PLUS: Vote Now in Best of Austin • Summer Camps

August 14 • 2009

Aug 14-20, 2009 / Vol. 28 / No. 50
Download Issue

Cover Story

Texas Platters

Hickoids Waltz a Crossdress Texas (Saustex) Hickoids branded Austin’s 1980s alt.country with punk swagger that imploded in a haze of substance abuse and buzzard luck. Not to be deterred, Waltz a Crossdress Texas proves that cleaning up not only didn’t compromise their legendary disregard (“Brand New Way,” “Git Back in the Truck”); it allowed them…

by Margaret Moser

Oops!

Our Aug. 7 story “Wheels Within Wheels” stated that Council Member Laura Morrison appointed Mandy Dealey to the Waterfront Overlay Task Force; in fact, Morrison appointed Mary Arnold to the Waterfront Planning Advisory Board. Also, Council Member Bill Spelman’s appointment to the Planning Commission, Danette Chimenti, is not the current president of the Austin Neighborhoods…

by Chronicle Staff

The Available Evidence

Below are some of the items of evidence that grand jurors considered in deciding whether to indict Austin Police Department Officer Leonardo Quintana on criminal charges in connection with the May 11 shooting death of Nathaniel Sanders II. 1) Autopsy Sanders’ autopsy report describes the nature of the wounds and provides a complete toxicology report.…

by Chronicle Staff

Day Trips

The glass-bottomed boats at Aquarena Center in San Marcos allow a glimpse into the underwater world

by Gerald E. McLeod

Bandslam

A citywide battle of the bands provides the grist for this endearing youth film that was shot in Central Texas.

by Kimberley Jones

Shrink

A well-chosen cast props up this otherwise shallow story that stars Kevin Spacey as a therapist who turns to pot in the wake of a personal crisis.

by Marjorie Baumgarten

Texas Platters

The Strange Attractors Sleep and You Will See (Past/Futures) The Strange Attractors are to the Black Angels what the Golden Dawn once was to the 13th Floor Elevators, psychedelic Texas contemporaries overshadowed by the latter’s success. Both locals have distilled their forefathers’ trips into similar touchstones – 1960s acid grooves, political menace, and Joy Division…

by Austin Powell

Texas Platters

Willie Nelson American Classic (Blue Note) Though billed as the follow-up to his groundbreaking crossover Stardust, Nelson’s debut on seminal jazz imprint Blue Note lacks the luster of its 1978 counterpart. American Classic is tender and light, and Nelson inhabits the songs easily, especially on the orchestral rendition of “You Were Always on My Mind,”…

by Doug Freeman

Naked City

One Drop at a Time The long-delayed Water Treatment Plant No. 4 – slated initially to draw 50 million gallons a day from Lake Travis, with a potential build-out of 300 MGD – may have come a little closer to reality last week. City Council voted 6-1 to award a preconstruction contract widening the road…

by Chronicle Staff

Texas Platters

Owen Temple Dollars and Dimes (El Paisano) Owen Temple’s fifth album is quite an undertaking. Eleven snapshots of how difficult life has become for the common man in the 21st century, Dollars and Dimes also features an A-list of backing musicians including Will Sexton, Hunt Sales, Adam Carroll, and Brian Standefer. Like a host of…

by Jim Caligiuri

Adam

Hugh Dancy and Rose Byrne co-star in this love story about a guy with Asperger’s Syndrome and the girl who lives next door.

by Kimberley Jones

Texas Platters

Buttercup The Weather Here (Bedlamb) San Antone’s loopy-pop lads return with a romp through the elements. Twelve songs map out The Weather Here, the quartet’s third LP, helmed by Old 97’s producer Salim Nourallah, and the view is one of repose, reflection. Rarely does the tempo change from song to song – there are few…

by Audra Schroeder

The Report Card

Disc 1: Headstone: The Contact Sessions Opening, as it should, with “You’re Gonna Miss Me,” these sessions were the first recorded for an album on the label Contact and notable for the inclusion of covers such as Solomon Burke’s “Everybody Needs Somebody to Love” and Buddy Holly’s “I’m Gonna Love You Too.” While those titles…

by Chronicle Staff

Texas Platters

Iron Age The Sleeping Eye (Tee Pee) Galloping rhythms come naturally to guitar/drummer tandems, and in Iron Age’s Wade and Jared Allison that full-on charge redlines The Sleeping Eye. While the former wrote almost all of the music on the local quintet’s sophomore release with throaty solvent Jason Tarpey, beatmaster Jared Allison bursts the chute…

by Raoul Hernandez

Thirst

The new film from the South Korean director of Oldboy is a stunning feast for the senses but veers off-track with its overlong meditation on vampirism.

by Marc Savlov

Texas Platters

John Arthur Martinez Purgatory Road (Apache Ranch) Like his college roommate Todd Snider, John Arthur Martinez tends toward the folky side of country-flavored story-songs. Purgatory Road finds an even keel with the rough highway tales of self-incrimination and loss (“Can’t Outdrink the Truth,” “Utopia”) that are thoughtful without wallowing in hopelessness and despair (“Cobalt Blue,”…

by Margaret Moser

In the Loop

In the Loop is a scabrous and funny study of how an offhand remark by a career politician can metastasize into an international conflict and, ultimately, war.

by Marc Savlov

New in Print

This graphic novel depicts a time and a place where bravery borders on stupidity, obligation becomes an albatross, and thugs step up to the mantle as heroes

by Kate X Messer

Texas Platters

Mark Stuart & the Bastard Sons Bend in the Road (Texacali) Stuart was smart to drop “of Johnny Cash” from his Bastard Sons, even with the Man in Black’s approval. That novelty got in the way of the new Austinite’s roots-bound direction on Bend in the Road. He’s on the familiar path of life’s ever-changing…

by Margaret Moser

Spread

Sex, money, and status are the names of the game in this Hollywood tale about a young Lothario and a woman who uses similar wiles.

by Marjorie Baumgarten

Texas Platters

Booka & the Flaming Geckos Baghdad Texas (Loudhouse Records) A deposed Middle East dictator’s plane crashes on the Mexican border, but he escapes to Texas. So goes the one-line synopsis of the indie film Baghdad Texas, which delivers pure Tex-Mex-Eastern delight. Booka Michel wrote and arranged the soundtrack of mainly atmospheric instrumentals (“Carmen’s Dance”), with…

by Margaret Moser

Headlines

• Less than a year after its last fare increase, Capital Metro is considering raising ticket and pass prices in January 2010 due to falling sales-tax revenue. If approved by the transit authority board, this will only be the second increase in 23 years. See “Cap Metro Accelerates Plans for Fare Hike.” • Hopefully this…

by Chronicle Staff

District 9

Aliens-on-earth tale is wrenching, riveting, violent and best of all, a love story

by Marc Savlov

Texas Platters

David Newbould & Friends The Long Way Home – Live From Austin The ambitiousness of this live CD/DVD offering says as much about David Newbould’s well-developed repertoire as it reflects his confident facility with performance. There’s nothing tentative or green here; the NYC transplant is fully in command of his talents and direction with songs…

by Margaret Moser

Luv Doc Recommends: Texas Testosterone Festival

If you were thinking you could pick up a couple of ounces of pure testosterone at this weekend’s Texas Testosterone Festival, think again. To score the real stuff you’re going to have to go across the border and meet an acne-scarred Russian guy in some seedy cantina in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. He’s probably going to…

by The Luv Doc

Recent

See all

Gift this article