Twist Music for the Hard-of-Hearing
“They made the little girls dance.” This is what Big Drag bassist Colin Jones suggested be Big Drag’s epitaph, when asked. It fits like a steel condom, too. Ever since they first skulked in from San Antonio a couple of years back, the laconic trio has brought with them hordes of incredibly nubile women, doing…
A.I.S.D. Notebook
More than 10,000 students did not make it to the first day of school in the Austin Independent School District. According to AISD’s count, 64,671 students attended on August 14, the first day of the 1995-96 school year. Total projected enrollment is 74,885. By the same token, some AISD teachers had not received permanent assignments…
Scanlines
Accion Mutante D: Alex de la Iglesias; with Antonio Resines, Alex Angulo, Frederique Feder, Juan Viadas, Karra Elejalde, Saturnino Garcia. Luminous Film and Video Works. Produced by art-house fave Pedro Almodovar, the passionately off-beat Accion Mutante marks the debut of Spanish director Alex de la Iglesias, whose style clearly follows in the maniacal tradition of…
San Antone on a Hot and Dusty Night
I lost my virginity at age 15 in San Antonio at the Japanese Sunken Gardens in Brackenridge Park on March 7, 1970, after a Jefferson Airplane concert. The next morning, a solar eclipse occurred; my boyfriend and I dreamily watched the cabs of the park’s skyride glide across the dishwater sky as we lay smoking…
Man on a Mission
Real collectors never ask “Where am I going to hang this picture?” They don’t buy art because it fits over the sofa. They buy because art makes them whole. The quest for more is never-ending, although it occasionally shifts direction, waxes and wanes according to the collector’s resources. Dr. Gilberto C�rdenas is an art collector,…
Erbie Bowser, 1918-1995
Erbie Bowser is dead, God bless ‘im. The self-taught blues pianist had been a fixture, along with longtime associate T.D.Bell and the Blues Specialists, at the Continental Club’s Friday happy hour shows. But failing health had made his appearances less and less frequent in recent months, and on Tuesday, August 15, the 77-year-old bluesman passed…
Austin Music Network Schedule
Austin CableVision Channel 15 THURSDAY, AUGUST 17 10pm Tex Mix #42: Traditional TX 10:30 Rev. Michael Harris, BFT 11pm The People’s Picks #69 11:30 E.P.K.’s: Radney Foster, etc MID Campanas de America 1am Remote Generation #1 1:30 Alternative 15 #65 FRIDAY, AUGUST 18 10pm Tex Mix #62: Love Gone Sour 10:30 Michele Solberg, AAMF 11pm…
Dancing About Architecture
Both the Austin Aqua Festival and the Sixth Street Music and Heritage Festival have wound to a close. Well, not quite; Aqua Fest had to delay their boat races until the 26th and 27th due to Tropical Storm Dean, but despite bouts of heat and rain over the first few days, the Fest’s Jack Macy…
Food-O-File
NEW AND NOSHWORTHY Brio 1112 W. Sixth Street, 499-0442 Dinner nightly from 5 pm to midnight If you’ve been hungry for the full, hearty flavors of Raymond Tatum’s definitive Texas cuisine since the closing of 612 West, drop in for dinner at Brio and satisfy yourself. This new dinner-only spot from the creators of neighboring…
Remembering Jerry Garcia
This is the article I’ve always dreaded having to write but knew, deep down, I would eventually have to write. I was fortunate to get the news of Jerry Garcia’s death from a friend, radio colleague and fellow Deadhead Brian Beck, who first made the announcement on KGSR just as I was pulling into a…
Elmore Leonard’s World
Bantam, $22.95 hard Elmore “Dutch” Leonard is America’s preeminent crime novelist, or so the literary establishment, which grants entry to only a few genre practitioners at a time, would have us believe, and frankly, I’m not going to quibble. A master of the double cross, a writer whose ear for the way people speak is…
Tales from the Squeezebox
Please pardon the clich�, but it’s a long way from the conjunto bars of San Antonio to Carnegie Hall. It’s also a long way to Washington, D.C., Africa, and the Middle East, but in the last couple of years, Mingo Saldivar has made all of those trips. After decades of establishing himself as a major…
FoRay’s Experimental Austin Cuisine Forging Food Paths
Sometime in the mid-Seventies, a new cuisine developed in our city. Known as “Austin Food,” the style basically fused Tex-Mex and traditional diner fare with the “health food” so popular in that era. Classic examples would include soft black bean tacos in whole-wheat tortillas with sprouts and mild salsa, or meatless “grain burgers” served on…
1995-96 City Budget: Health Care Relief Comes Painfully
An audible sigh of relief can be heard down at city hall this budget season, now that Brackenridge is off the city’s books. The imminent merger between city-owned Brack and private, non-profit Seton Medical Center has yet to be signed, but once the deal is done this fall, the city’s responsibilities toward public health care…
Youth Theatre Programs In Brief
Summer Youth Theatre (VORTEX Repertory Company): Free theatre training for teens with theatre professionals. Participants work on a full stage production with public performances. Some local artists receive stipends. Admission by audition. Produced The Insect Comedy in July. 478-LAVA. Capitol City Playhouse Apprentice Company: Free theatre training and hands-on experience in professional productions and administration…
1995-96 City Budget: Aviation Department Airport Revenues Taking Off
Between the forced financial anemia that has plagued most city budgets this fiscal year and the grandiosity of Bergstrom’s $400 million in bonds financial package, the Aviation Department’s proposed 1995-96 total budget of $19.6 million may induce nothing more than yawns. It’s hard to get worked up over the relatively modest budget, especially since, as…
Programs That Let Austin Youth Speak Out A Stage of Their Own
They all say it. In one way or another, with serious eyes and earnest faces, or laughing, or mad, they all tell me, “Don’t underestimate kids.” They are the more than 30 preteens and teenagers interviewed for this story who are involved in various Austin youth theatre programs. They know that what they are doing…
Larson SAFE at Home
Get this. Bud Adams, owner of the Houston Oilers, is tired of the Astrodome and wants the city of Houston to subsidize a new $235 million dome downtown. Adams complains that the old dome is too small, too old, and that he has to share it with a baseball team. He maintains that in order…
Mister Smarty Pants Knows…
About 17 percent more management consultants are employed in Scotland than in any other European country except Greece. One in seven Americans has arthritis. When King Edward VII was Prince of Wales, his favorite Paris bordello made him a special chair to use to heighten his sexual pleasure. The chair was nicknamed siege d’amour. Trent…
Have Connections, Will Pay
This will be Councilmember Max Nofziger’s last term if the speculation of some local soothsayers bears out, a prospect that forces the question, “Just what would he do for a living?” The former flower salesman is pondering his options. “I don’t know if there’s anything else I can do,” he says. “I’ve been practicing my…
About AIDS
Volunteers Needed There are many ways in which you can provide vital service to people with HIV/AIDS in the process of living with dignity. We are looking for volunteers who have some time to dedicate on either a regular, weekly, or occasional basis. * Daytrippers: provide daytime rides 8am & 5pm to medical, dental, and…
Salamander Tales
Governor George Bush wants decisions about protection for the Barton Springs Salamander to be based on science. But the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), the state’s lead agency in charge of assessing the biological needs of the salamander, appears to be hiding data and even trying to repress the findings of its own scientists…
Coach’s Corner
Page Two is where Chronicle chieftains get to vent their spleen, kinda like a”Fidel Speaks” column. I’m frequently irritated by the tenor and subject matter in this space. So, I see the words “seat bonds” and “Phoenix Firebirds” and I’m already shaking with indignation and anger. I’m mentally composing a letter to the editor, before,…
Naked City
Edited by Andrea Barnett, with contributions this week by Dave Cook and Alex de Marban. WHAT NEIGHBORHOOD?: Prior to last week, Councilmember Eric Mitchell, the de facto East Austin councilmember, “didn’t even know” the Swede Hill Neighborhood Association existed. But approximately 15 residents of the historic East Austin neighborhood dealt Mitchell a rude awakening at…
Day Trips
Retama Horse Racing Park on the north side of San Antonio combines the excitement of professional athletics and the comfort of a new facility with the charm and tradition of Southern horse racing, all less than an hour away from Austin. Getting to Central Texas’ newest horse track is easy. From I-35 southbound, take exit…
Road Shows
AUGUST THU 17 Warren Zevon, Liberty Lunch FRI 18 Stephen Marsh, Electric Lounge SAT 19 Inka Inka, Flamingo Cantina SAT 19 Ozzy Osbourne, Austin Music Hall SAT 19 Face to Face, Liberty Lunch SAT 19 Mojo Nixon, Antone’s SAT 19 Woodenhead, Elephant Room SAT 19 Ras Kimono, Aussie’s MON 21 Reducers, Hole in the Wall…
Hearth & Soul
Ring of Fire Ants After 11 years and three months, I was forced to remove my wedding ring. No, its removal wasn’t triggered by a marital spat or thugs with guns or even out of respect for all my friends who filed for divorce this year. It was a damn fire ant that had nothing…
Music Recommended
Symphony Square, Saturday 19 Hey! Who let these smart guys have banjos? Don’t they know what banjos do to the IQ? Oh, wait. That’s paint thinner. Never mind. Now you can enjoy the Lizards with a clear conscience. Even if you’re one of the ones who voted for “Gingrich the Newt,” you can probably see…
Film Reviews
FUND: Rafael Zelinsky; with Alicia Witt, Renee Humphrey, William R. Moses, Leslie Hope, Ania Suli. Based on screenwriter James Bosley’s stage play, Fun is a harrowing glimpse into the world of desperate friendship gone horribly awry. Bonnie and Hillary (Witt and Humphrey) are fourteen-year-old girls who meet, become best friends, and end up butchering an…
Film: Showtimes
Showtimes listed below start Friday, August 18 and cover the week ending Thursday, August 24. *An asterisk (*) before a title means that no passes or special admission discounts (apart from matinee discounts) will be accepted for any screening. *Parentheses indicate weekend showtimes for Saturdays and Sundays only, unless otherwise noted. *Changes may sometimes occur,…
Big Drag
Big Drag has a knack for writing tunes which seem like familiar AM radio classics from the medium’s golden era, but destroyed beyond recognition. in actuality, they’re not: every Big Drag song (save for obvious covers, a la “Tallahassee Lassie” here) is self-originated. It’s just they’re such rock fans and record hounds, they know how…
Bonus Tracks
VAN WILKS Soul of a Man (Texas ’51) BUGS HENDERSON That’s the Truth (Flat Canyon) THE SMOKIN’ JOE KUBEK BAND Cryin’ for the Moon (Bullseye) Remember those maps of the U.S. you used to study in elementary school social studies? The ones that had pictures of little mining carts in the Rockies, pieces of cheese…
