
ABOUT THE BOUTS First bouts begin at 7pm; second bouts are at 8:30pm, and third bouts are at 10pm. MCs and House Managers (HM) are listed with the bouts. Individual competitors will read at the start of the bout’s fourth rotation. *The top 18 teams will meet in the Friday night Team Semifinals in 7pm…
Out With the Old …
illustration by Jason Stout It’s been a few years since you bought your computer, but you can still hear the salesman’s voice like it was yesterday. “Is it upgradable?” you meekly asked, not sure what the word really meant, but certain it was important because all of the ads mentioned it. “Upgradable? Are you kidding?…
Ecstatic Improvisation
Jazz and blues, folk, country and bluegrass – all of these musical forms have deep cultural ties to the gospel, and all of them have been a part of the church services of various Christian denominations in this country since its beginning. But a jazz festival at First Presbyterian Church? What’s the connection? “None that…
Gin And Condoms Everywhere
photograph by Bruce Dye The National Poetry Slam is basically a giant carnival of sin and salvation. It brings out the best and worst in the people involved. I’ve seen a room of 300-plus people pour their hearts out to a poet frozen on stage, stuck between lines, then leap to their feet and scream…
Mulan & Me
Before the movie even came out, me and Mulan, we already had problems. My twisted devotion to Disney cartoons had led me down some pretty rocky roads as of late, and I wasn’t prepared to be a member of the latest offended ethnic group. Mulan seemed to be following in the wake of some kind…
St. Cecilia Jazz Festival Schedule
Friday, August 14, 8pm Bolling’s “Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano” Megan Meisenbach, flute, Martha Mortensen Dudgeon, piano, P. Kellach Waddle, bass, Kenny Felton, drums. Saturday, August 15, 8pm The Beth Ullman Quartet Beth Ullman, vocals, Rich Harney, piano, Spencer Starnes, bass, A.D. Mannion, drums Sunday, August 16th, 11am Jazz in Worship Sunday, August 16,…
Free HIV Testing
Have you ever wondered where to go for an anonymous (using a false name) or a confidential (using your real name) HIV antibody test? Has your medical clinic stopped offering the HIV test due to funding cutbacks? Does your test site only offer confidential testing, not anonymous? Do they provide a trained HIV counselor who…
Cheap and Easy Upgrades
Here’s a quick tip on pricing upgrades. Check Price Watch, http://www.pricewatch.com, for the lowest prices available. Even if you don’t want to mail or phone order, this will give you a good way to compare deals available locally. If you do mail, phone, or Web order, you won’t pay local sales tax. Odds are next-day…
Dancing About Architecture
“There have been rumblings, but MCA has not contacted Joe at all,” said Joe Ely publicist Lance Cowan of rampant rumors that after 20 years, Ely’s on-again, off-again (but mostly on-again) career with MCA Records was coming to an end. “I would be very surprised [if such a decision had been made], especially since [MCA…
Fat and Mostly Healthy
Let it not be said – as we and others have said about the last few city budgets – that the spending plan debuted on August 5 ignores the fact that Austin is a boomtown. Boy howdy. Look at all that money. Look at all them major initiatives. Kinda makes you feel all warm inside…
Scanlines
(“Scanlines” wishes to thank Encore Movies & Music, I Luv Video, and Vulcan Video for their help in providing videos and laser discs.) Earlier this summer, Terry Gilliam’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas opened in theatres where it promptly did a big belly-flop. Its by-the-numbers rendering of the psychedelic drug experience was an anachronistic…
Recommended
Friday: El Flaco, Stubb’s; Govinda, The Mercury Saturday: Dave Matthews, Southpark Meadows Sunday: Hot Rod T & Rock-A-Hulas, Continental Club Monday: Starfish, Hole in the Wall Tuesday: Darcie Deaville, Shaggy’s Wednesday: Genitorturers, Atomic Cafe Thursday: Cannibal Corpse, Back Room
Eddy Shaver: Tuning Guitars
To Eddy Shaver, the best part of playing with his dad is that Shaver, the band, is just a power trio backing up Billy. On Victory, however, son Eddy takes a much quieter approach, trading in his signature Stratocaster, a treasured gift from the Allman Brothers’ Dickey Betts, for acoustic guitar and dobro. Although to…
Shortcuts
As the last flush of summer action, horror, and effects movies are about to hit us full force as the season winds to a close, it’s encouraging to reflect back on the summer and realize how rich the spectrum of movie offerings actually has been. Oh, there have been plenty of monsters and planets on…
Record Reviews
EL FLACO el pee (FUME/Cold Spring) Since it’s taken nearly four years for a new album, and over two years for Lone Wolf Management to find this local trio a record deal, one would have thought that El Flaco actually translates into “The Wait.” Which is a damn shame, because a better-financed version of el…
Shaver
Victory (New West) The first song Billy Joe Shaver sings on Victory is an a capella original, and halfway through comes a lyric that serves notice for the album as a whole: “Silent sacred solitude how it knits upon my brow.” What follows is a thoughtful, often fierce string of country gospel originals, as Shaver…
Heavenly Hurl
Rita Hamad experiences life in zero G. photograph courtesy NASA Vomit Comet – the name itself evokes a glurping, sputtering globular celestial body or some godawful amusement park ride. I was absolutely positive that there was nothing to like about a “Vomit Comet,” whatever one might be. Such a vulgar name. Vomit. My extreme dislike…
Road Shows
AUGUST FRI 14 Jack Ingram, Electric Lounge FRI 14 Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, La Zona Rosa FRI 14 Corey Harris, Cactus Cafe SAT 15 Hot Rod “T” & the Rock-a-Hulas, Black Cat SAT 15 Buddy Guy, Corey Harris, La Zona Rosa SAT 15 Chris Whitley, David Poe, Antone’s SUN 16 Pinhead Circus, Fat Chance, The…
Bond Brouhaha
If voters approve, we’ll see more road improvement projects, like this one at South Congress near Oltorf photograph by John Anderson During the marathon of Austin City Council meetings last week, it was open meetings be damned. If you wanted to watch the crafting of some important city policy, you might have looked for a…
Profiling the Locals
How, I asked myself, to convey the brilliance and wackiness of the spoken word artists who spent eight months of the ’97-’98 season kicking ass long enough, hard enough and far enough to win the four coveted slots on Austin’s National Slam Team? I decided to take the Jeopardy route and toss out a series…
The Christian Life
photograph by John Carrico Billy Joe Shaver is a big man, an imposing presence. His hand wraps around yours when you shake it even though he’s missing two fingers from a saw mill accident many years ago. His blue/gray eyes twinkle at times, as if to let you know that, despite his hardened outer appearance,…
Bond Saga Continues
Note to Austin open meetings watchdogs: Be careful what you ask for, you just might get it. Under criticism that the Austin City Council may have violated the Open Meetings Act by working out the details of the upcoming bond issue behind closed doors, the council vowed to fix that possible infraction. To avoid even…
Benefits
Cats! Who Care evening of cabaret music and dance to benefit ASA, at Oilcan Harry’s, 11:30pm. 406-6175. SAT 15 Quick Draw! Art Auction with many local artists creating art in one hour to sell that evening to benefit Brackenridge Children’s Hospital, at Shrine Temple, corner of 360 & Westlake, 7pm. 282-4087. THU 20 People’s Music…
Articulations
In these frequently arts-hostile times, it’s easy to imagine that the only people left who still like the theatre are the people who make it. Not so, says a recent poll of Central Texans. When asked if they had ever “attended a live theatre performance in Central Texas,” 65% of the respondents said yes, and…
The General Obligation Bond Package
All figures in thousands CBAC Recommendation Council Changes Cash Funded Election Ballot Proposition 1: Public Works & Transportation Americans w/ Disabilities Act Improvem’ts $8,061 8,061 0 Neighborhood Traffic Management $6,284 6,284 0 Street Improvements $28,755 $33,455 -4,700 $28,755 Giles Rd, S. First, US 71 / I-35 16,100 16,100 0 Street Reconstruction $15,342 57,703 73,045 Traffic…
Coach’s Corner
As if looking for long-lost innocence, I’ve been pondering the hard and steady drain of baseball from my sports consciousness. I dismiss the obvious – today’s rent-a-team philosophy, the strike, and the perpetual, self-destructive bungling of the game’s “management” as only contributing factors – because it began long before that. Anyone who liked sports and…
Slam Week Events
compiled by Kim Mellen VENUES Book People Sixth and Lamar, 472-5050 Borders 10225 Research Blvd, 795-9553 Electric Lounge: 302 Bowie, 476-FUSE Alamo Drafthouse Cinema: 409 Colorado, 867-1839. Blondies: 510 Rio Grande, 472-7343 Fringeware 2716 Guadalupe, 494-9273 La Zona Rosa: 612 W. Fourth, 472-2293 La Quinta Inn Capitol 300 E. 11th, 476-1166 Mojo’s Daily Grind, 2714…
The Major Budget Initiatives
New funding (estimated) Sources Affected Depts Details Neighborhood Policing 3,060,685 General Fund, grants Police Part of overall reorganization of APD; new funding includes $1.5 million Federal grant Workforce Development 472,924 Tax abatements HHS Some components (including child care and summer jobs) actually see funding cuts Homeless Initiative 1,118,158 General Fund, CDBG HHS Most of multi-million…
Day Trips
The First ones in line when Dietz Bakery opens get to watch through the windows as the bakers stock the glass cases with made-from-scratch breads, pastries, and cookies. photograph by Gerald E. McLeod Dietz Bakery in Fredericksburg preserves a wholesome slice of Americana — fresh baked goods. Every morning a line of customers forms in…
Exhibitionism
Hyde Park Theatre, through August 29 Running Time: 1 hr, 30 min Other people’s junk. That’s what a flea market is, really. The stuff you hang onto in your own house for some pathological reason � the grimy Mason jars and dusty frames � except that it belongs to someone else. Just meaningless stuff, right?…
Where the Money Comes From: City Income Fund
% increase % increase % increase FY 1999 FY 1998 1 year FY 1994 5 years FY 1989 10 years Property tax 105,795,666 91,623,643 15.47% 61,684,566 71.51% 47,674,922 121.91% Sales tax 104,030,000 88,466,000 17.59% 70,160,000 48.28% 44,500,000 121.91% Transfers from enterprise funds 72,008,619 73,221,264 -1.66% 68,832,157 4.61% 80,379,975 -10.41% Austin Energy 55,295,000 57,409,800 -3.68% 54,886,700…
