PLUS: Austin Chronic & 4/20 Merch • Summer Camps

Cover Story

Happy Accidents

That a car crash of a video shoot turned viral is only half the story. What a long strange trip it’s been for Winnebago Man.

by Kimberley Jones

Mr. Smarty Pants Knows

Memphis, Tenn., is the biggest center in the world for air freight. At peak times, Federal Express lands a jet there every 30 seconds. John Adams’ wife, Abigail, was pigeon-toed. When a whale rises and holds position partially out of water exposing its head, it is called “skyhopping.” Whales usually do this when they are…

by Mr. Smarty Pants

Oops!

In last week’s News story “Women’s Health Care in Political Jeopardy … Again,” about Sen. Robert Deuell’s challenge to the way the state funds the Women’s Health Program, we mistakenly attributed to the Health and Human Services Commission data about the number of clients served by Planned Parenthood’s Texas clinics. In fact, the data came…

by Chronicle Staff

Winnebago Man

Cast aside any preconceived expectations you might have regarding this documentary and remember simply this: Winnebago Man is one of the best films you’re going to see all year.

by Marjorie Baumgarten

Texas Platters

KB the Boo Bonic Scars Are Sexy Kara Bowers’ debut LP, Scars Are Sexy, finds balance in changing up the MC game. The Houston-bred local steps into her DJ Rapid Ric-mixed full-length with tough songs, showing off her muscle first on “Click Clack” and “My M.O.” While both might initially come off like typical one-up…

by Audra Schroeder

Life During Wartime

Todd Solondz revisits the family from his film Happiness, but the characters are all played by different actors, and the result is no less disconcerting.

by Marc Savlov

Texas Platters

Dale Watson Carryin’ On (E1) Dale Watson’s critic-proof. The local icon makes country music the way it was made in the 1960s and 1970s, with a hard-headedness you either appreciate or not. Carryin’ On finds the Austin veteran recording with Nashville sessionistas that made some of the music he treasures most, including steel guitarist Lloyd…

by Jim Caligiuri

Texas Platters

Old Gray Mule Sound Like Somethin’ Fell Off the House (Stobie Sounds) Old Gray Mule hosted an 80th birthday tribute to North Mississippi’s Junior Kimbrough at TC’s Lounge recently, a perfect pairing of atmosphere and attitude. The Lockhart duo has the dog in ’em certainly, delivering instrumental juke joint blues of the Fat Possum variety…

by Austin Powell

The Switch

Jennifer Aniston does the turkey-baster thing with a donor’s sperm, but seven years later the joke is on her.

by Marc Savlov

Texas Platters

American Graveyard Hallelujahland Dirty South, dirty mouth is American Graveyard’s kind of motto. The local quartet’s debut, 2006’s Rough Around the Edges, was barefoot Texas twang in league with local shit-starters like Honky. Their second LP softens some of those edges and repents (just a little), playing out like a small-town morality play. The title…

by Audra Schroeder

Farewell

Loosely based on historic events surrounding the end of the Cold War, this French espionage film shows how some spies are just regular folks.

by Marjorie Baumgarten

Texas Platters

Sahara Smith Myth of the Heart (Playing in Traffic) Enter one of the most anticipated debuts of recent years, 21-year-old Sahara Smith joining Sarah Jarosz among Wimberley’s remarkably talented female musical exports (both are veterans of A Prairie Home Companion). Smith’s wise-beyond-her-years lyrics (“Angel,” “Train Man,” “Mermaid”) and tender melodies express a kind of weary…

by Margaret Moser

Wild Grass

Alain Resnais’ glorious-looking film spirals in its subjective viewpoints with a main character who may be mad or merely madly in love or perhaps maddened that love has somehow eluded him.

by Marc Savlov

Texas Platters

Paula Nelson Little City It’s unlikely Paula Nelson sold her soul for good songs, but Little City just kicked up her stock. Her Nelson moniker has probably opened doors, but originals “Baby Blue” and “Sunny Days” keep them propped wide. The loping, wicked tone of “Rainy Day Friend” sounds much like something her father, Willie…

by Margaret Moser

Texas Platters

Amanda Pearcy Waitin’ on Sunday (Buddy Jake) Amanda Pearcy notes she’s “too country to be Americana and too Americana to be country,” and she’s right according to Waitin’ on Sunday, which joins the recent harvest of releases from such late-life female artists as Mary Gauthier and Paula Held. A voice filled with twang and songs…

by Margaret Moser

Texas Platters

Paula Held Drive This debut’s calling card comes complete with decorative notes. Drive is no freshman effort; these are songs written by someone who’s been wise enough to wait until her time is ripe. Paula Held’s real strength lies in avoiding the singer-songwriter trap, which she does neatly by employing jazzy, poppy arrangements (“You’re My…

by Margaret Moser

Headlines

� Council will meet today (Thursday, Aug. 19) to consider amending the historic zoning ordinance and shining a wee bit more light on campaign finance disclosure laws, among other items of interest. See “Council Preview.” � The AISD board Thursday will hear public comments on a property tax election that voters may be asked to…

by Chronicle Staff

Texas Platters

Claire Small How Do You Like Love? (Freedom) Claire Small answers the question of her title with breezy pop lilts on her sophomore release that lifts her indie folk high on the bar. Small crossbreeds her Nashville experience with newfound Texas strength, and her appealing vocals carry the country flavors well. Among the quiet pleasures…

by Margaret Moser

Day Trips

Las Vegas, N.M., is a nice little town on the Gallinas River surrounded by a scenic landscape and full of unique attractions

by Gerald E. McLeod

Texas Platters

Vanessa Lively Canto y Cantera This gem does double duty, paying tribute to late Argentinean singer Mercedes Sosa and reflecting the Latin folk that San Antonio native Vanessa Lively fell in love with while living in the Andes. It’s a compelling combination of Chilean and Argentinean composers, folk music on fire with worldly rhythms and…

by Margaret Moser

Texas Platters

Amber Lucille All the Beauty and the Love Amber Lucille affixes her brand of country with a heavy Americana bend that strikes the right balance of dance-floor two-steps and a touch of social commentary. The steel twang of “Dear Brother,” written by Lucille for her brother serving in Afghanistan, imbues the song with a sweetness…

by Margaret Moser

The Hightower Report

BP’s Chain Gang With BP’s well capped and CEO Tony Hayward exiled to Russia, perhaps you thought that the BP horror story was coming to a close, that surely there will be no additional revelations to enrage you. But now comes this: prison labor. In its national public-relations blitz to buff up its image, the…

by Jim Hightower

In Print

James Baldwin, the oracular writer and spectacular wordsmith of mid-20th century America, is revivified in this new collection

by Marjorie Baumgarten

Off the Record

Sign of the Times: Emo’s partners with Antone’s as the Cactus Cafe’s iconic years draw to a close and Daytrotter moves to town

by Austin Powell

In Print

As important a book in its own way as François Truffaut’s Hitchcock, Listen to the Echoes compiles dozens of hours of interviews Bradbury’s biographer has conducted over the past several decades

by Marc Savlov

Luv Doc Recommends: Aye Eye Ball

Piracy is in, so it only follows that pirates should be as well. Problem is, there are a lot of pirates to choose from and not all of them are equally cool. For instance, intellectual pirates, the most common pirates by far these days, are a thoroughly uninspiring lot consisting of a large swath of…

by The Luv Doc

Recent

See all

Gift this article